Reality Me

Category: Daily Life

Ramblings, often stream of conscious, journaling the events of my life.

  • Why didn’t you just do that in the first place?

    Years ago I ripped all the paneling out of the downstairs, tore out cabinetry, plumbing, a sink, and a wall. I waterproofed the concrete block wall first by filling any cracks with a mortar then painting the block with a thick waterproofing sealing primer. The wife asked, "why is this taking so long?" I then created studs for the new wall which included a walk-in closet and a nook that the previous setup did not include. The wife asked, "why is this taking so long?" I pre-drilled the studs for wiring and ran electric, cable (to multiple drops), and ethernet (to multiple drops). The wife asked, "why is this taking so long?" Next I insulated the walls and hung the drywall. The wife asked, "why is this taking so long?" Finally I was able to do the tedious step of applying joint compound (spackling) to fill the gaps and cover the drywall screws. If you mess up the joint compound, the mistake will be clearly seen when paint is applyed. I sanded and sanded and reapplied compound and sanded and sanded. The wife asked, "why is this taking so long?" Finally I was able to put a coat of paint on. The wife asked, "why didn’t you do that in the first place?"

    Often my programming is very similar. A lot of detail goes into the framework of the site, that is the behind the scenes stuff that nobody ever sees. As a matter of fact, if I have done my job well, anything complex should be hidden from the user and the website should leave them with a "wow that’s easy! I could do this!" feeling.

    My current project involves using ColdFusion to fetch a large amount of data from a data provider (some other company that has a really big database which frequently updates) in an xml format then parse it to save the results in my client’s database. I have made it over a huge challenge! But all my work is invisible to the frustrated client. I’ll put up the visible side shortly and I fear the client will ask, "why didn’t you do that in the first place?"

  • IJA Festival 2008 is in Lexington!

    Oh serendipity! This is the closest I have ever been to the International Jugglers’ Association festival! I have video tapes from renegade shows from a couple of decades ago that just look like a blast. Years ago, young and bullheaded, I had attitude toward the IJA as being the evil juggling overloads (for profit) that popularized that horrid 4-4-10 nonsense. In truth, I just wasn’t innovative enough to get myself to one of the festivals. Groundhog Day Juggler’s convention in Atlanta and the one Neil Stammer (Andrew J. Allen) hosted in D.C. were the ones I was able to attend.

    Doug juggling fireJuggling festivals are wonderful. You learn so much. And there’s nothing to really describe the sensation of walking into a gymnasium filled with a few hundred people throwing things at each other. And when you get some really talent passers together, the juggling is like clockwork, everything around you fades away, and you are in a single group mind defying gravity!

    I went to the Knoxville Juggler’s Club night last night. It was thrilling but my skills have faded and long since been surpassed by superior jugglers. I never uttered that I was the best juggler in Knoxville; that would be wrong, lacking humility, egotistical, and arrogant. But years ago I heard it, and secretly I didn’t think it was too far off base not because I was talented but because Knoxville just didn’t have that many die-hard jugglers. Of course back then I’d blow off classes to go listen to Jimmy Buffett, The Grateful Dead, reggae, and the occasional acoustic guitar player while juggling barefoot in the grass at the World’s Fair Park. Met one of my best friends and has wife on one of their first dates while skipping class to juggle in that park. I want to keep going to the club and I want my juggling fire back. I doubt I will catch up to these guys. As the has-been juggler, I wonder how I would hold my own at the IJA Festival. I feel a bit like Fast Eddie Felson; there was then and there is now.

    61st IJA Festival
    July 14-20, 2008
    Lexington, Kentucky [Source, juggle.org]

  • IR pain in the S

    You know, I used to be the model citizen. I kept immaculate records. Had a petty cash box in the house and an account in Quicken for balancing the petty cash. I tracked every expenditure and literally knew how much money I had down to the penny. Ok, that was a little Monk but I never missed or was late on a bill, I kept balances on my credit cards and always paid at least double the minimum, and I planned my taxes such that my return would be close to zero. I always filed early or on time. When my first business along with my first marriage collapsed, I slipped. I lost the will to do much of anything. When tax season came around my affairs were in such a confused state that I needed an accountant to straighten things out. Instead I simply didn’t file. The following year I had my act back together but assumed that since I didn’t file the previous year, I couldn’t file the consecutive year (a wrong assumption!). That was an expensive choice! And one I took a lesson from "always file even if the numbers are wrong or you can’t pay" As it turns out, had I filed those years I would have received some much needed relief both times. Now, the penalties on that first year alone will have me in a bind for the next couple of decades.

    I’m back on the bandwagon. I don’t have a petty cash fund setup in my accounting software but order has been restored to the accounting side of my life. I finished my taxes on March 28 but waited to e-file until this Monday which was a mistake. So far my e-file has been rejected 3 times. The latest was that my adjusted gross income did not match last year’s return. After a lengthy stay on hold and some investigation, a nice IRS agent informed me that they never received my 2006 return! As it turns out, I tried to e-file last year and apparently was rejected (probably for some similar reasons this year had problems). I suppose in 3-5 years the IRS would have contacted me to explain that they did my 2006 taxes for me and that I owed $xx,xxx dollars. There has to be a better system than this!

  • My son needs your comments. Please help him!

    My oldest son is doing a class project in ecology. He is writing two posts a week and soliciting comments which he will compile or aggregate into his report. He cannot complete his project without comments. Please take a moment and read his posts. If you are so compelled, please comment on as many as you can. Thank you!

    His posts to date:

    Please make the comments on Tommy’s blog.

  • Dear Government

    I feel like for the past month I have given you more time on paperwork than I have given my family and clients. I have dotted Ts and crossed Is, typo’d and corrected, photocopied and triplicated, unearthed ancient hidden documents and proven and proven and proven. Taxes are done and filed. Eldest child’s grants and financial aid applications submitted. Other more personal documents having to do with a long gone past that refuses to fade into obscurity and history have been notarized, witnessed, and mailed. Please. My ink well is dry, my wrists hurt, and my finger tips are numb. I know there is more to come. But please. Allow me to rest. Let Lowry handle it for a bit!

  • Monday like Wednesday Worse than Monday

    Wow! I feel beat up. This Monday felt worse than a Wednesday and we all know that Wednesdays are the new Mondays!

  • Strange Animals

    My nearing 4 year old German Shepherd is laying on the porch. The outdoor cat is rubbing on her and laying in her lap. The nearing 6 month old German Shepherd is in the yard with her head quirked and a perplexed look on her face as if to say, "Now’s your chance! Why aren’t eating it?!"

  • Blogfest was a blast!

    Rich pulled together another great gathering of great minds. Hopefully Lissa will have the official round up. You know..my beer damaged brain keeps wanting to introduce her as Leesuh but her name is Lihsuh. I’m so sorry!

    Multimedia messageMultimedia messageMultimedia messageMultimedia message

    In attendance were Cathy (minus business cards…sorry), Rich, Lissa, Tommy, Victor Agrenda (Knoxvillians probably want to read him here), Joseph Agreda, Frank Murphy (and son), Jon Katsiros, and a friend of Jon’s (sorry..I missed their sites). Michael Silence had planned to attend but something must have come up. Apologies if I left anyone out.

    We secured a large space of the absolutely packed (and valet parked) Wild Wing’s Cafe. Now we probably overstayed our welcome. Little note to management, simply asking if we could free the table would be better than slowly turning up the radio. When the radio didn’t run us off, they turned the televisions to a ball game at LOUD volume. As we left, the TVs suddenly quieted. That was funny! The venue was nice but I think we are still looking for the ideal spot which combines fun, food, adult beverages but child friendly (I suppose that’s optional), wifi, and the ability to socialize.

    What happens at a Blogfest? We get to see the faces behind the words we read in feed. Of course as video and audio become more prominent by citizen journalist publishings that statement loses some of its oompfth. Still, nothing compares to the energy and dynamics of real life conversation which is what I believe Loic Le Meur (Whoa! He’s my younger brother’s age!) is attempting to duplicate with Seesmic. New ideas are generated, laughs, laughs and more laughs, food is consumed and beverages, economic and social boundaries are breached bringing people in different walks of life and opposing political views together on common ground, introductions are made and new readers created in this pioneering land of blog. Overall, good times are had. Of course, I miss seeing Randy Neal, Dr. Helen, and the blogfather himself, Glenn Reynolds at the table. Lookout Glenn! You’ve just been RealityMeAlanched! And yes, to all those I didn’t name, I missed you too!

    Oh, one, is that Sylar?! (Sylar’s IMDB) And, two, my wife thought one of the guys in attendance had "really sexy eyes."

    Other Blogfests:

    Update: Lissa posts about A Wild Blogfest and Rich has his wrap up. Frank has posted blogic: the gathering and Tommy put down a few sentences. Cathy talks about the restrooms at Wild Wings Cafe.

  • No spoon


    Mcdonalds poor service
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  • Rough Week Behind Redux to Follow

    Last week was a frustrating week. I really got a lot of work done but have little to show for it. Two of the secrets to being a successful consultant are to show results frequently and to communicate, communicate, communicate. I feel that I failed in both regards heavily this past week. I plan to use today to get a couple of boat anchors off my desk and start fresh tomorrow. Next week I am going to knock some socks off!

    Whenever I have a rough week, I like to turn back to Stephen R Covey’s timemangement tools and get a little reflective. From a card I keep in my wallet:

    The Pitfalls of Poor Planning

    1. Allowing "to-dos" to rule your day instead of prioritizing.
    2. Setting an unrealistic number of things to do each day.
    3. Failing to have your planning system within reach at all times.
    4. Forgetting to allow time between scheduled appointments.
    5. Failing to allow at least 1 ½ hours per day for the unexpected.
    6. Not having an effective system for capturing and retrieving information.
    7. Failing to have a single personal management system.
    8. Retaining unnecessary information.
    9. Failing to plan for the "big rocks" weekly and for the small bits daily.
    10. Failing to allow time for advanced planning.

    ©2000 Franklin Covey Co.

    Some wondeful tools have evolved on the Internet for productivity. David Allen has revolutionized some people’s lives with Getting Things Done (GTD). Timothy Ferriss has done similarly with The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Sites like 43Folders, and Freelance Switch give regular productivity advise.

    My favorite productivity site is Jott! Click the image below to see a sample of how I use Jott to organize myself. To make a Jott, I simply call their phone number (from speed dial), state who I want to receive the Jott. For example, I could say myself or Twitter or Cathy. Jott records my words. When I am done it asks if I want to set a reminder. If I say yes I can then give it a date (today, tomorrow, July 4, Wednesday, …) and a time. The reminder will come to my phone as a text message (sms) and go to my email. The words I spoke will be translated from speech to text with amazing accuracy! Incase something gets mangled, an mp3 recording of my voice will be attached to the email. Naturally I can also view and listen to my reminders through the Jott.com interface.

    I can also preface the message with a keyword. For instance, if I start with "grocery," Jott will automatically file my reminder under my grocery list which I can then access while at the market. If I preface my Jott with "work," it automatically gets filed under my work list and so forth.

    Jott has changed dramatically since I first began using it in September of last year. At one point, the interface was so painful to use that I stayed away from the website. I am thrilled with the changes Jott has made. The most recent feature is the addition of tying into services like Twitter. You could always send a Jott to another Jotter but now you have the ability to use Jott’s power speech to text engine to post messages from your voice directly to Twitter, Yahoo Groups, Jaiku, Zillow, Thirty Boxes, Blogger, Live Journal, TypePad, WordPress (and Tumblr, Remember the Milk, Sandy, Xpenser, Gumiyo, Trapster, Mosio, Vitalist, Google Calendar, Recommendr, Toodledo, Nozbe, Mentat, Keep Up, Smartsheet, Heap, Fortythree Actions, kwiry, and even make custom connections.

    You need Jott!

    Update: Jott works by a combination of human and machine translation.

  • Gentlemen’s Top Cuts – Grooming for men

    Last Saturday I was invited to Gentlemen’s Top Cuts for a blogger haircut and manicure. GTC is a salon for men. Of course, if you told most non-metrosexuals, "there’s a salon in town where you can get a manicure" you’d probably be laughed at, punched, and called derogatory nicknames. Now, tell a man, "the bastard child of Hooter’s and a day spa is open at 7425 Middlebrook Pike" and they’ll come in hordes! Yes, Gentlemen’s Top Cuts combines sexy women, sports, hot wax, trimmers, scissors, shampoo, massage, beer and general pampering in classy environment for men.

    GTC drew a lot of criticism and in at least one instance was implied to be a house of ill repute in disguise. Ladies, you have nothing to fear! I can assure you that men at GTC are just as safe as women are at a woman’s salon. I personally was trying to understand the nature of a more personal service one of the other bloggers was scheduled to sample. It baffled me. Then it was suggested that I try it. Well now, what’s better than a free haircut and manicure? Why, a free haircut, manicure, and waxing! All done by beautiful women to boot! Now before anyone jumps on the morals bandwagon, there is nothing different between what I did and what ladies do in day spas every day of the week. Trust me! I wish I could have derived some pleasure out of the procedure as that might have taken some of the embarrassment away (the room was quite cold!). By the way, it is a "procedure," requiring the ladies doing the work to be licensed for waxing. To imply that it was anything more, would be to imply that the "Hello!" my doctor gave me on my 35th birthday was something more than it was. (that was standard procedure at 35 wasn’t it? I mean, you guys had that too right?)

    As seen in the Andy Griffin show, the barber shop has always been a sanctuary for men. I grew up using barber shops (and getting lousy haircuts) but I use a stylist now. A little off the top pleaseAs a child, I always thought it funny to walk into a barber shop and see a man pickup a magazine and sit down in the chair. Then from behind the chair the first thing the barber would do is hand the gentleman the current issue of Playboy which was then concealed by Popular Mechanics or whatever magazine he had picked up. Of course, not all men were as discreet. And this was not unique to small town Cary, North Carolina. I witnessed similar behaviors in New Orleans as well. I always wondered why we didn’t just have topless women cutting the hair. Now that would be a haircut!

    [Source, Reality Me, I don’t need a haircut but I’d sure enjoy my visit!]

    Gentlemen’s Top Cuts is not topless but it is 18 and older. If you are 21 or older, you can have a free beer with your appointment. Men deserve a haven where we can relax and be pampered. Now we have one! Read more at Gentlemen’s Top Cuts’ blog or visit their website. GTC is classy and a welcome addition to Knoxville!

    Others who attended the blogger preview were Say Uncle, Frank Murphy (and son), and Modern Redneck. We shared many laughs!

  • From the mouths of babes

    Evan, 2.5 years:"Dada, take upstairs me dada."

    My son speaks in American sign language! I wonder if ASL sentence structure is simply a more natural way to speak. Perhaps all hearing people should talking American sign language.

  • We don’t have time

    We make time.
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  • Knoxville tweet up


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  • Purpose


    Do you share you passions?
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