Post  #2683.   A post from 1964.  Got up real late this morning. Roommate gone for the weekend. Had he been here, being as he doesn't drink, he would have gotten up early and woke me up, and I would be hurting even more than I am. Made it to the dining hall just in time for lunch. Liz and I doubled with Jim and Jennifer last night, sort of. Not official dates, just met up and decided to go to the street dance together. We scored a considerable amount of malt liquors prior to - they are excellent since you can squeeze up to four in each jacket pocket. It was a cold as it ever gets here, but everyone was drunk and the dance was great. We just sort of rowdied around for a few hours and got the girls in just before closing hours. Had to run most of the way since we had ended up way out by the golf course. Way too cold to even think about making out (like that would have happened anyway), especially being on foot. When we got back to the dorm, the fire hose had been out, and those who had not passed out were mopping up. The key, as I remember from last time we had waterworld, was to get it up before it ran down the stairwell to the 9th floor. Jim and I helped out, sort of, then went back to my room for more beer. A few other die-hards drifted in and out, then I kicked everyone out about four, I think. Never did see or hear from the RA. I guess the water wouldn't have flowed had he been here. I felt better after lunch and went over to Neill for some touch football on the hill. Girls can wear pants on the weekend, but they cheat at football. Came back, had dinner, then studied from about 7:00 to 12:30. Dang, just remembered I missed Star Trek, was it Friday??. Roommate came back this evening, and his sniffing and honking (allergies) sent me to the study lounge which was a waste of time til most everyone cleared out. Went back after he went to sleep. Stupid freshman. Seeing his little fatface sticking out of that blanket ... naw, I wouldn't smother him - he isn't a bad kid, just dumb. Got an 8,9,10 and 2 tomorrow, not a bad schedule this semester. Tu-Th I have a 10-11:30 and a 2-3:30. Human Phys is a flunkout course, but I needed 3 science and wanted to take it anyway - a better lab would have been nice. Excellent prof. Everything else is manageable, lots of papers. I mean lots. Mid-terms this week and tonight was the start of cram. The washers were busy all day Saturday, so I'll have to do pants and shirts tomorrow night, I guess. Tomorrow, guess I'll pull the cords out - they go forever. No clean shirts, so I'll go with a sweater only. That's about it.
posted by Rick at 3:07 PM

Post  #2682.   Military Brats.      You've probably heard of us. We're "military" because our fathers were career members of the armed services. "Brats" because we believe we're special (and other people do not.) Typically, we moved a lot and attended many schools. In my case, I went to seven schools by the fifth grade and three different high schools. One was scary and full of hoodlums, one had fewer than 100 students and one had over 1,500. I don't remember anybody from the elementary schools, but I do have a lot of memories from high school. Sometimes, rarely, we get together with someone we knew far, far away and long ago. It might have been in Turkey, Iceland .. Japan maybe. Here is a typical conversation from that meeting.

Remember that time when Harriet Schultz actually came to school drunk?

Who's Harriet Schultz?

Oh yeah, she left before you got there.

Well, speaking of drunks, what about old Gribble, what a ruin he was.

I don't remember any Gribble

He must have come after you left. To bad. He was a lot of fun.

Did you know about Maggie Seller?

What about her?

Her dad was molesting her in high school.

Colonel Seller?! Jeez man, I took her to the prom. Met him when I picked her up. Jeez. Where is she now?

Dead.

Oh.

All three of my high schools had 50th Reunions. I didn't go to any of them, and I was a little sad about that.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 1:51 AM

Post  #2681.   At the speech.     Mr. Jack Sprat and his wife Noleen listening to President Obama's speech.

Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 1:41 PM

Post  #2680.   I KNOW HOW TO DELETE CALLS.      This is the new Amazon Fire Phone. I signed up as soon as Jeff announced it, and it arrived in the mail to much excitement (brief) around this household. You might remember the ad:


Before long, we had problems. First, how to use it. No manual, of course. No instructions. Not like the old days. We did figure out how to make calls, and before long the numbers-called/received list began to grow.

How do I delete calls on the Firephone?

Deleting a call from the list on the Amazon Firephone

Puleeeeeeeze, tell me how to delete calls from the list on the aMAZON fIRE pHONE.

That should help with searches. Possibly not. So, believe it or not, there is a way to delete calls from your Amazon Fire Phone call list. Do this:

Put your finger along the RIGHT EDGE of the phone, just barely on the call you want to delete.

Ever so gently, not hard enough to generate a dialing, slide your finger to the LEFT

The word "delete" will pop-op. Tap it.

Voila

Tell all your friends. You will become a nerd tech hero and get all the girls. Really.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:02 AM

Post  #2679.   Organizing MISC.     Late on a Sunday night, I'm working really well completely reorganizing and re-filing several years of collected papers on my kitchen/dining room desk. This used to be our dining room table. Old people tend to retire these. Organized homemakers have a lace table cover and a couple of candlesticks. I have papers. Loose papers in boxes and many assorted "too cool/neat/sweet/funny to discard." Like once or twice before in my life, I've had to be ruthless. Once you toss the first one, the rest are easy.

This was a jot. Of course, it demanded that I drop everything and come over here to type, at last, in my neglected, orphan but never forgotten blog.

French comedy
British sci-fi
Italian government
Greek thrift
Russian charity
Spanish punctuality
Chinese sanitation
Japanese television
German humor

Any more come to mind?Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:59 AM

Post  #2678.   After.      If you watch the Discovery Channel, you are likely well-informed about the, "The ten most scary things that will destroy our planet and kill everybody." I call it the, "What the **** just happened?" scenario, because there won't be breaking news, public information, civil defense or any organized action at all. Maybe a few dazed survivors wandering around.

Group One is wandering through the badlands of Eastern Washington. Somebody spots a dog, Here, boy. Come here! whereupon The group

Catches the dog
Kills him
Cooks him
Eats him

Group Two is wandering the empty streets of Seattle. A member of this group spots a dog as well. The group

Catches the dog
Adopts him
Begins training him to search for vegetables.

Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 11:15 PM

Post  #2677.   News from the future.     I took some of today's news back to 1955 again. United plans 787 nonstop service 6,857 miles to Chengdu. Wow. What's a 787? How can a plane fly that far? Where is Chengdu anyway? Russian dictator invades, annexes Crimea. Wow. Hay, wait. Wasn't Crimea already theirs? Long story. CEO axed for opposing gay marriage. Huh? Also long story.

I may have to have another chat with Little-yap-yap-Dog. He's been getting out again and going all over the neighborhood just annoying everyone like crazy. He never stops barking, not for one second. I should say he goes everywhere except my yard, not since we had that little dog-whispering chat about two years ago. He stay away from me. Not so Big-old-woof-woof-Dog. Little-yap-yap-Dog goes around to all three sides of Big-old-woof-woof-Dog's yard and teases him. Big-old-woof-woof-Dog likes to take long naps, and Little-yap-yap-Dog wakes him up and then keeps barking so he can't get back to sleep. I'm so tempted to go over there and open the gate just a smidge and watch Big stop Little and his yap with one huge chomp.

The third player outside my kitchen window is Miss-highstrung-Ladydog. Another yap-yap type, only classier. She yaps too, but only a brief couple of barks, very emphatic when she's let out and struts to the middle of her yard. It clearly translate to: Alright, boys. Move along. Clear out. Miss Ladydog needs to take care of her lady business! Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:56 AM

Post  #2676.   Shamelessly copied from somewhere.      Breaking or b-boying is generally misconstrued or incorrectly termed as 'breakdancing.' Breakdancing is a term spawned from the loins of the media's philistinism, sciolism, and naïveté at that time. With no true knowledge of the hip-hop diaspora but with an ineradicable need to define it for the nescient masses, the term breakdancing was born. Most breakers take great offense to the term.

So there. Please update your file. Incidentally, This machine underlined the word "sciolism," asserting that it is not a word, not in its universe anyway. In the Day blog would like to point out that sciolism indeed is very much a word, meaning, "a superficial show of learning." Appropriate, don't you think, to this particular moment and our lame times in general?Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:47 AM

Post  #2675.   Nine-eleven officially over.     "Rudy Giuliani, whatever you think of him, is held in high regard by many Republicans." - Jake TapperRick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:15 PM

Post  #2674.   Schul.     The Lakeside School (with the inevitable interjection that Bill Gates went there) has an enrollment of 484, of which 111 are Seniors. They produced 23 National Merit Semi's this year. Last year they had 30. In comparision, the twenty-one high schools in my neighborhood (south) with an average enrollment of 1,400 students had a combined total of 15 semi-finalists. This is not too good.

In a related story, there was a massive air traffic fiasco yesterday, affecting the southwestern United States. The radios at the Los Angeles Center went out, and for several hours the controllers were unable to communicate with any of the hundreds of aircraft on their screens. There were several very near misses before they were able to get the work-arounds going via other control centers. Most of the cities in the southwest enacted a ground stop, and a large number of inbound aircraft were diverted.

The investigation proceeded rapidly and revealed: " .. a required 30-day maintenance check was not performed. This system turns off if this check is not performed."

Furthermore, the backup was not configured to deal with that contingency.

Is it just me, or was this plain insane? Couldn't they put a bell on it instead? Listen, you guys, remember me when some day not too far off you can't get your refrigerator door to open because some yayhoo in Cairo or someplace tried to put chicken bones down his disposal. Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:52 AM

Post  #2673.   An afternoon at Cousin Lucille's.     Brother and I had travelled back to Virginia with my mother. It was August. Virginia. Was I insane, or what? This was about our third trip back there in as many years, so I had concluded that all the motels in town were now owned by East Indians. That was fine; they were clean and the Air Conditioning worked. Most days I could take Mom wherever she wanted (in the rental car which I had made sure had nice loud and powerful east coast air conditioning,) leave her there for as long as she needed and race back to the motel where I could change shirts and sit in front of the room air conditioner until time to fetch her.

Then came Sunday. Mother's double first-cousin Lucille (this was Virginia,) and I've always just assumed that this made her my double-second cousin, was having a get together at her home, a chance for relatives and old friends to see Mother all at one time. The family itself was so enormous that we would have had to stay back there several years to see everyone (again, Virginia.) Most of them were anxious to see me too, as it turned out, since I was after all, "the most beautiful baby anyone had ever beheld," or "laid azz own," so they all said. This should probably give you a clue as to the average age and gender of the invitees. So, I kissed an awful lot of chubby, rouged cheeks and smelled a great deal of old lady perfume until I got almost woozy from it and sat down next to the window air conditioner. The turned-off window air conditioner.

See, neither Lucille or any of the others present would dream of turning on the ay-cee when it was only 96° with humidity around 175%. Even though just about every one of them had truckloads of money now, they had all grown up in the very poor district just downhill from the poorer outskirts of Poortown, during the Great Depression, and no way were they going to waste money running thet thang. So, there I sat, beyond hot and almost back to cool in a way as my clothing was completely soaked through, down to the socks, listening to what seemed like hundreds of southern voices, old lady voices, all talking and laffin' at the same time about how darlin' I had once been, as my mind slowly left my body and I wondered if this was what it was like when you dad.

I remembered the episode so vividly today even though it isn't that hot at all around here.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 11:44 PM

Post  #2672.   An auspicious day.     An auspicious day coming up. A survey from a company that I do business with came today, and the cozy letter which accompanied it was from their "Executive Vice President, Engagement." Isn't that precious? I say a little prayer each day that I am out of the workforce, hopefully forever. Why do I think that when this particular job title proliferates across industry, and it will, the position will always be filled by very high-energy women in their mid- to late thirties and never by crusty old men coasting out the last few years before retirement?

This is his second bout with testicular cancer. This isn't funny, of course. Cancer is Not Funny. But I don't think he'll have to worry about a third bout with testicular cancer, will he?

More about soccer. I watched a sports news segment tonight - our very, very longstanding sports director was doing the piece. Nothing much going on actually: we have no NBA team anymore, of course; our football team .. well, you know about that; as for the Mariners - they've been playing golf for weeks, and what is there to say about Philadelphia vs New York? So, that left soccer. He should get an award for his spirited coverage of our Very First professional soccer playoff match. Qwest Field was filled to capacity, all lime green. It was about a two-minute segment, with clips of people bumping into one another, balls sailing into the stands, lots of running, lots and lots of running. Kind of the way my little brother used to run madly about with his eyes closed. Finally he revealed the score: 0-0. Zero-Zero, or naught-naught as they say. Sixty-seven thousand people filed out, shouting, singing soccer songs, yelling soccer things, clearly thrilled by the experience. As for me, I've typed about six sentences describing my feelings about it and backspaced each one of them out. (Have you ever seen Night of the Living Dead?)

As if that wasn't enough ... Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 2:43 PM

Post  #2670.   Someone asked me.      I was surprised since it has been a very long time since anyone asked me what I thought. You'll see, that tends to happen. The question was: What popular trend baffles you? And I replied: Aside from contemporary music, art, philosophy, government, economics & business, theology, literature, history, clothing, telecommunications, manners, relationships and language, I'm pretty much OK with the modern world.Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat
posted by Rick at 12:08 AM

Post  #2669.   OMG it's 2014.      I don't mean OMG it's 2014 like so much time has passed since my last post or where has the time gone. More like it's 2014 and I'm completely amazed. How did I get here? Imagine going back to, say, 1955, which I often do and handing someone a sheet of paper with this printed on it:

First, there's the question of bandwidth. While the dual signals should not interfere with each other from device to router and home users won't have to pay for bandwidth that visitors use, what will happen to your streaming episodes of Burn Notice if someone happens to be standing outside watching a Game of Thrones bootleg on their phone?

Next, explain it to that person. (You might have to review a few things that Don't Matter in 2014: grammar, deficits, gender.) I mean a phone is The phone, that black thing on a table in the hall. You might even have an extension in the parents' bedroom if you're in the middle class. It doesn't go anywhere. Certainly not over to a complete stranger's house where you can hop onto his personal Xfinity Wi-Fi and watch a bootleg movie on it. Rick Macherat Rick M. In the day. RMacherat Richard Dale Robinson has vanished.
posted by Rick at 1:09 AM