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Name: Kevin
Country: United States
State: Texas
Metro: Dallas
Birthday: 4/16/1960
Gender: Male
Interests: I like computers, reading, Celtic Rock, blues and bowling. I write very bad poetry, but luckily no prose. I think in bullet points, an injury sustained by years of PowerPoint presentations. I played fantasy football until I sprained my fantasy knee. I have five dogs in my house, but I'm not as interested in them as they are in when I am going to open the cookie jar.
Expertise: I speak Java. Don't you? I can perform weddings, but it's really just a hobby, not a profession. I am an old fart, so I can tell you youngsters why all the decisions you are making are wrong. Just ask me!
Occupation: Computer related
Industry: Computers (Software)
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  DallasKJG
Yahoo:  kjg
MSN: DallasKJG
Member Since:
2/12/2005
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| BubbaTVThe new satellite dish is smaller than our old one, but the reception isn't very good.
I thought it was just calibrated incorrectly, but that didn't fix it, either.
I guess I should have a professional install it.
(Full set of photos here.)
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| Life's little disappointmentsI must be getting old. This was going to be a review of the Boxmasters show at the House of Blues last night, except that I didn't actually go. I was at the House of Blues with the Spousal Unit, since I had an email from the record company that said I was on the VIP list for tickets. The HOB staff said I wasn't on the list, after all. Oops.
Now, if I were twenty years younger, I would be throwing a fit, posting on any message board I could find, and generally ranting about it. (Here's a funny thing about the move to iTunes and digital music - it makes it very hard to organize a record burning.)
Ten years younger, I would be sending off nasty emails and threatening legal action. Either that, or buying tickets to the show and sending in a receipt for reimbursement.
At my age, you just shrug, realize that Bubba needs medication soon, the Spousal Unit isn't that into the band anyway (and her hip was bothering her), so you just go home.
I suppose the Lord is telling me the mature way is not how to handle the situation, since when we got home, the air conditioner was out. Again. This is the third time this summer, maybe even the third time this month.
Same problem, different repairman. After the last one replaced a $500 motor, this one replaced a very small component. We'll see if it's fixed. Both of them think it's time for a new unit. So, I guess I'll just open my magic wallet and pay for that.
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| Wake me when the Olympics are overKelly has an interesting post on her boycotting the Olympics this year. I'm sure there are others that would prefer the US not compete this year, since the Olympics are being held in a Communist country not known for its great support of human rights. At least they've decided to take dogs off the menu for the duration.
Here's another reason to boycott the Games: they're completely irrelevant. When the new Olympics restarted in 1896, it was a challenge to have amateur competitors from all over the world gather every four years to compete. There were only 14 countries in the first games. It was a good metaphor for war without bullets.
Now, they're every two years, since the Summer and Winter games alternate. The competitors aren't really amateurs anymore. Some of the time, they're not even citizens of the country whose team they join. (I'm sure all the NBA players that compete for European countries have dual citizenship, but where do they pay their taxes?)
It's gone from friendly competition (the ideal) to a money-making, must-win commercial endeavor. What's the point?
Plus, this year, the Summer games in China which ruffles quite a few political feathers. For me, having an event in Asia is the worst possible place for a US audience, since they're almost exactly the opposite for times. Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Dallas, for example. There is very little in the sporting world that is going to make me stay up until 3am to watch something in the afternoon. All the events are in the middle of the night, which means very little will be shown live.
The Olympics were long passed by the World Cup as an event that stops the world while players compete. The World Cup is now our universal warfare without deadly weapons. It's too bad nobody here gets into soccer except the immigrants.
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| A close callHere's one advantage to getting older - it's more likely you'll get the benefit of the doubt, even when you do something really stupid. This is a long story, but it started with the Spousal Unit dragging me to Wal-Mart this afternoon for only two items. $100 and almost an hour of wandering the store like Israelites in the desert later, we were finally ready to head home.
She really wanted to stop at Dunkin' Donuts, since there's one basically right down the street from Wal-Mart, but I was pretty much out of patience at that point, so we just went home. Besides, Bubba needed his eye drops (he's recovering well from cataract surgery, thanks for asking.)
An aside: Dunkin' Donuts is another one of those concepts that proves even though I was born in Chicago, I'm not a Yankee anymore, if I ever was at all. I just don't get the attraction. We had one close to us years ago, I'm not sure I ever visited it, and it closed long before the Spousal Unit arrived. When they announced they were opening more Dunkin' Donuts franchises down here, the Spousal Unit wept with joy. It was like a nun finding out the Pope was coming over for tea. However, once we had the sacred donuts from the North, I wasn't that impressed. They're not very sweet, and I don't like the powdered sugar getting all over everything. They're like the also sacred (and again not very sweet) Italian pastries I've heard whined about for the past ten years - I just don't see the point of sweets that aren't sweet. Now, German Chocolate Cake (which isn't really German, even though my Granny made them) or pecan pie, fine, sign me up. Italian pastries, notsomuch. For donuts, I'd much prefer Krispy Kreme, but only if they're hot, which they usually are (just see if the light is on.) Plus, the first one is usually free. Personally, I like the mom-n-pop donut shop which always seems to have Oriental people working when I go in and Mexican people when the Spousal Unit visits. However, when I go there, I usually get kolaches and not donuts. Actually, if I want something sweet for breakfast, I'm just going to make pancakes which takes about three minutes if you use the Aunt Jemima mix and dump syrup on them. (I do like Dunkin's iced coffee, and the caffeine in it is probably one reason why this is rambling on.)
Where was I?
Anyhoo, we went to Dunkin' Donuts tonight after dinner, because nothing goes with Greek food like non-sweet donuts. Actually, it turns out the donuts are for in the morning, but I'll probably just make myself pancakes, because I really don't like Dunkin' Donuts (remember?) Truth be told, I'll probably just have sausage biscuits, because the pancakes require water and mix and stirring, and who has that kind of time in the morning? So, donuts in hand, we decided to come home the back way, rather than just down the main road. We had the Tomtom to guide us in case we got lost. What could possibly go wrong?
Apparently, many roads in Dallas cross each other. Some cross multiple times. Some change names now and then. Some disappear and reappear. I missed two or three suggested turns, according to the TomTom, but I almost knew where we were, and there wasn't much traffic in the neighborhood, so we just pressed on. We were cruising down a little-used street when I saw a Stop sign out of the corner of my eye. It was right there, behind the tree. <sarcasm>I'm not sure how I missed it.</sarcasm> Since it was out of the corner of my eye when I saw it, that implies that I was almost in the intersection. "Almost" as in much of the front end of the car. Oops.
I would call my maneuver that followed a "California" stop, except that a California stop has slightly more braking involved. I basically looked both ways quickly to see if I was going to either get hit or t-bone someone, noticed it was a four-way stop, saw a car way down the block and out of range, and hit the gas.
The Spousal Unit said "Wow! You can't even see that Stop sign behind that tree! Oh, that car was a cop."
I just slowed down and prayed fervently that it wasn't actually a cop. Then, I saw the read and blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. Thanks, Lord. I appreciate the assistance. Apparently, the power of prayer does not stop the Dallas Police Department.
Actually, it was two cops. I was pulled over by two cop cars, which is a new record for me. Two cop cars, for running a Stop sign. I'm glad we weren't actually committing a real crime. The Spousal Unit and I discussed our story before the officers approached the car. This was a new experience for me, since I've never "discussed our story" while sober. It's much easier to reach a consensus while sober. I was in a neighborhood where I was pretty sure jumping out to meet the officer would not be taken as welcoming, so I just sat tight. Pretty soon, each of us had an officer by our respective window. Is there anything as nerve-wracking as the time waiting for the officer to appear by the window? Anything close to that stressful probably involves a small strip turning (or not turning) blue.
The officer mentioned I had basically blown through a Stop sign. I apologized profusely, and explained I'm not from that neighborhood and I had just missed it. He asked why we were over there. I told him we had gone to Dunkin' Donuts and were on our way home. He expressed dismay, which just shows he's not a Yankee, either. The Spousal Unit then offered them donuts. They found this hilarious, which is very lucky, since I've never really desired to be beaten to death by two cops that didn't have a sense of humor.
So, after checking my record (which is clean apparently, so all of my youthful transgressions have finally rolled off), he let me go with a warning. It was actually a friendly warning. Thank you, officer. I truly appreciate your choosing not to soil my (finally clean) driving record. I guess you don't get many old farts visiting donut stores late at night in that part of town. (That's because the old farts in that part of town are over at Chubby's, having cake or pie.)
We saw both of the cop cars turning back to the intersection as we pulled away. I have a feeling that tree won't be getting trimmed any time soon. It's a potential revenue source.
So, to all of the members of the Dallas Police Department, thanks for keeping watch over us, even though it takes two of you to chase us down when we miss a Stop sign. And to whomever chose the Dodge Charger to replace the old Ford Crown Victorias (the ones that kept exploding) - good job! Those Chargers are a lot more intimidating, even when they're not going that fast.
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| Random ThoughtsBubba seems to have survived cataract surgery. He started barking at the Derek Jeter cutout in the garage when we got home, so his vision is better - he had stopped barking at him for quite a while.
Interesting bumper sticker on the way home: "If it weren't for your plumber, you'd have no place to go."
What almost-universal instruction does not apply to fat people? "Promptly refrigerate unused portion."
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