Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Pass The Grandma Millie

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My Grandmother who likes to go by her first name – Millie – is quite the cook. She has several specialites but most probably fall into either the desert catagory or the big holiday meal type catagory. One thing that doesn’t fit either of those groups is her version of chex mix. I’ll add the recipe when I can since we are working on a cookbook here, but I can’t remember it all off the top of my head…

Anyway, Grandma Millie would often make us a batch of her “chex mix” when we were going on a church retreat kinda thing. She would put it in one of those tins that all grandmothers have and it would go with us on our outing to be inevitably passed around the bus. Now when you are on a church bus sharing a snack, calling for “Grandma Millie’s Chex Mix” can be quite a mouthful. I mean your hungry and all those words are delaying the time to get your yummy snack. Also, since it wasn’t exactly chex mix, asking for it as such seemed – well – somehow inaccurate. So time and time again this yummy snack was shortened by distinct individuals to simply “Grandma Millie”.

Now this led to some rather funny situations and facial expressions from people not really up on exactly what was going on. Imagine if you happened upon a group of people casually passing around a tin of Grandma Millie…. now imagine if people started snacking out of that tin…

Meth Math

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Meth is made out of Sudafed ? Nasal Decongestant (or the generic equivolent ) and some other ingreditents that don’t really pertain to this story. Anyway the people that make Meth are idiots armed with the Internet — not amateur chemists. Y you ask? The recipe to make Meth online is designed for use with a 24 pack of Sudafed… and therefore (to increase their margins) Sudafed Nasal Decongestant in the 24 pack is a HIGH theft item at drugstores around the country.

Now here is the funny part. The 48 packs (as well as the 96 packs) are NOT. The geniuses seem completely unaware that the 48 pack is the same as 2 of the 24 packs they keep stealing. No wonder they keep blowing themselves up.

Time Tracker(TM) Reaches Beta 1.0

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I have been writing a small app for my PPC to simplify the tracking of my billable time for writing other SW projects and such. Well Time Tracker for the PPC is to beta 1.0… feel free to download it (though I do not offer any, express or implied warrenty on the software and you do so at your own risk and all rights are reserved copyright 2004 — lawyers.) as long as A) have a PPC – because this will not work on your home PC and B) you promise to give me some feedback.

I am planning on adding some way to select clients/projects from a list to reduce the typing necessary if switching back and forth between projects/clients but I haven’t figured out how I want to code that yet… but boy coding in a C based language again sure has deepened my appreciation of php’s ability to declare var and functions anywhere.

Oh and you’ll need the PocketC runtime if you don’t already have it:

Beyond The Book’s Cover

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This is something I found as I go through my old Mac files converting them over to the PC for posterity. This is something I wrote my Sr. year in high school:

Slam! I check my car door, yep it’s locked. As I start towards my class I look over my shoulder to check my lights — off. Now I could focus on the business at hand: getting to class on time. I steady my bag with one hand and break into a stride. All those cross country practices were about to pay off. Up past “B” gym and down along the soccer field I run, as I do I pass others running to their classes. I dodge people as I enter the building and head down toward the World History room. I check my watch: twenty seconds. I slow down and walk casually in the room. The teacher looks up from the chalkboard and nods his hello as I make my way over to my seat. Mr. Reddick comes over and shows me some papers he wants me to staple then turns back to the class.

“Aaah!” I think to myself as I start hammering out World History packets, “being an aid sure beats having another class.” In a few minutes I’m done. I then swing around so that I’m seated on the table with my feet in the chair I had been sitting in. So seated I passively watch the class while reading the paper.

“Hmm…..More troops sent to Somalia….” I read as my mind and ears begin to wander.

“…..The Tigris and Euphrates…” Ah yes! Mesopotamia, I remember learning this last year. Mr. Reddick asks a question. A simple one really and quickly gets a response. Another, this one rather thought provoking; I even pause to contemplate it. Then I hear someone starting to answer. I don’t even have to look up from my paper to know the speaker. The slow, slurred drawl is unmistakable. Slightly amused, I listen intrigued at what she would say. A look of shock, surprise and even some awe crosses my face; a look I quickly conceal behind my paper. I sort of chuckle to myself, not out of fun but out of disbelief. Amazing. Her comment held more insight than any I had heard thus far all year…..

I learn something every day. Perhaps I’m curious, or just lucky; I think it’s both. Something long preconceived in my mind got shattered that day, something I hadn’t really even known was there. All of this though comes back to one question: Who is more handicapped — someone who uses his small gifts, or those who squander their large ones?