The curious tale of the bucket of potatoes

The curious tale of the bucket of potatoes:
My father-in-law grows potatoes in Nebraska. Back in April, before Emma was born, my mother-in-law brought us some potatoes as well as some for my sister-in-law. Until we would be able to deliver them, we sat them in our storage closet .

We forgot about them . . . a lot.

As a result, I was in for quite a surprise when I opened the storage closet this weekend:

Oh, hello potatoes

I went to throw them away when my wife said: 'Stop, keep the bucket.'

'Why?' I asked.
'Obviously you didn't grow up on a farm.' She replied.
Obviously I didn't because I still didn't understand. Apparently 5 gallon buckets are hot commodities on the farm. And I'm guessing that translates that they will be at our impending homestead as well. (T-minus 1 month till closing!)

The reading project got some life breathed back into it this weekend, I was able to get some reading in during my lunch break at job #2 on Saturday. I'm looking forward to getting back in the groove the week.

Talk radio, housing contracts, and a little JoCo

I had a great time on the radio yesterday. A big thank you to David Lile, Spencer & Lauren, and KFRU for having me on the program. For those of you interested in hearing my interview, have a listen: 
Man Vs Nonfiction on KFRU

Most of my reading this week is coming in the form of contracts, inspection reports, and loan documentation.  Fun! I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things next week. Meanwhile, time to ready the Jonathan Coulton playlist and press on.

On Air

First of all, a big thank you to Lauren and the DBRL Next blog for the mention! If you haven't checked it out, hop on over and get signed up for summer reading!

And, while on the subject of shameless self-promotion, I'll be talking to David Lile on KFRU this coming Wednesday, June 20th at 8:30AM about the Man Vs Nonfiction project. If you're in the Columbia/Central Missouri area tune in to 1400.

For those of you waiting for the publicity to make my head to get too big to fit in this blog, relax. This is not about me. This isn't a stunt to get people to look at me. I'm an IT guy, we tend to stick to the shadows, blend in. A good IT guy knows he's done his job if no one realizes he was there.

No, this is about Emma and making a rich, book-filled, environment for her to grow up in. And if I have to read through some knitting books, books about termites (I have some slight Isopterophobia), histories of infectious disease, or *shudders* books about Macs then so be it.

As excited as I am about this project, a new wrench has just been thrown at it: we are buying a house.

I am supremely excited at the idea of being a homeowner, I cannot wait to have a back yard, to grill on my deck, to teach Emma to crawl around in the family room. We are currently hoop jumping and are *fingers crossed* about a month and a half away from having our first home. Wish us luck!

So maybe my reading will slow down a bit, but it might also make me nervous/anxious enough to calm myself by knocking out a couple books a week, who knows?

Weekend? What is this 'Weekend' you speak of?

Working in Loss Prevention has a drawback, it makes you paranoid. When I first started looking at the cameras and watching for potential shoplifters I kept saying to myself, don't judge someone just because of how they look. I didn't need to. You see, when you are watching the cameras you realize something, Everyone is trying to steal from you!

 

What's this guy doing? Looking at shirts? I'll keep an eye on him . . .

That lady has been looking at watches for like 3 minutes, I bet she is trying to figure out how to steal them . . .

3 kids sorting through dog collars??? Mother of God! Get me the national guard!

3 years I have been perfecting my paranoia, and while I have caught many would-be thieves (though not as many I think I should have) it began to occur to me that all this time staring at screens and worrying about a losing a $4.99 item might not be to good for me in the long run.

And just as these thoughts popped in my head, my new boss dropped a bomb. He said they have hired some new people and I might not be working as much. And indicated I might not be on the schedule at all this summer.

I still can't understand the concept of not having to work a 2nd job. In 2009 I had 1 job, after I was laid off *the day after I got back from my Honeymoon, no less! Sorry, still a little peeved about that . . . jerks*

I started working part time, 4 different places. Church Janitor, Garden Center employee, Meat Counter employee, Santa Claus impersonator. How's that for a work week? A wee bit hectic, but I managed.

So, going down to one job means I would have weekends off. Like 2 days in a row off! This concept is mind bottling. with two days off I might be able to get some more reading in, which means I might finish my project before I turn 75. Maybe . . .

Speaking of the project, new week and a new book. Meet Selection #6, 909.0982 GRA, or according to my spreadsheets: G2(N)7:7

From Alexander to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World by Michael Grant

I know far too little about Greek history, looking forward to this one.

Oddity

A strange thing happened last night. My girls were taking a nap, the Western Conference Finals was wrapping up, and I had some time to myself. The first thought that came to my mind was to fire up the XBOX and see if could level my Skyrim character up some more. Then, unexpectedly, inexplicably, instead I reached for a book and read.
I know right!
This reading routine just might take up roots after all. Miss Emma is getting pretty good at sticking to her schedule. And she seems to like being read to. We started off with a book called Spots and Dots by Beth Harwood:

Mommy reading Spots and Dots

I wanted to start her off with The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, but my wife and I could not agree on whether we would begin at The Magician's Nephew or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Plus, Emma seems to be into bright colors and shiny things, something the Narnia series I bought her lacks.

Losing a Legend

I wanted to take time today to reflect on the passing of Ray Bradbury. I read The Martian Chronicles when I was in 6th grade and had my mind blown. I remember I kept looking up and wondering if i was allowed to read something that cool, like at any moment a teacher would catch me. My writing style, when I do find time to write fiction, is very similar to the 'episodic' structure that TMC was written in. It didn't occur to me until today just how much of an impact that book had on me.
Fahrenheit 451 was equally mind blowing, and got me turned onto stories about dystopia that I still love today. When I first started working for the library, and thus discovered the graphic novel section that I didn't know existed, the graphic novel version of 451 was for first checkout. Mostly because I love the book so much, but a little due to the irony of the story being made into a comic that society so loathed in 451.
Here's to you Mr Bradbury, you will be missed greatly and remembered fondly.

The Age of Routine

Hooray for Monday! Calm down, I have a reason.
There are 2 very important and exciting things occurring this morning: my wife goes back to work, and Miss Em starts daycare. Now, before I get tomatoes thrown at me for being an awful father and husband for being exciting about those things, the reason I'm excited is because we are ushering in 'The Age of the Routine' . . . that should have a gong sound or something associated with it. I'm very excited about starting routines, getting schedules worked out, structure, glorious structure. It's the beginning of a whole new era.
The reading routine is slowly getting traction. Now that my wife is back to work I'm hoping she can help me out, though she requested Janet Evanovich novels instead of random non-fiction books. I'm OK with that.
And speaking of random non-fiction books, this week I am ready to turn in 2 and pick up 2 more.
My next selection is kind of cheating. Not only have I read it before, I actually used to own it before I loaned it out to a co-worker and it was never seen again.
May I present 551.46 HEA, Tracks in the Sea: Matthew Fontaine Maury and the Mapping of the Oceans by Chester G Hearn

This book holds a special place in me heart. Before my life as an IT guy I spent 3 years in Huntsville, Alabama making maps for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (they abbreviate it NGA, but why in the world would you want to? It sounds awesome!)
My job was to take raw data collected by the Navy and produce a hard-copy map from it. While it was fun and I loved it, it was the single most boring job I have ever had. Point, Click, Repeat. But, as a learned more more about making maps, I learned more and more about the CAD software we used (MicroStation for the win!) which lead me to learn more about the GIS databases we used, and eventually lead me to help assist my co-workers with tech support.
So, Tracks in the Sea is my next selection, that leaves me in a pickle with selection #2. I need a good way to select a random book. And while there are probably several different ways to do this, you know what they say: behind every great man is a great woman, and a great spreadsheet. OK they don't really say that, but I love spreadsheets.
Using my numbering system, that makes perfect sense to me, and a couple random number generators, behold: 342.7306 SIE. Claim of Privilege: A Mysterious Plane Crash, a Landmark Supreme Court Case, and the Rise of State Secrets by Barry Siegel

Happy routines everyone!