Laundry Day

It was, as the title of this post might lead you to believe, Laundry Day here at The Hovel.

Three loads were run, with the usual Whites and Colors (that's as discriminatory as I get), plus a Miscellaneous category that consisted of some towels, cleaning (shop) rags, and a light blanket that I use when the temperature is only close to Winter.

Of course, this was all met with considerable interest by the cats -- as long as nothing got actually tossed ON them during the sorting process, they felt obliged to make sure the dirty clothes didn't float up to the ceiling. Radar DID develop a fixation on one of my socks, making it necessary for me to mount a rescue operation when she ran off with it.

After I brought the dry stuff back, it was obligatory to lay on the warm piles while I hung and folded, then put things away.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

How to start a riot

It's a nice, quiet Sunday afternoon, and it's intermittently attempting to snow (we've had snow on the ground for almost 90 straight days).

In the interest of passing time (as opposed to passing gas), I got the ol' laser pointer out and started aggravating exercising the cats.

Being the older of the two, Elf has mostly caught on that the damn laser dot can't be caught -- though she can't resist trying every so often.

Radar, on the other hand, still thinks that she can catch it with enough stalking, sneaking up on it, and pure enthusiasm.

Consequently, there comes a point where Elf gives up on the chase, and just lays down while Radar is still in full catch-it-kill-it mode.

Being Evil, I today I ran Radar around for a little while by frequently enticing her into thinking she almost managed to catch the dot. When she finally began to get tired and lose interest, I simply HAD to try one last thing: easing the dot over to where Elf was stretched out and wiggling it around ON ELF.

Normally, Radar would have enough sense not to annoy Elf to excess; after all, Elf is roughly 3X her size. But after coming so close to actually catching the dot, having it wiggling around and tormenting her proved to be too much: she just had to try to pounce on it. Being the unwilling and unwitting pouncee didn't sit well with Elf, and she commenced to giving Radar a sound thrashing. Apparently feeling she was being unjustly penalized for her actions, Radar began to fight back. While neither of them used claws or bit, there was still enough wrestling, slapping, jumping-on, and other combat to last a good five minutes, followed by another ten worth of getting in the "last word" via exchanging ambushes.

Conversation at the grocery store

My local Albertson's is doing what they call a "reset" -- that is, shuffling pretty much everything in the store around to a New! Improved! location. To give you an idea just how fucked up the place is right now, they've got all the greeting cards lined up on pallets in the middle of the frozen foods section.

I went in a while ago to buy a few things, and couldn't find half the stuff I was looking for. Not being inclined to go on a scavenger hunt just to buy groceries, I just collected the shit I could find and made my way to the register. There I had the following conversation with the checker:

Checker: "Thank you for shopping Albertson's. Did you find everything you were looking for?"

Me: "Well, as a matter of fact, no, I didn't. I've only got about half of what I came in for."

C: "I'm sorry. Can I get someone to help you find things?"

M: "Only if they're going to put it back where it was."

C: "..."

M: "Look, I know y'all are doing this because some pinhead marketing drone at corporate told you to, figuring people would buy more on impulse when they see stuff they hadn't noticed before. That probably even works on some folks. For the rest of us, shuffling stuff around like you are just aggravates us, and makes us go someplace where we can find what we're looking for."

C: "Well it also reminds people of things that they meant to buy, but forgot until they see it on the shelves."

M: "Good for them... but I'm still annoyed that I couldn't find what I was after -- so I'll be going to Wal*Mart from here 'cause I know where stuff is there."

C: "I hear that Wal*Mart is going to be redecorating, too -- a lot of stores are, now."

M: "Maybe so -- but I'll bet that when they're done, the stuff will still be in the same places; they don't rearrange things just for the hell of it like Albertson's does."

C: "..."

By that point, she'd rung up my (single) bag of stuff; I paid for it and left. For Wal*Mart, where I easily found the rest of the groceries I was after.

2 plus 3 equals purple

Okay, sports fans, try this one on for size:

• The city of Billings has an ordinance (Sec. 22-406) that states that property owners are responsible for removing snow from their sidewalks within 24 hours of the end of the snowstorm.
• Said ordinance is "complaint-driven", meaning that one must call a specific number and provide the address of the guilty party.
• On such complaint, the city will mail the owner a notice that they have to remove the snow.
• If the property owner fails to do so, the city has the option of either removing it and billing the owner, or issuing the owner a fine up to $500.
• When we get a snowstorm, the city promptly dispatches the snowplows to deal with the major thoroughfares (i.e. "snow routes").
• The current procedure is for the snowplow drivers to redirect the snow onto the sidewalks so as to keep the roads clear.

Now, if some enthusiastic or motivated person goes out and clears their walks and the city plow then comes along and buries the sidewalk in snow, who's responsible?

This is not an uncommon occurence, and I can easily imagine the city sending a nastygram to property owner, who does one of the following:

1. Re-shovels, then bills the city for the extra effort. When the city doesn't pay, take them to court.
2. Ignores the city's notice, and gets fined or billed as appropriate. The aggravated property owner then rears back on their hind legs and sues the city.
   
3. Tells the ordinance enforcement people what happened, and to get lost, followed by (2) above.

None of the three options above has happened that I know of, but considering the problems Billings has had with lawsuits over the past few years, I think it's only a matter of time before someone DOES get fed up with the stupidity. When it does, I'm betting that a court will side with the property owner. Any lawyer types out there care to express an opinion?

Charity telemarketing

In the last few days, I've received several calls from assorted charitable organizations seeking donations.

The thing is, each and every one of them has started out with the person on the other end asking for someone other than me ("Marsha", "John", etc).

I'm wondering: is this simply a case of several telemarketers individually trying to recover from an error (mis-dialed or erroneous number), or an example of a new technique in telemarketing -- an attempt to somehow get past most people's initial negative reaction to being solicited for money?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Feathered Friend

I went over to a friends house today to help him out by mowing his yard while he's out of town.

On arrival, I was checking the yard for hazards, and happened on a smallish robin. Surprised that it hadn't flown away, I approached it to see what the deal was. It just stood there looking at me, even after I gently nudged it with my foot and convinced it to take a couple of half-hearted hops.

I figured it would find some place else to hang out once I got the mower fired up, but the dumbshit just stood there watching me. When I finally had to choose between stopping the mower, and creating robin puree, I stopped the mower. A few nudges convinced him/her (sorry, I didn't look close enough to establish gender) to take the few hops to a neighbor's yard, where (s)he would be out of the way. Once that was accomplished, it was back to the mowing. A while later, I saw that (s)he had finally decided to relocate.

I can only figure that I was being tested, and that my actions have resulted in a favorable report being sent off to the Organisation of Birds International - Western Area Network, and that my car has now been removed from the acceptable targets list.

At least, I'm hoping...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Yup, it's April in Montana, all right. As I'm typing this, we're getting the beginnings of what the weatherguessers are claiming will be up to an inch of snow over the next 24-48 hours:

(click to bigger-ize and clarify)


It isn't unusual for us to get one last snowstorm in late April; likely as not, it'll be a real biggie with the big soggy flakes that end up breaking off tree branches. This time we're getting off easy.

Goofy Weather

One of the common sayings here in Montana is that if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes, and it'll change.
Well, it's going to take a bit longer than 5 minutes, but we're looking at a nifty little change in the next few days: from the high-70's of today to a chance of snow this coming Friday.

Ya gotta love it...

Mmmmm.... I think not.

With the prospect of some more sub-zero temperatures and snow on the way, and plenty of chow and other necessities for me and the Furry Turd, I reckon I'll just hunker down -- at least for the weekend.

Recreation

Went out with a couple of friends last night to a local microbrewery by the name of "Angry Hank's".

I'd never been in the place before, but after last night's experience, the only thing I can think of that might be making "Hank" angry is that so damn many people are drinking his most excellent beers.

I started the evening off with an obligatory trial of something they call "Dog Slobber" -- I mean, come on, doesn't that just BEG investigation? Well, it was pretty damn good beer: a brown (but not 'dark') ale, it had a nice flavor and a little more of a kick than I expected. When I looked at the big chalkboard that Hank's has on the wall, I saw that they were nice enough to indicate the alcohol content of their different brews (as part of the descriptions). The lowest alcohol level they serve is 4.5%; the highest is 6.5 -- that is, anywhere from half again to double the strength of regular 'commercial' brews such as Budweiser, Michelob, and the like.

After I finished my Dog Slobber, the next thing I sampled was their Griz Wizz (are you noting a 'theme' here?). Definitely a different flavor, it was more of a pilsner -- though still a trifle darker.

The last thing (by Montana law, brewpubs must limit customers to 3 beverages per evening; Hanks issues everyone a wristband that they put a mark on each time you make a purchase -- 3 strikes and you're 'out') was their seasonal beer "Oktoberfest": more of a red than brown, it was 6.5% and bloody fucking good. It kinda snuck up on me, though; it was good enough that I really didn't realize how fast I was drinking it until the alcohol started to kick in. I was feeling pretty good and mellow about that time...

Nice thing about Hank's is that they offer what are called 'growlers': a glass jug (with their logo on it) that can be filled for home consumption. Growlers appear to be half-gallon sized, and I'm told that they hold four pints. I don't know if there's any limit on how many growlers can be bought at a time, but I may well find out -- Hank's offers some damn fine brews!

Okay, so here's the deal...

Yeah, I know... I haven't been posting anything for a while.

Any of you old enough to remember Ed Sullivan and his show, it seemed that about once a month, he'd have a guy on that would spin plates on the ends of long, thin sticks. The guy would get maybe a couple dozen of these things going, then have to start running around trying to keep them all going -- which was a losing proposition; eventually, all of the damn plates ended up on the floor.

Well, I've been kinda like that guy: every time I thought about posting something that came into my head, one of the other things that I had going on would distract me. Stuff like:

• Installing and testing the Jeebus out of Sun's Open Solaris operating system (free for the downloading). [Informal review: not quite ready for desktop usage yet, but definitely worth considering for server usage.]
• Taking a Tonka "RC" (remote- [not radio-] controlled) frontend loader (similar to this truck, from Radio Shack) and modifying it for use as the base for an Arduino-based robotics platform, with the plan to keep building on it until I either overload the Arduino or the toy :-)
• Getting my webserver (the original TwoOfEverything.org system) repaired/replaced, the operating system installed, and back online.
• Performing all manner of bizarre and unnatural experiments on/with my Arduino.
• Building myself an electronics workbench (surplus countertop, outlets, on/off switch, lighting, etc).
• Sorting through all my assorted salvaged electronic/computer parts (motors, connectors, heatsinks, cables, power supplies, gears, sensors, etc) and getting them organized so I can find shit again.
• Writing a couple of programs to learn Java through the 'total immersion' system: read how to do something I want to do, try it, then keep hacking at it until I get it right. Lather, rinse, repeat...
• Doing the occasional bit of computer service for friend-of-a-friend or referrals -- something that makes me realize more and more just how seriously fucked up MS Windows(tm) is, and just how incredibly naive, stupid, thoughtless, or just plain ignorant some people can be.
• Designing, building, and debugging a couple of not-too-large electronics projects for myself. If you're interested, they are a logic analyzer, a computer-based oscilloscope interface, and a small instrumentation and control system (home automation).
• Continuing to write monthly Science & Technology articles for a local weekly newspaper.

I'm not going to make any rash promises, but I expect I'll be back to semi-regular blogging before too much longer. As I get my various little projects completed, I'll take note of it here -- and once I get my webserver back online, link to what-I-did pages. I know... you're all all aquiver in expectation, yes?

More famousness

The Billings Outpost has posted the next of my articles in the Science and Technology section.

Go on over and have a look at it... you know you want to :-)

Incomplete voting

That's the end result of my visit to my local polling place this morning.

There were a number of situations where I didn't like any of the choices offered to me on the ballot (most notably the Presidential contest), so I simply declined to vote for any of them. I did, however, cast votes for those offices where the options didn't make me want to hold my nose...

Thinking that the vote-counting machinery (we use fill-in-the-circle ballots) might puke, I carefully penciled in a brief note (in an unused area of the ballot) stating that the blank spots were deliberate.

This whole electoral college, delegates, superdelegates, and assorted flim-flamery undoubtedly made sense back when transportation and communications were slow and unreliable; but in these days of jet aircraft, radios, the Internet, and all the rest... I think it's time we re-thought the whole process with an eye toward updating it to more accurately represent the desires of the people actually casting the votes.

Welcome to Montana

This morning, the 2nd of May 2008, I woke up to the following scene:

Last night, the weather guessers thought that we'd get just a 'trace' of snow here in Billings; off toward the east (Hardin, MT, for example) the prediction was for as much as two feet from the storm. Here is what really happened.

I think Mother Nature needs to lay off the recreational pharmacology...

Adventures at Wally World

I made one of my infrequent forays into Wal*Mart today, and finished the experience with mixed reactions caused by:

• Somebody's little cookie-cruncher running amok when it's mother captured it, gave it a swat on the backside, and relocated it to a cage (well, the shopping cart, but...).
• A herd of water buffalo having a confab -- not just in the middle of the big main highway that circles the inside of the store, but located so that there wasn't any easy/convenient way around them. Demonstrating the patience, tact, and courtesy that I'm widely renowned for, I tried a couple of (progressively stronger) "Excuse me!"s before resorting to asking them "Would you dumbasses mind taking it somewhere else so the rest of us can get through here?". They didn't seem to appreciate my forbearance...
  
• After departing the store, I was obliged to putter along in my car behind the couple of shitbirds that felt compelled to wander down the middle of the parking lot lane.