Parties Forthcoming

Party the first: Aaron has had a birthday and we need to celebrate it

Time: 5PM Friday April 28th
Place: Julie Lattin's (Casperson) place (so we can celebrate Ramey's birthday, too)

Party the second: School will soon be out for the semester and we need to celebrate that too.

Time: the week after finals, or maybe the friday or saturday after commencement
Place: open for suggestions

Call me with any questions.

What was that?

Okay, I might think that the Monome is cool if I could figure out what it was supposed to do. All I saw was this thing with 64 lights on it connected to an iBook (eyeBook?). It seemed like the thing also controlled the music that was playing, but I can't figure out how. I think the demo could have been better, also, if you could see the lights a little more clearly. For me, I saw lots of reflection off the somewhat shiny top surface. But, if I could tell what the Monome did, I'm sure that I would think that it was cool and I'd probably want one. :)

In other news, the Backup Fairy was averted. I think I might have scared it off. However, I was visited by the Wipe-Out-Your-Server's-DNS-Entries Fairy. That's why my server was behaving the way it was. A simple reset of the DNS entries solved the problem. However, I still have to research the tens of thousands of log entries that the server generated during its soused period.

'kay, bye.

Things to note

Take good notes. There will be a quiz at the end.


Technology is cool.


Any questions? Ok, get out a blank piece of paper and put your name at the top.

Question 1: Wasn't that cool?

Question 2: Sure was.

A visit from the...

...Backup Fairy can be a very disastrous thing. Just ask any of the admins who watch over WebCT Vista. The Backup Fairy makes sure that you have been keeping proper backups of data and settings by causing a need to use the backups to recover. Unfortunately, I seem to be in a bit of a Backup Fairy situation right now with my Linux server, Persephone. Most everything still works on my server, just v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. For instance, it takes about 30 seconds to authenticate when logging in. Rendering web pages can take even longer. And to top it off, it's filling up my web server error logs with thousands of broken pipe errors. So, Backup Fairy? Perhaps. I'll let it be for a day or two and keep researching the problem. I do have current backups of all important files on the system, so I'm not too freaked out by it. It's just kind of a bummer because just when I get my server working just the way I want it, it craps out on me and decides to go on holiday. So far, my Linux server has been an ultra-reliable machine. It works day and night and never complains about anything. It's been up almost constantly since Christmas with only short periods of downtime for maintenance. I think it's only been rebooted three times since Christmas, so if that doesn't say anything, nothing will.

Hasta la Charlie!

DCI Classic Countdown

Thus far it is me and whoever I ask and Jon and whoever he asks going down to the DCI Classic Countdown in my parents van so we can watch Drum Corps videos on the way down. If there is anybody else who wants in, just let me know either on here or just email me at tubaribonephone ~ at ~ hotmail ~ dot ~ com And if you haven't bought your tickets and want to buy some, just click on the link that is a few posts down. Just make sure you buy them for the on in West Jordan at Jordan Landing. later.

Use[ful]less thoughts

Did you know that the Pony Express has a higher bandwidth than a 56K modem? You can transfer a 4.7 GB DVD movie across the country faster on the Pony Express than you can with your common, run-of-the-mill 56K modem. :)

Calvin Klein Eternity for Men costs $1,881.98 per gallon which is still somewhat greater than gasoline. Therefore, we should not convert our cars to run on mens' fragrances. However, gas prices are coming scary close, per gallon, to the cost of mouthwash. So, in the future, we could see some sweet-smelling autos.

Whenever you think of decorating your abode, be sure to contact a gay man. You will end up with the coolest place on the block.

For about $6,000 a sqare foot, you can put TFT LCD windows in your house that can be connected to your computer. These windows can be set to lighten or darken depending on your settings on the computer.

Chao!

I think that is a...

...great idea! Nine weeks, you say! Good grief, that's incredible. That's like a little more than two months. Good on ya, mate!

Anyhow, I really did have a purpose in blogging tonight. Okay, first, I must get up on my perverbial soapbox for a second and speak my mind. I really hope I don't offend anyone and if I do, I sincerely don't mean to. I've just got to say something about this protesting that's been going on lately. If there's one thing that drives me crazy it would have to be people who knowingly break the law. Having served my mission down on the border between Mexico and the United States, I was witness to lots of people illegally immigrating to the States. I dealt with illegal immigrants every single day. The problem that I have is that they work here in the U.S. and they don't pay any taxes. Yet, at the same time, they wish to be beneficiaries of all the blessings provided by this great country. Now, I am all in favor of allowing people to come into this country. We don't need no stinkin' walls. However, if they're going to come to this country, then they need to do it legally. We would be expected to do it in their country. So, until these illegal immigrants (from whatever nation) go through legal means to obtain citizenship, then they are criminals. It's that simple. There doesn't need to be a big protest. There doesn't need to be huge reform. People just need to go through the legal naturalization process, or they can go and have a chat with one of my uniformed friends driving the white and green INS trucks.

Okay, I'm done now. I just had to get that off my back because it's really been bothering me.

So, my purpose in writing this blog tonight is to inform you all of an update to the band photo album. I was browsing through my photos and found the rest of the pictures from the Days of '47 2003 parade in Salt Lake City. I know it's like almost three years ago, but I figured that I should scan the rest of the pictures and post them. They can be found here. Check 'em out!

Speaking of pictures, let's get the D.C. pictures posted for all to enjoy!! :) Dang, I wish I could have gone. Gee, and to top it all off, my brother is in Disneyland right now, and I'm not even there! What's up with that?

Meaningless??? You decide.

I updated my other two blogs, so why not post something here?

A Capitol Idea

Well, the trip has been mucho fun. Tim just growled like a dog and announced that he would be getting in the shower. Odd. But funny.

So far I've seen the Capital building, the White House, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln, Korean War, and Vietnam War Memorials, the Senate Office Buildings, the International Spy Museum, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center (including backstage, which is cool), the National Mall (duh), shaken hands with President Eisenhower, met the First Lady (and the Second), eaten breakfast with the czar, toured the Kremlin, and just this morning some guy sold me the Golden Gate Bridge (the real one! not just that fake replica in San Fran) for only $50! What a bargain.

The flight out here was rough - just the way I like it.

I've been making a video blog on my cam which I will post up when I get back.

Well, it's been real. I'ma go' tell Tim to get his self on the go and we're going to go see the Washington Monument up closer, the Hope Diamond, see some sharks get fed, and check out Arlington.

Peace

Galactic domination is immenent

On a similar note, how about very, very large image files? Go Hubble.

This one's a bit smaller, but also very attractive.

And does anyone else think that if they borrow an hour in the spring that when they return it in the fall they ought to return it with interest? Maybe an extra 1/2 hour?

Finally

You can now by tickets for the DCI Classic Countdown online. Just click all of this.

Useless trivia

The first recorded use of a blog dates back to 1774, when Samuel Adams detailed his account of the Boston Tea Party in a little known journal which he titled "The Boston Log." Amongst friends and colleagues he would refer to it as his "blog."

Also:
Due to popular demand for the film but governmental concern over its message, George Lucas's Star Wars was redubbed and recut by the Soviet Ministry of Information in 1981. In this altered version, Luke is reluctant to resist the Empire because he knows that their goals are virtuous, but is strongarmed into it by a conniving and cowardly Obi-Wan Kenobi, who commits suicide at the hands of Darth Vader rather than lead the rebellion against the Empire himself. Luke finally becomes indoctrinated, and leads an attack run against the Death Star, from which he does not return. The final shot of the film is of four additional Death Stars, and the implication of many more, underscoring the futility of Luke's fight against a government whose only goal is to protect its citizens. Interestingly, the name of this loving empire's weapon remains more or less unchanged, translating roughly to "Star of Murder".

Those factoids from gullible.info (no, they're really true).

So... the website for purchasing the DCI Classic Countdown tickets from is not working, but I purchased my tix directly from the theater over the phone. Downside: I have to pick them up in person and they will only hold them for 2 days tops. So - if anyone wants to order their tix over the phone and leave them in my name I will pick them up when I go down tomorrow after Conference (ca. 8pm). But you have to let me know ASAP if you want me to. Umkay? Umkay.

In other news, I have a new blog that will be coming online soon. It will be cool. Literally. I'll link it up here when it's ready.

Peace

Holy iPod, Batman!

Some of you may think that the iPod is the uber-player of digital media. Well, it was, but now it's not. It's just been trounced. Behold, the iZilla. Not 30GB, nor 60GB. Not even 100GB of iPod goodness can match this beast's 2000GB storage of digital euphoria. The best part is that it only costs a little more than 2 iPods. :) Ooh! And to top it all off, it even rips vinyl! I used to do that, but it took me a long time and a lot of equipment to do it.

Oh, and about the DCI show: yes, I think I will be trying to buy tickets for it. I'm in a serious low spot for band right now and need a bit of a pick-me-up.

Fortune:
diplomacy, n:
Lying in state.

you best go

to the DCI Classic Countdown. 12 drum corps shows on one night on the big screen!!! It's Thursday, April 27th at 7pm. Tickets are $12.50 and where supposed to go on sale yesterday but haven't yet. I'm going to the one in West Jordan at Jordan Landing. I believe thus far it's just Jon and I that are planning on going, but if enough people go (and want a ride), I'll take my parents van and we can watch some DCI vids. on the way down. Just let me know. I don't know how fast the tickets are going to go but I'm going to buy mine as soon as I can because they literally sold out every single theater they where showing it at last year. Well, have fun ya'll!! later.

Poetry

To the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"

My Bonnie looked into a gas tank,
The height of its contents to see!
She lit a small match to assist her,
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.

I know, it's kind of morbid, but I thought it was funny. It's my fortune of the day, y'know. :)

I concur

I concur with all jon said, including the nice date that he had. I was there, I saw the whole thing.....almost.

Woo Hoo!

Someone's alive out there! I was about to say something crass and see if anyone perked up at that, but then my conscience got the best of me. :) Just kidding. No crass-ness here.

Okay, I have to faunch for a while. I'm really frustrated with some things right at this moment and I just need to get it off my chest. First: Norton Anti-Virus SUCKS. It's a big, fat pig that uses every available system resource that it can find. It's update manager runs on steam, I think. It's freaking slow and bloated. Next, Windows Vista, the next version of Microsoft's flagship product, currently in Beta status, really sucks. It's huge, slow, and stuff just doesn't work. It's user interface is a bad ripoff of Mac OS X and it doesn't even look cool. It looks corporate and well, Microsoftian. Finally, why in the name of all that's holy and pure do brand-name computers (Dell, HP, Com[crap], Apple, etc.) not have hardware reset buttons? If the system ever becomes unresponsive and needs to be shut down, you have to hold the freakin' power switch for five seconds before the blasted thing gives up. Any DIY-ers out there have a hardware reset button that allows you to quickly reboot the machine.

*panting*

I guess the reason that I'm faunching about all this is because I just wasted the last hour fiddling with Windows Vista and its inability to determine whether a program is installed or not. I hope that when Vista (Long-in-the-tooth) finally ships that Micro$oft works out the Oh Duh! stuff.

Hey Jon, I have a proposition for you: What do you think of a community chess game on the Band Blog? Kristin and I were brainstorming some ideas the other day and thought it would seriously rock if there was a chess game or something on the band blog where people could randomly stop by and make moves. The system would keep track of the turn and the game play, but otherwise it would be totally open to anyone who wanted to play. For instance, someone could just make a move on the board and then check back later to see how others have done playing the game. There would probably need to be an option for an actual chess game where those more interested could actually sit down and play against the computer or an opponent, but the main concept would be just an open board. I recently installed a chess game on my server in which a player logs in and starts a game. He/she then waits for an opponent and is notified via email of requests to join the game. It's cool, but it's a little bit geeky seeing as it's really chess by email. :)

Anyhow, talk at y'all later!

Not boring

Gaming is really coming of age. What a colossal undertaking this must have been in the Planning and Thinking About Stuff areas.

Sorry, anypplz on dial^.

Jason, that's some no-nonsense talk about backup. I hope I can keep that in mind.

And yes, there's stuff going on in my life. Namely, I had a date for the first time in a long time and it went well, which is also good. Also, we're flying away to DC in a week and a half-ish. And there's more, but I'll blog it up when I get a bit more time.

Ok, laters all.

The Internet has become...

...a boring place. There's nothing new on the band blog as of late, so there's really no point in having an Internet connection. There are not even any decent news stories to follow.

So, to brighten up this dreary, lonely place, the next one who posts on this forum wins A NEW CAR!! Of course, I can never guarantee the state of this new car, but I can tell you that in some circles, it would be considered cool. :)

Anyhow, yeah, there's just been so little activity on here for the last few months and I'm just kind of wondering why. What's everyone up to? I know that school is dragging on, but there surely must be something of interest going on in someone's life.

Oh, I must share a fairly traumatic experience that happened to me recently, and if you learn something from it, more power to you. Okay, so last week, I was in my Database Administration class (CS3540.) We were discussing some of the finer points of backing up data in a corporate (or personal) environment. Well, I thought to myself that I hadn't backed up my schoolwork from this semester for a few weeks and it was high time I did something about that. So, I remoted in to my Windows computer at home and proceeded to back up all of this semester's work onto my Linux box, Persephone. After class got out, I headed back home to get ready for work only to find that the hard drive in my Windows computer was making a strange moaning noise. So, I tried to log in and it just froze up. I cycled power to the machine and it failed to boot. My hard disk had crashed. I took the hard drive out of the computer and replaced it with an old one I had lying around. That worked, but of course, it didn't have anything on it pertaining to my schoolwork. Fortunately for me, I had backed up all my work from this semester to Persephone and it was safe there. I took my hard drive down to PC Club in Riverdale where they told me that they would do what they could to recover my data (shy of cracking the case on the hard drive.) This was Thursday, I think. When Saturday came, they called me and told me that my data had been recovered and that I could come and pick up my new, larger hard disk with the recovered data. In all, I paid $154.xx to ge my stuff back. It was worth the cost, but I could have avoided the cost by properly backing up all of my data. So, the lesson I hope everyone learns from this is that if the stuff you have on your computer is important, BACK IT UP! And then, once you've backed it up, back up the backup. Be paranoid, but Don't Panic.

So, yeah, that was my not-so-fun week of learning the hard way about backups. Take it easy, y'all!

A website for the masses

Have you ever been really curious about what your neigbor's house is worth, but not nosy enough to ask? Yeah, me too.

So, now there is a website for ordinary people to use so that they can find the value of stationary property pretty much anywhere in the U.S. You can also learn things about the homes researched on this site. It will tell you the square footage as well as some other details about the dwelling.

The site is Zillow.com and it uses a Google Maps-type interface. It's interesting to note that your money will buy you a lot more house in Utah than it will in some place like Beverly Hills, where a modest 2,000 sq. ft. house costs more than $1M. I also found a house north of the State Capitol that had a price of over $3.5M and was over 16,000 sq. ft. It was cool!

Chao!

Spring Break...

...seems like a good time for me to have my eyes worked on. For those of you who were around, Spring Break 2000 was when I had surgery on my left eye that gave me the appearance of being in a fight with a fork. That was a fun experience. I especially like telling people about how I went back to the doctor the day after the surgery and had the operation fine-tuned. Yeah, it was cool. :)

Anyhow, I am going back to the eye doctor today to have a checkup. I don't think it'll be anything major; I just need to get a new prescription on my lenses so that I don't have such issues reading computer screens and printed text. I just think that my eyes have gotten a bit weaker in the last few years and so I need some better correction. :)

Anyhow, I just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on my current ocular condition. I actually had a checkup a couple of years ago and the doctor told me that my left eye is still wandering a bit. He says that since I have had two surgeries on it already, I can't have any more surgeries. Drat! I'm stuck for the rest of my life being totally unable to look at repeating patterns. Going shopping is really hard for me.

Take it easy!

ps: I have created a new blog for all you Lost freaks out there. If you make it a habit of sitting down in front of the TV every Wednesday at 8:00 pm, then you probably know what I mean. Lost is the best television program ever!! If you wish to get hooked like I have, talk to me and I'll make sure that you're good and hooked. :) Jason's Lost.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

http://www.nba.com/rookies/mailbox_060309.html

Look for the King!

A thought for all

A thought from my Dad, March 6, 2006

“On the way home from Vegas I spent a lot of time thinking. I have been thinking about “treating the cause not the symptom.” It came to me that we are in a bit of a quandary. We are of great worth, if not we couldn’t become Gods. At the same time we are totally dependant on Christ for our Salvation and for Eternal life. So we are of great worth but we must be humble at the same time. Discouragement is one of Satan’s biggest tools against us. He tries in so many ways to get us to believe that we are not important, that we aren’t valuable, that we don’t deserve good things. After we got home I wrote this on the fridge…
“You are infinitely valuable. You are worth more than all the things in this world.”

The same is true for you too. My friends, you are infinitely valuable. You are worth more than all the things in this world. Pass it on.

And I'd like to thank...

...all those wonderful people at Saturn of Riverdale for making my experience there so enjoyable. Seriously, without those guys, I wouldn't be where I am today. That is to say that I wouldn't have a nice mast antenna to display my Mickey Mouse antenna balls. And it was free, to boot! All I had to do was be willing to accept an antenna from a '96 S-Series that had 219,000 miles on it. I figured that the antenna generally ages a bit better than the rest of the car, so I went for it and now I have a nice 1996 antenna on my 1999 car. :) Cheap as free!

Tootles!

ps: If anyone happens to want to donate to the $24,000 Buy-Kristin-a-New-VUE fund, we'll be accepting donations at The Stick.

Yes....but

your posts were both on the same day. If you look back, there were like 4-7 days in between some of my posts. Difference= mine>yours. The alligator of math is eating me, so I win. Hah!

Okay, so now...

...it's just me posting. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to rant a bit about the new Micro$oft technologies coming out.

First off, we have the "Award-winning" Internet Explorer browser. Okay, so maybe it was award-winning back in 1996 when it bested Netscape for features, but now the only awards that Internet Explorer is winning are the "Most Exploited," "Easiest to Pwn" and "Slowest Browser on Earth" awards. I must say that this holds true for IE7 which I have had the distict priviledge of testing the last couple of months. As far as I'm concerned, Internet Explorer 7 is the same piece of crap as Internet Explorer 6, just with a much less intuitive interface. I mean, the browser control buttons are freakin' located all over the place. I should call this browser Picasso because of how deformed it is. The tabs, while an improvement on the conspicuously missing tabs of IE6, are not as refined and neat as those in Firefox or Opera. In this day and age, a browser without tabs is like a car with only one door (which would be the BMW Isetta, for those of you who might be car buffs -- look up a picture and see what I mean.)

Internet Explorer is really only the beginning of the headache. The meaty, juicy part of the headache comes from the next version of Windows called Vista. I'm certainly glad they didn't opt to put a Buena in front of that because then we would be seeing news reports of Microsoft in purchasing negotiations with the Walt Disney Company, which is just wrong on so many levels.

Windows Vista is a huge, bloated, overly complicated piece of junk. Okay, so don't crucify me for being too critical of a yet-unreleased product. It is still in beta development. But, if anyone remembers the Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox betas of a couple of years ago, we can easily be reminded of just how good betas can be. I remember reading in the technology press back before Firefox 1.0 when the press was urging people to install Firefox and turn away from Internet Explorer, an already well-established product. These were comments about a beta software. With Windows Vista, it's just the opposite. It makes the functionality of Windows 95 look pretty darn good. Vista is slow and clunky. Its rendering engine, while impressive, is an overkill. I mean, it's cool that you can increase the size of your icons to rediculously-huge size and they still look good, but it's just that: rediculous. Who needs a Recycle Bin icon that takes up half the screen? Don't even get me started again on the Administrative/non-administrative issues.

So, without further ado, I present Linux. It runs on your current Intel/AMD-type hardware and it's (mostly) free. Kill the bloat!

ps: This blog entry was created on Internet Explorer 7 running on Windows Vista build 5112.

The Joker

For a launghin' good time, call: Fatboy Slim

That was probably one of the laughin'est videos I've seen in a while.

(Careful...Requires Qucktime 6 or higher)

Trend ruining is my specialty

I never was known as a "trendy" type person. In fact, when it comes to trends, I like to be a sourpus and criticize them. But, I guess in the case of a Ben posting on this site, I can't criticize him too much. :)

So, I guess I did join a bit of a trend though, recently. I just installed Google Desktop, which I must say, is one of those technologies that you look at and go, "wow!" I mean, after about 4 hours of indexing stuff on my box, I can now search for anything instantly, way faster than the anemic Windows search feature. And it recognizes r3gul4r 3xpr3ss10ns, which those conglomerations of characters are not. Even the almighty (okay, not quite) Linux 'locate' command isn't that cool.
It may be even cooler than the Mac OS Spotlight search engine because this one is powered by the biggest brain in the world: Google.

So yeah, I'm just kind of basking in the coolness of my new gadget.

Known fact of the day: A Saturn L300 can smash through at least three trees with four-inch-thick trunks. That's like one tree with a foot-thick trunk.

Well, I guess its time

to post again. It seems like I get two posts to everyone else's one lately. So, maybe somebody will post and ruin the trend...?

As bees in a hive

Busy, that is. Otherwise I would've read/posted sooner. Congrats on your soon to be bouncing baby boy, Ben and Hava. That'll be awesome x 10. I'm both excited and betting that I'm not nearly as excited as you guys are. Happy upcoming birthday. :)

And also speaking of busy and awesome...

Cory and Tristin took the plunge on Saturday last. More pictures to follow when I'm not on dial-up.

In other news, we all need to have a party. Like... seriously. Partying is in dire need of happening. Perhaps on a Friday evening someweek?

How come

I'm the only one that seems to post on here lately? Are we all that busy?

I am very very excited, as a matter of fact

We are calling him Ben. He'll be known as Little Ben and we already call him that endearingly. We're preparing a lot of clothes and blankets and stuff, yes. The ultrasound technician said today that he is perfect. That's what I was thinking from the beginning.

Y'know what surprises...

...me? It's the fact that you go on Sony's website looking for cassette players and with all the technology that we have today, they're still asking a premium for the cassette players. I don't have any cassette player (except for microcassette) but I have lots of tapes with cool stuff on them. So yeah, somehow I need to solve my cassette issue.

Anyhow...On to more important and pressing issues.

So Ben, you're having a boy, eh? Well congratulations!! That's awesome! Have you decided on a name yet? Have you started to put together a room for him? Are you or are you not utterly excited for this new arrival? :)

Anyhow, until I can think of more pressing issues, this has been Chunga and Mister from 101.9, The End.

It's been

almost a week since my last post, sorry guys....er....um....wait....I'm doing better than all of you! What's up with that?

It's a

BOY!!!

And in unimportant (for this country) news...

link of the outrageous: London

link of the coolness: you need speakers for this

Shin Sei

Ogden is full of fun little treasures if you know where to look. While the city isn't that much to look at on the outside, if you dig a little bit, you'll find some quite fascinating tidbits of art and culture buried under the overall lackluster appearance of the town. Gems such as El Matador restaurant on 26th Street, the old UP station at the end of 25th street, and a little place called Shin Sei just up 25th from the old Union Station.

Shin Sei is a quaint little Japanese sushi bar that has a very distict foreign appeal. The exterior of the shop doesn't shout out to the tourist or restaurant connoisseur as being a fancy foreign restaurant. However, once you cross the threshold of the entry, you are greeted by a very unique place, indeed. Kristin and I took a chance on this place Friday night and were not disappointed at all. Almost immediately after entering, we were greeted by a very nice waitress who asked us if we would like to sit at the bar or if we would like our own private room. We opted for the room. The whole time I was thinking that it would be a standard booth-style "room" where the patrons all shared a common cafeteria, just like in most non-upper-crust restaurants. Boy, was I mistaken when about two minutes later, our waitress came and up a small flight of stairs into something that reminded me of a Japanese bath house. She ushered us into a room with cane curtains and a table sitting about 8 inches off the floor. Much to my surprise, this was actually a false floor and the table was sitting in a pit where you could put your weary feet. There were no chairs to sit in. Also, the ceilings are painted with a calming sky pattern of blue with white clouds.

Once seated, we perused the menu and ordered an appetizer called the Sampler, which is in itself self-explanatory. Consisting of egg rolls, crab wonton and shrimp Tempura, this was almost a meal all its own. Next came "I Can't Believe It's Not a Volcano" which is plate of very fine salmon sushi with cream cheese and Tempura bits. Keep in mind that there are no utensils like what we Americans are accustomed to. The only utensils available are chopsticks.

The main course consisted of Tori Sake Mushi (Sake grilled chicken) for Kristin and Salt and Pepper Shrimp for me. Both plates were very tasty and prepared with a great deal of quality. The ambience and the menu selection were highly reminisscent of the restaurants in Taiwan where the Ogden Concert Band had the priviledge of visiting in December 2002. I must say, that the only negative aspect of this experience was the root beer. It tasted quite watered-down. Other than that, it was a delightful evening, perfect for a date. All main courses come with a miso soup or salad and fried rice. This combination makes for a perfect meal; one that is neither too heavy nor too light.

All in all, I will have to give this 4 and a half stars out of five. It is easily the most foreign restaurant I have ever eaten at in the United States (disregarding the little Mexican cocinas along the US/Mexico border.) Shin Sei was a delightful eatery with a flair for the exotic. So, if you're pining for a neat place to take a date (be it your spouse or your boy/girlfriend) don't hesitate to check them out. 154 25th Street in Ogden.

****(1/2) of *****

Technology - aka magic

funny link-o-theDay: Store Wars

EVERY... LAST... BLASTED... GOOD... IDEA!!!!!!!!

Every one!

New York Times tech section was pretty much all about something we'll be seeing more and more of in the future: the GeoWeb/GML/OGC and stuff like Yellow Arrow

Still not encompassing the full ubiquitous computing that is possible, but it's heading in that direction. Well well well. We shall see what we shall see.

OK, bye.

For the First of February

I totally withdrew from a class cuz it was stupid. I'm a junior in college. I've almost got my bachaelor's degree. I don't need some stupid teacher telling me to read the chapter, find three things that interested me and then write down why; do this every day and turn it in for a grade. Can you say busywork? Can you say high school? I'm a way smarter student than that. So, teacher, you just got deleted. And I don't care if you went to all that school AND are head of the department, your style of teaching IS THAT of a high school TEACHER, you are no professor to me.

Wow

Someone totally slammed China for their lack of human rights.

(The actual logo here.)

...and you turned me into a llama!

M'kay, I just noticed something here that might be a matter of confusion. There's now, in the band hall, a person by the name of RMT CTL. This person has been fairly active making posts and generally commenting on life as a band geek and as a geek of another trade. Fear not, this person is not someone new to the band hall nor is it someone hell-bent on damaging this sacred shrine. It's me, Jason. The other day, I went in and made some modifications to my profile and chose the moniker of RMT CTL (which is my dream license plate - and which I notice is still available!) So yeah, when you see RMT CTL, just think of me being controlled by a kid with a 27MHz handheld.

Would you please pass the Grey Poupon?

Aah, the nostalgia

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we. Think back about, oh, ten years or so when there was this little computer game called Gorilla. Do you remember? Hmmm, some of you look like you've wasted more time on it than others. Well, good. I'm here to say that good ol' Micro$soft has removed the beloved QBasic program from Windows XP users. Actually, they probably did that starting with Windows 2000, but I never tried it. Anyhow, I'm here to tell you that I have the old QBasic program and Gorrilla to go along with it. Go here first to download QBasic. It's a zip archive so you'll need to extract the files to your C:\windows\system32 directory. Next, download Gorilla from here and extract it wherever you would like. I don't advertise these downloads on my Windows page of my web site because technically, QBasic is a proprietary Microsoft technology and I have said that I will not post un-free softwares on my Windows page. So, to download them, you pretty much have to link directly to them.

Once you have QBasic and Gorillas downloaded and extracted, to run Gorilla, go to a command prompt in the directory where your Gorilla.bas file is located and type 'qbasic /run gorilla.bas' without the quotes. This will launch Gorilla and you can proceed to terrorize the city with exploding bananas.

Have a lot of fun!

Hay hay, people!

Grass grass...

So, now I command you to click on the link to my blog over on the left side of this page. It's new and it's got a picture. That's all I have to say. Now do it before I break your arm or some such nonsense.

Did you see this in the news? Didn't think so. 

Vol. 11: Make & Do

If you're sitting around sometime and you're bored, try making fake blood and filming gunfight scenes.

If you really want to be left alone, be seen making fake blood.

There's never a single all-encompasing good idea in the universe. Take breathing for instance. Normally, this activity is considered a good idea. But change the venue to, say, the bottom of a swimming pool, and the good idea starts to look a little suspicious. Likewise, it can be said about an all-encompassing bad idea.

Up-date

For the total fun. I pulled my hamstring doing flips off a rock into a pool at Sherwood Hills Resort last night. And the New American Philharmonic Orchestra had a great concert, complete with flying timpani mallets. Concert tonight at 7:30 @ V.A.B. Center for anyone who wants to come. My favorite piece we're playing is Der Schvan von Tuonela. Very moving piece. And yes, that is the group's real name now, since some "American Symphony" decided they'd threaten litigation if we didn't change it. Flippin' chips, Kip!!!

Homeneo Runner? Cool.

New semester, new semester, hey-hey, new semester.

And.... THIS.

Pevek, Russia. That is the city I'm going to take over on Monday. My troops left about an hour ago and will arive around 2AM tomorrow morning. I guess they'll just chill at the city til I get to school Monday AM and give them the order to attack.

Speaking of dates, nobody better forget February 12. It is a date significant to this blog. Make sure to buy a binary teething ring for it to celebrate (not a token ring - it's database won't be able to handle that til it gets a little older).

Time for lunch.

Just totally cool, that's all. 

It ought to be an...

...Olympic sport. Okay, right about now, several things could be running through your head that might be good candidates for Olympic sports. Things like Olympic lawnmowing, or Olympic Slinky walking, or maybe even Olympic needle-in-carpet avoiding (try that with bare feet at night)... And while those are superb examples of activities to suffer from wholesale discrimination by the IOC, they are not what I have in mind for a new Olympic sport. What I'm thinking is much more far-reaching than those. This sport is truly on Olympic scale. In fact, there are no out-of-bounds because the entire cosmos is included (no, it's not Olympic starship captaining, but good idea.)

The sport I'm suggesting is Olympic 404-error finding. The person who can document the most creative 404 errors in a certain time wins. Of course, there would be a panel of judges to determine the creative content of the found 404 pages. Think about it. We all know what a IIS 404 error looks like and what a standard Apache 404 error looks like. But, sometimes, folks get really creative and put up really cool 404 errors, like this one. It has been my experience that the more creative and less "corporate" the site is, generally the 404 page will follow suit. So, I think we should have contests to see who can come up with the most 404 pages in a certain amount of time given a consistent Internet connection speed.

Just a thought.

So...I found out some cool news...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10855323/ if this link works...that probe is landing practically in my home-town backyard. If it doesn't work...here's an idea of what's happening. A probe, named Stardust, is landing after collecting about 7 years of dust and microscopic particles from comets. It is landing in Dugway Proving Grounds (where I grew up) on Sunday. It's actually not the first one (the last one crash-landed), but it's still really cool! Have a great weekend ya'll!

yay for ben

That is a very nice picture and my hat is off to you. Yes, it is true that I don't know where most of my hats are (perhaps washed away in the flood of '05), but it is still off to you.

One could waste hours...

...on this site.

I think this will have to be the site of the week: Speak 'N Spell.

Hasta luego.

Yay for Family Guy!

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as your local fence-sitter...

I have to agree that the war effort is probably more than what any of us would like to have spent. Indeed, it may be even ludicrous. But, if "experts" are saying that it will cost $2Trillion, where are they getting that figure? Do you realize that 2 trillion is 2 thousand-billion? That's a helluva lot of money. So, in all fairness, I would like to know where the figure of $2T comes from. Also, I would like to point out that while we are experiencing casualties in the war in Iraq, there are many more unseen things, good things, that are happening over there. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a big Bush supporter or pro-Republican nut-job; I just like to look at things from more than just one side of the coin. If you are also interested, I do not believe any of the stuff coming out of Michael Moore. I don't believe that man would defend his country if it were the last cause on Earth. He's just out to get one for himself. But, that's neither here nor there. Like I said before, I like to look at issues carefully before forming a decision and saying it's either all good or all bad. For instance, while the war is costing American lives, it is also bringing a new freedom to millions of Iraqi citizens, both in Iraq and abroad. We are in the process of witnessing the nation of Iraq coming from the dark, oppressive closet of a dictatorial regime into the light of democracy and freedom. Yes, it may be a large up-front cost, but if you think of the other side of the coin, you may see the global impact of a free Iraq.

Anyhow, I do not mean to start a flame war and if one starts, I will do all I can to stop it. I just like to give people the benefit of a non-biased approach. Don't we live in a society that has as one of its tenets "Innocent until proven guilty?"

We have a multi-party system in this country for checks and balances. The differing parties have the opportunity (and do take it liberally) to disagree. This keeps one party from having too much clout. When one party takes over, we have situations like what happened in Iraq, Nazi Germany, North Korea and others where there exists a government that serves itself and oppresses the people.

I did call myself a fence-sitter. This is because I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I think that each party has wonderful ideas and plans to "promote the general welfare." However, I also find that they both have tenets that I find disturbing and oppressive. So, I prefer to make decisions on a case-by-case basis and trust that someone in authority probably has a better view on something than I do. If there is something I disagree with, I try to make my opinion heard.

Anyway, take it easy! Try not to roast me too badly. I am allergic to pain, after all. :)

Everybody wants to rule the world

And I'm not talking about that one Tears For Fears song.

My most profound appologies to my fellow geeks (band, tech, or otherwise). I have been holding out on you. But it wasn't on purpose. More like on laziness. What am I talking about, you wonder? Well, I haven't let you all in on a geekret (geeky + secret). So, now, to try to mend affairs, I present to you...

*drumroll, please*

cooler link of the while: GEwar.net

Just when you thought Google Earth couldn't get any cooler, someone goes and hacks it. You will need the latest version of Earth for this. Hat's off to Luke for rev-engineering the API.

All I will say is this: when you get hooked up, post up here what your username is and I'll invite you to join our alliance (Multimedia SWAT, currently #22 thanks to the Tom).

lyrics of the day:

We're on our way
Here we go
We're gonna take over...
- The Aquabats

P.S. Did I mention I like elipses???

P.P.S. I had a fun date last Friday. And I found another favorite restaurant: Famous Dave's.

I love my schedule this semester!

I love my schedule this semester!

Let the Madness Begin!!

No, this is not a repeat of last season. It's doesn't even come with a 90-day guarantee. The most you'll get is maybe a 5-day guarantee. We're Back! School is officially in session on Monday and that means that all the madness of the world will be cobbled into a couple of days. You may have noticed that in previous semesters, we've featured lots of hard classes with a considerable amount of stress. And, oh the tests! Tests and quizzes to dull your senses. Well, this season, we thought we'd start out with a little bit of, well, just that!

So, without further ado, get your notebooks and pencils ready for a great semester of learning and application. Uh huh. It's cliche, but what else can I say?

Anyhow, I didn't want you all to go into this semester completely devoid of any amusement at all, so if you'll please direct your browser to this link and either select to download or stream the movie presented on that page, I assure you that you will be amazed. Okay, that was a long sentence so let me recap: Click here, download or stream the movie (beware, download is big), enjoy. If you download the movie, it is in mpeg format so you might need to install a software DVD player to view it. If so, go and download PowerDVD from CyberQuest. Be sure to only get the trial version.

Okay, so I just have to mention that if you're interested, I do have a copy of the Lord of the Rings Symphony for band by Johan DeMeij which you can download for your listening pleasure. If you're in Dr. Root's band program and have not yet played the LOTR symphony, stick with it and you will. He loves it and so do most of the students. You can download the symphony here. Keep in mind that this is on my personal web server in my apartment so my bandwidth (and therefore your download speed) is somewhat limited. I probably shouldn't be hosting that on my site, but it's very difficult finding a good recording of the LOTR symphony. If anyone complains about it, I will remove it. By the way, while you're on that site, you may take a listen to the Ditty Bops. I really like their music.

Anyway, the time has come to bid you all adieu. Take care and good luck this semester! I know I'm going to need it. :)

"Ferrari is like a toned down version of God" --Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear

ps: I have been in one of the above-pictured motorcars. I have a permanent place in my heart for them.

Byline

News from Jarrett's neck of the woods

And this from ours.

Getting Civilized

I've been playing Civilization 3 of late. And starting to learn Ruby.

long, geeky quote of the day:

"The Ruby developers use CVS (Concurrent Version System, freely available from http://www.cvshome.com) as their revision control system. You can check files out as an anonymous user from their archive by executing the following CVS commands:

% cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.netlab.co.jp:/home/cvs
login
(Logging in to anonymous@cvs.netlab.co.jp)
CVS password: guest
% cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.netlab.co.jp:/home/cvs
checkout ruby

The complete source code tree, just as the developers last left it, will now be copied to a ``ruby'' subdirectory on your machine, updating your local source tree from a repository on the other side of the world. Isn't it a great time to be alive?"


Actually Jason, the Napster in that picture is on my office machine. Downloading music is okay on campus as long as it's legal. Napster didn't used to be legal, but it is now since they are no longer a p2p filesharing network client thingy. However, one of my co-workers is one of the very people that would drop said burning automobile parts on my person should I use a p2p client to start pulling ""archived"" music or movie torrents off the web. I have only ever downloaded about 2 illegal music-type songfiles in my life, which I later purchased anyway. I may be a pirate, but not that kind! :)

In other news, I hope everyone had a greatwonderful Christmas and is having an Appy New Year so far. I know I am. I am in Ithilien right now, just getting ready to leave. And I am learning all sorts of new things, like how Dreamweaver 8 uses html and xml for a lot of its functionality (hooray for customization/automation).

haha

I just rememered that the Jingles2la tagline was "3 Monkeys 10 Minutes"

Good times, good times.

A funny thing happened on the way to town the other day...

So, I was casually driving up to the Clearfield area to visit a friend and the funniest thing happened...my car somehow ended up facing traffic. Thankfully my car was off to the side of the road, but for a while there I thought that I'd be eternally stuck between the I-215 exits ramps from I-80, facing the wrong direction. Flipping a 180 on I-80 is definately not a good way to start off the new year...but hey, at least everything ended up alright. :) I think I will never drive again....at least, not in weather like that...although I think I have concluded that it was the wind, not the road. So...with that...
Happy New Year!!!!
(Good morning starshine, the earth says hello!)

A real concern

In keeping with this theme of what's wrong with this computer, my question is why do people download music onto the lab computers in the first place? What are they going to do with the music? I guess they can put it on their iPods or something, but if they're just downloading music willy-nilly, and not covering their tracks, what's the point? Even covering their tracks is difficult and somewhat pointless because you have to LOG IN to use the computers. Everything you do can be written to a log file that the sysadmins read and they can come down on you like a ton of burning tires. And, not to get too technical, but even the downloading software itself (Napster, Grokster, Kazaa, etc) generates certain types of traffic on the network that is easily recognizable to a trained network admin. When they see this type of activity, they can stop it before it really gets going. I just don't understand it. It just isn't a good thing to go messing with the University computers. Those machines are paid for by state funds and charitable donations from people and therefore should be treated with respect. Any of you who have been on missions can understand this concept.

Other than that, I think the picture looks really funny with everything named Desktop.

Ta ta!

The Problem

I think the problem is that all types of music downloading in Lampros Hall is forbidden, and yet, right there on that computer is Napster! Gasp! Shame, shame!

It looks like...

...Microsoft forgot how to label directories and so called them all the first word it could think of: Desktop. I guess, since "Desktop" is such a vital place to store everything, why not just call everything "Desktop?" No, we can't be logical and just have a '/home/[username]' directory; we have to be hard and say 'C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Desktop'. Oh, and if you're lucky like I am at work, your username has a freaking space in it! Spaces are for delimiting arguments on the command line, not for use in filenames. Gaaaaa! That's what dashes (-) and underscore characters (_) are for.

Anyhow, I digress...

If you can't tell, I'm not a Microsoft fan and I don't particularly like using Windows. It's not that Windows itself is bad, it's that it engenders bad habits of computer users such as spaces in filenames and such things. And it uses big long words as directory names such as "Documents and Settings." Instead, all user accounts should be held in either the "/usr" directory or the "/home" directory. Settings can be stored in "/etc." That's the way the inspired operating system called Linux works.

So yeah, anyone pipe up if this has happened to you. The other day, I was driving northbound on I-15 through Salt Lake City. I got to about the 4th South offramp (you know, the HOV-only offramp) and was travelling about 72 MPH. I was keeping up with the traffic very nicely, not passing anyone and not being passed. The lanes to either side were occupied as was the space in front of me. I was trying to keep my distance from the person in front of me like any good driver should, when suddenly I looked in my rearview mirror to see a Dodge Ram Gigacab pickemup truck come cruising up behind me at what must've been about 90 MPH. When I saw that, I didn't think he was going to slow down. I thought he was just going to hit me and keep on going. It really scared me. But, since I couldn't safely change lanes, I just stood my ground. He decided that wasn't good enough and so tailgated me at a very close distance, say maybe a foot if I could count myself lucky. He held that position for probably twenty or thirty seconds before quickly changing [multiple] lanes and exiting the freeway. Now, I don't drive a large car, and sometimes I drive a motorcycle, so when something like that happens, it has the potential to really get me going. I was pissed off at that dude. How dare he treat other motorists who have just as much (if not more) right to use the road as he does. Just because I don't have a 360HP V8 engine that cranks out 25tons of CFCs a year doesn't mean that I can be bullied around by people who do. I think I want to side with Rob Hilton in joining or creating a Tailgate Law Enforcement Task Force.

Basically, the idea is this: you get an old car, like a 1972 Chrysler Newport (against the rules to use in Utah demolition derbies) and drive it down the road as you normally would. However, if some jerk decides to tailgate you, you can simply climb all over the brakes and cause a collision. Of course, since it's a rear-end collision, it's the other guy's fault for following too closely. You could probably make a lot of money doing this. Now, do keep in mind that proper safety equipment must be built into or supplied with said Newport. I think it might be a fun thing to do. Anyone want to design a logo?

Anyway, on to better subjects. I had a great Christmas! It was awesome because I got to be with my family and Kristin's family and I got some super cool gifts, too. For instance, Kris got me a really cool watch and a Slinky, Jr. I also got a bunch of movies, like War of the Worlds, Madagascar, and Moulin Rouge. Plus, I got the soundtracks to Memoirs of a Geisha (absolutely beautiful score) and Far and Away (a much better score than the movie itself.) So far, I have not seen Geisha yet, but I will be seeing it soon. Kristin, on the other hand, got a really cool pen tablet for her computer as well as a DVD writer. Both of us got Christmas socks, which are undoubtedly the single most desirable gift one can receive at Christmas.

Finally, my web server received a relatively minor upgrade. Persephone, as it is called in the Schill home, went from being a Pentium/233MHz computer with 128MB of RAM (very old and limited) to an AMD Athlon/1.3GHz machine with 512MB of RAM (very quick and responsive.) This was accomplished at no charge because of the parts I just had laying around.

Tootles!

ps: I appologize for the long post, but it's been a while! :)

"...you'll be able to find out whether the car you're planning on buying is good or French." --Jeremy Clarkson

Is the problem...

all main folders are named 'desktop'? It's just a casual guess, but I found that rather odd. It gave me a good chuckle...whether or not it really is what's wrong. Thanks Jon, I needed that. :)

So...Merry Christmas (sorry it's so late in the saying, but it's better late than never) and Happy New Year to all! My Christmas was nothing spectacular, but I did get a gift that is still giving at this very moment as I'm typing. I got a cold (and a small vaccum cleaner). Yippy! j/k I'm not that crazy about it, but at least I don't have to miss school for it.

Well....umm....have a good one y'all! :)

Happy New Year!!!!

What's wrong with this picture

Honestly, I didn't Photoshop this. It actually happened to me.

Holy Space of Unupdatedness

What a decided lack of Holiday posting.

Party?

Is anyone having a new years party? If someone is having one, please tell me! I have a friend here for the holidays from florida, and we are looking for a party! thanks all!

WSU Band Union, Local 799

Hey, congrats to all the Graduatin' Folks and all the Piano Proficient folks. Where and when is the party? :)

Anyway, Ben, I need to tell you that I still have your Play Station and your games and I want to return them. The only problem is that I have no idea where to find you. What is your address? If you don't feel comfortable posting it here in this forum, please email it to me (jschill [at] wintools [dot] com.) This way, I can finally get it back to you.

Roger, Oveur.

since everyone else was

talking about their passing of the piano proficiency, I shall tell you how I did. If you would like to know, please visit my blog. Ha, ha, ha, I am soooo evvviillll.

Way2Go

Congrats scoozanne on proficienting the pinano.

quote of the day: New members are urgently needed in the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Yourself. Apply within.

event of the day: sweet graduation

song of the day: Veruca Salt from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack

what? of the day: those crazy Russians and their crazy nuclear stuff

discovery of the day: TMBG now has a podcast

hope of the day: I actually pass my classes and get my transfer credit accepted so I can graduate

Umkay, bye everyperson. I'll see you... sometime. Oh, and by the by, we need to have a huge party next week to zelebrate where all the graduatin' folks and all their friends gets together and throws back candy and soda and plays some game or other and/or watches some flick or other. Kay bye now.

Catch as catch can

Pfftshhhyeah! I'll congratulate Hava. Congratulations, Hava. I have seen what piano proficiency does to people. Nice people. It can break them. Way to go for conquering the 88-key monster.

(Not to be confused with Svarnik & Bill's smokey monster, although it is nearly as hazardous to your health.)

So... I'm taking a break. I've heard that you need breaks from intense productivity sessions once in a whiles so that you can come back from your break with renewed productivity capacity, rather than just plugging away with an ever-waning productivity capacity. It's actually productive to waste time once in a while (well, I guess then it's not exactly technically wasted, is it?)

Anyway, the reason I say that is that I'm in the middle of the last few hours of scholastic work in my career as an undergrad college student. After charging up my mp3 player, I started my musically enhanced portion of my productivity session (the actual work part was still happening at the time) with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, mvt. 1. And yes, I really do think that the band should play the 3rd movement for commencement instead. That'd turn heads.

Last few hours!!!!!!!! (yay)

Thanks, thatBritChap. I believe Amy Koster, and Connie Ward, Jason Schill, and Wade Walton are also graduating this semester, some with Associates', some with Bachelors'.

Duck! Here comes the future! Look out!

New?

Hey y'all!

The annual musings of Brittany has been posted on my blog, if you care to read it go right ahead!
BTW, congrats to Jon, Cory, and Kristin! Graduation rocks! Someday I'll do it!

Rock on All!

Please help

Everybody totally congratulate Hava on passing piano perficiency. She needs some encouragement. Thanks.

In Excelsis

That was the best Institute Christmas show I've seen yet. It always seems to be better when there are people you know in the performing groups. But even aside from that it was still better, I think, than last years show in many ways.

Ben, I think it is a craft taken to the level of an art (as opposed to getting it down to a science). An artistic craft. (Kraft Maccoroni & Art?)

Diego, I know exactly the boat you are in with that whole "taking stuff to remain full-time". Two of my classes qualified for that distinction.

Scooze, I heard that the government is behind the X-Files. Seems they made it to cover up the fact that most of the episodes actually happened. (Just kidding. I enjoy watching the 'Files once in an X-While as well.)

.:Merry Christmas and a Happy New I'm Soooo Almost Graduating to you all:.

My definition, I guess

A craftsman is an artist, but an artist whose medium is also used for practical purposes (ie. a decorative plate, nice finished furniture, etc.).

art or craft?

That is an interesting question. In my art class we had on ongoing online discussion about what the difference is between an artist or a craftsman. There were many opinions about it. Most likely a similar thing will happen here. Already Jon says that it is art and Ben says that it is a craft. What will become of us?
Join us next time for another episode of "Something Diego learned in a class that wasn't necessary, but he took just to stay a full time student."

Correctivenessishingly

Actually Jon, that's craft, not art.

Wow

Now that's artform.

Brrrr....

It is cold outside, just in case anyone hasn't noticed. I really wish that I was a U of A Wildcat. It would be in the fifties today. If anybody wondered, I do not like the cold. It is way to cold for me, speaking of cold (whatever that means).
On another subject, I wish to say that I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas.
Until next time,
Stay warm.

Global Warming?

Actually Jason....
In my dinosaurs and fossil records class we are talking about current extinction and stuff. Evidence points to the fact that we actually haven't yet come out of our last period of glaciation yet and that the world should be colder than it is, that the atmosphere hasn't warmed up as much as it should have for all the stuff we've pumped into the atmosphere. Do you understand that if the polar ice caps melted that that would unhouse 90% of the worlds population? Not to mention the fact that with all of our cutting down of rain forests, added to all the CO2 we're injecting into our atmosphere, is causing the oxygen level of the planet to come close to going below the level of CO2. All signs have pointed to whenever that happens, there is large widespread extinction. In fact, that's probably what ended up killing all the dinosaurs. When the huge dinosaur extinction happened, it wasn't just dinosaurs, it was all animals ALL that were bigger than a certain size. The only reason mammals didn't die off too was because mammals had stayed really really small during the reign of the dinosaurs and all of a sudden the world belonged to them. Did you know that we are at a rate of extinction now that is like hundreds of species going extinct every day? as compared to 1 species going extinct every 4 years in the late 1800's? Don't scoff at global warming. Experts did a study and said that the point where the earth could sustain a certain amount of people and not have irrevocable damage done to it was around 1900. We have billions more people on the earth right now than they did then.
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I just realized something... I went on a rant! Yay for me!
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I'm done now.
Bye.

Vespa?

Princess Vespa? Italian Vespa? Ooh, actually the word vespa is Italian for wasp, which is kind of what those little motorcycle-wannabes sound like. Yep, a wasp in a coffee can. I think it's hilarious to see people all tricked out in cool biker clothes putting around on a scooter. For cryin' in the mud, folks, get a motorcycle. They're much cooler and they're sweet to ride.

But, Vespas do pretty well in the little streets in Europe. That's what they're meant to do, so I guess they accomplish their design goal.

Okay, does anyone besides me think that it is unnatually cold? And who the heck invented windshield washer fluid? Um, product improvement suggestion: make windshield washer fluid have a freezing point of oh, -200F. The washer jets on my car are totally frozen up and therefore it is very difficult to wash my windshield. But yeah, according to Mark Eubank, we had a recorded temperature of -52F in Cache Valley the other night. And those liberal environmentalists say we're having global warming. Ha! Have they stepped outside in the last week?

Anyhow, enough of my ranting. I must rave about something. My raving is about a beautiful creation of man: the de Havilland Comet 4C. This aircraft was the first commercial jetliner. Although not a commercial success (due to stress fractures in the airframe and skin) it was a very cool looking airplane. The last of these old birds were retired in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though the Royal Air Force (RAF) still flies a modified version called Nimrod which is used similarly to our Air Force AWACS planes. More aviation history coming soon.

My Mortal Enemy

I swear, computers are out to get me. I just got a wonderful new laptop a few months ago and everything was going just dandy. (back up) Well, the other day, first of all...the elevator in my appartment breaks down. Thankfully I wasn't in it, but still....I hate stairs. Second, my interent won't work. I am now confined to the computer lab, which I very much detest. I've gotten so used to using the touch pad, I hate computer mouses (mice?). So...I've called thech support and the line is down, or something. So. I feel like quoting a song that is very 'dear to my heart'...in a sarcastic way. "I love technology" Anyways. Sorry to omplain. I just can't seem to win with anything that has to do with technology.In other news, I hope all that can will be coming to the institute Christmas show (evening shows Friday and Saturday, and a Satuday matinee at 2:30pm). It is such an awesome show and the music will totally put you in the mood for Christmas. (and I'm accompanying one of the songs...and so are Alisha and Jaron...good friends they are) So, there's my little schpeeiiilll...(???)Anyways. Come, you'll have a grand time...cuz...."It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!!!!" Wow....I need to stop...I'm starting ramble on and stuff. Have a good one all ya'll (learned that one from Bro. Simon in institute yesterday).

Scripting?... !

thought of the day: Buy the best and cry once.

As for the video, you have to download the Adobe Atmosphere plug-in for Internet Explorer (sorry other-browser users) to view it. And you'll need a fast connexxion/commput'r.

I really hope that I pass my classes and graduate, then.

My apartment is really cold club

Really the only person who can join this club is Suz. But yes my apartment is so cold becuase my dumb landlord is really dumb! I also have fallen on my butt many times, i think the count is now up to 7 times i think, becuase again Kurt is stupid and doesn't know that he can buy ice melt and put it on the ice. STUPID!
Jon-i can't watch your little video, i don't know if my computer is pretty stupid or what but I would like to watch it if i can, e-mail it to me or whatever!
Anyway here's nifty website everyone will love it, at least I did because it made me smile...
http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi
Get your own Slogan, mine was Go on, get your Brittany On! I personally think its pretty cool and I am going to use it when i run for some sort of political office.

Listen to Christmas Music!
Batman Out!

Semigraphs?

If you like Star Wars you should go there.

As for the pants and shirts, I'm all for 'em.

As for homework, I'm all should be doing it right now.

So I will.

The No Service Club

If you are not in The Pants Club and The Shirt Club, forget about even trying to get into this one.

The Shirts Club

I like mine. Especially during the winter.

The Pants Club

On Katella Ave. between Long Beach and Anaheim, California, is a little place called the Pants Club. I saw this place last Thursday and thought to myself, "I need to blog that!" For one, I thought, I should be a member of the Pants Club. I mean, I wear pants. In fact, when I'm not wearing pants of some kind, I'm usually showering and one would hope that people don't wear pants while showering. Also, I found it to be such a random name for a place that it was amusing. So, for all who wear pants, the Pants Club is the cool place to be.

Okay, so with that in mind, what would non-Pants Club members be called? Sans-Pants Clubbers? Um, yeah, I don't think so, though it would be quite a sight. While I think that dresses are a very nice alternative to wearing pants, they do have some drawbacks - namely: they don't do most of the male population much good. (Now, don't even start with those Scottish kilts; I don't even want to hear about it.) Also, pants generally fill in where dresses lack in the pocket department. I mean, seriously, how do you sneak a bag of candy and a soda into a movie theatre without pockets? Eh? Eh?

So yeah, the Pants Club: A must-have for all pants-wearing people.

Well, I must report that the Disneyland 50th Anniversary Celebration is really cool. If you get a chance, go and see it. The fireworks show is absolutely amazing.

Now, to leave you with Winter Weather Tips, courtesy of Mr. Longmire.

Balrog or Trucker? Your call. 

The sweetest thing...

is eating neopolitan ice cream, at 1:30am, with a fork.

Look up, look down

Look all around

A Zeplin! Whoopee

Way to go Ricky! Congrats, and all that jazz...oh and congrats to Cory, and to Ben and Hava. This is all a million Congratulations post! Congrats to Jon for something...!

Way to go...

...Ricky!!

I think I'm going to have to side with Jon and come and see you perform sometime. That's awesome!

Good on ya!

Kickin'

Way to go Ricky!!! That's the coolest thing. I hope you guys get to do a great show. I'll have to come see y'all perform sometimes.

an equation for ya'll

Ricky + trip to Chicago = ?

anyone???????

any guesses???????





NEWEST MEMBER OF THE PHANTOM REGIMENT CONTRA LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

laters ya'll's

And no margarine neither

The reverend Adam Starkadder:
"You know how it is -- when you burn your hand on the stove, and you get some butter to ease the pain? Well, THERE'LL BE NO BUTTER IN HELL!"

Thanks

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Die Internet Explorer! 

Funny, funny, funny

Tell me if this picture doesn't make you laugh

Picture

Now, if you laughed, is it because you've seen it somewhere before? :) I love that movie!

Before everyone takes off

...I'd like to just wish y'all a happy Thanksgiving. Whatever you do, be sure to have lots of the usual Thanksgiving stuff (y'know, peanuts, broccoli, limburger cheese, and penguin.) Er, I mean don't eat that stuff (unless it is your custom to have a nicely stuffed Thanksgiving penguin. But, if you do have penguin, do think of Linus. He has defined pengins for a generation.

Anyhow, I digress...

So yes, a happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good, eh, middle-of-the-day or so.

Cheers!

Funniest list of stuff

Big Johnny Brain Jones Peachpit Bill Boone Crockett

Big Lumpy Brain Hat Flapjack Frank

Big Alfie Gum-shoe Fat-Head Crawdad Vincent

Big Flipping Cheesecake Hornpipe Tuna Boat Steve

Big Chili Corncob Hambone Stiltskin Jeff

Big Brainy Fishface Stovepipe Wiggle-Room Eileen

Big Stinky Milkmaid Sansabelt Babaloo Fly-Swatter Horse-Drawn Twinkletoe Crumbcake Macrame Chicken Potpie

Big Crabby See-Saw Quonset Hut Muttonchop Zeke

Little Pinky Fleapie Waffle-Shoe Clamhead Chris

^
from an episode of Pinky and the Brain


In other news, yes, Andrew, we will have to roll the Battlefront at a time. Aaron and I were doing a practice session yesterday on Kashyyyk. That one is harder from the Imperial side than the Rebels.

I am so very sick today. I'm supposed to go icy sk8ting in about 10 minutes, but I don't know if I'll remain upright the whole time. I was up half the night despite adding an extra blanket and then slept until 10:30 this morning. Hooray for medecines.

Okay bye.