Down On Ferry Farm

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am NOT a good speaker. Somehow words just get tied up when I try to say them. I know what I’m talking about – really – but my mouth fails me and I sound like I’m making it all up. I realize it when I start pontificating on whatever the subject might be. I get bumfuzzled just hearing my own voice and before I know it I’m stammering and stuttering all over the place. I try to pacify myself by saying “boy, I wish I could talk today”. That usually slows me down and I get the words out a little better. But then it happens: the pause. I’ll start going down the road of a really informative sentence and then – pause – there’s this huge gap and my mind goes blank a little. I start staying short phrases that mean the word I was trying to say. I hate that. I wish there was a cure. There are not a lot of people in the world who know a particular tid-bit about me… probably just my family. When I was in 4th grade I saw a speech therapist because I had a lisp.

I think I have finally recuperated from my birthday bash. Superman and I spent most of last weekend recording some cover songs that we’ve been trying to get done for quite some time. Friday night we got a lot done but by nightfall on Saturday I was pretty wore out. We were up until the wee hours of the morning. I spent most of Sunday bleary-eyed. The biggest problem I have at work is the ability to find a parking space. When I arrive in the morning, parking spaces are fairly plentiful where I want to park – near the door closest to my desk. God forbid you go to lunch because you will not have a spot when you come back. They have an ‘auxiliary’ parking area which is known as the “loser’s lot” and is a bit of a walk from the building. Today, when I got back from lunch, no spaces at the office… no spaces at the “loser’s lot”. What’s a boy to do? I ended up parking in the lot on the back end of a neighboring office building and making the hike back to the office. I really dread election ti

Last night the people that I used to work with threw me a birthday bash. It was all very cool and laid back. All the usual suspects were there: A-girl, S-girl, G-lady, etc. Some new players were also there and a good time was had by most. Here’s the timeline as I remember it. Things are, of course, a little fuzzy: 7:00 pm – I arrived at a pub down by the beach. It’s called Abbey Road and is – of course – “Beatles” themed. I arrive at the hostess station and tell the cute little girl I’m here for the party, giving her the name that the party is under. Without saying a word, she turns and goes around the corner in the back of the place. She’s gone for about 2 minutes while I’m standing there like a dork. She returns and says she does have a reservation under that name but she didn’t realize it. She gets me to a table not far away set up to seat about 12 people. I’m sitting at this big empty by myself for 20 minutes getting the disapproving glances from passers-by. 7:15 pm – I make a de

First, a big thank you to my U.K. contingency: God save the Queen because your P.M. is pretty much hated. Ouch! On to new business... here in the states is the opening Sunday for football -- the American kind. The season officially started last Thursday with Pittsburgh defeating Miami (sorry, Superman). Mowed the lawn today. I don't care what the calendar says, it's still hot out there. I got a little queasy again and had to come in and sit for a few minutes. Can hardly wait until I don't have to mow again for the season. It's been a rough one. Short and to the point.

I think people are beginning to lose language skills. I mean, I’m not saying I’m perfect but others in this world are using language wrong. Let me elucidate: I went looking for some software that performed a particular function for a project I was working on at the office. I browsed to my favorite search engine and typed something that had both ‘free’ and ‘software’. It comes up with several thousand responses. Fine. I open several of the links to find that this software is, in fact, NOT free. On many of them were the phrases ‘the software is absolutely free’ and ‘it only costs xx dollars’. What? Then I notice their ‘catch’. The way some of them put it is ‘click here for the free download’. How does that work? I have to pay for the software but to download it is free? That makes no sense. Free: provided without charge and not subject to payment. Of course there are others that work it differently. Some will ask you to take a ‘brief’ survey (which takes an hour), or you have to fill out