todd wins. forever.

215pm. I’m late again. yes, I know you all think I suck. I think work sucks. We’ve been moving equipment all morning long, so I’ve been away from my desk for hours. I did get a chance to hit the bar for my buddy’s ‘going away’ luncheon. Events like that are always bittersweet – happy to see somebody moving on to greener pastures, but sad to see them go.

The week has been a mixed blessing. No school for me, since I’m between semesters now, but I’ve been working on stuff around the house to fill my free time. I *think* I’m off school next week, too, but can’t rightly remember at the moment. It’d prolly do me some good to check the start date sometime soon.

I got a new computer at home, and it’s close to being fully functional. I’ve still got a few tweaks to implement, but it’s good for the most part. My old machine died the day after it got handed down. Blew the power supply, and I don’t have a replacement (yet).

The weekend is going to be chock full of yard work. I’ve got a truckload of wood chips and a truck load of topsoil sitting in the driveway at the moment. We’re leveling out the low spots and covering the exposed tree roots in the backyard. It’ll be cool when it’s done, but it’ll take a bit of work to complete. Once we’ve got the ground in good shape, next weekend we’re rolling out fresh sod over the whole thing.

I am trying to sneak out for a bit of shopping tomorrow morning, though. The expo center up the road has a hot-tub show and sale. I’m looking to get a new cover for the tub out back; one of the covers that comes with a hinge and a lift mechanism so I don’t have to flop it onto the ground anymore. I’m totally not sure what to expect for $$, so I may be flopping for a while to come.

It’s almost time to get outta here for the weekend. I need to serve my time and my friends at the ‘Hole tonight.

==========================

I know I’m late w/ the games, but dammm this is a good week. Addictive, all of ‘em.

Seca says I’m doomed: http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/infected/infectedgame.html

Amazing. Line rider + putt putt + college kids w/ too much free time = this time waster. http://www.candystand.com/play.do?id=18253

Todd has totally pi55ed me off with this one. I didn’t even beat level 2 yet. http://armorgames.com/play/1043/the-worlds-hardest-game

4 seconds of Groundhog Day. FAIL. Over and over. http://games.yahoo.com/free-games/four-second-fury

BoomsticK. I’m calling this the waster of the year. This one snatched all of yesterday afternoon from me. http://arcade.itch.com/games/boomstick/ ==========================

Something neat to look at for a minute:

http://jalopnik.com/photogallery/CarCompanyFamilyTree/1001026196?viewSize=thumb1280x1280

is winter really over?

3pm, and I’m just getting this written up. I suck. I haven’t really been busy all day. Distracted is a better description. The week has been REALLY busy, though. Master College Waster went back to school on Sunday. He had a pretty good week home, which we ended with dinner at Mimi’s Café. Eh. They’ve got really good breakfast, and AMAZING muffins, but dinner just kinda sets there on the plate. The fried pickles are pretty good, though. Anyway, his mom still hasn’t filed her financial aid package with the university. Last year, I spent hours and hours fighting with her to get her &^$* done, but it was such a pain. She did get things turned in, but not until 2+ weeks after the deadline. No reasons, just lazy. I’m not fighting this year. He’s got the info, he knows she hasn’t done it yet, and he knows that if she doesn’t file, he doesn’t get to go back to school next year. It’ll suck for him, but I’ll save a bit of money. (oooooh! I can put his tuition money into my motorcycle savings account!) The kids are all on spring break. Mrs. Master Waster's son is hanging w/ his dad, and the girls are down visiting family with their mom. Other than the fact that I’ve got finals this week, it would have been a very relaxing couple of days. I’ve been busting my tail prepping for and taking exams all week long. One of the professors is a mental midget, and really does not comprehend the class that he’s attempting to teach. I’ve been trying to work with him on the project that he’s assigned, and determine if he really knows how to grade it, but I’m not sure if I’ve made any progress. I’ll find out when grades come back. I’m trying to switch to a new computer at home, too. I’ve been stuck using Windows forever – mostly b/c every shop I’ve worked in has been Win based. I got the new box weeks ago, and I’m trying to roll over to 100% linux. So far, I’ve been brutally unsuccessful. Two flavors of ubuntu and CentOS made me hit my head on the desk while trying to identify my video card. FAIL. Fedora found the card right away, so now I’ve got display. Can’t see the network at home yet, but dammit, I can see the monitor. Looking forward to the weekend to have a bit of downtime. The scheds aren’t fully defined yet… I think we’ve got some free time before the kids come back, but still not certain. If we’ve got another day or two of freedom, you can bet we’re gonna take full advantage. I’m just about out of here for the day. Looking forward to a good night of beer, breakage, and basketball at the ‘Hole tonight. ====================================== If it only was really this easy: http://www.thepencilfarm.com/games/snow_day/?id=1 eh. It’s a game. it’ll magically make 10 minutes disappear. http://www.thepencilfarm.com/games/witchcraft/?id=1 ====================================== Bears can’t really pop & click, can they? I think Todd might be lying to me about it. http://break.com/index/awareness-test.html My inner geek totally loved this simple little explanation. http://blog.craftzine.com/ani_lockstitch2.gif I kinda felt sorry for the dog when dude kicks it…. http://gizmodo.com/368651/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-spooky

march madness of a different sort

So… it seems that I’m getting later and later on these Friday afternoon wasters. I’m sending refunds to all y’all. Next week’s waster is free, too. I turned 38 years old last weekend. That’s a really big number, but I really don’t feel it. I don’t think it, either. That getting old stuff for old people, and I’m not into that. I got a smile a couple weeks ago when one of the faculty at my kid’s college asked if I was a student. Birthday festivities kicked off all day and all night Saturday. Lots of good food and lots of good friends & family to celebrate with. We brewed a couple buckets of homebrew during the day, before hitting the bar in the evening. Master College Waster is home for spring break, so he even came out to the bar for a bit. That was an especially proud moment for me. I did get more than a little toasty, did a number of shots with a number of people, so I apologize to anybody I may have drewled on. Today is the last day for the kids before spring break. They’re off school for the entire week, and spending most of it with their OtherParents. I’ll miss ‘em all, but it’ll be nice for the house to be quiet for a while. All the “doing homework” “driving to practice” and “teacher conferencing” really takes up a lot of time. Not bad time, just a lot of it. (Teacher conferencing happens to be why today’s waster is late, btw.) But it’s Friday afternoon, my brain has turned off, and I’m heading to the bar. Yep, it’s glass breakage night behind the bar at the Hole. It’ll be a long night, too: we’ve got a bar-cleaning to do tonight after closing. Every couple of months we tear down all the equipment, clean it, and try to reassemble it. You can guess how thrilled I am. =================================== I do have a rack of other wasters, though. Lots of silliness going on in the world this week. Info from Client #9, because I know you’re all curious. Even if you won’t admit it. This is my new favorite Kristin. (ex-favorite Kristin: don’t stress. It’s only a temporary infatuation.) http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0312084kristen1.html WAY too much fun, and WAY too much time wasted here. Holy cr@p this shouldn’t be so interesting, but it is. http://flickrvision.com/ Stop wasting your time. Get a life. If you’ve never been able to do those magic vision pictures, where you stare at the pic until your eyes merge other pics, don’t bother clicking. If you do enjoy those, this is one of the best I’ve seen. http://vortrack.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/magic-eye.gif March madness in the best way possible: http://www.washingtonpost.com/beermadness Advertising for the dumb and non-observant: http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/ Jess has a dark side, and it comes out in her knitting. http://www.theanticraft.com/archive/beltane07/fetus.htm OK, I admit it. I’m a geek. But I do LOVE pie. http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/13/768487.aspx (no, I did not spell it wrong.)

dumb questions, dumb answers

Sometimes the links at the end of the email don’t get as much traffic as the ones listed first. This one is important to me. Pay attention and learn how NOT to pi55 off the people that you want from: http://tinyurl.com/p7j7y Now back to my regularly scheduled rambling…. I spent the entire morning at the remote site today. It seems to be a regular Friday thing lately, which really puts a kink in my socializing. On top of that, we have breakfast every Friday, and I really miss out on my burritos when I’m down there. One of the guys from the office brought a delivery around 10am, and that totally made my day. He even remembered the hot sauce. Everything has been going well w/ school for the kids and for me. I’ve only got 2 weeks left in the semester before getting a couple weeks to relax during spring break. Master College Waster is coming home from school tomorrow on his spring break, too. (I wouldn’t have picked ‘home’ for my college freshman spring break destination, but I do respect the fact that he’s already got work lined up for the week.) The other kids are getting their interim grades this week, and they’re all doing very well. Middle Master Waster is on her way to get her license back, too. I’ve been leaving work early 2x per week to help her stay focused on homework stuff, so it feels good to see that she’s staying on track. Both of the others have solid As and Bs, too so we don’t have to butt heads with them, either. I’m pretty stoked about the weekend – my birthday is Sunday, and we’ve got all sorts of goodies in the works. Nothing wild or outrageous; just looking forward to some good times with good people. I’ll be 38, I’m not shy about it, and I’m not stressed over having *another* birthday. Overall, I’m in pretty good shape considering some of the things I’ve done to myself in the past. I feel good, not for my age, but for any age. Besides, if I do the math right, being 38 means that I can chase TWO 19 year olds at a time (Mrs. Master Waster doesn't agree). Happy Weekend! ============== Joe is making plans for a BBQ this summer A: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods/What_the_Heck_Is_Andrew_Eating B: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods/Bizarre_Quiz Falling sand – a repeat, but it’s a good one to come back to… http://fallingsandgame.com/sand/index.html ============== Mrs. Master Waster can really be creepy sometimes: http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2008/02/cbh-live-at-house-of-blues.html Dom’s political commentary: http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/ Kerry knows how to get it off her chest… http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ Google is truly universal: http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/ http://www.google.com/intl/xx-bork/ http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer http://www.google.com/intl/xx-piglatin http://www.google.com/intl/xx-klingon