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OK, yesterday's post was a little off. We are now experiencing close to the worst winter has to offer. When you are driving in to work and hear on the radio "Today's high is expected to be 2." you can be sure you are in for some cold weather. It was -8 this morning. For those of you unaware, the " - " in front of the number means it is on the other side of zero, as in negative. In other words, about -22 Celsius. With the wind chill, another term that some Southern people don't understand, the actual thermal effect on the body is between -24 and -38 degrees. (Or -30 to -40 Celsius). Wind chill below -50 and they close the schools. I was just talking with a co-worker about school closings. When I was in grade school, 1977-83, school closed once in awhile because of feet and feet of snow. It took some time to clear a path through 24 inches or more of snow. In my adult years, I haven't seen the schools close because of snow. It just hasn't snowed that much at one time, plus the snow removal technology has gotten better. Schools are often delayed by an hour or two, but are rarely closed due to snow. Now it is the temperature. More proof of global warming I guess. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder than today. The siver lining in all of this is that they don't have to worry about the St. Paul winter carnival ice palace melting before the end of the festivities.

Many parts of the United States are experiencing what we here in Minnesota like to call "a bit of winter". Doesn't mean much to us except it is time to watch the stupid people crash their cars into ditches and bridges because they don't know what "slow down" means or think it doesn't apply to them. Some of us have to shovel because the last few winters have been so completely lame that it makes no sense to purchase a gigantic snow-thrower that would likely sit in the corner of my garage scaring my kids and not get used due to lack of snow.
So as I was leaving for work this morning, my wife called out, "Try not to work super-late tonight."
Apparently I am unknowingly becoming some kind of over-achieving work-a-holic. The funny part was though, in true, dyed in the wool, born and raised in Minnesota fashion, my three year old son Caleb chimed in right after his Mom, "And dribe carefuwy!"

The new U.S. Armed Forces Identification cards have a chip in them. They are "Smart Cards" - and if you are trying to think of a way to create a new Oxymoron out of that, trust me, its been done. Anyway, the chip on mine is this little gold leaf looking thing that looks a little bit like it belongs on the side of a Vulcan "Bird of Prey" space ship or something. Somehow this tiny bit of metal stores my navy.mil login credentials, my digital certificates, my Exchange and Commisary benefit levels and a whole host of other information about me. It also has the added bonus of the ability to trigger every doorway loss prevention alarm at every Walgreens, Target, Barnes & Noble and Electron Hut in the nation. Fortunately for me, in the same manner that people now completely ignore car alarms, I am left completely alone when exiting said places of business, setting off a whirl of sirens and lights each time. Not once has any employee or law enforcement officer even so much as given me a second glance. I wonder why. I have a theory...I am a white guy with very short hair. I have seen Target employees rush out after people that have set off the alarm before, and now that I think about it - none of the customers they pursued were white guys with really short hair. I think I may be on to something here. Is this not approaching a level of trust of white guys with crew cuts that seems intoxicating? The power to corrupt is infinite, and I feel like it is my duty to take advantage of what I perceive as complete and unabashed racial profiling. I could probably walk out of Target with a snowblower with out even so much as a blink from those that should prevent me. Anyone want a new DVD player?

http://www.mikerowesoft.com/

Hard to believe that Microsoft thinks that this guy is some kind of threat. Mike Rowe from Canada is usurping the Microsoft name in an effort to confuse the masses. I'm sorry, even the masses aren't this dumb. Even the masses will know the difference between http://www.mikerowesoft.com/ and http://www.microsoft.com. You, you are a member of the masses. Click both links and then write to me and tell me how confused you are, then I will help enlighten you. Send your comments to me at tech@dixbert.com
Here is the news story from the Official Spin site.

Good grief, when you forget the password to log in to blogger, then it has been too long since the last one.
I will have to set a reminder or something to get myself to write something here.

My wife's grandfather passed away on Tuesday. He joined his wife of many years, who passed away last August. Family changes. It used to be me that looked up to the grandparents and aunts and uncles - I am far from being the grandparent yet, but I am now an Uncle to two little girls. Time marches forward, I guess.