The Nucor (click for my previous Nucor articles) thing continues to escalate. I won't bore you with details of today's many inbound phone calls, but will tell you I am both flattered that I am, apparently, considered the go-to guy in the industry for answers, and irritated at the amount of work it's generated. At least it's nice to know I'm very well respected in my industry.
I've contacted both of our state's Senators requesting emergency action. Also, my complaint was received by both the US Secretary of Commerce and the ITC today. I spent nearly 6 hours today on the phone total and my ear actually hurts. All these calls had some interesting discussions. I mention this because a question repeatedly came up today: What is the difference between a screw and a bolt? The answer is easy but complex. Amazingly, very few people really know. Most websites I looked at have the wrong answer (never trust the Internet) and many of those handyman's guides have it wrong to. I've done it up in layman's terms on our webpage's Myths and Misconceptions page. I believe you'll find it interesting. And, I assure you, my answer is right.
If you work in any industry that uses BOLTS or NUTS (not screws), please consider writing your senator about this Nucor filing. The price of your parts will go up 250% within 120 days if you don't. That's not an exaggeration. A bolt that costs you $1 will cost you $2.45 on March 20th. Unless changed, all bolts and nuts sold in this country will see that happen. A 145% punitive duty is proposed. This is public record. If you need help and/or direction, contact me at my office and I will help you -- even if you're our competitor -- because this is for the good of our industry. Time is of the essence.
Many of you had spoken to me about privacy concerns with the new RFID passports. RFID is readable whether or not you want it to. Someone can stand next to you and read the data on your passport. I've referred those concerned to websites offering "Faraday Bags" (sometimes called Faraday Cage) -- these bags prevent RFID signals from being read even at close range. Many credit cards now have RFID chips. If you're on a bus, train, in line somewhere, someone with a reader can read your chip. A company called ACM now has credit card Faraday dispensers; I have not tried them, but I thought I'd let you know they exist. As an added bonus for Lost fans, now maybe you know why they gave Daniel Faraday that particular last name. (Those of you in Florida who bought the old-style SunPass units, were given a Faraday Bag with it in case you didn't want to use it and have it record tolls if you were in someone else's car. This bag will work with credit cards but is too small for passports.)
I got my new DirecTV receiver, set it up, and it worked. For five minutes. They sent it a reset signal and it's working now. However, I can't record anything yet because it won't let me record any series until it downloads the guide, which may take 24 hours. So I'll miss tomorrow's episode of Skins. I am irate. Oh well.
(And yesterday's blocked visitor has snuck in through another address. He/she must think I'm stupid.)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Disturbing Stuff and Other Stuff :)
My blog started 17 October 2004. That is five years ago almost. I've never restricted access to my blog. Until today. There has been some very unusual activity coming from a very specific IP address. That IP address has been blocked. I won't share the IP but I'm sure the person will figure out he/she has been blocked and perhaps contact me to ask why. I don't care who reads my blog, but I dislike people sneaking about. The IP address resolves to two separate places depending which IP lookup service you use. I run three site analysis programs and they let me know the IP of my visitors, how they got here, how long they're here, what pages they look at, and all sorts of information about their computer system. The logs time stamp everything and everything always matches. Always. For a while I've been noticing an anomaly with this one IP. And because I don't like unanswered questions such as this, I've solved it by locking that IP out until I have answers.
For example this sample address cpe-67-240-111-111.rochester.res.rr.com will show you what I mean. That IP should match the actual IP it came from, or at least the first three pairs. If not, there's either deliberate spoofing or some other re-direct going on. I've altered the IP address to respect my visitor's privacyIn the case of the one above it matches. It's an account belonging to RoadRunner in Rochester, NY. Sometimes the match will be close -- for example my IP often shows up as Kendall, North Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and so on depending where my DSL connection is routed. However, if a visitor shows as belonging to, say, RoadRunner, and the IP belongs to, say, a military base in Arizona, there's a serious problem. I get plenty of visitors from .mil and .gov addresses and none of them are spoofed. I get plenty of visitors from all manner of ISPs and none of them are spoofed. I even get visitors from proxy-servers and they aren't spoofed either -- they conceal the real visitor, not the fact it's from a proxy-server company. When I grew suspicious I tagged the IP as "Suspicious Visitor" so I knew what they were doing. 47 visits every one from the same IP and every one follows the same pattern.
In other news, special thank you to Randy and Jose who helped me with a site problem which had me completely baffled. We never did get it resolved until the hosting company finally called me. Yeah, Dreamhost called me. And I want to thank Jeremy T at Dreamhost for helping me resolve this silly issue -- a very small configuration error. For those of you who were unable to access darsys.net or darsys.com for the past 24 hours, I apologize. You may have to clear your cache if you continue to get a configuration error. It's amazing how a file that is 158 bytes long can cause so much trouble, hair pulling, and screaming.
I went to the dentist today for my root canal. I am pleased to report I didn't have to have one. The wayward filling was replaced because it was cracked. If it's not hurting Monday, I'm home free. Otherwise it's the root canal. Maybe I'll get lucky with this.
The Nucor fight is escalating. I've heard from more executives at companies in our industry and am volunteering my time to help any of the companies organize their campaigns. I've also been in contact with a number of my Chinese and Taiwanese counterparts. It'll all be interesting as the ITC has really put this on a very fast track -- something I hope our industry can derail. (See previous posts here and the corporate FaceBook page. Keep in mind posts here are my personal opinions and may not always reflect our company's official position.)
For example this sample address cpe-67-240-111-111.rochester.res.rr.com will show you what I mean. That IP should match the actual IP it came from, or at least the first three pairs. If not, there's either deliberate spoofing or some other re-direct going on. I've altered the IP address to respect my visitor's privacyIn the case of the one above it matches. It's an account belonging to RoadRunner in Rochester, NY. Sometimes the match will be close -- for example my IP often shows up as Kendall, North Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and so on depending where my DSL connection is routed. However, if a visitor shows as belonging to, say, RoadRunner, and the IP belongs to, say, a military base in Arizona, there's a serious problem. I get plenty of visitors from .mil and .gov addresses and none of them are spoofed. I get plenty of visitors from all manner of ISPs and none of them are spoofed. I even get visitors from proxy-servers and they aren't spoofed either -- they conceal the real visitor, not the fact it's from a proxy-server company. When I grew suspicious I tagged the IP as "Suspicious Visitor" so I knew what they were doing. 47 visits every one from the same IP and every one follows the same pattern.
In other news, special thank you to Randy and Jose who helped me with a site problem which had me completely baffled. We never did get it resolved until the hosting company finally called me. Yeah, Dreamhost called me. And I want to thank Jeremy T at Dreamhost for helping me resolve this silly issue -- a very small configuration error. For those of you who were unable to access darsys.net or darsys.com for the past 24 hours, I apologize. You may have to clear your cache if you continue to get a configuration error. It's amazing how a file that is 158 bytes long can cause so much trouble, hair pulling, and screaming.
I went to the dentist today for my root canal. I am pleased to report I didn't have to have one. The wayward filling was replaced because it was cracked. If it's not hurting Monday, I'm home free. Otherwise it's the root canal. Maybe I'll get lucky with this.
The Nucor fight is escalating. I've heard from more executives at companies in our industry and am volunteering my time to help any of the companies organize their campaigns. I've also been in contact with a number of my Chinese and Taiwanese counterparts. It'll all be interesting as the ITC has really put this on a very fast track -- something I hope our industry can derail. (See previous posts here and the corporate FaceBook page. Keep in mind posts here are my personal opinions and may not always reflect our company's official position.)
Monday, September 28, 2009
It's Monday. Monday is bad. Lucy Dies.
I'll start with some sad news. One of the more memorable and famous Beatles songs, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, was inspired by a drawing Julian Lennon did of classmate Lucy O'Donnell. Lucy died today at age 46 from lupus.
The above is the original drawing Julian did. It resides in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio where I was fortunate enough to see it for myself. Though I don't remember it being quite so yellowed.
In good news, or at least karmic news, John Ashcroft is facing personal liability for his role in some of the more onerous terror policies of the Bush administration that violated the Constitution. This is how it should be. The Constitution is there to be respected and followed, not ignored at one individual's convenience.
Special kudos to Hugh Jackman for stopping in the middle of a play to chide an assshole who didn't turn of his mobile phone. If you're in a theatre (plays, concerts, movies, whatever), turn off your mobile phone. The rest of us really hate you. Don't text as the light is annoying; don't leave it on vibrate either. Turn it off. Seriously. It's rude. And don't get mad when you use it and we yell and throw popcorn in your hair. Returning the rudeness is fair game. (Video of incident here.)
Lastly, more on work stuff. I'll discuss this on the corporate Facebook page, but the Nucor Steel bolt thing I've mentioned here is blowing up. They have pissed off some mighty big people and I've heard from a number of CEOs of large companies today -- being an expert can be fun sometimes. I've prepared my letter to the ITC and will send it off FedEx tomorrow. I did some serious research on it and cover myriad of points including violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act in addition to including a statement from Alan Greenspan on a related discussion. It started as five pages, but I've whittled it down to two and a half (which includes a table of products). Nucor, you suck. That's my personal opinion and in no way reflects our corporate position, which will be presented to the ITC by Thursday.
In good news, or at least karmic news, John Ashcroft is facing personal liability for his role in some of the more onerous terror policies of the Bush administration that violated the Constitution. This is how it should be. The Constitution is there to be respected and followed, not ignored at one individual's convenience.
Special kudos to Hugh Jackman for stopping in the middle of a play to chide an assshole who didn't turn of his mobile phone. If you're in a theatre (plays, concerts, movies, whatever), turn off your mobile phone. The rest of us really hate you. Don't text as the light is annoying; don't leave it on vibrate either. Turn it off. Seriously. It's rude. And don't get mad when you use it and we yell and throw popcorn in your hair. Returning the rudeness is fair game. (Video of incident here.)
Lastly, more on work stuff. I'll discuss this on the corporate Facebook page, but the Nucor Steel bolt thing I've mentioned here is blowing up. They have pissed off some mighty big people and I've heard from a number of CEOs of large companies today -- being an expert can be fun sometimes. I've prepared my letter to the ITC and will send it off FedEx tomorrow. I did some serious research on it and cover myriad of points including violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act in addition to including a statement from Alan Greenspan on a related discussion. It started as five pages, but I've whittled it down to two and a half (which includes a table of products). Nucor, you suck. That's my personal opinion and in no way reflects our corporate position, which will be presented to the ITC by Thursday.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Day of Atonement (A Rare Religious Post)
שנה טובה ומתוקה (Shana Tova / Happy New Year) and and צוֹם מוֹעִיל! (Tsom Kal / Good And Easy Fast) to all my Jewish friends and family. And thanks to Google for helping me look up the Hebrew lettering. [If you don't have the correct font installed, the lettering in blue will not render on your screen.]
Today was a visit with Grandma and Mom in celebration of Grandma's 89th birthday. We dined at Houston's which is always decent. That was followed by a trip home to do laundry. I was going to eat before the 24 hour fast was to start, but I just didn't feel well. So I didn't. I'm already regretting it and it'll be worse tomorrow.
I went to temple with Dad. Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest of days for Jews. In every temple on the planet, on this day, the cantor chants the Kol Nidre prayer (כל נדרי) in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Its name is taken from the opening words, meaning “all vows.” If you want to read about it, follow the links to Wikipedia which has a good explanation.
I came home and then tried to check my Mom in for her flight home only Spirit sucks. $12 to assign a seat on line. Really. Screw that. So that failed. Then dad asked if I'd go to work tomorrow because he doesn't want to and I agreed, and called my doctor to reschedule my appointment. The doctor was happy because neither of realized it was Yom Kippur when it was scheduled.
I missed the season premiere of The Simpsons and Family Guy and am tres triste about it. My DVR broke last night (displays error 920) and DirecTV is sending a new one. It's some weird glitch. It works and is fully receiving all signals and whatnot, all over 90% even -- we know this because I can watch TV using it. However it keeps popping up an error message that there is no satellite signal coming in and won't record. It also denies there's a phone line hooked up (there is). The hard drive's been sounding really bad for the past few days any way, so it's probably best. They're going to send out a new one next week after we ran the self test and it failed.
I was going to read tonight but my head's going to explode.
Today was a visit with Grandma and Mom in celebration of Grandma's 89th birthday. We dined at Houston's which is always decent. That was followed by a trip home to do laundry. I was going to eat before the 24 hour fast was to start, but I just didn't feel well. So I didn't. I'm already regretting it and it'll be worse tomorrow.
I went to temple with Dad. Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest of days for Jews. In every temple on the planet, on this day, the cantor chants the Kol Nidre prayer (כל נדרי) in Aramaic, not Hebrew. Its name is taken from the opening words, meaning “all vows.” If you want to read about it, follow the links to Wikipedia which has a good explanation.
I came home and then tried to check my Mom in for her flight home only Spirit sucks. $12 to assign a seat on line. Really. Screw that. So that failed. Then dad asked if I'd go to work tomorrow because he doesn't want to and I agreed, and called my doctor to reschedule my appointment. The doctor was happy because neither of realized it was Yom Kippur when it was scheduled.
I missed the season premiere of The Simpsons and Family Guy and am tres triste about it. My DVR broke last night (displays error 920) and DirecTV is sending a new one. It's some weird glitch. It works and is fully receiving all signals and whatnot, all over 90% even -- we know this because I can watch TV using it. However it keeps popping up an error message that there is no satellite signal coming in and won't record. It also denies there's a phone line hooked up (there is). The hard drive's been sounding really bad for the past few days any way, so it's probably best. They're going to send out a new one next week after we ran the self test and it failed.
I was going to read tonight but my head's going to explode.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Today's Recap: Boating Incident, BBQ, and such
Today started off typically. I woke up after a restless night with little sleep (though more than normal) and did my usual morning stuff before heading off to breakfast at Romeau's which was okay. After which I went skating (today with Evan, John, Liz, Shane) at Pines.
Backstory: I had promised Karen I would try to go out with her on her boat today after putting it off since she got her boat seven years ago. I am not a big fan of boats and I get seasick as hell. The last time I tried there was a hurricane (Katrina), which I took as a bad omen. I really wasn't looking forward to this, but a promise is a promise. So, I called her after skating and went over for the boating event as the weather was cooperating (damned weather).
The plan was to get her boat (a 20' Seadoo) and go to Bayside for lunch. We waited while they got her boat down from the rack. First thing she noticed was it wasn't covered. It had been sitting up there for over a month in the elements and she was miffed. The boat was dirty and she was made because she just had the upholstery replaced. She got things organized while I pumped the gas -- her marina charges $3.35 a gallon for low-test -- and we soon were ready to go.
It didn't start. Apparently they had left the ignition on and drained the battery entirely. We got a jump and they assured us the battery would charge itself since it was relatively new. So we were off. In the canal going out to the Intracoastal Waterway, there is a slow speed limit and we had no trouble at all, looking at other boats, houses, manatees, and waving at passersby.
We made it out, and the weather looked a little more ominous and I was a bit nervous because the water was not smooth and when larger boats went by, their wake rocked us. Still, I was okay. It was hot but since we were moving, the breeze kept it from being unbearable. My shorts (yes, I own shorts) were stuck to the vinyl already. She throttled the boat and nothing happened. We stayed at the same speed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. All four times failed and then some smoke came out of the back. She turned the boat off entirely, hoping to dislodge whatever was in the propeller (her theory, not mine). She turned it back on -- yeah, it started -- but an alarm went off signalling serious problems and the engine was making noises that were decidedly not engine-like. Using her mobile phone, she called for a tow boat. Some time later (during which we were baking) the tow boat showed up, asked for her driver's license and then we spent some time trying to get hooked up. A nautical tow is more than a car tow, and it was damn near $400. And thus, one and a half hours after we set sail, the boat experience ended. See? I told you it was a bad idea. We decided to have lunch after stopping at her house to change back to normal clothes.
We ate at BullDog BBQ in North Miami Beach. The lemonade is homemade -- fresh squeezed while you watch -- and tasty, though from glass to glass it varies in sweetness. The cornbread is awesome if you like the kind that's cake-like. Loved it. The service was decent, the place smelled great, the red sauce was a bit runny for my taste but other than that I liked it. Karen had the ribs and the meat was very nicely done. I got the brisket, and while the flavour was excellent, it was way too fatty for my taste. The sides are very well done, at least on par with Renegade. Price-wise it's a little less than Renegade but the portions are about 2/3 the size. While I definitely prefer the sauce at BullDog BBQ, Renegade is still the winner in my book. But I can happily recommend BullDog BBQ to anyone.
After that, we went and walked around Bal Harbour Shops. As I've said before, I like walking off a heavy meal when I'm done. I managed to buy a shirt that I really liked which I saw in the window of a store we were passing. I didn't need one and bought it anyway, so I must have liked it.
I drove towards home, almost getting busted in a speed trap, and stopped at the post office, getting my mail. I decided to stop at Publix where I shopped and bought a lot of nice looking fruit.
Yesterday's entry is proving to be popular and it's generating a lot of traffic over at my Flickr page.I got to level 30 on FarmTown (Facebook). I am looking forward to seeing Liz and John's new lime green couch avec chat. Tomorrow is Grandma's birthday followed by Yom Kippur.
Shout out to Pablo: Happy Birthday!
Backstory: I had promised Karen I would try to go out with her on her boat today after putting it off since she got her boat seven years ago. I am not a big fan of boats and I get seasick as hell. The last time I tried there was a hurricane (Katrina), which I took as a bad omen. I really wasn't looking forward to this, but a promise is a promise. So, I called her after skating and went over for the boating event as the weather was cooperating (damned weather).
The plan was to get her boat (a 20' Seadoo) and go to Bayside for lunch. We waited while they got her boat down from the rack. First thing she noticed was it wasn't covered. It had been sitting up there for over a month in the elements and she was miffed. The boat was dirty and she was made because she just had the upholstery replaced. She got things organized while I pumped the gas -- her marina charges $3.35 a gallon for low-test -- and we soon were ready to go.
It didn't start. Apparently they had left the ignition on and drained the battery entirely. We got a jump and they assured us the battery would charge itself since it was relatively new. So we were off. In the canal going out to the Intracoastal Waterway, there is a slow speed limit and we had no trouble at all, looking at other boats, houses, manatees, and waving at passersby.
We made it out, and the weather looked a little more ominous and I was a bit nervous because the water was not smooth and when larger boats went by, their wake rocked us. Still, I was okay. It was hot but since we were moving, the breeze kept it from being unbearable. My shorts (yes, I own shorts) were stuck to the vinyl already. She throttled the boat and nothing happened. We stayed at the same speed. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. All four times failed and then some smoke came out of the back. She turned the boat off entirely, hoping to dislodge whatever was in the propeller (her theory, not mine). She turned it back on -- yeah, it started -- but an alarm went off signalling serious problems and the engine was making noises that were decidedly not engine-like. Using her mobile phone, she called for a tow boat. Some time later (during which we were baking) the tow boat showed up, asked for her driver's license and then we spent some time trying to get hooked up. A nautical tow is more than a car tow, and it was damn near $400. And thus, one and a half hours after we set sail, the boat experience ended. See? I told you it was a bad idea. We decided to have lunch after stopping at her house to change back to normal clothes.
We ate at BullDog BBQ in North Miami Beach. The lemonade is homemade -- fresh squeezed while you watch -- and tasty, though from glass to glass it varies in sweetness. The cornbread is awesome if you like the kind that's cake-like. Loved it. The service was decent, the place smelled great, the red sauce was a bit runny for my taste but other than that I liked it. Karen had the ribs and the meat was very nicely done. I got the brisket, and while the flavour was excellent, it was way too fatty for my taste. The sides are very well done, at least on par with Renegade. Price-wise it's a little less than Renegade but the portions are about 2/3 the size. While I definitely prefer the sauce at BullDog BBQ, Renegade is still the winner in my book. But I can happily recommend BullDog BBQ to anyone.
After that, we went and walked around Bal Harbour Shops. As I've said before, I like walking off a heavy meal when I'm done. I managed to buy a shirt that I really liked which I saw in the window of a store we were passing. I didn't need one and bought it anyway, so I must have liked it.
I drove towards home, almost getting busted in a speed trap, and stopped at the post office, getting my mail. I decided to stop at Publix where I shopped and bought a lot of nice looking fruit.
Yesterday's entry is proving to be popular and it's generating a lot of traffic over at my Flickr page.I got to level 30 on FarmTown (Facebook). I am looking forward to seeing Liz and John's new lime green couch avec chat. Tomorrow is Grandma's birthday followed by Yom Kippur.
Shout out to Pablo: Happy Birthday!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Abbey Road: A True Rarity
This is a true rarity and a piece of music history. This is perhaps one of the most unique pieces of Beatles memorabilia known. (After you read here, click on the photo for a larger and better version that is annotated.)
There were six photos taken for the cover of Abbey Road. This is the final shot in the series, number six -- see the plate ID. This is the original photograph -- it's not a print or copy or facsimile. It's the real deal. It was hand autographed by the photographer, Iain MacMillan. If you click MacMillan's name, you'll see his Wikipedia entry and that entry talks about all six photos. It's also proof that all of those stories about the cover meaning "Paul Was Dead" were rubbish. As you can see, there are different cars, different walking directions, and so forth than what you see on the cover. The VW bug isn't in all the photos either, and in some shots they're all wearing shoes. I've seen all six of the original photographs with my own eyes and my friend has the other five: she's the one who 'gave' me this one for my birthday.
The cross-walk looks nothing like this now and if you search my Flickr stream there are other Abbey Road photos including me on the steps of the actual studio inside the gate. There are also pictures of the cross-walk as it looks now.
Most of my friends have seen this and know how awesome this is. You can't quite get it if you haven't seen it. I wish I could take a nice high resolution version and post it, but I won't. While I never signed anything agreeing to conditions, Mister MacMillan was very clear about what he did and didn't find acceptable. I believe the version I have posted complies with the spirit and intent of his wishes. This technology didn't even exist when I got the photo and for many years I struggled with whether or not I should share this. The photo has three watermarks: two visible and one invisible -- in addition there are other marks embedded into the photo to protect it from illicit uses.
The cross-walk looks nothing like this now and if you search my Flickr stream there are other Abbey Road photos including me on the steps of the actual studio inside the gate. There are also pictures of the cross-walk as it looks now.
Most of my friends have seen this and know how awesome this is. You can't quite get it if you haven't seen it. I wish I could take a nice high resolution version and post it, but I won't. While I never signed anything agreeing to conditions, Mister MacMillan was very clear about what he did and didn't find acceptable. I believe the version I have posted complies with the spirit and intent of his wishes. This technology didn't even exist when I got the photo and for many years I struggled with whether or not I should share this. The photo has three watermarks: two visible and one invisible -- in addition there are other marks embedded into the photo to protect it from illicit uses.
This photograph technically remains the property of the now deceased photographer, and it was given to me about two decades ago with Mister MacMillan's personal permission.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Today's Collection Of Commentary and Foodstuffs
I am tired. Really tired.
First, this awesome article on The Beatles and what today's kids think of them, from a reporter with the London Times. I can't remember which friend provided this, but I like it. Yeah, the Beatles are cool generation after generation.
Second, this video is from Jose's Facebook page:
This intelligent young lady (who has an awesome accent and looks to match) tears apart Kirk Cameron -- the Growing Pains star turned religious zealot -- and his commentary on Darwin's Origin of Species. The rant is really funny no matter what side you're on. I've got a side. It's not so much his opinion she objects to, it's the fact it defies absolutely any reasonable logic and disregards minor inconveniences such as the facts.
This article lists secret fast food menu items starting with the legendary In-N-Out Burger. If you've never had one of their burgers, you have missed out. Not only is the food good, the whole concept is cool and fun. In-N-Out has a lot of secret menu items and they hint at a few on their official website. Another site has a few more. I've had the Flying Dutchman, BTW. There's another list at this site and even an article over at Wikipedia devoted to the subject. The one thing they don't have is bacon. A tragic oversight in the construction of any burger. Honestly, I prefer Fatburger when I'm out West, but this will do and it's really inexpensive.
The Panthers played their pre-season game last night and won 4-1 against a team composed of players headed for the minors, so the result was as it should be. The arena hasn't fixed the carpet and it's still decorated with duct tape and stained to death. They've raised the prices noticeably -- chicken fingers are an astronomical $10 now -- even though Michael Yormark promised he wouldn't, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. He was also conspicuously absent from the game. The arena shop didn't have much new but I expect that will change before we open our regular season in mid-October but what they did have was 25% to 50% off so a number of people were buying things. The game was empty. The candy stand It's Sugar has halved the size of its container and jacked the prices sky high. What was $6 will now cost you $12. Seriously. There were no team logo urinal pucks, so maybe they got the hint that everyone hated them with a passion, though for this team to get anything would shock me. They did have, on the plus side, a new BBQ place that had real pulled pork that smelled awesome, looked good, and according to Evan, tasted good. There were also three sauces available.
I can't remember if I mentioned this in my blog previously, but the company where I work does indeed have a Facebook page, and if you're on Facebook, please become a fan by using that URL.
Speaking of work, this has me pissed off. A company called Nucor Steel has filed a petition against the Chinese and Taiwanese governments accusing them of dumping their products into the US. Why does it piss me off? Is it because Nucor can't compete because of their unionized workforce? Nope. Is it because they charge way more than other North American manufactures such as Infasco*? Is it because they're right/wrong? Nope (they're wrong). Is it because the Chinese product is significantly inferior in quality to Nucor's? Nope (and believe me, Nucor's stuff is way better than Chinese stuff). It's because Nucor are some of the most rude, insufferable, arrogant assholes in the industry who have no regard for their customers' needs nor do they respond or care to respond to the customer in any reasonable way. They treat the customer as an inconvenience, and as such they don't deserve to be in business. We used to buy from them. I could give you a long list of why we stopped -- we fired them as a vendor, but it wouldn't interest anyone here. Here's someone who sort-of agrees with me but for different reasons.
For the record, if the case moves forward, our company is going to be filing objections against Nucor's case. I can do some serious hurt to their case and believe you me, I have a long memory when it comes to this, so I will absolutely, positively, be returning a long overdue favour. I hope they read this. Nucor created their own mess and I will do my best to prove it. (Again, their product quality is top-notch and I have nothing bad to say about it. It's their management, policies, and employee attitudes with regards to their customers that I object to.)
Disclaimer: our company imports from all over the world, including Taiwan and China. However, we do not import any of the products Nucor sells (primarily hardened Grade 5 and Grade 8 Hex Bolts, A325 and A490 Structural Bolts, Grade 5 Carriage Bolts, Hardened Nuts of various grades, and so forth) because the quality of these parts is important. We buy those items primarily from Infasco, a Canadian company. We import low carbon Cap Screws from countries that include China and Taiwan because they're not heat treated which is where the real difference in a bolt is. There's a very delicate balance between surface and core hardness that is an exacting science that most factories simply can't handle. I could go on, but I've bored you already.
* We buy a lot from Infasco. We buy zero from Nucor. That will not change. Infasco cares about its customers, treats us relatively fairly, and runs their business remembering the customer is usually right. They were the beneficiary of our firing of Nucor, not the Chinese or Taiwanese.
First, this awesome article on The Beatles and what today's kids think of them, from a reporter with the London Times. I can't remember which friend provided this, but I like it. Yeah, the Beatles are cool generation after generation.
Second, this video is from Jose's Facebook page:
This article lists secret fast food menu items starting with the legendary In-N-Out Burger. If you've never had one of their burgers, you have missed out. Not only is the food good, the whole concept is cool and fun. In-N-Out has a lot of secret menu items and they hint at a few on their official website. Another site has a few more. I've had the Flying Dutchman, BTW. There's another list at this site and even an article over at Wikipedia devoted to the subject. The one thing they don't have is bacon. A tragic oversight in the construction of any burger. Honestly, I prefer Fatburger when I'm out West, but this will do and it's really inexpensive.
The Panthers played their pre-season game last night and won 4-1 against a team composed of players headed for the minors, so the result was as it should be. The arena hasn't fixed the carpet and it's still decorated with duct tape and stained to death. They've raised the prices noticeably -- chicken fingers are an astronomical $10 now -- even though Michael Yormark promised he wouldn't, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. He was also conspicuously absent from the game. The arena shop didn't have much new but I expect that will change before we open our regular season in mid-October but what they did have was 25% to 50% off so a number of people were buying things. The game was empty. The candy stand It's Sugar has halved the size of its container and jacked the prices sky high. What was $6 will now cost you $12. Seriously. There were no team logo urinal pucks, so maybe they got the hint that everyone hated them with a passion, though for this team to get anything would shock me. They did have, on the plus side, a new BBQ place that had real pulled pork that smelled awesome, looked good, and according to Evan, tasted good. There were also three sauces available.
I can't remember if I mentioned this in my blog previously, but the company where I work does indeed have a Facebook page, and if you're on Facebook, please become a fan by using that URL.
Speaking of work, this has me pissed off. A company called Nucor Steel has filed a petition against the Chinese and Taiwanese governments accusing them of dumping their products into the US. Why does it piss me off? Is it because Nucor can't compete because of their unionized workforce? Nope. Is it because they charge way more than other North American manufactures such as Infasco*? Is it because they're right/wrong? Nope (they're wrong). Is it because the Chinese product is significantly inferior in quality to Nucor's? Nope (and believe me, Nucor's stuff is way better than Chinese stuff). It's because Nucor are some of the most rude, insufferable, arrogant assholes in the industry who have no regard for their customers' needs nor do they respond or care to respond to the customer in any reasonable way. They treat the customer as an inconvenience, and as such they don't deserve to be in business. We used to buy from them. I could give you a long list of why we stopped -- we fired them as a vendor, but it wouldn't interest anyone here. Here's someone who sort-of agrees with me but for different reasons.
For the record, if the case moves forward, our company is going to be filing objections against Nucor's case. I can do some serious hurt to their case and believe you me, I have a long memory when it comes to this, so I will absolutely, positively, be returning a long overdue favour. I hope they read this. Nucor created their own mess and I will do my best to prove it. (Again, their product quality is top-notch and I have nothing bad to say about it. It's their management, policies, and employee attitudes with regards to their customers that I object to.)
Disclaimer: our company imports from all over the world, including Taiwan and China. However, we do not import any of the products Nucor sells (primarily hardened Grade 5 and Grade 8 Hex Bolts, A325 and A490 Structural Bolts, Grade 5 Carriage Bolts, Hardened Nuts of various grades, and so forth) because the quality of these parts is important. We buy those items primarily from Infasco, a Canadian company. We import low carbon Cap Screws from countries that include China and Taiwan because they're not heat treated which is where the real difference in a bolt is. There's a very delicate balance between surface and core hardness that is an exacting science that most factories simply can't handle. I could go on, but I've bored you already.
* We buy a lot from Infasco. We buy zero from Nucor. That will not change. Infasco cares about its customers, treats us relatively fairly, and runs their business remembering the customer is usually right. They were the beneficiary of our firing of Nucor, not the Chinese or Taiwanese.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Post of No Consequence
Season opener of House was so-so. I liked his interaction with the doctor and I liked the characters, but nothing happened. This was an atypical episode and when I watch a doctor show, I want to see some doctoring, House style. A happy House creeps me out and I am sure it can't last.
This is why you're fat. Yea, that's right, take a plain bacon cheeseburger (Meat, Cheese, and Bacon) and instead of a bun but it on a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Remember, health considerations aside, Bacon makes pretty much anything better. I'd eat this. Seriously. Sounds good.
In a truly absurdist comment, Senator Coburn's (R-OK) chief of staff Michael Schwartz made his case against pornography saying that "... all pornography is homosexual pornography." Schwartz then explained the side benefit of this finding -- that if boys know pornography will make them gay, they'll never touch it. Now, I don't know what your position is on pornography, and I don't care. The statement is just the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Most 11 year old boys wished they were lucky enough to have a Playboy magazine to look at. Right, Playboy turns you gay. Let a few guys read a dozen or so issues and see how many turn gay.
And here's a nice little pick-me-up story about a true classy act by a bunch of high school kids. If you don't like this, you're dead inside. Be sure and watch the accompanying video. I had emailed this to a few of you yesterday, but this deserves to be shared far and wide.
Tomorrow home pre-season game for the Panthers.Which leads me into my final bit. So many hockey fans subscribe to and/or support Ecklund's rumour site which many of us seasoned fans find, shall we say, lacking. Someone did a study. His accuracy rate? Under 3%! Seriously. Go here and read. I am amused at how bad this guy really is. I knew he sucked, but 3%? Damn.
This is why you're fat. Yea, that's right, take a plain bacon cheeseburger (Meat, Cheese, and Bacon) and instead of a bun but it on a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Remember, health considerations aside, Bacon makes pretty much anything better. I'd eat this. Seriously. Sounds good.
In a truly absurdist comment, Senator Coburn's (R-OK) chief of staff Michael Schwartz made his case against pornography saying that "... all pornography is homosexual pornography." Schwartz then explained the side benefit of this finding -- that if boys know pornography will make them gay, they'll never touch it. Now, I don't know what your position is on pornography, and I don't care. The statement is just the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Most 11 year old boys wished they were lucky enough to have a Playboy magazine to look at. Right, Playboy turns you gay. Let a few guys read a dozen or so issues and see how many turn gay.
And here's a nice little pick-me-up story about a true classy act by a bunch of high school kids. If you don't like this, you're dead inside. Be sure and watch the accompanying video. I had emailed this to a few of you yesterday, but this deserves to be shared far and wide.
Tomorrow home pre-season game for the Panthers.Which leads me into my final bit. So many hockey fans subscribe to and/or support Ecklund's rumour site which many of us seasoned fans find, shall we say, lacking. Someone did a study. His accuracy rate? Under 3%! Seriously. Go here and read. I am amused at how bad this guy really is. I knew he sucked, but 3%? Damn.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Not Much Of Anything
I have a headache for reasons unknown.
The season première of House is tonight.
I have scheduled my root canal for the 29th (visit one) with two more visits to follow. I am sure you all know how much I am looking forward to that.
I hope WJM is doing well. I have no news since my first post and I am stressed about it.
Thanks for all the visitors coming from StumbleUpon to my throwaway post on irony.
Kudos to my friend Murphy Burch who has missed his true calling. He's a pilot for American but he should have been a columnist instead. He's written yet another great post for his blog on the official NHL Panthers website.
The response to my post yesterday about National Anthems has been pretty sweet. I am disappointed I didn't articulate what I was trying to say better, but if I think of any better way of expressing what I was trying to say, I'll add something to the commentary. (And I've fixed the link Josh bitched about.)
Lastly, I doubt any of my readers here do business with companies in Korea. But, just in case I want to warn everyone about Inno Steel. He stuck us for about $86,000 at work. He's not honourable, he's a liar, a thief, a crook, a scumbag, and if you do business with him, you will get screwed. His name is Bryan Sung and most of his website has information taken from another company that I won't name here. Even our collection agency wasn't able to get anywhere. And worse, the Korean Trade Mission, won't help us. (I'm not actually expecting any of my readers to do anything, but, this will eventually make its way into the Google Search rankings and hopefully cause him grief. Anyone who wants to do business with his company should contact me before doing so.) There's more, but due to the sensitive nature, I won't post it here, but I've made the appropriate legal authorities aware.
The season première of House is tonight.
I have scheduled my root canal for the 29th (visit one) with two more visits to follow. I am sure you all know how much I am looking forward to that.
I hope WJM is doing well. I have no news since my first post and I am stressed about it.
Thanks for all the visitors coming from StumbleUpon to my throwaway post on irony.
Kudos to my friend Murphy Burch who has missed his true calling. He's a pilot for American but he should have been a columnist instead. He's written yet another great post for his blog on the official NHL Panthers website.
The response to my post yesterday about National Anthems has been pretty sweet. I am disappointed I didn't articulate what I was trying to say better, but if I think of any better way of expressing what I was trying to say, I'll add something to the commentary. (And I've fixed the link Josh bitched about.)
Lastly, I doubt any of my readers here do business with companies in Korea. But, just in case I want to warn everyone about Inno Steel. He stuck us for about $86,000 at work. He's not honourable, he's a liar, a thief, a crook, a scumbag, and if you do business with him, you will get screwed. His name is Bryan Sung and most of his website has information taken from another company that I won't name here. Even our collection agency wasn't able to get anywhere. And worse, the Korean Trade Mission, won't help us. (I'm not actually expecting any of my readers to do anything, but, this will eventually make its way into the Google Search rankings and hopefully cause him grief. Anyone who wants to do business with his company should contact me before doing so.) There's more, but due to the sensitive nature, I won't post it here, but I've made the appropriate legal authorities aware.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
National Anthems And Such -- Patriotic Music
I got in an argument today with someone over this song, which all of my US readers know as My Country Tis Of Thee though the proper title is America. The person claimed that this song is an American song. The lyrics are, indeed American. But the melody, and therefore the song, are not American.
The melody (in what I consider an ironic twist) is actually the tune of the oldest national anthem in the world which is from 1745. Since the US didn't even exist as a country until 1776, that sort of ends the argument in my opinion. I'm sure you'll recognize it. It's from Great Britain (You Tube w/Lyrics) and called God Save The Queen (Wikipedia). My favourite version is Queen's Brian May playing it on the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002 for Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee; it's really cool.
Many foreigners think this song (YouTube no lyrics) is the UK national anthem, but it isn't. It's called Rule Britannia (Wikipedia) and is what is played when the Queen is presented (at least as near as I can tell). It's similar in concept to Hail To The Chief (YouTube). I will be honest and say I had no idea that Hail to The Chief (Wikipedia) even had lyrics until I started looking into this whole thing. (If a UK resident cares to clarify the use of Rule Britannia, that would be awesome.)
In the interest of completeness, the US National Anthem aka the Star Spangled Banner is presented here (YouTube) and while it has no lyrics, this is perhaps the closest to how this oft-mangled song should sound. (Far more popular is the Whitney Houston rendition of the Star Spangled Banner which became a best-selling single.) Many people believe America The Beautiful should be our national anthem and the Ray Charles version is considered definitive. Another contender is God Bless America, here sung by French-Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion in the what I think is the best version ever -- this from the 9/11 concert. I prefer either of the latter to the first.
And in the spirit of hockey and half of my ancestry, I've included O Canada (YouTube, Enhlish w/Lyrics), the Canadian National Anthem. Or, if you prefer French w/Lyrics (You Tube, French w/Lyrics). There's some nice bilingual versions (YouTube no Lyrics) I've heard as well. I prefer the last one myself, but I don't know the words by heart. My French has been officially declared shit. Canada still maintains the Royal National Anthem which is, God Save The Queen.
While not related to the argument, this came up in my research: I've always liked the French National Anthem, La Marseilles (You Tube w/Lyrics). This version is magnificent.
Oh, and here's Hong Kong being turned over to the Chinese. I found this by accident and it just suited my mood to include it. It's totally unrelated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVZzRY0X6_g
* If the reigning monarch is a King, the word King is used instead of Queen.
The melody (in what I consider an ironic twist) is actually the tune of the oldest national anthem in the world which is from 1745. Since the US didn't even exist as a country until 1776, that sort of ends the argument in my opinion. I'm sure you'll recognize it. It's from Great Britain (You Tube w/Lyrics) and called God Save The Queen (Wikipedia). My favourite version is Queen's Brian May playing it on the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002 for Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee; it's really cool.
Many foreigners think this song (YouTube no lyrics) is the UK national anthem, but it isn't. It's called Rule Britannia (Wikipedia) and is what is played when the Queen is presented (at least as near as I can tell). It's similar in concept to Hail To The Chief (YouTube). I will be honest and say I had no idea that Hail to The Chief (Wikipedia) even had lyrics until I started looking into this whole thing. (If a UK resident cares to clarify the use of Rule Britannia, that would be awesome.)
In the interest of completeness, the US National Anthem aka the Star Spangled Banner is presented here (YouTube) and while it has no lyrics, this is perhaps the closest to how this oft-mangled song should sound. (Far more popular is the Whitney Houston rendition of the Star Spangled Banner which became a best-selling single.) Many people believe America The Beautiful should be our national anthem and the Ray Charles version is considered definitive. Another contender is God Bless America, here sung by French-Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion in the what I think is the best version ever -- this from the 9/11 concert. I prefer either of the latter to the first.
And in the spirit of hockey and half of my ancestry, I've included O Canada (YouTube, Enhlish w/Lyrics), the Canadian National Anthem. Or, if you prefer French w/Lyrics (You Tube, French w/Lyrics). There's some nice bilingual versions (YouTube no Lyrics) I've heard as well. I prefer the last one myself, but I don't know the words by heart. My French has been officially declared shit. Canada still maintains the Royal National Anthem which is, God Save The Queen.
While not related to the argument, this came up in my research: I've always liked the French National Anthem, La Marseilles (You Tube w/Lyrics). This version is magnificent.
Oh, and here's Hong Kong being turned over to the Chinese. I found this by accident and it just suited my mood to include it. It's totally unrelated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVZzRY0X6_g
* If the reigning monarch is a King, the word King is used instead of Queen.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Ultimate Irony
In what may be either the ultimate in irony or something totally prescient when I left temple today and started my car, the song playing on the radio was "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. Because this was so amazing to me, I had to make a rare second post on the same day.
And as expected Walgreens has trashed my two prescriptions and I am most upset. I was sitting with the doctor when he called in refills on two of them. They had one (the wrong pill count and wrong instructions, but it's a refill so I am not worried -- oh and they marked it no refill.) The other one there was no trace of. So now, I have to track down the doctor tomorrow. I am displeased and the doctor will be too.
And as expected Walgreens has trashed my two prescriptions and I am most upset. I was sitting with the doctor when he called in refills on two of them. They had one (the wrong pill count and wrong instructions, but it's a refill so I am not worried -- oh and they marked it no refill.) The other one there was no trace of. So now, I have to track down the doctor tomorrow. I am displeased and the doctor will be too.
Seven Hundred Posts*....
... but there will be no celebration today. WJM: you damn well better pull through. I'll kill you if you don't. I will come after you. I'm angry with you. We had a deal. (But I'm still sending happy, healing thoughts your way.)
Hockey season is upon us as season ticket booklets have arrived. I should be much happier, but I can't today. Every good thing seems to be offset by at least one bad thing. Life sucks that way.
L'Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to all my Jewish friends and relatives who are celebrating the year 5770.
The legendary tube map has lost the Thames and after a huge furore, it will be reinstated on the September printing. No less than the Mayor himself has intervened. I don't like this new Mayor -- lots of bluster and a clear lack of thought behind it -- but I agree with him on this.
Last night didn't sleep any different than any other night. It appears I may have a prescription crisis, but I'll have to find out in the small hours after I get home later. Still, I am displeased that I did not have either the automated email or phone call about my prescriptions which run out tomorrow.
And I am most curious about yesterday's Disney crisis. As you all probably heard or saw on the news, a suspicious device was found under a bus. All 300+ of their buses were pulled from use and individually inspected. This time it wasn't a false alarm. The device was not an explosive but it wasn't supposed to be there and it's apparently a transponder and sinister motives haven't been ruled out. (Second URL has video clips.)
* Or thereabouts
Hockey season is upon us as season ticket booklets have arrived. I should be much happier, but I can't today. Every good thing seems to be offset by at least one bad thing. Life sucks that way.
L'Shana Tova (Happy New Year) to all my Jewish friends and relatives who are celebrating the year 5770.
The legendary tube map has lost the Thames and after a huge furore, it will be reinstated on the September printing. No less than the Mayor himself has intervened. I don't like this new Mayor -- lots of bluster and a clear lack of thought behind it -- but I agree with him on this.
Last night didn't sleep any different than any other night. It appears I may have a prescription crisis, but I'll have to find out in the small hours after I get home later. Still, I am displeased that I did not have either the automated email or phone call about my prescriptions which run out tomorrow.
And I am most curious about yesterday's Disney crisis. As you all probably heard or saw on the news, a suspicious device was found under a bus. All 300+ of their buses were pulled from use and individually inspected. This time it wasn't a false alarm. The device was not an explosive but it wasn't supposed to be there and it's apparently a transponder and sinister motives haven't been ruled out. (Second URL has video clips.)
* Or thereabouts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Recap Of Health Stuff (Public Version)
If you're a fan of Queen or South Park or Hockey, you'll love this clip. Unless you're from Detroit in which case you might not like it quite so much. There's much to love in this 2m23s clip. If that doesn't amuse you, here's another laugh for my readers: Naked banana sex cult leader flees police (a real news story). He's still at large.
If into Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, or the Mac, you may want to own the very first Mac Plus to roll off the line which was allegedly was given by Apple to Roddenberry as a gift is now up for auction.
So let's put some health news out there for those keeping track. This is all general news and detailed stuff will be posted privately.
Heart: Mechanically, there's nothing wrong: that's good news. Everything checks out. That pleases me. The problem with the irregular heartbeat is related to either the fall or stress or some combination thereof. I remain on medication for the next six months and go in for a follow-up then, or sooner if I notice a marked change. No thrill rides during this time, so sad. All caffeine was banned but I am now allowed some limited caffeine and/or chocolate. I am also cleared to fly.
The Lip: Something so small can cause so many problems. Amazing really. Mouths are dirty. When you get an injury because of any incident -- be it an accident, assault, fall, whatever -- they can get infected. Those infections can sometimes require absurd amounts of antibiotics to cure (some even require hospitalization). Those antibiotics can cause problems elsewhere. So can the stress of the infection. No way to know really. Mouths are also slow to heal. There's a permanent outside scar (which many of you've seen), an upper inside 2" scar near the top of the lip (behind the scar), and a lower inside lip tear with scar (vermilion barrier). Scars don't heal. Ever. This would require plastic surgery to fix and right now that's not something I'm interested in. There's also some form of nerve damage in the upper lip and that is really bothersome and is unlikely to ever correct. There are parts where I've got no feeling at all. I can stab it with a pin or sharp object and feel nothing.
The Mouth: Definitely need root canals in two teeth. One of them (from my car accident) and one of them is probably from the lip injury because it's right near that spot. Still sore to the touch and heat/cold sensitive to the point of distraction. I have been stalling on this because of the heart thing, but I'm running out of excuse to avoid said root canals. If they were on the same side of the mouth, I'd be much happier and do them at once. But since they are on opposite sides of my mouth, they are two separate issues.
Eyes: Vision remains blurrier than usual, but this related to medication and should correct itself one day. However, it's quite disconcerting to see how bad my vision has gotten in the past 60 days.
Whiplash: This still hurts like hell. It was bad after the accident to be sure. I am sure that when I busted my lip, that aggravated it more. Again, due to the heart thing, physical therapy was on hiatus. Not sure if I will resume or self-treat.
Mental: Yes, I am *laugh* -- none of that here
Sleep: What's that? 60+ days and counting of not sleeping through the night.
Now you're all up to date. In other news, I am so tired I can't function. Wait, that isn't even news. Never mind.
If into Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, or the Mac, you may want to own the very first Mac Plus to roll off the line which was allegedly was given by Apple to Roddenberry as a gift is now up for auction.
So let's put some health news out there for those keeping track. This is all general news and detailed stuff will be posted privately.
Heart: Mechanically, there's nothing wrong: that's good news. Everything checks out. That pleases me. The problem with the irregular heartbeat is related to either the fall or stress or some combination thereof. I remain on medication for the next six months and go in for a follow-up then, or sooner if I notice a marked change. No thrill rides during this time, so sad. All caffeine was banned but I am now allowed some limited caffeine and/or chocolate. I am also cleared to fly.
The Lip: Something so small can cause so many problems. Amazing really. Mouths are dirty. When you get an injury because of any incident -- be it an accident, assault, fall, whatever -- they can get infected. Those infections can sometimes require absurd amounts of antibiotics to cure (some even require hospitalization). Those antibiotics can cause problems elsewhere. So can the stress of the infection. No way to know really. Mouths are also slow to heal. There's a permanent outside scar (which many of you've seen), an upper inside 2" scar near the top of the lip (behind the scar), and a lower inside lip tear with scar (vermilion barrier). Scars don't heal. Ever. This would require plastic surgery to fix and right now that's not something I'm interested in. There's also some form of nerve damage in the upper lip and that is really bothersome and is unlikely to ever correct. There are parts where I've got no feeling at all. I can stab it with a pin or sharp object and feel nothing.
The Mouth: Definitely need root canals in two teeth. One of them (from my car accident) and one of them is probably from the lip injury because it's right near that spot. Still sore to the touch and heat/cold sensitive to the point of distraction. I have been stalling on this because of the heart thing, but I'm running out of excuse to avoid said root canals. If they were on the same side of the mouth, I'd be much happier and do them at once. But since they are on opposite sides of my mouth, they are two separate issues.
Eyes: Vision remains blurrier than usual, but this related to medication and should correct itself one day. However, it's quite disconcerting to see how bad my vision has gotten in the past 60 days.
Whiplash: This still hurts like hell. It was bad after the accident to be sure. I am sure that when I busted my lip, that aggravated it more. Again, due to the heart thing, physical therapy was on hiatus. Not sure if I will resume or self-treat.
Mental: Yes, I am *laugh* -- none of that here
Sleep: What's that? 60+ days and counting of not sleeping through the night.
Now you're all up to date. In other news, I am so tired I can't function. Wait, that isn't even news. Never mind.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Book Review and Doctor Review
Today my father asked me to find out if a doctor was any good on the Internet. I tried to explain it didn't quite work like that but it was over his head. So I poked around and found this site which I rather liked. I looked up all of my doctors and reviewed them. I am pleased to see the doctors I dislike are disliked by others and the ones I like, people also feel the same. Sadly, not all doctors are listed and while you can add a doctor to your personal profile, you can't add one to the database. You can add insurance information, pharmacy, hospital, and so on.
I read a book last night in under an hour, but it was very short. Another one that's been sitting in my pile for far too long: it was a gift and not something I'd have normally purchased. It's JK Rowling's Tales of Beedle The Bard. It contains five short childrens' stories. The stories were okay but they're definitely for the younger set, but since this book was done for charity, I'll forgive that. They're mildly entertaining and have no real connection to the Potter universe. However, each story is followed by "notes" as written by Albus Dumbledore. Those "notes" meant to be illuminating are mind-numbingly boring. I'd recommend skipping them and you won't miss a damned thing.
For dinner I made penne pasta with butter and garlic sauce. While that was cooking I made meatballs. The meatballs were an epic failure, but the penne pasta was pretty tasty. I have leftovers so I will try to save the remaining meatballs by adding some additional spices. I also notice that while I bought 93/7 meat as I always do, what I got clearly wasn't because there was way too much grease. That may have accounted for the meatball failure. I like Spanish meatballs (Albondigas -- isn't that a great word) and someone at work brings some from his mother that are, by far, the best I've ever eaten. Yummy.
I did a little SQL work on the ISC web catalog but I am very weak and at some point will have to hire someone to work on it for me. I am not looking forward to that project.
As you all know, I've been having sleep trouble and I was finally prescribed something today. I mentioned it to Dad and he told me how bad of a reaction he had. I called the doctor and let him know. He said I shouldn't take it because if either of my parents had a bad reacting it's likely I will too. He's going to prescribe something else but that will be tomorrow. Worse, I already got the first drug and I'm out $40. Dammit, man.
I am going to temple with my father this year (for the High Holy Days) for the first time in years: this owing to my sister's performance at dinner the other night. I am not sure I'm really looking forward to it, but what can you do? I'm having to work around Grandma's birthday which inconveniently falls on one of them. I explained the situation to both her and Mom and they're being understanding due to extenuating circumstances. Still....
I am not sure of this weekend's plans, but I do want to find something to do.
I read a book last night in under an hour, but it was very short. Another one that's been sitting in my pile for far too long: it was a gift and not something I'd have normally purchased. It's JK Rowling's Tales of Beedle The Bard. It contains five short childrens' stories. The stories were okay but they're definitely for the younger set, but since this book was done for charity, I'll forgive that. They're mildly entertaining and have no real connection to the Potter universe. However, each story is followed by "notes" as written by Albus Dumbledore. Those "notes" meant to be illuminating are mind-numbingly boring. I'd recommend skipping them and you won't miss a damned thing.
For dinner I made penne pasta with butter and garlic sauce. While that was cooking I made meatballs. The meatballs were an epic failure, but the penne pasta was pretty tasty. I have leftovers so I will try to save the remaining meatballs by adding some additional spices. I also notice that while I bought 93/7 meat as I always do, what I got clearly wasn't because there was way too much grease. That may have accounted for the meatball failure. I like Spanish meatballs (Albondigas -- isn't that a great word) and someone at work brings some from his mother that are, by far, the best I've ever eaten. Yummy.
I did a little SQL work on the ISC web catalog but I am very weak and at some point will have to hire someone to work on it for me. I am not looking forward to that project.
As you all know, I've been having sleep trouble and I was finally prescribed something today. I mentioned it to Dad and he told me how bad of a reaction he had. I called the doctor and let him know. He said I shouldn't take it because if either of my parents had a bad reacting it's likely I will too. He's going to prescribe something else but that will be tomorrow. Worse, I already got the first drug and I'm out $40. Dammit, man.
I am going to temple with my father this year (for the High Holy Days) for the first time in years: this owing to my sister's performance at dinner the other night. I am not sure I'm really looking forward to it, but what can you do? I'm having to work around Grandma's birthday which inconveniently falls on one of them. I explained the situation to both her and Mom and they're being understanding due to extenuating circumstances. Still....
I am not sure of this weekend's plans, but I do want to find something to do.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Today's Report....
Sleep still eludes me, but hopefully a solution to that is forthcoming. It's been about two months since I've slept through the night and it is taking its toll on me. Blech. Enough about that in this blog.
I read the final book "Myth Alliances" in the Myth series by Robert Apsrin. He died earlier this year, guaranteeing the series is finished. This actually wasn't the last book. I found it stuck in my unread book pile and had totally missed it. Sadly, it wasn't very good. I'll skip the review, but can't in good conscience recommend this to anyone except the most diehard fans.
I don't watch MTV any more because they've lost the "M" in MTV and Music Television is now Moronic Television. And I don't watch their awards shows or much of anything else on their insipid network which grows worse each and every year. But last night on the news and in today's paper and all over YouTube, there's all sorts of bits about Kanye West and his terrible behaviour. In case you missed it, Taylor Swift (the teen country sensation -- who I will admit is talented but sings almost nothing I am overly fond of) won an award. She was giving her acceptance speech which, Kanye West the egomaniac, came on stage, ripped the mike out of her hands and dissed her saying the always smoking hot Beyoncé should have won*. Maybe he's right and maybe he's wrong -- that's totally beside the point. Kanye is a douchebag and sucks the big fat furry one. Why, exactly, is he popular or famous? It can't possibly be for his music which is shite. Kanye was asked to leave the venue, so there's a tiny amount of justice. There was a moment of classiness as the obviously embarrassed Beyoncé won an award later in the show and brought Taylor Swift out to give her speech. And I like the fact almost every newspaper and celebrity is speaking out against Mr West -- who published a clearly not contrite apology on his Twitter account.
Oh, and I wore the shoes all weekend and even if nobody else cared, I did. And my blog got a hit today from Google using the phrase "purple yellow vans" which may be the oddest inbound keyword I've ever seen. And I can't figure out why my review of Brent Week's Night Angel trilogy is climbing up the search results at Google Israel. Overall my blog traffic is down considerably and I really don't care so much. Most blogs never get the traffic I already have.
And welcome to the Florida Panthers, Dennis Seidenberg. Maybe a new jersey is in my future for my (almost) namesake :)
And a frown to my sister for last night's performance ruining my dad's birthday dinner :(
* I was going to link to the video, but MTV is issuing takedown orders as fast as they're uploaded to YouTube. Even copies of the video posted at the NY Times and Boston Herald have been pulled.
I read the final book "Myth Alliances" in the Myth series by Robert Apsrin. He died earlier this year, guaranteeing the series is finished. This actually wasn't the last book. I found it stuck in my unread book pile and had totally missed it. Sadly, it wasn't very good. I'll skip the review, but can't in good conscience recommend this to anyone except the most diehard fans.
I don't watch MTV any more because they've lost the "M" in MTV and Music Television is now Moronic Television. And I don't watch their awards shows or much of anything else on their insipid network which grows worse each and every year. But last night on the news and in today's paper and all over YouTube, there's all sorts of bits about Kanye West and his terrible behaviour. In case you missed it, Taylor Swift (the teen country sensation -- who I will admit is talented but sings almost nothing I am overly fond of) won an award. She was giving her acceptance speech which, Kanye West the egomaniac, came on stage, ripped the mike out of her hands and dissed her saying the always smoking hot Beyoncé should have won*. Maybe he's right and maybe he's wrong -- that's totally beside the point. Kanye is a douchebag and sucks the big fat furry one. Why, exactly, is he popular or famous? It can't possibly be for his music which is shite. Kanye was asked to leave the venue, so there's a tiny amount of justice. There was a moment of classiness as the obviously embarrassed Beyoncé won an award later in the show and brought Taylor Swift out to give her speech. And I like the fact almost every newspaper and celebrity is speaking out against Mr West -- who published a clearly not contrite apology on his Twitter account.
Oh, and I wore the shoes all weekend and even if nobody else cared, I did. And my blog got a hit today from Google using the phrase "purple yellow vans" which may be the oddest inbound keyword I've ever seen. And I can't figure out why my review of Brent Week's Night Angel trilogy is climbing up the search results at Google Israel. Overall my blog traffic is down considerably and I really don't care so much. Most blogs never get the traffic I already have.
And welcome to the Florida Panthers, Dennis Seidenberg. Maybe a new jersey is in my future for my (almost) namesake :)
And a frown to my sister for last night's performance ruining my dad's birthday dinner :(
* I was going to link to the video, but MTV is issuing takedown orders as fast as they're uploaded to YouTube. Even copies of the video posted at the NY Times and Boston Herald have been pulled.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Purple Vans, Purple Vans (Apologies to Prince) + Movie Review, Etc
Paul: My thoughts are with you. I hope it all works out okay.
You all wanted to see the shoes. Some of you whom I saw this weekend saw them in person. The rest, will have to see this photo. If you click on the photo, you'll go the Flickr page which has a bonus song for everyone and I hope it amuses you.
I had breakfast at 930am with the Higgins family at Original House of Pancakes in Davie. Afterwards, I ran and got a quick haircut and then met them at the theatre. We went to the Muvico Paradise 24 which is now a Cinemark. Usually the places is packed, but, well, it wasn't. Which was unusual. We would sound find out why.
Theatre had audio but no pre-movie slide show like it should (that's a good thing). Previews started and we got a very extended Where The Wild Things Are preview (awesome beyond belief). Also saw a Nick Twisp posted on the way out. The movie started but the projector was misaligned and it took them a bit to fix it. Some moments later there is a blue overlay counting down from 10 to 0 and then the slide show starts on top of the movie. I run all the way out to the front and get the manager who apologizes and says they only have one projectionist per side of the theatre. Yeah, one guy running twelve screens each. Nice. He comes, fixes it, and leaves. Five minutes later it happens again. Repeat performance by me and projectionist. Who leaves the light on in the booth -- not the small light but the blazing light. Fixed again but 15 minutes of the movie shot to hell. Then the bitch in front of me starts using her Blackberry to send SMS during the film and I tell to shut it off and tell her how rude she is. Stupid bitch. After the film ends, Dave complains and get us passes to return and see it again. Yay.
Oh, right, the movie. We were seeing "9" a film I really hadn't noticed or heard of. Dave picked it. I actually enjoyed it, but was a little lost having missed the first bit of the movie. It has an all-star voice cast. Elijah Wood, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer, and Martin Landau (he's alive???). The animation is decent but I couldn't decide if the fire was animated or rotoscoped because it was so realistic. It's a Tim Burton films so you have that overall dark feeling to it. This post-apocalyptic world is interesting as are the sack-people. The plot, as I said, was murky but it may have been because we didn't really see and hear the introduction due to projection problems. I recommend this film based on what I did see.
Lastly, I read an article in today's Miami Herald that sickened me. I have to share it. I nearly skipped it but I only noticed it because the Herald's editors -- whom are illiterate twits -- have in the HEADLINE "It's release has sparked...." and that grammar error horrified me. I find several errors a week in the fishwrapper but rarely in the headline. Once some years ago there was a shark story, I wrote in with a copy of the article and marked it in red and told them to hire a proofreader. They wrote back and argued with me that it was right. IT'S = contraction for IT IS and ITS = possessive indication of ownership. Anyway, if you haven't heard about the dolphin slaughterIn Japan, you need to educate yourself because this is nauseating. This image will make you sick. I am not including it in-line because it's so disgusting. The water is literally red with blood. Google for more because I just can't stomach it enough to post more.
ADDENDUM: Disney is remaking the Beatles' Yellow Submarine. I am not making this up. Please, please, please someone stop them. Please?
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Beatles Rock Band Party
The Quagmire is rapidly approaching the 700th post! It's sort of exciting really. I can't believe it. 237,800 viewers and counting. I thought I'd hit a quarter million this year, but it looks like late 2010 now unless something else I write spurs traffic.
Disney has announced Pirates of the Caribbean IV: On Stranger Tides. Really. I hope it's not long and tedious. I will certainly wait for reviews before committing. I sense milking of a cash cow.
Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, found my way downstairs.... and then went to La Carreta for breakfast with John, Liz, and Evan. Yummy. Off to skating, which was satisfactory and then home for the Rock Band Beatles Edition Party (for the PS3), hence the opening line of this paragraph. Beforehand we watched some of the Tottenham vs Manchester United match which ended 1-3 (boo) but was over long before that. It was, according to BBC, the Spurs first defeat of the new season despite MU receiving a red card. I had no idea.
Beatles Rock Band has three instruments: drum, guitar, and microphone. All of us took turns in all three positions. I was never good at Guitar Hero and this game is no different. I simply so not have the hand/eye coordination to pull it off and it's even harder because I have big hands and the buttons are too close. I fare much better on the drum kit. I wouldn't classify myself as good but I got as high as 87% and never anything really bad. I got my best score on the hardest song. Go figure. I also sang. Yes, that's right. And I was absolutely horrible beyond belief, but my score wasn't bad after the first try because it rates how you follow along and keep the pitch on the lines. You can even sing the wrong lyrics and manage. We had a lot of fun once we had it up and running. Well worth the money.
John left half of his roast beef sandwich in my fridge. He isn't getting it back because it's going to be eaten tomorrow. I'm a little miffed at BJ's wholesale. A few months ago I got another case of Diet Coke -- I don't drink it, it's for my guests. Evan said it tasted funny. The expiration date on the cans was 2005 and 2006. I suspect someone returned some old cans and I got stuck with them. My caffeine free Coke was expired, but that's because I bought it a long, long time ago and rarely drink it. All the cans were poured out today. I went to Publix and replaced the Diet Coke. Nice fresh soda for my friends. Sorry Evan, but I didn't try and poison you on purpose.
Since, as always, I didn't sleep, I spent most of the small hours filing old papers and shredding antiquated insurance documents. I found 1p in my "to do" pile and have no idea how it got there, but I added it to my UK coin pile for my next trip whenever that may be.
The Official Panthers Board has vanished after a week of being down. Curious. I think I'll go out for dinner. I'm hungry and am alone and bored.
Disney has announced Pirates of the Caribbean IV: On Stranger Tides. Really. I hope it's not long and tedious. I will certainly wait for reviews before committing. I sense milking of a cash cow.
Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, found my way downstairs.... and then went to La Carreta for breakfast with John, Liz, and Evan. Yummy. Off to skating, which was satisfactory and then home for the Rock Band Beatles Edition Party (for the PS3), hence the opening line of this paragraph. Beforehand we watched some of the Tottenham vs Manchester United match which ended 1-3 (boo) but was over long before that. It was, according to BBC, the Spurs first defeat of the new season despite MU receiving a red card. I had no idea.
Beatles Rock Band has three instruments: drum, guitar, and microphone. All of us took turns in all three positions. I was never good at Guitar Hero and this game is no different. I simply so not have the hand/eye coordination to pull it off and it's even harder because I have big hands and the buttons are too close. I fare much better on the drum kit. I wouldn't classify myself as good but I got as high as 87% and never anything really bad. I got my best score on the hardest song. Go figure. I also sang. Yes, that's right. And I was absolutely horrible beyond belief, but my score wasn't bad after the first try because it rates how you follow along and keep the pitch on the lines. You can even sing the wrong lyrics and manage. We had a lot of fun once we had it up and running. Well worth the money.
John left half of his roast beef sandwich in my fridge. He isn't getting it back because it's going to be eaten tomorrow. I'm a little miffed at BJ's wholesale. A few months ago I got another case of Diet Coke -- I don't drink it, it's for my guests. Evan said it tasted funny. The expiration date on the cans was 2005 and 2006. I suspect someone returned some old cans and I got stuck with them. My caffeine free Coke was expired, but that's because I bought it a long, long time ago and rarely drink it. All the cans were poured out today. I went to Publix and replaced the Diet Coke. Nice fresh soda for my friends. Sorry Evan, but I didn't try and poison you on purpose.
Since, as always, I didn't sleep, I spent most of the small hours filing old papers and shredding antiquated insurance documents. I found 1p in my "to do" pile and have no idea how it got there, but I added it to my UK coin pile for my next trip whenever that may be.
The Official Panthers Board has vanished after a week of being down. Curious. I think I'll go out for dinner. I'm hungry and am alone and bored.
Friday, September 11, 2009
9-11-09: We Remember + Health
I'm going to start with 9-11 first because by any measure it's a world-changing, life-altering event. When 9-11 happened I was worried because I knew many people in and around the area. I was relived to discover I didn't actually know anyone who was killed. Or so I thought. A few weeks later (maybe a few months, I am not clear on this any more) I called American Power Conversion (APC) to talk to our sales representative and get some advice and order some new UPS units for work. I asked for him, and that's when I found out. Shawn Nassaney, 25, of Pawtucket, RI was on United Airlines flight 17 which hit the south tower (the second plane). I didn't know him well but it still has quite an impact when you realize you have a connection of any sort to such a horrific event. Jim shared this link of photos with us, and I will warn you that you may not wish to click on it. There are some images there that are disturbing after all these years, but like it or not they defined our nation for eight years.
I got my BMW back today. Is it fixed? Um, maybe. Sort of. Kind of. There are some issues with the centre display that I've noticed (range, etc) and they may clear when I next fill up with gas. They fixed the AC because I can smell the nasty cleaning chemical. They certainly didn't clean the inside of the car. As for the stuff I asked them to fix (again) I just don't know. We'll see. No more BMWs in my future, that I can tell you.
Beatles Rock Band has arrived. Party scheduled. Yay. I am so looking forward to it. Having a bunch of people in my bedroom where the PS3 is located, not so much. But this is a monumental event and therefore I shall deal with it.
Today did not start well. Last night I simply didn't sleep. My mind was all over the place. No drugs and then lots. Nothing helped. I mention this only so you know I was cranky as all Hell today. At 930, went to the doctor's office and sulked expecting a long wait. My 10am appointment began at 1010am which, by any doctor's standards, is pretty much on time. The doctor actually spent some time with me so I am less inclined to be irate with him. I asked him some medication question. He answered. He was pretty taken aback by my lengthy list of medications but he knows the situations behind them all. He promised to confer with my primacy care doctor.
I took the sonogram which I was stressed about. It turns out it's a glorified ultrasound and I wish I'd have known that up front and I'd have been less stressed. It was a relatively quick test. The nurse was fast and efficient. I talked to her a little and told her how anxious I was not realizing what the test was. She turned on the audio in little spurts for me so I could actually hear my heart beating, blood flowing, and whatnot. She explained each of the heart's four valves make distinct sounds.
Officially, I have no news until Thursday when the doctor will call me with the results. Unofficially she played the tape for me and showed me what was going on and gave me some reassurance. I am not dying (at least not from this) in the immediate future. The good news is that none of the valves are leaking and nothing is escaping my heart. Three of the four valves seem perfectly normal.
The fourth valve, well that was interesting. The tricuspid valve is between the right atrium and right ventricle. It appears that is where things are going wrong. There was some indication of some minor problems. The official cause of these remains unknown until the doctor sees that.
It was very fascinating to watch your heart working and seeing things go. It appears to be mostly healthy. My blood pressure is fine: perfect in fact. So now, it's wait another week for a final report. In the meantime I have to take this heart medication daily for five months and then go back. And I have to hope this fixes it. But, for right now, surgery is not happening. And that makes me happy.
(More Details in private.)
I got my BMW back today. Is it fixed? Um, maybe. Sort of. Kind of. There are some issues with the centre display that I've noticed (range, etc) and they may clear when I next fill up with gas. They fixed the AC because I can smell the nasty cleaning chemical. They certainly didn't clean the inside of the car. As for the stuff I asked them to fix (again) I just don't know. We'll see. No more BMWs in my future, that I can tell you.
Beatles Rock Band has arrived. Party scheduled. Yay. I am so looking forward to it. Having a bunch of people in my bedroom where the PS3 is located, not so much. But this is a monumental event and therefore I shall deal with it.
Today did not start well. Last night I simply didn't sleep. My mind was all over the place. No drugs and then lots. Nothing helped. I mention this only so you know I was cranky as all Hell today. At 930, went to the doctor's office and sulked expecting a long wait. My 10am appointment began at 1010am which, by any doctor's standards, is pretty much on time. The doctor actually spent some time with me so I am less inclined to be irate with him. I asked him some medication question. He answered. He was pretty taken aback by my lengthy list of medications but he knows the situations behind them all. He promised to confer with my primacy care doctor.
I took the sonogram which I was stressed about. It turns out it's a glorified ultrasound and I wish I'd have known that up front and I'd have been less stressed. It was a relatively quick test. The nurse was fast and efficient. I talked to her a little and told her how anxious I was not realizing what the test was. She turned on the audio in little spurts for me so I could actually hear my heart beating, blood flowing, and whatnot. She explained each of the heart's four valves make distinct sounds.
Officially, I have no news until Thursday when the doctor will call me with the results. Unofficially she played the tape for me and showed me what was going on and gave me some reassurance. I am not dying (at least not from this) in the immediate future. The good news is that none of the valves are leaking and nothing is escaping my heart. Three of the four valves seem perfectly normal.
The fourth valve, well that was interesting. The tricuspid valve is between the right atrium and right ventricle. It appears that is where things are going wrong. There was some indication of some minor problems. The official cause of these remains unknown until the doctor sees that.
It was very fascinating to watch your heart working and seeing things go. It appears to be mostly healthy. My blood pressure is fine: perfect in fact. So now, it's wait another week for a final report. In the meantime I have to take this heart medication daily for five months and then go back. And I have to hope this fixes it. But, for right now, surgery is not happening. And that makes me happy.
(More Details in private.)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
A whole plethora of stuff
First, tomorrow's the big day at the cardiologist. Wish me luck. I am, shall we say, apprehensive. I just hope I don't have to wait for results or it will be a very long weekend. I'd have preferred the test not be on 9-11 because it's got so many bad memories for me but I didn't have much choice. I have insurance but no card since we just switched from Aetna to AvMed so tomorrow's visit will be very expensive, indeed. I'll have to file for reimbursement.
That being said, let me segue into this: tomorrow is the anniversary of 9-11 and it seems like just yesterday. I remember what I was doing when I found out -- didn't even know what it was at the time. That horrific news came later. It remains the slowest sales-volume day in our company's recorded history. We sent everyone home early with pay. The next work day I was catching up on my faxes and I had one that was time stamped at the exact moment the plane hit the first tower. The fax was bad news from a customer and I've still got it in my drawer. I remember the joy of air travel before that date and the utter hassle it's become since. I used to love to fly and would travel anywhere on a moment's notice if I could get a cheap fare. Now, not so much. I bring up 9-11 because today SkyNews has released a never before seen video of the second plane hitting the tower. This video is, to me, more disturbing than the others. Read the story before you click to watch the video so you know what you're seeing. It's quite disturbing and I'm sorry I watched.
At work we have a shared laptop. I rarely need one except when I'm travelling for extended periods of time: China, Europe, Vegas for a convention, that sort of thing. We always kept it in the same place in the back room with all the other computer equipment that's not in active use. Pretty much nobody knew it was there except two or three people. These people are beyond reproach.
I went to get it today because I wanted to prepare a presentation for one of our salesmen and let him go show it to a client. It wasn't there. It was last seen months ago (as I said it's not used very often) probably May or June. I have no suspects except maybe the cleaning people but I doubt she'd know what to do with a computer and they've had more than ample opportunity to steal far more exciting things and more expensive things. A printer is missing too. Some old HP inkjet.
I tried to find the receipt at work but at about three years old, maybe four, it's not around. So it's hard to file a police report without a model or serial number. "Yeah, officer, we're missing a silver Lenovo laptop. No further information is available." On the plus side no confidential data is kept on it. Everything is kept on the person's personal USB drive. I suppose I need to replace it and keep it locked up. I don't suppose a laptop that old has much value, but it irks me. Just so you know what sort of random crap pisses me off.
Speaking of work crap: we have a raccoon in the building. Been trying to catch it for three weeks without luck. Even the professional has given up. I have nothing against raccoons but we come in and there are some very large "presents" that really stink. You have no idea what a few of those in a sealed building with 100+ degree temperatures smell like when you walk in. And that's why it needs to go. The no-kill traps keep catching our cats and not the raccoon. Blech.
I had to buy a forklift because ours is on its last legs. That's $25,000 plus tax we didn't have down the tubes. Not sure how to make more cuts to cover that unexpected expense. *sigh*
I made steak for dinner but the meat didn't taste quite right. So I am displeased with how that turned out. It wasn't a cooking issue -- it was a product issue. I am growing increasingly pissed at Delta (still no reply), Tower.Com (still no reply), and AvMed (slower than dirt).
The Balsillie Circus with the NHL is growing more entertaining by the day as the two sides fight on the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes. Only two bids remain out three made -- one bidder gave up and I can't say that I blame them. One by Canadian billionaire James Balsillie is contingent on moving the team to Hamilton, Ontario, over the overwhelming opposition by the NHL. The other is by the NHL, which says it will resell the team outside of the bankruptcy process, either to an owner who would keep the team in Glendale or, failing that, to someone who would relocate the franchise.
Wait? Isn't that the original reason they said Balsillie couldn't buy the team? Yes, the NHL rejected Balsille as an owner because they don't want the team moved. Yet that's part of their plan. So Basillie offers nearly double what the NHL is willing to pay for the team and move it to a Canadian (Hamilton, ON) market that will support the team (but is an admittedly small TV market) and the NHL is opposed and would rather leave the team in Phoenix (Glendale, AZ).
I'm not a judge, but if I were, this is an easy decision. There are two sides; either $140 Million (NHL) vs $210 Million +$50 Million* (Balsillie) -- in bankruptcy the interests of the creditors come first. If the debts are over the NHL's offer the judge HAS to decide for Basillie. The NHL must know this so I suspect the offer is just above the team's debts. And if you read the article, the NHL is only offering $2 million extra and is trying to dictate which creditors get paid -- that's got to piss off the judge because they don't get to decide that. Balsille's offer means everyone gets paid. See my previous blog post for more ruminations on this topic.
I hope you're still with me. This has been an inordinately long post. Lastly, a book review. Yesterday I read Orson Scott Card's novella A War of Gifts. It's a brief vignette that takes place during the Ender's Game time frame. I wanted to like it. Really, I did. But it was just so overwhelmingly bothersome. There's the main character, Zeck, who is very interesting although not likeable -- which is the point. And the writing is, as all of Card's writing, utterly brilliant. So what's my beef? Card is getting preachier and preachier. I want to read, to be entertained, and I don't even mind an author sharing his views with me through his characters. What I do mind is being preached at, and as Card's personal views have moved further and further to the religious extreme, his stories have gotten more and more preachier. And I just don't like it.
I am still trying to get wind-storm insurance before my current policy expires since Liberty Mutual has given me a non-renewal notice. That's been quite the chore. Nobody is writing insurance in Florida for wind-storm. But I've got an agent working on it. I just hope I can afford it. My cancelled policy (homeowner's + wind-storm) was showing a premium of damn near $8,000 a year and all my neighbours are paying well into the five figures. It's like a separate house payment. But Wilma reminded me why I have it. (This doesn't include flood which is a separate policy.)
* He offered Glendale $50M to break the 30 year lease.
That being said, let me segue into this: tomorrow is the anniversary of 9-11 and it seems like just yesterday. I remember what I was doing when I found out -- didn't even know what it was at the time. That horrific news came later. It remains the slowest sales-volume day in our company's recorded history. We sent everyone home early with pay. The next work day I was catching up on my faxes and I had one that was time stamped at the exact moment the plane hit the first tower. The fax was bad news from a customer and I've still got it in my drawer. I remember the joy of air travel before that date and the utter hassle it's become since. I used to love to fly and would travel anywhere on a moment's notice if I could get a cheap fare. Now, not so much. I bring up 9-11 because today SkyNews has released a never before seen video of the second plane hitting the tower. This video is, to me, more disturbing than the others. Read the story before you click to watch the video so you know what you're seeing. It's quite disturbing and I'm sorry I watched.
At work we have a shared laptop. I rarely need one except when I'm travelling for extended periods of time: China, Europe, Vegas for a convention, that sort of thing. We always kept it in the same place in the back room with all the other computer equipment that's not in active use. Pretty much nobody knew it was there except two or three people. These people are beyond reproach.
I went to get it today because I wanted to prepare a presentation for one of our salesmen and let him go show it to a client. It wasn't there. It was last seen months ago (as I said it's not used very often) probably May or June. I have no suspects except maybe the cleaning people but I doubt she'd know what to do with a computer and they've had more than ample opportunity to steal far more exciting things and more expensive things. A printer is missing too. Some old HP inkjet.
I tried to find the receipt at work but at about three years old, maybe four, it's not around. So it's hard to file a police report without a model or serial number. "Yeah, officer, we're missing a silver Lenovo laptop. No further information is available." On the plus side no confidential data is kept on it. Everything is kept on the person's personal USB drive. I suppose I need to replace it and keep it locked up. I don't suppose a laptop that old has much value, but it irks me. Just so you know what sort of random crap pisses me off.
Speaking of work crap: we have a raccoon in the building. Been trying to catch it for three weeks without luck. Even the professional has given up. I have nothing against raccoons but we come in and there are some very large "presents" that really stink. You have no idea what a few of those in a sealed building with 100+ degree temperatures smell like when you walk in. And that's why it needs to go. The no-kill traps keep catching our cats and not the raccoon. Blech.
I had to buy a forklift because ours is on its last legs. That's $25,000 plus tax we didn't have down the tubes. Not sure how to make more cuts to cover that unexpected expense. *sigh*
I made steak for dinner but the meat didn't taste quite right. So I am displeased with how that turned out. It wasn't a cooking issue -- it was a product issue. I am growing increasingly pissed at Delta (still no reply), Tower.Com (still no reply), and AvMed (slower than dirt).
The Balsillie Circus with the NHL is growing more entertaining by the day as the two sides fight on the fate of the Phoenix Coyotes. Only two bids remain out three made -- one bidder gave up and I can't say that I blame them. One by Canadian billionaire James Balsillie is contingent on moving the team to Hamilton, Ontario, over the overwhelming opposition by the NHL. The other is by the NHL, which says it will resell the team outside of the bankruptcy process, either to an owner who would keep the team in Glendale or, failing that, to someone who would relocate the franchise.
Wait? Isn't that the original reason they said Balsillie couldn't buy the team? Yes, the NHL rejected Balsille as an owner because they don't want the team moved. Yet that's part of their plan. So Basillie offers nearly double what the NHL is willing to pay for the team and move it to a Canadian (Hamilton, ON) market that will support the team (but is an admittedly small TV market) and the NHL is opposed and would rather leave the team in Phoenix (Glendale, AZ).
I'm not a judge, but if I were, this is an easy decision. There are two sides; either $140 Million (NHL) vs $210 Million +$50 Million* (Balsillie) -- in bankruptcy the interests of the creditors come first. If the debts are over the NHL's offer the judge HAS to decide for Basillie. The NHL must know this so I suspect the offer is just above the team's debts. And if you read the article, the NHL is only offering $2 million extra and is trying to dictate which creditors get paid -- that's got to piss off the judge because they don't get to decide that. Balsille's offer means everyone gets paid. See my previous blog post for more ruminations on this topic.
I hope you're still with me. This has been an inordinately long post. Lastly, a book review. Yesterday I read Orson Scott Card's novella A War of Gifts. It's a brief vignette that takes place during the Ender's Game time frame. I wanted to like it. Really, I did. But it was just so overwhelmingly bothersome. There's the main character, Zeck, who is very interesting although not likeable -- which is the point. And the writing is, as all of Card's writing, utterly brilliant. So what's my beef? Card is getting preachier and preachier. I want to read, to be entertained, and I don't even mind an author sharing his views with me through his characters. What I do mind is being preached at, and as Card's personal views have moved further and further to the religious extreme, his stories have gotten more and more preachier. And I just don't like it.
I am still trying to get wind-storm insurance before my current policy expires since Liberty Mutual has given me a non-renewal notice. That's been quite the chore. Nobody is writing insurance in Florida for wind-storm. But I've got an agent working on it. I just hope I can afford it. My cancelled policy (homeowner's + wind-storm) was showing a premium of damn near $8,000 a year and all my neighbours are paying well into the five figures. It's like a separate house payment. But Wilma reminded me why I have it. (This doesn't include flood which is a separate policy.)
* He offered Glendale $50M to break the 30 year lease.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Apple and stuff that's way more interesting
I am an Apple fan and have been for a long, long time. So I wish to say I am quite disappointed in today's Apple announcements. Seriously anti-climactic if you ask me. There was much anticipation and it was followed by much boredom.
Far more interesting today 9-9-09 was the Beatles release of their entire catalogue in remastered form. You can read about it here. (The site is overloaded and you may trouble accessing at times). And if you've heard any of it -- radio stations have been playing from it all day -- you know how fantastic it is. What I've heard is phenomenal I ordered it but it hasn't shipped and I am miffed. Beatles Rock Band was released for all major platforms today and is selling like hotcakes. It is estimated that the Beatles will make over $150,000,000 before the day is done. Yeah, 150 million sawbucks. Wow.
Even the Christian Science Monitor has reviewed the new remasters and is smitten. I am really excited about it. I am just pleased that the Beatles' music is still so well-respected an well-loved to generate this sort of reaction. Makes me happy.
Delta is really pissing me off. I got another form letter today that is, word for word, the same as the last one. Apparently they don't read English in Atlanta.
I finished the last book in the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. In a previous post I had reviewed the first book. Some 2,000 pages later, I'm done. Yay. I liked it. It held my interest until near the end. (Evan stop reading here as there are spoilers ahead.) I didn't like the ending. Seemed forced and semi-stupid. It didn't ruin the book for me, and just left me a little irritated. The characters in this book Kylar and Durzo are really interesting and appealing. Logan could have been but he was half-developed and then left to be a stereotype. Now, I'm not a prude but the word 'fuck' appears so often as to be noticeable and irritating. If a reader notices it, there's a problem because you've knocked your reader out of the story. It happens multiple times. The book begins and it seems a pretty chaste book aimed at young adults or teens perhaps and then it changes in the middle of the first book. That's a good thing even as it grows slowly more vulgar and violent. The books are good. The Wolf is certainly intriguing. But some end-game cop-outs are frustrating. Still I recommend this book.
The FML site still amuses me. And my shoes have arrived.
Far more interesting today 9-9-09 was the Beatles release of their entire catalogue in remastered form. You can read about it here. (The site is overloaded and you may trouble accessing at times). And if you've heard any of it -- radio stations have been playing from it all day -- you know how fantastic it is. What I've heard is phenomenal I ordered it but it hasn't shipped and I am miffed. Beatles Rock Band was released for all major platforms today and is selling like hotcakes. It is estimated that the Beatles will make over $150,000,000 before the day is done. Yeah, 150 million sawbucks. Wow.
Even the Christian Science Monitor has reviewed the new remasters and is smitten. I am really excited about it. I am just pleased that the Beatles' music is still so well-respected an well-loved to generate this sort of reaction. Makes me happy.
Delta is really pissing me off. I got another form letter today that is, word for word, the same as the last one. Apparently they don't read English in Atlanta.
I finished the last book in the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. In a previous post I had reviewed the first book. Some 2,000 pages later, I'm done. Yay. I liked it. It held my interest until near the end. (Evan stop reading here as there are spoilers ahead.) I didn't like the ending. Seemed forced and semi-stupid. It didn't ruin the book for me, and just left me a little irritated. The characters in this book Kylar and Durzo are really interesting and appealing. Logan could have been but he was half-developed and then left to be a stereotype. Now, I'm not a prude but the word 'fuck' appears so often as to be noticeable and irritating. If a reader notices it, there's a problem because you've knocked your reader out of the story. It happens multiple times. The book begins and it seems a pretty chaste book aimed at young adults or teens perhaps and then it changes in the middle of the first book. That's a good thing even as it grows slowly more vulgar and violent. The books are good. The Wolf is certainly intriguing. But some end-game cop-outs are frustrating. Still I recommend this book.
The FML site still amuses me. And my shoes have arrived.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
When It Rains....
First, if you're going to use Snow Leopard here's a compatibility chart you'll find useful. Make sure your critical applications are updated and make sure you know what won't work. Be especially careful with disk utilities that may cause more harm than good when used with an operating system they aren't tested with. Also both before and after installation be sure you repair permissions to avoid random oddities. So far things are going okay except the buttons on my HP printer (scan, etc) don't work and I have to control everything from the software. Screen savers do not work from any previous OS version because they were all 32 bit and they are now required to be 64 bit. (Seti@Home works but there's no screen saver for now.)
Despite many reports that the Beatles are coming to iTunes tomorrow, it looks very unlikely from everything I've read. Crushed once again. However, I'm still excited about my eventual delivery of Rock Band and the new Box set. Reports when they arrive in a week or so. Almost done book three of the Brent Weeks book I mentioned before and will post a review when done.
The Tolkien Estate and New Line Cinema have settled their lawsuit and production of the Hobbit movie with Peter Jackson producing but not directing may now commence. Then again with the luck they've had this will change a few more times too. And if you can't believe it, someone's more of a subway nut than I am. Here's someone who wants to run a bunch of old tube stations as tourist attractions. I'd go, for sure but I can't imagine any scenario in which that would even be a break-even operation.
The Panthers are mailing season tickets out in the next few weeks and the first (and only) pre-season game is later this month. Congratulations to the University of Miami for whomping the dreaded Florida State Seminoles. The only time you'd ever catch me rooting for the Seminoles is if they were playing Notre Dame (which is my least favourite college sports team of all time.)
I remain very anxious about my incipient doctor's visit on the 11th. I probably won't have results right away but I'm nervous.
I am miffed at Delta. Bureaucracy is a bad thing. I flew CO some time ago and for some reason my miles didn't post to my DL account right away. I sent in my boarding pass (and stupidly didn't keep a copy) for proof. They claim they didn't get it. It's not that I care about the tiny-ass amount of miles, but am trying to keep my miles from expiring at the end of the year. I keep getting bounced back and forth. I told them to give me credit for one stinking mile just to extend my expiration date. No dice. With all the miles I have at stake, this isn't a minor detail.
And, for fun, I have from 1993 a Northwest statement with 4000 miles on it. They didn't expire back then. I'm going to send that to Delta (they bought NWA) and ask for those miles. I'll do that next month because I don't want to confuse them. It's a long shot for sure, but what the hell.
I am sweating profusely for no good reason. I know you care. My whiplash has been acting up badly these past two days, but until my heart test I am not recommended to go to therapy for that. Which reminds me, I remain very anxious about my incipient heart doctor's visit on the 11th. I probably won't have results right away but I'm nervous. I promise a public update as soon as I have results and bit of other health news. I've been quiet lately but things really aren't all that much changed -- don't take silence as good or bad news: it's just silence.
In one last bit of stress, we switched insurance companies on the first of the month. We still have no cards for the new company. So I've been paying out of pocket for my prescriptions. And I'll have to do the same at the cardiologist. If I was healthier there would be hell to pay but I don't have the physical strength or mental energy to do it.
And I had to buy a new forklift at work spending money we don't have. *screams*
Despite many reports that the Beatles are coming to iTunes tomorrow, it looks very unlikely from everything I've read. Crushed once again. However, I'm still excited about my eventual delivery of Rock Band and the new Box set. Reports when they arrive in a week or so. Almost done book three of the Brent Weeks book I mentioned before and will post a review when done.
The Tolkien Estate and New Line Cinema have settled their lawsuit and production of the Hobbit movie with Peter Jackson producing but not directing may now commence. Then again with the luck they've had this will change a few more times too. And if you can't believe it, someone's more of a subway nut than I am. Here's someone who wants to run a bunch of old tube stations as tourist attractions. I'd go, for sure but I can't imagine any scenario in which that would even be a break-even operation.
The Panthers are mailing season tickets out in the next few weeks and the first (and only) pre-season game is later this month. Congratulations to the University of Miami for whomping the dreaded Florida State Seminoles. The only time you'd ever catch me rooting for the Seminoles is if they were playing Notre Dame (which is my least favourite college sports team of all time.)
I remain very anxious about my incipient doctor's visit on the 11th. I probably won't have results right away but I'm nervous.
I am miffed at Delta. Bureaucracy is a bad thing. I flew CO some time ago and for some reason my miles didn't post to my DL account right away. I sent in my boarding pass (and stupidly didn't keep a copy) for proof. They claim they didn't get it. It's not that I care about the tiny-ass amount of miles, but am trying to keep my miles from expiring at the end of the year. I keep getting bounced back and forth. I told them to give me credit for one stinking mile just to extend my expiration date. No dice. With all the miles I have at stake, this isn't a minor detail.
And, for fun, I have from 1993 a Northwest statement with 4000 miles on it. They didn't expire back then. I'm going to send that to Delta (they bought NWA) and ask for those miles. I'll do that next month because I don't want to confuse them. It's a long shot for sure, but what the hell.
I am sweating profusely for no good reason. I know you care. My whiplash has been acting up badly these past two days, but until my heart test I am not recommended to go to therapy for that. Which reminds me, I remain very anxious about my incipient heart doctor's visit on the 11th. I probably won't have results right away but I'm nervous. I promise a public update as soon as I have results and bit of other health news. I've been quiet lately but things really aren't all that much changed -- don't take silence as good or bad news: it's just silence.
In one last bit of stress, we switched insurance companies on the first of the month. We still have no cards for the new company. So I've been paying out of pocket for my prescriptions. And I'll have to do the same at the cardiologist. If I was healthier there would be hell to pay but I don't have the physical strength or mental energy to do it.
And I had to buy a new forklift at work spending money we don't have. *screams*
Monday, September 7, 2009
So many things to report....
First, a big thank you to John and Liz for their hospitality last night. There was BBQ and music and fun all around. I'm glad I went. Tasty. A bit spicy and my acid reflux didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did. Oh well, sometimes you gotta' live a little.
Now on to the rest. Today was a skating day and we went to La Caretta for breakfast and then went off to skating. And, to our horror, saw a school bus unloading kids outside. Lots of them. We decided to cancel skating due to the overwhelming number of children. So we went off to Barnes and Nobles for a bit, then went to the mall to try and Pre-Order the special edition Beatles Rock Band. Why? Well Liz informed me that I was having a Beatles Rock Band Party whether or not I wanted to. They were all sold out but Amazon had some available so I ordered it there. It'll show up eventually.
Speaking of Amazon, they cancelled my Beatles Box Set pre-order saying they had oversold (or likely their allotment was smaller than anticipated). Pretty much everywhere I checked was sold out, but I did find it at Tower.Com (they're out of the mono) so I ordered it there and will pray I get something for my money.
Congratulations to Steve K who broke 1,500,000 credits on Seti@Home. I'm just past 800,000.
Health wise everything is about the same so there will be no report here. I will post a report for sure after I see the cardiologist on the 11th. Before then likely as not depending on having anything to report.
My HP PhotoSmart C6180 will not print because it has determined "one or more of your ink cartridges are expired" -- that's a joke. They were working fine Friday and now just because some arbitrary date has passed it won't print. That's inexcusable. Hey, HP, you suck. Seriously. So I'm off to get ink before everything closes. That sucks.
I was sitting here sweating when I realized my AC's programmable thermostat is on the weekday schedule so it's going to be hot until 5pm. I guess I'll override it.
Thanks to Stan for this funny and sad YouTube video. This guys spent two weeks building a building block replica of the leaning tower of Pisa that's six feet tall. He was waiting for the Guinness Book of World Records to come inspect and certify it. Watch what the reporter does. You'll laugh but still feel really bad for the guy.
And last, but not least, I installed Snow Leopard today. I bought it yesterday because I didn't want to keep waiting for my CD to come from Apple. The install (an upgrade not a clean install) took about 45 minutes. A few things if you're going to do it. Have the latest version of Flash. Apple installs a version that isn't current and has some security holes without checking to see if you have a newer version. If you have QuickTime 7 Pro (not regular) it's going to be deleted. You then click on "optional installs" and re-install QT7P and it will find and use your old serial number. But when you open an application designed for QT, it will open QTX by default. The second QT (QT7) is installed in your utilities folder.
Flip4Mac doesn't work properly with Snow Leopard so be sure and disable it -- it'll keep telling you QT is not installed because it doesn't recognize QTX but I'm sure that'll be fixed eventually. Vuze's toolbar doesn't work and will crash (it's in the library/input method folder -- delete it). Spell Catcher partially works but you'll have to go to Rainmaker's website for all the gory details. Boinc doesn't work properly until you reinstall it but the screen saver is broken. They're working on a new version. There's also a new version of X-code on the disk if you use that.
My HP printer and Snow Leopard don't play all that well together. See HP's website for details on Snow Leopard compatibility. In your "login items" you will find the old HP login items aren't removed. You should do that.
I did a repair permissions when done (always a good idea). I'm sure I'll find more, but right now SpellCatcher is giving me the most headaches because it keeps turning off every time I use a Finder function and despite claims on their website, their little App doesn't always turn it back one. Also, I recommend you update all your applications (especially utilitie) to the current version before the upgrade.
I did my laundry. I know you care. I also finished book two of the trilogy I previously mentioned. Still good but I'm holding my review until I finish the third book. So give me awhile longer.
One last link, BTW, if you want a FREE font in your own handwriting, go here!
Now on to the rest. Today was a skating day and we went to La Caretta for breakfast and then went off to skating. And, to our horror, saw a school bus unloading kids outside. Lots of them. We decided to cancel skating due to the overwhelming number of children. So we went off to Barnes and Nobles for a bit, then went to the mall to try and Pre-Order the special edition Beatles Rock Band. Why? Well Liz informed me that I was having a Beatles Rock Band Party whether or not I wanted to. They were all sold out but Amazon had some available so I ordered it there. It'll show up eventually.
Speaking of Amazon, they cancelled my Beatles Box Set pre-order saying they had oversold (or likely their allotment was smaller than anticipated). Pretty much everywhere I checked was sold out, but I did find it at Tower.Com (they're out of the mono) so I ordered it there and will pray I get something for my money.
Congratulations to Steve K who broke 1,500,000 credits on Seti@Home. I'm just past 800,000.
Health wise everything is about the same so there will be no report here. I will post a report for sure after I see the cardiologist on the 11th. Before then likely as not depending on having anything to report.
My HP PhotoSmart C6180 will not print because it has determined "one or more of your ink cartridges are expired" -- that's a joke. They were working fine Friday and now just because some arbitrary date has passed it won't print. That's inexcusable. Hey, HP, you suck. Seriously. So I'm off to get ink before everything closes. That sucks.
I was sitting here sweating when I realized my AC's programmable thermostat is on the weekday schedule so it's going to be hot until 5pm. I guess I'll override it.
Thanks to Stan for this funny and sad YouTube video. This guys spent two weeks building a building block replica of the leaning tower of Pisa that's six feet tall. He was waiting for the Guinness Book of World Records to come inspect and certify it. Watch what the reporter does. You'll laugh but still feel really bad for the guy.
And last, but not least, I installed Snow Leopard today. I bought it yesterday because I didn't want to keep waiting for my CD to come from Apple. The install (an upgrade not a clean install) took about 45 minutes. A few things if you're going to do it. Have the latest version of Flash. Apple installs a version that isn't current and has some security holes without checking to see if you have a newer version. If you have QuickTime 7 Pro (not regular) it's going to be deleted. You then click on "optional installs" and re-install QT7P and it will find and use your old serial number. But when you open an application designed for QT, it will open QTX by default. The second QT (QT7) is installed in your utilities folder.
Flip4Mac doesn't work properly with Snow Leopard so be sure and disable it -- it'll keep telling you QT is not installed because it doesn't recognize QTX but I'm sure that'll be fixed eventually. Vuze's toolbar doesn't work and will crash (it's in the library/input method folder -- delete it). Spell Catcher partially works but you'll have to go to Rainmaker's website for all the gory details. Boinc doesn't work properly until you reinstall it but the screen saver is broken. They're working on a new version. There's also a new version of X-code on the disk if you use that.
My HP printer and Snow Leopard don't play all that well together. See HP's website for details on Snow Leopard compatibility. In your "login items" you will find the old HP login items aren't removed. You should do that.
I did a repair permissions when done (always a good idea). I'm sure I'll find more, but right now SpellCatcher is giving me the most headaches because it keeps turning off every time I use a Finder function and despite claims on their website, their little App doesn't always turn it back one. Also, I recommend you update all your applications (especially utilitie) to the current version before the upgrade.
I did my laundry. I know you care. I also finished book two of the trilogy I previously mentioned. Still good but I'm holding my review until I finish the third book. So give me awhile longer.
One last link, BTW, if you want a FREE font in your own handwriting, go here!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The first of three boring weekend days...
Today did not start of auspiciously. Slept like shit -- that's becoming par for the course. I go to bed at 11 and sleep for 3 to 4 hours. Wake up and then toss and turn in 30 to 40 minute chunks for the remainder of the night until time to get up. Got out of bed at 624 and tried to shut alarm off before 625 but failed. I hate that noise. 625 on a Saturday? Yeah, had to go to South Motors with my BMW X5. They open at 8 and I wanted to be there at 730 to be first in the door.
Read paper (now have to use glasses, dammit). Skipped food. Went to Starbucks and got a banana-chocolate chip coffee cake and a cup of decaf. I missed the flavour, sue me. Went to Walgreens and renewed my prescription and told them I'd pick it up later. They hadn't renewed it because my insurance has expired and while we have no insurance we don't have cards. That's $68 out of my pocket because I can't wait. Anyway, off to South Motors, the dealership from hell. As I've said, I cannot in good conscience recommend this dealer because of their service department. I actually didn't mind the sales department. You've all read my past tales so I'll not remind you of them.
Earlier in the week I had spoken to my advisor Donny and he said he'd have my loaner ready and everything in the computer. It was his day off and I should see Steve.
I arrive at 740am, and am second in line behind a small lady with very tight low riding Brazilian cut jeans. There's nothing wrong with being behind that even at 740am. I read my book (I'm on book two now) while I wait. They unlock the service doors at 8am because heaven forbid they let us in early even though they're all there at 750. Thetight jeans nice lady gets checked in while the 15 or so guys in line all watch. You know, I realize it's sexist to stare, but if you're clearly advertising, it's hard for people not to look. I'm next. I ask where Steve is but she insists I have to check in first. But I'm not in the computer. I ask again for Steve, she won't tell me who he is or where he is. I ask for the service manager and she tells me she'll page him after she checks in everyone in line. Please see above there are about 15 people in line behind me. I stand at the desk and refuse to leave, so she checks in people using the space next to me -- the desk is big enough.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the service manager is going for a stroll. It's my lucky day and his unlucky day because I intercept him. (You will remember from a previous post that I know his name is Carlos, which is how I knew who it was.) I tell him my name and tell him I am pissed. He takes me to his office immediately because he can see I am going to be very loud and disruptive in front of his customers. I remind him briefly of my previous "service" experience which was not satisfactory by any measure ever devised. I explain that many of the items are not fixed. I remind him they lied to me. I also explain Donny promised me everything would be ready and with Steve. He calls Steve and takes me over to Steve. And indeed, Donnie had left the loaner with Steve but had not bothered to put all the information in the computer. Because I knew this would happen -- South Motors is nothing if not consistently bad -- I had printed out a complete list of what was wrong. (Because I am an asshole I also listed stuff like "5b from last visit not fixed" so they have to work at it.) Steve is nice and I am very nice to Steve: no cause to punish an innocent bystander. I am in the loaner by 820 and pulling onto Dixie Highway when the idiot light comes and reminds me there's no gas in the car. I stop and fill it up since I will have it all weekend. I drive like an insane man trying to get to Aventura for a 9am appointment (see private place). Amazingly I cover the distance and make it there at 904am. On the way I fix the radio as the previous occupant of car apparently had no taste. I am also reminded that Miami is a desolate radio wasteland.
Conclude appointment near 11am. Call David Higgins and meet him for lunch at Mario the Baker. We then walk around Broward Mall as I try to find a present for Dad's birthday and fail. I did get two funny cards. We part company, and I decide I'd try to call Timmy who I've not heard from in months but I get his machine and hang up without leaving a message. I then call Erin and get no answer, leaving a message. That leaves me to go home which I do after stopping at the post office and Walgreen's.
I get home, fire up the Mac and check e-mail. Get the details for tomorrow's BBQ for which I am excited. And I have an email from, of all people, Josh who I've not heard from in years though not for lack of trying. I am so mad I wasn't around when he was on. Argh. I emailed him but haven't heard back. Crushing, that is.
I decide to go buy Snow Leopard because I don't want to wait any more. So I go to Best Buy and find Dad a birthday present but now Snow Leopard. I return home to type this post instead of installing Snow Leopard. Blech. I don't want to wait but I guess I have to. My shoes are in Florida according to the tracking so maybe I'll have them by the middle of the week.
And now for something completely different.... Sorry but I've got a totally new topic. I have long been peeved by TSA because, well, they're stupid. I don't mean as individuals because many of them are fine, normal people. I mean the upper level bureaucracy. Don't start me on 3oz bottles and arguing with people with 3.2 oz tubes of toothpaste. I refer everyone to this article by which espouses what I've said before. (In turn it links to another article and another as well.) The TSA is not making us safer, only making you think you're safer. Making everyone walk through metal detectors and x-raying everything is a good idea. But some of the insane rules they have make no sense at all.
I'm bored.
Read paper (now have to use glasses, dammit). Skipped food. Went to Starbucks and got a banana-chocolate chip coffee cake and a cup of decaf. I missed the flavour, sue me. Went to Walgreens and renewed my prescription and told them I'd pick it up later. They hadn't renewed it because my insurance has expired and while we have no insurance we don't have cards. That's $68 out of my pocket because I can't wait. Anyway, off to South Motors, the dealership from hell. As I've said, I cannot in good conscience recommend this dealer because of their service department. I actually didn't mind the sales department. You've all read my past tales so I'll not remind you of them.
Earlier in the week I had spoken to my advisor Donny and he said he'd have my loaner ready and everything in the computer. It was his day off and I should see Steve.
I arrive at 740am, and am second in line behind a small lady with very tight low riding Brazilian cut jeans. There's nothing wrong with being behind that even at 740am. I read my book (I'm on book two now) while I wait. They unlock the service doors at 8am because heaven forbid they let us in early even though they're all there at 750. The
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the service manager is going for a stroll. It's my lucky day and his unlucky day because I intercept him. (You will remember from a previous post that I know his name is Carlos, which is how I knew who it was.) I tell him my name and tell him I am pissed. He takes me to his office immediately because he can see I am going to be very loud and disruptive in front of his customers. I remind him briefly of my previous "service" experience which was not satisfactory by any measure ever devised. I explain that many of the items are not fixed. I remind him they lied to me. I also explain Donny promised me everything would be ready and with Steve. He calls Steve and takes me over to Steve. And indeed, Donnie had left the loaner with Steve but had not bothered to put all the information in the computer. Because I knew this would happen -- South Motors is nothing if not consistently bad -- I had printed out a complete list of what was wrong. (Because I am an asshole I also listed stuff like "5b from last visit not fixed" so they have to work at it.) Steve is nice and I am very nice to Steve: no cause to punish an innocent bystander. I am in the loaner by 820 and pulling onto Dixie Highway when the idiot light comes and reminds me there's no gas in the car. I stop and fill it up since I will have it all weekend. I drive like an insane man trying to get to Aventura for a 9am appointment (see private place). Amazingly I cover the distance and make it there at 904am. On the way I fix the radio as the previous occupant of car apparently had no taste. I am also reminded that Miami is a desolate radio wasteland.
Conclude appointment near 11am. Call David Higgins and meet him for lunch at Mario the Baker. We then walk around Broward Mall as I try to find a present for Dad's birthday and fail. I did get two funny cards. We part company, and I decide I'd try to call Timmy who I've not heard from in months but I get his machine and hang up without leaving a message. I then call Erin and get no answer, leaving a message. That leaves me to go home which I do after stopping at the post office and Walgreen's.
I get home, fire up the Mac and check e-mail. Get the details for tomorrow's BBQ for which I am excited. And I have an email from, of all people, Josh who I've not heard from in years though not for lack of trying. I am so mad I wasn't around when he was on. Argh. I emailed him but haven't heard back. Crushing, that is.
I decide to go buy Snow Leopard because I don't want to wait any more. So I go to Best Buy and find Dad a birthday present but now Snow Leopard. I return home to type this post instead of installing Snow Leopard. Blech. I don't want to wait but I guess I have to. My shoes are in Florida according to the tracking so maybe I'll have them by the middle of the week.
And now for something completely different.... Sorry but I've got a totally new topic. I have long been peeved by TSA because, well, they're stupid. I don't mean as individuals because many of them are fine, normal people. I mean the upper level bureaucracy. Don't start me on 3oz bottles and arguing with people with 3.2 oz tubes of toothpaste. I refer everyone to this article by which espouses what I've said before. (In turn it links to another article and another as well.) The TSA is not making us safer, only making you think you're safer. Making everyone walk through metal detectors and x-raying everything is a good idea. But some of the insane rules they have make no sense at all.
I'm bored.
Friday, September 4, 2009
News Analyses and Other Fun Stuff
First this article from the BBC news site. It's about Google's efforts to scan every book and make it available (in limited parts) on their search engine. Lots of people are pissed off. Google started doing it for works out of copyright and nobody really objected and nobody should. That's public domain. Then they decided they'd do it on out of print books that still had valid copyright. This affected me personally, but more on that later. There was a class action lawsuit which, oddly, was settled and gave people affected a chance to opt out (I did). What's the big deal? Let me put it in a way you can understand. Let's say your boy/girlfriend takes naked pictures of you. Now, they post them online saying "you never said I couldn't" -- that is a negative option choice and those are always without exception bad. Sort of like those sweepstakes where if you don't check the little hidden box they sell your name to everyone. The bottom line is Google was out of line and a lot of people are mightily pissed. The worrisome part is Google doesn't understand why people are mad. From my perspective, I wrote The Gem of Zephyrr, and I still own the copyright* so what gives Google the right to distribute my work without my permission.
The next article, also from BBC, is of interest to my aviation buddies. As you know, I'm a fan of Boeing and a huge critic of Airbus. For years Boeing has complained the marketplace competition is unfair and that EU governments (mostly France) are illegally using public money to help subsidise a private company. This isn't like our current "stimulus" (don't start me) packages given to the car dealers. This is more like "hey, here's $50 million go and lower your prices and steal orders from Boeing" -- in our country that's illegal. The EU actually ruled in Boeing's favour. There's a counter-claim from Airbus against Boeing that, from my understanding, mostly affects sales of freighters and military aircraft. Knowing the military I suppose anything's possible but I am glad that the EU ruled properly on this. Airbus has a horrific safety record. Skip everything else: deaths per passenger mile and number of crashes per planes produced. Look at those numbers. I tried to find the article from a few years back on this (before all those A320/A330 crashed) but couldn't. I'll post a URL if I find it.
Now on to Johnny B's blog which has this post: "make a list of 50 bands or artists I've seen live. The instructions are simple. You have to do it from memory, ordering them as they pop into your head. Some of the fun of this is seeing the random list." I haven't seen 50 bands live, I don't think, but here we go. As soon as I click "post" I'll remember more.
My friend Jason emailed me in response to yesterday's post and said: That's all B.S. I know, and more importantly YOU KNOW that the Apple I popped fully formed from the left topmost ribs of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and that Al Gore invented the internet as we know it today. ;)
He adds also anyway you entirely left off the whole story of the extreme importance of the Sunset High Computer Club, Mr. Vila, and the Atari 800. Does anyone really want to hear this?
Erin also corrects my previous post when I said the Internet was born in 1989. It was conceived of in 1989 but born in 1990. Her words: The web did not appear until December 1990, and that was only in its most rudimentary form. Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal to create what became the web in March 1989 but it was shelved by CERN. He presented it again in May 1990 and was granted approval to work on it.
Tomorrow I am going to BMW to fight with the shits at South Motors who didn't fix half the crap they were supposed to fix. Do not buy a BMW and if you must don't buy it at South Motors. They just don't care about their customers.
* You can read it for free on my website but it's very meh and not my best writing.
** Parts of the Bridge School concerts -- I went to 4 and 6
The next article, also from BBC, is of interest to my aviation buddies. As you know, I'm a fan of Boeing and a huge critic of Airbus. For years Boeing has complained the marketplace competition is unfair and that EU governments (mostly France) are illegally using public money to help subsidise a private company. This isn't like our current "stimulus" (don't start me) packages given to the car dealers. This is more like "hey, here's $50 million go and lower your prices and steal orders from Boeing" -- in our country that's illegal. The EU actually ruled in Boeing's favour. There's a counter-claim from Airbus against Boeing that, from my understanding, mostly affects sales of freighters and military aircraft. Knowing the military I suppose anything's possible but I am glad that the EU ruled properly on this. Airbus has a horrific safety record. Skip everything else: deaths per passenger mile and number of crashes per planes produced. Look at those numbers. I tried to find the article from a few years back on this (before all those A320/A330 crashed) but couldn't. I'll post a URL if I find it.
Now on to Johnny B's blog which has this post: "make a list of 50 bands or artists I've seen live. The instructions are simple. You have to do it from memory, ordering them as they pop into your head. Some of the fun of this is seeing the random list." I haven't seen 50 bands live, I don't think, but here we go. As soon as I click "post" I'll remember more.
- Elton John
- Billy Joel
- Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- Tina Turner
- Red Priest
- Barry Manilow
- Otis Day & The Knights
- Los Lobos
- Simon & Garfunkel
- Neil Diamond
- Van Halen
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
- Crosby. Stills. Nash (with and without Young)
- Neil Young **
- Eddie Vedder (with part of Pearl Jam) **
- Neil Young (with and without Crazy Horse) **
- Eddie Brickel & The New Bohemians **
- Bruce Springsteen (with and without the E-Street Band)
- Willie Nelson (with Waylon Jennings)
- Queen (w/ Paul Rodgers)
- Eagles
- Melissa Etheridge
- Joe Cocker
- Lionel Ritchie
- The Overtures
- Alexandra Burke
- U2
- James Taylor
- Jimmy Buffet
- Elvis Costello **
- Steve Miller **
- Sammy Hagar **
- Pearl Jam **
- Nonpoint
- John Charles
- Steve Windwood
- Paul McCartney
- Phil Collins
- Rolling Stones
- Rod Stewart
- Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
My friend Jason emailed me in response to yesterday's post and said: That's all B.S. I know, and more importantly YOU KNOW that the Apple I popped fully formed from the left topmost ribs of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and that Al Gore invented the internet as we know it today. ;)
He adds also anyway you entirely left off the whole story of the extreme importance of the Sunset High Computer Club, Mr. Vila, and the Atari 800. Does anyone really want to hear this?
Erin also corrects my previous post when I said the Internet was born in 1989. It was conceived of in 1989 but born in 1990. Her words: The web did not appear until December 1990, and that was only in its most rudimentary form. Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal to create what became the web in March 1989 but it was shelved by CERN. He presented it again in May 1990 and was granted approval to work on it.
Tomorrow I am going to BMW to fight with the shits at South Motors who didn't fix half the crap they were supposed to fix. Do not buy a BMW and if you must don't buy it at South Motors. They just don't care about their customers.
* You can read it for free on my website but it's very meh and not my best writing.
** Parts of the Bridge School concerts -- I went to 4 and 6
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Way Of Shadows (Book One, Review) by Brent Weeks
As I said, I was reading a book Evan recommended to me. I've finished volume one which weighs in at a hefty 670 pages of pretty small type. I had to use reading glasses and that made me feel old. I never read something Evan recommended before, so this was a bit of a risk. But when we were in Book-A-Million killing some time, he showed it to me. I read the back cover, thought "Assasain" and "Fantasy" and immediately thought of Vlad Taltos. Brust's Taltos series isn't the best series I've ever read but it's good. However Vlad Taltos as a character is one of the most fascinating ever and one of the best.
This book has Durzo Blint in the Taltos role on they aren't the same. I didn't get Vlad Taltos at all, but something entirely different. He's closer to Garrett from Glen Cook's Tun Faire series. And it's not a bad thing. We also meet Azoth who is a very complex character and that makes him interesting. He's not some stereotypical character and there are quite a few in the genre and in this book. Logan is very stereotypical, but he's needed. But whenever you're reading the book you keep hoping for more Durzo and Azoth.
We have the obligatory love interest, the madam, the guild, the bad king, and everything else you would expect. Yet, even so, this first book manages not to be cliché. It's the first of three, and I won't spoil it by telling you who lives, dies, gets married, and wins the lotto. I am looking forward to reading the second. One warning: there's an interview with the author in the back of book one. I would suggest you not read it until you're done the series as it had a spoiler that I wasn't prepared for and am irritated I read. (And, yes, Mister Weeks, I am one of those quirky readers who reads the acknowledgements in the back of books.)
PS: Dolphins are up 10-0 on the Saints in the pre-season game. Yay.
This book has Durzo Blint in the Taltos role on they aren't the same. I didn't get Vlad Taltos at all, but something entirely different. He's closer to Garrett from Glen Cook's Tun Faire series. And it's not a bad thing. We also meet Azoth who is a very complex character and that makes him interesting. He's not some stereotypical character and there are quite a few in the genre and in this book. Logan is very stereotypical, but he's needed. But whenever you're reading the book you keep hoping for more Durzo and Azoth.
We have the obligatory love interest, the madam, the guild, the bad king, and everything else you would expect. Yet, even so, this first book manages not to be cliché. It's the first of three, and I won't spoil it by telling you who lives, dies, gets married, and wins the lotto. I am looking forward to reading the second. One warning: there's an interview with the author in the back of book one. I would suggest you not read it until you're done the series as it had a spoiler that I wasn't prepared for and am irritated I read. (And, yes, Mister Weeks, I am one of those quirky readers who reads the acknowledgements in the back of books.)
PS: Dolphins are up 10-0 on the Saints in the pre-season game. Yay.
Ruminations On The Internet (and other updates)
Erin had sent me an email on the Internet being 40 years old. Her email got me thinking and I'm going to share this story that some of you may have heard before. My first real encounter with computers was in 6th grade. So that's maybe 30 years ago? I was in Berkeley and I used to take Go-Bart (the student bus) up to the Lawrence Hall of Science. A great museum. They had computers. I used to play Wumpus and Space Trader on them. They didn't have monitors then. Everything printed on yellow teletype paper. It was some time later when they got their first terminals with screens. I was hooked, though. Mom enrolled me in a summer camp there where I did nothing much except play with computers. And that set me on my path.
In 1983 when I arrived at UC Berkeley, they were still not giving people e-mail addresses because the format name@domain.com was not widely used -- ARPANET was still the main game. But I got my first email address in early 1984 (cs2rab@berkeley.edu) -- I was a second year freshman taking CS300 (a graduate course where I was a teaching assistant for CS2). I had to share my email with someone else and that was my first foray into hacking into BSD. I wrote a little shell script that kept everything separate. I've got the code somewhere. There was a program back then called "FINGER" which let you look for people to email online because there just weren't very many. I found my way onto the computers for a number of other schools and also White Sands Missile Base and NORAD. It was fun and harmless. You could email people geeky UNIX stuff and get answers from fellow geeks: the public wasn't there. Can you imagine now what would happen if I even tried to connect with White Sands Missile Base? Security has changed, I'm sure. The WWW hadn't been invented yet: that would come in 1989. There were some rudimentary online games Daemon being one of my favourites.
My final project for CS300 was to write the final exam for the class. I did it all using a BSD shell script that let you take the test, graded it, and submitted the grade to the teacher. I was pretty proud of that monster code at the time. During my spare time at the lab (what is this spare time of which you speak) I helped with some coding for the new version of BSD 4.2 or 4.3. There was this language called "C++" which was becoming popular and there were battles brewing over which shell (ksh, etc) was going to rule. Soon UNIX would begin to fragment and Linux and AIX and such would come out. One of my prized possessions from those days are an original BSD Manual with the little Daemon on the cover. Most of you have come to know him as Mailer-Daemon. That's where that's from if you didn't know. I am not nearly the computer person now that I was then: age changes a guy. I started my DAR Systems company (pretty much defunct except on paper) and you can read about that on my website. It was also during that time I was doing some contract work for Apple Computer -- specifically with formatting code for ProDOS. While the new version of ProDOS was never released it found new life as part of GS/OS and ultimately the Mac OS. When you format a disk, you might be using code I helped write.
Health? Quick updates:
Mental: 0 to 10 -- I give it a 3 or so
Heart: 0 to 10 -- I wish I knew. Probably a 2 but I've got theories. Not for posting here. I will say the 11th seems very far away.
Lip: 0 to 10. 8 outside 3 inside.
Trying to keep busy all weekend but that is proving to be more of a challenge than one would think. I am hoping to spend time with some old friends and new friends alike. I wish I could travel but right now it's just not a good idea. I don't want to be on a plane or on a long car ride and have a problem.
In 1983 when I arrived at UC Berkeley, they were still not giving people e-mail addresses because the format name@domain.com was not widely used -- ARPANET was still the main game. But I got my first email address in early 1984 (cs2rab@berkeley.edu) -- I was a second year freshman taking CS300 (a graduate course where I was a teaching assistant for CS2). I had to share my email with someone else and that was my first foray into hacking into BSD. I wrote a little shell script that kept everything separate. I've got the code somewhere. There was a program back then called "FINGER" which let you look for people to email online because there just weren't very many. I found my way onto the computers for a number of other schools and also White Sands Missile Base and NORAD. It was fun and harmless. You could email people geeky UNIX stuff and get answers from fellow geeks: the public wasn't there. Can you imagine now what would happen if I even tried to connect with White Sands Missile Base? Security has changed, I'm sure. The WWW hadn't been invented yet: that would come in 1989. There were some rudimentary online games Daemon being one of my favourites.
My final project for CS300 was to write the final exam for the class. I did it all using a BSD shell script that let you take the test, graded it, and submitted the grade to the teacher. I was pretty proud of that monster code at the time. During my spare time at the lab (what is this spare time of which you speak) I helped with some coding for the new version of BSD 4.2 or 4.3. There was this language called "C++" which was becoming popular and there were battles brewing over which shell (ksh, etc) was going to rule. Soon UNIX would begin to fragment and Linux and AIX and such would come out. One of my prized possessions from those days are an original BSD Manual with the little Daemon on the cover. Most of you have come to know him as Mailer-Daemon. That's where that's from if you didn't know. I am not nearly the computer person now that I was then: age changes a guy. I started my DAR Systems company (pretty much defunct except on paper) and you can read about that on my website. It was also during that time I was doing some contract work for Apple Computer -- specifically with formatting code for ProDOS. While the new version of ProDOS was never released it found new life as part of GS/OS and ultimately the Mac OS. When you format a disk, you might be using code I helped write.
Health? Quick updates:
Mental: 0 to 10 -- I give it a 3 or so
Heart: 0 to 10 -- I wish I knew. Probably a 2 but I've got theories. Not for posting here. I will say the 11th seems very far away.
Lip: 0 to 10. 8 outside 3 inside.
Trying to keep busy all weekend but that is proving to be more of a challenge than one would think. I am hoping to spend time with some old friends and new friends alike. I wish I could travel but right now it's just not a good idea. I don't want to be on a plane or on a long car ride and have a problem.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Cool Swag on E-Bay
First, a nice little throwaway item. If you want to buy some way cool stuff, use this link. Visits to the sets of popular shows, memorabilia, and tickets to many talk shows including John Stewart. Some of the stuff with a day to go is remarkably reasonable. Other items like House's cane, not so reasonable.
Many of my friends are Top Gear fans. Me, not as much. Still the host's new project of Lego and such projects is interesting. I include this URL because he's doing some way cool stuff. And there's a video of a real house done entirely of Legos.
My cool new shoes have shipped. Not due for over a week though. Damn. And I'm really tired today. So-so day.
Many of my friends are Top Gear fans. Me, not as much. Still the host's new project of Lego and such projects is interesting. I include this URL because he's doing some way cool stuff. And there's a video of a real house done entirely of Legos.
My cool new shoes have shipped. Not due for over a week though. Damn. And I'm really tired today. So-so day.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Atrocity In The Name Of Food and many other ramblings including iPod and Beatles
If you are squeamish, you will wish to skip this paragraph -- the links are horrifically graphic. This report is available on AP, CBS, and many other news services and it's absolutely disgusting and appalling. NewsBlaze and CBS. The bottom line is that approximately 150,000 baby chickens are ground to death in meat grinders while still alive every single day so you can have eggs for breakfast. The United Egg Producers (the trade association for the industry) confirmed that figure and the practice behind it. "Using a grinder", a spokesman said, "is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks. Video from a hidden camera clearly shows healthy male chicks, peeping and bouncing as they greet the world, fed into the blades. You do not wish to click the link.
Apple has announced a music event on 9-9-09 (10am Pacific) which is famous as the date the Beatles will be releasing Beatles Rock Band and their remastered catalogues. Fans are already excited. So everyone is assuming this is the Beatles introduction for iTunes and possibly the infamous and legendary rumoured Yellow Submarine iPod. However, I am not so sure. It's quite odd that the slogan they have picked are the lyrics from a Rolling Stones song. I think a lot of people have added 1 and 1 and got 3. Still, I have faint hope. There will, I promise, be a new iPod announced.
And Disney bought Marvel Comics for $4 billion dollars today but Universal retains theme park rights west of the Rockies almost in perpetuity, though at some point they'll wonder why they're fuelling the Disney empire and find something else. As one columnist pointed out: However, it’s not all golden for Disney and Marvel: Marvel’s pre-existing deals in movies, video games and theme parks mean that in some cases it could be many years—or even never—before Disney gets control of key franchises such as Spider-Man. For instance, Sony has the rights to make Spidey movies forever. Likewise, Marvel Studio's next five movies will be distributed by Paramount, although Iger expects to change that deal as soon as the contract runs out. Although Hulk and Thor costumed characters and rides would be a natural at Disney's theme parks, here also a pre-existing deal with Universal means that Spidey and Co. will stay at Uni's Island of Adventure area in Florida; a spokesman for Universal hinted that Marvel's license with Uni will last “in perpetuity.” On that last bit, I'm sure Disney's lawyers will find a loophole at some point.
In health news, my mood is a bit better but I am way stressed that the heart tests are still so far out. Eleven days may not seem like a long time for most of you but for me it's a lifetime. The sleep thing is still a huge obstacle. We'll be addressing that very soon.
I have received seven phone calls in the past 45 minutes. Damn. We have a new named storm (Erica) which surprised everyone, though I'm betting no visit from her. Evan recommended a trilogy to me about an assassin and I'm reading that. Reviews later. I wasn't going to add to my book pile but it reminded me of Vlad Taltos and that required immediate action.
Apple has announced a music event on 9-9-09 (10am Pacific) which is famous as the date the Beatles will be releasing Beatles Rock Band and their remastered catalogues. Fans are already excited. So everyone is assuming this is the Beatles introduction for iTunes and possibly the infamous and legendary rumoured Yellow Submarine iPod. However, I am not so sure. It's quite odd that the slogan they have picked are the lyrics from a Rolling Stones song. I think a lot of people have added 1 and 1 and got 3. Still, I have faint hope. There will, I promise, be a new iPod announced.
And Disney bought Marvel Comics for $4 billion dollars today but Universal retains theme park rights west of the Rockies almost in perpetuity, though at some point they'll wonder why they're fuelling the Disney empire and find something else. As one columnist pointed out: However, it’s not all golden for Disney and Marvel: Marvel’s pre-existing deals in movies, video games and theme parks mean that in some cases it could be many years—or even never—before Disney gets control of key franchises such as Spider-Man. For instance, Sony has the rights to make Spidey movies forever. Likewise, Marvel Studio's next five movies will be distributed by Paramount, although Iger expects to change that deal as soon as the contract runs out. Although Hulk and Thor costumed characters and rides would be a natural at Disney's theme parks, here also a pre-existing deal with Universal means that Spidey and Co. will stay at Uni's Island of Adventure area in Florida; a spokesman for Universal hinted that Marvel's license with Uni will last “in perpetuity.” On that last bit, I'm sure Disney's lawyers will find a loophole at some point.
In health news, my mood is a bit better but I am way stressed that the heart tests are still so far out. Eleven days may not seem like a long time for most of you but for me it's a lifetime. The sleep thing is still a huge obstacle. We'll be addressing that very soon.
I have received seven phone calls in the past 45 minutes. Damn. We have a new named storm (Erica) which surprised everyone, though I'm betting no visit from her. Evan recommended a trilogy to me about an assassin and I'm reading that. Reviews later. I wasn't going to add to my book pile but it reminded me of Vlad Taltos and that required immediate action.
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