Wordless Wednesday: Apparently I'm not the only one "following" the progress of Spirit and Opportunity...

(image courtesy of MarsPhoenix and Gizmodo)

Wordless Wednesday: while we're on a Star Wars note, it appears there was a truce while I was gone the other day...

That's it...

It's happened. That point in every debugging session where if I don't take a break I will cause myself or my computer physical damage. So I'm taking a break.

I've been mildly amused by reactions to the election last Tuesday. For several reasons. So here goes.

1. It's amusing how much the American people attribute to the President in light of how little he can actually do. Sure, he can suggest a bill, but law-making is entirely out of his hands. Sure, the confidence of the people in the President reflects somewhat on the economy, but there's not a dang thing he can do about it actually. Sure, he can say his plan includes tax cuts, improved programs, etc... but the legislative branch has to actually make the laws to implement them.

2. I've heard several people mention (mostly before the election) that if Obama were elected they would move to Canada (presumably because it's easy to cross the border???). People. Have you ever _been_ to Canada? Obama would make a pretty good right-wing nutcase up there.

3. I've heard several people express their sorrow and/or fear for our nation at the fact that Obama was elected. This is really funny to me. How much direct effect has the Bush administration had on your daily life? Really? The only direct affect the Bush administration has had on my life is that Federal Financial Aid was cut. And it's a lot more of a pain in the can to get on an airplane. Don't get me wrong. I voted for Bush both times, and I'm not sure the alternative would have been much different. It's just funny that people are so concerned about the future of the country now that a different idealogy will be in the White House. If you look at numbers throughout the last few decades, the so-called "GOP" has been the party to increase government spending and government size. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure 4 years of a different mindset will be that bad of a thing.

4. I've seen several petitions/groups asking for Obama to provide his birth-certificate. This is a good one. His mother is an American citizen people. Therefore, he is an American citizen. Do we really need to argue the point?

5. I have finally reached the point of complete apathy regarding the election process. My life's dream now is that someday there will be an election wherein I won't be trying to decide which of the major candidates will do the least worst job. After months of mud-slinging ("He's un-American. He's unbalanced. blah, blah, blah) I was completely fed up. While I like _some_ (not to be confused with "all") of Obama's policy ideas better than McCain's non-specfics, I don't really like either of their policy ideas, so I voted for Bob Barr.

6. I've heard a lot of people (not just my boss) say that Ron Paul would have been an ideal candidate 200 years ago. I'm not entirely certain a candidate who looked good 200 years ago would look so bad today. Most of my displeasure over the Bush administration stems from a less-than-intelligent foreign policy program. I agree entirely with Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and others who say we have _way_ too many problems here at home to need to be bothering with the rest of the world. There are certain things that I believe should not be allowed anywhere, anytime. Genocide is one of them, which is one of the reasons I think that we've accomplished something worthwhile in Iraq, even though I don't agree 100% that we should have been there to begin with. It's kind of irritating that so mass murder/genocide happens elsewhere in the world that doesn't rate the same kind of response. If you're going to be the international do-gooder, at least spread it around a little, eh?

7. As you might be able to tell, I'm a little fed up these days. The Bush administration has failed to make good on quite a few of its promises. The soon-to-be Obama administration has lots of ideas that look good on paper, but I wonder where they will get the money with the tax cuts he has proposed. Whatever happened to finding the best person for the job? Hence, my previously-mentioned life dream. Maybe someday.

8. Don't get me wrong here. I think George W. is a good guy, and I think he felt that he was doing the right thing most of the time. If I weren't so sick of the partisan mud-slinging fest, I probably would have voted for McCain, simply because on the whole I still feel that of the major parties (i.e. those whose candidates have a chance of being elected) the Republican party comes closer to my ideals than the Democratic party. It's just mildly amusing to me that so many people think a Democratic president (whose projected ideas are not much different than any other Democratic president we've had in the last few decades) signals the end of the world.

9. I am now done being amused at politics and will now return to debugging my graphics project.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday: that's 5 bags, with 5 bottles each

Happy birthday Hen. Hope 50 liters of Diet Coke is plenty for your celebration...

I suppose it could have turned out worse...

Way to get in the spirit of the holiday guys.

Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Spider Man. You've pretty much covered all of the media that ever gets talked about at my office. All that's missing is Dr. Who...


Disclaimer on the picture. My phone has a big crack _right_ over the camera lens.

Wordless Wednesday: It's coming...

I know, I know, enough already...

Look at me, 2 posts in 2 days. Don't get used to it, though, my mom tagged me and I knew if I didn't do it right now I'd forget. So here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Where is your significant other? 6'away
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? crazy
5. Your father? mellow
6. Your favorite thing? electrons
7. Your dream last night? non-existent
8. Your dream/goal? graduating
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? biking
11. Your fear? drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Apple
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? graduated
15. One of your wish-list items? Challenger

16. Where you grew up? Orderville
17. The last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? hat
19. Your TV? korean
20. Your pet? non-existent
21. Your computer? unending
22. Your mood? normal
23. Missing someone? nah
24. Your car? Yeti
25. Something you're not wearing? bra
26. Favorite store? amazon.com
27. Your summer? crazy
28. Love someone? much-ly
29. Your favorite color? orange
30. When is the last time you laughed? barely
31. Last time you cried? 2002

Guess what? Not tagging anybody. You're all off the hook. Look at me defying convention.

Where has all the accountability gone?

It's official. Our "Limited Government" government has signed into law the $700 billion bailout bill. Why? Because some clever people found a way to add around $1oo billion in pet project "pork" to the bill.

So who is going to be held accountable? Is it the sub-prime lenders who enabled the mess? Is it the idiots who bought homes well beyond what they could afford because the sub-prime lenders told them they could? What's going on? Allow me to illustrate with an example from Bob Cringely:

Take our current national economic mess, the so-called sub-prime mortgage crisis. I like to think that I'm not a subprime kind of guy, but pretending to work as I do (my kids think I TYPE for a living) the world may not always see me the way I would like to be seen. So last year, in what we didn't know were the waning and idyllic pre-subprime days, I tried to get a new mortgage. Of course I used the Internet to get the loan because, as we all know, when banks compete I win. And within a few days, without having to actually meet with or even speak to another human, I found myself offered a $336,000 mortgage.

It was SO easy. Fill out a few online forms, make some choices, and there I was, about to close that loan. But then I did an odd thing. I carefully read the papers I was about to sign (I'm one of THOSE people). And in that residential loan application, right on line something or other, was a number that didn't make any sense to me at all. It was labeled "total household income" and was almost twice the pitiful amount I actually earn.

From where did that number come? It certainly never came from me. Since my signature would be at the bottom of this application I wanted to make sure everything was correct, so I called the mortgage broker. For the first time we spoke. She was a very nice lady, too, and explained that number was the variable required for all the ratios to be correct so I could qualify for the loan.

"But it isn't true," I said.

"Do you want the loan or not?" she asked.

Not.

I wasn't so principled as cowardly, but maybe that doesn't matter: I did what I knew was the right thing for me, which was to walk away from the loan. But evidently a lot of other people took the other course and today are having trouble paying for their houses, which is a big part of the reason why we are in this current economic mess.

Now there is someone with a brain. "Oh, I don't think I can afford this house, I guess I won't buy it". Which brings me back to the main question: Who is going to be held accountable for this mess? Apparently not the people who made the poor choices, and apparently not the people who made it so easy for them to make that poor choice, but the everyday taxpayer, including those who were not even close to being in a position to make any choice on sub-prime lending, and including those who used their brains and chose wisely.

Oh, there's one more thing. Want to know two of the people leading the fight for the bailout to pass once the pork was added? Oh, a couple of guys named Bob Bennet and Orrin Hatch. Way to represent your constituents, guys.

Oh, and think that this pork that got added was all for the common good? Check this out:

And I probably wouldn't have noticed...

As I was winding down from some programming tonight, Nicole walked over by me and asked, "So are you going to notice, or do I have to tell you?"

Me being me, I looked around my work area and didn't see anything amiss, so she told me to look at the toys on the top level of my desk shelf (that she hates).

I like Star Wars, and I like toys, so I have some Star Wars Lego figures, and little funny Star Wars figurines, and a Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader action figure. Normally, Luke and Vader are in various fighting poses, that I change whenever I get really bored or need a break from programming and nothing else sounds fun. The little figures are usually in some form of opposing situation.

As I looked up tonight, what did I see but Luke doing the Limbo under Darth Vader's light-saber, supported by our DSL Modem. The three little figures are "standing" with their arms around each other, with blue ghost Obi-Wan floating over them approvingly.



Needless to say, Nicole was very amused by her cleverness.

Now what could the person who controls the home network do in retaliation... (if you don't understand the comic, you can look here. You won't understand the explanation, but scroll down to the pictures and it'll be crystal clear)

Summer's last days...

So we just got back (recently) from our annual trip to Newport Beach with Nicole's family. Right at the end of the summer, it's a good break before school starts. And this year, we had a week to recover before school started, so that was even better. So here's some pics of the trip.

Me and Nicole

Chelsea and Awix at the pool

Playing with Jayden

Chucking Jayden

Chucking Chelsea

In the beginning...

The other beginning...

A little mid-day churro goodness

I can't think of anyplace I'd rather read than at the beach.

Too funny to not blog...

I laughed till my face hurt, as did everyone else in the office...

If you've never heard the song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by The Charlie Daniels Band, you might want to listen to it first. You can listen to it here.




If you so desire, you can find the original (un-edited) version here at the very bottom of the page. Not for those offended by profanity.

It was bound to happen eventually...

That's right folks. I may have been to the ballet, and the symphony, and some musicals, but today we see that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Today, Nicole compiled and ran a C program from the command-line. I've never been so proud. Okay, so maybe I have. But if you're talking about milestones, this one is a pretty huge milestone.

Welcome to computer geekdom, my love. You've taken your first step into a larger world.

Yup, that's right.

I have hacked my iPod Touch. As a result, I have all kinds of goodies that Apple would never allow in the App Store. Here's some pictures of one of my favorites:

Battery mostly drained...

Battery charged...

Totally awesome. Whoever wrote this is a genius.