diff Procedural OO

< if this do that

> do what you are

The former's concern is organizing to get it done without too much spaghetti.  The latter's concern is defining a colony of   schizophrenics.

Vick

I think Michael Vick just threw the best pass I've ever seen.  In the middle of four defenders.  Just perfect.  Soft.  Right in there.  Like a 8"x8" window.  Awesome.

Tool Is More Like This Maybe

Listening To Tool

Quote Of The Day

Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.
 
- Fran Lebowitz

Found Wilson That Tom Selleck Lost When Stranded

Zenith On Oyster Shells

Eight Cows And A Cold Front

Ross Lake - Some Info

To me this is a great place for family.  It's a good mix between being "out there and away" and being "at home".  Most people I met along the way who live in Washington didn't know about this place.  It's in the Cascade Mountains.  The lake actually goes into Canada. It's far enough away that there is no cell phone coverage.  That said, I know Ross Lake gets internet, but they don't Wifi it.

The place is run by a laid-back good-natured hippie-ish crew.  They have a lot of rentals: kayaks, canoes and boats.  The cabins are well maintained.  They sit on the water.  Most, I believe, have wooden stoves.  They have cabins which are designed for bigger groups and others for more family types.  I would recommend going the family route for quiet.  I think most of their business is from repeat customers.  There are older people who have come for the last 50 years, every year.  They stay in the smaller cabins.  Big burly men that play poker, drink whiskey, catch fish with their bare hands and talk loud tend to the big cabins.  However, the last week I was there a group of women came.  They kept me fed.  The rates are very reasonable even for the nicest.  I stayed in 4 cabins in my two week stay there.  That was a mix of me working with them and them working with me.

Ross Lake does not supply food or drinks.  You have to ferry that in.  Literally, you take a ferry to get there.  You don't want to miss the ferry.  It only goes two times a day.    They aren't going to wait on you.  Each cabin comes with a gas pit/grill.  I would recommend buying some corn on the cob at Sagitte (sp?) Valley Farms.

I would bite the bullet and spring for the boat rental for every day.  You want to be on the water.  The lake is 21 miles long.  You don't want to canoe it.  You can fish all day, but the best fishing is early morning and late evening.  If you fish, bring your own gear - you don't want to pay the rental fee.

There is also plenty of hiking.  If you bring camping gear, there are camping sites out in the woods.  You can also boat to docks that have camp sites.  The docks are tucked away in little coves.  They are brand new and are aluminum.  Really nice.

I am not sure how nice the weather is during the summer.  I assume it is nice.  They told me that they have mosquitoes.  I did not see one mosquito the whole time I was there.

Hope that helps some.

Waco II

 Link To Old Post: Waco The Beautiful  I just burst out laughing at Kim's last comment.  Larry and I were just hashing over old memories of Waco.

A Poem of Waco that I wrote in 2008:

Beige.
Single story.
Wide.
Tan expanse.
Luke warm.
Canned pear citizens.
Motionless in a Jell-O mold.
Wobble.
Back to the same.

Sailing In Waco... on our way to Luby's... Ahhh... Cafeteria food.  Take my dentures out... and gum on the pears...  Another body in Lake Waco.  Hmmm.  Yummy.  Pudding.  What's the special today?  Bless ya brother.  Good sermon.  Valley Mills.  Mmmmm.  Green beans from the can.

John Lennon Documentary

Watching a John Lennon Documentary on PBS.

Strainer

This guy is the bomb.  I will never look at that thing in the bottom of a sink the same way.

Disposal

9 out of 10 professionals install the badger 9.

Faucet

More pics to come.

Shiner

Tom, the guy who runs Ross Lake since the 70s, while building a fly that imitates a "shiner" told me, "Keith, this is new.  We've never had fish this big here."

The talk is over this little guy called a "shiner".  Actually, a lot of these little guys.  A couple years ago somebody spiked the lake with minnows.  Their population has grown.  Alongside their population, the size of the rainbow trout has grown.

Tom told me that not too long ago the 20" rainbow trout I caught would have had the whole resort out to see.  The record right now is (or was) 25 3/4".

The way they are fishing up there is by trolling with a fly rod.  That seems kind of like an oxymoron.  Anyhow, it definitely works.

I spent a few days making imitations of the shiner.  I made this painting by studying shiners that I'd place in a glass and watch swim.  I was hoping I could come up with some perfect fly.  Honestly, I don't think the imitation really matters.  If you are in the ballpark, and know *where the fish are*, I think that is what matters.

I have spent too long on this post!  I wanted to add that I got a real kick out of seeing people's reaction to the painting.  Tom's wife laughed and clapped her hands together.  That made me feel good.

More Drawing At Ross Lake

By popular request... more of me drawing at Ross Lake.  I'll have to dig up the minnow I painted.

The water there is so clear.  Amazing place.

Drawing At Ross Lake

I hate pictures of myself.  I thought this one was alright.  Dang.  I hate looking older.  Oh well.  Brett Favre is gettin' old too.  So will Brady.  Not so bad.

Ross Lake - Hands

A lady photographer sent me some of her pictures from Ross Lake.

I need to keep drawing and painting.

Right now, that right pinky is numb.

I didn't say anything, but I think that is the reason I dropped the glass yesterday.

Tom Brady

Now that's football!!!

What a hunk.

Please, Tom.  Tell me what phone to buy.  What underwear to wear under the pants of your choice.  I'll wear two pair of underwear at the same time... just to keep from wetting myself when I see you play football.  Just tell me.

You put the *fantasy* in my fantasy football team.  I'll take 12 of you.  What a hunk of a man.  Dang.  He beat Peyton Manning.  I bet he can beat the Texans just by flexing that 8 pack.

Texans - Hit In The Stomach

Just lost to the Jets :-(

Another complete upset in the last seconds :-(

What I don't understand about men, as I'm not exactly one of them, why are they so happy when we lose?  It's always, "I told you, they are losers."  *They*, as it is said, always lose.  *We*, if we do, win.  Men, as I said, I'm not exactly male,  like to cheer for the "winners".  They get great joy out of *knowing* who is a winner and a loser... and choosing the winner and being right about that choice.  The choice about who is a winner makes them a winner - somehow.  Suppose it's why a bet is so manly - maybe even explains the popularity of the stock market.  Losers suck - plain and simple.  Losers suck.  Big fish - good.  Panfish - weenie.  Big truck - big.  Small truck - weenie.  Big motor - fast.  Efficient motor - weenie.  Loud - good.  Quiet - weenie.  Drive - man.  Walk - weenie.

It's what I dislike about Fantasy Football.  It disregards real *teams*.  Why do they call it fantasy?  I don't care how outta-date that is.  Screw the internet fantasy crap.  It's weenie.

*We*, The Texans, lost to the Jets today - Sunday, November 21, 2011.  I'm a Texan.  I'm a fan because I live here.

Is it a surprise we lost?  Is this exactly what you expected?  How right you were!  Good for you.  Go you.  Pat yourself on your back.  Or don't care.  Better yet, don't care.  Yeah.

What a kick in the groin.

Go Texans!!!  I'm a fan!!!  Keep trying!!!  I know.  That's gay.  Whatever.  We lost. One day, if we do win, I want to have stuck it out (forget anything about weenies here).  I love the Texans!

The Jets - weenies.  We lost to New York.  That's so weenie!!!  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  We had it!  Right there.

All this talk about weenies (sp?) has me thinking about hot dogs.

Sick Of Cellphone Commercials

I am soooooo sick of cellphone commercials.

I'd like to bash a Droid (say it like a robot) - "droooooiid".

I'd like to monster slam an i-phone.

Shoot a Samsung.  Bust a Blackberry.

Never hear 3-G or 4-G ever again.

You aren't winning me over!  You are winning others, I know.  I am starting to miss diarrhea commercials.

Please find another way to market these wonderbar devices!

Whatever happened to just talking on a blankety-blank phone?!?!

I know.  I just need the Android app that eliminates the commercials.  I know.  I know!!!

If anything, I'll go for the Windows commercial - designed to get you "in and out and back to life".  I kinda like that.  Hmmm.  Windows.

The Nerd

That's a real shot by Carlos.

Four guys and I in Myles' garage.  Played some darts.  They were going to see a fight at a local bar.

I dropped a shot glass that I didn't drink from.  It splattered on the floor.

Larry showed up with the boat.  Everybody is cool.

I declined to go to see the fight.  No arguments.  Relief.

I fish in ditches.  Probably 60 hours last week - alongside 50 hours of work.

Saw Harry Potter, The Deathly Hollows, with Kaley today.  Fun, but it kinda stresses me out that it's going so bad for the good guys.

I got lost trying to get to Tracy's house to pick up Kaley.  Is it "Lakeshore" or "Lakeside"???  Are there two "Lakesides"???

I knocked over the dartboard header with the Texans logo.  I put too much pressure when drawing with the chalk on the scoreboard.  It had been there ten years without a fall.  Tonight it fell on my head.

I let fish go.  I just fed the cat.  My dog is nervous.  My son was glad to say goodbye.

I loved watching LSU beat Ole Miss.

I drive a Honda Fit.  I work for NASA.

I recently began snoring.  My wife is happy to sleep away from me.  Although, she misses me.

I teach my daughter math.  She dislikes it.

I work for a degenerative bureaucracy.

I am smelling like the rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed.  I missed that :-(

I won at darts.  LOL!

I cooked a good hamburger.  I think hamburgers are my favorite food.

I drank from a different shot glass.  Just one.

You know, I do this on purpose.  It's funny.   I am always in my head.  Just like you said, Kim.

Go A&M!  Beat Nebraska!!!

Redbud News - Scotty

Scotty had an asthma attack.  I think he is okay.

LSU vs Ole Miss

Awesome game!

What a fun game!

Go LSU!!!

(p.s. sorry for the messed up image)

The Quick

I was in a town driving at night. I went to a building. There was a large group of people. I joined the crowd. The crowd began to move after we were given instructions. I followed the instructions. Sometimes part of the group would head off the wrong way. The doors closed on them. I came to a room full of large rubber duckies. We had to walk on them without falling. Next hallway.

Throw in Bob Marley singing "Exodus!"

This went on and on. At last we came to a meeting hall. We were praised for being quick. I noticed that the people around me seemed interesting. We were told we could meet "grandpa" after the meeting. Wine was passed around. The speaker had a few people in our group stand up. They had some freakish characteristics. One guy had huge furry hands each with four long fingers. He held them up high.

I say, "Exodus! Movement of Jah people!"

This upset one gentleman. He stormed out of the room. The meeting was adjourned. The man next to me told me there was wine left over. Almost everybody left. I wanted to meet grandpa. I wondered if this was part of another test. The show did seem over. I wasn't convinced.

We know where we're going! We know where we been!

I found grandpa. He seemed busy.he was tinkering around with something in a small room. He came out. About five of us gathered around him at a table. All were intelligent and warm. He wanted us to pitch in $200. If we paid, he said that next time we could be leaders. Normally, I would have taken this all to be a con. After some thought, I realized this was how they supported the enterprise. One girl voiced my concern. She said it would be uncomfortable for her.

Are you satisfied (with the life you're living)? Uh!

I was taken aside by a young woman. It was down to one - me. I was led to a back room. There was a cave entrance. The cave was molded out of the blue plastic. The woman pressed the button and doors slid open. we got in a small elevator. Same blue plastic. The elevator had pickets or blinds and I could see I was in a maze of some sort. We were spinning this way and that. The moldings were more intricate. I told the woman that I was going to fail this test. I told her I had a bad sense of direction. No matter. The elevator stopped. We proceeded to go up blue plastic ladders.

Send us another brother Moses!

She began moving faster. I was having trouble keeping up. The last thing I saw was a dining table. It looked to be made out of mahogany. It stood out against the blue plastic. She disappeared up another ladder. I was being led to this table. It was then that I woke up.

We're leaving Babylon, y'all!
We're going to our Father's land.
Exodus! Movement of Jah people!

Move. Move. Move.

Kovi's Fifth Birthday

The dude!

Shuttle Dream

Just woke from a dream.  I was helping the astronauts gear up for the final shuttle flight.  One astronaut had second thoughts about going.  Long dream.

I went online to look at shuttle images.  This one stood out.  I want to work for an agency that keeps doing that.

Happy Birthday, Kovi!  To the stars!  I love you :-)

Eastbound And Down

Keep your foot hard on the pedal. Son, never mind them brakes.  Let it all hang out 'cause we got a run to make.

Lord Mr. Ford, I just wish that you could see What your simple horseless carriage has become Well it seems your contribution to man To say the least, got a little out of hand Well Lord Mr. Ford what have you done Now the average American father and mother Own one whole car and half another And I bet that half a car is a Trick to buy, don't you But the thing that amazes me, I guess Is the way we measure a man's success By the kind of automobile he can afford to buy Well now, red light, green light, traffic cop Right turn, no turn, must turn, stop Get out the credit card honey, we're out of gas Well now, all the cars placed end to end Would reach to the moon and back again And there'd probably be some Fool pull out to pass Well now, how I yearn for the good old days Without that carbon monoxide haze A-hanging over the roar of the interstate Well if the Lord that made the moon and stars Would have meant for me and you to have cars He'd have seen that we was all born With a parking space {Chorus} Come away with me Lucille In my smoking, choking automobile...




Complex man, that Jerry Reed.

Cowboys

Go Cowboys!  Go Texas!

Hobbit Cafe

The Vetter Family is going to "The Hobbit Cafe" today.

I find some magic in this, seeing that I found a gold ring this week  and blogged that I am Frodo.

I think I may make a necklace out of the ring.

Next question.  Where should I take this ring?  Is there a volcano around somewhere?

Okay.  I also found the ring while going fishing.  This is kinda weird.

Here's something you can't do on facebook - find a post from three years ago: Ringwraith

Man Cave Invasion

5 kids + 1 dog in my man cave.

At least there's a beer commercial on.

I Am Frodo

I found a gold ring while walking today.  It looks strikingly familiar to my wedding ring that I lost years ago in a Black Flag mosh pit (long story).

I placed the ring on the character 'G' for gold... which coincidentally is next to 'F' which is the "*Find" key.

Nasa Writes To Spoonbill

Got a letter from NASA today.  It was addressed to "Spoonbill Services - Attn. Mr. Keith Vetter, President".  They got the address wrong, but rosebuds aren't so bad.

Paid Mark today.  We (actually Mark) did the accounting.  All the numbers are good.  Everything is paid - taxes, health insurance etc.  Partial pennies are even accounted for.

I split an award check I got from NASA with Mark.  The only glitch is that he has to figure out how to split it and make all the tax stuff work right.  Talked with Mark about what he is doing for his Ph.D. thesis.  It's not about Blue Beam unless he is one of the ant people.  He is doing some kinda machine learning stuff writing computer programs that analyze imagery off of Mars and somehow learn and does some kinda cool stuff.

I went to "Fishing and Tackle Unlimited" today.  It's off of Fuqua along I-45.  Took Kovi.  Neat place.  There was a young guy manning the fly fishing area.  He was fun to talk to.  Even got a couple good fishing stories.

I really like fly fishing.  I went out in the gray rain and cast into a drainage ditch under a bridge... and just loved it.  I love the "hopper" patterns.

Still wet from the rain - over and out... President Vetter

Conversations With Neighbors

Conspiracy.

NASA Blue beam in a bottle.  How can you be at NASA and not know about Blue Beam???  Holograms - Jesus meets Buddha meets Chrishna meets Allah.  It'll be in the sky bigger than Dallas.  As prophesied in the dear book of Revelations - the only book to pay attention to.

Rum and coke.  And Stone Temple Pilots.  I'm outta tha loop.

9 millimeter.  Pop'em until the case is unloaded.

I'm outta tha loop.  I missed something.

Texaco!

ZG

Now that I know my strength is in "ideation", I have a wonderful idea.  How about somebody come up with a ZG cellphone network!  No matter what 4G or 5G the competition is on, you are on the ZG network.  We'll call it Ziggie... and have David Bowie do the commercials... the icon will be stardust.  Yeah, it's satellite too... and and and we'll have Bowie sing Major Tom as the satellite... and yeah... ground control to Major Tom.  Actually, it's combined satellite and cell tower... optimize that puppy.

See.  I don't even own a cellphone.  I like to imagine holding a Ziggie looking up as Orion's nebula dances over my head.

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
am I sitting in my tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Kim Made Me Take A "Strengths Test"

This test costs money.  There were 177 questions.  Kinda stressed me.  Anyhow, the idea is that if you find your strengths, you invest in those.  You don't try and beat yourself over what you are lacking in.  Something like that.  It was interesting.  After all the questioning, here are my strengths in order:

1. Ideation
2. Learner
3. Achiever
4. Adaptability
5. Strategic

On the ideation part, Gallop said that I should partner with somebody strongly analytic who can keep up and challenge what I am thinking.  It said that I am likely to throw out stuff and expect people to connect the dots... but that more than likely - they don't.  Well, Mark can.  Weird.  Kinda like Gallop knew that.  I actually, admittedly, confuse people sometimes, I think.  Take this, "..."!!!

Kim said that my problem is that I "ideate" and expect myself to do it all because as an achiever I don't think anybody else can do what I'm thinking about and I expect myself to do everything.  Kim went on to say, "No wonder you hate your job."  Well.  I don't hate my job.  But maybe I do and Kim knows me better than I do.  I don't doubt that.

Kim's strength is "input" - seriously.  The description boils down to what I think is "pack rat"... but supposedly it is a *strength*.  She has made a point that her second strength is "connectedness".  She just placed a printout on the table as I write this.  Kim, for the record, everybody knows I suck and you are the greatest.

Kaley's strength, as it turns out, is not fractions and decimals.

JR's strength is howling at the firetruck in the distance.  He's doing that right now as I type.

What I really wanted to say was that the *idea* of catching the bass is just as strong, or stronger, than the actual catch.  Like Kim said, "Oh, you are in your head all the time --- that explains a lot."

All Kim needed was some good "input" for that.  Well, I hope it was stimulating ;-)

Nice Sized Bass

I caught a 13" bass during "lunch time".  Pretty sure it was a large-mouthed bass.  That fish was beefy!  Wish I had brought my camera.

Kaley played Miss Hannigan again for St. Thomas Episcopal School today.  She's practicing for "Bah Humbug" as I write this.

Took Kovi to the fishing hole today.  He rode his bike.  I walked with backpack.  Planned on letting him reel one in.  Short story - it's difficult to fish with an almost five year old.  Had fun anyhow.

Time

It's all just so funny and terribly tragic at the same time --- time, that is the deal... lol... Eeeeeeeeeeeasy Streeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Belting It Out

Miss Hannigan

The girl loves the stage.  I tell you what.

Easy Street

Every so often I have one of those sleeps where I close my eyes, blink, the sun is up and I feel refreshed.  Went to Challenger Park and fly fished a bit.

Yesterday, LSU beat Alabama.  Good game.  Today, the Texans play the Chargers.

The grandparents were up this weekend.  My dad got a new truck - a Chevy made in Flint, Michigan.  It's got a really nice GPS in it.

Kaley played Miss Hannigan last night in Annie.  Hanna McFarlane, Emmy and Kaley did a scene together where they sing "Easy Street" --- oh my, those girls were so fun together.  I had mentioned in an earlier post that the magic in the show was gone.  This show, the magic was back, the homeschool cast was night-and-day better than the other cast.  I don't know if it's because they know each other more or what.

Watched Robert Downing Jr. play Sherlock Holmes last night.  Kaley kept telling me, "Daddy, you are just like him.", "Wait for this scene, here's the scene where he's like you."...

Not so easy... on easy street... but sometimes...

Eaaaaaaaaaaaaaasy Streeeeeeeeeeeet!  :)

Time for the man cave.  Hamburgers again???

OH!  Almost forgot!  Celebrated Kovi's birthday with grandparents!  His 5th birthday isn't until the 16th.  Just had an early celebration since grandparents were able to be here.

Small Fly For Small Fry

This picture makes the fly I used look big.  It's real small though.  Fun to catch something with a tiny floating fly.

I'm letting the fish go after I catch them.  I think everybody is happy in the end.  The tiny hook is barbless and easy to unhook.  And BOOM, they are back swimming around telling their buddies what it's like "out of the water".

I keep telling myself that.

Green Sunfish Hybrid On Dragonfly

I've been catching little guys like this off of dry flies.  The fly in this guy's mouth is a dragonfly imitation.

This guy doesn't have as much turquoise color that I've seen.  I've heard that when these fish are in canals and stuff that they cross breed.

I'd really like to buy a lighter weight rod, like a #2 or something for small fish.

A couple days ago I went to Challenger Park and caught tiny fish off a tiny fly that mimics a parachute ant.  That was a lot of fun.

I hear these fish are good fish to eat.  May look into a recipe.

Here is one instructional video: Panfish Howto

Blur

On Monday I had 10.8 hours in by 2:14pm.

If you do the calculations, I was up early on Monday.

Today, I honestly thought it was Wednesday all day.  I noticed people were taking their trash cans to their curbs - and realized it was Thursday. 

This week has been a mix of cold fronts, thunderstorms, work, a couple e-mail responses, low tide, fishing, John Candy, the garage, playing with the kids and I don't know what -  a weird dreamy week.

And it just keeps going and going and going.

Using Calculus

I just had to take the derivative of something and got:

    rdot = -d*e*[(1+e*cos(t))^(-2)]*e*(-sin(t))

 It's not often I get to do that.  Rare treat.

PS: I watched "Canadian Bacon" with John Candy last night.  I laughed my head off.  It was after the cold war and America decides to make an enemy out of Canada so we can have a new cold war to bolster the poll numbers for the president who is played by Alan Alda.  Every time John Candy said, "Kanook", I laughed.  It may have been just a good mood, but I'd highly recommend this movie for a good laugh.

Butterfly Caper

Kim and Kovi don't know this.  A couple days ago, I sneaked into their butterfly cage. I let the butterfly go free.  It was great to see it flying.  Kaley caught me in the act.  She dropped her mouth and said, "Kovi is going to be so P-O-ed".  My first thought was, "Where did she learn p-o-ed?"  I said, "I bet he won't even notice.  Don't tell him.  I had to let the butterfly go.  I just had to.  They only live a week or two.  It's just gotta fly."  She said, "I know.  Well, let's hide it."  I said, "Nah, leave it out.  I bet they won't check it."