Month: November 2008

Categories
life

Mariah Discovers Electricity

Tonight during the usual bedtime hubub I went running back to Mariah’s room when I heard her start to cry. There had been no telltale noise to indicate that something had happened, but this was not a whimper as if she just wants to get attention. When I arrived she was sitting on her bed crying but there was still no indication as to why. I asked what happened and she told me that she pushed the humidifier and got an ow. Since the humidifier was still perched four feet off the ground where it was supposed to be, I asked what she meant. She replied that Isaac had unplugged the humidifier and when she pushed it in she got an ow.

I explained to her that it was called a shock and that it was electricity that makes the humidifier run. I told her that if she needed to have it plugged in again that she should just call me.

It’s funny that in all the times she has played with plugs before she has never been shocked, I guess she just got her fingers in the wrong place in the dark when she tried tonight.

Categories
life

Thank You FBI

Apparently the FBI just prevented me from receiving a large transfer of money from Nigeria -but I can have the money if I prove that it is not connected to drug or terrorist activities. I just have to share:

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION.
601 4TH STREET, NW.
WASHINGTON, DC. 20535. USA.
ATTENTION FUND BENEFICIARY,

Dear Sir,

This is an official advice from the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI). It has come to our notice that some certain individuals has used your name as the beneficiary of funds worth Millions of United States Dollars from Nigeria.

. . .

until you can be able to provide us with a Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST)document within 3 days from the  local bank that authorize the transfer from where the funds was transferred from to certify that the funds that you are about to receive are terrorist/drug free or we shall have cause to impound the Payment and subsequent prosecution.

We shall release the funds immediately we receive this legal documents and make sure that you get your payment without any further delay.
——————————
——————————————————————
We have decided to contact you directly to acquire the proper verifications and proof from you to show that you are the rightful person to receive this fund, because of the amount involved. . . You are to forward the document to us immediately if you have it in your possession, if you do not have it,let us know so that we will direct you where to obtain the document and send to us so that we will ask the bank holding the funds, to go ahead and credit your account immediately.

An FBI Identification Record and Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer (DIST) often referred to as a Criminal History Record or Rap Sheet, is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service.

These Condition Is Valid until  31st of November, 2008, after we shall take actions on canceling the payment and then charge you for illegally moving funds out of the country under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Guarantee: Funds will be released on confirmation of the document.
————————————————————————————————-
Final Instruction;
1. Credit payment instruction: Irrevocable credit guarantee.
2. Beneficiary has full power when validation is cleared.
3. Beneficiaries bank in U.S.A., can only release funds.
4. Upon confirmation from the World Bank / United nations.
5. Bearers must clear bank protocol and validation request.
————————————————————————————————

. . .

We are sorry for what you have gone through and we want to provide justice.

Yours  Sincerely,
Robert S. Mueller, III.
FBI Director.

I really need to hurry if I am to get this DIST by the 31st of November to redeem my millions before “These Condition Is Valid” No Longer.

Categories
thoughts

Almost Perfect

The BYU Football team motto for this year was “the quest for perfection.” It looks like the Mountain West Conference adopted the same goal. Like the Cougars, the conference fell short of its goal. There was exactly one conference game that did not follow the script this year. Here are the final conference standings for 2008:

The only game that did not follow the script for perfection this year was played on Saturday, November 22nd. Some people might expect that I would suggest that the BYU/Utah game was the one that didn’t go the right way – they would be wrong. The game that failed to follow the script was the UNLV/San Diego St. game. Had that game gone the other way the standings would be:

2008 Standings - perfected
2008 Standings - perfected

The perfection here is not just the order, but the fact that every team would have lost to every team ranked higher and beaten every team ranked lower. There would be no way to argue who was better based on overall standings or individual games.

Categories
culture

Know What a White Knot Means?

I just stumbled onto this campaign to promote “marriage equality” at WhiteKnot.org. I have no problem with anyone wanting to express their views and even to use a little white knot to do so (sounds like a red ribbon or a pink ribbon campaign) but having heard of some people talking about distributing these white knots, I just thought I would give people a heads-up on what they symbolize, lest anyone pass them out without explaining what they represent.

Categories
life pictures

Random Injury Report

I must have a knack for this kind of thing because I really doubt that puncturing a fingernail is a common type of injury. I’ve done it twice in my life now. Once when I was young (I touched a power saw that had not stopped spinning). Apparently yesterday was not exciting enough for me. I was attempting a minor repair when the board split as I was trying to screw it in place and the drill punctured my middle fingernail with a screwdriver bit. I’m really curious to see how this will heal.

Categories
life

Life Without Children

In a word – boring!

I have had so much fun today watching the kids play in every possible combination. Issac playing with his cars, various combinations of kids playing a game where some or all of them are kittens. I could sit in a chair “reading” with hardly a second passing between watching one child or another run past in that exuberant way that only children can.

I’ve lost count of the number of times today that I have turned to Laura and said that I could not tolerate a life that did not include children. It would just be empty.

Categories
life technology

Males and Power Tools

Working next to a major construction site I have been interested to see the reactions of myself and others working in my area. Despite the fact that we are all professionals in careers of our choosing we are also very interested in the work being done by the construction workers – who are in careers completely different from our own.

Usually when a loud sound draws many of us to the windows to see what just fell (the food court last week and much of a parking terrace today) the men tend to stay near the windows longer and often there is at least one person making comments about how exciting it would be to operate one of the large construction vehicles that are destroying buildings and sifting debris. We seem to watch a wrecking ball or a backhoe with the same interest that a three year old watches a cordless drill in action.

Speaking only for myself, it is not the destruction that makes it look interesting it is the skill of being able to manipulate heavy machinary to accomplish sometimes delicate work.

Categories
life meta politics

Surprise Benefit

When Congress passed the measure to extend daylight savings time I thought it was a silly move. I still do. They claimed that it would save some great amount of energy while I argued that the amount of energy saved was insignificant. Honestly it is an issue  that is not worth much of a fight either way. I only bring it up now because I discovered a benefit to the extended daylight savings time – it is not dark by 6:30 on Halloween night which means that walking the neighborhood with young children is much more pleasant than it was before that change.

I forgot to mention that in my Halloween post but that is another reason that I was able to enjoy Halloween more this year. I remembered it today when I realized that I had to adjust my blog for daylight savings – I can’t wait for WordPress to fix that bug.

Categories
life

Universal Holiday Spirit

If you do a little searching here my position on Halloween could hardly be described as positive. This year as we partook of the festivities of the day I underwent a marked change in perspective. We spent a couple of hours walking around our new neighborhood with the kids. The older two would run from house to house gathering more goodies than is good for them and the younger two would generally try to keep up, but they would stay back with Laura and I as we enjoyed conversations with many of our neighbors. We would then hurry three or four houses forward to catch up with the older girls (who would have gathered candy from the intervening houses not only for themselves, but for the younger two as well) and talk to another neighbor.

After this year, I sitll don’t care about Halloween as a “dress up and gather/distribute candy” activity, but I sure enjoyed it as a “get out and talk to friends and neighbors” activity. Unlike the last couple of years we were also blessed with perfect weather this year – this is the kind of Halloween that I can enjoy, and I hope to bring this attitude into future years.