February 2004
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Month February 2004

Entries 10 Total

France Pictures!

Feb 29, ’04 3:29 AM

I finally have a broadband connection, so you have pictures to look at. The Paris pictures were pretty much a waste, but I might put some of them up later. Anyway, here are my pictures from yesterday, my first full day here on the lovely Cote d’Azur:

Comments (3)

I’m in France

Feb 27, ’04 10:02 PM

Yep, I’m in France! The day in Paris was… interesting. Jet lag is horrible. It’s four in the morning and I’m awake. I’m stuck on a really slow modem connection, so no pics or real elucidation or stories until I can find some broadband.

But, I did get my croissant, a couple beignets, and had the most amazing meal for dinner tonight.

The Cote d’Azur is gorgeous, and I can only imagine how perfect it is in the summer.

Ok, it’s late, I’m tired, and I think I can get back to sleep… more info later!

Comments (0)

Who Runs Now?

Feb 25, ’04 7:48 AM

With the President’s announcement yesterday supporting an amendment banning gay marriage (for my opinion, read this one more time with feeling), he’s opened a huge rift in the GOP. We now have a President siding with the ultra-right Christian Fundamentalists in the party and has just thrown mud in the eye of the small government conservatives.

I don’t think this does anything to the Democrats. It only adds fuel to an already raging fire. For the GOP, it’s going to cause all kinds of soul searching, all kinds of turmoil. Even in the first 24 hours, some of the Presidents staunchest supporters, Andrew Sullivan and even Tom DeLay have either revolted completely or are backing off of the President’s position.

At this point, does someone inside the GOP step in to run against Bush? John McCain? Anyone?

Comments (1)

Oooh, Wha?

Feb 24, ’04 9:52 PM

I got yelled at today. No, really, I did. One of the guys who sits across the hall from me yelled, “Kevin, if I hear you tell someone else you’re going to France, I’m going to scream!!”

Yeah, so, I’m going to France, and I’m nervous as hell. Logically, I know I’ll be fine. I know enough of the language to get around, buy food, and I don’t really fear getting lost. But, I can’t help it. I’m nervous. I know I’ll be fine, but it doesn’t stop the nervousness.

Tomorrow is the day… off to Paris for a meeting, and then to Mandelieu La Napoule for the conference. 11 days away from home, away from Jen and Max, and away from my own pillow. As sad as missing them will be, I am excited. I couldn’t be more excited. I’m almost all packed except for the clothes in the dryer and the many sundry drugs I have to take with me, but still have to ingest in the morning.

It’ll be nice to get away from the news for a while… really.

Comments (2)

Max’s Bouncy Stuff

Feb 20, ’04 4:01 PM

I’ve been on a mini-quest to create the perfect mix CD for Max. When we go out, we always listen to music, always have a CD in, and Max isn’t shy about expressing his opinion about what’s playing. So, for the past year, I’ve been making mix cd’s trying to find songs that he’s never heard before that he’ll flip over (and always leaving in some of his favorites from past cd’s). Here’s the latest version (he loves it so far):

  1. Jerry Lews (not by Jerry Lewis) from Ska the Third Wave: Instrumentals
  2. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death by The Housemartins from the album of the same name as the song.
  3. The Song From The Kill Bill Trailer: You know the one I mean.
  4. La Unda from that Ska instrumentals album in #1.
  5. Sheep by The Housemartins from London 0 Hull 4
  6. Back on the Train by Phish from Farmhouse
  7. Hit the Road Jack by Mo’Horizons from Remember Tomorrow
  8. You Keep it All In by The Beautiful South from Carry on Up The Charts
  9. Cat Juide from that instrumental ska album
  10. The Mango Song by Phish (running out of time, find your own albums)
  11. Particle Man by TMBG
  12. Back in Black covered by Living Colour
  13. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It by You don’t know?
  14. Hey Baby by No Doubt (Max loves them)
  15. Deeply Dippy by Right Said Fred (their album is underrated. there’s some quality stuff on it)
  16. Watermelon Man from the ska album
  17. Woo Hoo from Kill Bill
  18. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by TMBG
  19. If I Had A Boat by Lyle Lovett (I think this is the first song Max knew all the words to)
  20. We Are Each Other by The Beautiful South

I don’t know why I like making him mix cd’s so much. I just do.

Comments (2)

Wishin’, Wishin’, Wishin’

Feb 20, ’04 2:34 PM

Just in case anyone cares, I’ve updated my Wishlist. You know, cuz my birthday’s coming up and stuff.

Comments (1)

It’s Over… ::Poof::

Feb 18, ’04 1:38 PM

So, I kind of killed nonDependant today. I’m no longer going to actively add content or try to create a community there. I’m leaving it up because a LOT of people get to the site through search engines, looking for The Constitution, and I think that’s kind of cool.

I just don’t have time, and didn’t see it going anywhere. Oh well… maybe next time.

Comments (6)

Plane Reservations are Go!

Feb 16, ’04 3:39 PM

All set… really. I am. I have plane reservations, and tickets are being printed tomorrow. I’m going to Paris for about 18 hours, then off to Nice for 8 days of conferencing. Wheeee!! Hello, jet lag, nice to see you again. This time, I’m definitely taking a tylenol PM after dinner, so I sleep the whole way. No staying up watching movies and trying to read magazines. I will be the snoring jerk that keeps everyone else awake, waking up right as we pull into the gate in Munich, get my stuff and make it to the gate for Paris.

I know, you’re all sick of hearing about this, but I’m excited. I can’t help it.

Comments (0)

Drupal Funstrations

Feb 13, ’04 3:25 PM

Can I just tell you how much fun Drupal is? It’s not fun in the traditional “Oh look mommy, a new toy” kind of way. It’s fun in the frustrating “gotta beat the next level of this game, but that stupid monster keeps eating me”. I just set up another instance of Drupal for a little work experiment, and the taxonomy still gets me. If you’re writing a book, you probably don’t want to use a big nested taxonomy because you probably want to use the book modules method of nesting pages into chapters. But, if you want to use the forum module, you do want to create a big nested taxonomy. Drupal is sometimes very confusing. It doesn’s sport the best documentation, although the community is very helpful. There are some default UI elements for regular users that are less than intuitive, the same for the settings.

This is the glory and the pain of using open source software. You have all this power to use it or change it however you want. But, you’re allowed no expectation of support or documentation and you might just hit a deadend with nowhere to go (for the new site, I ended up redoing the taxonomy three or four times until I got it “just so”). I haven’t had the time to learn PHP yet, so I can’t just go hack it apart and make it do what I want.

And it’s not that I don’t like it. I really do (this internal site will be my second with it, you know about the first already). Drupal has some outstanding features right out of the box (the forums are awesome, and I really dig the books module). There are some really cool modules out there, provided by really nice people. It could use some… polish. Yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for. I’m sure it’ll happen, someday.

Comments (0)

Oooh, Business Class

Feb 11, ’04 1:18 PM

So, my trip to France has been approved, and it looks like I’ll be flying Lufthansa, which has a gorgeous business class. Wow… Now, I just need to book the hotel, finish the grammar refresher, buy new shoes, and read a bunch of documents.

I couldn’t be more excited. Really.

Comments (0)