Angry Learner

Remember that fire does not kill a zombie - you just have a flaming zombie.

from "Picking the right tool for the job"

Thanks Mr. Action Wrecker of Ward, Arkansas

Driving home from eating killer Thai food in Jacksonville, Kim & I hit a gigantic truck tire in the middle of the road at about 74 mph.

We pulled over, listened to the engine, popped the hood and discovered that several of the belts in the engine were shredded. Meanwhile, several other cars pulled over having hit the same big tire as well. One guy took his flashlight and got the tire out of the highway traffic, while the rest of us (me and a father and son both named Chris - also from Searcy) went on the "is this dripping underneath the car from the AC or something bad?" quest. Thankfully only water was found.

I called AAA, told them the story, asked for a wrecker (because that is why we have AAA), and only 15 minutes later (seriously), Bud, who owns Action Wrecker in Ward, pulled up in his wrecker. He moved fast, talked just a little, got the Corolla on the wrecker and about 25 minutes later we said our goodbyes in the Toyota service dept. parking lot. Time of inconvenience: about an hour and 15 minutes total. Then, Bud offered to drive us on home. He was very nice and clearly has worked hard and long in his life of 65 years. Harder than most of us could or would put up with.

Wherever you all are now: Chris, Chris & Bud - thanks for all the help. Now, lets all be careful out there.

DRT

My wife has a theory about really loud, really jacked up pickup trucks: she calls them DRTs.

The theory was reinforced tonight as we were passed by a pickup with odd shaped things hanging down from the back bumper. We got closer, got a good look, and it became weirdly clear what they were. It looked like this.

I got home, searched for "trailer hitch testicles" (because that is what they looked like), and found them: Bumper Nuts. Available in a variety of colors and brass.

The horror...the horror.

Fudge vs. self-control: fudge wins!

Build or Buy?

Having this blog makes me to write my own weblog software.

There are features I want but aren't yet in TypePad and I would like to code more (at work, I spend more time on the phone than coding), but in the scheme of things, writing weblog software for an audience of one doesn't seem like a good use of my time. But it would be fun.

Duncan predicted this inner conflict when I revived my blog. And writing his own blog software (Dan did as well) worked out well for him. If I did it, I would write it in Rails, which brings up the deployment question and which Rails host to use. As far as I can tell, there aren't any good ones (reliable and easy to use).

At least with TypePad, I don't have to worry as much about software bugs or uptime issues - they have a vested interest in making sure the service works and is available; paying customers, WordPress and Blogger make sure of that.

Oh well.

Hip Hop Hypocrisy

The Black Eyed Peas are headlining the 2006 Honda Civic Tour and part of the promotion is the Black Eyed Peas' Custom Civic Hybrid, apparently because the Peas are cool and socially relevant, etc. because of their concern for the enviroment vis a vis the Civic Hybrid.

Yet, just last February, the Peas performed in a event to build brand buzz for GM, specifically HUMMER. will.i.am is described as a "a passionate HUMMER owner who had called General Motors to discuss the possibility of partnering for a special event".

HUMMERs and hybrids don't mix. You can't have it both ways.

Oh, everything interrupts everything anymore.

—James Duncan Davidson

Lesser of Two Evils, part 2

Recently, I decided that Quicken on Windows was so substantially better in terms of features and connectedness, and Quicken for Mac was so dumb and unstable, that I needed to try it on Windows. I love my Mac, but if the software isn't right, then I will use a different platform. I am still Mac first.

Anyway, it didn't go so well.

Lesser of Two Evils

Intuit Support: Hi, my name is Camilla Jones. How may I help you?
Intuit Support: Welcome to Quicken chat.  I've reviewed the brief issue summary you provided.  Could you provide specific details to help me better understand your situation?

(which the issue summary was a list of popups I had to pick from like a weird voice mail system, but with no escape hatch 0 key)

Me: I would like to change my member id for the Intuit websites.
Me: And I can't figure out how to do that.
Intuit Support: Thank you for the detail information.
Me: How do I change the member id?
Intuit Support: Willie, what I understand from you is that you wish to change your member ID for the Intuit Web sites. Is that correct?
Me: Yes.
Intuit Support: Thank you.
Intuit Support: Willie, I apologize for the inconvenience as we will not be able to change the member ID of the Intuit web sites.
Me: Um, ok. Bummer.
Intuit Support: Is there anything else I can assist you with today regarding Quicken?
Intuit Support: Thanks for using Quicken. Please return to chat if the need should arise. Have a great day.

Malaise Forever

Blog posts sound so much better in my head. I roll them around, smooth them out and they sound perfect. Until I start typing and I realize I think more lucidly than I write. Perhaps this is why I end up not writing on a consistent basis. Perhaps the only way I can sustain this is to tap into some rage. Or maybe if I just wrote about things I learned. Maybe both.