White Lightning Axiom: Redux

2010-08-04T07:24:00.001-05:00

Broken hand is making typing and writing checks ever so much more difficult! Perhaps I'll have to find a better way to break boards in TSD from here on out.

Technorati Tags:Karate

Commute

2010-07-21T07:27:00.000-05:00

Leaving work this morning, my neighbor (4 houses up the street - Harold Katz) pulled up behind me in his new Rolls Royce. Nice looking car. Hope he has a nice drive in to work.

Technorati Tags:Car | Recession

Post 4th posting

2010-07-12T11:58:00.002-05:00

Hope dodge can pull through:

Technorati Tags:Gas | Patriotism

Lame attempt

2010-07-01T12:27:00.004-05:00

Completely random post about random stuff ... something got into the 2nd coop yesterday and took two of my favorite hens ...dammit. The good ones too that laid an egg every day. Grr. Then this to make your laugh it off: Man Up.

Technorati Tags:Eggs

TwitCrap

2010-06-11T00:03:00.001-05:00

08:39 Just tired ... #

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2010-05-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

08:15 Found a lost duckling/goose wandering around the driveway last night ... what to do with it now!? #

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TwitCrap

2010-05-12T00:03:00.001-05:00

12:08 Still no coffee and I'm embracing the SUCK! that is life off chemicals. #

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TwitCrap

2010-05-11T00:03:00.001-05:00

12:32 Been off caffeine for the last week ... dragging mentally and physically ... #

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TwitCrap

2010-05-07T00:16:00.001-05:00

06:08 Forgot Phone/wallet at home ... was in gym bag the whole time. 30 minutes out the window! #

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TwitCrap

2010-05-06T00:04:00.001-05:00

06:12 EMBRACE THE "SUCK"! #

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TwitCrap

2010-04-28T00:03:00.001-05:00

11:17 Today .. I found out that I will be going on support duty the same week that we were going to go on vacation with the kids ... No Disney! #

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TwitCrap

2010-04-22T00:03:00.001-05:00

08:02 Mrs not feeling well ... major daddy action going on in the Manor #

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TwitCrap

2010-04-21T00:05:00.001-05:00

06:48 Jammed my thumb last night sparring ... I need to step it up a notch. #

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TwitCrap

2010-04-13T00:07:00.001-05:00

08:35 this weekend was much too rough on me. #

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TwitCrap

2010-04-09T00:06:00.001-05:00

07:03 Another FANTASTIC day. #

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TwitCrap

2010-03-19T00:02:00.001-05:00

13:07 China: the coming costs of a superbubble / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com: bit.ly/9BZFsW via @addthis #

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TwitCrap

2010-03-10T00:05:00.001-05:00

08:23 www.infowars.com/celente-predicts-revolution-food-riots-tax-rebellions-by-2012/ errr ... wha? #

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TwitCrap

2010-03-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

12:39 Directions500 Bethel Rd Oxford, Pennsylvania - 580 2nd St Pike Southampton, Pennsylvania: www.mapquest.com/mq/10-MoQOO3R0 @addthis #

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TwitCrap

2010-03-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

14:22 www.youtube.com/watch?v=75mINlmOO2I #

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TwitCrap

2010-03-01T00:03:00.001-05:00

13:48 monday coming on down the track #

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TwitCrap

2010-02-18T00:03:00.001-05:00

07:21 Dentist appt today ... always fun #
14:00 www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-16/does-walmart-make-you-skinny/full/ #

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TwitCrap

2010-01-26T00:02:00.000-05:00

08:58 Two things of note: Power outage at the Manor (along with regional flooding) and the Vikings lost .. gramps must have been watching the game #

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TwitCrap

2010-01-06T00:06:00.001-05:00

07:28 My bank has mistakenly disbursed a check for an extra $5K ... this has really caused a mountain of trouble for me ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-12-23T00:02:00.001-05:00

21:12 ping.fm/tm2if #

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Christmas 2009

2009-12-22T20:36:00.004-05:00

Wow. Just wow. What is happening that the year finishes so quickly! I swore that I would finish this in a timely manner by doing a little bit each month as event occur, but as they say; 'So goes the well laid plans of men and mice'. Or maybe, if you want to make God laugh, speak of your plans. Either way, I was certain my plans for writing the Annual Haupertonian Christmas Manifesto have proceeded as they do every year. Oh, what a grand year it has been! The Twin Tyrants of Tumultuous Turpitude have been quite active. They went to regional swim championships this year and did well in their heats. Now, I am not expecting them to be the second coming of Marc Spitz or that other fellow, but they can really slice through the wet stuff. While they demonstrate grace and elegance in the pool, I am usually sitting in the changing room. It is my lot as one of the few men who took the 'Child Safety Training' that I should act as the local geezer and tell all the hoodlums to get out of the locker room or face more gruff admonations. Yep, ferocious as a toothless, blind, one legged chiuaua. I do get to spend about an hour four days a week chasing them up and down the pool in an effort to give them a little one-on-one coaching though. We have even started getting them into a swim clinic at our health club every other month for a few hours. Not sure if it is helping any, but they are getting some pretty good tips. Nobody had drowned yet so I'm thinking that we are a few points ahead there.
Hmmm, then there is our TSD (Karate) efforts. After many hours (of beatings) and extraordinary efforts (of getting beaten), I've managed to acquire my black-belt. Now, I'm just 2 years away from my 2nd degree! Uff-da! Now, the twins are just a few months away from their own Junior Black-belts. Really, their TSD is rocking. Regular little jedi-ninja destruct-o-bots space pirates, they are. They did well enough to get 3 trophy plaques each in a National tournament down in AC. I scarfed up a few myself, but I'm considered a 'Senior' which just scares the poopers outta me. Where is my AARP card, eh? Speaking of nearing my Autumn years, my back problem was taken care of this year. Went to PT for weeks on end during lunch and fixed it up good, but I have to play nice or it roars to life ... oddly, never during TSD practice.
Jake is enjoying Cub-Scouts and Attila is starting to open up in Girl-Scouts. We were fortunate earlier in the year to enjoy a lot of activities because of this. Camping early in the spring was chilly, but Attila got to come along and everyone found out what a thrill it was using outhouses with stainless steel pooper-potties. YIKES! Talk about an adventure. We also had a sleep-overs on the Battleship NJ as well as a over-night experience at the Trenton Thunder ballpark. With the ballpark, we slept in the outfield after watching the game. They are apparently a farm-league team for the NY Yankees ... The Wife's favorite. That evening, we ended the night (morning) watching a game on the big-screen where the Yanks ended up going for 16 or so innings. Speaking of professional baseball, Genghis and The Mrs went to a MLB game in the new stadium up in NY. It was the Yanks vs the Twins. The Mrs, sensing the outcome, dressed Jake in Yankees apparel. He still rooted for both teams. He loves a good game.
Summer vacation was fun. The whole family went on down to DC for a couple of days over the July 4th weekend and saw a few sights. Most importantly, we went to both Air and Space Museums where Jake was lucky enough to see Jetfire from the Transformers 2 movie up close and personal. Not to forget Attila of course, she got to watch the Panda`s gorge themselves or slumber effortlessly amongst the bamboo. The groves of bamboo gave her an idea ... we should get a panda that could live in our backyard! Egads ... we already have dogs, fish and chickens. How about some goats and a pig while we are at it. Speaking of chickens, we set up our flock this year and they were coming along nicely till it came time to shut down the rooster choir. About 10 of the 11 found themselves at the wrong end of a plucking with a great deal of assistance from Grams and Gramps. The twins did not realize that they had become dinner until it slowly sank in that the unnerving quiet from the back-yard was the calling card of grim reaper. They took it pretty well though. It was harder for them to understand that we are going to be eating the eggs that have been recently been laid rather than trying to hatch them!
Now, on to the major financial reports - the old SuperSaturn POS had been giving me quite a bit of problems. The various repairs were starting to mount to a point where I needed to get rid of the car. It was a bit earlier than I had hoped for since we still have over a year of payments on the LAST new car we got. Rats, there goes my plan to buy a small pacific island. After putting in new struts, new tires, front disks, radiator and coolant pump, I spent about 600$ on a car worth 500$ ... not a good investment. In the end though, it would cost less to fix the car than rent one for the time it took us to get the new vehicle. We ended up buying a the same model as the Family Tank v2.0 ... a Toyota AWD with curtain airbags, reinforced roof supports, impact beams in the sliding doors, sidewinder missiles and 50cal machine-guns behind the headlights. Paying two car loans is going to be a tough haul for the next 1.5 years, but the security and low apr made it worth it. I asked about the live organ donation program and they said I was not eligible for any points off if I promised to donate my kidney due to my Scotch consumption.
And then there is school. Attila is still stomping everyone in her class spelling bee and Jake is eating up the math studies. Not to brag, but as a disclaimer - they are atrocious at each-others strengths. With the load of classwork they get each night, I cannot imagine how any child could succeed without a lot of attention from their parents. I do not recall 2nd grade being like this. Of course, computers are default knowledge for them ... scary. I recall that a 30mb hd with 1mb of ram was a months salary. Now you can get a terabyte with 4gb ram for under 1K. Less than a fancy tv! Ooops ... crabby old man mode setting in. Durned kids, GET OFF MY LAWN!
The Mrs is doing well ... she expects to have conquered the server world within a few more years at her job. Not much we can say about that though since she really is a double agent for the CIA fronting as a Boss for the Triad. No just kidding. Sort of ... but not really. Maybe.
Now it is time to whine. The daily schedule that we grind through is enough to make even the saltiest marine cry for mercy. I'm supposed to be at work by 6am every day (make it by 6:30 at latest) so the Mrs can be there to send the kids off on the 8:10 bus. It stops at the end of our mile-long driveway so we have that going for us. If things go well in the morning, I spend my time getting the dogs fed and let them out to finish the final processing of said food. These days, its a bit of a challenge because it is pitch black and finding those steaming landmines is tough if I forget a flashlight. While I'm out there, I make sure the chickens have food and water. Of course, the damned water will be frozen solid so I have to rectify that. I really need to run electric out there for a heated watering can ... the solar panels just wont cut it. Back inside and light a fire to heat the Manor, set out breakfast, open the shades, turn on the aquarium lights, shower up and hit the road. At 2:30pm, I'll hit the road to fetch the Twin Tyrants from school if they do not have any after-school programs; Tuesday - Urban Dance, Thursday - Mad Science, Friday - Young Rembrandts. Every other Monday, we have Cub Scouts and every other Thursday it's Girl Scouts. I run the Cub Den so that's not too bad, they all come to me. Once a month I'll have a Scouting Council meeting on the first Monday and the third Friday is a Pack Meeting. On the Pack meeting days, the Tyrants have to miss TSD (karate) which is a shame because that is DODGE-BALL FRIDAY. We send out the hordes of little critters itching for a fight and let them pummel each-other with balls for 15 minutes. Quite entertaining. Nice thing about Friday is that it is also 'Junk Food Day' where I pick up dinner from Taco Bell. As far a Genghis is concerned, the Taco fulfills all the nutritional requirements a growing boy needs and will do his best to break his 'world record' of eating 5 tacos in one sitting. Attila focuses on the meat-n-beans half-pound burrito which I am fairly certain is categorized as a Crime against Humanity by the UN. She is unnaturally fond of passing wind. They have piano lessons on Tuesday from 4:30pm till 5:30 and the swim team practice is on Monday and Thursday from 7:30 till 8:30. Of course, when nothing else interferes we have TSD for the kids from 6pm till 7 and after, I do my own training from 7pm till 9ish. So, the weekdays are a bit of a byzantine schedule, nay, a herculean effort to maintain. Homework and reading gets squeezed into the commute time between events and a large portion gets done on the Sunday before for the HomeWork we are expecting (spelling, math, reading). For the Adults, its laundry, cooking and prep. Lots of prep. I have a bag of snacks that they kids grind through after I pick them up. Hard boiled eggs, lobster, mandarin oranges, little smokeys, yogurt tubes ... loads of finger foods. A busy lifestyle, but it keeps us distracted. If they had a spare moment, I fear for the world. They would surely start plotting their conquest. Jake already likes chess and risk way too much.

I certainly hope you found this letter informative, entertaining and that it has left with a warm glow ... but not gastro-intestinal distress.

Love, Hope, and Monkey Butts - MDMHVONPA, The Mrs, Genghis, Attila, Cyber-Thor, Katie-bot, the Attack Hens and surviving Fish.

Technorati Tags:Christmas | 2009

TwitCrap

2009-12-03T00:00:00.001-05:00

14:00 Got a rash from some detergent my shirts were washed in ... ugh, stupid immune system sensitivity! #

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2009-12-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

08:07 what a weekend... so busy even with on vacation ... #

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2009-11-14T00:05:00.001-05:00

07:41 Jacob's fever broke, I'm back at work, wish I was still under the covers in bed. #

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TwitCrap

2009-11-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

08:24 I think I just caught the flu ... everyone in the Manor had it ... my turn I suppose. #

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TwitCrap

2009-11-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

08:19 Just spent a month's salary on having half our roof replaced ... ugh. #

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TwitCrap

2009-10-31T00:02:00.001-05:00

09:04 Go figure: ping.fm/UcEOY #

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TwitCrap

2009-10-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

14:02 beh ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-10-02T00:03:00.001-05:00

11:10 hmmmm, bacon of the month club ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-24T00:00:00.001-05:00

09:33 What is a Vaporbill!? #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-23T00:00:00.001-05:00

05:52 dull boy #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-11T00:04:00.001-05:00

07:05 Ghengis was so proud, he put the chickens in and only one bit his toes last night ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

07:36 Talked to a Roofing Consultant yesterday afternoon ... this is going to be expensive. I would love to do this myself, but no time. #
07:57 Popcorn sales time for the Cub Scouts! #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-04T00:02:00.001-05:00

09:19 @CharliePATpk - Hack-hack-hacking away at the followers ... Shades of Jim Jones!!!! #

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TwitCrap

2009-09-03T00:02:00.001-05:00

05:45 Annnd ... back on the summer schedule. To work by 6am ... now I just need to get to bed BEFORE 1am! #
06:21 In my heart, it is still happening: ping.fm/xfGuH #
07:57 Now that the kids are back in school, things got complicated: Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Swimming, Sunday School, Piano ... #
12:53 Stupid roof is leaking, gotta get a roofer on this job - too big for me. #

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TwitCrap

2009-08-29T00:01:00.001-05:00

09:27 Why am I so tired this week!? #

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Appendix ...

2009-08-26T07:12:00.002-05:00

Interesting bit of news ...

"Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands — a recipe for trouble," he said. "Darwin had no way of knowing that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete by cultural changes that included widespread use of sewer systems and clean drinking water."

Now that scientists are uncovering the normal function of the appendix, Parker notes a critical question to ask is whether anything can be done to prevent appendicitis. He suggests it might be possible to devise ways to incite our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age.

"If modern medicine could figure out a way to do that, we would see far fewer cases of allergies, autoimmune disease, and appendicitis," Parker said.

The scientists detailed their findings online August 12 in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

Technorati Tags:MS

TwitCrap

2009-08-25T00:02:00.001-05:00

11:40 Kids are away for the week ... miss them already and I've let my schedule fall to bits. #

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TwitCrap

2009-08-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

09:53 FANTASTIC FRIDAY! #

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TwitCrap

2009-08-21T00:02:00.001-05:00

09:57 22hr of support left #

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TwitCrap

2009-08-20T02:40:00.001-05:00

06:50 The big Verizon Host Split did not go off as scheduled last night due to network issues ... I'm in a holding pattern. #

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3's of me

2009-08-18T13:25:00.002-05:00

You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the 3's of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you - but not in a creepy stalker kind of way.

To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 3's, tag 26 people (in the right hand corner of the app), then click publish. OR ... go to blogspot, post it and hope that the note transfer works right.

Three Names I go by:

1. Sir
2. Yes Sir
3. How may I serve you .... Sir

Three Jobs I have had in my life:

1. Ditch Digger
2. Teacher
3. Malcontent

Three Places I have lived:

1. Earth
2. Daydreams
3. Virtual Reality

Three Favorite drinks:

1. Scotch
2. ummm ....
3.

Three TV programs that I watch:

1. Whatever the kids are watching
2. Whatever the wife is watching
3. 'One Moment Please'

Three Places I Have Been:

1. I've been everywhere, man.
2. Rt 66
3. A very scary place behind my frontal lobe

Three People that e-mail me regularly:

1. Viagra Vendors
2. Nigerian Princesses
3. I email myself ... a lot

Three of my favorite foods:

1. Beans
2. Broccoli
3. Cabbage ... yeah, my innards are a friggen toxic waste dump!

Three friends I think will respond:

1. No-body loves me
2. Every-body hates me
3. I'm gonna eat some wooo-ooormmms!

Three things I'm looking forward to:

1. Spooning with the mrs
2. Hanging with the spawn
3. TSD Practice

Technorati Tags:Meme

Single Payer Insurance - Just saying ...

2009-08-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

Massachusetts plan was a disaster.
Tennessee was a disaster.
Oregon is a disaster.
Hawaii had a healthcare disaster.

Technorati Tags:Politics | MS

Yep...

2009-08-04T07:37:00.002-05:00

Stolen without malice from MetroDad:

HER FIRST PAYCHECK

Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5-year-old girl and some construction workers that makes you believe that we CAN make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time.

A young family moved into a house next door to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot.

The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door, and spent much of each day observing the workers.

Eventually the construction crew, all of them gems-in-the-rough, more or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her, let her sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her odd little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.

At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing a couple of dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who said all the appropriate words of admiration, and suggested that they take the two dollar "pay" she had received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.

When they got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay at such a young age. The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with the crew building the house next door to us."

"My goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"

The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the mother fucking sheetrock!"

Technorati Tags:Meme | Children | Plumbing

Some Pics from the Weekend

2009-08-04T06:46:00.002-05:00

Gettin' me a little bit of Black-belt

Simple Palm Strike

Axe kick for the Masses

Elbow strike

Speed Break

Ghengis And Attila pre-test for the Masters review board.

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children

Success

2009-08-03T08:40:00.002-05:00

The TSD Test went off fairly well this weekend. The kids did well and I managed to bumble through my Black Belt test. Now, I'm a full fledged black belt practitioner. Next test, 2 years. Heh. One down side is that I may have broken a bone in my hand. Two days later and it's still swollen. I've considered going to the local ER ... but to what end?
In other news, the chickens are doing well in spite of this weekend's "end of days" rain storms. So much flooding, so cold. The cooler weather is doing ugly things to my squash/gourds but the corn and beans are loving it. The tomato plants are growing well, but the fruit is staying green since the night time temps are not peaking above 80 yet. Ugh.

Technorati Tags:Swimming | Karate | Children | Rain

Update

2009-07-28T11:48:00.004-05:00

Twit reposting has been offline for a bit. It may come back, it may not. Whatever. In the mean time, I'd like to let you all know that the TSD Tournament in AC this past Saturday went off pretty swimmingly. Ghengis got 3 third place awards, Attila got 3 fourth in Forms, Weapons and breaking. I got 2nd in Breaking, 3rd in Forms and 4th in weapons. Not too shabby, but we will improve.

Technorati Tags:TSD | Weekend | Karate | Children

TwitCrap

2009-06-27T00:09:00.001-05:00

07:43 ben (annoying next door neighbor kid) kept me from getting the back lawn mowed ... Maybe it won't rain today ... suuurrrrrre #
07:46 meeting in 15 ... fridays, the meeting day of doom #
12:32 went out to lunch ... ugh, sliders have buggered up my tummy #
13:52 sooo tired ... than goodness no adult TSD tonight #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-26T00:10:00.001-05:00

10:29 Dislocated knee last night ... sigh ... again. #
11:47 Hrmmm .... bit.ly/u5YW3 #
13:09 time to mow the lawn #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-25T00:09:00.001-05:00

08:10 sigh ... roller coaster week #
08:31 mail carrier decided not to deliver the kids summer books yesterday ... asked politely for them to be delivered today ... we will see #
09:54 Ceiling cat says MOO! #
13:05 More general Malaise ... forgot vitamins! RRRRRR! #
13:52 wondering if Iran is going to blow and take us with them ... #iran #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-24T00:10:00.001-05:00

07:44 Oh goody ... Tuesday #
08:19 Having problems with new staff form at TSD ... last step-spin crescent kick is intimidating me ... #
08:21 @patriciatryon Soooo.... Tuesday ... any better today? Gotta be, just gotta be. #
08:21 @CharliePATpk : how is the TSD treating you? The kids and I are going to the Tourny in AC on July 25th #
08:42 @RayCase : bit.ly/nt2er #
08:45 @Ray_Case : bit.ly/nt2er #
08:46 bit.ly/uVad8 #
10:34 bit.ly/hFybK via @addthis #
14:00 @boydster2000 : was it in your closet? #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-23T00:14:00.001-05:00

09:08 OMG ... Monday ... like Garlic to a vampire, it burnnnnns me! #
10:13 broke build on friday .. find out on monday ... gha! #
10:14 @patriciatryon ... Indeed. If Sunday is God's day, certainly Monday is the road from Hell ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-20T00:09:00.001-05:00

07:04 Fridays are coming too quickly ... can you believe that? #
10:15 got a hair cut ... nice #
12:14 Waiting till wife calls so we can drop off the CyberHounds at a kennel ... will be away for the weekend #
13:56 Sudden tidal wave of profound exhaustion ... oh, goodness! #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-19T00:10:00.001-05:00

06:16 GHA! More rain! God is going to wash away the sinners from the land! It has been raining since last Saturday. #
06:17 Daughter up till 11pm last night ... sitting at the dinner table.3 hours ... what a waste. #
06:58 Fathers day: drhelen.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-wish-i-had-bit-more-courage.html #
07:24 DHMO - the silent killer: www.dhmo.org/ #
12:04 Recommended @CharliePATpk to @MrTweet 'Damn Fine TSD practitioner.' cli.gs/A5H1Br #
12:04 Recommended @zFlix to @MrTweet 'GAME BOY!' cli.gs/ZJvTPg #
12:05 Recommended @patriciatryon to @MrTweet 'Poetry in mind, soul and body.' cli.gs/A3L0Bu #
12:06 Recommended @boydster2000 to @MrTweet 'Set-top testin' red-neck cable guy!' cli.gs/tbyTZP #
12:07 Recommended @alexcharyna to @MrTweet 'Strict constitutionalist if I've ever seen one. Good to have him on the team.' cli.gs/6AMp89 #
12:09 Recommended @ray_case to @MrTweet 'Jack of all trades, master of his own domain ... so long as the Mrs approves.' cli.gs/Ym5yEt #
13:55 tired #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-18T00:11:00.001-05:00

09:54 Just not feeling the love today ... #
12:08 started to learn Bong Hyung Sa Bu in TSD ... sooooo confused #TSD #
22:10 Daughter Attila not eating her meals in a timely fashion ... 3 hours to eat dinner. Not an ounce of mercy for the button pusher. #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-17T00:09:00.001-05:00

06:37 Ahhh Tuesday ... and it's raining again, same as yesterday afternoon #
10:15 not much getting done today #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-16T00:10:00.001-05:00

08:54 Monday: BLEH! #
08:57 Finished the chicken Pen ... now I just have to put shingles on the roof and loosen up the door on the coop (tight fit) #
09:18 The GirlScout Parade at Sesame place was ok, but the rest of the day got rained out. I warned them when my knee hurts, we have 15 min! #
10:17 all these 'Free Firewood' ads on Craigslist and no truck to transport it! ARGH! #
11:35 bleh again, I say #
13:07 spend all day trying to get development env working ... friggen PRICELESS! #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-13T00:10:00.001-05:00

07:04 1 more hour on the support phone! #
07:05 still raining here ... bleh! no drought this year. #
07:05 Going to take the kids to the Church Carnival after TSD tonight ... should be fun if it is not raining ... but the humidity. ACK! #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-12T00:09:00.001-05:00

08:05 feeling like crap today #
14:07 rotten day ... time to go home #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-11T00:09:00.001-05:00

07:14 lot's of fun this morning! #
07:36 Tell me again why gas prices are going up? #
14:20 LONG DAY ... so much to do ... so little gumption #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-10T00:08:00.001-05:00

06:27 Another Quiet Night ... It's building #
06:38 @Chet82 "GOD is good" ... no: God is GREAT, Beer is good, people are crazy. #
06:59 @CharliePATpk : You can always count on the coverage quality being ... less than stellar. #
07:21 Lightning and Thunder ... raining HARD ... same as yesterday #
07:24 snopes.com: An Open Letter to President Obama - Lou Pritchett - shar.es/WOma #
07:44 @CharliePATpk : Kick-ass ... or at least lick-ass. Entitlement, it's not just for royalty anymore. #
08:51 Got a big box from a server for the chicks ... good for them. Need 16 2x4x8 for the pen to be finished and 2 more hinges. Staples too? #
09:19 Hrmmm... plop these in a Ripsaw RC Tank: bit.ly/fx0zT #
12:17 I'm so dull ... cruising craigslist for free roofing shingles and tar-paper #
14:09 I am no longer able to tolerate afternoon meetings. Damn near fell asleep at the 2pm! #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-09T00:11:00.001-05:00

06:17 Weekend went well ... no support calls. God loves me this week. #
06:18 Finished most of the chicken coop this weekend with the help of HeroDad. Looking good! A few more things and we'll be done. #
06:18 Chicks doing well ... 22 still with us and all are uppity. #
06:21 @boydster2000 - do you even monitor this? sheesh. #
07:03 finished the morning 'chicken update' to my co-workers ... let the fun begin! #
08:43 I guess Monday is good ... no chores at home to do? #
08:53 Going to get a support call in a few hours ... from Verizon. Oh goody. #
11:49 having our power 'fixed' over the weekend has taken a lot of load off my shoulders. Now, for a few minor adjustments! #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-06T00:50:00.001-05:00

09:19 spent morning in meetings ... ugh #
09:19 on support rotation ... God, give me strength and patience #
09:57 @zFlix : check your pockets #
10:48 Need to find something for Dad on Father's day ... what to get a man who has everything in the world he wants. #
10:54 Now that I have 22 chicks, I need to find homes for 10 of them! #
10:55 Parents coming down today ... thank goodness since the weekend is going to get busy #
13:10 20 minutes to departure ... #
13:14 @tssv - go to www.backyardchickens.com #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-05T00:09:00.001-05:00

06:22 Need to turn up the water heater for the wash this weekend ... the clothing is not getting a good sterile wash #
06:23 Alexis was trouble yesterday ... hope she has a better day today! #
06:23 So much rain ... blech - no mowing of the lawn for a bit #
06:23 Going to pick up chicks this morning ... 20! I'll have a few to sell off now #
06:24 Got Millman Electric to come over on Saturday morning ... maybe he can help with the electric problems #
08:27 @mulunker : Headaches are natures way of telling you that you need to drink more booze #
09:22 #KungFu ... alas, poor Carradine, I knew thee well #
09:34 @yorgle - Well, that explains male pattern baldness! #
10:31 @patriciatryon - I'm soooo slackin with twit and blogging! #
10:32 @mulunker - the devil is in the details! We know you all too well ... of course, am jealous as well. #
12:55 Went to get a blood test - arrived 7 minutes early, waited for an additional 30 minutes for a 5 minute procedure ... time-burglers! #
13:21 off to fetch the children #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-04T00:10:00.001-05:00

05:53 Damn possum killed our chicks! One little possum got on the wrong end of a beak though and suffered the consequences. #
05:54 How to explain the Chicken Tragedy to the children!? #
06:07 Going to call 'Randy' in Warrington to get a new set of chicks ... setback of 2 months, but at least the coop is almost done. #
06:18 Found @Midnightblue/skye820 - www.snotr.com/video/2630 #
09:59 No callback from Randy yet ... hrmmm #
10:36 I think I am not getting a call from Randy is because his name is KEN! #
11:29 I spent 15 minutes to drive out to Ken's home, hoping he was there. Nope. May have to make a special trip later today. What I do for kids #

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TwitCrap

2009-06-03T00:09:00.001-05:00

05:58 Monday V2.0 #
07:36 On the support team ... oh goody #
08:22 So, the kids have 1 more week of school ... then I shall let loose the dogs of war upon you!!! #
09:14 Boss asking me to do the impossible ... fine #
11:43 annnd ... nothing noteworthy at the SupportScrum today #
12:46 Again, want to use toilet - cleaning staff in there having a party ... #

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TwitCrap

2009-05-30T00:10:00.001-05:00

08:59 stupid meetings #
09:55 2 stupid meetings down, 1 to go #
11:35 must drink more coffee ... #
11:47 STEM CELLS! reason.com/blog/show/133784.html Save your sunburn peelings ... #

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2009-05-29T00:11:00.001-05:00

05:46 And another day in the life of little old me starts to spin at top speed ... oh, joy. #
06:10 Jake tried really hard in TSD last night .. peculiar for him. #
07:44 Why is it that no matter what time I go to the men's facilities, they are being 'cleaned'!? #
08:22 Not even Friday yet ... #itsucks #
09:15 My backache is gone ... similarly, I'm no longer putting my wallet in my pant's pocket... coincidence? I think not. #
10:25 #ITSUCKS STILL NOT FRIDAY!!! #
12:14 just another few hours ... not too shabby #
12:35 looking for a Ford F250 Diesel SuperCrew Longbed as our next vehicle under 20K miles:philadelphia.craigslist.org/ctd/1186268956.html #
12:47 leaving soon #
13:13 Gone to pick up kids in 15m #

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TwitCrap

2009-05-28T00:08:00.001-05:00

08:09 Set up LoutTwitter ... this should be different #
08:09 errr ... loud, not lout #
08:19 Kids have a final exam in Math today. Alexis has problems with telling time, hope it all works out for them. #
08:39 @wmiar To date, I've just got the twins but they are more than a handful! Swimming, TSD, 1st Grade, Scouts (Girl/Cub) and so much more! #
11:17 back hurts ... ughnnnnn! #
12:40 @skye820 : The 'abduction' was just up the street from me. it takes 20 minutes alone to go from there to I95 #

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TwitCrap

2009-05-27T08:17:00.001-05:00

This is the TEST shipment you asked for

08:09 Set up LoutTwitter ... this should be different #
08:09 errr ... loud, not lout #

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Oh yeah...

2009-04-17T09:43:00.002-05:00

Technorati Tags:Meme

Dirty Butch BLANDendish

2009-03-05T10:31:00.003-05:00

Another lame post due to my poor time management skills. It's not even that I do not have the time, I just make bad (incorrect) choices about what to do with it. SOooo, here I sit, pulling my hair over the crashing stock market, moaning about going back on the support rotation next week, and kvetching over my well tuned daily schedule being blown to bits because of the kids mid-term tests. We are skipping all activities except piano so that they can study for these remarkably BRUTAL examinations. It gets me all cranky and such when I don't get my swimming/tsd fix on a daily basis. We have still gone to piano lessons and I had the tiger cub den meeting on Wednesday night ... but it's just not the same, you know.

Buried

2009-03-03T08:32:00.007-05:00

I'll have to make this quick as I am trying to wrap up 100 disparate tasks and still keep my sanity. This is going to be one of those awful 'status only' type posts to let you know that I still persevere to breath air. The Ever Lovely Mrs had a birthday this past weekend ... just a few hours short of having a leap-year birthdate. That would have been entirely too entertaining, but alas, she is still only a few years younger than the wizened old fart who she calls here husband. Additionally, the Parental Units made one of their Monthly trips to ensure that the Tyrants would treat them fairly after the Great Apocalyptic Reckoning. Oddly enough, in a bizarre convergence of events, an old college friend (Mandy) stopped by on her way from California. Atilla was busy at her girl scout-brownie-daisy Juliet Low World Thinking Day what-dat-and-chew event, so it was up to me to entertain while the Mrs was detained as glorified limo driver. Fortunately, the Super Grandma was about to do most of the heavy lifting (like making snacks ... I'm only good at making them disappear) so we were not too shamed by our lack of preparation. Sunday came and went, only to leave us with a pile of snow and some sub-freezing temperatures. I had the foresight to go out and chop a month's worth of firewood and then lug it into the manor so we had some source of BTUs for the next week. That wood burns quickly when you are trying to keep your digits from snapping off. We were fortunate in that one of our more friendly neighbors had come back from a trip to warmer climes and needed a technical resource to help him out with a malfunctioning snow-blower. I gave him a few tips on how to get it to turn over (it had been sitting for 2 years, the ignition chamber was dry and the plug was corroded) and in a fit of gratitude, he cleared our mile long drive for us. That kept me inside for and extra 2.5 hours. We were going to do a few other things, but nearly every place we went, the doors were locked. The more important places were open, of course: TSD, Dentist, Piano. Of course, the studio ended up closing on Tuesday because the electric furnace failed and the ambient air temperature dropped to somewhere between 'Brrrr' and 'colder than a plumbers wrench in February'.

School Mid-Terms ... they are BRUTAL. Attila won the spelling bee the other day, so I'm not worried about her performance in the upcoming tests, but Ghengis finds very little use for all them high-falutin' fancy words and there is nothing he cannot say without a good round-house to the solar-plexus or ridge-hand to the temple. Trying to explain the difference of 'their' and 'there' to a 6 year old is a Sisyphean labor when you learned it by wrote. Lord, have mercy on his little heart because he will be crushed if he does not perform well.

Turd-day

2009-02-26T08:35:00.003-05:00

This was supposed to go out yesterday, but it was just too much of a poopy day. Wednesday was, as some of you know, Ash Wednesday. I celebrated my faith at lunch and only got one 'You have dirt on your head' comment. It was an awkward moment for everyone on the team as I tried to explain that it was a religious artifact, but alas, the details were lost on her. The Tyrants were somehow herded into a mass as well, but their ashes were long gone before I picked them up. It was gym day after all and it was warm enough for them to be outside. Of course, the ashes would have been wiped away when we went swimming anyways.

Not much else but me going to both TSD classes this week. So far, I think I've only missed Tuesday Adult TSD. This has only increased my exhaustion. Duh. This week is coming to a close quickly and an ominous beast awaits me me in the darkest avenue of this journey ... support beeper duty. Gha. A week of fear and loathing. I can't wait!

Technorati Tags:Work | Swimming | Karate | Children | Ash Wednesday

Mid-week slump

2009-02-25T08:18:00.008-05:00

I got nothing today. Mostly nothing. The Ever diligent Mrs had an evening meeting last night so was late returning to the Manor. That left me in charge of the Tyrants. We had our usual scuffle about finishing the Dinner Meal, which usually involves Ghengis not eating his soup but scarfing down everything else in record time. Attila is just the opposite where she assimilates the soup via some sort of time/space folding trick but nibbles at the 'solid' food.

The other night, I watched/read the Obama speech. Then I read a bunch of talking head commentary. What it boils down to is this: Those who voted for him, liked it, those who didn't nit-picked it. Yes, there were some factual errors but lets get to what my gut says. It was a nice presentation, but what now? Silver tongues do not lick stamps, so don't tell me that the check is in the mail. We know things are a bit dicey right now and we are still in free-fall, so lets drop all the nonsense and start making the hard decisions. And spending a shitload of my money on voter registration or sending bags of cash to countries who dance in the streets when our buildings fall is the 'WRONG' thing. Maybe it's my gun-rack conservatism rising here, but it may be time for us to take care of our own business for a bit. Sorry for the rant, I'll put my soap-box away for a bit.

Technorati Tags:Politics | Rant | Children | Dinner

Sorry...

2009-02-24T06:49:00.010-05:00

Ok, I apologize. My 'creative bent' of late has been MIA. That last weekend update was about as lame as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. I should of hyped the pinewood derby a little more. You know, add in the fictional explosions and ninja assault platoons ... but no, I slacked. The Work thing has been a bear of late and the current events of the nation and world lay heavy on my mind. Equivocation and perfidy seems to rule the day, not that it has changed much over time. Whaaaa! What a big baby.

A few Items of Happenstance need to be reviewed right now: One, the SuperSaturn POS is back after it's Automotive Spa Treatment. Still as difficult as it always has been, but the bumper is now firmly zip-tied to the frame. Uber-Mechanic Chris was quite diligent in servicing it ... and so we have ONE MORE YEAR(tm) before we need to replace it. Twelve years is a long time to hold onto a chunk of metal (mostly plastic) so I'll be glad to see it finally go to pasture. Of course, that would work if one would consider the cow anaology, but it is more of a pig than any barn-yard animal.

At TSD practice last night, everything was going along swimmingly until sparring. Indeed, the very last session against a green belt did me in. My hubris got the most of me and in the attempt to do a low 'X' block, I caught the full force of a kick on my finger and jammed or broke the middle and ring-fingers something fierce. I've taped them up but being right handed, this is quite an inconvenience. It's not that they were all purple and swollen that gets me, it's that grinding, low-level pain that is going to get me into more trouble by distracting me or causing me to loose focus. Argh.

The Tyrants are preparing themselves for a new and wonderful experience ... stress. This is because 'Mid Terms' are coming up. Yep, The future rulers and Tyrannical Dictators of all that exists will get their first trial by fire at the hands of addition, spelling and reading comprehension. Just the other day, Ghengis was given the ignoble honor of bringing home not just one, but TWO 'bad' grades (16/18, 18/20 which translates to a 'G' and not the 'VG' or the greatly coveted 'O'). We went over the mistakes and cooked up a strategy for his next tests ... write down the answers in the question to see if they make sense. He is just so animated and impatient ... goal oriented, Type A extravert. Don't quite know where he get's it from.

Technorati Tags:Injury | Blogging | Karate | Children | Car

Weekend Redux 20090220

2009-02-22T23:26:00.004-05:00

BOYS BATHROOM DUTY AGAIN! Yep, another swim meet and another round in the boys locker room, spending my time naming the cockroaches ... and then stomping on them. Yeah, it was that entertaining. There were a few moments where I had the opportunity to tell the twerps to get out if they are not using the crapper. It's a locker room, not a playground! To make it worse, I left my thermos of coffee in the 'loner car of poor idling' so I was pretty much up the creek, without a paddle, and a full bore migraine waterfall raging. After I was finished with my stint in purgatory, we went to a pizza party for the swim team which was more of the same except the kids were not running about screaming in their birthday suits ... nope, they were mostly dressed. The only saving grace was that I was able to pour two pints of lager down my gullet at $5.50 in 90 seconds flat. Oh, did I ever need that to dull my finger-nail scraping on whiteboard nerves.

Speaking of nerves ... the SuperSaturn POS just cost me another $1K+ in repairs for the inspection. It needs new struts, 1 wheel, new front disks, trans bolt, re-attach bumper, a leak in radiator (which will be ignored) among a plethora of faults. We have 2 more years (give or take) on the Family Tank v2.0 then we can get a replacement car for me. The damn thing is draining my dry.

Technorati Tags:Swimming | Car | Children | Weekend

Alas, poor Friday (WOOT!)

2009-02-20T08:47:00.001-05:00

Since it was Girl Scout Daisy brownie night, I was tasked with escorting Ghengis to the superfluous practice for swimming. You got to show up at the practice or you don't get to swim, eh? Anyways, in a giant cinder block bunker full of water, you can pretty much expect that I would find NO wifi, let alone an unencrypted source to hijack. So be it. TSD class, we had the usual rigmarole with a few exceptions: First, Attila had to leave early. Every other Thursday ... its an accepted event now. The unanticipated event was that one of the newer students, a rather young boy, was much too involved with the activities that he was not going to ask to leave the mat so that he could relieve himself. So, what to do, what to do. Well, certainly, just have a BM right there in your tightie-whities and soldier forth! Except he had not counted on the load bearing capacity to be exceeded by quite so much mass. A bit escaped and was swiftly trampled into a wafer thin sheen spanning about a 3 meter radius that encompased the realm of his form footprint. Once the 'crime' had been observed and dutifully reported by the other students (read: everyone shouting "Eeeewwwwww!"), I swiftly whisked him off the floor to the boy's room and we provided him with a plastic bag and a change of uniform. He still carried a persistent odor about, but we impressed upon the other students that we shall not speak of it. Everyone has an off day, a little compassion will work off some bad karma. That little adventure gobbled up 15 minutes of my time, but actually gave me something to blather about. Tomorrow: Pinewood Derby of Dooooom trumps DodgeBall TSD.

Winter too long

2009-02-19T10:29:00.002-05:00

I'm so ready for spring. No, really. I usually revel in the winter months, but after seeing our last utility bill ($300!?), I've had enough. For all you global warming folks, why is this past January 8 degrees colder than last year? Yeah, yeah, it's weather, not global climate. As far as I can tell though, the less carbon-based heating utilities I use, the colder I get! I guess I should blame that damn groundhog. No matter. Last night I canceled the cub-scout den meeting since we have a pack meeting this Friday for the Pinewood Derby. Spent the night at TSD and did not get beaten too badly. This week has been dull. That old Chinese Curse: "May you live in interesting times", yeah ... I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the mean time, I'll just keep re-arranging the deck chairs.

Technorati Tags:Scouts | Karate | Children | Winter

Bump again ...

2009-02-18T08:45:00.006-05:00

Nothing. Middle of the week nothing. Worse than nothing was the perfect day that expired the morn past. Kids did what I asked them to do, they did well at piano class, did extraordinarily well at TSD and I managed to survive a sparring session with TWO second degree black-belts. Sure, they were tired and I got a rest, but I still survived with minor bruises and lacerations. Other than that, the Twins got to listen to themselves from the recording they got at the radio station tour. Four of the youngsters were in the same class room so the teacher played it for the whole class. Instant celebrity!

Technorati Tags:Piano | Karate | Children | Work

Weekend Redux 20090217

2009-02-17T08:42:00.008-05:00

I was a mixed bag this weekend. Only a few exceptional events, but I'll mix them in with the rest of the tripe so you'll have to shake them out. You know, like searching through that box of cereal to find the toy inside or dredging through the peanut-butter to see if there are really 1.5 flies per jar. Nope, those are raisins ... of course. So, Friday the Cubs and I went to the Radio station for an hour and gobbled up pizza after wards. They had a good time storming and occupying the broadcast center, and even more so antagonizing the tour director. Of course, this just got my Twin Tyrants all ramped up for Dodge Ball Friday. Glad they can take out their frustrations on each-other without having them come back to me with complaints of 'he said/she said'. Nope, just unmitigated violence and revenge. Next day: nothing. Just slouched about the Manor but I did manage to fill the SuperSaturn POS with 10 gallons of NJ gasoline. I give the Mrs a set of 5gal canisters and she buys two weeks worth of fuel for me at 10-15 cents off per gallon while she tanks up. In exchange, I top off the fluids in the Family Tank v2.0 and toss in some fuel conditioner to boot. She completes me: I service her vehicle and light her fire; she gives me gas. Speaking of gas and fires .... this may be of interest to some of you (and it was for me since my obsessive compulsive ranting about gas prices). Sunday is the usual: Church, Sunday School, Bring in firewood, Prep meals for the week. The Mrs actually made the PB&J sandwiches for them this time ... and cut off ALL the crusts. Ghengis will not be pleased, he likes the crusts. Odd child. So all of Sunday was just in preperation for the work week. No big shocker there, except that the Tyrants had President's day off on Monday so I'd be sitting it out with them.

And along comes Monday, I cook, I clean, I entertain. Since is it a semi-national holiday, the swim-team practice is called off: School closed = no pool access. Fine. After my domestic duties conclude, we go through the regular 'swim at club/tsd at studio' routine. Everything is domestic bliss till some time after O'Dark-Thirty. Jake saunters into the master bedroom where the Mrs is settling into the mile-wide bed for a little shut-eye. He makes himself comfortable and then proceeds to produce about 200 metric liters of semi-digested, fully masticated vomit. How in the world!? He ate his dinner at 1500 hours and now he has issue? He must have been fermenting that batch of bile and 100 molar hydro-sulfuric acid for quite some time. So, the Mrs and I manage hose down and mop up ... he felt better but we needed some serious air-freshener to detoxify the master suite. The next morning, he was chipper as can be but I was still down a pillow. You know you are getting too soft when you need two pillows to sleep right.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Swimming | Karate | Children | Illness

Pining for spring ...

2009-02-13T08:00:00.003-05:00

Not much new to blather about today. Just thinking about how I would really like winter to be over so I can start a bit of spring cleaning. No, really! It's not the lunch talking. Yeah, just back from at 'team' lunch. Note to self, when ordering a glass of Scotch at a Chinese restaurant (sans ice), be prepared for a GLASS of scotch. Yeah, I got a bit of Glenfiddich in me so this work stuff is rather unappealing. Hmmmm ... un ... appeallllllinnnnnnngggg. Yes. Ahem, of course. Now my final hours in this fine wintery (but unusually unseasonable) wecond week in the month of February will be somewhat muted. We will be taking the Scouts and Attila the Cookie Sales Monster to WDRV for a quick tour and then off to the pizza pie shop. That will leave me with little dinner/supper prep and no swimming as well. Friday means no homework as well! WOOT! After the pizza, we will sprint on over to the TSD Studio for DodgeBall Friday where the Mrs will grab the Tyrants and I'll head off to the monthly poker game for pizza, beer and bluffing. Yes, no swim meets or extra-ordinary events to deal with on Saturday, so I might actually get something done? I'll probably spend most of my time bringing in firewood before it snows again and puttering about in the garage. The driveway halogen lamp is on the fritz so I should probably deal with that. I do have some pressing details I should focus on through. Pthhhht! Whatever. See you all Monday with the Redux update. Oh, and yes, oil is now $34/bbl. Pricks.

Retraction: Oil is up 10% to $37 ... they are still uber-pricks.

Morose and Gloomy

2009-02-12T08:33:00.006-05:00

I'm all kinds of pissed off about gasoline prices right now. They are flirting with $2/gal here in Pennsyltucky and the world oil trade is now slumping at $35.09. Given the image I provided and the knowledge that there are 42 gallons/bbl ... after refining and by-product extraction you get about 19.5 gallons of gasoline. So, if you GAVE AWAY all the byproduct, you could reasonably see gasoline costing $1.80/g. Here is an interesting chart you can play with. Either way, what I guess we are seeing is the bi-annual fuel mix switch over with a little bit of price-fixing thrown in under the covers. Given that gasoline costs now roughly the same as it did 30 years ago, I should take that big bag of whining and shove it.

On to more 'mundane' soliloquies ... the Tyrants and I hammered through the daily schedule with few hiccups. All's well that end's well I suppose. They were oddly compliant and were even interested in snuggling with each other last night. I don't mind letting them sleep in the same bed; it's easier for me to transport them to the Perpetually Snuggly Mrs's snuggle-fest nest in the morning. Given the absurdly affectionate nature of Ghengis (It's a ruse, I can tell), I was unhappy to hear about some issues he was having with a select number of his classmates. Apparently, two of them; Joby and Chrispin (yep, names changed) had ganged up, and were trying to swing him about by his coat. His pleas for them to stop were unheeded and that made him cry. Dad programming snapped in and I started planning my assault at that moment. Slow breaths, push down monster within .... and now for the wisdom. I asked if he had talked to the teacher about it and he confirmed that she put an end to it and insisted that the two cowardly infraction-bent delinquents apologize for their misdeeds. Given that, I do not believe this will be the last of this so I went over our process flow chart. First, insist that the cease the assault. Second, if they choose to continue, inform an authority figure (Not the UN) and implore them to put an end to the situation. If the intervention is insufficient to repel the barbarians, you must be able to defend yourself. I let him know that if he get's to step three and proceeds to lay them out like a slab of meat-locker back-bacon, I will have his back and support him all the way. I know the father of at least one child and he knows me. Nice thing about private school, it's a privileged, not a right. But you still hold a bit of sway since you are forking over the Payola every month or so.

Quip of the Day

2009-02-11T13:14:00.003-05:00

There’s the Keynesian theory that $1 of Government spending will cascade down to more than $1 of economic activity. I’ve only seen that happen a couple time (1) The 1930’s Hydro-Electric dams and (2) the 1960s Interstate Highway system.

But converter boxes, NEA, Amtrak, nutrition programs, etc. are not likely to generate the returns that electric power and a highway system did.

At some point I think that Obama believes a version of the Keynesian theory where any Government dollar spent will magically result in more than $1 dollar of economic activity.

Spend money to make money is true sometimes. And sometimes it leads to Chapter 11. If Obama bet wrong, we’ll be like Japan in the 90’s. If he’s right, we’ll bounce back and grow enough to make the 7% of the GDP he played with insignificant.

Or it could be that our economy is big enough and fundamentally sound enough that we’ll bounce back as soon as we are done being afraid.

Technorati Tags:Economy | Epic_Failure

SAVE US!

2009-02-10T22:36:00.009-05:00

Here I sit at the piano class waiting room. Listening to the melodic plunking of little fingers over the faux ivory ... and the periodic admonishments of the instructor to my little Imp, Ghengis. He is getting into trouble again, so it's probably time for another lecture. While I stew over my parental duties, I tried to hijack a wireless signal, to no avail. Must be the higher humidity in the air. I did get a hint ... just a wiff of a bit of a signal, only to have it melt away like foie gras on a steaming slab of porterhouse steak. Mmmm, steak. But I digress. I could titillate you with mundane tales of my work day. Where I sit with the team as we try to figure out just what in the world we plan on doing in the next sprint. Ah, yes, the scent of failure is in the air. We are probably just going to work on some left-over cruft from the last sprint cycle. The last team just DUMPED it and said they were 'done'. Not so much, really. So be it.

I've been working with the kids on finishing their dinner in a timely manner. It would be much easier if I could sit with them while they eat, but time is short and I have a heap of chore to grind through before we head off each afternoon. This is a beast of my own creation and I'm going to have to be creative (or persistent) to overcome it. Speaking of persistence, this is a TSD week. I'll be in the Child and Adult classes every day except Friday when we have a tour at WRDV with the cubs. We'll do pizza after wards before heading over to the 'Dodge Ball Session', but I'll not stay for the adult class after 1900 hours as I will be doing my bi-monthly work poker cameo ... just to bolster that coworker relationship thing. Anything to make sure I'm held in the highest esteem when the axe falls on the work-force.

Finally, can SOMEONE tell me why oil prices are staying at $40/bbl but gas prices are nearly at $2/gal? Are the refineries cutting back on production? CRAP! I just looked and the price is now at $38/bbl. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

Weekend Redux 20090209

2009-02-09T14:25:00.006-05:00

Playing catch-up again here. It was quite a busy weekend and I did not get half of what I wanted done in the time that I had allotted to myself. The grand ball of delicate maneuvers started on Friday Night. After wrapping up the kids TSD class with the usual Battle Royall Dodge Ball Melee, I scuttled on back to the Haupertonian manor to prepare for the next week. Since I knew I would be occupied with peripheral tasks, I chose to make as much of the meals we would be consuming and bundle them up in nice little packages for each day. Provincial Chicken with Herbs and Garlic ... along with 6 bacon wrapped cheddar wursts. The Mrs loves bacon-baked chicken. I sprinkle a cup of rice along the bottom of the 18 inch skillet befor putting it in the oven for 90 minutes and the rice soaks up all the goodness. Yeah, I'm not supposed to be eating that sort of stuff, so that's why I canceled my Cardiologists Appointment. I also prepped 10 hard boiled eggs and started defrosting the lobster and little smokeys that the Tyrants like to snack on between activities. It's all a labor of love. The love of food is the most genuine love of all. That's a pithy quote that I cannot find an attribution for. Maybe I just made it up but I find it hard to believe that I am the initiator of something that ... Confucian. And, of course, there are a couple of other dishes ... mundane stuff like mac-n-cheese or spags-n-balls that I had to plow under. I tend to be happiest when I'm in the kitchen.

Saturday was HORRENDOUS! We had four/five events set up. The first thing in the morning, we had to drag the Tumultuous Twins out of their warm and snuggly lairs so we could get some nutrition in their bellies and get off to the TSD Studio in time for their test. They had other ideas. In mortal combat, I did manage to stuff enough of their breakfast between their gritted teeth between crushing blows to my ribs and skull that they would be able to make it through the test without depleting their energy reserves. This, however, resulted in my total lack of time to feed my own gullet. They did well in the test, for the most part. Attila, for the first time, broke her board in the first kick, outperforming the rest of the red belt testers. This will put them on track for being Cho Dan Bo in May ... which will get them set up for being a Junior Black Belt at this time next year. But let us not count our chicks before they hatch. Right now, we will just need to learn their third weapon form (another staff form) and then get their previous forms cleaned up. Thinking about it ... just ... wow. They'll be seven which gives them a few years till they are out of the Manor. Now my test, good grief! To start off, I was not in my peak performance health. Then, my usual bent is to go all out which tends to leave me in an exhausted state nearly half way through my 'performance art'. The sparring is towards the end and I just SUCK OUT when I get to that point. I always have some fantastic ideas about what I'm going to do and how I'm going to 'Shock and Awe' my audience, but in the end I just stand there and throw single kicks or punches while getting pummeled by my opponent. (Insert long and depressed sigh here)

After I slithered out of the test as a slithering mass of pulsating pain, we stopped off for a bite of pizza with the rest of the available crew and celebrated our ability to put on a strong face in spite of the various wounds leaking precious body fluids. From there, it was on to a Swim Meet where, again, I had bathroom guard duty. It was steaming hot in there but I was required to stand fast and for good reason. The janitor had a peculiar predilection of creeping in the back door every so often and slum around in the bathroom stalls. Creepy. I did get to see their performance on the Mrs's laptop after she uploaded the video and pictures she took. That's her thing, I sit in the locker room and embrace the aroma of teen-age angst while she sits amongst throngs of semi-detached family members and chews through several packs of rechargeable batteries. Fair trade, I think.

Since this is Scout Week, we had a special mass at church for the cubs to attend. We all sat in the front row and periodically throughout the service, Father K would make mention of it. Really quite sweet actually. Both Attila and Ghengis were there in the front row along with the rest of the Horde. Since this was done at the 10am Family mass, I had to let the gals at the Sunday school go on without me. I hope they managed. After that, the Mrs took our little girl scout (Daisy, Brownie?) off to manage a cookie-pimping table at the local grocery store while I took my mini-me off to the movie theater. While Ghengis and I were slouching through a rather expensive matinee showing of 'Dog Hotel', the minions of cookie crook managed to offload 100 boxes of tasty diabetic failure. She has personally sold over 70 boxes now. At 3.50/box, they are doing a brisk business! We had a bit of time before the gals were done, so after the expensive movie, we took the Cybernetic Mammoths out and gave them a thorough scrub-down. They were beginning to get that particularly interesting smell that can only be described as "moldy sweat sock full of Doritos". Yeah ... they need to get out more but they are seriously 'indoor dogs'. Thor balks at any inclement weather outings. Big Sissy.

The rest of my time was allocated to showing Eldest Son how to do his next staff form and compelling him to keep on trying to ride his bike. He's getting a bit to big for it so I can see an Upgrade in the near future for him. He has the 'going straight really fast' down pat and the 'panicked emergency brake' ... the turning part is the stich right now. Other than that, the Mrs and I did a bunch of prep for the week. Clothes, swim gear, TSD props, lunches, etc... Same work, every week. Life is superb ... elegant ... and splendid (Ghengis's new word).

Crud, forgot to whine about gasoline prices. WTF! Why are they at nearly $2/g when the oil price is sticking to $40/bbl!? Damn crooks!

BACON!

2009-02-05T13:17:00.002-05:00

What split in reality caused this?

Technorati Tags:Bacon

It lives!

2009-02-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

Out sick yesterday, got very little done except tending the fire in the wood stove and hosting a den meeting for the cub scouts. This cold really got the best of me. My hope is that I can shake this before Saturday, when we have the TSD tests. Oh, that would suck on so many different levels. Fortunately, this is just a Pre-Test for me. I can hopefully perform to a sufficient level of competence without having to jeopardize my health. After this weekend's experiment in self destruction, I have a six month training period before the 'real-deal' blackbelt test where I get to fight the Master and his perfidiously dangerous minions. Yeah, I'm a tad intimidated.

In other, less boisterously disastrous news, the piano practice the other night went well. The Tyrants are doing so much better. It boggles the mind that they can train their little digits to tickle the ivory they way that they do. My futile attempts at teaching myself from their books has not fared quite as well. I just cannot seem to make my fingers do what I want them to do on command without a great deal of perspiration and focus. I'm a fairly good typist, but that seems to be a detriment when it comes to the c-d-e-f-g scales. Rats. And something else: gas prices. What is going on here!? Oil prices have gone down to $40/bbl but the unleaded regular is creeping up. Let me guess, the refineries are down for annual maintenance. Riiiight. I call bullshit on that!

Technorati Tags:Gas | Piano | Karate | Children | Illness

Rolling on through

2009-02-03T08:22:00.008-05:00

Hrmmm, spent the day struggling with a SNMP issue at work only to find out that someone created the issue thinking that they were checking in a configuration file for Solaris instead of SUSE linux. Major oops, since we were only deploying this to linux hosts. Heh. That's what I'm reduced to at work these days, spotting other people's missteps.

And now on to the important stuff: the perquisite benefits of being a middle-age, middle-class dad. Grab the Tyrants and stuff them full of dinner while they bang on the piano and do their 100 pages of math and spelling homework. Quickly laing waste to the tasks at hand, we grab a couple containers of 'Little Smokey Cheese Wursts' (not bacon wrapped, sorry) and head off to the drowning pool were we simulate the storming of Normandy. The Old Ladies flee in fear as the Tyrants plow into their hastily formed defenses. It was almost funny to see the looks on their faces as they skimmed over the surface of the water like pink little patrol boats sans torpedoes. Wrap that up and skip the hot tub; it was closed due to too much sloughed flesh in the intake valves. Yetch. Quick change into the TSD clothes with a second (dry) set of swimming clothing on underneath - they each get a hard boiled egg and we hit the Karate Studio. Flash forward about an hour, we have just finished sparring so the class is over. The Ever Patient Mrs glides in the door and they all run off to Swim Team Practice for 2 hours; Genghis with his Lobster Chunks, Attila with her Mandarin Orange Slices, and both with a stick of string cheese. A few hours later, I limp out of the studio after getting rolled fairly throughly and meet up with the rest of the Haupertonian Household where a roaring fire and loyal Cybernetic Mastodons bay longingly at the beginnings of a light flurry of snow coming down. Of course, that snow is quite efficient at making those mountains of dog deposits in the back 50 look more like a pristine range of Matterhorn look-alikes than what they really are: Frozen Turd Bombs. Can you believe that (aside from the nasty cold I'm battling) this is an optimal day for me?

Technorati Tags:Illness | Swimming | Karate | Children | Work

Weekend Redux 20090202

2009-02-02T11:17:00.003-05:00

A nice, slow weekend to put down in the chronicles of the Manor Haupertonain. I stuck around on Friday to distract the Tyrants and the Cybernetic Hounds while the Ever Diligent Mrs tried to work from home. It was mostly me trying to provide a sufficiently 'fluffy' pillow to the twins while we ground through the recorded Tivo shows in between loads of laundry and throwing wood into the fireplace. Then, we flee from our coddling quits to go swimming and do a bit of Death-by-Dodge-Ball to wrap up the day. Throw a pizza on top of that and you have the perfect recipe for an idyllic weekend.

Saturday: more of the same sans swimming and TSD. The Tyrants never made it out of their PJs. Sunday: do the Church/Sunday School thing and head off to the Family Friend Seliga's household for a Superbowl carnival of edibles that I should not touch. One small note, there seems to be an annoying bug going about in recent days. I had a minor sore throat and some sniffles. Upon returning to work on Monday, I've heard at least 4 other reports of similar a malady afflicting my coworkers. Ever read The Stand?

stuff

2009-01-28T20:35:00.005-05:00

Going lazy again today. The kids were home all day yesterday, driving the Mrs up the wall. We skipped swimming and TSD so that they could go out in the slush and play with the Cybernetic Mastodons. What a mess. Nothing like being chilled to the bone and getting a snoot full of 'Wet Dog Cologne' while trying to make a slush-man. Then, getting smacked in the back of the head with a partially frozen slush-ball. Sweet. The whole matter makes no sense though. The roads were not all that bad and it would not be a great effort to get the Tyrants to their Higher Education Facility. Today, they have an open house that I will be attending ... in the same classrooms where I teach Sunday School every week. There will be no great surprise, but to support the moral and emotional well-being of my offspring, I'll be there.

Other mundane news: I got a haircut yesterday. It was getting a bit long so I stopped by my favorite barbershop over by the Airbase and got shorn. Those old Italian guys really can do a top notch job with a 'flat top' cut. What else ... hmmm, selling girl scout cookies for Attila and doing well with that. Moving a box or two every day. Oh, and I tried to set up a bunch of network components for the Mrs. She got four 1tb networks disks and when I tried to hook them up to a hub, they were unresponsive. I plugged one into the wireless router's hard-line ports and it sprang to life. I'm guessing that the lousy 8 port 10mb hub is just not going to work for this application. I'll probably surrender and get a 24 port 100mb switch. Home networking can be such a challenge sometimes.

Technorati Tags:Networking | Swimming | Karate | Children | School

Words mean something

2009-01-28T01:33:00.004-05:00

Word of the day: Turgid

Not much else. Standard day in the manor. No piano yesterday though. The instructor is on vacation at Disney World. Good for her, because this ice storm is making a real mess about here. Thought we might have a 2hr delay ... but that did not happen. Called the hot-line at 0545 sharp and the cancellation notice was already up. So, I lit the fire in the wood-stove and got my big old rear on the road. Took twice as long as it should have to get to work, but that was expected. The POS Super Saturn (of Doooom) handled ok, which is more than I can say for some of those high performance AWD beasts.

I'm not sure if TSD is going to be open tonight, but we'll give it a go. Have to make sure the Tyrants are sufficiently tired every night before they go into their meditation chambers!

Technorati Tags:Ice Storm | Swimming | Karate | Children | School

History of war ... with food

2009-01-27T15:56:00.000-05:00

Interesting interpretation ...

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Meme #334

2009-01-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

You Are 85% Conservative, 15% Liberal

Social Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Ethics: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Technorati Tags:Meme | Blogging

Round and round

2009-01-27T07:05:00.003-05:00

Yesterday went pretty much as expected. I did find that my mental faculties were less than 100% though. For some reason, I could not seem to get my last form correct and I was flopping about like a half dead carp on some of my earlier forms. Gha! I was embarrassed to even call myself a practitioner of the ancient art (Way of the Open China Hand). Foppish, effete and ineffectual. Hopefully, I'll do significantly better today. With that said, I have only a few days to clean up before the Black-Belt pre-test. The Tyrants are closing in ... triangulating ... plotting. They'll most likely get their first stripe on their red-belts and that puts them 6 months away from their 'Cho-Dan Bo' (phonetically spelled). That means they are about 1 year and 3 months from their black belt. Right about the time they have their 8th birth-day. Fear it, the coming apocalypse!

Technorati Tags:Karate | Children

And so the week begins.

2009-01-26T08:22:00.003-05:00

Not much new to report. I did not get to do many of the chores I had hoped to get through this weekend. I spent way too much time using blasting caps to get the mountains of canine fertilizer off the frozen tundra of the back-50. There was all the usual stuff too. Outside of the mornings getting gobbled up by services and sunday-school, it seems that Sunday is all to short. So be it, I've got bigger eggs to fry right now.

Technorati Tags:Weekend | Chores | Dogs