My Job

I have a task to do soon. It isn't something that I am scared of either. For Emma's birthday (one day after mine) we are giving her a computer. Don't get all worked up, we aren't rich, we are giving her an old one that I'm planning on adding to our network. I can't wait to have three computers all on our network playing nice and sharing the same printer. Basically it is intended for her school reports and some minor gaming (like tween games or associated websites). There are a few things that I need to take care of, should be fun!

1) I need to get a new monitor. I am going to give Emma one of the monitors that I am using for my dual monitor system now. Then I am going to buy a nice new flat-panel LCD. Should clear up a bit of room on my desk, I like the sound of that.

2) Emma's computer currently has a regular network card, but I am going to pop that out and throw in a wireless network card. I can't really think of too many reasons to have all the computers in the same room clustered around the router when I have a secure wireless network set up around here. Freedom to rearrange the furniture!

3) I am going to enable some of the parental controls on Internet Explorer, and install AVG virus scanner. Especially since the computer is going to be in the girl's bedroom (not permanently but for now, until we find a better place for it) when Emma is having 7 girls over for a slumber party in a couple weeks! Not that I think Emma would be doing anything nefarious, but you never know with a bunch of people in the house.

4) A few weeks ago I got everything set up for printer-sharing on our network. Our printer is connected to my computer, but it is so much better having Michelle be able to print her own stuff without me having to copy it to my computer and then print it. It wasn't all that tough either, I just had to actually sit down and figure it out, and now that I have the experience I think it will be a lot quicker and simpler to tie in Emma's computer for the printer too.

And that really should be the pinnicle for our network here, three computers on the network. Two of them wireless, and a third hard-wired to the router. All with printer sharing. And my main system has two monitors and is maxed out on RAM. Isn't that full geek fulfillment? I guess this means that I will need to start a wish list for an entirely new level of interesting toys.

My Books

I just had to describe the book that I'm reading to my boss, I am actually re-reading it though. I don't know what has gotten into me this past year, I have been re-read a lot of my favorite books. I'm working on Alien Emergencies right now. Go ahead and scoff, but I am still proud of my affinity to science fiction, even though most circles that I seem to drift in and out of (I just realized that I am pretty profoundly disconnected from most social circles, but how does a stay-at-home Dad get out into the world?) on a daily basis look down their noses at sci-fi.

This book though, think: ER in space. The author James White was a pacifist, and deeply opposed to the thinking that a sci-fi story had to have the traditional roots of human good guy and alien bad guy equaling some epic battle. The stories that he wove (started as an interstellar hospital, very ET diverse population, and then graduated to the main character being assigned to an ambulance spaceship that was outfitted to respond to distress calls involving unknown ET's) tried, successfully I must say, to make the adversity be a disease, a situation, or a problem. Ranging from environmental contamination leaks (oxygen and chlorine atmospheres don't play well together), to his extremely well thought out ideas of extraterrestrial biology and possible ideas for alternative evolutionary paths (he surprisingly had no classical medical or technical training, but the jack-of-all trades couldn't tell). The collection of his books makes me stop and think about the vast stretches of space "up there" and how the odds are that intelligent life didn't only evolve here. It makes me glad that I'm here now, but also a little annoyed that I wasn't born 500 years from now. Damn it.

But I'll talk about my struggle with mortality and death at a later date. I'm a little too tired to get the cramped stomach and tight chest right now.

My shovel

Where we live we aren't allowed to use rock salt, or any salt mixture ice melt. The only alternative that we have is calcium chloride ice melt. It is great stuff, it doesn't mess up concrete or pavement, and it doesn't kill your grass (Does everyone know that is why there is usually a 6-8 inch strip on the side of the road with no grass? Where does most of the salt, and therefore salt water end up?), and it works fast, but there is a drawback to the calcium stuff.

You ever try to walk on ball bearings?

Admittedly it isn't quite as bad as that, they are little spheres an average of 1/8 of an inch in diameter. When you pour them out on the steps or sidewalk they tend to crunch and break more then they are slippery, but on an inclined plane they can lead to a few.......invigorating seconds. Think: Scrambled Eggs, without the eggs.

My Olympics

I just watched some of The Opening Ceremonies on TV. Oh my goodness, seriously, I didn't really understand it. Wickedly way too esoteric or symbolic. Flaming rollerblades? Modern Dancing? A dude swinging a giant hammer on an anvil that belches fire? A little too wierd for me.

My son

Ryan's Definitions: Bread - Something to be tolerated in order to get Mommy and Daddy to give me butter to eat.

My cold toes

A couple of thoughts have occured to me lately, but first of all: Today's butter index is rock hard. In order to make toast that doesn't look like dried out mudflats, I have had to microwave the room temperature butter to warm it up!

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Parenthood: Realizing that going to the bathroom alone is actually a privilege, and that all the times you took it for granted when you were single, you were so silly.

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How many stories do you need to hear about before you know that you need to make sure your gun is empty before cleaning it?