Dobrindts dot com...again

I haven’t written anything lately, mostly because I have been on vacation. Today is my first day back and we were unable to get access to the internet while on safari in east Africa. Then one stop along the Yangtze River in China did have a dial up, but a pack of the famous South Chinese Lions were lounging along the water’s edge on an unusually hot day, so I took some pictures of that.

Anyway, I am back and will post shortly. Things to discuss (in no particular order)

- My actual vacation
- Dobrindt family reunion
- Susan Komen race
- Town festival thingy and the CHIP program
- Status of the attic project
- Baby names
- Airline travel
- Red Sox/Yankees
- Career envy

Be back soon.

Posted by David at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had a Red Bull today for the first time. I was talking about it with a guy I work with and he bought me one during a break this afternoon. It was pretty good. He mentioned that it contains something called Taurine, which gives it a certain boost. So I used the World Wide Web to look up Taurine.

Taurine, from taurus or ox, as it was discovered in ox bile.

Hmm. Ox bile. Bile as in a bitter, greenish-yellow fluid secreted by the liver. That kind of bile?

So let’s say for a second I am ok with bile. After all, I was born in May and my sign is a Taurus, so all is well. So I did a quick search to see if there is any controversy around it. My first hit was about a person in Ireland who died after drinking three cans of it after strenuous exercise. Or maybe it was before the exercise. Either way, I am fine with that risk. Personally, I drink water or Gatorade after running but to each his own.

Then I read about some stuff related to Red Bull marketing but got bored quickly.

Then I read about how bars in Canada can’t sell Red Bull because vodka and Red Bull can create a dangerously high level of dehydration. Whatever. Who cares.

Then I read about how some countries have banned it, while others consider it a medicine or something. Not sure. My attention span was pretty short when reading it so I kind of glanced over it. Something about risk and death and be careful if you are pregnant and don’t drink it if you are going to run up a mountain or something.

It’s no Krating Daeng, but I found my one 8 ounce drink enjoyable.

I did find out that an Austrian company owns Red Bull, which makes me very very suspicious.

Posted by David at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My current project is with a Fortune 100 financial institution. I have a policy about never talking about my clients but I do have this to say; my current client is a financial company but has a very different “brand� in the marketplace and does wonderful things in the markets they serve. I truly believe in this client, they are good people, have been around for almost 100 years serving a market that gives more to society than people give credit, and it operates with a high degree of ethics and moral principles.

But that’s besides the point. This client specializes in retirement and helping people plan for retirement as well as living in retirement. Part of what I do for work is talk to executives in the company, managers who run the different parts of the company, line employees who make up the rank and file, and the end clients or customers. For the past 9 weeks I have been immersed in “retirement�. And for me, personally, retirement is so far away I might as well as be talking to people about building a space ship to take tourists to the far side of the moon. But for a huge percentage of baby boomers in this country, retirement will be happening in the next zero to 10 years. And while talking about the process of accumulating wealth to preserving it, to living off of retirement has got me thinking about my own retirement. And it makes me so very very sad. Because I know that retirement is realistically 30 or so years away. Not 5 like some of the people I have talked to. Or 2 years. Or 4 months away. I am not about to pull the trigger and start collecting on the money I have been accumulating over my lifetime. I am about 360 months away from that. And the thought of being at the point where I can start planning for permanent time off makes me anxious. Not because I fear that I won’t have enough, even that is a legitimate fear, but because I want to retire right now. Right freakin’ now. Tomorrow.

But truth be told, I think retirement is a scary thing. My father retired about 3 years ago and I never really talked to him about it. He has worked extremely hard, (never took a sick day), for over 41 years and I think he was ready to retire. For him, which will probably be the case for me, he found himself more busy in retirement than he did when he was working full time. Just like when I have a few days off I find my days packed with things to do, he finds himself running around all day. Imagine if me, with my two kids, and my sister Lori with her two kids, lived near him. He would have to add baby sitting to his project list. But getting back to my point. Retirement is, I think, in part pretty scary. You spend decades working, getting a paycheck, 10% taken out to a 401K, a pension plan building if you are lucky, working toward the one day when you don’t have to go to work on Monday morning. But there is the reality that you now have to live off a different amount of money that you have in the past. And that you have to now deal directly with the carrier, like Fidelity or Vanguard, instead of the company you have been getting your paycheck from.

Anyway, I want to retire soon. I like my job and like my company, it’s nothing personal against them, but I like the idea of finally getting something back from the years that you put in. Unfortunately I have about 30 more years of giving in before I can do that. But when I talk to my client’s customers who are about to retire, or when I talk to people who manage the retirement products and services at my client, I can live through them and pretend, even for a moment, that I am the one who is nearing the golden age of permanent days off.

Just thought I’d share.

Posted by David at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

es•o•ter•ic

1.
a. Intended for or understood by only a particular group: an esoteric cult.
b. Of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people.
2.
a. Confined to a small group: esoteric interests.
b. Not publicly disclosed; confidential.

Why is Dave being so esoteric with his new information.

Posted by David at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am going to retire a very close shirt of mine – my old and faithful long sleeve (I don’t wear short sleeve dress shirts so I guess I don’t have to say that) button collar blue dress shirt. I have had this shirt a long time as one can tell by the very outdated Tommy Hilfiger crest under the pocket. I love this shirt because it fits perfect, doesn’t wrinkle too bad by seat belts or shoulder bags, and seems to have been with me for important meetings and such. I love this shirt. But the collar and sleeves are starting to get frayed to the point that someone might notice it. And the crest really is out of style. Painfully out of style.

I am going to give this shirt the proper Viking burial it deserves. Usually I would downgrade it to a work shirt, or more likely cut it up into rags, but one of my favorite and most successful dress shirts in the arsenal deserves better than that. I can’t stand wiping off oil from the dipstick or cleaning up spilled gas with patches of this baby. I am going to conduct a dress shirt ritual (to be determined) and leave it in the one place that I think would make it happy in the afterlife – the New York Hilton. Yup, the place that epitomizes business travel and the black hole I call home three nights a week is going to be the final resting place for what could be my favorite dress shirt of all time.

Goodbye blue Tommy Hilfiger button collar 100% cotton made in India XL long sleeve with crest under the pocket dress shirt, thanks for the memories.

Posted by David at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I freakin left my iPod Shuffle in at the New York Hilton hotel when I checked out this morning. AAAAHHHHHHHHH. CRAP!!! I went for a run last night and hung the iPod, which was in a waterproof case that hangs around your neck, and hung it up on a hook in the closet to dry out…PLUS a new set of running earphones, PLUS a hat, all in the closet. And I LEFT IT THERE. AAAHHHHHHHHH. Of course I called the hotel and of course no one turned it in. Now, I am not saying the housekeeping staff is less than ethical, but they didn’t turn it in. To their credit, they could have missed it and the person who checked into the room after me could have found it and taken it. True. But a couple of years ago when I left my Palm Pilot in a Hertz car in Philadelphia, it was gone forever. So someone, somewhere, possibly a child or nephew of a low-paid chambermaid, is listening to a punk version of 99 Red Balloons. AAAAAHHHHHHGGGGRRRUUUPPP I hate that I left it there and it is gone. DAMN IT. And I can’t yell at anyone, other than the staff who didn’t take it at the New York Hilton. Oh well, at least it wasn’t the more expensive version of the iPod.

Posted by David at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Picture this – me, Saturday, late morning, wearing beat up sneakers, paint-stained shorts and a give-away T-shirt from a race I ran 5 years ago, work gloves on. Sweat soaked hat on backwards. Earphones off and hanging around my neck. Hot, humid and steamy weather. Then picture me staggering out of my garage onto the driveway and on a patch of fresh cut grass, first bending over with my hands on my knees, then squatting down, gulping in fresh air with the scent of newly cut grass, eyes closed, gagging and suppressing a natural reflex to throw up, trying not to let loose my breakfast, waiting for the vomit to rise to my throat. Finally, the feeling passes and I am fine. All of this because of a smell that came out of my garage. Interested in how this came to be? Read on.

The weekend before last we decided to have a seafood cook out. Patti’s parents came up Saturday night and since it was suppose to be nice out, we decided to grill up some lobster, shrimp. Swordfish and other side dishes. Saturday late afternoon Patti, I and the kiddies went into James Hook and bought three lobsters. We then went to a local seafood place and got uncooked and raw shrimp, the fish and some other stuff.

On Sunday we ended up grilling two of the lobster and boiling one, grilled the fish, steamed the shrimp and spend the afternoon playing in the backyard with the kids, eating and doing what people should do on warm summer Sunday afternoons.

After the day was over and Patti’s folks left, I cleaned up and took the lobster shells and left over non-edible parts, the shrimp peels and veins, and every other piece of garbage and put it in a bag in a trash barrel in the garage.

I was away on business during the day the garbage goes out so I didn’t have a chance to put this smelly bag by the curb. Also, the same garbage barrel included a couple of bags of the boy’s dirty diapers and a dead mouse I caught on a glue trap in the corner of the garage a few days before the cookout.

Now, picture this concoction of baby crap, lobster innards and shells, shrimp skin, and one dead mouse, sitting in a non-climate controlled garage for a week with hot and humid New England weather.

So Saturday morning after I cut the grass I went to move the barrel out of the garage to get to something else. When I got within about a yard of the thing, I smelled what could have possibly been the worst odor in the history of the world. Now, at some point some of the dead mouse’s friends got in and broke open the bag of fish crap, so on the bottom of the barrel was a bunch of loose floating fish and crustacean garbage with other assorted fruit and vegetables. It was awful. Truly awful. Hellishly awful. Mother of Mercy awful.

So I put on gloves and bent down into the trash can to get the bag and it fully ripped open, spilling the entire contents out so that the smell of fish, dead mouse and baby shit hit me like a garbage truck. It was at this point that a flash of nausea came over me and I staggered out of the garage.

Keep in mind I still had to get all of the crap into a large contractor’s bag, clean out the barrel, and find a place to keep it where the smell wouldn’t kill my kids and local critters wouldn’t feel compelled to break in.

Anyway, just thought I’d share. Fascinating, I know. I live a life that many men envy.

Posted by David at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Some things I have been meaning to bring up.

- I knew it was a matter of time before Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, overstepped her bounds. I think she is starting to get close to that line. I feel for her, I really do. What she is going through has to be excruciatingly painful. For the most part, she has done a great job. She comes across as very sincere and heartfelt, not aggressive, passionate pleas to the public and tugs at the heart strings of everyone. But she is on every single news program day and night doing interviews. She has been vocal from day one that the Aruban police and government have not done a great job, and that is probably true, but she needs to settle down a little. Maybe only 12 or 14 interviews a day. I do hope they find something, even if it’s not what they are praying for. Let this nightmare end.

- Once again a pedophile low-life degenerate did something horrific to a little girl. There is a case in Idaho of a convicted sex offender who killed three adults, kidnapped two little kids, killed the boy, and did unthinkable things to the little girl. Trust me when I say this, there is nothing that can be done to that guy that is justice. I would like a few hours alone with him, some power tools, pepper spray and lime, but nothing can give back what that girl has lost. The two kids’ father has the mullet of all mullets. That thing has its own zip code.

- If you want to understand what it’s like to be a true “man� and an American hero, read the background of James Stockdale. Unfortunately most of American’s will only remember him as Ross Perot’s running mate and not having his hearing aid turned on during the vice presidential debates. 8 years as a POW in Vietnam, 3 in solitary confinement. Good Lord.

- In Scotland, President Bush collided with a British police officer during a bike ride Wednesday evening, suffering scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandaging. I think we should invade Scotland, those red-haired skirt wearing drunk sissies.

- The New York Hilton is the worse place on earth. But I am stuck here because I have invested three weeks into building Hilton points, and I like the location. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is good about it. I’ll get into detail in another post.

- I have to fight my anti-social urge every day. It seems the older I get the less patience I have with others.

- If I won the lotto, I would probably quit my job. Either that or pull an Office Space.

- My greatest fear is falling from a 20 story balcony. And surviving.

- I wish I had more time to read magazines. Great source of information and very topical.

- I have never had great pizza in Boston other than Al Capone’s, which I think is not very healthy.

Posted by David at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There was an article in today’s USA Today titled “Warning: Your clever little blog could get you fired�. Two people sent me a note about it. Hmm, wonder why. You can read it here

Anyway, the article was about people who write about work on their personal blogs and get fired for it. Basically you have morons who write bad things about coworkers or give away company secrets or leak information about upcoming products. And they get fired. No (expletive deleted). What do they think? The article talks about how companies have to come up with guidelines about personal blogs, which is crazy because if you are dumb enough to write something really bad about coworkers you better be prepared to take the heat, just like if you gossip about someone. I mean if I write a Christmas news letter and complain about work, then it’s the same thing just with a less efficient method to get my point across.

So I found it interesting that people write bad things about work or complain about colleagues or do anything that they obviously have their name attributed to. Trust me, there are a ton of things that I would love to write about and if you know me, I am very opinionated about, but don’t. There are just some things that are too sensitive to talk about when the point of my blog is to entertain. I don’t write an op-ed piece and I don’t have a talk radio show. I don’t have a soapbox and my opinion is about as valuable as the next person’s. If you know me and read this often you can easily pick up crumbs of my true feelings, but I don’t evangelize. Well, that is not entirely true. I am very open about my feelings with air travel and the Red Sox, but both are pretty much in jest. Well, now that is not entirely true either. I really do think some airlines are staffed by minions of the devil, and I really do hate the Red Sox, but hey, I am right.

If I wrote out about politics, reparations, social programs, corporations, illegal aliens, gay rights, my job, environmental policies, religion, CEO compensation, tobacco companies, alcohol, oil, the middle east, war, migrant workers, wind farms, Canada, federal transportation projects, AIDs, animal cruelty, women rights, poverty, legalization of drugs, school prayer, our penal system, binge drinking, stem cell research, or any number of topics, well, then, I might offend someone who I like. I don’t mind offending complete strangers, after all I am allowed to have an opinion, but I worry about offending and insulting loved ones and people I respect.

I do have an opinion about almost everything and when I do bring up a topic that often has strong and contradictory sides, I try to do it in a way as to not offend. With my job, well, I find it (1) private, (2) boring, and (3) tiring to write about. If I poke fun at people I work with, like Brian from Watertown or Uncle Billy, I do it in fun and dish out the same serving size that I would in person. As for writing bad things about work related to compensation, work/life balance, bosses, professional development and company secrets, I don’t have enough cyber pages to cover everything, so I just leave it alone.

Just thought I’d share.

Posted by David at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Someone brought in a box of coffee called “The twelve coffees of Christmas� to the office today and left it in the kitchen by the coffee maker. It’s a sealed box with 12 flavors of coffee. I think on Monday I am going to bring in some festering turkey I left behind my shed last Thanksgiving. I do have a few bottles of non alcoholic beer from a 2003 Labor Day party that’s sitting in the corner of my garage I could bring in too. Or I am sure I have some Halloween candy I could find somewhere under my daughter’s dresser or deep in the dark corners of my pantry. That would be nice.

PS. If someone from work is reading this, I am only joking. I love coffee. Especially the twelve coffees of Christmas. Yum good. Brew it up and serve me a cup.

Posted by David at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am not joking about this. The following is the first line of an introduction of a white paper I downloaded.

“This paper describes a new collaboration technology that is based on the support of lightweight, informally structured, opportunistic activities featuring heterogeneous threads of shared items with dynamic membership.�

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that.

So I thought I’d explore some more to see how even more confused I could get.

There was this…

“We explore the concept of social landmarks in complex, shared information and coordination environments.�

Ok, not too bad. I get that. Sort of.

Then there is this buzzword gem…“Contextual collaboration is a promising approach to embedding new collaborative features into existing applications.� Right with you, buddy.

When referring to someone named Picard and colleagues, another author had this to say

“I question two aspects of the work: the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) approach, and the use of psychophysiological measurements of emotion without a stated theory of emotion.�

Of course, I questioned the same thing last week.

Then there was this…

“The principle of information hiding has been very influential in software engineering since its inception in 1972.�

And this whole time I thought it was 1971.

“Chat Spaces are rich persistent chats that provide light-weight shared workspaces for small to medium-scale group activities.�

Are they talking about AOL Instant Messenger? Or not. Not sure.

And finally…

“We present contextual collaboration, an approach to building collaborative systems that embeds collaborative capabilities into core applications, and discuss its advantages.� …collaboratively.

I am getting a smurf has been smurfing smurf lately, that smurfy smurf.

Now I’ll go back to ESPN Page 2 and The Onion.

Posted by David at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With the open work space we have in the office, there are not many conversations that are private. For the most part, many of us keep our voices really really low when we are on a private call, or take on our cell phone and move to a quiet area. But I heard this one guy who sits near me have this conversation. This is from his end only. He is a nice guy so I hope he doesn’t mind me making fun of him if he reads this blog at all, which I doubt he does. But if he does, no offense intended.

“Pick up bread and peppers…bread and peppers… bread … and peppers…peppers…bread and peppers…no, bread…and peppers…peppers…PEPPERS…PEPPERS…and bread…bread…BREAD…I didn’t say anything else…bread and peppers…PEPPERS…no, just bread and peppers…pick up some peppers…all different colors…AND BREAD…ok…peppers…bread too…ok, bye.�

Posted by David at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have this stapler at work that uses staples that are too big so that if you staple only 2 or 3 pages, the staple gets compressed but sticks out and can cut your finger, sort of. But it is not strong enough to staple anything more than 5 or 6 pages, which then have to be bound with a binder clip. It’s so damn annoying. And no, it’s not red and my name is not Milton.

Sometimes I feel like I am adrift in a sea of boundless discontent.

Posted by David at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Something I like to do, not sure why, is throw in a weird statement into an otherwise normal conversation.

Me: So you start with the individual pages, add build hours and the tool extrapolates the entire SO effort.

Colleague: Looks good. What then?

Me: Estimate the entire project.

Colleague: Then we can add a blended rate and reduce by client discount rate, right?

Me: Yep. Are bats really blind?

Colleague: What?

Me: (quietly, under my breath) Nothing, forget it.

OR

Me: Did you see the Yankee game last night?

Friend: Yeah, pitching looked great. Rivera is coming out of his funk.

Me: ARod really tore it up at the plate. He is finally swinging for the fences.

Friend: Did you see the awful calls the home plate umpire was giving Mussina?

Me: Have you ever tried putting on a costume to be a real super hero?

Friend: What did you say?

Me: (quietly, under my breath) Nothing. Forget it.

Posted by David at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Now that Mother’s Day is behind us, I started thinking about other holidays we celebrate, and I use that term very loosely. Here is my take on some of the more well known, and less known, events. I left off the non-Christian holidays, like Yom Kippur, since I am not Jewish.

New Years Day – Celebrate another day on the calendar, remind people about the pain of getting older, sleep off a hangover.

Martin Luther King Day – The most influential black rights activist in history, he deserves this day. Jesse Jackson is a joke compared to him. Government jobs have off, I do not.

Groundhog Day – About as stupid of a day as I can think of. Means nothing to me. Stupid rat doesn’t see his shadow and we get more winter?? Wh…huh…what crack addict thought of this tradition? Drunk polka dancing looks like fun though. Plus great Bill Murray movie.

Presidents Day – Wonderful idea here. Set aside a day to remember our earlier presidents because people somehow forget that most of them were adulterating wealthy drunks who owned slaves.

Valentines Day – Holiday made up by Hallmark to boost lagging sales, puts undo pressure on men who want to keep their sex lives active.

Saint Patrick’s Day – Suddenly everyone claims to be Irish so they can get stinking drunk at 9 in the morning and act like fools, or in Boston, a typical Thursday.

Easter - The most important Christian holiday there is, let’s eat ham. Give kids chocolate first thing in the morning because a mystical rabbit came by the night before? Where is the connection?

Arbor Day – No idea at all how this came about. If we are going to have a day to remember to plant a tree, how about one to remember to wipe you’re a**. Sorry, trees are good, just kind of curious about the history on this one.

Mothers Day – Ridiculous event created by Hallmark, I hate them (Hallmark, not mothers), to make their quarterly numbers. Puts pressure on people like me to do something for the moms and spend a ton of money. Most mother’s do what most men could never do, so setting aside one day to honor them seems insulting.

Birthdays - We celebrate an actual day that someone was born, fine, I get this. Kind of crazy that the first few birthdays are huge events that the kids will never remember, where we gloss over most adult birthdays.

Fathers Day – Dumber than Mother’s Day. How about this, on Father’s day they should track down all deadbeat dads and men who leave their wife and kids without any support, and beat them unconscious.

Memorial Day - Remember the brave men and women who risked and gave their lives for our freedom, day off from work. Start of the summer, sort of. Usually cold in the morning and evening, lukewarm during the day. Try swimming at Jones Beach on Memorial Day. Headlights and shrinkage, welcome to Field 4.

July 4th - Birth of our nation, get drunk and sun burned. And oh yeah, after getting tanked on cheap canned beer, light off bombs with kids running around. I just wish this was like Memorial or Labor Day and always on a Monday. I hate when it falls on a Wednesday. It does cut the week up though.

Labor Day – Do unemployed get to do anything? Trailing bookend to the summer. Depressing because most people have a slow and steady decline to look forward to ending in an ice and snow induced shut in. Parents of kids celebrate getting their routine back.

Columbus Day – Celebrate someone’s inability to sail. On October 12 a new era of European expansion and exploration began. Wonder if the folks in the Bahamas think it’s so great.

Halloween – Give otherwise normal kids a chance to beg for candy. Give older kids a reason to attack people with eggs and shaving cream. Give adults a chance to buy huge bags of candy and eat 90% of it themselves.

Veterans Day – War, anyway you slice it, is horrific. Necessary, but horrific. A 92 year old bronze star winner I met recently said “World War 2 was awful, I still have medical problems from it. Living in a fox hole for days at a time like animals.� These guys deserve more respect than anyone can give them.

Thanksgiving - We honor the moment we doomed the native Indians. Lovely.

Day After Thanksgiving – Since someone came up with the bright idea of a Thursday holiday, let’s just forget the entire work thing and give them off on Friday too, brilliant.

Christmas - The birth of the most famous and influential person in history, and as Christians believe, the savior of our souls. Children believe a gigantic fair skinned geriatric in a bright red costume, with a long beard, magically brings gifts to them in the middle of the night by illegally entering their homes through the chimney. If someone suggested this in today’s society, he would be fitted with an ankle bracelet and told to stay away from schools.

New Years Eve – Normally civilized people feel the need to get drunk and celebrate, way too crowded and obnoxious day around the globe. I wonder how many people do things they regret on this night, not that I would know. For parents of little children, staying awake to see the ball drop is far less important than getting some sleep. TiVo will record the event if something fun happens.

Posted by David at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I drive to and from work, my mind often wanders. I like to think of it as day dreaming but it’s probably ADD. Either way, I pass my time by listening to talk radio and talking to myself. Sometimes I talk on the phone but for the most part hate talking on a cell phone, especially in the car, and would rather wait until I am in front of a land line. When anyone drives in traffic, there are a few different behaviors that I always find interesting. I often wonder what the person is like who drives a certain way. I tried to categorize some of the things people do and took a guess at what they are like in person.

1 – Laggers. I hate this behavior. Hate it. When I am in the car it is usually in heavy traffic. Vehicles move anywhere from a stand still to 30 miles an hour. A lagger is someone who always keeps at least a 3 or 4 car-length distance between themselves and the car in front of them. 99% of drivers in traffic, because it’s moving so slow, are pretty close to the car in front of them, let’s guess it at one to ½ a car length. The lagger is someone who almost never gets anywhere near that close. When traffic is moving and there is this huge gap, the lagger will slam on their brakes when they see the brake light go on from the car in front of them, even though they have a huge amount of cushion. This drives me nuts. I sit behind this type of driver and watch car after car after car get in front of this person while our lane continues to make less progress as other lanes. It drives me nuts.

I can picture the type of person. Walks slow in the mall or at an airport so others have a hard time getting by them. Window shops and often looks like they are trying to peer out from under their glasses at something that is eye level. Takes their time in line at a store, doesn’t get their cash or credit card out until the cashier tells them the total. Hugely risk adverse. Waits for the crosswalk to tell them when to go. Life is a little boring and slow. No rush to get anywhere because probably not much waiting for them. Low to mid level local government job in accounting or book keeping.

2 – No turn signal. This is a fairly common driver, especially in Massachusetts. In fact...

2 – No turn signal. This is a fairly common driver, especially in Massachusetts. In fact, drivers ed in this state never touches on these silly sticks coming out of the steering column called “turn signals�. This driver cuts from lane to lane, gets into the off or onramp, makes right turns at intersections, and the turn arrow is never a thought. Most of the time this doesn’t bother me except when it impedes on what I am doing. If I am driving along at whatever speed I want and someone in front of me moves lanes without a turn signal, who cares, no harm done to me. But when I am waiting to make a right hand turn and there is a car coming from the left, and I wait and wait and the car slows down and makes the right onto the street I am on, I get annoyed. I could have gone if I knew they were turning.

This person is easier to peg than most. Arrogant, self-important condescending jerk. This is the type of person who walks right up to the security checkpoint even though there is a huge line and sneaks his way into the line. This person enters a coffee shop that doesn’t have a good queue system and goes right to the next available order-taker. This person smokes cigars on a busy sidewalk, this person sneezes really really loud without covering their nose, this person is an all around a-hole. After all, if they have no consideration to tell other drivers what they are doing, why would their non-driving life be any different? I was at a really charged NBA playoff game once and their was this guy in one of the first rows behind the bench. Every time the home team did something good, the crowd would go wild and this guy would turn around, face the crowd, and lift his arms into a giant ‘Y’ like he was the pope blessing the crowd. In his mind he was imploring the crowd to cheer and we were all abiding by his command. THAT guy doesn’t use his turn signal. This type of driver complains to a bartender that their isn’t enough scotch in his drink, yells at a waitress for getting one minor thing wrong with is order, and makes a lot of noise in a movie theater. I hate this type of person more than anyone else because this person is often a bully. I hate bullies.

3 – Dead stop lane change.

This one is usually because of poor driving habits and lack of experience or confidence, or both. Let me describe the situation. I am in medium traffic and all three lanes are going between 5 and 30 miles an hour. I am in the far left lane. Traffic in all lanes starts to slow down to about 5 miles an hour. The car in front of me puts on their turn signal and stops to get into the middle lane, which is fine because all traffic has pretty much stopped. Traffic in my lanes starts to move faster than the other two. MOST drivers would forget getting over and keep the flow of traffic moving. The dead stop lane changer stays where they are. The middle lane has not moved yet so they cannot get over, but our lane is moving fine. So I sit there, behind this person who is trying to get over, while the middle lane does not move and the car in front of the dead stop car gets farther and farther away. To make it worse, cars from the middle lane start getting over into the my lane because they see that 1) it is moving and 2) there is this huge and expanding gap.

This person is hard to define. At times I think it is someone who is new to driving but not young. Young drivers are aggressive and will keep up with the fast lane. This driver might be from another country where driving in cars is not something they grew up doing. This type of behavior is indicative of someone who is not used to the customs of driving. This could also be an older or timid driver who is nervous about not finding an opportunity to change lanes during heavy traffic and for some reason has gotten the approval from someone while traffic was at a stand still and doesn’t want to lose their chance. There is also a valid reason for this, such as an off ramp coming up that the person has to use. This doesn’t bother me as much because I have learned to be much more forgiving in traffic because it’s not a race and who cares if I get stuck an extra minute or two.

4 – Lookers.

This is often done on a road with a lot of lights. It is when a driver comes to a stand still and looks to the left and right to see who is in the cars around him. What I find interesting is when someone on the highway does this. When it is done on a road with lights it’s usually some young guy or group of young guys looking for chicks or someone to start a fight with. But during rush hour, on the highway, drivers are usually going to and from work, with no other objective than that. They are usually not trying to find a date or anything. So this baffles me a little.

The type of driver is exactly how I describe. Young, usually male, not real attractive or much to offer otherwise they wouldn’t be looking to meet girls while in separate cars. It’s usually in some piece of crap old beat up muscle car that is past its point of impressing people.

Car pool.

There is something else I find interesting. There has never been any kind of effort to get people to car pool. Nothing significant at least. When you look at rush hour traffic at the macro level, it’s about people from outlying communities funneling into a few roads to get to a city. Simple. And there has to be a lot of people from each community who travel to work at roughly the same time. But when you look at almost all the cars on the road in the morning and afternoon, there is almost always one person. And they are not these tiny cars either, it’s a lot of wasted space in SUVs and trucks and mini vans and sedans. I am guilty since I have a large pick-up truck. But it amazes me that there has never been a culture of leaving three cars in the community and maximizing the space inside one car, thus reducing the amount of cars on the road. I assume the problem is that people like the freedom of their own car, just like I do, and that a lot of people like being alone in the car, like I do. With other people you have to share the radio, reduce the amount of time you talk on the phone, and make small talk. Three things that would deter me from car pooling.

Anyway, spending time in traffic is not so bad. For the most part I leave enough time so I am not in a huge rush, I enjoy the solitude, and I learn to be patient with bad people because there is absolutely nothing good that will come of being upset and yelling and beeping your horn. And I spend time thinking about stupid stuff like this, which I write about later in the day.

Posted by David at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So last night we went to dinner with a few clients and two of us from my company. Everyone who went to dinner knows each other really well and we are pretty much friends as well as colleagues. It was a really nice Italian place that was outside along a lake, an overall nice setting. The head of the table, the more senior member of my company, was given the wine list. All of a sudden, this guy started speaking in an Italian accent, and even starting using common Italian words. It went something like this…

Waiter (in real Italian accent): Would you like to choose a wine?
Colleague (in fake Italian accent): Si, I would, grazie.
Waiter (in real Italian accent): Here you are sir.
Colleague (in fake Italian accent, but worse): Grazie, buon uomo.

Later

Waiter (in real Italian accent): Have you made a choice?
Colleague (in fake Italian accent, but louder this time): Si grazie, I would like this one (points to a wine).
Me: Scott (name altered to protect the guilty), you’re Irish!!
Colleague (reverting back to his NY accent): Eff you, they like it.
Me: They are making fun of you at the captain station.

Later

Waiter (still in his real Italian accent): Would you like to order some appetizers
Colleague (fake accent getting worse, sounds like bad acting from a elementary school rendition of The Godfather): Si, we woulda lika some mooozzzerrelllaaaaa, and calamatttiiiiii per favore il friendo
Me: Scott, cut it out!
Colleague (NY accent getting heavier): Eff off, I am speaking their language.
Me: If we went out for sushi, would you take off your shoes put on a robe and speak with a Japanese accent? Maybe bow your head.
Another Colleague: Can we go for Mexican tomorrow so I can hear Speedy Gonzalez?
Another Colleague: We HAVE to go for Indian.
Another Colleague: If we get Chinese you must PROMISE to speak with an accent.

Later

Waiter (real accent still going on, brings the receipt): Thank you sir and have a good night.
Colleague (won’t give it up): Gratzie, ciao. Ita wasa buono.
Me: Let’s go Mario Brother.

Posted by David at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One thing that really bugs me are people who stand really close to me while waiting in line. Or worse, stand next to me. Example. While I was at the airport today, I was waiting in line to go through the security gauntlet, normally a completely inefficient process, but a necessary one. I just got into line when a man came up behind me and go so close that if he had a straw sticking out of his mouth he would have poked me in the back of the head. The line was after the security people check your ID but before the scanners and this yahoo was getting so close to me that I almost felt sexually harassed. I’ve seen love scenes with less contact. I looked back at him briefly to send him a “I hate you, back away� message through my menacing stare but I guess he didn’t get the message. Now, I would normally tell the guy to go ahead of me so I didn’t have to stand in line feeling uncomfortable, like this time Patti and I were waiting for some ride at Disney and this family of non-English speaking idiots were up our assess so much that we just let them go ahead to bug the next person in line. But I though to myself “Eff this moron, I am going to make him wait�.

The thing that was crazy was that as soon as we emerged from the narrow roped off corral, he cut in front of about 12 people to put his keys, wallet and watch on the conveyer belt and went through the metal detector. I wish that device had a button to press that would send a huge jolt of electricity through a person, just for a case like this.

Anyway, later I was standing in line at the gate to change my seat when another yahoo walked up behind me and instead of getting close behind me, he got close next to me. I never really understand this approach. I am in line, clearly in line, for about 5 minutes. There is only one line. He walks up and does he think that by standing next to me, he is somehow going to lull me into thinking he was in front of me. I just spent the last 5 minutes looking at the bald head of some fat guy in front of me, so I clearly know where I am in the order of things. So then the guy bumped into me. I am NOT JOKING. He was so close and huffing and puffing and looking around like he runs the freakin world, in his Run For The Night cheap give-away t-shirt and faded jeans and scuffed walking shoes, that he freakin bumped me. I gave him another deliberate disapproving glare that doesn’t seem to penetrate moron minds and purposely moved away from him, sending the message that while I staked the territory first and he entered it, I was willing to move a couple of feet to get away from his ugly ass.

So, the moral of this story is that unless you are a stunning tall blond with nice perfume, don’t stand so close to me. And even if you are a stunning blond, no matter how much you ride my tail, you are not getting in front of me. End of story.

Posted by David at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On my drive in to work each morning, there is a section when I come out of the Central Artery tunnel onto Storrow Drive that looks like a hubcap graveyard. When I first get onto Storrow, which I am on for a couple hundred yards, it bends along a high wall and over the winter it creates potholes about as deep as my bathtub. Because of the turn, cars can?t see the craters until they hit them. So right along this path there are probably 50 or more hubcaps, some cracked in half, some perfectly fine, almost all oddly propped against the wall like someone lined them up for a flea market. I notice that every now and then there are fewer caps than the day before so someone definitely picks them up. If the road wasn?t so dangerous and I was more hard up for money, I would stop and pick them up myself.

Just thought I?d share.

Posted by David at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other day I was reading Paul?s blog and I forgot in what context it was mentioned, but he commented on the term ?monkey slave?. My first thought was that it would be a great school nickname, like the Moore Park High School Monkey Slaves. If I started my own high school, like Dobrindt Meadow High School, I would call our mascot, or whatever you call the nickname thing, the Monkey Slaves, not the bulldogs, wildcats or screaming eagles. Then I got to thinking about my own high school, Hicksville High School in Hicksville, NY, population 50,000. I was pretty active in high school with sports (football, lacrosse), student government (believe it or not, I was junior and senior class president) and social activities, so I used our mascot theme often. We were the Comets. The Hicksville High School Comets. Which, in hindsight, kind of stinks. The junior high is the Meteors. While in high school, I never really gave much though to it, but with the Monkey Slave thing I started to realize how odd of a name it is. I am kind of curious as to

1. How many high schools in the country use ?Comets?, and what is the most popular name?
2. Why did Hicksville use the ?Comets?. Why not the tigers, panthers, titans, farmers, islanders, etc. Why a chunk of frozen gasses, ice, and rocky debris that orbits the sun.

My first thought was that Haley?s comet was around when the school was formed, or some other comet. Or that Comet was popular when the school was formed. I?m not sure.

Who knows? Maybe I will never know. It?s not like there is some magical education tool that allows me to enter a word, term or phrase and I can access over 2 billion locations that might provide an explanation. Nothing like that around Boston that I know of. Too bad, it will continue to bug me.

Posted by David at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Conversation with someone at work today.

Colleague: Do you watch 'The Amazing Race'?
Me: No, that show is trash. Besides, I was too busy watching 'American Idol'.
Colleague: 'Lost' is Star Trek meets Gilligan's Island. But in a bad way.
Me: Very good. Very witty. I didn't ask you.

Posted by David at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As instructed on my jury duty notice, I reported for duty this morning at the court house in Dedham, Massachusetts. I have been to jury duty twice before, once in NY and once in Massachusetts. I was never called for an actual trial and in fact have not done more than sit around waiting. My assumption for this morning was more of the same.

When I got to the jury room, which was on old court room, it was about 8:45 and the room was already pretty full. The court officer was on the far end of the room, near the front, and the entrance door was on the near side of the room, near the front. They had a TV going with some cheesy video on what it means to be a juror directly in front of the box the judge would normally sit in, so the line to check in ran directly in front of the TV. Those of us in line were smart enough to not block the TV, thus letting the zombies watch TV, or any one of us standing there in line. It kind of felt like the cattle line at a beef auction. The design of the check-in setup, and room in general, was poor, but hey, I was there to perform my civic duty, not redesign their check in procedure.

When it was my time to check in, I was told something fascinating ? that I would be in the ?Grand? jury pool, not just the regular jury pool. The first thing that ran through my mind was that I was privileged, special, part of the elite, or ?grand?, class. That the Massachusetts legal system wanted me, David Dobrindt, to play such an important part in the system. I wasn?t sure why I made the cut, but it must have been because of my intellect, intelligence, wisdom, charm and probably stunning good looks. Why else would they select me, out of thousands of others, to be part of this special group? I would soon learn that being on the grand jury might not be a good thing.

The court officer checking...

Continue reading "Jury Duty" »

Posted by David at 02:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When you are a blowing up an Aero bed, and holding down the air compressor button for 5 minutes and the bed is still not inflating past a third of the way, even though it says it only takes 2 minutes, it won?t blow up faster if you yell down the stairs at your spouse that the bed is broken and a piece of crap and we wasted money on it. It will help if you put the cover back on the hole that releases all the air which is about the size of a baseball and at the OTHER end of the bed from the compressor. After you do that, it blows up in 2 minutes.

Posted by David at 07:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was standing in line at the Dunkin Donuts I go to when at work, in the Cambridge Galleria Mall, waiting to order my medium hazelnut light with three sugars. I usually drink tea at work but on the rare occasion I treat myself to a cup of DD coffee, it?s usually the high point of my time at work, a sad realization. Anyway, I was standing in line, tired, grouchy, annoyed, a little melancholy, looking around at the 10 or 12 people in each line, when I looked up at the top of the metal coffee maker behind the counter and saw a cockroach hanging out. It wasn?t a quick run across the top, ducking cover and looking for a place to hide. It was a leisurely stroll as if he were enjoying a warm spring morning.

While I am not a huge fan of creepy kind of bugs, because there is a difference, lady bugs are cute and I would pick one up without thinking, I also don?t scream like a little girl. At least not when I see a bug that is NOT crawling on my arm because bugs crawling on me negate any male rule of screaming. So I stood there and stared at the cockroach, or as the Spanish like to say, la cucaracha. I was not repulsed, I didn?t immediately leave the line, I didn?t even think to ask for a free cup of coffee or tell the woman standing next to me. I just looked at it, and for a brief second thought I was going to pass out. Not sure if it was because I was tired, or it was really early, or I just walked in from the cold, but I thought I was going down like Pat O?Brien after an all night bender.

I got my coffee, paid in quarters, waved goodbye to the cockroach, and walked back to work.

Posted by David at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If I had a band I would name it ?Third Rail Active? or ?Refund?, maybe ?TD and the Garage Band?. Not sure. If I owned a bar and grill, some options for names would be

Junk yard
Front Porch
The Swamp
Starting Gate
Deep End
Mosquito Trap
Margarita Island
Tree House
Mud Pit
Carlisle?s
Rae?s Kitchen
ED?s Tap and Grille
Dobrindt Tap and Grille

It's hard to decide.

Posted by David at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A colleague told me about this pretty cool tool for searching and viewing historical popularity of names.

Cut and paste the following URL into your browser. Then click on the 'Launch NameVoyager' link in the middle.

http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/

Posted by David at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am never sure how long to wait to hold a door open for a stranger when entering a public place. This happens a lot in the parking garage of my office building. How far behind you is too far to hold the door. I think I hold it longer for older men because they might be a boss or an executive that I might run into again. I guess I wait longer for women too because that is the polite thing to do. If the person is wearing a Red Sox hat I shut the door as quickly as I can and hold it shut while they struggle to get it open.

Posted by David at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another thing that bugs me is when cars pull over on a highway for emergency vehicles to pass and other non-emergency vehicles use the middle of the wake to move really fast through traffic. Bastards.

Thought I'd share.

Posted by David at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was sitting with a few colleagues the other day. One was looking up information on a potential client and said

?I like it when a company says they are in the top something, like we are one of the top 3 most recognized brands, or we are one of the top 5 largest companies in the world. Just cut through the crap and say we are the 3rd most recognized brand or the 5th largest company in the world. If they were higher, they would say it.?

Excellent point I never thought of. By the way, I am one of the top 2 most liked parents in the Dobrindt household.

Posted by David at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Boston will be full of drunks wearing green Red Sox hats who start drinking at 7 in the morning. In other words, a typical Thursday.

Posted by David at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FYI ? the domain name "www.mosquitotrap.com" is already owned by someone. Damn IT.

Posted by David at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I went to Borders book store yesterday to pick up two books I have been meaning to read. I love book stores. The staff, while quirky and often a bit odd, are always helpful and friendly and usually offer some kind of interesting and witty comment. They might be strange, but that is what I except at a book store. I guess if you are working with books, having calm and pleasant personality helps. I always leave books stores, the large ones like Borders and Barnes and Noble as well as the small mom and pop shops, feeling good.

Posted by David at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From now on I am going to say ?I heard on NPR this morning?? when I talk about anything I heard, even if I didn?t hear it on NPR. Or even if I didn?t hear it on the radio. Or hear it at all.

Posted by David at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I?m in Jacksonville Florida this week for work. Last week I was home in Boston. Two weeks ago I was in Vegas. Jacksonville is nice enough but the water tastes bad. People are nice though. The Super Bowl is here in less than two weeks and the city is pretty excited. The city does not have enough hotel rooms and are bringing in 4 or 5 cruise ships to supply more rooms but are still way under. I guess Houston had 55 thousand rooms last year for the Super Bowl and Jacksonville has15 thousand. The stadium holds 83 thousand people so you can do the math. I tried to win tickets this morning by calling into a local TV news station but I was not caller 8 so I didn?t win. I would have sold two of the tickets to someone in Boston and used the other two with my wife. It would have been a great weekend but is only a creative memory now. Such is life.

So getting back to Jacksonville. It snowed a lot today in Boston so our neighbor Paul was nice enough to shovel out our property. He is one of those guys, about my father?s age, who helps out anybody in the neighborhood. He is a plumber/electrician/mechanic/carpenter/mason/landscaper and anything else I need to live my part-time blue collar life. If I do my job in Jacksonville the way that I am expected to, this one week trip to a new client will turn into a very large project and I get to come to Jacksonville every week and maybe I will eventually get used to the bad tasting water.

On another note, I am on a diet to lose weight for cousin Kara?s wedding in March. I wanted to avoid Patti?s relative?s asking who the fat guy was and why she didn?t bring David out with her.

Posted by David at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Woke up this morning to a blizzard. Yep. A blizzard. I think it was my first official blizzard and would turn out to be the worst snow storm I have ever been in. Before it was over we had (I think) 34 inches of very dry snow and the winds were about 45 miles an hour. It is hard to tell exactly how much we got because of the winds. In some spots it was 4 feet, other spots it was 24 inches. On average I think it was around the 35 inch mark. The thing that really made it tough was the driving wind. But as long as you don?t have a sick child, snow is pretty fun. I spent the better part of the afternoon shoveling with the small snow blower I have. It saved my back but took a long time. Then when I was done my neighbor came home and brought out his large gas snow blower. I borrowed it for a while and did some touch up and plowed a path to the wood pile. I even went on the three season porch roof and shoveled out the snow in front of the kitchen window so we could see out. Overall it was fine.

I took the truck out to the store to get a newspaper. I ended up getting some other stuff and left my paper at the freakin store. I was so pissed. The guy who bagged it didn?t put it in a bag and I only picked up the stuff in the bags but it?s still my fault. My neighbor James picked one up for me when he was out. Nice guy. Our paper guy ended up delivering it around 7. Kind of surprised he finally made it. Good for him.

Blizzards are severe winter storms that pack a combination of blowing snow and wind resulting in very low visibility. Officially, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as large amounts of falling or blowing snow with winds in excess of 35 miles per hour and visibilities of less than ? mile for an extended period of time (greater than 3 hours).

While I?m giving out interesting weather info, 70% of ice or snow related deaths occur in automobiles. Males make up 75% of people who die related to exposure to cold. Hmm. Didn?t know.

Posted by David at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We started getting milk delivered to our house yesterday morning. Home delivery of milk is a big thing in the towns around Boston. Not the cities or urban areas like we lived in before, but the suburban towns. I don?t remember it being something popular in NY but that might be because we didn?t have kids when we lived in NY and getting milk delivered was not something we would have looked into. But in our town there are at least three big milk delivery companies with obviously enough business to sustain all three. There are probably more but I have only seen trucks from three companies. There is one that has their headquarters nearby. I stopped by last month to get a price list and in front of the building ? a large old house really, it looks like a big house but around back I guess they have some of their trucks and stuff ? was a recycle box with a half gallon Hood milk container sticking out the top. It was pretty funny. Sort of like seeing an empty Miller beer bottle in the Budweiser bottling factor recyclable can. All of the companies delivery bread, cheese, yogurt, juice, bagels and other similar products with the milk so we are having other things delivered as well. The way it works is probably very similar to when it was really popular 50 or more years ago. We leave a container out at the top of the driveway or in the breezeway, we place our order through the phone, email, by leaving next week?s order in the container or by establishing a standing order, the guy drops off the stuff early in the morning, we leave a check payment, and that is that. I really want to buy a metal container like my neighbor has, but we have so many small coolers that it doesn?t make sense to shell out 30 bucks just because it makes me feel like I live in the 30s. I went out yesterday morning to meet the milk man. Ha, ?milk man?. So many jokes that have been made about the milkman. Our guy?s name is Dave and he is very nice. It was like 2 degrees out yesterday and he wasn?t wearing any kind of hat or cap which I thought was strange but maybe he has warm ears.

Posted by David at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This took place recently.

? I like when they remake old TV shows.
? Like what?
? I can?t think of anything right now.
? What would you like to be brought back?
? What about the Gong Show?
? It would never work. Not with reality TV the way it is. Besides, it sucked back then.
? But it was really popular. They brought back Star Search.
? Star Search is not done the correct way though. The audience should vote. And why Aresenio Hall?
? Ed McMahan was kind of creepy with the little kids.
? Yeah, he was. But Gong Show still wouldn?t work. The 70s were a much different time. People would never watch a bunch of idiots on a stage like they did back then. Too many channels now. And I think they did try to bring it back in the 80s.
? Yeah, but with a different host. The original host was the show. Bring him back.
? Is he still alive? Anyway, never work.
? What about Archie Bunker? They could bring that back.
? Yeah right, and in additional to hating Jews and Blacks, they could make him hate middle-easterners and Asians. That would go over well with the FCC.
? Ok, but you have to admit it was a great series for the time.
? Oh yeah. Each episode was like a miniature play. You had one stage, the living room, with a rare screen at the bar or something. The actors had to make each episode great. Not like today where you jump from shot to shot to keep the attention of viewers.
? So what can be brought back? Happy Days?
? Already brought back in countless versions.
? Like?
? Beverly Hills. Saved By The Bell. Anything with high school kids. It?s done.
? They tried Fantasy Island.
? I am surprised that didn?t work. Malcolm McDowell, great concept to make shit up every episode.
? But no midget.
? Yeah, no midget.
? What about Love Boat.
? Too much casual sex for today?s viewer.
? Bionic Man?
? Another good concept but would die on the vine. Super hero type shows never work on TV. Following the life of a super hero week by week, is boring. There should be one show with how they got the power, a problem they are needed for, and then how they solve the problem. It?s simple for a movie, but too hard to do every week.
? Hill Street Blues became NYPD Blues. St. Elsewhere became ER. What about Thirty Something?
? That would be great to bring back. I like it.
? I still think having only three channels made life more simple.
? But more boring.
? Nah, we just did other stuff than watch TV.
? True. We did too. We played Atari.
? Now all we do is sit around the TV to avoid doing much of anything.
? It?s educational, and entertaining. Life moves too fast today. We need a reason to stop and do nothing. TV is that reason. It?s the campfire of last century.
? Yeah, we still talk, but we comment on what?s on TV.
? And yell at people who talk during important moments.
(silence)
? I think American Hero was pretty good.
? That guy had a blond perm.

Posted by David at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The one tangible resolution I made this year was to buy a lawn gnome. I have always wanted one but could never find just the right one. I love lawn gnomes because they are so obviously tacky they are brilliant. My goal is to find one. To start. And not sure where I am going to put him but I will love him and hug him and call him 'lawn gnome'. So there. My one, single, concrete goal.

Posted by David at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I kept humming this silly kids show song all day. It is from the show ?Bear in a Big Blue House? or something like that. The funny thing is I don?t even know the words. I keep going ?da da da da da da da da big blue house?. The show is about this bear, a person in a large bear outfit, who lives in a house with other animals and lives in a town with all animals. What would be fun is if they added a little Animal Farm element to the show. Maybe have the house and community as an undercurrent of reality in a real farm and have the animals revolt, while singing fun songs and dancing, against the farmer and his workers.

Anyway, I watch this show sometimes in the morning because my daughter wakes up, rungs down the hall, and gets into bed. I turn on the TV and the show is what is usually playing early in the morning before I have to get up and get ready. I was explaining to a colleague, who heard me humming the tune, that this particular part of my morning when Emily comes into bed is one of my favorite times of day. She lies in bed next to me, or at my feet, and watches the TV while talking to me about her dress, what she wants to eat, and sometimes we just lay there. Whether she is sweet or in a sour mood, it is great to spend that time with her. It?s strange that that part of the day is my favorite since most people hate the phase of waking up and starting their process to go to work. So that got me thinking about what other part of the day I really like. I think it?s the time of day after the kids go to sleep and before we have dinner. Usually my wife and I sit in the living room or kitchen and talk, have a glass of wine, read the paper or plan something on the computer. It?s a nice break in the day.

So then I got to thinking about what other parts of the day someone would say is their favorite. Not many. If you live a life like mine, in an office, there really are not a lot of choices. The commute to work sucks. The morning kind of stinks. Lunch is eaten while sitting in front of my laptop or in a meeting. The afternoon is like the morning except the day is warmer. The commute home sucks because it?s like running underwater, I sit in traffic and cannot wait the get home. I guess for some people the moment you get into bed is nice because people read or watch TV and fall asleep, but not for me. I like it enough, but it usually means it?s the end of the day and another day looms ahead. Unless it?s Friday, another day of work. So that brings me to my favorite time of week. Because a work day and a weekend day are completely different. Weekends are not as routine as weekdays. It?s hard to say what my favorite time of ?weekend? day would be is tough because it all depends on what is planned. So I think my favorite time of the week is Saturday late afternoon. By then we are usually home and done with errand or activities. I usually have most things on my to-do list checked off. And I have another day off coming up, so I can relax and enjoy the night. The best is in the summer when it?s really hot out, we are in the backyard, there are cold beers in a cooler and the BBQ is going. The sun sets late, we are wearing shorts and T-shirts, the grass is freshly cut, and baseball is on the radio. Good times.

Posted by David at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A friend left me two bottles of home brew beer he made himself with labels with a picture of his two little girls in elf costumes. He made the beer and gave it out as Christmas presents. A great idea. And that got me thinking about this time years ago when Patti and I were living in an apartment in Huntington NY and I tried to brew my own batch of beer. I used Grolsh and a French beer bottle that is like Grolsh. These bottles are very thick, like 20 ounces and have a flip top. I did something wrong because when the brew was in the bottles and fermenting in the basement they started to explode. One day I heard ?BANG? and couldn?t figure it out. Then a day later I heard ?BANG? and still nothing. Finally I traced it to the basement where I found the wreckage of 20 thick green and brown bottles, some still alive, some broken with glass as far away as 20 feet. Scared and worried about my own safety, I immediately grabbed an old military style tarp made out of canvas that I had down there and threw it on the bottles. I was saved. Not sure what to do, I thought that I would take the remaining bottles, covered, and let them sit in the hot sun and explode. And that is what I did. For the next two days that covered up bomb factory sat in the blazing son and exploded all but one bottle. I ended up taking the final bottle and with heavy work gloves on, old motorcycle eye goggles on, the kind that the airplane barons used to wear with leather helmets, and a heavy coat, I flipped the top off the last bottle. The overly carbonated beer shot about 3 feet in the air but no explosion.

Posted by David at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy New Year!! Blah. Blah. Yahoo. Happy. Blah. Yahoo. Hurah. Yell. Drunken slur. I love blah blah blah. Drunk.

I have to admit that New Year's Eve annoys me. It?s amateur night and it puts unnecessary pressure on the average person to make something special out of the night. Most people would love to just stay at home, have a nice dinner, put their kids to bed and fall asleep, but it puts pressure on people that is not needed. We had a great New Year?s the past two years because the ?event? was over by 9PM. Since we have children, we spent it with other friends who have children that need to be in bed by like 8 o?clock. So that way we were home and had a nice quiet evening when the ball was dropped. I guess it was great when it was just another night to party and try to meet girls, but after I left the dating phase, the night was nothing special.

But it is a good time to reflect on the past year and think about what the next year will bring. For me, the past year was summed up in my Christmas newsletter so please read it and I remember being tired a lot. The new year brings hope of a few naps on the weekends and a desire to lose weight. That, and to build a wood shed. I have been trying to build that damn thing for two years now. And a vent fan in the upstairs bathroom. It annoys me that it is not there. And I think it?s pretty simple to install, I have the entire thing planned out already. Material should only cost about 150 bucks. It?s just a matter of getting a weekend to focus on doing it. Another thing I want to do this upcoming year is fly another airline than Delta I hate them to much but please don?t go under because I have 150,000 sky miles you bastards. And clean the basement. And throw out more stuff than I accumulate.

So Happy New Year to all of the 6 people who read this blog and have a great 2005.

Posted by David at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of weeks ago Patti and I were talking about one of the home improvement projects I was planning for the spring. She asked me if we were rich, would I still do all the work around the house. My response was ?No, I would do more, only bigger projects and I would use better material?.

Then to prove my point I said that I thought the ideal job would be as a full time writer (assuming I had the skill) where I would write for 4 hours a day and work on projects for the other 4-8 hours of time that I currently devote to work.

The conversation moved away from home improvement projects to writing. Patti then told me she thought I should write one thing a day for a full year and put all of those ?essays? into a book and it would be about one year in the life of a 30-something year old male white management consultant. Fascinating, I know. But then I thought about it and think it?s kind of a cool idea.

So starting on January 1 and continuing for the next 365, I am going to write something every day. Some days it will be one of my rants about Delta or politics or drivers on the highway, other days it will be about what I did at work, sometimes I?ll write about my kids, or the weather, or a movie I saw, or a feeling I had. I am going to use a blog that I am going to set up to capture my ?essays? and put it on a website that only I know about. I am not sure what I am going to call the site, maybe www.alligatoroffice.com or www.swampthingtwosucked.com, but some site that there will be a one in a million chance someone will stumble across it but if they do, WOW, what excitement.

Anyway, when my book signing comes to your town, I might give you a book for free.

- Dave

Posted by David at 08:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The evil spam people have found me and are in the process of shutting my site down. I have been getting 5 or 10 a day, sometimes 20 or so, but some days not any. Now I am getting about 5 a minute and have a feeling my site will be shut down. I am not sure how to combat these jerks so if I do get shut down, I will figure something out. The issue is that they can post a comment to my blogs and do it in an automated way, trying to sell their gambling and weight loss crap.

The source of most of them seems to be http://www.poker-rooms-777.com. So whatever you do, DO NOT go to that site. Those bastards.

I am kind of curious to see the spam, also called knights of darkness, will keep posting comments forever or until the comment bin gets too full and blows up.

Also, don't go to http://www.1-texas-holdem.us, that seems to be another source of my pain.

Posted by David at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Question for anyone who has a blog style website.

For the long month or so, I have been getting mass postings to existing entries for spam type products, like online gambling, viagra, keno, online pharmacy, etc. I have the ability to delete each posted comment but sometimes I get a dozen or more of these things. Any ideas on how to stop this. My blog software doesn't have any type of spam filter (that I know if) and I don't want to restrict posting from legite readers.

Thanks

Posted by David at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hello there! I know I have been writing a lot about baseball and Delta lately. Part of the problem is that I try to steer clear of work, family and friends. I don?t like to talk about work because?well?it?s work. I can?t make fun of clients (yes, that?s you Nick and Constantine) because they might read this. I can?t make fun of colleagues (Uncle Bill, Paul B) because they might read this too. And trust me, if I didn?t care about what they thought of me, I would have a lot of things to say. If you knew Constantine and Nick, I could write for days. Trust me. Weeks. But I can?t so anything bad so I will not say anything at all. Or something like that.

I sometimes talk about my extended family but not nearly as often as I should. I have two wonderful sisters (and wonderful brothers-in-law), great in-laws (outlaws), and wonderful parents (they still beat me). I will try to write more about significant events when I can.

I should write more about my own family. My daughter turned 2 this past May and is a little terror. Oh sure, she is sweet and a joy and makes me so happy that I cry and all that crap, but she is a little monster. She gets that from her mother?s side. But I love her more than life. Patti is pregnant with our second child and is officially due in the beginning of August but is measuring like she can go anytime now. My current client, who I have been traveling to Florida to see, has been nice enough to tell me not to worry about traveling since she is almost due. The problem is now I feel pressure to have the child. The BIGGER problem is that it is not up to me to have the child. So we are on a wait and wait schedule.

The house is coming along nicely. I finished up the Ask This Old House project and it looks real nice. I?ll post some pictures. I finally built my grape arbor in the back yard and it looks nice. After taking 5 weeks to set 3 posts, I was able to get the rest of it done in about 2 long weekends. I?ll post some pictures of that too.

There is some stuff going on with my work but I can?t talk about it right now. I?ll post anything significant should any significant happen.

I am holding my tongue on the Martha Stewart thing. 5 months in jail? 30K dollar fine? I forget that crime does actually pay.

Anyway, I am done with this little meaningless post. I am going to start writing again and hope to have my best seller novel complete by the time our second born is christened. That way I can quit my job and build things around the house all day long.

Just joking about my folks. They don?t beat me. Anymore.

Time flies like and arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

- David

Posted by David at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are a couple of ways to accurately describe my profession. For those who do not know me, I am a management consultant. Some of those descriptions are

- Late nights
- Early mornings
- Aisle seats and 3rd in line to take off
- Fatty foods and nice restaurants
- Coffee, vending machines and alcohol. Lots of alcohol
- Stress

But in the bizzaro world I live in, I think of things in terms of songs and movie quotes. Not sure what song would best describe my job, but two movie quotes come to mind (with words I changed in <i>italics</i>).

1 - I have more responsibility here than you could possibly fathom. You weep for your <i>invoices</i>, and you curse the <i>consultants</i>. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That those <i>invoices</i>, while tragic, probably saved lives. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. I know deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you don't want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent <i>consulting</i>. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of <i>professional services </i>I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it. I prefer you said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a <i>plane ticket</i>, and stand to post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

2 - This was a great man -- a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a PLAQUE, or a SIGNPOST, or a STATUE of him in that town. Someone <i>threw him under the bus</i>. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew him; I knew he was headstrong -- talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he was <i>thrown under the bus </i>-- I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen! I didn't ask who gave the order, BECAUSE IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH BUSINESS!!

Posted by David at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I know I haven?t written much lately. I really do want to comment on Reagan, the Stepford Wives, the Sox and Yankees, my current project, the state of my pregnant wife, funny things about my daughter, and Ray Charles. But I have been pretty much full out with little mental capacity for anything other than sleep. Stay tuned, things will be changing.

Posted by David at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a guy on my current project team that ends most discussions about animals ? domestic, wild, livestock, game ? with ?it tastes like chicken?. At first I thought it was odd but it?s kind of funny. Some recent conversations I heard.

Someone: ?When I was living in Montana there were about 5 or 6 peacocks living behind my house?.

Guy: ?They?re impressive birds. Huge wing spans that really show when they fly. Taste like chicken.?

AND

Someone: ?This stray cat keeps coming into my backyard and bugging my own cat?.

Guy: ?Homeless cats get this attitude they own the neighborhood. Taste like chicken?.

AND

Someone: ?A wood pecker has been going to town on my metal chimney cover. It makes a huge racket. It?s really annoying?.

Guy: ?Guess he has his material all mixed up. Not really a wood pecker anymore. They taste like chicken?.

Posted by David at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been a while since we spoke. A couple of updates

- We went on vacation last week to Phoenix. My eldest sister lives their with her husband and 15-month old daughter, and my other sister and her husband blew in from Virignia as well as my folks. I have a lot to write on that, plus some pictures, so stay tuned.

- For those who do not know, Patti is pregnant. About 5 months along. We found out what we are having and it's...either a boy or girl.

- Got our taxes done and for the first time in my life I kissed another man - our accountant. We're not buying time on the next Shuttle, but it's better than owing.

- Also decided to refinance our mortgage. A neighbor is a mortgage broker and he is handling everything. Would love to reference him if needed, he's a good guy.

- I have been keeping quiet on the Yankees Sox stuff, despite Pedro talking trash about Karim Garcia. I'll post something soon though, I will.

Posted by David at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just emerged from what could be the worst stomach sickness I have ever had. I remember once when I was a kid I was really sick for about two days and had to basically sit in the bathroom because, well, you can guess. I remember eating at Roy Rogers or something and then getting very sick, maybe not from the food since my family ate it too as I recall, but very sick. I remember once not making it to the bathroom in time and felt bad for my mother because she felt bad I didn't have a bucket in my bedroom, which was my fault since I told her I could make it to the bathroom in time. But as a kid, you deal with stomach sicknesses and bounce back pretty quick.

Starting at about 6 this morning, after a sleepless night, I was more sick then I could ever remember. No reason to get into details, but it was probably food poisoning and made me pray for a quick, painless death. My stomach is killing me, my head is killing me and I am weak since I have not had anything to eat in almost 24 hours. For those who know my eating habits and what I look like, not eating is a monumental feat.

Now I am eating ice and gingerly trying to come back into the fold.

Just thought I?d share.

<u>Update:</u> It came back. About 10 last night it came back in full force. There I was, lying in the floor of the bathroom, face pressed against the cold tile, panting, dripping in sweat. And I knew I had the entire night ahead of me. Ugh

Posted by David at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I will be the first one to admit that my grad school experience was awful. I worked full time at a day job, worked at the university before class to help pay for tuition, worked at a restaurant on weekends and went to night school full time, usually going to the computer lab at 11PM to try to do some work. For two years including summers. While starting a relationship with my current wife to boot. But I got it done and am glad for it.

The funny thing is I have not been in a library since I left school in 1998. I always thought of a library as a place to do painstaking research and cram for tests and wanted to have nothing to do with it since school ended. But last Saturday I went into the Milton Public Library for the first time. My first time entering a library since my almost 20 years of schooling ended.

And guess what. They have books. Lots of them. For casual readers to borrow. For free. And free DVD rentals. It was nice. I read a lot and usually just buy the books and put them in one of our many book shelves when I am done. Or, like my current series of books, I borrow from friends or family with a 50/50 chance of remembering to return them. But I discovered that the library will lend you a book to read ? for three weeks with easy enough renewal if no one else is waiting for it ? for no money at all. I do have a problem with their numbering and bookshelving system though. I still don?t understand why they use some convoluted system of numbering to find books. If I go into Borders and Barnes and Noble, I can find a book right away. They are in sections by category, ordered by the author?s last name. If I only know the title, I can usually find a kiosk to look up the author. But not at the library. I had to look up the book (I knew the authors and title) to find some really long number/letter thing like P143.34.AT.4420-NBU.41-FIC, then I had to write it down and wonder around looking for the section until I just gave up and asked a librarian. It could be much easier. And I know town libraries are publicly funded through taxes and donations and cake sales and money is tight, but mine could use some couches or chairs and a little nicer interior. If I wanted to sit and read a paper from Germany or browse some magazine I don?t get, or look at a home improvement book because I don?t want to take it out because I might forget to return it since I will not actually do the project I am interested in until the summer which is of course months away, I have to do on tiny rock hard wood chair in a musty and dimly lit room. Dim lights? It?s a place to read books for Pete?s sake. Put in some big windows and install 100watt bulbs so I don?t go blind trying to read some 1950?s Time Life book on installing a stair runner. Ugh.

Anyway, the library was great.

Posted by David at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

<u><b>Update - Dec 29, 2003: </b></u>Problem Fixed

Thanks to my <a href=" http://www.2aldgate.net" TARGET=_blank>my friend Paul</a>, the 'Comment' problem has been fixed.

<u>Old message read:</u> There is something wrong with the comment feature on some of my postings. I will be working on it around the clock until it's fixed. Please be patient. Thank You - dobrindts.com Management

Posted by David at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our little car passed its latest inspection. When I got home I took the vehicle inspection report, circled the word "Passed" in red marker and posted it to our fridge. I am so proud of that little Neon. Not too many years left in it.

Posted by David at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The strangest thing happened yesterday. Some people started getting emails from me from May 23, 2002, 18 months ago. So far I have confirmed two emails, one work related ? I was the project manager on a project and it was a status report ? and a softball update email. My email system at work allows me to save any sent emails and I looked back at that date and saw that I had to resend one of the emails because the recipients never said they got it. So that means my email was stuck in cyberspace for a year and a half. Sort of like reading about a letter than fell behind a desk at the Post Office and was delivered later. Strange.

Posted by David at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While sitting in a chair, move your right foot in a clockwise motion. While moving your right foot in a clockwise motion, make a six in the air with your right hand. Your right foot will changed direction.

Posted by David at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

[I couldn't miss the opportunity to post this. This is from Uncle Tim (on Patti's side, from Minnesota). Please don't blame me. I don't agree with them. Well, some of them are kind of true. Actually, most of them are on the mark.]

Lesson on Life ? from Uncle Tim

Learn to work the toilet seat. You?re a big girl. If it?s up put it down. We need it
up, you need it down. You don?t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor

Shopping is NOT a sport. And no we are never going to think of it that way

Crying is Blackmail

Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one. Subtle hints do not work!!
Strong hints do not work!! Just say it!!!!

Yes and no are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That?s what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments
become null and void after 7 days.

If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad
or angry, we meant the other way.

You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If
you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is
a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

If we ask what is wrong and you say nothing we will act like nothing?s wrong. We
know you are lying but what can we do about that?

If you ask a question you don?t want an answer to expect an answer you don?t want to
hear.

When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine and you look
good. Really.

Don?t ask us what we?re thinking, unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as
baseball, football, the shotgun formation, monster trucks etc...

You have enough clothes.

You have too many shoes.

We are in shape. Round is a shape.

Thank you for reading this; and for you guys that receive this and present this to
your spouse, you may have to sleep on the couch, but did you know men really don?t mind that; it?s like camping.

Posted by David at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

??there was a guy I used to spar with at the Carpetti Boxing Club in south Detroit back in the early 70s. I can?t remember his name. Something like Quinn or Kim. I moved to Pittsburgh to take a sheet metal job, a union job, good pay, and I never spoke to him again. I heard, years later, that he was sentenced to life in prison for killing a guy...?

Posted by David at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other day I was eating an energy bar I didn?t know was designed specifically for women. In fact, it said ?Designed for Women? or something like that on it.

As I was eating it a woman I work with saw me and this exchange ensued.

<b><u>Woman</u></b>: Hey, I love those. Did you know they?re designed for women?

<u><b>Me</b></u>: <looking at the wrapper> No, I didn?t realize. It?s good. What makes it just for women?

<u><b>Woman</b></u>: It contains stuff that women need.

<u><b>Me</b></u>: Like what? Common sense.

What she said next was not very lady-like.

Posted by David at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Like probably most of us, I think to myself a lot. On occasion, talk to myself. I walked into an ATM location in New York City today, one that you have to get into with your ATM card and has a few machines in a row, smelled something that smelled like homeless people, and thought to myself

?Homeless people sleep in here.?

A new one for me.

Posted by David at 04:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Holland and the Nethrelands. What is the difference?

There is often confusion about the name Holland. Some people call the Netherlands Holland, but it is not the same. Holland is only a small part of the Netherlands and like the Dakotas, Carolinas and Virginias, there are two Hollands.

'North Holland' (capital city Haarlem) and 'South Holland' (capital city The Hague).
Holland used to be an independent country. It had a 'Count', its own monetary system (until the 19th century!), its own measuring units and time. Holland gave up this independence in the 16th century, when it allied with the Northern and Southern Netherlands against the armies of the King of Spain. The King of Spain was officially the 'Count of Holland' at the time and ruled over this whole area.

The main reasons for the war were religious differences, disputes over taxes and the fact that when some cities wanted to break free, the King's army was quite brutal to civilians.

Eventually, the Southern Netherlands gave up the fight and war occupied by foreign forces until 1830. This area is now Belgium. The Northern Netherlands fought on and won. Then, along with the counties (Holland, Drente, Groningen, Friesland, Gelderland, Zeeland and Utrecht) became a free Republic, including the occupied regions of Brabant and Limburg.

All these counties and some new ones together (called provinces today) make up 'the Kingdom of the Netherlands'.

This day the province of Limburg has a Governor. To say to someone from Limburg or Friesland that he or she is from Holland, is considered an insult. They are not! They consider themselves to be from the Netherlands. They even have their own language.

People from other provinces than North and South Holland will perhaps not consider it a real insult, but still they are not from Holland.

In summary, Holland gave up its independence a very long time ago, so calling the Netherlands "Holland", is like calling Great Britain 'Scotland' or 'Wales'.

Source: worldatlas.com

Additional Info:
Dutch:
a) Of or relating to the Netherlands or its people or culture.
b) The official West Germanic language of the Netherlands and one of the official languages of Belgium.
c) To pay one's own expenses on a date or outing.
d) In disfavor or trouble.

Posted by David at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Biodiversity is an abbreviation of 'biological diversity'. It concerns the variety of life at all levels: from genes to species to ecosystems. The 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defines it as:

'the variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are part, including diversity within and between species, and of ecosystems.'

Therefore all living things, the habitats in which they live, and the ecosystem processes that allow them to function effectively, are all bound up in the web of biodiversity.

Posted by David at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

<a href="http://www.dobrindts.com/MDSC">Click here</a> to get access to Mass Down Syndrome Congress newsletter.

Posted by David at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stayed tuned for a new yoga site from Patti. The URL will be www.moveyour asana.com

Posted by David at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The following is a statement from the CIO of The Hartford in an interview last September.

"Part of [the reason for the recognition] is I think we've tended to be early to market with some business capabilities that were technology enabled and that's always been important as part of our company's competitive strategy."

I count 4, make that 4, buzz words used in one sentence. Not bad for an IT guy.

Posted by David at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A couple of weeks ago, after the floors were done and most of the painting was complete, I thought it was time to put the doors back on the bedrooms. We have three bedrooms and thus, three doors. As I was putting each door back on, I closed the door to make sure it, well, closed. So here I was, Patti doing stuff, Emily playing in her room, three doors back on, me standing in the hallway, when I grabbed the door handle for the master bedroom. As I tried to twist the knob and get into the room, which, by the way, had the TV on, all the lights on, and our stuff in it, I realized the door was locked. From the inside. With all three humans on the outside.

If we even knew the door had a key lock, and knew where the key was, then the story would end right here. But we didn?t know if it had a key. So I sat there, banging my head against the door, trying to think about where the key might be. When we moved into the house, the people left 37 years of crap in the house for us to sort, prioritize, examine and throw out. So to say we found a few keys is an understatement. As Patti called the old home owner in her nursing home at 8PM on a Sunday night, I ran around the house collecting keys. After none of them worked, I decided to drive back to our apartment, 30 minutes away, to get some additional keys we found and for some stupid reason brought back to the apartment. As I was in transit, the old home owner called and said the key was in the top drawer of a dresser we bought from her, which was IN the room.

None of the keys from the apartment worked of course. We had no ladder to get into the room from the outside. So here we were with a big choice to make. We could leave the lights and TV on, sleep on the floor, and call a locksmith first thing in the morning. Probably 50 bucks for him to open the door. Or I could commando-kick the door in like Chuch Norris. This would have resulted in a much damaged door frame, cost to replace: unknown.

Stay tuned for what happened.

Posted by David at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Things that will never, or I hope never, be said to me

-?Nice Hyundai! I didn?t know they make it in orange.?
-?How long have you been taking dance lessons??
-?Did you enjoy Ice Capades??
- ?Two adult and one child ticket for the 2 o?clock showing please.?
-?Since when did you start smoking??
-?Man, that pony tail goes all the way down to your back.?
-?You can find ?Swamp Thing 2? in aisle 7.?
-?Are you going to paint a sign for the peace rally??
-?You?re going to the ?N Sync concert too!?
-?Do you want to borrow my copy of Danielle Steel?s latest book??
-?Nice tattoo, I love the way it wraps around your wrist.?
-?Great looking Speedo, I love the lime green stripes.?
-?How long did it take you to finish the Iron Man competition??
-?When did you start singing in the choir??
-?Where did you buy the Virgin Mary statue for your front lawn.?
- ?Mr. Dobrindt, please tell the class why you decided to go to beauty school.?
-?Will the defendant please rise.?
-?Can you go faster, you?re not even going the speed limit.?
- ?We elect David Dobrindt as the president of the Drew Barrymore fan club.?
-?This might hurt a little.?
-?I would never have figured you for being gay.?

Things I will never say

-?No thank you, I don?t much care for beer.?
-?Honey, can we watch ?Seventh Heaven? tonight, I am getting sick of ?Hosiers???
-?I just love changing Emily?s diaper. I can?t do it enough.?
-?I love talking to zealous, opinionated Bush-hating liberals, they are always so insightful.?
-?No, please, give it to someone else. The first class seats are much too big for me. Plus, I don?t care for eating off of china.?
-?Jeesh, it?s just not fair to the other teams the way the Yankees are spending so much on payroll.?
-?I?d like to pay for that other table?s meal, it makes me feel good.?
-?Hon, that outfit looks like crap.?
-?Cook sausage on the grill? Heaven?s no, it tastes so much better when you boil it.?
-?Hold my beer, I?m going to run on the field and see if I can touch home plate.?
-?I feel so bad for downloading music on the internet, I think I?ll send the larger music companies a couple hundred bucks.?
-?I know it?s just a rental, but I feel better putting 93 octane in it.?
-?Hmm. Good point. I really don?t have an opinion about that topic.?
-?Good Lord, there are just too many channels on TV. I fondly remember the days when an antenna on the roof produced three main channels. It was a much better time.?
-?I just love professional soccer.?
-?Quick, turn it, we seem to be getting a free porn channel.?
-?Holy Jesus, it?s hot here in the mosh pit.?
-?I can really relate to those NBA players.?
-?I think pink is my color.?
-?Now that I think about it, you?re right, the Jets really DO suck.?
-"Prison isn?t so bad.?

Posted by David at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Patti, Emily and I spent this weekend at the new house. The balance of all of our possessions is finally tipping toward the new place, with only a little left at our apartment. Two things.

My alarm clock is still at the apartment. What I didn?t know was that Patti?s alarm clock, the only one at the new house, has an alarm ? a silent alarm. Good thing Emily gets up early, because I would still be in bed.

Second thing. I was doing some stuff at the apartment on Sunday when I decided to take a break. As I was sitting on a fold up camp chair, with a can of Dr. Pepper on a milk crate end-table, I realized I like the apartment with NOTHING in it. Then I looked into the dining room with nothing but a plant, in the middle of a slow and painful death, sitting on another milk crate. I went into Emily?s old room, which is now completely empty. As I passed the kitchen, with the answering machine sitting on the floor, I thought to myself ?Damn, this is cool?. I wondered what the absolute minimum I would need to live comfortably. With that said, here is a list of possessions I would need.

TV: No question here, can?t live without it.
Computer: If I had to choose between a TV or a computer, I would have to go with the computer. The TV doesn?t talk back to me.
Folding camp chair: Pretty comfortable and easily moved.
Radio: Small, to listen to sports radio when I am in the shower.
Bed: Or futon. I can?t sleep on the floor night after night.
Fridge and stove: To keep my beer cold and cook my, well, I am not a big fan of cooking. I guess I can get take-out. Nix the stove.

That?s about it. My clothes are fine in piles on the floor. And everything else just adds to the stuff that needs to be cleaned.

Posted by David at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I?ve decided that one of my favorite work-place analogies is ?They?re lost but they?re making good time.?

Posted by David at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)