Category Archives: TMI

… So I Rewired It …

Posted on by

Part of every trip home involves attacking the “to-do” list of things my mom can’t take care of by herself. She has several wonderful neighbors who do some more immediate things like plow and shovel her out when it snows (she mows their lawn in nicer weather on her riding mower), but other tasks can wait until one of the children visit. Wrangling the artificial tree from and back to the basement, lugging things to the attic, etc. are normal November/December/January chores.

But there were three bigger jobs. One neighbor has a very large generator that was put to use during the recent ice storm; our street only lost power briefly, but the houses behind us were on the wrong side of a fallen tree and were without power, and he supplied them with enough to run the heat and other basics. To facilitate hookup for the next power outage, he decided to shuffle some breakers in our house so he could backfeed through some outlets in the garage. So I helped a little with that.

The second job was to extend the recently-installed sump pump drain further away from the house; the original placement was on the high-elevation front side of the house, and only about 5′ away. The ground had become saturated and all of the water being dumped was just filtering back in to the basement. So I got to go down to the HO E DEPOT (the “M” was being replaced) and get some PVC pipe and run the drain line off to the side of the house, about 20′ away, and an area that will drain down the hill. There was snow on the ground, so I couldn’t do a proper job and bury the pipe, a task that will have to wait until better weather.

The last job was repairing the ancient pinball machine in the basement game room. It was a relic when we got it, about 35 years ago — relays and gears and a mechanical score display, which had gone out of vogue when digital displays and electronics came out. It hadn’t been looked at since my dad died, some 12 years ago, but hadn’t seen much use for a few years after that, until my nieces got old enough to want to play. By that time my mom had re-done some flooring upstairs and installed the old carpet in the game room, and it was some time later that we noticed that the key that opens the machine was missing, and was probably sitting on the floor, under the carpet and all of the junk laying on top. So, no access to the guts of the machine, until my mom had someone in to drill out the lock this past fall.
Continue reading →

Ballistic and Nonballistic Trajectory: Career Path

Posted on by

I’ve been adopted by three high school groups (so far). Last time I did this, there was a list of questions, so I got a head start on answering the ones I thought might be asked. The answers seem to have tunneled into the ether, however, but since questions about career path are likely to come up (and I haven’t done a post on that), here I go.

I’m not tempted to say “I didn’t take the typical career path” because I don’t think there is any such thing. Some might propose that the typical path is grad school to postdoc to university teaching and research position, but since only about a third of doctorates work in academia, and there are positions other than the university research professor (teaching-only positions, liberal-arts or community colleges) that’s not really “typical,” though it may be perceived to be.

I went to Hartwick College, a small liberal-arts school in the middle of nowhere Oneonta, NY, which was about two hours away from home (less now, since they put in a highway while I was there). I ended up there because the financial aid offered by my main choice, Cornell, was a tad less than I needed: they offered zero. (I was put on a waiting list and the money ran out before the candidates did). Between student loans, work-study, scholarships and grants, Hartwick was possible. I had AP credits for physics and calculus and overloaded my schedule one term to graduate early. (3.5 years)
Continue reading →

Hop Three Times and Twirl Before Typing This

Posted on by

If you believe you’re playing well because you’re getting laid, or because you’re not getting laid, or because you wear women’s underwear, then you ARE! Crash Davis

The Quirkbook

“Making a list of superstitions / foolish consistencies / lightweight OCD behaviors e.g. I always put my RIGHT shoe on first. You?”
[…]
“In what order shall I put my gear on? What is practical? What feels right? You know, I like putting my right skate on first. I can’t tell you why, but the order feels important. Right skate, then left.”

We killed them. 9-3. Sure, they started by playing half their game because they were already in the playoffs, but after I scored that hat trick in the first period, they woke up. We slapped them around for another two periods. It was glorious.

I credit the skates. No, I credit the skate application process.

It’s that story that goes through my head each morning as I stare down. I remember deciding to care about how I put things on my feet. It’s a silly superstitious quirk transformed into an unavoidable daily routine and that’s why I twittered it. I wanted to know who else was saddled with these foolish consistencies.

There seems to be a strong tie between superstition “ritual” and sports.

I have a mild OCD about the iron. I almost always double-check that it’s off and unplugged before going out, because it’s one of those mindless “routine” things that you’ll falsely remember doing. Even if you didn’t do it today, you might paste in the memory of any of the other hundreds of times you’ve done it. (And by “you” I mean “I”)

I don’t think things like “wiring the + wire to the + lead and — to —” or “don’t lick the high-voltage connection” count as superstition.

I’ve known women who had to sleep on a particular side of the bed, so any impulse I might have had for this OCD has vanished — it’s not a battle worth fighting. (You’re in bed with her. Wrong time and place to pick a fight.)

Music Confessional

Posted on by

Several weeks back, I was lamenting bad advertising music. There seem to be lots of companies who have the ad-music decisions being made by a 45-55 year-old who chooses a favorite tune from their youth but didn’t have great taste in music, (or a 20-something staffer who can Google on what was high on the charts when the ad exec was in his or her 20s.) A recent incarnation was the Honda ad to the tune of ELO’s “Hold on Tight.” Contrast that with Apple ads often using something very recent (“Shut Up and Let Me Go” by The Ting Tings was running at that time)

I don’t think they quite understand the backlash of choosing the wrong tune. Is your automobile target audience really that old? To me, it’s one of those songs that I liked back in the day, but that was partly because if you hear something over ad over again, you begin to like it, or at least tolerate it. But 25+ years later, I’m content to hear it every couple of months, but if I’m bombarded with it all over again I’m really going to start to loathe it, and whatever product is being associated with it.

That discussion morphed from songs you only need to hear every so often, to songs you never need to hear again, which provoked the response, “Muskrat Love” by the Captain and Tennille. So I got to thinking, what bad songs do I listen to that I would be reluctant to admit to having on a playlist on my iPod or computer?

Lo and behold, I find myself beaten to the punch. And I find it funny that the first two songs on Janet’s list are two to which I listen, and were not available on iTunes for some time — I kept checking for them, and they are on my workout rotation.

The trashiest (IMO) stuff on my five-star playlist is the bubble-gum-type music from the 60s.
“Little Bit of Soul” by Music Explosion
“Jelly Jungle (of Orange Marmalade)” by the Lemon Pipers
“Dizzy” and “Sweet Pea” by Tommy Roe
“I Saw Linda Yesterday” Dickey Lee

All get significant playing time.