Monthly Archives: September 2008

In Memory of my Friend Paul

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We still subscribe to the Norton Telegram. Oftentimes, there is not much to read, except details on last Friday’s football game, or how there’s all-you-can-eat special for $9.99 at a local eatery. Seeing that the paper arrives here about 10 days or two weeks after publish date, and that we’re 1200 or so miles away, we can’t take advantage of such specials.

When someone dies, though, timeliness is just not so relevant. And so it was today, as I opened the paper to the inside of page 2, where the obituaries always are, only to be greeted with news of the death of my best friend in high school. I posted the following on the on-line guestbook at the Topeka KS funeral home, who handled my friend’s arrangements:

With the Norton Telegram’s arriving at postal speed, I just found out about Paul’s passing.

I’m shocked and sorry. He and I were high school classmates; we were geeks when geeks weren’t cool.

Rocketry was our thing, and I can still remember Paul saying, “One of these days, we’ll build something big enough, and I’ll ride it.” We had matching jackets for the Paul & Kenny Rocketry Association, with rocket emblems, each lovingly crafted by our seamstress-talented mothers. They were chartreuse fabric jackets; you could see us coming!

I hadn’t seen him in years; jobs, the workaday life, and sheer miles separated us.

I’m sad; Paul and I had some great times, and I think that a lot of the same attitudes and outlooks we had 40+ years ago remain with me still.

RIP, Paul, and deepest sympathy to your family.

In Memory of Paul Belt: January 11, 1950 – September 17, 2008

-k-

TSA Gestures

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Via Makezine, this report of a MAKEr who is working on a metal plate that you insert into your carry on luggage. The plate is cut out in a judicious fashion, with a witty saying or an image of some type. The theory is that the x-ray machine will make this cut out message visible to the TSA screener.

I think this guy’s on to something; it almost makes me wish I was still a flyer. I’d have a respectful gesture of respect cut into my plate.

I have in mind a universal gesture, as much at home on the expressways of Northern Virginia as it is on NASCAR tracks, when someone cuts you off.

A gesture that just screams TSA, you’re #1 with me.

On second thought, it’s probably good that I’m not a flyer.

-k-

So Long, Office Depot Store #339

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We have an Office Depot about a mile or so from tbbs WorldHQ. Over the course of the last 15 years, I’ve spent a lot of money over there; the laptop on which I currently type this post was purchased there; I’ve bought countless USB mice, thumbdrives, and assorted other doodads from them. They are also a UPS shipping facility; I can’t enumerate how many packages for our daughter and grandchildren started their journey to the west coast from that store.

Over the last several months, this particular OD has been swirling the drain of pathetic service, all traceable to an OD “associate” named Raana, according to her name tag. A couple of examples of her stellar customer service:

  • While applying for the West Virginia job, that thankfully didn’t come to pass, I had occasion to fax some documents to my prospective employer1. Raana, after ignoring my presence at the counter for what seemed an eternity, given that the store was largely deserted, finally waited on me and faxed my document. I had specifically asked for the transmission report at the start. She faxed the document, walked back towards me while wadding up the transmission report. I asked whether or not that was the transmission report, she handed me the wadded up version, and I left.
  • Today, I went over there for some canned air2; one can for home, one for work. I saw Raana when I entered the store, saw the length of the checkout line, and thought that I’d just go home. But I really needed the canned air. I killed some time looking at electronic doodads, bit the bullet, and headed to the checkout line. By this time, the line appeared to have dwindled, there were two people manning the checkout lines, and I had a 50-50 chance of getting Raana. And guess what, I drew Raana. I paid cash for my canned air, but only after Raana saw fit to almost turn her back on me, while she discussed some topic with another “associate” in some language that neither smacked of Northern Virginia, nor Guadalajara, for that manner. I held out my 20 bucks at least three times before she deigned to accept it. She made a big deal of counting back my change, and then didn’t even put my 2 cans of canned air in a bag.

I just went to the Staples website, where I determined that the closest store is 4.25 miles away. I guess that now I plan my trips for office supplies.

Office Depot #339, goodbye and good riddance. Your shelves are nearly bare, your service is condescending and surly, your basic shopkeeping skills nonexistent.

I’m a Staples guy now, until and unless they hire Raana. OD sponsors NASCAR driver Carl Edwards; NASCAR fans are brand loyal. They also know when they aren’t being treated right.

-k-

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1 We have a fax machine, purchased from this Office Depot. It needs a new print cartridge, and I’ve been remiss in getting one.

2 Those compressed spray cans; excellent for cleaning out doughnut crumbs from one’s computer keyboard; you know what I mean.

Cloud Funnies

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I have my WordPress TagCloud widget set to display the most popular tags in a random order. By so doing, I realized that there was a possibility that certain tags could be placed side-by-side in ironic, cute, or possibly even ribald combinations.

While checking out the tbbs front page a while ago, I noticed these tag juxtapositions:

  • Unix cars
  • geek CountryMusic
  • Racing commute
  • Congress goofy
  • wordpress Eats Fedora
  • RIP Life

Those should cover the ironic and cute. The wordpress line may get a little rise on the ribald scale, if one is of a sufficiently twisted mind.

Maybe I have the makings of another series of posts, like my Punchlines series.

It’s handy to have fall back fodder for those times when I have nothing to say. Which is a lot of times.

-k-

Half Retired

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More precisely, my better half is now officially semi-retired. Our short-lived plans to relocate to West Virginia led to her leaving her job.

Initially, I felt bad that she had resigned after 15 years to come with me on another wild computer-job-related adventure that didn’t come to pass. I guess that we both realized that she would be leaving her work environs within months anyhow.

She has reassured me that I’m not a total selfish dickhead, and that she went out on her own terms. She had witnessed other women of her approximate age being shuffled out of the rotation, so to speak, and she was firm in her resolve not to end her career like that.

As MLB has already said about this latest turn of events:

I’m leaving with my head held high. I have no regrets.

Nor do I. Initially, she will be doing the same thing here that she would have been doing elsewhere; making a house a home. We’ve neglected some basic sprucing up and maintenance items here at tbbs WorldHQ, and she’s now positioned to evaluate what needs to be done, so we can prioritize our resources accordingly. So I expect my Honey Do list to grow.

We are blessed that we have no staggering debt load, that we’ve managed to put back a bit of savings, that living comfortably beneath our means has become a way of life for us. And we love each other.

So, MLB is still working, just not for a paycheck. When tbbs WorldHQ is in the shape it needs to be, not in terms of some blow-it-out-our-ass yuppie one-upsmanship, but in terms of “we’re organized and spruced up”, she will probably go to work again, at least part time, in some location closer to the homestead. That’s her call.

We have a way to go before we get there, but we can take but one step at a time.

She and I are both eagerly looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.

-k-

A is not non-A

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Unaccustomed as I am to citing anything from the New York Times, this post confirmed my nascent anti-bailout leanings. When an Administration official, like Ministry of the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson writes on Sunday that:

Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

and a scant two days later assures Congress that this bailout nonsense will require oversight, I’m left shaking my head.

Also from the blog post:

I’m not playing gotcha here. This is telling: if Paulson can’t be honest about what he himself sent to Congress — if he not only made an incredible power grab, but is now engaged in black-is-white claims that he didn’t — there is no reason to trust him on anything related to his bailout plan.

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Indeed.

Congress, if you’re ever going to grow a pair, now is the time. It is not the time to lard up this bill with extensions for car loans, student loans, and credit card debt. The time is now for you to look this Administration in the eye and tell them to cram it. Just cram it.

-k-

Autumnal Header Graphic

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tbbs is graced by the photographic expertise of WSK_2005, aka Shawn Kinkade who got this beautiful shot of autumnal foliage at the Kansas City Zoo.

More importantly, Shawn made the work available under a Creative Commons license with the “free to remix” clause active.

I trust that my limited Gimp skills didn’t detract too much from the magnificence of the photo.

Thanks, Shawn!
-k-

Writing on the Wall

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On a whim, about a month or so ago, I installed the WP Wall plugin and widget. The widget sits in the right sidebar over there. From the plugin author’s site, WP Wall provides this:

Readers can add a quick comment about the blog as a whole, and the comment will appear in the sidebar immediately (without reloading the page).

There’s a “Guestbook” page tab up top there; the guestbook collects all the Wall writings. And today, the Wall got its first writing, from family friend and all-round good guy James, who asked a question for the ages:

“What the hell is this? ”

I’m sure James’ question is applicable to many things in the world today, and I’m equally sure I have no good answers. In the context in which it was asked, I hope I’ve served to enlighten.

-k-