Extra! Extra! Laptop Makes Aurora Man Superhero!

This evening the power went out.  I think it went out on a date, but I couldn’t tell.  I just new it was gone, but my four year old did not like the night-light not working and proceded to panic like I had sicked a pack of rabid centipedes on her.  After I finally sedated her with several gallons of maple syrup and the last of our melting ice cream Jessica and I headed downstairs to sit in the dark.  Some of you might think of this as a perfect opportunity to make out or something else like setup the tent in the basement and pretend we’re camping and light several small wooden pieces of furniture on fire and roast marshmallows.  Instead I pulled out my laptop and offered to spend time with Jessica doing something she likes to do.  Apparently watching movies is something that people do on non-comuter-like devices.  I suspect that is why I paid so much money for my television with the huge 24 inch screen.  Alas the television does not come with its own power backup.
My MacBook Pro does come with such a backup and Jessica and I sat in the near darkness of the candle light in our basement and watched part of some movie I can’t remember [just kidding, it was “50 First Dates” – that was a memory joke].  The electricity being off means that some of the background noise I’m used to from electrical devices was missing and the quietness of the laptop speakers in their normal environment didn’t show up.  The screen, which was set to be as dull as possible to preserve the limited battery power worked great in the darkness of the room.  And Jessica was wonderful to cuddle with.  She insisted, after the power came back on, that we not stop watching until after the scene where Drew Berrymore beats the snot out of Rob Schneider with an aluminum baseball bat (which is completely rediculous because in real life a single shot with that bat would take most people out, but Drew gets him over and over and he still ends up running off).

OK, so I probably didnt’ end up a super-hero, but I did get some good time alone with Jessica, and that’s powerful stuff.

9/11 – a Fraction

Other than being a fraction, 9/11 is also the marking of 6 years that I have worked with Alt-N Technologies (as an employee or as a contractor).  My first year there I drove into work with great joy that I had been around that long and that they still liked me and things were growing.  I’m still glad that after six years things are still going strong.  I’m taking some C++ classes now to get up to speed on C++ so that I can develop things for Alt-N in C++, and not just work on primarily web interface stuff.

Sure, many people today will rightfully think of the acts of terrorism that took place, but I refuse to let the day sit in a silent mugginess contemplating fear and terror.  Instead I’m going to try to enjoy the fact that I’m blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), blessed with a wonderful bride, two beautiful daughters, and a great office in a basement 😉

Empty Pockets

This morning I had to drive our puppy to the puppy adoption place.  Hot Pocket had to go because of Jessica’s allergies and this was a tough, tough choice.  Driving her to the adoption drop-off was extra long due to traffic and construction and it made it worse.  Hot Pocket was wimpering in the back of the CRV as the bumps in the road startled her and the sudden stops at times would throw her off her balance.  Upon arriving at the drop-off point the volunteers grabbed her quickly and I didn’t get a chance to officially say ‘good-bye.’

Its funny because I have been so frustrated by Hot Pocket’s annoying puppy behavior at times, but this morning was sad.

Now onto fish or some lower-allergen critter.

I Pledge…

The latest Best Buy commercial starts with all sorts of pledging.  Not pledging with value, but instead pledging of garbage, drivel, and stupidity.  Pledging to help you get into debt on a new TV system.  Pledging to show off their stuff to friends (in greedy, selfish boasting).  And of course pledging to help you.  Right.  Best Buy employees are about the least helpful employees.  I have asked for help there several times and not gotten it.  Instead they only work in departments that give them kickbacks.

I pledge to not shop there.

Ed

Happy birthday to my brother, who is, if my memory serves me correctly, twenty-seven today. I have to guess on that because if my memory serves me correctly when Ed gets around the right element (such as myself and many others) he reverts to about 14 or so and we all laugh at the excessive amounts of fart jokes. And if we’re lucky its just the jokes that are farty, because sometimes when we’re all hanging out like that it can also involve non-joke farts. In which case our wives, who have not descended into the pits of adolescence, yet again, are disgusted and think we’re pretty much ‘dorks.’ I suppose dork is a word that would have been appropriate at 14… maybe the gals just shift into adolescence differently 😉

Anyway, Happy Birthday Ed, and I fart in your general direction.

Randy Peterman the Sit-Com

You probably have heard the age old adage, “God made man in His image.  Man returned the favor.”  That would be a quote from Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain.  It has nothing to do with this post.

I love it when folks say, “You’re funny,” to me because it makes me feel like they find me funny.  But its all a lie.  I’m not funny.  If you walk up to me and say, “Randy, give me all of your money.” you are more likely to get money than if you were to walk up to me and say, “Be funny” and get a joke.  I think you’d have a much higher chance of walking up to George Bush and getting the correct spelling for ‘strategery’ than you would me whipping out a funny quip.  But I do try.

What really gets me going is a funny scenario where my mind can just go off into the never-never land of imagination and put people in very, very strange situations that could never happen.  For example putting me in a fast food employee scenario.  That would be weird because I could riff on the concepts given me.  The problem with that scenario is that its been done too many times.  However, what if a person worked fast food and truly excelled at there job?  What then?  Imagine the annoyed customers when an employee actually gave a rip!  I would be really ticked off if an employee actually asked me if I liked my food while I’m trying to reconstruct the elements that could potentially make up a hamburger.

And that, in short, is why there is not a Sit-Com based on the comedy material of Randy Peterman.  Because there really isn’t comedy material… its just a bunch of pops and clicks that happen to coincide with very strange thoughts that come out as a tumultuous blech of weirdness.  And there’s already a show called Southpark that does that.

399 Good Reasons to Ditch Microsoft Windows Vista

As CNET reports, Microsoft has announced their new Windows Vista operating system prices.  The version of the OS that I would need to do everything I need within my home would cost me $399.00.  Or I could install Linux for free, or ditch the Windows OS completely and get some more Apples (a mini would do just fine).  Why does Microsoft want to overly segment their market?  Do they feel that since they have much of the business world over a barrel that they should just gouge the home users who happen to prefer some slightly more advanced features that are now in their premium packages only?  Or is this an opportunity for consumers to discover other operating systems that get the job done for less?