Dave Mancuso dot Com

When I was four years old I watched a movie on TV called The Screaming Skull. At least I think it was called “the screaming skull.” It scared the heck of me, whatever it was called.

Now I deal with the screaming speedometer cable. It’s actually just a squeaking cable, but it gets really annoying. This is in my old Subaru, not the new van. I kept the old Sooby Doo around to have an emergency car, but it’s also good for a high-mpg vehicle since the van gets under 15mpg at times. I drove it this week, though, and the car instantly and vocally brought the squeak up to me.

The squeaking gets loud in cold weather (of which there was much this week), and it reminded me of one reason we were glad to get the van. It’s not crippling, though, and if you turn the stereo up enough…

Of course, at “Dave” volume on the stereo, it’s hard to hear anything else. (grin)

There are some things you just can’t predict in your career as a parent, things you never envision yourself saying. To wit: “YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES TO PUT THE BEARD ON THE FROG AND THEN I WANT YOU UPSTAIRS IN THE BATHROOM NUDIE-BUTT AND READY FOR YOUR BATH! NO MORE STALLING!!”

It would at least have made more sense if Denise was saying it to the kids instead of me…(yes, I’m just kidding–you doubted?).

As I muscle things at work back onto shape by sheer force of will (I’m serious–that’s what it’s like), a weblink that Brad showed me gives me the first real belly laugh in weeks. You’ve got to see it–here’s the link. I think it works best if you played video games throughout the ’80s and early ’90s (I didn’t, but I think it was hilarious anyway).

By the way, work is beginning to come together, and we’re all beginning to feel human again. Either that or I’ve gone off the deep end and didn’t notice it.

Maybe both! (Heh heh. Heh heh. Um, yeah.)

Alyssa my darling girl, my first born bright little star:

I tell you lovingly for the umpteenth time that when you give me and your mother an envelope to open up with a present inside, you don’t need to put so much glue on your project that the entire thing is glued hopelessly shut.

At least you never seem to mind much (“Oh well, Daddy–you can still see what’s inside, kind of.”). That’s my girl.

After showing the kids pics of my old Vanagon Camper last night and putting them to bed, I spent an hour looking at VW campers on eBay, forlornly trying to figure out how to buy one again cheaply.

I am so pathetic.

I upgraded my Mac OS X laptop to 10.2.8 and lost my network settings. I rebuilt them quickly, but had to run “Repair Permissions” to get them to stay. It’s pronounced Mac OS “Ten” by the way, not “ex.”

Of course, I’ve just spent a week upgrading Windows XP machines with Blaster worm protection and numerous other updates, including a modem upgrade that rendered the modem useless.

Yep, this is job security.

Looks like VW’s new Microbus is still slated for production in the 2006 model year, according to AutoWeek magazine.

I don’t know, though. It seems that Ford might discontinue the Econoline in 2006 and replace it with a lighter version from their UK division: the Ford Transit. VW may not make a camping version with a poptop bed, but I’m pretty sure that GTRV will make one for the Transit.

Someone asked me today in the Ollie’s parking lot if “they still make those things,” regarding my van. Someone asks me this at least once every few weeks. Is my van that unusual?

They still make full-sized conversion vans. Really. they do.

I just wanted (also) to note that when I ranted about PowerSchool last week, I was ranting not about PowerSchool (which I believe in), but about my support setup. I’m not happy at all with the way we support PowerSchool, but the meeting we had last week was a great step in the right direction.

I say this because my rant post has apparently been making the rounds, unfortunately. Just wanted to be clear.

I just wanted to note that my old Sesame Street Vitamin post continues to garner comments. People are sharing the phone number to persuade the old manufacturer (McNeil, it seems) to produce the vitamins again (the number is 800-962-5357, by the way). It seems that the manufacturer is getting a significant amount of feedback, too.

Hey, they are good vitamins. They were the only ones on the shelves that were well balanced, too (the others have odd amounts of various vitamins).