Spools and Paws, all in a day's work....

I made a site visit to a school 50+ miles from the office today. It was a 2nd visit this month to try and figure out what was wrong with their video equipment. You can call the system (from another location) and the folks at the school can see you and hear you, but there is no way to unmute, move cameras, etc. Why? Because no matter what you push on the remote, the menu overlay never appears on the screen (it is SUPPOSED to be there!)! In addition, the touch panel never gets a solid connection either. So, I unhooked everything except a microphone, a monitor and the main video unit and still managed to get nowhere fast... Oh wait, I could do "some" things with the remote, assuming I might happen to remember what the menu screens look like (which I did not remember very well). Eventually, I hooked up an old system they had disconnected last year and put the newer system in a corner for bad behavior!

After I got back to the office, I decided to try and make my ornery Sharepoint Search work so that we could actually have a useful search tool - but, to no avail. Every offered solution I could find led me right back to where I was before I started.... I have a feeling it will require many hours of the $250/hour Microsoft support....

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After work at the office, Tyler had baseball practice, I took him home to get changed and ran him to practice before heading over to Shan's classroom. Tyler informed me there were several 'honey-do' items (not his words, but the meaning was the same all-in-all). After Tyler changed, we were riding in the truck and a commercial came on the radio. I don't remember what I was TRYING to say, but instead of "Backyard Pools and Spas," it came out of me as "Backyard Spools and Paws." Tyler laughed about that the whole way to practice and then had the nerve to re-visit the incident after practice!!

The 'honey-dos' were not bad at all... Move a desk and move a cabinet...yes, a cabinet that did NOT fit through the door in an upright position.... Okay, what cosmic storage force have I disturbed so badly that I've had to move TWO storage units in TWO days that did NOT fit through the door upright!?!?

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I connected my new 320GB hard drive to the computer today and did a backup of the important stuff. Okay, honestly? The coolest part of the new drive is the YELLOW glow it gives off (which kinda pulsates as the drive is transferring info) - It goes well with my yellow keyboard/mouse/computer!! :-) It just occurred to me that I have black and gold everything when it comes to the computer! Okay, well, the LCD only qualifies when it's glowing yellow to let me know it's on but the computer isn't... But, still!

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I got an email at work today... The subject? "You're Expired!" Holy smokes!! When did this happen and how is that I don't seem to have changed much since expiring? Am I like milk? Maybe I've expired but haven't gone bad yet? Someone could have warned me....

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I have been putting it off for some time, but I've decided to put my two cents on the table about a few things... Here goes:

• Barry Bonds - Like him, hate him, either way he will most likely break the Hank Aaron record. With or without steroids, a player still has to be able to hit a little white ball going about a hundred miles an hour over the fence 750+ times... 'Roids or not, there is still talent, even if it there is no charisma...
• Tim Donaghey - What he did was wrong. He knew betting was wrong. Got in over his head, now he'll pay for it in many more ways than one. In retrospect, he may wish he had just taken the busting of his kneecaps....
• Michael Vick - He may or may not have known dog-fighting was illegal. He grew up with it all around him. How many players beat or rape their wives and girlfriends, yet they get no punishment at all? Yeah, dog-fighting is cruel if you are an animal-loving member of society, but no where near as bad as beating the woman you are married to (or any woman for that matter).
• Lindsay Lohan - Anyone ever hear of lock-down? Just a thought...

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I came to the realization this morning as to why I had given up on putting my baseball cards into a database before - the work. Looking through cards to discover what I own is wonderful fun! And, putting them into a database, watching the grand total rise and rise is also fun and rewarding! But, the work stinks. The work is taking all those cards that I'm "ooo-ing and ahhh-ing" over and actually putting them in their respective binders. I know, I could be like thousands of other people and just put them in boxes, but that just doesn't cut it for me. No. In my mind, the only rightful place for the cards is in binders. Well, actually, I'd prefer them to be in cool frames and make wallpaper out of the frames, but that is even more time-consuming (not to mention space-hogging) than binders. The work is what got me in times past. The intentions of putting all those cards into binders was there, but the 'want to' was certainly lacking. Honestly, it lacks now, but I see now what it is for what it is - the "labor" part of a hobby that is truly a labor of love....

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During Tyler's practice, some of the folks were asking about my leg. It has healed very nicely, except for where I am pretty sure I'll have a scar on my shin. That's not a bad thing... In this case, it will serve as a reminder to myself that I am not quite as young as I think I am, but also that I am not afraid to take a highly-embarrassing tumble in the name of playing ball with my kids.... :-)