
Interesting bit of news ... "Those changes left our immune systems with too little work and too much time their hands — a recipe for trouble," he said. "Darwin had no way of knowing that the function of the appendix could be rendered obsolete" [...]
You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the 3's of YOU. At the end, choose 26 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 25 more people. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you' [...]

Gettin' me a little bit of Black-belt

The TSD Test went off fairly well this weekend. The kids did well and I managed to bumble through my Black Belt test. Now, I'm a full fledged black belt practitioner. Next test, 2 years. Heh. One down side is that I may have broken' [...]

Twit reposting has been offline for a bit. It may come back, it may not. Whatever. In the mean time, I'd like to let you all know that the TSD Tournament in AC this past Saturday went off pretty swimmingly. Ghengis got' [...]

I'm all kinds of pissed off about gasoline prices right now. They are flirting with $2/gal here in Pennsyltucky and the world oil trade is now slumping at $35.09. Given the image I provided and the knowledge that there are 42' [...]
There’s the Keynesian theory that $1 of Government spending will cascade down to more than $1 of economic activity. I’ve only seen that happen a couple time (1) The 1930’s Hydro-Electric dams and (2) the 1960s Interstate Highway system.
But converter boxes, NEA, Amtrak, nutrition programs, etc. are not [...]

Hrmmm, spent the day struggling with a SNMP issue at work only to find out that someone created the issue thinking that they were checking in a configuration file for Solaris instead of SUSE linux. Major oops, since we were only [...]
My typically meticulous posts on the ongoings of the Haupertonian Chronicles has been less than optimal of late. Not quite certain how this happenstance has come about. Motivation? Weird. Fret not, I shall redouble my efforts! No more of these laconic [...]
Whew ... that was a close one! Nearly had my 'Curmudgeon' License revoked for having a sunny disposition and all. It's meeting day so I'll be spending my day fending off 'action items' and on top of that, it's the end [...]
Quickie for a day that I usually do not post. The Grandparents of Insatiable Love will be down this Friday Evening. Gramps thought he was going to help me do some lawn work, but we are going to go out fishing [...]
Friday friday friday ... what else is there to add. TSD was good last night - I was senior belt and there were no Black Belts to be found prodding me along to greater depths of dysfunction. So, I did actually [...]
So, I'm trying to train myself to wake up earlier in the day. You know, so I can shift my schedule a bit so that by the time the Tyrants enter 1st grade, I'll be prepared to pick them up at 1500 hours. If you work backwards [...]
The conference is going quite nicely for me. I was up at 0530, out the door by 0630 and on the train before 0700 ... which got me to down-town Philly (30th Street Station) by 0730. Not too shabby. Of [...]
Sorry so late, but I'm having a material drought. We did the usual stuff yesterday, and I was blessed with another PERSONAL INSTRUCTION EVENING at TSD. It was just me, Master Smith and his son pummeling me into the mat. All that really means [...]
Very little to yammer about today. I'm a bit too distrait to keep a coherent train of thought, so yammer I must ... most unintelligently. You see, the Local Plumber came over this morning at 0645. I left the Manor at 0700 after the [...]
Lots to jabber about since I waited a few days to blog. Weekends are like that, you know. Anyways, to the meat in the meal. Standard Friday Dodge-Ball smack-a-thon. Kids have fun, I stay off to the side and keep them from smashing full [...]
Not much to report. In TSD last night, it was just me and Master Smith. So, yeah, I got some classic 1 on 1 training. In the process, he was trying to help me kick a bit higher. Part of this involved kicking the [...]
While continuing to play brazenly on public fears (NRDC's latest position paper has the word "Radioactive" emblazoned across the top), environmental groups have also become more circumspect in their arguments. Rather than conjuring up "silent bombs" and nuclear holocausts, [...]
Hmm, slow news day. Work has been interesting with little stuff trickling in between SCRUM Sprints. Working on a DSG/Cable Modem/TiVo issue with another guy. Not really a problem with the stuff I'm working with, but rather, more of a system abuse problem. Someone [...]
Fairly little to nearly nothing has gone down over the last few days. Work, sleep, swimming, TSD. You know, the standard Haupertonian Schedule. We did do some homework with the kids on Monday. Practice the letter 'e' and such. One single thing of Note [...]
Sorry to leave y'all in a lurch like that. The last few weeks have been a tad interesting. A brief and entirely uninteresting synopsis:
1) TSD:The intrepid wonder twins; Attila and Ghengis, got their Sparring Gear ... much pummeling ensued. Not to be undone [...]
It was an eventful weekend. Indeed, I live in 'interesting times'. Way back in the "before times", it was a glorious Friday. Nearly everyone was on vacation, leaving early, or entirely uninterested in causing problems. The Friday before a legislated long [...]
Ok ... I slacked off yesterday. Sue me. Work has been conspicuously oppressive of late. I find a solution, it's rejected by one party. Find another solution, another party finds it in violation of their paradigm. Left hand, meet right hand. Gha. So, today, [...]
Ahhh, yes ... it's been quite some time, no? My tendency to be a slug about these things has left my 'elite wordsmithy' skills a tad rusty. Typically, I would open with some sort of titillating concept and then troll through the cornucopia of [...]
Busy weekend ... well, not really. In actuality, a lot of nothing was done. Oddly, it was more exhausting than if I had actually done something productive. Saturday was primarily spent by me waffling about in bed somewhere between a lucid state and the [...]
Finally, after 4 misfires, Friday has finally ignited the primer and is flying down the tube. Good thing too ... this week has been physically draining for me. The Tyrants are all up in a riot to boot. Their Water Play Friday was canceled [...]
My week days can be so banal. Wake up to obscure music on clock radio, hit snooze, wake, snooze (repeat several times). Finally realize that it's morning and bumble off to let the cybernetic hell hounds out. Cart away mountains of poo and then [...]
Again, a standard night. Swim went as expected, but no frolic with Miss Stephanie ... they had to be satisfied with using my cranium as a spring-board. Our two year membership probably still has a year left on it. We are making fairly good [...]
Work has me pinned down today. I got into work at 0745 only to find an email sent to me last night regarding an 0830 meeting on a subject that I had virtually no in-depth knowledge on. I was to be the technical resource. [...]
Well, let's see here. What to talk about first. Friday was fairly anti-climatic. Let sleeping dogs lay was the theme for the day. I stuck around the Home Office all day in case I needed to be called on to 'testify' for the TL9000 [...]
Nothing fancy today. Mostly zip and sip. Well, I did go out to the pub last night, but the light-weights cut out at 1930 after I had started my 3rd pint of pigiron lager. So, instead of swimming and karate, I had a brief tour of the western frontier of [...]
Well, so far today has been quite ... trying. I got up this morning, in a rush. Got things to do and places to go, don't ya know. So, I rush through the morning prep and start to load up the POS SuperSaturn with [...]
Last night, I did a snatch-and-run with the twins on my way back to the Manor. No swimming, no karate, no nothing. I even let them watch TV and eat candy till the Mrs got home. I spent my time thrashing and groaning in [...]
Yes ... again. Jake picked up some highly engineered cross-breed of EBola, West Nile and Bird Flu which he dutifully passed on to me. He picked it up on Friday, by Monday Evening, I was starting to drag. Ugh. Snot Factory of DOOM. He [...]
Behind the 8-Ball again here in the wonderful world of Haupertonian HyJinx. Friday was an abnormally mundane day. It got A LOT cooler around here so I could mow the lawn with little consequence. On top of the lack of measurable rain, the non-use [...]
Last night, since I was not getting my rear-end trounced at TSD practice, I spent some time setting up the beds for the Tyrannical Twins. Yes, we do not have the bed frame supports yet, so I was content to just set the mattress [...]
Work, sleep, eat ... not much new outside of getting a week off from Karate since the Master is on vacation. Sure, we go swimming every day and the Mrs is breaking in the new bed ... but there is nothing of great consequence to those loaded ideas. I'm still [...]
Taggage courtesy of Maggs-Bunny:
This is the What’s In A Name Meme started by Two Moms In A Blog. I was tagged by Maggie from Maggsbunny.
My name is: Mark
MARK [Pronunciation - Mmmmm Arc ... like a dog with a [...]
Yep ... it's been nearly a week since my last post. When I'm good ... I'm really good. When I'm bad ... oh, boy, stand back! So, let's crank up the 'way-back-machine' and take a peek at the comings and going in the Haupertonain [...]
In my home state of Minnesota, at any time I could have in residence; 28 Aunts&Uncles, 150 cousins and an innumerable horde of second cousins and shirt-tail relatives. The awful tragedy of 35 year old bridge collapse yesterday at rush hour, I'm working with [...]
Today, there is nothing. Some traffic on the turnpike that I was not driving on. The usual load of political nonsense on the world stage in the news. A trickle of me not getting enough sleep, work being hard, not getting the bed rails [...]
I've been a fairly busy boy at work of late... No, really! Things are in stasis here ... doing what needs to be done and all. And of a matter of course, I've been raiding the Agricultural Sector for fresh produce by the truck-load [...]
Quick weekend update (including Friday). Of course, we have to talk about Friday. It's the day I sat and glared at the support phone with all the intensity I could muster. And my transcendental glaring power caused all signals to be blocked, so no [...]
Well, it looks like the GrandParent Patrol will not be able to make a fly-by this weekend. Other plans, with each-other, don't ya know. No way I could possibly blame them for that! So, they'll be down the following week when the Karate test is going on [...]
Yeah, another serendipitous post due to the nature of Agile Programming paradigms. I'll be curt and make a riposte dissertation of current events. Rather diametrically opposed to my usual confabulation. Mmmm, big words ... signifying nothing. But I digress, I did go swimming with [...]
I just read some news from a blog-friend that a young family has lost their dear child Micah to cancer. This is one of my greatest and most troubling fears. The Davis family could use some support and prayers right now. Please go over and say something nice.
Soooo, spent the day doing ... work. Yesterday, more of the same. Did go to the pool but skipped karate. Reversed it on Tuesday where I bagged the swim but took the kids to practice. I'm having a particular difficult time with an issue [...]
Quick notes here. I'm not dead, just absurdly preoccupied. I messed up my back by sneezing of all things. I was bed-ridden over the weekend so nothing got done other than an un-healthy amount of Television Viewing. The doctor told me to ramp up on pain-killers/anti-inflammatory meds and do NOTHING [...]
Time for more slacking and crufty filler posts:
SPAM SKILLET CASSEROLE
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Casseroles Main dish
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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I've been having problems getting down to writing about the fantastic vacation we just got back from. You know how it goes; you go away for a week and when you come back there is double the work stacked on your desk, all with [...]
Linda tagged me for this Meme ... she shall wail and gnash her teeth.
INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:
1) Meaning of Loaf/Cherry Ride (I [...]
Just a few things to banter about, the greatest of which is the gobsmacked state I'm in due to me laying down coat #2 on the floor in Jovial Jake's room. A little splash of mineral spirits, a daub of paraffin based oils ... [...]
It's been a few days since I've sat down in front of the old teletype and rattled off some nonsense. Of course, it's been busier than an ADD bee hive in coffee plantation around the Manor of late. Let's step WAAAAYYYY back to Thursday [...]
So, the new stuff: I got older, I got a support call and I've eaten too much fruit this week and my bathroom visitations have increased asymptotically. TMI? I managed to buckle my big toe in karate last night. Caught it on the mat [...]
Unfortunately, I have nearly nothing to report. TSD was mild last night. It was just me, the Master and his son. Yeah, sure, I was huffing and puffing and sweating all over the place, but I kept all my joints in place and no [...]
So, just one day after the Grandparents retreated to the FOB, Jovial Jake has been exhibiting severe symptoms of Post Grandparental Withdrawal Syndrome. We had a rather rough time in Karate last night and his solution to being called onto the mat for [...]
There is a whole bag of goodies I get to share with you all from this past weekend. Friday night included! Well, Thursday too if you want the dull details of me sitting about and drinking beer after beer from 1615 hours till 0015 [...]

