Harry's Ruminations

w00t!! Got a call from my tenants today; Kami said they wanted to sell their stainless-steel fridge after all. hehe.

Pictures here

I'm sitting here tonight, realizing that the first part of my life is over and the second part is beginning. The first part was learning, the second part will be doing. (I'm hoping I get a third part, sitting-on-the-porch-and-watching) Anyway, so I'm working on my mission statement. If this is to be the "doing" portion, I should know what I want to do. GAAAAAAAA.... I'm definitely big on learning, I'm dilligent, and I want to help others. Not big on stuff, really.

The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy sounds alot like me after going through high school with a certain gal w/initials J.M.--he finds women annoying temptresses whose sensual nature will destroy his church, so he tells them to STFU. woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15But women[a] will be saved[b] through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. Get a grip, man! Adam was right there, and he, of his own free will, ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. I mean, I dislike the clucking tongues of old biddies as much as the next man, but give women their due. * * * Other than that, Timothy is okay, but it seems written by an old man who's finally realized that his larger, philosophical epistles (Romans, Corinthians) are being ...

People from Eastern Kentucky pronounce "our" as "air". Total givaway for someone from East KY.

Lost tonight was an immense waste of time...we learned nothing about what's really going on, and I'm really ceasing to care about most of these characters.

Why I love my GTO

Nausicaa is one of Miyazaki's best animes, and it was my pleasure to watch the re-released US version yesterday. The film combines many of miyazaki's important themes, like environmentalism, the evils of technology, and the general stupidity of humanity about all things environmental. Unlike some other Miyazaki films like "Spirited Away", this is an action movie, following the princess of the valley of the wind, Nausicaa, as she flies in her glider, dodging bullets and two warring factions from what remains of humanity 1000 years after a nuclear war. We see all of humanity here, from the gentle, loving, and good, to the greedy, petty, and evil. :-)

My blog used to be so interesting...I was reading through the posts from last year, and holy cow was it a fun read. Was that ME writing those entries? So sleepy...

How does one survive a Bad Indie Film 1. Turn on the subtitles 2. set your DVD player on double-speed. Napolean Dyamite is pointless drivel with an anti-hero, though there is some creativity here. Still...how do you hate a file that has this for 'trivia': Idaho has unanimously passed a bill praising Jared and Jerusha Hess for making the film, citing amongst their reasons that the Preston High School administration and staff, particularly the cafeteria staff, have enjoyed notoriety and worldwide attention. Tater tots figuring prominently in this film has promoted Idaho's most famous export.

Thanks to my friend Ben Pullen ("3WheeledWonder") for some vids (Windows Media req'd): Hi Res Low Res The second one was taken on my fastest run of the day, a 41.1xx, which was good for #4 on PAX. I still needed another .762 seconds to get Scott though, grrrrrr... Overall Results: link *** Ah, what a glorious day. Started with a pitiful 44.xxx time, which I cut down to 42.075, then 41.7. I got over-agressive on the next run, and caught a 42.6, then had my best run of the day: 41.1xx

Ah, a whole 48+ hrs w/o working. This weekend thing is great! Friday, I drove to get Whitney from Louisville and we went out to eat at Smokey Bones BBQ. Awful. Contacts clouded over, and I blinked my way in Thor back to G'town. Saturday, we once again missed a mtg with our (now former) pastor, Dwight, but we did get to spend quality time with two old pals, Jamie and Andy both of whom work at Z103 here in Lexington. I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated; their house is awesome, and they received us with open arms. Then, Whitney and I went to see Revenge of the Sith together. She really enjoyed the movie, and intuited this: There was a Sith Lord who could influence the midichloreans to create life AND to keep someone alive (he was Darth Sidious's master). Perhaps it was HE who influenced them to impregnate Shmi with Anakin, setting the whole prophesy in motion. I thought this was lightning-bolt information. Whitney just said, "DUR!!!" We drove back to da V...

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I wrote some darn fine code today. Multithreaded programming makes your head hurt, but there's nothing like a good, coordinated algorithm between two threads. Well, okay, sex is better. But as work goes, it's good :D Most irksome phrase on earth: "We're definitely having some weather tonight" Yup. I bought a yo-yo today. Muhahahaha nerd fun for everyone. Had a great SCCA meeting tonight. Male bonding :D

Just in case you're jonesing to write some not-too-useful programs: Free Pascal

14 hours at work and the frickin' product is STILL BROKEN. Someday, look back at this time in your life and cringe.

It's 11:30, I got here at 7:30, and this is the first time I've sat down at my desk since arriving. This morning: 8am Video conference with my Kolkata team, which went well. Everyone seems to have responded well to my notes. 8:30am Video conference with my testers & management. This was the biggie, and was a good first step. Now new ship issue PTRs 9am meeting with the Lexington team, who were very "up" and willing to discuss problems. At least somebody got some rest this weekend. 10:15 up with the stress & stability team to re-verify that, yes, our last release was stable and well-behaved. Yay 10:45-11:30. Discussion of 3 big PTRs with the rest of my team and what issues they're having. Updated my manager on what's going on. In the process I had a cup of Navy coffee...double strength tar that's about like espresso, but poured into a regular coffee cup. I expect to crash any time now.

Man, it's the PERFECT DAY outside: Sunny, 60 degrees, and no autocross :-(

two monitors, venerable WKQQ on my single-speaker radio, stuck at the office on a rainy Saturday when I should be packing up my apartment, that's Harvid. Management determined last week that my product was so utterly broken that we needed an "All hands on deck" effort to fix it. Since it'd actually cost money to pay contractors overtime, read this as "all REGULAR employees" on deck. So, I'm here pouring through code letting Harvid have full reign. I'm heading home by 6, though, to exercise and relax a bit, then clean-up my house. Fun? What's that? Oh, that's what OTHER PEOPLE get to have... bitter much?

Having finally acquired one of those damnable camera-cellphones-fm tuners-bluetooth gadgets (which magically still works as a plain old phone), I decided to put it to use today. Here's my pal Jeff (nee "Marshall" to Whitney) Jeff's standing in front of my alter-brain (my whiteboard) and beside my office door, which is defiantly collaged with Dilbert comic strips. Here's my officemate, Patrick: Patrick's sporting the new iPod Mini his wife got him for his birthday. I talk alot of crap, but these guys get me through the good times & the bad.

(This blog brought to you by coffee, the never-ending source of stimulation for the programmer mind.) Though I own two of the coolest cars in existence today (a MINI and a GTO), there are several cars out there I'd love to have, but the practicalities of life infringe upon it. My list, in no particular order: A Saab 9-3 Viggen Front Wheel Drive Hatchback 260 horsepower turbo 4 cylinder. MMMM....practical. Chevy Impala SS LT1 260 hp, old Small Block Chevy architecture. Plenty of elbow room. VW Jetta TDI I know, I know...I had a Mk.IV 'Dub, but I got the wrong one. Instead of the turbo gasser, I should've gotten the diesel. Great power, and 50-60 mpg, and none of the problems that plagued the 1.8T

Some english phrases make no sense to me: catch-as-catch-can : Huh? I'll be out-of-pocket this afternoon : Huh? One thing, a pair of things, several things : How is it that 'several' comes to mean three, all of a sudden? Working with so many foreign peeps, you start understanding just how random, chaotic, and redundant English is. Sentence construction, word choice, phraseology, neologisms, and odd tenses ("He might have been going to the park next Thursday") combine to make English hard to master. My head hurts. I'm getting lunch.

Derby 131 has come and gone, and you can almost year the sighs from here. The great stories--Fleet Alex, Steinbrenner's colt, et al.--all fell in the stretch to the longest of long-shots, a horse that has no shot at either the Preakness or Belmont. Another year, another yawn.

This is for all you folks ready to go to college, ready to be the next Alan Turing, John Backus, or Bill Gates. Don't become a programmer. You'll either land in some sweatshop like ACS where people yell at you all day to fix the problems they cause by their mismanagement, or you'll land in some massive corporation, where they'll force you do to crappy work until you're burnt-out. Meh. I hate my job. Must be Thursday :-)

No races for CKRSCCA at Commonwealth Stadium this year. Schedule Basically, all little lots where you can have only a 25 second course, or lots where it's sealed asphalt (EKU) Ugh...

Read this and tell me the problem is oversaturation, not Scott Bakula's bad acting or braindead storylines.

I miss my MINI. It's doing yeoman work shuttling the better 2/3rds of my nascent family around Louisville. Okay...scattered FROST tonight. In May. In Kentucky. ?? I've discovered the toughest part of step-parenthood is not what I expected. Not liking your stepkid, I expected. Him not liking me, I expected. What I did NOT expect is me really caring about him, yet realizing he'd never care about me. This is the same feeling Norie had about Jarod (ne "Bo Bo") Slone, and it makes me sad. I SO MUCH want to be a part of Joey's life, but there are certain critical moments that only a parent's love can get you through, moments when the child looks with uncertainty or fear and says to himself, "It's okay that's my {Mommy | Daddy}." I will ever be an outsider. Sadness. But such is life...