category archive: miscellany

Sam and her friends were talking about Justin Bieber, so I informed them that he’s a robot.

As might be expected from a group of seven-year-olds, there was a desire to believe, but also skepticism. They’ve been tricked before.

They’re smart enough to know that this would have to be confirmed on Google. I entered the search exactly as they specified:

is justin bieber a robot

And look at the top two results:

Is Justin Bieber a Robot or Cyborg? — JUSTIN BIEBER ZONE …
www.justinbieberzone.com › Weird

Justin Bieber is Actually a Robot – RobotShop Blog
www.robotshop.com/blog/en/justin-bieber-is-actually-a-robot-1509

Google totally backed me up!

I said, “Well there you go. It’s on the internet so it must be true.”

(Postscript: As I wrote this post, I showed them the image above from Wikipedia, and told them it was an early Justin Bieber prototype.)

And it never will be, as I mentioned last month.

The job’s going…

Okay?

That new job I have. You may have heard about it when I was in the early euphoric phase of finally moving on to something new.

Now I’m going through a bit of a rocky transitional phase.

I’d really hate to miss a month. Remember May 2008? The empty box of shame.

NEVER AGAIN.

I’m going to keep blogging FOREVER.

I started this new job and it’s going well. I’m keeping busy with learning new stuff, and enjoying learning new stuff. My cup runneth over.

I still want to write.

I think.

Dear Friend, Family Member, or Complete Stranger:

I’m unfollowing you for any number of reasons. Complicated reasons that surely have more to do with me than you. I’m notifying you of the unfollowing/unfriending in case your “interest” in me was reciprocal or contingent in any way upon a mutual connection, so that you can likewise unfriend or unfollow me. (I’m probably even more irritating than you are.)

If you require examples of why I’m breaking this social bond, well, let’s see…

The pendulum swings again. I applied for a new job last month, a technical job, and just like that, my brain started its descent to the other side, thinking about software development and how I do like mucking about with computers and code, and that perhaps this should be my focus. I love programming and making things that go.

This will be the year when I find answers, small and large. Perhaps the ultimate answer, to “the great Question of Life, the Universe and everything.”

Except… I forget the answer is simple. It’s the question we don’t know.

Winter is too long, making spring a revelation. Life beginning again. Grass greening up and trees sprouting leaves and flowers popping out of the ground. All that stuff. Warmer temperatures, where a 40 degree day promises that summer is coming.

Traveling with the bears wasn’t easy. They pretty much lived on cold fish. (I missed the flamingos and their greasy fast food.)

Our political differences generated considerable friction, but much worse was their taste in music. They preferred it as raw as the fish.

I had a dream flash of inspiration yesterday morning as I woke. Not fully fleshed out — it was just a glimpse — but it seemed so right and I knew I had to expand on it.

How about a car wash that is also a submarine wash?

Firstly, the more pessimistic view: let’s consider why they’re out to get you. It’s most likely for experimental reasons. Purely as speculation, I’ll consider examples from my own life, but this is all stuff I made up just now to illustrate things for the crazy people. (It’s not like I’d ever seriously entertain these thoughts. I’m not crazy. I’m fine. I’m perfectly normal.)