Quote O' The Day

Personal Knowledge Squared...


"It really sucks having evolved into being an "old fart" and having to explain to highly educated and credentialed idiots why they know absolutely nothing about what they are talking about..."

--Sir Virgil Rogers

Quote O' The Day

Listen And Learn


Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

-Sir Winston Churchill

Words To From The Wise

Genius Thought...Distilled Into Written Words


I was cruising around the Internet in a late night moment of insomnia, and found Thomas Sowell's latest article, entitled "Don't Get Weak"

Check it out...

Our education system, our media, and our intelligentsia have all been unrelentingly undermining the values, the traditions, and the unity of this country for generations and, at the same time, portraying as “understandable” all kinds of deviance, from prostitution to drugs to riots.

The home run records that made Babe Ruth famous have been broken but one of his records will probably never be broken — pitching the longest shutout in World Series history, 14 innings. Few pitchers go even nine innings these days.

“Global warming” seems to be joining “diversity,” “gun control,” “open space,” and a growing list of other subjects where rational discussion has become impossible — and where you are considered a bad person even for wanting to discuss it rationally.

I wish that I were THAT smart (and eloquent in my writing ability.)

New Engineering Job...Day ONE a Success

And The Boxes Were Still Waiting For Me When I Got Home


New Dell Computer with 22" monitor.

Premium Cubicle next to the Chief Engineer and President's office.

Lunch with the Operations Manager.

Turbo Pup kisses at the end of the work day.

Nice pasta dinner courtesy of Pat.

Big fat Cigar with a glass of Porto in the porch swing at sunset.

Who could ask for more?

UPDATE:

I almost forgot...The stupid auto transport company called and they're retrieving my Suburban from the driveway of our old house on our Little Island tomorrow afternoon.

With any luck it will be up here on the banks of the mighty Tennessee River sometime in Mid-May...Call me an optimist...

Distant Relatives Arrive For Short Visit?

Old Building Goes Home


Take a look at the goings on at my house this afternoon:







I'd like to tell you that you're looking at Gypsies hauling the world's largest outhouse, but in reality our neighbor Susan, the daughter of the man who built that cute little storage building next door in about 1965 was reclaiming it from the end of our driveway.

Apparently her Dad sold the building to the previous owner of our new house in the mid 1970's and it's resided here ever since. (She lives a few houses further down the road today.)

I was happy to give it to her and help her load it on the trailer behind the old "Hippie Wagon" because it saved me the trouble of cutting it apart with a chain saw and throwing it into a dumpster later this spring. I must admit that I was worried about the brakes on the old VW bus handling things going down our driveway, but they made it out of sight up the street and I washed my hands of any responsibility.

I guess that everyone was happy at the end of the day except the resident Groundhog who will probably have to relocate before Missy the Turbo Pup finds her/him and we have to call in a backhoe to dig her out of the hole located under the old foundation.

Twelve Dollar Pizza

And Last Vestiges Of Freedom

I was cranking around this morning doing some AutoCAD work on the California stack project when my camera caught my eye laying here on the coffee table. I've been holding it in my hand a little over the past week in an attempt to document our transition from our little Island to the shores of the mighty Tennessee River.

Here's a last look of the island house (with the now abandoned Suburban sitting in the driveway) as we pulled away for the last time:

and the approach to the bridge over the intercoastal:



with a teary eyed view looking north across the marsh:



Finally, here's a photo of last night's dinner, one of my patented home made pizzas...the first meal cooked in the new kitchen:


(double click on that photo and look at the enlarged image...hungry now?)

I was doing a little math in my head as I gazed lovingly at my culinary creation--awaiting it to cool off to a temperature somewhere below that of a thermonuclear explosion where it could be cut and handled onto plates--when I realized that I make a nice $12 pizza.

That's right, even working from "scratch", at home, with a pound of Mozzarella, green olives, black olives, a quarter pound of sliced pepperoni, a half pound of crumbled Feta Cheese, and portebella mushrooms on top of a chunky tomato sauce and bread flour based crust--if you ignore the three hours of labor to put it all together my pizza costs...

TWELVE DOLLARS.

Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup appreciate my efforts, and that's all that really matters to me.

Time to open some more boxes...

The Boxes Are Winning

But Computers Found


I'm happy to report that I managed to dig through the boxes labeled "office" and locate the balance of our server computer last night along with enough cables to get one of the printers working.

Thirty eight pages of technical specifications and a few spreadsheets later I was too tired to read any more or write anything clever early this morning, thus the late posting.

The rain finally blew out of here yesterday morning and the temperature dipped down into the upper thirty's over night, allowing me to test our old ceiling heat system and the heat pump. I was afraid to look at the weather forecast for our little island because the only thing left there besides my heart is my Suburban--endlessly stuck in "dispatcher hell" of the transport company.

Our impressions of Knoxville continue to evolve in a positive manner, but I almost feel guilty for liking the place after years ago committing to spending the rest of my life adjacent to the ocean.

I've got two more days of freedom left before re-entering the confides of a 9 to 5 workplace, something I haven't done since 1989. I learned from the human resources manager yesterday that I'm eligible to work four ten hour days, every other week, giving me a three day weekend twice a month.

My response was "heck yeah...where do I sign?"

Now I guess it's back to the land of mystery boxes as I finish up the kitchen and office arrangement...and of course the obligatory trip to Lowe's and Home Depot to buy more stuff I'll have to pack up and move again in the future.

When will I ever learn?

Rainy Day In Georgia Tennessee

Boxes Have My Full Attention...


Pat and I are starting to think that someone is sneaking into our new house at night and delivering extra boxes while we're asleep.

We've made the obligatory visit to Home Depot and/or Lowe's every day (usually both) and as a result the kitchen is in good shape, we have a livable living room, and the master bedroom is usable although there are still piles of clothes and linens laying around needing attention.

Needless to say my Blogging is suffering, but in the mean time, check out this video:



If you like it, go to their website http://www.animusic.com/ and buy something...I have to go open boxes now...