Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The "L" Word
I have always had a number of sweaters. Before the "Ugly sweater party" was popular, I had a closet full of them! Even now I have a countless collection of sweater, but my favorites are what I call the magic or elfin sweater. The light weight merino wool (wool is the only way to go) sweater, a tad small so it doesn't have extra fabric that can get in the way. If it has some caulk or tar on it or get a small hole in a non-vital location, then it become a classic Wedel-Way sweater, adding to the magic. Magic in that it is itch free, warm, cool, and has the protection factor of chainmaile from Arda. I don't think it is bullet proof, but it maybe blade and nail proof, and possibly even chainsaw resistant (like Wedel-way jeans)! And they makes me feel good, the right combination of warm and cool, sexy even. I have brown, charcoal, even a dark purple one and a couple black ones, the cashmere with a couple holes is my lucky sweater. ;)
So under a waterproof shell, a wool sweater is the prefect layer in the cold half of the year, joining my Exofficio's as the most import part of my wardrobe.
Random acts of kindness
At home I am spared most of the wrenching commercials with the miracle of DVR, but rarely does a day go by that some selfless act in a book or touching story on the radio that gives me hope that this can be a better world.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
With this knowledge, I have been searching for my daughters name for years. The steady stream of media input I take in, TV, movies, books and audio, all have provided potential names. NPR corrispondants names are a wealth of potentials, especially the names like Lourdes Garcia-Navarro or Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. But when I was listing to Assimov's Foundation Trilogy, I found the name, Jezebel. OMG, you are thinking, how can he do that!! Or, good name, but... If it weren't for Betty Davis making her into a hussy in the 1930's, I think it would fly. Here is a strong-willed, independent woman who knows how to get what she wants. Yeah, my kind of girl!
My wife, of course, is totally against this name. "She will be beat up in school, or worse!" she claims. I hate to think we still live in times where bullying is allowed, kids are made fun of for their shape, size, color or names. I know growing up the closest I ever came to getting in a fight in all the years of school was one day on the bus defending my sister who was the focus of some white-trash red-necks peppering her with racial slurs, and i suppose not much has changed, at least for the better, in the 30 years since then. And maybe she will get some unwanted evilness flung her way, but will gain strength though it. Like Johnny Cash's A Boy Named Sue.
So I will lose this battle, She will be named Rowan or something out-of-the-top-1000-names list, but will always be Jezebel to me. She will grow up to change the world, making it a better place. Her influence will be as legendary as the name... at least in my world.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
How the Brew guild annoys me?
How work in "the dungeon" sucks?
How I cant make a massage chair work?
How car shopping with wife who has completely different ideas is impossible?
How Brewing Beer should be fun?
How My body is falling apart?
How impending fatherhood effects me?
NoBloPoMo?... nobody tell me anything!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Halloween
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
I Like Everything
Unlike my friend that blogged I Hate Everything, I have the problem that I Like Everything. This is especially an issue when it comes to food and entertainment. Anyone who has eaten out with me knows of my legendary indecisiveness. How many times has the Jeopardy theme been hummed for me? I just can’t decide, I like it all… Marriage has simplified some of this, if I hesitate for even a second when ordering, my wife will say, “you’re getting the special.” At home, “what sounds good for dinner” is almost a trick question. “Anything” isn’t the right answer, but neither is “Tacos!” usually. Beverage selection can be difficult, too, so many choices, all of them good. Beer, wine, cocktail… with multiple choices each and that is just when I get home from work!
I also like movies. I like action, drama, thriller, romantic, comedy movies. I like indie film and blockbusters. While I disagree that Titanic was the best movie of whatever year that was, I did like it. Witty movies, stupid movies, I am just pretty easy to entertain. When it comes to reading, I just want to be entertained, and edutainment is good too. I like I like I like. Just look at my Goodreads ratings, nothing less than a 3.
And I like TV. Deprived as a child, I grew up with one fuzzy channel on a small B&W TV until we moved to Lawrence. And when the picture tube went out, my sis and I would listen to Saturday morning cartoon, but that was too pathetic and soon that went away and for the next 10 years I grew up in the TV-less household. I remember renting a TV for the Olympics, and getting the TV from the school in a couple summers, but nothing was cooler than the friend with cable! Once we got TV and cable, I bought the nicest VCR my $1000 at the Army Exchange would buy and recorded… and watched and recorded some more. Now the major factor in my TV viewing is time. I have to pick and choose what I want to watch, sometime a really hard decision needs to be made. External factors, DVR space and time conflicts seem to be the most important decision making tools.
One of the best filters I have is price. If I can decide how much I want to spend, that can narrow down my choices. When I picked out a car, I factored price, performance, utility, economy and style into the mix, but that wasn’t defined enough, I like so many. So I weighted the top three factors, then threw out price, since I knew how much I wanted to spend, and got Utility and Economy, which lead me to one car, well, 2, the Matrix and Vibe. The duchieness of the Toyota dealer pushed me into my happy Vibe. Similar decision tree for food and beverage happens too, but I have minutes not days to resolve. I think I am getting better, tho.
Multiple Tasking
I like multitasking. It seems wasteful to only do one thing at a time. Surf the internet while watching TV, shaving in the shower, walking and chewing gum all fine task doublers. My favorite is when it involves work. For years I have listened to audio books while making maps, each just enough distraction from the other to help me concentrate on both. I find it difficult to listen to an audiobook without multitasking, my mind wonders and I realize I have no idea what just happened. This happens while working sometimes, when I come upon a challenge that requires little more brain power than I have dedicated to work, and have to steal thought cycles from the listening part.
Recently I have been multi-processor multitasking. With 2 computers on my desk and a network that allows me to take control of several others, I can really get some work done. Yesterday I could be found with a mouse in each hand, setting up processes on both machines at the same time. After kicking those off, I remotely connected to a third machine and started up another batch. I had 3 computers, a total 6 CPU/core’s doing my bidding!! (Of course they where windows 32 bit machines, so really only one of the cpu’s on each machine was working for me, the other against me…) I was connecting to another machine, a quad-core beast when others needed one of my (like that, mine, all mine) machines for some little process…psh. Oh well, they crank away, making maps, while I blog, multi tasking again. Ooo, and soon I will pick up with my audiobook. Stephen King, here I come!
Eeek!
For the first time in our current old house, we found a mouse. I think maybe the brown recluse colony, no, civilization, in the basement had been keeping them out, but now with that in better control, the rodents can compete. We heard a scraping noise and isolated it to the cold air return where this little mouse was trying to scramble up the pipe. We watch in amusement at it would get to a certain vertical angle then slide down again. So I grabbed a towel, lowered it down the pipe and replaced the grate, the thought being that it would get itself out and the kids would find it.
The “kids” being the fur-kids, 2 cats and the dog, Annie. Annie and the older cat, EO (Ebony-Obsidian, guess what color she is) are proven mousers, having racked up multiple tag team take-downs at the previous old house we lived in. Ixxie, aka “Kitten”, however was untested. Since showing up at our house 2 years ago, the skinny, skittish, broken-tailed little thing has grown to be the next vowel in our clan. She has a playful streak longer than what EO will put up with, so she can be found making friends with sticks. Not “so to speak”, but really sticks, and weather stripping, and earrings, even coins. I watched her one morning, pick a penny up in her mouth off the slate bathroom floor, carry it out the door where she dropped it and proceeded to play hockey on the hardwood. That helped to explain the change that was found on the floor everywhere, even in the cold air return.
And it was that cold air return where we found the mouse, and Ixxie was in the next room, making us wonder if she had been playing with her new friend before knocking it into the grate. So fast forward 45 minutes, we are watching TV and suddenly Annie is guarding this little grey thing… oh my, with a tail… on the floor, with Ixxie a couple feet away looking on, blankly as she does at what I suspected she had played with all the way into the living room. The mouse was moving slightly and breathing fast, so Annie gave it a quick little nibble, pick it up and repositioned herself further from the cat, mouse between her front paws. Implored by my wife to get rid of it, I pick up the tiny little thing in a paper towel and after showing it to EO, who had just wondered in the room, tossed it out side.
With winter approaching, the little creatures looking for someplace warm might be better served to find accomidation elsewhere, this old barn is hostile!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Nuts!!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
It's Just a Flesh Wound...
Not that it explains any of my oddness, but I was once shot in the head. It was a friendly fire incident, the worst of all reasons to get shot. It was Easter of 1982, I think, and the emergency room was quiet compared to many of the other times I visited there. They saved the projectile that they dug out of my skull for me in one of those urine sample jars, which is now labeled and lost among the boxes and drawers of memories. I was so lucky…
My friend Adam lived in KC with his dad during the week and came out to his mom’s on weekends. We would pal around, hiking, hunting, camping, stalking, mini-biking and all that other fun stuff on the quarter section of wooded hillside between our houses. We build hay forts and tree stands and hydro-engineering projects in the ditch just for the fun of it. Anything we could figure out to do with firecrackers, we did. He brought some bottle rockets from home and we would take turns shooting at each other as we zipped by on the mini-bike. Being the young engineer I was, I made a launcher with a flag pole, capped at one end, a hole cut to light the fuse, and a tennis ball can as a flash suppressor, which gave the game some surprisingly close calls. But it was all harmless.
You might be thinking 1982, what were you doing with a firearm? But I was living “in the country”, a couple miles outside of town where boys and guns went together like, well, boys and guns! And our arsenal was comprised of pellet and BB guns, hardly lethal, at least to boys. Now pigeons and grasshoppers might fall prey to the mighty guns every now and then, a squirrel once and a lot of cans, but nothing much bigger than a shoe. This particular spring, we had gone down to the pond to shoot (at) frogs. I had left the nice .22 caliber pellet gun at the house, preferring the cheaper ammo of BB guns. The drawback of BB’s are their accuracy, saving the lives of countless critters. When we ran out of BB’s, we tried hunting them down with pocket knives, and when that fun wore off, we started to trudge back home, me in the lead. Adam had a CO2 powered BB pistol, with a 50 or so shot reservoir for BB’s, and you could shake and hear the rattle of your remaining shots. Well, since we had long exhausted our ammo, firearm discipline had lapsed, and for no reason that anyone can explain, Adam took aim at me from 30 feet or so and pulled the trigger. Hey, it was empty, right? Well that puff of compressed air pushed the real last BB out of the chamber on a trajectory towards me. Continuing in the series of unlikely events, the .177 caliber slug, travelling at hundreds of feet per second, founds it make, me, striking me in the back of the head, several inches behind my ear! I thought I had been stung by a wasp, and flinched, bringing my hand up to my head as I turned around. The shocked look on Adam’s face (and the gun pointed at me) quickly informed me to what had happened. Not content with giving me a welt or just a small flesh wound, the BB pierced my skin and imbedded itself between my scalp and skull a good inch from the entry point. I told Adam not to worry, I would tell the parents that it was a ricochet, so he wouldn’t get in (too much) trouble, and turned and ran the rest of the way back to my house, where I told my mom I was shot. Shocked, she cleaned up the blood, scalp wounds are bleeders, to find a tiny hole and a bump, and after tying for several minutes to move the BB back to the hole, decided this might be best left to the professionals, and loaded me up in the car and we headed to the Emergency Room. There, after a requisite wait, a local was injected and a small X was cut to remove the BB. And continuing the cover up, I had to get a tetanus shot (since it had bounced off the ground). After returning home, I found Adam waiting on the back porch with his mom, and a large basket of Easter apology candy.
Well, it sits in a plastic jar labeled “The BB that got me, Easter ‘82” and is packed away somewhere next to the chunks of cartilage from my first knee surgery, a reminder of how lucky I was.
Monday, October 4, 2010
A Few of my Favorite Things
I don’t believe in absolutes. I will rarely be heard to say “best”, “worst”, or “favorite,” instead opting for modifiers like “quite possibly the best” or “my current favorite”. Favorite restaurant, don’t have one. Best beer, I wouldn’t even try to answer that, and my favorite beer changes faster than the weather. Seasonal changes don’t even begin to explain all the fluctuations, there are just so many variables. Once I was heard to say “that was the Greatest movie I remember,” a declaration that received quizzical looks until I clarified, “Great meaning big, not good…” that movie was T2.
Now I finally have something in my life that is “my favorite”!! My underwear! I might even call it “the best”, but definitely “favorite.” Exofficio boxer briefs. I was drawn to them years ago when I found them in the REI store in Albuquerque, a performance fiber with the right amount of support and comfort. And the tag line is awesome, “17 countries… 6 weeks… One pair of underwear.” That has been revised lately to add the line “(Ok, maybe two.)” The quick magic fabric can be hand washed and will dry over night. My wife doesn’t agree, but I think it is more magical than that, a good nights airing out and they are good to go! Barring accident, 1 or 2 pair will last the whole road trip, weeks vacation, or business trip, even without hand washing. Simply awesome!
And they are the most comfortable undies ever, too. Cut just right to allow room and support, chafing and problem of the past. And the waist band has a velvety touch that never binds. The magic fabric controls heat and moisture so the boys are always comfortable. Maybe too comfortable, as sometimes I notice a little shrinkage after a long hard day brewing. I guess like the magical, elfin stuff that it is, the shrinkage is a protective measure, that extra level of safety in a dangerous world.
I’m not sure how many have joined me in this bliss. My brew-partner is one. We wear matching “brew-panites” on brew days, Ocean blue of course. We each just grew our wardrobe when they went on sale and own at least one of each color! I hope that doesn’t mean we will have to coordinate that too, we already have to decide brown or green shirts.
They are a bit pricey, up to $25/pair for the boxer briefs, but well worth it. The first couple pairs I bought have been in regular use for almost 5 years, and except not being able to read the tag they are in perfect condition. They come in other styles, I did just buy a regular boxer, probably for use as PJs, a sport brief and regular brief, and 5 colors to choose from, manly colors like Black, Charcoal, Deep Palm, Ocean, and White. The women’s lineup is even more extensive, offering a Capri pant, bras, tanks, camis and panties from a full cut brief to a thong. I haven’t found a following of women for these yet, but I am looking forward to hearing about it (so slick and tactily pleasing…).
So whenever I am asked what my favorite ____ is, I think about my underwear, and I hope you will too. You wont regret it.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Polyga-Me
So I had a dream the other night where I was married to 3 women! I don’t know if married is right, I didn’t get the impression I was Mormon, but harem wasn’t the feel either… anyway, 3 women all in the same house, each with separate skill set they brought to the household. One was kind of sporty tom-boy, one a homemaker type, and the other a career woman. One to maintain the outside, one to keep everything in order on the inside and one to make bank! It was a good dream!! And there was a signup sheet on the fridge indicating who preferred my company each night. Career woman had first dibs on weekends, as her work schedule kept her out of town a lot and even when in town, was exhausted. Each got my affection and attention more or less equally and nobody complained. Date night might see some or all of us going out on the town but rarely comingling in the bedrooms. Like I said, a good dream.
Then I woke up and starting thinking about this, and I am pretty sure there is not a chance in the world it would work. While the thought of being shared among 3 women may seem appealing, the demands would likely be overwhelming, especially if they competed for my time. Multiple “honey-do” lists would surely develop, and there would be no way I would get a bathroom or garage space. And most of the date on the calender were empty, does that mean I sleep on the couch? I suppose arrangement could be made for all the unique want and needs, TV, food, temperature… more space for sure. Maybe start up something like the “My Ol’ Ladies and me” commune. That doesn’t have the right ring. Oh well, maybe I will return to the dream and get to work out all the details.
Dam the NPR for getting into my dreams... or was it the preview of United States of Tara?
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Incidental porn
No surprise, I like porn. My current favorite is... well, I won’t go into that right now. But my second favorite is what I like to call incidental porn. Maybe accidental might be another adjective. It might not really be porn…
Porn: Noun; creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire. (http://www.dictionary.net/porn)
OK, it IS by definition. Let’s see about the other word.
Incidental \In`ci*den"tal\, a. Happening, as an occasional event, without regularity; coming without design; casual; accidental; hence, not of prime concern; subordinate; collateral…
Good, got that right, too. So put them together and we get “a happening or event without regularity or design of no value other than to stimulate sexual desire”. Yep, that’s it, though “…sexual desire” might be a strong phrase, it could just be left at “…to stimulate”.
So what am I referring to? Well, not the emails from Victoria’s Secret (too regular) or from friends (with design). More accidental, like scrolling down dealnews.com and coming across a bra and/or panty sale. Or in the real world when a gust of wind reveals a little more skin than planned. A wardrobe malfunction uncovers a colorful bra strap, a decorative décolletage or racy panties. You say, “OK, we know you are observant and a perve, so what?”
The next variant is more mental. Have you ever come across something titillating, it says in your head and you mull it over, research it maybe? A really hot car never before seen on the road advanced plans for the next generation of solar heat/pv panels, plug-in hybrids, geothermal… something that sparks something when you don’t expect it? Maybe some food or beer that exceeded expectations by so much you start dreaming about what you can do with it, when you can have it again… The smile from a stranger, a thank you from a pretty girl and sleeping, eating, playing, being pushed in a stroller babies (by mom who’s swollen breasts that defy laws and cant be contained anymore J) all can create another happy, make me smile, incidental porn moment.
Bad Dreams
Monday, September 27, 2010
Employee Spot light
Employee Spotlight: 100 word description, Quote about working for the company, 5-7 personality questions
R. Clint Wedel, GISP, Geospatial Project Manager, is trained in all aspects of geospatial extraction. He spent 12 years with the Wilson & Company, and after a two year leave working in the
He became an [Geospatial Project(s) Manager] to... more effectively convey my professional knowledge, skills and attitude to others (and work in Lawrence... oh well)
· Where did you grow up? Conceived in the Philippines, born in Chicago, lived in Upton WY from 1-5, moved to Lawrence where I have lived since, except for my junior year in Seoul, South Korea and that crazy mistake in WYCO… not sure if I have grown up, just grown old.
· · Favorite book? Authors, F. Paul Wilson, John Sandford, Harlan Coben, and Carl Hiaasen. Guilty pleasure, Clive Cussler.
· · Favorite sports team? Jayhawks, of course.
· Last meal would be? 69 course meal serving all my “favorites” shared with all my friends that takes 6 days, and on the 7th day…
· If you weren’t an [Mapper/GISer], you would be a… engineer, first major was Aero, but discovered for the first time in my academics that I had to work, which took me a couple years to figure out… still sometime wish I had become one.
· Goal you’re working towards right now? Retire before I die. J Financial independence. Open a brewery.
· Favorite restaurant? I’m not good with “favorites” as that is kind of an absolute and my tastes change almost as fast as I change my underwear (ExOfficio boxer briefs, are my favorite, the best underwear ever!!). Favorite kind of food is Mexican, and the last Mexican meal(s) that really impressed me where the Diablo Fish Tacos at Tortas Jalisco and the 3 combo tacos at Esquina.
· Favorite quote? My current favs… SOWISA “Strap On Whenever It Seems Appropriate” (S.King), “I brew the beer I drink” and "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." –Benjamin Franklin
· Favorite project you worked on? ---BLANK---
· Music you’re currently listening to? The love ballads of Meatloaf made me cry so I have given up on music to concentrate on Audiobooks. Recently enjoyed “The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific” and the 2 sequels, “Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu” and “Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid” I am currently working my way through the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn.
· Favorite website? LOL, a bit open ended… of those I enjoy beyond email, weather, and shopping sites, Http://www.ecogeek.org/, http://www.wortomatic.com/, http://lawrencebrewers.org tho more because I have to than because I want to, I have responsibilities…and my HOME page…http://www.700ohio.com/
·
they also wanted a picture, so I dug though the archives and found a couple and sent them in... here are a couple they wont be using.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Memory of Running
Monday, September 20, 2010
There was Blood
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I dont need pants
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ginga
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Stolen Summer Prose
Sundresses, Sandals, Tan Lines: A Guy's View of Summer
Writer Scott Frampton explains how your tan lines (and summer dresses) drive guys completely and totally crazy.
August is the hottest month, and I'm not talking about average ambient temperature. I'm talking about you and what you do to men in the feverish weeks leading up to Labor Day. Our resolve weakened by months of heat, otherwise productive members of society are reduced to paroxysms of want by a backless dress, or bare legs dotted by drops of condensation from a tall, cold beer.
You may be aware of this effect, but I doubt you appreciate the extent: It deserves its own seasonal affective disorder. And the worst cases can be traced to the sundress. Wear one now, and it says something about you: In a month when sartorial ambition is reduced to a set of subtropical survival skills — tube tops, with their pendulous plunges, short shorts that ride up like a junior-high wedgie — you put on a dress and shoes more complicated than a rubber thong wedged between your toes. This outfit reveals not only your body, but also how comfortable you are with it, and from there, it's a perilously short trip to envisioning what you'd do with it.
Especially if tan lines are involved; I've been known to lose my grip at the early-evening sight of them, innocent mojitos plunging to their patio deaths. That contrasting stripe, climbing over your shoulder from parts unknown — unknown to me, certainly — is a tease in the best sense, giving the slightest suggestion of how you'd be in your altogether. In these stifling days of late summer, how you make the most of things is a clue to who you are and what you'd be like lingering over a glass of chilled rosé — if I didn't have to get home to my family for dinner.
http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/relationship-issues/articles/guys-view-of-summer
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Look
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Rusty Trombone
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Taco Threekend
Steak
with chimichurri sauce, spicy peppers, onions and potatoes
Peruvian Potato
roasted purple potatoes, roasted garlic purée, poblano-corn salsa
Chicken
salsa verdé, queso fresco, tomatillo relish and toasted almonds