I am the cloud for my friends and family…wait, what?
If you understand the cloud you will get this post. I often find myself having to perform cloud-like services for my friends and family. They will make statements, ask questions, expect answers and much more but without providing the necessary computing power to really solve the problem. In these situations I serve as database providing [...]
You know. I mean. You know.
I can’t be alone in noticing this right? When did ‘you know’ and ‘I mean’ creep in to usurp ‘uhh’ and ‘umm’ in our spoken conversations? If Hamlet were alive today: You know, To be, or not to be: like that is the question: I mean, Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The [...]
metaphorically speaking
What is your favorite metaphor for the internet? world wide web the net cyberspace the web the internet online something else? I ask because I was thinking the other day about the millions (billions??) of websites out there just waiting to be discovered. Search engines give us a sort of road map around cyberspace, pointing [...]
Thanks
To those who helped me shovel underneath the suburban in a few snow filled intersections around Chicago, THANKS!
On this snowy day in Chicago when north Africa is in turmoil
I can’t help but wonder whether or not the first human being to set foot on Mars will be American or Chinese. Thinking about the state of the American manned space program and the incremental approach that China has taken I have a strange premonition that they’ve decided to go for that target as a [...]
Do you book face?
And if so how much and why? I ask because I am in the minority it seems when it comes to the efficacy of facebook. There seems to be a strong push at the school where I work to create a facebook page. Three years ago there wasn’t even a usable website for the church [...]
I miss the night
There is nothing like the power of a deep dark night to bring life into perspective. As much as I enjoy a beautiful, sunny day I relish the dark tranquility of the deep night. While a student at Oregon State University I was able to walk a short distance from Finley Hall (my one and [...]
Discovery
In the face of the unknown is it human nature to try and conjure up the great knower, i.e. some one entity that knows everything that we don’t? Does our own fallibility guarantee that we will place the all knowing mantle on someone else since we can’t seem to have it ourselves?
What I really want from Google
So everyone knows who Google is. I even one a single share of their stock. They are constantly updating and adding knew products and ways to use their platform. But the thing I really want from them seems to be lacking. When I go to google.com (which I do for 99.99% of everything I search [...]
I’m such a contradiction
I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and just haven’t had time to commit anything to ‘paper’ yet. The title of this web space is in Latin and I think fitting; however, when Latin is used at Mass I cringe and rebel. An obvious first question is why the dichotomy? Why does it feel right [...]
Rest in Peace Stephanie
My friend Stephanie died today. She’s the 3rd friend/relative to die in the last year and 2 months. I knew her for less than 3 years but we shared a passion for the Cubs. Part of me wants to say more but really there isn’t anything much else. My prayer is that she is no [...]
loving the web
My wife will criticize me for saying so, but I love the internet. Okay, maybe I don’t love it in the sense that I love my wife and daughters, but I like to a great extent. And why? Simply put, visit the ‘Stuff I Like’ page and that’s why I’m so enamored with the web. [...]
For the Kids
So I realized that the last post may have come across as a little bit selfish. As I reflect on it, it is entirely selfish and nothing more. And in truth, that is almost all I am. But not quite. So who am I really? Deep down I am a completely selfish person but my [...]
$5,180.47
The amount of money it will take for me to earn “1K” status with United Airlines. But that’s not what I want. United offers additional levels of mileage ‘status’ once you fly a minimum of 1 million miles. In fact, they offer these levels: 1,000,000 miles 2,000,000 miles 3,000,000 miles 4,000,000 miles Can you guess [...]
Where is the past?
That abbreviated memoir is meant to give you a sense of the upheaval we experienced. Certainly other kids we knew had similar experiences but I don’t find them trying to hunt me down to rekindle a relationship that happened 10 or 15 years ago.
So there is the rub. I seem to have this un-ending need to find people I used to know and reconnect with them. I don’t pretend that this is normal or particularly sane behavior but it is me and I am nothing if not true to myself.
Costly Carry-ons
Living in Chicago, I tend to listen to talk radio quite a bit. The latest news that Spirit Airlines will charge a fee (click here to read the ‘explanation’ from the Spirit CEO) for carry-on baggage has caused quite a stir among the hosts that I listen to most frequently. The reactions seem to be [...]
Online Grammar
My wife knows how much I am bothered by online grammar so she sent me this link: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ Don’t know that I find the rest of the posts interesting but the one on grammar certainly is. For my money the ‘mistake’ that I dislike the most is the use of ‘quite’ when the writer clearly [...]
These are thoughts, NOT a blog
I hate the word blog. Did I say that forcefully enough? I DETEST the word blog. Aesthetically speaking the word is beyond awful. And yet. And yet it plays a very prominent role in our society. From television, to print media, to radio this word gets more mention than even a better word deserves. Now, [...]
Apollo 13 Panel Discussion
Space Exploration in general will be a common theme among my thoughts. I frequent Space.com quite often and try to stay abreast of what happens in the space industry. So when the opportunity presented itself to attend a panel discussion this past Monday (April 12th) with astronauts and flight controllers involved in the Apollo 13 [...]
Common Decency
Pedestrians and People who drive Cars I often find myself walking through the North side of Chicago with my daughters in their stroller. And just as often when I need to cross a street that has no light or stop sign, rarely do people driving stop and let us go. Bare in mind that in [...]