No Desire - Ich habe keine lust

Today I heard a different version of "Ich Habe Keine Lust" from Peter Schilling which is simply nauseating compared to Rammstein's which is fantastic. Looks like Peter Schilling's version was released in 1999 on his best of album(really?) and Rammstein's in 2005. Talk about upping the ante. Rammstein proving again that they really rule musically. Give them both a listen if "Du habe lust" and give me your opinion, especially if you disagree.

Going back in time in my head

Ever get caught thinkin' this to some degree? (Well not exactly 82, but in that decade!) Well today I was listening to this song by the Church that brought back some memories of swimming for West High, dating Deborah Livsey. Man those were the days!

Read interesting article

I was skimming through my latest Wired magazine, which is usually hit and miss on interesting material. This one caught my attention as it read like a novel, but claims to be true. What happens when people take online chats too far and fall in love with a fantasy?
Read what happens. It's too bad that it resulted in a broken family, a murder, and all of it was based on lies. Now that's messed up!

My feet are still growing?

Why is that my height doesn't increase anymore (Stuck at 5'11"), but my stupid feet apparently are still growing? I bought some size 11 shoes yesterday without trying them on, and then went to a restaurant with them. I had to slip them off under the table, because they were too tight and very uncomfortable. I went back and got size 13 and that was much better.
I've never gone higher than 11 and Cathi is laughing at my "clown shoes" look. Why is it that my feet are still growing? Why can't I get taller so it seems more natural!

Jacob's first football game

Jacob had his first football game. He was the end guy on the line on both defense and offense. He still has to learn to get a fire under him to get after the quarterback. He was able to do well protecting the quarterback and tie up his guy, but on offense, he didn't realize that he was supposed to go around the guy instead of tie him up. He made a couple of good plays. He was able to defend the runner behind him from three guys and the running back was able to get a 12 yard run because of Jacob's blocking. I made a deal with Jacob for several different plays and Jacob managed to earn $8.

$5 - Protecting the runner resulting in a first down
$1 - Tackling a runner with the ball
$1 - Chasing down the quarterback and making him get a sack
$1 - winning the game.

Good job Jacob!

Schlage is better, but more costly too

Took back the broken Qwikset handleset and bought a Schlage handleset for twice the price, but so much easier to install and it looks better. But still $150 for a doorknob? Cmon!
No incident with this installation. Very smooth and took about 10 minutes total.

Home repair nightmare

After my highly successful home repair last month, when the front door would no longer open from the outside I figured I would take a stab at this one. I removed the door handle and looked at the hardware inside. Without going too far into it I realized that some of the highly complex mechanism was broken and I needed to replace the hardware.

I went to home depot yesterday morning on the way to work and noticed that all the handleset were very expensive!!! I didn't see any that matched what we had before. The least expensive one that was silver and had a similar look was $73.97. It was a qwikset handleset UPC 042049477856. I reluctantly purchased it and went on to work.



After work, when I got home the kitchen was a disaster and everyone was gone to Jacob's football practice, except Austin. I started to replace the handleset. Everything in print was duplicated three times in different languages. The instructions were on one piece of paper (for all three languages) and the print was very small. The pictures were small as well. There were several sizes of screws. When I screwed the handle in I picked the screw that looked to be the right size from the picture and from matching it up with the width of the door. It must have had at least 100 turns to get it in with a screwdriver.

When I screwed both in all the way, there was still about 1/8" left. The handle and knob on both sides weren't flush with the door and loose. I looked at the other screws and there was another set that were a little shorter so I started unscrewing the 100 turn screws. When I went as far as I could go the screws wouldn't come out. I pulled the handle out from the door to see what the holdup was, I noticed that the "nut" for the screws had come out of the handle hardware. So I reached down into the gap and held onto the nut, so I could unscrew all the way. When I did that and pulled the screw out, the interior hardware of the handle, fell apart! Parts were falling all over the porch, and I was not a happy camper.

I noticed on the box that it has a lifetime warranty. That lifetime warranty would have satisfied a gnat. I was very displeased

1. With the price - its a freakin doorknob!


2. Lack of detailed instructions (which screw to use)


3. Lack of standarization in door construction (I had to use a cold chisel to carve out a gap for the door slide in the door which wasn't in the old version)


4. Lack of sturdiness of the qwikset door handle


5. Size of schematics was too small!

Needless to say my temper was flared and the evening was ruined for me. I neatly put all the hardware back in the box and will return tomorrow and make another attempt at replacing it.

Modified Home Depot slogan for the day - "You can screw it up. We can help."
This wasn't Home Depot's fault, just fit me well for today.

Funny Flashback

Yesterday I heard a song that caused a flashback......

Back in spring of 2002 I was at Tomax at 8:00 for a meeting held by Jeff Patton. I was in the Snowbird Conference room at 8:00 sharp. Jeff came in and started setting up his presentation on his laptop. Michael Colpitts came in and sat down. Jeff realized he had left something at his desk. Before he left he started playing this song on his laptop loud enough for everyone to hear. I think he was trying to entertain Mike and I for the couple minutes he would be gone.

I immediately recognized the band - Soul Coughing. Jeff Patton has great musical taste I thought. Granted this wasn't Soul Coughing's best song, but Mike Doughty is a great song writer and poet. I like the jazzy and funky sound of his music! When Jeff had left the room, Michael in his effeminate Canadian accent said something like "That's rude. Playing music and then leaving the room, and listen to those lyrics! How offensive!" (The song refers to a plane crashing into a building. The song was written before 9/11 so I'm sure people had unjustly attributed the song to that event.)

"Oh brother lighten up!" I thought. Maybe if he played country, opera or some gay crap, I would have agreed. I didn't say anything, but Jeff scored points with me and Mike lost a couple.

Oops

A few nights ago I was putting the kids to bed, and I admit I wasn't in the best mood. I was gruff with them and wasn't being the best dad in the world. Then I hear a very faint "Hello?" "Who is this?". Oh crap someone is hearing me be a grumpy dad. The phone in my left pocket which has my keys, mp3 player, and possibly my Garmin GPS had called Brian and Robyn Young and I'm on the air!

I quickly hung up, took a deep breath and helped the kids calm down for sleepy time.

Kind of embarrassing though. Brother Gridley sometimes is a Drill Sargent Dad and is broadcasting it to random people using his cell phone. Duh! Gotta remember to do a key lock on the phone EVERY TIME before putting it in my pocket with all my other stuff.

Poop family

Early this morning Isaac (who is 4) was going to the bathroom. Cathi was getting ready for her run and just checked up on him. He was audibly grunting. She commented on his success, "Great Job Isaac, you went Poo!" Isaac wasn't satisfied, "I've got a whole family." "A Family?" Cathi said. Isaac laughs and says "Yeah, A poo poo family". I had to laugh. What an imagination these kids have!

Napolean Sounds

I put together a new Napolean Theme for my desktop with lots of short Napolean clips. Got alot of Napolean Wavs from here.

Seriously one of my favorite movies ever.

Wake up call

I recently watched a home made video by a guy in my Stake of various Iraq war video coverage that was produced with some patriotic country music to go with it. At the time I watched it and while others around me were crying with pride, I thought it was a little over emotionalized.

I recently watched a couple of video clips of soldiers in Iraq who took video of Camel Spiders. Some people think of US soldiers as brave and honorable. What does that mean? I don't think anybody thinks these guys are perfect human beings. But it was eye opening to hear the language these guys were using. It was disappointing.

I'm an adult and I've heard profanity before and even used it myself in times of duress. But to hear profanity used flamboyantly and as common language makes me sick and angry. I'd like to think that our soldiers are god-fearing men and that we truly are fighting evil. I'm sure that many of them are, but definitely not all. But the experience reminds me that there is black and white mixed everywhere. There are very few absolutes (at least where men are involved), good vs. evil.

Who are we to think we have all the answers and start executing judgment by taking away the lives of others on the other side of the world? Some say "Better in Iraq, than here at home". Well, show me your crystal ball. Are our soldiers really fighting for our freedom by fighting in Iraq right now? I don't think so. Maybe to a small extent. Sure there are some really bad things happening in Iraq right now. But how much better off is it really than when they were ruled by a dictator? Instead of an organized madness, it's a disorganized madness.

But this is coming from a very narrow point of view. I don't claim to know a whole bunch about what's going on. But it is my point of view nonetheless and unless someone can explain and show otherwise I'll probably not really see the point of our being there.

Your thoughts?