--- This guy is a model subject for a paper on the practical applications and perceived societal benefits of eugenics.
Shorten, 33, picked up a nail gun that he thought was empty, pointed
it at his head and pulled the trigger.
..."Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeons removed the nail in a
delicate four-hour operation even though Shorten, who was expected to
make a full recovery, had offered to take the nail out with a pair of pliers.
{emphasis added by moi}
Honestly, what are we gaining by keeping this guy in the herd? If
taking a nail gun (a NAIL GUN!!!!) and putting it against his temple,
and pressing the trigger to amuse and impress his friends doesn't
disqualify this guy of his herd union card, I don't know what will. ---
So, it's snowing. AGAIN!
I hear spring is sprung in other parts of the country. I hear there are
daffodils blooming down south. My sister in Omaha says tulips are
starting to pop their heads. Why can't we have spring? Is it really too
much to ask that since it's MARCH
that we in the nothern hinterlands get to enjoy a bit of flower
blooming and warm temperatures, too? Besides, this is screwing up the
snow-removal-division-of-labor. It's accumulating outside. Which means
the husband will be called to fire up the blower later. If this the
last snowfall of the season this, of course, means that I'M SCREWED COME NOVEMBER!
Have I mentioned that the first seasonal usage of said snowblower
always sucks because it takes forever to get the thing running after
it's sat around all summer long? --- We have satellite back. Partially.
Later in the afternoon on Friday I checked to see if the dish was
clear. And it was. But nothing was coming in, so we finally figured out
that we needed to reboot the receivers. Not a problem, just wish we
would have thought of it sooner. Like that morning. So, we did the hard
reboot on both of the receivers. This entails unplugging them and then
reconnecting them to their energy source. Takes about a minute. And it
usually works. Well, this time it worked in the office, but not in the
living room. After about an hour and a half on the phone with the
people at DirecTV, the husband officially called it quits and signed up
for the service plan. The guy should be here sometime today between one
and five to work on it. This is costing us thirty bucks today and an
extra five bucks per month. But we'll be on the service plan in case
anything goes wrong in the future. The heart of the matter seems to be
that there is something wrong with the outside connection to the box in
the living room. The boxes both work (yes, the husband switched them to
see if it was indeed a faulty receiver---nope), so there's something
goofy with the wiring on the roof. I have no idea how the wiring
survived those foul-mouthed ice melters that were up on the roof last
month when we had the ice dam issues, but something in that two inches
of snow fouled up the works. Hopefully, it'll be quick and painless.
I've never had anyone from DirecTV here other than the original
installer, and that guy was a piece of work. First off, he forgot his
heavy duty industrial drill at the job he'd just finished---in
Chanhassen---which is an outer-ring suburb that's hell and gone from
here. So, he goes to get it. An hour later, he gets back and gets up on
the roof. I'm in the office, on my computer and WHAM!
His extension ladder comes crashing into the window right next to my
desk, ripping the screen, before it hurtles to the ground. Well,
thinking that the guy had been on the ladder, I race outside to make
sure he's ok. Oh, he's ok all right. He's up on the roof, stranded,
wearing a chagrined expression. As soon as my heart returned to it's
normal thumping routine, he asks me if I can put the ladder back up on
the roof so he can get down. I peer dubiously at the ladder---which has
just flattened the four tulips I had managed to keep the squirrels from
chowing down on as part of their winter-bulk-up routine---and estimate
that it weighs probably a hundred pounds all told. Yeah, like that's going to happen. I have no
upper body strength. But I'll try. Because I'm home alone. And if don't
help the guy, no one else will be able to. And I really don't want to
have to call the fire department. I try and I try and I try, but the
thing's just too heavy for me. I eventually had to ask the obnoxious
neighbor for help. THANKS!
Just the guy I want to be indebted to. I appreciate it. Mmmhmm. Anyway,
the rest of the install took a few hours because he had some serious
logistical problems to sort out, the main one being that the only place
on the roof to install a dish that had a clear view of the southern sky
was on the back of the house. The living room is at the front of the
house. Reportedly, we have coaxial cable strung across the roof in the
space between the two places, it hangs off the roof next to our front
windows, and then comes into the house through a hole the guy had to
drill through the wall. The office was easier, he said, he only had to
string the cable partway across the house and then into the wall next
to the husband's computer. But the main thing was that it was done and
it worked. And the guy apologized for his goofs. He told me
he's never had an install go so wrong in so many ways. So, I will admit
I was leery about the DirecTV. For the first month we had it, I kept
expecting for something to go horribly wrong. But it never did. The
thing was capital R Reliable!
Then this happens. Now, I'm reminded of how poorly the install went.
And I'm frightened of what might happen this afternoon. Then add into
the fun that it's snowing outside and some poor schmuck has to get up
onto the roof to fix things. It's a recipe for disaster, I'm telling
you.