Useless Blogging

Exxon posts record profits – baltimoresun.com

Exxon downplaying the most profits ever by anyone sure makes me feel better about the $2.35 I paid at the pump last week. Anyone else feel better?

Yeah, thought so.

(as sent my way by literaryradical)

Top Ten Reasons Geeks Make Good Fathers. Read on and be amazed!

There was a boat show today in Baltimore, downtown at the Convention Center.

I did not attend.

So last night was a blessedly slow class at the do-jang. The instructor let the students decide on the curriculum, and the other two students (I was the third) wanted to work on thier white belt form. Both of the other students were already white belts; I am a no-belt.

And I put on a clinic for that white belt form.

The instructor took note of the fact that I’d never actually been taught the form. I was pleased. I may not have ever been on the floor when Emma was taught it, but I had to learn it to practice with her at home.

Accomplishment feels good, especially when people aren’t really expecting you to do so.

A week ago, while out with the family (extended to include my parents), I did something odd. Instead of getting anything i normally get, I got a “Showboat”. At the Double T Diner, a “Showboat” consists of half a pineapple and a fruit salad consisting of mostly cantaloupe, with some honeydew, grapes, grapefruit, and oranges tossed in.

That night, I had cantaloupe and honeydew for the first time. And I didn’t die or anything. They weren’t wholly spectactular, but they were good. I ate them as I would any other familiar food, even though they were very not so.

Why mention this now? This is why. I may not be having the massive life transition that my friend is, but it marked a little spot where I took a turn, even if it wasn’t a large one. And I’d like to think it was a turn for the better, somehow.

In that linked blog post, I was asked to pray while my friend started down her journey. Prayer isn’t something I’ve been into for a while, but there’s a great reason that has nothing to do with cynicism or anything. I’ll try to explain AND show that I care in one fell swoop.

I won’t be thinking about my friend on this arduous journey, as I’ve learned that focusing attention on the inevitable is a wasted effort. I know she’s going to do this, because she is strong, and needs no thoughts from me to continue. To my friend, I give the world, untouched by any wishes I might have, so that she may take it in her hands and grow stronger.

Healing comes. Forgiveness comes. All that needs to be done is to order it, and to have the courage to eat those melons like you’ve known their taste all along.

Colts’ Curse converts comeback to calamity – baltimoresun.com

Here we are. You want to talk about the universe setting things right in the Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game? There’s the explanation.

(Let me know if you can’t read it; I’ll email it to you.)

Finished up One Bullet Away the night before last, the end of a six week effort. Not that the book was hard to read or anything; just that my pace of reading for leisure is not quite that of most of my friends.

The thing about the book that really came through was its honesty. There were a few times — a half-dozen, tops — where I thought I sensed some political bias in the recounting of Nate’s* tale, but by and large, the telling was a forceful ground-level view of the US offensives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the effects it had on a Marine and his officers. Nate’s imagery is excellent, showing off the utility of our language as he uses his words with maximum efficiency.

I don’t know if I’m quite ready to call it a book for the ages or anything, but it’s a great read, even for someone like me who doesn’t read often.

*I use his first name as I’m proud enough to say “I knew him when…”; Nate was a year ahead of me in high school.

A Tale of Two Goof-Off Employees – BusinessWeek Online – MSNBC.com

Taken from Slacker Manager, it helps define what kind of worker I am.

The Dilbert Blog: The Devil

I think it’s interesting that when you pray to God for a new bike, it hardly ever materializes in your bedroom within seconds. But when you throw stones at the devil, quite often you get an immediate response. That’s an example of good customer service.

And accordingly, a post about daughter #2:

Leaving TGI Friday’s this evening, we opened up one door to the van and let both girls go in the same side. They climb in, giggly and such. Emma buckles herself in, and Sara sits down so Julie can put the belt across her. As Julie is pressing the buckle into place, Sara rattles off: “Seatbelts: So we can be safe.”

Sara rocks.