Tue 20 Jun 2006
I’d be slowing down. 😉
Thu 15 Jun 2006
Fun with words (author unkown).
Posted by markj under StuffComments Off on Fun with words (author unkown).
1. A bicycle can’t stand alone because it is two-tired.
2. What’s the definition of a will? It’s a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In democracy it’s your vote that counts; In feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
7. If you don’t pay your exorcist you get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I’ll show you A-flat minor.
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
12. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You feel stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
15. He often broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
16. Every calendar’s days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted. ‘Taint yours and ‘taint mine.
18. A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at
large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
24. Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
25. When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she’d dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
27. Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture is a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.
Fri 9 Jun 2006
But they produce some awesome images.
Thu 8 Jun 2006
29 years ago today I reported to the Army and Air Force Entrance and Examination Station (AAFEES) in Boston to begin more than 8 years on active duty. While my time in the Army was rewarding, that first day was no fun at all. After being poked and prodded at AAFEES, I was put on a plane (my first flight in an airliner) and shipped off to Ft. Knox. I got to Knox very late at night and was then treated to the stereotypical recruit harassment. I recall getting to bed about 3AM and being rudely awaken at 4:30AM by a drill sergeant banging on a metal trash can cover. That day was the last time my hair ever covered my ears. 🙂
Fri 2 Jun 2006
This little gadget will do more for marital fidelity than Fatal Attraction ever did. Just hide it in a car and track every movement for days. It’s a brave new world out there. 🙂
Sun 28 May 2006
It’s an old saying, but it’s so true. After 2100 miles of driving and various hotel beds and sofa beds, it’s great to be back home in my own easy chair with my cats and a glass of wine. I look forward to hanging around tomorrow and maybe doing the lawn and stripping a gazillion bug carcasses off my car.
We picked Saturday and Sunday as travel days figuring everyone would be where they were going for the weekend and we weren’t disappointed. The highways were mostly empty. All in all it was a relatively easy drive. I just wish Americans would learn to use multi-lane roads as they were meant to be used. The big difference between American highways with their ridiculously low speed limits and the German autobahns which have no speed limits is driver discipline. Germans understand the proper use of multi-lane roads. I doubt it will ever change here in the US, though. Pity.
Mon 22 May 2006
Cities: what I miss and what I don’t.
Posted by markj under StuffComments Off on Cities: what I miss and what I don’t.
We spent this past weekend in DC at Book Expo. As with all cities, there are some very good points and some very bad ones. We were able to indulge in the various ethnic food restaurants around our hotel every night. We ate Chinese, Ethiopian, and Lebanese. The Chinese was so-so, but the others were great. The Lebanese dinner was with some of Sarah’s friends. Afterward we walked to a really nice coffee bar for dessert. Therein lies one major advantage to living in or around a big city, great dining choices. There is also no shortage of things to do in cities, plenty of shopping and cultural stuff, lots of places to walk, etc.
The most common downside to cities is always the traffic and DC is certainly no exception. Public transportation in this country is still below par when compared to the systems in Europe. I lived in Germany, just south of Nurnberg, for a number of years and for a while I commuted daily to the north side of Nurnberg. There was a bus stop within easy walking distance from my house and the commuter rails and subways all linked and all used the same monthly pass system, which was cheap. And it’s that way anywhere in Germany. The Germans make full use of their public transportation for two very good reasons. It’s efficient, and it’s way cheaper than their gasoline. It’s also very clean and very safe. Something that can’t be said for many US systems.
I was reading in today’s Boston Globe that Massachusetts is having a hard time recovering workers who left the state during the 2001 recession because the housing costs are still ridiculously high. Yet another downside to cities. Out our way you can buy some beautiful homes for around $200k. In DC you’d be looking at a small condo or a very small house in a not-so-nice neighborhood. In the Boston area you’d be stuck with condos. When professionals like Sarah and myself can live very well in the midwest or live like paupers out east, guess where we’ll choose to live.
So for now I guess we’ll stay in the midwest and continue to travel as often as possible. I’ve really become accustomed to the lack of traffic and the decent weather in our area. And despite my occassional rants about noisy neighbors, overall it’s very quiet where we live and that point gets driven home every time we visit a city.
Mon 15 May 2006
Need an excuse for speeding?
Posted by markj under StuffComments Off on Need an excuse for speeding?
Wed 10 May 2006
Some old pics from my days in the US Cavalry.
Posted by markj under StuffComments Off on Some old pics from my days in the US Cavalry.
During my second tour in Korea I was in a Recon unit, part of the 4th Sqdn, 7th US Cavalry (Air). We were a bunch of teenagers with toys. Good fun then. One of the coolest things we did was STABO extraction, where you tied yourself off to a rope hung from a Huey and flew off. We did some serious rappelling, too. Always face-first. I don’t know why, but they call it “Australian style.”
Tue 9 May 2006
Very cool star tracking program.
Posted by markj under Gadgets , StuffComments Off on Very cool star tracking program.
Stellarium is a free and very cool program which will show you your sky for any given time and label planets, stars, and constellations. You can set it to “fast forward” through the day and night and watch how the heavens change. Great for amateur star gazers and gadget freaks like me. 😉
