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?"