You know it's gonna be a long day at the old Tech Support line when the day starts like this!Caller: Hi, our printer is not working.Customer Service: What seems to be the problem?Caller: Umm, the mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don't have a mouse.
Caller: Mmmmmmmmmm? Really? I'll send you a picture.
Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:44:14 +0000
It's supposed to be warm this weekend, so I'm fixing to hike the 10 mile Three Lakes Trail in Morgan Monroe State Forest. Any takers interested in joining me?Never mind, looks like I'll be cooking down maple sap into syrup this weekend.
Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:08:59 +0000
Oof! The Secret Service has systems running at "
six sixes" of uptime, in a world where "five nines" is the goal. That'd be 99.999% uptime.
Suddenly I don't feel bad about a the POS web & database servers I work on.
In an alternate universe I was on a career path to be working in the fraud section of the Secret Service... I have chosen wisely.
Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:15:47 +0000
<3 World Rally Championship.
Rally Sweden is already over, but I've managed to stay ignorant of the results. The race is air on HD Theater for the next two days. Come on Mikko Hirvonen and Ford!
The punishing, constantly changing terrain, and requirement to mechanically get your car out of jams makes it the last motorsport resembling the golden age of racing.
Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:04:38 +0000
Okay, time for a math joke. I can't take credit for it, but it's hilarious. I'm reading a book on the history of math and I got to the section about Pythagoras
Apparently there isn't much know about the actual man, but there is some known about the cult surrounding him. Yes, Pythagoreanism was a religion based on math. Now, the core to this religion was the belief that everything could be explained or based on numbers. A prime example would be the number 10. An example being, 9 (known) heavenly bodies plus the anti-earth that was perpetually behind the sun. 1 is the prime number, 2 is the female, 3 is the male, and 4 is the elements (air, fire, earth, water). 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
Anyways, here's the funny thing. One of the members, Hippasus, proved or discover the existence of irrational numbers (think square root of 2). This pissed off the cult members since it basically debunked the whole religion which was based on the assumption that everything could be explained with rational numbers. The story goes that Hippasus revealed this while they were crossing a body of water. They threw him overboard and he drowned, making him one of the many victims to the irrationality of religion...
bah-dum ching!!
Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:18:39 +0000
I've blown past my February goal weight of 175, my fighting weight, and am starting to pack on some muscle. I'm also starting to take on some tone above the waist, which hasn't been the case since... 2001?
I wouldn't recommend the Sorrow, Regret,
Stress, and Atonement diet to everyone, but it's working for me.
Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:24:35 +0000
Despite my best intentions, I've not posted much to this blog this year. Been too busy working and putting in the hours. I've learned a lot, but haven't had time to write up much of use.
One thing that I have been good about doing is running. I made the decision at the end of last year to get a lot more exercise on a much more consistent basis this year. So far, I've been pretty good about keeping it up. I'm slowly building my distance and my stamina. Since January 1, I've run over 30 miles. I'm still working on getting up to the 5K distance and then I'll work on my speed. If I can keep this up I'll find a race to enter sometime in late spring or early summer, just to see how I do.
One thing that I have learned this year is that having the correct music to listen to when running makes a huge difference. In the past I just played whatever was on my iPod. That doesn't work very well, 'cause the beats change with each song, etc. Now I subscribe to a few different pod casts specifically designed for exercise. These pod casts tell you exactly how many beats per minute (BPM) they use. If you're in the mood for a slow run, pick a slow BPM. Wanna really push yourself? Chose a 175 BPM podcast.
My current favorite thing to run to is DJ Steve Boyett's
PodRunner pod cast. He's drops a new mix every week, and has been doing so for several years, so you never have to listen to the same one over and over (unless you want). He also has a non-running music pod cast that I like.
GroovelectricIf you're looking for musical motivation out, give DJ Steveboy a try.
Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:36:43 +0000
The app I'm working on, a friggin' payroll app, is a God damned disaster area. The man who wrote it had to be both a moron and in a hurry, individually neither quite explains it.
It's astonishing, all the data has to go through two levels of checks, and rather than include the refinements from the first level of checks with the data that gets copied off to the second level all that information is discarded, only to be calculated again in the exact same way for the second level. That wouldn't be so bad, that could just be handled by one function, but no it's calculated using two different code bases.
It's un-fucking-real. I am not exactly a hot-shot programmer, but even I feel comfortable calling this thing simply horrific.
I sometimes feel like I'm in over my head, this cat must have simply found drowning pleasant.
Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:59:46 +0000
I don't know what they were spraying around the E-2 building today, but I assume it was nerve gas. I went home with the worst headache I've ever had in my life at about 2:30 this afternoon.
It was so bad, in fact, that I may be immortal, now. You've seen The Highlander, right? And you've seen how when an immortal "dies" the first time they wake-up with a loud *gasp*? I just did that when I awoke a few minutes ago.
Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:43:54 +0000
Woo. After a couple of weeks of tweaking I finally sorted out the overscan issue with my new ITX media box, Agis. That was a pain, but it'll be worth it. 2TB's of space, a quiet drive, and all the grunt needed to transcode files and host them on my network. I hadn't realized how frustrated I'd been with the whole thing, that is until my mood greatly improved upon its completion. Ubuntu is great, but if you're thinking of taking the plunge I wouldn't recommend Karmic... go with the most recent Long Term Support.
Tapped a couple of maple trees today, if the weather cooperates I'll be cooking down some syrup in a couple of weeks.
There's a cheap cabin, and a lotta land to go with it down south I'm fixing to look at. It may be too far off to live in, won't know until I look; but it'd make a great GTFO Town place. A hidey hole, a project palace.
There's a lot of other business shakin, but I'm too scatterbrained to detail them.
I feel certain there is a hike on the menu tomorrow, though.
Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:49:17 +0000
I have never been this relieved to be 1/4 done with a project. Turning law, written the impossible goal of
fairness, into code is a total bitch.
This only serves to cement my view that law can only be equal, never fair.
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:33:09 +0000
I could rewrite this piece of shit application faster than I can add this feature to it, if only that were an option.
Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:21:41 +0000
I heard on the radio Monday afternoon the WWE was in town -- so the next night Meg and I rolled down to the ticket office, about 15 minutes after the show was supposed to start...and big man Ruth said, "I want two of your finest seats for tonights festivities." And she replied that she had two seats in the fourth row.
Well, we get in and the first two rows are taken up by the announcers, and so we are really in the second row. Right behind the announcers.
Let me say this, I have been to a few shows. And this was one of the best -- if not the best. Big sweaty men, chicks in capes, fireworks and explosions all feet from my face. You could feel the heat off the Undertaker's fireballs. But what makes it really fun is the crowd. They are all screaming, and you are encouraged to scream whatever you want. Meg and I got on the Jumbotron (and hopefully tv) chanting "You Suck" with thousands of people.
Ridiculous. Awesome. And hopefully you can see me on Friday Night Smackdown this Friday night. I am right behind the announcers in the second row with a Grey Striped shirt. Meg is next to me in black, and enjoying it. Francis told me that he would Tivo and video capture it for me, since I don't know how. Hopefully this can by my Christmas card this year.
--Ruth--
P.S. -- I did also find it really funny that during the commericals, they would show vidoes on the big screen, and one was pics of the wrestlers with the troops. And then they had a few quick shots of George W...since this is generally a redneck crowd, I said nothing. But being a Rose City crowd, everyone boo'ed. It was glorious.
Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:46:43 +0000
Since there isn't much going on in the world of Adam, let's have fun with japanese. What's more fun that talking about bodily functions in a foreign language?
Let's start with the basics. We have polite terms for going to the bathroom and more medical type. Let's start with urinate and deficate, just cause we can. In japanese, it's shouben (if you want to sound more 'ghetto' pronounce it shounben [shown-ben]) and daiben (dah-ee-ben) respectively. What's great about these is that they are literally translated as small excretion and big excretion, very to-the-point, yeah?
There's a few other ways to express the desire in a more colloquial way. oshikko for numero uno and for dous you have unchi and unko. Now there isn't anything particularly different between unchi and unko but it's a running joke between some japanese friends that unchi is softer than unko... :)
Now, in english, you would say, 'I need to go pee.' but in japanese you would say, 'I
want to go pee.' so the phrase would be, "oshikko shitai" Of course, if you want to be polite you could say "otearai wa doko desu ka?" (where's the washroom?) That's just too complicated
Constipation? Benpi. There's that 'ben' again, which means excretion. what's the pi mean you say? Directly translated, it is secret, hidden, or enshrined. So perhaps the reason you can't poo is because your excretions have been enshrined.... in your ass. :)
Let's move on to something else that can escape from you rear-end. If you are farting, you'll most likely say onara which you shouldn't get confused with onaru (that the verb for masterbate) so be careful. Since onara is a noun, you'll need to verb-ify it with a 'do' verb, onara o suru. Of course, if you are using a more formal term, 'he' (pronounced heh) you'll have to use a different verb. he o koku. Which i believe can be tranlated as pass wind or gas.
Recap of terms you can now use:
Onara shita! = I farted.
benpi desu. = I'm constipated.
oshikko shitai = I want to pee.
unko shatai! yabai, yabai! unko desou! = I want to poo. not good, oh no. I think it's coming out.
and a bonus for you:
A: Sukkiri shita? = Did it come out shapely and neat?
B: zenzen. Geri datta... = not at all. It was diarrhea...
Hope you enjoyed todays lesson. Next time, we'll talk about naughty bits! ^_^
Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:32:06 +0000
So I've made a few important changes to how PIE splits shifts depending on when they cross certain time boundaries. I've tested it rigorously on the dev server, and placed it into production. Now I just have to watch and wait to verify that it works, but the little bastards who use it keep forgetting to clock out. Meaning they never trigger the damn changes! Argh!
So I'm left here, holding my breath, until the rug rats remember to clock out, or until noon tomorrow when a similar shift ends.
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:07:01 +0000
So, over the years I've gotten a lot of grief for enjoying Sonic games. I played the genesis sonics and apparently that's okay, but Sonic Adventure? No, apparently that's synonymous with liking child molestation... For the record, i don't. Technically, Tails is an adult by now anyways. He was 8 when he was introduced in '92 so that makes him 26. Also, Sonic was 15 at the time, so their relationship is within social norms.
Anyways, i haven't really picked up a sonic game with any gusto since Sonic Adventure 2. Sega kinda got all weird and kept trying to put Sonic where he doesn't really belong. RPG type settings and what not. Unlike Mario, the 3D realm was not kind to Sonic. Sonic Rush for the DS was a breath of fresh air so I think Sega might be waking up from it's drug induced stupor. Now, I know for sure...
Sonic 4!!
Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:51:32 +0000
So I may have mentioned that my mom went under the knife this week(nothing too serious if you weren't in the loop). What I may not have mentioned is that she'll be convalescing under my care. Can you imagine a worse fate?
To tend to people you need two things:
- Empathy - Which I've never had
- Compassion - What little I ever possessed has drained out of me over the last 4-5 years.
This should be amusing.
Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:19:37 +0000
So i was at the Fiddler's Hearth the other night. If you didn't know, it's an Irish pub, downtown South Bend. Anyways, i was there with a few friends and we ordered some food and drink and it was merry.
One thing that did catch my eye was an item in the dessert section of the menu. It was called the Tipsy Laird. I can't recall exactly what was in it, but it did say that it was not for children.
This of course gave me a lovely mental image of zenmasterzeno getting drunk and making lewd comments and/or being obscene. Definitely not for children. Only wish i would have taken a picture...
Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:18:22 +0000
Backing up an ailing 1TB device is an incredibly slow, tedious process.
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:45:26 +0000
Ok I may have a new favorite LRR video, it reminds me of BKN. Nate, Adam, and no doubt even Bob(if he's still alive) can confirm that I have gone on actual tirades like this. Since it reminds me of BKN it is clearly NSFW, but I give unto you
Son of a Bitch.
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:59:32 +0000
So, I purchased some supplies from a tactical wholesaler online. When my shiny new equipment arrived there was a promotional ballpoint pen and two of these:
Yeah, that's a camouflaged dinner mint. I mean, it makes perfect sense, right? I aim to secret these all about my apartment, for any time I need to covertly freshen my breath.
Even counting stuff from the net bubble days, this still goes down as the weirdest throw-in I've gotten with a package.
Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:56:12 +0000
On Monday I was tidying up my apartment when I found an old notebook. It was filled with my best cursive, and full of overwrought text about women that haven't been in my life in years. I figure everyone has something embarrassing like this lying around, but I'm guessing they don't have what filled the pages between the drivel... Odes to actual pens. From the Bic Roundstick, to the flowing Pilot G2, to my most beloved Sanford Papermate Write Bros.
I think this is hilarious. For someone who doesn't spend a lot of time with paper I certainly have a misplaced love for pens.
Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:39:55 +0000
I saw Avatar 3D over the weekend and then of course did a big of a follow up on the internet so I know a bit more than the usual person so i can sound smart (or at least non-uninformed) when talking about it since everyone is going to see it.
James Cameron made the right move by putting it off till the technology was good enough to do it. The visuals are amazing and probably the best reason to go see it. It definitely would have flopped if it would have came out in '99... Fox got a bit stingy on the framerate, 24 fps, and Cameron said he wanted it higher to reduce the strobing effect that happens with 3D. It was right on the money with that one since there was some strobing but it didn't deter too much from the experience. The story is "Poccahantis in Space" or "Dances with Wolves in Space" (but with a happier ending) but I enjoyed it.
Fun fact: Wes Studi who plays the chief of the Na'vi tribe was also in Dances with Wolves. Shocking, i know.
They used a new kind of motion capture for the facial expressions too. It makes the emotions and expressions a lot more natural but since the Na'vi are blue and a bit feline, the "uncanny valley" effect only shows up every once and awhile.
All in all, i'm excited to see what they do with it in the sequel and it's nice to see a sci-fi film reach a broad audience. That probably hasn't happened on this kind of scale since Star Wars.
Also, who wouldn't like to watch mechs battling aliens? Plus Ripley's back! Not really, but Weaver's character has the same kind of attitude.
Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:11:46 +0000
All the special radio broadcasts for MLK day have reminded me of something really important: I still sincerely despise choral music.
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:32:03 +0000
I spend a lot of time at work with multiple SSH sessions open on my desktop. Unfortunately, I have to use a Windows client as my primary workstation. For years, I've been using
PuTTY as my primary SSH client. I really like PuTTY because it works better than anything else I've ever used, and it's free. I only have two complaints about the software.
- No tabbed interface.
- You have to reopen putty every time you want to connect to a different saved session.
Fortunately, someone else was just as irritated by these two shortcomings and a WHOLE lot more talented than I. I don't know the name of the person who wrote it, but
PuTTY Connection Manager is pretty darned cool!
PCM is effectively a wrapper program or client add-in that gives you a tabbed interface, the ability to manage your PuTTY connections in a database, send the same command to multiple connections and a host of other things. Heck, it even lets you see all of your saved PuTTY connections in a convenient side bar view so you don't have to reopen PuTTY every time you want to make a connection. While the documentation is a bit lacking, the application is pretty easy to figure out.
If you spend a lot of time working in PuTTY sessions I highly recommend you check out PCM.
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:26:33 +0000
Low Gap Trail is supposedly one of the gems of the Morgan Monroe State Forest, but today it was really just a 12 mile slog through Indiana clay mud. It might even be really pretty; but I wouldn't know, I was watching where my feet went most of the time.
I've been flirting with the Tecumseh Trail, MMSF to HNF in Lawrence Co, for a while now. A few more tough hikes like this one and I'll be quite ready for our hot date in May.
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:37:44 +0000
I have a knife I use exclusively for killing singing clergymen. I call it the decator.
Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:04:11 +0000
I just heard a pounding noise from the other room. Like a good mother, rather than going to look, I yelled, "What are you doing?"
Keira yelled back, "Nothing."
"It doesn't sound like nothing."
"Well, we aren't doing anything to break the house."
"Okay. Well, don't break each other either."
"Okay. We won't."
Need parenting lessons? I offer them for a small fee...
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:13:50 +0000
They are supposed to be slippers, so they are warm! The hard soles tell me I can wear them wherever I want!
On clearance at Target for $11.88. I love you, Target!
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:10:23 +0000
Thanks for the inspiration,
Sarcastic Mom!
Keira made crowns for us. They were the inverse cut-out from her construction paper when she made butterflies for us.
What do the children of a professional educator do during their free time? I would like to note that both of those DSs
are were at one time mine, and YES, the boy is playing the pink one...
Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:57:47 +0000
The Gingerbread House THIS week.
We left the dogs alone with it for too long!
Lego Rock Band!
Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:55:16 +0000
In an attempt to SLOW DOWN and remember what life is all about, I'm joining
Sarcastic Mom's Weekly Winners photo gallery. I really enjoy writing in my blog, and I really enjoy taking pictures, but when I have a minute to sit down, I think of it as more of a chore than a hobby. I don't want it to be that way!
Here are my weekly winners:
The first day of Christmas break.
We made the Gingerbread House on the second day of break!
Decorating cookies for Santa. Everyone except for Keira gave up after about 3 cookies. She stayed at the counter by herself for about an hour, making sure every one of them was perfect.
Keira in her new Snuggie!
Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:55:16 +0000
I have recently finished reading
Atonement by Ian McEwan. Like most books I read, I tried not to find out anything about the plot or characters before reading it, which was great in this case, but it really through me for a loop when I found out the reason for the title. I hadn't expected Briony to be the one atoning. I have been digesting the story for a few days, trying to figure out how to summarize it. The plot is somewhat simple, but it seems complex when I try to put it into words!
After finishing the book, I watched the movie. While the movie follows the book almost exactly, I enjoyed the book much more. The book allows the reader to know the thoughts and feelings of the characters, which is lost in the movie. I LOVED Briony (what a fantastic name!) in the book; I didn't really connect with her on the screen. I didn't really feel a connection with any of the characters in the movie. From reading the novel, I knew the history of Robbie and Cecilia's lives, which made their falling in love more realistic and believable in the movie.
The language Ian McEwan uses in the book is beautiful; he is so descriptive and eloquent. It would take me forever to write such "pretty" sentences! Here's one of my favs:
"Briony resisted because she wanted to chase in solitude the faint thrill of possibility she had felt before, the elusive excitement at a prospect she was coming close to defining, at least emotionally." (chapter 3)
Here is what I would've written: "She didn't do it because she was afraid of the truth."
Talk about eloquence! Maybe Ian writes a blog. We would all be better for reading that one!
So, anyway, I enjoyed the movie, but it was mainly because I had already read the book. I have to wonder if I would have liked the movie better if I hadn't read the book, but I kinda feel like I wouldn't have liked the movie at all...
Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:49:49 +0000
Facebook is a creepy place. There's been a sudden burst of exes and old flames looking me up. I don't particularly like my exes in my present. I much prefer thinking about them from time to time, remembering the good days. It's like a cool evening breeze after a hot day. You can savor thoughts and extrapolations of their life trajectories after your split. It leaves a better taste in your mouth than knowing she's a pothead, or
she's a multi-cat spinster.
Familiarity breeds contempt, because knowing is the death of romance. Complete understanding of a subject or a person drains all passion. You can't love what you grok.
P.S.
I was hoping to find a synonym for grok, but nothing else really worked.
Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:34:09 +0000
So, just got back from japan yesterday. It was as expected. Lots of food (Ramen, omu-raisu, suki-yaki, a shitload of raw fish, soba, makizushi, etc.) and boozes (sake, beer, and a smattering of mixed type things). Saw the sites and experienced a little more of the culture which i love like a fanboy.
New year's day? It's basically black friday, shoppingasm. You also go to the temple and find out if you'll have good luck or bad luck for the year. There's verying degrees to your luck. Mine's going to be above average apparently.
Also did the public bath and onsen thing, so lots of japanese penises and adding about 60 or so people to the "seen my penis" column. Largest demographic that's seen my penis? Japanese men. Kinda sad to think that it's always going to be the top spot unless i become a flasher.
Went to the children's science museum where there was a robot exibit for a short time. I saw a Asimo demonstration. It's a lot shorter than i imagined but never the less very cool. The fluidity and balance it has is quite amazing. It kicked a couple of soccer balls into a goal, danced, carried a tray and set it on a table and demonstrated that it could search a room for an object. Very cool.
Another robot that was very interesting was one that did face recognition. It had two lenses in each eye, a wide angle and narrow. it would flick its eyes around and look you straight in the face no matter where you went. The eyes would flick to your position and then the head would follow almost human. again, very cool. Over all, the japanese obession with robots is a good time.
Lots of pictures but need a bit a time to sift through them, so until then i leave you with this video. Question: How far do different tires fly when sent off a ski jump? F-1? A dumptruck tire? Let's find out.
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:12:58 +0000
Well, I think Skyla is still in heat, but Dash has lost interest in her. Whoo hoo! No more whining and scratching at the door to get to her!
The weird part of this story is that Dash still feels amorous, but now it is directed towards Charlie. Charlie is our old, fat, almost crippled, black lab. He has been neutered.
Whenever Dash gets the chance, he is trying to cuddle and lick Charlie's face and ears! It is as if Dash is trying to woo him!
Even more disturbing, I think Sky is still in heat because she keeps...uh...strutting her stuff in Charlie's face.
Charlie has gone from the lump that occupies space to the mac-daddy of our doggy population! Unfortunately for Charlie, he is not enjoying his new status quo. The annoyed look on his face says he misses his alone-time.
Poor Charlie! Hopefully soon the raging hormones will settle down and he can have some peace!
-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:47:18 +0000
It is currently mating season in our house, and Josh and I are trying desperately to make sure no puppies get made!
Last Christmas, we inherited Skyla from our neighbor. He couldn't take care of her, and we seem to attract dogs, so Skyla joined our family.
Unfortunately, Skyla had not yet been spade when she came over. The main problem with this is that Dash has not yet been neutered either. Normally, it isn't a problem-neither one is too randy; however, this is not currently the case.
Skyla is in heat, and Dash is more desperate than (insert witty metaphor here-I can't think of one).
We have had to keep Dash in his cage all day and all night. When we let him out to drink and go outside, he goes berserk: chasing, humping, licking, chasing. When he is in his cage, he cries, whines, barks, digs. I don't think he sleeps even. If he does, I'm certain he is dreaming of Skyla!
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:37:22 +0000
The ampersand, "
&", is a highly stylized merger of the letters "E" and "T". Et, being Latin for "and". The symbol & actually comes from Latin shorthand, and has been in use in the West ever since.
Back in the day when penmanship was diligently taught the ampersand appeared at the end of the alphabet, and took on the meaning of posterior/hindquarters. This may be why when people want to censor text, but still convey low language, they use a string of characters to do so. EG. "Get of my lawn, you &%#@ kids!"
Fun fact: Shorthand characters in Latin are called
Ligatures, and that pretty well ties things up.
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:53:40 +0000
Weird etymology lesson of the day:
If you have a good sense of humor, you should be a physician. Traditionally humor refers to the ancient understanding of four bodily fluids: Blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy or black bile. Any imbalance in these fluids was thought to be the cause of ailments. In fact, a few fluids are still referred to as 'humors'. The juice in your eyeball for one, it's the vitreous humor.
Humor is only found in the modern sense from the eighteenth century on.
The real gem of all this is a table from HW Fowler's "Modern English Usage", reproduced on
Etymonline.
| device | HUMOR | WIT | SATIRE | SARCASM | INVECTIVE | IRONY | CYNICISM | SARDONIC |
| motive/aim | discovery | throwing light | amendment | inflicting pain | discredit | exclusiveness | self-justification | self-relief |
| province | human nature | words & ideas | morals & manners | faults & foibles | misconduct | statement of facts | morals | adversity |
| method/means | observation | surprise | accentuation | inversion | direct statement | mystification | exposure of nakedness | pessimism |
| audience | the sympathetic | the intelligent | the self-satisfied | victim & bystander | the public | an inner circle | the respectable | the self |
Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:56:48 +0000
Weird etymology lesson of the day:
Cacophony is a most impolite word. It comes to english from the greek root
kakos, meaning bad/evil. Which in turn hails from the proto-indo european
kakka, "to defecate".
Long before the french took to uttering
merd the gauls were saying
cac. Cacophony most directly means the sound of shit.
Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:06:52 +0000
Tomorrow is the start of a new decade, as well as a new year. I'm not making any resolutions, but I am going to work on a few things. One of those things I'm going to work on is using this blog more effectively as a learning tool.
Say what?
Yeah, a learning tool.
I'm a big believer in the "see one, do one, teach one method" of learning. With my current role at work, I have to learn a lot of new stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not the best at documenting what I've learned, so when I go back to try and do the same thing again 6 months later I have to relearn it. If I blog about the stuff I'm learning, including writing instructions on how to do it, maybe I will cement the knowledge a bit more. Maybe someone else will find my posts useful as well?
Anyway... Off to a new start and we'll see how this new effort works out.
Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:34:15 +0000
Weird etymology lesson of the day:
The root of
disseminate is semen. I defy you to not think of that the next time you are
spreading the word.
Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:43:09 +0000
Two things.
First: Auto Tech, the shop just down the hill from my apartment, was able to replace my Buick's belt first thing today. It seems none the worse for the wear. The price wasn't bad, either.
Second: The UITS Christmas card is a painted winter scene of our new data center. The new center is a really big deal to us at UITS, but is also a very functional building. It's mostly a subterranean cube with steam billowing out of its massive cooling equipment. It's nice of them to think of us, and pick a scene that matters to us as members of UITS, but it still just kind of looks like a bunker in the snow.
I will now finish the workday, and try to complete yesterday's errands tonight.
Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:34:56 +0000
I was starting to wonder where my Season's Beatings were this year, but don't worry I found it.
I've just eased onto 37 heading up to Indy when I lose my power steering and my voltmeter starts to dip. I didn't know for sure what was up, but I knew I was on battery power for my limp back home.
So, my serpentine belt is completely shredded. Awesome. Here's hoping I didn't wreck anything else nursing the car back.
Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:30:59 +0000
The squat rack and I are fighting... he's winning. My legs are so sore that when I perambulate I don't so much walk as just fall toward a destination.
Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:58:45 +0000
So, working on this PIE export project I had to wade into the To-Do section to write documentation. I now recall why I never go rooting around in there. When my predecessor wrote it he seriously jacked-up all the editing tools.
This section is so messed up it doesn't just make me angry, it makes me fucking furious. This cat messed things up this badly, and then moved on up in the organization. And people still love the guy.
So, I've just got to go through and fix it all up, probably rewrite it from scratch. This adds days to something I could have been done with already, and no one will ever appreciate it because it'll have always "just works" for them.
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:03:31 +0000
Until about 20 minutes ago I thought it was Wednesday. This week just got a lot longer.
Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:44:56 +0000
I went hiking at Leonard Springs, a park just outside of Bloomington. I'd never heard of it until yesterday, I wish I had sooner. It's gorgeous, and it'll be accessible in the winter. The springs actually fed the original reservoir, but went out of service in the 40's when Griffy Lake came around.
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:28:58 +0000
I just downloaded an app for my iPhone that let's me update from my phone.
Maybe that'll make me more motivated to blog. Let's see!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:31:10 +0000
Last night I had a relapse. Many of you know about my long struggle with my Food & Shelter addiction. Last night I caved, and went on a bender. I had the thickest pork chop I've ever seen along with green beans and a whole pot of mashed potatoes.
I spent the evening groaning, by turns in ecstasy and agony, from my carbohydrate and fat induced state.
Until I forget how to cook I'll remain powerless to overcome this disease.
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:03:32 +0000
Jason: Is it raining?
Matt: It is, but I have a hat; and you have a... a...
Jason: Hood?
Matt: I was going to say disdain for the physical world, but that's also true.
Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:44:00 +0000
Go grab your gym clothes, really, grab them. Get a great big lungful. Do they reek? Mine do, with the musky odor of success. Of getting off my ass and getting it done.
Since July I've dropped a stone, I'm well on my way for a second. And, though you'll never see them, my legs are quite nicely cut.
So, why the sudden fitness bug? That's easy. I watched the all around strongest man I've ever known, my father, lose a lengthy fight with cancer. Parts of him just wasted away until he was wheelchair bound, then bedridden, and then I watched him rattle his last uncomfortable breath. No matter how well you live Death is nipping at your heels, I just want to give the bastard a real fight when he makes himself known.
Here's to another five months of fighting.
Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:34:55 +0000
Drain Opener labels: Lyes, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:02:16 +0000
I bought a couch at Furniture Exchange today, which means I've got two recliners that could use a new home. Anybody need a Lay-Z-Boy, or even better two?
Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:16:28 +0000
So I caught an episode of Dollhouse that my DVR had trawled. Dollhouse isn't a show it's a SciFi refugee camp. A lot of BSG veterans, but now people from The Invisible Man(Vincent Ventresca) and the Terminator universe(Summer Glau) are bleeding in. I full well expect to see people from Andromeda before the season is out.
Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:17:45 +0000
So, i'm bored and i feel like imparting some useless, yet funny japanese!
The japanese language is funny because it has a word for almost anything, but usually it's only one word, so creatively expressing yourself usually falls flat. Instead, i find joy in the direct translations of some of these words.
For example, from watching anime a few of you might have picked up on the explicative, 'kuso'. It's translation is basically crap or shit depending on how vulgar you want to take it. The literal translation is 'animal droppings' so it could be interpreted as 'horseshit' if you so choose. This is just a bit of background before we get into the good stuff.
You know the dried crap you get in the corner of your eyes? What do you call them? Eye boogers? Eye crusties? Anyway you slice it, there isn't a specific word for it. In Japanese? Well, it's 'mekuso'. 'me' (pronounced may) translates directly as eye, so you could directly translate this into 'eye shit' or 'eye droppings' or maybe even 'eye feces'
Ah! But the fun doesn't stop. Japanese is quite practical and if it works for one thing, it can be used for similar things. There is also 'hanakuso' and 'mimikuso'
Let's look at 'hanakuso'. 'hana' means nose, so you get 'eye shit'. This is only used for boogers though. If you want to talk about snot, you must use 'hanamizu' or directly translated, 'nose water'.
So, that leaves us with 'mimikuso'. What other secretion do we have that comes from an orifice in the head? Why the ear! 'mimi' (pronounced me-me) means ear, so you also have 'ear shit'.
We'll save bodily functions from the lower half for another day...
So, there you have it! Aren't you glad you can talk about your eye crusties, boogers, snot and earwax?
Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:19:13 +0000
I was nearly late for my father's funeral at 10am... I'm just not a
mourning person. *rimshot*
Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:28:04 +0000
So, I had an awesome dream last night.
It started out with Jason, Nate, and I plus Matthew and some others. We were just shootin' the shit and playing around with a drum machine program. This is because i spend hours last night doing drum patterns for our songs, so drum beats were definitely on the brain.
It gets better though. Turns out Nate was a collector of old cars from the 20s and 30s. A Dusenburg, a Studebaker, and two others i can't remember. Needless to say, Jason and I got excited. I then proposed a plan where we don our suits, complete with fedoras, and head out in the Studebaker. Where would we be going? Why the South Side Soda shop in Goshen, IN for a bite to eat! Very enjoyable. Gotta keep it in the area, yeah?
Seriously don't know where that came from. I haven't thought about or discussed those cars in months, and only with Jason, so why now? Perhaps it's a sign.... Either Nate has to get a Studebaker or I need to got eat at the South Side Soda Shop. Wonder which one will come true first?
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:01:06 +0000
Sad news, folks. On Tuesday around 1:30pm I got a call that my father only had 12 to 24 hours left, so I rushed out to the house. Just before midnight he passed away.
For most of you this is probably the first you've heard of it. I'm sorry, I'm just awful personal about my personal life.
That marked the end of a long fight with cancer. One that started in the winter as small cell lung cancer, which we thought we might have licked by June. And it did get licked, but not before it had spread to his hip in an untreatable way. The last few months were a pretty rapid decline, but in that time he had the chance to put his affairs in order. Through the saint-like devotion of my mother and my sister he was able to spend his last days in his own home, which counts for more than you might think.
I've got a lot to say on the subject, but I haven't the heart to say it. I will say it's a long and unpleasant way to check out, so if someone you care about smokes, give `em shit every time the decide to pound a coffin nail.
Odds are I won't be at peak performance for the next little bit, so I don't particularly want your sympathies or condolences, your understanding will do quite nicely. Thanks.
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:08:10 +0000
PIE, you just made me literally HEADDESK. Well done.
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:24:27 +0000
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