Watt's Up Musings of an original geek

Hectic day. Post and pictures coming…
Update: So here is the promised picture:

Update: I’m always surprised how long it takes for a buyer to be separated from his money. If you go to Walmart it can be a matter of seconds or a few minutes. I think car dealerships should work the same way. It took me about five hours this time. Now it’s not all the dealer’s fault since I didn’t bring my loan agreement and car titles with me. So there was about an hour in the middle where I had to go fetch them and get lunch. Nevertheless it’s always interesting that the salesman talks to you, but can’t actually do the paperwork. That’s the business manager’s domain. And because there is only one of them you have to wait for him to get to you (in these dire business times you would think that the Honda dealer would not be busy, but this was Saturday and he mumbled something about this being his 8th one that day). So once the paperwork was done, then I had to wait to get the car ready. As a result it took five hours. Regardless, the car is very nice. It is bigger and has more features (CD player, remote locks) as compared to our last one. Naturally as soon as I got it home it became Kathy’s car since she does mostly highway driving to get to work. Oh, and it’s too big for me especially since I use the parking garage and the spaces are tight.

The Watt Family Values and Principles
or
What we’re trying to teach our children
through our actions and our words

Be concerned for other people and their feelings. Put yourself in other people’s shoes. Be kind, sensitive and caring. Look at things from the other person’s point of view. Treat all people equally and fairly. Help others.

Family is very important. Confide in your brother and sister. Your parents will always love you.

Don’t lie, cheat or steal. Tell the truth. Be honest.

If you make a commitment, you must keep it. Commitments must be completed. Promises must be kept. Don’t promise unless you can follow through. Be responsible. Complete your assignments. Be trustworthy. Don’t give up.

You are responsible for your own actions. You make choices. The choices you make are your own decision. Don’t blame others for your decisions.

Be constructive, not destructive. Take care of your things. Be creative. Be a contributor.

Work hard. Extra effort. Don’t stop until it’s right. Do the best you can do. Quality work. Don’t be sloppy.

Fairness. Fair play. Follow the rules. Don’t be prejudiced. Minimize your biases. Share.

Have a good sense of right and wrong. Have a conscience. Be law abiding.

Put things back where they were when you’re done with them. Clean-up after yourself. Cleanliness.

Be assertive, self-confident and independent.

Be aware of the world around you and things that happen including political and social changes. Keep the environment clean. Don’t pollute.

Love books. Be a person of words. Enjoy reading and writing.

Put things back from where you got them or what position they were in. For example, toys, games, other people’s possessions, and most importantly toilet seat lids (after use naturally).posted to the refrigerator door on 10/20/94 bdw

My company is having layouts. We call them resource actions (RAs). Internally we’re using the mob term “getting wacked”. Typically you are given 30 days to find another job in the company, but because of all the other RAs taking place throughout the company there are few jobs to be found to switch to. BTW, the next-aisle-over group, our sister group was told in November that they were wacked, and they were all gone by the 10th of December. It was very sad, because this is not just getting rid of low performers. They were all good hard-working people. It was just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also two people I know in other groups (areas I had worked in the past) contacted me yesterday and today saying they were wacked. They asked if I had any jobs where I’m working. I had to say I don’t know, and as soon as I do I’ll tell them. So things are getting too close for comfort. Very spooky. We call it the black cloud. It’s hanging over us, because my group hasn’t been told one way or the other. So we continue to go to work, do designs, development code and test it, but we don’t know if in the next day or week some of us will be wacked. We continue to focus on the work, because it helps us not focus on the black cloud and the unknown. So I don’t know if I will survive these cuts. I just don’t know anything. Very scary especially when my primary fear is fear-of-the-unknown. Ugh.
Update: I ducked and the bullet missed me. I was not on the RA list. Whew! But a number of others in my group were not so fortunate. I am deeply saddened by all this.

I try to live an upstanding life, that is, to not lie, cheat or steal. I have always told my family especially my children to live a moral and ethical life. Naturally I’m not perfect. There have been a times where I’ve done less than upstanding things. Once when I was in college I had a general chemistry test which required me to memorize the periodic table of elements. For some reason, now lost in the past, I felt this was ridiculous. I felt that I could just look it up in a book. So I carefully inscribed the table on the six sides of a yellow number 3 pencil and brought it in to the test.

Now you might ask yourself why now after all these years I’m writing about this in a blog. Well there was a recent RadioLab by WNYC which included a segment about the periodic table. It reminded me of my adolescent transgression, and so I thought I’d write a post about it. By the way, I thoroughly enjoy this podcast and recommend it. This post might also give you a better understanding of me and my foibles. Oh, and I’m sorry for doing this, but I’d probably do it again. Note: As a teacher I have always made my tests open book because of this. Such a simple thing has changed my life in I’m sure other unknown ways. It was about 40 years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it.

All day Saturday I was a Teamwork Judge at the Central Texas FIRST Lego League competition from 8 AM to 5 PM. Teamwork was not easy to judge since it was so subjective. Then on Sunday morning I ran the RunTex Twenty (20 Miler) from 7:30 AM to 10:30 AM. On the way home I stopped by the Round Rock outlet center and bought a new pair of Florsheim dress shoes. For the rest of the day I blobbed watching TV until Katie and I went to see “Gran Torino” at 5 PM which I liked. I never got a chance to go grocery shopping.

The tag said “To: Dad, “DO NOT GET NEAR MOM WITH THIS!!!, From: Justin + Stephanie”. A present at Christmas, which I carefully made today following the instructions on the bag. Recently Stephanie and Justin were traveling and ate at Andersen’s where they purchased it. My sweet life’s partner can’t stand this stuff thus the tag, but I have always liked it and my children are aware of this difference.

After a few hours of preparation I strained it through our food mill (making a smooth puree), added some Canadian bacon, and a bit more salt. It’s already to go… Yum.Update: I had a bowl of pea soup for lunch today. IMHO it was very good. I especially liked the tidbits of Canadian Bacon in it. I’ve got lots of it left so I had better like it.

The family arrived, celebrated and left. The house went from quiet to noisy back to quiet. My hours went from business to vacation back to business. The calories went from weight-watchers lean to extravagant excess back to WW. The money flow went from a trickle to a flood back to a trickle. All told it was a great vacation, and holiday. I was so so happy to see my family and to get to share in their busy lives.

Photo courtesy of Justin Watt.

Katie and I are building a doll house for her friend’s daughter, Lillee. Yesterday we painted most parts with Bin sealer. Then we glued a few things together yesterday and today. After Katie finished work today we selected and bought paint – a pale yellow for the siding, red for the door and dark gray for the trim.

Update: Katie and I continue to work on the doll house. It’s slowly coming together. But we still have a lot of work to do including windows & door, railings, roof shingles, trim and painting.

Update 2: Bay window roof slope created, under eaves painted white, fake eaves mounted and shingled, and corner trim on.
Update 3: Shingles on roof, doors and windows with shutters, and porch railings in process by Kendra and Harley (not shown).
Update 4: Porch finished, eave trim done, front steps attached, magnetic access door latch, almost done, only minor touch ups left.
Interior walls, and stairs installed. There is no plan to finish the inside. We’ll let her imagination do that.

It was a small family Thanksgiving. Just Kathy, two of our three children, and me. No one else. The food was spectacular especially the cranberry mold. Oh and the turkey was good too.

We put our daily silverware in a wooden holder. We’ve had it for years and years. Since it has been that long it started to show its age. The wood was quite worn and pitted. So I’m on a role with stain and polyurethane, and thought I could help it out. I stained it, and put two coats of polyurethane on it. I think it turned out well, but it’s still pitted, but now it’s dark and shiny pitted – kinda gives it the antique feel.