So, a couple of random things that have been bugging me lately, totally unrelated to each other... besides them bugging me:
1. There is some sort of winter phenomenon up here in WI that I'm having trouble getting used to - During almost every good-sized snow storm, and for days after, pedestrians walk right on the side of the road. Right along with traffic!!! Right next to the cars!!! With only slippery snow b/w us!!! I dunno, maybe I just never noticed it while taking public transportation in Chicago... but it's crazy here. Alot of the times, I see it in the neighborhoods that are a little less well-off and don't get their sidealks plowed first - fine. But, I've seen it way out in the burbs too. One man, who I imagine got his license taken away for a DUI conviction, walked the same side of the street for 3 days in a row. And this isn't any ole street, it's a six lane roadway and each time I saw him, he was walking against traffic, not 100 yards from the highway exit. Seems like a really dangerous spot to be on foot. Actually, I haven't seen him in some time... hope he didn't meet the front end of Buick.
2. Here in the office, we have a small bathroom really close to most of our desks. Now, in this bathroom is one of those commercial grade automatic air fresheners. It has a can of freshener and a battery-powered timing unit. Every so often, it tells itself to press the can and out shoots a little puff of scent. This isn't a bad thing, HOWEVER, lately I've just been ducking in to rinse out some tupperware. This is right at the entry and only takes a minute at most. Well, on more than one occasion, as soon as I step in, the sprayer sends out it's signal and shoots out a puff of freshener. To me, it's as if the freshener is saying, with it's puff of pressurized scent, "You smell!" "As soon as you even cross my threshold, you're stinking up my bathroom!" I really find it offensive to hear that little "tsssst" that comes out of it. I may have to take a pedal wrench to it one of these days.
Am I too picky? Maybe.
February 22, 2008
February 18, 2008
Computer ASSociates.
Some of you may remember that I was having some trouble with my internet at home. Well, after a call to the local internet support office, Chris was happy to figure out the issue with me. In a nutshell ("Help, I'm in a nutshell!"), the software that I purchased from Computer Associates to help protect my laptop was now blocking any internet usage with its firewall. Since the license had expired and I didn't want to pay to update it, their software just started blocking the internet. Fine, no problem. The first step is finding the problem, the 2nd is removing it. A couple clicks in the "Add/Remove Software" area and the internet is back up and running.
Oh, and Windows XP has a firewall security system built in. I think I'll be ok... no War Games stuff going on here.
Oh, and Windows XP has a firewall security system built in. I think I'll be ok... no War Games stuff going on here.
February 17, 2008
Results, Poll #4, Toothpaste Dispensing.
BIG news this week in poll-land... 13 respondents! This is a great jump and at least one of the new pollers has let me know they participated this week. Don't forget, tell your friends, it's as much fun as a bag of hammers.
So, this week's poll has closed and the reults looked like this:
- 3 people just grab & squeeze - I cannot live with you, sorry
- 9 people squeeze up from the bottm - neatly and with purpose I'm sure
- 1 person never brushes - I cannot live with you either, not sorry
I also had a unique result this week, a couple people felt that the choices didn't reflect their personal habits. They felt that they did a combo of the first two - for the first half of the tube's life, they just grabbed and squeezed; for the second half of the tube's life, they squeezed up from the bottom. This is interesting for two reaosns: 1. I never thought of it and 2. Thinking back, this is how it went down in my parent's house (ever try getting 5-9 people to all squeezing in the same spot?). Now though, it's form the bottom up.
I'm thinking of the next poll now...
So, this week's poll has closed and the reults looked like this:
- 3 people just grab & squeeze - I cannot live with you, sorry
- 9 people squeeze up from the bottm - neatly and with purpose I'm sure
- 1 person never brushes - I cannot live with you either, not sorry
I also had a unique result this week, a couple people felt that the choices didn't reflect their personal habits. They felt that they did a combo of the first two - for the first half of the tube's life, they just grabbed and squeezed; for the second half of the tube's life, they squeezed up from the bottom. This is interesting for two reaosns: 1. I never thought of it and 2. Thinking back, this is how it went down in my parent's house (ever try getting 5-9 people to all squeezing in the same spot?). Now though, it's form the bottom up.
I'm thinking of the next poll now...
February 14, 2008
Marriage Announcement !!!
Sweet Jesus, not mine!!!
This post is about marriage as I've had some time to think about it recently. My friend Bret is going to be marrying Emily later this year. I also have a few other friends that already are married (Abby Burgett-Crull for one). Of course, we could begin a very philosophical discussion about the merits of marriage in today's society and then contrast that to the societial norms when our parents or parents parents got married, but I'm sure we'll all agree that it's just not the same as it used to be (for most Americans). This post will really just be about the wedding day itself and the activities that lead up to it.
First, I'm guessing all of us have been to a wedding or two, whether it be a family, friend, or stranger's wedding (no, not wedding crashing, just meaning that you're the "+1" and don't know the bride, groom, or anyone else invloved).
From my experience, there's a different level of enjoyment on the wedding day, depending a great deal on how much you have invested in the wedding couple's life/courtship. For many family weddings, it's a great day as everyone's excited, happy, drunk etc. And, you know everyone invloved... even the aunt that pinches your cheek and makes you kiss hers (bleech!). These are good times. It's often a similiar feeling, though to a lesser extent, if it's a friend's wedding. Of course, there's less people that you know, but you tend to make up for it in fun. Again, these are fun times and the people getting married remember the day that much more.
Now the last kind... when you attend the wedding as a +1... these can be tricky. You don't know anyone but the person that dragged you there and are only going b/c of the promise of free booze (unless you "really like weddings!"). This is the kind of thing that gets (me) people in trouble. You wind up giggling under your breath during the ceremony and can't wait for the reception (read: open bar) to begin. it provides opportunity, just guessing here, for taking a center piece from the reception table, piling it full with "cocaine" (sugar) and pretending to snort it. This would be fine if it was just for the wedding table you're at, but you also decided to use the reception's disposable camera and capture it for the bride and groom. How nice, you left them a special gift.
So, where am I going with this?
Well, it's clear to me that the best weddings happen when people know each other and can have a good time (with no cocaine snorting). This past weekend, we got to meet alot of the friends in Bret & Emily's wedding. It's nice to get to know everyone before the wedding, which will be held in Quebec. I have no doubt that the wedding day, er, weekend will be much more enjoyable and memorable for the bride & groom and all of us. Plus, we might prevent the "+1"s from getting out of hand.
I missed Abby's wedding and I'm sure it would have been a good one too. She had alot of great people that all knew each other beforehand. I'm sure it was a blasty-blast.
This post is about marriage as I've had some time to think about it recently. My friend Bret is going to be marrying Emily later this year. I also have a few other friends that already are married (Abby Burgett-Crull for one). Of course, we could begin a very philosophical discussion about the merits of marriage in today's society and then contrast that to the societial norms when our parents or parents parents got married, but I'm sure we'll all agree that it's just not the same as it used to be (for most Americans). This post will really just be about the wedding day itself and the activities that lead up to it.
First, I'm guessing all of us have been to a wedding or two, whether it be a family, friend, or stranger's wedding (no, not wedding crashing, just meaning that you're the "+1" and don't know the bride, groom, or anyone else invloved).
From my experience, there's a different level of enjoyment on the wedding day, depending a great deal on how much you have invested in the wedding couple's life/courtship. For many family weddings, it's a great day as everyone's excited, happy, drunk etc. And, you know everyone invloved... even the aunt that pinches your cheek and makes you kiss hers (bleech!). These are good times. It's often a similiar feeling, though to a lesser extent, if it's a friend's wedding. Of course, there's less people that you know, but you tend to make up for it in fun. Again, these are fun times and the people getting married remember the day that much more.
Now the last kind... when you attend the wedding as a +1... these can be tricky. You don't know anyone but the person that dragged you there and are only going b/c of the promise of free booze (unless you "really like weddings!"). This is the kind of thing that gets (me) people in trouble. You wind up giggling under your breath during the ceremony and can't wait for the reception (read: open bar) to begin. it provides opportunity, just guessing here, for taking a center piece from the reception table, piling it full with "cocaine" (sugar) and pretending to snort it. This would be fine if it was just for the wedding table you're at, but you also decided to use the reception's disposable camera and capture it for the bride and groom. How nice, you left them a special gift.
So, where am I going with this?
Well, it's clear to me that the best weddings happen when people know each other and can have a good time (with no cocaine snorting). This past weekend, we got to meet alot of the friends in Bret & Emily's wedding. It's nice to get to know everyone before the wedding, which will be held in Quebec. I have no doubt that the wedding day, er, weekend will be much more enjoyable and memorable for the bride & groom and all of us. Plus, we might prevent the "+1"s from getting out of hand.
I missed Abby's wedding and I'm sure it would have been a good one too. She had alot of great people that all knew each other beforehand. I'm sure it was a blasty-blast.
February 12, 2008
Results, Poll #3, Crying.
It seems as though we've peaked at 10 respondents per week - y'all gotta get just one person you know to fill out the poll! That will help. And I'm very impressed with the 10 replies the past two weeks.
In any case, this poll was about crying and here's what it looked like:
1 - once a day - if you want to talk about it, I'd listen
5 - once a week - well, I hope we all feel better after this
3 - once a month - I'd bet these people didn't want to say once a week
1 - "Crying's for girls" - Ben, is that you?
This question was the first that had a pretty normal distribution (Bell curve) and I believe that had something to do with the possible choices. It went from a small number to a larger one, so most poeple would tend to fill the middle choices.
I liked this one, thanks for replying. The current poll, #4, is pretty light in terms of significance of human emotion (though not for someone anal like me). I'm working on some more significant ones too.
In any case, this poll was about crying and here's what it looked like:
1 - once a day - if you want to talk about it, I'd listen
5 - once a week - well, I hope we all feel better after this
3 - once a month - I'd bet these people didn't want to say once a week
1 - "Crying's for girls" - Ben, is that you?
This question was the first that had a pretty normal distribution (Bell curve) and I believe that had something to do with the possible choices. It went from a small number to a larger one, so most poeple would tend to fill the middle choices.
I liked this one, thanks for replying. The current poll, #4, is pretty light in terms of significance of human emotion (though not for someone anal like me). I'm working on some more significant ones too.
Note: Technical Difficulties
I'm working on new posts, but my internet/laptop has some issues at home. I'm going to be a bit more intermittent with posts for a bit.
February 7, 2008
Admitting a problem is the first step...
...This is not easy for me, but some of you already know; I am addicted to cell phones. As a quick exercise while the 14.5” of snow fell yesterday, I listed out all the phones I've owned at one time or another. I believe this goes back to the year 2000, maybe 1999. I know I got the first one at the AT&T store in the ghetto-esque stripmall by Cabrini Green (where Clybourne, North, Sedgewick, and Larabee meet). In no particular order (wait, I always have a particular oder), they are:
Nokia
6030
6590 (2)
E62
9300
3360
5140
8210 (all time favorite)
Panasonic
g51m (that super small one)
Samsung
x495
Motorola
Unidentified (found it on Navy Pier)
Razr
Rokr w385 (work)
RIM
BlackBerry 7300 (work)
Sony Ericsson
w300i
s710a (hand me down)
Now seeing what I have become, I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm looking at yet another one; Almost ashamed - I can't stop now.
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