Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v.3.02

Investigative Mind

My favorite moments are taking someone's question about why something went wrong that is not completely obvious and looking at all the data available to me to find out why the problem exists. Probably a shrink would call it something like an Investigative Mind. That is what gets me up in the morning. Things I have already figured out and have to spend precious time repeating? Annoying. Things I just can't solve? Frustrating. Those little mysteries that I can solve and help that one person accomplish makes my job worthwhile.

Fever Dreams

Woke up really tired this morning. Could not bring myself to go into work (that and could not find my glasses). At about 15 minutes after I should have already left to get to work on time, I realized I should go take another shower as I'd been sweating so much.

From attempting to go to sleep at 11AM to getting up 9 hours later, I drifted from one whacked out dream sequence to another. Snatches of my recollection include car chases, running through the woods, talking with a really hot brunette, and jumping from an exploding airplane. Pretty sure there was more, but they escape me hours later.

Fever broke this afternoon. Still tired.

Wedding, Burned, Turning Points

Congrats to Angie and John soon to be married. They make a such great couple.

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Last night Mom made a funny. The bill came.

M: "Whose turn is it?"

E: "Think I paid last time."

M: "No, [your brother] paid last time."

E: "That's right. Have to keep track of who paid last with 6 different people."

M: "Where your PDA?"

E: "Public Display of Affection?"

M: ... My brother and his girlfriend are laughing ... "Well, maybe you need some of that too."

My mom burned me. Is nothing sacred in this world any longer?

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Eks was down in the dumps. Treated him to lunch yesterday and dinner the night before. Anyway, at lunch we were talking and he mentioned his. Thought about that hard last night. Think there are some pretty defining moments of my life. Won't talk about most of them... sorry. Here is one I don't mind mentioning:

• 1979 - pneumococcal meningitis
  Contracted pneumococcal meningitis which put me in a coma for weeks. Surviving a life threatening disease such as this without signs of brain damage (about 1/2 do) is well on the side of fortunate. Having know that I had and survived was frequent rationalizationt that I cannot get sick. Other than this, I have only been in the hospital 3 other times: umbilical hernia, broken arms, removing pin from 1 broken arm (physical defects or trauma not disease).

  I also have an unhealthy fear of hospitals, doctors, nurses, needles and anything medical. Took an hour to compose myself before going to get the shot I had to get to go to college. The hour before, I had decided just not to go to college. Ironically, I enjoy watching ER. Not the same as being in a hospital and has not improved my humor concerning being in one.
  

Sniffle Cough

Knocking on wood doesn't work. Bragged about not having gotten my normal allergies in a couple years. Couple weeks latter, I can't shake them.

The meds make me a little woozy. Don't quite have the reaction time to which I am accustomed. Ugh. Me. Tired. Need. Nap.

People dote on things they

People dote on things they read in the news. For example, the recent CCIA comments about how computer security bites. Of course, Microsoft is to blame for having a monopoly.

Agreed... Microsoft security sucks. Agreed... alternatives would make hacking just a little more difficult. In my opinion the source is just as important as the message. Biased groups make statements that are biased. Admittedly, I should not allow that to cloud my judgement based on formal rules of logic.

Free Lunch

Eks won free lunch off the radio. Apparently his knowledge of pop trivia paid off for once.

Have I Changed?

Take A Picture, It'll Last Longer

No less than 5 people have looked so much like someone I knew that I almost said, "Hi." One particularly poor fellow got stares as I convinced myself that it could not possibly the professor I took so long ago. The prof would have recognized me.

Act. Tired. Must. Sleep.

Back In The Groove

For having the job title, Webmaster, I really do not do all that much in the way of web design. Mostly, I take the content people give me and put it in existing templates I created long ago. People find it amazing I can do that so quickly. Well, it is copying and pasting text with a touch of making the layout just right.

Yesterday, I got in a mood. Started working on instructions for publishing with FrontPage to a web server with FrontPage Extensions. Took a look at a page on our site that just squeezed me wrong. Realized that it is the same site that was here even before I came to work here 4 years ago. The page has never been easy to understand. So I trashed it. Started on a new one and realized that over a year ago I had started a new one and never completed it. So I put that one online. At least there is something out there. This morning I have been revising, rephrasing, etc..

Feels good to tear apart my work and berate at my incompetance. "What was I thinking? That is not even close!"

Papercut

Have a papercut on the bottom of my left index finger. Only reason I noticed, is I started typing. Not a good start to the day, I think.

Bad Things

Yesterday, I had a gut feeling all day that something bad would happen. First prospects... Tensions at work, ate lunch with Eks, my brother drove, we went to a football game, friend was intoxicated, we were hanging out with a rebellious female, etc..... Nothing happened that really made me feel worthy of the unsettled feeling.

This morning, the feeling was still there. Had me feeling kind of bad. Have had these feelings before. The last time was the day my cousin's grandfather died a few years ago.

Found out this morning his wife died yesterday. Will really miss her. Feel that I did not spend enough time with her over the years. One of the best afternoons I can recall was sitting with her one afternoon back in early 1995. We just talked about any and everything. She was the last of my surrogate grandmothers to pass away.

My father's parents passed away before I was born. My mother's father passed away before I was born. So by blood, I have had only had the one grandmother. Aunts of my father stepped into the role of grandmother for me. We lost one in the mid 90s and the other a few years ago. Losing them was very hard to handle.

Thought I could handle chatting and hanging out online. Starting to think too much. Need to go vegetate, I think. Definitely will not take a long drive and think. That should wait until I have had time to digest this.

Alias

My one spurge for the month was to buy the Alias: Season One DVD set.

Have been watching them off and on over the past several days. Obviously somehow missed the first 1/4 of the pilot episode because I didn't remember any of it.

Still think it is a good TV series. Even knowing these "shockers" before they happen, I still find it interesting to watch. The weird part is I don't get cable or satellite. Have the bunny ears on top of my TV to pull down ABC, NBC, UPN, and FOX. Watching it in DVD quality is so much better than the fuzzy quality I normally get.

TBI

Have photos of TBI. Instead of putting the here individually, I made a gallery.

TBI 2003

Went to the Tennessee Baha'i Institute again this year. Was fun. Not as fun as back in the day. Still really enjoyed being with so many other Baha'is. Do not get to do that all that often.

One of the workshops spoke about the various forms of Baha'i Writings and getting a grasp on interpreting some of the more mystic writings. Mysticism has always been interesting to me. Actually, the paranormal has always be interesting. Astrology, Tarot, Palm Reading, Phrenology, Mythology, etc. have all been a topic under investigation at one time or another. Of course, I like having as much information in my possession as possible. Corollating information from multiple independent sources is the strongest evidence of truth to me. Mysticism is suitably difficult to interpret except in hindsight... much like paranormal skills.

This TBI had the fewest people I've known from previous attendances. That is okay. Got to meet lots of new people.