Blog

  • Sunday is here

    So today is beautiful! The rains come tonight or tomorrow. I want to be working in the yard. I have to help get Sarah off to camp this afternoon. Things floating around in my mind:

    • Sarah to camp (4-5 hours)
    • Clean house
    • Finish work (roughly 10 hours) for client 1 and call client 1 today
    • 8 hours work for Client 2
    • Clean office, clean clean clean
    • Spend 8 hours on MS Money, Quickbooks and TurboTax
    • Do a home repair
    • Spend quality time with family

    I suppose some choices shall have to be made.

  • For the truly bored…

    (note: if the picture above is offline or not updating then the stream is offline too)

    If on this beautiful Sunday you have nothing else to do, for fun and to see how well it works, I’ve turned on a streaming video of me programming. Watch for the head scratch, the amazing nose pick, astouding coffee drinking, the grimmace, absolute consternation, the occasional grin (probably reading your blog), and for the lucky few with good timing–the laundry swap! (warning! You may see my back side during the laundry swap. I’ve choosen particular tight jeans today for the viewing pleasures of the ladies)

    Enjoy the monotony!

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: Is there a supreme being?
    Master: What does He say?

  • Park of Fun

    We took the kids out to the park yesterday to meet up with the grandparents, aunt, uncle, and two cousins. Everyone had a blast. Molly came along and in 5 kicks ate a soccer ball that I purchased on the way. I let her off leash for the soccer and she was perfectly well behaved. The law is that the dog has to "be under owners control" not "on a leash"; I had that discussion with some other dog owners walking their dog without a leash who said some people get rather indignant about it. We had only 3 incidents.

    1. While I was eating I had the lease under foot and Molly bolted to see another puppy. We had already met and the owners didn’t seem concerned.
    2. Once my nephew threw the soccer ball while I was not paying attention and I lost the leash
    3. And a barker came through the park. Molly growled and barked but chilled after we let the two see each other. I had good control over Molly but gave them much opportunity to figure one another out.

    For much of the time Molly wore her leash but laid on the ground between her people with no one holding the leash. I was very impressed with her behavior.

    Noah climbed the outside of the tall enclosed slide. He’s a broken arm waiting to happen but makes me grin because he is such a boy and doing so many of the same things I did at his age.

    Tommy chose to stay home. I think he likes it because he can eat, play electronics and do basically anything he wants without fear of someone getting on his case.

    Sarah enjoys this old banana board (skinny skate board) that I had stashed in the garage so she was puttering all over the park while the 3 year old sister and cousin chased her.

    The younger two were coddled.

    A great time was had by all.

  • Technically Babysitting

    I’m downstairs frantically working but want to watch Noah playing Little People with Amy. So I set the webcam on Cathy‘s computer to stream video to my desktop. This is great!

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: I need to do something that I can’t.
    Master: Define need.

  • Leeroy!

    Here’s a work-safe must view for all you MMORPGer’s out there.

  • Priorities

    I woke at 2am then again at 4:30 and finally rose at 8:30. Of course, in times of high-pressure deadlines I find myself calmly taking the time to put a bandaid on a finger that a sparkler burned over the weekend. The finger cannot possibly hurt but the memory of the pain is burned in.

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: I am not happy with myself.
    Master: Ah, the source of everyone’s problems.

  • Moving to Greenland

    Apparently Greenland just doesn’t have terrorism…at least according to The Terrorism Knowledge Base

    Tanzim Qa’idat al-Jihad Fi Bilad al-Rafidayn is the current name of the terrorist group led by Abu Musab Zarqawi.

    Some terrorists use bombs. Their speciality is having people stand in front of large groups and try to pronounce Tanzim Qa’idat al-Jihad Fi Bilad al-Rafidayn.

    Wow! I never realized how many terrorists attacks the US has sustained!

  • Today Write Checks!

    Today is a day to create an excuse to write a check. It is the last time for 100 years that you will be able to date your checks as 7/6/5. If you can’t think of anyone to write a check to my name is spelled McCaughan.

  • Seeking Recommendation

    Anyone have a good recommendation for a doctor in the Knoxville area to perform the vas deferens snip? V-day approaches. email me

    So, can a man with a vascetomy be Catholic?

  • Nature Talks

    What a beautiful downpour we are having right now. I love the sound of the rain!

  • Vampire Programmer

    2am and the keys are clacking!

  • Thank you Andy Warhol

    I forgot to mention that at the time I was on stage with no mic and basically having to choose between speaking to the crowd or performing, which ruins the comedic timing when much of what I do relies on the ability to speak to the crowd, that I was in front of 500 or more people. I really had no way of judging. It could have been 1500 for all I know but I know a crowd of 100 and this crowd was at least 5 times that.

    Had my 15 minutes of fame today from the show. Ran into Fuddruckers for a drink for my parched wife and the casher declared, "aren’t you that juggler?" to which I responded, "yes, were you part of the crowd that could hear me?" Front row.

    I’m glad people enjoyed the show.

    Here’s an example of one of my routines. I have these huge, 9 inch bean bags not quite the size of bowling balls. I get two kids on the stage and I ask one "is this juggling ball heavy?&quot and toss the volunteer one. They respond yes. I then ask, "if I give you another would they be twice as heavy?" to which the response is either yes or no. No is always fun. The third, 3 times as heavy? The other volunteer I give a noise making toy I call my "portable drumroll." I then talk about juggling heavy things and explain "I am going to juggle for you tonight ping pong balls while volunteer 1 juggles these heavy balls" Of course, the volunteer typically protests. I then explain that balance is important in juggling and that I will juggle the ping pong balls and catch one upon my noise (despite the wind and other environmental comments). I juggle the ping pong balls and then toss one high in the air and it lands and stays on the bridge of my nose. I pocket the other two and then reach for a bean bag. Using my peripherial vision I make sure I miss as the volunteer tries to hand the bean bag to me. I usually end up grabbing the top of his head. I then ask volunteer 1 to toss me the third bean bag. As the bean bag leaves his hands I yell "one.. two…" and on "three" it plops to the ground. Sometimes as it leaves his hands I say "on the count of three" It all depends on the volunteer. As I continue to balance the ping pong ball on my nose the volunteer gets the bean bag and then tosses it on the count of three. I juggle briefly, then toss a bean bag up in the air and catch it on the back of my neck. I encourage my volunteers to take bows with me all the while the ping pong ball defies gravity as it hangs from the bridge of my nose. End of routine.