Swedegeek’s Blog

And… If You Wanna Teach a Man to Fish, Teach Him to Fish!

It’s a month old now, but I’ve been meaning to write on this post that, from its title, claimed to be a tutorial on Unix-based command line redirection. I use *nix systems on a regular basis, and I actually got suckered into clicking to this article. It was a waste of time. And then I got even annoyed by thinking about things on a deeper level. I hate thinking. (more…)

In reply to a post on my brother’s own blog on why he sucks, I decided to come up my own list on why he sucks. After living with him for over fifteen years solid, then off and on during my college years, there is plenty I could write. Fortunately for him (and the rest of us), a lot of those points of suckage don’t apply anymore. There are plenty that still do, however. After quite a bit of effort, I boiled the list down to ten. This is by no means comprehensive. Enjoy! (more…)

I vaguely remember first hearing the words of the Golden Rule when I was about four years old. For some reason, I recall a book with a bee on it in our church nursery that had a nice little story. It was the first place I heard (probably didn’t learn) one of the most important lessons in life.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

In reality, that’s probably not the easiest concept for a young child to grasp. However, you’d think more people actually capable of understanding the notion would try to follow it… most of the time… even occasionally… at all! (more…)

Posting from Billings, MT as we’re here for my wife’s high school reunion. This trip out of Lansing is very much welcome. Better yet, with my reunion next weekend, we get another vacation only 3 days after this one!

Since we flew out to MT (get to drive 650 miles to MN next week), we had the joy of going through security at the Lansing airport yesterday afternoon. Everything was fine, until my carry-on bag needed to be scanned again. Odd. Then, they needed to search my bag. Even more odd. The TSA employee went right to my side pocket and dug down to the bottom. He pulled a pocket knife out of my bag. It was the smallest swiss army model you can get… tiny blade, file, toothpick, tweezers, that’s it. I hadn’t seen that thing in over a year. Oops! Dialogue then went like so:

“Is this your pocket knife, sir?”
“Yep.”
“You know you can’t have this in carry-on luggage?”
“Yep.”
“Do you have any checked luggage, sir?”
“Nope.”
“Would you like to check this bag, sir?”
“Nope.”
“Would you like to bring the knife back out to your car, sir?”
“Nope.”
“Would you like me to confiscate the knife?”
“Yep.”

That was the end of my pocket knife, or at least my possession of it. The TSA employee walked off and deposited it in some metal bin in the wall to join its contraband cousins confiscated from countless other unwitting passengers. I know the TSA is just doing its job, and I’m thankful for the additional security, but I was still amused for some reason. The guy just seemed so full of himself for thwarting any dubious plans I may have had for the little pocket knife that I didn’t even realize I had with me. Good job pulling something out of a bag that a machine told you was there!

I guess this isn’t really much of a rant, but my point is I think the TSA could use some interpersonal skills training so they at least act like they’re a little more understanding when it’s obvious people have unintentionally violated one of their policies.

It’s legit… At a mere 28 years old, I have just officially earned the rank of Crotchety Old Man. This has probably been a long time in coming, but as of about 20 minutes ago, my promotion has been signed, sealed and delivered. (more…)