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Fuzzy dice

We have fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror of our mini-van. Our friends find this most amusing, so they tell me. They originally came from Margie, who I assume, in…

We have fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror of our mini-van.

Our friends find this most amusing, so they tell me.

They originally came from Margie, who I assume, in her carefree single days, hung them from the mirror of her sportly little Fiat Spider convertible.

Now for a confession: I don’t really know what fuzzy dice symbolize.

I mean, I have a general contextual understanding that they are kind of a wild, young, sporty, “taking risks,” “hot stuff,” “lookin’ for action” kind of thing. Which is why I hung them on our sedate, suburban, yuppyvan, since the root of most humor is absurdity … and because we hate to think that we are completely domesticated, even with the Squig.

But that’s all contextual guesswork. I was never in a crowd as a youth that did the fuzzy dice thing, so if they actually mean, “I am soliciting sex, honk twice if you are cute,” I am, perhaps, doing something a bit odd. Though Margie would be allowing it, which is disturbing in either case. So I assume that my contextual guesswork is pretty much on target.

Listen, rinse, repeat

I have odd music-listening habits. When I start listening to something I enjoy, I listen to it again. And again. And again. Over, and over, and over again. Sometimes a…

I have odd music-listening habits.

When I start listening to something I enjoy, I listen to it again. And again. And again. Over, and over, and over again. Sometimes a single track, played on Repeat, the entire trip to and/or from the office.

Margie is very indulgent of me in this. It has to be pretty annoying. I think she chalks it up to one of my charming eccentricities, and a relatively harmless (if noisy) one.

For the last three or four months, it’s been John Barry‘s soundtrack to The Living Daylights. Barry is the king of James Bond movie soundtracks, and is noteworthy for them as well as for other such trivial soundtracks as Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, The Lion in Winter, Born Free, Midnight Cowboy, Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Somewhere in Time, Howard the Duck (!), and many others. Once you know his style, it’s unmistakable, a lush, lyrical melange of violins, brass, and contrapuntal rhythm. (Indeed, if you are not aware of him as an artist, consider the above tunes plus most of the Bond soundtracks. You’ll probably recognize the commonality right there and then.)

When we had to provide music for our wedding video, we (well, I, but Margie agreed) selected his Moviola theme for the finale. Sweepingly romantic, strongly melodic … I can’t say enough about his work. Incredibly neat stuff. If I had to have someone composing the soundtrack for my life, it would be him.

Anyway, The Living Daylights soundtrack has some really fun, driving themes to it, including tunes done by The Pretenders and A-ha. Leaving out the soppy romantic tracks (which Barry also does extremely well, but which isn’t nearly as much fun cranked up on high as you go driving down the freeway), it’s rollicking good fun.

Riding the rails

Denver has light rail. There are a lot of people who pooh-pooh this. Some of them think we should expand our bus fleet. Others think rapid transit is a goofy…

Denver has light rail.

There are a lot of people who pooh-pooh this. Some of them think we should expand our bus fleet. Others think rapid transit is a goofy idea, and that we should just expand our freeways to LA-size megaways (since that has, clearly, made LA traffic so much better).

I, frankly, think light rail is keen. I dearly wish it traveled somewhere along my commute, because I would ride it (as I rode the bus downtown when that was where my job was). The critics would note that it does not do so, and so condemn light rail as a profligate waste, a boondoggle, a passle of porkbarrel.

But there is value in symbols, and light rail, even though it does not solve all our ongoing transit problems (though the Southwest corridor has turned out to be far more successful than anyone thought, and I predict similar success for the Southeast corridor), is a symbol. It is a sign that we can at least give lip service to solving regional problems. It’s a sign that we are looking for alternatives to simply paving more roads to accomodate more cars and more people.

And you know what? People do ride the light rail. And when petrol prices climb even higher, more will ride it. And folks will bitch about short-sighted politicos who can’t wave their hands and make more light rail magically appear.

Such is progress.

Three cheers and a bleat!

Driving off to my golf game today (see below), there were various cars festooned with sports paraphernalia, and many, many people queued up at the Park-n-Rides along Santa Fe. Yes,…

Driving off to my golf game today (see below), there were various cars festooned with sports paraphernalia, and many, many people queued up at the Park-n-Rides along Santa Fe.

Yes, it’s the day of the great CU/CSU game.

People get goofy about this sort of thing.

I always feel obliged to root for CSU, since I lived in Ft. Collins for 9 months in High School.

CSU got waxed today, something like 14-42.

Take that for what you will.

Satanic Games!

The interesting web bit of the day. From Satanic Games: After an exhaustive research one commission, the Christian Life Ministries, tells the naked truth through these incisive comments: ‘Dungeons &…

The interesting web bit of the day. From Satanic Games:

After an exhaustive research one commission, the Christian Life Ministries, tells the naked truth through these incisive comments: ‘Dungeons & Dragons, instead of a game is a teaching on demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, Satan-worship, gambling, jungian psychology, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination, and many more teachings, brought to you in living color direct from the pit of hell.’

Wow. I feel so … dirty.

It hurts so good.

Treasure

So there’s this commercial on TV, on a “treasure chest” of rare coins, including at least a dozen wheat pennies. (Which reminds me, I found a 1946 wheat penny in…

So there’s this commercial on TV, on a “treasure chest” of rare coins, including at least a dozen wheat pennies. (Which reminds me, I found a 1946 wheat penny in my pocket yesterday. It’s been a while since I got one at random. Neat.)

Anyway, “even the chest itself is a collector’s item,” made out of real wood and “genuine brass-tone hinges.”

Genuine brass-tone hinges.

Wow.

Holy golf

Golf day. The parish was holding a, well, parish golf get-together. Good “fellowship” fun. And it gave me a legitimate way to leave Margie with the Squig for the afternoon,…

Golf day. The parish was holding a, well, parish golf get-together. Good “fellowship” fun. And it gave me a legitimate way to leave Margie with the Squig for the afternoon, saying, “I’m off to do church-related activities, woman.”

Bless her, she didn’t hurt me too badly.

We played at Overland Golf Course, which is a Denver municipal course. Pretty straightforward. Lots of long, straight, wide fairways. Wish I’d been in a few more of them (or at least those of the hole I was playing). Ended up with a 113, which is (so to speak) par for the course.

What was noteworthy was that I actually netted 1 golf ball for the 18 holes. Now, that’s not quite as astonishing as it sounds, since we got three golf balls as part of our admission fee to the soiree. But that means I lost only 2 balls, on 18 holes. There are days and courses where I don’t even get through a single hole without losing that many. Hoody-golfin-hoo.

Golf is one of those sports that really needs to be played to be appreciated. To observers, it is slow, silly, and features folks wearing odd clothing. Sort of like baseball. Actually getting out there, whacking at the ball, and noting its disinclination to go in the desired direction, for the desired distance, instills in one a realization of exactly how talented those folks who do this sort of thing for a living.

As to how my game was — the answer is, uneven. My score actually was worse on the back nine than the front. I had the requisite Great Shots that actually get you to come back (including a gorgeous 175 yard fairway shot right up on the green, woo-hoo), not to mention two pars, and three bogies. I was suffering from a very odd hook this outing. Plus some problems with actually not aiming in the right direction (which is easier to do than it sounds). My putting was actually pretty good — not nearly the normal level of “Three-Putting Your Way To Victory!” that I usually suffer from.

On the other hand, I hit into the fairway from the tee twice. That’s two times out of 18 possible. That’s pretty sucky.

Mercifully, I was not the worst of our foursome, and the group was uneven enough in its play that I won a few holes. Still, there’s a reason I don’t play for money (let alone for a living).

Pet peeves

Calvary instead of cavalry. Nucular instead of nuclear. Irregardless instead of regardless. You have been warned….

Calvary instead of cavalry.
Nucular instead of nuclear.
Irregardless instead of regardless.

You have been warned.

Parish the thought

I finally got around to updating the parish web page. Everyone at the church has been wildly enthusiastic about the job I’ve done on it, but nobody wants to help…

I finally got around to updating the parish web page. Everyone at the church has been wildly enthusiastic about the job I’ve done on it, but nobody wants to help contribute (e.g., send me electronic documents to post). Annoying. Still, it’s a service to the church community, and (dare I say it) to God, which is a bit daunting when I consider my occasionally slothful attitude toward it.

Still, if I had to commit a deadly sin related to my web work, sloth is probably the best. Better than the others. I mean, I could see Pride (of what I’ve done), Envy (of others’ web work), Wrath (pounding on the keyboard when my connection goes down doesn’t really help). Not sure how Lust would play a role (unless I was doing one of those web sites). Or Avarice (unless it’s “I want more megabytes!”). Or Gluttony (wanting to consume those self-same megabytes?).

The acronym I learned as a wee Catholic lad for the Seven Deadly Sins was PEWSLAG — Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Avarice, Gluttony.

For a web development Seven Deadly Sins, click here. Or for a more modern pop media interpretation, try here.

Has anyone ever noticed …

Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between Farscape’s Stark and The A-Team’s Howlin’ Mad Murdoch? They even look a little alike….

Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between Farscape‘s Stark and The A-Team‘s Howlin’ Mad Murdoch? They even look a little alike.

Templates

I’ve been tweaking my blogger template (if that wasn’t already obvious). Which meant I had to dig back into the old brain pan for my HTML knowledge, sadly atrophied with…

I’ve been tweaking my blogger template (if that wasn’t already obvious). Which meant I had to dig back into the old brain pan for my HTML knowledge, sadly atrophied with such tools as FrontPage, since that’s what the blogger template stuff requires. A fun exercise.

Watching Farscape this evening. Over the last year, it’s been about the only “Gotta watch it, go out of my way to watch it, or tape it, or whatever, gotta watch it” show on my schedule. (We’ve been reeeeealy negligent of Buffy/Angel this year, despite Doyce’ best efforts.)

Well, starting next week (maybe late week, maybe even next week), the ante gets upped, since SciFi is now stripping the earlier seasons of Farscape M-F. Which means (a) Margie and I need to watch them at 6 p.m. every weeknight, and (b) we need to tape them, so Doyce, who doesn’t get SciFi [cosmic balance for my not being able to get DSL, perhaps], can watch it.

On the bright side, I don’t have to buy any more Farscape tapes via Best.com.

Potpourri

An odd and interesting morning. I’m off today, since my company does a 4-9s-and-a-4 schedule, which on holiday weekends translates into 4-9s-and-an-8 the week before, and 4-9s the week of,…

An odd and interesting morning. I’m off today, since my company does a 4-9s-and-a-4 schedule, which on holiday weekends translates into 4-9s-and-an-8 the week before, and 4-9s the week of, which means 4-day weekends. And that’s enough numbers. Suffice it to say that it was nice not working today.

Margie went in, though, so I’m Mr. Mom this morning. Which isn’t bad. Aside from occasionally becoming clingy, Katherine’s a good Squiggy.

Got to work on my web page (which is progressing nicely, save my inability to FTP the damned thing up to my web site. I don’t know if that’s a DollarHost problem, or a too-many-hops problem between my notebook and them. Irritating.).

[Oops. Had to read to Katherine, change Katherine, and put her down for a nap.]

In the meantime, watching Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, and (on AMC), Ft. Apache. The second Indy outing is only watchable as an Indy movie. John Ford’s western is good stuff, though, with Henry Fonda, John Wayne, and black-and-white glory.

So a Man Walks Into a Menu Bar

I’m working on my web page. Actually, our web page, since Margie has a presence. It’s a complete redesign, using FrontPage and cleaning up all sorts of obsolete stuff. Should…

I’m working on my web page. Actually, our web page, since Margie has a presence. It’s a complete redesign, using FrontPage and cleaning up all sorts of obsolete stuff. Should be really neat once it’s done.

Once it’s done.

Getting there, though. You’ll read about it here, first.

If you want to see the old web page, you can go to the old web page.

1993

Amazon.com. Babylon 5. DVD. Pre-order. Today. The first DVD has both the pilot episode, The Gathering, and the TV movie In the Beginning, offered for only $15. Could that mean…

Amazon.com.
Babylon 5.
DVD.
Pre-order.
Today.

The first DVD has both the pilot episode, The Gathering, and the TV movie In the Beginning, offered for only $15. Could that mean that, when we get to the eps, we’ll actually get 3 or 4 eps per disk? That might make it worth it.

Btw, The Gathering shows as having a production date of 1993. Ye gods. A lifetime ago, almost literally for me. I mean, in 1993 I was doing Oracle DBA work in Pasadena, living in a condo in Phillips Ranch, CA, and married (rockily) to Cheryl. Now I’m an IT Manager in Denver, living in a house, with Margie my wife and Katherine my baby.

Wow.

Still a few constants. Mist, for one, who turns 10 this week. Comic books. My employer (if not my position).

Wow.

What I’ll regret if I replace my home-taped tapes with DVDs is (believe it or not) watching, via news blurbs, the progress of the whole OJ Simpson murder, trial, aftermath. Weird.

Down the Mysterly River

Down the Mysterly River A new book by Bill Willingham, best known (to me at least) as the comic book writer (and sometime-artist) of Elementals, Pantheon, and the, ah, mature…

Down the Mysterly River

A new book by Bill Willingham, best known (to me at least) as the comic book writer (and sometime-artist) of Elementals, Pantheon, and the, ah, mature title Ironwood. This is a juvenile story, a fairy tale adventure — but something adults can sink their teeth into as well. Really fun, oddly disturbing, well-recommended. I read it on the plane to/from this most recent business trip. It read quickly, but well. I plan on rereading it again.

Palm or Rim?

Hmmmm. That sounds vaguely … disturbing. What I mean is, I’ve been using a Palm Vx for the last year or so. And, much to my surprise, it’s become a…

Hmmmm. That sounds vaguely … disturbing.

What I mean is, I’ve been using a Palm Vx for the last year or so. And, much to my surprise, it’s become a regular accessory. When I walk out of the house, I make sure I have my wallet, my keys, my watch, my cell phone, and my Palm … and sometimes I forget my watch. I can keep my schedule, I can find my friends’ phone numbers, I can scribble notes … and always have it with me!

That having been said, my Palm is stand-alone. No modem or anything. And the stylus interface has some plusses for navigation, but sucks for text input (even though I use Graffiti faster than most folks I know).

A few weeks back, one of my peers in IT showed up at a meeting with one of the iPAQ Blackberry units — basically Compaq repackaging the RIM 957. It had all the basic PDA functions, it had ties into our company e-mail system through wireless functions (which worked better than my cell phone where we were eating), and it had a little keyboard (thumbs) interface.

And then another person in the company got sent one from our infrastructure group.

So I broadly hinted, “Oh, by the way, if you’re just giving them away …” And they’re going to send me one.

Now, the fact is, alpha geek that I am, no way I can actually carry two PDAs. So if I use the Blackberry, I won’t be using the Palm. But …

Upgrade angst. The Palm has a much broader software base. It’s worked well for me. I have all my PC synchronization set up, and all my utility enhancements set up. But the Blackberry has a keyboard interface, which may mean I can use it even more effectively. And it’s wireless. And the (rechargable) battery life is supposedly fantastic. I can get my office e-mail. But I have questions (from reviews I’ve since read) about how practical the e-mail thing will be (do I have to leave my desktop booted up? really?). And I’m not sure that the functionality of the utilities will be as good. And my Palm syncs with my preferred address book (PSA Cards), wherease the Blackberry will just work with my Outlook, which doesn’t help me any with e-mailing folks from the office …

*sigh*

Well, we’ll see. I’ll let you know how it’s going.

StormWatch – Final Orbit

StormWatch – Final Orbit Wednesdays are comic book days at the local Mile High Comics (or, rather, the MHC that is between my office and my house). This week’s highlight…

StormWatch – Final Orbit

Wednesdays are comic book days at the local Mile High Comics (or, rather, the MHC that is between my office and my house). This week’s highlight is referenced at the link above — the “missing chapter” between Warren Ellis’ _StormWatch_ series and his _Authority_. A bit of a mishmosh, but unique in cross-over history in its impact on the Wildstorm universe, and some good bits to boot.

Opinionated

Online journals popular with the opinionated Mercifully, I can at least claim to have gotten into blogging before (barely) USA Today wrote an article about how it’s popular….

Online journals popular with the opinionated

Mercifully, I can at least claim to have gotten into blogging before (barely) USA Today wrote an article about how it’s popular.

Credit? Or blame?

//bears-cave.com — It’s all about Falling Down. By the way, I figured I should credit the guy who got me blogging — Doyce. The interesting thing about Doyce’s blog is…

//bears-cave.com — It’s all about Falling Down.

By the way, I figured I should credit the guy who got me blogging — Doyce. The interesting thing about Doyce’s blog is that reading it on a regular basis (or as regular as his ISP allows) doesn’t diminish from the amusing anecdotes he has to tell in person. Good stuff.

More coffee?

While you’re at it, check out Tortious Torts on this subject for a very balanced review of tort reform and the sort of stories that get floated on this subject….

While you’re at it, check out Tortious Torts on this subject for a very balanced review of tort reform and the sort of stories that get floated on this subject. Snopes.com is the site to visit for researching urban legends and Internet chain letters.