Non-Tech

St Charles of Thanksgiving the patron saint of the forgotten holiday presents A Thanksgiving poem, in free verse. Give me your turkey, your stuffingYour extended family yearning for free foodRefuse thy retail temptationsOn this most holy day of feastingand footballand beer While today ushers in the great holiday seasonLet us not forget the reason we gather togetherand it’s not for great pricesdeep discountsor doorbusters Breaking bread with thy familyis rare enough these daysToday is the dayto stop and take a breathand relax ...

Posted on Facebook 2012-12-20 In light of the fact that tomorrow might be the last day of earth, I wanted to take this time to apologize and explain a number of things that I’ve been keeping inside for many years. Just in case tomorrow is NOT the last day of earth, I am keeping the list intentionally vague. You know who you are. 1974: As it turns out, it wasn’t cheese. 1975: You can hold your breath or vomit. Not both. 1978: Some poop isn’t squishy. 1981: Spandex. 1983: “Poco from Me-hi-co” really does wish you Happy New Year! 1984: socks are for feet only. 1985: Never smell found underpants. 1986: A rotten fart in a hot car can make you lose consciousness. 1987: Chickenpox on your balls is only funny for a minute. 1989: I swear it’s in that place I put that thing that time. 1990: I put a spell on you, and I’m scared that it actually worked. 1991: I know what you were doing, and I told everyone except you. 1993: Some poop isn’t squishy. 1996: Apparently, sometimes I will do it just for the money. 1998: You were right. I should have kept running. 1999: I was counting on being killed in the Y2K disaster. 2006: The lesbians LIED! 2009: Don’t keep it in your sock drawer. It’s the first place they look. 2010: I never liked them anyway. 2012: Don’t die without confessing all these things.

Occam’s Razor states that “Among competing hypotheses, the one which makes the fewest assumptions should be selected"Occam’s Razor In other words, the simplest answer is usually correct. On my way into work this morning, I stopped for gas and as I was driving in, I slowly became aware of an ominous clunking sound coming from the back of the car whenever I made a turn or went over a big bump. My first thought, of course, was that the rear axle has become separated from the car and fiery death was imminent. ...

This was when St Charles of Thanksgiving was born. Wherein I declare myself the founder of the “Defense of Thanksgiving Tradition Society” I posted this to Facebook. I was my second try at taking out my frustrations on Christmas Creep. I called out a number of specific violations, but never tagged those offenders or really did anything about it. This one wasn’t as strong as Dear Santa. In defense of Thanksgiving: ...

My take on Christmas Creep. Originally posted on Facebook, I wanted to write something hateful, full of swearing and insults. In the end, I changed it to more of a “letter to the editor” type of thing. Don’t think the irony of signing the letter, from “All of Us” was lost on me. If it’s good enough for the mice in that Christmas special, it was good enough for me here. ...

I took a picture once of my brother-in-law seated behind me on the bus on the way to work. I put it online. A few months later I got an email. Hello, My name is Josh Hamilton and I am the CEO of an internet startup called yRidesyRides is a ridesharing website that helps people find or post carpools.Your photo at this link removed titled Weird Bus People we found humorous and thought it might be put to good use as a flyer. Would you be so kind as to let use the photo on some flyers? We haven’t made the flyer yet, but basically it would encourage people to not use the bus and to carpool instead.We understand that your licensing doesn’t allow for commercial use, but we would be grateful for your help as we are struggling start-up literally working out of a garage and living off ramen noodles.Looking forward to hearing from you.Sincerely, Josh Hamilton CEO yRides ...

For a while I thought this might have been the ultimate goof. Someone thinking that if the lights were on the outside of the house, they needed to be backwards (to them) so that the words were forward (for us). Like writing on the outside of a window, for the people inside. But then I decided that I was overthinking that explanation and that the owners just decided that Leon was pretty cool at Christmas. ...

For the very first time ever, Jim decided to make a dish to contribute to our office Xmas party. Jim’s most usual contribution to any office party is something easy like a 2-liter bottle of soda or just a cash donation. Needless to say, we were all skeptical when he insisted that we’d be surprised when he showed up on party day with a homemade Taco Casserole. Party day dawned and the unthinkable happened: Getting off the bus outside of work, Jim slipped on a patch of ice and down he went. ...

Ok… it’s been all summer since I wrote a new blog post. Well, actually, I have been busy on another blog and of course, it’s almost Creepy Clevelandseason! But today was kinda special. Today I made great progress in dealing with my horrible, irrational fear of my car by performing some ‘recommended maintenance’. For the past year or so, every time I take the car to Firestone for an oil change, I get one of those ‘Recommended Services’ sheets and a cheerful smile at the end. The recommended services are always the same… fuel filter ($138), spark plugs and wires ($167) and a transmission flush (some non-affordable amount I don’t remember). ...