Is it just me or is everyone else tired of fake news stories on 4/1? Common now people. It’s been done.
Category: Idle
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How much work is too much?
Okay, it’s official, I have too much to do at work too.
I’ve made a concerted effort to cut down on the number of projects at home, but it seems that there is a cosmic force at work with the sole desire to see me have a mental breakdown.
So, how do I deal?
Step one, find some clever quotes:
- All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.
- Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)
- One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
- Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
- Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
- Edgar Bergen (1903 – 1978)
- Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.
- Horace (65 BC – 8 BC)
- I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)
Step two, remember I’m going to Florida soon to sit on the beach and do nothing at all.
Bah! Whining is for four-year-olds. :p
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Additional fees may apply
Hey, cool, I could time share a Learjet from FlexJet for $4,600 a month! That’s pretty spendy, but much lower than I’d expect, so I decided to take a closer look at the ad in USA Today (America’s “I wouldn’t read it if it wasn’t for the Hotel giving it to me” newspaper).
INTRODUCING A REVOLUTION IN FRACTIONAL JET OWNERSHIP. For as little as $4,600 per month,*…
Okay, there’s the “*”, I knew there’d be a catch. What’s the extra damage? There’s a monthly management fee of $6,485 and an hourly rate of $1,760. I love it that their monthly fee has additional monthly fees.
You know guys, you could get many more customers if you just said:
INTRODUCING FREE FRACTIONAL JET OWNERSHIP. For nothing a month*…
I knew for sure I was in Redmond this morning when the local TV station’s weather forecast was “mild damp”. I suppose if you’re a weather forecaster up here you need to be able to say more than “hey, it’s going to rain.”
On a related note, there really might not be all that many Eskimo words for snow.
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S’bout time
I finally got off by lazy butt and processed all my waiting picture a day pictures adding almost a month’s worth of pictures to the gallery (including a picture of a very thrilled commuter, hi Rob).
I still need to add descriptions… baby steps.
After a week of being on my own and mildly crazy, my beautiful wife is back to keep me company. She had fun with her friends but I’m glad she’s back. Yay!
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What will they think of next?
I got a new shirt for my birthday, I know it’s a quality shirt…
it comes with an extra button hole in case I loose one.
How exciting is my life? I’m sitting at home on a Friday night eating a PB&J reading a book.
You know something? It beats the snot out of most stuff on TV… with a big stick.
My current reading endeavor is a science fiction, er historical fiction, er, historical science fiction book by Neal Stephenson: Quicksilver. What started out as a slow labor is evolving into a growing fascination (and a pleasant one at that).
Placed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Quicksilver is the first novel of a new trilogy, The Baroque Cycle. Stephenson‘s new novel follows some familiar characters as they intermingle with historical figures. The beginning of the novel finds Daniel Waterhouse traveling back to England to mediate a dispute between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. At stake: bragging rights over the invention of calculus (I know, it gives me tingles too).
Does “Daniel Waterhouse” sound familiar? If so, how about “Enoch Root” and “Jack Shaftoe”? For some reason currently beyond my grasp Stephenson decided to recycle characters from his novel Cryptonomicon. I may figure out why, but give me a break, I’ve only started the first volume, and it’s just shy of a thousand pages.
What about this book has really grabbed my attention? There’s no computers, no lasers, no one’s died (no one of consequence, that is) and there’s been no chase scenes. Interestingly, it really hasn’t jumped at me the way that Snow Crash did. This thing that has grabbed me is Stephenson‘s well written descriptions of early scientific minds working their way through the first stab at real physics. I’m always fascinated by the unique creativity that comes about when people decide to look at the world in a brand new manner.
So, what do I think? So far I’m intrigued. Not a lot of action, but a lot of inspiration. If you’re a Stephenson fan I can’t imagine you’ll be disappointed. If you’re not, you may want to wait for a) a full review or b) the paperback.
May I recommend: While I haven’t finished Quicksilver, I do give the following two other books from Neal Stephenson high marks:
Cryptonomicon: Another book mixing science fiction with historical fiction, Cryptonomicon, is split between World War II and present day tracing the lives of two generations of characters as they design, build and disassemble cryptographic science. Solid writing with a good balance of theory and action, this book didn’t drag me down, even at close to a thousand pages.
Snow Crash: My introduction to Neal Stephenson was this very engaging cyberpunk book. Snow Crash is a very smooth reading, hard to put down book that never takes itself too seriously (the Hero’s name is Hiro Protagonist, that’s calling a spade a spade). The action is quick, the science is solid and the characters felt real. Pick this up if you like VR, computers or if you trust me.
Thank the maker there are people like MC who are willing to take a bullet for the rest of us. MC provided an excellent review of the new 7-eleven (an American convenience store) cheeseburger hot dog. Read for yourself: http://www.michaelconnolly.com/?EntryID=92
MC, you are a braver man than I…
but mmm… it sounds tasty!
From the horses mouth:
Cheeseburger Big Bite™ Hot Dog
Easy to eat perfection! It looks like a hot dog, but it tastes like a cheeseburger! Fresh from the 7-Eleven grill, beef and cheese combine to create the easy-to-eat one-third-pound Cheeseburger Big Bite Hot Dog. Add your favorite condiments or toppings! Yummy!
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It’s the simple life for me…
I’ve bit off more than I can chew… it’s now clear.
A billion hobbies, too many projects at work and half-a-dozen half-finished home-improvement tasks. It all lends to a constant feeling of “crap, what didn’t I do?”
It’s time for a project diet… but how? It all has to get done. Or does it? I think it’s time to make a list of what’s important. If it ends up on the bottom of the list, I’ll find a way to get rid of it.
Sure, not exciting to you, but heck, if something doesn’t go, how will I have time to post to my blog?