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.

I love my wife even if she is a pharisee.

I have to agree with her “line-moving” points - I’…

Jeff Roberts - Nov 3, 2006

I have to agree with her “line-moving” points - I’ve said for some time that all the pedophiles need is a photogenic activist/victim and some money and that’s the next domino to fall. The groundwork is already there with “child rights” crap like kids divorcing their parents. Not a big step to consensual.

Article

Pending a recount, looks like Varney is out and Tingle-Sames is in. Also, our guy Marvin Thompson is back in for city council.

I would like them to change to a district-based council structure…voting for 8 folks in the at-large is too hard!

Today’s the day…

Cast my ballot at 6:15 this morning, and was glad to do so. With all but one exception, I voted Democratic (yes, Dad, you can rejoice.)

Yes, I’m naive. Yes, I’ve started to believe at least some of what I read with respect to Iraq, torture, foreign policy, and the covert operations of our current executive.

Yes, I believe in checks-and-balances, and the blank check Hastert and Frist gave Bush over the past 2-3 years is criminal.

Away from me satan.

Whitney - Nov 2, 2006

Away from me satan.

This morning I voted for a Democratic senator, congressman, and governor. For today, at least, you could call me a Bush Democrat.

Rock on, Josh!

Looks like the Dems may gain control of both houses, if the Senate races in Virginia and Montana hold out.

…or “My Dad becomes a BMW brand Ho”

So, after haranguing Dad to be my wingman on the Desperate Friday Car-Search©, replacing my burned-out wife, I developed a list of 5 “likely” cars from the lists I could find online:

- At World Class Autos in Nicholasville: an Infiniti I30, and ‘95 BMW 525i
- At Big Blue Autos: The Camry, the Accord, and another I30.

Upon arriving at World Class Autos (Home of “Kentucky’s largest used car showroom”…yeah right, you could fit their building inside CarMax, but whatever…), we scoured the frosty lot for the e34 I was so keen on.

After the e34 fiasco, buying the Camry was pretty easy: Drove over to Big Blue Autos, and they (conveniently) had the keys to EVERY CAR sticking OUT OF ITS DRIVER’S SIDE DOOR!

Supposedly, this was to simply the detail-guys moving them around the lot. I personally think this was a giant sociological experiment to see who would be the first person to steal a car.

I only did it halfway–I got a dealer plate first.