Tragedy
I really want to get out of the whole middle east and hose the place down with nukes. Then we send in robots and milk what is left of the oil. We might as well go after the drug cartels in South and Central America while we are at it. There should be a one time per century Fix-it day where we go hog wild and make things right. The trouble is, it will never work. That is why they hate us already. I suppose that is why I'm not the guy in charge. I know I would not be able to keep my finger off the trigger when crap like this happiness.
The guy was Jewish. I wander how much that had to do with it. Wouldn't it be great if we all had the same color skin, same language, same culture, worshipped the same God ...? No, I like the diversity do not like the hatred. I cannot imagine true hate. I'm full of talk about nuking countries. These guys picked up a big knife and cut a guys head off. That is hate.
The father of Nicholas Berg said something extraordinary. He blames the American forces for holding his son without do course and says the loss of rights over terrorism is no better than a witch-hunt. I hate to say it, but it is easy to blame the people standing in front of you. It is far more difficult to hod someone who may never be caught responsible. The American forces deny holding Nick at all. The media has already begun digging into Nick's past.

War with Syria
Round and round and round she goes... Which country is next to go?
Now, America is putting pressure on Syria. I've heard speculation that weapons of mass destruction ended up in Syria. At some point the U. S. was buddies with Damascus. North Korea is not playing ball on nuclear weapons.
Libya is looking for a World Cup bid. This is probably why they are playing nice with Europe and the rest of the west lately. Qaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, is on an Italian team at the moment. He is caught up in all the European glitz and glamour. There is a story about five nuns who have been blamed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV in Libya. The nuns say they are innocent and are being made into scapegoats. Seif seems to be on their side.  I wander if Qaddafi is setting his son up to look good to the rest of the world by allowing him to save the Nuns.

Hyperlinked editorial
I've had a couple of people comment on the hyperlinks in the text on my blog. I remember having to site stuff in a research paper. It was a pain listing where you found everything. You knew the professor was not going to go look anything up. This is much better. If I were writing a research paper today, I would insist on using hyperlinks for my citation.
Google News is awesome. You can search on key words and get back a list of news stories. How the heck can you find out what soccer team on which Qaddafi's kid plays? Type it into the search at the top of Google News and hit enter. That is my secret.
There is one thing I've noticed. Since I started writing this blog and quoting news stories, I hate it when I hear something cool on radio news (either NPR or BBC or so on) because I can't grab the link at the top of the browser and quote the story in my blog. Normally I can just hit Google News and be done with the matter. It is not usually the same story though. My opinion was formed by the first place I heard the news. Now things are a bit tempered. It still works out though.
What are your thoughts?

Athens Olympics
The Olympic people are saying Athens will have their shit together in time. The contractors on the ground are saying they will be working the morning of the Olympics. The Athens locals admit they pissed away the first three years. They have also admitted to a huge coverup plan. It's pretty bad, because this is the place where the whole thing started. The path of the original Olympian was supposed to be taken, but I don't believe it complies with the rules. Go figure.

Frustrating stuff
Who the hell invented the PS2 keyboard and mouse ports? They will plug into each other, but they will not work if you get them backwards. Useless git. This is someone who needs to be smacked.

Ya-hoodily-doodily-do
To be a man. Men are not supposed to be men. Men are to be gentlemen. Men are to be soft and kind. Men are to be smart and reliable. Men are to be relaxed with pep. Men are to love children and listen to women's problems with genuine concern. It's just too bad men like this are not what women want. Women don't really care about any of this. Women fall for guys who melt their butter. Women want men who make their knees shake. Women want a man who is a man, not a gentleman. Looks, wallet, attitude, none of these are what makes a woman's jaw drop. It is raw magnetism. I know, bitch bitch bitch.

Buddies
A friend of mine stopped by and said he recognized some one from the photos on my web page. That is so cool. He walks in and says "is that guys name Chris? I used to go  to A&M with him." They caught up. That is awesome.

A better product
It does not matter how good a product you have. It does not matter how much better it is than all the other products out there. What matters, is how much money you make off it. Remember Tucker. He had a far superior product. Rather than compete with him and improve their own products, the other car manufacturers squashed him. The same thing happens every day with Microsoft. Right now Microsoft is patenting processes in their new operating system to make sure no one else can make compatible or comparable products. It makes me sick.

Art Car
I missed the art car parade. I slept until three in the afternoon. I wanted to get a bunch of pictures too. I suppose it was too much to ask for. To be honest, I hoped to run into Anna. I can't win for loosing.

Shame
This whole thing with the soldiers and the prisoners and the pictures is a disaster. It is a public relations nightmare. People have been saying for years that the U. S. is a hypocrite. The first trial starts soon. I wander if some one can plead the fifth in a military court. I'm sure this first trial will only point to other parties. I've read some speculation that the CIA instructed the guards to act the way they did. The CIA apparently wanted the prisoners to be softened up for interrogation. I can't find the story, but I read that the CIA wanted a woman to perform the humiliating acts and for pictures to be taken. I can believe this. When you think about what an interrogator would be after, it makes sense. Yes, this is all humiliating. Yes, it shocks even weathered Americans (some of whom pay to be treated like this (you know who you are)).
Here is a semi-related story. Disturbing. It isn't just Americans.

More on the Chech president's murder
It was a mortar shell. I'm not the only one asking who had access to such a high security area. I've heard both that it was a timer and that it was set off by remote. The president was Muslim and had called for jihad against the west. He was hated by the people who elected him. His son is in a position to take control, and is as hated as his father. The Russian government is screwed, because the president was basically helping settle the area down. Remember that theater incident in Russia in 2002? That was Chechnyan rebels. Those may have been the same one's who did this.

Listen to the experts
There is no such thing as herbal Viagra!!!! For the love of email, stop clicking on the spam adds that say you can get it for pennies a pill. I bet half the spam out there is selling Viagra. After a few horror stories from friends, I will not even try the real stuff on a bet.

Shaving my back
I made the mistake of shaving my back. Or, I should say, I attempted to shave my back. Every time I ran the clippers over my skin more hair came off. I gave up and there are still logs sprouting off my upper arms just shy of the shoulder blades. Where do you stop? yeesh. What have I begun.

Picture of me
Every one complains that there are no pictures of me. Well, here is one that Lillian took from work. This was taken late in the game. I was logy from ice-cream and sitting in the sun. Love it or lump it, that's me.

Chechen Presedent
There was an explosion at a stadium that killed the president of Chechnya. The bomb was placed in a cement column months before the event. That is scary as hell. That means years of planning. That means a cover up, a plot, a conspiracy.
Some one had to sit down and think about to what event the president would appear. Then they had to plan where the event would occur. Then they had to predict where the president would stand. Then they had to plant the device. Then they had to set it off. I wander if they just had a timer. That would mean knowing that this historic date would happen on the same day, and that they always have the ceremony at the same time in the same place. Maybe some one involved in the choreography of the president's moves was in on it. It boggles the mind.
I suppose they were renovating the stadium for this specific event. I bet they published the date and time of the event before the renovations were complete. I bet it was obvious (a podium next to a pillar) where the president would stand during some speech. I wander if they used a timer or if they set the device off with some kind of remote.
So, all you project engineers out there, be ware. The bad guys are watching your schedule. Make sure you think about what terrorists might do with your plans and schedule information before you hand them over to the contractors (who bid amazingly low) who hate your client enough to kill them.

Amateur Photographer
You have heard, I'm sure, of those pictures of U. S. soldier in charge of Iraqi prisoners. Those photos were not taken by a photographer. Those photos came out of some one's digital camera. Some grunt had a camera and access to the internet. The shot heard around the world. To view the actual pictures click here. Note, they are extremely graphic.
Those photos of the coffins that came back from Iraq were also taken by an amateur. The lady who took the photo of the coffin's coming back from Iraq was fired. There is plenty of talk of banning cameras in all kinds of places. Ban them on the streets of America. The government has cameras on every street corner. I cannot get access to them if I get in trouble. Only the government can use them against me. My company has ordered all cameras off the property for years and just recently ordered all picture phones away.
If you think about it from the company's/military's point of view, they know stupid stuff is happening. They know there is nothing they can do about all of it. They also know that an eyewitness is not nearly as damaging as a photo. There is an old saying that a photograph is worth a thousand words. That comes from early days of publishing with photographs. The impact of a story is far more potent when you have a photo or video footage.
I remember a buddy of mine getting backed-into by a woman in a parking lot. She was ready to sue until I broke out the camera. Her attitude completely changed the instant I started taking pictures. There are any number of times in my life I wish I could have taken a picture of something stupid that would get some one in trouble. I would love to put a camera on the front of every bus I ride and catch those assholes who cut off the bus. Don't they know the bus can't stop? Don't they know it will not be a free ride if they are smooshed by a bus while trying to turn right in front of it? I would like to get every single car that passes on the right on this street out front of my apartment. Maybe I'll set up my camera on a tripod and start catching idiots passing on the right. I'll write my congressmen (oh, and make sure to CC the media) and find out what happens.
I've thought of hiring myself out as a party photographer. That would be a cool career. It would all end with my murder after taking one of those photos that gets people killed.

Lazy Saturday
I didn't make the Art Car parade. =[ I was hoping for some nice pictures too. Oh, well maybe next year. I can't believe I slept until like three this afternoon. I went to bed at five thirty the previous day. I've been doing that allot lately. I did get the ball game pictures up. That is the sum total of my accomplishments today. I did watch about fifteen episodes of the Simpsons that came in. That was quite a challenge. I have seen them all. There isn't even one that has parts that I don't remember. It's funny, the guys and I quote the Simpsons all the time. Every time I run across one of those amazing quotes I get a bit nostalgic. It was a beautiful day, and yes Anna, I sat inside in front of the computer all day.

Matter of time
Is it just a matter of time before Iran is added to the list of countries the U. S. is at war with? Who put us in charge? I suppose some one has to be the big kid on the block. This country is great, but it can not stand alone against the world. We need allies. We need people on our side.
Politicians keep saying it is not a war against a religion. Religion is what binds these people against the U. S.. Politics is what holds the U. S. together and focused. Why do they hate us so much? I'm watching Peter Pan and I'm reading this web page. God help us. Where are we going? Why did I grow up.

When you do an ls -al (ls = list as in dir in DOS) you get a list of the files in the current folder with their permissions. To change the mode of a file (permissions) the command is chmod. a command looks something like the following.

chmod 664 <filename>

What do the numbers mean? Think binary.

000
----------

001
---------x

002
--------w-

003
--------wx

004
-------r--

005
-------r-x

006
-------rw-

007
-------rwx

... And so on. There are three sets of three privilege attributes. There is one additional bit on the far left, called the sticky bit, that no one really knows what it does. Until you stumble across the holly grail of the sticky bit, ignore it. The first set of three are for user (The user who created the file. Known as owner in Microsoft world.). The second set of three is for the group to which the file belongs. The third set of three is for all (or world).
Linux has mime types (Don't look it up. It means nothing), but does not use file extensions to determine what to do with you activate it. The only way Linux knows to run a binary or a script is that the file has the execute "x" attribute in the appropriate section.
I know no one cares. I felt this information had to be ported to the masses. I'm sick of it biting me in the ass every time I have to deal with vendors.

Baseball Game
My day job went to a baseball game yesterday. It was actually fun. I was worried it would be a drag going to a game with people from my job,but it was OK. I ran around taking a bunch of pictures of the stadium and people.
Before the game we went to a place called Onion Creek. This was about 11:30 or so. We started drinking there with a beer or so before the 1;05 game. This is an awesome place. I tis just plane cool. It is a coffee house with good food, beer and wine.
I didn't even know I was going until about 9:00 or so. Josh came in and handed me a ticket. He and some of the guys received a family upgrade to the club level seats.
The game was fun. I didn't stay in the seat much. I wandered around snapping a few shots. There is on shot lined up right down the track that allows you to get a cool picture of the train. It is from a rarely used stairwell in the back of the place. I think i have more fun watching the people than the game. There were a couple of guys smoking weed in the tour out back. The smell was strong enough to knock you out. There were a bunch of school kids there on field trips. I never went to a baseball game on a field trip. They looked like private schools.
It was the aftermath that was fun. We ended up at the Flying Saucer. The waitresses were warring these little Catholic schoolgirl outfits. What killed me was these girls in the white knee-high socks. I only took one picture, because I was afraid I would get arrested. I need to get out more.
I got my first look at the light rail. It is very quiet. I can tell why a couple of people have been hit.
I made it in to work at my normal time of 6:00 AM. I have gotten work done too. I admit, after lunch I was all but useless. I can't say that is abnormal for a Friday afternoon.

Art Car Parade
I'm going to try to make the Art Car Parade tomorrow. It may give me even more picture opportunities. They will appear on the blog, worry not.

It begins
It won't be long now. Soon you will have cloths that crash. You will have a manual on CD-ROM you will have to read and learn how to use before you can put on your jacket. I remember Back to the Future two or three where the main character's jacket was self drying. What I don't understand is why they used a battery. Why didn't they just make a mechanism charge the system as you step? They are already using mechanics with a small electric motor/servo. I wander if it uses a proprietary battery you can only get via OEM.

Dark Matter BAH!!!!
Dark matter is bullshit. Wait, there is more bullshit in the universe than dark matter. I've gone over this in my blog before, so I'll limit my rant to a few dozen lines. The concept of dark matter is self flawed. It is like saying the Earth is flat, What proof do you have that the Earth is flat? Look around, it's flat. There is a huge hole in the math. Gravity doesn't act like we expect it too all the time.
Some lonely geek sat down on a Saturday evening and did the math. "There is X amount of matter we can see. In order for gravity to work the way it says in the book, there has to be 10X matter in the universe. Where is all that other matter? Lets call it dark matter, I'll make slashdot with a cool name like that. Oyven-Glaven!!"
The book is wrong. Perhaps the formula of gravity doesn't stop declining at zero. Perhaps at great distances it repels instead of attracts. There are any one of a million excuses for the discrepancy. We would see the dark matter. If it has gravity (which it must or why have dark matter) It would form some kind of clump. We would see it. I bet it would look like fog or a dust storm when you looked through a telescope. It would rain down from the skies and hit us in the head. Look around, there is no dark matter.

All the children are put to bed. Their mother joins them soon. The day winds down. Another day comes. Night looms, leaks into my home. Dreams call, but not by name. The cool air, a night breeze sings to me while I lay awake. Awake to hear the breeze. Awake to hear my loved ones breath. Awake to feel my troubles slip away, away to tomorrow, tomorrow, so far away.

Tid-bits
Good Houston Vehicle
Some one has come out with an aquatic car that looks good for Houston Floods. If it had a slightly higher profile for all the potholes I bet it would be the ultimate Houston car.
Brain Priority
I work with computers and I work in an office. Now, I work a second job. I'm trying to land a girlfriend. My life needs priorities. Computers need priorities or they will never get anything done. I read all the time about artificial intelligence and how complex are the things that go on in the mind. I bet the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Commands) design in conjunction with a flexible priority system would do wanders for AI. I bet forgetting tasks when they become too low a priority is important too. Can you imagine never being able to forget anything. You would go nuts knowing where you left your sox in the second grade.
Gmail gripes
It doesn't check the spelling in the subject line. Hence, 99% of my emails have "hey" as the subject. This is true about many of the other web email interfaces.
You can't remove a label once you have assigned one. I accidentally assigned the wrong label to an email and now, it is in both groups.
Email in the sent-items folder is there for ever. You cannot really archive it. It is still sitting in the sent items folder.
Gmail highlights
It does what it says on the box.
Conversations are linked. Once you label an email, all replies to that email are stuck in the same conversation. You archive conversations.

Warning
Every time, and I mean every time one of these virus/worm warnings come out, my day job's network grinds to a halt. It is frightening how poorly this system is set up to handle these every day occurrences. I'm really only upset because I haven't been able to listen to my internet radio all day.
I did get work done in spite of the lack of reliable I-radio. I found myself prioritizing my tasks based on what I felt like doing. I have so much piled up it doesn't matter where I start. You know, it worked. I got allot of work done. I asked several unique questions of the higher-ups at both my company and a vendor support and I got a resounding and unanimous “You're screwed Kelly” at every turn. Support sucks these days. Computers have reached the level where the easy things are all done for you and if you need something done outside the box, no one knows how to do it (except me). You would think this might make me feel better about myself. It does give me a false sense of superiority. That falls short of earning me more money. When people ask me who is my boss at my day job, I answer “everyone”. That is how it feels sometimes. Recently I've been telling people no. I've had people ask for one thing, then when I give then what they asked for, they say “I asked for ...” and I want to pull out the email or document they sent me and point to the facts and say “What did you ask for? What did I give you?” I'm not that abrupt about it, but I would like to be sometimes. It isn't that bad really. I should not complain, so much.

Linux
I blamed Linux about the Support Wizard trouble. I blamed Linux for the trouble I've had with several software packages. Now, I can't get Overnet to run reliably in Linux. it keeps loosing the connection with the Temp files. That causes me to redo the entire download list. After the third time I called it quits. It isn't Linux's fault. When you go to these web pages and look at the support there is a ton of crap for Windeath and a line or two for Linux. The software for Linux is an after thought. That will change I bet. I remember when Windeath was second to DOS. I remember when server meant NetWare or Unix. Pretty soon you will do your taxes on you mobile phone. It won't matter a damn bit which OS you have.

Progress
I got the Support Wizard software to accept emails as tickets. Now, if I can only get it to mail me when I get a ticket. Give me time.
Then, I found a cool new site and movie company. It looks like some independent film companies are giving Disney and Pixar (now two separate entities) a run for their money.
At some point I called Anna and left a message. Her crazy party was last night and I won't be able to sleep until I know how it went.
Cynthia emailed. She is in one piece, but puffy after getting her wisdom teeth pulled. She will be out of action for a bit.

Game Over
I wandered what happened to this show. Is it available on DVD yet? :-b They put it on Friday night for God's sake. I only saw the first one. I liked it. I hope it finds a home somewhere else.

Earthquake
There is a show on tonight about earthquakes in California. I'm so sick of shows about California. The universe doesn't revolve around L.A.. This show isn't even well made. It looks like they are trying to have too many sub-plots. The show is called “10.5” and is about as stupid as the name.

OK, Lame post
This is a lame post. I'll try to make sure I have something to say in the future. I've been getting a bunch of work done lately. That might have something to do with the frazzled brain.

Workflow
I'm working on some T-Pro stuff. I am trying to set up a support software. The trouble is, I have no organization to setup. I have to guess what's next at every step. It can all be modified later if needed. I can't get the stupid thing to let me in to the FAQ without a login. I can't get the stupid thing to send me an email on a ticket. I cant get the thing to move tickets like it says it is supposed to. Blaw, blaw ,blaw.

Recover
This guy, Thomas Hamill, was being held in Iraq. He is a farmer in the States. He went to Iraq to drive a truck for Halliburton. He was in a locked building. When he heard a military group break into the building, he chased them down and was rescued.

Complaints and wining department
I've been in agony the past week. I have a crick in my neck. The pain is worse when I turn my head to the right, or look down. This happens every couple of years. normally it goes away after a week. Though the pain has dropped a bit in intensity, or I have become accustom to compensating, this bout shows little sign of release. It all started this past Tuesday with a bad dream or two. Now, the funny posture has lead to another, separate pain in my upper back. It is a muscle-soreness pain, different from the crick pain. This second pain is one I get all the time when I spend too much time in front of the computer. I have to admit, I've been spending fourteen hours a day in front of a computer between both jobs and all the other crap I do on the computer.

Saudi Arabia Blames Jews for attack
Story. Four gunmen, some of whom worked for the security guarding the place, broke into an engineering compound (with employee cards) and shot several employees dead before reaping mayhem upon the city.
This is a quote from the article from the crown prince Abdullah, the guy in charge of the Saudi Arabia Kingdom.
“Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, blamed outside influences, specifically Israel, for the terrorism.
'It became clear for us and I say it, not 100 percent but 95 percent, that Zionists' hands are behind what is going now,' he said today.”
ABB, the company this happened to, asked if the other people would like to stay under increased security or leave. All 100 chose to leave. Go figure.

End of an era
Red Hat is officially dead. Red Hat chose to go full enterprise. It is $2400 for a server license. I hate to say it, but that is just too much for my small company. Red Hat is the distribution I learned first. It seems like all the books refer straight to Red Hat. Linux meant Red Hat to me for allot of years. I'm using Mandrake at the moment. I want to try SuSe. Mandrake is French (I know). SuSe is German. I hear good stuff about SuSe all the time. It is a professional distro. Many businesses use SuSe. It is on par with Red Hat in performance as far as I can tell. The U. S. government will not use anything that was not compiled in the U. S. so, Red Hat is about it.
Red Hat has spawned a bastard called the Fedora Project. I have not tried it. I only have one problem with Fedora, it is not Red Hat. It is a different distribution. It doesn't seem to support RPMs fully. Stuff is in different places. BAH!!
There is a movement to make Linux easier to use and make it something every Joe/Jane can use to get work done. Their goal is to make an open source system that businesses will want their employees to use. They have a long way to go. I said years ago that Linux was not ready for the desktop. Well, Linux is not even at Windows 95 level of usability. The developers are not going about the task in a way that will end with a better desktop. Microsoft spends more money on user feedback about the interface than any one company spends on the whole of Linux development. That is no way to catch up.

Atlantis
These scientists claim to have found Atlantis. Is Atlantis a real place? Was it wrought in the imagination of some ancient story teller? Not knowing is the only thing that makes it interesting. Too many myths and legends are defined these days. Once we figure out what the root of a story is, it isn't a mystery any more. People stop telling the story.

France
France is limiting the freedom of religion regarding family abuse and some other stuff that is considered a violation of human rights. When you read about some of the things that France has troubles with you might think it makes since. Think about it though, other countries don't outlaw these acts. Young women in the U. S. are required to leave the country to marry men they may have never met if their parents say. The French caught hell a while ago over banning young Muslim women from warring scarves in schools because they are a public display of religion. Forget the fact that it is a requirement of the religion.

Memory
My short term memory is shot. I'm trying to copy some files to a couple of locations around the globe at my day job. It is taking forever. The total size is around seventy megabytes and the network keeps bombing out the copies. My explorer died twice. At least XP restarts explorer when explorer crashes. In 2000 you had to start it manually. Lately it seems like every time I turn around I forgot where I was. It doesn't help that every one wants my attention. I've actually started telling people that I just don't have time to do stuff.  I can't get anything done because I have to stop in the middle and help some one else with something.

Bad Movie of the Week
Police in Macedonia (near the old Yugoslavia area) gunned down some illegal immigrants for the single purpose of making it look like the cops were doing a good job tracking and killing terrorists. It is enough to make you sick. But, hay, al-Qaida couldn't have a worse opinion of the West at the moment, right?

Political stuff
There is an article on The New York Times web page talking about the support for Bush waning recently. I believe it. There is so much criticism in the press lately that no one can hear a supportive voice over all the jeers. I don't know what kind of base The New York Times has for it's poll. I know I don't answer the phone at home so they will never get hold of me. Most conservative people I know don't participate in polls.
One little part of that article confirmed something I've believed for quite some time. Nader will divide the Democratic party if he continues to run for president. Apparently 5% of those polled would vote for Nader over Kerry where Kerry looses the 5%. I guess Nader puts the demo in democrat. =] It sounds like a dollar for Nader is five dollars for Bush. If there were only a way to make sure Nader would not pull out of the race and support Kerry.
Something else in the article says more Americans believe the Iraqi people are ungrateful for the toppling of Saddam. This was inevitable in my opinion. People in Iraq and the Middle East in general have had two uniting themes guiding their lives for the past fifty or so years, the hatred of Israel and the hatred of Israel's strongest ally, the U. S. I keep hearing that many folks will not be happy until Israel is pushed into the sea. I thought Arafat said that, but I can't find a quote. People in forums love saying it.

Some random word searches on Google.

Ralph Wiggum
Go Wiggum. You are one of my favorite characters on the Simpsons.

Abandon Missile Silo
Where were people expected to park?

Big Red Switch
I'm just not that impressed.

plastickelly blog
Cool. Searching for plastickelly alone also brought up a couple of porn sites.

cynthoughts
Cool, again.

Broken
A buddy of mine has a Mercedes. It is a little hot-rod coop convertible. He paid like $55,000 for it and didn't even get the xenon headlights. He is kind of nerdy and not a very good driver to be honest. I've ridden with him several times and he breaks funny. Anyway, it has been a running joke that there is a pool to pick when and just how he is going to kill himself in that car. Well, he spun it out just off Wilcrest and did some damage to the undercarriage, Thank God he wasn't hurt. He seems a bit embarrassed about the whole thing. I may take up a collection to get him some of those racing lessons they have at tracks somewhere around here.

Saddam's Birthday
Today is Saddam Husain's birthday. He is 67 years old. Normally I listen to NPR on the way in to work. They talk about birthdays. It is usually some relic I've never heard of. Today was different. This guy survived an early life as a hired killer. He rose to power in a political system where rivals kill each other to advance. He survived as a despot over a country of armed tribes. He survived taking that country to a couple of wars with his neighbors. He survived losing to the number one military power on Earth twice. This guy is going to out live me.

Bad Dreams
I had a bunch of violent dreams last night. People were trying to hit me with golf clubs and bats. My neck hurts this morning and I wander if I ducked allot while I was sleeping.
One of the guys up here said they had a disturbing dream about shooting people in the head a couple of weeks ago. I've had those dreams, but mostly after playing first person shooters. It is extra creepy because I go to the range every so often. In the dreams I smell the gun powder and feel the gun kick. I know it's a dream because my ears don't hurt after I shoot.
I've had friends tell me about stabbing some one with a sword and feeling the resistance as the blade plunged into flesh. I ask, did you smell the blood? They said no. I think there will always be some incomplete part of dreams. That is because the rational part of the brain only contributes random sense to dreams.

Gmail review
Cynthia decided to take Blogger up on their offer and beta test Google's new Gmail. I couldn't let her out geek me, so I had to give it a shot. the address is zhsy00001 at gmail.com. I'm not putting a direct link because of web page sniffers used by spam bots.
It is very beta. The address book is lacking. There is no Pop3 support (yet). I can't find a signature setting anywhere. It won't let you select multiple people for one email from your address book (I haven't figured it out yet). It does let you delete old mail, even after you have archived it. It has a category system for labeling your email. There is a nice feature for reporting an email as spam. If this does what I hope, as people report a particular email (and hopefully similar emails) as spam, gmail will toss them out before they hit every one's inbox.

Aunt and Uncle
My aunt and uncle are in town this week. They are on my dad's side. They have a sail boat and sail around looking for adventure. Yes, they are retired. My aunt is a school teacher. My uncle is a military man (air force). I'm not sure what he did in the military exactly.
For a while he drove a limousine. I remember a story about him driving the whole family down to Wall-Mart in the Limo and letting them out at the front door while warring the outfit and all. I just can't picture my family pimping at Wall-Mart like that. I'm sorry I missed it.

My new dream car
Sixty four valve, eight liter, “W” sixteen cylinder, one thousand horsepower, four turbo chargers, variable valve timing (on all four cam shafts), computer controlled clutch, all wheel drive, I'm in love. The Bugatti Veyron have crammed as much as possible in to a single engine. I love it, the site does the math. 1.3 gallons a minute must be burned to get 1000 horsepower. The videos of the engine are a pain to get to, but worth it.
Look out Gumball Rally.

Tpro
OK, the world has gone topsy-tervy. My day job is getting harder. Well, not harder. It is definetly less fun due to pay cuts that I will never recapture and the politics that are driving me up the wall. Tpro is getting easier. Well, not easier, better defined. There is forward momentum and I can't wait to find out what happens next. I've learned a ton and there are opportunities galore.
I've got my support server up and running. Now, I just need to figure out how it works. =] I still have a bunch of other stuff to learn. I'm on my way though.

Simpsons philosophy
Lisa finds out her family experiences “dumbening” at age eight. She feels the evil sting of genetics. It turns out to just be the males of the family who get stupid. I kind of know how she feels. My vision is genetic. That is what I've been told. I don't believe any of these doctors know what they are talking about.

Bad day
I had a crappy day today. I don't want to go into what caused it. I think it is a bunch of crap all piled on top of each other. I'm having trouble juggling two jobs. The day job is just falling apart. There is this one project that will just not work. The other job is suffering badly.
At my day job I've asked for help from higher up in my own company. They are basically lost. They say “talk to the vendor”. The vendor is trying to help, but apparently this company is the only one trying to do what it is doing. No one else in the world does it this way according to the vendor. So, I'm the bad guy. I'm the one who can't get it done. Two multi-billion dollar companies don't do it like this, but I'm the one who has to fix it.

Woman I met through my blog
I've told some people about a woman I met because of my blog. First of all, I'm finding that there are people reading my blog I've never met. She is a friend of a friend. She found my blog through Cynthia's blog. She first said my blog was boring and wanted me to spice it up. Well, there isn't any spice to sweeten this train-wreck. We have been chatting through email and the only thing we have in common is that we agree we have nothing in common. She is outgoing and has parties. I sit at the computer for ever. She goes hiking, I've been hiking twice. She has sex toy parties and I can't bring myself to go to a strip club. We are a lousy match.
I've asked five times for dinner or a meeting (other than a sex toy party), but her schedule always gets in the way. She doesn't want a one on one meeting. I understand. I don't shine in a party scene though. I suppose I don't shine one on one either, but I'd do better than at a sex toy/mortician graduation party. (for God's sake) How the hell are you supposed to meet some one for the first time at a party like that? What is she thinking?

Vanilla Sky
I tried to watch Vanilla Sky. That was a mistake. A guy maybe kills some one or doesn't, maybe he had a car wreck or maybe he didn't. It looks like two plot lines run in a twist around each other. It is my opinion that this movie was produced to match shows like Memento. Vanilla Sky takes it one step too far and it is just annoying to follow. Besides, when the car runs off the bridge and slams into a wall, there is no steam from the radiator. That car was not running when it hit the wall. Supposedly, it was doing 80 when it went off the bridge. It should have been close to over heating. There is no way that much front end damage didn't pop the radiator.

Party
I've decided to not go to the sex toy/mortician graduation party this weekend. If the woman who is throwing it knew me at all, she would not have invited me. I'm sure it will be fun. I have a hard enough time at boring dinner parties, and this time I wouldn't even have my camera to hide behind.
I'm just not that guy. I wish I could just stop worying about finding someone and get some work done.

Bowling
I was watching an episode of the Simpsons, the one where Homer buys Marge a bowling ball with his name on int for Marge's birthday. I had an epiphany while watching her move over from one side of the lane to the other and going from a single pin to a strike. When I was in high school, I joined a bowling team. We met one night a week and just bowled. I was terrible. I still am. I did, however, learn some powerful things about myself. That is the earliest time I realized I had a problem with anger. Every time before that I just accepted the way I felt and let myself go. I wanted to control myself at bowling though. There were girls there. I found out years later the girl I was interested in was a lesbian. That too would haunt me throughout my life. I had no idea how to make the anger go away.
The bowling was only half the frustration I encountered on bowling night. My mother noticed how upset I would be when I came home. There was a night when my parents had some friends over and asked me to find a ride home. I walked. It was about six miles. It wouldn't be the last time frustration over a woman would make me do something stupid. Six or seven years later, I walked from a friend's house to Westhimer where I caught a bus back to my apartment for the exact same reason.
The epiphany is about sports. I've always wandered why sports are so important to some people. I realized while watching the Simpsons and thinking about what I learned during bowling that people use sports to communicate and learn the social ins and outs. I wander if that is part of what I missed. I did miss something. Somewhere along the way I missed learning how to date, flirt, the mating ritual. Now, I have to learn at thirty five. I think the first step was a willingness to learn. That happened a while ago. I wander what the next step is.

JPEG
The people who originally put the JPEG format together were bought by another company who wants money. There needs to be a law that says when you create something you have to charge for it from day one or you loose the ability to go back and gripe.
SCO would have lost their privilege to sue entities for any Unix code that had already been put in other programs. They would only be able to go after stuff created from now on. The Linux people said “Tell us what is in violation and we will take it out.” from day one. SCO took forever because they knew their case sucked. Now their main investor is upset.
Maybe the JPEG format has had its run.

National ID cards
There is a huge debate in England (Britain) over national ID cards. Privacy Rights people have all but thrown in the towel. They are getting the message that it is going to happen because the government wants it very badly. The physical card is not the issue. The biometrics that are linked to the card will be held in a database and kept for ever. The database will only be accessible for law enforcement, or so the officials say. Of course, this is the information age and companies will lobby for access to all or part of the data. I'm sure it will come in small waves. Lets suspend our rights a piece at a time in the name of anti-terrorism. The terrorists hate our way of life, so lets change our way of life until they have nothing to hate.
I have to tell you, I like the idea of a national ID card in the States. It is one stop shopping for identity theft. The card will be difficult to copy. The data in the database will be under lock and key. That will just make it precious. When is the last time any government got anything right on the first try?

Movie in the making
These guys were caught in a building and nearly didn't make it. The story reads like a movie script. Scary stuff.

Laser canon
This thing looks cool. They have finally worked the kinks out of most of the systems and this one is going on a plane. They swear this thing was designed to shoot down missiles as they launch. I'm sure it will work for that purpose. I know that is an important defensive mission this device will cover. However, what is to stop them from aiming this thing at a vehicle or AAA emplacement? Cost might be a factor at first. This thing will only get cheaper.

Ethics in business
My day job is a major corporation. Yesterday they gave away free ice-cream if you call your congressman and tell them to vote a specific way on a law. How messed up is that? That just makes me feel dirty. I've read the law they want and it sounds like something I might vote for given the chance. The ice-cream thing just makes me feel like a five year old. It also seems petty. It sounds like a bribe to me. I'm no lawyer. They are not paying for votes, but they are paying for you to call your government representative and tell them to vote a specific way. How chicken-shit!

Exuberance
I'm in the middle of setting up some software for the help desk Tpro will use. The software company doesn't really support Linux well, so I put Apache on an old XP machine. I installed Apache, I installed the Support Wizard software. I messed with some settings. I pointed my router to the new web server running on the Windeath box. Then came the time to test the first hit from outside the network. I typed in the link that would cause my computer to look from outside the local network through the internet for the path back to the machine sitting on my desk less than a meter away. The test page came up, it came up, it worked. Something extraordinary happened at that moment. I felt a surge of exhilaration come over me. I felt like rolling my head back and cackling like a mad scientist. I now had two active web servers on my home network. I had conquered two platforms.
I had not seen it coming. That is the scary part. I had no expectations when I hit enter on that address bar. My God it felt good. Now, I just have to configure the software. That is noting compared to making it connect.

Japan's Vietnam
Read about how the Japanese captives from Iraq were treated after they returned to Japan. The Japanese government charged them for air fair on the trip home. That is not how things work. These people were journalists trying to get the story. If you have a problem with journalists going to places of turmoil, stop buying the media to which they report. Bad form Japan.

Say it was a missile
Every time I hear reports from Iraq that mention what witness say, the media quotes some one as saying “... it was a missile.” I hate that. There was a radio report a couple of months ago that had a translator say “There is a guy running around the crowd telling people to say it was a missile.” I believe that translator far further than I believe the eye witnesses. I wish the press would blow off eye witnesses who are not confirmed. In the U. S. the reporter always finds the most buck-toothed hill-billy to put on the tube who is willing to say “Ya, I seen'em.” After a life time of this, I can't listen to “.. an eye witness said ...” without thinking they are full of crap.

Anger resolution

Recognize the problem
It is surprisingly difficult to tell when you are angry or in a bad mood. The first thing that tells me I'm in a bad mood is actually my own voice. I yell at the computer, or whatever is in front of me, or I bite some one's head off. Sometimes it is my own head on the block.

Stop
The next thing you have to do is stop. This is also a difficult step because anger and rage have a momentum. That momentum must be broken before you can continue to the next steps.

Make up your mind to change
Even after stopping the momentum, making the decision to not be angry is perhaps the most difficult of all. When I am angry, I want to stay angry. I want to yell, I want to stomp. Sometimes I just plane decide to stay angry. I don't know why. You have to start over again and it is just that much more difficult the second or third time. “I don't want to be that angry guy. I don't like the angry guy.”

Pull yourself away from rage
Once you make the decision to not be angry you must pull yourself out of the mood. It is a bit like pulling yourself out of a pool that has a ledge with no place to hold. You will feel yourself slipping backward, but you can't panic or get angry. You have to relax and simply go forward more slowly.

Follow through (prevent relapse)
I find myself easy to anger for a long while after I calm down. Sometimes a distraction helps, but only temporarily. I take frequent breaks at work before I get angry. I have to. I need to clear my head between tasks.

Resume life
Now, you still have to fix the problem or complete the task that made you angry in the first place.

A Man's guide to Women and complaining
I am thirty five years old and I have to relearn the same lesson over and over again. When a woman comes to me and tells me about a problem she is having, she doesn't necessarily want a solution. She might want sympathy. If she wants sympathy, she will think your are bossing her around when you offer her a solution.
For example, your wife tells you that she hates her professor at university. Do you A, Say “Drop the class sweetie, it isn't worth it.” or “Go to the dean and talk about it.” or “Slash that bitch's tires.”; or B, Say “I remember some of my professors ...” or “I can go talk to the dean if you want.” or “What does her car look like?”; or C, Say “I hear you sweetie. Tell me all about it.”
The correct answer is of course C.

Dog
Every one tells me to get a pet. I work funny hours. I would not pay enough attention to a pet. I have a small apartment. I don't find the same enjoyment in pets that others find. I just look at them and think “I would hate the life you lead, all cooped up.” I was probably a domesticated dog in a past life. I don't want a dog. I don't want a cat. I don;t want a fish. I don't want a bird. Stop telling me you think I should get a pet.
I had one of those Japanese watch sized electric pets once. It died. It died a couple of times.

Darkness
I'm in one of those moods where everything looks bleak. I can't snap out of it. Things are screwing up at my day job. I don't have the energy to follow through with Tpro work I need to do. My social life won't return my phone calls. blaw blaw blaw. Nothing is happening right now that hasn't happened every day of my life.
This is as good as it is going to get. I'm healthy. I'm trying to think of other good news. What ever. Kelly complaining about being Kelly again. There is no fix. This is me. I should accept it and just do the next thing that needs to be done. I need to pay bills. I need to finish a small software project for Tpro. I need to stop doing software packaging at my day job. When I came home this afternoon I just went to bed. I haven't eaten. I got up because I wanted to write in my blog. I probably wouldn't have stirred if it weren't for my adoring public. =]

I learned
I If I'm not really paying attention, Spanish music sounds like Arabic music.

Weight
People gripe about their weight. Well, my two cents:
Ware cloths that fit. pull the tags off i you don't like the size written on them.
Eat what you think is healthy. Avoid things you know are crap.
Get off your butt and exorcize. This is what really matters.
Through the scale out the window. The stress over that number will kill you quicker than the blubber.
Thank God you have enough food to eat and some choice.

Women
BAH!!!

P2P update
There is a new type of download software out there called stream ripping. It appears to be a way that users can share files without being traced. It is a bit annoying sounding because you don't choose the music you download. It is a way to get around IP addresses and such. It pulls down from online radio. A bunch of the downloads are just DJs or even advertisements, but you just delete those.

Office Politics
I am definitely a technician. I'm finding more and more that I am very bad at politics in the office. I tend to tell the truth and air my thoughts far too often to be a political success. It will keep me in a technical position for the rest of my life.

Grasping at Straws
I found a cool site that shows the origin of many phrases. I heard the phrase "grasping at straws" on the BBC and I just had to Google it. I've been looking for a decent site that compiles the origins of phrases. This place is pretty lame. It is also seriously bent toward British ends. Ah, well, tis more the thrill of the hunt.

Lean
I'm looking at the company I work for and I've come to the conclusion that they should get rid of my department. That is, they should outsource. The whole department is overhead. We do not take in outside work. It makes sense now why outsourcing saves so much money. If my department took in outside work, we would be forced to make ourselves better than we are. We have many shortcomings that would be culled at the first chance if we lost a client who was paying. I.T. departments almost exclusively work only with inside a single entity. There is no competition. There is no incentive to improve the product (for real) because you have a captive customer. This epiphany has made me reconsider the approach to outsourcing. The company I work for makes a specific group of products. I think now that this company should stick to that and outsource engineering, support, construction, I.T., and some other overhead objects. This company should keep control of research and development, ownership, legal, rights management, and other managerial objects. What do you think?

2 eDonkeys
I am moving Overnet (aka eDonkey) to another computer. It was on an XP box, but I'm moving it to My Linux server because I need the XP box for testing. The funny thing is, the Linux box is 1/3 the CPU 1/2 the RAM and much older than the XP box. However, Overnet runs faster on the Linux box. Right now they are both fighting over the DSL bandwidth. I'm letting the XP machine complete its downloads before I completely take it offline. They are both running at full speed. I suppose the extra $10 I pay per month for the higher speed DSL is paying off.

Inevitable
Well, it finally happened. The company I work for has banned picture capable phones from all sites. Everyone will have to surrender their phone to security upon entry to the facility. This also implies that you will not be able to leave the phone in your car in most cases because the parking lots are inside the gate. I have been waiting for this memo.
The next thing I'm waiting for are the mass layoffs as a result of outsourcing that the company has assured us we will not feel. Also inevitable in my humble opinion. But, I'm not bitter.

Wild Wild Middle East
The New York Times has an article on the contractors working for the coalition in Iraq. I'm reading this article and thinking "Ye-gads! this sounds like a massive pile of kindling ready to light." It sounds like there are many groups of people and companies from different countries all trying to work together. They are paid by the companies that need security. Some of the companies complain they didn't realize the security needs when calculating the contract costs. Some of the contractors are under supplied and under trained security guards. Some are ex-special forces. Some quit the special forces to take the higher pay of the contract.
One thing that sounds interesting is the different companies are clawing and scratching to get some order to things. Normally, they don't have motivation to communicate and agree on rules. Getting a phone call from your men in the field asking for backup and listening to them die on the phone because there is none must be a good motivator.

Linux VS. Microsoft
This operating system is never going to kill Microsoft at the present rate of creation. I just tried to get a help desk software to install and spent nearly four hours trying to get the install.sh (script) to run, but nothing. It was looking for rpm. I type in rpm and baddabing, there it is. It was looking for make, I type in make and badaboom, there it is. The rpm files that came with the install have some problem with Mandrake 9.2. I'm learning Mandrake 9.2 sucks.
I installed Apache on one of my XP machines and it took ten minutes. I installed the help desk software in 10 minutes. Now, there is only configuration. Every time I try to install software that didn't come with the distribution Linux messes up. It is just plane not ready for prime time. It is worth the extra $999 for click-click install and setup. In a business it costs more to have some one sitting there jacking with the machine than it does to just pay the extra money for a Microsoft server. Maybe outsourcing will change the face of labor costs and thus topple Microsoft.

AT&T Wireless lessons
I read an article about AT&T Wireless. The article covers AT&Ts troubles complying with the federal law last year that said companies had to allow mobile customers to transfer their number from one company to the next. It is quite damning. Ex-employees say between threats of outsourcing, poorly planned software upgrades, poorly maintained networks, and a bunch of other crap, AT&T screwed themselves when this law hit. I like the picture in the article.
Things I learned from this article.
Don't screw yourself with upgrades.
Don't hide the fact your are outsourcing.
Don't just assume the legal system will grind slowly.
Erase you frigging whiteboards after meetings.
Keep confidential memos confidential.
CRM failure can drive current customers away.
CRM failure can stop new customers from using your business.
Using non standard software can bite you in the ass in ways you don't read about on the box.
Five million onetime script fixes are not the way to run a large network.
You need motivated workers to make things work.
Software testing really is worth the time it takes to do it.

Ladyhawk
I like this movie. It is a story of chivalry and a good old fight. I watched again recently. I hate the music. It is this eighties pop sound that makes me ill while watching such a wonderful movie.

Asleep our dreams find a willing mind, a place to play.
Awake our minds find a world around, a place to live.
In our dreams we fight, we flee, we fly away through the clouds of reason.
In our daily lives we want, we climb, we sink into sleep with glassy eyes.
Stumbling in a daze from our well built tours we find another.
One who may share our folly love, our time awake.
Do we know love when we sleep?

Ditto copies
Microsoft MSN site looks like old ditto copies. You know the ones I mean. They used a black magnetic ink paper original and some one sat there turning the crank and running the original against a piece of paper in a bath of blue ink. While I was growing up I always had a hard time reading those miserable copies. I used to sit there and say to myself “They must not want me to be able to read this stuff.” For years I complained. It was not until high school that the copies were made with a real copier. Now I look upon the MSN sight and I say “They are trying to fool me.” They wouldn't use blue text on a whit background for EVERYTHING if they didn't believe in the psychological affect that blue on whit has. It is sky. It is water. It is flowing movement of nature. I say it is hard to read and just one more reason for me to hate Microsoft.

James and Tempest
I'm trying to think of something to say that doesn't sound like a weather report. Well, the weather was spot on. The place was perfect. The groom was just the correct amount of nerves. The bride was beautiful. The guests were happy. The kids were board. it was a wonderful wedding.

Bus stop
I tried to catch the earlier bus this morning. I just missed it. I was hoping to make up a few minutes at work. This is a rough way to start the day. I was trying to ease my mood by meditating, when this guys sits down two meters away. It is a Friday morning and this guys is in shorts and a tank top. He looks in his early twenties. He is going to school or somewhere to goof off all day. I hear him sit down. Then he starts coughing. Then he starts smoking and doubles his coughing. Now I'm upset. It is legal to smoke at a Houston bus stop as far as I know. Even if it is illegal, what are you supposed to do, call a cop? Then he asks me "What time does the bus come?" That sounds like a legitimate question, but he is not warring a watch. I don't see a mobile. What is he going to do in the mean time. If I say five minutes he will sit there until the bus comes. If I say forty five minutes he will sit there until the bus comes. I hate it when people using public transit beside me try to talk to me. That is why I ware  headphones. I've gone over that one before.
I"m a grump.

AT&T gets jiggy
I heard something about this from the BBC a while back. AT&T will soon let you put your phone up to the radio and for 1$ a server somewhere will send a message telling you what song was playing. I'm sure it has limitations and I'm sure it will not work for folk, or obscure stuff, but top forty will work fine. This will save more lives than airbags.

Inventory
A friend of mine is "observing inventory" as I type. It is a beautiful Friday afternoon and I can't imagine doing anything related to inventory on a day like today. Then again. I am at home typing in my blog instead of out soaking up the rays and out of doors. I'm like that though.
I remember doing inventory for a company I worked for several years ago. What a pain. Count a box of pens, mark it down. Count a role of paper, mark it down. I sorted coins once to find over eight hundred dollars. That was mindless over and over again toil, but it was a bit therapeutic. Inventory is just maddening to me. The job I have requires me to think and salve problems (in programming terms). The coin thing just required looking and tossing into a specific pile. Inventory requires just enough thought to prevent the mind from wandering. Yet, not enough to challenge the mind. I suppose  am all or nothing.

Daily listening
I'm finding out that I would much rather listen to news all day than music. That is scary. I find news distracting. I have to turn it off to really concentrate. Music is mostly in the background depending on the genera.

What do you want?
Microsoft wanted to fire off a service that let you click on any word and a search would kick off and bring back information (related to what you were reading at the time) that were based on the word you clicked. The only trouble with the service was no one really wanted it.
I fear the race to get tourists in space will suffer the same problem. It sounds cool, because it is so select right now. After a very little while, it will get old. I bet long before the price drops for shmoes like me to take a day trip to orbit, it will be passé. "Let's see, jet-ski trip, or fifteen minutes in orbit?"

Wedding
My buddy James is getting married tomorrow. He found the perfect woman. The rest of of can stop looking. She is a Linux admin. That's all I have to say. Her name is Tempest. They get along like no one I've met. I wish them all the best.

Dates and computers
Today is the fifteenth of April in the year of our lord two thousand and four. This is a legitimate way of writing the date for humans. It makes since to some one who takes the time to read the words. Even if you have never seen the date written out like that before, you can pick today out on a calendar. Try teaching a computer how to interpret this into a machine date that looks something like "10010100011001011001010001100101". Computers usually count the number of seconds from a given point to determine the date. It is an operating system thing. That's why the whole Y2K thing was a huge bust. That doesn't even get into which order of day month year or year month day or month day year or what ever order you put the numbers. So, when people say "Give me the latest file." they need to specify whether it is the date created, modified or accessed they need.

Adult Happy Meals
I like this idea from Mikky-Ds. They offer a pedometer. It says they are sick of being sued.

War Correspondent
A buddy invited me to paintball this Sunday. He is fully aware that I am legally blind. He suggested I take on the role of War Correspondent. This intrigues me. It would be the first time I have ever attended a sporting event as an amateur photographer. I should carry a microphone and talk into the camera like I'm reporting from the front. I could call it my War journal. That is,until some one shoots me and I walk right up to them and kick them in the head.
It isn't getting shot, It is looking like I'm blind during a sporting event. I hate that.

BlogBack sucks
OK, I'm trying the comment thing. I can't figure out how to get some of the features to work. I'll try to add poles and what not later.

Photo Stitching:
I did some photo stitching by hand many moons ago. I might have some links out there somewhere. It took a surprisingly long time to sit there and hand align the photos together. I had of course, not used a tripod so there was a bit of a twist to the adjustment. They make nice photos though. Some software came with my new camera that makes it a quick step to stitch photos together. The trouble is, it doesn't worry too much about alignment and just melts the two photos together. If you don't use a tripod and a level system, you will get some twist to the pictures. No one has that steady of a hand. I want magical alignment. Something else I noticed, is the fish-eye effect doesn't work well with stitching. The edges of a photo are distorted in that bubble affect that I'm sure every one has noticed at some point. This stitching software doesn't seem to take that into account either. I'm also worried about the size of the photos that come off my camera. Will my laptop be able to mesh six or so, five megapixl shots together? We shall see.
...
Well, I got home and gave the cheap crappy stitching software a shot and it sucks. I didn't use a tripod blaw blaw blaw. I think the I suffered from the fisheye affect as well.

Benny Hill
I accidentally downloaded some Benny Hill clips. Actually, I got the whole collection of Best of Benny Hill. I remember watching this stuff when I was a kid on PBS. I used to laugh. I remember the granny suite. I'm watching it now and only laughing at every fourth joke. Ah, well. it is still funny.

Time
I setup software for install off the network. I got this CD from some guys who swore they had an intern who had installed it all over the place. "Oh, it's a piece of cake." When I tried to get it to work using the exact same instructions the intern wrote, I got all kinds of errors. I asked if the intern could spend some time with me to get things worked out. You know what? It's six months later and they finally admit, the intern got the 2002 version of the software to work great. They gave me the 2003 version. That version has some problems. May I have three days added to my life please?

Calls
I screen my calls. I have all the ringers turned off in the house. If you don't leave message, you will never get in touch with me. I screen my email. I don't answer my mobile until I check who is calling. I don't answer my phone at work unless I'm ready to take calls. Email at work is a bit better. If it weren't for email there would be no work done at the company I work for. Email is the preferred form of communication.
We have records retention policy (thank you Enron) that says we must assign a kill date for everything. The deal is, you put yesterday's date on everything and you are required to destroy it before you can do the task. I'm working on a script that would force the dates on everything on the network forward a year and trigger a mass shredding of data. All the backup tapes would automatically purge themselves. All the file shares would purge. If it happened over a long holiday, it could through off decades of data in a couple of hours. I'm kidding of course. At least, about me writing the script. I have not interest in harming the company I work for or any other. There are precious few time servers in North America.

Atkins
Low carbohydrate diets are taking over the US. I've heard from some one who visited Europe recently and the Europeans don't understand how Americans intend to loose weight by eating. While were were talking over lunch I noticed this healthy way of eating meant you could dip meat in cheese and say "I can't have chips, I'm sticking to my diet." I converted.

Invisible Eunuch
It's amazing. I'm invisible to women younger than I, and I am a brother to every woman my own age. Wow, what a nightmare. This last weekend I went a party where some younger woman happened to attend and had an email conversation with a woman my own age.
Younger women
At Dan's party on Friday evening there were several young women present. They were all about twenty-ish, pretty and they all looked twelve years old to me. I might have caught their eye if I had set myself on fire.
Email conversation
The conversation happened via email. We made small talk about our plans for the weekend and so on. I try to have no "intentions" with the conversation. I try to keep things loose. She mentions fighting with her boyfriend/whatever. I've been down this road so many times I cannot do it again.
Again, I'm tired of being the sounding board for women who have a problem with their current man. Why do women think I'm going to show any sympathy? I don't feel like a hero when you cry on my shoulder about the guy you are having sex with (hint, not me), I feel used.

Easter
Today was Easter. I went over to Tom and Jen's house for some great food and Champaign. They played a party game and a good time was had by all. They have a beautiful house.

Weather
I'm not sure why, but the weather means allot to me this year. For some reason I'm watching the rain on the windows and listening to the wind blow the grass on a sunny day. I don't get it. Maybe I'm just getting old. Today was rainy, but allot of fun. It was worth getting out just to feel the rain on my hat.

Boring blog
Ever since that girl mentioned something about how boring my blog is, I've noticed it is even more boring than normal. A funny thing isn't going to happen to me on the way to everywhere. it takes a life time to build up those stories. The funny thing is, I've had a full weekend. The nothing-happened weekends seem longer. They seem more relaxing too. The most relaxing weekends and evenings are those where I have no obligations. There are times I try to create something new. That is relaxing too.

Story line
I've noticed a story line that keeps popping into my head. It is a man who has lived for centuries through many average and a few exceptional human lifetimes. He finds a way to come back to our time from the future to warn of trouble or right some wrong. He regales those who will listen of his many lives through time, places and the people he has met. As he departs to return to his home in an unknown time one listener asks for one lasting piece of advice to take on her own journey to the future. He stops for one moment and says “Learn Chinese.” then walks away.