Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital Campaign
3
iPhones and washing machines don’t mix (story)
It’s true. Not even a bag of rice could fix it.
We didn’t realize the phone had been through the entire wash cycle and part of the dryer cycle until my wife asked, “What is that banging in the dryer.” And not even the Steve Jobs Action Figure could save it. So - Siri is on her way but until then I had to create some workarounds.
Skype is a good one. Except that my mom doesn’t like to use Skype - so I went to Google Voice for a workaround to make calls on a regular phone line. You can setup several numbers and it works along with Google chat for text messages and video calls. I added the GrowlVoice app for Mac to turn my machine into a large telephone.
This and Facebook Messenger along with Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype, etc…ensure I’m still connected. Although - the quiet time mentioned in this New York Times article about resolving to enjoy the view without the help of an iPhone have me thinking - perhaps I don’t need that phone for EVERYthing.
My first turkey on the Egg (Taken with instagram)
It’s the holiday season (Taken with instagram)
Fall 2011 (Taken with instagram)
Fall (Taken with instagram)
Go Preds (Taken with Instagram at Bridgestone Arena)
Translation
1I’m at a Nashville Predators game with friends and my five-year-old friend B-man asks, after I try and explain what I do for a living, “Do you speak Chinese?” The adult me responds, “Do you mean Mandarine? - no - I only speak English.”
He replies- “What good are you?”
Exactly.
All is meaningless
2
We drove out to Leipers Fork, Tennessee for the 84-mile yard sale. We only made two stops. First - we began our journey at the Buddy Killen estate sale. We didn’t know it was Mr. Killen’s house - in fact - we didn’t know anything until hours after and Google searches. What we saw was a house with everything anyone could want in the 1980s. Sadly - the house had been vacated - Mr. Killen had sold his belongings in 2002, downsized and moved into a condo in the West End in Nashville. He left a 17,000 square foot mansion with a 2,800 square foot pool house whose guests included Paul McCartney and I’m sure many others. The house was built in 1978 but has been vacant for over seven years according to those managing the estate.
It was sad. The roof was neglected so there were plenty of leaks and structural damage as a result. It was rumored that the house would be demolished but this is the last attempt to sell the property. I’m sure that during the eighties anyone who wanted to be someone dreamed of an adobe like this one. The house, swimming pool, guest house, tennis courts, monkey bars, pond and 250 acres would have been difficult not to covet. But today - any passerby that wanted could walk on the grounds, peak in the bedrooms, wander through the dining areas, up the grand staircase, and see countless chandeliers and imagine what it must have been like in its prime.
The swimming pool is nothing but broken tiles and polluted water. The sidewalks are full of weeds and all the landscaping is overgrown. Everything is vacant - including the monkey bars where nobody plays. Meaningless, meaningless said the prophet, all is meaningless.
Oklahoma City National Memorial
