Brrr!

The low last night in Albion was -7°; now it’s just after 10AM and it’s still 0°. We’re headed for a forecasted high of 10° tomorrow. So in the spirit of the cold weather, I thought I’d post some pics from the Calvin and Hobbes Snowmen tribute. Then I realized that all the pics I had are on my desktop at home which is shut off because we’re gone for two weeks. So that link will have to do. (I’ll try to post the full set another time.) Enjoy!

Edit: No, I’m not nervous. Just tired of waiting around.

Surprise

After we clenched a playoff spot last week, we came back again with a sub for a different one of our regulars. He helped us jump out to an early lead in our division. He’s a better bowler than all of us, so I was joking around with Chris that I was going to try to beat him in the third game. And suddenly I started hitting the pocket every time. Before I knew it, we were in the 8th frame and I hadn’t missed a pin yet (5 strikes and 3 spares). I left the 9th open, but managed to spare in the tenth to finish with a 204 – my first ever game over 200 and one pin over Chad. As a team we were only 6 pins under a scratch win. Rock on!

We Rock

Despite our best efforts, my bowling team held out to stay in second in our division and clinch a spot in the playoffs. I also had a pretty good night with an average just over 150 (throwing a hook for the second week in a row!). That oughta add another pin to my overall average.

It’s getting hard to concentrate at work. I’ve been working on the same project for almost 2 months now and I really don’t know what I’m doing. Unfortunately it’s priority one, so I can’t really distract myself with much else unless my customers have problems. As you might have guessed, they’ve been strangely quiet now that I’d welcome something to do. Add to all this the fact that there’s less than three weeks now before Amber and I head for Nebraska then later onto Jamaica, I’m not getting much done.

Oh, and Lost was good, although a little strange. I’m probably in the minority here, but I felt sorry for Charlie and thought Locke was an ass for one of the first times in the show. Was it really necessary to punch Charlie in the face at all, let alone 3 times?

Lies

I really enjoyed this article about DRM:

Here is the problem, every DRM infection is unique, patented, copyrighted, copywronged, and DMCAd ad nauseum, They protect their code in every way possible, and make it so you have to get their approval to use it. This is all done under the guise of protecting content, but that is a lie. If you are going to steal content, do you think violating another copyright on the DRM mechanism will make you lose more sleep? Not a chance.

If you are a rival company though, you can’t really violate such things and get away with it for long, Sony, MS and most people swiping GPLd code are proof of that. So, you have to license it to play ball, or at least play music and movies. That is the true nature of DRM infections, to keep other big greedy companies out.

This guy gets it. It’s not about the content and it’s not about consumers. It’s about competition, and in this case more competition is not better for us.

Trilogy

At work we’ve got some discussion folders that give lots of a people a chance to waste time when they should be working. I’m kind of surprised they still exist with over 2000 employees, but you won’t hear me complaining. Today I was reminded why the Back to the Future movies are some of my most favorite ever.

Marty went into the past the first time accidentally when he was being chased by the Libyans, and he was sent back to 1985 by Doc from 1955.  Then he and doc and Jennifer went into the future to fix the future (because apparently they couldn’t just put it on a to do list), then they went back to 1985, but it was altered, so they figured out that they had to go back to 1955 to fix the evil 1985 that future Biff made when he gave young Biff the Gray’s sports almanac, then Doc accidentally got struck by lightning and went to 1885, then Marty found the time machine in a cave and went back to 1885 to get Doc, then Marty and Jennifer went back to the regular (more or less) 1985 and the Delorean was crushed by a train, then Doc came to 1985 after he had apparently converted a steam engine into a time machine with the 1885 equivalent of today’s technology.

If ever there were an airtight plot, that’s it.

I love how he fit that all into two sentences. Seriously though, the DVD trilogy with special features is awesome. And who doesn’t love Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly?

Lights and Sounds

I just downloaded Yellowcard’s new album from iTunes and took my first listen at work. They really sound like Weezer on a couple of tracks. For a first listen I’d give it a solid B, but I’m expecting that to go up significantly when I get a chance to listen without pretending to focus on work. No tracks jumped out at me immediately as the best, but I was a little distracted.

Are You a Jackass?

Maybe it’s just because I’m not in school anymore, but I notice people doing stupid stuff in public a lot more than I ever used to (and I always have to a certain extent).

Look, the world is not your personal playground. Do not share with us your musical tastes; do not share with us your latest wheelings and dealings. In public places, you have an obligation to hold up your end of the implied social contract by not imposing yourself on those around you. This is crucial to a civilized society and just because technology allows you to act like a braying ass in public doesn’t mean you should do it.

Just today I was in Arby’s for lunch and someone behind the counter started singing along with the song playing in the restaurant. Was she in tune? Was she in synch? No. Did anyone want to hear it? No. I’m sick of going bowling (non-league) and having the alley overrun by stupid kids with no parents around doing whatever they want. So read this article on how to squelch your inner jackass and pay attention. And the next time you’re in a public place, ask yourself, “Does someone else think I’m a jackass?”

Getting Carried Away

From CNN:

Rounding a corner on his motorcycle to finish rigging his cache, he was greeted by a barricade of police cars and a bomb squad. He struggled to explain the misunderstanding.

“I got off my bike and three officers approached me very cautiously, hands on their holsters,” he said. “I was trying to turn off my MP3 player and I think they were worried I was going for a detonator.”

I’m not sure which is worse: people automatically assuming a hidden container is the work of terrorists, or people dumb enough to put their geocaches in a place that could be considered terrorist targets. I thought this article was pretty interesting considering we’re just starting to get into Geocaching. I just hope places don’t start banning it – at least not in large areas. I guess that’s why you should always ask for permission before hiding one.