In the movies, crafty computer wizards always have a self-destruct button somewhere on their computer's desktop. Just click a button and POW, all their private data is erased, permanently and instantly removed from existance.
Back in the day, I had one too -- a secret batch file named KILLME.BAT that, if ran, would have performed a quick format of all my computer's hard drives. I had a copy of this batch file on my old BBS computer, ready to run at a moment's notice. Should "the man" have sh
Mason and I attended another Thunder game last night, where we (the Oklahoma City Thunder) received the butt-kicking most of us were expecting. Last night we played the Orlando Magic. Orlando brought superstar Dwight Howard, who scored the first triple double of his career, while the Thunder's best player, Kevin Durant, sat out due to a "sore left ankle" (aww).
The Thunder looked like a high school team trying to keep up with the Orlando Magic. The announcers begged the crowd to shout "DE-FE
Yesterday was my pal Andy's 35th birthday, and Andy's wife Lea set up a surprise party for him at Laser Expedition. Along with Andy's family and his co-workers from the fire department, a few of the old gang showed up including our friends Jeff and Scott. It's always fun when old friends get together, whether we're playing cards, playing laser tag, celebrating birthdays or simply hanging out.
Jeff and I had a slight advantage during the first game, having played previously. Out of 18 players
Last night Susan and I went to the Civic Center to catch the final Oklahoma City performance of Spamalot, a musical version the classic 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Spamalot was written by Eric Idle, on of the original members of Monty Python, and debuted on Broadway in 2005.
I'm a pretty big Holy Grail fan and I wasn't sure how much I would like a musical based on the film. Turns out, it was pretty good. Spamalot is a pretty even mix of old comedy bits from the film mixed wi
Susan called me yesterday and posed an interesting challenge. Susan had found a local online phonebook that listed contact information for local businesses, but the website limited you to viewing one category at a time. You could click the word "Automobile Repair" and it would show all the entries in that category, and you could click the word "Dentist" and it would show all the dentistry-related entries, but the website was lacking a button that would display the entire list all at once.
He
Saturday, October 7th marked the umteenth-annual Czech Festival here in Yukon, Oklahoma. Yukon was apparently founded by Czechs and has an official "sister town" in Czechoslovakia, so the first Saturday of every October is officially "Czech Day".
Here is my non-cynical summary of Czech Day: The Czech Day Festival begins with a parade down Main Street, where all the Czech prince, princess, king and queen nominees join Shriners and lots of local schools and other organizations. The parade las
I was on IRC the first time I heard the term "MP3" used. It took me a while before I got the point of transferring digital music files back and forth. I remember thinking at the time, "Why would I want to download music I already own and listen to it on my computer?" At that time I was still a dial-up modem user. It took longer to download most songs than it did to listen to them.
Scanning back through my MP3 collection I found a handful of songs with dates as early as March of 1997, but it
I've only flown once since 9/11/01, and boy have things changed since then.
I arrived in Dallas curbside with three bags -- one to check (clothes) and two to carry on (laptop and CPAP machine). After paying $2 plus $1 tip to check my bag at the curb, I was informed it was over weight. Aren't we all? I was informed I could either pay a penalty ($50, I believe) or remove something from the suitcase to lighten it. I removed my heavy coat, which I had packed, and put it over the jacket I was alr
Monday morning Susan heads out to Baltimore for our branch's yearly Computer Specialist meeting. Usually when Susan travells she takes one of the two kids with her, depending on the circumstances of the trip. Unfortunately (for me), this time she's being required to attend meetings and functions both during the day and after hours. With nothing for them to do but sit in a hotel room all week, the kids will be staying home with me next week.
Which means this weekend, we're doing nothing. It's
Mason and I had breakfast this weekend at the Waffle House in Yukon. Apparently, the restaurant is currently being rennovated -- most of the tables and booths had been removed, leaving four booths and a few spots at the counter available. Fortunately for us, one of the booths was immediately available, and we were quickly seated.
As Mason and I ate breakfast, more customers began entering the restaurant and, with no booths available, began sitting alongside the wall in chairs while waiting f
Yesterday I got calls from two different friends needing help. First was my friend Tim (aka Tim Dog). Tim's father-in-law passed away on Thanksgiving. We are also friends with Tim's wife and Tim's mother-in-law. They are wanting to put together a slideshow of scanned photos for the family luncheon after the funeral service, and I told them I'd be glad to put it together. Last night I scanned in around 150 photos into the computer (about a minute per photo). This morning I'll begin importing them
Actually the Thunder are now 1-10, but in games I've seen live in person, we're 0-4.
I've run out of witty headlines and humorous ways to say we stink. To be honest the Thunder hung in there much longer than most people expected against the 9th ranked 6-4 Houston Rockets. With names like Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest, defeating the Rockets proved to be too difficult -- even though Ming, McGrady and Artest all left the game at different times due to injuries.
The Thunder kept it
Anyone who says they love Christmas can not possibly have as many battery-operated Christmas-related items in their immediate living area as we have. Any act of clapping, yelling, or simply walking from the kitchen to the living room is enough to set off a chorus of animatronic Santas, snowmen and reindeer, all singing different tunes at the same time, competing for our attention and pounding my last nerve.
The real issue tonight is my impending sleep study, which I don't particularly want
I made it! My lapband surgery was a success, and I'm alive and doing well. Thanks to everyone who offered me even the slightest amount of support during this time. The phone calls, e-mails and blog comments were all very kind. Thank you all very much.
My adventure began Monday morning with a 7:15am check-in at the hospital. I had blood work (poorly) drawn by a girl barely old enough to drive. From there it was off to the surgery check-in room, where I was soon met by Susan, and shortly after
Last night for dinner, Dave, Johnny and I went to Acapulco's, a local Mexican restaurant here in Framingham. As one would expect we entered the restaurant and were promptly seated.
Moments later we noticed a mariachi band in the corner of the dining room. AND THEY BEGAN PLAYING LOUDLY. THEY PLAYED VERY LOUDLY. AND THEY MOVED FROM TABLE TO TABLE, PLAYING ONE ENTIRE SONG FOR EACH TABLE. AND IT KEPT GOING AND GOING AND WE COULD NOT HEAR OURSELVES THINK.
While we were waiting for our food it
Yesterday for lunch, Dad met Susan, the kids and I over at the new Chinese buffet in Yukon. Lunch was good, but uneventful. We chatted, we ate, we left. Susan and the kids left in one car while dad and I stood in the parking lot chatting for a few more minutes. Then, he and I (who also drove separately) left, each heading home.
As I came over the bridge at Czech Hall at I-40, I saw several cars pulled over to the right hand side of the road. I immediately recognized one of the cars as Susan’
Last night's sleep study went well. For those who haven't had the pleasure, here's what having a sleep study is like.
Participants are instructed to arrive at the sleep study center (mine's at Integris Hospital) at a specified time (mine was at 8:30pm). When you arrive you'll sit in a waiting room with a bunch of other people with sleeping problems. Everybody's nervous, which means some people will be talking nervously and asking a bunch of questions while other people sit quietly, reading
Last week, Earl from the Retrobits Podcast interviewed me about my book Commodork. Apparently I rambled on for so long (have you met me?) that the interview had to be split up into two halves -- the first of which has been posted this week on The Retrobits Podcast (Episode 71). If you're dying to hear me talk about me, check it out. And while you're over at Retrobits, check out some of their past podcasts as well. There are many great episodes to listen to, all available for free!
A year or so ago when I first decided to install a PC-based DVR or PVR in our living room (since dubbed "Pivo"), it was running Windows XP and GB-PVR. At the time I had several people question me why I didn't put up a Linux box. The fact of the matter was, I didn't know Linux well enough to even attempt it. Fast forward a year -- I've been playing with Ubuntu Linux for a few months now, and while I am no expert, I can get around the system's GUI well enough and am just starting to familiarize my
This week Susan and I along with Johnny and a dozen of our co-workers are receiving SAN training from Dell. Our group is pretty diverse, consisting of a few people who have never heard of a SAN, a couple who have worked on SANs, and then the rest of us who fall somewhere in the middle ("I have a general knowledge of how SANs work but I've never physically touched one.")
Ten minutes into the training course we discovered our instructor ("Anne") had managed to write technical jargon all over o
...and on the road again. Monday afternoon I'm headed to Dallas for a week-long work-related training course. I finally finished unpacking everything from my Vegas trip yesterday; all the clothes from my suitcase went from my suitcase into the washer/dryer and back into the same suitcase to next week's trip. In the six days I've been home since Vegas I've been able to catch up with friends and squeeze in quite a bit of family time. One thing I've noticed over the past few days is while I missed
Before Susan leaves for one of her out-of-town work trips she stocks our kitchen to the brim with things the kids and I would never eat. It's a motherly thing -- I get it. She doesn't want to leave the kitchen bare and so she spends a bunch of money on breakfast cereals, easy-to-prepare meals and a wide selection of fruit. While she's away the kids get McDonald's for breakfast, fast food for dinner and popcicles for snacks. Susan's well-meaning rations generally sit untouched until her return, a
Even though my children are only five and (almost) two, I enjoy the fact that they are becoming evil, manipulative little devils. Morgan's still somewhat of an amateur, but she's learning. Whenever I threaten to spank her she bats her eyelashes, clasps her hands together and cries, "no da da. No da da!" Mason's slightly better at the game, but not much.
Last night, Mason stayed up over an hour past his bedtime. By the time we got him to lay down he was literally wailing. From the living roo
Ignoring conventional packing techniques, I spent my morning going to areas where I "keep things" and throwing those things into bags until the bags were full. That's how I knew I was done packing. Mason seemed to be underfoot every step of the way; rollerskating in the kitchen, doing handstands in the living room, and spinning circles in the hallway.
While Morgan has both feet firmly planted in the terrible twos, Mason has graduated to the age of back talking. "Why do I have to do that? Wh
About a week ago, Mason informed us that one of his front teeth was wiggly. He's been bending it back and forth, making anyone who's watching cringe. Last night, with a little encouragement, he played with the thing until it eventually popped right out.
Mason was visited by the Tooth Fairy last night and said he plans on spending his dollar at either the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree, "whichever has better toys."
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