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"What's he singing?""Funk soul brother, check it out now, funk soul brother, right about now.""And that's all?""Yup."She tosses an incredulous look from the passenger seat."I just don't get you, Derek."
 Update on the things I'm working on:- The Sheyenne River Speedway has asked me to design a new website for them in exchange for advertising. Amongst other things, I'll probably get a 4'x8' section of track wall for an ad. w00t!
- I'm considering a redesign of the Receipt Site, purely cosmetic, plus new info in the FAQ, plus I think the site needs a Press Package.
- I need to do something with Destiny's site, but I'm not sure what.
- I'm working on developing the blogging software I wrote for this website into a marketable product, to compete with Greymatter, Blogger, and Moveable Type.
- Yes, I know Shopping2001 hasn't been updated, despite the fact that 2001 has ended. Lots of keying to do, some programming too.
Derek Recommends:camera: Olympus C-3020 Zoom
In the past week, I've had two coworkers ask for recommendations for a cheap, quality digital camera. This is what I came up with, although Amazon is quite overpriced.
Daily Condition:on radio: MPR's Morning Show
my condition: Tired...economics class wears me down.
I'd like to know what it takes to get included in the bloggies. Does the fact that I wrote my own blogging software, which rivals MT and GM in abilities? Maybe I'm not using Blogger or Diaryland, which means I don't have the avantage of inclusion in their lists of users. The webrings I am subscribed to bring very few readers; next to none, for that matter. Despite the redirection from the previous website, there are still few new readers. I'm kinda out here on the edge, doing my own thing since Septemer 1999, far longer than most blog writers. My design is okay, but some of the competitors in this year's Bloggies are either annoying, useless, or crash my browser. Maybe I'm just bitter.Either way, I'd like to attract more visitors to my weblog. I promise to update regularly now, and I've been quite successful as such since Xmas. I've got plenty of fans out there...My personal webring does bring some visitors, but not that many. I maybe should add a link on the Receipt Site. Early on, I kept my other works separate, to create an air of mystique - that Derek was just Derek, void of identity. Now, it seems I've put too much personality into that Derek. That's not bad, though - I love it, I enjoy interviews, so I guess I should add this site to the list of sites at the bottom. Let's use the "comments" section, people - any suggestions on building blog traffic?
Out for drinks at Space Aliens with coworkers, the conversation turned to the fact that my face is on a coffee cup."See, Derek, I'm the kind of person who should really like that sort of, um...you know, I'd like that...""Fame? Attention?""That's it -- attention. You'd think that I'd love to have that kind of attention, I'm outgoing, and you're quiet, you're a hermit who doesn't draw attention to himself. But -- you really like it, you get into it. You're the one who gets interviewed, and is in magazines, and you're down with that. Me, I wouldn't...I'd get annoyed by all those people bothering me.""You wouldn't like it if some radio morning show called you at seven in the morning for an interview?""Hell no! I'd be pretty fucking pissed! I'd probably hang up on them."
Daily Condition:in cd player: Titan AE Soundtrack
my condition: Today is my 3rd anniversary of working here - that's the longest I've done ANYTHING in my life.
Long sleeved black shirt, black slacks, black leather jacket, black shoes, black socks, I thought I was the coolest until I stepped out into the sunlight.These slacks are BLUE.
I hope the Compaq technician I spoke to last night gets paid what he's worth. In the end, we determined that it was me that screwed up my iPaq Connection Point, the damage is not covered by warranty, and that it is unrepairable. However, We reached this conclusion after an hour and a half of trying things, testing things, installing other things, removing network cards, putting in other network cards, trying different protocols, traceroute, ping, winipfcg, and whatever else you can think of. He knew what he was talking about, unlike the other 2 Compaq techs I've spoken with. Maybe he was wrong, maybe there is still something untried, but I am satisfied with his answer.Plus, I tore the Connection Point apart at 1am this morning, so I doubt my warranty applies anymore. There's an entire working wireless PCMCIA card inside it, which makes it worth my money.
In the fine tradition of other blogs, I've added the ability to leave comments on the posts I make. This works for almost every piece of content on 11111001111 - the editorials, about, and linklist are the only ones which do not have commenting ability. It's still in Beta-testing, but I stole almost all the code from the Receipt Site, so the viewing & writing of comments should be equally bug-free. We shall see! Have at it.
Destiny brought home the book Henry Hikes to Fitchburg from the library a while back, and I thought it was great. It's a little parable about the value of time, inspired by the work of Henry David Thoreau. Henry is a bear who agrees to meet a friend in Fitchburg, and how they get there.The author, D.B. Johnson, has now written a sequel, Henry Builds a Cabin. NPR's Weekend edition talked about it this morning - have a listen. They read the entire book on the radio, plus discuss the background of the story. The greatest quote ever, regarding the impact of starting children on Thoreau's work early: | "The reader of this book will somehow flash on it when he's in junior high and say "Henry David Thoreau - wasn't he a bear?" |
Daily Condition:on Radio: Sound Money on MPR
my condition: Tired; We went to Harry Potter last night. Didn't get home until after ten, and the film started at 7:30. Excellent, but long, movie.
Derek Recommends:film: Zoolander
There's plenty of humor to keep it moving, and there's really only one joke which falls flat. Lots of talented people in this movie; it's tough to take cartoony characters and make them round, sympathetic people.
Additional features on DVDs, such as commentary tracks, storyboard samples, deleted scenes, really appeal to me as an artist. I got The Crow for Christmas, and I watched all the extras this morning. The people on the commentary track talk about how long it took to get a good script revision, what sort of things they had to cut, what worked and what didn't. The deleted scenes clearly warranted deletion -- they didn't fit the theme of the movie, they were unneccesary, or they did nothing to help the story itself. There are pages of poster samples, storyboards for scenes, and production sketches.As an artist, this is an excellent reminder of how the first try rarely is right, things always need to be revised and changed, even great artists do stupid things in early production, and fine art takes lots of time. When watching a movie the whole thing comes together in under two hours, so it's easy to forget that being an artist it takes more effort than appears on the screen. It's validating, to look at the things I've done wrong, put on the shelf as unattainable, and have on the workbench, and compare that to the similar troubles of artists I admire.
Daily Condition:In CD Player: Moxy Fruvous, Bargainville
my condition: If I went to bed now, still significantly earlier than usual, would that be so wrong?
I was just poking around, looking for nothing in particular, and I found PHD - Piled Higher and Deeper. In a world of GPF and User Friendly, this is a freshly funny geek comic, plus I really like the style of drawing. Now that I'm a returning college student ("Older Than Average" is the proper term, I believe), looking at entering grad school within the next 4 years, this comic strikes home. (original source: Lisa Michaud.)
Nigger. Randall Kennedy's new book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word discusses the origin & evolution of the word, and the reasons why I'm supposed to just say "N-word" when Dr Dre gets to say "Nigger." Terry Gross interviews Mr. Kennedy on Fresh Air today; listen to the interview - it's a great introduction to the book, which I have not read. I would like to read it now after hearing Gross & Kennedy discuss it, openly using The Word in context.
Daily Condition:listening to: Car Talk on MPR
my condition: trying to clean up after Christmas. Trying to find space for all the gifts Des & I recieved.
More positive press about my chess club work; sure, I'm a hack, I'm no expert at chess (not by any stretch of the imagination), but I do keep the kids interested. Who'da thunk that there would still be 20+ kids that would stay after school an hour once a week to play chess? I think it's more important that I keep them having fun than to mold any of these preteens into a chess expert.
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