Just got off the phone with the City of Anna. Apparently, if I want Water Service, I am required to also pay for Trash Service. Its a mandatory charge whether I want it or not. There is no way to have Water without also having Trash. The explanation was, "Minimum billing" which makes about as much sense as anything else the City has done to me lately. I suppose I should fall to my knees and thank the City didn't mandate I must pay for a host of other services I don't require, because at this point it sounds like they could certainly do so.
I took a look at the list of City Council members and know most of them personally. I know them to be honest, hard-working, honorable men. But I guess what the City wants, the City gets. And right now, the City wants to wring me out like a golden dishrag.
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I don't have many skeletons in my closet. The few I do are affectionately cared for. So when I say the past has come to haunt me, I don't mean necessarily my own. In this case, I mean 1999.
I'd thought I was finished with the absurdity of ink on dead trees and snail mail until it came time for me to act. That's when the real nightmare began.
I did find my checkbook. It was even pre-loaded with the book of checks I'd mocked the teller for suggesting I might someday need (humble pie was on the menu the day I crawled back to her to order some). Then I went out and purchased a pen. The pen which was there was a matte-black & gold personalized, engraved Cross I'd received as a high school graduation gift from one of my parent's friends. Yes, I'd been been using it since 1988. Over the past several refils I've noticed the writing part no longer comes all the way down the tube when the top is turned, rendering it nearly useless as a writing instrument. This past weekend I went to three different stores pen shopping and found a new matte-black-on-black click-deploy Cross "gel" pen to replace it. Its very nice for the two times a year I need it. So far, so good!
I printed out the "online" application, filled it out by hand, then wrote out the check. The next step stumped me. Thinking way back to 1999, I visualized more dried and rolled dead-tree pulp folded in such a manner to create a pouch, a packet...an envelope! I needed an envelope and a stamp! I drove to Dillon's (ya'll in Texas know it as Kroger) and stood in line at Customer Service until it was my turn.
Leaning forward out of embarrassment, I brought the lady behind the counter into my confidence and said, "Remember back when we had to put stuff in the mail? Do you have any of those things?" She asked if I was referring to stamps and a envelope, told me they had them for sale, and asked how many I needed. Sheepishly, I raised a single finger and she provided a stamped envelope. "That will be 58-cents." I pulled out my wallet and said, "Another thing I haven't carried since 1999 is cash. Can I put 58-cents on my debit card?"
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Way back before the turn of the millennium, I called about phone service when I left the Armed Forces and moved to Philly. They waived my deposit because I had, at some point in the past, had service with them before, and paid on time every month.
The City of Anna didn't laugh at me when I suggested that was the purpose of a deposit, but did repeat that the deposit was $150 whether or not I'd paid on time for the seven years I lived there or not. Because, "...some people don't pay their last water bill when they leave and we need to cover that cost." Yes, those of us who do the right thing are often the bastions of governments who would exploit us.
I nearly spewed my drink on the keyboard when she said I could fax in the "online application." First, because I though only third-world countries or poor, backwater municipalities still used fax machines - Anna was supposed to have been known as Technology City by this point! And the only thing "online" about the application, was its accessibility - it has to be printed out on a dead tree and inked - I haven't used a writing instrument since 1999. She did say I could email it in, but that my deposit had to be snail-mailed in. After she repeated that they only accept cash, check, or money order for the third time, I asked why. "There's no way to accept credit cards online or over the phone."
"Really? Because I've doing it for FIFTEEN YEARS."
Up until that point we were still on speaking terms.
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When I lived in England I openly laughed at their screen-door tax, white-picket fence tax, outdoor-spigot-for-a-hose tax, and even a television tax - you weren't allowed to steal the Queen's airwaves. Trip-Trap, trip-trap, trip-trap went Big Billy Goat Gruff. The whole Boston Tea Party and Sheriff of Nottingham were suddenly very real and very current.
And while we certainly have our share of death and taxes in America (I actually wondered on a news alert that said Texas executed its 500th inmate whether they meant since the beginning of time, or just so far this year), what we haven't had is a history of crushing taxes without due process.
So our city councilmen and women, congressmen, and senators have been proposing something with far less baggage than taxes. Fees! Fees are okay :) Fees are expected, and friendly. You wouldn't want to not pay a nominal fee would you? Fees for this and fees for that. Sure it all adds up, but its not like its a tax, right?
Wrong. Its a tax under the guise of a different name.
So when my renter in Anna called about a leaky hot water heater, I got a reference and called to see about it getting replaced. The guy actually started with the new "permit" Anna required. I thought to myself, "Waterheater permit? That's odd." Until he told me how much the permit was - then it made perfect sense: Money. The Sheriff of Nottingham sits on the Anna City Council and robs from the poor.
Tax. To replace your waterheater. I also appreciate the thoughtfulness that I don't really have to worry about paying this tax until I am already burdened by the cost of parts and labor. The only bright-stop in this $1400 hell was my plumber, a local named Robby at Genzel Plumbing. Awesome tech, really appreciated him.
The house goes on the market July 17th.
Good riddance.
There are, arguably, lots of different reasons for bad behavior. That of course doesn't excuse the bad behavior - it never does. It just means that generally you suck as a human being - if you use your upbringing or your stressors as an excuse. Maturity, in part, is the ability to identify and over come bad behavior. Some can do it, some cannot. I'm really okay with that. As long as I don't have to interact with you.
But sometimes its inevitable. And even I, it would appear, am still not above being surprised at depths of psychosis of some people. I would have to say that I am generally trusting of everyone. But the longer I live, the less true that actually is. I saw a beautiful blonde at a stoplight several months back and my second thought was, "I wonder if in her world-view she suffers from expectation, having rigid rules which she believes will always apply no matter what external circumstances are?" It made me sad to think of her as unhappy in her needless frustration, always wondering why things never worked out the way she thought they should.
And I certainly didn't expect my renter to spray blood and urine all over the house requiring a Texas-law biohazard cleanup or to stuff a chain into the garbage disposal until it burned out because he believed he should have had a free-month's rent rather than returning his not insubstantial security deposit, which all of a sudden I'm glad we had. Taking the money was a lot easier (and cheaper) than suing him.
We also have a overwhelmingly efficient and magnificent property manager. I wish I was rich enough to give her the money!
I used to say in the lines of this blog too often that in general, I hated people. But the more distanced from them I became and the more I sought the middle path, the more I've let go of it. Its times like these that help bring me back to center - that even though his "needs" may have not been "met" immaturity and bad behavior is the retarded offspring of kissing cousins and probably make up a greater percentage of the general population than even I'd like to admit.
I'm not really one to ask for help. My wife and clone and I loaded and unloaded the first 26-foot truck ourselves. But at just shy of 42, the recovery time was far longer than the one week I had before I was back in Texas with another 26-foot truck to fill, and I knew I couldn't do it alone.
Enter the gang who responded to my plea on the Anna Texas Community Forum:
Taken with
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
mr_dowg's awesome new 3D camera phone!They were so much help in fact - and I underestimated how much work was actually left - that I could not have done it without them. I simply could not have.
mr_dowg alone did the work of 12-men!At first, it was fun. Just...fun. Seeing mah peeps and drinking a little Shiner while we loaded. But then it got hot. Real hot, real fast. And the rest was a chore. But these guys - all of them - saw it through to the end. Thank you. I'm gonna miss our various activities around town together :(
And that was the high point of day.
The evening deteriorated quickly, getting just as bad as it had started. The truck visor kept knocking into my head every 30-seconds or so until the sun went down, and when it did, it started raining. And they shut down the interstate due to wildfires. So we pulled off the road and got a hotel room. $133 for a room I wouldn't pay $120 for the night before because it "wasn't worth it." Well guess what? Tonight, after sitting at a standstill on the interstate for an hour, and getting the very last room at the detour...it was very much worth it.
And I totally parallel parked that 26-foot truck, yes I did.
I'm going to pass out now.
No good deed goes unpunished. Or so I've been told. I don't really buy into that, though it is occasionally fitting. I laugh aloud at others who have drama in their life because frankly, I have none.
At least that was the case prior to my weekend Halloween party. In an oh-so roundabout way, it made it to my ears that I was responsible for a marriage breaking up because...I kissed another man's wife. The husband reportedly witnessed it himself!
Huh?
I'll be the first to admit that sounds EXACTLY like something I would do - there goes my "I could never do something like that" defense :/ One of the hazards of being a shameless flirt. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Several months ago, after one of our Sandlot softball games, we cracked a box of wine and several couples showed up. It was a nice night so we sat outside. At some point, one of the ladies stood up, said her goodbyes, and started walking home. My wife jumped my ass, "You go walk her home!" I did as I was told.
Unbeknowst to me at the time...I was followed!
Mind you, this was several months back, but the way the story was told to me is that her husband had trailed us. I remember him saying something like, "I needed more ice" or something when I saw him. Then he went back to my house and apparently told me wife, "You husband was kissing my wife in the garage."
At which point she laughed uproariously. SHE THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE!
Now I don't know much, but I do know this: I did not kiss that woman. I know this because I know myself pretty well, and had I, I would've announced it to my wife immediately upon my return. Hell, I would've said something to the entire group, actually, "Hey everyone, I was making out with her in the garage!" But I said nothing because nothing had transpired.
She moved out the next day.
She's back now, and as several months have passed I haven't thought twice about anything - why would I? But now that this rumor is in the mouths and ears of my neighbors, I'm dumbstruck of how to handle it. My immediate response to my wife was, "It will do no good confronting someone like that, because he's going to believe what he's going to believe and nothing I can say will change it." In fact, I was pretty sure it was all a mistake until I saw he...defriended me on Facebook??? Besides, blaming a breakup on a stranger's single kiss seems an awfully weak defense - even if I am a great kisser ;) Because it doesn't paint the accuser in a good light - and no one wants to tell stories in which they appear at fault, so I'm pretty sure I didn't hear "The Whole Story." I need to hear it from him. I may have simply been a pawn in a larger sea of deceit.
Lastly, my wife is now concerned he may attempt to harm our children. Retribution and all that. So I'm pretty sure I have to address this with him, despite what he thought he saw.
I hear counter-accusations are awfully effective (and there's no doubt in my mind I'd be good at it), but that's really not my style, and not the end-game I'm looking for. Is this something I can even fix?
What are your thoughts?
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McKinney Texas Shooting:
10:05
Not much news, but I just drove into work past a large plume of black smoke which was stark against a clear windless blue sky. As I drove though the guardshack the officer on duty told me he'd heard shots fired; twenty-five of them, somewhere between the college campus and the nearly adjacent police station.
As I exited my car I saw two stationary choppers high in the sky and one very, very low doing circular sweeps over what looked like the Quik Trip across the street from Collin County Community College. I have my newshounds out gathering informations.
High-speed State Trooper followed by an SUV - lots of sirens.
More later.
10:11
Quad "C" of the Community College has been shut down; 5 enroute to jail. They're adding cops to the perimeter [presumably of the school] and may be looking for more people. Thanksdrax0r on the scanner!
10:18
Campus on lockdown.
10:22
@TobyMarie reports suspects at large?
10:26
Authorities widening the search.
10:30
Two suspects set a truck on fire outside the police station to draw people out, then opened fire on those coming out of the building with semi-automatic weapons (explains the smoke I saw).
10:38
@drax0r (unconfirmed chatter): I just spoke with someone at the scene, the suspect drove into the PD lot, claimed to have a bomb, then set his trailer on fire. As officers responded both on foot and in vehicle, the suspect opened fire and was shot by police.
Just hit FoxNews - confirms suspect at large.
10:43
Tweets hitting feeds claiming shots were fired on the adjacent campus - so far that appears NOT to be the case.
10:47
McKinney, TX shooting: NOT on campus - adjacent police station. Search for at large continues to widen.
10:50
McKinney, Texas: Fourth helicopter on scene overhead.
10:55
Plausible - http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world/mckinney-tx-campus-of-collin-college-on-lockdown-active-shooter-incident-possible-doa_100413872.html
11:02
Eyewitnesses say one of the shooters was wearing a flak jacket.
11:05
College reopens; news conference at 11:30.
11:10
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpps/news/texas/081710-Shots-Fired-outside-McKinney-Police-Department_9216271
11:23
Police found one dead at shooter's home (uncomfirmed) News conference at City Hall soon.
12:00
Wife packed me a delicious mayonnaise-free tuna salad sammich on a toasted wheat baguette.
13:23
Still sitting on some 411 I'm waiting to confirm as related and/or report only *after* I hear it on local news channels first.
14:38
Here's what I've been sitting on since about 1130, as reported by the Dallas Morning News -
14:58
Where was the Anna Avenger? (Probably posting on the thread which was started on the Anna Texas Forum!)
16:21
@lineback: McKinney Police say shooting suspect is 29-year old Patrick Gray Sharp -- lived outside the city of Anna, Texas
16:30
According to a Dallas Morning News article A Patrick Sharp of Anna has a MySpace page that shows a man holding a number of guns. One caption reads, "I love guns more than toothpaste."
19:38
And now most of the nation thinks Anna, TX is a haven for toothless rednecks. Thanks a lot!
McKinney, Texas Mounted Police
10:05
Not much news, but I just drove into work past a large plume of black smoke which was stark against a clear windless blue sky. As I drove though the guardshack the officer on duty told me he'd heard shots fired; twenty-five of them, somewhere between the college campus and the nearly adjacent police station.
As I exited my car I saw two stationary choppers high in the sky and one very, very low doing circular sweeps over what looked like the Quik Trip across the street from Collin County Community College. I have my newshounds out gathering informations.
High-speed State Trooper followed by an SUV - lots of sirens.
More later.
10:11
Quad "C" of the Community College has been shut down; 5 enroute to jail. They're adding cops to the perimeter [presumably of the school] and may be looking for more people. Thanks
drax0r on the scanner!10:18
Campus on lockdown.
10:22
@TobyMarie reports suspects at large?
10:26
Authorities widening the search.
10:30
Two suspects set a truck on fire outside the police station to draw people out, then opened fire on those coming out of the building with semi-automatic weapons (explains the smoke I saw).
10:38
@drax0r (unconfirmed chatter): I just spoke with someone at the scene, the suspect drove into the PD lot, claimed to have a bomb, then set his trailer on fire. As officers responded both on foot and in vehicle, the suspect opened fire and was shot by police.
Just hit FoxNews - confirms suspect at large.
10:43
Tweets hitting feeds claiming shots were fired on the adjacent campus - so far that appears NOT to be the case.
10:47
McKinney, TX shooting: NOT on campus - adjacent police station. Search for at large continues to widen.
10:50
McKinney, Texas: Fourth helicopter on scene overhead.
10:55
Plausible - http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world/mckinney-tx-campus-of-collin-college-on-lockdown-active-shooter-incident-possible-doa_100413872.html
11:02
Eyewitnesses say one of the shooters was wearing a flak jacket.
11:05
College reopens; news conference at 11:30.
11:10
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpps/news/texas/081710-Shots-Fired-outside-McKinney-Police-Department_9216271
11:23
Police found one dead at shooter's home (uncomfirmed) News conference at City Hall soon.
12:00
Wife packed me a delicious mayonnaise-free tuna salad sammich on a toasted wheat baguette.
13:23
Still sitting on some 411 I'm waiting to confirm as related and/or report only *after* I hear it on local news channels first.
14:38
Here's what I've been sitting on since about 1130, as reported by the Dallas Morning News -
Early this afternoon, Collin County sheriff's deputies were at outside a house in rural Anna, where they said they were waiting for McKinney police and a search warrant. The area is one of gravel roads and manufactured homes.
Neighbors said they saw the man who lived at the house with his brother leave this morning in his pickup pulling a trailer. They said they saw the same pickup and trailer on the TV news.
"He was a pretty quiet guy," said Zeppy Benavides, who lives next door. He said they recently discussed putting a fence between their yards.
He said his neighbor would fire handguns into the air on Christmas and the Fourth of July.
14:58
Where was the Anna Avenger? (Probably posting on the thread which was started on the Anna Texas Forum!)
16:21
@lineback: McKinney Police say shooting suspect is 29-year old Patrick Gray Sharp -- lived outside the city of Anna, Texas
16:30
According to a Dallas Morning News article A Patrick Sharp of Anna has a MySpace page that shows a man holding a number of guns. One caption reads, "I love guns more than toothpaste."
19:38
And now most of the nation thinks Anna, TX is a haven for toothless rednecks. Thanks a lot!
McKinney, Texas Mounted Police
It started innocently enough. Then again, doesn't it always?
My son thought batting would be fun.
So I bought a Little League baseball bat this past weekend. Which, BTW aren't nearly as inexpensive as you'd think they are. I'm just saying.
I remember when I bought him his glove. We threw the ball nearly four years ago in Saint Louis. That didn't go well. I guess he was too young. Just in case, I haven't brought it up since. But over the last week or so, he's wanted to throw the ball around. We dusted off our gloves and did just that. Sister too. But he also wanted to bat.
We found ourselves at Dick's at The Village in Fairview (read: Allen) and it ended up that Monday after work we split into two small teams what with a couple of neighborhood friends over. That went really well and we did it again Tuesday and again Wednesday.
drax0r got wind of this and came over Thursday with his boy, and since one of the neighborhood kids was gone I grabbed another neighborhood kid. Who brought his cousin. And his cousin's brother. We finally had a full outfield.With something like nine of us out there playing, many of the other neighbors stopped by to watch, if only for a moment. And some of the parents. And a girlfriend - who was our cheering section. It reminded me of the impromtu games of my youth in Wise County when a whole group of grownups and kids would just somehow...gather...out at the old elementary school and start a pick-up game. Soon old men would arrive in their pickup trucks to watch. Some would bring water. Others would bring ice cold watermelon. And this was in the late 80s! Yet it was reminiscent of what you'd think the 50s were. Black & white T.V. Apple Pie.
I'm glad to be "that" dad.
What a freaking blast.
This question was posed on our local city forum: "I watched all the growth in McKinney. I think it was the fastest growing town in America for many years. I wonder if Anna will go through a similar change? What do you predict Anna will be like 5 years from now?"
Behold my answer:
In five years time Anna will have above-ground "tubes" interconnecting all city services. City Hall will move out of that single-wide and into a towering skyscraper which will be a beacon of hope to the tired, the weary, and the thirsty. Flying cars will intersect the sky's of Anna and this will create not only new jobs, but also new positions of authority which will come with it: Grand Air Marshall, et al.
In five years time Anna will become the technological hub of Collin County. City Engineers will invent a seasonal-based networking product which will use the power of the sun for high-speed access during the summer months, and the cooler air for the same speeds during the winter months. We'll ship all our trash to McKinney who's new ultra-mega Recycling Center will cost billions to build and run but create untold amounts of carcinogenic byproducts while Anna turns more toward composting and becomes a mecca of sorts for the Amish, who will arrive in droves, displacing the Mormons who will retreat to Melissa. The Amish, eschewers of technology, will create their own Anna Texas Forum. It will be held in Jedidiah's barn every Wednesday at six, after Mass.
In five year's time a precious ore will discovered under the City Hall's single-wide causing the Federal Government to lay siege upon our city and us local's will bear arms against them. At the very pinnacle of hostilities, Extra-Terrestrials will reveal themselves, denounce Christ, praise Crist, and erect a statue of Livia in the new Town Center. They will instill Driskell in a life-term for Mayor.
We will have single-handedly changed the face of the entire world.
This, in 5 years.
Long live Anna.
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"Well, Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts', he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired fifteen years and living like a king in Patagonia.'"
Enumerating all the reasons we're upgrading our colo'd server to CentOS 5 is an entry in and of itself, and some of those reasons were touched on in this entry (some restrictions apply). But this post isn't about new servers or new operating systems. Its about The Anna Avenger and the passing of the torch Dread Pirate Roberts style!
The culmination of these events are inconsequential - suffice it to say an ALL!POWERFUL entity was roused into action leaving behind a wake of terrible destruction before it subsided (or was subdued - reports conflict).
My mind works in very mysterious ways. Cue a screencap I took of the The Cell. My end product is almost never how it begins. So much so that sometimes its not even close to the same project. Oftentimes this is a good thing, and I marvel at my good fortune. Other times however, its a disaster and I trash it rather than even hint at my immeasurable failure.
Given that we're upgrading many things, it was required that I skin the updated SMF for the swing. And I changed out the logo we use on our page from this to this. Some people (me) found it brilliant, and hysterical, and a step in the right direction solidifying a leader in the uprising of a local hometown hero. There was no single better way to represent what it is
drax0r and I do while simultaneously looking toward the future than what that image encapsulates.ALL!POWERFUL felt otherwise, and I respect that. My actions prove that respect.
I did the only thing I could do: I created a Nom de guerre in the style of the Dread Pirate Roberts as a backstory and stepped into those gigantic shoes, feeling a lot like this.
I shaved my beard, and for the first time since 1990...shaved my *gulp* mustache. Its now a single, thin-line now. A pencil mustache. I donned the purple satin bandanna I'd worn at the Pirate Party and fashioned a do-rag from it. When my children came home that day they stared at me in disbelief and asked, "Why are you dressed like that?" I said to them,
"Children. Its time you knew. Your father is a superhero."
And I explained how
drax0r had passed the torch, so that Anna could always be protected.drax0r sir, I relieve you.
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I've heard that skunks make great pets - something between a cat & a ferret, but more docile than either. That is to say once their highly-accurate anal "sacks" are removed, otherwise there is surely hell to pay.
I first saw this little guy early last week on a walk around the neighborhood - I take one every evening, 1.5 miles in about 20 minutes. I remember this day in particular because I rarely walk it alone. Remember that scene in the new Star Trek where Kirk climbs from the pod he was ejected out of the Enterprise onto the sixth planet of the Hoth system? He starts walking to the outpost and something catches his eye so he turns around and tries to make out what it is he saw? Then they zoom into this running, screaming beast? Yeah, it was like that for me, but mostly because these things move so foreign to what I'm used to seeing. And it was broad daylight. Because I'd been playing hours and hours of "Serious Sam" I was already on edge because of the stampeding buffalo, so I ran from it. Like a little girl I ran.
I hear those those things can hit a fly on a fence-post at 15-feet.
Yesterday, that little guy showed up in my backyard. This time, he didn't seem so ferocious. There's been talk around the neighborhood that it might be recently abandoned domesticated skunk. The only issue I have with that is how the hell you'd find out? Sure it looks soft and cuddly now, but I'm not going to approach it to find out if it sprays or not!
Here's the little guy:
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When I was but a lad in shortpants I couldn't wait to show my father I was capable of mowing our lawn - to push that mower back and forth across the yard for a feeling of accomplishment which can only come with a well-shorn plot. It was a year of discoveries as well. Discovering that using a $500 LawnBoy the elderly lady down the street owned to mow her lawn for cash was a dream to use compared to our aging push-mower, which, while excessively vibratory, could indeed launch me from start to finish in about 30-seconds if you leaned against the handle just right while pushing. But once dad handed me the reins, he never mowed our yard again. From about 12, until I left home, it was entirely my responsibility, and let me tell you - it gets old. Fast. And the replacement mower ran far too smoothly for any collateral joy, but I digress.
It dawned on me this weekend that I'd never bought a mower. As us kids left the house, and my dad got older, he starting buying nicer mowers, which I inherited every couple of years to replace the $99 push-mower he got us for our first house which didn't die for fully TEN YEARS. God I hated that mower. And he was so proud of our first custom home that he mowed my yard - for fun and exercise. So I've never had to buy one. At any rate, the last one he'd given me was a nice 6.5 horsepower self-propelled Toro...with a broken drive. "But you're young, and strong," my old man told me when he gave it to me. "You can push it...Besides, your yard is small."
And its true. But self-propelled mowers are heavier. Much heavier. And you push against the gears when they go out, which still turn, so its additional friction. In fact, I've been fighting that sonofabitch for the past two years, but I never realized exactly *how* hard that mower was to push until this weekend. I'd bought the 5.5 horsepower Yard Boy at Wal-Mart for $170 during lunch Friday, the one just below this one. It was sitting in my car in the parking lot at work when Mr. Witwicky (not his real name, but what my wife calls him) noticed it in my car and asked if it was the $195 one from Home Depot? The Yard Machines? Which is made by Troy-Bilt? And has the 6.75 horsepower engine? Because that's important, especially for tall grass. And the large back wheels? Which turn and push so much easier than small wheels. He'll never get small wheels again. And it was down from $220. Did I get that one? No?
[Mr. Witwicky exits stage left]
I left work with gritted teeth and drove to Home Depot to verify his claims. There it was. Beautiful. Then on to Wal-Mart where I tugged that huge friggin' box out of my Tib, got a refund, drove back to Home Depot and bought the mower. "That Mr. Witwicky sure knows what he's talking about." My wife says. His word is now hallowed in the halls of our house. And let me tell you something - its not yet summer, the weather here was high 60s, maybe low 70s. A good, constant breeze, but not windy. I cracked open a New Belgium 1554 Black Ale, reached into my humidor to discover a forgotten cigar my wife's biological father had sent me for Christmas, and I mowed the lawn more tediously than I ever have before. One handed. I made half-swatches. I went back-and-forth over the thick spots, and I walked really, really, slow. I've never mowed a lawn of any size more slowly than this weekend, and it was heaven.
In fact, my whole weekend was fantastic. I made banana pancakes for the kids, we worked around the house, my wife re-laid our flower bed and the kids and I gamed quite a bit: Age of Empires III and UT2004. My weekend seemed very long - sometimes Production Maintenance eats up a weekend, but since mine was in the middle of night, and I'd gotten three-hours sleep prior & after, it really just seemed to extend my waking hours. What a wonderful weekend. What a wonderful family. Pretty soon, it'll be my turn to hand over the reins.
And it's FAMILY DAY today! Yes, just myself, my wife, and our two children. What a relaxing day after all that driving and all that tryptophan, which really knocked me out early by the way. Well, maybe that and the Scotch, but I don't want to point any fingers.
Speaking of, I'll never buy an expensive bottle of Scotch again. I've found my ideal daily-drinker: McClelland's. They're pretty generic looking, with names such as, "Highlands," "Lowlands," "Islay" & "Speyside" to identify themselves, but at $21.99 a bottle (here in Anna), they're the best inexpensive Scotch I've ever had. Better than more expensive Scotch I've gotten on sale.
Anyway, so the boy and I are playing StarCraft today. Thing is, I'm playing on my Mac because Win7 renders it like this:
Win7
Win95/Win98/Win2000/ME/XP & OSX
Hope all of you are having as much fun as I am.
ANNA, TX Governments are known to sponsor things like Fine Arts, Symphonies, and other Nation-rallying pursuits of excellence. Things which are either too expensive, or too disinteresting to maintain through corporate sponsorships - and lets face it, some of our governments choices of programs to sponsor are either really, really long-term investments or...writeoffs. And I can guarantee that the proposed "Anna Avenger" falls somewhere in between!I'm planning to approach first the Economic Development Corporation and then the City Council to apply for sponsorship of
drax0r for purpose of bringing goods and services (and potential tourist dollars) to Anna, Texas by making headlines with the first City sponsored mixed-martial arts fighter, putting our little slice of heaven right on the map!Superheroes are made - not born. Allow me to present to you, THE ANNA AVENGER!
The Anna Avenger is wrapping up his first month of training in building up the stamina required to compete in mixed-martial arts cage fighting. This marvelous machine of a man already has both the strength, and flexibility needed for competition having spent his youth in a variety of aggressive sports meant for just that purpose, such as wrestling and lacrosse.
But a decade spent as a highly-sought top-notch IT Professional has lessened his ability to project his super-strength and amazing bendy nature - think Zangief + Dhalsim - for any sustained duration. So he's been training something fierce these last four weeks, mind & body; body & mind, to build back the stamina to compete in any arena.
"We're proud to sponsor The Anna Avenger" I hope to one day hear the Mayor say, as we rally around one of the last true superheroes of this great nation. Please join me in support of
drax0r as we move forward in this endeavor, for you shall be greatly rewarded in the afterlife.
The Anna Avenger!
FIGHTING FOR {Y}OUR HOMETOWN!
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drax0r and I officially stood up The Anna News website last week, the online companion to the local weekly paper, after meeting with the owner of North Texas Media, with whom we shared a dream. Of course glodowg already knew that prior to her plan for this partnership being made public. Always thinking, always moving silently in the background.The Owner and Editor both are regular visitors to The Anna Texas Community Forum which
drax0r and I own and moderate, and we'd tried to get some cross-pollination going last year, but our intel was sketchy at that point, and we had been barking up the wrong tree. Couple that with the paper's previous failed attempts at a regularly-updated online edition, and our vocal charge of such, and glodowg coordinated a plan for us to put our money where our mouths were. It was an easy choice for them, as they were already familiar with us, and and easy choice for us, since we've been straining at the bit for this opportunity.The Anna News is a relatively young paper to this town - also the city's only true local paper - the others in circulation are multi-city papers. Upon its release, not only were
drax0r and I impressed with a paper focused solely on our fair city, but also its balance, and more importantly, its accuracy which the other papers seemed to have a difficult time reporting. I suppose you could say it was only a matter of time, as we had attempted to help out with the webpage previously, to no avail, but glodowg, she who moves in mysterious ways, by very definition, moved in a mysterious way, and connected all the dots unbeknownst to us.Granted, running a paper takes a lot more work than running a forum, but not only are we producing the website, we're also contributing columnists. Armed with our shiny new press passes, our next adventure together will be to build-out a cache of stock photographs around town from which to choose from for the varied and myriad topics on which we'll publish. (Yes, that's my house on the front page - I don't have a lot of royalty-free images in which to use, so I've been using my own!)
North Texas Media owns several local papers, and we're using Anna, Texas as the website's testbed. Based upon its eventual success, we're hoping to arm each of those cities with an online version, and in fact have already started on the city just South of us, The Melissa News. Where oh where will this rabbit-hole take us next? Stay tuned, and keep your eye on
glodowg for even we cannot predict her next shocking announcement. All for one and one for all, ya'll! |
 |
An interview of the site's premier and some background information can be found here.
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My neighbor's ass is always causing me frustration. Its just sometimes *right there* there, waiting to be noticed - and notice I do! Its disconcerting and a couple of times has caused me to nearly lose control of my vehicle. I mean, I know its there, close by, but I'm rarely expecting it where it causes me trouble. I'd be embarrassed about it if I thought it'd do any good, but I know it won't. Most of the time it just makes me angry; an unexpected delay. My neighbor's ass is not bad looking - I've even mentioned this to my wife, just so she's prepared when it happens, but I don't think there's anything to be done about it.
You see, I live in a nice subdivision, and all these subdivisions reside in town. A rural town. And there is one house off the half-mile county road from the highway to our subdivision, and every so often, his donkey gets out in the road. The road is beautiful and twisty, and every once in a while I have to come to a complete stop because of that donkey blocking traffic. I don't know how it gets out, and I've seen the cops there on several occasions helping secure it in its pen, but every so often it just surprises me out on the road.
I found the following email in my inbox Thursday morning:
stay off the city forum with your insults-with respect I'm imforming you. it's your choice.
This from the same poster who, before we banned her, threatened, "you can't intimate me, with your actions. Laugh Now-tell your friends at the city office- No mess with Jesus Christ." Charming. Anyway, I mulled it over a little bit, and finally drafted my reply:
Ma'am,
You've listed no repercussions for my non-compliance, which essentially turns your demand into a request. That being said, I'm disinclined to acquiesce. Furthermore you've suggested that I have a choice, yet haven't outlined an alternative course of action. This is problematic for two reasons. First, though you use the word, 'respect' there isn't anything respectful about your tone or request. Secondly, the word, 'inform' denotes the impartation of knowledge of a fact or circumstance, neither of which you've provided here. Due to these inconsistencies, I can't even begin to imagine what you were attempting to communicate, but it was altogether ineffective. However, because I'm not in the business of allowing random people to dictate my actions, I ask that you refrain from doing so in the future.
Thank you so much for your understanding,
Eric
I've been toying with the idea of getting a PlayStation3. My son overheard my wife and I discussing the pros and cons of such a multi-faceted device and very excitedly offered me $75. All of his savings.
And finally, I discovered a fatal flaw in my perfect plan: Shifting my narrowly-spaced small-footed Korean clutch in those freakishly formidable Frankenstein boots I bought, is akin to a brachydactylic with anaphia attempting to dexterously digitize a supermodel to completion.
It just ain't gonna happen.
Change does not come easily.
Last year I helped fight prohibition. It was a massive undertaking that involved many people, lots of work, and even more time. Meetings to develop a plan of action, coordinate activities, and assign projects. These included researching both the pros and cons of the issue, fact-finding missions, trying to qualify the oppositions outrageous, often unverified claims, creating pamphlets, letters, webpages, conducting informational rallies and attending other political functions for fund raising. We even designed and put up a billboard, and had radio spots created, discussing the best schedule during which they would air. For those who might have missed all of that, the last leg of our campaign involved calling every registered voter and papering entire neighborhoods with leaflets, to inform everyone we could the time, place and date of the vote. Walking door-to-door with 800 packets of information took
drax0r and I eight grueling hours. We won 77% of the vote. Coming off the high of the City Council's five-to-one defeat of the proposed smoking ban, I recently made the statement that 'bitching ceaselessly' in one's blog as your only form of 'action' to 'fight' a cause is ineffective. This was met by some resistance, and I was kindly asked for an apology.
At first I was incensed. The very thought that some no-name loser on a no-name blog could even consider themselves a political pundit by continuously churning out ineffective rhetoric in an ineffective medium was laughable. I likened it to apathy - the bane of the productive.
This of course put my own blog under the microscope via asinine questions meant to avoid my accusation. Do I think my blog is superior in its ability to sway or inform a voting public of issues, or passionately persuade anyone to my point of view? The answer is of course a resounding, "No." I do not. Not even accidentally.
And while I disagree with the blogger's assertion that by endlessly bitching about something on his blog, if just two people of the ten who read it tell their friends and so on and so forth, real, effective change can take place. I call bullshit, and I call that slothful - the first big step on the road to the depths of degradation; I say first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle. And the next thing ya know, your son is playing for money in a pinch-back suit and listening to some big out-a-town Jasper hearing him tell about horse-race gambling! (Not a wholesome trotting race - no! But a race where they set down right on the horse!)
I know one woman who became disgusted with all the bitching on our local City Forum; it obviously wasn't changing anything (I used this practical application as an example supporting my theory; he returned with, "Nuh-uh" to support his) - so you know what she did? Heh - she ran for City Council and got elected. I ask you, isn't that MORE effective? Doesn't action always always always speak above and beyond mere complaints? Does some nameless dude on some nameless blog bemoaning the current administration do more?
So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Blogs are not the truth! Blogs are a goddamned amusement park! Blogs are a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. Blogs are in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth...Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.
After chewing on my ire awhile, I wondered, Am I simply not thinking fourth-dimensionally? Perhaps I'm too old-skool? Perhaps...just perhaps action is an old man's game. I know that a young black Senator worked tirelessly to capture the imagination of the people and *actually* became President. Every child's mother tells their children that, but how many really believe it? Say what you will about the man, he did a hell of a lot more than complain on blogs to get where he is. Or did he? Are emo bloggers the new way to affect change? Is hard work just a bedtime story these days?
To all those bloggers I offended: I apologize - You are right.
You will absolutely reap 100% of what you sew, I guarantee it.
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Smoking ordinance vote scheduled for March 10
By Ken Gaidziunas
(Reprinted with Permission)
ANNA, TX - The third, and final Public Hearing on the Proposed Smoking Ordinance was on the agenda at Tuesday night's City Council meeting. While the intent of the Public Hearings was to give Anna residents an opportunity to voice their comments, no one showed up to speak at the first two hearings.
On Tuesday night Eric Howton an active member of the Anna Online forum was the lone speaker at the public hearing and spoke about the loss of freedom of choice as a result of city imposed ordinances. (Howton's comments are published in today's Anna News edition.) It is anticipated that the Proposed Smoking Ordinance, which ca be viewed on the City of Anna web site, (www.annaexas.gov) will be on the agenda and voted on at the next City Council meeting scheduled on March 10th.
Initially it was assumed it would pass easily with little opposition, but sources indicate several council members are viewing the issue from the perspective of a freedom of choice issue and are still seeking input from Anna residents.
I took speech class in high school, and again as part of the Air Force's Technical Training Instructor Course at the Officer Training School on the Medina Annex in San Antonio. I tell people I'm good at public speaking, but I must admit, I haven't spoken publicly in over a year. I know *how* to speak - at what volume and what speed when giving an oral presentation, and I know how to stand, and what to do with my hands. I know how to make eye-contact and where to place the emphasis in my paragraphs. I also expect the butterfly's and wavering voice to calm down once I get started, but during last night's presentation, that didn't happen.
I know all the people on the City Council, and the Mayor. I speak at length with them easily and confidently, and am friends with several of them. But put these same seven people behind a raised desk staring down at you as if in judgment while you're basically cautioning them against tyranny in the presence of the Chief of Police, and the City Lawyer, and I was sure I was going to be arrested for my inflammatory words.
Freedom can sound a lot like treason.
But sometimes the training really does just kick in. I approached the podium, and did what I had to do. Several individuals told me I was magnificent. For that, I am thankful, for I was unsure I could mask my nervousness. Simply put, I'm out of practice. One of my old managers from work (who also happens to live in our town) showed up to support me; I had requested his assistance on the speech. And while I initially fought against his advice (if you compare this speech to my first draft you'll notice its far less accusatory) the night before the meeting I incorporated some of his changes for the better...despite the fact that meant I no longer had it memorized. I'd like to thank him, and all of you for your support when I first posted it, as well as the Mayor and City Council for allowing me their time.
It will be printed in Friday's newspaper:
Being a lover of liberty means sometimes supporting activities I vehemently disagree with - thankfully, I'm never divided, because my agenda in these matters are without question: If it infringes upon personal freedom I am against it. Thankfully, we have you - a governing body, that being, a group of representatives chosen by the people to carry out the will of the people, insofar as it complies with county, state, and federal law.
While I agree the government has the right to impose such sanctions in City operated areas, and government facilities, that right ends at private enterprise. You may be familiar with the terms "free market society" and "capitalism." Our nation is built on these inherently self-regulating concepts. Loosely defined, it is not the government’s job, or place, to tell a private business how to operate. Freedom of choice is what makes this country work, it is this nation's founding ideals. In this day and age many incorrectly argue that they also have the right to go to a restaurant without being assaulted by smokers. That's not a right, its a choice - the same choice you are considering limiting with this proposal.
My personal opinion on smoking is irrelevant, as should be yours. Personal feelings of council members on this topic should never enter into the decision making process. If it is the people's will to make our community smoke-free, I refuse to argue against their choice to do so. But if the people are divided, I implore you to err on the side of freedom, for while you wield the power to deny us choice, I have placed my trust in you to exercise that power with discretion and responsibility. If this decision is not going to be put to the people, then it is imperative your own beliefs in sovereignty are discharged, for your actions will be heard by all.
It amused me that I wore the Union Jack upon my chest as I spoke about liberty.
As directed by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
melancthe:
1982 Dallas, TX - Home
My first "workstation" was in 1982; long before there were multiple color televisions in every room of the house. Ergo, I had to place my TI 99/4A adjacent my 13" B&W. I remember putting it all on a black trunk I created a desk from. My little brother hated watching television on it, but there was really no other choice. I think later my parents actually moved in a folding table for everything to go on.
1989 Rhome, TX - Home
By the time we moved into our second house in Rhome, I had a proper desk and spent most of my formative years writing apple basic programs. I was still very active on the computer as a Senior in 1988, doing most of my projects on it, while my classmates had moved on to things such as the IBM, Jr. *shiver* You can see the corner of the fancy color-monitor I hooked up as a dual-screen back in 1989 I got on sale at Dillard's for $200. What. A. Geek.
1991 Germany - Dorm
Yes, I brought the Apple IIe to Germany with me. A couple of things: There was no real room for it in the dormitory, and I discovered German bier. I don't recall ever using the computer during my tenure in Germany.
1992 England - Dorm
The computer got a lot more use in the UK as I was there quite a bit longer. I wrote volumes of letters to everyone I knew, running that old Okidata dot matrix ribbon dry. This was the beginning of the end, however, for the old Apple IIe. I moved it to Virginia and set it up in my bedroom, but I was roommates withphotogoot and he had other ideas how to spend our time. When I wasn't deployed (and I was TDY a lot in Virginia) we were playing games on our Super Nintendo, or partying with hordes of lesbians.
1997 Maple Shade, NJ - Home
I purchased a new computer right before I left the Air Force, and used it to secure a job. When I arrived in New Jersey, I purchased what I was sure was The Ultimate Desk. We had a small one-room apartment at Fox Meadow and Feng shui be damned - there was a lot of thought and creativity that went into crafting a usable and livable space. It appears here that a rear-speaker is placed above the coffee mugs adjacent the couch.
1998 Irving, TX - Home
Turns out that desk didn't like being picked up and moved, even if you disassembled it first. Nonetheless, I must've done that three times or so before she finally just disintegrated. Here is the reassembled monster in the living room of our first house. Later, it was (disassembled, moved & reassembled) relocated to the "office" we made from the spare bedroom once we found we were going to have a baby.
1999 Irving, TX - Home Servers
1999 also marks the first year I got a unix server. My first was the behemoth HP9000/755. It was much heavier than it looks. And because they required their own keyboard mouse, monitor and external disks...I had to rethink the role of the workspace.
2000 Andover, MA - Hotel Stay
drax0r and I were sent to Massachusetts for six and three months respectively. There, we chose to simulate best we could, a working environment. Most of the furniture in my room we moved under the cover of darkness to his room, and set up a rudimentary network, complete with a fileserver, shared printer and scanner, and connected A/V equipment to rip and burn movies from VHS. It was a sight to behold. In fact, unbeknownst to us at the time, two managers were staying in the hotel as well, and had walked by the room when the maid was cleaning it. One said to the other, "See that? That's what we need!"
2001 Boyd, TX - Home + Servers
At my most expansive. Too many monitors, too many discrete boxes requiring their own peripherals. You can see "The Ultimate Desk." It finally gave up the ghost after I pulled all those heavy monitors off it. I traded in the IPX & Rack-mount SPARCstation-2 for my dual-proc SPARCstation-10 and that helped cut down some clutter.
2002 Wichita, KS - Home Server
I took a job in Kansas while living in Texas and commuted for 14-months. During this time I was in used-unix Mecca and finished building out my SPARCstation-10. A buddy in Kansas hung it off his broadband, andunixwolf hosted my DNS. This box was everything to me during this time, keeping me sane during an insane year that also coincided with the birth of my daughter. My Kansas workspace at work was the best ever! I had a Dell XP box, an Ultra-60, and an HP/UX box. I called danzigfried last night to try and scrape up something for this entry, alas, no pictures of that exist.
2004 Boyd, TX - Home Servers
Then I hosted the MUD for about a year when I returned from Kansas. The MUD server had lost its home and was on its way to New Mexico with a 400% increase in hosting fees so I traded in my ADSL for SDSL and with a partnership withdentin and drax0r built-out its new home.
2004 Boyd, TX - Home + Servers
Hanging a head off the back of a rack is something I would turn to again in 2007 for simplicities sake.
2005 Boyd, TX - Home Servers & PC
We moved everything into the formal dining room for awhile. I don't remember why. I think my wife was re-doing the den. As this location had the greatest visibility in the house, she worked double-time on the den project. She hated that the house looked like a data center when you walked in.
2004 Allen, TX - Startup Business
Thendrax0r and I became partners in the startup company Wild Damn Texan. Here's a shot where I spent six full months working instead of sleeping or being with my family. It was a hectic time. We later found out we had it easy...
2005 Arlington, TX - Startup Business
...as we later relocated to much tighter quarters! Here's a shot ofsquackle working some voo-doo for us in a rare Texas visit capture.
2005 Fort Worth, TX - Work PC & Workstation
One of my client sites. This is where I learned of the hell which is knows as Sun Blade 100/150. I heavily modified everything I could in that box to give something even close to performance.
2005 Fort Worth, TX - Temp Home setup atceltmanx's.
Then I sold my house and lived at the Arlington Data Center and withceltmanx as I awaited my new job in STL. Many, many hours playing Star Trek Elite Force here.
2005 Saint Louis, MO - Hotel Stay
I was in this hotel for six months. Thankfully, little mini there is a fully-functioning unix box and the hotel provided me an externally accessible private-IP. I still had my server quark in Dallas at WDT for everything else until that venture dissolved.
2005 Saint Louis, MO - Work
At work, I required a unix box for projects which never came to fruition outside my XP laptop. This was the "office" when I arrived.
2006 Saint Louis, MO - Work
Later, they movedgalinda822 and I into our own hard-walled office during a reconfiguration move. Those who used to poke fun of me for running linux (like bigdog_etc) stopped doing so when my blocking tar solution was able to perform >2GB file feats their cut & paste could not.
2006 Saint Louis, MO - Home
My home computer in STL was set up, at one time or another, in every room of the house (or so it seemed). I have those examples, but they're all as equally boring as this, where it ended up: In a basement office my wife &galinda822 created for me while I was away on a business trip.
2007 Anna, TX - Temp Home + Servers atdrax0r's.
Moving from STL back into the DFW metroplex three months ahead of my wife required that I travel with all the computers I would need. Here they are set up indrax0r's house, where he graciously hosted us until our house sold and we closed on ours.
2007 Anna, TX - Home Servers
My office today is painted Sun Microsystems colors, and I've culled my collection down to the basics.
2007 Anna, TX - Home Workspace
Simplicity. No visible boxes. Just keyboard, mouse, and speakers. The small size of my office led me to hang everything off the back of the rack, out of sight.
2008 Anna, TX - Home Workspace
Moved my wife in, replaced CRT's with widescreen LCD's, and zip tied all cables to the desk. Moved into the nook to free up wallspace and better utilize the small space in the turret.
Took my job 100% Remote (Work From Home) and moved into the basement of the rent house. (Servers here.)
2012 Wichita, KS - Remote Home Office
MOVED TO WICHITA.
(Click for FULL VIEW goodness)
2013 NEWTON, KS - Remote Home Office
MOVED BACK TO NEWTON.
(Click for FULL VIEW goodness)
2020 ELLINWOOD, KS - Remote Home Office
2020 ELLINWOOD, KS - Basement Server Room
Moved to Ellinwood.
melancthe:1982 Dallas, TX - Home
My first "workstation" was in 1982; long before there were multiple color televisions in every room of the house. Ergo, I had to place my TI 99/4A adjacent my 13" B&W. I remember putting it all on a black trunk I created a desk from. My little brother hated watching television on it, but there was really no other choice. I think later my parents actually moved in a folding table for everything to go on.
1989 Rhome, TX - Home
By the time we moved into our second house in Rhome, I had a proper desk and spent most of my formative years writing apple basic programs. I was still very active on the computer as a Senior in 1988, doing most of my projects on it, while my classmates had moved on to things such as the IBM, Jr. *shiver* You can see the corner of the fancy color-monitor I hooked up as a dual-screen back in 1989 I got on sale at Dillard's for $200. What. A. Geek.
1991 Germany - Dorm
Yes, I brought the Apple IIe to Germany with me. A couple of things: There was no real room for it in the dormitory, and I discovered German bier. I don't recall ever using the computer during my tenure in Germany.
1992 England - Dorm
The computer got a lot more use in the UK as I was there quite a bit longer. I wrote volumes of letters to everyone I knew, running that old Okidata dot matrix ribbon dry. This was the beginning of the end, however, for the old Apple IIe. I moved it to Virginia and set it up in my bedroom, but I was roommates with
photogoot and he had other ideas how to spend our time. When I wasn't deployed (and I was TDY a lot in Virginia) we were playing games on our Super Nintendo, or partying with hordes of lesbians.1997 Maple Shade, NJ - Home
I purchased a new computer right before I left the Air Force, and used it to secure a job. When I arrived in New Jersey, I purchased what I was sure was The Ultimate Desk. We had a small one-room apartment at Fox Meadow and Feng shui be damned - there was a lot of thought and creativity that went into crafting a usable and livable space. It appears here that a rear-speaker is placed above the coffee mugs adjacent the couch.
1998 Irving, TX - Home
Turns out that desk didn't like being picked up and moved, even if you disassembled it first. Nonetheless, I must've done that three times or so before she finally just disintegrated. Here is the reassembled monster in the living room of our first house. Later, it was (disassembled, moved & reassembled) relocated to the "office" we made from the spare bedroom once we found we were going to have a baby.
1999 Irving, TX - Home Servers
1999 also marks the first year I got a unix server. My first was the behemoth HP9000/755. It was much heavier than it looks. And because they required their own keyboard mouse, monitor and external disks...I had to rethink the role of the workspace.
2000 Andover, MA - Hotel Stay
drax0r and I were sent to Massachusetts for six and three months respectively. There, we chose to simulate best we could, a working environment. Most of the furniture in my room we moved under the cover of darkness to his room, and set up a rudimentary network, complete with a fileserver, shared printer and scanner, and connected A/V equipment to rip and burn movies from VHS. It was a sight to behold. In fact, unbeknownst to us at the time, two managers were staying in the hotel as well, and had walked by the room when the maid was cleaning it. One said to the other, "See that? That's what we need!"2001 Boyd, TX - Home + Servers
At my most expansive. Too many monitors, too many discrete boxes requiring their own peripherals. You can see "The Ultimate Desk." It finally gave up the ghost after I pulled all those heavy monitors off it. I traded in the IPX & Rack-mount SPARCstation-2 for my dual-proc SPARCstation-10 and that helped cut down some clutter.
2002 Wichita, KS - Home Server
I took a job in Kansas while living in Texas and commuted for 14-months. During this time I was in used-unix Mecca and finished building out my SPARCstation-10. A buddy in Kansas hung it off his broadband, and
unixwolf hosted my DNS. This box was everything to me during this time, keeping me sane during an insane year that also coincided with the birth of my daughter. My Kansas workspace at work was the best ever! I had a Dell XP box, an Ultra-60, and an HP/UX box. I called danzigfried last night to try and scrape up something for this entry, alas, no pictures of that exist.2004 Boyd, TX - Home Servers
Then I hosted the MUD for about a year when I returned from Kansas. The MUD server had lost its home and was on its way to New Mexico with a 400% increase in hosting fees so I traded in my ADSL for SDSL and with a partnership with
dentin and drax0r built-out its new home.2004 Boyd, TX - Home + Servers
Hanging a head off the back of a rack is something I would turn to again in 2007 for simplicities sake.
2005 Boyd, TX - Home Servers & PC
We moved everything into the formal dining room for awhile. I don't remember why. I think my wife was re-doing the den. As this location had the greatest visibility in the house, she worked double-time on the den project. She hated that the house looked like a data center when you walked in.
2004 Allen, TX - Startup Business
Then
drax0r and I became partners in the startup company Wild Damn Texan. Here's a shot where I spent six full months working instead of sleeping or being with my family. It was a hectic time. We later found out we had it easy...2005 Arlington, TX - Startup Business
...as we later relocated to much tighter quarters! Here's a shot of
squackle working some voo-doo for us in a rare Texas visit capture.2005 Fort Worth, TX - Work PC & Workstation
One of my client sites. This is where I learned of the hell which is knows as Sun Blade 100/150. I heavily modified everything I could in that box to give something even close to performance.
2005 Fort Worth, TX - Temp Home setup at
celtmanx's.Then I sold my house and lived at the Arlington Data Center and with
celtmanx as I awaited my new job in STL. Many, many hours playing Star Trek Elite Force here. 2005 Saint Louis, MO - Hotel Stay
I was in this hotel for six months. Thankfully, little mini there is a fully-functioning unix box and the hotel provided me an externally accessible private-IP. I still had my server quark in Dallas at WDT for everything else until that venture dissolved.
2005 Saint Louis, MO - Work
At work, I required a unix box for projects which never came to fruition outside my XP laptop. This was the "office" when I arrived.
2006 Saint Louis, MO - Work
Later, they moved
galinda822 and I into our own hard-walled office during a reconfiguration move. Those who used to poke fun of me for running linux (like bigdog_etc) stopped doing so when my blocking tar solution was able to perform >2GB file feats their cut & paste could not.2006 Saint Louis, MO - Home
My home computer in STL was set up, at one time or another, in every room of the house (or so it seemed). I have those examples, but they're all as equally boring as this, where it ended up: In a basement office my wife &
galinda822 created for me while I was away on a business trip. 2007 Anna, TX - Temp Home + Servers at
drax0r's.Moving from STL back into the DFW metroplex three months ahead of my wife required that I travel with all the computers I would need. Here they are set up in
drax0r's house, where he graciously hosted us until our house sold and we closed on ours.2007 Anna, TX - Home Servers
My office today is painted Sun Microsystems colors, and I've culled my collection down to the basics.
2007 Anna, TX - Home Workspace
Simplicity. No visible boxes. Just keyboard, mouse, and speakers. The small size of my office led me to hang everything off the back of the rack, out of sight.
2008 Anna, TX - Home Workspace
Moved my wife in, replaced CRT's with widescreen LCD's, and zip tied all cables to the desk. Moved into the nook to free up wallspace and better utilize the small space in the turret.
2011 Newton, KS - Remote Home Office
Took my job 100% Remote (Work From Home) and moved into the basement of the rent house. (Servers here.)
2012 Wichita, KS - Remote Home Office
MOVED TO WICHITA.
(Click for FULL VIEW goodness)
2013 NEWTON, KS - Remote Home Office
MOVED BACK TO NEWTON.
(Click for FULL VIEW goodness)
2020 ELLINWOOD, KS - Remote Home Office
2020 ELLINWOOD, KS - Basement Server Room
Moved to Ellinwood.
"The legal sale of all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption only."
Today is the day Americans (without prior felony convictions and over the age of consent) exercise their right to vote. This is also the day that many Americans will choose not to. This isn't the BIG ONE - but its important to me.
As you know,
drax0r and I have been heavily involved in the Anti-Prohibition movement here locally. We've put up a billboard, a web-page (nearly 2000 hits to date), made & put up yard signs, been quoted in the newspaper, written articles and editorials, participated in public debate, mailed out letters, flyers, done informal polling, and most recently, distributed doorhangers to houses in which people were registered to vote but did not sign the prohibition petition nor have a prohibition sign in their yard. I have used the city forum as my personal soapbox - often lambasting the competition for being cheats & liars (and providing the documentation to back up my claim) in hopes that they too, were reading surreptitiously. So much work, so much time, and it all comes down to today. If nothing else, we have educated the public on what's at stake, and why. We'll know today.
(As an aside, we've recently had visitors from the Dominican Republic, Sweden, Egypt and Latvia visiting our forums here of late, and I have no idea why.)
It all boils down to today's vote. I'm guessing a landslide victory - something in the 80/20 range. More conservative guesses hover around the 60/40 percentage range. I can't sleep. I stayed home from work sick today. Little girl and I got the same thing at the same time, and we missed the Christening of
celtmanx's newest baby and the Grand Opening of their new business. Bah! I took Little girl to the doctor this morning, she got a prescription with Hydrocodone, and I did not. Perhaps it was my indulgence of my new favorite morning drink, Java Monster?
All the goodness of Monster-brand drinks, in a non-carbonated, 16oz. Iced Coffee. Damn they're good! I read recently where half our empty calories come in liquid form. Someday I'll cut back on these too, but not yet. Not yet. In fact, seeing how its 0230, I'll likely need a little pick-me-up tomorrow morning as well. I hope to make it into work, but you just never know about these things.
drax0r brought over a little treat Saturday when we were finished handing out flyers. The BSG interim episode RAZOR. Nice! Of course it got the old juices flowing, and my wife and I followed that up with the Mini-Series. Damn that was good! The Soundtrack was excellent; the suspense - superb! What a fantastic piece of work. Almost puts the series to shame. So yeah, we're going to re-watch all the shows, finishing hopefully around the time Season three is released on DVD. And as I had not seen Firefly until 2006, and hadn't watched the BSG mini-series since 2005, I was shocked and amazed to find Serenity cruising across the skies in Caprica City!
Taking my boy camping with the Cub Scouts Saturday night. (Need to set up the tent in the back yard one day this week - I have only three days left to do this) I have to replace six banks of RAM in a V880 that following Sunday. (starting at 1000) Monday is Bring a Vet to School Day. I am going in place of asking my father to be up here at 0800 for who knows how long, and for what. I'll wear the jacket I wear every Veteran's Day - the one with my medals, campaign patches, and unit patches. Maybe I'll even get a picture for you.
Channel 8 News just contacted us via our http://keepannagrowing.com website! They're coming out. Record number of voters for such a small town - w00t!
20-years ago, there was an infestation of tarantulas in the small town of Rhome, Texas. They were in the house, on the wall, in the tub, on the trees outside, they covered the back lawn and the sidewalks and the streets. There were a lot of them. I'd never seen them before, or since. This weekend, I saw one. I knew this day would come. They day, they returned!
He's a little smaller than my hand
Saturday morning we trekked into McKinney for the Farmer's Market. My dad took my brother and I to the one in Dallas as kids. Whole boxes of fresh apples, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries. Bags and bags of fresh vegetables. We'd go twice a month and feast of fresh food in between. There must've been 150 stalls - each farmer hauling in his wares.
The one in McKinney had four.
And one was selling candles.
Even my children were disappointed in the selection
So I hung the star my Father bought me as a housewarming gift. I slipped my Porter Cable 14.4 Volt HammerDrill into "Hammer" mode and slipped a masonry bit into it. Going through the brick was tougher than I remembered, but I blame it on standing on the step of the ladder which reads, "DO NOT STEP ON THIS STEP!" I had my wife hold the ladder to keep me from toppling, but I had no leverage. So then I drilled through the mortar (much easier). Then I swapped out the bit for the screwdriver, and drove a masonry screw in the hole. Wouldn't take. Found a much LONGER masonry screw, but it had a hex top. Swapped out bits again and drove that it - wouldn't hold. Dunno what the issue is, but most of it could probably be solved with a taller ladder!
Deep in the Heart of Texas
My wife finished painting my office - in all its glory its now Sun Microsystems purple & gray. I moved my 6-foot folding table in there but couldn't get any orientation around the rack which would work (I plan on putting EVERYTHING save monitor, keyboard and mouse in the rack) and close the door, keeping things nice and neat. My wife really wants her dining room back, so suggested, despite the fact that neither of us wanted to leave the house Sunday, that I go find a desk. I stopped at all the places once would normally stop, and finally settled on the Sharper Image 'Stockton' Desk at OfficeMax:
L-shaped...for her pleasure.
They didn't have any, but I could order some and they'd be delivered to my home (no delivery charge if I wasn't out of area) or their office and I could pick them up. (No.) Or...they could see if a nearby store had any? (Fantastic! Let's do that!) The other stores were out too. Fine, let's order them and have them delivered to my house. Oh, you live in Anna? I'm sorry - there's a charge for being out of area. (I'm 12 miles North of this store. That's 'in' your area, trust me on this. You're the closet OfficeMax to me. Fine - what's the delivery fee?) THEY DON'T CALCULATE THE DELIVERY FEE UNTIL YOU'VE AGREED TO PAY IT! (I'm sorry, but I would feel awfully foolish accepting those terms - tell you what, you've already wasted half an hour of my time, let's just get it delivered here. Thanks.) They're on backorder. (Until when?) One week. Or two. Or more. (With me so far? Ok - so I said, "Sounds like now is the time for you to make me one hell of a deal on your display - you don't have any in stock, you're not going to get any, and no one else has any.") They call up the manager. They explained it to her. She said she'd be happy to sell the display...for full price.
I walked out.
And ordered them online this morning.
No delivery charge.
Spent the rest of the day stuffing my rack full of equipment, cabling it up, configuring my router, building firewall rules, and re-IP'ing my boxes. WHAT a nightmare. That office has no lights, no fan, and a single tiny A/C vent. With every box in that rack running, it got damn hot. The office looks FANTASTIC (pictures with the purple & gray walls once I get my desk set up) and for the first time since I've been in IT, I have a very professional looking home office. Thanks sweetheart.
Rack-madness
We're in. Closing was the smoothest I've ever attended. Using my bank as my lender was brilliant on many different fronts. First of all, they required zero input from me whatsoever. Second, the rate was unbeatable. The new washer and dryer were delivered and installed yesterday, cable modem (7mb down/512k up) gets installed Friday. Final P.O.D.S. delivery is Friday. My folks are coming up Saturday.
drax0r and I have been pinch-hitting for each other, working on the arrangement of both homes. Holmes... Everything is coming together smoothly.Closing was cheaper than I anticipated and I didn't even touch the $10k loans...those will be going back to you shortly. Thanks again, for everything.
I'm 10.3 miles from my driveway to a parking space at work, averaging 19.5 mpg on a 15-minute drive @ 41.2 mph.
Prior to the first day of school, we were given placards to hang in the window of our vehicles to verify which children went with which car. The children were required to memorize these numbers to ensure smooth operation of after school pick-up.
It was anything but smooth.
On the second day of school, different numbers were assigned to the children. Numbers which were NOT the same numbers they had to memorize for the first day of school. No reason was given for this change. None whatsoever.
This didn't help things either.
On the third day of school it appears that they're considering scrapping the entire "Number" thing altogether. Apparently, school administrators have decided on a different type of structure - one which, to my small, non-school administrator mind seems to have far-reaching consequences, and is, quite possibly, the most progressive ideas I've seen from an institution such as this:
They've decided to simply use the students name.
*sigh*
And - just to mix things up a bit, I've decided against the office being Hunter Racing Green & Tan and have instead decided to paint it in a Sun Microsystems color scheme. My wife thinks this is a wonderful departure of the norm, and is very excited about painting the office these bold new colors. Though I must admit, I haven't told her that they're Sun colors. I just picked them out from the paint chits. The last colors were from Ralph Laruen's "Thoroughbred" line. These are from their "Urban Loft" series:
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Introduced my wife to The Boys from Brazil last night. Asked her to watch a movie with me; didn't tell her a thing about it. She was into it almost immediately. She still doesn't know what all is involved. We stopped last night at the halfway point - can't wait to finish it up tonight! I don't think I've seen the movie since the early 80's; I think I caught it on its network television premiere. Its like a new movie to me.
I broke down and cried.
In front of my wife, no less.
After all this shit with the house - coupled with the fact that I still don't know how I'm going to come up with $8000 by the 31th - or the odd $2000 I may me short if I do...I'm gambling on so much. I'm gambling on my relo arriving on time - by the 31st; we have to close in this month or else I'll be held hostage for another $3000 I don't have. I'm gambling on getting funded - by Monday now, if the house has indeed closed - I don't even know that! was just as busy on the phone & fax Friday as I was the day before during all the drama (still no money from the sale of the house) and on top of that, as I'm driving home (to quickly change clothes and drive to my parents house for the weekend) it dawns on me that part of my relo - what I've put a stake in on the closing of the new house - was based on my agents commission: I get refunded for that. And both agents credited $1500 of their commission to get the house sold. That's money I can no longer claim, yet I still need to claim and receive $8000 in just over two-weeks time plus find somewhere another two grand still...Too many demands (I'm not paying enough attention to my friends or family, apparently) everywhere I turn. And amidst all this, I'm still expected to do my job. My day started at 0400 this morning for a 10-hour project.
I get home, and my wife wants us to move the closing up earlier than the 24th.
I stare at her blankly.
She wants the children to be in the house prior to school starting (the 27th) the Monday after we would close on that Friday (the 24th), not four days after (the 31st). She's very upset by this change of plans.
I don't even know if the kids are going to have their own home to live in, let alone whether it's three days before, or four days after school starts, and if we are, if they'll have food to eat the first month we're there.
I thought she understood all this.
I couldn't handle this latest requirement, and lost it.
I can't remember the last time I cried. I usually handle stress fairly well. I don't "love chaos" like
drax0r claims he does (though hearing him glibly state that and watching him in the middle of a fiasco are two very different things) but I think things have been building up way too much these last three months.Once we purchase the house, everything should be fine. Its just scraping together this enormous amount of cash in a given period which has proven...challenging.
I won't say that I'm calm now; its still there, just under the surface, but my wife has brilliantly outlined a solution that just may work. Its not my favorite thing to do, but I think it will do the trick. We put all purchases the next two weeks on the credit card, and keep 100% of my paycheck as ready-cash for closing.
This may actually work.
In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.
Little girl's birthday party is Saturday, there will be lots of people there. I'm grilling burgers. Dad's bringing Angus beef patties (to die for) and sharp cheddar cheese. My wife picked up all the trimmings yesterday. Our refrigerator is up and running in the garage, greatly increasing capacity as two families are living under one roof. If the house goes through, we'll close on the 20th of July.
Well, 1000-1400 today: I'm outta here! Ya'll have a good one.
- My client now enforces the 'steel toe' policy when walking around in the warehouse. For those of us who wear tennis shoes, clip-ons are provided. So there I am on the highly polished concrete floor clopping around like a horse standing on its hind legs.
- Rec'd an offer on my house.
- Was standing in the hallway at the old E-Systems building and saw a guy come out of a conference room. He had the new Air Force logo on his shirt, and that caught my eye. As he passed by me, I said, "Excuse me." He stopped and turned toward me. I said, "I was in one of your imagery classes at Goodfellow Air Force Base."
- Rec'd a caution for "Thread-Hijacking" on the Anna Online Forums.
- Niobe returned home after a 4-day hiatus. Unfortunately, she's now acting like that cat in Pet Semetary. Creepy.
- I'm really starting to show my age. I had to explain to schpydurx that there were no consumer digital recording products in 1965.
- Tony's airlock has been active all morning. He likens it to a hatch on DS9.
Little girl's birthday party is Saturday, there will be lots of people there. I'm grilling burgers. Dad's bringing Angus beef patties (to die for) and sharp cheddar cheese. My wife picked up all the trimmings yesterday. Our refrigerator is up and running in the garage, greatly increasing capacity as two families are living under one roof. If the house goes through, we'll close on the 20th of July.
Well, 1000-1400 today: I'm outta here! Ya'll have a good one.
bash# chown -R us:us base
I wondered how they could even think of releasing a sequel to Starcraft, one of the most perfect games ever. I was insulted that they'd even try. That is, until I saw this:
I want.
Haus
We had a house picked out prior to moving to Texas. It was grand, all was good. It makes moving easier when you already have something in mind. We saw the house, it was beautiful. But...just in case, just for giggles, we chose to continue to look. Deciding instead on something large and pretentious, we scoured the local area. Nothing quite suited us (or was out of our price range) until we found the house. Granted, at 2100 sq/ft, it was quite a bit smaller than we wanted, but I can't imagine finding a more perfectly laid-out home for our needs.
The Master Bath is much smaller than I was anticipating, and I had to give up one of my core requirements: Private throne. I just love the ones which are behind their own door. But this is a custom home, built with $20k worth of options, which they're taking off the price of the house (as it is a buyer's market and they want to move pre-existing inventory) plus $10k cash at signing. What a deal.
My last custom home was on half an acre. This one is not. In fact, this one has the potential to be everything I hate: A long & narrow houseplan on a zero lot-line. This house differs from the crowd by being more of a custom home, and using non-contractor grade amenities. Those who have purchased homes before know exactly what I'm talking about. The floor plan is broken up into four discrete areas, allowing it to be both very open, and yet separating key components of the house per my expectations. There's a door we're having put in to completely cut off the family room & children's rooms from the rest of the house. In addition, we're turning what they call the "Children's Retreat" into the den - a major plus we took advantage of at our house in Boyd. This affords us our formal living area. Most homes we looked at had the option of turning the formal dining room into an office, or I had to buy a 4-bedroom home and use the 4th bedroom as such. This one provides both an office and a formal dining area.
So it costs more than other houses in its size, and its smaller than what we wanted. It's also in a very quiet, very beautiful part of Anna, and under 10-minutes to work. That's less driving time than when I was in STL! I present to you, what is currently our first choice as a new home:
( Interior & Plan )
The rest of the house pics have been uploaded to my Gallery server here.
I wondered how they could even think of releasing a sequel to Starcraft, one of the most perfect games ever. I was insulted that they'd even try. That is, until I saw this:
Click to see map in motion...
I want.
Haus
We had a house picked out prior to moving to Texas. It was grand, all was good. It makes moving easier when you already have something in mind. We saw the house, it was beautiful. But...just in case, just for giggles, we chose to continue to look. Deciding instead on something large and pretentious, we scoured the local area. Nothing quite suited us (or was out of our price range) until we found the house. Granted, at 2100 sq/ft, it was quite a bit smaller than we wanted, but I can't imagine finding a more perfectly laid-out home for our needs.
The Master Bath is much smaller than I was anticipating, and I had to give up one of my core requirements: Private throne. I just love the ones which are behind their own door. But this is a custom home, built with $20k worth of options, which they're taking off the price of the house (as it is a buyer's market and they want to move pre-existing inventory) plus $10k cash at signing. What a deal.
My last custom home was on half an acre. This one is not. In fact, this one has the potential to be everything I hate: A long & narrow houseplan on a zero lot-line. This house differs from the crowd by being more of a custom home, and using non-contractor grade amenities. Those who have purchased homes before know exactly what I'm talking about. The floor plan is broken up into four discrete areas, allowing it to be both very open, and yet separating key components of the house per my expectations. There's a door we're having put in to completely cut off the family room & children's rooms from the rest of the house. In addition, we're turning what they call the "Children's Retreat" into the den - a major plus we took advantage of at our house in Boyd. This affords us our formal living area. Most homes we looked at had the option of turning the formal dining room into an office, or I had to buy a 4-bedroom home and use the 4th bedroom as such. This one provides both an office and a formal dining area.
So it costs more than other houses in its size, and its smaller than what we wanted. It's also in a very quiet, very beautiful part of Anna, and under 10-minutes to work. That's less driving time than when I was in STL! I present to you, what is currently our first choice as a new home:
( Interior & Plan )
The rest of the house pics have been uploaded to my Gallery server here.
With the IBM laptop tucked neatly away in its bag adjacent the AirCard where it belongs, I finally put my interim office together! I'm running the Mac & the XP box off a 'flip' KVM and have my Solaris server up and running (give DNS a couple of days to propagate). As everything I own is in storage, and having used two dissimilarly sized filing cabinets and a closet door as my last 'desk' (with the rack-mount Solaris box between the shorter filing cabinet and the closet door) at my last office, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a 6' table from Sam's. This is something I will be able to use over and over. All-in-all, very adequate.
drax0r set his desk up the day before, ensuring the cable modem was to his standards (3.7mbps down) and rebroadcasting wireless throughout the house. We're back-to-back in the dining room 'office.' It's nice to have iTunes back. 
ehowton
drax0r
drax0r discovered the Anna, TX forums - so we've both been active on there. Kinda getting to know your neighbors in a creepy online sort of way. they even have separate forums for each subdivision in town - lots of chatter on there. Anna also appears to be the single seller of liquor in the county. Nice! Though via the forums, we've discovered them to be the bane of the residents, after visiting a few of them, I've noticed that the exclusivity of them in the county, plus the sheer number of them in this small town, makes for very competitive pricing. I bought a new bottle of Scotch at a fantastic price, and will be updating my Scotch Review with it shortly, as well as two others I have yet to add, the Glenfiddich 15, and the bottle of Glenmorangie 12 drax0r presented to me upon my arrival.
crowy prepared a fantastic dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans for dinner this evening. I tired to make a gravy out of the drippings, but it turned out to be more oil than broth and didn't turn out. Despite lack of gravy on the meal, everything was eaten. Last night was her famous spaghetti, spoiled by the addition of too much crushed red pepper. Oddly enough, it was all eaten as well! The kitchen is spacious enough for multiple cooks; a wonderful change from my last place of residence. Soon, the grill will come...I hope you all are doing well and having a fantastic evening!
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drax0r and I are helping build a Data Center. This will be my third. Four of us have been very busy setting up racks and racking servers. This included two full days of drax0r and I crawling around on the floor pulling power whips to diversify power feeds to create redundant dual-fed PDU's. Most of this time was spent flat on the belly reaching into the sub-floor. At least computer rooms are well cooled. We were so sore after the second day, the architect brought us some top-of-the-line injected gel-filled knee-pads. After that, life was good. He'd also purchased some very nice tools which made completing our task that much more enjoyable. Namely, the Hitachi DB3DL. What a joy! Ion-lithium battery, LED 'spotlight' and a straight/bent operating mode complete with torque control (great for using with rack screws). Working together, the four of us managed to get most everything which needed to be done finished in four, 10-hour days. Thusday we jumpstarted a Fujitsu PrimePower from a SPARC laptop, and today we watched the architect run the fiber and zone the SAN switch so it could see the drives. After work we grabbed a beer and set our plans in stone to begin moving to Anna, TX starting at 0900 Friday:
I'm still tweaking my kubuntu laptop, here recently installing beryl on
princessleia2's recommendation (its GUI-tastic!), and finally getting the Sprint AirCard to work with the operating system. That was an uphill battle. As it stands, 7.0.4 runs pretty damn fast on this 1.8GHz Core Duo with 2GB of RAM, though I still can't get VMware to see attached USB devices outside of the mouse. Our house in STL has been shown twice this week, its first week on the market, and there are tentative plans to show it three more times over the weekend. That's good news. I'm ready to be with my wife.
We moved two full storage sheds and a garage onto a 26' U-Haul & 16' trailer. It took us part of last weekend, and all of Friday to get this accomplished. We've now moved into the new rent house, a mere 12 miles from work. r0ckin! Then, as we were unloading, I finally had the pleasure to meet
crowy. She was more delightful than I'd imagined - and once we all started drinking, became even moreso: 
drax0r purchased a 12-pack of Shiner Bock and bought me a 5-litre gravity-tap keg of Paulaner Hefe-Weizen. I drank enough to be hungover the next day, which is a damn rare thing for me. Picking up little girl to bring her to Anna overnight to play with drax0r &
jesskd26's boy. They're both very excited about this and spent an ample amount of time on the phone yesterday planning their reunion. I'll pick up my dry cleaning and change the cat's litter box & food today while I'm in Boyd.Until next time...
Happy Mother's Day!
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