White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Not a lot of time ... but it will improve. In the mean time: this.

Technorati Tags:Technology | Swimming | Traffic

Labels: Bridge, Technology, Traffic

Totally and completely unmotivated today. I went to bed early and still woke up tired and fatigued. After the 736th time the alarm went off after a snooze, I just shut it off. So, when I did finally get my sorry hide into work, I found the coffee machine in a state of disrepair. Aghast, I was forced to trudge through the early hours without my drug of choice. The withdrawal symptoms made me even more grumpy and curmudgeonly than usual. Now, this was complicated by a few things that happened on the commute into work this morning. My new route that cuts off a few miles by taking local surface roads ran into a bit of a snag. I found myself behind a large dumptruck hauling some sort of sand or gravel for nearly the entire distance. It was not that I was going about 15mph the whole way but every time we had to accelerate from a stop, it would belch out clouds of sickly black sludge and I had to keep my windows in the POS Super Saturn locked up and hermetically sealed for the whole trip! The temperature and humidity is in the 'comfort zone' today and I could not imbibe in the pleasure of having the wind blow through my mane of rolling locks. Then, while stopped at a light, I watched as another large PECO vehicle rolled by and one of the troglodytes riding in the cab took a lung-full of cigarette carcinogenic cruft and threw the butt into traffic. It's not the smoking that annoys me. I fully support their right to do things that endanger their own health, but come on! Clean up after yourself, eh?

Final parting note: pushups. My first week is over. Not too shabby really. This morning, I did the 15/13/10/10/max where max was only 105 today. I blame the weariness of the work week for the drop in performance. Next week, I should do another test before starting so I can set a max to something I have difficulty doing rather than wussing out and sand-bagging like the piker that I am.

Technorati Tags:Pushups | Traffic | Sleep

Labels: Pushups, Slacker, Sleep, Traffic

Traffic has been a real bear of late. My fellow travelers on the by-ways and back-roads have all lost their minds. Knowledge of what a turn signal is for has been lost. Smoking with one hand, phone in the other and fumbling with the radio, it's no wonder I've had to crawl through no less than 4 accident scenes this week. Laws won't stop this behavior either ... jeeze.

Now children, it is time for me to dive into my usual antediluvian litany of sorrowful tales regarding my general health. I seem to find some bizarre calling that brings me to TSD practice every night. And with that, my body issues out a trill cacophony of creaking joints and singing tendons and I try to muscle my recidivist body into stances that even the Circ De Sola aficionados cringe at. Other than the usual staccato clicking of abused bones, I buckled my big-toe under last night while kicking a 'heavy-bag'. Yeah, it still hurts and it looks more like an egg-plant with a toe-nail painted across it. Oh, and my back aches so much now that I think I seriously need to look into seeing a chiropractor. I even have a coupon for free bone-snapping for one that is near-by. End of whine.

Oh, and gas prices. Over in Jersey it's $3.11USD/g ... around the Manor $3.30USD/g. Gha, good thing I only burn 5g per week. Instead of a new diesel TDI VW stationwagon next year, I should look into a vespa with 2 side-cars.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Injury | Karate | traffic

Labels: Gas, Injury, Karate, Traffic

POW! WHAM! SPLAT! And all that other good stuff. The last few hours have been rather mundane. Work has been a real bugger. I though I had messed up a bug fix but after several hours of tinkering around, I deduced that the fix was working as advertised and was failing a validation of frequency comparisons because the Encryption Modulator was set up to use a different set of QPSK/QAM settings. It worked on the dev platform where things were set up properly, the test platform was mis-configured and the code detected it. DUH! The System Integration Tester was absent once I learned of the deception ... I'll have to explain this to her at the SCRUM meeting the following morning. Fun.

The other day, Jake did WELL in TSD and swimming. I believe it was because Stephanie was present as the pool so Jake had to show off. Then, on Wednesday he was all played out so he did not do so well. We need to focus on his forms for the test that is coming up at the end of the month or he may not make the test list. Either way, he is the toughest little 5yr old Martial Arts Practitioner next to his sister. Master Smith is giving them a little more constructive criticism of late ... and they tend to listen to him a bit more so than me. If they pick up the next two forms as well as they have with the others, they should have little difficulty making their red belt. (Insert Image of Proud Daddy puffing up his chest)

A few nits and ends: Scheduled the water company to insert a water meter for the sprinkler system on Friday ... I'll wager they will not do it since I'm not going to be there. I should put a sign up were the meter should be installed out near the curb. They will probably assume they need access to the basement ... not true. Mental note; make sign. Odd thing, they did not mention that there will be a $50 surcharge for installing the meter for the summer. I think the woman who threatened me last time was bluffing to get me to go away. Grrr. I've also scheduled the sprinkler guys to come out and give the system a once over. On the same day, the AC guy is supposed to show up some time between 0900 and 1400 hours. When I asked about the wide range of time, they insisted that they might get emergency calls on Saturday and there is only one technician on call. Umm, I'm pretty sure that I'm the ONLY guy even trying to turn on the AC at this early date so their hedging is just a clumsy attempt at expectation management. Fair enough, but I'll be calling the Friday before to firm up the time. 0900 would be a much better time for me ... free up my day so I'm not sitting there, pining away for some fellow to show up like a teen-age girl waiting for her prom date. Of course, if it's some hottie in string bikini and daisy-duke cutoffs ....

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

Labels: AC, Banalities Work, Chores, Tang So Doo, Traffic

A minor chain of events yesterday slowed things up a bit. I was busily distracted by work when the Meticulous Mrs rings me up on the land-line phone in my sensory deprivation chamber. It was nearing 1430 hours and she let me know that the Day Care/ReEducation Facility had called her to let us know they would toss the Tyrants out into the cold cruel world at 1630 hours. Argh. I understand why they were closing (the public schools were shutting down and that requires the Professionals to go fetch their own offspring) but why they never call me (who does drop off and pick up NEARLY EVERY DAY) is sexist and illogical. Fine. I fetch them at 1620 hours and we scoot on home across the sheets of freezing rain and general wintery nastiness. I could see both the tiny kernels of frozen terror bouncing off my windshield and it's less acceptable brethren of 32F degree water droplets flinging themselves to oblivion and forming perfect little ovals of ice. We were on the brink of an ice storm. About the time we arrived at the manor, the assault by Mr Freeze had begun in earnest. I let the Tyrants 'enjoy' the 'snow' for a bit till the figured out that the sno-cone material laying about stung quite horribly when formed into snow balls and flung at each-others faces. A sled ride, however, was significantly more acceptable. Given this choice of activities, we of course refrained from attending TSD practice sessions. Good thing too. You see, the Manor is situated on a ridge where there are a confluence of surface roads which carry a great volume of traffic over/under various man made and natural obstructions. Turnpike, railways, stream ... all surround us leaving us insulated from a great deal of crime and other nuisance elements. Of course, the demeanor of the automotive explorers forging their way home was not at optimal levels. There were a great deal of accidents and nearly every bottleneck in the local region was sealed closed as tightly as Pooh in Rabbit's warren. The emergency vehicles were wailing and rushing about, only to find themselves all but trapped as well. Of course, this all settled down a bit only to start up again the next morning. A great deal of this traffic was from parents taking their children to school, only to find out that the buses did not pick anyone up because either the institutions were opening up late or not at all. Same case here ... delayed opening till 0900. At that hour, every single parent converged on the day care and filled the parking lot like Mentos in a coke bottle. To add to the misery, there was a semi truck parked in the middle of the road ... stuck while making a delivery. Ahh, yes. Good times indeed.

Technorati Tags:Snow | Ice | Winter | Children | Traffic

Labels: Children, ice, Snow, Traffic, Winter

Well, I'm going to be quite busy over the next few weeks, so please don't shoot me if I miss commenting on my regular blog reads or skip a few posts ... like I did yesterday. I was a bit laid up you see. I thought it would be a FANTASTIC idea on Sunday afternoon to chop up all that wood that I, as a mendicant lumberjack, pulled out of Gus's yard the previous weekend. So, chop-chop-chop I go and rip-tear-shred go the muscles in my back. The next morning, I could barely get out of bed to shut off the alarm clock. I had to slither out like some sort of spineless slink and whimpered the entire time. I let the Sympathetic Mrs know that I would not be moving that morning and slept from 0730 till 1730 straight! I really needed that, since I have been going into a 'spoon deficit' situation for weeks now. But enough of my surly simpering, what did happen this weekend?

Friday night was a hoot. Alexis decided to rat out her brother to a Mom in the pool changing room. She let this stranger know that Jacob was a player and had a lot of girl friends. Interesting in so much that she is not the type of girl to talk to strangers. I think it was the opportunity to take a swipe at her sibling that compelled her. I need to pay more attention to that since it seems she is developing the 'mean little girl' attribute a bit earlier than expected. Not as noticable as Jake's 'spastic little boy' act, and certainly not as cute. Rapprochement is forthcoming.

Saturday was mostly a wash. The weather was nice, which was a a nice turn of events since we were going to spend two hours driving up to Parsippany and another two on the way back. My artifice in finding a route that was only 65 miles instead of 115 was not as fortuitous as initially thought. The 'short' route took just as long and consumed as much gasoline as the longer, less direct route. In fact, we were treated to a Trademark Jersey traffic construct called the 'CIRCLE' as well as various jug-handles and convoluted left vs right exit ramps. On the upside, there were no traffic accidents (although, the police were as omnipresent as the traffic devices) and the return trip to the Manor was uneventful as it could have been. I was concerned in the first steps of the trip back when we headed down an access road that went from rough to unpaved and then finally to weed-grown. I was having visions of a chain-saw wielding mad-man, but then realized I was in North Jersey and I was the closest being to that description. Soon enough, the Observant Mrs spotted the signs for the on-ramp and we were under-way. On the downside, the children were rather impossible from the moment we arrived till the moment we strapped them into their restraining seats. Not enough exercise, most likely.

Sunday: well, I've already told you the results of that expedition in faulty perspicacity (heh, even I had to look that word up). To start the day, we had Sunday School of course. A new girl, Sam, came in to assist with what ended up being a VERY BUSY morning. As a matter of course, Jake made sure to assault her with hugs at every available opportunity. Shortly after class, I zipped off to the Local Low Price Gas Station (and car wash; they always ask but I'm afraid the POS Super Saturn would melt) to transfer Alexis to the Family Tank V2.0. This is so the Mrs and Alexis can go to the Nutcracker ballet at the Bryn Athen Playhouse. Jake, who found out about this was reasonably upset. Next time, according to him, Alexis would go see a movie with me and he would go to the Ballet with the Mrs. He was the only one comfortable with that arrangement. He can barely sit still through the movie and would only do so after I acquiesced to giving him a full sized package of twizzlers and a promise of McDonalds afterwards. We saw 'Bee Movie'. Horrible. Honestly, just bad. He seemed to enjoy it, but I think it was the twizzlers.

Technorati Tags:Back Pain | Banalities | Sunday School | Fatigue | Injury | Lumberjack | Mundane | Sunday School | Slacker | Sleep | Traffic | Turnpike | Weekend Wood

Labels: Back Pain, Banalities, Fatigue, Injury, Lumberjack, Mundane, Slacker, Sleep, Sunday School, Traffic, Turnpike, Weekend, Wood

Hrmmm, let's see here. It snowed a bit here in Pennsyltucky. Just a light sheet of ethereal snow. And as a matter of course, half the automotive pilots on the local roads completely went off the deep end and tried to induce reverse cranial rectal examinations. Most of the snow melted, only to be replaced by a diamond strength layer of ice. Slicker and blacker than teflon. Half the autos were going 15mph, the other 150mph. Just looking at the POS SuperSaturn was putting my life in danger. On top of that, it looks like I have a slow leak in the rear passenger side tire. Fine, I'll have to pull it off and let Chris the Uber Mechanic patch it this weekend. You know, because I have nothing better to do.

In other news, my shoulder hurts. No good reason, but it seems to be more of a muscle ache variety of hurt rather than a barometric joint reaction. I'm hoping that it will not become a long term issue as I will need to do a lot of shopping for the Mrs this year. She does not typically go for the sparkle and shine of baubles, but the 'neato' factor in technology sends her over the edge. I can see her eyes glaze over as she pages through the new geek-toys on sale at the local electronics monger. Yep, expect she'll want that new robotic tank this year.

Technorati Tags:Snow | Christmas | Traffic

Labels: Christmas, Snow, Traffic

It's here. It's finally Friday. For a short week, it sure has been a real nut-grinder. Last night, there was a THIRD accident on the PA turnpike, forcing all manner of additional volume to the local roads. Delish! On top of that, the malapropos weather we have been enjoying has come to an abrupt and brutal end. It had dropped below freezing for more than one night in a row. This event has spurred me into action. I've pulled back the graphite rods in the Manor Primary Reactor Core #1A and cranked up the central heating turbines. There goes the slush-fund. Burning money ... dang. Of course, it only kicks over when it gets below 55/60F on the 1st floor. It stays a bit warmer ... more temperate ... within the upper floors. Heat rises, ya know. The next morning (Friday), I was up and rolling. Feed the dogs, kids, get every one to use the 'potty', empty fire-pit, build a new creche for the next evening's fire with the spent wood-coals and twigs. Then off to the showers. Of course, after I shook off the worst of the morning fatigue, brushed my teeth, shaved, showered and dressed, I went back down to turn on the psy-ops electronics for the hounds only to see a ROARING fire going in the stove! DAMMIT! Apparently one of the coals that I plucked out with my bare hands was not as dead as I had thought. It was warm enough to relight the fire. So, I'll have to build a new Boy Scout Fire Pyramid after Dodge Ball tonight. At least the Hounds will enjoy a nice warm fire this fine Friday Morning. Oh, and one other thing. That five pounds I gained over the vacation ... I've nearly eliminated it already. Yeay for me. Don't hate me because I am beautiful, Hate me because I'm a self-righteous prig. (insert grin here)

Technorati Tags:Fatigue | Swimming | Karate | Children | Fire | Traffic | Turnpike | Accident

Labels: Accident, Children, Fatigue, Fire, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Traffic, Turnpike

Nothing happened on Wednesday. We slept in, went to work, went swimming, TSD and then ate and went back to bed. I love being dull. Oh, I did squeeze in a shower or two ... you know, because a man needs to shower sometimes. Adult TSD class is filling up. We have three new recruits to fill out the ranks. And they are GIRLS! No more locker talk amongst the guys ... we have to be 'gentlemen' now. Sheesh.

In other news, there was ANOTHER accident on the turnpike on Thursday Morning. Nothing but a blip on the news, but I could see when I drove OVER the turnpike, it was backed up to friggen Italy. Apparently a semi hit a delivery truck between 309 and 611 ... and it all fell like dominoes from there. I have not sympathy today because my back-pain has returned. If I'm going to be miserable, so is everyone else!

Technorati Tags:Accident | Traffic | Karate | Children | Turnpike

Labels: Accident, Back Pain, Tang So Doo, Traffic, Turnpike

Time, time, time ... see what has become of me. I'm showing my age there, eh? In any even, yesterday was a bit interesting. At a little after 0600 this morning, the sounds of emergency vehicles wailing filled the Manor grounds ... shortly followed by an incongruous symphony of howls by the Cybernetic Hounds. It was as if they were calling out to their foundling brethren to form a gathering or quorum. I was oblivious to the flock of circling news vultures helicopters thinking it was the usual strike force training from the local Marines at the air-base. I did not realize the extent of the calamity till I tried to actually get to work. I even drove right over the scene of the incident. Turns out, the main East/West artery of Philly was severed ... shut down at 0620... oblivious.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has reopened following a series of early crashes that closed both directions between the Philadelphia and Willow Grove exits.

Some delays remain, but motorists who were stuck for hours have probably made it through by now.

The highway was blocked by wreckage from three separate accidents involving nine vehicles, according to State Trooper Kevin Rathman.

At about 6:20 a.m. a westbound commercial tractor trailer lost control and crashed through the concrete median into oncoming eastbound traffic, colliding with four vehicles.

One of the vehicles, a pickup truck, burst into flames.

A passenger of one of the vehicles was taken to Frankford-Torresdale Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, he said.

The tractor-trailer driver was taken to Abington Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.

"No, no, no, there is no fatality," Rathman said, correcting some mistaken reports on radio and TV.

Two additional collisions occurred in the aftermath, he said. No one was hurt in those accidents.

Urk. Good thing I filled up the gas tank the night before.

Other things of note. We went swimming yesterday, but I did not participate in either Karate classes because ... I forgot my uniform. The Tyrant's stuff was packed, but I had neglected to check the supply bags before loading them into the cargo hatch of the SuperSaturn POS. Argh ... I really wanted to practice my next staff form too. The Tyrants acted up in the worst ways since I was not out there hammering them into line. This will continue all week till they get over the 'Grandparent Disease'. It's all fine and dandy that I missed the class though. I've been a bit ill of late ... AGAIN. I picked up something in the last days of vacation, most likely from the Mrs. It happens, I'm a virus magnet.

Technorati Tags:Traffic | Swimming | Karate | Children | Accident | Illness

Labels: Accident, Children, Illness, Tang So Doo, Traffic

Today is the last day of vacation. The moaning and gnashing of teeth could be heard for miles about. Even the local bear population fled in horror. So then, we get up and load the Family Tank with everything be brought to the FOB and then some. A bit of electronics, new and old, get tossed in as well. By 1100 hours, we are on our way in the bone-cracking chill of the northern climes. It's 37 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. Deer hunters are out in force, the rain covers their scent. It becomes quite obvious that it's past Thanksgiving as we drive by the denuded cornfields. In one patch, jagged cornstalks sticking up like a 2 day old shave, was peppered with a gaggle of 20 wild turkeys, all strutting about as if they had just repelled the alien invasion of their world. Then there were the turkeys on the roads. One such fellow who needed to be served up was going over 120 MPH ... then would pull over ... and blast past again. Never understood what that was all about. Hope his comeuppance is forthcoming.

It turned out to be a 3 hour and 50 minute trip. Not too bad at all for the 230 miles we had to tread. Of course, that means about 35 USGallons of gasoline got burnt. Well, that's not quite true. We burnt about that much for the full 2 weeks. At $3+ USD a gallon, it turns out to be about 5 million euros. I had to sell one of our small pacific islands to cover the expenses of Black Friday Shopping and the stinking petrol we expended. It's a plus though since the island will be submerged after all the greenhouse gases that will be emitted from everyone and their lame dog going to the big Global Warming Conference in Jakarta. Grrr.

Oh, and we got our Real Santa Pictures done already of the Tyrants. Right after we got unpacked, we tumbled into the POS Saturn and zipped off to one of the local malls where he usually is. Our promptness was not rewarded. It was not our usual Santa. The Twin Tyrants of Turpitude were not amused. They recognized that it was not the same fellow this year as it was the last five. Sharp eye ... he is probably recovering from and organ transplant after Jovial Jacob did his flying ninja attack on him last year. Apparently, he is taking this year off and will be back next year. No matter. I'll see if I can get the Mrs to release the pictures to me and post it one of these days.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Turkey | Traffic | Children | Santa

Labels: Children, Gas, Santa, Traffic, Turkey

My week days can be so banal. Wake up to obscure music on clock radio, hit snooze, wake, snooze (repeat several times). Finally realize that it's morning and bumble off to let the cybernetic hell hounds out. Cart away mountains of poo and then feed the prancing ninnies more fodder for their dirty-work the next morn. Realize *I* need to use the bathroom and look at the visage of death warmed over in the mirror. I need to put a picture over the mirrors in the bathroom. The indurate face staring back at me reminds myself that I should be CELEBRATING a new day, no accepting the indignity of being startled from some quickly forgotten gossamer dream. Little context, lesser substance, zero confluence.

After wrapping up my morning constitutional, either I go trundle the Tyrants up and get them to start breakfast, or I let the Mrs handle that variably dangerous task and involve myself with getting their breakfast and lunch ready ... along with my own daily vittles. Raiding the larder, I try to make sure they get something different every morning of the week. Invariably, it has to be something they can eat in our guest bed in front of the TiVo-TV w/o making a tremendous mess. So no liquids. Yeah, that means no eggs either. If I were not so lazy, I would get up an hour earlier and make them a good Minnesota Breakfast. You know, 12 eggs, bacon, toast, kolachies, steak, coffee, slice of apple pie in a bowl of cream ... standard 'bit of breakfast'. As it stands, we already spend over $500USD on food alone per month. So frugality (scrooge!) and sleep (sloth) prevail. That, and it prevents them from invading the bathroom while the Mrs or I are trying to take the all important "morning wake-up shower". Without that, neither of us could be described as anything close to amicable. I've bitten heads off for less. If you do not recall, at the beginning of the summer, the old water boiler krumped on us over Memorial Day Weekend. Yeah, I was a bit of a grumpy gus, but the Mrs damn near laid waste to the population surrounding the Haupertonian Manor for 'Breathing too loud, JUST STOP BREATHING!'.

Hmmm, where was I. My train of thought got derailed ... fatalities. Yes, anyways ... feed the kids, prep breakfast, shower, shave and brush teeth. I've been using the master bath (tiny thing it is) to get back into the old ways and I've noticed that the pressure is much reduced. I think the filter is clogged so we may have to call our plumber to do something about it. I would do this myself, but I have seen what it takes to replace the filter and I would rather Johnas do this. I would certainly break the damn thing and need to call him anyways ... might as well cut to the chase. Another thing about the shower ... I've decided it is my duty to try to use up all those 'single application' packets of shampoo, soap and tooth-paste that we have accumulated over the years. My coworkers are noticing too. My hair looks more 'perky' and lustrous apparently. The usual treatment of lye and burning acids to wash my body/hair have given me split ends and dulled the color. Gee, fashion plate metrosexual that I am, you think I would have avoided that! PTTTHHHH! So, every body is fed and groomed ... Pack up the 100 metric tons of crap I need to lug about every day in the POS SuperSaturn and off I go. Throw the Tyrants out of the airlock with chutes on as I rocket past the ReEducation Camp and spend my 15 minutes getting to work trying to find a song on the radio that does not make me vomit. Do this 5 days a week, you tend not to notice the little nuances every day. I must be getting old because I find this ... comforting.

Work for 8 hrs, flee the building. Snatch tyrants, go swimming for an hour, get pummeled by the lollipop guild for an hour at TDS, then spend another hour and a half getting pummeled by the Black-Belt-Brigade. Home, read bed-time story, get drinks for kids, kisses, eat dinner, kisses for Mrs, prep for next day (i.e. get out one of the 5 identical outfits I wear to work [black denim, black socks, tighty-whities{TMI?}, grey t-shirt]), last blogosphere scan; pass out. Where should I fit in the introspection? The unexamined life is not worth living ...

Shove it Socrates.

Technorati Tags:Shower | Swimming | Karate | Children | Plumbing

Labels: Banalities, Bed, Children, Home Improvements, Karate, Mundane, Sleep, Swimming, Tang So Doo, Traffic

So, Jake wanders into the bedroom where I'm still trying to shake off another restless night of sleep. He comes over to my side of the bed and whispers: "Daddy, I want to play some more chess, please." Ghaaa. My attempt at exposing him to higher strategy has backfired in the most awful way. Monday night, I got out the marble chess set that Big Little Brother had given me as a Christmas Present nearly 20 years ago. I set up the pieces and explained to Jovial Jake what each piece does. He gravitated towards the Knights but he mimicked my standard pawn opening moves. Here is the rough part; I gave him no quarter. After the 3rd loss, he was quite upset that I kept taking all his pieces. He was a bit watery eyed, but I explained to him that if he kept playing, he would get better and better and some day, he would take all my pieces. I want to make sure that he is a gracious winner as well as a good loser. Having nobility in success and failure is something that is not really taught these days. You see, everyone gets to be a 'winner' so nobody gets their feelings hurt. So, I hurt his feelings but explained to him that it can be ok to loose as long as you try your hardest. In successive games, I showed him how he could put me into check so as to force me to give up pieces ... he was quite giddy to have a modicum of power over his father even if it did not involve fists. After a bit, I let him know it was time for bed ... which lead to the morning confrontation. On top of that, I gave him that book; Dangerous Book for Boys ... he was THRILLED. So much so that he insisted that I teach him to read 'RIGHT NOW!'. Heh, let's try the little words first buddy.

We had quite a rain storm yesterday afternoon. If the rain came down any harder, it would have left dents in the roadways from the kinetic energy dissipation. Spot flooding was inevitable, Noah was dusting off his tools. Indeed, this only happened because I left my car windows open a crack so the interior would not be molten. Somehow, the rain radically changed direction to a horizontal vector as it neared my POS Saturn and the drivers seat was completely saturated within minutes. Nothing like driving with a 'moist' seat. When I did manage to pound through traffic and get to the Day Care/ReEducation Camp, I found a woman and her two small children woefully gazing out the front door ... probably watching to see when her car would float away. She was wearing Hospital Scrubs and I knew that the only material more transparent when wet would be one of those Hollywood sheer gowns that the 'Beautiful People' like to flaunt their bodies about in. Not something you want your children to observe though. So, the gracious being that I am, I offered to escort her and her children to their car. It worked out well except she got a bit wet on the back of her blouse. The kids were dry ... mostly. I had to grab her daughter's hand and lift her over Lake Superior when we got to the parked car. There was about 2 inches of standing water in the lot at the time. My boots are still wet. Smelly too. No matter, I did my best to reverse the karmic slide I've been on lately. Maybe I'll get to sleep in this weekend ... fat chance.

Finally, I found this somewhere ... but lost the source. The wise words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

Technorati Tags:Rain | Chess | Swimming | Children | Family

Labels: Chess, Children, NorEaster, Traffic, Weather

Hoooo-Doggie! What a day it was yesterday for anyone trying to get from point A to sub-station 011-937B. We had some fairly good thunderheads roll through the area. That let a cascade of rain and electric discharge fall to the ground like a sign of the end of times. Of course, with lightning there is the inevitable closure of the indoor pool. Not that I weep over the missed opportunity of freezing my gluts off in the near zero kelvin contents of the pool. With rain comes the 'instant asshole' aspect of driving about this region. While slugging my way to the day-care/re-education facility, I heard over the radio about 3 overturned trucks and an explosion on the NJ Tpk. I felt a bit of Schadenfreude when I heard, but quickly got my come-uppance. Right at the intersection of Sawmill and Dresher. At 1605, a blue pickup transporting 2 hillbillies made a right on red (in spite of what the sign said about that) just as a blue civic was passing (at about 30mph) a line of cars piled up in the left lane of intersecting traffic. BLAM! The pickup (heavy construction vehicle type) was thrust up onto the berm next to the road and bits of the civic rained down on the wet, steamy pavement. It was obvious that the compact vehicle would not be going anywhere since it absorbed the kinetic energy with a direct impact to the grill by the I-Beam that the truck was sporting. The hood buckled such that it's apex was higher than the roof of the copula. The burly man in the pickup, took a final drag from his cigarette and flung it brusquely to the ground to elaborate the words that were spilling out between his snarled lips. Within SECONDS, a police cruiser and an EMT vehicle pulled up. It was rather surreal that they were within the proximity of the accident at the moment it occurred. Now, this all sounds like a facinating road-show for me, but the arrival of the cruiser resulted in some unanticipated side effects. The intersection is equipped with a sensor that detects the flashes of an on-coming emergency vehicle and overrides the normal program for the signal lights. Yes, it stayed red for 15 minutes till the police realized that the traffic delay was not because of rubber-necker, but rather, because his override signal was still on. Needless to say, I was only 1 car from the light and when I was released from my unintentional imprisonment in Hatboro Gitmo, I could see the horrific results. It was backed up for a mile already and this would only get worse when the local school let out in a few minutes and rush hour would begin in earnest. I could predict much fulmination and gesticulation would be commencing soon. Much of it not from my participation in the local road rage full contact sports league.

It's kindergarten. Yes, only 10 meters away from the other room that the Tyrannical Twins where in, but it might as well have been another planet with an alien culture that ate molten rocks for nutrients. The first day was the worst. The minute we walked in, the children who had been promoted previously and their fellow graduated immediately rushed us shrieking the names of the twins. I thought for sure that we would shortly become beset by a tribe of Comanche Warriors or Bedouin Fighters. Today, we were wary and set up a defensive perimeter before trying to breach the portal to the dark side of Kindergarten. It was a bit smoother, but I still felt the chill of doom about me as we entered. Next week, it's 'summer camp', with is essentially showing up at the same place but they go on field trips every day. To the ice cream shop, or the local pub. Fridays is water-play day though. They even have planned trips to the Lego and Crayola factories. I'm going to see if they are interested in going to Cabela's or Graterford Penitentiary too. You know, just for balance.

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Labels: Banalities, Children, Traffic, Weather