chrischaos

I’ve always been an introvert. Had only a few friends, but they were really good friends. I remember living in Corpus Christi and my parents asked me if i would mind moving to Tyler, TX. Mind you, this was my senior year in High School that I would miss. I was like yes! Lets go.…

Just spun up this blog on a VPS out of London. My original goal was not a blog. It was a blog AND a searx search engine on one server. I still have not accomplished this. I know it’s possible because you can do it with yunohost. But I want to do it myself. After…

A bitcoiner creates a website that links up genealogists with gravesite hunters. A genealogist typically knows the cemetary of one of her ancestors but doesn’t live near it. She submits a offer on this website to pay X sats for a picture of the grave. She uploads the sats and the cemetary address to the…

As a follow on to the prior post, I’ve been to many graveyards, strolling around and wondering about the people that are buried. Business idea:  Wouldn’t it be great if you could take your phone,touch a grave marker, and get at least the obituary of the person and some photos/videos? Expanding on the idea a…

“One of the downsides of being a genealogist is that you do all this work, and if you are successful, you get your family tree all the way back to roman empire. The unsolvable problem, is that all you have is a bunch of names and dates. Who cares! If I’m going to spend all…

I like to think I’m open minded, but unfortunately, on some topics, it takes practically getting hit upside the head for a new idea to sink in. Over a year ago I wrote about my decision to stop eating anything with trans fat. A friend of mine suggested in an off line email correspondence, that…

From the Dangerous Ideas part of The Edge…. No More Teacher’s Dirty Looks Well said sir!

Hopefully I won’t get in trouble for posting a few paragraphs of this… to see the whole article go to: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/10/03/unschool/ click the button at the top to watch the advertisement, and then click another link to go to the article… Endless summer Unschooling is a radical branch of home-schooling where kids control what and…

What am I doing these days? I’m in real estate school! Why am I doing this? Several reasons… I always wanted to at least know what realtors know.I have just designed a commercial real estate web site, and my partners told me if I got my license I would have more ways of making money.…

My house has two air conditioners. This is because it has an addition that was built about 6 years ago (It’s a one story house.) The second AC is bigger than the first, and the two thermostats are not very far apart from each other. This makes things complicated because if you turn one AC…

I was pondering the other day why I went from March to July without blogging. My immedate answer would be that I’ve had nothing to say that’s interesting. But I think it’s something else. Most of my blogging topics came from my hour long walks.  For me, light exercise is very conducive to introspection and…

Heather and I are still dancing, trying to get better. (For those of you reading this for the first time, we dance west coast swing exclusively.) Let me tell you, getting better in dance is a SLOW process. Two things work against you… first you need to practice with many women, and there ain’t that…

I’ve said in the past that I don’t read newspapers because it’s mostly all bad. If nothing bad happens close by, you can be sure that the reporters will find something, somewhere to serve you with your morning coffee. And once you’ve read the story, there’s no way to get it out of your head.…

I had the GREAT joy of figuring out how to clear the pressure from my ears on an airplane flight a few days ago! Background: As long as I can remember, I’ve never been able to clear pressure off of my ears. Blowing into my pinched nose did something worse: it cleared one side and…

Hi Chris. I was wondering if I could ask you something.  You seem to be having apretty good time following the advice of our friend Ernie, living aslower life, not working too much, spending time on hobbies and fitness,etc.  You _don’t_ seem to be too concerned about what your next“mountain to climb” will be.  You…

As I wrote in the prior post, Heather and I drove to Phoenix Sunday to compete in the monthly novice Jack and Jill. There were 18 couples, so the first round was 3 heats of 6 couples each. We had to dance two songs with two different women. Out of those 18, the judges picked…

Unschooling is one of my “hot topics”. My definition of a hot topic is something you care about and want to share with other people because other people are clueless. Using this definition, for me, religion wouldn’t qualify, since I’m not interested in it and everyone has an opinion on it. Unschooling, on the other…

If anyone wants a gmail account, send me an email. I’ve got a bunch of invites. I can send out multiple invites too, if you want more than one. I been wanting a blazingly fast PC to help me make home DVD’s. (OK, I want to be able to play Doom 3 too.) I bit…

>Hi Chris.>>I am curious about something, and you’re the only professed>atheist that I know…>>You seem like a scientific man of high intelligence.  By claiming>to be atheistic, are you, in effect, saying, “I’m 100% sure that there>is no god”?  It seems to me that the more we know about our universe,>the more we know that we…

What adds a bit of spice to the life of a middle aged man? No, this has nothing to do with sex (grin). What I’m thinking about here is upcoming projects. Do you like working on your car? Are you looking forward to replacing the carpet in your den with some hardwood you got cheap…

I been wanting to upload a sample of West Coast Swing. I shot a movie of Heather and Bryan with my Canon SD300 Digital camera on New Years Eve. They are the couple in the middle of the shot. Several caveats before you try downloading: 1) it’s a tad dark.2) it’s 1.2 MB!!! Don’t even…

I’ve been listening to podcasts now for about 4 days. A podcast is simply an MP3. What’s different about podcasts is that if you set up another file called an XML file that has code in it that points to where you uploaded your MP3, and give that XML file link to a piece of…

“P” stands for Partially. It’s been a very long time since I posted, so I thought I would just give a run down of what’s happened the last month. We all went to Dallas for the “Dallas Dance” West Coast Swing competition. Heather and I both competed and didn’t move up even to the semi’s.…

I’ve been thinking about how my taste for sweets has changed over the years. I can remember a long time ago, when I actually wanted pretty much anything. Spree, candy corn, M&M’s, peppermint lifesavers, caramel, bubble gum, almost any chocolate bar. It seems as though candy was the first to go. Chocolate bars took longer…

My blog has gone dormant. I’ve seen this happen to many others and I hate that it’s happening to mine. The problem is that I’m plumb out of observations. But I hate to not write at all, for many reasons. So I’m going to write about what’s happened since my last entry. Diary entries are…

My son, Q, is 8 years old and we are visiting the grandparents on my side at the moment. Something funny has just come up that I haven’t thought about in a while. Although Q gives himself baths these days, he still needs help with the shampooing. I’ve tried to convince him showers are easier,…

I read my share of other peoples blogs. It’s something I enjoy doing each morning, and unfortunately, even throughout the day. And I have to say I am in awe at the number of original new posts some people can write. I’ve now been waiting about two weeks for something to strike me as bloggable,…

Let’s get rid of the term “practice.” Practice implies you are not any good yet. It also has the “feel” of being work. Why must we always grade ourselves? It’s OK to strive to be better, but why can’t we enjoy the activity for what it is, even when our performance is less than stellar?…

Yipee, it’s Thursday and the weekend is starting! As homeschool parents we’re around our kids pretty much all day, every day. I remember asking another homeschool parent at an unschooling conference if they ever got tired of having the kids at home all the time. They said something to the effect that it takes some…

I don’t know how it started, but Quentin can’t go to sleep without his “imaginary story.” The routine goes as follows. Q comes to me: “can I have my imaginary story now?” I say, “OK, who’s in it.” He then gives me a list of characters. Typically something like: Spiderman, Batman, Clayface, Tahu Nuva (Bionicle),…

I’ve already posted about powerball. I buy 1 quick pick per game just to be in the game. I usually buy 10 plays at a time which lasts for 5 weeks and requires as little of my time as possible. I just wanted to share a quick “back of the envelope.” Whatever the jackpot is…

It seems to me that closed mindedness is rampant these days. I don’t like to get into politics, but does the phrase “You’re either with us or against us” ring any bells? I specifically don’t “preach” on my blog. So for the record I’m only making observations here. My mother in law recently sent Heather…

I have a love/hate relationship with goals. On the one hand, I get great satisfaction when I complete actions on to do lists. It usually only lasts for a day, but it feels great. On the other hand, I would like to enjoy life on a day to day basis. Goals take me out of…

I think it was just a week ago, I was stunned to find out that Leo was leaving the screensavers TV Show. The Screensavers is a show that I watch religiously to help keep current in everything high tech. The material for such a show could be very very dry, but Leo and Patrick have…

Spell checking in text boxes in Mozilla!! My mozilla browser now has all the functionality I had in IE. Thank you to Andrew at Blogipity for providing me with the info in email after I posted a comment to his blog. Here’s his response so other people on the web might be able to find…

I finally decided to dump Internet Explorer this morning. I’ve read about the fact that security experts say IE has so many security holes it’s unrepairable. But the thing that sent me over the edge was, I got tired of the crashing. Does the following ring a bell to anyone: “Do you want to send…

The year is 1976, I am a senior in high school and am attending Mr Arnold’s math and physics classes. This is where I was shown my first computer. An Altair 8800. It was decked out with a keyboard and monitor, a tape cassette recorder for storing programs, and a paper tape reader (also for…

I’m guessing here, but I’ve probably told 10 different people over the last 20 years how stupid they were getting a pool. The latest one being my friend John here in Tucson, who got a pool installed in his backyard no more than a year ago. I remember telling him “Big mistake!” I’m not even…

I’ve been interested in real estate for quite some time. I’ve read books, taken seminars, even done some inspecting for a friend whose business it is to make loans on fixer upper properties. Have I EVER done anything in real estate myself? No. At least until now. I’m now a landlord. How did this happen?…

I recently read a book called the “Joy of Laziness” which I thoroughly enjoyed since it validates my lifestyle. It’s basically a book of tips for living longer. Written by two former German marathoners that also happen to have Ph.D’s, it’s a book that blew away two fundamental beliefs I had. Belief #1) the more…

I’m a poor defender of things I believe in. So when I read something that says it well, I have this desire to “pass it on.” Hence this blog entry. Heather and I unschool our kids (age 5 and 8.) We’re asked occasionally how they will handle college. My stock answer is that if they…

I have a confession to make…I’ve been reading the newspaper. If you’ve read my earlier blog entries, you know I am opposed to mainstream news because it is so negative and fear mongering. And, I believe, reading things everyday that inspire fear makes us, the populace, give in to things like the patriot act. For…

I have several friends that have spa’s. The issue of nude soaking has never come up, and in all honesty, i never have given it much thought. Anytime I had the luxury of taking a “whirlpool” at the fitness center, or a soak at a friends house, swimsuits were worn. Now, I’ve got my own…

Today was our first full day in the new house. I was so tired from boxing the night before last, that I was asleep before hitting the pillow, and woke up with a headache. Unusual for me. We didn’t give ourselves enough time to box, and hence, the movers coming the next day caused Heather…

This is one man I really like. He was great in Star Trek, and his books are good too. If you haven’t read “I’m Working on that!”, you need to. This new priceline ad shows he’s got a sense of humor too. Check it out! Commercial UPDATE: I just showed this to Heather and I…

We’ve been trained since kindergarten to establish goals in order to be productive. It’s so ingrained in our psyches that, I would maintain, it’s hard to do anything that doesn’t have a goal. Let’s get right down to examples. Heather just got a bike for Christmas, and as a result, I’ve been riding my bike…

I think that one sentence says it all. That’s why school doesn’t work. Forced education turns our most valuable commodity (our children) into one of three things: A) “yes” men that excel at doing what they’re told and delight in collecting gold stars from authority.B) dropouts. The kids that refuse to be told what to…

I just want to get it down in writing before I pass on how much I love the jalapeno. I used to just order the regular original at Schlotzski’s. Now I order the regular original with jalapeno cheese bread and jalapenos on it. I don’t really know why it improves a sandwich. It just does.…

Lot’s of news going on in this here family. The in laws are visiting. This stresses us both out. Heather’s mom is a tad controlling. And she’s adamantly opposed to homeschooling. Especially the way we are doing it. Gotta love the protectors of the status quo. But there is a silver lining to this nightmare.…

As I stated in a previous post, I’ve been getting many referrals from search engines. If the search terms look interesting, like “caving around tucson” for example, I give the search a try myself. If you’ve read my blog, you know I know nothing about caving. So where do you think my website shows up…

If I had to pick one thing I liked about Tucson, I would probably say it’s the dry air. But there is something else that’s pretty amazing. And that would be the wildlife. Life and death are literally in your face here. Mourning doves make nests and other birds attack and try to get the…

I was just in Borders browsing the retirement/aging section when I ran across a book called “The Myth of Tomorrow” by Gary W. Buffone, PhD. I read it for about 2 hours in the coffee shop. In the book he’s basically trying to get the reader to stop and think about their own death. Reason…

This post is a tad graphic, so you may not want to read it. I saw my nose doctor (otolaryngologist) on my trip to Dallas. Since 1984, I’ve had 7 or 8 surgeries for nasal polyps, the last one being in Jan 2000. Nasal polyps are small non cancerous growths in your sinuses. People that…

Referral links are just fascinating. When you are surfing and you click a link, the web page you go to from that click gets to know where you came from. The really fascinating ones are the ones from search engines. Here’s a google search where my blog is the number one “feeling lucky” site: “spiro…

I got to see someone last night I haven’t seen in 16 years. My old push dance instructor, Gary Long. I started taking dance lessons after my divorce in 1987 as a way of meeting women. His classes were IDEAL for meeting women, because of one thing: rotation. Everyone lines up and about every 3…

Heather just emailed me a quote that I think many bloggers can relate to: There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man thathe does not know till he takes up a pen to write. -William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist(1811-1863) I don’t know if I’ve had a thousand, but I can surely relate to this.

We are having a great time here in Dallas. Quentin’s been at his cousin Will’s house for two nights. (Quentin worships Will.) Sierra’s going to go back to Tyler with the grandparents for two or three days. Heather and I are getting some good time alone. I got a 4 star hotel at priceline.com for…

Well, we found our dream home Thursday. Placed a bid Thursday night knowing that we were in competition with another bidder. Offered $2000 MORE than what the seller wanted. They rejected it last night even though it was the better contract! Why? The seller’s wife was friends with the other bidder and they agreed verbally…

If you’ve been reading my blog, you will know I quit my “day job” in 1999 at the age of 39. I’d like to say I retired at 39, but technically I can’t, because I didn’t have FY money in my nest egg (and still don’t.) FY or “fuck you” money, is the amount of…

Quentin once again said he didn’t want to go to PE class. We’re not sure why. It could be that he doesn’t want to take a class with Sierra. It could be he doesn’t like the structure. It could be that he likes being at home. He plays Nintendo and computer games way too much…

I thought I would take one post and just give a blow by blow of what happened today. Every once in a while (I think I did it once before) I think this is OK. Today was a two nap day. Why? Probably because it started so early. I wake up, go through all the…

This is a quick post to see if my blog is going to show up on “the world as a blog” world map. It’s a cool real time display of weblog postings around the world as they happen in real time. I did all the steps: 1) I added geotags to my site. This gives…

After a visit to the dentist this morning to get my new gold crown inserted, I thought a quick visit to Borders would be a good way to recover from the ordeal. After browsing for 15 minutes, I headed back to the retirement section to make sure nothing new hadn’t come in. Actually, I did…

To the people in the US that don’t live in Arizona: “Welcome back to where the sun really is in the sky!” Yes, it really gets that dark at 6PM. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the state of Arizona is the only state in the US that does not observe…

I like to think I exhibit moderation in things I eat and drink, but there’s one area that needs definite work. That would be dessert. Dessert is one thing my kids learned about early in life. If you eat your dinner, you get dessert. Every night it’s the same thing. Little voices saying “Can I…

I’ve been drawing a blank lately about what to write. I know what I like reading, and I try to write like that. For example: Positive traits:1) Just written, ie, fresh.2) Original thoughts. A new spin on a old topic.3) Humorous.4) Knowing the blog author. I know Hanje, and look forward to her posts. John’s…

It seems as though, throughout my life, I’ve always had to have a “reason” to exercise. Back in college, I wanted to do a marathon. I used to run from Ruston to Grambling and back (about 10 miles.) I never made it to 26 miles, but it was my motivation. Running requires some major motivation…

Well, today around 9:30 AM, I found myself laying in bed staring at the ceiling. I get depressed occasionally. Not often, thanks to St John’s Wort; an herb that you can buy at the store. I’ve been taking it since the mid 90’s and it’s done wonders for my attitude. After I saw how well…

For the guys who are married with kids. Parity in the relationship, is not: husband goes to work and makes the money, wife stays home and takes care of the kids and house. We like to tell ourselves that this arrangement is fair. Sorry guys, it’s not. Many stay at home mom’s are bitter. And…

I admit it, I’m a lottery player. It’s not really that I think I’m going to win. What I’m actually doing, is paying $2 per week so I can daydream about what I would do with the money. Basically, whenever I pass a Powerball billboard, I take the jackpot value, multiply by 60% (cash option),…

Heather had a genealogy seminar in Phoenix all day Saturday. So she was kind enough to let me go out Friday and see a movie. I chose Kill Bill, Vol 1. Now first, let me say that Quentin Tarantino is probably my favorite director. I loved Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. I can remember being…

Sometimes I get pretty critical of government intrusions, ie, increased policing, and government institutions, ie, public schools. I want to say for the record that I absolutely have nothing against policemen or teachers. These individuals are often idealists, have nothing but noble goals and ambitions, and are grossly underpaid. They should be praised for everything…

We’re finally leaving seattle after a 3 month stay. It was kind of an experiment. We left tucson with no advanced planning whatsoever. Just hit the road. Along the way, if I knew I was going to be in, say, San Fran the next day, then I would log into priceline.com and try to get…

I’m having what best can be described as withdrawal pains from finishing “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. I’m finding it difficult to read other “normal” books. I’ve got several books I could be reading now, but none measure up. Oh, if only I had read slower, I might still be reading it! Heather’s…

After 4 weeks of getting up early every morning to check my email….. From: Sven LathamSubject: Blogwise Confirmation (9563) Hi, Just a quick note to say ‘thank you’ for submitting chrischaos to blogwise.com. I have checked the site for suitability and am pleased to confirm that I have added it to the directory. To show…

Well today completes my seven days alone with the kids. I’ll have to admit to being a tad nervous last Sunday when we left Heather at the airport. Since the kids were born, at most, I’ve spent maybe two days babysitting. So it was something of a shock, that this seven days was not all…

1. Who is your favorite singer/musician? Why? Right now, I’m into jazz and smooth jazz, like Spiro Gyra. But I have to say, whenever I hear early Van Halen, it takes me back… Jamie’s cryin… 2. What one singer/musician can you not stand? Why? I don’t know, since I change the channel before they tell…

It was July 1999. I scheduled a meeting with my boss, in the calculator division of Texas Instruments. When I arrived, he was already there, with a stack of papers and looking through them, barely even noticing me. He had no idea what I wanted to talk about. With shaking hands and shaking voice I…

Structure is an interesting concept. Some people LOVE structure. They do well in school, when they graduate, they head off for the corporate job and climb the ladder. They take orders well, and learn to give orders to their underlings. This is “Success” with a capital “S” in this society. Other people LOATHE structure. Here…

Thought I would do it early to offset my prior late FF postings. 1. Is the name you have now the same name that’s on your birth certificate? If not, what’s changed? yep. 2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be? Burt Haarbinson 3. Why were you named…

I hope this is a passing fad, but I’ve been wasting DAYS reading other peoples blogs. Starting from Fresh blogs I pick the ones that have english titles. Even doing that, the signal to noise ratio is LOW, maybe one good site in 50 clicked. i then go over to weblogs.com and that’s roughly the…

One of my recurring interests since my twenties has been early retirement. I’m sure this comes from the last day of school, when all responsibilities were over and I had absolutely nothing to do. My childhood memories are fading, but I can still remember walking home from the last day of school, smelling the flowers,…

1. Are you going to school this year? No. The word “school” raises the hair on my neck, kind of like the word “Jesus”. Most of us have been forced to go to school all our young lives. The dire consequences of this are many which I’m not really prepared to discuss here. One consequence…

I hate to admit this, but I am closed minded on some things. It’s not something I’m proud of, and I’m not going to try to defend it. Still, it’s interesting to ponder when and why it happens. 1) If the person I am talking to is closed minded, but it’s a subject I am…

Just finished Robin Cooks latest “Seizure.” Excellent! And Robin Cook has finally changed his formula. This one didn’t start out with the internal description of a virus eating away a persons insides. I loved that formula, but it was getting old, since he used it in about 15 books. The real reason I’m posting is…

Took the presidential candidate test. Thanks Hanje! Here are my top 3: 1. Libertarian Candidate (100%) Click here for info2. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT – Democrat (61%) Click here for info3. Kucinich, Cong. Dennis, OH – Democrat (60%) Click here for info Here goes on the Friday Five on Monday! Sorry I’m late, can’t seem…

Reading the newspaper or Let’s find out who got raped, murdered and decapitated! Yeah! There was nothing I loved better than waking up, making coffee and getting the newspaper in the morning. It was what my dad bred me to do I think. He’s the same way. Well…. I stopped reading the newspaper about 4…

Friday Five (on Saturday). Just found this friday five stuff at: http://fridayfive.org/, and it sounds like a good idea! 1. How much time do you spend online each day? varies dramatically. But I average probably 3 hours. Some days a couple of minutes, others all day. 2. What is your browser homepage set to? yahoo…

I finished Clive Cusslers White Death today. Excellent as always. It was not his best, but still good reading! The book I wanted to write about is called Stealing the Network. This has started a mini research interest for me over the past week. I’ve already written about it: See the post to my chrischaos…

Just wrote this email to a few friends. Thought it would be a good post to the blog as well…. Hi all, Heather and I are tired of sending our personal emails as if they were postcards where anyone can read them. We wanted to at least have the OPTION of privacy, which we didn’t…

I was just commenting to a friend who will recognize himself, that I am content. I have nothing burning in my gut to do before I die. And I actually don’t like being in this state. I want something to occupy me and to cause flow. (Finding Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ) Well…. I may have…

Fatal, by Michael Palmer was excellent. On a scale of 1-10, it’s a 8 1/2. I used to be really hooked on medical mysteries, but I’ve grown out of them a tad. Robin Cook is the king of this genre, who by the way, just wrote a new one that I bought yesterday at borders.…

Another week has gone by. Our Seattle adventure is about half over. Yikes! We haven’t been to Rainier or St Helens yet. We haven’t been to the Pike Place market. We haven’t even gone hiking yet! Still, I’m starting to feel at home here. With the help of my handy dandy GPS, I can’t get…

connections between existentialism and meditation? Intermittently, I make connections. I would say this happens maybe 3 or 4 times a year for me. (I’m not a deep thinker.) One just happened while I was reading a new book (from the library) called “The big bang, the buddha, and the baby boom” by Wes Nisker. Existentialism…