The bottle thing

If you follow my tweets then you got this from yesterday. Well here is a pic:


He has really been able to hold his bottle for quite some time, but I guess he didn't feel like it. But lately he is really taking care of it without much coaxing.

It's a sad and happy day. Sad because that's one more thing that is now just going to be a memory. Happy because I can finally just give him a bottle and not have to hold it until he's finished.


Oh and by the way, the chicks really dug the hat. :-)

Until next time,
Les

Why the DMV won't improve

Annette had to get her driver's license renewed today. She has a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) so she can drive a school bus if needed. Well, since it's a CDL she can't just go to the Tag Agency and renew; she has to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and get everything processed there THEN she gets to go to the tag agency to get the new license.

So at the end of our day she is telling me of all that went on. She was there for 2.5 hours just waiting to get to see someone. Being a teacher she is always looking for ways to make things more efficient. I guess having to deal with snot nosed prepubescents really makes you think of ways to improve processes that speed up any kind of standing in line.

Well, she starts explaining to me how they could have had multiple receiving lines for more specific purposes instead of just one general purpose line (i.e. she wants a line for inquiries and a line for tests and a line for renewals etc.). And I remember that the Social Security office is exactly the same way. Long, general purpose line and a wait that takes way too long.

Why is this? They've been running things the same way for long enough it would make since that they come up with more efficient ways of managing their daily lines of people. And then I remember. These places don't have to improve their process. They don't have to worry about "customer service" because they don't serve customers. They handle a captive audience. People don't have a choice about standing in line. It's required by law to be there and do what you are doing (for the most part) so you can't just decide against it if they're not nice to you.

The rest of us don't have this power. We aren't working government jobs with mandated requirements. We deal with customers of some type. And if we don't please those customers then they go somewhere else. Those government bastards are lucky.

Until next time,
Les

Encino man

Well, we are now working on our 5th day without power. It's cold, we've been staying with friends and family. I think we'll be lucky if we're turned on before the middle of next week. All the houses in our neighborhood are back online. All except our little street with 5 or 6 houses. You'd think something small like that would be a no-brainer and they'd just send someone over to get it going, but OG&E has a policy to go where they can do the most for less effort first, so five houses in the middle of Midwest City probably doesn't even make a ping on their radar yet.

Oh well, could be worse I'm sure.
Until next time
Les

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Now playing: Foo Fighters - Times Like These
via FoxyTunes

What goes in must come out.

The key to good entertainment is a combination of a hook and a yank. Pardon the fishing analogy, but I think you can easily understand. My son is just now 6 months old and he has this down to perfection. For example...

We took Reid to his first basketball game; middle school basketball. I had a feeling it would be an experience the first time since basketball gyms tend to be very loud. To top it off we had had Reid's 6 month well baby visit earlier that day and he received 5 shots so he was already off his game.

Well, about 2 minutes after we arrived the crowd got loud and the buzzer went off. Reid started screaming. It wasn't just a cry, it was a loud, high pitched wailing sound. The hook. We decided that part of his continuing anguish could be partly attributed to pain from the shots he had received that day. So we decided to give him some children's Tylenol.

A bit of the medicine started dripping from his mouth, being six months old he drools a lot. Well I was about reach for a burp rag when it happened. The yank. I heard the patented "SPLURP!!", and at almost the same exact moment I felt warm, soured, regurgitated milk gush into my ear and run down my neck and shirt. And don't forget we had an audience since he'd pulled off the perfect hook earlier with his crying.

Ah, parenthood is strangely rewarding. Why rewarding? Because somehow in it all I didn't even feel a little embarrassed.

Until next time
Les

Memories

Isn't it funny how the human memory will work. For instance I always associate music with an event or time of my life. I don't ever remember trying to associate things... it just happens.



If I listen to any music from the album Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park I'm instantly reminded of Syphon Filter on the Playstation, I clocked a ton of hours on that game in my dorm and jammed that album while doing so. When I hear anything from August and Everything After by Counting Crows I'm reminded of the journey of Jack Sawyer in the novel The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It's wierd how fresh those memories are just with the sound of that music.



So, what reminds you of those memories past? A sound, a smell?



Until next time

Les

The time has come!

Well, we've been checked into the hospital and sometime tomorrow or later I'll be able to hold my son!



Until next time

Les

Update

So lately I've been busy.  Just random stuff, but mostly getting the house ready for the baby (we're at DEFCON-1).  I've been playing Rainbow Six: Vegas, I finished the story mode, which is fairly short but fun.  Now I'm working on what they call Terrorist Hunts, which are basically games setup on the multi-player maps where you have the objective of clearing the entire map of enemies.  There are 10 maps to clear to get the achievements, and I'm doing them on Realistic mode which will bag me 2 achievements, I've got 4 maps left to clear.  Here's my gamertag as is:







Recently watched The Departed.  I was really impressed with this flick.  I liked the parallels presented with the snitches on both sides of the law enforcement camps.  Not a flick for the kiddies, but if you've got a night to waste check it out, you won't be disappointed.



Work is work.  Still just plugging along on the point of sale system using Java.  No complaints really.  I'm ready for a break, but with the kid on the way I'll get what I ask for there, then I may want to get back to work.



until next time

Les



Technorati Tags: general, video games

It's a boy!

Until next time
Les

Tis the season.

The Sooners clinched the Big 12 South title this year and will face
Nebraska saturday for the Big 12 Championship. Could be a good game with
the history behind these 2 teams and their previous rivalries.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the pounds didn't do as much going as
the holiday did (holidays are just festivals for overeating). Now it's
time to get in official Christmas mode. Ready or not, here it comes.

Picked up 2 things for myself this week. The newest Splinter Cell novel
(Checkmate), and the latest release in the Final Fantasy handheld series,
but this time it's for the DS (Final Fantasy III). Haven't started playing
or reading either of them yet, but I will.

Until next time
Les

Turkey day in the sticks

So you know that you've gone off the grid when you make it to a place where the state newspaper doesn't have a delivery route. Growing up in Battiest, OK I never realized this, but the Daily Oklahoman is delivered by mail. Thus, when it is a holiday, you don't get your paper. Well, the wife loves the Thanksgiving edition of the paper because it has all the adverts for all the stores with sales on black friday. So, being the take care of my family type alpha-male that I am (cough, cough), I made a trek to the nearest daily stocked newspaper box which was in Hochatown, about 20 minutes from Battiest.

After all that my wife was very dissappointed to find out that the Daily Oklahoman editions that were delivered to McCurtain county don't have the usual adverts. I believe they had sections for Atwoods and JC Penney. Considering that the nearest glimpse of a shopping mall to Battiest is 3 hours away in another state that shouldn't be too surprising.

Until next time
Les

Holidays and Football Chances

Well, it is officially the holiday season. Turkeys are being prepared for
the ovens and fine china is being dusted (except for the smart folks who
use disposable dinnerware, don't forget to recycle...). Commercials are
all about the coming gift holiday (also known as Christmas). I really like
this time of year, the weather suits me and football is in full swing.

Speaking of football, the Sooners still have a chance (slight though it may
be) to make it to the Big 12 Champoinship game. They just have to hope
that Texas A&M has a little Sooner Magic on friday and upsets the
Longhorns, then they have to make a little magic of their own against their
in-state rival the cowboys (Sooners are only favored by 6 this year).

We'll see.

Until next time
Les

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