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April 29, 2005

tiger stew.

so, of course, i get home to a shipper-tag on my door, saying signature is required, and they cant accept my signature to leave it at the door. they were here at 1:00.

well, see, there's a problem. we work. if we dont know when to be here, nobody can be here to get it. so now, my "delivery by 4/29" becomes a "pick up on the other side of town by 5/2" -- I'm tempted to refuse delivery and tell Apple to give me my damn money back, so I can walk into the Apple Store and get one immediately.

Most companies tell you how they're going to ship, and if a signature is going to be required. Not Apple. "Delivery by 4/29" was the only shipping indicator.

Jerks. Now I have to find other ways to procrastinate.

SHE-HULK SMASH!

No, not really She-Hulk, but soon there will be a photo here of my coworker, Ann, doing some of her best Hulk impersonations, complete with HUGE GREEN HANDS and appropriate sound effects.

Honestly, you'd think we never ever get to have any fun around here.

tripping the hash-browns. fantastic.

so, this morning is the big hunger-fighting fundraiser at work, for which i forgot my griddle. but apparently that wasn't a big deal because they had 6 more.

all plugged into the same circuit. the same circuit as our network firewall.

for the cost of network service to all your outside clients (who incidentally immediately started calling as we were searching the circuit breakers), you too can have tasty hash browns, eggs, sausage, and pancakes.

and they wonder why we ask for things like uninterruptible power supplies and redundant systems.

hash browns, by the way, will be ready in about 15 minutes.

update: the hash browns were well worth it.

tiger by the tail

so, my shipment of apple's newest OS should be arriving today. I suppose it would be a good time for me to back up all my files and settings and wipe the laptop's drive to start over.

but, i'm not certain i want to. i mean, my laptop is 4 years old, people. the hardware configuration is nearly 5. at work, we've been budgeting for new computers, so i've seen the insanity... aside from dual processors, there's NOTHING apple can offer to me really, other than comfort, and is comfort really worth 50% or more of the price?

most say, no. but, for that nagging 5% (and may they be blessed for not supporting Micro$oft) we have to keep at least one mac in our department for testing. when we did budgeting yesterday, we asked for $2500 for a new tower.

and for our other division, we asked for $5-6000 for 2 new Apple machines (to replace three old g3-350s). we don't get involved in prepress budgeting, but those guys have at least 5 macs... all of varying ages, but none is a g5, and from what I've seen, you really want a g5, lots of ram, and a nice hefty (128MB or above) graphics card to run Tiger.

So an old g3-500 iBook probably will just be even more sluggish.

There are things I want more than a new laptop. Gutter drains and patios are higher on that list. And a clean, beautiful landscaping job. And a rubble-free garden. Chimney tuckpointing. New storm windows. And the list goes on and on.

So, I suffer thru with what I've got. Till it dies. And I wonder how Tiger would run.

April 28, 2005

cable part 2, and the rest

so, cable guy left after 2 hours, removing our booster, changing the ends on all our cables, and repairing some squirrel damage at the pole, and declaring everything fine, and still having the boxes reboot, he ended up not being confident he'd solved the problem and replaced the boxes anyway.

so now, we have new style boxes, 2/3 the size of the old ones, if that. maybe this different model cable box will not give us so much trouble. i'm hopeful only because the old ones were all the same model.

we'll see.

we ended up going to upper arlington/hilliard to get some free hostas from one of nala's coworkers. then to feast on the dragon, west broad target, jacks aquaria, and then to the pickettage to drop off some mp3 cds for their long car trip to nyc this weekend.

i cant wait for dry weather.

oh lordy, they're gonna screw it up again

so, the cable guy got here at 4:45. he told us our signal was too high, and took out our booster. then, he discovered that our boxes hate us. he saw one of the on-demand reboots.

so now, what's he doing? he's out at the pole. it's 6:00 folks. if we have cable by 7pm, it'll be a miracle.

i honestly dont think anybody knows why the boxes reboot. they just do. unfortunately, to find out if the other company does the same thing, i'd have to lose my email address of the last 8 years, and that would suck.

ok... i gotta go check if he's done yet. we have feasting of dragon to do, and errands to run at the pickettage and in dublin.

totally odd day

it started off well... i got up, showered, shaved, and was set to make it into work in really good time (but not enough time for coffee), then i got to the speedway, had no cash, their ATM was out of order, so I left and went to the grocery store (where my bank is), and got some cash and a frappucino (icky name, yummy flavor), and made it to work 20 minutes past when i wanted to be there.

i had to leave early so i didnt get to leave for my usual lunch, and i ended up making microwave mac and cheese. which was icky. i spent the morning in meetings and the afternoon doing follow-up for those meetings, before having to leave at 2:30 to be home to let the cable guy in at 3:00.

well... now it's 4:30. they have a window of 3-5pm, and I called at 4:15 to confirm the appointment. the appointment only means they'll arrive during the window, not finish during the window, so if he shows up at 4:59, it's kosher. although, there's no penalty for them if they miss a window, anyway. you're just SOL, and a few dollars short when it comes to your paycheck. and the time you wasted sitting inside so you could hear the phone or the doorbell.

4:36. Hurry up, buddy. I've got dinner to eat and hostas to pick up. Not that you're gonna fix our rebooting issue anyway.

April 27, 2005

hi, my name is "giant tool"

(which incidentally sounds like a bad Japanese toy name.)

Giant Tool! Transform!

Ok. Maybe not. But, all that aside, apparently I've let a misunderstanding from THREE YEARS AGO (which I now cannot even find the source of) sit and stew, only to find out it was my misunderstanding, and I've let it drive a wedge between me and a friend from childhood.

Some friendships aren't easy. After years, we learn and grow and change, all differently, and we form opinions of our own, and usually, they differ quite a bit, depending on the topic. It's the rare friendship that can see beyond that and focus on the common ground. Sometimes the common ground is pretty small.

So, adding unresolved issues to the mix is not the way to go. Bring them up, argue, fight, get it over with. Agree to disagree, if that's what it takes, but move on. And then you'll have something to build on.

Yep, I'm a giant tool, apparently. But, even Nala knew that.

And on to more important things... like comic books and action figures and sci-fi television.

April 26, 2005

garden planning procrastination.

hey everybody!

Because I'm bored, and because I saw Jhames do it, and Nala do it, I decided to do it, too. When I'm done, I might read a comic or two.

  1. What time is it?
  2. 9:33 p.m.
  3. Name as it appears on birth certificate:
  4. Like I would post that here. Matt Matt the River Rat.
  5. Nick Names:
  6. Poodle. Jake. Matrix. Gigamatt.
  7. Piercing:
  8. I had 3. They're all gone aside from the one bad scar I got because the chick fucked up the piercing. I've often thought about doing it again.
  9. What is the most recent movie you've seen in the theater?
  10. Sin City
  11. Eye color
  12. Blue. No, wait, green. No blue. Green. Blue. Yes, blue. No, wait… Seriously, usually green. Sometimes blue. Mostly a steely blue-green.
  13. Place of birth
  14. Here in Cowtown
  15. Favorite Food
  16. Huh? I eat so many different things it's hard to pick a favorite. Although my mom's homemade pies (and Grammie Martha's Great Cookies (tm)) take top prizes.
  17. Ever been to Africa
  18. No. Not yet. Someday, maybe. A couple friends of mine went just after high school.
  19. Ever been toilet papering
  20. No. I didnt hang out with that crowd much. However, once, when I was 17 and in college, my friends coerced a guy from our high school to drive us around in the rich neighborhood in Cowtown, and he "corned" a few houses while we all pretended not to notice.
  21. Love someone so much it made you hurt
  22. Yeah.
  23. Been in a car accident
  24. 5. Two were fender benders from not knowing where my bumper was in my old Crown Vic. Then, in the same Crown Vic, a couple years later, I was on my way to work 30 miles away when a blizzard literally dumped several inches of snow in 15 minutes, and a guy in a pickup truck was half on my side of the road coming at me. I couldnt stop, nor could he, and I managed to avoid a head-on collision, but still totalled his pickup truck. One was rearending someone as part of a chain of brake-slamming where I lost by a fraction of a second (no damage to the car in front, but my Geo was damn near totalled. I was without a car for 6 weeks. That sucked because my job was 15-20 miles away, and so I had a commute of 45 minutes on the bus which came once an hour. Then, most recently, the girl who was talking on her cell phone, driving 40 in a 25, who ran a redlight and slammed into me because she was late for class.
  25. Croutons or bacon bits
  26. Either/neither/both, depending.
  27. Favorite day of the week
  28. The one that doesn't end in y
  29. Favorite restaurants
  30. See food above. Be more specific.
  31. Favorite flower
  32. To look at or to grow? I like dahlias.
  33. Favorite sport to watch
  34. Hockey kicks ass. But not the wussy pro stuff. And of course, shirtless sand volleyball on campus.
  35. Favorite drink
  36. Alcoholic or non-alcoholic? I like iced tea, and I like a good red wine. I also like a bunch of other things. Mohr's Blood Orange Soda is one of my favorites.
  37. Favorite ice cream
  38. Vanilla. Cookies-n-cream. Cherry chocolate chip.
  39. Disney or Warner Brothers
  40. One super mega corp or the other?
  41. Favorite fast food restaurant
  42. Raising Cane's, Skyline, or Chipotle
  43. What color is your bedroom carpet
  44. Black area rug over wood floors.
  45. How many times did you fail your driver's test
  46. I didn't fail. In fact, I breezed through parallel parking quicker than anybody else my proctor had tested. Of course, I practiced for weeks in my mom's full-sized pickup.
  47. From whom did you get your last e-mail
  48. Mrs. T.
  49. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card
  50. Erm. Um. Great Indoors? Tied with Best Buy, I suppose.
  51. What do you do most often when you are bored?
  52. Watch tv, shop ebay, read.
  53. Bedtime: bedtime or sleep time?
  54. Read. Watch TV. Screw. Sleep. If I'm lucky, I get all 4 in one night.
  55. Favorite TV shows
  56. Er. Aside from HGTV and Food, I would have to say Justice League Unlimited, almost anything on Adult Swim, and the obligatory Housewives.
  57. Last person you went to dinner with
  58. Nala. Of course.
  59. Favorite Car Maker
  60. They all suck. Aside from maybe Honda, but I've never owned one.
  61. What are you listening to right now?
  62. The rain.
  63. What is your favorite color
  64. Blue, but you wouldnt know it.
  65. How many tattoos do you have
  66. Sadly, none. I never had the body for it. Although I almost got a Celtic knot once.

richardsonian romanesque

bvwbcomk.jpg

Ok, this is a view of the corner of the old bank/g.c. murphy building with a tiny corner of the opposing m-k building, which appears to be 1 story shorter than i remember.

The G.C. Murphy bldg is a classic example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, which you find here quite a bit in the older parts of Victorian Village and Old Town East.

nobody knows (where) you are!

gobknob.jpg

I decided to go on a google image hunt for photos of the old M-K Store I was talking about in my last entry... when I broadened my search to my hometown, I came up with house listings at a realtor site, complete with map.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the city map (which usually only has labels for major highways at this zoomed-out level) also had a label for the road I grew up on, which is a road very few people know exists.

And yes, you are reading it right.

what ever happened to m-k stores?

when i was a kid, in my hometown there were two department stores, each on two floors of two giant victorian style buildings. G.C. Murphy Co. (yes, Murphy's, the one that sold to Ames), and the M-K Store across the street.

While each sold approximately the same stuff, I remember some distinctive features as a little kid... G. C. Murphy had a huge staircase up the front of the store that led up what seemed like two stories to the second floor, and the old M-K, while they were still busy, (before the mall), had an elevator to the second floor.

The M-K was never called the Emm-Kay, that I remember... it was always referred to as the Emm-and-Kay, despite the lack of ampersand.

I was telling Nala that I always dreamed of winning the lottery and renovating that old M-K, since the building itself was 4-5 stories tall with windows which had long since been covered. I was dreaming of loft spaces before they were popular places to live.

Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery yet. I'd love to see those buildings put to use. Currently the ground floor of the old M-K is now a locally owned pharmacy/general store, and the basement (? it's built in a hill, so maybe it's actually the first floor ) is still a restaurant.

The old G.C. Murphy has now been taken over with expanded Wesbanco offices (they used to have about 1/3 of the first floor, anyway). after they renovated the building. I'd have to say it looks much better now, although the cubefarm that replaced the downstairs looks a little too Office Space for me.

There are several other grand old buildings there in the historic district, but those two will always stick in my mind. Someday, I'll try to do the research in the library to find out whatever happened to M-K Stores.

April 22, 2005

fast and furious, i'm not

a couple weeks ago, nala started teasing me about the lack of "recent acquisitions" updates... you see, he updates his acquisition-log multiple times per week.

(aside: DAWG! is back)

well, for starters, i don't have a digital camera, or a card reader for my laptop, so it's always gonna be a hassle if i just want to photograph a figure. my way around that? piece together multiple images from the 'net (god bless google).

the problems are: a lot of images are too small, or too blurry to use, and even the ones that are clear and i can use a small bit of, have to be altered and/or cleaned up for me to put them together in that little square on the right.

and that takes time. time i could be shopping or reading or otherwise catching up on the action figure news. and lately, even that has fallen by the wayside.

i have 2 weeks of comics to read. i have some krypto to archive-to-tape for Evebird and family, and then there's always housework. (and did i mention, i dont have photoshop on my laptop? or room for it?)

so it's a wonder i have anything up at all.

screaming. out loud.

there was a time when things got so crazy around here, that emptying my wastepaper basket and running around with it on my head shouting "ooga booga booga" and flailing my arms seemed more sensible than any of my work.

OOGA.

BOOGA.

BOOGA.

but, it's not my work this time. my work is going ok. projects are moving forward, and at least right this second, things are logical.

it's my friends' work. they're driving me to insanity as i try to prove to them the illogic behind their flawed system. the system is flawed, AND you're trying to run flawed code on top of it. hey! there's a combination for success.

OOGA.

BOOGA.

BOOGA.

Days like this make me think I'm a better programmer than I am. Or vice versa. Some days good code just flows naturally... some days not. This week is a good week, apparently.

Except for the oogly-boogly code that my friends have sent me for fixing. THAT, my friends, is just plain scary.

get yer crack here...

so, today, i went on a lunchtime run, after having to explain to my boss that i both pack my lunch AND leave for an hour, so I can run all over creation looking for shapely pieces of plastic to set on my shelf.

and, you know what I found up in dublin? nothing. however, i did find that target had gotten yet another case of the new 3.5" Titans figures, and someone had snagged cinderblock and raven. again. of course, tru had the same-old, and meijer had nothing new, but had raised their prices on mulch... but they seem to be the only ones who carry it, and my truck bed was empty, so i got another 20 bags.

fun stuff, i'll tell ya. not as exciting as plastic, but when the bags are wet and slippery, it's fun to try to throw them in the truck. one more trip and i might have enough for the back yard, and be ready for when this rainy weather finally breaks.

april showers bring may flowers. and judging by the temps this weekend, we might actually get the 3 snows after the forscythia bloomed.

ah well, more time to sort crack.

April 21, 2005

i cant be that smart.

either my other webdev friends are just retarded, or i'm a genius. and you all know that is NOT the case. i know i have crappy css behind gigamatic. i'm a mediocre web guy, and i do what i can in < 6 hours per year.

i have friends... other web developers... who have craptastic sites full of bad css, unnecessary javascripts, and (feel free to shudder) table-based graphical layouts. "come look at my site! isnt it cool!" (flash, animated gif, javascript rollovers... amateurs.)

i'm not a web god. if you think i am, then you need a good whack with a proverbial 2x4. or you're just being nice because you don't know any better. but christ, people, start living in the modern age if you're trying to sell yourself as a web geek.

i just edited about 400 lines of heavy formatted table-based old-school HTML with an attached 100-line style sheet (the html also had at least 2 head's and 3 sets of body tags, extra /tables, etc.) into about 100 lines of lean, clean, css based html. sure, i've only tested it in one browser so far, but right now it renders exceptionally smooth in Firefox.

and the graphics? dont even get me started on those. hello? who the hell were you designing for? the blind? there were so many highly-compressed highly-artefacted (is that a word?) jpegs it looked like baby vomit on the screen. and lumpy baby vomit, at that.

ick. that was harsh. but come on... get with the times.

names have been left out to protect the guilty from ridicule.

April 20, 2005

rainy and grey for the next week?

the forecast for dump-trips and cookouts is looking pretty bad. according to weather.com, it's supposed to be rainy and grey till the middle of next week, highs in the 40s and even lows in the 30s (48/32 this weekend).

aaargh. i suppose it's a good time to do toy inventory and clean the back bedroom.

April 19, 2005

mystery log

Of course, the damn rain blocked me from working in the yard last night. But, before dinner, when things were still dry, Nala was standing in the back doorway and said "Hey, did you put that log there?"

Confused, I said "What log?"

"The log in the back yard."

"Huh?"

"The log that's in the middle of our yard."

"I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about."

Then I looked out the window, and there was a 4-5 foot long x 6-8" diameter log sitting about halfway back to our garden. No real sign of impact, which was odd. It wasn't there when I left for work yesterday morning.

Granted, the drunks next door have been throwing rocks and small stuff in people's yards, trying to kill squirrels, but this probably fell from the cottonwood in Marie's yard. I'm just glad nobody was under it when it fell.

April 18, 2005

Isobel Stevens?

greysheigl.pngOk, so I'm intrigued by the promos for this Grey's Anatomy show. Hm. Sandra Oh. Patrick Dempsey. Wait. Who's that chick? She's hot. And familiar.

She's Katherine Heigl. Hot alien do-gooder Isabel Evans on Roswell, who played the Samantha Stevens character in one "Bewitched"-style episode. She now plays Isobel Stevens on Grey's Anatomy. Someone's having a joke.

Damn ABC. They are becoming Must See TV. With 4 hit shows (Lost, Desperate Housewives, Boston Legal, and now Grey's Anatomy), will they finally be on top in the ratings war?

jbr.pngAs for the other cast of Roswell... we've seen Shiri Appleby in some movies on SciFi, and Majandra Delfino there as well. Colin Hanks shows up on the big screen on occasion, and Jason Behr just did a movie with Sarah Michelle Gellar (and some fans will remember his appearance on Buffy, too). Emilie de Ravin just had a baby on Lost. Sadly, Brendan Fehr and his long hair haven't appeared much since the series ended, and hunky/geeky (i cant explain it) Nick Wechsler seems to have stopped acting altogether?

Come on, even late cast addition Adam Rodriguez has a role on CSI: Miami.

Yes, I'm a geek. And sadly, the rain did not cooperate with my plans to move crap outside, so I've just watched last night's Desperate Housewives and wished I tivo'd Grey's Anatomy, which threw me on this tangent.

been quiet. working.

this weekend, thanks to mr t. and the devil dog, i got about half of the rubble taken to the dump... the equivalent of about 4 pickup truck loads, and it only cost me $40. tonight, my plan is to sort out the "good" bricks out of the rest of the rubble, and maybe even load up the truck with more. (the dump opens at 6am, and closes at 6pm, so a before- or after-work trip is totally do-able). the quicker that gets done, the quicker I can move on to other things. like mulching. or planting. or new storm windows.

or the dreaded back patio... (dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnn).

April 15, 2005

the f*ckeduppedness never ends

Undercover Stripper takes ID (Driver's License, SSN) Legally. (officer.com AP story)

We could call the stripper an undercover agent without any cover, but the potential consequences for the victim of the identity theft were not funny at all.

Even less amusing is the claim by the county prosecutor, Gary Nasal, that the sting operation was legal under a state law he says allows authorities to assume the identity of anyone during an investigation. (Toledo Blade - editorial)

Wow. Just wow.

rooms to let, 50 cent

today, i read the rental rates for the new Gateway apartments and laughed. They're ONLY renting to graduate students, law students, faculty and staff. And it's a good thing, too, because it looks like you need a nice hefty income to live there.

let's start with the law students: (S = Studio, 1/2/3 = Bedrooms, rent is per month)
S, 405 sq ft, $580
1, 671 sq ft, $710
2, 990 sq ft, $1050

now, other grad students, faculty and staff:
S, 420 sq ft, $755
1, 678 sq ft, $810
1, 750 sq ft, $855
2, 1082 sq ft, $1155
3, 1625 sq ft, $1835
3, 1930 sq ft, $2160

Yikes. I have a feeling that will either a) drop or b) keep the places vacant for the foreseeable future.

April 14, 2005

i wish it weren't true

i grew up in rural ohio. cattle farms (beef), and milkhouses. coal miners and truck drivers. you get the picture.

but, despite all that, my school district was the best in the county, including our foreign language programs and our history/government department. since i left, the science department had also improved, and due to open enrollment, the school is at maximum capacity.

and in desperate need of levies, as are most public schools.

so when my mom sent a whole front page of the newspaper, i was shocked and amazed to find out my teacher, and later friend, now the middle school principal, had been essentially fired. his contract was let expire, even after the recommendation for renewal.

why?

well, if you'd lived in the school district, you'd know, unfortunately, that all things are cyclical with the school board. the woman with the biggest penis in a 100 mile radius rules the roost yet again, with her trusty yokel sidekick, each with less than half a brain.

or maybe, as some other politicians, they're just evil.

when i was in school, they pulled this exact same bullshit with another principal. the town was so outraged, you would've thought these assholes would've been run out of town tarred and feathered. or worse. seriously. have you ever seen a school board meeting in a school gymnasium, with the bleachers packed as if a basketball game is in in progress? full of screaming angry townspeople!

they learned from their mistakes. they now decline to find THAT large of a meeting area.

so, in time, the townspeople moved on, or forgot, or grew too old to care, and the same folks got re-elected to the school board. and now, the same shit has happened again. the only difference is, i'm older now, and i really want to tell these asshats where they can shove their opinions.

when every teacher and every student speaks out in his behalf, when townspeople cry foul, and the superintendent makes the recommendation to renew the guy's contract... and you do the opposite? and you dont actually give reasons for dropping the guy's contract? (rumor is that they were making way for a relative of big-penis-lady to take the position...)

i feel really bad for the soon-to-be-ex-principal. he actually made me care about government, and economics, and got me involved in both Boys' State and the Close Up project in DC. and now he's being totally shat upon.

fuck you, you fucking fuckballs. i hope he becomes superintendent in the next town over, makes more money, turns their school around, and puts yours out of business. or that you choke on it, motherfuckers.

sorry, i lost all composure. but when these yahoos controlled the school board the last time, i cant even list all the bad shit that happened.

there goes next year's emergency levy, too. dumbasses.

recruitment, but higher.

The top story in the Dispatch today was about OSU creating a position for their new athletic director's wife: (another) Associate VP of
Development, paying $200k/yr. Her husband will be making $450,000/yr.

I understand that they must've REALLY wanted this new Athletic
Director, Gene Smith from AZ State. But did we really need his wife,
who will not be funded out of the Athletics budget? To quote the Dispatch:

About half her time will be spent coordinating a universitywide fundraising campaign, according to the job description.
Although the job is a new one, it would have been created soon because OSU is about to begin a major fundraising campaign, Conlisk said. The last major campaign ran from 1995 to 2000.

"Her experience met our needs," Conlisk said. "The timing worked out really well."

Conlisk said Gene Smith was hired with the understanding that the university would try to find a job for his wife.

"It’s not uncommon for organizations to provide help to the spouse who comes along with the employee," she said. "It’s all part of recruiting the best people you can recruit. Companies and universities have to look at the issue of the so-called trailing spouse."

Just because everyone jumps off a bridge, you will, too?

Conlisk said the issue didn’t come up when other high-profile OSU Athletics Department employees were hired such as athletics director Andy Geiger, football coach Jim Tressel and basketball coach Thad Matta.

It seems, yes, she did a similar job at other universities, and apparently performed well, but at the same time, she should've been interviewed like any other candidate... WHEN THE JOB WAS CREATED.

April 13, 2005

working the media

so, i installed garageband.
i do not like. at all. too simple.

so, mixmaster mic turned me on to audacity. which kicks ass.
remember soundedit 2 and later soundedit 16?
like that.

and then(!) he pointed me at audio somethjing something which i forgot. but basically it lets you add sound effects and whatnot.

i am so happy!

April 12, 2005

going to the dump

Mr T finally gave me directions to (and the name of) the construction waste landfill! You know what that means?

GOODBYE EYESORE!

I'll start making trips on Saturday morning, and we will be free!

April 11, 2005

il divo?

is it just me, or does anyone else who sees the ad for "il divo" automatically convert it to "il homo"? It's such a childish fark thing to do, but i can't help it.

I can't believe I'm tempted to download their version of "Unbreak My Heart".

i have (of all people) my dad to thank for exposing me to the works of the great contemporary tenors. in the last 15 years, his tastes in music swung what I consider 180-degrees from the old country greats.

Let me tell you, it is indeed a scene to behold when my father arrives, windows rolled down, whipping his truck into our driveway at breakneck speed, singing along with Placido Domingo.

One thing can be said: my father does not fit the redneck mold.

awkward college reunions, part 2

So, there's this guy who works here on campus who I was certain was a guy I knew when I was at that other university... back in my drunken auschwizian days. I never approached him, partly for fear it wasn't him, partly for fear he wouldn't remember me, and partly for fear he'd like to forget that time in his life. I remembered he was a good-hearted person, who didn't fit in with most of the folks I hung out with at the time. Looking back, that was pretty good.

We had a handful of mutual friends, some of whom I've stayed in touch with over the years, some of whom I no longer speak to, and some whom I've completely lost touch with. Some of whom dont want to ever remember that time in their lives.

A couple weeks ago, I emailed the distributed consulting list here at State, to find out about locking down Perl on our servers. One of the responses back to me (directly, not to the list) was from him, which confirmed my suspicion that the person I'd seen was the person I knew.

I sent back a reply thanking him for the reassurance I was doing what was right, and noted that his name sounded familiar. Today, I got a reply back from him saying that my name sounded familiar to him, and how would we know each other.

I explained who our mutual friends were, and how I hadnt spoken to the one who had introduced us for quite some time, and how some folks from the old days have been trying to forget everything and everyone about them, so I had been afraid to say hello when I had seen him on campus.

So... back came an email invite to lunch. Tomorrow, in fact.

This could be cool.

chill out!

i've been frantically downloading new music from my favorite online music store thanks to the lovely pepasee promotion... and one of the albums i got was Nettwerk's "Chillout - A Nettwerk Escape" album featuring chillout remixes of a lot of different songs including Delerium, BT, Conjure One, and Sarah McLachlan.

While it still maintains the tunes of standard club fare, chillout is usually softened and downtempo'd enough that even my mom might listen to it. Which means, my friends, I'm getting old.

It's not the best to listen to at work, but it would be good for a slow day out in the garden or lounging in the sun. I prefer my beats uptempo for driving (unless it's really long distance), and can say the same for coding. Give me a driving beat and I go into a focused zone.

I have 53 songs left to use as of now.

April 9, 2005

titans in "steel city"

I forgot how incredibly good it made me feel when I saw the "Titans East" episode of Teen Titans, with the Titans East tower built into a cliff overlooking the river, and I knew EXACTLY where that was.

Steel City := Iron City. Pittsburgh, baby.

Most folks I know have never been to Pittsburgh, and will never have occasion to go, unless to stop at the airport, and will never see the cliff where Titans Tower was built. But some of us have seen it firsthand.

April 8, 2005

merging

fyi: today i started merging all my schizophrenic weblogs into this one, sorting instead into categories. next i will be importing crap from my old blogger account, and then breaking into category archive indexes.

i think there's about 5 other blogs left.

and then, i will probably (pay to) upgrade to the new version of the blog software.

of chicken fingers and paper crack

mr. evebird and i made a quicky lunch run to chas's today in the sunshine to see what wonderful wares were in the 50% off bin. alas, i found no paper crack that interested me, but mr. E found some marvel and tformers crack.

i settled for a $6 bat-crack microman.

while talking, the bird-of-the-twilight reminded me i hadnt done a recent acquisition update lately. i explained that sometimes it's hard to find time. (yeah, i know... i'm lazy).

so, today i updated. see? see? yeah, i know. it's only paper crack, but it's beautiful paper crack.

see, i just want to take the time to make a nice 180px square with some art and a product shot whenever i do a plastic-crack update... and i hadnt taken the time. i have acquired some very good items in the last couple weeks... i really should update it more.

and then we ate really greasy but delicious chicken fingers with the mysterious peppery creamy tart brown sauce at Cane's.

I'll have to do the grey vs. white Darkseid graphic later.

April 7, 2005

wtf...

kelly sent me news the other day of a hostage situation between students at OU. i've read 3 articles now... and it's crazy.

the armed captor was from wintersville. his captive roommate was from shadyside. for 17 hours, the captor forced his roommate to drive around the state at gunpoint.

he was caught, alone, in the main library, no shots fired, although he had two handguns on his person.

the student paper put a "library safety" spin on the story, which seems odd.

read more here. (dispatch, subscription needed)

just insane.

revisiting 1995-1997

ooh... i pulled out some of my old aircheck tapes and was listening (and ripping) them at work today... occasionally finding gems. (in between my godawful voice).

no personality. at all. keep in mind, i'm not a very comfortable in my own skin as it is, let alone at 2am when i'm really f*cking tired.

but i found some songs i liked at the time that i barely remembered playing. (i also came to the conclusion i need to rip from a stereo and not a walkman. eww. dead batteries all over.)

a sample tracklist:
silver jet: kid
rev. horton heat: it's martini time
kmfdm: sex on the flag
kula shaker: hey dude
dinosaur jr: nothin's goin on
ben folds five: battle of who could care less
nine inch nails: down in it
pavement: shady lane
sneaker pimps: six underground
smiths: oscillate wildly
depeche mode: enjoy the silence

ipod vs. upgrade.

hm.

today i dug out my rio s10 mp3 player... a gift from nala a couple birthdays ago. i always liked it, but at 64MB, it's kind of wimpy in the storage dept. i can get most of an album on it at 128k encoding. at least, i think that's what i did. what i have right now is 9 tracks from the Hackers soundtrack.

and you know how i've been talking about getting a new iPod.

well, lets just say, for considerably less than the cost of a new iPod, i can upgrade my little s10 to hold 1GB of songs, and not have to learn new technology. and it's supported in iTunes.

While i'm not sure of battery life, it takes ONE regular AA battery. It's small enough to fit in my pocket. It's small enough to fit in my truck glovebox. I already have the padded case. I have the connection cables. I have the earbuds.

Nala thought he had done me wrong those years ago, by buying such a useless device, but now, it looks like he was just ahead of his time. This "lame" gift from 3 birthdays ago turned out to be a good deal!

And he wonders why I love him? :)

April 6, 2005

happy 34 evebird

to everyone's favorite plastic-crack world-traveller, Evebird, happy birthday!

April 4, 2005

more who news...

David Tennant selected to play 10th Who (if his agent can work it out).

According to this article, he's going to shoot a regeneration scene for the 13th episode of the season, and he (not Eccleston) will do the Holiday Special, if I read it correctly. Tennant had voiced characters for Who web series before.

Christ, BBC knows how to clusterf*ck popular series, don't they? That's like not contracting Jeff to do another season of Coupling. Oh wait, they did that, too. At least Oliver ran a comic shop with some Dalek toys parroting "Ex-ter-mi-nate!" but Jeff remains my favorite.

Anywho --- back to Who. Apparently Eccleston had a gentleman's agreement to stay.

Daleks will renegotiate contract for Season 2

Who the hell does [Eccleston] think he is?

salt and peppah

whoever created salt and pepper kettle-style potato chips needs to be highly praised. these things rock. and they're GFS, so they're probably cheap.

Mmm. Of course between my allergies and the pepper, they're giving my nose a workout!

April 1, 2005

typecasting

Now, it has been said that Christopher Eccleston has left Doctor Who because he feared being typecast... BBC has run a wonderful article about other actors and the roles which haunted them forever. Examples include Christopher Reeve, Sean Connery, Christopher Lee, Helena Bonham Carter and Alec Guinness, and have quotes from each...

The best, however, is the following, from Ms. Doe-a-deer herself, Julie Andrews, who, after baring her breasts in S.O.B, had this to say:

Does Mary Poppins have an orgasm? Does she go to the bathroom? I assure you she does.

Perhaps she should find Mr. Patrick Stewart so she could have him make a cake commemorating the event?

(Discussing whether or not he is typecast by audiences as Jean-Luc Picard): I think perhaps when I first walk in front of the camera they'll say, "Aha, there, ah, yeah, Jean-Luc, we recognize him despite that charming little mustache." I believe that audiences are really smart enough to let go of that pretty quickly, but that's also my job as an actor to persuade them that, you know, Jean-Luc Picard is left behind and this is someone entirely different... I mean, I'm an actor dedicated to transforming myself and to creating original pieces of work, and I will not accept that my life is going to be forever connected to Jean-Luc Picard in the roles that I play. On the other hand, I'm absolutely delighted that he's still in my life.

Of course, Eccleston is no Patrick Stewart, in my opinion. Stewart loves comic books and Beavis and Butthead. And in a strange Who connection, was on the short list to play the Castellan in "Arc of Infinity" and Professor Watson in "Hand of Fear". Perhaps he's ready to do more sci-fi? Hey, BBC, want to get an American audience? Think about it.

my other (radio) life

once upon a time, i worked at a radio station, with a bunch of other crazy folks. i consider it to be one of the most fun, rewarding, and educational times in my life. the people i worked with were top notch, and for the most part, like me, took their work VERY seriously. as seriously as (or sometimes even more serously than) we take our work now.

except for jay. jay was busy playing solitaire on an ancient (even by their standards) computer. (just kidding, skullf*cker, you know i'm your #1 fan).

so, let's just say, I know how bad student radio budgets suck. they suck ASS. ASS I SAY! And they suck ass worse if your school doesnt give a shit about you anymore, which is happening more and more as this shift to online broadcasting happens.

so what i'm saying is, support college radio, wherever it may be. the studios, the equipment, the music, the broadcasting (airwave or Internet, thanks DMCA), the publicity, the events, they all cost money. and there's some GOOD talent out there, as well as some good music to listen to. And if these kids don't have a training ground, you're going to end up with even more stations in automation... because it's cheaper and easier. and that sucks the life out of radio. you might as well listen to a mixtape.

my old station doesn't even get funding from the telecommunications school (if i recall) only from student activities fees and student organization money, and any revenue they can generate from advertising, mobile gigs (djs for events), and anything else they can think of.

the current gang of execs there is doing a great job, and are highly motivated. part of which might be because they're due to move into a new building next year. and if they can squeeze out some more funds, they might actually be able to keep it!