Really?

Things that are sad

Few Things....

Bring me greater pleasure then drinking a beer, having my music cranked, and working on LINUX!


I am such a geek.


This statement is brought to you by Captain Obvious... When you need to have the blatantly obvious pointed out to you.

Festivus Celebration!

The Kern household never one to mock sacred traditions of old. I present to you now a very Kern Festivus celebration!



So to the left we have your blogger extradoinare truly, kicking off Festivus with the traditional metal pole adorned with nothing. We did splurge this year and get a rusted pipe.










And here we have lil brother just before his "Airing of Grievances". It really wasn't pretty once he let loose with the golf club.

To the left here we have my father "Big" Tom airing his grievances in the form of a black t-shirt.

Some days my father and I so alike it's almost scary.



And now for the feats of strength... This was the most impressive one of the day.

And finally we have the traditional wrestling of the head of house hold. I am happy to say that I was able to pin my mother in under 30 seconds. I will say this she is very scrappy.

So there you have it folks a very very Festivus!!

Festivus! (for the rest of us)

Happy Festivus Everybody!

Yes I know I'm late... it's the thought that counts

Yes I know it's not a pole... you gotta work with me folks.

This broken wheel is coming undone...

It's the middle of December and I just realized it. What's more it's just over a week to X-mas. wow...

I always use December as a time to reflect on the last year... was it good? Did I accomplish anything? What did I do set the world ablaze?

Yes it was a good year, I accomplished the things I wanted to and few extra, did I set the world ablaze? Only in my pants...

Sorry...

Ok moving on. Happy Birthday to ye-blog. On December 1, 2000 I wrote the first entry in what became the "semi-journal" my orginal intent was just catalog what was going on in my life that last semester of college and my finding my way to be a "real adult" well 6 years later. College is becoming a more distant memory and I still haven't found my way to being a real adult. But I gotta say I'm having fun :)

So what is in store for 2007? Probally more fun, and hopefully a few more stories that I can regail my friends with.

You know how I know your gay.....

You have a flickr account.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalexiis



(and the sad part is someone will probably be offended by that title)

Huh?

I'm trying to read your mind...

So the next time your in Missoula Montana you really need to pick up some "Moose Drool Beer" it's a brown ale so those of you who aren't into beers that aren't bud, miller, or coors keep on walking. Or if your Nancy and don't drink beer... well I can't help that your Nancy. So for those of you who are not Nancy and aren't afraid to be adventurous with your beer drinking then I highly suggest the Moose Drool. And if you don't make it back to Canada Jr. that often just do what I do... Watch C/E's cat and they bring your beer!

I'm simple really I am... beer and food and I'm a happy camper... that probally explains why certain friends can't seem to get rid of me.

So with it being less then 2 weeks to Xmas 2006 (gentlemen start your engines!!!) I'm starting to receive Xmas cards. I always enjoy them simply because I look to see who actually address them to "Tom" or "You and your family" or some such plural thing. Pretty consistently the same 3 people send me a card addressed to "Tom" the rest do the plural thing....

Right now Kristi is wondering if she addressed the card to "Tom" or to a plural of people... Kristi I'm happy to report that you addressed the card correctly.

I'm keeping my eye on the rest of you.

Speaking of Xmas cards... every year at about December 20th I think I should really send out cards. However 2 things stop me from this every year.
1. I can't find the card of Santa taking a shit down the chimney with a caption that says "How you know you've been really bad this year". To much happiness needs to be tempered with some smart assness every now and again.

2. Everyone I would send a card to I actually see over the holidays except for like 2 people. And honestly I don't think that they would care.

My toilet keeps filling... I just discovered two things...

1. The bleach tablet is getting in the way of the valve.

2. I have a big brick in there. (How did I not notice that beforehand?)

Now I know I live in a desert but I don't think I'm conserving water if it takes me two sometimes three flushes to to get the toilet completely cleared.

Speaking of things in the toilet...

At some point on Friday the conversation with the file room girls, or as Eve (the woman not the game) calls them "file room wenches", to my personal life and my lack of a s/o which to me is not a huge deal. When I started my tale the tall file room wench (Laura) "yes we know that you hate women and we've heard this story before". Which tells me 2 things (damn what is it with the 2 thing tonight?)

1. I need to not tell that story any more.

2. How come after three years I still bring her up?

I mean honestly it's been 3 damn years. Why she still comes up I don't know. So from here on out I will not bring what's her face up in conversation because according to Laura (the tall one) and Izzy (the hot one) of the file room wenchdom "yes we know you hate women"

I don't hate women... they just never give me a chance to show them how much I can love them ;)

Evil wabbit...

Plan 9 from Syracuse

Let me tell you a story, a story about a man driven to see his dream get full filled and setting out to do what most of us would consider to be insane or at the very least not our first choice of ways to achieve that dream.

His name is Ryan Dacko, his dream is to make a truly independent movie. The making the movie part he is still working on. Actually the part he is working on right now is getting to L.A. to meet with a producer (currently Mr. Mark Cuban). Now here is the interesting part that makes this whole thing blog worthy.

Ryan isn't driving to L.A. in the hopes of meeting Mr. Cuban, Ryan is running across the U.S. from Syracuse New York to L.A. thats somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,950 miles.

Now that I have your attention. Ryan started running in August of this year. With no guarantees of even meeting a producer. And there are still no guarantees of a meeting.

So where do does your humble blogger Tom fit into all of this? I don't really fit into any of it. Actually Cody fits into all of it. Cody knows Ryan from his days in the Coast Guard on the ship "Polar Star". Now all I had heard from Cody before today about Ryan was how he wrote scripts for movies on the boat and worked on storyboards.

For three weeks in December Ryan has been running across Northern Arizona on I-40. Not a fun task to be sure. Somewhere in those three weeks Ryan would be running through Flagstaff and as we all know I'm never one to pass up a trip to Flagstaff.

So that is how I got involved with Ryan.

Just so that we are clear. I get winded on a tread mill... So there was no way in hell that I was going to run through Flagstaff with Ryan and Cody. I could however play support truck. So I with Ryan's sister Delaine waited for Ryan and Cody at multiple points along a very cold and windy I-40 in and around Flagstaff. It was interesting talking to Delaine since we did have alot of time between Ryan and Cody visits.

I spent one afternoon working with Ryan and Delaine and found a ton of respect in just this one little dose. Ryan has been running across the country for 115 days now and Delaine has been with him for the last 55 days.

What can you do? You can start by "Digging" this story after that you head to Ryan's myspace page and add your self as one of his friends. Finally don't forget to write Mr. Cuban to tell him why Ryan should get funding to make his film.

As Cody says doing all of this is much easier then running 2,950+ miles across the country to achieve your dream.

TOOL Covers....

So while searching youtube for a clip from the daily show where Lewis Black goes off (Lewis Black go off? Never!) on Fox news about the that damned dancing penguin movie.

I was unsuccesfull but for some reason I decided to go looking for TOOL cover songs... and well now you get to ignore the glory that is TOOL covering another band.

Covering the Ramones



Covering Led Zepplin

Somewhere between Azeroth and Endor....

Not to long ago Curtis and I were talking about gaming, as we often do. The topic turned to MMO's (massive multiplayer online) games that we both play. We were lamenting the fact that our team in Eve was dying and both of us are loathe to seek out another group to run with since we both truly enjoy the community that we are apart of in Eve. The conversation quickly turned to another topic soon thereafter... I believe the topic of discussion was whether to see the dancing penguin movie or Bond. Lets just say that I will never look at penguins in the same way again.

So while sitting in the dancing penguin movie (which btw wasn't that bad) I got to thinking about EVE, Planet Side, and Star Wars Galaxies. EVE has been my game of choice for the last 2+ years now it's large it's complex there are many many many aspects. I've always had a blast in EVE.

Planet Side was never really more then a diversion... you know like a ex-girlfriend that comes back into your life. You two keep each other around just long enough to remember why you are exes in the first place.

Star Wars Galaxies was my first MMO and is still the only one where I litterally lost track of time when I played it. More then once did I play for 12 or 14 hours. And for a while there SWG was all that I did. I chalk alot of that up to shit going on in my personal life that I didn't want to deal with though.

So as I watched the dancing penguin movie and watched genitalia inter cut with the dancing penguins flash across the screen I came to a thought.

EVE is a good game but I really want something that isn't quite so deep. Something a bit lighter and easier on the old gaming pallet. At the very least something that is matured to a point where a newb can have a good base of more experienced players to work with.

With that thought the seed was planted... and now against every fiber of my being... I'm dealing with damned dirty fairies and elves...

/sigh

And unto thee they said... let there be great fire and wookiees

Once again the whole having friends who blog thing has brought out the envious side in me. Not that it's that hard to do. I'm forever compensating for something... You flaunt your married-ness with home life and either kids / pets / or lack there of. I flaunt my single-ness and my general lack of attachments to anyone or thing.

So really it's pretty much all aspects of my life.

My latest place where I feel a need to compensate... Cody and his damn blog pictures. And it's not just his blog it's his damn myspace too!

I pick the oddest things to get worked up about... I really need to find a way to relax... Oh look a fridge full of Guinness.

OK so getting back to object of tonight's angst... Take a look at those pictures. I think the guy has talent his pictures are how I see my pictures in my head. Use of shadows almost all of them off the cuff and "natural".

Really I think that is what drives me up the wall most about photography is that so much of it is unnatural and posed.

Now I realize that alot of photographs are posed for artistic reasons or because there is a large group but I look at so many and there always things that seem a little to perfect.

And don't get me started on advertising. I may be in the coveted 18-49 male demographic but I resist 99.9% of that advertising

YES LORD JOBS I WILL NOT REVEAL THAT YOU ARE THE .00001% THAT GETS TO ME

That was weird I blacked out there for a second.

Anyway... I am envious of Cody and his pictures... Or maybe I'm envious of Cody and his mad iLife skills. And Eve's ability to do the ninja camera thing.

Ok so the married people have me on that one. In order to get my "natural" shot and be in said shot it can no longer be "natural" and must be posed in some way shape or form.

And the pictures I have posted here? Well I worked from home today which means I finished working a hour early since I didn't drive in and was already here and didn't have to drive home. So I took a couple of pictures at lunch. I even did the faux iPhoto thing to them in Picasa and well look at mine compared to Cody's "nature" shots...

I need to go compensate some more.

Na na na na na

for the record.... after a equal number of beers cody and curtis can still dance better to me.


I will truly need to find a drunk woman at the bar... or one who takes pitty on me.

It's a mad world...

So after 18 months of relative stagnation in terms of overall storage capacity. You know the storage capacity that you have available to you at any given time that is not dedicated on Hard Disks that also contain a OS. I seem to have gone a bit a nuts...

In the last month I went from ~400GB of Storage to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.1TB of usable storage (The number is closer to 1.5TB of raw storage). Holy hard disk batman what are you going to do with all of that storage? Honestly I don't know. Partially I'm fairly paranoid about losing data and insist on having multiple copies of everything. You know backups of backups of backups.

Yes in my world there is fantastic data redundancy but data continuity (being able to continue to use that data for something useful) sucks.

At least I've had the good sense to get a couple of external hard drives so I can put anything I want in a off line long term storage sitting in a closet someplace. I mean really though 1.1TB of storage?

I don't care who you are there is only so much music/video/tv/porn/writing/games you can put onto a computer before it fills up.

PS3 vs. Wii

And you guys wonder why I want a Wii... silly people.

I can see things I know I shouldn't...

So the Cardinals are finally 2-8.... I guess a win is a win even if it is the Lions. I remember starting the season out with hopes of 7-9 maybe just maybe 8-8. Right now I'm hoping from for 4-12 and new offensive line in the spring from the draft bunny.

And so goes the life of a Cardinals fan...

So in your surfing of the intertubes and the intertube known as the Discovery Channel. There is a excellent program on modern day Iran. It's really good and in my mind it was presented in a fair and balanced way. But not in the way of a certain 24 hour news network who's mantra is "Fair and Balanced". It was done by Ted Koppell so you know it's quality.

E will like it if anyone gets through the first 20 minutes I will be impressed.

So who turned on the Christmas switch? Saturday afternoon not a sign of Christmas anywhere Sunday afternoon fucking Christmas carols at wally world and neighbors are starting to put up lights.

I wonder if I can find a "Bah Humbug" sign for the front yard.

Why it's Wii-tastic!

So the Nintendo Wii is released tomorrow. Which means that age old tradition of gamers the world over is in progress tonight.

The camp at the store to wait for th system. Having never witnessed this before I decided to take a jaunt this evening and see what kind of people camp for a video game system.

In a word... "goth-tastic" Actually I should go easy on them since only a few short years ago I would have been there with them.

Me I'm much to patient to wait for something over night.... nice oxymoron huh?

Any way kudos to the folks in front of Wal-mart who had a tv with them and were playing what looked to be either the original Mario or Super Mario 3. Either way they win my vote for the most dedicated Nintendo player of the year.

As for me. Well I'm waiting for the Costco super pack.

Now tell me what you saw...

Two things occoured today that I feel are worthy of writing... 1 event questioned one of the very tenets of my conscious eating. The other one told me a little bit more about a large American company.

This post will also come very close the no talk of work policy I have but both of these revelations happened during lunch. So they don't count.

I made the rule I can make the exceptions.

1. A manager from our PACS vendor showed up today to get feedback from our docs. Now what happens when you have a vendor show up? Thats right kids FREE LUNCH!!! While this dude and my cohorts in crime were talking I noticed that everyone had run into him at one time or another at a bar of one sort of another. Never a golf course, conference, restaurant... a bar every story I heard. So I got to thinking and all good stories with this vendor generally have something to do with a bar.

Hmmm I think I like our PACS vendor.

2. I have found a Mexican restaurant that violates the law of Mexican restaurants. i.e the nicer the Mexican joint the crappier the food. This was actually a pretty decent joint and had really good food!

Of course E will never eat there... everything was drowning in cheese.

Pegasus

Once again the ol desktop is getting a bit long in the tooth and is starting to approach it's three year upgrade cycle. This time around I'm presented with a different set of circumstances then what I'm used to.

1. CPU speeds have basically flat lined for the last 24 months. All CPU speed gains are being made by tweaking manufacturing processes, on die cache, instruction sets, and dual cores. The dual core thing is probably the most significant change to happen in a long time. Sadly it's not the march of technology it's the bloat of a certain OS that runs the world.

2. Video Cards change like the direction of the wind. It's the one thing in the PC world that is still barreling along full speed.

3. Vista... When will it be worth the upgrade? Is it worth it to load vista upfront and take advantage of it's neat new features (dx10, aero, other things) or do I keep running xp pro for another 3 years?

4. Hard Drives, the first solid state hard drives are coming to market in the next 3 to 6 months. First gen tech is never a sure bet but these things may break alot of those rules.

There are other considerations but these are the top 4.

You know this would all be a lot easier if there was a way to play all of my games under MAC OS X as easily as I do under windows. Actually if I could play EVE and Half-Life I would be very happy.

So begins Project "Pegasus"

WARNING!

Possible cylon agent?

87,648 hours....

My oh my look at how time flies.

Yes ten years ago my parents came kicking and screaming into the 20th century. They got the internet. We were far from the last family in town to get the internet but the first of the people I knew and worked with.

Curtis you don't count... I didn't start dealing with you until after this event.

How do I know this much less remember this? It's easy. I was helping my dad try to find "the damned election results" for two people he knew that were running for office. I think both of them lost but that is my first definitive memory of helping someone find something on the internet.

Yes in those days we were styling with our 80486SX/8MB/220MBHD w/ a 12inch color monitor. Windows 3.1 and Dos 6.2

Yes it was ancient even then... I got my first computer that was truly mine about a month later as a early graduation gift.

OH and don't forget the 28.8k modem on both of them :)

7 computers later.... I think I need another upgrade.

So hug your loved ones and remember it could be worse we could all be using some mix betweenm minitel and aol

The crickets outside....

I think this is the first time I've ever sat on my back porch.... ever.

Not in all the years I lived in Kingman the time in flag ever... this is the first time I've come back here and just sat and did my own version of meditation.

My neighbor to the east of me is doing something I could hear him in my office with the music and video game going it really sounds like he's cleaning or putting stuff in the trash. And now he's done.

There is a house behind me it's two stories none of the lights are on. If I didn't know where to look for the pitch of the roof I would say that there was nothing there. It's really kind of shocking that you could lose a house like that.

crickets that is what amazes me the most down here... I didn't expect to hear crickets in mesa...I don't really hear crickets when I'm in high country at night like I'm hearing them right now. I know that neighbors on 2 of 3 sides have a backyard like mine pretty green and lots of plants.

This is the first place that I've lived that feels like a "home" to me. Not a cave with carpeted floors and a TV. Granted it's still pretty sparse in the "Better homes and gardens" sense of cluttered but I like it. I truly think the best part of my house is the backyard.

Growing up we had a huge backyard I never liked it... the grass was short... there was no shade dog crap all over the place (a certain sibling was tasked to clean up said crap and never did on a regular basis) I'm pretty sure that is why I'm a cat person. I like dogs I just don't like them enough to own one. Cat's are cool you can have a convesation with a cat and they will just look at you like "WTF foool".

You talk to a dog and they think that everything that comes out of your mouth is pure gold.


Anyone else ever notice how a harley sounds like a prop airplane when it's going down the road?

Tough job...

The little blogger(s) that could....

Hmmm it would seem that hell has frozen over at some point in the last two weeks. Curtis went and finally hooked himself up with a big boy blog.

http://excess3.blogspot.com/

I never thought I would see the day.



And since I'm "pimping" blogs...

You should also check out Cody's blog http://a-little-oblivion.blogspot.com/ for he is wise in the ways of america jr and some even say mayo... not miracle whip... Mayo.

Just how bad it truly was....

I'm still scarred by the experience. I don't think I can take another one like it again.

MU Tom...

That is Mirror Universe (MU) for those of you who don't watch Star Trek.


I'm back from the high country of Arizona where I spent 9 glorious days riding over dirt roads looking for deer and not stupid users.

I didn't shave once the entire time.

Why you ask?

Simple, deer don't care how you look when your shooting at them they only care that you are shooting at them.

The other reason... I wanted to see just how bad a full beard would look... after 9 days I can tell you that it looks pretty bad... and when I say bad I mean awful and when I say awful I mean it's now gone.

Except for a small part that is trying to look like a goatee... and it's not doing do hot...

I look like a star trek mirror universe player.... you know patron #9 at quarks bar who in the regular universe does not have a goatee. But sits in the same bar stool and is decidedly less dastardly in the regular universe.

MU Tom isn't gone, but he will be next time I find a sharp razor and five minutes.

The Grates Come Alive with Fire Water and a Champions Heart

Two posts back to back? what gives Tom?

Well curious reader I've been doing the blogger beta and I have to say it really appeals to me... I think the part I like best is the label post option... So keep a eye out in that for things that I think need a label.


Why would you want to label things?

I have a very western mind... every thing needs to be categorized, cataloged, dissected and then stowed where it is meant to be. I do not have a mind that operates in the "pile method" though you wouldn't know it to look at any of my desks.

Three Sheets is my kind of show... I don't know if I have talked about here, but I'm going to again because everyone who reads this either has a big girl blog or a training wheels blog.

Three sheets is a show where the host goes around the world "examing local drinking culture" pretty much every episode consists of this dude getting drunk all over the world.

It's the kind of job I want but I don't think I can handle... I mean really I have problems shotgunning a coors. What am I going to do when I start mixing whiskey and Guinness.

So lets review what my favorite things about drinking are...

Favorite Beer... Guinness duh (and if you didn't know that you should be shot or not considered a reader of drivel)

Favorite Music to drink by... Anything Irish, I don't know there is something natural about Irish music (not U2) and drinking. It's like milk and chocolate chip cookies they are just meant to be together.

Favorite place to drink... anywhere I don't have to drive... so really home.

Type of drunk... a quite drunk, some might even say a TMI drunk. I would go with either one but it really doesn't take much to put me to sleep.

Type of drinker.... social drinker... I don't drink to get drunk I drink because I want to and it helps me relax.

Some people depend on their happy pills I depend on my happy beers.

Hey look another beer.

I didn't even watch

So the Cardinals season is now officially over... I hereby pledge my support to the Seattle Seahawks... Go forward and win a superbowl guys.

As for the Cardinals I will continue to watch them but I know that the season is now a effort in futility.

Seriously to lose to the Raiders... Not that I should talk... Me against anyone of the Raiders players... I would probably be shanked in minutes.

Grasping Defeat from the jaws of victory....

Choke city by the Cardinals....AGAIN!

Huh... I think I just found a reason to buy a treo...

http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2166069/wikipedia-jumps-offline-onto

Oh no... I've been listening to the radio again....

So I've been listening to the radio a bit more then usual.

My usual is the drive into work while listening to either The Morning Ritual on 103.9 (which is actually stand able now that Heather is on maternity leave) or The Morning Sickness...

Anyway I miss mandatory Marley at 4:20 but I will get over that. What I am hearing though is a lot of Evanescence... talk about drivel, the subject matter is trite, the musical style has been played to death over the last 10 years, and aside from being catchy in the moment it doesn't stay with you.

Even with all of that I still find Amy Lee very hot. So their maybe hope for them yet.

These views are mine and mine alone... if you don't like them don't read this drivel and go listen the drivel I'm bitching about.

Go read this NOW!

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-1,00.html

A PSA...

Just a word of note... Don't fuck with the security guards at Maricopa County Hospital... They are packing heat and aren't afraid to use it.

The one where Cody learns just how depressed I was.

The other night while having dinner with friends, Cody made comment about how much calmer I have been for the last couple of months. To which Curtis replied something to the effect of "You didn't know Tom when he lived in Kingman"

I think Curtis and Brandi were really the only ones to comprehend just how badly I was depressed in the first part of 2005. So for the rest of you I'm posting here tonight stuff from a journal I started at that time and it's still around. You just have to know where to find it :D

------------------------------------------

A by the numbers kind of guy... [May. 3rd, 2005|04:59 pm]

I'm a very analytical person.... given my chosen profesion I guess that isn't much of a surprise to anyone here. As a direct result of this I occasionaly find some intersting facts.

Today I have found one of those intersting facts.

The diffrence in cost of living between Kingman and Phoenix is not nearly what I thought it is.

At my current salary I can live in Phoenix for about the same. Granted I timed the house here right and I would drive more in Phoenix but it all works out. It's true for all the cities around Phoenix too... Mesa, Tempe, Chandler. Only place that I need to make a significant jump in Salary is if I chose to live in Scottsdale... yeah I don't think that town is really my speed. I'm probally more of a Mesa/Tempe kind of person.

I don't know intersting fact.

I guess the next thing to look at is the wages in Kingman... I used to attribute the wages in Kingman to a lower cost of living. However armed with my current information I tend to think it now has more to do with supply and demand. I.E. There is a limited supply of jobs so the employeer can bone you on a salary if they want. Which if I were an employer I would do in a heartbeat.

Hmmm I must be frustrated or stressed... I think I'm just stressed I have my review tommrow and reading my boss is like reading fucking arabic...(easy if you know him, total mystery if you don't) I think that has alot to do with my stress. I don't know in the past it's always been easy I've always worked closely with the person doing my review... I haven't really been worked with the current boss much.

It doesn't help that I don't have the highest opinion of him either. In both a technical, profesional, and personal sense.

It may have something to do with the fact I'm also listening to Nine Inch Nails right now too (new album out today "With Teeth") It's better then I expected.

I think I've lost my mojo... [Apr. 9th, 2005|06:55 pm]
Not in the austin powers sense of the word... ok maybe... but not in his sense of using his mojo. Anymore my pickup line is "got a job?" A full set of teeth helps too.

I've just got this whole malaise thing going on... for about 6 months. I've written about it before how I feel like I'm in highspeed neutral. Yeah that malaise. The good news is that I'm almost free from this Damned PACS admin job... now if only I could figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

Ah and there is the malaise... see when I went to school I had it all figured out I would get my degree, get a good job, get a house, and live happily ever after. I got the degree, I got the job, I got the house... and now I'm bored.

I only have to support my self so money is not a issue for me (ok let me clarify that, money is a issue but it does not drive my day to day existence). I think the best way to explain what I'm feeling is the good old heiarchy of needs (atleast according to the western world in the 19th centruy). Once you have food and shelter taken care of the next thing you work on is your self. One of the things that a person may do to self acualize themselves is be creative in someway (I'm a creative person... none of you have ever see any of it... and I doubt any of you ever will) I guess this whole thing with the blogs and what not is another way. I think the most telling thing is the following incdent that occoured several months ago.

Hot GE Field Engineer Heidi:"What do you want to do when you grow up?"
Me:"I have no clue, you?"
Hot GE Field Engineer Heidi: "I don't know either"

Being a computer guy pays the bills but it's not full filling in the save the world one idiot at a time way I had hoped. It just seems like there should be more then what there is in my life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Cuz there is no saftey in numbers, when the right one walks out of the door.

I know that somewhere down the line I'm going to look at all of my blog titles and try to remember what the hell I was thinking and I will have no clue.


Been in a real mood as of late... don't know why just am. I figure if I keep up like I have been by the end of next work will be looking for an excuse to get rid of me.

The work situation has improved dramaitcally but I'm still not happy. Basically it boils down to two things.. 1. My boss is a idget. Consdering it took me 10 years to realize someone was a idget before I'm getting better since I've only known him for 3 months now. 2. I'm done.

I just don't care about the hospital anymore... I like the people I work with outside of my department hell I actually look forward to having lunch w/ alsnappa and her husband (never thought you would see that one would you) The rest of my department is just a bunch of spineless geeks. But I work in I.T. so I guess that is to be expected.

Yes I'm still looking for other work a couple of nibbles but nothing worth mentioning above and beyond that. I'm not exactly what you would call a happy person to begin with but once upon a time I actually did enjoy working at the hospital. I think that was before I became "responsible". I'm 25 I shouldn't be "responsible" I should be "just there" when your 30+ and have kids then you are responsible.

At this point I show up do my job and leave... no more, no less




-------------------------------------------------------

B.A.S.E. Jumping [Mar. 9th, 2005|06:29 pm]


I haven't felt like jumping off of a cliff for the last 2 days at work now. Which really is a good thing in my mind (and probally most of yours too)


So anywhoo I had strange experince at work today, a new position was posted at the hospital today "Network Engineer" for the first time I didn't feel anything about it. I didn't want it when the subject was brought up I actually could care less. It's kind of amazing really what a change of perspective that peace will bring to you when you've made those oh so important decsions.


I hate looking for jobs you have to talk yourself up so much, and lets face it I'm a pretty quite guy who doesn't like to talk about himself at all. I guess if I want to move on I need to get over that just do it.

Kind of odd since I do the blogging thing ya know.

And now something completley diffrent. So has anyone ever wondered what happened to a particular teacher for Jr. High or High School that had a significant impact on your life? For me that teacher is Ken McChesney, he was my lit teacher in the 7th grade. He was one of the few teachers that actually took a active intrest in me acidemically. I was always one of those students that did well enough to not need help but not so well that I needed something extra to do. Ken was the first teacher and until John Kitts at M.C.C. the only teacher that provided me with feedback that I could actually use in my day to day work.

Ken left Kingman in 99 or sometime around then and since then I've always wondered what he has done since and if he has helped anyone else in a similar fashion


-----------------------------------------------

Fear and Loathing in my own little mind...

Today was actually a not bad day... it's amazing what kind of differnce you attiude can have when you make peace with something that is really bothering you. Of course it's not the peace the KRMC wants but that is the kind of peace they will be getting :)

Hi Alsnapa... I've had a revelation or 40 find me outside of work or find bdcruser/ceconix one of us will fill you in.


Yeah that is all that I have going on I planted a tree in my front yard this weekend.. it's a twig tied to a stick... it actually looks really pathetic right now... hopefully it will look better once it actually starts to grow.

And here we thought Alsnapa would be the first one to talk about plant life and the yard.

I not picking on you alsnapa... ok maybe I am... ok fine I am it's not may fault that you have not been around to get your daily drubbing of me.

I would pick on someone else but everyone who lives in town and does the LJ thing has seen me alot more then usual so TAG YOUR IT!

is it out of me?

Nope... still have some in there... but I will let it build for the next time

Hey A.j. Gets out of Park Rangers and Machine Gun school in a couple of days and will be crashing here. What are the thoughts on a KID FREE evening for adults? Dinner and either bullshitting or your choice of a game since all of mine are on the computer.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A fine day in the dung heap...


So after my last vent session I took a couple of nights to get some perspective on my situation at work and my general frustration with the sitiuation I decided that I should talk to my boss to see if there was anything that we could do or he could do.

That was 8:30 last night (tues) At 8:45 I get a call a doctor cannot find some images in PACS.. so after going back and forth with the on call guy on what to do I finally roll into work. The images that weren't there were actually there just not where they were supposed to be. I took down the numbers for the studies and helped the doc with some quesitons he had. My main problem with this is that it's not my job to train the DOCS or the RADS. I write it off and go home to bed.

Today I talk to Shawn, I tell him how frustrated I am in my current position and I may be technically qualified but I'm not clinically qualified. Translation... A right clavicale and right shoulder are the same thing to me. Turns out there are two seperate things. I use the above situation as a example of how things are not flying with me.

Shawn's response to all this.. the above was a situation to sell the doc on PACS and oppurtunity for process improvement in x-ray.

At 1:34 PM March 2, 2005 I offically decided that my time at KRMC was done. I don't think I can deal with a PHB for a boss who is all talk and so far very little action.

So my boss is PHB I'm in over my head and x-ray is struggling to keep things going (there are other issues going on other PACS but we won't go there for now)

About the only good thing to come out of today was the the Radiology Director and I both agree that I'm not the man for the PACS SA job. Which is fine except he doesn't have a PACS SA in mind and it would likely be a I.T. position and we have enough problems getting technical help I don't about another clinical person.


What now? I'm now "Actively" seeking new work. Ideally not in Kingman but I will deal with Kingman if that pay is enough. At this point I don't know how much that is, Kingman is seriously lacking in many things. About the only thing that Kingman is not lacking in is friends and family and if I didn't have them right now I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it this far with my sanity.

The love below

The love at work... the following is a email exchange from work... I know I have a strict don't talk about work error.   I'm going to make a exception in this case since I got a good chuckle.


===================================================


Tom, I need to find you a XX Chromosome fast.  Thinking like this will give you ulcers.. Then again, so will an XX chromosome, so you might be OK>>



Nathan
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 8:27 AM
To: 'VICK';Greg; Nathan
Cc: Victoria
Subject: RE: bonjour from france

It's 5am according to this email...

So that means it's about 2:15 pm local time in France...

Which means that your flight probably leaves after 2:45PM local time... In France

According to Yahoo there are 5 direct flights from Paris to Houston... I know that you try to do direct flights whenever you can...

There are two flights that leave France after 2:45... One is a Air France the other is a Delta flight.  

We know that typically you like to fly American based airlines when you can... So I'm going to say your on a Delta Flight...

That flight arrives in Houston at 7:35 PM --> 5:35 Az time...

So after that... I'm going to guess that it's a 8 or 9 pm flight from Texas to AZ... So 6 or 7 local time. 

That puts you at sky harbor at ~9pm local time. 

.......

Your going to be late to work tomorrow aren't you?


Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 5:10 AM
To:Greg; Nathan; Tom
Subject: bonjour from france


online at Chas De Gaulle airport waiting for Air France flight to Houston.
Ready to sleep in my own bed, sad to leave Italian countryside, definitely not ready to return to work. Dan has kept me up to speed on the snails pace for test system, but you guys have been very quite...hope that,s a good sign. This Frence keyborrd is the worst, the A  is a Q, the M is a , the Q is an A... sacre blu!!!!! vick

I promsie this is it for the night

Youtube has nothing on myspace in terms of evil




And they wonder why college students get their politcal news from The Daily Show...

My god captain it's massive!

And I'm not talking about Curtis....

Son of a Ardvark.... I feel icky.... I haven't this icky since I heard the term "He fondled the box of chocolates"

Ok if you are really confused... read the post just below this one then read the opening line again... it may make more sense, just know that it's me and that it's just this thing I call a personality.

Who knew I had one?

And no this isn't not a "beer flavored blog" this is brought to you with me hopped up on water and saltines.

So I haven't talked about EVE recently... EVE the Game not Eve the blogger. You really should read Eve the bloggers blog though... it is insightful and unlike mine she posts stuff that you might actually find useful.

OK so getting back to EVE the game, as you all know (or maybe not) this is a space based game with various types and classes of ships. The largest and most powerful of these ships is called a "Titan" they cost 100's of billions of in game currency and several months in real time to build. This week the first player produced Titan was revealed (keep with me I promise it's going to get better). So in the unveiling video they have this song going on in the background...

Hey that song is pretty good I think to myself....

Hey it's the opening music to House! (about the only show I watch other then CSI that isn't on Sci-Fi)

I fastforward through the video... the ships impressive but once you've seen on big ass ship you've seen them all. The song is by "Massive Attack" now I have heard of them before I just have never listened to them.

So I do what any self respecting music lover does... I jump on iTunes and sure enough their entire catalog is out there. I find the song in question (it's called "Teardrop" if you were wondering). I proceed to buy the album.

Yes I know it's iTunes... I know I can buy just the song I want but I find that I enjoy the music much more if I get the entire album. Some of my favorite songs were never released as singles... Heresey by NIN, Like Suicide by Soundgarden, You Are by Pearl Jam, No Quater (cover) by TOOL (Odd that my favorite TOOL song is a cover of a Led Zeplin song huh?)

Anyway I've been digging the album as a whole... I don't have any "Trip-Hop" but this is generally in that vaine of electronic music that I like. It's not as in your face as The Crystal Method were with Legion of Boom... more Vegas on a couple of those tracks... The one with the moon clips comes to mind off the top of my head.

OH and if you would like to see the really big space ship that is in the game I play follow the link: http://dl.eve-files.com/media/0609/newdawn.wmv

Son of a Ardvark!

You know I think I'm going to start using that phrase instead of "son of a bitch" it's got the same ring to it and when you actually say people look at you kind of funny and go "Ardvark?"  WTF?

Here is a image for you... Some one "fondling a box of choclates"  I really wish I were making that up but I'm not... I actually heard it at work today I don't think I will ever touch a opened box of choclates ever again.

"Hey look at the box of choclates!"

"Oh it's open... Son of a ardvark!"

On the subject of TV...

So Battlestar Galactica (BSG to those of us who watch) has a myspace. http://www.myspace.com/scifibattlestar
It's a pretty standard promo myspace page but it has a few clips that I found nice.. Including the 3 minute catch. Not a good place to start but it's better then nothing.

Anymore I watch 5 shows on a pretty constant basis... Stargate SG1/Atlantis, CSI, The Daily Show, and Battlestar Galactica. I realize that this list is very sci-fi centric but look at who you talking to :)

So where I was going with this was the Stargates would probally do very well in syndication. And they have for the last 9 years now. I think that BSG would be able to stand on it's own on a network. Curtis and I have argued about this he is of the mind that BSG is to graphic and violent for network tv. I argue that based soley on CSI and the amount of stuff that they show on there. I think that BSG wouldn't fare well on network tv simply because it would be lost in the void of some random night of the week. It's a heavy hitter to be sure but would it be heavy enough hitter to take on the CSI's, Lost, or even lord help us the double crap shot that is Desperate Housewives / Greys Anatomy. I think in a 3 network world no problem... in the 500 channel universe we occupy doubtful. At best it would be a summer series or a mid season replacement.

There you have it... my thoughts on why BSG would probally die on the vine in network world. So long as their is a sci-fi channel there will be geek friendly television and I will have a place to call home. Even if it's only me, curtis, kristina, matt, kristi, and 10,000 other people watching it... at least we will have it.

It could be worse....

You could be dead right now...

Of course if your into the dead and bloated thing then life just got a whole hell of alot better for you.

I started out the football season with wide bits of hope that the Cardinals would actually do something. I'm happy to report that after today my hopes for a better cardinals season is starting to circle the drain.

But I am a Arizona sports fan... We won't believe anything until it happens. Even then we will a good thing into something much smaller then it really is since we don't the severe pain and disappointment when it's not a constant thing (See the Arizona experience with the world series in 2001).

So yeah that is my view from a Arizona sports fan... At least basketball season is right around the corner.

Moving on... A rare moment where I say Congratulations to one of my own flesh and blood. Congrats goto my Grandmother for being Humanitarian of the year in Kingman Az. I don't know what it takes to be humanitarian of the year in Kingman Az but I know that two people I know were mentioned during the speech as being vital in there patience as she towed them around town when they were very small. I would like to think that little brother and I better for the experience but honestly we were probally more interested in getting home to cartoons then the good we were doing 20 years ago.

I believe in....

Telepathic Space Monkeys....

If you haven't seen "Fight Club" in a while you probally won't get that... I saw it last week and I barely get it... I'm pretty sure it's a refrence to how easily modern man (as in males) can be turned into "cannon fodder" through the direction of one charasmatic leader who strikes a chord or just plain strikes them.

It could also be because I'm listening to Pearl Jam am doing laundry and had a couple of beers this evening.

I'm willing to bet it has more to do with the music and beer then Fight Club.

So if that didn't turn you off nothing will.

So here is a thought for collective thought pool known as my 3.3 readers (the decrease is due to the start of the fall semster and Kristi and Curtis having to devote signficant portions of brain functionality to school work that they would otherwise use to digest this crap) (maybe not digest this crap so much as process it and let it all run)

Disneyland no longer the most evil place on earth has been returned to the status of "Annoying"

The spacemonkeys took to calling me "Mr. IBM" at work... I swear if the wallpapers were cornflower blue I would be a freaking spacemonkey...

hey look another beer.

I admire people who don't drink... when they type they don't wear out their "Backspace button"... They generally have better grammer too.

Pearl Jam has a song called "Big Wave" and Soundgarden has a song called "My Wave" they sound nothing alike

Little Lower, Little Slower...

You know you want too....

Notice the green on the faucet...

Notice the green...

It's a little hard to see in this picture but yeah you get it.

It just made me feel better about my own bathroom.

I hearby withdraw my Jihad

OK so the KDKB thing was a plublicity stunt... Curtis called it.

All they did was open up the type of music that they play

They didn't even change their staff...

http://www.kdkb.com/staff.asp

Again that is a good thing since listening to Alice Cooper in the evenings is rather cool.

A Jihad of sorts...

For the last week KDKB has been pushing that on Sept 15, 2006 @ 9:33 AM they will be unveiling their new format.

Curtis thinks that this is just a plublicty stunt... I would be lying if I said I didn't agree with him just a bit.

There is a part of me that is also really expecting KDKB to go the way of the Mariachi Station and suddenly I will be down to two radio stations in Phoenix (KEDJ and KUPD)

So in some sort of half assed orgainzed response to the maybe demise of KDKB I'm going to make predictions about what we will be listenining to on "Classic Rock" stations in the future.

When I say future I say 20 to 30 years... so think about music from 1975 to 1985 and what you hear on classic rock stations today and you know about I'm going for.

So in the year 2036 the classic rock stations will be playing. (maybe)

Damn Nirvana.... they had 1 good album and Kurt was to much of a pussy to stand up to Courtney and was killed for it. The really bad part is we will only hear Lithium and Smells Like Teen Spirit... we won't hear any of the good stuff.

Freaking Incubus... I know it's a odd ball but hear me out on this one. They will be one of those random songs that will come on and you will remember the first time you listened to "Make yourself" I associate Incubus with a few other things so I don't listen to them as much but I like the first Album.

Sadly Metallica... hopefully will be pre-suck Metallica from The Black Album and Ride the Lightning.

Soundgarden... will probally be like Iron Butterfly... everybody has seen the video for "Black Hole Sun" and knows it but has no clue on the rest of the music. Much like Iron Butterfly and "In ga da vida"

I'm back and forth on putting Audioslave on their they make good music but they have also only been around for 4 years so not long enough to really tell.

You will also notice that I'm lacking Pearl Jam and Tool let me defend myself.

Pearl Jam will become the new Phish and just keep touring... Eddie and co. will be 80 and still rocking the house. They will also still be sticking it to Ticketmaster every chance they get.

Tool... I truly fear that Tool won't be played much for being to weird and experimental.. you will hear it... it will only be on the Chris Cornell show done from his basement broadcast on the Intertube and only heard on specfic days of the week.

Maynard and Co. would have it no other way.

And now to the half assed organization part (this is where you the drivel reader get to particpate) So what will be on the "Classic Rock" "Classic Rap" stations of the future?

DON'T REPLY HERE Reply in your own freaking piece of drivel.

Whoops time to hit a new album almost hit "Whish you were here" bad juju for me there.

Psuedo Bloggers of the world unite... tommrow...

That title could also work for procastinators... that would also be a good slogan for me and my realtionship with my gym.

Hmmm I will goto the gym tommrow but I want a beer now. See that is my problem I don't have any reward system for going to the gym. If I did that I would just buy whatever item I desired (insert crack about pretty little DS in my grubby hands) and not bother with the gym. I know I'm not going to be mr. Six Pack but yet I still go (most of the time) so it's a odd realtionship the gym and I have.

Here is something for you people who read this drivel during the day to think about... my realtionship with the gym as it relates to my realtionships with other people.

Deep huh...


Speaking of drivel... WELCOME EVEY MARIEVEY!

Let me speak of Eve... she should feel honored she is only the second woman to get a good section of a post about her... the last one I called "fucking bitch" and if you click on the archives for September of 2004 you can see my little tirade!

So getting back to the drivel... Eve recently graduated from her training blog at myspace to a big person's blog here at blogspot (http://death-by-blog.blogspot.com/) Eve is carrying on the fine tradition of drivel blogging that she somehow seems to have picked up from me? OK maybe I'm giving myself to much credit here, but she does the blogging thing in a manner which I find most intruging and will probally end up ripping off in one way or another in the not to distant future.

So what does the future hold for Eve? Well as soon as I can figure out how to do a perma link on the side of the thing under the "Terror Alert" icon she is going to get the only link to another blog I currently have.

You want a perma link on my blog? Be like Eve prove your self worthy or out distance me. I've been doing this for 5 years and have not intentions of quitting anytime soon.

Bored...

Just because I can use my blog for evil... stop now if you don't care about senseless drivel.


1.Your Full Name: Next Question



2. Age: Next Question



3. Single or Taken: Next Question



4. Favorite Movie: Next Question



5. Favorite Song: Next Question



6. Favorite Band/Artist: Next Question



7. Dirty or Clean: Next Question


8. Tattoos and/or Piercings: Next Question


HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...



1. Do we know each other outside of myspace? Next Question


2. Whats your philosophy on life?Next Question


3. Would you have my back in a fight? Next Question


4. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest? Next Question



5. What is your favorite memory of us? Next Question



6. Would you give me a kidney? No



7. Tell me one odd/intresting fact about you: Next Question



8. Would you take care of me when I'm sick? Next Question



9. Can we get together and make a cake? Next Question




10. Have you heard any rumors of me lately? Next Question



11. Do you/have you talk(ed) crap about me? Next Question




12. Do you think I'm a good person? Next Question




13. Would you drive across country with me? Next Question




14. Do you think I'm attractive? Next Question



15. If you could change anything about me, would you? Next Question




16. What do you wear to sleep? Next Question



17. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out? Next Question



18. Would you go on a date with me if i asked you? Next Question



19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? Next Question



20. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you? Next Question

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep I'm an open book... I'm a open book like Drew Rosenhaus is a "great communicator"

You can supersize for $99 more!

So a while back I talked about how my work gave everyone a free Costco Membership...

Well after several trips to Costco I have my musings about Costco...


Not everything needs to be in bulk... if you need to buy the 500 tablet bottle of Advil everytime you go to Costco... you should probally see a doctor or the Betty Ford clinic. Another great example is you can buy Condoms in bulk... OK if your going through that many condoms you need to...

1. Learn to keep it in your pants... seriously you have to be a walking VD

2. Cut down on the number of Ho's you have.... 4 to 7 Ho's to a pimp should be sufficent.

3. Get into porn if you like to fuck that much you might as well get paid to do it... and they supply the condoms

Come on folks A.j. won a year supply of condoms a while back and he got like 200 shit he was passing them out like candy...

OK yeah not a good thought their...

Muffins... Jumbo Muffins... Jumbo bulk muffins... OK pick either Jumbo or Bulk they can't be both Jumbo or Bulk their is a reason why the waistband of america is expanding and it's not the fine folks at Krispy Kreme.

Beer why can I only buy beer in a 24 pack? WARM?? If milk can be kept warm and bread can be fresh is it to much to ask that the beer be oh I don't know COLD!

Ok that is enough of my musings I need to find some place to stash my 300 pack of toliet paper.

If your not into Linux don't read this....

Wow... so I went to do a yum update on my Linux box which is currently running Cent OS 4.3 and it's automagically upgrading to Cent OS 4.4!


Now I know this might not seem like a big deal to you but to me that is rather cool!

No CD to download just yum it and away you go.

So far my biggest complaint about CentOS is that there isn't alot of stuff in their yum repo's as compared to suse or fedora. But it does everything that I want it to do which is be my Linux server. OH and certain programs that are written for Linux I can't seem to find dependicies that work... you know little things like PYTHON!

Speaking of which I haven't talked about Linux in a while and my screwing around with Linux at home is finally starting to pay off in the work place (And Adam thought that is would never lead to anything).

Take life as it comes.....

Straight, no chaser.


Keeping up with the Alchol theme.


So Cody and I hit Mill tonight because... I was bored... and so was he. So we hit Mill. I learned a few very important things tonight.

1. If the pool hall your at has attendant in the bathroom your crossing over into pretentious territory.

2. If most of the people there look like they are out of a Abercrombie and Fitch catalog and they look like they shop their too your crossing over into pretentious territory.

3. If it's $4 for a Corona and they are "out of Guiness" your crossing over into pretentious territory

You actually cross into pretentious territory with a combo of any two items above. Cody and I hit the jackpot we got all 3!

Remember folks it's just a pool hall not a dance club.

Beer....

So it's no secret that I like beer... Light beer, dark beer, hoppy beer, holiday beer, summer beer, winter beer, wheat beer, rice beer. The list goes on and on and on and on.

This notion of beer love got me thinking tonight... What beers do I like and how can I share that with my loyal readership? Well ok 2.1 of you who drink beer, .5 of you is a pansy and only drink "whiskey" (pansy) and the .4 don't drink at all (I admire you for your steadfastness but I can't but wonder how you make it through the day)

So lets start at the beginning (where we should start will all things) and talk about my personal favorite...

Yes the true "King of Beers" actually you know that is a insult.... NO... Guiness is the Nectar of the Gods!

Actually Guiness is a stout... which is a very ummm stout beer. OK you know what let me go find a wikipedia entry for Guiness.

Hold ON... I found something even better... www.beerhunter.com Looks like the internet is for more then just P0rn!

"An extra-dark, almost black, top-fermenting brew, made with highly roasted malts. Sweet stout, an English style, is typified by Mackeson, which has only about 3.75 percent alcohol by volume in its domestic market but more than 5 in the Americas. Sweet stout usually contains milk sugars (lactose), and is a soothing restorative. Dry stout, the Irish style, is typified by Guinness, which comes in at around 4 percent in the British Isles, a little more in North America and as much as 8 in tropical countries. Dry stouts sometimes contain roasted unmalted barley. Imperial Stout, originally brewed as a winter warmer, for sale in the Tsarist Russian Empire, is medium dry and distinguished by its great strength: anything from 7 to more than 10."

Guiness and I have a long history... but that is for another entry.

Moving on, there is a picture of me floating around holding a bottle of "Polygamy Porter". Now this is significant for two reasons. 1. It's the only "posed" picture of myself that I actually like and 2. It's the only porter I've drank in the last couple of years that I've actually enjoyed.

Again from the dude at www.beerhunter.com

"A London style that became extinct, though it has recently been revived. It was a lighter-bodied companion to stout, and the most accurate revivals are probably the porters made by American micro-brewers like Sierra Nevada. Around 5 percent by volume. In some countries, the porter tradition remains in roasty-tasting dark brews that are bottom-fermented, and often of a greater strength."
Polygamy porter is made by a micro brewer in.... Salt Lake City? OK looks like Mormons do drink beer the just don't owe up to it. Anywhoo the quote is and the beer are both spot on... it's got a "roasted nut" taste to it.

I'm also very fond of Fat Tire Amber Ale... Actually I like all ales... shit who are we kidding I like all beers.... but yeah Fat Tire is my favorite for regional type beer.

So let me just go ahead and list different beers I like and we can all move on.

Oak Creek Stout... It's like Guiness only not quite as smooth a bit more bite to it. About the only good thing to come out of the relationship with the bitch.

Sam Adams... I'm again in the boat of liking just about anything this brewery puts out. Sam Adam's Light is their best brew in my mind. Octoberfest is a close second.

There are many other beers... but that is for another time.

I leave you know with a view of my fridge from a month or two ago.

Mo-blogging...

And now you will know the power of this fully enabled spam station!

Ok maybe not... maybe it's more like I finally got the whole picture from cell phone to blog thing to work. granted if I send one in the middle of the day your going to get a bunch of crap my cell carrier but that is why I edit and carry on.


Edit and carry on people.

Fear and Loathing at the movie theater....

Ok so I've finally caught up with the rest of the country and have seen Pirates 2.... I got to say I wasn't as nearly as pleased with this one as I was with the first.  So I will now list for you my problems with Pirates 2. 

1. Orlando Bloom.... Shut up elf... No one wants to hear you talk in what really sounds like a fake English accent. 

2. Kiera Knightly... There was not nearly enough Kiera in this movie.  Now I realize it's Disney and so it's supposed to "family friendly"  but come on guys... When was the last time you saw a pirate movie where the heroine didn't have ample cleavage?    Really?   OH and she looked like she was strung out on something the whole time.   Then again when I've seen pictures of her on the internet recently that is just how she looks so it's probably pretty safe to assume that she's strung out on something. 

3. Undead Monkey?  Well if it's breathing isn't it "Undead" I don't know maybe I'm a little to sensitive this one.  Maybe if they described the monkey as "death impaired"...

"What do you have for me in trade?"

"We have this 'death impaired' monkey" BANG!

4. Limbs as oars....  Really... I know suspension of disbelief but come on guys every body knows that once a body has fully decomposed that the joints aren't going to stay together especially when they are being used as oars and being dragged through the water like they were.

5. Davey Jones... OK I'm still trying to figure out how the crew has either humans or these weird human like hybrids... Only one person was how I truly expected them to be (Will Turner's Father) I also was not happy with the lack of additional mollusk and other debris on the crew members.

And I thought Davey Jones was a spirit... Not a squid like person.

6. The flying Dutchman... Wait this ship is bringing harm to the people that encounter it?   What the hell I thought running into the flying Dutchman was a sign of good luck and fortune

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman

OK the Wikipedia doesn't say anything about that so never mind....

Oh and getting back to crustaceans... Why wasn't the flying Dutchman covered in them?

7. Plot Lines.... This movie had more plot lines then this post has gripes.  Actually the Ninja from askaninja.com had it right... If you had a part in this movie you had a plot line.  Think about he's right...

The leg had a plot line
The Hat had a plot line
The Cracken had a plot line
The dress had a plot line
Every ship had a plot line
 
See pretty much everything had a plot line. 

So that is my take on the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest"   Now if I only kind of liked this move imagine what I would have wrote if I really didn't like it.

Oh that is better....

Turns out Curtis's threshold is only slightly higher then mine.

We are now moving on to Chappelle's


Chappelle's show makes me want to keep cable.

I feel my brains bleeding out my ear....

I'm watching the girls nextdoor with Curtis...

Normally you have to pay $12.95 a hour for this crap. It's almost enough to make me drop cable completly to keep my brains continue to bleed out my ears.

Notes from the stadiumi....

Know the followign things.....

1. If your going to a game in the new cardinals staduim sho3w up 3 hours early and come from the north.

3. 10 beers (2 of which are 40oz) and footbsall is nott a good mix.


This is the closeset to a drunk blog that you all will get for a very long time.

The one with a lot of titles...

Tonight's entry is being brought to you by a good self cooked dinner and the realization that you all (all 3.2 of you) have gone far to long with out being blessed by my cosmic bullshit. So tonight and tonight only you get not one, not two, but THREE!!!!11!!!1!11!1! Entries for the clickage of one entry!

Lets take a trip shall we....


I am Jack's Inner Ass kicker....

I got the new Ikea catalog last week... I know sad, hold on it gets worse. I opened it up and was looking through it and found a couch that would go very nicely in my back room. Fold out and the whole bit so Dorkus wouldn't have to sleep on a air mattress. Now when this thought flashed across my brain it was immediately followed by "Do you own your stuff, or does your stuff own you" which if you've seen "Fight Club" as much as I have you understand where that line came from. I don't know if I'm two steps away from space monkeys or not. I do know that we should all be very worried if I start missing my 10 PM bed time and seemingly start going all over the country.


Like a hamster on a wheel...

So I've finally gotten off of my ass and gone back to the gym. Yep I'm actually partaking in physical activity. Now those of you who have been long time readers (and therefore friends for a long while) will remember that I frequented the gym in Kingman on a regular basis. For all the fucking good it did me. This time I will follow the food plan (read as diet) and actually go!

I suspect I will have fallen off of the wagon in 2 or 3 weeks. More bitching to follow stay tuned to this cespool for additional updates.

Though I have to admit the eating every two hours thing works rather nicely for me.

I have to apologize.....

Ok I've been proven wrong... no I don't have a girlfriend. If that were the case I would be proven wrong a lot more then once a year.

I was watching the movie "Underworld" today on TNT. I was surprised it was actually pretty good. It also reaffirmed my infatuation with brunettes in leather and being very gothic.

So yeah go rent Underworld... and I suspect that it's sequel "Underword:Evolution" is either as gothtastic as the first or far surpasses it.

Again..

Keep watching....

Wow....

Just watch the video...

De Glazing the Bachelor Brain....

I recently stumbled upon a stash of old CD's.... Circa 2000. Ah yes college, that wonderful time in my life when I openly experimented (and still do) with Open Source software and other strange things on the internet.

I didn't find a whole lot in there that was to terribly interesting... Half written papers for classes... Programming homework... The original version of ye website. Truth be told it isn't that different then that early version I was working on back in the day. Actually it's changed very little since college. In amongst all of these I found 2 CD's of videos I had backed up. One was pretty much just crap (read as porn)...

What it's not like you haven't backed up your porn? What you haven't? True you can get copious amounts of it on the internets... But then again if you download to much porn you will go blind and clog all of the internet pipes. Remember kids Pr0n is for adults.

Anyway the second CD had music videos on it only about 12 and most of them were Rage Against the Machine videos. It has been kind of interesting watching the Rage Against the Machine videos again after a few years. It's one thing to hear the music it's another thing to see the music put to someone else's vision. I never realized how rooted in pop culture the rage videos were until I watched them again. So that tells me 2 things. 1. I'm more of a pop culture whore that I tend to owe up to (don't know if this is still true) 2. The best way to take down your "opponent" is to appear to be on the inside (still very true).

It made me long for the days when mtv actually played videos...

Oh well... Back to clogging up the tubes of the internet I go!

Geek Motivation....

Intersting read here... posted by a fellow gamer who got it from some website someplace. (As you can tell I was really paying attention). I found it to be true enough.... and hey who knows you post something enough times maybe just maybe it will be read by the right person.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks
Posted @ 6:45 am.

Being a geek myself, I think this is a subject I think needs to penetrate all levels of management in every company that values their geeks. By no means is this a rant, but for the last 10 years Ive seen what motivates us and what doesnt. Ive seen the managers that just dont get it. Ive seen those that understand completely and react accordingly. So, I thought Id share my observations and see what everyone has to add as well.

1. Geeks are curious. Let them feed their desire to learn things

I dont know how much emphasis I can place on this point. You can take the ultimate geekgive them a rockin compensation packageand give them rubber-stamped projects (same tasks over and over) for two years and theyll probably quit anyway. This point is based on the notion that if a geek feels his ability to gain knowledge is hindered hell try to find it somewhere else. Let them satisfy their curiosities with the task of picking up the latest technologies and applying them as they see fit. (Even if its just for a prototype.)

2. Geeks like to be self-sustaining. Let them figure things out on their own.

I havent met a true geek yet that wants you to hold their hand through every step of an implementation. In fact Ive seen quite the opposite. They want to do things their way. If you suggest something, odds are the solution is wrong in their mind because its not what they would have come up with first. Theres many ways to complete a task in the technical arena, why cram your solution down their throats? Dont hinder their creativity, just let them figure it out. The exception to this is probably in design. You obviously have to define your interfaces between components and have your requirements for the implementation. Let the details get figured out by whoevers doing the dirty work. You can optimize things later if they arent up to par.

3. Geeks are creative even if they dont know it. Give them a chance.

One thing Ive seen is that most geeks dont see themselves as very creative. Give them the task of creating a GUI tool of some sort and theyll butcher it up and say get someone with art talent on the job; I just know how to make it work. Now this may be true as far as whats appealing to the eye, but geeks have creativity inside them somewhere.

When you give them a requirement for a component thats just out of reach with the normal cookie-cutter solutions, whos jumping at the chance to dig on the web for solutions that could work? Whos rattling off a dozen ideas for things to try that might work with the newfound constraints? Thats right, its management. (Just kidding, though everyone has their momentwho knows? Some managers are geeks too.)

Even if none of the solutions the geeks come up with will work, its a vast pool of creative ideas to feed from. Though they see themselves as equation-solvers with little creativity, I see it as opportunity. Let them apply their creativity. They love to be in the brainstorm process instead of pushed to the wayside as a later-used resource.

4. Geeks need tools, good ones. Give them more than they need.

Ive seen way too many people get frustrated over their hardwares inability to keep up with them. Theres nothing worse than having a machine that you have to wait on. Bill Gates based his entire company idea on the fact that hardware was going to be unlimited and it allowed him to grow an empire. Had the PC not been able to gain ground as fast as it did in the marketplace Microsoft may have had a different story.

With geeks its not much different. Give them unlimited hardware (hell, just give them just a little more than they think they need) and their productivity and creativity will definitely increase. Best of all, itll motivate them. Geeks cant wait to see what they can do with the ultimate environment. Give a geek the latest-released workstation with maxed hardware and youll most likely get a little more than you bargained for from them just because theyre motivated enough to push the system to its limits.

5. Private, yet collaborative. Geeks need to be left alone, but not too alone.

Im really on the fence with this one depending on the project. Ive seen the case for both putting geeks in offices with doors, and Ive seen the case for putting everyone in a big non-walled room with the extreme environment at its best. Personally, I like a combination of both. Geeks want to be left alone when they know what their assignment is. Give geeks a problem to solve, and first thing theyll want to do is run off and come back with something that fits.

Isolation is great for getting things done when you know whats there, but collaboration is ideal for environments where people can feed off of each other. I think geeks are motivated by the idea of a collaborative environment with their team where they can retreat to a hole-in-the-wall somewhere and not be disturbed while they get into the zone and crunch out their tasks.

6. Free stuff. T-shirts, food, desktop widgets, whatever.

It amazes me to no end how free stuff can motivate someone. Geeks could care less about the free company logo pens you hand out. Im talking real free stuff here. I was on a project once where for two solid months dinner was ordered every night for anyone working late to meet the deadline. I couldnt believe how many people stayed just because it was easy to do it. Not only that, they were happy to do it!

The power of free things is that its generally more motivating when its a surprise. If everyone expects it all the time, its not really as cool. In my opinion, even if a geek expects free food every Friday afternoon its not going to motivate him any less than if you do it every random(6) Fridays.

Ive seen geeks go out of their way doing some pretty silly things just to get free t-shirts at conferences. The vendors caught onto something right away and have been milking it for everything its worth. They know geeks love free stuff, even if its crap.

7. Control

This particular point amuses me somewhat actually. Ive never really met a true geek that didnt love power. Not the kind of power that an executive has in a company. Im talking about the power of knowing the inner workings of a complex system that the company benefits from. The power of being able to hop onto a server and manage to be in the top three frag-count players on every mapwhile everyone else just watches in amazement. The power of knowing that no matter what comes along as a surprise you can figure something out that will work no matter what.

More to the point, geeks like to control their lives. Most of them (well, us) are control freaks that like to do things their own way. Be it control over how to implement their component, design their circuit board, cross out mundane sections of documentation that make no sense except to the business user until its re-written, see where theyre headed after the current projectwhatever. If a geek doesnt feel in control, the anxiety will kick in and chip away until greener grass starts to grow on another companys lawn. Lay out the plans, stick to the plans, and give a comfortable level of control to the geeks and their motivation will feed itself.

8. Geeks need recognition

Having a purpose plays a big role in geek motivation. If geeks dont feel like theyre needed or appreciated, theyll begin to wonder if they belong. If someone pulls off some completely unexpected progress by using their creative genius mind, by all means give them some public praise. Feed their desire to do more by giving them the reputation they deserve. The first couple times I was put in front of a VP that really liked what Id done for their bottom line with my applications, I had such an adrenaline rush that I couldnt wait to get out there and kick some more ass.

Some may claim to just do it for the general cause of figuring things out and being just another team member, but deep down inside it still has to feel great to know that others are motivated by your accomplishments. Taking credit for a project at a high level in front of management w/o praising the hands-on folks is never the way to go. Giving proper recognition to the true hands-on geeks that are doing most of the grunt-work really motivates them to do more.

9. Freedom

Now, I dont mean for everyone to get some picture in their mind of geeks lining up to see the last scene of Braveheart, but sometimes I just want to lean back and re-enact that scene in front of everyone I know. Hindering geeks ability to use the applications they want or being able to configure their machines they way they like is not the way to go. Give them the tools, but then motivate them by allowing them to really use them the way they can by giving them the free reign to set things up however they want. Companies try to hinder their employees so much by limiting access to things when it really just doesnt matter. If the geek cant get his job done with all the freedom given to him, then you dont want that geek working for you anyway.

This probably lines up with the control point quite a bit, but I think its a bit separate in whats being controlled. Keep the freedom for the geek as much as possible, and theyll hesitate to look elsewhere since most places dont do this.

10. Compensation - Saved this for last, but geeks gotta live too

This one goes without saying in my opinion. Its an implied motivator. Not everyone is as motivated by money as managers think, but most of them are from what Ive seen. All the other stuff definitely adds up, but compensation is generally the first and primary motivator for most. This applies less for people starting out I think. Geeks just at the beginning of their career are more interested in what they can learn and create. Later on its more about compensation and perks. This point could probably be an entire post in itself, so maybe Ill save that for later. For now, just know that proper compensation and benefits are a very key to motivating geeks.

Thats the set of motivators I think are key to really pumping up your geeks to perform. Ive seen them work, and Ive seen the absence of these motivators crush morale and productivity. Please feel free to add motivators that have worked for you and your geeks. What doesnt work for you? Im interested in hearing what others see on this subject.

What do you expect from me....

Nothing less then the best in drivel blogging about nothing!

No really this thing has to be the Seinfeld of blogs... only not as funny and a lot less classy.

I need a couple of fart jokes... that is what I need.

........

Damn I don't have any fart jokes... So how about some random observations from life in Phoenix.


Wal-Mart my farvorite target, now I know most of you can relate to me on this one. When did it become nesscary to start carrying a GPS and Map to make your way through Wal-Mart? No really try finding something you don't normally pick up. Now go to your nearest Wal-Mart Supercenter and try and find it.

Know where they keep the pesticides? You know the stuff for around the house ant traps, roach hotels, RAID that sort of thing. I will give you three guesses.

Nope it's not in pet area (which is where I expected it to be)

Nope it's not in hardware either (I need a hula hoe)

Nope it's not with the house-hold chemicals... though you would be close I have seen it there before.

At the Wal-Mart I shop at it's with the Bleach and Dishwasher soap.

Figure that one out... and yes I needed truly felt like I needed a Map and GPS. Yes a map that says Sock, Underwear, Video games all laid out in their respective areas.... Pesticides... crap that's not on here... It's gotta be over in the giant section marked "Unknown"

I fucking hate wal-mart.... it amazes me that I still go there.

So after wal-mart I decided that I needed to hit Pet whatever that is next to it. I wanted to see what kind of stuff they had and if there was anything worth buying since I'm cat sitting...

I did find two cat toys that I keep hearing batted around every 10 minutes or so. My guess is Frankie kind of likes them but isn't sure what the hell they were.

But I did see something that just made me start laughing.


I don't know if it was the eyes or the fact that the cat is holding a pot of grass....

I pretty sure it's one of those things that is best left to other people to decide.