Matrimonial ramblings

The day started off with a last minute soccer registration for Darby (it was the last day to sign up), followed by some swift scurring about the city (soccer registration was in Midwest City). I had to pick up the girls from their art classes (in NW Oklahoma City) at noon sharp, but it was ten after before we got out of there. We then zipped over to their mothers to pick up their stuff and have them change real quick into dresses, as we had a wedding to attend. Or I say real quick anyway, but it didn't seem like it at the time.

By the time the girls were ready and we got on the road, it was after 12:30, and the wedding was to start at 1:00. For those of you familiar with Oklahoma City, our journey started in the vicinity of NW 19th and MacArthur, and our destination was NW 122nd and Council. Not impossible in the timeframe, but a bit of a challenge when considering that no one wants to noisily straggle into a wedding last minute.

We made it with maybe seven minutes to spare, and the wedding was a nice one. Probably the craziest thing to happen (as weddings go) was the bunch of us standing out in the cold, after the ceremony, with our little bubble makers, filling the air with bubbles for several minutes when it turned out that the bride and groom weren't even on their way yet. And one of the bridesmaids had broken a shoe, so she was standing barefoot on cold marble in 30-something degree weather, hopping about trying to keep her feet off the ground. (More wedding accounts can be read on the Usher's site)

Well, after all of that was done with, it was reception time, but the reception was at a separate location, back at NW 42nd and MacArthur (i.e. not so far from where we started). Since we took streets instead of highways, it took nearly as long to make this shorter trip than it did to make it to the chapel to begin with.

The reception went reasonably well, and the kids and I got to help "decorate" the bride's car with mostly traditional "Just Married" paraphernalia. I say mostly traditional because I'm not sure I've ever seen the creamy side of a split Oreo cookie used to decorate a car. That was the bride's father's idea, but the kids sure had fun doing it (and eating the leftovers).

Other reception highlights include Darby helping herself to a whole plate of mints after finishing her piece of wedding cake, and Shelby getting my punch after deciding that she liked it after all (her sister got each of them a cup of punch, only to have Shelby reject hers I guess on principle, only to have me tell Darby to drink both, only to have Shelby decide that she wanted to try some of mine therby determining that she liked it, followed by me just giving her the whole cup).

The bride is a young 22-year old, that I've known since she was 12. Her mother and I are very good friends from college (graduated together, had many of the same classes). In fact, Darby was the bride's mother's flower girl (second marriage) back when she was 3 years old. I'm told by the bride's (step)father that, while they are certainly supportive of the couple, they didn't think she was ready for marriage. Heck, I think they've only been dating for a year.

So in ponderance, both of this young marriage and my own, I'm thinking maybe there should be a "legal marriage age" the same way as there is a "legal drinking age". Of say... twenty-five. I'm thinking this might solve some real-world problems. (keep in mind the fact that I have two daughters has nothing to do with this rant -- wink wink)

First, this takes care of people getting married too young, perhaps quelling the very dire 50% divorce rate since by this age people are supposedly more wise and rational. Second, this relieves some pressure felt by many college girls fresh after graduation who have to decide "carreer or family". By knowing they have a few years to establish themselves before they can even consider getting married, they can be more focused on defining themselves and laying the ground work for a more successful life. Lastly, there is economic equilibrium as the young couple gets to suffer the marriage tax just as their better auto insurance rates kick in.

So since both of my daughters are less than twenty years from my proposed legal marriage age, I guess I should start my letter writing to senators and congressmen.

Let's Be Clear

My last entry initially (and quite unintentionally) offended someone. While I'm not about being apologetic for what I say on my own site, I thought I'd make some things a little more clear, for the record, as I really don't recall having done so thus far on this nearly-year-old portion of our site. So, for the rest of you, take notice in advance of reading further...

First, read and heed the disclaimer, posted at the bottom of every news page. You would expect the same of me on your site.

Second, this is intended to be a light-hearted, rather than mean-spirited or divisive site. So if I write something that seems mean or antagonistic, it's way more likely that I simply miscommunicated or let my insensitive manhood show (see, I just did it again). Those close to me would agree that I am very VERY good at miscommunicating.

Third, while I do have particular political opinions, I make a concerted effort (though not guaranteed to be successful) to not politicize this site. The very last thing we need, and the very last thing I want to perpetuate, is another site chock full of political (mis)commentary.

Lastly, as I'm sure I don't address this enough (if ever), I'd like to thank those that keep coming back to our site, time and again, to read my silly ramblings. While this site was not necessarily built for you, and while I don't expect you to keep coming back, I certainly appreciate it when you do. And that goes for you lurkers, too.



One last tangential, but for the record, note... my (probably unfair) opinion about the French was derived entirely from my over-exposure to Monty Python and the Holy Grail at an early age, many years before the current intra-natonic controversies.

sock-trition

For a couple of months now, my children's sock supply has been dwindling, despite my better efforts to micro-manage their socks and buy them new ones often. I know that there are the natural forms of sock-trition (sock attrition), such as the dryer monster, the sock-drawer gremlin, the clean-and-dry-but-not-yet-folded-pile triangle, etc.

But I had forgotten to consider yet another source of sock-shrink (flashback to pre-college retail work).

Mommies house.


When I dropped off the girls at their mother's this evening, she handed me like more than a dozen pairs of socks. Which is kinda cool because I was about to go on another re-supply run. My guess is that I would send four pairs with them in thier suitcase for the couple of days they would spend there, and they would only bring back two or three and I wouldn't notice...


Since I'm on the topic, I must say that this whole sock-losing business drives me crazy. Because I still have a pair of socks that are something like fourteen years old and are still in good shape. And I mean REALLY good shape for old socks. I got this package of socks (furthermore known as the they-don't-make-them-like-that-anymore best-socks-I've-ever-owned) when I was in high school from a no longer in business (and unfortunately French) retail store called Carrefour at the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia.

These socks were made out of something other than cotton (not sure what), were extremely comfortable and durable, and I've never found another class of socks like them. Over the years, all but this last pair have been toe-pierced, stretched beyond recognition, or sole-worn thin, but not before enduring many years of abuse and providing unmatched reliability. By comparison, my last two packages of JC Penney tube socks have been luckly to make it three to five years for the whole lot of them. I'm going to have to acquire more socks myself soon, since I can't seem to get a good durable set like those from my youth. Maybe the French are good for that at least, making quality socks.

After a minor, work-related re-badging incident, my afternoon was completely consumed by meetings once again. As expected they went... not so well. I felt like a baby shrimp fighting a pre-tsunami tidal undertoe.

I thought yesterday was bad... had a four hour technical meeting today that really wasn't done when we broke off. We just all had to go get our kids. Another at least two hour meeting to look forward to tomorrow.

After a largely out of control lunch (we all got very carried away... there are so many stories, but where to begin), I went straight to my meeting, and I never even got to go back to my desk. I didn't catch up on email until I got home and got the kids fed. I think I get to see my desk in the morning.

The trouble with scaring the pi$$ out of your cat

It's messy, and it stinks.


I'm not going to get into graphic detail here, as that's just no fun. But contrary to what many people believe, cats can be trained. You just have to be consistent and (very) persistent. For example, my cat will not enter my room. It knows that it is not permitted in there, so it stays out, even if the door is wide open. Also, my cat will respond to some verbal commands.

Anyway, while I really like my cat, and my kids love it, I still have to be stern with it about certain things. Usually, it knows when it has done something wrong, and it will take off and hide. However, it also knows that if I am determined to catch it and say, rub its nose in something, that I will catch it. Period. Years ago (we've had it for seven years), it would run away from me until I gave up. When I stopped giving up, it realized that it was useless, and it started to give up. I start chasing it, it realizes I'm not giving up, and it stops, lays down, and lets out a little pitiful "meow" as if to say "sorry".

Well, this morning, I chased it, but I closed a door behind me, trapping it in a room. When it realized it was trapped, it did the "sorry" yelp and proceeded to pee on the floor.

That was just great, let me tell you. The girls' school was starting in twenty minutes and I was cleaning up cat pee. So I'm not sure either of us came out a winner in that scanario, but fear not you probably now angry cat lovers, that very same feline is sitting at my feet purring as I type.

Dance team went as expected. I think that might be her last show for awhile if not for the year. But the timing is good as soccer signup is this weekend. Day to day life will get busy again as practices and games start up in about a month.

Meeting anyone?

Got to sit at my desk for maybe thirty minutes today. Had a three hour meeting this morning, went to lunch, had a two hour meeting, followed by another maybe thirty minute less formal meeting. Lots of running around in between. When I finally sat down to get caught up, I realized that I needed to go. Shelby has a dance team performance tonight.

Moving day

An aunt is moving from one rent house to another. Today a sizeable part of the family got together and spent a few hours helping her move. Since my father recently had shoulder surgery and most of the others that showed up are old enough (no offense) to have various physical ailments that prevent heavy lifting, my little brother and I had to do most of the laborous stuff. It was great weather for it at least. After that rainy, dreary Saturday, a sunny and warm (lower 60s) Sunday was very appreciated.

But fear not fans of winter (myslef NOT included)... today was (unfortunately) not the start of a warming trend. By all professional forcasting accounts, I expect my morning to journey to be snowy and full of foul language.


We'll have to do this again next weekend. Move her I mean. Although more good weather would be welcome. Her move out date from the other place is 1 Feb, we were just getting a jump start with the good weather. We left bare essentials at the old place and will have to finish up later.

The fact that it's even this close to February is in some regards disheartening. Though in other regards it is uplifting. For example, spring training will be in sight soon. Once spring training is here, only the best parts of the year can follow.



Sidebar: Broken Necked Birdie
At my aunt's rent house, there is a carport that connects to the porch, and a wooden lattice on each side of the carport (a common site in these parts). The lattice starts at the lower end of the carport, but doesn't go all the way up to the house. There is a doorway sized opening in the lattice on each side of the carport, creating a tunnel of sorts that the birds seem to like to zip through. My aunt tells me they do it all the time, as though barnstorming her carless-carport (she doesn't drive).

Well, when we were moving today, I had just placed an item into my father's minivan, which was backed into the carport, when as I turned around to walk into the house via the front door, I heard a strange thump. I immediately noticed on the ground a strangely mis-shapen, very limp bird. It was then that I noticed we had the storm door propped open, which effectively blocks the little carport tunnel that the birds fly through. I concluded that the bird swooped down to zip through the tunnel, only to smack full-speed into the glass storm door and instantly break his neck.

This conclusion seemed verified as my step-grandfather put on a rubber glove and picked up the bird. When he held it upright to look at it, the head flopped over from one side to the other in a very creepy invertibrate way. Which is an odd thing for a vertibrate to do.

You don't want to know the bird's final fate. It would probably upset you. Just wanted to tell this strange story of timing. The door hadn't been propped open long, or for much longer after the incident. The bird would have lived were it a few moments earlier or later. In contrast, had I been moving more quickly and been a few steps further forward, I would have likely gotten a bird rammed into my ear, giving credence to those who feel I am bird-brained. It is undeterminable if the bird's neck would have still been broken had it flown into the side of my head, but those who feel my head is of adequate density tend to agree that the bird was a gonner all the same.

Yet another birthday (will it ever stop?)

As expected... Tired. Exhausted. Weary. Big giant headache.

If you didn't know any better, and I told you today was Darby's fourth birthday, you'd think I meant she was four years old. But no, that would mean it was the fourth celebration of her 8th birthday. We always have two birthdays for the kids. One for family, and one for friends, it helps keep things straight. And then there's the actual birthday, which usually invovles some kind of celebrating, so that's three right there. Well, this year, since we had Darby's friend party on a Tuesday night, two of her best friends, who live in Tulsa, could not attend. We promised them we would make it up to them, so today, after art classes, we headed up to Tulsa for more birthday festivities.

First, it is important to note that we selected 2:00pm as the meeting time at a place to be named in a moment. Well, art classes end at 12:00pm, but 2 hrs is usually enough time to get to where you're going in Tulsa from OKC. If all goes well. While I had packed up everything we needed for the trip the night before, I had some running around to do while the girls were at art class, and I didn't have time to get gas. So after I picked them up and got them cleaned up, we stopped for gas, cash (no more brain freeze! I remember my PIN!), and snacks. Since I knew we were having lunch at 2, we got chips and drinks for the road.

Unfortunately with all of this last minute preparation, it was 12:35 when we finally got on the road. This is the bare minimum needed to get to anywhere in central (near the highway) or southern Tulsa. Also providing everything goes well. I was watching the clock the entire way, and by my calculation, we would make it to our destination right at 2pm if we didn't miss a beat. I had the cruise control locked in at 77 MPH (turnpike speed limit is 75), and we were making decent time. Until the last ten minutes. Which turned into twenty-five minutes.

When we reached the outer edge of the Tulsa metro, it was ten minutes until two. I knew from my past Tulsa experiences that it would take about ten minutes to get to the central part of the city, but I also knew that since we were going just three miles off the highway that we should still be okay, maybe being a few minutes late.

First mistake. Getting off the highway (I-44) at the 41st/Sheridan exit, I made a wrong turn. I turned left onto 41st Street instead of right. I had to drive maybe a half-mile down the road to find a good spot to turn around, as I realized right away what I had done, and that's when I hit the nasty traffic. I don't know what the heck was going on in Tulsa today, but it caused some issues for me. In general, I've always found Tulsa traffic (and roads) to be worse than those of OKC (if you can imagine). Today my personal prejudices about those road conditions were realized. Believe it or not, it took fifteen minutes to recover from my error, to travel the half-mile I drove to turn around, and mile to Sheridan on 41st. It took another ten minutes to go the two miles down the road to our destination. So, it took longer to travel that short distance than to get half-way into the city. Man do I hate traffic.

So we ended up being fifteen minutes late. Everybody was waiting on us when we walked into the doors of... Casa Bonita, or what I like to refer to as El Chuck E Cheese. It's a pretty neat place... good food, tokens, games, tickets, cheap prizes, shows. Kind of like Chuck E Cheese, only Mexican, thus my reference. There are a few distinct items that CEC doesn't have but Casa does, such as "the cave", where we were seated to eat, a piniata platform (which wasn't in operation today), and a full-size, free-to-ride carousel.

There were six kids and six adults, so I'd say this qualified as yet another birthday party for my over-priviledged (when it comes to birthdays) child. In addition to two of Darby's best friends, two of her cousins that live in Tulsa attended as well.

We had all-you-can-eat Mexican food, paid for many tokens, played many games, won many tickets, and walked away with a couple of cheap pencils, erasers, and magnifying glasses via our redeemed tickets. What a deal! And after about two ours, we headed out for more adventure.

You don't think I'd drive all the way to Tulsa to spend two hours there and come back do you?

We went from Casa Bonita to the movies to see the new Disney flick, Teacher's Pet, which was... strange. The kids seemed to like it a lot, but, while I did laugh at several spots, I was surprised to see this movie with a Disney label on it. It was more Nickelodian-ish to me, very Ren and Stimpy meets Spongbob or something, not that it was under water, but in the "feel" of the characters. And there was much singing, which was unexpected.

But wait, we're not done yet. After the movie we went to one of Darby's friend's houses and they had a dance/karaoke contents amongst themselves until everyone was hungry again (if you can believe it). We then proceeded to a nearby McDonald's so that we could eat an the kids could further play, since we don't get up there but a few times a year for all the old friends to get together.


We were very close to spending the night up there as it was after nine when we were wrapping up, but there were complications that prevented us from doing so (which the girls weren't real happy about, they really wanted a sleepover). So, after more than seven hours in T-Town, we headed back to OKC. All the while, ironically, I wished we had stayed in Tulsa, as it was raining, often heavily, all the way to OKC, and I don't much care for that drive in poor weather. But the girls were pretty oblivious to all of that, as they watched another movie, Lion King, on the portable DVD player. As it turns out, that movie is the perfect length for the drive. We started it at the gas station in Tulsa just before heading out, and it literally ended as we pulled into the driveway of our house.


So I'd say I am all birthdayed-out. Hopefully Darby is, too. At least we now have until August (Shelby's birthday) before we have to worry about any of this again.

Worked late catching up on stuff I should have had done during the day. But the day slipped away rather quickly as I was trying to put out fires I didn't start. I felt like one of those firefighters in one of the fire-prone states during the height of the fire season, battling a 100,000 acre blaze when the local news reporter says "the fire is 2% contained." Contained? It's not contained! YOU, the firefighter, have been contained by the fire!

That was me today. Contained by the fires. Me and my squirt gun. Not even a super-soaker.


Lunch was the only bright spot, as it often is on Fridays, except I inadverdantly called my friend an ass-head, called his food goo, and didn't share my fries with another friend, only to leave a nearly full basket of fries on the table as we left. Shameful. Just shameful. I could have saved her $1.50. Someday she will need that $1.50, and she will remember that moment and think of me in vain.

I did manage to come up with some choice phrases at lunch (see the Eating Oklahoma review) to include "Mouthful of Bacony Goodness with Each Bite," "Mountain of Goo," and "Man Salad".


Ex-wife reports that Shelby had two tallies today, making it four of five days with as many, and the remaining day with one tally, so she hasn't had a great week behaviorally.


Tomorrow will be.... interesting. Twenty-four hours from now I expect to be... very tired. But not asleep. Kind of like right now. But worse.

Finished up with my friend's computer this evening. When I left it last week it still needed MS Offcie and for mail to be imported into Outlook. Got that taken care of as well as other odds and ends.

Update

(Please Note: You must read the entry just before this one for this to make any sense. Also, you won't ruin the story by reading the ending first.)

The guy across the street just came by to thank me again and explain what had happened in detail (I won't get into that here, but the first door opening was by his disabled mother who didn't see anyone at the door and so closed it).

He repeatedly expressed his gratitude and disbelief about what had happened, and seemed genuinely fearful of what could have happened had I not come home at that time.

Really seemed like a nice guy, and is in a very similar situation as myself, being a divorced single parent with part-time custody of his kids (though I have mine full-time).

Told him I'm just glad everyone is okay.

Oh M' Gosh!

I pulled up to the driveway, and there was a little girl (maybe 2 1/2, she couldn't talk well) in the street with NO supervision, adult or otherwise. Holy cow! I thought.

The garage door was open slightly at the house across the street, so I asked her where her father was and to go to him. So she went into the garage and closed the garage door.

I thought that was that, but when I went into my house and peeked out the window, I saw that she opened the garage door again and went back outside, still unsupervised. So I opened my door and stood on my porch and she stood there not moving. After a moment, she went back into the garage and I went back into the house, and we played this cat and mouse game for another minute or two, until I guess she got comfortable with me and started to run across the street to me.

Ahh! Kid on the loose! Crossing the street even!


So, I yelled out, "No no no! Don't cross the street by yourself! Let's find your parents!" and I booked it across the street myself (also unsupervised) to help keep her on that side and went to the door of what I believed to be her house and rang the doorbell.

After maybe ten seconds, the door opened and then closed.

Huh? WTF?

In retrospect, the little girl was standing at the door, so I'm thinking maybe someone opened the door, saw her standing there, and then closed the door thinking it was her that rang the doorbell (even though it was too high). I have no other possible explanation. I really don't want to speculate all that much, because I know it sounds crazy, but it just freakin' happened. So this isn't some vague, nearest memory to the point of the story wins a prize type of recollection. But I digress...

At this point the girl was running around again and acting like she was going to run into the street and I was really getting worried, you know like wondering if I should call the police or something.

I rang the doorbell again and someone finally came to the door, ran to the girl, picked her up asking her what she was doing out there.

I explained that when I got home she was running around by herself, in and out of the street. He said he was in the bathroom and that she was really bad about opening doors and that he thought his brother was watching her. At this point the apparent brother peeked his head out of the door, looking quite out of it at that (hopefully just sleepy, not that any non-supervisory state at this point was acceptable). They both thanked me for keeping her out of harms way, I was very apologetic about disturbing them, and they all went inside as I crossed the street back to my little domain, heart still pounding, but relieved no one got hurt.

I'm not going to draw any conclusions. Trying to give some benefit of the doubt here, afterall Shelby was certainly capable of such a thing when she was younger (always getting into things and not minding). It was all a whirlwind that only took up maybe five minutes of my day, but sheesh, what a draining five minutes. I think of my children in that scenario and about keel over in shock (and awe of course).

Probably the near-craziest thing that happened (because you really just can't top some of that stuff on the crazy-scale) was that another neighbor on my side of the street was in his driveway, working on his car, and I don't think he gave one glance or paid any notice to what was going on maybe fifty yards away from him. I mean, come on, man! A LITTLE GIRL IN A LAVENDER OUTFIT (ergo kinda hard to miss) IS RUNNING AROUND IN THE STREET AND I KNOW YOU SEE HER, TOO.

What is this world coming to?

Has anyone else noticed the change in spam patterns?


Traditionally my spam has had crazy subjects such as this one:

H0liday $pecials va|ium, VIC0DIN, xanaax, Cia|is secular qgzz gelv knzzeg


However, I've noticed in recent days, subjects such as these:

irish revisionary actress hydrochemistry


Equally sensless, yes, but maybe someone has developed smart filters that look for non-words? So now they're sending random real words as subjects? And this is supposed to somehow entice me to open the message?

As someone with 12,752 spams in my junk mail folder (and upwards of 20,000 addresses in my junk senders list), I have plenty with which to analyze patterns. I keep thinking I'll get around to buying some anti-spam package and will need some "sample junk" to setup the program.

What do you think of my theory?

I was in a little trouble today. I was overdue on one of my employee's reviews, and there is a division-wide crackdown in effect on review timeliness. It's just been SOooo... well, you know. Like, how is it almost February? Whatever happened to taking it one day at a time? How on earth did it take me until January 21st to finish paperwork that was given to me on January 5th? Oy.

I didn't even get to "go to lunch" today because I had a meeting at 12:30 and wasn't ready to go to lunch until about noon, and that just wasn't nearly enough time. So I had a quick sandwich from the "cafeteria of last resort". Well I gues it's not LAST resort, that would be just starving the rest of the day away, right?

On the way home from picking up the girls from school, we had to stop and get Shelby a new pair of shoes. She must have had a growth spurt, as she just got a new pair for Christmas. But they were giving her blisters this past weekend, so we were using an old pair of her sister's shoes until we could get to the store.

Another one of those... multi-directional days. You know...

Which way did I go?

If you see me walking by, let me know that I'm looking for me.

Can you see me now? Good.


Not too many memorable moments today, but there was a stand-out conversation about "urinal edicate". And that conversation was with a woman, so... it went strangely. I would have thought there were many sites about this on the web, but a google search yields only one related hit, though it's a pretty darn good one.


In other news, this evening, Shelby had a dance team performance. I think it lasted all of ten minutes and we were free to go. If only you knew the amount of preparation for that ten minutes.

Hardware overload

In the last three weeks I've done major work on my system, a friend's system, my two kids systems, and today, my step-grandfather's two systems. This is all not to mention major work on at least one production and three test systems at work. Ahhh!

I've brought most of this on myself, and I really don't mind so much, I'm just starting to confuse issues between systems. A sure sign of overload.

Oddly, while I was working on the system today, a friend from work called me on my cell phone because HE was working on one of his friend's systems and was having an issue that he couldn't figure out and wanted to asked if I had any input. Ahhh!


Today, we had a family lunch, and afterward I told my step-grandfather I'd go over to his place to get some of his new hardware going that he got for Christmas, since he had been asking me every time we got together in the last several weeks.

He has a new-ish system from maybe October, and an older system that has been offline since he got the new one. He has been wanting to use them both because while the newer system is XP, the older one is 98, and he says there's some software that he has never gotten working in XP that he would still like to use.

For Christmas, he got a broadband router with built-in switch, some network cable, and a KVM. So that made my job for the day hooking up his new KVM, networking the two computers, and mapping drives between the two of them so he could easily copy stuff back and forth.

Well, most of that went as expected, though I'm having a little trouble mapping a drive in his 98 back to his XP Home. I'm not sure if it's an XP Home issue or something I'm missing. I have XP Pro at home, and my kids' 98 computers can map drives back to it with no problem. So that's why I'm suspicious. Also his XP Home can map back to the 98 system no problem and can read-write files all the same.

But I called it a draw and left because he also got an external DVD-burner for his system, however all of his USB ports -- even the SIX on his "NEW" computer -- are USB 1.1. I completely advised against trying to write 4.7GB DVDs via 12mb USB 1.1 ports. So he will be picking up a USB 2.0 PCI card that I will get to install next weekend and then finish working his other issue.

The irony? He specifically asked for an external DVD-burner so he wouldn't have to mess with opening up his system... only now we'll have to open it up to put the PCI card in... good thing he didn't get the internal drive.

When the girls got back from mass today, Shelby informed me that one of the kids in her Sunday school class was having a birthday party today and she wanted to go. I told her no way. That's just not enough notice. But she had a note from the boys mom, and relayed a message from her not to worry about a gift since the notice was so late. So I called the mother of the birthday boy to discuss the viability of going to a party with two hours notice. At which time she re-iterated the gift-waiver.

Since we didn't really have other plans, I took Shelby to the party (no 18) while her sister went to my brother's indoor soccer game. I did have her make a card before we went. And I didn't worry about a gift like the mother said, however in retrospect I wish I would have just stuck a five in there or something. The very first thing the kid asked Shelby when we walked into his house? "What did you get me?" You should have seen the look on his face. Six year old faces like that don't lie. Emotionally that is. They haven't yet learned the very grown up trait of smiling on the outside when it hurts on the inside.

Great. Now I'm a giftless loser. Lesson for the day... always bring a gift, even if it's just a cool rock.

:(

Definitely disappointed with the Eagles. They had a great season, but last week's incredible comeback, much less the other high points of the season, will not get the due attention because of today's loss. Next year, I hope (and as I've been saying the last three years), will be their year.

How to make your (3-year) old computer lightening fast

Since I've been doing so much computer maintenance/rebuilds here lately, I figured it was about time to take care of my own business by addressing the long overdue rebuild of my kids' computers. They only use them to play games, so wiping them out and reloading them is no big thing... just time consuming.

Their systems are just P133s with ~4GB drives, 32MB RAM and Win98, so doing pretty much anything is dreadfully slow. Though they handle the kid games pretty good still.

To preserve drive space and prevent original CD damage I copy all of their game media to my PC and then install them over the home network so they don't have to mess with putting the CDs in, their systems just grab what they need from my machine over the network.

So I'm just about done rebuilding Darby's computer, partially prompted by her getting a new Barbie game for her birthday, and as I mentioned, everything is dreadfully slow compared to pretty much everything else I'm used to. HOWEVER, now when I get on my system (1 Ghz), which I had started to feel was getting slow as it is half the speed of my work computers, it feels blazing fast. Nothing like going from a 133 Mhz to 1000 Mhz to make you appreciate what you have.

After loading this new Barbie game, though, I'm noticing it's a bit choppy on the graphics. It wants a 3D graphics card, which I'm pretty sure her system doesn't have. In fact, it only has 1MB of video RAM. So I'm thinking I need to pick up a $15 16MB video card from eBay.

Next I rebuild Shelby's computer...

Sign of things to come?

Picked up the girls from their mothers and they wanted to go to Fazoli's for dinner. I knew that I wanted to take Darby shopping so instead of going to the Fazoli's closer to our house, we went to one on the northwest side of town since we were already up that way. What are the odds that one of the kids from Shelby's art class (the class size is like seven) would be at that same Fazoli's?

Aftertward we went to Quail Springs Mall to browse. We were there to let Darby spend some of her birthday money on whatever she wanted. We walked the whole mall and went in nearly every store with kids stuff before she was allowed to buy anything. It's a good thing I did it that way, too, because she would have gotten something in the first store we went into (Limited Too), when it turned out that what she really wanted was in the LAST store we went into (Electronics Boutique). She ended up getting three games for the Gameboy Advance she got for her birthday. It was buy two get one free on the previously owned games, so that's what we did.

While perusing the mall, the girls learned for the first time that daddy isn't such a big guy afterall. They discovered that, at 145 lbs (at work I'm known as the one with no [m]ass), I could be pulled into a store by force if they worked together and with all their might. We were walking by an "imitation build-a-bear" for lack of remembering the name of the place, but it wasn't an authentic Build-A-Bear store. They wanted to go in, but I knew all of that was out of Darby's price range anyway so I said, "No, we don't need to go in there." But they weren't having any of that. They were really excited about checking out the bears and we were all holding hands already, so when they started pulling together and they saw that we inched into the store against my will, they pulled harder until before I knew it we were halfway in the store. When I repeated, "no, we don't need to go in there," they simply replied, "but we're already in here," and they let go of my hands and took off checking out all the cool bear-making stuff.

Man, if they can (push me) pull me around like this when they're 6 and 8, what am I going to do in say seven years when they're 13 and 15?

Brain Freeze

Girls appear to like their art classes, though Shelby got a little shy during her acting class (and I'll be needing to send an art smock of some kind next time as to prevent further ruining of good shirts). Met them and their mother at the arts center this morning to see them off to their first class.

Afterward my father and I headed to a local gun show. On the way, we stopped at an ATM where I experience severe brain freeze. Out of nowhere I seem to have forgotten the PIN for my ATM card (more on this in a moment). My dad spotted me some cash and we spent about an hour and a half browsing the weaponery at the show. It wasn't a real good one, compared to others we've been to, but there was some neat stuff I can't afford. I was particularly interested in the AK-47 styled semi-auto 20-gauge shotgun with all-black polymer stock and pistol grip as a home defense upgrade/successor to my current sawed-off, single-shot, breakaway 12-gauge shotgun (but don't be fooled you villans, if you break into my house, I'm more likely to grab my 9mm and lob 17 hollow-point rounds in your general direction).

Being in the outdoorsy mindset, after the gun show we went to the brand spanking new Oklahoma City Bass Pro Shops and Outdoor World. Hadn't been there since it opened in November. It's a pretty cool place. While I was initially unhappy with the deal they established with the city to build here, I see now the value it seems to be bringing to the area.

Back to my brain freeze for a moment... my theory on my "PIN-block" is that I have reached "PIN saturation". Between the PIN for my ATM card, my credit cards, my PKI badge at work, and my two SecurID authentication tokens for work, as well as many other PINS/passwords for various online shops, without any of it written down, I think my "PIN-buffer" is in dire need of defragging or a capacity upgrade. Hopefully something will jog my memory before I REALLY need some cash.




Oh yeah, this whole three days of rain thing? It can be done now, if one my readers happens to be the god of rain or something. This isn't Seattle after all.

More to come on my gluttony

I finally got my friends computer finished up this afternon and I took it back to her (there was one last hardware dinger that kept me from being done last night). Seems to be running okay.

There are more stories to tell about this computer building debacle, but they will come later.

All she wants to do is dance

Shelby had a dance team performance this evening. She did better this time than last. Got some good video of her goofy self.

The kids start their art classes tomorrow. Though we found out this week that Darby's photography class was cancelled (low enrollment), so we have switched her to pottery. We'll try again for photography at a later session.

Almost done with the build of my friend's system. Loading SP4 now, then will patch and load basic utility apps and call it a draw.

I must be a gluton

Spent last night building a new computer for a friend. Going from an old Gateway 300 Mhz to new Athlon 2 Ghz. Got everything built up okay, after some intitial difficulty in having to nearly completely disassemble the pre-tool-free Gateway case to get the HD out for data transfer.

Ran into some trouble, though, with OS installation. Stop errors on 2K install. So the system is now at my house for further review. Looks like more of the same tonight.

Chaos is as chaos does

Darby's birthday party (no 17). A long anticipated and equally feared event. The day should have started off with "buckle your seatbelts" instead of "good morning". In retrospect, it wasn't that good. But it certainly could have been worse.

In the car, all of the forseeable supplies had been loaded. Card table and chair for Darby to open presents. Camcorder, tripod, digital camera, juice boxes, trash bags. More supplies being brought by the ex-wife to include 100 previously made cupcakes, balloons, cups for popcorn.

After much planing, I was begining to think we might pull this off relatively unscathed. We've only invited about 60 kids and their parents to have cupcakes, open presents, and watch a movie, can't be that bad, right?

Well, between the ex-wife and I, we spoke to three different theater managers on multiple occasions and felt reasonably comfortable that things were as much in order as they could be.

We couldn't buy tickets until the theater opened today, so while the ex was last minute supply shopping on her lunch break, I went to the theater to acquire said tickets on mine. The original plan was to see "Brother Bear" at 7pm, only to find that the theater that movie was playing in was 260+ seats instead of the 150 we were originally told. Crap, the first real problem. Since "renting out" a theater really means "buying all the seats", even at a $1 theater on half-price movie night, that many seats is not only overkill, but not quite so much the bargain we hoped for.

So I scoped out the other options. "Looney Tunes Back in Action", last showing at 5:15 (too cold). "Freaky Friday", a little too old for some of the younger ones we expect to be in attendance (too hot). "Spy Kids 3D", 7:25, that could work out (just right). So I asked how many seats were in that theater and was told 160. Excellent! So I doled out $80 and was given all 160 tickets.

But the original plan called for leaving the tickets at the box office with a note for employees to give tickets to those showing invitations or noting they were with Darby's party. I found very quickly that this was a poor idea. First, because the lady at the ticket booth was slow on the uptake, but also she wouldn't be the same employee working the booth this evening. I was worried about details being lost in the translation. So I took the tickets with me and figured I'd hand them out as people arrived.

Also, one last check with the manager to make sure we could arrive at 6:30 and get setup. I was assured that would be no problem.

So, since most of the kids invited were from Darby's school, I called the school and asked that they make an announcement that the movie selection had changed, and to be there at 7pm so that we could open presents before the movie got started.

At this point I was late for a meeting. Prior to getting to the theater I stopped by wal-mart to get more juice boxes for the party (bringing the total supply to 72 [three boxes of 24]), and on the way out I picked up a #3 from the in-house McDonalds because I could feel that the schedule was getting tight. So on the way from the theater to my work meeting already in progress I was zipping down I-240 at 70 MPH while scarfing down my quarter-pounder in one hand and calling someone at the meeting with my cell phone in the other hand to let them know the already obvious, that I'd be late. Somehow I was still driving straight.

[We'll snip the boring stuff about the meeting I was late for and leaving work to pickup the kids.]

The original plan called for the ex-wife to pickup Darby from school and get her fed and take her to the theater, and for me to pickup Shelby from school to get her fed, because she had dance team practice until 6pm.

Well, I realized that the ex was going to need tickets, so I swung by the school on the way home to leave some tickets with Darby, but when I was there and after talking to Amy and getting her status, I realized that the schedule was starting to look as though it were working against us. So I signed Darby out, went to find Shelby and explain to her dance coach that we needed to leave for her sister's party, and headed home to get the kids fed (and do their hair). This all seemed to work in our favor, and I think kept us on track, as after the kids ate and got ready and we got on the road and to the theater, it was 6:25.


WE ARE JUST NOW GETTING TO THE MEAT OF THE STORY!

As I mentioned, we got to the theater in time for our previously OK-ed 6:30 setup time. I grabbed the table and chair and had the kids follow me into the theater. I found the manager and let her know we were here and getting setup, at which time she promptly handed me 100 pairs of 3-D glasses (I had forgotten about those). We headed to the screen for Spy Kids, only to find... that there was a movie still playing. Crap! Second real problem. Flashback to the manager saying a 6:30 setup time would be fine, and to me verifying that the movie schedule listed the last showing of Spy Kids 3D at 3pm. WTF?

Turns out this was a shared theater. No one bothered to mention that in all of the conversations we had previously. "School of Rock" was in progress and wouldn't be done until 6:50, followed by five minutes of cleanup for the crew, giving us (ex-wife, her husband, and I) a whole five minutes to get set up. However, I found that it was difficult to be simultaneously outside handing out tickets and inside setting up.

Irrelevant. Too late. People, lots of them, were already showing up. I gave out as many tickets as I could, but noticed that the theater folks weren't particularly checking tickets anyway, so went back into the theater to help set up, hoping guests would just come on in as they got there. However, it's humorous to note that while outside handing out tickets, Darby was with me, holding one of two mylar balloons that her mother went through a great deal of trouble to acquire, so that guests would see us easier and know to go to us for tickets.

Well, goofing around with the balloon, she lost it and up up and away it went. If you knew the story her mother went through to get that balloon, you'd be laughing, too. Also while we were outside handing out tickets, I noticed that the line at the ticket booth was VERY long, which made me additionally glad I didn't leave the tickets at the booth, but an unexpected by product of this adventure was that it turns out that I ruined the evening for many other children. I saw a couple of cases of kids walking away crying while parents were saying "sorry, kiddo, it's sold out". Aparently they really wanted to see Spy Kids. One parent put two and two together and said, "so you're the one that has me in trouble because we can't see Spy Kids." As she was a little scary looking, I told her that I didn't think it would fill up and that as long as she had no problem with the certain commotion, she could join us. Fortunately I suppose, she said she already got tickets for Brother Bear instead.

Anyway, third big problem... since we could not go into the theater when expected, we stacked our supplies just outside the theater, and several parents sat their presents down by our stuff, prompting many others to do so as well. Now, in addition to having to carry all of our stuff into the theater, we had to also migrate the gifts.

Fortunately at this time we received a couple of reinforcements in the form of friends from work who brought their kids. They were a big help in getting our supplies into the theater and down to the front, as well as in preparing the popcorn.

Amy had acquired several large bags of popcorn from the theater. While I was setting up the camcorder and tripod, as well as the table and presents, the helpers began to fill cups with popcorn and I started to pass out juices. We started passing out popcorn as it became available.

Meanwhile many more kids were showing up and they all started running around the theater, often stepping on our supplies or knocking over popcorn or trying to peek at the presents or almost tripping over the tripod, etc. It is also important to note that at this point I had gotten at least four cell phone calls from parents that were running late or hadn't gotten the message about the changed movie and were trying to find us. So I'm running around with my cell phone to my ear trying to solve problems as they occured.

Once we got popcorn, juices, and 3-D glasses passed out, just about everyone was there at that point, so I took a moment to apologize to the parents for the chaos thus far and for having Darby's party on homework night. I also started to explained the plan, which was to open presents and sing happy birthday before the movie got started.

Of course, as we were VERY behind schedule, right in the middle of my announcement the movie started. No previews as I had hoped (for once), just straight into the movie. So I had to yell the rest of my announcement that was also slightly moot.

We also found it difficult to get Darby to open presents at a more rapid rate because she kept trying to watch the movie at the same time.

So, picture the scene... I estimate there were about 50 people in the theater. The movie is playing, all the kids had come down to the front to watch Darby open gifts, and even though we asked them to sit around the table and watch, since it was so dark (we asked for the house light to be left on, but that was yet another unfulfilled request), they all crowded around her to see what she was getting. This became a wild session of each kid grabbing their respective present from the table and trying to give it to Darby to open next. Darby asked several times for people to stop crowding her, Shelby was flipping out becuase I had given her a trash bag and asked her to collect trash from the gift wrapping for me and she couldn't get to it because of all the kids, and oh by the way, one of the kids vomited up her popcorn a few feet away from where we were (big problem number four). We tried to get the kids to move back, but we weren't really getting their attention, and some of them started to scream for no apparent reason. It was right about this time that I checked on my camcoder to find that it wasn't turning out very well. It was on night-shot since it was so dark, and I mostly just got the backs of kids as they crowded around Darby.

Are we having fun yet?

So after we got someone to cleanup the vomit, and the present opening began to wind down, the projector operator noticed the commotion below and stopped the film (some say it looked more like it broke about then). A moment of relief ensued. The house lights came on. The projector operator came down to help clean up the vomit at which time he explained he would start it back up when we were ready.

When the lights came on and Darby finished opening presents, we started to hand out the cupcakes (at which point we realized big problem number five... we forgot to bring napkins, and the icing on the cupcakes was already starting to melt) and the kids started running around again. One of them slipped pretty badly on the mostly-cleaned-up-but-still-wet vomit area. I say mostly because they had mopped it up and put some of that saw-dust looking "mystery stuff" on top of it and had cleaned that up, but the floor was still wet and it looked like there were still questionable particles in the area.

The little girl was okay, but she was shook up pretty bad as she hit pretty hard, to the extent that the theater had her parent fill out a report in case anything was determined damaged later. Of course, before the night was over, two other kids (including one of mind) slipped on the slick part of the floor while running around even though we told the kids to stay clear.

So we finally got the cupcakes handed out, and meanwhile had gotten some napkins from the theater personnel to hand out. Finally, we sung happy birthday to Darby, as she blew out the candle we put on her cupcake, followed by my giving a thumbs up to the projector operator so he could start the film as I crossed my fingers and hoped the movie wasn't actually broken, or that if it was they had fixed it while we were making use of the down time.

Things actually, and thankfully, calmed down at this point. We all watched the movie in relative peace. Although I spent the first few minutes packing up the presents and getting leftover supplies in order. And a few times during the movie I got up to pick up obvious trash, and walk around with some popcorn cups to see if anyone wanted more.

Once the movie was over, I stood at the door and thanked everyone for joining us. Unfortunately, no one had turned on the house lights so we were stuck there in the dark (the screen was off by this point, too) trying to get our supplies together. We finally got someone to turn them on as we got our stuff loaded into the vehicles. We also picked up the trash everyone left behind, then we got out of there at long last.


All in all, I think the kids had fun (this is the feedback I'm getting from parents), probably even the ones that slipped on the vomit-spot. One of the parents even told Amy they didn't think they would have been able to pull it off. She replied as I would have, saying that she wasn't sure we did pull it off. But in one respect we did... we were different. If nothing else, most who learned of what we were doing agreed that they hadn't thought of that. And I'm proud to say that, while we've had a few McDonald's and a couple of Perfect Swing parties, we've not yet done Chuck E Cheese for either of the girls' birthdays, and that's saying something, with regard to being different.

All in all, I'm just glad it's over. We didn't get home until 10pm, and the kids still had homework to finish and I insisted on baths even at that late hour, especially since one of them had slipped on the vomit-spot. The kids just got to bed, and I will be mulling this experience for some time. At some point, some low-quality (due to dakness) photos will be posted.

Chaos Rising

It hasn't yet begun but I have seen glimers of it reach above the horizon. The air has chilled and the sky has cast over. Will there be a tomorrow?

Known attendees has reached 45, and already much as gone awry.

Eve of Chaos

Trying to plan for tomorrow's chaos. I'm slightly frightened by the wayward potential of the evening. Known attendance thus far is 31, but that number could grow wildly.

Execution will be everything.


If only I had reinforcements.

The trouble with raising little girls

(This is in no way a complaint about my children. I have great kids. Read on.)


Four words... "Lay Flat to Dry".


I hate those words. They inspire near-rage deep down inside of me. I want to contact the manufacturers of every piece of clothing in this house with those words printed on them and tell them that if I made clothing for them, the tag would read "go to hell to dry" or "lay flat to kiss my butt". Heck, they would dry faster in hell than the clothes I have laying flat right now.

But this is a "girl" problem. I had this problem when I was married, too. Much of the wife's clothes were LFTD or "wash separately on gentle cycle" or both. I wish I could organize a boycott on these practices.

The trouble is that I have two little girls, and much of their winter clothes are of the LFTD variety. And I just don't have enough surface area to lay everything flat, and I shouldn't have to engineer new surface area acquistion methods to achieve a clean, dry clothing state for my children. This is ridiculous. I have to "schedule" my surface area time between clothing cycles or "throttle-down" the rate at which I wash the clothing of this breed. It must stop.

As a guy, I have never ever ever ever had an item of clothing that was "lay flat to dry". The mens clothing companies know that a guy would never stand for that. If a guy had clothes like that he would lay them flat on a grill or something and light a fire under them. Heck, guys have cool clothing technologies like "wrinkle-free" and "stain defender". Lay flat to dry, give me a break. That's gotta be the lowest tech process in clothing next to being naked. That's like buying a broadband router with a label that reads "light fire and flap rug to transmit". At least with the also rather annoying "dry clean only" label a guy can appreciate that there are complex mechnical processes at work (have you ever seen those machines?) to clean/dry your clothing. But there's no honor in laying something down (after "reshaping" of course) on a qualified flat surface to allow the water molecules to gradually evaporate over a very slow rate of time.


Okay, I think I'm done ranting. I'm going to bed now that my laundry is drying. Or laying flat anyway.

You pick the title

This afternoon I took my little brother (Matt) to the batting cages, as I promised my father, since he could not do it having recently had surgery. Matt wants to improve his batting before the next baseball season.

Contrary to my wishes, the last time I had gone to the batting cages, was three years ago. Strangely enough it was exactly three years ago, when we had Darby's birthday party at Perfect Swing in Norman. Contrast that with my college days, when a friend and I used to hit the cages every Friday after classes (pun intended).

In a strange parallel to the last time I hit the cages (aside from the date that is), I tore up my hands pretty badly.

Three years ago, it was because I used a wooden bat and no batting gloves, and I'd let my hands go soft since my days as a UPS package sorter (also in college). Both of my hands back then were blistered everywhere and they hurt to move for about a week. Yes, I know how much of a dumb ass I am.

Today, I had batting gloves, and a lighter aluminum bat, however I still tore up my left hand pretty bad. Yes it hurts to type. Not such a great thing for an IT worker.

So what was the deal this time? Well, I still have soft hands. Not much of a manual laborer these days, and some at work will attest. And last time, I only hit about forty pitches (two sets of 20). This time around, instead of paying by the pitch, I paid by the hour. I bought a half-hour worth of batting. And that was my big mistake. I ended up hitting at least ten sets of twenty pitches, or about 200 pitches, and I'm pretty sure that I only missed three pitches out of those 200. Crazy thing is that I felt my hands start to blister after about sixty pitches, even with the batting gloves, but I kept going. Heck I was only about ten minutes into the thirty that I paid for. I couldn't just give up.

Well, here is a disgusting photo of my hand just after exiting the cages. And here's another after cleaning and bandaging.


So now the issue of this blog's title. My first instinct was to call it "hand job" or something like that, but I knew that could start some controversy. So I will let the fans decide. Use the poll below, or suggest another via the comments.

What should be the title of this blog entry? What a hand job Start of a painful tradition Fun with blisters That's gonna leave a mark Some salt with those open wounds?    Free polls from pollhost.com

Eagles, Eagles, Eagles!

After an ENORMOUSLY emotionally draining game, the Eagles are going to the NFC championship game. And I am nearly bald.

I see a future Don Cheadle NFL Playoffs commercial talking about "4th and 26" and Donovan McNabb. You know, "on 4th and 26, you punt, or kick a long field goal. But not in the playoffs, not with Donovan McNabb..."


Anyway, I hope they take care of Carolina a little better than they did Green Bay (since I don't have much hair left, and what's left is grey), and thereby make it to the superbowl. If they do, I might have to find a way to get myself to Houston.


No matter how you look at it, what a great football weekend it has been.

Happy Birthday Darby

As mentioned in the previous post, it is "birthday time" for Darby. Today is her actual birthday. I'm not sure what's worse, that she's already 8 or that she's half-way to sixteen...

Jackpot kid

As has become traditional, this evening was Darby's family birthday dinner (no 16), prior to her party on Tuesday. As is also traditional, Darby hit the proverbial jackpot with her gifts, filling two 30-gallon trashbags worth. And we haven't even had her "real" party yet.

The turnout was excellent, there was I think 22 people in attendance, which was not too bad considering I didn't get everything arranged until this past Tuesday. Some photos have been posted in the album (though I didn't take as many photos as is typical... I now have a veritable digital imaging dilema... digital video or digital photo?).

Here's the very rough summary of stuff she got...

- New mountain bike
- Gameboy advance, a 5-game cartridge, and a travel kit
- Enrollment in photography class (as previously discussed)
- Photo albums and photo supplies
- A 2-4 player air hockey game
- Blo-pens
- An art kit and a stationary kit
- A bead kit for making jewlery
- A couple of DVDs
- A new lunchbox for school
- A couple of angel knick-knacks (she collects those)
- Quite a bit of clothes
- Several books and puzzle books
- A respectable amount of cash

Hmmm

I've gotten word that my mother is back at home in Philadelphia, rather than the expected move to Delaware. Not sure yet if it's a permanent stay or until she gets her stuff packed.

This is alll changing the dynamic of my Spring vacation planning, which is supposed to be an East Coast Adventure (New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC), after which I was going to visit mom in Indiana or Delaware or wherever she ends up. But if she stays in Philly, then that would be just fine, though I had only planned to be in Philly one to two days otherwise.

Got a glimpse of our chaos fighting supplies this evening. The ex-wife made 100 cupcakes for Darby's party on Tuesday.

All-out hardware mania

I recently received, as a belated birthday/xmas gift from my very cool sister and her equally cool boyfriend, a MiniDV camcorder. Pretty cool huh? Yeah, she rocks. I'm pretty sure I've never done anything for her to deserve that level of generosity (quite the opposite in fact during our childhood), so I will be guiltily indebted (and thankful) to her for quite some time.

(those who dare dream to rival the coolness of my sister can visit my just-updated-with-the-best-accessories wishlist and give it their best shot)


Well, the challenge of this scenario is that the camcorder has USB 2.0 as its cheif PC connectivity option, and I had no USB 2.0 compatibility in my now 3-year old PC prior to this point. So, knowing that using USB 1.1 to do video is NOT an option, and after much research, I settled on this ("6 Port USB V2.0 Adapter Two PCI Ports, Four 3.5" Bay Mounted Ports") cool gadget from CompUSA. Now for the installation...

As noted in the previous chapter of my personal hardware story, I recieved a DVD+-RW drive for Christmas as well, and had a small ordeal getting it installed in my system. Some in my circles might have thought I'd had enough, but apparently I must be insane.

Also relavent, I recently picked up a DVD-ROM drive for $12 on eBay so that I could dub DVDs that I produce with the camcorder for family, etc.

So, a mere 2 weeks after putting in my DVD burner, with the task of installing my new front-side USB 2.0 ports and the second DVD drive, I was forced to completely undo my previous efforts. Yes, that's right, to get to the free external 3.5" bay, I had to remove my DVD burner. But, all things considered, after a reasonably smooth install of the PCI USB controller and the USB bay, it was no problem putting both the DVD-RW and DVD-ROM in, and getting everything put back together. Now I'm down to one free 3.5" bay and two PCI slots in my PC (out of two internal 3.5", 2 external 5.25", and three external 3.5" total). Here's a quick shot of the final product.

Now, I'm pretty well rocking, and have an easier time using my USB flash drive as a bonus. I was previously having to plug that into my external USB hub, which was fine, but slightly less convenient than the present solution.



All of this got me thinking about the evolution of my PC over the last three years. Here's a retrospective...

Previous (lame) PC setup:
-Compaq Deskpro 5133
-Pentium Classic 133 Mhz
-2 x 1.2 GB Hard Drives
-96MB RAM
-10x CD-ROM
-No frills speakers
-17" CRT monitor
-Barely functional, very low-end, Lexmark printer
-MS Windows NT Workstation 4.0
-Standard P/S-2 keyboard/mouse
-No USB support
-No UPS

PC purchased at the end of 2000:
-Dell Dimension 4100
-Pentium III 1.0 Ghz
-20 GB Hard Drive
-256 MB RAM
-8x/4x/32x CD-R/RW/ROM Drive
-Same monitor and printer
-MS Windows Millenium
-Standard P/S-2 keyboard/mouse
-2 rear USB 1.1 ports
-No UPS

The present state of my PC after MANY upgrades over three years:
-Dell Dimension 4100
-Pentium III 1.0 Ghz
-20 GB Hard Drive
-60 GB Hard Drive
-512 MB RAM
-8x/40x DVD-ROM/CD-ROM Drive
-4x/2x/4x/4x/12x/16x/24x/32x DVD+RW/-RW/-R/DVD-ROM/CD-RW/CD-R/CD-ROM Drive
-17" CTX LCD flat panel pivoting display
-Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 speakers
-Cannon i860 color photo printer
-MS Windows XP Pro
-MS Wireless Natural Multimedia Keyboard and Wireless Optical Mouse
-2 rear USB 1.1 ports (-1, +4 w/ HSB 1.1 hub)
-2 rear USB 2.0 ports, 4 front USB 2.0 ports
(11 total usable USB ports!)
-650VA USB UPS

Soggy hot pocket?

On my way to work, I put a frozen hot pocket by the door so that I would
take it with me as dinner once I got to work.

Well, I'm still at work and my hunger is catching up to me as I realize I've
forgotten it right there by the door.

So later I'll return home to a completely wasted food item. Imagine that,
throwing away food when you're hungry.


Really hungry.

It's about time dammit

We're going back to the moon, baby.

Yahoo! News - Bush Plans Major Space Announcement

Today was one of those days where I felt like I had so much to do that I had to be moving every single minute of the day or I would get swallowed. In fact, I'm going back to work here shortly as there are some things I did not finish up.

I'm cured

I said I was confused, and implied that it was to a vast degree, but then I happened upon this site, which has shown me that there are no greater forms of confusion than when visiting any part of that site. A great weight has been lifted.

As I can no longer claim any measurable level of being confused, I'll adjust my previous statement to read...


I'm unclear.

What did I say?

So I got into an argument with my mother last weekend. Now she's moving to Delaware, I've only just learned (from my sister, with whom my mother is still speaking).

She was supposed to move here, to Oklahoma, from her temporary home in Indiana, once things were settled at her formerly permanent home in Philadelphia. Confused? That's okay. Because deep down inside, it's not your business. I just needed to express my befuddlement.

I couldn't tell you exactly what I said to set her off, but it had something to do with my "emotional insensitivity". This is a shortcoming I've always fully acknowledged, but ironically I've always felt it was derived from the way my mother raised me.

Now I'm confused.

Set free the harbinger of chaos

Darby's birthday party is next week, and I sent invitations to school today. This year we're renting out an entire movie theater (150 seats) so we've invited the entire second grade as well as some of Shelby's class. This could get interesting.

What a shame

I just heard on the news that former Philadelphia Phillie Tug McGraw died this afternoon. That sucks.

McGraw led the Phillies to their only world series title in 1980 and his was the very first Phillies baseball card I ever owned when I moved to Philadelphia in 1984.


7 Jan Ammendment
What sucks further is that the day after he died, the 2004 baseball hall of fame inductees were announced, and he wasn't on the list. Maybe he didn't deserve to be, considering folks like Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson didn't make it this year, but that would have been some kind of well timed tribute had they written him in.

I know I complain about Oklahoma weather a lot. But 75 on Friday and 18 today? Sheesh.

So today I must eat my words about OU winning and give congrats where it is due... except I don't know where that is. Unless USC and LSU play each other, how do we know who's better, and thereby worthy of the national champ title?

I am still without bawls. :(

I ventured to the northwest only to find a land barren of bawls. Must I resort to online bawl-shopping simply to get a taste?

Tomorrow, I get me some Bawls

I saw a CNN story about a new high caffiene soft drink called Bawls. I was enticed, being a Mt Dew freak myself. However, the distribution market is limited at the moment, as a search for locations in Oklahoma currently serving Bawls yields several Tulsa locations, but only one place in OKC. I think tomorrow I will seek Bawls. I wish I had looked it up sooner, as I was up in the direction rumored to have Bawls earlier this evening.

At least I didn't go to work...

So, as promised, I took the girls to the park. It really was a great weather day. Though that windiness I mentioned was accentuated by the fact that I took them to the very cool park at Lake Hefner, so you get that lake-side gust. But they had a good time I think.

After the park we got some dinner and I took them to their mother's. Then I headed to Best Buy to make a second attempt at spending my holiday gift cards. I think the problem I had previously was that I was trying to treat the $60 as though it were $600, thinking there was so much I could do with it.

Heck, at one point I had four CDs in my hands and that would have wiped out the cards, but I was pretty back and forth on several things, so I ended up with only one CD (The Ataris, Blue Skies, Broken Hearts...Next 12 Exits), a blank DVD five-pack (1 DVD+RW, 4 DVD+R), and a 900 Mhz cordless phone with handset caller ID.

I know what you're thinking... why 900 Mhz? Well, I have a Wi-Fi Access Point, which is 2.4 Ghz, so it's really not a good idea to get a phone in that range, and at some point I'd like to get a 5 Ghz Wi-Fi setup going, so I'm not going to get a 5.8 Ghz phone either. Plus, all of those are more pricey than what I needed, not to mention that I really don't need my home phone signal reaching a half-mile away. Lastly, I already have a 900 Mhz phone, but it doesn't have an on-handset caller ID screen, which makes it a pain because I have to run back to the base unit to see who's calling, which kinda makes the phone being cordless moot.

So, fairly practical choices all things considered. Now I can get my PC backups to DVD going (instead of using four CDs like I'm doing now), I don't have to run back to my stationary caller ID unit anymore, and I am only one full-length CD shy of having all of the Ataris albums. No regrets (though it would have been nice to have those other CDs... The Hives, Hot Hot Heat, and the Starting Line).

Lastly, on the way home I swung by Blockbuster and rented a movie, as well as picked up a previously viewed movie (T3) with the gift card I got for Christmas.

I could be working

After my recent server upgrade and a growing to-do list at work, I probably should be working today. It's not a company holiday after all. But alas I cannot. My kids are out of school, their daycare is closed, their mother missed two days of work due to illness and so must work, and I have no alternative child care source.

Of course, to not exceed my 80-hours in this pay period, I could have only worked 2 hours today anyway. Otherwise, had I child care, I would have been providing my services gratis for a number of hours. Sure, I can go in this evening, since the girls are going to their mother's, and work those two hours instead of taking vacation time, but I'm certain to be less inclined to do that come the evening.

This all sounds very bad, especialy in light of my recent resolutions, but that is not the case. In particular as I remember the forcasted high for today is 75 (and we're expecting snow next week). So the kids and I are getting out of the house here shortly, likely for a park or zoo visit, something we've not been able to do in quite some time. Bad thing is it's quite windy right now, but that's Oklahoma for you.

To resolve or not to resolve

So you're probably wondering about my resolutions for the new year. I know this because otherwise you wouldn't be a reader of my blog. If you're here, which is crazy to begin with, then you're probably wondering about it. Well, I don't much like resolutions. About the only one I ever followed through with was pretty stupid. I resolved not to drink carbonated beverages and proceeded to not drink them for like two years. If I'm going to be doing any more resolving, then there should be far more noble aims than anti-carbonation.

So here they are, and yes they are lame, but aren't they all....

1) Do better at seizing opportunities with positive outcome potential.
How many times have you coulda-shoulda-woulda'd yourself to death? I do it all the time, and much of the time I see it coming and have the oppotunity to act but cower away from the risk. I need to do better at that. Acting, not cowering.

2) Improvement across the board, but in particular of my attitude.
I feel like my attitude is souring as I age. I'm a grumpy semi-young man that is turning into a grumpier old man. This has to stop. But there's a whole lot of my behavior and habits that need improvement. Any measure of improvement will do. I just want to see progress.

3) More quality time with the kids.
This isn't number three because it's third important, but rather because I've already gotten started. Since about the end of the summer I've made a concerted effort to do more things with the kids that bring us closer together. My faithful readers may have seen some of this on these pages. This needs to continue and expand. The quality time with kids, not the reading of my blog... though I'm not bothered by that either.

Server error, schmerver error

This is not the original post. This is what I can remember of the original post, ergo a copy of a copy and not quite as good as the original.

All thanks to this as I clicked the publish button. Blasted server people. If I weren't one, I'd be less understanding.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress...
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So not much new to report upon the conclusion of the first day of the year. We didn't really use our time off wisely. After finally unboxing and putting up the last of the girls' Christmas stuff the three of us played with Shelby's hotwheels race track for about two hours before going to visit my father who had surgery yesterday.

Of course, I watched USC beat up on Michigan, which will bring us the expected controversy. I suggest that, after OU's win on Sunday, Coach Stoops and Coach Carroll get together and agree on a back-alley nerf-tackle game on the pavement like we used to do on the streets of Philly. That ought to settle it.

First day of a (hopefully, cross your fingers) slower year

Happy New Year. Got back with the kids about thirty minutes ago and they are already in bed. Heck they passed out in the car on the way home.

We went to a friends, and there were quite a few people there, like nine kids and twelve adults, so fairly sizeable for a small get together. After dinner the kids watched some adults set off fireworks and then they got to do some snakes, pop-its, party poppers, and tanks. They always dig that kind of stuff.

Then the adults played dominos, which we do over there sometimes, and I usually lose my butt off. Only this time my luck was better and I actually won, I'm told by a significant margin (I didn't look at the score).

Meanwhile the kids played with toys, video games, watched movies, and tormented the rats. Yes, I said rats. One of my friend's kids has eight pet rats. We're not talking cute little snake-food mice here, we're talking outright rats, a good six or seven inches long. See for yourself.

Probably most interesting, if not most shocking, is Darby rode a scooter on the back porch for the first time since she broke her leg falling off a scooter. And she seemed to enjoy it, strangely enough.

There were actually many other interesting moments and I think all had fun, but I am way tired right now and barely remember much of it. If more comes to mind I will update this post.


On a closing note, my sympathies go out to those who ventured to downtown OKC. As I passed the downtown area at 12:51 I could see, from the highway overpass, cars backed up for miles in all directions as people were trying to get to the highway to head home after the downtown new year ceremonies. Definitely glad I didn't join them. In fact, I'd bet many of them are still there. Suckers.