I recently became aware that the company I work for is auditing and monitoring the usage of USB ports on the computers we use. I have no reason to fear this, since I’m on the up and up. There truly is nothing to hide. It was unnerving to learn however that they looked at my PC and were able to list each and every device I have ever connected to that machine in its two year history. I saw Wi-Fi network names I really had to strain to recall using. I saw each thumb drive and iPod that had ever touched my USB port. Even if it was just once to borrow some power. It made me feel dirty. Violated. Pissed, even.
What’s a tech guy to do? I wrote a script to dig through the registry and remove tracks left behind by such indiscretions. Should I really be questioned about my use of USB power to charge an iPod? Give me a break.
One final post to put the whole parade behind me. We weren’t recognized by the judges, and our picture didn’t make the paper, but sometimes no news is better than bad news. Our float looked good and sounded somewhat poor. Next year we should go for a rolling boom box draped with lights. Forget the official theme - everyone else did. There were no major incidents and everyone had a good time. Except possibly the couple who were still reeling from the $1,000 damage to their Ford pickup.
If I leave the house through the back door instead of my usual front door routine, I sometimes forget my coffee. My wife installed hook thingy where we now hang our keys so they don’t get misplaced. The first morning I walked right out the door and locked myself out of the house without my keys. Brilliant. I forget stuff all the time. Without lists and stupid human tricks like a launch pad, I don’t know what I’d do. I am such a creature of habit that one slight change in my routine and I’m totally thrown off course.
I depend heavily on lists and reminders to help me navigate life’s details. I often remember my to-do items while driving. It’s hard to write while driving, and I may not recall a detail once I’ve reached my destination. My solution lately is Jott. You call Jott, speak a message, addressed to whomever you’ve setup in your account, and it will email or text your cell phone. It can also setup a reminder message. Best of all, it’s free.
In the past 24 hours, Jott has successfully triggered me to drop off a rent check for a friend while he’s out of town and it reminded me to alter a song’s stop time on my iPod playlist so I don’t broadcast a crappy part of a song during the Christmas parade. These are both important items, yet I’m certain without a reminder system, I would have screwed them up. Jott is a trusted system that can help clear your head of these tedious details so you can have mind like water.
I had this idea the other night that someone should create a Google map that shows where all the cool Christmas light displays are setup. This would make it very easy to roll through the Starbucks drive-thru and pick up some hot chocolate and take the kids out light driving. It turns out Adam Weeks has already put one together here. I found it on the Empirical Polk site, which I believe is run by Josh, who I met at the geeky blog meeting I went to last week. Small connected world. It would be great if more folks added worthy light displays to the map for everyone to enjoy.
What a weekend. Friday night was incredible. My lovely wife and I went out on a hot date. So hot, we melted stuff. Cheese, chocolate, Caribbean mojo bouillon, and my debit card. We got a sitter for the kids and set off with reservations for two at the Melting Pot. Dinner was awesome. We should have skipped the main disk altogether and just got the cheese fondue and the milk chocolate fondue dessert and called it a meal. The steak, chicken, fish, and shrimp were unnecessary (but delicious). Saturday, the sun did all the melting. I hung Christmas lights in September-like conditions. It was hot and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to shade me working up on the roof. My daughter seems satisfied with the light situation, but I think we’re still missing that special something. Speaking of the kids, they are also melting. The boys are taking turns this weekend with fever and vomiting. Sunday, it’s all things parade float, again in the September-like heat. All I’m going to say here is when a trailer’s coupler calls for a 2 5/8 inch ball, that’s what you should use. I even offered to loan one to the distinguished gentleman from North Lakeland but Mr. “I’ll pull the float” said, “gnaw, I got it.“ Okay genius. I stopped only briefly at the side of the road where he was parked a mere few feet from the detached trailer. I mainly wanted to ensure the generator I loaned out was unharmed. I wonder if they ever made it to the barn? I hate to think what the saftey chains did to his purdy new pickup truck.
