Mar 25
v. remember imperfectly or incorrectly
Brian used this word, and we didn’t think it was a real word. However, it seemed like a perfectly accurate and descriptive word and I fully intended to steal it. But when I checked the dictionary, it turned out it is a real word.
Mar 25
Guy: type a Zee
Woman: Vee?
Guy: Zee!
Woman: Vee as in Victor?
Guy [frustrated]: No! Zee as in xylophone!
Mar 24
For 11 years now I have been going to the same flower shop: My Sister’s Garden in Higginsville, Missouri. I first went there simply because of the close proximity to my house and my job, but I ended up staying because the customer service on my first visit was so awesome.
I suppose the prices are good, but I don’t really know: I don’t go to any other florist. Ever. I like the shop that much.
Ultimately, shops like this caused me to recant my view on “be loyal, buy local,” which I previously supported. But I realized that if you are trying to get people to shop somewhere based solely on the fact that they are part of your town, what you are really saying is this:
“Our town’s shops can’t compete on price, customer service, or product selection. So if we can’t compete on quality, we will guilt people into shopping here by the insinuation that locality = loyalty, therefore shopping somewhere amounts to treason against your town.”
In other words, quality doesn’t matter.
I have the same philosophy regarding American-made cars. When I was growing up my dad was in a union, so we had American cars. And I spent a lot of time walking, lying under cars, changing out engines and transaxles, and bitterly cursing the kind of person that makes such a shoddy automobile (I don’t want to say any names, but it rhymes with Shmevrolet).
Years later, an in-law bought me a 12 year old Mazda GLC. I felt morally corrupt for driving it–at first. In a short time, it was the second best car I ever owned, and when I finally sold it at 232,000 miles it was only because I had another car to drive and the body was rusting out.
Five years ago this Memorial Day I bought my second Mazda–it was also 12 years old when I acquired it. As I posted yesterday, I just hit 323,000 miles. I have never had to do a thing to the powertrain. The only reason my GLC was the second best car I ever owned was that my Protégé 323 has been the best.
I don’t think I’m terribly unique in this opinion; I really believe most people would like to buy local and even buy American, and many will pay extra to do so. But they won’t pay extra for shoddy work or bad customer service, and I won’t either.
There are other shops in Higginsville besides My Sister’s Garden that I frequent because I like them–not because I feel it is a duty to support them. Sure, if I can’t get what I need in town I will go out of town, and if something is just exorbitantly priced I’m going somewhere else. But if you see me in your shop more than once, it is probably because I like your store or I hate your competitor*, or both.
*say, hypothetically, because of a single terrible act of customer service
Mar 23
My Mazda Protégé 323, hit 323,000 miles today, 3/23.
(the pic of the odometer is 1 mile off–
it took me a little time to stop on the side of the highway)
Mar 18
There are some questions that you are prepared for when you walk into a room. Furthermore, there are especially some questions you aren’t prepared for when you walk into a room at church.
The asker of the aformentioned question was a boy about eight years old who was cleaning up the room with a couple of the girls.
“I don’t think so,” I told him, “But it is very rude, so it would probably be best not to use it.”
That answer seemed to satisfy him, and I appreciated him asking first instead of just using it.
At any rate, its not really a word I use, so I looked it up. The word dates to the early 1970s, but its etymology is unknown, with the best guess being that it is a portmanteau of skeevy and rank. While it may not technically fall into the profanity category, the word’s connotation is quite offensive, and its use should probably be avoided.
Something that didn’t occur to me at the time (I guess because I was caught off guard) was to refer him to this verse:
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” –Ephesians 4:29, NIV
Mar 15
Unlike so much of American English, the proper pronunciation for those little bits of wax you color with as a child is phonetic: crayons.
Not crowns.
Mar 11
Lots of places that sell computer and computer accessories also sell “computer toolkits.” I put that in quotes because they are kind of a joke, consisting of one useful tool and a bunch of useless stuff you will never use.
If you work on computers or plan to, here is the list of items in my I.T. toolkit that I carry on my person constantly:
And here are some useful, but certainly less-used, tools:
And some extremely handy things to have at your desk:
As for that awesome anti-static wrist strap, I have only used one once in 11 years.
Mar 08
Missouri is known as the Cave State; we have over 6,000 caves.
Besides caves, Missouri also has the most famous outlaw of the Old West: Jesse James.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like those two facts have anything to do with one another. However, every cave you visit in Missouri has a sign stating that Jesse James once used this cave as a hideout.
And it doesn’t stop with caves. Pretty much any rock formation that a person of moderate size and intelligence could hide in becomes a past hiding spot for the outlaw.
Please don’t think I’m trying to be a killjoy; I’m not saying that Jesse James didn’t hide out in every cave, hollow, karst feature, and rock pile in Missouri. All I’m saying is that none of the photos of the outlaw appear to depict him with pasty albino skin and over-large eyes.
