daverea.com

Ever since I’ve been old enough to keep medicine in my bathroom, medicine has been expiring in my bathroom. Or pretty much anywhere I keep it, for that matter. I just don’t use enough medicines, or multi-vitamins, or what-have-you to use them up before their expiration dates. Cold medicine is usually the worst – in desperation with a pressurized head and a sore throat, I’ll buy the biggest package of DayQuil I can find…and at least half of the pills end up expiring in my medicine cabinet a year or so later.

But today, the tables turned. Today, I took the last of my One-A-Day multi vitamins. Pondering the fact that it seems a rare thing that I actually finish a bottle of pills before their expiration, I turned the bottle in my hand to check the date – I expected it to be sometime in 2002, since my supply of vitamins often exceeds my diligence in taking them daily. Amazingly enough, the bottle read “NOV 2006″.

I think it’s going to be a good day! I should go buy a lottery ticket…

I’ve been blessed with what parents might call an “active imagination” – and when you cram this imagination into my head alongside an engineering degree and a penchant for Libertarianism, a lot of interesting ideas come out. Many of these ideas are for businesses, products or activities – and these are almost invariably (except maybe when they happen at 3AM) scribbled into my Palm Pilot for future reference.

But sometimes, my inner geek produces some fun ideas that might even be worth sharing. While working with the aforementioned Palm Pilot (which is actually a Sony Clie) today, such an idea materialized somewhere between my ears, and I figured this is as good a place as any to jot it down…

More…

“Amos Lee” by Amos Lee.

With the help of my iPod, I enjoyed this during my 2.1354-mile walk today (thank you, Google Maps Pedometer). It was a beautiful day at 65°, and having Mr. Lee along just made the walk that much nicer. His slow, methodic acoustic guitar blended well with the hazy late-November sunshine, and his voice and lyrics folded into the mood of the day as I walked by people raking leaves, playing catch with their kids and putting up Christmas decorations.

The short version:

We went to camp last weekend, and didn’t get any deer. So we went to camp this weekend, and didn’t get any deer.

The better version:

Last weekend’s whitetail hunting season opener was a bountiful time for a lot of guys at our hunt camp – just not for Dad and I. We both hunted previously very-productive areas, but ended up bringing home the same number of shells we left with. On the plus side, we got to eat a lot of really good food, hang out with friends, play cards and have fun.

Discouraged and frusterated but not out of the game, we headed back down to camp again last night. We arrived to an empty cabin at 8PM, and (after filling the place with smoke) got the wood stove stoked up. Today, unfortunately, saw us go home empty-handed once again. We tried new spots, new techniques and had different weather, but still fired no shots. Dad did see a group of does at very close range – so close he could have shot from the hip and still taken one home – but alas: New York State decided not to issue any doe tags to either of us this year!

But, as Yogi once said, it’s not over ’till it’s over! … And the season hasn’t ended yet!

(PS … we didn’t get the truck stuck this time!)

I woke up to a clear, frosty Thanksgiving morning – which made this Thanksgiving whiter than last Christmas! It’s perfectly still outside, and perfectly peaceful inside thanks to Kelly’s [brilliant] insistence on getting everything done ahead of time. Our table is set, our contributions to the Thanksgiving meal are nearly all prepared, and we’re ready to celebrate our very first Thanksgiving in the “new” house.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of Thanksgiving a lot like I think of Valentine’s day: You shouldn’t need a special day to remind your Other that you love them – and we shouldn’t need a special day to be thankful for all the blessings we’re surrounded with. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to do some special things for Kelly on valentine’s day, and it won’t stop me from taking a few minutes out this Thanksgiving to think about what I’m thankful for…

And there are so many things to be thankful for. Of course, there are the basics: our warm and happy home, our families and friends, our jobs and the talents we’ve been blessed with. We certainly couldn’t forget the abundance that surrounds us – the fact that today, while we’re eating the turkey that we didn’t have to raise, kill and clean ourselves, there will be countless others who have never heard of Thanksgiving, and couldn’t even imagine the feast we’ll enjoy today. I’m thankful to live in a place, and be blessed with a life, in which such a celebration is possible.

God has blessed Kelly and I with ambition, abilities and dreams – and I’m thankful that those blessings combine to give us purpose while so many wander, directionless, through their lives. I’m thankful every day that He brought the two of us together, and gave us a wonderful marriage and a meaningful path to walk together.

This year, I don’t think there’ll be a “most of all, I’m thankful for” section. All of our blessings – even the smallest ones – deserve equal gratitude from us. So whatever good in your life you’re celebrating this year, Kelly and I wish you a warm and happy Thanksgiving.

Friday, 5:30PM – Kick off the 2-hour drive from Rochester to Bolivar, NY. Present: Dad and me, in his very comfortable Chevy Tahoe. The Goal: Set up Dad’s ladder-style treestand so that he doesn’t have to do so the evening before opening day.

Friday, 7:30PM – Arrive at hunt camp.
Friday, 8:00PM – Eat birthday cake, drink beer and play Euchre.
Friday, 8:30PM – Lose at Euchre. A lot.
Friday, 10:30PM – Set the alarm clocks, hit the sleeping bags.

Saturday, 5:20AM – Everyone else heads out turkey hunting.
Saturday, 7:30AM – I wake up, eat some doughnut holes and try to get some work done.
Saturday, 7:35AM – My laptop’s battery is dead, so I practice shuffling cards for an hour or so.
Saturday, 9:00AM – Guys start getting back from the morning turkey hunt.
Saturday, 9:15AM – The rain starts. A lot.

Saturday, 9:45AM – Dad and I drive down a big hill to put up his tree stand.
Saturday, 10:05AM – Dad and I attempt to drive back up the big hill. There is a lot of mud.
Saturday, 10:20AM – Dad and I realize the truck is not going anywhere.
Saturday, 10:50AM – Drive to Wellsville with one of the guys to buy tire chains.
Saturday, 11:35AM – Guy at the auto parts store explains that tire chains aren’t legal any more. (Thanks, Hillary!)
Saturday, 12:05PM – Return to camp with 107′ of two-inch tow straps and a 12-foot come-along winch.

What followed was a lot grunting, spinning tires, pushing and pulling, sweating, and some swearing. We daisy-chained the tow straps together, hooked one to the big tow hook in Dad’s front bumper, and wrapped the others around a tree. After opening up the come-along, we put it between two of the straps and started inching the 4,500-pound truck up the hill.

All-told, it took around 10 cycles of the 12-foot winch – four wheels spinning all the way – to pull it up to the top of the steepest part of the hill. From there, four of us were able to get behind the truck and push as the mud flew. A little after 2PM, the truck was free and we all headed for the cabin to change clothes, eat something and close up for the day. At 4PM, we pulled into Dad’s driveway, amazed to see that the rain had washed away all but the most-tenacious of the mud.

Rarely has a hot shower ever felt better.

…Bill comments on yesterday’s election:

Make A Choice

After waking up this morning and searching for what to feel after the polls closed last night, I think Bill has given me a few good nucleation sites.

…some people are finally starting to talk some sense about the Microsoft-Novell deal:

Linuxwatch: Novell is Not SCO
Terpstra: Don’t Panic Over Novell-Microsoft Deal
DesktopLinux.com: Why I’m sticking With Novell’s Linux Desktop