I've moved on to Honolulu. Actually we got here last night. Yesterday was way too long and I felt awful. I never checked, but I'm pretty sure I had a fever by the time I went to sleep. Sooooo, no update yesterday.
Today was better. I think I'm on the downhill side of this cold finally. I had to work today, but I don't feel near as beat up as I did last night.
Tomorrow's a day off and I intend to sleep as much as I need to feel better. It's not exactly a good use of paradise, but I'm going to be here a while and it won't be much fun like this.
On a good note, the weather looks like it should be pretty good for the rest of the week. I can handle that.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Aloha
Since I don't have the internet, you get a delayed action blog post. Actually, I do sort of have the internet. The hotel finally installed wireless internet, but in an evil twist, you have to pay separately for it, far too much, in my opinion. So delayed it is.
1/21/08: I made it to Hawaii today. The flight from Portland was fine, and a good day to leave too. It was somewhere near freezing when I left and the temperature was set to drop throughout the day, including freakishly low wind chills.
I unintentionally spent the day as a guide. My coworker hadn't flown in quite some time, so I got to shepherd him through the vagaries of self-check kiosks and post-9/11 security. Then I spent the flight to Honolulu with a woman who claimed it was her first real flight, whatever that means. At the least, it means that she didn't understand much about airplanes or what the beeps meant, what the flight attendants were talking about, or how to work her seatbelt. She was quite friendly though, and although she didn't let me sleep or read, she was pleasant enough to talk to and the conversation helped pass the time. (For the record, she was older than my folks. Don't get any ideas.) Then on the flight to Kona, I sat next to a guy who had never been to Hawaii before and was fascinated by Diamond Head, the various islands, the sparsity of those islands, and the volcanoes. He sounded extremely Japanese, but he said he was from Las Vegas. He is a sushi chef and is moving to Kona for three months to help a friend of his open a restaurant.
Plus, we saw whales from the plane. I always heard they were big, but they looked like ants to me.
James and I went to a second floor open-air bar called Lulu's for dinner. Rick and I had gone there last year, and we had added a dollar to the collection of signed bills stapled to the walls and ceilings. I distinctly remember standing on the bar (overlooking the street) to reach the ceiling to staple it up (they didn't mind), but we couldn't find it anywhere. Oh, well.
1/22/08: Despite being in Hawaii, today was mainly boring, what with all the working and such. Saw some lava. The weather was fine, I guess, but we were inside for most of it.
I did learn more about the big ocean water pipe I found last year. I found someone who could give me a more complete description of what they are doing there. It turns out they have several big pipes bringing up seawater for different uses. They do grow the Maine lobsters, but they also grow several other things, including shellfish, algae, and seahorses, 'cuz hey, we need more seahorses. The factory bottling expensive Japanese health water is still there and actually has its own pipe, and is currently the only use of the water that is really making money. I also found out about another use of the water. The water from 3000 feet down comes up about 40 degrees. They also have a pipe that brings water from about 70 feet down which runs around 75 degrees. Somehow they harness the temperature differential to make energy. I have no idea how much of that energy is used to pump water 3000 feet up the side of an underwater volcano. I assume there must be some extra, or they wouldn't bother doing it, but nobody I worked with knew much about it.
Other than that, it was pretty much just working. I did see a gecko and some mongooses (mongeese?), but no whales today.
1/23/08: We finished work in Kona this morning. Kona has the traffic problems of a much larger place. The problem is that, for some reason, they seem to lack any traffic planning. Everything is build as cul-de-sacs or neighborhoods built off the one main road through the area. This means that everyone in the area has to use that one road to get anywhere else. The state is widening a portion of it, but the never ending construction is actually causing even more trouble for the time being. I'm not sure how the locals deal with it.
We drove across the island to Hilo this afternoon and into the Hilo rain. It isn't always raining in Hilo (We had great weather last year.) but it's more likely here than in Kona. We got settled in and ate dinner at a place that seemed to be filled only with locals. I like that.
1/24/08: I'm on the internet for real this time. I had to break down and pay so I could get plane tickets. So while, I'm here, I'll check in with the world.
Today was a long day. Better weather though. Sunny most of the day. Among other things, I visited the volcano today, although I was working and never actually saw it. I did find that the eruption has changed significantly since last year. At that time, the lava was flowing entirely through a tube and exiting underwater, making lots of steam, but not being directly visible. However, in the meantime, there was an earthquake that collapsed the tube and the lava started flowing above ground again, but in a different area. Unfortunately, however, I will only be able to see this lava if I learn how to fly. It is in the middle of previous lava flows, which are much too dangerous to walk on. This is the same unstable new ground that collapsed to cause the earthquake.
Before I headed up that way, the radio stations kept playing civil defense messages, a sort of non-emergency emergency broadcast. It was detailing the lava flows that are potentially endangering a particular neighborhood. It kept saying that only residents are allowed in the neighborhood and that all remaining residents have been informed. However, at the volcano, I found out that the neighborhood was completely surrounded by miles of lava something like 20 years ago. "All remaining residents" turns out to be one apparently very stubborn guy. He used to have to walk to and from his house, but apparently he recently got some sort of ATV that can get over much of the lava.
On a low note, my entire trip so far has been marred by a cold. I kind of thought/hoped that warm moist air might help, but no luck. Too bad.
We're off to Honolulu tomorrow for another long week. Talk to you there.
1/21/08: I made it to Hawaii today. The flight from Portland was fine, and a good day to leave too. It was somewhere near freezing when I left and the temperature was set to drop throughout the day, including freakishly low wind chills.
I unintentionally spent the day as a guide. My coworker hadn't flown in quite some time, so I got to shepherd him through the vagaries of self-check kiosks and post-9/11 security. Then I spent the flight to Honolulu with a woman who claimed it was her first real flight, whatever that means. At the least, it means that she didn't understand much about airplanes or what the beeps meant, what the flight attendants were talking about, or how to work her seatbelt. She was quite friendly though, and although she didn't let me sleep or read, she was pleasant enough to talk to and the conversation helped pass the time. (For the record, she was older than my folks. Don't get any ideas.) Then on the flight to Kona, I sat next to a guy who had never been to Hawaii before and was fascinated by Diamond Head, the various islands, the sparsity of those islands, and the volcanoes. He sounded extremely Japanese, but he said he was from Las Vegas. He is a sushi chef and is moving to Kona for three months to help a friend of his open a restaurant.
Plus, we saw whales from the plane. I always heard they were big, but they looked like ants to me.
James and I went to a second floor open-air bar called Lulu's for dinner. Rick and I had gone there last year, and we had added a dollar to the collection of signed bills stapled to the walls and ceilings. I distinctly remember standing on the bar (overlooking the street) to reach the ceiling to staple it up (they didn't mind), but we couldn't find it anywhere. Oh, well.
1/22/08: Despite being in Hawaii, today was mainly boring, what with all the working and such. Saw some lava. The weather was fine, I guess, but we were inside for most of it.
I did learn more about the big ocean water pipe I found last year. I found someone who could give me a more complete description of what they are doing there. It turns out they have several big pipes bringing up seawater for different uses. They do grow the Maine lobsters, but they also grow several other things, including shellfish, algae, and seahorses, 'cuz hey, we need more seahorses. The factory bottling expensive Japanese health water is still there and actually has its own pipe, and is currently the only use of the water that is really making money. I also found out about another use of the water. The water from 3000 feet down comes up about 40 degrees. They also have a pipe that brings water from about 70 feet down which runs around 75 degrees. Somehow they harness the temperature differential to make energy. I have no idea how much of that energy is used to pump water 3000 feet up the side of an underwater volcano. I assume there must be some extra, or they wouldn't bother doing it, but nobody I worked with knew much about it.
Other than that, it was pretty much just working. I did see a gecko and some mongooses (mongeese?), but no whales today.
1/23/08: We finished work in Kona this morning. Kona has the traffic problems of a much larger place. The problem is that, for some reason, they seem to lack any traffic planning. Everything is build as cul-de-sacs or neighborhoods built off the one main road through the area. This means that everyone in the area has to use that one road to get anywhere else. The state is widening a portion of it, but the never ending construction is actually causing even more trouble for the time being. I'm not sure how the locals deal with it.
We drove across the island to Hilo this afternoon and into the Hilo rain. It isn't always raining in Hilo (We had great weather last year.) but it's more likely here than in Kona. We got settled in and ate dinner at a place that seemed to be filled only with locals. I like that.
1/24/08: I'm on the internet for real this time. I had to break down and pay so I could get plane tickets. So while, I'm here, I'll check in with the world.
Today was a long day. Better weather though. Sunny most of the day. Among other things, I visited the volcano today, although I was working and never actually saw it. I did find that the eruption has changed significantly since last year. At that time, the lava was flowing entirely through a tube and exiting underwater, making lots of steam, but not being directly visible. However, in the meantime, there was an earthquake that collapsed the tube and the lava started flowing above ground again, but in a different area. Unfortunately, however, I will only be able to see this lava if I learn how to fly. It is in the middle of previous lava flows, which are much too dangerous to walk on. This is the same unstable new ground that collapsed to cause the earthquake.
Before I headed up that way, the radio stations kept playing civil defense messages, a sort of non-emergency emergency broadcast. It was detailing the lava flows that are potentially endangering a particular neighborhood. It kept saying that only residents are allowed in the neighborhood and that all remaining residents have been informed. However, at the volcano, I found out that the neighborhood was completely surrounded by miles of lava something like 20 years ago. "All remaining residents" turns out to be one apparently very stubborn guy. He used to have to walk to and from his house, but apparently he recently got some sort of ATV that can get over much of the lava.
On a low note, my entire trip so far has been marred by a cold. I kind of thought/hoped that warm moist air might help, but no luck. Too bad.
We're off to Honolulu tomorrow for another long week. Talk to you there.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Yet another whirlwind week
I've been a tad busy this week. It started with a quick overnight trip to Bend to clean up some work left from a couple months ago. And I do mean quick. Not even time to say hi to my aunt. (Hi, Becky.) January isn't really the best time to go to Bend. It's fine to BE in Bend, what with the skiing just outside of town, but GOING to Bend, at least from Portland, can be interesting. All directions go over mountains, which get snow every time it rains in Portland. That's a lot. Getting to Bend wasn't actually too bad, but coming home over the Santiam Pass could have been better. At least the sun was out. I can only imagine the icy mess that was there a couple hours after I passed through.
If anyone catches the timestamp on this post, I'm up way too late again. I tend to get too wired to sleep before I have to leave on a work trip, which of course makes getting up early to get on the road that much worse, so I worry about that, and can't sleep, and the cycle of wired continues.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow for a trip to Hawaii. I know. Nobody has much sympathy for me, but as much as I'd rather be working in Hawaii for an extended trip than in Idaho (sorry Idaho), I'd still rather be with my family than in Hawaii. It's going to be busy, but if you have to travel, you could do worse.
The biggest drawback for the next few days is that we'll be staying in the last two hotels in the country that don't have internet access. I don't know what that's about. I'll have to poke my head back into the internet next weekend to clear out the e-mountain of e-mail that will certainly be waiting for me. Most of it will be useless, but maybe you'll send me something. I imagine it will be something like, "Oh, poor Dave. Stuck in paradise with no connection to the outside world. Shut up. Nobody wants to hear you whine between Mai Tais." Yeah, probably something along those lines.
If anyone catches the timestamp on this post, I'm up way too late again. I tend to get too wired to sleep before I have to leave on a work trip, which of course makes getting up early to get on the road that much worse, so I worry about that, and can't sleep, and the cycle of wired continues.
Anyway, I leave tomorrow for a trip to Hawaii. I know. Nobody has much sympathy for me, but as much as I'd rather be working in Hawaii for an extended trip than in Idaho (sorry Idaho), I'd still rather be with my family than in Hawaii. It's going to be busy, but if you have to travel, you could do worse.
The biggest drawback for the next few days is that we'll be staying in the last two hotels in the country that don't have internet access. I don't know what that's about. I'll have to poke my head back into the internet next weekend to clear out the e-mountain of e-mail that will certainly be waiting for me. Most of it will be useless, but maybe you'll send me something. I imagine it will be something like, "Oh, poor Dave. Stuck in paradise with no connection to the outside world. Shut up. Nobody wants to hear you whine between Mai Tais." Yeah, probably something along those lines.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The Boundary of Blackness
It's not as racist as it sounds. Some researchers have created what is supposed to be the blackest substance ever made, as in it absorbs 99.9 percent of the light that hits it. It's a collection of carbon nanotubes stacked next to each other. There is a picture of it in the link (picture #3). It's blacker than the blackness standard currently used by N.I.S.T. The theory is that this might be useful in solar energy production or stealth applications. Cool stuff.
Franny's not impressed. She says she made one of these years ago. Of course you use nanotubes. It's the teeniness that does it. The light can't get through. 'Cuz the teeniness. And the carbon. I love pregnant scientists.
Franny's not impressed. She says she made one of these years ago. Of course you use nanotubes. It's the teeniness that does it. The light can't get through. 'Cuz the teeniness. And the carbon. I love pregnant scientists.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Movie Review: An Inconvenient Truth
Over the holidays, Franny and I finally got around to seeing An Inconvenient Truth. Among other awards, it's won two Oscars and (sort of) the Nobel Frickin' Peace Prize, so we thought we should see it, if just to see what the fuss was about.
For the record, I've been following the climate change debate for some time, and am in agreement that people probably have a lot to do with the latest spike. I'm not as clear as to what can or should be done about it, but I'm certain that the head-in-the-sand option is not going to help and will most likely make things worse faster.
The movie started off as a commercial for Al Gore. As he says at the beginning, "I'm Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States." However, he gets over the ego trip and gets down to facts that are hard to debate. He's done a significant amount of travelling (in a carbon offset jet, I'm sure) and meeting with scientists and policy-makers around the world, so whatever you think of the whole thing, you can't really accuse him of just spouting the party line. He has tons of well-documented research to back up his claims. Some of it gets a little heavy into the scare tactics of the worse case scenario, but it's good information nonetheless.
Global climate change sparks a lot of debate, and everyone seems to have an opinion. This being Portland, most of the city of course thinks it's all true and we're clearly to blame. It's not just noise though. Portland was recently on track to become the first US city to meet the Kyoto protocols. (I can't vouch that we're still in the running to be first, but we're still on the way.) However, you don't have to get far from Portland into the more conservative parts of the state where the very idea of human-caused global warming is laughable. Most of these people are not evil, just not very well informed. As best I can tell, most of the folks scoffing at the idea get their science news from Rush Limbaugh's ilk. They're very much spouting the idea that if you can throw any little bit doubt at something, then you don't have to take any part of it seriously, and you can go on just like you always have. It's the same attitude seen in the creationism/evolution debate. These people seem, either willfully or accidentally, to remain uninformed or uncaring about the scientific method and how these conclusions are deduced and defended. It's hard to listen to sometimes. I'm not even clear what the motivation for the denial attitude is. I know there are a lot of folks in industry who would like the debate to go away for financial reasons, but I'm not sure about the regular people. I guess people don't like the idea that they might be partly to blame and don't want to have to do anything different. Understandable, I suppose, but unrealistic. (If someone has a response to this, please leave a comment. I find that I'm far more informed about the "other side" than most people I know, even if I still disagree with them. However, healthy debate and new points of view are always encouraged.)
As I mentioned, I been following this debate for some time, so most of what Gore presented was old news to me. If nothing else, I'm very interested in science, so these things have caught my attention in the past. However, if you are not as well informed as you'd like to be, this movie is a good overview of where the climate change claims are coming from and why scientists and environmentalists are making such a big deal about it. Even if you don't believe anything about these claims, you still might find some of it enlightening.
I definitely recommend that people see this movie. You will not come out of it in a good mood (either because you are more worried about things or because you don't like Al Gore), but most likely, you will still find it valuable.
For the record, I've been following the climate change debate for some time, and am in agreement that people probably have a lot to do with the latest spike. I'm not as clear as to what can or should be done about it, but I'm certain that the head-in-the-sand option is not going to help and will most likely make things worse faster.
The movie started off as a commercial for Al Gore. As he says at the beginning, "I'm Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States." However, he gets over the ego trip and gets down to facts that are hard to debate. He's done a significant amount of travelling (in a carbon offset jet, I'm sure) and meeting with scientists and policy-makers around the world, so whatever you think of the whole thing, you can't really accuse him of just spouting the party line. He has tons of well-documented research to back up his claims. Some of it gets a little heavy into the scare tactics of the worse case scenario, but it's good information nonetheless.
Global climate change sparks a lot of debate, and everyone seems to have an opinion. This being Portland, most of the city of course thinks it's all true and we're clearly to blame. It's not just noise though. Portland was recently on track to become the first US city to meet the Kyoto protocols. (I can't vouch that we're still in the running to be first, but we're still on the way.) However, you don't have to get far from Portland into the more conservative parts of the state where the very idea of human-caused global warming is laughable. Most of these people are not evil, just not very well informed. As best I can tell, most of the folks scoffing at the idea get their science news from Rush Limbaugh's ilk. They're very much spouting the idea that if you can throw any little bit doubt at something, then you don't have to take any part of it seriously, and you can go on just like you always have. It's the same attitude seen in the creationism/evolution debate. These people seem, either willfully or accidentally, to remain uninformed or uncaring about the scientific method and how these conclusions are deduced and defended. It's hard to listen to sometimes. I'm not even clear what the motivation for the denial attitude is. I know there are a lot of folks in industry who would like the debate to go away for financial reasons, but I'm not sure about the regular people. I guess people don't like the idea that they might be partly to blame and don't want to have to do anything different. Understandable, I suppose, but unrealistic. (If someone has a response to this, please leave a comment. I find that I'm far more informed about the "other side" than most people I know, even if I still disagree with them. However, healthy debate and new points of view are always encouraged.)
As I mentioned, I been following this debate for some time, so most of what Gore presented was old news to me. If nothing else, I'm very interested in science, so these things have caught my attention in the past. However, if you are not as well informed as you'd like to be, this movie is a good overview of where the climate change claims are coming from and why scientists and environmentalists are making such a big deal about it. Even if you don't believe anything about these claims, you still might find some of it enlightening.
I definitely recommend that people see this movie. You will not come out of it in a good mood (either because you are more worried about things or because you don't like Al Gore), but most likely, you will still find it valuable.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Little Brother Notes
That's right. For the estimated one of you that hasn't already seen it on Franny's blog, the Mizz is getting a brother this May. Of course the ultrasound tech wouldn't say for certain, but it seemed obvious to all of us.
This is a little weird -- not bad at all, just weird. Both Franny and I were thinking of a girl, as was just about everybody else, for whatever reason. I guess it just made sense to think that a girl would balance things out, so that's what it must be. Rationally, of course, this doesn't mean anything, but we just never really thought about it any other way. My sister even checked the Chinese birth chart or whatever, and decided that we were having a girl and she's expecting a boy. According to her, "It's always right, with everyone I know anyway." Wrong on both counts. It's nice to know that the discount, made-in-China, lead-painted, melamine-filled astrology and old wives tales are just as bunk as ours.
On the one hand poor Franny is going to be surrounded by testosterone. Good luck with that. On the other hand, we don't really have to buy much this time around. A bit of new furniture, but that's about it. For those of you feeling the need to get us something, I think this kid will need and Xbox, a flat screen high-def TV, and a new laptop. Other than that, he's pretty well covered.
We've been having issues with names. I think part of the reason for imagining a girl was that we already had a girl name picked out, left over from the Mizz. Now we have to come up with something else, so we're back at the same place we were last time. We've had some of the same arguments and issues as last time too. Franny has a few names that she likes that I can't consider because they make me think of particular people that I don't want to name my kid after for one reason or another. Sometimes, I didn't like they guy or maybe it's a friend or whatever. She even wanted to name him the same name as the husband of one of her friends. She even said she'd be willing to stop being friends with them, she likes the name so much. That's not going to work for me though. She gave me a lot of grief for that, but some other friends agreed with me, so I think I won that battle. What concession will I have to give now, I have no idea. However, I suggested a name the other day that she wouldn't stand for. "I've never met a ______ that I liked." It was actually a little ruder than tha, but I think she now at least partly understands my logic, if not my particular name vetoes. (However, as I mentioned before, the naming rights could certainly be bought for the right price. Franny can't afford them, so she's stuck trying to find names we can agree on. I'm sure some of you probably have deep pockets though. The more outlandish options may cost more, but I'm sure there's a price. Heck, if the bid's high enough, and it would have to be high, he could be George W. Bin Laden, if that's what you want.)
The other issue we've got lately is nesting. Both of us this time, but in different ways. She wants to buy new furniture, paint the whole house, build an addition, and dig out a basement, and throw everything away. I'm more into reorganizing the Titanic's deck chairs. As you can imagine, this causes some friction. I think we're starting to meet in the middle and have made some progress on realistic ideas for how to deal with another person in the house. The Mizz wasn't such a big deal, since we had an extra room that I think we both knew was eventually going to be a nursery. However, this one will require some rearranging of things. It's gotten somewhat easier however, since we now know what we're in for.
That's pretty much where we stand with the new addition right now. Franny's getting bigger, but then, she's supposed to be doing that. I'm getting bigger too, but without such a good excuse. I've got to do something about that. (From what I hear, I'm suffering from OBD, or Oregon Butt Disease. That's what happens when it rains all the time and you're stuck inside in a place that's famous for drinking beer. It's nice to know it's a syndrome, so I don't have to feel any personal responsibility for it.)
This is a little weird -- not bad at all, just weird. Both Franny and I were thinking of a girl, as was just about everybody else, for whatever reason. I guess it just made sense to think that a girl would balance things out, so that's what it must be. Rationally, of course, this doesn't mean anything, but we just never really thought about it any other way. My sister even checked the Chinese birth chart or whatever, and decided that we were having a girl and she's expecting a boy. According to her, "It's always right, with everyone I know anyway." Wrong on both counts. It's nice to know that the discount, made-in-China, lead-painted, melamine-filled astrology and old wives tales are just as bunk as ours.
On the one hand poor Franny is going to be surrounded by testosterone. Good luck with that. On the other hand, we don't really have to buy much this time around. A bit of new furniture, but that's about it. For those of you feeling the need to get us something, I think this kid will need and Xbox, a flat screen high-def TV, and a new laptop. Other than that, he's pretty well covered.
We've been having issues with names. I think part of the reason for imagining a girl was that we already had a girl name picked out, left over from the Mizz. Now we have to come up with something else, so we're back at the same place we were last time. We've had some of the same arguments and issues as last time too. Franny has a few names that she likes that I can't consider because they make me think of particular people that I don't want to name my kid after for one reason or another. Sometimes, I didn't like they guy or maybe it's a friend or whatever. She even wanted to name him the same name as the husband of one of her friends. She even said she'd be willing to stop being friends with them, she likes the name so much. That's not going to work for me though. She gave me a lot of grief for that, but some other friends agreed with me, so I think I won that battle. What concession will I have to give now, I have no idea. However, I suggested a name the other day that she wouldn't stand for. "I've never met a ______ that I liked." It was actually a little ruder than tha, but I think she now at least partly understands my logic, if not my particular name vetoes. (However, as I mentioned before, the naming rights could certainly be bought for the right price. Franny can't afford them, so she's stuck trying to find names we can agree on. I'm sure some of you probably have deep pockets though. The more outlandish options may cost more, but I'm sure there's a price. Heck, if the bid's high enough, and it would have to be high, he could be George W. Bin Laden, if that's what you want.)
The other issue we've got lately is nesting. Both of us this time, but in different ways. She wants to buy new furniture, paint the whole house, build an addition, and dig out a basement, and throw everything away. I'm more into reorganizing the Titanic's deck chairs. As you can imagine, this causes some friction. I think we're starting to meet in the middle and have made some progress on realistic ideas for how to deal with another person in the house. The Mizz wasn't such a big deal, since we had an extra room that I think we both knew was eventually going to be a nursery. However, this one will require some rearranging of things. It's gotten somewhat easier however, since we now know what we're in for.
That's pretty much where we stand with the new addition right now. Franny's getting bigger, but then, she's supposed to be doing that. I'm getting bigger too, but without such a good excuse. I've got to do something about that. (From what I hear, I'm suffering from OBD, or Oregon Butt Disease. That's what happens when it rains all the time and you're stuck inside in a place that's famous for drinking beer. It's nice to know it's a syndrome, so I don't have to feel any personal responsibility for it.)
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
I'm sorry Franny
I owe Franny an apology. To be honest, this situation will hurt me too, but Franny will probably have to deal with it more, and I pretty much brought it on myself anyway.
What you see above is a toy cash register. We got it at the Value Village, which is a Goodwill sort of store if you've never seen one. We find this is a good place to get silly little toys that will be quickly outgrown and sometimes we even get lucky and find something good. This particular find includes a credit card, which the Mizz just thinks is awesome. When Franny tried to put batteries in it, it emitted an ear-piercing squeal and was quickly deemed blissfully broken. This worked okay. The cash drawer still worked, and the Mizz still liked sliding the card in the non-working slot.
As you may notice by the numbers on the screen, it is no longer broken. It goes like this. The cash drawer has since stopped opening. Tough. However, this evening, the Mizz brought it to me with the drawer slightly open and wanted it all the way open. It has a couple of other toys stuck in it, which was the problem in the first place. I found a screwdriver and opened it up to get the toys out. While I was in there, I noticed what was causing the electronics to malfunction. Idiot savant that I am, I decided to fix it.
Upon insertion of the batteries, it became clear that the cash register now works. More importantly, the Mizz was there and is also aware that it works. The button on the left that looks like a scanner makes a noise that is very much like a real scanner beep. The number buttons are a functional calculator with a very quite beep. And the slot on the right, when swiped with the toy credit card, makes a noise that is neither quiet nor anything like swiping a credit card. It is an irritating series of beeps that would foment riots and murder if they actually happened constantly in every checkout stand on earth.
To make matters worse, if you decide that, instead of swiping the credit card, you poke it into the slot like the Mizz does, the button gets stuck and the series of beeps repeats ad infinitum. It's easy enough to stop, but not if you are the Mizz. Plus he likes it, so he has no intention of learning to stop it. So now to add insult to injury, I have to repair this thing again so that the button can't stick.
Why couldn't I have just left broke enough alone?
What you see above is a toy cash register. We got it at the Value Village, which is a Goodwill sort of store if you've never seen one. We find this is a good place to get silly little toys that will be quickly outgrown and sometimes we even get lucky and find something good. This particular find includes a credit card, which the Mizz just thinks is awesome. When Franny tried to put batteries in it, it emitted an ear-piercing squeal and was quickly deemed blissfully broken. This worked okay. The cash drawer still worked, and the Mizz still liked sliding the card in the non-working slot.
As you may notice by the numbers on the screen, it is no longer broken. It goes like this. The cash drawer has since stopped opening. Tough. However, this evening, the Mizz brought it to me with the drawer slightly open and wanted it all the way open. It has a couple of other toys stuck in it, which was the problem in the first place. I found a screwdriver and opened it up to get the toys out. While I was in there, I noticed what was causing the electronics to malfunction. Idiot savant that I am, I decided to fix it.
Upon insertion of the batteries, it became clear that the cash register now works. More importantly, the Mizz was there and is also aware that it works. The button on the left that looks like a scanner makes a noise that is very much like a real scanner beep. The number buttons are a functional calculator with a very quite beep. And the slot on the right, when swiped with the toy credit card, makes a noise that is neither quiet nor anything like swiping a credit card. It is an irritating series of beeps that would foment riots and murder if they actually happened constantly in every checkout stand on earth.
To make matters worse, if you decide that, instead of swiping the credit card, you poke it into the slot like the Mizz does, the button gets stuck and the series of beeps repeats ad infinitum. It's easy enough to stop, but not if you are the Mizz. Plus he likes it, so he has no intention of learning to stop it. So now to add insult to injury, I have to repair this thing again so that the button can't stick.
Why couldn't I have just left broke enough alone?
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Welcome to 2008
HAP---py new year. That's the way the Mizz has been saying it all day. I think that's the way Franny taught him to say it. It's fun to hear, but it's even better since he has no idea what he's talking about. He did note that "Mama turned de cawendar," but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what a calendar's for either.
Our evening was pretty uneventful. I live with a toddler and a pregnant woman. What were you expecting? I did end up staying awake until the new year, but that's only because I couldn't fall asleep through the fireworks that started around 9:30 and continued until about 12:30. These weren't some big city event downtown or anything; just lunatics in my neighborhood with lots of explosives and booze but not so much sense. They do this for pretty much every holiday. They aren't picky. At least it was muted by being cold. They pull out all the stops for the 4th of July. For the morning of the 5th, imagine a battlefield where someone has removed all the bodies but nothing else.
Speaking of new years, have you made your resolutions yet? Do you ever? Why?
I typically don't bother with resolutions. If I haven't decided to make these types of decisions or actions before, I seriously doubt that doing it to celebrate an arbitrary calendar event will make any more difference. "I'm going to exercise four times a week!" (Until I don't, which will be next week. Then I've broken the streak and it's over.) "I'm going to really get myself organized this year." (Or more likely, I'll probably just neaten up the stacks of paper on my desk and label a couple of folders. Then I'll go back to doing things the same way I've done them for the last umpteen years.) "I'm really going to buckle down and learn to play the guitar this year." (Because this has worked out so well for the last 15 years. Maybe if I really mean it this time...) The problem with these kinds of resolutions is that they are well-intentioned, but if just deciding to do them was all I needed, I would have done them already. For this reason, I have never bothered with the resolving thing and have ended up in pretty much the same place without the internal guilt.
However, even as I'd been getting salty hearing people ramble on about new year's resolutions on the radio and in ads and whatnot, a little philosophical seed apparently got planted in my head. For whatever reason (Maybe it's the 2nd kid on the way; who knows?), this seed has made me get to thinking about what really matters to me and what I like and dislike about the way I'm going about things. And I've come to realize that there are really very few things that actually matter to me. I care about maintaining healthy and happy connections with my family and friends. I care about providing the best support (in every sense of the word) for my family that I can. I'd like to leave things a little better than I found them, both in my immediate surroundings and the world in general. And I'd like to keep myself in good enough shape (both physically and emotionally) to be able to do these things for a very long time. (I'd like to meet the Mizz's grandkids, and still be coherent enough to understand it.)
Anyway, I decided that I need to resolve to live my life and make decisions always keeping these things in mind. I spend a lot of time spinning my wheels; maybe not wrecking my life, but not always making headway either. I want to do things more purposefully. The things I do should improve my life, or at least not make improving it harder. I guess I just want to be a better person, but not in the cheesy, undirected way that line is usually tossed out. If I remember what's really important, then when the time comes, getting more organized, taking better care of myself, and maybe even learning the guitar should work themselves out, along with all sorts of other things, much of which I'm certainly not even contemplating yet.
(This all looks very cheesy and trite now that I see it printed, but I've been rolling this around in my head for a while and I feel much more sincere about it than I've felt about most things in a while. Certainly more sincere than it looks written out. Seriousness and sincerity are not my strong suits. Sarcasm is more my speed.)
This isn't really meant as a new year's resolution, although it was some of that crap that made me get to really thinking about it, so by the timing, I suppose it counts. I intend for this to be more of a forever resolution. If Google can have "Do no evil," then I can have this.
Or maybe I could just do like usual, and resolve not to start eating Brussels sprouts.
Our evening was pretty uneventful. I live with a toddler and a pregnant woman. What were you expecting? I did end up staying awake until the new year, but that's only because I couldn't fall asleep through the fireworks that started around 9:30 and continued until about 12:30. These weren't some big city event downtown or anything; just lunatics in my neighborhood with lots of explosives and booze but not so much sense. They do this for pretty much every holiday. They aren't picky. At least it was muted by being cold. They pull out all the stops for the 4th of July. For the morning of the 5th, imagine a battlefield where someone has removed all the bodies but nothing else.
Speaking of new years, have you made your resolutions yet? Do you ever? Why?
I typically don't bother with resolutions. If I haven't decided to make these types of decisions or actions before, I seriously doubt that doing it to celebrate an arbitrary calendar event will make any more difference. "I'm going to exercise four times a week!" (Until I don't, which will be next week. Then I've broken the streak and it's over.) "I'm going to really get myself organized this year." (Or more likely, I'll probably just neaten up the stacks of paper on my desk and label a couple of folders. Then I'll go back to doing things the same way I've done them for the last umpteen years.) "I'm really going to buckle down and learn to play the guitar this year." (Because this has worked out so well for the last 15 years. Maybe if I really mean it this time...) The problem with these kinds of resolutions is that they are well-intentioned, but if just deciding to do them was all I needed, I would have done them already. For this reason, I have never bothered with the resolving thing and have ended up in pretty much the same place without the internal guilt.
However, even as I'd been getting salty hearing people ramble on about new year's resolutions on the radio and in ads and whatnot, a little philosophical seed apparently got planted in my head. For whatever reason (Maybe it's the 2nd kid on the way; who knows?), this seed has made me get to thinking about what really matters to me and what I like and dislike about the way I'm going about things. And I've come to realize that there are really very few things that actually matter to me. I care about maintaining healthy and happy connections with my family and friends. I care about providing the best support (in every sense of the word) for my family that I can. I'd like to leave things a little better than I found them, both in my immediate surroundings and the world in general. And I'd like to keep myself in good enough shape (both physically and emotionally) to be able to do these things for a very long time. (I'd like to meet the Mizz's grandkids, and still be coherent enough to understand it.)
Anyway, I decided that I need to resolve to live my life and make decisions always keeping these things in mind. I spend a lot of time spinning my wheels; maybe not wrecking my life, but not always making headway either. I want to do things more purposefully. The things I do should improve my life, or at least not make improving it harder. I guess I just want to be a better person, but not in the cheesy, undirected way that line is usually tossed out. If I remember what's really important, then when the time comes, getting more organized, taking better care of myself, and maybe even learning the guitar should work themselves out, along with all sorts of other things, much of which I'm certainly not even contemplating yet.
(This all looks very cheesy and trite now that I see it printed, but I've been rolling this around in my head for a while and I feel much more sincere about it than I've felt about most things in a while. Certainly more sincere than it looks written out. Seriousness and sincerity are not my strong suits. Sarcasm is more my speed.)
This isn't really meant as a new year's resolution, although it was some of that crap that made me get to really thinking about it, so by the timing, I suppose it counts. I intend for this to be more of a forever resolution. If Google can have "Do no evil," then I can have this.
Or maybe I could just do like usual, and resolve not to start eating Brussels sprouts.
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