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I was playing around on Geni.com today, looking at the ol’ family tree, when it rather hit me: I don’t have any more grandparents. Grammie and Leo died one day after the other (respectively) in 2006, Laverne—whom I never knew—died in 1997, and Poppy died in 1994.

Poppy wasn’t himself the latter years of his life; he was really drained and listless in my memories. Sadly, those are the most vibrant memories I have, as I was older and more apt to remember things than when I was younger and Poppy was one of my only playmates. I really hope I can hold onto those older memories as long as I can, maybe by writing them down? Rebecca did that with MJR to make sure she remembers the sadly few memories she made (before he passed away last month).

I have pictures in family albums of a wee me sitting with Laverne (Hodges, my father’s mother), but I have zero recollection of those times. Unfortunately, that’s it. Passing away in 1997, seven years before I got in touch with Leo, I have no memories, no stories, and no information on my paternal grandmother aside from a few 20-year-plus-old pictures. Maybe that’s easier; it feels a bit like a waste, but I’m not saddened really, just bummed.

I lived across the street from my grandmother until I was seven, and with her until I was eighteen and moved into the UK Wesley Foundation. Of grandparents, I knew her the best, and find myself missing the most. Grammie maintained her faculties through the majority of her senior years, and only in the last year or so seemed to become less and less aware of her surroundings and their significance. Despite this, she was always excited and eager to have me and Rebecca visit, and was always proud of my life and accomplishments. I orate poorly, but suffice to say: I miss Grammie.

Aunt Penny called me the morning of December 4, 2006 on my way to work to let me know that Grammie had died. I called family and friends to pass along the news, and was shocked to learn from my father’s cousin (Deanna) that Leo—Michael Hodges’ father, my paternal grandfather—had died the day before Grammie. I was guiltier than saddened by Leo’s death as I’d made such a poor initiative to get to know him. I first found him in Spring 2004, and Rebecca and I invited to our wedding in August. I gather that he enjoyed his visit even though our time together was limited. We spoke again a few times, but nothing of consequence until it was too late.

I lived so much of my life in a certain set of familial parameters: Grammie and Poppy were my grandparents, my mother constituted “my parents”, and my siblings are ridiculously older than I. I had/have no bias against my paternal family, but it’s not a standard feature of my worldview, and as such doesn’t play into my everyday functioning.

I have a letter from my father in our “office” (read: computer room) and hopefully I’ll scribe a reply before week’s end. I’ve had awesome family and I’ve had crappy family, and I’d like to claim any chance I have to get more of the former before I have fewer.

I could write a lot about Wikipedia and how much I love contributing to it, but this quickie is all about me. On the 10th, I received an email from another Wikipedian with whom I’ve collaborated in the past; she offered to nominate me to receive “Administrator” rights and privileges.

That’s big.

Administrators [...] are Wikipedia editors who have access to technical features that help with maintenance. English Wikipedia practice is to grant administrator status to anyone who has been an active and regular Wikipedia contributor for at least a few months, is familiar with and respects Wikipedia policy, and who has gained the trust of the community [...] Among other technical abilities, administrators can protect and delete pages, block other editors, and undo these actions as well. These privileges are granted indefinitely, and are only removed upon request or under circumstances involving high-level intervention [...].[[WP:ADMIN]]

Just being offered the nomination means a lot to me, and tells me that I’m (a) making a difference, and (b) appreciated. Mmmm, so good.

I gave myself some time to stew over it, and just replied with my declination.

I think the best answer is thank you very much, but no.

While I’d like to think I would only use such power and privilege in uncontentious matters, I’m opinionated and think highly of my own logic and reason. Even if I were to use my powers only for good, I’ve been all too uncomfortable with other administrators becoming involved in projects/arguments/discussions/etc. and then using their “sway” (technical or otherwise) tangentially to those same issues they’re involved in. I don’t want to be that guy.

Recognition leads to power. Power leads to assuredness. Assuredness leads to carelessness. Carelessness leads to impropriety. Impropriety leads to drama. Drama leads to the dark side.

I don’t mind being just a grunt; I’ll leave the drama to the Jedi.
Thanks again though, that’s a great compliment from another editor. :^)

I really enjoy editing Wikipedia, but much like working on computers, I don’t want to make “my fun” into “my work”, and I’m afraid that that anchor around my neck is more responsibility than fits into my fun. Does that make sense?

Does anybody disagree with my decision?

Frankly, the iPhone is awesome. I could talk about the iPhone and why it’s awesome, but that would just be reiterating most of the internet and mainstream media for the last year. Suffice to say; awesome.

Instead I have some stories about our iPhones. The first, and possibly most graphic, is Rebecca’s.

On June 21st, Rebecca and I took the visiting Brad and Melissa to City Museum (no definite article). City Museum is “an eclectic mixture of children’s playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects.” Outside, the five-story jungle gym structure (the ‘MonstroCity‘) consists of “two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages, a fire engine, a castle turret, a 25′ tall cupola and several 4′ wide wrought-iron slinkies”. It’s an awesome place, and if you come visit us in the next year, we’ll almost assuredly take you there.

As she did with her brothers, Rebecca took Brad and Melissa to the highest point of the structure—a rebar-reinforced wire & mesh tube arcing five stories above the MonstroCity (see right, #1). However, unlike this past Christmas before she had received hers, Rebecca managed to drop her iPhone from the highest point conceivably possible. I wish I’d been there to watch it fall, bounce, keep falling, bounce once or twice more, and finally come to sudden rest on the concrete floor. I did manage to catch up with the three of them as they finally re-reached the bottom and we all met up with the museum employee (see right, #2) who had retrieved Rebecca’s $400 of erstwhile technology.

Whereas I expected a shattered screen and iPhone guts everywhere, it was 100% intact with only a few dents along the edge, and a small scuff on the screen. It runs fine with no glitches, everything seems sturdy, there’s no rattling or anything, and it even still charges and syncs properly with a banged up connector. Wow. What a testament to the iPhone’s Apple-engineering.

Just one more step down the slippery slope.

I remember telling somebody recently about DM of the Rings, a webcomic about what Lord of the Rings would be like if the characters had been roleplayed. I now cannot, for the life of me, remember who I was talking to. Brad Moore maybe?

So here’s my hope that this person either (a) reads my blog, or (b) keeps an eye on my Facebook where my blog propagates. Either way: DM of the Rings

Panic averted.

I just spent the last half-hour tearing a closet apart for a pair of pants I wore a month ago. We only wear our “blues” once a month–why, I don’t know–and that’s tomorrow.

I almost went so far as to go online and lookup how to call Rebecca on her cruise. Fortunately logic won out. I knew I’d worn them last month, and I knew I hadn’t come home from work a month ago naked, therefore they had to be on the house somewhere.

They are. They were co-habitating with their respective uniform shirt on the same hangar. Makes sense now; probably the same sense it made last month.

Sorry I don’t blog much. I am, however, feeling inexplicably more productive this past week. I’ve cooked for myself (using our perishables first, Rebecca), exercised on my own initiative, balanced our accounts, done laundry and dishes, and even blogged!

How about that?
Now for sleep; and in the morning I’ll wear my newfound trousers.

I didn’t grow up with siblings, so my perspective and interpretation may be skewed. That doesn’t, however, keep me from being right.

I was reading a blog post today (”Country Mouse, City Mouse” at Phables by Brad Guigar) wherein my entertainer was describing a recent 26-hour car trip with his wife and two children—ages two and five. Describing the potential for displeasure during transit, Brad said with regards to portable DVD players: “I wouldn’t try a road trip like this with young kids without one. Ever.”

Evar? DVD players have only been around since the mid-to-late-1990s, and their portable descendants even more recently. So what would you have done 10-15 years ago? Not traveled? Not taken your children? Or could you have entertained/distracted them sufficiently with books, songs, games, snacks, and the adventure of travel?

I thought about my mother-in-law’s family and when they were touring with their band all over the country (and the world!) in the 70s and 80s. What did they have? Each other, their music, books?, their imaginations, and patience. I’m sure they spent a lot of time talking, practicing, playing little games, and doing their best to have fun and be patient with each other as a family. Crazy, eh?

I took several long car trips long before the advent of the DVD player (portable or no), and several afterwards whereupon I had no such contrivances.

• 17:31 (hours:min) from Boerne, TX to Versailles, KY
• 16:56 round trip from Lexington, KY to Ft. Bragg, NC and back.
• The worst 8:54 ever: to and back from Lexington, KY to Iaeger, WV to spend a month with my sister’s family. Never again.
• 14:24 from Lexington, KY to Orange, VA and back.
• and 36 hours from Lexington, KY to McChord AFB, WA And forth. And back. And forth.

While Rebecca and I took a laptop to watch Stargate SG-1 DVDs on one of the drives from Washington to Kentucky, we were well into adultishhood by then and could have easily amused ourselves otherwise. (However, Stargate won’t watch itself)

Contrast my growing up with the Guigar children: I might have had music available to me (cassette players & mix tapes), and usually took books/magazines, maybe some puzzles, and always a pillow or two; I never had a cell phone, laptop, Gameboy, or a TV, or DVDs, et cetera.

Evar?
Really?
I don’t think so.

Now, get off my lawn.

I was at work yesterday, typing up something while my co-worker reviewed performance reports. After a while, she took one to our supervisor to check something out; that’s when I started listening.

Apparently there was a bupkis word being used and she just wanted justification that it was wrong. Listening closer, I realized the word was ‘bested’. Impressed that somebody used the word ‘bested’ in a performance report, I spoke up saying: “Good word!”

“It’s not a word!”

Confused, I finally turned towards the conversation upon which I had been dropping eaves. “Of course it is.”

“‘Bested’? No; ‘best’ and ‘better’, but not ‘bested‘.”

I turned back to Firefox and a few seconds later: “‘Bested: to get the better of; beat’; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.”

Unimpressed, “Well, they need to use a word the general public should know.”

Personally appalled, I scoffed, “Well, the general public needs to get an eighth grade education.”

About seven seconds later I realized that may not have been the best thing to say. However, that doesn’t make it any less true does it?