I've been a terribly negligent blogger the last couple of weeks, but in my defense it's been a busy time. So I thought I'd pass along a quick post o' updating for those who are interested.
Monique departed for Wyoming last Saturday. Why Wyoming? Because that's where the action is. To be specific, the action is the impending arrival of a new niece, and Monique and I are lending a hand by watching our already-here niece Zoe while my brother Mike and his wife Cathy took on the slightly more demanding task of actually having a baby. Monique got a headstart on me because I needed to stay around Wolverine Lake last week for our village council's budget work session.
Before Monique left I picked up a bag of oranges, four pounds of hot peppers, and a minikeg of Bell's Two-Hearted Ale to prepare dietetically for my bachelor week. Saturday morning I shipped Monique off to Wyoming, and then -- aside from work and village stuff -- I spent the rest of my week eating things with too many hot peppers, then cooling the fire with a tasty Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.
I had planned to finish prepping the pontoon boat for launch upon our return, but it rained nearly all week. So instead I watched nearly the entire 2nd season of "Archer" on the DVR. As you can see, it was a week filled with giant accomplishments.
Saturday morning I flew out to Wyoming to join everybody in the excitement of the new niece. Except ... there isn't a new niece yet. The due date has come and gone, but as of this evening, little Zoe is still a single sibling. We're just about out of May, so it looks like it'll be a June baby. Words like "induce" are being bandied about, so I suspect we'll have niece news to pass along soon.
And now ... well, I'm updating the blog and watching a Tigers game. (Thank you, Mike, for subscribing to the baseball Extra Innings package.) Yesterday we took a nice long drive over Casper Mountain and down a bumpy dirt road. I can only assume it was an attempt to shake the baby out of Cathy.
And that's about it from Wyoming. Mike and Cathy are out having dinner, taking advantage of what might be their final opportunity for a while to dine like adults. Monique is giving Zoe a bath. I'm typing.
We'll let you know when there's news. In the meantime, no news is no news.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Putting the "Doggin' Around" in Doggerel
It started the way these sort of Friday-afternoon doggerel threads usually do. An inciter who shall remain nameless noted a recent incident of the financial sector acting the way that ... well, sadly the way that we've come to expect the financial sector to act.
Except that in this case the screwing wasn't figurative.
Subject: indications that I am in the wrong line of work number 17
German insurer Munich Re held orgy for salesmen
By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin
One of the biggest insurance companies in the world held a party for salesmen where they were rewarded with the services of prostitutes. The gathering was held at a thermal baths in the Hungarian capital Budapest as a reward to particularly successful salesmen....
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
Even though they're both in sales,
Insurance men and hos, they differ:
Insurance men sell mainly hope
While hos typically deliver.
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
True Story from Detroit. More's the Pity.
I doubt this effort's scan and rhyme
But this seems like a darned good time
To tell 'bout Motown's recent case
When crooked postmen lost some face.
Here are the shocking lurid facts.
Millions for fleet repair contracts
Were swapped for nights with local strippers.
(These schlubs were quick to drop their zippers.)
Hookers galore with this disgrace.
How could these crooks keep up the pace?
Well, here's the detail that'll grab ya.
That dirty bribe came with Viagra.
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
We know your schedule's awful busy,
So we cheer your return to the world of poesy!
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
When time to dust off my skills of poesy
What better topic than lurid idiocy?
Except that in this case the screwing wasn't figurative.
Subject: indications that I am in the wrong line of work number 17
German insurer Munich Re held orgy for salesmen
By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin
One of the biggest insurance companies in the world held a party for salesmen where they were rewarded with the services of prostitutes. The gathering was held at a thermal baths in the Hungarian capital Budapest as a reward to particularly successful salesmen....
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
Even though they're both in sales,
Insurance men and hos, they differ:
Insurance men sell mainly hope
While hos typically deliver.
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
True Story from Detroit. More's the Pity.
I doubt this effort's scan and rhyme
But this seems like a darned good time
To tell 'bout Motown's recent case
When crooked postmen lost some face.
Here are the shocking lurid facts.
Millions for fleet repair contracts
Were swapped for nights with local strippers.
(These schlubs were quick to drop their zippers.)
Hookers galore with this disgrace.
How could these crooks keep up the pace?
Well, here's the detail that'll grab ya.
That dirty bribe came with Viagra.
--------- Reply from MC-D ----------
We know your schedule's awful busy,
So we cheer your return to the world of poesy!
------ Reply from Patioboater -------
When time to dust off my skills of poesy
What better topic than lurid idiocy?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Eleven things I'd like to say about the death of Osama Bin Laden
I was going to post a truly eloquent, well-thought-out post about the death of Osama Bin Laden and what it means. But it's late and I'm tired. So instead, here are eleven fairly random items:
1) I'm glad he's gone.
2) Yes, I really think he's dead.
3) I don't think the Pakistani government was keeping him under house arrest. But, yes, I think some members of the ISI may have had an inkling of his whereabouts. I doubt we'll ever know the truth of just how much Pakistan knew.
4) I don't particularly care one way or the other about the pictures.
5) Yes, I do think Barack Obama's changes in Afghanistan and counterterrorism policies led to his capture. And yes, I think we would have captured him much sooner if we had concentrated on Afghanistan and counterterrorism after 9/11 instead of choosing to invade Iraq.
6) I flipped around the various news channels late Sunday night to try to find out more, and there was a lot of genuine reporting going on for the first hour or two after the announcement. In addition to channels with news, I also turned on Fox "News" three times. This is what I saw on those three occasions:
--Former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card trying to explain how George W. Bush was really the guy responsible for this.
--Some guy in the crowd in front of the White House waving a Bush/Cheney sign.
--Geraldo Rivera at what appeared to be a frat party, with some very drunk college students.
7) No, I did not make up any of the items in number six. More's the pity.
8) I don't intend to follow much more that the blogosphere has to say on the topic. It's pretty clear that the silly season has started up again already.
9) I don't think this is the end of the "War on Terror" but maybe it's the beginning of the end. I don't think terrorism will ever go away altogether. It never has. But I think that between this and the successful protest-driven regime changes in the Middle East this Spring, we might just see a long, steady decline in Middle Eastern terrorism. That would be a welcome development for the whole world.
10) None of those guys on Navy Seal Team Six on Sunday ever have to buy a drink if I'm in the bar.
11) I was only going to list ten items, but I wanted to use the phrase "Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes." So here it is. I like it. It may not be a mature, reasoned response, but it makes me happy.
1) I'm glad he's gone.
2) Yes, I really think he's dead.
3) I don't think the Pakistani government was keeping him under house arrest. But, yes, I think some members of the ISI may have had an inkling of his whereabouts. I doubt we'll ever know the truth of just how much Pakistan knew.
4) I don't particularly care one way or the other about the pictures.
5) Yes, I do think Barack Obama's changes in Afghanistan and counterterrorism policies led to his capture. And yes, I think we would have captured him much sooner if we had concentrated on Afghanistan and counterterrorism after 9/11 instead of choosing to invade Iraq.
6) I flipped around the various news channels late Sunday night to try to find out more, and there was a lot of genuine reporting going on for the first hour or two after the announcement. In addition to channels with news, I also turned on Fox "News" three times. This is what I saw on those three occasions:
--Former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card trying to explain how George W. Bush was really the guy responsible for this.
--Some guy in the crowd in front of the White House waving a Bush/Cheney sign.
--Geraldo Rivera at what appeared to be a frat party, with some very drunk college students.
7) No, I did not make up any of the items in number six. More's the pity.
8) I don't intend to follow much more that the blogosphere has to say on the topic. It's pretty clear that the silly season has started up again already.
9) I don't think this is the end of the "War on Terror" but maybe it's the beginning of the end. I don't think terrorism will ever go away altogether. It never has. But I think that between this and the successful protest-driven regime changes in the Middle East this Spring, we might just see a long, steady decline in Middle Eastern terrorism. That would be a welcome development for the whole world.
10) None of those guys on Navy Seal Team Six on Sunday ever have to buy a drink if I'm in the bar.
11) I was only going to list ten items, but I wanted to use the phrase "Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes." So here it is. I like it. It may not be a mature, reasoned response, but it makes me happy.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Peru's Extremely Depressing National Anthem
When I stepped out of the shower this morning, I happened to catch the very end of a radio story that said Peru was thinking about changing its national anthem because it's too depressing.
I didn't happen to catch any of the depressing lyrics, so that provided a morning's worth of amusement for Monique and I as we tried to imagine the lyrics of Peru's very depressing national anthem. I imagine something like this:
We Are Peru
O, we are Peru.
We're not as good as you.,
Or even Argentiiiiina!
We all smell like glue,
And guano it is true,
And our national dish is raw fish
Pickled in lemon juice. Eeeew!
Brazil has lots of babes,
And Chile makes great wine,
But all we have are spitting llamas.
(And they're not very nice. Ugh!)
Our land is mostly high desert,
Without much oxygen,
And many of our bauxite mines
Are all mined out. Sigh.
O, we are Peru.
We're not as good as you.
And we're too depressed
To sing this anthem any more.
P.S. Okay, so I got curious enough to go look up the actual lyrics on Wikipedia. Good heavens, my version is full of rose petals and fluffy puppies by comparison:
For a long time the oppressed Peruvian
the ominous chain he dragged
Condemned to a cruel servitude
for a long time, for a long time
for a long time he quietly whimpered...
I didn't happen to catch any of the depressing lyrics, so that provided a morning's worth of amusement for Monique and I as we tried to imagine the lyrics of Peru's very depressing national anthem. I imagine something like this:
We Are Peru
O, we are Peru.
We're not as good as you.,
Or even Argentiiiiina!
We all smell like glue,
And guano it is true,
And our national dish is raw fish
Pickled in lemon juice. Eeeew!
Brazil has lots of babes,
And Chile makes great wine,
But all we have are spitting llamas.
(And they're not very nice. Ugh!)
Our land is mostly high desert,
Without much oxygen,
And many of our bauxite mines
Are all mined out. Sigh.
O, we are Peru.
We're not as good as you.
And we're too depressed
To sing this anthem any more.
P.S. Okay, so I got curious enough to go look up the actual lyrics on Wikipedia. Good heavens, my version is full of rose petals and fluffy puppies by comparison:
For a long time the oppressed Peruvian
the ominous chain he dragged
Condemned to a cruel servitude
for a long time, for a long time
for a long time he quietly whimpered...
Monday, April 25, 2011
Truly, the Greatest Story Ever Told
I was setting up a few indexing system rules this afternoon, and testing the setup by randomly linking a test document titled "The Military Establishment" to random indexing terms of different types. The result is below.
The Military Establishment
IDX Adrian, Michigan (Geo)
IDX The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Novel) (Work Hub)
IDX Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 (Statutes)
IDX Apollo 13 (Spacecraft) (Named Things)
IDX Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (Court Cases)
IDX Edsel (Automobile) (Products)
IDX Great Depression, 1929-1934 (Events)
IDX Portia (The Merchant of Venice) (Fictional character) (Named Characters)
IDX United Nations (Organization Hub)
IDX United States. Department of Defense (Organization Hub)
IDX Washington, George (American president) (Person Hub)
The mind boggles at the world-spanning tale told herein!
The Military Establishment
IDX Adrian, Michigan (Geo)
IDX The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Novel) (Work Hub)
IDX Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 (Statutes)
IDX Apollo 13 (Spacecraft) (Named Things)
IDX Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (Court Cases)
IDX Edsel (Automobile) (Products)
IDX Great Depression, 1929-1934 (Events)
IDX Portia (The Merchant of Venice) (Fictional character) (Named Characters)
IDX United Nations (Organization Hub)
IDX United States. Department of Defense (Organization Hub)
IDX Washington, George (American president) (Person Hub)
The mind boggles at the world-spanning tale told herein!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Recipe for Intellectual Whiplash
Recipe for intellectual whiplash:
Start with four meetings on widely disparate topics:
--Atlas validation of person-hub UIDs for Biography in Context portals
--Mercury load data for machine-aided indexing of Literature Criticism Online and Something About the Author
--Taxonomy categorization and learning objectives for MindTap
--Keyword supplements for online indexing of 21st Century Novels
Add one pinch of URL spot-checking for Opposing Viewpoints in Context relevance ranking
Write a long e-mail on taxonomy tagging process for videos and transcripts migrating from an old media system to a new server.
Mix vigorously for an afternoon.
Top with a frisson of contracts, invoices, and pre-publishing product capitalization timecards.
... and then, yeah, you'll see why my poor little brain has all it can do to read the paper and watch a baseball game by the time I get home and eat dinner.
Start with four meetings on widely disparate topics:
--Atlas validation of person-hub UIDs for Biography in Context portals
--Mercury load data for machine-aided indexing of Literature Criticism Online and Something About the Author
--Taxonomy categorization and learning objectives for MindTap
--Keyword supplements for online indexing of 21st Century Novels
Add one pinch of URL spot-checking for Opposing Viewpoints in Context relevance ranking
Write a long e-mail on taxonomy tagging process for videos and transcripts migrating from an old media system to a new server.
Mix vigorously for an afternoon.
Top with a frisson of contracts, invoices, and pre-publishing product capitalization timecards.
... and then, yeah, you'll see why my poor little brain has all it can do to read the paper and watch a baseball game by the time I get home and eat dinner.
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