Coopernundrums

     I was just introduced to the most brain stimulating debate I have had in while and I thought I would share it with you.  It is not a new debate, certainly not when you’re dealing with millennia.  Late last night I sat at the old computer gathering info about the last ten years for my end-of-year blog post and I came to the frustrating realization that there is actually a great deal of debate about this subject.  It seems there is general confusion regarding how the decades and millennia are interpreted by the average Joe.

     I must admit that I fell into the trap of believing the hype and had it embedded in my mind that the end of the first decade of the new millennium is about to end.  Many people call this decade The Oughts or The ’00s. Clearly, then, the decade includes years that have zero as the third digit. Next year, that third digit turns to a 1, so the end of the decade obviously is at hand right?  Consider also the popular terms affixed to decades.  Since I am a child of the ’80s that would mean that can only years that include some derivative of 80 should be included.  In no way can 1979 be considered part of the ’80s. Using that logic, 2010 must mark the beginning of the next decade.   Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines a decade as “in common usage, a ten-year period beginning with a year 0, as 1920-1929.”  All of these factors prove that this decade will end on Dec. 31, 2009, Right?

     Another school of thought says that as we age, we are not said to be 1 until after living 12 months, and we do not celebrate a 10th birthday until after living 10 years. Logical conclusion: The next decade won’t begin until after 2010 concludes. If you think about millennia the first one thousand years started with the number 1 and thus ended with 1000.  This means those years 1001 through 2001 would equal the second millennium.  Following this logic the first decade of this millennium began with the year 2001, and the last year of the first decade of this millennium will be next year, 2010. This is a very compelling argument.

     Does that mean Webster’s dictionary is wrong? No, the definition mentioned earlier, pertained to the “common usage” of the word. The same dictionary also defines a decade as “officially, a ten-year period beginning with the year 1, as 1921-1930.” Webster apparently wants to make everyone happy.

   It seems like the debate itself will be lost in the sea of media outlets and emotional minds ready for this decade to be over.  I for one am happy, since it gives me two years to consider and be respectful of all the wonderful, wondrous and sad things that have occurred in the last ten years.

Happy new year all!

  When I was a kid some of my best memories are of those rare occasions when we would get to go to a restaurant and grab some grub.  Not much has changed now that I am an adult cause I still love the grub.  It does however, make me pretty sad reminiscing about some of the restaurants that I can’t eat at anymore.  Thought I would share and see what you think

My dad used to work for an old style pizza place in Indianapolis called Shakey’s Pizza. When my mom would drive to pick him up I would tag along and roam around the empty store while he closed the place down. I have few memories of that place but the ones I have are pretty cool.  It had the first game room I ever saw it had a wild sand pit type game where you controlled some bulldozers in some sand for a quarter.  There was also an old style film projector that my dad would pull down from the ceiling some nights and I would watch giant spider movies while we waited.  Shakey’s is still “shakin” its just no where in TN or Indianapolis.  

As child we lived in an apartment complex in Indianapolis.  Behind the main buildings was a pretty busy roadway and across that  there used to be a great burger joint you may remember called Burger Chef.  I loved the little kids meals they used to have.  I remember it was a real treat when mom would walk my brother and I across that street and grab a snack.  Burger Chef was actually founded in Indianapolis where I lived as a young child.  Sadly it went the way of the Dodo and the last restaurant owned independently at the time closed down in Cookville Tennessee, which as luck would have it is where I live now.

  Shoney’s Big Boy was a super place to get some grub.  I VIVIDLY remember this restaurant for many reasons.  This was the very first salad bar I can remember eating.  It also had SUPER hamburgers.  The plastic and metal Big Boy statue out front has to be one of the most recognizable icon /logos EVER.  Apparently the guys that owned the Big Boy logo and the guys that owned the Shoney’s name had a falling out and they have now split, so you have a sparse few Big Boy restaurants up north and way too many sad excuses for them called Shoney’s down here.  Shoneys I am sad to say is a shadow of its former glory days.

   Steak. Steak is to men what mothers milk is to little babes.  My very first REAL steak restaurant experience came from a restaurant called Western Sizzlin.  It had a great salad bar also but alas nothing lasts.  While the chain is still kickin.  They no longer have any in middle TN where I live.

The first real smorgasbord type restaurant I ever ate at was a place called Duff’s Smorgasbord.  My grandmother loved this place and I can recall that they had some of the BEST fried chicken I have ever to this day had, well cept maybe for Popeye’s.  I can’t find much info about this chain other than it faltered and went under a long while back.  Seems there is only ONE left in all of the world and its in Pigeon Forge.

    Few things in life make me as happy as the memories I have from an 80’s era marriage of the new technology of video games and one of the best foods ever, pizza.  Music, video games, and pizza all collided at Showbiz Pizza Place.  It breaks my heart to think that the ONLY functional showbiz restaurant left in the world is all the way over in Dubai.

    While we are on the subject of pizza I always wondered what happened to a great little pizza place that seemed to vanish from the town where I live called Pizza Inn. Seems the chain is still in great standing BUT the closest one is all the way in Clarksville near the Fort Campbell Army Base.  >Cries<

 
     Last but not least, living in the south you would think that I get all the southern food I could ever want.  While you may be largely right, I never had as much fun as a kid as when we all went to PoFolks, a southern themed restaurant that served drinks in real mason jars instead of glasses.  It had white trash red neck decor on the inside and again i guess I loved it so much because my late grandmother really enjoyed it to.  Now the remaining few can only be found in Florida, a long, long drive from TN.

 
Hope you enjoyed my list.  I really enjoyed making it.  Never take anything in life for granted cause when you blink, it could be gone.  Cheers!

  I work with computers and all their various sundry components, parts and accessories all day every day.  Being a PC Jockey makes me quite attuned to the health of all these parts of a whole usually.  Last week I lost a good buddy. My trusty HP 1200 Series Laser-Jet printer passed on.  That little guy and I met some ten years ago when I first got the job I have currently.  He was moved in with me because of space issues elsewhere in the building.  We have shared an office ever since.  He was always there for me, the quick print, the lengthy technical document, all those years of printing and reprinting revisions on installation instructions and email newsletters.  Thick and thin we have been through it all.  Last week i needed to print an invoice for a customer and the little guy let out a horrible death rattle and then with his last breath he screamed in agony as gears stripped and his functions slipped away.

    It really didn’t hit me until this week that he was really gone.  I needed to print out a list of files.  I hit the print button before I thought about it and sat staring sadly at the small grey and white plastic derelict sitting there in his usual place.  He made no sounds and didn’t wink at me with his little green light to let me know the print was on its way.  I had to move him out of our office and into the computer graveyard that is our storage room.  That’s where all the dead printers gadgets, consoles, and hardware goes when they have met their maker.

    The next time you use a piece of trusty hardware don’t take it for granted.  Work like there is no tomorrow and give  the Hardware Heroes the praise and admiration they deserve, because..

…you never know when they might kick the proverbial computer bucket and wont be there to back you up anymore.