Ken.Says

I guess that’s kind of like asking if there’s any noise when a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it. I’ll leave that for another day, week, year, decade …

When I consider the few talents I do possess, writing is definitely not anywhere near the top of the list. It’s probably somewhere off the bottom of the page if you want to know the truth. Many, many years ago I used a program called Grammatik that I got as a package deal with WordPerfect. It analyzed your writing basically like a maniacal, red-pen wielding English teacher (no offense to any English teachers out there — I learned more practical stuff from two English teachers in H.S. that probably any other class — and yes, they liked their red pen!) and gave it’s opinion about anything and everything. It told me there was a problem with passive voice in my writing, and that I basically wrote at a high school freshman reading level (never mind I was in graduate school working on a Masters at that time). Grammatik wasn’t good at anything warm and fuzzy, but it sure did like to complain about parts of speech, passive voice, and run on sentences. It was acquired by Corel/WordPerfect and integrated. Now we are used to the little green squiggly lines that our word processors use to tell us how bad we write, and most of the time we just ignore them.

I say all this just simply to say if you happen upon this blog, and find an updated entry (like this one), consider yourself lucky, or even tormented if want … if you really want to know what I’m up to check out http://about.me/kenpc for links to my Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and U.C class page(s).

There … an update … finally. Cheers!

This time of year is popular for deciding to make changes in our lives. I’m no exception. Actually since I’ve been in school (on one side of the desk or the other) for 40 years of my life, I tend to think about things in terms of semesters and school years, so I often “resolve” to change things twice a year. Sometimes this works out quite nicely, and sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s a different story.

For 2011 I’ve decided to make some resolutions, commitments, attempts at change, or whatever you want to call them. No, I’m not going to tell you what they are in this blog post. You can probably guess what some of them are… almost everyone would probably guess things related to health/wellness, time management, relationships, etc. So guess away if you want to. I’ll report back here every now and then and let you know how things are going. I think some of them will be easy… some won’t be so easy.

Overall I’m very lucky… I have two jobs (both of which I enjoy) to keep me busy, a loving wife to spend time with, five cats to play with, a church that I enjoy being a part of, and enough friends and acquaintances to keep me from being a complete social outcast. Even though I forget it sometimes, as I write this I know I’m much more fortunate than many people in this country/world, and hopefully the upcoming year will bring that realization of my “luckiness” more close to home. I don’t think being raised as an only child spoiled me … but I think I have been spoiled in some sense of the word, so maybe that’s something I need to work on.

So anyway, that’s my first blog post in over a year, and hopefully just one of many describing my adventures in 2011 (by the way it’s twenty-eleven, not two thousand and eleven).

Consistency is a good thing in my book. One of the most consistent things in my life to date is related to my occasionally infrequent haircuts.

The legend is that I’ve been going to the same barber for more than 40 years. The barbershop is located in Somerset KY in the Tradewind Center. It used to be called Jim’s Center Barber Shop. Now it is Ron & Don’s Barber Shop. Ron & Don both remember me and my dad as customers there before they started working there. That would have been in the mid-to-late 1960s. I only vaguely remember two other places that I’ve ever had my hair cut… both before going to Jim’s/Ron & Don’s. Once I started there I’ve never gone anywhere else. I told the the last time I was there that I might just have to let it grow if they don’t stay in business as long as I’m around.

My philosophy on haircuts is to get one when you need one … and happen to be in Somerset. My first chance in probably 6 or 8 months was the Friday after Thanksgiving of this year. I know I needed on the beginning of October… and think I did even before that around the beginning of the semester. But I never made it to Somerset … and my hair just kept growing.

I’m including BEFORE and AFTER pictures with this post. I’m not sure that my hair was ever as long as it was in the BEFORE picture. After looking at the pictures I see now I should have worn similar shirts but I think you still get the point.

So, anyway… if you happen to be in Somerset and go by Ron&Don’s tell them Ken said “HEY” and that he will eventually be back in for another haircut.

Stephanie and I started out last year watching Joss Whedon’s series Dollhouse. We got about two episodes into it and then missed a couple so we sort of gave up… no great loss, or so I thought. We decided to give Season two a chance. We got season one from Netflix and watched it… turns out we quit watching just as it started getting interesting.

I won’t spoil the show.. but basically the premise is that Scientists have figured out a way to erase and then reprogram a person’s mind with a new personality, skills, knowledge, etc. The idea is that an “active” (that’s what they call their subjects) can be a doctor one day and a dancer the next.

Real science fiction, huh?  Maybe not… I found this article the other day and it immediately made me think of the show.

False memories implanted into flies - http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20090915211422data_trunc_sys.shtml

Just something to think about …

Other related links:

• Dollhouse - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135300/
• Joss Whedon - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923736/

I found this on a technical support list for a program… thought it was worth posting.

Ok, so I’ve not seen the movie Twilight (I know that is a great relief to many of you! HA), but I’ve heard a lot about it from Stephanie (Stephanie.Says) and personally I think the author’s take on Vampires is all wrong…. but that’s another story.

While browsing around today I found an incredibly edited video taking scenes from one of my favorite all time TV series (Buffy the Vampire Slayer … not feeling so relieved now, are you??) and intermixing them with scenes from the movie Twilight (and a couple from Harry Potter too!) to create the store of Buffy meeting the main character of Twilight (Edward Cullen?).

If you are seeing this on facebook you can go to the original blog entry to see the video.

You can find more details about the video at the Rebellious Pixels site.

After pondering on this for a little while I decided it was pretty amazing….

Here is the original link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

Stephanie has been politely nagging me for a while now to come up with 25 things about here. Now that the whole “25 Things” fad is dying down on Facebook, etc. I figure it’s time I actually do something that I didn’t promise to do…

1. She isn’t the morning person she used to be, and she’s learned that Sunday afternoons are naptime.
2. She likes her Dad’s iced tea — I really should by some sugar company stock.
3. She works for me at Litho-Craft and does all kinds of interesting things like bank deposits, taking out the trash, proofing things, taking out the trash, waiting on customers, taking out the trash, and taking out the trash.
4. She likes (LOVES) to sing — usually it’s bearable too!
5. She never leaves the house/the room/anywhere without at least one book
6. She likes chocolate… ok she REALLY likes chocolate.
7. She likes ThinMint Girl Scout cookies the best… Mint + Chocolate… ugh.
8. She just bought a new pillow. She’s a picky pillow person.
9. Her dream vacation spot is Scotland… tho’ no one is really sure why (including her!)
10. She likes to watch old sitcoms on TV.
11. She is just a bit obsessed with the garbage at Litho-Craft.
12. She likes summer better than winter.
13. She likes naps in the car on the way to Litho-Craft.
14. She is involved in lots of things at church.
15. Her most common Wendy’s meal is a #1 combo with only ketchup and pickles… doesn’t “only ketchup and pickles” mean no cheese?
16. She blogs stuff lot’s more than I do.
17. She is often amazed at how her hair gets longer between cuts/trims.
18. She is somewhat obsessed with knowing people’s middle names and other obscure (to most people) details about them, *but* she almost always remembers them.
19. She is just starting a new Creative Ministry’s Team at church.
20. She works with the little kids at church, and even tho’ she occasionally asks me to help her with them she knows my help is usually limited to printing something or making something for them.
21. Her computer at home is named Nora.
22. She tried to make Nora (see #21) sick by getting a virus or spyware… we think Nora is all better now. Lyric sites for music are probably the worst place to get viruses and spyware.
23. She (and me too, I guess) has become a fan of HULU for watching TV shows.
24. She would really like for me to clean up the basement… I’ve sort of taken over to the point of sometimes even making it difficult to get to the washer and dryer.
25. She will enjoy these 25 things immensely…
26. BONUS: She is really curious about the 25 things I wrote so I think I’ll post them and see how long it takes her to find them!

Google is normally quite secretive about their search infrastructure but, in a break from tradition, they have revealed that a single search query on Google can consume the processing power of 1000 machines.

More info here

Story is from Digital Inspiration blog.

Dear Dog,

I am so sorry about you being sent to the dog pound for the broken lamp which you did not break; the fish you did not spill; and the carpet that you did not wet; or the wall that you did not dirty with red paint.

Things here at the house are calmer now, and just to show you that I have no hard feelings towards you, I am sending you a picture, so you will always remember me.

Best regards,

The Cat

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The Cybersalt Digest is a ministry of Pastor Tim and Cybersalt Communications http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh