This is Jack, a Persian belonging to my good friends Rick and Tracy. That’s my sister Jennifer holding him.
Jennifer likes to hold cats. As a baby she was allergic to cats and we had to get rid of our cat Whiskers to keep the new baby. In hindsight, it was a good trade. I’ve got two cats I’m willing to trade now. Not looking for a baby.. but maybe a pack of gum or something? Anyone?
The Dilbert Principle is a business theory suggesting that companies should promote their most incompetent employees to management positions where they can avoid customer interaction and do the least amount of harm to the business.
In 2002, then CIA Director George Tenet told President Bush that it was a “slam dunk” that we would find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
President Bush used that as justification to launch a preemptive war against Iraq. To date 1572 American servicemen and woman have lost their lives in this war.
The CIA’s top weapons hunter has ended his search for WMD’s in Iraq without finding any such weapons.
Last December, President Bush awarded Tenet our nation’s highest Civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom for his service to our country. Yesterday, Tenet told an audience he regrets the slam dunk remark.
The Republican Dilbert Principle: Reward managerial incompetence, scapegoat underlings, and invoke 9/11 to justify any costs in lives, money, or reputation of incompetent actions.
New Category! Opposite of my previous new category Rants which is for bitching and moaning, this category Guide to Life is about solutions and lessons learned, forgotten, and re-learned in 40 years of living. Pay close attention to this category, there will be a test.
During the four years that I was self-employed and working at home my commute was basically from upstairs to downstairs. It was nice. But I have once again become a commuter, heading roughly 35 miles from my Northern Virginia home into Washington, DC. I’m fortunate to still be able to work from home a couple of days a week, but on the days that I do go in the commute has been worse than I can ever recall. Last Friday evening, it took me three hours to get home. Last week, heading into the city in the late afternoon, it took me two hours to cover a distance I should have done in 45 minutes. It sucks.
Happily, last week I re-discovered slug lines. Slugging is a term that describes informal, ad hoc car pools arranged for single trips into and out of Washington, DC so that the driver has the benefit of having enough occupants in their car that they can ride in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, and the passengers or “slugs” get a free ride to or from work. For a few years I regularly slugged my way into work.
Last week after crossing the Key Bridge and passing through Rosslyn, I spotted the tell-tale line of slugs, looking for a southbound ride. The HOV restrictions are lifted at 6pm, but grabbing two slugs by 5:20 found us entering the slug lanes by the Pentagon shortly after. In no time we were homebound at 70 mph, flying past the more slug-like traffic in the regular lanes. The next day, I picked up three slugs at 5:30, and dropped them off at the Potomac Mills Mall commuter lot at about 6:15. It was beautiful.
Thank you slugs, I’ll be looking for you on my way home.
Rick Klau has shared a fun idea he found in The Onion, Tivo Wishlist Roulette. Pick a word and enter it as a Tivo WishList set to auto-record any matching programs. Then sit back and enjoy the anticipation while waiting to see what your Tivo will find.
Looking for a purely random experience, I didn’t want to pick my own word, so I turned to the Oxford English Dictionary: Word of the Day page to find mine. Today’s word: slant.
Stay tuned for the results! (I can hear you now, “Get a life Chris!”)
Update: Oh the irony! In looking for something random, I got what I already had. The only program that the keyword ‘slant’ added to my Tivo’s ‘To-Do’ list was The Daily Show with John Stewart, a program I already Tivo and watch religiously. The reason? The show’s description says it provides a ‘humorous slant’ on daily news. There you have it.
It’s Rippon at Saunders in a middle school track smackdown on a wonderfully warm spring day. Will’s events are the 4×100 and the 4×400.
They lost the 4×100, but Will ran a great anchor leg. Wednesday track meets this spring are gonna be great fun.
ok, here’s one using mo:Blog. Can I get a picture added too? It seems not, I can’t get it to read a directory on my flash card. Still, it seem more full-featured than the previous program.
Test from vagablog
First, an explanation is in order. What’s this ‘bredda’ crap all about? On the 1983 Album, Special Beat Service by The Beat, you will find a song called Pato and Roger Ago Talk, in the lyric of which singer Ranking Roger sings, “We a bredda”. While there is plenty of room to wonder what the hell Pato and Roger are ago-talking about, we accept the definition of bredda as meaning “close male friend”.
Among my closest friends are a batch I met as far back as the first grade, and on into high school. We’ve enjoyed many adventures and memories, and remain close despite being scattered now across the country living very different lives. Two years ago, at our 20th High School reunion, we bemoaned the infrequency of our gatherings, and determined to use the year we all will turn 40 as occasion for an epic lost weekend. There were many months of planning, and a bit of uncertainty, but ultimately to our own surprise we actually pulled it off.
A destination was chosen, Sayulita, Mexico. A small fishing village 35 minutes north of Puerta Vallarta. Now, a week after returning, and with photos developed, I am ready to start telling the tale. But later, for now, just check out the photos.
