Black Thumb

I've always had a black thumb. I kill house plants, hell, I even killed a cactus once. Anyway, I'm trying to change all that. Maybe Dale gave me some inspiration.


I've begun an experiment with my poor office plant. The thing has severely outgrown it's pot, so I've repotted it in a bigger pot, but took out one of the three shoots and clipped it. I put that one in a little coffee cup with some water and miracle grow. And it'll definitely be a miracle if the thing sprouts roots.

Luckily, I'm an engineer and not an agronomist like my father. If you leave a piece of equipment to it's own devices, it won't do anything. You can pick up where you left off yesterday. A plant (or any living thing really: cats, bats, rats, gnats, relationships, or people) if left alone without nourishment/attention, will most certainly die. So I think I'll stick with the machines.

The Slippery Slope

All last week and probably all of this week, I have/will be eating breakfast for dinner. I realize that the fat and cholesterol in sausage and eggs is probably one of the worst things you can eat (other than just sitting down with a bucket of lard and a spoon). But I like it. And last I checked, my cholesterol level wasn't very high.

I think that all that cholesterol level stuff is mostly genetic anyway. Yes, yes, you need to exercise and all that, but I know this guy from Iowa that grew up with the practice of putting BUTTER on his donuts. I was amazed. As if they didn't have enough grease to start with. And where did he learn it from? His parents. Where did they learn it from? His grandparents. His grandparents happen to be in their nineties with no heart problems whatsoever. Probably ate Iowa pork every day for decades.

So, just to be on the safe side, I threw in some pancakes to balance out the meal.

WWW

However you feel about W., deep down we all have a little place in our political hearts for that all-but-forgotten-goof-ball, Al Gore.

That's why I was happy to find out that he finally received his props for helping to bring the internet into being. Technically, he did help pass legislation that made the internet (and it's inevitable blogging) available to the public.

From abcnews:

And at the ninth annual international Webby Awards in New York this week, one particular Net figure finally received his due: Former Vice President Al Gore.

Officials at the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences honored Gore with the Webby Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of his pivotal role in the development of the Internet over the last 30 years.

Gore had been skewered during the 2000 presidential campaign for his remarks that suggested he was the Net's creator. But Vinton Cerf, one of the scientists who helped craft the actual Internet architecture, acknowledged that Gore was responsible for crafting important legislation and lending needed political support for "the information superhighway."

The former vice president accepted the award from Cerf. But like other Webby winners, the usually talkative Gore had to limit his acceptance speech to five words or less.

Thus, remarked Gore, "Please don't recount this vote."

Cube Relocation

Today was the day of the big cube move. I've been dreading it for months and I was one of the last cubes standing. Our department has had to give up it's prime piece of real estate to be herded in together with the other remnant groups upstairs and very far away from the test lab.

Previous cube:


New cube:


In order to make the transition as painless as possible, I maintained my desk organizational "filing system" by placing the several piles of paper carefully into boxes and then just as carefully placing them in their inverse positions on my new desk.

Sickly office plant that I've been unintentionally torturing for years, but can't seem to let go of:

eco-goat-herders

I worked with someone in software QC at my company today that, of all things, has just started an organic, goat dairy farm. This guy lives in Columbus, Ohio area and apparently there is market there for organic, non-pasteurized, goat milk. I just thought it was interesting how the small, family farm model is somewhat returning. Only it has reincarnated in a more trendy, environmentally-friendly, organic form. And I think that they might succeed too as long as the market for this stuff remains niche and stays under the radar of the large agribusinesses.

Why do I care? It is a little-known fact that I grew up on a small dairy farm in Nowhere, Wisconsin. (Wisconsin is no longer the #1 state in cheese or milk production BTW) And yes, I’m proud to admit that I’ve shoveled a lot of shit in my day. Builds character.

Although many complain about government farm subsidies (with good reason sometimes, but that also gets into global trade issues and whatnot), the small family farm was essentially a small business that got squeezed out just like Wal-Mart squeezed out all of the local downtown small businesses and factories. So I’m not lamenting about it, it just is what it is.

Well, I say hats off to the eco-goat-herders, but you won't find me drinking goat's milk anytime soon. Incidentally, my roommate just turned to eating all organic now, so it must be a lot more common than I thought. I wonder if they make organic feta?

Sudoku

All you tetris-heads will probably enjoy this puzzle. They seem to be big in the UK right right now, but I've just found out about them recently. The ancient Japanese puzzle of Sudoku is simple, but can be elegantly complex at the same time. All you do is fill each square with a number such that each row, column, and block have the numbers 1-9. It's kinda like the crossword puzzle for those of us who are writenly and scrabbelly challanged.

Two Rows Bacon

Bacon.

Thick, juicy, honey-cured, pepper bacon -- to be precise. To be best enjoyed as:

A. garnish

B. appetizer

C. main course

D. condiment (not to be confused with bacon bits)

E. all of the above.