Totally skipped August

9/26/08

At Nina's. First time in a long time. I totally skipped August . The
coffee shop is hopping laptops on tables are like--I don't know what.
People texting away on their cellphones. Two older guys trying to help
each other figure ring volume and how to assign different alerts to
emails.

This cellphone is a replacement I got a few weeks ago for the T-mobile
Wing whose speaker had died. I just now got my connectivity again so
that I can post from here to Blogspot.

I have been making a sporadic effort to post some pictures on Some
Kinda Possible. Need to do a card for Dorothea. The birthday note that
I sent her while she was at camp with Liam never got to her.

My manager gave me and two of my colleagues the day off. We all have
been working early and late, weekends. Thursday was a successful
conversion to an upgrades database. Usually a weekend sort of thing,
it was forced through late at night because our DBA was to be on
vacation.

The other thing that I am interested in is getting copies of building
permits for our house.

--
David
www.schons.net

brewberry refinance

7/24/08

Brewberry's. I haven't sat to write in a coffee shop for awhile--quite
awhile. For one thing, I have mostly been off coffee since April; just
starting again now with the occasional decaf.

One thing that occurred to me as I was biking was that if I want write
regularly, I may need go back to the coffee shop scene. I could drink
tea. But idea of going somewhere else besides home to do something
works. The question is how to work it in.

This morning is a bit like a mini-vacation. I got up at the usual time
and did the usual things, including biking to work, though with a
slight variation. Biked along the river road to Hidden Falls-Crosby
Farms-I 35E and then along Shepard Road to work.

I was in early, before six. I was there to get the phone number of
notary who was to come to our house for a closing on a refinance. Last
evening, Dorothea and I were going over the faxed summary documents
that I had gotten earlier in the day. I was expressing my misgivings.
She had lots of questions. Plus, the magnitude of her and Madeline
leaving today for the last two days of the Rag Brie was just catching
up with her. Her suggestion: postpone. So that is what I did from the
phone in my cube--leave a message on Notary Joe's cellphone. It was
about 6:30 AM.

I am interested in the notion of getting energized to write because of
the men's group I am in. Time will tell.

--
David
www.schons.net

Fifth of July

7/5/08

Sitting on a bench at Mounds Park, littered with garbage on the Fifth
of July, listening to a podcast of Seymour Hersch on Fresh Air,
railing rightly so against Dick Cheney's expansion of the war into
Iraq, I find myself, paradoxically, an advocate of a stronger
executive. I don't think we'll see our way out of our current problems
without it.

Last night we went to the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum.
Sadly disappointing. Afterwards, a beer at Great Waters held us over
to watching the fireworks from the sidewalk by the downtown power
plant. That was spectacular. (The Taste of Minnesota has new owners
who're trying to make an impression.) noticeably multi-ethnic crowd.

--
David
www.schons.net

Painting the 35W bridge

What a splendiferous day. You couldn't ask for a better summer day. Liam just got on first. Last time up, he drew a walk. Pretty good, considering that he was afraid of the Spider's 70 mile an hour pitcher. Now he just scored a run.

I left for a bike ride about 3:00. Dorothea was to leave at 4:00 with her book club for a four-day trip to Ely. Liam was over at a friend's. Madeline was at the public pool.

I stopped to watch the 35W bridge construction. The fellow who is doing the oil painting was there. The construction crew was just preparing for the crane to lift one of the large sections. I got pictures of both.

The painting is realist. Bur even though the scene that he was creating was faithful and accurate and beautiful, it totally left out the crane and the concrete section.

Now, Liam's team has taken the field but he's on the bench, so I don't feel guilty writing. Sure haven't written much lately.

After the 35W bridge, I headed for the Cedar Lake trail and Lak Calhoun. I wasn't paying correct attention to the time when I got a call from Liam. 5:20. I needed to get home, which I did at 6:10. Late. He was very gracious.

Continuing a long tradition of putzing with computers during a long holiday weekend...

Last night, I horrified myself. Returned from a bike ride of the bridges with Madeline and Dorothea. (Our house to Ford Parkway Bridge to Minnehaha Falls to Lake Street Bridge.) And, back in the basement, was fiddling with the dual display that I had gotten working between the laptop and the new flat screen. I did something whereby I lost the ability to control the screens. Ah, horror.

This morning, I disconnected the laptop from everything and rebooted. When I plugged the flat screen back in, voila!, it worked. And better than before, in that I got the behavior that I was really looking for--just the laptop display on the 20 inch monitor. So, I can plug the keyboard, mouse, and monitor into the laptop, close the lid, and forget about it.

I know this stuff is boring. But at least it is getting me back into the blog mode.

There are pictures (of trip to D.C., of Liam's birthday, Mother's Day, the Mayday parade, etc. at http://www.flickr.com/photos/somekindapossible/.

Today, my mobile blog is not mobile

I am at a PC. A PC in the basement, no less. So, the blogging is not so mobile today. There are lots of things that I haven't gotten to. The most immediate, though, is that I bought a flatscreen for the 3rd computer. I have the laptop connected. Tired of sitting at the dining room table with the laptop. Now, though, I am in the TV room with the children. Different experience. Also, I am pretty sure that I want to go ahead and move to Blogger. When my domain name was up earlier this year, I was emotionally ready to give it up, but was not technically ready to do so. The next time it comes around, either I will be ready to give it up, or, schons.net will not be my blog address, but it will be my web address. I just dragged a bunch of pictures to Flickr. The pictures extend from the Mayday parade to the D.C. trip.

Budding Birch

5/7/08

Sitting on the couch of the front porch. Gorgeous nice day. The birch
tree is beginning to bud. Last Sunday we finally put the patio
furniture out on the back deck. Haven't had to mow yet, but will soon.

Fairview Avenue is turning into my favorite, translucent green tunnel.
Dorothea has ridden her bike to work twice already. I have done the
bridges once. Yesterday, however, Dorothea had ridden her bicycle to
work, and it was raining in the afternoon. I thought it likely that I
would have to go and pick her up. But she ended up riding home anyway.

I think I will doze until it is time to take Liam to his second weekly
baseball practice.

--
David
www.schons.net