librarians on the mind

dunno why i was obsessing on librarians this afternoon, but i googled, and then i had to go look. i think i was just avoiding something or someone at work...
disclaimer: i take no responsibility for anything...

• some ppls defs of


• THE hot librarian


• lipstick librarian


• filipino librarian


• reflective librarian (on the impending shortage of)


• laughing librarian


• librarian movie


• babyboomer librarian


• love.a.librarian


• family-man librarian


• DIY librarian


• law librarian


• krafty librarian


• uncaged librarian


• depraved librarian


• canuck librarian


• linux librarian

;))

july in phx

this weather should drive out some of those pesky SoCal investors... eh?
;)

finally, and i mean FINALLY, found H.Beam Piper's Space Viking at Bookmans... not that it is an achievement, or a rare book even. it's just one of my absolute favorite books. drew a drawring (intentional!) of the cover in H.S. - which i was actually proud of...

currently listening to: Bare-naked Ladies - Brian Wilson (groovy!)
8))

what she said...

not exactly lite reading, but check out Cocktail Party Physics... dunno if she's related to Terry O, kinda looks a bit like her.

oh, and she likes pirates, too!

and here's a wink and a nod to PuzzlePirates, my scurvy dogs.

smart girls, yummmm...

Daily Taurus Forecast

Like a newly coronated ruler, you feel calm, confident and in control today. You won't take any guff from anyone -- although you don't really have to worry about it, since everyone will be completely charmed by your happy glow. Your positive attitude will be contagious! Overall, this day will be mellow, and any emotional outbursts will be more in the realm of uncontrollable giggle attacks than angry tirades. Everyone is content with where they are and what they're doing.

what is guff, again?
8-/

nada, nil, nothing

not feeling the muse...
:(

italy wins, zidane blows it

some incredible moments in the final,
both beautiful and very ugly...

wonder what was said to zidane?
materrazi did not appear surprised to get smacked.
:|

is it just me?

is it just me, or are quite a few of us lacking in energy?
bored, lackadaisical, jaded, slacking, spent, etc.
is it the heat? summertime-blues? hrm...

THL makes me smile, most days anyway...

:)

duck & cover

so, i guess n. korea was very jealous of the space shuttle launch, so they decided to have a little fun themselves.
check out reuters story...

happy fourth!

let's all take a moment to remember those who are not here to celebrate...

btw, my a/c is out in my apt.
since sunday afternoon.
sitting here sweating my arse off.

shweat pantsh - as mr. sean connery would say...
;)

prosecuting freedom

i seriously doubt that the best interests of this nation are being served by a president, an administration, and a government that thinks that it is "disgraceful" for a citizen, a group, or a newspaper to question their policy...

it is actually our right and duty to question their policy. it is part of what makes us good citizens, to review, speak about, and at times criticize. it is something that the founders of this country worried about most - that we would become complacent, and allow our own government to trample us...

sad and disgraceful for this current flock to wave the flag, and beat the drum, and expect us to shut our mouths, and march in step...

working for them, will you keep telling yourself that "you are just doing your job"?

how far will they go? how far will you? when your time is up, will you ask for forgiveness? will your grandchildren work off your debt to the world?

well?

stats on millionaires - yawn.

i wonder what the stats show for the number of people slipping into poverty?
assuming a 6.5% rise in millionaires, extrapolated to the percentage of millionaires vs. povertaires?
the divide widens...

Reuters, i think

can't remember when...

can't remember when was the last time that i actually wrote anything here...
;)
i can always go look, but it's been quite some time, and sadly, there is absolutely no reason why i haven't. work is the same, kids are the same, fav coffeeshop is still closed, other coffeeshop is still open, sexlife is still sporadic...

well, maybe it's the ps2.
that's new.
:)

oh, and the worldcup is on.

excuses, keep'em coming!
:D

another blissfully quiet saturday morning at work

i'm actually starting to like it!
nobody else is here, i just do what i need to do.

now if i could just get paid 8 hours, for working 2...
;)

at work, wodinsday-evening, building again...

wodinsday... norse reference.
nothing fun to say, at work, building a point-release.
bored outta my skull.
:|

oh yeah, i'm at work, and it is saturday, again.

sigh
and it's beautiful outside,
on this sunny, sunny, saturday in phx, az.

i actually came in at 6:30am today.
I NEVER DO THAT. wth is wrong with me?
bleh.
:|

gospel of judas

and on the religious front: the gospel of judas resurfaces...

:)

mr. president

to paraphrase bart simpson:
"mr. president, you both suck and blow, sir!"

craven and cowardly - two words that come to mind.
you demonstrate no honor, no loyalty, and no compassion.
and now i truly believe you will live in infamy...

in the New York Times

"public interest" my ass...

:(

samarai movies

i don't know why i'm adding this. somehow it popped into my head, while reading someone else's blog (), that i had never said anything about buying those cool samarai movies!

kurosawa's classics, plus one more...

• seven samarai (magnificent seven based on)


• yojimbo (fistful of dollars based on)


• sanjuro


• hidden fortress


• when the last sword is drawn

i really enjoyed the last one, and it felt like a kurosawa film, so i added it.

kagemusha is next on my hitlist... ;)

stomp!

oh yeah! i forgot. we saw Stomp!
wootwootwoot, kaching, waddawaddabingbang! WOW!
it was awesome!

saturday, back to work

*yawn*, yes race-fans, back to work, on a saturday...

i have my kids this weekend, so i brought them in, brought my laptop too, and set them up in my managers office with a few dvds. i'm out here building software releases...

building isn't bad, it's the configuration that's the grind. need to automate that somehow. just haven't had time to noodle the problem yet. building is fine, becuz i just kick it off, read some blogs, and glance to the other screen occasionally to check that none of the projects broke. not very intense, but i'd rather by outside with the twins, having fun...

:)

and on a sunny sunday

back at work, 12:30pm...

had breakfast with my parents this morning, talked about everything in general. they've been spending alot of time with my grams, keeping her busy, and all that. dad turned down an offer from grams: all of gramps leftover underwears. :D

better go check on my build, see if the soups done...
;)

working on a saturday

it's rare. but it happens.
building point release(s) for the developers, so we don't have to lock down the trunk. hardly get to do any coding myself anymore. maybe some scripting if i'm lucky.

thanks for all the nice comments!

grandfather died

grampa john died tuesday morning between 12 and 2am.
he had slipped into a coma sometime monday night, and passed quickly, according to the nursing staff...

i woke up angry, right around 2am, knowing that something had happened. but i didn't know it was him, and i don't know why i was angry. i know he hated the hospital.

there will be a wake, irish-style.
grams wants to have a party to remember him.
can't agree more...

grampa john

taking the morning off work, to go see my grampa john in the hospital. opportunity to blog a little. and to honor a man i love.

not sure if i've talked about my gramps before. he's an amazing guy, my mom's dad. quiet. irish. dark hair. really good looking guy. a person i've idolized my whole life, and wanted to be like, and modeled my image of what a person should do with their life...

he can do anything. probly has. a handyman-extraordinaire. someone who inspired me to look at life a little differently, yet to deal with daily responsibilities in an accepting way. did i say that right? he is the guy who nike thought of when they said "just do it", he did it, and does it, not effortlessly, but with a quiet determination that i found extremely valuable.

i made him laugh once when i was a teenager, telling a joke at the kitchen table up at the cabin. probly one of the shining moments of my memory, making him laugh. the punchline of the joke was "my name's chuck".

it's a little strange to think of him leaving, moving on to the next life, but something makes me think he is just paving the way for the rest of us...

luvya gramps.
;)

actually, it's quite boring

i didn't go anywhere, just got really, really lazy about posting. and work got busy. and me and the friend-girl kept interfering with each other, bodily distraction and all that jazz...

so, ordinary life has pulled me back and forth a bit.

and i've had that creeping crud green goo in my lungs for a week now :(

i need to go visit some fun blogs...
cya!
;)

something i sent myself - again

for some reason, i've been sending notes to myself.
here's another one:

things i think about (other than sex every 6 secs):
*not in any order*
a. global climate changes
b. coding: java, jython, jspwiki
c. ufos, ghosts, cryptozoology
d. meditation
e. yoga
f. soccer
g. nutrition and/or food
h. get-rich or my-own-biz ideas
i. my kids
j. my health
k. money and/or bills

pandemic list

wow...

"During a pandemic, if you cannot get to a store, or if stores are out of supplies, it will be important for you to have extra supplies on hand. This can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters," the HHS guide says.

Experts say the best way to wait out a pandemic, which could last for months, is to stay away from other people and keep close to home.

HHS's "Pandemic Flu Planning Checklist for Individuals and Families", available on the agency's Web site at www.pandemicflu.gov/planguide/checklist.html, advises:
-- Teaching children to wash hands frequently and appropriately, covering coughs and sneezes with tissues, and modeling the correct behavior
-- Having ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, vegetables, soups, bottled water and cleaning supplies on-hand for an extended stay at home.
-- Having any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes and vitamins.
-- Talking with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick or what will be needed to care for them in another home.

wow.
:|

supercross

took the twins to supercross sat.nite downtown... wow!

i don't know if it's the same part of fringe-society that is all monster-truckin, or if they are just the motocross-ridin, dirt-eatin, dune-jumpin, desert-rippin variety...

but, now, i want to be part of it.
maybe it's the sound of the 4-stroke 450s when they crank it up, or the unusual number of hot-moms (same ratios as hot-soccer-moms, i bet), but it rocks.
:D

eh, oh yeah, it's a holiday

hrm, actually went in to work today. not a long drive, but it's a holiday. so, now i'm at my coffeeshop, hanging out...
:)

paintball

yeehaw! my two boys (twin B and my stepson) called and asked me to take them to the paintball place for the afternoon! hehe, it was great getting invited, and even to be asked to play... but the best part was, getting to watch my older boy be cool. lol.

i know, i know, but 14 yr olds have their own definition of cool, and my younger son looks up to him alot, and it was a good afternoon for all of us boys. (my girl went to work with her mom).

so, we all got shot a zillion times, and killed like a bajillion other people (video game govt training is working pretty well), and it was dirty and sticky, and there were hotdogs and cokes and bees (one of us got stung).

some kid (showing off for his girlfriend) fronted my older son about his gun, something about the manufacturer, and not being the coolest, most expensive, etc, etc. and the reply was "maybe you should just shut your mouth". now that was cool... Brando-cool, Dean-cool, Sean Connery-cool without the accent.

GO, RUN, SHOOT!!!
wootwootwoot.

puff up, puff up, they hate that.
;)

oops, sent myself an email...

note to self, add to blog:
spaceweather.com
del.icio.us
reddit: what's new online
and
a bbc article



8|

sunny sunday #9

or at least 9th in a row... i'm sitting at this table that happens to get both direct sunlite, and reflected sun off the polished concrete floor, ow, ow, ow - brightness.

beautiful day here in sunny phoenix, gonna hit 75 today... jealous beeyatches? ha!

i was just clik'n around on the top 9 sites i like to visit (hi, hi, hi x 3). left nice comments on the nice sites, left bitchy comments on the bitchy sites, left other commments on the other sites... all in good fun.

i wish i could spell outrageous with an outrageous french accent, that would be shweet. can sean connery say shexy, shweatpantsh ? i dunno...

i need another short cappucino.
8D

second season, much like the first

saturdays loss 9-1, and i noticed the opposing coach working her players thru all different positions, etc., which was very cool of her, moving defensive players to offense, offense to defense, etc. (so as to not rack up the score too much).

my players aren't competing, at all. i'm not sure if they've given up, or if, after losing other games by 15 points, 9 is no biggee? (their coach sucks, btw).

there are brief moments of joy, a good save by our goalie, a nice breakaway off good passing and teamwork, a lucky goal off of a defenders leg. but, overall, we get pounded into the brown grass of winter.

early morning latte

early morning latte,
creamy, sweet, a little bitter.
chatty barrista, he likes jazz this ay em.
familiar faces, seen occasionally.
remembering a friend's goodnite kiss,
thinking of her in her flannel pj's.

work in an hour, sigh.

;)

happy new year!

didn't do much. had my kids, and finding kid-friendly events is always a bit of a challenge. we went to my friends for a bit, then we went to their friends for a bit, then we went and got a couple of movies, and some sparkling apple cider, and spent the rest of the evening goofing around the apartment.

heard some gunfire around the turn of the year, which isn't unusual i suppose. but it sure seems crazy to me, my son (11) even pantomimed it, as if he was using something on full-auto... i laughed and said: now you better find something to hide under... he gave me a blank look, and then smirked: oh yeah. we pondered how long you would have to run and hide, after shooting in the air... probly some trajectory math fxn for that, i bet.

so, it was a relatively quiet new years beginning. which is good. no resolutions.

one wish: peace (but not in a scifi channel way).
;)

old pic, feelings

not much to say about this old pic, or the feelings, really.
but, i was feeling like this today, although i didn't actually get to hang out on a porch anywhere yet... i think my son or daughter took it while we were up in the pines at a friends cabin.

no! i'm not missing a toe!
i just have natural yoga toes from wearing flipflops most of the time.
;)

new friend

sorry, i'm just not one to talk about it that much.
she makes me smile, a big stoopid grin, actually...
that's it.

i know that some ppl from my life, and my work, read this.
so, once again, sorry!

;D

a little more into the holidays

i was just not into the holidays this year.
not that i'm a grinch, just grumpy...
;)
now, after the fact, i'm doing okay.
feeling a little festive, silly even.
thought about putting up my xmas lights! haha
(the kids were put out becuz i dint get a tree this year)
(dint let them put up lights in my apt either)
(wasn't my weekend, grump, grump, grump, they have a tree at moms, grump)
:(
but now, i might let them, call em: new years lights!
hehe, maybe i can take them to a after-holiday sale?
:)

philosophical spam

i don't expect much from spam, or the asshats who send it.
but, yesterday i received some philosophical spam!

and i liked it! so, here it is:
- - - - - - - - - -
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.
The ultimate test of a relationship is
to disagree but hold hands.(my fav)
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.
Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.
(i disagree with this last, but there it is)
- - - - - - - - - -

;)

happy holidays!!! et al

almost finished wrapping all the presents... they're sitting in a cool little pile on my spare futon in the middle of my living room. i ran out of metallic wrapping paper and have to go buy some more, maybe some more tape too, cuz that's gonna run out next, i bet. that metallic stuff tears/cuts funny - not one straight line.
(some of the wrappings came out a bit funky, and that's my excuse)


haven't blog'd for awhile.

it's not that i haven't anything to say, or that nothing vital is going on in my life. i've just been busy; yoga on mondays and wednesdays, soccer on tuesdays and thursdays and saturdays.

been working alot too, even on sundays, bleh.

i've also been entertaining the thought of creating a blog, wiki, or bliki dealing with work-related software stuff... mostly a Q&A thing so i can bug a couple of friends of mine (who i used to work with) about stuff i'm having trouble with. figured i'd call it "d00dz, i'm lame, help me!" - pithy, eh?

and... there is a new friend, and she is sweet and funny, and we've been hanging out whenever we have some extra time. and that's all i've got to say about that. ;)

so, thanks everyone for checking in, and i hope to checkin with you as well.

happy holiday

relatives in town, all sides of the family(s), working, no soccer this week, sigh.

questioning myself again

okay, picked up a book a few weeks back at bookmans (discount bookstore), and i hadn't actually read it, but thought it might interest me. How to Find the Work You Love (or something kinda close to that). anyway, it had this section on focusing questions, the first of which is: in your current position, who are you pleasing? your parents? your wife & kids? or yourself? another: are you working there becuz it's easy, it pays the bills, or becuz you love it?
good questions.

my answers (today, they change):
software career: pleases my dad
bio major: was easy to complete
cs minor: please my dad
job$: please(d) my ex (some of that story is in my blog, @see cabinetwork)

the book also emphasizes talents over skillz, fair enough. but, how do you identify true talents from things you just did? like, in 4th grade i was pulled into special art, and for a couple of hours a day, all we did was paint, draw, sculpt, etc. and i had a blast - but is that talent? or luck? - lol.

then, in eighth grade, my homeroom teacher volunteered me for the school spelling bee, she said i had a talent for it - i said no initially, but when i was informed politely that my grade depended on it (i have no idea why she decided that form of coercion would work on me), i acquiesced (sp?) gracefully... long story short, i threw it, came in 2nd behind an enthusiastic 6th grade girl, and forever became known for misspelling H A R M O N I C A = as: harmica...

;)

final game of the fall season - lost

lost, i say. slaughtered, in fact.
but, once again, we had a very fine moment, a glorious moment, a goal! and my son got the assist, on a sweet pullback move, and a beautiful lead pass, to one of the forwards, who took off with it, evaded 3 defenders, and blew it into the corner of the net... aaaaaahhhhh WOO !!! (me screaming, both hands in the air)

so, we end the first season with 5 goals to our credit, and 67 against.

shush. i'm happy we scored.
:)

something i sent myself

a little note i emailed myself the other day:
- - - - -
last nite, after my soccer board-meeting, we discussed new orleans for a bit.

one of my fellow board-members is an emergency response worker for a major corporation,
and he has been out there several times now, for extended periods of time.
a brave man, among many brave souls out there trying to help.

he described the nightmare that is new orleans now.
personal belongings littering the highways.
people living in newly-bought trailers & tents in the yard next to their home.
almost of a foot of toxic sludge (not mud) making the house unliveable.
dead animals (pets & gators) rotting, bloating, and exploding in the streets.

where is the media and government now? where is the public eye?

it's been twelve weeks and we are watching "desperate housewives" again,
and we have forgotten that those people are living in desperate situations.
very desperate.

fuck.
- - - - -

once again, fuck.
:|

simply: thanks.

to my cousin mike: thanks.
to my dad: thank you, too.
to all the vets, from all the wars, thanks.

i wouldn't have what i have, if my choices had been different, or fate hadn't stepped in. same with you, and yours.

thanks.

blikis, birds, & bush

eh, not that i'm totally interested in those 3 B's, but i'm kinda out of steam at the moment. me and the twins are at the coffeeshop, so THEY can check their email... lol, which i found to be hilarious, and touching, at the same time...

A is for ASCII, as in this cool ASCII Art Generator.

B is for Bliki.
(and i like blogs and wikis, so i might go that route)
ie. see martin fowler's...

B is also for Birds and Bush, as in bird flu pandemic. (personally, i think there is some misdirection/misinformation going on at this point, in order to steer us cows away from the CIA/W.House flap).

C is for CIA, which Dubya's House has alienated. Or, at least it appears that way... Wasn't Senior the CIA Director at some point? (Under Ford) Interesting that that link says he was known for Secrecy and Disinformation, and as an Outsider. Funny!

C can also be for Chicken Little, which we went to see last nite. Recommended. (if you have kids) - Disney not Pixar, sigh.

you don't want to get what you want?

so, can't figure my attitude out. i'm lonely. but i don't want to meet anyone? i'm apathetic, yet i have this weird energy and i can't sit at home and do nothing. wth?

had some dinner, then came to the coffeeshop, and sitting here with absolutely nothing to say. how about some random thoughts or crappy philosophical meanderings?

where is the karma train, and why is it late?

you don't want to get what you want, and what you want you won't get?

desiring something drives it further from your grasp, practice no desire, no mind.

appearing aloof and acting sarcastic gets you attention from strangers.

wonder if i have a fever?
:(

ack, monday, halloween, uh?

i woke up a little late, due to my smart clock setting itself an hour behind due to no actual arizona time-zone programming...
and, it's halloween! yay! a day to dress up and show a little personal expression in the workplace, right? wrong again!

so, conforming to the memo that went out with guidelines last week, i jump into a nice pair of cargo shorts, throw a cool hawaiian shirt on, flip-flops and a baseball cap to complete my ensemble (ahnZahm - hehe)... i'm a dotcom programmer, wootwootwoot! (although, i didn't have any eff-you money to drape outta my pockets)

got to work a few minutes early, a little bounce in my step, a little jive in my mind, and WHAM: reality bites me in the ash... in the form of a supervisor, wearing a frown for her costume.

apparently, my costume comes close to violating her idea of what the aforementioned memo actually meant. she informs me she is sending an email to HR, to find out if there is any problem, while i backpeddle and grab my backpack, and apologize and let her know i can run right home and change... she says "no, we can wait to see what they say".

eventually, i receive an email, saying my shorts are fine, and thank you for participating in the celebration. but, all day, i feel like a marked-man, target on my back, hurrying from cover, running for cover, dodging looks and bullets.

finally, eight hours ends, and i slink out the door...
mondays suck.
:(

slashdot

slashdot has an interesting article and link about plague survivors and immunity: here.

lost again

we lost again today, not so badly, with more grace.

gotta love the smiles from those kids, when they come running off the field. just doesn't seem like losing, when i'm telling them good game, everyone! and they are laughing and smiling and grabbing for snacks and a gatorade...

;)

dna synchronicity

well, i finally read the az outlook article darrin sent me about his company: dna-artistry. and, it's a pretty good feature piece. although i question the 2nd opening statement: "Globalization is eroding the social awareness of fine art and the availability of original work". (i suppose it's an opinion the author is fond of, i dunno, seems a bit off to me, but hey, who am i to criticize?). but, not to distract myself, the article states some good info on what darrin is doing, how he and his lab do it, and the charity aspect he is promoting.

i love this quote: “Please don’t send me any other fluids or parts of deceased relatives. Fortunately! unfortunately(me), our process (only) requires a warm mouth to swab.” - lol.

the synchronicity part comes in from google, where earlier today i found an article off reuters, talking about DNA, genetics, hapmap, haplotypes, gattaca, and the human genome project...

now, if i could just find those little 3D acrylic blocks, with the protein folding cut into them, again...

8)

dna artistry article

oops! darrin from dna artistry sent me an article, which i haven't had a chance to review yet, sorry darrin! i'll get to it this week, i promise!

virus stuff

i'm reading fiction about viruses, and it has some interesting virus stuff as informational content in the book, and i'm gonna have to start googling it, and searching for wikipedia definitions, etc.

just a warning, of possible, impending, tangent(s)...

:o)

fifth week - fifth loss

a streak. a bad streak. a losing streak.
and it's my fault, as i take the blame for all things.
blame? yes! give it to me baybee!!! uh huh, uh huh, uh huh!

well, it was the best team in our flight/division, which is some consolation, and the kids played great. which is wonderful to see. you just can't take anything away from the other team, they were amazing. we had 3 subs, they had 0. 4 players on their team actually played 2 other games that morning, on other teams for their club. wow!

so, i felt okay.
kinda.

virus vs. meme

okay, i'm confused. (which is easy, er, or, i'm easy, i forget), someone please edumacate me on this whole virus vs. meme thing? i love wikipedia, but jumping back and forth, reading the def-pages has confused me more... how the hell do you relate a virus (replicating biological parasite, questionably non-living) to a meme (a unit of social/cultural transmission or imitation)??? and comparing a meme to a gene? c'mon?!
and shouldn't it be meem?

so, if you have some insight into this, please inform me, cuz i'm thinking that the whole "copy my list, call it a meme, it's a quiz, yadayada" has nothing whatsoever to do with whatever that memetics author had in mind... and the other guy, who came up with the term meme, was being speculative, wth does that mean?

maybe it's that ayn rand, atlas shrugged, who is john galt? thing?

ahh, all-your-base-belong-to-us is a right proper meem, no? like fire or a-stick-to-eat-bugs-with; now those are meems!!!
;)

maybe i got up too early this morning?
(4:30am - put new egyptian white cotton sheets, 375 threadcount, on my bed)
:O

DNA Artistry

okay, check this out: http://www.dnaartistry.com/
darrin is someone who hangs out at my fav coffeeshop, and he does some really cool stuff...

needed a smile, got one

okay, whenever i need a smile, i go take a look at the header pic at Bitch.Ph.D. even makes me laugh, sometimes... (is that pic from a movie?)

(i don't actually read her blog, i just look at the pictures)

:D

scifi meme

hrm, i'm doing this, for my own pleasure...
(yes, crowd, part of, am i)

idea from arethusa, list from the little professor (professora?):

films I've seen are in bold. (John Scalzi via Pharyngula.)

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira
Alien
Aliens
Alphaville
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
The Fly (1985 version)
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
The Stepford Wives
Superman
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)

interesting list...
:|

dog flu?

yep, there is a dog flu. i was looking for more stuff on avian flu (unrelated), and just happened upon several links to dog flu in the news. it looks very dangerous, for dogs. and, i wish the cute veterinarian and i were speaking to each other, cuz i'd like to learn more from her perspective...

(she was very informed on cushings disease, and a pleasure to watch & listen to)

;)

loss number 3

yes, again.
i remain optimistic.

5-0 is bad, but statistically, we are improving! lol.
at the coffeeshop this morning, i ran into a friend who's 2 boys play in our same club, in different age groups, etc. they've both won all their games so far this season, and i laughingly related out 3 game scores: 13-1, 7-0, 5-0, and then i raised my arms in victory and said "my team rocks!". the youngest boy looked at me very seriously, and said "no it doesn't, your team sucks.", immediately i came back "but we're improving!". and he gave me a funny look... ;)

obviously, we aren't doing so hot. i know it. my kids know it. our challenge of course is to improve. most of my kids have the basics down, they can dribble, they can pass, they can shoot, they look up and check the field around them, etc. but, i do have one or two, this being their first season, who don't have those basic skills. working with them during practice seems to go okay, they listen, and they work hard. but, at gametime...

so, back to basics.
;)

oh yeah, it's my fault. it is.
the suck stops here...
:D

bird flu

fascinating stuff, this bird flu...

some interesting links:
CDC
WHO
Resistance
1918 Pandemic
H5N1
Map

a quote from the wikipedia page:
"However the potential of these drugs was considerably lessened when it was discovered that the People's Republic of China has been administering amantadine to poultry with government encouragement and support since the early 1990s, against international livestock regulations; the result has been that the strain of the virus now circulating in South East Asia is largely immune to the medication and hence significantly more dangerous to humans." (emphasis mine).

- the rampant usage of antibiotics in food animals is worldwide, not just china, and we all bear this guilt, cuz we keep eating them in mass quantities. we've created our own problems, very obviously. resistant strains, etc. so, don't point fingers...

get ready, it's coming...

finished baroque cycle

neil stephensons baroque cycle... not sure how i feel about it. ambivalent? somehow the enoch root thread left hanging bugs me. leaving too much to my imagination... grrr.

i suppose that leaves him open to write an "enoch the red" book, right? that would be good.

third soccer game today. practice has been going very well, this week.

girls, women, ladies - none to speak of... my cup is dry.


:|

news from phoenix

not much to blog, but phoenix is supposedly on the shortlist for google, and t/space, and for an extremely nice winter... which means: crap, i won't get a decent price on a house anytime soon, with all the cali speculators driving up the prices.

antenna

can't remember, just now, if i had posted anything about my cellphone antenna. i'd lost it, or maybe someone had nik'd it when i'd left it laying around someplace, but i had tried to order one from cingular.com, and from several other places, to no avail.

it was funny that i found one, at this tiny little cellular go store, you know the ones; run by a couple of enterprising young immigrants, possibly armenian or bosnian or russian. very nice young men, knowledgable.

they had one. it was 25 bucks. i was glad to pay it.

none of the other places even knew how to get them, and online sites (price = $9.99 plus s&h) were out-of-stock for the past 2 weeks, even the cingular store couldn't get them...
(although i could've nik'd one off their display i suppose, but guilt i already have).


so, twenty-five bucks plus tax, seemed very reasonable to me, to get 3 bars on my phone at this coffeeshop again. (and one bar at my apt). stupid? yeah, so what?

:)

lost again

not as badly as the first game, but still...

i think i'm teaching all the right skills, doing all the right drills, running them both for endurance and speed... but it isn't working, not as quickly as i'd like anyway.

at least i saw some very brief moments of brilliance, a series of passes nicely executed, a ball cleared to the side from in front of the goal, a feint followed by a breakaway. beautiful things to see. just not often enough.

also gonna have to have a talk with one of the parents, who is enthusiastic, but also somewhat working against the direction i'm trying to set.

oh yesh, soccer moms are the hottest of the hot, appreciate it...
;)

lost

we lost. our first game. of the season. again.

and i'm not complaining, i'm not! i hardly even yelled at all.
(although i am a little hoarse today, cuz when i did yell, it was loud, lol)

we didn't play very well, as a team, or as individuals. and my son, our goalie, caught a knee in the cheekbone, that swelled up, and is gonna end up a really beautiful black eye.

well, losing is learning, right?
but i tend to think if the team loses, it's the coaches fault, and that's me.
:(

i suck.
lmao.
;)

friday evening and i ain't got nobody

not that i'm whining, i got lots to do...
getting ready for our first soccer game, a whole new book to read, soccer website stuff i should have done last week, more laundry, etc...

hrm, don't feel like confessing, either.

had an epiphany at work on wednesday. after 6 months, i think i know my shit again.
madskillz, yo! (hehe, i'm really, really yust kiddin, yo). but i did have a cool moment, when i was a-problema-solvin-a, had a cool "oyeah" moment, and i kicked it out in a couple of minutes, no problemo. and, it was some service-using-hibernate mapping to oracle thing, that doesn't kick out an informative error message in the stack trace, right? something like: sequence not found or what-have-you...

so, i'm feeling good about myself, work-wise.

and then, there is my personal life, which is actually going extremely well lately, in a non-existent-sex-life sorta way. working out, doing yoga, meditating, coaching soccer, tweaking my calf (in a good hurt way) during sprints, and feeling like an all-around super dood, except for the previously mentioned total lack of attention from the species-currently-in-power. but i'm okay with it... at the moment.

you know it's striking, if a guy thinks a girl is attractive, i think he makes it known to her, in some blatant, borderline-obnoxious way, right? but, girls (at least in my experience) don't make it known. except maybe to each other.

well, off to the coffeeshop...
;)

letdown

eh, i'm experiencing the letdown (separation anxiety?) after a weekend with my kids... it was fun, as i actually plan to do things with them, and we usually have alot of fun. this weekend was dinner at the fish place (buckets of clams!), saw 'Just Like Heaven' at the behest of my daughter (my son and i were skeptical), but we all ended up liking it alot. then breakfast with gramma and grampa sunday morning.

oh, and the kittens spent the weekend with us, too. which was fun.
except the 3am romps across my face.

i thought about doing laundry, but...

sunday, sunny sunday #7

i don't know if it's actually number 7 or not, since we get something like 361 out of 365 sunny days a year in phoenix, and there are 52 weeks, each having a sunday, yadayadayada...

but, it is bright today.

haven't done much this weekend, except anticipate something that might happen today. i cleaned my apartment, did laundry, read blogs, finished the "jonathan strange" book (the ending is worth all the slow parts).

wait, i painted. i forgot.
and, i wrote a little text blurb for the soccer website, and sent it to the board.
and, i ferried kids stuff to the ex's, so the twins could wear/take it to a party.
and, i installed a shelf in my kitchen.
and, i worked on my mtn.bike.
and, i got a haircut.
and, sheesh, i went to the hardware store, the bikestore, the grocery store, and of course, and not least in any way, the coffeeshop (3 times so far).

guess i've been semi-productive even.

wow! i'm a slacker that got some stuff accomplished on the weekend. interesting, all due to anticipation...
;)

two phones

so, i got a new phone.

i just couldn't stand paying something like 70 bucks for the crappy local cell service i was getting, and so decided to splurge on a 2 yr. contract with cingular, which has all the very coolest moto phones (except they don't, i guess, anymore)...

my new phone is slick, it's sexAY, it's fun!
my old phone is jealous.

and, the title speaks to something i was thinking about, as both phones rang; it must absolutely suck to have to carry two phones all the time. somedays, i don't even want to be carrying one, in my luddite-phantasies, where i choose to disconnect from the world, and reconnect with the real world...

i've seen ppl running around, with 2 or 3 cellphones, invariable one's some kinda huge brick, that does rf also. and i just never wanted to have the special gizmo-belt that they all attach to

(no, i'm not batman, i work in tech.support, really kid, shup)


OH! almost forgot. i'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke... and, something is bothering me about her style - i guess i'd call it. she uses footnotes in her writing, to explain things that are occurring in her story, but they are at least as phantsiful as the rest of the story, and apparently are meant to be so... which bothers me, maybe cuz i'm a freak about mixing truth and fiction. i expect footnotes to tell me the truth of a matter. these don't. and that just kinda bugs me. otherwise, i like the book, except for the slow parts...

jonathanstrange.com has more info.

:|

the grocery store

so, i like the grocery store.
and, i mostly like the people at the grocery store, mostly.
anyway, i met my ex-wife (technically) at a grocery store.
furthermore, i just met another beautiful woman at the grocery store!

(and after we talked and i explained about also meeting my ex, she laughingly accused me of having good luck with women at the grocery store, which i disagreed, but then conceeded(sp?) that 2 women in 15 years is good luck for me.)

it's not quite as fun as a coffeehouse, but hey, what is?
;)

kitty pics

i've been promising the pics of the new kittens for a long time.
and have just finally received my requested copy of the pics dvd from my ex.

here are the pics, in no particular order:

missing

missing: my sense of perspective...
i feel all caught up in the sh!t lately.
never supposed to talk about work here, but sheesh, somedays suck.

happily, soccer has begun!
i'm talking profound joy on my part. first practice was tuesday, and i have 16 players on the team, including my twins, and things are rosy (in my all-soccer-all-da-time world).

how do you know when it's fall in phoenix?
there's a joke here, but i suck at jokes.
no, i can't think of a punchline.
maybe something about your shoes?

;)

anything

bryant says "can you just write anything on a blog?"...
and i says "yes".

and then i shows him...

tommy, get your gun

i don't own a gun.
but, i really like what tommy jefferson has to say:

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."

Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson


except - ballgames too violent?! - wha!?
lol, well... after a lifetime of ballgames, my body does ache a bit...
(and both my knees are trashed, and my shoulders both pop & hiss & grind, grin)

ps. the quote is from here.

:D

leading

had a thought the other day, formed somewhere between a movie and the news:

we must look past the foolishness of our leaders,
to the needs of the people, for the people are the power.

often, leaders forget what their position implies; that there are people to be lead, to be looked after, and nurtured. they serve themselves, and their supporters, while forgetting that their position comes from the people alone. not from the sycophants, not from their supporters, not from any of the parasites which feed on the system.

to lead; to inspire; to encourage; - this is what is forgotten.

to distract; to bully; to abuse; - that is what is being done in the name of gov't.

- - - - -

snollygoster (n) slang - one, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.

:|

forensic entomology

ever watch CSI?
i watched it again last nite. once a month i seem to flip to it randomly.

the one guy, gil i think, is my hero, his world is forensic entomology.
how cool is that?

bugs & guns & bodies - oh my!!!
:D

other things

well, other things are taking a bit of my time, soccer, work, etc.
sorry haven't been posting very much...

thank you blogger, for werd-verification!
;)

die, spambots, die!!!
grrr...

friday confessional 4

sorry padre, not upto a full-blown confession today.
how about just a little one?

when i was fifteen, i was horny, and i was a virgin.
not unusual, you say? very true.

well, i had been telling an older friend of mine, for about 6 months, that "i have to get laid, man" (we said man alot in the 70s & 80s, dood). and he, being a good friend, and better connected with the chiquitas, set me up.

he and i went and picked up a young lady that he knew, a year or so older then myself, who was agreeable to the situation. and, she and i went back to a bedroom and started making out. just kissing and such, and i was fairly inexperienced, so she was the boss, right? and i had fun, and we continued this for about a 1/2 hour or so, and he came into the room, and asked "aren't you done, yet?", to my surprise. (in hindsite, i should've probly expected what happened later on in this story).

well, he needed to do some stuff in that room, so she walked me back to the master bedroom, and asked if i wanted to take my clothes off. you know the answer and the next 5 or so minutes, i betcha. well, i had fun, didn't finish on her thigh, and was done very quickly, happy to be me, all as you might expect, right?

here's the twist: my older friend walks in, nekkid, and calmly asks me if i'm done, and to move to the top of the bed, and the young lady gets a huge grin on her face, and gets onto hands and knees on the bed, facing me. he then takes her from behind, while i sit against the headboard and watch...

after they finish, i get up and get dressed and walk home.
they took off in his car. (again, probly should've seen that coming)

maybe i should be telling my therapist this one, eh, padre?
:|

aren't you glad i don't participate in FFF?
me too!

strawberry fields

oh, this is funny... biggest bust in arizona history up near strawberry, lol.

10,000 plants?! - wowzers!

(we were joking around at work about the recent fires up in that area (pine), and the large number of volunteers they probly got to fight that fire).

dood, i'm getting all hungry, let's go get some yumbo-yacks
;)

on the border

there are important things happening along our southern border, as it is in the news, and the governors of two states have declared states of emergency. i wonder what kind of economic, social, humanitarian impact studies will be done along the southern border in the near future? arnold (california), janet (arizona), bill (new mexico), and rick (texas) will probly form some kinda committee to examine the ramifications, blahblahblah...

and we'll end up with some gynormous wall or something...
:|

friday confessional 3

ahh, another week complete. not that it has brought any satisfaction. it is my weekend with my twins, so i have a lot to look forward to... a movie, a final visit to the waterpark, breakfast out with my parents... all good things.

hmmm, a confessional-? oh yeah, that's why i'm here, ain't it? okay, padre, here we go; hang on to your cassock...

when i was in sixth grade, i was smoking a bit of dope with the neighborhood kids. it probly doesn't qualify as dope these days, as it was very low grade, and possibly had little to no THC in it, and was probly more properly identified as hemp, as in: rope. see, i did a small horticulture experiment at the time.

my friends, who had older siblings ( i don't ), had learned that it was important to sift the stash, over an open (vinyl record) album cover, flicking out seeds and stems and what-have-you. me, being an enterprising young lad, with some curiousity as well, decided to save those seeds, plant them in my back yard in a small pot, and see what grew...

well, my mom was the type who basically liked plants, and had lots of liquid plantfood around, and so i asked her if i could use some on my "school experiment", and she was very accomodating. gave me a whole bottle of the green goo, and even had lots of advice about growing things from seed (she never actually saw the seeds), and i believe she used to even check on it for me, cuz she would tell me when it needed water and she may have possibly even watered it occasionally for me, lol.

and so, i grew a decent sized marijuana plant in my backyard, with my moms help.

it sure wasn't one of these leaf-dense, mondo-sticky-bud-producing plants you see. it was a few leaf clusters sparsely populating some very sturdy, strong, & straight stems, and it got about 3 feet tall very quickly... in a word: rope.

when i got out of college, i confessed this whole thing to my mom, and thanked her for her help and tolerance (thinking, wrongly, she had to have known what it was), and was informed that she HAD NO IDEA that is what it was... oops! lol.

thanks for your never-ending tolerance, mom. i love you.
;)

stories we tell

there are stories we tell to ourselves, i suppose, that are meant to bolster up our image of ourselves, or to soften the blows of acts we've committed, even sins. these stories fall into the realm of personal fictions, and possibly our autobiography, if we have that particular muse. there's a concept i call "the book of my life" that i play with sometimes, like, today is another page in "my book", what do i want to write in it today? is it an adventure? a tragedy? an epic? a kung-fu hustle?

there are also the stories that we tell others. when we meet them for the first time, we filter the contents, sifting out the reality, in order to show ourselves in a better light. sometimes, if we feel safe that we won't ever see them again, maybe we will embellish those stories, or we may, gasp, lie.

to what effect?

sometimes, it is only to our own detriment, far more tragic is when others are affected. like in a marriage; little lies, white lies, partial truths, and bald-faced lies all cause damage in all directions. and the scar tissue that those blades create, seems very thick. does it ever go away? if i rub it with vitamin-e oil?

what do those small people think when they hear these, over and over? do they learn to detect them? do they become distrustful? or emulate them? i don't know the answers to my own questions, and i'm shaking my head.

i have little trust left, anymore - will it come back later?

:|

ack ack ack

ever see that movie "Mars Attacks" - ? - it was fun, wasn't it? and all the campy, cheesy comedy was a great relief from whatever lifes little troubles were biting yer ass? yup. me too. i absolutely loved when the martian leader starts ack ack acking at everyone...

it kinda reminds me of an argument i had with my ex today, after work. things started all nice and everything. she invited me over to see the twins after they were outta town for a long weekend, and i, foolish earthling, went...

i made peace offerings, and she responded in kind, and i gave the kids hugs and kisses and asked how their weekend was, etc. - normal stuff... then, that stoopid white dove flew over, and someone mentioned the divorce papers and filing them (probly me, idiot), and she started going "ack, ack, ACK..." and " ACK, ACK, ACKACKACK - ACK!" and suddenly green bolts flew out of her eyes, and i ran for the door, the kids shouting "RUN Forrest, RUN!!!" or something like that...

well... that's how i remember it, anyways. but, i'm sure when that green bolt hit the back of my head, right behind my left ear, it did something to my memory. fer shurrr, d00d...

peace out.
;)

Global Weather

this is awesome, from wikinews:

Global Weather

friday confessional 2

and now for another rendition of friday confessional:

so, once upon a time, in my 20s, a friend of mine and i went out drinking at this "riverside" college bar. we happened to meet up with these 2 very nice canadian girls (who said they were from canada, anyway). we were drinking tequila and beer and dancing alot, and it was all very fun. my buddy is hooked up with the much hotter girl (and i guess that makes me the wingman, no?) and she invites him (us, actually) back to their hotel room. which we have to follow them to.

yeah, it sounds like the beginning of trouble. but it actually isn't. except in a possibly life-altering moral way, for me, at least.

so, we follow them from this "riverside" bar, which is on one side of town (or in another town, in the way a metropolis has lotsa towns blending into each other), and we follow them quite a ways to another part of town (or another town, as aforementioned). well, this town, which i will call "westtown", happens to actually be where he and i grew up. seriously. the hotel is like a block from my parents house, and its right next to this shopping mall where i've been getting five-finger-discounts since i was like, six.

we pull into the parking lot, and he and i are just cracking up, laughin our asses off, and the girls are wondering wtf? and thinking maybe they made a mistake with these 2 drunk americans.

to attenuate the story, we spend the night with them in the 2 bed, single room, and my canadian girl and i have alot of squeeky fun, while my friend and the hotchick don't, and all i hear from the bed 2 feet away is disgruntled mumbling. anyway i'm an ass, and i haven't slept all night, and i'm still drunk from all the tequila, and so as soon as i see a crack of dawn at the blackout blinds over the window, i jump outta bed, whip open the blinds, and grinningly shout "good morning! let's go eat!".

nobody's happy with me, except me. lol.
my girl is exhausted. my friend and his girl are pissed off at each other, and focusing it on me. and i'm hungry. so, i walk over to the grocery store, and pick up a dozen donuts, and some juice, and such, and pay and start walking out the door.

guess who comes walking in, as i'm going out? "hi dad!" [big stoopid grin]. "what are you doing on this side of town, (son)?" [puzzled smile]. "oh, (friend) and i went out drinkin' & ended up over here with some girls." dad just laughs (he's ex-navy), and walks away... shaking his head. "have a good morning." "you too, dad, tell mom i love her".

and so i walk back to the room, and i'm locked out, of course. eventually, after pounding for about 10 minutes, and promises of donuts, i get in. laughing, i tell my friend about running into my dad (who was our soccer coach). and we both start laughing again, and i almost choke on a donut. the girls just stare at the stupid americans, from under the covers.

;)

wicked problems, patterns, & anti-patterns

work related junk:

• wicked problems


• patterns


• anti-patterns


• visitor


• decisions

post-monsoon bugfest

wowzers! bugs everywhere after the monsoon the other nite. i'm at the coffeeshop, and there are vast migrations of ants, termites, and some unidentified mini-wasps all over the place... there is also something that looks like an ant, but with a fat abdomen, almost beetle-ish... i dunno.

i like bugs, probly should've studied entomology instead of biology in college. they're fun. they bite. they stink. they come in lotsa cool colors.

so, we had this awesome monsoon the other nite. the duststorm hit about 9pm, and it was average, i'd say. and then the lightning started, which was pretty cool. had a couple of close strikes near my apt. the kind where there is no pause between the bang and rumble. but the power stayed on, so it was fine. then, the sky opened up, and dumped on us. i'm sure it doesn't rank in places that get rain all the time. but in phoenix, it was quite the thang... we got almost 3 inches in somewhat over 2 hours i guess. a friend of mine was out playing in it, and had a yardstick. he measured the flow down his street (streets here turn into torrential rivers whenever it rains) at 8 inches - cool! he actually called another friend of ours on his cell while he was out in it, and said if you hear me start screaming, call 9-1-1, lol. crazy d00ds...

oh, heard the pres was gonna be relaxifyin on his ranch in tejas, doing a little record-setting at his crawford ranch... sometimes dubya has a good idea.

;)

live science

not much to say lately...

hrm, 10 ways to destroy the earth? top 10 deadliest animals? new bigfoot sitings?
Live Science seems to have it all...

;)

monsoons

sunday nite. coffee shop. my last nite with the kids this week...
we dint really do much this weekend, went to see Sky High friday nite, it was ok.
(and i missed lulu's blog-wedding in vegas, sorry, sorry, sorry)

monsoons have been nice so far, hot, humid, sticky, oppressive days, cool nites (when we get lucky midtown and it rains thru our part of the heat-bubble shield).

*sigh*
:|

be bold

sitting in the coffeehaus, goofing, slacking, reading blogs...
b. comes in, says hi, goes and makes himself an iced latte of some kind (he works here, so it's expected), then comes over and sits down.

we talk a bit, ask how each others life is going, etc.
he's up, i'm a bit down.

"be bold" - he says.
"know that you are the shit" - he says.
"believe that you deserve good things, and right effen now" - he says.
and about 15 minutes more of some very inspirational shit.

and, i needed that.

he's 22. i'm 41. and i just got told.
thanks b.

;)

three ay em

yes, i said 3am.
woke up. couldn't sleep. hadn't slept well all nite.
so, i got up and finished the "harry potter".
(the one i bought for my daughter)

that's not why i couldn't sleep,
probly shouldn't do a breath of fire meditation before bed,
actually...

j.k. rowling - you are fabulous!
i hate that i finished the book already,
that i'm done, and that i know what happened now.
and that there isn't another book out, right now, to feed my need.

j.k. you are my crack, my crank, my dragon, i need you, baby.

ah well, maybe i'll just start over, lol.
;)

a plethora

Jefe: We have stuffed many pinatas for your birthday celebration!

El Guapo: How many pinatas?

Jefe: Many pinatas, many!

El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?

Jefe: Yes... You have a plethora.

El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?

Jefe: Why, El Guapo?

El Guapo: 'Cause you told me that I have a plethora. and I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora and find out that
person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.

Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education, but could it be that you're mad about something else and looking to take it out on me?

somedays, that is exactly what i'm thinkin...
:|

oh, on another, less boring note; the twins and i went to see "the bad news bears" this afternoon, and it was good. they did a pretty good job of staying true to the original, and billy bob made a great "buttermaker". nice additions to the whole thing were the hooters chicks & strippers from bo peeps (hard to distinguish these here). all in all a good romp, although i had to field a few questions & looks from the kids... hollywood is pandering to the single-dad crowd now, i think... we have the power, we have the power!
;)

pics of the day

some fav sites for pics of the day:
wikipedia
astronomy
nat'l geo

yeah, i'm kinda bored...

cause and effect

Desert sandstorm heads toward Florida
- i guess things have shifted in the weather patterns a little, as the dustclouds from africa usually go toward the caribbean, i think.
- warmth from a hurricane core? causing a heatwave? - huh?

i still haven't looked into some things to look up later, cuz i've been an uber-slacker lately, reading harry potter, and playing with a new website, and lazy stuff like that...

just to refresh:
here are some links that i've been reading, and thinking about. at least, whenever i see some strange weather phenomena, i start thinking about it... there are some interesting issues of cause and effect across the global environment, and these links kinda show where i'm going, in regard to the closed system entities, such as the several ocean oscillations, the jet stream, the volcanic activity, and any other crap i can throw in, such as the butterfly effect, lol.

• North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
  (i think i've referred to this as the trans-atlantic oscillation, previously, but i don't think it's the same thing, cuz i can't find it on wiki or google)


• Pacific Oscillation (actually, it looks as if there are two: decadel & interdecadel)


• Great Ocean Conveyor Belt (yeah, it's the same thing as in that movie)


• Jet Stream(s)


• Ring of Fire


• Ocean Color from Space


• The Butterfly Effect (hrm, didn't know it was originally a seagulls wing and a tornado, lol)


• Climate Analysis w/ Jim Hurrell


• Glossary of Oceanography


• Climate Glossary

burning both ends

once again, even tho i don't give a wit about politics, i have been distracted by a couple of things dubya, or his posse, has done or said:

House Votes for a Permanent Patriot Act
- ahh, the sweet smell of liberty being napalmed in the morning...

and on the other side of the candle:
Ex-CIA Officers Rip Bush Over Rove Leak
- don't ask for loyalty folks, that train left the station a long time ago...

and this exerpt, from yahoo news (testimony of James Marcinkowski):
"Understandable to all Americans is a simple, incontrovertible, but damning truth: the United States government exposed the identity of a clandestine officer working for the CIA. This is not just another partisan "dust-up" between political parties. This unprecedented act will have far-reaching consequences for covert operations around the world. Equally disastrous is that from the time of that first damning act, we have continued on a course of self-inflicted wounds by government officials who have refused to take any responsibility, have played hide-and-seek with the truth and engaged in semantic parlor games for more than two years, all at the expense of the safety of the American people. No government official has that right."
- all hope abandon ye who enter here... that's on the frontdoor of someplace, no?

and on a lighter note, from back in 2004, but still funny:
George Bush Assigns White House Staff New Nicknames
- "shut your piehole, fuckface", lol...

-----
spoonerism
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;)

friday confessional

once upon a time, when i lived in the cul-de-sac, some of the other kids from the block and i used to play with fire. and everything associated with fire. and we had this cool little 2 story clubhouse, which was about 5 ft. square, and about 8 ft. tall. we had stolen a bunch of pallets and old vegetable crates from behind the grocerystore, and straightened a ton of nails from a construction site, and built this thing.

man, it was the coolest. one of the kids had found some old playboys in a trashcan in the alley, and i would steal packs of cigarettes from my mom, and we'd go into the clubhouse and smoke, drinking cokes and googling the playboys. we had other shit in there too, normal boy-stuff i guess, but we had alot of cigarettes and matches and playboys (maybe a couple of penthouse too, it's been a few years).

one time, one of the guys found a bunch of 22 shells, and he'd heard you could make it into a bomb, by pulling out the bullet, and pushing some paper into the shell, to keep the powder in. so, we setup his dads table vise, and we used some plyers to yank out the bullets of a couple of shells, and we stuffed paper into them.

then, we took them out into the alley, with one of the rattiest playboys, and we made a little bonfire in one of the wheelruts in the alley (garbage trucks and all of us kids on bikes used to travel the alleys, leaving two distinct ruts). and then we threw the shells into the little bonfire, and we all ran...

well, we ran into the backyard, and we kinda peeked out thru the cracks in the woodfence, but couldn't really see anything. and then we heard a bang, and then another, and laughing we all ran back out to the alley to check it out.

and, arizona alleys in summer have alot of dead grass, and i mean like hip high on a fourth grade kid grass, and when we ran out there we ran into a fire... and we all stopped laughing, and start shouting "fire! fire!", and the old guy who lived in back of us came out of his house, having heard the shots, and us yelling, and of course he starts yelling at us. and we're all jumping around and yelling and trying to kick the fire out, cuz we know we are gonna get our asses beat if we don't put it out.

and the old guy starts laughing and grabs his hose, and sprays it all down, including us, and puts it all out, and he's laughing his ass off at us, cuz we must've looked like a bunch of monkeys jumping around and kicking at the flaming grass, and yelling "fire". he just puts it out, and yells "you stoopid kids!" once more, and goes back inside laughing and shaking his head...

and we're all standing there, middle of the blackened alley, wide-eyed and looking at each other, with soot on us, and a little wet from the hose, and not one peep comes out, and we all take off in different directions, straight for home...


;)

stole a little life meme

life meme:

10 years ago:
writing software (autolisp) for a GIS company, married, new father of twins... play doom after work occasionally.

5 years ago:
writing java for a wireless company, separated, twins were in kindergarten and growing fast... doing a little work on the side, educational software, no games.

3 years ago:
building cabinets by hand with an old friend, never been happier or more satisfied. got back together with my wife, things are okay, but tense cuz of money-issues. kids are great...

1 year ago:
maintaining voice applications for a telephony software company, still together with my wife but not for long, kids are unhappy, she's unhappy, i'm unhappy. playing puzzle pirates until the wee hours, too often...

yesterday:
writing java software. divorce is filed. kids are happy. i'm happy.
started the new harry potter book. gave a ram dass book to a friend.

today:
reorganized the analysis & design model, and starting moving stuff into the implementation model in enterprise architect. didn't write any code. went to a couple of meetings where nothing was decided. had a greasy burger for lunch.
not my night with the kids, so i'll probly go do some yoga...

tomorrow:
continue reorging the EA stuff. no other plans.
me and the kids will either do a movie or dinner out...

:)

work and play

i don't talk about work here, if i can help it.
it's not that my work is boring, or that i don't have things to say about it.
but i'd rather leave it there...

blogs i read at work are technical, sites like the server side, jroller, and twilleager.

those aren't frequently visited, just today.
most of the time, i'll google some subject that i'm working on at the moment, like java collections, or some such, and click around until i find something good.

so, enuff of that work shtuff...
go play.
;)

mondays suck becuz

a. just becuz i say so...


update:
BUT, MONDAY NITES ROCK!!!
:D