Neanderpundit

asks me the other day “Can you not think of anything Hillary Clinton has done of which you approve?” or words to that effect.

I have wracked my brain, and I cannot. I cannot think of a single action for which she is accountable which doesn’t smack of outright statism or pacifist ignorance.

Denizens? Anything I have overlooked? I mean, I’m all for giving credit where credit is due; frinstance I actually applauded when Clinton signed welfare reform into law. but Hillary? Do please point out to me if there’s anything I’ve missed.

that are ramping up the dreams.

I heard the ice creamman down the street, though I didn’t recognize the tune. I walked out to the mailbox with a fiver in my hand to get a tasty treat as the music stopped and began to recycle.

it was “Crazy train” being played on bells. Some of them were tiny like Jingle bells and others as big as a basketball. I could see that inside the van was a mechanism like a player piano playing the music. It was this arrangement, which I love.

The driver came into the back- it was a UPS van modified for the purpose, and you could still see the brown through some of the peeling paint. He asked me what I liked and I told him “Blueberries and cream”. He handed me a bar that was awesome; Later, as I woke I could still taste it on my tongue. I commented on the unusual music and his smile disapeared. ‘it’s the only roll I have. I’m trying to find someone who will make me something different” Apparently nearly a year of listening to the carillion version of Crazy Train had had it’s deleterious effects, and his wife was making him sleep in the shed with the tractor, as he was prone to waking up screaming the song at all hours.

I bid him adieu, and finished my ice cream. And then one of my co-workers stopped in front of the house. That’s it, I thought, I am NOT dreaming about work, no fucking way.

but man, there are some times….

We have a project in house that involves a very specific type of grinding. And we have a Japanese engineer in house training our guys to do so. He’s very very very good, and he knows what he’s doing like few people I’ve ever seen.

(You can hear the butt coming, can’t you?)

I had to show him how to get to the Ethernet paramters on his own machine.

I have never allowed myself to become an ‘Expert” on anything. I think this type of specialization is not for insects, but morons.

I am conversant in a half dozen CNC programming languages. Three or four Robotics languages (In the early days, those overlapped) I can program a couple of different types of CMM. I can do FEA on solids, using software, and even to a lesser extent using just plain old math. I have been instrumental in establishing the industry standards for communication between machine tools and other devices, and am still involved in how those standard are implemented; I even managed to steer a group of academics away from silliness and towards useful functionality in a couple of organizations I belong to. (Pitiably, they are now using my tuition to make cash, which is somewhat annoying) I go where my interests and my requirements take me.

I like that I can be called upon to do damned near anything, and i will adapt to it- even at this stage in my life, when most people’s brains have ossified beyond repair.

but sometimes, I do still wish I was a one trick pony, doing one job simply and efficiently, better than anyone else would even consider possible.