Not Really That Popular

So, I've been encouraged to switch over from Outlook to gmail at work. Part of the problem is that all of the e-mail that I've received in the last year is considered unopened now. I've been trying to clear it out for a little over a week and here is where I'm at this morning.

On the bright side, there are some messages that I had deleted, which I shouldn't have, that are back in my Inbox.

Drove again today. I'm trying to remember if I have a wetsuit around someplace. My IM icon at work has been switched to Annie Lennox with the witty tag message of "Here comes the rain again." I'd switch it to BJ Thomas but I'm afraid it would be lost on most of my colleagues.

Family Night

I drove yesterday because CAT and I needed to head out early in order to get out to Camp Naish for Family Night. It had been a pretty nice week; hot and humid, but that's what you expect at camp. Yesterday the rain came back; but you have to expect that at camp too...



Curtis was a bit home-sick when we got there and, truth be told, I was a little camp-sick. I'm really missing not being there this summer -- but it IS a good oportunity for Curtis to be on his own. He is a trooper and had no issues with slogging around in the rain as long as that wasn't going to keep them from doing their late-night swim.

More rain today but I've got the Trek in the van in the hopes that the rain will end this afternoon and the kids will need the van for something, come get it and let me ride home. If not, tomorrow is another day and is supposed to be beautiful. With the trip to Dallas last week, I'm not going to hit my target miles for June anyway.

Wha' huh???

Temperature at departure = 73° F (23° C)

I was listening to the News/Talk station this morning as I was driving JLT to his summer school class and heard an actuality from a guy with the Missouri Department of Transportation discussing some changes to enforcement of lane change violations. He made a comment that I had to scratch my head over:

“Courtesy is the lubricant for traffic congestion.”

At first I thought he meant in an attempt to lower the chance for road rage they are encouraging people to NOT be courteous? Huh? I guess he is trying to convey the oposite. Anyway, I don't want to have to concentrate on stuff like that before I've had coffee. Perhaps if they'd given the story more than the 30 seconds the devoted to it versus the 4 minutes of coverage regarding a certain non-event that is the top headline of the day - I would have understood. Oh well.

I'm Back

Temperature at departure = 74° F (23° C)

Sorry about the lack of posts last week. My daughter is back from Europe. I'm back from Dallas. My youngest son is off to Scout Camp and I'm jealous - I'm on call this week and couldn't go this year. I believe there were only 4 bona fide emergencies while I was gone -- so, typical week away.

It was nice to get back on the bike again today. Almost hit a bunny this morning who was on the path here when it should have been on the game trail to the left. Perhaps the city could put up a multi-species sign of some sort that would direct wildlife to the left and cyclists and pedestrians to the right...

Band Trip Brief

Temperature at departure = 72° F (22° C)
Days until school starts = 63

My daughter has left Paris and should now be in Bietigheim-Bissingen. I've been popping in to check a webcam of the Marktplatz occaisionally and it looks like it is raining there at the moment. They should have a beautiful weekend though.


I got a text message from her last night and she sounds a little home-sick. We're missing her too, but what a wonderful opportunity for her and the other students.

Media Rant

Temperature at departure = 72° F (22° C)
Days until school starts = 63

I've spent my entire adult life working in the media in one form or another and have considered myself a justified critic of the industry. In the last couple of weeks I've seen the local media here do an excellent job covering a story that hit very close to home. They kept the relevant relevant -- great job. Now, the news cycle has shifted gears and we're back to the type of "news" that I abhor.

Samuel Morse changed everything about the way our nation and our world communicated by creating the first information network able to move data faster than the 35 MPH that trains, the era's current delivery system, could travel. At that time, Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden:

"We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.... We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough."

Well, now we have the internet and satellite delivered news to let us know that our own princes is suffering and we're back to the media making the relevant irrelevant and vice versa. So it goes.

/rant

If this makes any sense at all, you may enjoy Amusing Ourselves to Death - Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman. Written in 1984, it seems even more pertinent today and makes great pool-side reading.

Should a detour need a detour?

Temperature at departure = 73° F (23° C)
Days until school starts = 64 {with appologies to TOB}

The gang working on the 435 and Antioch project made it a little difficult riding on the bike/hike path detour this morning. They could have at least tried to warn us that this was coming up:



I actually entered from the far end and although I saw the two workers, I didn't see the hoses until it was too late to turn back.

This made it rather difficult as well:



Oh well, still a beautiful ride in, albeit a humid one.

Magic Scale

Temperature at departure = 70° F (21° C)
Days until school starts = 65

Scale, scale, on the tile
Who's the sveltest man on file?

For the longest time I noticed a discrepancy between my weight as calculated by the scale in our bathroom compared to the scale at the gym or doctor's office. Let's just say I always preferred the results at home.

Sunday we were packing my daughter's luggage for her trip to Europe with the school band and needed to make sure her bag hadn't gone over 50 pounds. We brought down the scale and weighed the bag by itself and it came in around 45 pounds. My wife suggested I stand on the scale and weigh myself with and without the bag to see if it came out any different. It did.

I weighed in at a miraculous 185 pounds. I then picked up the bag and it had somehow shed 40 pounds as the dial read 190. Cool, sounded like she'll have plenty of room for presents for her father on the trip back. Now, next time I go to the doctor's office I need to tell them their scale is off ~10 - 15 pounds...

Thanks Anyway

Temperature at departure = 66° F (19° C)
Days until school starts = 72

I didn't put on any sunscreen last night; I didn't go out after dark and there was no rain last night...

It is no wonder more people ride their bikes for transportation in Amsterdam than they do here. In U.S. dollars, they're paying $6.48 per gallon. Yikes!

Who Am I To Question The Weather Channel?

I don't understand it -- but, okay, I'll make sure I wear sunblock during the thunderstorms overnight the next two nights.

Another bobcat

Temperature at departure = 65° F (18° C)
Days until school starts = 73

What a beautiful morning. Windy, but sunny and mild temps. I saw my second bobcat today. Took the extra loop on the way in to work and came around a corner in the woods and there it was, standing in the middle of the path. Compared to the one Peter and I saw a few weeks back, this one was quite a bit larger.


For my own benefit, I've created another Google map to note my Bobcat sightings. A quick screen shot is shown above, but the actual map can be viewed HERE in the event you are very bored.

WOF WOF

We went to Worlds Of Fun with my sister-in-law and two nephews from Wyoming yesterday. A good time was had by all. While there, I noticed some Emo kids walking through the park; it made me wonder -- why would Emo kids want to go to a place called Worlds Of FUN?