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Random stuff about HR and his world…

The Locust Tree

The locust treeA guy who does tree trimming and removal stopped by a few days ago and asked me if I had considered getting the old locust tree to the right of the shed in the picture cut down. The tree has seen its better days and I have indeed thought of getting it removed.

So I said maybe, depending on what the price was. Well he looked at it for a while, mumbled about it being close to the power lines and and finally said $2,200. I was taken aback at the price and asked if that was the best he could do. He mumbled some more and said $1,800 was the rock bottom price he could do it for.

Now here’s the catch. This same guy took down two maple trees for me last year for about $950. Granted they were both smaller than the locust tree but the two combined probably involved just as much work as taking down the locust tree would.

So, how much would it cost for someone to do a job like this where you live?

Google Helper

VA hrpr.com platesWhen I received the renewal notice from the DMV for registration of my pickup truck, it noted that my current license plates were “10 or more years old” and that I should consider getting new plates. Since my old plates were starting to show their age, it seemed like a good idea to do so.

I then had to make a decision on just what kind of plates I wanted. Virgina is big on vanity plates and personalized messages Their web site has dozens of designs to choose from. After looking though the choices on their web site, I decided I woud just go with the standard issue plates and save myself $20.00 a year ($10.00 for a vanity plate and 10.00 for a personalized message). I was just about ready to click on the submit button to order the plates when I thought “well maybe I’ll compromise and spend $10.00 for a personalized message.” Continue reading “Google Helper”

Johnny Can’t Write

I an read article in today’s newspaper (yes I’m one of those throwbacks who still get a real newspaper every day) about the demise of cursive handwriting. According to the article, on the 2006 SAT Exams only about 15% of the students wrote their essays using cursive handwriting. The rest printed thier essays in block letters.

The artlcle goes on to say that U.S primary schoools only spend 10 minutes or less a day teaching cursive handwriting. And, as a result, more and more students not only have poor cursive handwriiting skills, but also have problems reading handwritten cursive text.

Read more about the causes and effects of the loss of cursive writing skills here.

Michael Steele

There’s a guy named Michael Steele running for the Senate in Maryland. Take a look at the videos of his campaign ads. They do not contain the usual political trash-talk and mud-slinging one sees on TV this close to the elections.

Michael Steele may not win the election, but he certainly has my vote for the most entertaining political ads I’ve seen in a long time.

Speech Accent Archive

I found out from one of my fellow bloggers that George Mason University has a web site called the Speech Accent Archive. This extract from the home page explains its purpose:

“The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyze the accents of different English speakers.”

Since I’m a GMU Alumnus, I dutifully made a recording of my voice and sent it off to GMU. Maybe it will end up in the Archive…or maybe not. But it is preserved for posterity (or however long HR’s halfVAST Blog exists) right here.

So do I have a regional accent? And if I do, what region of the US?