Watched this trainwreck with Whitney last night. Full disclosure: I LOVE Maya Rudolph. Love her. Don’t know why. Anyway, the movie’s basically Mike Judge running amok for 90 minutes with Matte paintings, bad SNL actors (sorry, redundant. Should say: “SNL Actors”). The premise is pretty good, actually–that smart people will be squeezed out of existence by dumb people who have LOTS of kids. Think the dumb kids in high school that get all the attention and resources, spread over a planetary scale. ...

Sounds like a classic science fiction story I read… JarvoSpeaks - Feb 5, 2007 Sounds like a classic science fiction story I read years ago called “The Marching Morons” … wonder if there’s a connection?

No, not the pitter-patter of little feet. Bought Joey and myself a pair of these: Yep, Yamaha YRN-22B Baroque-fingering recorders. Perfect instrument to teach some musical basics. I still have my tenor sax and a frankenstein clarinet from my days in the Breathitt County High School Band of Pride, but neither is suited to a 6-year-old. Music was a big part my life, and now I’d like to at least introduce that to Joey and the rest of our children. If he likes it, great. If he doesn’t, that’s fine too, but at least it will broaden his horizons a bit. ...

I’ll scratch your inner band geek…..hehe …..u… Whitney - Jan 5, 2007 I’ll scratch your inner band geek…..hehe …..unless it’s wearing a onesie that is…. Yeah, I could never master altissimo either (that’s the squealing harmonic notes, right??). That’s when I realized I’d never be the world’s greatest alto saxophone player. Recorders are cool, if you get two or more going together it sounds like the beginning of Stairway to Heaven … ...

Short version: Because I’m a zombie on Fridays. Since my prolonged Christmas break, I’ve shifted my schedule around. And by “shifted”, that means getting to work earlier and leaving at the same time or later. On the whole, this works out great Monday->Wednesday, is passable on Thursday, but by Friday I’m just mental mush. In fact, I’m writing this blog just to try and get some creative juices flowing.

Thanks for bothering you Bye Ah, India.

:-) Anthropologists love the mundane. They study the way people live day-to-day, the things we take for granted. So, here’s a snapshot of my typical Monday: 4:54 am: Wake up and realize it’s almost time to get up, but fall back asleep anyway, entering the depths of REM just in time for… 5am: Alarm goes off. Hit snooze bar for 9 minutes. 5:06am: Inexplicably wake-up, turn off alarm and arise from bed. ...

(nerd factor 5: I see that title and think it’s a variable declaration…yikes…) Taking this test I found that I’m an now an ISTJ. What’s that mean? As do other Introverted Thinkers, ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold. Effusive expression of emotional warmth is not something that ISTJs do without considerable energy loss. … ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others, especially when the second parties don’t keep their commitments. But they usually keep their feelings to themselves unless they are asked. And when asked, they don’t mince words. Truth wins out over tact. The grim determination of the ISTJ vindicates itself in officiation of sports events, judiciary functions, or an other situation which requires making tough calls and sticking to them. ...

5 hours sleep Sunday night. Arose @ 5 for a 12 hour, stressful day at work. Whitney had some contractions, so we didn’t get to bed until after 11 Arose @ 5 for a 2 hour roundtrip to louisville to get Joe. Totally blitzed today.

So, with a little help from my friends I finally got my cable-box open using a highly modified dinner fork. (Cue the MacGyver theme…there’s duct tape and pliers next!) Inside I found the line from the ground running into two 3-way splitters, swirling around inside this rather small gray box, with one splitter leading to another like this: |---> Line 1 |---> Line 2 \----> | |-----> |--> Line 3 |--> Line 4 |--> Line 5 After some experimentation, I found out that I couldn’t make the cable and the antenna co-exist using a combiner. So, I segregated it in the box so that the living room and master ran off the antenna, and the upstairs ran off the cable. This meant I had to move my cable modem upstairs, but that’s no big deal. ...

Sunday I was all worked-up about Whitney’s car having a catastrophic oil leak somewhere behind the engine. So, this week, I monitored the oil level on the dipstick every morning before going to work, checking it at that time because all the oil drains back to the pan overnight. Surprise, surprise: No oil loss. Okay, going theory for now: When I poured-in the oil Sunday, the engine was tilted back at ~30 degree angle from vertical (the engine slants back towards the firewall, and I had the car up on jackstands), so my funnel allowed some oil to spill back off the valvecover. ...

Either: a) One must be sarcastic to be a programmer. b) Programming makes one sarcastic. * * * I’m really chasing my tail on this one. I’m going for (b).

I think sarcasm is the brain’s natural defense whe… Jeff Roberts - Jan 4, 2007 I think sarcasm is the brain’s natural defense when faced with data that doesn’t compute. It searches for humor in the situation with which it can entertain itself, if only briefly… Funny stuff, by the way :-) I’ve been reading WAY too much Scott Adams lately. ...

If programmers dictated how software worked: Every piece of software would be 100k on disk, execute at warp speed, run on everything from a stopwatch to a supercomputer. Said program would take 10 years to develop, because “I’m close to getting it finished.” Said program would be so obscure and hard-to-use that even its author would create an script file to execute it If managers dictated how software worked: Everything would be one big chart or powerpoint slide (less than 3 bullets!). ...

Jamie graciously floated me some $$$ to buy lunch (It’s payday, but I haven’t been to the bank yet…) I selected the special: Chili Burrito + drink for $3.99 The guy in front of me in line, patiently waiting with his accounting book said, “Uh, you know you could’ve gotten that cheaper by not ordering the special.” Well-natured gal behind the counter: “No, the bean burrito is $3.19, and the drink is $1.25.” ...

On getting rid of cable: So, are you guys gonna start using kerosene lanterns? Yes, my next house will be made of sod, with a latrine (outhouses are so gentrified!), and a hand-dug well. We plan to make our own clothing. I’ll be riding a horse to work, stabling it in the 3rd floor NOC, although horses are notoriously difficult to get into elevators.

After jerry-rigging my 7 1/2 foot antenna atop my entertainment center, I watched the national title game last night. Wow, did OSU look like a bad team: Flat, underprepared, with no answer to any of Florida’s plays. The game was pretty-much over when Tressel went for it on 4th & 1 FROM HIS OWN 30 YARD LINE! This is boneheaded along the lines of Rick Pitino not guarding Grant Hill’s inbound pass in 1992. ...

WHEREAS Sunday is the LORD’s day, the Sabbath. (If you’re Christian…If you’re a Jew, you wonder why Lazy people won’t work on the first day of the week) WHEREAS activity on the Sabbath not centered on God is cursed. WHEREAS I can foul-up any “30 minute job”. WHEREAS Whitney’s car hates me. RESOLVED by all members of the Sunday-is-for-football-and-naps club to cease any and all automotive repair activity on Sunday. ...

I can’t help but notice you’ve got “diaper” and “h… Jeff Roberts - Jan 1, 2007 I can’t help but notice you’ve got “diaper” and “hindsight” within a paragraph of each other… Stop being so “anal” :-) It was the tavist D talking

Our cable’s going off on Monday and we’re getting back with Netflix Our rabbit-ears receptions was awful, so I went to radio shack and brought home this bad boy: 80" grandpa special antenna. Tried it out today with a line of 75-ohm coax running directly to a single TV, and the reception was spectacular from all the Lexington stations. It’s a directional antenna, but I can point it directly South and get everything I need. ...