tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71521728848816126182012-02-16T16:50:14.635-06:00WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-88973104551933672402010-01-04T20:13:00.005-06:002010-01-04T20:50:43.697-06:00

After the biennial room swap, my oldest daughter chose the upper bunk in the shared room (actually, she might have been assigned it now that I think about it). Many nights she and her sister are both curled up in their beds with a book (or two or three). The one problem with this arrangement was that there was no place for her to put her books. I'd been meaning to get around to building her a

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-68861158775306370772008-12-26T15:03:00.007-06:002008-12-26T15:37:45.204-06:00

For most electronics these days, it's the little extra features that make people go "Wow!" or "I've got to have it." But one thing that has become ubiquitous on everything is a clock. Here are the clocks in our kitchen.But my wife must really be driven by the clock (Not!). She wanted a kitchen clock to go on the soffit. The old one died and she didn't think it matched our walls anyway. Finding a

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-73778333618161843692008-11-04T20:51:00.006-06:002008-11-04T21:24:52.234-06:00

This year Halloween had the usual activities going on at our house: pumpkin carving, costumes, lots of sugar. When my girls picked out pumpkins, one already had in mind that she wanted to make a Larry pumpkin. When we finally got around to carving them, her sister decided that her pumpkin would make a great Bob.Usually I spray the pumpkins with a coat of WD-40 to help keep them fresher. Since we

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-36012698825781645802008-07-04T18:40:00.007-06:002008-07-04T19:10:06.695-06:00

One of my favorite things about summer is all of the extra time to grill. Now, don't get me wrong, I grill all winter long. It's just a lot easier to grill during the summer. Tomorrow I'm going to spend the afternoon tending to a brisket on my grill.One thing I've seen in my grilling books is a sauce mop for keeping the brisket moist. I saw one recently at a store, but the store is farther than

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-1201636454995867052008-05-06T19:11:00.007-06:002008-05-06T19:45:44.356-06:00

As a software engineer, I am often faced with the responsibility that when bugs are found to hunt out the source of the bugs and eradicate them. My wife wishes I could do the same for the ants in the kitchen, but no such luck yet.When I was a kid, I loved trash day. My friends and I would hop on our bikes and troll the neighborhood to see what we could find. It's amazing what perfectly good junk

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-86699632492089910242008-03-11T19:33:00.011-06:002010-01-05T14:43:48.690-06:00

This past weekend our church had an open gym outreach event: inflatable bouncy things for the kids; volleyball, basketball, and corn hole for the adults. Earlier in the week I went to check on my bags to see if any needed to be repaired. I took one look in the bag and now I had the answer for the question from the previous weekend: "Why is there popcorn in my boots?"Fortunately there was some

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-91476133432855529202008-02-28T20:30:00.000-06:002008-02-28T20:30:14.859-06:00

This past winter we've had a lot more snow than usual. I don't mind so much. I enjoy each season in its season. I also enjoy those 45 degree day anomalies mid-winter so that I can get out and disc golf. I'm not that great of a player; I need a lot of practice. One year my wife had a Longaberger basket party. I let her get a basket if I could get a basket. She puts food in hers, I putt at mine.The

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-4376289719356880672008-01-14T18:27:00.000-06:002008-01-14T19:18:35.618-06:00

It was Saturday night. All of my girls took their shower or bath to get ready for church the next day. As each was done, they came down to where I was reading and I brushed their hair for them. It's one of those things that they usually just don't take the time to do well. I made sure that each of them had smooth, tangle free hair.Just about the time that the oldest should have been coming down

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-60075308216870860092008-01-10T21:18:00.001-06:002008-01-10T21:53:56.731-06:00

Each year I try to find an ornament for all of the girls (including my wife) that fits with something at least half way notable from the preceding year. I'm not sure why I started this tradition, it seemed like a good idea at the time. This is the only gift that I really sweat about as it takes a lot of leg work trying to find the right ornament. That said, the effort is worth it; each year when

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-79217899073538954552007-10-30T18:42:00.000-06:002007-10-30T19:24:10.764-06:00

Just as my kids find Halloween an excuse to load up on candy and put on fancy dresses, pumpkin carving is an excuse to get out some tools. Those pumpkin carving kits definitely make things easier, but they can be improved upon. I just saw that Williams Sonoma has this kit. Ooh it's on sale, I might have to have my wife stop in and get it.Cutting into a pumpkin with a steak knife might be fun if

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-49703244348554893882007-10-24T19:42:00.000-06:002007-10-24T19:48:30.936-06:00

My wife loves making greeting cards and does a great job. She gets out many of her different scrapbooking tools and really gets into it. I think I would just draw a blank trying to come up with a good design and decently written text. Maybe it's just because I prefer using different tools. I have to admit this video has gotten me a little inspired. Good thing her birthday passed recently.

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-30425576170073987162007-09-29T13:31:00.000-06:002007-09-29T15:49:09.558-06:00

My daughters enjoying doing crafts. Seeing I like working with my hands and my wife likes making gifts to spoil people, this is no big surprise. One of the crafts they enjoy doing is making designs with Perler Beads. These are pretty easy for them to do, the only adult supervision at the end is to iron the beads designs to fuse the beads together. (No, I don't let my preschooler use an iron).One

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-64559874443235205602007-05-26T20:50:00.000-06:002007-05-26T21:08:29.522-06:00

My mind is constantly in motion and often is engaged in multiple activities at once. Part of it is just the speed at which it works. In college, I would bring a crossword to some classes that seemed to go just a bit too slow. I would continue to follow the lecture, but when the professor went on a little too long or belabored a point, I'd fill in a couple of clues to keep from drifting off in

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-71749130648503503482007-05-22T16:35:00.000-06:002007-05-22T16:39:00.274-06:00

When scheduling an annual physical at the doctor's office where your mother-in-law is the nurse: schedule it before Mother's Day. My arm's just a bit sore.

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-4370654954293494222007-04-02T20:00:00.000-06:002007-04-02T20:33:49.155-06:00

You will all be glad that I refrained from any April Fool's high jinks this year. My wife is probably glad too. The problem actually is that April Fool's day is on the first day of April. It suffers from the same problem as my birthday. It sneaks up on people. Each year I don't start thinking of a good prank until that morning which is of course far too late to pull off a really good prank.What

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-9134994728297198542007-03-16T20:18:00.000-06:002007-03-16T21:21:27.709-06:00

I was one of those students that had no qualms about correcting my teacher in school. Occasionally it was minor errors on the chalkboard; other times the teacher would have to rethink through what they had just spent some time on. Most of the time I was right, sometimes in haste I would be the mistaken one and had to recognize that they after all did know their stuff.These habits are hard to

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-5658001859812105922007-03-12T18:30:00.000-06:002007-03-12T19:47:15.490-06:00

Our wonderful government doesn't know when to leave things alone. "Hey if DST (Daylight Savings Time) saved a bunch of money in electricity when it was enacted, let's make it longer and we can save more money." There were even some that thought if we observed DST all year long, we'd save even more money. Ugh. Lights are not the biggest draw on the electric supply any more. It's the always on

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-77183919769112624092007-03-09T20:42:00.000-06:002007-03-09T21:29:10.652-06:00

Our family has a knack of getting injured with amazingly boring stories. My wife last summer tore something in her shoulder, not from refereeing between the kids or doing something crazy like hang-gliding; she just reached a little too far to get that itch on her back.I managed to get injured a few weeks ago and thought it would work itself out. But the knot in one shoulder grew a twin in the

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-82913053691016765422007-03-06T20:49:00.000-06:002007-03-06T20:56:34.223-06:00

Last week I celebrated my birthday. Not a milestone birthday. Just a normal run-of-the-mill one that's not even over-the-hill. I'm not one to make a big deal about my birthday or fret over how old I now am.I'm the youngest old fart you ever met. At work I'm known to have a great disdain for GUIs and prefer the command line. Even this post was written in my favorite editor (vi). If I have to use

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-35035237178215073372007-02-13T20:05:00.000-06:002007-02-14T16:03:21.608-06:00

I think I figured out what every crafty woman needs for Valentines Day.One of the best ways to find a practical gift for someone is to see what they borrowed. Lately my wife has been borrowing my bar clamps. She was making a memo board and had a handful of those fabric covered buttons to finish. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get them to set right. The fabric would buckle, the back

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-22717333821913534062007-02-12T20:04:00.000-06:002007-02-13T20:27:51.620-06:00

My daughters love their American Girl dolls. They love flipping through the catalog and admiring the many cool accessories for these dolls. Now my wife and I are not inclined to go overboard making sure that each of these dolls have their own carriage, stable, horse, etc. But Grandmas do ensure that each is adequately supplied for many hours of play.Anyone who has young daughters this age

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7152172884881612618.post-85231054541072798212007-02-03T13:32:00.000-06:002007-02-03T13:40:16.440-06:00

WilyHacker (wahy'-lee hak'-er)Wily - crafty, cunningHacker - One who makes things work way beyond their original intention.The term hacker is one word where the mass-media has co-opted a positive term for an elite class of individuals from one culture, corrupted it, and turned it into a derogatory term for the fringe element that seemed to have a piece of their ethical circuitry missing.

WilyHackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02345169323096494080noreply@blogger.com0