My life with Squirrels has not always been so harmonious. As I was returning home one day many years ago I saw a squirrel that has gotten itself trapped in our garage.
To the squirrel, the garage was pay dirt. My parents (I was still living with my parents at the time) had just bought a ton of birdseed and they kept it in a cardboard box on the floor of the garage. To a young squirrel, this was dinner served on a silver platter. Ten seconds of chewing was all it took to get through the box into the yummy birdseed.
When I got home and saw the squirrel, I didn't think much. I had spent the last four years of my life at Whitworth amongst the small gray vermin and knew they were scared of people. To get rid of this infestation was going to be simple. I charged at it.
At their quarterly meetings, squirrels get together and decide what they will be collectively afraid of. Humans charging at them is something they agreed would scare the piss out of them which can only be followed by running up the nearest tree as fast as possible.
This squirrel missed that meeting. Rather than run away, which you recall they are supposed to do, this one charged back. I didn't know what to do. All of a sudden, I had a squirrel running up my leg in an obvious attempt to protect the enormous box of birdseed. This was not going well. I did the only thing a grown man could which was to scream like a little girl, prance around trying to shake it off, and jump in the back of my truck once it fell off my leg.
What an experience.
Ruby, our new puppy, love her new chew toy my sister got her: a squirrel.
May 29, 2008
May 28, 2008
DOH! Missed One Yesterday
I was getting back into the swing of things really slowly and missed the blog a day yesterday. Sorry about that.
Monday, Lauri and I volunteered to get bumped from our flight out of Oakland and opted instead to fly out of San Jose. In exchange, we got some great incentives from the airline and have most of our next vacation paid for. How sweet it is.
It wasn't an easy decision however as we were in possession of our three year old nephew. We were scheduled to fly out of Oakland and land by 7pm in Portland. Plenty of time to make it home, have a cold one, and head to bed. The flight was oversold by six though and they were willing to make it worth our while to stay later. We took the bait.
They shuttled us from Oakland to San Jose airport where we played with Landon (the three year old) for a couple of hours. We had dinner at the terminal and he started to get groggy! Perfect! We made it back to town by 11 that night after Landon slept the whole flight.
Thanks Southwest for the great service and free stuff! I have to ask though: what's been your most frusterating or best experience flying?
Monday, Lauri and I volunteered to get bumped from our flight out of Oakland and opted instead to fly out of San Jose. In exchange, we got some great incentives from the airline and have most of our next vacation paid for. How sweet it is.
It wasn't an easy decision however as we were in possession of our three year old nephew. We were scheduled to fly out of Oakland and land by 7pm in Portland. Plenty of time to make it home, have a cold one, and head to bed. The flight was oversold by six though and they were willing to make it worth our while to stay later. We took the bait.
They shuttled us from Oakland to San Jose airport where we played with Landon (the three year old) for a couple of hours. We had dinner at the terminal and he started to get groggy! Perfect! We made it back to town by 11 that night after Landon slept the whole flight.
Thanks Southwest for the great service and free stuff! I have to ask though: what's been your most frusterating or best experience flying?
May 22, 2008
Just Made It!
We just landed in SF and are at Lauri's parent's house. I was really worried I wasn't going to make it in time to do this post. Blog a day is still going strong!
We're in Napa Valley for a wedding this weekend should be a good time. CA is WAY different that Oregon even though it's a bordering state.
We were on a plane today with our nephew. We were his transporters from Portland to San Francisco. He was really good though it was an experience being in charge of a three year old. Everywhere we went, people thought he was our son. What a sobering experience. We have no business being totally in charge of another human being :)
All for now, be back soon.
Bryce
We're in Napa Valley for a wedding this weekend should be a good time. CA is WAY different that Oregon even though it's a bordering state.
We were on a plane today with our nephew. We were his transporters from Portland to San Francisco. He was really good though it was an experience being in charge of a three year old. Everywhere we went, people thought he was our son. What a sobering experience. We have no business being totally in charge of another human being :)
All for now, be back soon.
Bryce
May 21, 2008
Gas Prices Fun?
I've been noodling about an online program I've been wanting to write but haven't yet had the time. Since a lot of people are reading this lately, I was thinking I'd ask for some input.
I want to create a game where we find the lowest gas prices in town. I can create a map where you enter your zip code. The map will show you local gas stations and the current prices they're offering. You can enter your address and your work address and see gas prices on your route home. That would be kinda cool right? The one thing is that it would have to depend on people entering the prices they see. There's no place that publishes such information.
This is still just kind of an idea that's floating around my head. Let me know if you think this would be fun/useful.
I want to create a game where we find the lowest gas prices in town. I can create a map where you enter your zip code. The map will show you local gas stations and the current prices they're offering. You can enter your address and your work address and see gas prices on your route home. That would be kinda cool right? The one thing is that it would have to depend on people entering the prices they see. There's no place that publishes such information.
This is still just kind of an idea that's floating around my head. Let me know if you think this would be fun/useful.
May 20, 2008
I'm a social networking whore
Did a really warm place just freeze?
Today, I joined Facebook and Twitter. Two of the latest social networking phenomena to sweep the online world. A client of mine asked if I could write an interface for these two applications so I took the plunge. Crap.
I think everyone knows what facebook is. Twitter, though, is a small application that you can update your friends with. With a limit of 140 characters, you post small messages to a website about what you're up to. Best of all, it's written in my favorite programming language: Ruby on Rails.
Soooooo check me out on Twitter and Facebook!
Today, I joined Facebook and Twitter. Two of the latest social networking phenomena to sweep the online world. A client of mine asked if I could write an interface for these two applications so I took the plunge. Crap.
I think everyone knows what facebook is. Twitter, though, is a small application that you can update your friends with. With a limit of 140 characters, you post small messages to a website about what you're up to. Best of all, it's written in my favorite programming language: Ruby on Rails.
Soooooo check me out on Twitter and Facebook!
May 18, 2008
Ever Heard of Hulu?
Hulu is this great place on the Internet that you can watch all sorts of full length TV shows and movies. There are a bunch of networks and movie studios that post content the day after it airs. I caught up on Earl and The Office and we don't have to tape these shows anymore.
Another show we've been going through is It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It's a really coarse show but hillarious nonetheless.
Happy Monday!
Bryce
May 16, 2008
Sleep Deprivation
I'm sensing a trend in these posts...
In my quest to not to talk about the dog everyday, I'm going to speak on a related subject: sleep deprivation. Last night, was one of three consecutive nights that Lauri and I both got about three hours of sleep. Tons of fun. It made me start to think though, how long have I gone without sleep in one stretch?
Recentlty, it's a toss up. When Lauri's appendix went on strike and had to be removed from the picket line (her cecum) it was my job to make all those important medical decisions. I think, when we tallied it up, that I went without any sort of rest for 36 hours straight. So that was a fun night. I think I recently did another 36'er when I went out to Ohio in April. I caught a red eye flight out there and had to change planes in Chicago. I left on Friday night and got in on Saturday morning. The woman who picked me up asked if I had eaten breakfast yet and I remember thinking "I just had dinner..... 16 hours ago". That was about 40 hours of awake time but I cheated and tried to sleep on a bench in O'Hare.
Question of the day: what's the longest you've ever been up?
In my quest to not to talk about the dog everyday, I'm going to speak on a related subject: sleep deprivation. Last night, was one of three consecutive nights that Lauri and I both got about three hours of sleep. Tons of fun. It made me start to think though, how long have I gone without sleep in one stretch?
Recentlty, it's a toss up. When Lauri's appendix went on strike and had to be removed from the picket line (her cecum) it was my job to make all those important medical decisions. I think, when we tallied it up, that I went without any sort of rest for 36 hours straight. So that was a fun night. I think I recently did another 36'er when I went out to Ohio in April. I caught a red eye flight out there and had to change planes in Chicago. I left on Friday night and got in on Saturday morning. The woman who picked me up asked if I had eaten breakfast yet and I remember thinking "I just had dinner..... 16 hours ago". That was about 40 hours of awake time but I cheated and tried to sleep on a bench in O'Hare.
Question of the day: what's the longest you've ever been up?
May 15, 2008
Day two with the puppy
This post almost didn't make it for the "blog a day" promise. Having a new puppy must be similar to having a new child: We haven't slept at all and it doesn't know when it's done something wrong.
I promise this won't become a daily account of the new dog in our life, but as it took up most of my day today I felt it important to share a couple of thoughts. Today's highs and lows were on two of my favorite things: potty and sleep.
We made it through the day with no accidents while I was home. That's a big accomplishment since she can't really tell when she has to go. But, we're working on getting her on a schedule so every hour I took her outside and she did her thing. Worked like a charm. It was especially gratifying since Lauri was up most of the night last night. Like I said before, we haven't slept.
The pup spent a good majority of the day sleeping. We played so hard during lunch that she just fell over asleep once. I tried to move her to a good spot where she could get comfortable, but she didn't want any of that; just shut eye. That was funny because I've been in that situation before and just had to fight through it. Oh to be a dog.
Tomorrow's blog a day shall be earlier... I hope.
I promise this won't become a daily account of the new dog in our life, but as it took up most of my day today I felt it important to share a couple of thoughts. Today's highs and lows were on two of my favorite things: potty and sleep.
We made it through the day with no accidents while I was home. That's a big accomplishment since she can't really tell when she has to go. But, we're working on getting her on a schedule so every hour I took her outside and she did her thing. Worked like a charm. It was especially gratifying since Lauri was up most of the night last night. Like I said before, we haven't slept.
The pup spent a good majority of the day sleeping. We played so hard during lunch that she just fell over asleep once. I tried to move her to a good spot where she could get comfortable, but she didn't want any of that; just shut eye. That was funny because I've been in that situation before and just had to fight through it. Oh to be a dog.
Tomorrow's blog a day shall be earlier... I hope.
May 14, 2008
We just got a puppy
Yup, it's true. Last night Lauri came home with a puppy. She's a border collie/ golden retriever mix. She's about 5 pounds of black fluff :)
So far today, she's been really good. She's been helping me with my programming work by sleeping under my desk and keeping me company.
Look for more dog stories to come. Right now, we're calling her all sorts of names. I like Slagathor while Lauri wants to call her Ruby. We're open for suggestions so please weigh in if you have any good dog names.
May 13, 2008
A blog a day for the rest of may
It's May 13th today. That's almost halfway. I can't believe how fast this year is going. I thought it would be fun to write something here each day for the rest of May.
So, from now until June 1st, please check back each day and see what the happy haps are. One condition though: I'd really like to have a party with the comments section. Part of the fun of blogging is to have the interaction with readers. So, I'll post new content each day and you post comments. Post comments about what you'd like to read about too. I'll take that to mind.
Without further ado... A blog a day for the rest of may
So, from now until June 1st, please check back each day and see what the happy haps are. One condition though: I'd really like to have a party with the comments section. Part of the fun of blogging is to have the interaction with readers. So, I'll post new content each day and you post comments. Post comments about what you'd like to read about too. I'll take that to mind.
Without further ado... A blog a day for the rest of may
May 4, 2008
Five Useful Rails Tips
Five useful ruby on rails tips for the contest at railscasts.com
Download the Undo Generator rake task
Download the Undo Generator rake task
- ToDo in TextMate
- Store data as an array or hash in the database
- Fun with Rake Tasks
- custom generator to move your often used custom rake tasks
- Rake Undo Scaffold Generator
Please note I made an error with the rake command. It should be rake db:migrate:redo not rake db:redo.
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About Bryce
- Bryce McDonnell
- This is a blog I started to substitute my MySpace page. I'll keep it up to date with my latest happy haps and stuff I'm thinking about. Lucky you :)
