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Oddities

BBQ Tuesday

Given the atmosphere, our BBQs are sort of suspended in time. Politics and problems, though not explicitly off limits, don't tend to crop up. Most topics are jokes or stories or news about families and jobs. In all, the tone is always light-hearted but heart-felt.

Split Second Events
or
The Importance Of Keeping Track Of The Little Things

There's comfort embedded in obvious things and inadequacy in those overlooked. When a ten pound log got bound in the band saw blade and it gained sufficient torque to leap off the table and smash my wife's nose — let's just say that wasn't an obvious chain of events.

I Am Not A Computer Guy

A gentle warning to young or up-and-coming IT Professionals: keep your professional identity a secret! Guard your privacy like a superhero, because before you can say "what do you mean reboot?", you'll be the neighborhood troubleshooter, constantly on call to save the day.

Alarm Clocks And Snooze Buttons: How We Can't Get No Satisfaction? ...

Essentially, the snooze button, for my purposes, is a metaphor for all sorts of other so-called "conveniences" that supposedly enhance our "productivity" and are absolutely indispensible for modern life. I've been watching myself for a while now, and the more that I engage in these things, the more that I let myself absorb the marketing, the pace of the images and ideas that bombard me in the media, in the car, in films, in music, on the Internet... everywhere: the more I notice, the more desperately afraid I am that I cannot turn back. And the more I feel the strains of addiction, pulling, nagging, thirsting for another convenience-fix. Like a simple push of the button for another four to nine minutes of bedtime bliss.

How To Improve Your Writing In A Few Short Months ...

So you want to learn how to write? Maybe you're planning to start college, or maybe you're trying to advance in your career, or maybe you're struggling in school. Whatever the case, the following technique is sure to help you improve quickly — in a few months. Believe me, it's worth making this simple effort.

An Open Letter To Gadget Pushers ...

... I'm not a crazy person. In fact, I'm a software and web site developer, so I'm intimately involved with digital technologies on a daily basis. I appreciate all of the amazing things that we can do with the tools that many of you have built. But I really think that you're starting to go a bit far.

The Great Gnome Abduction ...

Then came Thursday, the dark day of the Great Gnome Abduction. Three little fellows were kidnapped from the yard: the one who loved to read his book under the Chinese Flame Tree; the snail-rider gnome and one of a pair with shovels, turning the soil next to a withering sapling.