I live in a relatively small town in Florida’s most densely populated county. Dunedin comes from the Gaelic name: Dùn Èideann, thus named by its Scottish settlers. It’s the Gaelic name for Edinburgh, their hometown in Scotland. It’s commonly mispronounced as a two syllable word: Dune-din (the first like the dunes of a beach, the second like the first syllable of the word dinner – or the din of battle.) It’s correctly pronounced with three syllables: Dun (rhymes with run) – E (like saying the letter) – din (again like the din of battle). The video above is just one [...]
Kitchen Sink
The kids
What can I say? Both my kids continue their run of academic stardom. It feels like a source of (partial) absolution for my personal failings, seeing my DNA has some value. Beth continues to excel, outpacing all the other kids in her class. I just wish it brought her peace. While it was an asset when she was the oldest kid last year (her small school has mixed grade classrooms), there’s a different dynamic being the youngest. She still finishes before everyone else, and she still wants to help the other students who are having trouble. However, unlike the younger [...]
A sighting of the silver lining
Last week I did a light workout. I’m not a newcomer when it comes to working out, so I’m pretty in tune with my body’s limits. When I’m starting up after a long period of sloth, I take those already low limits and move the decimal point over one place to the left. At this point we’re basically talking five pound hand weights or the bar. Did I mention I start out really slow? Last Tuesday I did one of my beginner workouts and felt fine. I never push it. I start out with a set number of reps in [...]
Nostalgia
A long time ago, in a place far, far away… I was a small child growing up in our first house. I knew what I liked and I knew where to find it. A kitchen chair was all I needed to make it to the next step: the kitchen counter. From there I could stand up and reach the top cabinets. That’s where the Pepto-Bismol was hiding. With my favorite cup in hand, I poured myself a generous serving of the only one that coats. Oh that was good. Then one of my parents found my favorite cup, my activities [...]
The muse and me
Lately I’ve been doing a bit of work on my web site. There was no reason. I just had to tinker with it. Have you ever had that feeling? Maybe you thought it was just right, or maybe you didn’t, but there was a little itch, right behind your starter switch, and you were driven to play around. Sometimes you played trial and error. Sometimes you played with a purpose, something new you wanted to try. But it was always something. I’ve never been satisfied with my site. It’s likely due to a terminal case of creativity deficiency. I wonder [...]
As the mind wanders…
This is not a sad story. Saying it up front kind of puts into question though, doesn’t it? Sows a little doubt maybe? This is a story about home. It could be about your home or a friends home, but only you could write that post, or your friend. This is about scratches in the hardwood floors of a house in eastern Massachusetts, in a mysterious spiral pattern. It’s about a patch of wallpaper* where a younger you practiced writing your name. It’s about the front step and the proper angle of attack on the pile of snow from shoveling [...]
Use
Anyone who knows me won’t have any trouble believing I like new gadgets. We have a semi-regular upgrade cycle on our Macs. I have feelings for my iPhone that probably aren’t healthy. The letters “TV” are synonymous with “DVR” in our house. Wi-Fi and bluetooth aren’t just wireless technologies, they are a way of life. But here’s something you may not know about me. There are times I like my old stuff better than newer alternatives. I’ve been carrying around the same umbrella since college. The material that’s exposed when it’s folded is so uniformly dirty it looks like part [...]
A phone’s life In my hands
Brick – verb To strip a smartphone of all its useful features. To make it as useful as – I performed my first open case surgery on the iPhone to replace its failing battery last weekend. Pop quiz: Do you spend $15 to do it yourself or give $80+ to Apple, plus suffer through a week without your phone while it ships back and forth to God knows where? What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?!? I’m not trying to sound arrogant. In fact, think I have a pretty solid track record of modesty. But in this case I [...]
An interesting day
Hearings kept me crazy busy yesterday and the medication let me forget about the headache. It was actually a fun morning. I thrive on days where I can lose myself in work, where time loses meaning. I love working with the Judge assigned to us, an old retired Colonel from the Marines. I enjoy talking to one of the attorneys I work with – a guy who worked as an enviromental engineer with the State Department of Enviromental Protection – before he went to law school. Late yesterday afternoon, we got a chance to talk to someone enlisted in the [...]
The ah ha moment
This is one of those posts that sounded profound and original one night at 3am… and a little less so as time passed – that, and less coherent. – – – People told me what to expect before, but I always humored them. I’m not stupid. I’d see this thing coming way before it happened to me. I wouldn’t be so easily fooled. Then a few nights ago it happened to me. We were sitting in a restaurant, me and Adam on one side of the table, Beth and Cheryl on the other. As I looked across the table I [...]
