Paper makes good insulation

We spent a bit of time moving stuff this morning. A tricky piece of furniture went up the narrow ladder to the attic and one box of Sandra's college papers came down. There are still several boxes of receipts, some dating to the 70s, tucked away in the attic. Y'see, the IRS says that you need to keep records for seven years. There is, however, no statute of limitations on tax liability. In one case back in the 90s, I received an auto excise bill for a car that I hadn't owned for 20 years. Fortunately (and somewhat miraculously), I still had the bill of sale and so was able to prove that I didn't owe the taxes. That one incident justifies keeping stuff for another 20 or 30 years. Add to that my mother's papers and we have quite a stack o' boxes.

The company where I work has instituted a new policy regarding expense reporting. Instead of submitting printed reports with receipts, we fax the receipts to a system that matches up the image with the electronic version of the expense report. The managers then approve the expense reports online. It saves the accounting office a lot storage. But, and there's always a but, we (the employees) have to keep the original receipts, in the case of audits, for five years. Just what my office needs - more stuff for a longer time.

It seems early in the season, but the beavers have brought down many trees, mostly small, some large, and have built another dam in a nearby stream. There was no sign of beavers at the camp yesterday; the lake is still completely frozen.

Some businesses, such as Coke or Pepsi, aim for near-universal appeal, while others are content to satisfy a niche. In this case, boys of a certain age would be very interested in shoes that will help them run away from girls.

When I first saw the headline, Top stars picked in alien search, I thought it was going to be another story about Tom Cruise or Britney Spears, but it's just a story about the possibility of intelligent life someplace else.

The Blackberry isn't very comfortable to use just as a phone, so I often use a wireless headset if I'm on a lengthy call. Invariably, when another guy (and it's always guys) sees me while I'm wearing the headset, he'll check his phone to see if anything cool is going on in there. Guys may be enchanted by the coolness factor, but women are not immune to the cell phone obsession. (You can now say, "Eww.")

Watch your feet, knees, and elbows

My flight from Chicago was delayed by nearly three hours, mostly the result of bad weather in the East. We were, as has become typical, crammed in, with all of the overhead bins full. I had to check my suitcase at the gate. As the flight attendants wheeled the beverage cart from the back of the plane, they politely, but resolutely, let us know that extremities in the aisle were in harm's way. The plane ride was somewhat bumpy as we neared the coast, but not too bad. The Logan parking garage has one four-story elevator that doesn't go to floors one and two and a seven-story elevator that only covers floors one through four. I parked my car in Row Z-1 which is right next to Row S-1.

There was a foot of snow on the ground when I left on Monday morning. Now it's gone. Who took it? And why?

Hot dogs and beans are the traditional New England Saturday night supper. After our trip to Britain a few years ago, Sandra and I have been having eggs and beans. In either case, whether served with hot dogs or with eggs, beans are best served with not very much bird head.

On the plane ride home, I sat behind a guy who was preparing a presentation with PowerPoint. He was copying the text, including pictures and tables, from a Microsoft Word document, and then hacking and stuffing to make the content fit into the slides. I pity the folks who have to sit through that presentation. A Google search of "Death by PowerPoint" comes up with 47,000 matches. In one case, we might have a clue about why the war in Iraq is going as it is. An American government worker acquired an insurgency training manual from a web site, translated it, converted it to PowerPoint, and posted it on a web site to make it available to U.S. troops. Whatever was retained from the translation from Arabic to English was squeezed into sloganeering by the time it was brought into PowerPoint.

(There's an interesting thread coming from this story. The insurgency web site, Al-Rashid.com, is a bit of an odd name for a domain in Iraq. They'd have to do business at some point with U.S. domain registrars. And, now, that site points to a escort service in the U.K.)

We have a long weekend (President's Day) and a somewhat quiet week in the office. Several co-workers are taking the week off to be with their kids who are on school vacation. Sandra and I have a list of fun things to do and will get to more than a few of them in these three days.

Homeward bound

The Chevy Impala used to be a great car - big, comfortable, stylish. I'm driving one this week. Avis calls it full-sized, I can't tell it apart from the Hyundais, Kias, and other Camry wannabes. If it wasn't for the remote door opener that flashes the lights on the car, I'd never be able to pick it out in a parking lot.

Think nice thoughts about your water. Did you know that "water registers and faithfully transmits any frequency it is exposed to?" Did you know that the vibrational frequency of the label on your bottle of water is so important? Are you surprised that all this comes from California?

Technology has given the whole world access to the best that America has to offer. As a result, a prime-time slot on ESPN had an hour of flag football.

I'm flying home later today. No meal on the two-and-a-half-hour flight, just beverages and a bag of pseudo-snacks. On the flight out on Monday morning, we received a packet of cookies. You know that brown pegboard that we use in our cellars and garages so we can hang things on hooks? Well, these cookies were the same color and density as that brown board, but not as tasty.

Instead of letting passengers board from back to front, some airlines, including United, are having the passengers board by seat assignments. After the royalty boards, window seat passengers board next, followed by middle seaters, and then those on the aisle. The boarding process does seem to be smoother, except for the aforementioned goofiness that's endemic among the traveling population.

The weather forecast calls for strong winds by the time we get to Boston, suggesting a bumpy ride into Logan.

Set mode=grovel. Happy Belated Birthday to Jennie.

Rain, wind, snow, flying cows

We have a rain/snow mix, along with thunder, ahead of a cold front. The frontal passage (aka fropa, for the weather nerds) will bring strong winds and much colder air here this evening and tomorrow night back home.

After a time of travel, my physical and mental shirt pockets eventually fill up with scraps of paper. And so, lucky reader, it's time to dump the scraps onto the desk.

There was a cocktail party last night, sponsored by one of the vendors. I didn't go and am grateful for my choice. This morning's reports include cell-phone video clips of conga line and pleas for more scotch.

Speaking of phones, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal mentioned a product, called CellStik, that lets you back up your cell phone contacts to a USB drive.

On the way to the airport the other day, I heard a bit of flotsam from the Bosstown Sound-era - Sacrifice of the Moon by Ultimate Spinach. There's a good reason why I hadn't heard it since the late 1960s.

From the Department of the Flippin' Obvious: a study informs us that people use the Internet for fun.

Canada has a program to discourage people from letting their cars idle too long. Walking past the neighborhood Dunkin' Donuts, it's amazing that there aren't more cars stolen.

South Koreans are fighting back against bird flu with kimchi.

In several meetings, I've been sitting with a fellow who reminds me a great deal of a former co-worker. This person has the same kind of accent, same sardonic view of the world, and similar physical features, all the way that he clears his nose. Both have a quick and clever wit. Both are very smart. The fellow here calculated 26^6 in his head as a part of a discussion on acronyms. At the start of the day, he spent 10 minutes talking with his broker, so we now know how his investments are going.

Valentine's Day in the heartland

It's no fun being away from home on Valentine's Day.

When I was here three weeks ago, there was a half a foot of fresh-fallen snow on the ground. Now, except in the shadiest of places, there's none. One of my co-workers wasn't able to get out of New Jersey yesterday because of the weekend storm; he'll arrive this morning.

Nonetheless, there's no surer sign of spring than the Red Sox equipment van leaving Boston on its way to spring training. Even though the team's management be idiots, letting Johnny Damon and Doug Mirabelli get away, it's still baseball and it's still good.

They're all Conelandians now.

The Four Horsemen are making sure that their horses are fed and watered and ready for the ride: Paris Hilton to play Mother Teresa.

If you have some spare time and spare bandwidth, this site may entertain and will perplex you. Having the sound on is helpful, but not essential. Being able to parse Korean marketing speak into semi-English is required. It's so difficult to choose between the jade pillow and the laser pillow.

Today's automated search for a technical documentation job brings a list for a Blood Bank Supervisor.

Idus Februarius

There's a lot bright moonlight on the fresh snow. Yesterday afternoon I measured 14", although it was difficult to find a place where the snow hadn't drifted. We waited until four in the afternoon to start the cleanup. It took less than two hours, with the help of Mike and Matt's plowing. The snow was light and the wind swirling, so that much of the snow that came out of the snow blower's chute wound up on me.

The first two flights to Chicago this morning have been cancelled. So far, mine, at nine o'clock, is still scheduled. I'll leave early for the airport to thread my way through the crowds with the hope of claiming what I'm told is a confirmed seat. The meetings in the midlands start at two this afternoon.

It was only a matter of time before companies would require implantation of RFID chips for their employees. Twenty years ago, when magnetic card readers were installed at all of the computer labs at Digital, there was a lot of concern that the management could keep track of how much time an employee did or didn't spend in the lab. With my Blackberry, it would be possible for my boss to track where I am at all times. She won't, though, because she's a full-time job already and knows that if she starts micro-managing like that, productivity for the both of us will plummet.

Your tax dollars at work; Rus, the surfin squirrel, Stanley Stat, Pie-Chart Pam, and Ginger's CIA Adventure, and a special offering for Dick Cheney, Darrell and Shirley talk about gun safety.

If you plan to go to any of the World Cup games in Germany, well, remember that the Germans may not share your sense of humor about the war.

In the Roman calendar, the Ideas came on the 13th in short months, on the 15th in long month. February, though it feels like a long month, is short. More here.

Happy 16th Birthday, Michael Francis.

If we're quiet, will you promise not to call FEMA?

The quiet before the storm.

We're expecting a foot of snow, drifted by high winds. The southeast part of the state, including the Cape, will get more of both, enough for the storm to be classified as a blizzard. We have a couple of events planned for today and expect that they'll be called off. It will be a good day to read through the stack of magazine that's in my in-basket. The bottom layer of the magazines is turning to coal.

In the meantime, the local TV stations are in full disaster mode. It's snowing. In February. In New England

Nor'easter On Its Way; Extreme Team Has You Covered

I've yet to find a web site that provides school closings and related information for the Worcester area. One radio station promises information about cancellations, but a click of the link results in a "Sorry, the feed you are looking for does not exist." Some of the Boston news outlets manage to include news from the provinces, but that material rarely makes it onto the web. I guess it's good that some traditions don't change. Our grandkids get to listen to the same lame AM radio stations as we did, where announcers read from a long list at five and thirty-five minutes past the hour.

We visited Adam, Jennie, and Lily at their new home yesterday. It's a really nice place, a log cabin on eight mostly-wooded acres, three-quarters of a mile from the center of a very small town. It has a great view of the low hills stretching off to the east. As you drive up the winding highway that leads to the town, the temperature drops by three to five degrees. Cell phone signals (Verizon's, anyway) get tired at the town line and have to sit by the side of the road for a rest.

They had recently gone with Jennie's mother to see Cirque Du Soleil, an event for the February birthday celebrants. Lily brought her small CD player from her room and played a CDS disc, eerie and compelling music.

The purpose of the trip, in addition to visiting, was to bring a grandfather's clock that, by no coincidence, was made by my grandfather. A bit more than 30 years ago, my grandfather, living alone for a year after the death of my grandmother, was building the clock in the cellar of his house. His house was next door to my father's. One day, my grandfather showed my father the progress that he'd made on the clock. "I guess you'll have to finish this," my grandfather said. A few days later, maybe a bit more, my grandfather died.

My father finished it and, one Christmas, brought it to our house. It's been in our dining room, a bit finicky on these old uneven and sometimes unsteady floors. We've all had a hand in getting the clock going and keeping it going, with Adam having the best touch. My father was pleased when we told him that we were bringing the clock to their new home.

On the way back, we made a few shopping stops. There are many February birthdays and anniversaries in our extended family, but only one for each person. When a gift is called for, getting the right gift is important. We tried not too look too clueless as we bought a lacrosse stick and accessories.

We also stopped at Dave's and picked up some special food for Marley. (His 10th birthday is later this month.) This morning he had duck and sweet potato. In Japan, he might be having whale meat.

Belated Happy Anniversary to Mike and Lynn.

We still remember you, Don.

missing server > Server 54, Where Are You? > April 9, 2001

This server is legendary: missing server > Server 54, Where Are You? > April 9, 2001

Of music and work

On my way to White Plains, I pass through Hartford. A bit more than 10 years ago, I worked as a contract system manager (VAX/VMS with some early Windows 95 PCs) at a company near Hartford. On my first day of work, I brought my portable CD player, a stack of CDs, and headphones so I could listen to music while working. Mid-morning, the supervisor stopped by my office and told me that there was a company policy against listening to music during work hours. I didn't ask him to explain, figuring that such a silly rule would have an even sillier explanation. So, for the next four months, instead of listening to Van Halen, Bach, or Miles Davis, I got to hear, in rather extraordinarily intimate detail, how the young people in the office were spending their weeknights and weekends.

Of course, technology would eventually win out. These folks have been able to convert the activity of their systems and networks into something that approximates music. If something goes wrong with the systems, then something will go wrong with the music.

When Scottish bureaucracy meets blogging, (PDF) both will emerge bloodied, but not bowed.

The Four Horsemen seen gathering their saddles and riding gear.

Partly cloudy with a slight chance of being sensible

One has modest expectations for a day when the National Weather Service includes something such as this in its forecast discussion: "Not expecting much in the way of sensible weather through the short term...."

When traveling, I become increasingly aware of the weight and bulk of each item that I carry. Where possible, I find smaller versions of most anything. The retractable network cable and the USB mini-mouse are the size of a package of Tic-Tacs. And, yet, there's still a lot of stuff in my pockets, in my briefcase, in my suitcase, on my belt. George Carlin has done a classic riff on our attachment to our stuff. An article in the Washington Post, discussed here, says that, and I'm oversimplifying here, we're carrying so much stuff because we'd rather deal with our stuff than with other people.

It's been so warm this winter ...
How warm is it?
It's been so warm that the Canada geese stayed in Canada.

Who says romance is dead? A guy in England eats a can of 50-year-old chicken to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. Note to Sandra - I'm sure that there's something old enough in the cupboard downstairs.

If your life is improved by receiving your vitamins through your underwear, you have more problems than not getting enough vitamins.

Without the Internet, we might think that we're sane.

I'm spending time, a lot of time, in meetings and on conference calls these days. It's not surprising that my attention might wander. Heck, my attention wanders even on the best days. So, using some nifty new technology called RSS and an RSS reader (Bloglines), I can monitor more than 100 web sites for new stories all in an instant. (I'll write more about RSS another time.) Most of them are related to technology. If I find an item of particular interest or importance, I'll send it along to our work team.

Then there are the others:

• Certainly bringing credence to John Paul II's fast track to sainthood, Michael Jackson might sing some of the Pope's prayers. (Or might not.) When driving down here yesterday, I heard MJ's Beat It on the radio. Eddie Van Halen gave a ripping guitar solo. Let us all give a collective shiver at the thought of MJ singing Young People, Christ Calls You, whomever plays the guitar.
• From the Science of the Flippin' Obvious Department, we learn that people's brains change after they're 18 and again in middle age. (See the aforementioned attention drift.)
• The communists in Nepal will agree to a monarchy, but only if the people vote for it. As best as I can tell, if the idea of a monarchy isn't improved, then the Maoist will continue their battles with whomever is in power.
• The American Decency Association didn't think much of the Super Bowl, but not because of anything related to football.
• Just in time for Valentine's Day: the Army will teach you how to pick a spouse.
  
• Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of RIM, will receive the highest Canadian honor, the Order of Canada. Judge in Blackberry patent trials seen jumping up and down like Yosemite Sam.
• Herbal medicines can be healthy, safe, and inexpensive alternatives to traditional medicines, as long as your health care provider isn't faxing your confidential information to a small, house-run business in Canada.
• I think that this looks more like one of the Baldwin brothers, but the makers claim that it's Brad Pitt. Insert your own Angelina Jolie/Jennifer Aniston/Who is Brad Pitt and why does he keep calling me? joke here.
  

Valleywag: The San Francisco to Cupertino commute, in under two minutes

Valleywag: The San Francisco to Cupertino commute, in under two minutes

Eu desejo que eu tive um título

The Brits call today, the first Monday in February, National Sickie Day. Not a bad idea. Much of America is still stupified by the pre-game, intra-game, and post-game Super Bowl babbling, not to mention the massive quantities of calories and beer in many households. At our house, Sandra and I had our regular Skinny Cow snacks and, later, Marley and I shared an apple. We went to sleep sometime in the fourth quarter. I'm glad that Pittsburgh won, but I would have appreciated a better game. There were some impressive individual performances. The teams, however, never quite clicked. The Diet Pepsi ad with Diddy and the Hummer ads were the best of a lame lot. The Stones can still rock, even if Keith Richards looks like he's thinking about what color to paint his house.

Another trip to New York this morning. As always, I know that I work hard, but what I do isn't hard work. This story has been repeated several times in the past few years - foreign workers collecting cockles go out on a sand bar and then are trapped by the returning high tide and often swept out to sea.

A single serving of Snickers pie comes in at 1250 calories, with untold grams of fat and sugar.

I've had a long-running email thread with a friend from the Great White North on the topic of "Canadians are not like the rest of us." To that point, I offer Synchronized Steamshovels. Real Player or equivalent required. (Yes, I know that they're powered by diesel, not steam. The piece needed the alliteration.)

Over the weekend, I received a CD with about 40 minutes of music by friend Don. It was recorded eight or 10 years ago, just Don and his guitar in front of a tape recorder. He was a wonderful performer - good tunes, good music. A few times, Don got somewhat formal in his singing and I could hear, oddly enough, his father's voice. This was music of a special person but also music from a special time (60s into early 70s). He sang Draft Dodger Rag by Phil Ochs, a funny and yet desperate song. And, like Don, Phil Ochs got away from us too soon.

America puts its heart where its Google is

It's still early in the day on the U.S. East Coast. So far, however, Google News death notices about Grampa Munster (about 5180) outnumber those for Betty Friedan (537). This will no doubt change during the day as the obit machines crank up. There's a chance that the founder of modern-day feminism will elicit more reflection than did a minor character in a 40-year-old sitcom.

In the "Everyone has to come from someplace Dept.," I learned that Betty Friedan was born in Peoria.

The door to the MacGregors' apartment was trimmed to accomodate a carpet. We replaced the carpet with linoleum some years back (easier to clean, brighter). As a result, there's an inch-and-a-half gap at the bottom of the door. When Marley waits in the vestibule so he can go next door for a visit, he lies down with his back to the door. The MacGregors see a wagging tail under the door when they come down for breakfast.

Oh, and then there's this thing about about a football game. I think Pittsburgh will win, although I really just like a good game.

The winter that winter forgot

A few patches of snow are hanging on bravely against the rains and overwarm temperatures. We still need a fire in the stove during the night, but will let it burn out during the day. This is nice early April weather. The birds don't come to feeders as much because the berries and seeds are easily found in the woods.

I played a lot of chess in high school, at lunch, after school, on the weekends. I wasn't very good. I was, shall we say, sitting on the far left side of the bell curve. So, when article titled, "Playing Chess May Relief Symptoms of Depression (sic)," I'll read it, but with low expectations.

eBay is offering a few cherished pieces of modern culture, a two-page autobiographical fact sheet by Britney Spears and a empty Diet Pepsi that Ashely Simpson used.

Having a credit card rejected is embarrassing alright. Tell it to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, now-gazillionaire co-founders of Google. They had a card bounce at a dinner in Scotland.

Fiat and Microsoft have launched a new program, called Blue & Me. It's an unfortunate title. Blue has the connotations of Blue Screen of Death, aka BSOD, the colorful screen that Windows puts up when it crashes. Adding BSOD to the car whose name is an acronym for "Fix it again, Tony." is, well, you get the idea.

Is it them or is it me? According to this research, I, a regular iTunes user, should be a teenaged boy, drinking hard cider, driving a Volkswagen, and watching Cartoon Network. I do confess that I check in on SpongeBob and Boondocks every once in a while, but my favorite Volkswagens were 30 or 40 years ago and I never liked hard cider. Either I'm not me or I'm not them. The full report is here, in PDF.

google-snack-room.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024x768 pixels) - Scaled (97%)

If you worked at Google, you could be eating this right now.

MiamiHerald.com | 02/02/2006 | Bush aides clarify statements about oil

MiamiHerald.com | 02/02/2006 | Bush aides clarify statements about oil: "'This was purely an example,'' Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said."

It's that day again.

Thus sayeth CNN:



Meanwhile, the National Weather Service tells us what we've known all along, that it was a warm January around here. Of course, Hawaii gets a foot of snow.

A benefit of the warm winter here on the east coast is that, when it's seal-clubbing time, the batsmen can drive to work.

There's this war on terrorism. The President talks a lot about it. We even created a new Department of Homeland Security. It's good to see that they're taking their job seriously.

If the Internet has taught us nothing else, it has taught that correction anyone's use of grammar or punctuation invites others to correct yours with great vigor.

For those in a small apartment: safety features include not being able to turn on the stove while the kitchenette is in the stove position.

Finally, telegrams are no more. Stop.

Has anyone seen my privacy?

"Honey, what's our checking account number?"
"I don't remember. Check that paper that they used to wrap the newspaper bundles."

And while you're at it, invite the newspaper carrier in for some Spam-tastic Sunnydogs for breakfast. Nothing starts the day like fried chunks of Spam in pancake batter.

I don't know anyone, except for facilities managers, who likes cubicles. The office space is noisy and you have just the illusion of privacy. Yesterday, the person in the cube next to me said, "I couldn't help overhearing that you're planning another trip." Many conversations begin that way - "I couldn't help overhearing." It could be worse, though. I was recently in an office building that looked a lot like the headquarters from Men in Black. There was a long, wide center corridor, open for several floors up, with cubicles on each side for the non-management grunts. The cubicles had two walls and a half-height third wall, leaving each person exposed to the world. There are people who claim that better office space will be one of the differentiators as companies try to attract and retain good employees. I doubt it. Once a cheap idea is established, it's almost impossible to shake it loose.

There's a nasty little worm that's set to go off on Friday (and on the third of every month) on Windows systems. Make sure that your anti-virus definitions are up-to-date and that you run a full scan. (If you update your definitions without doing a full scan, your anti-virus software won't be able to detect things that snuck in before the update.) Here's more about it from Microsoft. Those of you on Mac or Linux systems can laugh quietly to yourselves.

In the middle of the middle of winter

Conventional wisdom has it that we should have at least half of our wood supply left by the end of January. Thanks to the warm weather, we're conventionally wise and can stay warm for the rest of the heating season. Today a light freezing rain is making for slippery passage, but it will warm soon and then the way will be just wet.

Some things shouldn't have to be illegal to make you not do them. Not doing them ought to be obvious. Ah, well, live free or die.

Although the Constitution says that, from time to time, the President must report to Congress regarding the state of the union, there is no requirement that the address be given in person. Presidents during most of the 19th century sent letters. Wouldn't it be nice if our current president did the same? I, for one, could do without the hour or two of his smirks on broadcast TV. If he's going to tell us that everything is getting better and that we should just keep shopping, we could learn about that in a letter.

Here's one explanation of why we don't get much work done at work.

We installed a couple of CO detectors this past weekend and found that the batteries had gone stale. The detector in the MacGregors' apartment started chirping during the night. They wound hiding it under a blanket until morning. Something such these self-charging smoke detectors would be handy.

CNN.com - Museum visitor trips, breaks Chinese vases - Jan 30, 2006

Gerald Ford released from hospital, resumes normal activities

January: more thaw than not

The overnight rain continues to eat away at the snow cover. It looks as though the storm, forecast for tomorrow, will miss us. We may get a few inches of wet snow, but nothing like the nor'easter that we'd originally expected. I'm looking forward to spending a few days in the office. My pockets and briefcase are crammed with scraps of paper - expense receipts, notes to myself, and other stuff. It will be good to clear away some of the physical and mental clutter than accumulates during a time of travel. I have something like 15 hours of conference calls this week.

We've been cleaning out some cabinets, getting at the A/V nest of cables, adapters, and sundry other gozintas and gozouttas. One envelope was marked "Screw hole plug cover things" and dated 9/92, proof enough that a thing at rest tends to stay at rest.

"Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain. G'bye, Juliet.

This just in. Half of the homes sold in December were sold for below the median price.

Whose whale is this? I think I know.

Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," named his daughter Sarah Debs, giving her the initials SDS. (At this writing, Danny's blog web server is broken, but it may be back by the time that you read this.) I met Danny a few times back in the 70s. His dials are set to 11 almost all of the time.

Egad, my sushi just BSOD'd.

I think that a surprise Valentine's Day dinner here is likely to result in your being alone on the 15th.

Whose wire is this? I think I know.

The first five or 10 minutes of each meeting is spent getting network cables and power cords connected and working properly. From time to time, we will have an occasional struggle with a network switch or projector or screen. In case you wondered, this is what happened to all those A/V nerds whom you used to mock in high school oh so many years ago.

For all the "exceptional public interest" about Blackberry's being essential to business, it's interesting to learn that the most popular piece of Blackberry software on one site is RimMario, a port of the Super Mario Brothers game.

Recently, Jet Blue announced that they would be serving Dunkin' Donuts coffee on their flights. One less reason to fly with them. I don't like DD's coffee or their donuts. Tim Horton's in the Great White North does a much better job on both. Canada takes its donuts very seriously. (PDF viewer required.)

Scottish health officials are recommending that youngsters have haggis just once a week. No more all-you-can-eat haggisfests.

Because I'm here and not there, I'll miss a birthday party this evening. If I was there, I'd just mix up the presents.

Happy Birthday, Mike.

Net connections. Got some spare net connections, mister?

Beneath the din of our everyday life is a silence, a silence that results from the stopping of the hearts of Blackberry owners. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of the Blackberry, on a lower court's injunction in a patent dispute. (RIM is a Canadian company, but most of its business is in the states.) As it stands now, the Blackberry service in U.S. could go dark in February. I don't think that it will happen, though. There's too much money involved and there are too many addicted users. RIM will find a way to settle, although they lost almost all of their bargaining power. The deal that they turned down last fall looks pretty good.

The hotel is having a problem; its network cannot connect to the outside world. I learned this when I called their tech support. It's been a long time since I've talked with someone so bored and so condescending. I can be an idiot about some stuff, but not this.

We had a similar problem in the room where we are meeting with the customer. I began to think that I had the Midas touch - everything I touch turns to mufflers.

With the network connections down, the three-hour meeting was finished in two. The connections were restored in time for the lunch break. I can pretty well guarantee that we'll use all of the allocated time for the afternoon meetings.

Moo 2: The Re-Herding

An other center seat, but further back, all the better to smell the exhaust fumes from the jet engines.

Note to my fellow travelers: You will have to bend down to remove your shoes when you go through the security gate. Please be considerate of those who will see what they see when you bend over to take off your shoes. That thong that you are wearing might bring delight to you and to those with whom you are intimate. For the folks behind you in the line, not so much.

When I arrived at the Avis lot, my rental car was running and warm, a nice touch for a cold Chicago night. About a half foot of snow fell during the day, but the roads were clear.

Big city TV may be lame, but big city radio can be interesting. On the ride from O'Hare, I heard Latin music backed with a German polka band (complete with tuba).

Friend Tom reminded me that the blog style of writing has been around for a long time, that we're employing some new technology and names, but what we're doing remains the same. Going back to the 50s, my mother kept up the Hakkarainen Clipping Service (motto: no obligation to read, acknowledge, or return). She would send magazine and newspaper clippings, sometimes whole books, and, later, photocopies. I brought out an web version a few years ago and a marginally more technical blog a couple of years later.

No shirt. No shoes. It must be January.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you opened the paper one morning and found that the obituary page was empty?

The temperature dropped below freezing last night and snow is in the forecast for tomorrow. But, we've had harsher Octobers than this.

When it came time to remove the CD racks to prepare for painting the family room wall, it also came time for the CDs to go into the attic. I'm not ready to part with them yet, but I also haven't played a CD for close to two years.

Thoreau writes about the Mucclasse Indians who would burn their old possesions as a way of cleansing and simplifying their lives.

Keeping with the theme of one song/many versions, I've collected about a dozen versions of Pipeline by The Ventures. Don, sometimes solo, sometimes with his brother, Vinnie, used to do a pretty good version of the song. We hang out in their cellar, listening to the cheesy little amp, reading Mad magazine, next to the full-size pool table. Don could also do great recreations of Spike Jones tunes, such as the ever-charming Cocktails for Two.

Did you leave your Weinerwhistle™ in your other jacket? Fear not, for the Interactive Web Weinerwhistle is here.

It's a test of endurance, I know, but think of the children.

Would you buy a used document from this man?

It's common to have reorganizations at the start of a new fiscal year, a chance fix what isn't working or so fine-tune things that are working pretty well. For us, it was the latter. We learned that our group has moved out of engineering and now reports into the sales organization. (Technically, it's part of professional services, which is part of sales.) Overall, I think that it will be a good move, giving us more flexibility in dealing directly with the issues that a particular customer is facing. It's also a bit disorienting. This is the first time in my high-tech career that I have not worked in an engineering organization.

In the short term, nothing changes. I have another trip coming up. In the words of David Bromberg, "Another cup of sour coffee, one more piece of cardboard pie."

I took yesterday afternoon off so that we could tend to some business at our lawyer's. Afterwards, we visited with my father. He was in a somber mood. One of his hearing aids had to be sent to the factory, so he wasn't able to hear the conversation well. A good friend of his, and the only friend his age, is in hospice care and won't last long. Living a long time is good, but it comes with the risk that you may outlive all of your friends.

Sandra and I drove in to the camp at dusk. There was some ice on the hill, but one of the four wheels always managed to find purchase and keep us moving. We let Marley out and he ran beside, in back, and in front of us the rest of the way. The lake is solidly frozen, but there were puddles on top of the ice. There were lights on at two camps across the cove. We were tempted to walk over and visit, but it was getting late.

Studies show again that cell phone use doesn't cause brain damage, but I'm not sure about the reverse. This looks like a torture device for your cell phone, but it's worse. It lets you convert images and sound on your phone into presentations. Not only are you in sales, but you're an übergeek to boot.

Next month is Marley's 10th birthday. Maybe he'd like one of these.

CBC Prince Edward Island - 25 working at P.E.I. sandwich factory

How to make a sandwich in Canada: CBC Prince Edward Island - 25 working at P.E.I. sandwich factory

Locked and loaded to the next level

Yesterday was filled with conference calls from 9AM to 6PM, with just a brief respite at 1:30. One of the calls was a meeting with our new management team. The news was good, that the company will be investing in our group, which means new projects and likely some hiring. It's easy to lose sight of the good news when you hear executives talk about teeing up initiatives and other such silly biztalk.

A former professor of mine is an editor at the Massachusetts Review, a fact that I think is pretty much unrelated to the poem that begins Please help me get this pig, dear Lord, into my truck.

I didn't realize that Phyllis Schafly was still bringing her own brand of wisdom to the public forum. Not only does she was she one of the earliest to rise to the defense of Tom Delay, but she also believes that real men won't go to college unless they can play football. That sound you hear is the popping of the veins in her forehead when she reads about Boyz Night.

Geoff Gallop resigned this week as premier of Western Australia so that he could be treated for major depression. Some people hailed the decision as a courageous move, helping to bring greater awareness of this illness. Others were concerned that some might take this to mean that you have to give up your life's work if you become depressed. And, still others said, "Woo hoo. Now we can dig for uranium."

Another from the "I work hard, but this isn't hard work file." My favorite quote is, "It doesn't happen very often."

Someone put the refrigerator in reverse

A strong wind is pushing a thick fog across the snow and ice. We're getting reports from the New York City that bridges are closed because of the high winds. Temperatures are in the mid-50s and headed higher. No serious cold or wintry precipitation is in the forecast.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, "You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." G'bye, Jack.

With digital music, it's easy to develop custom playlists. The playlist might include music from a particular genre, such as blues or hip-hop or tuva. Today I had a hankering for Caravan, the Duke Ellington/Juan Tizol masterpiece. I have eight versions of it, including Ellington, Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, and Dick Dale. There are a lot more out there, although I'll probably skip the Ferrante and Teicher version.

Someone gives you $100,000 . You a.) save some and give the rest to the kids and grandkids, b.) do something unexpected and perhaps life-changing, or c.) check to see what the others are doing before you decide.

Kids have Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys. We have The Island of the Unwanted Documents.

Why Google has a market capitalization at the same level as IBM's[1]

An error message from Gmail, Google's web-based mail server:

Server Error

Gmail is temporarily unavailable. Cross your fingers and try again in a few minutes. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

[1]

And the word from the middle seat is "Moo."

The early morning rain had changed to a heavy wet snow by the time that the meetings concluded at noon. Many people, particularly those from the south and west, were quite anxious about driving in the snow. On the highways, the snow was just slushy and melted as soon as the tires hit it.

Without a remote car starter, I never would have found my rental car. It's bad enough that the Hyudais and Chevys and Tauri look pretty much alike, but, covered in snow, they all looked like the same lumps.

Interstate 90 west of Chicago is a toll road. At the exit ramp to O'Hare, there are three toll collection stations. Two are designated for iPass users. iPass is an electronic toll-paying system similar to FastLane in Massachusetts and EZ-Pass in New York. (In New Hampshire, I think you still pay with chickens.) The middle lane is a coin-collection basket. You're supposed to toss in the exact change. If you arrive at the exit ramp with no change, there is no way to get change. You are supposed to write down a number (while people are in back of you, honking), drive through, and then call that number within six days to avoid getting a ticket.

With luck, I got to the airport in good time and was able to get on an early flight, but a flight that was completely full. We were herded onto the plane with minimal use of cattle prods.

It's easy not to like some of my fellow travelers, such as the ones who jam two big suitcases into the overhead bins so that those who arrive later have to have their bags checked. There's also the trick of putting your bags into the first available spot in the overhead bins and then walking back to your seat. That way, the people in the front of the plane have to go back to get their bags when it's time to get off of the plane.

We received a snack, something with BBQ soy nuts and a bunch of multi-syllabic additives, including not more than 2% silicon dioxide. But, the coffee was Starbuck's, better than the industrial-strength motor oil that other airlines offer.

We had a delightfully smooth landing and taxied to the gate amid the beeps and peeps and boops of cell phones coming on.

I had parked in Central Parking in row 3-T. From the stairs, I went to row 3-M and onward. They skipped O and resumed with P. Q. R. S. Y. Y? Y?! I'm standing in a darkened parking garage in a land where they've repealed the Roman alphabet.

I walked around for several minutes before discovering another corner with a row marked 3-Z. I looked back toward the terminal and saw rows Y, X, W, V, and in the far, far reaches, from which the light left last Tuesday, I see row 3-T.

Once I was in my car and driving out of the parking lot, I could breathe easily and appreciate the stunningly bizarre parking techniques that my fellow travelers employ. They parked in places that were not only illegal, but incomprehensible - jammed between concrete pillar and walls such that the only way out of the car is through the moon roof.

Sandra and Marley greeted me in the driveway on a very balmy night. The foot of snow that I'd left behind was patchy and almost gone. We went in for a fine supper that didn't have a trace of silicon dixoide. Even if it did, there's no place like home.

Emptying the suitcase before going home

We have meetings until noon today. I'm going to go to the airport early with the hopes of getting on an earlier flight home. I have one conference call in the early afternoon, but I can call in from the airport.

Friday the 13ths are good days to spend a while wandering the net, looking for new Pogo resources. Not a lot new this time around, but the Wikipedia summary is getting better.

This prejudice map is based on a Google query for an ethnic or other type of group, identifying what a group is known for: "germans are known for *", for example. Here's one for Finns and another for Mainers.

This may be of interest only to folks in the Boston area and maybe not even then. Charles Laquidara is returning to local radio with a one-hour segment on WBOS. No word about Duane.

So, Levi's is bringing out a line of iPod-controlling jeans. Some items don't need a punch line.

I've been alternating between sleeping too little to sleeping too much. I'm on the too-much phase right now. If the too-little part of the cycle returns, I'll try out these tips. (Recent studies have indicated that the tryotophan in turkey is not likely to make us sleepy.)

As the disclaimer notes, don't try this at home. (Thanks to Dave Barry's blog.)

By the time we got to Nerdstock ...

The sun has broken through, revealing a landscape that is as bleak as it was when the weather was cloudy. These are flat lands where, as the saying goes, you can watch your dog run away from home for two days. There are small ponds by the sides of the roads, created when the roads were builts. The ponds are covered with ice, but there's no snow to be seen.

So, we are crowded in small conference rooms, everyone straining to get their power cords and network cables plugged in, as though to breathe. The people are smart, very smart, jaw-droppingly, head-spinningly smart. Most of the language isn't words, but acronyms and other abbreviations: GPON, TDM, WIPM, etc. I keep a notepad full of these things and when no one's looking, I use Google to find out what they mean. One person asked for the definition of an abbreviation. He got the answer, but someone in the room laughed. No one has asked since.

The meetings last from eight or nine in the morning until five in evening. Our hosts provide lunches for our noon break. In all, there are about 500 people attending these meetings, including the five of us from our company. On the first day, we were late getting to the table where they handed out the box lunches. All that was left was a stack of vegetarian lunches. We weren't going to let that happen again. Yesterday, 200 people were lined up at 11:20.

After the sessions close, I go to a local supermarket to buy something for supper and go back to the hotel. The others go out to dinner and likely hang around for drinks afterwards. I have other work to do. I can get a lot done on the Blackberry, but I can't edit large documents.

I am scheduled to come here three more times in the next few months. I'm glad that I'm here. I'm getting to learn the business and the technology in ways that I couldn't otherwise. This amount of travel, however, is hard on us all, particularly on special days.

Happy 10th Birthday, Krista.

Slouching toward Schaumburg

When I arrived at the ticket counter and learned that I would have to get my seat assignment at the gate, I knew that the flight to Chicago was full to overflowing. I checked in my suitcase because I was pretty sure that there wouldn't be any space available in the overhead bins.

The business travelers are easy to pick out in the lines at the security gates. They're the ones who have put their cell phones, pens, and spare change into their briefcase, are wearing shoes that are easy on and easy off, and have carry-on luggage that fits nicely into the x-ray machines. When it's done well, it's a joy to watch. It's not often done well, so the lines are long.

When I got to the gate, there was an announcement requesting people to give up their seats in exchange for a free ticket and an upgrade on the next flight out. I double-checked my schedule and learned that I didn't need to be at the customer site until noon. I could take the 8:00 flight, first class, and get there in plenty of time. So, I'm sleeping at home tonight instead of in a hotel in a chilly Chicago suburb (Hoffman Estates, right next to Schaumburg). I'll be on my way early. A night at home is worth it, even if it's a short night.

My suitcase is in O'Hare Airport.

How do you throw away a trash can?

The Patriots have had a season of winning ugly, playing just well enough not to lose. Unlike diving or skating, you don't get points in football for style; you get points for points, however you get them.

This past week, Robin Williams appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show with Larry Page from Google. A few times, I've seen Williams and Jonathan Winters on the same TV show. For a brief moment, the earth spins in the opposite direction.

We have a light snow falling, just enough to cover the icy patches on the driveway. We'll get some pseudo-salt out there before Woody and Marian go off to church.

We have a new trash barrel for our kitchen, meaning that we also now have a old trash barrel. We already have barrels for bird seed, stove ashes, kindling, and baseball bats. Besides, the old one is pretty far gone. We'll put it out with the other recyclables and hope that they take it away. Otherwise, we'll have to put inside a very big trash bag and have it taken away with the regular haul. See, this why life in the suburbs is so thrilling. No worries of war or plague or natural disasters. Just let me throw away stuff that I have too much of.

A glazed doughnut, hold the anthrax

Find out who's hot and who's not at the Mr. Heterosexual Contest in Worcester next month.

I received mail informing me that "Big Lithuanian company is looking for managers." The message also says that it doesn't contain spam, which, of course, means the obvious.

While doing some online banking, I occasionally enter some information in the wrong format. For example, if I enter one hundred dollars as 100, the web site will display a message that I'm an idiot because I'm supposed to include two decimal places: 100.00. It requires more work from the programmer to detect the errant format and then put up the message than it to just stick .00 at the end of the 100 and be done with it. Grumble, grumble.

You have to have a license to drive a car, build a house, own a dog, and some would claim you need a license for your pet fish, but you don't need a license to have kids.

Know that when the terrorists strike again, your Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Des Moines will be protected.

Back home in the snow and ice

With this regimen of travel, I've become methodical in the way that I pack for each trip. It's not only clothes, but also chargers for laptop, phone, and iPod, along with meds and other of life's essentials. A few years ago, I made a quick trip to Denver. I stayed a no-frills hotel near the airport. On the way back to the hotel one night, I picked up my supper at a convenience store - yogurt, fruit, maybe some pretzels. It was a few miles back to the hotel. (The airport is way out of town on the prairie.) When I got back to my room, I discovered that I didn't have a spoon for the yogurt. The hotel didn't have a restaurant and I didn't feel like getting in the car and driving someplace. So, I ate the yogurt with my toothbrush. I now keep a spoon in my briefcase.

There was no snow on the ground in White Plains and only a smattering until I reached Hartford.

Will this guy please shut up?

I got a dose of bromidrosis during last night's ride home, putting to rest my concerns that Sirius wouldn't play Frank Zappa.

If anyone buys these cat-claw covers, please let us know about your experiences putting them on your cat. It's got to be close to giving a cat a bath or a pill.

Dessication Row

The hotel where I stay is nice enough, but is showing signs of wear. The sign atop the building, for example, says, Crow e Plaza Hotel. Not all of the buttons in the elevators light up. The carpet is worn on high-traffic corners. The heating system is pretty much on or off and the air is as dry as the Gobi.

But, they do offer wireless Internet access, free if you're a member of the frequent stayer program. The staff is courteous. I don't know about the restaurant; I've not eaten there. I pick up my meals at the Whole Foods restaurant a block away and dine in my room, watching the mediocre local New York news. You know that the media capital of the world is in trouble when the Fox station offers the best news programming.

Yesterday's meetings were interesting. One of the engineers was presenting information about our new product to the people who would be installing and configuring the software at the customers' sites. Instead of using PowerPoint, the engineer used the documents that I wrote. Pretty cool, I thought, until we discovered a few minor mistakes in the document, things that you might not notice until you put it up on the big screen. So, today, I have to update the docs and deliver them anew.

Looking for an exotic vacation this winter? How about a bus tour of storm-ravaged New Orleans, courtesy of Gray Line New Orleans.

From "The More I Meet People, The More I Like My Dog" department, we learn that nursing home residents with rather spend time with a visiting dog than with each other.

Tunes from the sky

Another year, another trip to White Plains. Yesterday's drive started in moderate snow and faded to light rain across Connecticut. I left behind a half foot of snow; there's almost none on the ground here.

To make the three-hour trip a bit more pleasurable, I decided to get satellite radio. I chose Sirius, not because of Howard Stern, but because Sirius has the CBC and world news radio than does XM. One channel offers English-language broadcasts from national radio stations around the world, including countries such as Slovakia, China, Sweden, Ireland, and other locations.

The music selections are also pretty good. I've yet to hear any Frank Zappa or Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, but they do have a good selection of surf music on their 60s channel. Yesterday, I listened to Jackson Browne's "The Load Out/Stay." That was (and perhaps still is) a favorite when, at the end of a trade show, we'd strike the set and get the equipment onto the trucks, heading back home or perhaps to another show.

Of course, Sirius isn 't meant to replace my iPod or stop my drift into iPod oblivion.

I'm not looking for a new job and, even if I was, it wouldn't be for a job as a cartoon artist. Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, is helping another cartoonist find an artist to work on a syndicated strip. BTW, Scott Adams was one of the first, if not the first, to put an email address on the comic strip. This was in the early 90s, '92 or '93, perhaps.

If you're interested, you might want to practice here. You can see how well you draw and also learn what you draw says about you.

Of course, if your drawings reveal that you need psychiatric help, there's one place you probably don't want to go. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a group founded by the Church of Scientology, has opened the 'Industry of Death' Museum, an exhibit on the horrors brought about by the psychiatric profession.

A Tuesday that is like a Monday, mostly

Lily was scheduled to start at her new school today, but the weather had other plans for her today. We have four inches of heavy wet snow on the ground here. The forecast calls for more.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't say, "I work hard, but this isn't hard work."

The latest security hole identified in Windows is particularly nasty. (More info here.) It has the potential to infect a system just by viewing an otherwise innocent-looking image (in the Windows Metafile, .wmf, format). At this writing, even systems with up-to-date anti-virus software and fully patched systems are vulnerable. What to do? Well, it's a good idea to practice safe surfing for a while, staying away from non-mainstream web sites. Using another browser is good, too. Firefox users can be hit, but only if they accept the download of the infected file. For some folks, using another operating system is a good choice - Mac OS, for example. Damn Small Linux (DSL) is about 50MB and can run from a USB drive without affecting your Windows installation.

Zippy didn't say it, but someone had to: "BEEB WIN BELLS TELLY DING-DONG"

Niece Lori moved to California this past year and loves it. Californians don't need these, but one of these might come in handy.

I've known cats all of my life. They can be affectionate and funny, but my sense of urgency has never translated into any action on the cat's part.

The twoth of the new year

A friend of a friend is the mother of a junior high school girl. The mother wouldn't allow the daughter to go to a particular dance. "You're, you're," sputtered the daugher. "You're so Amish."

It was odd not to have any college footballs games on TV yesterday. Time was, New Year's Day was dominated by the four major bowl games - Cotton, Sugar, Rose, and Orange, all without corporate sponsors. Today we have the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and Nokia Sugar Bowl.

Yesterday we went to visit my father, who's doing remarkably well. Adam visited with him last week and recorded several hours of story-telling as my father recounted his times riding the rails during the Depression.

After our visit, Sandra and I drove in to the camp. The road was icy and covered with three inches of fresh snow, but the Subaru walked up the hill as nicely as you please. Everything at the camp was in good order, inside and out. Coming down the camp road was, um, interesting. We slid down half the hill, gliding gently out into the roadway below.

We arrived home in time to see Doug Flutie's drop-kick, the first in pro football since 1941.

Today's automated search for a technical documentation job brought a listing for a Emercency Room Director.

So, one of them says, "Let's paint a baseball 20,000 times." And, the other one says, "Good idea."

It was sad to learn that Dave Barry has permanently given up his weekly column. He was on sabbatical for 2005. He will, however, continue write occasional pieces such as his year in review and blog, which leads us to such essential knowledge as Roto-Rooter's Top Five Drainpipe Recoveries of 2005.

Click and Clack give advice about replacing your headlight fluid (second letter).

Dwell on the past and you'll lose an eye; forget the past and you'll lose both eyes

We met our project deadline at work. I added my final two documents to the build at 11:15, 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Relieved and congratulatory emails richocheted around the group for the rest of the afternoon. We also learned that the sales group closed another large account, giving us additional work for the coming year. We made it. We can use the long weekend to breathe and then get going again.

My manager let us out early. So, Sandra and I went to visit with Adam, Jennie, and Lily. We had our first visit to their new house, a log cabin on eight acres in one of the hill towns just a bit further west. It's a nifty place, with both warmth and openess. Lily will start at her new school on Tuesday; the family will move a few weeks later. After the visit, we went to one of Lily's favorite restaurants, a Mongolian barbeque place in Hadley. Although there were no Mongolians to be seen, we dined well and had lots of good talk and laughter.

Today we hope to gather up some of Mike and Lynn's kids to go to the latest Harry Potter movie.

Snow is in the forecast for this evening, making travel even more treacherous. Tonight is amateur night, a time when lots of otherwise well-behaved people get drunk. The serious drunks are apt to take the night off, preferring to show their stuff when everyone least expects it, like some Tuesday morning in March. Anyway, the serious drunks have known for a long time that there's no cure for a hangover; here's the science. If you want to avoid a hangover, don't take that first drink.

In case you were wondering, Hiatchi claims that The Hard Drive is the New Bling.

It's nice of people to share their dreams with us. This guy, for example, wanted to set the record for the longest ear hair. And, this guy implanted an RFID chip in himself.

[The title for this entry comes from an Russian proverb, quoted by Solzhenitsyn at the start of The Gulag Archipelago.]

As I've mentioned in the past, I don't typically make New Year's resolutions. If a good habit is worth starting, any day is fine. It was 20 years ago yesterday, I just remembered, when I had my last cigarette. Here are, nevertheless, some tips for setting goals, whether those goals are set tomorrow on New Year's Day or some Thursday in November or some Tuesday in March.

Stuff left in the toe of the Christmas stocking

We're putting in some long days this week as we head toward our project deadline of noon on Friday. There are times during the day when a nap would be helpful, but it's not to be. We'll just hope that the coffee supply holds up.

It's election season in Canada. A question that I'd never asked once, let alone frequently: "Is someone allowed to eat a ballot?" (Hint: No.)

And when we're through wondering what our neighbors to the north are doing for the future of civilization, we look across the pond and find that Sienna Miller is the most admired woman among teenaged British girls. Paris Hilton was #8 on the list. Paris Hilton. My theory is that Alistair Cook's bones weren't stolen, but that the spinning in his grave sent the bones too deep to be found.

Another holiday recipe - Creamy Spam Broccoli Casserole. Nice touch - skim milk and low-fat cheese to go with the Spam.

Finally, during flu season, never let anyone lick your keyboard.

I'm pretty sure that the pogo stick isn't ours

We're awakening to a quiet house, a light rain falling outside and fog rolling over the snow. Inside, there's a lot to pick up, clean up, and put away. There are several half-pies on the table and lots of leftovers in both refrigerators. And then there's the pogo stick, still in its box, "Lots of good healthy fun and exercise, indoors and outdoors." And, as the fog lifts, I can see two snowboards in the back yard.

It was a great party and everyone contributed. Sandra did most of the planning and lots of the cooking. People helped us fill the dishes before the meal and wash the dishes afterward. (Marley did his party, pre-washing many of the serving dishes and pans.)

I've kept people posted about our lives through this journal. Niece Lori asked, "So, who is Blaugustine?" I explained that Liz and I had worked together for several years at a previous company and that we now kept in touch via email and blogs. Juliet's health concerns became part of the dinner conversations.

While I was in our office, showing Michael and Joe how to put music files on their MP3 players, our granddaughters and Jennie's sister, Julie, were playing hide-and-go-seek around the house.

Folks left a bit after six. We fed 35 people. We'd parked our cars at the drug store parking lot about a quarter mile away, giving us more room in our driveway. Sandra, Marley, and I walked down to get the cars, enjoying the cool and quiet night.

Today we'll visit my father, bringing him a couple of meals of leftovers. We bought him a pair of Yaktrax so that he can walk across the ice more easily to get to his wood pile.

Bark us all bow-wows of folly

We went to Mike and Lynn's for a bit of Christmas Eve gift-giving and a dinner of Chinese food (nothing like this on the menu, though). Before the meal, we (Sandra and her parents and yours truly) drove around to see the Christmas lights. Some families have done put up glorious displays. Several years ago, we spent Christmas at Prince Edward Island. There the lights on the houses were even more hopeful because the houses are so far apart, the only bits of color and light in a dark night.

As Curly said, I have a cold and I don't smell so good. Soon the house will be filled with the smells of beef and turkey and veggies and pies and stuff(ing). People will arrive around noon and we expect to eat at 2:00. The weather is nice, so the kids can play in the yard, using their new sleds on the crusty snow.

Our kitchen is in the middle of our house. Even though I'll spend most of my time cooking, everyone has to pass through the kitchen on their way to anywhere else, so I'll get to see everyone and talk with most.

This is a needed time for a break from work. We have a very big deal deadline at noon on Friday. (If we don't deliver, the company doesn't get paid.) I have a rule that I can give one 70-hour week in each release. With Christmas weekend, I'll have long days, but I'll have a chance to recuperate. It means that I get to work my 40 hours in three days, instead of five.

We received lots of nice Christmas cards and newsletters. We're going to write back; at least we want to. The mailings may not get out until Groundhog's Day, though. As a friend observes - Don't be sorry. Change.

My Blackberry arrived and I've had a chance to play with a bit. Lots of features that I'm sure will be fun to play with while observing the posted speed limits on our interstate highways. The biggest deal about the Blackberry, I think, came when I was placing the order. I was trying to decide between a one-year and two-year contract. There was a significant savings in placing a two-year order, but I was hesitant because I wasn't sure if my job would be around in two years. "Don't worry," said our office administrator, confidently. I placed a two-year order.

The rest of the lyrics for Deck Us All With Boston Charlie/Bark Us All Bow-Wows of Folly are here.

In the time-honored tradition ...

The Red Sox let another of their best players get away, to the Yankees no less. There's no question that Johnny Damon is getting a lot of money from New York, more than $50M over four years. (Although he'll have to cut his hair and beard to get it.) The Red Sox could afford it and they need a high-energy guy like Damon to spark the team. I didn't mind losing Wade Boggs or Roger Clemens to the Yankees because they were arrogant and self-centered ballplayers. Damon, we'll miss. A lot.

Nothing says that you're celebrating Jesus' birth like:

• iPod boxer shorts
• Coyote fur hat
• Bacon-cooking alarm clock

And, of course, interesting opportunities keep showing up in my automated searches for technical documentation jobs:

• Looking for Cosmetolgist or Barber for a fun, relaxed sports enviorment [sic]
  
• CAREER BELLS RING, ARE YOU LISTENING? GM/CHEF OPENINGS NOW! (a sing-along)

The four candidates seeking the Canadian prime minister's post had a debate in French in Vancouver last week. They'll have a debate in English in Québec.

With the amount that I'm traveling for work, I'll be getting a Blackberry. The folks who make the Blackberry, Research in Motion (RIM), have been in a nasty legal dispute with NTP regarding patents that may or may not have been infringed. It's doubtful that RIM would let the Blackberries go dark; there are too many users and there is too much money involved. But, then, the Red Sox did let Johnny Damon get away.

Dice - Position 237

My automated job searches for a technical documentation position turned up this one: Dice - Position 237: "Heliarc Welder - local candidates need only apply". It's a job that my father could easily do, but he enjoys his retirement too much.

Canadian Cottage Holidays - Cottage rental and resort listings across Canada

Canadian Cottage Holidays - Cottage rental and resort listings across Canada: "from the hot sand dunes of Prince Edward Island..."

PEI, the new Malibu.

Messages as we find them

Seeing my mother's handwriting and reading her affirmations is just like hearing her voice. And she loved Papermate pens with the blue ink.

Collateral damage in a field of white

We picked up better than a foot of snow on Friday, the bulk of it coming in just a few hours. I worked from home and learned via email that the office was closed by mid-afternoon. The snow was light and the snowblower moved it away easily until the end. We cover the snowblower with a tarp during the off-hours. When it's time to start the cleanup, I remove the tarp and set it aside on top of the snow on the lawn. As I was returning the snowblower to its place, my glasses were covered with snow and, well, the snowblower inhaled the tarp, thick blue plastic wrapped around the auger. Yesterday morning, I spent nearly an hour cutting away the tarp, leaving a ground cover of blue confetti.

A couple of weeks ago, my father was getting his Jeep ready for the season. It started, but sounded a bit rough. He removed the air filter and found that it was filled with acorns.

Can you hear me now? Woof.

Gmail, Google's mail service, has a new feature called Web Clips. It presents links to news stories and, occasionally, advertisements. Gmail has a very good junk mail filter and puts all suspected junk mail into a Spam folder. When I go to clean out that folder, I also get a link for Spam recipes, such as Gingered Spam Salad.

The pace of work is picking up. We have a major project due on the 30th, with a contract payment contingent on product delivery. People have been even-tempered, a nice turn. I have had a couple of engineers provide helpful reviews of the documents I'm writing. In turn, I have a few cycle to help another team. I'll go White Plains for a couple of days to determine how best I can help with the other project.

We've started planning our family Christmas dinner. We'd originally counted 34 people, but several won't be able to join us. We have our menu planned. We're fortunate that Christmas comes on a Sunday, giving us an extra day for preparation. But, we're most fortunate that we have a family that wants to join us for the holiday. We have many blessings.

Goodle Good News - Funny Stuff - David McCandless

Goodle. Good news doesn't come easily; someone has to make it happen.

Well, there goes the neighborhood

A few cubicles opened up near my manager, so my co-workers and I moved recently. I did my best to clean my old cube before I moved and expect that the former tenant did the same. That said, there was an empty "Break The Curse" cookie package along with clear evidence that mice had dined well.

This new area is noisier than my previous location, all the more reason to crank up the tunes. I record broadcasts from radio stations over the Internet and then listen to them on my own schedule. Lately there have been a lot of tributes to the guitar great, Link Wray, who died last month.

You'd think that New York would have world-class TV news. It is, after all, the largest city in the country, the media capital, and the home of newspapers such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Nope. The TV news, at least what I've seen of the morning and evening offerings, isn't much better than the hyperventilated happy talk that we get locally. Heck, the small market stations, such as Manchester NH or Springfield MA, do just as well. And, with the local stations, you stand a chance of seeing clips from high school football games.

Next week we're having a holiday party at work. (Oh, bliss.) We were asked to bring foods from our ethnic traditions. I persuaded my boss that it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Finnish cuisine to a civilized gathering. I remember avoiding the pickled herring and baked turnip, but that's just the beginning. This article, for example, offers such gastronomic bombshells as fish aspic and lamprey. A cousin has had a business exporting dried reindeer meat, the perfect appetizer for a Christmas gathering. "Here, friends, have some Rudolph."

Happy 92nd Birthday, Huck.

Human Edge Software - First Class Overview

Human Edge Software - First Class Overview: "
First Class is synonymous with timetabling excellence."

...in case you were wondering.

Ice and snow and away we go

The weather forecast is calling for a stormy week, with wind and rain on Tuesday, possibly mixing with ice or snow, and then more precipitation that could give us snow cover by Thanksgiving. Today I'll bring the snow blower from behind the back shed and get it ready, just in case.

The ponds and sheltered portions of the lakes have a skim coat of ice. Yesterday we talked with someone who works at Mt. Wachusett, the ski area, not the college, She said that there was a chance that the mountain would be open for skiing this week. They've been making snow for a few days, covering several trails.

Sandra's parents returned from PEI on Friday and are settling for winter in Holden. It's nice to have them around. They're good company and good housemates.

It will be nice not to travel this week. I've gone to White Plains for five of the eight weeks in my new job, enough for me to know my way around the supermarkets, parking lots, and highways. The hotels that we use a typical business hotels, nicer than a Motel 6, but not a Trump Tower. High-speed Internet access is becoming standard, like air conditioning. With IBM nearby, White Plains is something of a technology center, but that doesn't stop politicians from making silly proposals. Most of the time, I buy my supper at Whole Foods, a natural food store, and go back to my room. One night I went out to dinner with some of the systems engineers who travel something like 40 weeks a year. They've been on the road too long and live at a pace that's too much for me.

My automated searches for technical documentation jobs are still finding some gems: Sensory Science Research Associate. "The successful candidate will set up and run sensory panels used to evaluate edible oils, food and beverages....Our Client develops, manufactures and sells naturally produced products from microalgae and fungi."

I've dressed pretty much the same way since high school - button-down shirts, slacks, loafers, ooccasionally a pocket protector. Most of my co-workers dress comparably, with a just a few folks in jeans and t-shirts. The IT industry, as rule, however, is pretty badly dressed. At Digital, one of the engineers wore red, flannel pajamas to work. (I don't think that they were the kind with the feet and the drop seat.)

As you prepare for Christmas, don't forget your USB-powered Christmas tree. (Google translation of the page is here.)

They shall not grow old

They shall not grow old: "They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. "

Thank a veteran today, if only in your remembrances.

Like a dog circling before it lies down, we're getting ready for winter. The outdoor furniture is put away. The storm windows are in place. The little heater that keeps the birdbath ice-free is plugged in. Sandra's parents will be returning from PEI next week. John Gardner talked about locking time, that time in November when things start to freeze up in New England. It's been mild this fall, so things are running a week to 10 days late. The big maple next to our house usally drops its leaves by Halloween; it's just now shedding the last. It was 25 this morning, so we're still moving toward winter.

Grandson Joe broke his arm Wednesday night. In a pig pile with his cousins, his arm went south while he went north. We saw him briefly last night and he was comfortable, able to give that great Joe smile.

Things are returning to normal in Ottawa. Mysterious radio signals were causing automatic garage doors to misbehave. The Canadians were blaming the American embassy. Someone could make a nice living selling tin-foil hats in the capital.

In today's almost-a-good-idea department: what could let drivers pay even less attention to the road ahead? A chance to watch traffic videos on their cell phones.

The other night, we had high winds which seem to have unsettled Marley. He was barking often through the night. It may be time to order an Anxiety Wrap for him. He's too big for a hoodie bed.

SI.com - MLB - Phils' Urbina arrested on attempted murder charges - Tuesday November 8, 2005 11:23AM

SI.com - MLB - Phils' Urbina arrested on attempted murder charges - Tuesday November 8, 2005 11:23AM: According to published reports, last month, Ugueth Urbina and a group of men allegedly wielded machetes at several employees at his family's ranch, and poured gasoline on them in an attempt to set them on fire. Urbina is a former Red Sox reliever. Urbina's lawyer said, "This of course can in some way hurt his career as a professional ballplayer..."

Notes from an area

A couple of times each year, I return to my college for some alumni work. This year, there was a mix-up and the stuff that I was to do didn't happen. Instead, I spent a couple of hours on a college campus, decades after I belong here. It's hard to get a sense of the mood on campus in just a couple of hours. The students seemed earnest, perhaps a bit too much so for a Saturday evening. Upstairs in the campus center, a band was rehearsing, playing old songs such as Piece of My Heart, Dixie Chicken, and Life During Wartime. They weren't very good. The rhythm section was ok, but the singers, one male and one female, each needed at least another half octave of range.

A sign on the southbound side of I-684:

Next Area
13 Miles

The next time that you fail to deliver on expectations at work, you can follow the example of Patrick Byrne, president of Overstock.com. "Q3 was rough. My bad."

The Red Sox will probably recover from the loss of GM Theo Epstein, but not quickly. With so many key players eligible for free agency and Manny being Manny, it'll be a challenge to put a contending team on the field next year. It was dumb to let him get away.

Yesterday on NPR's Morning Edition, Lynn Neary reported on an illustrated edition of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. The samples that I've seen on the NPR site are cute, but don't add to my appreciation of the elegant little original.

Happy 1st birthday, Cassandra.

Nice mask

We're gettting a nice stretch of Indian Summer with blue skies and mild breezes. On Saturday the eastern part of the state picked up as much as three inches of snow while we had none.

This will be a nice evening for trick-or-treaters. We don't get many. The neighborhood has just a few young kids. This year I only bought one (though large) bag of candy so we won't have a lot of leftovers. (We like 'em, but don't need 'em.)

I've long believed that the best way to deal with competitors is to send them new computers. Their productive will go into the tank and stay there for weeks as they get their new systems configured properly. Before my last trip to White Plains, I had to return one laptop that I'd borrowed and take another loaner with me on the trip. When I returned, my new laptop was ready. I'm still adding small programs and setting configurations. I expect that it will be Thanksgiving before I'm done.

I've added some new music to my weekly listening. WAMU, a public radio station in Washington, D.C., has a Sunday morning show called Stained Glass Bluegrass. The sound quality isn't great, sounding muddy like a cheap AM radio, but the music is fine.

Happy Birthday, Jane Pauley.

Test Day

Today is the last day of a week of network management training in White Plains. This afternoon, we'll have a two-hour test, 90 questions on the material we've covered. I've been reviewing my notes during breaks and am reasonably confident that I'll do ok.

Some folks in the class have spent most of their class times reading and writing email, surfing the web to plan their vacations, and shopping. They seem to know know their stuff, so who am I to judge?

The sky is clouding over and it looks like rain for the ride home. There was a frost last night in parts of north central Massachusetts, a late first frost this year. We still don't have much color in the trees, either. An odd season, this.

Happy 14th Birthday, Matt.