This is what happens when you give someone a 200+ page legal document and 15 minutes to make a yes or no decision on that document. More of our representatives need to stand up like this. It would have been nice if the vacuous husks around him, aside for the one lady, had shown any sign that his message was being heard.
Month: May 2012
Packing Weight
Instead of waiting until the morning of our departure, I’m starting to pack early this time. Granted, I probably should have been packed by now. So, how much does my gear weigh? Let’s list it as we go:
- A 20 year old Osprey pack: 7 pounds
- Moonstone sleeping bag: 2 pounds
- Clothing: 5 pounds
- …more to come
That time of my life…again
To accomplish the mass number of things that must be achieved before I can go camping for 10 days with my son, I must start brewing coffee at both 8am and 8pm. Deadlines must be met! No slippage allowed.
Oh my!
There is indeed more than one way to skin a cat!
Happy Memorial Day
In case you are unclear, Memorial Day is the holiday we remember the fallen soldiers. Veterans Day is when we honor the living soldiers. Memorial Day has its origins from the Civil War in a practice called Decoration Day when people would place flowers on graves of the soldiers. May 30th was Memorial Day. In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to increase the number of three day weekends for federal employees. Memorial Day officially moved to the last Monday of May in 1971.
Please be safe this weekend. The weather is beautiful! Relax some and be sure to take a moment to remember those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Yesterday / Today
Yesterday, I worked hard and found a good stopping point on my project. My reward was getting to take Cathy, Amy, and Evan to a friend’s house for a Memorial Day weekend cookout. What fun!
Today I have to continue working on my project, I have volunteer work for the Boy Scouts that must be done, I need to begin packing for the backpacking trip to Utah, I need to order our final gear, I want to work on Amy’s clubhouse, I have to clean the garage, and we will have more Memorial Day family activities.
Such a beautiful day!
Tis a beautiful Sunday
On a three day weekend
The sun shines brightly
And I think of working on Amy’s clubhouse
I imagine playing with my children
Riding bikes and swimming
Frisbee golf and adventures
Explorations and local attractions
I think of cleaning the garage
And improving the house
All while typing away at my computer
So that perhaps the next beautiful Sunday
I can make these things a reality.
Bumping into friends
Knoxville really is a small community. Today is Evan’s birthday so while at Weigel’s buying milk, I decided to treat him to Krispy Kreme donuts. Of course, I walk into Krispy Kreme and lo and behold there’s a friend of mine with his daughter. We enjoyed catching up over donuts and coffee. Always finding a friend is one of Knoxville’s more pleasant attributes.
Evening goal – relax
I really wanted to have a nice relaxing Saturday night to clear my head and find some extra happiness. Oh, of mice and men! Slow FTP. What could I do? Naturally, run to the steamed broccoli drive-thru. While at the local Chinese buffet, struggling to understand what the staff was trying to say, my phone buzzed with a panicked child, "The bathroom is flooding! Come right away!" I reply, "but I’m not at home." The ten year old quandaries, "where are you?" My head explodes, picturing a naive child talking on the phone, a wife unknowingly cleaning in the basement, while rivers flow through my home. All was well. The flood was bad. But our saving grace, were the tampons for they absorbed it well.
Updating Redmine
I use Redmine to manage my client’s projects at http://redmine.dougmccaughan.com. I just noticed that last week Redmine released version 2.0.0 so I excitedly decided to upgrade my version…from 1.1.1 (how embarrassing!) This post will track the process should it not go smoothly.
Update: My update ended up being a simple "SVN UPDATE" however, it only brought me to 1.1.3. I didn’t even make it to the 1.4 branch. Will try again later.
Memorial Day Weekend
This is Memorial Day Weekend. To comply with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, in 1971 Memorial Day was moved from May 30th to the last Monday of May thus creating a beloved three day weekend. Some people want to return the holiday to May 30th as they feel people have forgotten the roots of Decoration Day, a day of observance to mourn the dead of the Civil War, and that respect for our fallen solders has been overshadowed by vacations to the beach.
This Memorial Day weekend, I celebrate two of my children’s birthdays, I plan to spend 30-40 hours on a client’s project, dig through a decade’s worth of statements and receipts, and I will remember our fallen solders.
Looking back 10 years
Right now I’m sitting down with a tax professional to review my past decade’s tax returns. See, I goofed an eon ago and skipped filing taxes. Had I filed, I would have received a substantial refund. Having not filed, Uncle Sam got mad and billed me for a ridiculous amount of money (5 digits). This tax bill has been a pain. If all goes well today, this will finally be put to bed; of course, it will take the IRS 10 or more weeks to finalize the paperwork so the party will have to wait until then. The lesson? ALWAYS file your taxes!
Update: It’s never good when the IRS agent on the phone makes your tax professional slam her fist on the desk and declare "bitch" after hanging up. However, that’s now one motivated tax professional! In short, over the past decade I’ve lost, not owed but lost, tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS. And they want more.
My Uncle Sam does bad things to me. It’s been our secret since 2002.
From the mouths of babes
Tommy: "We need a kitten."
Me: "No we don’t."
Tommy: "I’ll take good care of it."
Me: "When you have your own place to live, you can have a kitten."
Cathy: "If you clean the litter box for our cat every day for one month, you can have a kitten."
Tommy: "Yea!"
Me: "Make it six months."
Cathy: "One month."
Me: "I don’t want another cat!"
12 days later, Tommy: "12 days and I’ve cleaned the litter box every day."
I think I have roughly 18 days to build Tommy a small apartment near Amy’s clubhouse.
Marriage advice to men
After you say, "I do," it’s really best just to shutup and not speak again.
Think your water is clean?
Compare your rivers to this one in Bangladesh.
