Day
Got up kind of early. Nat went out and did wedding stuff all day. I stayed home and watched Elle. I felt like crap, so I actually got some sleep on the couch while she watched movies. I ended up missing the Simpson's again. I ate some pizza earlier and started feeling bad after that. It wasn't like a stomach pain, it was just a feeling of weariness and being kind of under a weight. After Nat took Elle to get something to eat a bit ago, I got up and drank a soda. Now I feel much better. I wonder what the heck it was?
Tomorrow is work. You know, having a family makes you appreciate the time you spend at work. That is sick, but true. Is it a good thing or a bad thing when you look forward to going in to work on Monday?
Some car keeps driving by with a bad water pump. Bad water pumps make a sound that is pretty distinctive. This one is so loud, there is no way the driver could not have noticed it. It upsets me when people let things break before even attempting to fix them. I'm guilty of this myself on occasion, but come on, that sound means something is wrong.

Podcasting
I've looked into podcasting. I don't have much desire in sifting through the centuries of crap to find the gems. I don't have an iPod, but I hear it will work with just about any MP3 player. I've listened to some streams on my computer and enjoyed most of it.
I've also thought about doing a podcast. I don't really have time for a regular schedule. I would much rather do some short videos of things that happen like the wedding yesterday. Reading the blog is difficult enough. My next mobile phone will most likely have a podcast feature so I'm not worried. Please, don't expect anything soon.

Pictures
I got the pictures of Heath and Nickie's wedding up. Please let me know what you think. It's late. It's been a long day.I'm tired. I'm happy. Can you believe it? I'm only happy when I'm so tired I can't think straight. What's up with that? Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

Heath and Nickie
We got up early today. It is a good thing Nat was already up when my alarm went off because I slept straight through it. We got up early to go to Heath and Nickie's wedding. It was beautiful. I will get the pictures up as soon as I can. It was the first set of real pictures I took with my new Rebel XT. Some of the pictures taken with the telephoto zoom are too soft for my liking. I read this is a symptom of those lenses. If you  don't get a fixed focal length lens, you can expect that sort of thing.
Heath and Nickie were the best looking couple there. They looked happy. They looked like they will make it work. There were a bunch of people there. It was a big wedding. I met people I haven't seen in years. There were many folks I didn't know. It was fun. I don't know half the people in the crowd.
It felt good going to a wedding with a date. How offal is that? It is self centered. Nat was wonderful. She looked wonderful. She seemed to have a good time. Not only that, but she let me run all over the place taking pictures. That was very kind of her. All in all it was a great day.

Wedding
AAAA ... AAAAAAAAAA ... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Make it stop!!! I'm going nuts. There are a million things to do and poor Nat is doing them all. I have to get a Kilt. I have to get multiple cakes. I have to deal with wedding people. Oh, then I have to pay for it all.

Julian Beever
I got the following pictures in an email. It is really cool stuff. Julian Beever is quite a talented artist. His site is slow, so I'm going to put some pictures on my server. (forgive me Julian) Click on the image for a larger version. Check out the rest though.
How it is done
Check out the different angle. Julian has to draw the lady's leg far off in the distance to get the 3D affect to work properly. They promise he draws everything by hand. I could not imagine doing this without a pre-stretched sketch to go by though.
I would like to see a shuttle launch or something like that. I'm not sure why that popped into my head.

Groom's Cake
Nat insists I get a Groom's cake. I don't really have an idea. To keep her off my back, I mentioned a dragon cake would be cute. She wants something funky. We are sitting in the same room Instant Messaging each other links to pages with cakes we like, or laugh at. I just want something cheap. There are some interesting cakes out there.
We are going to need three cakes. The one inside TRF that they make us buy. The regular wedding cake outside and now a Groom's cake. I'm going to ask Nat if we can just have two. Come to the wedding to find out what happens.

GTA Sex Scene
This is a link to a video of the hidden sex scene from GTA. It is pretty tame to be honest. Sorry for the advertisement you have to scroll up and skip. Who hasn't done this with a couple of Barbie Dolls?

Ancient Phallus

A sculpted and polished phallus found in a German cave is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered, researchers say. The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura. BBC

Under the Science section. You have got to go check out the picture. They tried to make it sound all scientific. You know some reporter was sitting there typing and snickering. I wonder if they faked a straight face while submitting the article to their editor.

Amateurs
I have had to deal with companies on the west and east coast before. I've ordered stuff and either had no trouble or needed to contact people and get things resolved. I did not have an appreciation for professionalism until I started buying things from amateurs on eBay and other points on the net. People let stuff slide. They don't return emails or phone calls. They don't care that they lied about what they had for sale. You cannot track them down easily. No one cares that you got ripped off. You know, there is really nowhere to go to resolve internet purchases. If you buy from another country, man, you are screwed.
Recently, Nat and I ordered a dress from a well known and linked web site. It took me threatening to sue them to get them to return my emails. From now on, I'm looking for a brick and mortar address before I order anything from any one. Typically, if I can find it on Amazon, I get it there, just because I trust hem a bit more. Trouble is, nearly every one beats Amazon's price, few beat the service.
Now, I have to hound people to give me information so I can pay them. Waiting in line to pay someone my money has always gotten on my nerves. Now, hunting people down to pay them has pretty much the same affect.

Jane Fonda can kiss my ass
Jane Fonda is embarking on a nationwide trip to denounce the war. Enjoy your freedom Jane. Please be sure to thank those soldiers who died for you to have the right to travel to friendly supportive clusters of liberals who will cheer your words against the protectors of said freedom. Thank the soldiers who will face an extra measure of danger because the enemies of the freedom you abuse. Remember as you soak up the attention that there is a soldier in another country, squatting in a hole, wishing to God that he could just go home. Remember, years ago, the same thing happened. You evil, self-centered, sole-less child.  hope you die and leave no legacy to do this again the next time our freedom needs to be defended.

Realization
This afternoon, while weeping at my desk, I asked god the following. "God, please get me into a cool job that pays great that I enjoy." Why the hell do I mention the "enjoy" thing last? I have a potential choice coming up soon. It will be hard work, but it will be something that I have an investment in. It will be something that I have a say in. It will be something that means more than a paycheck to me. Will i enjoy it? Will I make it work? Or, will I screw it up like most of the other stuff in my life? Stay tuned.

Firefox Trouble
When you set Firefox to open new links in a new tab instead of a new browser (Who the hell wants 900 browsers open at the same time?) you get some funny results.
For example, When I open a new email in Gmail, it pops up in a window with no menu or buttons displayed. I'm tapping my email away and think "I sure would like to listen to some music while toiling away at this correspondence." and I jump over to Radio Paradise and click on the "listen" button. That causes the little pop-up window counting my email to load the page that loads the music feed.
"DAMN-IT!!" I exclaim. Which is something I would normally say in such a situation.
I figure I just lost my whole email and I'm not too happy about it. Which is something I would normally feel in such a situation.
I click on the "X" to close the window an the computer asks me "Do you want to close all the open tabs?". ... "Open tabs?" I ask myself.
There are no tabs showing in the window. That doesn't mean they are not there. I hit cancel and try the control-tab key and sure enough, there is my email.
Now, this is one of those things you will never find on the internet. This is a combination of cascading features also known as a cluster-fuck. These things happen in all software. They happen in all parts of life. There just isn't anything you can do about it, except sit back and laugh. Then, sue someone and try to make a couple of bucks. Happy surfing.

Sometimes
The entry below is how I have felt some of the time. I feel lost. I feel like nothing will ever work. There are good times. I forget that too often. Every day is like a life all to itself. we feel highs and lows. Some days you are blessed with an all good day. Other times you feel not but stress and strain. Today brought both.
Today was a long day for me. Eleven hours of work and worry. A mile walk in one hundred degree heat and no air conditioning on the buss ride home. Stopped to get the mail and it is all bills. But, I walked in the house and Elle shouted "Hello Kelly!" and funniest thing, it was all OK ... dirty diaper and all.
Ups and downs.

Here come the lawsuits

The family of a Brazilian man shot dead by armed police officers at a London subway station say they are considering legal action. CNN

The article goes on to describe a connection between the first set of attackers and the second set. Apparently, they all went white-water rafting together.
This kind of reminds me of the L. A. bank robbers. They were actually trying to kill a bunch of people and were shot dead by police. The family of those assholes has been trying to cash in ever since. This situation is quite a bit different. This guy came out of a watched apartment block (not unlike mine). Then went to the tube station and got asked a bunch of questions by the cops. Now, his visa had expired, so he starts to freak. Had he taken off the other direction, out of the station, he might still be alive. Perhaps cops should corner suspects so they will not run into the trains or other crowded areas.
I do kind of like the stance the government is taking. They say "Look, shit happens when you are trying to protect from suicide bombers." Well, that is not an exact quote, but I like it. I hope they use the situation to nab some other criminals. It might be nice if the bad guys of all kinds are afraid to set foot on the tube.

Life
Nat is sick. I'm under strain. This family thing is too much. I'm about to snap. I don't know what to do. It wasn't supposed to be like this. There was supposed to be some good times too.

George Carlin Radio
Who would have thought old Georgy would have enough material to have is own internet radio station. Well, you can't tell me that there is anything you can't find on the net if you just look. This is just one of the little things that keeps me from climbing a tall building and pitching pennies until I'm dropped by a sniper in a black helicopter.

Donation Button
I finally bit the bullet and added the donation button to the right of this text. I've been threatening to do it for years. It would have taken all of five minutes if I hadn't blundered down the wrong documentation path the first six times. The money goes straight into my pocket. You will receive nothing in return except the satisfaction of knowing I will piss the money away on frivolous crap like food and shelter for my family.

Day
Thank God tomorrow is Friday! I really hope things go well at work because I'm going to be a wreck worrying about Natalie's oral surgery. She has her wisdom teeth removed tomorrow at around 2:00. My mom is going to take her and driver her home. Please say a prayer for her if you get the chance.

Dog
We are trying to get rid of a dog. It is a strange mix. It pees every time you look at it. I'm beyond sick of smelling dog pee in my apartment. I don't know what we are going to do with the carpet. Frigging pets. I want a pet rock. I'm going to name it George. I will pet him and hug him and he won't pee on anything.

Scary China

China cannot be certain that its military, while steadily strengthening, is capable of conquering Taiwan, the Pentagon said Tuesday in a new report on Chinese military power and strategy. Over the longer term, however, an increasingly modernizing Chinese military could pose a threat to U.S. and other forces in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. CNN

I'm not sure what to say about this. If you read the article, and some others that seem to pop up daily, you get the idea that China is preparing to take over another country. The U. S. has vowed to defend to defend Taiwan when the shit finally hits the fan.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing of China said in response to the report that his country would continue to "pursue a path of peaceful development." The annual Pentagon report on China's military said that China is emphasizing efforts "to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity conflicts" over Taiwan. China's military spending has grown by double-digit rates since the mid-1990s and "appears focused on preventing Taiwan independence or trying to compel Taiwan to negotiate a settlement on Beijing's terms," the report said. ... China does not yet have the military power to take Taiwan by force, the report said, and Beijing's conventional forces are not capable of threatening U.S. territory, as "China's ability to project conventional military power beyond its periphery remains limited." But the report cautioned that China was modernizing and expanding its arsenal of nuclear missiles that are capable of reaching the United States. Herald Tribune

China doesn't seem to be very concerned. I am concerned. I have some friends who are highly intelligent who seem to just blow China off. "What are they going to do, swim here?" I want to remind them how many Chinese students, scientists, engineers, doctors, and other professionals live here and fit in to society. The Mexican border is as likely to stop a determined terrorist as a barb wire fence is to stop a flood. I firmly believe that if the U. S. and China get into it over Taiwan, China will hold U. S. cities hostage, not with missiles, but with planted agents who will commit a terrorist act on command.
Can you imagine trying to stop the commands from going through? In this day of the internet, instant messaging, email, and international text messaging any seemingly mundane message such as "aunt Martha's birthday is coming up." might set the cell off on it's appointed target. China cannot even cut it's own people from the internet.
The U. S. strategy lately is to make sure that China makes so much money off the citizens of this country that they will be too afraid of loosing money if war breaks out. That sounds pretty shaky to me.

BBC
I was listening to the BBC today, as I do pretty much every day, and I hear that buzz noise that mobile phones make next to electronic stuff. I'm sitting there checking my phone. Did I get a text? About the time I assure myself that my phone is in a pure state of noiseless bliss, the commentator comes on and asks if any one being interviewed has a mobile phone in their pocket. So, It isn't just me. It ended up being one of the "[former?] professional broadcast journalist".
The funny thing is, you hear that all the time now. It seems like every interview that isn't a planned press conference, you hear phones ringing in the background and hear that annoying buzzing over the line running over someone's voice. It is highly distracting. I'm afraid it is a fact of our current times.

Geek Poetry

cathat2t If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort, and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report. If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash! If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall. And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss, so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse; then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang. When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk, and the macro code instructions is causing unnecessary risk, then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM, and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom! Well, that certainly clears things up for me. How about you? cat seuss

Nat sent me this one.

Jen's News Letter

Come on out to Clark's downtown on Sunday, July 24,  for an afternoon of casual music listening and hanging out.  I'll be on the Clark's stage at 4:00pm for a set and then we can hang out and listen to my good friend and talented colleague, Kat Rose who will play at 6:00pm.  Clark's is an intimate little place on 314 Main Street.  It's right next door to Dean's Credit Clothing. I'll also be sharing the stage with a couple of my favorite musician friends at one of my favorite bars, JP Hops House, on Friday, July 29.  Steve Brooks is a super-talented songwriter from Austin, TX, and Saylor White has had songs recorded by Lyle Lovett.  We start at 9:30 pm, $6 cover.  www.JPHopsHouse.com. If you haven't heard already, I'm involved in starting up a new and exciting studio called The Sound Sculptors.  We're having a huge kick-off pool party, BBQ, open mic, and free recording for all performers.   For more info, click www.TheSoundSculptors.com. Hope to see you soon Jen www.JenRathbun.com

Sounds like a lot of fun to me.

Harry Potter
Nat and I showed up at a book store last night just for the heck of it. It turned out to be the moment that the new Harry Potter book was released. Needless to say, I'm reading Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince as I type. That is quite a feat, no?

Rain
I like the rain. This morning it rained on the walk in. It was a good rain though. It is the middle of Summer so the water drops are cool. I like watching the water drops hit the street and puddles in the sideways light from headlights as they pass. I like watching the ripples in the water that runs along the sides of the streets. I like the sounds that the drops make hitting my poncho. I like the fact that Mankind cannot control the weather yet. (Or do we?)

Pathetic
Sometimes I'm pathetic. I had an offer of a free lunch the other day. Some salesman wanted to give a pitch to some of my company's folks and I was invited. For the price of a five minute lecture on the products, I get a free lunch. Do you know why I didn't go? I felt sorry for the salesman because I knew I had absolutely no intention of ever buying or even promoting the products. I didn't want to waist the other company's money. Sometimes I make my self sick.

Batman Begins
We went and saw Batman Begins Wednesday night at, of course, the Alamo Draft House. Elle had just left that afternoon and Nat missed her terribly. It was kind of too bad though. I was sleepy and felt edgy for some reason. I had a hard time focusing on the movie. There for, I feel I have no right to say much about it. We are probably headed back tonight. I had a great night's sleep to thunder and lightning last night. Hopefully, whatever we see tonight will have a better chance of entering my memory.

Car Chase Survey

Steve McQueen's car chase scene in the 1968 movie "Bullitt" still ranks as the most popular car chase scene in Hollywood history, according to a survey. CNN

Top ten car chases.
01) Bullitt

I agree.

02) The 2000 remake of the movie Gone in 60 Seconds,

No, I do not agree. It just didn't do it for me.

03) Smokey and the Bandit

Not even close.

04) The Blues Brothers

Will always hold a special place in my heart for some reason.

05) the original 1974 version of Gone in 60 Seconds

Because it was original, I agree.

06) The French Connection

Not really

07) Ronin

This one should have been higher in my opinion.

08) Vanishing Point

I haven't seen it.

09) the recent remake of The Italian Job

No, because it was unoriginal.

10) The Fast and Furious

Should not have been on the list.

Didn't make it in the top ten.
The Bourne Supremacy

Nice crashes, but not crunchy enough.

The Matrix Reloaded

Yes, it was cool, but it was just to contrived. It looked fake. It just didn't have that "this could happen to me" kind of feel.

Days of Thunder

The car chase sucked in my book. The car chase in Roger Rabbit should have been higher than this one.

Golf
I listen to the BBC at work. They had some golf tour on today. I hate golf. I've spoken with a guy who played golf for a living and he hated watching golf on TV. I can't imagine listening to it for fun. They would give some commentary on people playing live and then play fifteen minutes of interviews and people griping about rules or other players. It just sounds annoying to me. No thanks.