Thursday, October 29

Burglary Reported In North America

No, really.

Wednesday, October 28

Coconuts

As we all learned from Tom Hanks in Cast Away, the chemical makeup of coconuts combine to form a natural laxative.

Such is just one of the lowly coconut's many magical properties, or, more appropriately, coconut oil.

It is, quite honestly, a mirical cure for just about anything.

While the laxative properties are yet to be seen by yours truly, when consumed in excess, the reverse is true. In epic proportions.

We have a jar of coconit oil in the house. Or at least we did until last night. That's when we found it on the floor in the bedroom, its top mysteriously missing.

We'd just been discussing a peculiar fact that Bambi had gotten into something or other and was hurking all over the house. That's when Marilee spotted the jar.

Coconut oil, supplied in said jars, has a peculiar quality, in that it needs no refrigeration; there's no chance of the stuff going rancid. What's more, it has a waxy feel, until one either melts it in a pan for cooking, or when it's used as a moisturizer - this is why it was in the bedroom. Previously it had been atop the microwave, sitting ready for use.

That Bambi found the jar on Marilee's nightstand wasn't surprising, nor was her interest in the substance.

We wondered just how long it would take for her to get all that fat out of her system - at a quarter-to-four this morning and hurking sounds from under the covers the answer was at hand.

Not yet.

Tuesday, October 27

Mormons Exposed

She said "You have to look up 'Mormon Muffins'".

So I did.

An ad for an upcoming news report had just appeared on the local Fox affiliate, KSTU.

Here's the link: Mormon Muffins

You wanna bet this won't be covered on certain church-owned media?

Sunday, October 25

Intetrnational

OK, admit it, you do look at web ads. That you don't click on many is obvious.

But of the ones you do read, do you ever sense that no one - at the development level - ever reads their own ads?

Case in point:



Yes, that really does say "INTETRNATIONAL".

Flowcharting Which Religion To Follow

Found this gem on another website.

Of course I had to share:

Saturday, October 24

Fark Photoshop Entry

Sounded simple enough - Photoshop this center punch:

[Note: On Fark.com, "Photoshop" is used as a verb.]

MY take on the center punch:

No prizes for whomever gets the most "votes", as it is all in fun.

Bragging rights aren't so bad, either.

Late Night Service Call

Brilliantly stimulating conversation late this evening with a couple of convenience store employees. Yes, it was a service call. And no, this isn't about work. You know what I mean.

While it is painful to be away from home on service calls such as this, there are distinct advantages - typically, there are fewer customers, and those who do drift in at all hours of the night make you realize just how tough it is to be "on the other sife of the counter".

Because it is, truly, a different world.

Be happy.

Thursday, October 22

Who's Making The Tuna Helper?

That was just asked by Marilee.

Directed towards me.

Can you guess?

Wagan Twin USB / DC Cupholder Adapter

This looked too good not to share.

On occasion, the "kids" will go on a road trip and borrow my 12 volt inverter to keep their phones charged whilst on the road. Since the trips (usually) occur when I'm not on call and in need of keeping my own phone charged, it's never a problem.

But when I saw the following in an email from Cyberguys, I knew I'd found a better answer to their needs:

It's from Cyberguys - and on sale, too, at only $11.99:

Wagan Twin USB / DC Cupholder Adapter

Saturday, October 17

It Had To Be Bob

Why in hell did the Enzyte guy have to be called Bob?

Until the fall of 1972 I was Rob or Robert. Mostly Rob, since that's what my family called me. It wasn't until Mrs. Achor at Tustin High called me Bob that the name stuck. And it could be confusing at times, particularly if friends from school would be in close proximity to family. Robs and Bobs were freely exchanged and confusing at times. At least there was only one of me.

When I was thrust into the workaday world in 1976 after high school, my first job at MSI Data Corporation found me in a sea of Bob's. There was Bob Hughes, Bob Kappelin, Bob Toker, Bob Brannon, and me, Bob DeLong. At least for the short term, when someone yelled "BOB!", it wasn't for me. But that soon changed, for the better.

But back to being a Bob...

Why couldn't that one movie have been called "What About Frank"? Or "What About George"? That there was a movie in 2006 called "What About Brian" suggests Hollywood being entirely out of ideas is probably a good bet, but still. At the time, "What About Bob" turned my life into a living hell.

There's Bob the Builder. Microsoft didn't help with Microsoft Bob. Hurricane Bob made an appearance in 1991.

And who could forget SpongeBob Squarepants.

I'm in good company - some famous Bob's are: Bob Barker, Buffalo Bob Smith, Bob Costas, Bob Cummings, Bob Denver, Bob Dole, Bob Dylan, Bob Eiger, Bob Elliot, Bob Eubanks, Bob Hope, Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan, Bob Mackie, Bob Newhart, Bob Saget, Bob Vila, Bob Balaban, Bob Schieffer. The list goes on...

I just wish there's weren't so many pop-culture references.

Friday, October 16

Tekzilla

Catchy name. One of those made-up words that makes you wonder if all the good names were taken. Right up there during that time in American history where every cool-sounding word had to have "A-RAMA" tacked on the end. "Wonder-A-Ama". "Scout-A-Rama". "Chuck-A-Rama".

OK, not so much Chuck-A-Rama.

Tekzilla is a geek show. About geeks. For geeks. BY geeks. Available in several formats, I first was made aware of it on the TiVo. Downloaded a few episodes and got hooked. Now it's a daily thing with their Tekzilla Daily and the weekly half-hour-or-so Thursday show.

Marilee doesn't seem to mind - she usually takes control of the remote collection.

But the fact that I had to find out about Tekzilla on the TiVo is sad, since I probably would never have found out about Tekzilla any other way. Time was, during downtime at "that which I do for a living" - read my job - I would go out and search for things such as Tekzilla, and by association, Revision3. Sadly, that's not the case any more, since in the current incarnation of my job, there is no downtime. Or at least from a theoretical perspective.

So I get my geek fix from the TiVo. And Tekzilla.

Thursday, October 15

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch

Morning at the DeLong household. Very early.

Bambi and Lexie are wandering around the family room where I'm checking out what's new on the TiVo. It's still dark - outside as well as in; I don't turn the lights on this early since the glow can be disconcerting up in the bedroom where Marilee still is sleeping.

The two dogs have already been potty. So other than hanging out with me, there's nothing much for them to do. But then...

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch

It's not a sound I'm unfamiliar with, just that it's not heard that often in the early morning. Most often though, it's from morsels of dog food not eaten during the previous evening's meal. But it kept going, and going, and...

As I peered around the corner of the coffee table, where the sound was coming from, I didn't expect to see Lexie eating out of Bambi's bowl, but there she was. Bambi was sitting behind her with a look of "How did I miss that food" or maybe it was "I could bite your head off at any moment, you little sh!t". Not sure which.

What's peculiar, though, was that there was any food left in the bowl to begin with. Bambi would just as soon eat herself to the bursting point and beyond if we let her. And that Lexie found it before Bambi is the mysterious part.

This afternoon, I notice all the food is gone from Bambi's bowl. I'm guessing she's not going to let that happen again.

Sunday, October 11

Who Is Living In The Basement?

Someone just came upstairs from the basement and is doing a load of laundry. Marilee and I looked at each other, looked around the room, centered back on each other...

"This is the first time in his life he is doing something without being told to do so" was Marilee's only reaction.

We think it was Taylor, but we're not quite sure.

Saturday, October 10

Catalog!

Thus I exclaimed as I brought in the afternoon mail just now. Marilee immediately turned on the light next to her chair.

She loves getting catalogs. Jenn is always hanging on the them for her; not necessarily to order anything, just to look. Like when she watches House Hunters on HGTV for the looky-loo factor, she inhales the contents of catalogs for the window shopping experience.

I'd just tossed the catalog on her lap, and started laughing. It was a catalog from Cyberguys.

I wasn't surprised, then, when I was summarily hit in the face with said catalog.

I had to smile. "Oh, that matters?"

Friday, October 9

I'm A Bad Influence

Just ask Marilee.

I was in California - mentally, I always pronounce California in a thick Austrian accent - for three weeks and Marilee had no cravings for Pink Cookies, chocolate-chocolate donuts, or ice cream drumsticks.

Now that I'm back, I'm wondering if her fatigue related problems she's been having are directly related to the lack of said goodies.

Must. Do. Research.

Negative reaction from Jennifer in 3... 2... 1...

Wednesday, October 7

Do They Think We Don't Pay Attention?

You have to wonder if mainstream media thinks of us - read consumers - as unwilling backwoodsy folk who don't pay attention to details.

Tonight on CNN's website is this headline:

CNNMoney: Target halves toy prices for holidays

From the actual headline of the article:

Target slashes toy prices 50% for the holidays

But within the actual article:

"Discount retailer Target is offering up to half off of popular toys like Barbie and Fisher Price to lure bargain hunters this holiday season".

Maybe it's just me, but dragging consumers - read us - into an article with beliefs of such massive gratification as half off every toy in their stores, but only offering the deals on a small portion of their inventory and not even meeting fifty percent on that small portion is deceiving.

Wonder what CNN's kickback is?

Strangely Cool Google App


From ZXing ("Zebra Crossing"), a Google Code sample that generates barcodes. The barcode at right is my blog's URL. From ZXing's page, one can generate most anything, from plain text to all of your contact information. Strangely cool.

Useful? Probably not so much, at least from this perspective. But for developers, likely a godsend.

When A Site Goes Down

Wish I could get some of that lost revenue while dooce is was down.

Just sayin'.

Tuesday, October 6

Fifteen Minutes Of Mainstream Media

This morning, I was looking for a simple definition of mainstream media for a post I was thinking about writing. The post was to be a carryover from something a good friend told me about a year ago, regarding mainstream writing.

While trying to find supportive prose for my post, I found an incomplete entry at Wikipedia that sounded a bit too dated; after scrolling a bit further, found that NPR had done a piece about the topic yesterday.

Fate?

The entry at NPR's website is here - listen and/or read along:

No More 'Mainstream Media'? : NPR

Monday, October 5

Fashion Reaches A New Low

Snuggie on the catwalk, from Time.

Sunday, October 4

Back From So California

So California actually refers to some sort of advertising campaign in California. As in "It is so California".

So true.

I brought home several mementos: a watch for Marilee that my Mom had once owned and an Onyx elephant Marilee's Mom could no longer lift to dust under.

Other items were scratcher lottery tickets for Marilee.

And me? I brought home for myself some kind of intestinal bug. Without going into too much detail and bordering on too much information, let's just say the outcome is what my Dad called the Back Door Trots.1

I've been napping profusely this weekend, but I'm not sure if that's because of the bug or from too much information clogging my brain from my training classes.

All I know for certain is that I'm happy to be home to family.

1 That my Dad lived through a time when outhouses were the norm, you can use your own imagination what Back Door Trots were about.

Thursday, October 1

Education Update

For the last two-and-a-half weeks, I've been studying profusely. Taking copious notes. Staying up later and later each night. Bleary-eyed in the morning...

OK, that's not entirely true. OK, it's all false.

NO studying, NO note taking, NO NOTHING.

Reminded me of high school.

So what happened in my training class for work? The unexpected.

Not only did I pass, but I passed near the top, with an overall score of 92%.

Holy crap. I actually learned something. At my advanced age.

Who knew?

Do You Have A Fever?

Are you sure?

98.6 Degrees Is Not Normal

From Divine Caroline

Olympic Fete

I'm really surprised I haven't heard anything about this yet. Then again, maybe I haven't really looked hard enough. Probably the latter.

Say what you will about Michelle Obama's visit to Denmark to show her support for Chicago as a contender for the 2016 Olympic Games. After all, she is from Chicago. That her husband is also from Illinois isn't much of a topic, except that he's also the President of the United States.

While I don't want this to turn into a lesser of two evils diatribe, consider the alternative:

Would YOU want Rod Blagojevich speaking on behalf of the United States of America?

Didn't think so.

Call Me "Uncategorized"

I guess you can call me in a category all by myself. Or so it seems.

Just making a clickable list of Utah's Top Bloggers - that means you can vote for me without having to type in my blog address - is really cool.

The other advantage, of course, is that even more folks will be sure to visit. Thus increasing my exposure. Thus...

Well, you get the idea.

Anyway, a hearty welcome goes out to my new readers. Hang out for a while - there's much to see!

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