Liberty and Pipe Smoking

I was inspired by one of my forums to create this flag for pipe smokers. All I did was add the pipe, but still I'm pretty proud of it.

Why I Don't Use Facebook

It sure seems like I am the last person without a Facebook account. My wife and her friends are addicted to it, and even my mother-in-law has given in to the peer pressure and setup a Facebook account. So why I do continue to hold out? Here's some thoughts on that:

- If I haven't spoken to you since junior high, there's probably a reason.
- Did you just finish making breakfast for your kids? Yeah, so what? I'm not that interested in your status.
- I have 3 phone numbers, 4 email addresses, and 5 instant messaging accounts. If we have something to say to each other, there are already plenty of good ways to do it.
- I don't want to take any more personality quizzes, play trivia games, or participate in other nonsense.
- I once saw my wife feeding a virtual puppy in a Facebook app that a "friend" had sent her. I promised myself that I ever did anything like that I would have to kill myself.

Look, I use LinkedIn now and then. There is value to social networking when it has an actual purpose - i.e. staying in contact with former business associates in case I need another job. But Facebook takes it too far. I proudly remain the last holdout.

Things I Saw Julie Do Today

My 1 year old daughter did 2 funny things today:

1) While going through an age-appropriate pictorial board book about animals, she saw a picture of bunny. To show me what sound the bunny makes, she felt it was appropriate to growl like a fierce beast.

2) After dinner she pulled her hair, then exclaimed, "Ow!!" Then did it again. Repeatedly.

See a trend here?

My Addiction

My name is Andrew and I am addicted to buying batteries. (Hi Andrew.) It started innocently enough... I needed batteries for my new camera. eBay, Meritline, Buy.com, ... they were all so willing to accomodate. Next thing I knew I was at Costco buying bulk AA batteries. I even got my wife to buy batteries for me.

Then I started trolling the discount sites.... cheapstingybargains.com, dealnews.com, etc. Pretty soon I moved on from alkalines to the hard stuff - rechargables. It was all downhill from there. Before I knew it I had multiple chargers going at the same time! Yes, I even bought a dedicated battery tester from eBay Canada so I could check the quality of my stuff. [Uncontrollable sobbing]

Now I'm 1 week clean of battery and battery-related purchases. It's a first step down a long road of recovery. I just need to remind myself that I have enough batteries to last a long, long time. And I need to steer clear of the enablers, especially those daily deal listings. Just a few minutes ago I was tempted to buy a great deal on ready to use recharables complete with a compact charger for 80% off. But I trusted in my Higher Power for strength, and I made it through it that dark forest.

Spring is Coming!

After a fairly brutal few days of Winter weather, today will see nearly 60 degree temps and sunny skies here in NC. And after that, we're looking at 70's for the foreseeable future. Oh yeah - Spring is just about here and I, for one, and ready for it.

While this Winter was much worse than last Winter, overall it's still a lot milder than NY Winters. Oh, and did I mention I don't ever have to stand outside waiting for a bus here? Yeah, that helps a lot too.

Chess for Girls

My 4 year old daughter likes to play around with my chess pieces now and then to "play chess." Today I let her do just that. After a few minutes of illegal, random moves and nonsensical captures, she decided the pieces needed to "get married." So there was pairing up of like shaped pieces. Soon the larger pieces were even having babies (the pawns, of course). They were living on the chess board in little family units. Thoroughly adorable.

Many years ago Saturday Night Live feature a "commercial" for a product called "Chess for Girls." My wife and I are fond of quoting this sketch whenever our daughter decides to "play chess." For your viewing pleasure, the original "Chess for Girls":

http://www.videosift.com/video/SNL-ad-Chess-for-Girls

"She smells like Strawberries!"

We are sure that the writer of this fine bit of comedy must have been inspired by similar circumstances with his own daughter.