Ultranormal

  • Breaking Through The Walls

    It snowed last night, which meant that I had to scrape the truck down before I could leave. After sitting in the car for a few minutes, waiting for the defroster to do its thing, I decided to pop open the laptop and see if I could get to the wireless network in the basement office. What do you know, it worked! What’s funny to me is that it took me two minutes to even think that my wireless network extended outside the four walls of my house. I think I knew that, because I used to leech off my neighbor’s wi-fi before we got our cable modem – but it was always me reaching out, not my network overflowing.\
    I know, I’m just dumb (and I was tired on top of that). But, it’s an interesting thought, nonetheless. It is to me anyway.\
    I’m off to Boston for a week of nerdy, standards goodness. I’m also going out to dinner with Betsy and her husband on Wednesday. Betsy was one of my favorite people at SXSW, even though we didn’t talk all that much. She’s a fellow search nerd (or was at the time) and we had a good time talking about blogging, searching and our respective Powerbooks. Also, I’ve never met a Nobel prize winner before. Should I curtsey?

  • Oh Cripes, I’m Scared

    I’m probably going to India next month. It’s not a place I’ve ever wanted to visit. Nothing against India, it’s just not in my travel plans (well, it wasn’t). After reading the journal of MR. TROY, I really am not looking forward to it.\
    I have an overarching philosophy when it comes to travel: only go places you can drink the water. This means that so far, I’ve been to Europe, Canada and Iceland outside the U.S. I’ve ventured into Mexico, and only drank Coke the whole time I was there (on all half-dozen trips). Yes, I’m a chicken… a chicken with gastrointestinal “issues”, and who doesn’t drink alcohol (you know, to kill the bad things).\
    So far, I’ve been told not to rent a car, only drink bottled water, stay at the Leela Palace, fly business class (duh, always fly business class when you’re going to have to try to sleep on the plane – and when someone else is paying), check out the business lounge in Frankfurt, don’t eat anything that’s been washed in the water, take any medicine you think you might need with you (anti-poop, pro-poop, decongestants, antihistamines, pain killers, cough drops, etc), be prepared for serious jet lag (oh, yummy), and don’t do dairy.\
    And I’ve only read one blog and talked to two people. Who else has been to Bangalore? What tips can you pass on so I don’t die/make an ass of myself?

  • Designery Problems

    This site, as you see it on 2/22 (happy birthday, dad!), is a mess of two or three half-done redesigns that I just never finished. I can’t stand it, but I don’t really have time to change it. I really want to redo it, but I keep setting my sites too large (I’m thinking CSS Zen Garden here).\
    Maybe I’ll have some time while I’m doing all this traveling to spend an evening or two working on a redesign. I don’t think the markup would need to change a whole lot, maybe just to change/remove the existing logo.\
    I was feeling a little blue, so I decided to go back to the Zen Garden to try to get inspired, and I started making a list of my favorite designs. This isn’t the exhaustive list, but it’s a start:

  • I’m Sorry For the Boogers

    Just to clear the air, I’m sorry. I really am. To everyone at work who’s had to listen to me sniffle, sneeze and blow my nose, I’m sorry. If I had known that every single decongestant known to man would fail miserably in the never-ending onslaught of mucous, I would have stayed home. If this cold weren’t the worst cold ever experienced by man, I would have stayed home.\
    I’m hoping that by Monday, I will have stemmed the viscous tide and can return to work without the hideous nasal ooze that’s haunted me all week. This cold has lingered for a week, and I’m sick of it. I’m starting to think this might be the worst allergy attack in history. Ok, I exaggerate. I’m not turning red, puffing up into a ball and breaking out in big blue spots… but my nose will not stop. I’m considering cork…

  • SXSW and Stickers

    One of the things I loved about SXSW was all the stickers. I came home with too many, and a lot of them were free. Granted, this is a little thing, but it was fun. I got one of Matt’s XFN Friendly stickers, one of Leia’s stickers, and a bunch more from the folks at Un-American Activities (those I paid for, and they made my I BUY LOCAL stickers).\
    To add to the fun this year, I’m bringing a bunch of my stickers to hand out. So, if you see me, be sure to ask for a sticker!

  • T-Shirt Budget!!!

    Because I taught that class on blogging, I now have a PayPal budget, which I’m now going to call my T-Shirt Budget. I used part of my new T-Shirt Budget to buy one of these (the torch one in gold).\
    I don’t know why having a t-shirt budget makes me happy, but it does.

  • Letters to the Editor

    Here’s what I sent to the local papers… Apparently, my local delegate is quite the fundamentalist.\
    To the Editor:\
    Delegate Dick Black’s extremist agenda has reached a point where he is literally willing to throw the baby out with the bath water. He wants to force women to carry unwanted pregnancies, and then he wants to abandon the children they produce. How else can one interpret his latest bill (HB 2921) that would prevent certain families from adopting children?\
    All indications are that children of gay parents leadnormal, fulfilled lives. The American Psychological Association has reviewed studies of children of gay parents and has concluded that “there is no evidence to suggest that lesbians and gay men are unfit to be parents or that psychosocial development among children of gay men or lesbians is compromised in any respect relative to that among offspring of heterosexual parents. Not a single study has found children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents.”\
    Thus, it seems that Black’s bill to prevent gays from adopting is nothing more than another mean-spirited attempt to doom parentless children to orphanages or a succession of foster families rather than allow them to be adopted by parents who will love and nurture them, while he requires mothers of unwanted children to bring them into the world.\
    There are seven thousand children in Virginia awaiting adoption. He has no backing in science, as there are no credible studies he can cite. Delegate Black is using prejudice and junk science to keep those children from having every opportunity to find a loving home to call their own. He is preying on our hidden and unreasonable fears to further his extremist agenda, and trying to marginalize those that doesn’t fit into his narrow world view.\
    Signed,\
    Kevin Lawver

  • Here Comes The Sun

    Ireland: Athassel Priory\
    I love this shot. The sun broke through the clouds while we were at Athassel Priory and lit up the whole place.\
    Man, I love Ireland. If it weren’t so expensive, cold and wet and had such horrible television, I would probably move there.

  • The Last Of the Ireland Pics

    Here we are, the last four Ireland Photosets:

    • Rock of Cashel
    • Hore Abbey
    • Cahir Castle
    • Athassel Priory\
      What fun. Saturday was a great day, even though I was completely knackered at the end of it, and had to run through Heathrow the next day lugging six liters of Club Orange and a backpack that must have weighed forty pounds. My calves are now shapely balls of pain. I’m also still suffering from jet lag, even though I slept for twelve hours Sunday night (from 7:15 to 7:15). Yeah, I didn’t even watch the Super Bowl.\
      But, here I am, back at work in a new office, with broken stuff and a headache I could write pages on (but I won’t, because my head hurts!). It’s good to be home.

  • Look Ma, Nothing In There!

    Look Ma, Nothing In There!

    Jen took these with the old digital camera while I was in Ireland. I love this picture. Brian has green mess all over his face (and I’m trying like mad to avoid the obvious booger jokes), and absolutely nothing in his mouth. His defiant baby snarl says, “Ha ha, mom, missed me!!”\
    It’s amazing how different Brian is since I left. He’s more alert, more responsive to the slightest little thing, and he can sit up by himself!! Nevermind his Marine Corps issue haircut, perpetrated by his mom and grandmother. He’s so darn cute, I can’t stand it.