2010

My life changed in two very important ways this year.

The bad came at the beginning of May.

The good came a few weeks later.

I'll answer for my crimes.

I'll forever be thankful about the friendship, the love, and the support I've got on the other side.

-transiit

Time. Version 3.

I'm back

The hiatus is over, welcome back Kotter.

Fear

Hello, new recurring nightmare...

A thought..

a thought I had:
By what we say...
Everyone can see,
Learn from the past.
Or don't let it haunt you.
Rather, see your mistakes
Don't get trapped in them.
Get things in order.
Or at least find your peace.
After things settle down
Will it seem so bad?
Another obstacle to overcome...
You can do this.

TSA

So which makes you feel more secure?

Fake drugs?

Testicular groping for refusing to let them see your junk?

For added reading pleasure, I point you at Bruce Schneier's essays

-transiit

(bonus read: This one about Bruce Schneier is a hoot)

Love you too, Viacom.

I loves me some hot beef.

The delicious kind. I loves me some stupid meats.

I miss being a child.

reruns...

I know, posted before. Still like it.

I am such a dork

My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma.

From somewhere else. Interesting read.

Karma in Hinduism is also considered to be a spiritually originated law. Many Hindus see God's direct involvement in this process, while others consider the natural laws of causation sufficient to explain the effects of karma. However, followers of Vedanta, the leading extant school of Hinduism today, consider Ishvara, a personal supreme God, as playing a role in the delivery of karma. Theistic schools of Hinduism such as Vedanta thus disagree with the Buddhist and Jain views and other Hindu views that karma is merely a law of cause and effect but rather is also dependent on the will of a personal supreme God. Examples of a personal supreme God include Shiva in Shaivism or Vishnu in Vaishnavism. A good summary of this theistic view of karma is expressed by the following: "God does not make one suffer for no reason nor does He make one happy for no reason. God is very fair and gives you exactly what you deserve."

Karma is not punishment or retribution but simply an extended expression or consequence of natural acts. Karma means "deed" or "act" and more broadly names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life. The effects experienced are also able to be mitigated by actions and are not necessarily fated. That is to say, a particular action now is not binding to some particular, pre-determined future experience or reaction; it is not a simple, one-to-one correspondence of reward or punishment.

Karma is not fate, for humans act with free will creating their own destiny. According to the Vedas, if one sows goodness, one will reap goodness; if one sows evil, one will reap evil. Karma refers to the totality of our actions and their concomitant reactions in this and previous lives, all of which determines our future. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and dispassionate response.

One of the first and most dramatic illustrations of Karma can be found in the Bhagavad Gita. In this poem, Arjuna the protagonist is preparing for battle when he realizes that the enemy consists of members of his own family and decides not to fight. His charioteer, Krishna (an avatar of god), explains to Arjuna the concept of dharma (duty) among other things and makes him see that it is his duty to fight. The whole of the Bhagavad Gita within the Mahabharata, is a dialogue between these two on aspects of life including morality and a host of other philosophical themes. The original Hindu concept of karma was later enhanced by several other movements within the religion, most notably Vedanta, and Tantra.

According to Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, one begets Karma in four ways:

* through thoughts
* through words
* through one's actions
* through actions others do under one's instructions

Everything that one has ever thought, spoken, done or caused is Karma; as is also that which we think, speak or do this very moment. After death we lose Kriya Shakti (ability to act) and do Karma. Actions performed consciously are weighted more heavily than those done unconsciously. But just as poison affects us if taken unknowingly, suffering caused unintentionally will also give appropriate karmic effect. We are in position to do something about our destiny by doing the right thing at the right time. Through positive actions, pure thoughts, prayer, mantra and meditation, we can resolve the influence of the karma in present life and turn the destiny for the better. A spiritual master knowing the sequence in which our Karma will bear fruit, can help us. As humans, we have the opportunity to speed up our spiritual progress with practice of good Karma. We produce negative karma because we lack knowledge and clarity.

Sri Tulsidas said: "Our destiny was shaped long before the body came into being."

Hindu scriptures divide karma into three kinds:

* Sanchita is the accumulated karma. It would be impossible to experience and endure all Karmas in one life. From this stock of sanchita karma, a handful is taken out to serve one lifetime and this handful of actions, which has begun to bear fruit and which will be exhausted only on their fruit being experienced. Hence, it is the sum of one's past karmas – all actions (good and bad) that follow through from one's past life to the next.
* Prarabdha Fruit-bearing karma is the portion of accumulated karma that has "ripened" and appears as a particular problem in the present life.
* Kriyamana is everything that we produce in current life. All kriyamana karmas flow in to sanchita karma and consequently shape our future.

In this way, so long as the stock of sanchita karma lasts, a part of it continues to be taken out as prarabdha karma for being experienced in one lifetime, leading to the cycle of birth and death. A Jiva cannot attain moksha until the accumulated sanchita karmas are completely exhausted.

Baseck

Amazing.

Noise can be beautiful.

I am amused.

Doesn't take much, really.

Carter USM

Ahem

I guess I've not posted anything other than links or videos in a while. Maybe it's time.

In May, I did a stupid thing that got me wrapped up in the court system. I'm doing my best to be honorable about it, and it looks like in a few more days I'll likely know my fate on that one. It was stupid, utterly preventable, should have known better, etc. It is what it is. I'll take responsibility, nobody was hurt, there are no victims, I just have to answer for it now.

That said....

I finally got to see my best friend in the first time for some years back in May. She brought her daughters out this way and I set up the air mattresses for them. Gave 'em a tour of southern california. Beaches, theme parks, yes yes. But what was better for me was that knowing they were just around the corner, I cooked a meal (I rarely cook for myself, love doing it for others) and they were happy with it (at least no overt complaints anyhow) I know the kids were out of their comfort zone, but even camping out in the living room of my cramped apartment didn't seem to trouble them. Perhaps my friend, their mom, is right in that they like me because I'm a nice guy that hasn't bugged them about their chores. Never pestered them along the lines of "Did you empty the dishwasher?" (though I admit I'm evil...if that were an issue, I'd take the approach of "Hey, I'm kind of busy with this thing, can you help me out and empty the dishwasher?") It's been my experience that people react better feeling like they're pulling for the team rather than just being told what to do.

As for the friend, yeah, there's something more there, but I won't let myself be public how far it goes just yet. Draw your own conclusions.

Luck

Holy crap.

(via kottke.org)

Time (v2)

Seriously, is there much better in life than getting to hang out with your best friend and be yourself?

I think not.

empathy

lists

People like making lists. I'm ok with that.

So here, have a list

Forgot how much I liked this song.

hurt

David Bowie and NIN: "Hurt" from video on Vimeo.

(NSFW bonus)

Oh, those wacky Finns

BananaSloth

I like this

From the Obama adress to the Netroots Nation conference:

Another year

July 22, 2009

July 22, 2010

Let's review

A bit over a year ago (May 2009) I decided that it was time I got in better shape, yeah? Goal weight: 175.

Good morning, America.


On top of that, my trainer measured me at 13.5% body fat last week. I'd probably weigh less if I'd not put on more lean muscle.

um, woo!?

-transiit

The Model

Not that I give a shit about gun laws...

But I love that we have a new level of accountability.

Pee Double-Ewe Eee Eye

T-Shirt War

Simple pleasures

Hey, I loves me some Tub Ring


And even better...


and more...


and more...


ugh, more...


and yet more...


But of course...

time is marching on

May 8, 2009

July 3, 2010

Pöpcørn

Squid

(thanks, vp)

Bittman, genius

Well Done Fakes

Time.

Some things time can't change.

After far too long, we finally got to spend some time again together. I would've given the world for that, and I'm glad I didn't have to.

(but seriously, let's not make it as long a time between again, yeah?)

Love you.

-e

(as an explanation to others, my best friend and I finally got to hang out after 16 years. The best of times.)

Studio Fun Time

Weird singing both parts.

Genius

Genius, I say.

baseck - 03-09-10 from daryl lambert on Vimeo.

Bianca

A good friend that's always going to have her own space in my life.

Pulling me back in

That jerk...

April 11th

One year later.

Unhinged

I'm fresh off a period of crunch time at work, which I documented over on Twitter as it was happening. It's a little long, but you get to witness the meltdown.

-All these wonderful rainy days squandered by being at work. 10:52 AM Jan 22nd
-oh, work. or "Why Fridays don't count anymore." 10:48 AM Jan 23rd
-Engineers on the weekend: There is no escape from the kingdom of the mole people. 11:08 AM Jan 23rd
-ok, enough unpaid work for one day. screw this, I'm going home. 5:53 PM Jan 23rd
-Oh look, it's annual bonus day at work. Wonder if we get one this year. 12:54 PM Jan 27th
-I am in desperate need to refocus on the things that are really important in my life. So, uh, Step 1: Breathing. 1:31 AM Jan 28th
-Way I see it, the average spout off. The smart realize reaction and hold tongue. The clever have a witty retort. Guess which I aim for? 1:50 AM Jan 28th
-You can tell it's going well at work when people start looking up the diagnostic guidelines for Stockholm Syndrome. 3:23 PM Jan 28th
-We can't decide if we should have a workplace pool regarding who will be the first person to have a mental meltdown, or the last. 4:15 PM Jan 28th
-ok, that's more than enough work for one day. stick a fork in me, I'm done. 8:25 PM Jan 28th
-All these long hours and unpaid overtime is starting to drag. I know, I'll get me a desk job and then...oh, wait. nevermind. 2:24 PM Jan 29th
-And finally home. Told the cow-orkers I was going to the bathroom. Wasn't very specific about where. 8:53 PM Jan 29th
-Too much fun messing with the computer security people at work. "nope, nope, nope, Oh look, I'm in. Better fix that, eh?" 10:21 PM Jan 29th
-everybody's working for the weekend. 1:46 PM Jan 30th
-oh, a steady diet of junk food and coffee. The cornerstone of a nutritious breakfast. 3:01 PM Jan 30th
-The cow-orkers and I are discussing vending maching potluck. Get us out of here already. 4:11 PM Jan 30th
-Attention, cow-orkers. Management has left the building. Office chair racing in the west hallway in 15 minutes. 6:44 PM Jan 30th
-Hopefully this won't go as badly as office chair jousting did. 6:50 PM Jan 30th
-Why did all the office chair racers come armed with a stapler? We really need to set some rules on these events. 7:07 PM Jan 30th
-A case of carpet burn and a slightly disabled chair later, we have a winner. If we're still here at 10pm, office chair square dancing it is. 7:17 PM Jan 30th
-ugh, back to work... 7:22 PM Jan 30th
-office chair square dancing was a bust due to lack of participants. Screw it, I'm going home. 10:55 PM Jan 30th
-Woo!, another one-day weekend. Trying to make the best of it. Not yet convincing a certain person to join me in fun. 1:52 AM Jan 31st
-data. *short* *short* data. *short*. Look, I suck at this now, I used to be smarter. data. *you're kidding, right?* 2:40 AM Jan 31st
-You, me, next week, remind me, otherwise, I'm out for a bit. Rock on, you crazy nutters. 10:47 PM Jan 31st
-I think I did this last week. Now I'm doing it again. Bet it'll be a lot like next week. 11:35 AM Feb 1st
-you know, I could save a lot of money on rent if I just accepted that I basically live at work. 7:34 PM Feb 1st
-cow-orker said we were acting like a bunch of savages, so we took the conch away from him. 10:23 AM Feb 2nd
-Just got the "nobody leaves until it works" speech. Which wouldn't be so bad if we had the problem isolated. Going to be a long night. 5:10 PM Feb 2nd
-straw poll of cow-orkers indicate 4 tired, 3 stupid, 1 angry. Manchester United 0. 8:02 PM Feb 2nd
-alright, we're all sneaking out the back. enough work for one day. 9:34 PM Feb 2nd
-burning out. 12:48 AM Feb 3rd
-8am and back at work with the ill behavior. Default damager. Power to the people. 8:08 AM Feb 3rd
-oh look, the software is broken again. 11:21 AM Feb 4th
-All one cow-orker has said to me all day is "Mom! Dad! Don't touch it! It's evil!" I think we're getting a little unhinged here. 7:07 PM Feb 4th
-Theory: every bit of company policy is an reaction to a past event. The cow-orkers and I are noticing the lack of sharp objects around here. 7:39 PM Feb 4th
-The software team rejected my idea for a new team motto: "Fire is the cleanser." Bummer. 8:01 PM Feb 4th
-Reason #47 I'm not allowed to name anything at work:They figured out "Software Componenent Architecture By Instrumented Electronic Services" 8:12 PM Feb 4th
-In my cube, hearing the ticking of my watch (not many others around so it's quiet) has a certain sense of morbidity that I'm not liking. 8:49 PM Feb 4th
-I wonder if there's any company policy on aerosol air horns. I know the "Emergency Evacuation Coordinator" locked up their megaphone. 8:51 PM Feb 4th
-Oops. Think I just offended a cow-orker by referring to the Twilight series as "thinly-veiled necrophelia" 9:09 PM Feb 4th
-Hey kids, you know what time it is? It's get the hell out of here and go home time. 10:16 PM Feb 4th
-Finally home. Collapse soon. 10:32 PM Feb 4th
-proofread, dammit. spelling better, grammar still crap. I used to be smarter than this. 11:55 PM Feb 4th
-gah, morning again 8:45 AM Feb 5th
-Today in catharsis while at work: Listening to Retard-O-Bot at very high volume levels. 1:10 PM Feb 5th
-Alright. It's time for a coffee run. My fingers aren't quite shaking fast enough to autotype yet. 1:29 PM Feb 5th
-Soaking wet cow-orker leaving the bathroom (grimly): "Don't go in there." (clearly had gotten caught in the rain, but still, made me laugh. 1:32 PM Feb 5th
-Well, add 3 to the offended cow-orker count. Apparently some people don't think jokes about infant vivisection are terribly humorous. 2:26 PM Feb 5th
-Sitting at my desk eating my yearly candy bar. I call it the Charlie Bucket Diet. 4:27 PM Feb 5th
-Normally I wouldn't recommend the words "bucket" and "diet" in such close proximity, but in this case it's apropos. 4:28 PM Feb 5th
-One cow-orker has vowed to drown her sorrows in Doritos. This will not end well. 4:28 PM Feb 5th
-Dorito Overload Update: Cow-orker is now on bag 3 from the vending machine. We've scheduled an intervention if she passes 5 tonight. 6:45 PM Feb 5th
-Oh, and another offended cow-orker: "Wait, who unchained you from your desk? You had your scheduled bathroom break hours ago." 6:49 PM Feb 5th
-Asked my lead "So how long until they move the sewing machines in here?" They didn't get it. 6:50 PM Feb 5th
-they won't let me go home... 9:33 PM Feb 5th
-I am furiously disgusted that even with all the unpaid overtime, they think the superbowl is a holiday. Fuck it, I'll take back my weekend. 8:17 AM Feb 6th
-back from work...and now to spend the rest of the day cleaning my apartment. 4:00 PM Feb 6th
-interesting evening. soon sleep, then back to work, hellish work. 11:34 PM Feb 7th
-but still, hellish, hellish work tomorrow. Here comes the death march. 12:17 AM Feb 8th
-oh, for the days when I did things other than work all the time. 10:08 AM Feb 8th
-half the cow-orkers are out sick today. curious. 11:35 AM Feb 8th
-nonsense is better than no sense at all. 12:42 PM Feb 8th
-compiling... 2:02 PM Feb 8th
-well, add that to the list of words I shouldn't use at work. Heh. Oops. 3:04 PM Feb 8th
-ugh, mid afternoon crash. time for more caffiene. 4:00 PM Feb 8th
-I'm kind of consoled, but even devils need amusing 5:38 PM Feb 8th
-Staying off the soda. Can't take any more coffee. Should take the chance on possibly expired milk from the oft-ignored milk vending machine? 6:36 PM Feb 8th
-Cow-orker: "So how's things for you?" Me: "I work on ____, how bad could it be?" Cow-orker: "I'm so sorry." 7:09 PM Feb 8th
-Just start screaming "operator". If the voice response system doesn't figure it out, at least you'll have something to pass the time 7:11 PM Feb 8th
-For what it's worth, I spent the last hour of my workday listening to Devo and Kraftwerk to get into the spirit of things. 8:46 PM Feb 8th
-I don't know why I bring my lunch to work. I always just want to escape this place by midday. 11:50 AM Feb 9th
-whoa. cow-orker just had a meltdown and was yelling at people. when engineers attack, film at 11. 2:07 PM Feb 9th
-I checked the pool and we had no winner, so I guess it's now "who'll be the last to have a breakdown." Anyone want to change their bet? 2:08 PM Feb 9th
-Hey, who unchained that guy from his oar? 2:28 PM Feb 9th
-The cow-orkers have informed me that my singing is "distracting" 5:40 PM Feb 9th
-Coming back from dinner, we tried to arrange "Office Worker Bowling." Failed. Nobody wanted to volunteer to be a pin. 6:18 PM Feb 9th
-The conscript pins just ran away. I guess we should've warned them. 6:18 PM Feb 9th
-I know engineers are typically a nerdy bunch, but wow. Big flinchers. 6:19 PM Feb 9th
-I think the guy in the cube next to me fell asleep. 7:17 PM Feb 9th
-oh, uh, oops. We had already assembled the trash-can drill march. 7:31 PM Feb 9th
-If anyone asks, clearly I had no involvement with any flooding of the second floor men's room. I was elsewhere in the building. 8:06 PM Feb 9th
-Not that there was any flooding. I'm just saying that if any happened to occur, I was elsewhere at the time. 8:06 PM Feb 9th
-I need to bring some of my toys back to work. At least the googly eyes. 8:12 PM Feb 9th
-You know, being stuck at work wouldn't be such a hassle if the lighting wouldn't turn off every half hour. *grumble* stupid friggin fraggin' 8:36 PM Feb 9th
-Holy crap, our restroom is breeding Bolsheviks! 8:41 PM Feb 9th
-why are we still here? why can't we go home? 9:22 PM Feb 9th
-ok, forget this noise. I'm going home. 9:51 PM Feb 9th
-cold. going to sleep. 1:47 AM Feb 10th
-afternoon crash came early today. coffee run time. 1:34 PM Feb 10th
-grind. grind. grind. turn the crank. grind. grind. grind. 3:23 PM Feb 10th
-why yes, helpful lab tech, there is a difference between 110V and 220V, but thanks for the demo on arc welding with a desktop power supply 4:51 PM Feb 10th
-We are now on the third day of "Day 1" on the schedule. Argh. 5:48 PM Feb 10th
-Apparently "I swear because I care" is not considered an acceptable justification 6:15 PM Feb 10th
-Day 3,974. No sign of rescue. Plane crashed nearby yesterday with Uraguayan soccer team on board. They were delicious. 6:46 PM Feb 10th
-Management has left to go get our takeout. I shall spend the time going mad as your new tyrant king! Too bad everyone else is in the lab. 7:18 PM Feb 10th
-note: cow-orkers dislike being called "serfs" even more than "cow-orkers" 7:28 PM Feb 10th
-Fetch me my sceptre, knave! I have proclamations to...oh wait, food's here. 7:32 PM Feb 10th
-Oh, the 21st century is here. Forget flying cars, I now have the productivity gain of getting to sit at my desk and work while I eat dinner. 8:09 PM Feb 10th
-It sounds like "Mysterion the Miracle Squirrel" (bane of the facilities employees) has found its way back into the plenum again. 8:54 PM Feb 10th
-I am so sneaking in the words "Horror vacui" the next time I have to write a finding against a peer review. 8:58 PM Feb 10th
-9:35. At work. The urge to break things is certainly enough to make me understand certain company policy (i.e., prohibition) 9:36 PM Feb 10th
-going home. 9:53 PM Feb 10th
-caffeine, save me! 1:33 PM Feb 11th
-Not at work, yay! At the dentist, boo! 5:34 PM Feb 11th
-back at work. double boo! 6:24 PM Feb 11th
-going home. hungry and tired. 10:00 PM Feb 11th
-Hungry 1, Tired 1, Angry 0, Stupid 4, Liverpool 3. 10:02 PM Feb 11th
-I think my caffeine threshold has hit the point where coffee no longer has any effect. 1:53 PM Feb 12th
-Cow-orker: "I just got married this year. No way I'm working Valentine's Day." Me: "You know, I hear the second marriage is easier anyhow." 2:14 PM Feb 12th
-You know, it's kinda hard to type when you're running from a furious cow-orker. 2:14 PM Feb 12th
-just spent a half-hour explaining *nix filesystems to my lead. The nerdery is running deep and wide. 7:22 PM Feb 12th
-No, I'm Batman. 7:46 PM Feb 12th
-Sitting in your office and watching the commentary about the olympics is a bit surreal. 7:46 PM Feb 12th
-to the fast food and other things that will make me feel crappy about working this much! Woo! 8:43 PM Feb 12th
-Finally home. Full weekend half-squandered sleeping through tomorrow, but I suspect good company on Sunday will more than make up for it. 11:52 PM Feb 12th
-I always liked "Buried Alive" as an epitaph. 12:29 AM Feb 14th
-strong sense of deja vu there for a second. odd, been some years. 12:35 AM Feb 15th
-oh, right, that work thing again. Gah. 10:29 AM Feb 15th
-I hate this place. 12:09 PM Feb 15th
-man, it's depressing watching someone cry at their desk. 7:19 PM Feb 15th
-I know if I go out to get food, I won't want to come back. Vending machine dinner it is. 7:36 PM Feb 15th
-Well, add Public Enemy and the Circle Jerks to the list of things the cow-orkers won't let me sing at work anymore. 7:57 PM Feb 15th
-The QA group was just declared to be "a gaggle of spineless dweebs" (it wasn't me.) I predict engineering cage match by the end of the night 8:22 PM Feb 15th
-someone's in the back hallway screaming profanity. Think it's another meltdown. Yikes. 8:43 PM Feb 15th
-feral engineer has calmed down. Is now contemplating the weight-bearing possibilities of the light fixtures. 9:02 PM Feb 15th
-Cow-orker: "Look, the managers aren't around. What's stopping us from casual pyromania?" 9:50 PM Feb 15th
-Cow-orker: "I hate my life. This is the most miserable I've ever been." Me: "Wait until next week." 9:56 PM Feb 15th
-Cow-orker: "This is not living." 11:02 PM Feb 15th
-Ok, I'm done. I'm going home. 11:18 PM Feb 15th
-workers of the world uni...oh, screw it. I'm just not feeling it. Every man for himself. 11:46 AM Feb 16th
-Have decided to irritate the cow-orkers for their ban on singing by saying everything I'm typing. Including this. 3:02 PM Feb 16th
-Ban on singing has been lifted. They made me promise no more Bon Jovi though. 3:11 PM Feb 16th
-Me: "Nobody should be allowed to have this much fun." Cow-orker: "Yeah, I think there's laws against it." 4:26 PM Feb 16th
-take out food deskside again. bleh. 7:21 PM Feb 16th
-Cow-orker: "What build of the software are we testing?" Me: "ALL OF THEM!" Cow-orker: "Man, go home." Me: "UNLIMITED POWER!" 9:18 PM Feb 16th
-The cow-orkers just don't get me. 9:19 PM Feb 16th
-The "Building 10.2 cacophonic all-boys choir" turned out to be just a bit less popular than we planned. 9:41 PM Feb 16th
-Enough. I'm going home. 10:48 PM Feb 16th
-This is the sort of day where I just wish I could just let go of all the negativity. Let it flow freely away so I could be rid of it. 3:18 AM Feb 17th
-Give up. Let go. Release all the rage. 3:18 AM Feb 17th
-ugh, still too much to do. 11:26 AM Feb 17th
-Me: "Is it safe?" Cow-orker: "Is what safe?" Me: "Is it safe?" Cow-orker: "I get it, you work too much." Me: "Is it safe?" 1:04 PM Feb 17th
-Oh, fuck. Code freeze day. Well, "close of business" means "whenever you finally go home". Is it safe? 2:05 PM Feb 17th
-Me: "must. not. break. shit. get it?" Cow-orker: "I just wanted to redo the API." 2:32 PM Feb 17th
-Current software engineering process: If you follow these 75 easy steps, you too can have an unworkable piece of shit. 2:58 PM Feb 17th
-twitchy. tired. cow-orkers grumbling. heading home soon, I think. 9:19 PM Feb 17th
-oh, reinitialization code, how you inspire my disdain. 10:30 PM Feb 17th
-And this is why Gort invented SIGKILL: the Nuclear Option of process control. 10:33 PM Feb 17th
-Just after 10:30. Pushing my last commits into source control. To the build farm! 10:38 PM Feb 17th
-build successful. now to wait for the multi-site sync to fire. 11:14 PM Feb 17th
-Alright, my last changes promoted to the candidate build. Now we wait. And wait. And wait some more. 11:52 PM Feb 17th
-post-midnight engineering. it's the dawning of a new error. 12:05 AM Feb 18th
-Either that guy has a full-blown case of "earbeard" or I'm now officially delusional. Or both. 12:27 AM Feb 18th
-Ok, we're going to meet this milestone (or was it millstone? huh.) by declaring it "Wednesday 2: The return of the revenge." 12:45 AM Feb 18th
-TMI: I am totally taking a shower when I finally get home. I got the stank of some serious engineering on me. 12:56 AM Feb 18th
-ok, wait for it...wait...for...it: We're in code freeze. 3 more days of testing, TRR on Sunday. 5 days of formal testing. 1:00 AM Feb 18th
-became a fan of Get Me The Fuck Out of Here. Oh, wait. wrong social media network. I'm going home. 1:00 AM Feb 18th
-damnit. get home, lamp breaks. 1:47 AM Feb 18th
-Best advice I've heard all evening: "We don't talk about the squids." 3:09 AM Feb 18th
-Didn't we play this game yesterday? Grind. 10:36 AM Feb 18th
-To the lab! There will be wearing of lab coats! We shall...um...you know....labinate 2:06 PM Feb 18th
-I have just been informed that referring to the lab manager as "the labinatrix" might be inappropriate. who knew? 2:07 PM Feb 18th
-Finally home. Eating salad. Listening to Shellac. This is how I unwind: http://bit.ly/htta5 11:01 PM Feb 18th
-the walking dead have returned to work. 10:20 AM Feb 19th
-writing anomaly reports and listening to Renegade Soundwave 6:23 PM Feb 19th
-At my desk, updating documentation, now listening to the Warlock Pinchers, and half-paying-attention to a religious slapfight in the twitter 8:55 PM Feb 19th
-Clearly, there's no way I would be awake at 7:30am. That would just be silly. 7:31 AM Feb 21st
-oh, the heady rush of watching a database load. yawn. 4:23 PM Feb 22nd
-"I live." *data* *data* data*. "I live." *data*....*data*. "I live". (this game is getting silly.) *data*. "I live." 3:13 AM Feb 23rd
-The drones return to the office. 10:18 AM Feb 23rd
-I would just like to point out that this code is..well...bullshit. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck. Argh. 10:39 AM Feb 23rd
-argh. 10:47 AM Feb 23rd
-Today's going to be one of those really fun days. I can feel it 9:42 AM Feb 24th
-destroy puny humans! argh! woo? 10:42 AM Feb 24th
-oh right, lotion in the basket. Glad we got that figured out. 10:44 AM Feb 24th
-Engineering would be a lot more fun if we got to have sidekicks. Expendable sidekicks. 12:23 PM Feb 24th
-duty now for the future, fellow spuds. 12:54 AM Feb 25th
-I descended into Redhat SRPM hell earlier. Is this what my life's become? I think my vision is coming back. Eyes aren't bleeding anymore. 1:21 AM Feb 25th
-The bastards took away my command-line. Feelin' stabby. 2:47 PM Feb 25th
-fnord. 4:18 PM Feb 25th
-poor choices with dinner and sriracha again. Going to sleep soon. 1:08 AM Feb 26th
-"We haven't even begun to scratch the surface of abuse on this," response, "Not with a bang but a whimper." 3:19 AM Feb 26th
-Rule #437 of life: It's not a proper "damn pizza" without tentacles. 4:04 PM Feb 28th
-When all this is over, I plan on leading the zombie apocalypse. Just sayin' 7:51 PM Mar 1st
-Hey look. Brain is waking up. 10:41 AM Mar 2nd
-Seems an engineer walked out last week. Hasn't come back yet. Temptation. 2:03 PM Mar 2nd
-Here we sit like birds in the wilderness...waiting for the SQL. 2:12 PM Mar 2nd
-malaise reigns supreme. 11:03 AM Mar 3rd
-Odd. Manager gave instructions on proper suicide technique. I should've asked for a demonstration. 6:29 PM Mar 3rd
-It's requirements-mapping fun time! Whee! 11:01 AM Mar 4th
-bad news: still at work. good news: just got a raise. 9:09 PM Mar 4th
-Awake. Off for coffee. To the test. Let's get stupid. 11:44 AM Mar 6th
-Wake up. Remember who you were. 1:16 AM Mar 7th
-mornings just keep getting harder to deal with. 9:32 AM Mar 8th
-I hate this place. 8:16 PM Mar 9th
-test run 1 complete. Fuck this, I've been at work long enough. I'm going home. 10:39 PM Mar 9th
-(I'm usually a smart-ass, but I feel compelled to say something borne of sincerity. 3:35 AM Mar 10th
-Be well, good luck. good life, goodbye. 3:38 AM Mar 10th
-So long and thanks for all the fish. 3:41 AM Mar 10th
-oh, here again. bother. 11:43 AM Mar 10th
-Seems after the third round of coffee, my teeth start oscillating. Currently at around 60hz. 3:11 PM Mar 10th
-I spend too much time freaking about the job. That work/life balance needs a reset. 12:13 AM Mar 11th
-signal:noise is sucking tonight. Easily solved. 12:27 AM Mar 12th
-Lazy sunday. Slept in. Doing laundry. Caffienated. Watching "Free for All" (pigface documentary) Set half the clocks to the right time. 2:23 PM Mar 14th
-holy hell, I'm tired. 9:40 AM Mar 15th
-no, I love being called back to work after midnight. IT'S THE BEST. 2:07 AM Mar 17th
-ShortShort/ShortData--DataData/DataShortDataDataData--Data/DataShortShortShort--ShortDataShortDataDataData--DataShortData--Short--DataShort 9:05 PM Mar 17th
-"So what do you use your system for?" "Oh, you know, personal projects, research, absorbing liquids..." 5:44 PM Mar 19th
-coffee? check. goggles? check. formal testing starts in 3...2...1... 9:44 AM Mar 20th
-and more testing....hopefully out of here early today. 10:46 AM Mar 21st
-holy crap, why am I here? 12:23 PM Mar 22nd
-worked out. legs trashed. arms falling off. neck destroyed. tomorrow will be worse. 8:57 PM Mar 23rd
-around on the important nights. thank you. 10:32 PM Mar 23rd
-If all goes to plan, it all ends tomorrow. I hope as much, near collapse. 11:40 PM Mar 24th
-holy crap, it's early. 7:57 AM Mar 25th
-it.is.done. 3:58 PM Mar 25th

Good Times: Had By All

Happy Easter

it's happening again...

phase 1:

March 22

One year later...

Two Talks

Both of these are about an hour long, so I commend you if you can get through either (or both!)

Safari

One of my couch's siblings has gone out on safari. Finding it, I did the double-take of "Who let you out?"



I need to get out more, I'm anthropomorphizing my furniture. Yikes.

ACC1.7

And it's done.

Final report: $3 (coffee) + $5.87 (dinner) = $8.87 ($1.09 remaining)

How'd everyone else fare? For those that dropped out, did you still feel mindful of what you were spending?

Context

So for context of that protest thing last night, I went on google maps. Some obscuring, yes.

The green area is company property. The red area is property of the hotel with the RSOs. I left some streets and other buildings around so you can see how close things are.

Speaking of weird...

I don't know how skewed Amazon's product suggestion algorithm is, but this list would definitely make for an interesting evening.

Things keep getting stranger.

And I likes it that way.

First, after a brief exchange on twitter the other night....

invictus:like a good single 30 something woman, i'm coming home before last call and watching project runway.

I felt compelled to respond:

transiit:Like a good single 30 something man, I'm in my apt. with the lights off reading Chuck Palahniuk with night vision goggles.

Took me a few days to make it happen:


Next, let ol' Unkie Transiit give you kids some advice. By all means, try those clever pick-up lines out as often as possible, just be a bit more selective about it if you're hitting on the ladies at the "Sex Offender" protest.


Finally, I found this quote that I really like. Good old Douglas Adams (as retold by Richard Dawkins)

"If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non-working cat. Life is a level of complexity that almost lies outside our vision""

ACC1.6

$4 (coffee) + $2.20 (slice o' pizza) + $2.07 (kleenex) + $3.49 (vegetables) = $11.76 ($9.71 remaining)

ACC1.5

$4 (coffee) + $2.16 (lunch) + $11 (dinner) = $17.16 ($21.47 remaining)

Last day may get a bit lean.

ACC1.4

$4 (coffee) + $5.50 (lunch) + $5.80 (smokes) + $7.75 (dinner) = $22.05 ($38.63 remaining)

Almost got kicked out of the coffeehouse today for a Tourette's-like outburst. Wouldn't that be a money saver?

ACC1.3

$4 (coffee) + $7.95 (lunch) + 0.80 (peanuts from vending machine) = $12.75 ($60.68 left)

ACC1.2

$4 (coffee) + $3.48 (lunch) + $13.91 (dinner) = $21.39 ($73.43 remaining)

How are others faring?

Young Me/Now Me

Phase 1

Phase 2

ACC1.1

Me: $5.18 on groceries.
Thom: $0

(Valerie, Carrie or Paul, want to weigh in?)

All-Cash Challenge #1

My friend Thom and I were talking a while back, and we cooked up this idea. The rules will change in future versions, but the first round should be easy, and I think (even given the short notice), other people can join in easily. Here goes:

1) Figure out a rough budget of what it'd cost to live for a week.
2) Take that money out of the bank as cash.
3) Live for that week avoiding your credit and debit cards, checks, money orders, I.O.U.'s, etc.
4) Write observations as you see fit.
5) If you have to, you can use the credit or debit card, but you must announce you're out of the challenge (public being loosely defined as somewhere others can see it, such as a blog)

Future challenges may up the ante, like more restrictive budgets or longer timespans.

Me, I budgeted $100 for the week. Thom went more austere than that, but more power to him.

Think about joining in, it could be fun.

Challenge #1 will be rolling from March 7, 2010 to March 13, 2010.

Think you can do a week?

Behold the Awesome

By PoopBear on DeviantArt

Now.

Busy Day.

My good friend DangerAmy is in town, so activities were to abound. I'm sure she'll put up a trip report on her fine blargh soon enough (strange strangers, yes?)

Though not for lack of effort, we didn't get forcibly ejected from anywhere. Nature dictated the only dismissal.

The basic itinerary went as such, all times approximate.

10:15: Awake. Basic humanizing functions. On the road fast, easily.
10:30: What should've been a 5-minute trip to the post office turns into a half-hour claustrophobia session.
11:00: Coffee run number one. Me, Iced Coffee, her, Soy Latte with whatever that red syrup is.
11:10: Brief tour of central city. Pointed out a few things now visible in daylight.
11:20: 35mm Film Run at local grocery store.
11:30: More "And hey, look at that!"
12:00: Park in Seal Beach. Nearly forget to feed coins into the meter. Wander around a bit on main street, ignoring most of the shops.
12:10: Notice the police presence and the empty beach. Point out the "Ladies of the Evening" donation plaque. Start walking the pier.
12:15: Announcement that the pier will be closed along with the beach due to Tsunami warning. Take pictures of law enforcement. They don't seem to care.
12:30: Lunch at Taco Surf. She gave Shrimp Taco #1 a 6 on the open-ended scale of taco awesomeness, but Shrimp Taco #2 earned a seven. I'd say my chicken tacos averaged at a 6.5 easily. Tasty, would eat 'em again (as I have before), but rarely crave them.
12:45: Perusing one gifte shoppe. Look at many things. I buy nothing. She buys a squeeze-toy sure to annoy her boss for $1.08.
13:00: Peruse the SB Main Street Gardens for a bit. Pictures are taken.
13:30: Back in the car, decide another Trader Joe's run is in order. Driving back, remember a local oddity, so we go check it out instead first.
13:45: SeaBreeze Pet Cemetery: Photos are taken. People are called. Much giggling mingled with "Hey, come check this out, it's repo-grave!"
14:40: Decide we've seen enough of that. Hit TJs for supplies.
15:10: Home base to get rid of the perishables.
15:25: Coffee run #2. Unexpected added espresso.
15:35: Heading on the freeway to local Asian (primarily Japanese) commerce extravaganza. En route, point out another local oddity. Decide we should check it out after the next stop.
15:55: Hit Mitsuwa. Brief check of the shiny object shops, a wave of the hand at the food court, some random wandering through aisles, I think some miso, some dried mushrooms, a couple odd packages of candy were acquired. Reliable IP traffic has basically crapped out on my phone at this point.
16:20: Local oddity number 2: The world headquarters of the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Shock. Awe. Spectacle. Wondering why we didn't get asked to stop taking pictures. Amazed we weren't asked to leave. Made it through the gift shop. Saw the hall of iconography. Skipped the virtual reality theater.
17:15: Back on the road. Still struggling with my phone trying to give proof of where I'd just been. Hit IKEA.
17:25: Marathon run through IKEA. Buy a lamp, a clock, and a wine-bottle opener. Look at many things. Run into an old friend and freak him out a little after I announced we were trying to see if we could get kicked out.
18:10: Back on the road with only a brief stop for cigarettes.
18:20 onward: Dinner of pita/hummus/tzaziki/sugar plum tomatoes/cheese. Viewing of films such as "Idiocracy", "Hot Fuzz", and "Rat Race". Trade off a couple TED talks.

collapse.

I think there's been more laughs, more jokes, more oddity, and more just basic fun packed into a single day since the last time I spent a whole day with a sportsracer (Chicago, 2008.)

I had a great time today (Thanks, DA!)

You want to play Young Me/Now me?

1985/2008/2010.
Wacky.

See other people here

Just that kind of day.

Sad

These things happen. Circle of life. Right.

(and for the record, I'm going to be watching Zombieland later, not American Beauty)

Loss

Funny thing, I get the occasional comment from a cow-orker along the lines about me losing weight.

I keep an unofficial tally about such comments in the back of my head. Frequency doesn't really matter, but another few today. Nutty.

I'm a little stuck at around 180. My new goal is "165, but I could live with 175"

Sound silly? Ok, maybe, but this time last year I was 50lbs heavier.

At age 18, I was at 150. Those days may be gone, so 165, great. 175, good.

(And for the record, I'm now at nearly two-dozen comments this year about how much thinner I look. That kind of counts more than the numbers, even with my engineer brain)

yow

This looks so much like my office, it's creepy (no, I don't work for intel)

dead to me

Yup, that's right, all I do is post things off youtube anymore, and I'm loving it.

wow.

Yes, it's fake. Yes, you may have seen it elsewhere.
>
Sticks with me as an idea.

10 minutes of the worst dialogue ever

Amen, Brother

(via Laughing Squid)

Mission: Stupid

Being imbued with more disposable income than common sense, I have decided to embark on a really bad idea.

I am going to read Infinite Jest on a Kindle.



I may occasionally report progress (barring unforeseen eyestrain, migraines, boredom or procrastination)

Figure I'll start on it on Sunday.

A good point, I'd say

(via kottke.org)

Oh, why am I watching these?

Really?

Another thing to read.

Have your own opinion. Believe what you believe. Be your own person.

I'm not trying to convince you of anything.

But hey, there's this thing you can read

Or don't. No harm, no foul.

-transiit

Some day...

I think you could read this.

Actually, I think you should read this

Wow.

This strikes me as pretty brilliant. Yeah, millions of similar actions around the world every day, but I really dig the explanation at each step.

This is my foodie nerd side, but it's nice to see a clear example.



(via Ruhlman's blog)

One for all you Tennant Doctor Who types.

Somehow missed this, but made me smile.

About the least important thing in the world...

...but about the best take I've heard on it so far.

Empowerment/Joy

A friend asked me for suggestions of songs of empowerment & joy. This is what I came up with:

Movie Trailer (NSFW!)

This is the totally no-social-redeeming-value film that I know I'll cackle at for far too long.

This is the red-band trailer, which means it should not be watched anywhere by anyone. You've been warned.



And here's the green-band trailer, which is only slightly better.

Better times.

Good things happen. Bad things happen. You pick yourself up and move forward, or you don't. Navel gazing? That's the other guy's problem.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Even Better Than the Real Thing
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

2010: Goals

So it wasn't until the other day in a conversation with a friend that I realized something: What have I been doing, just surviving?

The summer of 2009 turned into the summer of goals due to a catalyst, and while I'm glad I got to prove something to myself with that, what comes next?

As a lad, there was an endpoint. Do the school thing until finished. When I was in college. There was an endpoint. Do the school thing until finished. Now looking back at the past 7 years of solely being a workin' man, what comes next?

I've got a list that I'm starting. Don't have to meet all of these this year, but the idea of working towards something again, it's probably well past time.

Comments are open.

Can't get this song out of my head.

Be warned.