Reality Me

Category: Daily Life

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

  • Crab Trap

    In college I used to really enjoy spelunking (caving). Once in a cave off Keller Bend Road, I took a moment to stare down this one particularly muddy shaft. It was narrow to begin with, sloped downward, and got narrower ending in a hole. My curiosity had my mind plotting ways to rig ropes so that I could down and get back up but it was so incredibly muddy that I wasn’t certain even with proper gear that a person who slid down that trap could ever get back.

    From day to day I frequently feel like I’m in that shaft and I have no rope.

  • Do as I say, not as I do…

    My mantra around the house: “Don’t put it down; put it away.”

    Then I look at my desk.

    I once read it takes 30,000 repetitions to make something a habit. I have a long way to go.

  • Filed under “dumbass”

    1. Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet
    2. Do read the label on the box which in bold letters read “DO NOT USE TO REMOVE SQUIRRELS, BATS OR BIRDS.”
    3. Moth balls do get rid of squirrels in the attic (temporarily) while poisoning the humans and giving them cancer.

    On a side note, I’m having awfully good memories of visiting Great-grandmother’s house.

    Update: About 5 hours later the house doesn’t stink any longer.

  • Bellsouth’s Privacy Director

    Good information on Bellsouth’s Privacy Director I love the service but for about 2 months now I’ve had a recorded message trying to get me to talk to someone. Their poor system thinks someone is answering the phone but Privacy Director cuts them off before the recording identifies itself. No human ever calls. It’s laughable but they call everyday.

    Privacy Director gives a recorded messages to callers that are anonymous asking that the caller identify themselves (much like you would with a collect call). The phone rings at the house and after listening to the brief recording I have 3 options: take the call, reject sales call (gives the caller a no solicitation message), or reject the call. It drastically cut down on phone solicitations!

  • How cool!

    Blog Stats

    There are currently 32 posts and 32 comments, contained within 32 categories.

    Of course, this post messed that up. Numbers are so cool.

  • The Prejudice Map

    Kim at Bacon and Eh’s points out The Prejudice Map summing up how people of the world are viewed. For example, this one is either for the United States or perhaps only New Mexico:

    strength
    dislike of walking
    geniality and hospitality
    guarding their rights
    anti-Muslim politics

  • Who needs cable when you have kids

    Amy toots her own horn 3.56MB avi – if I knew how to compress movies I would (I recommend you have your sound on for this one)

  • Habits Meme Redux

    My wife enjoyed my Habits Meme so much that she’s asked for more.

    Pocket Rules:

    1. If at all possible, I must carry two quarters, a nickle and a dime so that if I become bored I can balance the nickle vertically on a horizontal quarter; then the dimeCoin Stackinghorizontally on the edge of the nickle; and finally the remaining quarter horizontally on the dime. (click picture to enlarge)
    2. Minimal “pocket stuff”: 2 pocket knives, 1 American Red Cross breathing dam for CPR, 2 sets of keys (1 for each car plus store discount cards etc), loose change (see #1), 1 handkerchief, 1 pen, 1 cell phone and 1 wallet. [I frequently make an effort to leave with only 1 pocket knife, wallet, cell phone and 1 set of keys. I rarely succeed.]
    3. The pocket knives and ARC equipment go in the front left pocket. If the cell phone cannot clip to a belt it also goes in the front left pocket. Loose change and keys in the front right. Handkerchief and pen in the back right. Wallet in the back left except in crowds when it is moved to the front left. Wallet and keys are removed when sitting down for long periods of time. Wallet and keys are always kept together because when I removed only the wallet I kept leaving the house without it.
    4. I prefer to have empty pockets so I used to carry a purse (a “man bag!”) which allowed me to carry more stuff including juggling balls, lock picks, kleenex, eye glasses, sunglasses, a pda, and a journal (just to name a few things). My wife didn’t like my man bag. I don’t have a purse anymore. Once I was denied service at K-Mart because I wouldn’t leave my purse at the customer service counter despite it being far smaller than most of the luggage the female customers were carrying. During the scene that ensued more than one woman approached customer service, unprompted, to offer their purses in order to point out the ridiculousness.
    5. I always pat down my pockets before leaving the house. Two pats to the front pockets; one pat to the back pockets. I can usually tell by feel and jingling if everything is in its place. I’ve been mistaken before and been uncomfortable without the missing item (usually the cell phone) even if it wasn’t needed.

    There. Ammunition for my wife to decry OCD.

  • Raggy! Roomba Rooba Roo!

    Molly restsI wish I could have had a video camera! Molly was resting on the floor and the Roomba whirs over and bounces off her nose. She doesn’t flinch! Since her long nose is obviously new territory for the Roomba, it immediately kicks into “outline the perimeter mode” where it moves a little bit then rotates back into the barrier and repeats over and over. So here’s poor Molly trying to get a nap and this robot is noisily tracing her snout!

    After about the 5th bump she nonchalantly raised her head and let it pass. If you have pets and are concerned your pet and Roomba won’t be friends, I’d put your fears to rest.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Guess I haven’t cleaned up my act as much as I thought had. Lessons from Amy.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Amy (3): “I went to Texas this morning.” (note: It’s 7:42am and she is sitting in our house in Knoxville, TN)

  • Daily Fix

    I got a screw! And now the front of the dishwasher is back on.

  • He Returns

    My first post ever was January 5, 2004 so after Blogger deleted my account I took a month off and find it ironic that on January 5, 2006 I started the process of relaunching a new blog. I’ve been very impressed with the variety of things Kristy has done with her blog which made the decision to go with WordPress. I’m further impressed with the simplicity of the WordPress installation and on top of that it has an import function to get your posts and drafts from Blogger into WordPress! It’s a shame I didn’t discover that long before losing all my drafts to Blogger’s indiscretions.

    Happy New Year! I expect greatness for 2006!

  • Ana Lucia really pissed now!

    Looks like Mayte Michelle Rodriguez will have something more to draw on for her character’s anger. She and Cynthia Watros (“Libby”), both of "Lost" fame, were each pulled over for DUI‘s 15 minutes apart from one another.

    Both failed field sobriety tests and were released Thursday on $500 bail each…
    Motorists arrested for operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant automatically have their driver’s licenses revoked. They are given a temporary license that allows them to drive, but under several restrictions.

  • Men can die

    Congratulations ladies! Sex is obsolete.

    University of Pennsylvania managed to grow mouse "spermatagonial stem cells" in a dish

    That’s the stuff that becomes sperm. And the neat thing is they’ve learned how to alter the genes such that the alterations are passed from generation to generation. In other words now that men aren’t necessary (and they really haven’t been since the invention of the massager), you can guarantee that all offspring are female!

    On a side note, treatment for hysteria was first recommended in 1653.