My watch, never having set it to agree with anything else in the world, is 2.5 seconds off the atomic clock. Score one for the $6 WalMart timepiece!

Feb 25 2003 0 comments

Derek Recommends:

foodstuff:

Beef & Cheese packs

When I have cheese, it needs to be refrigerated. Somehow, truck stop cheese can exist bubble-packed and vacuum-sealed with a stick of meat for an infinite amount of time. Two packs of meat-n-cheese and a 20oz Code Red Mt Dew costs the same as a Happy Meal. Lunch of Champions!

Feb 25 2003 0 comments

Ignore the below post - I'm too lazy to go fix it.

The stupid thing is this: I have 90% of an upgraded weblogging program written, something marketable to end users, but I'm still running 11111001111 under software I wrote almost three years ago (with minor updates). Under the new system, a slipup like below would not only be preventable, but easily repairable. Grr.

Anyways, wanna see what else I'm up to, on the freelance side? It's a cookbook submission engine, written for a friend's company. They're a charity who annually does a cookbook made up of internally-submitted recipes (so DON'T go submitting yours, please). Their internal IT department estimated 40 manhours to do a simple web-to-email form; I quoted 25 hours to so the submission form, online administration of submitted recipes, and electronic output of final product. That's $1,000 in my pocket, plus a much easier & classier product for the customer. Yay, me!

Feb 25 2003 0 comments

Daily Condition:

on radio: 101.9, the...something. Fox? Box? Rox? Something-O-X.

my condition: I've been a little depressed lately. Winter blues, I suspect.

Feb 25 2003 0 comments

on radio: 101.9, the...something. Fox? Box? Rox? Something-O-X.

my condition: I've been a little depressed lately. Winter blues, I suspect.

Feb 19 2003 0 comments

"There's a car in the east parking lot with it's lights on, North Dakota license plate..."

The PA announcer paused. I knew what must be coming.

"...'apathy'" -- her voice tipped up at the end, as a question -- "...a car with the license plate 'apathy', has it's lights on in the east parking lot."

Crap. I put on my sunglasses in the elevator so nobody would recognize me on my way out.

Feb 14 2003 1 comment

Alas, it's a sad day. At least according to MIT's Bathroom Server, Destiny's floor at Random Hall is no longer named after her. 'Fort Awesome' is nowhere near as cool as 'Destiny', but to each their own, I guess. Damn, and I even sent them a Christmas card.

Feb 7 2003 3 comments

As I rounded the corner, having picked up a box of instant mashed potatoes, the nose of a grocery cart popped out of the next aisle over.

My initial reaction was, "baby in a runaway grocery cart!" The infant was bundled up for winter, strapped into a child's seat mounted on the top of the cart. Two adults were standing off to the side, examining the seasoning section. I could see no driver of the cart, and it was picking up speed.

Derek came to the rescue -- I put out one hand and grabbed the front of the cart's basket. There WAS some sort of propulsion, resisting my restraint, and I noticed two tiny hands holding the cart's control bar.

My presence caught the attention of the parents; I was smiling, but their reaction was that of horror. Not that their toddler was pushing their infant and groceries away, but instead thinking that the child had collided with me. They apologized profusely, and I told them it was okay, and I could only imagine what would have happened if the toddler had continued with her trajectory and collided with the valentine's day chocolate display across the aisle. That would've been far more entertaining.

Feb 7 2003 0 comments

Daily Condition:

in shortwave: Radio Canada International, 17710kHz

my condition: plotting housecleaning; scheduling freelance work.

Feb 5 2003 0 comments

Daily Condition:

on shortwave: Africa World Tonight, Voice of America, 17895kHz

my condition: frustrated with my database class homework

Feb 5 2003 0 comments

Daily Condition:

on shortwave: Africa World Tonight, Voice of America, 17895kHz

my condition: frustrated with my database class homework

Feb 5 2003 1 comment

Fans of Star Trek immediately recognize the name Miles O'Brien, Chief of Operations on Deep Space Nine and an engineer on the Enterprise.

Imagine my surprise when I heard Miles O'Brien discussing the space shuttle disaster on the radio news today. It seems that there's a Miles O'Brien that is CNN's Space Correspondent, interviewer of astronauts and expert on the stars.

Dude.

Feb 4 2003 0 comments

Since I live in a North Dakota border town, just inside the ND state line from Moorhead, MN, the nuclear standoff seems a bit removed from my current life. As usual, The Onion has brought this situation into stark clarity -- North Dakota Found To Be Harboring Nuclear Missiles

Feb 3 2003 2 comments

A couple weeks ago, I put a dollar into the cafeteria vending machine and selected a $0.65 item.

It gave me a quarter as change.

Damn, I thought....a dime isn't worth the effort to complain to the vending company.

Today I stop at the pop machine, which is also filled by the same vending company. A can is $0.55, and I put in two quarters and a dime and push the Mountain Dew button.

It dispensed a nickel, plus it gave me my dime back.

Everything always works out in the end, huh?