Say What?

Random thought time. When I was a kid I used to lay awake in bed at night and try to get my head around the idea of infinity. I used to imagine an ever-extending universe where there was absolutely no end to it. Or I'd ponder the idea of forever, where there is never an end to time. How can it be that time will go on forever? The thoughts these ideas evoke can easily overwhelm my limited capacity. One of the ways to visualize infinity is to imagine a center point within a circle with lines extending out every degree for 360 degrees to the edge of the circle. Fill the space in between each line with more lines extending from the center until you can't draw anymore. Now, extend the lines beyond the edge of the circle and you'll see that more space develops between the lines as they get further from the center. Continue imagining this process over and over again and you get the idea. Infinity blows my mind. Random thoughts end here. When I began working for the FAA in ...

We've been watching L.A. Ink and Miami Ink on The Learning Channel lately. The shows chronicle the inner workings of the tattoo business. They make for interesting viewing as you get a look into the lives of people as they go about having their bodies tattooed and the reasons for their specific tattoo. Oftentimes there is a personal tragedy or triumph which led to their choices. No doubt there are those who get tattooed on a whim but I don't think that would make for good tv. When I was in the Navy we'd occasionally pull into port in Hong Kong while cruising the western Pacific. There was a tattoo parlor called Pinky's and if a tattoo was in your future that was the place to go. I'm not sure that many if any of the tattoos my shipmates got were born out of tragedy or triumph. I think it was more the thing to do after a night spent drinking. I never saw it but there was a Marine on our ship who had his penis tattooed with red and white stripes so that it looked lik...

Tammy and I met with a financial planner last week to get an idea for where we are in positioning for our pending retirement in six years. It's not cheap to have them do an assessment for us but failing to make the proper decisions now can be much more expensive in the long run. We met with Bridget for over two hours while she gathered all sorts of information about us. Not just the basic things you'd expect but a lot more including our philosophy about investing, saving, spending and how we prioritize our financial commitments. We'll meet again in a couple weeks and go over her recommendations for us. We made it out to the State Fair on Friday. The traffic was gridlocked three miles from the fairgrounds but that's just all a part of the experience so you take it in stride. It was Rachel's 16th birthday and rather than have a bunch of friends over she told us early on that she'd be happy with a couple tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls and Lifehouse at the fair ...

Okay, I admit it, I'm having difficulty accepting that I'll soon be 50. I never experienced this when I transitioned into my other decades so why now? I think I've always associated people in their 50s with those on the other side of life. That side of life where people are more often described as crotchety than effervescent. Where they're (thankfully) less inclined to drive while using a cellphone but more likely to drive for miles with their turn signal on. If they still have a VCR it's likely blinking 12:00 and if they're online they're probably using AOL—the internet on training wheels. I don't want to be lumped in with that group. I know that what I just wrote is totally unfair but isn't there a hint of truth to it? I'm not saying I'm hip or even cool. I'm just saying that I'm still the same person I was 10, 20 or even 30 years ago—really. As I said, I'm having a difficult time grasping this new age I'm becoming. I admi...

My two week vacation is over but I'm not all that sad about it because it also means that two weeks of having our home in a state of upheaval is also over. We wrapped up our flooring project and got everything put back in place so now it's time to relax...not really...as I said, I'm back at work today. I suppose this has been what is referred to as a working vacation. The guys from Above All Hardwood Floors in Prior Lake did a great job for us. I don't think there's any way Tammy and I could have done anything near this nice had we done the work ourselves. I can't get over the difference the wood floors make in the richness of the rooms. We're very satisfied with the outcome. I chronicled the project on video for my YouTube account and spliced the scenes together tonight. You can find the video here I ventured on my bike into Minneapolis on Wednesday in an effort to try and get some photos of the collapsed bridge on 35W. I didn't have much success...

We're slowly getting our home put back together after having hardwood floors put in on most of the main level. I'm an organized type and not accustomed to having stuff in such disarray but disarray is a necessary part of the process. I hope to have a YouTube video of the steps involved in the project later in the week. It's been a trying week at times as the project hasn't all been as easy as we'd hoped. The main problem was a new dishwasher which didn't fit. The new floors add 3/8" in height and that's enough to create problems. We had them remove the wood flooring under the dishwasher and now it just barely fits. I'm sure it will be a fine addition to our home but up to now, it sits as a piece of junk which doesn't work. There isn't anything complicated about installing a dishwasher...a couple of water line connections and some wire connections. For whatever reason, the water won't flow to the unit and yes, the water was turned on. I...

I just got a call from Adam at the BestBuy corporate office stating that the letter I'd written them last November has come to their attention. BestBuy is apparently aware that they have many unhappy customers. They want to put together a training video to include those disenchanted with their store such as myself to try and educate their workforce about customer satisfaction. Adam wants to bring a film crew to our home and do an interview but they want to do it early next week and we're still in the middle of our flooring project. He suggested that we could possibly meet at their corporate offices in Bloomington. I said I was fine with that. I told him that my experience with them was frustrating beyond belief and that they weren't just words when I told them in my letter that they'd lost a good customer. I mentioned that we'd recently purchased kitchen appliances and never set foot in BestBuy whereas before we'd likely have at least checked out what they have...