Test 2

Guys, you need to pick up your bird.

So this morning I was walking into the Undergraduate Admissions Office here at Penn State, and I saw a colleague standing on the steps with her cell phone pointed towards the flowers beside the building. “Ingrid”, I said, “what are you taking a picture of?”

Then I looked where she was pointing her phone:

That is one serious bird!

It’s been great to be a Terp for the last few days! The University of Maryland staff have been fantastic hosts, and I’m really looking forward to seeing Northwestern next year!

(But, it will be nice to be back HOME in Happy Valley!)

So, here’s the backstory.

Shortly after my dad passed away in 2014 (!), my mother gave me the truck that belonged to my him. It’s a glorious 2004 Ford Ranger that he really loved. At the time I didn’t think that I would need a truck, but as it turns out it has been quite a useful vehicle. Here is a shot of my son and me spreading a bed-load of mulch:

I don’t drive the truck everyday, but the Wife and I drive separately to work at least once each week - and on those days I take the truck. This provides me about 90 minutes of time in the cab (45 minutes to- and 45 minutes from work), and the factory stereo is really sub-par. So recently I decided that I was going to upgrade to a nicer head unit (with the future possibility of making an upgrade to nicer speakers).

I picked out a new Pioneer FH-S501BT head unit because it was reasonably priced, and had Bluetooth capability (one major criterion for me was the ability to connect my phone to listen to music on my commute). Here’s the step-by-step project that I undertook...

First, here is what the factory deck looks like:

So to start, I ripped it out (gently, of course). The bezel around the factory stereo has a couple of hidden screws, and once they were removed the whole thing popped off quite easily.

Then, I carefully slid the stereo out of the dash:
Once I had the old stereo out, I had to figure out what the purpose was for each wire in the dash. To accomplish this, I used my dad’s old analog multimeter to determine which wires held current from the battery - one for a constant current, and one for when the engine was running. Once I had that figured out, I used a wire diagram that I found online:
After mapping all of the wires, I connected each one to the wire harness that came with the new Pioneer head unit:

Next, I turned my attention to the new stereo unit itself. I had to get an aftermarket frame and faceplate to connect to the stereo:

However, it made the face of the stereo larger, and it would no longer fit nicely in the bezel where the old stereo was. SO, I had to get creative.

After donning my mask and ear-protection (okay, they’re headphones - but they worked quite well to dampen the noise), I fired up my rotary tool. I put a grinder bit on it, and then ground away the inside edges of the bezel so that the new stereo would fit nicely inside:

After making a lot of noise and a lot of mess, everything came together quite nicely. I slid the new stereo into the dash, plugged everything in, and gently replaced the bezel:

Lastly, I fired it up - and man was I pleased! After fiddling with the instructions for a bit, I was able to successfully pair my phone via the Bluetooth connection. In minutes I was rocking out to some D’yer Maker:

I think that the blue lighting is particularly cool.

So, with a great sense of accomplishment - and a feeling that my dad was hanging out with me the whole time (even though he would NOT have enjoyed the Mos Def playlist that I had going during the project) - I cleaned up my mess and took a shower.

Nevermind that I had already accomplished several loads of laundry and next week’s grocery order before I started.

That is how you Saturday.

Thoughts From The Floor Of The Bryce Jordan Center

For years my dad both encouraged and pestered me to get a master’s degree. He didn’t really care about the discipline in which the degree would be based, rather he figured that it would help me advance my career. At no time was this pressure greater than when I was a stay-at-home-dad.

I had convinced myself that I was always too busy (or perhaps too lazy) to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and start taking classes. Then in May of 2014, my dad passed away. Ouch.

Maybe it was just the right time in my life (unlikely), or maybe dad’s passing was the motivation that I needed to get things moving. In any case, in the fall of 2014 I started taking coursework at Penn State (duh, where else?!) toward an M.Ed. in Higher Education. I saw the writing on the wall that my dad had been correct; getting an advanced degree could be a boon for my career, and perhaps might open some doors that would have otherwise been closed to me.

my name is in there somewhere...

I took one course each semester (including summers) for ten terms. If I had it to do over again, I might double-up some of those classes to help expedite the process. That said, many semesters I found that I could likely only handle one class, when combined with the rest of the stuff in my life.

One of the big realizations that I recently had was that I was working through my graduate coursework, my job suddenly became much more difficult and taxing, as the University was implementing a new enterprise student information system. I guess I should have listened to my dad all those years ago. Still, while I didn’t necessarily notice at the time, it was quite challenging - and quite an accomplishment to work through that process.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the overwhelming support that Melissa provided throughout my entire journey. Both she and my awesome kids have been so helpful and I am forever grateful for their love and support.

So, here I sit at the Penn State Graduate School fall semester commencement ceremonies. As of a few days ago, my final grades were, well finalized and today I had my degree officially conferred.

That’s right, I’m now a MASTER. Here’s what it feels like in my mind:


But here’s what it really looks like:

Thoughts From The Floor Of The Bryce Jordan Center

For years my dad both encouraged and pestered me to get a master’s degree. He didn’t really care about the discipline in which the degree would be based, rather he figured that it would help me advance my career. At no time was this pressure greater than when I was a stay-at-home-dad.

I had convinced myself that I was always too busy (or perhaps too lazy) to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and start taking classes. Then in May of 2014, my dad passed away. Ouch.

Maybe it was just the right time in my life (unlikely), or maybe dad’s passing was the motivation that I needed to get things moving. In any case, in the fall of 2014 I started taking coursework at Penn State (duh, where else?!) toward an M.Ed. in Higher Education. I saw the writing on the wall that my dad had been correct; getting an advanced degree could be a boon for my career, and perhaps might open some doors that would have otherwise been closed to me.

my name is in there somewhere...

I took one course each semester (including summers) for ten terms. If I had it to do over again, I might double-up some of those classes to help expedite the process. That said, many semesters I found that I could likely only handle one class, when combined with the rest of the stuff in my life.

One of the big realizations that I recently had was that I was working through my graduate coursework, my job suddenly became much more difficult and taxing, as the University was implementing a new enterprise student information system. I guess I should have listened to my dad all those years ago. Still, while I didn’t necessarily notice at the time, it was quite challenging - and quite an accomplishment to work through that process.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the overwhelming support that Melissa provided throughout my entire journey. Both she and my awesome kids have been so helpful and I am forever grateful for their love and support.

So, here I sit at the Penn State Graduate School fall semester commencement ceremonies. As of a few days ago, my final grades were, well finalized and today I had my degree officially conferred.

That’s right, I’m now a MASTER. Here’s what it feels like in my mind:


But here’s what it really looks like:

My local newspaper, The Huntingdon Daily News posted this story on Facebook:

After reading the post and the headline in the article, and noting the word “entourage” in each, I couldn’t help but think of The Princess Bride:

I was on a bike ride the other day, headed north on PA route 26 between Donation and Center Union. As I’m pedaling, I felt the familiar sensation of something in my eye.

When you’re cruising along at about 16 mph (which is a fairly good pace for a 40-year-old on a road bike, if I do say so myself), you’re bound to get the occasional bug in your eye. Believe me when I tell you that it sucks. You can’t take your hands off of the bike for fear of wrecking, and trying to stop in the middle of the ride without a safe place to pull over is not recommended.

So, my right eye is freaking out, and starting to produce tears. I was hoping that I could flush out whatever foreign object had gotten in my eye. I’m sure I looked like a deranged pirate rolling down the road; one eye open, the other closed tightly (YARR!). I started frantically opening the eye, then squeezing it shut in an attempt to get whatever critter had come across my path out of my eye.

After about five minutes of this ordeal, I could see that nothing seemed to be working. Whatever was in my eye was not shaking loose. That’s when, in my peripheral vision, I noticed the long-ass eyebrow that had made its way down from my brow and gotten tangled in my eyelash – and in turn was poking me in the eye.

Me after the ride (note the bright white hair in my right eyebrow):

When on the bike and the wind was in my face, that lil’ white sucker pushed downward and wreaked some havoc.

I tell you this story for two reasons:

1. It’s funny. I got a good hearty chuckle out of it when I realized what was happening.
2. My dad was poking me in the eye. A stretch, I know. But hear me out...

I used to tease my dad relentlessly over the “crazy eyebrows” that he had. This is the best representation that I could find in a quick search of pictures:

…and it really doesn’t do it justice. Suffice it to say that sometimes things got wild. Every once in a while, dad’s brows curled upwards at the ends and it made it look like he had horns. That used to CRACK ME UP.

Once I figured out that it was a stray eyebrow hair that was poking my eye, it made me smile. Now when I look in the mirror and see a crazy eyebrow, I’ll think of my dad. When said crazy eyebrow pokes me in the eye, I’ll straighten up a bit knowing that my dad is trying to tell me something. “Turn left here”, or “What the heck are you doing?” Perhaps he’s simply trying to get me to slow down and enjoy the ride.

Three years ago today I lost my dad to a motorcycle accident. Not a day goes by – not a day – that I don’t think of him. My brother and sister-in-law just had their fist baby, and it makes me crazy that their son Liam will never get to meet their Popeye (what my kids called him) with the wild eyebrows.

Liam will never get to see the Popeyebrow.

(see what I did there?)

Wherever dad is, I know that he’s smiling. He’s watching all of us go about our lives, and I’m sure that he’s enjoying the show.

I hope you know that we miss you a ton, Pop. Every day.

It never ceases to amaze me that in this highly technical world in which we operate, that spam emails like this one still make it into my inbox.

In case you cannot view the image, here’s what the email that I received says:

My name is Paul, i am from USA and i am an Engineer.

I lost my wife some years back and i have a daughter who i cherish so much.I have been single and alone since then. I think this is my time to move on.

I am looking for a partner who doesn’t mind sharing everything with me, the good times and the bad. Someone who is honest and sincere in wanting a serious relationship which could lead to marriage. Age or location is not a barrier. All i need it TRUE love.

I am a happy person, responsible, honest, considerate, caring,sincere,serious and have a good sense of humor.Please let me know if you are interested in having a serious relationship with me.

With love,

Paul

Now, check out the beginning of the sender’s email address: humblepaul90. HA!

Methinks that Paul is not so humble.

Nice try spammer.

Afternoon ice cream stop after a leisure bike ride with The Boy. A La Mode on 55th in Ocean City, New Jersey makes their own ice cream, and we have made it an annual stop on our beach vacation for years.

However, I didn’t know that the proprietors came about the business via the ice cream short course in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State!

VivaChuckTodd.com

You may or may not recall that in a former life I was a stay-at-home-dad, as well as a writer and the proprietor of ThePajamaPundit.com, a blog focused on politics and media (and since I let the domain lapse, is now some strange website about what it takes to have a career in criminal justice – so disappointing). This was a simpler time. A time when my only concern was how worked up I would get over xenophobic commentary from Ann Coulter...

During my years as a blogger, my musings on the Internet led to my forming of friendships with several like-minded folks. One of those excellent individuals was Paul, a smart entrepreneur with a keen sense of wit and boatloads of humor in his back pocket.

Oh, and he was also more-than-somewhat obsessed with the MSNBC network.

This latter fact was displayed in vivid detail with his original entry in the “VivaVerse” (© Bert McBrayer 2016 - I’ll sell it to you for a good price Paul): Viva Chuck Todd (first post here), a fan website devoted to Chuck Todd, the smart political analyst at MSNBC.

At the time, very early in the 2008 election cycle, The Chuck was a budding analyst who was just starting to get some serious screen-time on shows like Morning Joe. His smarts and matter-of-fact style were refreshing. As it turns out, there were other political nerds who also enjoyed Chuck’s obvious smarts.

Geez. 2008 seems like such a long time ago. Just ask this guy.

After the sweet success of VivaChuckTodd, we Chukolytes demanded the obvious spin-off companion sites Viva Rachel Maddow and Viva Jonathan Capehart. Because, why not?

Nowadays, Mr. Fancy-Pants Todd is the host of Meet The Press and one of the most recognizable faces in the political media. So clearly Paul’s work made a huge difference in Chuck Todd’s career trajectory.

Go now. Check out Paul’s pet project 2.0. And check back often.

The only question that remains in my mind is, will there be swag this time around? I still have mine from the original:

Perhaps someday it’ll be worth something...