From Wit’s End

…it has somehow settled my mind so that I feel like I can tackle the nightmare that is our office and actually make some progress there. When things are looking a lot better, I’ll post before and after pictures. For now, however, I’m too abashed.

Oh, this week I was turned on to a really good program for graphics file manipulation. A guy at work told me about it just in time for it to be very useful for newsletter archiving. It’s called Irfanview. It’s both simple and functional, and has already become my picture file modifier of choice for web publishing purposes.

Well, I’m not quite as bad as James Lileks is (click here and scroll down about halfway to see what I mean), but I do have a certain neurosis about preserving my own personal history on digital media. This is why I blog. Before I blogged, I had a newsletter. While I was was porting old blog entries over to this space, I decided to see if I couldn’t put my old newsletters here too, even if only as scanned JPG files. So I took an inventory of the old hard copies, and I found good news and what I thought was bad news. The good news was that I had translated three of my old newsletters (1996, 1997, and 1998) into HTML already and backed them up on CD. The bad news was that I couldn’t find a single copy of one of my other newsletters in the office (this is not a big surprise, considering the current state of our office), and I thought that it was totally lost. This seriously bummed me out.

A few nights ago, I couldn’t get to sleep, despite the weariness caused by Jack’s infliction of a new sleep pattern on us. I got back up and looked more carefully through the filing cabinet one more time. Bingo!! I have them all now, so watch for the links at the bottom of the sidebar of this page to go live one at a time over the next few weeks. And if you happen to be a former Kindergarten teacher who just recently found an old student on the internet, you can now catch up on the last ten years of my life one page at a time, if you’d like.

UPDATE 06/07/06: 1999 Newsletter is up. Four down and four to go.

UPDATE 06/08/06: The 2000 newsletters are up, both for Winter and for Summer. Two more down and two to go.

UPDATE 06/09/06: The 2001 Newsletter is up. This one is in HTML format, instead of just JPEG [Ideally, I'd like to put all the newsletters in HTML format, but I'll have to finish that little project up another time]. The 2002 Newsletter is actually up in HTML format also, but since it was the transition to my presence on the web, I have to fix the links in it before I make the link to it live. So only one more little piece of personal history to go, and then I can get back to posting present things…

UPDATE 06/10/06: There, the 2002 newsletter is posted and properly linked into the pertinent blog posts. Now we’re all filled in from 1996 to 2001. From 2002 to the present will happen a little more gradually, I think, since those archive links are already live, and you can go see them whenever you like already. Enjoy.

My Dad graciously offered to help finish putting up the fence round our garden here at Wit’s End. It needed doing, because the fence posts have been in the ground for over a year without any fencing on them.

Me mum took this one with her spiffy cellphone. Thus the “neo”.

Rachel walked into the kitchen this afternoon to wash some baby paraphernelia, and I asked her pointedly, “Is there something that I can do for you?” This stopped her up short, because she ‘remembered’ that the doctor told her to stay off of her feet, and she replied, “Um… you could wash this for me?”
“But of course, dear,” I answered. “Now if you would, please go sit on your butt and boss me around!“
“But I don’t want to boss you around!”
“It’s doctor’s orders, dear, so GO SIT DOWN ON YOUR BUTT AND BOSS ME AROUND!”
“Okay, okay, okay…”

[If you found this exchange somewhat unusual, just remember the saying: There is nothing so strange as somebody else's marriage.]

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

Jack finds all of this quite boring.
Jack takes after his Mom and vexes the paparazzi.	Jack is praisin’ the Lord.
			According to Jennifer, this is the Picture O’ the Day.
More Movies!! “This Jack. He’s my son.” (22 secs, 6.37 MB AVI file) Ben & Jack (1 min, 49 secs, 28.9 MB) — in which Ben asks Jennifer, “Are you movies-taking again?”

Just click on a picture to view a larger version of it.

	Movies! Lonely Jack (11 secs, 3.2 MB AVI file) Flat Feet (3 secs, 1.04 MB) “Hey Jack, How’s it Goin’?” (38 secs, 9.5 MB) “Say Hi to Jack.” (26 secs, 8.1 MB)

I’m now 29 years old. Today is my birthday, and it was a good day. We didn’t make any particular plans for the day, except for having some good friends over for lunch. Understated though it was, the day was all the more vivid and sweet because it was understated.

We slept in, and had a nice leisurely breakfast, with Sarah McLachlan playing in the background. We went to Sunday school, and then went to the second worship service, because some good friends of our were getting their newborn son baptized. [I actually zipped out of the choir loft, jumped out of my choir robe and sat near the front of the sanctuary to see the deed done first-hand, then zipped back behind the choir loft, re-robed, and slid into place in time for the choir anthem, slightly breathless but happy to have pulled it off and then back on again with such good timing.]

The friends we had over for lunch live about two miles from us, but we hadn’t made time to visit with them for over two years, and we had a grand time over lunch.

Overall, this day was restful, quiet, and contemplative. I had time to read a very interesting book and think about the past year and all the good gifts that the Lord has given to me, even though I don’t deserve any of them. With God’s gifts made so obviously manifest to me, I had no need or even any desire for any gifts from my fellow humans.

This marks I think a significant change of attitude for me. I have been wondering when it would come around, and now I think that it has. Before I was married, I somewhat subscribed to what’s called the via negativa, or the “way of denial” in matters of liberty and conscience. Leading up to and after my wedding day, I had all the reasons in the world to “change lanes” into the via positiva, or the “way of affirmation”, in which one says of the goods things in life to God: “These are like You”, and enjoy all the fruits of this world as gifts and shadows of my Creator. With the pending birth of my firstborn son, I am ready once again to walk the way of denial and say to God of the things around me, “Neither are these things Thou”, and renew my dedication to the fact that nothing on this earth can significantly compare to what awaits those who God loves in His Presence.

The ramifications of this change will work themselves out slowly in the near future, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they are.

Well, since it has been a long enough time since I did such a silly thing, I decided to take cold medicine with a decongestant in it with dinner last night. It was an interesting night. I started building the corner TV stand pictured yesterday at 9:30pm, and finished it at about 11:30pm. Then I went to bed and tossed and turned until about 1:30am. Then after that, I only slept fitfully and had strange dreams: I dreamt how assembling and moving the furniture into the new den affected the Mideast peace process, with Mozart’s Requiem as the soundtrack. But at least I could breathe through my nose. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel too weird today, except for the last stubborn bits of the cold that made me want to take the medicine in the first place.

…with many thanks to Dave Huffman of Update Your Space, LLC. A round of applause for Dave! Watch him closely, he moves fast.

Take a bow, Dave!								Furniture…
…built by…								…yours truly.

I found this web-quiz by way of TulipGirl. It worked out about right. I am a Mechanical Engineer by trade, I got a minor in Mathematics in college, and my current main avocation is this blog and my other one, which is definitely philosophical in nature. Check it out:

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

Today being New Year’s Day, I stayed up until midnight the night before. I woke up at 6:30am to get to the church in time to be an usher for the first service from twenty minutes before the service up through the pastor’s welcome. While the pastor welcomed the congregation to the service, I slipped to the back of the church, changed into my choir robe, and ascended into the choir loft for the rest of the service. After the first service, the choir director asked if I could stay for the second service. I reluctantly said yes, and went to Sunday School, despairing of rest on the Sabbath, of all times. I stayed for the whole of Sunday school, as I usually do, instead of leaving early, as those who sing for the second service are encouraged to do. Because I did this, the director said I probably shouldn’t sing after all, because I didn’t get to practice the anthem or warm up before either service. Some part of my brain felt guilty for getting out of additional choir duties, and the other part of my brain was glad for the same reason. I drove home, crashed on my bed, and slept for three hours. There is something wrong about having to deal with so much harried activity and guilt on the Lord’s Day. I will be doing this for the rest of the month — that is, ushering and choiring in the same service — for the rest of the month. I’ll do it, but afterwards, I think something is going to have to give.

I took half a day off today. Dave and the guys left me a little bit of lacquered paneling, so that I could do my part.

				Mercy would rather stay outside, thank you very much. It doesn’t smell funny out here.

Before i woke up today, i sketchily remembered having a dream: first i was in a monastery of nuns dedicated to “the Force”. I was in a big room (the cafeteria, i think) and there was lots of Star Wars & “Episode III” merchandising paraphernalia, including bootlegs of the actual movie. Later in the dream i watched The oldest brother and sister of a family friend being willingly led away in a horse-drawn cart to be made into mindless automatons with tiny screens directly in front of their pupils.

Then i woke up. It was a little before 5am, and it was time to get ready to go to the airport, because I was going to commute to Chicago today for a meeting with our customer representatives. When i arrived at the airport,
Valet parking guy at Columbia Airport

“That’s okay, nobody knows what they’re doing at the airport”

Pocket knife found at security

“Wouldn’t want them to think you’re a terrorist”

Mailbox knocked over.

Joe the taxi driver:

• “…or what i like to call ‘Crook County’… “
• “Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to save California”
• “…It’s a slow news day. Let’s keep it that way.”
• “Don’t call me ‘sir’, i’m not your father.”

Android stewardess:

• fast, high-pitched safety rigmarole
• “Would you like a snack? Would you like a snack?”
• “Would you like a beverage? Would you like a beverage?”

self

In the mornings I’ve been making my own concoctions for breakfast lately:

• rice krispies with sunflower seeds and craisins– I found that the first two ingredients taste good together back on Thanksgiving weekend at my folks’ gluten-free condominium in Arlington, and added the third ingredient right after the Christmas holidays. It’s good.
• handmade malt-o-meal– speculation on our part came through with colors flying thus: make a serving of Cream of Wheat with milk according to the instructions, and then add five or six spoonfuls of Ovaltine (my mix is half-and-half Malt & Chocolate Malt varieties) and enough milk to mix it in throroughly, and wow, is it GOOD.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of my arrival in Columbia.

self, family

At my lovely wife’s persistent insistence, I submit my Christmas list:

General ideas:

• Gift certificates
  (Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, half.com or eBay, etc.)
• Tasteful, well-fitting clothing.
  Measurements:
  • Shirt: 15 1/2″ neck, 32″/33″ chest
  • Pants: 32″ inseam, 34″ waist
  • Feet: 9.5 or 10, Wide
• Anything from the Homestar-Runner Store (here or here)[except hooded sweatshirts]

Particular ideas:

• Dark green button down shirt,
• Navy slacks,
• Sheepskin moccasins or slippers,
• Soft, comfy socks
• Any abstract-pattern, vividly colored, non-linear (no stripes or grids) tie,
• A USB jumpdrive of at least 256MB
• A Compactflash memory card for my digital camera of at least 128MB
• Anything on my Amazon or Half.com wishlists. [click on either link, then type in "benwisdom@hotmail.com" in the e-mail window]

Rachel and I both cleaned out our desks today. But it’s much better than it sounds.

Rachel recently accepted an offer with Netbank (which used to be RBMG) to help them write reports to the SEC and other press releases. This is a welcome change for her, because she won’t have to deal with 55-hour work weeks during tax season, or traveling out of town for days at a time. She gets a decent raise out of the deal, too. Netbank’s building in town is an abandoned Wal-Mart renovated to be a cubicle farm. Rachel says she’s just tall enough to see over the cubicle walls to see the grid as far as the eye can see.

I am accepting an offer to go over to the new Diesel Systems North America Division of Siemens VDO Automotive Corporation (SVAC). This is is basically a spin-off company made up of a significant portion of the R&D group of Siemens Diesel System Technology, a joint venture of SVAC and International Truck and Engine Corporation (ITEC). I moving from what has grown to be a fairly large factory employing about 500 people, to a smaller R&D facility employing a few dozen. This will be a return to the old days for me, as when I was a drafter at SDST when it was still in its temporary facility and only a few dozen people worked there.

There’s all sorts of funny converging circumstances with this. Before the change, Rachel had a monthly paycheck and I had a biweekly paycheck, and now it has switched. In my old plant, I could wear jeans every once in a while, and Rachel couldn’t, and now it has switched. Our respective commutes will both be about five minutes shorter.

On balance, it’s all good. We have each been worrying and praying about these things for a little less than two years now, and God has been better to us than we deserve.

I’ve been having allergy problems the last few days, which i think is transitioning into a cold: serious congestion and post-nasal stream. Before i went to bed last night, i got it into my head to take a 24-hour sudafed pill around dinnertime. It seemed to help, at least a little. I had a little bit of trouble getting to sleep, but dropped off around midnight.

I woke up to what I thought was my dog Mercy snarling in my face at the side of my bed, but this changed into my wife breathing behind me as my head cleared. And my, was my head clear! It was 1:00am, and i was wide awake. I guess the time-release pseudoephedrine kicked in to wake me from a sound sleep. Yikes. I have arisen and am now puttering around on the internet, hoping this side effect will wear off in time for me to get a nice early-morning nap.

UPDATE: At around 3:00am, i decided to call it a morning and go back to bed. Strange things during drowsy time: i had the urge to hum softly and monotonously while settling in, and as i drifted off, i would occasionally utter a completely random word at incidental intervals.

Just as I walked into the factory this morning, my belt broke. What the hey?

During a meeting I was in right after lunch, my boss had trouble pronouncing the word “tentative”. He turned to me to ask if that was correct, and I obligingly pronounced it for him. As everyone chuckled, another associate of ours said, “It’s a good thing we have a native english speaker in the room.” It hadn’t occurred to me before he said it, but I was indeed in the conference room with two Germans, an Austrian, a Palestinian, and an (East) Indian. Later this afternoon, the Indian was called by an Assembly line coach from Tanzania, and they spoke to each other in Hindi, a language i had never heard before.

What can I say? It’s a world wide web, i guess.