The exciting world of the bench tech.
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Geek Wannabe, General
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Jan 312003
The exciting world of the bench tech.
It’s Snowing!
General
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Jan 232003
Snow snow snow!
It’s amazing; our area hardly ever gets snow. What we get is ice. Lots and lots of ice, coating the roads and bringing down trees and power lines. But about once a year we get a day that has actual honest-to-God snow, and today seems to be that day.
The schools are closed today, of course. While we are all quite well aware that the hardy souls up in the wintry northern climes will slog their way to school even if it’s forty below and the snow is three feet deep, down here snow is something we simply aren’t prepared to deal with on a regular basis. It’s more cost-effective to just close things down on the rare occasions that we get this kind of snowfall than it is to maintain plows and snow-clearing equipment all year round. So you Canadians can spare yourselves the effort of telling me of the extreme conditions that you’ve blithely endured in the course of your normal winter day, until you’ve spent a summer down here when the temperature is over 90° Fahrenheit with a humidity of 100% (the kind of thing we get every summer).
Farmer and Devil
General
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Jan 212003
A wealthy russian farmer was once walking in his fields with his wife.
As usual, the wife was bitching away, and the farmer said nothing until they got near a well, where he suddenly pushed his wife into the well.
A week later, the farmer came back to the well, and lowered the bucket down so his wife could get out.
However, instead of his wife, he got the devil out, who was so thankful that the farmer pulled him out of his predicament that he gave him a herb. The devil told the farmer that in a few weeks, he would hear of a princess being possessed by the devil, and that he should get to her, and burn the herb in her presence; at that time, the devil would flee and the Czar would give him the princess to marry as a reward.
So, as expected, a few weeks later, the farmer heard about a princess possessed by the devil, and all priests were powerless to exorcise the devil. So he went to the capital, and managed to meet the Czar who told him that it better work, otherwise he’ll be beheaded.
He got to the princess’ room, pulled out the herbs and burned them. The devil fled at once, but not without telling the farmer that “being even, we have nothing between us anymore”.
The Czar gave him the princess to marry.
* * *
Many years go by, and then another princess was possessed by the devil.
Of course, the ex-farmer was solicited but he refused, until he was threatened by war. So he grudgingly went to the other princess, and once there, the devil recognized him and said, “What the hell? I told you there is nothing anymore between us!!!”
“It’s not for that,” said the ex-farmer, “I’m just here to warn you that my wife got out of the well, and she is looking for you.”
The devil fled at once, never to be heard from again…
Last Friday when I left work, there was a group of people standing around and watching something up the hill. Looking to see what they were so interested in, I saw that the bushes next to another building were on fire. Not just smouldering, but actual visible flames a foot or so high.
There was another little knot of spectators at the top of the hill, so I ambled up to take my place as Designated Gawker #5. I could hear sirens approaching, and before long a fire truck pulled up and firemen hopped out and started spraying down the bushes. Once it was out, they stood around talking with someone who I imagine was in charge of the office complex, but that wasn’t nearly as interesting so us rubberneckers all wandered off.
The building was undamaged, but the decorative shrubbery was a loss.
Clow!
Breeder's Corner
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Jan 122003
I got to meet my nephew and niece over the holidays. (Yes, I really am an “Aunt Bertha.”) My mother often says that being a grandmother is great, and I got to get a taste of that while they were visiting. My niece is less than a year old, an adorable, friendly little creature who would grin hugely at me whenever she saw me. Maybe it’s just my amusing face. But when a baby grins at you, you have to grin back. It’s just hard-wired into the species. And then I’d get to play with her and cuddle and kiss her—and then pass her back to her mom when she got tired or cranky. What could be better?
I’ve actually met my nephew before, but at the time he was barely older than his sister. Now he’s two and able to express himself in English, and he’s a lot more fun. My own youngest son, who has always wanted a little brother or sister of his own (sorry kid, it ain’t happening), was tickled to death to have a little guy to play with. Together they made a tower out of giant legos.
The two are also very similar in temperament. They’re both energetic, extroverted little people who are not at all intimidated by authority figures. At a restaurant one afternoon my nephew was playfully poking my son, despite being told to stop. Finally his grandfather picked him up to get him out of reach of his victim. Even so he stated defiantly, “I will poke!” I probably found this much more amusing than his parents. I’ve been through the same sorts of things with my own rug rats.
Whenever we heard him start to yell, “Clow!” his mom or dad would go investigate. Turns out clow is his shorthand for “I am tired and/or frustrated and about to start hitting now.” What a neat thing, to have a code word to indicate this level of stress to those around you. I want to have a word like that. How many marital spats could be avoided if I could signal clearly that I’m spoiling for a fight and best left alone for a while. Tiring day at work, dealing with argumentative children all afternoon, my mate walks in grumpy and snappish—
“Clow!” I warn.
“Me too,” he would say, and off we’d go to be by ourselves until we weren’t feeling so brittle.
I think the kid’s on to something.
