It wasn't me. You can't prove anything.


2006-02-28

Which God are You?

Athena
Athena

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

I flunked out of college. I was a solid C student all through school. I did just quit a job in order to take a better job that would force me to learn. Not a bad gig.
Ask Nat, if I'm not doing something that occupies my mind, I fall asleep.
Day
I must have had five things I wanted to write about this afternoon at work. I didn't have two minutes to jot down notes. I got home and ordered some Chinese. Elle had a bit of a relapse last night. She is walking a bit stiff-legged tonight. She seems to be getting over whatever it is that gave her a limp.
There is noting in the news that I care about. The food will be here in a minute. I'm watching some troubling movie called The Alibi. It isn't very good. I have not seen Sam Elliott in a movie in a while. Glad to know he has found the work. I thought he did a better job that the rest of them. It proves a point. Sometimes, being very good at what you do, just makes things worse.


2006-02-27

Day
What was I thinking today? Something interesting. Something funny happened. Something serious. It was all the same thing. It happens every day. It is most always different. It's called life.
I went to work. Elle went to the hospital. Her legs hurt. It turns out she had sat funny and her legs fell asleep. She just did the same thing a little while ago. She cried like something was trying to eat her alive. Nat and I convinced her to walk around a bit. She was fine in two minutes. I'm keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't sit like that again. What are you going to do?
In other news, I went through a code review at work today. Ouch. It was enlightening. I learned a lot. It was one of the most taxing things I've had to sit through in a while. One of the other programmers showed me a drawing of stick figures. One had his head on a block and the other was about to chop it off. That is kind of how it feels. I don't have a problem as long as I feel like I'm learning something and the code is somehow better after the fact. I do have trouble with making changes just to make changes. I know that will happen too. I just have to remember that I'm paid by the hour and the people who pay me are the ones making the changes.
What is in the above paragraphs that makes this whole thing add up to life? Well, everything. I also sat down and watched an episode of the Simpson's that I had not seen before. I took the bus home. Nat dropped me off at work. I skipped lunch and went to the video store to drop off some late movies. I'm watching A History of Violence. I don't think much of that adds up to life.


2006-02-26

Domino

Domino
Bad place to be. When you freeze frame the shot, it looks like everyone is standing around. Now, I know why they had so many bouncing around shots in the movie. It really gave it a sense of action.

Domino
This is a publicity stunt shot. Goofy and planned. It was supposed to look that way.

Domino
This is a much better shot that is in the middle of one of those cuts that this movie has all over it. I tell you, it makes capturing a frame more interesting.

Domino
It took me ten tries to get this screen shot. The camera kept wiggling around. Those are supposed to be monkey skulls on the bottom of the windshield. It makes sense that a bunch of bounty hunters would travel around in an RV. I hope they don't have many stealth jobs.
Day
While surfing the net, I came across a couple of interesting things.
Help crack WWII Nazi Enigma machine codes that never made the cut back in the day. I read somewhere that radar was not really invented in 1940. It was still on the drawing board, but not ready for field use. I forget what year it really was the use of the captured Enigma machine and codes  That was probably BS. Who knows.
A blog all about purses. Expensive purses.
Plane crash statistics. It isn't the page, it is the "sabotage" category that freaks me out.
Will Sony pull another betamax?
When you live by the rules of political correctness, you hurt the freedom of speech. Who knew how delicate this freedom was?
Terrorists have great PR. Well, not that great.
A personal tragedy avoided in Israel.

Elle is on her way back home after a weekend with the grandparents. It is a beautiful day outside. At least Elle got out to a park to enjoy it.
Nat and I couldn't make the cook-off yesterday. It was rainy and Nat is just now getting over a bad caught.


2006-02-25

Generations

ONE FINE FALL DAY AT THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME

A very self-important college freshman at a recent football game, took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen sitting next to him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his own.

"You grew up in a different, actually almost primitive, world," the student said loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. "We young people today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon, our spaceships have visited Mars. We even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing ...and uh.."

Taking advantage of a pause for breath in the student's litany, the "wizened" one said, "You're right, Son. We didn't have those things when we were young, so we invented them you arrogant young pup!! Now what are you doing for the next generation?"

From a friend's mail

This sort of thing will always be true.
Death penalty in Texas.

In Texas, the district courts have original jurisdiction for all criminal felony cases. If an individual is convicted of a capital felony, he or she may be subject to punishment by death, if the State sought such punishment. A capital felony is one in which an individual "intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual," under special circumstances. In particular, the:
# murder of a public safety officer, firefighter, or correctional employee;
# murder during the commission of specified felonies (kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated rape, arson);
# murder for remuneration; multiple murders;
# murder during prison escape; murder of a correctional officer;
# murder by a state prison inmate who is serving a life sentence for any of five offenses; [or]
# murder of an individual under six years of age1.

In Texas, a person must be of at least 17 years of age at the time of the crime to have the death penalty imposed upon him or her2.

I heard somewhere that Texas did not call it "capital murder". I was wrong.


2006-02-24

Day
I felt pretty good today. I got over a pretty good hump on my first project. It took much longer than It would have if I were already proficient in the TCL language. I suppose that's normal.
Nat and I are headed to the rodeo cook-off tomorrow. It should be fun. As I type this, we are at my parent's place. Nat and my mom went to the drug store for something. My dad is playing with Elle. I'm, of course, in on the computer tapping away on my blog. There is a seventy percent chance of rain tomorrow. I'm planning on getting wet. I hope nothing bad happens to our car. I've heard bad things about the parking and ride.
I got to go over to DnD night last night. I only stayed for a bit, but it was enough to make me want to do it more. I'm not sure when we plan on playing again. Hopefully soon.
I want to get Nat on EveOnline. I think she would either think it was over complex and ignore it, or she would love it.
My parents have cable. Battlestar Galactica is on. Drat. I'm going to get hooked. ... Uh, oh. This is one of those "thinking" episodes.


2006-02-23

Day
Another busy day. I learned that you can not get TCL to make a soft link unless you have the latest version. That is geeky. I must have learned something else. I cannot think. I'm so tired. Nat is worn out too. She went shopping with a friend all day. The friend lives in BFE so Nat and Elle had to pick her up and drive all over hell and gone. I ended up over at Adam's place for DnD night. I didn't play. Nat swung by to pick me up.
My God! that's boring. Why am I so tired after such a boring day?


2006-02-22

Joke

New Texas Parks and Wildlife Rules

Due to the shooting of an Attorney by Vice President Cheney, there needs to
be some clarification of the rules and regulations. Here are the new
regulations:

1. Any person with a valid State hunting license may harvest attorneys.

2. The taking of attorneys with traps or deadfalls is permitted. The use of
currency as bait is prohibited.

3. The killing of attorneys with a vehicle is prohibited. If accidentally
struck, remove road kill to roadside, then proceed to nearest car wash.

4. It is unlawful to chase, herd, or harvest attorneys from a helicopter or
other aircraft.

5. It shall be unlawful to shout, "whiplash," "ambulance!" or, "Free
Perrier!" for the purposes of trapping attorneys.

6. It shall be unlawful to use cocaine, young boys, $100 bills, prostitutes,
or vehicle accidents to attract attorneys.

7. It shall be unlawful to hunt attorneys within 200 yards of whorehouses,
health spas, ambulances, or hospitals.

8. If an attorney is elected to government office, there will be a $500
bounty on the pelt.

9. Stuffed or mounted attorneys must have a state health department
inspection for rabies, vermin and contagious diseases.

10. It shall be illegal for a hunter to disguise himself as a reporter, drug
dealer, pimp, female law clerk, sheep, accident victim, bookie, or tax
accountant for the purposes of hunting attorneys.

Attorney Bag Limits:

Yellow-Bellied Sidewinder = 5
Hairless Civil Libertarian = 7
Skinny-Assed Ambulance Chaser = 12
Horse or Cattle Rustler Defender = 20
Silver-Tongued Murderer Defender = 50
Jack-Legged Divorce Litigator = No limit
Honest Attorney = Extinct

GOOD HUNTING!

A buddy of mine sent me this in an email. Too funny. I am so very sick of hearing about the accident. I've never been hunting. I know that it is a dangerous hobby. At least as dangerous as say, playing full contact football.

Song

I have the theme song to Sesame Street going through my head. I can't remember the last time I heard that song. Someone please make it stop.


2006-02-21

Religion of Peace

Details released by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) on Tuesday revealed that graphics appearing on the Hamas website call for the destruction of Israel in a nuclear holocaust.

On the website, a red Star of David is encased in a black rectangle which is then obliterated in a nuclear explosion.

Please, can someone give these folks their own country to run. ... Pretty please.


2006-02-20

Time
No time to blog. Life, life all over the place. Good though. Good directions. Fast. Fast and bumpy. Fun. Many times fun.

=]

More blogging soon, promise.


2006-02-19

Flash
I finally got Flash working with sound on my Ubuntu box. Bastards can't hold me down for log. People keep sending me links of cool videos on video.google.com. It drove me nuts not having no sound. I finally found some pretty simple instructs that said to install the binary from Macromedia instead of through the automatic installers that so many distros are using these days like yum and synaptic.
I'm glad I got if fixed too because they have some cool videos on Google.

Some of the videos below have strong language. If you look too closely, there may be some nudity too. Watch at your own risk.

4x4 and other vehicle stuff
Most impressive 4x4 rock climbing effort ever.
Frozen mud 4x4.
French excuse for 4x4.
Building a 4x4 (long, but some cool burnouts.)
Tonka-toy mud-boggers.
Real toy 4x4.
Nasty roll-over.
Trials bike making it look easy.
Rally crash.
More Rally crash.

Air
Aquatic plane crash. (I don't think any one got hurt.)
RC chopper Just as dangerous as the real thing.
Chopper crash military. Funny story here. I actually carried this video with me on my thumb drive for a while just to show people. I have no idea if any one got hurt.
Video game chopper action.

Gumball
Gumball 3000 movie.
Back of truck.
"My foot is all the way down."
One person's idea of a best of.
One participant's home video.

Other
potato gun.


2006-02-18

Fusion
I hate it when the big boy on the block has the best product. GM gets a pass only because they have so much competition these days. It pisses me off when Microsoft comes out with something new and innovative that really works. I feel the same way about Gillette. I've been using their three bladed razors for years. Before that I used some two bladed version. Well now, I've moved right past four blades to the new five bladed Fusion.
I was running low on razors for the three bladed product. Nat let me use her woman version of a similar design. I have to admit, the handle was much easier to hold and maneuver around my head. I've tried some disposable razors lately, but they always seem to cut me and leave more razor burn behind. Well the Fusion has one of those nice grips and the little extra blade that faces backwards at the top really works to get under my nose hand bits around my ear that always confound me when I shave.
There is nothing line a smooth shaved head. Something about a fresh shave makes me feel clean. The old three bladed razor never really cut me except when it was my fault. That is, until the last cartridge.  I probably put a hundred threw the ringer without a mishap. Thursday, I cut a mole and it bled all day. It is ironic that I already had the new razor sitting next to it on the sink.
Darn it! The biggest most expensive company in the name of shaving has come out with a superior product again. I hate that. Will someone please out perform these dopes and let me know about it.
Thanks Nat for finding new razor. I needed it.
Day
I woke up today with a stiff back. Actually, I tossed and turned all night with it. It happens every time I change my seating in front of the computer. With the new job comes some new posture. We use dual screens and of course, I have to stretch a bit to get to the right hand screen because I sit so close to the monitors. I'm surprised it took this long for the back ache to show up. I need to raise my monitors up a bit at work. I may have to find some old C++ books like I use at home. If I had the money I would get another set of small metal shelves like I used to use at the house. Those are $50 or so. It might be a while. There is a gentleman who makes risers at work who might be bribed into making one for me. I'm sure I'll let y'all know how it goes.
Nat and I are off to a movie in a bit.  It is a who-done-it about a kidnapped child. I'm looking forward to the BLT and a glass of beer.
Nat and I had a nice talk earlier. We covered some of those topics only people who have been in a relationship for sometime cover. It was good to get things out. That kind of thing should happen more often.


2006-02-16

Give 'em Hell France

Iran's nuclear activity is a cover for a clandestine weapons program, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has said in France's most direct attack on Tehran in the escalating international dispute.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator immediately dismissed the charge, insisting that Iran did not "want to have the bomb."
CNN

Is France waking up and dropping a set? Could it be true? I think they just cant avoid the blazingly obvious truth that the leadership in Iran is hell bent on destroying an entire race/religion/country no matter what the cost.


2006-02-15

Which SciFi Crew am I?

You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical aptitude. Is it possible you are the one? Now if only Agent Smith would quit beating up your friends.

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)


100%

Serenity (Firefly)


94%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)


75%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)


69%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)


69%

Moya (Farscape)


69%

SG-1 (Stargate)


63%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)


63%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)


56%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)


50%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)


44%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)


38%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

I have no idea how accurate this is. I do not picture myself as a member of this crew. I thought Star Trek or something. Well, I'm not that great with so many rules. I remember an episode where a boring guy had a boring job doing boring work, and he loved it. He hated it when he had to take on an adventure. He wanted his dark corner and his well known toil.
I like windows. I like trees. If I could work in a tree house, I probably would. Well, except for all the smelly thieving Jawas.


2006-02-14

Rampage

Movie

Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders
Lots of sweeping shots of blinking signs. The director must have bought one of those booms that let you free-rotate the camera. The same shot is repeated fifty times through the movie. They make up for a really crappy story about some dead chicks by having lots and I mean LOTS of great sex scenes and some well done nude shots. It was difficult to catch an interesting shot that didn't have six pares of boobs.
I find myself in a quandary. I'll have to watch a couple more times to really come up with a rating.
Day
It is Valentine's day. Nat, Elle and I went to Outback for dinner. It was fun. I almost ran over to Target to get something at lunch, but the budget just wouldn't allow. I'll have to make it up to her.
It was a pretty good day at work today. I got my machine fixed. X could not connect to my desktop via the servers. We have some Java apps that require this. I made changes to an existing script and make file. Things worked. I couldn't believe it. I feel all accomplished. Tomorrow I put it through some better tests. Then, it is off to the repository. I can't wait.

Joke

An old cowboy went to a bar and ordered a drink. As he sat sipping his whiskey, a young lady sat down next to him. She turned to the cowboy and asked, " Are you a real cowboy?"

He replied, " Well, I've spent my whole life on the ranch, herding horses, mending fences, and branding cattle, so I guess I am."

She said, " I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about women; when I shower, watch TV, eat, whatever, everything seems to make me think of women."

The two sat sipping in silence. A little while later, a man sat down on the other side of the old cowboy and asked, " Are you a real cowboy?"

The old cowboy replied, " I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian."

An oldy, but a goody.


2006-02-12

Some Movies

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This is the best shot in the whole movie. I have to say, I was entertained.


Amityville_horror

Amityville Horror. In a word. "eh" Not even that scary. Not much of a twist. It just didn't grab me.


Munich

Munich. Spielberg may not know his subject very well, but he knows how to frame a shot.


Ware Rabbit

The Ware Rabbit. Worth a watch. A good show. It does not pretend to be anything it is not. They lost a bunch of the props in a fire after opening day.
DynDNS
I use a service for my IP tracking. Di I need to explain what a dynamic IP is? I use DynDNS.org. It is free for the amateur user and seems to work pretty well. The thing is, you need to run a service on one of your servers that stays on all the time to keep telling DynDNS.org what your IP is if it has changed. I had a crappy one for windows for a while, then I found a nice one thanks to the guys at T-Pro. I found a little command line program called INADYN. The main thing I like about it is it compiled on the first try. It looks like it will work off the showroom floor. Yay me. This allows me to replace my one Windows server with a Linux box. I will use Fedora Core 4 because it is basically what we use at work. I may have to dump Ubuntu for it on my main machine.
Random is as Random does
* I founds some good information on RPM. Now all I have to do is read it.
* I still cannot get Java to work on my home machine properly. I've reinstalled it and messed with it. Nothing. It is highly frustrating.
* I haven't read many blogs in the last week. It turns out I have not missed much. It seems like the only thing that has changed is the weather. Oh, and one friend lost her dad. That sucks. Mostly they are ranting about the Iran nuclear problem or the cartoon controversy and how envoys are being recalled.
* Elle is on her way back from my parent's place. Nat is still under the weather. I'm looking forward to the company.
* The sun is shining and the air is bitter cold. It is kind of nice, if you have the cloths for it.
* There is nothing on TV. Not that I want to watch it anyway. I'm still glad I do not have cable or satellite.
* I have the entire first season of the new Doctor Who and it will not fit on one DVD. It wants to go one file over. That kind of pisses me off.
* The cat puked on the carpet. ... again. Something is wrong with that cat. I've given up on trying to get him to shit inside the box. I just put a pad out front so I can throw it outside. (yuck)
* I woke up today at 8:00. It seems like that is a good time to get up. I normally get up at around 6:30 now to get to work. Before, when I got up at 4:40 every day I would sleep in on the weekends until noon. I have the funniest feeling that is going to change.
* I just dropped the tab to my coke in the can. Nat wants to save those things for some reason. This just might be my last post.


2006-02-11

Good Job

I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is
stalk them and hope they panic and give in..
. . .
I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things. 

Worth a quick visit just for the graphics.
Week 1
No post yesterday. I was too busy. I had to work until 6:00 like normal. We took Elle over to my parent's place in Missouri City. We ended up staying there for a while. Nat was proud that she was in fact able to turn the car around in the top part of my parent's driveway. She has wanted to do that for a while.
Nat is not feeling well. She has had a cold ever since her brother came over before last weekend to check his email. He was laughing all over her keyboard and mouse. Now she has been down for a week. She still has the cough, but I can tell she is feeling a little better because she yells at me more now. Before she was just sleeping all the time. (I'm going to get it for that one.)
There are a couple of things I need to get done for work. I need to figure out how to get Java to work on my work machine. I need to get a better mouse pointer on my home machine. I need to learn all about RPM. All I want to do is relax and surf the net for a while. It makes me sick. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm also recovering from a job at actually challenges me. It is going to take a wile to get used to that. It feels like a sore muscle that needs to be exercised. It is awesome.
Yes, I'm sitting here writing in my blog.


2006-02-09

Day 4
Much better. I'm on the hump I think. Tomorrow is Friday. I cannot wait. I'm looking forward to my first weekend in a long time. I really want the time off to rest. It's been a long time since I needed the rest. My old job was not challenging enough for me. I was not in a place where I learned enough. I'm glad on so many levels that I'm making the leap. I hope I can keep up with these brilliant people.


2006-02-08

Day 3
Day 3 was an improvement. I learned without feeling completely useless and a drag on every one around me. I actually got something to compile and run from code in Linux. I made a modification to the code with a great deal of help from others  I then got it back in the repository. This might work out after all.
So, what am I doing at the new job you ask. I could tell you, but then I would have to track you all down and make you sign a non-disclosure agreement. I write programs that test data. It is terrificly boring unless you are an uber geek like me.
Today is my 37th birthday. I got calls from old friends. Nat, my mom and Josh rememberd my birthday. A couple others had to be prodded. I called some of the folks from the old job just to keep in touch. I really need to get that email together with my contact info and an update on how things are going. I may post some of the responses. Maybe not.
I like the new digs. I like the window office even though we keep the blinds closed. I like the people. They are all smart and driven. They are mostly geeks too. That helps I think.
Nat, Elle and I went to Chilli's to celebrate my birthday. Elle ended up with a corn on the cob. They put one stick in the cob and expect people to be able to eat it. I wish I had a video of Elle wrestling with that thing for ten minutes before I took pity on her and stuck the stick out of my cob in the other end of her corn. She gobbled it up like a typewriter after that.
Well, it is off to fill out insurance and 401K paperwork.


2006-02-07

Day 2
Oh my God. Today was a nightmare. I couldn't get the test program to "make". It turned out to be a real problem, but how the hell was I supposed to know that? I never did get the software to work. I kept finding problems and not recognizing them as problems. Half the time I was hitting my learning curve and the other half of the time something really was broken. Try to learn in that environment.
I took the buss home. It takes 50 minutes to make the ten minute drive home. That is about right. The bus goes right by the office, so no long walk.
Pizza showed up. got to go.


2006-02-06

First Day
Just in case you hadn't heard, I changed jobs. This was my first day at the new employer. I ran through some introductions and some quick training. I got my computer about an hour before I walked out of the place. Before that, I red some instruction manuals. It took a a while to get the duel monitors to work properly. Now, all I need is a login and password on the network. It all comes together tomorrow.
I'm off to do some homework.


2006-02-05

Gumball 3000
Movies Clunky and a bit choppy, but worth it.
Official Site God-offal Flash requirements.
Most guys who watch this want to jump right in. I have to say, it looks like a great deal of fun. I remember stories about these kinds of races usually relating to the movies that came out in the eighties. I have no idea how much of this is true, but I know they want to go through China in 2006. That should be interesting.
I'm not a competitive sole.  I prefer DnD, cooperative computer games and the like. Perhaps the Gumball thing is not my bag. Oh, well, isn't there a football game on today?
Technorati
How do you find anything on Technorati? I put in all kinds of searches that should have brought back specific things and none of it worked. I tried the same searches on Google and they came back more like I expected.
The truth is that it really seems that blogs have high rankings. I'm not sure where to go with this information. I'm getting hits from Technorati. I've gotten a couple of comments from people who came to my site from Technorati. Oh, well. Live, learn, you know the story. The story that goes nowhere. This is one of those.
Evening
I'm doing laundry. I'm hungry. It's late. Nat is asleep. Nat will go to a Super Bowl party tomorrow. I don't feel comfortable going so I'll stay home with Elle.
Today we went to Nat's mom's to pick up a painting. It's funny how that took the whole day.
I should be studying for the new job, but I cannot concentrate. I've been a a horrible mood all day. I really hope it is the stress of changing jobs. I'm in a knot.
Say a prayer for me, or wish me luck if you like.


2006-02-04

Bambi II

Bambi II 01


Bambi II 02


Bambi II 03


Bambi II 04

Bambi II
What can I say. This has got to be the cutest movie I've seen in a while. It pulls off cute too. The story basically covers the time between Bambi's mother's death and the time he is a full grown buck. Did I mention it was cute?


2006-02-03

DnD in movie form
Hollywood cannot make a good DnD movie. The best adaptation of the medium was the DnD cartoon from the eighties. Now, they have come put with Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of the Dragon God. This movie is no different.

DnD Movie

The above snap shot pictures the group minus the cleric that appropriately died prematurely and could not heal any one the rest of the game, I mean movie. He was pulling a "look, I can fight too" that clerics are quite famous for and was gobbled up by the dragon.
The guy on the left is some kind of paladin and the leader of the group. Next over is a Amazon like barbarian. Next is the rogue. The far right is the mage. The stone in the foreground is the remains of the over zealous cleric.

DnD Movie

It appears to be a black dragon, but in Hollywood, all dragons breath fire. At least this one could talk, and scheme.

DnD Movie

The fights were not all that great.
The movie was pretty bad. It seemed like the director didn't know how to frame a shot. The story felt more like a half hour show stretched into ninety minutes. The dungeon was very well lit and dry. The weather was always perfect. They did have a battle in a hallway while the rogue picked a lock to effect their escape. I don't like the fact that my favorite character was the litch.
My overall opinion,"eh". There have been several of these lately.
The Hustle

The Hustle sceene
They don't make them like this any more. Great story. Great direction. Great acting. And, scenes like the one above. Where people stand and which way they face is called blocking. This has got to be the best blocked scene I've noticed in a long time. They get full use of the wide screen. Every guy on the screen (they are all men) has a story. Even the ones that never had a line.
A classic.
Morning
It was a strange last day of work. I've been at that company for nine years. I walked in this morning and did my time sheet. Then, I restaged my computer (formated the hard drive and took it back to the day it came in) and gave it to the next person who needs it. Then I left. I walked out at a smidgen after 8:00. It was cool and clear outside. The birds were chirping. The air smelled clean. The people on the bus seemed tired and dreary. I hate how the folks on the bus seem so defeated. I feel good. I have something I have not had in a while when it comes to career and work. I have hope. I was alone for a long time. Then I met Nat and Elle. I worked at the old company for nine years. They were great to me. The company had some bad ideas, but the people made up for it. I really think I stayed this long for the people.
I've threatened to stay in touch with folks at my old job. "old Job" That sounds funny. It feels like an old job. I am so ready to move on. I hope to stay in touch with most folks over there. I'll send out an email probably tomorrow or something. Meanwhile, we are off to get the oil changed in the car and deliver a birthday card to my mom. It is Nat's mom's turn next Friday. That's kind of funny really.
For the moment, I'm officially unemployed. It's a happy unemployed though.


2006-02-02

Update below

Cartoons and WW III

Have you heard about cartoon-gate? What happened is a Danish news paper published some satirical and yes, offensive, cartoons of Mohamed, the Profit of Islam. Now, it is really bad news to say anything about Mohamed that isn't along the "hell of a profit" line. Muslims get quite cross, freedom of speech be damned. It sounds like we have hit an impasse that the jihadis and western culture will not let pass.
Points
Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of the following points.
* Freedom of speech is a fundamental principle of western civilization. Without it we all live in East Moscow circa 1959.
* Killing any who speaks out against, or even saying anything bad about Mohamed is a fundamental principle of Islam. Without it, they are Mormons.
* There have already been death threats and bomb threats over this matter. (see links below)
Commentary
There has been a great deal to-do about a paper that published the drawings in Denmark. Then, a French paper showed support by publishing them as well. I have not heard about any U. S. papers following suit. I have found far too many blogs publishing the cartoons.
I hate to say it, but I'm going to laugh if WW III starts over cartoons in a Danish paper. Then I will, of course, weep over the loss of peace and all the killing and such. But, before that, I will give my best throw-head-back-roaring-belly-laugh!
Links
Great commentary :
Red Hot Cupa Politics
Good links :
Exit Zero
The cartoons :
Wikipedia

Update
Michelle Malkin has a good post.


2006-02-01

Day
Next
We had a conversation at lunch today about replacing computers. I mouthed off that the next big thing will be an iPod that you plug straight into a DVR. You can then take your TV shows with you. This is the next obvious step in my book. I've heard of attempts at this over seas. I'm convinced it is only the rights to the shows and people in power wanting too much money that queer the deal.
Cinelerra
A commenter left a great link to a Beginner's guide to Cinelerra. That is the video editing software that I finally got to install the other day. How cool is that? I have not really accomplished anything yet. I'm glad to be able to capture the video in the first place. I bet I can get those wedding videos to work. Now, I just need to find them.
DnD
It looks like DnD may start back up soon. Ethan, with a bit of help from his lovely wife, had a baby. I've been chomping at the bit. I've missed hanging out with my friends.
Job
Today was a busy day. I trained some people to do what I did. I found out that an old application that I wrote for Microsoft Access 97 just works for Access 2002. I thought for sure some conversion would be required. I feel a bit proud of myself. I wrote that code in 2001 or so. I tried to at least use the correct database calls. It was ADO. I didn't expect it to work without any modifications.