- I’m beginning to agree with the crusty oldVax guy who once told me “Unix and crap, they both start with C.”
- I’m not becoming a Windows guy by any means, but it’s been a very frustrating couple of days.
- Girlie Bear survived her first weekend on a job. I’m hoping that working retail will make her just as misanthropic as her father.
- Boo had his first cross-country practice today. Irish Woman was worried he wouldn’t be able to finish a one-mile run. He did it twice and asked when the next practice was.
- Beta reader input on the Romans book is coming in. Still hoping to have it out by the end of August.
- In the meantime, work on the next book is on-going. It’ll be a collection of short stories with a working title of “Battle Buddy.” My hope is to have that one out early next year.
- I explained the CMP to someone today and he walked out of my cube very excited. I might be persuaded to making another road trip to Camp Perry at some point in the future.
- Not sure what’s going on with our canning efforts this year. A 14-quart and an 18-quart roaster, full of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, and herbs yielded 18 quart jars of pasta sauce. However, the same roasters, filled with tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, and different herbs yielded 21 quart jars and 3 pint jars of chili base. Cooking times and temperatures were close to being the same.
- That’s right, when I was making spaghetti sauce, I lost an entire roaster’s worth of liquid to steam.
All posts in category Thought for the day
Musings
Posted by daddybear71 on August 17, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/08/17/musings-157/
Musings
- You know, if something is against the law and obeying that law doesn’t go against your conscience, then it’s probably a good idea to not break the law.
- Note to self – The deputies will arrest you for a gun, knife, or other weapon you bring to the courthouse, but will allow you to check a can of chemical mace at the door.
- Quote of the week, by one of the judges: Criminal cases are about liberty, civil cases are about money.
- Rules for jury duty:
- When in a courtroom, turn off your phones or both you and your gadget will be defenestrated.
- Do not bring weapons, including glass containers and knitting needles into the courthouse (I’m not kidding, this was said)
- Feel free to ask for an escort to your car at the end of the day. After all, there are a lot of criminals around the courthouse.
- Do not drink alcohol before coming to the courthouse, while you are at the courthouse, or during lunch. A water bottle full of vodka isn’t exactly a good idea, either.
- It is important to keep the judges happy.
- Be on time. Waiting for a juror makes for grumpy judges who have their proceedings delayed and grumpy deputies who have to come and find you.
- Talk only to deputies if you need assistance. Policemen in the courthouse are witnesses, not law enforcement. (I did not know that)
- You may be capable of carrying around thousands of books on that tablet, but it is useless when you’re told to shut it off because the court doesn’t want you to be tempted to do your own research on the subject of the trial.
- Note to self – You save no time taking the stairs down from the 8th floor courtroom to the 2nd floor jury area when all doors in the stairwell, with the exception of the alarmed emergency door, lock you in the stairwell automatically.
- Voir dire is apparently Latin for “Long-winded answers that have nothing to do with the inane questions lawyers have to ask so they don’t end up in the court of appeals”.
- The only bad part about being in a crowded room with 250 other people is the 250 other people.
- When a lawyer describes the area where something took place, and the only landmark he can use is a big ‘gentleman’s club’ in a strip mall, that will tell you a lot about the neighborhood.
- The Roman’s book is off to the beta readers. I’m hoping to have it out by the end of August, but no promises.
- When I looked in the refrigerator tonight, I noticed that we had three Angry Orchard hard ciders. Being the responsible family man that I am, I disposed of those right quick. Dad of the year, I tell ya.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 7, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/08/07/musings-156/
Musings
- Social media, in just about any form, is a horrid place to have a thoughtful, reasoned debate about just about any subject where emotions, pride, beliefs, or other people factors are involved.
- It is, however, an excellent platform to be a raving douche.
- Am I the only one that thinks the Planned Parenthood legislation drama won’t be complete until we have Sandra Fluke testifying before Congress about how much she and her friends will be forced to spend on abortions if funding is cut?
- Remember Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley filling the dinner hour news segments with subjects that require a lot of parental explanation? I don’t either.
- I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the asshat from the lawn service company for dumping several bales of sod across the highway during my commute this morning. That got my blood pumping better than an espresso, a morning jog in a cool rain, and a buxom redhead.
- The best way to cure that feeling that you might be getting better at writing is to take a break from editing to read a few things by David Drake and Larry Correia. You will then remember exactly how far you have to go.
- The verification step on my project plan is no longer allowed to read “Cool guys don’t look back at the explosion.”
Posted by daddybear71 on July 31, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/31/musings-155/
Musings
- It is refreshing to have technology do what it’s supposed to do and for a rather lengthy plan to work.
- The time to remember that you’re on-call and can’t go to the range because there’s marginal, at best, cell coverage there is not after you’ve gotten all your stuff prepared for the trip.
- Self-control – When you see an antique Remington 700 in immaculate shape with a really nice scope for a good price, and you put the gun back on the rack because you have to spend the money on other things, like food and stuff.
- If you and your friend are in the grocery store and are pushing your carts side by side as you mosey around getting a few odds and ends, do not give me an ugly look when I start to tailgate you.
- Is it bad that while talking about a new movie with your co-workers, you realize that there isn’t a single comedic actor to come on the scene in the last 20 years that you would pay to watch?
- I also realized that there are only one or two that I would watch for free.
- It occurred to me that a good joke in Firefly would have been for Jayne to come out of his room for some reason, and in the background, the audience could hear his entertainment system playing the Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann rant from Full Metal Jacket.
- Also, instead of Vera, he could have named his rifle Charlene.
- I think I’m going to bite the bullet and get Girlie Bear some professional driving lessons. It’ll give her a break on insurance, provide her with a small car to do the driver’s test in, and keep me from smashing a hole in the floorboard of the truck while I search for the imaginary brake pedal.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 26, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/26/musings-154/
Musings
- It’s amazing how much you can accomplish at work when you’re left alone and have a mandate to just get things done.
- Irish Woman called the cable company the other day to talk to them about the rate increase they threw at us this month.
- I came home to an announcement that we no longer had cable TV.
- Our bill went down 50% when we went to only having telephone and data service.
- A $25 indoor antenna gives us about 18 channels, which is more channels than we actually watch anyway.
- I’ll learn to live without Monday Night Football, or at least the two or three games that I had the time and energy to watch.
- I looked at one of the services that allow you to stream NFL games, and while it’s tempting, I’d rather buy a gun or stock up on ammunition with that amount of money.
- Since we were looking at the channels we got, I decided to see what broadcast TV looks like on Sunday evenings.
- Wow, what a wasteland.
- The two things that looked even remotely interesting were a PBS documentary on New York self-immolating in the 1970’s, a show that featured pumped up individuals doing parkour and pullups, and robotic gladiators.
- I then did what any responsible adult would do, and switched over to an alternate channel and watched Gilligan’s Island.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 19, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/19/musings-153/
Musings
- Feeding leftover shrimp and scallops to the seagulls was kind of fun.
- Maybe trying to drink up the remaining beer from the cooler the night before we started the drive home wasn’t the best idea ever, but it was kind of fun.
- Driving through rural Alabama listening to Monster Hunter International is pretty cool in a very geeky way.
- Making a pit stop to buy a half bushel of fresh peaches and eat some warm-from-the-oven peach cobbler was the highlight of the day.
- If the people who made and served our lunch were moving any slower, they would have caused the time stream to run backwards to a time when the vein in my forehead wasn’t pulsing.
- It’s disheartening to realize that the price of gas at the tourist trap in Florida is 75 cents a gallon less than it is at home.
- How to know you’re done driving for the day – You check into the hotel, order pizza, let the kids go down to the pool, and let them veg in front of the Disney Channel while they eat and you try to get feeling back in your legs.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 11, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/11/musings-152/
Image of the Day – 20 Years On
Srebrenica – 11 July 1995
Posted by daddybear71 on July 10, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/10/image-of-the-day-20-years-on/
Musings
- An easy way to accidentally squick out a teenage girl is to look up from the plate holding the fried alligator chunks and frog legs and say “Ribbit Ribbit.”
- I have it on good authority that an efficient way to catch sharks is to fish for them next to a shrimp boat that is separating the shrimp from the fish after hauling up its nets.
- You see a bridge piling, the osprey sees a condo with a view of the smorgasbord.
- Seagull chicks are kind of cute. Puberty must kick them in the ass.
- Yes, I brought a telescope to the beach. You can see a lot out here without the lights of the city. No, it’s not pointed at the beach in the daytime. Get your mind out of the gutter.
- You know you’ve raised her right when your daughter uses the phrase “sweating like a whore in church” while describing how hot it is in the sun.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 9, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/09/musings-151/
Musings
- The only thing more fun than being the designated driver is when you’re the designated driver in a six passenger golf cart and your passengers start making this noise as you drive through the night.
- Note to self: Florida has opossums and they are nocturnal.
- They also seem to like to hang out on the mid-line of streets.
- When a couple of golf carts full of teenagers turn around in the dark to take a long look at the opossum, you know hijinks are going to ensue.
- The most dangerous time for a child at the beach is not when they first put their toes in the water, nor is it when they can be trusted to walk out on their own. It’s when they get brave, yet still do not know that the next wave might be the big one.
- Irish Woman thought having minnows nibbling on her feet this evening was ticklish. The six to eight inch fish that joined them, not so much.
- The correct answer to my question this morning was some variation of “I’m sorry, sir, we don’t sell fishing licenses anymore. Here’s the phone number to call to order one.” not “Can’t you read?”
- By George, there’s more than one place around here to buy tackle and bait! I guess I don’t have to do business with that establishment after all!
- So far, we’ve had scorpions, two kinds of crab, and, from the marks in the sand in the front yard, a snake of some sort visit us at the house. I need a black bear, an alligator, and a feral hog to stop by to get a full card in Beach Critter Bingo.
Posted by daddybear71 on July 6, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/06/musings-150/
Thought for the Day
Posted by daddybear71 on July 4, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/07/04/thought-for-the-day-227/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 