It’s been a while since I posted anything; seems like all the ideas I’ve got need a thousand words or so, and I just haven’t had time for that.  That hasn’t changed yet, so here’s something quick and fun instead.  If you’ve ever seen Conan the Barbarian, check this out:  Conan the Musical.  (Incidentally, if someone says “Conan” and you think “O’Brien” instead of “the Barbarian,” you’ve been culturally shortchanged.)

I made my very first GraphJam this morning, after tornado sirens woke me up.  (They turned out to be a false alarm.)  Yes, I was in the red group below.

People who know me personally know I’m very much a do-it-yourselfer.  I do my own plumbing, electrical work, computer repair, and so on.  I even took a stab at self-dentistry once when I was desperate.  But there’s one service I’ll gladly splurge to have someone else do, and that’s mowing the lawn. Read more »

I was pretty hard on Jim back on Monday, so I wanted to add that I don’t really blame him; he’s just doing the best with the situation he’s found himself in and responding to the incentives he’s been offered.  He doesn’t know what would happen if we went back to a constitutional system, where responsibility starts at the local level and the federal government does as little as possible instead of everything we deem important.  Maybe he personally would take it in the shorts.  It’s hard to blame him for wanting to keep the system that’s making him comfortable. Read more »

(Yay, two posts in two days!)  I thought I’d follow yesterday’s interminable screed with something lighter:  I’ve mentioned before that my favorite car is the 1987 Buick GNX, so when a rare picture of one comes across my screen, it catches my attention.  This one is made of awesome.

Jim is a regular American guy. He works for a living, has a family and a home, and doesn’t think about government too much. Mostly he leaves it alone and hopes it’ll leave him alone. He prides himself on being moderate enough to vote for both parties, but he mostly votes for incumbents—his life is pretty good, so why rock the boat? So now that we’ve gotten to know Jim a little, let’s spend a day with him, shall we? Read more »

JQLife

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that since getting the hang of CSS and discovering jQuery (a Javascript framework that’s a huge improvement on a language that feels like it was created by government committee) I was starting to enjoy web programming again.  Several nights ago, I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to work on something new.   In about three hours, I threw together a little game based on something I played once on the Commodore 64, and got it functioning. Read more »

Tomorrow is the big St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage (and mashed potatoes) dinner at St. Rose!  It’s from 11-7, and it’s $8/person or $35/family.  Kids under 12 are $5.  We cooked up 500 pounds of meat, which I think is four times what we started with last year, so we shouldn’t run out unless we get twice as many people.  Last year we ran out by 1:30 and had to scramble to have some cooked on short notice, and it wasn’t nearly as good.  This year we’re much better prepared, and we’re hoping to serve a thousand people.

There will be Irish-flavored music all day, from several different groups.  Last year, I thought I’d be insane or deaf by the end of the day, but it was actually pretty nice.  The groups change every hour or so, so the music is always fresh.  See the link above to see who’s playing when.  Bring all your family and friends to enjoy the food and music!  There’s also High Mass at 9:30am, instead of the usual 12:10pm Low Mass.

At 7pm, right when our dinner ends, there is also an Irish music concert at St. Boniface Church, featuring a harpist and a soprano singer.  I’d be there myself, except I’ll probably be elbow deep in dishes at that point, but it sounds very good.  The entrance fee is a free-will offering, with $10 suggested, and the proceeds will be split between Quincy Catholic Charities and Mission of Hope Haiti.  It’s a chance to hear some good music and see one of Quincy’s architectural centerpieces.

Lent starts tomorrow with Ash Wednesday — don’t forget to stock up on fish! — so here’s a cute story about a boy who decided to spend all of Lent in a tent.

And here’s why Pepper won’t go anywhere near the cows when we take her to the farm:

image from icanhascheezburger.com

Cows are mean critters where dogs are concerned.

This is just too funny not to share:

From icanhascheezburger.com