Main Page
My House Blog
My Flickr Photos
Questionable Content
XKCD
Penny Arcade
Saturday Morning
A Softer World
Least I Could Do
Misfile
Sinfest
Overheard
One Sentence
FMyLife
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
|
|
|
Thursday, July 29
Happy Thursday!
My fantabulously incredible mother is visiting, so I've been busy. Too tired to post. Must sleep. I hope everyone is having a great week!
Posted at 2:14:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, July 26
Weekend Update
Wow, it's Monday already. I really need to figure out this "slowing down time" thing. Or at least a version that doesn't require an object with the mass of 3 suns compressed to the size of a basketball ('cause really, I'm just not strong enough to lug something like that around). Maybe like a secret decoder ring thingy with a dial for "speed up" and "slow down" time, like a DVD remote. Although, like I've noted whenever I see a scifi show that involves slowed or "frozen time," they always seem to gloss over the fact that if you freeze time, you freeze the photons that are carrying information to your eyes, so everything would be completely dark (or at least red-shifted if you're slowing down time). So I guess it would be useful for getting an extra 4 hours of sleep. Not so useful for actually doing anything. And then there's the whole bit about your lifespan continuing while everyone else's is frozen, so after 40 years of freezing time now and then, you're actually 75 but everyone else thinks you're 60. Talk about not aging well. So you'll need a combination "time freeze/immortality" remote thingy. Or I could just go to bed earlier, I guess.
Anyway, so my weekend was busy. My wonderful, sweet, overwhelmingly cool mother is visiting me this week, so I thought I should make my apartment presentable. Dust, do laundry, buy some food so she doesn't worry about me starving. The usual. Lisa Marie and I went out for Chinese on Sunday night and I got my hair cut, but that was about the extent of my external wanderings. I remembered today on the way to work that I neglected to pause to refuel my car this weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to find a gas station that's actually open on the way home.
I got a DVD in the mail last week from Cindy. One of her friends compiled a digital smorgasboard of memories from photos and video clips taken during the AIDS/LifeCycle event (and I stole a few video captures, shhhhhh). It looks like it was quite the trip. And they raised $4.9 million for AIDS awareness and prevention. Congratulations, Cindy. :)
Posted at 5:47:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, July 25
Feel the Force . . . With a Vengeance
So George Lucas announced the title for the third prequel yesterday. I wasn't particularly elated or dismayed at the choice of "Revenge of the Sith," but you have to take into account my utter lack of enthusiasm for the prequels (due to a bout of indigestion caused by movies that suck and merchandise marketing overload). I'm not going to rant about possible inconsistencies until I actually have seen the movie (in 2005), but I guess I am a little curious about for what exactly the Sith are seeking revenge. I kind of scratched my head in the first one when the bad guys were talking about "at last we will have our revenge." I thought it was established that the Sith had been wiped out long before the events of the first prequel, and the Jedi are more or less unaware that the Sith even exist. I get the feeling it's a "well, some guys who lived a long time ago wiped out some other people that I like to model myself after, even though I was born centuries later, so I'm claiming revenge for people I've never met against people who didn't actually do the wiping out" thing. Which in a way parallels my lack of understanding of how certain religious groups today can blame the living members of a certain other religious group for events that supposedly happened thousands of years ago. See, there are relevant philosophical questions in Star Wars!
The movie is still going to suck.
Posted at 8:57:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, July 22
Wait . . . Which Branch Has Which Power?
I've been watching a bill in the House that finally passed yesterday with equal amounts of ire and confusion. It centers around gay marriage and is sponsored and supported by Republicans, so you can imagine my feelings regarding it. Let's put that issue aside. A bigger issue, and one that has me sitting here in dumbfoundment, is what the bill purports to actually do. Essentially, as I understand it, the House has passed a bill that strips the federal courts of their ability to even hear cases relating to a previously passed federal law (the Defense of Marriage Act), and prevents them from ruling on them.
Um . . .wait. Wasn't there some sort of "separation of powers" lecture of some sort in high school civics? I seem to recall something about Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, set up so that each branch checks the other two. I'm really confused about how the Legislative branch thinks it can pass a law that keeps another branch from checking it. If the Legislature can pass a law preventing the Judicial branch from hearing cases about "law x," what prevents it from inserting a rider into any bill that prevents the Judicial branch from ruling on it? At that point the system of checks and balances breaks down.
The real motivations behind this, of course, are not as obfuscated as I make them out to be. The Senate is unlikely even to take this measure up and almost certainly won't pass it, and even if it did, the first court that heard it (and it would show up in a court eventually) would strike it down as completely and insanely unconstitutional (the Legislative branch simply doesn't have the Constitutional authority to tell the Judicial branch what it can and cannot hear). The majority that voted for it is using it as a symbolic victory after a marriage amendment defeat in the Senate (a way of showing constituents that "we're not giving up"). At least I hope so. I'm going to be very disappointed in the intelligence and competence of our Representatives if they voted for it thinking it's actually legally sound.
Posted at 10:15:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, July 19
"The Power of the Sun in the Palm of My Hand"
I'm behind on posts. In my defense, Blogger has been throwing a tantrum and actually deleted one of my posts when I tried to post it earlier. Gah!
Anyway, so, yeah. Any of you who have seen Spider-Man 2 will recognize the post title (unless you had to get up to go the bathroom or buy more Gummi Worms because you weren't planning ahead well enough). I caught it on Saturday and enjoyed it immensely (I even got teary a couple of times; keep in mind that for a guy I cry a lot, mostly at sad movies and car repair bills, so that may not necessarily be a good indication of the movie). As we were leaving the theater, I noticed a spectacular sun, hanging low in the sky like a perfect nuclear aspirin. I'm not sure what the exact optics involved were (although I imagine it had something to do with clouds), but I snapped a few pictures anyway.
The rest of the weekend update is pretty dull. I worked for three hours on Saturday (11:00 a.m.! Gah!) before seeing Spider-Man 2. I finally talked to my mom for the first time in 2 weeks (you really need a second phone line, mom). Laundry. Stargate Atlantis. Exciting, no?
Posted at 6:34:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, July 14
Is It Slavery or Work?
Seen in a document:
"Special rules apply if you own more than 5% of your employer."
What if you're only leasing your employer . . .? Labels: proofreading
Posted at 6:44:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wow
That's a fairly appropriate title. I should have been in bed over an hour ago, but I'm glad I stayed up. I was listening to the thunder when the first light of the sunrise began to illuminate the window so I decided to take a quick peek outside before I went to bed. Then I had to run back inside to grab my camera. There was this completely surreal scene, something straight out of Myst. The sky to the north was white. The sun was rising in the east, giving everything a rose/orange glow, but the south and southwest skies were still dark with a thunderstorm, complete with lightning. The sky was different in every direction, and it even had a rainbow where the sunrise sky and the thunderstorm sky met. Plus it was very calm and quiet. It all made for a gorgeous scene. All of these were taken within two minutes of each other.
Then it started to rain, which was my cue to go to bed. :) Enjoy.
Posted at 6:24:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, July 13
A Series of Unfortunate Events
So today was not the best of days. Granted, it wasn't as bad as the days depicted in the book series from which the title of this post is gleaned (some of you know to what I refer; the rest of you can count yourselves lucky). After all, I didn't have a seizure or end up in the hospital or in prison or find myself waking up in a motel bathroom surrounded by ice with one of my kidneys missing. Despite my whining, it could have been a really bad day.
And yet, it wasn't all clowns and puppy dogs, either. It was one of those days that you'd like to do over (real life really needs a "save" function). My car has been due for some not-insubstantial repairs for about 3,000 miles (a motor mount, some brake pads, a bushing-something-or-other) and I'd made arrangements with Saturn to leave my car at their facility last night so that I wouldn't have to wake up early to drop it off (I caught a ride from Saturn to my apartment with a coworker who followed me from work). So I drop the car off, fill out the little "Night Drop" sheet, go home, go to bed and awake bright and early around 1 p.m., expecting my car to be done. A quick call, however, dashes that hope. "Cooper. Cooper. Um, let me check. *hold* Yeah, um, we haven't actually started it yet. It's on the list. Can we call you back when we're done?" Gah! So I stress around my apartment until they finally call me at 4:00 (half-an-hour after I'm supposed to be at work). They sent a shuttle to pick me up (which is comprised of one of their show vehicles and a grumpy guy in his sixties who spent the entire trip complaining about how incompetent the road crews are), which alleviated my "I-don't-have-a-car-how-am-I-going-to-get-there" stress. I did have one pleasant surprise at Saturn, in the form of a bill for only $850 (which is less than the thousand dollars I was expecting, even if it's not a $50 oil change).
So I finally have my car. And I'm on my way to work. And it starts to rain. Really cool dark skies and lightning. Which isn't a problem in and of itself, except that I'm housesitting for a friend (I'm not saying who, just in case any of you have kleptomaniacal tendencies) whose mail is delivered to the front step instead of a mailbox. So I decide it would be a good idea to swing by and pick up the mail before it gets too wet (and put it in my car). It was really raining by the time I got there, and sure enough the mail and three packages are tucked up inside or near the screen door. Here's how the scene goes. I have one box about twice the size of a shoebox in a plastic bag, two smaller packages about the size of hardback books and an assortment of assorted catalogs and letters rolled into a flattened tube and secured with a rubber band. I also have an umbrella. In the rain. I crouch down and hold the plastic sack open with my umbrella hand while putting the packages and mail into the sack. I stand up with the sack in one hand and the umbrella in the other. I take one step. The sack rips up one side from the corner of the big box. One of the smaller packages falls out. I instinctively drop the umbrella to catch the package. I miss. The package falls on the wet sidewalk. The umbrella smacks me in the head. I curse. I bend down to get the package. Two letters fall out and land on the wet sidewalk. I try to balance the umbrella on my shoulder while picking up the letters. The umbrella falls over (leaving me at the mercies of the rain). I bend over to pick up the umbrella. Another letter falls out. I pick up the umbrella. I turn to pick up the letter. As I bend over, the entire sack gives out. Everything falls onto the wet sidewalk. I curse again as I look around to see if any of the neighbors are watching in bemused enjoyment. I finally stack everything on top of the box, then pick up the umbrella, then start walking to the car (I have yet to get two steps from the front door). I hear a wet plop behind me. I turn around. Another letter is mocking me from the wet sidewalk (where it came from I have no idea). I juggle the pile of boxes and letters and the umbrella until I can snag the letter from the sidewalk. I drop the umbrella and it smacks me in the head again. I finally get everything squared away. By this point, I'm completely soaked and the mail is completely soaked. And then I have to go to work, an hour-and-a-half late. Where everyone *says* my wind-and-rain-ravaged hair looks fine, but they're just saying that because they don't want to be left out next time I bring cookies. I don't think I finished drying out until around 6:30 or 7:00.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Posted at 11:32:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Buzz Words
Seen in a document:
"They will be able to draw on the complementarities and synergies of the two specialists so as to fulfill their ambition of growth."
Someone is overcompensating for something. Labels: proofreading
Posted at 9:54:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, July 12
Hot Off the . . . Scanner
I've mentioned before the sometimes-amusing results of the scanning software that attempts to recognize and reconstruct words from scanned documents. Usually it ends up entirely nonsensical, but occasionally a literary gem shines through the textual murk, begging to be shown to the world. On one of my recent projects, the software was attempting to recognize the name "Lummus." Instead, on a single page, I got:
Lunimus
Lutnmus
Luinnius
Lumntus
Lunirnus
The most amusing (and most wince-inducing), however, was the substitution of "cob" for "colo" in " colorectal." Labels: proofreading
Posted at 7:40:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
"This is the short and the long of it."
A crowd gathered on Saturday for the final showing of "The Merry Wives of Windsor." In attendance, along with a couple hundred other people, were Cris and Kaz, Zaida and Jose and Jen and Mike ( plus me, as official photographer - the rest of the pictures are here). The crowd was quite impressive, topping the one from the showing of "Richard III" Brenda and I caught the previous weekend. I wasn't as impressed with this play as I was with "Richard III," mostly due, I think, to the "updating" that ensconced it in the 1950s rather than the 16th century. I have no major objections to reinterpreting works of art (by, for example, changing the settings of a play), but some of the language of the play was incongruous with the setting. It was still amusing, though. :) I got to play "resident English geek" and interpret the plot for the group during the intermission (plus I brought homemade cookies!). It threatened to rain for just a bit, and then we had a lovely evening, complete with lightning bugs. :)
Posted at 4:05:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, July 9
Contributions!
So I've been lax about posting this week. Work. Stress. Dentist. I know, I know, excuses excuses. In the meantime, Lisa has been taking more pictures than I have. This is a real sign (not altered) in Bellevue. And this picture looks like something right out of Myst. Enjoy. :)
P.S. - New Stargate episodes tonight! Yay! (*happy quantum mechanical dance of joy*)
Posted at 4:07:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, July 5
And the Rockets' Red Glaaaaaaarrrrrreeeeeee
I missed the Rosenblatt fireworks on Saturday night, due to a prior engagement with the merry verse of Master Shakespeare. Tonight, by a fluke, I happened to be downtown when the ConAgra fireworks display began. So I took pictures. Lots of pictures. Eighty-six to be exact. I picked the nineteen best from the colorful allotment, carefully choosing for size, shape and flavor like some exotic species of mango, and placed them gently within a folder for your perusal. You'll also find some photos of the flag walkway and fountain at the entrance to ConAgra Park and a picture or two of the skyline as it appeared on the walk back to my car.
I hope everyone had a safe Fourth. :)
Posted at 1:45:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, July 4
I have set my life upon a cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die
I finally remedied my admitted laxness about attending that great festival of verse and camaraderie known far and wide as the annual Shakespeare on the Green production. Upon this, a bright Saturday evening of sunlight (accursed!) and traffic (accursed yet again!), I did set out in all haste and good speed to Elmwood Park near UNO, there to witness the very winter of our discontent splayed out upon such a humble stage . . .
. . . eventually.
First, though, I managed to get a little lost. It turns out that the performance is in Elmwood Park, which it lists as "60th and Dodge." But the performance is actually more toward the "66th and Dodge" edge of the park. If you wait to turn until 60th, you get to wander around the park looking for it. Which I did. I drove all the way to Pacific Street and then turned around and drove through it again. I eventually spotted a bunch of parked cars and some people converging down in a grotto, so I parked and followed them, hoping they knew where they were going. Which they did. It just wasn't to the performance. I ended up at a wedding reception of some sort (at least, there were people in tuxes and other finery and a photographer). Everyone gave me kind of an odd look and I turned red and walked back to my car. Whoops. I drove around some more and eventually spotted another group of people walking, this time carrying lawn chairs. Aha!
There was already a considerable crowd by the time I got there. This will teach me to show up earlier next time. (Broadband users can check out the panoramic version.) I watched the wandering minstrels and assorted entertainers while I waited for Brenda to arrive. The performance of Richard III started around 8:00 and finished around 11:00, with one 15-minute intermission. I have to admit it's been awhile since I've read Richard III (I didn't actually remember it when the play started, but it jogged my memory - it was one of the plays we read in my senior Shakespeare class in college 6 years ago), so it took me about 20 minutes to figure out who the characters were, but I was very impressed with the performance (the actor who portrayed the evil, scheming Richard did an outstanding job). Brenda was not so impressed. (*ducking* Okay, okay, so she'd been up for 17 hours . . .)
It was quite dark by the time the performance ended, which meant leaving was an adventure in itself (especially since I didn't know how I'd arrived at the parking lot in the first place). So I fell back on following the people in front of me and eventually they led me to Dodge Street. Leaving reminded me of the fireworks displays in my hometown, where the entire town fits into the parking lot around the baseball diamond and, once the display ends, attempts to leave through the only two entrances in one mass exodus. Drive one car-length. Break. Drive one car-length. Break. Except Omaha has traffic cops with cool little glowing traffic-director-thingies. ;)
Next stop, The Merry Wives of Windsor (which I haven't read). I should probably dig one of my numerous anthologies out and at least skim it before the play. Maybe next year they'll do my favorite play, Much Ado About Nothing. To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune!
Posted at 4:07:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, July 2
The Most Fun You'll Have in a Car
Taco Bell, that great bastion of cheap, late night fare, a shining mecca displaying to all the city, in neon purple, that the end to hunger, even at 2 a.m., is but a U-turn away . . . Okay, maybe that's going too far. There's a Taco Bell just down the street from me that I frequent on a regular basis. Lately, though, it's been a little . . . interesting. Last weekend, during an exceptionally long wait as the driver of a car 6 (yes, 6) cars up couldn't make up her mind, the rest of the line was entertained by some "extracurricular" activity in the car behind me (there was some spitting involved, and let's just leave it at that). Tonight, in the same line (this time only 4 cars deep), the car behind me actually bumped my car during the "inching-forward-ever-so-slightly" jostle. The two teenaged (and smoking) girls in the car didn't really seem to care, and I can't find any damage more than a small scratch that the insurance company would laugh at, so I guess it's a "no blood, no foul" incident, but it still makes me think I should have my camera out and ready next time I'm pulled in by the allure of chicken quesadillas . . .
Posted at 5:27:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, July 1
I Need a House
Summer appears to have brought out apartment oddness. I already have some, um . . . interesting neighbors (I've already mentioned the one who smokes in my hallway and tells jokes that aren't funny). I have new next-door neighbors that I haven't actually seen yet (I'd say they're vampires, except I'm on the vampire shift and they aren't out at night).
There was an auto accident in the clean-up stages (wow, that sounds just like the radio!) right in front of the turn for my apartment last night (I actually had to turn between the police cars and the tow truck that was loading the damaged cars in order to get into my apartment complex), so I already knew there were policemen in the area. Still, you can imagine my surprise when suddenly I heard a tapping, as of someone lightly rapping, rapping at my front door . . . at 3 a.m. And no matter how much of an honest, law-abiding citizen you are, your heart always skips a beat when you peak out the door at the imposing figures of two uniformed policemen. Unfortunately, they were looking for Ryan, and the only Ryan I know is in Wyoming. I have no idea why they knocked on my door (unless it's because my lights were on). They didn't ask me to prove that Ryan didn't live there (so either I appeared honest or they saw the swords above my entertainment center and went to call back-up).
Today as I was getting ready for work I heard a loud voice in the hallway yell (literally yell) "The answer to your question is yes. The answer to your question is yes." *pause* "What is your question?" I have no idea where that came from. More oddness . . . I know that everyone wants to pool their money so that Jay can get a nice little brick house. ;) E-mail me for my PayPal donation info.
Posted at 2:48:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
|
|
|