Courtesy of Dave Barry’s blog, here are the world’s worst Halloween costumes.

Welcome back, Kotter!

I suppose its appropriate that R.E.M. plays here in October. I consider them merely the ghost of what they once were. There was a time ten years ago I would’ve done anything to see them play. Now that Bill Berry is no longer drumming for them, they don’t have the right to call themselves R.E.M.

Though I won’t be going to tonight’s concert, one of their songs is on my mind this morning:

Let’s put our heads together and start a new country up
Our father’s father’s father tried, erased the parts he didn’t like
Let’s try to fill it in, bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red

This is where we walked, this is where we swam

Take a picture here, take a souvenir

This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it
We knee-skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends, bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me, underneath the river bed

This is where we walked, this is where we swam

Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Let’s put our heads together, start a new country up,
Underneath the river bed we burned the river down.
This is where they walked, swam, hunted, danced and sang,
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Rewrite the book and rule the pages, saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you

This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it
We are not your allies, we can not defend
This is where they walked, this is where they swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir

Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone.
—

Artist: R.E.M.
Song: Cuyahoga

I’ve got a number of weblog links on the right of the page which haven’t been updated since the dawn of time. It got me thinking that there has to be a clever name for a stale weblog. Maybe a blog heavy on the webs? Or something?

Can someone throw me a friggin’ bone here?

I’ve been itching to write something deep or inspiring, but the inspiration has been lacking. It’s the kind of feeling I get when I know there’s something important to be said and I just don’t know how to say it. Eventually, the words will organize themselves and I’ll have a great post. But that great post will have to wait. 🙂

I’ve got my fundoplication scheduled now. The big day is November 10th. I’m going to see the local expert in the surgery, Dr. Tim Farrell at UNC. He comes highly recommended.

Also, I should mention that an unnamed large local Linux company has recently courted me. This is a company I admired for so many years. I had given it at least a half-dozen resumes during its existance. Only my most recent one garnered any attention from them, and by that time it was too late. I am happily settled at my current job.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to talk to them. After all, it is a company I greatly admired. So when I got a call to schedule a phone interview, it didn’t matter that they were three months too late in responding to me – I would talk to them.

The phone interview went well, but not spectacularly. Weeks later, I got an invitation to visit them in person. I felt I wowed them when I got there except for one thing: when they asked me why I would leave my current job, I had no answer.

Truth is, I didn’t want to work for them. Originally, I only followed up with it to help pitch my friend for the position. When I didn’t get an opportunity for that, I used it instead as good interviewing practice. My resume also attracted attention among the hundreds which arrive every day. No small feat.

Yeah, this company had lost some of its luster in my eyes. I wondered (and still do) if it has a soul. The impression I got from my visit is that it does not, and that’s sad. I wonder if folks there are just punching a timeclock – if the so-called “revolution” is dead.

So the end of the story is that I’m staying put, and that’s just fine with me. I have a great job working with great people, at a company that is going to go places. It’s the most fun I’ve had in years. It’s as close to perfect as I’ve experienced.

Damn! I don’t even have a witty or deep closing statement for this post. How about “and they lived happily ever after.”

We’re back at Buckingham Palace after our long weekend spent visiting Kelly’s relatives in Minneapolis. The weather could not have been better. In fact, it was better than Raleigh’s. Temperatures were in the 70’s and 80’s under sunny skies.

Kelly’s relatives absolutely rock. We felt very welcome the whole time through. Hallie charmed everyone she met and is sure to miss all the fun she had playing with her distant cousins.

Oh, and the business that brought me to Minnesota went well, too. I was puzzled afterward why I felt so disappointed about it. My conclusion is that I was having so much fun visiting with everyone, work was anticlimatic.

I’ve got lots to write about the trip, but I’m anxious to try out my own bed for the first time in days.

Oh, one more thing. I freaked on Monday morning when it seemed I knocked mt.net offline. Turns out the outage was due to my cable modem locking up. Its not the first time that has happened, unfortunately. I missed being able to instantly write about things that happened there.

Blogging is so addictive.

I’m off with the family on a visit to Minnesota. We’re gonna visit some of Kelly’s family there before I go do some business.

Looks like the Twin Cities airport has lots of hotspots. Unfortunately, while they are listed as “public,” they are not free. At eight bucks a pop, I think I’ll do something else with my time. 🙂

By the way, 6 AM Saturday flights seriously suck.

We had a company picnic at lunch today. One of my buddies, Larry, brought his guitar, mandolin and fiddle into work. James G., Larry, and Tanner wandered off from the group and played some bluegrass songs.

Tanner handed the guitar over to me and I played some with James and Larry. Man, it was fun to play with other musicians again! And bluegrass is great music. It’s music that’s as much fun to play as it is to hear.

I’m amazed at how many people here are musicians. Close to a dozen, out of a company of 50. It’s incredible.

I’d like to play on a regular basis, maybe even join a band with these guys. Just see what happens. I’d bet I’d have a blast.

Now, if I could talk a banjo-playing friend into joining in, we’d have it made!

The old Polk Youth Center has been demolished now, as I discovered driving by it yesterday. There is nothing there but a rusted pile of concrete and steel, yet something still remains.

Few buildings hold more despair than prisons, and youth prisons get a double-dose. I can think of few places more depressing than a youth prison. It is a glaring reminder of the failure of our society. The kids inside must feel incredibly alone. True, violence led many of them there – and I don’t for a moment excuse the crimes they committed – but it makes me wonder how their lives would be different if their families had given them the love and attention so crucial to human development.

If there was any place our so-called justice system needs a focus of rehabilitation, it is in the treatment of young offenders. Youth prisions should offer a firm but fair hand in getting these kids the help they need to get their lives together. They should not be “preschool” for an eventual trip to an adult prison.

The empty shell of the prison always nagged at me as I drove by. The building had as much life in it closed – empty and strewn with litter and graffiti – as it did when it was full of hopelessly lost kids. Either way, emptiness permeated throughout.

The Chinese have a concept of feng shui, where human suffering can imprint itself on the place it occurs. If such a thing exists, the Polk site may never shake its cold, violent past, regardless of the pile of rubble where the prison used to be. No amount of art the Museum puts there can hide the pain that was once incarcerated at Polk Youth Center.

(A few photo galleries of the eerie empty prison can be found here and here.)

The latest study to look at the effects of EMF from mobile phones has discovered evidence they cause nausea and headaches. Dutch researchers have evidence that the new 3G high-speed mobile phones can play with your mind.

“If the test group was exposed to third generation base station signals there was a significant impact … They felt tingling sensations, got headaches and felt nauseous,” a spokeswoman for the Dutch Economics Ministry said.

Still want to cancel your landline at home and use your cellphone exclusively?
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