Ultranormal

  • Painful and Tedious, and I’m Not Talking About My Site

    My gigantic cool project is in QA and almost done. My talented QA Engineer is now load testing it. I hate load testing. It’s the worst pain you can inflict on me is to make me sit around fretting while you clobber the living crap out of my baby until it gives. It’s even worse when you come back and tell me there’s memory growth. Then, I have to make sure you’ve got everything configured correctly. If you do, then it means I’ve messed up and I have to scour several thousands of lines of code for variables that aren’t unset. Even then, I may not find it. Why is it so bad? Because I can’t do it myself. Things may work beautifully in development and then completely fall apart under stress (kind of like Tim Allen’s movie career).

    The latest is that after fixing the config problem, we’re doing fine after running 1000 queries. Yeah, well, we’ll see. I’m gonna go start a bad addictive habit to recover from the stress. Any suggestions?

  • I’ve noticed something that I

    I’ve noticed something that I think I should share. Now that the webcam is back, I realize just how badly I need a haircut. PreacherHair™ is in full effect. Please, sweetie, call Cynthia today and make an appointment or I’m gonna start thumpin’ Bibles again!

  • Max’s Trip to the Reston

    Max’s Trip to the Reston Zoo is up (finally). You know, I’d get these things up sooner if people told me these pictures existed. Silly people. I’ve also found pics that Jen took of Grandpa Brian’s October visit

  • The LawverCam is back! Thank

    The LawverCam is back! Thank you, WebCam2000 and AOLserver!

  • I’ve been listening to Feelings

    I’ve been listening to Feelings almost non-stop for the past 36 hours (when not sleeping or doing something else). It’s an amazing album. The more I listen to it, the better it gets. I was a huge Talking Heads fan, but David Byrne always seemed to be fighting his voice on those albums. He was trying to corral it into something it wasn’t. I don’t own the albums he did between Rei Momo and this one (a problem that will shortly be rectified), but this album really shows off his voice. He’s not straining against it, and doing some amazing things. It’s gorgeous. Also, his choice of instruments, and layering of textures is sublime. The Balanescu Quartet provides haunting strings on several songs, my favorite being Burnt by the Sun and Finite (Alright).

    His lyrics on this album are also a point of praise. Both songs mentioned above are beautiful stories in themselves. He matches music to lyrics so well.

    What am I saying? Go out and buy it! Even if you hate his old stuff, this is well beyond anything he did with Talking Heads, and I know you’ll hate me for this, but it’s even better than Rei Momo.

  • I love it when Flash

    I love it when Flash is used as an art tool: leogeo (via the always funny dooce).

  • Someone at work loaned me

    Someone at work loaned me Prodigy’s old Fat of the Land album. (sorry, I’m doing my best Larry King impression here) For my money, there isn’t a song that makes me want to move my ass more than Breathe. The cockney accent, that beat, the riff… Oh yes, this is my large ass movin’.

  • Ok, I take back most

    Ok, I take back most of what I said about Virginia. They’re still impossible to get a hold of, and they suck when it comes to communication. But, they took the stuff I sent them and we’re all set. I don’t owe them $5,000. Now, I need to go get some clean pants. I think I was a little too relieved.

  • Oh, and don’t try to

    Oh, and don’t try to call them. Their phone is always busy. Thank you, government!

  • You’d think that if you

    You’d think that if you fax someone something, the fax was received, and nothing further was said that everything is kosher, correct? I guess not. I just got another letter from the honorable and competant Virginia Office of Taxation saying we owe them \$5000 for 1998, a year in which I don’t think I travelled outside the state of Arizona, and am pretty sure I lived in Tucson. I mean, my employer says I was employed in Tucson and didn’t transfer to Virginia until February of 1999. I faxed them a signed letter from the head of the HR department stating that fact. It doesn’t take much investigation to see that my address was 373 N Wilmot Drive in Tucson, Arizona until February of ’99.\
    I know they’re just people doing their job, but dammit, do it right! I’m tired of dealing with this when it’s obviously their error and if they expended any energy at all, they’d know it too. It doesn’t take much thought, people!