A Pound of Thoughts

prolix \pro-LIKS; PRO-liks\, adjective:
1. Extending to a great length; unnecessarily long; wordy.
2. Tending to speak or write at excessive length.

Origin

Prolix is derived from Latin prolixus, “poured forth, overflowing, extended, long” from pro-, “forward” + liquere, “to be fluid”.

Example Sentence

Marc yawned and dropped his chin into his hand, struggling to look at least mildly interested in Hubert’s tedious, prolix report on the recent Asian ladybeetle infestation.

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We will not submit to this injustice–not merely because it is destroying us, but because it is destroying you as well.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian Leader.  Hindu nationalist leader and socialist reformer.

 
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Today was, well, interesting to say the least. My wife and I set out on a mission to find an ink cartridge for our all-in-one printer, a Lexmark X8350. Now, the ink it uses in pretty common. A number 32 or 34 cartridge. So, in our weekly excursion to Wal-Mart, we decided to go ahead and pick one up. I had no idea it would be such a monumental odyssey.

We reached the electronics department, and I went straight to the ink. It’s a pretty big section, complete with HP, Lexmark, Canon, and several other brands. All of the different inks were in numerical order, so it’s pretty easy to find it - usually. I look and they have 30, 31, 33, 36….umm, where’s the 32? What about 34? They weren’t in their slots. Darnit!

So, I ask the lady that works in the photo section: “Do you have any more Lexmark ink in back?” She responds, “Oh, I may work in the photo section, but we don’t handle the ink. That’s the electronics department.” Well, lady, the ink is in your stupid section! How wonderful! Ignorant Wal-Mart worker #1.

So I go to the electronics department, which is on the other side of the wall. The lady working behind the desk is just about to walk away when I call out, “Hey! Can I ask you a question? Do you have any more Lexmark ink in back?” She says, “Umm, I don’t usually work in this department. I was just watching it so my friend who works here could go to lunch.” By the way, it’s nearly 6:30 at night. Do they call every meal “lunch”? Ignorant Wal-Mart worker #2.

Then she asks, “Do you know where they keep it?”

Um, duh!! Would I be asking if you have any more ink in the back if I didn’t know where it was?? “Yes” is all I could say.

So she proceeds to reach under the counter, grabs a little infrared gun, and walks with me back to where the ink is. She scans the bar code on the rack and says, “We have five in stock.” Then where’s it at?? I just look at her dumbfounded. She looks at me and says, “It could be on the truck, and they just haven’t unloaded it yet.” I have to restrain myself from bursting out laughing. They would have just five ink cartridges on a Wal-Mart truck?? That’s the whole stock?? You’ve got to be joking me!

All I can do is just walk back to where my wife was, talking to a couple we ran into. So I can’t help but tell them the story.

Why can’t I ever find somebody in Wal-Mart who knows what they’re doing? I’ll probably never know.

Disclaimer: This post was never intend to offend anyone who works at Wal-Mart. I’m sure that every other employee is smarter than the two I ran into.

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Reprove thy friend privately; commend him publicly.

Solon, Greek lawgiver & politician in Athens  (638 BC - 559 BC)

Definition

apostasy \uh-POS-tuh-see\, noun:
Total desertion or departure from one’s faith, principles, or party.

Origin

Apostasy is from the Greek apostasis, “a standing away from, a deflection, a revolt,” from aphistanai, “to stand off or away from, to revolt”, from apo-, “from, away from” + histanai, “to stand.”

Example Sentence

To this purpose it may be worth noticing, that the ill-fated chief, whom God gave to the Jews, as the prophet tells us, in His anger (Hosea xiii. II), and whose disobedience and misery were referred by himself to his ‘fearing the people, and obeying their voice’ (I Sam. xv. 24), whose conduct, therefore, may be fairly taken as a sample of what public opinion was at that time supposed to require,—his first step in apostasy was, perhaps, an intrusion on the sacrificial office (I Sam. xiii. 8-14), certainly an impatient breach of his engagement with Samuel, as the last and greatest of his crimes was persecuting David, whom he well knew to bear God’s special commission.

–From National Apostasy, by John Keble, preached at St. Mary’s, Oxford, on July 14, 1833, http://anglicanhistory.org/keble/keble1.html

Word of the Day courtesy of Dictionary.com.

Today was another tragic shooting, this time at NASA in Houston. A subcontractor, who worked for Jacobs Engineering, snuck a revolver into the Johnson Space Center in Houston, shooting one man in the chest, taking another hostage, and then eventually shot himself after a three-hour standoff.

The gunman was able to take a snub-nosed revolver past NASA security and barricade himself in the building, which houses communications and tracking systems for the space shuttle.

NASA spokesman Doug Peterson said the agency would review its security.

I should say so.

I can’t help but say Thank You to NBC for showing the “WhackJob” videos and pictures, which probably inflated the Narcissistic tendencies in the crazy schmuck who took a life and endangering many more. Not to mention all the copycat wannabes that have pulled stunts all across the nation all week.

Brian Williams, go ahead and take your bow.

Note: The name of the victim was David Beverly, a NASA civil servant. Fran Crenshaw was the female hostage. My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Beverly’s family and Ms. Crenshaw and her family. As with the WhackJob, I will not post the gunman of this tragedy. I’ll just say his initials are BP, and he worked with Jacobs Sverdrup.

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I’ve never really participated in a meme, but this sounds pretty interesting, so here we go!

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of bread?

Sourdough bread.

Soup
When was the last time you bought a new pillow?

Hmm..Hard one. Probably about a year ago - do those little bitty pillows count?

Salad
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend surfing the ‘net?

Umm….Well, it varies. This week has probably been around 50!

Main Course
What’s the highest you remember your temperature being?

About 101. And that was two weeks ago.

Dessert
Fill in the blanks: When I ____________, I _____________.

Okay. Let’s see. When I watch the news, I wanna barf. How’s that?

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Here I am, sitting at home working away on my computer. Today has been kind-of uneventful, although I did get quite upset at (one of) my credit card companies. They automatically withdrew some money out of my account, which I had the understanding wouldn’t come out until June. Oh well, such as life. Nothing I can do about it, since I did owe them a payment. But, the quicker it gets paid off, the better. I just have to keep in mind that I’m getting a refund from the IRS! So, in another week and a half, I’ll forget about this little stunt they pulled. Sometimes I just can’t help but wonder – Am I that much of a pushover?

Anyways, I’m having a hard time coming up with something to write about. There are a lot of things out there that I can write about, but would it be interesting? But then again, this is my blog. I could write about anything I want! So, I’ll just do that.

Yesterday I came home from work, apparently pretty tired. My wife and I both laid down to take about an hour nap (neither of us set an alarm clock). This was about 6:30 I guess. Well, she got up around 10:30pm (she told me this morning) and I was still asleep…she said I didn’t move an inch. Well, next thing I know, I’m waking up at 6:30 this morning! Whoa! I must have been tired…

I proceed to get up and go into the kitchen…I take the coffee filter tray out of my coffeemaker, empty the old grounds, and wash out the canister/tub that holds the coffee. I fill it up, and pour the water into the tank. I look in the coffee ground storage pot – and it’s empty! I really didn’t feel like grinding up any more coffee beans, but I was really in need of a caffeine fix. So, I open the fridge and get the beans out. I pour them into my grinder and grind them for about 20 seconds…I like my coffee extremely fine. Now I can make my coffee! I can not describe to you how much a satisfaction it is to drink freshly ground coffee in the morning – It’s just so refreshing!

Well, the rest of my morning was dedicated to updating my Microsoft Money software and reading blogs. I just find it very relaxing to get a peek into other people’s lives and see how it compares with mine. Some posts make me laugh; others make me sad, while others really get my brain juices flowing.

Slarti, I must tell you that your post “Infantile” was really an inspiring post.

I updated my block quote CSS code the other day to include a dotted border, a blue background, and open and closing quotes on the top and bottom. Now when I first did it, I was using Internet Explorer as my browser. When I went to review the changes, I was so frustrated because the open and closing quotes were not showing up!

So I took someone’s advice (sorry, I can’t remember whose!) and downloaded Mozilla Firefox. To my utter surprise and satisfaction, the CSS formatting seems to be correct! I was extremely thrilled!

I have now resolved to use Firefox for everything while I’m at home…Unfortunately, I have to use IE at work because that’s the only browser installed…bummer.

Just in case anyone is interested, here’s the CSS code I am using for my block quote:

blockquote {

border : 1px dashed #004400;

width: 440px;

margin: 0px;

padding: 10px;

background-color: #CCDEF0;

quotes: “\201C” “\201D”;

}

blockquote:before { content: open-quote; font-weight: bold; }

blockquote:after { content: close-quote; font-weight: bold; }

If Microsoft wants people to be satisfied when using IE, they need to correct its CSS viewing problems. Otherwise, IE will become defunct.

Definition

impugn \im-PYOON\, transitive verb:
To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.

Origin

Impugn comes from the Latin impugnare, “to assail,” from in-, “against” + pugnare, “to fight”.

Example Sentence

If I believe the man is a fraud I will impugn his comments.

Word of the Day courtesy of dictionary.com.