The last post?

Well it's been a long haul. I've reached the end of the countdown.

Just 365 days ago I was typing here into this blog thinking: Am I going to be able to post each and every day? For the most part I did. There were a few days here and there I missed. I've learned at least one thing, it's extremely hard to post each day.

It's been a good experience though. The purpose was to improve my writing. Not really sure if that happened. But I did manage to keep the family up-to-date with what has happened with us over this past year.

Some family members like to do the newsletter thing. You know, they type up a document, PDF it, and send it out via email. In the old days before email they'd send it by snail mail. But all that newsletter stuff is so last century. Who does THAT anymore?

Now we email, text message, and blog. Blogging saves the INBOX. If you like the blog, you'll visit often. If you don't, well you don't have to visit.

One of the things I read early on was that if you want people to visit your web site often you have to keep it fresh. So I figured that a blog a day is fairly fresh.

I was aiming for 365 blogs (one a day) but only made 335 blogs total for the year. Sometimes I didn't post the blog until a day or two later. I used MacJournal for recording and direct post to the blog. It's very handy.

What's left now? Not really sure. Maybe pictures, maybe text, maybe daily, maybe not. It's been said that if you do something for a month, 30 days in a row, it will become habit. Maybe I just wont be able to resist the post.

When we go to China I'll be blogging to the China blog, pictures and text.

See you next year.

...dave
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man. -Benjamin Franklin

Selling Manual Stuff

It's a sad time for me. These lenses have been like family. They've hiked up mountains in Hawaii, been to the snow in California, and gone on a cruise. So you can imagine that I'm parting with them in great sadness. So many lenses and so little time to use them.

Interested in a lens? Check them out here:

35mm 1.4 Nikkor Lens
55mm 2.8 Micro-Nikkor
105mm 2.5 Nikkor Lens
75-150mm 3.5 Series E Nikkor Zoom Lens

Or maybe you want to add some accessories to your collection of Nikon gear. Got just the thing for you:

TC-200 2x Nikon Teleconverter
Extension tubes for Nikon
MD12 Nikon Motor Drive

Truth is, this stuff is great to have in the bag if you are built like Andre the Giant. But frankly the digital stuff is a lot lighter. All the new gear is plastic so it may not last as long but then, I won't either.

I'm looking forward to lightening the load in the bag and having just two lenses for all the needs. This make the China trip so much more enjoyable.

...dave
I am NOT paranoid. Who told you that?

Licorice and White Tip Earl Grea

It's cold outside. The temperature is about 50 or so. The air is foggy and misty. The storm passed over a few hours ago.

I've just steeped some tea and I have my bag of licorice here next to me. The combined smell of licorice and Earl Grey is heavenly.

Some people call Red Whips "licorice" but it's not. It's just candy.

Licorice is made from licorice extract, it's sweat, and it's black. Not red or purple.

I remember the licorice plants that grew on the corner of Lake Chabot and Seven Hills road. I'd get a whiff of them when I rode my bike up to the house from school. I loved that smell.

I remember that I used to buy licorice and pour cherry Pixy Stix inside. I never ate Pixy Stix the regular way. Pixy Stix was a powder that had the consistancy and sweat taste of Jello extract. You can still buy them here. It makes a cool wallpaper.

But licorice is better with Earl Grey tea. It's the ultimate.

...dave
“Candy Is dandy, But liquor Is quicker” -Ogden Nash

Gun Stolen from Georgia Police Sergeant

Here's a classic Georgia story.

There was a cover up of an investigation into the shooting of a police officer. The gun used in the shooting was a stolen gun from a sergeant in the police force. The cover up was ordered by the sergeant who lost the gun. Huh?

The sergeant? The sergeant was the mother of the shooter who was a convicted felon. Yeah, that's right. The mother, is the sergeant. Her son is the shooter of a police officer. The mother ordered the charges dropped. The country covered it all up.

What could be crazier?

...dave
Redneck bumper sticker: I got a gun for my wife. Best trade I ever made.

Beautiful Morning

It was such a beautiful morning going in to work today. And because of the holidays, there was hardly anyone on the roads. I wish it was like this everyday.

The parking garage was also empty. At 9:00 this morning there were half the cars then normal. I guess everyone is taking advantage of the holidays. We've got two Mondays off in a roll. If you take just four vacation days you get 10 days off from work.

So consequently it was extremely quiet today. No activity at all. Coffee, email, and tech books was the work for today.

...dave
If there were no hypothetical questions what would this say?

Mentos and Cola

Eric and Jason created a little experiment in our driveway. They dropped a bunch of Mento candies into a bottle of cola. It creates Old Faithful. Here's a picture of their experiment.

Now I ask you, where do they find this stuff out? Who knows? Maybe from the Internet?

If you want see a video check this out Mento into a bottle of cola (you might want to turn your volume down or off, the sound is irritating).

Ahhh, what fun this is.



...dave
Help beautify our dumps, throw away something pretty.

D70 Nikon Purchased

Well, I've done it. I went ahead and bought a used digital Nikon D70 camera and lens. Never mind that there are a few snags with the final sale but it seems that the seller is making it right.

He used an advertisement for the sale but the stuff he was selling wasn't exactly what the ad said. Anyway, he's offered to give me the lens for free if I still want the camera. That's a very good deal I'd say.

That means I need to get cracking on selling the rest of my manual camera stuff. It's a bitter sweet experience. While I know I need to come into the 21st century and embrace the digital world of photography, I'm fighting it. What happens if I can't recharge the battery for the camera? What happens if I lose the images in the card? At least with my current equipment, the camera still works without the battery and the images are recorded on film. Even if I loose one roll, I have all the rest. The digital cards for these machines can hold 500-1000 images. That's putting a lot of eggs in one basket.

So now I'm obliged to download the images to my notebook for safe storage. Then I have to burn them to some CD or upload them to some Internet site for safe keeping. It's so complex. Do I really have the time for this?

But here's the great thing about digital and the reason why I'm loosing my grip on film. I can take any number of pictures without cost, I can upload to travel blogs, and I can be creative in Photoshop. Since I like to write, taking images and writing stories provide a publishing outlet for me. It's great fun for me and enjoyable for others too. (Well, if the writing and images are good that is.)

Update March 28th 2010:

I'm moving up to the D300s and the 11-16 f/2.8 super sharp Tokina . Way cool.  You can read about the new Nikon D300s & Tokina 11-16mm combo here.

...dave
All I want is less to do, more time to do it, and higher pay for not getting it done. Is that too much to ask?

Jellyfish Lunch

After the study and service we got invited over a Chinese family's home for lunch. Things were going well for us until I asked what was in the delicious dish I was eating.

"Oh, that's zhe." (pronounced jha) she said. Then turning to her son she asked what this word was in English.

"Jellyfish" the son said.

Hmmm, yeah that's great stuff. I've never had jellyfish before. Hopefully, it's not the poisonous kind. Come to think of it, I'm AM feeling a little tingly.

It has the consistency of noodles but it looks clear. It is fairly tasteless. She had mixed it up with thinly sliced cucumbers and served it cold.

Marty, her husband made grilled pork after first soaking it in milk. Other dishes included a cold dish of celery and peanuts, a piping hot plate of dumplings (Jiaozi), and a spicy hot plate of peppers and shrimp. It was awesome.

Afterward we all talked about the keys to learning new languages. Marty has the most difficulty with English and our Chinese isn't what we want it to be (Women de zhongwen buhao.). Jeff, their friend, had a suggestion for learning more Chinese when we visit China in April. He suggested taking to the streets and talking with the locals from sun up to sun down. He gave the illustration: "If you want to cross the stream you've got to get wet, you have to dive in. You'll never get across if you try to keep your clothes dry. You'll meet people that are rude and brush you off. You can't fear rejection. If you are afraid to be embarrassed, your Chinese will never get better."

Next study with them will have to be completely in Chinese.

I'm looking forward to it but I don't know if they are.

...dave
My life is based on a true story.

Favorite Work Time

This time of year is a favoriate. Most folks leave early for vacations for the holidays. So this morning I came in, got the coffee going, and caught up on the email. It's my regular routine.

We've got a small refrigerator with our special coffee brewing station that I bought from Walmart sitting on top. I'll see if I can post a picture of it here. It's fairly handy. The part that holds the water has a handle on it. I just carry it to the faucet, rinse out the previous day's coffee, filler 'er up with fresh water and dump it in the brewing station. (It's a brewing station, okay?! It's not a coffee pot!) Next, I grind the beans from Peets, dump those in, and press the start button. The coffee drips through the filter and into a reservoir that is heated. Just under the reservoir there is enough room for a big mug. I simply press the mug up against the silver button and I get hot coffee dispensed into the cup. The reservoir stays hot for about two hours then shuts off. Of course, by then we've drank it down. It's a Hamilton Beach BrewStation 12-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker.

By the time it's finished brewing, the first guy gets in (say about 7:30 a.m.) and we talk about what's planned for the day. It's great because it's usually quiet at that time and I get so much accomplished. (Although, I must confess, I was online looking at digital cameras this morning after finishing the mail.)

By 8:00 a.m. crazy things started happening. Email flying around to directors and VPs. Finally, by 10:00 a.m. I started my day of meetings that lasted until 2:30. Thing is, in view of the holiday, most of my associates had left by 11:30 a.m.

When I walked out at 3:00 p.m. the parking garage was empty.

...dave
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Art & Poetry

Our friends invited us to an Art & Poetry party. All invited are expected to recite their favorite piece of poetry. Or they can write their own and "perform" it.

They had something similar about a year ago over their house and it was so successful that they decided to rent a small place. Not so much to invite more people but to provide more room to spread out. Their house is a split-level affair. They placed chairs above that sort of felt like a balcony. Then they wrapped rope lights around the banister and spot lights on a small stage. We had such a good time. There was great poetry too. Here's the very cool invite.

I gave one of my poems:

Our Mother Made Lasagna

In addition to the poetry, many brought their artwork and displayed it in a small room that looked like a gallery. It was one of the most successful parties I've been too.

I'm looking forward to the one this year.

...dave
A poet can survive everything but a misprint.  ~Oscar Wilde

China Trip Booked

We'll we are booked. We got our flight locked and loaded. We fly to Chicago, then to Beijing. Three weeks of China in April. Coowl.

This is why I don't feel so bad I'm working at the Enterprise while everyone else is off. I'll make up for it in April. Besides, it's very quiet these days and I'm spending the time wisely. I've been going through all the stuff I've collected and organizing. I was inspired by the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. You should see my files, very professional. They've even got labels on them. Best looking drawer in the entire Enterprise!

Anyway, back to the trip. (I've even got a file folder labeled: China Trip.) Since our vacation plans are for China, I'm saving what vacation I have left. Meanwhile, I've been prowling eBay for good deals on a digital Nikon camera. I'm selling all my manual stuff. Digital is finally acceptable to me. So I'm now ready for the jump.

...dave
Living on earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.

My Cousin's Bird

Been kind of busy elsewhere.

Like I wrote a little poem for my cousin Steve. Not real gifted here but had fun anyway.

My Cousin's Bird

This site has a few verses you may enjoy.

...dave
If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?

Fixing Picture Posts

Just trying to clean up the mess of posts of pictures. Now here they are in one place:

Some recient pictures.

Some scanned slides (circa 1980).

My two best shots and how I took them.

...dave
Speak the truth but leave immediately after. - Slovenian Proverb

A Too Cute Site

This is almost too cute to deal with. This picture was from the site. The site? cuteoverload.com.

It's SO sweet, I'm feeling a little sick.

...dave
Cats have nine lives. Which makes them ideal for experimentation. -Jimmy Carr

Making Coffee

How hard can it be to make coffee? Making coffee should be easy. Right? Not if you don't have the right help.

First off, we delegated the grinding to Chiu (Chew). Tim told him to grind it until there is a high pitched sound. He told him something like: "A free-wheeling sound from the grinder tells you that the beans have been pulverized and ground to a fine powder consistency." I didn't know this. I usually just look through the plastic window. If I don't see any partial beans, I know I'm done.

The grinder at my work is stainless steel. I'm not sure it makes this sound. One thing is certain, I grind up the beans until the coffee rises in small chocolate brown puffs of fine powder.

Meanwhile Tim prepared the coffee machine. It's a Bunn machine. A very fine machine indeed. Did I mention that we are over someone's house for dinner and we offered to make the coffee. This place it VERY nice. Oak cabinets, granite countertops, all new appliances, including this coffee maker. Lynn gave us the go-ahead but she didn't know what she was exposing her kitchen to.

Anyway, after grinding, Tim loaded the coffee into the top filter affair. He's over there measuring exact spoons of the black gold.

"Tim" I yelled over the grinder's second batch, "Just dump it all in."

He gave me various objections but in the end I convinced him to abandon his careful measurements and dump that batch and the next one coming. This stuff is a finely ground Kona blend. He consented.

All was going well, and it smelled great from where I sat, which was by the grinder. The pot was around and behind the fridge.

We turned to the others now engrossed in deep conversations of Mice and Men. But suddenly I saw Lynn blurring past me diving in the general direction of the black liquid-making machine. She was screaming something unintelligible. I'd never seen anyone get so excited about a Kona blend before.

But alas, it wasn't the blend she was excited about. It was her counter and cabinets. It seems, and we aren't clear who's at fault, that someone overfilled the filter with finely ground beans. The drip funnel couldn't keep up and so overflowed an oozing oil-black coffee. The wonderfully fragrant beverage began to pool on her granite counter. A reflection of her new oak cabinets above shown in the liquid's mercury mirror surface.

We stemmed the tide of oozing oil from reaching the back-splash and side cabinets using Costco pallets of paper towels. My hands still smell of wonderful Kona coffee.

We loaded up the pot for a second round. The finished hot oil-black coffee was wonderful with the homemade flan and New York cheese cake with strawberries.

At least now the new kitchen has been christened. But, of course, we may never be invited over again.

...dave
“No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

Team Building Lunch - Dutch Treat

We had our team building lunch today. The idea is to get out of the office for some much needed rest and relaxation. It used to be, companies paid for this, ours doesn't. At least our department doesn't. It was dutch treat. It's cool. Besides, I like the name of the place.

Dave and Busters is an eat, drink and play sort of place. I just ate and played, no drinking. It was scheduled to start at 1:00 but only three of us arrived at 1:00. We just decided to order (we were hungry). I ordered some beef and potatoes and washed it down with ice water (I was paying, remember?). D&B has a combo dinner and game card for $15 bucks. By the time the meal arrived, sever other shoed up. By the time I was finished eating, ten people were sitting around the table.

After lunch we went in to the game room and did some video racing, bowling, and air hockey. The video racing was cool. There was a row of cars open so each of us (seven in all) grabbed a steering wheel and drove off. I came in second.

I watch two of the guys shoot hoops. One of them was able to score 63 shots. Most of them were going in.

I did a little bowling for points. Got a couple 100s, some 50s but mostly 10s. I used my entire card on that machine and made 55 tickets. Well, I thought, that's enough to buy a little stuffed animal for Ruth in the store. Talk about sticker shock! A little gross-colored frog cost 450 tickets! I walked out disheartened.

One of the guys talked me in to playing a jackpot game. The light runs around the circle and you have to stop it between to colored arches. There are so many lights blinking, I was going to throw an epileptic fit. Even if I don't hit the jackpot, the closer to the arches I stop the light, the higher number of tickets I earn. I was hitting 18s and 20s. Woohooo.

It's addictive. I'd taken about 20 turns but kept stopping the light just before the arches or just after. Then it hit struck me like a bell in a tower. Aim to stop the light AT the 20. It worked! I hit the jackpot. Tickets squirted out of the machine like water out of a tugboat's fire hose. They streamed unending. I played on. Thinking that I could score yet another jackpot using my new method, I tried five more times. Meanwhile a mound of tickets covered my shoes. How many tickets could this possibly be?

I started to count but Sina told me just bring the whole pile and they'll weigh it and tell me how many there are. When we got to the counter the the girl dumped them in the scale Sina took a guess: 1200?

"You have 1650 tickets, congratulations!"

Whoa, dude.

Now we're talking. I should be able to buy whatever I want now. Hey, you lady, with the tiny wad of tickets, step aside.

So many tickets, so few choices. Forget the frogs, I'm looking at the monkeys.

...dave

Bigfoot's Biography

I didn't think it's possible but it's been confirmed. Bigfoot had written his own biography.

The title is: Me Write Book: It Bigfoot Memoir. Get your's now before the trail grows cold.

Okay, it's true, it IS rather crude, as you can imagine. After all, he has had no formal education. And he doesn't type, so it's handwritten. But at least it's authentic. You can purchase a copy for yourself at Amazon here.
steganography rules
...dave
Ugliness is, in a way, is superior to beauty because it lasts. -Serge Gainsbourg

360 Degree Spins

I know some do it on purpose but I didn't. It's strange to see the world in a 360 degree spin, that is, outside of a carnival.

It was early morning and dark when a car in front of me did a zig so I did a zag. It looked like I cleared him so I gave it a little gas just to put some distance between us. I crested a slight hill and that lifted the car just enough to break my traction. Within seconds I was facing him, then I wasn't, and then I was. As the car spun I got to see all four compass points. Coowl.

A car with a mid-engine likes to spin so I pointed into the turn, let off the gas, and went for a ride. When it slowed just enough I corrected in hopes of proceeding on my way forward. But the car had another idea, and started to spin in the other direction. Finally, it came to a stop in the middle of the road with drivers gawking at me from both directions.

That's it, I'm going to get my rear tires replaced.

How much?

Don't ask.

Oh yeah, I posted some more pictures here. If you liked the others, you may like these. If you didn't like the others, then, well, why are you, oh never mind.

...dave
Yesterday is a cancelled check; Tomorrow is a promissory note; Today is the only cash you have, so spend it wisely. -Kim Lyons

Macon Trip

We took the Macon trip down to our SAD this last Sunday. Hopefully that will be the last two hour trip we'll take for the SAD or Circuit Assemblies. The program was fantastic.

It's just a such a long haul. We leave at 7:15 a.m. and get back by 7:00 p.m. unless we stop for dinner in which case we arrive back home at something like 9:30 p.m. The good part is stopping at Starbucks on the way down.

But get this, there is only one Starbucks in the entire city of Macon! Compare that to the three Starbucks just on Berritt Parkway road in Kennesaw near our home. The quantity of Starbucks reveals how many snobs live in the neighborhood. Snobs hooked on the "Latte Factor."

We had dinner at Carrabbas. They had a special trout entrée, which wasn't bad. We bought a bottle of 2003 FrancisCoppola which wasn't bad either. (They had no Rex Goliath so had to settle for something else.) We finished with coffee and Tiramisu.

We were back by 9:30 p.m.

...dave
If you lived here, you'd be home now.

More pictures

Here's a few old slides I had scanned (about 1980):


Ice falls. This was out back of a friends home in upstate New York. We climbed behind the ice and I also have some pictures of that I'll post later.



Shot at Epcot in Florida. Just caught the bar tender taking a rest.



Another shot at the globe itself. Again with the Fujica and a 28mm.



Classic cityscape way before 9/11. This was taken about 1980 using a 28mm. It's actually a double exposure. The first shot is metered for the sky while the sun was setting. I waited for about an hour and did the second shot on the same frame for about 4 seconds. This is the only way to get these cityscapes with lights in the building. Otherwise, it'll just show a silhouette of buildings against a beautiful sunset. Double exposure is needed. Patience, remember, patience is needed for the really great shots.



Hawaii, North Shore, Waimea. Don't remember the exposure. Maybe 2.8 at a 60th.



Hawaii. This was before I owned Nikon equipment. I was shooting a Fujika SLR and using a normal 50mm lens. I got close by putting a toilet roll between the lens and camera. This was a poor man's extension tube. I cut it in half and wrapped it in black electrical tape. It was a clumsy affair, glad I have tubes now.



Hawaii. Carp in pond near a Buddhist Temple in Kaneohe.

Some other photos
My best two photos

...dave

Impossible Objects

It seems impossible but it's true, Harry Eng could put stuff in bottle you'd never dream of attempting.

How did he do this? It's for you to figure out. Fact is he always encouraged people to try. Although he was a magician, he encouraged people to try to figure it out for themselves. He'd give hints if you asked. He'd even tell you what tools to use.

He's dead now but his maserpieces live on, over 600 of them by some counts. Check out this site to see if there is one you'd like to try.

How hard can it be? Think inside the jar.

...dave
Always aim for achievement, and forget about success. -Helen Hayes

China Pilot

While at the bookstore last Thursday evening we met a United Airlines Pilot that's been to China 156 times!

Ruth was putting a Chinese book back into the shelf when he asked her if she's learning Chinese. He loves China and speaks conversational Chinese. He's been flying there for five years, has several friends there, and gets around now quite well. He'll joke with the taxi drivers when they try to serpentine to his route. He'll tell them: "Ta bu hao." Which means: "You're bad." Then he'll laugh with them, pay what he thinks the ride should be and say goodbye.

He says that the flight we are going is the one he usually flies. Says to tell him what day we are leaving. That would be very cool to fly with him and have him introduce us to some folks while we are there.

I was happy that I could understand his Chinese. I could actually understand every sentence he said. This gives me confidence.

We are really looking forward to the trip. I'm even thinking about buying a digital SLR camera and selling all my film cameras. I want to take some good pictures of the trip and do a blog similar to the Westerdam cruise we took last November.

On our Westerdam trip
...dave
Happiness is an illusion caused by the temporary loss of reality.

Business Attache Case

It's kind of a lazy evening tonight. I went in early and came home at 5:00. Eric is at his computer here in the white room designing shirts and web sites. I'm sitting here on the futon couch.

I'm doing some online shopping for another Lands End Square Rigger Classic Attache. I've had mine since Magellan completed his voyage around the world. It may, in fact, be one of HIS original suitcases. It certainly looks like it is.

I tried to clean my current business bag up a bit. I had Ruth wash it. This gave it a stone-washed color with faded blue highlights. Some of the stitching is coming off of the handles. The handles don't clean up well anymore. They are stained. The bag used to be a royal dark blue color. Now it's more baby blue.

I love this thing though. It's like an old pair of shoes, I just can't seem to replace it. It's been with me now for my entire professional career. Why should I force it into retirement? It still functions.

But it's a little embarrassing to sling it over my shoulder. I see people looking at it askance, especially in the elevator. After an initial "Oh, hi Dave." They'll look down at the bag and see the torn area at the corner and just simply quit talking.

I tell myself it doesn't matter. I'm a successful businessman and my well-worn "attache" is evidence of that.

New kids out of college have all the new leather bags and ballistic canvas roller carts . . . wimps . . . all of them. Real hackers have hack bags that bear the ravages of time. Their bags have evidence of being stuffed with impossibly huge computer books and drug around the busses and train stations. Their bags bear the marks of break-out boxes that scratched the internal pockets, and ink pen trails left behind on the bag's internal walls. There is ample evidence of use. They look like a pro's well used Nikon camera.

But still I shop. Hmmm...what color should I get?

...dave
Most people only need two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.

Top 10 List

I don't know who came up with this but someone suggested that all blogs MUST have a Top 10 List.

They should be posts easy to reach for new comers. That's because of the nature of a blog. Each day a post pushes the previous post down the stack. Eventually the blogs get "archived" into a monthly list off to the side. So even if you had a good post, it would eventually be buried.

"You can't assume that your audience has been with you from the start." was the admonition. Yeah, I guess that sounds right. I mean, I certainly hope no one has followed these last 365 posts!

As far as the top 10, I guess this makes sense. But, then again, a Top 10 List is subjective.

Okay, so here are my favorites:

Some sketching:
Illustrated Journaling course
All illustrated journaling posts

Some writing:
How much do you charge?
Career Limiting Move
A Case for Laceless Shoes
My Office Desk
Impatient Driving
Riding Home
Coffee Friends
The Programming Team
Grover's Visit

Some photography:
Some pictures
My best pictures
If you liked those, you may like these.

Okay, yes, it IS more than 10. I was never any good at math.

...dave
What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. - Anon

Comments are back

I've had problems with auto-posters putting nonsensical comments on my posts. But now Blogger has enabled comment verification.

What is this? Whenever you enter a comment, you are expected to key in a word (sometimes containing numbers) that you see distorted in a box. This ensures that a human and not a auto-robot is posting comments since software can't "read" this box.



It's called a "captcha" in case you want to impress your friends.

Check out the definition from Wikipedia

Kind a cool.

...dave
"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution" -Bertrand Russell

Grover's Visit

My brother-in-law is in town at some technical class. I don't fully understand it but it has something to do with computers and a calibration machine for your body. Don't ask me how it works, I couldn't tell you. All I know is it's helped thousands and Grover has purchased one to complement his electronic wave machine.

The story is, he'll measure your body's biometrics with the new machine and treat what ails you with the one he built. He's doing well by it. Was out of country and sold almost one hundred of these machines just last month.

But I think he's approaching it all wrong.

It has been said that laughter is the best medicine. Grover can make you laugh. I was laughing so hard I had to step out of the dining room to catch my breath. He ought to just tell stores. People would get better and he'd make millions

He re-told the story of his Jacuzzi experience. My stomach cramped as he told it last night and I was crying so hard I couldn't open my eyes.

The story goes that he was lounging in a Jacuzzi at some hotel in L.A. No one was around so he tilted his head back, put his arms up on the sides, and just listened to the quiet burbling water.

He glanced up at the rules, eyes half open, and read one of the guidelines: "Time in the pool not to exceed 20 minutes."

He laughed to himself, shrugged it off as simply a guideline and closed his eyes again.

Just as his eyelids shut out the light coming through the bubbles, he felt a tinge of uneasiness. It persisted. Then he became a little dizzy. He opened his eyes, adjusted himself and sat up on the edge of the pool, head down, feet dangling at the water's edge.

Like a fist in a knockout round his stomach wrenched and he swallowed hard. "I've got to get back to my room." he concluded. So he grabbed his towel and began trotting to the lobby and down the hall to the elevators.

When he reached the elevator and pressed the button, he pushed down another wrench with another hard swallow. Come on, he thought to himself, Where is that elevator?

As the numbers above the elevator showed above the doors, it was on it's way, but not fast enough.

Just then another wrench, and grabbing the only thing at his disposal to contain the contents, he held the towel corners to his mouth and emptied his dinner into it.

By then, the elevator had come, and it opened full of people. The people stared incredulously as Grover looked up from his dripping towel, now distended with the contents of his stomach. He wiped his mouth of the string of saliva and moved in. Not, however, before the elevator emptied it's contents of the disgusted riders.

There were additional heaves on the way up as the momentum of the ride compounded his challenged equilibrium, but not after stopping at several floors to receive the same reaction he got on the ground floor.

He reached his room and flung his loaded towel in the general vicinity of the bathroom. Aiming for the tub but missing his target like a blind man on a hunting expedition it missed it's mark, slapped the wall, and gave the bathroom interior a new coat of color

He lay, exhausted on the bed, awaiting the next violent wave.

His wife stepped in, minutes later, saw the tired body flung across the bed with it's arms and legs dangling over the edge. She asked the only thing a woman concerned for her husband would ask: "What in the world happened to the bathroom?"

Grover replied breathless: "Don't ask."

...dave
It's better to be rich and healthy then poor and sick. -Dave Barry

A Haircut

I worked some long days this week so decided to head out of the office to get a haircut on the way home. I called ahead to reserve a 3:30 slot but that was a waste.

If they accept appointments, they should honor them. You think?

I got there right at 3:30 but someone was in the chair. She asked me if it would be alright to finish up. "Sure, no rush." I told her, and she took me at my word because an hour later I was finally in the chair.

And that's the strange thing. I said: "No rush." but I meant Sure, finish up who you're with. Even though there were several there waiting, I figured I'd be next.

When it came time to pay she told me they don't take credit cards. That was embarrassing since I only had $5 left from the week's expenses. I had to get her to agree I could drop off the balance on Monday when I came by on my way to work.

It's kind of a strange place. When she opened, there was hardly anyone there. Just six chair and one barber.

Now, nothing was any different except the more people waiting. What is worse is that I was the only guy with hair AFTER the cut longer than a fingernail. The rest of the crowd was military. There's a base across the street and down the road.

Here's the strange thing, on every flat surface there were displayed oil paintings with little cards with prices written on them. I didn't ask whose they were. They looked like paint-by-numbers from a rest home. I don't think I'll be laying down any cash on these.

...dave
"You can not export a haircut." - The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, commenting on the move to outsource technology.

Pictures

I've been procrastinating about getting my old slides scanned. Finally, I took them down and for 75 cents each got the first 20 scanned. They came out great.

Here are some of my favorites.


Little boy on NYC Brownstone stoop


Old men in a cow town.



Eric on the phone talking to grandma on the mainland.



Couple at Botanical Garden in Brooklyn, NY.



Flower box at a Brooklyn Brownstone.

I also got back my pictures from Raven Falls and re-posted.

Some other photos
My best two photos

...dave
"Every so often, I like to go to the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture." -Stephen Wright