Sith Spoiler
Silent bob speaks out on Sith. Warning, this entry contains a huge spoiler.

"Revenge of the Sith" is, quite simply, fucking awesome. This is the "Star Wars" prequel the haters have been bitching for since "Menace" came out, and if they don't cop to that when they finally see it, they're lying. As dark as "Empire" was, this movie goes a thousand times darker - from the triggering of Order 66 (which has all the Shock Troopers turning on the Jedi Knights they've been fighting beside throughout the Clone Wars and gunning them down), to the jaw-dropping Anakin/Obi Wan fight on Mustafar (where - after cutting his legs and arm off, Ben leaves Skywalker burning alive on the shores of a lava river, with Anakin spitting venomous sentiments at his departing mentor), this flick is so satisfyingly tragic, you'll think you're watching "Othello" or "Hamlet". View Askew

Jar-Jar really pissed me off. I hadn't gotten over the ewaks by that point. I have genuinely lost interest in the franchise. It will take a great movie to bring me back.

Jen Rathbun

	Oopsie, told you the wrong time.  I'll be at the Ace Theater this Saturday (April 30) starting at 8:00pm instead of 7:30 pm.  We'll play a little more for you too.  Of course, you can still come at 7:30 to socialize and have a little glass of wine, if you'd like.  I'd love to see you.
	AceTheater 17011 Bamwood Houston, Texas 77090 $12 Jen www.JenRathbun.com

Jen sent this email out today.

Pictures

Elle Half asleep in the car. Notice that one eye is half open.


Us in Nat's apartment.


Flowers from Nat. Thanks Sweetie.

Day
Over the last couple of days, I have gotten no sleep. Between the new two year old walking around screaming one word over and over, and forcing myself to stay up and spend time with Natalie, I've averaged about two hours of good sleep a night. That is why I fell asleep in a meeting today. I completely didn't see it coming. It was a NetMeeting so I was in my office. No one just walking by can see me in my chair. I made sure of that when I moved in. Anyway. I've been doing well the last couple of days. Even with no sleep, I'm able to keep up. That is, until today.
The meeting was over the install of some software on a server somewhere. We had to uninstall an old version and install the new version with a service pack. Blah-blah-blah. We had some trouble getting the service pack download. I'm watching them search for the file and it errors out. The start it over again. Then, suddenly I jerk awake. Something completely different is going on. I look at the time and twenty five minutes have passed. Thank goodness I put the mute on. I watch the screen for a minute and ask a simple question just to get them to remember I'm there. If they say "Kelly where were you?" i had concocted a plan that my ear phone battery needed replacing. No one noticed a thing. I was really supposed to be an observer in this meeting and learn how the process worked. I didn't even miss anything because of the technical difficulties.
I vaguely remember my head thumping into the monitor, but it is a flat panel, so it just moved out of the way.
I have got to get some sleep, but the only time I get to spend time with Nat is late at night after Elle goes to sleep.

Home
I finally felt like I was at home in my apartment. Natalie went to the store to get some food for tomorrow. They are going to get the military ID and then back to Conroe. I can't watch any of the movies I got because Elle will repeat the actions she sees on the screen.  Nat showed me all the Fair pictures from the late nineties and early two thousands. She was, is and always will be a babe. When Nat walked out of the door I fully expected Elle to throw a fit. Elle had just gotten upset when Nat went to the bathroom without her. Nothing happened. She just brushed her hair and brushed my shaved scalp. She asked to turn on the lamps and i said no. She didn't throw a fit. I asked her if she wanted more milk and she said no. We watched Drew Kerry. Natalie came home from the store and we all had an ice-cream sandwich. It was home for once.

Natalie
Elle, Natalie's two year old daughter, tries to say my name. It comes out "elly" or "gelly" or "keddy". The trouble is it sounds very much like the word she uses for "daddy". I hope that if she does call me daddy someday, she isn't getting the words confused. Natalie and I have been going out for about two weeks or so. We have known each other for many years. I feel like I've just always known her. We seem to be able to stand each other over a short period of time. I really hope this relationship lasts. This one feels right. It isn't just that high you get from the beginning of a new relationship. I've been down that road. Don't get me wrong. There is some of that going on. She hasn't really seen moany pissy Kelly much.
Elle got into everything. She is two. I couldn't help but laugh at some of her antics. Nat told me to stop it because it encourages Elle to do it again. Of course she is right. Having Elle in my apartment over night proves to me that I know nothing about children. It also proves that I can learn. Elle ended up sleeping from about seven pm on. We hit the sack at about 9:15. I have t oget up early and we end up talking for a couple of hours before we go to bed. Well, sure enough about 11:30 Elle wakes up and a couple of things happen.
* Elle cries.
* We comfort Elle.
* We put Elle back in the living room on her little fold up bed mat thing and say good night.
* Elle cries.
* We do not comfort Elle.
* Elle cries.
* Elle says 'ma..ma aa aa aa." like little two year olds do and Natalie nearly caves. I would never have stopped her even if she had asked me to.
* Elle cries.
* Elle walks up to the door of the room, stops, turns around and goes back to the bed. We can only tell this by the sounds of her crying getting closer and the pitter-patter of tiny feet in between the sobs. Natalie informs me Elle was looking for whether the door was open or not. "If the door is closed, I'm going to stand right out side it and cry so they can hear me." Wow, that is one of the motherly powers of which I was not aware. God, that's sexy. * Elle cries.
* We start talking about old times and new friends.
* Elle cries, but not as enthusiastically as before.
* We revel for one moment then realize that she gets a second wind and is at it more than ever.
* Elle stops crying.
* Nat sneaks up to the door and looks around the corner. She turns back to me (with the child's night light back-lighting Nat's hair and figure "wow" runs through my head, ya, head.) and says "She is sitting on the couch."
* After giving some "gilk" to Elle, and shuffling her back off to bed, we retire ... again.
* I get up and go to work. Nat gets not one more moment of sleep because Elle is up for the count.
What an evening. I have to say it was all new to me. It was in a strange way fun. I have been waiting all my life to play the domesticate.

Natalie
Elle, Natalie's two year old daughter, tries to say my name. It comes out "elly" or "gelly" or "keddy". The trouble is it sounds very much like the word she uses for "daddy". I hope that if she does call me daddy someday, she isn't getting the words confused. Natalie and I have been going out for about two weeks or so. We have known each other for many years. I feel like I've just always known her. We seem to be able to stand each other over a short period of time. I really hope this relationship lasts. This one feels right. It isn't just that high you get from the beginning of a new relationship. I've been down that road. Don't get me wrong. There is some of that going on. She hasn't really seen moany pissy Kelly much.
Elle got into everything. She is two. I couldn't help but laugh at some of her antics. Nat told me to stop it because it encourages Elle to do it again. Of course she is right. Having Elle in my apartment over night proves to me that I know nothing about children. It also proves that I can learn. Elle ended up sleeping from about seven pm on. We hit the sack at about 9:15. I have t oget up early and we end up talking for a couple of hours before we go to bed. Well, sure enough about 11:30 Elle wakes up and a couple of things happen.
* Elle cries.
* We comfort Elle.
* We put Elle back in the living room on her little fold up bed mat thing and say good night.
* Elle cries.
* We do not comfort Elle.
* Elle cries.
* Elle says 'ma..ma aa aa aa." like little two year olds do and Natalie nearly caves. I would never have stopped her even if she had asked me to.
* Elle cries.
* Elle walks up to the door of the room, stops, turns around and goes back to the bed. We can only tell this by the sounds of her crying getting closer and the pitter-patter of tiny feet in between the sobs. Natalie informs me Elle was looking for whether the door was open or not. "If the door is closed, I'm going to stand right out side it and cry so they can hear me." Wow, that is one of the motherly powers of which I was not aware. God, that's sexy.
* Elle cries.
* We start talking about old times and new friends.
* Elle cries, but not as enthusiastically as before.
* We revel for one moment then realize that she gets a second wind and is at it more than ever.
* Elle stops crying.
* Nat sneaks up to the door and looks around the corner. She turns back to me (with the child's night light back-lighting Nat's hair and figure "wow" runs through my head, ya, head.) and says "She is sitting on the couch."
* After giving some "gilk" to Elle, and shuffling her back off to bed, we retire ... again.
* I get up and go to work. Nat gets not one more moment of sleep because Elle is up for the count.
What an evening. I have to say it was all new to me. It was in a strange way fun. I have been waiting all my life to play the domesticate.

My God

"I desperately looked for a job to live with my two-and-half-year-old daughter, Meem," the woman, 26-year-old Shefali Begum, told Reuters on Thursday at her slum dwelling in Dhaka. "But I could not find any ... and decided to sell one of my eyes. What do I do with both eyes while my daughter will die for want of milk and food?" Yahoo (Reuters)

"Eat the Rich"
This movie is what B-Movies are all about. Eat The Rich is funny and offensive. Yet, it doesn't take it self seriously. MotorHead actually play parts in the movie. At least, I think that was them. I like the ending. It is just out there.

Bike
You know, I've said recently that I want to go photograph the park near my home. So, today is beautiful. I have the time. The bike is ready. I'm ready. What is the problem? I'm scared of riding my bike down the street. Can you believe that? I'm 36 years old and I am afraid of riding my bike down the street. It isn't the bike. It isn't flat tires. It is the people driving and trying to run me down. People in this town just don't respect that people walking and riding bikes are human beings. It is difficult just to cross the street. I hate this town. I hate the people who make it a bad place.
Did you know hit and run is not against the law in Mexico? I forget where I heard that.
Anyway, guess what I just did. I road my bike to the trail and road it from Dairy Ashford to Eldridge. I then took a left and came back. I made the mistake of taking the dirt bike trail. If memory serves a couple of meters more and there is a paved trail. I wiped out once on a tree root. I'm glad I did this dry run before I took the camera along. I might try again tomorrow if I feel up to it.
I feel great right now. I feel like I accomplished something. Even with the small bruise on my right shin.

Quote of the day
The past and the future don't exist right now.

Natalie
Natalie mentioned solemates on her blog. She says I'm her solemate. We have known each other for about eleven years. It feels like I've always known her. I've always thought she was very special. Not just special to me.
We have a dilemma at the moment. I want her to come over. She needs to bring Elle. I want her to bring Elle. Her car is over heating. It is a long drive. I want to fix her car, but I'm afraid it may need to keep it for a day or more. That means she needs to make the long drive first. This means if something happens, at best, she would be stuck here with her daughter, away from all her mom supplies and sources, until the car is fixed. AAARGH!!! I wish I could get over there. I'm in west Houston and she is in Conroe. I would have to hop a Greyhound. The closest Greyhound stop is 20 miles away in down town Houston. AAARGH!!! again. She is worried about Elle interacting with my computers and other apartment stuff. I don't mind. We will have to keep an eye on her. No biggie.
I want to tell her "Just get here so I can hug you in my arms and everything else will just work out after that."

Song

Artist:	Norah Jones [ Search RP ]
Song:	That's the Way That the World Goes Round
Album:	[ Search RP ]

Iran Nukes
Fox News is currently running a story about the IAEA attempt to coral Iran. The Iranian government is as crooked as a cornered snake. They want to be the top control of the middle east. I'm sure they will do anything they have to to achieve that goal.
People in the U. S. will not realize it is us against them until nukes start going off. It is a bit late by then. Political Correctness is going to be the downfall of Western Civilization.  I just know it.

Song

Artist:	Tom Waits [ Search RP ]
Song:	Singapore
Album:	Rain Dogs [ Search RP ]

Notebook (continued)
Well, I finally got SP2 on the notebook. There were still several rounds of updates after the service pack. It upsets me that they can't figure out how to bundle the updates in one shot that will download once and make you reboot once and behold, you have an updated machine. No, MS has no incentive because nobody but me seems to care. It is a nice computer. I hope the person who is going to receive the notebook gets full use out if it. I reinstalled the operating system, and Office. The drivers on the CD that came with the computer don't work on the network card. I had to sneaker net the driver I downloaded from Dell on a key drive to install it before I could get any of the updates to work.
I don't want to give them my peripherals for the notebook. I want to get another notebook eventually. I might get a Mac. How cool would that be? I like Macs. I think they are over priced for what you get. They are cool though.

Nat
I'm on the phone with Nat. She holds three conversations at once. It is so true that women can multi task better than men. Her room mate, daughter, mother and me are all talking to her at the same time. She can do it all.
She has asthma. She is having trouble breathing while we talk on the phone. God, I feel so helpless. Even when I'm there with her, I feel helpless. There just is not much I can do. ... I can hear her voice straining under the lack of breath.

Too Funny

K	Keen
E	Easy
L	Light
L	Lucky
Y	Yucky

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Natalie
Natalie and I conversed on Yahoo IM for a couple of hours this morning. She introduced me to some of the lesser known features (lesser known to me) like themes and the little avatars. I use Gaim at the house so none of these will work.
It have to say, it was very distracting. It was also very nice.

Notebook
I'm going to sell my notebook. I don't have much use for it any more. I'm re-staging the drive right now. It takes like a half hour to format the drive. I told the guy getting it I would not do it, but I kept finding references to porn in the log files so I figured I better go ahead and just wipe the drive clean. It will take for ever to get the Dell drivers on the system. Then put Office on it. Next put a firewall software on the highly vulnerable OS. Then run all the updates. I'm not sure what all he needs on the computer. I'm sure we can make things work. I hope between the Dell drivers and the updates that I can still get everything to operate. Damn wireless stuff and funky pointers on notebooks don't always take right out of the box.
They make you install a bunch of updates before you get to service pack 2. That is a pain in the butt. The system was already starting the download of SP2. It is just showing the bar right now. It is something like 100 megabytes.

Work
I've been as busy as a one arm paper hanger at work. It is nuts. I have a problem that I have a hard time figuring out. I am only supposed to spend ten hours a week on the project. I need to learn how some parts of this new software work before I can achieve any output. I feel like I don't have time to fulfill that learning need. I suppose this is normal. Welcome to Corporate America. One nation under a single logo with liberty and justice for the stock holders.
My dentist trip yesterday cost me two hours. Normally I would blow these off. I made them up today because I need to get some work done on this project.

Helicopters
I have become fascinated with helicopters. This is not the first time this has happened in my life. Every couple of years I get the urge to read all about specifications and costs. Helicopters are expensive in nearly every way. Initial costs are high. Maintenance is outrageous. Regulation is intense. It is no wonder helicopters crash all the time. I've flown a couple of very fake simulators on my home PC. They are a challenge even in crazy-easy mode.
Bell: Bread and butter helicopter. This is probably the manufacturer most people think of when you say the word helicopter.
MD: I think this is the company that made the chopper used in Magnum PI many moons ago. They are also the company that promotes a system that doesn't need a tail rotor. Those tail rotor are what seem to cause all the crashes.
Richardson: These are the trainer helicopters. This is the model I fly in the simulators. I've read some accounts that it is easy to fly, but easy to get out of control too.
This is really a complete waist of my time. I wish I could apply the random thought time to better use. There is no need for me to know how much it costs to own and operate a small private helicopter.

Weight

People who are overweight but not obese have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight, federal researchers are reporting today. The researchers - statisticians and epidemiologists from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - also found that increased risk of death from obesity was seen for the most part in the extremely obese, a group constituting only 8 percent of Americans. ... Dr. Williamson, who is overweight, said that "if I had a family history - a father who had a heart attack at 52 or a brother who developed diabetes - I would actively lose weight." But "if my father died at 94 and my mother at 97 and I had no family history of chronic disease," he said, "maybe I wouldn't be as concerned." Dr. Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, had another perspective. "The take-home message from this study, it seems to me, is unambiguous," Dr. Glassner said. "What is officially deemed overweight these days is actually the optimal weight." NYT

It is about time someone sat down and took a serious look at how weight affects health. Wouldn't it be funny if, now that they have redone the food pyramid, they have to start again from scratch, because people are just too damn skinny?

Song

Artist:	Breeders [ Search RP ]
Song:	Driving' On 9
Album:	Last Splash [ Search RP ]

Slappy's (Justin's Band)
Justin dropped this info in an email today. Check out Slappy's on May first at the Houston International Festival.

First, Slappy's will be playing the Houston International Festival on Sunday, May 1st from 3PM to 4PM on the Flamingo Gardens Houston Showcase Stage (around the intersection of McKinney & Bagby).  You can check out the International Festival website (http://ifest.org) for more details and maps. Or, you can check out Slappy's on MySpace (http://myspace.com/SlappysGrooveShack) for IFest info, and to listen to a few audio clips from a live show we recently recorded at iNK Coffee House (don't worry, you can stream it for those on slower internet connections). Second, the Houston Press 2005 Music Awards nomination ballots are out.  We need people to nominate Slappy's Groove Shack!  Its quick, easy and a great way to build up some good karma!  You can mail in the ballots found on page 72 of this month's Houston Press, or you can vote online (http://www.houstonpress.com/hpma/2005/2005hpma).  We're vying for the following;    BEST NEW ACT:         Slappy's Groove Shack    BEST FUNK/R&B/REGGAE: Slappy's Groove Shack    BEST GUITARIST:       Henry (Hank) Jones of Slappy's Groove Shack    BEST BASSIST:         Justin Haggard of Slappy's Groove Shack    BEST DRUMMER:         Adrian Gonzalez of Slappy's Groove Shack but whom I kidding', we'd take BEST POLKA if we could get it!  I don't think you get much for winning at the HPMA other than bragging rights, but that's more than we usually get for playing.  Plus, if you're nominated, you get to play at the big HPMA festival downtown at the end of July, a thoroughly groovy live music event for H-town. Thanks for your time and your support, class="sg"> - Justin...

I Learned Today
Did you know Tom Waits was in Wolfen? I had no idea. I'm going to have to rent this movie
Wolfen
1981 - Directed by Michael Wadleigh
Cameo: Piano Player. Tom is singing in very drunken manner. Woman says "Who's that?" Albert Finney replies "He owns the place"

Song

Artist:	Tom Waits [ Search RP ]
Song:	Long Way Home
Album:	Big Bad Love (Soundtrack) [ Search RP ]

Friend
My ex-girlfriend, Julie, is in surgery today. she was in an automobile accident over a year ago and her back and neck need some work. She has been in pain for a long time. No sooner did she get diagnosed after the wreck, than she found out she was pregnant and they wouldn't touch her because of the anesthesia. It is major surgery. She is very upset over it. I haven't called. She is remarried and it doesn't seem appropriate. I did ask Natalie to tell her I'm preying for her.
The last I heard, she was groggy and on her way to her mother's place to recooperate.

Dentist
I had to go to the dentist this afternoon. Saturday evening, just before Nat came over, I flossed and a crown came off one of my back teeth. I managed to corral it in a baggy. I went to the dentist this afternoon and it seemed to be pretty easy to get it glued back on. I caught myself flirting with the dental hygienist/assistant. Actually, I think she is more of a dentist's assistant than a hygienist. I'm not sure how things work. She does everything except the actual mounting and drilling of teeth.
While the tooth was out I noticed how yellow it looks. It is the same color as the rest of my teeth. When I smile, they don't look that bad in the mirror. They are not pearly white or anything. The tooth was nearly the same color as the skin in the palm of my hand. I need to get some of that whitening toothpaste.

Hitting on Natalie
I am pretty bad at flirting.
Natalie was driving around, showing me her old apartment complex, when I asked her a strange question. I didn't even know it was coming. I asked her "Can you drive with one hand?"
She shot me this look like what the hell are you talking about? She stammered a bit and answered "ya."
I said "Because I want to hold your hand." and I took her right hand off the wheel and held it in a most middle school fashion on my knee. She didn't seem to mind.

Joke
Anna Sent me this joke in email.

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT 1. She is not a "BABE" or a "CHICK" - She is a "BREASTED AMERICAN." 2. She is not a "SCREAMER" or a "MOANER" - She IS "VOCALLY APPRECIATIVE." 3. She is not "EASY" - She is "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE." 4. She is not a "DUMB BLOND" - She is a "LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY." 5. She has not "BEEN AROUND" - She is A "PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION." 6. She is not an "AIRHEAD" - She is "REALITY IMPAIRED." 7. She does not get "DRUNK" or "TIPSY" - She gets "CHEMICALLY INCONVENIENCED." 8. She does not have "BREAST IMPLANTS" - She is "MEDICALLY ENHANCED." 9. She does not "NAG" you - She becomes "VERBALLY REPETITIVE." 10. She is not a "TRAMP" - She is "SEXUALLY EXTROVERTED." 11. She does not have "MAJOR LEAGUE HOOTERS" - She Is "PECTORALLY SUPERIOR." 12. She is not a "TWO -BIT HOOKER" - She is a "LOW COST PROVIDER." HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:   1. He does not have a "BEER GUT" - He has developed a "LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY." 2. He is not a "BAD DANCER" - He is "OVERLY CAUCASIAN." 3. He does not "GET LOST ALL THE TIME" - He "INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS." 4. He is not "BALDING" - He is in "FOLLICLE REGRESSION." 5. He is not a "CRADLE ROBBER" - He prefers "GENERATIONAL DIFFERENTIAL RELATIONSHIPS." 6. He does not get "FALLING-DOWN DRUNK" - He becomes "ACCIDENTALLY HORIZONTAL." 7. He does not act like a "TOTAL ASS" - He develops a case of "RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION." 8. He is not a "MALE CHAUVINIST PIG" - He has "SWINE EMPATHY." 9. He is not afraid of "COMMITMENT" - He is "RELATIONSHIP CHALLENGED." 10. He is not "HORNY" - He is "SEXUALLY FOCUSED."

Weekend
This weekend was wonderful. I spent some good time with an old friend. We had an amazing time just hanging out together. I've known her for years. We have kept in touch over IM for the longest time. I lost her for a while when her computer took a nose dive. I have a strong feeling you will hear much more involving her on this blog.
Her name is Natalie. Her daughter's name is Elisabeta. I am not Elisabeta's father (breathe, mother). We are still in that confused beginning phase of the relationship. We are both a bit insecure. Where are we going? what are we doing? I like her, I want things to work out. There are always obstacles. That is just part of being human. Natalie has much more to lose in a relationship than I do. Elisabeta has emotions and attachments. I need to consider her happiness too. Wish us luck.
Natalie's blog.

Forum
I want to set up a forum on my web server. I don't know why. I don't really have a need for one. Honestly my friend Adam has more use for a forum than I. He plays Ever-Crack non stop. They like taking screen shots of themselves and could put them up on their forum. They might have threads about game stuff, meeting times, session notes, in game location notes. Who knows, they might have one already.
Adam has this thing about noise in the room while he sleeps. The computers they would use for the server are in the bedroom, so that is a show stopper. He talks about moving the computers, but he will not initiate the effort because he will have to run wires. That is a drag.
Some of the P2P sites use the forum software for their movie listings. They do this because the layout of a forum kind of works for their needs. These are out of the box installs that keep track of things like people who log in, who has rights to do what, database controlled content, a method of making it all look like one contiguous site, and it can be easily moved from one place to the other (when you ISP gets threats from RIAA). I used to get mad when sites used forum engines for pages that I thought shouldn't be in a forum format. Then I thought about the above attributes and understood the attraction.

Flying Machine

This week, [Woody Norris] will receive America's top prize for invention. It's called the Lemelson-MIT award -- a half-million dollar cash prize to honor his life's work, which includes a brand new personal flying machine. Correspondent Bob Simon reports. It's called the AirScooter, and self-taught inventor Woody Norris says it goes on sale later this year. ... Norris, like many of the inventors that 60 Minutes met, believes today's planes and jets will ultimately become relics – and that "The Highway in the Sky" will be filled with flying machines that we can't even begin to imagine. "This stuff that we're surrounded by, that we think is so cool is caveman," says Norris. "The good stuff is coming. The really good stuff is coming." CBS

They will still not let me drive it. I want one that is completely autonomous. I want to sleep on the way to work.

Something I learned today
Population of California: 35 million.
Population of Texas: 22 million.
Population of Great Britain: 51 million.
Washington DC has a higher population that Wyoming.

Duple Core

"Almost every hardware junkie I know would give most anything to take a spin in the new dual core hot rods from Dell or one of the custom system builders. But what if you actually needed that second core to run your anti-virus, spyware detection software and firewall just to get a little gaming or Internet surfing done on the first core. Would that really be a good reason to bring home a shiny new machine? I can think of a couple of different things I could use a second core for but running an iron lung on it just to keep the machine chugging along just isn't one of them. Curiously enough, PCMag thinks that's a perfectly good reason." SlashDot

Microsoft seems to think the best way to keep Windows running is to have a second computer keeping an eye on the first one. It makes me think of buying a tow-truck to haul your busted, but snazzy new Ferrari around. It doesn't make much sense to me. I'm not sure I want to use an operating system that full of holes.

Sunday
Well crap. I didn't get to take the pictures again to day. I will try again later. I haven't ever worn the sunglass this weekend. I'll get around to that too. It has been a good weekend. Even if nothing got done. Even if I didn't get to enjoy the weather. It is all good.
Cynthia did the MS150 this weekend. So did a buddy of mine named Cryspin. Another coworker named Scott is riding as well. I haven't heard how they faired. I hope there were no injuries. Nice thing about the MS150 is every body wins.
I feel kind of bad promising photos and ending up with nothing of the kind here. It isn't like I'm getting paid to write the blog. Wouldn't that  be great though. I do so enjoy writing it. I enjoy putting my pictures up too.
My dinner is on the way. hopefully, I'll be more coherent after eating something. Just in time to  watch the Simpson's. Isn't it a new one tonight?

Tax Humor a few days late.

Hate
China and Japan are going after each other over a text book. Wars have been fought over less. Here is a blogger with an opinion. It is as valid as any. It is difficult to quote the blogger without putting the whole thing here. Please go read her post first.

So, apparently, there's a new wave of anti-Japanese sentiment in China. The Japanese government recently gave its stamp of approval to a history book that glosses over Japanese atrocities during the Second World War, and contentions are again arising over whether or not the U.N. Security Council should be expanded to include Japan as a permanent member. ... Everyone remembers the Holocaust, the evilest and vilest thing Hitler did in an evil and vile regime. Six million Jews died along with many others. There is no doubt in anyone's mind - unless you happen to believe it's an elaborate myth Propagated by the nasty Jews (in which case you are as deranged as Hitler) - that the Holocaust ranks among one of the most horrific tragedies to ever befall mankind. What is often forgotten, though, is that the Japanese were just as Hitleresque in their treatment of innocent civilians when they invaded China, raping and killing at will. What is often forgotten is that the Chinese have borne more than their share of suffering as civilian casualties resulting from Japanese brutality number nearly 4 million. What is often forgotten is that Japan has never apologized for this, only referring to it as the "China incident". Her Liberalness

My comment is below.

So, I'm an American. Am I supposed to have a hatred of middle easter people because of 9/11? I suppose that is the problem with just being an American instead of a Chinese American or an African American or an Indian American or a Native American or an Italian American ... I'm just an American. Who can I hate? Me

I refuse to apologize for not having any split loyalties. I am an American. I am loyal to God, Family, and freedom in that order. If America stops standing for America (self preservation) and freedom, then I'm out of here.

Symptom
I have this disease. I think it is a symptom of being male. I cannot use the last of something until it is either going fixing (Texas colloquialism pronounced "fix'n" or "fid'n") to go bad, or I get more of it. I ware disposable contact lenses. I refuse to open the last box until. I have the new box ready to pick up. Actually, the new box is at the doctor's office and I still have the second to last pare of contacts on my eyes as I type. I will pick them up Monday. That is the day I will open the last little plastic tin of lenses. They open up like a can of sardines. I do the same thing with other products. Fortunately, things like bread and milk go bad.

Saturday
I was hoping to take a bike ride this morning over to a park and get some new pictures for the home page. However, I got a better offer. An old friend is coming over this afternoon. I probably have time to do both, but I am not a good multitasking person. It is a beautiful day. She lives on the other side of Houston. That makes it something like 40 miles away. I really appreciate her taking the time to come over for a visit. I want to go to the Alamo Draft House. I don't know how crowded it will be on a Saturday evening. I caught her online. She uses Yahoo IM. She has a beautiful two year old daughter.

Shades

Oakley

Ray-Ban

Please ignore the dirty mirror. I like the Oakley shades a bit better. They feel funny sitting on my face. They have a tendency to lift off my nose because they are so light. The Ray-Ban glasses sit better and even rap around a bit better, but I have to give the nod to the Oakley brand for style. The fact that they go straight back over my ears works for the bald head thing too.
Thoughts?
I'll tell you one of my thoughts, I should NOT have gone to the Oakley site. They have some nice sunglasses. They have sports models that just look cool. They have wire frame models. I didn't even know that. They have the black on black on black models. They have some that look like they pulled the design straight out of Anime. I could blow some coin on those magnesium frames. I can see it now. the bomb disposal crew is working to save a school bus from terrorists. The head bomb disarm guy turns to the crowd and screams "For the love of God, does any one know where I can get some magnesium!?" I calmly pull my sunglasses from my eyes and answer "Here, use these." ... OK, it is a stretch.
Bad Kelly! You don't need any sunglasses right now. Must ... close ... browser!

Sin City
I love this movie. I'm glad I'm alive for this movie. I toast my new favorite movie with glass of coffee. I missed the very last couple of minutes. I'll leave the reason up to your imagination. I like the fact that heroes die. I'm not giving anything away, trust me.

Annoying Site

Joke
I stole this from a fellow blogger. It isn't like they wrote it.

1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon. 2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained. 3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. 4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk. 5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent. 6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown. 7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp. 8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash. 9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller 10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline. 11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam. 12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you. 13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions. 14. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist. 15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there. 16. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts. (The Washington Post, Joke-of-the-day.com)

Coworkers
I have a friend who is doing the MS150. This monstrosity is tomorrow and Sunday. I wish for no injuries greater than a blister and no broken spirits.
I have another coworker who just told me she intends to work all weekend. It is a beautiful weekend. I wish she would get out and do something. I actually have plans to get some pictures taken weather permitting.
On a related subject. I have a coworker who is technically moving from one department to another. She has the same office, and most of the same people under her. Someone still got a card together for her and those of us who are no longer under her signed our names. That is not a problem. It just kind of strikes me as strange that there is a card presented in this situation.
On a not so related topic. My desk at work has a notebook computer propped up almost vertical so the screen is straight in front of my face. This puts the keyboard directly below the screen. I've noticed myself three or four times today trying to click my mouse on buttons on the keyboard. It cracks me up.

Story
I have made zero progress on the short story. I have too many ideas to present in one short story. I need a novel. I need some skill at writing too. Is there any market in outlines? I need to start earlier in the existence of my characters. I am currently jumping in a bit quick. I assume the reader knows anything about these guys. That is bad. I never said I was any good at this kind of thing.
Get to work Mom. The first one to get a rejection letter from a publisher wins.

Email
A friend of mine sent these comical pictures to me in an email. Some of them are funny. I don't know most of the original sites, so I'm just going to repost them here.

Not much happened today. Work was work and play was play. I hate being the same every day, so I'll put some screwy background on this entry. I'm watching a show called Loony Toons Back in Action. I needed something fun. It fills the ticket. Isn't this the sort of crappy web design I'm always complaining about? People seem to get their rocks off making text hard to read. I had to try it at least once. I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon picking the perfect shade of blue.

Evening
My apartment building is under siege by workers taking boards off the outside of the building and replacing them with four thousand nails from a nail gun. I bet there is more nail than wood in the siding they replace. They are painting the bad areas with white primer. They leave the primer exposed for weeks before painting. I've had to explain this to a couple of different people.
I'm in a far better mood than yesterday. I'm not sure why. I'm still miles behind where I need to be at work. Who cares. Tomorrow is Friday. I have to take off early for an eye doctor appointment. I have to hunt down a set of headphones. I had a pare die today.

I like leaving an incoherent post now and again.

Evening
I'm watching a movie that is all about Christmas and relationships and family. It is making me sick. I don't think i can handle another Christmas hanging out with my parents. I really get depressed around the holidays. I'm getting a bit of an early start this year it seems. I'm getting nowhere fast on the relationship front. I have no prospects. I have no potential. I still say I should just give up and run out the clock. Maybe I'll take up drinking. That should kill some time. Maybe I'll have my phone turned off and stop answering email. I might be able to stop communicating at work without getting fired. I won't survive being broke. I refuse to be broke again if I can help it. Actually, I'm terrified of being broke. I hate the idea of depending on others. I've backed myself into a corner on the independence front as well. I've tried to get out and enjoy things. I've tried to get out and talk to real people. I've tried to be happy. I know how to be happy. I know how to make myself happy. I just won't.
The highlight of my evening has been a cup of coffee with that really good cream you get in the milk section pored in it. Strawberry Vanilla. That was worth staying awake. Not everything is worth remaining conscious these days. I like dreaming. Even bad dreams are worth having most of the time. I haven't had really bad dreams in a while. I hope I don't. It is my only real enjoyment.
So, are there solutions to my plight? Sure, tons of them. Every one has an asshole and a solution to every one else's problems. I'm sick of trying. I'm sick of failing. I'm sick of my neighbors. I'm sick of work. I'm sick of being legally blind. I'm sick of being alone. I'm sick of computers. I'm sick of Houston. I'm sick of all four seasons. I'm sick of my apartment. I'm sick of the sky being blue. Oh, I'm tired too.

Forgetful
I was on my way home last night and, again, I had no MP3 player. I hadn't charged it because I had gone to sleep so early the previous evening. Well, I still didn't charge it. I went to work and came home today with no MP3 player for the exact same reason. I had sent myself an email reminder. I deleted the reminder. I also forgo to swap out the dead phone battery, so I'm on half a charged battery today. I did manage to stop at the store yesterday and pick up some things, including some cut and bake cookies. I ate mac and cheese and a batch of cookies for dinner. Now, that's healthy. Anyway. I even managed to walk out without my watch this morning. I'm surprised my ass isn't still  sitting on the toilet at the apartment.

Story
I'm trying to write a short story. It is about a guy from the future who comes back. We will see if I have one ounce of creativity. I haven't decided if I will put it on the blog or not. I have copyright issues with leaving it out here. What with all you intellectual property thieves lurking about.
I'm writing it to inspire my mother to write her story. She needs to put her thoughts and memories down in writing.

Call
I get the same call every day. "This company is handling a personal matter. Due to [something] law we are unable to go into detail. Contact us at --- -- ---- ..." I get the call every day. Did I mention that I get this call every day? I is a recording so it is the exact same message. I leave my ringers turned off so I never hear the call come in. I have been getting this call for about six months. Before that it was a different recording. Same company.
This is obviously a collection agency. I happen to know that someone in my apartment complex has the same last name as I, and she does not pay her bills. I don't mind getting the calls really. I get some sick satisfaction knowing that they have still not caught up with the bitch who owes them money. I have just gotten used to checking for two or more messages. If there is only one, I delete it without even listening. I just hope that somehow, calling my number costs them money. I don't dare call the number they have in their message. That would be doing them a favor.

Dream
I had a dream last night  I was in an apartment that Iv never seen before. It felt like home. It was kind of a dump, but I was glad to be there. The windows were open. There were screens. I have not had screens on my windows in years. My apartment complex does not provide them. The bedroom was on a corner and had windows on two sides. The freezing wind blew right through. It was dawn and I got up to go close the window. As I turned back and saw the bathroom off the bedroom something came over me. I realized this was a trip back in time to correct something that I considered wrong. It was a second chance at a mistake. I thew my hands back and begged God to stop this. I've made my mistakes. I choose to leave them where they are. I do not want to try to change anything. Things simply must lay where they are.

Song

Artist:	Stevie Ray Vaughan [ Search RP ]
Song:	Pipeline
Album:	The Real Deal [ Search RP ]

Data DVD
I have a bunch of files to pull off my computer. I use data DVDs to back up the information. I keep hearing that this is not the longest lasting method of storage. I'm not sure what else to do. It is by far the cheapest. I remember fighting tapes a million years ago. Those sucked on many levels. A friend of mine says he just keeps buying hard drives and adding them to computers on his network. It seems to be working out for him. He doesn't keep everything like I do. Oh, well. It is my own fault. I'll make do.
One of these days I'm going to lay out my collection of media and take a picture. I bet most folks will at least say "Why Kelly?!? .. Why?" Some might scoff, but I find it entertaining.

Day
I never did go to the second party today. It was fun, I'm sure. I just didn't have the drive. I sat in my chair and surfed the net all day. I got some of my pictures up and out. I worried about getting some things done for work. I should not have done that. That is what work time is for. "I didn't even have to use my AK. It must have been a good day."

Spam
People using email have to put up with email spam.  Bloggers have to put  up with blog spam. People write programs that crawl the blogsphere and leave advertisements in the comments and trackback sections of the blog. It is highly annoying by both readers and bloggers. Most people who hit blogs are ad-savvy, so I wonder who the hell clicks on these ads? The trouble with spam in general is that it costs the sender nothing to start the process. Think that if it cost nothing for people to send us physical (snail) mail we would need bathtubs for mailboxes.
You will run into filters that have a graphic picture of numbers and letters and ask you to read them and type them in to prove you are a human. I'm legally blind, so they are exceedingly hard to read. I've read that the spammers have better and better systems to read those funky graphics. Pretty soon they will have to use one of those dot-paintings you see in the mall that is of a sailboat. I've never been able to see those things either. I bet a computer would have an easier time deciphering those than people.
There are user registration methods where they send you a "bounce" email and make sure you are the owner of the email account you used. They can block IPs, but that doesn't work. For every trick the defenders of information put forth, the spammers find a way to thwart it. I bet this will always be the case. The only way to stop spam is to take the money out of it.

Camera
I got the camera.
This sucker is 8 megapixel. Why get an 8 megapixel?

This is what the full size picture looks like. shrunk down.

This is what you get when you crop the photo at 100% zoom. That is an actual size clipping. Why, you can even spot my shiny bald head.

Notes
I went to Chris and Sarah's Mudbug party. I took a million pictures with said new camera. I nearly filled up the 512 card. This camera is very fast, even with the older slower card. I have a new one gigabyte card on order. Check out the pictures from the MudBug party.
Mudbug Party 2005
Mudbug Party 2004

Joke

The very first ever Bond GUY joke..... An Irishman, a Mexican and a Blond Guy were doing construction work on scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building. They were eating lunch and the Irishman said, "Corned beef and cabbage! If I get corned beef and cabbage one more time for lunch, I'm going to jump off this building." The Mexican opened his lunch box and exclaimed, Burritos again! If I get burritos one more time I'm going to jump off, too." The blond opened his lunch and said, Bologna again! If I get a bologna sandwich one more time, I'm jumping too." The next day, the Irishman opened his lunch box, saw corned beef and cabbage, and jumped to his death. The Mexican opened his lunch, saw a burrito, and jumped, too. The blond guy opened his lunch, saw the bologna and jumped to his death as well. At the funeral, the Irishman's wife was weeping. She said, "If I'd known how really tired he was of corned beef and cabbage, I never would have given it to him again!" The Mexican's wife also wept and said, "I could have given him tacos or enchiladas! I didn't realize he hated burritos so much." Everyone turned and stared at the blonde's wife.  The blonde's wife said, "Don't look at me. He makes his own lunch.

You see, this is not a blond guy joke. It is still a racist joke. Don't you feel like crap for laughing at it? Just kidding. I laughed at it too. Don't feel bad. We are all human.

Song

Artist:	Azure Ray [ Search RP ]
Song:	Look To Me
Album:	Hold On Love [ Search RP ]

Google Maps

This is the San Fransisco airport as seen from space. Click on the image for a larger view. I could sit there and stare at these satellite images for hours.

This is the hotel we stayed at while we were in florida. Yes, It was pink.

This is the apartment we stayed in while we were in florida.

Comment
I hate it when people have comments turned off. I hate it even more when you don't know they have been turned off until you have typed (and spell checked) an entry. Go check out this chick's blog about the definition of a "slut" and then come back and read the comment below.

It is a qualitative, not quantitative statement. Saying some one is a slut is just a way to insult them. I have been with four women in my life. I am thirty six years old. I've had plenty of opportunity. I just don't sleep around. There is no point to it. That is my belief. Many people have no problem with a high number of sexual partners. If some one calls you a slut and you just don't care, then you are secure on the subject. If you have been with two people, some one calls you a slut and it hurts, then you are insecure. My 2 cents.

Outsourcing Thievery

"Call center employees working for an Indian software company, MSource, supposedly used confidential client information to transfer client funds to themselves. The alleged perpetrators used the personal information of four NY-based clients to transfer ~$350,000 (Rs. 1.5 crores) in their names, a large sum in Indian currency. They were caught after the victims alerted the bank officials in the US, who then traced the crime to the Indian city of Pune. While the name of the bank has not been revealed, the article indicates that the bank in question is Citibank." SlashDot

I'm trying to think what to say on this subject. I can only say that I have expected something like this. Just because people are from a country that has an official religion, doesn't make them honest. These people stole from Americans while in another country. I'm pretty sure U. S. laws do not apply. That is one of the big reasons companies outsource in the first place, to avoid the laws and liability in their own country. That goes both ways. Apparently, they are not paying these people enough to keep them from thinking this is an option. The thieves used the money for mobile phones, cars and such.
When you read the article I infer that the bank was alerted by a third party. I bet someone who was asked by the thieves to cash one of the checks turned them in.

Email at the Office
Every day lately about 8:30 or 9:00 our email crashes. Normally, it comes up again after lunch. It has happened every day this week. IS took the primary server off line Monday "to replace a piece of hardware" and now it is going down every day at the same time. I suppose that is an improvement, because before , it was going down every day on a random basis. I wonder if they replaced the BUS clock.
It never ceases to amaze me how much our company depends on email to work. I've noticed people writing the content of their email in a Word document and attaching it to an email. I have a hard time with this because that bloats the size of the email several times. People just don't know any better. They teach Word, Powerpoint and Excel in school. They don't teach responsible use of computers though.
There have been times where the whole network goes nuts and I can still get to an outside machine to do some work. A couple of years ago, the power went out for a couple of hours. I swear, the network going down is that disruptive. I can't remember the last time the phones went out at my office, but it seems people are more productive when they have their phone taken away.

Camera
I keep flip-flopping on the camera. $1200 ($1000 for the camera and lens, $200 for memory cards) is allot of money to me. It is 8 megapixel. That sounds good for cameras at the moment. You can get a 7 megapixel phone from Samsung. If I'm at a party or out screwing around, I will take five megapixel images. If I'm on vacation at the Grand Canyon, I want 100 megapixel images. Nothing will satisfy me in that case. This camera is a high quality image camera as well. It has pretty fair low light imaging. There are tons of pluses. The one huge minus is that next week they will cut the price in half or competition will catch up and offer an amazing deal to steel Canon's cloths. That will always be the case. There will always be something better on the horizon. There is a threshold. When the item is a couple of weeks salary, I bump into a wall.
If I do go ahead and buy this camera, I here by make a promise to myself to not give myself crap about the price or what comes out the very next day. I know, you make the best decision on the day you need to make it. You go with it and stick with it. If I didn't make this promise to myself, I would never end up buying new computers or cameras.

A Couple of Plugs

I know its a little last minute, but Slappy's Groove Shack and Dogz On Parole are playing at the Speakeasy Bar in downtown Houston tonight, Friday April 8th from 10PM to 1AM.  Its located in the heart of downtown Houston, at the northeast end of Main St.    Friday April 8, 2005    10:00 pm - 1:00 am    Speakeasy Bar    110 Main Street    Houston, TX 77002 Hope to see everybody there!

Hi everybody, This Sunday afternoon, April 10, is the 3rd annual Mudbug Fest at The First Tee.  It'll be out on their beautiful new outdoor patio and go from 1pm to 8pm.  The band and I go on at around 4pm, but there is a line-up of GREAT musicians all day long (Hint: Smythe and Taylor go on right before us!). So come on out for crawfish and craziness! 12589 Whittington (just south of Briar Forest on Dairy Ashford). Houston, Texas 77077 281-556-1691 See you there, Jen www.JenRathbun.com

Home Page
I finally got the new photo pages up. I used a software called JAlbum. The frame margins took the longest time to figure out. The symptom was the links at the top of the page kept jumping around. I had put the margin statements in the FramSet tag instead of the Frame tag. Isn't that the most interesting thing you have ever heard?
Speaking of photos. I am going to get that camera. It is just a matter of when.

Day
I went to work. I came home. I fought to stay awake. I'm about to fall asleep.

Home Page
Footer
Well, I got the footer working. It took a while to remember that sometimes you need a non breaking space "&ntsb;" between HTML and code. The Java script just plane wasn't working. The footer would either not show up or it would not be a line or two below the table. That non breaking space fixes some disappearing elements. Sometimes when you have an empty cell in a table, the whole cell will not show up. You have to put a non breaking space in the cell to make it show up.
In the beginning there was HTML. Web browsers were designed to make up for allot of problems that were occurring on this new thing called the Internet. There was so much corrupt data passing around that browsers had to be designed to try to display whatever came through. Thankfully, that is why browsers work so well. There are a few trade offs. Some funky information will simply be ignored by the browser. Most blank space will be ignored as well. Hence the need for some code that the browser understands that says "leave this spot blank."
Links
I added some links in the links link. I'm not sure, but I want to take the links off my right bar here and just put in a blog-roll. I'm not sure what the rules are for blog-rolls. The one's I've seen are just a list of links. Some have descriptions and personel opinion. Oh, well.
Home Page
Right now I have a gallery page and links page. I want to add a home page. Something that makes sense. I have no idea what should go on that page. I'm thinking it should simply be an "about me" page. Does any one have any ideas?

Day
I was supposed to come home yesterday and just crash. I started messing with my web page and before I knew it, the time had slipped past eleven. All I did was get frames working. I found a new tool for generating the web  pages for my pictures. The pages look much better than the current ones. It really is too bad for you guys that I am so devastatingly lazy. You will have to wait. I will definitely do any mud bug party pictures that I take this weekend with the new software. I hope to retro fit the past pictures to the new page design. It uses frames, so I converted my page design over to frames. Anyway, I came home tonight and nearly fell asleep in my chair trying to read some blogs.
I have had bad experience with frames. I've tried to let the design software deal with the frames to control things a bit better. However, this time I wrote the frames page by hand and it seemed to salve most of the control problems I had in the past.
I'll get back to you with more soon.

Google Maps
I spent half my evening playing with Google Maps.  The maps themselves are not the fun part. The satellite images are the cool part. dropped down over my apartment and then hit the satellite image link at the upper right corner of the screen. I fallowed my road over to a local park. It runs out I can ride my bike over there without hitting any major roads. It is a nice trail. It is going to rain this weekend, or I would go take a bunch of pictures and publish them here. That will have to wait. I have a Crawfish  boil this Saturday night. 
Besides, I don't have any photo editing  software at the moment. I need to find a new tool because the one I used to use no longer works properly on my system. Right now, I cannot even crop a screenshot. It won't take long for me to find a new editor. It is amazing how many crappy photo editors are out there. At the office they tell us to make do with the editor that comes with Office. Yuck. I want Photoshop. At $500+, I don't think it will make it into my software list. I also need a new gallery maker. The biggest problem I face is that there are too many packages to choose from.

Ear Issues
I have had problems with balance all my life. Now, I'm legally blind. So, I cannot see very well, nor can I walk in a straight line for long without stumbling from one side to the other. It sounds worse than it is. I can run or jog OK. The funny thing is, it depends on the shoes I'm waring a bit too. Hard sole boots that slip on are the worse.  Lace up boots that have some ankle support seem to do the best. Sneakers don't seem to make much difference.
Anyway. Every Spring I get the ear cruds. I blogged about my spelunking  adventures a couple of days ago. The effects of the ear infection are starting to ware off. I'm finally getting to where I can walk through the halls at work and look to one side without stumbling. A couple of years ago I went to the doctor for this problem. They prescribed Claritin-D. I'm taking Wal-itin and Pseudoephedrine (I think that is the right stuff). Those are the generics of basically Claritin-D. I'm taking a pair when I get up in the morning and I'm taking a pair when I get home from work. You are not supposed to take that much Claritin. I'm told it is a time release antihistamine. You can get into trouble with mixing drugs that affect mucus membranes so I'm trying to take it easy.
This crap is keeping me off the bike. I was hoping to do a quick ride this weekend and take some pictures for the blog. Hopefully, it will all work out soon. I'll keep you all informed how things go. Isn't it wonderful getting old? =\

P2P 101
I had about the hundredth person ask me how to get started in p2p file sharing. This is the email I sent them.

The places to get the software are either Edonkey, or Emule. One or the other. You don't need both. I recommend Emule. Once you install the software you can go to the following sites and find links that will help you download what you are looking for. This is a place called Edonkey help. It is a link to other Edonkey sites. Share Provider is a good place for movies, but they have allot of adult stuff. I don't know what you are into, but you are going to run into allot of that. Sorry. =] These are a couple of places that concentrate on TV shows. For music, start by clicking on search in the program and type in the name of the band you are looking for. Also try "discography". It is difficult to find specific artists sometimes. For searches outside of the program I recommend FileDonkey. They have more specific files. The things you get there have been at least looked at by some one else. Over all, I have to say that p2p is highly unreliable. You have to be willing to put up with some really annoying people, and some porn getting in the way of what you are looking for. Consider yourself warned. Have fun.

Other Software
I also warned them to stay away from Kazaa and Morpheus. They are far too riddled with spy ware. There are dozens of Kazaa like software packages.
Bittorrent
There is also this thing called Bittorrent. The real Bittorrent software is kind of lame. I recommend Azureus.  It is Java based. Bittorrent is a different animal. You cannot search Bittorrent directly. You must find a web page that has the link to the file you are looking for and click on it there. You can also share your own files on Bittorrent. Some people use it to distribute files that they cannot put on an FTP site or for their blog.
Legal
You know,  several crimes have been committed at night.  Maybe they should outlaw darkness. The most effective tools in crime are also the most effective tools in every day life. For example, cars, phones, crow-bars, all have legitimate use and criminal use.
My Experience
When the tsunami happened the day after Christmas this year, the only place I could find videos as they came in was p2p. I could not find much on the news sites. I've used Bittorrent to download Linux distributions, and other software. Now blogs use P2P software to publish video files that they could never support otherwise.  P2p has it's legitimate uses.
Really Useful Information

Sources, Formats And Scene Tags How To Burn A Dvd To Dvd-r Guide to Using the Files You've Downloaded Total burning guide. File Sharing Talk

What?
So, I'm in a meeting this afternoon. We are talking on speaker phone, which is bad enough, and we are already running late so we are in a hurry. This guy comes on to give a presentation with a whole bunch of complex technical jargon in it. He has a middle eastern accent. Now most of the time I can hang. I have encountered enough people with a similar accent to keep up for the most part. There were, however, some interesting circumstances to this call. He had a bad cold. His nasal passages were blocked. He had a pretty thick accent and was talking quickly. Now, that is bad enough. He was also obviously in a cube farm, so there was plenty of background chatter and knocking about. The one last thing, it almost sounded like there was a craps game taking place on his desk. These loud thunk noises kept interrupting the conversation. All in all, I got the idea and understood the issues. I'm proud of myself actually. That was not a bad trick.

Day
Last night I headed over for the Texas Holdem game at a buddy's place. It is always fun. Fortunately, we are all broke so we only play for a $10 buy in. I lost $20 (two rounds) and ended up listening to one of the other guys tel stories about his work experiences. He is an old oil field pipe-fitter construction worker. He had us rolling out on the patio. I cannot do the stories justice. He mentioned how he got in fights on the job, and how his crew was one of the first drug tested in the early eighties. "... The guy got out of his car and a plumb of smoke rose when he opened the door. ..." He told a story of getting mad at a boss and chasing him through the plant in a truck with huge steel booms banging around behind him. I nearly split my side. He is off to Iraq after a back surgery. He said he might pull down some really good money.
This morning I had the nasties hang over. I had been having problems with my ears and nearly toppled over a bunch of times at the card game. I drank one of those things these guys made and I nearly passed out. One of the guys had three of them.
I'm about to order some Wal-itin online. I've heard some people say to take two of the damn things in the beginning to get rid of the allergies. Then , drop back to one a day after a week or two.
I broke down and ordered some sandwiches from a pizza place. I know I complain allot about being chubby, but I am dreadfully lazy.
No one told me it was the day to switch your clocks forward. I nearly missed it. I still have a couple of clocks to go.

Blog Surfing
You know you enjoy doing something when you say "Just one more." and you find yourself still doing it after ten or fifteen more. I catch myself doing this with blogs. I have motivated myself to read and comment on a bunch of blogs when I can. This is really just to bring traffic to my site, or at least, it started out that way. I will sit down at the computer and say "I don't feel like it." and before I know it, I've done it for three hours. I'm getting more picky who's blog I leave comments on. I get plenty of hits this way, but I've noticed my number of comments has dropped since I set it to ignore anonymous posts. I don't really care about that. I would rather have quality than quantity.
I've been doing the rounds of Blogger and Bloglines. The trouble is, as I mentioned in an earlier post, that nearly every post is about the Pope. I just can't bring myself to scream at people on the subject, so I'll keep my mouth shut.

Pope Stroking
It is a horrible weekend for news. Every single news site except Slash Dot have their entire page devoted to making the Pope look like more than a human. Half are just trying to look good. The other half are trying to bend the event to their agenda. Conservatives keep saying "we have always pushed life." Others say he was a factor in the downfall of Communism. Communism is an idea. Countries that attempted Communism failed. An idea cannot fail. Only the people who try to follow it. Anyway. I'm sick of it. I have several Catholic friends. They will hate me for this. Well, I wasn't much on Reagan's funeral either. I have to go to the blogs to be reminded of the not so wonderful things the Pope had going for him. [caution, bias] I'm not going to go into them here, because the Pope is conservative and I agree with most of the things people have a problem with, but I know along with every one else that he was a man. There are a bunch of people out there with some sick ideas about hating the Pope and other world leaders who don't think the same way they do. Mechelle Malkin has some links.

Theory
Coke, Pepsi, all of them are in cahoots. Caffeine is really a mind control drug. They are just waiting for the right moment to come on TV and satellite radio and throw out the implanted phrase. We will then all tottle off to do their bidding without a stupid smile on our face and an alkali glaze in our eye.

Copy
I'm trying to move some 700 megabyte files across my network. It is funny how much stress that puts on MS Windows. My system refuses to do one more thing until the one of the copies finishes. Sure enough, I kill the copies and the system wakes back up. I don't understand how that hammers the computer. I don't understand the intricacies of operating system back-end tasks, but this is copying a frigging file. Give me a break. It isn't just my machine. I've noticed this happening an several Win XP boxes, at work and home. It isn't a magic number either. Sometimes it happens on the second copy. Sometimes it happens on the tenth. It doesn't seem to be related to the amount of memory either. Nor, is it the file. I just started the exact same copies over again and they work fine this time.
On a different note, I logged into my Linux box today. I had a problem with the Win-crap machine next to it. I was just there, and said "I should log in. I never just drop in to say high any more." The machine ran great. I sent an email (Mozilla on Mandrake 9.x works with Gmail font changes just fine.) and then logged out.

Song

Song:	Little God
Album:	Silver Bell [Unreleased; 2000] [ Search RP ]
Last Played:	Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:27 pm

What is with all the unreleased songs playing on on-line radio? This is another good argument against RIAA. There is demand for short run music. They just want to sell every one N-Sync. Bastards!! I hate them SO MUCH!!

Day
I have a poker game much later today. I'm looking forward to it. I woke up today at around 4:00 and made some stupid comments on people's blogs. I really should not attempt communication before my coffee. I've turned to reading the professional blogs. I rarely leave comments on those.
There are a bunch of posts on that big story where some chick is brain dead, oh, wait, dead and her parents are suing every living person for having a pulse and offending their dead daughter. I'm sick of hearing about that case.
The Pope is nearly gone. He is eighty something. I did not know there are over a billion Catholics in the world. People seem to be very impressed with this Pope. I never really paid attention, but he has some people very upset for some of his decisions. The death watch holding vigil outside the Vatican kind of disturbs me. It just seems morbid.
The sun just came up. I walked outside to watch it climb over the apartment building in front of mine. I have a lovely view of the parking lot and a bunch of other apartments. I've lived here for nearly seven years and this is the first time I noticed that it sucks.
Speaking of views, I'm about [  ] this close to buying that camera. It is like $400 more than I want to spend. It isn't really the camera I want. The one I really want is $8500. I'm just going to have to get buy with the cheaper model for a couple of years. Wait! I haven't actually decided to buy it yet. I will be saving $7300 or so. STOP! Kelly.
I just got off the phone with my father. They are going to a wood working show. They asked me if I want to go, but I think not. I'm so, not into wood working. I prefer the cold soulless empty feel of metal and plastic.

Gas Prices
I ride the bus. Not only is it $1.00 a ride, but I'm legally blind and I ride basically for free. I pay $4 every year to get the ID. Every day lately I've seen (in huge writing big enough for me to read) the price at a local gas station go up and up. It now costs more for a gallon of gas the the whole commute on the bus for an entire day. I know it is subsidized by taxes (I work for a living. I pay plenty of taxes.), but it is still nice not to have that riding my butt.

T-Shirt

Right Handed Conservative Heterosexual Males Are Creative Too!

OK, so I'm really asexual. The people reading the t-shirt don't have to know that. I hope the irony of white boring letters on a black boring background representing the creative thought process hits every one between the eyes. See, we are funny too. It just keeps getting better. =]

Blogger
I tried to stop there and publish this entry. Blogger is having one of its bad days. I wouldn't be surprised to hear  that blogger is on a feeding tube soon. It is giving me some bullshit Java error about a timeout. Yes, timeout. I like that one. Blogger is seriously pissing off allot of their customers. I know I'm using the free part of the software, but I bring some hits to Blogger's sandbox. They should fix the damn thing, and quick. They are loosing some people who actually pay for the service. Three of the blogs I frequent have recently moved off Blogger. The funny thing is, they are moving to their own servers. Maybe they will get the idea how difficult it is to keep one running.

Thank God!

Retailers' love affair with mail-in rebates may be coming to an end. In response to customer complaints, Best Buy Co. Inc., the world's largest electronics retailer, promised Friday to eliminate mail-in rebates within two years. Best Buy's rivals, including Circuit City Stores and CompUSA, are expected to follow suit. "Our customers are telling us they just hate the process," said Ron Boire, executive vice president and general merchandise manager at Best Buy. ... Last month, the Federal Trade Commission said for the first time that retailers could be held liable when manufacturers fail to honor rebate requests. The FTC said CompUSA told consumers that rebate checks would be mailed within six to eight weeks, but many consumers experienced delays of months and never got their checks. StarTribune

I have not bough products because they had rebates. I have chosen products that cost more, but do not have a rebate because I hate the frigging things. I have actually gotten my mother to fill in the paperwork for me. How pathetic is that?
I have always thought that suppliers give rebates to sellers because the price should have dropped, but instead of refunding the seller, they offer a manufacturer's rebate to keep the price competitive. Stores get into the act with a seller's rebate to move things off the shelf. On items that have multiple suppliers like pre-built computers, you have a manufacturer's rebate on the hard drive, operating system, monitor, and goodness knows what else. Come on. How many of these things are we supposed to deal with. I really hope this is not some left over April Fool's joke.