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As the temperature cracks 60 degrees of Fahrenheit for the first time since November, I have to comment that I'm glad that the snow is gone. Yes, I understand that the snow isn't gone for good: Chicago has seen snows as late as May, but, at least now, everything outside is brown as it should be [for January, not March], not white. I want to go back to a world where a "Blizzard" is something you go to Dairy Queen to get. I have had the pleasure of digging out a snow drift, shoveling the driveway, plowing through snow in the Modjeskimobile, driving on ice, and driving on a frozen road (two different experiences, let me tell you). I have seen a blizzard, and I have seen how ugly and nasty snow gets when the plows get bits of dirt and pavement with their frozen quarry. I have to think I've gotten the full on "Winter" experience that forever eluded a boy from the bayous of southwest Louisiana. (No, I'm not like Swamp People, but I am kin to some of them. I grew up in a subdivision, thank you.) In other words, bring on March. And not the upper 40's/lower 30's March of Illinois, but the upper 60's/lower 50's March of Louisiana. I'm tired of the calendar being two months ahead of the weather. There is a lot of anticipation about the garden this year. Not just because we're growing potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, squash, and a gamut of herbs: it's March; green would be nice to see. On an unrelated note, as of today, Amanda is 75% and Bonnie is -1. In layman's terms, "April 14" just became "any day now". Here we go. (and I'm not talking about Bud Light). -KIE, who will likely be a father within the fortnight
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I am hereby officially distracted for BrickFair. <removed, it was the track for Hurricane Gustav> I'm hoping and praying that storm doesn't hit New Orleans. It will be big, wherever it hits. And if it hits NOLA, it will hit when my flight back from BrickFair would land. In other words, if I can get back, I won't have long at all to get my stuff packed to evacuate. Good God Almighty here we go again. -KIE
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I am a bad person. Today I received a letter from the Louisiana Department of Revenue. Apparently, the server connection reset when I e-filed my state taxes last year meant I did not file for the 2006 year. This makes me a very bad person. Nigh a felon, for a slam-dunk case of tax evasion. A dentist in Slidell recently was convicted for tax evasion. Refused to file taxes for about 9 years, was fined something like $400,000 (in addition to the taxes he never paid) and sentenced to 10 years in prison. A phone call and a lunch hour wasted (fortunately, I've federally e-filed with H&R Block ever since graduate school, and I never did unpack from leaving the office, so my paperwork was handy) earlier today, and I've filed. However, since I did not file before May 15, 2007, nor did I have a valid federally approved extension nor valid state extension, I am subject to being assessed penalties and interest because of this. I look forward to them charging me interest on the $22 refund, because I'm pretty sure interest is charged to the debtor (the state of Louisiana in this case), not the creditor (me). Still, I didn't need this. Not right now. I'm moody, bear with me. -KIE
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One of the highlights of the past couple of weeks has been the kickoff of construction of the Elmwood Park sewer improvement job. This 1.4 million dollar job involves the relocation of a sewer lift station in a narrow clearance between a buried fiberoptic duct bank and the curb of Wilson Drive, in Metairie, LA. It is a very narrow strip of land where the station must be located, and there's not much room to lay out materials on the side away from the street (There's a canal there.), so the contractor has to close Wilson Drive to set up and construct. This is apparently a problem for some residents who like to use Wilson Drive as a shortcut. This was evidenced by the scores of drivers who ignored the press release in the local paper, stating that Wilson Drive would be closed (detour to Jeannette or Power), or the message board saying "WILSON CLOSED // DETOUR POWER", OR the sign at Wilson stating "ROAD CLOSED TO THRU TRAFFIC <--DETOUR--", and saw fit to drive down Wilson, only to come to where the street is completely blocked and be forced to turn around, much to the amusement of us at the job site at the time. (The road was blocked, but it was the day before construction began: a last walkthrough before the road would really be closed.) The real kicker was when some person with the citizens action group "Citizens for a Safer Jefferson" filed a complaint about the road being closed and there not being at least one lane open. To that point I volunteer this: You seek to make Jefferson Parish a safer place. Tell me, what is safe about driving right next to a 25' deep pit? One half-hitch and you have a broken axle of your automobile AT BEST. BZPower, to those of you who drive regularly, have just garnered your license, in the throes of learner's permit limbo, or just starting to pester parents about Driver's Ed: Pay attention to the road. Just because you drive a street day-in, day-out does not mean you can zone out and make it automatic. 29 times out of 30, that road is owned by a public agency who has the authority to partially or fully restrict traffic for the purposes of future greater good, be it utility work or otherwise. If a sign is out there to be read, it should be read because it's not out there to be ignored. (If it could be ignored, it wouldn't have been put together to sit out there: those things cost a fair amount of cash (>$80 each).) Also, your route can be forced to change, and you shouldn't file a frivolous complaint because you're inconvenienced by the 8 month loss of a preferred shortcut: we're the engineers; we can't call our job done if we don't take you into account. -KIE
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Who knew the first Joker would outlive the second Joker? Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment this afternoon, at the age of 28. Pardon me whilst this 28-year-old ponders his own mortality. I guess it just goes to show you that fame, fortune, and a budding career a reason-for-living do not make. Take this to heart, those of you in high school and college: there must be more to life than what Mr. Ledger found. -KIE
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No article about prescription "I don't need sleep anymore" pills.... but that article is still in the archives from last year. No, what I learned recently is that complacency in a young relationship is pretty toxic. Happy Thanksgiving, guys & gals. -KIE, still not an uncle
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It took a good long while (18 months), but I finally got another phishing email to my work email account, one I'm not going to share here. I give you the contents, with links disabled... Seems important enough, but upon opening the nuts & bolts of the message (closely observing the pointed-at address in a web client, or selecting "View Source" in Outlook), one can see that oversized address in the middle of the document does not go to where it states. Of course, I didn't need to see the bogus link to know it was a blind attempt at identity theft. It's not that I'm just that good; I'm not a Merrill Lynch customer, just like I'm not a CitiBank customer 18 months ago. -KIE
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The allure and statement of stripes and circles is something I'll never grasp. A very circuitously-related opening shot, yes, but a segment from last Sunday's CBS Sunday Morning came to mind, and I had to address it. Last year, around Halloween, I bought a book. Tonight, 8½ months later, I finally finished reading it. Mind you, I wasn't reading it consistently: it was only 31 chapters & 2 appendices (and the last 5 chapters were read tonight). I'm not going to say that I'm proud to have read it. It was then, and is now, multiple case studies on manipulating... other people, not images. I think I'm marginally better for it: I now know why some past actions, intentional and not, were received as they were. I'm more aware of what I am emanating as well as what I am saying. But I doubt its practicality to me. It talks of making matters I take seriously into a game. A source of diversion. To follow its advice would be to ceaselessly play with the emotions of another. Of others. I can't do that. I don't mind trying to play the part of orchestral conductor from time to time, but I can't nor won't do it all the time. I am not that person. Thus, I do not accept the book's counsel as beneficial to me. I will say this: I do thank the woman who recommended I read it. Before hers and mine paths on the internet crossed, I would never have been able to make certain actions that needed to be made. I hope to be able to say I will be even more grateful later than I am right now, but then, there must be time for love to grow. I want to be that person, and I know I am not that person yet. If anyone is wondering why I'm being so vague, well yes, it's by design. I'm not going to divulge the title of the book, but I will close with this point, especially for any college freshmen who are leaving home to go to school: Be wary of those who attempt to isolate you from your past: there must be very good reasons why your friends and family are your friends and family, and that should not be naught without equally good reasons. -KIE
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Nope. I wasn't in an accident or anything. I got an interesting piece of email the other day. It's funny, but in a tongue-in-cheek, Toaraga's finest dry wit, way. Double-dose of funny email...I gotta do something to perpetuate the Blog of the Week XXVII traffic. I shall not yield my fame so easily! It's also worth reading and taking to heart. Because, y'know, there's truth there. -KIE, whose bracket is riding on Butler upsetting Florida and Southern California NOT upsetting North Carolina tonight.
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As I left the apartment to come to work this morning, I was approached by the husband of the elderly couple that lives in A303, two doors down from my apartment. We both have our differences with the tenant between us, namely the late night entertaining she does, and the chihuahua-esque dog(s?) she's keeping there. However, he's more upset, as his front room is the only room between his bedroom and her apartment, whereas my bed is tucked further away. Over the course of conversation (admittedly hurried: I ended up being late for work), he used an archaic form of, yet still not socially acceptable, racial slur in referring to our mutual neighbor. I didn't cut the conversation right there because I could read it in his face: this was the first word he knew, and there was no racial malice in it. Still, it bears noting that the world is still not yet perfect, on multiple fronts, like hurtful words and inconsiderate neighbors. Word to the wise: no matter where you live, be it an inner-city project, a mid-range apartment complex, an upscale townhouse, or an 80-acre ranch, try not be a nuisance to your neighbors. Patience wears thin where loud carryings-on happen at 12:30 at night, every night. For those of you thinking this entry was about the movie of the same name, well, it is..sort of. Check out the news I picked up on Wired.com this morning. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. -KIE
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204¾ lb., 24.0% body fat (yay!) I wanted to open up with §401(k) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. Really, really I did. But try as I might, I couldn't find a copy of it online for me to cut & paste. Rest assured that it exists written down somewhere, else I'd have misplaced about $2600 in what should have been a retirement account. My office is switching 401(k) plan providers today. Er...30 days from today, actually. Dropping MetLife for the CPA firm that already does the books for DEII. I think. I'm not sure, as I'm not in that area of the office, physically or hierarchially. In any case, a new 401(k) with new mutual funds to pore over. I actually got this paperwork yesterday, and, for the sake of an argument (not really an argument, but just using the expression, y'know), my picks are listed at the end of this entry. A 401(k) is a retirement fund administrated by a company for the sake of its individual employees. A portion of an employee's salary each pay period is deferred into a tax-exempt (for the time being) account in the name of the employee, with the restriction that it cannot be accessed without penalty until the age of 59½ years, extreme or hardship circumstances excepted. The money in this account is generally invested, at the employee's discretion, in stocks, bonds, mutual funds or money market accounts. This is done in hopes that the rate of return on the money set aside might offset inflation and/or cost-of-living increases that will have occured by the time the employee reaches a point that he/she retires from the active workforce. Any money above $15,500 deferred to the 401(k) account in the 2007 calendar year is subject to tax, however, that tax-exempt ceiling is raised $20,500 if the employee is over the age of 50. Okay, perhaps to put it in more direct terms: A 401(k) is a special sort of savings account, kind of like a certificate of deposit (you can't get your money out before a certain time), and kind of like a passbook savings account (you're able to put money in very regularly). It can gain money quickly, by making money off of the stock market, or it can lose money, like when the stock market goes down, but it's more often that, when looked at over the course of 5-10 years, it grows in a bumpy fashion. It's important to save for retirement because, odds are, even I won't have Social Security upon which to rely in 2045, when I turn 66, much less any of you all. (Binkmeister excepted. ) *pounds the STOP button* BEFORE anyone comments, I want to say that this is not an accusation of the U.S. government that the Social Security System will not be fixed. I didn't say that, and I didn't want to imply it either. I'm not trying to start a "How to fix Social Security" discussion or debate here. I would like to volunteer, though, that if Social Security does survive into the middle of the 21st century, a Social Security check alone makes for a very inadequate standard of living. It would be very wise to have your own means for retirement, regardless of Social Security's future. *hits the PLAY button* It's not terribly important that one start saving for retirement while at a fast food job in high school, but that paycheck does bear the noting of three things (butchered verb construction, bear with me): Do you really want to be making that kind of money when you don't have parents to rely upon? Continue your education so you can make some decent money, not $8.00 at Wal-Mart. (Trust me, you can't live comfortably on $8.00 an hour. Not in the USA at least. Especially if you've got to have your own computer hooked up to the internet, like I understand most of you do now.) By the same token, live within your means. It's hard to save up money when you spend every penny you make. Payroll deferral plans (like this 401(k) savings, and the similar Individual Retirement Account (IRA)) help take away the temptations: you can't spend what you never got in the first place. But you must still have an element of self-control with the pocketbook, especially with the allure of credit cards that let you do just that: spend money you never got in the first place.If you get offered a retirement plan from your employer, jump on it. It will only be to your eventual good.----------------------- I'm just going to give the ticker symbols for the mutual funds I selected: if you've made it this far, you obviously have the drive to look these up yourself. IMDRX: 15% RGAAX: 17% MMSRX: 10% JSVRX: 27% TEDRX: 18% RSLAX: 13% (It's a very aggressive growth setup that is about 30% international.) ---------------- Total deferral per paycheck: 6% (Hey, I still have those loans to pay off, remember?) -KIE
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:wakeup2: This was in the paper today: Bear with me, here. Emotion is a good thing. It makes the colors of one's life much more vivid than without. Anger does have its place in life. There are times and situations that warrant, nay call for righteous indignation. But please, temper that anger; don't let it temper you. A lot of things happen during the teenage years. Physical, emotional, interpersonal, spiritual...the body is in a unique brand of chaos. The young Mr. Anderson has now effectively derailed his life for the next 20 years: even if his sentence is short, the stigma will persist throughout his adult life. Please, not only should anger be outlet in ways other than violence, but also don't let it stew! Find ways to not accumulate as much rage! If all you see, all you hear, all you think, all you feel, all you are is anger, it will control you. And that is not a good thing. Thank you for bearing with my "parent with no children" moment of the week or so. On a different note, it's gotten brisk outside. Just in time for Michael & Brandy's wedding. One of the things I'd been working weight off for, will come to pass tomorrow. I may still have a gut, but at least I can pull it in flat now. I was informed a couple of weeks ago that I am the best man, so I'm working on something for the toast. Should be repeatable, if I end up making it up off the cuff. Anyway, no entry tomorrow. -KIE
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Are You Ready For Some Football....part The Fourth
Kopaka's Ice Engineering posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_100
Sam Houston High School defeated Patterson High School last night, 21-20. Patterson scored a touchdown with 30 seconds to play, but without a functioning placekicker, they were forced to go for the 2-point conversion. I understand the quarterback option was stopped in the open field inside the 1. However, I left with 2½ minutes to play in the third quarter, with the score tied at 14-14, when it came to me: I really didn't care how this game ended. Last night was a cross-class social. Members of the Sam Houston High School classes of 1987 & 1997 intermingled. Saw a bunch of familiar faces, but couldn't remember a single "new" name. Oh, there were people that I'd kept up with in the past few years (I even mentioned one member of the Class of '97 in my Brickfest report.), but I found myself just leaning on one of the columns in the cafeteria, remarking to myself: I don't know these people. Oh sure, I know some individuals, but my class as a whole: I don't know these people. I have nothing in common with them. It was sad. So many people knew my name. More than a couple people with whom I did not get along (and was on the receiving end of derision) 10-12 years ago, did come up to chit-chat. Apparently, I am, or was, noteworthy. But I have nothing to talk about, nothing to say to all these people. It was a unique brand of "alone" that I was feeling. I am an island unto myself in my high school class. IMPORTANT LIFE LESSON/ANNOUNCEMENT. (pay attention) Be very guarded of the kinds of friends you make and the company you keep when in college, not high school. The friends you make in high school, you more than likely will only see at reunions, and will be non-factors in your adult life. The circle of friends you create in college (which may include friends from high school: the groups aren't necessarily mutually exclusive) those people will be your buddies for your adult life. They will be the ones you call to help move, to bunk up when out of town, when disaster or personal tragedy strikes. If your college buddies are of poor character, you may find yourself bailing them out (figuratively, and perhaps literally) more than you want to afford later in life. Or it might even be you in with them...guilty by association. Never underestimate what you might get yourself talked into 8 years from now. </IMPORTANT LIFE LESSON/ANNOUNCEMENT> In other words, it is important to be with the right crowd out of high school. More football today. I know you guys are going to get tired of this pigskin addiction, but it can't be helped. This evening, I'm going with my parents to see the first night football game (as opposed to a 76-0 "exhibition" against West Virginia Tech 3 weeks ago) in Cowboy Stadium after Hurricane Rita last year. South Dakota State at McNeese State. Saturday night in "the Hole." Gonna be something. -KIE -
Orange Bouncy Ball Of Complete And Utter Chaos
Kopaka's Ice Engineering posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_100
197½ lb., 24.5% body fat It's been over a week since I've posted, and with good reason: HUNTWYCK IS DRIVING ME UP THE FREAKIN' WALL. Don't believe me? There are shoeprints on the wall beneath my 2005 Astros NL Champion pennant. I can take a picture tomorrow. There, now that I have that out of my system, time to recap the last 5 days... The 2006 ASCE/ACI Louisiana Civil Engineering Conference and Trade Show was, well, a bust in my book. Several steps back from the last conference I attended 3 weeks prior. Oh yeah, it was all well and good to get out of the office and away from the "drainage project in St. Tammany that Just Won't Go Away." But sitting (or standing) in a ballroom, listening to some VP of a firm being everything but a Corps [of Engineers, US Army] apologist for an hour gets old quickly. Heck, the best seminar I sat in on was on the "Airports of Tomorrow", and that wasn't even put on by someone from down here. I'm just glad that, as an EI (no, that's not "Engineer of Ice", that's Engineer Intern, a not-yet-licensed engineer), I have no PDH (Professional Development Hours i.e. continuing education) requirements to meet. Side note: Guys and gals, once you get in college and beyond, be wary of tables with "free stuff", be it a T-shirt with a credit card application, a koozy with an Army logo, or light-up rubber balls with the logo of a company at a job fair: make certain it occurs to you why they have free stuff at that table. Why they need free stuff at that table. Why you might be better off if you didn't go to said table just for the free stuff. The worst of it was the luncheon Thursday: I had gotten some kind of pecan-crusted fish. Now, any of you that have ever shelled pecans (be it with a nutcracker around Christmas time, or under the tree itself) know that there are two halves to a pecan, joined by a small bridge at the top, and below that bridge is a wafer of bark-ish layers separating the twin nutmeats. It's always a challenge to get a whole pecan, because I like slipping that wafer out. But that bitter wafer is not pecan. Or at least doesn't taste like pecan. Or maybe it does, but not the pecan nut worth eating. Well.....they didn't remove the wafer before chopping up the pecans for the fish. It tasted like wood. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Friday's lunch (New York strip) was much better, but that fish was epicly bad. Speaking of pecans, expect a recipe for a better dish using pecans in a few weeks. Speaking of food, I got one of those Sicilian Lasagna pizzas from Pizza Hut. Fleh. Ricotta cheese does not belong on a chain-produced pizza, end of story. Saturday was a big day, as it was Michael & Brandy's (my little brother and his fiancée's) wedding shower. Out in the middle of nowhere, outside Napoleonville. (If you read this, Tomiku, it's on 401, where that bank is on the corner before the light coming from Thibodaux.) After 10 months in Klotzville, I'm too familiar with Assumption Parish, really. It was a combo-wedding shower and LSU party. LSU lost to Auburn, 7-3 under auspicious circumstances. I hope it doesn't bode poorly for the wedding, but I'm glad I'm not playing football for Tulane (LSU's next opponent) Sunday, and yesterday, the Moss Bluff Cruisers lost to the Monte Carlo Mudhens, 46-35, the lowest-scoring matchup in the league. The Cruisers are now 0-2, and in grave danger of opening up the season 0-5. There's a reason why my first team's name was Exercise in Futility.... Over the weekend, the phones went down at work, so I didn't get the chance to cut this here yesterday and post. So, on with more posting! Had the Dragon with Phoenix (spicy chicken and shrimp, with white rice) from Fu Star for dinner tonight. Had too much phoenix (chicken) and not enough dragon (shrimp). But hey, $10 for a second meals' worth, you live & learn. And that's about all I had. But, I give you, courtesy of The Onion, more zany email. Consider it a reward for making it all the way to the end. I've changed my homepage. It's something interesting. It's something Omi has promised to take up my invitation on. Whenever you're ready, Omi. Please. -KIE, who needs to find someone with red-eye reduction software so he can update his staff picture...B6's camera makes him look like Satan incarnate. Well, without the stereotypical red skin, horns, and trident. -
How Do I Know When It's Time To Post An Entry?
Kopaka's Ice Engineering posted a blog entry in blogs_blog_100
Simple. When my blog is at the bottom of my group of 11 favorites. Yeah, Toaraga's Rave has gathered slightly more dust than mine, but not much. I mean, I can't imagine my life is so dull that I'd have nothing to post about. *shrugs* No zany email. No more softball: we lost the first game of the potential double-header Saturday. I was the catcher for First-Kenner, and my knees are only now recovering. It's as though my shins have been spontaneously splinting since Saturday evening. Painful, so much so that I haven't been able to get up to go to Lafreniere to jog. Which is bad because I still have some weight to lose before getting fitted for my tuxedo for Michael & Brandy's (24-year-old little brother and his fiancée) October wedding BEFORE I go to Brickfest. 2 morals to this story, kids: 1) Never assume you'll have the same activity level and metabolic rate 10 years from now. 2) It's easier to maintain a healthy weight when young than to lose the extra weight when you get older. Disclaimer: NEVER will I condone anorexic or bulimic behavior. That kind of weight control is sooooo not what I'm talking about here. Speaking of Brickfest, I might be in the news come that weekend. Maybe before. You never know.... -KIE P.S. No, I'm not saying which are the other 9 blogs in my favorite list. Not right now at least. -
I could say something about the new traffic I've gotten in the Voting Booth, but I've got softball on the brain, can't shake it. FBC-Kenner won tonight in the first elimination game. We play tomorrow morning, in less than 11 hours, actually, and whoever wins that game gets to turn around and play again, in another knockout game. See the "Playoffs?" entry for more details. Anyway, about Observation and Deduction. I'm borrowing a line from The Eleventh Hour, a book by Graeme Base. Wonderful book, I first read it in elementary school, about 17 years ago. It's a curious mystery that is kind of easy to solve, in multiple ways, but the easiest is to simply pay attention to what is going on. Here's where it applies to you: First, it pays to see if you can answer your own questions without bothering someone else. That's not saying that you'd be rude to ask an honest question, but sometimes it's more fun, and definitely more brain activity, to try and deduce an answer yourself. Case in point: two polls I closed earlier this afternoon, whose answers could have been determined by doing a little homework, so to speak. Yes, even though it's summer, you can still stimulate your brain: you don't have to have a textbook in front of your face to be learning something. Hey, you could surprise yourself with how smart you are Second, it pays to be observant of your surroundings. Not only is this key when you're behind the wheel of an automobile (had several near-misses myself this past week), but it might net you something special. Something cajun, even. This is a little contest for those that read my blog. I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention. I am going to be at Brickfest in, oh, say, five weeks. You all have seen my face on the staff page, and you see my avatar by my posts....which should also point me out there. I will probably not be able to make it to the Expo Sunday, because my flight back to New Orleans leaves rather early in the afternoon, but on SATURDAY.... SATURDAY, the first 3 BZPers that come by the BIONICLE table, or otherwise catch my attention, and tell me the final record of my softball team this year, I will give them the choice of something spicy or something sweet. Neither are poisoned, and you're not obligated to take the gift. However, it will still be sealed from the grocery store here in Louisiana. And, if one of my superiors deems this to be not kosher, well, I will come up with something. Remember....Observation and Deduction. -KIE