A Violently Executed Blog

I Feel So Smart Now

2009-06-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

I Feel So Smart Now

Is it normal to feel incredibly smug when you start using Linux? Because I do.

Smuggy McSmuggerson, that's me.

Also, I've got this near-overwhelming urge to start decorating everything with a penguin motif.

Victory! Of A Sort.

2009-06-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

Victory! Of A Sort.

So, one new hard drive later, I've installed Linux Kubuntu on the laptop. I've got the WiFi connection working, I've got Firefox installed (note to Google: MAKE CHROME FOR LINUX) and I'm working on a download of Wine so I can install iTunes.

Out Of Pocket

2009-06-13T12:31:00.002-05:00

Out Of Pocket

Just an FYI - the hard drive on my laptop died last night, so until I get it fixed, replaced or just get a new laptop (HA!), I'll be online a lot less.

I can get email on my cell, and you can call me - email me if you need my number.

I Only Have One Thing To Say About This

2009-06-04T19:08:00.001-05:00

I Only Have One Thing To Say About This

OH HELL YES.

Suck on THAT, teetotalers!

You Think I'm Crazy?

2009-05-08T08:46:00.002-05:00

You Think I'm Crazy?

Well, you're wrong. Obviously, the spiders have a plan. They're attacking on two fronts. The legions of whistling, venomous, dinner-plate-sized spiders attack from the south, the bulletproof giant spiders attack from the north.

Well, We're Really Fucked Now

2009-05-07T09:51:00.003-05:00

Well, We're Really Fucked Now

Not the Swine Flu - I've given up on the possibility of using the hysteria of the uninformed to somehow leverage employment. No, I speak of something far worse.

No, not a plague of clowns. Not quite that bad, but almost.

I speak of the coming plague of car-sized, armored, meat-eating spiders from Greenland. Sure, the initial article in National Geographic is rather coy - no extrapolation, no dire warnings - but that's not really NatGeo's thing. The first link above does all that, and delivers the real warning. We're talking bulletproof spiders, spiders big enough to eat us whole in one bite (but they won't do that, because that would be too easy. No, they'll tear us apart with their freakish mandibles, tossing random bits to their dog-sized and ravenous young).

Now, don't any of you try to muddle this with your "facts" and "reality" - I know the spiders are coming, just like I've been warning you all along. You go ahead and act like there's no problem, and I'll stock up on anti-tank weaponry. We'll see which one of us ends up spider bait.

Just a Quick Heads-Up

2009-04-17T12:55:00.001-05:00

I'm in the market for work again. Programming, it turns out, wasn't really my bag, baby. I found myself less and less happy with what I was doing, and even less happy with the thought of doing that as a career.

So that's where I am now. Just so you know.

If My Marriage Was A Child...

2009-03-30T12:04:00.002-05:00

If My Marriage Was A Child...

... It'd be old enough to vote today.

At this time 18 years ago, I was standing outside a church posing for pictures with my stomach tied up in knots, because in just a few hours I was going to marry the woman I loved more than life itself.

The wedding itself went well, though I don't remember much of it. All of my memories of the ceremony are of Melissa. I couldn't take my eyes off her, not even when my younger brother Micah fainted from locking his knees.

Since then, through ups and downs, tragedies and triumphant joys, Melissa's been there for me when I needed her, and I've done my best to be there for her.

I wouldn't trade a second of that, not the times we were so angry at each other we couldn't talk rationally, not the times our hearts were broken, none of it. The bad parts are more than made up for by the good parts, and the whole package fills me with joy every time I think about it.

Happy Anniversary, Melissa. You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me, and if the first 18 years make me this happy, I can't wait to see what the next 50 look like.

Who Watched The Watchmen?

2009-03-07T07:54:00.001-06:00

Who Watched The Watchmen?

Saw 'Watchmen' last night.

What really worked:
Rorschach
The Comedian
The prison stuff
The 'world history in 5 minutes' montage at the beginning
Rorshach's death
The art direction

What didn't quite work:
Veidt's reveal
The coda w/ Sally Jupiter
Silk Sprectre II
Not enough Bernie/Bernard

It wasn't the differences per se, or the more faithful bits that kept the movie this side of great. It came down to the cuts more than anything else - Moore and Gibbons wove everything into the story, and the cuts removed a lot of the nuances that fleshed out the story. Additionally, the cuts made Moore's already weak depictions of women a lot more problematic.

All in all, it's a good movie, but not quite a great movie. The graphic novel was, for its time, absolutely ground-breaking and shattering of the superhero tropes as we knew them in the mid-eighties. Since then, other comics and superhero movies have been informed by Watchmen, so that we've seen all of this before - maybe not in the same movie all at once, but we've seen it.

I give Snyder full points for having the balls to attempt to adapt Watchmen, and had his source material been less weighted with its own history and the emotional history of its fans, I think he could have had a great film. In the end, though, there's too much to put on the screen and Snyder fell just a wee bit short. And I'm OK with that - I don't think every hit has to be a home run, it's perfectly OK to get a solid base hit.

So I'll go see it again, and I'll go see the Director's Cut when it comes out, and I'll buy the DVD.

I will be interested in reading/hearing the reactions of people that came to the movie without reading the source material.

At Midnight All The Agents...

2009-03-06T16:14:00.003-06:00

At Midnight All The Agents...

Tonight's the night - Melissa and I are heading to see 'Watchmen' at 7. It's been a while since I've looked forward to a movie as much as I am this one. Those of you that aren't hip to the comic probably don't get it, and them as got into comics after the late 1980s probably don't get it either. I remember picking up the first issue of this comic and being blown away - Moore and Gibbons did one of the best jobs of world-building ever, and the comic has stood up to multiple readings - there are always new nuggets to discover in the text and art.

The reviews I've seen have, for the most part, been positive. People whose opinions and tastes match mine (Wil Wheaton, f'rex) have raved about it. Still, I could hate it. That's possible. If so, there are no doubt some of you that will be delighted to be able to say, 'I told you so!' That's cool.

Anyhoo, I'm leaving work in a few minutes, and I'll probably post a mini review tomorrow morning.

My favorite quote from the comic:

Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But Doctor... I am Pagliacci."

Today In History

2009-02-26T05:52:00.002-06:00

Today in History

Twelve years ago, twelve years and 2 or 3 hours to be exact, my son Drew was born.

It seems like yesterday he was a toddler, tottering around the house terrorizing the cats, and now he's careening towards his teens, opinionated and clever, starting to face the world on his terms.

Well done so far, son. Keep it up.

I Knew It Was Coming...

2009-02-25T19:15:00.002-06:00

I knew it was coming, but it's still a punch in the gut.

Philip Jose Farmer died this morning.

Damn, I loved (and still do) his work. Riverworld alone earned him permanent status as a master of SF.

I hope he's sailing Upriver on the Not For Hire right now. He deserves that.

Updates and Miscellany

2009-01-17T09:45:00.002-06:00

Updates and Miscellany

It's been a ~~quiet~~ kind-of-busy week in ~~Lake Wobegon~~ Austin. My work is still going very well, but it doesn't really allow the long reflective breaks my last job did, and I certainly have less time than I did when I was unemployed.

I'm still loving the job - programming is more difficult and a lot more fun than I ever thought it was (not that I thought programming was a cakewalk before).

Melissa and I are doing this home organization thing that seems to be bearing fruit of the less-clutter variety. I'm using some of the organization tricks at work to keep my thoughts together, which is helping.

Mainly, I'm just a lot happier when I'm working, and when I'm doing work I enjoy, I'm even happier.

There's still lots of stresses, of course - money's still very tight from my unemployment period, but we're working on getting our shit together in that area as well. Melissa's been incredibly busy at her job, but she's also been given a promotion, so it kind of balances.

I've been talking off and on (more off- than on- recently, but I plan to remedy that) with a couple of friends about giving a gaming podcast a try (hence the recent poll on this blog), and I've been researching some of the technical logistics of this plan. The homebrewing is going well - I've got one bottle of Barack Bock left, which I'll be drinking on Tuesday to celebrate having a real president again.

Politically, I'm still recovering from the election and eight years of having my "Outrage" setting turned up to 11. There's still tons to be angry about, but I need some time to chill out right now.

So that's it, that's my life in a nutshell. How are you guys doing?

Guitar Girlz RAWK

2009-01-03T20:27:00.002-06:00

Guitar Girlz RAWK

Fran got her birthday presents today:

A guitar and lessons:

and, from my parents, a gold cross that belonged to my grandmother, Franny's namesake:

Happy birthday, gal.

Birfday Girl

2009-01-03T08:35:00.002-06:00

Birfday Girl

Today, Franny is 9. 9 going on 16 some days.

She's a sweet, clever girl and I'm immensely proud of her. Happy birthday, daughter of mine. Don't grow up too fast.

Meet the New Year, Fundamentally the Same as the Old Year

2009-01-01T08:23:00.000-06:00

Meet the New Year, Fundamentally the Same as the Old Year

Welcome to 2009. I find that I'm happier if I keep my expectations low. Life works better for me as a series of things that didn't quite go as badly as I feared than as a continual series of minor disappointments. YMMV.

I don't anticipate losing my job to the wonders of offshoring this year, so things on the work from should be better. The rest of the world I expect will annoy, disappoint, frustrate and vex me about as much as it usually does.

Don't get me wrong - I hope everything goes really well for all of you out there, but I don't PLAN on it.

Anyhoo, I've got NYE dishes to wash and some kind of starchy and spicy breakfast to wrangle for myself. More later.

Polls Make Me Happy

2008-12-29T10:03:00.001-06:00

Polls Make Me Happy

www.neomyz.com/poll

Hail The Unconquered Sun!

2008-12-25T10:17:00.003-06:00

Hail The Unconquered Sun!

Merry Mithrastide to all of you, and I hope all is well for you and yours.

BTW, I noticed last night that I finally rolled over to 100,000 hits sometime in the last couple of days. Thanks to all you that are still reading.

I'm working on a few projects right now, besides work and keeping the house in shape - a second comic script, working with an artist on the first script and kicking around a gaming podcast idea with a couple of friends here in town.

I'll post updates as I've got them.

Laters.

Awesome Song

2008-12-13T11:29:00.001-06:00

Awesome Song

I approve of this song:

Week 2 Done!

2008-11-26T17:23:00.002-06:00

Week 2 Done!

I've finished my second week of work (technically, it was a half-week, but hey, who's counting?).

Odd fact: there's at least 3 homebrewers in the current training class, plus several more in the IT group campus-wide. Apparently, one of the things they select for in this program is beermakers.

The kids are slowly adjusting to our new family schedule. Drew's been especially good so far coming home alone and getting his homework done. Did I mention he made the Honor Roll?

Well, he did.

Rock on, Drew. Rock on.

Now, got to get ready to eat and eat some more for Thanksgiving dinner.

General Update

2008-11-20T12:08:00.002-06:00

General Update

Since Major Information and Private Details couldn't be here today...

Work proceeds. I'm neck-deep in learning Natural and getting to know my co-workers (or, rather, fellow trainees). There's 11 of us in one room (called, of course, the Bullpen) with 7 more sharing 3 offices. Everyone's at a different level in the training, but there's a very congenial atmosphere - it's expected that everyone is available to answer questions and/or provide helpful hints. The primary emphasis is, of course, on getting through the self-paced training program, but the secondary emphasis (and almost as big as the training) is on building a network of colleagues to last through your career at UT.

The training is hard work - I've never been good at languages, and a programming language is only different in that there's more structure to it. It's a little difficult in that the commands are in English, of course, which means learning a second meaning for a lot of words, a meaning that's only appropriate in some circumstances, and in others, the meaning is a completely different one.

Anyhoo, it's a nice environment, the work is hard and parking at UT is terrible. I've had to completely scrap any idea of dropping Fran and Alec off at school, and it looks like I'll be arriving too late in the evening to pick them up from after-school. Still, this is only for 6 months, so if we can make it through this period, I'll likely be in a position with a little more flexibility. In the meantime, I'm pondering bringing my bike to campus and riding it from the parking lot to the UT Tower (yes, THAT tower).

Speaking of which, I've got a good view if the guy in the office to my right leaves his door open, and I crane waaaaay back in my chair.

If I owe you an email, I'm sorry and I will get around to it sooner or later, probably later.

I'll try to post again this weekend, and get back into more blogging.

Today I Has A Job

2008-11-17T06:17:00.002-06:00

Today I Has A Job

I start at UT today. Today should be paperwork and getting settled in.

I'm going to be an intern in the IT group, learning to program. After the internship is over, I'll be a full-fledged programmer.

This is career #3 for me, and hopefully the last one until I retire. ::knocks wood::

I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to a small case of stage fright, but I think I'll be OK.

Why Things Suck

2008-11-12T06:19:00.002-06:00

Why Things Suck

It's because THE GAYS ARE GETTING MARRIED.

Video SFW, pretty much:

More deets on the job soon, I promise. As soon as I've got the paperwork.

I GOT A JOB

2008-11-07T09:07:00.001-06:00

I GOT A JOB

I start November 17th at the University of Texas.

BOO-FUCKING-YA

Getting It Out of My System

2008-11-05T12:51:00.002-06:00

Getting It Out of My System

It's unseemly to gloat too much, but after the last 2 presidential elections and having to listen to shithead GOP zombies vomit forth their unholy glee over 1 outright theft of an election and another that is questionable at best, I think I've earned the right to say this.

"SUCK IT, TITTY-BABIES"

And a little LOL for your enjoyment:

moar funny pictures