Category: Life

I Recommend . . .

 

Ron Swanson's Guarantee

 

I wish I had Ron Swanson’s confidence.

However, I use neither Army-issued mustache trimmers nor the C.R. Lawrence Fein two inch axe-style scraper oscillating knife blade.

I do, from time to time, use Morton’s Salt.

 

Now, I appreciate it when people direct others to my blog (or Facebook, or Twitter).

I’d like to return the favor.

Normally, this would fall under the “You Should Be Reading” list at the bottom of this page.

However, some things just don’t show up on WordPress. Things like . . .

Blogs:

 

Shut Up and Take Your Seat

My friend Jon talks about “the radicals of public transportation” in Bellingham, Washington.

 

Whatever

The personal blog of down-to-earth and all-around-good-guy (and SF/F writer) John Scalzi.

Yes, I’m giving him a plug even though he told me to stay off the internet forever.

Proof:

Scalzi Leave Internet Forever

Comics:

 

xkcd

A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language

 

Existential Comics

Updated every Monday, a philosophy comic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also jokes.

Podcasts

 

Stuff You Should Know

They cover pretty much everything under the sun.

 

Stuff You Missed in History Class

A springboard for further study of little-known (or at least little-taught) history.

 

The Christian Humanist

Philosophy, Theology, Literature, and Other Things Human Beings Do Well

Not for the intellectually faint of heart.

But the hosts are funny, and they plug Dante.

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Sunday Snapshots

 

I spent quite a bit of time waiting this week:

 

Concrete Drawbridge

 

 

 

I waited at this bridge four times in one day – four times!

Stopped at Train Tracks

 

 

 

 

Stopped at the railroad tracks with the only alternate route blocked.

At least I got a good view!

Crow at Lunchtime

 

 

This crow waited for me to drop some of my lunch.

I didn’t.

Neither did K.

 

Turtle 2

 

 

This turtle waited to cross the road.

I helped him out a few days later in an extreme downpour.

Smokey Waiting

 

 

 

 

 

Smokey waited for K to come home after an 11-hour shift.

Yard Trimmings 2

 

 

 

 

I did some yard work; now I’m waiting for the city to remove this pile of yard trimmings.

Yes, I checked to make sure they would pick it up.

They’ll get to it . . . eventually.

There’s less now; this visitor beat them to it.
Nothing like a free buffet!

 

On the other hand, there are two things I no longer have to wait for:

 

Internet Install

 

 

This cable brings me high-speed internet
in my own home.

Now I can stream Netflix and Pandora without using my cell phone data.

I can also stream podcasts without using cell phone data or taking up space on my cell phone.

Space I need for photos.

 

 

Clogged Sink

 
 

After pulling all this gunk out of my sink, I can measure the drain time with a stopwatch instead of a sundial or hourglass.

 
 
 
 

I even took a video:

What did you do this week?

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Seriously, Siri ?

The features on K’s car surpass those my own car possesses.

Specifically, the built-in USB port allows my phone to synch with the car radio.

When driving alone, I play my music and podcasts through the stereo system.

It’s the only time I can choose the soundtrack.

Supernatural Impala Music QuoteK is a Supernatural fan, but this did not go over well when I tried it.

I think it’s one of those things that only works in television or movies, not real life.

 

Anyway, back to my story.

 

You see, things don’t always work like they’re supposed to.

Or rather, they work exactly like they’re supposed to.

Either way, interesting things happen.

Case in point: the Wednesday night pizza run.

 

I ordered the usual.

For K: bacon and pineapple, creamy garlic Parmesan sauce, pretzel crust, barbecue drizzle.

For me: pepperoni and mushroom, premium crushed tomato sauce, hut favorite crust.

Yes, we ordered Pizza Hut.

This is both supper tonight and lunch the next day.

IMG_3249

 

But my story has nothing to do with pizza, my story involves the sound system.

There I was, happily listening to The Christian Humanist Podcast – “Exploring literature, philosophy, theology, and other things that human beings do well; taking the question at hand seriously and ourselves not at all.” – when the volume lowered and my phone kicked in.

I expected a call; instead, Siri delivered this:

Bad SiriSiri, what on earth!?

What demons have possessed you thus?

And then the answer came: it wasn’t a fluke.

Everything worked exactly as it should – except Siri looking for strip clubs.

Earlier that day, while I updated my iPhone, I turned on the “Hey Siri” function.

IMG_3246As Nathan, David, and Michial discussed the merits of Literary Theory, Great Books Theory, and Literary Criticism, Michial uttered something like this:

I don’t think I’ve done any serious work for seminar papers or anything like that – presentations – on a work that I did not actively love and for which my argument could not be boiled down to “Here, Audience, is why you should love this.”

Michial Farmer,  The Christian Humanist Podcast,  E. 21: Literary Criticism

Siri, muffled by a sweater and two pizza boxes, recognized “Siri” in “seriously” and turned on; the next few words would have been garbled, so it made a good logical haphazard guess.

Bad Siri

Needless to say, I turned off “Hey Siri” as soon as I could.

 

Have any Siri hilarity to share? Do so in the comments!

 

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

I Saw the Sign

I noticed this illuminated glass sign while out practicing my night photography:

 

Omarks at Night

 

Now, I know I see color differently than everyone else, but nothing else I saw this week was more vivid than this sign and the bright lights against the black city streets.

 

With all this talk of signs, how can you not think of this:

 

 

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Down the Toilet?

Yesterday was going great . . . until things started to go down the toilet.

 

A panel of aluminum siding broke free and threatened to come off.

I fixed it before the storm by getting up at 7:00 and nailing it into place.

While my wife was trying to sleep off a migraine.

 

 

The internet guy arrived exactly on time.

 

He called before he came.

He completed the install in under an hour.

He ran wire from the street and under the house.

He attached a box to the house.

He showed me how to work the system.

 

He didn’t clean up after himself the way the video claimed he would.

Which turned out to be a blessing:

Wife couldn’t connect her tablet to the WiFi.

For what it’s worth, she fixed it without me.

 

 

It rained, and we need the water.

But it made me have to go to the bathroom.

When I came out, my wedding ring was gone.

 

I’d had it moments before as I packed up my laptop.

Not There.

 

Soapy water made my hands slick, maybe it was in the sink.

No Luck.

 

Perhaps it got stuck in that little divot in the toilet –

the one right before water enters the p-trap.

Nope.

 

Maybe – just maybe – it settled out in the grease trap.

Conveniently uncovered due to a previous backup.

Definitely not.

Also, gross.

Very gross.

 

At that point Wife called.

Where are you? Mr. Tom’s ready to eat.

 

I told her.

 

Look [she said] it’s just a ring.

A sterling silver ring we got at Wal-Mart.

A ring with no special engraving.

 

I know you’re upset, but it’s nothing to worry about.

These things happen.

Look at it this way: now you can get one that actually fits.

 

Now, if it had been my ring, it’d be a different story.

And it would be.

Her rings are much more expensive.

Just as they should be.

In my opinion, anyway.

 

Later that night:

I can’t believe you flushed it; how dumb!

She’s picking at me – she isn’t being mean.

 

This morning:

I get up to make her scrambled eggs.

She gets up to get dressed.

She looks for a sweater – it’s cold where she works.

My ring falls out of the sweater.

The sweater that was with her yesterday.

The sweater that wasn’t even in the house when I lost the ring.

 

Huzzah!

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Sunday Snapshots

So, what did I do this week – apart from editing PowerPoints, creating projects, and working on next school year in general? Well, I . . .

Attended the North Carolina Symphony:

 

Sadly, they skipped Sibelius’ Valse Triste, Op. 44.

Which made me sad.

My wife says angry.

I say sad.

Enjoyed reading in the hammock by the water at my in-laws:

 

Treated myself to a few inexpensive indulgences:

 

I got my donut on National Donut Day; did you?

Assuming, of course, that you live in a country where it’s observed.

I know the United States and Australia do,

does anyone else?

 

That calzone cost less than $5

The ingredients are bought fresh and the dough is made in-house.

Add a sweet tea, and there’s lunch for under $6

So much better than fast food!

Practiced my night photography:

 

Right after I photographed the spider, a small insect flew into the net. I tried taking a picture of the spider as it attacked its prey, but it didn’t turn out at all. If I hadn’t seen it happening, I wouldn’t know what I was looking at.

I actually took one more night shot, but I’m holding off on sharing it; it may show up for the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Vivid.

What did you do this week?

 

Don’t forget to follow me on:

 

Facebook – where I share news stories, articles from other blogs, and various and sundry miscellany that happens to catch my eye. It’s stuff you won’t see here! Well, mostly.

 

Instagram – where I show you my Life in Motion and share quotes and such. The widget only shows my last three photographs – don’t you want to see them all?

 

Twitter – where you can see my thoughts in 140 characters or less. Also, funny retweets.

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑