Why Remember?

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In a couple weeks, my grandson will have reached his 53rd week of life. A pretty good accomplishment when you consider the crying, the sleepless nights, and the unfathomable tantrums. If only I were that cute. Actually, I had no doubts that he would reach his first year in fine fashion. In the days that have passed so rapidly, he and I have shared several very unique and fun filled moments.

I understand that I had similar fun times as a baby with my grandfather in England. Sadly, I don't remember any of them. My earliest memory is sitting and playing in a mud colored running stream of water that resulted from a flash flood in Texas. And I'm pretty sure I wasn't in Texas as part of a witness relocation program.

Anyway, how many people have we delighted and had wonderful experiences with but can't remember a single moment because of our immature brains? I can't help but wonder if we might have become better people had we had those enduring memories to get us through those tough days of youth. Or, at the very least, I wish that my grandson would remember our special times … especially in the coming days when I can't.

Hide Away

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Aside from the shininess, you wouldn’t give the metal drum another thought. (Unless you were temporarily blinded by a flash of light and tripped over it. In which case, please sign this release form before reading further.) Poised under the shady back corner of the weathered roof, this metallic cylinder is filled with clear water that you assume rode off the top of my home during one of the many torrential summer down pours. Yet, if you know which of the three steel bars that surround the drum to move, you can pivot this deceptive rain barrel on the fourth bar and reveal an opening to a tunnel lined with stainless steel drums. A short drop down finds you navigating through an exciting but dimly lit human-hamster trail. (Yes, a brief exclamation of "Weeeeee!" is expected.) Then, at last, you discover my secret den, my man cave, my fortress of solitude, my reclusive refuge from the daily demands of family and work. (You've come this far so I can trust you not to tell. Please?)

The air is fresh and bug free by vents I specially designed to pierce the ground that hides under the canopy of my home’s crawl space. Depending upon the time of year, you would find yourself luxuriously cooled or warmed by the unchanging temperature of the surrounding earth. The allure of a deliciously stocked refrigerator and soft lights powered by tapped electricity seductively beckon you to stay.

But you can’t. This is my domain. Stealthy and slavishly built. This is my attempt to recharge --- so I can fight good fights of righting wrongs, of providing to those in need, of teaching by example and … of staying alive long enough to make a difference. Your overwhelm desire to remain doesn’t matter. For the brief time I am In this sanctuary, I can selfishly ignore what you and everyone else wants. How did you get here anyway? OH, wait. I guess every super hero needs a trusty sidekick.

Testing a new blogging Tool

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I’ve read quite a bit lately on Microsoft Live Essentials.  Included in their package is a new version of Live Writer.   So here is a test of Live Writer to place a post on this blog without having to sign in first.

Spell checking works.  Word counting works and will be very helpful for assignments.

Here is an insertion test of a map.  Unfortunately, Live Writer uses Bing for its maps.  So when I ask for the location of “Jack Britt High School” (#4 in the state of public high schools and in the top 100 in the entire United States), Bing wasn’t even close.  Fortunately, I could manual direct the map to the proper location.  Insertion works fine.

Previewing an unpublished post works.  However, you don’t see the first post on your blog, only the second and subsequent entries.  Minor annoyance…

a ring?

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My friends at work have been asking when I'm going to buy a wedding ring for my fiancee. A wedding ring? So far, it's been a few dollars to add her to my Sam's membership here, AAA membership there, moving truck cost, apartment fees and other expenses -- all motivated by my love for her. At this point, a wedding ring is just a formality after I've regained a financial hold, isn't it ...

Romantic Lighting

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The newest green, making-money-through-guilt technology is the LED light bulb which uses about a tenth of the electricity of regular incandescent bulb. Unfortunately, there is the tiny detail of having to pay almost a gazillion times the cost of our current anti-save-the-planet lighting globes. There is also the matter of not having the same bright, diffused light pattern. This isn't a problem if you are going for that romantic, over-priced mood that drives women wild, especially as kitchen lighting. Of course, I've found that you can get the same effect of dim lighting without a large after-dinner price tag. My frightened dates often refer to it as an uncontrolled fire. I call it a meal (and kitchen) well cooked. Somehow, the romance ends charred as well ...

Were Oreos really that important?

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Yes, I know Oreos are a tasty, life-giving treat from the gods. And I completely understand why I would be asked to pick up a package or two (or hundred) from the store. Still, I had spent the week and a better part of the day running around to save the world. Retrieving Oreos were the last thing on my mind when I stopped to get other much more urgently needed supplies.

But, like you've heard, it only takes one mistake to whip out a million good deeds. The undelivered Oreos infuriated its intended devouree. So much so that they informed the world of their displeasure with furious "WTF" Facebook post.

Here's where you have to decide what the mature response should be. Do you flame back on the post? Do you start pointing out all the good that you've been doing to enhance their life? Do you remind them that they aren't 5 years old? Or, do you ignore this public tantrum and go on with your life?

Sometimes, it's better to ignore what people put on Facebook and hope that they realize how silly it reads to other people. That was my strategy. And the Oreos? They were delicious!

Good News, you can now brick your iPhone

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I did not know the extent of the powers of The Library of Congress until yesterday. Apparently, this government agency oversees the Copyright Office and can review and authorizes exemptions every three years to make sure laws haven't prevented certain non-infringing uses of copyright-protected works -- like modifying your iPhone operating system.

In rulings yesterday, you can now "jailbreak" your iPhone without worrying about the Apple police taking you to court. In doing so, you can then run whatever app you would like to run, such as Google Voice --- that wonderfully helpful application that Apple has tried to kill again and again.

Of course, even though you can now legally modify your phone, Apple is not obligated to honor its iphone warranty if you mess up your expensive piece of electronics.

Smoke and Mirrors

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My friend was a very heavy smoker. In fact, he was up to 2 cigarette lighters a day. However, last month, he become extremely horrified after reading about the long-term effects of smoking cigarettes. So he did three things: started smoking cao cigars, vowed to only smoke one cigar at a time, and he gave up reading. I told him not to worry. After all, we all know that smoking is the leading cause of statistics...

Almost Positive Post

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In general, these posts are supposed to avoid negative subjects. Yet, when I am given phrases such as "acne treatment", we are kind of beginning from a less-than-positive position. Unless, of course, your treatment is to get as bad a case of acne as possible. Why? Think of the benefits for having acne.

1) Never having to go to a weight watchers meeting. "Pizza face" suggests pizza which suggests big, floppy slices of cheese and sauce and chewy goodness. I'm pretty sure any reminders of food are strictly forbidden at weight watchers meetings.

2) Never having to be inconvenience by a "could you watch my sweet, innocent child for a few moments while I run to the store?". No one wants their "sweet, innocent child" traumatized ... or do they?

3) See #2. Getting to be the reason for good behavior on the part of children. "You better behave or I'll have Pizza Face baby-sit you!"

4) Paid modeling gigs as the 'before' photo for shady products.

5) Paid modeling gigs as the 'after' photo that dramatizes the results of competitors' products.

6) Guaranteed seat to yourself on the public transportation!

7) Well, do I have to all of your thinking for you? Send me your list of benefits for having acne.

Go, Lebron, Go!

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I don't have time to follow sports like I used to. But the only way I could have avoided the current cries of foul as Lebron James leaves for the sunshine soaked state of Florida is to live under a rock. I know. I tried. Even there, I found Jesse Jackson oozing up and making claims that Mr. James was just a runaway slave in the eyes of the Cavaliers owner. Interesting comment considering that Lebron is leaving Ohio for the same reasons that the Williams sisters of tennis and Tiger Wood of golf fame left California -- Florida has no state income tax. While The Cavaliers offered Mr. James $10,000 more each game, the state of Ohio was going to take $12,500 of that increase.

If you don't have ownership of the fruits of your labors, you are a slave. It would seem old Jesse should be rallying against the tax system which makes slaves of us as the governments go above and beyond funding necessary services. As for Ohio and California, apparently they don't know the difference between quick weight loss diet for bloated budgets and inviting starvation by running their money makers out of town.

What? We're not done?

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The dark circles under the eyes of my finance and myself are not from late nights of partying and frittering the hours away. We've spent the past month of planning and packing and paying and moving. This has been a great learning experience. For example, I now know why Love is blind. After this passed herculean effort to combine her household and children and animals with mine, you don't want to look at everything else that still needs to be done.

What's the 4th without a military band?

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Usually the military band of Fort Bragg plays the 1812 Overture during Fort Bragg's very dramatic fireworks display. Unfortunately, two days before this much-anticipated annual event, the warehouse that houses the band's instruments and uniforms caught fire. Everything was destroyed. One of the higher ranking officials commented how this was going to be a "royal pain in the butt" to replace the band's gear in time for the July 4th celebration. My suggested treatment for hemorrhoid inducing event? Kazoos and trash can lids! After all, the spirit of inventiveness during crisis is what makes us Americans! Happy 4th!

adding Facebook share link to your post

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I searched several posts and found this one to be the easist set of instructions and links for installing a 'Share' button into your blogger hosted blog. Let me know your results and, please, share my posts that you enjoy with your Facebook fans. Thanks!

too soon?

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Name three birds that had to die to make your life better:

Chicken, Turkey, Senator Robert Byrd ...

And so it begins

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After dating for almost 8 years, I've asked my girlfriend to join households. Sounds like we're marrying two houses. I don't know if the ring around my bathtub counts as an engagement ring but we going to spend the next couple of weeks getting everything together.

First her house. This weekend, I'm going to grab a pair of old work gloves and start throwing her stuff, I mean, gently distributing her fine belongings into a rental truck for a slow ride to the storage business. Next, she'll come to my house and begin happily tossing my treasures into the garbage bin. That's ok. My ex took the good stuff several years ago. By now, I've learned it's all replaceable ... just like me.

new blog design

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Blogger (actually Google) has brought out new template for blogger.com sites. I've changed mine accordingly. If you're a repeat visitor then you've noticed the change. What do you think? I need to find some time to play with the CSS display of this blog into something eye-catching. Unfortunately, Blogger.com doesn't have hooks that pop out and catch your eye ...

Moving means ..

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... getting rid of junk that you've spent years accumulating. Of course, to you none of it is junk. Every tarnished spoon and broken ceramic piece has an important memory attached to it. They are tokens of faded thoughts that recall the fun while forgetting the pain of those moments. They are trinkets that make you believe times weren't as unbearable as they seemed then.

But that was then. Today, you want to move on to bigger and, hopefully, better times. Today, you take those memories and put them on wabbly tables with paper tags for the world to see. Today, you deface several telephone poles in your neighborhood with a poster printing those car-screeching words "Yard Sale! Everything must go!" Today, you resist that overpowering urge to do a background check on every bargain seeker that stops in your yard. You have to trust that your memories will either end up in good homes or bring terrible nightmares to the new owners. Today, you move on ...

ah, vacation. what?! no vacation?

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I can't wait for tomorrow when I start my vacation. Time to catch up on household affairs, spend time with my son to learn his plans for his senior year and beyond, start some delayed personal projects. Wait, what?! Last Monday was the start of my vacation?!!! It can't be! I haven't made a dent in anything! Where did the time go? This isn't fair ... Am I to be doomed to a life of slavish devotion to everyone's elses projects? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Complicated Sells

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Sometimes we make things more complicated and expensive than they need to be. I don't know why. Maybe we just don't trust anything that seems to easy to do. This would explain why the "some installation required" instructions do an excellent job of frustrating us.

I mention this because I had to go to a site called dietsthatwork.net. The site covers all the famous diets except the granddaddy of them all, that simple "eat less, exercise more" one. Now I know why I'm not rich. I'm not selling complicated solutions.

Banking Crisis Cause..

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One of the best insurance quotes ever is when Jack Benny said, "I don't want to tell you how much insurance I carry with the Prudential, but all I can say is: when I go, they go too." Of course, when Mr. Benny died, Prudential didn't go out of business. Guess he didn't have that much life insurance. But maybe Jack's quote gives a clue about the real cause of banking crisis. I'm betting that Bill Gates made a 'small' withdrawal.