I'm heading off to Hot-lanta to hang with my brother, Matt, over Fourth of July Week! Yes, this means flying. No, I'm not worried. :-)
This will be my first big vacation since the Maine trip last year, and I'm thankful that I have the chance to do it so soon after starting my new job at DIT. I've also had trouble sleeping of late, and I'm hoping that this coming week I'll have the chance to catch up on a little, and perhaps get some better sleeping habits formed.
Of course, knowing Matt, and how he and I get on, we're likely to be up till all hours BSing and fiddling with his toys: computer, TV, DVD player, etc., etc., etc. Dad may or may not be proud: the apples never fall far from the tree. :-)
I'll try to blog from the road (Matt does have dialup), but no promises...
-Rich
Thursday, June 27, 2002
Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Has it Already / Only Been a Year?
Brain Squeezings turns 1 today! It's certainly been a year of ups, downs, backs, forths and showerings of sugar and/or vitriol on the subject of the day. Who knows? This "blog" thing might actually last!
Music
Impromptu, the singing group with which I, well, sing, is recording a CD this summer, and we held a recording session last night. It was hard work, and long, and we were plagued with page rattling, loud breaths, and pops from the rafters, lights and doors (we recorded in the chapel of St. Catherine's School on Grove Avenue, for those familiar with Richmond), but in the end I think we'll surprise ourselves. There's a lot of talent in this group. :-) I'm glad they let me sing along.
Back to work, now; it's a crazy one today...
-Rich
Monday, June 24, 2002
Posting on a Monday
Lynn keeps finding cool stuff, and is quickly becoming one of my favorite content-stealing sites. ;-)
Today's gem is the World's Smallest Political Quiz. I scored as a Centrist, though shading strongly Libertarian and to the right. The test appears to have a pretty strong Libertarian bias, though; statements like this:
But then again, the "Libertarian" description:
In other piracy from Lynn, she posted a link to a story from GUT RUMBLES, and I like this guy. He says all sorts of things I'm too polite to say or too self-absorbed to see. Go ACIDMAN!
-Rich
Today's gem is the World's Smallest Political Quiz. I scored as a Centrist, though shading strongly Libertarian and to the right. The test appears to have a pretty strong Libertarian bias, though; statements like this:
Right-conservatives prefer self-government on economic issues, but want official standards in personal matters. They want the government to defend the community from threats to its moral fiber....are overly simplistic in my view, and oh by the way, there's a form to fill out on the results page if you want more "Information on Libertarian Ideas." :-D
But then again, the "Libertarian" description:
Libertarians are self-governors in both personal and economic matters. They believe government's only purpose is to protect people from coercion and violence. They value individual responsibility, and tolerate economic and social diversity....isn't too far off my mark for the ideal in society, though it whitewashes a fair bit of the Libertarian trend toward "throw off the shackles" attitude that leads toward the legalization of drugs and prostitution. But hey, it makes for good discussion material. :-)
In other piracy from Lynn, she posted a link to a story from GUT RUMBLES, and I like this guy. He says all sorts of things I'm too polite to say or too self-absorbed to see. Go ACIDMAN!
-Rich
Friday, June 21, 2002
Today's Friday Five
1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? Two-bedroom apartment. One bedroom has been converted to a media room.
2. Do you rent or own? Rent.
3. Does anyone else live with you? Two dogs and a cat. (more)
4. How many times have you moved in your life? Nine times, not counting going home from college for the summers.
5. What are your plans for this weekend? Scour the apartment, and see both The Bourne Identity and Minority Report. Oh, and a friend recommended a local steak house as being exceptionally good, so I'm gonna check that out as well.
-Rich
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Of Late
Been a few days. Hmm, what's been going on?
Programming
Grabbed JBuilder Personal (a freeware Visual Studio 6-esque programming environment for Java) to fool around with at home, and have begun writing myself a few utilities to use in the GURPS campaign I'm working on.
At work, I've been given Visual Studio .NET to play around with, and after a few days I can confidently say that the Java world is right to be concerned. All the versatility of a Java-esque core library structure without OS-agnostic pain like having to learn how to implement an Interface just to filter the filenames in a "File-Open" dialog box (class JFileChooser). Assuming Microsoft hasn't made any enormous blunders, I'll be surprised if Java's still anything to sneeze at in five years.
Geeking Out
My new machine at work is running Windows XP Professional, and I have to admit I'm really liking it. With every version post-Windows 95, Microsoft's been adding extraneous crap onto the interface, and it's bugged me to no end. My first few hours with a late-model virgin install of Windows are almost always devoted to making it work as much like Windows 95 as possible. With XP, though, MS has put on a new, fruity face, and for giggles I thought I'd try to use it "as is" for a while. Turns out that I like it - I like it a lot! Who knew?
Reading
Yes, I've rediscovered the written word, and it's largely thanks to a) the utterly crappy TV options out there on everything but TechTV, and b) Mary Delli Santi's bookblog. Head over to bookblog, by the way. There's some great discussion going on.
-Rich
Programming
Grabbed JBuilder Personal (a freeware Visual Studio 6-esque programming environment for Java) to fool around with at home, and have begun writing myself a few utilities to use in the GURPS campaign I'm working on.
At work, I've been given Visual Studio .NET to play around with, and after a few days I can confidently say that the Java world is right to be concerned. All the versatility of a Java-esque core library structure without OS-agnostic pain like having to learn how to implement an Interface just to filter the filenames in a "File-Open" dialog box (class JFileChooser). Assuming Microsoft hasn't made any enormous blunders, I'll be surprised if Java's still anything to sneeze at in five years.
Geeking Out
My new machine at work is running Windows XP Professional, and I have to admit I'm really liking it. With every version post-Windows 95, Microsoft's been adding extraneous crap onto the interface, and it's bugged me to no end. My first few hours with a late-model virgin install of Windows are almost always devoted to making it work as much like Windows 95 as possible. With XP, though, MS has put on a new, fruity face, and for giggles I thought I'd try to use it "as is" for a while. Turns out that I like it - I like it a lot! Who knew?
Reading
Yes, I've rediscovered the written word, and it's largely thanks to a) the utterly crappy TV options out there on everything but TechTV, and b) Mary Delli Santi's bookblog. Head over to bookblog, by the way. There's some great discussion going on.
-Rich
A to Z
Pirated from Sarah, pirated from Crazy Tracy...
A - Animals/Pets: Two dogs and a cat. (more)
B - Best Friends: Hunter, Tripp.
C - Cohabitants: See A. Accepting applicants.
D - Desire(s): Life as a novelist while raising a family.
E - Eye Color: Blue.
F - Favorite Food(s): Steak and sushi.
G - Games: Video and word, assorted.
H - Habit(s): Too many to list; they're how I live life sanely.
I - Interests: Writing, programming, grousing (not inclusive).
J - Job: Java/C# Programmer for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
K - Kitchen (Wonder or Blunder?): Pretty damned good when I do anything.
L - Languages: English, German, a smattering of Russian. Romance languages? Feh.
M - Most Valued Possession(s) (an item, not people/pets): My Palm m505. I'd be lost without it.
N - Name (Named after?): Richard Carson Miller, Jr. After my dad - and no, there won't be a Richard III.
O - Outfit You Love: Oxford with collar open and sleeves rolled up, and slacks - hey, I'm basic.
P - Pizza Toppings: Meat. Lots of meat.
Q - Question Asked To You the Most: "What have you been up to?"
R - Relationship/Partner: Accepting applications. See C.
S - Sport: Football, NASCAR. Watching, not participating, though I did play high school football.
T - Television Show(s): Invader Zim.
U - Unsavory characteristic(s): Fat, depressive, occasionally lazy, occasionally obsessive (not inclusive).
V - Video (Favorites): Wow - The Empire Strikes Back, The Matrix, Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter, Sleepless in Seattle, Silence of the Lambs, the list goes on...
W - Webpage (Favorite--not your own): Slashdot.
X - Xylophone (or other Instrument?): Piano, tenor saxophone. Long, long ago.
Y - Year Born: 1970, Chinese Year of the Dog
Z - Zodiac Sign: Taurus
-Rich
A - Animals/Pets: Two dogs and a cat. (more)
B - Best Friends: Hunter, Tripp.
C - Cohabitants: See A. Accepting applicants.
D - Desire(s): Life as a novelist while raising a family.
E - Eye Color: Blue.
F - Favorite Food(s): Steak and sushi.
G - Games: Video and word, assorted.
H - Habit(s): Too many to list; they're how I live life sanely.
I - Interests: Writing, programming, grousing (not inclusive).
J - Job: Java/C# Programmer for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
K - Kitchen (Wonder or Blunder?): Pretty damned good when I do anything.
L - Languages: English, German, a smattering of Russian. Romance languages? Feh.
M - Most Valued Possession(s) (an item, not people/pets): My Palm m505. I'd be lost without it.
N - Name (Named after?): Richard Carson Miller, Jr. After my dad - and no, there won't be a Richard III.
O - Outfit You Love: Oxford with collar open and sleeves rolled up, and slacks - hey, I'm basic.
P - Pizza Toppings: Meat. Lots of meat.
Q - Question Asked To You the Most: "What have you been up to?"
R - Relationship/Partner: Accepting applications. See C.
S - Sport: Football, NASCAR. Watching, not participating, though I did play high school football.
T - Television Show(s): Invader Zim.
U - Unsavory characteristic(s): Fat, depressive, occasionally lazy, occasionally obsessive (not inclusive).
V - Video (Favorites): Wow - The Empire Strikes Back, The Matrix, Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter, Sleepless in Seattle, Silence of the Lambs, the list goes on...
W - Webpage (Favorite--not your own): Slashdot.
X - Xylophone (or other Instrument?): Piano, tenor saxophone. Long, long ago.
Y - Year Born: 1970, Chinese Year of the Dog
Z - Zodiac Sign: Taurus
-Rich
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)