Tag Archives: clann

Tedious necessities

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Today’s snowstorm (this is Minnesota) meant that I was an hour late getting home. Also cold and wet. I immediately had to load some dead computer stuff (4 computers, 1 monitor, and 1 scanner) into the car for recycling tomorrow. Then I had to type up, edit, and submit the minutes of colgaffneyis last Board meeting–the next one is Tuesday. I finished that just after 8PM. Next I had to do taxes. I had done most of the work last week so I was able to finish a little after 9. And I think it is finished. The returns (one for us and one for J) have been submitted electronically and I have saved backup copies of the files (I work in systems administration–paranoia is my profession). The only possible issue is that a return might be rejected by either the IRS or Minnesota. This is unlikely. TurboTax is quite good and our tax life is not that interesting. Just sometimes painful.

Tartan Day, 2008

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We did our part with colgaffneyis for Minnesota’s Tartan Day observance. IMHO, this is a rather artificial celebration, not having any historical precedent. Still, it is harmless, and there are many other such things going around, and it was a chance to do stuff with friends, so I have no problem with it.

Actually, not completely harmless. Four of us carried matchlock muskets, and we fired a couple of blank volleys as a salute at the end of the ceremony. I had a misfire on my second shot, and got a burn in my left palm for my sins And they were my sins: I don’t fire these things often, and I had not reviewed the procedures for loading and firing them any time recently. Black powder is an old explosive, but is still very dangerous, especially with an inherently hazardous device as a matchlock musket.

My weekend here

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mia_mcdavid is in Michigan for the weekend and the first couple days of next week. Her aunt died after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s. She has posted about it, most recently here.

I cleaned off my workbench this morning, and am trying to make some progress on at least some of my unfinished projects. Quite a list

Preoccupied

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Thomas, our younger son, has been hospitalized. Mia has been writing about this:

Also, my mother is in the hospital. Her hip popped out on Sunday. That was quickly fixed, but she was kept in the hospital because of congestive heart failure. It sounded like another episode of the trouble that caused me to make an emergency trip to see her back in September. I called her at the hospital. The reality is not quite so alarming: The congestive heart failure is the same issue as last year. At age 82 it doesn’t really go away. She was actually in good spirits, in a hospital room with a great view of the Rockies.

On a totally different front, I have to work on Sunday, thereby missing the second day of colgaffneyis at the St. Paul Scottish Ramble. I have two big system implementation projects to complete. These are the sort of thing that can only be done outside of business hours, and require extensive coordination with my co-workers. So scheduling is always hard, and compromises have to be made.

Current Minnesota weather

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From our host in Albert Lea this past weekend:

It’s winter in Minnesota
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.

Oh, how I love Minnesota
When the snow’s up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I’ll hang around
I could never leave Minnesota
‘Cause I’m frozen to the ground!!

In Albert Lea

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mia_mcdavid and I are in Albert Lea (southern Minnesota, near the Iowa border) with colgaffneyis for the Big Island History Faire, an off-season event to promote the October Rendezvous. No camping this time–we are all “Ramada Rangers” (actually at at Holiday Inn in our case).

The drive down was OK. We had dinner and are settled in for the night. The actual event starts at 9 AM tomorrow.

Even here, in very outstate Minnesota, this Holiday Inn has wi-fi, and it is free.