OS Wars

Comment on a blog in the midst of a long discusion about Operating Systems on PCs.

The OS wars are over and the Web Browser won.

Boy isn't that the sorry truth.

My entire Windows Operating system treats everything I try to do like it is a stupid website.

Catching Up?

Wow it has been almost two weeks since I last wrote something. At least since I wrote something here. I have been busy. The club volleyball season is in full swing and trying to be a good coach for one team and a good director for two others is keeping me very busy. This last weekend I had to substitute coach for the 16s team on Saturday and then coach my team on Sunday. It was fun spending time some of the players on the 16s team who played for me last year. I miss those girls. On Sunday my team played in qualifier no. 3. We didn't have the best of days but still managed to finish 2-1 for a second place finish.

There has been so much going on the country that I want to write about but my feelings on the economy, politics and stuff swings wildly from irate rage to stunned dispair. One minute I am feeling so angry at what is happening in our country that I can barely think, yet alone try to put those thoughts into a coherently written blog posting. Then the next minute I am depressed, sad and disillusioned. there is a big difference between thinking that our new President and our idiotic Congress is going to destroy the American I grew up in. But it is a lot different watching it happen before my very eyes and being powerless to do anything about it.

I used to write here to try and organize my thoughts and to deal with things that were irritating me. But I just don't seem to be able to do that these days. I can't type fast enough to get the thoughts out of my head and onto the page. When I try to slow down and rationalize things I end up ranting and raving. So instead I have been avoiding thinking about it. I watch TV, I read, I go the range and shoot, I listen to podcasts, and I muddle through the day at work. Mostly I concentrate all my efforts on my volleyball club. I do anything I can to not think about what is happening in the world. Unfortunately not thinking about things also means that I haven't been writing about them.

So I think I'm going to try and not write about politics here for a while. I'm going to try and write more here, but it might be kind of boring. Because right now my life is my boring job, my family and my volleyball team.

You've been warned.

Potpourri

Mostly Cajun had this up, and I'm looking for an excuse to put off working on my volleyball club website. Which I need to do, but am just having a hard time getting started.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? Other than my wedding ring I don't wear jewelry. But my dear wife is partial to diamonds.
3. Last movie you saw? Soldier of Fortune with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward is on right now.
4. What is your favorite T.V. show? Firefly. Favorite that is still on the air? - Mythbusters
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? A bowl of cereal.
6. What is your middle name? I haven't been in enough trouble lately for anyone to use it.
7. What food do you hate? Hate? None, but I'm not too fond of Macaroni and Cheese and I don't care much for brussel sprouts.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Boston's first album.
9. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Magnum stationwagon (I didn't get the hemi engine - too expensive)
10. Favorite sandwich? Pastrami with brown mustard and onions.
11. What characteristics do you despise? Loud, pushy, arrogant.
12. Favorite item of clothing? sweatshirts
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Norway, Egypt or Israel, but I certainly wouldn't go to the last two these days.
14. Favorite brand of clothing? Whatever fits good and is comfortable when I am forced to shop for clothes. I don't look at brands.
15. Where would you retire to? I would love to retire to the mountains anywhere outside of California. Preferably the Black Hills, Wyoming or West Virginia. But I'm not ready to leave my volleyball team yet so that will all have to wait.
16. Favorite birthday? The next one.
17. Favorite sport to watch? 1) Women's court volleyball. 2) The Tour de France 3) NFL
18. Furthest place you are sending this? My hosting service is in Utah. So I'm sending it there. After that I'm not sure where it will be viewed from.
19. Person you expect to send it back first? No one.
20. Are you a morning or night person? Night
21. What is your shoe size? 12
22. Pets? Absolutely not. I don't like house pets. I like dogs as long as they are not in my house or yard and they belong to someone else.
23. What did you want to be when you were little? older
24. How are you today? older
25. What is your favorite candy? I have a horrible sweet tooth so just about any candy will do. Favorites are Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Almond M&Ms, Chocolate Covered Cherries.
26. What is your favorite flower? Anything that will bloom in this desert we live in.
27. What are you looking forward to? Time to keep up with all the hobbies I keep starting.
28. What are you listening to right now? Were you not paying attention to No. 3.
29. What was the last thing you ate? Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (my stash from last year is almost empty)
30. Do you wish on stars? No
31. If you were a crayon what color would you be? ???
32. How is the weather right now? Cold, windy. Well at least cold for the desert.
33. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The father of one of my volleyball players.
34. Favorite soft drink? Grape Soda, sometimes root beer.
35. Favorite restaurant? Mama Maria's but it has been closed for years. Right now it would be In-n-Out. I would eat at Prejeans in Lafayette LA or the Parson's Table in Jonesborough TN any day.
36. Color of hair? Clear
37. What was your favorite toy as a child? Books
38. Summer or winter? Never liked winter, but summers here are just way to hot to like. I'll take what passes for spring and fall around here.
39. Hugs or kisses? Kind of partial to both.
40. Chocolate or vanilla? Milk Chocolate
41. Coffee or tea? Coffee
42. Do you want your friends to email you back? No, just leave a comment.
43. What is under your bed? Shoes, extra leaves for the dinning room table, my dear wife's wedding dress (archived in a sealed box), dust godzillas and some sort of monster that nibbles on toes that hang off the edge of the bed at night.
44. What did you do last night? School Advisory Council meeting, helped out at a volleyball practice, updated the club's website while watching a little TV.
45. What are you afraid of? What kind of nation are we leaving for my kids? Am I being a good Dad? Am I being a good husband? Am I being a good coach?
46. Salty or sweet? Some of each, but usually not together.
47. How many keys on your key ring? 8
48. How many years at your current job? Less than a year. I've been working at the same place for over 23 years and haven't had any single job last more than 5 years.
49. How many towns have you lived in? Madison, Rapid City, Hot Springs, Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, Brookings, Amarillo, Ridgecrest.
50. Favourite seafood? Crawfish ettoufee. But since Louisiana is so far away I'll settle for shrimp, crab or scallops.
51. Do you make friends easily? I make acquaintances easily, friends take a lot of time and effort that shouldn't be rushed or wasted.
52. How many friends will you send this to? I'm not sending it to anyone.
53. How many will respond? Check the comments to see for yourself.

Great Movie Quote

Over at Curmudgeonly and Skeptical there is a thread discussing favorite comedy movies. One early comment pretty much describes my opinion of my movie theater experiences the last 10 years or so:

I got tired of spending the entire contents of my wallet on a small popcorn and two hours of Suck. - AWM

Sto0pid Test?

Mostly Cajun started it....

Gender Determination?

Mike of the Mike On Ads blog has created a little tool that will scan your browsers history and try and determine if you are a male or female based on your browsing habits.

So I decided to give it a try. My results were:

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 5%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 95%

This is a great relief to me. I was getting worried. I spend a lot of my free time around tween and teen aged volleyball players. I worry that in some ways these young ladies are starting to effect my brain. I find myself wondering about what they are thinking, what they are feeling and stuff like that. That kind of thinking worries me at times. I'm a guy, and I'm not supposed to be worrying about stuff like that.

So this week I started preparing for the new middle school volleyball season to start next week. I was making some notes to myself about a few things to concentrate on this season.

Note No. 1 - It doesn't matter what they are feeling and thinking as long as they are running laps and suicides while they are thinking and feeling it.

Note No. 2 - If she starts crying, she obviously has too much time on her hands and needs to be doing more push-ups.

Note No. 3 - Nothing fixes a sad or depressed mood like spiking till you puke.

But now that I know that at least my browsing habits verify that I'm still a guy maybe it will be OK if I go ahead and worry about what my players are thinking and feeling during this season. Maybe it will be OK for me to concentrate on making sure my players are having fun and playing like a team instead of just running them into the ground.

Or, maybe I should start just leaving myself notes like:

DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY YOU SISSY!

Vocabulary Score

Not bad for a guy who got Cs and Bs in English in high school. Maybe all the reading I have done in my life has been good for something after all. Even if I do waste my time reading all that Sci-fi and fantasy crap.

Your Vocabulary Score: A+

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

700

According to Blogger this is my 700th entry into this blog. Considering that when I started this I could only think of about 20 things to say I guess that since I managed to ramble on for 680 entries more than that must mean that I have a lot more crap floating around in my brain that I thought was necessary to share with you than I thought I would.

Now the depressing part. 700 blog entries since March 11, 2005. That is 700 posts in 1225 days. Which works out to one an entry every 1.75 days.

Which doesn't really make me very prolific. Now my critics will tell you that me not being prolific is a good thing. My response to those folks is if I bore you, piss you off, or insult you, don't click over here any more. If that doesn't satisfy you than I can shorted it to "Bite Me."

If you like what I write here and want me to write more, be patient, I am trying. My life has changed a lot since I started this blog. My kids are older and while they don't seem to need more of my attention, they do need more of my time. Gone are the days when I could sit at the computer and work with a bundled baby laying on my lap or on the desk between my chest and the keyboard. (try typing like that some time. It will do wonderfully horrible things to your wrists and shoulders. But it kept the baby quiet so my dear wife could sleep.)

I am now a volunteer volleyball coach for 8 months a year instead of just 2.5 months a year. This takes up a lot of my free time. I described to a friend a while back that coaching this club team was like having 13 kids. Three of my own, and 10 extra daughters that I only get to see 3 days a week on the volleyball court. But in between the practices and the games there is a lot of other stuff to do. Practice plans, travel plans, newsletters for parents, pictures, paperwork, etc. But as time consuming as this has been, I can't imagine not doing it. My one regret is that I waited so many years to start doing this.

I have a new job that is not as flexible with my hours as my older job was. This doesn't really cut into my blogging, but it is an handy excuse that I have been using for other things way too often lately.

Well it's late and needed to be in bed a couple hours ago. I have to get up and go to that new pain in the neck job early in the morning.

New Link

I added a new link to the External Ridgecrest Links on the right side.

Photographic History of NAF and VX-5

Make sure you have plenty of time when you sit down and start clicking on the links there. Gary has done a fantastic job of collecting a lot of photos.

Getting Back to the Course

I haven't been golfing much lately. I was starting to spend a lot of my time on the golf course last year. I was making a point to get out to the range or the practice green at least two or three times a week. I was getting in at least one full round of golf every two weeks. I was starting to really see some substantial improvement in my game. Sure I was still a 20+ handicap. But I was a low 20s instead of a high 20s.

Then volleyball happened.

Normally the middle school volleyball season would cut into my golfing game and practice a bit, but I still had my weekends free to spend some time at the course. But this year I progressed straight from middle school volleyball to club volleyball. The mai difference was the time involved. Between my daughter's club team that I had to be involved with as a parent and my Starlings Club team where I was the director and coach I was busy every weekend and at least 2-4 weeknights a week. Since volleyball was taking up so much of my time, something else had to give, and that was golf.

(And for the few regular readers that I had here, you will also note that my blogging took a big hit also.)

Now, I do not in any way saying that I regret the time I spend on volleyball the last 8 months. I loved every minute of it. I actually had this week off because it was the end of the school year and I really missed my team. I'm not sure what I am going to do in two more weeks when our season ends for good. I guess I will have to spend some time writing, some time golfing, and some time catching up on my honey-do list.

This morning I ran across an article that has kind of rekindled my desire to get back onto the golf course. A study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet reports:

The death rate amongst golfers is 40 per cent lower than the rest of the population, which equates to an increased life expectancy of five years.

So I guess I have to get back out on the golf course again. At least until the next volleyball season starts. Then my priorities are going to shift again. But this year I may try and make the effort to get in an occasional round of golf during the volleyball season.

Oh, I may try and be a little more consistent writing here also.

What Language?

This site seems to think that I am:

Older Futhark

Language of the Norse, Older Futhark! Thirty symbols, all told. And no hardier, more warrior-like tongue has ever graced the longships of the Viki or left the Celts and Saxons in such quivering fear. There's only one drawback, that being you died 800 years ago.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test

Being of Norwegian decent I kind of like that answer. Also these days I feel like I am pushing around 800 years old. Unfortunately I don't speak or read Older Futhark.
I can fake my way through some simple Norwegian genealogy documents but that is about it. I guess I should start studying a bit more. I just don't know when to do it. with all my other hobbies I barely have enough time to slop out a blog entry every couple weeks.

I hope to get back to writing more often in June with the Club volleyball season ends. Until then I have a job, a family and 10 young volleyball players who are taking up most of my time. Oh, I also try and sleep a little each day also.

Survival

A couple more tests to check my ability to survive in situations that may happen any day now. Good thing I am prepared.

78%

This information won't do you any good however, because when the zombies attack if you show up on my front door looking for help I will assume you are just one of the I-wanna-eat-your-brains crowd.

80%

I have a nit to pick with this test. My answers exactly matched NASA's result except the last three items on the list which NASA thinks are "worthless" or "not needed". So I my score was down graded because I couldn't figure out which of the useless items I needed the least. But then again this is NASA, the same people that have not been able to get us out of low earth orbit for the last 25 years.

Should I be worried that I am apparently better informed on how to survive on the moon than in my own backyard. However, if the zombies attack on the moon, I'm all over that.

Booze Exam

I don't know whether to be impressed or depressed with the results of this test.

98%ALCOHOLIC

As a guy who doesn't drink much nor often, and doesn't drink exotic stuff I did quite well on this test. I have never tried over two-thirds of the alcohols in this test,so the results may be just be the result of a mind full of useless information that I will never be able to use to earn a living. The information certainly didn't come from personal experience.

Band Meme

OK, I've been too busy to write this week, but that doesn't mean I have been too busy to not waste time on stupid stuff like the Band Meme.

The Rules are Here!

Here is my results:



This looks like an album that you would have found at a 99 cents a pound sale in the early 80s.

The quote is

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.

Eugene McCarthy Time magazine, Feb. 12, 1979

John the Presbyter is an obscure figure in early Christian tradition, who is either distinguished from, or identified with, the Apostle John.

The picture is what Hamed Saber in Tehran did with his spare time on the second day of an Ahmadinejad ordered government shutdown in Tehran.

So I randomly ended up with a snow man made by an Iranian University Professor because the government wouldn't let him go to work that day. An obscure Christian apostle who either is or isn't the Apostle John and a quote about the dangers of bureaucracy. I guess the internet isn't quite as random as we would like to think it is.

Reading Level?

I don't know if this a good thing or a bad thing. I guess I'm just glad it didn't say that my blog reading level was "See Dick Run...."

Been Busy

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I have been really busy. My volleyball teams are streaming ahead full bore with practices or games or both every day. My daughter has practices and games everyday with her high school team that I like to be at.

My father is coming to visit later this week and we're trying to get things ready for him.

On top of that I have two new computers - a new laptop for me and a new desktop for the family and I need to get them set up and all our data transfered. This is very time consuming.

Plus I have to get all the outdoor Halloween decorations set up.

So I promise I'll try and get some time to do some blog writing this next week. I have been writing on a short story for a writing challenge but I don't want to say much about that in case it sucks and I don't submit it.

25,000

Sometime yesterday the Ridgecrest Blog had it's 25,000th hit. That to me is an incredible number. Now I know that there are blogs out there that get more hits than that a day. Heck some may even get that many an hour. But it is scary to think that I have had 25,000 attempts to bore the living crap out of people. I'm really starting to worry about you.

Seriously when I started this I figured I would ramble on for a few weeks, get a few complaints off my chest then get bored with it and quit. Now it is been almost 2 and half years and 25,000 hits later and I'm still rambling and rambling.

My small (less than 10 per day) regular readers may have noticed that my posting has been sporadic at best lately. It's not that I have nothing to write about. It's just that I keep running out of time to write. I suppose that I could make some time in my schedule if I didn't hang around and watch my daughter's volleyball practices. But I really like watching her practice. Like I told one other parent. "This is more entertaining than anything that is on television."

So if you check things out here and I haven't written anything for a couple days. Its because I'm working hard to be a good Dad or a good volleyball coach. I'll get back to you, I promise.

Weblog of the Week

Cap'n Bob and the Damsel have selected RidgecrestBlog as their weblog of the week.

My reward for this distinct honor is

"No huge prizes, no discount coupons and no elaborate resort accommodations.- only that your blog link will ride along with the Never Forget" tribute this week."

I really like the Never Forget tribute that they offer. I have had it up and running near the top of the right column of my blog for quite some time now. So having a link to my blog connected with the tribute for a week is pretty cool.

Sure I would rather have resort accomodations, huge prizes and international fame and fortune. Then again, after the resort vacation is over you have nothing left but the sunburn. You need space to store the huge prizes and our house is pretty full already. What would a simple South Dakota boy like me do with international fame and fortune except make a fool of myself. So I think I'll just settle for a blog link for a week.

Since I am the weblog of the week I figure its time to exercise my newfound fictious authority a little bit. So I order you all the add the Never Forget Tribute to your own blog. If you don't have a blog, then start one and then add the Never Forget Tribute to your new blog. Then write something funny for the rest of us to read.

Rachel is Back

Rachel Lucas was one of the first blogs that I started reading. She was caustic, irreverent and totally un-PC. Also, if she didn't invent the phrase "asshat" she certainly used it enough to make it her own.

Then several years ago Rachel quit blogging. For a while I really missed her daily rantings. Then I found other blogs to read. But few of them were as entertaining as Rachel was. I still remember the day I removed the link to her blog from my links list. It was like pulling the plug on a brain dead loved one. I finally had to admit that she wasn't coming back and it was time to quit hoping she would suddenly wake up and start writing again.

Rachel claims that this time she won't be so political. Yeah right. But I'm willing to wait and see.

So check out Rachel's new site at: http://www.rachellucas.com/

I should warn you that Rachel sometimes uses some rather colorful language. So if you find that sort of language offensive don't click on the link above.

Too busy to Blog

I haven't been writing much the last week or so. Not from lack of anything to say, but from lack of time.

My daughter's club volleyball season is winding to a close and I have been trying to get the photo albums and DVDs of all their games put together. I thought this would be rather straight forward but I keep making the task more complicated than it really needs to be. But I like the way things are turning out, so I'm going to keep chugging ahead.

I had planned once I was done with the club teams albums to get started on certificates, photo pages and DVDs for my three middle school volleyball teams. I usually present these things on Sports Night which is held the last week of school. But this year they moved Sports Night up a month on me and I have until May 10 to get everything done.

In the meantime I still have work, 2 city league volleyball teams, my son's basketball and soccer games to attend plus my normal list of honeydos to keep up with.

So blogging may be slim for a while until I get caught up with all my chores.