Saturday, January 23, 2010

Date Night! A Prarie Home Companion Edition




OhCountess and I are attending the live broadcast of A Prarie Home Companion this evening. I expect many laughs and good times. Tune in on your local public radio station. See if you can hear us laughing!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Words of Wisdom

This poor blog. I've been sitting here over the last few weeks just overwhelmed with words to describe view of politics and society. Just simply overwhelmed. The rants I've started writing and just left in the "Draft" stage here at Blogger are numerous. I'm mostly self-censoring which I know isn't exactly a good thing.

It came to me today in an email. Something to share that's positive. Our home lives have gotten pretty routine as of late. One big piece of news that I haven't shared is my poker writings have wider audience now, Minnesota Poker Magazine is now highlighting a new blogger, me!

So, what was this thing that came to me in an email today that I so tangently skipped past for a little shameless self promotion?

My kid's school got a new principal this year. A hard transition for the older kids because he's different and they are blaming him for all the new ills of the world, but my little one thinks he's cool. She's in 1st grade...she hadn't really gotten all that used to the last principal...I know, I know, I'm rambling...

So, this new principal has been working really hard to get the kids involved with concepts of personal responsibility and character. Gawd, I love this guy (and he's a huge Twins fan...I think I'm in love). Each day, a different student reads the days announcements over the PA system. So reminds me of my youth. That's pretty cool, but it gets better (from the parent point of view)...each day they also read the day's "Words of Wisdom".

I have no idea who writes these or where they come from, I should probably ask, but what a great idea for some blog posts! Share them! Here's the sample from today:

How many times have you heard this?

“Keep your shoes off the couch.”
“Wipe your feet before you come in.”
“Pick up those clothes from the floor.”

So, what’s up with all of that? What’s up is that your parents or caregivers are trying to teach you about respect. They want to teach you to respect all the hard work they had to do to buy the couch and to buy the clothes, and they want you to show some respect for all the cleaning and washing they’ve done so you can live in a clean home and wear clean clothes.

So, next time you hear someone say, “Keep your shoes off the couch,” remember that someone loves you enough to teach you about respect.

Make it a great day . . . or not. The choice is yours.
This lesson could be learned by so many of the grown-ups I know. Here at work, there are so many examples of people just not respecting other in the little things they do. Leaving lights and projectors on in the conference rooms because "someone else will turn them off." That just shows a complete lack of respect for "someone else." Turn them off yourself. You are a big person. Leaving messes of any kind is just rude.

I also just love the last line, "Make it a great day...or not. The choice is yours." Far too often, we fail to make our own choices and let others around them make them for us. The government can't make your life better, but you can. Your boss can't make your day/job better, but you can. When the world hands you lemons, make the best damn lemonade you can.

I'm gonna try to share these on a semi-regular basis. I really like reading them each day and since this is my blog, I'm gonna share them with you because this is my blog, damn it.

Now, go have a great day and rock this place!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Can anyone else here a bell? China vs. Google

I'm not one to light heartedly sound alarms about impending doom. Heck, I openly mock the local weather people about the severity of impending snow storms. #snowmageddon is the absolutely best way to set fire to a work day.
Look! A snow flake, in Minnesota! Where are the kids ma? We're heading for the bunker!
I'm a geek- look, up top, it says so RIGHT THERE! From time to time, I find the news scary. Most people are gonna just ignore this because who the hell cares if China's hacking some servers. Ppfftt. Let me know when they are heading this way...right?

I'm just shocked at their audacity and our complete ambivalence. These people are attacking the core of our nations information infrastructure AND NO ONE CARES.

I don't want to sound too alarmist because as of right now, they haven't gotten anything that we know, but still. This is a government of a sovereign nation that is openly attacking us and we do nothing.

Google, has for the most part, put it's foot down and hopefully it stays down. So many companies just cave to China because of the almighty dollar. China knows this and is using it to their advantage. We are blinded by greed. We are teetering with a huge problem and hopefully, someone, someday recognizes just how fragile it all can be.

China vs. Google: Did a Google employee provide inside help?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Closing out the bucket list one item at a time

Still busy as a beavers at the OhCaptain house. Before I get to the bucket list story I just have to tell you about, here's some of what's keeping me distracted lately.


Although, this blog has taken the brunt of the neglect. My photo blog heated up again recently when I started posting a bunch of pictures from my Las Vegas trip in December and a new photo challenge I'm doing with a few locals. Be sure to check it out - http://twalshphotoblog.blogspot.com/

The other blog getting my attention is my poker blog. I've been posting all the stories from the Blogger Winter Gathering, otherwise known as the WPBT Classic. Believe it or not, this trip really isn't all about poker. We do some crazy stuff. Check it out http://ohcaptainpoker.blogspot.com. In other big news about that blog, it got added to the line up at Minnesota Poker Magazine. Yo!

So, the stories you've been missing here...hm. Let's see. Lately, my life has only felt like it would be interesting to some dude that's spent an year on an island talking to a volleyball. For the most part, I might write a story like, "Today, I took the kids to school, the 6 year old was whiny, my 10 year old forgot [insert something new every day], I went to work and did things I can't write about here without violating my non-disclosure agreement....yada, yada, yada...

Well, until today.

If you know me personally, you've probably figured out that I quite often take my own path through life. If you don't specifically post rules that I can follow, I'll just do it my way.

I'm not sure of all the details but OhCountess asked me to pick up OhPrincess1 at school this afternoon and take her to swimming practice. No biggie right? That's what guys that drive minivans and 4 door Saturns do.

In front of the school is the 'L' shaped driveway. Sure there's some handicapped parking out front. Sure, it's almost always empty and I'll bet you think I got in trouble for something with them, right? Nah. I had something happen to me in this little fluster cluck of a driveway that we rebel dads can only dream about...

I got yelled at, and I mean, YELLED AT by on mom driving on this mess.

When I pulled up today, I'm coming from work, I could see that pretty much everyone on the driveway was heading in one direction. So, being the lazy ass that I am, I pulled in from the other direction cuz there was room and I could see that the lane heading the other direction was wide open.

There's a spot to park, heading this direction right by the service door, I pulled in wide right as to make sure there was plenty of room for someone to get out the other way. This is when it gets fun.

This lady rolls down her window and just starts SCREAMING at me. "What are you doing? This is a one-way! My God! This is a one-way! You are going the wrong way! This is a one-way!"...yada, yada, yada...

I in the middle of my 6th year of being a parent at this school. Yo...lady. I smiling back at her. Yeah, I know I'm going against the grain, but hell, I've done this before. Officially, I know for a fact that this road isn't a one-way. Most of us just park in what ever direction we want to leave. I didn't recognize this lady so I'm actually thinking she's just picking up. A student on a transfer.

Now, she looked like she was going to get out of her car. Man, was she on FIRE! I had always hoped to be the dad getting yelled at by a crazy woman at my kids school. I mean a guys got to have dreams right? My mind started racing about all kinds of fun things to do with this woman. I'm pretty sure that one of these would have made for a great story if she hadn't chickened out and left. Which one do you think might have made for the best story?

(Keep in mind, I double checked...the road is definitely not a one-way)
  1. After letting her say her peace, calmly tell her, "I'm so sorry ma'am, when I was driving in, I was distracted trying to figure out why I was the only one following the signs." (There are no signs)
  2. Offer to take her in and let her yell at me in front of the Principal's office so that a few more grownups could witness this. (Some of the other parents came up to me wondering what the hell was going...sigh)
  3. Whip out my iPod Nano and video tape the whole thing and offer to send her the link on YouTube.
  4. Tell her, "Come back in an hour when the clinic workers are done, this entire drive is facing the other direction." (It is. We all come from the other way and park facing in the direction I was)
  5. Stand in the middle of the road with her, let her just scream and holler waiting for the police non-emergency number to pick up and tell them there's a crazy woman screaming and yelling profanities in front of countless kids at the school. (My preference - her being cuffed and shoved into the squad would have ROCKED!)
I don't know, this was all I could think of just sitting there. I'm not the type of person that ever yells at people. I just don't get that. I'm also not the kind of person that would just cower and hide and gravel my way out of a situation when I know how exactly right I am (Ok, maybe I don't always stand my ground against the Mrs...the couch is lonely).

Why do people insist on doing this? Is it wrong of me to think of all these totally wicked ways to totally rain on her parade? Is Simon leaving American Idol gonna make that show so completely not worth watching or what? Does Victoria Beckham need to eat a few down sandwiches or what? Can I possibly come up with more stupid questions? Is there really an American Idol video game and people bought?

I give up!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

So why didn't we go to the metric system?

-7 degrees celcius feels so much warmer then this. I'm pretty sure my southern friends would be dead in seconds with temps like this. Thankfully, this is actually warmer then it has been.

Let's bundle up and cuddle folks!

-- Posted from my cell phone that starts with the i.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Weather Conditions from The Weather Channel

Thought I'd share our lovely new years day conditions. Enjoy! Oh! It's
gonna get colder over night. Cuddle up.

Now for Rochester, MN (55901)

Temp: -2F
Feels like: -18F
Clear
Humidity: 71%
Wind: WNW at 9 mph
Last Updated: 1/1/10 5:05 PM CST

For more weather information, visit www.weather.com from your PC or
mobile device.

Happy new year!!!