FrankL

I had one something like that 20 years ago. It could hold 20 bbs or 1 pellet. Cocked like the real thing also. Lived in the country and its purpose was keeping dogs/coyotes away from the sheep pasture. Nowadays, I would think twice before letting my son have one like that.

I was given a small project to work on while my manager is on vacation this week. (NOTE to self: Never, ever, again admit that I know Access.) This is to fix a current program not write a new one. After some work, I figured out the problem. The program in question links to databases made with an older version that the new one cannot open. If this program had come to us for updating even just last month, we could have fixed it easily as some programmers (me among them) still had Access 2010 on their computers just in case this very thing happened. After taking note of the issue, cause, and solution, I went to see our help desk people. Marcus: Frank! How's it going? Frank: Well... M: That's not a good sign. F: Right. I have an odd request. I have a program to fix that was written in an older version of Access that my current version cannot read. Do we have any machine that still has Access 2010? M [eyes get wide]: I don't think so. Let me ask Brux. [While he goes back, I strike up a conversation with the girl at the counter. It turns out she uses this program I'm working on and recognized it when I told Marcus the error message. So glad made no comments about it beyond its obvious age. Moments later] B: Frank! Come back here. Now, what do you need? F: I know you've been phasing out Access 2010 installations, but I was just given a program to fix that links to another DB written in Access '97 and never upgraded. By design, Access 2013 cannot read '97 files. B [closes eyes, thinking about all the emails he sent out over the last year imploring users to test all of the programs they use in 2013 or have someone in IT test it in 2013.]: That's usually a good thing. F: Yes. [As we are talking, I notice that everyone in the help desk is gravitating towards the conversation] B: Can 2003 read it? F: Microsoft said 2010 or prior can read it and convert it. B: Hey, Trent, do we have any VMs with Office 2010? T: No. B: Set one up, and give Frank rights. F: Thank you.

Q: My dog just laid down and rolled over, whimpering while covering his nose. What did you do? A: Trust me when I say this-swordfish.

Very sad for you, Hermit. I had to let several dogs go as a boy. It never got easier. Now, I'm thinking of some old friends. Poncho, Chippy, Fluffy (named by my youngest sister). Fluffy we had to put down because he was turning aggressive (extremely rare in his breed) and killing my grandfather's calves (caught him in the act, literally red pawed). Best guard dog we ever had for the sheep, though. Our previously high losses to coyotes went to 0.0 once we got him and he got grown. Strangest thing though, he was a Komondor/Great Pyrenees mix (both sheepdogs) and terrified of sheep.

I see the pun, but I want to borrow from Tim Hawkins for a moment: "That's the worst? That's the worst? Do you think those Chilean miners would agree with that." First Miner: "Here we are, compadres, amigos, brothers. Trapped in a mine, below the ground, out of food, water is low, our air is going stale. Truly, this is the worst." Second Miner: "No, amigo, I disagree. It could be worse. We could be eating sausage with liver in it!" Note: From work, I don't dare run this link and see if it's going to the right bit of his latest release, but I post it anyway because there's only 1 bit of his that flopped for me (Yoga Pants 2.0. The original was awesome!). http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2WMrefP098o&ei=ySDiVJqYH8GRsQTBoIHgAw&usg=AFQjCNHdoaKW9LSv8JBaGl-tA2yzPlyL-w&bvm=bv.85970519,d.cWc

About the only thing I remember from my one-and-only visit to the Big Apple (spring 1997) is a really good BBQ joint named Virgils. That and the tour guide lecturing us on how easy it was to pick pockets, even those you think are unpickable.

I admit that I rejoiced internally when she had that look. I've been Barry in the always-on-standby side of a relationship once. A little victory by proxy.

I remember that. Clue hammers have been flying at Barry. Maybe he'll stop dodging them.

Enjoyed the latest episode ("Crazy About You"). I was hoping Barry would take Caitlin's hint that she wanted to be crazy about him, but I understand where he's coming from. They aren't just friends, they are colleagues, and she sends help over the headphones. A dating relationship could strain that. Iris seemed quite shocked that Barry had a date. I suspect she was expecting Barry to always be waiting in the wings for her on standby. Someone said in this thread before that Barry is using his speed to the exclusion of anything else. That has been shown very clearly the last two episodes. The Pied Piper beat him twice with the same trick. So did Line of Sight (I missed what they decided on for her). Barry's a scientist, he's used to using his brain. Perhaps it would be better to say that Barry is used to using the best tool for the job. As a forensic scientist, the best tool is his brain. As the Flash, he sees his best tool as his speed. He needs to rethink that. Brains with speed would be unstoppable. I hope this is some of the character growth we'll be seeing this season. We got the third shot of Grodd also. Any expectation that he'll be the villain for season 1's wrap up or will they wait for season 2?

After the wet, heavy snow I shoveled Sunday, I was both thor and at home. In fact, I'm still thor.

Some guys at work are running a PathFinder game, my office mate is one of them. The other day, J came in to talk about latest character. J: I'm building a new monk. They just have so many options I want to try! I can do this or this or even this! I'm planning on taking X bonus feats and going down Y path. T: Sounds interesting. J: He'll probably be killed quickly. Then I'll just make another monk. I do that frequently. Me: To quote Belkar Bitterleaf, "It's not my fault your core class is fundamentally broken. So you can attack four times per round? Do any of them actually hit?"

I used to raise sheep and have seen a sight just like this. The flock can be creepy. Sometime I should post about the evil ewe we had. Mean might describe Mel better. She was a bully ewe.

Though I personally do not drink and have no problem with those who enjoy without going overboard, this is wrong on several levels.

Khan works as Vader. "Sir, you've shown Kenobi that the lava could not keep you. You've beaten him. Why do you insist on fighting?" Darth Khan [breath]: He tasks me. He tasks me, and I shall have him!

Somedays, I stress out over what I'm trying to do at my job. It seems like everything is against me: the clock, the programming language, access rights. It's because of those days that days of several minor victories (like today) make me want to shout out, "I AM A SEXY, SHOELESS GOD OF WAR!"

But who fact-checks the fact checkers?

My copy of Book 5: Blood Runs in the Family arrived today!

I don't know. They're speaking my language.

I'm trying to stay out of this, but a pun may just DRAG AND DROP me into the middle of things.

Camaraderie, mainly. Even though I don't play, I have created many characters in several different systems. And I'm a writer, this place discusses sci-fi, fantasy, and other genres I like. While I can't answer questions about specific rules, I can answer when people ask about creating drama in their setup. And I've asked questions on those lines, too. This place has a whole lot of geeks, and I feel comfortable here.

I haven't watched anime in over 10 years. I haven't played a console game since 1999. That will change very soon as someone got the boys a Wii for Christmas. We just haven't hooked it up yet. I have never played a single sit down RPG of any kind. I have read rule books of different systems and even wrote a computer program to help me build characters in one of them. I used to use those rules for building characters in my fiction. Now I just use the packages for ideas and don't worry about balancing the party. I have watched exactly one episode of B5. That was plenty. I have seen only pieces of reruns of the original BG on a friend's cable in the late 80s/early 90s. I have not seen one episode of the new BG. I recently traded in all but three of my Discworld series on a book swap site. I stopped watching Voyager after Seven of Nine joined the crew. I realized I was watching the show not for the story, not for the sci-fi, not even for the characters. I was watching it because of Jeri and her catsuits. I loved Enterprise and DS9. ENT because it went back to the roots of exploration and optimism. DS9 because it threw out Roddenbury's rule of "the future is going to be nothing but awesome!" and looked at what happens when you take away the Federation's creature comforts. Yes, I love the war seasons.

On Christmas day, I fell asleep right after reading part of C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves. I then dreamed I was delivering the part I had just read as a lecture to several of my alternate selfs from parallel realities. It wasn't just a recitation of the text, but fit my own context. Me: Society today has things so backwards that in many ways we don't even know where to begin. Take the word "naked." The word "naked" is actually a verb. It is the past participle of "naking," a verb referring to the peeling of a fruit. Thus, the naked state of the body was not seen as the most natural state, but the unnatural state. We should also note that in this time, the word natural did not refer to merely an object's physical state of being but to its accordance to the moral laws. For example, when Hamlet says that the ghost of his father is "unnatural," he means more than it shouldn't be here according to the universe's physical laws. On the contrary, he means that the ghost and its instructions should not be here according to God's moral laws. Let's examine this more. Often you will hear people say that undressed they are being their most individual and hiding nothing. However, being undressed actually emphasizes not our individuality but our commonality. Look at us in this room. [Gestured for them to stand.] We are all of identical height and very similar weight and build. Were we to stand naked together, even our wives might have difficulty telling which comes from their reality, not that I suggest such a thing. Well, except for Ace* who has a hairstyle unlike any of the rest of us. However, we all wear different styles of clothing. When we are dressed in our own choice of clothes and styles, we express our individuality and personality. And that is why the clothed state is the most natural state of the individual. *Since we all have the same name, we used handles. When I told my wife about this dream, she replied, "you need help."

No more skalds in Scandanavia? My favorite warrior poet VV

I have never considered salmon in an omelet. No matter, my wife wouldn't go for it anyway. Nor would the kids.

My Google-fu was weak that day. I thought it wasn't quite right, but... A little further down would have given me that cowboy with a horseshoe I was looking for.