It's A Small World After All

In honor of Disney's "It's A Small World" celebrating it's 50th birthday later in April, I thought I would tell a "small world" story that recently happened to me.  (Yes, that is a picture of the Small World Ride at Disneyland that I took when we went there 2 Thanksgivings ago, thanks for noticing.)

A couple weeks back now, after a 6" snow, I drove The Daughter to school, because I'm a nice dad.  So, instead of my normal "school year" routine of riding the CTA bus with The Daughter, and then continuing on to the L to go to work, Cora and I followed our "summer" routine, where I walk to a different L line through our nice, quiet neighborhood.

As we were walking through the still falling fresh powder, Cora spotted a set of keys mostly buried in the snow.  I had a sneaky suspicion that these keys might belong to a police officer.  Or maybe the spouse of a cop.  Maybe it was the 3 different key tags and whatnots with "Chicago Police" written on them.  I'm not sure.

Not knowing what to do, we hung them on a tree branch, beside the sidewalk where we found them.  Surely someone would retrace their steps and come back looking for them, right?

Wrong.

A week later, they were still hanging there.

So, we did what we were supposed to do, and took them to a local police station.

And that's where the world got small.  Real small.

And here is roughly the conversation I had with the officer behind the counter.  (Names have been slightly altered.  I'm not sure why.)

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Scope:  I found these keys in the snow about a week ago on North Cardwell.  Obviously, they belong to a police officer.

Cop (Turning to the two officers behind him):  Hey, doesn't Sweetin live on Cardwell?  Isn't he with the FBI now?

Scope:  Yes, that he lived by WGN.  This was further north.  And I think he moved a while back.  (And thinking "He's with the Secret Service").

Cop:  Maybe their his old man's.  He was a sergeant.  (One of the tags was for a "sergeant")

Scope: Doubt it.  Rod lives over on Melvin.

<End Scene>

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So, to recap: 

• I walk into a random police station.
• They mention the last name of a guy who hasn't been on the force in 10 years.
• I know who they are talking about.
• They mention his dad.
• I know him, too.
• "It's A Small World" turns 50 on April 22nd, but will be celebrated on April 10th to avoid conflict with "Earth Day".

Now, this is the City of Chicago, not a suburb or something.  I've only lived in the city since 99, and only been in this neighborhood for 5 years.  My roots aren't that deep.  But I walk into a police station, and they mention the brother and father of someone who I've known since '83?  (Referred to as "The Blonde" in earlier blog stories.)

It is a small world, after all.

Catching Up On Things

So, what have I been up to recently?  I know I haven't posted often.  Heck, no one really has.  I've been kind of MIA since at least Thanksgiving.  Posting now and then, but not really anything.

So, in November, the family took a run down to the Museum of Science and Industry for The Daughter's birthday and saw the Disney Exhibit.  The exhibit had a lot of artifacts regarding Disney's early life (you know he briefly lived in Chicago, right?).  It was pretty cool.  Props and behind-the-scenes artifacts from the earliest years to the present.  LINK

There was a huge promotional drawing Disney made when he was trying to pitch Disneyland to the bankers.

And then there were the costumes from one of my favorite live action Disney movies, The Rocketeer, and one of Cora's, Mary Poppins.

Before Christmas, we had our work Christmas party at the Art Institute.  We actually got to wander around some of the exhibits in the Modern Wing.  I got to see the very interesting "Woman in Tub" and Chairman Mao looking FABULOUS!

We had a great Christmas.  Well, we had a bunch of Christmases (Christmasi?)  One celebration with our little family where I gave her (among other things) a Hedwig purse.  Yes.  That's a purse.  A backpack purse.  No.  She will never use it as such.

We then had a Christmas out in Seattle, where we went downtown and rode the carousel.  The painted horses weren't nearly as pretty as the gals who rode 'em.

Then we had a "snow" fight with this weird fake snow.  It claimed to be biodegradable, but all it really did was make the bottom of your shoes both slick and sticky at the same time.  And I found bits of it inside my coat pocket over a month later.  "Biodegradable"?  "Half-life" is more like it.

Later, we hit Salty's to see the nutcrackers (no, not that thing I did off the high dive in Jr. High.)  This is also the place where I took those Sound pictures of Seattle (LINK)

Then, we went shopping for a Christmas gift for my father-in-law.  You see, over the summer, it became URGENT that one of these be deployed, but he didn't have one.  Only two of those auger things.  Talk about "stirring the pot".

So I got him a good one.  (Yes, I'm a boy.  I have even licked a fly swatter in a store once.)  Needless to say, it was the HIT present of the party.  (No, he's not drunk.  He's English.)

Once we got back, The Daughter got into one of the monster sized peanut butter cups she got for Christmas.  (That's not the only thing she got, punks.)  As you can see, this isn't the peanut butter cup of your youth.

She was giddy with the awesomeness…

Then tried her best to be serious in her "Panic at the Disco" tee.  As you can see, this is a serious hunk of chocolate encasing the peanut butter.  She didn't eat the whole thing in one sitting.  She wrapped it up, and then, with a knife, would carve out an bit as needed.

Then came the Chinese New Year, so I took Cora and The Daughter out to our local "favorite" Chinese restaurant.  (It is our "favorite" but it is also really the ONLY Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood.  Thai?  There's probably a dozen within a mile or so, but only one Chinese joint.)  As you can see, while she's not blogging regularly at the moment, the wife is still taking pictures.

And now on to why I've had trouble blogging recently:  Work.  We've been working on a huge IT project for about a year that went live on 2014-02-22.  In the fall, I was working from 8:00 am to about 6:00 pm.  Then the leaving time started creeping upwards.  7:00 pm.  Then finally 8:00 pm or later.

One thing about leaving work so late this winter, you got to see how the city handled all the snow.  In the picture below, the Bobcats are scooping up piles of snow that the plows have stacked on the curbsides, and depositing them into a dumpster to get hauled off. Not sure where it goes from there.  Years ago, they would just dump it in the Chicago River, but the EPA has banned that practice.

But the place I've been spending most of my time recently is this:

Yes, my desk at work.  With these fabulous shades of grey and black and beige.  The walls do have a bit of faded weird khaki green.

INVITING!

We've been working on a year long IT project.  Over the course of the project, I think we had around 5 different managers, and the project lead was let go.  So my normal 8 – 4:30 job morphed into 8 to 6, then 8 to 7.  And for the last few months, 8 - 8+.  Finally, at the end of February, we went live.  I went into work around 10 am on Friday.  We started part of the conversion at 9:00 pm.  The major part of the conversion started at 11:00 pm.  At about 12:30, I managed to sneak a little nap for maybe 45 minutes while other processes were running.  We made our 7:00 am deadline to get things back up, and I left sometime around 12:30 pm.  Over 26 hours.  I went home and, **GASP**, passed out and took a nap.  And since the project was over, that meant I got to start going home at a reasonable hour.  Or maybe not.

But I  am glad to report that things have eventually mellowed and we've cleaned up most of the issues.  Now on to the next one.  No chance to breathe.  But, soon I will be moving into a new desk with a little different view.  I'll show you that soon.

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Since I know all (both) of you trying to figure out what all stuff on the desk is.  Starting from upper left and moving clockwise.

• Receipt from when I went to jury duty about a year ago.  I started a blog post on that day that is still in draft.  It still needs a few more hours of work.
• A Venn Diagram on how to do inner and outer joins, some syntax crib notes, et cetera.
• My sweet, super wide monitor.
• A picture of Cora and I from our honeymoon.
• My lunchtime meds.
• A mouse the same shape as the one I have at home.
• My reading glasses.
• Some extra keys, including "PANIC", "EJECT", and "DO PROJECT".  You have no idea have many times I hit that "DO PROJECT" button.
• My cell, to text the wife around 8 pm to let her know when I should be leaving.
• A tiki cup that I use for water.  It used to look like THIS before the paint all fell off.
• A flying monkey.  Yes, a flying monkey.

Authentic Mexican Cuisine?

So, the other day I was riding the "L" and saw this ad.

I was… confused.

Do you see it?

Authentic Mexican Food, like…

Pizza?

Next Sunday Is Going To Be Okay

175 years ago, in the city of Boston, the word "OK" was born.

If you watch the included video from CBS Sunday Morning, you will see Ph.D. Metcalf; Executive Secretary of the American Dialect Society talking about the word "ok".  That's what you'll see.

What I see is Dr. Metcalf.  The advisor for "The Daily Other".  The newspaper where "Scope" was born.  While I never actually had Dr. Metcalf as a professor in any of my classes, 25+ years after I graduated, he still remembers my name.  I also see the reference room in the Henry Pfeiffer Library.  A room I spent as little time in as possible.  Then I see Rutledge lawn.  A space where I spent as much time as possible.

Dr. Metcalf and MacMurray College both look OK.

Corn Huskers–And I Don't Mean "Nebraska"

To say I suffer from "winter skin" is an understatement.

I am Winter Skin's bitch.

For the past, I don't know, 6 years, between December and February, if I wore short sleeved shirts, it looked like I had been mauled by a bear or ran a marathon through a brier patch or something.

My arms and back were carved with scratches from itching I my sleep.  The rest of my arms were red and with hive like bumps. The back of my calves looked like some kind of lunar-sc(r)ape.

I tried the Eucerine as told HERE.  It worked okay, but was expensive, and need to be applied constantly just to keep the dry skin at bay.  And, I'm sure 50% of it is still in the tube.

This year, after scratching myself raw the first 3 months of winter (it's been brutal here in Chicago, like everywhere, I guess), I had enough and bought a bottle of the good stuff.

Corn Huskers Lotion.

Normally, I would provide a link to the official Corn Huskers Lotion website, but I don't think there is one.  I've searched the web, and am not sure who even manufactures it.  They probably just made a monster batch of it in 1943, and have been just selling that batch ever since.  But let me tell you, it works.

Within 2 applications (night then morning), my skin was so much better.

Applying it before bed and after the morning shower, and I've had no winter skin issues since.

Sure, the stuff looks like a 7 ox bottle of snot, but don't let that put you off.  Just pour a nickel sized drop in your hand and go for it.  It's a little thin, so be careful.  It has a nice, clean smell, so you won't smell like lavender & lilac unicorn farts or anything.  Just be warned:  As it dries on your hands, it does go through a "tacky" phase, but that doesn't last long.

And at around $3.99 a bottle, you can afford to be liberal with it.

A few things:

• It was originally formulated for actual corn huskers, i.e. men who shucked ears of corn.
• It can be hard to find.  I've scored some at CVS.  You may need to try… Walmart.
• According to at least one site, it can also perform as a "personal lubricant".  Well, shuck that corn.

Project 52-Week 02–Last Minute Charlie Already

So, like I said, I'm going to try this project where I take a picture a week, so I start taking more pictures, and with 3 hours left in the week*, I finally take this week's picture.

I'd taken a few pictures during the week, but wasn't really moved by any of them.  We'd had some snow and cold, and I was thinking of taking a great shot of the Chicago River with the sky blue and the ice crystals steaming off of it.  But it was cold, and the river is like, 4 blocks away, and so I, ummm, didn't.

So, I grabbed a couple items that were sitting on my desk for the shot:

The book, How To Be A Villain, is a playbook for my retirement, and helped me generate my pseudonym: "Baron Von Bloodhammer".  And the small plastic Iron Giant is a great Christmas gift from my lovely wife, Cora.  Two seconds of composition to hide the massive mess on my desk, and BOOM!, there you go.

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The two rejects were:

The iced over gas meter.  It looked pretty cool when I passed it in the morning, but I didn't have a chance snap a picture.  By the time I got home and took a picture, the ice didn't look nearly as nice, and the lighting was gawd-awful.

And while I appreciate whoever drew the frozen banana on the box at the L stop, once again, I just didn't like the lighting.  The flash totally washed it out, and with no flash it was too dark.

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* Week – I want to eventually get on a Monday – Sunday week schedule, but right now, I'm just making it in the 7 day increments since the start of the year.

Project 52–Week 01

A few years back, my lovely bride, Cora, did something referred to as "Project 365".  That's where you take a picture a day for a year.

While she did a great job, WOW!, is that more commitment than I can muster.

Way more.

So I'm going to try something a little more my speed:  "Project 52".

I'm going to take a picture a week this year, and post them here.  Or I'm going to try.  You know how these things go.  Also, with a wife who is a true shutterbug, she's always taking pictures, so she's rarely in them.  That's not fair.  She's far too pretty not to be in front of the camera, too.

So, here's my first entry.  It was taken on January 2nd from Salty's, in West Seattle.  I liked the composition that it presented me with, with the piling in the foreground, the red tug in the middle, and the skyline in the background.

Below is a second shot I took a little earlier, with Cora's small camera in panoramic mode. (The deck doesn't actually curve like that.)

Yes, I know my wife isn't in either of these pictures, but while I had my camera out, I did get some good pictures of her.  And that's the real point of this whole deal.

A New Year's Public Service Announcement

This announcement has nothing to do particularly with New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, 2014, or any other bit of calendar monkey business.

In fact, this advice is a tale as old as time.  A song as old as rhyme.

- THESE ARE NOT PANTS!

- THE DAZZLE CAMOUFLAGE ISN'T FOOLING ANYONE.

Back in WWI, and to a lesser part, WWII, some ships were painted with a paint scheme, often referred to as "razzle dazzle" or "dazzle camouflage".  It was not designed to hide the ships from the enemy, so much as to confuse the enemy gunners as to the size, shape, speed, and/or bearing of a ship, throwing off the optical range finders so as to cause them difficulty in acquiring a firing solution. 

These tights are NOT going to break up your silhouette and fool anybody into thinking that your Ticonderoga class cruiser of a backside is really a sleek little Arleigh Burke destroyer (ship designations in honor of Skydad).

Especially if you are wearing them as pants.  Seriously!  Look in a mirror and ask yourself, "Is this the first impression I want to make today?"  If the answer is "yes", beg your momma, or her closest living relative to slap some sense into you (unless "Auntie" is a hoochie, too, then you're screwed).  There are probably 6 women on the planet with legs and buttocks shaped correctly to wear tights as pants in public.

YOU ARE NOT ONE OF THEM.

They are some of the (butt not all) Victoria Secret models.  You might be fine, butt reality check, you aren't that fine.  Go put on a skirt, or a tunic sweater or something and cover that up a little.  Trust me, the world NEEDS THE MYSTERY.

I mean, do you want to look like this from behind?  People will be gouging their eyes out behind you in line at McDonalds while you get your McRib, fries and a Diet Coke.

And this goes double for wearing ecru (see, I know a few of the fancy "women color" words) tights worn as pants.  You look naked and like someone spackled your ass crack closed.  You are personally contributing toward the breakdown in society.  Stop it.  I don't care if they match your skin color or not.

I don't care what you wear for "special sexy time" around the house, do not cross your threshold into any common or public area looking like some idiot who forgot to put pants on.  Even if you are not getting out of the car.  Not an excuse.

I mean, we don't have to go full Victorian again, but a little modesty, people.  And that goes for you, too, "Mr. Bicycle Pants on The L".  No one wants to sit in a seat with your "package" at eye level.

Where's the eye bleach?

Once Upon A Time–Down the "Rabbit Hole"

A few weeks ago, the family was sitting around watching that show "Once Upon A Time" and this bit of poor planning appeared on the screen:

Did that rabbit just do what I think he just did?

Yup, he just circled Snow White's "rabbit hole".

I've always thought that those "pop-up" ads were useless, but this was at least entertaining.

[And FYI – All the women on this show are much better looking in their "fairy tale" clothes than they are in their contemporary garb.]

And for SkyDad, a gratuitous shot of Ruby.

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Trying to get at least one blog post out a week.  Had this sitting on the DVR forever before I had a chance to video it and get it posted.

Cyber-Monday Wrap Up / The Voice

Man that was a blast.  Sorry I haven't been back since the big Cyber Monday event.  If you missed it, here's the roll of those I know who participated:

That Janie Girl - LINK	Cora – LINK
Padded Cell Princess - LINK	MJenks - LINK
Soda and Candy - LINK	Jan - LINK
Elly - LINK	Sassy Britches - LINK
The Vegetable Assassin - LINK	Rob-bear - LINK
Girl Interrupted - LINK	So. Cal. Gal - LINK
Shana M - LINK	Dale – LINK
Candy's daily Dandy - LINK	Mathdude - LINK
MoxieGirl - LINK	words...words...words... - LINK

I think I've figured it out.  While many on the people who posted I also know on that place called "Facebook", it just isn't the same.  It's a different "voice" over there.  I know my "voice" is different over here than over there.  Even in the dark, super special corners where my mother isn't lurking.

"Scope" doesn't play as much on Facebook.  Those are more "Eric's people".  Writing over there, I have such a broad audience of people that I mostly used to sort of kind of know or are related to, so I have to be more guarded.  Here?  This is my house, not Zuck's.  I have more freedom.  I love what I call "the long form".  Most every post I do has a picture or two.  I've recently increase my default font size (due to my eyes getting older).  Over there, you can't even BOLD that which needs bolding.

And I certainly can say that while I know some folks are still blogging and I appreciate it, it certainly was glad to hear some of those old voices again.

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And now, a word from Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Illinois:

Welcome to CYBER-Monday

Welcome to the Scope-Tech CYBER-Monday extravaganza. Check out all the other bloggers' contributions in the comments section below.  And "Thanks" to all the bloggers, active and retired who participated.

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For those of you who may be new here, I'm Scope.  Shortly after starting this blog, I ran across a fellow blogger, we seemed to hit it off, and well, if you want to read the long story, jump back to 2009 / 2010 on the list over there –>, but we met, fell in love, got married, and are now living our happily ever after.

Work, on the other hand… We're in the crunch time of a year or so long project that is going to roll out at the end of February.  I'd been working from 8:00 to 6:00 or 6:30 most nights for the last few months.  And then, as of 2 weeks ago, the person who was the project lead is no longer with the Firm.  While we have a contractor in from the vendor to assist, I've now added an extra hour to my work day trying to catch up on all the stuff she was doing, coordinating with the contractor, and desperately trying to sneak in a few minutes each day to keep my portion of the project somewhat on track.

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I bet you were wondering about my Thanksgiving dinner.  Well, we assembled at my sister's place, where she had a beautiful spread set up.

Working clockwise around the plate, we have our stuffing (or is it dressing) at noon, some grilled asparagus, grilled sweet potatoes, grilled turnips, and grill Brussels sprouts.   At the bottom of the plate are two yeasty rolls, some white meat turkey with some cranberry sauce, and some dark meat turkey, because I don't discriminate.  And the bull's-eye is mashed potatoes and gravy.   On the outside looking in is some whole kernel corn, and a nut brown ale called "Moose Drool".  Believe it or not, the grilled vegetables absolutely stole the show as far as I was concerned.  So, Candy, that really doesn't count as "plating" does it?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, I think this is the 5th time I 've run this clip.  It's a great Thanksgiving tradition.

I hope you all have a great holiday, and hope to hear from you on Cyber-Monday.

CYBER MONDAY–The Challenge

As you probably know, Monday, December 2 has been dubbed, "Cyber Monday".  But is it really as an antiquated concept as buggy whips?  I mean, the Monday after Thanksgiving was named that because people would use their work's faster internet connections to do their shopping.

Is that really an issue now?  I mean, fast internet isn't just in your home, but it's on your phone.  Are people really waiting until they get to the office to hit Amazon?

So, let's repurpose "CYBER MONDAY".

One week from today, Monday, December 2**, post something, anything on your blog.  You've got a week.  Let's take the internet back from the shopper and the Facebookers* and celebrate "blog world" for at least one day.

Post what ever you want.  Even if it's just before/after pictures of your Thanksgiving plate.  (American's only.  I know Thursday isn't an international holiday.)

When you're done, swing back by Scope-Tech here and post a link.

And maybe catch up with an old friend.

And isn't friends and family one of the things we're all thankful for?

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* I know the irony of the fact that I posted this on Facebook, and spend much more time on Facebook than on my blog, but I really do miss the "long form" of the blog.

** Corrected to the correct date, Monday, December 2nd.

Happy 9th

 

 

I'm so glad to for today.

9 years ago, my super fantastic, wonderful, amazing wife became…

The Girl Who Lived.

For Drying Out Loud

I have a confession to make.

I have a new favorite website, The United States Drought Monitor.

I grew up on a farm, so rainfall and the water table is something I still have an interest in.  Like following your childhood baseball team, even after you've lost interest in baseball in general.

Below is the current drought map.

Not bad, really.  Illinois and Iowa have been running a little dry this fall.  But that's okay.  The growing season is over, and the harvest is wrapping up.  They can wait a little while for the rain.

We had a nice rain storm blow through here on Halloween.  While one rain won't break a drought, this was a good couple of day soaker, that should at least roll back the drought index a little.

To watch the drought spread and dissipate, watch the below animation.  (FYI – based on the data from 7 am Tuesday, it is updated every Thursday at 8:30 am.)

So, do you have any favorite geeky websites?