Michael's Shower

Ex-postal worker

Did she think it would be funny to shoot six people in GOLETA? See story.

Cat Ferry

I saw this on TV while in NYC. I'll have plan a trip... Not just for the ride, but Maine and Nova Scotia.

Update to Toy

I got my phone back. Well, I haven't seen it yet but the package came. I'll need to get things back online here. By this time tomorrow I should be back online. (On the phone network anyway.)

Great Weekend

I just came from dinner with some great friends. We went up to see the new Joseph Smith movie. It was neat to see how Alvin played such a role in the Smith family.

It was a great end to a fun weekend. Hopefully next month will be just as great.

Toy phone: Lost in New York City

Yeah, I lost my phone on my way to MoMA. The only way I'd be convinced to go to an art museum is: there was nothing better to do, being with at least one pretty lady, I was compelled or paid, or that Pixar had an exhibit.

I bought a book of the exhibit since you couldn't take pictures and some awesome postcards of art not shown at the exhibit. I should have bought two... so I could sell one years from now.

My phone was found. The cab driver is going to FedEx it to me. How cool is that?

More stories from the Hospital

I knew I posted something about the weird stuff I went though years ago. I just wanted to make sure I had these tales.

As I watched a movie, my sister the nurse inserted all this little pin things all over my body. I thought it was something like acupuncture or what not.

Often I saw people surrounding my bed. They didn't talk or anything. I'd motion them closer because I couldn't talk myself. When they didn't move, I'd flip them off.

Sometimes, or at least once, I got a reaction. Not from the still faces but from a voice to the right of me. I signaled for my writing pad and apologized.

They was a time where I got jabbed with this foot long needle. I was on the Star Trek Enterprise or something... the place didn't look like a hospital at all.

"Cup of Tea"

There was a guy in Mississippi who called himself "Cup of Tea" or "Cup" for short. He was quite strange, but a good guy. Great Southern drawl.

His catch phrase was "no sweat". I used it today, thought it a bit weird coming from me.

Game Development too hard

I had a roommate that did game development. He said it was very competitive. He didn't seem to make very much either.

As I read this article I was reminded how dumb I must be. I barely understood some things they were talking about.

It sounded complex just doing the basics: drawing circles and stuff. I can only imagine how hard it really is and that it can only get harder as gamers expect more.

Latest coincidences

One of the latest coincidences was a search I did on my blog. I wrote a post on Ben about two years ago today.

The other day, I used a word I really did not know the meaning to. The very next word of the day email? You got it, the word I used in the conversation.

The weirdest was when I was impressed to check my email because a certain person had just sent me something. Sure enough, I had just gotten a message from her!

Some say coincidences do not exist. I would agree in part. Sometimes I question the importance of such coincidences.

Long time to wait

I sent an email to a nice person I met up at the ward retreat. I have always wanted to follow up on the encounter, but for some reason I never did. Until now.

Right away she played the "boyfriend" card. I guess I waited too long to follow up. Oh well, I'm glad she has somebody.

Lake Lillian

Wow, there is one in Minnesota, Florida, and Washington state. I thought it was not a common name, but looks like it is somewhat common.

I had to mail something to MN and saw the address. Or did I get something from there? Oh well.

Yosemite National Park 2

I have never been there but I have seen several pictures of it. A few years ago, my Mom had some old film put on to DVD. My Dad took a vaction there. Too bad there was no sound, but it was neat to see my Dad and his siblings as kids.

Looks like I already did a post on this.

AutoComplete update

I fixed up the AutoComplete application I wrote in 2003. It had a few annoying bugs that I took care of. Now, there are a few things I'd like to add.

Check out the code. I need to document it better, but it seems pretty straight forward... because I wrote it and only I seem to understand my cryptic notes.

Spider and the West Wing

I informed a friend that only the West Wing lady ever pursues me, but last night I talked to Spider and others. It was good to know I was not without options.

I don't want to use anyone, but I guess until one gets a ring it is all part of the game. Flame was pretty cold, but that was quite expected.

I still wish that there wasn't that many options. Oh well, just have fun right?

Braveheart

I watched some of Braveheart the other day. It was alright, just didn't want to stay up late to finish it.

James Horner did the music. He did the music for Titanic too.
That is why I thought it sounded similar.

There was a 1925 silent movie called Braveheart.

Streaming on the toy

I was going to listen to some conference talks on my Pocket PC Dell Axim (toy). I them remembered that I could watch it.... I never tried it before. When I get it all set up -- which was of course very easy -- I was happy.

Well, happier. When I posted earlier, I was not in a great mood because I hate bumming for rides. When I did get one and was able to deliver this small gift to a sick friend, I was glad. I still wish I could have driven... oh well.

I had the toy plugged in so the battery wouldn't die. Not sure how long it would go while streaming video like that.

Inner city traffic

We live on a "No Thru" street. This morning tons of cars were seen going by the house, then seen going back the other direction. It was very odd to see buses doing the same thing.

Finally, we took off for work. I'm still not sure what the deal was but the main road was blocked and there was traffic on almost all the side streets. It took 40 minutes to go 4 miles to work!

Somethings never change

I am afraid of that. Think I'd be used to it. Remind me of the benefits of not having a car.

Anyway, I went to the Washington Capitols Hockey game yesterday. It was the highlight of the day. I went running in the morning and spent the rest of the day trying not to get too anxious for the game. It was not hockey or being in a new place (MCI center) that I was anxious about, although both were good.

Today was fairly good. Broncos lost. Oh well.

Arguments and negativity

I try not to impose on people too much, but I always manage to raise eyebrows or tick them off. If only I were a pretty boy?

One time, about a year ago I was arguing on different topics that subconsciously "looks do matter." You don't buy a car that looks like it has been in a wreck, marking people know to put things in nice packages, and for lack of a better term, "sex sells".

I think my comment once was misinterpreted that they were being shallow. I didn't mean that at all. I probably wouldn't talk to myself if I wasn't attached already.

CodeProject articles

Wow, in less than an hour so many have read my short article on a basic C# PickList. I wrote it (and still refining it) because it was so easy to put images in a list box... see site.

We use a 3rd party PickList at work. It does a great job for the most part but it cannot be customized. Well, without the code, you can only do so much customizing. It also would not inform us what or where something was getting moved.

I figure that had I been an evil MBA, I might have charged $30 for the compiled version... but why would I want to do that? Besides, I'm just giving back to the community a bit of what I have taken.

Disney needs Pixar

I still cannot believe Nemo made more than the Incredibles. View image

Found more blogs to read

Cool. I like this post. It lead me to Chris Sells's blog site.

I like books too.

Really great day

Had a meeting. Learned what the future may hold. Good news?

Institute was great. Well, I talked to some great people.

Studied up on new things. Needed to post something.

Rather nice day off

I had lunch with a friend who had to work today. Learned later a mutual friend of ours was also at work in the area. Oh well, it was good to get together.

Then i went to the Archives. I was quite impressed how many people wanted to see thew Emancipation Proclamation.

Did a bunch of other things. It was rather good day.

Weird state

I noticed this morning that my toy is in it's own world when it comes to this blog site. All the data is different. Well, it doesn't match up. I found the old post from Jan. 5th.

I'll have to not post on my toy anymore. Maybe if I just restart the toy?

Anyway, here is the post about the Rose bowl...

Great Football Game

I was very excited to watch the Rose bowl this year. Why? Both teams were very good and undefeated. The true championship game.
I wanted SCU to loose. There were several questionable calls, but overall it was an exciting game to the end.

Sorry Trojans. Your wining streak is over!!!

The Patriots Lose!!!

Best news ever? Ok, maybe not. I was just tired of hearing about the dynasty .

It was cool and somewhat patriotic that New England won the Super bowl the last couple years... but change is good.

Now my Colts need to take care of the Broncos in the Horse bowl. Assuming Indianapolis wins today!

Enterprise shuttle

I went on a rather quick trip to the Air and Space museum. It was nice to see the space shuttle up close. The Enterprise was huge.

It was nice to see the SR-71 again. Talk of the Aurora came up too.

I got a brief education on Burt Rutan.

I did a bunch of searches earlier, but there was a power outage. Now, I'm just trying to push out what I have.

First roommate

When I finally broke down and took on a roommate in my condo, I took the first one that came along. Like most roommates, they are cool to obey the house rules, but that tappers off after a while.

I thought the Kid was strange too. He had been married and divorced and was only 21. I remember how he took on whatever job he could. Fine by me, the rent money was sorely needed. OK, not really but it was nice to have extra cash.

It was also kind of nice not to be alone in the place. I say kind of because there were times I didn't like when he was around. Some things never change.

I thought I did a post on his taste for movies. I learned right away to dislike what he liked. It was just easier to say no than walk out on a movie he thought was good.

Arabic enlightenment?

I just did a quick search on a few words I hear being kicked around.

A hajji is one who makes the pilgrimage to Mecca. A hajj is the pilgrimage.

A jihadi was not defined although it seems to mean one who actively believes and participates in jihad or holy war. (i.e. Al-Qaeda)

Merriam-Webster and wikipedia where consulted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajji
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jihadi - no article

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/hajj
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/hajji

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/jihad
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/jihadi - no definition

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=jihadi

Mecca

What would happen if this place was destroyed? Bad for tourism in Saudi Arabia? Bad for the Islamic religion?

Maybe that would save all the hundreds of seemingly needless tramplngs.

I guess instead of destorying the place, why not do a virtual Hajj?

My Dad jokingly said Nauvoo will be a mecca for Mormons. Maybe, but it is not required.

New Couch

I just bought a used couch. It is fairly new. Looks great, feels nice. I got it for a couple reasons.

1. I got a good deal on it.
2. The house was kind of empty. One roommate recently got married and took everything.
3. I got tired of hearing another roommate complain how he got too much stuff for the house and felt it was some one else's turn or responsibility to fill it. Now, he can shut his pie hole or find something else to [whine] about.

In Queue and not Liking it

I do not like to stand in a line, so to speak, to talk to people. I sometimes feel bad when I interrupt. I especially do not like it when some charismatic pretty boy or gal walks by and steals my time slice.

I wasted a lot of time the other day trying to talk to people I thought I wanted to talk to and whom I thought would like to talk to me too. I was definitely wrong. I politely waited for a short time before walking on to the next queue.

By the end of the day, I didn't really want to try anymore. In fact, I pretty much ignored some people whose line I was not patient enough to stand in earlier.

The previous week, it seemed totally different. I felt people were getting in line to talk to me. I guess it was just Christmas cheer...

Largest dinner group

I knew 12 guests was way too many, but it was a good turn out. 11 people devoured 30 of the 32 Chicken bundles. Pretty sweet group. Too many conversations at once though... didn't get to be in them all. Oh well.

NSA Museum

We went to the National Cryptologic Museum today. It was rather interesting, but it was like pulling teeth at times. It is good for others to shut up every now and then - some people should learn that.

The tour guide was full of facts and loved to talk. It was a small display, but I'm glad I went.

.View image

What in the world?

With much vacillation I deleted some old emails the other day. I might have wanted to save that.

I noticed my post I did on my toy yesterday was wiped out. I know it works because here is a post that survived. That is not cool if data goes missing without consent.

I noticed once that doing posts on my toy didn't get the RSS feed correct. I'm going to need to save my posts done on my toy so I can verify that they were not clobbered like the one I did on the Texas vs. USC game at 12:40AM (after Texas won!). Sweet game.

Generous George

Using my favorite gift for the house, the Titan card, I took my friend Liz to dinner. I guess they were remodeling because the giant nutcrackers were not guarding the front doors.

It was almost a year ago when we went to the Korean War memorial.

Duron file server

With all the changes (new roommate, new network components, new year?), I thought I would put out my desktop to the public (OK, the house) to be used as a file server. I really wanted to remote desktop to it and do other things. Selfish? They wanted to turn it into a Media Center PC, but I don't think it is capable of all that. It might, but I could not really care less.

TV is for chumps with little or no imagination. OK, I watch it every now and then too.

Maybe a Linux solution could work on that hardware... good luck. I'm not going to relinquish control anytime soon.

Vangaurd Animation

As I watched the opening to Disney's 3D animation movie Valiant, it was hard not be curious about Vangaud animation whose logo flashed at the beginning credits. I read this post this morning and thought I would comment on my findings.

Looks like the producer of Shrek, John Williams created his own animation studio. It was interesting they are based in the UK. It was not surprising the next movie is about fair tales... Shrek makes fun of them too.

I kind of wish I knew how or took the time to do animation stuff.

King Wrong

I went to see King Kong yesterday. I prepared myself for the 3 hour long movie. After about an hour and a half, you finally get to see the Beast.

"I thought this was about a giant gorilla." I whispered to my friend who accompanied me to the show.

So, they were on the boat for a week before they get the message of the arrest warrant for the Director guy? It seems like they could have sent the message earlier....before they left the US coast.

The savages were a bit eccentric. A couple scenes I thought were poorly done. The fight with the dinosaurs was probably the best part of the whole film.

It was very lame to see Kong and the lady on the ice in Centeral Park. I was glad to see the Army break it up.

The end was predictable. Well, everyone knows Kong dies, but the scene with lady and her human lover.... amazing, he knew exactly where she was. At first it looked like someone was climbing on to the stage. I hoped it was a protester of sorts.

At the end, the audience clapped! What the? They can't hear you. It's not like you are going to get an encore.