Geekology for Grown-Ups

You all knew it would happen sooner or later...

2006-03-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

I'm moving my blog. Again.

Suprised you guys continue to put up with this crap , really...

http://blog.brettkelly.org/ (I just created this subdomain, so it's going to take a few hours for DNS to propagate, so if it doesn't work, try again in an hour).

You can temporarily access it using this link: http://brettkelly.org/blog/

Now, it's going to take me awhile to find a suitable theme and re-add the hojillion links i've got on the sidebars here, but Wordpress is badass enough to allow me to import all of my previous posts from this blog, so the transition should be smooth.

Thank you for your support

HURR

GOOOO

2006-03-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

GOOOO
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

Yep, still cute.

Emacs, oh how I love thee...

2006-03-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

Now, really, I swear I've got some actual content brewing in my head.

For now, I'll show you something that Vince blogged about : Playing Sudoku from within Emacs!

Here's a screen shot of my local Emacs (at work) and the major mode you'll need if you want to play.

Poker Woes...

2006-03-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Had a very good chance of making the final table in a No-Limit Hold'em tournament.

Then, this happened .

Frustrating, and I do think they made an incorrect call based on the amount I bet. But, hey, that's poker...

I'll post something soon, maybe...

2006-02-28T12:36:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of a Coworker

2006-02-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

True. Dat.

2006-02-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

I Thought You Weren't Political?

2006-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well, it's true, I'm really not. The reasons why are for another time in another post. But, I don't consider this action/feeling to be politically motivated. Read on...

You might've noticed the new white banner on the top right corner of the page. The ONE Campaign's purpose is to divert 1% of the US budget toward eliminating AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. I found one.org after reading Bono's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast (turns out he's not the super-inflammatory left-wing artist-turned-political-monday-morning-quarterback that I thought he was). In short, I found his talk to be inspiring. I read one.org and found that thought it was a hell of a plan. So, I'm onboard.

Not sure if it's the fact that I'm a new father (which I think is quite a heart-softener in itself) or what. But I'm saddened and a bit distressed by what I've read. These people are somebody's loved ones. And life is precious.

Go to One.org - read about the campaign, sign the declaration if you dig it.

Had an idea

2006-02-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting here and I come to the fairly obvious realization that I'm constantly learning new things. Be they work-related, marriage/fatherhood-related, or just completely unrelated to anything specifc, I'm learning.

So, I decided to start another blog called What I Learned Today. I'm going to try to post something every single day ("try" being the operative word there). It will be a running tally of all the new little nuggets that find their way into my thick head.

Anyway, first post is up (though, it deals with programming - you've been warned). Feedback welcome and appreciated, enjoy.

Dude, whatever...

2006-02-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

So, on a bit of a whim this evening last, I chumped out $26 for a domain and 6 months of hosting w/ godaddy.com. The domain is dudewhatever.org, and the main reason I got it was for someplace to store stuff online that offered a good amount of bandwidth for not much green.

Now, don't expect much in the way of actual content. I'll mostly just be dumping random crap up there and linking to it directly. There is a homepage up, but at the moment it just has links here and to my flickr area.

If I ever decide to start up some discussion site or something, it'd go there. Doubtful, though...

A little hack for all of you allofmp3.com users...

2006-01-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

If you buy music from allofmp3.com, you may have noticed that their mp3 and ogg files aren't tagged with the track number. This has annoyed me for months, so I wrote a program to fix this problem (for the mp3 side of it, anyway).

Here's how to use it:

Download ID3.py and FixAllofMp3Tracks.py from here
Buy some stuff from allofmp3.com
Download and install Python (if you haven't already)
Open up a console/command line (this has been tested in windows and os x, and I'm sure it'll work in Linux), and run this command:

python FixAllofMp3Tracks.py [dir with music in it]

The tracks you download from allofmp3.com have the track number in the filename, so it's just a matter of grabbing that value and adding it to the tag, which is just what this thing does. You can pass it a huge directory tree full of mp3 files and it will walk the whole thing, only fixing those songs that are missing the track number. Simple, but pretty cool (I think).

Anyway, hope somebody out there will be able to use this. If anybody has some suggestions for "features" or whatever, email me - but please know that this is just something I hacked out quick-n-dirty style, so it's not going to mature much past it's current state.

Enjoy.

More Blog Spam Fo Yo Ass

2006-01-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

Aaron made me do it... Another Meme...

Four jobs you have had in your life...
-Computer Programmer
-Barista
-Drone in a Guitar Factory
-Telemarketer

Four movies You Could Watch Over and Over...
-Moulin Rouge
-Fight Club
-LotR
-Some other movie

Four Places You Have Lived...
-Fullerton, CA (growing up)
-Fullerton, CA (first apartment)
-Fullerton, CA (current apartment)
-Brea, CA

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch...
-Law and Order (any of them except 'Criminal Intent')
-24
-Seinfeld
-House, M.D.

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation...
-Hawaii
-N'awlins, LA
-Las Vegas, NV
-Chicago, IL

Four Websites You Visit Daily...
-Reddit.com
-Gmail.com
-MSDN.Microsoft.com (for work-related documentation)
-flickr.com (so I can look at pictures of my family while I'm at work)

Four Of Your Favorite Foods...
-We'll just say 'junk food' and leave it at that...

Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now...
-Home with my family
-Diedrich's drinking coffee and reading/programming
-At my in-laws playing some freakin' PING PONG
-Um...

Four people you will tag...
Nobody - Let them copy this crap if they want to participate...

uh... PSYCHE.

2006-01-23T14:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm still at good ol' 3DB.

Friday afternoon, as I'm about to walk out the door forever, the Director of Development comes by my desk and asks to speak to me privately. We go to his office, and he asks me what it will take to keep me.

I was a bit floored that he waited until (literally) 20 minutes before I was going to leave forever, but I told him anyway. He said that he'd speak to the CFO and call me. So, I left.

A few minutes later, I'm at home and the phone rings. He tells me that they'd like to give me my developer job back and a pay increase (but a bit vague on the actual amount). I asked that he get an exact figure and call me back. 20 minutes later, he did.

It was more than DMG was going to pay me, but it was still a tough call.

Long story short, I decided to stay at 3 Day. The price was right, I was going to be programming full time again, and there were a myriad of less consequential factors.

So, that's that. I'm back in the dev office, headphones on, hacking away like before. Except now, I'm getting paid a buttload more money to do it :) Life is good.

Man, computer flashback...

2006-01-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

Found this site on reddit where you can play about 100 different Commodore 64 games online. Blue Max was a favorite of mine when I was just a lad...

This may predate alot of you, but I'm sure somebody out there will appreciate it.

Gmail to finally get a freakin' 'Delete' button

2006-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Happy to hear about this.

Story here.

Beware

2006-01-17T01:26:00.000-08:00

Comedy

2006-01-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

Seriously, the best blonde joke I've ever heard...

Mmm... MacBook...

2006-01-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Drooooool

Attention Non-Techie Windows Users

2006-01-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

Go here, download and install now. Seriously.

It's a "free collection of essential software" courtesy of our friends at Google (including free Antivirus from Symantec).

This is a good thing.

Change of Scenery

2006-01-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Well, my stint at 3 Day Blinds will soon be over. Today, I accepted a Programmer position with Database Marketing Group, which will begin on Monday, January 23.

I'll be using alot of the same tools at that new place that I did at 3db - C#, T-SQL primarily with a little bit of VB and classic ASP (for maintenance). DMG will give me a better salary and more opportunity for advancement. They were also very willing to work with my schedule, since some days I need to be home earlier to be with Holden while Joana is at work.

The commute is going to be a bit rougher (took me about 45 minutes to get there this morning from home), but I haven't really investigated the fastest route yet, so I'm hoping to get the drive down to under 30 minutes one way, on average.

I'm really excited about this. As my friend Darrell would always say, "you don't know how good you are at something until you've done it at two or more places." I totally agree.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted, yada yada yada...

Whew...

2006-01-03T00:08:00.000-08:00

The holidays are finally over. No more shopping, gifts, or get-togethers. Sadly, I'm relieved.

The first Christmas with Holden was a blast. But that's probably because he's just a blast to be around in general.

My lovely wife (with the help of some family) got me and iPod. It freakin' rules. I've been checking out several podcasts since I got it; once the list settles down a little, I'll post it.

Anyway, the grind officially resumes full swing tomorrow. Time to go fall asleep reading about python sockets. Or maybe I'll read Code Complete. or possibly Ware...

IronPython 1.0 Beta 1 Released

2006-01-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

The Python implementation for Microsoft's .NET platform has reached beta status. Creator Jim Hugunin (who is now employed by Microsoft) is hoping to keep the number of beta releases under 10. CPython compatible.

read more | digg story

Captain Drool says 'Merry Christmas!'

2005-12-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Captain Drool says 'Merry Christmas!'
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

Seriously, a very Merry Christmas to all (read: both) my readers.

Beware: I Slam Doors

2005-12-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

Dear Everybody for whom I've ever held the door open (that felt they needed to put their hand on the door as they passed through it):

You'd better thank your lucky stars that you put your hand there. If you hadn't, I would've waited until you were halfway through it before crushing you into the door frame and laughed all the way back to my desk as you lay there twitching.

Party Photos and BitMail

2005-12-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

Here are the pictures I promised from last night's gathering.

So, I started seriously pipe-dreaming about how cool my little Bittorrent/email app could be. I dreamt of platform independence, the ability to use any old BT client program, response emails, etc. Then I realized something:

Nobody is really going to use this, except for me.

Having made that brilliant discovery, I pretty much changed it so that it runs fine on my Mac. It'd run fine on other platforms with a few very small modifications, but I didn't bother abstracting that stuff out to make it easily configurable. Call me lazy, but I just got tired of it not being finished.

Now, if any of you blokes out there want to futz around with it, you can get the latest version by issuing this command (obviously, you'll need to install darcs - darwinports has it, if you're on a Mac):


darcs get http://inkedmn.homelinux.org:8000/repos/BitMail

Oh, and it's called BitMail now :)

Anyway, try it out and stuff.

My Sentiments, Exactly and a Life Update

2005-12-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

Oh, crap, I still have a blog...

Sorry to have neglected you, dear friends. I've been busy.

Colin Walters put up a blog post that perfectly describes my reasons for not hosting a web/mail server myself. Nutshell: Practicality overtakes Pride.

In other news...

Holden will be 5 months old on Christmas day. Pretty freakin' unbelievable. Before we know it he'll be running errands for us.

We're having a little holiday gathering at our place tonight, should be fun. I'll probably post some pictures later.

For no longer being a programmer at work, I sure am doing a hell of alot of programming these days. Currently working on a Webservice + socket client dealie to do credit card authorization and batch settlement for all of our stores and salespeople. Having a great time dealing with the technical dimwits at the credit card company. Here's a small sample of what the dialog has been like:

Me: I have a question about something in the Request Format spec.
Them: Read the spec.
Me: No, my question is regarding (one of the many ambiguous points contained in) the spec.
Them: Oh, ok. Read the spec.
Me: I hate you.
Them: Read the spec.

Now, after you've changed your shorts (since you obviously soiled them in laughter while reading that), please understand that while I was embelishing a bit, it really was about that ridiculous. They seem to be totally unwilling to work with me. I ask for examples, I get another copy of the spec emailed to me (oh, and this one is current, not the year-out-of-date one we gave you by mistake).

So, that part has sucked, but I'm actually learning quite a bit about the credit card stuff and have a whole new respect for the people who write this crap.

By for now.

Aw HELL Yeah

2005-12-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Just like Dad
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

Start 'em young, Ethel...

An Experiment (with special bonus GARBAGE SQL script)

2005-12-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Gonna try posting some source code that I wrote for a friend today. It's really horrible and I'm embarrased to be posting it.

Here goes:



SET nocount ON

declare @foo varchar(10)

SET @foo = 'abc123'

CREATE TABLE #tmpLetters (
      letter char)

INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('a')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('b')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('c')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('d')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('e')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('f')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('g')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('h')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('i')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('j')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('k')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('l')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('m')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('n')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('o')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('p')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('q')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('r')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('s')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('t')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('u')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('v')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('w')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('x')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('y')
INSERT INTO #tmpLetters (letter) values ('z')


declare lc cursor fast_forward
      FOR
              SELECT * FROM #tmpLetters

      declare @letter char
      declare @hasalpha bit
      SET @hasalpha = 0

      open lc

      fetch next FROM lc INTO @letter

      while @@fetch_status = 0
              begin
                      IF (CHARINDEX(@letter,@foo) <> 0)
                              begin
                                      SET @hasalpha = 1
                              end
              fetch next FROM lc INTO @letter
              end

close lc
deallocate lc

DROP TABLE #tmpLetters

IF @hasalpha = 1
      begin
              print 'Has Alpha Characters'
      end
else
      begin
              print 'No Alpha Characters'
      end

SET nocount off

Don't you feel just a little bit sick? A temp table AND a cursor to find out if a varchar contains alpha characters...

Vomjom claims to have a one-liner that will do this. I'll post it when he gives it to me (Mark: I think we have a peed-on doctor's note situation here...)

[EDIT]

And, we killed the fly with the shotgun once again. Here's the quick way:


declare @foo varchar(10)
set @foo = 'abc123'
IF(@foo LIKE '%[a-z]%')
  BEGIN
    print 'Has Alphas'
  END
ELSE
  BEGIN
    print 'No Alphas'
  END

Live and learn, I suppose...

Funnay

2005-12-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

For all you Lispers out there...

2005-11-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

I give you the cons cell t-shirt!

/me adds to Christmas list...

Dammit, Aaron...

2005-11-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

Fine, I'll do it...

W O U L D Y O U R A T H E R . . .
1) Pierce your nose or tongue: Nose
2) Be serious or be funny: seriously hilarious
3) Drink whole or skim milk: whole

A R E Y O U . . .
4) Simple or complicated: simple
5) Flowers or angels: no freakin' idea - neither
6) Grey or gray: Tomato
7) Color or black-and-white photos: sepia 4 life
8) Sunrise or sunset: sunset
9) M&Ms or Skittles: skittles
10) Rap or rock: neither, how about "good"?
11) Staying up late or waking up early: late
12) TV or radio: radio
13) Apples or oranges: apples

A N S W E R T R U T H F U L L Y . . .
14) Do you have a crush: Yes, but don't tell my wife...
15) Who is it: LOL IT'S MY WIFE GOT U

D O Y O U P R E F E R . .
16) Being hot or cold: cold
17) Tall or short people: smart people
18) Sun or moon: sun
19) Emeralds or rubies: k
20) Left or right: left
21) Having ten acquaintances or one best friend?: one best friend
22) Sun or rain: rain
23) Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream: vanilla

M I S C E L L A N E O U S . . .
24) What are your biggest fears in the world: Losing my family
25) Kids or no kids: kids++
26) Cat or dog: pet rock
27) Half empty or half full: gone, after I consume it
28) Mustard or ketchup: mustard
29) Hardcover books or soft cover books: hardcover
30) Newspaper or magazine? magazine
31) Sandals or sneakers: sneakers
32) Wonder or amazement: amazement
33) Red car or white car: bike
34) Happy and poor or sad and rich: happy and poor (like everybody else who's filled this out)
35) Singing or dancing: either one, as long as nobody is watching me...

A B O U T Y O U . . .
36) What time is it: 2:35pm
37) Number of siblings: 1
38) Birthdate: August 27, 1978
39) Height: 6’ 2”
40) Eye color: Green/Brown
41) Hair color: brown
42) Piercing(s): Nips

W H A T D O Y O U W A N T . . .
44) How many kids do you want: a freakin' pantload

W H I C H I S B E T T E R . . .
45) Two doors or four (on a car): 4
46) Coffee or ice cream: coffee
47) Bridges or tunnels: bridges

F A V O R I T E S . . .
48) Color of socks: white
49) Food: Pizza - Beautiful, Beautiful Pizza
50) Non-alcoholic drink: Mountain Freakin' Dew
51) Alcoholic drink: beer or scotch

I A M . . .
52) Wearing: T-shirt, brown pants, black hat
53) Listening to: Coalesce

C U R R E N T S. . .
54) Hairstyle: Covered by aforementioned hat
55) Annoyance: SQL servers that decide to crap out
56) Smell: Nothing at all.
57) Show: Tell
58) Book: Practical Common Lisp
59) Refreshment: Coke from lunch several hours ago
60) Thought: "Man, I can't wait to get the hell out of here..."

You talkin' to ME?

2005-11-27T23:43:00.000-08:00

You talkin' to ME?
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

Yep, still cute.

I wrote a program!

2005-11-24T02:38:00.000-08:00

So, many times throughout the day, somebody in #gh or something will link to a torrent they're downloading. Even if I have the time, I prefer not to download things onto my work computer just because it's not the time or the place. But, invariably, I'll forget all about it by the time I get home to my own computer. Well, those days are over...

Introducing a little hack called AutoAzureus. Basically, you email your .torrent files to a special email account and this little guy will poll the mailbox, download any messages, extract .torrent files, and feed them into Azureus. It's pretty much fully tested under Windows XP, and I still have to write (or, if somebody were feeling particularly adventurous, they could write) the *nix implementation.

Here's what you need to do:

Get an extra email account - Gmail is perfect for this, email me if you need an invite
Install Python 2.4
Install Azureus
Go through AA.conf and fill in the values appropriate to your environment.
Extract it and exeute

If Azureus isn't running it will be started. If it IS running, the .torrent file will be loaded into Azureus.

You can download this thing here...

Feedback LOVED.

I like this comment-based poll thing... here's another

2005-11-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Seinfeld or The Simpsons?

From what I can gather (from my friends and peers, at least), these are pretty much the big two as far as sitcoms. Sure, there's Friends, but that show (in my humble opinion) sucks.

Personally, I think Seinfeld is the clear choice. George Costanza is the single funniest character in the history of television.

(Honorable Mention goes to Family Guy, which is as good as The Simpsons, if you ask me).

How about you?

Comedy

2005-11-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

The Top 100 Things I'd Do if I Ever Became an Evil Overlord

New Crap

2005-11-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Some changes going on over there on the right side of this here blog...

- Added a link to Reddit, a really cool community-based news site (which was funded by Paul Graham's VC firm). Check it out.
- There's now an "Add to Google" button just below the profile box. Click it to add this site's feed to Google Reader or your personalized Google homepage (which you should *all* be using, by the way...).
- Removed some duplicate links and stuff.

Oh, job update...

New job is, well, disappointing (much like losing both arms in a car accident would be disappointing) . So, the job hunt is in full swing. Email me if you know anybody who wants a C#/Python/SQL person :)

I'm sure I'll post something of some substance this weekend sometime (wow, three "some"s in one sentence). Going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in a couple ours - should be a good time indeed.

Ok, enough is enough... A Poll.

2005-11-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

Now, I wasn't able to find a decent way of putting an actual poll up using some third party widget, so we're doing this the old-fashioned way. Comments.

Here's the question. To the right, you see the classic Mother's Animal Cookies. Everybody has had these at some point in their lives, so I should get buttloads of feedback on this.

Question:

Do the white ones taste different than the pink?

Joana and Chris both contend that, not only do they taste different, but they refuse to eat the pink ones because they think they taste so bad. I think this is bullcrap and they taste the same.

Thoughts?

Chad is frickin' back

2005-11-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, a little internet mini-craze spawned as a result of a guy named Chad Kultgen. His claim to fame was the hilarious (and creative) product reviews on Amazon. There were only a handful up when I found out about them, probably less than 10. Well, they were only up for a short time before Amazon took them down, presumably because of the language (which I wouldn't consider offensive, but I can see how some would). The whole thing appeared on and left my radar inside of a week, but I still think back on it fondly.

Fast-forward to today - I'm getting the Google cache of a web page I need, and I wonder to myself, "Maybe that Chad guy's reviews are still in Google someplace". So, I google his name and, lo and behold, I find this.

That's right, if Amazon wasn't going to let him post reviews, he was just going to post them elsewhere in all their frickin' badass glory.

Welcome back Chad.

I guess I shouln't be suprised...

2005-11-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

The vast majority of the crap on television is just that: crap. Aside from a handful of quality shows (The Simpsons, Family Guy and others), the airwaves are typically clogged up with garbage like Friends and whatever the WB happens to be showing. A little over two years ago, Fox shed upon an unsuspecting populace a glimmer of hope; hope that there were still people involved in entertainment who knew what comedy was about and could produce a quality program instead of the typical mindless drivel. They gave us Arrested Development.

The show, currently in it's third season, is amazing. Very dry, intelligent humor with no laugh track. The jokes come fast and furious, and one must frequently re-watch episodes to get the whole experience. It was a wonderful, wonderful time. But, then, just this morning, I got the horrible news...

Fox cancelled it. One of the last remaining, truly funny sitcoms gets the ax. Forget about the half-dozen pile-of-crap reality shows they air week after week (and yes, I understand that it's to a drooling, reality-crazed populace), that damn A.D. needs to go.

It's truly a sad day.

Freakin' Chris...

2005-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Fat props to the Doctor for taking first in a No-Limit Texas Hold'em Turbo event at Pokerroom.com.

Check out the tournament page here for more details.

So, yeah, big dumbass over here...

2005-11-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

Awhile back, I decided it'd be fun to dual-boot my work laptop with Ubuntu Linux. I had oodles of disk space and had wanted to see how my Dell Precision M60 would run Linux. So, I setup a 10gb parition to install onto, and off I went...

That was several months ago. I've probably booted Ubuntu 5 times since installing, so I decided that I could really use that space now. The bootloader I was using to boot between OS's was installed to the master boot record, so I didn't think it'd be a problem if I just deleted the partition under windows and recreated it. "I just won't select linux from the boot menu!", I thought, stupidly. So, I deleted the partition on Friday and have been hibernating my machine ever since. That is, until this afternoon when the battery ran out. I go to turn the beast back on, and am presented with a lovely error message from grub. As soon as I saw it, I realized that grub gets it's menu information (among, I'm sure, many other things) from the linux parition that I'd recently deleted. Re. tarded.

So, I'm thinking "no problem, I'll just get an XP cd and boot off of it, get to the recovery console, do a quick 'fdisk /mbr' and be done with it". Thankfully, I hit up Strike and Braden, both of which gave me the same suggestion: "dude, don't use fdisk - fixmbr is your friend".

Next, I fire up my lappy with the XP cd, it starts it's install fun and then prompts me to start the recovery console, which I do. It's at this moment that I realize that I don't know the local administrator password (I log onto the domain at work, never locally). Grand.

Strike points me to Nordahl's Password Reset CD, a nifty (linux-based) utility that will rewrite local passwords. Boot off of that, follow the prompts, and my administrator password is now "".

Next, I get back to the recovery console, enter my blank password, type "fixmbr" and reboot. Voila, there's my hibernated windows session.

The moral of the story is this - don't go mucking with your partitions unless you know what you're effing doing.

This is too cool

2005-11-06T01:08:00.000-08:00

Now, anybody who spends any amount of time on a computer has seen those little banners, like this:

I've always found these to be cool (only because they're simple and small). Now, if you're in agreement, you'll love this site (which, incidentally, is where I made this: )

So, go make a button/banner/thingie - and get creative. Expect several to appear here in the coming days...

First Dance

2005-11-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

First Dance
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

I've always liked this picture from our wedding, though the whole "washed-out" thing was an accident.

I've been uploading like crazy to flickr, but most of it has been older stuff. Still worth checking out, I think :)

Holden the Tomato

2005-11-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Holden the Tomato
Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

Rad

Testing Flickr's "Blog This" function :)

Pretty cute kid, no? I think we'll keep'im.

Soon enough...

2005-11-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

I shall drink thee. Oh, yes, I shall...

Image Hosting

2005-11-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

So, I'm pretty sure I've found a new home for all of my pictures over at Flickr. For a mere $25 per year, they'll host an unlimited number of images, unlimited bandwidth, free permanent archiving of all the images (in their original, high-resolution format), as well the ability to create all the "sets" (read: albums or collections) I want. It's a pretty sweet deal, and I'll be able to stop hosting them on my junky server at home.

They have several tools for uploading images, including one for OS X (which is rad). I'll be uploading them slowly but surely for the next few weeks, and my server will be up until they're completely transferred. Know that I do plan on paring down my massive archive of pictures, so some of the ones that don't get many hits will probably be omitted. Let me know if you don't see a picture you like, or something...

There are only a handful up there now, but you can view them here (don't forget to bookmark it).

One Small Victory

2005-11-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

A couple days ago, I beat my father-in-law at backgammon for the first time. It was a thing of beauty :)

The Magriel book has really helped my play. Highly recommended for
anybody looking to study the nuances of the game. (See link to the
right)

Sweet, mostly a dude

2005-11-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

You Are 60% Boyish and 40% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch.
Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes.
You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them.
You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

A Victim of Circumstance

2005-11-01T00:31:00.000-08:00

So, as of tomorrow, I'll no longer be a professional programmer.

Apparently, my employer feels the development department is a bit too big. So, tomorrow I'll be meeting with the CFO and she'll tell me that I'm being transferred to network operations, doing netadmin stuff along with second-level tech support. I'll (hopefully) be able to still do some light programming (as it relates to systems administration), but we'll see just how real of a possibility that is - let's just say I'm not getting my hopes up.

I'm annoyed about this on many levels, but I've been told (repeatedly) that it has nothing to do with my work or my ability to my job. It's just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Here's what really pisses me off about this:

I'm really the only person in development who's passionate about programming. I've been programming for far longer than I've been getting paid to program.
Part of the reason I was given for this move was the fact that I seem to glom onto network-related projects (since I have several years of network experience prior to becoming a developer). That's only because those were the projects I was given because I know about networking. So, my abilities in other areas made me the prime candidate for transfer. Lovely.

Now, like I said, it's not because I'm a bad programmer. I just haven't done much work on the super-visible projects.

Obviously, I'm glad they decided to transfer me instead of just cutting me loose (which would've been pretty freakin' horrible at this point in my life), but I still can't help but feel like my talents and energy won't be fully utilized in network ops.

That is all for now, more to come as the situation develops...

"We'll Talk Later"

2005-10-31T23:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but this is probably my least favorite thing to hear (along with it's cousins "we need to talk" and "I need to talk to you about something, but not now"). Don't tell me that. if you want to talk to me, then talk. Don't tell me I'm going to get scolded later but not tell me why. My Dad used to pull that shit -

Him: "You and I need to chat after dinner tonight"
Me: "OK, What about?"
Him: "We'll talk after dinner"

Clearly, he wanted to be able to blindside me. The less time I have to consider the issue that we'll be discussing, the more likely it is that I'll be unable to formulate a coherent response (at least, not one that he'd find satisfactory). It's actually a pretty lame tactic for having an advantage in what would certainly escalate into an argument. I also understand that they could avoid telling me to avoid having the conversation right then and there, but that's equally lame.

It all just seems very childish to me. If you want to talk, let's talk. But please don't give me this junior high teaser bullcrap.

Google Base Redux

2005-10-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well, the unveiling of Google Base appears imminent. Instead of 404 I used to get when browsing to the URL, I now get a login (which doesn't take me anywhere after signing in, but I don't get any errors).

Hopefully we'll see some action soon!

Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?

2005-10-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Being a Windows programmer by trade, I've been using Visual Studio .NET 2003 for quite some time. I don't really like it. I don't like how it tries to outsmart me. I'd rather use Emacs. The trouble is, unless I want to be a complete masochist, there are certain types of projects that almost require the use of this bloatfest. For example, if you want to write an XML Webservice in C#, you could do it using any old text editor. It'd take you about 10 times as long as if you'd used VS, but it can be done. If you asked me to do it right now, I don't know that I could finish it by this time next week. Visual Studio is very forgiving, but only of the programmers lack of knowledge of the language and framework (and any APIs) that he's using.

And then there's Intellisense. Now, I don't think Intellisense is a bad idea on it's own, but when a programmer depends on it (and just about all of the ones I work with do), you've got another situation where, if Visual Studio doesn't work, they can't either. Can't recall the method to generate XML from a DataSet? No problem, just type "myDataSet." and Visual Studio will give you all the methods, properties and (if applicable) events associated with that object. All you have to do is find the one that looks like it'll do the trick and try it. If your project won't build, you know you've chosen the wrong method. Hooray for encouraging programmer laziness (the bad kind).

This article explains (at length) pretty much exactly how I feel about this code-generating behemoth. Warning: Techie Jargon-a-go-go.

Google Base

2005-10-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

(I'm really in rapid-fire mode with these posts tonight. I digress...)

The tech community has been aflutter with talk of Google's next big thing - Google Base. The idea is that users will be able to submit their own content (not to be vague, but the content can be literally anything) for Google to index and make searchable. This does smack of big-brother-ness a bit, but being a Complete Google Whore, I'm thinking this could be a very cool idea. I've read that this idea is, in part, designed to oust the likes of Ebay and Craigslist. Not sure how I feel about that...

Here's the Google blog entry that alludes to the new software. Hopefully we'll see a beta release soon (and that it won't blow crapcakes like Google Reader).

Last thing - go bid on my Newcastle Bar Sign and my MxPx 7" records.

Enough blog spam: Go-ing with Beniy

2005-10-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the past 2 posts. What can i say? The internet never ceases to amaze and entertain...

Spent the evening playing Go and Chess with Beniy at Starbucks. The Go game was a definite learning experience. Started out without much direction (at least, on my side of the board), but I slowly started to pick up some of the nuances of the game as play continued. In the end, Beniy was the clear winner - but I think it's safe to say I'm hooked.

Then, we played chess. It'd been awhile since I'd played chess, so I wasn't expecting to win (especially since Beniy is a more a student of the game than a hobbyist). Well, he kicked my ass. Mercilessly. The second game brought a remote possibility of my stalemating him, but those hopes were quickly dashed.

Had a hell of a good time regardless. Hopefully we can make it a regular thing...

Oh, and a side note: Tom told me last night that an upscale L.A. client of his had mentioned that backgammon is the new chic game to play among the scenesters. Now, other at McClain's (local coffeehouse), I don't know that I've ever seen anybody playing backgammon around here. But tonight a couple young ladies were partaking of a bit of dice at the Starbucks where we were playing. That encouraged me - maybe backgammon will dethrone poker as the reigning "trendy 'old' game". Hey, I can dream, can't I?

How much is your blog worth?

2005-10-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

My blog is worth $2,822.70.
How much is your blog worth?

Booyah...

2005-10-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Mark your calendars

2005-10-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

Whoa Nelly, Big Bad Beer Post

2005-10-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

I've tried to make a habit of recording the different beers I've been trying (as well as my thoughts/reactions). I've sorta fell behind the last week or so, but this should include most of the stuff I've tasted recently (starting with the most recent)...

Oh, and just a sidenote, I'm going to stop linking to pictures of the bottles. It's a pain in the ass to get the formatting right and most of the pictures look frickin' grainy anway.

Arrogant Bastard Ale
I'm enjoying this little slice of heaven as I type this. The bottle is covered with warnings about how I probably won't like it and to stick with "fizzy yellow beer". This being the second time I've tasted it (the first time I was much less concerned with actually tasting it), I sort of already knew what I was in for, as far as the intensity. This beer is definitely not for the faint of heart, I assure you. At times, it's even a bit much for my pseudo-trained palate to fully appreciate. Very strong hoppy aroma with slight hints of citrus and oak. A bitter suprise at first, but the bitterness subsides (a little) to reveal more of what the aroma advertised - notes of lemon and a subtle oaky flavor. The hoppy bitterness really stays with you after you swallow and the citrus sparkles. One word of advice - sip this one.

Erdinger Weissbier
Tom brought this over the other night. I'm starting to think the reason I don't generally like hefeweizen is that I just haven't been trying the right ones. This was (of the few I have tasted) the best hef I've had thusfar. Sweet and creamy with a light, lemony flavor. This one pretty much convinced me to be a bit more open to other wheat beers.

McEwans India Pale Ale
Boring, tasted like Newcastle with a side order of ass. Maybe we got a bad batch. Anybody got a hef?

Fullers Vintage 2005
(To be fair, I only sipped this a couple times). Way fruitier than I was expecting, this one had a very perfume-like aroma and grape flavors with a tart finish. I actually commented to Joana that it tasted very slightly like wine. Came in a cool box, but I probably wouldn't buy it.

Birra Moretti La Rossa
Hard to believe that this is the same joint that brews that Dutch Swill known as Heiniken, but for an italian beer (and I've only had a few), this one seemed much more full-bodied than the others I've had. Slightly sweet, hoppy aroma with hints of what smelled like oak. The first sip was hoppy with subtle (but not really identifiable) fruity flavors. Clean finish with little aftertaste.

Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Ale
Chris brought this over last week. Had the typical darkness/boldness of a winter brew, but with a strangely sweet aroma and aftertaste. Very nutty flavor, almost overpoweringly so at times. Halfway through, my palete was such a mess I felt like I'd had half hoppy IPA and half pancake syrup. I'll probably avoid this one in the future.

And, whilst Chris and I drove around pickup some of these fine beverages, we happened upon a magnum bottle of Double Bastard Ale for $60. Needless to say, if there are 5-6 of you out there willing to make the drive to my place, we'll definitely make an evening of it...

Oh, and I also picked up a small Sam Adams Triple Bock, brewed in 1995 (don't let the date fool you, apparently it's still fairly easy to come across). The bottle is small, but so are the recommended servings. Maybe around Christmas time I'll open this guy up.

Tune in next time when I drink more.

I just can't help myself

2005-10-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Holden

2005-10-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

I have one seriously cute kid.

Everybody loves Raymond, unless he's a freakin' whackjob

2005-10-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

So, because I worked a short stint in the tech support department over the weekend, I was able to take today off to go furniture shopping with my wife while Holden stayed with his grandma. We spent a buttload of money and got an even bigger buttload of furniture. After we'd unloaded it, we decided to grab some lunch before rearranging a good portion of our apartment. We headed down to Stadim Tavern, a local watering hole we frequented before the baby.

It's Joana, our friend Chris and myself at a small table on the patio. We're quietly enjoying an afternoon libation when we see one of the three guys at the next table walk back to his seat carrying several grocery bags full of stuff. We joke quietly to ourselves, and continue with our conversation.

A few minutes later, the same dude returns (we hadn't noticed he'd left) carrying even more crap, and this time it was baseball memorabilia (old penants, programs and whatnot). Again, we comment to ourselves, since this guy has not accumulated no less than the volume of our weekly grocery shopping around his feet. Then, the fun began.

He leans over and asks if we're smoking clove cigarettes (which Chris was), and proceeds to tell us how much he likes them and that they're his favorite, etc. We respond with something like "cool", and he starts talking about how he's just purchased a $200 membership to the "exclusive" cigar and martini bar across the street (this place is located in the back room of a tobacco shop - members only). Again, we validate him a little and then he starts commenting on my tattoos, how much he likes them, etc. He asks how many I have, and I said 29 (which may not be exactly right, but's pretty damn close), to which he responds that he's pretty sure his second tattoo took longer than all of my tattoos combined (by the way, he's now standing up between our table and his, talking way too loudly for the surroundings). He proceeds to turn around and lift his shirt to reveal some sort of indian-type bird tattoo that covered about 2/3 of his back. "Nice work", I said, though it was really not all that great in terms of tattoos. He starts spouting off about how it took 5 seperate sessions for a total of 29 hours to do the whole thing. I pretended to be impressed, since that's obviously what he was looking for and then he comes out with this (with a very serious look on his face):

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

Obviously, this is a quote from the original Batman film from the early 90's, so I quote the next two lines right along with him, and chuckle slightly. He's still looking at me like I just said his momma was ugly, so I just turned back to my companions. Then, he starts quoting Young Guns, then some other movie I didn't recognize. In response to our blank stares, he returns to his seat. Everybody at my table is now looking at each other like "what in the hell is up with this jackass?". Not two seconds later, reaches over and hands something to Joana that looked like a candy bar. He said it was some sort of breath mint. We thanked him in the way you'd thank a homeless guy who just gave you his pants, and he turned around again. This time, he's handing us a canister of some sort of orange biscuits. Before you know it, we're the proud owners of (in addition to the stuff I've alread mentioned) a bag of chocolate oatmeal cookies (or the limey equivalent), a pair of small Mini Cooper models, a black Bic lighter, a roll of what look like Life Savers and a candy bar.

The stands back up and starts introducing himself.

"Raymond" he said, with his hand in my face.

"Brett", I replied, giving his hand a quick shake. He did the same thing to Chris, then to Joana whom he asked (while still shaking her hand) if she attended Cal State Fullerton, which she had and said so. He said that he'd seen her there, and then started verbally vomitting about how he'd gone to UC Santa Barbara for 6 years, but worked for some drug dealer cleaning his pool or some nonsense like that.

Then he asks Joana "Do you have a Cal State sweatshirt?", and she replies that she doesn't. So he grabs what ends up being some sort of warmup, sweatsuit style jacket emblazened with the school's name and hands it to her. Joana was visibly reserved, because who knows what this nutbar did to/with the jacket before handing it over to a total stranger.

"Thanks", she said quietly.

All this happened in the span of about 6 minutes. Before we knew it, our new friend Raymond was headed across the street to enjoy some cocktails at the tobacco shop. A few minutes after he'd left, a guy walks up to our table and hands Joana his cell phone (which is actually connected) and says "tell my wife about all the crap that guy gave you". So, while Joana lists off everything ol' Raymond had given us, the guy asked where Raymond had gone. We told him he'd already gone across the street and he starts laughing. We ask how he knows Raymond and he says "I don't, he just asked if he could sit down - before you know it he's giving me all this crap and inviting my friend and I to Red Cloud!".

Chris and I just about lost it at that point.

For a second, I kinda felt bad that this guy was walking up to total strangers and inviting them to pretty uppity cigar clubs just for the company (well, I can only assume that was the reason), but he seemed to be having a freakin' blast so more power to him.

"Evolution of a Go Program"

2005-10-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

Found this cool blog written by some Norwegian dude who's developing a Go application. As I have been quite enamored with this game of late, I think it'll make for an interesting read.

Sad news is, it appears to be a commercial product - so no source code :(

A Pyramid Evening once again...

2005-10-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed two different Pyramid brews last night, both of which were quite good.

The first was the Apricot Weizen. Now, as I've said before, I'm not a big fan of hefeweizen in general, but I dediced to give this a try based on a friend's recommendation, as well as my past experience with this particular brewery. My initial reaction was that it was too sweet, but the beer grew on me a bit as I drank it. The aroma is (obviously) very fruity and light, as was the initial taste. There was a slight amount of tart near the end, but I'm afraid the finish was a little thinner and weaker than what I generally like. The apricot flavor was in just the right amount, though - definitely there, but not intrusive.

I did like it, but I think I'd need to be in a pretty special mood to choose it over something else. It has piqued my curiousit about other wheat beers, though.

Now, the second selection for the evening was the India Pale Ale. This one was definitely my favorite of the two, as it had a much stronger aroma and a powerful combination of flavors. The bitterness at the finish is probably my favorite characteristic, but it's a big gun from sip to swallow. Not for the faint of heart, this one was definitely intense.

Later this week I hope to pick up some more craft beers, and you can bet your sweet aspercream that I'll be posting my thoughts and reactions right here.

Dear Starbucks Employees...

2005-10-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just a couple quick things.

I'm never ever going to use your retarded size names. I know that annoys you to no end, but you might as well just get used to it. The size names are dumb, that's just the plain fact of the matter. Really, it's not necessary to look at me like "dude, just conform already..." because, hey, it's not like you don't know exactly what I mean when I say 'large coffee' - and the attitude just isn't becoming of a representative of the world's largest caffeine conglomerate.
I really like the fact that you guys put the lids and java-jackets on the cups for me, I really do. But I find it very hard to believe that you haven't discovered that if you afix the lid with the "drinky hole" even sortof in line with the seam of the cup, the coffee will leak out whenever I take a nice long swig of my Large Coffee(TM)

Thanks for your time.

Samuel Adams Oktoberfest

2005-10-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of several seasonal offerings from good ol' Sam A. Apparently, I've had this before (according to Chris), but I don't recall whether I liked it then. But that's beside the point...

If I were to describe this beer in one word, it would be "good". Not bad, but not great either. Pretty flavorful, but a little sweet.

I used to say that Sam Adams was the only American beer I would drink (before I became acquainted with the likes of Pyramid, Sierra Nevada and others), and it was because of all of the Sam Adams varieties I'd sampled, I found none of them to be less than satisfactory. Not sure why I included that little side-note, but there you go...

Tonight, I'll be sampling Pyramid Apricot Weizen. I'll let you know how that goes.

Oh, and it's only a short while until one of my favorite beers is available again - do not miss this one.

Weekend Movie Roundup - part one?

2005-10-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

The weekend isn't over yet, so you may see another of these posts tomorrow or Monday. Now, on with the show...

To Kill A Mockingbird
Obviously, a classic. I'd never seen it all the way through, but I read the book in high school. This movie struck me as being somewhat ahead of it's time, as it broached a very serious and relevant topic for the time (racism). Definitely worth the $4 if you've never seen it. I need to reread the novel, as well.

The Hunt for Red October
I'd seen this a very long time ago (and, quite honestly, had no idea what the hell was going on for most of it). A very young Alec Baldwin plays Jack Ryan, one of Tom Clancy's recurring characters. This time, he's a CIA agent trying to track down a missing Russian submarine which is under the command of Ramius, played by Sean Connery. The story was great, but the only problem I had was that of all the "Russian" sailors that had speaking roles, only a handful weren't obviously British actors. They didn't even make an attempt at pulling off the accent, which I found annoying. Netflix it.

The Ladykillers
The latest offering from the Cohen Brothers (who made O Brother Where Art Thou?, Fargo and The Big Lebowski, among others), this film is about a band of odd characters who arrange the stealth burglary of a casino. Tom Hanks plays Professor D. H. Dorr, the mastermind of the whole caper. He's almost annoyingly well-spoken, but likeable in most respects. It's something of a comedy of errors, but intelligently funny in true Cohen form. Highly recommended, even though most critics didn't care for it - they're full of crap.

Gladiator
One of the rare instances where a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster really delivers. Even though Russell Crowe is a complete ass, he does a great job as Maximus, 'the Savior of Rome'. But Joaquin Phoenix really steals the show as super-creepy Commodus, the Emperor of Rome. The fight scenes alone are worth the price of admission. A must-see.

That's all for now - slated for tomorrow are 'The Recruit' and 'Malice'...

Google Reader = kinda meh

2005-10-09T00:25:00.000-07:00

The next of a wave of rapid-fire unveilings, Google released the beta version of it's RSS reader called (oddly enough) Google Reader.

Now, as you may or may not know about me, I'm a huge fan of Google. They write software that is without equal and, the vast majority of the time, give it away for free. Gmail, Google News, Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Desktop and (of course) their unparalleled search engine (which now offers a really cool personalized view). All of these apps have simple, powerful user interfaces and just kick ass. If you haven't used any/all of them, try them and see for yourself. But Google Reader, on the other hand...

The interface is, at best, clunky. It's not terribly intuitive and offers very little control. It does have (of course) some pretty cool search functionality for finding syndicated content - and adding subscriptions is super simple. I guess I'm just used to Google's UIs being ridiculously easy to use and this one really isn't.

Now, it is just in beta and they could always change it. I really hope they do.

Give Backgammon a chance

2005-10-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

Among my friends and acquaintances, there are two main groupings as far as games: the poker people and the chess people (and a very, very small group of people who enjoy the game of Go). Now, a great many of my friends don't really like games all that much to begin with (and I'm talking about real games, not time-wasting computer games), but the vast majority of them that do like board games don't generally enjoy backgammon. I've often wondered why this is, since poker and chess both involve a great deal of strategy and poker has a fairly major element of chance. Yet, they still talk crap on my favorite game and I really don't know why.

Whenever I'm somewhere being social (family gathering, hanging out with friends, etc.) and I ask if anybody wants to play backgammon, any taker will sit down and say almost exactly the same thing: "I played when I was a kid, but I don't remember how". Now, I can understand not "getting" backgammon right away, because it's not like Uno or something where you can sit down and have mastered the rules inside of a few minutes. But pretty much any game I played with any regularity when I was a kid would come back to me very quickly if I were to play it now. Anyway, I'll usually get a game or two out of these folks before they get bored, but rarely any more than that.

The bottom line is this: backgammon is fun, people - get with the freakin' program! :)

Pyramid Curve Ball

2005-10-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

Got a chance to try this guy out last night, and I must say that I was pretty impressed. On the lighter side, not much bite to it, but still very crisp (sorta like John Courage, minus the subtle "snappiness").

I'm pretty sure I've tried Pyramid's IPA in the past, though it's been awhile - and I'm not a big fan of hefeweizen, generally, so that kinda rules out the rest of their line, except the seasonals. Though, I should probably give hefeweizen another shake. A great many people with far more accomplished pallet enjoy a bit of the wheaties - so maybe I'm missing out.

I should work now - hooray for excellent beer!

Tanks a bunch

2005-10-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Not sure why, but that is just too freakin' cool...

I say 'jump'...

2005-10-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

jamessan is my ho.

Ad-free Firefox for OS X

2005-10-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Good ol' Tom shared this little nugget with me. If you use Firefox on your Mac, this is for you...

Download this
Place it in (Your Hard Drive)/Users/(your username)/library/application/support/firefox/profiles/(profile)/chrome/
Open Firefox preferences, Advanced tab.
Tell FF to use this stylesheet.

Voila! Them ads are history.

Enjoy!

"You pay for the look, not for the technology"

2005-10-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

I actually heard somebody say this (about Apple computers) at a party recently. I was dumbfounded, because this guy was supposedly a "computer guy". I've been using a Mac for about 5 weeks now, and Linux for about 2.5 years, so I'm not (totally) talking out of my arse when I say that Windows couldn't hold a candle to either one.

True, Macs are more expensive than PC's, but Corvettes are more expensive than Miatas too, and that doesn't seem to bother anybody. Apple computers are also solid setups with a bombass operating system sitting on top, not just eye candy (though they are that as well).

Found an essay by Paul Graham that better states the case for macs, check it out.

Nonsensical post... check.

"You'll understand what I mean when you have kids..."

2005-10-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

We've all heard it before; either from a parent, relative or some random adult. They were right...

My son is only 2 months old and I've already said it myself a few times. But there really is nothing quite as incredible as holding your own child in your arms, wishing like hell you could actually communicate the depth of your love for him. The little half-smile when you tickle his cheek just the right way, when he grabs the first knuckle of your index finger and won't seem to let go. It's times like that when I wonder how anybody can truly not believe in God.

Anyway, I was feeling particularly mushy about my boy just now, thanks for indulging me.

Boobs and beer or something (just to give the post a little balance).

Crazy Coffee Carnival

2005-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

So Aaron and Beniy were kind enough to include me an evening of home-roasted, home-brewed espresso and good conversation last night. We used Beniy's manual espresso machine, which looked something like this -->.

We tried a few different origins: Antigua and Hue Hue Tenango (both from Guatemala - very bright and aromatic), and a Brazilian bean, which was a bit darker and more flavorful. We also drank some custom blends they the guys put together.

Up until this point, we were just drinking straight espresso. We were about to try some of the coffees with milk, but during the last shot disaster struck...

Beniy was pulling the shot slowly, but firmly as Aaron and I watched intently, and right as the shot was finishing, the handle on the espresso machine snapped of and scared the holy living hell out of us. Needless to say, that pretty much nixed the cappuccino idea.

Had a hell of a good time hanging out with those guys. Discussions of our upcoming podcast program were fruitful, hopefully something will materialize in the next few weeks.

One of those days

2005-10-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Even when you enjoy your job, there are days when it frustrates you to the point of sheer madness. This is no secret, and I realize that I'm very fortunate to have a job I generally enjoy...

But if I don't stand up and walk out of here in the next 10 minutes, I just might scream. There is just such a lack of organization here, everything has to be done yesterday and Heaven help us if we actually followed some tried-and-true rules of proper software development.

Tomorrow's another day. For now, I need a beer.

Good stuff

2005-10-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

I can spam my own blog if I damn well please...

2005-10-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Got this email from a co-worker, found it funny because (and if you work in computers, you know this) it's so. freakin'. true.

How to Please Your I.T. Department...

- When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and children's art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.

- Don't write anything down. Ever. We can play back the error messages from here.

- When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. That way you won't be there when we need your password. It's nothing for us to remember 700 screen saver passwords.

- When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.

- When I.T. support sends you an E-Mail with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing.

- When an I.T. person is eating lunch at his desk, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.

- Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

- When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.

- When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.

- When an I.T. person tells you that computer screens don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.

- When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That motivates us.

- When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently get sucked into black holes.

- When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all 68 printers in the company. One of them is bound to work.

- Don't learn the proper term for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by "My thingy blew up".

- Don't use on-line help. On-line help is for wimps.

Why 'Fear Factor' is the Dumbest Show Ever.

2005-10-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

It seems like every time I freakin' turn around, there's another 'Reality TV' show sending America's sheep into a tailspin. Whether it's a group of should trophies trying to win the heart of the perfect dude or a family on the down-and-out getting a new brand new house, the airwaves are lousy with these abominations. However, none is quite so ridiculous as Fear Factor...

Now, my first complaint about this program is the completely inaccurate title. A more apt name would be "Put Disgusting Things in Your Mouth", as that's one of the two main types of challenges facing the contestants. It's either that, or they participate in some stunt that may seem dangerous, but any danger they might be in pales in comparison to the safety precautions that have been taken by the production staff. So, either you have to eat a handful of mealworms, or walk across some river on a 2x4 (while wearing a myriad of safety harnesses and restraints). Now, the proverbial straw...

When I turned on the idiot box earlier this evening, I found myself looking at (you guessed it) the beginning of Fear Factor. Normally, I'd just flip right on past it to the next channel, but I didn't this time (don't ask me why). Before I know it, I'm listening to Joe Rogan describing the meathead stunts to which the contestants would be subject. The first challenge (and the only one I saw before I did change the station) was this:

"Take a mouthful of those (large insect whose name I don't recall), crush them in your mouth and drain the 'juices' into this container, until it reaches this line. Once it's full, down it."

Yes, that's right, drink the fluids drained from the insects.

Unbelievable.

Yet another month-in-review

2005-09-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Since I've made a habit of blogging less and less frequently, here's what's been going of late (and this will be in reverse chronological order, since that's how my brain works - deal)...

Chicago

We just got back from Joana's family reunion, this year in St. Charles, IL (about 30 minutes outside of Chicago). Being our first trip with Holden, it was interesting. He was extremely pleasant on the flight there, and only slightly fussy coming back. Oh, and there's the part about us holding up the plane for 30 minutes...

So, a couple days before we leave, I start considering the fact that we're going to need our whole carseat/stroller behemouth with us, so I call the airline to find out how that should be handled. She says that if the flight isn't full, we can bring the carseat and base onto the plane and affix it to one of the seats, just like in our car. Otherwise, we'd have to gate-check the whole mess and take turns holding the baby during the flight.

So, we arrive at the gate, the flight isn't full, so we gate-check the stroller and carry the carseat/base onto the plane. We're preboarded because of the baby, so we find ourselves 3 rows from the front, in prime position to bid the plane freakin' adieu once we land. Joana takes the window, I take the aisle and we arrange the carseat between us (this took a little elbow grease, since it was a much smaller space than the back seat of our car). We sit back for the duration of the boarding process, are told how our seatbelts work and that the fartpillows we're sitting on can be used as flotation devices, etc. etc. etc. The stewardess is making one last pass throught the cabin to make sure everybody's got their seatbelt on when she gets to our row...

"The carseat needs to be by the window."

Ah, ok, makes sense. If the plane crashes into a mountain and we all have to get out, it would be rather difficult for Joana to crawl over the carseat. So, I stand up to disengage the carseat from the base (which is attached to the seat by the seatbelt), but it's stuck. I pull harder, still nothing. We hand Holden to his grandma, then Joana's Dad (who is a freakin' ox) comes over and tries to get it off, but to no avail. Finally, somebody from Maintenance boards the plane, removes the flotation device, and disconnects the seatbelt from the seat while it's still stuck to the carseat. So, we're now about 30 minutes past our departure time, but we're the proud owners of a genuine Southwest Airlines seatbelt. When we landed, the stewardess suggested we take a picture of Holden and I in the cockpit, and they gave us a certificate commemorating his first plane ride. Cute stuff, indeed.

Did a bit of sight-seeing in Chicago, but most of the time we just sorta hung out at the hotel. Saw the Museum of Science and Industry - the U-505 exhibit was really something. Pictures of the whole deal can be found here.

We also discovered the greatest retail establishment in the history of the world: Menards (pronounced 'Meh-nards'). And it's not because of what they sell, dear reader. They're a big-box hardware/home improvement place, but they have the most phenomenal name. ever. At any rate, it provided Chris and I with a virtually unending supply of sophomoric joke fodder. We even took some pictures.

Baby Update

Holden is growing like a weed and is now about 9 weeks old (freakin' insane). There are tons and tons of pictures in the image gallery, the most recent is here.

Geeky Stuff

My friend Tom hooked me up with a super-sweet PowerMac G4 for my birthday, so I've been feeding the Mac convert in myself for the last month. I've completely (and seamlessly) switched from Linux on my desktop to OS X and I have to say, it's positively wonderful. I'm hoping to acquire an iBook sometime in the near future, but we'll see.

Migrated to Gallery version 2 for the image gallery, but because of some sweet mod_rewrite magic, all old links will still work. Hooray for those guys :)

Etc.

Got my pre-order copy of "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness" by none other than Coheed and Cambria. It took a little time to grow on me, but it definitely has. Hopefully I can remember to get tickets for Chris and I for their show at the Grove on 10/17...

I suppose part of the reason I switched to blogger is to get a fresh start. Ever since I started this whole blogging thing, I've always posted in spurts. Hopefully this will keep me a bit more motivated to post. And I have a feeling I'll have a bit more to say in the coming weeks...

New Blog Home

2005-09-30T02:59:00.000-07:00

That's right, this is where I'll be blogging from now on (at least, until I get bored or find out that blogger can't do something I want - then I'm sure I'll be switching again - but that's why you like me, because I keep you guessing).

This is mostly just a placeholder post. I'll be abusing the stylesheet so this blog looks super badass (and maybe I'll post something meaningful, but I make no promises), so check back. Oh, and don't give me any crap about the links that point to nothing. Trust me, I know they're there.

Also, be sure to update your aggregators with the new feed URL.

Geekology for Grown-Ups

You all knew it would happen sooner or later...

GOOOO

Emacs, oh how I love thee...

Poker Woes...

I'll post something soon, maybe...

Courtesy of a Coworker

True. Dat.

I Thought You Weren't Political?

Had an idea

Dude, whatever...

A little hack for all of you allofmp3.com users...

More Blog Spam Fo Yo Ass

uh... PSYCHE.

Man, computer flashback...

Gmail to finally get a freakin' 'Delete' button

Beware

Comedy

Mmm... MacBook...

Attention Non-Techie Windows Users

Change of Scenery

*Whew...*

IronPython 1.0 Beta 1 Released

Captain Drool says 'Merry Christmas!'

Beware: I Slam Doors

Party Photos and BitMail

My Sentiments, Exactly and a Life Update

Aw HELL Yeah

An Experiment (with special bonus GARBAGE SQL script)

Funnay

For all you Lispers out there...

Dammit, Aaron...

You talkin' to ME?

I wrote a program!

I like this comment-based poll thing... here's another

Comedy

New Crap

Ok, enough is enough... A Poll.

Chad is frickin' back

I guess I shouln't be suprised...

Freakin' Chris...

So, yeah, big dumbass over here...

This is too cool

First Dance

Holden the Tomato

Soon enough...

Image Hosting

One Small Victory

Sweet, mostly a dude

A Victim of Circumstance

"We'll Talk Later"

Google Base Redux

Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?

Google Base

Enough blog spam: Go-ing with Beniy

How much is your blog worth?

Booyah...

Mark your calendars

Whoa Nelly, Big Bad Beer Post

I just can't help myself

Holden

Everybody loves Raymond, unless he's a freakin' whackjob

"Evolution of a Go Program"

A Pyramid Evening once again...

Dear Starbucks Employees...

Samuel Adams Oktoberfest

Weekend Movie Roundup - part one?

Google Reader = kinda meh

Give Backgammon a chance

Pyramid Curve Ball

Tanks a bunch

I say 'jump'...

Ad-free Firefox for OS X

"You pay for the look, not for the technology"

"You'll understand what I mean when you have kids..."

Crazy Coffee Carnival

One of those days

Good stuff

I can spam my own blog if I damn well please...

Why 'Fear Factor' is the Dumbest Show Ever.

Whew...