Scandanavia and the World

Disclaimer: I have no friends in, nor do I know anyone in Scandinavia, but I thought this cartoon was humorous. Well, that’s not entirely true, I do have one acquaintance in Norway, but that’s it, I swear! Scroll down to … Continue reading →

Windows to the past…

While cleaning out my office at home, I came across some photos from Laura’s Grandparents, both of whom died this year. These two particularly stood out to me. Laura’s great-Grandfather worked for Burroughs Adding Machine in Detroit, Michigan for his whole life. These pictures were taken in 1935, towards the end of the Great Depression in America. These machines weren’t designed on a computer with CAD/COM, they were built and designed by hand, with slide rules, tweezers and screwdrivers. Every man on the factory floor is in a tie on the factory floor! I suppose at that time they were just grateful to have a job, and a good one at that. Most of these men were probably “company men” whose lives were defined and shaped by their employer. I’m not saying I would have preferred to live back then, but maybe to visit for a day or two?

Blizzard of late 2010 hits the East Coast of the U.S.

So, we got a little snow in Atlanta that was more pretty than anything else, but other folks, well, they got nailed, especially in the Northeast. Here is what it looked like in my neck of the woods:

…And here is what it looks like up north:

Inconceivable!

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

And now for something completely different. Here is a montage from one of my favorite movies:

Monstrous Discrepancies

Not sure why exactly, but I like this comic and wanted to share it.

Found at http://www.viruscomix.com
 

 

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

That quote, by Douglas Adams seems to sum a lot of my own behavior (and apparently I’ve regrettably passed on that trait to my son as evidenced in Laura’s post from yesterday: http://lifewithasperger.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/today-i-had-to-let-him-fail/. A month. I had a month to prepare for Coleman’s Den Meeting last night and yet, I waited until the very last minute. At 6:00 last night, an hour before Coleman’s Cub Scout Den Meeting, I was barbecuing and at the same time trying to learn to tie a clove hitch. This is a common pattern for me, one that has gone on for as long as I can remember. From the present day all the way back through elementary school.

Watch SpongeBob’s “Procrastination” on Nickelodeon…

In College, I had a take home exam for a Forestry class. An open book, take home exam. It consisted of three questions and I had five days to do it. So, as was (is) customary, I sat down at about 9:00 p.m. on the fourth night to begin my paper (the paper was due at 7:00 the next morning.) At 10:00 I had consumed all of the Mountain Dew in my apartment. Up to that time, I hated coffee. But by 1:00 a.m. I was in bad shape and needed caffeine. So my roommate had what I thought was just a funny little coffee maker. I filled it with coffee and it made a perfect mugfull. Unbeknownst to me, it was a cappucino maker and it actually made four demitasse cups full of coffee (or one big mugfull). Three or four mugfulls later, it was 6:30 and I was headed onto campus with my completed 27 page paper. I turned it in with several minutes to spare. I returned back to my apartment to ‘have a quick nap.’ Now, Laura and I had only been dating a few weeks at that time and we had a date at 8:00 that night, but that was the only thing left on my agenda for the day. The next thing I know, there is banging on my room door and Laura comes in and is asking me what happened and where had I been? “What do you mean what happened?” I stared blearily as I tried figure out what the glowing shapes on my clock meant. I eventually deciphered that they said “7:30”. “It’s only 7:30” I said, “why are you upset?” “Yeah it’s 7:30, 7:30 Thursday morning. I had slept through 24 hours. Luckily, Laura forgave me anyway. Thus began two great loves, one with Laura, the other with coffee.

The bad thing is, I sometimes get positive reinforcement for working like a madman under a deadline. I got an A on the exam. I think I could do even better though with other things if I could organize myself a little better. I guess I’ll keep working on that. I’ll start it tomorrow though.

The best laid schemes…

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, gang aft agley.” – Robert Burns

Despite my best efforts, I’ve not been terribly productive on my first day of vacation. I had planned on using today to finish the hole in Coleman’s ceiling. A series of unexpected events however, had other plans for me. It started with getting up too late (I can’t believe I consider 8:15 “late” now – I was once a champion sleeper, 1:00 in the afternoon and later was not unheard of. Of course, that was 20 years ago. A real job, with insurance, car payments, mortgages, children, therapies, pets, etc… all put a swift end to that. Notice I didn’t say marriage, Laura and I were cut from the same cloth when it comes to sleeping.) Anyway – I had to work a few hours in the morning (I thought this was vacation?) then, I come to find out the sheetrock that I bought was too thin. That meant another trip to the hardware store which would, of course, have to wait until after dinner.

So Julia and I take the truck to Home Depot, where we were promptly ignored by two clerks helping one person at the customer service desk. All I had was a simple question. When I finally got a chance to ask it, they couldn’t answer it and didn’t offer to find someone who could. Sigh. So we left and drove straight to Lowe’s, where we were greeted (in the parking lot!) and offered help immediately. Unfortunately, Lowe’s is a bit further away, but I think I will go to Lowe’s whenever possible.

It wasn’t all drudgery though, when we entered Lowe’s, a most unexpected sight awaited us. The Big Man himself was walking away from the register with his Lowe’s bag in hand. Surely the elves needed more nails in the workshop? He was wearing regular pants and a stylish red Gore-tex & fleece jacket. But there was no mistaking the belly, the full white beard and the genuine Santa hat. After Julia picked her jaw up off the floor, she was rendered speechless and was literally bouncing up and down off the floor with a grin from ear to ear. Then he stopped and took the time to talk to Julia, asked her what she wanted and wished us well. We didn’t think to check for the sleigh in the parking lot (do you suppose loose shopping carts run into the reindeer?)

So we bought the new drywall – this is 5/8″ inch drywall that would probably stop small caliber firearms and therefore, quite heavy. While Julia sat in the nice warm truck, I struggled with 125 pounds of drywall in 25 mph gusts in 32 degree weather. Finally got the drywall off the little cart and into the truck (that always has a bum wheel) and headed home.

After I got home and delivered the promised dessert and started bath time, I sat down to check my e-mail for just a moment. That was when I knew it.

“You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment when you know you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day”

I hit that point at about 9:30 tonight. Not too bad, I suppose…

A few of my pics…

Coastal Georgia Wildlife

Ceiling update #1

Well, I cleared all the old insulation off the bed & the floor.  It was all over the blankets and pillows and all had to be washed (thanks hon!)   I pulled all the broken sheetrock off and cleaned up the old nails and screws.  Now I’m ready to nail up some support boards between the stringers and cuts some sheetrock to fit the opening.

 

My Droid is very frustrating right now, but I’m not giving it up – yet.

Up until about six months ago I was a loyal BlackBerry user. Then I went through four BlackBerry devices in about six weeks.

The trackball on the first one stopped working properly.

The trackball on the second one stopped working altogether.

The third one burned down, fell over then sank into the swamp actually replaced bright colors with a neon pink.  It made for some artsy photos but got annoying after about five seconds.

I killed the fourth one.  Only hours after getting activated it fell out of the holster as I was getting out of the truck and landed in a puddle.

So, when I got the fifth one, I happened by my friend at work who is our “pda guy” and he offered a straight trade-out of my bb for a used Droid. I didn’t hesitate.

So now six months later and the honeymoon is over. I’m using Touchdown over Active Sync to connect to Exchange. The %$^*& database crashes a lot and has to rebuild. This happens at least once a week and sometimes more. I guess I’m going to have to do a factory reset, but I’m too lazy right now.

I’m still not going back to BlackBerry. Despite all it’s problems, the Droid is more fun for me.   Too many fun apps.  If you want something that that does e-mail very well and just a little else, then a BlackBerry is your pick. Me, I’m going to look for the next Droid when it’s time for another phone.