Jim profile picture

Jim

There are just three important rules in life. Honor your obligations. Do what you say you're going t

About Me

Let's see.... Inquisitive, analytical, pragmatic, pensive, vocabulicular, fearless, fearful, dichotomous idiosyncratic, wisdominous. But, my girlfriend says I have to eschew obfuscation.

My Interests

I recently discovered sudoku in The Hub (a local alternative newspaper). I've got my own little system to solve the puzzles. Does that make me a geek?I like photography but, I don't burn a much film as I used to. I've been slow to embrace digital but I do enjoy playing around with it now and then. I shoot a lot of sunsets, old barns, and stuff that interests me as I drive around central Illinois or on trips, here and there. I've got a few photos posted with my profile.I'm an engineer so I guess I have a natural curiosity about how things work which often leads to ideas about how to make things work better. I've got one patent (a double bladed ice scraper for automotive windshields) and another applied for. It's not exactly the cure for cancer but, hey, how many people do you know with a patent.I also like flying. I took lessons for a while but, it's an expensive hobby so, I've yet to get my license. It's on my list of things to do before I get too old to enjoy it.

I'd like to meet:

There's no one alive today that I have a burning desire to meet. It would be cool to talk to some dead relatives that I never knew, and get the straight scoop on a little family history. Maybe with death comes clarity.

Music:

I guess you'd describe my musical taste as old school rock and roll. I like the Doors, Stones, Seger, Zep, Skynyrd, Clapton, ZZ Top, AC DC, et.al.

Movies:

True Lies, Matrix, Primer, Pulp Fiction

Television:

Mythbusters, American Chopper, 60 Minutes, Nova, West Wing (I know it's off the air now. I've got an idea. Maybe they could replace is with another fat-guy-with-a-hot-wife dumb assed sitcom. Or, better yet, lets take some city slickers and put 'em out on a desert island and dangle a million bucks in front of them and see if that screws up their personal integrity enough to make us watch), and of course SNL

Books:

Freakonomics, The Hidden Side of Everything

Heroes:

Danny Kimme (KIA 1/16/08), and all of the guys getting their asses shot off in Iraq so I can sit in my warm house and bang away on this keyboard unimpeded by the fear of some asshole setting off a car bomb in front of my house.

My Blog

A Keyless Remote And Knowing Who To Trust

Knowing who to trust in this life is information gleaned mostly from the unpleasant experiences of being lied to and cheated and ripped off.  More often than not, it's a business that you have ne...
Posted by Jim on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:35:00 PST

Remembering Pfc Danny Kimme, Part 2

It's been three days now since we learned of Danny's death.  My eyes feel scratchy, wrung dry of tears.  The Army hasn't told us much, only that Danny was one of three soldiers killed i...
Posted by Jim on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 01:07:00 PST

They Werent Spanked Enough As Children

We've all seen the video of the six girls in Florida pummeling their "friend" because she said something they didn't like on her myspace page.  First of all, if you don't have the spine to handle...
Posted by Jim on Sun, 04 May 2008 11:35:00 PST

Remembering Pfc Danny Kimme

     My morning routine was broken up this morning.  My daughter Corinne's dog had to go out just as I was leaving the house for work.  I let him out and then took my car...
Posted by Jim on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:57:00 PST

Standing At A Urinal Next To A Nobel Prize Winner

I went to college at the University of Illinois.  It was the mid seventies.  Four years earlier we had landed men on the moon, the war (Vietnam) was over and I was making $2.32 an hour, work...
Posted by Jim on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:58:00 PST

Im Gonna Have to Start Carrying a Gun, Chapter 1: McDonalds Drive Through

I stayed in Decatur last night at the girlfriend's house.  We got up and I decided to fly to Mickey D's for a carry out breakfast that we could munch on, while watching the rest of last night's m...
Posted by Jim on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:01:00 PST

Memorial Day Weekend Driving Frustration

Like a lot of people, I did a butt-load of driving this weekend, 1000 miles or so.  It seems like every fill up was more expensive than the last but, I pretty much expected that.  The real f...
Posted by Jim on Mon, 28 May 2007 05:41:00 PST

If You're a Politician Who Voted For the War and Have Now Changed Your Mind You Might Be....

Stupid is a word that I don't like to use.  In fact, my mother taught us when I was a child, that the words "stupid" and "shut up" were tantamount to swearing.  Calling someone stupid is arr...
Posted by Jim on Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:31:00 PST

Monkeys With Democracy

I read a book a few years back.  It was an argument for intelligent design.  The basis of the argument was the example of monkeys with typewriters.  To paraphrase the premise, if you ga...
Posted by Jim on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:35:00 PST

The Adventures of a Not-So-Frequent Flyer

I flew to the east coast last week.  I don't have to fly very often and every time I do it reminds me what a pain in the ass it has become.  To begin with, this was a three day trip that got...
Posted by Jim on Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:05:00 PST