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You're so chaffy

Today I accused my sister of acting like chaff, and, being the inventive person that I am, I carefully crafted a brand new word for this occasion: chaffy. And that would have been just fine and dandy except that–wonder of wonders!–it was a real word, created long ago by those most eminent sages the lexicographers.

The word carries the meaning of being like chaff, chaff being the leftovers from winnowing grain. It is generally used metaphorically to mean something that is empty or useless. Not that I was calling my sister that. She was just scattering some things like chaff.

What do you know! Learn something new all the time.

That was alarming

I just voted in the Texas Republican primary, and as my second chance to vote, I was quite excited about having my say in the world of politics. However, I was not a little disconcerted when I noticed that all the other early voters who were there were voting on the Democrat side–evidently for their chance to decide between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

What’s so odd about that? you may ask. Well, it may help to put this in perspective. I live in Parker County, a place where local officials are elected at the primary since there are hardly ever any Democrat contenders. Thus I was very surprised to see so many people voting Democrat. Does this forebode something? I’m afraid so. Let’s just hope that if the people of the United States really are willing to have another Democrat in the White House for four years, that they’ll be more sensible by the time the next election rolls around.

Complete Defenestration

Goodbye, Bill Gates.聽 I am proud to say that my Dell laptop is now free of everything Windows and Microsoft–besides the little Windows XP sticker next to my mousepad (which is nearly gone anyway).聽 That’s right–I have now switched to Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution.聽 So why did I get rid of Windows, you ask?聽 Well, I had become fed up with my print spooler which I must disable everytime I boot up my computer, and in general I was ready for something new.

So far, I have had fairly good success with Ubuntu.聽 It took me a while to figure out how to connect to the Internet, but now I’m up and going.聽 There are a few other things to iron out, but I have high hopes.聽 As I continue my adventures with Linux, I will periodically post here to say how it’s going.

One Morning

One morning as the sun came up,
Before the flowers opened,
Methought I saw a visage dim
Belonging to some long-lost friend,
But then it vanished in the wind.

Oh! the crags and the clefts in the mountains of vainglory.
May no one ever come this way to tell the sage their story.
For he who prides himself
Will never hear.

I stand upon the shores of time,
Look 鈥榗ross the raging ocean.
The other side is none too bright;
Though dimmed by glory鈥檚 golden light,
The ages ever roll along.

Their ancient knowledge takes me back
To centuries forgotten.
The tongues of yore bring life again
To men who in their graves have lain
Full many years, and even more.

Oh! the crags and the clefts in the mountains of vainglory.
May no one ever come this way to tell the sage their story.
For he who prides himself
Will never hear.

A watched pot never boils, they say;
Perhaps that saying鈥檚 true.
I never stick around to see
(That proverb makes no sense to me);
I鈥檇 rather spend my day with you.

Full many have passed from this earth,
They lived, they loved, they died here.
Think not that you鈥檙e the best to live,
But rather to your fellows give;
Allow your pride to disappear.

You too can be debt free

A while back, that is to say, about a year or two ago, my parents began listening to this guy on the radio called Dave Ramsey.聽 Although he may not be as well known as Sean Hannity, his broadcasts focus on individual people instead of politics.聽 If you tune into his radio show on any given day, you may be priviledged to hear several families call in to tell their success stories: how much debt they paid off, and how long it took them; and then they will scream I’M DEBT FREE!

Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Dave Ramsey fanatic.聽 But I am very much appreciative of the work that he does every day to (1) convince people that they have financial problems, and (2) tell them how they can change their lifestyle in order to attain that high and lofty goal of financial peace. Read More