Wish I was farming

Today, like most days, I am at my desk wondering why the hell I am sitting at my desk.  The next thing I know, I am thinking about farming…. again.  I have no clue why but I have always had what I would call an un-natural attachment to farming.  There is something about the heritage and history of farming that draws me in like a deer in headlights.

Farming was the backbone of this great country of ours and a way of life for so many families for so many years.  There is something about harvesting and cultivating the land etc to sustain your family that really appeals to me.  I mean, it is a distant cry from computers, technology and project management right?  What could be better than heading out to plow the field and actually seeing results, something that does not happen to frequently at my desk.

In my next life, I hope I come back as a farmer and more than that, I hope farming and the family farmer are fruitful at that point, not like today’s world where you go bankrupt and inject steroids into your livestock.

Sincerely,

Farmer Brown

Zimbra Post

Got a bit bored at work today so I thought I would try setting this up. I am testing a post to this blog via an email. Oddly enough, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason for needing this feature especially since you have to manually navigate to a particular page to get the post to show up. In theory, this would all work fine but I am starting to wonder if there is a time issue based in the update cycle.

I place some code in the footer of the page to navigate to the page that is suppose to pull the email, this is suppose to login to the designated mail account and pull the mail into a post. However, I do not believe it is working and when I attempt to navigate there manually, it throws off a note that there is no new mail.

The short of it is: If you are reading this, it worked, if you are not… it is buried in my email!

Deforestation and chest hair

So, I am happily reading my Hotmail the other day when I see a message regarding conservation and deforestation. I begin to read the message as I am interested in both issues. Suddenly my eye is caught by a picture of Harrison Ford hot off the Indiana Jones set. Turns out, it is a video regarding deforestation. Seems normal so far until I realize, to make his point, he has his chest hair ripped off with hot wax.

Huh? Is deforestation really like having your chest hair ripped off? I mean, sure it probably hurts but won’t the chest hair naturally grow back? Visually I get the message, hair all around except for the place they laid down the hot molten wax and ripped the hair out down the center of his chest. But you have to ask yourself, if I were to cut down a patch of trees, would they grow back naturally? Not really. Will the chest hair grow back? Absolutely, do you think Calista Flockhart would have allowed Harrison to do this if it didn’t?

Watch the Video

The house that never was…

So, the time has come that a new house is in order.  It seems that the 1360 sq. ft in which we currently dwell has been all but tapped out by the edition of 3 children, a toys r us and left over toys from Wal-Marts non compliant vendors (they have some amazing vendor power you know).  Space issues coupled with the dwindling numbers of Catholic schools in our area thanks to the DOR, we have opted to flea our once mildly chaotic life for the promise of complete chaos and better schools.

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Sony Laptop…

So, I received today a Sony laptop. Being some what of a huge Mac fan, I was at first apprehensive but upon second look, I am kind of impressed. I have to say that I was a bit leary of Vista but it has been all right for at least the first 4 hours that I have used the machine. I should say that in those 4 hours, I have already been asked at least 2 dozen times to give permission to what ever program I am working with… go figure. Maybe the Mac/PC commercials are not so far off after all.
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What the hell?

Whoa… fell off the face of the earth there for a minute. What can I say? New job is busy, kids are full of energy and I am just plain drained… sure I should probably excersize and eat better – or at least lunch. Stay tuned for an updated look and updated content. I may actually overcome my laziness to get posting again. It would also be easier to type with a space bar!

Back in the Saddle….

Hey – where have I been… it ha been quite some time since I have posted anything but I am working on getting back on track. Stay tuned for some posts coming up especially around my former employer who has decided not to pay me and is making up internal memos to try and hose me out money… glad I left that place! More to come on that topic. Also will be reviewing (rather late) the latest Bob Dylan show I saw with Elvis Costello.

On a completely different topic, I am finally on my way to see Neil Young! If you have not heard Chrome Dreams II yet, I will clue you in, great album. Rolling Stone calls it his best work in 10 years, I am not sure I can attest to that but it is definitely a great album. I am partial to Prairie Wind though which I thought was on of his best albums in the last 10 years!

Why did I watch this?

What the???? There is certainly a fine line between genius and complete insanity… so why does the chicken cross the road? Does a tree make a sound if no one is around to hear it fall? What is really between being and nothingess? Do we really exist? This probably falls into the same category!

Snowmobiles and lakes… do the math….

At the risk of torking off those of you who actually do snowmobile across frozen lakes and make it, I have to say that this is the first winter that I recall hearing so many accidents around people falling through the ice on their snomobiles… well… Ok so there was the SUV that fell through the ice and got stuck. He had a good excise though, when asked what he was doing on the ice his answer was “I was kind of board”. Three days later and $2500, his SUV was cut out of the ice.

So I started to wonder, how does one know if the ice is frozen enough to hold a snowmobile, cross country skier (yep, a couple went through just this evening) or even an SUV. Turns out the only way to find out is to get out on the ice. Brillliant. I guess one could say it is a leap, albeit not the ultimate, of faith or in this case, the coldest bath you will ever take.

What is more compelling is why in 40 degree weather when half the snow has melted you would assume that the ice in a lake or pond that was never frozen would be now… I guess I have a lot to learn.

Lore Sjoberg – My new hero…

If you have ever read Wired, you are probably familiar with the satirical humor that Lore Sjoberg writes. As the humor is much aligned with mine, I have adopted Lore as my new hero and would like to thank him in particular for the writing on Mad Cow which is linked below and even more so for the story on how the Wii is nothing more that a training ground for future thugs. I am especially concerned that I may be attacked by a Wiimote at some point and now hav eto add that to my fear bank.

A hearty thank your for the writing and for the laughs!

The Wii Is a Plastic Box of Death

When Good Cows Go Mad