Random Access

Tuesday
Average day. Nothing out of the ordinary at work. I came home and watched the second half of “The Emissary,” the first ep of the Sisko Show… and I even watched the Janeway and Barbie Borg show. That’s right, I got my geek on.

Dee and I were talking about Star Wars… yet again. We got on the topic of “What is/was wrong with the SW franchise” at one point. We covered a lot of the typical things like:

• Why did Carrie Fisher fake an accent for the first half of “A New Hope” and then, seemingly, forget about it in the second half?
• Why didn’t Lucas come up with an actual story for The Phantom Debacle Menace rather than a 2+ hour long commercial/ad campaign?
• Just how much is he going to have to cram into “Episode III” to successfully link Eps. II and IV ? Can he do it without looking like he was cramming all night for a 08:00 exam? Will it actually make sense or are we supposed to suspend all disbelief and just “not think” for 2 hours?
• Why did he entertain the idea of putting N’Sync in the “Attack of the Clones?” Was he bowing to pop culture in considering them?
• Casting/naming options:
  • “Good guys = white/ Bad guys = black…. until (smooth-talkin’, Colt 45 drinkin’) Lando Calrissian.”
  • WHAT was he thinking when he named an character “Porkins?” And the character was a little overweight. Insensitive? Maybe. Of course, there are the arguments that Jar-Jar Binks (*ack*) was demeaning to people from the Caribbean. *shrug* I dunno. But… if we extend the caricature argument, why didn’t he just rename the entire cast?
    • Lando Calrissian = Blackins
    • Princess Leia = Bitchins (based on her attitude)
    • Chewbacca = Shaggins
    • …you get the idea.

It was the kind of day where I wish that I’d had the camcorder at work, set it to record and pray that nothing too embarrassing gets caught on tape.

NPR/PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation – Women’s Health Series (Part One of Four)
Talk of the Nation – Bill O’Reilly Interview
All Things Considered – Why Do Lobsters Turn Red?
All Things Considered – Housing First: The ‘Not In My Back Yard’ Debate
The World – Zero-Gravity Report
The World – Scramjet Rocket Report

I recommend the Women’s Health segment to everyone (male and female) who reads this… and your friends and family. They gave a lot of good information and raised a few interesting questions. Parts Two through Four will air over the next three Tuesdays. Questions from today’s show (answers at the end of this post):

1. What disease is most likely to kill you, if you’re a woman?
2. What form of cancer kills more women than others?
3. What is the most important number for cholesterol:
   HDL, LDL or Tri-glycerides?

4. When should you get your first colonoscopy?
5. When should you get your first mammogram?
6. When should you get your first bone density scan?
7. “I am in a monogamous relationship; should I get tested for sexually transmitted diseases?”
8. True or False: Men and women suffer the same risks from smoking.
9. True or False: Men and women suffer equally from depression.

Quotes of the Day

• Dee and I were talking about EverQuest after lunch today. He was telling me about someone that he had been in a group with … and the travails of traveling with this person:
  • “X is just a death magnet.”
  • “X just does not have a knack for not dying.”
• From The Simpsons: Bart had a crush on Reverend Lovejoy’s daughter, Jessica. He was talking about the situation with Lisa when she spouted this gem:
  • It would never work, Bart She’s a sweet, kind reverend’s daughter and you’re the Devil’s cabana boy.”
• And, for Dee, as promised:
  • “We want the monk! Give up the monk!”
  • “If you don’t like what you see here, get the monk out!”
  • …and Parliament Monkadelic.

1. Cardiovascular disease
2. Lung Cancer
3. HDL
4. 50 years old
5. Between ages 35 – 45, and then once-a-year, thereafter.
6. This can vary, depending on risk factors, but anywhere from adolescence to age 45. “…women have a short window of opportunity to build bone mass and that window closes about 20; young men have a longer period of time… but their window closes about age 26 or 27.”
7. “Definitely, yes.”
8. False
9. False

Peace.

Monday
This started as a proverbial “day.”

• The alarm went off at 08:45. This was expected. This was even ‘good.’
• I rolled over and turned off said alarm. This was ‘not good.’
• The next thing that I knew, it was 11:05. Definitely ‘not good;’ I am scheduled to be at work at noon. Add to this the following factors:
  • I had to shower.
  • I had to shave.
  • I had to get dressed; we may not have uniforms at our facility, but they will not let us come to work au naturel.
  • I had to fix coffee. This was mainly for the safety and welfare of those around me.
  • I had to fix my lunch; not a big problem since I had prepared part of it the night before.
  • I had to have all of this done in twenty-five (25) minutes.
• I was done in :28. I was amazed. Shocked. Stunned, even. But I was ready. And left on-time.

I found out some news about a friend of mine that served as a background irritant for the better portion of the day. It wasn’t something that this person had done; it was something, both unfair and unnecessary, that was done to them.

I went to the gym for the first time in FAR too long tonight. Partly because I was feeling guilty about having put it off for so long and partly to work off some of the aforementioned irritation. It’s been so long that I am basically starting over. *sigh*

And speaking of the gym, I was delayed from going to the gym by an hour. Well… that isn’t entirely accurate. I wasn’t delayed; I stayed at home for an hour before going. Why? They were showing the first (half of the first) episode of The Sisko Show. I don’t think that I have seen that since it first aired in 1993. So, of course, I couldn’t just leave! No comments from the Peanut Gallery about “Why not just set your VCR to record it?” It was odd to see the characters as we were first introduced to them rather than as the way that they appeared at the end of the series. But it was good. I had pretty much forgotten that then-Commander Sisko came just shy of telling off Captain Picard. (Note: Picard had been captured by the Borg ‘three years’ prior to this meeting and became ‘Locutus.’ He led the Borg on a campaign that resulted in quite a bit of death and destruction in the Federation before he was rescued and returned to duty; one of the casualties was Sisko’s wife Jennifer. Let’s just say that the good Commander held a grudge… even though Picard was not responsible for his actions.)

I even managed to eke out a little EverCrack EverQuest time.

NPR/PRI Links
Talk of the Nation – Greed
Fresh Air – Michael Feinstein Interview
The World – Mayan Religions Report
The World – South African Initiation Report

It’s winter in South Africa right now, a season when boys who are old enough march into the bush for their coming of age ceremonies. Traditionally, they spent time with their elders who would pass on their wisdom. That used to mean teaching the teenagers how to survive in the wild. Today, though, the practice has turned into a business. Initiation schools have taken the place of the elders. And not all the adults running them have the boys’ best interests at heart. From Johannesburg, Franz Kruger has our story.

I am not (typically) one to speak ill of cultural or social mores, but I’ll make an exception in this case. When I listened to the story of the ‘coming of age’ rites (above), I was appalled by one thing in particular: At one of the schools, six (6) boys died because of abuse and neglect. When they interviewed the owner of this school, her response was basically: “The teachers are making me look bad and are sullying my name.” There did not seem to be even a faint trace of remorse over the deaths of the boys. She was more worried about her reputation than trying to make sure that these atrocities did not occur again nor apologizing to the boys’ families. I am not alone in this opinion – I asked Julia about it and she wholeheartedly concurred.

I think that I have made my opinions about child abuse fairly well known in previous posts. Rather than get on the soapbox about it (again), suffice if to say that I have a very low (read: “no”) tolerance for it. I found this woman’s response and reaction to the situation abhorrent and unconscionable.

Peace.

Sunday

• Drove up to Ogden on Route 89. I’d only been on that road once, and that was at night, so it was nice to be able to enjoy the sights.
• Went to Barnes & Noble. I had a Cafè Mocha while I worked on a drawing. (The scanner’s not hooked up yet, so I’ll post it later).
• Stopped at m3l and Darren’s.
• Home.

I have had a headache for the past few hours that is FINALLY going away. I think that I shall set off for The Dreaming and let the tides of sleep wash over me and carry it to a distant shore.

Peace.

Saturday
I didn’t go to the gym. Nor did I go for a ride. I did help Sandi move some furniture and computer equipment; I got paid in homemade chocolate chip cookies. Hoo-AH!!!

Went to dinner with Angie and then we, along with Bryce and Monty, went bowling. It wasn’t a stellar performance, but it was fun. joined us at the end of the bowling session. Post-bowling eating ritual was performed at Village Inn. And we were in time for ‘bar rush!’ You know…. when the bars let out and the masses of club-goers gather en masse for a last hurrah before the evening officially ends. And there were some choice people there tonight:

• Frank Zappa-wannabe
• A guy who looked like one of the Darrens from Bewitched
• More than a few women who looked like they skipped the Clinique® and Estee Lauder® counters at their favorite department stores and enrolled in the How to Apply Make-Up (Advanced Studies) seminars by Tammy Faye (Bakker) Messner.
• A few people who spent a little too much time on tanning beds.
• A man with a skullet that was reminiscent of Patrick Stewart in the 1984 Dune movie.

I’m sure that I missed a few of the gallery, but it was still quite a sight to behold. I should have taken the digicam. Maybe next time…

Peace.

::: hums Bewitched theme on the way out :::

I talked to my mother for a few minutes this morning. Operative words: “A few minutes.” She had come online to check her email… before going to Hilton Head, SC. She and the family unit are going to be there for a week. *sigh*

Bret called this morning. One of the greatest things about good friends is the “we haven’t talked in weeks/months, but we can pick up a conversation like it’s only been a few days” factor. After the obligatory 2-minute “What’s New with….” session, we fell into old habits. Today we talked about the fact that we don’t want to grow up and things that we can do to prevent it. We also talked about things that our parents do/have done since we have moved out of house and the liberties that our younger sibs received. Conversely, we pointed out the fact that they apparently didn’t take into account with whom they will want/need to live when they reach their golden years. (We decided that this privilege should befall our younger kin.)

All-in-all, not a bad start to the day. All that remains is to decide what to do with the rest of it. Unfortunately, being lazy seems to be the prevailing idea. Oh, well.

Peace.

Friday
Typical day. I not only went to work, I stayed for the full shift. There were some who had to work overtime, but not me. 8 and out. Stopped by Adrian’s for a bit and then on to Borders. A frozen mocha, slice of cheesecake and two sketches later, I headed home. I finally got EverQuest (hereafter to be referred to as “EverCrack: the Addiction” or “ECtA”) to run on here, again. This could bode ill. Like I need another distraction…

NPR/PRI Stories
TotN-Science Friday: Hormone Replacement Therapy
TotN-Science Friday: Forensic Animation
All Things Considered: The Eyes Have It
All Things Considered: Civil Service Protections
The World: Dance Dance Revolution Report
The World: London Bicycle Paramedics
The World: Tribes – In Search of Dignity
The World: Geo Quiz: Question
The World: Geo Quiz: Answer

I have no idea what I want to do with my day tomorrow. I’ll probably mess around with SuSE to get used to the OS and what it can do. The gym would be nice (and practical). If not the gym, a bike ride. I’m Ivory Soap® sure (99.44%) that there will be bowling tomorrow night. Other than that… no clue.

Peace.

Thursday
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I got up this morning, but I neglected to brew any coffee. I didn’t even notice this until :05 before leaving for work. So, I plodded along through the day without my morning infusion of caffeinated goodness.

Work wasn’t bad; Dee and I were in flats after lunch. A little before 20:00, he was processing info on a magazine address label (this month’s Maxim with Beyonce Knowles on the cover). He made a comment about it… and I made a comment about her being on The View this morning. (Confession: Yes, I watch the first few minutes of The View some mornings before heading to work. It’s either that or The Young and the Restless… and while Victor Newman is ‘The Man’ (after Capt. Sisko), I prefer a lighter pre-work fare.) He stopped keying and his eyes got big. Like this –>Ô_õ I said: “Can you blame me: Barbara Walters is hot!” Without missing a beat, he looked at me and said: “You too?!” From here, the conversation degenerated rather quickly… but it also got funnier, by the same proportion. And, because of it, I will probably never think of Barbara Walters the same way again. Ever. In this or any other lifetime. I think that we laughed for two to three minutes without stopping.

NPR/PRI Stories
They have all faded into a dull, hazy blur… If you want to see/hear what was on today’s shows, see the shows’ links:

• Talk of the Nation
• The World
• Fresh Air
• All Things Considered

And now it’s time for another episode of “All My Computers…”

Today, we find staring in disbelief at her monitor.

::: fade in :::

: You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding. This is some kind of joke, right…?

Computer: whirrrrrrrrr *click* *click* *beep*

: What do you mean ‘not the right .dll ?!?’ I do know what I’m doing… This is the right one. See!?! If it wasn’t the correct one, I wouldn’t be using it!

Computer: *beep*

: Oh. I see. This is about you and what YOU want! Again! Did you ever stop to think about what was important to me?!? Or what I want? Do you even care? You don’t want me to work on this script. Fine. But, that’s your problem. This is important to me. And it’s too important to me to let you keep me from finishing it. Do I make fun of every little process and operation that you do? No. I just want some…. parity in this relationship. Is that too much to ask?

Computer: *click* whirrrrrrrrrr

: Fine. That’s…. that’s just…. *sigh* fine. Go ahead. I’ll work on this somewhere else. Some other time. I’m sick of fighting with you over this. I will finish this. With or without your help.

::: dramatic music :::

::: fade out :::

Tomorrow is Friday. Which brings the question: Do I take the day off, go in for a half day, or tough it out and do the full eight? Decisions, decisions…

Peace.

Wednesday
Went to work. Typical day. Finished Dune Messiah. It didn’t end the way that I expected… which is a ‘good’ thing. I usually enjoy it when I am surprised by the end of a book. I’m not sure if I’ll start to Children of Dune tomorrow or just listen to music…. or more NPR.

I came home to another episode of “All My Computers.” Tonight, Rob confronts his computer over its unwillingness to connect to the network…

Rob: It’s all come down to this, hasn’t it? I don’t know what else to do. We used to do things together… we used to have fun together… *sigh* What happened to us?

Computer: whirrrrrr

Rob: I… see. But, I think that we can actually make this work.

Computer: *beep*

Rob: I got this for you…. I think that this might help. *installs new NIC*

Computer: *beep* whirrrrrr *beep*

Rob: See… there’s still hope.

::: fade :::

The computer is back on the network and online. It seems that whatever the problem was, it was tied to the NIC. So… when I finally remembered that I had a brand-new NIC sitting on the shelf, and installed it, everything was fine again. The only thing that remains is to reinstall some software and transfer files to the new HD.

NPR/PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation – Use of Airpower in War
All Things Considered – US/UN – Torture
All Things Considered – New Archbishop of Canterbury
All Things Considered – Soul for Sale on eBay
The World – Asteroid Report (An asteroid that could hit Earth in 2019.)

Peace.

Site of the Day: A friend of mine sent me what seemed like an innocuous email this morning. Being the slave to obsession that I am, I opened it. It contained three things: A descriptive blurb, a link, and a quote:

• The blurb was about the link, which is…
• Quinnarama.com
• The quote was: There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who like binary numbers, and those who don’t.

This site definitely belongs to the “People with way too much time on their hands” group; in fact, it states this fact unabashedly.

Off to finish work-prep and get out of here.

Peace.

Tuesday
I slept in a little longer than I had planned this morning – nothing insurmountable, though. Went to work. Listened to more of Dune Messiah; quite the book of political intrigue. Maybe it’s me, but some parts seem to flow more freely than others. But, so far, it’s pretty good.

Came home. Had pizza for dinner. Watched both The Sisko Show and Janeway and Barbie Borg. Episode 3 of All My Computers – tonight’s episode featured guest appearances from Adrian and Larry. We came up with a plan of attack for getting my PC back in working order… and so far, it’s working. At least for Windows 2K. Now, I need to get SuSE (Linux) up and running (and bootable without a boot disk). However, if it is not done in the next :30, it will wait until tomorrow night.

NPR/PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation – Children and War
All Things Considered – Airplane Air
All Things Considered – Housing First (Part 2)

That’s about it. More later.

Peace.

Monday
After last night’s lack-of-sleep fest, I awakened this morning to the sound of the phone. Actually, there were 2 calls… just shy of being back-to-back; one was Steve (co-worker) and the other was Rana (via relay through Dad) from the Ukraine. She is doing well, she just got back ‘home’ from a 2- or 3-week vacation.

Work was fairly uneventful. However, I was not in the best of moods, so I was glad when the workday was over. And after work, I went bowling to vent that… uneasiness. I wound up bowling 12 games. And, I got to work on my hook. AND, I got an all-time high score of 209. Hoo-AH! But now my knee is achy. Oh well, it was worth it.

And now, another pulse-pounding episode of “All My Computers.” When we left Rob, he was threatening to throw his computer over the balcony.

Rob: I have had it up to HERE with your shenanigans! One more “OS not found” and it’s over!”

Computer: *beep*

Rob: I mean it! This is it! Either you straighten up and toe the line or…. or…. or I’ll build a NEW computer and forget that you ever existed! How would you like THAT!?!

Computer: *beep* whirrrrrrrr *beep*

Rob: WHAT?! You wouldn’t DARE! Not after… no, I won’t even say it. But, I know that you wouldn’t. You… couldn’t. There’s just no way that you could.

::: ominous ‘going to commercial’ music :::
::: fade out :::

Will the computer work… or will it follow-through with its hidden agenda? Will Rob show mercy? Is he bluffing? Tune in next time for another heart-wrenching episode of “All My Computers” to find out!

NPR/PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation – Benefits of Breastfeeding
Talk of the Nation – Bicycling and the Tour de France
All Things Considered – California – Native American Sacred Sites
The World – Pakistan Sky Marshalls

52 new sky marshals took to the air in Pakistan today. It’s part of the South Asian nation’s stepped-up air security, following the September 11th attacks in the United States. 9 of the 52 new air marshalls are unusual for Pakistan. They’re women. Keep in mind that Pakistan is a conservative, patriarchal, Islamic society. The BBC’s Frances Harrison in Islamabad says training these women in unarmed combat and then deploying them in the war on terrorism was a big step.

That’s all for now.

Peace.

Sunday
This has been a trying day.

I decided to attempt to install Linux on the PC this afternoon. In theory, that’s not so bad; in practice it has been a royal pain in the ass. The installation went smoothly enough. It was the aftermath that would have caused me to pull out my hair… if I had hair to pull, that is.

Apparently, the Linux boot information and my Windows boot information decided to vie for “King of the Mountain” rights. But, just like the fabled Jack and Jill, they both came tumbling downhill.

I spent the late afternoon and all evening at Adrian’s trying to come up with viable corrective measures. We came up with a (final) plan of attack around 21:30

1. Wipe the new hard drive (again).
2. Reinstall Linux and partition the drive from there.
3. Reinstall Windows.
4. Pray. A LOT.

So far, Steps 1, 2 and 4 seem to be working. Windows, once again, is attempting to assert its independence. It’s reminding me of a rather headstrong teenager.

Back to it. Hopefully, this (or something close to it) will work… or we’ll see how well the system responds to deceleration trauma imposed from a three-story gravity-induced fall.

Peace.

This morning, I had one of the strangest dreams…

It was like the bastard child of The Fugitive and Smokey and the Bandit. There was no ‘One-armed Man’ in it, though… and no Jackie Gleason, either. I don’t know/remember what it was that I had allegedly done, but I had to make it cross-country in a couple of days with almost no money available to me. Hitchhiking. Hopping trains. Climbing on building ledges. And it wasn’t interrupted, so to speak, when I would wake up. I’d turn over and fall asleep again… and find myself back in the midst of the madness. In the words of Dr. Rosenblatt: “It’s so bizarre…!”

And in other news…
posted a comment in about the nutjob in DC who is going around shooting people with a blowdart gun. Given the media’s propensity to sensationalize items (and the resurgence of comic book movies), I’m surprised that he hasn’t been given a supervillain’s sobriquet.

“Holy pain in the neck, Batman! The Dart has struck again!”
…or…
“In a daring midday attack, the Blowgun Bandit has struck again!”

So far, he has attacked twenty people. There is a $3000 reward for information that leads to his capture. You can read more about it here.

Something else that I neglected to mention yesterday:

Serial Killing Doctor – A doctor in England may be the worst serial killer in that country’s history, according to an official inquiry. Harold Shipman had already been convicted for the killings of 15 people. He has now been identified as the killer of at least 215 people over a 23-year period. Robert Siegel talks with David Ward, staff reporter for The Guardian in Manchester, England. (4:45)

A doctor. Amazing.

Peace.

Friday

• Talked to the ‘rents this morning; they are doing well.
• Had a cup full of espresso-enriched frozen mocha goodness.
• Typical work day. I listened to more of Glory Road. I got roughly 2/3 of the way through it when there was a rather abrupt change in the story. The reason: 18 of the mp3s aren’t there. BAH! And I don’t have the parity files to generate the missing ones. Of course, I could go the old-fashioned route and actually read the book. Apparently, Dee came up with a bevy of QotD fodder, but since he, Land, and Rick were in one site and I was in another AND no one thought to write any of them down, there will be no quotes tonight.
• Met at Borders for a Cafè Mocha, some drawing and light conversation.

NPR/PRI News and Tonight’s Rant
There were stories on Thursday and Friday’s editions of The World that floored me:

Thursday: Samyuktha Verma is a big-time movie star. She’s has leading roles in 18 movies in her native India. She’s been described as the Julia Roberts of Malayalam-language movies. But Verma’s stardom didn’t help her this week, when she was flying from Chicago to New York. Another passenger on her plane told a flight attendant that Verma and her traveling companions were engaging in “suspicious activity.” The next thing the Indian star knew, she, her family, and two other Indian performers were in police detention.

Friday: A centerpiece of this year’s Lincoln Center festival in New York is an Iranian-produced play-cycle set in ancient Persia. It’s called “Taziyeh” which means “mourning” or “grieving.” It depicts the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson, Hussein at the battle of Kerbala in the year 680, and it’s one of the most popular stories among Shi’ite Muslims. The action is told through chants, gestures and song, as well as sword-fighting and horse-back riding. As The World’s Lisa Mullins tells us, Lincoln Center faced a huge challenge importing this extravaganza to the United States.

It’s sad that it took a tragedy of the magnitude of the World Trade Center attack to give us what may have been an overdue kick in the pants. Have we really become so paranoid that we think that anyone who does not look/dress/act JUST LIKE US is a threat?! And there’s something else to think about: WE don’t all look the same! *sigh* Yes, there are people outside our national borders who wish us ill. If I remember correctly, not everyone inside our borders thinks along the same lines. Hopefully, we will soon find a balance where we can defend our borders and national interests and treat visitors to our country hospitably. And, more importantly, like people. And, hopefully we will be able to accomplish this without becoming the withdrawn and secluded (or possibly ‘deluded’) country that some other nations seem to think that we are.

Songs that seem to relate to this:

• Fear
  • The Enemy Within (Part I of ‘Fear’)
  • The Weapon (Part II of ‘Fear’)
  • Witch Hunt (Part III of ‘Fear’)
  • Freeze (Part IV of ‘Fear’)
• Half the World
• Lock and Key
• Peaceable Kingdom
• Second Nature
• Territories

Okay. That’s my 2¢ worth for the night.

Peace.

Thursday
I’m pre-empting the post that I had planned for tonight.

I talked (IM’ed) with a friend of mine from back home a little while ago. That’s something of an understatement. Don is one of my best friends; we’ve known each other for twelve years now. He, his wife and his son are extended members of the family. He told me two stories tonight:

1. He is the new band director at the school where my stepfather is one of the assistant principals. He had the band warming up for practice in the school cafeteria. The cafeteria, it turns out, is directly below the room (I think he said the library) where a meeting was under way; and, yes, my stepdad was in this meeting. So… the band starts playing. LOUDLY. The song: Baby Got Back, by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Someone came downstairs and asked them to stop.
2. He and his wife had to put their dog, Brandy, to sleep tonight. she was nine-years-old, if I remember correctly. She had gotten out of the yard and was hit by a car. Brandy was a beagle. Brown with white on her belly and feet. She was a little hyper. She could be annoying. She loved (maybe “craved” would be a better word) attention. She always wanted to know what was going on. She liked ice cream sandwiches… well, she liked to like the paper that they came in. She wasn’t just a dog. She was… part of the family.

Dog Years – Rush, from the Test For Echo

In a dog’s life
A year is really more like seven
And all too soon a canine
Will be chasing cars in doggie heaven

It seems to me
As well make our own few circles ’round the block
We’ve lost our senses
For the higher-level static of talk

That’s all.

Peace.