Reality Me

Blog

  • The Frenzy is on!

    Blingo is giving away $100 gift cards in a frenzy right now!

    It lasted 30 minutes. I watched it but had done my 10 blingo searches already.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Amy: Daad? Can I borrorrow your mail?
    Dad: Sure. Borrow my mail.
    Amy: Mom! Dad said yes!

  • Flip 0 and 1

    As a programmer you often have to track the state of something. Let’s say your application shows a report for night and a different report for day.You would want a variable that lets you know if you are looking at the nighttime report or the daytime report. Lengthy programming discourse follows.

    (more…)

  • Pain

    The Internet makes my wrist hurt.

  • Retired actor?

    Yo quiero un taco.

  • Progress!

    Wahoo! A small project that I slipped into my schedule to help a friend out has finally made its way off my plate. Funny how the "small" things get big so fast.

  • Call the SPCA!

    I saw something horrific today. The people mulching and landscaping the church where Amy has pre-school found a chipmunk. I know this because the guy jumped out in the road then back into the grass. His jump was after he kicked the chipmunk into the road and he got back into the grass when the chipmunk returned to the grass. Then he began stomping furiously.

    I stopped the car. I wanted to tell him to stop but then I drove on. I like chipmunks, even the ones that bite my wife.

  • Use it or loose it. And a question of etiquette

    Languages I’ve tasted:

    • Spanish (4 years in High School, a couple of years at college, lived in the Spanish dorm a year)
    • Hungarian (Magyar – felt comfortable enough with the basics that I wanted to travel to Budapest on my own)
    • American Sign Language (some classes in college, hung out at TN school for the Deaf)
    • and I can say "Hello" in Arabic. (I said Arabic online! Alert Homeland Security!)
    Sidebar

    In college, I used to joke that if I could say "Hello" and "I love you" in every language that I’d never sleep alone. I made a good go of it too. Even that part about learning "hello" and "I love you".

    My sign language is weird because I was trying to learn ASL but because I was hearing, the kids at TSD wanted to use signed English with me. Despite my pidgon sign, I was comfortable enough to take orders from the deaf and hard of hearing at a Shoney’s restaurant where I worked right out of college. Now I can’t even talk to my wife (but what does that have to do with sign language?). Through the University and working at The Foreign Language Division of The Learning Company, I also gained exposure to French, Japanese, Russian, German and Italian but not enough to claim any knowledge.

    So, My question of etiquette: When I bump into someone Hispanic, I always address them in English. Sometimes I get that blank look that I would give if I were being addressed by someone not speaking English; you know, that agast, expressionless face as your mind reels thorough the relatively small number of words you may have in hopes that something rings a bell. My Spanish is not good enough to strike up a conversation but I can still make some appropriate greetings. What is appropriate? Assume they speak Spanish and say, "¡Buenos días!"? Ask if they speak Spanish, "¿Habla español?" Or just stick to the uncomfortable smile, head nod and hesitant wave?

    I don’t hesitate to talk to anyone. My inclination is to speak in Spanish. Perhaps my vocabulary will return!

  • Offroading

    In East Tennessee we get the pleasure of seeing lots of muddy pickup trucks toting around their motorcycles and 4 wheelers. I thought this practice to originate in these hills but apparently it comes from the Middle East.

  • March Blingo Frenzy Continues

    Have you signed up with Blingo yet? No spam. No catches. Signup under someone and that someone wins too. More info.

    Looks like I’ve been misspelling frenzy as freenzy so I get top ranking if you search for "blingo freenzy" but I have no placement on "blingo frenzy."

    Looks like they had another frenzy Sunday afternoon.

    for an hour in the afternoon we distributed 40 Visa Gift Cards valued at $25 each

    We scored another movie ticket but turned it down in hopes of winning something better (think iPod…) since we are limited to winning 2 prizes per household per month.

  • Today’s extremely profound statement

    From Crouching Mommy, Hidden Laundry:

    And, life is ENTIRELY too short to feel like you are a victim for an extended period of time.

    That hits home. I am writing that under this week’s Franklin Covey quote in my planner:

    Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.
    –George Santayana

    Everyday this week I will set aside some time to ponder these.

  • Thump Thump Thump

    Stroke coming or is that just sinus pressure from allergies?

  • Put one foot in front of the other!

    At 8:45pm last night Evan took his first 5 steps. When I put him down he was standing and I could tell he was going to try a step so I prompted Cathy to look and with each step I said the word "step" which sounded like a machine gun since he walked so rapidly. After the 5th step he fell forward, caught himself on his arms, rolled to a sitting position with a grin that Gerber would have paid to photograph, and immediately tried to stand up again. He almost made it to standing; left foot extended and on right knee. Then he bounced and I swear he said, "step stepstepstepstepstep!" It was quite the special moment.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Noah had a friend over so we let the stay up late but when I heard shuffling at 4:30am I asked them to turn the tv off. At 6:30am the television was back on.
    Dad: "I asked you to turn the tv off at 4:30 and now its still on at 6:30."
    Noah: "But Dad, we’ve been asleep for 3 or 4 hours!"

  • Wrist feeling better

    For the past two weeks or so, my left wrist has hurt so bad that I almost could not type. I had problems picking things up or squeezing for a length of time. I did some exercising to try to help but nothing terribly focused.

    As I type this I can still feel a twinge of pain but it is mostly out of my wrist. Now the pain is in my upper arm. If I hold a reem of paper and try to extend my left arm out to my side I can’t pick it up much above my waist.

    Time to get back to stretching and unpinch what nerve is not happy with me right now.