Posts

Posted on

Jury duty

jury-dutyFor the first time in my life, I was on a jury. It was for a man accused of unmentionable crimes. The evidence was truly shocking.

I learned that actual trials are not always like the TV shows. There were great stretches of extreme tedium. Their were graphic photographs. There were witnesses that contradicted themselves over and over. There was the defendant who did not speak a single word during the entire trial.

I feel like I took a bath in dirty water. The memories will take a while to wash away.

We ruled the defendant not guilty. Very reluctantly. There was not enough evidence to convict him. After the trial ended, the judge told us that defendant had been in prison for the last seven years – and that his case had come back to trial two other times resulting in hung juries! Aaaugh!

Though our judicial system is very flawed, I still feel like it is one of the best in the world.

The picture? I amused myself during some of the tedious stretches by sketching.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

And then you HAVE to throw it away

ti-83-plusSo it just died.

My oldest son is taking a level of math such that he needs a graphing calculator. Of course we bought one used on Amazon. It lasted roughly a year.

So for the next one, I bought a refurbished unit. At least that stands a chance of lasting a bit longer.

As it turned out, he needed a more powerful calculator for next year, anyhow.

Sigh.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

Hard to throw away

ipod-remoteidol-toySaturday, I spent a little time throwing things away.

But it is so hard to get rid of these things!

One is the iPod Remote. It died. But it was such a lovely piece of industrial design that I was compelled to hang onto it. But I just can’t keep everything. That one went to the landfill.

The other is this strange punk plastic doll that was a MacDonald’s Happy Meal toy. When you push his mohawk, he emits a bizarre electric guitar sound. A child left it behind one day as they were distracted on their way out of the restaurant – and I couldn’t bear for it to be thrown into the trash can. So a year or two later, I am giving it to the charity shop (in America, Savers or the Goodwill).

So what is it that you should get rid of?

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

Nairobi vs. Denver

toyo-doorhandleThis lovely door handle broke. Toyota took almost two months to ship us a replacement. I thought that length of time was amazing.

Sometimes the “western world” has disadvantages compared with the “developing world”. If I had a broken door handle with this same car in Kenya, I could have gotten a replacement the same day. (Our Corolla is perhaps the most common vehicle on their crowded roads.)

Having said that, if we had an obscure vehicle in Kenya, we could have waited a year for the replacement. One of the aspects of my job when we were there last was to advise people about which car to buy. I always said go for the most common model… parts are easier to get.

The problem with having lived in a different country is that you can never experience the best of each place at once. I guess that is why there’s heaven to look forward to.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

That warm sound

warm-soundMy Aunt Mary gave us a set of kids records with companion books. Rachel, our 8-year-old, loves them.

It’s a wonderful thing to hear those scratches and pops that a vinyl record produces. (Ironically, I took this shot when she was wearing headphones – at my insistence.)

Sadly, the belt on the turntable (alias record player) broke during that listening session. Thankfully, there is a shop not far from where we live that can fix it, I think.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

It is too late

T-cardBoston has a great public underground train system. London does too. Chicago has its wonderful “L” train network (with a horrible website). San Francisco has the BART.

Denver has two light rail lines. They would love to expand to a third line. The current economy will not allow such expansion. Solution? Go back 50 years. At that point in time, they could have done it. But then Denver was a sleepy western town with no thought of miles of tract homes.

Takeaway? Plan for the future. (Note to self.)

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

Blacklisted

cs4-webstandardSo, you see, we had this bit of Adobe software installed on Heather’s Toshiba laptop. It was getting old and s-l-o-w, so we decided to get a newer computer for her. Being a Mac person, I leaned that direction but never dreamed that she would be willing to go that way. She did! But that meant her Adobe Web Standard CS4 Suite is no longer of any use to us.

Problem? It’s an academic license. We bought it when she was in grad school, so rather than the regular price of $1000, it was much cheaper. But Amazon, Ebay and Craigslist all will not let us sell it!

Are you an academic or know someone who is who might be able to use it? Contact me and I’ll give you ar really good deal.

p.s. The suite has Flash, Fireworks and Dreamweaver.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail
Posted on

Hardly unique

dfw-connectedDFW airport (Dallas, Texas) bills itself as “The World Connected”. And that is true of how many airports around the world?

Takeaway: How can you brand your business in a way that is truly unique? That may not be important, if you’re the owner of a Taco Bell restaurant franchise location. But if you offer something that is one of many, you need to provide a handle for potential clients to see how you are different than the rest. If you’re not different, be different.

FacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmailFacebooktwitterpinterestlinkedinmail