So, I get back from lunch, and someone’s brought an ice cream cake from DQ for the area. I go down and help myself to a slice, and I ask what the occasion is. Everyone looks around nervously. “Tell him, Sue.” “You tell him, Gary” “_____’s dad died.” ???? “Yeah, they weren’t close.” Apparently.

what….did it say “Congratulations!” or something… Whitney - Dec 4, 2006 what….did it say “Congratulations!” or something on it? No, thankfully it was blank…just an ice-cream cake. Saddens me, though…estranged relationships father-to-son, estranged for eternity now, maybe.

:-) Check-out my pal Joe Guillory, the lawyer!

I have certainly whipped out my credit card and ap… Jeff Roberts - Dec 2, 2006 I have certainly whipped out my credit card and approached one before. But then sometimes I point my car key fob at my office door and press Unlock. some around here take Gcards…..but that’s mommy and daddy’s money so I guess it doesn’t really count…. ...

I will not eat popcorn before bed I will not eat popcorn before bed I will not eat popcorn before bed I will not eat popcorn before bed Yeah…nothing like being groggy and sick-as-a-dog at 4:30am.

As Bella was in Louisville today, nesting and going to a baby shower (not her own…mmm…pregnant women on parade!), I went to get my CD player installed at Car Stereo warehouse. They thought they could run the outputs through the factory amp, but turns out the factory amp was dead. This took quite awhile. Click on this link for a map of my sojourn overf the next 5 hours. I went: ...

Yeah, so I get my new radio, and I follow the easy-to-read step-by step instructions and I end-up with the mess you see above you. Seems that E30’s all have wonky common-ground stereos, and if you want any sort of quality, they have to be rewired. I’ll be getting this done tomorrow… Still, it was a priceless moment when Whitney and Joey returned from church Wednesday night to find me wrestling with my car’s wiring in my pj’s :-)

I have a notebook. It’s spiral bound, college ruled paper, with 80 sheets. I notice others in meetings have graph-paper notebooks, so they can create cool engineering-y diagrams while they doodle. I envy those people.

Stumble in the dark Engineers search, people hate. Satisfying none

I’m drowning in baby gifts. My old church family was very generous, as were several members of mom’s family. Got to drive Cathy’s Mazda MPV today, and it handled very well at “interstate speeds” :-) More powerful than Yoda, in any case.

Tact: noun. a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense; skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations. After attending the second of two Thankgsivings, I must say, Brentzels don’t have tact. The Combs clan doesn’t either. * * * Scorecard Atmosphere: The Combs homestead (now Janie’s house) versus Papaw Brentzel’s ranch-on-a-basement. Includes creek and hide-and-go-seek. Advantage: Combs Attendance: The Combs’s were missing a whole family, while the Brentzels were only missing one cousin (Alan). Advantage: Brentzel ...

It’s “smell a gnat fart”….and can it really be a… Whitney - Nov 0, 2006 It’s “smell a gnat fart”….and can it really be a lack of tact if you know no one in present company will be offended with what you say?! :) Endearing qualities of my family….at least I get it honestly. lack of tact on both sides :) Coming from someone with permanent OMIF (Open Mouth Insert Foot) syndrome, unless people are completely and utterly offended by the comment you just said out loud, then, no…it’s not tactless…I prefer BLUNT. ...

“Camry” means ‘crown’ in Japanese (“Cam-U-Ree”), so here’s my summation of our Crown so far: It’s great so far; the only complaint I have is the engine–with 3-4 people + stuff aboard, it can barely get out of its own way. In the flat, it’ll happily cruise at 80-90mph, as it’s geared very tall, but it’s hopeless in the mountains. We averaged 26 mpg on our trips in the past two days, which isn’t bad, but it isn’t the 30mpg I was hoping for. Some new tires and a tuneup should fix this. ...

God help me, I’m taking off this week. I expect to get the shakes sometime in the next couple days, as I really haven’t decompressed. I’m accustomed to the 7am video conference with India, and until that doesn’t happen, I’m not “on vacation”. * * * This weekend was pretty neat–did nothing on Saturday, and little to nothing today, aside from some shopping :-) In other news, we’ve Christened the Camry “Yoda”, as it’s unattractive, old, and unexciting. Yet, it’s full of time tested wisdom. ...

Good old Michael K (aka “Gateway”) is back on the GTO’s are cheap, buy one bandwagon. Apparently, they’ll be going for under $25k again, since the 06’s are the last year for them, and they’re still piled-up on dealer lots. 400hp RWD Clunky 6-speed no trunk :) no thanks. Do miss Thor occasionally, when those ever-so-rare patches of open interstate loom, and my 170hp just doesn’t feel adequate.

So, I come downstairs from my 10am meeting, to see something very…odd. A middle-aged lady from our facilities staff had her mop and bucket, much like other days, but she was MOPPING THE CARPET. Not the tile in front of the elevators, the CARPETING! Clayton came by and we commiserated on this idea, and found it to be a metaphor for our whole frickin’ company. We’re mopping the carpet. Working hard, but mopping the carpet nonetheless.

Classic! Yeah, I don’t think they have any actual… Jeff Roberts - Nov 2, 2006 Classic! Yeah, I don’t think they have any actual vacuum cleaners anymore, just one of those push sweeper things for the carpet, and I can’t see us shelling out to have the carpet cleaned. Was there a faint smell of cedar? Sounds like a scene from first grade where someone didn’t quite make it to the bathroom before hurling. ...

subtitle: OWWWWWWWWW! So, Whitney and I were hanging out last night, practicing some of her Bradly exercises, specifically Tailor Sitting. As we sat there, we were discussing flexibility and she said I should lean forward from my 90-degree position as far as I could. I leaned at about a 45 degree angle and finally felt a little stretch in my behind, so I kept going. Turns out, I could bend all the way forward, still in the seated position and touch my nose to the carpet. She was suitably impressed… ...

Something about knowing I share a birthday with Nick Lachey isn’t terribly comforting. Though, the Berlin Wall did fall on my birthday, which is cool.

…sigh… Been a C&D subscriber for ~20 years, but it was time to vote with my feet–their recent tests have been garbage, the redesign caused my eyes to hurt, and the editorial content has gotten more “frat-boy” by the issue. It’s still a respectable magazine, and their technical skills are above reproach, but it’s not worth my money.