Crank Your Shorts

memories

david — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:06:18 +0000

the inspirational message i read today proclaimed “create memories that last a lifetime”. now, why the heck would i want to do something that is going to last my entire life just to remember?

hydromorphem

david — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:06:19 +0000

my youngest daughter taught me all about hydromorpheum, a special liquid given to baby ducks (“no dad, not for the mother duck, just the baby duck”) to help them live and sleep. apparently, hydrumorpheum (pronounced ‘hi-drum-or-fee-um’) is “nutritional but not a food, and best for helping the baby duck if they are concerned about sleep”.

mind state

david — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:08:15 +0000

my insanities keep me sane

what say you

david — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:28:51 +0000

many people are unsure to reply to the farewell expression of “see you later pork roast”. and you?

recession

david — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:48:51 +0000

later this week i am to participate in an interview to talk about the effects of the recession on people, from the perspective of my profession. i can best characterize how people seem to be evolving, whether related to the recession it is difficult to tell.

i was out watering my front yard and shrub/flower garden early this evening. my youngest daughter thought it would be great to run around with only her ‘hello kitty’ grundies…doing her best to tempt the sprinkler water while also avoiding getting wet. i stood out near the end of the yard near the sidewalk corner so that i could watch the evening and the water and my daughter. the water was sprinkling a portion of the sidewalk…not much at all. a young man…i am guessing 19 at most…sauntered by, having walked up behind me and i didn’t hear his approach. with good-natured intend i said, as the sprinkler neared the sidewalk, “don’t get wet”. the young man scowled, muttered something initially under his breath, took a long pull from the brown bottle he was carrying wrapped in a paper bag…and as he continued on he said “i better not slip”. his comment caught me off-guard and i chuckled before it struck me he was issuing a mild oath that i was fortunate he didn’t slip on my lot because of my watering the yard. he continued up the walk and i watched only from my peripheral view…he made another comment and continued walking, though i noticed he appeared to check into a car parked up a block and continued on when the owner of the house walked out and over to the car.

such is the attitude it appears…quick threats…a tendency to blame others…legal actions for anything that happens…putting challenge at the expense of everyone else

blather

david — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:04:17 +0000

local talk show hosts here in milwaukee continue to lament every governmental action/reaction/decision, with an equally incessant penchant for blame, particularly upon democrats and anyone else of purportedly liberal ilk. listening to mark belling one easily understands that every known human issue/problem/error is the fault of president obama. while in my workshop today, i listened in on wtmj…some stand-in for charlie sykes. the perspective of the gentleman this morning was how much the milwaukee metropolitan sewerage district has totally destroyed the environment though the errant decision-making made by local government regarding the use of the deep tunnel system that serves to offset waste water flow and containment for much of a 5-county area. the guy this morning had the knowledge to report that the current deep tunnel system was crafted 30 years ago. of course, no mention was made of the changes in technology that have occurred in the past 30 years, not to mention the increased reliance on the system during the past 30 years, not to mention the increased challenges posed by storms and flooding. it is interesting to me that all folks assume that when they switch on a light fixture, or turn on a water spigot, or flush a toilet, everything will work perfectly, no matter where they engage in such activity. And, the concerns that arise when sewers back-up or when the power is out or when water treatment processes are overloaded and contamination occurs…there is always someone else to blame.

at the risk of not being accepting of all people, i perceive the local talk show hosts as blow-hards, definitely not happy in their own control of their experience of life…and more than a bit boring.

then again, what is to be assumed of my own life if i am listening to such noise while in my workshop. for shame dave, for shame

breakfast of champions

david — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:40:41 +0000

each time i fry sausage links for breakfast, i encounter a situation in which i am not easily able to evenly cook the entire link in a simple and thorough way. most typically, i am not able to successfully roll the link to allow for an even fry. it can be done with tongs, but i prefer a flipper because i can then use only one cooking tool. yet, when i go to roll the link, it will always end up on the freshly grilled side, making one side very done and the other sides lesser done.

notation

david — Fri, 21 May 2010 19:29:14 +0000

pertinent reply to useful feedback that I my text-messages tend to skew long: got it

homeostasis

david — Sun, 16 May 2010 11:45:19 +0000

i watched “avatar” this weekend. an ok flick…typical john cameron…a bit too similar to “titanic”. the best part of the film was a statement in which the protagonist is informed that nature doesn’t fight for favorites…nature fights for balance. people humanize everything. we are given stories of how young blue whales fight for survival and often fall prey to the mean orcas. or we are shown clips of penguins being eaten by the voracious seals who in turn are eaten by the bullying polar bears. rats are depicted as despicable vermin. the newly dominant male lion is hated for killing the lion cubs sired by the previous dominant male. and the song ‘circle of life’ might play in our mind’s ear to paint a rosier picture of the survival of the fittest. and, it’s nothing more than balance.

i’ve noticed in my professional career the number of times when i am the most critical of my peers, only to find that i am neglecting or will soon neglect some of my own work. i’ve been able to characterize this…even rationalize this…as a vivid example of freud’s ‘projection’ at work. the very things i find difficult in others are the very things that are difficult within my own being. i’ve not been successful at pointing this out to others who may be quick to criticize me and my own work, and know that to assume those folk are perhaps not as enlightened is perhaps yet another example of my own dull perception.

and, in it all, there is the reality that it remains all about balance. every human condition is all about balance. life is completely all about balance…likely vicarious balance. everyone of us is tipping the scale in all that we do, and someone else is countering those actions.

whether

david — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:45:04 +0000

i am more than a bit fascinated by the propensity for nearly everyone i encounter, when asked “how are you”, to limit comment to the weather, how busy they are a work, or their most recent illness. i, dare say, estimate that those three categories comprise the responses of 97.8% of everyone i ask “how are you?”, or “what’s new?”. i have found that asking questions such as “how’s your life” or “dream much lately” are most conducive to producing either the remaining 2.2% of the responses i get, or at least a quizzical look and a reply of “i’ve never been asked that before, let me think for a moment”. not that i need to alter the course of human interaction, it still is curious to me.