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Cooking With Code Should We Talk About The Weather?

Argh, part 7,903.

Albatross!I’m sitting here watching KTUL showing, at almost 3 in the morning, a live shot of a rotating wall cloud marching into Tulsa County, and I’m thinking “man, am I glad I don’t live in Tulsa County.” Still, pretty amazing stuff…to watch from a distance of two hours away. No disrespect intended toward any TV weather guys or gals I’ve ever worked with in the past, but the guys at KTUL know how to make a show out of this stuff. I love the Wall Cloud Channel…so long as it’s not in my back yard.

Regarding some of the site issues yesterday: I have the PDF Media Archive back up and running, though I still need to tweak some stuff to get it back to where it was. Nothing in the database was lost. Scared the crap out of me though. (That’s okay. I don’t need that crap in me.) Still not sure what to do about the Scribblings issues – I’m trying to decide how brave I am about going in and editing the database item by item to eliminate the anomalous data. I’m trying to decide if that’ll just make me exasperated enough that I just want to fill the damned database with creamy nougat and walk away from it. Don’t get me wrong – moving the site as a whole toward a database-driven future has been nothing but a good thing so far. I can stop sweating over code for the most part, and just generate the content. But at the same time, this incident has been a reminder of how much greasy, hands-on control I relinquish in so doing, backups or no.… Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Should We Talk About The Weather?

The end of a week

Was anyone watching the live coverage of the ‘Bama/Mississippi game tonight when the tornado slid right past the stadium? That was fun. I think that was a very, very, very, very close call – a thin line between a basketball game and an Irwin Allen disaster flick. And that’s not something I say very often. (The Hogs beating Vandy wasn’t bad either, but hey, let’s put our cards on the table – it didn’t have God kicking the crap out of the building in overtime. That’s excitement. Trust me, I’ve been to see the stage musical and gotten autographs.) Hopefully the folks I know in/around Atlanta like Dire51 and Atarigirl are OK.

Sorry for the lack of baby pix lately – I actually got ready to take some today, but the little guy kept urping on himself. He went through no fewer than six outfits today.

There’s more to tell, but there’s also a weatherman on TV talking about rotating thunderstorms heading kinda like toward-my-house so maybe I better go. 😯… Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Should We Talk About The Weather?

Snow job

Don't go in the snow - you might get stepped onBear with me through this post. I promise that if you can stick it out – or if you just want to scroll down – I’ll show you the cutest baby picture ever.

We could be in for 2-4+ inches of snow – no big deal, I’ve lived in Wisconsin. Just remember what I said a while back about Arkansas’ three snowplows. As such, I went tonight to stock up on my diet soft drink of choice and – this is the part my wife can’t figure out – ice cream. Specifically, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, or as I’ve been known to call it, sex on a spoon. This is a strange habit I picked up while living in Wisconsin, but as odd as it sounds, ice cream is a wintertime snack to me. Most people in the south regard it as strictly summer fare, but not I. Not that I’d kick anyone out of bed for bringing me ice cream in the summer months either, mind you.

Before anyone reminds me that chocolate peanut butter ice cream hasn’t officially been recognized as its own food group anywhere except for within the confines of my skull, I have been getting better at the veggie preparation side of my meal-making. That probably rates a big “so what?”, but I’ve never been especially good with veggies. Especially that whole bit about them not tasting as good as the ice cream – I have trouble with that from time to time.

Not much else to report lately. I’m just battening down the hatches and enjoying the company of the little “E”, even though he does fidget around so much at feeding time that it’s like trying to keep a bottle in Stevie Wonder’s mouth while he sits on top of an oscillating fan. (Aha, someone else who doesn’t like what I make for them! Hmmmm…I sense a pattern developing.)

And now, since you demanded it, the cutest baby picture ever. … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Should We Talk About The Weather?

Ice, ice, baby.

I was trying to explain to someone out of state recently the challenges of winter weather as it pertains to living in the boonies in Arkansas. I told him it was probably an exaggeration, but it seems like there are only three snowplows in the state, and if you’re not the Governor or the Chancellor of the U of A, you’re going to be waiting a while for that third one. Like I said, a slight exaggeration. Or…maybe not so much.

We’re getting freezing rain and sleet dumped on us right now, and as we’re in that little rural county north of Fort Smith, that means we’re pretty much SOL. I live in a very off-the-beaten-path location on the side of a mountain, so there’s no getting out of the house tomorrow unless you’re the dog. I was driving home from a grocery run tonight, getting essential supplies for all of us before we got socked in, and on my way home the bridges were already bad enough that I almost deposited Jan’s vehicle, full of groceries and myself, off a bridge and into a creek. That wouldn’t have been good. Fortunately I kept it on the road, though not exactly gracefully, and got home…and so here we all stay tomorrow.

Fortunately, I get to hang out in the room full of warm rope lights and a video editing system that practically heats this side of the house. And I get to hang out there with this guy:

Evan

…who is blissfully unaware of what’s going on outside as he hides behind that little gadget on the tray table of his swinging chair. As long as ice doesn’t accumulate on power lines, I think we’ll just keep it that way.… Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Should We Talk About The Weather?

Goin’ to the grandparents

A veritable multimedia feast for you here tonight, as we get Evan ready for a trip to his grandparents’ house a few minutes away.

Evan's going over the river and through the woods
All decked out. On an average day, Evan is much better dressed than his daddy is.

Evan's going over the river and through the woods
This outfit is Mr. Flibble-approved.

Evan's going over the river and through the woods
Dear Evan: please file this “doggy hat” photo under “things Dad never would have dressed you in”. Love, Dad.

And a little audio clip, taken by sticking my camera in the windowsill in Evan’s bedroom. Keep in mind, we’ve got a nice thick blanket tacked up over the window, and it’s kept the room nice and toasty, but the wind is blowing so hard here (still!) that this is just what you hear while sitting there:
[audio:https://www.thelogbook.com/earl/podcast/windy.mp3]

Good thing that Daddy’s bed is next to that window, while Evan’s crib is all the way on the opposite wall. Still, we both have snotty noses today.… Read more

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Funny Stuff Should We Talk About The Weather? Toiling In The Pixel Mines

Wind and/or wuthering

Man, the wind blew last night. Right out of the north too, which means “right into the window of Evan’s room, which leaks air like it’s barely there.” I tacked up a blanket across the window, so the cold air didn’t reach him (his crib is by the door, and more importantly, by the central heat/air vent over the door, which was keeping him nice and toasty), but the bed I’ve been sleeping in there during my “overnight baby shift” is right under the window, so…yeah, I got a bit cold. Even my cats didn’t stick around. Draft dodgers!

After reading Flack’s tale of attrition by pizza, I was instantly reminded of my first TV job, and the fact that I had only part of one night’s training. Bearing in mind that I had been working in radio for about 4 years at that point, I think it was probably a big help that I had basic theory of timing out commercial breaks, etc., down…but still, it came as a surprise to me when, about four hours into my shift, she announced that it looked like I had it all figured out, and that she was going to leave and go hang out with her boyfriend. She also made it clear that she wasn’t going to come back to check on my work, or for that matter come back at all. She was quitting on the spot.

I finished out that shift to the best of my ability, without any major issues. Needless to say, the next Saturday night, I was working that shift instead of her.

The funny thing is, several years later at another local gig, I ran into someone who shall remain nameless who was apparently the person with whom she went to hang out after leaving me to my fate. We had a little laugh about that and said that the last time he saw her, she’d said the same thing – which came as a bit of a surprise, since he thought he was her boyfriend. My only reply to that was “Well, I guess she’d finished training you.”

It’s strange how well that joke didn’t go over at the time, but I still think it was funny.… Read more