Bag of Randomness for Thursday, February, 18, 2016

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  • DaughterGeeding is having a rough go of it this month. Last night she woke up with an earache and a fever of 103.2 F, so I had to take her to the doctor yesterday. The fever was too high for an ear infection, so they ran a flu test, but thankfully it wasn’t the flu. Her primary cause of illness is a viral infection followed by an ear infection. But as ill as she is, she’s got a great attitude which makes me adjust my outlook on life.
  • Our pediatrician is a husband and wife team. Yesterday we got the Mrs, and I was impressed she asked us about the GI she referred us to, asking if we felt he communicated well, felt comfortable with him, as well as some other stuff.
  • A&E has a show called ‘Fit to Fat to Fit‘ in wich trainers gain weight, like 70-pounds, and then lose it with their clients.
  • I really like the brown bread at the Cheesecake Factory and at Outback. I wonder if the two were side by side if I could identify each and which I would consider the better of the two.
  • One downside to home improvement projects is finding out how poorly your house was constructed. For instance, I’ve found wood screws used to install electical outlets and light fixtures barely hanging on because junction boxes are about three feet away.
  • There’s something about Cuban-Americans running for president and Canada. First you have Ted Cruz, who was born there, and now – Vancouver featured in Marco Rubio campaign ad.
  • The Atlantic – Finding Jesus at Work – Why are more and more companies offering access to chaplains as an employee benefit? – Here’s a fun fact –  Tyson Foods “is the largest known private-sector corporate-chaplaincy program,” with more than 115 chaplains based in different factories around the country. Company-wide, this works out to roughly one chaplain on staff for every 1,000 Tyson employees.
  • Bloomberg – Proof That Your Performance Bonus Is a Total Lie – Even bad workers are getting rewarded for their work, and performance reviews aren’t helping.
  • How to turn your sluggish old Mac or PC into a faster Chromebook
  • Today’s dose of ‘MURICA! – Guy Eats In-N-Out Like An Absolute Maniac (YouTube)
Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Bag of Randomness for Wednesday, February 17, 2016

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  • I came close to getting laid off yesterday, on my son’s birthday of all days, but I got lucky. Funding didn’t fully come through for my project I’ve been on for the past years, so I got moved to another project. The interesting thing is, I was only qualified for the project because during some down time two years ago, I took the initiative to learn some software and coding on my own, which has now certainly paid off.
  • That reminds me of a piece of advice I heard from someone I actually really didn’t care for – The best time to look for a new job is when you don’t need a new job.
  • Data and presidential history, I love this sort of stuff – Amazing but true: America is only 4 presidents’ lives old – When President Obama was born (1961), President Herbert Hoover was still alive (1874-1964). When Hoover was born, President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) was still alive. When President Johnson was born, President John Adams (1735-1826) was still alive. And just like that, we’ve connected present day to the Founding Fathers. We were curious how frequently the lives of presidents overlapped. So, we figured it out.
  • When the mini-series ‘Roots’ became available on VHS, my parents rented it and made me watch it, and in many ways, it was life changing.  To my surprise, it’s been remade and will be simulcasted for four nights on History, A&E, and Lifetime starting on Memorial Day, May 30. Some notable actors in the remake are Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker, and Anna Paquin. You can watch the trailer here.
  • Benjamin L. Corey – God Never Changes, But God Is Constantly Changing (It’s The Paradox of Love) – I’m sure over the course of time as a Christian you’ve heard the phrase, “but God never changes.” A variation of this phrase is repeated several times in Scripture (See for example, Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8, James 1:17).
    However, it is my contention that we often do not actually understand what this phrase means. At times we unintentionally misapply the concept to soothe tension in the Bible. Other times, we say “but God never changes” as a way to win a theological argument.
  • When I post things like the above bullet point, it doesn’t mean that I support it, a lot of times I simply think it’s something that someone else might find interesting and an opportunity to provoke thought.
  • Dry winter could impact bluebonnet season – The peak of bluebonnet season is a few weeks away, but the warm dry winter we’ve had so far could put a damper on the spring wildflower crop.
  • Never heard of the place, but I like the name – Austin’s gourmet Cow Tipping Creamery scoops up cozy Dallas location
  • 14-year-old Wisconsin basketball player impaled by broken floor
  • Tennessee may soon have official state rifle — recognized pistol, shotgun may come later
  • If you’re a fan of John Oliver, Vuture has a good interview.
  • Here’s a critique about the websites of current presidential candidates. In particular, the graphic that details each website’s structure in a color coded format caught my attention. The reviewer thinks Sanders has the best overall website and suggest that Trump does a complete redesign.
  • Free breakfast tacos around Texas and DFW today – Taco Cabana employees will be positioned all around Dallas and in parts of Fort Worth from 7 to 10 a.m. on Feb. 17 offering “random acts of tacos.”
  • I bought an item on eBay for a $1.99 which included free shipping, but the postal service notified me that I needed to pick it up at the local post office and pay postage due of $2.05 since the seller didn’t provide adequate postage. I was skeptical this was some sort of scam, but to my surprise after contacting the seller, he credited my PayPal account for the postage due without any issue and apologized.
  • I bought WifeGeeding a shirt off eBay for Valentine’s Day but it was too tight. I contacted the seller on how I could exchange the shirt for a larger size, and to my surprise, the seller told me to keep the shirt and offered me a full refund.
  • GIF – This person filmed his eye moving at 700 frames per second. It’s fascinating how the aqueous humour moves like Jello.
Posted in Goofy | 7 Comments