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Time is slowing. The longer this day is going the longer it is. I’m waiting for that moment when the spring is released and I warp back into real time. That always leaves me with a headache.

Today I’ve accomplished the first 4.

1) CRACK open your briefcase or handbag, peer Inside and ask “Got enough air in there?”
2) STAND silent and motionless in the corner facing the wall without getting off.
3) WHEN arriving at your floor, grunt and strain to yank the doors open, then act as if you’re embarrassed when they open themselves.
4) GREET everyone with a warm handshake and ask him or her to call you Admiral.
5) MEOW occasionally.
6) STARE At another passenger for a while. Then announce in horror: “You’re one of THEM” – and back away slowly
7) SAY -DING at each floor.
SAY “I wonder what all these do?” And push all the red buttons.
9) MAKE explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
10) STARE, grinning at another passenger for a while, then announce: “I have new socks on.”
11) WHEN the elevator is silent, look around and ask: “Is that your beeper?”
12) TRY to make personal calls on the emergency phone.
13) DRAW a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers: “This is my personal space.”
14) WHEN there’s only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder, then pretend it wasn’t you.
15) PUSH the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
16) ASK if you can push the button for other people but push the wrong ones.
17) HOLD the doors open and say you’re waiting for your friend. After a while, let the doors close and say “Hi Greg, How’s your day been?”
18) DROP a pen and wail until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream: “That’s mine!”
19) BRING a camera and take pictures of everyone in the lift.
20) PRETEND you’re a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the Passengers.
21) SWAT at flies that don’t exist.
22) CALL out “Group hug” then enforce it

Education is the fulcrum of conscience evolution.

That quote was left on a TED forum in Facebook. It’s one that makes me think.

It’s nice out. I’m sitting at my desk practically glued to my chair. I just realized I’m doing to many things at once and need to take a breather. I’m rambling. Pizza for lunch yesterday, dinner last night, and lunch today. Am I in high school again? Pizza, it’s what’s for dinner. Ramble on good sir, ramble on.

it’s been raining. That’s put the kibash on getting the garden set up we wanted. Can’t complain overmuch as the ground needs it.

It’s Sunday. I’m at Izaak Walton park sitting on a park bench. Around me are geese, a gaggle of them. Blue skies above and coffee beside.
My wife and boys are inside attending Bible study and I’m attending to nature. So many times I’ve heard the cliché of nature and her powerful beauty but it still holds true. In front of me is a well sized lake that just so happens to be in line with the morning sun. That almost sounds just as cliché as the previous mention.
It is a thing of peace and wonder to me.
This makes me think about people. So many spending their lives surrounded by steel and concrete, caught up in a world of comfort. Do they wonder about these same things when chanced upon? Or do they think about the faint sheen of sweat on their brow, the heat of the sun pounding on their knees as they write a post about the event?
Regardless I’ll enjoy the few minutes in the morning sun. The bitter taste of my coffee. And the honks of geese.

(It’s an old email but still brings a laugh when I read it)

I thought some people might need something to read while passing the time at work like I am.

I never dreamed slowly cruising through a residential neighborhood could be so incredibly dangerous!

Studies have shown that motorcycling requires more decisions per second, and more sheer data processing than nearly any other common activity or sport. The reactions and accurate decision making abilities needed have been likened to the reactions of fighter pilots! The consequences of bad decisions or poor situational awareness are pretty much the same for both groups too.

Occasionally, as a rider I have caught myself starting to make bad or late decisions while riding. In flight training, my instructors called this being “behind the power curve”. It is a mark of experience that when this begins to happen, the rider recognizes the situation, and more importantly, does something about it. A short break, a meal, or even a gas stop can set things right again as it gives the brain a chance to catch up.
Good, accurate, and timely decisions are essential when riding a motorcycle…at least if you want to remain among the living. In short, the brain needs to keep up with the machine.

Continue reading The Valkyrie Squirrel

Although the title for this may sound like a post about taxes, with it’s associated aggravations, it’s not. Just so happens that I am currently doing taxes and finding an excuse to do something else.
There is a new color in my life, the color green. I’m not talking about “green with envy” or “being green from sickness”.
It’s that dreaded tree hugging hippy thing people seem to of been chatting about for the last few years. Now I’m not going to grow dreads, skip showers, and swear off meat.
I like my hair cropped, I like showers, and I love me some tasty awesomeness of a formerly moving buffet.
Take that PETA!
Daphne and I decided some months ago to try and just reduce our carbon footprint. The local power company has a deal with Home Depot to offer incentives and price reductions to purchase energy efficient light bulbs and the like. When one of these deals come around we purchase a four pack or two. As our lights burn out, the normal bulbs blow like crazy here, we replace them. The new bulbs don’t burn out!
We’ve replaced blinds to be more energy efficient as well as taking advantage of sunlight to warm the house. That works out fairly well as the front of our residence is sun facing all day.
We’ve taught the kids to turn off lights when they leave a room. We’ve started composting and explain to the boys why it’s good for the garden.
Continue reading Garlic Taxes with a side of Paper Stew

Depending on what site you go to we are either going to get a dusting of snow to 10 inches. I think I’ll recommend to my kids that weather forecasting is the job to have. Be wrong 70% of the time and no one cares.

As I’ve posted before Daphne and I make our own bread. We have a bread machine but we don’t use it to bake the bread, it just mixes the dough and we do the rest from there. This loaf is one that uses shortening instead of butter, based off the smell alone it’s going to not last long.

A few weeks ago we made our own butter as well. My friend Peter in Ireland has always complained about the state of butter in the States. I’ve been to Ireland quite a few times in the last couple of years and amigos you have no idea on how good butter can be. We look for specials and coupons for heavy cream and make it in the food processor.

in the pics that follow we made a normal loaf of bread and raisin bread. Daphne stumbled on a trick to make the dough rise to insane levels.

Bread and Butter

The buttermilk was used to make pancakes naturally.
Continue reading Snow or not to snow

Would it be repetitious to state that last week was busy?

I’m under the opinion that every week is spent thinking the previous week was better then the current one. As the weeks fall away to the onslaught of time they seem better the older the memory, a trick of the mind. It’s a quick post this week with just a couple of pics, a link to something rather darn cool, and a random thought interjected to mix things up.

The interjection was a mistake. A mistake to watch something that I once thought was an awesome thing. I viewed the old Speed Racer cartoon. When I was a kid I found that to be one serious cartoon that was simply made of awesome. I started watching it with my boys one night and I am sure a small piece of my brain slipped off for greener pastures when I wasn’t paying attention.

This horrible experience made me wonder how many other things I watched as a kid/teenager/young adult were really a stinking pile.

On an average night I get home in time to eat dinner as my family is finishing eating. I play with the boys for a few minutes and take them to bed. I read them a few books and we chat about the day’s events. Once they are tucked in I pop out the contacts and chat with my wife as she slips into her PJ’s. Some nights she hits the sack soon after the boys and others she reads. Either way I head down to the kitchen to start washing dishes and getting lunch ready for the next day. Once completed I do the normal sequence; dog walked, trash taken out, and work laptop logged on.

I spend a good hour or two working on random things for work, mostly documentation these days but some nights take care of problems in New Zealand or Australia.

Once this is all said and done it’s pushing 11 p.m. and I’ve my nightly decision. Hit the sack or watching something until midnight. Most of the time end up staying up, which explains how I get more and more tired as the week goes on.
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