A look at my account information reminds me that I am just shy of my 3 year anniversary on JU, by about a month. I would be hard pressed to detail my exact whereabouts three years ago today at this time, but it wouldn't be long odds to guess I was sitting somewhere 760 feet below the scorching surface of Death Valley, working what I could get to support my family. I would have been unaware that in less than three months, events would be set in motion that would change my life radically...agai...
Years ago, I believed that affirmative action, while wholly imperfect, was at least a good transition towards balancing the scales. As time goes by, I am rethinking that position. A perfect example: Mike Tomlin, the new coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In their excellent article on Tomlin, SI touches on the infamous "Rooney Rule" that requires teams to consider minority candidates for coaching vacancies. SI said that Tomlin's hiring was NOT because of the Rooney Rule, and I believe them. Tom...
I'm a history buff. A MASSIVE one at that. This is a major part of the reason I try to get involved with projects like the Woody Guthrie Center in Pampa, TX. And so I was surfing around looking for some artifacts the other day, when I came across an eBay find. The New York Times from April 15, 1935, the day after Black Sunday, one of the most notorious dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The paper has a great article on the subject, and is an important piece of history to Pampa, and to the center, ...
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt=Aj87iM0lzwNX2ItWKld3Oko5nYcB?slug=ap-landishearing&prov=ap&type=lgns The hearing on reigning Tour de France champ Floyd Landis was not supposed to be a big story. It was supposed to be yet another steroid scandal, of course, but one exposing the seamy side of a sport that few people outside of aspiring participants really care a whole lot about. I mean, except for one race out of the year, bicycling is pretty much eclipsed by world class miming c...
I was in my early twenties before I knew more about Woody than "This Land is Your Land". It's not that I had anything against Woody, it's just I hadn't been raised to his music. I really seriously began to listen to him in college. Other than Henry David Thoreau, no other imperfect, mortal individual has influenced my life and my philosophy more than Woody. That has made it especially thrilling to be involved as I am WITH the Guthrie Center in Pampa, knowing that even if my part in preserving...
After my "perfect day" on Wednesday, I finally got to start to sort through the haul yesterday (it will actually be awhile before I've totally calculated the haul). The main concern of mine was the laptop. I don't have a laptop, and I'm starting to need one. I have an HP that was given to me, but it has a bad power jack. We have a chance to save the machine by having a new jack soldered on (fortunately, I know exactly ONE person who's good enough at soldering to give it a real shot. One person, ...
For the casual reader, two pieces of background information help set this story up: 1) I am a tech geek; 2) I am a board member on the board for the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in Pampa, Texas. Today was the kind of day that you're morally compelled to write about. The very reason blogs exist. It started on Monday. The Network Administrator of a large company that does business in the area was at the school helping with the network. I spoke with him about my designs on some older machi...
Cap'n starkers, we need your help. We have commandeered a vessel on the high seas and hogtied the cap'n, who, by all reports, was stoned out of 'is ever lovin' mind. We've stowed a goodly quantity of Jamaica's finest rum aboard and we be awaitin' yer orders.<br><br> https://forums.joeuser.com/?aid=151910#1203979<br><br> We'll send the wenches below deck when you arrive wit' our orders. We be awaitin' yer able command!
The tired puppet master returned from another harrowing day. He was growing tired of the politics of it all. For what seemed like the thousandthe time, his nemesis, the Acrhduke of Toadberry, had attempted to upstage him with a fancy new show, using pyrotechnics and some newfangled marinettes (sic...extra credit, LW?). The handbills that were distributed liberally through the square advertised the show as a " wang-dang-doodle of family fun". As he reheated last night's eggplant parmesa...
Today's 21st century anthropology class will focus on the species known has homo cubiclus, the cubicle dweller. While cubicles were an invention of the 20th century, they increased in commonality and function in the 21st Century, when the world was ruled by the Borg collective under the illustrious leadership of Billgatus of the borg. (A typical cube farm, the habitat of homo cubiclus ) (21st century despot Billgatus of Borg) (an artist's rendering of homo java , a ...
The school year's almost up, and as much as I am exhausted, I am also exhilarated. I've proved something to myself, and, quite honestly, I've decided I enjoy being back in school. And something dharma said hit me. As she is mulling going back to become a doctor, she mentioned that with all the years of schooling, she'll still be older, she'll just be older with a degree. As I've thought long and hard about where I want to go from here, since I will have my associate's by the end of the yea...
This morning, on my way in to class, I made a detour. I picked up a box of Russell Stover chocolates and three Hallmark cards. I continued on to school and presented them to the school secretary for her and her two work study assistants. They gushed over them, especially since the Dean of the college had neglected to get them anything (It was Administrative Professional's Day, BTW). Now, some might consider this to be a generous act on my part, but I will make no bones about it. This is a lea...
OK, so I'm driving into class this morning and flipped on the radio station. Pretty decent playlist this morning, then they put on "Truckin'" by the Grateful Dead. Very nice. Until. The DJ. Starts. TALKING. OVER. THE. SONG!!!!!!! I was not happy. DJ's that talk over the songs they are playing should be first against the wall when the revolution comes. I found out right after that it was a lead in for a "song of the day" call in and they didn't want people thinking that was the time to call...
I was on a recent forum talking about a traffic stop. The guy being stopped was basically being a douche, from how the story was presented. But what got me were the replies. Several people wrote in that "you never argue with a cop". I have to take exception to that. The idea that police officers are some sort of unimpeachable authority, that they have unlimited rights and we're just supposed to sit there like timid sheep doesn't sit well with me. If a police officer asks me to do something h...
It looks so ominous: Link A line of T-storms off to the west headed this way. Yeah, it's part of living in this part of the country, but it's kinda cool and scary at the same time to WATCH the front moving in gradually. Now, those who know me know I LIVE for these kinds of things, so I'm hoping we get hit with a pretty decent maelstrom. I'm just wishing I could be out to chase it.