Happy Birthday Tommy! (jumped the gun yesterday_ I am thrilled with his progress and love seeing his joy at the thought of getting a driver’s license. Loved his excitement over his new phone. Overall he is a happy, fun person.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
I have walked some rocky paths but I wouldn’t change a single step of my journey because I love where I am. I am happy with the choices I have made in my life.
Cathy says, "It’s not the destination. It’s the journey." And I am so happy to have her on this journey with me.Can you meet The August Challenge?
Five years ago I put a bat house on the side of our house. It remains empty. A single bat can eat 500-600 mosquitoes an hour and up to 6000 per day. (if I am accurately remembering my information from the Knoxville Zoo tour) I periodically see 2 bats flying above our house and enjoy watching their swoops and zings in the dusk.
Our outside cat, Gray, treats us with gifts on the porch step. She particularly enjoys moles and skinks but has also gifted us with mice, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, and a gerbil. I have seen her try to catch a woodpecker. This morning her gift was a bat. I now believe that the super huntress can catch anything. I warn the hawks! This cat can fly. Meanwhile, our inside cat catches zz’s as anyone that watches the camera is surely aware. The inside cat no longer catches mice. Ignores the tarantulas. Distastes The Beetles as much as my daughter. Converses with the squirrels. And only kills crickets by accident leaving their carcasses in the path of my wife‘s bare feet.
Of course my real concern here is that with the delay the child support check game being played at a bad cash flow time, along with start of school expenses, that a trip to the vet to check for rabies will cause unbearable hardship at this time. Of course, we will do what we must.
Update: I forgot to mention the bat lives in the freezer now.
This weekend has been about Tommy. Tommy turns 16 on Tuesday and we celebrated his birthday today. I am happy seeing him happy.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
Do you have a site that you despise? Does it burn your eyes when you look? Now you can take pleasure in obliterating that site! Watch it be destroyed with a disaster of your choosing!
The Amorphophallus titanum (corpse flower) at BBG looks like something out of Little Shop of Horrors! Apparently these blossom in cultivation so rarely that when it happens they document it.
Make: has more.
I am testing tan tan noodles’ Flickr Photo Album plugin. It should create a gallery at http://blog.siliconholler.com/gallery/ and make adding flickr photos to posts easier.
Today, I am happy that we can bathe again! The long hairs in this house been clogging up the plumbin’.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
Can you give feedback on the following? Assume you are a 16 year old boy that likes rules and repetition and are a Starcraft junkie.
Thank you for your feedback!
Eek! I missed yesterday so this post is for yesterday’s challenge. Yesterday I was happy that Tuesday night I took some time to fish a coax cable up through Noah’s wall, across the attic, and down into the girls’ wall so that the television which has been in their room since Christmas now has basic cable as promised. Additionally, our fried cable box (blown during a power outage two weeks ago) has been replaced and our digital guide is back! Did not realize how important that guide has become to our television viewing. Did not realize the quantity and quality of educational television that comes on the upper digital channels and is lacking from the lower channels. Evan is dancing again. Amy is learning her spelling again.Thank you Noggin! Btw, television and physical activity with children still needs to be monitored but after observing how television has helped the children with vocabulary, words, math, and concepts, I will never again call it a simple babysitter for today’s television is truly an educational aid. I still like to see it turned off periodically.
Oh, Tommy and Noah are learning to blow things up (thank you Mythbusters and I don’t care what Adam and Jamie say I still don’t want forks in the microwave). And Sarah is watching some anime crap that comes on the lower channels anyway. Yeah yeah. I know. I watched it too when I was her age.
Can you meet The August Challenge?
ps. The Mythbusters cast have the coolest job in the world!
KristyK has posted this fantastic question. I look forward to reading the comments. I wrote a lengthy comment myself and have republished it here:
I love writing. I could do it all day. Just wish it would pay.
I notice that whenever I touch a subject that is tacky (like Sphinterine) or sexual that my readers clam up. I like to imagine they got a giggle but are too embarassed to post a comment and be associated with such material. Granted, my brother posted a "TMI" to the sexual reference linked above.
The subjects I avoid but want to write about are money, sex, and negativity.
I avoid money because my family reads my blog and they hate the lifestyle I’ve chosen so whenever money comes up as an issue family (and friends) immediately shout "why don’t you get a job?" The short answer is because I have a job; it is just not a traditional job. The long answer is that switching to a corporate job after 10 years of consulting just is not that simple. I work night and day and still find time to entertain interviews and market myself to existing and prospective clients.
I would love to write about sex. It is a favorite subject of mine. I could say of lot of interesting things on the subject. However, I think I have stayed in the "family blog" category and fear losing readers if too much sex comes up. I also have this possible misconception in my mind that people reading family blogs are "quality readers" while people looking to read about sex are "horny teens" and/or lessor quality adult readers. Fact is, married people have sex (maybe only once a year give or take but it happens).
Our lives are filled with negativity. Negativity can overwhelm positivity. One angry person in a room full of happy people can quickly change the mood. One happy person in a room full of grouchy people is likely to leave the room unhappy. I read my paper journals and for the most part they are filled with negativity. "This bad thing happened." "I could not get…" At least it is out of my head once it is on paper and that makes me feel good. However, I don’t think people reading my paper journals would "feel good." Our lives are also filled with positive, good things. I would like to write about the negative from a reality perspective but I don’t want people thinking that “because the child support check isn’t arriving on schedule, the mortgage is late, the fridge is empty, the big client refused payment, and no more jobs are lined up” our life is miserable because I think we suck the marrow from life, laugh and enjoy more than your typical home.
Of the three items; negativity, sex, and money, I could, and sometimes do, write about the negative. I truly want to give people more of a look into the challenges we face as a 7 person household with unpredictable cash flow. Obviously I have a post or two about sex. I think readers would be fascinated to follow the ups and downs of a feast or famine lifestyle.
Utlimately, the reason I avoid those 3 topics are employers. Whether my contract relations (new or old) are researching me or if a corporate recruiter is checking me out, the topics and level of revealing information could hinder my opportunity for hire. A blog does not reveal the whole person nor their whole situation. It is a glimpse at their life through a peep hole but I believe readers forget this and assume the blog and the person to be the whole story. Employers should embrace such information when weighing candidates as the blog gives so much more than a resume. But at this level of business maturity, instead of accepting "everyone has flaws," I feel today’s hiring managers would rather keep their blinders on and hire the non-blogger versus taking on the risk exposed by the blogger (be it acknowledging that the hiree has depression issues and might affect performance; or questioning if this journalist will reveal corporate secrets).
This topic is so important to me that I have a page on my blog dedicated to Why I Blog.
I suppose I fear having my character come into question over some satire or by misconstruing my writing. The reality of it is I am who I am. I am happy with who I am. I live honestly and try my best to treat others kindly. I offer my words so you can know me for I have nothing to hide.
I enjoy writing about technology at Spy Journal Tech Tips. My lastest piece discusses Internet connection speeds. Reprinted here:
Our children will never appreciate the handshake of a 300 baud modem. The thought of transferring anything at 1200 baud is unthinkable even if we invoke the sacred z-modem. Now-a-days you are more likely to talk about megabits per second (a data rate) instead of baud (a symbol rate).
I find it amazing how our data communications have increased in such a short time. We used to drool over a T-1 connection (1.544Mbit/s). Since only businesses could afford such luxuries, people would plan weekend gaming sessions at their work place or stay late to download and surf in ways that the average home user could only dream possible. Now, your cable connection is likely faster than a T-1. Comcast advertises 6Mbit/s standard with 8Mbit/s for some extra money and is currently testing 16Mbit/s in Richmond, VA. The near future promises even better (28Mbit/s)!
What is your speed? Online testing services such as http://www.testmy.net/ and http://bandwidthplace.com/ can help you see if you are up to snuff. Your internal networking equipment can cause slowdowns so by-pass your router, hubs and other gear by plugging your computer directly into your cable or dsl modem when speed checking. You may need to power cycle the modem after connecting directly. http://broadbandreports.com/ (aka DSL Reports) is a fantastic resource when troubleshooting or investigating network speeds.
Your system software can influence speed. Tools like SG TCP Optimizer can greatly improve your Internet connection by adjusting network settings you may not even know exist.
See also It’s the latency, stupid for more understanding of speed issues. Read about hacking the Linksys router and Linksys Blue Box Router HOWTO.
[Source]
Student: Why are Wednesdays so hard?
Master: Why do you fight the tide?
If you have a few cycles to burn can you help me figure out if a Dell Dimension XPS T700r can be to a p4 1.5 or p4 2.0? If not, got any recs on a good place to get a new mb and cpu? I have to be away from the puter for the next hour. Thanks.