I must be jinksed.

What do I start lately with all that has gone a stray for me? How about getting my other eye operated on, for one. Waiting for the other cataract to be removed is getting to be a night mare. Just sitting around doing nothing isn't any fun. Hard to read, and to know what I really see. What is in focus and what isn't.

OK, that the way I see today. Now lets move on to the my desktop computer. It's motherboard and power supply failed. So I replace the power supply, no problem. And I got a motherboard of Gigabyte. The one I purchased would utilize my processor and RAM. Good, right? Got it and installed it. Seems OK. When to reinstall Windows XP Pro, from my OEM's pristine copy, it failed every time. It skipped the installation for any Network stuff. So I took the CD back to the OEM here and he burnt a new copy. It worked. Fine, right? Booting. Wait, where it the NUM Lock switch in the BIOS? That was like trying to pull hens teeth. After several phone calls to Gigabyte's help desk, the finally told me how to get it. It's not in the manual.

After all of that you would think everything else should be running. Well it was for the shorts time. The on-board sound quit. It's under a three warranty, right? Right. The has no problem setting up with a return label and everything. Fine, except time. Two weeks before the Thanksgiving. It comes back the day after and I am sick. For six days I am flat on my back and didn't eat for four days. No fever, no running nose, no sore throat, no chills, but a small cough.

Let's not go into the local clinic here. Thank you very much. But after a few days of felling better, I reinstalled that motherboard back into my box. The weather out hasn't been that nice to get out anyway. Booted it up and an error message, 'SCSI card not seated.' OK, reseated it. Nope. OK, put it in the other slot. Naw, that didn't work either.

So now you are up to date. And I haven't left the house yet.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

Somethings are better, yet others got worst.

I had cataract surgery on my right eye. Now things don't look like a bucket of beer. Well at least in the right eye. Color is brighter and I don't need to wear glasses for that eye. Well I can't read too well yet, and it looks like glasses will be required. Wait and see.

I was scared because I was just sure I would lose my site. Well I didn't and I feel much better because of that. But like I said, 'I can't see to read'. So if I miss spell, well that is the price of reading my work. At least you'll be lucky to read anything I write.

Now just waiting for the left eye.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

You haven't seen an improvment?

Things have gotten done, but it doesn't look like it. There has been interferences. You know the kind that just make stop and think. Like reading random blogs. This one guy just noticed that GM was selling Hummer to a Chinese heavy equipment company. Yet China has got all of the paperwork in place. I had to ask, which part was he upset with, GM selling Hummer or a Chinese company buying it? Of course, he couldn't answer, but neither was he aware of what American are purchasing. Do we have a choice? I think not.

So there is the other thing that is either stupid or unreal. This woman was arrested because she poked another woman on Facebook. It appears that a woman got an injunction against the first woman from any communication. So is the first woman naive or just plain stupid. She has little respect for anyone but herself. How many other people fit in this league?

Another think that has caught the eye of the public, Ralph Lauren advertisement of a woman who appears very skinny. Unreal skinny. So a blogger posted the picture and talked about how skinny she was and the possibility of why Ralph Lauren group would even consider using this photo. Ralph Lauren legal group decided to sue the blogger for copyright infringement. But as people discovered that the photo was photoshoped. Therefore, the advertisement wasn't real. So the Ralph Lauren dropped there suit.

So what else could take up my time? How about the Science Channel. Time. It takes time to watch.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

What if you don't feel like it?

This is another one of those times when things all around me are either broken or I need to add something to something. So many things are breaking and I have to stop what I'm doing and fix it. The water hydrant stopped working. How could that be? The guy put the bottom of the valve in a bucket of small gravel. Well a root pushed a small rock into the drain hole and after I took that out, which took me three days of rain to dig it up, it still didn't work well. Slow. So I went and got a new on, but it was a foot taller. Now we don't have to bend over so far to hook it up. So when I put it back, I used a five gallon bucket without anything it and wrapped it in that landscaping fabric.

So what else could happen? How about the sound card quit on my desktop. It is the one that I watch about two hours of internet per day. So I download the files, and they play them over the network with my laptop. Two days later the motherboard dies. It is just two months our of warranty. My luck.

So next I decided I would do a little Photoshoping. Found these plug-in, and it looks like painting. Right? Well is something I shot off the front porch. Amazing what I can do. Now I have to consider purchasing those plug-ins. What do you think?

I managed to pickup a couple of outdoor lamp shades. I want to put two lights in the front yard and one in the back. But running the wire will require more than I think I can do because of the digging. Plus the backyard light needs to come off a three-way-switch. I just hope the wire runs that way. You see this house is a penalized construction. The outside walls have Styrofoam between two sheets of OSB. And on top of that I will have to go into the crawl way and poke a hole into the foundation to put the wire through.

Also I need to run conditioned water out to the workshop so I can put in a bathroom. I even put a pump on the water heater because the hot water takes for ever to get warm in the far bathroom. There isn't any insulation or heating loop.

Oh speaking of the TR6, the frame is stripped and sitting in the back. Maybe the crows will eat the crap off the frame and I won't have to have it blasted. Too much to ask.

There is probably more stuff that needs to get done, but why bother?

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

What a vacation I had.

My wife's brother-in-law won a time share in Winter Park, CO. It was on the third story of a 18 time-shares building. Do you know what Colorado needs, oxygen. I was breathing hard every time I climbed those stairs. We even brought the pots, pans, and other food items. Her brother-in-law always stops at some grocery store and buys more food than we can eat in four days.

Of course I took my camera. I take pictures of what I like. One of the things that my brother-in-law and my wife's niece wanted to do was drive some go-karts. So I took pictures, but something I did caused them to be over-exposed/trashed. Can't figure what I did wrong. But if it is possible, I can do it. Anyway, most everything else came out OK.

After that karting thing, we went up Pikes Peak on the COG Railroad. Nice ride. Are you aware of how cold it is up there. About 30 degrees colder, and windy. That is when I discovered a lack of oxygen. It is a fun place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

For some reason my brother-in-law always wants to eat or stay at least one night at one of the most expensive restaurant or hotel. The Broadmore is out there. So we had dinner there and a $150 bottle of champagne from New Mexico. Who would have though anything from New Mexico would cost that much?

Well anyway, they were on there way to the airport and the return car rental company, so they had to fill up with gas. For what ever reason, the driver left the keys in the ignition. Went to the bathroom and the car locked its doors. Took for ever for the rental car company to get there. Then just as they got to the ariport, brother-in-law realized he left his cell phone in the rental car. Back they went to get it.

You guess it, the plane left without them. So there next choice was a flight to somewhere and connect to their finial destination. They got home six hours latter than scheduled.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

I am have...

It seems that I want to know more than I am allowed to know. Why do people lose interest in where there money goes to worrying to where there money is coming from? Trying to keep your dollars circulating is what I believe in. But banks has taken some of that circulation away from me. Banks were some of the best place to put your money. Then in the 60's people started investing is all sort of places. Money market places was a good place for a long time. People started investing in the stock market. And was that a wild ride. I should know I saw some pocket change evolve into a sizable investment only to watch it drop. I got while I was ahead.

Now why isn't the place to invest money the same? Why are houses costing so much even when they have been foreclosed? I would think that only the money the bank was losing would be the worth of the house, especially since people aren't buying houses. Anything to get there money back isn't the same as it was when I was younger.

People aren't watching where there money goes. They buy things that sends the money overseas, and that money really returns. But we have few choices since all we want is to save money. To save money, you got to put it someplace where you can get it back. Overseas isn't an answer.

I have had this overseas problem for years. As an autoworker, I would operate machines that came from overseas, because they were cheaper than American made machines. I remember getting laid-off in the 60's and I kidded people that the workers laid-off before me got jobs driving cars off boats from Japan. I don't think I was kidding that much.

What do I do now? I am retired and have nothing in site that I think would help. What do I have that would change this trend?

Buy what you build. Buy your neighbor's products. Invest in America. Invest in yourself.

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico

Not having to think about is wonderful.

Quality is something that should be taken for granted, don't you think? This is something that where I worked was talked about 20% of the time. 'Do it right the first time.' That was posted the most about quality. But quality you never think about it until it fails. Take breathing for example. Most people don't have to think about it and just do it. But of others, may require a little help.

I have had a few failures lately that is causing me some turmoil. I have finished replacing my fence, with the help of my wife and neighbor, who redrilled the post-holes. Too a lot longer than I would have though. After each section I would come in and get a drink and relax. It was hot out there. Now that the fence is done, what do I do with the leftovers? I have another idea. You'll have to wait for that one.

Just after the fence was done, my garage door opener died. Can't just get a replacement, but change everything but the track. Switches, sensors, and all remote openers. That sucks.

I have several tools that require tuning up. Some of it requires a machine to do the work, while other just a little tweaking by hand.

With all of that in mind, I need to get ride of the gravel around this house. It sucks but keeps you from walking in the mud when it rains. Problem with that, it allows weeds to grow. Unless the ground is lightly moist the weed are next to impossible to pull.

Therefore, I have been thinking about a machine that would scrape the ground up, run the dirt/weeds/gravel over a screen of sorts which would allow the dirt to drop out and the rest would collect into a bucket or something like that. Problem, what do I get to pull this little machine? How wide to make it? How much do I need to mechanization do I need to come up with? You get the idea, don't you?

W. Kirk Crawford
Tularosa, New Mexico