The promised Elle Dragon pictures. Please comment.

Thanks to Trever and Danial for the dragon.

My favorite


Or maybe ...

Chopsticks
I ate with chopsticks this weekend. We went to Katy Mills Mall and I ate some funky glazed chicken chunks with some chopsticks. I had been practicing with pencils at home. I did alright.

Live8
I cannot believe this kind of crap still attracts people. These people stick their tung out over the evil of Western Civilization and then cash the check. Hypocritical children. The G-8 meet a couple of days after the concert. They want to use this as a rally to throw off the meeting between nations, I'm sure.

Paper
I don't want to get the paper. Nat says it has plenty of coupons in it. Those make it worth getting the paper. I say it is not worth killing a tree for the coupons. Every morning around 3:45 Elle wakes up and starts crying. We have come to the conclusion that the paper guy is throwing the paper against the wall in front of our door that is Elle's bedroom. It so happens that is right where her head lays. Now, do I:
* Cancel the paper.
* Lie in wait for the paper dude and discuss the matter.
* Complain a lot and deal with Elle crying in the morning.
Suggestions.

Pictures
I'm trying to get some pictures together. I have several of Elle that are amazingly cute. Nat's brothers brought over a huge stuffed dragon that is a bit taller than Elle. They won it at Dave and Buster's. I couldn't believe it. Those guys are awesome. I don't have the dragon pictures ready yet. Soon, soon.

Crying Freeman
This is a Japanese/American movie about the Japanese mafia. There are guys walking around with the funky tattoos all over their bodies. There are lots of scenes where ten guys empty machine guns into innocent bystanders. Not a bad romp. I can watch it while reading blogs because it is not in subtitles.

Revenge of the Sith
I have to say, this movie is on par with return of the Jedi in my book. Darth Sidious stole the show. He did the best job of all the actors. I like the multiple saber fights. I like all the obsequious battle scenes. Natalie liked the iguana. I liked the fact that R2D2 can keep his mouth shut. C3PO needed his mind wiped. That was appropriate.
It is dark. Jar-Jar has no lines. What is not to like?

Melinda and Melinda
Another movie. This is a story as told through two different points of view. One time through the eye of a tragedy writer. The other is through the eye of a comic writer. I'm watching it right now. It sounds like a great idea. Too bad it is so boring.

Minny-T extension is great for Firefox.
Nothing else of interest happened today.

Propriety
The company I work for is nuts sometimes. I swear they would rather spend a million work hours to save a nickel on a software license.
We have this little Excel workbook that allows us to fill in some information about phone calls we take. It takes in some very rudimentary information and sends it off to a hand made Access database sitting out on a server somewhere. The real solution to the problem is to use one of the 900 CRM (Customer Relation Management) packages to maintain the information. This company already has a complete package in place. It lets you put the info in. It lets you report the info out. It is backed up all the time. The problem is, that would require training people for ten minutes, and a user license for the software. It makes me sick to think how many hours are spent creating, bug-fixing, documenting and training for this new XLS file. I just don't get why the powers that be refuse to accept that someone had the same Idea years ago and already fixed it.
Not only that, but some functionality of the XLS is lacking. The install instructions are pretty much as follows.
* Copy the XLS to your hard drive.
* Do not edit the original.
* I said don't edit the original.
* What did I just say?!? That's it, STOP trying to edit the original!
You wonder why managers treat people like six year olds. Well, it is because people act like six year olds. Another thing lacking is the update schedule. There has already been an email saying "Oops. We left out an important piece of information. Replace the XLS." Now, they are getting two different sets of data.
Another thing that gets me is who writes these things. They are typically some manager or engineer who has only written a few macros that saved a few keystrokes in the past. Now, they are a master systems annalist. They get 0.5 out there and people start screwing it up and breaking the system. now there is corrupt data in the database. Suddenly the managers are screaming for version 0.5.1 and they don't want to pay for it because it is a fix. It is a fix even though the original specification never called for what they are asking for now.  Suddenly, this cool program that fixed some problems is the problem. The manager or engineer who started this train wreck starts dodging phone calls and forwarding emails to NULL. That or they have changed titles, or gone to greener pastures.
This is usually when I get hold of the project. They come to me to fix things that never should have been written in the first place. I take one look at the (no error handling, no comments, no documentation, no modularization) code and tell them they are nuts. That is usually the time they tell me they refuse to do an upgrade to the proper piece of software. They refuse to do an analysis of what is going on and fixing it, because that is what should have been done in the first place. Now they have far too much invested in this crap to go get something that works.

Something I learned today.
If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's 8th largest trading partner. (Something mentioned in passing on BBC Five Live today.)

Revenge of the Sith
I've asked Nat is she would do me the honor of attending The Revenge of the Sith this evening hopefully at the Alamo Draft Hose. She said yes. =]  I rally think The Alamo Draft House is the only theater I will ever go to again.

Tonight, Tomorrow and Beyond
There are a bunch of other things we should probably get done. We have to go to Conroe to make the car payment. Nat bought a car from one of those fly-by-night auto places. She got stuck paying far more than the car is worth. I wish I could find a better way to pay this thing off. It isn't a bad car, it just is not worth nearly what she owes on it. Also, we have to pay off her computer. All in all, I have to say, for being homeless and being forced out of jobs repeatedly to take care of herself/Elle/Mom, Nat did a great job of not ending up that far in debt. I'm quite proud of her.

Jokes

What do women and rocks have in common? You skip the flat ones

You know you work for the government when .. * The process becomes more important than the product * You don't see anything wrong with attending a meeting on a subject you know nothing about * You feel you contributed to the meeting just by being there * You stop raising issues/problems because you know you will be the one answering them. * You fly first class across the country to attend a conference with 100+ people to discuss the fact that the project does not have enough money * You work for an acronym, on an acronym, and your job title is an acronym * You understand the rationalization of an acronym composed of acronyms * You know that the location of a meeting is directly related to its importance. (1) A meeting at Fort Hood requires a subordinate or a contractor (2) The same meeting at Lake Tahoe requires your personal attention * you've sat at the same desk for 3 years, done the same thing for 3 years, but have had 3 different business cards

More Sore Back
Last night I went out of my way to pay good attention to Elle. When she was just running around being a kid, I gave her a hug and kissed her head. I tried to play along for a minute in whatever fantasy world she had concocted. It paid off. When it was bed time she tried to throw a fit, but the wind was not in her sails. I laid her down and she was out like a light. Even when she woke up this morning at like 2:30 or something, she cried. I went in to console her. She couldn't go back to sleep, but when I got up to leave, she just laid there. She did not cry. I don't know if she fell back asleep or not. That might be the secret. Pay good attention before you have to pay bad attention. It won't work every time I'm sure. Nothing works every time. She could get away with murder if she just did it quietly and didn't leave much of a mess.
Oh, the back. When I laid her down to go to sleep, I laid down on the floor to wait. Man, when I went to get up, my back had locked up. I nearly cried out when I stood up.  Nat had an anti-inflammatory to help the pain. It worked too. Hey, this family thing is not as bad as I had always imagined.

Work
I had back to back unrelated meetings canceled today due to a massive meeting about my department. I think the meeting that pulled away all the directs is to justify the existence of my department. What I think happened is one of the new high-up folks (we have had some shake ups lately) saw a line item with my department name in it. Now, they are getting the 1000 meter level view of the place to figure out if they want to abolish us in the name of cost savings. I've been here eight years, yet I'm still contingent. I've worked for, well, now three contract agencies and sat at basically the same desk the whole time.

Get a Mac

Even though I'm a security guy going on 22 years now, my day-to-day work is pretty much like everyone else's. I live on laptops and use my desktops at home and the office for geeking and experimenting. My two day-to-day laptops (two, for 24/7 backup) are my business machines. I don't need them to do a whole lot - except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel. ... I want my computer to function every time I turn it on. I want my computer to not corrupt data when it does crash. I use a handful of applications: Microsoft Office, e-mail, browser, FTP client and some multimedia toys. Regardless of format, they should work without crashing. I live on the 'Net. I do not want my browser to eat up all of my memory. In the WinTel world I need an assortment of third-party tools to try to keep my PC alive. That's just crazy. Why does WinTel have these problems? I have heard all sorts of explanations, and I don't subscribe to any of them. I've come up with my own (hopefully rational) reasons WinTel will fail - and has to fail: NetworkWorld

Basically, this guy is fed up with all the disasters that befall MS-crap-OS every five minutes. I consider myself a power user and I still find myself in trouble daily. I have a Linux box at the house and I have not had to do jack to keep it running. I have two (now three) MS-crap-OS boxes and I have to run constant security/spyware/virus software just to keep the damn things afloat. PC-Magazine was saying for people to get duel processor machines so one processor can keep an eye on the other. That thought makes me sick.  The article above has some good points. Go visit the blog too. They are doing a real experiment.
I work for one of the huge companies with over 50,000 nodes on the network. I'm telling you 95% of the computing power people need is (email + web surfing + Office + moving files across the network + (multimedia / 2) + (PowerPoint * 2) + CADD ) all times the square of the  ignorance level of the individual user. That's pretty much it. Linux does it all. Mac's do it all. There is this thing called Citrix Server that allows any other computer to use a MS-crap-OS machine remotely. That means the any all the silly folks who write software that is not compatible with truly multiple platform (MS thinks different versions of their software count as multiple platforms) can use one of these Citrix Servers to host their trash. Problem solved. Go away MS-crap-OS. We don't need you. We don't want you. We are sick of you. Die Die DIE!!!
Sorry, I got carried away there.
I know what is coming. I'm not stupid. MS-crap-OS wants to make the X-Box into the home media machine and home computer. The home computer part of the X-Box will only run MS certified software to ensure security and privacy. Only MS will have access to your personal data, and God knows we all trust MS.

Word of the day
Disentangle: untie a knot.
Politicians love this word when describing paperwork or red tape. I think it is over used. Why don't they just say things are messed up? I would make a terrible politician because I just don't deal well with bullshit.

Back
Elle was throwing a fit this morning. She was laying on the floor and kicking her feet. Nat was at her whit's end. I picked Elle up and took her outside for a second to let her cry. No sooner did I pick her up than I felt a twinge in my lower back. Now I have pain when I walk. Great. I'm used to picking her up from her standing position. I didn't keep my back straight. I've done this kind of thing before. I need to relax this evening and lay flat on the floor  with my feet up on the couch. to let my muscles loosen.
Lately it seems like Elle cries at everything. I can't figure out what is the real root of the problem. She needs some time with other kids. I think she is frustrated that she is not an adult. She should be a kid while she has the chance.

DnD
When are we going to do DnD again? No one seems interested in the weekend group any more. They have a weeknight group for the real die-hards. I can't keep up with those guys. I still want to play. Now that Ethan has a girl friend / fiance and thus full weekends, Adam is not motivated to gather the clan. I feel left hanging. I wonder if Ken and the other folks want to start up a game.

For Real

Maybe the problem is that, nowadays, divorce has become too easy, and oftentimes, it's easier to call it quits than it would be to try and fix what's wrong in the marriage. Unfortunately, members of the TV generation (that's us) are known for their penchant for "the easy way out." Or, perhaps it has to do with the fact that we are the first generation that has had to contend with very vague roles within marriage. Who's supposed to cook and clean if both parties work equal amounts of time? ... "So, what are the right reasons?" you ask. I guess everyone has their own way of determining with whom, why and when they walk down the aisle, if at all. My personal favorites are common goals and love (I've been burned, but I still choose to believe in this delightful enigma). Just make sure that yours is real. AskMen.com

I remember the first time someone said "starter marriage" in my presents. It was Peter K. from my work. He left for greener pastures nearly a decade ago. What he said has stuck with me. He was spot on. My Ex and I didn't have anything in common. Nothing that mattered anyway. She and I differed on too many topics. She wanted to spend money without considering the consequences. She didn't want to pay, or understand the concept of paying her taxes. That really was the final straw. It came down to I didn't want to have children with her because I feared her responsibility.
It is the real thing with Natalie. I've known her for years. I've wondered about her for a long time. Does she feel the same way? You know how it goes. She was dating someone, or I was dating someone. Things never worked out. We both say we wish we could have found each other earlier. I just don't think we were ready those eleven years ago. Nothing has ever felt more right.

Brothers
Natalie's brothers came over last night for a visit. We piled in the cars and went to Dave and Buster's. Three seconds after we got to a pool table Elle started throwing a fit. I took her outside and we sat in the car while she cried and tossed around. It was very hot in the car. At that point I was more worried about getting arrested for a two year old throwing a fit. I really did intend to exit the car after she calmed down a bit. Natalie was understandably upset because Elle was over heated. I felt so bad I didn't want to go back in Dave and Buster's. I went for a walk and then fell asleep in the car. Nat tells me her brothers felt insulted because I didn't want to hang out with them. That wasn't it at all. Great way to start the family relationship.

Nat's Brother
Nat's brother came in for a visit last night. We picked him up and I got a couple of the stories he told. He is in the military. He will be out in a bit less than a year I believe. I was kind of tired, so I missed the details. He sounds like he is ready to be a civilian again. He let a couple of cuss words slip in front of Elle. He kicked himself every time. He commented "I have the cleanest mouth in my unit. Including the women." I believe it. Most of the recently ex-military folks I've hung around with had "potty mouths" (I'm getting into the parenting terminology these days). They typically give it up after a while. It doesn't become noticeable until they are around kids.

OOPS

The pilot whose small plane flew over Washington this month and triggered a security scare that emptied the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court, said on Tuesday he thought he was going to be "shot out of the sky." Homeland security and military aircraft, including two F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter, were scrambled to intercept the Cessna 150 turboprop and escort it to an airport in nearby Maryland on May 11. Reuters

I bet it was scary. I do hope this person gets some kind of punishment. It was a mistake, but pilots should be afraid to screw up. Again, Western Civilization is afraid to use negative reinforcement to control behavior.

Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines Corp. has proposed firing 2,031, or nearly half of its mechanics, in a bid to save $176 million a year, their union said in a document posted in its Web site on Monday. ... Mechanics have been a particular target for job cuts at many traditional airlines, which have found that they can save money by outsourcing maintenance to outside providers who can do the work for cheaper. Reuters

Stay off of Northwest Airlines in about six months or so. It will take while for the crappy maintenance to catch up to reality, but it will.

Wedding Plans
I'm sure you will get details as things develop. Nat and I are going back and fourth over expenses. I'm just trying to say you don't have to spend a fortune to have your family there. I heard somewhere that a few middle eastern weddings can cost over $100,000. Yee gads. I should count my blessings. Nat and I both have heads on our shoulders. We will make it work.
I have no idea who to invite. No matter what happens, someone will freak because they were not invited. What are you supposed to do?
Dress
There is a dress involved, That means I am already in the dark.
Place
Nat and I are talking about what place to have the wedding as I type. I kind of like the idea of having a Fair wedding. I might actually get away with waring armor to my wedding. How cool is that!?
Natalie says her mom might not be able to sit down in some of the smaller gardens at TRF. I offered to hire a rick-shaw for her. I haven't heard back, I wonder if she passed out laughing.
Reception
Inside or out?

Arbor House Brunch $15.50 per person Char-Broiled Chicken Assorted Sausage Cajun Fried Potatoes Seasonal Fruit Salad Rolls, Nuts and Mints Tea and Coffee.

Italian Brunch $15.50 per person Pizza Squares (Meat and Veggie) Italian Breads (Garlic and Cheese) Seasonal Fruits Assorted Cheeses Tea and coffee. [no]

Italian Brunch $15.50 per person Pizza Squares (Meat and Veggie) Italian Breads (Garlic and Cheese) Seasonal Fruits Assorted Cheeses Tea and coffee.

Queen's Celebration $19.50 per person Carved Roast Beef and Pork Loin Seasoned Turkey Breast Ham Deli Tray Fresh Vegetable Crudités Assorted Cheeses Sauces and Dips Seasonal Fresh Fruit Tea and Coffee.

My head is spinning.
They want $600 for a cake. And, they won't let you bring your own in. BASTARDS!!!
That can't be right.

$150 for the reception site...$320 for the food...$125 for the cake that feeds 50 people (that is the smallest cake which is pictured on the website)

That's better. This thing might work out.

Elle's Shoes
Elle got some new sneakers. They light up as she walks. They are pretty cool. They were like $14. I remember some of the adult shoes that cost $150 with the little lights. I remember an interview with a police officer who said something to the effect "I love those lights on shoes because suspects are easy to find at night. Thanks Nike." I liked that. It makes me wonder why the adult shoes are so darn expensive.
We were in the car on the way home last night. I was in the back seat with Elle. I taught her to clap her shoes together and make them blink. It kept her occupied for a while. I ended up giving up on getting her to sleep last night. She wanted to be part of the party (Nat and her brother looking at old pictures) Just as I was about to get her to go to sleep the frigging cat start me-owing and wakes her up. I have never in my life come that close to kicking a cat. I almost did last night. That was bad timing. I decided I couldn't compete and just gave up.

Jen's News Letter

This Tuesday night, May 24th, I'll be kicking off the summer concert season at EB5, International Tea and Coffee House. EB5 is a wonderful new art gallery in Spring that not only serves tea and coffee, but fine wines, pastries, and sandwiches. www.eb5arts.com. The concert series, "An Intimate Evening With..." is in conjunction with the Spring Post. EB5 22557 Aldine Westfield Road Spring, TX 77373 7:30-9pm $6 So come out for a mellow and early evening at a new hip place. See you, Jen www.JenRathbun.com

Jen Rocks! Go.

Work
So, I have worked at the same company for about eight years now. It isn't quite true because I've worked for two different contract companies. I'm placed at the real company. The company that I do the work for makes it very clear that I am contract. It doesn't matter that I've worked here longer than most of the direct employees it seems. It is kind of a bum deal.
A couple of years ago I was given the opportunity to move from one contract company to another. I moved because the benefits from the second contract company were a slight bit better. Now, the main company wants to end the contract with the contract company I am with. That means, if I want to continue to work in the same place, I have to move to the original contract company. This is not only a pain, but they make it sound like there is no guarantee that I'll get my job back. I feel like I have to re-apply for the same position. I had damn well better get the same pay rate. I mean, they are already s me on the benefits just because of the nature of the contract company.

More Work
The water on this floor is gray. I can't believe this place won't do something about hate rancid drinking water. I feel like they just don't care. How the hell am I expected to get work done when I have to worry about the quality of the drinking water? The coffee tastes like crap. No wonder. It is being made with puddle water.

HomeSite
Argh! I can't stand using a code editor exclusively. I really need to have a GUI for typing and layout, and a good code editor for funky stuff. It is so much faster to drag and drop some things, cut and paste.  I've gone back to Mozilla's editor. It is a simple interface and the code is easy enough to mess with on the fly. Well, OK, I'm lazy. I don't want to write a program every time I go to jot down some notes for my blog.s

Adam & Laurie's Weekend

The poker party was very fun.  We played Texas Hold'em, tournament-style.  It was nice because even though Laurie and I both played, we only lost a collective $110 (which is good for us).  If you end up going to another game, I suggest trying it.  The difference is everyone puts in the same amount of $$$ (say $30) and then all the poker chips are divvied up equally among all players.  Then you start playing, and while betting, there is NO LIMIT to the amount you can bet.  Also, every 15-30min the blinds double (so for the first 30min the big blind is 3 chips, little is 1 chip, next 30min big is 6chips, little is 3 chips, et cetera).  Money is doled out by order of finishing.  The person that wins all chips gets %70, the person to come in second gets %20 and third gets %10.  Games typically take ~2-3hrs. I managed to play 3 games (Laurie, 2).  On the first hand of the second tournament game Woody, a guy named Nick and myself went "all in" where all three people's chips were in the pot opening hand.  Woody and I lost to Nick making us the biggest losers of the night.  (Technically Woody went "all in" first so I think he's the biggest loser, though he counters with the fact that his cards were better than mine, so I would have lost to him.) Sunday was very relaxing.  Laurie, Woody and I all played Everquest for 4 hours.  (I have attached a few screen shots of our exploits.)  We adventured into the Crypt of Varsoon, killing tons of Clay Gaurdians and fighting undead weavers and a hugely powerful animated book called the "Book of Life".  The Book of Life had 15 animated helper books that kicked our collective asses around town.  We then watched an excellent movie called "Spartan" with Val Kilmer and written by David Mamet (same guy who did "Glenngerry Glenn Ross").  It was an excellent political thriller.  Recommended.  Great dialog

Before the game, we went out to lunch. Man, his poker game sounds like allot more fun than the movie Nat and I stayed in to watch. The truth is, we had a good time. We didn't loose $110 or the like either. We watched "National Treasure", it was OK. Then we watched "Saw" which was kind of gory. I figured out what was going on too early the first time I watched it. I hate that. I am not the kind of guy who knows what is going to happen next in all the movies. Sometimes I can call it though. It is kind of random. I hate that. If I always guessed it, that would be cool. I could lay bets and impress some one.
I'm betting Adam sent this to me knowing full well I would put it on the blog. He blogs vicariously through me.

Weekend
It is Sunday morning now. Elle spent the weekend with her grandfather . Nat and I had a agreement not to touch the computers until Sunday. It seems like every little even was blogable too. It never fails, when you cant get to your blog, a bunch of blogable stuff happens. Now, of course I remember nearly none of it. Nat told me some stories about being homeless that I wish she would blog, or at least written down. I know they are painful, but they should be told. We didn't have any out of town trips. We haven't have any emergencies yet. Elle is back from her grandfather's and went to the potty on her own. Thank God. I really hope she catches on soon. More later.

Commute
It was a pleasant walk in to work today. It had been a while since I have taken the bus. It was refreshing really. That is, until I nearly get run down by someone who insisted on running the light at the same time I was walking the cross walk. If I hadn't been looking around as I crossed as I normally do, I'm sure they would have hit me. I'm sure of this because they were busy passing other cars and dodging side traffic to even see me in the morning gloom. I'm very glad I don't carry any kind of firearm. I would have emptied it through their back window. The car was a small frame middle colored coop with one headlight (I don't remember which one) out. I couldn't see the driver. It was dark and I am legally blind. I hope God gets that fucker.

Elle's little boyfriend
Elly has this little boy she really likes named David. He is the same age. They met in day care. I heard a story that they had to be separated at nap time because they would cuttle. That is so cute. Anyway, He was one of the little kids terrorizing the cat last night. When he left Elle was devastated. She cried for an hour. I had to hold her and fight her squirming and screaming or she would stand at the door pulling on the door knob. There was a point where she pushed against my stomach with her legs trying to get away. I finally let her fall back a bit and caught her. My intent was to let her feel that falling sensation. It worked. ABout the third time she came back up and hugged me and held on. After that, she only switched shoulders to cry on. They were both wet. When she finally went to sleep, she slept all night. I left her this morning in childhood slumber. I was worried about nightmares. I think the hour of crying and the loss of her voice again completely wore her out.
Natalie and I joked to ourselves that "She is two now and wonders why her boyfriend can't stay the night. What is it going to be like when she is sixteen?"
I passed out on the floor in Elle's room. I was worn out. It was around midnight or so. I eventually stumbled into the bedroom. I only remember it taking me for ever to get into bed. I had to brush my teeth, take out my contacts, get ready for bed. All the time I was waiting for Elle to wake up and start crying. It didn't happen.

Weekend (sappy)
Elle's grandfather is taking her until Sunday. We had planned on having a garage sale tomorrow at the apartment complex, but it was canceled due to lack of participation. They want to try again in June. Whatever. I want to get together with some friends. I want to introduce Natalie to my friends. She and I have had many of the same friends for a long time. I've met some of her exclusive friends. I want her to know my life, loves and hates. I want to know hers.

Pictures

It looks like I have the JAlbum software working again. I will try to get some pictures up soon. I have the itch. I will publish some of Nat's photos too. Here is a snap from Reuters

Kids
I get home from work and there are three kids in the apartment. They belong to some friend's of Nat's. We ended up with two 2 year olds, and an infant staying over night. The infant is no big del. The two year olds get in constant "mine, mine, mine, mine, mine ..." fights. They are walking around behind me so I'm watching a movie called "Alien Lock down" in a two inch wide window on my computer. This is the kind of thing people with kids have to do. It is already bast ten and El le is not even close to bed. Her little buddy is as least as hyper as she is so they feed off each other.
This whole father thing is starting to sink in. I had not'held a baby until today. Natalie keeps saying she wants to have a baby. We don't have insurance. I need to get her on my insurance and make sure it covers birth. I need to know how the military coverage is going to work. There is no reason to cover Elle with the crtappy insurance I'm going to get if the military stuff is going to be superior. Anyway, I'm tired. I ran 100 mph at work. I get home and ran 100 mph again. I'm not sure how I'm still awake. It must be the noise.

Bed, ... bed ... bed ... bed!

Justin's Latest Gig

Nothing like the last minute, but I thought I'd let everybody know that Slappy's will be playing our last show for the next few months this Saturday, May 21st at RockStarz Patio from 6PM to 7PM. This is a Nurturing Dreams Foundation charity event featuring exactly what, I'm not sure! But judging from previous experience, there'll be lots of great bands and plenty of other interesting going's on. As if Slappy's weren't draw enough! RockStarz Patio 6203 Nyoka St (basically the intersection of BW8 & 290) Houston, TX 77041-5311 Phone: 713-466-0204

Local Terrorists

Violent animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists now pose one of the most serious terrorism threats to the nation, top federal law enforcement officials say. Senior officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives told a Senate panel Wednesday of their growing concern over these groups. Of particular concern are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 criminal incidents since 1990. The FBI has 150 pending investigations associated with animal rights or eco-terrorist activities, and ATF officials say they have opened 58 investigations in the past six years related to violence attributed to the ELF and ALF. CNN

I'm glad mainstream media is finally calling these people terrorists. They have been around for a long time. That doesn't make what they are doing right. If I don't like a law, if I don't like what my government is doing, I cannot be aloud to put people's lives unnecessarily at risk to get my point across. I must work from within the system. That is the whole point behind a government. They allow an existing set of rules to be applied and must allow for changes to those rules as based on need of the society.

Adam's Opinion on Sith

Great movie. It kind of pisses me off. It seams ole George Lucas *did* still have the ability to write a good movie after all. After the last two stinkers I just wrote off my fascination to the original Star Wars as youth and nostalgia. Instead, after seeing a movie that recaptures most of the elements of the first three movies, I know its not just youth that excited me about the films. The guy that plays the Emperor steals the show. He is the bomb.

Song

Artist	James McMurtry
Song:	Safe Side
Album:	Candyland

I'd be pissed too

From Reuters News.

Waking Up
What in the world wakes Elle up in the middle of the night? I really think it is her rolling over and noticing I'm not laying on the floor any more. I wonder sometimes if the night light hurts more than it helps. If she is mostly asleep and her eyes come part way open she can see that I'm not on the floor. However, if the night light is not on, the room may be to dark for her to notice anything and she will not get that "Oh my God! I'm alone!" feeling. When I go in the room after she has woken up, she really tries to get back to sleep. I'm telling you, mentioning the word "bed" is a strict no-no.
I may try it without he night light this evening. Last night, she woke up twice. Both time she fully intended to cry until someone came and got her. The trouble is there is no negative to her waking up. I need to think of a way to make her think twice before she calls us to her side. I want her to start thinking "I don't need them that bad." and roll over. I need some parenting advice.

Police Pursuit
A police officer in the UK decided to take one of the new pursuit vehicles out for a test drive a couple of months ago. He reached a top speed of 159 mph on a highway. Here is a link to the car type that he used. Understand, this link is the civilian version. The on board camera recorded the whole thing. Some other workers turned him in. The judge agreed that the police have to test on public streets. In the officer's defence, he is a driving training instructor. If any one needed to do the testing, it was him. The cop was driving at night on mostly clear roads. It sounds like he knew what he was doing.
In Italy, test drivers for car companies can get a license to drive like maniacs on the public road. There are movies I've downloaded on P2P that show Ducati drivers flying through traffic on rain soaked roads. It looked quite illegal, but apparently, it is find. They really do think differently across the pond.
Radio Scanner
I used to have a scanner that picked up mobile phones. I listened at night and the only people using the phone at that time are cops and prostitutes. One evening I heard a cop talking to his wife. He got a call to a fight. He starts driving fast. You can hear the engine and tires making noise. He makes some calls on the radio. His wife is clearly disturbed, but she does not want to hang up. They disconnected before he made it to the call. That conversation always stuck with me. So did the one where a guy was in a fight with his boyfriend and said "Some one is probably listening to this getting their jollies." I cracked up. Another call was a lesbian who had two different girlfriends on call waiting and flipped back and forth between them. I don't know how she kept them straight (so to speak). One of the girls was the steady girlfriend. The other was obviously the wild affair. You can still get scanners that will pick up mobile phones, but it is far more difficult and expensive with digital signals these days.

Orgasms

Evolutionary scientists have never had difficulty explaining the male orgasm, closely tied as it is to reproduction. But the Darwinian logic behind the female orgasm has remained elusive. Women can have sexual intercourse and even become pregnant - doing their part for the perpetuation of the species - without experiencing orgasm. So what is its evolutionary purpose? Over the last four decades, scientists have come up with a variety of theories, arguing, for example, that orgasm encourages women to have sex and, therefore, reproduce or that it leads women to favor stronger and healthier men, maximizing their offspring's chances of survival. But in a new book, Dr. Elisabeth A. Lloyd, a philosopher of science and professor of biology at Indiana University, takes on 20 leading theories and finds them wanting. The female orgasm, she argues in the book, "The Case of the Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution," has no evolutionary function at all. ... The female orgasm, she said, "is for fun." NYT

I bet that title got your attention. You know, this article could help prove the existance of God, and that she is really female. What do you think?

Homesite
I'm trying out HomeSite for HTML code. It is a code only editor. I'm not sure how it will work out because I'm not used to editing stuff that way. It has a spell checker. It automatically inverts the code for things like bold, italic, images and links. We shall see how it works. For one thing, carage returns are not automatic. You have to type in the characters you want to display. I must remember to turn word wrap on while typing. ... Ah, control enter puts in a <br>. When you hit the & a menu drops down and lists all the symbols. When you type in a tag and hit the space bar the elements of that tag drop down in a list. This is nice so far.
I can tell I'm going to have some trouble. I like dragging and dropping stuff from my browser into the editor and referencing it. Lets see what happens here. ... When you paste a link, you get just the text. When you drag and drop the link, you get the http link only. Oh, well. I will not like hunting down the code on the page. That is going to suck.
Let's try a link.
Let's try a picture.

This is quoted text. Kelly

We may have a winner.

Keep your mouth shut
So, this guy kills another guy during an argument over marijuana. He takes the dead guys body and throws it under another body in a recent grave. The authorities had the following to say.

"Had this guy kept his mouth shut, we would've never, ever found out what happened to this victim," Detective Tony Morales said. CNN

They said he gave some funky information during an interview. Lesson number one when you do something stupid: Keep your mouth shut. The best cover story is "What the hell are you talking about?"

News Week Commits Murder

DiRita "exploded" when Newsweek informed him that one of the original sources behind the report had partially backed off the story, the magazine said. "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said," DiRita told Newsweek, according to the magazine's report. "How could he be credible now?" ... "If you read the al Qaeda training manual, they are trained to make allegations against the infidels," Army Col. Brad Blackner told Newsweek. CNN

How do you like that inaccurate headline you eye-grabbing, fact-not-checking loosers?!? Check your facts. Stop relying on third person hearsay.
You know, those people who died were Muslims. Why are the clerics not blowing a gasket over this? (oops, they are)

Putting Elle Down
Elle is in mid transition. She has her own room now and we are trying to get her comfortable with sleeping alone. Natalie lived in a two bedroom apartment with another family. She had only one room to herself and Elle. Elly got very used to having Nat there when she went to sleep. We have had at least one night of no sleep from Elle throwing a fit. It has been a learning experience trying to get Elle to convert. The gate did not work. Elle will sit there screaming and pounding on the gate. She is claustrophobic. The feeling of not being able to get out of the room is enough to make her irrationally try to escape. Confronting her directly doesn't work because once she starts crying the act of crying is self perpetuating. She doesn't even know why she is crying. There is no negative reinforcement (it used to be spanking, but you can't do that any more) so she won't break the crying cycle. If you only use positive reinforcement then throwing a fit pays off. Have you tried negotiating with a two year old?
Elle gets upset when it is bed time. I've noticed if I don't say any of the typical bed time words like bed, sleep, night-night ,or any of the like, things go much more smoothly. Last night Nat walked by the door while I was going through the motions and said something with the word "bed" in it. Elle started to cry. We had to start over again.
The procedure changes every night. Usually, I get her to sit on her bed and try to read her a story. I pat her stomach or back. She always refuses the covers at first. I have to wait for her to nod off before pulling them up. When her eyes are shut, she is still awake. If I get up she will get up and cry as I leave. I let her get groggy and nod off a bit then as I get up I say "I'm going to lay down right here" and point at the floor. Then I lay down and act like I'm going to sleep. I lay there listening to her breathing. I also curse every noise that comes from the apartment above us or the parking lot. Her breathing will change several times. It will get a bit heavier. Not yet. It will lengthen. Not yet. It will become more rhythmic. Not yet. She will suck in a gasp. Not yet. It will level off somehow. Not a snore, more of a balanced pattern. Now. I slowly raise myself up. I quietly bring myself to my feet. Stop. keep listening. Same pattern. slowly, don't trip on anything, don't kick anything, tiptoe out of the room. Leave the door open a crack. Our little child out of sight. Prey for her to be safe tonight.