digitalBush

So, I was playing around with some of Google Labs offerings, and I stumbled upon Google Trends.  A quick search for "Christmas" revealed the sad truth.  People just don't seem to care as much about Christmas as they used to.  Last year I was in a funk around Christmas time and was so disappointed because it felt like everyone else was too.  Now I have evidence to back up my feelings.

I am not going to stand idle and let this happen.  This has renewed my interest in celebreating Christmas.  My lights are going up and my friends are going to know that we should all be celebrating.  I'm tired of the focus being on how much crap can be sold to the masses.  I just want a good old fashioned Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

One of the joys of being a man is getting to work with your hands. It's an excuse to tear things apart and build them back again. Nothing makes a man feel more, well manly, than replacing spark plugs or fixing some plumbing. It's just wired into us.

In order to do these manly things that we do, we need tools. It's not always feasible to go out and buy a tool that you might need only a few times in your life. You could go out and rent a tool, but that costs money. The next best thing is to borrow something from your buddy. Before you go out and borrow your friend's chainsaw, please read on.

Take care of the tools. There is nothing worse than letting someone borrow something only to have it returned dirty, scratched up, and rusted. Sure, they are tools, and normal wear is to be expected. At the very least, just clean it up before returning it. I've returned some things in better shape than I found them. It's the least that you should do considering you were getting something for free.

Return the borrowed tools in a timely manner. It really sucks when you go to use a tool that you own, only to realize that your buddy still has it. Where did I put my reciprocating saw? Oh yeah, Fred still has it from when he rebuilt his deck a year ago. Bastard. Don't let this be you. This is a sure fire way to get on my never-borrowing-my-tools-again list. If you need to borrow a tool for an extended period of time (big project!), you had better say so in advance.

If you break a tool, you bought it. Sorry, that's just how it goes. Borrowing tools for free has its risks. If you happen to be the unlucky sucker in possession of a tool when it kicks the bucket (no matter how careful you were with it), then it's your responsibility to fix it or replace it.

Borrowing tools gives sweat equity to the tool lender. The next big project I have that requires help (moving!?), I'll be calling on my friends who I've loaned tools to. Of course, you can get out of this by returning the favor or returning the borrowed tool with a gift (beer, gift card, or other manly gift).

That's all I have on this subject for now. I really like my tools and I worked hard to earn the money to be able to buy them. I expect others to treat my tools with respect.

Whew!  Ashley and I finally got a chance to take a much needed vacation to Destin, Florida.  I ate way too much fried sea critters, and enjoyed every minute of it. Getting away from work is always good. I needed some time to do nothing and think about things.  There's something that's just absolutely rejuvenating about not sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours.  

We managed to sucker convince our friends to join us and it turned out well.  I loathe shopping, so I was able to avoid some of that and go hit golf balls instead.   This was our normal vacation destination, so I felt like we kind of just drug our friends to all of our favorite spots.  I just hope they enjoyed the trip as much as I did. Their company was very much appreciated.

Now it's time to catch back up on some things.  Being away for a week has a way of piling up the work.  I just wish the world would stop while I'm gone.

I just finished reading this book and was very pleased with it.  The book is very short, but manages to capture all of the relevant historical bits that led up to current technologies.  Being a software developer, I think it's important to know where our craft began.  There are a lot of things we take for granted, and this book does a great job of highlighting the complexities involved in advancing computer technology.

It's an easy read, and I really think that anyone in the computer industry should read this. I knew a great deal of the content already, but was able to discover a few new things. More importantly, this was able to keep my interest enough to actually finish the book. It's not dull and reads more like a novel than most history books. Go check it out.