Sean Dickson, a teacher convicted of lewd conduct in requesting some of his underaged students to pose for snapshots while suggestively sucking lollipops, was sentenced yesterday to four months in prison.

In my opinion, the sentence should have been longer, but that is what the prosecutor requested, and that's what he got.

House of Horrors - an update

Well, it's been three weeks now since we moved. The stove is still in the living room, and we haven't eaten a home-cooked meal yet. Our 100 amp service has finally been installed (so the stove will soon have a new home), but we've just noticed that the kitchen wall where the stove will go is only 27 inches wide (ever measure your stove?). I don't really mind that the stove will stick out the doorway some (that's a small annoyance compared to some). What I do mind is that there are NO stove hoods on the market that have less than a 30 inch width. Dodging the stove with my hips as I go through the doorway is one thing. Dodging the hood with my head will be quite another.

The plumbing still doesn't work... we're limited to one toilet flush per half-hour... fine for a single occupant, but woefully insufficient for a trio of occupants with similar bedtimes and waking times. Here's a picture of our BRAND NEW WHITE BATHTUB shortly after flushing our toilet or doing a load of laundry...

New entry in Comic Relief

After a lull, there is a new entry in the Comic Relief portion of the weblog. Thanks to my sister for sending this one.

New York calling...

Yesterday, while my parents were here visiting my new home for the first time, I received a phone call. Since I was nowhere near a phone, my race to get there before "voice-mail" kicked in was unsuccessful. Later, I tried to retrieve the voicemail, but it was blank. So I retrieved the caller's number... it was someone in area code 718. I tried to look up the phone number using one of the internet's "Reverse Lookup" tools, but that failed. So, either the number was bogus, or it belonged to someone with an unlisted number.

If one of the people reading this weblog called to wish me a happy anniversary, then chickened out at the last minute, thanks for the sentiment.

Happy Anniversary to me! And good luck to Michele!

August 23rd, 1990 was one of the happiest days of my life. Despite my being unemployed, the woman of my dreams had decided she would marry me anyway, and the drunken preacher (and I use the word preacher loosely) lost his place and made me say "I do" TWICE. My wife is always teasing me about my obligations being twice as binding as hers - just as I tease her that I'm not sure we're legally married.

The past twelve years have seen us raise her three children as a family, become grandparents once (with another on the way, I just found out yesterday), and go through some of the most exciting career progressions (low to high to low) imaginable. Through it all, we've remained committed to our love, faithful to each other, and thankful for what we have. We have been blessed with reasonably good health, both for ourselves and those we hold dear, and in balance, we can't really complain about much.

I deeply love and cherish my wife and hope that we will have many more beautiful, wonderful years together.


To my friend Michele who will be marrying Justin tomorrow, August 24th, 2002, I wish you luck, love, and success.

About the move

We had tons (literally) of stuff to move, and the movers had estimated that a crew of 3 men could do the job in 12 hours. That's one heck of a large move. Well, they goofed. Their truck was pitifully small (it was a big truck, but no match for our accumulated belongings). It took FOUR truckloads to move us, and by the time we were done, the owner of the moving company had called in reserve crews. In the end, it took SIX people 14 hours to move us. They tried to charge us the whole shot, and I was open to some compromise (after all, their estimate was not binding). We settled on a revised figure that both of us could live with.

I want to keep the rest of this post short. If I don't, I will get too depressed. The new home is what I expected it to be, but not what I had hoped it would be. It was priced very low. That should have been a clue. By the time we're done, this house will cost us more than what we had budgeted for a home.

The good thing is that I'm now debt free. Equity from the sale of the prior house was sufficient to pay off my long-standing debts. Even the mortgage on the new place is less that what we owed on the old house - and the interest rate and monthly payments are significantly less. But the house itself is a nightmare.

The only things that do NOT require upgrading are the appliances and paint. In just the past two weeks, we've already completed extensive upgrades to the structure of the house, floor coverings, fencing... and will soon complete an overhaul of the electrical systems. What we don't have the money for (at the moment) are nice-to-have upgrades like reliable plumbing, heating, and air conditioning. Those things will just have to wait until I find a job.

I won't get into the gory details of everything that doesn't work. I can tell you that the pool (which was sight-unseen prior to making an offer on the place) turned out to be in excellent condition. This (and the quality of work done by the contractors we hired to spruce up the place) is the only saving grace.

That's it for now...

I'm Back!

Just this minute finished reconnecting my personal computer. Now, before I can post more, I have to catch up on two weeks' worth of emails and stuff. Be back soon.

I'm still alive - barely!

No time to post right now. Just wanted to tell you all that the move went horribly. Even Murphy would have been pissed off. My personal PC is still in boxes. I just finished setting up the internet gateway server so my wife could get on the internet to see if our bank account still has funds.

I will post all the gory details, anecdotes, and a summary of the past week's activity in the next few days. Until then, keep healthy.

Happy 55th - take 2

My parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last month. My sister decided to give them a surprise anniversary party. What better surprise than to hold it a month after the fact. Today, all my out-of-town relatives showed up to surprise my parents. Just as I had done yesterday at my wife's family's party, I decided to be unofficial photographer. After filling the camera with 74 pictures, I did a quick on-site edit, freed up room for about 10 more shots, then filled the camera again.

Tonight, I was able to post the majority of the pictures on a private website for my family to view.

Starting tomorrow, we've got three more days to pack. The schedule is: Monday - finish packing the storage room; Tuesday - pack up the Home Theatre; Wednesday - pack up my office (and take down this internet connection). Thursday, we move. And Friday, the cable guy is supposed to hook me back up.

I'll be too busy to post often until Friday, and I won't have much time to read many of the sites I normally visit daily... so I'll apologize in advance to anyone whose site I don't get to.

Happy Anniversary, Edna & Bob!

I just got back home a few minutes ago, having attended the 50th wedding anniversary of my wife's aunt & uncle. They're really wonderful people, and the extended family was there in full force. Unfortunately, at that age, minor aches and pains (as well as more serious ailments) can keep you down... and two of Edna's sisters (whom we had hoped would be visiting from out of town) were unable to make it. Despite this, the event was well attended with representations from four generations present.

It was an opportunity to see people I hadn't seen in quite some time - to renew acquaintances and catch up on news. A few months ago, I had decided to try the newer NiMH batteries, because they were supposed to be much better (i.e. longer lasting) in digital cameras. Tonight was the acid test. Although we had two sets of batteries with us, we only needed one set to take 72 pictures (that was the limit on the camera's memory). If I had had more memory, we could have taken more pictures - the batteries held up quite well.

Anyway, I may post a few pictures featuring my wife, kids, and granddaughter. Now that the freebie jpg crunchers are no longer available, I will have trouble posting low-bandwidth pictures. If anyone knows of any FREE ones still available, please let me know in the comments.

The Chair

The following anecdote was in my email today. Thanks, sis, for the terrific piece...


An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one-question-final-exam after an entire semester dealing with a broad array of topics.



The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and wrote on the board:

"Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."



Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair.



One member of the class however, was up and finished in less than a minute.



Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the group wondered how he could have gotten an A when he had barely written anything at all.



Here was his answer:: ---         "What Chair?"           --- (drag your cursor over the area between the --- marks to read the student's answer)

We've got Bees

My son pointed out a few days back that there seemed to be an inordinate number of bees entering a crack at the seam separating our bricks from the vinyl siding. I already had a can of hornet/wasp/bee foam, which had been used earlier this season on a new hornet's nest. Instructions on the can indicated that the treatments should be applied at night - when the bees are less likely to be active. So, several nights ago, I carpet bombed an 8' long portion of the seam (to quicly seal off any escape routes), then, as per can directions, I penetrated the outer foam layer with the enclosed wand and tried to find the main point of entry. I then blasted a large amount of foam into the crack.

The next morning, I noticed two things... one, there were lots of bees entering and leaving the crack; and two, the place where I had inserted the wand was incorrect. That evening, I decided to try again. This time, I made a mental note of where the entry crack was BEFORE I carpet bombed... then I went for the kill. The difference from the previous night was dramatic. When I inserted the wand, there was no resistance - it just seemed to go into a vast cavity. Then I let loose with the foam, and it was several seconds (maybe 5 or 10) before foam started pouring back out the hole from which I had entered. Contrast this with the previous night's attempt, where foam started pouring out of the crack as soon as I pulled the trigger.

This time I was supremely confident. The next morning, I looked out the window, only to see bees... lots of bees. For each bee that entered through the crack, there was another one leaving, carrying what appeared to be remnants of the foam. The damned bees were cleaning house! I've decided not to try again. First, I'm not even sure whether the bees are spending the night inside the cavity (there's no way to see inside to find the nest). Second, if they are there, I'm afraid I may cause them to become more adverturous and look for other potential places for a hive - like inside the adjacent vent (which leads to our bathroom), or inside the dog houses, or even through the dogdoor (that's only two feet away) and into the house.

We'll be out of here in five days. I'll just have to suppress my immense fear of bees, and try to endure. Let the next owner deal with it.

Packing - the Devil's work

The Devil invented packing and packing material. It was invented to frustrate obsessive compulsives like myself. And I'm finding out that obsessive compulsive procrastinators make lousy packers. It has taken me the better part of three hours to pack five boxes. Worse, each box contained only one "item". The items are stereo components, and the reason for the slow progress is that I must ensure that each box looks just like it came out of the factory. That means cleaning the components, individually, on every surface. I'm glad the cotton swabs are already packed, otherwise I'd probably be "detailing" the components. As it is, a soft cloth will have to suffice. Each box is being packed with all original manuals, cables, remotes, and packing material (if this sounds familiar, it's because I went through this in the storage room - and have yet to tackle the massive number of components in the Home Theatre and my computer room). Cables are being meticulously labeled, at both ends, to ensure that rehooking the systems will not take me as long as the original configuration.

I've already resigned myself to the likelihood that I will run out of time, and have to start throwing things haphazardly together come Wednesday night. I had forgotten that we have some pressing social commitments this weekend that will eat up valuable packing time. I'm sort of glad, because I hate packing... but it does cut into the available time.

Packing, and my project have kept me so busy lately, I really haven't had much time to update my weblog. I have taken time to read through my daily list, though even the number of times I visit each page daily has been curtailed. Things should get somewhat back to normal next Friday or Saturday, after the cable guy has restored my internet connection.

It's a minor annoyance, but still, an annoyance. For those who have clicked on the "Random Website" icon over there on the right, it takes you to a random website. The people who bring you this service have a home page that forces you to click again to proceed to the random site. I figured, why bother... I'll just feature the actual link. To me, it's the same as featuring the link to a person's weblog, rather than to their home page. If it's the weblog you're after, why bother with the interim stop. And if you are interested in the homepage, you can usually find a link to the homepage from the weblog.

Anyway, I'm annoyed that the keepers of this site regularly change the target address for their link. This forces me to keep in step, resulting in me changing my template and republishing my archives. As the archives grow, the republish takes longer. I know this is not a battle I can win in the long run. Eventually, I will tire of this, and just put a link to their homepage. But until that day comes, I'll just be annoyed.

I've had a few really frustrating days. Several years ago, you could find almost any programming tool you needed, free, on the BBS's and then on the internet. Now, all the good stuff has either gone commercial, or disappeared altogether.

The most infuriating thing is, I had all the tools I needed a while back. But, when I changed computers, many of the antiquated utilities were left behind. My reasoning was that I had no need for them, and I could always find them again if I did need them. I can't even understand how a packrat like myself could have ever had such a thought! Anyway, after almost a week of looking, I finally found what I've been looking for, but still have to verify that it will work.

On the packing front, I'm actually starting to get serious. Over the past two days, I've packed up nearly half of my "storage room", but the last half will be the hardest to pack.

And the final decision has been made to NOT bring the cat with us to our new place. I've been searching for a new home for her, where she will get the love and attention she deserves, and where her penchant for soiling carpets and furniture will be overlooked.

How do you spell relief?

After more than three days of trying, rescuers made contact with all nine men trapped nearly 250 feet underground in a coal mine. Finally, some good news!

I'm being scanned

Is it my "secret project" or something else? Whatever it is, it appears that someone, somewhere, has latched onto me and has begun around the clock port scans. It started a few days ago, but hasn't let up at all. Since I have no "server" here, and have never downloaded any "peer-to-peer" software, I really don't know what the attraction might be. For now, my firewall is blocking and tracking the intruder. But it's just so annoying.

How to become an entrepreneur

I received the following in an email...

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old

farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.



The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some

bad news, the donkey died."  





Kenny replied, "Well then, just give me my money back."

The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already." 

Kenny said,"OK then, just unload the donkey." 



The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?"

Kenny, "I'm going to raffle him off." 



Farmer, " You can't raffle off a dead donkey!" 

Kenny, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he is dead."





 



A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, "What happened

with that dead donkey?"

Kenny, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece

and made a profit of $898.00."

Farmer, "Didn't anyone complain?"

Kenny, " Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."

Kenny grew up and eventually became the chairman of Enron.

It's time to pack? Already???

I'm a packrat. In this household, that's an endangered species. With the move coming soon, my wife has been diligently packing up most of the household belongings over the past couple of weeks, liberally ridding herself of anything she feels she won't need in the new house. I've assigned myself the three rooms I use most often: my home office, the adjoining "storage" room, and the TV room. Yesterday, I started packing in earnest, spurred on my by wife's not-so-subtle ploy of piling all the empty equipment boxes in the room where the equipment resides.

Since I've been spending most of my time recently in my office, I started there. I can't actually pack the "working" PC equipment just yet. The movers will probably have to pry me away from this equipment when they come into the house. Instead, I have started with the older stereo equipment located in the storage room - the equipment that still functions perfectly, but was simply replaced because newer models had more features, more power, or just more appeal. In many ways, the older equipment is far better - showing rare quality control and artistry of design that is missing from much of today's equipment.

It goes without saying that I can't bear to part with any of this older equipment, nor do I have an easy time allowing these serviceable units to "pass on" to other family members who might benefit from them. Beginning yesterday, I lovingly placed all the older equipment back into their original boxes, along with original receipts, manuals, cables, remotes, and in most cases, the sales literature (glossy brochures) that brought me into contact with them in the first place. Unless I build some museum, it's unlikely any of these pieces will ever see the light of day again. But you never know...

I did manage, as a token gesture, to consent to the disposal of two pieces of computer equipment that stopped functioning over 10 years ago. An original IBM green monitor, circa 1983, and an early uninterruptable power supply (circa 1984) were taken to the city dump today, where they were given a hero's sendoff. I'll probably have nightmares about this trip, but to see the look on my wife's face when I hurled the monitor into the trash bin, it was worth it!

When 0 == 1

My secret project is progressing amazingly well. While I look for a paying job, I've resurrected something that has fascinated me for nearly 20 years, and I'm dusting off my rusty 'C' skills to implement the time-critical elements of the system. I spent the weekend perfecting one of the modules. It works, all the time, no errors. Which is why it's disconcerting to see the final message: "Completed task with 1 errors."

Since I wrote the entire program, I went to the source code to see how this last message is generated. For the 'C' freaks among you, here's the reader's digest version of the code:


int i, ret_code;

ret_code = 0;

for (i=0; i<10; i++) ret_code += function_call(i);

printf("Completed task with %d errors", ret_code);



Seems simple enough. When I saw the error, I went to "function_call", and had it print out the value of it's internal return code before ending. It ALWAYS printed 0. So, now I need to decide - is there an insidious bug in my program waiting to bite my ass when I get too complacent, or is there a bug in the compiler that is conspiring to drive me insane.

My money is on option 2.