(As part of my “turning static pages into blog entries” project, I’m converting the About Me page I had into, well, a blog entry. Since it’s mostly text, that means…
(As part of my “turning static pages into blog entries” project, I’m converting the About Me page I had into, well, a blog entry. Since it’s mostly text, that means I don’t have to go and update it’s template every time I update my blog design.)
I’ve been feeling more and more uncomfortable with the static nature of my personal web pages, which date back to early/mid-2001, and haven’t really been updated since. So one thing…
I’ve been feeling more and more uncomfortable with the static nature of my personal web pages, which date back to early/mid-2001, and haven’t really been updated since.
So one thing I’ve been considering doing is slowly converting those pages into blog entries. Then they get updated/supplanted/cross-refenced with the rest of my blog material (and I don’t have to worry about FrontPage doing something crazy to my pages, either).
We’ll see.
Holy Moley. There’s like 3, 4, 5″ of big, heavy, foofy snow on the ground — and it’s still coming down! Plants, lawn, deck, all covered up. Even the street…
Holy Moley. There’s like 3, 4, 5″ of big, heavy, foofy snow on the ground — and it’s still coming down! Plants, lawn, deck, all covered up. Even the street is spottily covered. The outside temp is just about freezing, but the snow keeps coming down.
Hey, there’s even a Winter Storm Warning in effect here:
Snow… heavy at times… will continue this morning. Storm total accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are expected.
A few thoughts.
On the other hand, it’s an excellent time, from a water supply standpoint, for a heavy wet snow. Farmers would be releasing irrigation water, and this will directly replaces some of that.
Mother Nature takes, and gives. And doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other.
UPDATE (8:59a): We’re officially at 6″ here in Centennial. Still a Winter Storm Warning, though the low is moving east. Lots of power outages out there, too, from fallen branches leading to fallen lines. And the lady who was coming over to give us a lawn mowing estimate just called to put it off until next weekend.
The scene is a long ride in the van on a rainy freeway. We’ve been singing “Old MacDonald” DADDY: “… and on his farm he had a …” what? KITTEN:…
The scene is a long ride in the van on a rainy freeway. We’ve been singing “Old MacDonald”
DADDY: “… and on his farm he had a …” what?
KITTEN: You choose!
DADDY: [considers what has not yet been done] “… a cow …”
KITTEN: [howling like the damned] Noooooo!!!!
DADDY: But Katherine, you told me to choose. That’s what I chose.
KITTEN: [Long, considering pause] Let me help you …
Or, as Henry Ford put it, “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.”
Note to online newsletter adminstrators: If your unsubscribe form is the same as your subscribe form (with a dropdown to select the action), and you require folks to put in…
Note to online newsletter adminstrators: If your unsubscribe form is the same as your subscribe form (with a dropdown to select the action), and you require folks to put in a first name, last name, city, state, ZIP, and phone number, in addition to e-mail address, to unsubscribe, you will almost certainly get requests from Mr. UNSUBSCRIBE ME, of NOW, Colorado, who can be reached in the daytime at 303-555-1212.
Just a thought.
A guide to all the hot jive lingo used by today’s troubled youth, courtesy of Joe Friday the Source for Youth Ministry. (via BoingBoing)…
A guide to all the hot jive lingo used by today’s troubled youth, courtesy of Joe Friday the Source for Youth Ministry.
(via BoingBoing)
Yes, it’s my long-delayed (because we didn’t go out to see it until last night, and many thanks to Doyce & Jackie for helping enable that) X2 review. Okay, no…
Yes, it’s my long-delayed (because we didn’t go out to see it until last night, and many thanks to Doyce & Jackie for helping enable that) X2 review.
Okay, no big surprises here. First off, it’s no Citizen Kane. Second off, it’s a damn fine piece of entertainment, and arguably one of the best “comic book” flicks ever.
While Spider-Man (the other contender for that title) builds a whole, unified story from scratch, X2 takes advantage of being a sequel to simply dive into the action. If you didn’t catch the original, you won’t be completely lost; the various characters and situations that carry over from the previous flick are explained by in passing, through action, rather than through lengthy narrative. Who the X-folks are, what they can do, what their relationships are, what the world is like, who this Magneto fellow is, all get touched on quickly and painlessly.
That lets us gets right into the action. The plot (and various subplots) border on being too busy without falling over into it. Any number of subplots could have been focused on further, more dramatically, but we only touch on each lightly, like a hummingbird, before flitting off into further action. That could be considered a weakness (and certainly means that X2 isn’t a Citizen Kane), but the overall feel is so satisfactory that it becomes merely a quibble.
This is a sequel that builds on the original as few such films do. Pretty much everything has been improved, from pacing to sfx. And there’s plenty of foreshadowing for X3, which it sounds like pretty much everyone is eager to do, contractual obligations permitting.
MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW:
Margie’s been working all week, and I’ve needed to work from the office all week, so we’ve been doing a lot of Kitten juggling and shuttling of her to/from Margie’s…
Margie’s been working all week, and I’ve needed to work from the office all week, so we’ve been doing a lot of Kitten juggling and shuttling of her to/from Margie’s office day care.
Today, I got to drop her off, and did so early in the morning so I could then complete the great cross-town triangle and go to the office. And I’m picking her up, too, so that we can go to the Denver Botanic Garden plant sale this afternoon, etc. (unless the heavens open up with rain and snow, which is actually predicted, believe it or not).
So …
Which, of course, I didn’t realize until I got to the office.
The danger of being a creature of habit is screwing up when circumstances change abruptly. I wouldn’t evolve well, I fear.
Mercifully, the IT folks had a notebook they could loan me for the morning, even if it is a microscopic Armada M300 with an XJack NIC that has the network cable shooting straight up three inches, right between my right hand on the keyboard and my right hand on the mouse.
Beats some of the other things I could have forgotten this a.m., I suppose.
Enhancements to your service coming soon! Yeah, no good can come from that. I’ve been using PayMyBills now as an electronic bill paying service for about two and a half…
Enhancements to your service coming soon!
Yeah, no good can come from that.
I’ve been using PayMyBills now as an electronic bill paying service for about two and a half years now. Late last year they merged with PayTrust, and the announcement seems to be that the two services are being merged into a new interface, yadda-yadda-yadda. No additional cost (which is usually the hidden flip side of “enhancements” announcements like that).
I’ve long felt PMB was the greatest thing since sliced bread. If the “enhancements” go as planned, I don’t anticipate being any less happy.
I don’t expect to be buying Katherine her own DVD player for some time, but these Disney “soft design” electronics are, well, <falsetto> gosh, swell! </falsetto> Indeed, they look just…
I don’t expect to be buying Katherine her own DVD player for some time, but these Disney “soft design” electronics are, well, <falsetto> gosh, swell! </falsetto>
Indeed, they look just like what you’d expect to find on top of Mickey’s own TV. Which is, of course, the idea.
(via BoingBoing)
Tres cool. NASA has online a time-lapse QT movie of 24 hours of air traffic over the US (14Mb). (via BoingBoing)…
Tres cool. NASA has online a time-lapse QT movie of 24 hours of air traffic over the US (14Mb).
(via BoingBoing)
Well, how disappointing. I came up with what I thought were a couple of smashing logos for our global IT group, and submitted them as part of a company-wide contest….
Well, how disappointing. I came up with what I thought were a couple of smashing logos for our global IT group, and submitted them as part of a company-wide contest.
I certainly wasn’t expecting to win (though I was hopeful), but I expected that the logo that was chosen would be at least as good if not better — I know I have talent, but I know there are plenty of other, more talented folk.
Absolute. Dreck.
The selected logo is (a) way too busy, (b) way too dull, (c) way too detailed to be shrunk, (d) way too blah. Muddled, muted colors, multiple blocks of text, and it all combines into something that looks like the front page of a PowerPoint presentation. It looks like something designed and/or approved by a committee.
Feh.
I don’t mind not winning. I mind losing undeservedly.
But I’m not bitter …
(And, no, I’m not going to post the winner, nor my entries. Just take my word for it.)
In the invective-fest that’s become national political dialog, critics of Dubya have long enjoyed turning the tables on the folks who pilloried Clinton for his draft evasion tactics during Nam,…
In the invective-fest that’s become national political dialog, critics of Dubya have long enjoyed turning the tables on the folks who pilloried Clinton for his draft evasion tactics during Nam, by pointing out that not only did Dubya duck out into the Air National Guard, but he was a crappy pilot who went AWOL a lot.
Heck, I even thought I’d made it the subject of a blog entry before (couldn’t find it, but I did find a reference to it in one about Michael Moore). Plus, I was willing to cut him at least some slack, since he seems to have made a major turnaround in his personal life since the 70s.
Well, looking at the actual record, it may well be that the charge has been trumped up. Both the Boston Globe and the NY Times have looked at the records in question, and a lot of the nastiest allegations (particularly the AWOL ones) haven’t panned out.
[Globe:] Those who trained and flew with Bush, until he gave up flying in April 1972, said he was among the best pilots in the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. In the 22-month period between the end of his flight training and his move to Alabama, Bush logged numerous hours of duty, well above the minimum requirements for so-called ”weekend warriors.”
Indeed, in the first four years of his six-year commitment, Bush spent the equivalent of 21 months on active duty, including 18 months in flight school. His Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore, who enlisted in the Army for two years and spent five months in Vietnam, logged only about a month more active service, since he won an early release from service.
[NY Times:] [R]egulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter. Mr. Bartlett pointed to a document in Mr. Bush’s military records that showed credit for four days of duty ending Nov. 29 and for eight days ending Dec. 14, 1972, and, after he moved back to Houston, on dates in January, April and May. The May dates correlated with orders sent to Mr. Bush at his Houston apartment on April 23, 1973, in which Sgt. Billy B. Lamar told Mr. Bush to report for active duty on May 1-3 and May 8-10. Another document showed that Mr. Bush served at various times from May 29, 1973, through July 30, 1973, a period of time questioned by The Globe.
Not that I expect that to end this particular urban legend. Certainly there may be more to the story than that, but it doesn’t look like Dubya was any more of a slacker than some of his presidential peers.
(via InstaPundit)
Time for the usual raft of Thursday Q&As, starting with The Thursday Thumb-Twiddler:…
Time for the usual raft of Thursday Q&As, starting with The Thursday Thumb-Twiddler:
Britain’s Channel 4 was looking for someplace striking and noteworthy to put a logo for their Big Brother series, and hit upon a great idea — paint it on the…
Britain’s Channel 4 was looking for someplace striking and noteworthy to put a logo for their Big Brother series, and hit upon a great idea — paint it on the greensward next to the 3,000-year-old Uffington White Horse, a football-field-length chalk drawing in Oxfordshire.
What’s amazing is that Britain’s National Trust organization, which owns the site, actually went along with it.
Okay, so the logo was supposedly in chalk-based paint that would be washed away by the rain. Right.
But, dammit, it’s the principle of the thing. If CBS wanted to put an ad for “Survivor” on a huge biodegradable banner next to Mount Rushmore, would folks be rightfully upset with the National Park Service for allowing it?
How about a “American Idol” logo draped tastefully around the Washington Monument? Or flapping in the breeze at Mesa Verde? Or sprayed in water-soluble ink across the flanks of the Grand Canyon?
Having been to the Uffington White Horse, all I can say is, for shame.
(via GoaF)
There is no “implied warranty under Virginia law running from a hotel owner or operator to a guest warranting that the premises are ‘fit for human habitation, would be clean…
There is no “implied warranty under Virginia law running from a hotel owner or operator to a guest warranting that the premises are ‘fit for human habitation, would be clean and sanitary, and would be suitable for occupancy.'”
Or so says MCHD Hampton Corp., owners of the Quality Inn of Hampton, VA.
I wonder — do they mention that when people call for reservations?
Margie and I are off to the wilds of California pretty much all next week (leaving Sunday afternoon). Since this is a combination of both a trip to Faerie (as…
Margie and I are off to the wilds of California pretty much all next week (leaving Sunday afternoon). Since this is a combination of both a trip to Faerie (as the timeless realm of the in-laws is referred to here) and a business-trip chock-full of meetings, I expect the blog posting here to take something of a nose dive next week.
Which will probably be ironic for a variety of reasons I’ll have to go into once I can, but which adds another layer of irony to this trip, which original layer I also can’t talk about.
Why do I mention this? Just ’cause.
Katherine started telling us the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. “One ponna time …” it began. We got her to put it off until bed time, which gave…
Katherine started telling us the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. “One ponna time …” it began.
We got her to put it off until bed time, which gave me the opportunity to grab the video camera.
Yeah, I won’t force anyone to watch it. But I’ll betcha she’s got a couple of pair of grandparents she’ll be seeing next week who would love to check out that footage.
Off to a seminar all day. I’ll be back to blogging this evening. That’s all. Go outside and play or something. UPDATE: Learned many things about how to deal with…
Off to a seminar all day. I’ll be back to blogging this evening.
That’s all. Go outside and play or something.
UPDATE: Learned many things about how to deal with difficult employees, none of which are terribly helpful at the present moment. Alas.
Not the best of ways to end the work day: Despite being ready to leave early, I realized that I needed to do my out-of-office messages for tomorrow, which meant…
Not the best of ways to end the work day:
On the bright side, I managed to patch the holes in the sprinkler up by the top flower bed. And Margie managed to work out a schedule for us to see X2 on Thursday night.
So life isn’t all that bad.