AJ’s Corallary

The philisophical underpinnings of the universe as I know it, part II

Someone’s need for a particular piece of information is inversely proportional to the likelyhood of them having that information. For instance, if you’re putting your power boat into the lake and don’t know about the plug in the back, you’re really going to have a serious need for knowledge. However, if you know about the plug, odds are you won’t get into a situation where you really *need* that information.

Change it, deal with it, or leave it

The philisophical underpinnings of the universe as I know it, part I

For the past couple days during the commute home, I’ve been regaling one of my co-workers with some of my home-spun philosophy as a means of combating road boredom. Poor guy.

It struck me yesterday that these musing are prime blog fodder. Then it struck me that my blog is in dire need of prime fodder. Soon Pete’s going to strike me, too, but that’s another story. Anywho, here’s the first part:

When confronted with anything in the universe, a guy pretty much has three options:

• Change it
• Deal with it
• Leave it

Change it

This one is my personal favorite; YMMV. There’s almost always something you can do in or to a situation to change it more to your liking. Someone in your face? Smile. Hungover? Drink water. Fat? Exercise. Stripped naked and locked in solitary confinement? Play mental chess. You get the picture.

Deal with it

Sometimes change is too much work, but things aren’t bad enough to leave. So shrug, say “Oh well,” and go on with life. This is also a good option, especially for all the slackers in my corps de readers. It’s especially effective when served with a rougish grin.

Leave it

Sometimes, like when you piss off the big, drunk townie at his cousin’s wedding, the best thing to do is just get the hell out. Pack up yer kit, or not, and hit the road. Maybe come back, maybe not. Now granted, this is a whole lot like running away, but you know, sometimes that’s what the situation calls for.

Promoted

Now that things are apparently working again, I can let you all know that Pete and I were promoted to rokku kyu (6th level green belt) in Taijutsu tonight. Yeah, so havachu!

Testing

I was just farting around with settings. Hope I haven’t broken anything.

Wierdest shopping list ever

“Let’s see, sir: That’s one jumbo package of number-three diapers, three small bottles of “Chicken Dinner” baby food, and one turkey baster. Will that be all tonight?”

I wonder how these clerks manage to keep a straight face when someone like me rolls through their lane. The only thing better would have been for me to have The Wife with me, dressed in thigh-high patent leather boots, hot pants, and a fur coat.

Get that smirk off your face, Jim.

Just for the record, two of the three things on that shopping list are for the paralyzed cat who’s not eating or drinking.

Fucking April

We came home this afternoon to find Vaca, our long-haired cowboy cat lying in the mud in the ditch by the side of the road. We rushed him to the vet, where our good friend Dr. Dan checked him over. While there’s no external trauma and no obvious breaks in the x-rays, Vaca’s paralyzed from about two thirds of the way along his spine on back.

He’s home now, lying on a towel in the bathroom next to food and water, after taking a good bite out of my hand and swipe out of Dan’s upper arm at the office. We’re hoping that there’s just some bruising compressing his spinal cord and that the steroids and anti-inflamatories he’s on will reduce that swelling and get him back on his feet.

If that doesn’t work, though, but he’s still eating, drinking, and not in terrible pain, then we’ll have a wheelchair cat. Like I told the Wife, if one of us became paralyzed, we’d figure out how to deal with it. It’s the same thing for the four-legged members of our family.

Oh, but that that were all for April.

This morning, I buried the car pretty much up to the axel in the mud in our yard, trying to get it out of the way for the truck I borrowed for a dump run. I lot my temper, snapped at the Wife, then wound up paying $83 and change for a twenty-foot tow.

At the beginning of the month, Molly was recovering from a near fatal cut to her forearm. She’s fine, now, so that’s good, but jeesh.

Last year this time, we had a chimney fire, the deck stairs collapsed under me giving me a nice little ride on sharp wood edges, and the Wife put a nail pretty much *through* her foot.

So here’re three cheers for April. Ending.

Rev

I got the bike fired up Monday evening. I went home, ostensibly to sleep because I was running on about four hours of sleep, but then I saw her sitting there, glowing red in the late afternoon sunlight, taunting me.

So I figured I’d take a look to see if the battery cable was really the problem. Uh, yeah. It is. So now, I get a new battery, charge it up, attach a new cable, don the leathers and helmet and go for a ride. Of course, if you’d like to contribute to this little venture, feel free to send me a little gift. Or a bigger gift. Either would be great!

Love,

-aj

Bikes, For Pooh

Yo, Pooh. I sort of used to ride a 1983 Honda CX650E(pictures are not my bike, though it looks very much the same). That’s a four-cylinder, shaft-driven, water-cooled sport touring machine that was released in Europe (hence the “E”) and Canada, but never in the U.S. It’s bright red with an after-market fairing that makes it look kind of like a BMW.

I got mine from a ferry captain who was given it by her father who thought commuting from
Corucopia to Bayfield on a dirt bike was too dangerous. The captain found the bike to be too big and heavy for her, so she cut me a good deal on it.

I say I’ve “sort of ridden it” because in the last couple years I’ve had some smallish mechanical problems, and, of course, I’ve just had a kid, which has put all my death defying activities into a new light. However, I think I have a bead on the major problem with the bike (electrical). Once my insurance at my new job kicks in, I may just be back on the road. I’m sure Mom is thrilled to hear that.

As for Harleys, I’ve only ridden one once, but it was the mayor of our fair city’s bike, so that counts for something. It was a pretty nice ride, but I think I may be more of a vintage Wing sort of guy, myself. I’m not sure, though, only having ridden such a machine once, as well. Mostly, I think I need a bigger bike with a little room for a long weekend’s camping gear and a backrest for The Wife.

Huge Thanks!

The benefit was a huge success! With the food, dancing, and silent auction, we made over $5,000! I was shooting to raise about a grand or maybe $1,500, but never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d go this big.

Huge thanks to everyone involved from my co-organizers to local business folk who donated to the few hundred people who came and had a good time!

And just for the record, the reconditioned Linux box (Fedora Core 3) that I built for the auction went for $100 bucks. That, of course, was for the hardware. The OS, as always was free. ;-)

The Big Day

Today’s the day. I’ve made chili for an army, and other folks have cooked probably four or five times as much food. We’ve gathered gifts, purchased plates, and bought a band. Now it’s time to ge set things up and wait.

You see, I’m part of the group of folks throwing a benefit for our buddy Jacob Obletz. Jacob’s a horse-powered logger who managed to drop a tree on himself this winter. He’s OK, but his medical bills are every bit as crushing and suffocating as the tree was.

So we’re throwing a party for him, partly to celebrate that he’s alive and reasonably well, and partly to try to raise money for his bills. We’ll see how it goes. If you’re interested in coming, it’s from noon ’till five at
Zar’s Melodee Bar (corner of Klaus road and Hwy. 112 south of Ashland’s Airport). There’s a five-dollar cover at the door and includes all the indian tacos, chili, spanish rice, and desert that you can eat. There’s also a silent auction with a bunch of cool stuff for sale. Maybe we’ll see you there!