| Negligent as charged. |
[Nov. 22nd, 2004|10:15 am] |
I've been neglecting LJ of late. I quit reading my friends' posts daily and it slipped totally from my consciousness. I thought of it today when I read the following cartoon: http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/archive.asp?nextform=viewcomic&id=949
I've got to go now. I'm at work and I have so much to do this week and it's a short week (Yay!). I'll blog some here over the holiday. |
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| One Eventful Week |
[Jan. 18th, 2004|05:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | the dishwasher | ] |
This week has been rough. It started with an extremely late night Monday setting up a friend's new computer after work. Not new, as in straight from the manufacturer, but rather new, as in straight from ebay. It was an excellent buy. For about $180 he got a 666Mhz Dell Pentium III with 256MB of RAM and a 10GB HDD. They threw in another 20GB HDD in the second bay that wasn't quoted in the description of the auction.By the time I got home I was exhausted. When I woke up the next morning, I was sick. I had the virus du jour, a head ache and bad lung conjestion. That kept me home from work Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, I made it to work but I was only operating at about 60%. By Friday, I was up to 90%. Friday night we went to see The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. What an excellent movie! Everyone had been telling me it was the best of the three and they were right. Yesterday, Pam had a Midnight Tea Party for all her girlfriends. I retreated to the bedroom and watched TV and played on the computer. That was the other thing I accomplished this week. I bought a domain name and signed up with a web hosting site, primarily to help Pam set up her web store. As a side affect I also have a site to host my totally customized blog. I had been shopping at several other sites and had come to the conclusion that none of them had all the blogging features that I was after. Also, this way I can set up a blog for Pam. I consider blogging slightly different than Journaling. LJ is where I intend to post my personal journal entries. My blog is where I will write essays and point to various items of interest on the web, etc. You know, a blog. Like BoingBoing and Scripting News. Anyway, I may not be the typical LJ user but I don't plan to stop participating anytime soon. LJ is a social phenomenon. One of my primary research interests is Computer Mediated Communication. You can bet there's a lot for me to experience and observe here. That's one of the things I like about social sciences. You can't pretend that you're not a part of the phenomena that you are studying. I guess that's it for this week. I may try to start posting more frequently than I said in my last post now that I have gotten it clear in my own mind what I intend to write where. |
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| Obligatory Quarterly Post |
[Jan. 11th, 2004|09:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mr. Show (on TV) | ] |
Where do I start? I suppose I'll talk about Leo first. I have been using it as a Personal Information Management (PIM) program for around three months now. It has proven very useful. I particularly like being able to clone nodes and put references to them in several places in the hierarchy.Over Christmas break I built a robot arm kit. It was the most complicated electro-mechanical kit I ever built. And most amazing of all, it worked when I got it all together. I also played around with the jMusic Java music library. I want to write a music composition tool in Java. It appears that much of the work has been done for me by the jMusic team. After I got back to work January 5th, I started a weblog called Profiles in Persistence. So far, I have managed to post every day there. I plan to post more often on LJ too. I also started preproduction on an independent film/video project. It kind of developed out of a sequence of incidents. First, a friend agreed to be costumer if I made a period film. Then, I was browsing the web looking up various topics relating to Appalachian folklore. Next, an artist friend agreed to be art director for the project. Since then, I have worked on a draft treatment for the movie. I have also started reading a list of about a dozen blogs every day. I may have to cut back on the number that I read every day in order to get my job done at work. I'll try to post here at least weekly. |
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| Friday night stream of consciousness... |
[Oct. 3rd, 2003|10:01 pm] |
I'm sitting here watching Stargate SG-1 and writing during the commercials. Broadband and laptops sure do make life nice.
I have started organizing my life a little better. I attribute it to a number of factors but in particular, I discovered Leo, an outline processor written in Python. It is really more than just an outline processor though. It has features that support literate programming in a number of different languages. In fact, Leo is itself developed using Leo.
One of the interesting features of Leo is the ability to clone nodes. It allows one to create several different views of the same information. For example, I have created a workspace outline that has a top level item called journal. Journal contains a node for each year (currently just 1993). The node 1993 contains nodes for each month and each month contains nodes for each day. As I write entries each day, I clone them and move the clones to other appropriate nodes in the tree. This has allowed me to organize my writing much more effectively than I used to. I can go one place to look for all of my notes. Did I mention that I can add Python functions in a similar fashion to emacs' elisp functions. It's a programming geek's dream.
I started reading Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver this week. So far it's outstanding. |
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| WOW! I didn't realize it had been so long. |
[Jun. 14th, 2003|10:05 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None | ] |
I guess I just let life sweep me away. I haven't posted here since April 25th. It sure didn't seem that long. I really enjoyed catching up on what was going on with all my LJ friends. Life goes on. I seem to be doing pretty well without antidepressants. I like the broader emotional palette that I have when I'm not taking them. If things get really down again though I've agreed with Pam that I'll go back on them.
Pam has started participating in an online support forum for Bariatric surgery (that's the weight loss surgery like Roseanne had). She is really excited about it. She has six weight related disorders that will likely be eased by the surgery. We are learning to base social events on things other than eating. It is amazing what a large number of social events have eating as a central activity.
Things are going better at work. I have gone from having no specific project to having 4 or 5 that I am juggling at once. It feels good to be contributing again. I just wish some of it was a little more technically challenging. I figure that will come with time.
I'm having a more positive attitude these days. It seems to help. The pessimistic attitude never helped anything and usually managed to get me depressed. Don't get me wrong, I'm still no Pollyanna. I just don't always look for the down side of everything anymore.
Well now that I have rambled on at length, I'll try to post smaller updates more frequently henceforth. |
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| Time just slips away |
[Apr. 25th, 2003|10:43 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Oxford American 2003 Southern Music CD No. 6 | ] |
I had such good intentions to keep this up to date. Well, It's been over 2 weeks since I posted. In the intervening time, we got our federal income tax return, I bought a new amplifier for my classic electric guitar, I bought Jaguar for our Macs, and Pam and I went to Nashville for her preliminary interview with the Bariatric surgeon. The interview went well. She asked him to do the surgery and he agreed. Now we have to wait on the insurance company review board to approve it. That will take 5 to 10 days. Then the surgeon's office will call and make an appointment to discuss when the surgery can be scheduled.
When we got back from the trip, Pam hosted her postponed girls only birthday party. Ben and I went to town and had a nice meal and browsed around Barnes and Noble. I am so tired, guess I'll go to bed. |
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| What do YOU think? |
[Apr. 10th, 2003|09:48 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | music |
| | none | ] |
I wasn't having any trouble being forthcoming in my journal until Pam commented that she was too private to write in such a medium (a paraphrase of what she said). Now I keep asking myself what if someone who knows me and the people that I talk about read my journal. I try to make sure that I don't write anything about anyone that I wouldn't say to their face but there are the issues of timing and context. And now that the nature of the media has been pointed out to me I feel so exposed. It makes me hesitate when I start to write.
I guess in the final analysis, anyone who writes to be read has to overcome these fears. You tell the truth as you understand it at the time and let the cards fall where they may. Or you pick another topic. This is a type of self censorship but that's okay. So long as it's not someone else dictating what you can or can't say.
All this crossed my mind because I am struggling with wanting to buy a guitar amplifier to replace my old one that died vs. all the more responsible things that I should do with that money. I wasn't sure that I could talk honestly about my feelings knowing that they might be read and misunderstood by people that I love. Although writing about feelings and situations may help one sort through them, some things are better not published. |
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| Another installment in the continuing story of Bungalo Bill ... |
[Apr. 9th, 2003|12:19 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | determined | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Santana - Shaman | ] |
I am taking charge of my life. I gave a rousing speech to my home-school Computers class. They had been given a simple assignment to familiarize them with entering text into MS Word and formatting the paragraphs for 1/2" indentation. Not a very big assignment especially considering that I suggested that they combine it with one of their other other assignments. Then they went on spring break.
Two weeks later, they show up without the assignment. They have written the paper that they were going to use as content but they haven't entered it into the computer. The kicker here is that I see these kids practically every day. They could have used my computer to do the assignment. They could have told me their computer wasn't working and I would have helped them get it working.
Their mother was very apologetic. I told her that I was holding them responsible for getting their own assignments. Then I told the kids that we could either have the class or not. I wouldn't get my feelings hurt if they didn't want to have the class but if they did want to have the class I expected them to do the assignments.
They were shocked. No one had ever been that blunt with them. They got busy and we had a good class.
Since then I have been thinking about what I told them. I have to challenge myself to adhere to the same standards. If I intend to do a thing I need to quit procrastinating and get on with it. Or at least be honest with myself and decide that I don't intend to do it after all.
I also gave the peanut gallery a lecture on planning and re-planning. I need to heed my own advice there. So often I come up with a really good game plan and as it slowly falls apart as it inevitably does, I just give up in frustration instead of sitting down and investing the effort in re-planning. |
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| The Price of Toys |
[Apr. 6th, 2003|02:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | none | ] |
Well, all told, I am doing quite nicely. I got all my chores done yesterday. We're getting back a nice big refund from the IRS. Too bad it's mostly already spent. I am going to squeeze a new guitar amp out of it. Nothing fancy. Just big enough so that I can be heard over Sage's drums. I've got Chris talking about getting a new bass amp. I told him that I didn't plan to play real loud, I just want to be able to be heard. I refuse to let this turn into an arms race :-).
I finally got through to the Red Hat update site today. I'm sorely tempted to subscribe to their update feature. I just have trouble justifying $60/yr. I would go maybe $30/yr. I am an incorrigible technology junkie. At least I'm trying to get a life on the side :-).
Speaking of techie lust, I am also getting interested in DV. Now there's a black hole to pour money into. I would love to make movies again. I wonder how I would find the time. I guess you make time for the things that are important to you. That serves to remind me that I have other things that I have started that I need to get serious about finishing. If I can get focused enough to finish them then there is hope that I'll be able to pull off making an indie film on DV. |
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| Daily update |
[Apr. 4th, 2003|02:14 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | connected | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Diana Krall - I Love Being Here with You | ] |
What a fantastic place. Since I started befriending people I have met nothing but really cool people. Most of them friended me back. I guess that's not so surprising since if I think they are cool enough to put on my friend list we probably have something in common.
I decided to try to live without antidepressants for a while. The increase in emotional dynamic range is both welcome and a bit overwhelming. I'm also having to concentrate on not taking out my anger on people I care about.
It really sucks trying to deal with anger management issues when the war is giving me so much to be angry about. I feel like a victim. I didn't vote for the idiot. It didn't really matter since the majority of Americans didn't vote for him but he ended up president anyway. I wonder if pre-WWII Germany felt like this?
Ok, so maybe it is unfair to compare Bush to Hitler. He hasn't committed genocide (yet). But he has inflamed the world situation with his testosterone driven posturing. I don't think Saddam Hussein is a benevolent ruler. I just think that the US is at the mercy of a kabal of right wing radicals.
Enough politics for now. I am getting a headache from the anger. It's good to have somewhere to express it though. I think this will be a useful tool for my psychological and spiritual growth. |
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| LJ: A social success :-) |
[Apr. 1st, 2003|10:52 am] |
I've been thinking about the implications of a community like LJ. It is one of the most engaging communities on the web due largely to the friends feature. It seems so obvious after the fact but it has changed the way I think about the community. I have discovered people from diverse regions of the country that have similar interests, aspirations and concerns.
I feel kind of strange saying this. It seems like I am distancing myself from participation by observing the mechanism of communication. Oh well, until I get in the habit of posting more, what do I expect.
I'm going to heat up the really-good-from-scratch-chili-that-I-made-all-by-myself-the-other-day
for lunch and then get back to work. Did you get that I'm proud of my chili? :-) |
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| Sometimes you just have to say $#@% it |
[Mar. 14th, 2003|11:23 am] |
I blew off work today. I took a day vacation. I used the excuse that Ben was getting home from the hospital today but that was just an excuse. I just need down time. I am so glad that Ben is recuperating from his surgery so fast. I hope this helps him have a normal life. He has such a good attitude about it all.
I wonder why there are so many people that want to put their private journals on line for the world to see. I know I'm one of them but that doesn't mean I understand it. Not that the public journal is the only place I write but I do tend to be quite candid here.
I have just been accosted by Daisy, my computing buddy cat. She likes the fact that when I'm at the computer she can climb on my lap, get petted and I rarely throw her off. I think she's occasionally interested in the things that move on the screen as well. She has been known to bat the screen and try to catch the cursor. |
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| SpaceJUG meeting |
[Mar. 11th, 2003|10:54 pm] |
|
The SpaceJUG meeting was held at Sister Gooch's tonight. They had their new wireless access point on line. We all downloaded the presentation and followed along on our laptops since there wasn't a projector available. Josh gave a presentation on J2ME and his Java enabled web phone. It was impressive. The pizza was good. I think we decided to hold the next meeting there as well. |
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| Update |
[Mar. 4th, 2003|12:54 pm] |
Well, it's been a while. A little over a year in fact. Aruba Al is back in Huntsville. I guess paradise was just too much for him. He's still got his priorities straight though, and he has lightened his load considerably. A course of action to be emulated, in my opinion.
I am hanging in there. At work, we moved to a new building in Research Park. It is closer to the university, closer to a lot of cool places to eat lunch, closer to the medical district, in short, closer to everything except the airport. An overall win.
I'm taking on the task of teaching computer literacy to several home schoolers. It will surely keep me busy but it will be fun. |
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| Bon Voyage Al! |
[Feb. 19th, 2002|02:23 pm] |
|
My friend Al is dropping out and moving to Aruba to be a beach bum. Yeah Al! I'll link to him here when he sets up his Live Journal site. Oh to be young and free :-). |
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| Back again! |
[Nov. 27th, 2001|06:21 pm] |
|
Well, I have finally recovered from the coffee cup syndrome. Seventeen days ago, I dumped coffee into the keyboard of my laptop. It was immediately dead. After much waiting, the IT folks got me a new laptop and extracted my hard drive from the old one. It survived! I was very thankful. I have banned coffee cups from the computer desk. I didn't realize how much I depended on this little sucker until I didn't have it. |
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| IBM takes eclipse Open Source |
[Nov. 6th, 2001|12:46 pm] |
|
I hadn't even heard of eclipse until slashdot ran an article reporting that IBM was taking it Open Source. Read the white paper, it's a cool project. I can't wait to have a closer look myself. |
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| Blank Page Syndrome |
[Sep. 10th, 2001|11:24 am] |
|
I guess I'm suffering from blank page syndrome. That's where you sit and stare at a blank page and think of all the things you could write. I usually end up writing about writing. It's a little bit boring but it's usually what I'm thinking about when I have problems figuring out what to write. I do think that the more you write, the better you write and the less you suffer from blank page syndrome. |
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| Live Journal is Sure Overloaded |
[Aug. 29th, 2001|10:16 am] |
I tried to add an entry yesterday. I kept getting the cute little page that tells me that Live Journal is currently overloaded and assures me that supplementary server hardware is on the way. This is understandable but frustrating. I want to start making regular entries in my journal. I'm a whole lot less likely to do that if I can't even access it when I have a free minute.
On a related note, the Manila server at EditThisPage was down at the same time. Maybe the universe is just trying to tell me to quit yacking and get back to work :-). |
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| I'm tired of seeing a blank page here :-) |
[Aug. 24th, 2001|09:59 am] |
|
What a remarkable site this is. I have a weblog on Dave Winer's EditThisPage called Experiment 13031. This site has a different flavor though. I guess a blog is a blog is a blog. It's nice to play with the different styles of interface though. |
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