Category: Uncategorized

  • Like Humans Do

    Tell me David Byrne’s not one of the best ever. Tell me. I dare you. This song was written with God, no doubt.  It could be called Ode to My Little Friends. Holy crap, when I listen to music I want to make it so badly I almost want to give up everything else.  But,…

  • King David’s First Psalm

    Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree…

  • Amazon Web Services

    You may have heard that I’m moving all my stuff to Amazon’s Web Services which is a cloud computing solution. AWS includes everything one would need for gigantic systems but it’s completely flexible on how resources are deployed and you only pay for what you use. So, it’s possible to start something small and let…

  • The “5 Years” Ends

    Today is the last day of the five year period I am going to forever call, “The 5 Years.” By New Year’s Day in 2004, it was pretty obvious my marriage was over. I had been and continued to go off the deep end and made most everything worse. By May of 2004, my business…

  • I Love You Grandma and Grandpa!

    Thank you so much for thinking about me this Christmas. I was surprised when my boss handed me some mail (only Dad had the address) and very happy to find it was a card from you two. I hope you’re having some fun these days and that Grandpa’s bionic knees are being put to good…

  • Dear Fruit of the Loom

    Dear Fruit of the Loom, As you may have heard, I recently named Fruit of the Loom the official covering manufacturer for my stuff. Your lovely little pants keep my stuff contained and protected from the ravages of denim chafing, winter chilling, and the prying eyes of cougars. This letter concerns the pair of briefs…

  • A Half-Step Back

    I’m taking an anger management course. It’s been really good. I’ve learned a lot. Here’s what I’ve learned: (1) There’s nothing wrong with anger. Behaviors get me into trouble.(2) No one can make me angry. Getting angry is a choice.(3) Anger is a secondary emotion. Some other emotion always comes first, such as fear, or…

  • You Are Blessed

    This is making its rounds mainly via email. Thanks, Dad.

  • Life in the Homeless Shelter

    Dear God, thank you so much for the opportunity to stay at the Salvation Army. As you know, I’ve slept outside on several occasions and I’ve gone without food. These are inconveniences. Worse than going without creature comforts is going without human company. Please bless the people who stay at, manage, and support shelters like…

  • You’re Really Cool

    I’m too self-obsessed, so instead of writing about me, I’m now going to write about you. I see you around town. I see you order your morning coffee. I see you enjoying your lunch. I see you playing with your kids. I see you walking your dog. I see you driving to the store. And,…

  • God Helps Find a Wallet

    A guy in the homeless shelter told a story this morning. He chalked his good fortune up to luck, but I don’t believe in luck, I believe in God. His story goes like this: Two days ago, he was riding his bicycle to the edge of town. When he got back, he noticed his wallet…

  • Happy Birthday Baby Girl

    Happy birthday! You’re turning 13 today and I couldn’t be prouder. When you were little, you loved to hear stories about when you were even littler. The day you were born, I got a call at work from your soon-to-be-mother. She said it was time and that she was going to take a shower. When…

  • No, You!

    No, You!

    I’m ridiculous. You’re stupid. Q: How is Donald Trump a racists? A: You’re either gaslighting me or you are too stupid to pay attention. Q: How can you influence people while calling them stupid? A: I’m not trying to influence anybody. I’m recording my opinion about you. Q: How do you make friends? A: My…

  • The Central Scrutinizer

    In 1983, I had made some friends online on local bulletin board systems. A bulletin board system was a computer connected to a phone line by a modem. You would sit down at your computer and have it dial directly to the BBS system and connect. You would be prompted for your username and password…

  • I Had a Dream About You

    I rarely dream about you, but tonight I did. You and I went out on a date. We were going to see some show at the performing arts center. I picked you up. You looked nice. We made it to the theater, but I had left the tickets pinned to my bulletin board at work.…

  • Woman #3 Makes Me Drive

    Believe it or not, I am licensed to drive by the State of Oklahoma. I’ve been licensed since I was 16 – for 25 years. My license still says I weigh 143 pounds, but that was my weight when I was 16. They always ask me if I want to change it, and I decline.…

  • Hello Little Man

    Little Man, I don’t know if you remember much about me. I am your father. We last saw each other at a gathering to celebrate your sister’s 9th birthday. It was at a pizza and game place. Your grandfather, my dad, and his wife treated us all to a great time. We ate some good…

  • Who is Jennifer Aniston?

    If you’ve seen more than four of my tweets then you have seen me mention Jennifer Aniston. This picture to the left is one of Jennifer Aniston. It’s used without permission. I’m sorry. Recently I’ve been analyzing my thoughts about Miss Aniston and trying to figure out why I have decided to like her. First…

  • “Inglorious Bastards” Made Me Cry?

    I just saw the 2009 movie by Quentin Tarantino called Inglorious Bastards (or “Inglourious Basterds”) and was taken aback by my reaction. Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen Inglorious Bastards and you’re planning to do so, then don’t read this yet. Please bookmark this page and return at your convenience. 🙂 The IMDB page…

  • Life in the Homeless Shelter, Part 2

    It’s been three weeks since I wrote the blog entry, Life in the Homeless Shelter. I think you deserve an update on what’s been happening. Dan the Canadian world traveler is still working at the grocery store. He enjoys his job because he has a chance to schmooze with the ladies. I have mentioned to…

  • Why I Don’t Get To See My Kids

    My daughter’s 13th birthday is coming up this month. The last time I got to see her and my son was at one of her 9th birthday events. My dad and his wife treated the kids, their mother, and I to a visit to a pizza and video game place in Tulsa. I was really…

  • Advice to Myself in High School

    I was asked by Eric Santos of 5 GUYZ BLOG to write a guest post. Their blog is written by five high school students, each “guy” posting on a particular weekday. Emily is not a guy, but she’s definitely one of the “guyz.” I’ve used “guys” as a unisex term before and I think it’s…

  • When My Universe Ended

    A few years ago I discovered a way to go crazy. I don’t mean that I found a way to get really excited, I mean that I found a way to meditate on a version of reality I preferred and make it stick for a while. Whatever I made up become the truth and it…

  • “The Better 5 Years” – Day 1

    Ok, so it’s the first day of The Better 5 Years. How am I going to make this 5 years better than the last? (1) I’m not going to sabotage myself. (2) I’m going to admit I’m okay. In fact, I’m going to admit that I’m awesome, just the best, better than you, leader of…

  • Burger, Fries, and Coke just $26.79!

    I had a burger basket today in a diner. Yes, I asked for the mustard setup and not the mayonaise!! I’m a psycho, not a nut. What is a burger basket? It’s a burger and some fries, served in a basket. A basket is a plastic basket lined with some thin paper. The burger was…

  • Session State in Web Applications

    Your web browser does not maintain a connection to the server between page loads. When you go to a site, a new TCP connection is made to the web server to request the page. Once the page is sent, the server drops the connection. Then a new connection is made to the server for each…

  • Evolution Isn’t Enough

    I believe in evolution. I believe in gravity. I believe in God. The idea of evolution is that some individuals of a species find themselves with an advantage over their cousins and therefore live long enough to reproduce. Hopefully, some of the good stuff gets passed to their progeny and they find themselves with the…

  • 2048 Days of Not Smoking

    2048 Days of Not Smoking

    2048 Days, Oct 26, 2019… 2048 is a power of 2, like 1024, 512, 256, 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4 and 2 oh and 1. The other day I thought about this program when saw an ad for cigarettes… they’re more expensive now. This price is based on 2048 packs, at $3.75 each. ANYWAY…

  • Coding can give ADHD brains exactly the kind of stimulation they crave

    Coding can give ADHD brains exactly the kind of stimulation they crave

    “Coding can give ADHD brains exactly the kind of stimulation they crave,” writes one full-stack developer. “Not only is coding a creative endeavor that involves constantly learning new things, but also once one problem is solved, there’s always a brand new one to try.” https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/06/05/what-developers-with-adhd-want-you-to-know

  • Letter from Helen McMurtry

    While writing a blog post about Dr. McMurtry, my Introduction to Music for Non-Majors professor at OSU, I found out that he had died, so I wrote a letter to his wife accounting how much I loved his class. **UPDATE 2025: She returned a nice note that I scanned but now have lost. Looking for…

  • Dies Irae – Dr. McMurtry

    I only enjoyed one class in college.  It was a music history class for non-music majors at Oklahoma State University instructed by Dr. McMurtry.  This was also my hardest class, ever… and I’m more proud of that A than any grade I ever earned in any school. The paper I had to do was a…