Cats are funny

This cat has been repeating this same 1 minute video clip (0:54 2.3MB) for the past hour. Apparently her sister is on the other side of the glass just watching with amusement.

Wigged

I'm totally tripped out. To the point of dysfunctionality. I'm having a hard time kicking this.

Today is my major deadline and I'm not sure that the s/w is there.

Today I have a juggling performance that I am totally unprepared for. I wanted new material and I'll be lucky to get by with the old, stagnant material.

Tonight I have 3 things plated that need to happen at once.

Tomorrow will be hellish.

On Sunday could I rest?!

A New Day!

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This Morning
Stress and anxiety are off the charts! Yesterday I gave Tommy an over the top verbal lashing unnecessarily. He had done wrong but it should have been ignored.

Today is going to be hard. I'm overcommitted and its going to make me need to be committed.

Could

I could give into sleep right now or I could drive on and get some work done. I shall work!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Cheers to Jethro at SpyJournal on his special day today!

Tech - Security for Middleware

The ColdFusion Developer's Journal has published the Top 10 Web Security Tips. Although this is written using ColdFusion references, the concepts are applicable to PHP, Asp, etc. For serious web application programmers this is a must read!

1. Have an Error Handler
2. Prevent Cross-Site Scripting
3. Remove Dangerous Characters
4. Prevent Fake Form Submits
5. Stop Unauthorized Data Mining
6. Validate Parameters and Prevent SQL Injection Attacks
7. Use Server-Side Validation to Back Up Client-Side Validation
8. Harden Your Logon Code
9. Prevent Timeout Client/Session Backdoors
10. Avoid Trojan Horse Uploads

Time Flies

I have been meaning to give a friend this list of links since July. Time flies and so many things drop through the cracks when you have 10,000 action items. So, I cannot lay hands on my friend's email address at the moment and I know she peaks in here so here are the links (better late than never):

http://www.korrnet.org/sb6bc/
http://www.parent-childservices.com/ has lots of checklist and fact sheets if you click "information" in the left column
http://www.allaboutmoms.com/speechchecklist.htm
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.asp
http://www.aap.org/parents.html
http://www.aacap.org/

My wife, the wealth of information, actually deserves the credit for referring those links.

Sorry for the delay.

Short

A Moment of Weakness
A moment of weakness
   turns into an endless wait.
The endless weight becomes
   a therapuetic philosophy session.
A moment of weakness
   turns into a powerful strengthening.
--DM 3/99

A New Day!

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This Morning
That fluttering in my lower right chest cavity is already going to town today and I've had no caffiene. I failed to pull any of the anticipated overtime on this current project. Not only has that set us behind, it's like turning down free money! I'm so irritated with myself.

Today is my family's day at the Appalachian Homecoming. I will miss it because I did not work hard enough.

The Homecoming is a celebration of the culture and heritage of Appalachian pioneer, mountain, and rural life. Mountain, folk, hymn, bluegrass, and traditional music will fill the air each day, from four stages, from cabin porches, from the log church, and from shady spots throughout the complex.

Of Grasshoppers

Student: I can't stop thinking about this bad thing I did.
Master: If you think about it enough will it become good?

A sign, er, card

I had the pleasure of a phone call from someone that found my business card on a board at TCBY. I had forgotten I'd placed it there! I was able to solve their problem in a few minutes on the phone gratis. Hopefully it will come back around.

Ether

Well now. I was having a very surreal moment at the office and emailed a post that went to the ether. How funny.

Quality Programming rule #1: If you are not given a spec, write your own. I broke this rule on my current project. Today I fixed the problem and it both sent me reeling as well as gave a definite end to the work. There is much to accomplish in a very brief time.

I am going to sit down and spend a few minutes each day writing, reviewing, and revising specs on the projects I am and want to do both personal and professional. It makes all the difference in the world!

Amy Speaks

Amy says, "Save us from the evil poop Daddy!" Apparently the dog had an accident.

She followed it shortly with "bad hair day."

He got respect

Rodney Dangerfield has passed away. His spirit was overheard saying, "I met St Peter and asked, 'so are you letting me in?' and St Peter replied, 'Like Hell!' I never knew Heaven and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were run by the same people. I get no respect!"

A New Day!

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This Morning
Woke at 4am and could not get myself out of bed. I slept like a rock! I needed the sleep as badly as I needed to be working.

Of Grasshoppers

Student: Once a good man always a good man?
Master: If you are feeling evil, perhaps it was always there.

Inspiration by arcite: 'Good does not arise from conditions or perish from conditions' (Dogen)

Progress!

Actually pulled myself from bed for a 2am-5am programming stint! Got some cleaning in also as I started through a pile of old mail and had fun trashing ads mailed to me in 2002.

Time for a quick nap.

The Eagle Has Landed

"Gordon Cooper, who was the youngest and perhaps cockiest member of the original seven Mercury astronauts and set the space endurance record that helped clear the way for the first moon landing, has died. He was 77." [from CBSNEWS.com]

Continuance

And the boy stumbled upon where the crowd gathered in silence. They held the limp body of the Genie above their heads and with sadness and confusion declared, "We killed him and the nightmare did not fade." The boy fell to knees with anguish in his face and tears pouring from his eyes. "You fools! You killed the wrong beast for this is MY dream!" The boy momentarily collapsed until an unusual calm beset him. He slowly rose to his feet and there stood the Man. "It is my dream. And it is still alive!"

Let It Begin

Up and working but I'd rather be sleeping.

Sunset at tonight's soccer practice. This was from a camera phone. I wish I had the good camera with me! Of course, the funny thing is that was over Oak Ridge so it could have been a sunset or a nuclear meltdown. 

An End

Actress Janet Leigh Dies at 77. No screams heard. No knife found.

Of Grasshoppers

Student: How much fight can one man have in him?
Master: When you draw your last breath there is no more fight.

Realization

After spending some relaxing moments admiring his work, the boy left the oasis with an optimism that the rest of the world could be brought around. He could repair his damage. As he stepped from the calm of the oasis and laid eyes on the rest of the world. It began to spin. His stomach knotted. His head grew light. The tasks ahead are formidable!

A New Day!

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This Morning
I went to bed last night with that fluttering in my lower right side just at the base of my rib cage. My heart seemed to race. I am anxious to see more progress on the house, the programming, financial stability and health insurance. I am torn between going into the office to work today and staying home to swing my shift and spend the morning fixing the dryer and the afternoon/evening programming. My gut says that won't work.

Tim's New Look

Check out the new Spy Journal Personal. Tim has also lauched Spy Journal Excel Tips. Excellent work Tim!

Magic Space

I had planned on spending the day programming and practicing juggling. Missed on both accounts. BUT I did spend the day cleaning my garage. The intent was to clean the office so that I could move one busted dryer out and move another busted dryer in. How did we end up in the garage? Well, the trash from the office has to go somewhere! The driveway had become so messy that a person could hardly walk through it. Now it is clear and the retaining has shelves to hold all the gardening suppies. That clear driveway gave me the ability to pull a bunch of stuff from the garage and in the process threw many things away! I swept then looked at the space. Took some lumber that was doing nothing (oak I think) and used some cinder blocks for some make shift shelves. Put everything back in and was left with this great vaccuum in the middle! The kids bikes should fit in the garage now!

I wish I could take the rest of this week and just clean.

Of Grasshoppers

Student: How did my garage get so messy?
Master: You horde instead of share.

Hope

And the boy in his nakedness wandered out into the chaos. There he found a shimmering oasis but it was defiled with trash and remnants of the mobs which had come for the boy and instead took the Genie. His eyes began to tear with regret and a ray of sunshine beamed through the clouds. The boy acted upon a sudden inspiration and attacked the oasis with vigor and vim and began a cleaning frenzy. A breeze blows and the boy feels a burden begin to lift from his shoulders.

Withdrawal Symptoms - ?:??

Explosion - ?:??

Of Grasshoppers

Student: Why do bad things happen to good people?
Master: Bad things happen to all people. Good things also happen to all people.

What got me so down?

Sarah has a lock-in at the school. I went to pick her up at midnight and noted a police officer speed trapping (a practice I feel is a waste of tax payer's money--follow anyone long enough and they are going to do something wrong). I pick up Sarah and we are having great father/daughter chat, laughs and good quality time. Turn on the blue lights to ruin the mood. Oh. Sarah is in the front seat which is a no-no at her age and she says, "Should I move?" to which I said, "no" of course. Officer comes to the car and explains that I ran a 4-way stop. It's after midnight and the stop sign he is referring to is on a two lane road. No other cars around. He says I slowed but did not stop which I may have did a rolling stop but I put no one in harms way because there were no cars on the road! I am a victom of some young punk cop trying to fill a quota. I wouldn't be so upset about it if I didn't feel completely victomized.

Here's the rub. It's only a $15 ticket. BUT there are $83.50 pre-court charges so the total comes to $98.50. That's the hundred dollars I needed to fix the dryer. I don't exactly have money to be pissing away on some cop trying to make big numbers. It gets worse. TN has a point system. If you lose 12 points off your license then your license can be revoked. This fool stop sign is worth 4 points! If I am going to lose a third of the points off my license I want to be racing to some meeting that I'm late to and blatantly run some red light at a major intersection!

I am a good driver. I'm alert and have great reflexes. I drive a little fast but mostly obey all other laws (Sarah in the front seat is where I fudge). I pull over for emergency vehicles while watching others just stop in the road. I see moronic behavior go up punished on the road while I am reamed for a traffic violation at a time of night when all the rules should change anyway.

I was in such a good mood. Sarah and I were having such good talk. Cathy and I were planning on lounging in bed and sharing laughs. This moron that didn't have the decency to let me off with a warning (which is what post-midnight at that intersection should have been) had nothing but negative effects on me. He did not make me a better or more cautious driver as I spent most of my day lead footing it in anger. I drove distracted as I kept fretting over and over the situation. My productivity today was killed because I had no energy and lost all cares and couldn't get my mind off of how to handle this. I decided no longer to freely volunteer any time to Knoxville. That means no more free juggling shows no matter how good the cause. There was no positive to come from this but to pad the KPDs budget.

So, what do I do? On Monday do I requistion the squard car's video tape to see how badly I did or did not run the sign? Or does that preserve evidence that otherwise would be discarded? Do I just pay the fine and watch my insurance rates go through the roof? Do I go to court and if I do what do I plead? Guilty? Not Guilty? No content? The sick thing here is even if I was innocent it still would cost me $200 or more to prove it. The police could randomly hand out false tickets and make a profit.

Why wasn't this twit out making our city safer instead of harassing good people?

Amy Speaks

Amy just came up to me asking for a "Hambone." Took me a minute. She wanted a hairbow. Hair bows are pretty serious. It means that Amy is very happy. She takes them out when she is not happy. The picking of the hair bow is critical. Although her drawer contains more than a dozen she gets it in her mind that a particular bow is the one to wear and she will dig and dig and search and search until she finds just the right one. It is really a fun activity.

Amy Speaks (of Scooby) - ?:??

Incomplete List of Broken Things

two dryers, Jeep exhaust system (could be manifold, muffler and/or catalytic converter), car tie rods (possibly cv joints), car tire, garage door, air conditioner, Sarah's scooter, Tommy's scooter, yard, dog's bladder, kitchen cabinets, driveway, Noah's ant farm, all computers, drywall, downstairs bathroom, upstairs bathroom flooring, upstairs bathroom caulk, Tommy's bed, wood floors, Tommy's bicycle, Sarah's bicycle, Noah's bicycle, DVD player, my office, fire extinguisher

My spirit.

Yesterday I was happy

Yesterday I was high on life. Everything looked like it was going well and going to come together. Today I hate where I live, how I live and why I live.

I have a charitable event that I do on Friday Oct 8th. That ends my community support for this shit town. I understand why everyone hates Knoxville after 2 decades. I came here for college and tried to help my friends that grew up here understand that this is a great community but inevitably after 2 decades everyone gets fed up and leaves. Once retired, people come back. It's a good place to retire because then you probably have less than 2 decades in you and can put up with the crap until you die.

I've had my two decades of this place. I give up!

Exposed

And the boy stood naked in the window looking out over evil, distruction, and chaos. He could see no good. It is unsafe. How could he even begin to think of stepping out into such a world? His Genie is out there! His recently found self-confidence is sucked from him leaving a pit in the boy's stomach. He turns his back on the world to see his room, safe, secure, isolated; and he moons the outside.

It's too much

I feel so beat down that I don't have words. How many kicks does this dog have to take?

Few Words

Not being able to blog while I work except by cell phone is cramping my style!

Today was a huge deadline. Got a week extension so my stressed dropped hugely. I'm real focused right now.

Noah had a great soccer practice. I really like this new league we are in. Amy rolled in a pile of sand as if she was at the beach. Tommy joined her. They are frequently at the same mentality.

Time to catch my breath and eat something.

The Greatest Wife

I've seen some of you talk about how wonderful your spouses are and I bet they are pretty good but mine is the best!

Closure

A decade ago or more I had 3 bank accounts. One at a traditional large full service bank which held my main checking account. One at a credit union which had a savings account and my car loan. The final at a local bank which kept my money in a passbook savings account meaning that the only way I could get the money was to walk into the bank during their limited hours.

It was a effective money management scheme when I hard a regular check that was directly deposited. The strategy was that the credit union had the amount of the car payment plus a little extra automatically deposited from my paycheck. The credit union would then automatically pay the card payment leaving the extra in the account. This extra built up quickly and became an occasion extra car payment or emergency money. As a savings account it also earned some interest.

Next, $25 per paycheck was automatically put into the passbook savings (things could go in but I had to visit the bank to get it out). Sometimes I'd put extra. This added up incredibly fast since I never looked at it and it earned a decent rate of interest which was fun to watch grow. This became mad money or emergency money.

Finally, the remainder would go into my checking account (also interest bearing) which was set up to autodraft all the utility bills and some others. This was bill paying money and what remained was used for living expenses and some luxury.

Well, a few years ago the credit union sent a check for $8.75 saying "Due to inactivity your account is closed." That was fine. One less thing on my mind.

I've been wanting to recover the passbook account but can't find the book. I think about it every few weeks and have for the past 2 years or so. Today I finally stepped into a branch and asked if the account was still alive. They said after 3 years of inactivity they start billing $2 per month until the money goes away. I think I like the credit union's approach better. Certainly puts a damper on these movies (like Futurama) that base a character's wealth on some loose change that earns interest over several hundred or thousand years.

It is comforting to know it is gone. I have simplified. I can quit looking for that passbook. And I have one less reason to schedule a stop in my day.

A New Day!

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This Morning
I gave into sleep last night and woke this morning at 5:30. Again, sleep is almost a waste of time. I am so stressed that it is not good sleep. My muscles ache all the time now. My deadline is tomorrow. I've put in 7-8 hour days where they had hoped for 12-14 hour days. I am so disappointed in myself.

Freedom

Instinctively flinching the boy's leg slides within his trousers and the dog runs away. It is the clothing and not the body that is glued to the bed. With much difficulty he slides himself out of the clothing and stretches his naked body to remove the aches from lying still and in one position for so long.

The boy stares at the bed pondering his escape. For the first time in his life, he freed himself without the mystics of his fabled friend. This new found capacity to help oneself is overwhelming and causes the boy to swoon.

His foot throbs reminding that an injury persists and that his friend is still inexplicably missing.

Productive day! Calm evening. Now the decision to stay up or go to bed? Hmm.. The pull is strong. The dark side calls.

Kerry Endorsement

The Crawford Texas Newspaper endorses Kerry! (That's Bush's town!)

Eatten

And the beast consumed him beginning at his toes. It picked off one toe nail at a time and used it to scrap the succulent jam from between the digits. After the jam was gone the toes themselves were snapped free of the body and swallowed whole. Some fire was applied to the soul of the foot to cook off that tickly stuff and then each foot bitten off at the ankle. Knees snap very nicely when bent the wrong way. The beast describes calves tasting like chicken and the shin being useless. The tights are pulled from their sockets at the hip and set aside for last as the beast's favorite part of the meal. The genitals have an aphrodisiac affect on the beast and its yearnings cause it to rush through the rest of its meal. Not yet full but satisfied it leaves head to ponder its new bodiless state.

The boy, unable to move anything but eyes, jaw and tongue begins to look around. He then jolts fully awake to roll his eyes toward where he once had feet. A dog licks the jam from between his toes. His feet are still glued to the bed with the rest of his body. He is unable to move anything but his eyes, jaw and tongue. The dog looks into the boy's eyes. It seems so gentle then with a curt growl bites down on his toes.

X Prize

Following the X-Prize?

Slooow

I hate my bogged down antique slow computers!

Of Grasshoppers

Student: When do I ask for help?
Master: When do you really need it?

The Next Day

The next day the boy woke. A strange silence weighted heavy in the air. The armies were gone. No mob stood at his window. It could have been a dream if not for the desolation and destruction clearly visible from his bed. He tried to rise and found he could not move. Panic. Calm. He called for the Genie. No answer. Panic. He called again. Utter fear! The Genie was gone and he was glued to his bed.

A New Day!

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This Morning
For the past 3 weeks I've had permission to be working 12 and 14 hour days or more and I have been lucky to put in 8 hours. Now it comes to bite in the hind quarters. Why am I failing to get work done in the evening?!

I am so stressed that my body aches. Have you ever wanted an accident or a heart attack to happen just so you could have a break? You know, spend a couple of days relaxing to the beep of a heart monitor?

Critters in the house!

We just had a Blue Tailed Skink in the house. I'm proud to say I caught it before the cat or the dog did. I really enjoy these things.

When I lived in Wilmington (ages birth-6) and Cary (ages 6-10), North Carolina, I frequently caught the green lizards. We used to have so much fun letting them bite onto your finger and just hang there. I always toyed with the idea of letting one hang on an ear lobe but I don't think I was ever that brave.

A New Day!

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This Morning
This is crunch week. I've planned on working at the office then rushing home to continue working at home. So yesterday I worked at the office (tired as all get out) and rushed home to go to soccer. Then rushed home from soccer to go to a maintenance client to deal with their emergency. Then rushed home to participate in "Drink a beer day" then passed out hard.

I wanted to work from home today but I'm not showing it possible.

Take Yer Blows

In the "Kick 'em while their down!" category we burned up our second dryer in 3 years. Guess its time for a good ol' fashioned clothes line!

A New Day!

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This Morning
I tried to stay up real late working on projects last night. I failed to get my hours in this weekend due to network issues and lack of creative skills in getting around them. Deadline looms and I'm going to make a bunch of people really unhappy if I don't pull this off.

Thursday night I was one of many chaperones on the cub scout Sleep with The Sharks program in Ripley's Aquarium in the Smoky Mountains. I wrote a little on the experience in Tommy's blog.

I must prepare for this hellish day.

A New Day!

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This Morning
"It's astounding, time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely, not for very much longer
I've got to keep control"

I was to put in 48 hours of work this weekend. My vpn would not connect yesterday and I've put in none. I am surrounded by unfinished projects calling to me not unlike Philip's voices call to him (a must read! Exceptional entry!). Some things are getting accomplished. Slightly rewarding I made enough progress on my friend's drywall that I was able to bring the bulk of my tools home. I see their end near. Tommy's bed that has been broken for weeks now is in the process of being repaired under warantee. Cathy has made a fantastic effort at either throwing out or passing along stuff we are no longer using. Clutter reduction in process! I so want to not program and just throw myself at the house, the yard and the cleaning. My deadline looms this Friday but starting tomorrow I will be hounded about the status. I should not sleep until next weekend.

Moan

Now I lay me down to work.
I'm so tired my eyes hurt.
If I lie I would not wake.
To my employer
My soul he takes.

Of Grasshoppers

Student: The sun heals me.
Master: You need to get outside more.

Sleepwalking

When I roused Sarah Amy stumbled to her feet. She tottered down the hall half asleep with a mission of being with the big kids. I acted quickly and grabbed her pillow, covers, and blanket then prompted her to lie on the couch. She was trying hard to decide on consciousness or sleep so like a fork lift I picked her up with pillow, blanket and covers and returned her to her bed. One or two complaints and then she returned to sleep.

Arthur

And the dragon said, "You can fight me and perhaps defeat me but then you still have the mountain to climb. Why not just walk around me and the mountain?"
And the knight replied, "The gallant act would be to gather many knights and put you down and move that mountain so that people to come have an unobstructed path."

A New Day!

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This Morning
I awoke at 4am and rose at 4:30 yet I still start the day off behind. I succumbed to a whim last night and failed to put in the hours I had planned. Today will be crazy with every minute planned out with exacting detail. There are bills to be hand delivered, banking to be done, work to be accomplished, camping gear to be packed and all with very harsh deadlines. I already need a nap and will have no significant sleep until Friday night.

Here is the view from the office of my current contract. It may be hard to see but that is a rainbow in the fountain. 

Of Grasshoppers

Student: The sun warms me.
Master: The sun does not warm you. The sun reminds you to think warm thoughts.

A New Day!

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This Morning
I failed myself. Last night I had the energy to code and instead of forcing an hour or two of programming I succumbed to sleep. I feel very rested albiet stressed.

Today we have challenges. We have a meeting at Tommy's school that is potentially ugly. The school is likely to ask that Tommy be removed from the high school. They are playing passive aggressive games and now it will be face to face and frustrating.

I also have to magically find $254 total. I get paid tomorrow but the power company is unwilling to wait until then. They want the cash today. I suppose we will be one day without power.

I have a status meeting to discuss one of my miracle projects. I need to tell them everything is fine and show them the progress but its just not there yet. Will we make it? I am not sure. Why and I so pulled to impossible projects on incredible deadlines that are understaffed?

Consequences

And together the genie and the boy had traveled the world. Together they fought wars and conquered nations. The boy wished for and found gizmos and gadgets and wealth and prosperity. He played hard. He ate well. And now exhausted, the genie turns toward his bottle for comfort and the boy toward his turned down covers for warmth and protection. He mutters to the genie, "Are there any more wishes? I need one more." The genie solemnly replies, "They are all used up. I am sorry. What would you have wished for?" The boy simply glanced toward the window where just outside a world of chaos loomed for in the wake of their fanfare the boy and the genie left corruption, leaderless nations, dying soldiers, wasted resources and no joy remained as they had sucked the fruit dry. A single tear traced the boys cheek. "I wish I could take it all back."

Of Grasshoppers

Student: Why should I have patience?
Master: Just wait. You will see?

A New Day!

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This Morning
Decided to try sleep earlier with an early rise. Went to bed at 10:30. Woke at 12:30. Woke at 4am. Woke at 6am.

I'm so disappointed in myself right now.

Da Day

Spent the day programming and the evening running the Knoxville Aspie Support Group. I probably talked too much. 11 people plus myself. Overall we had a great meeting.

Sometimes during the support group meetings I listen and hear us describing some of my own traits. How much of what we hyperanalyze in our children is simply being human?

Sleep Deprivation is Killing Me

A New Day!

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This Morning
Went to bed at midnight. Woke at 1:10 to dog poo. Woke at 1:35. Woke at 2am. Woke at 3:11am. Woke at 5:20am. Woke at 6am. Woke at 6:14am. Started my day. Should I have even tried to sleep?

Dear GW, Please consider Federal Disaster Relief for us....

I never installed the shelf my wife needed in the washing machine closet. Sometimes the load gets unbalanced and the machine moves about. Our liquid laundry detergent just spilled all over the place because I've procrastinated on that project. ugh. On the positive side, I tested both our heating elements to the water heater and they are good. On the negative side, that confirms the water heater is way too small for this family.

Averages

I find it interesting that my average readership has dropped from 33 visitors per day to 32 visitors per day while the blog on which I post lottery numbers averages 56 visitors per day. Today it received 180 (at the time of this posting).

My 4 month old German Shepherd has officially clogged my toilet.

Headlines Unseen

I was thinking about the hurricanes (noaa). We never hear about Disney World (mistyping that url as disnet is worth a look) taking any hurricane damage. I bet they control the weather. They must have a weather shield otherise we would hear headlines like:
"Peak of Disney Castle Knocked Off. Skewers Large Rodent."

Disney officials refused comment except to say, 'The park does not have a rodent problem. If there were any damage, and we are not confirming that there was, it will be magically repaired overnight.'

or

Page 1: "Tinker Bell Blown to Sea"
Page 3: "Merchant Ship Reported Flying"

Crew reports 'being happy' after a scantily clad female appeared on their boat and offered them 'dust'. The coast guard is investigating.

or "Epcot Rolls Into the Gulf"

The shiny ball has attracted thousands from Mississippi and Lousiana into the Gulf of Mexico where the world's largest game of water volleyball has ensued in the wake of the hurricane. Texas refused to play because 'our guns might get wet.' Alabama was denied access to the Gulf because they would not promise to abide by the Rules of the Ool. Florida refused to play because 'the bridge is out. We can't get there.'

In entertainment news:
"Neilsen Reports Iraq War Ratings at Their Worst"

The program may not be able to recover and is slotted for cancellation after one more season. Reality Television Network consultant Roy Wear believes the program can be saved. He says, 'Excluding the opening show, its ratings were highest at its sexual content. To save Iraq, there must be more sex! We are recommending to the Pentagon a new image for the female soldiers based on a camo version of the Hooter's attire. We also think there should be more interpersonal relationships between soldiers aired.' Other recommendations not suitable for print. We interviewed solder Exavier Herb Istchtonicht. Ex had these comments, 'They shouldn't show me having sex with other solders. That's just not something my wife in the US needs to see.'

Ah! A little blogging therapy goes a long way!

Of Grasshoppers

Student: Can one's dreams be too big?
Master: Not if you share them.

A New Day!

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This Morning
Could not pull myself from bed. I was exhausted. By the time I had the energy to get myself up I was in a panic and had to hide under the covers. I promptly fell back into a deep sleep to have vivid dreams of driving down dirt roads and taking pictures a huge snapping turtle and a pack of .. not wolf but the same family, the name eludes me atm .. fighting over a dead hyena. The dream shifted to me being the outsider in a group of rebels planning on hiding out and living in some library.

Today I have scheduled a little pleasure and to punish myself for the indulgence I have scheduled a little hell on earth.

So after frantically trying to air the house out and scrub the floors the girl scouts started drifting in. I was freed of any duties for a half an hour and decided it prudent that I make progress on hooking the stereo up. It's been dormant for who knows how long. 2-3 years possibly. The speakers have just been book ends on the cabinets. I made a decision not to hook the whole thing up but to periodically make a little progress until it was together. I had a good stride today and wiped the mini-project out in half an hour! I have music in my life again! Now if I can get the CDs out of that horrible binder they've found their way into. It removes the silk screening on the discs and rips at my heart. I will find a way for us to have an organized CD collection. (Got the television going through the stereo too.)

Per the request of the girls, I rolled the dice and took the top off the Jeep. I'm not certain it will survive being put up again which could mean if there is a chance of rain I have to work from the house. I really need to set aside $200-400 and get a new top.

We then took two cars down to fraternity row at UT and let the girls mingle with the sorority girls. Only two of the seven girls reported being invited to after game parties and beer on the spot.

It was a great day and a fantastic outing. I should now put in 4 hours of programming but I think I just want to relax with my wife.

Tomorrow I will dry wall, go to the TVA Fair, cook dinner and program. (What a great reference!)

From the Mouths of Babes

Amy has learned to burp on demand.

She jumps instead of walking and is full of spirit and life!

A New Day!

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This Morning
The day began at 6am. The morning spent mostly attempting to clean.

Yesterday
Started a little late. The week had worn on me. Began the day at 8am by taking a little time to try to remove a burden. The burden ended up taking nearly 8 hours. During that time I was called to the business whose computers I am helping support and was there 2.5 hours. In the middle of it all I put about 4 hours into my OR contract job far from the 8-10 hours intended. The day ended at 2am.

Get a Blow Job here!

http://blow.jobs.com/ A Monster Company Find your next blow job right away! (this link is work safe)

Special thanks to terreus for the link.

From the mouths of babes

I've been loudly paged from the top of the stairs.

"Daaaddeee I want to go for a ride in the car!"

Then singing "DaaDee DaDeee la la la DaDee come upstairs!"

Progress and no progress

Just got nailed by the negative side of support. During my core hours I had to fight a fire. Took 2.5 hours. Gonna be a late night to make up time.

Tech - UBCD saves again!

The computer with the corrupt registry was unable to complete the registry repair because the administrator password was unknown. Austrumi would not boot to nt_pass so The Ultimate Boot Disc came to the rescue and was able to restore a previous version of the registry file.

VPN working!

Life is good!

Technical - image conversion

Does anyone know how to convert PCD files to jpegs? PCD

The Dog Needs a Club

So our calendars still have a few openings. All the other children have clubs and activities so let's give the dog a club. (E TN German Shepherd Club)

Political - They Say

Now you can put words into the politicians' mouths. Everyone else does!

• http://www.john-says.com/
• http://www.george-says.com/

Rock the Vote! (has loud music)

A New Day!

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This Morning
Up until 2am. Awake at 6. On the computer at 8.

So I'm working on an abused computer from a restaurant. It has reported for its Windows 2000 operating system "registry cannot load the hive file" (computers get hives?!) This registry corruption repair knowledge base article leads me to the Windows 2000 Registry Repair Utility which in turn leads me to Windows XP Professional Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install (that uses six floppies...I didn't even know I still had working floppy disks!). So I get the disks made and turn to the computer to see...no floppy drive! (It was just well disguised)

Creative Writing

The Alcoholic
I can't remember the last time I had a drink.
I guess I've had too much!

-DM 05/13/1998

Poem - Manners

Manners
Poot! Giggle
Poot! Poot! Giggle Smirk
Poot! Poot! Smirk Poot Giggle
Plartph! laught Ha Giggle Poot!
Poot tat tat Smirk HaHa Plartp!
Excuse me.
Kids
They just don't keep things bottled
    up inside like adults
And they're less cranky!

-DM 5/10/1998

A Memory - Until you fold it

I just had a memory. I'm having to format some floppies (yes, the earth just stopped for a moment). I remember being in the 8th, 9th or 10th grade and hanging out at a friend's house. I'm pretty sure it was Chuck's house. Chuck later followed me to TN to become my first roommate in college but that's a different story. On this particular day we were testing the warnings about floppy disks. This was also when a floppy disk was floppy and 5 and 1/4 inches square. I think they only held 760kb unless you were fortunate to afford the nice HD (high density ones) that were 1.4 mb. Remember those expensive disks that that the pretty red raised letters on them? I can almost remember the brand! Oh yeah! The disks held 380kb and the HD ones held 760kb but a wise computer geek would use a hole punch to "double-side" the disks thereby making a LD 760kb and an hd 1.44 amazing megabytes! I remember mail ordering the disks cheap (prior to ecommerce remember) and upselling the things. If memory serves correct the bulk disks started out at 14 cents a disk and eventually worked down to about 2 cents a disk. (I'm probably wrong no those prices).

Anyhow, we tested the warnings. We removed the disk from its protective case (naturally used it in the computer that way and it worked. We rubbed it on our pants and it worked. We wrote on it in pencil and it worked. (Now for my favorite) We poured koolaid on it and it worked. We washed the koolaid off before sticking it back in the computer but in hindsight that was a dumb thing to do. The final killing move was to crease the disk. Folding it in half and unfolding it destroyed the readibility of the floppy disk.

Today's Pain

Today my pain is on my left side. This is unusual. Typically its a sharp cramp between my two bottom most ribs on the right side. Today it is on the left side just below my rib cage and everytime I breath in I feel it but mostly when I cough (I'm still getting over some allergies or a cold). I just discovered that it is tender to the touch. It is almost as if someone hit me in the ribs with their fist. I have to believe its the extra long hours of typing I've been putting and exasperated by the coughing.

I am surrounded by tps reports!

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

I need music.

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

A New Day!

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This Morning
Amy woke at 4:30 or so and Cathy brought her to the bed where she tossed and turned and talked. The dog pooped on the papers and I could hear Amy with these exaggerated "sniff, sniff"s through her nose. It was two loud distinct sniffs. Then a pause. Repeat. Finally she said, "ew! Molly pooped!" It was quite humorous! I finally gave up and put her in the crib where she complained until she fell asleep.

It took skill to get my clothes and belongings out without disturbing Amy. Somehow I didn't disturb her despite clanging trash cans, loud beeping phones and muttering under my breath.

The dog was getting aggitated at being locked in the bedroom so rather than risk having her wake Amy I let her upstairs. I figured she had done her business but to be safe when I got upstairs I'd cage her. Too late. I get upstairs and a pile of mush is in the bathroom with dog pee streaming under the bathroom cabinet.

Told Tommy he was on his own and went downstairs to iron. He must have gotten dressed as I heard him leave for the bus. Never saw what he looked like or what he carried off with him.

Took the others to their respective bus stops. Found out that Sarah left one of Amy's juice cups at the bookfair but another child saw her set it down and had the wherewithall to pick it up for us.

Today will be a miracle if I don't have a break down.

Good work

I'm on a local contract now that may provide the flexibility I need for my lifestyle to work as well as pay the bills. I just can't talk about it much as the company regards confidentiality and ethics very highly. They will read this blog if I have to get a clearance.

Still faced with the challenges of angry collectors, home and child catastrophes, more to do than time permits, battles with the school administration, etc. but all in all things are looking up lately.

Condensation pump died on the a/c and flooded a corner of our closet. The corner we stash Christmas presents to be in. Lost half the stash including one fairly significant one.

This happended because I over stacked stuff in the garage once then opened the garage door crushing part of the top garage door panel. Now the garage doesn't seal as well as it used to and outside air mixes with the inside air causing the a/c to produce an unnatural amount of condensation. The pump works over time. It slowly dies. I clean it out giving it a reprieve but forget to check it until its too late. It never recovered from the cleaning.

My lack of follow-thru bites us again.

A New Day!

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This Morning
I thought of staying up late but was dizzy with tiredness. Woke at 4 but could not motivate. Woke again at 6am and stared at the ceiling until 6:15. I really wanted to be programming and sleeping at the same time.

I'm upset with myself that I have not been forcing solid, uninterupted blocks of productivity over these past several months. I'm behind and I'm not sure how I am going to catch up.

Today: work all day, take 4 kids to Rocky Hill's open house and book fair by myself, program

Yesterday
Started my contract in Oak Ridge. Was nervous as I could possibly be without getting ill. Things worked out. A part of me enjoyed the atmosphere. A part of me wanted to have a spell of vertigo. Felt like a combination of a scene from Office Spaces (amz) and the beginning of The Matrix (amz) when Neo is talking to his boss.

  

Amy speaks

A New Day!

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This Morning
I tried to get up at 4am and didn't get up until 5:45. This day is going to be tight. I have contract work to get done, rental equipment to return, cars to clean, Tommy's D&D game, and programming.

Yesterday
As predicted, no programming. I allowed my self a diversion in the morning and as I'm getting in programming mode, Amy's finger gets smashed in the front door. Looking at her mangled finger I fail to remain calm. I do not yell at any of the kids. Cathy tells it differently. I figure somewhere down the middle we together are correct. We tend to her finger. I take her to the trampoline to calm her and see how she reacts when she falls on the finger. Everything is looking fine. Sarah and I take her to the doctor anyway. He prescribes some Motrin and says no x-rays are needed. All is well.

I get home to realize I promised a client that by today I would remove certain software from his machines. Off to client location.

Back just in time to go to a Scout Leader meeting roughly five minutes late.

After the meeting I tend to family matters then its off to a friend's house to pickup some software. From their I check on the cat at the house we are watching. From their its back to the client's business until after midnight.

I debate an allnighter but give into much needed sleep.