patndoris' blog

And shift….and move…and shift…and move. No it’s not some new aerobics routine I assure you. (The closest I get to that is exercising my fingers on the keyboard.) It’s all about the little things in life and how the smallest change can seem so unsettling (at least to me).

Read more »

When I was in school, I had to learn all kinds of useless knowledge. I had an English teacher who insisted we work through the Reader's Digest "Increase Your Word Power" book, and one of the words I had to learn to spell was sphygmomanometer (Wiki link provided for your learning pleasure if you?re not familiar with it). As a parent, I felt duly compelled to pass some of this useless information on to my (at the time) young male offspring. I mean really ? you must admit, it?s pretty funny to see little tiny kids spout out big words. Besides, if I had to have all these useless things floating around in my head then I was going share them with someone (even if he was too little to care.)

In addition to making him lean how to say the word, I also made him learn the definition. Now I know, he probably didn?t really understand, but still, I made the effort to make it more than just a little-kid-sounds-cute-saying-big-stuff-they-don?t-understand thing. I taught him how to say sphygmomanometer, and he could spit it out when he was at the pediatrician?s office. He also knew the fun fill in the blank: The sum of the square of the sides of a right triangle equals the square of the ______. Oh come now! You know it right? I know some of you do. (For those of you who are geometrically challenged ? the answer would be hypotenuse.) He could then follow it up by answering the question - And that?s called the?? (Pythagorean theorem is the correct answer to that one.)

But the topper for me was always the really big one. It?s the longest word in the English language (so I?m told by my male offspring). Not only could he spout it out but it was followed instantly by ?and that means the separation between church and state and that means the government shouldn?t be involved in the church and the church shouldn?t be involved in the government.? And the little bugger managed to say the entire thing, big word from the title included, without stopping for a breath. (Yes ? he gets that fro me. Seems we a knack for managing the flow of air fro our lungs when necessary to say big long impressive things or when we're on a roll and stopping for air would be simply a waste of valuable time or perhaps we hit 40 and we're afraid we'll forget what we were saying if we don't get it out all at one time. Now where was I?...)

So the other day when he insisted I stop what I was doing to watch a commercial on TV, although I was less than enthusiastic about doing do, I found myself with a big grin on my face. Take a peek at this:

I?ve added it to my funny videos so whenever I need a good smile I can take a gander at this wee little guy! And for the record ? male offspring was not much older than this when he learned to say it. Ah the good old days - when they said what you wanted on cue. Not so anymore I'm afraid. I just don't know where he got his stubborn and opinionated ways! (NO...NO...NO! No comments from the peanut gallery!! I know what you're thinking and surely he didn't inherit that from me.)

After a rather long, though productive, day at work, I headed home - my mind ablaze with all the things I had to do when I got there. Not the least of which was beating Eagle_Kiwi at a game or two of canasta. (I've been on something of a miserable, horrible, downward spiraling, confidence shattering, demoralizing - well not that bad - losing streak lately.) I completely forgot to stop at the store and get milk. And by the time I finally walked through the front door I was forced to apologize to my 13-year old male offspring - but Nooooo, not for forgetting the milk...

Read more »

When I was wee, we used to visit my father's family in Ohio fairly regularly. We'd pack up the 1970's VW Bug (not very spacious and roomy might I ad) and hit the road for at least eight hours. Part of the drive was on the twisting turning (and often foggy) mountain roads of Pennsylvania, where you'll see the signs "Watch for Falling Rock." As a child, thanks in large part to my adoring father (no really - he was adoring and I was daddy's little girl) I believed Falling Rock was a little Indian boy lost in the woods. It was our job to watch for him. My ex husband found it hilarious I actually believed this.

Read more »

My dear friend Philip (see link in the sidebar to his blog) has been struggling with "Moving House", spending countless hours debating over which web host to use. I've had re-design rolling around in my head. And I must say, it's been tumbling round the empty brain space quite a lot! My pages made me happy when I first started, yes. This experience has been one of extreme personal satisfaction. (Since the world revolves around me that's a really good thing!)  But more recently,

Read more »

I've been toying with the idea of incorporating my "articles" into my blog posts (over time - not all at once.) Of course, it would mean a bit of clean up, enhancement, and re-write to make them better, but I'm thinking it would also make them more accessible to those who follow my blog, but who don't necessarily check my site for what updates I've done, or don't visit regularly enough to even read an article before it's replaced with another one.

Read more »

IT usually happens somewhere after the software agreement (and the obligatory "Yes - I agree" because if I don't agree I can't have your program) and just before the "Installation Complete" message. It's insidious...it's evil....it's barbaric...well, it's not really that bad...but it's the additional crap programs like to install when you didn't want them to (and better yet may not have even been warned it was going to do.)

Read more »

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but my mama raised me with manners. I've noticed an alarming lack of manners with a lot of IM contacts lately.

Read more »