Using my skills for fun and profit

My friends call me the most wired person they know. I've had an email address for longer than anyone they know. I'm always on top of the latest memes and tools on the internets. I've got RSS feeds, automated searches, and email lists that keep me updated on what my friends are doing, what's happening around town, the latest political news. I use SMS/texting as a tool, and as my primary means of communication with friends who aren't right there in front of me.

The majority of my past girlfriends were met through online dating; my love, Lindsey, and I met through Twitter, as a matter of fact.

I can google like no one's business; it takes me minutes, at most, to find relevant results to any search. When those random questions come up in conversation, like "Who won the World Series in 1983?" or "What's the population of Mexico City, anyway?", my friends turn to me, no matter where we are, and expect me to look it up on my ever-present iPhone.

I've spent years building up this... skill set? Is that what it is? To me, it feels like breathing; it's just what I do. Computers and networks of information have been a part of my life for so long that I can't really imagine what my life would be like if it all went away. That's probably a bad thing, to be so dependent on it, right? And since you're reading this, I imagine that your life, too, is much the same way, to some degree or other.

But you realize that not everyone gets this, right? I've come to the realization that this is indeed, a skill set, and some people have it, and some people don't.

But what am I really using it all for? Fun, entertainment, and random questions here and there. Fun and games.

So this raises two different lines of thought for me:

1. Can I, y'know, get paid for this? Are there people out there who need this done, either on an ad hoc basis or on an ongoing basis, and are willing to pay for it? Even if the pay isn't that much, it would supplement my current income and give me some satisfaction in doing something well.
   
   Sadly, one answer comes back immediately: yes, there are people who get paid for things like this. They're called marketers, or "social media experts", or various other phrases that, in many people's minds, translate into "spammers", even though what I'm talking about is research and analysis and data-collecting, not sending out information.
   
   I'm thinking along the lines of "online researcher" or "finder of online things". Or even "online private investigator", although that gets into privacy and ethical issues that I find I'm less and less comfortable with.
   
   
2. The other idea I had was to consider the areas of my life where I am not currently using these skills, but which could benefit from their application. The primary one that leapt to mind was writing. I would love to get paid to write. Short articles, short fiction or novels, instructions and how-tos, all sorts and types of writing.
   
   I can use these skills in finding information on how to approach writing markets, to finding and becoming part of writers' markets online, finding out about job opportunities, ways and means to polish my writing and to share all this information with others.
   
   Now that that thought has occurred to me, I'm surprised that I am not already doing it.
   

Consider this post my first step in this direction. Yes, there are things I can begin doing to help me, but there's also the idea that I need to put myself out there. By writing this post, I am hopefully attracting some attention to my desire; perhaps someone else's search will turn up this post - though I admit that the chances of that are low. I have not written this post for "search engine optimization"; it's just my random thoughts barely organized at all. I haven't included "keywords" in my headers and tags. I'm just a guy spilling my brain out onto the internet.

But that's my strength, too. I'm not going to charge an arm and a leg for something that seems so simple to me, and if there's some way my skills match a problem you're having and you can't solve it, just let me know. I'll probably do it for free or cheap at first, as a way to figure out the shape and scope of the work, the ins and outs.

Should be interesting... • 7:00 AM 4 comments

A night in

I had not seen her all week, though we had been in touch via instant messaging, texting, and email. She had been busy, I had been busy. It happens, and it is a normal thing with two people dating.

And so we planned a simple night of watching videos on my giant TV¹, a simple cheap night together.

And I missed her.

Then I started to get a cold sore.

I know it's irrational, but even though the majority of the population has the virus and gets outbreaks from time to time, when I get an outbreak... I feel bad. Like I've been marked out. Dirty. I know, I know! It's inaccurate, but I feel it all the same.

I warned her before she came over, and she teased me a bit for taking it so seriously, and she reassured me that she still loved me no matter what.

And then she showed up on my doorstep with flowers.

She brought me flowers. She. Brought me... flowers.

We did not kiss all night, but we did not lack for showing each other simple affection. Holding hands, looks, words, the act of spending time together. It was wonderful.

No one has ever brought me flowers before.

---

¹ My 32" Sony non-HD CRT TV seems so much larger than her 15" non-HD CRT TV. We both love tech, but so far it hasn't extended to our television sets. Ask us about our laptops or smart phones, though... • 6:39 AM 1 comments

Running news and upcoming first half-marathon

I got up early this morning (pre-5:00 AM) so that I could go for a run. That may sound crazy to non-runners, but listen; it's going to be very hot today, and the pre-dawn hours that most people use for things like sleeping are also the coolest part of the day, and so make great hours in which to run.

I did my 5+ mile loop, with the intention of warming up for the first mile, slowly, then attempting 3 consecutive 9:00 miles, a training exercise that runners (and perhaps other endurance athletes) call a "tempo" run. I achieved my goal for only the first mile; the second tempo mile took me 9:38, and I was wrecked after that and ran/walked my way to 11:30-12:00 miles for the rest of the loop. My overall time was 58:22, for about an average 10:47 pace.

This weekend I'm going to attempt another 11 mile run, and then I begin a two-week taper until attempting my very first half marathon, the Helvetia Half Marathon, on Saturday 13 June 2009. I've heard it's hilly, but not as hilly as the 12K Lake Run I did earlier this month.

That's what I hear, anyway.

Anyone who is going to be attending the half-marathon, feel free to let me know or leave a comment in this thread. And if you want to come drink beer and cheer me on, the race starts and finishes at Hillsboro Stadium, and goes past the Helvetia Tavern (I believe, according to the map .PDF file, around mile 3.8). Should be a good time for people not running their first half-marathon.

Labels: exercise

• 7:13 AM 4 comments

Things I wish I had more of

Presented in no particular order.

• Money. Duh.
  
• Free time. (Obviously I'd need more of the previous item, too)
  
• Pictures of me with my friends through the years.
  
• Miles run this year (according to my records, I've run 289.93 miles this year so far).
  
• Megabytes.
  
• Gigahertz.
  
• Megabits per second.
  
• Giggajiggas (only Ken will "get" this).
  
• Diplomacy.
  
• Books read.
  
• Antihistamines, or whatever it is that I'm lacking that makes me allergic to things, like pollen or cats.
  
• Buttons.
  
• Fucos
  
• Memory of amazing conversations that I could turn into blog posts, because obviously I am out of ideas lately.
  

Feel free to add your own in the comments. • 6:22 AM 4 comments

Mysteries

Three day weekend is gone. Let us not remind each other of the glory that was the Memorial Day weekend, shall we?

That means not telling you about my going to a barbecue in West Linn with Tracy and Gina, spending time with Lindsey, or my running hill repeats in the warm weather, or of Lindsey and I going to Manzana for dinner, or of how the gift certificate we had for Manzana, which could have been $15, $25 or even $40, was in fact only $15, or of Lindsey and I watching the series finale to Battlestar Galactica and starting Season 1 of the series Mad Men.

Yes, I shall tell you none of that.

Instead I'll just tell you of the delicious apple fritter I had for breakfast, and of the silly goings-on at work, and how I'm wearing shorts today because it's supposed to be warm.

You'll wonder why I'm having left-over baby back ribs for lunch, because, see, I didn't tell you I went to Manzana for dinner last night! See? See how clever I am? I'm crafting mysteries here for you to ponder.

How was your weekend? • 9:26 AM 4 comments

Thoughts after a third viewing of "Star Trek"

[Note: Spoilers for "Star Trek" follow]

1. I have a huge totally straight man-crush on Karl Urban's Dr. McCoy. Still.
   
2. Not only do the giant water tanks and transparent (transparent aluminum?) water tubes seem a bit incongruous on the new Enterprise, I think whoever designed and routed them needs some instruction in simplicity and efficiency. Was there some need, other than to make an entertaining action set-piece, for the tubes to run every which direction before terminating in a giant potentially-Scotty-killing turbine?
   
3. Getting a promotion in Starfleet seems super easy! Here are two possibilities:
   
   
   
   • Get recruited after losing a bar fight, cheat on your final exam, sneak onto a starship during a military engagement (twice), and get the acting captain (a Vulcan (OK, technically a half-Vulcan) to completely lose his shit and resign his commission. That gets you to Captain.
     
   • Abandon your ship to fly into a trap, get captured, tortured, and give up the defenses for Earth. That gets you all the way to Admiral!
   
   
4. On the other hand, defending your homeworld (unsuccessfully), shooting malcontent stowaways into space, giving out crew assignments on the basis of sexual favors, destroying random bridge consoles in fits of rage, and advocating against peaceful diplomacy and mercy - all that will only get you busted back to the second-most important position on a Starfleet vessel, while retaining your rank and commission.
   
5. Given Scotty's propensity to test his crazy transporter theories on animals, perhaps he was using the tribble as a quickly reproducing test subject? Just feed it and you've got plenty of lifeforms to beam around!
   
6. Still love the casualness of the bad guy. "Hi, Christopher. I'm Nero."
   
7. Are we sure this isn't the mirror universe? I will not be surprised if Zachary Quinto grows a goatee for the sequel. Not surprised and at least a bit delighted.
   

Labels: movies

• 12:28 PM 2 comments

Friday

I've got a couple of blog posts in the works, but for some reason I ran out of writing juice, so I'm going to put up this place-holder post just to show that I'm not lying in a ditch somewhere.

Wait, I have an iPhone, so even if I was lying in a ditch, I could probably still post to my blog. Damn, that's no excuse.

Wait - what if it was a ditch in the middle of the desert?? Not much cell reception out there, huh? Huh? What then? • 6:41 AM 2 comments

Argument does not follow

Him: I want to make a Hackintosh, so I'll need to copy those disks.

Me: Why not just buy a Mac and get all the support without all the work?

Him: I don't have $3400!

Me: Then buy a Mac mini. They start at $599.

Him: But I need some horsepower!

Bystander: That sounds like the testosterone talking. • 4:38 PM 5 comments

So much bicycling

Last week I biked to, and from, work from home twice. Then, on Sunday, I rode my bike downtown (and then put my bike on the #54 bus and rode it over to my girlfriend's house).

Monday morning, I rode my bike to and from work, again. And this morning, I rode it to work.

I'm just sayin', I'm doing a lot of bicycling lately. I'll be riding my bike to and from work again the next couple of days. Mainly because I have to be at work by 5 AM and there are no buses at that hour of the day.

I feel so Portland-esque. But I'm not wearing any Lycra™, I swear.

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. I didn't have much to say, I guess.

What have you been up to? • 6:28 AM 2 comments

Attention

Given the following:


View Larger Map

I arrive at the bus stop at SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and 30th Ave. The shelter is on a blind corner, basically. I check the satellite-updated constantly-refreshed magic transit website on my iPhone and find that the bus is due in 15 minutes. I'm tired, so I sit in the shelter, knowing that if I'm still sitting down when the bus shows up, I might miss it if the driver isn't careful, or if the driver doesn't have to stop for the traffic light.

Several minutes early, the bus rolls by while I'm killing time by surfing on my iPhone. I hear it, I look up, and I see the bus driver make eye contact with me, signal to pull over, and slow to a stop.

I grab my bag and run for the bus. I hop on, grateful the driver saw me in time. I fish out my pass and thank the driver for stopping...

And the driver launches into a lecture. "You should be standing out and looking for the bus. I can't see you on that corner if you're standing the shelter."

I cut him off, suddenly irritated. "Uh-huh.. Thank you" I say, loudly, and take my seat.

I'd say the simple conclusion is:

• The driver was early, almost inattentive, but definitely pedantic.
  
• I was verbally grateful but also snarky.
  
• But TriMet was definitely wrong to place the shelter on a blind corner. What's the point of having shelters if bus drivers can't see riders when they're inside them?
  

• 6:39 AM 2 comments

My email to President Obama (a series)

Since the president acknowledged in his town hall meeting in New Mexico on 5/14/2009 that single-payer is the insurance option that makes the most sense (takes advantage of economies of scale that only the government can provide; ensures that health care is available to everyone, not just those with jobs), why not, y'know, just push for a single-payer medical insurance system?

I may be one of those "little single-payer" advocates the president so breezily dismissed, and I may not be able to buy and sell politicians like the insurance industry that comprises a giant one-sixth of our economy, but I am someone who supported Barack Obama in his campaign for the presidency on the basis of, among other things, the hope that he would in fact ensure that all Americans have access to health care that does not simply further enrich the rich.

But all I have on my side is a voice, a vote, and the support of the majority of Americans and the backing of the political party that controls both houses of Congress, in name at least if not in actions. I don't have the billions of dollars that the insurance industry that represents one-sixth of America's economy has. Which one is more important, I wonder rhetorically?

Labels: lettertoObama

• 8:33 AM 2 comments

Consequences

After hearing Amber Case give a presentation on Twitter and social media to my co-workers, we took a break.

A senior manager who shall remain nameless walked by while I was talking to a friend. The manager is friendly and appears honest and direct; in the short time he's worked for our department, I've decided I like him.

I joked with him about how he had been unsure how to get to the conference center, had asked me for directions, and yet still beat me here from our office.

My friend, following up on Amber's talk, asked the manager, "So, is it OK for us to check out Twitter?"

The manager's friendly smile froze in place as he processed the question. "You... you mean... at work?"

My friend nodded. "Well, yeah. We just had a presentation on it, Chair Wheeler is talking about it... can we use it to keep up on things?"

There followed a long pause as the implications of the county's restrictive policies on internet use collided with the open, broadcast nature of social media inside the manager's head. "I... I'm not... I'll have to check to see what gets logged."

My friend nodded.

I would call the grin on her face a "gotcha" grin.

The manager retreated back to his seat. Break was over. • 6:14 AM 0 comments

In other news

I hate cancer.

That is all.

Stupid stupid fucking cancer. • 6:41 AM 2 comments

A roundup of season (series) finales

Sorry for no post yesterday. I posted three on Monday, though, so that should make up for it. Right? Damn, you people are so demanding.

Since it's May, that means that many TV shows are having their season finales. Here's what I've been paying attention to on the teevee:

• Better Off Ted is my favorite new show. Portia de Rossi's character has taken a while to grow on me, but now I see the funny in her mannered, stylized speech and body language. But, seriously, the two geeks in the lab are the best part of the show.
  
• I've written about Dollhouse before, but last Friday they aired the season finale. I have to admit, Dollhouse took some time to get where it was going. I admit I only watched out of some kind of loyalty to Joss Whedon, and a hope that it would become less dark and creepy. I'm glad that my hope was misplaced, because once I caught on to the central thesis - Devilstower at Daily Kos explained that it was meta-commentary on television shows as a whole - it became far more interesting to me beyond the eye candy of star Eliza Dushku in lacy white thigh-highs. And as the show slowly revealed that there were many more Dolls than were first revealed. "Are you a Doll?" should have been the tagline for the show (I stole that from the internet). With such poor ratings, and with the season finale being overshadowed by the movie release of "Star Trek", there's little hope that the show will be renewed... although the star, Ms. Dushku, is hinting that Fox is talking to the producers even as I type this.
  
• Tonight, of course, is the season finale of LOST. The producers and writers have done such an amazing job of telling their tale of a group of people bound together by a tragic plane crash, and the bizarre island on which they were once lost and are now returning to. I'm sad that this is the end of the next-to-last season. But then, I've been known to not finish a book because I didn't want it to end. I'm bad at goodbyes. And I'm upset that my favorite new character, Daniel Faraday, appears to be dead dead, like Charlie Pace, instead of kinda dead, like, say, John Locke or Christian Sheppard. And what's the deal with Richard Alpert? Is man-mascara the key to eternal youth or what?
  
• On How I Met Your Mother, I love Barney (played by the awesome Neil Patrick Harris) and his as-yet unrequited love for the Canadian news anchor chick whose name I can never recall, but Ted's pursuit of the titular mother is less interesting to me than how the writers managed to make Lily (Alyson Hannigan) disappear for several weeks with just a simple scene.
  
• The Office, with its mini-arc of the Michael Scott Paper Company, and 30 Rock and its amazing ensemble cast, has been very very funny this season. Feel free to catch up during the summer; they're both worth it.
  

What mindless TV entertainment have you been watching lately? • 6:33 AM 2 comments

Friends

There are too few pictures of me with my friends.



I also missed an opportunity to get a group picture of everyone I saw "Star Trek" with last Saturday: Me, Lindsey, Kevin, Ken, Tracy and Stan.

We probably won't all be together again very soon. But we should be. • 11:56 AM 0 comments

Ayesha paints a picture

I sat in the window booth, warmed by the Friday evening sun outside. Ayesha, the waitress and my friend, sat across from me, telling me about the rude customers she'd had to deal with earlier. My empty plate sat in front of me.

I pulled out my iPhone for a moment while she talked. Realizing I was being a bit rude, I said, "I'm just entering my calories for dinner."

"Oh?" she asked. "How many do you have left?"

I checked the total. I was over by a couple of hundred. "Not enough."

"Uh-oh!" she said. "You're going to have to walk home!" Smiling, she leaned over and put her head on the windowsill.

I chuckled. "Yes, I probably should."

"It's so nice out there. You should go for a walk... in the sun..." she said, dragging out the vowel sounds. "Birds will be flying..."

"Man, that does sound nice!" I said. "All the animals will come out from the woods, and sing a song for me..."

By the point, both she and I were laughing out loud, punch drunk from the long week and the warm lazy summer evening.

"Ha, ha, ha! It'll be like one of those Disney movies!" I said.

"I'm only saying this because that's what I want to be doing!" she said. Smiling, she whined, "It's so boring. Go out and have a little ice cream and go for a walk. For me."

"You're painting a great picture!"

She pantomimed licking an ice cream cone. "It's so beautiful out there! I want some ice cream!"

I'd already paid for my meal. I stood up; so did she. Putting my messenger bag over my shoulders, I got ready to leave. Out once-manic laughter slowly died down and silence once again filled the diner.

"Man, I'm going to be so disappointed when that doesn't happen." I said.

She retreated towards the bar, chuckling once again. "It will! I promise! I trained all the animals!"

I pushed the door open, stepped outside. "Well, send them the signal! I'm on my way!" • 6:42 AM 0 comments

Spoiler-free "Star Trek" review

I've been worried about Captain Kirk.

More specifically, I've been worried that Chris Pine, who was cast as a young James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek franchise reboot, just didn't have the chops to make me believe he was a younger version of William Shatner's cocky, swaggering, speechifying Captain Kirk. The promotional pictures, and the few million clips and trailers I've seen in the last several months, just did not go far enough to convince me.

Still, Zachary Quinto is physically about as close as someone could get to a young Leonard Nimoy, and Quinto's portrayal of Sylar on NBC's "Heroes" certainly shows he can play "emotionless".

And, while I enjoy Simon Pegg's past performances (particularly "Shaun of the Dead"), he really didn't look like James "Scotty" Doohan at all. But I'd be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on pure personality alone.

The rest of the canonical bridge crew of the Enterprise everyone remembers was given to a bunch of young kids I've paid almost no attention to prior to finding out they were in this movie.

...except for the role of Dr. Leonard McCoy. Wait a minute, what? Eomer is playing Bones? How is that a good move?

I always knew I would see this movie when it came out. What I wasn't sure of was whether I would buy it or not.

Or so I thought. This clip¹ totally sold me:

I've watched that clip many times prior to seeing the movie. And during the movie, after that scene, I turned to my girlfriend, Lindsey and said, basically, "Squeeee!"²

I saw the movie with a group of friends. Some I've known a long time, some I've known a shorter time. Some were fans of Star Trek and action movies; some were not. We drove out to the mall in which I spent much of my formative teenage and young adult life, so that we could see it in digital projection with awesome sound.

And we all enjoyed it, I think. The writers were faced with an enormous task; to take the mountains of backstory, some official and much of it unofficial but widely accepted by the fans, and still manage to make a movie that's watchable, that covers a significant point in the characters' lives, that doesn't descend into boring pseudo-scientific Treknobabble that has marked some of the later excursions into the Star Trek universe.

Holy crab, did they succeed.

In fact, without going in to spoilers, they took the most basic tentpole of the Star Trek storytelling technique, a technique that's been used in good Trek and bad Trek, and used it to refresh the characters and, almost literally, reboot the franchise. Yes, these are in fact James Kirk, Spock, McCoy.

No, you have no idea what's going to happen next.

Congratulations to all involved. You did it. I love this movie.

---

¹ Sorry about the branded video clip. The non-branded one I found earlier has been pulled by Paramount's sharks in suits lawyers.

² Luckily, Lindsey is awesome and did not hold my fanboy-ish joy against me at all.

Labels: movies

• 6:41 AM 3 comments

Lake Run 12K Un-Official Results

Yesterday I ran the longest race I've ever run - 12K, or a little over 7.4 miles.

And today I would post my official time - if I had remembered to wear my timing chip.

So even though I ran it, in official eyes, I do not exist.

Un-officially, my time was about 83 minutes. When people told me that that course was hilly, they were right. So very right; so very hilly.

Labels: exercise

• 12:15 PM 0 comments

My first 12K Race

This morning I am heading off to run my first-ever 12K race: the Lake Run 12K in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

It's a hilly course, I hear, one that winds around the man-made, privately-owned, cleverly-named Oswego Lake. I've run in this event in the past, but in the 5K only; the last year I ran it was in 2006.

My friend Ken will be running in the 5K; Kevin was supposed to run in the 5K as well, and even signed up for it, but has had some oral surgery this week, is on drugs, and didn't want to risk it, whatever "it" may be.

Having never run a 12K before, I have no idea what to expect. I think I'm well-prepared; I had my 11-mile run last weekend; I've been tapering this week, and have been just working out with weights instead of running the past two days. When I got up this morning, I drank some coffee, and had an energy bar; I plan on drinking whatever water is available to me on the course and I'm bringing at least one gel pack.

The weather should be awesome for this race; temperatures in the upper 40° or lower 50° F and clear skies.

Afterward we three are going to eat a giant breakfast, then us and some others (including Tracy and my girlfriend, Lindsey) are going to go see "Star Trek" on a digital projection screen in Clackamas. Because nothing is better after a hard race than consuming lots of greasy food and then sitting down for hours. And by "better" I mean "not really better" but certainly also "more fun". • 6:55 AM 0 comments

If you notice some weirdness

I'm going through every last post on my site, from the oldest to the newest, and adding a title to each one to bring it up to the current standard.

I'm also checking and updating every link, and in some cases adding obvious links to my past posts or external sites.

If there are any pictures in the post, I am moving the pictures from my old gallery to my Flickr photostream. If you happen to be following my Flickr page, and you see old pictures show up there, that's a result of me adding them.

When I'm done updating, I'm going to be creating a new archive page; one that will include links by month and year, links to the tags I use, and a handy search function. In other words, an archive that will be more useful than the difficult-to-read drop-down menu that I currently have over there on the left.

I also plan on creating a more informative "about me" page, with links to some of my best or most important posts, and links to the various other places on the internet I use, like the above Flickr account, or Twitter page, my Last.fm page, and others.

Then I want to add some small things like navigation links for the archive pages and tweak the CSS and page layout a bit.

In other words, just some background tinkering to make it all work a bit better. Y'all probably don't care but if so, hope you don't mind.

If you notice something broken, missing, or just strange, let me know.

Labels: meta

• 6:40 AM 3 comments

Stuck in my head now

In reference to my reference to a deli of a certain name, I present Coolio doin' what he do.


Now it'll be stuck in your head, too, probably. • 11:53 AM 0 comments

For the record

I did not even attempt to eat Taco del Mar's Five Pound Burrito.

My friends at the store on MLK were disappointed I didn't even come in to try. It wasn't that I was scared. I just didn't know. Yes, that's it: I just did not know.

They told me that it was huge, the size of a small baby. Which somehow makes it less appealing, don't you think?

I have never eaten something so big. My friends at the store told me that if someone could have eaten it in 30 minutes or less, it was free. Seems like a dangerous way to save a few bucks, huh?

What's the largest thing you've ever eaten? • 6:20 AM 2 comments

Box

She came down from the Upper World, which is what we techs in the basement mockingly called the floors of the building above us. She came with a simple request.

"Can you open my box?"

Just hearing her ask that made me giggle inside like a boy just entering puberty.

No ordinary box, this was made of that special plastic that is pliable, barely, but strong enough to deflect any naked attempts to pierce or separate it. And there was a strange metal rivet through one corner, that looked as though removing it might cause the two halves of the box to fall apart. The strange metal rivet, too, was impervious to anything short of a drill.

Even though she worked in Information Technology, apparently this box had so stumped her that she sought help. And when she needed help, she sought out us: the techs. The support guys. The "help" desk.¹

At first I felt a bit condescending towards her for lacking wit greater than the designer of the box. As my co-workers contemplated strategies for penetrating this precious package, however, I gave a grudging gradual respect to the makers of this product, who had so cleverly prevented four adult, technically-savvy and educated customers from getting at the contents for which substantial money had exchanged bank accounts.

The box was, of course, a Microsoft product.

---

¹ We were called the "help desk" even though we did not take phone calls, and some of us weren't even repair technicians, and the actual Helpdesk was a separate box on the org chart, managed by a completely different manager, and located in a building several miles from where we were located. • 6:17 AM 2 comments

Baseball

"C'mon, Max! Whoo!" I yelled as Max stepped into the batter's box.

My youngest nephew was up for his second at-bat of the game. Normally #6, today he wore #2 because he'd forgotten his shirt.

Bottom of the fifth, only one out so far. The score stood at 6-5; Max's team was behind by one run.

Max's mom (my sister) and his dad also cheered him on. The three of us sat behind the plate, protected by a chain-link cage from any stray balls. The afternoon was warm and bright, a perfect spring day.

Max does this slow bat-waving thing as the pitcher winds up. He claims it distracts them. The pitcher released, and Max swung, just a bit low and late, and the ball tipped off and behind into the cage.

"Swing sooner!" dad called out.

"Atta boy," I yelled.

"You can do it!" my sister, his mom, said.

The runners at second and third stepped back to their bases. The pitcher wound up again. Max did his slow-bat-wave-thing again. The pitcher threw, and Max hauled off at swung...

The bat and ball connected with the thunk of aluminum meeting horsehide, and the ball drove hard and to Max's (and our) right.

We held our breath.

The first baseman watched the ball and took a few steps back. The pitcher ran over to his left. The right fielder ran in and towards the baseline. The ball curved out and landed clearly out of bounds.

"Foul!" cried the umpire.

Everyone returned to their places: runners, basemen, outfielders, pitcher, umpire, and Max. Me and Max's parents hadn't moved so we stayed put.

Max tapped the base with his bat, lifted it up, began his slow-bat-waving-thing. The pitcher took a signal, unseen by me, from the catcher. Everyone tensed.

Pitcher threw. Max swung. Bat and ball thunked.

Ball flew out and to Max's (and our) left, right in the gap between left and center field. Both outfielders were late getting to it.

Max ran for first. The runner at second sprinted for third. The runner at third sprinted for home, easy and safe.

The score was now tied.

When the other runner reached third, he looked over his shoulder and saw the ball, thrown towards first, and kept going for home. Which he reached.

Max's team now led.

By the time the ball got to the first baseman, Max was several steps past it and heading towards second, which he reached safely.

Max was the hero of the game. His parents and I cheered and cheered. The other team's audience was silent, frowning.

A perfect baseball afternoon. • 6:49 AM 2 comments

Semi-religious celebration

I keep reading on Twitter this morning that today is "Star Wars Day".

It's May, and I definitely associate May with "Star Wars" movies, considering that all of them opened Memorial Day weekend. But Memorial Day isn't for another couple of weeks. What gives?

If puns are the lowest form of humor, if the proper response to a pun is a groan, not a laugh, then you will understand why I groaned when I made the connection between today and "Star Wars" - just as soon as you make the connection, too. • 6:39 AM 0 comments

Switching back

After last week's server issues, which you may or may not have noticed, as of oh about the next hour or so I will have moved everything back from the mirror server to the primary server, and updated the DNS, and done all that back end magic that needs to happen.

I think I've fixed everything but in case you, the reader, sees any weirdness, feel free to let me know.

No comments needed on this post since it's just a housekeeping one. Thanks for reading. • 5:07 PM

A mistake has been made and corrected.

Saturday morning, pre-run:

Lindsey, knowing I planned a long run today, looked at her calendar. On there (as there was on mine) was an appointment for Sunday 24 May 2009 for "Brian runs the Helvetia Half Marathon". I had asked her, a couple of weeks ago, if she would be my "support crew" for my first half marathon, said support consisting of getting me to the race, and being there at the finish line to cheer me on. I hadn't entirely decided I was going to do it, but having someone else involved helped ensure that I would carry out the plan.

"Honey," she said, "if you run 11 miles next weekend, you could have a two-week taper before the half on the 24th."

"I can't run 11 miles next weekend," I replied, "because I'm running the 12K Lake Run that weekend. That's 7-point-something miles."

"Well," she suggested, "You could run 11 miles today, then run the race next weekend, and still have a good taper before the half." Runners (which Lindsey was at one time), refer to half marathons as just "halfs". It's jargon-y.

"Wow. 11 miles?" I had trouble wrapping my head around the idea that I was anywhere near ready for an 11 mile run.

"But you just ran 9 miles two weeks ago," she said, encouragingly.

"Well... sure. But..." I didn't know why it seemed like so much further. It was only 2 miles more than my last long run. Maybe it was the jump to double-digits.

"You could totally do it," Lindsey said.

I spent the rest of the morning motivating myself, and preparing for, an 11 mile run.

Saturday afternoon, post-run:

My sister, along with her husband and my youngest nephew, were over at my apartment. She was picking up her laptop, which I had spent the previous day cleaning up because I am such an awesome brother.

"I ran 11 miles today!" I announced proudly.

"Wow! I can't imagine it. What's it like to run for 2 hours straight?" she said.

"I'm preparing for the Helvetia Half Marathon in three weeks. Would you like to come see your brother run his very first one?"

My brother-in-law said, "Where do you go to watch someone run 13 miles?"

My sister asked me when it was, and I told her the date I had marked on my calendar, 24 May. She looked, and said, sadly, "That's Memorial Day weekend." They were going to be at their beach house that weekend.

My brother-in-law said, "I don't think there's any way we can make it," but Lisa wasn't entirely sure. "What time is it?"

So I double-checked the website.

The date listed was Saturday 13 June 2009. Start time was 8 AM.

"What the...? How did I get the wrong date?" I thought about my run today, and the now 6 weeks until the half.

"Oh, no!" my brother-in-law said, amused. "You peaked too soon!" • 12:27 PM 2 comments

Life still happening

Life is still going on and is frequently more interesting than the process of writing about it, so I have gone two days without a blog post here.

I've got at least one blog post in the works, and had a couple of ideas, but I may or may not get time today to work on them, seeing that I have shopping to do, and I'm planning an 11 mile run later, which will occupy a couple of hours with pre-running planning, the actual run (11 miles at ~11:30 minutes per mile is a long-ass time) and the post-run recuperation and eating and such.

Then I'm spending time with Lindsey this evening, and, well, you can see that my plate for today is pretty full.

At least one of you asked for ocassional shorter posts. This is that post. Don't say I never gave you anything! • 8:56 AM 0 comments