tld
a story and conversation repository (est. 2000)
 
 
MONORAIL: Entries Tagged with MCGRATH (12)

MONORAIL / BLOG
Current
Random
Site Archives
Site Tags
Site Search

BIOGRAPHICAL
What I'm remembering
Who I'm looking like
What I'm reading
What I'm eating
trans
ENTERTAINMENT, FAMILY, FRIENDS, WEB 2006-04-12
it's kinda like a secret society, only way more nerdy
i share in a small professional consortium of sorts. there's just three of us and i am for certain the pup of the litter. one of the two taught me everything i know about web design and the other everything i know about web development. we all used to work together. now we don't even live in the same state and in one case not even the same country.

several years back in a ski lodge atop the canadian rockies, the three of us made five-year projections about our professional lives. one of us nailed it, one surpassed it and one, well, one keeps meandering towards the light but hasn't yet held a straight line to its source.

chris wanted to create a jackpot product. a sophisticated and enticing utility that would allow him to support his home while investing his energy in something he believed in. four years later he is performing enterprise-level implementations of a wiki-fashioned, microsoft-centric, intranet manager he calls thoughtFarmer.

bookguy privately covets the notion of hopping industries. i won't get into the specifics of his aspiration but the venture would offer him new sorts of mental exercises using his very impressive technology chops as well as his gift for oration and unavoidably, leadership. he is unconsciously adrift towards such a change, he just hasn't noticed the oar in his hand yet. i predict he will soon look down and see it though and when he does decide to lower it into the water it's better than a done deal.

and i, i managed to stay diligent and patient about things until i secured a position with the one institution in my city that i hoped to secure a position with. and time has aged it well.

i'm glad to see the three of us trending in such positive directions and i wish my cohorts much success. i wish myself an ounce more, or as bella would say, a worm's bite more, than them because as the runt of the litter, i need to be that much better to hold my own on our next ski boondoggle.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FAMILY, FRIENDS, LIFE 2006-03-31
Photo Gallery: March 2006


at our dinner table, we don't pray, we do thankfuls. about thankfuls:
  • thankfuls begin by saying 'i'm thankful for ...' where dot-dot-dot equals something you're happy about in your life.

  • thankfuls don't happen at every dinner.

  • bella, to date, has been the one to determine if thankfuls occur or not.

  • bella also determines who goes first for an ev...
[ permalink ]
FAMILY, FRIENDS, LIFE 2006-01-06
talk to me in july
i haven't had to wipe up as much pee as usual lately, thank you.
i wish i could say marty was talking to alexander when she said that but she wasn't, she was talking to me. yeah, that's right, i got THE TALK. the one virtually any man is going to get after they begin co-habitating with a lady-friend.

it was suggested that i sit down when i pee, like my friend chris. when chris first announced that he always sat to urinate when at home or friends, i was intrigued, but apparently not as intrigued as marty. little did i know she concocted a five year strategy to get me to do the same. it's so sad really because she's been architecting this move for years only to have its execution marred by the most minor of details; she pulled the trigger as we moved into the fall/winter season. the only reason i'm able to lower my cozy warm skin on the icy cold seat of our toilet once a day is for fear of soiling my pants, bookpimp style. sorry dear, but if it's any consolation there ain't no love in this world i could make such a chilling sacrifice for.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FAMILY, FRIENDS, LIFE 2005-09-16
i provide embarrassingly affordable translation services
i used to work with a Jehovah's Witness. during this period i was reading the bible on my palm pilot while riding the metro to work. every now and again he would ask what most recently happened so i would tell him and he would try to guess the chapter and verse. for any ex-sunday-school stars this may sound like a no brainer but there is a catch and that catch is my descriptions came in troy-speak and troy-speak sounded something like this:
yeah, so this guy's kicking around, you know, back in the day, and runs into this chic in like an open air market or something. well she's super hot and he's super into her from the start. and she's jonsin' for him too and before you know it they hook up and they're shacking which way back then was a bit of a thing but this is just how into one another they are. but then for some reason god looks in on the dude and totally freaks out. something about the girl being the guy's sister or his brother's wife or the like and god tells him to shag his ass out of her crib or he's going to open up some real biblical whoop-ass on him. so the dude bolts but the locals catch wind of it all and everyone starts calling the girl a hoe-bag and threatening to stone her ass because she gave it up to some dude who was passing through town and turned out to be a relation. but damn, everyone was related back then so i don't know how you could avoid tapping anything less than a first cousin.
to his credit, chris was quite gifted at deciphering these modern translations.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FRIENDS 2005-03-17
please have your paperwork ready people
between now and tomorrow i will be changed.

and by changed i mean in ways other than the usual. i'm not referring to weighing a fraction more or my skin having a touch less elasticity or even being 24 hours closer to existing underground. the change i'm talking about is far more significant. you see, darkman and i are going to the pulitzer prize photography exhibit this evening and i have a haunting suspicion the walls of my brain are going to get stamped more in a two-hour block than chris mcgrath's passport did in all of two thousand and one.

predictably, i'm hearing not many of these stamps have those circular smiley faces on them.
[ permalink ]
FRIENDS, WEB 2003-06-02
a pawn to the man
well hello there. it's been a little while hasn't it? hope you all have been doing well and good.

i had visions of coming out strong with some great and personal blitzkrieg to your mind, but last week i worked between 70 and 80 hours and the week before that 60-70. i lost my ability to perform simple arithmetic during the first hell week. this little bout with the job has also voided the surprise i was going to give you today, perhaps later. i'd tell you what it was but that would negate the surprise factor whenever i do get around to it so i'll need y'all to sit in the dark for a bit more.

since, i'm falling short, if you want something interesting to read, go here.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FRIENDS 2003-03-12
peeping into a window on the other side of the world
chris mcgrath is back to doing what he should be doing; entertaining and educating the planet en masse. several years ago when we each had bourgeoning home pages i remember saying to him, "i post every day and have nothing to say, you actually have an interesting life and never post." while he agreed, he didn't change his behavior. he said something about the fact that he had a life was why he didn't post or some such nonsense. silly logic that.

well, it may have taken two years for him to act on my suggestion but act he has. chris, who has just returned to bosnia for three months, has committed to update his web site every day during his stay. i'm absolutely giddy. i'm telling you, i can't get enough of this guy. sienfeld would term it a non-sexual crush. for those who have seen chris in a tank-top would know that it's not exactly that. but, i could say, without causing a hiccup in a lie detector that chris is one of the most vibrant and entertaining fellows on the planet and his wife one of the most charming and calming and his child, well i got my own kid and don't ask me to go against the family.

i know i'll enjoy the next few months of getting full-frontal descriptions of chris' days and insights. and while i'd love to keep him all to myself, his entries are just too entertaining. so i welcome you to swing by and catch up and then keep up at chrismcgrath.com because we're all going to be a little richer in the end. i know of what i speak.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, LIFE, TECHNOLOGY, FRIENDS 2001-08-31
the best smelling wound in town
I spoke to Bosnia Chris today over his web phone and had commented on the recent update where they were climbing up some mountain and one of the people took a tumble and cut his wrist impressively open [photo not for the weak of gut]. I conveyed to Chris that had this happened to me, a flight for life chopper would have had to escort me to the nearest trauma center. He simply laughed it off and said how they didn't have a first aid kit and had to improvise. Their makeshift solution began with a tampon, which was applied directly to the wound and served as the initial gauze. This was followed up with a wrap of toilet paper and then a sandwich bag to keep all the fixings in place. Once applied Chris escorted his mate down the mountain and to more traditional medical care.

I asked how he could not divulge those details when retelling the story on the web. He said that he didn't feel comfortable putting the word tampon on his site (tampon, tampon, tampon). After calling him gutless I said that I would share this juicy detail on my own in that I've already freely used the term (tampon, tampon, tampon) a number of times and it appears in my working journal an additional 24 times.

Furthermore, I'm not sure how I would have fared in this fellow's situation. You see, I have a immense phobia towards this and other like hygiene products. If you've ever meandered down the pink and blue isle at the supermarket or department store, the smell emanating from these shrink-wrapped packages is just not right. It's like in math where two negatives make a positive. The stuff is just too clean, too natural that they are actually unclean and unnatural. But, in typical fashion I believe in getting in the face of that which terrifies you/me and this is my vehicle for this aggressive posturing. Man, just imagine if I was born a non-tripod.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FRIENDS 2001-07-02
the bosnia boondoggle continues
Well, Chris and Gina are at it again. Continuing to amaze me and garner my total and complete respect.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, SOCIETY, TECHNOLOGY, FRIENDS 2001-03-14
Do you know what it's like to slip on blood or brains?
Friend and former colleague chris mcgrath recently made quite a moving addition to his website chronicling war-torn Bosnia. If you ever need an attitude adjustment, chris' site is not a bad place to start. And, it never hurts to be specifically mentioned (on page four at the bottom) to add to the story's intrigue. I think that may be my first external link. I guess it's only right that the guy who got me started in the biz be the one to deflower me in this manner. Thanks Christopher.
[ permalink ]
ENTERTAINMENT, FRIENDS, SOCIETY 2001-02-18
Elevator Etiquette 201 (bosnian rendition)
  1. Do not urinate in the elevator. It may seem like a convenient, private location, but the entrance-way to the building is usually better ventilated.
  2. Do not cast objects over five pounds of weight into the elevator shaft. Although the shaft is very deep and has space for a large amount of trash, heavy objects could penetrate the roof of the elevator, causing hurt to passengers inside. This rule does not apply if you are certain that the elevator car is on a floor above you.
  3. While forcing your way into the elevator, it is polite to excuse yourself when you need to push others by the arms and shoulders and buttocks. While entering, if you accidentally push people in the face or in the privates, a quick apology is in order.
  4. On average-sized elevators (approx. 3 feet wide by 4 feet long) the passenger limit should generally be regarded as 6. It is not polite to force your way onto a 3 by 4 elevator if there are already six people on board.
  5. While writing, drawing or spray-painting on the walls of elevator, make sure not to get any felt marker or paint on fellow passengers.
  6. While the elevator is moving, avoid contact with the floors passing by the open door. A poorly placed arm or leg could quickly be torn off if caught between a floor and the elevator car.
  7. Especially for new users: If the elevator car jerks strongly or free-falls for a meter or two, do not panic or scream. Locals find this behavior disruptive and irritating.
  8. While smoking on the elevator, try not to blow smoke directly in other's faces, and try not to touch them with the burning end of your butt. Remember that it is safer to extinguish your finished cigarette on the floor of the elevator rather that to cast it down an elevator shaft and risk it making contact with unseen flammables.
  9. If you are a non-smoker, do not grimace, wince or cough while others smoke in the elevator car. This is considered extremely rude and presumptuous by the locals.
Item compliments of Chris McGrath, retired web developer and bosnian resident. This certainly does help to put things in perspective, chris and gina are ever-reliable on that front.
[ permalink ]
FRIENDS 2000-08-15
Ahhhhh, you're all wet!!!!
Colleague and friend Chris McGrath recently resigned his post as senior web devloper where I work and relocated to Sarajevo, Bosnia to do what he and his wife Gina do best, help others. Chris certainly goes down as one of the most unique and inspiring people I've run into in my not-so-short life. Doubt my word, visit his web site to see how he says so-long to corporate america and I think you'll be a believer.

Still not convinced. See how Chris holidays in British Columbia before jetting to Bosnia.
[ permalink ]
End of Tagged
Content ; - (
 
trans
Home Troy Notes Monorail TroyScripts Photo Gallery