***Dave Does the Blog

Coffee Clutch

The McDonald’s Scalding Coffee Case So we’ve all heard about ridiculous lawsuits and how our country is being ground into the dust by folks refusing to take responsibility for their…

The McDonald’s Scalding Coffee Case

So we’ve all heard about ridiculous lawsuits and how our country is being ground into the dust by folks refusing to take responsibility for their own dimwitted actions and instead suing folks with deep pockets.

Heck, I’ve chanted that same refrain myself.

The example folks most give of this is the infamous McDonald’s Scalding Coffee Case, where (as the legend goes) some idiot woman is drinking her take-out coffee, spills it, gets a little burn, and sues the snot out of McDonald’s.

Well, check out the link above. Based on the actual case, it paints a very different picture, both of the extent of the injuries, the negligence of the defendent, and the damages awarded.

Sure, it’s the Trial Lawyer Assoc. posting this, but the facts are the facts. Just remember that the next time someone starts bitching on this subject (and that the whole reason why punitive damages were originally allowed was to punish folks/firms for whom compensatory damages were being just written off as a cost of doing business).

Night owl

I am really a night owl. It always comes back to haunt me when I’m on business, because I stay up way too late, reading, video gaming, watching movies, without…

I am really a night owl. It always comes back to haunt me when I’m on business, because I stay up way too late, reading, video gaming, watching movies, without the restraining arm of Margie (bless her) making sure I don’t, well, stay up way too late. Given my druthers, though, I’d live 10a-2a, rather than 5a-10p.

Anyway, it will be nice to be back home tonight. Back to Katherine, and, of course, Margie. [Cue romantic sigh with little hearts floating around Dave’s head.]

Off on business again

Off on business. Stayed at the beeyooteefull Marriott Courtyard Old Towne Pasadena last night. Decent enough place, clean sheets, fair-to-middlin cable, good (if pricy) breakfast, convenient location (if irritating parking)….

However, their broadband access sucks. I’ve been staying there on and off for a year now (about the life of the hotel). Over the last two months, I’d say the broadband connection works about half the time. Can’t even get link on it. And since it’s with the same notebook and configuration, I don’t think that’s to blame.

So. Annoying.

Gave me the opportunity to watch The Mummy Returns, though, which has been on my list for a while. Glad I didn’t run out and pre-order the DVD. Oh, mind you, it was a decent enough action flick, with the requisite humor, horror, sfx, etc. It just felt like a pale copy of the original. The original was much better than I expected — this one was what I had expected from the original. Not much I can put my finger on — it just felt tired, bereft of ideas, bereft of the killer soundtrack of the original, thrown together in a conference. In fact, I’m probably being harsher on it than I should, because I really enjoyed the original.

Off home tonight, returning around midnight. I had been hoping to sleep in in the morning, go into the office late, but I have a conference call at 8, and miles to go, etc., etc.

Ah, well. Four day weekend coming up.

Long day

Long day. Off to church in the morning. More about that some day. Then to our usual Sunday brunch at Le Peep. Katherine’s table manners continue to improve, which is…

Long day.

Off to church in the morning. More about that some day.

Then to our usual Sunday brunch at Le Peep. Katherine’s table manners continue to improve, which is nice. There are some ways in which I would not at all complain if she “grew up so fast.” Eating is one. The end result is another.

(I asked my Mom once how long it would be until I could have intelligible conversations with my children. She suggested 30 years as a good round number.)

Then afterwards, off to CompUSA to see if I could get a new D-Link USB wireless NIC. The PC Card version I have has died for unknown reasons. I’ve used the upstairs USB version with great success, but Margie is understandably annoyed when we can’t print any longer (it also has some affect on her dial-up to her office).

Well, CompUSA doesn’t carry the D-Link line in wireless. In theory, 802.11b-compatible cards/units should be compatible with each other. On the other hand, I’ve dealt with enough Ethernet equipment that didn’t work and play well with others that I don’t want to screw around with it. So I’ll mail order it.

Then off to the Nursery (Arapahoe Acres). I got a bug up my butt (metaphorically speaking) about dealing with the “New Side Yard.” This is the section of the side yard (western side) between the fence/gate and the concrete slab. I decided this Spring that I would turn this into garden yard, rather than the dirt, mulch, and haserei that had accumulated there. I discovered, after some digging, there was actually a sprinkler buried down at that end of the yard (and slowly leaking).

So we went to the nursery (which is a great place to buy trees, though we didn’t, though we will eventually). Picked up a nice rose, various shrubs, etc. Went home and started off at 2 p.m., with a 5 p.m. quasi-deadline — since the first thing I did was fix the sprinkler head, and the sprinklers were due to kick off at 5.

Disconnected the old patch of fence and moved it down to the end of the slab, doing a quickie connection to the fence there (not permanent by any means, but it should hold up to wind and weather, if not Jake). Started digging up dirt, distributing the mulch piles there, fixing the sprinker wire that the original installer buried all of two frickin’ inches below the surface, etc. Then planting. Then mulching. I’d have not made the deadline, but I overrode the sprinkler control and bought myself an extra hour.

Fortunately we have plenty of Advil.

Golfing

South Suburban Golf Course So Doyce and I went golfing today. On the one hand, neither of us had scores worth writing home about. On the other hand, the Ball…

South Suburban Golf Course

So Doyce and I went golfing today. On the one hand, neither of us had scores worth writing home about. On the other hand, the Ball Loss Rate was much lower than at some of the other courses we’ve been on. And, as Doyce noted, there are much worse views and places one could be on a Saturday afternoon.

My folks are visiting in a couple of weeks. We’ll probably go out again then. Funny. My folks both golfed when I was a kid, as did my Mom’s folks. When we’d visit Nono and Nona, they’d usually go out golfing at least once. I have memories of playing with cut-down clubs at the Stanford driving range. And, eventually, playing when we’d visit Santa Barbara. Even took some classes at a local golf course when we lived in Diamond Bar.

And then, for years … nothing. No real interest. Nobody to golf with.

When I moved to Denver, I was bequeathed my Nono’s golf clubs — some original Ping irons, some woods. They sat, gathering dust, in my garage for five years.

And yet … I started discovering folks around me who golfed. Doyce. A couple of his friends. Folks at work. And it became, sort of, what the hell?

So I don’t golf nearly enough to be good at it. Weeks, months go by without my picking up my clubs. And, when I do go out, I don’t play all that well.

But Doyce was right. There are lots worse places to spend an afternoon. And it’s fun, and if you focus on the fun parts, and don’t get too angsty about the times you send the ball off at 80 degrees to your aim, or when you send the ball dribbling forward five feet … well, what the hell.

Besides, I don’t get much exercise. It’s nice to think I have a “sport” I play.

“I don’t know,” Margie comments. “Are you allowed to blog in your underwear?”

So now all I need

So now all I need to do is figure out how to get a cool “comments” tag like D-Man has….

So now all I need to do is figure out how to get a cool “comments” tag like D-Man has.

So Monday I’m off

So Monday I’m off on another trip, this one to Pasadena (again). Major audit report action, plus Talking Nice To People so that they will abide by the policies I’ve…

So Monday I’m off on another trip, this one to Pasadena (again). Major audit report action, plus Talking Nice To People so that they will abide by the policies I’ve written. And smoothing some troubled waters, and bruised egos.

I enjoy my work. Really. I’m getting to do stuff I’ve not been able to do before — set policies. Hoody-hoo.

Getting people to follow them, of course, there’s the rub.

On the other hand, I have three (count ’em, three) performance evals to give. I hate performance evals. I could easily spend the rest of my career without giving performance evals. That’s because, to be frank, I hate to confront people. Oh, I’ll do it, and get me riled up enough, I’ll do it with ferocious abandon. But I hate doing it as a normal thing.

Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Brust’s Issola. Because, like Lady Teldra, I like being polite. I like being diplomatic. I like finding the right way to say things to make people get along and be happy. (Because otherwise, they’ll be unhappy, and blame me, and hate me, and then I’ll live out my life, unloved, living in a cardboard box and eating cockroaches. But I digress.)

Actually, that’s probably the problem I have with GMing games. I really hate to lower the boom on people, to say, “No, you can’t do that.” So that leaves me with two alternatives, neither of which is good.

1. I can use a system that is very heavily ruled, a very accurate simulation, something that requires dice throws every thirty seconds, and comes with tomes of rules. But I hate that, because it’s not fun, and because I hate rules lawyers. It’s not why I’m playing the game, damnit.

2. I can use a system that’s very free-form, very loosy-goosy, that will allow me to have free reign of my imagination. The way literature is. But then I have to deal with munchkins who will try to get away with things that they shouldn’t, and I’ll have to confront them on it. Or not, in which case the game suffers. But that’s not why I’m playing the game, damnit.

So why don’t I just write a book? Because I’m lazy.

I’ve actually written a book. Some day, maybe even soon, when I can allocate a few weeks to it, I’ll finish the final bits (i.e., give it one last read-through and edit) and post it somewhere.

If so, you’ll read about it here, first.

D&D Widower

So it’s funny. I’m a D&D Widower tonight. She’s over at Doyce’s, doing D&D, while I stay at home and take care of the baby. It’s … weird. Of course,…

So it’s funny. I’m a D&D Widower tonight. She’s over at Doyce’s, doing D&D, while I stay at home and take care of the baby. It’s … weird.

Of course, I’ve done the same thing in reverse. Though not much. And I’ll be doing Star Wars RPG without her. And we’ll still be gaming together. And I’ll be running my own game Real Soon Now Again.

Still, it’s weird. Kinda fun, though.

Discretion

Discretion, of course, is necessary. If I started writing things like, “Boy, that friend of mine, Joe, he’s sure smells bad.” Or like, “And so, when nobody was looking, I…

Discretion, of course, is necessary. If I started writing things like, “Boy, that friend of mine, Joe, he’s sure smells bad.” Or like, “And so, when nobody was looking, I took that notebook computer from the Help Desk and brought it home for keeps.” If I started writing things like that, it might be … embarrassing. Because it would guarantee that Joe, and my Boss, would both end up viewing my blog. Can’t have that.

So. Discretion. That still leaves a lot to talk about. Life. The Universe. Jokes. The significance of 47. And if Joe and my Boss (not their real names, of course) should happen to read this — hi, guys.

I don’t see this blog as being as successful as Some I Know. For one thing, I doubt I’ll be able to maintain a steady stream of discussion. Sure, this has a big advantage over a hardcopy journal, to wit, I can get to it anywhere I can get to an Internet connection. Which makes it a lot more handy than my journal was. Still … my life is busy. And, frankly, when there are people around, I do better writing to them, or talking to them, directly. If I post stuff in my blog, then have to e-mail people saying, “Hey, check out my blog!” … well, that seems a bit redundant.

And there shall be a beginning …

The movie’s over, Margie’s still at D&D, Kitten’s asleep. What else is there to do but create a blog? It is, of course, the In Thing. “Keeping up with the…

The movie’s over, Margie’s still at D&D, Kitten’s asleep. What else is there to do but create a blog?

It is, of course, the In Thing. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is, sometimes, “Keeping up with the Testermans.” At least when it comes to doing geeky stuff.

I kept a journal in college. Couldn’t keep it going after I graduated. Real Life is like that.

(This is coming out a little terse. That’s probably because so far Blogger has blown up on me twice, losing all I wrote. Bleah.)

So maybe I’d better post this, then continue.