Sound Off

I wasn't going to post anything today, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity once I read a news article on Arizona's new immigration law.  Apparently the Mexican government warned its citizens about this new law.  "The alert said that once the law takes effect, foreigners can be questioned at any moment and detained if they fail to carry immigration documents."  Well, duh!  That's the general rule, isn't it?  When I travel to Mexico or any other foreign country I make sure I have my papers in order (and almost always on my person).  Why shouldn't Mexicans expect that they need to have their papers in order if they travel to the U.S.?

I broke the mental barrier today and did my first ride to work on my bicycle.  It was sunny today, but that wind sure was stiff and brisk - having my gloves on was a good move.  All yak rack parts have arrived.  Installation is expected to commence in the next couple of days.

Did you know that the maximum capacity washer on the market today can handle something like 24 pounds of clothes, but the average load size in a consumer's home is only 9 pounds?  It's one of those things that people think they need, but they don't really.  At least not most people although I'm sure a couple of you moms will tell me how you stuff your washer to overflowing (like 25 pounds) on every single load.  Just FYI, that's not the best way to get your clothes clean.  You need to have a little bit of space for the clothes to move against each other since that's where most of the cleaning action comes from.

Save The......What?!?

At the Y today a girl had this T-shirt that said in big pink block letters on the front "Save Second Base".  At first I was a bit stumped trying to figure out what it meant.  Why did second base need to be saved?  Maybe she was referring to a baseball player?  Just then she walked past me and I saw on the back in smaller pink letters it said "American Cancer Society" and had one of those pink ribbons.  Oooohhhhhh.....I get it.  That made me chuckle.

You may have noticed I have a new list for the year.  This year I'm going to track all the "wildlife" I see in the year.  And, they'll only go on the list if I can recognize the type of animal is.  For example, if I see a bird and can't figure out what kind it is even after looking on the "identify bird" website, then it won't go on the list.

I have one final link for you.  If you like humorous political commentary articles, check this one out.  Skip this article if my Crunchy post offended you or hurt your feelings.  It's sort of in the same vein.

Addendum

I was having posting issues the other night so I didn't get everything said that I wanted to.  But to address a few comments on the previous post first;  Mo, unfortunately I can't claim to be the originator of "Batty McThrowsalot".  One of the guys I went to the game with thought that one up.  Ananias, summer plans are still nebulous at this point so one never knows, does one?  And K, my feelings on french cut style beans are conflicted.  Sure they can be a nice change of pace from your standard cut green bean, but sometimes I feel like I need to eat them with a spoon rather than stab them with a fork because of their mushiness.  If I'm not mentally prepared for that, then I have issues.  The French style ones were unexpected because I didn't think I had any of those left in the house.  I was almost certain I was out of stock on those.  Melanaway is right that fresh steamed is the best way and I actually had some fresh ones in the fridge.  It was late and I was lazy though, so I ate the canned ones.  Also to Melanaway, this entire week I could have ridden bike but was lazy and haven't given the ole bike its spring tune-up yet.  But, the couple weeks before that it has either been raining or threatening rain.  We get dreary rain here that you may not get so much of there.

A friend of a guy from work has an iPad, so I got to check it out a couple weeks ago.  The screen is really nice - very crisp with a size that's actually viewable, and the touch screen is sweet (I work on capacitive touch stuff at work, so I know what I'm talking about on that).  Plus, it's amazingly thin and the memory is all solid state flash memory (no delicate hard drive).  If you wanted to go on a trip where you mostly wanted to check your e-mail and surf the web at WiFi hotspots and watch movies or listen to music on the plane or in the car, then it would be nice to have.  If you're a hard core power user of a laptop where you like to use lots of features of Word and Excel or want to store a lot of pictures, then you may want to skip it.  It maxes out at 64 GB.  Plus you have to be willing to download (and maybe pay) for all those apps.  I'm thinking it might be difficult to type on the on-screen keyboard without the little nubbies (the correct term is ????).  That's really bugging me what the word for those is because I know I read the term for them in a magazine some time in the last year.  And I really don't want to have to go and buy "The Watchamacallit:  Those Everyday Objects You Just Can't Name (and Things You Think You Know About, but Don't)" just to find out.  Can you believe that I've searched the internet for more than two hours and can't find the answer to this simple question?  If you know the answer, let me know and your prize is a "guest post" on this blog.  :-)  Wait, I know what I can do.  I can go to Barnes and Noble and look it up in the that book there.  Well, I could do that if there was a B and N in this town.

Question:  How can Kraft's "original" flavor BBQ sauce advertise on the label that it's "Now Better Tasting!"?  If it's the original, how can they be changing it and making improvements?  The original implies that changes haven't been made.

With summer fast approaching, I thought I would post this guide to tan lines.  I don't think I've posted this before anyway.  That's one of my colleagues second from the right there.  That's me second from the left.  :-P

Random Bulletting

• Some of the yak rack parts arrived today.  Unfortunately, the first part I need to get started on the installation didn't come, and the very last piece is backordered, so I can't really do much with the "middle" pieces.
• Enjoyed Joshua 10 this evening at BS.  Some interesting natural wonders happening there - the sun and moon standing still and hailstones large enough to kill more people than were killed with swords.
• Went to a minor league baseball game last night.  It was good.  The ticket was free, but the food not so much.
• Why do nachos at those kinds of events taste so good?  I didn't quite get my chips and nacho dip to completely balance out at the end.  Doh!
• It was kind of a dangerous game though.  Batty McThrowsalot was having issues at the game last night.  One of his at-bats he swung and missed and on his swing around he let go of the bat.  It landed in the stands a couple rows ahead of us and to the right a couple seats.  His next at-bat his bat broke, and the large splintered part almost made it into the stands that time too.  And, one guy in our vicinity got hit in the head by a foul ball when it skipped off the top of the dugout.  It must have barely skimmed him because there wasn't any blood or anything.
• Woke up at 4:00 AM this morning wide awake for no apparent reason.  I had time to mull over my plan of action at work to solve a thorny problem, but still.  I was awake long after the plan of action was formed.  Luckily this doesn't happen often.  May that streak continue.
• I better go check the weather to see if it'll be nice enough to ride my bicycle to work tomorrow for the first time this year.  I was sorely tempted to on Monday and Tuesday but didn't because I was running late and hadn't checked the weather.  This will not beat my record a couple years ago for early bike riding.  It'll be tough to beat that January 13th record.
• It's slightly disappointing to open a can of green beans as part of your supper and realize that you opened a french cut style can instead of the regular cut green bean style.  Oh well, the taste and nutrients were the same even if the texture wasn't.

Crunch Crunch Crunch

I feel like I need to go out and purchase a Subaru and some bumper stickers that say "save the earth" and "live green" after purchasing a kayak rack yesterday.  As I was researching and reading some equipment reviews, I read a few reviews on fairings (they're the wind reflector shield thing to reduce noise).  Some people were saying how "cool" they make your car look.  Personally I think it'll make Herman look worse, but it's the price I'm willing to pay to make my kayak more easily transportable.  Hopefully Herman doesn't get too mad about his nerdy look once I get the rack installed.  Maybe I'll feel an uncontrollable urge to move to Colorado, Oregon, or Washington?

Cardinal update:  he's still making a few window attacks, but the frequency seems to be reduced.

Dilemmas

This past week God demonstrated his power and the power of nature again.  It's kind of amusing how the eruption of one volcano has the power to melt at least 1/3 of a glacier in a couple days, ground a large part of Europe's air travel, and possibly affect weather patterns and "climate change" for months.  The World Trade Center terrorist attack didn't ground as many flights as have been grounded by the volcano eruption in a minimally populated area of Iceland.  I am all for using the earth responsibly because I like nature and its beauty.  But, I don't worry too much about humans polluting it a little bit or global climate change.  I figure if humans are getting too out of control, God can institute a few natural disasters to get the human population under control again.

I used the new chainsaw today to majorly cut down a majorly overgrown shrub.  This is the same shrub/tree the cardinal has been using as a launching point for his frequent attacks on my bedroom window.  So, we'll see if this change in his launching pad affects his attack pattern.

It paid to do yard work today.  I found a dollar on my property where the lawn meets the trees.

I had a discussion with my project leader yesterday about the future of computer processors.  He was pointing out how computer processors seem to have hit "the wall" in terms of technology development.  Processors started out in the hundreds of kHz range then moved to MHz and finally to a couple GHz.  However, getting out of the lower GHz range doesn't seem to be feasible at this point, so the dual-core processor idea came along.  The point of this is for computer processors to make any large leaps in the future, what will likely need to happen is a revolutionary idea change (paradigm shift).  For example, using fiber optics and light instead of silicon, gold, and copper.  My project leader also predicts that some day soon we will drive cars with joysticks instead of steering wheels.  Five-year-olds already know how to do that.....

Wacky Wednesday

• I "cut the clutter" today.  They were having an event at work where you could bring in all your old electronics like printers, scanners, computers, etc.  I left a whole bunch of stuff there.  Spring cleaning:  done.
• I was NOT impressed to come home and find a bunch of flying bugs in my kitchen.  Basically they looked like good sized ants with wings, and my research confirmed that they were.  Luckily they were not termites.  I confirmed they were ants by the fact that they had a clearly defined head, thorax, and abdomen.  Plus, all of their legs sprouted from the thorax (see pictures at the end of this post).  It was a clear day today, which is when Wikipedia says ants do their nuptial flight or something like that.
• Question:  Do I need to worry about this sudden showing of flying ants?  Most websites seem to say "no".  Is it an indication of a deeper problem?  I would not say my kitchen was swarming with them, but there were maybe 50-100 total of them on the windows and skylights.  The average sized ones were 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long.  The more giant ones I killed were probably a bit more than 1" long.  What kind of ants get this big? Carpenter ants?  Maybe Unca John or BIL-Dan can help on this.
• While researching ants, I found out that queen bees can store the bee male's sperm in their bodies and then fertilize their eggs at will.  How weird is that?  This was a related topic because bees also do nuptial flights.
• I WAS impressed by the near-80 degree temperatures this afternoon.
• With the warmer weather, the pier walk frequency has increased, resulting in more wildlife pictures as evidenced by the new picture on my blog header.
• I'm on the verge of purchasing a roof rack for my car to carry my kayak.  Does anybody have any strong opinions?  Thule vs Yakima?

Engineers and Stuff and Things

I've been doing a bit of digital sorting/cleaning, and I came across this picture of true love.  I can tell that this guy really has his priorities straight in life.

I also came across a video during cleaning of what happens when an engineer owns a dog.  It's NFLPEOE (if they can read).  The content is clean, but the name of the website displayed in the lower right hand corner has a bit of profanity.  I couldn't find a "cleaner" version after, like, five whole minutes of searching.

At lunch today, we were discussing anniversaries.  One guy in my cubicle just celebrated 23 years with his wife.  He said that if you can make it over the 7-year hump in a marriage that you have a good chance of making it long term.  With a job, I think I've often heard that it's 5 years.  If the company can keep you longer than that, they have a good chance of keeping you much longer.  Any thoughts of your own on that?

Sawing

For those of you who knew me in college, it may worry you to know that I purchased a chainsaw yesterday.  I started reading the owner's manual, and after the second page I decided I might need to return it because it said the chainsaw should only be operated by mature people.  With this new tool I figure I should be able to maim myself in record time.

The kayak came down from storage today.  I would have been a beautiful day to go, but I didn't get motivated quite that much this afternoon to make it down to the water.

The crazy cardinal is back.  Looks like the Robin Realtor put up a "for rent" sign again this spring as I have a robin trying to build a nest on my light fixtures again.  I think I need to replace the burnt out light bulbs in them so that the light bulbs will come on when they sense motion.  I guessing that would keep them from building a nest there.

Cookin'

Did you know that the directions to be found on the internet on how to broil a hamburger are surprisingly vague?  I mean, there are so many details I can't remember from watching mom do it when I was a kid.  How long does it take?  Do I need to turn them halfway through?  Do I leave the door open a crack or not?  Is it necessary to pre-heat?  Should I pre-heat on bake and then switch to broil?  What do I do with the grease in the broiling pan afterward?  I need a process map, people!  I muddled through it and only slightly burned one side, so it wasn't too bad in the end.

I think I may have been maintaining this blog too long.  The reason is, now when I come up with ideas to post, they seem familiar to me like I've posted them before or at a minimum thought those things before, and the archive is too large to try to go and search through to determine if I used that material previously.  Usually I err on the side of not posting if it seems like a repeat, but sometimes one may slip through.

I'm contemplating travel plans for the summer, and my summer schedule is really filling up quickly it seems like.  Have renewed passport, will travel......

Notes

Have you ever noticed how trying to use someone else's notes is just not very conducive to remembering as well as reading your own notes?  I left some binders/notes from Six Sigma training at home, and today at work I happened to have an occasion to need said notes.  Several people at work have taken this same training, so I borrowed the applicable binder from one of the guys in my group.  His notes were OK, but they just weren't as clear to me as I know my own notes will be tomorrow when I look at them if I remember to take my binders to work.  Maybe not everybody has this problem?  Is it because I'm a visual learner primarily and secondarily a kinesthetic learner that this is an issue for me?

I know I had some other really great ideas for this post, but they escape me at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow will be more creative.  Oh, and have you tried this game?  I couldn't make it past Level 3....maybe you can.

Marvelous

Hopefully you can say the same:  I had a great weekend.  I can't say I did anything super exciting like white water rafting or sky diving, but I had a delightful time hanging out with some comrades (Sharin', JackE, and JenE) across the lake.  I dropped a little cash off at Eddie Bauer, drooled on some stuff at REI, played cards (Rage) with aforementioned comrades, and in general spent a lot of time laughing, making jokes, talking - just "hanging out" with them.  We went to MKE SM too, so that added to the awesomeness.  My apologies to all my "fans" I didn't speak to or acknowledge there, but it was kind of a lot of people there and was hard to sign an autograph for everybody.  ;-)  And of course we ate.  Like, a lot.  I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures, so you're out of luck there.  Use your imagination.  I got home just a TEENSY bit late last night which made it hard to get going this Monday morning.  But it was worth it.  Toadily.

Interstate 80

It wasn't exactly like this song, but sorta.  It was more bare fields than corn because it's spring and not summer.  Being from North Dakota, I really can't make much fun of it without being the pot calling the kettle black.  Why was I making a journey there?  Work.  Who else was on the trip? No one.  What did I do?  Finally met some people face-to-face that I've been working with for the last year, and spent a LOT of time taking data.  I know, exciting, right?  Where is the bulleted list for this travel?  Right here....

• A Pontiac Vibe has more guts than I expected it to.  I didn't like how the headrest made my head tilt forward though.
• Biggest thing I missed about not driving my car?  Having the radio control on the steering wheel.
• They have "prairie winds" just like all other respectable heartland states.
• Radio presets.  Pro:  you can mix and match FM and AM presets.  Con:  Reduced number of total presets available.
• Holiday Inn Express signature cinnamon rolls.  Mmmmmmmmmm.
• Bible study with people I never met before, but they're still "family".
• Playing cribbage:  not a bad way to spend lunch hours at the manufacturing plant.  I had to dust off my skills as I hadn't played that game for years.
• An ad on TV showed a mom tracking her daughter's whereabouts with GPS on her 3G phone or whatever.  I'm not a parent so maybe I have a wrong perspective, but is that really necessary or healthy?  Can you believe when I was a kid my parents let me drive places without a cell phone, let alone one with GPS tracking?  What happened to teaching kids good skills and choices when they're young so they know how to use them as they get older?  What happened to trust?
• Worst thing about traveling alone:  eating by yourself in a restaurant.
• They had a really nice mall there.  I got away with spending less than $50, but I was REALLY tempted by some Born shoes on sale.
• Irony:  I'm an electrical engineer, but when I go into a restaurant to eat (alone as previously discussed), as I sit waiting for my meal to arrive I'm not using my phone to text, check my e-mail, etc.  Mostly I'm sitting there thinking, listening to conversations from nearby tables, and wishing I had thought to bring an old-fashioned book.
• Coming home to my daffodils blooming brightly.
• Iowa was still surprisingly brown.  Their snow was gone, and I guess I was thinking their grass would have started to be green already, but not so much.
• Listened to more podcasts and lots of AM radio.

 See below for a snapshot of the quaint buildings I saw a mile or so from the manufacturing plant.  Of course this picture makes a liar out of me on the brown grass thing.

Looking forward to a great weekend!  More driving involved, but who cares?