Beneath the walnut trees
I sit amid the grass.
I stare aloft, and gape
At those confined in glass.
The hum refused to cease.
The din goes on each morn.
Oh whom shall break away?
That bairn might now be born.
To find a place of peace,
Reprieve from cage and mark.
Discover life’s true course!
Ignite her Holy spark.
Maria, art thou mine?
I know thy path is wide.
God, grant me skill to give
You compass deep inside.
How can you predict a massive market decline?
A: It will occur 1 day after I rebalance my 401(k).
Ouch.
Whitney - Sep 1, 2008
How does one miss an impending market decline the size of texas? Neglect to look UP. Ike. Big sucker screaming HERE I COME MERRILL LYNCH!!
…or “Whitney gets car fever”
So Saturday, before Ike started tearing through our area, our intrepid family went a-Cincinatti’ing. Yep, swimming pools, movie stars, and the best MINI dealership in the world.
I hadn’t been to Cincy MINI since last August, when a mishap with my radiator drain plug had me driving 120 miles roundtrip for a $2 part. Whitney hadn’t been there since spring of 05, when we had the Pup in for its last dealer service.
…A well-managed organization in a “dull” organization. The “dramatic” things in such an organization are basic decisions that make the future, rather than heroics in mopping-up yesterday.
Drucker, Peter. The Effective Executive, p. 42
I couldn’t agree more.
Now this is a movie.
It’s 1968; hipster counter-culture is ablaze in Europe. Somewhere, Austin Powers is out there in his Shag-u-ar telling the birds, “Oh Behave.” And, as our story opens, Charlie Croker (Michael Caine), the world’s best thief, has just been let of of prison….
Actually, as our story opens, a Lamborghini Miura is tearing up the Alps out of Turin on its way to Switzerland, driving up roads that look 2 feet wide at something like 120 mph. I got car-sick just watching it.
On the bright side, after nearly 7 months and 8.5 gallons of stain, I finally completed staining the last section of our fence yesterday, while waiting for the tow truck to arrive and cart off Beamer.
Come on down to the Combs household, folks, where you can witness (very) amateur mechanic Harold working on the old iron, attempting an amazing feat–an OIL CHANGE. That’s right…for the first few minutes, we’ll warm-up with the draining of the oil. Then we get to the feature presentation–the Two hour slog of…TRYING TO REMOVE THE OIL FILTER HE OVERTIGHTENED IN March!. You’ll gasp as you see him try the end-cap socket, followed by the Strapwrench. You’ll cry as you see him pound a screwdriver through the filter six separate times praying he’ll get it to loosen. You’ll sigh in relief as he the filter finally comes of, and swim in nausea to witness its mangled carcase.
Gas4Free - Sep 1, 2008
well i worked in a ship for a while and it really pisses me off when sumthing like that happens. Even in the ship there were some guys who were really good at overtightening things.. but this ones kinda funny an overtightened filter. A pipe wrench might have helped.
Quite a busy weekend…I’m expecting to crash sometime today around 10am, actually.
High & Lowlights:
Friday, Whitney tore a ligament in her right arm. Best quote from that belongs to her doctor: “I can either tell you you’ve got a torn ligament, or I can take X-Rays and tell you you’ve got a torn ligament.” So, she’s on restricted duty for a couple of weeks.
Praise report: Mom’s CT scan came back clean…the doctor said she was doing fine and had no indications of cancer almost a year after her surgery. Woohoo!!
“You need a hobby…that you can WALK to.”
Yep.
Jeff Roberts - Sep 2, 2008
Is that a bus factor statement? Don’t ride or auto-x or you could get hurt and we lose all your know-how?
Hmm, I may not have that much know-how but I guess the odds of ME being hit by a bus are pretty good. Church bus that is.
These days, my weeks look like this:
Monday: No meetings…WHEE!!!
Tuesdays: One meeting at 3pm. Impending sense of doom for Wednesday approaches.
Wednesdays: Meetings all day. Meetings to discuss the outcome of other meetings.
Thursdays: Meetings to discuss the outcome of those other meetings from Wednesday. Find project-killing roadblock. Sit and ponder roadblock. Send email to vendor asking why roadblock exists in the first place.
Friday: Managers nowhere to be found. PM takes half-day. WHEE!!!
Hoo boy, September is off to a great start.
Miserable, utterly miserable.
The “Net-net” (that execrable phrase our PM’s and managers use at work):
When I’m tired, hungry, and fed-up, I need to SHUT THE FUCK UP (STFU).
I didn’t do that. I didn’t do that TIMES 10. I “tore my ass” (lovely phrase my Mom taught me) 3 times for no good reason. I didn’t sleep well. I relaxed nary a moment, twisted up in knots for 15 separate reasons.
Once there was a microwave
Who served his family well.
Three long years he toiled
Forgotten, giving, serving
He showed some cracks along the way;
They patched him best they could.
But then one day, he broke.
They knew that he was done.
To fix it? Five hundred.
To buy anew? The same.
The decision was made right then:
It was time for him to go.
Now unplugged, now unlatched,
Daddy lowered him to the floor.
How grimy, greasy the underside!
How dusty the parts behind!
…going into Williams-Sonoma expecting there to be free food, just like Saturday afternoon at Sam’s Club.
Alas, it was not to be.
We did get out of the mall with a brisk walk, some family time, and $4 under budget. w00t!
Whitney - Aug 1, 2008
Actually they did have samples - a greek salad composed of coloured peppers, vinaigrette, and goat cheees. Unfortunately I’m allergic to two of those three things and you were rubbing the maximum mini by found on road dead by that point so I didn’t bother pointing it out. S’ok. usually they have nut bread when we walk so I wasn’t expecting much anyway.
Among Joey, Maria, Whitney, and myself, we must have every allergy going. Nuts, milk, pet dander, pollen, mold, cigarette smoke, dust. If it’s a biggie, we have it.
And we live in the allergy capital of the world. Arizona keeps looking like a good second option.
Something caught my eye on TechCrunch the other day: Jott
Jott is a free voice-to-text transcription service. You sign-up, confirm your email address, then pair it to your cell phone. After that, you can dial the Jott Number (1-866-JOTT-321) then dictate an up to 15 second note. It then emails that note to you (well, a link to it in the free version). You can also schedule that note to be forwarded via SMS as a reminder to you.
