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Thursday, February 3rd, 2005
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10:48 am - Rant 1: The bifurcation set of the swallowtail catastrophe
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| Tuesday, February 1st, 2005
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10:10 am - Okay, fine. I'll bite.
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a. Comment with any subject(s) that you would like me to rant on, with possible swearing involved. Any subject - I don't even have to agree with it. but I don't promise not to present my own viewpoint as well.
b. Watch my journal for your rant. and give me a couple of days...
c. Post this in your own journal, so that you may rant for others.
current mood:  mischievous
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, January 27th, 2005
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8:14 am - Because I had to share
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Lauren got me a George Carlin calendar, and I rather enjoyed today's quote.
"Have you ever started a path? No one seems willing to do this. We don't mind using existing paths, but we rarely start new ones. Do it today. Start a path. Even if it doesn't lead anywhere." -- George Carlin
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, January 25th, 2005
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12:46 pm - I know I'm gonna be
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Synchronicity is more than just a Police album these days. It seems to be a way of life for me lately.
I'm driving home last Tuesday, the 18th, and I turn the radio on. It's playing some song I either don't recognize or don't particularly care about, so I change the station. Lo and behold, the song "500 Miles" is just starting up. At this point, I hadn't heard this song in several years, and nostalgia gets the better of me, so I turn it up. The song ends, and another comes on. Whatever. I change the station, go through my presets, find a different station playing a song I can deal with, and that song ends. Then the radio station promo comes on, and little clip of "500 Miles" is part of the promo. Weird! Anyway, I take care of some stuff, do some work over at Paul's place for a few hours, and go home. I turn on the TV, and it's on VH1, where "I Love the 90's Part Deux" is playing, and they're on 1993. What song comes on the minute I turn the TV on, but "500 Miles"! It was uncanny! I can understand hearing the song three times in five hours if it actually were 1993, but it's clearly not, and prior to the 18th, I hadn't heard that song in years. Now it's following me.
By the way, it's official. I have a small business checking account for SJM Technologies, LLC. Now I can start pulling in some measure of income on my side ventures, and bring myself tantalizingly closer to being in the Boston area. I set up the account this past Saturday, the 22nd. As I was taking a shower that morning, the song "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin was going through my head, but I didn't know the title of the song at the time. I determined that I'd figure it out somehow, and set about my original task of making arrangements with the bank to set up an account. I call Sovereign Bank and ask them what materials I need to get a small business checking account set up, and they tell me. Very good, then. I just need to look up how to get there, and I'm all set. At this point, a commercial comes up on the radio, which I'd left on after it woke me up that morning, and it's advertising small business checking at Sovereign Bank. No other services, mind you. Just the one thing I happened to be looking for. I still have to figure out where they are, but it did seem a bit creepy.
Anyway, I get in the car, turn on the radio, and the song that's starting up is none other than "Kashmir", by Led Zeppelin. I see a quick little blue streak flash in my vision, and I take it as a sort of wink from the spirits from up on high. At this point, I just start cracking up, because the whole thing is just becoming way too surreal. Personally, I think it means that I'm on the right track, which I don't think I've been able to say for a number of years. I believe in signs, and the idea of there being no coincidences, no accidents. I'm not going to say that I think everything happens for a reason, because for one thing, that expression is a bit cliche at this point, and for another, I think that some things just happen for the hell of it, even if there is some conscious or unconscious direction behind it. I think there's a structure to things, that what we see and hear and feel are just the tip of a very large and very deep iceberg. That being said, I think something's trying to get my attention. I suspect it's just an encouragement, a reminder that whatever happens, my life is never just left up to blind chance.
That brings me to the state of my career. I've been doing some fairly simple IT support for my friend's transcription company, and he's bringing on more and more clients as time goes by. He figures that in a few months, he'll have both the money and the available work to bring me on full-time. Meanwhile, Lauren's about to start her examination period, which is basically something where she's got to write a detailed research proposal, and defend it to a committee. She's going to be rather busy, but the whole thing will be finished around the end of April. That's a few months from now. I'm starting to look upon that time as my target point, where I can break away from Lockheed and more aggressively pursue my independent work. So it's starting to feel like a reality, which is more than I can say for other attempts I've made to leave this place behind. I hope I'm right. I think I am.
current mood:  indescribable
current music: Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, January 14th, 2005
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11:10 am - In which Steve considers DVR options
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So I was looking at this little gizmo, which piqued my interest in home digital video recording. I talked to Lauren about it a bit, gushing about how I can add any size hard drive that I want, and have a DVR that doesn't charge me for a service fee. Her response was simply, "Would TiVo be cheaper?". My initial response was that this wouldn't require a persistent network connection, and it wouldn't charge you a service fee. But then I read that TiVo offers a lifetime subscription for $299, which is roughly the cost of the aforementioned USB hard drive video player. That doesn't include the cost of the TV tuner card in the computer, and the USB drive would require that I either get a really long USB cable, or manually connect it to my computer or to my TV as needed.
My problem with persistent network connections in my living room is that my cable modem is in my bedroom closet. While it is possible to snake an ethernet cable all over the place until it reaches my living room, it would be a bit unsightly. I saw that TiVo offers certain wireless options, like wireless modems and whatnot. So I ask those of you who have TiVo: What do you think of the service, is it worth it, and how reliable are the wireless options for guys like me who don't want cables everywhere?
current mood:  curious
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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8:29 am - It's a cat picture! It's a political rant! No! It's SuperMeme!!
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| Tuesday, January 11th, 2005
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10:58 am - A pleasant surprise
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So this past Thursday I had a dinner meeting for one of the contract jobs that I'm involved with. Since the customer lives in north Jersey, as does one of the other developers, we headed up there for the meeting. It was originally going to be at the Short Hills Mall, in Joe's American Grill or some crap like that. Upon arriving, we found there was an hour wait for seating, and so we were once again in the position of having to figure out where to eat. The customer said he was up for a burger place, and that was all I needed to hear. I asked if they felt like going to Madison. Minutes later, we were on our way to Poor Herbie's...
I hadn't been there in a great while. That is to say, not in a few months, at least. Or maybe it was over a year, I can't remember. But as far as I'm concerned, it had been a bloody long time. Though tempted, I decided not to opt for the customary ostrich steak, and instead went with the chicken parm. Not that any of you should really care what I got there. The moral of the story is that it was awesome to be back there for a little while. It occurred to me to try giving ![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20050203194054im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) windexcowboy a call, but then I realized I'd have to drive a bit further east, as he was still livin' it up in Thailand. Maybe west would have been faster. It may actually be feasible to do one day; I read something in some magazine, I think it might have been Wired, about proposals to build a bridge between Alaska and Russia, as well as between India and Sri Lanka. Suddenly the whole "college road-trip" thing takes on a whole new set of possibilities, and a whole new set of places to be hopelessly stranded, out of gas, and starving. I suppose maybe they'd have to add some highway infrastructure to accommodate the traffic, but I think I'm just expecting too much again. They'd probably just build railroads on it, which would admittedly be pretty cool. I could take a train from Philadelphia to Tokyo. Granted, it would probably involve several connections, weeks and weeks spent on trains, and more money than I'll ever make, but it'll be possible. Or maybe by then it'll all be maglev trains. Aww, yeah...
I think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. Maglev trains are awesome.
current mood:  lazy
current music: yammering
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, December 21st, 2004
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9:46 pm - And I have Colin to blame.
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When Firefly first aired on FOX, I had all sorts of excuses. I meant to watch it, I really did. I was intrigued by the hype, and by how it promised to be a different approach to science fiction on TV. But it aired on Friday nights, and I was usually busy. Then it got cancelled, and I was sad, because I'd never gotten to see it. My interest soon waned, and I went about my daliy business once more.
Then Colin comes to visit, and as I should have guessed, the world would never again be the same. He tells me he got the Firefly DVD set, and he's trying to rally interest in the series in order to boost ticket sales for the upcoming Firefly theatrical movie adaptation. He made copies of the DVDs on to VHS and gave them to me. I'm about halfway through them. I'm impressed. I'm even considering getting the DVDs myself, if for no other reason than to support the show and help convince FOX to bring it back.
But wait. I thought copying was wrong!
Well, sorta, except not really. I probably never would have seen the show unless someone handed it to me like Colin did. And now my interest is piqued. This is the perfect example of a series that would benefit tremendously by going direct to DVD, an idea I first introduced in an earlier post. There's got to be a way to get people hooked and then make sure sales are steady. Maybe they can use video rental places as primary distribution. Get a few million households to rent each season for $5 or so, you've got a steady income stream right there, not counting the folks who decide to buy each season themselves.
But wait. Why would people pay for a DVD-only show when there are plenty of regular shows on TV? Why "subscribe" to TV shows when we get them now for free?
Well, TV shows are subject to silly network executives telling the writers what to write. Networks also place restrictions on content, which would be a moot point in this model of distribution. Besides, people still buy books, and those require a bit more active participation on the part of the consumer. I think it could work. But then, I've covered this before.
In any event, Firefly is worth a watch. It's a space Western. It doesn't sound like it should work, but somehow it does. It's a unique blend of styles, and if nothing else, I'll give it points for originality.
current mood:  enthralled
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, December 20th, 2004
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4:28 pm - I... LIVE!!!
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This weekend was a tremendous success. It all started on Friday evening, when my family decided to celebrate Christmas eight days early. This was done to accommodate nemo_wistar and celaeno, who will be going back to Portland on Tuesday. Not that I'm complaning, mind you. What this means for me is that I got to start playing KotOR II a full week before Christmas morning. Hell yeah. So now Christmas is over, sorta. I mean, it's still going on, but I keep having to remind myself that for most people who celebrate Christmas, it hasn't happened yet. And I still have to finish shopping for Lauren.
I awoke on Saturday to the faint sound of a female-ish sounding singer growing ever louder in the parking lot of my apartment complex. I rolled over in bed, and for about a second or so I hoped it would turn out to be Geddy Lee. It wasn't, and to my horror, it turned out to be Mariah Carey singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Then the sirens kicked in.
BWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Me: "Holy crap! Fire! Fire! Batten the hatches! Hide the womenfolk! Fire! Outta my way! Fire! I--" ::checks window:: "Oh."
It was Santa, or a reasonable facsimile, aboard a fire truck. Maybe it was Geddy Lee dressed as Santa, aboard a fire truck. I severely doubt it, though. The town of Marlton probably blew its entire budget surplus when George W. came to town. I think he might have actually been riding a fire truck at the time. There's a picture of him standing next to a Marlton fire truck, which I suppose is about as close as I'm going to get to proving my theory. Of course, with a little time and a copy of photoshop, I can make a picture of George W. standing next to a Klingon if I really wanted to. Then again, there's probably already one of those floating around somewhere.
Anyway, seeing Santa helped re-ignite my Christmas spirit to some degree, at least for another 45 minutes or so. Then I played some KotOR 2. They say money can't buy happiness. Those fools. I played the game for only about an hour and somehow managed to tear myself away from it so that I could go work on one of my consulting projects. It was an easy project, and more than anything else, it gave me an ego boost by making me feel smart, even if all I did was create some WordPerfect templates and learn about Word macros.
Then there was Larssonage. As always, windexcowboy threw an excellent party. The pictures speak for themselves, except possibly for the extreme close-up of my face in maximum resolution. As nemo_wistar has pointed out, there comes a point where a digital camera becomes capable of capturing in perfect detail every pore, pimple, flaw, scar, blemish, bruise, and ingrown follicle I've had for the last seven years, and it's at that point that we might want to consider either taking lower-res pictures, or standing a bit further back.
Noteworthy Quote: "Yo, I'm gonna take a picture of you taking a picture of me. Whoaaa... that's tricky." -- Me & Pete
Then there was some stuff, like me crashing at Pete's house, going to Fuddruckers (and seeing Barney the Dinosaur standing next to the restrooms holding a bunch of balloons), and of course, Morimoto. It was just the way I remembered it. Once again, I ordered the Kobe beef and jumbo shrimp, the same thing I ordered last time, but I figure hey, I'm a guy who knows what he likes. As an aside, as the waitress put my plate on the table, I promptly reached over and realized that my sweater sleeve had been dipped in the sauce covering the shrimp. But I won't think of it as dirtying a sweater so much as gaining a snack for later. The steak was, as I expected, amazing. I amazed and dazzled jenniever and kingfox as I demonstrated how one could cut the meat with naught but a single chopstick.
And now it's the day after. Today I chill with nemo_wistar and celaeno one last time before they go back to Oregon. It's somewhat depressing that I don't get to see everyone as often as I used to. But on a happy note, Lauren comes back to NJ tomorrow night. And my consulting work is picking up lots of momentum. I think 2005 is going to be a good year, on many fronts.
To everyone I saw this weekend, I had a terrific time, and it was great seeing you again. I hope I can make a trip to see at least some of you before the first Larssonage of 2005.
current mood: pleased
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, October 7th, 2004
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12:33 pm - Given the other options, I think I can live with this.
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| Wednesday, October 6th, 2004
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9:31 pm - I'm crescentdude, and I approve this message.
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I've heard that sentence from four different politicians today. Two presidential candidates, and two candidates for the Senate in the state of Pennsylvania. Of course, none of those people said crescentdude. That's just as well, I suppose. Given enough time to think about it, I can't say I'd approve any of the crap I'm seeing in the political ads as we tantalizingly approach Election Day.
So in August, Lauren and I went on a long trip. I haven't really written about it much, with the exception of a buffalo flyer depicting, as daylami put it, "Nature's Great and Powerful Force... beautiful, but deadly" skewering a man who is "all 'the agony of defeat'". I could keep telling myself, and all of you, that this is largely due to the fact that I left the CD containing my digital vacation photos at my parents' place. But we all know that even were this not the case, my LiveJournal would be just as free of any first-person accounts of our adventures. I suppose that's just as well, too. In my two months since our trip, not a single person has come up to me and said, "So tell me again how you managed to stay on 450 miles of perfectly straight and featureless road for 6 continuous hours! And don't skimp this time. I want nuances." There's a very good reason for that, but I'll leave determining that reason as an exercise to the reader.
Of course, it wasn't all mind-numbing stretches of road. Well, I mean, of course it was all stretches of road. It was a cross-country trip, after all. But what I mean is that it wasn't all mind-numbing. Some of it was gut-wrenching. Some of it was exhilarating. Some of it was downright terrifying, and the rest of it was the weirdest, coolest, and most unique thing that either she or I have ever done. I'm trying to figure out what to write about it, but I honestly don't know where to start. I think I'm putting off writing any real stories because I want to get it right, and I'd need to plan out just what I want to talk about. In other words, I'm a perfectionist pain in the ass who's decided to write nothing, rather than risk not spewing out gold on my first attempt.
But at least I'm honest. Thank God for that.
current mood:  mellow
current music: They Might Be Giants - Monsters of Mud
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, September 8th, 2004
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9:42 pm - So basically what you're saying is, "Don't piss off the buffalo."
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Lauren scanned this for me this evening. It was handed to us by the kindly park ranger person at the welcome booth at Yellowstone National Park. Words fail me, so, well...
( Discuss. )
current mood:  devious
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, August 24th, 2004
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9:38 pm - Now that everybody and his donkey has one...
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I finally was granted the power to invite folks to get a Gmail account. Most of you already seem to have an account, but if anyone wants one, let me know.
current mood: generous
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, August 18th, 2004
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5:22 pm - So I ask you all...
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So, this job that I'm getting myself into would have me working on a contract basis for the parent corporation. My friend Paul, the one who helped me get into this whole mess, who has his own management consulting company and is rather well-versed in matters of business, suggested that I set up an LLC for myself. So I figure, sure. I'll do it.
I just got an email from Paul asking me what I'd like to call my soon-to-be-formed one-man corporation. I'm drawing a bit of a blank. So I ask you all... any ideas?
current mood:  optimistic
current music: They Might Be Giants - Wearing a Raincoat
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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2:57 pm - Updates pending, I promise. But for now...
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I'm back from vacation. And I have photos, of the digital variety. I'm going to put those online, but there's rather a lot of them at the moment. There's about 200 MB of them, to be general, and 211MB to be specific. Of course, that total includes several movies that Lauren took of us driving through the rain, hopefully looking to catch a glimpse of the somewhat spectacular lightning we were encountering along the way. So it's probably closer to my original estimate of 200MB. That's still a lot. I'm not sure how big my Comcast webspace is, but I'm guessing it's probably not quite that much. So I could either scale down the pictures or only post those pictures of which we are particularly proud. I think that's what I'm going to do.
And I'll be talking about it very soon, once I have pictures selected and uploaded. For now, though, I'm working on more immediate and pressing concerns, such as me getting to Boston. This is a topic I have discussed here ad nauseum. I'm starting to make it happen now. It shouldn't be this big a deal, but in a way I did make this bed and now I'm trying to claw my way out of the too-tightly-tucked sheets. Having two weeks away from work helped me to remember what's important to me, what I'm doing and where I want to be. More than anything, though, it helped give me the resolve to make it happen.
I just made the announcement to my boss and my project manager, telling them that I intend to move to Boston as soon as possible, and to consider this an early warning so that they can be ready for my departure. The next step is to talk to the people in charge of this new business that I've gotten myself involved in, and get myself some degree of certainty that I'll have a job ready for me by a certain time. I'm fairly confident that I can make this work out. It's all terribly unfamiliar, because it's not a standard 9-5, show up for work, put my time in, punch out at night sort of gig. It's a telecommuting job, something with which nemo_wistar is all too familiar, and seems to be dealing with quite well. But it's not even like the company is completely established. There's work that I have to do before the company can get off the ground. It's not a place I expected my career to take me. That's how I know this is the right thing to do.
So right now, I'm looking at leaving Lockheed some time in October or early November. This is where I stop waiting for opportunity, and start making it happen. My best prospect at the moment looks like a bit less than a sure thing. I guess this is what they mean when they tell you to take risks in life.
current mood:  hopeful
current music: A ring tone, coming from some place.
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| Sunday, August 1st, 2004
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3:36 pm - It won't be long now...
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It's not like I post with any degree of regularity to begin with, so it's not like anyone would find it odd for me not to post for two weeks straight. But in any case, I'm posting to let y'all know that tomorrow morning Lauren and I begin our westward trek toward Portland, Oregon to see celaeno and nemo_wistar. We decided to drive it, rather than do the intelligent thing and fly. I've always wanted to drive cross-country, and now I've got a chance, an excuse, and the means to do it.
Lauren talked me into going to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio on the first day. I was somewhat reluctant at first, because I figured it would throw us off our plan to get there. But I also realized that we've got Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska to just drive straight through without stopping for any significant reason, so as long as there's something cool to go see in Ohio, then I figure it's worth it. That, and the park is on a little peninsula on Lake Erie, and I've always had a bit of a fondness for the Great Lakes. We're also going to visit Lake Tahoe and Redwoods National Forest, and then drive up the California coast. To put it simply, we're going to be doing a royal buttload of driving.
So now I've got to go buy some provisions (read: snacks and tasty beverages) for the road. If you want to get in touch with me, there's email, and of course, my trusty cell phone. I'll be gone for the next two weeks or so, but the route is pretty well-covered by Verizon's network, so I ought to be reachable.
I'll have plenty of things to write about when I get back. And if the planets are aligned just right, I may well get around to posting them :)
current mood:  busy
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, July 12th, 2004
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11:17 am - Homeland Security my shiny white ass.
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| Thursday, July 1st, 2004
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10:10 am - Birthdays and whatnot.
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| Friday, June 11th, 2004
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9:17 am - So. Cool.
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| Wednesday, June 9th, 2004
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11:12 am
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I AM 71% EVIL GENIUS!  Evil courses through my blood. Lies and deceit motivate my evil deeds. Crushing the weaklings and idiots that do nothing but interfere in my doings. |
current mood:  crazy
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(comment on this)
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disappointed
thirsty
distressed
ecstatic