White Lightning Axiom: Redux: May 2007

Thursday, May 31, 2007

 

down side of the hill

photo PORTABLE_LOW 2
Still in class ... with the additional benefit of having the wireless connectivity in the building gone wonky. Nobody can connect and only us folks near the wall who arrived early managed to get a hard-line. We are now the bourgeois elite. Hated and envied by the chattering hordes who must now depend on sneaker-net usb drive technology. Let them eat cake. More likely, they will rise up and usurp my autoritAH' and make me socialize the connection. We already tried getting a hub with little success. SO ... if I actually get this out it will be another amazing feat. With that said, enjoy if you are reading this. If not, then nobody was in the forest when the tree fell. Come back later when I've got my lumberjacking uniform on.[NOTE: Things got sketchy so this IS late, go figure]

So, my first day back at TSD since before the long weekend was not a journey though hades and across the river styx as I expected. There were just 4 of us in the adult class and we were all pretty much in the same boat. Of course, my MS made the 1000 degree room temperature a nearly intolerable traipse down the road to hell, but my fellow travelers were boiling in their own skins just the same so there was not differentiation between the young ambitious and the decrepit curmudgeons (Yeah Charlie, you count in the later category too). One thing that will help with this is the approach of the 'Summer Uniform Reprieve'. Instead of heavy woolen long-johns with hot fission reverse thermal reflectors, we get to wear the logo-emblazoned tshirts ... much cooler and significantly easier to deal with in the wash. You see, the black tshirts require a lot less bleach because I sweat pure toxic waste. Unpleasant stuff ... let it sit for more than 24 hours and it grows nasty, bitey fangs. June first is the official beginning of summer, there will be much rejoicing in the Haupertonain Manor Laundry and currency-aging department.



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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

 

Good dog ... SIT!

hp
Well, Alexis was milking the 'tummy grumbles' yesterday and complained that she did not want to go to swimming or karate. I decided that I would let it slide for one more day. I was still exhausted from the previous night's adventures regarding the Niagara Falls Water Heater of Exploding Doom and that Alexis was up at 3am too. My alacrity compliance was of some disconcertion to Jake, but once he found that he would be able to ride his Titan Rocket Powered Bicycle on the MileLongDriveway/TestTrack so his discontent melted away. I distinctly heard a nefarious chortle as he started the ignition countdown while I entered the Manor Decompression chamber air lock. I, myself, decided to skip the Adult TSD Practice as well. I'll pay for that specious decision in spades the next day. I've been regaining weight at an alarming rate over the weekend (5 lb!) and it's time to pay the piper.

Today, I'll be in the 'Advanced' super secret Java Training course ... deep in the lobby level of the main building on the complex. My mind is, by no means, a tabula rasa for this. I have a manner of misconceptions and ignorant conclusions which will certainly vex the instructor. The next 3 days will certainly be a test of patience. Should be fun! I'll update you all should a melee break out.



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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

 

Quote of the day:

Paralysis sucks.



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GASP!

hp
SWEET AIR! Yes, it's time for me to pop up and take a sweet lung full of that wonderful stuff. Out with the bad, in with the good. Ahhh, yes; the 'scrum' project if over. I shall now regurgitate the series of insuperable mis-adventures I've traipsed through over the last month for your delectation and satisfaction of innumerable voyeuristic penchants.

Waaay back, before my lapse in blogging, I got the fiat to engaged in yet another karate test. This time, however, I was to be in the good company of the Tyrannical Twins of Tang So Doo. They would be testing up for their Yellow belt and I was going to take my licks and move to the Green Belt level. Short story long, they got their belts and were able to break boards to complete the test. More or less. Alexis had a bout of stage fright that she needed to work though. In the end, the Meticulous Mrs took enough pictures as an effort to document the event so that if stacked, they would certainly reach the moon. Now that I am at the 6th GUP, I'll start to learn some staff forms. My initial attempts were comical at best. I proceeded to vitiate the form with hideous efficiency. I'll need to create a new cheat sheet and get a staff with a giant L and R printed on it so I can readily determine my left from my right. Being borderline ambidextrous can really make coordinated activities like this look as though I'm channeling the Keystone Cops. I'll be promoted to the pantheon of Bombastic Bumblers. I'll be fine so long as I do not crack myself in the brain-pan too often. Maybe I should get a Nerf staff for this.

In the work department, everything is going swimmingly. I'm now the 'go-to' guy with the new java/hibernate/eclipse/weaver/JSF development environment since I managed to survive one of the first scrum projects that the group has been involved in. On top of that, I was awarded a stock option and got a bonus for my efforts. Yes, I was about as stunned as anyone else. I'm not really used to all these incentives. On top of this, I'm being sent off for Advanced Java Methodology training over the next three days. Perhaps they think I am some sort of closet bon vivant who needs the extra incentives to keep my mind on my work. Certainly, the manor kitchen is redolent with scrumptious odors and sapid dishes roll forth like some fairy-tale magic machine borne from the imagination of the most voracious sybarite. However, I do not think that I am any manner of sordid Roman emperor who requires the most fantastic spectacles to keep me distracted. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I was just looking for an opportunity to use a lot of 25 cent words to befuddle you with my linguistic spaghetti.

On the agricultural front, the crops are coming in quite well. I do have a small infestation of cabbage caterpillars to contend with though. They are making short work of the broccoli and cabbage so I'm spending much-too-much time picking them off by hand. Jake seems to take a perverse joy in their capture as I present them for interrogation within the 'viewing chamber'. They are well fed and tenderly fawned over till it is time to go inside. After that, they are left to the magnification of the blazing sun and replaced with fresh victims ... volunteers ... the next day. regarding the non-edible vegetation, much fertilizer and insecticide has been applied and the new key-ignition lawnmower have been in quite practical use of late. The 700 yards of mulch has been spread out across the land and a veritable quilt of blossoming beauty has covered the rolling hills of the Haupertonian empire like the sylvan setting of the Elysian Fields. We expect that the sugar snap peas will be sprinkled with fairy dust and the tomatoes will be tended by unicorns and sprites.

Quirky news: I cannot get a tankless water heater due to the exhaust requirements. Ghaaa. It's not worth the risk of having one 'illegally' installed only to have the Manor filled with carbon monoxide just to save a few coins. No, after trying and failing to find a system that will function within the realm ancient of the manor architecture, I was resigned to sticking with the retro-tech of the standard tank-bearing installation. I had planned on calling our local plumber and having him install one sometime this summer, but those plans too were pummeled by the acrimonious assault of the fickle fates. Early Monday morning ... Memorial Day ... the Mrs wakes me from a deep sleep to let me know that there are strange noises issuing forth from the utility room in basement level A17. Mind you, the Grandparental Units were down for a visit and the Twins were sufficiently distracted so I was certain that any gremlin type activity would be at it's nadir for the weekend. I lumber down to the bowels of the manor and begin my decomposition of the issue. Surely enough, the damn thing was gurgling away as if it were constantly being drained. And the floor was wet. Hrmmmm. At 0100 hours, there should be very little pull on the hot water supply so what-ever could be the issue. Oh, look at that, inside the burner compartment there appears to be a tiny rainstorm. Hmm, and the pilot light is extinguished. After a few moments, the facts coagulate and I deduce that there is a major leak going on and I should really turn off the gas and water supplies to this foundering appliance. This, of course, means no hot water for the next morning. Cold showers for everyone! I go back to bed but sleep eludes me and the ramifications of this disaster roll though my addled mind. The next day, Gramps and I head off to the Local Home Depot Temple to pick up a 40 gal tank and a connection kit for 400$ or so dollars. About 3.5 hours later, the hot water was flowing again. It should not have gone that smoothly. Some where, some time, the universe will take revenge on me for having such good fortune so I will try to lessen the blow by not taunting the fates.

Future news; we will be heading off to Minnesota at the end of next month. More on that as events unravel.



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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

 

Quick Note

I'm here ... I'm ok. Just up to my neck in life. Within a week or so I should have enough breathing room to get back on the horse. My project deadline in the end of next week and my TSD test, as well as the kids test, is this Saturday. I have moe than enough material to 'entertain' you all when the storm finally quells.


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