Plan "B"

My truck's temperature gauge didn't leave "C" until the Cottle Road exit this morning. The poor little needle was just sitting in the "C" position. Yes, it's been cold here lately.

In other news, I got to see Rocco and Maria's baby, Enrico Juliano, this weekend. He's a handsome 3 day old. And the feet! Oh my!

This weekend, a friend and I saw "Freedom Writers". It was one of those movies that remind me that not everyone had the same childhood I did. We can all be pretty much the same within our own little worlds, but there are other little worlds in which people are dealing with very different realities. It's not just an economic thing - there are the same types of people on both sides of the money scale.

There was an underlying theme of "turf" throughout the movie that I had a difficult time relating to, but I see it even here. On the rare occasion that I have to visit my local mall, I see people sitting in the food court as if they "own" that parcel of tables and chairs. I'd call them nothing more than "mall rats", but then I'm being superior.

Titles aside, I don't recognize their turf ownership. The mall company owns the tables and chairs. Similarly, you can tag as many freeway overpasses as you wish, but the government (and hence the taxpayers) own the concrete pillars and the sidewalks, and a microthin layer of crappy paint isn't going to change that fact. So, in reality, all you're doing is destroying the property of the people.

But they don't see it that way - they've had different experiences. They have a different reality. I don't know if they see the public places as being owned by no one, or if they don't realize that there is supposed to be an order to things in a civilized society. Rules, if you will. I don't know if my neighbors understand that shopping carts are expensive and shouldn't leave the parking lot of the grocery store. I don't know if they're aware that someone lives in the house that they abandon these carts in front of.

Do they not know? Or do they not care? Either way, the question is really are they too stupid or lazy.

Well, this entry wasn't particularly funny or witty. Lots of funny and witty things have been going on. This is just the direction this entry took.

Well, not exactly -nowhere to go- I've got plenty to keep me busy lately it seems. But this is the story of a man who decided to grow up one day. He took a long look around his house and realized that he was still using cardboard boxes for nightstands and a $2 dresser that he picked up at a yard sale about 8 years previously. It's the lighthearted look at how he became complacent with the status quo - and then discontent with the complacency after several years.

It's not that I've been resisting the notion of going out and buying furniture. It's just that I hadn't found anything that I really like. I didn't find anything that spoke to me or reflected who I am. I used to think that I liked modern furniture with all that glass and chrome and funky angles. But that's not me. I thought I'd have a black leather sofa and glass coffee table.

I went from store to store looking for that 'thing' that 'looked like me'. Seriously, I spent years looking for that piece of furniture that fit, and never found anything close.

Then, about a year ago, I rediscovered mission style after seeing it for years in showrooms. I've been a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright for years even though I'm not crazy about most of his work. I like his take on nature and how to construct art such as stained glass windows with nature such as wheat stalks.





I even studied Wright in college when I thought I really wanted to be an architect (and marine biologist). But this story isn't about him - it's about me. :-)

But as much as I liked the art of Wright and the Mission movement, I didn't think it really reflected who I was either. I guess the closest thing that I have found is the shaker style. But a Shaker style Armoire is an oxymoron, no?

But that's my style. Clean, natural wooden lines without garnishment. Form following function completely. So, I set out to find some good quality Shaker furniture that could fit my lifestyle (see armoire above). The few pieces of furniture I could find was so poorly put together, that it hardly seemed worth it.

And I'd been to some nice places I thought - Heritage Drexel, Ethan Allen, etc.. I was about to slap down some serious money and have one custom built when I happened to drive by an unfinished furniture store. You know the kind - all pine - no particle board!

Well, I found mission style nightstands that, while not the pieces I hope to have for the rest of my life, were certainly built better than anything I'd seen. And they were solid oak. I slapped down my credit card and then had to decide between the single drawer or the three drawer. I took so long that I decided to just get one of each rather than flip a coin. This week, I went back and ordered a 11 drawer dresser, and not the armoire after all. :-)

They were nice enough for me to also decide that I needed to do something with the rest of the house. Even though most of my furniture needs are satisfied by K, I thought it was time for me to do something to the condo I've had for 2 years. I also have half and eye out for moving soon, so I thought dressing the place would be good for it.

Anyway, a few framed doodads and a can of paint later...

Before:	After

Open letter to would be code monkey obfuscators:

When all is said and done, don't ever use [sed -e 's/\",\"//g' $1 > sed -e 's/\",,"//g' > $2] I almost had it in one line of code, then I thought, "why?" I almost became a code obfuscator today. I hate code obfuscation.

Be a code Illuminati!

To continue on with last week's theme of Al Jazeera, an online poll at their website asks (with a poor translation) "Does Bush's new security strategy in Iraq?"

4.8% Yes
95.2% No

Aren't the people who read Al Jazeera largely responsible for the success of our latest strategy? It would be interesting to hear from them the reasons for this resistance. Aside from the obvious "some foreigners are taking over our country, and setting up a puppet government." O.K. off my soap box.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.

Original link



To be honest, I wasn't surprised when I read about Saddam Hussein's execution on Al Jazeera today. Some interesting quotes include (appologies for the BabelFish translation):

"They killed the man on holidays [which] was a betryal of God, [it] is a scandal and a shame for those who did this heinous act and those who approved it, it [was] barbaric, black [and] unprecedented in the [???] and its cowardice."

Nice, eh? That's what "THEY" think about what "WE" did to Saddam Hussein, but I could have told you this way before "WE" decided to put him to death. (by "WE" I mean them - err, the other them). It's important to preserve for history that we made a point of executing him on that week while fully aware of the religious ramifications. Replay your TiVo - I'm not a conspiracy theorist. It was either done on purpose, or with a severe case of ignorance. Either is just as bad.

Another pithy quote:

"Saddam Hussein [was] killed for no merit for the disadvantages, and therefore injustice, killing him [was] sincere and flagrant aggression."

So, what does Al Jazeera say about what Saddam did to the Kurds? Well, it really doesn't matter in some respect. I suppose their thinking is something along the lines of killing Lyndon Johnson because of the killing during Vietnam. O.K. you have to build up to something like that, so I won't go into it.

So, let's pick an area of the world that doesn't really like us anyway, and is in large control of their press, and try to think of as many possible ways to make them hate us more. Hey, I know - as long as September 11th was directly linked to "US" stepping foot on their sacred land a few years ago - let's send 21,500 more pairs of feet there to stomp around. Maybe that'll fix it. Idiots.

I'm not saying that we can pull out either. It's kinda like hitting a bee hive out of a tree with a stick. Now, you've got a hundred thousand bees all mad at you and you have to do something - quick! You can't 'cut and run' because bees can usually fly faster than you can run, and in this case, the bees know where you live.

You can't calm the bees down by replacing the stick holder with someone else (elections). Bees only know that they're mad at the Yahoo who's holding the stick.

You can't wait in out in this case either. I mean, c'mon - there's been feuding over there for generations. They forgive and forget like the Mafia does. So, don't go poking Mafiosos with sticks either.

What "WE" have decided to do is to basically throw more sticks at the problem. I'm not sure if that makes sense either though. I mean, the only logical path that this thinking leads us is total annihilation of the hive and killing every last bee. The bees will never grow tired of fighting as long as they think their hive is in danger. It gets a lot uglier before it gets any better. And then - who's better in the end?

So, less troops won't work. More troops won't work. Time won't work. Hmmmm, try to think about what you would do if 100,000 bees were all pissed off at you. You'd run for cover sure - but you're seeking defense from the attack. And that's what "WE" has to do on this road "WE" has chosen. Keep in mind that the bees NEVER forget. "WE" will always have to be on their guard.

Ever since Desert Sword, I've thought that the way to win in the Middle East is to airdrop Britney Spears and McDonald's into the region. After 5 years, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Iraq and Iowa.

I still hold true to that thought, but now I also add that we would need a way of giving the people freedom to hear more than one side of a story. "WE" hasn't learned that lesson, so I'm doubtful that "THEY" can easily either.

Another zinger:

[During] the execution of Saddam Hussein, God bless his soul, [there] was screaming by some ignorant [person], "to Hell", which, God willing, [means] "to Paradise" as demonstrated by the evidence."

So, Saddam's a hero now - a martyr for the cause. Let this be a lesson to everyone... don't poke hives with sticks. O.K. off my soapbox now.

Remember Y2K? In the computer world, at least, Y2K was a pretty important milestone to pass without bringing civilization down to its knees. One part was the programming that had to be done in order to convert 2 digit years into 4, but another large part was operating system patches that needed to be installed. By the time Y2K got onto the regular technologist's radar, the OS patches were already in place, they just needed to install them in the next 2 years (assuming you started your planning in 1998).

Now, a different kind of challenge comes our way, and we're not even aware of it. 3/11/Y2K.7 or DST07 (for "Daylight Saving Time 2007" - isn't it cute how I cut off the century marker for this new bug?)

It's like a leap hour that we are going to get for free, so if you get charged by the hour for some things (like phonecalls, or I dunno - Internet Porn?), you may not be charged for the wee hours of the morning on March 11th, which is where the new daylight savings will occur this year. On the contra side, you may get charged an extra hour if you're on the phone when the old daylight saving switch comes and goes on the 25th (correct me if I'm wrong on the dates).

So, o.k. airplanes won't be falling out of the sky or anything, but that wasn't a realistic threat in Y2K either. The threat, however benign, is out there and I think my TiVo is going to pay the price.



On a side note: I'm very sad to hear that http://bonsaikitten.com/ is no longer active.

I used to get my news from two sources in order to keep the news balanced and fair.

1. Al Jazeera
2. Cable's Daily Show

Al Jazeera used to have an interesting section on their web site called "Technology". I'm guessing that they got tired of only reporting on America in this section, so they closed it down. Interesting, eh?

It boogles my mind that while the US is able to send people to space in a routine manner and are even now living off the planet, the Middle East appears to still be in the stone age. Compared to the Middle East, the US has no natural resources to draw that kind of wealth from, yet I see them living in huts and walking down dirt roads. Indeed, by comparison, the only natural resource Americans have ever had has been the freedom to invent and a drive for equality. Concepts lost on the rest of the world?

True, the US has become a socialistic welfare state that will likely crumble under its own weight pretty soon, but still - they had a good run for a while. It's for the greediness of the few that the whole system is going to come crashing. Perhaps a few lessons on Biblical principles against greed and slothfulness would have helped, but there comes the ACLU telling us that Jesus was a bad person, and we should never mention His name. No? Then what was it about the life of Jesus that was so bad that we have to protect our children from hearing it in schools? Certainly the parents of the US aren't going to take the time to teach their children. They've got to learn something somewhere, and that's where we've ended up. We've taught them that it's better to sue for millions rather than work. We've taught them that rock stars and celebrities are the best role models. And most importantly... things matter more than people.

Sorry if this sounds overly discouraging. I'm just bummed that I now have to find another source for that "wing" of news.

Well, the past 30 days have been festive ones. Both in the sense of busyness, but also "festive" as in festivities. My last trip to Disneyland, Christmas, New Years... they're all a blur now that I'm back to work, and nosin' the grindstone.

Anyway, here's the pictures from the last 30 days. Sorry, they could really use some captions, but don't have any.