Downtowning It
Mom and I are downtown this morning at the main branch of the Dayton Metro Library. Within the last few minutes, the skies have darkened and a huge cloudburst has occurred. We hear the loud rumbles of thunder and the pelting of rain against the windows. It looks like it's night outside.
We had planned to go feed the parking meter in about 10 minutes, but I think I'll wait to see if the weather simmers down.
The Red Planet Approacheth
The Hubble telescope has been a busy photographer lately, especially in recent hours. Space.com reports that the Hubble telescope has produced the pictures of the red planet that have ever been made.
There is also a really cool, enlarged photo and corresponding write-up on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website.
I'm Missing Part of My Body
I have misplaced my day planner, which I tend to rely upon to bring some order to the otherwise chaotic life I lead. I realized this yesterday evening while at church, as we began to receive announcements about upcoming events.
This morning I looked upstairs and down, and I looked inside Mom's car, which I drove to work on Monday. No luck. Perhaps it's inside our car, which Jennie used to drive herself to work this morning. Or, maybe I accidentally left it at work.
Whatever the case, it feels like a part of my body is missing.
Bark in the Park! taken directly from the Ohio Basset Rescue Events Page:We would like to invite you to a dog event in the Miami Valley / Dayton area. On Saturday, September 27, the Second Annual Bark in the Park: A Festival for Dogs and the People They Own, will take place at the lovely Delco Park in the city of Kettering, Ohio.
I cannot remember when last year's Bark in the Park was, but I do remember blogging about it. Maybe June or August of last year?
Bark in the Park officially opens at 11:00am until 4:00pm (rain or shine) at Delco Park with free admission for dogs and families. Contests for everyday dogs and their owners, demonstrations, snacks for canines and humans, pet care seminars, and a “Flea Market” featuring products and services for canines are all planned.
At last years 2002 Bark in the Park, a little pup dressed as Raggedy-Ann trotted away with the top honors from the Costume Contest (also our most popular contest)! Dorothy and toto stopped by to accept first prize in the Celebrity Dog Look-Alike Contest, and the top dog in the Frisbee Contest nabbed the disc at 138 feet! The crowd at the Walker Auto Group Stage went wild for the Fashion Show, while the Cricket Green Poodle relaxed on the green Cricket Couch!
And All That Jazz!
I saw the movie "Chicago" today for the first time. Jennie bought it on DVD last Saturday, and, since I had the day off, I saw it, along with the extra features. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zelleweger, Queen Latifah, and Richard Gere all have tremendous talent!
I have the song "All That Jazz" going through my head right now. Not so much of a bad thing, except that those words are the only ones I remember! :) I'll get something else in there soon, though.
Long-Distance Email
I've mentioned my friend and brother in Christ, Steve, before. He's on the tail end of a 90-day stint in Biloxi, Mississippi, being retooled for his work in the USAF. He recently sent me an update:
Hello all,
I know that it has been at least two weeks since I have e-mailed people but have been PS2 addicted and passing the time with playing games and other things
here in Biloxi.
My last block test was about a week and a half ago, I got a 97 on that test, again, a stupid on my part negated me to get a 100. Well, I need some help. If
all of you could say a prayer for me for the next block test on Tuesday I would really appreciate it. I do not feel very comfy with the information. Things
are starting to run together and getting harder to understand. It is all new info for me so I am having to work harder.
Spent tonight working with XML editor to help build questions for this block to study for (who said that hardware networking people don't use software?). Should be done tomorrow, so will have the next 4 days to study like everyone else.
Went out with about 12 people for lunch tonight at a mexican resturaunt called Cucos. Really good food, great heart burn. A bunch of us are thinking about
going fishing the last weekend that we are here. More to come with that.
The laptop got struck with that MSblast virus, luckily the laptop survived, but will have to reload it, it's acting really screwy. Should be fun.
Well time for bed, so have a good day.
Take care and God Bless
Steve
More Library Blogging
Long time, no blogging. I'm at the library with Mom. It's been a long time since I've been on the Internet, so I'm here checking email along with the other stuff.
Let's see... 38 new messages in the Inbox... 105 new messages in the Bulk folder. I guess folks would like to keep in touch. I bet a lot of these are spam. I'm banking that most of the messages, if not all, in the Bulk folder are.
Be right back.
Library Blogging
I took the home PC to be serviced yesterday. The technician said it would be about 2 to 3 days before they could look at it and do the work. So, I'm still at the library, checking email, blogging, etc., in my one-hour timeframe.
Today Keisha is off school, so she's around here somewhere. I need to get off soon so that I can see whether she's tearing the place up.
I've updated my reading list. I've been doing a lot more of that, since I haven't had the computer available at home. I suppose that's a good thing, isn't it? I miss not being able to catch up with all the folks on my blogroll, though.
Phone Warrior
I heard this guy on the Bob and Tom Morning Show some time ago, and I need to see if the library has any of his CDs available.
[His first CD, Revenge on the Telemarketers] contains an especially memorable bit in which a burial plot salesman calls and Mabe announces he’s about to kill himself. After a few meager attempts to get him help, the salesman asks, “If I got the paperwork out to you this afternoon, do you think you could maybe hold off until tomorrow?”This guy is my hero.
Call for Officials!
Okay, gentle readers... Here's the deal. I want you to become an "Official" of this weblog. There is no real responsibility for the office you will hold, except that you stop by once in awhile, which you probably do already.
You get to choose the office you wish to hold, unless it has already been taken by someone else. For example, Mark Morris is the Official Iowan.
Today, I am pleased to announce the naming of two additional Officials. Today I name my Mom the Official Mom of Journey Inside My Mind because she's my Mom :D. IreneQ asked me to pick an office for her to hold, so I've come up with something that I think will fit nicely: the Official Introspectional Blogger. If you read her blog with any frequency, then you'll understand.
So, let's hear it for the Officials!
Super-Encouraging Sunday Service
Yesterday at church, two of the members who gave the message mentioned me as a great example of encouragement to them personally and to the church as a whole. I don't know what to do when this happens, except to thank them and try to be humble.
They approached me before service to ask me for some jokes to tell as part of their message. I'm encouraged that they are encouraged!
Also, things have been going well at work. We have a new head chef, who is making some needed changes in how the restaurant is run.
As I left work yesterday, I praised God. "People lift me up as an example of encouragement, but what I do pales in comparison to what you do. God, you are the Super Encourager!"
Our Dog Jake
... really needs to get neutered. We have concluded that he does not care whether the other dog is male or female: he is still "interested" (nice euphemism, huh?).
Like this morning, after Keisha left for school. I took Jake for a little walk without a leash in the little cul de sac area where we live. I'm glad I spotted the male poodle with his owner first and grabbed Jake's collar to hold on to him. The poodle's owner mentioned that the poodle prefers male dogs to female. I was slightly relieved to discover that Jake is not alone in his preference for dogs of the same sex.
Last Saturday we took him to my Dad's farm in Indiana, and he met Icky, short for Ichabod, who is a dog old enough to be Jake's grandfather. Let's just say that Icky made it very clear up front that he was not interested.
It was fun to watch the two of them interact. As Jake would get close to Icky, Icky would growl and start to chase after Jake. Jake, the much younger and faster dog, would get away unscathed, yet with his tail between his legs nevertheless.
Then, as I walked Jake around the farm, Icky followed. As Jake would "mark" his spots around the farm, Icky would follow up with "marks" of his own. While we humans were chatting, Jake and Icky would take turns marking the firewood pile, for example.
Silly dog.
Biblical Confirmation on Coffee?
From an email forum to which I subscribe:
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."
The husband said, " You are in charge of the cooking around here, and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."
The wife replied, "No you should do it, and besides it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."
The husband replied, " I can't believe that. Show me."
So she fetched the Bible, opened the New Testament, and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says:
"HEBREWS"
Unravelled
IreneQ's blog has not been updated since Thursday, July 24, 2003. I really miss her, and I have yet to come up with a title that would make her an Official of this blog.
Blogging in History, sort of
In the QuotesBlog Referrer Log, I found that someone had visited from the Creative Generalist blog. There is a post from Sunday, July 21, 2002 that refers to QuotesBlog this way:
Simple Sunday link: QuotesBlog The name says it all.
Library Blogging
Greetings from the Northtown-Shiloh branch of the Dayton Metro Library. I'm going to take our home computer to be serviced. I hope that they can get the computer to at least the state it was when we first bought it in December 1999.
Wow. December 1999. That's a lot of software updates ago. Once we get the computer home and get the Internet software loaded again, I'll be spending some time downloading the updates.
I can't think of much left to say in this particular post right now, so I guess I'll just stop.
A Blogging Experiment
I received an email from a Scott Nowson, who is doing PhD work in the UK. His thesis work is related to blogging, and he contacted me to participate in his experiment. Here are some links you may be interested in checking out:
The Official Iowan's New Home!
Mark C. Morris has moved his blog home to TypePad. Check out his new digs here:
http://exclamationmark.typepad.com/blog/
Look for the link to his blog to be updated in the blogrolls sometime in the future.
Clever Signs
On a Septic Tank ! Truck in Oregon:
Yesterday's Meals on Wheels
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On a Septic Tank Truck sign:
"We're #1 in the #2 business."
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Sign over a Gynecologist's Office:
"Dr. Jones, at your cervix."
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At a Proctologist's door
"To expedite your visit please back in."
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On a Plumber's truck:
"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.."
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On a Plastic Surgeon's Office door:
"Hello. Can we pick your nose?"
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At a Towing company:
"We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."
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On an Electrician's truck:
"Let us remove your shorts."
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In a Nonsmoking Area:
"If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action."
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On a door to a Maternity Ward:
"Push. Push. Push."
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At an Optometrist's Office
"If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."
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In a Podiatrist's office:
"Time wounds all heels."
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On a Fence:
"Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive."
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At a Car Dealership:
"The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."
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Outside a Muffler Shop:
"No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."
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In a Veterinarian's waiting room:
"Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"
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At the Electric Company:
"We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don't, you will be."
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In a Restaurant window:
"Don't stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up."
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In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
"Drive carefully. We'll wait."
********* *****************
And don't forget the sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop:
"Best place in town to take a leak."
Forwarded by Mom from Karen
Darwin Awards
In case you have been waiting breathlessly for this year's Darwin Awards, here they are. The awards this year are, once again, truly classic.
These awards are given each year to bestow upon (the remains of) that individual, who through single-minded self-sacrifice, has done the most to remove undesirable elements from the human gene pool. Just think... until these events, these same people were walking the streets like normal people.
5th RUNNER-UP
Goes to a San Anselmo, California man who died when he hit a lift tower at the Mammoth Mountain ski area while riding down the slope on a foam pad. The 22-year old David Hubal was pronounced dead at Central Mammoth Hospital. The accident occurred about 3 a.m., the Mono County Sheriff's department said. Hubal and his friends apparently had hiked up a ski run called Stump alley and undid some yellow foam protectors from lift towers, said Lt. Mike Donnelly of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department. The pads are used to protect skiers who might hit towers. The group apparently used the pads to slide down the ski slope and Hubal crashed into a tower. It has since been investigated and determined the tower he hit was the one with its pad removed.
4th RUNNER-UP
Goes to Robert Puelo, 32, was apparently being disorderly in a St. Louis market. When the clerk threatened to call the police, Puelo grabbed a hot dog, shoved it into his mouth and walked out without paying. Police found him unconscious in front of the store. Paramedics removed the six-inch wiener from his throat where it had choked him to death.
3rd RUNNER-UP
Goes to poacher Marino Malerba of Spain, who shot a stag standing above him on an overhanging rock and was killed instantly when it fell on him.
2nd RUNNER-UP
"Man loses face at party." A man at a West Virginia party (probably related to the winner last year, a man in Arkansas who used the .22 bullet to replace the fuse in his pickup truck) popped a blasting cap into his mouth and bit down, triggering an explosion that blew off hi lips, teeth, and tongue. Jerry Stromyer, 24, of Kincaid, bit the blasting cap as a prank during the party late Tuesday night, said Cpl. M.D. Payne. "Another man had it in an aquarium hooked to a battery and was trying to explode it." "It wouldn't go off and this guy said I'll show you how to set it off." He put it into his mouth, bit down and it blew all his teeth out and his lips and tongue off, Payne said. Stromyer was listed in guarded condition Wednesday with extensive facial injuries, according to a spokesperson at Charleston Area Medical Division. "I just can't imagine anyone doing something like that," Payne said.
1st RUNNER-UP
Doctors at Portland University Hospital said an Oregonman shot through the skull by a hunting arrow is lucky to be alive and will be released soon from the hospital. Tony Roberts, 25, lost his right eye last weekend during an initiation into a men's rafting club, Mountain Men Anonymous (probably known now as Stupid Mountain Men Anonymous) in Grants Pass, Oregon. A friend tried to shoot a beer can off his head, but the arrow entered Robert's right eye. Doctors said that had the arrow gone 1 millimeter to the left, a major blood vessel would have been cut and Roberts would have died instantly. Neurosurgeon Doctor Johnny Delashaw at the University Hospital in Portland said the arrow went through 8 to 10 inches of brain with the tip protruding at the rear of his skull, yet somehow managed to miss all major blood vessels. Delashaw also said that had Roberts tried to pull the arrow out on his own he surely would have killed himself.
Roberts admitted afterwards that he and his friends had been drinking that afternoon. Said Roberts, I feel so dumb about this." No charges have been filed, but the Josephine County district attorney's office said the initiation stunt is under investigation.
Now, THIS YEAR'S WINNER
(The late) John Pernicky and his friend, (the late) Sal Hawkins, of the great state of Washington, decided to attend a local Metallica concert at the George Washington amphitheater. Having no tickets (but having had 18 beers between them), they thought it would be easy to "hop" over the nine foot fence and sneak into the show.
They pulled their pickup truck over to the fence and the plan was for Mr. Pernicky, who was 100 pounds heavier than Mr. Hawkins) to hop the fence and then assist his friend over. Unfortunate for (the late) Mr. Pernicky, there was a 30-foot drop on the other side of the fence. Having heaved himself over, he found himself crashing through a tree. His fall was abruptly halted (and broken, along with his arm) by a large branch that snagged him by his shorts. Dangling from the tree with a broken arm, he looked down and saw some bushes below him. Possibly figuring the bushes would break his fall, he removed his pocket knife and proceeded to cut away his shorts to free himself from the tree.
Finally free, Mr. Pernicky crashed into holly bushes. The sharp leaves scratched his ENTIRE body and now, without the protection of his shorts, a holly branch penetrated his rectum. To make matters worse, on landing his pocket knife penetrated his thigh.
Hawkins, seeing his friend in considerable pain and agony, threw him a rope and tried to pull him to safety by tying the rope to the pickup truck and slowly driving away. However, in his drunken haste/state, he put the truck into reverse and crashed through the fence landing on his friend and killing him. Police arrived to find the crashed pickup with its driver thrown 100 feet from the truck and dead at the scene from massive internal injuries.
Upon moving the truck, they found John under it half-naked, scratches on his body, a holly stick in his rectum, a knife in his thigh, and his shorts dangling from a tree branch 25 feet in the air.
Congratulations gentlemen, you win...
Accuracy of the information contained within this post is unknown, but the stories are, in a way, entertaining anyhow. - DAJ
Where Have I Been?
Last Wednesday, August 6th, the hard drive on our home computer crashed. Since then, I've been working on backing up what we can salvage before we replace the hard drive. Also, I've learned that, unless I can shrink my hands and tools, I am not able to replace the hard drive myself. Even though I tried.
I'm learning a lesson from the school of hard-knocks about backing up. Fortunately, some stuff has already been backed up, either online or onto discs or diskettes.
I'm at the library branch close to home right now, checking email as I blog. Fortunately, most of it is spam that I can bulk delete. But there is a lot of it!
I've also been working a little at my new job and catching up on some reading.
What have you been up to? Oh yeah, I can read your blog to find out, huh? :)
Who's 'So Vain'?
Carly Simon is about to divulge the subject of her 1972 song, "You're So Vain." Unfortunately, only one man will know, and he doesn't appear willing to share the secret. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC sports and NBC Olympics, won the information in a recent charity auction to benefit Martha's Vineyard Community Services, which provides child care, counseling, substance abuse treatment services and visiting nurses to the community.
Ebersol said Simon gave him one clue about the man's identity that she said he could reveal: He has the letter "e" in his name.
That could be any of the chief suspects: actor Warren Beatty, whom Simon dated; Mick Jagger, who sang backup on the song; and her ex-husband, James Taylor.
Ebersol said he was happy to put up the cash for a secret he can't tell.
"It's a great cause and I wanted to make sure Carly didn't have to tell a total stranger," Ebersol said.
Tired
I got home from work a little after 1 AM this morning. I've heard of a process called "work hardening," and I think I'm going through it right now. New shift, new activity, and so forth. I enjoy what I do, and I look forward to doing it better. I like being new in that the customers give me a little bit of grace, and when I do something great, they really appreciate it.
I'm off until this Thursday, and I look forward to talking with the woman who hired me about getting onto a set schedule.
I'm still feeling tired, and I look forward to heading to bed soon.
I'm a funny guy!
I just came back from work. I thought I was supposed to be there at 11 AM, which was when I went in yesterday. A couple hours into the shift, I asked the server manager how to contact the woman who hired me, just to verify that I was supposed to be there. I found out that I'm not supposed to go in until 4PM today.
You know, that makes sense. When have you ever heard of a hotel bar open for lunch on Monday?
Electronic glove aims to translate ASL to speech
This is a fascinating article about a fascinating, experimental technology. Just as with cochlear implants, it's adding to the debate in the deaf community over whether a deaf person should take steps toward hearing and being able to communicate with the hearing community. It's touchy because many in the deaf community view their use of ASL as an intrinsic part of their culture. These individuals do not see their deafness as an impediment.
Isn't It A Bit Early for This Talk?
Mom mentions a conversation she had with Keisha, which became a bit of a "birds and the bees" talk. Wait a minute! She just turned 6!!!
H2 Create an RSS Feed With Notepad, a Web Server, and a Beer
This is a great article! I think that, at least for now, I'll have a beer.
Dancing with My Wife
I remember once, before Keisha was born, arriving home from work, only to find Jennie dancing up a storm to Bonnie Raitt's "Thing Called Love?" Without missing a beat, she forced me to dance with her. It was too cool. I'm not used to my wife doing spontaneous things like that.
Jennifer Garner Keeping 'Alias' Until '08
It looks like she'll be high-kicking for awhile. I look forward to the season premiere this fall, although I don't expect a complete explanation to the cliffhanger they gave us at the season finale.
Bookworm
Mom's kept the computer chair warm for me today, leaving me to finishing the book Sleepers, which I only bought last week at a used bookstore for $0.50. I started reading it yesterday morning after Keisha's bus came to take her to school. It was hard to put it down, and I was much more pleased that it ended somewhat happily. I do not recommend it for the faint of heart. The author, Lorenzo Carcaterra, is very graphic in his depiction of the horrific events that occurred at the Wilkinson School for Boys. I've been distracted from reading other books on my reading list until I'd finished this one. Now I want to see the movie again.
I haven't touched Angela's Ashes in several days, but I noticed yesterday that I'm about halfway through it. I appreciate Frank McCourt's keen sense of observation, even at an early age.
I was really encouraged today to find a book that Kathryn Lively had sent me. You may already be aware of my penchant for quotations. This book is one that was sent to her for review recently. It's called Values of the Wise: Profound and Witty Words of Wisdom from the Greatest Minds, by Jason Merchey. Thanks, Kat! You're AWESOME!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
by Daniel Johnson, Jr. & Jazzmania Productions
Keeping the 'fun' in dysfunctional
Everything written here is my personal opinion and not that of any employer, past or present.
