Word of the Day

Youthless - A young person who won't work.

Moments of genius. HTP has an engineer's mind, which makes a whole lot of sense because HTP is an engineer. It's wonderful to have HTP's engineering mind around when things aren't working as you want them to work.

Last year it dawned on me that I could do a bit of yard clean-up using my little shop vac. The shop vac is little and portable and easy for me to carry and use as I work. It should have worked great. It didn't. Another of my brilliant ideas shot to heck and back. HTP, puzzled, decided to inspect the little shop vac that couldn't. What he found was a little shop vac with a couple of glaring design flaws. Design flaws always drive HTP a bit crazy because he just can't figure out why someone would bother designing things that way. He often blames this on Marketing which will rush things to market before the engineers are done with the design. On the otherhand, if it weren't for marketing, few designs would ever make it to market because engineers are NEVER happier than when they are designing, redesigning, perfecting, and "but what iffing". But...that's another tale.

Last spring, HTP solved one of the design flaws which made using the little shop vac a bit easier but there was another flaw that which kept clogging up the shop vac's tubing. My shop vac, as of last spring, was still the shop vac that couldn't. This morning, at breakfast, HTP asked me why I hadn't been using the little shop vac out in the backyard. I pointed out the problem. "Oh...I fixed that." Thinking that he was talking about the fix that he'd done last spring, I reminded him that the little shop vac that couldn't...still couldn't. He told me that he'd fixed the problem a couple of weeks ago. Two weeks ago he fixed my little shop vac? What?! Nevermind that I haven't a clue when or where he actually found actual time during the holidays to spend out in the garage fixing a shop vac. He fixed it?! I've been outside working my butt off with a broom and a rake and I could have been using a nifty little shop vac?! I ran right out to the garage to get the shop vac so he could show me how he'd managed to fix the clogging problem that drove me insane last spring. Then, I gave the little shop vac that couldn't a good work out in the yard...just in case more design flaws should decide to crop up. It works! Woohoo! It works. I now have a little shop vac that can. You've got to love the engineering mind.

Murphyism of the Day

The Ordering Principle

Those supplies necessary for yesterday's project must be ordered no later than noon tomorrow.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

"The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." -Joe Theisman, quarterback and sports analyst.