Month: January 2007

Scott Adams explains exactly why I just give up even discussing politics with people who use the term flip-flop for anything but a pair of cheap, foam sandals:

For those of you who do not follow politics, flip-flopping is what happens when an intelligent person revises his opinion because the situation changes or new information becomes available. Flip-flopping goes by many other names including: rational behavior, thinking, and not being a frickin’ idiot.

And no, don’t expect me to vote this time around, either. None of the inherent flaws in the system that were so glaring the last two elections have been seriously discussed either. If this country doesn’t take it’s political system seriously, why should I?

I went to a Microsoft seminar this morning… alright, I guess it wasn’t really a Microsoft seminar. It was conducted by a local consulting firm who is partnered with MS, and they were pimping the release of Vista and Office 2007. Then again, there was a Microsoft guy there who did the real presentation – specifically this guy. I have to say that it’s pretty cool that I saw this guy speak today and could then check out his blog upon arriving at the office.

I’ve been running a release candidate of Vista for some time now, but there was still the “whiz bang” factor of seeing it on a decent computer as well as hearing about the features I haven’t even touched yet. Even cooler was finally getting some real exposure to the new interface design of Office 2007. Yes, the ribbon looks awesome, and makes me want to upgrade my company… tomorrow. Unfortunately, logistics say that won’t be happening for several months if not a year. But I really feel that the new interface designs Microsoft are using will help out users once they actually submit themselves to it (and not struggle to make their screen look like it’s still 1996).

Going to this seminar also emphasized how much I really do miss the real tech-heavy work I did back in ye olde days of NetTech. Being the head of IT at a small-ish company has a lot of perks, but you can really let yourself lose a grip on current technology trends if you’re not careful. It’s time I reclaim my inner geek! Fortunately, that entails more of me doing a better job at work, and not so much of neglecting my personal hygiene.

EDIT: I feel like a total mo-mo. I forgot to mention that I won a raffle for this Vista Administrator’s Guide – copies of which were provided by the aforementioned Michael Murphy from Microsoft. Yay! I’m a winner!

Can you believe it’s already been 6 months? Actually, considering we’ve been together for 4 years now, I can’t believe it’s only been 6 months. Honestly, the wedding and the honeymoon seem so long ago. And, to be even more honest…ly, I miss it terribly.

With all of the photos that we’ve gone through lately (on top of the professional photos that we showed to everyone and their uncle, I finally took the disposable cameras into Costco), I realize just how wonderful the experience was. And now with a number of friends getting hitched this year (3 so far) discussing all of the planning, etc. I get a little jealous that they still get to look forward to it, while it’s already in our past. I am serious when I say that it was probably the greatest day in my life – I wish we could throw another one every year for our anniversary.

So far all of you still looking forward to the date, just make sure to forget about all of the money woes that day and enjoy it for everything it’s worth.

As for our mini-celebration, Lisa is working late tonight. Maybe I’ll be able to convince her that we should dig halfway into the cake top in honor of digging halfway through our first year. Either way, tomorrow night we plan on going for a far more appropriate fancy-pants dinner.

Yes, I really needed to use 4 exclamation points when describing the cuteness of these photos of a real life Bambi and Thumper. Go ahead, look at those photos and just try to use less than 4 exclamation points when talking about them. I bet you can’t!

These are the days that Lisa acts as a mother to me. For some reason, I hate zipping my jacket shut despite the frigid temperatures. Actually, I know the reason – it makes it more difficult to reach things in my pocket. It’s not so much that I hate zipping my jacket as it is that I am too lazy to have to deal with unzipping and then re-zipping it whenever I pay for a cup of coffee. Yes, this is the type of laziness that one must plan out in advance.

I must admit that I’m enjoying a return to real winter weather. Nothing kills your optimism for the new year like watching An Inconvenient Truth (by the by, an incredible movie) and then walking outside in short-sleeved shirts in the middle of January. Oh no, global warming is totally a myth…

The real issue is the constant changes. When we used to have real winters up here, and the temperatures would somewhat gradually get colder until you just became accustomed to not feeling your extremities for months at a time, it wasn’t a big deal. Now we get spoiled by beach weather for a week only to have the temperature plunge down enough to freeze the vodka in your martini the instant you set it down in your car’s cup holder…

That’s enough to make me want to buy a fleet of SUVs and keep them running 24-7 around my house… But then I find out that adorable little penguins are disappearing all around the globe and I snap right back into my normal frame of mind and start forcing Escalades off the road and slashing the tires of Hummers…

Site5 has been a fantastic host for me so far, and they’re about to get even better. I’ve decided that paying for web service like a reseller is just plain silly, and it’s time for me to switch to a sensible plan. Thanks to their $5 deal, I’ve cut the cost of running this (and other sites) by 75%.

Unfortunately, the switch might not be so smooth. So don’t be surprised if you experience some wonkiness around these parts tonight or tomorrow.

See you on the flip side….

EDIT: Everything appears to be go! I’m sure it’ll take some time for all DNS servers to update, but at least I’m getting the new site.

Since my last post was a bummer, here’s one to cheer you up:

I’ve probably watched this 20 times or so over the last two days.

Yesterday was… let’s just say it was bad. I’m not foolish enough to post the problems of my work life on my blog for just anyone to read, but let’s just say that I felt like I got sucker punched yesterday. And it really hurt coming during a week when I really felt like I had patched up a lot of loose issues and moved forward. Fortunately I had already taken today as a personal day – of course that could be why I was already somewhat emotional.

Yesterday was also the third anniversary. As much as I might pretend that the loss doesn’t hurt as much, this time of year always brings it to the forefront. So today, Lisa and I are heading down to have lunch with my Mom and pay our respects at the cemetery.

Nothing overly dramatic. No wailing or gnashing of the teeth. Just getting together to talk about what’s going on. I definitely need some sort of release, so if I’m still not at ease by tonight, I fully expect the rest of that bottle of wine to disappear before bedtime.

But it still has the entire second album by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to listen to for free two weeks before it’s released.

Dear god, it has begun. Again. I’m still trying to swear off the show. Again. Unfortunately, Lisa wants to watch some of it. Actually, the first bit I caught was simply because I was stuck behind my laptop when the premiere episode started. But after they spent 10 minutes talking up the first contestant and her love for Jewel only to humiliate her immediately, I was ready to throw a rock at the TV to make it stop.

Tonight I decided to be a good husband and let Lisa watch some to satisfy her curiosity. And it confirmed that the show is going downhill REAL FREAKIN’ FAST. I once admitted my admiration of Simon Cowell, but somewhere along the way he either snapped or (more likely) was told by TV execs that he wasn’t being enough of an asshole. Now he just tries to insult people outright without even listening to their abilities. It’s truly pathetic.

One guy from Venezuela came on and had a very good voice, and was told by Simon, “Absolutely not.” He was better than the majority of the finalists from the last few years, but Simon is far more concerned with his own image than the talent in front of him. The fact that he criticized the one Indian girl as not being unique when he supported Carrie Underwood so much emphasizes the hypocrisy.

Ugh, I’m totally rambling, as the show is even negatively effecting my own ability to write. If Lisa insists on watching anymore of this, you can bet I’ll be in the office for it.