I just followed the breadcrumbs

Posted on 08/13/2013 by RLW3

I decided to do something unusual yesterday.

I felt like I should spend the day reading a certain book.

So, I drove to the downtown Kansas City Library and read…all day.

I can’t tell you the last time I did this…especially on a Saturday.

Today, a day later, I don’t regret it. Although the book was written nearly 30 years ago and is very dated, I came away very encouraged about some of the recent decisions that I have made and some of the plans that I have made for the future.

But, today I am really glad I read the book.

One section of the book was about the “new” technology of the computer typing. The book was published in 1983, a year before Apple introduced the MacIntosh.

The author then recounted some VERY interesting history regarding the typewriter.

The first typewriters were completely mechanical. Even using the “hunt and peck” method, typists would type too fast and cause the typewriter to jam. So, in 1878, Christopher Latham Sholes of Milwaukee, Wisconsin introduced the QWERTY keyboard in order to slow the typists down! Boy, did he ever succeed! If you had a child randomly reconfigure the letters of the keyboard, it would be faster!

And 135 years later, that clumsy keyboard is the one that comes standard on every computer sold today!

In 1932, August Dvorak, a distant relative of the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, invented the Dvorak simplified keyboard. Every typing record since the end of WWII has been set on this type of keyboard.

While I didn’t know all of this history, I had heard about this keyboard back in the 1990’s. But, my curiousity was stirred.

So, I decided to do a little research online this afternoon.

First, I learned that I can actually choose the Dvorak keyboard layout on my MacBook Pro. That’s interesting…

I then discovered that there are free programs available online that will teach you how to type on this keyboard. Huh…

I then wondered if I could actually buy a Dvorak keyboard. A quick search on Amazon revealed that there is a flexible, silicon layover for the keyboard on the Unibody MacBook Pro.

Ah, the Unibody MacBooks…

They were just introducing them when I bought my current computer back in 2008. I had never considered buying one because I was told that the model that I own was the last one that would run the software that I have used to write several thousand word processing documents.

But, it is still fun to look…

So, I went to Apple’s Refurbished Mac’s web page. I clicked on a computer that was initially released in 2011 and wistfully read through the features when I stumbled upon this:

And since Mac OS X Snow Leopard is designed to take advantage of every processor core,

Wait a minute…

Apple sold Unibody MacBook Pros in 2011 with the Snow Leopard operating system???

But I thought…

I mean, I was told…

The wheels in my mind started turning…

I can buy a new computer from Apple and have it covered with Apple Care for 3 years that will run my old word processing software?

Oh baby, am I glad I decided to spend yesterday reading!

Stay tuned…

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on I just followed the breadcrumbs

Not too late!!!???

Posted on 09/25/2011 by RLW3

At around 9:15 last night, as I was brushing my teeth, Cakes, our youngest called her mom and asked if she could hang out with some of her new friends from church after work. She promised that she wouldn’t be home too late.

The father instinct in me told my wife to clarify “How late is too late?” In my mind, 12:00 would be reasonable since she doesn’t get off work until 10:00.

I didn’t wait around to hear an answer. I didn’t even wait around to see if my wife actually asked the question. After all, she frequently thinks I am too tough on the children when I am in “Father” mode. It is only afterward, when my hunches are borne out, that she thinks I hung the moon. Anyway, I was too tired to push the issue so I went to bed.

In the middle of the night, I had to use the bathroom. The clock on my night stand read 4:00 as I was getting back into bed.

Just as I pulled the covers up over me, I heard the front door very slowly and very quietly start to open!

What an exciting way to start the morning! I continued listening…

The door quietly closed and the deadbolt slid into the locked position.

Well, that rules out a criminal!

That must mean…

My daughter is just now getting home!?!?!?!?

I decided right then and there that she and I evidently have VERY different definitions of “not too late” and there is no time like the present to get down to discussing them!

Let me just say that it wasn’t all hugs and kisses!

Posted in Parenting | Comments Off on Not too late!!!???

Do you really want my opinion?

Posted on 08/21/2011 by RLW3

The penultimate moment In the movie “A Few Good Men” comes when Tom Cruise’s sharp young lawyer Kaffee demands, “I want the truth!” Jack Nicholson’s crusty old Colonel Jessup yells back, “You can’t handle the truth!”

It seems that am forced to relive a variation of this scene over and over again with my children. Tonight was one of those times.

Kimba, my second daughter, called to warn me that a certain young man would be calling to ask for her hand in marriage.

She has been attending a church for the last few years and has been growing tremendously. However, if the truth be told, I feel like her father in name only. I say that because she doesn’t really call me for guidance or direction.

So, when she asked the question, I was faced with a dilemma:  do I tell her what I really think and feel or just passively pretend in order to avoid conflict and get along?

I decided to put the question to her. Which direction did she want our relationship to head?

I told her that I was willing to do whatever she wanted. If she just wanted me to rubber stamp it, I would.

She said that she wanted to know what I really thought. So I launched out and told her…

I think that asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage is worth more than a phone call. I think that question should be asked face to face…man to man. In went so far as to suggest a weekend visit so we could get to know him a little. Besides, he needs to get to know us because when he marries her, he is also marrying into our family.

After discussing back and forth for nearly 40 minutes, she agreed.

Then she thought of one last potential problem…

“What if he can’t afford the trip?”

“Honey, if he can’t make it from Nashville to Kansas City, he isn’t ready to be the head of a family.”

She agreed with me.

When we hung up the phone, we were closer and our relationship was more “real” than when we started.

Posted in Parenting | Comments Off on Do you really want my opinion?

Somebody is not happy!

Posted on 06/11/2011 by RLW3

Talked w/Big A-someone threw rocks through two of the Nissan’s windows last night

Posted in Family | Tagged | Comments Off on Somebody is not happy!

The battle rages

Posted on 06/10/2011 by RLW3

Before I could get on the freeway to leave for TX, I was pulled over and given a ticket for doing 45 in a 35 MPH zone! After I got on the freeway and calmed down, I put in the CD of our pastor’s sermon on “Let’s Fight for the Family” and learned that I had inadvertently grabbed Part 2. I intended to grab Part 1. They read the text for the message:

Neh 4:7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, :8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.

As soon as I heard that, I understood what was happening with our family. I had said those very words when describing Anson to Mom (see 5/19 History entry). The Lord had just used those very words to describe Jennifer’s situation that very day during lunch (see 6/10 Words entry)

Posted in Family | Tagged | Comments Off on The battle rages

The Enemy’s counterattack

Posted on 06/06/2011 by RLW3

Jen came home to discover that her house had been broken into

computer and jewelry taken

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on The Enemy’s counterattack

The Holy Spirit rescues Cakes

Posted on 06/06/2011 by RLW3
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on The Holy Spirit rescues Cakes

O-ver-ra-ted!

Posted on 09/04/2010 by RLW3

Hurricane Earl was supposed to be meterological Armagedon.

The latest in the seemingly endless parade of “end of life as we know it because we filthy humans are destroying the planet with our SUV’s and air conditioners” weather events.

And, even though I have learned to be skeptical of such prognostications, we drove into Williamsburg expecting to see devastation and destruction.

What did we find?

Peaceful blue skies and normal life continuing on.

In the end, Earl did about $4 million worth of damage in North Carolina. I know that sounds big, but remember, it’s the government doing the reporting.

But, I should be grateful.

There was no traffic…

and I look like a fearless genius to my dubious friends at work!

Posted in Travel, Weather | Comments Off on O-ver-ra-ted!

Thanks for the early warning

Posted on 09/03/2010 by RLW3

Something happened today that I have never seen before…

I was washing my hands after using the restroom when a co-worker from the shop walked in. Nothing strange or unusual about that. It was what he did next that got my attention…

He walked over to the wall mounted air freshener and pumped a shot of air freshener and then headed into the stall!

I have NEVER seen anyone do that!

After the fact…sure. Everybody has done that! With arms flailing!

…and then try to walk out as if you are completely oblivious to anything that has just transpired inside.

But in advance??? That is a first. 

Now that I think about it, it was a very humble act. This man went out of his way to extend a little protection before he launched a mushroom cloud.

And I, for one, was grateful.

On more than one occasion, I have headed into one of the bathrooms at work only to turn right around without ever making it inside. Toxic gas had so completely filled the restroom that there was no oxygen left. In fact, my breathing stopped before ever entering the room because the cloud was spilling out onto the shop floor!

The fumes then twisted the thoughts in my mind…

“I need to go, but not that bad! Man, that guy needs to see a doctor! Something is wrong with him! How do his wife and kids handle that at home?”

Maybe it was this man…I don’t know.

I DID NOT wait around to find out!

Posted in Humor | Comments Off on Thanks for the early warning

Vacation…or rendezvous

Posted on 09/02/2010 by RLW3

Hard to find time to write these days…

Work…work on the house…sleep…do it all again.

I have even seriously considered ending the blog…and still might…

But…I just had to tell this story.

6-8 months ago, I did, for me, a very responsible thing. I booked a vacation…in advance!

You might scoff at that but the truth is that I have never been very good at that. Usually, we make “our plans” about a month ahead of time…if that!

I figured that since we have to get Big A back to Philadelphia for his second year at school, I would kill two birds with one stone and booked a vacation on the east coast…

Williamsburg, VA to be exact.

I figured that my parents could come down and visit for a few days and then take our son with them when they go home to New Jersey. They would get some time off, we would get time off and he would get back to college.

My plans were to leave at lunch on Friday directly from work and head to Nashville to pick Kimba up. We would then spend Saturday visiting with friends in the area and then leave early Sunday morning and arrive at the resort Sunday evening.

Three days ago, my wife called to verify our check in time…

Saturday afternoon!

Ooops!

After mulling that over for a day, I decided that instead of visiting friends in Nashville, we would pick Kimba up and drive straight through to VA. That means that we will get there right at check in time on Saturday afternoon. We will essentially gain 1 1/2 days at the resort.

That is why they (the family) pays me the big bucks! To figure these things out…

One problem…

After I announced my decision to my wife and our two youngest, called Kimba and also told our Nashville friends, an unforeseen complication has arisen…

His name is Earl. You might have seen pictures of him recently…

It looks like we will get there just a few hours after he leaves.

At least we won’t hit much traffic on the way in!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Vacation…or rendezvous