2008.06.17
Today's Market Place on public radio carried a bit about a guy who couldn't sell his monster SUV so he could buy a smaller car. Well duh! This is a replay of the early seventies. Are you old enough to remember that. You couldn't give a pickup with a V8 away. I bet if gas comes down to $3.50 in a few years you'll see the monsters again. All folks have to do is get used to it. I fear this country will never learn. This week I heard on the radio a guest on a talk show say "when girls quit screwing guys in big trucks, they'll quit driving them". So it's up to you girls to save the planet :-)
2008.06.07
I'm writing this with Bluefish, a quite capable HTML editor on Wubi. Wubi installs Ubuntu in a file in Windows. It does mess with your boot menu but eliminates the risk involved with repartitioning. The only reason I need Windows is Flight Simulator and I am trying to ween myself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time learning about flight simming but the virtual airline I was affiliated with went out of business and the new one I signed up with didn't give me credit for the over three hundred hours I had accumulated. Let's face it, at fifty six I'm not going to take flight lessons. Besides, the newest version of Flight Simulator only runs on Vista and there I draw the line. If it were not for Vista and Flight Simulator I could get by with one of the new low powered computers like the EeePc and the new desktop machine they're going to make. So it's Linux for me.
2008.06.01
Been reading more than writing lately so I decided to keep track so I'll not get the same book twice. Look on the right and click reading.
2008.05.24
At times I am surprised at how pathetically stupid the people I work for are. "Hay look at this cool thing called the Internet, we can get free advertising there". You know folks, when you are using the Internet for advertising, you better buy all the keywords. Look at what happened to 'lil old VB, they didn't even buy their own name.
2008.05.16
It's not often I devour a book in two days but that's just what I did last Friday and Saturday. "The Thing About Life is That One Day You'll Be Dead" by David Shields is well worth the read if you, like me, are on the backside of middle age. I was so impressed, I sent the author an email expressing my appreciation to which he promptly replied. This book will help you understand what's going on during your inevitable slide toward your "final reward". Don't get me wrong, this book book doesn't sugar coat it, but it may just answer some questions you never asked. It answered some of mine. Oh yea, I read it on my Kindle.
2008.05.12
I think I've maybe gotten to the bottom of the mysterious ailment I had week before last. Starting a few years ago ,while I still lived on the farm, I would cut the grass then get the sneezes and a runny nose. I asked the Doc if she thought it was allergies since I had never had them in my life. She said many people developed allergies as they got older. From then on I took an antihistamine before cutting the grass. I guess I forgot all about that while I was living in the apartment for two years. As the recent illness was subsiding, I couldn't shake the stuffies and the runny nose. Then I remembered the antihistamine. I took a dose and eureka! I must remember to ask the Doc if that is what it could have been. If so, I'll need some industrial strength doses next Spring.
2008.05.07
I hate to break it to you folks, but the race is rigged by the two nationwide crime families called the republicans and the democrats. I'm just so over it.
2008.05.01
So I was off work all last week. I thought I had the flu but a visit to the Doc last Wednesday ruled that out. She asked about the symptoms, checked me over and said it wasn't the flu but had no idea what it was! Still, I was sick indeed. Screaming lower back pain which came on after two days in bed with a fever and congestion. She said she could treat the back pain and come back in a few days if I didn't feel better. I took the rest of the week of and went to work on Monday. The whole idea that she didn't know what was wrong is a bit unsettling, but her honesty is why I like her. Some other Docs would have guessed and prescribed some pills which may or may not have done any good but never have admitted they were stumped. I am lucky to have found her.
2008.04.20
So I received a pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday. My real estate appraisal didn't change. I'm sure it would be a great help to my fellow employees at the city if their's didn't either. We're back to the "economy is slow, so token raises for all of you" just like the last time construction was slow. As I've always said, the city has all the money for what it wants to spend on, it all comes down to choices.