Translating by Google

A friend sent me a link to watch a video - the short film winner at Cannes 2008 http://en.zappinternet.com/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO-THE-STORY-OF-A-SIGN . I started watching the video and there is a sign in the video that says "estoy siego". Being the ugly American that I am, I only speak,read, and write one language. So I hopped over to Google and fired up the translator. Input = estoy siego request translation from Spanish into English. Response= I'm Mowing. That made no sense to me. I watched the rest of the video and they put in some sub titles. Back to Google to resolve the mystery. Input = estoy ciego (which is different than what is written on the sign) - request translation from Spanish into English. Response = I'm Blind. So siego=mowing and ciego=blind. Who knew? Nice video. I don't think it was a winner, but it is nice. Why doesn't the guy in the nice suit leave money?

Discrimination

I have no eye hand coordination. At the tender age of 10 my parents signed me up for Pee Wee baseball. The first time I got hit in the face with a thrown ball my teeth cut through my lower lip and it took 3 stitches inside and 3 out to patch me up. After that, in addition to not being able to catch a ball, I was afraid of the ball. I was such a crummy player that when the other team didn't have enough players for the game I was assigned to the other team. I always ended up in left field. When balls were hit towards me I would run to the outfield, to get away from the ball. I'd wait for the ball to hit the ground then I would run up, grab it, and throw it to third base. The team I was playing for was pissed because they thought I was trying to make their team lose. My team was laughing in the dugout because they knew I couldn't catch the ball. That pretty much ruined me for team sports. With that background, I never developed eye hand coordination or decent reflexes. Now I sit in my cave with an XBOX 360 trying to survive in on-line play such as Call of Duty 4. The verbal abuse I get is pretty stiff ( I now know what PWND means - pronounced POWNED!!!). I've gotten to the point that I unplug the headset and turn the TV volume off and shout "F" "U" at the other players - they can't hear me. Today my son introduced me to a neat song, it is a song from an XBOX game "PORTAL". If it weren't for my son I'd never hear this song http://vimeo.com/1612411. Why? Well you have to finish the game to hear the song during the credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs . With my eye hand coordinatin I'm lucky to finish my beer, I'll never finish the game. Sometimes life sucks. Baseball sucks. I am glad I have a son and nieces and nephews to enlighten me. I don't think I needed to learn PWND.

Is this good or bad?

During the month of April I signed a contract to have a new deck built on the back of my house. This deck will have a barbeque area, and a screened-in porch along with doors and dog doors so the dog can go to the back yard and do his thing (barking at squirrels and birds). (I only have one dog now, but that story saddens me too much to write). Simultaneoulsy I contracted with the same company to put in a new sliding door. These aren't simple tasks, but the work doesn't require a college degree, or so I thought. It is September, the second installation of the sliding door has just been finished - but there is still some touch up. The deck has been under construction for 3.5 weeks and they are still at least a week from finishing. The workers are nice, they have green cards, their manager is out-to-lunch. It is very apparent that the company has taken on too many tasks and they are struggling to get all the jobs done. There are days that no one shows up to work on the deck. No phone call and the excuses are unbelieveable (The lead carpenter had to take his kids to school so none of the workers wanted to show up). In reality the builders are running to other jobs to help people who scream louder than my wife. Yesterday, the main water line running into the house sprung a leak. Luckily I have insurance for that so the $15,000+ replacement effort will cost me $3.50 a month for another year. The cable for TV and computer has a degraded signal, the company will have to replace all the cable from the street to the house. And the deck builders cut a wire to the back porch light and didn't bother to tell me. That $800 repair (it cost a lot to have someone show up at the house at 10PM) will be charged to the deck company. The builders knew they cut the wire and I found out about it when I called the company to complain about their lack of progress. "Didn't they tell you they cut the wire? They told me?" It has been an extremely frustrating week and I haven't even mentioned the older brother and his inheritance check.

Carry a Message to Garcia

“By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia.”

http://www.roycrofter.com/garcia.htm

It's my work ethic. I believe it, I practice it. I learned it from my Dad when it didn't have a name. I'm pretty confident that my Dad never heard of the phrase "Carry a message to Garcia". Dad lead by example, and this says how my Dad lives his life.

Working, or not

So here I float at 80 FSW (Feet Salt Water), where the air temperature is about 90 degrees and the water temperature is about 85 degrees. My dive buddy is simultaneously taking a still photo of me as I take a video with him in it. What a great trip. 17 dives (two at night), over 15 hours of bottom time, magnificant coral reefs, lots of fish, and several hundred miles of boating. http://http://www.blackbeard-cruises.com/

Definitely one of the best trips I've had. The weather cooperated, we didn't have the mal-de-mar issues that happen with waves because we didn't have waves, hardly. Standing on deck at night, or day, the views were incredible. It has been many years since I've stared at the night sky and been able to identify so many constellations and see shooting stars almost hourly. Then to be standing on the deck with coffee in hand, waiting on the sun is always a great event. I need to do this more.

Apology Airways

Yes, they should change their name to Apology Airways. I can't even chance a count at the number of times the flight attendants, the captain, the flight deck, etc apologized. Not to mention the personnel at the ticket counters. We're sorry your flight has been delayed, we're sorry your flight has been cancelled. We're sorry that we don't have an answer. We're sorry we don't know where to find your bags. We're sorry that there are no other flights. We're sorry that the APU isn't working so the A/C doesn't work on the ground. We're sorry about the confusion in seating, were sorry this flight is full. We're sorry but we've overbooked this flight. We're sorry we don't have enough ground crew to get your bags in time for you to catch your next flight. We're sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm not sorry, but I'll avoid Bahamas Air on any future travel. Supposedly there are fewer people flying, caused by the poor economy. You'd think the airlines would be trying harder to make the passengers happy. Instead they charge $2 for all drinks (yes that includes Cokes), $6 for a blanket rental, $3 for a pillow rental, $2 for earphones, etc. etc. They are sorry.

Movies my Dad liked and would watch multiple times

A long long time ago there was a drive-in theater in Beloit, the Fiesta Drive-In (I wonder if the Main Street Theater is still there/open). Once in a while Mom and Dad would take the herd to see a movie. I remember playing on the playground beneath the screen, laying on a blanket in front of the car parking space, and eating popcorn that we had popped that afternoon. I can't remember any of the movies that we watched.

A long time ago (1984), my parents were visiting my wife, son and I. To give my wife a break, I decided to take my parents to see a movie - just released "Ghostbusters". I was proud about the fact I could: 1) afford to take my parents, 2) caring enough to give my wife a break(here I'm taking way more credit than I deserve - more than likely we were chased out), 3) smart enough to find a movie I believed my parents would like. On the ride home my mom said it was okay (she didn't like it) and my Dad said he hated Bill Murray (I extrapolated that to mean he didn't like the movie).

Years later, during a discussion with my dad, I found out his favorite movie. I figured out it was his favorite because when I got him on the phone he said he was in the middle of watching his favorite movie. So your mission is to figure out his favorite movie. It was released in 1964. It starred Michael Caine, James Booth and Nigel Greene. Nigel Greene does an outstanding performance as Colour Sgt. Frank Bourne. I have this movie, I like it, but not enough to go on my list.

My Dad doesn't have a dog. There is a dog. Probably, maybe, belongs to some member of his family such as a son, grandson, daughter-in-law, etc. He doesn't know. It isn't important to him either. He doesn't know the dog's name (Angel) and can't remember the dog's name. It isn't important in his relationship with the dog. The dog visits him several times every day (the dog lives in his house) and when the dog visits, he takes the dog outside. The dog "does his business"(don't know if it is a him or her but the name indicates a her - Dad doesn't care what he is-it isn't important.). Then they look around the yard and then come back in the house. This past week the dog brought Dad a gift, a kitten. Dad said the dog just walked up and had a kitten in its mouth. Dad took the kitten out of the dog's mouth. He said he looked and the kitten was none the worse for wear, but the kitten was covered in slobber. Dad put the kitten back where it belonged and then told the dog he best leave those things alone. Dad likes the dog. Dad likes the cats.  My Dad doesn't have a cat.