Harry's Ruminations

I'm hopped-up on a combination of butter-cream, butter-mints, and mixed nuts...that's right kids--it's Baby Shower time. Wait a tick...no, not a shower for OUR forthcoming baby, one for someone ELSE. Whitney's coordinated the whole thing, and it's (hopefully) winding down as I write this. From the sound of the games--something about clothespins & toilet paper--I didn't want anything to do with it. :-)

Ever have a day where you woke-up and just wished you weren't yourself? That's pretty-much me today. Fell off the wagon this morning, very hard. I won't go into the details, but there's at least one person who reads this blog knows what I'm talking about. No rhyme or reason to it, just happened. I've had a very good week, and last night visiting with some of our Church friends was awesome, but for some reason, I took a step I shouldn't have taken and only a few minutes later jumped right off the wagon. So, today begins another "first" day. * * * Work's been stinking of late; I won't bore you with the details. If it was fun all the time, they'd call it "play" or "fun".

Software by Rob : Personality Traits of the Best Software Developers : "I have never, ever, ever seen a great software developer who does not have amazing attention to detail." Let me just say it: I'm screwed. Anyone know of a remedial course for Type-B programmers?

RELEASE: Ford Cutting N.A. Production - The Car Connection : "The new production plan will result in downtime at several assembly plants between now and the end of the year, including: ...Louisville, Ky. (Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer)...and all F-Series truck plants (Kansas City, Mo.; Norfolk, Va., Dearborn and Kentucky Truck in Louisville)." Looks like a rough Christmas in Da Ville. :(

From a conversation I had with my pastor: So, in explaining the concept of Jesus and God being one in the same, and Jesus being a "manifestation" of God. God is the "author of the universe" and Jesus is his embodiment. One of my fellow parishoners said to Scott: So, it's kinda like Stephen King doing a cameo in movies based on his book? Yep.

The Age of the Essay : "You don't know yet. And so you can't begin with a thesis, because you don't have one, and may never have one. An essay doesn't begin with a statement, but with a question. In a real essay, you don't take a position and defend it. You notice a door that's ajar, and you open it and walk in to see what's inside." Paul Graham is a hero of mine, not for his hacker-hero-worship, but because he's a THINKER first, and a programmer second. His "essay on essays" should be given to every freshman in college.

Prediction for the day: Lots of people driving convertibles, motorcycles, etc. It's BEAUTIFUL outside...65 degrees, no humidity. Really feels like Fall. * * * One cup of coffee, and I'm still totally zonked. I know I slept, but it feels like I didn't sleep at all. Bummed that Katerina is leaving the company, but I'm kinda glad for her, too.

I guess my point is that I don't like suburbia. I want to move back to a town where everybody has at least an acre or two of land. Good fences don't make good neighbors. Good acreage makes good neighbors. And beer. Beer always helps. Agreed, on both counts. link Yep...this guy's going on the RSS reader...

I'm jealous. Straight-up, seeing red jealous. There was something that was mine that someone else is doing a bang-up job on after it got taken away from me. So, hard thing is, are my misgivings about it real, or are they just a manifestation of that jealousy?

The Bag of Holding : "Got your top 5? Good. Now find out who made each of them. Send the creator a letter of thanks, and make it sincere. If appropriate, send a small cash donation, anything you can afford." My list: BMW Timex Sage Firefox Ruby Yup...nothing like the proper tool.

Bella's car won't last forever, and I keep wondering what we'll look at next. Things that matter to me: Small-sized person compatibility: Some cars (including my E30!), Bella just can't drive. She needs power-adjusting seats (and pedals, preferably!) and a tilt/telescoping steering column. Safety: I don't want my family in a death trap. In this I include active safety: A vehicle must be stable and maneuverable enough to avoid problems, with positive driver feedback. It must also have enough power to get out of its own way. Economy: This is not just pure fuel economy, but also operation, maintenance, and repair. Preferably, this would be something that runs on regular gas (or diesel), with cheap parts, that's designed with maintenance in mind. E85 or biodiesel compatibility's a plus. Fuel economy > 30mpg on the highway is almost mandatory here. Reliability. This is a given; this will be the car for family trips, and which must get the fa...

Joey passes into an icing-induced sugar coma. * * * After the non-practice Soccer practice (lightning, thunder, oh my!), we were able to make it to David's surprise party , which was awesome for me in many ways: - Got to introduce Whitney + Joey to most of my 'work family' - Took whitney to a GOOD thai restaurant, for a change. - It counted as date night. (j/k, dear!)

At Bella's request, I removed all geographic and visual references to where I now abide. For all those crazies out there on the 'net: I live alone atop a high, craggy mountain surrounded by piles of gas-inducing bean burritos and buckets of ammunition for my many sub-machine guns. The approximate location of my hermitage is East of Noah's Ark, and north of Shangri-La. Please feel free to not drop by.

So, on the news today this story: BP said that it would have to shut down a segment of the pipeline for a period of up to six months to replace 16 miles of the structure. Okay, why does BRITISH PETROLEUM own the Alaska pipeline? Why doesn't an American company (or better yet, the federal gov't!) own it?

7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable : "It doesn't matter what you tell yourself, or what slogans you memorize about how everyone is special. You'll think of yourself as special when you do something special. If you think of yourself as special prior to actually doing something special, you're not healthy and well-balanced. You're a narcissist, disconnected from reality. " Okay, this is a LITTLE over the top, but taken as a whole, this article describes why post-modernist Cyberspace and human beings don't mesh, past a point. We need people. (By extension, I'd assert we need God, too!) Fulfilling every need for communication without real community leaves us empty. I didn't realize how empty my life was until I had a relationship with God, my church family, my small town, and Whitney and Joey. As an aside, this is also why working at a tech company is impossible some days -- people have no people skills, and they never learned to ...

Yeah, so this was supposed to be the weekend where I relaxed all Saturday, staying in bed all day if I wished... ...so, naturally, we reorganized the house and Rug Doctor'd the carpets. In between doing that, I found time to change the oil in the Beamer. All this, while Joey lived la dolce vita down at Dale Hollow Lake. The lowpoint was probably when the Purolator filter in the E30 decided to get stuck, at the same time my left shoulder had a heat cramp. I finally crawled under the car and got it unstuck with my StrapWrench from beneath. Then today, we had a luau with the church, and our Sunday school class had to coordinate the event and put up everything from food, to Tiki torches, to games for the kids. It turned into a 3pm -> 8pm afternoon for me, down by the river. But there were lots of good moment: Powerslides in the Beamer on the gravel road from the by-pass to the property, teaching some kids the simple joy of skipping rocks in the creek, and playing beach-ball voll...

Washington Post Article Rarely has our system produced a more naked exercise in opportunism than this measure. Most conservatives oppose the minimum wage on principle as a form of government meddling in the marketplace. But moderate Republicans in jeopardy this fall desperately wanted an increase in the minimum wage. So the seemingly ingenious Republican leadership, which dearly wants deep cuts in the estate tax, proposed offering nickels and dimes to the working class to secure billions for the rich. Fortunately, though not surprisingly, the bill failed. Heard about this this morning on the way in...and it just didn't make sense--an increase in the minimum wage AND cuts in the Estate tax? Huh? What sort of game are these guys in the House running? * * * I don't particularly agree with Dionne's article, but I do see the current situation as untennable--Ammericans en masse cannot support our current lifestyles given $3.00+ gasoline. Somethings got to give. Here in Lexingt...

Caterpillars run amok

[Interior: Postmodern tech-company building with central spiral staircase] Harold, our intrepid protagonist walks down one flight of stairs, three individual 90-degree spiralled segments, to the floor below. He carries a sheet of paper containing the candidate's resumé in one hand, a water-filled tupperware cup in the other. He looks off the the right, then suddenly finds himself falling down the stairs, landing on his left side, most of the impact on his left shin & ankle. His left hand is numb. Water spills everywhere on the stairs. The foyer of the building is full of people Harold: "S$^t!" Girl: "Are you okay man" Harold: [shakes left hand]. "murmph" Lisa: "Are you okay, Harold?" Harold: "Yeah..." * * * My pride is bruised, and I'm sure my ankle will be tomorrow. You'd think I'd WATCH WHERE I WAS GOING!!

As a growing Ubuntu acolyte, this is just hilarious: