Harry's Ruminations

Those guys at Edmunds have done it again--made it stupid easy to see how stupid you are: Try this out: Gas Mileage Savings Calculator . It's essentially the same thing I did on my own with a Google Docs spreadsheet. The numbers aren't pretty. ROI is 8-10 years moving up from my 25mpg Camry to something like a MINI or a TDI VW.

- "So, don't you think that's a requirement for being a software developer: Being detail-oriented?" - "Perhaps I'm a bad software developer, then."

Well, I'm back. Whitney has several excellent Posts on our vacation. I enjoyed it, but I got overtired and fed-up with the whole thing. Sleeping-in doesn't agree with me. Not working (that is, being aimless) doesn't agree with me. Had some time away from computers and blogging, as well, and that's got me thinking. I'm thinking that my blogging these days is full of crap. What I really think and feel and perceive about this world is frankly unfit for the light of day (any day), much less consumption by people I care about. At the heart of it, I'm a mean, selfish person, a sinner in true Romans 3:23 fashion. I exhibit schadenfreude so much it kills my soul sometimes. That's the joy (and pain) of the internet...removing all consequence for being a pure asshole. Social norms and mores don't exist here, because *we* don't exist...our thoughts and ideas do, and persist somewhere in Google's vast BigTable copy of the Internet. Though we ch...

Sometimes, when I find someone insufferable, my wife does, too. Algorithm IS a latin word, but it's a bastardized version of the original Arabic. Wood stain is like chickenpox for horizontal or vertical surfaces. I really like sushi. As in, if I had the money, I'd eat it every day for lunch. I can tan, much like a rump roast can cook: Eventually.

So, I read somewhere once (citation be damned!) that people with active, physical jobs should enjoy relaxing vacations, and that people with sedentary jobs should try for more active, involved holidays. Hoo boy. Sign me up for some bricklaying. So, in the short few days since last Friday, this happened: Friday : We put together the kids' swing set: . Assembly time: 8 hours Sunday, we did church and Father's day, including a trip to Malone's restaurant for a sampling of excellent sushi from the Aqua Sushi bar. Man, it was awesome! Monday we stained the fence. At the start of the day, we were using stone tools...er...brushes and 3" rollers and by the end of the day (9 hrs later) we found ourselves using a hand-pump sprayer. Even still, we only got most of the exterior of the fence done, minus two sections Tuesday, Whitney decided to go whole hog and buy a Wagner electric sprayer. Yep, welcome to the space age. After that we headed to the Georgetown Water Park for...

Wow. Imagine Vince Vaughn , minus 30 pounds, plus lots of hair, still unable to act. Then imagine a vapid plot, based around hollow, vapid Hollywood people. At that point, you'll have Swingers , a picture of the walking id that is maleness in America in the 1970's...er...I mean, the 1990's in Hollywood. From reading the trivia on imdb, it looks like Writer/Director/Star/Gaffer/Wardrobe-Mistress Favreau based the plot on his own life when coming out to L.A. Despite everything going against it (Vince Vaughn hamming every scene), Favreau almost saes the day. He portrays a guy awash in his own (imagined) misery amid his friend's Nihilistic debauchery. Scenes aren't so much strung together in a plot as they are loose, jerky vignettes barely associated--In other words, just like real life. Some scenes are just random, painful, and prolonged. As a viewer, you wish they'd just end. Favreau's character, Mike, wishes the same thing. It's only when he meet...

J, talking to P: "Wow, look at all those 1's! You go through your wife's underwear or something?"

What an awesome, awesome weekend it was! Productive, surprising, exhausting, with both family time and some time to myself. Friday night Whitney and I watched Juno the indie hit from last year that made Ellen Page an ingenue phenomenon. A nuanced film, it has the same deep characters and self-deprecating humor as Little Miss Sunshine . We both liked it. Saturday was busy, as most Saturdays before Autocross are for me. But man, was I motivated--up at 6:30, TODO list in hand, ticking-off chores. It freaked-out Bella just a tad: "I get freaked out when you're... organized ." We were the snack-bringers at the final Coach-pitch game of the regular season at 4, but we decided to head into Lexington to buy Bella some new running shoes and head to Sams. We never made it to Sam's Club. But, that's a good thing. So, we went to John's Run/Walk Shop in Chevy Chase to get her fitted. Love that place--nice, knowledgeable sales people and fair prices. She picked...

I had a thought today, a shining inkling of something spectacular, something different, something...red. That is a Porsche 356 spyder. Yeah, the thought goes like this: I'm commuting in the automotive novacaine known as my 2000 Toyota Camry. It's smooth, quiet, and reliable. On the weekends, I'd like to have something to drive and autox. I love my E30, but it's far from a classic sportscar--it has body roll and understeer like the sedan it actually is. So, does it make more sense to get something less compromised and more focused. (And, more classic?) That's the thing...I have no idea. The economy's going to hell, so somebody's going to be unloading their toys soon (if not already...) wonder what these puppies (or some other sort of Porsche or BMW) go for? Yes, I know...blasphemy. Like I said...just a thought!

So, Kung Fu Panda This 92-minute computer-animated extravaganza has all the elements of a great kids-and-adults flick: Slick looks, top voice talent (Jack Black, Angie Jolie, Dustin Hoffman), a fat-kid-makes-good plot, and merchandise-friendly anthropomorphic animals for characters. The plot centers around a vision of the sage in residence (a Galapagos tortoise, natch!) who has a vision that the big bad, Tai Lung will escape from his prison to once again ravage the Peaceful Valley. In response, he thinks it time to choose the Dragon Warrior, who will gain cosmic power to defeat evil--and Tai Lung, the leopard on steroids. So Tortoise boy has his apprentice sage Shifu hold a tournament to choose the dragon warrior. Enter fanboy Po (Jack Black), who manages to catapult himself in the middle of the tournament and be chosen Dragon Warrior. Only, uh....Po doesn't know Kung-Fu. He just knows how to eat. So, from there we get the standard fish-out-of-water, martial-arts training tale. ...

Every summer, my step-son Joey leaves us to go live with his Dad in Louisville. We get to see him alternate weekends, and we get 1 week of "vacation" during that time. To give him a send-off this year, we took a mini vacation down to my Mom & Dad's Friday through Sunday. I had a very good time, though I did eat nonstop. Mom's house is a little like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory--lots of omnipresent chocolate goodness. What's not chocolate is sugary or sugar-free (Dad's Type 2 diabetic). Friday, we arrived late in the afternoon and just hung-out. Joe and I got to ride up to Jackson with dad in his pulling truck, which was a "man-time" treat for us. Three generations :D Saturday was a fizzle, as we got up late and didn't make it to the Red River Gorge to go hiking. Whitney came down with a bad case of allergies, so we amended our plans to hike in the 95 degree heat to going to watch a movie. We drove to Hazard (Yay, 80 mile roun...

- "Your situation reminds me of that Spaceballs line, '...evil will always triumph because good is dumb.'" - "You'll work yourself to death by being a nice guy" ( Upon being told there was a purpose in life ) - "Yes, there is: Helping people, and this has nothing to do with that." - "Did you forget your Teflon suit in that last meeting?" * * * I wonder: Am I equipped to handle this amount of B.S.?

The weekend was a blur--running Joey up to Louisville, taking Maria down to Mom & Dad's Saturday, and lunching with the church at the Cane Ridge Shrine Sunday afternoon. The weather powers-that-be missed the forecast--each day was beautiful in Georgetown. Today, I've too many meetings, and much too much to do...yep, must be back in 082. * * * Coolest part of the weekend? Working on a New Holland Hay Baler with my Dad. Just like old times...grease everywhere, gears, chains, clutches. I'm just a tad more mechanically capable than I used to be. That was my Father's Day present...hanging out with my Dad.