3MF

Return to sender

No matter how badly you want to, somepeople you just can't get through to.

Senior citizen

I'm no longer a Web Application Developer at work; as of today, i'm a Senior Web Application Developer. Yeah promotion! It's kind of funny that technically we don't have any "junior" developers yet, but we're working on that. Apparently it's hard work filling an open position. I'm glad that's not my full time job.

A good word

So i finally updated my home page. I was hoping to do a bit more with it this weekend but oh well. The basic premise is that i am going to post a new word each day in the hopes that I will use it and it will become part of my active vocabulary. I've set up an RSS feed for the new word. Now that i've been using RSS readers at home and work i thought i would be nice to have some sort of feed of my own (at least until Blogger gets the free feeds working or i figure out it i can run another blog app). Still to do: i want a place where people can post trackbacks of sorts if they use the word on their own blog, a place for word suggestions, and an archive section for beginners.

Get the juices flowing

I came across these interesting brain teasers today. While i somewhat doubt that Microsoft or Einstein had anything to do with them, they're still worth a try.

Still got (some of) it

My cousin called me up today. She was getting stressed out about her math homework. I went over to guide her through some pre-calc and trig problems that were particularity troublesome. Nothing too difficult: solving simple systems of equations and taking a spin around a the unit circle. I say with great pride that it was fun to do. I miss math classes. I need to enroll in school again, and soon!

Missing a title

It's been a rough seven days. In many ways this Sunday is no different from the last. I've spent most of the day lounging about my apartment watching television and banging away at my keyboard. However, today i've been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to miss something.

I've been looking at the same piece of sheet music all week, struggling to get my fingers follow the directions. I've been getting better but every now and then i miss a note. I know that it needs to be played but through some form of accidental omission or physical disposition i just don't hit it. It's this type of missing i can understand; a physical un-act. It's the other kind i'm having a hard time with.

I realized how many of the things that were so important to me are gone now. I can't believe that high school kids wont get to go though the Junior Achievement company program that i participated in as a kid. It changed my life and made me a better person. The Media Play on Alpine is now closed. I got my first job there when i was fifteen. It turned into a crappy store but to think that others wont have a change to find out just how true that is from the inside is disappointing somehow. My supervisor just accepted a promotion to a job in Houston. He was a source of great advice both professionally and personally; his absence will be traumatic. I wish my uncle hadn't died. And I wouldn't mind spending another blissful day with Kristi, Louisa, or Aimee. These are all things a miss, but this type of missing is all mental. Why must my mind choose to look back longingly rather than looking forward? How did i get trapped in this mental void? It doesn't make sense, it isn't rational, and that's why i have such a hard time with it.

If who we really are is what we think and feel, why do we have such little control over both. It's like some sort of cosmic prank. Maybe someday this will all make sense, but for now its a daily struggle.

So here i am again up late on a Sunday night. If history were to repeat itself i'd be getting a call in about thirty minutes that will make it difficult to sleep. Even if that doesn't happen, i thing i'll be staying up anyway to watch the next part of art:21. It looks like an episode i don't want to miss.

Hows your weenie party

So i just got back from a Halloween costume party. I don't often go to such gatherings but i figured it was better than just moping around at home. I responsibly had a few social libations to try to get into the spirit of things. It seems some of the fellow party goers weren't as keenly discretionary with their intake. I just had to leave the twelfth time i heard someone say to me "Bill Nye, show us your dick."

Toss and turn

It's hard to sleep when you miss your favorite pillow.

PBS mindcontrol

I knew Monday was going to be a hectic day at work so i thought i would retire early. Unfortunately i was awoken from sleep by a phone call (the details of which i now only vaguely recall); I tried to go back to bed but had difficulty doing so. So i turned on the television, my own version of the counting sheep, and watched the channels go around. Oddly enough, just as last week, i stumbled on PBS, but this time the show was art:21, art in the twenty-first century. Somehow the scientists at PBS have figured out just the right combination of beautiful visuals and personal narrative with a soupcon or pretentious educational value that keeps me glued; as if id be a better person after watching this.

I liked the some of the giant sculptures like the one made of dogtags, and some of the great photography like pictures of high school wrestling, and some of the more bizarre like what happens when you submerge yourself in a tub of lard.

Curtain falls

We had our final performance yesterday and all went well. We celebrated with a toast over a ten year old single malt scotch. I sincerely hope this is the last time i will ever have to wear tights (despite the fact they are refreshingly breezey). After the show they asked everyone to help out with strike, which is where you take the stage back to how it was before your show. We broke down set pieces, gathered the props, and packed up the costumes. It was a long night and i was glad to get out of there.

Countdown to Panther

The countdown to the release of Apple's new OS, Panther, has begun. It's going to be available October 24. Sometime soon after that it should start shipping on new boxes and i think that would be a good time to upgrade. I've been running this ol' G4 450 tower for a while now. A new G5 tower should do the trick.

What's in a blog?

In a recently published blog survey, we learn that most blogs have a limited audience and are frequently abandoned. This is somewhat depressing news having just started my own. It sounds like maintaining a successful blog is a lot like starting up your own business; looks like it takes a lot of work and not everyone can cut it.

Our town

I just caught the last half of Our Town on PBS. I think the only time i've ever seen this show its been done by high schoolers. I thought i had lost the taste for this classic. What a great production; set and lighting was stunning. The acting was just great. (Although, i may just have been a bit smitten with Maggie Lacey)

It's funny how much different it is watching you people you don't know on stage. Almost every production i see in GR now has an actor or actress i know pretty well. I think its making it harder to buy into their characters. Or it's also possible that cast was just outstanding. Having never been to New York to see a production, i wonder just how different community theatre here is. Does having a budget of millions versus hundreds really make a difference? What kind of theatre can we expect to see here in our town?

The run has begun

We got through opening night without too many problems. In fact, i wish more stuff had gone wrong. That's what makes live theatre exciting and gets the adrenaline pumping. Oh well, the GR Press posted a lukewarm review. She's surpising on with this one: it's got some great actors but its pretty long.

Table for fourteen

This amusing game was a featured site at Yahoo today. I'm not sure exactly what it has to with Liftetime television but i'm not going to hold that against it. I wonder how long it will take me to get to level eight.

Playing with bookmarks

OK, it's time i get a bit more geeky. I haven't done any code stuff yet so now's as good a time as any. I've set up a lab where i can post and play with some code. My first project was creating my own bookmarklet to assist with phonetic spelling. While this service won't be competing to be the next killer internet app, i thought it was interesting enough to share.