Tuesday Tally: Blogger's Bloggery

Some of my friends have asked me how I come up with topic idea for the blog. Obviously they don't read the blog very often because it's mostly a lot of non-sense that is fun to write and, honestly, I don't spend a lot of time doing. When I get paid to blog, I'll take it more seriously.

It is, however, more difficult to come up with fresh ideas to write about.

Thankfully the world is full of current events and Lord knows I'm not afraid to comment on any of them. My writing may not be very compelling, but at least there are frequent updates (um, daily!).

If you plan to blog, here are some suggestions in this Tuesday Tally:

1. Lists: People love lists! David Letterman has made a career with his Top 10. Just start making a list and see where it goes.
2. Reviews: You can give you opinion on just about anything. Movies, Products, Website, Books, Recipes, Restaurants, Friends. Okay, maybe not friends.
3. Pictures.  Just share a recent photo and short caption. A picture is worth a thousand words.  I'm really bad at this, because the camera on my phone isn't working right now. A new phone is on the horizon as soon as the latest model is delivered to my cell provider.
4. What's in the News. As I mentioned, the world is full of current events like the recent Mars explorer landing. Pick up a newspaper and you've got plenty of topics to blog about.
5. Tips and Tricks. Nearly everyone likes to know how someone else would deal with an event, problem or other issue.  Share yours with the world.
6. How To. Much like the Tips and Tricks, you can demonstrate your techniques with photos or even a video.

Before you know it, you have your blog post for the day!

CHEERS ALL!

 See it all at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Are You Smarter Than A Jeopardy Millionaire?

I'm a fan of general, sometimes useless, knowledge as well as trivia of all types.  I love watching Jeopardy, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and Who wants to be a Millionaire?

Jeopardy is always the most challenging.  Those contestants must be near Mensa-level intelligence.

Sometimes I think the producers of Smarter and Millionaire look for the dumbest people to appear.  Celebrities are even worse.

One of the recent questions on Smarter was a spelling question that asked, "How many vowel are in the word: VOWEL?"  Of course, it was a verbal question so the word wasn't displayed in front of the contestant.

She stood there, thinking, then said, "Three."

I was dumbfounded.  Three?  Seriously?  This was the first question of the show.  She was not going to win big money.

When the host asked her to spell the word, she said, "V-O-U-L."

By now I was screaming at the TV: WHERE DO YOU GET THREE VOWELS OUT OF THAT?

Thankfully she was saved by the fifth grader helping her out.

I'd love to be on a trivia-type game show, but I'm sure I'd turn into a bigger idiot than I already am.

Much Smarter posts at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Acceptions to the Rule

Some proofreading symbols used by editors.

Yesterday I made a post to Facebook, commenting about getting a notification that someone had "excepted" a friend request from me.

My friend, Andrew, who will one day be a world-renowned typographer, quickly pointed out my error.

That's what I get for not rereading (aka proofreading) my posts.  But really, who cares, it's just Facebook.

But his comment reminded me of (now) funny proofreading story from my days of printing company ownership.

I had just purchased some Macintosh computers to use for typesetting.  They were cutting edge at the time and I was so pleased that that software included a spellchecker.  We would never need to proofread by hand again!

We quickly cranked out a couple of jobs, including an annual banquet program for the local Ducks Unlimited chapter, listing the hundred or so items they would be selling at the silent auction during the Saturday evening event.

Monday morning, I had the D.U. Local Chapter President standing in my office SCREAMING at me. "How could you do this? There were families at our banquet."

Bewildered, I had to ask what he was talking about.

Then he showed me one of the auction items listed in the banquet program, which we had not manually proofread because of our wonderful new spell checker.

The item was suppose to read: Hand-carved Wooden Duck.

I quickly learned that spell checkers (at that time) only found words that are spelled incorrectly. And the error was actually a correctly spelled word.

You see, on the keyboard, the U and the I are right next to one another.

Needless to say, we again started proofreading our materials before sending them to press.

You might find typos and errors in grammar at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Weekend Honey Do

Like many men, I have a weekend Honey Do list.  My "honey" is myself, so the list generally has things I really want to get done.  Unfortunately there's no one motivating me with candle-lit dinners to follow my hard work. If there was, it would be me making more work cooking the candle-lit dinners.

Sorry, I digress.

This weekend will be packed full of activities laced between last night's fireworks and this morning's Fish Sandwich Festival Parade.

My list includes:

• Mowing the lawn, which, due to the extremely dry conditions has not been touched since sometime in June. The downside of the infrequent showers we've gotten? Getting the mower out again.
• Weeding the garden. What a mess.  A few light showers and the weeds have gone crazy.  I have a couple tomato plants that area not much bigger than when they were planted.  Maybe I'll spray everything with Roundup and work it all under.  I don't see much coming from these plantings anyway.
• Turn my one-car garage and storage center back into a two-and-a-half car garage.  I can do that be cleaning out all the crap that has managed to take up space here and there.  Then the truck can once again be parked inside.
• Wash windows.  I try to do that every couple of years. Okay, I'm kidding.  Regardless of the frequency, it seems like they always need to be washed.  We can put a man on the moon but there are no self-washing windows?
• Clean the basement.  There isn't much down there, but what is needs to be hauled to a dumpster. Then the floor can be swept and maybe even painted.
• Oh, back to the windows -- they should all have the old paint scraped off and a new coat of paint applied.  I bought the paint in the spring, so I'm at least prepared to do the work.
• Replace and paint the trim around the big garage door. While this should be a few-hour project, I get the feeling it will last for an entire weekend.
• Clean out the freezer.  I know, somewhere way in the back, is a package of something that is old and freezer-burned.  Time to toss it out.
• Get ready for camping next weekend.  The tent was dirty inside when I packed it up, so after lawn mowing, I'll try to put it up and air it out.  Repacking what I really need (including a chair this time) and can get into my car will be the goal.
• Do some pre-packing for my upcoming vacation.  The trip will be a little different since I'll be separated from my main luggage for nearly two days. Planning the carry-along will be important!

I can add to the list, but why bother, right?

So enough with the blogging and off to work I go.

Happy Weekend all!

Honey-do reading at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Stratego!

Do you remember playing Stratego as a kid? You know, the board game where two players try to either capture the opponent's Flag or capture so many enemy pieces that the opponent cannot make any further moves.

Game play requires careful thought and, obviously, strategy.

For some, it’s just a game. For others, winning is the only option.

I know people who live their lives where winning is the only option.  Divide and conquer, then destroy what’s left.  Their thirst for power is unending and they WILL achieve dominance by any means.

It’s sad to watch these warriors use people  – good people – for their own gain, regardless of how short lived the gain may be.

I always say, “You may not win the battle, but you can win the war.”

Winning the war (your game pieces are your army) is really the goal of Stratego.  Slow and steady in your moves.  Know your opponent and wait for the opportunity to make your move (or form them to make the wrong move).

Sometimes your actions drive the opponent into a move that causes a totally unexpected reaction, and you WIN!

More winning blog reading at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

My Unsynchronized Life

I don’t know what happened, but somehow my life seems to have gotten out of sync.  I always feel like I’m running behind and that I have unfinished business.

Summer is always a busy time for me. I try to go camping on a lot of weekend and this summer is no different.  Well, except that I’ve only been camping two or three times. (That’s another story.)

For some reason I can’t get my tired butt into bed before midnight. Then for yet another unexplained reason, I wake up almost every night around 2:30 am.  I’ve actually stepped out onto the porch at that hour when there’s been a warm breeze blowing and makes me want to stay outside.  (That, too, is another story.)

By the time I get settled back into my most restful REM-sleep, the alarm wakes me up.

So why am I out of sync?

I have a theory that I will be testing out.  A couple weeks ago I thought I was getting up too early.  So I set my alarm for 10 minutes later.  When you’re tired, the difference between 5:45am and 5:55 am is huge! Think about how many times you hit the snooze!

Somehow the ten minutes sleep I tried to gain has cause a disruption in the time-space continuum and caused a ripple in the sequence of events that is my life.

Translation: Sleeping later just puts you behind.

Testing will begin on Monday, when I set my alarm back to 5:45 am.

Hopefully that will put me back in the groove.

Nothing unsynchronized at BareNakedBill.blogspot.com

Smart people, simple tasks

Seriously, it's not rocket-science.

I work with some highly intelligent people. They’re able to configure computer networks and understand radio frequency data with great ease. Most of them are self-taught, which means a desire to know and understand.

That’s why it’s so odd that most of them can’t figure out how to put a roll of toilet paper on the holder in our office restrooms.

When our office was remodeled, the contractor mounted commercial toilet roll holders on the wall. You know the type, it’s like the Fort Knox of holders. But once the paper is gone and you’re left with the cardboard tube, it’s a matter of pinching the tube on one side and it opens up.

If that seems too difficult, just tear the damn tube off and you can actually see how this non-Einstein invented holder actually works.

Okay, enough of the rant.

It’s always best to look at the bright side: at least there was a full roll of paper sitting on top of the empty dispenser.

Nothing empty about BareNakedBill.blogspot.com