After being on vacation all last week, and then coming home to a very full work week (the one that ended on Friday), WhatsHerName and I really needed a vacation-like fun-time event. Last night fit the bill. We had a couple of couples over, with their kids, and sat on the back deck and barbecued chicken and drank some beers. Oh, the kids didn't drink the beers. This, my friends, was just what the doctor ordered.
What is it about hanging out in a purposefully leisurely fashion with good friends that seems to make all the stoopid stuff in your life go away, at least for a little while? Is it the fact that you can get totally lost from the irritations of your day-to-day existence when you have people over that are not part of the drudgery of the every-day toil? Is it because you have the chance to focus on others, and not the fact that your grass really needs cutting, or some similar detrius?
No.
It's the beer. I think.
This is not the behavior of mature adults.
What is it about hanging out in a purposefully leisurely fashion with good friends that seems to make all the stoopid stuff in your life go away, at least for a little while? Is it the fact that you can get totally lost from the irritations of your day-to-day existence when you have people over that are not part of the drudgery of the every-day toil? Is it because you have the chance to focus on others, and not the fact that your grass really needs cutting, or some similar detrius?
No.
It's the beer. I think.
This is not the behavior of mature adults.
Here's a link to a BBC article.
I remember reading the "Gulag Archipelago" in 8th grade, what for me seems like a 100 years ago, but is really only 33.
That book had a ridiculously powerful effect on me. It made me aware of the rights that we have in America that nobody had in the Soviet Union, the rights that keep us in control of our government rather than the other way around.
Reading this book made me anxious to vote.
Vote this November. Please. Vote, for somebody.
I remember reading the "Gulag Archipelago" in 8th grade, what for me seems like a 100 years ago, but is really only 33.
That book had a ridiculously powerful effect on me. It made me aware of the rights that we have in America that nobody had in the Soviet Union, the rights that keep us in control of our government rather than the other way around.
Reading this book made me anxious to vote.
Vote this November. Please. Vote, for somebody.
When your translation software fails, and you speak Chinese, this is what gets printed on the english version of your sign.
Priceless.
Came across this on Boing Boing. Bleep Labs is an outfit that makes the Thingamagoop and ThingamaKIT, which are essentially light controlled synthesizers. $100 and $65 respectively.
These things are very cool. I want -- no I NEED -- one of these things around the house, just to drive everyone crazy.
Worth a look.
Found, or rather birthed, in China.
OK. This is funnier than it should be. Worth the watch.
It's almost 2100, and Sam and I are watching King Kong on TNT. Must be a director's cut, because there are some scenes that we've never seen before. Nice to watch a movie that you've seen, and to be surprised because of the new adds.
Today was a rampage, but a good one regardless. This is the stuff you do as a parent and homeowner that make Saturdays productive.
Kyle had a championship swim meet this morning/afternoon. He finished second in his heat for 50m backstroke, and first in his heat for 50m crawl. We were very proud of him. The meet was HOT -- lots of people under tents in a field next to the pool, and not enough wind. Everyone is sunburned.
After we got home, I got a hankerin' to drop a couple of trees on the property that were dead and were potential fallers. Had to sharpen the chain saw blade, and got to cuttin'. Always good when nobody gets hurt. Then, I pruned some suckers that were coming up on the holly trees, and watered some bushes that were droopy.
After that, I was filthy, and thought, "An outdoor shower would be killer." So, I made one. $15 in parts and the use of some old wood I had laying around, and I'm showerin' outside like it's cool. I've been needing this for a long time. We get out of the kayaks, and you ALWAYS need a shower. I'll make it a more permanent structure next, with a little more privacy.
After getting cleaned up, I made Sam and me some dinner, started some wash, and turned on the movie.
Oh, Michelle, Savannah, and Kyle went to Busch Gardens to see Rick Springfield in concert. I had no problem NOT making that one . . .
All in all, a great day, because lots of good things happened. I'd settle for above average, so good is great!
Today was a rampage, but a good one regardless. This is the stuff you do as a parent and homeowner that make Saturdays productive.
Kyle had a championship swim meet this morning/afternoon. He finished second in his heat for 50m backstroke, and first in his heat for 50m crawl. We were very proud of him. The meet was HOT -- lots of people under tents in a field next to the pool, and not enough wind. Everyone is sunburned.
After we got home, I got a hankerin' to drop a couple of trees on the property that were dead and were potential fallers. Had to sharpen the chain saw blade, and got to cuttin'. Always good when nobody gets hurt. Then, I pruned some suckers that were coming up on the holly trees, and watered some bushes that were droopy.
After that, I was filthy, and thought, "An outdoor shower would be killer." So, I made one. $15 in parts and the use of some old wood I had laying around, and I'm showerin' outside like it's cool. I've been needing this for a long time. We get out of the kayaks, and you ALWAYS need a shower. I'll make it a more permanent structure next, with a little more privacy.
After getting cleaned up, I made Sam and me some dinner, started some wash, and turned on the movie.
Oh, Michelle, Savannah, and Kyle went to Busch Gardens to see Rick Springfield in concert. I had no problem NOT making that one . . .
All in all, a great day, because lots of good things happened. I'd settle for above average, so good is great!
