Year: 2004

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Kids

They just don’t keep things bottled

    up inside like adults

And they’re less cranky!

-DM 5/10/1998

I just had a memory. I’m having to format some floppies (yes, the earth just stopped for a moment). I remember being in the 8th, 9th or 10th grade and hanging out at a friend’s house. I’m pretty sure it was Chuck’s house. Chuck later followed me to TN to become my first roommate in college but that’s a different story. On this particular day we were testing the warnings about floppy disks. This was also when a floppy disk was floppy and 5 and 1/4 inches square. I think they only held 760kb unless you were fortunate to afford the nice HD (high density ones) that were 1.4 mb. Remember those expensive disks that that the pretty red raised letters on them? I can almost remember the brand! Oh yeah! The disks held 380kb and the HD ones held 760kb but a wise computer geek would use a hole punch to “double-side” the disks thereby making a LD 760kb and an hd 1.44 amazing megabytes! I remember mail ordering the disks cheap (prior to ecommerce remember) and upselling the things. If memory serves correct the bulk disks started out at 14 cents a disk and eventually worked down to about 2 cents a disk. (I’m probably wrong no those prices).

Anyhow, we tested the warnings. We removed the disk from its protective case (naturally used it in the computer that way and it worked. We rubbed it on our pants and it worked. We wrote on it in pencil and it worked. (Now for my favorite) We poured koolaid on it and it worked. We washed the koolaid off before sticking it back in the computer but in hindsight that was a dumb thing to do. The final killing move was to crease the disk. Folding it in half and unfolding it destroyed the readibility of the floppy disk.

Today my pain is on my left side. This is unusual. Typically its a sharp cramp between my two bottom most ribs on the right side. Today it is on the left side just below my rib cage and everytime I breath in I feel it but mostly when I cough (I’m still getting over some allergies or a cold). I just discovered that it is tender to the touch. It is almost as if someone hit me in the ribs with their fist. I have to believe its the extra long hours of typing I’ve been putting and exasperated by the coughing.

I am surrounded by tps reports!

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

I need music.

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A New Day!

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This Morning

Amy woke at 4:30 or so and Cathy brought her to the bed where she tossed and turned and talked. The dog pooped on the papers and I could hear Amy with these exaggerated “sniff, sniff”s through her nose. It was two loud distinct sniffs. Then a pause. Repeat. Finally she said, “ew! Molly pooped!” It was quite humorous! I finally gave up and put her in the crib where she complained until she fell asleep.

It took skill to get my clothes and belongings out without disturbing Amy. Somehow I didn’t disturb her despite clanging trash cans, loud beeping phones and muttering under my breath.

The dog was getting aggitated at being locked in the bedroom so rather than risk having her wake Amy I let her upstairs. I figured she had done her business but to be safe when I got upstairs I’d cage her. Too late. I get upstairs and a pile of mush is in the bathroom with dog pee streaming under the bathroom cabinet.

Told Tommy he was on his own and went downstairs to iron. He must have gotten dressed as I heard him leave for the bus. Never saw what he looked like or what he carried off with him.

Took the others to their respective bus stops. Found out that Sarah left one of Amy’s juice cups at the bookfair but another child saw her set it down and had the wherewithall to pick it up for us.

Today will be a miracle if I don’t have a break down.

I’m on a local contract now that may provide the flexibility I need for my lifestyle to work as well as pay the bills. I just can’t talk about it much as the company regards confidentiality and ethics very highly. They will read this blog if I have to get a clearance.

Still faced with the challenges of angry collectors, home and child catastrophes, more to do than time permits, battles with the school administration, etc. but all in all things are looking up lately.

Condensation pump died on the a/c and flooded a corner of our closet. The corner we stash Christmas presents to be in. Lost half the stash including one fairly significant one.

This happended because I over stacked stuff in the garage once then opened the garage door crushing part of the top garage door panel. Now the garage doesn’t seal as well as it used to and outside air mixes with the inside air causing the a/c to produce an unnatural amount of condensation. The pump works over time. It slowly dies. I clean it out giving it a reprieve but forget to check it until its too late. It never recovered from the cleaning.

My lack of follow-thru bites us again.

A New Day!

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This Morning

I thought of staying up late but was dizzy with tiredness. Woke at 4 but could not motivate. Woke again at 6am and stared at the ceiling until 6:15. I really wanted to be programming and sleeping at the same time.

I’m upset with myself that I have not been forcing solid, uninterupted blocks of productivity over these past several months. I’m behind and I’m not sure how I am going to catch up.

Today: work all day, take 4 kids to Rocky Hill’s open house and book fair by myself, program

Yesterday

Started my contract in Oak Ridge. Was nervous as I could possibly be without getting ill. Things worked out. A part of me enjoyed the atmosphere. A part of me wanted to have a spell of vertigo. Felt like a combination of a scene from Office Spaces (amz) and the beginning of The Matrix (amz) when Neo is talking to his boss.

  

A New Day!

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This Morning

I tried to get up at 4am and didn’t get up until 5:45. This day is going to be tight. I have contract work to get done, rental equipment to return, cars to clean, Tommy’s D&D game, and programming.

Yesterday

As predicted, no programming. I allowed my self a diversion in the morning and as I’m getting in programming mode, Amy’s finger gets smashed in the front door. Looking at her mangled finger I fail to remain calm. I do not yell at any of the kids. Cathy tells it differently. I figure somewhere down the middle we together are correct. We tend to her finger. I take her to the trampoline to calm her and see how she reacts when she falls on the finger. Everything is looking fine. Sarah and I take her to the doctor anyway. He prescribes some Motrin and says no x-rays are needed. All is well.

I get home to realize I promised a client that by today I would remove certain software from his machines. Off to client location.

Back just in time to go to a Scout Leader meeting roughly five minutes late.

After the meeting I tend to family matters then its off to a friend’s house to pickup some software. From their I check on the cat at the house we are watching. From their its back to the client’s business until after midnight.

I debate an allnighter but give into much needed sleep.

My wife just made an exceptional post on 9/11/01.

9/11 for me does not represent tradegy. It represents glory. It represents life. When someone mentions 9/11/01 my mind doesn’t jump first to seeing world famous landmarks demolished (although it angers me that my children cannot visit the top of the Towers as I did nor can I or they see the statues of Budda). My mind jumps to the little wheel my wife’s GYN was holding when she said, “Do you want to know what you were doing on Sept 11?” and to all the giggles, messy diapers and lessons of the wonders of life, learning and growth that followed. September 11, 2001 represents my fulfillment as a human being to leave a legacy.

As for the political side of things, it represents a loss of freedom as a coverup of a government mistake. Terrorism has always been present. I used to be proud to say that the only time the United States had ever been attacked on its own soil was during the Civil War (granted there were some pot shots from U-boats and Japanese subs during WWII). I saw the terrorists won. Their goal was to change the way we live. Most Americans live unrealistically in fear. The fear is irrational but it is what the terrorist wished to achieve. They have won. I feel like I’m living in George Orwell’s book.

The silence in the skys on September 12, 2001 was wonderful and eerie. It was complimented by the silence on the roads. If we could have turned off all electricity and moved momentarily beyond the horror, I think it would have given a nation a day to be incredibly introspective, relate better to the ways our forefather’s lived when they founded this nation, and appreciate more the modern conveniences on which we have come to depend.

I can no longer carry my pocket knife on an airplane. The pocket knife which is a reminder of achievement, safety, acts as a worry stone and fidget toy, and can be an ice breaker since I can do a great magic trick with it; However, I can drink from a coke can which can be ripped into a razor sharp weapon and I can wear a necklace of garrotable steel and I can carry eye stabbing pens and I can allow my fingernails to grow long to enable me to rip out your carotid artery bringing a messy rather instant death and I can hold my hand with my index finger and pinky straight out with the other two fingers bent and punch really hard into a mans neck crushing his Adam’s apple giving him about 3 minutes to live (you can recover from this by painfully pushing your hands on the side of your throat to pop the Adam’s apple back into shape) and I can cite many other examples from keys to belts to lady’s products. All these added security measures that are great inconviences are simply misplaced funding to put on a dog and pony show for the American public and give them a false sense of security. It simply keeps an honest man honest.

We no longer refer to our emergency service as 911. It is now E-911 to distinguish from “the event.” Some schools no longer run field trips to Washington DC to allow our students to learn about our government (it’s easier for the dictators to supplant our lifestyle if a whole generation doesn’t know how its suppose to work).

Our way of life as changed. The terrorists won.

  

Student: My brain is fried.

Master: Better than being raw.