The SWAMP! - Volume One

[Sonnie]

:holycow: I never woulda thunk it... real square eggs... amazing!



That cajun language can be really funny at times. We had a preacher at one of our gospel meetings tell us a couple of Boudreaux jokes that were hilarious.

[lcaillo]

Boudreax an his famly gone on vacation in da car. They come from Grosse Tete up dar to the highway 190 and gone to cross dat big riva bridge to Baton Rouge. Dat Boudreaux don turn rat aroun an come back home. Thibodeaux ax him, "say why you back so soon, cher?" Boudreaux say, "man, we gon up dat bridge an da sign say do not pass, so we had to come home!"

[drf]

hahaha, I love the square egg thing. Shame I can't use it, my mouth is round.

And I always thought cajun was a spice or paste for chicken based foods?

[Ayreonaut]

Mornin' all.

Today's my 30th.

Does this mean I have to start acting like a grown-up?

[lcaillo]

Monday my oldest was 23 and today my youngest is 6. I was wondering the same thing.

[Sonnie]

Happy Birthday Naut!

No... acting like a grown when you are still young is prohibited here at the Shack...

[drf]

If turning 30 means you have to start acting mature then I have missed the boat... Hmm, maybe that might explain why so many people look at me funny these days. Or it could be the electrical tape I use to keep my shoes together!!

[Sonnie]

I suggest it's all that black stuff you got painted on your face...

Good morning! It's Friday... yes it is!

[lcaillo]

Geez, what a nerd! Everyone knows electrical tape is for fixing your glasses. You use duct tape for your shoes.

[Chrisbee]

Maturity is a concept from a past agricultural age when wisdom of the elderly was vital to growing enough food to survive over the winter. The industrial age robbed the mature of their unique position of power. Then came the 60s when youth finally revolted against the rigid norms and disciplinary methods of the adults who ruled their lives and sent them to be cannon fodder. We now live in a youth culture where teenagers seem to run our virtual world.

"Act your age" is a concept which has shifted the goals considerably. A pensioner from my youth was a different creature to the 65 year old today. They now have much better health and wealth. Only a few still suffer from their decades of backbreaking service to the survival wages of the past. The elderly have vastly improved mobility and many take full advantage of it into ripe old age.

If you are thirty now do the things you dream of now. Do them now! As the years pass the energy and the dreams fade ever faster. Time accelerates noticeably with each passing decade. You get only one chance to make your own memories in this life. If you haven't climbed your own mountains, camped by your own lake, built your own home with your bare hands. Or cycled round your own world. Then you won't have these things to remember. Nobody else can do it for you. This is not reality TV.

Be flexible and open to chance and opportunity. Stay fit and and enjoy life to the full without hurting anybody else. Nobody owes you anything but simple respect. Waiting for an inheritance will shorten your life by several decades and leave you bitter and twisted.

Happy birthday, young man! It's one nice ride for a one-way ticket!

[Sonnie]

And all these years I thought Scotch tape was for fixing my glasses.... no wonder they won't hold up...

[Ayreonaut]

Thanks for the encouragement Chris.

I'm a young engineer, and its tough to avoid getting totally swamped with work. I have a wife and three kids, and I try to spend my free time with them. Still, it leaves little time for sports and visiting my friends.

I try to appreciate the opportunities that each age offers. In school I was able to play a lot of sports and enjoy many other extra-cirricular activities. As a father I'm tying to enjoy rearing my children as much as possible. We go places and do things that are age apporpriate, so those activities change as the kids age. When the kids have left, there will be new opportunites to travel with my wife etc.

30 doesn't really bother me. Its very similar to being 29.99 two days ago.

Yesterday, on my birthday, my wife took me to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. I rode their new coaster, the Griffon. It's a 205' floorless coaster with two 90 degree dives. It also has a couple of loops and a water splash.

'Twas fun!

[Sonnie]

No way I'm gettin' on that thing...

[Chrisbee]

Nor me! I used to get sick on a garden swing and see-saw.

[Ayreonaut]

Come on Chris! "You get only one chance to make your own memories in this life."

[Chrisbee]

Ayreonaut wrote:

Come on Chris! "You get only one chance to make your own memories in this life."

LOL. I have always had a "funny tummy" when it comes to unnatural gravitational forces.

[drf]

I think I'll stick to the fire engine or the pony on the merry-go-round if you don't mind. I much prefer the contents of my stomach to stay were there supposed to be.

Chrisbee, I enjoy reading your little epitaph like essays. one day I might put one to music.


That's it for me for this morning, I have to go and peel some tape of my shoes and buy a roll of duct tape.

[Chrisbee]

Did anybody see the hype surrounding the iFoney release?

Some of those people are very, very sick and ought to be taken permanently out of circulation.

I couldn't sleep at night in the same country knowing people like that were wandering around at night!

Or were they simply paid to scream like they were being tortured in the Chinese labour camps just because they got a new toy?

[drf]

I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds like apples new i-technology for street muggers or con-men?

[Sonnie]

I heard about a new phone that was being released that is supposed be sort of an iPod and phone mixed... and hard to get. I heard they were selling for ridiculous amounts on ebay, but that's all just hearsay.

What was all the fuss about?

[Otto]

I suppose they're talking about the iPhone. Really, the first time I read anything about it was when I just went to Wikipedia and got the link I posted here. I see that it looks kinda cool, but I have a hard time getting excited about a new phone. Or a new phone and iPod in one. Or a new phone and iPod and whatever all combined. I don't get it either.

I guess the reason to get in line for three days is because you really, really think you need the latest thing, or................

I'm not sure what.

[Sonnie]

Amazing how such a little thing can cause such a ruckus. I wonder if there's ever been a HT product that enthusiast lined up for days to buy?

Remember the Tickle Me Elmo?

[Chrisbee]

I suppose there's a bit of chimp left in all of us. Some of us conceal it better than others.
Or perhaps we don't feel it necessary to bring it to the surface at the release of just another commercial product?
Those who judge their success by the accumulation of such detritus are in for shock.
One day it will be gathering dust as it spends its last days at the back of a drawer.
Like finding early electronic calculators or digital watches amongst one's forgotten belongings.
It's reminder enough how quickly technology dates and how tacky the presentation and construction.

[Otto]

Yrp, you guys are right. iPod's the same way; it's cool, and can hold a lot of music, but really it's just a glorified Walkman. I bought one for my wife last year, but was certainly not the first to get one.

While I don't base my own value on material items, I must admit that I can sometimes get all giddy and excited when I know a new preamp or speakers are coming on the FedEx truck!!! Nothing, though, that I've ever lined up for to buy.

Yeah, I remember Tickle Me Elmo. That's the kind of thing that you need to buy a truckload of in November or so -- just in time for Christmas. Too bad you can't figure out what "the next big thing" is gonna be.

[mechman]

Sonnie wrote:

Amazing how such a little thing can cause such a ruckus. I wonder if there's ever been a HT product that enthusiast lined up for days to buy?

Nope. We're well grounded! At least I hope you all are!