Christmas came early...

My wife and I made a deal a while back that went something like this; We’d save money to buy a new sofa and then save money to buy a new HDTV.

She’s wanted a new sofa for several years and I’ve wanted a big HDTV ever since they first went on the market. A few months ago we got the sofa and started saving for the TV.

I, or I guess really we, had saved a little more than half of the money for the TV that I had researched and decided we needed. (Yes, I said needed, not simply wanted!) I set my sights set on a 40” Sony flat screen.

I was hoping to get the new TV sometime early in 2008, however, thanks to a very early and very generous Christmas gift to the entire family from my mother-in-law, we were able to buy the new TV yesterday.

After playing with the settings for most of the afternoon, we watched a movie on the new TV last night. And baby, it was sweet!

This morning I hooked up my PS2 and gave some up close and personal assistance to the US Navy SEALS as they battled a South American drug lord.


And in the end, a good time was had by all…




Well, maybe not by the drug lord.

My Technical Nemesis…the wireless router

I set up my first wireless router this summer, and I nearly lost my religion.

I would spend a completely frustrating hour on the phone with some guy in India (I asked him where he was during one of the 15 times I was forced to reboot my computer) as I would try to get my Linksys router’s settings to gel with my SpeedStream modem, only to find out that the problem was with my DSL provider.

Then I would then spend another equally frustrating amount of time on the phone with SWBell trying to undo all the different IP Address and Default Gateway Address code changes that the Linksys guy had made me make.

After that, I would have to head over to my school district’s computer support services department to have their guys tweak my firewall settings, and who knows what else, just to bypass all the goofy security measures they had installed.

Finally, I would end up calling the Linksys guy in India back, reporting all the SWBell and district changes I had made, just so he could say something like, “Now, click the DSL Override button.”

However, after about a month of the hi-tech musical chairs I finally got my desktop’s internet connection back up and running, as well as my wireless laptop’s.

And my Internet life was good, until…

We had a power surge about two weeks ago and suddenly neither my desktop, or my laptop could connect to the Internet.

Don’t ask me how, but somehow I managed to get the desktop’s connection back up and running. However, my laptop would show the connection, and say it was connected, but I couldn’t access anything.

After three calls to India, making someone in India extremely mad at me, and two more calls to SWBell, I am finally back up and running…Internet connection wise that is.

It’s all very humbling for a guy who takes great pride in his “Do-it-Yourself” abilities.

I guess some things are best left to the professionals…

Kids say the darndest things

So we’re in the middle of a writing lesson, but not just any writing lesson, oh no, this was a lesson being taught by the school’s, if not the district’s, most knowledgeable teacher. (We’ll call her JF for short) JF, from time to time, is able to come in our class and “Guest Lecture.”

The lesson was on when, why, where and how to take your writing and go deeper with details. Details that can make the difference between a story that is well written and easy to read, and one that truly comes alive for the reader.

JF was using the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet as her background text. She used this story for two reasons, first, because all the children already know the rhyme, and second, because it’s short and easy to finish in a couple days.

She instructed everyone to close their eyes and imagine how Little Miss Muffet looked to them. Then we opened our eyes and gave details about what she looks like, what she was doing, where she was and that sort of thing.

Jf had already taken quite a few notes about how you could tell that Miss Muffet was scared, and was in the middle of making a list of details about her size. I was sitting off to the side and was helping as best as I could. (Remember, this lady has forgotten more about teaching writing than I’ll ever know!) Then it happened.

We already had details like, “Skinny as a stick, dirty clothes, and messy hair.” However, what the next child thought of took us all by surprise.

“I think she’s flat chested,” said a small voice from the middle of the room. Even as the words were floating out into the room, I felt my jaw tighten, and my lips pucker. My head did a mental Google search. I was hoping I had heard her wrong and that my mind might come up with some alternative to the words, “FLAT CHESTED.” But alas, my ears hadn’t failed me.

JF simple stood there with a thoughtful look in her eye. After about 5 seconds she said in normal, level toned voice, “Okay, we can put that.”

I, on the other hand, was having to fain sudden, and urgent business in the dictionary. I sat there doing everything I could do to not make eye contact with anyone, and also not to laugh. I knew, that at least for me, eye contact would mean sudden, and uncontrollable laughter.

I’m sitting there trying to concentrate on how proud I am of JF for not laughing, when she bursts out laughing.

Of course, after that a good laugh was had by all…even those who had no idea what we were actually laughing at.

Ah, kids…they say the darndest things.