Michael's Shower

Maine One at the Tidal Basin

It was such a nice day yesterday I was tempted to get up early and go to the Tidal Basin before I went in to work. Instead, I slept in and headed up there after work. It was pretty crowded, but there were pretty ladies in the crowd!

Anyway, I sat at the Jefferson Memorial for some time and as I was getting ready to leave a helicopter I believe was Marine One flew overhead. It landed in front of the Whitehouse. It caused quite a stir, some guy to my left was snapping pictures like a paparazzi. Another chopper flew by…

I’m not sure who the Whitehouse chopper picked up, but it came back and circled the Tidal Basin a couple times before it took off again.

Five Guys in Old Town

Monday I had heard there was a Five Guys in Old Town. I did not believe it so I had everyone go to the one I knew of. The next day some guys at work talked about the one in Old Town. I looked it up and today went there with a friend from Orem. His older brother used to be my Priest Quorum adviser.

It was great weather out. We ate outside and talked about old times and what not.

Trouble with nieces

Well, there is no trouble with them, just not enough time to spend with both of them. I guess I just need to pick which one to spend time with and try to balance things out.

When my Mom wants to talk about shopping, she usually doesn't bring it up with me. So, I should not feel too bad when one of my nieces likes to play ball and the other doesn't.

"Pretend this is a beach ball and we are at the beach." one said.

"It is a beach ball," I countered. "Now just throw it back to me."

The other kid did not need instruction on how to play the simple game. Honestly is way more fun to play ball with her.

At Disneyland, I would carry Melia, the youngest, because she is lighter. It was fun to see her mimic me when I would reach up to touch a low hanging branch or what not. I even taught her to grunt when she would stretch and then to sigh when she touched the object.

Corryn and I had good times too. And there shall be more in the future!!!

Media Chumps and Word of Mouth

I just got "spam" from someone who continually looses points with me on every encounter. Anyway, it was about her protest against some HBO movie I do not care to know anything about. It is so not worth my time.

It is human nature to accept or believe the opinions of a respected friend, individual, or should I just say entity. Marketing calls this "word of mouth", the best type of advertising and Media companies utilize it. After all, they have the biggest mouth ever.

The lady mentioned above must be afraid it will damage the Church. I think it might inspire intelligent people to ask questions and find out the truth. Me? They have their freedom of speech.... and I have my freedom to ignore them.

This dependence on the Media's opinion is epitomized by a Homer Simpson quote. "TV said that? Now I don't know what to think." Mix this with statistics and you will get a whole lot of people believing all kinds of crap.

In a trailer park in Louisiana, I shared a Church video with some lady we had met. She never heard about the Church before. When the video got to the scene of the Crucifixion, she was on her knees saying that the Church was true. Fastest conversion ever!

I asked why she said what she did. She noted that we had footage of the Savior. Wow, I thought. Glad we got here first.

Green Army Men

This was actually cool to see at Disneyland. What would Disney do without Pixar? (Have a bunch of cows walking around? That would be just as lame as the cartoon which I never saw.)

Oh yeah, picture stolen off Internet! Yeah, Google image search!

Underwear Bomber

It only takes one bad apple.... I think it is lame to have to take your shoes off at an airport. According to this post, airport security isn't working. Lightning doesn't strike twice anyway? Why not choose a different target? And they have.

Greatest justification

Last night there was a Armed Services felowship meeting at the housae. Glad I read the email from the organizer because my roommates did not inform me about it. I almost took off.

Marty showed up and it was obvious he was in a tense state. He had been up for two days for some paratroop training exercise. I was glad to have food from the juking the previous night.

After Marty was taken home, I learned Travis was hungry too. I was glad to give him food too. I'm glad we juked the guy.

Movie night

The other night I decided to show a movie at the house. Well, all my roommates are out of town except one. I figured, based on past history, no one would show up.

I got a call saying they wanted to come to the party but needed directions. They also wanted to pawn off the 30 Orioles tickets they bought.

Party? Some party.

He called again 10 minutes later. He was still having trouble finding the place. After the third call, my roommate didn't want to meet this weirdo. He wanted to shut off the lights and hide, so I went along with it.

After a couple more calls which I did not answer, my roommate wanted to get in the car and take off, so we did. We went to see what movies where showing, then to the store, then home. No sign of the guy and no more calls.

We juked him good. He deserved it for the two times he juked me in a trip to the Manassas battlefield and this place.

Define: juked

In Louisiana, the term juked was used to mean the appointment fell through because the other party forgot or purposely was not there when they agreed to be.

It was bad to be juked but it was worse to juke others - which happened a few times. When it was foreseen that a conflict might arise, I would call to inform people of the situation. It was only polite.

Why did I come back?

On the way to the airport, I often looked back and noticed my oldest niece fighting to stay awake. The youngest didn't bother... Oh well. I said good bye.

Everything after that was quite a pain. Well, on the plane I got this digEplayer on which I breezed through a bunch of movies. Fast forward!

I have been cleaning a bunch here and there... my breakfast plans were needlessly scrapped... my river tour plans still could happen, but I must not get too hopeful. It is a bit chilly out.

I had a goal to teach my youngest niece to say my name by the end of the trip. It was very easy. She started saying it from day 1. It sounded more like "my goal", but that is good enough.

It was great to around people that actually care about me. I think I will suck it up, and go to Utah for Thanksgiving. It would be fun.

Fights at Disneyland

Almost got into 2 fights. Well, verbal confrontations or the like.

The first?

Facts: Both nieces entered this tunnel at the play ground. One came out, the youngest did not. I looked in to coach her out. She was in the center and looked rather scared.

I told Corryn to go back in and help her out. She was crouched at the entrance by me.

About this time, my Dad asked me to get out of the way so he could get a picture. The second I did that, some kid started climbing on my niece to get in the tunnel. I gently pulled her off and put her to the side.

I think some other kid snuck by when Corryn moved out of the way. Again, I told her to get her sister out of there. I'm watching from on side as my Mom watches from the other, I hear some lady speaking pretty abrasively so I turn to see what the fuss was about.

Apparently the kid I pulled off, went crying to her Mom who was about 4 times bigger than I am. She started accusing my Dad for touching her daughter... bla, bla, bla. I'd pull your fat ace out of the tunnel too if you where climbing on my niece. Nice investigative work, Sherlock. Accuse the wrong man.

Bla, bla, bla. My Dad responded with his own remarks. She threatened to call someone, my Dad said go ahead. Yeah, who was she going to call anyway? I'm not going to allow myself to be detained until some rent-a-cop shows up. What legal issues do you have? There was no malice, no harmful touching (maybe it damaged the ego of the child who must think she can do anything or her Mom will sit on someone.)

As she walked to her phone -- I followed my Dad -- we came across some "kid" in a ranger like uniform. He smiled and what not. I swear I could have started talking to him and he would have gladly turned a deaf ear, if it were possible, to the giant talking ace.

"Please remove this man," she bellowed.

I laughed and then my Dad said we should go. We were just there to get the kids anyway. I was so caught up with the situation that I forgot about the kids, I turned to see where they gad gone.

The second?

Facts: Was the next day. Honestly, I was hopeful to see the lady again. Oh well, I did not.

At lunch, we met up at this place. My parents had already secured a table. Both nieces were seated so I sat down so everyone could go and order while I watched the girls. Two boys sat in the adjacent table. I assumed my parents were saving both tables because one table only held 4 and there was 7 of us.

Two boys sat at the edge of one table. Wen my brother-in-law arrived one kid left. Probably to tell his Dad. I was left temporally when the Dad, or whoever, of the boy came by. I was tending to my youngest niece when I looked up and they walked on uncontested., Oh come on, you could have said something.... I was rather itching for a fight.

They came around again later. This time both boys were with them. We already took up 5 spots and they walked on. I just laughed.

More on Harlem

Last Saturday morning, I spent two hours calling people to go to the game. It stank that nobody wanted to go. Well, I had to wait for replies.

If anything, I could have gone to the reception. It seemed I was wanted there, but from the report I got, I probably wasn't even missed.

Anyway, my absolute favorite response to the game invite was "I'm not that interested in hockey."

"What?" I questioned. "It's not about hockey."

"I don't follow sports."

"It's not a sport -- OK, they play basketball, but it is more a comedy."

Finally, a good friend called and she wanted to go. Shortly after Marty called wanting to go. I went with the first caller! I probably would have went with the lady over Marty had he called first.

We had a good time. It was really fun for the first 3/4ths of the show. It got kind of repetative after that.

I still can't remember what the Harlem Globetrotter cartoon was all about. See wikipedia link.

Harlem Globetrotter

I went to a Harlem Globetrotter game tonight. It was a lot more fun than this dance/wedding reception? It was fun.

Now, I'm almost ready to go to California.

Crypto Training...

Shortly after yesterday's post, I found ... well my RSS feed reader/aggregator (SharpReader) found this CodeProject article on a TripleDES wrapper of the .Net TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider wrapper class. All this to make it easier on the end user.... me.

The article looked fairly generic enough to be able to use the other CSPs: RijndaelManaged, DESCryptoServiceProvider, and RC2CryptoServiceProvider. The trick was finding the right key size!

Wikipedia to the rescue, again. From the info I found there, I was able to extend the simple encode/decode application I wrote yesterday. I also thought up a fairly good schedule to start on my quest.

• DES
• TripleDES
• Rijndael/AES
• RC2

From there I shall go over the other algorithms and hashing stuff.

More on cryptography

There are days I wish I got started on cryptography a long time ago and that I had a drive to really get into it. It does fascinate me, but there seems to be so much out there and continually growing daily.

It is fun to look back in history at codes, code breakers and the like. But how is it done today? How many computers would I need? What software do I use?

I was playing around with a seemingly simple Win32 Crypt32.dll wrapper class in C#. I could enter text, decrypt it. Pretty secure for what little need I have. You have to be logged in as me to decrypt. I ran the application as a different user on the same machine to check.

I then changed the code to use the machine credentials. Both users could decrypt the message. If I had second machine I would try running the demo on that machine. I figure it would not decrypt.

Naturally I started asking a bunch of questions. Aside from how to encrypt images and other stuff, I wondered what algorithms I should start on with my investigation to learn all this stuff. Is it possible to learn it all? If some got a hold of my encrypted message how could they figure out what it was?

That led into a hypothetical discussion. The NSA, for example, probably intercepts volumes of encrypted info everyday. How do they determine what would be worth decrypting?

What would be the incentive? Saving lives?

If someone handed me a file and said if I could figure it out I would get a million dollars, I’d start to see what I could do. Probably not a whole lot, but I’d still try.

Anyway, where would they start in the decrypting process? Is it a complete message? What format was the message in? Is it in a foreign language? Was it just encoded? Encrypted? What algorithm?

Once you have something, how can you verify what it means? A message that says “Sorry wrong number” could mean anything. Was it worth the cost?

A few days....

I often do like going on vacation. Getting out, going new places, seeing friends and/or family are great reasons. No matter where I go, I will only come back here.

Of all places in the world, I am going to Disneyland. It was the only way to see my nieces and my parents without having to go to Utah. Oh yeah, my sister and her husband will be there too.

I'm actually looking forward to it all. I just want to keep my excitement underwraps somewhat because I know I'll have to come back. Yeup, I'm even excited to see Mickey! It will be fun to see my youngest niece at some Disney thing. (Before the cruise...)

MS eSchool?

I read this MSDN article online. It was interesting Microsoft built this space web site for educational purposes and to show off their technology.

The bio on Jim Gray, at the end of the article was also impressive. Microsoft is serious about "educating the masses" with information. I like that.

I like Wikipedia for the same reason. Certain information should be freely accessible. Granted, someone will use it for less beneficial purposes, but that is their choice.

Great post

I learn a lot of fun things from this security blog. This basketball player got hoodwinked pretty good.

Doing the online IM chat stuff has always intimidated me. Who is really on the other end?

I admit I have had some very strange encounters myself.

Toldeo Bend

This is pretty strange coincidence. Last year I made an entry about some Indian tale. It was interesting. I looked it up because I met a corpsman from there, Nacogdoches (Texas).

Now, it takes on a new twist. My new HTing gal is from Nacogdoches.

I asked the corpsman about Toldeo Bend, this man made reservoir and he did not know of it. This lady said Sabine river separated Texas and Louisiana. Wikipedia to the rescue!

The map shows Zwolle, LA -- where I spent a few months or so -- is roughly right in between to two. Sweet. How odd is that?

HT event

We had our HTing people over (all 7 gals on our list. One was the younger sister who came to visit.) It was a very good turn out. I made these waffles for the first time ever!

I got the modern heart shapped waffle iron last month. It is modern because it was not the traditional type you use right on the stove. It was actually really neat, it would beep when the waffle was all cooked and ready to be removed. This allowed me to get other things ready....

After we ate, we looked at this funny website.

Norwegian Waffles.

Here is my great grandmother recipe.

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 sq of butter

Beat eggs till very light.
Add sugar, then milk. mixing together.
Add sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt)
Then add melted butter. Beat till well mixed.
(See if batter is somewhat thick)
Bake in hot waffle iron.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I went to see this play because I knew some actresses in it. It was a very strange play, but not as strange as Pipin. I liked watching Heather, not that she had a big part, nor could I hear her great singing voice... she is really pretty. It was a cool little theatre too.

The story:

Loosely based on Charles Dickens's unfinished novel, this hilarious musical whodunit allows the audience to vote for whomever they think murdered the unfortunate young Edwin Drood. It's a different show every night! Presented as a music hall performance by a group of decidedly hammy Victorian thespians, this bygone theatrical era will certainly entertain as each audiences solves The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

There was another person in the cast in the singles ward. I'm thinking the 1st ward. I' in the 2nd! So many wards!!!

I asked a friend to go do something tonight. I kid you not when I say I asked out 10 people for tonight... and got jack! My friend I figured was free so I asked her this morning. Better than nothing? I just do not want to lead her on... some who trned me down for tonight had good reasons but requested we go next week or so. So?

Chemistry

I never really liked Chemistry. No wonder I am still single?

Anyway, I was trying to think of a good topic to blog on. I scratched my head until it was raw and bloody. OK, not really.

So, I thought I would post a poem I wrote in Marty Monsen's High School freshman Chemistry class. I loved that class though.

To some Chemistry is dumb,
To others it is fun,
To me, I say. I'd rather run
And leave my work undone.

What a great poem. I need to start running again.

Terry Brooks

I recall when almost everyone was reading his books. I tried to start on one. Not only was it 2-3 inches thick, but there were few pictures. I never did get through a book of his. Never took the time.

I think he was commissioned to write the book for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but not the II or III. Probably realized the story stunk and wanted to get out.

His name came up the other day. That was right before I got my heart ripped out, kicked around, smothered in the dirt, and then kicked again. I tried to pull a poker face to hide the pain, but I guess it didn't go so well.

Nona is turning 80

In a few months, my grandma will be turning 80. I was asked to write something to be put in a book about our favorite memories of her or something. I did a quick search in my blog to see what I already had on her in type form...

Nona never failed to send cards to her children, grand children and great grand children on their birthdays, Christmas, and occasionally other special days. I remember visiting her place in California, going to Solvang, their motor home which they took all over at times.

I think the coolest visit they spent was when unannounced they should up at my parents house in Utah. They came to the door and said they were on a little scenic drive and wanted to stop by. That was quite the stroll from California!

Condorflop

As is my experience, only few came to see Condorman. It was probably a lot better when I was a kid. I was expecting great things from it, but oh well.

I think it has something to do with the audience too. Meaning that we were not really interested in watching it.

Mary showed up first which was quite unexpected because she originally told me she could not come. I'm glad she did so when the most anticipated guest arrived, they or I would not be alone.

We all talked for a while. We even started the movie but had the volume down. The scenes I remembered happened in the first 20 minutes of the movie... Mary left and the movie got really boring.

I tried to start a game when my roommate showed up shortly followed by "Little Brian". The end scene I remembered when I saw it again. The good parts of the movie where shown... chapter selection on DVD was just not available in the 1980s. How did we ever find our favorite parts of a movie?

Played a round of Skip-bo which I unfortunately lost, but I helped the winner out. Well, I blocked her in my previous hand. So, I guess I just redeemed myself.

After showing off my Pixar stuff, we called it a night. I'm glad a few people showed up... the movie by itself was pretty sad. Oh well, good entertainment.

Greatest mistake ever?

Maybe not, but it was bad. I just realized after 5 months I have finally matched a person to the right email address. No wonder I got this response. (See link.)

There were times at church and at some parties at the house, I would talk to her... I even said I'd invite her to the house for a dinner group. She was very nice, but when I emailed her, the response was so unexpected. That was just because I had the wrong person!

After teasing her with the invite, the next time I saw her she looked kind of upset that I didn't contact her. D'oh!!! Now I know, but now it might be too late?

Wishful thinking?

It's March!

Is it just me or does time speed up every year. Here it is Thursday and March! Yesterday was Sunday and January!

The other day, unintentionally for Mardi Gras (Tuesday), I binged on pizza. I was not hungry for a good 20 hours. I just finished my 6 inch sub I got yesterday.

I went to lunch at Subway. It was very awkward indeed. There were a lot of things that were off. Oh well.

I'll be watching Condorman tomorrow. I finally got the DVD from a friend. He lent it to me seeing how Netflix did not carry it.