Friday!

Well it's been a pretty productive week. I just got finished documenting a bunch of stuff I'd done all week, I got a new radius server up and working, got it fixed so it could talk to oracle and fixed the new snoopy image so it works now.

More to do next week but I can enjoy the weekend now. Making waffles tomorrow from a recipe out of Alton's baking book. We'll see how they are.

Now that's just Evil(tm)

Today's Dilbert on the calendar has an even better one.

"We need to sell solutions, not products!"

If that isn't the spirit of large, corporate America I don't know what is. Sell them something that's going to break in a short time. Or, better yet, sell them something that requires they buy something else to make it do what it's supposed to in the first place. Then it breaks and you have to buy both again.

No, I'm not cynical, why do you ask?

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On another note I've discovered the theme song for all Reality TV shows. Weird Al does a parody of the Hammer song "You Can't Touch This" called "I Can't Watch This".

He's talking but he's not saying anything ...

"I enchance core competencies by leveraging platforms."

Karen got me a Dilbert desk calendar for Christmas and this was the punch line from today's. It's absolutely amazing how much business people study communications and yet still manage to produce a line of drivel like this. Brand and I were talking about it and we decided that you could possibly add more words and decrease the amount of sense it made but nothing in the world would increase it's comprehensibility.

Think about it. How many times have you seen a memo come down from On High with this little meaning?

The Gear book

Okay last week was pretty easy. We had Monday off for the holiday. Tuesday I was here at work. Wednesday I was sick, some sort of stomach bug again that kept me up part of the night in the bathroom. I took Thursday and Friday off to go with Erik and Mary to St. Louis.

Alton (pronounced ALton in the south, as opposed to the way I'd always said it, ALLton) Brown was at a small bookstore on the west side for a signing of his new book ("I'm Just Here For More Food"). The folks who run it were very nice but incredibly clueless. They had no idea who he was (Erik maintains it was the haughty "I get all I need to know from books" attitude which purposely excludes Cable TV, and thus misses all of the great stuff on the Food channel, the History channel and assorted PBS and BBC channels) so they were totally unprepared for some 130 or so people to show up for the thing. We got there about 1815 or so (it was set for 1900) and Erik and I were 80th in line for signing. There were at least 100 people plus a bunch who had to wait outside.

He's become what I think of as the Modern Southern Gentleman. He was funny and engaging during his short talk before the signing, much as he is on the show (Good Eats on the Food TV channel). And he introduced himself, asked your name and chatted a bit with everyone in line. He posed for pictures with everyone who wanted them and seemed to really enjoy meeting all these people. Overall a very classy gentleman.

I bought his Gear book (see the 'what I'm reading' on the right) and started reading it the next day. I like it even better than the baking book. He talks about the why of what gear you really need, how to clean it, store it and use it. And he uses some amazing things in his kitchen. A wood rasp to grate hard cheeses. He uses a mortar trowel for a pie server. Instead of a fancy pizza stone he gets a quarry stone from the Home Depot. On the other hand a lot of his pans are of the $150 variety and he spends a bunch on some of his knives. But he talks a lot about the why of these sorts of knives and pans and it makes sense once you understand the physics of it. Very cool!

On Thursday we stopped by the Science Center in St. Louis and met Jay and Simon there. Whoa! I chatted with him a bit and he told me he is planning on coming to the Retreat, which I had thought he couldn't make.

Friday we went to the Zoo before we came home and I was home in time to play some WoW before the Stargate premiers that evening. Overall a pretty good week.

I give up

I put my coat on. I saw Randy who had got some small thermometers and was putting them up on the walls. Apparently he thinks that if he can prove it's cold in here he can get someone to let us turn up the heat. I approve of his efforts but remain skeptical.

I hope this isn't me getting sick, I can feel the back of my throat and it feels a bit like it does just before I do get sick. My sinuses (forgive me for the image) draining into my throat, as nasty and unfun as that seems (believe me, it is as bad as it sounds when it hits). I don't need to get sick this week (any other week is fine) since I'm going with Erik and Mary to St. Louis on Thursday to get my book signed by Alton Brown. He's appearing for a book signing at a bookstore there. Since it will be in the late afternoon, early evening we're staying in a hotel and coming back on Friday.

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Friday is the big premier of the new "SciFi Friday" on the SciFi channel. Last Friday was the premier of Battlestar Galactica and it was pretty good. It is kind of annoying when they show commercials for a new show during that very same show. That implies that someone somewhere isn't paying attention and (in my mind) knocks them down a notch as far as competency is concerned. There will also be the season opener for the two Stargate shows. Atlantis is going along well and they did a nice finale last season. But last night they showed a "Secrets Revealed" for Stargate which hinted that there will be some things long time fans won't like this season.

It sounds like someone is going to be killed again just to "shake things up". That doesn't sound good. Although I will admit that when they killed off Doctor Frasier, the episode was very well done. It doesn't make me any happier they killed off a character that had been there since the beginning, but at least they had a story to tell and did it well. We'll have to wait and see who the kill next and if they do it properly.

Brrrr

Okay, it's freaking freezing in here today. I found a space heater under my desk when I moved in and I used it the second day I was here. I haven't used it since then. Either I've gotten used to it being cold in here, it wasn't cold enough outside to leak in or it was warm enough in here (ha!). But today, following a long weekend when it got down to 9 degrees, I turned it on again. It's still cold and I'm thinking of putting my coat back on. I wonder if they'll get the message? (having no idea who controls the thermostat in this place, so it's the generic "they")

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Been reading google news again today and it seems like a lot of places are asking "but who gave the orders?" now that the verdict is in on the first Abu Ghaib courts martial. Apparently the Pentagon's investigation report (led by a former Attorney General) cited a number of senior officers as responsible (including Herr Rumsfelt, General Meyers, the Chairman of the JCS - Joint Chiefs of Staff - and the senior general in command of all forces in Iraq at the time) but didn't go so far as to recommend punishment. The Pentagon and the Administration are remaining suspiciously quiet on the issue, even after Secretary of State Colin Powell told the world "wait and see how America addresses the issue" (apparently implying that we would 'do the right thing'). It seems that most of the world, especially the Muslim part of it, is unimpressed.

I can't say I blame them, I'm not particularily proud right now of having served in the Army.

However I discovered that some times, especially when your audience doesn't agree with you, you probably shouldn't spout off on liberal issues. Karen came down to visit yesterday and she (a long time Bush supporter) kind of ignored my ascertation that the President lied to us so we shouldn't trust him. I suspect that the issue has been let go by a whole lot of people.

Now I know that reality being what it is, Politicians lie. It's the nature of the beast. But the better ones have the decency to at least act contrite when caught at it.

I was reading on the confirmation hearings for Secretary of State and Ms Rice. I don't trust her, she's a Bush croney, a "yes" woman. But she said all the right things, that she was going to work on improving our image and our relationships with our allies. But I still don't trust her. However she'll likely be confirmed pretty quickly, we'll see how she does.

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And the inaugeration is set for Thursday. And will cost $40 million. While the taxpayers aren't funding it, police security and a few other things are being paid for by the city of Washington, DC. And from what I read they're strapped for cash as it is. A democratic congressman sent the president a letter expressing the opinion that "a time of war" (as Bush has repeatedly called this) isn't the best time to celebrate like this. Especially following a major natural disaster. The money, even if it is donated by companies and individuals, can better be used elsewhere.

But the president refused and insists that this is a good time to celebrate.

<sarcasm on>He continues to impress me</off> (not!)

Evolution is a theory, not a fact

That's what a "warning label" which was put on high school biology textbooks in Atlanta says. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=411519

Now I'm not here to take one side or the other, personally I don't see why God can't have used evolution as his mechanism of choice. And it may be answered by the whole "seven days" thing but time is purely subjective. Who's to say how long a 'day' is to a Supreme Being?

But since this was put into effect in the first place (an assumption I'm making since it was struck down by a Georgia judge) I wonder how far we are from http://www.sinfest.net/d/20040915.html this.

Neo-cons freaking scare me!

Make up your fscking mind ...

I heard on the radio this morning as I was getting ready for work there were three countys nearby who had flash flood warnings. While here in town there was a winter storm advisory and the roads were icing up.

Talk about flip-flopping ...

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I got to see Battlestar Galactica on Saturday. It was pretty dark and hopeless. Exactly what it should be if your whole setup is smashed to pieces in one Fell blow by a (now) Mysterious Enemy and you've no idea what you're going to do now. Excellent!

And there was quite a bit of friction between the major characters. Starbuck doesn't much like Colonel Tigh and Commander Adama and his son were at odds (at the beginning) over the death of his younger son. It was kind of cool that the names, Starbuck, Boomer, Apollo, were only callsigns and those characters had real names behind them. The last five minutes were ... I don't know how to feel about them, which is excellent ... I was going to say filmmaking but it's TV. I'm very excited about the series, they have huge potential here (let's hope they don't screw it up or the network doesn't screw it up on them). Overall it wasn't nearly so lovey-dovey as the 80s TV show. The filming reminded me a lot of Firefly too, cameras swinging around to catch fighters and almost missing before they refocused or steadied. The battle scenes were absolute chaos with multiple viewings necessary to catch all the little details they put in there. Nice.

<Crosses fingers> Let's see what they do with it.

Whoa! Operation Garage Sale

I go to Amazon.com periodically to see what new books are coming out. Usually I end up parsing my "recommendations" of stuff I have no interest in. One of the things I've seen recently is a new book by Mike Stackpole. I've been a fan of his books since he did the Rogue Squadron Star Wars books and have read most everything (novel wise) he's written.

So this afternoon I went to his website (http://www.stormwolf.com) to see what it was about. What I found instead were a couple of essays he'd written recently. I took a look at them. He's a particularly well read and articulate liberal and the "Ten Things The Bush Administration Will Never Do" was priceless.

However what put the bug in me was his solution to the problems in Iraq. Most of it sounds particularly pretty damn silly but also very strangely compelling. It makes sense and I could see it working.

So having read it, my next question is "How can we make this work?". Part of the answer is this email. (obviously this text is cut and pasted from an email) Another part is my blog. Not that many people read it but if the few who do mention this to one or two others then we can get the word out and it's all about communication.

So without further ado here are the links to his two essays. Let's all talk later about how we can make this happen in Columbia.


http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/tenthings.html


http://www.stormwolf.com/essays/winningp.html

(and I never did get to find out about the novel)

Not so serious

Oh and I was wrong about the snow. Sure it showed for a night and part of a day. Sure it was cold, wet and then icy. But today it's supposed to get up to 50. And all weekend I've been able to fill the dog's water dish from the hose, it wasn't frozen.

And that's been the pattern for two months now. Two or three days of really cold weather, two or three days of really warm weather (not good by any means) and a week in between each in the middle.

Lame, really lame.

Weak. Really Weak.

I've been thinking for a few days I should post something but never got motivated to do it.

This morning I was going through Google News and saw a story on the Abu Ghraib trials. The prosecutor said blah and the
defense attorney, in his opening statement, compared what the guards did to cheerleader pyramids and parent's using leashes on their toddlers. Weak, really really weak. A new illustration for Websters for the definition of lame? Or perhaps incompetance? Wonder where he went to Law School.

What bothers me most about it (besides the abominable behavior) is that there seems to be no command responsibility here. The Pentagon is keeping very quiet about it and no senior officers, hell, officers of any rank, seem to be held responsible. I'm not really surprised that it's Reserve enlisted and NCOs who performed the abuse but it shows a distinct lack of ... hmm, so many words spring to mind, ethics, responsibility, competance, training, command climate, that no officer was aware of what was happening.

So much of the planning and execution seems to be flawed. Of course we can't depend on the media for any factual information which makes it hard to make such a claim (or refute it). Sure the offensive was well planned and brilliantly executed but didn't someone say "what happens then?". Surely someone had to say "what if the Iraqi citizens don't cheer for us and do what we ask them to?". Where was the old, almost retired colonel who was warning them that this could be our generation's Vietnam?

You're serious

Okay so this snow wasn't as serious as it let on initially. It's mostly gone but it is cold now. So winter is finally here.

This is the first Friday in three weeks that I've got Op Center again. We'll see how we can get the routine down. Driving to work isn't as bad now, I'm getting used to the new route. And the new cube is still pretty pristine, you can still see the surface of the desk. But this building is still freaking cold. A dramatic change after the basement of LSB where it was always sweltering in the winter and freezing in the summer.

Got a waffle maker for this weekend. And ordered a food processor. Didn't find the digital scale or instant-read thermometer I wanted to get. Alton's got a gear book out so I should see if I already got it and get one if not.

Hrmmm

Well it seems that President Bush, two days after exorting the public to donate for tsunami relief, has contributed $10,000. Given that he earns $400k a year as president and is worth an estimated $13 million that doesn't seem nearly so impressive though. But since it's a larger percentage of his annual income than I donated I should shut my mouth (or put my checkbook there).

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Well the first serious snow has come. I say serious because it's cold enough for it to stay and it's not supposed to get warm any time soon.

I expected the roads to be a lot worse than they were. However they're not as clear as people who know what they're doing (say in Colorado or northern Illinois) usually clear them. Driving in this morning the anti-lock on my brakes kicked in a few times, until I got used to it again (it still freaks me out when I press on the brake and it presses back).

But since complaining about people's driving is getting old and there's nothing complaining is going to do to improve that, I think I'll try to stop bitching and moaning about that here. And there's nothing I can think of to otherwise make people pay more attention to what's going on around them so I'll just have to think about something else and try my best to stay out of their way.

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I'm about 1/5th of the way through Alton Brown's new book. The chemistry part was pretty cool but I'm skipping over some of the recipes until I have the tools and inclination to try them. The muffins may make an appearance at a brunch some time in the near future. And I'd like to try to make buscuits but I'm not to that part of the book yet.

Overall it's pretty damn good. He's a good, if casual, writer and it's entertaining.

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WoW is getting a bit ... not old really because every time I sit down to play I end up playing for longer than I should or intended. But the burning desire to play as soon as I get home and for as long as I can is waning a bit.

So I started a different character and will do that whenever it gets ... accustomed until the whole thing is old hat.

And they're having more server problems than it seemed they did. At the initial launch things were miserable. You'd try to get onto your server and there would be a queue, which you were 765th in line for. Lately I've gotten in after work okay but when I leave to watch TV, do some chores or eat and try to get back in later I end up in a queue. However it hasn't been more than 40th or so. But still to have fixed the problem and then have it crop back up again is frustrating.

Well, off to get some work done!

Well the vacation's over

Such as it was. Mainly it was being sick last Wednesday and then Friday off. Two weeks in a row Friday off. Nice.

But I, of course, frittered it away playing WoW. Perhaps "frittered" isn't the correct word because it implies that it was wasted, whatever was frittered. Not so, I enjoyed all of it and that's what we play games for, to enjoy our leisure time.

I did go back to Galaxies one day when the WoW server I mainly play on was down. Got some stuff done in there and almost started enjoying it. Finished up with the bio-engineer character and then tried to switch over to the merchant and it reported that that account (which used to be Erik's) wasn't registered for Galaxies. May have something to do with his taking it over again to play EQ2 so I should ask him. But that was four days ago and I haven't yet so I guess it'll be awhile.

It was nice having Jon, Tricia and the kids through again but they left the morning after they got here so they could beat the weather and the New Years traffic. Don't imagine I could convince them to come back to the cold again so we'll see when I can get out there next.

Jeff is talking about getting a webcam since he's got a new G4 powerbook and rejoining the gaming group. This sounds like it came straight out of Aaron Williams' webcomic Full Frontal Nerdity. I pulled Jason into the discussion since we're playing his Vampire Campaign and we'll see how it goes. There may be a video feed for those with a perverse desire to inflict torture upon their eyeballs ...

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Man, when Mother Nature gets prickly she doesn't fool around. A 9 scale earthquake the day after Christmas that caused a tsunami which has killed 140,000 people (at the current count). Last week I was poking around the Guiness World Record site and found a natural disaster which killed 800,000 people but still, that's way more than were killed on 9/11 (for those few Americanocentric readers).

And Sandra Bullock has donated a million dollars to the Red Cross for their tsunami fund. Whoa! Words of admiration at her generosity fail me but I can't help but wonder how much the President donated (especially considering his call to Americans to help out). At least his father has more class than he does.

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Well I'm settling into the new building. Getting used to where everything is and such. However I still can't turn the brain on autopilot when driving to work since I'll end up at the Locust Street Building if I do. And it's not safe to do that anyway ...

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Planning for the 4th Annual All-Star Gamer's Retreat has begun. We're looking at early in March this time and at the Lake of the Ozarks. No word on games yet but the plan this time is to cut way down on the cooking and go out a few times.