Reality Me

Month: April 2004

  • Vehicle to autonomous biped robot conversion for t…

    Vehicle to autonomous biped robot conversion for the Mini Cooper r50.

    I first had the vision to build a robot while working as an engineer on the old Mini Coopers in the late 1960s. There were no real robots at the time of course, so it was purely science-fiction. But I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile – a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents.
    The movies are worth a watch

  • Tired of your kids? Auction them on Ebay! German 8…

    Tired of your kids? Auction them on Ebay! German 8 year old girl ‘up for sale’ on eBay

    Three bids had reportedly been made by the time police removed the ad – the highest for 25.50 euros ($30.35).

  • "Jeep on Fire" by Troy H. Cheek Jeep owners have t…

    “Jeep on Fire” by Troy H. Cheek Jeep owners have the coolest stories!

  • Virginia High School senior Mallory White has been…

    Virginia High School senior Mallory White has been suspended from school for the past 10 days – all because her cell phone beeped in class.

    I understand that the policies are in place to allow for learning environment without distraction. However, ever since the digital watch came out, students have synchronized alarms to disrupt class in jest. Should we ban watches?

    The cellphone will continue to shape our society. Already in S. Korea cellphones can be used to buy sodas from vending machines and groceries. So, do we ban cell phones? Or integrate them into the edication system teaching students how to research using WAP and creating opportunies with SMS allowing the student another means of interaction with the teacher?

    I want my children to know technology, use it and push it to the limits. I like the idea that one day my daughter may send me a brief text message from school telling me of some significant accomplishment and me being able to send her a hearty congratulations back!
    White said she felt that surrendering her phone to school administrators for six weeks – the other option for violation of the school policy – was too severe, so she chose to miss 10 days of school instead.
    I know our middle school policy is that if a phone comes to school it is removed from the student and the parent must come pick it up. The 2nd offense the school gets to keep the phone. I’m sorry. If I have invested in a phone for my child the school will not sudden de facto own it!

  • Stress Bear Prepare for hours of endless fun! A ne…

    Stress Bear Prepare for hours of endless fun! A new tool each time you pass over the bear!

  • I find this terribly humorous! Murfreesboro has a …

    I find this terribly humorous! Murfreesboro has a tourism page!

  • Mork moved! Careful what you agree to! Kay Oltman…

    Mork moved! Careful what you agree to!

    Kay Oltmans told the newspaper earlier that year that she never expected the attention – fans almost daily knocking on the door, asking for tours and peering in windows at all hours – when she agreed to let the exterior of the house be filmed.

  • A New Day! Let’s start the day off with a PayPa…

    A New Day!

    Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

    This Morning

    Getting behind on things makes it difficult for me to do things meaning I get further behind. I was too busy to blog yesterday at the moments I had to blog I didn’t have time to do so completely so I just didn’t do. This is a trap! A trap that will get me in much trouble.

    Tommy is the only child here so Cathy and I were able to sleep in. Time to check on him.

  • A New Day! Let’s start the day off with a PayPa…

    A New Day!

    Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

    This Morning

    I don’t remember much of Sat except that we went to a park in the afternoon and at the very end Amy felt and landed her temple on a metal spike that is used to hold part of the equipment together. It goes into the ground and looks like an oversized carriage bolt. Time had wiggled it above the plastic. She got a nasty goose egg but the bump came out instead of in and it healed quickly.

    The grandparents took all the kids except Tommy returning the girlscout on their way home. Cathy and I had a very pleasant evening together and got to sleep in on Sunday!

  • Circus

    We took the girlscouts and family to the circus. There were 13 of us and it was terrific! The clown that blew bubbles with his hands was very interactive with us blowing a square bubble for Tommy. Amy was not scared of the clowns at all but needed frequent walking breaks away from all the noise. Everyone had a great time. Even I didn’t mind spending $40 on cokes and hotdogs! The circus had the heat up and added extra salt to the popcorn in a blatant attempt to sell more drinks. This circus was energetic and overall had one fantastic performance after another. Our seats were perfect.

    The boys went with the grandparents to spend the night. We dropped one of the girlscouts off at her house and another one came home with us to spend the night.

  • Came out of a 2.5 hour IEP at Tommy’s school. The …

    Came out of a 2.5 hour IEP at Tommy’s school. The goal was supposed to be to get a clear definition of Tommy’s placement for high school. At the end of the meeting 5 minutes was spent describing the lack of placement options in the high school, the infelxibility in the main stream teachers and their unwillingness to work with special needs children, and the fact that Tommy will spend most of his time in a CDC classroom with extreme behavior problem children. The administration did not write a thing down on the paper as this was described. The nice politicians are very good about creating only the “proper” paper trial. It’s lawsuit time!

  • Sick kids

    School nurse called. Time to go pickup Noah. Symptoms. 99 degree fever, headache and stomach ache. Hmm. Wasn’t Tommy complaining of headache and stomach ache while earlier in the week Cathy, Amy and I all had bad stomaches?

    Must go pickup Noah and get back here in time to research TCL before my phone interview in half an hour.

  • A New Day! Let’s start the day off with a PayPa…

    A New Day!

    Let’s start the day off with a PayPal donation link:

    This Morning

    This morning the backs of my tights thighs are so sore it almost hurts to touch them.

    Tommy had me up at 5am and although I was fully awake I could not resist the urge to return to bed. I arose again at 6:08 to get the kids going. The morning went smoothly and I even returned in time to see Tommy off to his bus.

    This day is going to be fun. The first part of the morning has to be planning for the IEP, confirming there is not a conflict with the recruiters and if not doing a phone interview, and then the actual IEP. That is all before lunch. After lunch I have to rent a drain snake and get this bathroom sink working well so that the 3 teenage girls that will be sleeping here tonight have running water. Additionally, I have to get the whole upstairs scrubbed. Sometime around 5pm all focus has to change to getting our crew out the door for the circus with the girlscouts tonight. Um.. yes, a computer needs to be repaired and something needs to be done to earn some money (guess I’m buying more lottery tickets 🙂 )

  • Wife Time

    Cathy and I shared conversation and watched an episode of Futurama that both of us had somehow never seen before. Sleep came quick.

  • Casino

    To help return the favor the entertainment company is giving us for the Zoo event on May 8th I dealt craps at one of their mock casinos. I enjoy these events because the activity and talking doesn’t stop for 4 hours. It’s like juggling only I’m doing it with 15 people, chips and dice. Cathy does not enjoy me doing these events. The evening went quickly.

    Afterwards I stopped by Kroger to buy pullups for Noah and beer for me. At the checkout I had an epiphany and looked up at the cashier with a laugh and said “looks like I’m not planning on getting up from the couch tonight.” Smilies were shared by all.