Category: blog

Maybe two weeks ago I did something stupid. Okay, it’s not like I haven’t done anything stupid since then, it’s just that was the last truly noteworthy stupidity. I’m regularly moving files around my server and it’s been a dream of mine for the past year or so to actually have a completely organized photo hierarchy that makes it easy for me to not only locate pictures, but also back them up. Of course this means that I haven’t been regularly backing up my (rather large) photo collection. This is a problem, because I often don’t bother thinking before I delete directories. That would be the primary reason that I’ve lost my “about me” page 3 times and have become an expert at rebuilding this blog in under 5 minutes. Deletion issues become further compounded when you add symbolic links into the mix. There’s such an added sense of panic when you realize you don’t even know what you just deleted 😛 .

So the other day (I forget when exactly) I was moving photos all around and deleting bad shots and duplicates from the server. There are some key facts about this simple task to take note of:

1. Deleting files over the network skips the Recycle Bin making recovery rather difficult.
2. I use ReiserFS for my data drives on the server which includes no form of undelete making recovery downright impossible.
3. Microsoft Windows likes to randomly select which window will be activated after you close something like its picture viewer making accidental deletion almost unavoidable.

I was being very careful not to say OK to just any delete command, but it was a doomed process. Eventually I said OK and rather than simply seeing the one file go away, a long list of files rapidly flashed across the dialogue box. That’s when the panic kicks in. It turns out that Windows had decided to switch to the folder panel this time, and that one item I deleted was my “Misc” directory. It could have been worse (considering how much is under “Local Music” or “Friends”), but I was rather inconsolable and desperately tried to locate another backup. Fortunately many of the pictures in the directory were already up on the website, or had already been moved to another location. Today I found the last major groups as I had just copied the various pictures I had taken with Lisa around Hoboken, in Central Park, and when we tried to go Apple Picking onto her laptop. Basically that means that I lost a lot of screenshots of Vice City and Perfect Dark and some random shots I took of a candle that had melted in a “really cool” way. I can live with that, but I will certainly focus on backing everything up from now on. Whew!

While meandering across the vast wasteland of the Internet, I stumbled across a sports parody/humor site. The best comment came regarding an “incident” from last year between Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun and the Flying Gramaticas:

Kicker and Punter Feud about to Explode
Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun and the brothers/kickers Gramatica [Martin (Bucs) and Bill (Cards)] has escalated following post FG celebrations and now post game tauntings after their recent losses to the Bucs. Bucs Gramatica had to be restrained by his teammates from going after Sauerbrun following the game. When reached for comment, Sauerbrun said “He had everyone holding him back to make it look good. I don’t know who this kid thinks he’s playing with but I’m not the most mild-tempered guy. If he would have said the wrong thing to me there’s no telling what I might have done.”

Whatever it would have been, I’m not sure you should be scared of the punter, well, I guess, unless you’re a kicker.

It’s kinda like a fight breaking out between two golfers, and everybody else just turns back to the 19th Hole to knock back a couple G&T’s.

That’s what those wonderful election-stealing, trigger-happy Republicans would have you believe. Of course some of us think for ourselves and don’t despise those in the world that are different. Certainly I can’t complain about the capture of such an awful human being as Hussein, but that still does not legitimize a war based upon lies. I’ve decided to lay off the whole conspiracy theory route questioning how one of the most elusive dictators managed to be meekly captured as Herr Bush II begins his re-election campaign, but I do see that right-wingers are already slapping each other on the back for asking rather pointless and vapid questions in an attempt to trip up those darn “American haters”. NZ Bear is attempting to solicit a clear cut case of hypocrisy from liberals by challenging their anti-war stance with a question that lacks any relevance to the issues at hand. Of course his fellow right-wingers fail to recognize this flaw as it would shatter the supposed support this statement should create. Before I go any further let me emphatically state that I was against the war, I am against our current involvement in Iraq, and I absolutely do not want Saddam Hussein to return to power.
Continue reading “So the ends DO justify the means”

The other night I actually watched a new episode of Scrubs on TV. The odd thing was that I had already downloaded and watched it on my computer. The whole world is just screwy when I can no longer count on the speed of TV programming to keep up with the demands of Internet piracy. It was a good episode, however, but it has left a disturbing aftertaste. I speak of the rather reckless use of an eighties song that is now embezzled firmly in my mind. In an attempt to frustrate an already frustrated Turk, the infamous janitor (Sir Plunge-a-Lot to the nurses) blasted Jermaine Stewart’s ode to platonic relationship “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.” And I haven’t stopped singing it since. Thanks to Kazaa I can now listen to it at my leisure, so now I shall force the lyrics upon you unsuspecting Netizens:
Continue reading “Who drinks cherry wine?”

Every so often you still find something on the Internet that makes you laugh. It’s a little flash animation that definitely put me in a good mood to start the day. You have to listen to it, so beware of sound, and enjoy 😀 .

I’ve got a bunch of posts waiting in the wings until I have time to finish them. In the meantime I’d like to point out that all of that horrible snow has been replaced by miserable rain. Today’s driving was faster, but not a whole lot better than Friday. For the first time in many years I’m actually wishing global warming would speed up so we’d have a warmer winter and get to Spring faster.

It’s snowing here. Freakin’ hard, I might add. And it’s actually sticking. I might try to get out of here soon. I’d rather spend the afternoon playing video games next to my fireplace then sitting around here accomplishing nothing. Uh, that’s all.

Three and a half hours. That’s how long I sat in court today (with Lisa at my side). You can’t imagine how absolutely furious I was getting by the end (and how much I really had to pee 🙂 ). And I knew by that point that they were just waiting for the officer to show up. Even when he did, they held my trial for the very end. Outside of the actual court staff, there was simply myself, Lisa, and the patrolman sitting “in the stands”. When they finally called me up, I justed wanted to accept the lesser plea and get it over with. It’s amazing how quickly you realize that “the principle” really just doesn’t matter that much. Then it happened. The officer who hit me picked up the phone to call the one who had written the ticket. I turned to the prosecuter and said that I was willing to accept the plea, since I didn’t want to waste the officer’s time and didn’t feel confident in going to trial without an attorney. But the public defender quickly hit me and said “No!” I turned to her and she explained that they were about to dismiss!
Continue reading “Free at last, free at last…”

My sister Maureen’s longtime friend Billy (he’s a longtime friend of the entire family to be honest) works for Barnes and Noble. He convinced Maureen to edit a book for them about sisterhood, and lo-and-behold it sits at #139 on their best sellers list. It’s pretty cool to see her name up there, and the publisher’s comments verify that it is our Maureen Slattery:

In Sisters: Reflections on Sisterhood, editor Maureen Slattery uses hundreds of well-chosen quotations to evoke the joys and vexations of sisterhood. One of six sisters herself, Ms. Slattery draws on sources as diverse as Virginia Woolf and Ashley Judd; Emily Dickinson and Bob Dylan; Jane Austen and Jan, from the Brady Bunch. This bountiful anthology offers quotations to confirm-and dispute-your fondest notions about sisterhood.

I’m two days from yet another court day in my continuing saga of my car being totaled by a police officer. I’m supposed to talk to a lawyer about this one, which should be the final trial date for the ticket itself. I actually call someone and give them the basics. Ok, that’ll be $750 to come to court with you. Yeah sure, I’ll call you right back. If I accept the plea, it’ll be something like $150 for the ticket and possibly an outrageous lawsuit against my insurance company. If I actually lost the trial and took the ticket you can tack on a couple points and an insurance hike. The lawyer can’t guarantee anything about this and my insurance has already skyrocketed thanks to this accident. What’s the point? The worst case scenario basically has me paying the $750 to my insurance company because of yet another increase rather than the lawyer. I guess I’ll be chatting with the public defender before drinking my troubles away later that night.