I’ve been pretty scarce around here lately, and it’s been because I’ve had both writing and video deadlines. 2 more videos just went live on the Linux Journal website, so please go there and let me know what you think. 🙂 Check the comments on their site for the second video.
And here’s the direct links for those who can’t see the embedded videos on the Linux Journal site. Watch this first, and then this.
Enjoy!
This photo was not staged. Donna called me quietly into the living room so I could see “my” kids. (They’re usually “mine” when they are misbehaving, but this time, it was hard for me to deny them…)
A (micro)chip off the old block. 🙂
You know that cool new feature Blogger has that allows you to get updated when OTHER people’s blogs get comments? Yeah, I was jealous. So now, you can do that same thing on my blog. I can tell you’re just *shaking* with excitement at the idea. I don’t blame you. It’s so exciting.
(Oh, and if you’re really that excited about getting comment updates on my blog — you should really get outside more. And maybe get some counseling.)
It’s that time of the (year * 4) when we begin to hear about all the candidates, potential candidates, lovers of potential candidates, and potential lovers of people that once went to college with the ex stripper that ate cheese whiz off the other candidates partially inhaled drug usage charges when he was in jail for molesting various and sundry things while damaging and/or supporting environmental… you get the idea.
I hate this time of (year *4), and it’s a lengthy season. Yuck.
I like Spongebob Squarepants. I figure it’s just something you should know about me. You get to peer into my inner soul, so to speak. I think he’s funny. You want to hear the deepest, most philosophical thing you’ll probably ever hear regarding the large yellow invertebrate?
I think I like Spongebob because he’s the carefree, low stress, happy to be alive kinda guy I subconsciously wish I was. No, I don’t want to be porous and live in a fruit, but I would like to get the same joy out of life that our squishy friend does.
I also want a snail that meows. That’s just cool.
Maybe not glorious, but hey, you get what you pay for. And this is free. (Click the image below to watch it online)
I’m Linux Journal‘s new, “Gadget Guy” — and I do video reviews of products for them. The first video is up, and depending on the feedback they get, I will be a continuous feature on the Linux Journal website. So like, go watch it and stuff. And tell your friends. And neighbors. And people you meet at the grocery store. And tell the Santa at the mall. Email your congressman a link.
Well, at least go watch it. It’s not a dry product review, I promise. Just click on the picture above.
This is Lydia. It may not be perfectly clear in this cellphone photo, but Lydia’s eyes are particularly pink today. The doctor won’t let her return to school until Thursday. Ironically (for me anyway), she’s not thrilled about that. She wants to go to school. She doesn’t want the drops in her eyes though, which I do understand.
But hey, she gets to hang out with the old man this afternoon, because Mommy’s at work. We are both sitting on the couch, each with a laptop. I’m doing this, and she’s helping feed hungry kids. I feel a little guilty, so follow that link and redeem my blogging. 🙂
Aren’t snow days GREAT?!?!?! And a personal note: This will be my 6 and 8 year old’s first snow day EVAR. (They were previously homeschooled).
Next week, I can go public with the project I’ve been putting a lot of time into recently. I’m looking forward to that, because my blog is where I usually yammer on about such things. My blog is so darn popular, however, that if I talked about it, both my readers might tell, and I’d lose the deal. It’s like Amway. If both my readers tell two of their friends, and two of their friends tell two of my friends… or something like that. I never could figure out how Amway was gonna make me rich.
So, next week sometime will be the glorious reveal. Don’t get your hopes up too high though, because, well, it might suck. 🙂
For the first part of my life, I grew up in the ghetto of Detroit, in a single parent home. Mom and I were very poor. When I was 4 years old, however, I had to get glasses. Not just glasses, mind you, but Coke bottle thick welfare glasses. You can probably imagine that growing up, I wasn’t the most popular kid, and whether I admitted it or not, those nasty plastic glasses just killed my self image. My geeky brain and scrawny physique didn’t help either.
It started a few days ago when I played racquetball with a coworker. We are both old and out of shape, but that didn’t stop us from playing hard for almost 3 hours. Partway though one of the games, I got hit in the eyeball with that little blue bit of flying rubber. It didn’t really hurt, but my eye was bloodshot enough the next morning that I opted to wear my glasses instead of trying to get contact lenses in. I did the same today, because my eye was still irritated. Mind you, my glasses are no longer thick (ultrathin lenses), and are not welfare plastic (wire rimmed thank you very much), but still, I’m wearing glasses again.
My wife and I were in the store this evening purchasing a few gifts for the girls, and on the way out the van, I got pelted in the head with a snowball. Out of the blue. When I turned around, expecting to find one of my more childish friends laughing — I saw a group of college aged kids snickering and rushing inside as though they were innocent.
My reaction probably should have been along the lines of, “those darn kids.” In that moment, however, I was instantly transported back to middle school, and that group of college kids were the same ones that picked on the 4 eyed little geek on the playground. I instantly felt that same helpless, embarrassed, defeated, rage. The difference is that I’m a grown man, and a father. They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I would argue that Hell hath no fury like a parent seeing a child getting picked on. In some sort of weird, dual-role rage, I handed my packages to my wife, and RAN back into the store to, well, at that moment, to KILL those jerks. Thankfully, the tromp through the slush did calm me down a bit. When I got into the store, and yelled at the group, “Can I ask what THAT was for?!?!” They immediately scattered, and tried to pretend they didn’t hear me. That did not please me.
Basically, the scene ended as I chased down the 2 young adults that stayed together, and pretty much scared the ever loving dog doo doo out of them. I read them the riot act, and then went back to my car, unsure why I was SO angry. On the way home, I realized that I was angry because a group of bullies was picking on the little kid with glasses. This time, however, that little kid didn’t live in a home without a father figure. There was a Dad in the family, and he didn’t tolerate stuff like that. Yes it’s weird that I was both the little kid AND the Dad, but that’s how it went down.
I’m so thankful my own kids get to grow up with a father. And I’m even more thankful to be that father. And a note to the bullies? The Powers dad is one ornery SOB. Don’t mess with his kids.