In the Porridge

I've been in A Mood all morning. 

Well, the rain falls down without my help, I'm afraid 
And my lawn gets wet though I've withheld my consent 
When this gray world crumbles like a cake 
I'll be hangin' from the hope 
That I'll never see that recipe again

• The boy was slow to get out of bed.
• The traffic was awful.
• I am literally bellyaching.
• My neck is stiff.
• I was just on the phone with my dental insurance company, and a chipper computer told me, "Your unique individuality is what makes you you!"

Back to this again.

My Dream for the Future

I want to be a job creator.  I will get a lease on some retail space and hire a bunch of surly young people.  My shop will be called, "GET THE #=(( OUT OF MY STORE!"  I will completely take advantage of the at-will provisions of my state's employment law, and I will provide no product or service that people want.

I will also be incredibly scrupulous about following the letter of any regulation so I keep the gubmint off my back.

This will only work if I am already independently wealthy, though.  I suck at business plans.

Overtime vertime time ime

Son, by virtue of being in the marching band, is also in the basketball pep band.  They are to play at the half and end of the JV games and the beginning and end of the varsity games.  Tonight, I sat up waiting for him to get home.  At 9:30, which is when our household starts winding down for bed, I texted him to ask him when he'd be home.  Then I waited.


Around 9:45 I got a text that the battery in the truck was dead and that he needed a jump.  The school is two miles as the crow flies, but about six miles as the wolf walks, and those six miles involve traffic lights.  When I got there, Son and Ashton were sitting in the car.  Son had been planning to give Ashton a ride home.  Ashton lives about a half mile from the school, and Ashton's mom showed up just as I did, but evidently, she "doesn't jump cars."

Now he's finally in bed, and I'm planning to copy my roadside assistance card tomorrow.

Le Cauchemar Peu

Last night, I dreamed that Son got a speeding ticket near where my grandmother lives.  As some sort of driving improvement program, we needed to attend a city council meeting for the town where she lives.  Then I ripped up his license so my insurance wouldn't go up.

That's a far cry from the nightmares of my childhood.

See the Doctor Now

I can recommend Doc Martin on Netflix.  It's a big-city-success-goes-back-to-small-town-roots story.

The Only Water in the Forest is the River

The other day, neighbor Rusty called me to ask for my help in getting his new Blu-Ray player attached to his home network, because he signed up for Netflix, and he wants to be able to stream to his teevee in addition to watching movies on his laptop.  I went over, thinking it would be a quick job, as I always think, erroneously, when I go over to Rusty's to help with "computer" things.

I was the one that set up his wireless network, so it should have been pretty easy - connect the player to the wi-fi network with the right password, and then connect it to the Netflix account, right?  Well, that would be true if the Blu-Ray player had the wi-fi hardware built in.  It did not, but you could buy a USB adapter for only $49.99!  I went ho0me and grabbed a USB wi-fi doodad from my own collection, but that didn't work.  Of course.

Rusty let me off the hook for a while and went out to run errands, which included giving an earful to the sales drones at the place where he bought the device.   I went home and advised him to call me when he got the right hardware.

Later that evening, he called to let me know that he had acquired the right thing.  It was a pair of devices that connect wiredly to the router and to the Blu-Ray player and wirelessly between them.  A few minutes later, we had the whole thing up and running.

Then Rusty asked me if everyone else was home.  I indicated that they were, and he said that he needed to get something over to my house.  I was a bit suspicious of the end result, but I accompanied him back to my house, with him carrying a mysterious package.

We got into the house, and Rusty unveiled an inflatable canoe that he found on some auction site for a few bucks.  He wants us to use it in the new pond.  I think we should go out looking for a narcoleptic Peruvian.

Video Vriday - Sixth Grade

Son's high school band director also directs the sixth grade band at Small Town Elementary School.  Here's a video of the sixth-graders in concert from Wednesday.

Feedback

I've been told I was diplomatic today. 

I was running a meeting of a diverse group of people with strong ideas that clashed, and evidently, everyone felt heard and acknowledged.  Chalk one up for me.

PIPA

No PIPA.  No SOPA.

Spielen mit Deutsch

There's a guy here that has NO INSIDE VOICE that is talking right now.  He keeps saying "spoof login," but he's pronouncing it as though it is "spüflagen."