He’s got a car…DON’T PANIC!
OH DEAR GOD.
He can’t be this old yet. My little pipsqueak has gone and bought HIMSELF a car.
He’ll have his full driver’s license in T-7 days and counting, is interviewing colleges, is going on two years into his first relationship.
What the hell do I do now?
First off, to all parents out there (the three of you still reading my blog after I twittercided some months ago) let me tell you something. There is nothing that matures a kid more than having his own car.
Suddenly video games aren’t such a big deal.
Suddenly the job-hunt starts in earnest.
Suddenly it’s overhearing things like “No, I can’t, I have to study.” without having his arm twisted behind him.
Well, as far as kids go, this one is on the right track.
But did he have to pick a Red Camaro? Really?
Gone, but not forgotten…
Oh…hey.
Yeah…still got this blog thing…I know about 3 people who actually say they pay attention to it… (though I’m ready to call bullshit on even that ever this amount of time.)
So a lot has happened…and maybe a few things can be said publicly now…
The business…is gone. I mean it still exists in that I use it to bill my consulting work, which was always my bread and butter, but the hosting part of it is gone, the equipment and the whole “concept.”
Amazingly, I still hold a number of domain registrations…. **YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE** if you want your domains after they expire, you need to let me know in advance. I’m not deleting them, but I’m not paying to have them renewed either.
So the long and the short of it…I made a *REALLY* crappy decision on who to do business with… The datacenter I was renting my rack space from was far from Superb… The jury is still out as to whether they were evil or just stupid.
Anyway, I got screwed…without giving out details they were blatantly dishonest but I didn’t have the money to fight them so here I am…
It’s better this way though..
Did y’all know I had kids? Yeah…I had kind of forgotten about them as well. Working 50-60 hours on one job, then 20-30 hours on another, commuting across country for a while, etc. etc. Kinda doesn’t leave a lot of time for family.. Oldest is pulling around a 4.45GPA and we’re getting serious letters of interest from some pretty high-power colleges.. To say I’m proud is an understatement…
So I’m getting that back…which is nice. Still maintaining my absence from twitter, which is probably not a bad thing…I think personal social media and blogging is on the down-slope in popularity (and usefulness, marketability, tastefulness, etc) so I’m not feeling like I’m missing much… Seems like everyone is trying to capitalize on their kids’ deeds/misdeeds and make a few bucks, and it’s not the personal support-system it used to be..
Plus I still work too damned much…
Anyway, that’s the major update. Not that anyone cares, but it felt good to write it.
So…well…uh….that happened.
..Pardon the mess. I had to remove twitter-tools from the blog. It was complaining because it could no longer find a twitter account to post to.
Yup. I left. I twittercided.
I’d like to say there was one thing that did it for me, but there were a much of things. I don’t have time for it anymore, and it’s not the “community” it was when I started this whole thing so many years ago.
Truthfully, twitter has, in my humble opinion, jumped the shark some years ago. It used to be about finding community, friends, connecting with people who share interests.
Now? Now it’s a sea of shameless self-promotion, people who are there to get their names in front of other people, but have no interest in actually interacting.
Sadly, it was inevitable. Everything good is eventually perverted by money. I’m off Facebook for the same reason. Facebook is more about “promotion” than “connection” any more. Two dozen ads on every page, and filtered timeline posts unless you pay to “Promote” your post.
I’m sick of it. The internet used to be a good thing, but as with everything else, money has ruined it.
My email is still good, jg*at*shredderfood.com among them, I still sometimes pay attention to Google+ also. (same email)
Good night, good luck, and keep in touch if you care to.
I may keep this up for a while. I may not. Sometimes I need a place to vent, and this is about as private as a diary given the readership I’ve failed to amass. 
Extra-Judicial Assassination
Isn’t “extra-judicial assassination” exactly what “Stand your ground” laws are about? Kill them before they kill you?
*ALL* self-defense killings are “extra-judicial assassinations”. Whether it’s someone palling around with Al-Quaida or someone breaking into your house. They’re being killed without the benefit of a trial.
Now I don’t care one bit which side you’re on, but I would just like people to pick a damned side. Either you’re FOR killing bad-guys in cold blood, or you’re against it.
There really isn’t an in-between. So the wing-nuts screaming about the drone program while cheering on that idiot Zimmerman are hypocrites of the worst order.
Personally, I’m glad the bad guys are dying. Personally, I think the death knell should come within 15 seconds of the thought “I think I’ll become a terrorist” crossing their minds.
Personally, I think that if you’re an American in a pakistani terrorist-training camp, you’ve relinquished your American citizenship, and death by drone attack is WAY too good for you.
But that’s just me…personally.
A Solution to gun violence. Six simple rules.
My solution to current gun laws:
1. *ALL* guns are ballistic-fingerprinted by the manufacturer and titled like a car. (Hell, we can let the DMV do it, they already have the computers)
2. If you own a gun and someone gets killed with it. You get the death penalty. Carried out on the courthouse steps immediately following a brief hearing, with your own gun. The gun is then melted down.
3. It doesn’t matter if you pulled the trigger or not. If someone else pulled the trigger, both parties are executed.
4. If a gun is sold and title isn’t transferred properly, you own the gun, see rule #2.
5. Accidental shootings don’t make a person any less dead. You own the gun, see Rule #2.
6. If a gun is stolen, you still own it. See Rule #2.
I’m ROFLing here. :)
An actual exchange between my son, my wife and I tonight about creationists vs. logical thinkers:
Son: What we need for science to progress is for a few more tornadoes to blow through a few more trailer-parks.
Wife: Really!?! You’d want all these people to be homeless?
Son: Well I was hoping for breathless, but ok…
Me: THAT’S MY BOY!
Wife: I’m divorcing both of you.
The fireplace saga…
Ta-Dah!!!!
I can say it took me less than a year to complete this little project…
Barely.
By two weeks barely. Just in time for the holidays and we now have a mantle to hang stockings from.
When it was done, the kids took the picture of a fire they drew and taped to the front of the fireplace (have a picture of it somewhere, can’t find it right now) and wrote on the back of it.
“Our Daddy built this fireplace for us”
And signed it…
And tucked it into the mantle before we bolted it to the wall.
I’m tearing up just thinking about it. My family loves me… And I’m exceptionally lucky.
On failed Artificial Intelligence…
So if you follow me on twitter you know I can be…inappropriate there when I’m in a foul mood.
So tonight – when I tweeted the following HIGHLY inappropriate comment I got the greatest gift. An even more inappropriate response…
This tweet garnered the following reply…
And I died laughing, right then and there.
My son is dating a Christian…I’m so disappointed…
…in his choices sometimes.
I’m Trying to explain to my son, gently, why he may want to keep his options open…
My son is a “devout” atheist. I mean “devout” in the sense that while *I* don’t go around advertising it, he does. It’s right there on his Facebook profile. He tells people, and he FREQUENTLY gets into theological discussions with his bible-belt friends online. (and I’m proud to say usually wipes the floor with them)
The lesson to be learned right now is this: The problem with dating a christian at this age is this is the age when you’re supposed to be trying things out, learning, growing, etc. And yes, I mean sex, among other things.
Now the problem isn’t that christian girls don’t have sex, they do, and by all accounts (and his “direct” experience) do so more than non-christians.
The problem is that they take it SO MUCH MORE SERIOUSLY and don’t seem to comprehend that the idea of marriage hasn’t even begun to speculate about the possibility of beginning to cross a normal teenage boy’s mind.
But for them it’s the hook. Whether they know it or not. Sex is taught as the way to ‘catch’ a husband and draw him in, whether consciously or subconsciously in all facets of our culture.
On top of it, if something *REALLY* stupid happens, and we all know it does from time to time, dating a christian severely limits options.. Terminating a pregnancy most likely isn’t going to be an option, and if they’re not REALLY pro-adoption it’s very possible you’re going to be stuck with this person for the foreseeable future.
I fear the future. I know what it’s like to be a horny teenager, hell, I still am some days.
But I also know what it’s like to date crazy, and this girl is DEFINITELY crazy.
If you leave me, can I come too?
No, this isn’t a post about cheesy 80′s music.
So my question for the day is this:
“Is it better if your spouse leaves you for someone else, or just leaves.”
I mean, either way it sucks. Either way a family (or relationship) is being broken apart. But if it came down to it. Which sucks worse from a personal standpoint?
My feeling is that I’d rather my spouse left me for someone else. I know it’s harsh, but the logic being that if your spouse leaves you for another man/woman/sheep (I am scottish after all) that it’s because they found something better and have a chance at happiness, right? I’m not crazy enough to believe I can be everything to any person, so if my S.O. found someone who can be MORE (if not everything) then I can’t really argue it.
It just means they fell in love and want to be happy, or fell in lust…or tripped and landed with their legs in the air (in the case of a few of my exes).
If your spouse leaves you and DOESN’T have someone else lined up, well that just means you’re a big fat loser that they just got tired of being with, and that they would rather be alone than with you.
Ouch, huh?
Of course there are times when that would make sense, abusive relationships, mental illness, people who are abducted into the CIA for covert operations.. (See: Mental Illness)
So what’s your take. Would you rather your spouse left you for someone, or for no-one?
My Pictures
