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Posted on

sweep it under the rug

Bath party?
Man, I don’t know about this war. The longer it goes on, the less and less progress I see. Now, I know that’s just me – and I’m not as educated on things as some may be. But the daily bodycounts reported on CNN and other news outlets seems to recall Vietnam just a little too closely. (I know you’re not supposed to start a sentence with “but,” but sometimes it just makes so much sense. “However” can get overused and there’s not really another easy contrasting lead-in. Anyway, Stephen King does it – and he makes millions, so I’m OK with it.)

I really don’t know where I stand on this war. In general, I’m against war – like I think any intelligent person would be. Then again, I realize that not all situations can be resolved in a peaceful manner – and that sometimes you need to take action. I think most people with a little intelligence would take a stance somewhere in the “fighting sucks, but I won’t just roll over” vein. Protecting yourself, or someone helpless, seems OK to me. But fighting should be used only as a last resort. I know, it’s an over-simplified outlook on the whole thing – but I’m not trying to solve the whole war and peace thing right here and now.

This war, however, seems a little less than “right” to me. I realize these people were under the rule of a tyrannical dictator. I realize that freedom to do and think as you please is important, and that all people deserve it. I realize that without that oppressive leader in place, the people of Iraq stand a better chance of gaining some of those all-important freedoms. However, I’m not entirely sure that our purpose over there was that noble. And I’m not so blindly optimistic as to think that those freedoms will be miraculously bestowed after a few months of military “house cleaning.” And will those freedoms now come with new strings attached?

I don’t think I’m too hung up on the “Bush lied about WMD” thing, for a couple reasons. 1. He could have. 2. We would’ve gone anyway. Yes, I agree Bush may have used a lot of misdirection to try and gather national and international support for the war agenda. But if it wasn’t the threat of WMDs or harboring terrorists, it would’ve been another reason. Did he lie to his country and the world?, perhaps he did. But shit, you’re telling me that world leaders don’t bend the facts to suit national agenda? C’mon. Even the UN didn’t buy the immediacy that Bush placed on Iraq’s WMD prospects – so there was no way I’d be jaded enough to buy it. But, shock and horror, presidents lie too. Bush said Iraq WMD, Clinton said he didn’t sex up Monica, Reagan couldn’t recall if they sold guns to those contras, and Nixon wasn’t a crook. Problem is, people are dying.

Now we’re screwed though. We went in and fucked up that whole country. Shook the leaves off the Baath party tree and are busy installing a more “friendly” government. We exploded peoples’ houses and buildings, cut the power, changed the lives of a whole country full of people in a matter of weeks. We stirred up the beehive, and before things get any better – they are going to get really turbulent. Meanwhile, we’ve got people dying – not at the atrocious rates we saw in Vietnam, but they are still people. People from all over the world are there and are dying to help “rebuild” this country. I just hope it’s worth it. Saddam was bad, his ruling party was bad, and the people will be better off being out from under their rule… right? I’m just not sure which way the balance works out.

See what I mean? I can’t really articulate my position that well. We’re there now, and we better be committed to fixing what Saddam and we ourselves did to bring that country to the ruined state it’s in now. I’ve got asinine friends at work who think we should “turn that whole desert to glass.” Y’know, drop a nuke on all those “camel-jockeys” and be done with the whole dirty, evil, ignorant lot of them. I can’t believe there are people who think like this. As long as Anheuser-Busch keeps putting Bud Light in cans and there’s a Winston Cup race every week, the rest of the world can eat a big fat A-bomb. My God is more right and more just than your God, and the world would be a better place without you and your blasphemous country anyway. These are intelligent people too! Intelligent people who would actually support us annihilating an entire country full of people. Sweep that shit under the rug I guess. I can’t fathom that mindset. Ahh, but I’m getting off track now.

War is bad. Saddam was bad. Him being gone is good. People dying is bad. But what do we do now? Leave? That would be a worse fate than leaving Saddam in power. I’m just a dude with a very marginal knowledge of the politics and power that are in play here – but the previous paragraphs are my best attempt to categorize where I stand on the whole thing. What’s that? I didn’t clarify where I stand at all? Yeah… that sucks.

On to non-war talk. This weekend we went to see the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Man, what a great film. I hate Jim Carey, but he did a great job in it. Really interesting. Since we didn’t go to Chowchilla as planned, I worked in the yard all weekend. On Saturday I bought all the parts for the sprinkler manifold and control valves for the backyard. Then put it all together and spliced it into the main water. Everything worked, and now I just have to connect the valves to the controller in the garage and lay the main pipe.

I had planned to rent a trencher and share it with Dan, since he’s doing sprinklers as well. We figured we could split the cost and save some money. Well, at the last minute Sunday I changed my mind and went ahead and rented one solo. It took me six hours of wrestling and fighting with that 400lbs beast of a machine to get all my trenches dug. And I still have another few hours of trench “cleanup” before I can actually put the pipe down. I’m physically drained from pushing and pulling that machine, it really beats you up. My yard is so unbelievably rocky that it’s akin to cutting through granite the entire time. There would’ve been no way Dan and I could’ve both got our trenching done in one day, so it’s a good think I rented it alone. In the end, I got all the trenches dug according to plan. I plan to use the light hours after work this week to clean up the trenches and layout the pipe for quick assembly.

OK, I’ve written a lot here. Time to sign off. Check out this CNN article about emulation and retro gaming. Now the secret’s out, as am I.

Posted on

are you her dad?

This picture in no way means I'm about to be a dad..
Ahh.. only two days into the GDM project and already I’m discovering some problems. I decided to make doubly sure all my rips were perfect and error free, so I did some more random sampling of the albums ripped so far. What got me thinking was the behavior of the cd-r/w drive that I’ve been using to rip the discs. It’s been getting “hung up” when I put new discs in, almost like it’s having trouble reading them. That got me a little paranoid, so I started checking songs. Sure enough, there were bad rips in there. Some albums were ripped so bad that it made listening impossible. I had to start from scratch again using my dvd-r/w drive as the ripping source. I’ve also downloaded some tools to check MP3s for errors, so I can run a quick “check” after each album is ripped. It’s not perfect, however, since I found at least one error it didn’t by listening. So, the quality-control on this effort has to be top-notch or I could end up with a bunch of useless MP3s with no source to revert to. Changed my encoder too, yippee. It’s all on the page.

The other day I went up to Anthony’s daughter’s school to check out some big production all the 6th graders were doing for their “country reports.” They set up the auditorium with big props from their countries, and served regional foods from those countries. It was cool. Near the end of the event, Brontë was hanging out with Sharaun and I and one of her friends came up and started talking to us. At some point, she turned to me and asked “Are you her dad?” Now, it didn’t hit me at the time – I simply said “No.” But? am I her dad?! For real guys, I must be totally old if kids are mistaking me for the father of a 6th grader. Maybe it’s the thinning hair, or the way I carry myself with so much authority. Ugh? whatever, I’m totally old.

I was pumped to get the news today that the house appraisal came back extremely positive. The refi closes this month and then we get back $400/mo. Sheesh that’s gonna help with the house. It’s time to work on getting some furniture, finishing the backyard, painting, getting some pictures for the wall, and all other sorts of domestic-like projects that we’ve been to destitute to get into.

This has been a mediocre week for the blog. Lackluster entries that are short and not fun to read. Sorry. I guess I’ve been preoccupied with other stuff. We’re no longer going down to Chowchilla today, so I have the weekend to do some sprinkler prep.

Grateful Dead on 3wk, “… Jack Straw from Wichita…” Dave out.

Posted on

urticarian inklings

Still one of the best albums of this past year, I'm listening to it again.

I’m totally going to the doctor. Beginning last Wednesday, I started getting all blotchy-red and itchy at seemingly random times. At first I noticed it early in the morning on the way to work, now I’ve pinpointed it as coming on with temperature change. Every time I go inside from outside, get out of the shower or get wet going wakeboarding – my skin turns mottled red, and I itch like crazy. If I scratch, it only gets worse. Sometimes there are hives, but mostly it’s just the rash. It’s been consistently happening several times a day for over a week now – and I’m getting tired of it. WebMD wasn’t too helpful, other than suggesting it might be the HepB (don’t you die from that?), so maybe the doc can help me out. I’m sure he’ll just be baffled and give me some antihistamines, I have no faith in general practitioners.

I made some good headway in the GDM project last night, setting up the 120GB RAID1 array and ripping several discs. I’ve been spot-checking the resulting MP3 copies to make sure they’re not funky, and I’ve been totally impressed with the quality of the rips. I’m using the Radium-hacked Fraunhoffer Group codec instead of LAME, since I like it a little better. I expect the first batch sale to happen sometime next week.

Speaking of next week, I looked at making reservations for the semi-impromptu overnight trip to Yosemite – and of course all the campsites in the entire park are full that night. I swear, finding a campsite there come April is near impossible. We’re gonna take our chances with the walk-in camping in the valley. It’s first come first served, so we’ll have to roll in pretty early. But at $5/night per person, and up to 6 people per spot – it’s perfect for what we need. I think we can arrive early enough to snag a spot.

Seems I’ve hit a sore spot with my parents with my kind-hearted jab at them in the Cast page bio for my in-laws. Apparently they saw that write up when I linked it from an earlier blog this week and were shocked by my referencing them as the “AV club” compared to Sharaun’s folks. Well, first I had to explain to them that by calling them the “AV club” I meant they were nerds, you know – the Audio-Visual club from high school? Anyway, my mom wrote me an e-mail defending her coolness – and my dad called me admitting his nerdiness but telling me that mom was cool. I guess that’s right, my dad’s the true nerd. My mom has always been cool, and I think she was even cooler before the years of being with dad rubbed off on her. Owell guys, I wouldn’t like you nearly as much if you were bungee-jumping nudists or vegan hippies? so be glad for your nerdiness because it’s what I’ve come to love.

Dave out.

Posted on

finance my backyard with CDs

National still-bustin' day.
Short entry today, I spent last night working on a new project. Without writing much about it, you can read it all at the project’s very own webpage here. If things go well, and I can keep up any kind of pace – I might be able to finance my backyard with CDs. Who knows.

We’re going down to Chowchilla this weekend for Easter. To hang out with Anthony’s family and do an Italian Easter dinner. His folks own and operate a farm down there, and there should be plenty of fun stuff to do. My list includes shooting some guns, driving a tractor, and doing some four-wheeling. Should be a redneck good time. I’m just happy to be doing something for the holiday. Maybe we can visit where all the kids got buried.

It also looks like we may be doing some pre-summer hiking and camping the weekend after this one. My folks are going to Yosemite for their wedding anniversary, and asked Sharaun and I to come down and see the one day while they’re there. I asked the guys if they’d be interested in some freezing cold camping and maybe a short day hike or something. I was surprised when everyone was game, so it seems like we’ll be going down early Saturday and staying over through Sunday. We should have a little time to spend with the parents and then maybe do a hike to the top of vernal or something. Should be fun. I’m really looking forward to some camping, even if it will be 30 degrees out.

That’s really it guys, I burned myself out working on the MP3 page and now I’m spent. Dave out.

Posted on

pray or die

He parted a sea?
Seems like things have slowed down a bit at work since I cancelled my trip. The urgency that was driving me last week has lessened a bit, and now I’m a little more relaxed about the deadlines that are coming up. It’s also coming up on that nice time of year where I start getting itchy for a vacation. Luckily, there is already some stuff on the horizon that I’ve got to look forward to.

Since I was writing about the backyard project yesterday, I got to thinking about how we can get going again and start making some progress. I took some time to update my backyard drawings with a detailed irrigation plan. I’ve been delaying the relatively cheap task of installing sprinklers, mainly because I just hadn’t planned enough to jump in. So, with the help of some online resources, I mapped out pipe layout, sprinkler head location, spray radiuses, hydro-zones and associated flow rates and pressure requirements. It was kinda fun actually, appealing to the engineer in me I suppose. Now all that’s left is to rent the trencher and see if it can hack my rocksoil. Supplies should only run about $200 and the labor is light, so this could potentially be a one-weekend project.

Easter is this next weekend and that gets me thinking about church. We haven’t been to church with any regularity in years. Back in Florida, we went twice a week. I miss it. Without getting into my views on religion, and how they’ve changed in the past few years – suffice it to say that I do enjoy going to church. I enjoy the people at church, I enjoy the setting, I enjoy the history, and I hold the majority of values taught there to be important human qualities. My alliance with some major points of doctrine may not be where the church would ideally have them, and I have adopted a very liberal stance on a few of the absolutist-positioned items that most good Christians stand behind – but I do still have some sort of “faith.”

A few years ago I realized my view of religion was changing when I asked myself: “If someone all-knowing challenged you to put your life at stake by stating your unequivocal belief that certain biblical events happened as they are written, would you?” When it came down to it I guess I just didn’t have enough faith to risk my life on whether or not a man really did get swallowed by, and lived inside, a fish. Sure it’s a hypothetical, but it serves to show what I mean by saying my beliefs have changed. While I’m a far cry from a cynical atheist, my views on certain aspects of religion have changed. Having said that, I still miss church.

Well, I guess I did end up “getting into it” after all. Summed up, I think I’ve adopted a more common-sense approach to religion. Sorry to get all God on you guys, that kind of writing typically stays in the not-on-the-internet journal. Back to my normal hedonistic rambling in 3, 2, 1…

The lead story on CNN this morning had a sentence that I found hilarious: “U.S. Marines engaged in intense fighting in Fallujah today in an attempt to pacify the city…” Fighting to pacify? Am I the only one that finds that to be an odd concept? Kind of like a “peace-keeping missile,” I can understand the intent of the wording – but in reality it just makes you sound pretty dumb. They also had a sidebar item noting the news that Senator Kennedy is calling Iraq “Bush’s Vietnam.” While I don’t fully agree with the comparison in terms of the reason for fighting – I do see the parallel he’s trying to get it with the whole “spirit” of the situation. Without outing myself as a dove, I do wish we wouldn’t have gone to Iraq without UN blessing. WMD or not, Al Qaeda or not, I just think it wasn’t the wisest decision to go all commando and defy the UN.

Why didn’t someone tell me that yesterday’s entry was rife with spelling errors? I re-read it last night and was embarrassed at how dumb it sounded. OK, I’ve reached the “been staring at the page waiting for the next subject to pop into my head” time-limit and must therefore bid you all adieu.

Dave out.

Posted on

spending the day with mom

No whammies...
You guys remember what it used to be like to stay home sick from school? Maybe my experiences are atypical, but I have some really fond memories of sick days. Not the middle through high school sick days where it was nothing more than playing hooky – but those gradeschool days where your mom actually judged you too ill to go to class. For me, those days were awesome – in spite of whatever was ailing me.

Those were the days where I didn’t have to get up on time, get dressed, etc. The best part was spending the day with mom. I can remember doing puzzles with her, watching TV, and her bringing me blankets and juice while I laid on the couch. You could play Nintendo, read a book, whatever you wanted. And let us not forget the jewel in the sick-day crown, getting to watch the Price is Right at 11am. Oh man, maybe they’ll show Plinko? no other game is cooler. Being sick as a kid was awesome, unless it was debilitating sick that is.

If you couldn’t tell, I cancelled my Taiwan trip and am still here in the good ol’ USA. Upon further consideration, the timing of the visit just wasn’t right – so I decided to let the company take the $100 cancellation fee and postpone. It’s fine with me really, since there is a lot to get done around here. I’ll have plenty of chances to head over there this year, so what’s a few weeks anyway. Now I can be home for all the closing of affairs with our refi, and be there when our free shade trees get delivered from SMUD.

I think we’ve decided to do pavers in the backyard instead of pouring a concrete porch. Part of the reason is because I think we may be able to save some money on materials by buying the pavers as “seconds” from the same place we bought the retaining wall stone. Also, Sharaun prefers the look of pavers to plain concrete, and to top it off – we can do the labor ourselves and at any pace we want. I’ll just price and choose what kind of stones we want, have the pallets delivered, and go at a comfortable pace the same way we did the retaining wall. Should come out looking nice I think? now I just need to come up with the scratch for the stones. My math says it’ll be about $700 for a project our size. Sprinklers, pavers, sod, landscaping – that’s the order we’ll go.

Sharaun’s folks are coming to visit for the 4th of July, it should be really fun. The more time I end up spending with my in-laws, the more I tend to look at them as family. I really like them, whereas I used to be a little afraid of them. Now I look forward to their visits and going back to Florida to spend time with them. We got a tentative rafting trip planned, one that we’ve done before up north on the Feather River. It includes an overnight stay where the rafting company takes awesome care of you and cooks dinner, has free margaritas, etc. It was so much fin last time – so I’m pretty excited about doing it again this year.

I have nothing more to say guys, lest I get even more boring. Out.

Posted on

april fools, fools

It's a joke on your face!
For the first month in the history of pharaohweb.com, I have a new top page. Up until now, my lame old Question Mark & the Mysterians page has been #1 in the server stats. As of March though, my Pac Man pages took the long-held crown. Winning by just under 1000 hits, Pac Man chomped up the competition. I wondered why I was getting so many e-mails about it, seems its made its move. Wonder how long it can stay on top? Jeez, who cares right? Sorry guys? I get proud of nerdy things like web stats? it’s just in my blood. I blame my dad for buying me that electronics kit from Radio Shack back in the 5th grade. When you’re 11 and spending weekends inside learning about current through coiled wire from a talking cartoon capacitor? you’re pretty much destined for geekdom.

In the spirit of April Fool’s Day, Kristi and I spent some time crafting up a joke to play on Sharaun and her man Erik.

The background: Kristi’s job, and mine, find us frequently away from home on business travel. Lately, it seems like we’re both away on business around the same time – sometimes day for day. Last time I came home from Washington, she was also getting in within the hour – so we were both picked up together from the airport. This unplanned travel coordination has led Sharaun and Erik to give Kristi and I a hard time about really not being away on business, but having a secret affair. So we have this running joke between the four of us about Kristi and I going away for “business” to continue our affair.

The setup: Accidentally “out” the affair to Sharaun and Erik. We concocted a joke where we would use photos taken on our respective business trips, and manipulate them to seemingly show us together on the trips. For added reality, we setup a meeting at Kristi’s apartment to take some pictures of us together which I would then Photoshop into the shots from our actually business trips. So, Tuesday night Anthony I and dropped by Kristi’s place with camera in hand. Kristi and I had each combed through our respective trip photos and chosen the best candidates to be Photoshopped into. In going through my pictures, I found a (really crappy looking) picture that I took in my hotel room one morning on my last trip to Taipei. Noticing that there was an unmade bed in the image, I got the idea of adding a still-sleeping Kristi to it. We took some standard “tourists in love” shots, and one of Kristi in bed (fully clothed y’allz… no need to get that authentic) for the hotel shot.

The delivery: I went home and worked some magic with the pictures. And yes, I used the totally awesome (and completely free) GIMP for Windows to do all the Photoshopping. Yeah, I still call it “Photoshopping,” it’s a verb to me now. Anyway I took the doctored photos and added them to a very simple webpage. Then Kristi and I each pretended to “accidentally” send an e-mail to our significant other – when it was really meant for each other. Kristi’s mail to Erik went like this. She immediately followed it up with this. Yeah, I know – that last image (dubbed “the bed one” by Kristi and I) turned out awesome. If you want to see the magic happen, check here.

The payoff: I’m happy (and still married) to say that both Erik and Sharaun got a kick out of our little joke. Although I am a little nervous about paybacks next year.

Dave out.