Archive for May, 2008
New Computer
My first PC was a 486 / 33 that I paid $2,500 for. All of my computers since then haven’t equalled that much. My current PC was an old P3 server that was slightly older than Daniel. I picked it up for $20 about five years ago. I had Windows 2000 on it and it worked pretty well for most things I needed it to do (you don’t need a lot of horsepower to write blogs!)
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Eating Light
This week I went out and got some Fudgesicles. They are a single point each. You can have sugar free Popsicles by the fistful for a single point. A 100 calorie bag of popcorn fills a pretty good sized bowl when watching TV. That’s only two points. And I’ve reverted to my childhood with canned fruit cocktail and applesauce.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Working from Home
I traveled a lot, so I wasn’t at my desk more than once a week or so. Since I was hardly there, I was the low man on the totem pole (at least as far as cubicles were concerned). I went through three cubicles in less than three months. It wasn’t that I was wearing them out, I would get moved around as new people were hired that were working in the office all the time. I would find this out when I would show up and almost sit in someone’s lap.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Definition of a Perfect Day
We had a perfect day on Memorial Day here in Belvidere. Rain had been in the forecast. It did pour during the night – lightning too – but by daybreak, the storms had blown through and it ended up sunny and warm with just enough wind to be refreshing. The weather was a big part [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )How I Spent my Vacation
WARNING: THOSE WHO ARE NOT PARENTS OR WITHOUT STRONG STOMACHS SHOULD PROBABLY AVOID READING THIS BLOG ENTRY!
Our Memorial Day weekend got off with a bang… or rather a whimper. I put Daniel to bed Saturday night and he complained his stomach was “pushy”. I didn’t think much about it until Meka and I heard the [...]
In my Brother’s House there are Many Garages
My brother David was 22 when he was killed. At his funeral, I remarked he did a lot of living in that brief time. However, he did even more driving. I think his whole life could be summed up in the cars he bought, drove and sold. They gave him purpose [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Off Hours Fast Food
If we go at lunch time, at the peak of the lunch rush, the bins are full of burgers. The fries are made and standing at attention in their little red boxes. You have a crew of no-nonsense senior citizens who smile, usher you through the order process and get you your food with a “have a nice day”. The entire process takes maybe twenty five seconds.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Cineplex
As some of you may know (those of you living on the planet Earth at least), a new Indiana Jones movie is out. I forget the exact title; it’s something really long, but that doesn’t matter. IT’S A NEW INDIANA JONES MOVIE!
I wasn’t much older than Daniel when the first Indiana Jones movie [...]
The Fickle Finger of Mother Nature
Daniel and I set up the flower box for my brother’s grave on the front porch a couple of weekends ago. I thought we had done a pretty good job cleaning up, but I noticed the next day there was a pile of plant refuse sitting by the front door. I cleaned it up, but [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Practical Jokes
I am a bit of a practical joker, but I’m not a mean spirited one. You will never need to look for a bucket of water waiting on top of a half-open door… at least not from me. I go for the subtle and the sublime… and I settle for goofy. In any case, I [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Shopping in the Suburbs
I get out to the suburbs of Chicago every few months. When I’m in the area, I like to look at the stores. I’m not much of a shopper. First of all, money is tight (it has been tight for about – oh, my whole life). Second of all, I’m a [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Cub Scout Kickball Report
Daniel’s last pack meeting was on Saturday. This was the official graduation. Daniel finished the requirements to become a Bear Scout a couple of months ago; we had the Blue and Gold Dinner affirm that. Still, this was where they actually got their new neckerchiefs and new books full of things to do for next [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Writing My Writing
Over the last few months, I’ve been writing more than I have in many years. While I mean “writing” in the sense of putting together a coherent piece, I also mean “writing” in the sense of not typing in a word processor. I own a copy of Microsoft Word and I’ve used it [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Weight Watchers Setback
The instructor then wasn’t very good and Meka and I found ourselves getting more and more cynical about the whole thing. I think the final straw was when the instructor explained there were seven words for weight loss success. I whispered to Meka they were “shut your festering gob hole, you cow”.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )You Can Go Home Again
We walked in and I had a bit of a flashback. While they had changed the color scheme in the dining room, the booths were the same. The drink station and trash cans were the ones that were there when I had to clean them up. Behind the counter, things were identical. I wondered how the help thought about working with equipment that was older than they were (I would have asked, but none of them spoke English).
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Mourning the Loss of Polaroid Instant Film
It’s been tough for Polaroid these last few years. The film is really expensive. Even when I would buy it by the gross at Sam’s Club, I think it averaged about $1 per picture. When film took a week or two to get back from the developer, Polaroid marketed their cameras as [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Forced to Play Kickball
Daniel had his last Cub Scout den meeting as a Wolf Scout last Monday. After all this time, Daniel still has a hard time fitting in. This evening was no exception. We met at the park by the river. All of the parents were under the picnic shelter and the kids [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Mother’s Day
I didn’t see my mom on Mother’s Day.
She was okay with it. After all, she was the one who moved away from the Chicago area a few years ago. She lives up in northern Michigan now. It’s a six hour drive (though I have never made it in less than ten). Even if I had [...]
Notes on the Final Frontier
Just imagine… there’s a tiny spacecraft sleeping in the darkness between Jupiter and Saturn. In a few years it will awaken to take the first close up pictures of Pluto. As you read this there’s a spacecraft racing to catch up with the planet Mercury, preparing to take pictures of part of the [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Not Your Father’s McDonald’s
The Rockford McDonald’s looks like an English pub. Thin HDTV’s line the walls. And now all of the restaurants seem to be sporting new McCafe’s where you can pick up a latte… and it’s not even a “McLatte” which one would expect.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Pellens For Sale
Meka and I went out to our gas station the other night. We frequent our local station almost every night to get a cheap Diet Pepsi and generally unwind for a few minutes before heading back home to study or do paperwork. This night was a little different because we actually got gas.
As [...]
Thoughts on NASCAR
With most flavors of ESPN going to HD on our satellite, my son has been picking up on NASCAR races more often. I can’t say I’m all that thrilled with NASCAR. I’ve tried to sit and watch it on television. But – even in HD – it’s a lot of cars driving around and around [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Ode to my Model 100
My favorite laptop is 25 years old. It’s a TRS-80 Model 100. It doesn’t have much in the way of power. The chip speed is something like 4 megahertz. It has 32 kilobytes of memory. It has a built in modem that transfers data at 300 baud. If I [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Official Rules of Cars
When we go out to eat, we tend to take in more than we take out. Like most kids, Daniel “comes with everything you see here”. A typical trip may include Oscar, his stuffed blue dog, or some other “pet”. He may be accompanied by the latest toy sent from his various [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence
By day, I work with computers — no, I can’t help you with your printer problem. Sorry.
I talk to companies every day about how best to manage their processes and get their computers to do more for them. It never fails; the automation discussion will inevitably degenerate into general complaints about the state of [...]
Iron Man is Sexy
Daniel explains that’s what someone is when they are beautiful; like a girl. He further explains that it’s a synonym for “hot” (also as applied to girls). I’m not up on my Iron Man lore. I may have read a comic or two when I was younger. This particular version looks like he might not just be the spokesman for Burger King, but also a frequent client. Think of a really chubby Cylon.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )How to Hog Tie a Chicken
Daniel has been pestering us for the last few weeks to cook something on the grill… usually on days when rain was pouring down or the grill was half buried in a snow drift. We finally had some nice weather and the air was filled with the smells of charcoal (and – to be [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Lost Dog
As the week progressed, the signs changed from typed to handwritten. Photocopied pictures of Shave and his owner covered the pages. The cash reward had been upped to “large cash reward”, possibly to overcome the fact that Shave is described as “generally unfriendly”.
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