It Was Like The Difference Between Day and Another Day

I feel like I ought to write tonight. It's been awhile, I've gotten out of the habit, after doing so well for so long. It was a really interesting as far as weather went. The day started gray and rainy. It would rain a little bit, stop, start again. Sometimes light, sometimes downright torrential. At one point, I looked out, saw that the grill was completely dry, and then as I watched, big huge raindrops splatted and in less than a minute, it was soaked again.

But, by the time it was time for our Memorial Day grill, the weather turned. Suddenly, it was bright and sunny. Like an entirely different day. We thought for a second that the grill had run out of fuel but it had actually just blown out. We had burgers, steak, hotdogs. I asked Pandora to play stuff based on John Phillip Sousa, but of course, it also started playing John Williams, including Star Wars. Which Corey immediately gave the thumbs up.

Odds and Ends 27

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MASHABLE -- Will Google TV Be a Game-Changer in the Realm of Connected Devices?

-2-

ENGADGET -- HP data center fueled by hopes, dreams and... cow dung

-3-

SETH GODIN -- iPad killer app #2: fixing meetings

-4-

CROSSCUT -- After 26 years with KIRO, Gregg Hersholt signs off -- while I'm not really sure who Hersholt was, an interesting look at Seattle radio. (Most of my readers will know that I rarely listen to the radio and never AM, except when traversing the passes in snow.)

-5-

FAST COMPANY -- Redesigning the Bus Stop: Teague's Traffic 2.0 Makes Transit More Friendly - Seattle Transit, the next step

-6-

TV BARN -- About that so-called "billion-dollar" LOST franchise....

-7-

MASHABLE -- Create Playlists from Music Blogs with ExtensionFM - interesting. Wander across any site that has linked MP3s and this extension remembers them so you can play them whenever you want (Chrome Extension)

-8- VIDEO

Know those sci-fi movies where everyone is trading money for goods for everyone else, all without using cash? Here's where it starts.

Disjointed

"Heal Yourself" by Ruthie Foster was playing on his iPod, a new song that
sounded like it belonged in a different era. As he rolled to a stop, it
felt like he wasn't where he knew he was. The road was one he traveled
daily. He was a little earlier than usual, but there was nothing foreign
about his surroundings and yet today, it felt like it was. It was out
there. In his car, he was in a protected, warm bubble. But outside, it
was less than 50. And there was definitely a lack of color. Just bright
gray nothingness, with black tree-shaped outlines fading in and out of
the dense fog. A silver ring in the sky suggested that the sun was up, but
to look around, it wasn't day, it wasn't night. And as he continued to
wait his turn to proceed, he thought briefly of another place, and how a
morning like this probably meant slight humidity, bright sun and stifling
desert air, the kind that filled him with nostalgia and elation. He knew,
however, if he dwelled, his mind would work overtime to list all the
reasons the oasis wasn't real and probably never would be. And there was
no reason for that so he quickly shifted back to the present. Water
spritzed his car window, as if flicked by the hand of God, certainly not
enough to turn on the windshield wipers. Finally the intersection cleared
and it was time to move on.

Tick Tock

One year when when my dad went to Japan (which he did yearly as part of his Naval Reserve requirements), he came back with a really fascinating watch for me, all kinds of timers and alarms and stuff. Really advanced for its time and really way too much for the young child I was at the time. And all too quickly, the watch was re-appropriated by my dad for his own use.

Years later, I ended up with a really nice gold Timex analog quartz watch. I'm not exactly sure of its provenance, but I think it was my grandfather's. I think it was a peace offering for the appropriated watch, or maybe it was just the passing on of a legacy heirloom. It was the kind that when something broke, you paid to have it fixed. And over the years, boy did I. I don't know if I had the watch in high school, but I wore it constantly in college and for a number of years in my post-college life.

Odds and Ends 26

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SEATTLE TIMES -- Vulcan welds old with new in South Lake Union makeover

-2-

MASHABLE -- Facebook and Others Caught Sending User Data to Advertisers - you don't just have to watch out for the criminals. *sigh*

-3-

ENGADGET -- The fate of a generation of workers: Foxconn undercover fully translated (update: videos added)

-4-

ENGADGET -- Editorial: Thoughts on Foxconn

-5-

LIFEHACKER -- Check Your Local Library for Free Museum, Concert, and Event Tickets

-6-

CAR BODY DESIGN -- Mercedes-Benz Hexawheel Concept - an articulated, 6-wheeled monster. Cool.

-7-

CNN -- Has the iPhone lost its cool? - yes it has. I'm getting one. Mwuahahahaha.

-8- VIDEO

Robot that balances on a ball. No big deal? Gets cool when they start showing applications (like an omnidirectional wheelbarrow or a motorized platform that can move in any direction at the end)

Abrupt Ending

Darn it all. I forgot to write at all last night. And I was in the 40s for non-stop writing. Argh.

So, yeah... LOST ended its run last night. I think the most telling thing I learned that if I could do it all over again -- I would have had warm chocolate chip cookies instead of popcorn.

It's really weird, but I don't feel like talking about what I thought of the finale. In fact, I don't even feel like telling people what I think about anything. Of course, this is something I'm going to post anyhow, so maybe I'm hypocritical. Or just severely confused.

Yeah, it seems really weird. After the episode, I didn't even go on Facebook, and didn't even really go on today, except to briefly accept a friend request and to send an email to my small group. It's like I've lost interest in seeing what people think or telling people what I think. It just all feels inconsequential. It's like, ok, now what? It was a big deal and there were weeks where I felt like I simply passed times between episodes. And now it's all over and done with.

Life goes on.

Maybe it was the escapism, the mystery, I don't know. But now it's done. Dare I say maybe now there's an unfilled void? A unsatisfactory lack of closure? The knowledge that this universe, this world, is over and I still don't get it? Gee, look at that, maybe there's more to this than I realized.

But I guess I don't want there to be. So... changing gears. To what? The danged bookcase. So I thought I was all done. I don't know how many coats, but I finally finished the large pieces and I was ready to start building. Only as I brought in the pieces, it didn't feel like there was enough pieces. And then I realized, that's because there was more. The five pieces I had completed had started with some painting done from earlier, but these new three pieces hadn't been touched at all. Three more stinking 6 footlong pieces that needed to be painted on all six sides. Argh. And then also, I used up all the paint. So had to have Lori get another $40 gallon of paint. The good news is the pieces I brought in, Lori thinks they look really good against the wall color. So, maybe a few more weekends of painting and I'll be able to bring all those pieces in. Of course, the instructions are nowhere to be found. God Bless Ikea for posting all their instructions online. Granted, I couldn't open the file, but I believe that's an easy fix.

Today was a good day. After staying up late, I slept in, had to work hard to try to get there on time and almost made. I can't remember what prevented me, but it was only two minutes late. But then I forgot there was something I had to get done by 9, so I ran to get that done, only to find out that I now needed them done by 1 pm instead.

I can't remember where the morning went. I think there was a lot of catching up on email, a couple of meetings. Lunch, a nice walk outside, and then the 1 pm meeting, over by 1:05 (well, the meeting went on for another hour without me), a lot of work that afternoon and then a couple more good meetings with my teams and then another hour that passed very quickly.

Then home, did some chores to help around the house (call me strange, but it makes me feel productive) and then a nice dinner with the family, then helped Ben get ready for bed while Lori helped Rachel get ready for bed, fast-forward a little bit and we're here.

I think this is going to be a great week. Some good stuff going on at work, the weather's improving to where I can do more walking outside and I don't know, I'm just feeling good. But there's some stuff I'm not doing well on. Most notably the diet. This is a real struggle. I pretty much am stuck where I am. I've now been doing the Wii Fit for over 400 days and I've lost only 13 pounds. When I lost the 27 pounds shortly after moving here, I was doing a lot more walking outside. It would be nice to do that again, but it's a little more difficult now.

Handul of Frosting

Watching Sherlock Holmes right now. So far, a bit bored. I'm wondering when it's going to get good. I assume it does. I've heard it is.

Today started rather early. Early for a Saturday. Rachel has a sign on her door that says she's not to wake us up before 8, but her first visit in was at 10 minutes to seven. I don't know how many visits there were, but she was hungry, lonely, she wasn't interested in what I suggested she eat and she also wanted to let me know my breath was bad.

She was finally accepting of a jello and fruit cup, but she brought it without the bowl, and then a separate trip back with the bowl which she set down noisily on the foot of the bed. It's amazing that Lori slept through the whole thing, waking up about an hour later.

I wasn't able to pull myself out of bed right away and by the time I stumbled downstairs I found Lori and Rachel cleaning up the living room. Ben has a lot of toys in the corner of the room and we didn't pick them up last night and they were strewn everywhere. That boy plays far and wide.

We had a bit of quiet day around the house. I can't really even remember how the morning went, beyond some laundry.. folding and putting away. And then just as quickly, it was time to go over to Corey and Gilda's for Corey's birthday party. That was a pretty nice time. Often when we're out, Lori's responsible for the children. Getting them food, getting them fed, entertaining them. It's often entirely on her. Today I ended up helping Rachel get her plate set, then got her a chair so she could kneel at the kitchen counter. (A wise move, another child spilled red kool-aid on their carpet. Their parents were so frustrated, brought in their own cleaning products from their car.) So then I stayed in the kitchen with Rachel to keep her company and because I don't like crowds. Eventually Ben joined me. Except when he's hurt and seeking comfort, if he has a choice, he chooses me over Lori. I feel guilty about that sometimes, except when I see how quickly he runs to her when he gets hurt. She is the protector.

A nice party, a bunch of church friends I know. After the cake (which, while we were singing, Ben grabbed at, coming away with a handful of frosting), we headed back home and put Ben down for his nap. Again, not sure really how the afternoon was spent. Pretty relaxing. I guess I did a little cleaning in the laundry room, but not too much. The room has stayed much, much cleaner since Carol's death. Cash doesn't make the same kind of mess that Carol did. It was pretty quiet around the house... Rachel spent time in her room while Ben napped.

Dinner was all on our own so I opted for pizza and thousand island dressing and soda. Good stuff. Then some exercising. Felt good, I hadn't done some of those exercises in awhile.

Ok, that was funny. A fight involving apparently a early European taser or something?

It's been nice having a three day weekend. Especially since there's still a third of it left. And the LOST Series finale to look forward to tomorrow night.

Ok, some of these special effects are now looking pretty particular. But I'm still bored by the overall story. Ha. The boat just sank. Sorry if that spoils anything.

I just learned tonight that many libraries have passes to cultural events that you can check out just like you check out a book. Oddly, most of the King County ones are in Bellevue, but apparently we can also get stuff from the Pierce County library as well. That's pretty cool. Between the two, there's a good variety of museums and children's museums.

As I sit here, Lori's hard at work on invitations for Rachel's birthday party. She's put a lot of work on them, part of a whole theme she's putting together for the party. I'm not sure Rachel will be able to even fully appreciate it, but Lori is seeming to have a lot of fun bringing it all together, so that may ultimately be the most important part. She's been buying pieces here and there, very excited to show me the different pieces, how she's saved money on a particular part of it, how she's had to go to a number of different stores, but how it's all coming together. Fun watching her pursue a project like this.

One Man's Hobby

Well, hello there.

I am behind schedule. More on that in a bit.

It's been a day. A weird day.

Work was one of those non-descript days where you're not sure where the time went. There was a meeting I didn't need to be at, several I canceled, and my family joined me for lunch. Lori and I spent much of the lunch disagreeing about the value of coupons. I say that they are an evil form of marketing, advertising that tries to get you to buy things you didn't know you wanted. If I were more environmentally friendly, I would say they were a waste of trees, too. And since nothing is free, I say companies that produce or accept coupons charge more for their products in order to recoup the costs for designing, printing, accepting, processing, mailing, processing, sending checks, etc., etc., etc., and that I'd rather they just charge less. Of course, in many stores (but surprisingly not Wal*Mart) companies also pay for shelf placement, so you're paying for that, too. This all started because someone on Facebook had said they loved coupons and seeing the discount at the bottom of the receipt. Well, I said they should just charge less and then I followed up with a little bit longer argument as the conversation went on against coupons. To the point where her husband came on and I think was getting all bent out of shape saying I was criticizing her. I wasn't, I explained. But then later after Lori and I had our discussion, I went back and deleted my posts. It took our conversation for me to figure out the problem.

Odds and Ends 28

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MASHABLE -- 10 Awesome Vintage Video Games You Can Play Online

-2-

ENGADGET -- World's first remote heart surgery completed in Leicester, UK - I liked the commenter that said "Sure, let's show the robots where the 'off button' is on humans

-3-

SETH GODIN -- David Byrne is angry with me - wow. profound. most remember this post. far too often I'm probably the David Byrne in this situation.

-4-

KANSAS CITY STAR -- The new fall TV lineups: A closer look

-5-

VARIETY -- Hurley says goodbye to 'Lost'; Jorge Garcia writes about the popular series' end

-6-

FAIL BLOG -- Toilet Seat Cover Design Fail - C'mon Disney, seriously?

-7-

MEN'S HEALTH -- 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010 - think that energy drink is healthy? Think again.

-8- VIDEO

What do you get when you cross an iPad with a kitchen cabinet? Awesomeness, that's what...

Odds and Ends 25

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ENGADGET -- Nissan books 8,000 Leaf orders in 9 days Electric car is only available for pre-sale online in the 3 west coast states + Arizona + Tennessee

-2-

NEATORAMA -- Subway Everywhere - I pass more Subways than Starbucks on my way to work each day. Proof they're everywhere, there's one in a shipping container high up on the World Trade Center site. Before, construction workers spent half of their lunchbreak riding elevators to street level to buy food. Now, there's a Subway up where they are.

-3-

SEATTLE TIMES -- Kemper Freeman is suing to stop light-rail expansion to Eastside - Ugh. I'm also a Republican in this state full of Democrats and even I know Light Rail is a good idea. Kemper Freeman, you are indeed a dinosaur.

-4-

ENGADGET -- Hackers can remotely disable your car's brakes, create sensationalist headlines

-5-

MASHABLE -- RFID Tagged Cows Start Tweeting - interesting story about how they pretty much milk themselves, too.

-6-

SEATTLE SCAPES -- For Whom the Tunnel Tolls

-7-

BRAND AUTOPSY -- SBC = Seattle’s Brand Confusion - Yeah, they really did lots wrong with this.

-8- VIDEO

So cool. An urban prank prompts government to quickly address a 20-year-old problem.

Wham, Bam, No Thank You Ma'am

So, yeah, it's raining this morning. Cool. I want some exercise, so I drive to Fred Meyer and I walk around for about 15 minutes and then buy some gum. Even though I resynced my phone and it seemed to add a bunch of songs and I could even see them on the phone when I treated it like a drive attached to my computer, it was still refusing to play. I haven't had time to look tonight to see if counted all the skips as plays or as skips. I hope not.

So I buy some gum, get back in the car and head towards work. I'm sitting at a stop light and then *thump*. Seriously? Are you serious? Really? I look in the rearview mirror and I can see she's still on the phone even. Ugh. I get out, pull out my phone and snap a photo of her license plate and send it to Lori's phone. She's getting out at that point and I ask for her insurance. Of course, she doesn't have it, or doesn't have it with her in the car. Of course. So I demand her license which she hands over quickly. My hands are shaking but I manage to quickly get a pen and find something to write on. I had to write her license number down twice because I wasn't sure it was going to be legible. Then I get back in my car and start the car and then the light turns red so I'm stuck there for an entire cycle. I see her still standing between the two cars and then crouching down.

A(nother) New Day...?

I feel good. This stupid computer, I notice, is still having problems with the g key. And the n key looks like it's going to be next. It's slowly moving to the right. Argh. Annoying. I wonder if I took it in if it would be something they could easily repair.

Watching Chuck. Annoyed to see that Shaw might still be alive.

Today was a great day. I got up, read my book instead of watching TV. Walked before work, read some Reader's Digest. Work was good, had a number of meetings, met with people, got stuff done. Submitted requests, pushed things forward. Even reached out to someone in Australia who put me in contact with someone in Canada. I guess I shouldn't act like I'd like to see something happen unless I'm ready to work on an international side project. I guess I'm ready to work an on international side project?

Where the Wild Winds Blow

I am on the Wii Fit doing Free Step. I have 25 minutes left and then I'll do another 30 minutes. Today is day 401 of using the Wii Fit every single day. In all that time, I've only managed to lose 14 pounds. I do not think that the Wii Fit is to blame. Most days, I do 90 minutes of free step. I think that Free Step alone is not enough. I think that I need to get back into the habit of also doing yoga and strength and balance exercises if I really want to see results. The problem is that Free Step is easy. I can watch TV or play on the computer while I do it. And I can do it while Lori's down here. So often in the evenings I do Free Step while she rides the exercise bike and we watch TV.

But there are some other reasons for such a cruddy showing after 401 days. Most notably, it's the really poor eating habits I have. There is always good stuff around and I have absolutely no will power. There was a time where I was blogging everything I was eating and another time where I was sending it all to Lori, a kind of accountability thing. That was cool. There was also a time where I was tweeting every time I avoided eating something not good for me. But then I got yelled at for using Social Media too much while I was at work. They didn't understand that you can call up Digsby and spend 5 seconds typing and post a Twitter update, but it was easier just to stop than try to tell them they were wrong and I wasn't. Because they had a point, it was all about perception. Anyhow, I can't blame them for my lack of weight loss.

A-plus Day

What a great day. I woke up at 6 something, heard Ben making noise, went back to bed. Woke up again at 7, heard Ben making noise and realized I probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and so I ought to get up. I did, and then I went down to do my body test. I guess I wasn't really ready to get up yet because I sat on the couch and petted Cash for a long time. By the time I did finally get back upstairs to get Ben out of bed, it was nearly 8. He was just in there holding on to the edge of his crib and jumping up and down, happy as can be.

So, got him up and started on breakfast. Took me awhile to get to my own, but eventually did. Happy that we had maple oatmeal. Love that stuff. Eat it every single day at work, it was nice having it here. Waffles and cereal just didn't sound good. I did some chores and got some laundry started. That was a task that would ultimately take all day to get done, but we all have fresh towels and sheets on our beds which is awesome. I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but I still got some stuff done. It was a chore-filled day. Among other things, Lori cleaned all the bathrooms, too. And the weather was awesome so we had all the windows open. Fresh air, absolutely silent neighborhood, just fantastic.

Dear ABC

Dear ABC,

Last night I was mad at you, to learn you had killed off "Better Off Ted" and "FlashForward." I know that it was expected for "Better Off Ted," but "FlashForward" was disappointing to learn about.

But you know what? There's precedence.

Drivel

Ha ha. Almost forgot my 750 words. Since this is day 36 in a row, that would have been a shame. So let's see how quickly I can rip off some drivel. I would have never used that word if it weren't for Steve Martin's book "Pure Drivel" that I own a copy of. Very good. Thanks to my wife I also have an early copy of the "L.A. Story" script. Sadly, I'm not sure of its exact location at the moment. I suspect it's in a box at work. I should buy a safe to keep it in or something.

Yeah, today was a good day. I woke up just before 5 am and realized I wasn't going back to sleep. I probably could have gone downstairs, turned on Soundscapes and gone back to sleep, but Comcast has had a bad habit lately of putting those annoying tests of the Emergency Broadcast System in at really poor times. Usually it's when I'm just about to drift off to sleep on those rare nights where I end up sleeping downstairs because I'm having trouble sleeping in my own bed. Sometimes the fan is just too loud.

Ben2

I wonder if I'm limiting the value of doing these at night. I guess one of the goals is that to do free-form writing, first thing in the morning, you get everything out of your head so that you're freed up to be creative throughout the day. I wonder if I'm not freeing up anything, or if I'm giving my brain license go elsewhere while sleeping. If that's the case, then maybe I should stop -- a recent dream was far too close to home about my insecurities at work.

Anyhow, the big news of the day, that's why you're here. Our little guy turned two today. It was quite a bit of a non-starter. I took the day off, I like to do that when it's a family birthday, but Rachel still had school, so we didn't go anywhere special. We went to Target and Borders with Ben and bought his birthday presents, that's how behind we've been lately. But, the good news was that he showed absolute delight at something that we would have never considered. For one thing, it's 12-36 months. So while he fits right in the middle, it seemed a bit childish. But he giggled and laughed at what little of it he could interact with while it was still all wrapped up, so, yeah, he'll receive that on Sunday at his official family party.

Respect Mah Authoritah

Boy, parenting is a challenge. At Rachel's school, there's a thing called the "Think Chair" A student needs to sit in that chair to think about what they've done if they've been disobedient. Lately, apparently that's not been enough and a number of students have also found themselves missing recess.

That was Rachel the last two weeks, a number of think chair moments and missed recesses. The most recent parenting course -- the one that isn't "God's Way" (dun dun dun) -- says a problem and its correction (if correction occurs) stays where it happened. That is, we don't repunish when she gets home. But, we've still talked to her because it didn't seem like it was actually working. And after that, the next day Lori got a thumb's up from the teacher when she went to pick up Rachel. There were some good days.

Until today.

And Then It Was Done

It's been a great day and I don't feel like writing. I got up this morning, exercised, got some laundry started, went to work, stopped for gas. Think it's a rip-off. If you automatically get three cents off for using your Fred Meyer card, and then it offers you 10 cents off but then only gives you seven cents off, that's a rip-off. I hate buying gas. Such a waste of time and money. I cannot wait until I have my hybrid or electric car. The cool thing is that since it'll be awhile, that's just time for them to get better and more powerful.

Work today was pretty good. I had to tell people "no" on stuff, others "maybe" and still others "maybe." I worked hard, didn't get too much further behind, got in a nice walk, had a few interesting conversations, not too many meetings, and then it was over very quickly.

Weekend Schmeekend

I wanted to sleep in today.  That didn't happen.  I had forgotten to turn off my alarm, so it went off at its usual time.  I did go back to sleep for a little while, but it's not the same thing.  I woke up a few times after that.  And then it was too late to exercise this morning.  It was a calm morning.  I can't remember if Ben sat in his high chair or at the table, but he's been sitting at the table a lot more lately.  It's pretty cool.  Though I have to say none of them worked as well as the very first time I tried it where he sat there for nearly an hour eating.  Hmmm... the g key is not working too well tonight.  Suddenly, every word has a g in it.  One of these days I need to have this laptop looked into.  Usually if there's a problem key, it's the s key but not tonight.  Having a non-working s key is much worse.  End up signing all my emails "Jame"  Derrr.

Finally, it was off to Fred Meyer for the kids and I.  Mother's Day gifts.  It was a random trip, going all over the store and back, including a bathroom trip.  She's getting so good at taking care of her business all by herself but she still asks if I can take her into the men's room, which I rarely do anymore, unless the bathrooms seem sketchy.  So like any fast food restaurant or Best Buy or Home Depot.  I love Best Buy and Home Depot, but they have amazingly poor bathrooms.  Although if you don't count gas stations, I think one of the worst bathrooms I'd been in ever was Toys R Us in Santa Monica.  It wasn't so much dirty as scary with all the graffiti on the walls.  Anyhow, this is an unpleasant tangent.

Missing Joe Cool

I was in a funk this evening. I hadn't seen one of these in awhile, but I was feeling sorry for myself in a big way. It hadn't manifested itself as clearly as some of the past cases, but that's what it was, I can see now, now that I'm on the other side of it.

I had a particularly rough day at work. I don't think I necessarily did anything wrong and if I'm pushed any further into the corner, I know there are people who have my back, or more importantly, will stand alongside me and push back. The problem is, that it was problem interrupted - some people are not even yet aware of the problem, so first thing Monday morning, it's pop up and say "Remember me?" I don't need that hanging over my head all weekend. So I'm really hoping at least one person in particular reads their email over the weekend and realizes that action needs to happen. I guess I know somenoe who works for them, but they'll be unreachable all day tomorrow, so I can't even ask them if their boss reads email on the weekend. Hopefully they do.

Dinosaurs in the Real World

Tonight we went to a Hollywood Video that was going out of business. I don't know when the last time we'd gone to a Hollywood Video. I know we'd gone to Blockbuster a few times a few years ago, we had some free rentals. But it was rare that we paid for movies. Often we get them from the library and we've also got some swell friends who pass their Netflix off to us asking us not to take too long before dropping it back in the mail.

If you know my history, you know I want to see Lackluster Video die. I want it to go down in flames. Well, no, that's not true. I want to be extinguished quietly without anyone really noticing.

But I never really thought about collateral damage, like Hollywood Video. Now, I know there's no crying shame for it to go, either, but I liked it for the fact that it wasn't Blockbluster. Of course, we still didn't go there because it was farther away from the other and they didn't give us lots of free coupons. Of course, free coupons doesn't help them all that much, either.

They are selling everything including fixtures. I would like to buy the sign, remove the word"video"and hang it on the back of the house where it's not visible to other association houses.

Wrong Turn

Bill ran to the door and slammed it quickly behind him, locking it. He looked around furtively and then jumped as the man began beating on the door, calling out to him in a thunderous, menacing tone. Brace the door? Or look for a better place to hide? It was nearly impossible to make up his mind and so Bill focused on his surroundings and willed himself to slow his breathing.

He was in the entryway, a small confined space. Ahead, a door he imagined led to a coat closet, and beside it a small table with a vase containing blackened wilting flowers. Over the table, a small mirror, caked with dust. Bill could see from the reflection that the man was still outside, the peephole brightening and darkening as the man rammed into the door with his shoulder.

De Plane

The escalator seemed to go down forever. She counted three floors. Overhead, fluorescent lights lit the area. They were dingy, the plastic covers yellowed with age. The bulbs themselves weren't even all the same color, some letting off a more yellow tinged light while others were a brighter wide. She expected to see at least one flickering, but there none. There were all kinds of dead bugs trapped up there and quite a few flies buzzing around.

At each floor, glass partitions allowed in light and she could see people many people standing around. Between each floor, vast expanses of white. The walls, too, were discolored. Large squares suggested that at one point, posters had been hang on the walls in an attempt to class up the place, but not now.

Of the Day

Watching The Amazing Race. It was a good day. I completely blew past a church meeting I was supposed to go to. They even texted me to remind me and tried to entice me with a hand-crafted coffee. But, my phone was still on silent because they have a reminder up before the church service asking us to put our phones on silent mode. So, technically it's their fault. I have an idea - how about a reminder at the end of the church service reminding us to put our phones back on regular mode? :)

Lori stayed home sick from church, so I took both the kids. I do this pretty regularly since Lori gets up early to get to church to sing, so getting them ready wasn't too big a deal. Lori did help a little because I was "behind schedule" - I've been trying to get there early enough that I'm not just racing through the church to get children checked in, ignoring people who want to greet me and say hi. That's a bad habit of mine, being so focused on the task that I miss the opportunities to just talk to people. Happens all the time. I almost said "happens to me" but honestly, this is something I do to myself.

Odds and Ends 24

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CROSSCUT -- How to fill the hole in Pioneer Square's heart?

-2-

GOOGLE OPERATING SYSTEM -- Disable Google Reader's Social Features

-3-

ENGADGET -- Best Buy Opens First UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video) You're welcome, UK!

-4-

BASIC INSTRUCTIONS -- How To Fulfill The Prophecy - great

-5-

THE HIGH CALLING -- The Game of Life

-6-

SCOBLEIZER -- The Blacked-Out World of Music

-7-

OPEN BIBLE -- Bible Cross-References, Visualized

-8- VIDEO

Nature by the Numbers. Beautiful 3 minute video. I'm not smart enough to understand it, but I can appreciate its beauty.