Ultranormal

  • Nononono, I Don’t WANT TO!!

    Max has pink eye. I probably gave it to him. He went to bed last night at eight, like he always does. He woke up at one and was up all night. I got up with him initially, but he, of course, didn’t want me. I got him some juice (spiked with PediaCare – shhhh, don’t tell him), and asked if I could lay down with him instead of going to get Jen. So I went and got Jen. After making sure they were settled and had everything they needed, I went back to bed. It took two hours to get back to sleep. Then, I woke up at 8:30 so I could get Max to the doctor at 9:30. I got ready, got him ready, and headed out the door. As soon as Max realized where we were going, he lost it. “I don’t want to go to the doctor!!! Nononononononononononono!!” He, thankfully, sat quietly in the waiting room, but as soon as it was time to go back, he lost it again. There is no worse feeling than having to bear hug your little boy while the doctor does stuff. It sucked holding him still when he got shots as a little baby, and it sucked this morning holding him still so the doctor could look in his nose, ears and throat and listen to his chest.

    We went home, and here I am at work, exhausted. I’m trying to be productive, but it’s just not working. I did get what I needed to get to QA on time, with a couple last-minute added bonuses. I learned some scary stuff about Windows Update (ok, this time I’m switching for real – and, wouldn’t Windows Updates “Checking for updates – no information is being send to Microsoft” be fraud?). I fixed a friend’s Movable Type installation (it’s a lot harder than I remember it being – I think it’s just his hosting company). I should read some more of my Java and JSP books, but I can barely stay awake reading them normally. I should play some more with a random number generator, but that’s boring (I mean, how hard is it to call Random()?).

    There are, of course, things I’d like to talk about right now that might actually be interesting. I just don’t have the energy for it.

  • Another Lawver Google Appearance

    Not sure how this happened, but I’m up at the top of the results on Google for “how does google make money”. My post about Google’s Acquisition of Blogger is number one, above TechTV, ABC News and Motley Fool. Ummm, I don’t know whether to be afraid that Google got this so wrong, or proud that Google thinks I’m more relevant than the big boys.

  • Ucking Ick

    Max has some bug that makes him sound like Darth Vader. For a three year-old to sound like Mr. Vader is a feat. He’s coughed into wakefulness the past two nights. Jen, being the trooper that she is, stayed up all night with him. He’s OK during the day except for his voice. At night, it gets worse and the coughing starts.

    Doing my part to help out, I have become the Family Medicator. I left work early to go get drugs. I got those neat-o new vapo-rub patches for him, some more PediaCare cough and cold and lots of “I have a cold, pamper me” snacks for him. I’m taking him to the doctor tomorrow morning.

    As you can see, I’m not really doing much. Max doesn’t like me when he’s sick. He only wants mommy. He won’t let me put him to bed. He doesn’t want to take his medicine, which means I get to play “bad cop” when it comes time to give him his medicine. Yeah, I looo-oove playing bad cop. Let’s hope the doctor gives him something wonderful that clears this crap up soon.

  • Anal Fissures Are Funny

    Mr. Kottke’s post about early web art got me prevaricating off down memory lane. I posted a big list in his comments (which I will post below this). But, what came rushing back after I posted my comment was Bob the Anal Fissure. Of all the horribly gross and funny things that showed up on the web in the “early” days of the my experience with it (1995). I remember sitting there at work, trying to stifle giggles as I talked to people on the phone and tried to fix their horrible 9600/2400 modems. Not for the faint of heart.

    And the original list:

    • All those “X Ate My Balls” sites

    • Birdhouse.org and all those great early art pieces.

    • Art.net – one of the first online galleries that I ever saw. It blew me away.

    • Netscape 3.0 Beta 3 (I think) that allowed you to have animated gifs as your background. I personally crashed dozens of browsers with my original site (‘lo those many years ago).

    • The SGI Cool Zone in Netscape 2.0.

    • All those cool things that didn’t last – VRML 1.0, Virtual Places and The Hub (one of the first 3D avatar chat systems).

    • AOL 2.5 with its horrible web browser (booklink), but with the buddy list, which revolutionized IM.

    • GNN – Global Network Navigator was a site (think early Yahoo) that was once more popular than Yahoo.

    • Webcrawler

  • Your Name – Underpantsified

    Go create your Captain Underpants name at GeekGrrl. I couldn’t resist, and I am proud to report that my Underpants-generated name is Squeezit Applekisser. I couldn’t be happier. Max’s is Skipper Applekisser, and Jen’s is Zippy Applekisser, and her maiden name is Applepants.

  • What I Done

    I have been a busy little bug today. I’ve written some java, went to a meeting where I learned all about compilers and debuggers, wrote some javascript and CSS, wrote some e-mails, answered a lot of questions, read an article on how to start MySQL at boot in OS X, found a cool Flash-based search engine, and ate a salad. Yeah, it’s tough being me.

  • AntiBloggies and Old Friends

    My pal Dawson and his wife, Annie have joined the blogging ranks! Dawson worked the tech support lines at AOL with me for a while and wrote one of the best tech support knowledge-base tools I’ve ever seen. I don’t even remember what it was called, but I used it to store modem strings for at least a year after he left the company, preciously guarding my archived copy in case something happened to my network drive. He’s a funny guy, and if his wife’s current post is any indication, she’s just as funny.

    And the AntiBloggies are back! I sponsored the worst hair category last year. This year, I’m sponsoring the Best Amazon Wishlist category. Why? Because I’d like to see some good ones. Mostly, it looks like people post wishlist links on their blogs as a form of donation. I’ve been tempted to post mine so my family can see it when they’re birthday shopping. But, I usually just e-mail it to them (ok, if you want to see it, it’s here). What’s the prize for winning this category? Duh, it’s something off the winning wishlist (under \$25 – I am not a rich man).

  • Chili To Make You Smile

    As bad as the first batch of chili was, the second was much better. We were all out of veggies, so I couldn’t put my usual green peppers in the new batch. I ended up making very traditional ground beef/kidney bean chili with healthy portions of ground green and red chili my friend brought back from her trip to New Mexico. Instead of green peppers, I added a small can of diced green chilis. It was the best idea ever, I swear. The chili ended up having a nice but not over-powering kick to it and the ground green chili gave it a lovely earthy flavor that gave it a lot of body.

    My best idea though is Jen’s fault. If you remember, I took Jen to the Eiffel Tower Cafe for Valentine’s Day. We had the French Onion soup. If you don’t know (and who knows, you might not), the theory behind French Onion soup is you have this big oven-safe bowl, fill it with soup, put a piece of bread on the top, cover the bread in cheese and then bake the bowl until the cheese is nice and toasted. I thought to myself, hey, this could work with chili!! Take a piece of Texas Toast, toast it, drop it on a bowl of chili, cover it in cheddar and jack and pop it in the oven. Heaven, right? Exactly. We had the fam over last night for the grand experiment and it went over like gangbuster. The weak-lipped commented on the spices, but overall enjoyed the experience immensely. It was a lot of fun, and made the chili something other than just plain old chili.

  • Ewww, What IS That?

    I am so embarrassed. I had this great idea for chili – flash fry tiny cubes of steak and pork, then put them in chili. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, I tried it today. I spent three hours standing at the counter, chopping, frying, stirring, mixing and simmering. I just tried it. I think it’s the first chili in the world that can be labeled as biological warfare. Three spoonfuls and my stomach is roiling. It doesn’t taste too bad. It’s a little too spicy. The aftertaste tips it off… there’s something seriously wrong with that stuff. I have no idea what turned it. Maybe I didn’t cook the meat long enough. Maybe one of the veggies was bad. Maybe using those three tablespoons of chili oil in the wok I used to fry up the meat.

    Whatever it is, it’s awful. Since my family is coming over tomorrow, I should make a “normal” batch of chili with ground beef tomato sauce, kidney beans etc. I don’t know if I can get over the disappointent.

  • Surprising Polling

    CNN.com – Support for Bush’s re-election falls below 50 percent

    Interesting numbers from this poll. The questions seem fair and not leading. I definitely won’t vote for Bush in 2004, no matter who’s running against him. We have a President of Lowered Expectations in office, and he’s fulfilling all of them. He’s killing any diplomatic goodwill we had in the international community with his begrudging attitude towards the UN. His dismissal of the benefits of inspections, and his lack of support for the process is unbelievable. Yes, he went back to the U.N., but he did so after publicly saying he was going to war with or without them. That’s no way to set it up. That’s a high school debate team mistake. You don’t go into a negotiation saying your position is already solidified. He’s tried to backpedal saying that war is a “last resort”, but no one really believes that after statements made in the past six months by him, Cheney and others in the administration.

    He may not be an idiot, but that’s the image he portrays. I honestly don’t care if he’s smart and has it all together in private. His public persona is what the American people and the international community has to go on because most of us will never meet him. He looks and sounds like an idiot, therefore, that’s what I have to think he is. He looks and acts like a politician set on making his pals and contributors money while destroying our civil liberties and the economy in the process. It may not be so, but that’s the impression I get from what he says. The man inspires no confidence in me. The man doesn’t inspire me at all. Our greatest Presidents have not only been intelligent men, artful negotiators and good managers; they have been graceful and powerful orators, able to convey their goals and plans to the American people in a way that inspires trust and confidence. It’s hard to accept, but it’s the truth. We need the President to be as much a motivator as we do the country’s commander-in-chief. Our President has to be able to evoke images of strength, intelligence, benevolence and justice. President Bush tries to project strength, but looks like a bully to me. He tries to project intelligence, but the only time he can get through a speech without making some outrageous error is when I can tell he’s practiced in a million times. He tries to project justice, but again, sounds like a bully. Benevolence usually looks like Fundamentalist fervor.

    That said, I support disarming Saddam. I think we will probably need to end up going to war to do so. What I don’t support is the method. The ends do not justify the means. If we disarm Saddam but our country ends up an international pariah, is that worth it? We have a century of goodwill flushed down the toilet by a hamhanded an indelicate President’s Administration and we’re supposed to support him? I don’t support him. I support the idea of disarming Iraq. I would support a war to disarm him if it comes to that. I support our troops fighting this war. I don’t support or agree with the methods my government is using to accomplish Iraq’s disarming.

    It’s a hard position to articulate. I still honestly think that it doesn’t matter what I think. It doesn’t matter what I do. I’m pretty sure this President could care less what his actions mean to the American public and middle class America. If he does care, it doesn’t show. Like I said, it’s all about the public persona and his actions as President in the public arena. Those actions make me less than comfortable having him as my President. I will do whatever I can with my one little vote in 2004 to make sure he’s not President after January of 2005.