- Boo got in trouble at school today for offering one of his buddies $15 if he would push the button to open the handicapped door as they were going into the chapel.
- So, that happened.
- Where do they come up with this?
- When trying out a new jam cake recipe, it is probably a good idea to make a single batch before trying to make a double batch.
- In other news, a jam cake made with homemade apple butter is pretty much the equivalent to an applesauce spice cake.
- With caramel fudge icing
- I had to remind Girlie Bear tonight that “Please make coffee in the morning.” does not mean make herself a single cup of coffee and leave her poor old father high and dry.
- I’m listening to the 1981 Star Wars radio drama. It’s interesting, and they went more in-depth on certain aspects of the story than you get in the movies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
- They do, however, linger a lot more on the burgeoning… infatuation between Luke and Leia. In retrospect, it’s even creepier than the movies.
- Did it ever occur to anyone in the Rebel Alliance that R2D2 had not only brought the plans for the Death Star, but had also been roaming the Imperial network for a while?
- Also, did nobody in the entirety of the Alliance ever look at Luke and say “Skywalker? Hey, I remember your father. He was all over the vid screens during the war. Good man. Shame about how he turned out.”
- I’m alpha reading for someone while I wait on beta readers. I’ve said “I wish I’d written that” so often it’s becoming a mantra.
- When we have met multiple times over multiple months, exchanged emails, and spoken about a thing several times in passing, use of the “First time I heard of it” defense when I try to actually do the thing causes your co-worker to have a blood pressure event.
All posts in category Thought for the day
Musings
Posted by daddybear71 on January 26, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/26/musings-179/
Cynical Musings
- The technology world is full of people who want to be artisans and craftsmen. Unfortunately, what we need are more mechanics and janitors.
- It is rather difficult to do research for one book while the characters from another book are yelling in your ear. There may be a slight deviation from my planned order of publication.
- Death by Powerpoint is preferable to Death by Project Planning.
- Either the truck in front of me on the drive home was brining the road in anticipation of snow tonight, or someone just cleaned out a septic tank.
- Did you ever notice that very few of the people who say “I would have joined the military, but I can’t imagine being told what to do all the time.” are self-employed?
- For the record, I do not care why you didn’t join the military, because I don’t care if you joined the military.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 20, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/20/cynical-musings-3/
Cynical Musings
- Last night, the President and First Lady invited a few bleeding-heart meat puppets, a gun-grabbing parasite, and an empty chair, which apparently symbolized the President’s father’s involvement in his formative years, to listen to him give an inconsequential speech.
- With all due respect to Governor Hailey, the ‘siren call” of anger is attractive because a lot of us are tired of picking Jack Johnson or John Jackson, and a little bomb throwing makes for a little hope that things might go a different way. Not saying I want Donald Trump in the Oval Office, but I do want someone who’s willing to punch the opposition in the nose.
- I better get points for refraining from telling a person I talked with today that their mama needed to be slapped for not being diligent about birth control.
- If you’re buying $600 worth of lottery tickets and putting it on a credit card, please don’t get pissy when you hear my eyeballs roll into the back of my head.
- Taking the ‘winnings’ from your scratch-off ticket to buy a Powerball chance is not ‘reinvesting’.
- The news says that 27 cents of every dollar spent on the Kentucky lottery goes to the state for scholarships. By the time overhead, administrative costs,
theftmagical disappearing money, and the governor’s criminal defense fund take their cuts, 8 cents goes to scholarships. Don’t you feel better?
Posted by daddybear71 on January 13, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/13/cynical-musings-2/
Musings
- I learned a couple new things this weekend:
- Turn on a movie he likes and hasn’t seen in a long time, then tell him that he can watch it with you when his room is clean, and he will finish in record time.
- Take away every piece of electronics owned by a teenage girl and tell her to clean her room to earn them back, and her room will not only be done quickly, but also better than it’s ever been done before.
- Three of my four football teams played in the playoffs today. This makes for a good day.
- Boo learns words he shouldn’t repeat at school when he sits and watches the Vikings with me.
- If your team loses a critical game because of your stupidity, you should have to run laps around the stadium while the fans throw empty beer cans at you. Just saying.
- This is not a dig on a player who makes an honest mistake. This is for the jackasses who decided to hand a close game to the other team because they’re jackasses.
- We had our first french toast emergency this weekend. After a long stretch of warm weather, the temperature plunged, the rain froze on the roadways, and snow covered it. I expect to have to saddle up the mastadon to get to work tomorrow.
- I think Derby might have started life with a family that had a baby. Girlie Bear pulled an old baby doll out of her closet while she was cleaning her room and Derby immediately started wagging her tail and wanting to sniff the baby.
- I guess we’re a strange family. When Boo came to us to complain that the blade in his toy sword was loose in the hilt, I suggested he play with his gladius until I can repair it.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 10, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/10/musings-178/
This I Believe
- I believe that there are few things in life better than a big pot of chili made on a cool fall afternoon.
- I believe that coffee should be made the way I like my women – strong and sweet.
- I believe that if you are a man of military age (18 to 55) and you are “fleeing a war zone” without accompanying and supporting relatives that are not men of military age, then you are not a refugee. Rather, you are, at best, a coward, and should be turned around at the border of said war zone and sent back to defend your home or die trying.
- I believe that the Supreme Court erred when it ruled that rape does not call for the death penalty, either of an adult or a child.
- I believe that if I show someone the courtesy of minding my own business, then they should reciprocate.
- I believe that if you publicly advocate for the curtailment of my rights, then you don’t get to do business with me and my family anymore.
- I believe that there are few things cuter than puppies, kittens, and babies. At other people’s houses.
- I believe that most of the world’s problems could be fixed if the opposing parties were locked in a room with a bottle of bourbon and a pot of hot coffee until they worked their issues out.
- I believe that any private company that says “I’ll leave your city if you don’t build me a new X” should be given a firm handshake and a hearty farewell.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 9, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/09/this-i-believe/
Cynical Musings
- Figuring out how much money you want to donate to the Red Cross so that the desired amount gets to the people in need is a lot like figuring out how long to sentence someone to prison so that they actually serve the desired number of years.
“Well, you want them to serve 10 years, so you have to factor in “Be good” time, “Took an art class” time, “Finally got their GED” time, and “We just take time off to save money” time, so you’ll have to sentence them to 25 years.”
“Well, you want $100 to get to the people in need, so you have to factor in the administrative costs, fundraising costs, travel to luxurious conference locations costs, princely salaries for the people at the top of the organization costs, and of course, “we just lost track of that” costs, so you’ll have to donate $250.”
- Oh, no, don’t broadcast the games being played by teams who have a credible shot at getting into the playoffs. Let’s watch teams that gave up a month ago. Or, you know, games between historical rivals that are always interesting to watch. No, really, it’s cool, I’ll just sit here and watch the guys who are making mid-winter vacation plans during half-time. Or not.
- I’m sure all the liberal arts colleges that are sending multiple, colorful, and thick ‘invitations’ to Girlie Bear are reaching out to her out of a hope that they can contribute to her education and future earning potential.
- If you don’t like that the new neighbor tore down the eyesore next to his house and is putting up a large barn / workshop, then maybe you should have bought the land when it sat on the market for three years.
- This afternoon, I stood in front of a tee-shirt shop, listening to Jody Watley and Biz Markey, waiting on a teenage girl to make up her mind. Is this 1989 or 2016?
Posted by daddybear71 on January 3, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/03/cynical-musings/
Musings
- Today was a good day. I slept in, had a wonderful homemade breakfast, drank beer, watched football, ate chili with good friends, and showed someone how to field strip and reassemble an AR-15.
- You know how when you finish a drive at night and relax when you get to the end of your driveway? Yeah, that feeling disappeared when Moonshine decided to go for a jog in the pitch dark.
- Nothing like trying to find a black dog on a dark street.
- We relented to the “No Video Games” rule for Boo this weekend and let him play Wii for about an hour. I played a bit too, and I discovered something that surprised me. I put a “Call of Duty” game in after he went to bed, and played for a while. It bored me. Like “Eh, let’s play Sports Resort and pop balloons from a bi-plane” bored.
- There are few things cuter and more appealing than an 8 week old Golden Retriever.
- I had to give the rest of the family “The Look” when we snuggled the puppy. We are officially full.
- Yes, Boo got a pat down before getting into the car. Why do you ask?
Posted by daddybear71 on January 2, 2016
https://daddybearsden.com/2016/01/02/musings-177/
Musings
- When working with sewer augurs, it is always a good idea to have the correct cutting head before leaving the rental place.
- Cast iron pipes do not have any elasticity at room temperature. Please make a note of that.
- New family rule – If you’re good at the vet, you get french fries on the way home.
- The chicken sandwich, on the other hand, is not yours, no matter how much you beg and try to sit in the driver’s lap.
- Siamese cats make for outstanding companions while working a night shift in the basement.
- Putting “2001: A Space Odyssey” on the computer before you go to sleep for the day makes for some rather interesting dreams.
- The first 20 minutes or so of that movie always remind me of family. I’m not sure why.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 30, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/12/30/musings-176/
Musings
- Girlie Bear successfully lost her fifth cell phone this weekend. It’s somewhere in the house, but short of picking the house up and shaking it to see what falls out, we’re out of places to look.
- Boo had a good Christmas, and between the books and art supplies, he should be well occupied for a long time.
- Girlie Bear got clothes and luggage. She seemed pleased.
- Irish Woman’s principle gifts were jewelry and pajamas. She’s been proudly wearing both for the past two days.
- I was blessed to receive hand tools and coffee for Christmas. The family really knows me, don’t they?
- I have in my possession tickets to take the kids to see the new Star Wars movie, tickets to see Alton Brown perform in the springtime, and reservations for LibertyCon. I haven’t felt this much nerd in a long time.
- One good thing about being on night shift for a long stretch is that eventually you get used to it. One bad thing about being on night shift is that eventually you have to flip back. Another is that I’m only getting a few days of ‘normal’ before I go back on nights for a week.
- There are few things more disheartening than finishing a story that you really enjoyed writing, re-reading it, and discovering that you ripped off somebody else’s blogpost, a childhood cartoon, and quite possibly the premise for a well-known author’s flagship series. Oh, well, maybe I can fix it with a re-write.
- On the Via Serica Book 2 front, research is progressing. The internet is a wonderful thing when you’re trying to find information sources about obscure places 2000 years ago.
- There was a ton of rather dramatic socio-political stuff going on in the decade before the birth of Christ, and not just in Europe. I’m going to have to do a lot of timelining to make sure I don’t a) miss something important or b) get it totally wrong.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 27, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/12/27/musings-175/
Musings
- Irish Woman has been doing a fine job of letting me sleep after working the night shift. Other people, not so much.
- I must remember to send a nice check to the charity that called and woke me during normal business hours and got a rather rude response in a foreign language before I woke up enough to be human.
- I finish night shifts on the morning of Christmas Eve. That gives me 24 hours to get my sleep cycle flipped back before the true madness begins.
- Boo was a baby chick in the Christmas play at his school the other night. Irish Woman made him a costume for it, and she put a lot of work into it. I gave her some grief about the hours she spent on it, but I repented after I saw the elaborate costumes other parents made or bought for their kids.
- I noticed something while watching Boo’s play: The boy angels all looked like they’d been hit by a truck, while the girl angels looked, well, angelic.
- Irish Woman is donating a batch of yellow-cake cupcakes topped with her home-made bourbon caramel fudge icing to the school Christmas bake sale. Something tells me that the more Catholic she is in the use of the bourbon, the better they will sell, if you know what I mean.
- Don’t ask for her recipe. I’ve been with her for 15 years, married to her for 11. I’ve contributed the height gene back into her bloodline. After all that, I’m still not sure what it takes to make that icing.
- It is exceedingly difficult to estimate travel times of people who alternate modes of transportation between walking, boats, horses, camels, and yaks.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 17, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/12/17/musings-174/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 