Intellectual Poison

Yes, folks, that's right, it is another couple of new words. I don't know why but my brain is set to invention these days and that means new words. So let's get to it.

Syrant - tyrannical siren or, more succintly, a hottie bitch. An attractive woman who thinks her beauty makes her the boss of all she sees and she doesn't mind being a bitch to get her way.

Nudo - nude judo, 'nuff said.

I'm sure there are more bubbling in my subconscious just waiting for the real world trigger to burst to the surface. And when they do, you'll see them posted here and over at the Fictionarium.

Labels: nudo, nwotd, syrant

NPR: Cunningham Renounces McCain After "Hussein" Flap which was after McCain renounced Cunningham for his warm up the crowd rhetoric that was more like cheap shot rhetoric.

McCain also recently tried to retract a statement that his campaign would succeed or fail based on Iraq. And then he realized that it was a really stupid thing to say so he publicly said he no longer wants that statement applied to him.

Which is fine, the more he looks like a confused and jowly deer in the headlights, the better. I'm starting to think McCain is getting his chance now because his party has made such a colossal mess of things on every front that he's got little chance of winning or repairing the damage they've done.

Why would I not vote for John McCain? There are plenty of reasons but I can distill it down to just a couple. One, he is strongly pro-life and would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade. Two, he's pandered to just about every special interest group he possibly can and owes more favors than a hooker with a gambling problem. Three, he's old and looks it. His person is not presidential, its more crony-ential.

Which isn't to say that I don't have some modicum of respect for the man. He is, after all is said and done, a war hero and a POW and I will never deny him that respect. But it doesn't mean I want his crazy ass making decisions in how to run the country.

Labels: gop, politics, smear

Most people who know me in real life know that I'm a pretty big fan of MMA (mixed martial arts) and the UFC (that's Ultimate Fighting Championship) in particular. I used to enjoy boxing years ago but it always struck me as a half-sport and, in light of my MMA knowledge, its actually more like a third or quarter sport in the overall category of pugilistics.

Why?

Because boxers stand in front of each and throw punches. There are no kicks, there are no elbows, there are no takedowns, there are no grapples, there are no submissions and there are no muay thai clinches.

I heard some idiot on the radio the other day saying that any MMA fighter who stepped into a boxing ring would get pwned by a decent boxer. Which is utter and complete bullshit. I'm not saying all MMA fighters could stand in with a boxer but I am saying that many MMA fighters could have easily become top-ranked boxers. The same does not hold true for many boxers. If a boxer steps into the octagon against a decent MMA (i.e. fighting MMA style) fighter, he will get his ass handed to him nearly everytime.

MMA stands for mixed martial arts. That means more than one discipline is required to compete. Most fighters train in at least three areas, striking, grappling and submissions. And to be a top fighter they need to be excellent in at least one of those disciplines and usually two.

What's all this leading up to? UFC 82 on Saturday Night. The main bout of the evening is a monster, Anderson "Spider" Silva against Dan "Hollywood" Henderson to unify the UFC and PRIDE light heavyweight titles. Silva has buzz-sawed through any and all competitors put before him including an astonishing total ass-kicking of then-champ Rich "Ace" Franklin. Silva is tall and lean but very, very strong and has incredible precision with his strikes and clinches where his knees are incredibly dangerous. Henderson is a PRIDE champ who held both the Light Heavy and Heavyweight belts simultaneously. He's tough as nails, a superb Olympic wrestler who can also stand and bang with almost anyone. He's also never been knocked out in a fight.

It should be a war and I'm looking forward to watching it. The other fights on the card are also pretty good too. Especially Herring vs. Kongo, Sakara vs. Leben and, most especially, Fitch vs Wilson.

I hope the UFC can get their ducks in a row because there's been an awful lot of pissed off fighters in their corral who gripe about being underpaid and under-respected by Dana White (the UFC's president and chief promoter) and the brothers (whose name is escaping me at the moment). The news about the signing of Bud Light as a major sponsor for the next three years is a very good sign though and I hope the additional money trickles down to the fighters.

Labels: boxing, fighting, mma, UFC

That's right folks, its Two New Word Thursday! And I nearly had a third but I wasn't able to write it down in time and now its floated off of my brain. Oh well. If it comes back I'll carve it into my arm with a stick if I have to.

The first new word is:
Tiren - a tired siren, sort of an anti-cougar. An aging sex symbol who hasn't caught on to the fact that time marches on and no amount of Botox or skunk urine can stop the clock.

Mysticrying - crying for no apparent reason. My youngest engages in this regularly now because he's learned he gets faster "service" as a result. We're actively working to break him of the habit.

And there we go, Two New Word Thursday! Break it off and pass it around! Or go and poke around in the Fictionarium for the whole shebang of new words I've created over the last couple of years.

Labels: language, nwotd

The partial cold I've been battling all week has subsided enough for me to resume my mostly normal activities. One of those things I've been blowing off for far too long are my workouts. For months I could blame it on my Bowflex residing out in the garage where it was just too far and too darned cold to workout. But a couple of weeks ago we reorganized the office to make space in there again so I could eliminate two of my biggest and lamest excuses.

And, without much fanfare, I got a pretty solid workout in last night, even surprising myself in how little overall strength I've lost over the last few months of non-workouts. I guess hefting two little boys is actually pretty decent exercise afterall. And I know I'm getting a workout when I hold one by the ankles and do standing tri-presses with them which they love and really fires up my arms.

Continuing the resurgent exercise kick and taking advantage of the fantastic late February weather we are having and combined with the fact that I'm only working at one local school today, I rolled out to work this morning on my bike. Not my mountain bike with lots of gears to break down hills, oh no, that would be too easy. No, I headed to work on my beloved cruiser, my beloved single speed cruiser which is great fun to ride but a bit of a slog uphills.

And, first thing in the morning, it was more than a slog. I felt my tired old legs complaining bitterly for a good portion of the ride. But that's fine by me, it isn't a long ride to work but it felt it on the long gradual uphills. And it took me as long to cool down as it did to get to work.

Nobody will make time for you to exercise and keep yourself healthy. You have to make the time for yourself. I'm hoping renewing my commitment to exercising and keeping myself healthy will help improve my sleeping abilities and my overall energy level while helping to whittle down on the middle-aged spread I've been fearful of. Also, it should help work off some of my frustrations and that'll make everyone happier.

At lunch I'm planning on attaching my camera to my handlebars and cruising around campus to make a short movie. But I still want a helmet cam.

A question though. Do I totally blow my carbon neutralization by riding my bike if I had some pretty horrific gas along the way?

Labels: bicycle, commute, exercise, workout

Unless you like spinning beach balls and totally fudged to heck home pages.

I am talking about, of course, the local newspaper's website, SantaCruzSentinel.com. The paper was sold last year and is in a long, slow and annoying transition process. Part of the fallout from that transition is that the website is completely buggered. Not only does it not render properly, it has bad scripts or something in there that turns my cursor into a beach for minutes at a time.

The sad thing is that I'm sure they know about it but have no money available to fix it so the website side of the paper languishes in bad code hell. And I miss my daily police reports to keep track of the gang violence in my neighborhood.

And, on that note, I'm going to start my rounds at school and see if I can make some teacher's lives a little better. Wish me luck!

Labels: bad code, website

After what feels like months of rain and cold gray gloomy days, today was a stunningly awesome and beautiful day. Warm sun and clear skies all the way around.

So nice that I thought I'd trade in the car for the moto to go my afternoon school.

Only the motorcycle has been standing unridden for so long that the battery drained to just about nothing and I had to drive anyway. With the sunroof open but it wasn't the same.

I did get the trickle charger hooked up and the bike fired up instantly this evening so tomorrow is going to be a fun commute. I'm jazzed up about it already!

Labels: commute, motorcycle

Well it would appear that Roger Clemens is going to be investigated for lying to a grand jury, about the most avoidable crime going these days, and may end up in jail for his bloated pride and inability to admit that he's a drug using cheater.

There is very little doubt in my mind that Clemens has been juicing himself to stay competitive and dominant. The witnesses and testimony against him have been damning and directly contradict Clemens' own hard to believe tale and bizarre explanations.

I'm sure of my readers will be thinking about how this relates to my defenses of Barry Bonds in the past. And they'll have a reasonable point. I've long been a defender of Bonds as a fan and as a devil's advocate. But I honestly believe I'd have a different take if Greg Anderson, his trainer, had testified against him, if he'd had corroborating witnesses to contradict his stories and to catch him in lie and fallacy after mistruth.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all but positive Bonds cheated, just like the rest of the universe. But the body of evidence against Bonds and the body of evidence against Clemens are two very different animals but they excrete the same PED poop.

If either player plays another game in MLB then I will surprised. Though I'd bet Clemens is the more likely of the two to get a contract even though he is deeply tainted goods at this point.

I admit that I'm rather enjoying watching Roger squirm and try to convince the world that he's right and everyone else is wrong, the evidence is wrong, everyone else's memories are faulty and that he's never even so much as seen a performance enhancing drug much less had multiple injections to revive his flagging power as he aged.

Amy linked to a refutation of the statistically false Clemens Report by the guys who wrote Freakonomics and it pretty clearly and capably shreds the Clemens Report for the tripe that it is. The thing with stats is that it is really easy to see when someone is fudging data to serve their own foregone conclusions, in this case Clemens conclusion is that he never cheated so his defense team massaged and then beat the data until it served their purpose. The only thing is that it is really easy to blow selective data apart with a valid sample, as the Freako boys have done.

Clemens is a cheater, a liar and an underhanded head throwing scumbag. I hope he twists in the wind and then spends a chunk of time behind bars for his ego, pride and patently obvious lying.

Labels: baseball, cheating, PEDs

Not me, I generally move at a pretty good clip either walking, on my bikes or in the car. No, I'm talking about the slow moving obstructions to the general pace of life. People who, for reasons of age, health or desire, don't move at anything faster than a slow crawl.

They are the people who drive at 45 miles an hour on the highway, that take three blocks to get their cars up to 10 miles an hour under the speed and that's as fast as they are going to go so either deal with it or pass them.

These are the same people that turn the express lane at the grocery store into the what's-in-my-purse Olympics while they search for their money. These are the people that I inevitably get stuck behind when I need to get somewhere quickly and my exasperation is legion.

I understand that life moves at different speeds for different people but it would be nice if these human snails could recognize that the rest of the universe is passing them by and it would be nice if they could just slide out of the way for those of us who have places to be.

Oh, and if you could walk your shopping cart in ANY other place but the center of the lane, that'd be fine by me.

Labels: slow people

The other night I was tucking Grady into bed (for the second or third time) and we had this short conversation.

Me: I want to sleep well and you know that Mommy and Daddy love you very, very much.

Grady: Thanks!

Nice to be appreciated!

Labels: raising children

I felt a tickle that was alot more like a scratch in my throat last night so I started dosing myself with Airborne and upping my Immunity Boosters from Trader Joe's in an effort to head off what felt like an impending cold.

Which isn't much of a surprise given how busy this flu and cold season is and has been. I don't feel too bad this morning, scratchy throat and some congestion but nothing to complain about too much. If it gets no worse then I will complain not at all. But if this is the tip of the iceberg then brace yourself for a week of bitterness.

Also, we never did get hit with the major winter storm over the weekend that we were promised/warned about. We got rain and sometimes very heavy rain but nothing like the Noah-esque deluge we were told to expect. And that's fine, I've had plenty of wiping Nande's muddy paws off after every trip outside. Also, my bikes look at my very sadly everytime I go out into the garage. Soon, my pretties, soon.

Today should be a pretty good day though. I'll make a few steps further along on the new computer demonstration project and I might even tear apart one of the Emacs to replace its hard drive (thanks Apple, for burying the hard drive and making replacements a maor, major pain in the ass!).

Labels: almost sick

Since I've become a full-time repair geek I've been hunting for my personal holy grail of tools. A pocketable tool with hex (or allen) wrenches, small torx wrenches, that annoying square one and both philips and flat screw drivers. Anything else would be bonus. Like a knife or a USB flash drive or a light.

So far I've come only somewhat close. Park Tools makes one called the IB-2 but its Torx is a 25 and is useless to me. I did find something called the Hama PC Multi-Tool that looks more like a Swiss Army knife than a multi-tool.

All I want is to combine one of these with just a couple of hex wrenches on this one and this. Without, you know, having to buy them all, take them apart and put them together the way I want them. Which might just be my last resort.

Labels: search, tools

The Geek Squad's ongoing porn problem wherein the techs are finding porn on client computers and stealing it to share amongst themselves. Or, in two cases, they've found child porn and turned the client over to the cops (likely after the whistleblowers made copies for themselves).

I am all for the widespread distribution of sex-centric media presuming any recipient is old enough to legally "consume" it. And, of course, presuming the participants are of legal age and have consented to being videotaped.

I have a serious problem with children getting access to porn and would applaud Geek Squad's efforts. But then they go beyond their legal bounds and steal materials from their client computers.

And then the company CEO goes and gets questioned at a public Q&A about their plans to address this exploitation and theft. And he first steps in a rather large pile of dookie and then inserts his besmudged foot squarely into his mouth. Lovely and well done, oh Captain my Captain. I wasn't planning on using the service before but now there's absolutely zero chance I'd let an unethical geek working for an unethical company come near my files and data.

And no, I don't have porn stashed all over my computers but I am a strong advocate of privacy rights and expectations of ethical behavior.

Labels: geeks, pr nightmare, tech support, theft

In case anyone was interested, I've been listening to Ok Go's Get Over It again and again and again. I'm sure I'm a year or two behind the curve but that's alright. Its still a great song.

I'm compiling an album of anthems like this one. Got any you feel would be in good company? Pass them along in comments. Stuff like Teenage Wasteland (thanks Easy!) Baba O'Reilly by The Who or The End by The Doors is what I'm looking for so bring it on!

[Update: The playlist is growing! Here's where we are right now, order may be adjusted though. Once its in a good enough shape, I'll add links to the songs.
Get Over It by OK Go
Your Latest Trick by Dire Straits
Baba O'Reilly by The Who
The Islander by Shanneyganock
The End by The Doors
Reload 17 by Tom Jones

Labels: music

Oprinion - Oprah's opinion on anything, when used by others is called an oprinion and to oprinionate is to regurgitate her happy babble on cue.

Labels: nwotd

This needs nothing else to be perfect and complete: Row over G spot nears climax

That is perfection in a headline.

Today I get to start the install on one of my pet projects that's aimed at showcasing technology's utility to the teachers at one of my schools. To that end, we're putting in an installation of Imacs along with a digital projector (which does some pretty nifty stuff) and want to try and encourage greater tech adoption at the school since many teachers see computers as an necessary evil and not a really incredibly useful tool for communication and learning.

I hope I'm not moving these computers in a torrential downpour though, that could complicate things a bit.

One really nice benefit to working at three different schools is that I can mix and match technology across the three schools to make the most of what I do have available. For instance, one school had a pretty serious lack of mice, one school had a bunch extra (like a shopping bag full) so I grabbed some and brought them over, trading the mice for some USB keyboards that were needed at my other school.

And I can also use my other schools for ideas, projects and partnerships.

The project I'll be working on today is, more or less, a copy of a set up at one of my other schools. But if it can spark a little interest in using technology in the classroom then it'll be well worth the effort. Because I firmly believe that the more tech-savvy a kid is moving forward, the better equiped they'll be to be able to develop marketable skills.

Damn, looks like one of my three Imacs is not quite ready for primetime. Time to get out the hammer and re-educate it.

Labels: computers, education, technology

Today's new words comes on the heels of bad employment numbers, a downward spiraling economy, an already strapped education budget taking another 10% hit and retrenchments in nearly every sector of the economy.

Verifired - verifiably fired, that is, you get a pink slip, go check with your boss and he confirms that you have been fired. And then you head to the trunk of your car to get your assault rifle to go back and "thank" them.

Just kidding, please do not go exact revenge if you get kicked to the curb. No job anywhere (with the possible exception of Hugh Hefner) is worth killing for.

Labels: nwotd

Astute readers will have noticed that its been a little while since I've written anything here. And its not because I'm just sitting and staring at the wall with nothing happening, there's plenty, plenty to keep me busy these days. Just not a whole lot of translatable events that make for good or even decent blog posts.

That plus I'm suffering from a sort of blog fatigue. As Ryan posted the other day, the internets have changed, there's a new guard, a new something or other and the ol' blogosphere doesn't feel like it used to.

I've found that the numbers of blogs I regularly read dwindles unless I make an effort to replenish blogs as they die off or become boring or veer off into foci that are of zero interest to me. Or, perish the thought, if they lose their sense of humor.

There are very few blogs I take the time to comment on, for various reasons. Amy's comments are turned off as often as not because of loser comment spammers (seriously, there are few lower life forms than idiots who comment spam), the Mint's comments are password protected and I almost always forget what my password is, Ryan's comments break on me more often than not and I get frustrated trying to comment there sometimes.

And, sad to say, there's just too much going on outside the internets these days. I've got two beautiful and wonderful little boys that want my attention, I've got a wife that needs me, a dog that needs walks and runs, a house that needs repairs, trash to take out, poop to scoop up and more and more and more.

It isn't that I'm going to go away so much as that I think I'm going to start evolving my blog again. It needs something but I'm not sure what (and no, Ryan, it does not need images of my backside thankyouverymuch). I don't know, I'm just sort of not feeling it so much these days.

But I expect that'll change once I've gotten resettled into a routine with my work. One can only hope.

Labels: blogging

One of the cooler aspects of my new job is that I come across alot of computers in my travels. Since most of my schools are Mac schools that means I come across old Apple gear. And it amazes me to find that some of it is still functional long, long beyond its intended lifespan.

In fact, right now, there is a special afterschool program in the library behind me making use of Lego Mindstorms, some serial interfaces and an assortment of older Mac gear including a Color Classic and a Powerbook 180c. Its amazing to think that these old machines were once the absolute state of the art.

And now we've got phones that are more powerful and capable.

The reason these machines are still in use? Serial connections and software that was never updated. But it all still works, it chugs right along and gets the job done. And that's part of the reason why I love Apple and Macs.

Labels: computers, history, nostalgia

This is a new word I've come up with to describe a successful tech support call.

Techcess - success with technology, or a successful OS/RAM/Hard drive installation/upgrade.

Labels: nwotd, techcess

We've known that our Ford Escape needed some attention to the wheel bearings on the front end of the car. We'd been putting it off since there's almost no money to pay for the repair. But it had gotten so bad that we had no choice but to take it in. At the same time, the Jetta has been begging for some new tires for months now and the begging had become a scream.

So we bit the bullet and got both jobs done for around $500 only to find out that two more jobs have now cropped up. The first is the other wheel bearing on the right side of the car since it is just as likely beat up and failing as the one that had already ground itself out. So there's another $250 or so. And, more importantly and scarily, the master brake cylinder on the Escape had developed a slow seeping leak. Not very much but overtime it had drained almost the entire reservoir which would have been both very dangerous and potentially very expensive had it gotten down to sucking air. And that'll be another $250 or so.

But the upside is that our vehicles should be set for a little while. Unless my motorcycle decides it needs some loving which wouldn't surprise me as it hasn't gotten any attention in a few weeks now. The cold and the rain really take all the fun out of wheeling around on my speed machine. But with the weather turning so much nicer, I'm leaning towards riding it up to my gigs in Aptos. Its been interesting getting used to having to deal with morning commute traffic again.

Labels: car repair, cars

It was with delight that I got to listen in to Roger Clemens' speak to the congressional committee investigating illegal performance enhancing drug use in baseball on the way to work this morning. The squirm is palpable and absolutely hilarious.

And the thing is that there are two conclusions to this particular facet of the roid drama playing out. Either Brian McNamee is lying and will be going to prison for perjury or Roger Clemens is lying and will be going to prison for perjury. But McNamee's reason for disclosure is "truer" in that he has everything to lose by lying whereas Clemens has everything to lose by telling the truth. Motivations are very, very important and key to coming to some idea of who's reliable and who's trying to protect a, previous to this, Hall of Fame career. Hint, it ain't the trainer.

As each of the other pieces of the story come out, Andy Pettitte's corroboration, Andy Pettitte's wife's corroboration, the syringes and more, each piece goes further and further to cementing Roger Clemens as both a cheater and a liar.

And it sure is fun watching his big inflated ego bobble around like a balloon in a hurricane trying to stay up and keep from getting skewered. The only thing is that he's already skewered, just nobody has been able to get that bit of information to penetrate his cult-of-personality false reality.

I actually believe that Clemens has convinced himself of his innocence. He's so bought into his story that he no longer thinks its a story, he buys his own bull. The only trouble is that not a single person outside of Roger Clemens buys it. And the end result of all his bluster, attack dog lawyerations and interviews is that he'll have spent millions of dollars to convince no one. And I'm sure he'll still be protesting his innocence to his cellmate.

Labels: baseball, PEDs, Roger Clemens, steroids

Apparently I do look like prey if you're the branch manager for the local American General Financial Services. They were ever so kind enough to extend me an offer of credit without my ever even having spoken to them. Isn't that nice?

They would love, love, love me to come in and sign on a dotted line and accept $5250 from them to be repaid for the next 48 months at 19.45 percent. That's a repayment of $7594.56 or $2344.56 in interest on a $5250 loan. That's nearly fifty percent in interest.

Gosh, I don't understand why I don't feel honored and just leap at this fantastalicious offer. Oh darn, it fell into the shredder, shucks. At least they had to pay for the stamp to mail it.

Wow, third rant about one stupid local company. Woot!

Oh, and the offers? They're getting worse even if the rate came down a bit.

Labels: bad credit, bottomfeeders, credit

Since I come in contact with, literally, hundreds of kids a week now, I am exposed to a whole different set of variables. From pathogens to young geniuses (I can think of three kids right of the bat who I know are pretty wicked damn smart) to teachers looking more forward to retirement than tomorrow's lesson plan to kids who are little more than an afterthought in their parent's lives to worse.

I've known about abuse and neglect and just plain old ignoring for my whole life, an offshoot of a mother in social work dealing with lives derailed by violence, abuse and illness (mental and physical). I can vividly remember a movie I saw about child abuse cases in Baltimore County when I couldn't have been more than 8. A little girl living in a closet, forced to eat her own damned blanket and pillow because her parents forgot or didn't want to feed her.

Anyway, I've heard stories, seen some family dynamics in action, watched the life drain out of happy little kids when they see their father or mother coming to pick them up. Its actually pretty heart rending to think about.

One story I've heard was about a girl in the third or fourth grade that'd finally gotten a bed to sleep in as she'd always been sleeping on the couch. Another teacher asked if that was the girl who's mother drove the new Mercedes and yeah, it was. Enough money to buy a fancy, fancy car but not enough to have a bed for your child? Sad. And harmful in ways that are impossible to fathom. Talk about using self esteem like a doormat.

Another little girl has a working father who's gone all the time and a mother who's too busy cleaning, cooking and caring for the rest of the family to give her the time of day much less a little mothering.

And the worst part is that even knowing these stories I know there are worse that haven't been told, that haven't been exposed, that some of the kids in my schools live horrible lives of fear and sadness. It sucks to think about really.

Labels: education, exposure

I read about Bug Labs in one of my Popular Sciences and finally got around to taking the URL in the story and going to it.

Bug Labs has created a modular device called the BUG, a Linux-based computer with modular attachments to allow users to create any type of device they want. From standard digital cameras to motion sensing weather trackers to GPS-enabled remote controls. The possibilities are more or less limitless, as long as they keep producing additional modules to build with.

Since its an early stage evolution of the concept, the gadgets are chunky but not overly so.

Its kind of neat to try and come up with different gadgets that could be created with this kind of a modular approach. Like it could be possible to make a video camera that only took video above a certain speed by combining the camera with an accelerometer or a motion activated picture taking security device. Or it could hacked into working with Lego Mindstorms and you could make your own robot butler.

There really isn't any limit to what the device can do. And if there is, the developers will build an add-on or new module that'll solve the limitation.

The future is modular.

Labels: gadget, modular

** Warning: Spoiler Alert, do not read if you do not want to know what happened. **

The new season of Survivor kicked off the other night with a group of super fans being sent to an island in Micronesia to stand in the rain and await their competition. They didn't know their competition was going to be some Survivor favorites and one total asshole who's nobody's favorite but we'll get to him later.

The fans seemed almost hand picked to match up against the favorites to make for an interesting season.

The one major sticking point for me going into this season was the inclusion of Jonny Fairplay as a "favorite". For one, he's nobody's favorite. For two, he was terrible at the game. For three, anytime I hear his name or see his greasy mug I just want to start punching him until his mug is gone.

I wanted him off the show as soon as absolutely possible. And I got my wish as he was the first to be voted off. Since he's got a baby on the way I won't wish him harm or anything but I certainly don't wish him well. Scumbags don't need any help and he's a supersized scumbag sleazeball jackass.

As for the other favorites, I was pleased to see James come back and Ozzy and Yau Man (to a lessor degree though) some of the others. My wife remarked that all of the fans had something funky about them, like 70's glam hair or midwestern pinched faces or something along those lines. I had to agree but I'm more interested in how well they handle the favorites, some of which are the fans' favorites themselves.

I think this'll be an interesting season and it'll be watchable without Jonny Fairplay because I probably would have boycotted if he'd hung around for more than a couple of episodes.

Labels: favorite, reality tv, survivor

It has arrived, my first weekend after going back to fulltime working again. And I'm bushed. The combination of travel, orientation, socialization, disinfection and computer fixeration has pretty well wiped me out. Of course I'm not going to bed just yet.

Now's one of the few times when I can use my computer without interruption or fear of it getting a cup of juice poured on it. Or any of the other myriad ways my two grinning monkeys of destruction could do it in.

Speaking of which, after a short bike ride this evening I went up to take a shower and clean up a bit. But both boys decided they wanted baths so I filled up the tub with them in it and then got in myself. Three boys in a bathtub together. It was cozy but not too terrible and it was fun playing with my guys in the water without worrying about getting splashed on.

Anyway, what are some reflections about this new and atypical working schedule and multiple environments? One, every school is almost like its own complete universe. They all look different, the arrangements are different, the class of the school, the state of repair or disrepair is different and the kids are different, to a point. Some kids are really quite well dressed while others are not so much. Some kids pretty obviously missed their bath the night before. Some kids are like tiny little fashion models. And sometimes I see their parents and understand completely.

I like different things about each of my schools and I'm looking forward to helping to make them better able to educate the kids by keeping the computers in working order but also looking out for new tools, new sites, new software or widgets that would help facilitate the passing of knowledge.

One of my principals, while I was fiddling with his Entourage settings, said, "I like your style, I like how you came in and got going, that works." And I took it as a compliment, as it was meant to be. I like his style, I like his VP's style too. I like the atmosphere they create and perpetuate across the campus. But I like my first school alot too. It is alot more raucous and I've gotten to know the teachers much better. I'm sure that'll change as I get more and more settled in at my new schools. It'll take some time though.

And it'll be hindered by my being at each other school once or twice a week depending on the week. I'm at my first school two full days and one half day. But no worries, I'm liking it alot, I get to help people out who really need it. I get to geek out on tech weenie stuff. I get to wax nostalgic when I come across old Mac gear or even an Apple IIe (I know of at least one in use today, a computer I used back in the early 80's).

What it comes down is that I think I've found a job I like to do, that I'm capable of doing and that provides a needed and valuable service to the schools and the district in general. Its a good feeling.

Romney Suspends Presidential Campaign which leaves Ol' Jowly almost all by his lonesome. Unless you count good ol' boy Mike "As God is my witness" Huckabee who has no chance.

I've watched Romney over the last few months and the one thing I can be absolutely certain of is that he is one creepy looking and acting guy. I don't know what kind of president he would have made but I do know I had no interest in finding out.

The 8 year Bush experiment has killed any benefit of the doubt for the GOP for the foreseeable future. We need a POTUS that will actually work to reduce national debt and restore some of America's standing around the world. Oh and national healthcare would be nice and, hey, how about underfunding the war and overfunding education for once?

This might come off as a pie in the sky post so either bear with me or go read about Roger Clemens and his exploding career below instead.

Yesterday ended up being a pretty good day all the way around. I started working at my third school, was very impressed by the teacher's setup, went to a multi-hour tech meeting, filled out lots more paperwork, got some signatures, signed some other papers and then went back to the new school. With a delicious new MacBook Pro in tow.

Not one of the newest of the new, it is still a way smoking little machine and absolutely crushes my old G4 Aluminum (even if it weren't slowly dying) in terms of speed and cool stuff its got. And, even though I hate Windows, it is pretty slick to be able to reboot my computer into Windows XP. I'm still configuring it and getting it up to speed for my use both professionally and personally.

I didn't get my district cellphone yet but that's because I need to go on a signature drive first. I need my three principals to agree to the unusual contract. And then I get a new phone to go with my other new gear.

It will take some getting used to this new schedule but I do think it'll be kind of nice to be moving around so much and dealing with so many different kids, teachers, campuses and computers. There will be difficulties, to be sure, but overall its a really good situation.

And I am looking forward to improving the tech capabilities of my schools to produce a more savvy student as well as educating teachers in making better use of technology.

There were alot of good things yesterday and I don't want to forget them. Let's see: new laptop, new school, fully completed HR paperwork, a raise (which was unexpected and rather awesome), new info about my benefits package (which kicks the butt, for sure), a new cellphone on the way, mileage reimbursement, and more hours. Oh yeah, I also picked a useful and inexpensive tool kit to be able to pull machines apart more easily. Woot all the way around!

Labels: benefits, education, school

McNamee's lawyers say physical evidence confirms Clemens' use of performance-enhancing drugs. Namely McNamee saved the syringes and towels he used when he injected Roger Clemens with PEDs (that's performance enhancing drugs) in 2000 and 2001.

Clemens is still denying all of it in spite of now physical evidence that has his blood, may still have DNA and steroids or HGH in it.

That's what we call GAME OVER. You weren't convincing anyone before and now there's nobody that believes you're clean, Roger. And, because you just testified at length yesterday that you've never, ever done PEDs, you might even be facing an indictment for perjury. Which would be sweet.

Clemens' legacy is already tainted and he's pretty well assured of going down in the Asterisk Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. And he deserves every bit of smackdown he's going to get.

I bet he wishes he'd stayed retired now.

Labels: baseball, cheating, PEDs

I started working at my first new school yesterday. I'll start at the other one today. For an hour an a half and then I have to leave for a several hour tech meeting. And then back to the new school again.

Today was interesting, atypical and kind of cool. Atypical because the school was getting cable installed, that is, ethernet and fiber optic throughout. And the hub of activity was my office, which had been used as a kind of closet and was in the process of becoming the server room. It had at least ten Imacs, the kind with CRTs, on each flat surface and doubled up where they could. And lots of dust. Loads of fun.

It actually was a pretty good day. The teachers, as at my first school, were thrilled to have some computer support available again and a couple remarked on the progress I'd made yesterday in clearing out the office and making it usable again.

Wednesday will be fun and I might just be coming home with a new(ish) laptop and a new district paid-for cellphone too. That'd be fine!

And I'm looking forward to getting comfortable with the new schedule so I can start riding my motorcycle and not spend 45 minutes commuting less than 15 miles like yesterday morning.

Labels: benefits, work