Category Archives: News

Things, Goings On, and Stuff I write

Free/Busy

Ironically I’ve been working on a calendar project at work and my schedule is about to get funky. That is to say we’re heading to Indiana tomorrow night and I’ll be away from home until the 30th. This means that I won’t be working (as much – I’ll probably keep checking my work email to keep catastrophe at bay), I’ll be playing and that Indiana better watch out because there will be three and a half Petermans [Petermen?] coming to wreak havoc on what was once a peaceful civilization. Much like the conquistadores we bring horses [read: My Little Ponies], disease [read: an allergy to corn] and strange foreign tradition [read: I have a gas grill and my father-in-law uses charcoal]. However, we’ll have a good time and it is possible that if we have Chinese food my father-in-law and I will [lightly and humorously] argue over how to pronounce “General Tso’s Chicken” Apparently the Chinese built the railroad in the West but never made it to Indiana to integrate with the Indy culture there 😉

The Insect Formerly Known as Wasp

I got bit by a wasp today. I was getting the long lost lawn mower out of the shed and as I did so the wasps, who had decided my shed was a good place for their home and that I was invading their home. One flew into my shirt and bit me twice before I ripped it off of me [the shirt, and therfore the wasp]. So after dinner I went to Home Depot, bought some wasp killer and then went home and killed the wasps. This of course means that there are fewer White Anglo-Saxon Protestants Web Standards Project Members winged insects in the world, but they are also not biting me.

Oh, and just because I’m a ‘bug killa’ I bought some ant traps as well. The spiders I’ve been breeding just don’t seem to be keeping up.

Yankee Clipper

So this morning I got up bright and early. This of course was due to something that wakes me up that starts with the letter ‘A’ but is not an Alarm Clock. Abby came in between 5:70 and 6:10. I think that’s what time it was because I sure as heck didn’t want to get up. But I got up eventually and we went out and watered the plants. Well, I set her to watering the plants while I trimmed the rose bushes. That’s a good plan, right? Having your two year old spraying the plants, house, sidewalk, windows, ants and anything else near her with water? What on earth could be wrong with shotting pressurized water at delicate petals at point blank range?

So I clipped the shrubs picked some weeds and generally made a P. Allen Smith of myself. Of course P. Allen Smith’s flowers are in better shape and he probably knows exactly whats wrong with his roses when they get spots on them, but for me, I’m ignorant and I’m going to have to ask someone who knows. Then, after I had finished clipping I actually watered the rest of the plants. The plants that were starting to wilt in sheer jealousy because Abby had started flooding the sidewalk while their dirt was dry. The plants that have frankly amazed me with their durability since they’re still alive at our house. Yes, those plants got watered. Tough luck for the plants in the back yard, but I’ll get to do them tomorrow.

Gasp! Actors are Real People!

As this headline points out: Actor Pitt admitted to hospital. Holy Cow! Can you imagine they actually let actors into hospitals for things other than rehab? This is huge news and we all need to get ready to send Brad cards, flowers, and Billy Bob Thornton should send him various pieces of Angelina Jolie’s wardrobe that he’s still hanging onto.

What will we do with sick actors? They will have to take days off from visiting their villas, filming their multi-million dollar movies and generally playing up the hedonistic lifestyle that we imagine they have. Those doctors better hurry up and fix him. Stat!

One Thousand

This is my one-thousandth blog post [don’t let the wordpress ID’s fool you]. Since I’ve got a lot of readers that have been reading for some time what are your favorite posts (or favorite post if you endure this blog but don’t like any of my writing but one piece)? I’m proud of some of the things that people search for on the ‘net and get to my site for, and there are other things that I’m not so proud of (but do at least find amusing).

A Switch Draws Nigh

We’re frustrated with our local phone company and their long distance service. We’re moderately pleased with their DSL service. However, when we moved they wanted to charge us $100.00 for relocating our DSL service. Jessica called and raised all sorts of noise and they eventually reduced it to $9.99. Why they can charge that much and get away with it is beyond me. Why they can drop it by such a huge percentage is also beyond me. We’re looking to switch to Comcast’s cable internet connectivity and then switching to Vonage so that we can start singing the annoying ‘hooting’ song from their commercials.

Anyone got any reasons why we shouldn’t do that? Is the service of either of these companies bad?

Pardon my Pordcast Vs. RSS Issue

Dear readers – I am certain that you’re familiar with the fact that this blog has existed in one form or another since 1999. Surviving the year 2000 issue, surviving the switch to web standards, and surviving several moves it is now going to survive another change: The Pordcast will be staying on this site until further notice. I’m sure that most of you don’t care, but for some reason people who run Podcasting sites just don’t appear to get it. For example, PodcastAlley assumes that the RSS 2.0 feed for this site each RSS item has an MP3/Audio file attached, as well as also assuming that each entry only has one enclosure. This is wrong and whoever assumed that should be beaten with a wet noodle.

So, I’ve changed the name of this blog to ‘the Pordcast’ because these very same folks, including Apple in iTunes 4.9, seem to want to use the RSS feed for the value of the title. This isn’t wrong, it just means that if I want ‘The Pordcast’ called ‘The Pordcast’ I have to change the blogs name. Sorry for the inconvenience… move along, there’s nothing to see here. Or maybe there is 🙂

Neighborhood

I used to write blog posts about the neighbors that lived above us but now we’re living in an actual housing development with real live yards and some different issues. Before I had to worry about noises such as loud fighting – now I have to worry about my neighbor who barbecues and fills the air with fantastic smells that make me hungry even if I’ve just eaten. I’ll have to find out what he’s marinating and grilling and further the issue for neighbors around us.

We also went down to the Anderson’s this evening after taking a walk and playing at the local school’s playground and sat on their front porch enjoying fellowship and good conversation. We’re truly blessed to live here and to have good neighbors and friends.