I don’t usually blog about work, because it seems like it can turn around and bite you on the butt if you ever say anything uncomplimentary. This is worth sharing though.
There are a couple of people that I work with that have been practical jokers. Recently they both went on vacation at the same time (coincidence). Here’s the payback:
I don’t know that I have ever heard one of his songs, although I learned today (via the linked article) that he wrote the “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm/melody. You learn something new everyday I guess.
The only reason I even know about Bo Diddley is that roughly 75% of the people that have ever been introduced to me have decided to refer to me as “Bo Diddley” at some point. Without fail, they all think they were the first person to be clever enough to make the connection between my name and his.
Anyhow, rest in peace Bo, and God be with you.
A couple of weeks ago, we were down in Springfield doing some shopping. We decided to stop in a certain home improvement store, that henceforth shall be known as “The Boring Work Store Of Doom!”. As we pulled into the parking lot, Elizabeth (who is almost six) says, “oh no! It’s the boring work store of doom!” and then proceeds to add the organ sound effects “dum dum duuummmm!”.
Dominic used to really hate that store too. We used to tell him we were going to his favorite store, and he’d just groan and writhe around in pain. And he’d mope the whole time we were in the store. Now that he’s a little older, he really likes it. He looks around and sees possibilities. Maybe Elizabeth will learn to see the store in a new light as she gets older too.
It seems our kids have said several humorous things lately. We bought bunk beds for our girls with our “economic stimulus” check. Teresa refers to them as “punk beds”, which when you think about it is really a far more accurate description.
Not to be out-done, William (who is almost two) has picked up a new little habit. Any time somebody…uh…passes gas…breaks wind…er, well, anytime somebody farts (or even makes a fart-like sound), he’ll say “Eeeeeeeewwww! Pew, pew, pew, pew!” while fanning the air in front of his nose. This is one of those things that’s really cute AT HOME, but is not so funny in public. So far, he hasn’t been too obvious about it publicly, but I’m sure the day is coming.
Dominic has published a website of his own now. I have to say that I’m rather proud of him. He’s learned a lot about HTML, JavaScript, and PHP. Not bad at all for a 14 year old. That being said, I encourage you to visit his site. Just be careful what you click on, because he has these little things called “Insanity Challenges” and other little JavaScript based things. Lets just say that the average 14 year old learning JavaScript will find them clever and amusing, and leave it at that. You’ve been warned ;)
I like to read the news every day while I drink my coffee. This is the best article I’ve read in a long time. Why? Because it’s not about politics, crime, global warming, the economy, or anything else annoying or upsetting. It’s just a cool story about a camera that got left in a taxi in NYC.
So as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been learning to spin yarn and knit.
The yarn spinning is coming along - I don’t spin as often as I should (’cause hey, I write articles about this stuff and I really need to get better at it) but every time I do sit down and work on it, the skill improves. Which is very gratifying and encouraging.
The knitting on the other hand…not so good. I’ve started two or three different projects that didn’t work out, and I was able to rationalize my failure. One project was with charcoal colored yarn, which is frikkin’ impossible quite difficult to see unless you’re knitting in broad daylight. One project was with a three-ply yarn that had a funky ply - two tight plies and one loose ply, and I kept getting the needle between the plies. Then I tried to start on a sock using multiple double pointed needles. Imagine trying to knit with a porcupine…that’s kind of what it’s like. A live porcupine. An angry live porcupine. With hemorrhoids. And a hangover. Perhaps a sock was a little bit ambitious, no?
So, I back peddled a bit, and decided I’d just do another dish cloth. Boring, yes…but good practice. Lots of knitting, lots of purling, but nothing complicated. It’s what might be referred to as “low hanging fruit”. I needed a success to boost my ego and keep me motivated. I’ve started it twice now, and ripped it all out both times. My ego is bruised. The first time was due to a stupid user trick…I accidentally let a couple of loops come off the needle and it unraveled and I couldn’t figure out how to put it back together. Not a big deal - it could happen to anyone (right?). The second time however was not just your everyday, run of the mill stupidity. This was stupidity on a grand scale! After knitting several rows, I notice that one side of the knitting has more rows than the other side of the knitting. Neat trick eh? All I can figure is that I put it down in the middle of a row, and then picked it back up upside-down. Twice. One end had six rows, the other end had two rows.
Sigh. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
nonais