December 2006 Family and "Christmas" Pictures

Here's a photo from yesterday's family gathering. I'm not sure when the last time the 6 of us were all in the same place at the same time, but it's been a while!


Here's a photo of just the kids:


Get used to the children's table, guys. You'll probably be at it until you're 30!


And what Christmas dinner would be complete without the presence of the Sweeneys?

Paid Overtime Recap

I feel like my blogging has been somewhat lacking lately. I haven't been writing much besides reviews of audiobooks. I have another one of those pending, but for now I'll post about the results of the Overtime Dilemma. I did work some additional time, but my paycheque isn't really going to show it. I had an emergency for which I needed to take a day off -- 8 hours went into that. Another 8 hours is going to go into an extra vacation day next year. So, all-in-all, I'll be getting paid for about an additional half day.

Extra money is nice, but so is the added flexibility in taking time off.

The Pilgrim's Progress (from This World to That Which Is to Come) by John Bunyan

Here's another commute audio classic available for free (temporary) download from the library web site: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. As a title that I recognized and never read, I thought I'd give it a try. I had assumed that it was the kind of book that most readers would hate (perhaps due to it being "preachy") or love because they find spiritually rewarding. So, there's a chance that both sides of the aisle will disagree with me, but I found the book to be quite entertaining.

Now, I am sure that Bunyan's main purpose wasn't to entertain his readers. The book is an allegory, and quite an obvious one at that. The main character is named Christian, and along his journey to the Celestial City, he meets just about every vice and virtue you can think of: Hypocrisy, Mistrust, Prudence, Charity, etc., etc. His visit to Vanity Fair was certainly interesting. It was an earlier use of the term than any I'm aware of.

When I reviewed Mayflower, I didn't mention the English habit of placing severed heads on pikes, which is I guess what they did in those days. Progress was first published in 1678, just a few years after the end of Mayflower. Another instance of this pastime is seen in Progress, where giant-killing is concluded with the placing of the giant's head on a stake as a warning to others.

Interestingly, according to his Wikipedia entry, Bunyan got into quite a pamphlet war with the likes of George Fox and Friends. At some point, I should probably study this in further detail,

The Pilgrim's Progress is "probably the most widely read book in the English language, and one which has been translated into more tongues than any book except the Bible". As such, if you haven't read it, I recommend it. It would be nice to be able to suggest it for more than its historical and entertainment values. But maybe we're so much more "sophisticated" these days that we're harder to move in the ways that Bunyan had in mind.

At some point, I may give Dante's Inferno a try.

Overtime Dilemma

One aspect about the new job that I like is the opportunity to work paid overtime. A few weeks ago, my manager told me (or implied) that there was some extra money available in the budget that he was authorized to apply to paid overtime, if it would result in progress on work projects. Additionally, overtime has to be worked during the normal work week, on site, and before 7:00pm. (I think I'm allowed to begin work at 6:00am, but there is no way I'm getting to work by then!) But, I was faced with a dilemma -- for budgeting purposes, he needed to know quickly how much overtime I would like to work for the rest of the year.

So, the question is, how much do I value time vs. money. I make enough per hour that each additional hour worked is a good bit of money. But, it's not like I'm going to have anything different or do anything different if I had, say, an extra week's pay. The money would probably go into one of the various long-term accounts. Still, it was also impossible to pass up the offer. At some point in the future, work (and pay) might not be as easy to come by, and I may wish I had that extra in savings.

But, all-in-all, paid overtime sure beats unpaid overtime.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Before I started the audio version of this book, I didn't know much about it. I mean, I knew:

• The French Revolution was involved.
• The opening line was "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", kind of like "Paradise Theatre" by Styx.
• It ended with "It is a far, far better" and all that.

All, in all, the book starts kind of slowly, but gets good. Like other Dickensian works, this one includes the too-perfect heroine whose only flaw seems to be fainting spells. I wonder if fainting was more common back then due to poorer nutrition or general health, or if it was just a plot device. Anyway, the book has a number of characters. Since I knew how it ended, it was interesting trying to figure out who said the closing lines and why.

I'm not exactly a huge fan of Dickens, but it is certainly deserving of its reputation as a Classic.

I also saw the 1935 movie version and was impressed. Obviously, things were cut from the book, but mostly the essential pieces remained. I particularly liked Blanche Yurka as Madame Defarge.

Another New Hobby (Daddy Played Bass)

Let's see how well this works out.

In a Past Century, This Might Have Been The Start of a Major Corporation

My daughter is supposed to earn money for an upcoming school trip. I'm not sure what the school has in mind, but since we already work our kids to the limit, there isn't a lot of additional work to do around the house that I am willing to pay money for. I suppose that the students are expected to ask friends and relatives if they can work for them, but some people are just entrepreneurial. It also helps that there are a lot of workers in the neighbourhood, still replacing roofs and siding due to hail damage.

New Alcatel-Lucent Logo

What do you think of the new Alcatel-Lucent logo? On the one hand, I would say that it's a definite improvement over the old logos. But, I fear that I will forever associate the new logo with a disturbing image that I won't mention here.

When Is One Old Enough To Conjugate (a Verb)?

As far as I can tell, my kids' "Spanish" lessons at school don't really teach how to speak or understand Spanish. I think they meet weekly, so I can't expect much, I know. But if all you're learning are colours or parts of the face, what is the point? I suppose I should appreciate what they get, but as far as I can tell, they have no idea how to construct a sentence. My son recently told me that his teacher asked the class to come prepared with questions about Spanish, so I suggested that he ask her how to conjugate a verb. He actually asked her that, and he said that she said they wouldn't learn how to do that until high school. Wow. Maybe my expectations are too high, but if you can't tell your hablo from your hablas and your hablamos, what's the point?

I'm not asking for giving the youngsters a formal study of comparative grammars. But practice with something like the following might be nice:

• Voy a la oficina.
• Vas a la oficina.
• Él/Ella va a la oficina.

Are there any teachers in the audience? What do you think?

Not Another Th@nk$giving from H3||

Not wanting to have a repeat of last year (and the text and photo do not do it justice) my wife and I made plans. Not only would we not travel for the holidays if anyone was sick; as soon as there was one bit of vomit, we would immediately head for home. This way, should we again end up with everyone doing the technicolor yawn, we hoped to at least have it be in the comfort of our own home, where we're better able to deal with such things.

So, on Thursday, when we had been at the second grandmother's house of the day for about 90 minutes, the puke had barely hit the floor before I found myself saying, "Load 'em up! Move 'em out!" I don't think we've ever gotten everything and everyone loaded so quickly before; and we hit the road. The drive home was a bit dicey at times (and I don't think I've driven through that much fog). But as the driver, I'm exempt from having to deal with the messiest situations.

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

This book is probably misnamed. While it is named after the ship that carried the Separatist Pilgrims to America in 1620, the book is really a history of the Plymouth colony, from the initial voyage to King Philip's War. Perhaps the publishers thought that naming the book Plymouth wouldn't sell as well, invoking memories of the car.

You may or may not remember the story of the Pilgrims from school. But it's interesting to read of their story in a history aimed at adults. One factor they don't teach 9-year olds is the political situation on the ground in New England when they landed. The immediate vicinity of Plymouth was recently depopulated by a plague, and so there were no nearby neighbours to speak of. The next somewhat powerful group, over in the New Hope, RI area (who became the Wampanoags) wanted English help against the more powerful Naragansetts (on the other side of the bay) and so dealt with the Pilgrims. The early days of the colony were something of a political tightrope, and things might have gone differently had the political situation been different.

The last major section of the book is about King Philip's War. Do you know anything about it? I had heard of it, but knew little. Basically, the peace that had endured between the English and the natives erupted in 1675 into all-out war. The results were devastating, and you can guess who had it worse. If I have my numbers right, according to the author,

• In the 45 months the US was active in World War II, it lost about 1% of its adult male population.
• In the US Civil War, this figure was between 4 and 5%.
• In King Philip's War, Plymouth lost about 8%, which in percentage terms is more devastating than any other US war.

But the Indians had it worse, of course. According to Philbrick, during King Philip's War, the natives,

• Had 10% of their population killed in battle,
• Lost 15% through sickness or starvation,
• Had 5% of their population enslaved,
• And 10% of their population fled.

He also claims that the natives lost from 60-80% of their regional population, so these numbers don't add up.

Reading it, I wonder, (and give my opinions)

• Could the Pilgrims have failed? Yes, definitely.
• Would this have prevented English settlement of New England? Probably not, if the English wanted to settle there.
  
• Could King Philip's War have been avoided? Yes
  
• Could the Indians have won? Possible, with Mohawk and French help.
  
• Is it likely that New England history would have developed without major war or deportations of the native population? Probably not

Overall, I recommend the book to anyone interested in North American history, but don't really recommend it to people not interested in the subject. 3.5 stars out of 5.

One complaint I have is that it doesn't really have a map of Plymouth Colony with its borders in relation to the other colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven), so here is one:

The Movie the World Has Been Waiting For

Two Words:

Rocky 6

Mere Christianity By C. S. Lewis

The first audio book that I downloaded from the library web site and listened to was Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. As far as I can tell, only a subset of books are available for download, usually "Classics" (i.e., those out of copyright) and those by authors I'm not familiar with. Either that, or I haven't figured out how to browse their web site correctly. Anyway, Mere was a book I wanted to read, and Lewis was an author I'm familiar with, and so I selected it.

Let me start by saying that this book is a classic. As such, it should be easy to find more authoritative commentary on it than I can provide here. So take what I say with a grain of salt, find other web sites, or better yet, read the book on your own.

The book is apparently a collection of essays originally meant for wireless (and not that wired junk!) radio broadcast, collected in book form. The first part is an explanation or "defence" of Christianity, designed to explain that belief in Christianity isn't unreasonable. It may not convince many non-believers, and I don't think that is the point. It does, however, present the author's beliefs in a clear way that should be understandable to others who may or may not agree with them. One interesting point he raises is looking at human instincts. He points out that if you see a man in trouble, you'll probably feel two conflicting feelings to a lesser or greater degree. One would be to help the man in need, and the other will be to stay out of it and get yourself to safety. According to Lewis, the thought that you should help the man in need can be explained as a naturalistic instinct, but he wonders if the "little voice" telling us that we really should choose the "instinct" to help the man in need is something beyond the instinct itself. It's interesting and he presents it far better than I am here. Go ahead and read it.

The second part of the book has more to do with Christian living and what, in his opinion, should be the Christian outlook on things. It is also interesting, but the switch between the two sections seemed abrupt to me. This might just have been my missing the transition while concentrating on traffic or something. Here are a few points that struck me as different from what I might hear from today's Evangelicals. This doesn't make them his most important points (not by a long shot!), only that they were interesting to me.

• Lewis is more in favour of consumption of alcohol than is the fashion (in some circles) today. He mentions that one valid reason not to drink would if you're the type of man who can't handle it, and another reason would be because you've decided to give the money to the poor. But he doesn't think that people who are against drink should spoil the fun of those that do.
• Lewis is not in favour of Christians using the political process to do things like making divorce more difficult. He claims that leading a Christian life is hard (especially for non-Christians) and he wouldn't want to make divorce more difficult for non-Christians just like he wouldn't want the "Mohammedans" telling him that he can't have a glass of wine with dinner.
• Towards the end, his views seemed to be sounding a little "Mormonish" to my ears, though I should research this more before making any claims.

This is a rather deep book. Listening to it was difficult because I felt as if the reader was going too fast at times. Perhaps it would be better read slowly.

I won't give this one a "star" rating, though it is recommended for further study and discussion.

And I was planning on a short review. Sheesh!

98 Stairs Up

As I mentioned, my office is officially on the third floor, but it seems to be a lot further up than you'd expect. In fact, though I exercise regularly, I was still a little winded after walking up to my office. (Maybe I'm really in miserable shape after all.) I counted the number of stairs up. If my count is correct, it's 98 stairs up from the parking lot, or 78 stairs up from the cafeteria. This is probably more than you'd expect in a flight or two!

First Week on the New Job Recap

Since some of my lurkers or readers may have an interest, here are a few thoughts regarding the new job:

• It's interesting that some of the problems and solutions seem very similar to my previous position. For example, some work I recently did on High Availability seems relevant, as does the general approach to solving a problem by breaking it up into tasks that can be done in parallel.
• While some pieces (hopefully a growing amount) are in Java and C++, most of the existing code is in C, along special macros in a special macro language -- so it looks like I'll be doing a good deal of working with that. A first thought might be to rewrite some stuff in C++, using a good Object-Oriented design, but what is there 1) Works; 2) Works well; 3) Has worked well for a long time; 4) Is very complicated; and 5) Runs very fast. They're not likely to want to make major changes to a system to improve its maintainability if it will likely result in slower, buggier code in the short- (and even medium-) term.
• I do a lot of walking up stairs. I'm on the 3rd floor, but with the way things are laid out, it's probably the equivalent of going up 5 flights of stairs in the morning, after lunch, and whenever else I need to go downstairs. I thought I was in good shape, but running shape and staircase shape are apparently different. (And elevators are no fun!)
• The people there look a lot more like the community (or the professionals in the community) than did my previous position, which had much more of an international flair. This means that the pot-lucks won't be anywhere near as good!
• At the previous place, I'd bicycle to work in the summer, and saw another bike there once or twice in all the days I biked. At the new place, a fairly large number of people (including at least two from my group) regularly bicycle thoughout larger parts of the year, including this week. Alas, I doubt I'll be one of the bikers as the large distance will not be conducive to my biking to work.
• People seem to be fairly strict about working only 8 hours per day. (Unpaid) Overtime still occurs, I'm sure. But it seems that working 8 hours per day is the normal standard which is unusual to exceed, and not some rare exception.
• I really don't like the commute. Maybe it will grow on me, but it has taken me about 45 minutes to drive the 30 km/19 miles to work each day. Coming home is usually a little quicker. I'm sure this will seem like no big deal to some readers, but it really bugs me. I've been listening to an audio book (A Tale of Two Cities), but I feel I'm too impatient to do this daily. One distasteful alternative I may try is to hit the road at 6:30 am and see what traffic is like at that hour. Another alternative, if the job works out, might be to move closer to its location. Or, I may get used to the drive, I don't know.
• The company is a non-profit organization, but it still has to make money to pay for itself, worry about competition, and things like that. So while the company may be more stable, it still has its risks.
• It's strange to be back in an area that I was in years ago, and didn't imagine that I would regularly return to.
• I think the job will work out. It had better. It's not like I can go back to the old one if this one doesn't.

Sharing Similar Interests

Quick Photograph

One of Karl's hobbies is photography. This contrasts with my taking an occasional snapshot now and again. (He'll humbly admit that this doesn't mean that his pictures are any better than anyone else's.) Lately, he has been taking black-and-white photographs of people, perhaps at parades or community festivals. It wasn't a community festival or a parade, but here's a photograph that he took recently:

BQ, What's Your E-Mail Address?

I mean, I have some old ones that always seem to bounce. You keep changing it!

By the way, after uploading the photos from lunch, I did run some test cases in the afternoon and felt useful. One failed too, and it looked like a process got into a "runaway" state. It might have been user error. Or not. Either way, not my problem.

Last Day At the Old Job

I probably shouldn't admit it to the world, but I'm here on the last day at my current job, and I'm bored. All my assignments have been completed, and we're not very good at dishing out work in small increments. I remember that my last day at the 'Graph was much more interactive and busy. Part of it was that back then there was a new employee to whom I was handing off some of my work, and I spent some of the time working with her. But, we don't have any new employees here, and there is no one person who will be taking over my work. So, there is nobody to train.

Actually, some of my work may be going to China or some other "Low-Cost Centre", but that would happen regardless of my staying or going.

On my last day at the 'Graph, I got to eat lunch at the great Greenbrier Restaurant. A lunch is planned today, but it will be at a chain Italian place (not O.G.). I wanted to suggest a place that's close, and it was the best I could come up with on short notice. I should have went with the Middle-Eastern place that's a bit further away.

ILCF 2006 Results

So close! Here are the final 2006 results for the Internet League of Canadian Football, the oldest known continually-running CFL-based fantasy football league, which has just completed its 12th season.

Internet Cup (@ Nepean):

Nepean Killer Bunnies    21
Columbus Roaring 40's    20

Playoffs:

(@ Nepean)
Nepean Killer Bunnies    29
Surrey Stampeders        14

(@ Newfoundland)
Columbus Roaring 40's    33
Newfoundland Brigade     25

Final Regular Season Standings:

                       GP   W   L  T  Pts  PF   PA  DIFF
Newfoundland Brigade   18  14   4  0   28  633  453  180
Nepean Killer Bunnies  18  13   5  0   26  635  519  116
Surrey Stampeders      18  12   6  0   24  571  470  101
Columbus Roaring 40's  18  11   6  1   23  560  504   56
Yellowknife Ice Worms  18   8  10  0   16  535  558  -23
Steel City Stench      18   6  12  0   12  499  577  -78
Edmonton Maurauders    18   4  14  0    8  409  572 -163
Le Bloc de Gatineau    18   3  14  1    7  346  535 -189

Everything You Wanted To Know About Hungary (But Were Afraid To Ask)

It seems like school projects are nicer and more detailed these days than what I remember them to be. Maybe that's because, with computers, printers, and the internet, standards are higher. Or maybe that's because that model of a sheep I made out of cardboard and cotton for my Grade 6 New Zealand report was miserable. Anyway, here's everything you wanted to know about Hungary*.




* - But were afraid to ask

My 2006 Baseball Awards Ballot

It looks like I'm too late to vote in this year's Internet Baseball Awards, like I did last year. With the same caveats as last year, and without further ado, here are my picks:


American League Most Valuable Player

1. BOS David Ortiz
2. CLE Travis Hafner
3. BOS Manny Ramirez
4. MIN Joe Mauer
5. NYA Derek Jeter
6. MIN Johan Santana
7. CHA Jermaine Dye
8. CHA Jim Thome
9. CLE Grady Sizemore
10. NYA Alex Rodriguez

Hafner probably would have been the MVP had he not missed the last month or so of the season and put up numbers at the same rate for 10 or 20 more than the 129 games that he played. Manny had another season of "Just Being Manny." That is, he is still one of the top hitters in baseball, and is approaching "All-Time Great" status. He played in 130 games. Like Hafner, had he played in maybe 10 more at the same rate, he would have been my MVP. This leaves us with Big Papi to win the award by default. Not that there's anything wrong with that! The Red Sox have had some good hitters in the past, including one that some consider the best hitter ever (before Bonds at least) and none have hit more homers in a season than Ortiz this year. Mauer and Jeter get definite "bonus points" for the positions they play on the field, but not quite enough to be my MVP. If Jeter had hit about 25 homers, he probably would have been my choice for MVP. If (when) Mauer hits 20, he'll be MVP. Also, how'd you like your third baseman to smack 35 homers and have 121 RBI in an off year? Yep, ARod sure stinks. I wish he were stinking on my team!


Americal League Cy Young Award

1. MIN Johan Santana
2. BOS Jonathan Papelbon
3. TOR Roy Halladay
4. NYA Chien-Ming Wang
5. CAL John Lackey

Question: How much do you penalize Papelbon for missing the stretch run? My answer: None for Cy Voting, but maybe some for MVP if you'd like. I came close to voting Papelbon #1 here, but Johan Santana gets my vote.


National League Most Valuable Player

1. STL Albert Pujols
2. PHI Ryan Howard
3. HOU Lance Berkman
4. FLA Miguel Cabrera
5. NYN Carlos Beltran
6. COL Garrett Atkins
7. PIT Jason Bay
8. PHI Chase Utley
9. ATL Chipper Jones
10. NYN David Wright

My numbers show that Pujols and Howard are in a virtual tie for the top spot in the Senior Circuit. Albert was a little better when he played, but Ryan played more. In this case, I'm going with quality over quantity. Pujols gets my vote. Miguel Cabrera is the top of a number of very good third basemen in the NL. Barry Bonds was close to getting a vote. I have his offensive season as the twelvth best in the league this year. That this year was so far below his standards shows how high those standards are. (Of course, his defence would also knock him down a bit in the MVP voting.)


National League Cy Young Award

1. ARI Brandon Webb
2. HOU Roy Oswalt
3. CIN Bronson Arroyo
4. STL Chris Carpenter
5. ATL John Smoltz

In my opinion, none of the top 4 really stand out here. I could see an argument for Webb, Oswalt, Arroyo, or Carpenter. Had Roger Clemens pitched as many innings as these guys at the same rate he pitched when he did, he'd be #1. For like the thirty-seventh time. It's harder to compare pitchers across eras than it is hitters. But if you're not already, you may need to give consideration to Rocket as the Best. Pitcher. Ever.

Creative Zen Vision:M

For my birthday, my wife got me a Creative Zen Vision:M. One thing I have in mind with it is to have an easier way to listen to audio books on my soon-to-be longer commute. I can't say that I'll be using the video features of it, but then again, it might be neat to have a portable storage for my photos and video clips. Kind of like the stereotypical person in the seat next to you on a plane showing pictures of her grandchildren that she keeps in her wallet, I can do the same with this device.

But the reason why I am blogging about it now is that there was something in the instruction manual that was downright scary. The following appears only in English version; it does not appear in the French, Spanish, or Portuguese versions:

WARNING: The cord[s] included with this product may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.

Huh? What's up with that?
<=>

Corporate Shrinkage

Gina, who worked* at the Network where I help out part time, recently left for a marketing position with one of the fastest-growing privately held corporations, according to their website. While my employer doesn't advertise it on the web, I was struck with the realisation that I have been working for one of the fastest-shrinking companies.

Working for a growing (or non-shrinking) company --- what an interesting concept**!

* - I was never quite sure what she did there, but the same could be said for a lot of people in a lot of jobs.
** - Watch this space for updates.

My Wild Hat is a Tilley

I've had a few things I've wanted to blog about in the past week that I haven't actually gotten around to writing. One is a response to the recent comment by DFV regarding my "wild hat":


I've appeared before on this blog wearing the same hat:


Here's the story:
Last year, a friend was showing me her "Tilley Hat", which I learned is a hat made Tilley Endurables. I had never heard of them before, but her enthusiasm for the product was so contagious that I asked her to pick up one for me the next time she was in the shop (in Leamington). Since I've been young, I've often worn hats outside; in recent years a growing reason for this is to keep the sun off of my head, but it's also good for cold and rain. Unless the weather was cold and called for a toque, I've usually worn a baseball-style cap, but I thought it would be neat to try a hat designed to be worn, and not one designed more so to advertise my favourite team. As an aside, ever since DFV mentioned that Mrs DFV once spoke disparagingly about wearing shirts with letters on them, I've been more conscious of what I'm overtly advertising, and trying to reduce the quantity. So, the Tilley seemed idea.

Basically, I like it a lot! I've gotten a few funny looks every once in a while, and maybe people think of me as the guy who wears the odd hat, but it does seem to do its job! It keeps my head dry, shaded, and warm. It's expensive and not a cure for a deadly disease or anything like that, but I do recommend Tilley hats.

The hat I model is a Navy T3: "Our most sought-after Tilley Hat has a medium-sized brim that snaps up in the Aussie manner."

Raising Education Money With Slot Machines

There's an issue here that we'll be voting on soon that will be receiving lots of advertising money. If I understand it right, the plan is to install lots of slot machines, and use the billions in profits from those to provide a university education to anyone that wants it or something. When I say "billions", I'm not really exaggerating. I think the "Pro-" side is claiming that this will bring in close to a billion a year. It's also not clear to me how the money would be distributed. (Gee, you'd think I should do more research before stating an opinion.) Anyway, what do you think about this idea?

I'm against it, of course. Also, I have not seen any polls, but I expect the issue to fail miserably.

First of all, let me say that I don't see why the government has to be involved in gambling. I mean, if I want to install a slot machine somewhere and people want to put money in for a chance to get money out, I don't think the government has any business in prohibiting (or seriously restricting) this sort of commerce. So then, why am I against the issue? After all, the state isn't forcing anyone to play the slots, is it?

Here are a few thoughts in no particular order:

• Where there is money, there is corruption. Recent history has certainly shown this. I'm convinced that reducing the amount of money in government is a way to reduce high-level corruption.
• While I won't go as far as to say that gambling is "wrong", it does seem to be morally neutral at best. On the macro level, when there is profit in getting people hooked, and gambling away money that is really needed for other responsibilities, I'd say that this behaviour is below neutral. I don't see why the government needs to be involved in this kind of thing.
• I've heard government-sponsored gambling described as an additional tax on stupid people, and I think it is. So what's wrong with that? I mean, I'm not stupid; I'm not going to pay a dollar when the odds say that I'll win 98 cents or 95 cents or whatever, so shouldn't I be happy if my relative tax goes down? I'll respond by asking, don't stupid people have it tough enough? I won't name any specific difficulties that stupid people face today, for fear that some of my non-stupid readers may have faced the same difficulties. But I don't see any reason for additional taxes on stupidity.

An Afternoon With Flat Logan

Last year, my son's class in school participated in "The Flat Stanley Project", where they make a paper "doll" (for want of a better term) named Stanley and mail it to a friend in some exotic locale. Stanley spends some time with the recipient, where he learns about life in his location (as much as the recipient cares to record) before being returned to his home. It sounds like a neat way for youngsters to learn about other locations.

This year, a friend in Georgia is participating in Flat Stanley, and we are (or really, my son is) hosting him. Except it's not Flat Stanley, it's Flat Logan. This afternoon, we thought we'd take a trip downtown and show Logan around. Here's Logan hitching a ride in my pocket:


And no afternoon excursion would be complete without a snack now, would it?

Safe and Sound

32 year old kitties shouldn't be spending 22 straight hours outside during a rain storm and tornado warnings.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Launchcast: Driven by Rush.

I don't think I've ever mentioned the name of the company for which I work in this blog, and I don't intend to here. However, I don't think it's an exaggeration when I say that its name was once synonymous with leading-edge technological innovation. Hopefully, that is still the case. It's just the desktop computing environment for peons like me leaves a little to be desired.

A few weeks ago, the hard drive of my antiquated PC would no longer boot. Rather than replace the entire PC, instead, I got a new hard drive, which was imaged with the operating system and a bunch of other anti-virus and policy enforcement software that all good corporate PC users are supposed to be running on their system. (Gee, I wonder why this wasn't all on my hard drive before.) Anyway, this was a tad more than my 256 MB of memory could handle. For example, I could click on my Thunderbird window, go to the restroom, return, and the mail window would still be in the process of loading.

Not being able to take much of this, and having no internal way to improve the situation, I took action. To make a long story short, I went and bought a 128 MB memory card (with my own money, of course) installed it, and things are running much better. I'm not sure how many other major corporations have their employees secretly upgrading their own work computers at their own expense. But I figure that after two weeks, I'll more than make up for the investment in reduced frustration.

As a few other examples, I know I'm not the only one to perform a do-it-yourself memory upgrade. Another employee discovered that if he wanted a mouse with a center wheel, he had to buy one himself. And, I know of someone who has been bringing his own laptop to work and connecting it to the network, which may or may not be a violation of corporate policy (as if my other examples aren't).

I'm on a roll now, so there's one other thing I wanted to mention. Our external NNTP feed had been down for many months now. It was just restored, but the restoration may have been short-lived; time will tell. Of course, thanks to web-based USENET feeds such a Google Groups, NNTP may not really be needed. But I think its lack of availability says something. I mean, even though we didn't, we should be inventing things like NNTP, not wondering why we can't get a feed.

(If only we had the desktop computing environment of my part-time position at the Network!)

Launchcast: Tear-Stained Letter by Johnny Cash.

Hail, Yes!

We had a bit of hail this evening around sunset. Actually, It was hailier than I ever remember. This is one of those situations where photos may be worth more than words.




We had a bit of damage to our siding. I don't know if it will be worth it to check with our home insurance or not, but I suppose this should be fixed.


In addition to tearing up our screens and chipping off some paint, it broke our doorbell!


We had a bit of rain, too.


Perhaps we'll discover even more damage when the sun comes up.

It's Difficult To Take Good Football Action Shots

I guess you need to take lots and lots, and maybe one will be good.

WORLDS CHAMPIONS Are World Champions!

I'm of the persuasion that there is nothing wrong with changing the name of your fantasy baseball team each season, if you can come up with a good name. There is also nothing wrong with keeping the same name, if you already have a good name. Since my fantasy baseball team (then called Just a Little Glass) won the Dave Spiwack League pennant last year, I decided I needed a suitable new name for the 2006 campaign. I looked to the past for inspiration, and humbly took an idea from the 1921 Cleveland Indians, naming my 2006 team WORLDS CHAMPIONS. Here's the great Tris Speaker in 1921, along with some Judge guy:


So, how did I fare this season? It was a tighter race this year than last, as the Preston Tramriders were in first place as late as 21 September. However, as you may have guessed by the title of this post, my team prevailed again:

WORLDS CHAMPIONS

2006 Dave Spiwack League Champions

How did I do so well? That's tough for me to say. I didn't think that I had great players. At the start of the season, I felt that my team was rather weak. I drafted a pitcher (Johan Santana) with the 3rd pick of the draft, which was a questionable move, but seemed to work out. If you'll look at the standings, you'll see that I got 11 points or better (out of a possible 12) in 3 of 5 offensive, and 3 of 5 pitching categories. Also, who really needs batting average?!?

One surprise source of power was Bill Hall, who started the year at short, but when Troy Glaus qualified to play SS, Hall moved over to second, while Glaus mostly played short. Thus, the middle infield combination I had for much of the season cranked out 73 homers in real life (though only 68 for me).

Here's a complete breakdown of the hitters and the pitchers. I was going to present an HTML table sorted by playing time, but unsorted images will have to do. I used more players this year, as I would sign players to play an odd Monday or Thursday game, when my starter had the day off. I'm not sure if that worked out or not.

Overdoing Saturday Morning Breakfast

At some point, I started frying an egg or two for breakfast on Saturday mornings. Usually, I would put it on toast, and make a sandwich. This has been becoming more complex as time goes on. Now, while frying some eggs, I'll toast a bagel or English muffin or something, and apply butter and Vegemite, and then some cheese. Near when the eggs are done, I'll toss a slice of bologna or some lunch meat on the frying pan, and fry that up too. When done, split the meat in half, and put an egg and half slice of meat on each bagel.

Eat two of those, along with a banana and a cup of coffee, and you won't be hungry for lunch!

Another Remake (Silly Love Songs by Red House Painters)

Currently playing on Launchcast: Silly Love Songs by Red House Painters. (This group was fronted by an old acquaintance of mine, Mark Kozelek, which is why I have it rated.) In a recent blog entry, I mentioned that I liked remakes. However, this one is so different from the Wings original that it's not really any comparison. It stands on its own. Not bad. Give them a listen.

(Next up: Tullochgorum by Natalie MacMaster.)

August 5K Race Photo

Last month, I ran in a 5K race for the first time in a good number of years. As I mentioned, I would post a photo when I got one. Today, I got one, so here you go.

Those guys in the middle are fast!! Though, maybe if you strapped 30 or 40 pounds to their midsections, the "bookends" might have a chance.

Birthday Photos

How would you like to have your entire life recorded in someone else's blog? (Sorry about the red eye!)

(Non-Tennessee) Volunteer Marching Band

I found the following photo on my wife's desk a day or two ago. As I mentioned before, I don't organize my old photos well, but I don't know why it was there. It had been a long time since I had seen it. I figured that I would at least save a copy online, so that I would have a backup of sorts.

This photo is from a few decades after the advent of colour photography, and it shows the marching band that we put together for the youth football "pageant", where, to start the season, the youth players all played a scrimmage game in the high school stadium. The far (away) stands look small and sparse, though the home stands were larger and more populated.

I could be remembering wrong, but I seem to recall that volunteers were asked to participate and what we put together was done without the help of one of our directors, or maybe without any adult supervision at all. (Is that even possible? It's hard to imagine these days.)

The real question is, do you recognize me? If you do, do you recognize anyone else you know?

The New Musician, 2006 Edition

If you have a blog long enough, you'll notice that the posts start to repeat themselves. Here's the new musician of the year:

Souvenirs of Chinese Female Former Coworkers

I'm in the process of clearing out a lot of the junk from my office at work. You'd be amazed at how much can accumulate there -- though it's probably just a small fraction of the state of my house. Anyway, I discovered that I seem to have accumulated more "memorabilia" related to Chinese females than from any other class of people:

• I still had the sheet with Yi Yi's name written in Chinese charaters and her e-mail address and other contact information in a more readable (to me) form. I haven't contacted her since she left, however.
• I have Jing's nameplate from her consulting firm.
• I have Hanjun's expired contractor ID badge. This one is explained by the fact that her last day was some December 24 (or maybe December 30) and I was the only one in the office when she left. She gave it to me and I tossed it in my drawer, neglecting to turn it in all these years.

Anyway, I thought this was a little odd, and I don't have a good explanation!

New Glasses

Just The Way You Are

Currently playing on my Yahoo! Launchcast Station: Just The Way You Are. You know, the Billy Joel tune. However, it's not Billy Joel that's singing it. Instead, it's Ol Blue Eyes: none other than Frank Sinatra himself. I'm a big fan of remakes. This is cool!

Here are some of the remakes I have rated on my station. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
One Tin Soldier (Really, anything my Me First and the Gimme Gimmes qualifies and is good.)

Weird Al Yankovic
Bohemian Polka

The Smothers Brothers
The Impossible Dream (The Quest)

Ugly Kid Joe
Cat's In The Cradle

Natalie Merchant
Space Oddity

Honeybrowne
Take Me Home, Country Roads

Bob & Doug McKenzie
The Twelve Days Of Christmas (I'm not sure that this counts as a remake.)

Jupiter Coyote
Duelin' Banjos/Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Live
I Walk The Line

Eva Cassidy
Time After Time

Rush
The Seeker

Johnny Cash
Desperado

Pat Benatar
Helter Skelter

Joe Cocker
With A Little Help From My Friends

The Bangles
Hazy Shade Of Winter

Willie Nelson
Amazing Grace (This song was done by many others, of course. Some do it better than Willie.)

Madonna
American Pie (Actually, I don't like this one.)

Lemonheads
Mrs. Robinson

Workplace Internal Spam and Fever

I don't normally like to make fun of the people I work with, but there is one thing that I feel is worth mentioning that annoys me. One class of workplace internal spam is when we get mail mentioning a successful project, or a future contract, or something. Often, this will be only marginally related to my job; I can live with this, I suppose. But what bugs me is when people (who should know better) do a group reply without thinking and have nothing to add besides "Good Job" or "Congratulations!" or something like that. I mean, don't they realize that the message is going to, I don't know, tens of people (or maybe many more) who all will need to take the time from their busy day to read the message, grumble internally that this person had nothing to say, and then delete it?

Anyway, if you agree, reply by saying "Sooooooooooooo WONDERFUL!!" or something.

Actually, the level of intelligence involved reminds me when, many years ago, a coworker changed his mail (or USENET) response attribution line to say, "$SENDER must have been out of his mind with fever when he said:". This caused a minor controversy when he responded to someone who, due to a lack of understanding of modern communications, thought it was some kind of personal attack, rather than just a silly (and certainly unprofessional) thing he had changed in his mailer and had probably forgotten.

First Day of School, 2006 Edition

Weekend Photos

We had a lot of activity this past weekend. To begin with, I had to go out and brave the heat and sun for two consecutive football games. Here's the first. Rah Rah Ree! Kick 'em in the knee! Etc.


Here's the second. Go get 'em Three-Six! (Back in my day, we tucked in our shirts. I'm not sure why the coach told them not to tuck them in.) Also, you can see the result of my camera's "Sports Scene Mode". It can take photos in rapid succession, but they seem to be in high-ISO mode and a little grainy. On the bright side, you get action you would have missed. On the not-so-bright side, the quality is not as high as with single photo modes.


And here is Sunday's family reunion. Last year was the 50th -- a lot fewer people came for the 51st!

It's Time To End the Baseball Season

Hey, as of today, my fantasy baseball team is in first place, for the first time in a long time. Can we end the season now?