Bad little monkey…

Yeah yeah. I know. I’ve been terrible about keeping this thing up to date. I entered into this little experiment with the intention of providing regular (albeit senseless) posts. That, apparently, has not worked out so well. I could claim a lot of excuses… but that is all that they are. Let’s just say I’ve  been too lazy to keep on it, and call it a day.

How about a nutshell of the past couple of… well… about the last year? Sure. Why not. Those are always fun.

I’ve been traveling a lot for work. I made it out to Ireland, and abused myself with whiskey and Vitamin G yet again. Damn you and your sweet delicious beverages, Ireland. All this has done is further reinforce my desire to live out there for a few years.

I went back to Montana for a high school reunion. The town I am from is very small (graduated in a class of 21, counting two exchange students), so they host reunions every five years for everyone. So, technically this was my 13th year reunion. It was very surreal seeing every one. We’ve all aged, but it appears that the old cliques haven’t died. In groups, everyone tended to gravitate to their old friends. Time does not appear to heal all wounds, I suppose. I picked up a nasty little cold while I was out there, which limited my fun times a bit. It was an interesting travel adventure (as usual for me), however. I may write more about it later.

I made a much longer trip for work soon after that. Went out to Fishkill NY for a couple of weeks, then went directly to Minneapolis MN. Both locations were sweltering hot (around 100 with humidity in the high 90’s), but not enough to make me sweat all my excess fats off. I did get a free weekend in MN, which I spend with the site manager at his cabin in Cheteck WI. I now love Wisconsonites and their beer. Giant, corn fed, freaks of nature that can consume an amazing amount. Love it.

We discovered that my wife was pregnant early in the year, and we had a daughter in September. I had forgotten how tiny a new person can be… and how loud. She’s the diametric opposite of her brother, who was about as easy of a baby as you could ever wish for. She’s a beauty though, and I’m totally her slave. I shudder to think how she will be as a teen.

Did I mention that I’m getting fat? I am. I hate it. Spending too much time on my ass, drinking  beer. My plan is to lose 20lbs by my 36th birthday, which should bring me down to a fighting weight of about 145. I’ll settle for 150, though.

After about a year and a half of pain, I discovered that I had a herniated disc in my neck. Pain filled my upper back, neck, right arm, and was causing me to lose feeling in my right hand. Surgery was a snap, but I developed a pretty severe staph infection at the incision point about a week after the surgery (right after they removed the staples). Not fun. The scar isn’t very pretty, but the pain is pretty much all gone. I still get periodic pains in my neck (at the spot where I am assuming they removed the offending piece of disc), which generally results in a little bit of numbness in my index and middle fingers on my right hand. Could be much worse…

After years of harassment, I finally signed up for a facebook account. Bane. This is probably a very good reason why I have not kept up on the blogging. Facebook makes you lazy. It is, however, and interesting social experiment. It has allowed me to get in touch with a great number of people I haven’t seen in a decade or more. Not all are my friends, but that seems to be the standard these days. We are quickly turning into a well networked, yet isolated culture. I hope this phase passes before my children grow into it.

Speaking of experiments, I attempted something moderately disgusting last year. I happened to purchase the wrong kind of deodorant, which ended up giving me a very feminine smell. After taking a lot of heat from friends, peers, and my wife, I decided to see what would happen if I didn’t use deodorant at all. End result: after an entire year, either no one noticed, or no one had the balls to say anything about it. Stupid.

I’m also quitting smoking. You’ll note that I did not say quit. I’ve been on and off that particular wagon many times in the past several months. Current status: under the wheel ruts.

Anyway, I’m killing time in the Singapore airport right now. I have a 10 hour delay going to Penang. It’s about 4:30am, and I’ve been up for more than 30 hours at this point. I guess this will be a sleep optional trip. I’m feeling a little disjointed, so I think I’ll just stop for now.

Thank the gods for 24 hour Starbucks. Coffee coffee java java nom nom…

hello world

I’m baaaack!

New content coming soon, I promise.

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone

And baby makes… 4…

Or 8, if you count the animals. We may as well. They cost damn near as much, and behave like children anyway.

Due date is September 21st-ish. Timing, as always, leaves something to be desired.

Stupid penis.

Just kidding… I’m actually stoked… and a little shell-shocked.

Wait…

Wait, by Sarah McLaughlin

Under a blackened sky
far beyond the glaring streetlights
sleeping on empty dreams
the vultures lie in wait
You lay down beside me then
you were with me every waking hour
so close I could feel your breath

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the new born hope unjaded by their years

Pressed up against the glass
I found myself wanting sympathy
but to be consumed again
oh I know would be the death of me
and there is a love that’s inherently given
a kind of blindness offered to appease
and in that light of forbidden joy
oh I know I won’t receive it

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the newborn hope unjaded by their years

You know if I leave you now
it doesn’t mean that I love you any less
it’s just the state I’m in
I can’t be good to anyone else like this

When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the new born hope unjaded by their years…

Just plain creepy.

This is a cg short called Alma by one of the Pixar animators. It’s beautiful, dark, and more than a bit creepy. I’m pretty sure that I’ve had this same nightmare before. Not for kids, unless you enjoy traumatizing them early.

Stuck in my head…

This has been stuck in my head all. week. long.

Hazey Jane I, by Nick Drake

Do you curse where you come from?

Do you swear in the night?

Will it mean much to you

If I treat you right?

Do you like what you’re doing?

Would you do it some more?

Or will you stop once and wonder

What you’re doing it for?

Hey slow, Jane, make sense

Slow, slow, Jane, cross the fence

Do you feel like a remnant

Of something that’s past?

Do you find things are moving

Just a little too fast?

Do you hope to find new ways

Of quenching your thirst?

Do you hope to find new ways of doing

Better than your worst?

Hey slow, Jane, let me prove

Slow, slow, Jane, we’re on the move

Do it for you

Sure that you would do the same for me one day

So try to be true

Even if it’s only in your hazey way

Can you tell if you’re moving

With no mirror to see?

If you’re just riding a new man

Looks a little like me?

Is it all so confusing?

Is it hard to believe?

When the winter is coming can you

Sign up and leave

Hey slow, Jane, clear your eye

Slow, slow, Jane, fly on by

Yeah. The guy that posts dead 70’s folk singer poetry. That’s me.

I like to Movits Movits.

Different. Swing / rap in Swedish? Farking good stuff, surprisingly.

It should be against the rules to get a song stuck in your head when you don’t understand a bloody spoken word. Not fair.

Where the hell have you been?

Sorry for the lapse lately. I’ve been… preoccupied. A great many things have changed recently in my life, and not all have been for the better. At least not in the short term. Here is a breakdown:

My wife and have decided to commit double financial suicide. I’m not going to go into any detail on this, but it’s probably exactly what you think. We are currently about 85% the way through the “data acquisition” phase, and are just about ready to file. Ironically, we had a little vehicle trauma on our way to MT for a family “vacation” (more of that later… was an amusing and painful trip, in both the financial and emotional sense), which put us behind a bit financially. Meh. The clock is ticking, and I just want to get this over with.

Since we reached this decision, however, our relationship has improved greatly. Things were more than a bit rocky earlier in the year, and I wasn’t really sure where I would be right now. For the moment, however, we seem to be doing all right… with some exceptions, of course. More of this later when I write about the “Ill Fated Montana Trip of 2009.” Good times, I tell you… good times.

As a result of this, I opted to sell my car so that we could keep my wife’s precious money-sink of a truck. Don’t get me wrong… it’s a good truck that has been reasonably reliable over the years. However, it’s over 16 years old, gets horrible gas mileage (even with a new engine), and has causing me to hemorrhage cash for over 2 years now. Oh well. The wife loves her truck, and would never give it up. The little car was a good commuter, fun to drive, but… just a car. They make more everyday. I miss having it a bit, but mostly for the convenience and the shortened commute time. Now, I take the train to work everyday. It’s about 4 – 4.5 hours round trip, which sucks the mighty dick. I also have to be up by 4am and out the door by 4:30am to make it to the station. Which sucks an even greater dick. However, it is making me leave work earlier (rather than getting to work at 6:30 and leaving at 5:30, I’m getting to work at 6:45, and leaving at 4:00), and giving me a healthy amount of time to read. I’m pretty stoked about the latter, particularly. I’ve been remiss in reading for about 4 years now (pretty much ever since I got married), and have a giant stack of books that I’ve been meaning to read.

Anyway, here is to you, my splendid little car. I’ll miss you about as much as I miss any machine, and I’m reasonably pleased that you at least went to a good owner. May your forehead grow like the mighty oak… wait… may your your blinker fluid never leak… or something like that…

Little vroom vroom

Someday, I’ll get something else. I’ll stick with mass transit for now. Once the rains come, I may be less happy about this situation, however. I’m planning on getting some flaky early/mid 80’s compact beater. It’s about time for DeathPod III.

Work has been good, albeit extremely busy. I had my first review since I shifted departments last year, and I did smashingly. I’ve been feeling like the proverbial 5th wheel in the department for several months now. I still have practically no idea how to use, let alone troubleshoot, our microscopes. I’ve been slated with a lot of pseudo IT tasks… SharePoint administration, ticketing systems, and fighting off conficker to name a few. The bossman (bless his blackened, haggis-filled, scottish heart) is more than pleased with what I’ve done and continue to do for the deparment, and is very excited about shackling me with work for the next year. Cool! He promised to remove the manacle of IT from my neck at some point (I’m not holding my breath about this), and giving me a lot more tool, training, and travel time (I am holding my breath for this). We’ll see what the future holds, but I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got for now. Sure beats being unemployed!

Swine Flu Panic

It’s difficult to reason with idiots, especially when the media has them in a panic. Here is a wonderful statement from the Drew Curtis Blog (of fark.com fame):

Why Swine Flu Isn’t Going to Kill Us All, Part II
Posted by Drew at 2009-04-30 03:09:13 PM, edited 2009-04-30 03:31:45 PM (374 comments) | Permalink

Here’s what’s happened since I wrote my original article, “Why Swine Flu Isn’t Going to Kill Us All”.

– A toddler in Texas has died of the swine flu
– Mexico’s infection and death estimates continue to climb
– The World Health Organization has raised it’s pandemic warning from 5 to 6, the top of the scale

These three items have ruled headlines for the past 24 hours. However here are a few other things that are going on that you may not have heard.

– 36,000 people die every year from the regular flu.
– Since I wrote my article on Monday, 1 person in the United States has died from swine flu.
– The tally in the last three days: Swine Flu: 1, Real Flu: 295.

I mentioned in my last update that only 18 deaths had been confirmed to have been from Swine Flu, and that the other figures were estimates. That confirmed total has since been revised downward to 7. To quote Stratfor’s reaction to this data:
“There is still a lack of information regarding the particulars about this new pathogen; but if it has killed only seven people after two months of spreading in a country with somewhat limited health care services, perhaps its virulence is not so harsh after all, even if its communicability is impressive.”

The WHO’s alert level reflects communicability not lethality also

The incubation period for swine flu is thought to be 2-3 days. And since Monday there has been 1 death.

There are hundreds of interviews with people who have Swine Flu. They all have the following things in common: generally the symptoms are mild, no one needs hospitalization, and recovers on their own in a few days.

Once again, I have to say it: Don’t Panic.

Fucking-Amen. When backed into a corner by panicked idiocy, apply a thorough beating with the 2×4 of reason, and a liberal sprinkling of fact.

Rodeohead

Country remixes of Radiohead. ‘Nuff said.