EmOverload

There is a style of ‘rock’ music called ’emo’, which is short for emotional. It is a label used to describe rock music that is emotional in contrast to rock musical that is not emotional. I suppose that you could make that contrast if you were comparing Britney Spears to Nine Inch Nails, but I generally equate music with emotion. Anyway, I bought an album by a band called “House of Heroes” due to hearing a few of their songs. Unfortunately the album drones on after a while. But what I’ve noticed is that all emo bands tend to wear me out. By the time things are over I’m ready to listen to something else because the sound never changes on the album. I used to think country music was like that, but I was wrong, Emo out monotonizes other music that I’ve exposed myself at present with the exception of some of the electronica that I’ve heard.

However, with iTunes shuffling my playlist I don’t get burned out on too much anymore. Other than some of the goofy clips I’ve got on there.

Splinter

While in Washington [state!] over the holidays I helped install a beautiful wood floor at my in-laws. I got one splinter in my left ring finger tip. That little piece of wood has been in me for more than a month and it has been irritating me. This morning if finally came out of me and it was like a limp noodle when I pulled it out. My body had had enough of its craziness and decided that playing the guitar was way more important than hurting.

Sure, I could have pulled it out earlier, but I’m not a big fan of needles and tweezers digging into my flesh for a small piece of wood. Heck, it wouldn’t even help start a fire let alone be worth doing anything else but throwing away! So, I just let my body do its thing until they come out. Yes, I could get an infection and lose my finger. Yes, I could have the splinter work its way through my body and come out of my head 30 years down the road. But most of the time, to my knowledge, my body just rejects them and pushes them back out.

And I’m OK with that.

Happy Birthday to Becky Katzorke

Happy Birthday to Becky, my really, really, really old younger sister. She’s 23 today. So if she’s really, really, really old then I guess that makes me parents nearly dinosaurs and my grandparents must have been friends with Adam and Eve when they were younger. Or I could be blowing things out of proportion.

Either way, happy birthday Becky Jane.

Princess Diana’s Maiden Name

Tonight we had some company so that we could get to know some folks from Bible study. We played the game ‘Battle of the Sexes’ after dinner (Abby tried to help but quickly lost interest). In that game the guys get asked questions oriented slightly more towards women, and the women get more masculine questions. Or at least that’s the way the game is marketed. Ben, one of our guests, was paired with me, and Kate, his girlfriend and our other guest, was paired with Jessica. The gals made us look like the Denver Broncos playing the Steelers. We lost pretty bad. However, good fun was had by all and I learned that Princess Diana’s maiden name was… Oh, heck, I forget – I guess you’ll have to look it up.

Ye Olde Footballe

Today I had a brief party at my house wherein we watched some [American] football and consumed food. The food was good, I’ve had better football. The Denver Broncos, our home team, played so well that they gave a great demonstration of what not to do, while the Pittsburg Steelers (where, apparently I have some family heritage. No, not in steel, but Pittsburg) rocked the socks off of the locals. Yes, it was much like beating a dead horse.

Then, to make sure that my brother-in-law and his wife would have a good laugh saying, “Seattle is better than Denver,” the Seattle Seahawks spanked the Carolina Panthers. That is to say that the Panthers lost even worse than the Broncos. I didn’t know that two teams could be in the playoffs and have their playing be so off! Hey, at least the Colts, where my father-in-law is from, Indianapolis, weren’t playing… then it would be like a family feud, and we can’t have that.

Oh, and the Broncos did have a severe disadvantage this game: they hadn’t lost any other home game this season which put them at a near absolute situation where they would lose. I blame statistics and not the fact that Jake Plummer threw two interceptions and fumbled – its all in the numbers.

Tech Support

My uncle is a former programmer turned Pastor/Elder at a church in Norther California. I sent him a funny MP3 about doing tech support and he said it reminded him of a situation he was in.

Eric Peterman: One woman called me screaming that the state report wasn’t working. After a series of questions I determined that….
Eric Peterman: All semester long she hadn’t been entering any student records in!
Randy Peterman: Oh NO!
Eric Peterman: Another called to complain that “it wasn’t working.”
Me: Have you started the program?
her: Program…
Me: Yes, the Selpa Manager Program. Have you started it?
her: Started it…
Her: How do I start it?
Me: Uh, you double click on it?
Her: Double-Click on it…
Me: Yes, to start it you click it with the mouse.
Her: Um, mouse?
Me: Yes, on the desktop.
Her: The stapler is on the desktop and my cofee. There is no mouse!
Randy Peterman: This appears to only get worse!
Eric Peterman: Yes!
Eventually I got down to:
Me: Is the computer on?
Her: On?
Randy Peterman: Ha ha ha!
Eric Peterman: Needless to say, she got quickly promoted within the district and we got someone much more competent and at a lower pay.

You have to love real life, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Snow-Brainer

OK. There is about 2 inches – maybe 3 – of snow on the ground. Denver is devastated because people don’t know how to drive on the snow. I’ve got a dental appointment in about a 2 hours and I’m probably going to have to leave one hour from now due to goofy road conditions. So here is a list of appropriate driving approaches when you’re driving in the snow for the few readers who find snow driving difficult to grasp:

  1. Drive slowly. Your reaction time will be useless on slick or icey roads.
  2. Pump your breaks if you start sliding. That is don’t just put your foot on the floor assuming that you will stop sliding due to a greater amount of fear.
  3. Turn into a slide. That is if you turn left and your back end starts sliding out from behind you turn your stearing wheel to the right to straighten out and gain control.
  4. Did I mention slow down?

There. Those aren’t hard, but when you’re in an out of control situation having those reactions is not logical, so try to keep your wits about you and leave early, drive slowly and be respectful of the road condition.

Eye, Eye, Captain!

I am going to the eye doctor soon. This scares me because I think that my eyes are fine. I think that I can see well. But the truth is that I know they will tell me that my vision is not 20/20 or some number telling me that I can see through walls and burn down buildings with the lazers that shoot out of my eyes.

Will glasses make me look sexy like Clark Kent or will they make me look like an old codger? Of course I may not need glasses, but I’m sure not going to wear contacts – I would go blind poking my eyes before they went in easily.

A Fart in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bathroom

If you want to know what kind of lasting impression you have left on the mind of a youth, just wait until they buy you a Christmas present. Yesterday we had a belated Christmas celebration with our friends the Kaes’. Ironically Trystan got me ‘potty putty’ which is this goopy stuff that is in a plastic toilet that when manipluated with your fingers creates farting sounds. So while some people participated in constructing Trystan’s life and making it better I apparently contributed fart humor. Which is fine by me, it could have been a worse contribution, I’m sure 🙂

Thanks Trystan and for sharing your life with us!

Auto-Focus

So today a man at the zoo kindly offered to take a picture of Jessica, Abby and I. Evie was asleep in the stroller so we let her keep sleeping.

My stinking digital camera has a ‘powerful’ auto-focus feature. You’ll notice how powerful it is below.

Auto Focus Snafu

At least the elephant was doing something fun.