The Time Sink

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Nope. Didn't happen. ...Sunday's post, that is. We were back early enough, but I was flat done with the day. We had a wonderful time; the weather was cool enough for us to stay outdoors (Shelley cannot walk long if the temp is over about 80F); the food was great and the fellowship was wonderful. Sounds like gush city, huh? Tough (as Matt would say); we had a great time. I'd describe the food, but what's the point? Dr. K is the expert and I'm simply not used to having a small dianthus blossom adorning my vegetables.

Why the flower? Breakfast and dinner occurred at a more upscale restaurant than usual. In 1999, Shelley and I took on the challenge of continuing the church's couple's retreat after the original duo took a pass on round two. We added some content and a lot of little touches to raise the bar and found the project very well received. One little problem: we didn't slow down until after the entire show was over. Well, some of the pleased participants included the Senior, Assistant and Youth Pastors as well as a few elders. As things wound down, we were presented with a two night package for the motel where we'd scheduled our Sunday breakfast service (wonderful view overlooking the ocean; excellent food; more than competent staff). Our only problem was figuring out how to use the package. We ended up saving it until this year and used it in lieu of the regular motel.

The room experience was comparable and the staff was wonderful, but the meals from the on-site restaurant we to die for. Aside from not knowing whether that blossom fell onto my plate or was there to accent the presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed each time we sat down in the restaurant. Excellent service from real people<g> and food that was as much an adventure as it was enjoyable. I just wish I could speak all that food talk like Dr. K.

...and now what would politely be called a Busy Week gets underway. Last night I spent several hours with a shovel and a pickaxe creating an access hole to the waterline that serves my backyard. I ran out of time to do the finish work, so my contractor brother-in-law will be over today to cut the line and cap it. Why all the fuss? Well, it seems we're putting in a pool. Okay, maybe a large, deep koi pond considering the size of our yard. But since we're not moving (hey, I just found that out myself not too long ago), we're going for the pool thing with two goals in mind: know where the kids are by having all the parties at our place; and try to keep Shelley cool enough to function in a California summer. Time will tell on both; but on the former, we're following her dad's blueprint. ...and she turned out okay!

But lot's of little details to take care of before that bobcat operator starts in Wednesday morning. Like finding the shutoff to the line feeding the back... Hmmm, just found out last night there's no shutoff. Time to make one! The hard way: find pipe (carefully) by digging where you're pretty sure it should be. Oh, and it seems the wiring for the sprinklers runs along side the pipe. Oh, my. ...and I'm a little out of practice; I just haven't been digging in hardpan and clay for a while. Ibuprofen. But so far; so good. Dave will be over in a few and that will take care of the pre-dig work. Lots to work on though; the contractor we're using will let Dave and me work on-site doing detail stuff in between his subs. That will allow us to do some custom work without an additional bite to the wallet. Oh, and why Monday night and not Tuesday or even the morning of? The Junior Birdman turns six today!

Yep, The Bradley is now Six and so exited he couldn't get to sleep until forever last night. As I was typing, I could hear him telling his stuffed animals and RunTunTun all about how wonderful it all was, and how he's going to Tony Roma's for ribs today, and he's going to have his friends along to a party at the bowling place, and he's going to get this present and that one, and he hopes they'll sing to him at the restaurant, and they're gonna dig this big hole in the back yard, and Grandma Cox is gonna meet us at the dinner place and he'll order her some of those cheese sticks, and he hopes he gets some pool toys cause he's gonna have a pool, and how Mom made cupcakes for the kindergarten class, and how Poppa and Grandma Jean don't like the cheese stick things but that's okay 'cause he'll eat theirs, and, and and...

Short shrift? That's becoming a byword these days. As I was commenting to Jay Ranger last night, everyone seems to have a project or two going full tilt. It may be a book (or three), or home repairs/improvement, or just trying to link up with the garden as the longer days of summer approach. Ah well, write we must...

I'm going to have to make a list or two to help me play catch-up with myself. I see a hard drive on a stack (recently purchased) but I have no memory of the why of it all. ...it doesn't match up with the other boxed unit on the shelf. And as I was downloading the Linux port of IBM's TopPage that Tom mentioned the other day, I found several other downloads sitting in the "Hey, let's try this on the Linux test bed machine" folder on the file server. One of which is the firewall software for the Real Limited Usefulness Linux Box, that I haven't tossed together yet. The good news is I can see the parts box for that one; I think I only need a case. ...and I see there's an RPM compiled for the wireless network card.

Then there's the list of links I send home from work to peruse and post here. I am many, many days behind.

...and I'm badly in need of a geek fix. I'm spending most of my work day crunching numbers and most of my evenings on interrupt driven events. I have a plan, but step one comes before step two<g>.

...and I had to be up early to fill in that hole I dug Monday evening. Dave handled the plumbing while I was at work and today I'll hang around for a while as the dig begins. I may have to send Shelley off somewhere though; she's never seen a bobcat operator running full tilt as he tries to get a dig done in one day. I think the 'two wheel spin' they do will likely have her running outside to tell them to slow down.

...and Mr. Bradley is now officially six and so full of himself it's making Daniel just sick (until he borrows Brad's new Gameboy game; then all is well in his world<g>).

Bah; I paid the taxes this evening. While I don't soar in the rarified strata of a government employee like my Dear Uncle Dan (see "mail call"), I still have my proportional load to bear. Sheesh. ...and Shelley is having a major snit over the tax on her disability pay from State Teacher's retirement.

So let's just move on to major silliness as I need a change of pace. With Easter approaching, and the kids wanting to do the egg thing (Do 'ya think George Bush realizes what he did?), and me about as talented with a paintbrush as RunTunTun, I'm usually in trouble. Not this year. I found the ideal way to synergistically maximize my strengths while minimizing my exposure: behold, the Eggjet printer. Your hand may not be steady enough, but your graphics tablet will do the job. Take a moment to browse the site (ten second delay) and be sure to check out the supplies, posters and drivers <G>.

	Out ride the sons of Terra, Far drives the thundering jet, Up leaps the race of Earthmen, Out, far, and onward yet— We pray for one last landing On the globe that gave us birth; Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies And the cool, green hills of Earth.
	Rhysling

He was born in the late forties; and although at times his references seemed a little quaint and perhaps a little out of date, his unique perspective taught me some valuable lessons in life. Like the value of loyalty to an ideal, and to friends. ...things reinforced as I met other members of his family over the years. It seemed like the entire family had a set of ideals that read like a handbook for life: loyalty, truthfulness, openness to new ideas, a driving work ethic; all likely bestowed upon then by their father. Dad was quite the visionary and his family was a strong guide for many growing up in my generation.

And happily, I find my friend and his family made new friends in new generations as they stumbled across one another in bookstores and shopping malls. I know my friend Matt has met most of the family and he's much younger than me. Close contemporaries Brian and Robert have mentioned meeting some of the same friends I communed with in the lost years of paisley prints and tie-dyes. ...and then there's Jerry; he even knew their father. Man, what a trip that must have been.

I've spent the night with my friend (I'd invited him home) reminiscing about old times, how walking dogs paid peoples way through college and how once you've moved to the new frontier, the old way of life just seems so strange to return to. ...and the story of the guy rescuing the kitten on the ledge! I'd forgotten that one.

He's hardly changed at all, still the same person inside. I do notice he's changed his clothing style. Back when, he dressed rather plainly; I'd even say understated. Today he's sporting a high tech look that is likely ten or twelve times the cost of the old wrapper...

But man, it was good to sit down and reminisce about Johnny Dalhquist. ...and we started to talk about old man Harriman but just ran out of time (and space<g>). I'll have to see if he's made it into the new millennium along with the rest of the gang. Baen's their agent now and I know he has a web site. ...and it's so good to see the family back in circulation. Daniel is almost old enough to be introduced. Oh, not to Podkayne, and certainly not to Scar, Rufo and Star...

For those who think I need to adjust my vertical hold, my friend from last night is The Green Hills of Earth by Robert A. Heinlein. The book shows an original copyright of 1951 with the Baen editions coming out in 1987 and 2000. The stories themselves date back to the late forties; and if my memory serves me, they appeared in magazines such as Analog and Fantastic.

I have to rely on my memory as much of my collection of SF was boxed up in 1990 when I moved from my old house to the new one Shelley and I purchased after we were married. That collection dates back to around 1962 when I discovered authors whose characters were not bound by the local gravity field. Somewhere is most of Heinlein, much of Asimov, E.E. "Doc" Smith, A.E. van Vogt, Pournelle, Niven, Schmitz, Norton, McCaffrey, Blish, Simak, Bender, Clark, Burroughs, Dickson, Pohl, Spider Robinson, Saberhagen, and the collections by Campbell, Conklin and others.

That should spark a few memories out there! To wit:

From: Jaydonalds@aol.com
Subject: Old Masters

Dan;
I too miss the Masters. Robert's dying put me into a funk. Along with Mr. Asimov. There are few to replace them. (AKA Pournelle and Niven)

I thirst with you,
John D. Vogt
Jaydonalds@aol.com

Yep, I miss them too; but the good news is the newer generation is coming along rather well. Try picking up something by David Drake, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Chris Bunch, David Weber, Margaret Weis (with Don Perrin) or David Doyle (unless he's done with writing); Michael Flynn seems to have a penchant for the broad social dynamics that characterized some of Heinlein's works.

There's a few others, but I cannot seem to get to them right now <g>; the new collection started in 1990 (of course) and seems to be growing in much the same manner as the original. ...and horror of horrors: Shelley has finally figured out eBay!

Ah, Sunday, the traditional day of rest. ...and you really didn't want to do anything today now, did you? Heck, I've been 'blogging links all week and just haven't had the time to tempt you to trash your day as thoroughly as they've done mine<G>, so if you're not a link follower, feel free to cancel; otherwise, hang on to your mouse.

First out of the starting gate is the virtual answer to the question you didn't know you had, "What do I do when I've popped all the bubbles on the bubble wrap?" Hey, there could be worse waste of your valuable time <g>.

Okay, you want some dinner instead of your just desserts? How about an airline meal? On a Boeing 747? Think again. Of course if things don't work out, you could always sue them...

We got into usability studies a few weeks back; Dan Bricklin has his take on one aspect (under the Thursday, April 6, 2000 heading). Followed up by our old friend Jakob Nielsen and three others who have a go at it in this forum. Hang on until the end where they tell you why voice recognition won't work!

...and if you ever wonder why Brian and I actually buy distros and such that we could get for free from a download, have a look at this piece on why open source isn't for everyone (and why it shouldn't be). I happen to think people who work at something should get paid for it. And so you understand my viewpoint: Shelley's medications to slow the progression of her MS would not have been developed (or be under development and testing now) if those companies could not pay back the cost of that development over the life of the patent. There'd simply be no incentive. Open source in that arena would be no source. ...and Shelley's quality of life would soon be zeroed out. Could a better system work? Sure. Which one? Lot's of debate on that; and I don't have the answer. But for now, I like companies that release last year's stuff to open source; consumers who want the latest and greatest can pay for it, those who are willing to wait for "good enough" can have their fill also.

And if your a DSL user, have you tweaked your link? ...or tested it? Oh my; there's another hour or two shot for roughly three O'Reilly authors <g>. After my last email regarding my link posts from Brian, I'm thinking of soliciting protection money not to post links while they're writing <SEG>. Oh, and if your DSL line supplier doesn't protect you from the bad guys (WT...???), you could always sue them...