Gale Force

Wow…2 “roundup” posts in as many weeks. You may think I’m losing my penchant for coming up with original blog content. You’re probably right. So on with the show:

Lego + Religion = Awesome!

“Rev. Smith has stated that the goal of The Brick Testament is to give people an increased knowledge of the contents of The Bible in a way that is fun and compelling while staying very true to the original versions. To this end, all stories are retold using direct quotes from The Bible.”

There isn’t a subject matter in the world that can’t be made more interesting with a few buckets of Lego! You don’t want to miss: Moses Commits Murder or Paul Circumcises New Companion (ouch!)

New Meat Cuts

“It’s no secret that grocery stores are adding coffee bars, mouthwatering boulangeries, even sushi bars in hopes of wooing increasingly discerning consumers who want high-quality food without hours of preparation.

The same is true in the butcher case, where a combination of improved butchering techniques and marketing magic have generated new, attractively named cuts of meat designed to appeal to flavor- and time-conscious cooks.

And now these cutting-edge cuts — which include the flatiron, the Western griller, ranch steak and petite tender, to name a few — even are showing up on restaurant menus.”

You’d think by now they would have cut up a cow just about every way imaginable…guess not. Hooray for progress!

Nerdliest Credit Card

“Accrue World of Warcraft gametime at the rate of 1% of every dollar in qualifying purchases. The World of Warcraft Rewards Visa is the only card that pays you to play. “

I thought for sure I’d have some witty comment ready to add to the end of this story…but alas /got nuttin.

GO JAZZ! Didn’t I say they’d extend this series to seven and give themselves a great chance to advance to round 2? Oh, that’s right…I wrote about them losing in 6. My reverse-psychology motivational ploy worked like a charm! AK, Dee-dub, Booz, Harp — I got your backs.

So picture this…I’m at the game last night and it’s the 4th quarter in a win-or-die game for the Jazz. I had watched a 10 point lead dwindle down to one as the Rockets made an admirable attempt to close out the series. The Jazz came out of a timeout and went on a little rally that got them back up by seven. On their next trip down the court Memo (MONEY!) Okur got the kickout pass while hanging out behind the 3-point line and let it fly. I prayed yesterday that his shot would come back to him (not really) and sure enough…nothing but net! The crowd went insane.

Then it happened…

The guy in seat 6 jumped up and started dishing out the high-fives. I’m talking full-fledged, hard-as-you-can, hand stinging, in-your-face, “am-I-going-to-be-in-the-evening-news” high fives. First the guy on his left, then 2 people in the row behind us, then the drunk bearded guy from row 15. I could tell they were all friends having shared neighboring seats throughout the entire season.

Then I did it…I raised my hand toward him.

I didn’t know this guy from Adam but I was compelled to join in on the celebration. In the split second it took for his hand to reach up and slap mine, I saw the look. The “who-does-this-guy-think-he-is?” look. It was awkward.

You know…I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if the Jazz lost game 7. Some of the guys look like they could use a break and I’m sure they have some nice family activities lined up for the summer. Oh..and I’d never have to see the guy in seat 6 again.

Don’t forget that today is National Day of Prayer.  In other news, there’s a National Day of Prayer…they even have their own task force.  Now what exactly does the NDP task force do?  The name seems a bit oxymoronic…”task force” evokes images of Navy Seals or a S.W.A.T. team breaking down your down, tossing in a few concussion grenades, running around in their really cool combat gear while yelling at the top of their lungs: “GET ON THE GROUND!”.  I guess that’s what the NDP task force does but instead of Navy Seals it’s Bishops and Priests gently knocking on your door, waiting for you to answer then yelling “GET ON YOUR KNEES!   NOW!  DON’T MAKE ME TELL YOU AGAIN!” all while waving a censer in your face so the incense smoke will confuse you.  Anything to get the American public to pray I guess.

So what will you be praying for today?

There’s quite a little uproar going on about the release of a certain hex key that can be used to decrypt HD DVD movies. Apparently the AACS doesn’t like it when you publish that particular key on your blog. Desperate for anything to drive some attention and traffic to my blog, I have decided to post that key here; however, I’m going to disguise it as a poem so no one will recognize it for what it really is!

Oh Nine, Eff Nine
One one zero two!
Nine Dee Seven Four,
Ee Three Five Bee.
Dee Eight
Four one
Five Six, See Five?
Sicks Three Five Six,
Eight eight See ZERO.

fin

So welcome AACS, MPAA and other industry watchdogs! Hope you enjoyed my poem.

My wife started blogging.  I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet…on the one hand, the internet needs more blogs.  On the other hand, what if more people read her blog than mine?  Does that make me less of a man?

The truth of the matter is, more people should read her blog because she’s a much better writer than I am.  So here’s the deal…if you have enough time to read two more blogs, read us both.  If you only have enough internet tube-width for one more blog, choose wisely.

And by “go to college” I mean you can go to a college campus and ALMOST purchase a candy bar from the cafeteria vending machine.

Check out this little gem that arrived in my INBOX today:

Never one to look a gift horse 63 cents in the mouth…let me be the first to say: Bob, ICANN…thank you! That $0.63 (or 1/14th of a domain name registration) of GoDaddy store credit is truly a generous gesture.

Did you know that Adam was 130 years old when his son Seth was born? It’s true.

“And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.” - Genesis 5:4-5

So what does this have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing — that’s why I created a “Ramblings” category.

Here’s a little blogger’s trick I’d like to let you in on…when you don’t have anything original to write about, do a “roundup” post! This is the blogger’s equivalent of a TV “clip show”. Now that I’ve completely lost your attention…on with the roundup!

“A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept on Friday published a much-anticipated report, concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven. That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell. Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God.”

But we already knew that.

Novell Bombards SCO with Summary Judgment Motions

“Novell has filed 4 motions for Summary Judgment against SCO, which essentially ask the court to toss the remainder of SCO’s case that isn’t already being arbitrated between SUSE and SCO. One seeks a ruling from the court that Novell transfered none of the copyrights in Unix to SCO, which is backed up by many exhibits and declarations from people who negotiated the deal. Another, along the same lines, asks the court to toss the portions of SCO’s Unfair Competition and Breach of Contract claims pertaining to the Unix copyrights. The third asks the court to rule that Novell did not violate the Technology License Agreement between SCO and Novell, and last and also least, the fourth seeks to toss the Slander of Title for the additional reason that SCO has failed to prove any special damages. These motions follow 2 motions for summary judgment filed by Novell late last year on 2 of their counterclaims.”

Poor embattled SCO. It seems like just last month I was still working within your comfortable cubicle walls…oh wait…that was last month.

Bored and vengeful? Try condemnation!

“Roommate leave the milk out again? Some jerk in an SUV cut you off on the way home? Don’t waste your time with insults, rude hand gestures, or weak physical attacks. Instead, try eternal damnation! YouAreDamned.com makes damning souls for an eternity of flame-induced suffering easy! Just enter a name, e-mail address, and an optional path to salvation and your most hated enemies will be engraved upon the Burning Wall of Eternal Damnation. Afterwards, kick back and read the wall to learn why so many people deserve a spot in the stone.”

Any of my old co-workers remember the infamous Saint Jon website (please, oh please let me have a backup of that somewhere)?  Same idea…other side of the good vs. evil battle.

And there you have it.  A few choice articles that Google Reader (I <3 GR) was kind enough to send across the tubes for me today.

10101101101110.  Pretty awesome eh?

Once upon a time the 1’s and 0’s used to do it for me…not anymore.  As a programmer I’m spent, burnt, depleted, drained…done.  I still program for a living but the honeymoon is over.  I find very little satisfaction and enjoyment in programming like I once did.  I tried to pinpoint the moment it happened…was it at HomeStar Communications where I went the last 3 months without getting paid?  Maybe it was at Caldera before they became SCO.  Or perhaps it was SCO.  Regardless of when it happened, the fact is, it happened, and now I’m stuck here in a profession I no longer enjoy.

When I first chose programming as a career (or did it choose me?) I thought I wanted to work with computers instead of people.  People intimidated me.  Now all these years later the words of Albert Einstein speak to my soul:

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” (emphasis added)

I’m deluding myself into thinking I can spend a lifetime surrounded by computers, code, bits and bytes.  This is my prison from which I need to be freed and it can only be done by “widening [my] circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures”.

It’s all about the people.

I’m a manly man. OK so I sit in front of a computer all day and I occasionally put that smelly stuff in my tub, but I’m all man! That’s why I was so excited to find this little gem on Amazon. Holy titanium hammer batman! As you know, I’m about to build a shed and I can’t imagine a more suitable tool for the job. Sure it’s $220 and I’ll probably swing it fewer times than my 9-iron this year…but it’s TITANIUM! I’m pretty sure the $6 million dollar man was made out of that stuff!

(Note: honey, if you’re reading this please don’t run out and buy me this hammer for my upcoming birthday *cough* June 20 *cough*. I’d much rather have some of that purple smelly stuff I had in my tub last night)