Ultranormal

  • Making Time

    Yes, this was the big top-secret project. It went off without a hitch and should bring in moola for all involved. They’re great to work with too, which is a bonus. It’s been an exciting month or two, but I’m ready for a break. Too bad I won’t get one.

    The new job is very cool. I’ve never had such a supportive group to work with. They covered for me when I took Monday and Tuesday off, and kept the wolves at bay admirably. I did have to come in at 11:30 pm on Tuesday to help launch this thing, but that was kind of exciting. Will it work? Will it die a horrible flaming death? It worked, and well too.

    I’ll try to sum up this week since the concert later… I need to get to work now.

  • Oh yeah, I have today

    Oh yeah, I have today and tomorrow off, so don’t expect much posting on Tuesday either. I love my new job. They are actually encouraging me to take the day off and haven’t called me to come in and save them from anything. They’re great, and I couldn’t be happier.

  • The Big Roundup – Part

    The Big Roundup – Part One

    Friday Night

    Jen and I went to see No Doubt at the Charles E. Smith Center on the GW campus. We took a bus from the Park and Ride in Herndon, and then the Metro to Foggy Bottom. It was a surprisingly easy trip, and we got in and found our seats at 8 sharp (like I had planned it that way or something – of course I hadn’t). The people watching was amazing. We were three rows up from the main thoroughfare to the floor seats and we got a good look at pretty much everyone in attendance. They all filed past at one point or another. The audience broke down like so:

    • 65% MTV TRL Pre-teen – 25 year-old girls, all with Destiny’s Child single strap tops or variations on the belly shirt. After a while, it became crystal clear that there are people in this world who were meant to wear these shirts, and those who weren’t. 90% of the people wearing them shouldn’t have been.
    • 20% Frat Boys of various clothing schemes, mostly checking out the 65% listed above
    • 5% Parents of the pre-teen audience
    • 10% Old-School No Doubt fans aging from mid-20’s up to mid-fifites (maybe older). This was the group we were in.

    The opening act, The Fate, was horrible. They want so much to be Rock Stars and fail completely. They have every rock band cliche. They have the Jim Morrison / Robert Smith wannabe frontman saying stupid things in ridiculous poses trying to make everyone think he’s sexy. You have the guitar playing flinging his floppy hair like one of the Ramone’s third cousins, and the keyboardist dry humping his instruments every time is has to play one of his three chords. They were not well received. Jen summed it up best, “Why didn’t they get a good old school ska band to open for them?”

    Thankfully, No Doubt came out later and took care of the rocking. They were amazing. I’d never seen them before, and was never a really big fan before this. They put on an amazing show. Gwen Stefani is a god. She has the whole “I’m sexy, but can rock” thing to the next level. She has bravado and power and testosterone and blew everyone away. She and the rest of the band really know how to get an audience moving. It was great to watch.

    I had a great time at the show, and am looking for other concerts we can go to this summer. I forgot how much fun live music is (duh, I know).

    The trip home was… eventful. We missed the last bus back to the park and ride and ended up waiting at the bus stop for over an hour (putting us a about 12:30am on a Friday in downtown DC) for a bus going the wrong way. We ended up paying \$40 for a cab ride back to our car. Next time, we drive in.

    I’ll update the rest of the weekend and this week later… I’m starting to fall asleep.

  • Third Time’s a Charm

    This is the third time I’ve delete and restarted this post. I think it means it’s either time to stop or I have nothing to say. It’s a combination. I’m fried from three weeks of non-stop change and combustion. It’s turning my inner censor into Lenny Bruce’s inner demons. He’s telling me to say whatever comes to mind, and some of it’s making its way up my throat and out for public consumption. Case in point. Jen and Max were over at Mom’s tonight for dinner. I got there late because I went in for my CAT scan after work. The missionaries from Church were there, because mom feeds them it seems several times a week. So, I was sitting there recounting a meeting today at work and the word dumbass bubbled up and out it came. And I said it loudly. And in front of my wife, mother, little sister, God’s servants on this earth and my son. I need a vacation, dammit.

    Oh yeah, I mentioned the CAT scan. It went a lot faster than I thought it would. The position was unbearable, but thankfully I only had to suffer for two minutes and boom it was all over. Now I’ll know whether the boogers have invaded my brain or not.

    I also move on Tuesday. I get a door in a lovely little interior poffical on the fourth floor of CC2. So, since I’m leaving early tomorrow and will be out Monday and Tuesday, I started packing today. I have a lot of crap in my little pod, and it’s all going with me, I think. I have to be packed up tomorrow by 2, which should be fun.

    Ok, that’s enough. I’ll hopefully be back tomorrow or Saturday with tales of my Teeny Bopper Concert Experience, my travels in the land of cryptography (old school, baby) and various other sundry things I’ve done since we last talked.

  • Usually, Salon leaves the depressing

    Usually, Salon leaves the depressing comics to Carol Lay. But, today, Keith gets in on the action.

  • If I ever start a

    If I ever start a punk ska band, it’s going to be called Cryptosporidium Toothpaste. I should never blog while ill. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but my head feels like a bowling ball. My eyes don’t want to focus. My stomach hurts and I can’t seem to wake up. I will never ever ever let the optometrist dilate my eyes. Nor will I ever not eat for twelve hours. Thus endeth the stupidest post ever.

  • I wish this was a

    I wish this was a joke. Apparently, it’s not. To save you the trouble of actually reading the article, “Doctor” Paley asserts that Macintosh OS X is of the devil because the codename for the software was Darwin, which is based on FreeBSD.

    He also asserts that Open Source is the same as Communism. What Mr. Uninformed probably didn’t realize is that the webserver running to serve out his rant is Apache, an Open Source project. I keep forgetting that people like this exist in the world. They give Christianity a bad name, and make me ill.

    If I didn’t feel so crappy, I’d go on. But, I feel crappy (which I know I just said), so I’m going to try to do my work, not think about “Doctor” Paley and his lunacy, and keep using my Godless Communist software.

  • Why Do I Love Thee, Tardy?

    The hits just keep on coming for Tardy queries. So, I thought I’d share my favorite things about the dim little turtle from Greg the Bunny. Like Barney on The Simpsons, Tardy gets the throw-away one liners. They’re usually brilliant non-sequiters or add that perfect touch of lunacy to a scene. After four episodes I can honestly say he’s my favorite character on the show, and that’s saying something. The show is great. It’s this generation’s puppet show (my generation had Alf, and the one before it had all those Sid & Marty shows and The Muppet Show). The idea that puppets are real people, like with the Muppets, is a great one, and they’ve really pulled it off. But, Tardy stands out. With his quiet song and “I’m dead, Gil.” from the paintball episode, the “I am strong now!” from the blackmail one and “People aren’t allowed to touch me where my bathing suit covers” in the first one, he has captured my heart. I will forever be a Tardy fan. Well, at least until he sells out and goes Hollywood.

  • It looks like the archive

    It looks like the archive is messed up… hopefully you don’t want to look at it… cuz you can’t at the moment.

  • Wandering Around the Empty Lot

    This round’s Blogger Insider Questions, provided by Desiree.

    I have been reading bits here and there through your blog and saw several mentions of “the Norm“, apparently you like it! So, when did you first come across the Norm, can you recall that day and the events surrounding?

    It was last summer, I think. It might have been before that, but I honestly don’t remember. I love the strip. I like to think of it as Calvin and Hobbes all grown up. It’s funny, sweet and intelligent (except when it’s not). It’s everything that the other comic strips in the paper aren’t. Plus, Reine and Norm are just cute. The story leading up to them getting married was a lot of fun.

    You have one cute little son, one is fun, but sibs to play with are also! How many children do you and Jen plan on having?

    Thanks. I think he’s cute too. Before we had Max, we waffled between five and six. Now, we waffle between one and three. We’re in discussions now on a second, but I think we’re still not sure about that. Max was a tough delivery (huge head – runs in the family) and pretty traumatic. Then, I blew out my knee and couldn’t help for the first 6 months of Max’s existence, which was a big problem. I think we’ll have another child eventually, I’m just not sure when.

    Were you able to leave North America and live on any other continent in the world excluding N.A. where would you choose to go?

    Having lived in Europe when I was a kid, that’s an option. But, every time I turn around, they’re getting crazier and crazier (complain to the US about clean air regulations when everyone smokes and they use unleaded gasoline – ummm, duh). Australia would be fun, since everyone I’ve ever met from Australia was just delightful. I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to live in South America, Africa or Asia, so it’s either Europe or Australia, and I’ll have to vote for being an Aussie.

    What is your sport/exercise and how much time do you put into it weekly?

    Hahaha, that’s funny. I just joined a bowling league… does that count? I’m working on losing weight, and will probably start riding our stationary bike in the near future.

    I see that you do not do the “collaboratives” yet… ie: Friday Five, Tuesday Too, Wednesday Wine, Monday Mission, etc… Is there a reason you have avoided these other than your own life and thoughts fills your blog?

    I just noticed them popping up recently, and honestly, they’re just cheap ways to create content for a site. I don’t have anything against them, and if you enjoy answering them, cool. I can usually come up with enough stupid stuff on my own to write about that I don’t want to fill it with questions unrelated to my life. I started doing Blogger Insider as a way to find new blogs and I thought it would be fun to find a new blog, and then read enough of it to try to come up with questions actually related to that person’s life. I was right, it has been fun.

    What is your most memorable or thought-provoking post that you tend to think back on from time to time?

    I had a string of my favorite posts back in November. This one was in response to discovering whole uncovered portions of the family tree via Google. And this one, short, is one of my favorite memories from childhood.

    Is there a line of work that you have thought that you should have persued? (Or would consider as a second career should you tire of your current computer related career with AOL?)

    When I was a kid, I wanted to be a comic book artist. Then, when I realized that most of them don’t make much money, I decided I wanted to be a medical illustrator… now I work in the online world and can’t imagine giving that up. If I get tired of it, my top secret plan is to sell everything, move back to Tucson and become a college student and go through the whole “what do I want to do with my life” process, since I kind of just fell into this and didn’t do anything in particular to get here other than work my fat butt off (ie: no school, or formal training).

    What is one of your most treasured memories from your highschool days?

    I disliked High School for the most part, but I have some memories etched into the back of my brain that I either can’t or don’t want to forget. Most treasured is a hard one. There was the time I wore a dress onstage for a play, and kissed my friend’s girlfriend (while wearing said dress) just to make him mad. There was the time I made out with cute little Sonja under the scaffold during the dress rehearsal of our big spring musical. I’m pretty sure she went out with me just because I was the bad guy in the play. Those are fun, but I wouldn’t say I treasure them. My one defining memory from high school was turning my best friend into the cops. She was beautiful. I loved her. But, she was damaged by her father and was living a group home which she ran away from with her new “boyfriend” Ben. She called me one night and asked me to come pick her up at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station (downtown DC down by D Street, back in the early 90’s before they cleaned up downtown. It was freaky). Not knowing what to do (being a stupid 16 year-old full), I called her foster parents and asked for advice. They in turn called the cops, who in turn called me demanding that I tell them where she was. I refused, and told them that if they wanted to get to her, I had to go with them and would tell them once we got in the car and headed down 66 from Fairfax into the heart of DC (at 9:30 on a school night). The cop was a short black man who I don’t think appreciated being jerked around by a kid. He waited in the car as I ran all over the deserted station looking for them. I found them, dirty and hungry, in a phone booth, and took them outside. I remember making up something about having bought a new car, covering up the fact that we were headed for a white Buick Century. The cop then proceeded to pull out of the spot before we got there, and I said, in poorly acted style, “Hey, someone’s stealing my car!”. The cop pulled up next to us, hopped out and proceeded to cuff Ben, and put him in the front seat. I spent the next forty minutes in the backseat with Joy. She glared at me slouched in the corner of the seat, and I tried to avoid her by watching the lights on the metro track flash by as we headed back out to our idyllic little suburb and to the police station. I never felt so horrible for doing the right thing. Yep, that’s the memory that comes back most often in dreams and day dreams.

    Name your favorite genre of music.

    Trip Hop, currently. I try not to stick to any one genre, but keep coming back to Massive Attack, Portishead, Radiohead, Amon Tobin and other bands like Morcheeba and Groove Armada. I know Trip Hop is the old label for the genre, but it still works for me. Great coding music. It provides a nice beat without causing headaches. It washes over me and helps me get into that zone where the hours fly and code streams from my fingertips.

    Do you have any hobbies/collections?

    I have a huge comic book collection that’s filling up a closet in our guest bedroom. I don’t really have any hobbies at the moment other than my job, which I would consider a hobby (ok, obsession). Technology fascinates me, especially as it helps people find things, each other and communicate. So, I spend a lot of time trying to learn more and figure out new ways to do things. After that and my family, I don’t leave myself much time for anything else… OK, I do play video games when I get a couple free hours, but I wouldn’t consider that a great hobby, just a way to waste time.

    Coke or Pepsi?

    Dr. Pepper or Code Red. I know, I just have to be difficult.

    How many hours do you sleep on the average night?

    Somewhere between 6 – 8.