You say "toe-MAY-toe", I say "toe-MAH-toe"

As I'm sure Mrs. At Home has or will be filling you in on, we filled out some paperwork on buying a townhome today. And a funny thing happened with it.

It was quite a steal in price. It's new construction, and a gentleman was having it built to his specifications. And with some deals the builder is running, the gentleman who was going to buy it had lots of upgrades going in. With all the upgrades, we decided this could potentially be a very wise investment because of some of the other things that are supposed to be going up in the area.

So the original buyer had lots of upgrades ordered, and decided to back out of the purchase. The builder can't just keep it at inventory, so they're letting it go for a pretty good price. We received a listing of the upgrades, and the last name of the buyers was on the form (not good). We didn't think much of it.

Today, we were walking through the house, and the selling agent started telling us a bit about the original folks who were going to buy it. Between that information and the name from the upgrade sheet, Mrs. At Home realized that we knew the people who were originally going to buy the house. Not only do we know them - we like them. Not only do we like them, we consider them friends. Not only do we consider them friends, we're in Sunday School with them.

As soon as we had the realization, the seller said it was "fate". When we went back to the office, the selling realtor told her partner the story. He called it "fate". I told some friends about it, and their first response was "providence".

There's a difference between the two. Fate just means that by chance, it was a thing that "was meant to happen". I put the phrase in quotes, because for most people, the passive voice implies that a thing just happened. Fate means it was our destiny (but nobody maps that destiny out). Providence, on the other hand, means that God willed a thing to be. It wasn't a thing that was meant to happen, but that the unspecified entity meaning for it to happen didn't really exist. Providence means that God meant for a thing to happen and caused the thing to come about.

I often don't know the reasons why God chooses to do things the way He does. Actually, I do. God does all things for His own glory - that we would give Him praise because He is good. But I often wonder in the short term how things bring about His long-term fame. And this is certainly one of those cases. Why would God choose to work things out so that our friends might not get this home, but that (for the time being), we might? Of course, He might divinely appoint that something happens where we don't get the house. And I'm okay with that, too.

But this was not fate. It was providence.

Mobile Me

At some point, I decided to follow the conventional wisdom and try out Twitter, and it took me awhile to catch on to it, but now I love it. But I still wanted to be able to leave long blog posts, or send pictures and such.

Also, I'm a huge fan of Google Reader, and some of the cooler features there are the ability to share (tell the world) about articles you see there and like. And recently, they added the ability to add comments to those.

So I decided to set up a profile at FriendFeed. FriendFeed allows me to tell it where I keep my Flickr photos, where my blog is, where my Twitter page is, and where my shared Reader items are. And a whole lot more. But then what you see on my FriendFeed page are all of those things (and more) rolled into one. And of course, it's in RSS goodness.

And then, when you've added your own FriendFeed account and added some friends besides just me, you can use something like Alert Thingy to see updates to all your friends' FriendFeeds all in one convenient desktop app - which will also allow you to post stuff.

So if you like the longer blog posts, by all mean, just keep this on your reader. But I share so much "micro" information between Twitter, Reader, and del.icio.us that if you want to follow all the things I find interesting, follow my FriendFeed for sure. A couple of you (you know who you are) have already started - thanks, and awww shucks.

That Frightened Feeling

You know the feeling you get right before you slam your fingers in the car door? The one that says, "Oh no! I'm going to slam my fingers in the ca....SLAM!!!!" Yeah - that one. I had that feeling just now.

For Christmas a couple of years ago, my sisters got us the George Foreman grill with all the many, many removable grill panels. We keep them on the top shelf, and I was getting the two I needed. I felt something on top sliding, and I knew it. I knew that I grabbed the wrong two, and the very heavy panel on top was sliding off to hit me in the head, causing uncontrollable bleeding and a nasty bruise.

Something slid off and hit me in the mouth. The little plastic grease tray that sits in front.

Thanks, people, for praying for me that God would somehow rescue me from very silly kitchen accidents.

The Numbers Are Out to Get Me!

This is a long one, so if you like a good story, or if you're fascinated by how the human brain does (or doesn't) work, curl up with a cup of coffee with this one.

With my previous employer, on my first day on the job in the new location, I was escorted to the security office where they took my picture for a security badge. When I was given the badge, it was handed to me in a pamphlet with my security code. The security code was four digits, not of my choosing - as a security person, this is a good thing. I was given very strict instructions: don't forget the number; don't lose the number; you can never change the number; never forget the number.

I used this security badge many times a day. I needed it to enter the gates onto the campus in my car (although I didn't need my security code here). I needed it to get into the fenced in area of the building I worked in, which had turnstyles or mantraps in order that people can't piggyback in. I needed it to get into the front door of the building. I needed it twice more to get into the monitoring area where I spent most of my time. I used my badge and my security code upwards of 15 times a day every weekday. Although I didn't choose the number, punching it in was ingrained into my memory - muscle memory and numeric memory.

Also, I'm very good at remembering numbers. I'm awful with names, but very good with numbers, particularly numbers that come in sets with a rhythm you're used to - a 4-digit security code or PIN, a 5, 7, or 10-digit phone number, a 9-digit social security number, or even a 16-digit credit card number. When we go on long trips, others survey the landscape, trees, lakes, sky, or even the animal shapes the clouds make. I work out the math on the mile markers on the road with the odometer, calculating how long it will take us to reach the next milestone, major city, or state.

One morning, after having worked in this building for about 6 months, I drove onto the complex using my badge to get in the security gate. I parked my car, got out, walked to the turnstyle, where I used my badge and entered my security code. I entered the building from the back door, using my badge and security code again. Then I went into the monitoring facility from the back entrance, using my badge and entering my security code again. I set down my laptop, turned it on and plugged it into the network. While it was booting, I went to the mens' room.

When I went back to the monitoring facility, I swiped my badge and entered my security code. Nothing. Swipe, digit, digit, digit, digit. Nothing. Swipe. Digit....digit...digit....digit.... Nothing.

I walked around to the other side and went to a different set of doors into the monitoring area. Swipe, digit, digit, digit, digit....nothing. Somebody happened to be walking out who recognized me and let me into the vestibule (this is not secure, by the way - this is why mantraps and turnstyles exist). In the vestibule, I went to the next card reader. Swipe...digit...digit...digit...digit...

Nothing....

A coworker happened to be coming out that way and let me in - again, not secure. I got that really, really sick feeling in my stomach that I get right before I'm about to hear really bad news, and I was expecting to hear that I was fired. I logged into my workstation - phew! If I had been sacked, the first thing that would've happened is that my network access had been revoked. So I figured I had somehow been punching in the wrong security code. So just for grins, I pulled out the pamphlet that I had hung onto for those 6 months with the security code. You'll never guess what I saw there....

Gibberish.

Utter foolishness.

It was as if those four digits were written in a foreign language. When somebody reminds you what time a meeting was, you thing, "Oh! That's right! Now I remember!" When you're reminded of somebody's name, your response is, "Of course! How could I forget!"

When I saw those four digits on that pamphlet, that was not my reaction. When I saw them, I thought I had never seen them before in my life. I wasn't pleasantly reminded that I somehow transposed digits two and three. I was looking at four digits that had no more meaning to me, no more context, made no more impact on me than if I was driving through a random neighborhood and picked a random house and looked at the house number on the street. I might as well have been reading the license plate of somebody I had never met.

There were two really odd things about this. First, I had used the security code successfully not three minutes before it completely vanished from my memory. Second, I didn't get "reminded" of the digits at lunch time. I had to learn them all over again. I basically had to re-program them into my memory.

What reminded me of this is that I don't select my PIN's for my debit card, voicemail, or library card. I keep them in a password database. But since I'm good with numbers, if I use them with any regularity, I remember them. But tonight, forgot my PIN for my debit card. Fortunately, it doubles as a credit card, but as soon as I opted for the credit option, I remembered my PIN.

But I will never forget the day I completely forgot four digits. Completely.

K drives the boat

K drives the boat, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

L drives the boat

L drives the boat, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

We talked to raccoons

We talked to raccoons, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

They sez you has pies. We can has pies?

The high dive

The high dive, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

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K is normally the paranoid one, and L is the fearless one. It's hard
to find high diving boards like these anymore, but K had a blast on
this one today.

FIRE!!

FIRE!!, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

One of the dangerous things you should let your kids do is play with
fire. So here's K doing exactly that.

QUACK!!

QUACK!!, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

This guy came right up to our campsite. Yes, we're on a lake, and yes,
they get fed all the time, but there are much closer sites to the
lake. He was a little intimidated of coming right up to us, so this us
about as close of a shot I could get.

V still has L in the rear naked choke

V still has L in the rear naked choke, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

V def L in 1st (rear naked choke)

V def L in 1st (rear naked choke), originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Fly taste test

Fly taste test, originally uploaded by wstranathan.

Do they like Coke (left) or syrup (right)?