Archive for category Life Events
Going Legit, Part 2
Posted by Eugene in Life Events on October 29, 2007
Part 1 of this engrossing series is here.
I think all my digital wares are officially 100% legal at this point. I went through our MP3 collection and purged everything Lynn and I didn’t specifically own (and probably a few things we actually did because neither of us would ‘fess up to ever buying it), and wound up saving quite a bit of diskspace on Henry, our faithful multipurpose Linux server.
I don’t have any more software I shouldn’t have, and… well…? Did I get rid of the DVDs I copied? I think I threw them out… or will next time I see them, at any rate….
Anyway, the temptation to steal is still there, but it’s easier when there are clear-cut rules in place. Like, if it’s not free, pay for it. Or… if it can only be used on one computer, use it only on one computer. My rules are very mathematical in nature… 1 is always 1, and there’s no thinking involved.
My trouble, as expected, has been all the gray areas between the clearly defined equations. Like, a friend of mine lent me a game, and actually gave me the original factory media, etc., but he still has the game installed on his machine at the moment. Is it my responsibility to rectify that? And folks are always giving me copies of things. That one isn’t sooo hard… I mean, the copies go in the trash, sure… but how do I gently remind these people (which I’ve done on multiple occasions) that I don’t want to be party to copyright violation? Sometimes it’s through great effort that these gifts are made… is it worth hurting their feelings? I don’t have any desire to do that either, but I can’t very well hide behind one ideal while I disregard another.
So… call me a wonk, or a stick-in-the-mud… or worse, if you prefer… but keep your pirate booty to yourself!
Thanks, though. It’s the thought of petty larceny that counts. 🙂
A tangential part 3 of this series is here.
Road Trip 2007.1!
Posted by Eugene in Friends, Life Events, Road Trip 2007 on October 28, 2007
I just found out Wayne and his wife Meya will be accompanying Lynn and me to the other end of the state next weekend. It’ll only be like 7 hours in the car, though, so unfortunately none of my preparations for RT2007.0 will be any good.
Except for maybe my Mr. Fancy Pants loop CD. And my buttnut repellent.
Ed: I originally reported that Perry, not Wayne, was joining us. Fortunately this is not the case.
Fun with Genetics
Posted by Eugene in Life Events, Unfortunate Offspring on October 27, 2007
OK, so the cat is out of the bag now.
Or rather, the cat is technically still in the bag, and we don’t know what the cat looks like yet, but news of the bagged cat is… well… out of the bag.
Anyway, the recently emancipated news is that Lynn and I are going to be parents next year! The first trimester ended just this week, and our expected due date is May 7, 2008. All is well, and the little guy has a good, fast heartbeat. Lynn has been under much less stress now that she’s gone to a part-time schedule at work, and I think that’s helped. She still gets a little nauseous, and she’s definitely looking forward to the metabolism boost that everybody keeps promising is coming, but she hasn’t complained much at all. She’s even talking about doing it again already… but of course my alien spawn hasn’t popped out of her belly yet. We’ll see what she thinks after she actually meets the little fellow…
It’s an exciting time for me, but also an introspective one. I’m going to have to pony the crap up with some qualities I don’t really think I have, and soon… and that’s what’s truly scary about the whole thing. Things like patience and willpower and follow-through-itude are going to be important, but they’re the very things I struggle so much with. I’ve needed to exercise all three of them in the past (with varying degrees of success), but staying consistent with them has always been the hardest part.
I go through phases where I’m absolutely fired up about something, and there’s no way to stop me during those times. My attention still divides frequently, of course, but I always find the strength to refocus it and get the job done, and at a quality level at least an order of magnitude higher than expected. Getting through school the second time was a good example of that. It wasn’t a sustained “fired up” phase, though, but rather a string of phases, some stronger than others, broken here and there by unforseen circumstances in my life. I was between semesters when Mom died, and it took a huge effort to even stay enrolled. I wound up having to drop a class or two during that semester, and my heart just wasn’t in my work. Lynn’s support and, well, nagging (which I appreciate now, after the fact) were the only things that kept me on task then, and looking back I can see how well the two of us always work together in stressful situations.
Because of that, our child is going to have a huge advantage over what sadly seems to be the majority of other children in this country. Having two parents that love and respect each other and who, despite their many weaknesses and shortcomings, each always manage to strengthen and encourage the other under fire, is an important first step. Being wanted by both is important as well, and that’s definitely the case here. I’ve seen too many children trapped in feuds between their parents–and was one myself, long ago–and I don’t want my own child to ever feel like he was the catalyst for that kind of trouble. We’ll fail him in many ways, that’s for sure, but not in that way. Not ever.
So, anyway, I got fired up pretty hot when I first heard the news, and the trick now will be to maintain that fire. If you don’t mind, I’m putting some of that responsibility on you. Tell me when I’m slacking, and remind me how critical my perfection–or at least my attempt at it–is going to be for my blessed little child. Keep us in your prayers, and rejoice, for a new little Beauchamp-Simmons is nigh upon us!
Clickety-Clack-Clack
Posted by Eugene in Life Events on September 15, 2007
There are big things going on around here, but I won’t talk about them yet (even though I have zero readership here at the moment). The train keeps on chugging… and I’m excited, but most everything I used to be excited about is in a state of neglect.
Meanwhile…
My gramps is with my aunt and uncle in D.C. right now, watching a Braves game. I sort of wish I could be there, but a weekend with friends and my wife is something I need (and with increasing frequency) to recharge my batteries.
We’re also interviewing for a position at work. I recommended Wayne, of course, but they wouldn’t even talk to him. Bunch of puntzes.
Unabashed Whateverism
Posted by Eugene in Life Events, Rants on August 24, 2007
I ran across the blog of a one-time best friend today. Interesting stuff, really, but it’s quite clear that we don’t have a whole lot of common ground anymore. Or, rather, that we most likely never did. Except the Linux thing, I guess, assuming he’s still into it as much as I am. He’s probably the one that got me so nutsy about it in the first place.
For years he felt the need to hide a particular “trait” (yes, one that has sparked religious, political and homicidal controversy for millennia), but that’s a whole unfortunate story unto itself. I was there the last few years before his “unveiling” ever came about, and so well hidden was this “trait” that it completely blindsided me when he finally told me the big news.
After that moment in the park when he told me about it (just him and me parked in the dark) he went through some turbulent months as his life turned upside down: friends and family freaked out and condemned him to hell; doors and minds closed; doors and minds opened; new philosophies awaited his embrace; old philosophies awaited the rubbish bin. I should probably point out that I was really supportive of him during that time, and even went to a few meetings for friends and families of people of his “trait,” but I doubt that’s something he remembers now. But that’s really fine, I don’t mind. The whole point of lending a hand–or, what should be the point of it–is to help at that moment and not expect praise for it for the rest of time. And anyway, I’m sure there’s plenty from that era that he’d just as soon not remember.
Before the Great Transformation he portrayed himself as a stereotypical right-wing nutterbutter:
- He argued passionately in favor of flying the Confederate flag, and for all the right reasons (none of which included any sort of discrimination, bias or class promotion).
- He kept a handgun in his apartment long before I was comfortable with the idea of doing it myself, and he knew how to use it.
- He was an avid (and often rabid) Pat Buchanan fan. This is the issue that I had trouble with… I mean, come on!!! Pat Buchanan, who attracted attention (mostly in the form of hate) from lefties and true righties alike??!? The political stuff was probably the area where I came the closest to seeing the seams in my friend’s mask. I didn’t really buy it at the time, but I had no reason to suspect he was trying to hide something. I certainly had no clue that it was just a ploy to hide the “trait.”
His nutterbutterism was fine with me, though. It was just a part of a very close friend’s life. But then, after the Great Transformation, it was quite a different story:
- He became an activist for those with the “trait,” began participating in benefits for the disease associated with the “trait” and hung out exclusively with “traited” others. Note that I’m merely pointing out his abrupt change of focus here, and not condemning the “trait.”
- All of his jokes became explicitly “trait” oriented, and their frequency increased whenever I asked him to back off because I didn’t identify with them.
- He became a proud Democrat, and one of the subtags on his blog now actually reads, “Unabashed Liberalism…” as if we had a surplus of abashed Liberals in this country. 🙂
Again, nothing wrong with his identifying with Liberal politics either, or practicing whatever privileges he might have (mostly because as a free-range American I don’t have to agree with them 🙂 ), but there was something fundamentally wrong about the fact that he had come out of his chrysalis a completely different person than the one I knew and loved. I don’t mean to paint his “before” as any better or more preferable than his “after” (because I certainly disagree mightily with certain aspects of both!) but some of the changes happened much too quickly to have just been a result of maturing ideals. It was like he was suddenly living from a playbook, because one day he started rejecting many of the concepts he had claimed to embrace only months, weeks and even days before.
It was clear that the guy I had come finally to accept (which is no easy process for me – just ask Perry!) was only a contrived projection who didn’t really exist at all. I can still remember some of the character inconsistencies of that contrivance after all these years, and how moody my friend would become if I picked at them. All the facts were there, I realize now… I just had no reason to review them.
I wish I had, though, because maybe then it wouldn’t have hurt so bad when my friend disappeared so long ago. I realize now how unhappy he must have been during that time, and I feel bad that I didn’t do more… reach out more… something. At the same time, though, I know that I would only have been helping to kill the man I knew and birthing one I didn’t. Who knows… maybe someday we’ll meet again under different circumstances… and maybe both of us will have gotten past some of our respective misconceptions, flaws and insecurities. If that time comes and the wind is blowing just right, there’s no reason not to get to know him again. I certainly don’t hold anything against him… I just still very much miss the person I thought he was, even something like 8 years later.
But for now I say, “Whatever.” And I’ll stick to that like a pit bull on a Michael Vick trading card.
Happy Little Piglet
Posted by Eugene in Food and Drink, Life Events on August 22, 2007
Lynn played housewife today, for the second Wednesday in a row, and it was awesome! She went shopping at the members’ warehouse dealy and bought about 350 pounds of meat, plus more of those lens wipes that I’m always leaving everywhere I go like some kind of blind man’s breadcrumbs, plus she did about a zillion things around the house and whatnot that she’s been wanting to get after, PLUS I came home for lunch and had a homecooked dinner of fried chicken nuggets (these were no premade chunkies, either), squash and field peas with bacon, PLUS I came home from work again at the end of the day and had beer-battered fish and onion rings and hush puppies and okra. Today put me over my weekly limit for fried food, but I can most certainly get used to this when she starts being home an extra two days a week. Not that I would expect to be able to waltz on home from work for homecooked lunches twice a week, but I shan’t complain when the opportunity presents itself.
I’m lucky because she’s the best cook I know (who is actually a real person and not a chef). A lot of guys’ wives do well to get a plate of microwaved mac’n’cheese on the table, but not my Lynn. I may have gained about 600 pounds since we got married, and I may die when I’m 40, but I certainly can’t think of a better way to go.
They say there are lots and lots of things in this world that can kill you, and that the trick is having the fortitude and know-how to stay away from the deadlies. Well, I say something’s going to catch you anyway, so the real trick is embracing the deadlies that you most enjoy!
So… salut to you all, and a good night! 🙂
No Cash for the Devil!
Posted by Eugene in Internet, Life Events on August 16, 2007
I’ve completely lost interest (interest here being my forced servitude in the past) in paying AT&T for any service whatsoever.
That means no Cingular-cum-AT&T for cell service, no BellSouth-cum-AT&T for local phone service or [sadly] DSL, and no evil-AT&T-cum-eviler-AT&T for long distance!
About a week ago I got a $25 bill out of the blue from AT&T. What for? For long distance service I never authorized, and of which I was never notified prior to the $25 pocketbook-grab I got in the mail.
So I switched to Vonage.
Or I’m in the process of.
It’s been 12 days, and apparently my number change request fell through the cracks somewhere.
I got another notice from AT&T today that said in ALL CAPS (really) that if I didn’t call my local service provider and tell them I wished to have no long distance service at all, then they would resume billing me (again, against my wishes). Of course, doing that would likely screw up my Vonage transfer, as long distance is one of the 4 components of phone service they’re transferring.
I’m so glad for government regulations. They’ve really made the world a wonderful, happy, butterfly-and-lollipop-infested place.
Snick.
Outraged and Emasculated
Posted by Eugene in Life Events on August 15, 2007
A milder title would have been “Sticker-Shocked and Mechanically Disinclined,” maybe.
We had Roto-rooter come out to install our new water heater because I didn’t want to screw up the job and get all Mom’s furniture and stuff in the garage wet. Price? Over twice the cost of the water heater itself, and that’s after I got the thing home myself. 🙁
I think I’ll risk electrocution next time. 🙁
Imperfectionist
Posted by Eugene in Life Events on August 5, 2007
This is a post I began several months ago and never finished. I had already chosen to loosen up my blawgprose back then, but I lost interest when it came to finding a perfect ending, and never finished this particular entry. So, what with the advent of my new no-cares-it attitude, I’ll just post it unfinished and dangling. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I don’t notice anything wrong with the car now. 🙂
—
The wife’s car got suckerpunched right in the nose–or maybe it was the jaw–by a repair van back in January, and we just picked up the golden chariot from the body shop today. It only took a week in the shop but there was a two week waiting list before that, three weeks of waiting for the worthless appraisal company to send a fool out before that and two weeks of trying to get the insurance company to talk to us before that.
I make up false names for most of the people and institutions I write about (yes, I made a conscious decision not to say ‘about which I write.’ From here on out my blawgs will be completely informal rather than just mostly so), so I’ll call Federated Insurance Suckmaster Enterprises. That’s because they suck. And because they’re good at it.
Suckmaster approved 94% of the estimate provided by the body shop, but they picked all kinds of tiny nits about labor and paint details, etc., and one large one about the bumper. Simply put, since the golden chariot was more than a couple years old, they refused to buy a new bumper for us. It was only a $75 difference, and one we should have just paid out-of-pocket to avoid having a remanufactured bumper installed. But Suckmaster and I both balked about the various principles with which we independently identified, so the course was followed as originally set.
When we arrived at the body shop we saw the golden chariot peeking out from an adjacent parking, so the first thing we did was to inspect its new jaw. I’m sure that 90-95% of the rest of the world’s population (those who own vehicles and are concerned with the outward appearance of them anyway) would have been pleased as seven flavors of punch with the results. I, on the other hand… well, let’s just say that I found some flaws, and griped about each of them in turn.
Yes, I am a perfectionist, and work done by me must be absolutely perfect. 30 second emails take three minutes to compose. The first 20 pages of my novel took 32 years. The list could go on, but I’ve used up all the good examples. Point being, I’m totally and completely OCD about the appearance of certain things. Other things… well, I’m bothered by mess, but most of the time it’s not enough for me to want to do something about it. The inside of my car is a pig sty and the outside isn’t much better. My office is a mess. Everything around me is a mess. But ask for a report or a design from me and it’ll come back flawless.
Molly
Posted by Eugene in Family, Life Events on March 18, 2007
Mom would be 60 today. Happy Birthday.