I bought a new doll for Lailah a month or so ago. Gave it to her when she was here, a couple of times ago. She immediately tells me "...She's 'creepy', GranPa..." I ask her what she means, thinking it's because of the thing sticking out the doll's head. "No, GranPa, her glasses are creepy!" And, asks me "...can we get rid of her glasses?..." Yup, of course. They were attached with small permanent … [Read more...]
Lailah, ice cream, and having kids of my own
July 27, 2016 By
This short video from a year ago always makes me laugh. She is always so crazy. I think back about my own childhood - and I truly don't have any good memories of growing up - not sure whether this is because I have a truly bad memory, or if I actually didn't have any "fun" as a child with my parents. I think of the two of them, my mom was pretty stiff, and rigid in her ways (no spilling of ice … [Read more...]
“What’s the best part about blogging?”
July 26, 2016 By
I stole the following from a fellow blogger, but it certainly applies here as well: People always ask me what the best part of blogging is and I say 'my followers!' Thanks everyone, for putting up with my ranting, my craziness, my political nonsense, as well as the postings of <mumble, mumble, thousands> of Lailah stories/photos/videos these last couple / few (OK, several) years. Thanks … [Read more...]
Third Trivent Financial interview scheduled for Thursday
July 26, 2016 By
Thrivent Financial job update: Three weeks ago, initial 15-20 min phone "get to know you" interview with director in Appleton, WI. Last week, three person video conference interview with mgr (WI), team lead (MPLS) and a non-team tech (WI). Not sure if mgr is the mgr of the team I would be on, or mgr of other teams. Got the impression they were mgr of other team(s), but could be mistaken. Call … [Read more...]
New credit/debit card – surprise!
July 26, 2016 By
My local bank recently sent a letter indicating they were replacing my old debit card with a new "chip" card and offered me a choice of either their default (boring) design, or I could upload a photo to use in it's place. I think it came out really good (this picture of the card is fuzzy in some areas since I used photoshop to remove the numbers/dates, as well as the "chip" that was growing out … [Read more...]
Voting for a third party candidate or not voting at all
July 25, 2016 By
Below (way below) is an article about voting for a third party... If I can find my voice (I.e., the words) in the next week or so, I'll chime in as well with my own thoughts regarding how voting for a third party doesn't accomplish anything, other than to help elect that person whom you least like. Yes, you may think that both candidates suck, and both might be unworthy of holding the most … [Read more...]
Inspired to get myself a new business card
July 25, 2016 By
I think I just might have to get me a new business card...Something like: Brian S. Williams Armchair Model Railroader Talented Paint-Nite Painter Opinionated FaceBook Blogger Complete Amateur Photographer AKA Lailah's GranPaBrian. Thanks goes to Susan Hipkins DeBow for the inspiration! … [Read more...]
The Mac-Mini FROZE UP – first time ever
July 22, 2016 By
Wow. I was on the Apple Mac-Mini just now, had edited a Lailah video, and was also working on the blog, when the screen just froze. Actually, I was in Adobe "Premiere" elements, and the app was "rendering" the video (whatever that means), which is a CPU intensive process, I guess, because the fan always goes on, and the CPU goes to 100%. I let it sit for 20-30 minutes to see if letting the … [Read more...]
Thrivent Interview
July 21, 2016 By
"Exciting" day for me. Face to face interview at Thrivent Financial, with a panel of three. Two of the three were in Appleton, Wi, so we used video conferencing to include them. The guy in the room with me is the team lead. One of the people in WI was the manager, and the other person in WI was just a techie type, but not on the team that I would be on. Overall, I think the interview went great. … [Read more...]
Rick’s birthday party at Nancy’s
July 21, 2016 By
Hello there. I see you're back with us now. It seems one of my recent stories has a following. I've written a couple of stories the last few days, and the one I thought that would have generated the most "likes" (because of the "hook" used, of Lailah dropping by, after stealing GMR's car) only received a couple of "likes". Whereas, the other story of my dinner with Rick and his friends received … [Read more...]
Paint nite
July 20, 2016 By
Photos of my completed art were just posted to an album, along with photos of two examples painted by our instructor (a very young woman, she must have been in her early to mid twenties - but, she really knew her stuff, knew how to teach painting, and also to make it fun for the "trainees"). Had a great time. This was my third paint nite - should do it more often … [Read more...]
Women, bullies and internet trolling
July 20, 2016 By
There's "trending news" today about some so-called "internet journalist" (i.e., IDIOT) who is now permanently banned from Twitter for inciting his followers to troll a movie actress. Here's one woman's (abbreviated) response why she agreed with Twitter's action: "Women...are often at the receiving end of some of the most heinous of misogynistic trolling - and while we dismiss trolls as, well, … [Read more...]
Dinner with Nancy and Lois, before seeing South Pacific
July 20, 2016 By
Hi there. This is story #2 from this past Saturday night. Story #1 was my encounter with a stranger in the parking lot before dinner at "The old spaghetti factory". Once I figured out how to pay for parking (had to download an app) and actually paid it, I walked across the street to the restaurant. I was still a bit early, and this place has a huge lobby with lots of elegant seating, so I took … [Read more...]
Blogging about Lailah vs. re-watching “Better Call Saul”
July 18, 2016 By
Blogging about Lailah is so much better than re-watching S1 of "Better call Saul" (before moving onto S2). I'm pretty sure I left some good Lailah stuff out (with tonight's Lailah post) - that's what happens when you're an old fart and your brain has become cold pasta, and the Lailah encounter that you're trying to remember happened two days ago. Next time, I think, I'll use one of those fancy, … [Read more...]
More to blog about this weekend, but got Lailah tomorrow
July 18, 2016 By
Man, I've still at least 2 more (interesting) stories to go, and I've got Lailah to myself tomorrow - I'm never gonna to catch up with blogging the stuff that happened this past weekend. Have I mentioned what happened on Sunday?? Heaven! (How does that song go??) Doesn't matter - I was invited to go boating on Lake Minnetonka! What a great afternoon. With a great bunch of loving people. Will … [Read more...]
Saturday’s outing with Lailah
July 18, 2016 By
To set the stage: My kitchen breakfast nook area has a huge window looking out toward the walk leading to my front door. <you'all have probably seen it in my Lailah kitchen table videos.> I'm eating breakfast this past Saturday morning, reading my newspaper (on my e-device). And, I hear some giggling outside, which makes me look up. And, I see this little girl looking in my window, … [Read more...]
NPR story about Republican leaders not attending their own convention
July 18, 2016 By
This, to me, is a very interesting story (the attached NPR story). Apparently there is something "important" going on, in the city of Cleveland, Ohio this week. Some sort of "convention". No, I don't think it's the Model Railroading convention. Nor, is it "ComicCon". I wonder which convention it is? Uh. Is it the "Keystone cops" convention?? Maybe it's the "three stooges" convention. No, … [Read more...]
Friend with IT background unwilling to learn about new technologies(?), or just tired
July 18, 2016 By
Friend of mine (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) is an IT person with as many years of experience as myself. Wanted to share some "documents" with them. Me: "...Do you or use Dropbox?" Them: "Never heard of it." Well, OK, Then. I guess, based on your response, it seems you aren't even remotely interested in learning about it. Fine, be that way, I'll send them to you the … [Read more...]
Curly red-headed actress with southern accent?
July 18, 2016 By
Help this old gizzer out - I'm trying to place an actress, but am not able to remember her name or which show she was on. This person had curly red hair, and spoke (I thought) with a southern accent. My first idea was a character on Roseanne, then I thought Designing Women (and no, I'm not thinking of Annie Potts). Anyone have a clue? ----spoiler ahead---- After typing this up, and giving it … [Read more...]
