Category: Life

Endless popups.  False virus alerts.  Yes, that’s right, some malware got into our desktop at home.  How?  I’m not sure.  We’ve got enough antivirus and antispyware stuff to keep everyone but the nerdiest hackers out.  This one was tough.  I had to get on my laptop, research how to get rid of it, then download software to do it, burn a CD, run it and disinfect the desktop.

Frustration.  Aggravation.  Anger.  The blame game.  Plenty of emotional response to the whole episode.  I wonder if someone, somewhere, is getting some joy out of knowing that they’ve caused someone to waste part of their day trying to recover their computer.  Why would someone even bother to develop “malware” anyway?

Is there always someone trying to screw with your life (or your computer) in some way?  I guess the answer is yes.  I’m not going to get all theological, but I guess that is the problem after all.  Someone’s constantly hacking your life.  Hope you backed up sometime recently.

After years of borrowing my neighbor’s power washer, I finally got one of my own.  I had to.  His hasn’t been working and my driveway was getting mildew-y.

I got a medium-duty model at Home Depot, got it together and running without any problem, and a few hours and a bottle of bleach later, my driveway and front sidewalk are looking pretty nice.  Next time I have a half-day free, I need to tackle the soffits around the house.  They’ve been dirty for a while, too.

My wife called it my new toy.  I don’t consider it a toy, since I have to use it for work, but I do get a certain pleasure out of cranking up a small engine and powering stubborn dirt into oblivion.  Growing up, we never powerwashed anything.  Now you powerwash everything.  I don’t even know if they had powerwashers back then.  The oil stain under dad’s car was a permanent part of the driveway.  Everyone had one.  I guess everyone leaked some oil back then.  It was no big deal.

The biggest surprise was when I turned it off and the engine backfired a few times.  It made the dogs across the street start barking.  It ran OK other than that, so I’m not sure what’s wrong.  Faulty spark plug?  Maybe.  Anyway, it looks good sitting in the garage.

We just got back from the hospital in St. Augustine, visiting Jessica and her new baby daughter, Riley.  Mark, the dad, was out to dinner with his family, so we didn’t get to see them.  But we did see Riley, and she is pretty cute for all of two days old.

Newborns bring back memories of watching my own children being born.  I clearly remember two of the doctors saying, “If you’ve got a camera, it’s time to start taking pictures!”  And I did.  The old fashioned way, with film.  Got them developed and took them to church with me to show everyone.  Found out not everyone wants to see all the gory details.

Mark and Jess are young.  At least they seem very young.  23 and 21.  Let’s see, I was 28 when my first, Adam was born.  Lisa was 24.  We weren’t so old, either.  Somehow we figured out what to do.  I guess all parents do.

Babies are cool.  There’s no two ways about it.  You just have to like the little ones.  I’m looking forward to a baptism in the near future!

Liv and I undecorated the tree and put all the ornaments and Christmas knick-knacks away this morning.  Since the three kids decorated the tree this year, I actually enjoyed the undecorating process, getting to see our diverse collection of ornaments.  I remember exactly who gave us some, while others, I have no idea where we got them.  We have purchased very few, if any, so they are virtually all gifts.

The tree had to go up into the attic in pieces.  I have a new zipper bag to store it in.  Last year I learned the hard way that if you put the tree in the box or bag first, you cannot get it up into the attic.  No, not even with my amazing strength.

As I climbed down from the attic and raised the ladder and door, I knew that the memories would be there for me again next year.  Memories of Christmases of my childhood, when our children were younger, and this year.  That’s one of the cool things about Christmas decorations.  They help to preserve marvelous memories of the places we’ve  been and the people we love.

My new running shoes arrived the other day.  Same make and model as I had, but these are new, with lots of fresh cushioning and the promise of much more comfortable runs.  Yes, it’s exciting to get a new pair of running shoes, especially when I’ve put too many miles on the old ones.  They say you should replace your shoes every 300-400 miles, but I know I went way beyond that.  Anyway, the first run in them this morning was much better and even a little bouncy.  Tomorrow’s run will be in 30 degree weather.  I haven’t run in 30 degree weather for a while.  In Des Moines, I ran in 20 below temperatures, with many layers and just my eyes showing.  But that was a long, long time ago.  Yes, I am crazy.