Quite possibly the longest sentence I have ever encountered in my
adult life

"He bid me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of
life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but
thatthe middle station had the fewest disasters, and was exposed to so
many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they
were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasiness either of the
body or the mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and
extracagancies on one hand, or by hard labor, want of necessities, and
mean or insurficient diet on the other hand, bring distempers upon
themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that
the middle station of life was calculated for all kinds of virtues and
all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a
middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health,
society, all agreeable diversions, and all desireable pleasures, were
the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men
went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of
it, not embarrassed with the lahore of the hands or of the head, not
sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, or harassed with
perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the body of
rest; not enraged with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of
ambition for great things; but in easy circumstances sliding gently
through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without
the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's
experience to know it more sensibly. "

Daniel Defoe "Robinson Crusoe"

Sent from my iPhone

So what's on my mind. ...

First and foremost is the Jeep surgery I'll be performing tomorrow.
For some reason that damn front bumper and fascia decided to rip off
on thursday and when it did, it decided to take some stuff with it.
That means my fog lights and their respective wiring. That means my
nifty chrome grill. That means it may take some work on my part. The
only thing I'm worried about are the plastic pieces and clips. Without
any time to survey the extent of the finite damage, combined with the
knowledge of Chrylsler engineering and the infinite wisdom of making
everything of brittle plastic; it could be an interesting day or an
expensive day. Mechanically it's moderately straightforward it's never
that clear of a process until I can put my hands through it.

Secondly, on a more random link; I've been thinking a lot about energy
useage and conservation. I say random because for me I don't care
much. However I am fascinated at how inefficient a regular
incandescent light bulb is. Drawing nearly 100 watts of juice to net
about 2000 lumens of light. While todays dollar store variety CFL bulb
replacements do the same 2000 lumen of light; but only draw 25 watts
or less and produce almost no heat. I started switching bulbs out when
I moved upstairs to electrical and about five months later I have
noticed a difference in energy useage. Fascinating. Just the idea of
applying a different technology to create such a noticeable effect
fascinates me. Little things I guess. And it's not the conservation of
energy that interests me; it's the application and resulting net
efficiency that fascinates me.

Sent from my iPhone