A new 80’s Movie Haiku has been posted! Thanks, weatherwax! Nicely done!
You can get to the 80’s Movie Haiku Review from the links at the right. If the muse is upon you and you come up with one yourself, let me know! Most likely, I will post it!
(From the old site - originally posted in Feb. 2007. I am also posting this in the Forum section for discussion.)
For all of you who are allergic to bees, afraid of bees, or just find them an annoyance when you are working or relaxing in your yard, Good News! Between 50 and 90 percent of all the honeybees across 24 states (as of February) have died off due to a “mystery illness” called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD.
If you have heard of it, you are probably a beekeeper. Most likely you haven’t because of other “newsworthy” items that have occurred recently. A search on CNN.com gives exactly one article mentioning CCD. MSNBC shows 3 unique hits. BBC.co.uk shows 2. However, a search on “Chris Sligh” gives these results: CNN: 3 MSNBC: 37 BBC: 0. How about Anna Nicole Smith? CNN: 111 MSNBC: 3998 BBC: 74
(From the old site)
Part of the problem with dealing with certain customers is their constant re-interpretation of and almost dream-like vaguery surrounding a task. I won’t go into the boring details about one of my experiences but, as a good analogy, picture the following situation: An Operai official talks to Michaelangelo about creating the Statue of David.
Official: We’re tired of staring at this giant block of marble, and we were wondering if you could do something with it.
Michaelangelo: Well, it looks like someone has already started to make something from it.
O: Yeah. We don’t want to talk about it, but we had problems with the last guy.
M: Oh. OK. Um, how about a statue of David?
O: (blank stare)
M: David. From the bible? Killed Goliath. I am not sure how else to explain it.
O: Look, just do whatever and I will be back later. (walks away)
M: Will do.
(From the old site)
I was in a meeting last week at work. At least, I assume that’s what happened. My schedule said “Meeting 2PM-3PM”, and I vaguely recall walking to the meeting room, saying “Hi” to everyone, making small talk… then everyone was getting up to leave and 70 minutes had passed. Apparently, I passed out action items at this meeting I “attended”. I was even told I did a “good job”.
OK, meetings are boring, but I think that if I call a meeting, at least I would be paying attention instead of (according to what I can glean from my “notes”) practicing signing my name and trying to draw a perfect circle freehand. I mean, these people could have been yelling “Freee monnney! Getchore free money heah!” and I probably wouldn’t have even flinched.
(From the old site)
I freely admit that I am not the world’s greatest writer. Heck, this post probably has enough spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, and grammatical faux pas to make English Majors feel the sudden need for a very stiff drink. I know I use ellipses and commas too much, I tend to viciously split infinitives, and I am told I overuse quotation marks.
OK, fine. Fair enough. But I like to use quotation marks. I also recognize they are not proper everywhere. Here’s an example. One place where I was employed had a daily e-mail newsletter. Whoever the editor was apparently thought that quote marks were used for emphasis - not for indicating a euphemism or irony or whatever. So I pull up an e-mail describing the company golf tournament entitled ‘Are you ready for some “GOLF”?’. Now, that’s a heck of a thing to be hit with first thing in the A.M. There I am, bleary-eyed and basically still on autopilot before the first cup of coffee of the day and all I can think is: What do they mean? Is it golf or isn’t it? What kind of weirdo game is this? The rest of the e-mail seems OK: time, location, etc. All normal. But it’s not golf. It’s “GOLF”. So the rest of the day was shot trying to come up with ways that golf could be “GOLF”. (Oh… for those of you that know me or have read my On Paying Attention post, it seems I can focus on things for extended periods of time… assuming they have questionable importance, of course).
(From the old site)
Nearly everyone… actually, I thought everyone, but a brief discussion with a few folks about this topic forced a depressed and stunned me to insert the “nearly” there at the beginning… Anyway… nearly everyone has heard the term “The Bluebird of Happiness”. A harbinger of good luck with roots that go back far enough to where many, many cultures can cheerfully claim credit for its origin. Apparently, the term itself has been trademarked… I thought I was being clever with the title of this post, but it turns out that I am in my own little world, here.
Oh, yeah, the robin…
A new sidebar poll has been added… (It’s… um… in the sidebar. On the right.) Enjoy!
A Charity has been chosen for the most recent puzzle!
Excalibur Leisure Skills Center, Inc. is a private, non-profit all volunteer, charitable organization dedicated to providing COST FREE adaptive boating and fishing opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged persons. Its goal is to provide FREE and UNLIMITED access to Lake Erie, as well as offer Developmental, Therapeutic and Recreational Opportunities for Human Service Agency Related Programs and their Consumers.
So, now the Prize Pools and Charity Pool will start to climb… Thanks again to Agmorion for jump-starting this Prize Pool and to Siun-Kelan for making the quilt.
The Puzzle Page link is on the right. You can see any updates there. Good Luck!
(This post is from the old site)
My wife and I just recently had several groups of people come out to survey our back yard and price a pool for us. We didn’t think we could afford it, at first. Later, we compared the prices from the four companies that came out and checked our budget. It then became obvious that only people who have pools to begin with or are French-Monarchs-in-Training can afford them.
So we are not getting a pool. Ever, it seems… I suppose I could be sad or angry, but, if not being able to afford a pool immediately now now now now is the extent of my problems, I think I’m doin’ just fine.
[Author’s note: This is a post recovered from the old site… Right now we are well above the average for acres burned. I am also posting it in the Forum section for discussion.)
As the weather starts to warm up, more and more wildfires will be reported in the news. Homes threatened or destroyed, acres burned, that sort of thing. So, with the most recent well-advertised fire in California [Author’s note: this fire was in early-to-mid-March], we read that 3 square miles (about 2000 acres) burned starting with an intentionally torched Honda Civic.
(This post is from the old site)
I got an early Christmas present from some friends of mine recently. It is a clock. Not just any clock, but just about the coolest clock in the world, and certainly the coolest gift I have ever received from anyone, ever.
It’s difficult to describe in words, but picture a clock, a spark plug, a rusted caster, a rubber fly, the guts to an old IBM time clock, a space-themed card from a 1960’s game board, half of a circuit board from an old TV, a couple of binder clips, pipe fittings, a hand-held slide projector that displays a picture of a skyscraper, old typewriter keys, a music box that plays “If I Only Had a Brain” and other random-yet-not-random stuff welded together to create this fantastic piece of artwork. It fits with my personality perfectly and I can’t wait to take it to work. (I will post pictures of it on a later date).
(This post is from the old site)
As I reported within my “On Christmas Gifts” Unexpected Segue post, I recently received an amazing clock as an early Christmas present from some friends. How to describe this work of art? OK: Picture Dr. Seuss and Salvador Dali had a child. Then that child gets assimilated by the Borg. Then he leaves the Collective to become an artist. This is the type of clock he might make.
(Originally written for the old site)
If you told me 25 years ago that I would have robots cleaning my house in the year 2007, I would have totally believed you. No problem. I mean, 2007, for crying out loud! The Weekly Reader repeatedly informed me I would live and work in a giant rotating space station when I grew up, so, it logically follows that robots would be doing my chores and whatnot.
I’m not bitter. I’m not bitter. A cubicle is just fine. Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.
(This post is from the old site)
About a year ago I bought a Roomba and I love it - great product, great customer support. It’s terrific to be able to vacuum while off doing other things. That said, there are some “behaviors” I have noticed during the past year that you might want to be aware of: Read More »
Here's the current puzzle.
Good Luck!
(Hints so far : 3)
Should I post another hint for the Puzzle for Charity?
Total Votes: 1
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There have been 44 OFNOG sightings since 062307.
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