Just for Fun
I got this in an email today. I haven't forwarded an email in quite a while. Even if these are fakes, they are well done. I have no idea where these came from. I have no idea if any of them are real. I have no idea if anything is copyrighted. Just look and giggle.

In the beginning
And God said, "Give Kelly a break. Let him have a Sunday afternoon with Elle. Just kicking it and watching cartoons."
Good God. Thanks.

I wish I could send Tedd a couple of cartoons.

Surrender, day one

Clinton promised, “As soon as I take office, I will begin to bring them back home.” Times-Republican

And I thought Carter was a pussy.

No Good patents
Software patents only hurt people who use software, not so much the people who write it.
Microsoft has been pushing for stronger software patent rules. MS wants to protect what they create. That's great. MS is finding that they are the target of more "protection" than they dish out.

"As reported by Info World, Microsoft was issued a cease and desist order on February 7 of this year by Vertical Computer Systems. The order was for patent infringement by the current implementations of the .NET framework. Both the .NET framework and Vertical Computer Systems' site flash use XML to create component-based structures that are used to build and operate web sites. Vertical Computer Systems is requesting a full jury trial. If VCS prevails, .NET technology implementations as we know them may completely change and Microsoft would probably have to pay out a hefty sum." Slashdot

That is one example. Now for the one I fought with all week.
It turns out that MS lost a lawsuit with a company that had a patent on how browsers use objects. Objects are all those things that make the web more than words and pictures. Flash, Java, PDF, and any number of other things that depend on how MS Internet Explorer uses objects to get their job done.
I had to get a Flash object up. I ran smack in to this trouble. Any time you have an object that pulls in something from outside the browser you get a huvering message that reads "".
I had to deal with a problem that the biggest software developer in the world could not deal with. I wonder how much money MS spends on lawyers and lobbyists every minute. I bet it is more than I'll make in a lifetime.

Microsoft Confirms IE Changes in Wake of Lawsuit "On Monday, Microsoft verified that it will be making what it calls "modest" changes to Windows and IE to meet the requirements of the jury verdict against it in the Eolas patent infringement case. Microsoft says it will finish making the changes to IE and Windows by early next year and will provide developers that use IE technology with documentation to help them modify their applications, Web pages, and browser plug-ins to work with the new plug-in scheme, which affects all Web pages that use plug-in technologies such as Adobe Reader, Apple QuickTime, Macromedia Flash, RealNetworks RealOne, all versions of Java, and Windows Media Player. A preview of the new user experience shows the user being prompted to confirm loading of each ActiveX control." Slashdot

OK, I have no idea how to explain this.
Imagine you are a web browser. Your user asks you to pick up a cup of coffee. If you lean over and pick it up, you are now violating this patent. You, as the browser, have to ask another program to hand you the cup of coffee. I know. It doesn't make sense. Software patents rarely do.
I wish I had paid more attention to this a long time ago when I read it.

NASA Nut-Ball
It must be stressful because people are freaking out at NASA. I have a buddy who works at NASA and is near the complex where the guy barricaded himself this afternoon. So, I call him up. He says "Hi Kelly, just a sec. I have to barricade this door." I started laughing, but more from fear. he is the quiet type. never dated much.
He was joking. He would bring a Samurai sword, not a gun. We agreed that would be different at least. I haven't had a good laugh like that in a while. I needed one.

Contacts in my Dream
So, last night I had a dream. It apparently was zipping along boringly until I looked in a mirror. My contacts were turning black. They were turning my eye black. They were dirty.
I popped them out and took a look.It was the size of the lid on a peanut butter jar. It was nearly opaque with dark coal colored goop. I tried washing one of them with the contact fluid. It gave off glops of stuff. It turned the sink dark colors like a dirty toilet. It was getting bigger and blooming like a filthy plastic flower. It was the size of a dinner plate in large leaves of now clean clear stuff that contacts are made of.
I ended up planting it to grow a contact plant. Good way to save money. I wonder if they will be my prescription. I woke my self up laughing at myself.

Nat says I laugh sometimes in my sleep. What the hell kind of dreams are these? I suppose it is better than nightmares. Drivers Nat up the wall though.

Written 2007-04-18 (I didn't get on the computer last night)
Virginia Shooting
It is the same thing over and over. There is just not much new.
The guy's parents were "devout" Christians. He had problems with Christianity. Who doesn't? I have problems with Christianity. I believe in God, not so much religion. I don't go nuts.
The media has softened on the criticizing the school a bit. It is still there. They keep talking about some kind of air-raid sirens and not using email to warn people because only people online can view it in the short term. They had an interview with a student who said she heard an announcement over the athletic PA. Some collages have an automated call system, but most people probably have it set to call their home number and not the phone they have on them. Some people don't have mobile phones. I agree with the cops that say there is just no way to get every one to run and hide all at the same time.
There were stories about some of the students who died. The one that got me was a guy who was an athlete who was killed while holding a door shut with his body. The gunman shot through the door and killed him. I wonder what percentage of people died or were injured that way. 9mm are not known for their penetration.
No mention of where he got the gun that I've heard. Did he buy it and wait the five days/ He had the legal right to do so apparently. Did he steel it from a cop car that morning? I want to know.
I haven't had a chance to read any blogs since this thing started. They always have the best info. They are typically willing to speculate and project information more than the media. This is changing. Blogs get Fisked often and they are starting to do their homework before posting more often. That is a shame really. I kind of miss the jumping the gun conspiracies that got posted. I suppose some integrity is a good thing. Who knows.

Web Development Without Web Access
I'm the only web developer in history who does not have internet access. I have to run back and forth to a lab when I'm working on the web pages. EVERYTHING to do do with web development assumes you have internet access and just provides links to the documentation in stead of the documentation. They only give references to data in stead of data. They link to each other for examples in stead of just quoting. It is maddening. Even clicking on help in some of the programs wants to bring up an internet link instead of a help file.
I'm going nuts.
I have to email myself stuff and shuttle information back and forth. Then, I find one link that I need to follow. Well, that is another trip. The lab is not far. the trip is not difficult, but It is just a click verses:
# Copy the link to an email and send it to myself.
# Locking my machine
# Walk to the lab area where there might be someone who needs to ask a question, or someone in the hall who needs something and there I happen to be.
# Log in to the internet box.
# Bring up email
# Log in to the email.
# Click on the link.
# Find out it isn't what I needed, or maybe it is.
# Double check if there are any other resources I will need (hardly ever fruitful)
# Close email.
# log out of internet box.
# Wonder back to my office after hitting the restroom or grabbing a soda. Get stopped in the hall again.
# Logging into my workstation.
# Stare at the email for a moment trying to remember what I was doing.
# Read three lines. Try to apply what it says. It is wrong, or not right for what I needed.
# I need another link.
It is maddening. And this is if I do not get side traced by someone needing my vast gray-database. (brain)

Saying
I care. I'm just not going to do anything about it.  I catch myself troubled over things as my day goes by. I find myself telling myself that things are not so bad. "I care. I really do." Then I wonder if I mean it. And I ad "I'm just not going to do anything about it." I would like to think that is a temporary thing, but I know myself better than that. I man to leave it the way it is. I have to choose my battles with myself. Sometimes I will fix it. Sometimes I will let it slide. Sometimes I do not care. Most of the time I worry. Then, I get off my butt and fix something just to make myself feel a bit more needed by me. I never appreciate it. I never say think you. I'm a bastard sometimes.
I do care. I really do. I'm just not going to do anything about it right now. I'm going to get on with my life. I'm going to run and hide. I would have done that anyway. I care. I really do. I have to. I never take my own advice.

Finally, the video

Boring, but finally up. Some of the juicer bits like people drinking beer and smoking cigars got cut because I was trying to be smooth and hold the camera down by my side. I got great shots of people's butts. Better luck next time Kelly.

Lunch Conversation
It was all about the shooting in Virginia.
# Every one agreed that the frigging media is trying to vilify the school. What the hell is the school expected to do?
    o The police were investigating one shooting when the guy went somewhere else and started up again. There was a two hour window. That is not long enough to expect authorities to nab someone.
    o Someone interviewed a student and the questions were biased to get the person to answer in a manor to make the university look bad. The student answered with something like "What do you expect them to do?"
# Some kind of "lock down" order went out so people went inside, where all the shootings happened as far as I can tell. It looks like the suspect walked inside the building along side every one else.
# If every one on campus was required to carry a firearm, That guy would have gotten three shots off before being engaged.
# People are already sick if hearing about the case. What the hell does it have to do with "me"? Yes, it is a tragedy. Yes it is a horrible thing. At least NPR was running other news stories along side it this evening. You cannot dwell. Life must go on.
# There is about five minutes of news being shoved into a "24 hour coverage" cycle.
# That kid was a good shot. He only had a 9mm and a .22 and he killed nearly every one he hit as far as we could tell.
# Where are the people who raised him?
# He had written some disturbing stuff for assignments. (So have I)
# After Columbine, a counselor came on the radio and told people to pay attention to people they would normally not pay attention to. In other words, stop being a dick to people or they will eventually get pissed enough to shoot you.
# You can't trust English majors (I said something like this to Nat last night joking, but it appears I'm not the only person who thinks that is funny.)
I may have all my facts wrong. I have not been paying that close attention to be honest. I have too much else on my mind with family, work, taxes and life getting in the way of caring about some nut-ball screwing with my rights to own and bare arms. Prick. If I ever go nuts, I will not kill people with a gun. It's just too done these days. Will the next homicidal freak please come up with something interesting for the evening news to overplay. Better yet, get a blog. It is a great way to bitch and vent.

YouTube
So, I've published a couple of videos on YouTube now. I've developed a taste for it. I had a feeling once I got my frigging Linux box to do some rudimentary video editing and conversion I would fall in love with video. Other people shot both of the videos I've put up so far. That isn't really my thing. I lie the editing and mechanical bits. I'm bad at shooting video. I'm getting a little better. The biggest thing is to hold the camera still it seems.

Tail of the weekend
There
So, we were going to go Friday evening. I'm not sure why. Adam had to cancel reservations through Expedia. Do not eve make reservations via Expedia. They are pricks when it comes to cancellation and customer service past initial sale.
Nat and I get up Saturday and call A&L. No answer. We head over there. No answer at the door. Hmmm. One of their cars is in the driveway. The garage is closed. We start heading back home and get a call. They were out back. I had started to think they left without us.
We hit the road. Adam instantly looses us in traffic. I mean, he bolts ahead and we get stuck behind dozens of cars in a long line. Nat does 90 for a half hour and we don't catch them until 71.
The hotel we stayed at was OK. I like the one we stayed at last year a bit better.

The Party
I had fun. Nat was worn out. I think she made the best of it. There were tons of folks in afro whigs. That would be because it was a fro-down party. I even got into the act with a bright orange topper. It itched too much to keep on for a while. Most of the other folks had plenty of hair to buffer the whig grinding into their scalps.
We Hit an HEB for breakfast food for the trip home. and went to bed.

Back Again
The next morning, we went to a restaurant called Mother's. That is, we would have. Mother's is a vegetarian place that is very good. It turns out a hobo was trying to cook a stake in the ally and burned the place down. Not to the ground, but they had to close. We ate across the street at some place with a Mexican sounding name.
We hit the road. This time we only followed Adam until we got to 71. I blew them a kiss and we didn't see them the rest of the trip.

Afterward
Nat and I got home and didn't get much of anything done. I think a couple loads of laundry. I cussed at the herbicide that did nothing to the super weeds that are growing back in the cracks in the cement. I did get the video edited and up on YouTube. It is boring. I cut some of the bits out that might have made people upset. I guess I need to carry the video camera around to catch interesting stuff.

Ethan's Bday Party Video

This is my second attempt at a YouTube video. I had to cut this down to keep the size under the radar. That's what I cut, I promise.
Enjoy.

Taxes
I had to take a half day today to get the last bit of taxes done. We used a guy in Richmond Rosenberg. With the house and all, I wanted to have a pro do it. I'll have a good go-by for next year.
I heard about the crazy news story about the shooting in Virginia. I'm sure this is not the first place you have heard about it. I'm just going to link to the most obvious place. I have no theories or comments really It is just a mess. I don't like the fact that the guy hung around for a while then went and killed a bunch more people. That kind of pisses me off. I'm going to wait for more details. there is just night solid in the news that I've come across yet.
Right now I'm burning some data DVDs and typing up my blog. I'm also looking at my second video on YouTube. It is a cut up version of the movie I shot at Ethan's birthday. I'm going to make sure they like it before I publish it here. I'll have the pictures up sometime soon too. I just don't have as much time on the computer being a husband and parent. There are other bits to life.
I'll try to get some things written down. Maybe even something worth reading.

Ceu (Brazilian)
She is hot and can sing. What else do I need to say. She is pretty down ot earth too. I think she has some staying power. I like her music that I heard on NPT Friday morning. Soleful, dreamy, just plane good. I think the fact that I cannot understand a word of it helps a bit.
Her myspace page
The record company's site
National Geographic
I haven't read any of those articles. I just grabbed a coule off google.

Missed opportunities
These are things I wrote on Thursday the twelfth. I haven't been able to blog them because Nat gives me no end of shit for getting on the computer. I'm getting kind of tired of it. She won't let me be me. I'm thinking of getting up early in the morning to get my computer stuff done so I can spend more time with the family in the evenings.
Anyway. Here they are.

Meaning of Life
There was a time I sat on a bench listening to music on a Tuesday afternoon. I sat there for hours watching people walking by. There is something about Tuesdays that make them very ordinary. People got in their cars and walked to the bus stop. I was at college looking for guidance and a plan for life. I didn't understand that the life that is loosely planned is much more free. You plan for the big things like family and a couple of big goals, but not to much more. That seems to be the best thing. Have the big goals on your mind. Worry about your family's issues. make that dream come true. Everything else just is, or just falls away.
Then come the rainy days where everything looks gray and dense. Gloomy weather. Gloomy people. Gloomy plans. Gloomy goals. I don't know how people in Washington do it. I suppose people can get used to it. I remember someone telling a story about a Jew in Germany before WWII. They said something to the effect that people just got used to the treatment they received. I don't want to get used to it. I want to make it sunny. I can't control the weather, yet, but I can control my reaction to it.
"All of life is a play. And the world but a stage." That's pretty much the same statement. You may not build the set, or control the lights, but you write the dialog. You choose to smile or sneer.
Today is sunny and bright. This weekend is supposed to be nice. I hope my mood fallows God's example.

Friday the Thirteenth
Tomorrow is Friday the thirteenth. I'm not really a superstitions person. Friday the thirteenth does bug me for some reason. I suppose it is all the bad press over the years. All day today, Thursday the twelfth, I've been wishful thinking that it is Friday. It doesn't seem to matter if it is the thirteenth tomorrow. I suppose I prefer Friday the Thirteenth to any old Thursday. That should say something in itself.
It is beautiful outside. I need to enjoy the nice weather more while it is around. I should take tomorrow off and spend it with the family before the busy weekend. Too bad I cannot afford the time off.

Here is a link to a map collection from UT. Bill, Elle's grandpa gave me this link. It will kill hours.

Maps

I'm sorry about not writing lately. I've written some stuff, but it is terrible. Here, look ...

Fate
Are we done here?
Have we made this place what we wanted?
What we planned?
Was there a plan?
Is it God's plan?
Did we have a real chance?
Were we doomed from the start?
Are we the guy in the red shirt?
Are we the planet to leave alone?

Once upon a time, long long ago. In a place far far away ...

The smell of blood and death woke me. Then there was the sound of something made by men from my world crashing hard into the worthless ground we were fighting for. It was a powerful, painful sound. A quake ran through me not from the impact, from knowing how many of my people were dying as I watched - and could do nothing.

Small Talk

Date Schmate
I thought yesterday was the eleventh all day. I have a bunch of messed up dates all over the place. I'm not even going to fix some of them. I mean, how important could it possibly be? <he asked sarcastically>

Fonts and Monitor Stands
I can't always read the fonts in programs so I blow the fonts up if I can. I've gone in to a couple of my programs and set the fonts back to defaults. I've noticed that having these monitor stands makes my body relax more and actually makes the screens easier for me to read. A strange side effect of the stands is an ache in my upper back. I've also noticed that it doesn't matter if I improve my posture or make it worse. Just the change makes muscles sore, regardless.

Video Jones
I have had a hankering to do some video. Now that I have had the taste of putting a video, even if shot by my mother, on YouTube, I feel the draw to do more. It would be a piece of cake if I were on a Mac. It would not even be all that difficult if I were on a Win-crap box. However, I'm on Linux. That is going to be a challenge. Hey, I need to learn as much as I can on how to get things to work under Linux. That is my job after all.

Web Woes
I'm doing some web editing at work and the only game in town is Dreamweaver. There is no comparative program that I can find in the open source world. Nothing holds a candle to the Adobe efforts in my book. I don't know what to do except find a way to use a different machine for any real web editing I need, or live with a different editor. I can't afford a different editor, so crappy editor it is.

Nat's Computer
Nat's Computer is dead. I wish I could get her a new one. At least the CPU anyway. I've kept my eye on Sam's computer shelf. They only have top end CPUs at the one we frequent lately. They only have full system deals too. We need to make it as inexpensive as possible, but I want to get her something that works.

Nat's Blog
Check out Nat's latest blog entry. It is a hoot and very well done. I notice I'm not in any of the pictures. I feel left out.

Random Picture
I took this picture this afternoon just after I got off work while waiting for the elevator. That is my lovely family waiting for me six floors below.

Showing my Age
I just can't eat Cheese-its without feeling heartburn any more. Is life really worth living without Cheese-its? Well, I'm just going to have to find out. I mean, what's next? Tabasco!?! Say it ain't so! I may be pushed to do something rash at that point.

Proof
There are a couple of things I need to do research on.
# Bound partials, practical use
# Gravity wave communication
# Plane mounted laser that shoots down missiles
# Hypersonic sub-orbital surveillance plane that replaced the Blackbird.
# MRI (NRI) that sweeps the oceans for subs.
All of these things I first heard about on TV, namely PBS. Then nothing. Some have been shown to be right, some have not yet prove anything.

Anatomy of a Monday
I hate Mondays. I'm not even sure why. I tend to get plenty done on Mondays. Honestly, I enjoy my job most of the time.
Today, I worked with a new server that has 8 gigabytes of RAM in it with two duel core processors. That is a serious work horse. When I went to build a program, it still bogged down to a crawl. There is just no hope for this one project that we use. I have no idea what the bottleneck is. It is just plane slow. The powers that be say it is that way only because there is no other way to build the package and get what we need. I looked in to what it is doing as far as my skills let me. It just seems like there should be a better way.
It was cold and rainy this morning. Even listening to the news didn't comfort me much. I morned the Sunday afternoon we all spent just sitting around and watching movies, eating left overs. I suppose the glass of wine didn't hurt much either.
But hey, I got my first YouTube video up.

First Go

This is my first attempt at uploading a Youtube movie. Let's see how it goes.

Nat's Birthday

OK, this is from the night before. Elle is so cute though.


Another gratuitous Elle shot.


My mom. She had fun. Even if this doesn't look like it.


My dad. The guy who ponied up the doe. Many thinks.


Saddle. It's for the tourists.


I think that is an award of some kind. Maybe it is just plane memorabilia.

Parent's Pictures
My parent's took a bunch of pictures too. The flash was not going off and you can tell from the pictures. It is nice not disturbing all the tables around you , but the pictures suffered for it.


















This is the one I've been waiting for. That is a nice picture. I only wish the glare off my noggin was one tiny bit brighter so the camera would have had more light to work with.





The glitter is from the real eggs full of confetti my mother found at Kroger.


"Will you please put that thing down Me-me."




Last, and least. Me in my native habitat - parked in front of the TV. That is some SciFi flick about flying dinosaurs that attack some group of mysteriously armed scientists.
Then we had cake and ice-cram. Yay!

Fiction
I heard the question "What is the worst thing you ever did?" So I made up the following story to sound cool.

I had to shoot a horse once. It's funny the shift in the room when you say that.
It was Spring 1958. I was traveling in Iowa. There wasn't much in Iowa in the fifties  save horses and people driving through.
It was just morning. Clear, Sunny, chilly, Nothing special going at all. Then the station wagon ahead of me locked up the breaks. They were way ahead so I had plenty of time to stop my Ford. Cars were not so easy to stop in those days.
Out of the smoke that rose from the road in front of me, fell a horse. Right in the middle of my world. I hadn't been near a horse in years. Now, my world would pivot on a horse's death. The horse had rolled over the car and landed hard on the pavement. The horse tried to get up. Both legs on one side were dangling like the limbs of a rag doll. The others were flailing, scratching. Her eyes were back  and wild. her mouth was wide, bleeding, and her cry warped steel. Her cry burned my soul, branded me to this day. Her cry shook the thing that makes us human. Shrill, sound, long, agony, the horse sounds like a suckling pig taken from it's tit.
Then, all in one movement.
I stopped the Ford.
I rose from my seat.
I paid no mind to the family already weeping for the horse.
I paid no mind to the woman hurt, not badly in the station wagon.
I went to the trunk.
I held the 45 , a long time traveling companion.
I fed one round and closed the slide.
I walked close to the horse
I fired the lone spark that quieted the most exquisite rage.
Then the morning came back. Like the sun came cracked dawn a second time.
A young girl wept beside the road. It was her horse. Her mother ran to check on the woman in the wagon. Then walked toward me.
I put the gun in my belt and tried to think of something to say. The mother looked down at her daughters prise pet. The story told itself. The horse bolted away form the girl and into the lonely street.
She said simply "Thank you." And went to comfort her child.

Nat's Cats











By far the best one of the lot. Bot cats are deliberately not looking at the camera.

Written 2007-04-03
Racers
Last night a bunch of the racers were gathered across the street. They were doing their normal burnout and donut stuff. They fly up and down 1093 like there are not homes and businesses right next to the road. There was another accident Tuesday evening. It was not racers as far as I could tell. It was a tow truck that lost control and flipped. The engine was laying out on the ground next to the totaled flatbed. Both sides of the road were closed. It was a mess all around.
I can sleep through most of the noise. It really upset me when one of them drove through my yard. What really gets me is when my doughtier wakes up from the mayhem. It scares her. That makes me call the cops.
When I was a teen and and in my twenties, I hung out in parking lots with my friends. We didn't lay rubber or drink. We just stood around talking. We kept to ourselves mostly. We didn't race or smoke weed. We just hung out. There have been a couple of fatality wrecks in the past year within a couple of blocks of our house. That's beyond the call. There is no need for people to die in the name of something to do for fun.
There is no need to make my doughtier cry either.
Last night the cops didn't just drive by. They pulled some people over. There was a stabbing in that parking lot a week or so ago. I'm sure that had something to do with it. The racers left for the evening. We heard some drive by, but they didn't really stop in the parking lot. I suppose that is all we can do. I don't want to reap any kind of revenge or anything like that. It is just too much work. I just want to live in peace and raise my family.

Cute!!!

Playing with the cat

The Politics of New Monitors and Water Coolers
I work in a smallish company. There are only like 70 people working here. The experience has been overwhelmingly positive so far. I think this is because we only seem to have capable people working here. I've said it before, I was the genus at my old job and I'm the dumb-ass here. That is how it feels sometimes anyway.
Since I got here, I've noticed a couple of lines on my starboard monitor. Yes many developers here have two monitors. It does make programming go faster. My old company gave the vast majority of people two monitors. I thought that was a waist on some tasks. Well, the lines got a bit worse over time, but not too bad. I mean, I was still able to get my job done. I decided not to complain until it was out of reason.
Well, Last Friday the big boss comes on the PA and says "If you have a crummy monitor come to lab X." I got up and went over. I was the only one that showed. He and I walked back to my office and I showed him the lines on one of my monitors. He agreed it was annoying and offered me two new monitors. "You need a matching pare." he says.
"Sweet!" I say. In my head any way. "Thank you sir." Is how it sounded in my outside voice.
I was so distracted with the thought of getting new monitors that I accidentally dropped the name of someone else up here who needed new monitors. He had needed them longer than I've been here. He ended up getting some new monitors too. Pretty cool deal.
Here is the politics part. After the monitor exchange was said and done, I went over to the other employee and apologized for dropping his name. These things can go either way. You have to be careful what you ask for. That is true any where you go. Any time you are dealing with people, you have to know who you are talking to. You have to choose your battles. Sometimes they choose you.
At my old office, hardware that had anything wrong with it was pretty easy to replace. You just called the support number and they would replace or fix most things that were actually "bad" without too much trouble. Plenty of hardware to go around, not too many politics except when you are talking large quantities, or specific budgets.
Water coolers were unheard of at my old office. At least, mostly. I used to be on the first floor. Just as I moved up to the third floor, the first floor got a water cooler. It was hidden in a corner out of sight. The reason I move to the third floor was to make room for a bunch of big-wigs taking our office space. That is why the water cooler showed up. Most of the rest of the crew stayed on the first floor. They got to use the water cooler as long as things didn't get out of hand.
The politics here is keeping something quiet that is not exactly a corporate secret. Here at this job, I have three water coolers within a stones throw. One just in the hallway and two more adjacent to the lunch/party/big meeting room that I'm next to. There is a plentiful supply of water coolers so, no real politics to it.
It is the classic guns and butter scenario. Only in this example it is monitors and water coolers.

Bold
I can tell the new monitors are working for me because everything on them looks bold. Even the stuff written in color text looks like it has been set to bold. I've often wondered if I could just set everything to bold on my computer. It makes things easier for me to read. I wonder if I could just live without a difference between normal and bold text. I've tried fonts that say bold in the name. They either are not very bold, or they are all smeared when the bold function is used. I just want a strong readable font. Is that too much to ask? Well, the new monitors make a good difference.

Monitor Stand

- 32" or more -      _____________________________________     /                                    /|   /                                     / |  - 6" (at bottom of board)  /_____________________________________/  |  |  /                                 |  /  | /                                  | /  -11" or 12"  |/                                   |/ Width   32 or more inches (the wider the better) Hight   6 inches at underside of board. depth   11 or 12 inches. I need two of them. One for work and one for home. I was thinking of using the shelf board out of a shelving unit. They are pretty strong.

I took the time to write it, so I'm blogging it.  If you have substituted fonts, it may not look right. It requires fixed width fonts. There is all kids of software to do ASCII art.

Sunday is a bit better
So, I got up sometime this morning. it was like 11:00 or so. I took a shower. I have to take a shower in the morning just to get motivated to do anything it seems. I knew I was headed straight out to mow the yard, but I still needed to take a shower first.
So, I'm out there mowing. I expect the worse. I thought I would pass out or something. I mowed and coughed a couple of times, but that was due as much to the grass-dust from mowing as it was to the plague I've acquired.
If I can get Nat out of bed we will be off to Sonic for a late lunch. If not, I'll be surfing those political blogs again. Hopefully, this time, I can keep my cool.
Oh, It is the first of the month. I must pay bills too. Damn bills. I only hope there is enough in the larder to cover the outside hands in my pockets.
I'm watching some stupid movie about making movies in France in the sixties. It is so played that I'm going to turn it off and delete it. I then switch over to another stupid movie that is much better. It doesn't pretend to be something full of art.

April Fools Day
I don't have anything to say about April Fools Day except I'm glad that it falls on a Sunday this year. Just to keep people from trying to make jokes. I've never liked April Fools Day and prefer not to participate.

Saturday
Saturday was a bad day. I got up around 16:00 or so. Yup. I was so tired that I didn't stir until then. I got up and read some blogs. I read some very opinionated political blogs. They don't hold back much. I suppose I just wasn't up for it because I got more and more pissed off as I read. The Iranians think they can kidnap soldiers from another nation and just get away with it. Well, they are just getting away with it. Hell they got a way with it  back in the seventies when they took the American embassy. Why shouldn't the same thing work today? And these are the people who will have nuclear weapons in five to ten years. I can't wait.
Then there are the Democrats who want to erode this nation from within. There are people out there who will sacrifice their own countries ability to defend itself just to get someone who acts more like they do in the government (Hillery).
I have this fantasy of owning a restaurant and Hillery comes by for a photo-op. I throw her out because she is disturbing the other customers. There are no other customers. As she walks out the door I say "The secret service is welcome to stay if the want." Just to piss her off.
How pathetic is that fantasy? It's the only fantasy of mine involving Hillery.

Crayfish
So, we went over to a friend's place for a crayfish boil. As I walked up the driveway, I could hear people in the garage (It was drizzly outside) talking, nay screaming at each other in that drunken way too loud way. I couldn't take it. I ended up walking around the block. Then I sat in the car for a while. I had to go to the bathroom so I started walking down Richmond. I got to Dairy Ashford and figured out there was not much to choose from there. I went up to Westheimer and at a  at Berger King. That is when I decided to just take the bus home. The mile and a half walk did me some good. I got home and Nat (still at the party) SMS me with "Are you still in the car." I answered "At home." She called right then. I figured that would get a response.
She feels like she did when I left the movie a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I can understand that. I left the movie to keep from screaming at the people next to us. I just wanted some quiet yesterday. I couldn't take a loud party where people might start talking about politics.
The fact that I'm sick and coughing ever ten minutes doesn't help anything. I'm starting to wonder if I have the disease that will kill me. Nothing works. Id didn't help that while I was in the car my friend comes out of the party and thanks me for giving him the plague. That may have been the thing that started me walking - to prove that I'm not dead yet.

Point of View #2
Yesterday I described the wreck as I remembered it. Nat had a much better vantage point. She reminded me that we were on the east side of Highway 6 in the westbound far left lane. I said people were eastbound by mistake. Nat also has a better order of events. I wish she would contribute it to either her blog or this one. I'm not sure why, but it feels important to get things straight. I only remember a crunch and seeing the wheels of the belly-up Dodge go by through someone else's window.
Isn't that always the case? Cops say it happens every time. Every person on the scene has a slightly different story describing the same event. I remember psychology class where we read studies of people in a classroom all surprised by a person walking in and steeling something off the professor's desk. The descriptions given of what happened very from person to person. Then they find out it was all an experiment. The would be robber walks in and a video is produced. Every one in the class goes over what they say happened and what really happened. Many people are surprised how wrong they were. Sometimes people still don't believe the video.
This makes me want to put a pod on top of the car with a bunch of video cameras aimed in all directions and a recording device somewhere. I have a buddy who does surveillance camera work. I bet he could rig something up that would black-box the data in some stout way that would survive a crash. Store things like speed and possibly GPS kind of data as well. That might be a whole new market. I imagine armored car companies to law enforcement would be interested in that kind of thing.
Today at work, every ten minutes, a vehicle slammed on it's breaks in the busy intersection five floors down. It makes me wonder how many near misses there are right outside my window. I've seen the aftermath of a couple from my perch. When will we have autonomous cars?

Near Miss
Saw a car flip over tonight. Nat has told the details like nine times to any one who would listen. She is shaken up over it.
We were stopped waiting for the light at Westheimer and 6. When there was a crunch behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I see the Jeep Cherokee next to us lurch towards us as the guy behind the wheel flexes hard standing on the break. He was already at a stop. Then I see, through his windows, the wheels of a vehicle (Dodge Durango) role past. Not the wheels, the vehicle. It came to a stop and there were shouts and people started getting out of their cars. The woman driving the Durango was pinned. Her son was able to get out.
Let me try to explain what was going on.

• Heavy traffic all trying to get to highway 6. Bumper to bumper. Not really moving at this point.
• Little black car pulling out of Academy, stops to let the Durango go by.
• Blue car turning left from the East bound side of Westheimer starts crossing the lanes of traffic to get into the Academy parking lot.
• The Durango was East bound in the far right lane and didn't see the blue car.
• Durango hits front right of blue car sending it into the green Jeep Cherokee next to us. (under is more like)
• The Durango gets knocked to the right and hits the black car at an odd angle nearly crushing the small car.
• Durango, now sideways flips.
• Durango also hits the Green Jeep next to us.
• Our car was hit by debris from at least one of the cars. There is a tinny green smudge on the back passenger panel. I remember no sensation of impact.

I'm sure I'm not doing it justice. At some point a green Ford explorer got rear ended too. I've gone over this ten times in my head and I bet the Blue car crossing the street turning left may get a ticket. I don't think the Durango was going that fast. It rolled, but then again, it is a 4x4 SUV.
Nat was out of the car and on 911 in a shot. I had to tell her not to get between the cars. I've heard too many horror stories about people getting squashed between cars after an accident.
My first impulse was to jump out and start taking pictures. That is rude in that situation. I stayed in the car and kept Elle company. Elle never freaked out. Nat pulled us into the Academy parking lot, via the other entrance. Elle and I sat there for a few minutes and then got out to watch the mayhem. Elle tried to wave at the ambulance driver and got upset when he didn't wave back. I tried to explain to her that they were very busy.
My Summery is that all three of our guardian angels were on the job.

Bus Shooting
There was a killing on the same bus line that I take to and from work. It happened at 11:40 or so today. I was safe at work. Still, it is pretty close to home. I remember blogging about a bus trip where a man and woman were fighting to the point I expected one of them to hit the floor. All these different scenarios go through my head. Married couple, fighting over a seat, some genuine nutter with a pistole. One of the news reports said they got on together and were fighting before the gun play. I hate the bus on a normal day.
It may have been that creepy guy who talks to people. No, I couldn't be that lucky. This guy just rambles on like he knows everything. He just likes to hear himself talk. There is not much worse than someone who wants to talk to you while riding the bus. Maybe the religious freaks who honest to God, put on a skit right at the front of the bus like they are old buddies who just ran into one another. I wonder if it was them. That would be funny.
I'm glad the shooter is in custody. I hope to run in to some details on tonight's news.

Done
I wonder how many "ode to the blank page" poems have been written. I feel like jotting something down worth your time to read, but that isn't as easy as it sounds. At what point has one blogged everything there is worth blogging about. No question mark because it is rhetorical. I suppose if I have the strength to put hand to keyboard, I should be able to think of something to say.
Then again ...

Feeling better OK less bad
I have a rule. I do not run to catch a bus. I have come across too many stories of people tripping and busting their teeth or an arm while running to catch a bus. I have to pay very close attention to cross the street so I try not to do any more than jog across an intersection.
This morning I walked my normal rout to the bus stop. I trudged through the mud and past intersections. By the time I got to the last street to cross.. I noticed the west bound side got the turn signal. This means the light is about to change in my favor. I found myself in the right position to cross the street just as the light turned green. You want to do this because the person in front has no momentum. They have less opportunity to run you over if they are not moving. As the light turned green and I started across the street I realized that i had jogged the last several steps to put myself in the right position. I've been sick and the thought of jogging, only yesterday, made me feel weak. I then remembered that I was sweating. I was hot and wet from walking and it didn't feel like I was going to die. Heck, it felt kind of good - like stretching a muscle after it has been sitting too long. After standing at the bus top and gulping some water, I notice that I hadn't even coughed yet.
Worry not, I coughed my head off later at work, only after taking my cough medicine.
So, what made the difference? I took antihistamine last night before going to bed. They usually knock me out. I slept like a baby. I don't remember waking up for coughing. I did wake up for the weather. Wind, rain, thunder all scare Elle. I said a prayer for our safety and enjoyed the sound of the rain in my antihistamine stooper.

Reminder
I'm typing a reminder email to myself as I type this. For example, yesterday, I sent a note to myself that said to bring in a USB mouse to PS/2 port converter. I need it for a KVM that really sucks. I tried it and it doesn't work anyway. That's not why I'm jotting this down.
I send myself an email from work to the house saying "Bring in a USB mouse thing." I dig it out of the bins-o-crap I cannot believe I found it. Then I reply to the email saying "Take the USB thing out of your bag." Well, I got to work this morning and saw a "reminder" email from myself. I could not remember for the life of me why I sent myself the email. The USB gizmo was in my pocket the whole time (not the bag).
My commute must be stressful or at least distracting. I'm lucky I can remember my name when I walk in to either work or home. When I get to work, I just want to get to work. That makes sense, right? When I get home, I just want to be home.
There is a new dimension to this reminder method. I can send myself emails from my phone now. It is a bare to type in, so, thankfully, I'll keep it brief. I bet it works though. I haven't tried it yet. It will probably work better than a string around my finger.

Wanderings
A car that has been spotted in our parking garage a couple of times. I'm pretty sure it is a Ferrari. There is a Lotus that's out there every now and then too. There are a bunch of Vets. I'm not sure which company pays enough for all this access.

The Halls are Buzzing
I can't tell you how many conversations I hear in a day of work that are about video games. It isn't a bad thing. People really do keep it to a minimum. Which makes it even more strange. You might hear a conversation about zombies or mutants or intergalactic drug cartels that own all the banks.
I've blogged about hearing a conversation about insurance and whether or not it was worth the cost only to find out it was starship insurance in an online game.
I haven't played any games in so long. I do not have time, money or time. Time counts twice.
Where I used to work people always talked about stocks and sports. There is plenty of that here, but people are not afraid to let there inner geek shine through. ... Well some still don't do it much <cough>Bill</cough>.

Global Warming being Gored

The best science does indicate that global warming is real and man-made - and Gore deserves applause for making global warming cool again. But statements about the strong, ominous and immediate consequences of warming are often wildly exaggerated. This is also strong Gore territory - and here he deserves a severe reprimand. ... There are many world problems - like HIV, malnutrition, trade barriers, malaria, lack of clean drinking water - where we can do immense amounts of good. It seem obvious to me that we should focus our attention and our big expenditures there first. New York Post

Gore is really riding the global warming thing. He lost the presidency. He never was that good at being a politician. He is a pretty face among a long list of pretty faces. He will ride this dead horse until it bucks him, or people just don't pay attention any more.
He most have come into contact with several celebrities during the Clinton years. I remember a news story about the room for rent if any one famous happened by at the White House. They brainwashed Gore in to thinking they had the secret to a genuine cause. The man is barking loudly. Who besides me only chuckles and gets on with their lives?
It is scary when the New York Post dumps all over your liberal cause with facts. Gore must have fallen and I missed it.

Real Estate

Dekortage sends news of what may be a new development in the attempted mainstreaming of Second Life. We've seen plenty of examples of real-world news media, politicos, and PR campaigns setting up in SL. But so far most of this action has been about first-life organizations trying to gain real-world publicity by their forays into SL. CNN is reporting that the real estate firm Coldwell Banker is moving into SL for the purpose of selling and renting in-world properties. From the article: "Coldwell Banker has bought extensive tracts of property on the central 'mainland' of Second Life. (Most companies own 'islands' scattered all over.) It subdivided this digital land into 520 individual houses and living units, half of which it will sell and half it will rent... 'A small number of land barons mostly control real estate in Second Life, and we thought we could bring real estate to the masses,' [a VP explained]." Slashdot

One of the oldest mantras in the real estate biz is "They ain't making' any more of it." This presents a fundamental flaw in the plan to use online worlds as a basis for a market.
# The company can simply turn off the servers and "poof" there goes your investment.
# The company can simply change a value in a field somewhere and "poof" there is a new continent to sell to the highest bidder.
# The company can invent disasters, or ignore damage to specific structures or areas based solely on a whim, or who pays more to the online company.

There are just too many variables of a human nature to rely on a virtual universe. For a genuine bank to get in the business of this flighty nature where it can all just go away at the flip of a switch.

Drugs
Nat, Bill, Elle and I went to a couple of pharmacies today. I snapped a couple of pictures.

Elle wanted to sit in the fancy moving chair that Nat had hold of there for a minute.


Of course, she made it in the chair. What the picture dies not portray is the "bvbvbvbvbvbv" nose Ell makes while in the hot-seat.
We ended up in three different places. Now that we have better insurance, we can get medicine when we need it. She doesn't act sick. Elle was running around the isles and giggling at toys.

Lawn's mowed
Lawn guy came and went. The yard looks great. He cut the yard with a kind of circular patter. He cut shorter than I normally do. I never water so I was cutting it a bit taller. I'm going to keep an eye on it. If the grass doesn't burn, I'll keep it that short.
I walked outside for two minutes to look at the job and pay the guy. I started coughing right off the bat.
Oh, well.
Nat and I will be in the market for a wheelbarrow. This is the highest sign of home ownership. We want a patio. Nat says she wants to put something in herself. That sounds like a lot of work, but it will make the place more "ours". It kind os sounds like fun too. I promise to take pictures and blog it.
We cannot have any temporary buildings according to the HOA. Any building has to be built as a permanent structure. I'll have to do my homework to find out if that is possible and will fulfill my needs.

Self Medicating
Well, I cleared it with my doctor first. I'm sick, I'm taking an expectorant. They are about the only thing that feels like it is doing anything. They are from Wal-Mart. They are generic. The pills are rough. It is like trying to swallow a little piece of brick. It sure would be nice to have some mucus membranes left for that ride to the bottom, but I've been taking these things for a couple of days. My throat is dry and the pills are like wads of sand paper. Nice combo Wal-Mart. I nearly choked to death today at lunch.
Oh, but the latests batch are blue. That was a pleasant change over off-gray.

I just got back from Wal-Mart.

I would have killed for one of these when I was a kid.
Anyway, I took the day off. I walked to the bus stop and my chest was hurting when I breathed in. The doctor gave me a prescription and said not to get it unless I got worse. I got some paint thinner quality antibiotics. It's called Avelox. It came with a bright yellow instruction sheet and some warning labels. I like it.
Nat was a sweetheart and called a lawn guy so I don't have to mow tomorrow. I'm off to rest and scrounge up some grub.

Cough!!!
I sound like a dying man.

Web Development
I have some new assignments at work. They are web development. I feel like I should turn my nose up at it for some reason. That is very foolish. It is good work. I won't say it is easy. It is a challenge at times. Mostly making sure people ask for what they really want, realize what they really need and providing both. With design jobs, satisfying you customer is priority. They have to be able to be satisfied is the rub.
The really cool thing is, I know someone making $35 an hour doing this stuff. Sounds like a useful thing to learn. This is what I have a 2 year degree in after all. It was just called digital publishing then.
Ah, it's off to dinner.

Bullet Points of My Recent Life
People wonder how I know so many stupid facts. I like Cliff Calvin on Cheerer's. I'm observant, but not on things that matter. Nat says she has seen women hit on me and I paid no attention because I just plane missed it. Better that way I suppose for a married guy. I could have used a hint or two in my younger days.

When I send pictures i take on my phone to the gallery on T-Mobile they come out 400 by 300 something. For some reason the web page seems to shoot them down a bit. They look a big blurry too. When I email them to myself, they look better and are the native 640x480. I don't think they show up in my gallery if I email them. They are stored somewhere on the web though because the emails only have links, not the attached pictures. Which makes me think I better go ahead and copy them out of the email in case they disappear from the www in a given amount of time.
Basically, they are crappy pictures. They look choppy like they have been rendered up from a lower resolution. They are a bit over compressed. The camera part of the phone must be smaller than the end of my pinkie. The upgraded model of the phone has a 1268x1024 camera (1.3 mega pixel) that fits the same footprint. That is James Bond kind of stuff. Imagine what tools Bond would have to use today to keep up with the Joneses of international intrigue.

Lance came through with a lanyard. I'm appeased for the moment. It works like a champ. He got it from his Wii game system. There was a recall on the lanyards so he had a couple laying around. Thanks man.

Microsoft has a control panel in Vista called something like Mobile Device Control Center or something. I've noticed instructions for it floating around. I frigging hate that because it means that independent developers will rely on that control panel and not write better interfaces. If they don't write them for Windows, they won't filter to Linux.I hate to admit it, but that is the way it seems to work these days. I'm looking for phone software that will let me sync my phones through bluetooth or USB and there is just plane nothing out there that I've gotten to work yet. Now, I know why. MS has squelched creativity.

We didn't do anything special for St Patric's day. We went over to A&L's house and ate dinner with their family. That was a lot of fun. We are all parents now. That is so funny. We told stories of the apartment that Adam, Ethan and I shared for a while as we were all coming of age. Adam's mom was introduced to Jägermeister. That is a story in itself. Cathy (Ethan's wife) commented "Jägermeister is usually the last thing you remember drinking." Too true.
We watched a DVD from Susan. It had some video and many pictures on it. She made it herself, but the DVD had some play back issues. I've noticed that on home-burned DVDs.The videos were very cute. They live in Alaska. The kids are hyper because they are trapped inside so much during the winter. Adam narrated. It was informative.
Adam also made home made ice-cream. It had the consistency of a stout shake. It was very rich. It was also very good.  couldn't eat more than a scoop or two. I believe he served it via a ladle.
We hadn't hung out with A&L in too long. I talk to Adam at work all the time now. It doesn't feel the same at all. That is work stuff.

Blogging Trouble
Lately, I've been a bad blogger. I'm working a bit more than normal. I can't blog about some of the things I would like to get off my chest. They are just plane inappropriate. I've had a couple of people say they've noticed I haven't written as much lately. It is true. I have plenty of excuses.

# Work
As I mentioned above, I'm working a bit of over time. I worry that I'm no good at my job. I try to be a good employee and I try to do a good job too. those are two different things really.

# Family
Nat and Elle are wonderful. I like spending time with them despite Nat's opinion.

# Illness
I'm sick with something. I've made an appointment for tomorrow to go back to the doctor. It leaves me feeling tired and lazy. I do chores around the house. By the time I'm done with my day of needs, the wants fall away somewhere. All I want to do is vegetate. Tell me I'm alone in that one.

# Laziness
I've never been one to jump in and crank out bullet points.

# Home ownership
Home ownership has been surprisingly stressful. I knew it would be a pain, but I thought it would be more rewarding too. It has just been a pain. It's just a place to take care of and a yard to mow.

As a side effect of all these time consuming events, I have not written as much in my blog. I still feel the need to write things down for the world, but the time I have to do that is falling by the way-side.
I have a feeling that there is a story or something brewing in my mind. I think it is acting like a log-jam for the rest of the ideas flowing down stream. I have no idea what it is, or if it is any good, or if it will end up on the blog. I worry it is life altering event that will happen to me sometime soon. I hope that is not the case. I'm actually happy these days. That is the perfect time for the "other shoe" to drop I suppose. I hope I'm wrong about that one.

By the way, bullet points are considered a blogging faux pas.

Bluetooth Lanyards and the Right to Bare Music
I have been looking for a lanyard for my mobile phone. I have one for my flashlight that I carry around. I need one to prevent dropping my phone. I can find lanyards all day long that are the around the neck kind. I have ten or so laying around. What I need is a lanyard that comes with the electronic devices like cameras or ... mobile phones. I need one of the around the hand kind.
When you do a search online for lanyard there are a million sites. You can design your own custom lanyards. You can order them by the pallet.
I'm also trying to get the bluetooth software for Linux to work. I've heard it works all right, but takes some playing. There is some documentation on the subject around the net.
Nat is a victim of the ring tome scam. She got a new phone from the self same career and they are making her buy the old ring tones again because they would not directly transfer from the old phone. This should be illegal. It's going to take a constitutional amendment to get that.
I think we, the people, should demand that once the rights to a piece of entertainment is purchased, all forms of said entertainment are then purchased. In other words, once you buy a song, you get it at cost-of-media from every other venue it is available. No renting, no leasing. no legal shenanigans, just once you buy it, you got it. Heck, then you can pass it along to your kids when you die. You can sell it it at a profit. I like that idea.
What do you think

Notes from Saturday Morning

Filed under "Eat spinning steel dip shit!!!"
Here is a link to the latest in home defense designs.

Today is St Patric's day. You wouldn't know it by looking around. It is very quiet.

The back yard needs mowing again already. I just mowed it. The weeds are knee high all ready. I need to get some weed killer for the back yard. I need mass quantities.

Last night Nat and I went over to my parent's place. Elle had a mobile phone from a garage sale. It didn't work, but she would sit there and have conversations with every one she knows. She used it to take fictitious pictures. "Say cheese!"

One Song Days
No more one song days in a while. I can still listen to the song that gave me the emotional jump start, Breath. There is a song lyric that says feeling pain is better than feeling nothing at all. I do not believe that. Sometimes the world just all pulls tight. It is hard to remember there is more to it all. There is no limit to things that can or will happen.
I listen to the same song for a couple of days straight. I'm not the only person who does this. I've seen it in movies. It must be a sign of depression. Today is not one of those days. I am married to a wonderful woman. I have the most amazing doughtier. I have the best parents. I have great friends. I have a good job. It is a day where I like listening to old country. Songs about uncloudedly days. and finding God in the cupboard .
Today is a good day.