Thursday's Feeding

Ides of March
I MISSED IT! Yesterday was the Ides of March. Oh, well. It's pretty worthless anyway. I mean nobody buys me presents or anything, and it doesn't have as much potiential for fun as April Fool's Day, so I guess it doesn't matter much. I just like going up to people and saying with great intensity, "Beware the Ides of March!" Being a really big, kinda mean looking guy helps too. Once people get to know me and figure out that my grizzly bear outer shell contains within it a single Hostess Twinkie, the effect is almost zero. But, I've only been on this project and working with these people a few months. I coulda had a good time. Another missed opportunity. As Snideley Whiplash would say, "Curses, foiled again."

Virtual Friday!
AWWW-YeeeeaaH, dudes and dudettes. Where I work, we have every other Friday off. That makes today 'Virtual Friday'. Only a dweeb engineer could have come up with a silly reference like that, but really, in this case it makes perfect sense. Besides everyone here uses the term.
To guy with broken arm, "Hey, how's it goin'?"
Reply: "My arm hurts, but it's all good man, because it's Virtual Friday."
I nod my reply with a knowing look.

Toucan Sam, I Ain't
Toucan Sam, world famous hawker of Fruit Loops, used to counsel me, when I was a child, to "Follow your nose. It always knows…". Well, Toucan, my nose has a problem. Over a year ago, I had what I hope to be my final back surgery (I've had four). About a day and a half after said surgery, still in the hospital, I started halucinating smells. I still do over a year later. This morning was a perfect example. My wife takes my younger daughter to school each morning. My wife didn't sleep well last night and looks and acts tired. My daughter sleeps to the last possible minute, rushes about madly and gets ready to go in 2 minutes 47.271 seconds. They are about to leave the house and I'm enjoying the smell of coffee being brewed. My reasoning is that hey, they're tired, and made some java as a pick-me-up. (I don't drink coffee, but I like the smell.) My wife tells me goodbye and I say, "Did y'all get your coffee?" Blank stares. "What?" Me with fake sign language motions, "Did y'all get you some coffee?" "We didn't make coffee, you smell dog food. I just opened a couple of cans and fed the dogs."

Is that sick or what? I mean halucinating a smell is one thing, but having canned dog food smells in the air and my brain sensing and enjoying the smell of coffee is just out there my friend.

I have become fanatic about showering, shaving, and wearing after shave, because I honestly can't trust how I think I smell, and I want to err to the good side. I mean, most of the time, the old snoz is right on target, like when I'm cooking bacon, or a roast, or my after shave, but times like this morning keep me from totally trusting him. When we're out in public I always ask my wife if I really smell certain things that I think I smell.

Weird.

Your Password Will Expire In 5 days. Would you…
We have many computer systems I must use at work. Right now, I have over 10 different passwords for these various systems. AND we have to change each password every 90 days. AND every time I try to sign on to a computer near the end of this 90 day period, each computer pops up a window to let me know how many days I have left and asking if I want to change my password now. No I do not. I use this two week warning period to come up with a new set of passwords that I can remember and a system for recalling them. Of course, writing down a password is a HUGE no no. Today is the day I finally have been putting my new words into effect. I've been using spare time to log on to all the systems I use and renew all my passwords. All 10+ of them. What a pain. Not bad though, a full 5 days before I would have been locked out.

Some Things I Really Miss…
*People I hope to see in Heaven: Don C., Paul, Keith, Henry, Hilda, Malone, Eunice, Alden, Miss LeeAnna (who I never got to meet),
*People I haven’t seen in a while but are still with us (aka the downside of living in Florida): Lacee, Johnnye Beth, Mark, Marsha, Cary, Andrew, Jonathan, Zorner and Bobby, Caren and her family, Joe and Judy K., Wes, Denise and kids, Jim K., David K., Robert S., Mike and Anita K and their girls, Dr. Glenn B. and family-wherever you guys are now-sorry I lost track of you, Ralph and Donna V., and Tracy S., sorry I lost track of you too.
*Critters: Precious, Sophie, Sara
*Guitar leads in music – Many players in todays bands are either sucky players like me who can’t play leads (yet), or they’re girly-men who think for some reason it’s not cool. They are idiots, folks, because it don’t get much cooler on this-here earth than a well played, tasty, screamin’ guitar lead. There should be a law that all rock songs have guitar leads, punishable by death for disobedience.
*My L5-s1 and L4-L5 disks (can you say 'spinal fusion'?)

Some Pics, Just Because
Melbourne Beach sunrise, Thanksgiving morning, 2002. I like putting pictures on the blog, but don't have much here at work and I forget when I'm at home.

Click on them.