C-ville

I was at 'vention this weekend.  It was good, as usual; bread for the soul and all that.  Here are a few observations.

1. About four or five years ago I looked around and wondered where all my peers were.  That was when I realized they were all in the baby house.
2. This year I looked around and saw most of my peers have at least two kids, and some of them have a third or fourth on the way.  Whoa - it kinda makes me feel like my own growth got stunted.  Or I'm old.
3. I talked to the aforementioned peers a little bit, but when you don't have a long history with those peers, once you get past the basics of how many kids they have and how old they are and their names, I'm not too sure where to go from there.  So, me and the widows and ladies with grown children hung out.  My entourage of cute guys was busy with other stuff this weekend.  ;-)
4. I'm thankful for some in this state who have become my "family" when my blood family isn't here.
5. I saw my friend JC there (and the other JC too).
6. I was sitting with some friends in the row right behind the sista woikas.  It was interesting to observe their behavior.  I'm sure all you sistas that read this blog love that we watch you, but maybe you guys watch us too.
7. Did you know: the sista woikas have a cheat sheet of people, so when testimony time comes around, they point to the name on that cheat sheet so the visiting worker(s) can know the name of the person speaking.  I'm not sure that's common practice everywhere, but they were doing that in this case.  I did not verify if the brothas do the same - I'm guessing they don't.
8. It was blazin' hot the last two days - in the 90's.  I'm sure glad they had showers there.  (I didn't need one, but everybody else sure did.  ;-P )
9. We got to hear a little bit about Haiti and Bangladesh two of the evenings before bedtime.  That was way interesting.  This post can't contain all the interesting stuff, so I won't attempt to expound on that.
10. I put the ol' tent to use again.  Gotta love that.
11. C-ville has the best eggs in the morning of any 'vention I've been to.   I think they also win the prize for best evening egg salad sandwiches.  No stroganoff there though.  Just saying.

All for now......I gots to hit the hay.

Scanners

Construction is rampant around my house.  One of the roads to my house is closed.  If I try to go that way out of habit, my alternate route when I remember I can't go that way is also closed due to road construction.

I forgot to tell you that during my business trip last weekend the airport I flew out of on the way home had those full body scanners.  I was not all that impressed.  I mean, I think the technology is cool, but I was not impressed that it took way longer to get through security because you have to step in the booth, they take your picture/scan, and then you step out and wait for thirty or more seconds while the person in some unseen location checks your scan/picture, then radios the OK to go ahead.  I'm also not sure how I feel about the violation of my privacy.  The article that I linked to states that they have information on what the full body scanner is right by the scanner and you have the right to refuse to use the scanner.  I was tempted to refuse to use the scanner, but decided not to because I'm sure that raises all kinds of red flags and then you spend even more time trying to go through security.  Secondly, that information placard was near the scanner, but on the opposite side of the line in size ten font, so if you had wanted to read it, you would have had to step out of line to go read it.  It did give me kind of a strange feeling to think about what the picture may or may not reveal.  Not that I have anything to hide, but it was just a weird feeling.  This little article wasn't that comforting either.

Later, peeps.  I hope your weekend is as good as I'm sure mine will be!

FS, AR

I did end up traveling for work this week.  I went to sunny, sweltering Arkansas:  home of the Razorbacks.  Let me tell you, I did a lot of glamorous stuff.  I ate some Holiday Inn Express cinnamon buns, took measurements and data in a lab that was 100 degrees F, programmed some microprocessors, and participated in some conference calls.  And get this:  we didn't completely solve the issue yet.  Nice huh?  It's not a good idea to air my company's dirty laundry (no pun intended), so I can't give you any more details.  I thought you might like to know how awesome it is to be an engineer.  Holiday Inn Express has the best pillows, BTW.  The only downside was missing meeting on Wednesday and Sunday and working on Saturday.

The itching has ceased for the most part, and only a few scabs remain.  For now.  I did get a bit paranoid again when I read in the newspaper while traveling that bed bug infestations are on the rise not only in houses, but in office areas too.  Yikes!  Now I must go prepare for future days by washing some clothes and getting some sleep.

The Old Cat Days of August

Yep, it's still August, and still busy.  I've been busy itching.....the latest non-medical opinions from co-workers and friends is that the itchy patches appear to be poison ivy.  It has now been two weeks of itching.  I've never had a case of poison ivy before as far as I know, and I really hope I don't repeat it frequently in the future.  Last night was the first time in many days that I slept through the night without waking up itching.

Other than that, I had some company over the weekend and have been busy losing in the volleyball and softball tournaments (we're out of both now), so summer feels like it's really winding down.  The heat wave passed, and we've had a couple cooler days here.

The next month or so is looking very busy, so the updates may be a bit short sometimes.  Now I better make sure I have more clothes washed in case I have to make an emergency trip of indeterminate time for work tomorrow.  I'm second on the list of nominees to go and try to help prevent a plant from shutting down.  We'll see if nominee #1 is able to go.  If he can't, then I'm packing my bag and catching the first flight out.  Latron!

Interviewing

I think I've mentioned this before:  I'm not a huge fan of interviewing and screening resumes.  At work today I had all day training on screening resumes and interviewing people at career fairs.  The training wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but it wasn't totally exceptional either.  I do feel somewhat better equipped to assess resumes and interviewees even though I think it will take some more practice for me to feel really competent at it.  I was a little bit peeved before going to the training because I had been asking when it would be for the last week or two, and human resources finally notified me about it at about noon yesterday.  I have other important work to do besides the training, you know?  A little advance notice would be good.  But, I'm over that now.  I feel mollified because I got a 'free' recruiting shirt out of the deal.  :-)  As Muggles can tell you, there's really no such thing as a free shirt, I just perceive it to be free since the cost is embedded in my salary, my benefits, or in higher prices to you, the consumer.

On this topic of resumes, I must say that there is a definite science to putting together a good resume, and I realize now how little I knew in college about the whole interviewing process and what companies were really looking for.  I can only think it's by the grace of God and some cousins who reviewed my resume for me that I actually obtained the job I have.  If any of my readers need me to review a resume and give you my feedback on what, if anything, to change, let me know.

One interesting fact I learned in training today is that 68% of "millennials" - the generation now graduating from college - would be willing to renege on a job offer they had accepted from a company.  FYI, corporate America frowns on people doing that, so be sure to tell your children.  In general, the same generation also has fewer social skills.

That's all the fun facts for today, folks!

Opposites

What's good:  New bike.  Did some kayaking and wakeboarding today.  Had some grilled hot dogs, cheese puffs, and cheese curls.  Yesterday I did some sweeping and mopping and cleaning stuff at 'vention.

What's not so good:  The rash from my bug bites.  It's not looking so pretty and is doing that seeping thing.  Also, my face met the water today at about 30 mph.  My neck is sore from that.

Mish Mash

Here's a little bit of randomness.

I think I got sand fleas on Monday during beach volleyball.  This does not make me happy as it is vaguely reminiscent of the scabies scare of 2008.  A little Benadryl topical spray helps to control the itch, and I'm hoping new bites will soon quit forming.  It was not very good timing because I read an article in the last week or so that said 1 in 15 residents of New York City has battled bed bugs in the last year.  It just kinda makes you paranoid, you know?

If you like to check out time wasters, try this one.  It's good for some amusement.  The people in my cube and some neighboring cubes have tried it, and 2 out of 5 is a pretty good score.  Zero out of 5 is not uncommon on some of them.

Did you know that it's "normal" for your bike chain to slightly rub the derailer in the highest and lowest gear?  I did not, and that kind of disturbed me when I went to pick up my new bike.  When my bike did that when I was a kid, I just figured it was lack of maintenance.  I didn't end up taking the new bike home today because the people working the place were itching to close, and I still had some questions in my mind about the bike.  Overall, I would not consider my experience at the local bike shop all that stellar.  The first day I went in I could barely get anyone to talk to me or talk about bikes.  Finally they reluctantly answered some of my questions and helped me out.  When I returned five days later after my contemplation and research period, they had sold the bike I was looking at a half hour before I arrived (they didn't know I was coming).  So, they put a bike on order for me - the new 2011 model that they thought was the same as the 2010 model with some different decals.  This was in early July.  That got put on back order, and they didn't bother to call and tell me it was on back order until I went in and asked about the status of the bike.  It finally arrived today, so I go in there, and it turns out it's not "exactly" the same.  The 2010 model had the easy adjust seat, and the 2011 model requires an allen wrench to raise and lower the seat.  Then, when I test rode it the chain was rubbing the derailer in certain gears as I mentioned.  Finally, when I was going to take it for a test ride the second time, they strongly hinted it was a couple minutes after 6:00 and they needed to close because their boss (who was not there) said they needed to close exactly at 6:00.  Anyway, the whole thing has kind of put a bad taste in my mouth.  Usually the poor service I mentioned is what I get from the young kids working in the shop.  The one time I went in there and the owner was there, he was pretty good and volunteered to repair my old bike while I waited for the new one to get out of back order.

Successful baking attempts (first attempts on the recipes) in the past week:  1 for 2.  I tried baking blueberry muffins on Sunday for potluck, but I decided in the middle of mixing that I would double the batch, and I forgot to put in double the flour (I think - not completely positive on this though).  Not being a muffin batter subject matter expert, I didn't really notice that it was unusual for the batter to be so thin.  Therefore, when the muffins started to rise while baking, the batter was really runny and didn't "puff" like it should have.  The muffins sort of grew together instead.  For some reason I have trouble when I try to multiply recipes.  I can even mess up doubling pancake batter from the box where you just add water.  I've done that several times.  Tonight I made some banana bread, and the first taste so far says that turned out all right.  I didn't try to double that batch.

I forgot to tell you about the triathlon idea I dreamed up while volunteering last Saturday.  I think they should make a motorized ironman triathlon.  First, you get on your personal watercraft (a.k.a. JetSki) and ride 2.4 miles.  You hop off that and ride your motorcycle 112 miles.  Then, you jump on your segway and travel 26.2 miles.  Who's ready to help me plan this for next year?

That's enough for today folks....

Packin' It In

It must be August seeing how uneventful blog-land has been.  Here's a little bit of what I was busy with on Saturday.

First, as mentioned, I volunteered at a bike aid station of the local triathlon.  It's a half ironman, so it's pretty intense.  There are some professional triathletes and some people whose goal is to finish.

 Tra-Kac prepping some Gatorade (removing the safety seals so the athletes don't have to mess with that stuff while riding their bike).  Anybody need some Gatorade?  I have a case or two in my fridge.

Whaddya want?  We have Gatorade, water, bananas, power gel, and power bars....

Hand-offs on the move - this is a race y'know.

After the community service, I went kayaking with some friends.  At one point we felt like we were in the wild west carrying our furs down the river.  Or, maybe it was that we were back in 'Nam.  We came from the wrong direction and missed the sign downstream until it was too late of the rod and gun club that said "Caution:  Firearms in Use.  Keep Out".

We also paddled through the marina.  If it was such a good choice, why is it for sale?

Randomness

It appears as though the neighbor kid is old enough to be in Junior High now.  I know this because he apparently also wants to be on the football team.  He was in his front yard doing push-ups sans shirt today when I came home from work.  And, he had a bunch of orange cones set up in the yard.

The new bicycle is on back order and won't be here for a couple more weeks, which is a bummer.  My current bike is on its last legs - the bearings in the pedal assembly thing do a lot of crunching and cracking.

The annual half ironman triathlon is tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to handing out some gel packs, water, and Gatorade.  Plus, I get a free T-shirt for volunteering.  The weather is threatening rain, just like last year at this time.  I'm sensing a pattern.  If only I didn't have to be there so early.

I had a couple other really good contemplations, but they escape me now.  That's what happens when so many thoughts pass through your mind.  Latron gatron.

Mein Vater

Tribute to dad......late just like mom's was.

My dad gets some of the same kudos as Mom.  Teaching me what's important, teaching me discipline, caring about people, how to do your civic duty, and how to stand back and let your kids make their own decisions sometimes.

I think you can certainly blame (or credit) my dad for my sense of humor.  Like my mom, he's not particularly loud and obnoxious, but out of the two of them he is the one more likely to take over the microphone and be the MC at the family reunion.  He can be a smart alec sometimes (sound familiar?).  If you want to see a tender heart, he certainly has one.  He's also very passionate about helping people become better people.  He tries to help them feel welcome, come out of their shell, or learn a new skill (swimming lessons, piano lessons, ice skating lessons).  If I gained my math skills from Mom, Dad gave me the desire to learn about how things work; making the perfect combination for an engineer.  In fact, one of his nicknames is "Mr. Technical."  Through Dad I learned about the importance of talk radio and Rush Limbaugh, and Dad has the spirit of an entrepreneur.  When Dad took us to the grocery store, we always got to buy a couple extra candy bars.

And now, a few words of wisdom from Dad will follow.  I'm sure there are many more I've forgotten, but here is a small sampling:

• Don't run the garbage disposal without running the water in the sink.
• Don't step on the brakes when you're going over the railroad tracks (I still don't fully understand this, but I do know you're not supposed to do it).
• It's a crime to overcook corn on the cob, and you must plant the correct version of corn on the cob so that it's nice and sweet and not too starchy.
• If the snowmobile won't start, open up the hood and put your glove over the carburetor while someone else pulls the rope.
• Don't ride the snowmobile any farther from the house than you're willing to walk.
• Splitting wood warms you twice, sometimes three times.
• Oak has way more BTUs per unit of volume than Cottonwood.
• Driving an hour one way for extra bible study on a weeknight is worth it if it has the chance of saving someone's soul.
• The only one you can completely trust is God.
• Dads will milk the goat for you when you get home at midnight and don't feel like doing it yourself.
• The Statler Brothers, Bill Cosby, and Garrison Keillor.  What else do you need?

Love you, Dad!

Summertime

Aaaahahhh.....summer.  This evening I rode my bike to the beach, played sand volleyball, and ate some watermelon.  What could be more summer-like than that?  I'm getting a little bit impatient for my new bike to come in.  The old one is on its last legs, and the new one was supposed to be in by now, but then it got put on back order.  It's supposed to be the new model that's just coming out, which I'm  not very excited about.  Supposedly they're only changing a couple decals on the new model.  Hopefully that's it because it's never very smart to get the first bike (or anything else) that comes off the assembly line after they've made model line changes.

We had some strong thunderstorms come through here over the weekend, which usually means some big waves and strong rip currents.  This resulted in someone drowning at the main beach yesterday.  I attempted to kayak on the lake on Saturday, and I do mean attempt.  The waves were too big and resulted in capsization.  Twice.  Again, I'm anxious to get the new bike because what else am I supposed to do when I can't kayak?  What?  I should finish painting what?  OK, right arm people.  Latah.

More Changes

Some DJ on the radio a week or so ago said that supposedly every seven years you have a major life event or something like that.  For me, that means I'm about six months overdue.  Is there a tolerance on that seven years?  Plus or minus one  year?  Of course, that's assuming that theory is to be believed.  Maybe it's just the power of suggestion and the fact that there are many significant life events, and there are enough that you can make yourself believe they coincide with seven year marks.

Now that I mention change and life events.....work-wise, my project leader is moving on.  Her husband took a position in China for two years, so she's moving with him.  It's also kind of ironic because both she and her husband are originally from China but are now U.S. citizens.  I taught her a lot of what she knows about refrigerators (but not much about project management and writing software - she learned that somewhere else).  She started with the company about six years ago, and we worked together on projects (me doing hardware, her doing software) for about five years, and for the last year or so she's been my project leader.  During two of those five years we shared a cubicle, and I would consider her a friend.  Speaking of people moving up in the world, one of the hardware engineers I've worked closely with for the last two years will be taking the project leader role.  Sometimes it's a bit weird when people who were your peers become your dotted line boss, but you learn to adjust.  If I had wanted to, I could have interviewed for the project leader job myself, but I decided to let that opportunity pass by me for the moment.  I'm not sure if that was wise or not.  Time may tell, but I may never know.  My challenge now is trying to learn to delegate tasks to other hardware engineers as I am now the assigned lead hardware engineer for some projects.

Question:  In your opinion, do I deal well with change AND/OR do I desire change in my life?  Support your answer with one example.....

On Deck

My project for the last couple of weekends has been power washing and then putting a new coat of sealer on my deck.  I'm guessing it had about 10 years (maybe more) of mildew and dirt build-up on it.  Getting everything done took way longer than expected, but it turned out really nice.  The wood lightened up a lot when I power washed it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  My hamstrings hurt like crazy after spending many hours bent over with a paint brush in hand applying the sealer.

This is the deck a couple years before I started power washing.  Its look did not improve with age as the mildew kept creeping forward.  Ignore the hot tub and focus on the deck - as previously mentioned, the hot tub is history.  I still haven't decided what to do with that vacant space.  I'm waiting for the complete vision to appear of what should go there.

The deck now cleaned and sealed.

Thought Collection

I forgot to mention a couple other things from my trip last week.  The rental car was a Dodge Avenger, and I must say it was pretty nice.  I'm still glad I went with the Herman model, but an Avenger wouldn't have been a bad choice either.  Then I could have named the car Avis.  You would think that living near a body of water would make the air here very humid and it is, but I think southern IN was even more humid than here surprisingly.  Maybe it's just the lethal combination of the blazing heat and the humidity.

I was thinking the other day about people, and engineers in particular.  I would say that probably the coolest, hippest engineer around is still not as hip as the nerdiest human resources or marketing person who walks the earth.  There is the rare engineer that crosses over into the marketing group, but like I said, it's not real common.  And, they're likely not the most popular person in marketing.  Then I was thinking about the building I work in and how there are several hundred engineers grouped in one area.  This kind of creates an illusion that there are "cool" engineers and "nerdy" engineers because there is likely a normal distribution of nerdiness among the engineers.  Having that many engineers grouped together for so many hours every day creates a subculture and starts to make you feel like it's normal to make jokes about units of measure (the Melometer) and other stuff like that.  Then, you add in the fact that most people also work with engineers from other countries.  You assume people from other countries are "normal", but they're probably normal for engineers, not normal for the general population of that country.  So, how do I know if my impression of their country and culture is accurate if I'm getting enginerd skewed data points?

On to another personality contemplation.  I booked a ten day overseas trip with a friend.  On a familiarity scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being someone I met 10 seconds ago and 10 being an immediate family member, I would say this friend would be about a 6.5 +/-1.  I haven't known her real long, but we have some common interests and have taken a couple shorter trips together and gotten along fine.  We bought our airline tickets a couple months ago, and until about a week ago I hadn't thought too much about it.  But, since it's only the two of us, what if we start getting on each other's nerves?  It's not like you can start hanging out with somebody else on the trip.  I'm sure we'll manage and it'll be fine - I'm not actually very worried about it, but it was a thought that crossed my mind.  Maybe going with someone you don't know as well would be better than going with a family member?  I dunno.

Next post, we will discuss my deck project.  Latron.

hEvansville

Miss me?  I was kind of busy traveling for work this week, which is why it was quiet around here.  There weren't any emergencies at work, just some routine data collection to avoid issues in the future.  I was way down in souf' Indiana.  It's kind of a nice town.  Far enough south and a bigger town than here, so they have some different restaurants.  Yet, it's still a small enough town that it's not too frustrating to drive in.  Have you ever noticed how it's the less populated areas that have some of the best radio stations?  We're talking legendary country - Dolly Parton, Highway 101, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, etc.  And.....they had some roadside veggie stands, so I have some fresh sweet corn, watermelon, and cucumbers to eat.  It was a bit depressing to see a fresh refrigerator plant graveyard - the jobs just recently moved to Mexico.  Part of it is the cheap labor available in Mexico, but part of it I also blame on the union - they tend to get greedy and lazy and shoot themselves in the foot.  The design engineers I work with down there are still employed.  So that's a plus.  That's all I've got for now.  I think I hear my mattress calling.

Uffda - Das A Lot Uf Vork

When you've never done something before, it always seems to take longer than expected to accomplish it, doesn't it?  Case in point - washing my deck in preparation for giving it a new coat.  First I had to kill a whole bunch of rabbits, skin them, tan the hides, and then......wait.  Wrong kind of coat.  That was a different project.  Actually, it felt like I spent all day power washing.  First though I had to put stuff on the deck to get the seven-year coat of mildew off there.  I ran out of stuff in the middle of that, so had to go to the store.  Then the power washer ran out of gas, so I made a trip to the gas station.  The prep work is done - now I have to get the new coat on.  That will be an adventure in and of itself too.

The grocery store now has fresh corn on the cob from the state to the south of us, and fresh blueberries are in the store now.  Deeee--lish---us.

How is it that I can spend more than an hour in Lowe's wandering around looking at/for stuff?  FYI, my most recent design at work can now be seen at Lowe's under two different brands (with blue LEDs).  They also had some older products on display too, so that was pretty cool to see two generations of my designs there simultaneously.  Why are movies one of the few things where they list everybody who contributed to the making of it?  It's probably a good thing that every refrigerator doesn't state in the user manual that MelBMarvis did the user interface control, but why do movies get to be special that way?

Potluck

You can't even stop dumpster diving inside corporate America.  We are having to clean up some of the halls and cabinets in our area at work because they have been deemed a fire hazard.  This means lots of boxes thrown in the trash, and my cube mate has been "rescuing" a few of them to take home.  He has an online business at home that involves shipping stuff, so he's always on the lookout for nice boxes.

It has been H. O. T. here the last couple of days.  At least outside - inside at work it's the normal ice box.  This weather has really been making me a wimp.  Can you believe that I used my air conditioning already in June?  How pathetic is that?  Usually I can make it to the middle of July or early August before I cry uncle.  But, I guess that's why I pay to have it serviced once a year.  The temperature was still about 85 degrees here at 9:00 PM tonight.

Yesterday was kind of a bummer of a day.  First it was virtual Monday, but I really can't complain about that too much - work went fairly smooth.  I found out through Facebook that I missed watching the fireworks with some of my friends from town here, partly because I was stupid and didn't leave a phone message.  We got beaten soundly in our softball game, and to add insult to injury we got rained on and thoroughly soaked during the bottom half of the last inning.  There was some consolation at the end of the day.....winning at euchre, and indulging at Chili's with some strawberry lemonade and a Southern Smokehouse burger.

Does anybody have a favorite salmon marinade/recipe they want to share?  That's hopefully on the supper agenda for tomorrow.

I cashed in my pocket change today, and the total was $120 - from two medium sized glass jars.  Can you believe that?  So, don't be turning up your nose if someone says it's just pocket change.

Another 7:30 AM meeting at work tomorrow.....I best get moving and finish the rest of my web surfing before bed.

Independence Post

4th of July Weekend List
Roller coasters at Six Flags:  Check.
Taste of Chicago:  Check.
Navy Pier:  Check.
Chinese acrobatics:  Check.
Power boat extreme thrill ride (which really wasn't all that extreme):  Check.
Hanging out with Shar Squared:  Check.
Awesome fireworks show:  Check.
Kayaking:  Check.
Sunbathing on the beach:  Check.
Beautiful weather all weekend thanks to a high pressure system:  Check.
Racquetball:  Check.
Not getting the closet painted:  Check.
Reading a book or two:  Check.
Not getting enough sleep:  Check.
Sunburn kept to a minimum:  Check (and that's an accomplishment considering how much sun I got).

That pretty much sums it up I think.  Along with large crowds come some interesting (and often inappropriate) clothing.  A few slogans and one bumper sticker I saw this past weekend: 

• "Drunk Chicks Dig Me"  --Really, this one is kind of sad if you think about it.  What is it saying about his self esteem?
• "Blink If You Want Me"  --Tricky.
• "I do what the voices in my wife's head tell me to"  --Can only he hear them, or can she hear them too?
• "Paddle faster - I hear banjo music"  --Now that's funny, no sexual overtones required.
• "Make love not babies"  --Hmmm.....sometimes I hear that's tough to do.
• "I'm the hot friend"  --That girl should find some shade and a fan - or maybe some AC.

She cheated a tiny bit - had a safety wire just in case she fell.  Really, how bad could it hurt if she fell?  It was only like 40 feet in the air.

Now that's goofy!

Modeling for Ocean Spray in Chicago and in front of a fountain there.  Can you believe I didn't put any odd faces on that day?  At least not for the camera....

Staycation

The weekend forecast is for fun in the sun and some other stuff and things.  I'm a bit disappointed at myself for not being on the ball and for being too stingy with my vacation, so I'm not going to MT to 'vention and to hang out with Ananias afterward.  But - all is not lost.  I will get some fun in a little bit closer to home.  It's more of a "staycation", really.  Not all the details are worked out yet, but let's just say there may be some coasters and tastes involved.  Along with some fireworks and some other stuff that is still TBD.

My work calendar for tomorrow had zero meetings scheduled on it when I left work today.  Can you believe it?  Things can change fast and there may be some unscheduled meetings that pop up, but I'm hoping to get some good work time in despite winding down for the weekend.

I'm playing in the beach volleyball league this year, and you know what that means.  Sand.  Drug in on the floor.  Which leads to grittiness with bare feet, resulting in more frequent vacuuming.  Oh drudgery.  It can wait a bit longer I think.

Oddness

Let me tell you a little story here - eventually it will become clear how this relates to my current life.  It was my third year of college, and I was sharing an apartment with Tammy in EGF.  For the first semester I was borrowing Ananias's box spring and mattress.  I can't remember now why she didn't need it at the time.  However, sometime during that year Ananias repossessed her mattress and box spring.  This left me without a bed, so my choices were to sleep on the floor, buy a new bed, or temporarily sleep on the futon in the living room.  I chose the futon at first because it was more comfortable than the floor and I was busy studying, etc. and didn't find the time to purchase a new bed.  Plus, all I had was Reggie, and he wasn't really capable of transporting a bed.  Mostly it was just lack of motivation to buy a new bed - the futon wasn't all that uncomfortable.  When I first started sleeping on the futon I meant for it to be temporary with good intentions of buying a new bed.  But, a week turned into several weeks and perhaps even months.  I don't really remember how long it went on.  I finally bought a new bed, mostly because it was starting to drive my roommate crazy that I was sleeping on her futon in the living room and using my bedroom as a giant closet and dressing room.  I didn't want to live with an insane person if it was easily preventable.  I borrowed Jim's pick-up truck, and Chris and I went to Sam's Club one Saturday and bought a new bed, which I still own by the way.

Anyway, the point of this is: if my living conditions are in disarray, it doesn't really bother me that much as long as it happens gradually or I know the reason they are like that.  For example, my closet.  Events at Christmas time caused me to start a repair on some sheetrock in my closet.  At that time I had to partially empty the shelves in my closet to keep my clothes from getting messed up.  The project went slowly and I finally finished the sheetrock patching in April or March I think.  In May I emptied my whole closet in preparation for painting the ceiling in my closet as part of the patching project.  I'm pretty much at the six month mark of my closet being in disarray.  The end is in sight as the primer went on yesterday.  I just need to slap the paint on, wipe down the shelves, vacuum, and restore my clothes to my closet.  My makeshift closet is now spread out over three different rooms.  Check it out.  And yes, those are all clean clothes, not dirty clothes.  I have a couple laundry bags of dirty clothes around too.  Who knew I had so many clothes?

Green Eyes, or Trying to Learn?

I'm a faithful reader of the blog written by my friend Avis.  (I didn't want to figure out the correct way to make Avis possessive, which is why I wrote that sentence that way.)  As I read her blog today, I was amazed again by her commitment to lifelong learning.  At the ripe age of twenty-*something*, she is learning to play the banjo.  In the past year she has also learned to knit.  She always has a project or two going and mentions baking cookies or bread or muffins frequently.  She also has a full time job (at least during the school year).  She is often training for some kind of running event like a half marathon or a marathon.

How do people like that get so much done?  It seems like all I accomplish most days is to go to work, do some form of exercise, cobble together the most rudimentary of meals, post on this silly blog, check facebook (it's usually a quick check - scout's honor), take a shower, and go to bed.  Once or twice a month I also have to pay some bills.  Where am I wasting my time?  I know it's not good to compare myself to others because we all have our own individual gifts, but it's not bad to learn a few skills from other people either.  Maybe all I need are some lessons in time organization or to learn how not to be a perfectionist.  I could also become less of a workaholic I suppose.

But, speaking of time organization, it's amazing how much you can get done in an evening when you leave work at 5:00.  Yesterday I did that, and I managed to play a softball game, go home, eat supper, spend time on the internet scoping airline tickets, go kayaking, try to do some work that got derailed because a software license expired, and I still was in bed before 11:30.  I was going to try to copy Avis and post an "Aaaaaah, summer" post with a picture of the lake taken from my kayak.  However, that didn't seem like a good idea to try to get my camera out when I had to watch out for the 2 or 3 foot swells.  The water was slightly rough and I capsized on my first launch try yesterday evening.  Good thing it was June and not November, so I was able to attempt a second launch and still go paddling.  Now I must go to bed so that I can get up semi-early and hopefully accomplish something besides doing nothing tomorrow.

Dilemma

Soooo.......facebook is causing social dithering again.  Do you remember how I said it was a social minefield?  I traveled for work to a different location a while back.  Today I received a friend request from a person who works at that location.  That wouldn't be all that odd in itself seeing how I work closely with several people there.  The thing is, I barely know this friend request person at all.  If it's the person I think it is that I vaguely remember meeting while I was there, he stopped me in the hall and introduced himself and we had a brief conversation about what I was working on.  This person is not someone I regularly interact with at work.  He's a mechanical engineer from a department my group doesn't interact with much if at all.  I looked him up in the corporate directory, but both his picture on facebook and his picture in the corporate directory do not give a good look at his face, so I'm not sure I even have the right person's image in my head.

Anyways, we don't have any "official" mutual friends on facebook, although a couple of his facebook friends are people that I regularly work with.  This means that he had to have purposefully searched for me on facebook.  The big question is, what's his angle?  I think I know what it is, but am interested to see what other people think.  The other question is, would it be a bad idea to ask my co-workers I know well from that location what they think of this guy, causing rumors/gossip to possibly fly around the workplace there?  I'm not all that interested in approving him as a friend if he's going to turn out to be a stalker or something, but at the same time it doesn't seem like it would hurt to approve his friend request, seeing how I don't post much stuff on facebook and don't really hear from anybody all that much via facebook.

In other topics, I've been the kind of person in the past who likes to cook meat on "high" - maximum temps, minimum time.  But, I'm learning to have a little more patience and less paranoia about undercooked meat.  Boy, the brats I grilled this evening sure were good when I did more of a slow cook.  Along with them I did asparagus and potatoes on the grill.  Mmmmm......mmmmm.....mmmmm.

Until this year, I think I didn't fully appreciate summer.  This year, I'm appreciating every hot day and trying to make the most of it.  Well, most of the time anyway.  I am sitting here at my computer as we speak instead of going down to the beach to watch the sunset.  It seems like summer is going way too fast this year.

My first paragraph reminded me of a story that I forgot to tell about Memorial Day.  Ananias and I were at the grocery store looking at all the coffee options (after the hot dog abortion discussion).  Well, she was looking and I was patiently waiting and trying to helpfully point out what different brands were available.  After allowing her five minutes of intense contemplation, I said, "Now I know how other people feel when I sit and dither about a decision forever."  It was kind of a funny incident, and I think Ananias thought it was funny because I used the word dither in normal conversation, but really, who doesn't do that?  Just saying - there's not really a moral to that story.  Later gators.

I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I'm totally going to get into trouble with Gin, but I saw the matching shirt for those Wal-Mart pants today at the beach.  I was down at the beach playing beach volleyball.  We had finished playing (it was blazing hot by the way), and I was walking on the sidewalk toward my bike.  Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a lady on the beach headed toward the sidewalk who was topless (the beach is not a nude beach, fyi).  After doing a double-take, I realized that the woman did have a shirt on.  However, the shirt was flesh-colored and tight enough that it didn't leave too much to the imagination.  I briefly wondered if it was part of her bathing suit, but I do believe it was a shirt.  I'm not sure what to say after that other than it happens in places other than Wal-Mart.  Too bad I didn't have my camera with me because on my ride home from the beach I saw a young deer on the side of the road.  He just had small prongs for horns, and they were in velvet.  That would have made an awesome picture.

Winding Down the Weekend

I can't complain about the kind of weekend we had here. It was gorgeous weather with temperatures in the 70's and 80's. It wasn't unbearably humid, and the wind was kept to a minimum. A few highlights:

• A little Saturday evening kayak excursion including another successful beach launch.
• Fellowship on Sunday morning and afternoon.
• A bike excursion around town Sunday evening - I checked out all three public beaches near my house.
• A snack of mulberries fresh off the tree at the beach near my house both after kayaking and biking.
• Finishing off the weekend watching the sunset and hearing Amazing Grace and Taps live on bagpipes. Check it out below. I have no idea who the guy was and why he was at that particular tiny public beach doing that, but it was cool.
  

Momma Always Said.....

....."It won't take very long if we all pitch in and help."  (When she was trying to get us to do our Saturday housework jobs.)  I was going to make a whole bulleted list of sayings from my mom, but this was really the only one I could come up with.  You know that saying about how people won't remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel?  Well, that's my mom I guess.

She's not flashy or flamboyant.  She's not loud or overly talkative.  She's not a pushover - in fact, she's a pretty tough cookie even though she may not look like one.  Just ask her math students.  She's likely where I got my math skills and my penchant for penny pinching.  I learned from her that four king-size candy bars on sale 4-for-$1 can be the special treat of the month.  She taught me how to shop for groceries, how to pack those groceries into bags at the grocery store, and how to cook those ingredients once you get home (I'm still learning things from her about that last one).  Although I never do this myself, I learned from Mom that some people will read the ending of a book first and then start at the beginning if the ending is good.  Need a helper to install vinyl, install laminate flooring, remove wallpaper, remove wallpaper paste, paint, drive grain truck, drive tractor, or put on a meal for 50 people?  Mom's the one.....

Most importantly, my mom helped teach me what the most important thing in life is - a relationship with God.  She taught me discipline, and I'm still learning from her what it means to care about people.  She also had the strength to stand back and let her kids make some of their own decisions, but she often has the wisdom to offer some good suggestions when it's needed.  Even when it was needed but not appreciated at the time, she offered sage advice.

There is a long list of things I forgot I'm sure, but I figured I better finally post this since I started it more than a month ago.  Thanks Mom, and I love you!  Now I'll need to start on my Father's Day post - look for it in July....

Super Nerd!

It's amazing how soon you forget and how important details are sometimes.  You can take data for an experiment and come back and look at the data half a day later and barely remember all the details of what you did, what the conditions were, etc.  If you don't know the circumstances of how the data was gathered, it basically makes it worthless.  Thus was born the advocacy in six sigma training of copious notes.

And you think it's bad to expound the virtues of copious notes?  You should see the new guy in our group who started working this week.  I look like an amateur engineer next to him.  I mean, how can I compete with an EE who does ham radio, talks about eigenfunctions, and makes units conversion spreadsheets that include units of lengths like a shed, a hand, etc.?  I feel like a blonde next to him.....oh wait, I am!  I'm telling you, I'm a lightweight.

I'm thinking of all those people I know at convention.  I sure wish I could be there too, but unfortunately work and travel arrangements didn't work out to go there this weekend (MT or WY).  That might be just as well - it'll give me time to do a little yard work and go watch a re-enactment of a military operation down at the beach.  Maybe - if I get on the ball tomorrow and don't waste my Saturday.  Why would I want to be gone every weekend in the summer anyway?  Then I don't even get to enjoy the beautiful summer weather here.  Later, peeps.

Changes

For the last six or eight months, I have been seeing a massage therapist (her name is Holly) before my chiropractic appointment.  I would highly recommend doing that.  It makes the adjustment go smoother I think.  Anyway, Holly has made a change in her schedule, so the resident Thursday afternoon person is now Tina.  Today was the first day with Tina.  And it wasn't bad, but she definitely applied more pressure than Holly, which sometimes I do like.  Sometimes it hurt quite a bit too.

Let's do a little massage therapist review just for fun.  First there was Meagan - I think she is actually still my most favoritest one so far.  She applied good pressure and made me feel at ease as a first timer - but maybe they all do that.  I liked her technique too.  Then there was Ashley.  I only saw her a couple times when I couldn't get an appointment with Meagan.  I wouldn't say she was bad, but she is probably my least favorite.  She didn't apply enough pressure and her fingers were too small and pointy.  Then there was Holly.  She was somewhere between Meagan and Ashley.  She had good people skills, and her pressure applying skills were a little bit light, but only slightly.  She had good techniques too (in my opinion, but I'm not an expert).  I got used to her.  Now we have Tina.  Lots of pressure so far - the jury is still out on a final decision.

We solved one thorny issue at work last week, and now I've been working on a second one.  Progress is a bit slow, but I have hopes we'll get it solved in the next day or two.  What else.....the softball team is doing very will this year, sand volleyball has started, and it has been nice and warm the last couple of days.  Summer goes way too fast.

Farm out!

Verbal Summary of Past Week

Here's my attempt to sum up in words the last week or ten days.

• I rode and/or drove in a car at least four hours each day for four days in a row.  I'm pretty sure I get that kind of insanity from my parents.
• Speaking of the 'rents, I saw them the weekend I as in WI.
• I saw my brother and his family also.  As I mentioned, his girls really like the pool.  We swam indoors and outdoors in Door County whether the weather cooperated or not.
• I was at a friend's house when they got the call about a relative dying.  It was an expected death but still hard to see somebody get that kind of news.  I am so not good at knowing what to say or do in those situations.
• Unlike last time I was there, Iowa was bright green.  I would highly recommend the drive across SW WI and NE IA on US Hwy 151 - it really is a beautiful drive this time of year with all those rolling hills and corn fields.
• The circumstances of my being in Iowa were high pressure, but it was still fun in a weird sort of way.  It's energizing to work together with a team where all the team members are pulling their weight and you're able to finally solve the issue you've been working on for several weeks with limited success.  We got to do some "real" engineering work instead of just managing projects!
• Kudos to 3M's adhesive product 7959MP.  
• As mentioned in my previous post, I got to see the most recent project I worked on displayed in Best Buy.
• This isn't related to the past week, but I heard about this on the radio today and wondered how anybody would ever think that would be a good idea.  People wear padded shorts while biking for a reason!

I Feel Like I've Been Running A Marathon

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because I've been busy with a capital B.  In the span of about ten days I was in six states and worked more than 60 hours last week.  By the time I got home on Friday I was down to my European underwear.  I'll just post a few pictures for right now.  They're probably more interesting than my thoughts anyway.

Me and my nieces (they sure do love the swimming pool).

How I spent part of my time in Iowa - trying to take data on the circuit boards in the thermal chamber.  We had six computers taking data simultaneously, and they all fit on that one small table.

Bruno - one of the guys from Brazil that I work with on a daily basis.  Incidentally, he's pointing to our handiwork that can now be seen in stores.  That's a good looking version of our work, but there's an even better looking one coming soon.

Memorable Memorial Weekend

The weekend summary post has percolated long enough and is now ready for public consumption.  The synopsis is that I went to Madison on Friday to get my annual eye exam, flew from Milwaukee to Denver, spent the weekend in southeast Wyoming, and flew home.  Here are the memorable highlights.

1. I got my eyes dilated.  That is so weird how your pupil can almost completely cover your iris.  I bet I freaked out some store clerks first by wearing my sunglasses indoors and secondly by taking my sunglasses off and having freaky pupils.
2. Having my eyes be weird must have affected my judgment as I dropped some more cash off at Eddie Bauer.  Either that or it weakened my willpower.
3. I set a new personal record.  I booked my flight and rental car at rock-bottom prices less than 24 hours before the flight took off.
4. Much to my chagrin, I did NOT see any antelope.  That's what happens when my spotter (Uncle John) isn't around.  Plus, no additional entry in the wildlife tracker.
5. It's God's country in more ways than one.
6. I hung my head in shame as I crossed the state line into Wyoming in my rental Prius with Colorado plates.  I got a measly 42 mpg and was barely able to pass some woikas on a steep hill at one point.  I'm glad I purchased Herman instead of a Prius.
7. I spent a good part of the weekend with more than one of my faithful readers.  Who knew I had such a large fan club?
8. Linda kept pulling strawberries and other fresh fruit from somewhere.  I think we had strawberries every meal that I was there.  Thanks for all your hospitality J & L!
9. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention the clear blue skies.
10. And now the start of the hot dog portion of this post.  Did you know that hot dog ingredients start with the phrase "mechanically separated" and then go on to list the different meats?  True story - check your own label.  That got me curious about how exactly hot dogs are made, and I found this handy video.
11. According to Jim, the main ingredient in hot dogs that aren't specifically beef hot dogs are made mostly from poultry because companies are allowed to grind up a high percentage of chicken bones into them.  They're not allowed to grind up pork and beef bones.  Thank you, soft chicken bones and a strong lobby.
12. Did I mention hot dogs?  Ananias and I had a devout Catholic talk to us about the atrocities of abortion while we were in the hot dog section of King Soopers.
13. I'll share a couple gems from the podcasts I listened to.  First, the army's policy on hermaphrodites:  don't ask, can't tell.  Secondly, the iPad has an image problem because it looks like an iPhone for elderly people (you know, the large print version).
14. And of course I saw some other important people like B & K and Mow.  Notably missing was Gin because she had something important going on like having family in town.  What is up with those priorities?
15. Every time I go out there, I realize again how words really can't explain the quality of the people out there.  Let's just say I really appreciate it.  Maybe's it's that pioneer spirit combined with God's spirit.

Lucky for you, somebody (not me) took some people pictures.  Mow had her game face on both times.  Mow with Jim, Linda, MelBMarvis, and Ananias.

P.S.  Very important - apparently I didn't let it percolate quite long enough.

16.  Skip to my Lou with Hattie, Justin, and Stewart (sp?)

Slow and Steady

Dude, you know that turtle from the previous post?  I almost ran over him with my car today.  He was out in the middle of the road and from a distance it looked like some garbage on the road until I got closer.  Well, I think it was the same turtle, but it's hard to say for sure while I breezed past him at 25 mph.  He was in the same general vicinity as my previous sighting, but he wasn't wearing a name tag.  I think the people working on the golf course near there may have disturbed him.

If I see him again, I might have to name him.  Todd....no, that's the name you'd give a toad.  Ted?  No, too cuddly.  Thomas - sounds more like a train engine.  Timothy, Timmy, Tim?  Ehhhhhh....that's a possibility, but still not quite right.  I know.....how about Tupac?

That's all for now folks.  The next installment will be my Memorial Day holiday summary.  It was a hot dog kind of weekend.  That's probably the best description even though no hot dogs were harmed or eaten during the making of this weekend.

More of the Wild Life

Baby robins last week and this week.  They growing surprisingly fast.

This big guy was near the bike path on my way to work.  It's hard to tell how big he was from this picture, but I'm guessing his shell was at least a foot in diameter.

P.S.  There must be a killdeer with a nest right by the bike path too because he/she screams at me every time as I go by, but it doesn't move off that little patch it has staked out.

Today

1. I tried making fried rice for the first time.  It didn't taste all that Chinese-y, but it was still good.  It was at least one level above the pork and broccoli stir fry attempt.
2. Did the biannual sheet changing today.  Or maybe it is biennial.....now that would be a long time to go without changing your sheets.
3. My project leader gave me some fresh salmon steaks yesterday (I think her husband caught them when he was fishing), so I cooked those up today.  It was quite the culinary day.
4. In high school I vaguely remember reading a poem about fog, and I think the poem talked about it having silent feet or something.  The feeling you get as it comes in is almost enough to put chills down your spine.  You can go from a sunny day to getting this sudden cool, clammy feeling.
5. Here's my balderdash definition.  Berfe:  adj.  Having an average amount of muscle mass.
6. Linda, not sure if I'll be making it to your state this year or not......
7. They call them bee days here too.

I went and looked up the poem.  Apparently it's by the American poet Carl Sandburg.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Busy

Whew!  It's been a busy bee kind of week work-wise.  Lots of intense phone calls, data taking, thought and data analysis, test planning, etc.  We're talking 7:30 AM EDT conference calls with people on Central and Pacific time - that means one guy was on the phone at 4:30 AM.  And still not a solution to the issue in sight.  Look on the bright side - I'm able to use some of my six sigma training this week.  This is the first time I powered up my home computer in several days - can you believe that?

The first game of the summer rec softball season resulted in a win for our team.  Woo-hoo!

Question:  What is the nickname Midge short for?  Margaret?  Mildred?  Just wondering.  Bonus question:  How does Midge fit into the Archie comic book series?

A guy died kayaking the river last week about 30 miles from here.   Hmm.....I think it's time I finally made my maiden kayak voyage of the season.  But...that guy wasn't wearing his life jacket.  I plan to wear mine, Mom and Dad.

Last weekend I put up plastic in preparation for painting.  I guess I didn't get to it soon enough - the tape gave way already and the plastic fell down.  Friday or Saturday maybe that will get done.

I had a volunteer broccoli plant from last year growing in my flower bed.  Until today when a rabbit or groundhog or something snipped it off.  They didn't even have the good grace to take it away and eat it - just left it laying on my front step!

That's all I got for now.  Wish me luck!

Mammo Jamma

OK, my last post wasn't so charitable and I apologize for that.  Can you believe I went to meeting yesterday and everything?  I must not have listened hard enough.  It's good to be reminded that I need to stick to making fun of myself and inanimate objects and processes on this blog.  Therefore, to redeem myself I shamelessly stole this from another's blog that I frequent.  It was so funny, it literally made me laugh out loud.  The mental pictures are priceless.  Be smart, save second base.  That's what the T-shirt says (I saw it again today at the Y).

Many women are afraid of their first mammogram, but there's no need to worry. By taking a few minutes each day for a week preceding the exam, and doing the following practice exercises, you will be totally prepared. And you can do this right in your own home!
 
Exercise 1:
Open your refrigerator door and insert one breast between the door and the main box. Have one of your strongest friends slam the door shut and lean on the door for good measure. Hold that position for five seconds (while you hold your breath). Repeat again, in case the first time wasn't effective enough.

Exercise 2:
Visit your garage at 3 am when the temperature of the cement floor is just perfect. Take off your clothes and lie comfortably on the floor with one breast wedged under the rear tire of the car. Ask a friend to slowly back the car up until your breast is sufficiently flattened and chilled. Turn over and repeat for the other breast.

Exercise 3:
Freeze two metal bookends overnight. Strip to the waist. Invite a stranger into the room. Press the bookends against one of your breasts. Smash the bookends together as hard as you can. Set an appointment with the stranger to meet next year and do it again!!

CONGRATULATIONS!
Now you have nothing at all to worry about when you go for your mammogram!

Observations

Today while basking in the sun reading a book in my dining room in the chair I bought specifically for that purpose, I could see a robin nest where the parent(s) would fly to the nest with some special morsel (often looked like worms).  Then I would see these baby robin heads with wide open beaks pop up above the edge of the nest, and the parent would drop the morsel into the baby's mouth.  That was pretty cool to watch.  I would have liked to get a picture of that, but taking pictures through glass doesn't work too well, and my patience with sitting very still outside ran thin.  I tried to get up close and look in the nest, but it's really tight and kind of difficult to access under the eave, so I only kinda sorta got a look at that (see the title bar picture).

A couple weeks ago I was told about a website that is all pictures of people in Wal-Mart.  I haven't done an extensive search of all the photos on there, but here's the one that made me laugh the most.  The picture is only moderately funny, but the caption below it is what makes it.

The guys at work showed me a couple videos on YouTube the other day.  They're Toyota ads for the Sienna minivan.  At the Y, I've seen a few of their new ads, and when I had seen them before I was never exactly sure what the ad was trying to convey.  I think maybe the point is that the Sienna makes you feel like it was made just for you and makes you look modern and cool even though everybody else has one too.  Anyway, Toyota has some other videos in that same vein.  Check out this one and this one.  Let's be honest - those videos do not make me want to buy a Sienna.  It kind of makes me think if I owned one that I might be a pretentious jerk of a parent.  My apologies to a certain blog reader who owns one!  Why would Toyota think that's a good ad campaign?  Maybe I just don't get it because I'm not a cool parent....

P.S.  If a guy is going to have a full beard, a closely trimmed one like that Toyota Sienna dad has is the best kind in my opinion.

Getting Older

Some lady was saying on the radio yesterday that every girl dreams about her wedding dress and what it's going to be like, etc.  I don't think I've had that dream once.  It's not that I've never dreamed about being married, but envisioning the wedding has never really been my thing.

A replacement credit card came in the mail today, and it just had the card number printed on it (no raised numbers).  That's one more thing I can tell stories about to little kids when I get old.  Speaking of getting old, I got an e-mail about that the other day.  There are a few of these I don't identify with, but quite a few them I do....

If you are 30, or older, you might think this is hilarious!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!  

But now that I'm way over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.  You've got it so easy!  I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a darn Utopia!   And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet.  If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!  (Mel:  Yep, did that, at least in high school)

 
There was no email!  We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!   Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there!  Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.  As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to whip us too!  Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes!  If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!  There were no CD players!  We had tape decks in our car...  We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless.  Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby!  Dig?  (Mel:  Totally did the taping the radio thing and agree that the DJ would often ruin the beginning or ending.)
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting!  If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !  Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!  And then there's TEXTING.  Yeah, right.  Please!  You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!  It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!  You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!  (Mel:  When I was a kid, I constantly struggled with incoming calls being my drug dealer and bookie - don't most kids?)

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!  We had the Atari 2600!  With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.  Your screen guy was a little square!  You actually had to use your imagination!  And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever!  And you could never win.  The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!  Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!  You had to get off your butt and walk over to the TV to change the channel!  NO REMOTES!  Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!  (Mel:  OK, I'm not quite that old....although some of the TVs at school were like that.)

There was no Cartoon Network either!  You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.  Do you hear what I'm saying?  We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves.  If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove!  Imagine that!   (Mel:  Mom got a microwave right before I was born, so this didn't apply for me.  We always cooked the Schwan's chicken patties in it.) 

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long.  Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort.  And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!  
And car seats - oh, please!  Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on.  If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!  
See!  That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten!  You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd  

Sightings

I went home this past weekend.  It was a nice combination of factors that drew me.  Mother's Day, a cheap airline ticket, special meeting near my sister's house, seeing Muggles and BIL-Dan's new house, etc.  There was a minimal amount of flight trouble despite the risk I took of flying on United out of Chicago.  Besides visiting with the family, I helped Muggles prime some bathroom walls and we also washed wallpaper paste off a couple walls.  I was having so much fun I didn't really get an good people pictures.  I also forgot to take my camera with me on the way to SM.  Luckily Mom had hers in her purse, so I got to take a few awesome wildlife photos.  Check out a choice one below with some pelicans, ducks, and a blue heron all in the picture.

I was inspired by K's mother's day post to start one, but it might have to wait until tomorrow to be finished.  It needs time to percolate.  I forgot to pack a M-Day card when I flew home, so Mom had to settle for just seeing me instead.  I am very terrible at gifts and cards.  I realize that kind of stuff is important to people and I try to make an effort to be diligent about purchasing them and sending them, but I often fall short (probably because it's not all that important to me, which I know is selfish).  Continuous improvement.  That's my goal.

Engrish

Pedometer instructions:

Mounting:  Attach the pedometer securely to your waistband or belt, close to the center of your body.  False mounting or walking way will possibly arouse inaccurate result.

Don't forget to call or say hello to your mother!

Covered Dish

Well, let's see......it feels like a random bullet post kind of day.

• Saw a herd  of deer on my way to work today.  There were at least 9 of them.  I know that's nothing for you people living near corn fields, but near my house that's quite a few.
• I got a free pedometer from work yesterday.  I said I took over 7000 steps today.  Does that seem right?  I only did a moderate level of exercise today.
• The pedometer instructions were amusing and a good example of poorly translated English.  Maybe I'll post an excerpt from them tomorrow (I don't have them at home right now).
• Getting a few softball practices in before the "real" season starts.  Woo-hoo!
• These bullet points tend to encourage incomplete sentences, which disturbs me a bit.
• So many vacation, staycation, and summer travel options, so little time....and so difficult to make a choice.
• I was realizing again yesterday how much "diversity" is in my life.  On any given day at work, it's likely I will talk to or instant message with someone originally from India, Brazil, Egypt/Israel, Kosovo, China, Mexico, Italy, Indiana, Iowa, and who knows where else.
• It looks like I need to mow my grass tomorrow.  I'll have to remember to get gas for the mower.

This is getting lame.....piece out, dudes and dudettes.

Living Dangerously

Supper tonight:  It's the first time I've tried Mom's pork and broccoli stir-fry recipe.  I had to make some improvisations, use the two-year-old pork in the freezer, two week old broccoli, and the cooked rice I accidentally left out on the counter last night.  It tastes OK.  Not exactly like when Mom makes it, but it's edible.  If I die of food poisoning in the next couple days, you'll know what happened.

I heard an ad on the radio today for a medication that's supposed to help with gout.  Is that really such a common problem that it's worth paying for a radio ad?  It seems like there would be a better place to advertise - like at GSA meetings or something (Gout Sufferers Anonymous).

Feeling a bit absent-minded?  Me too!  Union meeting yesterday was 65 minutes away, which is fine.  We got there on time and everything.  The only thing was that I forgot my coat with my keys in it at the meeting place, and I didn't remember it until we were halfway home.  We had to turn around to go back and get the coat.  My car pool buddy had to drive an extra hour just because of that.  Oops.

Crunchiness: Complete

Herman with his new "look".  Does he seem happy you think?

I didn't take a before picture, but here is an after picture of my first chainsaw foray.  I put a few illustrations in there so you can try to imagine what the before picture would be like.

I like the way spinach tastes, but sometimes I don't like the way it makes my teeth "fuzzy".  I may have a connection with a source to get some fresh asparagus on Wednesday.  Yum.