September 18, 2005

Talk Like a Pirate

Filed under: General - Ric @ 5:07 pm

Tomorrow is “Talk Like a Pirate Day”… Yes, that’s what I said. For more information make sure you drop by the official web site. In order to get yourselves ready for this event, You will need to get a Pirate name. The link below can help.

My pirate name is: Iron Roger Flint

A pirate’s life isn’t easy; it takes a tough person. That’s okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Like the rock flint, you’re hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you’re easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Philosophy

Filed under: Almanac, Reflections - Ric @ 4:43 pm

This is a great summarization of my University years. I studied at the University of Western Ontario and at the University of Toronto. Mind you I should have said that I consumed my fair share of beer, for studying was the least of my concerns. I took a break in the middle to join the church, leave the church, and drink more beer. As a result I recall little of my univeristy daze, save the gleam from the rail at the bar.

Poem: “Philosophy” by Daniel Hoffman, from Makes you Stop and Think © George Braziller Publishers.

Philosophy

In sophomore year the great philosopher,
Then ninety, out of retirement came, to pass
His wisdom on to one more generation.
Reading his last lecture to our class,

That afternoon the mote-filled sunlight leaned
Attentively with purpose through the tall
Windows in amber buttresses that seemed
To gird the heavens so they wouldn’t fall.

The blaze of his white mane, his hooded eyes,
The voice that plumbed us from reflection’s skies
So far above temptation or reward—

The scene has never left my mind. I wrote
His lecture down, but, in an old trunk, my notes
Have crumbled, and I can’t recall a word.


From the Writer’s Almanac by Garrison Keillor
Available by e-mail daily.

My Sunday Off

Filed under: Time - Ric @ 4:06 pm

Sunday off; a day free from labour; ordained rest by the Divine on high. Unfortunately, someone forgot to read the memo. My Sunday off is a little different.

…Sunday has really gone to the dogs…

Let’s start with the dogs. If God had wanted Sunday to be a day of rest, you’d think he would have informed the dogs. But they still want out or the house early in the morning. There are neighbours to wake, cats to chase, and let’s not forget nature’s call. No, dogs definitely missed the memo on the whole day of rest thing. Mind you they are very well informed on the afternoon of rest, usually in my favourite spot on the sofa, but I digress.

Next is my day job. The place where I’m expected to be, 9 - 5, Monday to Friday. They missed the memo too. I don’t think they were ever copied on the original. Instead of Sunday being a time of rest and time spent with family, for the best and brightest at Gigantic Concrete (and everywhere else I’ve worked too) Sunday is a change window. It is an opportunity to do all the computer and system work you need to do so that other people can be uninterrupted during their 9-5 work week. “The rocks must flow”. It sounds like a Frank Herbert novel waiting to happen. This Sunday morning I had a telco on the phone with a manufacturer of fine network equipment trying to recreate a problem we solved over a month ago to ensure that we really solved it.

To really top off My Sunday Off we need to look at the home front. There’s the grass to cut, the hedge to trim, the car to wash, and groceries to buy. Worst of all there ’s the calls of nature from my canine friends to scoop. Sunday has really gone to the dogs.

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