Out-Of-Office Permanently

Originally published on August 25, 2018.

This is a rare Saturday post, but it's a one-in-a-lifetime day, that being my first day of retirement.  I posted the following as my "permanently out of the office" message before I left yesterday. 

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I've run away and joined a circus...

Just kidding.

After working since I was 11 years old in one job or another, I've retired.  

I've traded in my alarm clock for adventures, my calendar for a second cup of coffee and morning commutes for morning exercises.  While this work journey ends with the declaration of retirement, the next journey begins, one that offers the most precious thing in life other than love, that being time.  Time to read, write, golf, explore, create, mentor, listen, give, appreciate and deeply inhale the fragrance of the roses. 

I really have loved working, mainly because of the people I've come to know and what we've accomplished together.  Information Technology was a great career choice and one that ended up being just as much a creative outlet as a technical challenge. And one that I don't have to stop because I'm retired.  That wasn't true in 1974 when I entered Wright State University, in the era of mainframes, but personal computers, the Internet, websites, mobile devices and open-source software hadn't been invented yet.  I can dabble to my heart's content.

Don't bother replying, I'll never get it.  This out-of-office message is permanent.  

Signing off ...

Paul

 

Christmas Lasagna

Originally published on December 30, 2016.

A tradition on Christmas Eve is for me to turn the following collection of ingredients into a lasagna to bake on Christmas Day. While it sort of looks formidable at first, there is really a minimal amount of chopping (onion, garlic, basil) and is mostly an exercise in simmering, boiling and layering. I've used a number of different recipes over the years, settling on this one from AllRecipes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/23600/worlds-best-lasagna

Dueling Toilets

Originally published on September 9, 2015.

This takes the girl's trip to the bathroom together to the next level.  When the wait staff at Parlay Social in Lexington, Kentucky was asked why they built this, they explained that so many women go to the powder room together, they thought this would be a good idea.  Hum...

http://parlaysocial.com

Herding Cats

Originally published on October 8, 2014.

Hump Day Humor:

EDS's 2000 Super Bowl commercial about herding cats is one of the all-time best.  Never gets old. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

Wine Away

Originally published on July 9, 2015.

There are few things in life that are just shy of a miracle.  Wine Away is one of them.  It's saved couches, wedding dresses and carpets from major red wine spills.  I don't even flinch when a glass is spilled.  Wine Away eliminates every trace.

http://www.wineaway.com

Tying Your Shoes

Originally published on Monday, July 6, 2015.

For about 40 years of my life, I tied my shoelaces incorrectly.  Then after buying new dress shoes and being unable to keep them tied, I searched around until I found this website, which explained the problem and the simple solution.  "Left over right, then right over left" has worked ever since.

http://shoeknots.com

Oldies But Goodies

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I are embarking on an 18-day road trip that will take us to Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Monticello, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island, and Charlotte.  Instead of just taking a break from this blog, I rummaged through the 2,247 blogs I've published since 2014 and selected 15 to be republished over the next 3 weeks.  

Simple Roots

Simple Roots is an Amish store located in Corwin, Ohio, just east of Waynesville on the other side of U.S. 42.  They have Amish meats and cheeses and an eclectic selection of other products.   We bought the half-pound roll of Amish butter we came for but ended up also getting a cinnamon roll with maple glaze, a bottle of Frostie root beer, a container of chili con queso dip, an apple fry pie, a jar of mild pepper giardiniera, a bottle of roasted garlic dressing, a bruschetta cheese bar, a jar of strawberry jam, three packages of microwave popcorn, and a dozen of ready-to-bake Der Dutchman snickerdoodle cookies.  

Impulse buying at its best!

https://simplerootsbulkfoods.com

Jonathan Dayton

Dayton, Ohio, is named after Jonathan Dayton (1760-1824), a man born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, educated at what is now Princeton University, and had a political career that included serving as the Speaker of the House in the Fourth and Fifth Congresses.  His national political career was destroyed due to his affiliation with Aaron Burr, who apparently planned, but never executed, a plan to travel to the southwest U.S. to conquer Spanish lands and create an empire.  The city of Dayton is named for Jonathan because he owned 250,000 acres of Ohio land between the Big and Little Miami Rivers.  More life details can be found at the link below.

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/constitution/bio11.htm

Tree Recognition

We first saw the sign shown below at Kettering Central Park on Lincoln Park Blvd in Kettering, Ohio in front of an old and large tree and wondered why recognizing a tree made any sense at all.  Surely the tree wasn't even aware of the sign given it's turned away from the tree and they don't have eyeballs anyway.  Later that day we saw an identical sign at the new Gentile Park on Maddix Drive in front of another large tree and figured Kettering was up to something and according to the link below, their new Heritage Tree Program is a "celebratory program allows us to appreciate the environmental and aesthetic gifts provided by the remarkable trees around us."  Up to 10 trees will be selected and provided a sign to be displayed between Labor Day and Halloween.

I have an opinion and I'll keep it to myself.  As my mother taught me, if ...

https://www.playkettering.org/heritage-tree-program