For a month and a half, there’s absolutely no Sun in Greenland because of Earth’s angle in relation to our home star. People there eagerly await for January 13, when the Sun rises again, every year. Except this one. This year, the Sun rose 48 hours ahead of its projected date. … [Source, Gizmodo]
So in the past 18 hours:
Waiting with bated breath to hear that the 5 year old makes it home safely and that the van survives.
Oh, and btw, secondary roads in Knoxville are still precarious. This is why schools get canceled.
I get a giggle out of Knoxville’s typical overreaction to bad weather. We use a gallon of milk every day or two so I’m often buying milk regardless of weather. When the forecast is doom and gloom the milk and bread shelves are barren. Coincidentally, our pantry ran empty in sync with a predicted 2-5 inches of snow so Cathy and I joined in the madness at the grocery. After spending $150 on essentials and a few day’s meals, we arrived home to hungry children only to realize we hadn’t purchased anything for a quick meal for that night!
So, after getting the droopy, "we’re hungry" eyes from the children last night, I got the same thing from the dogs this morning. Apparently in our effort to feed the humans, we failed to notice the dogs were scrapping bottom in their food supply too. So, now to brave the snow covered roads before tonight’s ice storm comes to get to the pet store for dog chow and a rat (hungry snake too).
Tl;dr: On Sunday, we bought meals for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and neglected to bring home dinner for that night and failed to buy dog food.
When I notice the van running low on petrol (gasoline), I attempt to secretly refill the tank so that Cathy is frequently surprised with a full tank of gas. Yesterday she found herself stranded at the mall because the van refused to start. She claims she was out in the cold for an hour and a half. I arrived and after some futzing with the van the engine roared albeit roughly and with a warning light. Eventually we found our way to Autozone whose computer reported that the MAF/MAP sensor was overloaded. Great, sensor replacement time. Wait a minute! Hadn’t seen this before? Oh… yes. I walked out the door to the van, removed the gas cap, and replaced the gas cap, the warning light faded away, and the engine ran smooth. See, in modern vehicles, the fuel system is often pressurized so if the gas cap is not sealed well, like it’s crooked, then the engine has problems getting fuel.
n.b. The gas fairy does indeed sound like a walrus.
Tl;dr The van wouldn’t start leaving Cathy was stuck in the cold for an hour and a half because I put the gas cap on crooked.
Take heed!
The loss of civil rights happen slowly, so we are not supposed to take notice. Once our freedoms are gone, they will not be given back to us. [Source, NetworkWorld, The Stripping of Freedom: EPIC vs. DHS on TSA Body Scanners]
I took the week from Christmas to New Year’s off. It was great for my personal well-being; it was terrible choice for my professional well-being.
My favorite band right now is Flogging Molly because, well, Molly just sounds fun.
Evan, 5 years old: "Dad, you don’t play much. You work a lot."
The bed beckons but the computer wins. Choices: client’s office or home office; warm and quiet or cold with relaxing incense. The home office computer whines in complaint after a week of disuse. Naturally the programming finds monkey wrenches and takes three times as long as planned and delays other work. The evening ends with Torchwood and insomnia. Bizarrely, the wife finds sleep before me.
And on the second day, he overslepthtttt. For he was tired although the year had just begun. And on this same day, he finished watching The Inglorious Bastards wondering right up until the end when Brad Pitt and George Clooney would make their appearance and perplexed as to why Quentin Tarantino went so far out of his way to make the movie appear like it was filmed in 1978. And then there was coding. Bits and bytes and programming. And night felt, with a coldness that left goosebumps on top of goosebumps.
The year was 2011. And on the first day, the rains were heavy. The basement fortitude breached by water. A collapsed wall and a deflated basketball formed a dam in the trench intended to divert runoff away from the structure turning the ditch into a basin. Hydrostatic pressure built and the ancient concrete block gave way to seepage. $17 in new boots, $20 in slitted pipe, and much time spent sinking shin deep in a cross between quicksand and wet cement instead of typing ones and zeros, the water flowed freely away from the wall and God willin’ and the crik don’t rise, the basement will stay dry until 2012. As night fell, my body and mind shook with exhaustion and I did all that I could…I watched Torchwood.
Drip rail done. Step 17 of 27 complete. Next roof then windows and doors, fireplace and flooring.
For the 2nd movie, wait through the dull beginning to see children painting.
When I was 14, I was using mnemonics to memorize the color bands on resistors. Today I learned my 14 year old son doesn’t know what a C cell battery is.