All this work, and nothing to show for it...

This week is passing by rather more quickly than I had hoped.

Indeed, I had hoped by this time to have accomplished some significant progress on the software project I'm ostensibly leading. And much progress would've been made, were it not for the fact that the system on which the software runs is so unstable.

The better part of the week was spent merely attempting to get the software to run on the hardware platform, consisting of seventeen processor boards attached to a common VME bus. My developers have been complaining that the boards won't boot up correctly, that they seem to be interfering with one another as they are going through their initializations, so the net effect is that the "Master" processor crashes and the rest stop functioning.

After nearly a week of thrashing the system, I can now heartily agree. It will be impossible for us to continue in this manner unless we get some assistance from the low-level bus engineers. We have to find out why the boards are not cooperating.

Meanwhile, my efforts to review the code continue. It seems that most of the coding was done in a vacuum, in the dark, with two broken wrists and a sprained thumb. Or perhaps it was only that there was too much pressure to finish the software in too little time, because it is a ghastly mess of unorganized, slap-dash, oft-redundant functions and undocumented procedures which give the reviewer no idea of its purpose. Indeed, it is a miracle that the code even compiles, let alone running on hardware.

Ah! I need another week or two to finish this work, but the release is due Friday, and there will be much sadness if it is not ready to hand over to the testers on the following Tuesday.

Happy Birthday, Dear Cheryl...

Every year it seems more difficult than the last, trying to make Cheryl's birthday as much fun as Christmas, if not more so; and each year it seems that both Christmas and Cheryl's birthday are here quite before I'm ready for them.

Now that the children are a bit older, they are able to shoulder a little more of the responsibility of reminding me that "it's time to shop for Mom!" or "Wouldn't Mom love this for her birthday?" or "I don't think Mom would like that."

This year our instructions were clear. There were only two items on the list, and one of those was clearly outside the realm of childrens' cognizance (i.e. cabinetry), so the plan would be simple. A pair of house slippers. How could we go wrong?

Only when we had gone through half a dozen stores and not found the right "ones" did we realize that it was not going to be as easy as we had assumed. Apparently the ones we wanted were not in stock, or in fashion, or in the planet anymore. So we did the next best thing - off to the Dollar Store!

The girls decided that Mom would really like a picture frame (to put pictures of the girls in, of course!), and some balloons (everyone loves balloons!) and some pom-poms. Well, actually, the girls decided that Mom would like it if the girls had pom-poms to cheer her on her birthday. What Mom wouldn't want that? So we got these, and those, and some of the other as well. With all that we could buy in such a store, there was bound to be something she'd enjoy!

The boys were convinced that Mom needed more chocolate, but I dissuaded them from that. The house had been full of sweets since before Christmas, and we were still attempting to finish off all of that glorious inventory (Neugebauer chocolates must be savored slowly and carefully, so as to experience each joyous morsel).

I had been hoping to find the right slippers right up until the last moment, but it was not to be, so instead I opted for the gift card, hoping that we might be able to spend some time out shopping later this week. She's a lot of fun on a shopping trip because she usually goes out to get something and doesn't waste any time once she's found what she likes. And we always have fun browsing!

We were hoping to have a nice dinner either at the Olive Garden or the Macaroni Grill, since they are both somewhat family friendly. The kids like the simple pasta dishes at the Olive Garden, and the Macaroni Grill has paper tablecloths and crayons for their patrons. We arrived just after the peak of the dinnertime crowd, but it was still noisy and claustrophobic, and they ran out of pizza dough (?!!?), and Mary and Deborah were starting to get ear-aches, so it wasn't quite the festive meal for which we had hoped.

But when we got back home, there were roses in a beautiful vase, and cards from her loved ones, and plenty of cake (which we would save for another night); and she and the boys stayed up and watched Lord of the Rings again while the girls took their medicine and went to bed.

Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas, and we were all watching Napolean Dynamite.

Yep, that's what we did. We'd seen it before at cousin Joyce's house, and loved it, so we bought it a few weeks or months ago, and have been waiting patiently to watch it ever since.

And we picked Christmas Eve to do it.

Weird, huh?

Well, not really. That's just the way we are. We are raising our children with Monty Python, Weird Al, Gilligan's Island, Napolean Dynamite, [Captain] Jack Sparrow, and any other odd and bizarre personalities that come down the pike, because life needs a bit of humor in it, and we like to laugh.

Can't wait to see what we watch tomorrow!

--

Yes, we also went to the Christmas Eve service at church, and we had our weekly devotional (which was the traditional reading of the Christmas Story), and we had our fancy quiche dinner. So we're not completely 'round the bend.

But we're getting there!

A New Post

Pardon me for a few moments while I spout off about work-related things; it's been on my mind quite a bit lately. And, as you can tell, it has been taking up a large portion of my time.

The current project was supposed to have been completed a year or so ago, and yet here we sit in our cubes, still slaving away at the code, trying to get it done. Part of the reason for this was budgetary; a reduction in the allotted funds per year translates to a stretching out of the overall schedule. Part of the reason is technical - biting off more than we can chew, underestimating the scope of the work, jumping into the puddle and finding ourselves in water up to our necks, if not over our heads completely.

Engineers are generally bright people in search of a challenge, and tend to lose interest if they are not kept challenged, or if the work drags on and on without any sign of closure. We have lost a number of engineers due to this phenomenon; they have moved on to other, more interesting projects. The net result of this is, of course, that we have fewer engineers to do the same work. Thus my promotion to Technical Lead in another department.

I had already been the Lead for the Training and Support department, but since that department consisted of only myself, it was not considered much of a leadership role. All those who had been promised to me, to assist in the duties of providing Training and Support, were pulled away due to other, higher-priority concerns, leaving me with a huge amount of work and none but myself to accomplish it.

Such is the nature of the business.

A few weeks ago, it was brought to light that one particular individual was overburdened with too much responsibility - he had charge of two departments, both consisting of multiple engineers with complex requirements - so it was decided that half of his duties would be given to me. This, right before a major Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) with the Customer; which meant that I spent the better part of two weeks getting up to speed on the project, revising planning charts, calculating new completion dates, scouring the land for required engineers to assist, meanwhile continuing to attend to my pre-existing duties.

It has been a hectic couple of weeks. I was scrambling to get up to speed on everything, and do a lot of last-minute planning.

We survived our TIM, relatively unscathed. The customer's only concern was that any departure from our new schedule, with our current short-handed staffing, would create havoc with the schedule. My only response was, we'll deal with it when it comes.

And we are dealing with it, in our own way. Truth be told, we're in a constant state or re-planning, trying to meet impossible schedules with insufficient staff and far too many complex requirements. My team has their work cut out for them, and they're going to be working a lot of overtime.

Good thing they're mostly contractors. (That's why they get paid the Big Bucks.)

In the meantime, not only am I tasked with managing a team of overworked and cranky engineers, maintaining budget spreadsheets and progress charts, attending far too many "status" meetings (I'd have better status if it weren't for all these meetings!), and trying to keep everything going smoothly with team members who go together like nitro and glycerin, but I'm STILL trying to keep up with the User Manual updates.

Thank heaven for caffeine!

This isn't real snow...

We had a bit of a snowstorm the other day, but it wasn't quite what I'd expected, and the snow quality has rapidly dropped off due to the fact that it started out as freezing rain, so I'm planning on taking it back for a refund.

We were all looking forward to having Friday off.

The kids got up early to check the school closing information on the Internet, and waited patiently ("Refresh" "Refresh" "Refresh") until they saw what they had hoped to see - SCHOOL CLOSED - and then there were shouts and screams and laughter and all sorts of noise.

At 6:45 in the morning.

There wasn't much real snow at this point. It was merely freezing rain mixed with snow, and only minor accumulations. But the roads were slick, numerous accidents had already occurred, and the School District took the safe route and cancelled classes.

As the day progressed, the precipitation turned to snow, but there was never much of it. The total was something in the neighborhood of two inches - which Michiganders completely ignore - so there was no excuse for us "professionals"; I had to go to work.

The snow finally stopped after I'd endured several meetings, and the day dragged on and on and on through several crises, a few heated "discussions", a telecon or two, and an hour of battling the lab gremlins. Finally, after nearly everyone else had left, it was time for me to go, too.

And when I left, the snow had all turned to slush and the roads were nearly dry.

Do I Have to Go Back to Work Already?

Getting up for work in the morning is going to be difficult because there is no incentive to do so. The Thanksgiving Holidays were not as restful as they might've been, due to a frustrating lack of accomplishment on my list of goals and a complete inability to focus my thoughts on those things which might give me a bit of forward momentum.

More flooring was laid down. Indeed, the main part of the basement is complete. But my heart was just not in it these past few days. My goal was to complete my case modification, and it didn't happen, and I'm frustrated and angry and tired and cranky and feeling very blah.

A substantial portion of this blah feeling is due to the fact that doing a case mod is an extremely low priority to anyone else around here. There are far more important things to do. And I can't focus on anything when there is a voice in the back of my head which reminds me that there are more important things to accomplish.

But I'm selfish. It's a holiday, and although we had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family on these days "off", there was so much more that I wanted to get done. Stuff for me. My personal goals.

The kids were sick as well, which didn't help matters. It's difficult to be selfish when there are other obvious needs to be met. I love being with my kids. I love being with my family. I love doing things for my family. But ... sometimes I just want to be alone, doing my dorky little hobby things, locked in my little room with my little computers, without having to worry about the family, without feeling guilty because I'm not attending to them.

And then I feel guilty for being so selfish, and whatever hobby-type thoughts that were running around in my head are vaporized, and I have to run upstairs to see what critical family moment I'm missing, and it usually turns out to be nothing, but it's too late by then because the hobby thoughts are gone and the focus is gone and I'm just a tad bit angrier than I was before.

Then it comes to my attention that my nose is sniffly and my head is achy and my sinuses are itchy, and I take my meds; and in about half an hour, this curtain of tranquility descends over me and suddenly I just don't care anymore, and it's time for bed. Another NyQuil night.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day, but that's doubtful. Things are ramping up again at work, and there's lots to get done before Christmas.

Floored

The floor in the basement is oh, so close to being done. We spent much of the weekend working on it, buying those DriCore 2x2 panels and laying them down like puzzle pieces across the concrete, using the jigsaw to cut special corners where we had to get around walls and other protruberances, using my handy-dandy Dado blade on the table saw to cut slots, using the circular saw to cut the end pieces to the right size. The right tools for the right job, and a vacuum cleaner to clean up the mess.

It'll be nice to walk around on wooden floors this winter. Our feet won't get quite so cold. And when we get some more money (spending all that overtime pay was fun!) we'll invest in some insulation so the walls won't be so cold, either.

Funny how having a home project can keep the brain focused inward. As I'm pondering all the things on the to-do list for the upcoming holiday time, getting this basement is right up at the top - yet it also seems so selfish in a way to be focused on something so interior when there are so many other exterior things to be done. Like visiting family. Like visiting friends from church. Like being involved in all sorts of other activities.

But at heart I'm a homebody. And I have a million projects on the back-burner I've been itching to do once there is "time" to do them. Songs which were written and performed but never recorded (or at least finally mixed). Stories that have been hanging over my head for the last ten years (somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy-five at last count, started but never finished). Model airplanes that need building. Computers that need assembling. Old electronic projects that need to be put together. Various toys and appliances that need repair.

Actually, top of the list for this weekend was spending some time with Adam playing this game he's created. It's a kind of Lego version of D&D, except without dragons and demons and things of which we don't approve; instead, it's got character sheets where the players keep track of their statistics (attack / defense / stamina) and inventories (weapons / armor / healing spells) as they go through the game. And it's played using pre-built (by Adam) rooms that snap together as you get to them, so the players never know what dangers they'll be facing until they get there.

Adam enjoys putting these things together, writing page after page after page of notes on characters and statistics and all that. Then he revises his plans as we play the game, adjusting the points to make the game more enjoyable. He just wishes we had more time to play.

As do I. But there never seems to be enough time in a day to get all the work done, and the play, too.

Speaking of plays, three of the kids are in the church play, "The Peace Child", and have received compliments from their staff for their abilities. Can't imagine where they get it from, can you?

The Frozen North

We arrived at the camp late, after battling traffic for well over an hour. Friday evenings often prove difficult on the highway, especially when our route requires that we cross from one side of town to the other before jumping in with the rest of the commuters on their way home. Once clear of the regular traffic, it was miles and miles of dark, rain-soaked blacktop before we turned off into the woods.

The combination of temperature and precipitation did not bode well for our first task, putting up tents. Actually, our first task was to put up the shelters so that we could build the tents.

It was cold. It was wet. Most of us had remembered to bring ponchos, but they didn't help as much as they might have, due to the wind factor. Our pants were soaked, our gloves were soaked. I was wringing water out of my gloves every five minutes or so. My feet were simply blocks of ice. James was, in his own words, "miserable".

After we got the shelters up, we began our assembly-line process of building the tents. One team raked the leaves off the ground in preparation for the tarp; another team assembled the tents; another team held the rain-fly. As soon as the ground was clear, the tarp team ran in and covered the ground, then the tent team carried the tent and dropped it in place and staked it down, then the fly team covered it. We had eight or nine tents to do, and it took a little over two hours to complete.

Two hours in the rain and sleet and snow. Only when that was all done were we allowed to eat our cold dinner.

--

The campsite is located at an RV park, so there was a central building with restrooms and hot-air dryers that we could use to warm up a bit. We had to cross a dirt road to get to it, and the road was flooded, so several boys got their shoes soaked because they weren't using their flashlights and didn't realize the water was deeper than it looked. They were looking for a splash and got a sploink instead.

A couple of the Webelos kids forgot to close the door to their tent while they were at the restrooms, and the rain got all their gear soaked. They decided not to stay the night, and left.

The rest of us got as warmed up as we could, piled into our tents, and passed out, tired, cranky, wet, and cold.

--

The next morning, there was snow on the ground and the air was brisk. First order of business was to get the cooking fires going. We ran into a bit of a problem at this point because two of the stoves had missing regulators, and the other one was leaking badly. Which meant that it couldn't boil water very quickly. And, like every camping adventure, success depends on the availability of hot water.

The cook searched the trailer and found some new unopened regulators, and we were back in business, and soon had boiling water going for the breakfast oatmeal. Along with this staple, we had hot cocoa and donuts. Dry, chocolate-coated, national-brand donuts. The kind that had been sitting on a shelf for long past their due-date, by the taste of 'em. Oh, well. When you're hungry, you eat. And we ate.

Oddly enough, although I was expecting the Boy Scouts to be doing the cooking, it was the adults who were performing this duty. Perhaps it was due to the fact that there was only one Senior Boy Scout, and the rest were first-years or Webelos. If the Boys had been in charge of the cooking, we might have had more interesting menus, including far more protein and far less cereals. The Troop next to us were having bacon and eggs and sausage, and boy! did it smell good! We just sighed and ate our oatmeal.

--

Our tour of duty that morning started with lots and lots of raking. That was, after all, our Service Project. We were to rake the entire campground, using rakes and blowers. Luckily for us, one of the Webelos' had a father who worked landscaping, and he'd brought his trailer full of big blowers and portable blowers and rakes and shovels. So everyone got their equipment and we went to work.

James thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. He has always enjoyed doing things for people, so long as it isn't a specifically assigned home chore. It helped that his best friend was there as well. They raked and raked and sang and told jokes and played around a little and then raked some more, and by one o'clock in the afternoon, were all done.

{I would mention lunch, but there wasn't much to it, just a pause in the action to grab some chicken-noodle soup and crackers.}

Afterward, the boys helped sort through the trailer to try and figure out how all the tent gear had gotten mixed up (which caused some confusion the night before as we were trying to find the right fly for the right tent), and then it was off to the main building for some swimming.

--

That's right. Swimming. Not outside in the cold, but inside where it was warm. And it was warm. Warm in the building, warm in the water. So the Scouts swam for two and a half hours, under the watchful eyes of the parents and Scout leaders. Who hung out in the hot tub. Except yours truly, who was out there in the middle of the pool playing with the kids. Can't help it, they're more fun.

There was one Scout who was working to get his Swimming merit badge, and it was quite impressive how the Senior Scout worked with him for nearly the entire two hours just to get him that badge. See, this particular Scout is what you would call mentally challenged, and has a difficult time with verbal instructions. So the Senior Scout coached him through the entire process, very patiently and with lots of gentle instruction, guiding him through the different stroke requirements and distances and times until finally, at the very end, he did the floating requirement. And then we all congratulated him, and he spent the rest of the time playing in the pool with the rest of the guys.

It was heartwarming.

Then the Senior Scout went to relax in the hot tub til it was time to go.

--

Dinner that night was unremarkable, merely canned beef stew re-heated. With bread. And hot cocoa (again). OK, mental note. Next time, we're going to put some serious thought behind this mealtime thing. Let the boys dream up some really exotic dishes. Anything. Yeah, the beef stew is hot and filling, but ... canned stew on a campout? How unimaginative!

--

After swimming and dinner, it was time for our evening event, which was a movie hosted free by the RV campground staff. "Little Man", with the Wayan brothers. A questionable choice for a family movie, but it worked OK for the boys. Definitely some humor that was over the heads of the kids (thankfully). Could've used some editing in spots. But the boys enjoyed it, in the way that boys enjoy low-grade physical humor (i.e. Three Stooges).

The best part was the free popcorn and soda.

No, I take that back. The best part was when one of the Dads - the father of the Scout who had gotten his swimming merit badge - bought ice cream for everyone. Six scoops. Eeek! Talk about stomach overload. And we're not talking vanilla or chocolate here. No, the campground has serious gourmet ice cream, with Chocolate Double-Fudge Cookies'n'Cream and Rainbow Sherbet and Purple Passion Tutti-Frutti Surprise. Those boys were absolutely stuffed by the time we were all done.

Which is probably why, when we got back to the tents, they wouldn't shut up for two hours. Yakitty-yakkity-yak, talking about sports and school and bullies and sports and teachers and girls and sports and on and on and on. In that middle-school kind of "I'm not really sure what I'm talking about but I'm going to make it sound like I know everything" kind of way. Highly amusing. And disturbing, all at the same time.

Oh, if I'd only had a tape recorder.

--

Sunday morning, time to get up, get breakfast, tear down tents, pack up and go. Or so I thought.

It took forever to get the boys up. They were moving like slugs. And we tried to have them pack up as much as they could right away, but they were distracted by sleepiness and the freezing cold - which meant they were constantly running over to the bathrooms to stand under the hand dryers to warm up - so it was difficult for them to concentrate on the message: "Pack up!"

The "cook" (and I use the term lightly) made up breakfast. That is, he boiled water so we could have our traditional oatmeal and hot cocoa and donuts. Oo, yum. The boys actually decided at this point that there were donuts, and then there were donuts. And these were neither. After the boys were done, the squirrels came down and had a feast from the leftovers.

It took us another three hours to get all our tents taken down, and even then, we didn't actually pack them up. Since these tents are Troop tents, they are not taken home to be aired out after every campout. They are packed away into the Troop trailer until the next campout. Which means, unfortunately, that they must be completely cleaned and dried before they can be put away. Which was nearly impossible, given that the bottom of the tents were both wet and muddy.

We took out the stakes and rolled the tents over so that the bottoms were facing the sky, and let the wind - oh! that's a cold wind! - start to dry them out. We had to pull off the rain flys and drape them over picnic tables, and pull out the tarps and drape them over posts, and we actually managed to get a couple tents dry before 11.

But we were getting antsy. James and his best friend and his best friend's father and I, that is. We were past ready to leave. We helped as much as we could (actually, more than I would've expected to help, given that we were guests for this weekend). The other Scouts disappeared into the big building to warm up again, waiting for things to dry. We got into the car and drove away, our feet finally getting warm again.

Exhilerating. Exhausting. But fun.

Fall Hike

My feet are killing me. Correction, my foot is killing me. The sore one. The one that needs to get back in shape so I can climb back up on the ladder and put those gutters up. Today, if possible.

James (and I) went on the Cub Scout's Fall Hike today. It wasn't much of a 'hike', really. More like an Activity Day.

It was held out at a county park. Lots of rolling hills, lots of grassy fields, lots of trails. Lots of places for Cubs to run around and have fun. And it was very, very cold this morning. Close to freezing. And James, being James, didn't want to wear a real coat, just his jacket. Everyone else at the park was dressed for cold. Everyone else was still cold. James was positively frozen. Until his friend Josh chased him around for awhile. Then his cheeks were flushed and he was warmed up a bit.

Until the Activities started. There wasn't enough movement in the Activities.

First, the Flag ceremony. Pledge of Allegiance. Star-Spangled Banner (off-key, of course). A few pack-meeting whoop-it-up songs. Then each group (Purple, Orange, Blue, Red) went off to their respective areas to start.

We did the Historical Hike first, walking to some old buildings in the area and seeing how old they were. Walking. Not running. Walking. Not very warmed-up yet.

Then a hike along the river. More walking. Not running. Still not warm.

Then cooking doughboys (biscuit dough wrapped around a dowel, baked over a fire, brushed with butter then dipped in cinnamon-sugar). A bit warmer, but not much. Too much standing around.

Then hot cocoa. Mmmm! Now we're talking. James had two cups.

Then we were supposed to do games, but (as always) there was a mix-up in the order and some miscommunication between leaders and groups, so we ended up just playing Red-Light/Green-Light. Not much movement there.

Then another hike down to the Craft Station, where we huddled under a shelter and made Dog Bones out of Craft Foam which were then folded into Canoes which could then be used as neckerchief slides. Whoo-hoo!

Then back down to the river for our Watershed Lecture. A bit of a nice walk, but then thirty minutes of standing beside the river while some guy told us that Water Flows Down-Hill.

After that, it was back to the main area for a rousing game of ... beachball volleyball. Well, that at least got them moving around some. But James was still cold. And disappointed. He was hoping for more action. But I told him that the Fall Hike was meant more for the younger kids anyway, and it was time for him to move up to the Boy Scout kind of stuff.

Which is why tonight we're heading to a Boy Scout Troop meeting to see if we can find him a troop he might enjoy. This particular troop even meets at our church!

Bruised by Life

The week began in pain, and will no doubt end in pain as well. The old foot is starting to feel a bit better, but the head - oh! the head! - is starting to feel as compressed as a valve lift spring.

You do know what a lifter is, don't you? Oh, come now! Just because cars have become so complicated that no one bothers to work on their own engines anymore - except you die-hards, hobbyists, and mechanics, that's no excuse to avoid popping the hood and seeing what kind of damage can be done with a crescent wrench and a screwdriver.

The only reason this makes any sense at all - and it hardly makes any of that - is that, just as I was starting to feel better in the foot, my car got ill.

It first became obvious that something was amiss on my way to work the other day when the temperature gauge didn't move. Much. It moved a little bit, just over the ambient temperature line, then stopped. Huh? Then I checked the output of the heater through the defrost vanes, and it was ... vaguely warm, not really hot. And the temperature lever was cranked over to Maximum.

Oooh. This doesn't look good.

It had been awhile since my last adventure with car engines, so I consulted the Book of Armaments, Chapter 1. OK, actually it was the shop manual for the Toyota. It confirmed what I had suspected: something was wrong.

Specifically, the thermostat was bad. And needed replacing. Which means the radiator has to be drained. And the new thermostat has to be bought. And a gasket to go with it. Which means - there goes Saturday!

But I can handle it. I've done car work before. Of course, the car never ran quite the same afterward, but, hey, it's all about experience, right? And this should give me plenty of experience. Walking home. In the dark. And cold. And snow. With the Toyota parked by the side of the road. Stuck. Dead. Not moving.

The rest of the week has been dandy as well. I've had this User Manual overdue for a week now, and a customer here for training, and people coming by every hour or so to ask, "Are you done yet?" And my car troubles just add spice to an otherwise boring life.

How to fall off a ladder...

It's very easy.

You climb up the ladder, wait until it starts raining, then start climbing down.

Oops! Your silly foot slipped on the bottom rung, and your heel struck the pavement with a very loud SLAP! and suddenly there is this very bad pain in your ankle, and you wish you could reach down and rip your ankle off your leg because it is sending you these very unnecessary messages of extreme pain.

And pain hurts.

Instead of doing the smart thing, which is to go back in the house and pack it in ice and sit on the couch and watch movies the rest of the day, you head off to work ... because your project is behind schedule and you have customers coming in for training next week.

So you drive (ow!) to work (ow!) wincing (ow!) every time you press (ow!) in the clutch. And then you work (ow!) until the pain (ow!) is so bad that you are afraid you (ow!) won't be able to (ow!) drive back home. So you go (ow!) home.

And then you finally pack it in ice and lay on your bed with the foot propped up on a pillow, and do more work on your laptop because ... you still have all this work to do, and as long as you're just sitting there, you might as well get something done!

Late night catechism

Wowsers, this morning came way too early!

Of course, being up until one in the morning composing a letter to one of the children's teachers didn't help.

Seems someone is having difficulty focusing in class. Starts doodling instead of listening to instruction. Then gets wrong answers on the quizzes because he wasn't paying attention. Ooops! Gotta nip that in the bud (as my good friend Deputy Fife would say). Otherwise, Life As We Know It will collapse into a black hole, and Armageddon will ensue.

We have a theory on that, a theory which was presented in the aforementioned letter. Would you like to hear it? Of course you would! It isn't every day you get to hear parents dreaming up excuses for their childrens unacceptable behavior.

Two years ago, aforementioned child (AC for short) was in classroom where the teacher was unable to maintain discipline. AC, being a normally compliant child, bagged out on the bad behavior and kept to himself, did his work, then had all this free time available because the teacher was still trying to get the unruly kids under some semblance of control. He drew. He read. He got in the habit of tuning out.

The next year, it wasn't quite as bad -- but the habit was a bit ingrained. He took every spare moment to do his own thing. Since there were still lots of misbehaving kids, there was plenty of opportunity. The teacher was better prepared this year, but still ... it was relatively chaotic.

This year, with the addition of a new school to the district, a dramatic reduction in class sizes, and the loss of many of the unruly students, there is no 'free' time anymore. There is no more chaos in the classroom. BUT ... the habit is burned in. He tunes out at the drop of a hat. He doodles. He draws. He fades away.

Oddly enough - and this is where my dander gets up - I didn't find out about this until I complained about that most Sacred of Cows, homework. My position is that there is altogether too much. The Teacher disagreed, and only then brought up the fact that aforementioned child is doodling instead of paying attention.

That strikes me as a rather defensive posture.

So, first of all, I'm furious that I didn't find out until now that AC is having trouble focusing in class. Second, I'm upset that the teacher wants to put all the blame on him. I'm more of a mind that the kid will tune out whenever the teacher fails to engage his attention, i.e. the teacher is BORING. Ever have one of those kinds of teachers?

Third, I'm put out because my child is getting a bad attitude about school, an attitude fostered by two years of coasting through chaotic classes and then suddenly hitting the brick wall of reality. So now we have to back-track, fix the problem, program in those good study habits, remind him to show respect, pay attention, etc., otherwise he's going to slide down the slippery slope into dropoutsville.

I still hate homework.

Computer Malfunction

This is what happens when you mess about with the network connection on the computer. It chokes. It doesn't like the constant twaddling with the ARP tables, the repeated unlink and relink of the ethernet ports, the enabling and disabling of the port drivers. Eventually, it throws up its hands and gives up.

I haven't seen the BSOD on this laptop for a dog's age, and yet it was somehow comforting to find it on the screen at last, like a long-lost friend. Ah, Windows! How I'll miss you when you're gone!

Released from the Release

The software release at work has been pushed back a week or so, so I can relax for thirty seconds. Just long enough to catch my breath, look around, and smell the coffee. Or chocolate. Must be chocolate. There's been a lot of it lately, what with Chef Karen around. She's into chocolate in a big way. And she left us quite a bit!

It made me mad, though. The schedule relief, not the chocolate. I mean, here I was, running aorund like a headless chicken, trying to have fun while the Neugebaurs were here, and worrying about the software release and all the work I had to do, and working ridiculous hours to try and get things done, and if they would've told me it was going to be delayed in the first place - or at least by Friday - I could've relaxed and had fun! But noooooo, they wouldn't see the trees til they dropped on their heads.

Now the Neugebaurs have left, and I miss them already. Hope you guys are having fun on your trip home! Say hi to Washington for me!

1986

I was pacing in the emergency room, looking for something more interesting than the latest news on the New York plane crash, or the incoming storm, anything to get my mind off the things going on behind the swinging doors of the hospital where visitors were not allowed to wander; and so I drifted over to the magazine rack to peruse the periodicals. And promptly tripped into The Twilight Zone.

There were two magazines in the rack from 1986. Can't remember the name of it - Woman's Day? Ladies Home Journal? Something like that. One cover had Carol Burnett. The other had Goldie Hawn. 1986. Twenty years ago. Gosh, they both looked a bit ... old. But not nearly as old as they are now. I opened them up. The pages were slightly yellowed, aged but not too badly. The ads were hilarious. Do you remember the styles from 1986? And the products? I'd forgotten.

Reminds me of when I visited my Grandma's house back in '85 when I got out of college, and she had all these old magazines from the early '70s. That was hilarious, too, but this - ! This was twenty years later. And sitting in an emergency room waiting area!

I imagine somebody brought them in because they were reading them at home and didn't remember that they had them until they'd gotten there, and either absentmindedly or on-purpose put them in the rack. Would the hospital have kept magazines around for twenty years? Makes me wonder.

But the articles were poignantly funny. Carol Burnett's was an excerpt from her autobiography in which she related the pain of growing up with alcoholic parents. She rescued her sister from that horror by 'kidnapping' her when she was just starting to make it on Broadway. Goldie was relating how and and Kurt Russell were going to give up movies and live on a farm and be like normal people. Guess some dreams don't turn out.

Oh, and there was another poignant article in one of the issues, I don't remember which one. An interview with Lucille Ball, who was just about to debut with her new (and last) series, Life with Lucy. That series died a quick and unmerciful death, and Lucy died just a few years later (in '89, I think). I didn't find out what happened to the series until after I got home and looked it up on the 'Net, and that made it worse. Back in '86, she had such high hopes for it. She was hoping to conquer the '80s like she'd done in the '50s and '60s and '70s. Didn't happen. By 1986, her brand of humor was apparently out of fashion. Either that, or people just weren't going to buy her as a physical comedienne when her body was 76.

Odd to travel through that time warp, looking back on the hopes and dreams of yesterday, and the memories that have moved even further out from view. What would those ladies say now - those that are still alive - if they were reminded of the things they had said back in 1986, now that the intervening years have brought them on new pathways, new adventures, new heartbreaks?

Back On-Line

We're back!

Not that anyone noticed our absence. It's gotten so busy around here that I don't really have time to update as often as I'd like. That's known as the "Blogger's Lament".

Cheryl and I had a wonderful lunch-time date today. Dropped by the computer store to pick up a 4-port DSL Modem, then had lunch at Panera (yum!).

After work, I installed the modem and voila! we're in business (so to speak) again.

Now if I only had something important to say...

Oh, yeah. There was a couple things. Those of you who DON'T home-school, if you could perhaps read the following links and give me some feedback, I'd really appreciate it. It has to do with the Educational Process.

Part One
Part Two

Random Bloggery

Jeff Berryman is back and blogging!

I've missed his Deep Thoughts over the past few months as he's been working on a new book, so it was quite a pleasure to check back and find out that he's been at it again ... and, of course, he's got some more Deep Thoughts which have been spinning around in my brain all day.


Also, I thought I'd mention another site which caught my eye today. This is a commentary which neatly coincides with my own way of thinking, so naturally I'd like to preach it to the world.

To summarize, I don't like school fund-raisers where they want my kids to solicit their friends, neighbors and relatives in order to get money for school programs. I don't like it when the Scouts do it, I don't like it when the schools do it, and I don't like it when people come to my door selling stuff, be it material goods or personal theology.

Of course, I don't like homework, either, but that's a topic for another day...

Offline

A thunderstorm went through Monday night and took out our DSL modem, so we're 'offline' for a while, until we can get another one.

I spent an hour and a half on the phone last night with Tech Support trying to find an alternative that didn't involve replacing the unit, but to no avail. So today Cheryl and I are going to meet for lunch and modem-shopping!

We've had so many thunderstorms lately that it's been necessary to shut down the computers anyway to keep them from being damaged. Lots of lightning strikes close by.

I felt really bad for Adam Monday morning, when he had gotten up extra-early so he could play Lego Star Wars 2 (no, of course he's not obsessed!!) but we couldn't let him turn on the computer because the sky was lighting up all over the place with horizontal lightning, and thunder was shaking the house. He was so eager to play! But ... we had to say No.

Luckily for him, the storm was over by the time he got home from school, so he was able to play then.

But his brother ran into the same thing this morning. He had gotten up extra-early, too, so he could finish his homework (getting James to finish his homework is like pulling teeth), and he was hoping to have a few minutes on the computer as well, even willing to forego breakfast to squeeze as much time as possible ... and just as he was finishing up the homework, the thunder echoed across the sky and the lightning started. Sorry, James!

We'll just hope things have improved by afternoon.

LegoVideoMania

The boys have been busily working on their Lego videos this weekend. Well, what else are you going to do on a wet, rainy weekend?

The videos aren't ready for Prime Time yet, but we might have some teaser/trailer clips ready in a week or so. I'm not rushing the boys to get anything done because we're still working on simple techniques of shooting and editing, and hoping that they're just having fun.

They have lots of fun, so long as the movies are silly. They love silly movies!

For Adam, it's Lord of the Rings-style movies, with castles and knights and wizards; with James, it's Star Wars or Spiderman movies, with lots of weird creatures doing battle with (or just plain eating) ordinary people. Adam always goes for the classic sword duel, whereas James likes the gross-out.

Actually, it surprised me how quickly they took to the medium. The "rushes" from today looked pretty good, considering how little instruction they were given. I gave them some basics on lighting and focusing, and they were doing anywhere between 50 and 150 frames per scene. We dumped the JPEGs into Microsoft MovieMaker for a quick view of the results, talked about some things that needed to change - like redoing some shots when the camera lost focus, or increasing the number of frames in a scene due to jerkiness - and they were both humming the music they wanted to put in as background.

If you've heard the Numa Numa song, you know which one they want. If you haven't heard it, don't go looking for it, because it will infest your brain and you won't be able to get it out of your head. I warned you!

The most difficult thing about making these movies is that the boys have to understand how much work really goes in to one of these productions. Even though there are digital cameras which can give us "instant" movies, and there is software to simpify all the special effects, it is by no means a simple task to take hundreds of pictures and combine them all together to form a composite feature, not when one takes into account that there may be specific timing intervals between the frames, or that each frame must be timed for a specific duration, or that there will need to be synchronization between the action and the audio.

The boys have been continually reminded - and asked - about creating scripts prior to shooting the movies, and they have been consistently ignoring that aspect of the process. Doubtless they will discover how important it is when they get around to inserting the audio track - because they will find out how crucial it is to know what the character is going to say, how long he is going to say it, how long the camera needs to focus on the face while he is saying it, and how the action has to sync up with the words being said.

But that is for another day. Or days. For now, we'll be happy just to make some silly scenes, get comfortable with the cameras, figure out how to light the subjects so that the auto-focus works right, and dream of one day getting a real video camera instead of these cheesy-but-expensive ones that are supposed to be used for making holiday shots, not making Lego movies.

Camping in Style

I wish I had a picture, but it was too dark, and I was too tired, and it's probably unnecessary because you can imagine it, can't you?

We were watching a week-old episode of 'House' tonight because we hadn't found time to watch it beforehand, and James, who is a big fan of the show, decided to stay up a bit later and watch it with us.

Yeah, yeah, we spoil our kids rotten. So sue us.

This particular episode dealt with a little boy - probably just a bit younger than James - who was having these bizarre nightmares or delusions that aliens were trying to abduct him. I won't give away the plot, but obviously it ended up being something they could fix, as opposed to something extra-worldly.

But it did have some disturbing scenes in it. Strong lights coming into the boy's room at night, things shaking and rattling off the shelves, windows crashing open. And one particular scene where the boy seemed to be floating on his back through the air toward the blazing-with-light window.

Quite freaky.

James claimed he couldn't sleep, so he stayed up and watched the news and then the beginning of Jay Leno with us. And then Cheryl suggested he go lie down on our bed for a while. But of course since the cats were (by then) in our room and/or on our bed, that distracted him a bit - he loves cats. So Cheryl had him go get his blankets and pillow and lie down on the floor at the foot of our bed.

And there he slept last night.

I thought for sure he'd get up in the middle of the night and wander off to his own bed. That floor can be so uncomfortable. But he didn't. He's a good camper. Must be from all those Cub Scout campouts. Or maybe it was because he was using my Turkish blanket that Judy got me oh-so-many years ago. It's so thick and soft...

He slept all night long, and woke up with a kitty in his face, which didn't seem to bother him. He just petted it, and then got up and had a normal morning. Got his breakast, put his clothes together and assembled his books and lunch, and went merrily off to school.

He'll probably go to bed early tonight, but that won't be a problem.

So long as it's not on my floor.

Working from Home

I'm working from home today, which is probably the only reason you're going to be reading anything on this blog today. Blogging at work is not forbidden outright, but it is a bit embarrassing to be eating lunch at the desk and writing inane comments for the etherspace when one of the co-workers drops in to ask about the document which is supposed to be ready.

Ah! But here at home, I can take as many breaks as I want, and do what I want, and even crank the stereo up while working! Without bothering anybody! Except the cats! And they can just run away!

Actually, I'm not playing the stereo really loud. Because, as I've gotten older (over the hill, as it were), I've lost the ability to concentrate on my work while listening to anything. I apparently went from a very visual person to a very audial person. In fact, as I'm typing (or reading), I'm hearing the words in my head, in my own imaginary voice; and if something interrupts me, my train of thought jumps the rails and crashes into the river below.

This explains why I get very, very angry when someone talks to me while I'm trying to read. Or web-surf. Or watch a movie. My ears do not multi-task. And although I may appear calm on the outside, inside I'm a seething mass of boiling lava, ready to bite someone's head off if they don't shut up and let me think. Or think. Or type.

Oh, no, no. I didn't mean YOU. You'd never to that to me, would you? Of course not. Because you understand that my brain is dysfunctional. And only running on two cylinders. And out of oil. And you wouldn't want me to lose my temper, now, would you???

Another reason I'm working from home. Too many interruptions at work. Too many meetings. Too much noise. Can't think. Can't focus. Can't get my priorities in order.

My priorities today are the following:

1. Finish writing that C++ sample code.
2. Finish documenting what it took to get the C++ code to work with the latest software release.
3. Finish documenting what it took to get ANYTHING to work with the latest software release.
4. Start working on that file server sample application.
5. Start working on the drop-in-place instructions for migrating old apps into the new build structure.

If none of these priorities mean anything to you, count your blessings. You are not doing software. You are not doing avionics. You are free to do all sorts of other things, which is what I call "real work".

Of course, you might still have to deal with management, but that's another issue, for another day.

The House is Quiet

Ten-thirty at night, and the house is eerily quiet. Normally, Cheryl would be down on the computer doing some spreadsheets or net browsing, or reading, but tonight she is in bed with a nasty cold or sinus infection or something.

She'll be trying to get a Doctor appointment tomorrow.

Meanwhile the kids had a blast putting dinner together tonight. Chicken nuggets and Wheat Thins! With peach slices thrown in for "color"! Oddly enough, I wasn't very hungry...

Then Adam and I went to the Science Class Open House at the Middle School where I got to meet his teacher and some of the other parents, and find out what he's going to be teaching this year. He apparently won the Michigan Science Teacher of the Year award last year, so he's supposed to be good at it. And his method sounds interesting: he's having the students learn Science by reviewing it from an historical standpoint, going over all the major discoveries in order, finding out who the major scientists were/are, and seeing how Science developed from its most humble beginnings.

Now the house is quiet, and I've pulled out my Engineering Circuit Analysis book to review the Fourier and Laplace Transform material (I'm working on an RF circuit design -- for fun!), and enjoying the sound of silence.

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind of solving customer problems for a few hours before heading off to the PromiseKeepers Conference (assuming Cheryl is feeling well enough to handle the kids), and that about takes care of the weekend!

More Work Hysteria

Management can be so weird.

Got this call from The Customer today. They're all in a panic because they're having difficulties integrating the latest software release. Doesn't surprise me. I had trouble integrating it, and I'm writing the User Manual!

But their bone-headed Management-by-Crisis idea was to fly me out to the Customer site to help them out. This by itself doesn't seem odd, except when you take into account that we already have an on-site rep there to do just that. And they're already paying for him!

There are, of course, extenuating circumstances. One of their customers is having a problem (a very simple problem), so they want to send the on-site rep out to Atlanta to work that problem while I come out to help them.

But ... the on-site rep is already deeply involved in the integration effort, and already has full lab access and card keys and all that stuff, whereas I would have to be escorted everywhere (including the restroom!) and it would take me some time to get up to speed on the procedures they're using.

Naturally, it's political. They are responsible for supporting their customer, and since they think of this on-site rep as "their" guy, they automatically think of sending him. And they think that I'm sitting at the airport waiting for a phone call so I can jump on the next plane out to LA, whenever they start to whine.

My response was predictable. I argued. I cajoled. I bargained. I told our rep out there to send me the problem information for their customer so I could start working the problem and let him deal with the stuff he knows. The last thing we need to do, is to waste more money on plane flights for simple problems.

I did that a few weeks ago, and that was a total waste of time. Never again!

My next visit to LA is going to be for a good reason. Hopefully, Disneyland!

Top Hits of 974

{This post only makes sense if you read the previous post!}

Here it is! The Top Hits of 1974! In order! Mostly!

These are the ones whose tune pops right into my head when I read the title and/or artist. I left out the ones that didn't.

Do you remember any of these??

[Note that they are not in my top 100 order, but reflect the Sales/Play requests for that year]

The Way We Were - Barbra Streisand
Seasons In The Sun - Terry Jacks
The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk Railroad
The Streak - Ray Stevens
Bennie And The Jets - Elton John
Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do) - Aretha Franklin
Midnight At The Oasis - Maria Muldaur
You Make Me Feel Brand New - Stylistics
Spiders And Snakes - Jim Stafford
Rock On - David Essex
Sunshine On My Shoulder - John Denver
Sideshow - Blue Magic
Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede
Billy Don't Be A Hero - Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods
Band On The Run - Paul McCartney and Wings
The Most Beautiful Girl - Charlie Rich
Time In A Bottle - Jim Croce
Annie's Song - John Denver
Let Me Be There - Olivia Newton-John
Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot
(You're) Having My Baby - Paul Anka
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
You're Sixteen - Ringo Starr
If You Love Me (Let Me Know) - Olivia Newton-John
Feel Like Makin' Love - Roberta Flack
Nothing From Nothing - Billy Preston
Top Of The World - Carpenters
The Joker - Steve Miller Band
The Show Must Go On - Three Dog Night
Rock The Boat - Hues Corporation
Smokin' In The Boys Room - Brownsville Station
Living For The City - Stevie Wonder
The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace
Then Came You - Dionne Warwick and The Spinners
The Entertainer - Marvin Hamlisch
The Air That I Breathe - Hollies
Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan
Mockingbird - Carly Simon
Help Me - Joni Mitchell
You Won't See Me - Anne Murray
Tell Me Something Good - Rufus
You And Me Against The World - Helen Reddy
Rock And Roll Heaven - Righteous Brothers
Eres Tu (Touch The Wind) - Mocedades
Taking Care Of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Please Come To Boston - Dave Loggins
Oh Very Young - Cat Stevens
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
I've Been Searchin' So Long - Chicago
Oh My My - Ringo Starr
I Shot The Sherrif - Eric Clapton
Jet - Paul McCartney and Wings
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Elton John
Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
Love Song - Anne Murray
I'm Leaving It All Up To You - Donny and Marie Osmond
Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren
I Love - Tom T. Hall
Clap For The Wolfman - The Guess Who
I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song - Jim Croce
Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder
A Very Special Love Song - Charlie Rich
Wildwood Weed - Jim Stafford
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John
Call On Me - Chicago
Wild Thing - Fancy

Radio Serendipity

It's amazing what you can find on the Internet.

I was browsing around looking for reference materials on some electronics and wandered into a website that featured "old radios" -- and, lo and behold, they had this radio.

The Longines Symphonette World Traveller Multi-Band radio.

Those of you who lived in the Meyer household might recognize this radio. Those of you who lived in the Meyer household who weren't paying attention, or who came along a bit later, won't.

Some of you who lived in the Meyer household who were paying attention might wonder what ever happened to this radio. I'll get to that in a moment.

But first I want to tell you about this radio. Because this radio mysteriously disappeared from the family view around the year 1974, and reappeared later intermittently. You may have wondered at the time where it had gone. You may have noticed nothing at all, being too busy with your Barbie dolls and puppy dogs and kitty cats and other more important things.

It was in my room.

This radio was my constant companion in 1974, my introduction to modern music: Billy Joel, Elton John, Gordon Lightfoot, to name but a few. This was my new best friend. This is what gave me the strength and confidence to endure three sisters.

I really enjoyed that radio.

One of my fondest memories of that era was going into my room after the traditional Saturday-night bath and closing the door behind me and sitting at my desk and listening to the Top Hits (although I didn't even know what 'Top Hits' meant at the time, I just thought it was cool music) while my hair dried.

On FM. Frequency Modulation. High Fidelity. As Steely Dan would say, "No static at all."

Piano Man. Benny and the Jets. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Seasons in the Sun. Midnight at the Oasis. Sunshine on My Shoulder. Hooked on a Feeling. Sundown. Jet. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

What memories!

Finding this picture on the net was like finding an old high-school friend after too many years. Can't believe it was real. Did we really do those things? Do you remember the time we ... ? And then when we did that other thing? Man, the memories just start pouring in.

That radio was a big part of my life right up until the day it died. I still can't believe Mom and Dad let me keep it in my room for so long. But it sure made a difference in my life. It gave me a sense of my place in the big, wide world. And a deep and abiding appreciation for music, the kind of music that touched my generation. Those tunes still get me right here.

And what, you might ask, ever happened to that radio?

Sad to say, Time and children were not kind to it. At one point - I don't remember when or how - it received a serious blow to the side, and the plastic cracked, and the handles got loose, and the reception started to go bad. I in my ignorant youth tried to repair it, and only made it worse. The mechanical case repairs were beyond my skills. I tried to transfer it to a new case, hoping to put it into one of those old-style 1930's recreations, but my note-taking skills were not up to the task, and I was unable to remember how all the wires connected, and I never could get it to work again.

I don't remember seeing it again after departing for college twenty-five years ago. My presumption is that it was tossed out years ago in one of those let's-clean-out-the-attic purges.

But it was sure nice to see again for just a little while.

Financial Peace University

[Written Wednesday, September 6]

We started our class tonight.

After the orientation last week, I was a bit worried that we might be the only ones to show up (again). But that was not the case this time. At least two other people showed up, and there is the possibility of more in the future. That would be a very good thing, because I feel really bad for people who go to all the trouble of putting on a training class and then no one (or very few) shows up. It can be rather disheartening. Being in the teaching/training trade myself, I know this from experience.

This really isn’t a training class in the traditional sense, though; it’s more of an accountability class. We are here to ensure that we all ascribe to and maintain the integrity of our promise, that we will strive to be completely debt-free in the foreseeable future. It is neither simple nor painless, this striving of ours. We are charged to drop all other monetary priorities in order to attain this goal – which implies a lot of sacrifice. It means foregoing travel, comfort, pleasure, and all the other little ‘extras’ that we have come to rely on for our well-being. Not completely, of course. But until we get a solid handle on things, and get into the habit of denying our selfish desires, it will be a bit of a strain.

The concept of becoming debt-free is really rather simple. It is outlined by the following steps:

1. Establish an emergency account, no less than $1000.
2. Save up 3 – 6 months worth of salary.
3. Establish and maintain a permanent savings plan.
4. Establish and maintain a cash-only payment system.
5. Pay off all credit debts – and destroy those credit cards!
6. Pay off all other outstanding debt (including the house!).

(This is not quite the way Dave Ramsey outlines them, but this is the way I remember them.)

We have already completed #1, and are working on #2. Number 3 has been on-going for years, since I used to work at Boeing. Number 4 is going to be extremely painful, especially since this will seriously curtail my normal spending habits. Visa was invented to support my Radio Shack habit. I can’t walk into a Radio Shack with a little envelope containing my ‘mad money’ and purchase something worthwhile, not when the envelope contains a mere $5 or $10. Nor will it help me when I’m browsing through the computer parts store. Most of the items on my Wish List are far more than $10!

What? You mean I have to save up, and wait until I have enough before I can buy what I want??? That’s not the American Way! That’s ... that’s ... outrageous! I’m an American, and I demand my right to instant gratification! I demand my right to be selfish! I demand my right to a 52-inch LCD HDTV!

As you can see, I have a long way to go.

Cheryl could teach this class. She already knows the concepts and the disciplines by heart. So it really isn’t for her benefit that we are taking this class. It is more for mine, because money is not something I enjoy thinking about or talking about. I just want to spend it. As soon as I get it. On toys. And then feel horribly guilty about it. When I should be talking about it first, and feeling horribly disappointed when I don’t get to spend it. But that feeling passes when the next desire pops up, and I start obsessing about something else.

So this class should help us (me) to be more communicative with our financial goals and struggles, to help us truly be of one mind and spirit concerning our future. Plus we gain the fellowship of a few other people who are facing many of the same struggles, with whom we can sympathize and empathize when things aren’t going the way we had hoped.

The best part? They are providing free babysitting, so the kids can run around the church and play while I get to spend some quality time with Cheryl, delving into a subject that is near and dear to her heart, un-distracted.

First Day of School

What? Huh? What are you kids doing up so early? Eh? First day of school? Harrumph! So it is, so it is.

Cheryl is going to be doing the Happy Dance all day today, just as soon as the last one has gone out the door. For the first time in three months, the house will be quiet, and she’ll be able to sit and enjoy her coffee and listen to the silent walls sighing with relief. Whew! Now ... what to do until lunch.

Actually, I have no worries that she will lack for things to do. She has plenty to do, only now she will be able to do them all without dragging the kids along.

Thoughts on the Demise of the Crocodile Hunter

[Written Tuesday, September 5th]

Why is it that the death of someone like Steve Irwin touches so many people?

Perhaps it is because the man had such a zest for life. Regardless of how some might have felt about his pursuits or his methods, it must be admitted that he was totally enthusiastic about what he was doing. He experienced joy doing what he was doing, and we experienced that joy by proxy, watching him jump around like a kid in an candy store (or perhaps more like a kid in a Diagon Alley toy shop!) and feeling like we were right there with him, anticipating the sugar rush. He was a big kid who had never outgrown his fascination with the way things worked, the mysteries of the animal world, and the importance of preserving what we have for future generations.

And, of course, he had that way-cool Aussie accent.

One of the things that we learned from Mr. Irwin was the fact that the world, although a dangerous place, is also filled with beauty and wonder, and that it is possible to look these dangerous creatures in the eye and appreciate them for what they are. He brought us in to their world, close-up, where it would otherwise be impossible for us to go, so that we might share with him the joy and excitement of seeing these marvelous creatures in their native habitat.

He was a great showman, an exhuberant cheerleader, a passionate spokesman, and a dedicated conservationist.

Most importantly, and more to our grief, he was a husband and a father, and will be sorely missed by them not only now but in the years to come. Our hope and good wishes then are for them, that they might remember the joy that he brought to the world, and that they might find comfort and strength in those who surround them now.

A Visit with the Family

Family get-togethers are generally celebrated with lots of food, lots of gab, and lots of sweaty kids running around using up all the energy they gained from all the sugar they’ve been eating. Labor Day down at the Siegels was not an exception to this rule. We had lots of great food, lots of interesting converstation, and a bunch of children coated in glistening perspiration who slept very well once we managed to get them home and showered and to bed.

But the best part of the day for me was spending some time with Uncle Bob working on his trailer.

Maybe it’s just the electrical geek in me, or maybe I have too many fond memories of working on those old Volkswagens with Dad, but it was a genuine thrill to pull and trace and reroute wires on the old trailer so the lights would work right – or mostly right. Part of the fun was investigating something I’d never touched before – a tractor-trailer rig – and part of it was actually being of some use to somebody, to be able to use the stuff I’ve learned over the years to help fix something. Most of the fun was from the satisfaction of getting the lights to work (almost) by the time we were done, hours later.

It was a little bit frustrating because at the very end of it, they still didn’t quite work they way we wanted them to work, but it was a lot closer than it had been when we started. And that was a bit of a reward. I do wish I had the time to go back down there and fix it up completely before Bob has to drive it somewhere, but that probably won’t happen. Too many things going on up here.

My hope is that this year the weather won’t prevent us from getting down there at Thanksgiving, like it has the last two years. It sure was fun being down there and hanging out with the family.

Sunday Afternoon

It's Labor Day weekend, and if there's one thing that needs to be done around here, it's lots of labor.

But I don't feel like it today.

Yesterday, I did quite a bit of labor, but it didn't amount to much. Started working on one of the walls downstairs, in a prototypical kind of way, but it took too long because I had to think about it, and my mind was in ten different places at once.

See?



No, wait, that's the wrong picture. That's a picture of what Adam was doing this afternoon. Playing on the computer. Trying to finish yet another level of Battle for Middle Earth. He's obsessed with the game.

OK. I know I've got a picture of it here somewhere. See, I'm trying to put up the dividing wall between what is going to be James' new room, and the downstairs play room / family room. Problem is, this wall has to go up against a ceiling that is chock full of ventilation ducts and water pipes and drain pipes and things, so it's not like just slapping together a quick 4x8 rectangular wall and calling it good.

No, this one has to fit like a jigsaw puzzle up there.

Take a look:



Nope. Wrong again. That's a picture of what the other three were doing this afternoon. Vegging out in front of the television, watching the old 1976 version of "King Kong". You know, the one with Jessica Lange and Jeff Bridges. The one with the helicopters. The one that came out when I was in high school (or almost in high school).

{For those of you who might remember, that movie had a full-page ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and I had it hanging in my room for the longest time. It was a way cool movie. For its time, I mean. The latest one blows it away, of course. There's simply no comparison between the CGI and motion-capture that Peter Jackson used versus the man-in-a-suit version. But I didn't see any full-page ads in our local paper last year.}

You probably don't notice it, but the television screen is so dark that the movie is almost unwatchable. There were a lot of 'dark' scenes in that movie, no doubt due in some measure to the blue-screen or blue-screen artifacts. And our TV is on its way out, so its gotten progressively darker over the last few months. Maybe by Christmas we'll get a new one.

But ... here's that picture I was talking about!



As you can see, it's not much of a wall. But getting it to fit up there was lots of fun!

September!

It must be Autumn. The air is cool, the sky is cloudy, and the trees are all standing around sighing, waiting for the inevitable browning of the leaves.

Is summer really over?

To say it passed quickly would be an understatement, although that only expresses the sentiment and not the factual passage of time. In reality, it passed no slower nor faster than any other season, but there were a lot more activities crowded into it.

Looking at the calendar which is posted on my wall, I can see off-hand the following events:

* A visit from the Greens in May
* Memorial Day weekend
* Home School try-out (on-going through June-July)
* A business trip to Long Beach around Memorial Day
* Vacation Bible School - planning meetings scattered throughout May, June and July
* A week of Gerber Scout camp with Adam in June
* A day-trip to Notre Dame on July 2nd
* A visit from the Guabs on July 3rd
* Adam to Imaginary Worlds camp
* The reunion trip to Indiana in early July
* VBS during the last week of July
* Kids in church camp the first week of August
* A trip to Pittsburgh to visit the Joneses
* The boys' trip to Washington
* Two overnighters to Chicago in mid-August
* Another business trip to Long Beach in August

Lots of other stuff that isn't on my calendar. Whew! Makes me tired just looking at it. Wish I could somehow catch up on all the things I didn't get around to doing this summer, but just don't have the energy left.

Maybe a little guitar would help...

Great Music Videos

Caught this on reddit. Had to sit and watch all of them, all the way through. Dazed by the memories, the guitar work, the music.

Wow.

This is some of the best music that defined my generation.

http://rakeshkumar.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/top-10-guitar-solos/

A Day in Chicago

Wowsers, what a day!

We did sleep in a bit, til nearly nine o'clock. The boys didn't even move until I clicked on the telly to see if there was anything newsworthy. There wasn't, but we accidentally ran into the last hour or so of "Revenge of the Sith", and watched that instead of eating breakfast.

That's guys for you. Entertainment before sustenance.

Finally checking out of the motel, we headed downtown (after a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, which is where Real Men eat breakfast!) to start our tour, and quickly discovered that all of the metered parking on the Lake Shore was "disabled"; that is, all the meters were covered with little hoods, and there were orange cones all over the place to say, "No, you can't park here, either." Everyone was being directed to park at Soldier Field. Actually, it wasn't too bad. Only $15 for the whole day. But - Cash Only. No cards, no checks.

That took care of all my real money. Turns out that there was just enough change in the car to get us a parking spot. So we parked. And walked. Luckily, it's just a short walk from Soldier Field to the Aquarium.

Adam had been to the Shedd before, so there wasn't much to surprise him there, but James was totally thrilled. He got to see the big sea turtle and the octopus and the dolphin show and the penguins and the huge lobsters and crabs and the bird-eating spider of the Amazon and the Komodo dragon. And the Gift Shop. Especially the Gift Shop. Where he found a cute little sea turtle beanie baby.

Then we walked down to the Adler Planetarium and saw the Stars of the Pharoahs show, of particular interest to Egyptologists like James, and then Adam found all sorts of fun things to do in the hands-on exhibit section, like making impact craters and watching the mars rover and creating his own solar system (trying to set the orbitals so that the planets don't crash into the sun).

On the way out, we stopped by the little beach which is right next to the Planetarium, and I inadvertenly stepped into Lake Michigan with my sandaled foot, which meant that for the next hour or so, I had to deal with a wet foot. But it did keep me cool!

It was time to head home by then, so we got into the I-94 traffic and spent the next couple hours trying to get out of Chicago. Finally managed to get to Michigan City where we stopped at IHop for dinner. Or breakfast. Whichever. Then we drove over to South Bend to visit with Sue Gaub's mom, Mrs. Rice, whose husband is in the hospital with pneumonia.

Then, finally, home.

Today, the kids are getting together with some of their friends to play for awhile, then we're heading out to the company picnic at the zoo, and then it'll be time to try and re-establish normality again. School is on the way. Fall, too.

And I'm ready for another vacation!

Are we there yet?

It has been a very long day.

My flight finally took off around 2 p.m., getting me into GR around three-thirty or so. My bag, sadly, didn't make it.

Cheryl needed to take the girls to piano lessons, so I got my car and drove over to meet her there, and we swapped cars, and then it was time to head to Chicago. Deja vu.

Got to Chicago in time to check in at the motel -- but the room wasn't ready yet; they were still cleaning it, and didn't want to give me a key. So, still in the same clothes I'd gone to work in the day before, I drove to Midway and waited for the boys.

Naturally, their flight was delayed, too. Got in around ten.

But they made it, and we got to the motel, and I've had a nice, refreshing shower, and they're watching Animal Planet and showing me pictures and toys from the trip.

I'm sleeping in tomorrow.

New Gate

They changed the gate number. And the time. It was 10:40. Then it was 12:55. Now it's 1 p.m. At gate B4.

And more and more people keep showing up. Don't they watch the news? Don't they know that the air traffic around here is screwed up?

They should all just stay home.

I should've stayed home. What a dumb trip.

Waiting

Stuck in Chicago. Weather problems. Was supposed to be flying out of here at 6. The current estimated schedule says 12:55. Then it'll be time to turn around and drive back to Chicago again to pick up the boys.

Ooooh, this is fun.

You oughta see the terminal. It's jam-packed with frustrated would-be passengers.

I'm not taking any pictures.

Here we go ... again

I'm sitting in the airport waiting to catch my flight to LAX. Life got just a little more interesting last night.

When we got home from church yesterday, there was a voice mail from work. They needed me to come in. Didn't mention exactly what the problem was, but you know how it goes. Guess they didn't want to scare me off.

So I went in to work and discovered that our customer (names have been removed to protect the far-from-innocent) was having difficulties. Nothing earth-shattering, just software that wasn't working. Their software. See, we give them an operating system, and a few applications to run on it, and they write some of their own applications which run at the same time as our applications, and they all work together to help pilots manage navigation and flight management tasks.

They took our, stuff which was working, added in their own stuff, and suddenly it wasn't working anymore. Well, let me clarify that: in this one particular failure mode, it didn't do what they expected it to do.

So I and my comrades were at work yesterday from early afternoon to late evening, trying to figure out what was going on. We took their software and ran it in our lab without any problems. Which leads us to believe that there is something amiss in their lab. That is, a hardware problem. Nothing much we can do here about their hardware.

But that is not the correct response when the Customer says, "Jump". They said, "Get someone on a plane right now!" -- which is their default response to any problem. And when the Customr says "Jump", we Jump. And as the front-line geek, that means me.

Which is why I'm on a flight to LAX today. In this particular episode, I'm playing the part of the 7th Cavalry, riding in over the hill to save Custer. Armed with my laptop rifle and my cell phone canteen. Ready to jump into the fray and slay the dragons. Or bugs. Or whatever.

Oh, and I have to be back in Chicago by Thursday to pick up the boys!

Man, what a fun week this is going to be.

Recovery

The boys are in Washington, I've got a ton of work to do after taking two days of glorious vacation in Chicago, and there is a serious girly-girl tea party planned for the weekend.

Where can I hide?

In Chicago

We arrived in Chicago this afternoon, after an uneventful drive. Cheryl navigated us downtown without much difficulty, despite the ridiculous amount of construction and traffic on I90 near the lake front. We parked close to the Navy Pier and spent a few hours wandering through the shops, riding the ferris wheel, going through the Children's Museum, grabbing ice cream at McD's.

Then it was time to take the boys to the airport for their flight to Seattle. Cheryl and the girls dropped the boys (and Dad) off at Midway, then drove off to the hotel. Dad and the boys got through Security, found some dinner (pizza!) and wandered through the airport shops to kill time until the flight was ready to go.

The boys were excited about going, although Adam was suffering from a headache. They were feeling quite grown up about being on their own, standing in line by themselves, boarding the plane unencumbered by adults. Plus they were probably looking forward to consuming all the snacks that were packed in their backpacks!

After the flight had left, Cheryl came to the airport and picked Rob up, and then it was back to the hotel, and sleep.

Voting Day

I don't understand people who don't vote.

It's a Primary poll today, and time to get to the voting booth and select the candidates for state and local offices. The state of Michigan doesn't exactly make it easy on people to find out what the issues are, not like Washington does. In Washington, they put out these nice voter pamphlets with pictures of the candidates and summaries of their positions, as well as summaries of the issues that are up for a vote, and everyone gets a copy so they can read up on things even if they're doing that reading on the way to the polling station. At least they are a little informed of what is going on in the world.

I don't read the paper much, outside of the comics, and I don't watch the television to get my news, and I don't like the local news websites because they are almost as boring as the newspaper and television news, so there isn't much opportunity for me to get information about the state and local issues unless I do my own research.

But it is my civic duty to stay informed, so that my vote means something. A vote cast in ignorance is worse than no vote at all.

So I researched the issues and the people running for office by doing a bit of web surfing, talking to some people at work and at church for whom I have great respect, and then considered the facts and the opinions presented before making my selections.

Then Cheryl and I, with the girls in tow, walked to the polling place and cast our votes.

How hard can that be?

It was nice to go to the school and see the old ladies sitting at the tables, the volunteers who verify residency and hand out the ballots and answer questions. It's gratifying when they remember you from the last election, and recognize in you someone who cares about such things as civic duty and responsibility.

It's disheartening to put the ballot in the machine and read the electronic tally of the number of ballots cast thus far. Pitifully low.

Where are all the voters? Are they all waiting for the last minute? Are they (hopefully) finishing up their research on the issues before showing up?

Or are they sitting at home, watching TV and thinking, "Eh, it doesn't really matter. It's just a Primary." "My vote doesn't really count." "My wife and I cancel each other out." "I don't want to miss the game."

Just once, I'd like to see 100% voter turnout, just to see what people really believe. That would be a very interesting election.

If they had all done their research.

If they had all paid attention back in High School Government class.

If they really understood how easily the democratic process can be corrupted by those with the money and power to do so. (After several years in the Lake Stevens area, I understand. Completely.)

In the end, those who do not vote have no one to blame but themselves for the city/state/country/world in which they live. If you don't spend the time doing your duty at the polling place now, you may end up spending it on the battlefield later on - or in the concentration camp. (Think Germany 1933.)

Happy Birthday, Dear Craig!

Try not to spend it at work this time.

Happy Birthday, Dear Judy!

We hope you had a great time doing whatever it is that you wanted to do on your birthday, hopefully involving at some point a bowl of ice cream and perhaps a Red Vine or two. If not, we'll save you one for later.

More Fun at VBS

Man, I'm tired.

It isn't the number of activities that wear me out, it's the intensity of the evenings, trying to get the kids excited about the subject and yet temper their enthusiasm so that they focus it on the right thing. I don't want them getting out of hand, yet I also don't want them to get bored out of their minds.

Mostly I worry about them getting bored. Nothing worse than a bored pre-teen for getting in trouble.

We didn't have much trouble tonight, except for one kid who just doesn't have good control of his mouth (keys in the ignition, can't shut it off). That was in the lesson/snack room. Back in the craft room, everyone was finishing up their treasure boxes and wind chimes, and they all looked great. Some of the boys finished early, so they played some card games while the rest finished up.

I found out that these boys don't handle board games well, which is why we haven't been playing the one I made up. We tried playing it the other night, but there were too many boys and each round of play was taking too long. I could've had the boys play it tonight, but the ones who were finishing up their projects needed more attention, and I didn't want to try and split my time. Yes, I had helpers, but they were quite busy as it was.

The girls managed to finish their projects right on time, at the end of the session.

Only one more night!

Second Night of VBS

Wow.

Last week, our registration numbers stood at eight. Then this past Sunday, it climbed to ten. So we were thinking there would be maybe twelve kids in the Middle School class.

Twenty-five showed up last night.

Can you say "flustered"?

One of the reasons we had decided to do the projects we picked, was because we were thinking we'd have relatively low numbers of students. When we had such a huge number, we had to scramble to get enough materials to keep the kids busy.

The obvious first step was to split the kids up. Oddly enough, we had a pretty even boy-girl split, so we did the boy-girl thing; I took the girls into the craft room and got them started on the treasure boxes while Cheryl did the lesson with the boys. Then we switched at snack time.

It went sorta OK. I only had to get after a few of the boys for being rude and disrespectful (they were day-care kids, so I was sorta surprised at their misbehavior, until it was later explained to me that they hadn't seen each other in a while and were in the "impress the other guy by seeing who can misbehave the most" mode). But overall things went very well, other than the initial panic at the large numbers.

I forgot a few things. Like the fact that the kids didn't know enough about painting/staining to hold the brushes right. Or NOT to dip the entire brush (up to the handle) into the paint. Or to wipe off the excess paint/stain before dripping it all over the table. Or how to keep the newspapers I'd put on the tables from shifting around. So there was a big mess to clean up afterward.

We didn't get out of there the first night til nearly ten. Clean-up was a pain.

Tonight, we had several 'helpers', so things went a lot better. Cheryl had one helping out with the lesson/snack room, and I had a couple in the craft room, and somehow the presence of some other adults helped to keep the kids in check.

Of course, there was still lots of clean-up involved, but it wasn't as bad as before. Once we get the rhythm down, it'll go a lot better.

Getting Ready for VBS

I'm always in a bit of a panic before a "show". And, believe me, VBS is a show like none other.

As is usually the case, there just wasn't enough time to get all the things done I wanted to get done this year. I had Big Plans. Especially with a theme like Son Treasure Island. Especially with Pirates of the Caribbean 2 fresh in everyone's mind.

Of course we'll talk about Treasure. As in, the Greatest Treasure. And we'll probably talk about laying up treasures in heaven, and focusing on the non-wordly stuff. But of course we'll also have fun dressing up like pirates and waving fake swords around and being silly.

And of course we'll have chocolate gold coins. How obvious can you get?

But there are some other activities we'll be pursuing. We're doing some craft projects - painting or staining wooden treasure boxes ($3 at Michaels), making wind chimes, doing some candle-making, that sort of thing.

And I've got this game in mind. I built a game board and laid out an island on it, with a checkerboard; and I've got some little plastic Pirate characters to put on it; and I've got some ideas on some simple games we can play with it. Something to teach the kids about cooperation and sharing and being nice to each other. You know, all those things we were supposed to learn about in kindergarten, but were too busy making pies out of PlayDoh to pay attention to.

Guess we'll see what happens.

Home is the Hunter, home from the Hill

and the James, home from the Camp.

He actually showed up a bit earlier than we'd expected. I was looking for him around noon, but he was here quite a bit earlier. Perhaps they didn't have to do as much camp-cleaning as they usually do. Perhaps the boys were more careful about leaving trash lying about.

Ha.

The first thing we did was to send the boy into the shower. Like any boy, he was proud of the fact that he hadn't bathed in days. We could tell as soon as he entered the house. EEeeewww. Off to the showers with you! Then we'll talk.

He had a wonderful time. He is definitely ready for the week-long Boy Scout camp version.

As for the rest of us, we noticed his absence in some strange ways. The house was quieter, for one thing. As was the shower at the pool. Normally, James is caterwauling in there because there are such great echoes, and there is nothing he loves more than making cool sound effects (mostly the impolite kind, like burps, belches, and ... other kinds). Normally Adam and I fight to be heard amid the din. Today - nothing. There was no noise, no talking, just cleaning up after pooltime and then home for dinner. It was ... odd.

But that was OK, because Cheryl and I are cranking on the VBS preparations. And since our target audience is Middle Schoolers, who are caught between the conflicting worlds of Silly and Cool, it's going to be a challenge.

Wish us luck!

Regrets

1. Should never have gone to college right out of high school. Wasn't prepared for real studying, since high school was too easy. Spent the first two years in college trying to develop good study habits, and the last two trying to make up for all the time I'd missed.

2. Should've done what I'd always dreamed of doing in the first place - running my own PC repair shop. All this aerospace engineering stuff is fine & dandy, but it's too hard to get to the point where you get to be the one making the decisions, and by then they won't let you play with the hardware anymore. It's more fun to be in the shop with the toys, even if the pay is lousy.

3. Should've tried harder to get a job with Microsoft back in '86 (yes, I did send in a resume, but got nothing more than a bit-bucket "We'll keep your application on-file" response). Right when they went public. Should've worked for Bill for five or ten years, then retired on the stock. Ha!

4. Should not have taken the job at Boeing, knowing they were going to ship me out to New York (although at the time it was supposed to be a 30-day short-term assignment). They told me from the beginning that off-site means you get forgotten, and it was true. Scrambling to find a job at the end of the assignment was a nightmare. And there wasn't any career-planning involved, it was just sheer "gotta find a job" panic.

5. Should not have become involved in teen ministry in New York. Wonderful kids, wonderful friends, fantastic experiences - but that just made it harder to leave. It was the first time I realized that my career was non-existent, and instead of embracing that reality, I fled from it in a vain attempt to find a career.

5a. Should not have purchased the minivan on my lunch break. For that matter, should not have purchased a car at all. The Chevette was still in perfectly good working order (mostly). Even though it was back in Washington. Should've figured out a way to get it back to New York. That would've prevented me from getting so involved in teen ministry, since I couldn't haul kids around in it. Or at least not as many.

6. Should not have driven down to Grandma's every weekend from Seattle. And gotten "involved" in the church down there. Hard to live in one place and worship in another, or be an effective helper to the relatives with all that travel going on. Should've made up my mind to either stay up in Seattle and get involved there, or move down to Longview.

7. Should not have gone out hiking every weekend, to the backcountry of Mt. St. Helens, walking the logging trails and chasing elk herds. Now it haunts my memory, and I know it'll never be the same. Especially since they logged out my favorite spot back in '91.

8. Should not have moved into a house with four other guys, even if they were guys from church. And taken sole responsibility for the rent (as I was the only one with a solid job). Wasn't paying enough attention to the rental agreement. How was I supposed to remember to mow the lawn??

9. Should not have assumed Jeff left the pancake griddle turned ON accidentally, and shut it off while he was in the shower. Jeff always turned on the pancake griddle first thing in the morning. Roommates don't like it when you touch their stuff, especially when you mess with one of their morning rituals. Almost as bad as making decaf coffee instead of the real stuff.

10. Should not have left Greg on his own in the apartment with Aaron the Maniac. Sorry, Greg, that was just rude of me, and I have no excuse except being a complete mental and emotional basket case at the time. It was like leaving you in a pit of vipers, and I'll never forgive myself.

11. Should not have attempted driving from Seattle to Whistler the afternoon/evening of our wedding day. That was completely nuts, which only proves my lack of planning ability. And my wife's forgiving spirit.

12. Should not have attempted to give constructive criticism at two in the morning when the baby wouldn't nurse and tempers were short and everyone was exhausted. In some states, that's adequate grounds for justifiable homicide.

13. Should not have taken three months to get another job after the layoff in '03. Should've gone to Volt that very afternoon and put in my plug for a job at Microsoft (again). Could've used the money. Instead, I found out how addictive it can be to stay at home with the kids. And I'm having withdrawal pains.

14. Should not have started blogging. Don't have time for it, no one reads it anyway. Total waste of time. Plus there aren't enough pictures.