I don't normally name objects. Sometimes possessions attain monikers due to certain characteristics i.e., Exploder = Explorer (Ford had a recall for a fuel issue and my Explorer being the big wheeled, short wheel base, death trap; the name just seems appropriate).
My bikes have mostly been known by their color or function: Red Bike, White Bike, Blue Bike, Road Bike, Mountain Bike, etc.
A friend and canoe building instructor once wrote several posts about how small boat names need to be earned in his classes; whats in name , and yet another name , pick a name any name and of course "the blue streak" (some of you may recognize my dog and living room)
Anyhow, my 4 year old road bike finally has a name: Broken Spoke.
The name is an old indian name meaning "one who breaks lots of spokes." This is it's second in less than 200 miles. The LBS is recommending I bring it in and have the rear drop out alignment checked. Couldn't hurt.
g
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Lack of Prior Planning...
...On Your Part, Does Not Constitute an Emergency on My Part.
At work, I was pulled off of a side track, of a side track, of a side track, twice today for things that absolutely had to be done that instant. This is normal. However where would these guys be if I didn't come in? I probably shouldn't have come in today for various reasons.
I'm essentially a department of one. No one else will pay attention long enough for me to even explain the file system I use.
How would they have gotten their pretty pictures for the proposal that was due today? Just because they've had the proposal for weeks now doesn't mean anything should be mentioned any earlier than the due date, does it?
Who would have talked them off of the ledge and advised against ordering a duplicate part just because they don't want to take the time to figure out the existing parts' code? Spending money solves everything, right?
Who would have contacted a service vendor and started the scheduling process for a job and transferred a pile of information between our customer and our vendor?
Where would they be?
hmmm
g
At work, I was pulled off of a side track, of a side track, of a side track, twice today for things that absolutely had to be done that instant. This is normal. However where would these guys be if I didn't come in? I probably shouldn't have come in today for various reasons.
I'm essentially a department of one. No one else will pay attention long enough for me to even explain the file system I use.
How would they have gotten their pretty pictures for the proposal that was due today? Just because they've had the proposal for weeks now doesn't mean anything should be mentioned any earlier than the due date, does it?
Who would have talked them off of the ledge and advised against ordering a duplicate part just because they don't want to take the time to figure out the existing parts' code? Spending money solves everything, right?
Who would have contacted a service vendor and started the scheduling process for a job and transferred a pile of information between our customer and our vendor?
Where would they be?
hmmm
g
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Eagle has Landed....
...In the throne.
WoooHooo, DaGirl pooped in the potty voluntarily!!!!
Last night she did her evening business in the potty and not in her diaper. She was so proud of herself she went back into her room and told Scrappy "pooped in potty, pooped in potty."
It was so freakin cute!
g
WoooHooo, DaGirl pooped in the potty voluntarily!!!!
Last night she did her evening business in the potty and not in her diaper. She was so proud of herself she went back into her room and told Scrappy "pooped in potty, pooped in potty."
It was so freakin cute!
g
Friday, April 10, 2009
Tolerance for Ignorance - Dwindling
Once upon a time I had no tolerance for ignorance. Over the last several years I've learned to change and have some compassion toward those who can't be bothered to pay attention to anything.
That compassion is dwindling rapidly.
Today, Tech 1 at work is frantically trying to find some cables and I overhear this. I ask him what project it's for and he gives me the answer I expected. I then ask him if he checked the boxes under the cart the project is sitting on....."uh, no".
Two weeks ago after I finished the rough assembly (I assemble all of the components onto the framework because these "people" can't be bothered to read a print and would call me over anyway), I went over the basics with the Tech 2 and made a point of telling him that when I ordered X, I ordered all the cables he wanted to operate X and they are in the boxes on the bottom cart the system was sitting on.
I ask Tech 1 "Did you look in the boxes on the cart below the system?"
Tech 1 - blank stare
I explain "I ordered everything Tech 2 wanted that was used in the 'previous' system".
Tech 1 scurries off.
I follow a few minutes later just to confirm my expectations.
They had it all along, not 5 feet from them, and managed to get themselves, a software person, and a network tech all worked up and searching for a red herring over nothing.
Like I said, my tolerance in dwindling.
g
That compassion is dwindling rapidly.
Today, Tech 1 at work is frantically trying to find some cables and I overhear this. I ask him what project it's for and he gives me the answer I expected. I then ask him if he checked the boxes under the cart the project is sitting on....."uh, no".
Two weeks ago after I finished the rough assembly (I assemble all of the components onto the framework because these "people" can't be bothered to read a print and would call me over anyway), I went over the basics with the Tech 2 and made a point of telling him that when I ordered X, I ordered all the cables he wanted to operate X and they are in the boxes on the bottom cart the system was sitting on.
I ask Tech 1 "Did you look in the boxes on the cart below the system?"
Tech 1 - blank stare
I explain "I ordered everything Tech 2 wanted that was used in the 'previous' system".
Tech 1 scurries off.
I follow a few minutes later just to confirm my expectations.
They had it all along, not 5 feet from them, and managed to get themselves, a software person, and a network tech all worked up and searching for a red herring over nothing.
Like I said, my tolerance in dwindling.
g
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
ER Visits
I am tired of hospitals.
Since January 2008 we (the 4 of us) have been customers at hospitals a total of 8 times!
The Rundown for posterity:
Jan 08 - DaMom is pregnant with the flu, she gets dehydrated and requires 3 bags of fluid.
Jun 08 - DaBoy is Born.
Jul 08 - DaMom has an emergency appendectomy.
Aug 08 - DaGirl tries to climb up the side of the highchair and it falls on her splitting her head open.
Sep 08 - DaBoy has a high fever and the pediatrician sends us to the ER.
Oct 08 - DaGoof cuts his fingers on the table saw.
Mar 09 - DaMom cuts her finger with the razor knife.
Apr 09 - DaBoy goes to the ER for a high fever.
This list does not take into account regular or emergency visits taken care of by the pediatrician's office. There were plenty more of these.
Astute readers will notice the void in emergency visits between October 08 and Mar 09. I believe this was because my father's long term stay in the hospital was acting as kryptonite against the forces that draw us into the ER.
The April 09 visit was last night and has us quite PO'd with our pediatrician. Late Sunday, DaBoy started with a fever of 103°F. Motrin knocked it down (100°F min) for a while but it spiked back up to 104°F by Monday afternoon. He was not a happy camper and wasn't comfortable in his own skin.
With a fever that high in a 9 month old no one is going to mess around so we call the pediatrician and get an appointment for 7:30pm. They check him out and can't find anything wrong. They give him more Motrin since he was due for his next dose anyway and send us to the ER claiming they can't do any lab work at this time of night.
Off we go to the only pediatric unit around which happens to be at the busiest ER in the area. We wait and wait and wait and wait and then finally see the triage nurse. By this time (2 hours) he's due for his next dose so they give it to him. We then go and wait some more. In a relatively short time we get called into the pediatric unit and wait some more. Finally we see the doctor who isn't willing to take blood for labs but will only take a urine sample. How do get pee on demand from a 9 month old? One word that makes men cringe that I shall not repeat here.
They rule out a UTI and send us home......WTF!!!
4 Hours in the ER, another hour at the pediatrician's office, $65 in co-pays and what did we get in return? One very pricey sippy cup and a popsicle he didn't eat!!!!
We got home at 12:30 this morning. DaBoy and DaGirl were both up at 3:00 looking for diapers and cuddles. I didn't get back to bed until 4:30.
g
Since January 2008 we (the 4 of us) have been customers at hospitals a total of 8 times!
The Rundown for posterity:
Jan 08 - DaMom is pregnant with the flu, she gets dehydrated and requires 3 bags of fluid.
Jun 08 - DaBoy is Born.
Jul 08 - DaMom has an emergency appendectomy.
Aug 08 - DaGirl tries to climb up the side of the highchair and it falls on her splitting her head open.
Sep 08 - DaBoy has a high fever and the pediatrician sends us to the ER.
Oct 08 - DaGoof cuts his fingers on the table saw.
Mar 09 - DaMom cuts her finger with the razor knife.
Apr 09 - DaBoy goes to the ER for a high fever.
This list does not take into account regular or emergency visits taken care of by the pediatrician's office. There were plenty more of these.
Astute readers will notice the void in emergency visits between October 08 and Mar 09. I believe this was because my father's long term stay in the hospital was acting as kryptonite against the forces that draw us into the ER.
The April 09 visit was last night and has us quite PO'd with our pediatrician. Late Sunday, DaBoy started with a fever of 103°F. Motrin knocked it down (100°F min) for a while but it spiked back up to 104°F by Monday afternoon. He was not a happy camper and wasn't comfortable in his own skin.
With a fever that high in a 9 month old no one is going to mess around so we call the pediatrician and get an appointment for 7:30pm. They check him out and can't find anything wrong. They give him more Motrin since he was due for his next dose anyway and send us to the ER claiming they can't do any lab work at this time of night.
Off we go to the only pediatric unit around which happens to be at the busiest ER in the area. We wait and wait and wait and wait and then finally see the triage nurse. By this time (2 hours) he's due for his next dose so they give it to him. We then go and wait some more. In a relatively short time we get called into the pediatric unit and wait some more. Finally we see the doctor who isn't willing to take blood for labs but will only take a urine sample. How do get pee on demand from a 9 month old? One word that makes men cringe that I shall not repeat here.
They rule out a UTI and send us home......WTF!!!
4 Hours in the ER, another hour at the pediatrician's office, $65 in co-pays and what did we get in return? One very pricey sippy cup and a popsicle he didn't eat!!!!
We got home at 12:30 this morning. DaBoy and DaGirl were both up at 3:00 looking for diapers and cuddles. I didn't get back to bed until 4:30.
g
Monday, April 6, 2009
Barn Razing
We bought our house in 2001. On the property was a 12' x 20', dilapidated two story barn. I always had plans of rebuilding the barn but the original woodwork was almost to the point of no return and lack of funding prohibited any major work on it at the time.
This winter the roof finally gave way and started taking some of the floor with it.
It was now truly unsafe, especially when a 2 year old thinks it's a great place to play around.
So what do you do when a structure is too unsafe to systematically dismantle?
You hook an old pick up truck to it an pull!
But sometimes things don't go as planned. On the first pull, I ripped a hole clear through the middle of the barn but left the sides and roof intact. To think I was worried about them falling down on their own?
The second tug proved more dramatic but I forgot to get some pictures of it, oops! Once again, things went a little wrong. The floor dropped and I basically pulled it through the brickwork on the back of the barn.
Not bad for one day of work! I still have to clean out the junk inside the brickwork but that can wait for another day.
And a special shout out to C.B.! Thanks for your help!!!
And with any luck gangrene won't set into your foot.... ;-)
g
This winter the roof finally gave way and started taking some of the floor with it.
It was now truly unsafe, especially when a 2 year old thinks it's a great place to play around.So what do you do when a structure is too unsafe to systematically dismantle?You hook an old pick up truck to it an pull!
But sometimes things don't go as planned. On the first pull, I ripped a hole clear through the middle of the barn but left the sides and roof intact. To think I was worried about them falling down on their own?
The second tug proved more dramatic but I forgot to get some pictures of it, oops! Once again, things went a little wrong. The floor dropped and I basically pulled it through the brickwork on the back of the barn.
Not bad for one day of work! I still have to clean out the junk inside the brickwork but that can wait for another day.
And a special shout out to C.B.! Thanks for your help!!!
And with any luck gangrene won't set into your foot.... ;-)
g
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Flash
So we were at that fast food joint today with the playscape and DaGirl got a "little" something extra.
I took DaGirl to the restroom and while I was helping her wash her hands, a little boy came in by himself and went to the urinal. We turned around to dry our hands and this 5 or 6 year old faces us and says "Hi".
We both turn back to look at him and simultaneously say "Hi".
During the split second we're still looking at him he says "My name is Zack" and drops his pants to his knees, then slowly turns toward the urinal. I quickly point DaGirl back toward the drier before she giggles (she giggles at everything) at "Zack's" willie and zoom out the door.
All I could think of was my two year old (who has a thing for older boys anyway) was just given a peep show (a comedy really) by a very unabashed and ill equipped boy flasher.
g
I took DaGirl to the restroom and while I was helping her wash her hands, a little boy came in by himself and went to the urinal. We turned around to dry our hands and this 5 or 6 year old faces us and says "Hi".
We both turn back to look at him and simultaneously say "Hi".
During the split second we're still looking at him he says "My name is Zack" and drops his pants to his knees, then slowly turns toward the urinal. I quickly point DaGirl back toward the drier before she giggles (she giggles at everything) at "Zack's" willie and zoom out the door.
All I could think of was my two year old (who has a thing for older boys anyway) was just given a peep show (a comedy really) by a very unabashed and ill equipped boy flasher.
g
Friday, April 3, 2009
Slave Driver
It is nice to know that my wife cares about me, but man, she can be a demanding coach!
When I ride by bike to work, I call her when I get there to let her know I have arrived safely. I will call her regardless of whether I rode the whole way or did the Bike/Bus/Bike thing.
My best time for this commute, on the road bike, with traffic lights in my favor, no pedestrians in the cross walks, minimal traffic and in the summer after plenty of time in the saddle was 40 minutes for the 13.1 miles. Avg of ~19.5mph.
My typical time on the Old Ironsides, not pushing it, with traffic, pedestrians, stop lights, etc. is 50 minutes. Avg of ~15.7mph
I was able to get DaMom to agree to give me 1 hour before she started with the search party stuff.
Today was the first time this year I rode to work the entire way. I was on Old Ironsides and he wasn't all that happy, I was feeling the ride, and I got stuck at several lights and crosswalks. It took me 65 minutes to get there.
Like a vicious Drill Sargent she was on the phone at 60 minutes looking for me and told the Office Manager to have me call her as soon as I got in. As soon as I got to my desk I did just that and was told "I expect your ride to take 1 hour and you to call me in an hour, there are no excuses!"
When DaKids go to school and DaMom goes back to work I think she should become one of those fat camp personal trainers who don't accept excuses for anything!
g
When I ride by bike to work, I call her when I get there to let her know I have arrived safely. I will call her regardless of whether I rode the whole way or did the Bike/Bus/Bike thing.
My best time for this commute, on the road bike, with traffic lights in my favor, no pedestrians in the cross walks, minimal traffic and in the summer after plenty of time in the saddle was 40 minutes for the 13.1 miles. Avg of ~19.5mph.
My typical time on the Old Ironsides, not pushing it, with traffic, pedestrians, stop lights, etc. is 50 minutes. Avg of ~15.7mph
I was able to get DaMom to agree to give me 1 hour before she started with the search party stuff.
Today was the first time this year I rode to work the entire way. I was on Old Ironsides and he wasn't all that happy, I was feeling the ride, and I got stuck at several lights and crosswalks. It took me 65 minutes to get there.
Like a vicious Drill Sargent she was on the phone at 60 minutes looking for me and told the Office Manager to have me call her as soon as I got in. As soon as I got to my desk I did just that and was told "I expect your ride to take 1 hour and you to call me in an hour, there are no excuses!"
When DaKids go to school and DaMom goes back to work I think she should become one of those fat camp personal trainers who don't accept excuses for anything!
g
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