For years, I’ve occasionally thought about buying a telescope. A year or so ago, I did some reasearch online and chose $350 reflector, but didn’t buy. Last week, I picked up my first telescope at a local auction for $14. It’s one that used to sell at Walmart for $99, so it’s obviously not […]

Don’t get me wrong — I have Indian friends, and I’ve even been known to unconsciously adopt an Indian accent while talking with them. And I’m not at all opposed to outsourcing. Nor would I be opposed to hiring in India for email support reps. But U.S. companies simply should not be outsourcing telephone support […]

You know that list of “update services” you configured your blog software to ping whenever you create a new post? If you copied it from the WordPress website (or any of a number of other sites on the web that have the same list) recently, you’ve got the wrong list.
When I say you’ve got the […]

That’s right, gambling has been legalized in Nebraska.
Every time venture out onto the ice packed streets of Grand Island, Nebraska, you’re gambling with your life, the lives of those around you, and your financial and emotional futures.
Driving about a block from my house today, I came to an unmarked intersection (there’s a gamble in itself […]

You know the saying, “never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” I’d like to suggest an alternative, “never put off till tomorrow what you can put off till next week.”
Okay, I’m not entirely serious, but here’s my thinking: if you’ve got a task that you’re putting off because you just don’t have […]

Give a man a fish, and he’ll sue you for a lifetime supply.
Teach a man to fish, and his friends will sue you for not teaching them.
Ah, the new American dream! I’ve read where a number of people have talked about how people they’d given something to got a sense of entitlement, expected […]

I can just hear PayPal singing: “Daisy Daisy, Give me your answer do! I’m half crazy, All for the love of you!…” Slower and slower and sllooowwwweeeeerrrrrr. Hal, wake up!
I’ve noticed over that last month or so that PayPal has been slowing down. When I first noticed, I was a little concerned that I might […]

My wife has been putting off replacing her contact lenses because not only will she need to pay for new contacts, but she’ll have to pay for a new eye exam (I’ve said to go ahead and do it, but I guess she figures she can live with her old contacts a little longer). Can […]

I’ve noticed something a little odd in the spam I’ve been getting lately. The message begins “Hello! I’m bored tonight. I am nice girl that would like to chat…”. So far so, uh, bad — nothing unusual in that. The odd thing is that with virtually all of these messages, the name of the sender […]

Yesterday, we packed up our van and left Nebraska for Bear Lake (on the Utah-Idaho border) for a family reunion. Just before reaching Cheyenne Wyoming, we heard a “thunk” and saw a huge cloud of smoke in our rear view mirror.  We took it out of gear and pulled off the road, and as we […]