Travel Mania

Got off the phone with my friend a little while ago after another marathon travel planning session.

We're trying to mix it up a bit. We can't afford four-star elegance for the whole trip, but we also don't want to slum it the whole time. So we're spending a bit of time in fancy digs and a bit of time in cheapy hostels. We purchased a "Rail and Drive" pass from Eurail that gives us four days of train travel two days of car rental for one low rate.

It's very subject to change, but here's the rough itenerary as it exists at the moment:

• WED 9th - NK leaves Nashville in morning, sits in Phildelphia airport all afternoon, and leaves for Rome at night.
• THU 10th - NK arrives in Rome in morning, catches midday high speed train, arrives San Remo at 8:30 PMish. Somehow makes way to Monaco to stay with friend's aunt. Collapses from two days of cumulative fatigue and jet lag.
• FRI 11th - Hang out in Monaco.
• SAT 12th - leave monaco 10 AM, pick up car in San Remo. Drive to somewhere like Padua, spend night in TBA location. Maybe make a brief stop in Milan on way if time looks good.
• SUN 13th - drive into Venice. get rid of car. Sleep in Venice at place TBA.
• MON 14th - tour Venice including Murano Glass works. 11:30 PM - catch overnight train to Naples.
• TUE 15th - Arrive Naples, stash luggage somewhere, tour city. At end of day, catch train to Sorrento. Check in to Grand Hotel Aminta
• WED 16th - Catch ferry from Sorrento to Island of Capri. Tour Capri. Back to Sorrento hotel in evening.
• THUR 17th - Leave Sorrento, take train to Pompeii. Tour archeological site. Take train back to Naples. Catch 7:30 PM train to Florence, arrive at 11:05 ish. Check into cheap lodging place, TBA.
• FRI 18th - Tour Florence. (need to check on art gallery reservations and stuff.)
• SAT 19th - Rent car -- drive to Pisa, take obligatory pictures of imminent tower collapse, and tour cathedral. Drive from there to Siena, tour town. Return to Florence at night.
• SUN 20th - Attend Easter festivities (including exploding cart) in Florence, then catch afternoon train to Rome. Check in to Hostel des Artistes.
• MON 21st - Tour Rome (Easter holiday, so need to figure out what's open.)
• TUE 22nd - Tour Vatican. Friend on Train 10ish overnight to Monaco.
• WED 23rd - NK on flight from Rome. Friend on flight from Nice.

Big brother is... uhh... trying to sell you something

Maybe everyone else figured this out long ago, but I just noticed that Blogspot targets its ads based on the content of the blog. How cool (and slightly spooky!) is that?

I noticed this because I was checking out Abbie the Cat and noticed that the page had ads for "I Love Cats" magazine and "Persian Cat on eBay."

Eager to test my theory, I went over to My Side of Things, where Laura recently wrote a post about a bird getting stuck in her air conditioner. Sho 'nuff, the BlogSpot ads inquired boldy whether I had a problem with bird droppings or pest starlings!

So then I tried a random blog from the blogger front page. At Where does it go?, some college student included a bit about how she got hotel reservations in Portland through Priceline. And the ads were for -- you guessed it -- "Homestead Portland Hotel" and "Residence Inn."

I'm a bit insulted by the fact that my current ad is "Visual Editing for Blogs." What, do they think I need some help? :-)

I assume this uses the same basic technology as Google AdWords, but I don't know if it's related to Pyra's recent entry to the Google empire.

It seems like there's got to be some way to turn this little revelation to my advantage, but I have no idea what it is!

Frantically working on my midterm exam, which is supposed to be in by midnight tonight. If they had a procrastination olympics, I'd be a gold medalist.

A quiet rebellion

The Sunday comics come with an annoying half page ad affixed to the front. It gets in the way and makes the section difficult to read. I always make a point of tearing the ad off without reading what it says. I figure if if I do this long enough, maybe they'll stop putting it there. So far this initiative has been largely unsuccessful.

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled war for a brief rant...

Today's paper contained this little gem from a story about a war protest in Nashville:

About three dozen people held and waved signs at motorists to oppose this week's allied attack on Iraq. The effort mirrored other protests around the nation in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles.

The crowd faced some angry drivers stopping to criticize their war protests. While some supporters honked and flashed peace signs, others veered toward the curb where the protesters stood or made obscene gestures.

[...]

Across the street from the peace demonstrators, three employees from nearby Advantage Business Solutions used their lunch break to spread their own message. Their sign, scrawled on a cushioned business envelope, said ''Protestor equals terrorist.''

I am fed up with people who contend that those opposed to the war are unpatriotic, terrorists, or any of the other epithets that have been hurled. Speaking one's mind is a a right guaranteed to all Americans, and whether you agree or not it is despicable to imply that dissenters don't care about this country or its people.

If you have a problem with what someone is saying, you should engage them by refuting their arguments, not by questioning their patriotism.

British Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins gave a stirring speech to the battlegroup of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish shortly before they rolled into Iraq:

"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

"You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.

"You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.

"Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

While speaking on a panel sponsored by my alma mater, Ted Turner he volunteered to cover the war in Baghdad for his old company (CNN), but was rebuffed:

"I'm 64, pretty much financially wiped out, and it would be a dramatic way to exit the world," Turner told an audience of media luminaries yesterday at a Newhouse School of Public Communications breakfast.

"But they said no, I 'wasn't qualified.' How qualified to you have to be? Holding the microphone and describing the world falling apart isn't a magical thing . . . 'I'm here in Baghdad . . . bombs are everywhere . . .' "

The best part was the New York Post's typically boisterous headline: TED TURNED DOWN AS BAGHDAD BAIT.

Salam Pax is blogging live from Baghdad. Link via Missives Anonymous.

UPDATE: There is some speculation that this could be a hoax. Paul Boutin examines the evidence and concludes that the blog is likely for real -- but no one knows for sure right now. (link via Boing Boing)

Danielle asked what digital camera I bought. I deliberated for a long time (months!) on this. I wanted something that could take reasonably decent photos that could be enlarged, but I wasn't quite ready to pay for a "pro-sumer" model like the EOS 10-D and its ilk.

Originally I was looking at the Canon Powershot G2. But then I realized that the PowerShot S45 was basically the same camera in a smaller case. The biggest problem with my old Pentax K-1000 SLR was that it was so bulky I never seemed to have it with me when it really mattered. A few years ago I got a smaller autofocus Fuji camera to carry around, but I was never very happy with the quality of the snapshots it produced.

The S45 seemed like a good way to get a lot of flexibility in a 4MP camera, without having to lug around the larger body. (The biggest thing I gave up was the ability to easily attach interchangeable lenses or an external flash, but I think I can live with that.)

I'm having a bit of trouble getting used to all the digital gizmos. I never really realized how the controls on the K-1000 had become second nature until I tried to use the electronic settings for ASA, aperture, and shutter speed on the S45. What used to be an almost subconcious process of turning knobs now seems like programming a VCR. So mostly I've been using it in auto mode, but I'm really trying to learn how to push the envelope on it a bit before I go to Italy. (In the arena picture below, I had to fight with it, because the auto exposure wanted to pick up on the bright sky and underexpose everything else.

The camera does have some nifty extras built in. For example, it has a stitch assist mode that helps create a seamless panorama from multiple photos. (So far I've created a stunning panorama of my living room, but I'm hoping to try it on something more dramatic soon.) The camrea also allows you to do short movies and add audio annotations to photos, although I haven't tried these things yet.

I just got my first set of prints back from OFoto, and was pretty impressed with the quality. I was a bit skeptical as to whether I would really be comfortable using this as my primary camera for stuff I really care about, but I think my doubts are evaporating.

I bought it from some hole-in-the-wall on the Internet -- partly because their price was good and partly because I was able to avoid the outrageious 9.5% sales tax we have to pay here in Nashville. (I feel slightly guilty, but if this state would actually pass a decent tax plan, this sort of thing wouldn't be an issue!) I didn't really have any problem with the company except that they refused to ship anywhere except my billing address -- and I'm typically not home during the day to sign for things. It actually worked out, though, because they delivered it early in the morning before I left for work.

I just bought an extra battery and a 512 MB card (to augment the 32 MB it came with.) Hopefully that will be enough to get me through a day of trigger happy photography in Italy. I think I'm going to try to post photos online during the trip, depending on how often I can get decent internet access.

Which reminds me, does anyone have a European-style GSM cell phone that they want to sell for cheap? I'd like to get one, but it seems like a total waste to buy a new one for the short time I'll be there, and the rental rates aren't much better. I'm thinking a used one would be a good way to go. (Apparently an American GSM phone won't work, though, since they are on different frequencies.)

How could anyone start a war when it's this nice out?

The Tennessean just had another article about Kevin Barbieux, a homeless guy from Nashville who runs a blog at http://thehomelessguy.net. The blog is definitely an interesting read.

To the anonymous WebTV user who was came to my site after googling "victoria secret uncensored": I'm really sorry to disappoint, but I don't really have a special source on this. If I were you, I'd try here. I imagine it's still sort of censored, though.

And I wish I could help the guy who was looking for "how to digitally uncensored equipment," but I'm still trying to figure out how to program my VCR. Maybe these folks can help.

An unexpected visitor...
So Friday night I was at work late, and all of a sudden my phone rang. It was my cousin Steve, who I haven't really talked to in about a decade, and who at that point was in a U-Haul at a gas station east of town. (Having apparently done the grand tour of Nashville interstate highways first.)

We agreed to meet at the Exxon near my house, and I burned rubber out of work. Turns out there was no rush -- he somehow managed to circumnavigate the city twice more before arriving! But we eventually met up, and then went back to my place. He had originally been planning on driving for another few hours, but after some prodding (and a beer) decided to spend the night. So we caught up, more or less, looked at old photo albums, toured my scary cellar, watched TV, goofed around with an online dating service he's a member of, and stayed up half the night.

Saturday morning we got up and I decided we should go to the Pancake Pantry for a true Nashville breakfast experience. So we headed over there, but when we saw the line snaking out to the street, we decided instead to go downtown, get barbeque at Jack's, then head over to Bicentennial Mall to eat.

Bicentennial Mall is one of those places I take just about anyone who visits town. The best time to go is probably a few weeks from now when the fountains are turned on and the trees are in bloom. But there's really never a bad time. The entire 19 acre park was built in 1996 in honor of the state's bicentennial, and it is a great way to learn about the state (and get wet, if you want.) Plus it's right next door to the farmer's market, so you can always go buy veggies and stuff at the same time.

After eating we walked around the park for a while, then we headed back to my place, where we hung out for a little while longer before he finally loaded up the U-Haul and headed for DC about 24 hours later than expected.

Then I started frantically thinking about the paper that I was supposed to be writing for class all weekend! (Although I admit I got sidetracked on travel planning for a couple of hours today -- still trying to narrow down where we're actually going next month.)

All in all, it was a pretty nifty weekend.

Spring is here...

Only two more days to submit your entries for the world's most pointless, intrusive, stupid and self-serving security measures. As the folks at Privacy International put it:

We've all been there. Standing for ages in a security line at an inconsequential office building only to be given a security pass that a high school student could have faked. Or being forced to take off our shoes at an airport that can't even screen its luggage.

If you thought the accounting profession was bad news, just wait till you hear how stupid the security industry has become. Even before 9/11 a whole army of bumbling amateurs has taken it upon themselves to figure out pointless, annoying, intrusive, illusory and just plain stupid measures to "protect" our security.

I whipped up some from-scratch chicken soup. The first bowl was good. But I forgot to turn off the burner. Now the noodles are mushy. It's a shame.

All sorts of family news arrived in my e-mail box tonight:

First there was a short message from my mom letting me know that her Aunt Maggie passed away today. Aunt Mag lived in Massachusetts, and growing up we would always stop at her house on summer vacations to New England. Her house was on a rise above an old Aquaduct in a tiny town, and her son had collected all sorts of stone that was displayed around the grounds. (She had a cobblestone driveway.) She lots of cats, and a complete set of vintage Hardy Boys mysteries on her shelves. I remember pulling up in our Griswold-esque Chevy Malibu station wagon and spending the night sleeping on the floor of her guest bedroom.

She had a rack of firewood that sat in a metal rack by her firelplace, and on top of it was hand-lettered sign warning against using it in a fire. It seems that this wood was split by her son before he went off to war and was killed. (I can't remember where -- France in WWII sticks in my mind, but I'm not sure the timing is quite right. It might have been Korea or Vietnam.)

I had not seen her in a long time, but she would send me a card every year on my birthday, and I would write back occasionally. (Although not as much as I probably should have.)

Shortly after I received this news, I got an e-mail from my grandmother on the other side of the family letting me know that my cousin was laid off from his job at Micron, along with over 1000 other people. As a result, he has decided to head back to the DC area for a while, and is driving a U-Haul across the country. It appears he may pass through Nashville sometime in the next few days.

I am not real close to this cousin, but it would be nice to see him again. The circumstances are kind of unfortunate, though.

All this is pretty much the most news I've gotten out of family e-mails in a long time.

RIP Possum, ? - 2003
Alas, it seems that the possum, whose public debut was chronicled on this very site, met its untimely demise in some sort of motor vehicle incident sometime earlier today. The authorities have been notified, but they have no suspects. (Well, ok, I left a message on the answering machine at the city's animal control office.)

I'm at work and I just received an invoice through the mail with two huge sneaker footprints on it. This just reinforces my phobia about sending anything truly breakable through regular mail.

According to this Wired story, the US Army has deployed a boatload of Panasonic ToughBooks running Windows 2000, and precisely one Titanium Mac Powerbook. Of course, the media folks deployed with the troops have all sorts of macs.

The digital camera's here... Yay!

Regardless of your viewpoint on the war, William Saletan makes a good point in Slate:

If you tuned in to President Bush's Thursday night press conference to understand his point of view on Iraq, you got what you came for. If you tuned in to find out whether he understood yours, tough luck. That was the deal when we traded in Bill Clinton for Bush. We got a president who understood the difference between truth and lying. We gave up one who understood everything in between. The upside is that our president is doing the right thing in Iraq. The downside is that he can't talk anyone else into going along.

[...]

[S]ometimes, things aren't black and white. Sometimes they're gray. When the governments of France, China, or Mexico don't see things your way, you have to start the process of persuasion by understanding where they're coming from. That's where Clinton was at his best and Bush is at his worst. Four times at his press conference, Bush was asked why other countries weren't seeing things our way. Four times, he had no idea.

Also, ABC's Nightline had an interesting report the other night about how Bush's Iraq agenda was basically mapped out by a bunch of his cronies in a right-wing think tank years ago, long before September 11. The September 11 attacks just provided the political climate needed to put the plan into action. Ted Koppel introduces the story:

You can watch our story tonight on at least two levels. One, the conspiracy theory, as in this excerpt from a Scottish newspaper, the Glasgow "Sunday Herald". "A secret blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure regime change even before he took power in January 2001." And a similar, if slightly more hysterical version from a Russian paper, the "Moscow Times". "Not since Mein Kampf has a geopolitical punch been so blatantly telegraphed, years ahead of the blow."

Take away the somewhat hyperbolic references to conspiracy, however, and you're left with a story that has the additional advantage of being true. Back in 1997, a group of Washington heavyweights, almost all of them neo-conservatives, formed an organization called the Project for the New American Century. They did what former government officials and politicians frequently do when they're out of power, they began formulating a strategy, in this case, a foreign policy strategy, that might bring influence to bear on the Administration then in power, headed by President Clinton. Or failing that, on a new Administration that might someday come to power. They were pushing for the elimination of Saddam Hussein. And proposing the establishment of a strong US military presence in the Persian Gulf, linked to a willingness to use force to protect vital American interests in the Gulf. All of that might be of purely academic interest were it not for the fact that among the men behind that campaign were such names as, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. What was, back in 1997, merely a theory, is now, in 2003, US policy. Hardly a conspiracy, the proposal was out there for anyone to see. But certainly an interesting case study of how columnists, commentators, and think-tank intellectuals can, with time and the election of a sympathetic president, change the course of American foreign policy.

--Transcript via Lexis-Nexis

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that even if it is justifiable and necessary, the war should not be carried out without the backing of the UN and the majority of our allies. The world is too interconnected these days for us to take action without considering the effect of the action on our relationships with other countries. Launching a first strike that most of the rest of the world (and many Americans) see as wrong is bad policy, even if you feel that the war is just.

I want to be clear any anti-war sentiment gleaned from the above paragraph is not directed at our soldiers in the field. I have imense respect for those who volunteer to serve our country, and I understand that it's their job to carry out orders. But supporting them doesn't imply an obligation to agree with those orders.

I think that many of the hawks fail to appreciate the true impact this war could have. We're talking about billions and billions of dollars in military spending, a substantial US military presence in the Gulf region for decades, and possibly permanent harm to our relationships with our Allies and the UN. Not to mention the possibility that the war may drag on longer than predicted. And the human toll on both sides -- especially the challenge of invading and conquering a large and already impoverished country without precipitating a massive humanitarian crisis.

I am prepared to admit that I could be wrong on all of this. But I wish Bush and his crew would at least give a passing thought to the idea that they might be wrong -- or at least that the opposition might have some valid points that should be addressed. The "anyone who isn't with us is against us" doctrine may sound good on the evening news, but it's not a very intelligent way to run a country.

I finally broke down and ordered a digital camera last night. It's from some hole in the wall on the Internet, so I don't really know when it will be here. But expect to see more visuals on this page in the future.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I spent the afternoon studying and listening to a bunch of bluegrass guys jamming at BJRC.

Then I went with some friends to saw a very long (but quite good) 1954 Japanese action movie called Seven Samarai at The Belcourt. If you've seen A Bug's Life, you know the general gist of it.

All in all, a lot better than today's marathon session at work. And more of that in store over the next week, since we have a product launch coming up. Gak.

Just confirmed my reservations for the trip to Europe. The good news is that the airfare only cost me $93 due to creative use of frequent flyer miles. The bad news is that I had to fly into Rome to make this work, since US Airways doesn't serve all that many European airports. So I'm arriving and departing in a different city from the friend I'm traveling with. But still, for $93 I'll put up with some hassle!

We've talked about renting a car, but one snag is that most cars over there seem to be stick shift. I haven't driven one of those suckers in years, and the last time I did the owner (who was in the car with me) apparently swore she'd never let me touch it again. But I got us home, and the car survived the experience...

Anyone know the Italian for "I'm trying, but it keeps stalling -- pull around me!"?

Local radio bigmouth Steve Gill held a ''Bash A Peugeot For Peace'' rally in support of the war yesterday. ''That felt good,'' said one of the participants after swinging a sledgehammer at the French car's trunk. ''It's pretty good exercise, though I don't know what it's symbolic of.''

I'm glad to know that Nashville broadcasters are doing their part to contribute to intelligent debate about US foreign policy.

OK, I'm a little bitter. This year, my alma mater has lined up Bill Clinton to speak at commencement. Last year it was Rudy Giuliani. Obviously they're going for folks who have something interesting to say.

So who did they have at my graduation, you might ask? Some guy named Robert Fulghum, who wrote some book about sharing and taking naps. I'm glad someone was inspired.

Not such a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Mr. Rogers, children's television fixture for more than 30 years, died of cancer early this morning. He was 74.

I had a hankerin' to blog up a storm last night, but unfortunately Blogger was down all evening due to server upgrades. And thus the world loses another literary masterpiece to the vagaries of technology.

Not as much time tonight, but I'll give you the highlights (and some random late-night rambling) :

I've decided to withdraw from one of the graduate classes I'm taking right now -- for a number of complicated reasons, beginning with the fact that the professor seems to have communications issues, and getting an ulcer just doesn't seem like much fun right now. The bad news about this is that it could end up costing me a big pile of moolah -- as much as 50% of my cost for the class. (At the suggestion of a registration advisor, I am petitioning to get a larger refund due to the problems with the class, but I'm not holding my breath.)

I have other reasons for this seemingly rash decision. One of my friends from college has decided to take a month off to bum around Europe after he takes his med school boards. And, having heard my musings about how I'm squandering my waning youth in middle America instead of seeing the world, he invited me to join in. (You can see my dilemma: stultifying information security class on one hand, European vacation on the other!)

So assuming I can work out the travel arrangements in the next few days, it looks like I'm headed for the south of France sometime in mid-April. I'm still going to be in the middle of my Knowledge Management class then, but I figure it's my duty to test the flexibility of online classes at least once in my graduate career.

We have a huge project at work that's supposed to launch in April, but in my opinion the schedule is already hopelessly optimistic -- so I don't think my absence for a week or two is really going to make all that much difference. Today I bounced the idea off of my boss's boss, and he told me to go for it. He also mentioned the possibility of hiring more help again. This is a very good thing, since unrealistic workload is probably one of my biggest complaints. He's been very concerned about my general mental health and well being lately -- I suspect that he was tipped off (or just guessed) that I've been dipping my toe in the job market a bit.

Recently I've become even busier after being handed the responsibility for the company archives. This department has been neglected for years, and has been cut to the bone in terms of staffing and resources. (The higher ups bought into the notion that a few computers would magically reduce the work involved in maintaining 50+ years of various archival materials.) I'm kind of enjoying the challenge of whipping things into shape, but it's a departure from my normal technology duties. Which just makes the three big programming projects we've got going on right now seem even more daunting.

Today I went out to the big boss's house to work on his company computer. This has become a ritual once or twice a year. Sometimes I do highly work-related things on these visits (updating virus software, installing VPN clients, etc.) Other times, not so much. (Installing a wireless network to his son's room isn't exactly on my copy of the company's strategic plan.)

I don't mind this as much as you might think, though. The big man is a wine afficionado, and in return for the housecalls he keeps me in decent vino. Plus I figure it's not a terrible idea career-wise to stay on good terms with a guy who has a corner office and the letters V and P in his title.

It's hard for me to believe that I've been with the company almost five years. I'm starting to feel like an old timer -- I've been here longer than many of people I deal with regularly. This is the job that I was supposed to leave in a year or two, and here I am about to vest in the pension plan. Last night I actually had to stop and think about my age for a minute -- I somehow didn't remember turning 27. I feel like I'm in some sort of strange dimension where I'm losing track of real time. My life is measured from deadline to deadline, and I can't think in terms of anything bigger. It's bizarre -- and a cry for help from my subconcious, I think.

Missing out on the snow...

Washington, DC, March 1942

I am very jealous of everyone in the Northeast. I love a good snowstorm -- and Tennessee just doesn't get enough of them. (Admittedly there's been more snow this winter than any other time since I moved here, but folks still consider it the blizzard of the century if five or six inches of snow stick around for a day or two.)

I talked to my parents yesterday, and they were right in the thick of things, with something like 16 inches on the ground and more coming down. (The Washington Post describes the scene.)

I was working in DC when the blizzard hit in 1996. I was home from college and working, and got to stay home from work for a few days. Then I had the adventure of making my way across town to work for a day or two before the next batch of snow. My brother was visiting a friend on the other side of the county, and ended up spending a couple of days there until I made it there to pick him up. Meanwhile, my dad stayed home from work, my middle brother stayed home from school, and we all just enjoyed the automatic holiday. I have a picture of my brother, my dad, and me posing with shovels amid the massive piles of snow in front of the house. (The picture is crooked -- I think Mom was having trouble operating the camera with gloves on.)

I honestly lookat the whole thing as an adventure. Everyone's in the same boat -- marooned by a blanket of white fluff. It's a good opportunity to sit down and smell the hot chocolate. Something people should do more of.

There's a guy named George who works the register late Saturday night at Kroger. He does a running commentary under his breath as he scans your groceries. "Ahh. Radishes... No, Spinach! Spinach is good. I love wild spinach. That's good stuff... We close in 15 minutes, you know. Some stores are open 24 hours. But not us. No. We close at 11:00 sharp. People don't know that. There's just two of us here now. Course some people have their day off. Not me, I already had my time off. Now I've got to make up for it. John Grisham book. He's a good writer. I've read his stuff. The Pelican Brief. Exciting. Better put the pizza in its own bag. Soda pop! Put those over here, yup."

Everyone thought Ken Lay of Enron was insider-trading, low-life scum. Turns out the real story is a lot more complex than that.

Help! I'm stuck somewhere in the wilds of deepest, darkest middle Tennessee fixing a computer. (Well, ok. Maury county.)

Will try to post details of parental visit soon (hint: it involved my first trip to the Grand Ole Opry), but right now am trying to deal with the fact that I'm two weeks into classes and already behind in my reading.

When it woke up, the dinosaur was still there

That, in its entirety, is one of the shortest stories ever written. Alas, its author, Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso, passed away on Friday.

Parents here visiting, so blogging is likely to be eratic for the next few days.

OK, the possum is out there again. I usually keep the shade on that window closed -- I'm starting to wonder if he's been hanging out on that windowsill all winter. It's behind a bush, under a roof overhang, and probably pretty warm due to my lack of decent weather stripping. If I were a marsupial, that might be the sort of place I'd dig.

Still no camera, but he looks almost exactly like this guy.

Possum!

Just had a possum sitting on the window ledge right outside my bedroom window. Oblivious to the whole thing, the cat was sitting on the sill of the next window over. Eventually she noticed the possum and started meowing and pawing at the window. The possum didn't exactly seem to be intimidated -- he yawned twice and sat there for a while before eventually climbing down the bush and sauntering off. (This is East Nashville , after all. A possum's gotta maintain his tough-guy image if he's gonna make it on the street.)

I snapped some pictures, but I don't know if they'll turn out. And still being digitally impaired, I won't know until I finish the roll and take it to be developed. That's just how old-school we are here at Newton's Kumquat. (I have my eye on a Canon Powershot S45, though, so maybe I'll get with the digital program soon.)

Swimsuit issue coming soon!

The National Geographic swimsuit issue, that is. The sober-minded magazine is publishing a 100-year retrospective of the swimsuit, timed to roughly correspond with the publication of the better known swimsuit issue.

Sports Illustrated seems to be dealing with the competition well. "‘As the pioneers of the swimsuit genre," said Rick McCabe, "we welcome National Geographic into the fold."

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of- wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never Lark, or even Eagle flew -
And while with silent lifting mind, I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr, 1922-1944

In memory of international heros Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, and Ilan Ramon.

This guy at the INS had a huge backlog of paperwork, so he ordered his employees to start shredding. An estimated 90,000 documents, including passports and birth certificates, were destroyed. When the backlog had been eliminated, the manager ordered his employees to keep shredding so that they could "stay current."

Guess that whole reinventing government thing must finally be kicking in - bet they weren't that efficient when Clinton was in office! (Link via Boing Boing.

Out of control spam -- I think it may be time to get a new e-mail account...

I am no big fan of many of the policies of George W. Bush..

Economy? Let's cut taxes for the wealthy, increase government spending, and build up a record-setting federal deficit. Environment? Let's relax clean air regulations and encourage the purchase of gas guzzling vehicles. Foreign policy? Pay lip service to the UN while waging an undeclared war in the Middle East and ignoring other countries with more advanced weapons programs. You get the idea.

All that said, I want to take a minute to voice my wholehearted support for one of the initiatives Bush touted in his recent State of the Union address. Bush's unexpected proposal to spend $15 billion over the next five years on AIDS treatment and prevention in Africa and the Carribean is more than just another foreign aid program -- it's a moral imperative. As Bush put it,

Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS virus, including 3 million children under the age of 15. There are whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims _ only 50,000 -- are receiving the medicine they need.

Bush's speech only hints at the horror of what's happening. The worldwide AIDS epidemic has already left behind more than 14 million orphans, 92 percent of whom live in Africa. In Botswana, more than 38 percent of the adult population is infected with the virus. (link)

Secretary of State Colin Powell recognizes the gravity of this situation:

Powell called HIV/AIDS "a catastrophe worse than terrorism." He said, "One threat that troubles me perhaps more than any other does not come out of the barrel of a gun, it is not an army on the march, it is not an ideology on a march. It's called HIV/AIDS." (link)

Please take time to contact your congressional representatives and urge them to support Bush's plan to increase funding to help fight this global crisis. Health should be a universal human right, and as one of the richest countries in the world the US should be taking a leadership role in financing this sort of initiative.

Yay! DSL is back!

I am blog impaired right now due to the fact that my DSL provider (Direct TV DSL) has apparently gasped its last. I've signed up for service from Butler.net, a small local DSL provider, so hopefully I'll be back in business in the next few days.

Right now I'm doing the unthinkable and blogging from work. It's actually 1:30 in the morning, but let's just say I wasn't exacly in a state to drive home right away after departing the Saucer this evening. 47 beers down, 153 to go.

I have another class from the the professor from hell. I actually signed up knowing he was teaching it. The class I was hoping to take at another school fell through, and this was the most interesting one that wasn't full. But this means another freakin' group project and probably more hellish exams. Gak. On the plus side, after this semester I'm six credits away from finishing the degree!

My parents may be making a surprise visit to Nashville next week, so I might be spending my weekend cleaning house so I can show them how organized my place always is. ;-) This also means coming up with suitably parental activities, including where to send them while I'm at work, since I won't be able to take the whole week off. (Of course they're still waffling about the plane tickets, so they may never make it.)

Someone at the electric company apparently tripped over an extension cord and inadvertently cut off power to our office building this morning. This shouldn't have been a big deal -- we have an uninterruptable power supply the size of a VW bus that's supposed to keep the computer room in electricity when things like this happen.

Unfortunately, however, the it malfunctioned, and just about every computer system in the company took a hit at the same time.

So I spent all day working with many other folks to resurrect all of the various systems. Overall we were pretty successful, although there are still a few lurking gremlins. (One server still refuses to come back online correctly, a router got fried, etc.)

This was not how I had planned on spending my last weekend of freedom before classes start, though...

Danielle started a conversation about Chili... I typed in my favorite in her comments, but I figured I'd share with you folks too:

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into one inch cubes
1 small onion, coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium green bell pepper, coarsly chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can (14 1/2 oz) red kidney beans, undrained
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes (I sometimes use canned tomatoes with chilis mixed in - something like RoTel.)
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano or cilantro leaves
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, onion, and bell pepper. Saute 8-10 minutes.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Simmer 15 minutes. Makes 6 cups.

(I think this was clipped from an ad, and they had a "serving suggestion" of putting it in a hollowed out bread bowl, but I've never done that.)

Argh. I actually write a post for a change, and freakin' blogger won't let me publish it! I gotta do something about that...

I know, I'm a lazy, non-posting scumball lately. I promise I'll get back in the habit once classes start again. (My procrastination potential increases in a linear relationship with the amount of schoolwork I'm supposed to be doing!)

I've been trying to make my "goof-off time" count. Among other things, I've actually read some books that have nothing to do with technology management, including:

• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester
• The Natural by Joe Klein
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (originally reccomended by Danielle, I believe)
• Look at Me by Jennifer Egan
• The Summons by John Grisham
• Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
• Chicago Then and Now by Elizabeth McNulty (Christmas gift from my mom who went to a conference in Chicago and fell in love with the city.)
• Fresh for '01 You Suckas: A Boondocks collection by Aaron McGruder. (Still my one of my favorite comics that the local paper is too chicken to carry.)
• Most of the relaunch issue of the Oxford American, which has been on woefully shaky financial ground for the last few years, but is supposedly coming back.

I've even done some cleanup around the house, although it's still pretty disorganized. But at least they're no longer sending out avalanche warnings for the area around my desk. And I used rubbing alcohol (folk remedy suggested by some website) to clean the little aphid thingies off of one of my big houseplants. The patient is in remission, but we'll see how it goes.

Decided to try growing a beard -- after not shaving for most of my vacation. Reaction a work yesterday was generally positive. We'll see what happens.

In PA through Wed. Staying up all night, playing video games, losing money at poker, feeding deer, and otherwise generally goofing off. Much fun.

Off to Lord's Valley, PA to hang out with college friends for New Years. My friend is looking for fun things for us to do -- so far the options include a cement museum and a fishing lure museum.

Merry Christmas!

Urgh. Somehow it has fallen to me (again!) to go pick up the $#@*!%$ Honeybaked Ham. For those not familiar, this is a cherished holiday tradition that involves standing in a long outdoor line in a suburban Maryland strip mall to retrieve a hunk of meat. I'm just bubbling over with holiday cheer about this, if you can't tell.

Stayed at work until 4:30 AM on Saturday finishing up odds and ends, then slept for a while, packed, and left town Saturday evening. Drove as far as Bristol, stayed at a hotel, then drove the rest of the 675 miles today. (Of course I had to stop at my Mom's favorite barbeque place on the way out of Nashville and load up a cooler for her!)

The sky was absolutely beautiful driving up the Shenendoah valley on I-81 -- there was bright golden sunlight coming from the west with highlighting fluffy white clouds. But to the east of the mountains you could see a solid wall of black clouds. Every once in a while the ridgeline would dip and you could see brightly colored clouds underneath it all.

I'm in DC for the next few days, then heading up to a friend's place in the boonies in Pennsylvania for New Years, then back here for a dentist appointment (fun!) and back to Nashville sometime roundabout the 6th.

Now that I actually have some time, I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to put up Christmas lights for the 2 days I have left before I head north. I like the way they look, but, man, that's a lot of untangling and stuff.

I've managed to con my 12-year-old neighbor into taking care of my cat while I'm gone. (I plan to pay her, but I think I probably could have pulled a Tom Sawyer -- she was just excited about playing with the cat!)

This is kinda cool. Yamaha has a CD burner that can use the unburned area od the CD to burn text into the data side of the disk, creating a permanent label.

On an unrelated technology note, it seems that DirectTV DSL (née Telocity) is being closed down by Hughes. (My 30-day warning arrived via e-mail at 4:30 this morning.) I originally switched to Telocity after Comcast@Home (née Intermedia@Home, aka Excite@Home) gave me crap about running a web server on my connection. So it looks like I'm back in the market for a provider. At this point, I think the top contenders are SpeakEasy and Butler. The second one seems to be run by some local guy out of his garage, but then again, there's something to be said for knowing where your ISP lives. And I really like the fact that he's actually encouraging people to set up open-access WiFi access points using his service -- that's a refreshing change from network nazis who run some of the big-name providers.

As of 4:30ish this morning, I think I'm finally done with classes for this semester! Now to deal with the other parts of my life that I've been ignoring for the last month. Including this blog.

A sad day...

They just demolished the Capital Center, also known as the US Air Arena. It was an ugly building, and the new downtown arena in DC is in a much better location. But the Cap Center was part of growing up in Prince George's County. It is where I went to my first rock concert and where I graduated from high school. And I remember going there with my family a number of times to see "Spirit of America" pageants put on by local military units, and one time I was part of a chorus that sang the National Anthem before a hockey game.

The arena was built in the early 1970s, and I grew up along with it. It was probably of limited use with no hockey or basketball team to fill the seats. But it's still sad to see it go. They're going to build a shopping mall on the site.

Argh! My professor from hell did it again. While this exam is not as bad as the 35 hour midterm, it is still nuts. He seems to think that as long as he tells us to limit each response to three pages, we shouldn't have a problem. But the problem is that each question has 4-5 subquestions, and each subquestion could easily take up 10 pages on its own. I mean, "What factors were responsible for GM's and Chrysler's problems?" isn't exactly a 5-word answer, let alone "Compare the roles played by information systems at Chrysler and GM. How did they affect the structure of the automobile industry?" And these are just two of the four answers I'm supposed to cram into three double spaced pages. And then there are four more broad questions each with 4-5 subquestions where this one came from.

And I haven't even started the final for the database class.

Oy. I need a beer.

Update on the Harry Potter clue auction. The Leaky Cauldron raised enough for a $24,000 bid, but was beat out by an anonymous American bidder who pledged $45,231. The good news is that between the winning bid and the $24,000 the Leaky Cauldron raised, somewhere north of $60,000 is going to buy books for kids in Eritrea. But the elusive Potter clue is still secret...

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Lots going on at work, and all sorts of end-of-the-semester madness with my classes. Two finals in the next few days, then I'm done. (And can start thinking about all the other stuff I've been ignoring lately...)

The Leaky Cauldron, a Harry Potter fan blog, is raising money to bid on J.K. Rowling's 93-word clue to what's going to be in the next Harry Potter book. If successful, the clue will be posted on the site for all to see -- their worst fear is that some rich collector will score the note and keep it secret.

Sotheby's has estimated that the note may go for as much as $9,400 in the auction next week. It's all for a good cause, though. The proceeds are being donated to Book Aid International, a charity that distributes books in third-world countries. And Leaky, Inc.(as the newly-incorporated Blog is now known) will donate the proceeds of its drive to charity whether or not it is successful in getting the note.

Some guy tried to FedEx a letter to Santa, and according to the company's online tracking system they delivered it to a ski resort in Colorado. With the big day coming up in less than three weeks, you wouldn't think the sleighmeister would have time for a snowboarding jaunt in the Rockies! Shouldn't he be making a list, checking it twice, and finding out who's naughty and nice? Not to mention figuring out how to get lumps of coal and sugarplums through airport security. What a slacker.

Then again, maybe he's just attending a Santa Convention.

Or he could be on the lam because of his criminal record.

We had a charity auction at work today, and I picked up a bunch of books including Dreamland, The Map That Changed the World, Gumbo, The Ford Century and German for Travelers. Not that I need any more reading material -- I already have books stacked on every available surface. In fact, I really need to get more shelves or I'm going to run out of living space.

I also had the winning bid on a Mr. Coffee Espresso machine. (I can sense the coffee purists turning up their noses, but I figured for $8.50, what the heck?) Tried making my first shot tonight, but I still have some kinks to work out in my technique. While looking for tips, I came across this site. I had no idea you could actually buy a $1800 coffee machine!

This weekend is all about finishing up a paper and getting ready for two finals. Plus laundry and grocery shopping. All sorts of fun.

The tree in front of my house was coated with ice this morning. It was beautiful, but since I am unfortunately lacking in the digital camera department, you don't get to see it. I've got to do something about that.

As of 1:00 this morning, I have consumed 34 of the requisite 200 beers to get my own plate on the wall at The Flying Saucer. According to their patented BrewTron computer, if I continue my current rate of alcoholic beverage consumption my name should go up in tableware sometime roudabout 2013. Luckily the bar is strategically located not too far from my office, and has comfy couches. We've tossed around the idea of setting up a wireless network and actually conducting business over there.

I think I'm finally telling the folks from the out-of-town job to take my name out of the running. They wanted me to give them references, and ironically one of the folks I called to set up as a reference ended up helping convince me to turn down the job.It just didn't seem like a good fit for me career-wise or company-wise. I'm still not sure I won't up and move out of Nashville one of these days, but I'm staying put for the moment.

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was fun. We went and got a load of firewood for the newly-reconstituted fireplace, and then my brothers and I spent the afternoon playing lumberjack and splitting it with a sledgehammer and wedge. Amazingly there was only one incident involving blood.

The Salvadoran restaurant turned out to be really good -- it's one of those little holes in the wall you might not think to try.

My parents gave me a framed 1930s Fortune magazine cover as a belated birthday present -- which is very cool. I've been into these ever since I came across one in an antique shop on vacation. The depression hit soon after the magazine lauched in the late 20's, and they were able to hire first rate artists for dirt cheap. So they published all sorts of nifty art-deco design. Here are some examples, although I don't think they're the best ones.

Got a call from a recording of the "Rockin' DJ" at work, who it seems was trying to pitch some sort of voice mail service. I hit the button like I was going to order, and then gave the telemarketer a hard time until she disconnected me. Then I used the web to track down the company in Texas and file a complaint with their local better business bureau. I know these little crusades I go on every so often are futile, but they help break up the monotony.

You should read this Thanksgiving post by Media Minded about why, despite its blemishes, America is still a great place to live.

I'm at my parents' in DC for the next two days, and my two brothers are also visiting. Today we did all the the typical Thanksgiving things. We also -- for the first time in at least a quarter century -- lit a fire in the fireplace. The damper broke sometime roundabout 1974, and they just now got around to having it fixed. So we got to play with fire 'n stuff.

The other strange thing is that my mother has continued her longterm slow-motion campaign to convert my old room into a guest room. This started out slow, but has picked up momentum and has proceeded to the point where it no longer feels like my room. (I think this happened when I got home and realized that my old penants had been removed from the wall, flowered wallpaper had been applied, and an antique china shelf had taken up residence in the corner. My middle brother's room has become my mom's office, and I think my dad is circling like a vulture over my youngest brother's bedroom when he officially moves out. (He's graduating from college in May, but is pretty vague about his plans after that. They may involve going to seminary and/or doing some sort of service program for a couple of years. Earlier he was talking about moving to Salt Lake City. )

Tomorrow we're having a very belated celebration of my birthday and my brother's birthday by going out to a nearby Salvadoran restaurant that my parents apparently begun frequenting. This should be interesting -- I'm not sure I've ever had Salvadoran food before.

Unfortunately I have to go back to Nashville on Saturday night. I used a frequent flyer award to come up for free, but the tradeoff was that I had to travel today and Saturday to avoid the holiday blackout periods. Oh, well. I think I'm going to drive up and take more time around Christmas.

I should be working on schoolwork, but I figure I'm exempt since this is a holiday. Am going to try to be good about this tomorrow.

Seen on the back of a new keyboard:

WARNING: Feeling the discomfort, Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) caused by the long periods had habits & repetitive motion at improper working environment. Please cease to use consult your professional immediately.

Q: What skitters and scurries and makes strange noises in the early morning?

I don't know either, but I think it may be living in my attic.

Living, on a Jet Plane

Max Power Aerospace, a company in nearby Smyrna, TN is apparently selling "Airplane Homes." They are made of out decommissioned Boeing 727 aircraft mounted on pedestals, and can even be mounted to swivel in the wind!

The best part? You can bid on one on E-Bay.

Profiles in Frustration

Today has been a very strange day. First I got roped into a last-minute project that would have waited until tomorrow if I worked in a democracy. Unfortunately, it seems I actually work in a dictatorship, and the work had to be done tonight.

When I finally escaped, I headed over to a party a work friend was throwing for some of the college kids I spoke to last week. (They followed me back and are visiting our office this week.) Hung out there for a while, then headed home. I managed to scatter the contents of my CD case all over the interior of my truck while I was driving, so I was a bit preoccupied when I pulled up in front of my house. Which is my excuse for why I locked the truck up with my keys sitting on the front seat.

I had another key to the truck in the house, but it was utterly useless since the house key was in the truck. So I started evaluating my options. I thought about knocking on my neighbors' door. But since it was around midnight and they have small kids, I felt really bad doing this, especially since I'm not 100% positive they have a current key.

So then it occurred to me that I keep a spare house key in my desk drawer at work just for situations like this. SoI grabbed a cab and headed across town to my office. When I got there, I ran in, figuring that I could just grab the key and be out in two minutes. But I had forgotten one thing: the door to my office was also locked, and the key was... in my truck. So then I had to tear around the building to find a cleaning person with the right key to get into my office, grab the key. That probably ate up ten minutes or so on the taxi meter.

Then I headed back across town, opened up the house, found my spare truck key, and retrieved my key ring. Total cost: 45 minutes and $15. Better than the hour and $60 I would have spent calling a locksmith, but still not exactly what you'd call a good use of time or money.

And now I'm compounding the damage by blogging about this instead of working on my class project that's due tomorrow...

Hometown in the news

My hometown got a big story in the Washington Post because of its decision set up a corn silo to support residential corn stoves. You heard that right: corn stoves! Apparently corn makes a great environmentally-friendly heating fuel.

Takoma Park, a town of about 17,000 people on the outskirts of Washington, DC, has also been a nuclear free zone since the mid-1980s. And unlike Nashville, they've had a well-run mandatory recycling program for years. (Don't get me started on Nashville's expensive new program that only picks up once a month, requires the use of minivan-sized 100 gallon drums, and doesn't even take glass or plastic!)

I have heat now, although I'm not convinced it's not going to cut out again the next time it rains. But at least it's toasty inside.

Margaret over at MightyGirl linked to BlackPeopleLoveUs.com, a highly (but subtly) satirical website making fund of various racist attitudes. Reading the letters received by the site, it seems that about half of the people get the joke, and the other half are utterly outraged by the whole thing. I was curious as to who the prankster was, so I did a whois on the domain and found out that it was owned by one "Jonah Peretti." I then did a google search on this name and hit paydirt. It seems that Peretti is the guy who tried to order customized sneakers from Nike with the word "sweatshop" stitched on them, and set up a "rejection hotline" in New York City as an experiment in spreading news by word of mouth.

He's was talking about the rejection line phenomenon when he made the following statement in this article:

People think of media as this monolithic thing that chooses to cover one thing or another. But really, it's people who make media, and they hear stories from friends of theirs. Social networks tie into the way mass media works.

The subplot is I'm trying to demonstrate that the Internet hasn't become totally corporate. Individuals with very little money can still reach millions of people.

This is along the lines of the point I was trying to get at with my little "media" diatribe a few months back (here and here).

(Argh! In looking for those last two links, I discovered that Blogger had shredded all but two weeks worth of my archive! One of these days I gotta move this sucker off to a better publishing system. All the cool kids seems to be using Movable Type these days, so maybe that's the way to go.)

Update: The repair guy they sent this time isn't exactly what you'd call "articulate." He just wandered through my living room and said something along the lines of "ahbeleete module gwetijh ahnf." I just nodded -- it sounded like furnace-fixin talk to me...

Cold house update: Gas logs in fireplace have provided some heat, and repair guy is now poking around in the furnace. Am temporarily holding off mailing box of spiders to landlord.

It's very cold in my house. Am comtemplating torturous deaths for my landlord.

Random Snippets

The small college town where I just spent the week had a number of cable access channels -- including two for local high schools, one for the college, one for the city, one for the county, etc. One was apparently the "Error reading drive A" channel. This error message on screen for the entire week. I watched it for a while, figuring that something had to happen eventually. I probably doubled their audience.

I was apparently outside of the coverage area for both my pager and my cell phone. Which was great until my office fedexed me a replacement phone on Wednesday. So much for escaping the leash.

Took an unplanned side trip to the quilt museum in Paducah, Ky. Which I have to say was pretty incredible, despite what you might think. Quilting is apparently big business there -- not only do they have the museum, but they have quilting magazines, quilting suppliers, and an internationally-known quilting show. Also got to see the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, and got a quick look at the nifty historical murals on the flood walls along the river.

Got home to find my heat broken again, for the third time this fall. My landlord is not my favorite person right now.

It's cold and rainy. The guy at the little health food market seemed amazed that I had left the house -- apparently he heard a rumor of a possible snowflake this weekend. In Tennessee, it's customary to hole up for a week whenever someone uses the "S" word. Once again, I'm just not fitting in...

An old friend from high school pointed out this great site.

Ugh. 8:00 AM classes were bad enough in college. And back then I could always stagger in at 8:05 and settle in the back with an emergency coffee ration!

Now they're expecting me to get up and talk coherently to dozens of students at that hour. It's inhuman, I tell ya!

People keep googling me looking for "pictures of kumquats." Here.

Now leave me alone, already!

I confess to getting sucked into the Harry Potter books after constant harassment by a friend. But in Harry Potter Pampered jock, patsy, fraud, Chris Suellentrop debunks the cult of Potter, claiming that the young wizard is just another quidditch jock skating by on his parents' money and reputation. hehe.

The most amusing thing is how seriously some of the people commenting on the article are taking it.

Pulled an all-nighter on Friday fighting with a brand new $20,000+ Dell Linux server that kept freezing up. It has now gone 22 hours under load without keeling over, so hopefully I'm done with the danged thing. On the other hand, the $1000 Linux server sitting under my desk hasn't gone down since I installed it in July. The IT gods can be a fickle bunch.

I'm going to be out of town this coming week -- I've been recruited to speak to college students about my job 'n stuff. Should be an interesting change, but it's also a bit intimidating. (Like all of a sudden I'm some sort of role model or something!)

Right now I'm busy straightening up the house -- don't want the catsitter to know what a slob I really am...

In election news from Tennessee, it looks like we're going to have a lottery and a democratic governor. (But a Tennessee democrat isn't that different from a Republican anywhere else.) Lamar Alexandar won Fred Thompson's old senate seat, which was vacant after Fred quit to pursue an acting gig on Law and Order.

A constitutional amendment to repeal a $50 limit on fines imposed by the government without a jury trial did not pass despite receiving a majority of votes cast. The limit was written into the state constitution in 1796, when $50 was a much bigger deal. I waffled on this a bit, but eventually decided that slumlords and other scum should have to pay a meaningful fine if they violate city ordinances.

In local Nashville news, term limits were once again upheld for the Metro council. (In most cases, I think term limits are a bad idea. They just reduce the number of choices available to voters and lead to a lot of lame duck candidates who don't care what the public thinks anymore. If you don't like what a politician is doing, it's your right to vote them out. You don't need a term limit for this.)

I'm stuck at work working on programming for a project that has to be done by tomorrow. To test it, I have to fire the scripts up and let them run for a few minutes before I can tell if they're doing what I want.

Problem is, I have no attention span, so I keep firing them up and then going off and reading blogs, writing e-mails, staring aimlessly into space, etc. Then when I make it back to the real work, I've forgotten exactly what I was trying to test in the first place. This has happened repeatedly tonight. Urk. Think I need to go home.

Well, I just turned 27. So far I've celebrated by, um, working on a paper for my database class. The fun never stops, I tell ya.

This is actually from yesterday, but I'm in the mood to rant a bit, so... It appears that the nut jobs found out a few kids were actually having FUN in school, so they got right to work making sure that sort of silliness would never happen again. See Schools no longer embrace holiday from yesterday's Tennessean. I have many fond memories of dressing up and going to school in sometimes horribly uncomfortbale costumes that my parents spent hours on. I remember one year my brother wanted to be an ear of corn, so my parents put together the costume complete with a ski cap with tassles hanging out of the top. (I think that's still around somewhere at home.) Why are we trying to take away these sorts of memories from our kids? I find the fact that people call Halloween a pagan holiday to be especially laughable. A number of our modern Christmas traditions are rooted in pagan solstice rituals, but I bet these folks have no problem whatsoever with having a Christmas tree in their house. Cultures have always mixed and melded, and the meaning one culture places on a celebration may be totally different from another. In the case of Halloween in 20th century America, we basically have a secular celebration that's mainly about dressing up, scaring people, carving pumpkins, and getting sick on tons of candy. To attach any deeper meaning to it is just plain nuts. I really hope this is just a Tennessee thing and not a nationwide trend...

Couldn't find my good pumpkin caring knife, so my jack-o-lantern looks like it got hacked by some sort of ghoul. Then again, I guess that's kind of the point.

Back in Nashville now. The interview with "Company X" went ok, I think, but I really don't know if the job is a good fit for me. Seemed like the place wasn't necesarily very open to new ideas, and I didn't get sense that there was a whole lot of excitement about what they do My stress level in my current job was near an all-time high this morning, but as I went through the day I began to appreciate some of the things that we've done since I got here. I feel strongly about the way certain things in our business are going, and I wonder if these ideas might clash with the culture at Company X. On the other hand, it's in a part of the country I'd much prefer to be in. And there may be some interesting advancement and networking possibilities involved in the job. And it would be an opportunity to learn some new things. And it might pay better. I've had this little argument going on in my head ever since I walked out of the interview, and it's driving me to distraction. Which is bad since I have a midterm due tomorrow and have barely started it. Ack!

Out of town for afformentioned job interview. Visiting some friends while I'm at it. Still waffling - we'll see how I feel about this after tomorrow.

And now a tale of technological woe...

So there I am in coastal North Carolina, and I have to hop a plane and fly home to decidedly noncoastal Nashville in about 6 hours. Wanting to avoid this unpleasant reality as long as possible, I grab the bare necessities (towel, sunglasses, and, of course, cell phone) and head down to the beach. I arrive at said beach. I set down the towel. I take off the sunglasses. And I head for the water. (Those reading carefully have probably already noticed the problem here.)

I dive blissfully into the ocean, enjoying the crashing waves and salt water. I get in about chest deep when I notice a strange sensation coming from somewhere in the depths of my bathing suit. (No, not that kind of sensation, you perv!)

Always alert for sharks and other precursors to the loss of vital anatomy, I swat at it, only to realize that it is rather rectangular, and is vibrating in a rather mechanical way. Sort of like, well...

CRAP! Grab for pocket, and retrieve a very wet cell phone that is shaking like it's about to self-destruct. That would be bad, I figure, so I attempt to remove the battery from the back of the phone. Only the battery is spring loaded, and immediately flies off and disappears beneath the waves. I make a brief attempt to dive after it, only I'm still trying to hold the drowning remains of the phone above water. At this point people on the beach have noticed the strange dance I'm doing, and are probably considering calling in the coast guard for a maritime rescue.

After a minute I give up on the battery and head for shore to deposit the phone. Then I head back out to the area, and remarkably find the battery with my foot.

I retained some hope that my poor little flip-phone would come back from the dead after a few days of rest. After all, I've seen computers get doused and come back to life. (Although the salt water was sort of a new twist, I have to admit.)

For the first day or so the cell phone would vibrate in a sickly way if I reattached the battery. But now I like to think it has passed on to a better world. And I've temporarily reverted back to my previous cell phone (circa 1999) which weighs about 20 pounds and will come in handy if I ever need to take out a mugger.

So I guess I'm in the market for a new phone one of these days. (And as my pennance, I'm giving mocking the stupid things my users manage to do to their laptops. At least for a week or two.)

Page says I don't post enough. And she's right. Truth is I have a horrible case of Blogger's guilt about this. So I hereby resolve to increase the level of inane crap I post on this page. When I get around to it, anyway.

Guilty pleasure of the day: Last week, I ordered several books for my Organizational Performance class from Amazon.com. I had a coupon for $10 off my order, but only if I spent more than $50. So naturally I had to buy a few "bonus" items. (After all, I have to do my part to support the American economic recovery.) So I threw in a copy of Home by the Dixie Chicks, and the DVD of Amelie, which I saw in the theater when it was released in the US.

So instead of flowcharting and analyzing, I spent the last few hours watching the whimsical Parisian flick. Which, I have decided, is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is just a beautiful film in every respect, and the story appeals the closet romantic in me.

So I finished the DVD, and had pretty much decided that I needed to take a trip to Paris. Then I clicked on the director's commentary while I burrowed back into my laptop. Suddenly, I heard director and Montmartre native Jean-Pierre Jeunet tell me just how bad an idea this was:

Dont come to paris. It's a nightmare for the French people. And this film is a big lie, believe me. Paris is very different. We have a lot of dog shits on the street. It rains every day. And we have a lot of traffic jam. This film is a big cheat.

(pregnant pause)

Except Montmartre . Montmartre is very nice.

And later, admiring a shot:

It's a little bit like a real set. Look at this set, it's amazing. You know, Paris is very nice.

Sorry, Jean-Pierre, I'm not buying your "Paris sucks" routine...

When I got back from vacation, this little gem was waiting on my work voicemail. Note that while my company has a telemarketing department, I have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Look here as soon as you return October frickin 14th. This is [NAME OMITTED TO AVOID LITIGATION]. I have a letter from you that says you will not telemarket me again. I've had some of your crappin people call me today and I don't appreciate it. OK? Why don't you wake up down there. Why don't you get somebody to happen. And find out what you're doing. If... if... if... I am called one.. more.. time.. I will turn my attorney over to you and we'll deal with it then. So why don't you shake some crap up down there boy. Punk sissy. <click>

I thought this was pretty amusing, but it's nothing compared to the voicemail received recently by one of the Tennessean's music writers. (Scroll down until you see the headline You're not going to (expletive) believe this!)

The Last Page asks a thought-provoking question:

Which would be better? If the sniper stopped now, with this last killing, and got away, never to be heard from again, or if he killed just one more person and got caught.

You can read my answer here. Scroll down -- as usual, I'm late...

Got back from vacation on Monday, but have been dealing with accumulated piles of crap at work and midterms for school. So haven't had a lot of time to post. The beach was great, despite a near miss from Tropical Depression Kyle one day. In other news, the loyal readers will remember the out-of-town job I've been stewing about lately. I now have an interview scheduled for it, but I'm still just as wishy-washy as always. We'll see what happens. Will try to spend a bit more time posting this weekend...

Currently on vacation with my parents on the North Carolina coast. And, while I have my laptop with me to do classwork, it appears that the closest internet access number is long distance. So expect few postings this week...

The Washington Post has a profile of the historian at Arlington National Cemetery. The piece closes with this:

One time, he was making his way through the cemetery, when he spotted what he thought was a discarded soda can. How could anyone be so insensitive, he wondered.

But as he walked over to the headstone -- the grave of one of the casualties of the Persian Gulf War -- he realized it was an unopened can of Iron City Beer and that there was a note attached: "John, we said we'd share a beer when you came back. Welcome back." Sherlock left the can where he found it and walked away.

I have a friend in medical school who has basically furnished his department with drug company freebies. (pens, glasses, clocks, towels, etc.) Unfortunately for him, looks like the gravy train is leaving the station...

This is old, but very amusing.

As you may know, Clippy the Paperclip was ostensibly killed as a marketing gimmick to promote the launch of Microsoft OfficeXP last year. The company actually set up a website complete with an animated movie portraying the delivery of the clip's pink slip. Clippy's voice is done by (who else?) Gilbert Gottfried, and his favorite saying through the piece is "HEY! YOU! WOULD YOU LIKE TO WRITE A LETTER???"

The site also features a "kill the paper clip" game, a link to Clippy's Amazon Wish List and Clippy's Resume (he's job hunting now).

<sigh> If only they could put that much effort into writing secure code..

I am utterly amazed by the efficiency of spambots. My kumquat301 e-mail address has only been around for a few months, and it's already getting dozens of offers for Viagra, University Diplomas, Hot Young Teens, etc. In the interest of closing the barn door after the horse has been made into paste (or something like that), I just obfuscated the e-mail address on the left -- hopefully that will prevent things from getting any worse!