M.K. Anderson has a great article about cliches that are becoming overused at the workplace. These are right on the mark


At my old job, I used to get sick of these Technically-unsavy, business analyst types walking into a meeting and spitting cliches like “paradigm shift” and lots more. They used to say things like “we’re beating a dead horse” or “Don’t look a gift-horse in the mouth”.
At this very moment, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to be both funny and make fun of these butt-lickers.

From then on, I swore to purposely mangle these cliches. I’d walk into meetings and say things like “don’t beat a dead gift-horse in the mouth” among 20 other similar ones regarding a dead or gift horse, and either beating it or looking at it in a strange way.

There were others, but I can’t remember them now. I do know, though, that my fellow coders were laughing their asses off during meetings.

Maybe because it’s Howard, or maybe because I really like the idea of satellite radio. But today I went Siriusly-mad. I first bought a portable receiver so I can move about with it. I then bought a “home unit” base station for the office, so I could listen while at work. I also bought a car-unit and got it all installed. After that, I bought one of the boom boxes that Sirious sells, so I can listen at the house. It’s great. I can now listen to Howard Stern, classical music, sports radio, the news, and whateverthehell else I want to listen to, whenever I want. I love technology.

How will George W. Bush’s presidency be remembered? I have a suspicion that he will be remembered and forever

associated with disasters that plagued the United States for 8 years.


I’ve spent a great deal of time compiling this list of disasters/tragedies/etc that have hit the United States and

the world since he took office. I’m not trying to say Bush is to blame for these tragedies, or that he should have done more to help in these. I’m simply stating that they happened. These are ordered chronologically, broken out by year:

2001

• Jan. 20: George W. Bush takes office (Not a tragedy, just getting the list started)
• Jan. 25: 7.9 Earthquake href="http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/06/India.qua ke/">strikes Gujarat.
• Feb. 28: 6.8 Earthquake strikes Seattle.
• Apr. 01: U.S. Spy plane lands in

  China

• Jun. 23: Powerful 7.9 earthquake hits Peru
• Sep. 11: The World Trade Centers Collapse–Terror attack href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1539070.stm">killing thousands in New York City
• Oct. 10: Anthrax reports (3rd) are made in Florida
• Nov. 02: US elite troops helicopter crashes in Afghanistan
• Nov. 12: A Jet crashes in New York,

  killing everyone on board (260)

2002

• Jan. 18: A Volcano kills 45 in the Congo. Half the city burned.
• Jan. 28: Lagos blasts leaves 600 dead,

  in Nigeria

• May 25: Taiwanese Airliner with 225

  people crashed into the sea

• Jun. 02: Fire at Buckingham Palace
• Jun. 22: Huge Earthquake in Iran kills 300
• Jul. 01: Germany - 71 dead in

  midair collision

2003

• Jan. 21: Strong earthquake shakes Mexico. 24 dead.
• Feb. 01: Texas - NASA Space

  shuttle and crew lost

• Feb. 20: 96 Killed in

  nightclub Inferno in Rhode Island

• Mar. 13: First reports of SARS breakout in

  Hong Kong and Vietnam

• Mar. 19: U.S. Launches war

  against Iraq

• May 21: More than 2,000 killed in

  6.7 magnitude quake in Algeria

• Aug. 14: 10,000+ dead in heat

  wave in France

• Aug. 14: Major power outage in New York

  City and dozens of other cities in U.S. and Canada.

• Isabel knocks out power to 2 million
• Dec. 23: Mad cow disease confirmed
• Dec. 25: 28,000 dead after earthquake

  in Iran. Ancient City of Bam destroyed.

2004

• Sep. 06: Clinton bypass surgery a success. (just kidding–not a disaster. just making sure you’re

  awake)

• Sep. 14: Hurricane Ivan kills 22
• Sep. 22: Hurricane Jeanne

  leaves more than 1,050 dead in haiti, threatens Florida

• Oct. 17: Report: up to 70,000 dead in

  Darfur Region due to malnutrition and diseas, among other causes

• Dec. 26: 9.0 Quake leaves 212,000+

  dead in Indonesia. This causes a massive tsunami to spread across the Indian ocean.

• Dec. 31: U.N. Reports the tsunami

  death toll to be more than 150,000.. This figure was later changed to 212,000.

2005

• Jan. 26: 31 Marines killed in Chopper

  Crash

• Feb. 22: 500 killed in quake in Iran
• Apr. 2: Pope John Paul II dies at

  age 84. World mourns

• Apr. 21: 6 Americans among 11 dead in copter crash
• Aug. 29: Hurricane Katrina floods

  New Orleans, LA. Leaves 100,000+ homeless

That’s all I’ve listed so far. I’m sure more is to come–How’s that for “the glass if half empty”?

Last Wednesday, I went to White Rock Lake with my gal to take pictures. It was a nice night, and the sun was out. We took pictures and left to eat dinner, but while we were eating we heard thunder. As we left, I could tell a storm was brewing, and we kept seeing lightning in the distance. We went back to White Rock Lake and I setup the tripod and camera facing westward on the bank. I set it up for a 30 second exposure shot, and got two lightning bolts in a single shot. Pretty lucky timing.

I hope you enjoy. Click the image for a larger version, or click here.