Observations – JonWestfall.com

April 12, 2019November 29, 2025

Sometimes Things Take a Little Longer, There on Gulf Coast Time.

Recently I’ve heard the song “Gulf Coast Time” by Roger Creager a lot on Radio Margaritaville. It’s a nice song, and it’s even nicer that iTunes has the lyrics. Or at least it says it has the lyrics. I don’t think they’re quite right. Here’s what iTunes has…

Yeah… I’m not sure what the town in you letter said, or what the road rills are. Teasters of key land are interesting to contemplate, and I definitely recommend talking about the time someone gave you toast. Reggae me down?

Obviously some speech to text algorithm had fun with this one. If you would like to see the actual lyrics, I’ll put them below.

Gulf Coast Time – Roger Creager

I like the way the salty warm breeze feels
As I make another cast with this old rod and reel
Sounds like things are going well from the tone of your letter
Am I doing OK? I guess you could say, I’m keeping my head above water.

On the deck of this old salt water lady,
Dancing across the waves.
The seaside world slows down to an idle
The sun sets red over Copano Bay
You moved on with your life in California, I’ll move on with mine.
Sometimes things take a little longer, here on Gulf Coast Time.

This last year’s getting back to the simple things
Like the taste of this fresh key lime in my drink
Took that watch you gave me, tossed it about a mile off shore
Just another anchor around me, weighing me down, that I don’t need anymore.

On the deck of this old salt water lady,
Dancing across the waves.
The seaside world slows down to an idle
The sun sets red over Copano Bay
You moved on with your life in California, I’ll move on with mine.
But sometimes things take a little longer, here on Gulf Coast Time.

And I know I’m getting better, with every breath of ocean I breathe in
And my soul gets stronger, every moment I spend

On the deck of this old salt water lady,
Dancing across the waves.
The seaside world slows down to an idle
And the sun sets red over Copano Bay
You moved on with your life in California, I’ll move on with mine.
But sometimes things take a little longer, here on Gulf Coast Time.
Sometimes things take a little longer, here on Gulf Coast Time.
By Roger Creager & Trent Willmon

January 23, 2018January 22, 2018

July 9, 2015

The Single Biggest Problem in Web Development Is…

… Remembering to update the page. Was asked today to take on additional web management duties at DSU (We’re making a push to have up-to-date contact information for everyone). Not a big deal – the contact system is very functional and takes very little time to update. It’s a push to de-centralize updating it, which makes a lot of sense, as long as people are on board. It is hard to find an organization with a “vibrant” web page that has decentralized administration of that page. Yet it’s even harder to find a large organization that can devote people solely to web updating. The classic conundrum: updating web pages tends to be a NIMBY issue (not in my back yard!) Everyone agrees it needs to be done, no one likes to do it. Hopefully as the bar gets lower and lower in terms of ‘hassle’ (i.e. modern CMS’s do a great job of making it easy to publish / update things), we’ll get rid of the 3 year old webpages that should have been updated last month.

March 23, 2015

If Monday gets you down, adopt this attitude for Tuesday!

February 5, 2015

FiftyThree’s Pencil Stylus

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2015/01/fiftythrees-pencil-stylus-is-now-available-through-apple

Thinking of picking up one of these this weekend, to add to the stylus collection I have. It’s funny how pencil and paper work so well for what they do, we’re still trying to find a good replacement in the electronic age. It’s very surreal when you consider that we spend upwards of $500 to replicate an experience that costs about $0.50 to create on it’s own. Yet I do, and millions of others are as well. Paper may be versitile, but it is messy, unfriendly to trees, and easy to lose. However, we’ve yet to find something quite as easy as a good old pencil and piece of paper. Just last night I grabbed a scrap piece of paper to make a note rather than enter it into my phone. Then I went home… and entered it into my phone when I had more time!

January 16, 2015

Out of Their Element

It’s been cold the last few weeks in Mississippi, a contrast to the summer heat that seems more memorable and typical of not only the Delta, but the south in general. Southerners seem confused by cold – it’s not their native environment. The town seems to go into a low-energy hibernation when the temperature drops below 35. Oddly enough, 35 in Northern Ohio is considered uncharistically warm for January, thus skewing my perspective (although by no means am I happy with the cold weather!). So on a night after the first 50 degree day in a few weeks, and the ensuing activity it has brought, I bring you a poem. Stay warm!

Cold in air, slumbering restless south
Infused with confusion, the thaw brings certainty
Moving back into motion, the soul returns

A passing event, the air expected to chill once more
But for a few passing days, life returns to normal
Hoping for the permanence of spring

November 13, 2014

Splash Mountain’s Origin

Mental floss has a pretty interesting piece on Song of the South, the Disney movie that the characters from the ride Splash Mountain originate in (as well as the song Zip-a-dee-do-dah). It’s truly an interesting situation: popular franchise characters in a movie that hasn’t ever been released on home video in the US for fairly obvious reasons. If you’re scratching your head going “I’ve never heard of that movie..” Take a read and think about how we sorta forget that things we still see evidence of today were interpreted differently 70 years ago.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/60021/10-zip-dee-doo-dah-facts-about-song-south

(PS: I’m composing this on my iPhone, and Autocorrect almost turned the title of this piece into Allah Mountain. How it got Allah from Splash, I have no idea!)

May 6, 2014

25 Questions to Ask Walt Disney after Watching Cinderella

Yesterday I watched Cinderella for the first time in 20 years. Here’s a list of 25 questions or comments I’d ask Walt Disney regarding this film…

So it’s bad that Cinderella is a servant, but it’s apparently OK to exploit talking animals for slave labor?
Who names anything Lucifer?!?
How does a mouse get enough lower-body strength to kick a cat that hard?
Why carry a tray on your head when you have forearms?
Let me get this straight – the King is mad that the prince is avoiding his responsibilities… and his only responsibility is to have kids so the King can play with them? The king has mental issues.
Why don’t those slave laborer mice and birds help with the house cleaning?
Jaq the super mouse can also kick doors closed? What sorts of steroids have these mice been taking?
The lady mice tell Jaq and Gus to ‘leave the sewing to the women’, which apparently leaves the larceny and vandalism to the men?
Who builds a chateau with elaborate mice doors in the molding and candelabras? The mice obviously didn’t build them – they appear part of the original construction!
At the beginning, we’re lead to believe Cinderella makes the mice their nice little mice clothes (and presumably the clothes for the birds as well). Really though her greatest gift to them is modesty? Why do animals need to wear clothes around her anyway?
Fairy godmother cuts off Cinderella as she says “You’re my…” with “Fairy godmother? Yes”. So the existence of fairy godmothers is known in these parts? I’d be a lot angrier at FG that she just now showed up after being tortured by my family for years.
How do spiral wheels turn anyway?
Where does the Grand Duke get that Monocole Yoyo?
Wow – if the prince doesn’t propose and marry a girl after seeing her once, the King is going to KILL THE GRAND DUKE. Let that set in – this guy is clearly not in his right mind.
In all the singing about love, Cinderella never thinks to mention her name?
At the stroke of 12, Cinderella goes “It’s midnight”, to which the prince replies “You can’t leave, it’s…” It’s what? Early? This guy is going to try to make the argument that midnight isn’t late? Player.
The Grand Duke calls after Cinderella, calling her Mademoiselle (makes sense, they’re in France, even though they’re speaking English), and then calling her Señorita?!? Does he really think she might have been Spanish?
That clock takes forever to ring 12 times.
Magical footwear is apparently immune to time constraints AND unique to the wearer!
Walt, let’s have a talk about the appropriate size of doors and beds, OK?
Why is the King such a deranged pimp? He lights multiple cigars simultaneously with a candelabra!
Wow, the King really was going to kill the Duke. Harsh!
Amazing how that dog we only saw twice saves the day!
An evil stepsister calls the royal “shoe checker” “of all the stupid little idiots” – if not getting the Prince married off is punishable by death, shouldn’t insulting the royal delegation also be somewhat severe?
Apparently the Duke has a supply of those yoyo monocles – where can I get one?

January 17, 2014

Your Geek Squad Badge Just Isn’t Worth That Much

When will Geek Squad employees (or ex-employees) learn that their badges are not worth > $100, even if…

They were a deputy counter intelligence (While Double Agent badges are most common, deputy badges come up about once every 2 months)
they have a low number (Unless it’s less than 100, nobody cares)

I’ve seen badges like the one below sit on eBay for months until they finally drop the high start bid. In case you’re wondering, Geek Squad badges go for around $60 on average, although I (and I suspect most serious collectors) have gotten them for $25 or so.

November 11, 2013

Minimalistic Culture

The last 10 years have seen minimalism as a movement take hold. Tips, tricks, and thoughts galore are online. One could say that the amount of how-to articles about minimalism is anything but.