Heh!

source: Lamebook

shades of WKRP

Why?

Where in the World does anyone think we are getting more by taking something away from the beginning of the day and adding it to the end of the day?

it's insane

The next time (episode 4)

This will be short and sweet.
It was the next year [after the sledding incident], when a classmate was getting married during the break between semesters.
There was a bachelor party.
After the party, on my way to my car, I was jumped.
Be happy there are no pictures to post.

I again went to Stanford Medical Center.
There was some concern about head injuries [yeah, again] because the entire left side of my face was swollen and badly bruised.
I had double vision and the crowns of two teeth were badly cracked and one was completely gone above the gum line.
Back then there were no CAT Scans or MRIs so what is know as a skull series was done.
The only damage they found was a fractured orbit of my left eye.
The double vision remains to this day.
It is corrected with prisms in the lenses.

missed the wedding

Continuing to remember (aka episode two)

While not exactly a visit to the ER this incident was no less serious.

At the age of four and a half, or so, Mom and I took a little trip east.
I mean you can't go much farther east.
Back in those days folks took trains.
Airline travel was more of a novelty and expensive to boot.
I think the airlines were still using the gooney bird C-47 DC-3.
Traveling east from SF meant taking the streetcar downtown to the Ferry Building; geting on a ferry boat; and riding across the bay to the Oakland Mole to catch a transcontinental train.
That is if it was a Southern Pacific train.
If it was the Santa Fe or Western Pacific other arrangements were made, as they had their own terminals and routes east.

But I digress.

Ostensibly the trip was to visit a friend of my mother.
They'd been friends since grade school.
The friend lived near Philadelphia.
We doubled back from New York City to get there.

It was springtime, May, I think.
The friend and her family lived in a brand new subdivision where houses had been built, but streets and landscaping were still lacking.
It was a wet spring . . .   really wet [as in it rained the entire time we were there].
So there was no going outside to play.
There was a basement, as yet unfinished.
There was also some kind of attraction to the basement for me.
For the life of me I can't remember what it was.

Whenever it was time to go back upstairs I would, being the adventurous type, attempt to climb up on the outside of the hand rail [there were only newel posts and handrails, no balusters].
Then some adult would chastise me and haul me back onto the proper part of the stairway . . .   except for that one time.

Yep, I lost my grip and fell, landing on my head [yep, another head injury].
This time the only outward evidence was a bump.
From what I understand it was a pretty large bump.

There was no trip to the ER for two reasons.

One is that there was no car.
Back then families only had one vehicle.
Breadwinner used it to drive to work.
As I think about it, my parents only had one vehicle until Pop retired.
The second vehicles were mine, when I got out of the Navy, and my sisters were used for transportation to school once they drove.

But, again, I digress.

The second reason was the family pediatrician made house calls [anyone remember those?] and was available immediately.
The concern, I think, was that I might have a concussion . . .   and it was a pretty big bump.
Ultimately it was decided to keep a close watch and the physician would return another day to check up.
He did and pronounced me fit to travel . . .    and we did.

that's a different story for another time

About that Hawaii thing

No, not my vacation.
The other thing that happened Saturday morning.
(Yeah, I'm a little late to the party.)

source: The Economist

source: The Economist

The unintentional sending of a text via the Emergency Alert System during a drill.

It was rescinded sometime later, well after it should have been and after politicians got involved.
It seems the bureaucrats couldn't immediately decide what to do to remedy the situation.

It kinda brought to mind a rhyme we had in the way back:

When you're worried or in doubt
Run in circles scream and shout

Then, invariably, someone would say something like:

Blessed are those who go in circles
For they shall be known as wheels

...and they are receiving death threats [because that's the rational method to handle the situation].

"it's always somethin'"

. . . and then

Following up on Monday's rant.

Someone must've read the post,
Now the maroons are out to get me.

I was driving to the post office this morning, following my usual route which snakes through the neighborhood and avoids the major traffic streets.
I purposely come to a stop at all of the stop signs so I can complain about others who don't and avoid being called a hypocrite.
At one point there was another car approaching from the opposite direction.
The driver noticed I was stopped.
So he didn't and made a left turn in front of me.
Had I not been paying attention . . .

Well, you can use your imagination.

hope his mother bit him

 when he got home

Situational awareness

It boggles the mind.
Literally  . . . not virtually  . . . every time I get out on the streets, even in the residential neighborhood that surrounds my home, I see driver who are absolutely oblivious to their surroundings.
They doing anything but paying attention to the immediate task at hand.
Or, if they are focusing on their driving, they are trying to outwit other drivers to get ahead.

I thought the drivers up north were bad, but they were fewer than here.
It seems red traffic signals and stop signs are only a suggestion.
I'd like a dollar for every time I've seen a right of way violation or seen someone ignore a stop sign.

All in the effort to be first.
Yeah, Adam was first.
What did it get him?

'nuther untitled post

they walk among us

It's Saturday again

I may have mentioned MB and I were away last week.
I probably forgot to mention we'll be away again.
Yes, once more we'll be boarding an aircraft and traveling to a time zone two hours away.
We have it on good authority that the precursor to winter has already arrived there.
We are still suffering through 80 degree weather here.
Poor me.
This means that since February, when we were married, there hasn't been an any month we've been home for the entire time.
In fact, upon further investigation, it appears last September may have been the only month where one of us was home all month.

Sadly we shall miss the door to door trick-or-treaters Tuesday night.
However last night it was Trunk or Treat in the back of the church parking lot.
So we weren't shut out entirely.
On the plus side there won't be any interruptions during the dinner hour.

On another note, I saw someone posted on koobecaf that Daylight Savings was ending this weekend.
Not so.
It's next weekend.
To compound the situation, somebody commented on the post how much they were gonna hate losing the hour of sleep.
My immediate thought was they were going to be doubly irritated.

oh, to be a fly on the wall 

Doh!

So I downloaded an image to the computer on Saturday.
I manipulated it in Photoshop to the point where I could use it today.

Then I totally forgot that I would be using the laptop, whilst the image would be residing 163 some odd miles north.
I would pack up the computer, but there's no desk yet, upon which to set it up.
So it remains at my former residence [that's how Sebastian knows he hasn't been entirely abandoned . . .    that, and Sally is still in the garage].

Grrrr!

So my PCP* will only renew my medication Rx for thirty days because it's been six months since I visited.
They want want me to drive up there.
This is the fifth new PCP I have had since I started going to this clinic five years ago.
The longest I have had the same Dr., PA, or Nurse Practitioner is a year and a half.
They keep leaving.
Is it me [that's rhetorical].

I have been attempting to get a new PCP here but keep running into roadblocks [usually misinformed, uninformed, or underinformed minions].
That's why medicine is a practice.

Still, it could be worse.
We could elect our medical providers and . . .   Oh! Wait, let's not go there.

MB and I are in Anderson again, today, sorting and packing and figuring out what's for sale.
Will the road trips never end [that's rhetorical . . .   you shouldn't even try to answer]?

the cat's around somewhere

*Primary Care Provider

Let's rethink this

It seems there is a correlation to the subjects about which I write and the number of pageviews.
Subjects related to Flight or Flying generate more views than say . . .   about anything else..

So there I was*, Group "C" #15.
I'd failed to log in soon enough to board any earlier.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
As I embarked the plane I spotted a seat about eight rows back from the door on the starboard (right) side of the aircraft.
I said a brief prayer to St Christoper to intercede with the Big Guy to hold that seat for me and find me room in the overhead for my backpack.
I had checked my suitcase despite my experience last August..
When I came even with the seat I found a spot directly overhead for the backpack and inquired if I might sit in the middle seat.
I received and answer in the affirmative.

Things went downhill from there.
The diminutive female passenger in the aisle seat, it seems, was averse to getting out of her seat and I was forced to climb over her to reach my seat.
I'd have attempted to scoot in front of her but the space was filled with here purse and some other paraphernalia which I am loathe to describe.

Within seconds of my sitting she used the call button for the flight attendant.
Shortly the aircraft was full and the cabin door was closed.
The attendants made their was through the plane tell everyone to stow their carry-ons under the seat in front of them and put their cell phones on stun airplane mode.
Guess which passenger was the exception.
They came through again.
They were ignored again.
So the plane ended up taking off with her giant purse in her lap and her phone to her ear.

And she used the call button again while the aircraft was still climbing, not even at 10,000 feet yet.
I could see this was going to be fun.
The plane finally reached cruising altitude but our little friend had fallen asleep or was doing a good job of faking.
The attendants came through with the ubiquitous peanuts and some packaged cookies.
They chose not to wake her.

Shortly thereafter the attendants came through for beverage orders.
She continued to sleep.
The drinks arrived and she awoke.
Using the call button she summoned the attendant, requesting hot water and lemon.
Informed there was no lemon, she said she'd settle for lime.
Thank goodness they had it.
All in all she probably hit the call button at least a half dozen more times.

Later as we approached Las Vegas we were asked to stow the tray tables and return the seats to the upright position,
She needed two reminders.
This time the attendant supervised the placing of her purse under the seat.

As soon as the plane was on the ground her phone was back up and running with a loud conversation with a loved one somewhere else.
It continued whilst passengers began to leave the plane and finally ended when the aisle next to her was empty.
That was when she decided to find her shoes and get ready to get off the plane.
All of the other passengers, including yours truly, and the crew waited patiently while she got ready to leave..

All I can say is I feel I was privileged to have sat right next to the center of the Universe.

blooger is acting strange

performing unrequested functions

*SJC

I have a theory

Politics, like radiation, has a cumulative effect.
There's a half life that hangs around, never quite leaving.
It affects each of us differently.
Some can't get enough.
They're like alcoholics, who consistently want more . . .   more . . .   more!
Or, worse, they want to give us more . . .   more . . .   more! [the media]
There's another side of this.
Some are overexposed to the point where their heads are about to explode.

"A pox on politics"

Not an original line.
But in my thoughts for a crap ton of time.

Sadly it's like wiping your but with a hoop.
There's no end to it.

the media loves it

Food for thought

from the usual source

from the usual source

saw it on f/b

. . .deep thought

I'm gonna finish it

Go Here first if you haven't already read the start.

I was reminded, rather than inspired, to write this post.
You will note that almost all of the important stuff has been plagiarized, as I haven't had a profound thought since I stopped drinking in 2002.

35. Duchaarm’s Axiom: If one views his problems closely enough, he will recognize himself as part of the problem.
36. Einstein’s Equation: If A is success in life, then A=X+Y=Z. X is work, Y is play and Z is keeping your mouth shut.
37. Durant’s Discovery: One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.
38. Courtois’ Rule: If people listened to themselves more often, they would talk less.
39. 1st Rule of Negative Anticipation: You can save yourself a lot of needless worry if you don’t burn your bridges until you come to them.
40. Sieman’s 2nd Law: Focus only on what you can control.
41. Crawford’s Law: You can’t give to others what you don’t have yourself.
42. Crawford’s Maxim: The truth ain’t hard to remember.
43. Tichner’s Law: Always err on the side of greatness.
44. Cusiak’s Observation: Insanity is repeatedly performing the same action the same way and expecting different results.
45. Blanchard’s Law: If you don’t toot your own horn every once in a while, sooner or later someone will use it as a spittoon.
46. Mal’s Principle: Never argue with a jackass. After awhile people watching might not be able to tell you apart.
47. Ruth’s Rule: Never try to teach a bullfrog to sing. You’ll annoy the frog, frustrate yourself, you won’t get far and the music stinks.
48. Gourd’s Axiom: A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost.
49. Goodman’s Rule: It is far better to enjoy insanity than to suffer from it.
50. Myer’s Law: It’s amazing how much gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.
51. Cousey’s Law: You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
52. Terry’s Truism: No one is useless. They can always serve as a bad example.
53. Goodman’s Rule: It is far better to enjoy insanity than to suffer from it.
54.Terman’s Law of Innovation: If you want a track team to win the high jump, find 1 person who can jump 7 feet, not 7 people who can jump 1 foot.
55. Stewart’s Law of Retroaction: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
56. Goodman’s law of responsibility: You can’t stick your nose in without sticking you neck out.
57. Van Herpen’s Law: The solving of a problem lies in finding the solvers.
58. Hlade’s Law: If you have a difficult task give it to a lazy man- he will find an easier way to do it.
59. Gate’s Law: The only important information in a hierarchy is who knows what.
60. Hutchin’s Law: You can’t outtalk a man who knows what he is talking about.
61. Horowitz’s Rule: Wisdom consists of knowing when to avoid perfection.
62. De Never’s Law of Debate: Two monologues do not make a dialogue.
63. Stenerup’s Law: The sooner you fall behind, the more time you will have to catch up.
64. Meyer’s Law: In a social situation, that which is most difficult to do is usually the right thing to do.
65. The Ire Principle: Never try to pacify someone at the height of his rage.
66. Berra’s First Law: You can observe a lot just by watching.
67. Toomey’s Law: Things are always easier to get into than to get out of.
68. Curran’s Law: All experts are twits.
69. Sieman’s Law: When you are through changing, you’re through.
70. Stevenson’s 3rd Law: He who stops pushing stops being good.
71. Stevenson’s 1st Law: Future success is not inevitable because of past triumphs.
72. Stevenson’s Concept: Most progress results from the idea “I think we can do this better.”
73. Goodman’s extension of Stevenson’s Concept: The rest comes from dumb luck.

EXTRA PEARLS:
74. Schwartzkoph’s 1st Rule: When placed in a position of command, take charge.
75. Schwartzkoph’s 2nd Rule: Do the right thing.
76. Biggs’ Observation: The things I have done in life of which I am most proud are also the things that have gotten me into the most trouble.
77. Frank’s Law: You can’t stick out your chest while ducking.
78. Goodman’s Dictum: Never confuse education with intelligence.
79. Aleeza’s Law: When everything has gone to hell in a hand basket, go out and play.
80. Roger’s 1st Law: Never miss a good opportunity to shut up.
81. Roger’s 2nd Law: There are 3 kinds of people. The ones that learned by reading, the few that learn by observation, and the rest who have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
82. Roger’s 3rd Law: If you are riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.
83. Roger’s 4th Law: If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
84. Roger’s 5th Law: Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.
85. Roger’s 6th Law: When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don’t be surprised if they learn their lesson.
86. Rocheford’s 1st Rule: If you have to swallow a live frog, you don;t want to stand around looking at it for a long time.
87. Rocheford’s 2nd Rule: If you have to swallow more than one, swallow the largest one first.
88. Rosalynn’s Observation: A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

Some may recognize a number of the individuals to whom the above wisdom is ascribed.
I know many of the others.
They, too, speak from experience.
One of my favorites, which did not make the list is:

"A lack of preparation on your part should not create an emergency on my part"

I know that's not how the original saying goes, but we're talking Murphy here.

th-th-that's all folks

Somebody else started this

I will warn you now that this post will take some time to wrap up.
Some years ago I attended a series of leadership seminars  . . .Heck, I still attend them, but more for the fellowship than to learn anything new.
Someone might expect me to step up and lead.

One of those seminars was entitled Leadership - A La Murphy.
I can take no credit for anything that follows, other than remembering where my notes are [they gave us a CD].
I make every effort to complete this by tomorrow.
 

Murphy’s laws were designed as a sort of emotional crutch to help people understand how a carefully planned and executed event could fall totally apart. It wasn’t because of anything they did or didn’t do. It was just because of Murphy’s law. Murphy’s law started out as “anything that can possibly go wrong will.” This was later expanded a couple of times to include “at the worst possible moment and in the sequence of events that will do the most damage.” It soon became obvious that no single law could explain away all of life’s frustrations, so other laws were put forth to add to the armor. Eventually thousands of laws were recorded to turn what was a crutch into emotional Kung Foo, not only a defense for explaining life’s little failures, but providing offensive weaponry to ward off the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune at their source. These new laws run from the sublime to the ridiculous, from Ato Z. From Anderson’s Axiom: “You are only young once, but you can be immature forever”, to Zappa’s Law: “There is nothing wrong with sex on television as long as you don’t fall off.”

Not all the laws will mean something to everyone. Not now anyway. But life brings new challenges and new understanding. This second stage will come sometime in the future when you sit up in the middle of the night and say, “that’s what he meant!” Another problem solved thanks to Murphy’s laws.

NEGATIVES - don’t do these.
1. Evan’s Law: Once you give up integrity, the rest is easy.
2. Kenyon’s Law: Once you have learned how to fake sincerity you have make it.
3. Spark’s 4th Rule: Don’t engage in arguments, but if concerned, ask an irrelevant question and lean back with a satisfied grin while your opponent tries to figure out what’s going on. Then quickly change the subject.
4. Goodman’s Restatement of Spark’s 4th Rule: If you can’t convince them, confuse them.
5. Goodman’s Restatement of Spark’s 4th Rule: If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle with with B.S.
6. Finagle’s 8th Rule: Teamwork is essential. It allows you to blame someone else.
7. Green’s Law of Debate: Anything is possible if you don’t know what you are talking about.
8. Fox on Power: Arrogance is too often the companion of excellence.

REACTIVE - Use these to feel better.
9. The 5th Rule: You have taken yourself too seriously.
10. Dykstra’s Law: Everyone is somebody else’s weirdo.
11. Hanlon’s Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
12. Harrison’s Postulate: For every action there is an equal and opposing criticism.
13. Evan’s and Bjorn’s Law: No matter what goes wrong there is always someone who knew it would.
14. Goulu’s Law: Acarelessly planned project takes three times longer to complete than expected; a carefully planned project takes only twice as long.
15. Jenkinson’s Law: It won’t work.
16. Goodman’s Response to Jenkinson’s Law: If we spent as much time doing it as we did saying it couldn’t be done, it would be.
17. Zymurgy’s Law of Volunteer Labor: People are always available to work in the past tense.
18. Workman’s Dilemma: 
               A. No matter how much you do, you’ll never do enough.
               B. What you didn’t do is always more important than what you did do.  
19. Clark’s Law of Revolutionary Ideas: Every revolutionary idea evokes three stages of reaction:
    1. It is impossible. Don’t waste my time.
    2. It is possible, but it is not worth doing
    3. I said it was a good idea all along.  
20. Weiler’s Law: Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn’t have to do it himself.
21. Loftus’ 5th Law: Some people manage by the book even though they don’t know who wrote the book or even what book.
22.Voltaire’s Law: There is nothing more respectable than an ancient evil.
23. Edelstein’s Advise: Don’t worry over what other people are thinking about you. They’re too busy worrying over what you are thinking about them.
24. The Roman Rule: The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it.
25. Lowe’s Law: Success always occurs in private, and failure in full public view.
26. Felson’s Law: To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
27.1st Rule of Acting: Whatever happens, look as if it were intended.
28. Oliver’s Law: Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
29. Oppenheimer’s Law: There is no such thing as instant experience.
30. Gabirol’s Observation: The wise are pleased when they discover truth, fools when the discover falsehood.
31. Gerrold’s Law: A little ignorance can go a long way.
32. Joubert’s Rule: Never cut what you can untie.
33. Armey’s Axiom: You can’t get ahead while getting even.
34. Washington’s Rule: You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.

to be continued

From the archive

. . .seven years ago on this blog -

Extreme

Do not Try this at home!!!



I had to share this. It's nuts.

...comes about that close to
being a candidate for Failblog

.

I can't seem to kick this thing

I mean I'm still on the verge of politics.

Saw a post yesterday.
I am gonna take a quote out of context.
If you don't like it, shoot me you don't have to read it.

"What is the difference between a Republican and a Democrat? What's the difference between a white rat and a brown rat? I don't know that it can be changed with a third party because of the money and power in play."
                                                        ~Virtual Mirage

It is no small wonder that more and more folks are registering Independent.
Alas, those folks have no say in the choice until it comes down to the point where only the rats are left.

This kinda suits my mood about the whole thing...

screen capture

I'm pretty sure it was posted about the time the campaigning started.
Everyone so stirred up that I wonder what it really going on.

yeah, pretty well jaded

TTRBMA

The Sarge has begun routinely posting a series called TIFPA.
You can check out what those initials mean by looking on the acronym page.

Ironically things he posts about many times are TTRBMA [maybe that should be ttrbm@?].

things that really burn my @$$

I found myself particularly chuffed the other day at the hospital, where parking is at a premium, because there are a number of folks who just can't seem to limit themselves to a single parking space.

a little fire about this high

Come back later.
There may be more news about GSFSiL.