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This page stores my blog entries from March 2004.  The entries are dated March 2, March 4, March 8, March 10, March 15, and March 17. Back to the Blog Archive The Weakest Link a Socially-Plagued Version of Jeopardy / California Primaries: Thoughts of Change / Differing Senses of Humor / Excitement over This Saturday: Why It's Significant / Orthodox Valentine's Day Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Normally, I take my lunch at around 1pm, catching any Pam phone calls that might come my way or, as usual, catching an episode of "The Weakest Link." I didn't care about the show when it was on whatever network carried it. But, once I started watching it on the Game Show Network, I saw the attraction. Well, the attraction for me, at least. Jeopardy will always be the king of trivia-based games in my book. I wouldn't call it a true test of intelligence, but they always expect a lot from their players when it comes to knowing facts and relations between information. For the most part, I thought that "The Weakest Link" presented rather intellectual questions as well. Outside of the student episode (or, in one case, the male model episode), the questions actually required one to recall fairly decent things in a short amount of time. I considered "The Weakest Link" to be on-par with Jeopardy ... until yesterday. As anyone who has watched "The Weakest Link" would know, the eight players somewhat socialize before the show and "work as a team" during the show. An unfortunate result reared its ugly head yesterday. Round by round, the "team" seemed to be completely ignoring the true weakest link in favor of some other person. Completely baffled, I watched as an older lady, who really didn't even belong on the show, kept moving on up until she was one of the last three. When player #4 was voted off, nobody could really give a good reason as to why. Anne, the host, had it figured out, asking each of the remaining three who they voted off in each of the five rounds. Each person answered exactly the same way. Clearly, this trio conspired to work together and oust the remaining people, removing any sense of intelligence required in each round and using their social bond to cast off the "outcasts" like they were some sort of exclusive clique in middle or high school. On one hand, I found it to be a rather intelligent way to use their only skills to get ahead, yet I found it troublingly disturbing that they would snub intelligent people for such an immature move. Yet, the latter really isn't the best response, since any method to get ahead within the rules would be legitimate. They played by the rules. "The Weakest Link" took a large dive with me in regards to its place as an intelligent game show. Overall, it cannot measure up to Jeopardy. The questions it raises for the contestants to answer are close to being on-par due to the short amount of time they have in which to answer. A player could take a lot more time than in Jeopardy, but they rarely do due to wanting to get more money and not get voted off. ***** I love being an absentee voter. My family and I received the option to register as such, and I couldn't be happier. In fact, I think I'm more likely to bother voting now than I was when I had to travel off to vote. For some inane reason, instead of being able to vote at the school up the street, I would have to drive off to a church that's several blocks away. Now, I just make up my mind, mark the ballot, and mail it in. It's the second election in a row that has allowed me this luxury, and I wouldn't have it any other way. People will be bounding to the polls today in California. Many important possibilities will be on the ballot, and, undoubtedly, a huge amount of people will refuse to vote. Also, undoubtedly, a large percentage of those people will complain about the results. When I was younger, I hated to vote. Actually, I still do, but at least I found a motivating force for me to do so: it gives me the right to complain about the results. If I vote one way, but enough people vote for the result to be different, then I can rightfully complain about it. I did the work to vote and make my thoughts count in the election. Naturally, it would be nice if I were to follow up such complaints with action against the vote, but I have neither the resources, time, nor interest to do so. Having the assorted primaries spread out over several months irks me and my family. With no other type of election do we have a format like this. We never have "Super Tuesday"s when electing a President. I'm certain that there are a lot of people out there who, because of the dwindling number of people running, will just vote for who they believe will win, rather than who they really want to run for President on the Democrat ticket. It's possible that most people do that anyway, but people tend to want to be on the winning side anyway and would vote just to be as such. After all, everyone else in other states voted for John Kerry, right? All of the primaries should be held on the same day to ensure that a proper representative would be selected. I can't think of a good reason to hold things as they are. In a new format, the primaries would end quicker, but candidates would have longer to campaign before the all-determining election. More people, in theory, would pay attention to the candidates and issues involved. ***** Life tells me that my sense of humor differs greatly from the average American. Many of the things the average American seems to find funny either seems devoid of humor or is plain stupid. "Seinfeld", to me, fit in the former. Late-night talk shows (Leno, etc.) tend to be too political for my tastes; I've never been too interested in politics. Sometimes I wonder if some of these popular shows give actors and actresses a false sense of how funny they are. Jenna Elfman, who starred on "Dharma and Greg", appeared on "Hollywood Squares" sometime in the past. I rarely watch this show, but it happened to be on at times when playing with my cat. She certainly seems beautiful on a purely physical standpoint, but I can't vouch for anything else. Routinely, the people in the squares will try to say funny or odd things before giving a probable answer to the question for the contestant to consider. Jenna gave initial answers that she laughed at. Unfortunately, I found nothing funny about what she said. I wouldn't think too much of it, except that not much of the audience laughed, either. Why couldn't the professional laughers get any laughing going for that? Were they the only ones laughing in the audience? Naturally, I wouldn't have a clue. Who knows whether it's a matter of a difference of senses of humor or the evils of the laugh track. Who knows whether it's a matter of the diluted television shows being marketed as being funnier than they really are, or, still, a matter of a difference of senses of humor. Or, maybe moreso, a difference of backgrounds. ***** I'm looking forward to this Saturday. Unless something goes dreadfully wrong, I should be seeing my old high school gang. I haven't seen them in many, many months. This wouldn't necessarily be noteworthy except that I'm looking forward to it. I don't remember the last time I truly felt excited about seeing them. That's certainly not an indicator that I wasn't interested in seeing them before, but more of a small change from before. I'm not sure what this small change is, actually. Maybe I'm becoming more sociable on a general scale, rather than in specific instances. It could be that, consciously and subconsciously, I'm thinking about this get-together in a different sense. Before (and, in some sense, still today) I felt that luring people together under the false pretense of playing a game seemed deceptive and unfair. Because of my past, I have problems with people who offer up things to do, only to not follow through with it. I end up feeling cheated, I guess. As a result, I guess I expect to _not_ actually play MERP when we get together this Saturday. Instead, I expect a lot of talk and discussion. Now, if Jordan and company really wanted to mess with me, they'd do nothing but play MERP, never talking about anything otherwise. <grins> I think the act of not expecting MERP opened me up to interacting. Maybe my thinking was too restricted to the activity to actually enjoy the company of others, regardless of the occasion? It'll be interesting to see what happens. Tim should be e-mailing us sometime soon about it, expecting responses from us if we're coming and shutting out the rest of us if we don't respond. ***** Pam and I celebrated our Valentine's Day on February 29. This was due to me being sick for two weeks, starting the week of Valentine's Day. We had a lot of fun! Our day started off with us showing each other what we got the other. My gifts to her were spread out over several days. On the Friday before Valentine's Day, I e-mailed her a Valentine-themed wallpaper for her computer. This past Saturday, I delivered a set of five bright red roses when picking her up for the family get-together. On Sunday, I capped it off with a chocolate chip cookie cake in the shape of a heart. I used the Toll House cookie recipe and poured it into two heart-shaped cake pans. I made some butter frosting with a mocha flavor and tinted it a rosy pink, using that frosting on the outside and in between the layers of cookie. On the top, I wrote her name on it. It came out wonderfully, and she loved it all. Pam's gifts to me included a sundae/milkshake glass and a jar of Smucker's Dove Dark Chocolate syrup. She wanted to include a bunch of the new white chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but she has yet to find any of them. Out of fun, I had guessed that she was going to give me "The Da Vinci Code" based on her clues. That was Plan B. From there, we had breakfast at the Black Cat Cafe. It's a neat French-ish themed place that sells crepes, among other things. We both had the salmon, goat cheese, and pesto crepes. I had hot chocolate, while she had tea. We spent the afternoon in old Placerville.  It has many antique shops and other assorted stores around historic Main St.  The antique shops quickly became tiring (the contained a lot of stuff), so we became more selective.  We saw the original spot where the hangman's tree used to stand, which is now occupied by a bar.  The stump of the old tree allegedly sits in the basement of the building, but it is not accessible to the public.  They still have a stuffed dummy hanging from the top of the building, though. We walked all the way up to the Placerville Historic Museum, housed in one of only two original buildings in town (the rest burned up in a fire around 1859).  It had some rather interesting things: a complete living room of an old, old home; old clay smoking pipes a place used to rent out, breaking off the tips and sterilizing them for future people; and a piece of the old hangman tree.  A couple of things disturbed both Pam and I.  We know there are a lot of things in that place, and it's hard to remember all the details of a story.  In one instance, one of the (volunteer?) curators talked about a photo that had tobacco cards (or cut-outs from tobacco packs) of scantily-clad women (for the time: bare arms and legs with some cleavage).  She referred to the picture as, "General Sherman, before he was President."  A quick look at the label confirmed that it was actually General Grant.  In a display case on the bottom floor, she pointed to a contraption, calling it a part of a game.  This was an item with a rectangular frame and one wood piece running length-wise through the middle, creating a small section at the top.  Beads ran along dowels in both sections, with two on top and five on the bottom of each dowel.  I took a quick look at it and identified it as an abacus.  I'm certain I was correct, but the poor curator apparently hadn't heard that before about it.  The people there were very nice and friendly, so it was certainly an enjoyable spot. From there, we waltzed back down the street, eventually heading into The Bookery, a cool book store with new, used, and rare books.  Both Pam and I saw things we really wanted, but neither of us felt we had the money to get them.  Pam found a complete set of Jane Austin books, miniatured in green covers and gold page edges.  I saw some hardback books, including some by Douglas Adams.  Eventually, we shall return and capture our desired pieces. Our last stop took us to a little ice cream/coffee shop for some drinks before we headed home.  Pam ordered a mocha, while I decided on a Chocolate Rabbit.  This cold coffee drink included coffee blended with chocolate ice cream.  It was pretty good, though it seemed like the coffee flavor either got lost in things or disappeared early on.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed our concoctions and headed home. Dinner consisted of some homemade spaghetti sauce and some rotini (I think it was), a small loaf of sourdough french bread, and a bottle of Robert Mondavi Private Selection Zinfandel.  We brought home some leftover black forest cake from the Saturday family get-together, and we had that and some of the heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie for dessert. It was a great day!  Hopefully, next year, neither of us will be sick for the non-orthodox* Valentine's. * The Eastern Orthodox use a calendar that's roughly 13 days behind the modern calendar.  For example, for this past Christmas, they celebrated it on January 7.  They do not observe Leap Day, so the difference changes over time. Back to the Top Dream March of the Bizarre / California's Super Tuesday: How My Choices Fared / Is "Entry Level" Truly What It Seems? / Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix: Current Music Listenings / A Shorts Comment Thursday, March 4, 2004 My dreams seem to be getting more and more complex or bizarre.  Three nights ago, I had a weird dream where I found myself in some sort of sub-tropical jungle.  I think I accompanied some other people, but I ended up alone with a queen.  A rather hot queen, for that matter.  She starts coming on to me, leading to certain intimate situations.  Well, as she leans forward to kiss me, her face starts to seriously distort. I know there was an X-Files episode where, for some reason, whenever certain people had their picture taken, the resulting picture would be drastically different.  I think there was some other show or movie where the faces on certain pictures were blurred out.  Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything like this in a long, long time. I believe that internal beauty becomes so much more important over time.  Certainly, physical beauty never hurts, but it doesn't last.  Too many gorgeous people seem to have some sort of attitude problem or some internal thing that makes them horribly unattractive.  It's more likely that I might have been thinking about this that night. A couple of nights ago, I had a different weird dream.  This time, I was at home, but it wasn't a home I really recognized.  On occasion, I have dreams where I'm in "my home", except it's not a home I've seen before.  First thing, I call Pam, who happens to be visiting relatives in Georgia.  I get one of her male family members (an older uncle, I think) and somewhat talk to him while I wander around the house and he wanders around, trying to find Pam for me. Something strikes me as being wrong in the house.  Eventually, I find what looks like a set of footprints with some sort of streak coming from one end.  Upon closer inspection, I knew that these were animal tracks.  I have no idea what, yet, though I do wonder how anything could have gotten into the house.  I wander around the house, looking through rooms to check for other signs.  In one remote room, I find a skunk!  Gradually, while still on the phone with Pam's uncle, I coax the skunk out the back door.  I think it got through some hole in the side of the house. This dream I haven't had time to analyze just yet.  I needed to write it down first before I forgot it.  For some reason, I tend to forget details from dreams rather quickly. ***** For the heck of it, I checked to see how I did with respect to the elections Tuesday.  Out of 11 different things I voted for (I didn't have any opinion when it came to the Democratic County Central Committee, so I didn't vote on that), 6 ended up in the same manner that I voted.  If I were to eliminate the races that had no opposition (both U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Congressional Representative Robert Matsui ran unopposed), then only four out of nine, or 41%, of the races fell as I voted. I tend to not take voting personally unless something obviously insane somehow gets voted in.  That rarely happens, so I tend to be content.  My mindset on things that don't go the way I voted tend to follow a sense of cautious contentment.  I accept it (not that I have a choice <grins>) and just sit back to see how it works out.  Sometimes things work out much better than one thinks or reads, since theory doesn't always work out well in practice. It's interesting how my initial thoughts flowed with respect to how my choices compared with the overall selections.  I had to see "how I did" as if I were being tested or that it was important for me to "do well."  Naturally, that's not the case, since we don't "fail" if the voting goes in a different direction than we envision.  It must be leftovers or a Pavlovian condition from our school years. Despite all of that, 41% is still really good.  I don't know what previous elections looked like with respect to my choices, but that's not really all that important. ***** In my job hunt, I'm getting a feeling that I truly do not understand what "entry-level" means.  To me, "entry-level" is a position where the person is not expected to have experience in such work.  It's painfully obvious to me that this is not the case when I see people label a position as being an "entry-level" position, yet they require applicants to have 1-2 years or more experience.  I don't know if companies mean "entry-level" as meaning "an position allowing an entry into working with the company" or what.  At some point, I'll have to find out. ***** Current Music Mood: Jimi Hendrix I got to hear Bob Marley's Legend album recently.  It's not something I would think I'd be in the mood for too often, but I rather liked it.  The only thing I didn't like was his version of I Shot the Sheriff, which was dreadful.  I'm not sure what it was, but I couldn't bear to listen to the whole song.  Or the rest of the album, for that matter. I really need to get Jimi Hendrix on CD, though.  I've heard Axis: Bold as Love, and I have the combined US/UK version of Are You Experienced? and the now out-of-print The Ultimate Experience on cassette.  The cassettes don't do me any good, since I have nothing on which to play them.  Sometime soon, I'll try to find a way to get AYE? and one other on CD.  I don't know which of the other Experience-era Hendrix albums I'd want to get with it.  I'll figure that out when the time comes. ***** Jordan is probably the only person on Earth who can fit into the same gym shorts that he wore in P.E. as a Freshman in high school.  Gad, if only I could keep my weight down or lose it up to where I had it when I graduated from UCD. Back to the Top More Plextor Issues / MERP:ME with The Group / "The Speak": a Reflection / Spring is Here, Unofficially / "Dock Drawer" does what? Monday, March 8, 2004 Hopefully someone out there will learn from my experiences, however this turns out.  As you may have read before, my Plextor PX-W4012TA (40/12/40 speed CD-RW drive) died just three to four months after its 1-year warranty expired.  I received a refurbished drive as a replacement, installed it, and burned a CD without a problem. I tried to burn the other CDs that I wanted to do (the other re-burn of a previous hard drive back-up, and a back-up of my current hard drive's contents).  It started burning without a problem, but then it suddenly just stopped.  The burner itself stopped, settling to a stop with a solid green light (indicating a disc is in the drive).  In Nero, the Used Read Buffer empties down to 0%, and infrequent system hangs occur.  Eventually, the Recorder Buffer empties.  The Recorder Buffer starts to slowly fill up (+25% in 7 minutes; it normally fills up nearly instantly).  After about 15 minutes (I could have burned four or five CDs in this amount of time), the whole system freezes. I sent an e-mail to their support people, too.  They responded, saying that I should update my EIDE drivers, my motherboard BIOS, and possibly to add a jumper to the rear pins to change the type of UDMA or something.  The jumper and EIDE driver possibilities won't be a problem, but messing with the BIOS will make me very nervous.  I know the kinds of things I should do beforehand and afterwards, but since I cannot make a backup of my hard drive, I could be in some problems if the BIOS update doesn't work or FUBARs the BIOS completely.  Further updates will come once I've gained enough nerve to try these things. ***** I had a great time with my high school friends last night.  We tried to play MERP, but, as usual (and, because of people making characters at various speeds and various mini-group meetings with Jordan), a lot of conversation ensued on various topics.  It's not a problem, really.  It's amazing how loud it can get, but with so many topics being covered, it's hard to not find something to latch onto. As normal, most everyone else finished their characters before I did.  I'm rather happy with myself that I determined a character concept.  I haven't thought it through very well, yet, but it's loosely based around Indiana Jones.  MERP has some minor careers one can follow, and I ended up choosing the Scholar career type.  This looked like a great roleplaying career for Jordan's world and for roleplaying in particular.  Once we started playing, I began to wonder if that was the smartest choice for this group.  I know I'll have the opportunity to use my knowledge skills quite a bit and learn about a lot of information about the world and things going on in the campaign, but being able to tell others about it may be too difficult.  My sanguinary friends tend to fight first and act out in many bizarre shenanigans, so that usually makes a differing theory irrelevant.  The aforementioned volume level of non-game chatter was difficult to overcome as well; Jordan was hoarse, as well, at the end of last night's game. We plan on meeting once a month on the first Saturday of the month.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next session. ***** While thinking about last Saturday's get-together with The Gang, I remembered how we used to speak in "The Speak", as we called it.  Naturally, we spoke English, but we spoke it with a particular emphasis.  I'm not sure what it was like anymore, but I think it sounded like we would cut short the ends of each word.  It sounded a little choppy.  I have no clue how this developed within The Group. I never talked like The Group did before I joined them.  Unfortunately, it was both fun and addictive.  I would come home after a night with them, and I would be speaking with The Speak the next day.  I'm sure my parents were irritated by that. <grins> At no point last Saturday night did I hear this particular speech pattern.  I don't know whether it's merely a high school thing, or whether we all grew out of it.  It would be fun to have a gathering at Jordan's mom's house while she's still there and start talking in that peculiar way. ***** Spring has unofficially sprung.  It hit a high of 80° today.  Rosebushes sprout this year's growth.  Fruit trees bloom, preparing for the eventual harvest this fall.  Other trees start budding leaves to help shade things during the hot summer months.  My sinuses hurt.  But, besides the minor drawbacks, I'm loving it. Pam and I will be able to continue our tennis practice.  We've been waiting for the weather to clear up, and we should be able to get a shot at it this coming Sunday.  ESPN televised a few spring training baseball games within the last week or so.  I've watched bits of a couple of games, including the Anaheim-Seattle game today and the Yankees game a few days ago. I took a walk after lunch today, enjoying the warmth and sunlight.  Along my route, I passed a row of blooming trees.  They had little reddish flowers on them.  Do you remember the stench made when teachers would throw kitty litter on a spot where someone vomited?  For some reason, I detected a faint smell that resembled that when passing these trees.  I don't know what it was that I actually smelled.  I think my sniffer is out of whack, too.  It tends to not be happy with all the pollen. The warmer weather breeds concerts.  I seriously doubt I'll get to see anything major this summer due to monetary issues.  Metallica plays at Arco Wednesday, but at a minimum of $55 a ticket, I'll pass.  I know the original lineup of Judas Priest will tour as a part of Ozzfest, but, again, I just don't feel the $50+ per ticket is worth it.  The lineup for Ozzfest is still too weak.  I'll wait until Judas tours on their own, assuming they'll do so. I wouldn't be surprised if people's attitudes improved from now until Christmas.  Sunny, warm weather tends to do that to people.  The upbeat charm of the season gets one's emotions perked up and exercising again.  Although I feel pretty good, I know that I'll benefit from the warming weather as well. ***** If I were retired and really wanted to be a grade-A smart-ass, I would have had fun today.  In looking around for job possibilities, I saw one that asked for a "dock drawer."  I looked at it, smiled slyly, thinking how much fun this could possess.  "Yes.  Here's one from the shore.  It's not one of my best, since the crayon doesn't color well and this particular dock is a bit rickety.  Now, if you were to look at this computer print-out, the ship ...."  Too much fun if one had nothing better to do. Back to the Top Get Your War On Quote / Norton AntiVirus and Viruses Getting Through / 75 Clues That You Might Be a Metalhead: Link and Reflection / Out With Comcast, in with SureWest / Monty Python Not Really Funny Wednesday, March 10, 2004 "Woa ... If I jump up and down in my cubicle, am I an astronaut?" ***** Either Norton Antivirus has failed me, or viruses have become sneakier with regards to avoiding antivirus software.  I keep my virus definitions updated regularly.  Normally, updates were available once a week an no more often than that.  Now, it seems normal for updates to occur multiple times a week. Twice in the past two weeks, I have had e-mails, very clearly containing viruses, pass straight through Norton Antivirus (as a part of Norton Systemworks 2003 Pro) and onto my hard drive.  Normally, Norton should catch these files, delete the offending virus-infected file, and leave a text file stating which virus was found in the attachment.  Twice now I have seen Norton neglect its duties and allow viruses through without a care. Granted, virus updates were available that I had not downloaded (I have never had more than two in a given download).  Still, it seems to me that Norton should have identified these files as having similar viruses to what it already knew.  Either viruses are getting more specialized, or Norton Antivirus is failing me. ***** I added a new page that illustrates 75 Clues That You Might Be a Metalhead.  I harvested this off the alt.music.slayer newsgroup back in 2000.  I give all credit to whomever the person was who created this list. I certainly don't fit all of the ones listed there, but for the ones I do: #8. Every time I happen to be watching MTV (which isn't very often), I always recognize the beginning bassline of Megadeth's "Peace Sells" in the music for MTV News.  It's probably the one bassline that nearly anyone who has watched MTV would recognize without knowing it's from an actual song. #15. Of any major Metallica or Megadeth fan, who hasn't had discussions comparing them?  It's nearly inevitable, given that Dave Mustaine was an original member of Metallica a bit before they officially recorded anything.  Both bands have their great merits, despite how you see each band's career. #19. I definitely have albums on Combat Records.  I believe the only ones I have are Megadeth's "Killing Is My Business ... And Business is Good!" and Venom's "Welcome to Hell."  Combat Records exclusively released metal albums, as far as I know. #25. Actually, I just really hate Tipper Gore.  She was one reason why I simply didn't want to vote for Al Gore during the 2000 Presidential Elections.  I don't remember for whom I voted, but the PMRC ("People's Music Resource Center") seemed like an evil idea to me.  The PMRC started out with the wives of many senators who wanted to educate the public on the "evils" of rock music.  If I recall correctly, it led to the waste-of-time-and-money Parental Warning stickers, which don't really mean a thing these days.  The ideology of the group swirved towards censorship of a highly conservative nature.  It's a ugly thing that should never have happened. #26. I don't really secretly like Queensryche.  I would happily mention it.  But, it's not exactly a band I talk about a lot, so I guess that would qualify as being a bit secretive. #29. Rock music has a predominantly White audience.  Probably even more so in the metal scene.  To me, any time an African-American comes on the scene, that's a cool thing.  The unity thing, I guess, is what seems cool by a sighting like that.  I know you'll find other minorities in metal, especially if you attend a Slayer concert (I think Tom Araya is Mexican or Native American; I could be very wrong about that). #31. Cliff Burton should be canonized.  If I had to create a pantheon of musicians, Cliff would be the solitary bass player.  So much talent and beauty in his playing, and it was because of a stupid drunk bus driver that he's not with us anymore. #33. I'm certain that I've yelled "Slayer" at a concert in which they didn't play.  I think it's a pre-requisite in order to truly be a metalhead. #37. Bino and I, when we were in high school or early college, bought these leather fingerless gloves through a catalog.  I think I wore mine a few times before tiring of them.  For some reason, it didn't make sense to wear them during the winter. #55. For anyone who doesn't recognize this, that's a quote from the video for Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher."  A very cool song and video, and I simply had to say that I related to it. <grins> #56. Simply put, Metallica just wasn't the same band after the Black Album (that's the album on which "Nothing Else Matters" appears).  They followed that album up with two mediocre albums and recently spat out a huge wad of crap in the form of "St. Anger."  Friends don't let friends listen to snare drums that sound like bouncing basketballs.  A trivia note: the album "S&M" was not the first use of an orchestra by Metallica.  They recorded a song they called, "Nothing Else Matters (Elevator Version)" that incorporates some orchestra-like music. #57. Any memorable concert would certainly have a 15 minute bass, guitar, or drum solo.  It can only count if it were cool, though.  I've heard some rather lame drum solos before (c.f. Dio's drummer during the Iron Maiden concert).  I know Iron Maiden's drummer had a really cool drum solo, and I'm sure Metallica played a few back in '94.  But, really: if you clearly remember seeing the band, did you really enjoy yourself? #72. I know I use "old school" to describe many different things.  Unfortunately, I think I mainly use it to reference older rap more than anything.  It still applies to metal, though. #75. The "devil hand sign" (see images at top of this page) has become too natural for me. It's an interesting list, though I don't relate to all of it.  Thankfully, I think I recognize and understand nearly all of it. ***** A mildly sad feeling came over me earlier today while the SureWest representative began installing the CAT-5 cabling for the new digital cable and music we'll be receiving through them.  My parents and I have had Sacramento Cable / AT&T Broadband / Comcast for almost 15 years.  It was our first cable experience back at the old house.  I still have the tape on which I recorded the Guns N' Roses concert off of Pay-Per-View back in 1992. The new digital service has more stations than Comcast and will be cheaper, too.  I'm looking forward to watching things on ESPN Classic, the National Geographic channel, and other stations that I don't believe we get through Comcast at the moment.  We'll also get digital music, which comes standard with the service.  The '80s, hard rock, and classical stations will certainly earn sufficient time with me.  Unfortunately, it doesn't have a metal station. A couple of odd things came up while we poked around the stations.  Both AMC and Sci-Fi come in on an East Coast feed.  It was odd seeing Hercules come on at 2pm instead of its normal 5pm time slot. ***** I had a friend inform me that only two types of Monty Python people exist: those who worship it, and those who are in denial.  I told him that I fit into neither slot, since I simply do not find them funny.  Their comedic timing is off, and the presentation is done in such a manner as to lose humor.  He told me that I was in denial.  To me, anything Monty Python is usually funnier when my friends talk about it. Even my dad likes Monty Python, once claiming that I just didn't get British Humor.  He failed to understand and take into account that I like The Young Ones, Benny Hill, and As Time Goes By.  Clearly, I like some British Humor.  To me, Monty Python lacks the "humor" part. I know my friend was just joking.  Although I can imagine people who are so fanatical that they simply do not believe someone could not like what they like, I know he's not like this.  It'd be akin to saying that someone can either like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or they're in denial.  And, yes, I don't like those types of sandwiches, either. Back to the Top Reflection: High School Quotes and Meaning of "Work" / Joust, Rampage, and Telengard / Norton Systemworks 2003 Pro problems: Success! / Metallica's Sacramento Set List: Thoughts / Relaxing Music to Do Calculus, or Write Cover Letters, By / Job Ad Critic II: Person Trainer Monday, March 15, 2004 "I work because I enjoy not working." - Mr. Barsanti, Economics teacher I remember the confusion emanating from my class when my teacher said those words in my Economics class.  Honestly, I'm not sure how many of us actually understood him after he explained it.  For some reason, this statement of his popped into my mind, and I felt I understood it. We all enjoy the times in which we don't work.  What is it that we enjoy about it?  We're not working!  The only way we can afford to do the things we do when we're not working is to work.  One person's book, another person's PS2 game, or a third person's tee fee at the local golf club all had to be paid for somehow. I'm not so certain that this is really the best way to think about work.  If one thought about it too much, one would think that they'd just have to do anything in order to bring in money.  Granted, in some situations, a person has to do that just to get by.  One wouldn't necessarily get the greatest job satisfaction, though. Last weekend, one of my friends echoed something that I've heard and felt before.  One's occupation isn't "work" if you enjoy it.  It simply doesn't feel like "work" but something you truly enjoy doing.  For some people, finding this thing comes rather easily (or, maybe just with a lot of work that the average person in their life doesn't see).  For others, it can be a huge struggle.  Either way, once one finds it and succeeds, it would have been worth all the work. As I continue to spit out resumes and applications for various positions, I can still hear Mr. Barsanti saying that to us in our little classroom during my Senior year.  I certainly enjoy not working as much as anyone else, but I've been doing that a lot more than I have been working lately.  Eventually, I know I will be able to enjoy not working as I should. ***** My Apple IIe gaming continues and has changed over the last couple of months.  My Draw Poker tendencies have waned, eventually leading to playing Rampage.  In Rampage, you play one of three people who mutated into either a giant gorilla, wolf, or lizard.  You run around a city, eating secret stashes and people while destroying vehicles (cars, tanks, armed helicopters) and buildings.  Once you have destroyed all the buildings in the city, you move on to the next one.  I think there are over 100 different cities, but I haven't been anywhere near the end.  Before, on my Apple IIe, I did eventually get to Sacramento, but that was some years ago when I had oodles of down time to play. Rampage recently gave way to another huge classic: Joust.  I could play Joust forever.  Literally.  I think the version I have for my Apple IIe has a bug, since I got so far into the game, the level number turned into a string of incomprehendable characters.  I want to say that it was over Level 256 or so, but I don't know.  For those of you not familiar with Joust, you play a character who rides something that looks like a giant flying ostrich (if I recall correctly, real-life ostriches are too heavy and have wings that are too small for flight).  In each level, you attack and try to knock off the riders of the enemies on similar rides.  When you do knock them off, it drops an egg.  If you collect the egg, you get a 500-pt bonus.  If not, the egg can hatch, and another ostrich can pick the hatchling up and create a new enemy.  It can be difficult to get above the enemy to knock them off, but it just takes practice.  On occasion, a buzzard might appear.  On the third level of a series, it appears through the whole level as an added challenge.  I don't know for certain how to destroy it, though I know I've done it before.  On other levels, it can appear if you take too long to vanquish your opponents.  The fifth level in the series is an egg level, where a whole bunch of eggs appear on the platforms.  Pick them up before they hatch and become new enemies, and you're on to the next series of levels. I don't know what I'll play next if or when I get tired of Joust.  Telengard has been calling me on occasion, but having to make copies of the disc image after every save is a pain.  I'll talk more about Telengard later. ***** I think I figured out most of my problems with Norton Systemworks 2003 Pro (NSW).  It's nothing serious, actually.  My Norton Tray Manager was not working after I tried to reinstall NSW to see if it'd solve a different problem (an unusually long delay between sending an e-mail and having Norton Antivirus scan it).  I had no problems uninstalling NSW, but, for some reason, the computer would not let me uninstall Norton Crashguard, a part of my old NSW 2000 (2003 doesn't include this, since it only works for Win9x and below).  I ended up moving all the old files to a temporary folder and reinstalling everything.  Now, it all works fluidly. My only problems are the remaining registry entries that, I think, were associated with some of the files I moved.  Technically, I should be able to just delete the old registries and not worry about it.  I'm certain that the reinstall would have all the registry entries established for it already.  Hopefully I can figure it out with a minimum of fuss. ***** I missed Metallica this time around, but it was still interesting to see what they played.  Frankly, I'm a little disappointed in their set.  It feels a little boring and just flowing with what they always play.  In other venues, they played things like "The Thing That Should Not Be", "Ride the Lightning", or, the one that's getting a lot of attention, "Dyer's Eve."  Instead, they played more post-Black Album songs here than they did at, I think, any other venue so far. I'm going to sit down sometime and churn out what I would think would be the best set list.  Sure, anyone can do it and just fill it up with their absolute favorites.  I'm going to stick to a general pattern that Metallica themselves have been using and use that as a guide.  The set list will have to be around 2 hours long (actually, the songs will cover much less due to rest breaks, Kirk's "doodles", and other stuff), include songs from almost every album they've recorded, and include at least two or three new songs.  I'll have to tinker with this in the next week or two. ***** In high school, I thought it was cool that I could easily do my Honors Pre-Calculus homework while listening to music with the stereo two feet from my head.  I think I did the same thing through my Senior year in high school as well.  Once I hit college, I just couldn't do it anymore.  Of course, college work requires a lot more concentration, especially with upper-division work. Yesterday afternoon, I tried writing a cover letter, making sure I covered everything I wanted to cover in it.  Besides being exhausted, I had a horrible time getting started with it.  I just couldn't concentrate.  Ironically, I felt I needed some music.  Many people might pick something like Coldplay, Enya, or maybe something else relaxing to play in the background to ease one's stress levels.  What did I pick?  "...And Justice For All" by Metallica.  It wasn't exactly background music, either, with my windows open and the stereo cranked up to "4" on the volume dial (with the hard walls, a "4" ends up being very loud; normal volume level is around "2" on my stereo). In very little time, I had written out everything I needed.  The introduction found itself, and the rest of it flowed fairly well.  Granted, I'm not going to write all of my cover letters while listening to music.  Regardless, it certainly worked and helped me through to the end.  I guess, sometimes, I need more than just one thing going on in my head to get going and finish things in a timely manner. ***** A recent job ad asked for a "Person Trainer."  Now, I know some individuals have sub-par qualities that should make them a "person", but don't you think it's a little extreme to have to create a company that works solely on training individuals to be people? Back to the Top Happy St. Patrick's Day! Petty Remarks: "Vice-Versa" / Digital Camera! / On My Way To Save The World: Thoughts on Missionaries Wednesday, March 17, 2004 I rarely react poorly to one's diction, but on some occasions something comes up multiple times by multiple sources that ends up irritating me a little.  A few times, I've heard people use "vice versa" but say "vice-a versa."  To me, in a strict sense of English, the former pronounced as-is would be correct.  The latter is apparently correct, probably stemming from its Latin root.  In Spanish, the final "e" in "vice" would have a sound close to that of the English "a" in certain pronunciations.  It's not too close, but similar. I guess it just sounds awful when someone says "vice-a versa."  Sometimes it's fun to get involved in something that's not all that important. ***** A digital camera!  I've been meaning to get one for some time (that Canon PowerShot S50 looked rather nice the last time I was actively looking), but recent financial issues have kept me from pursuing such a thing.  Instead, I ended up getting the next-best thing: a hand-me-down!  Jordan tossed his old Kodak DC25 in my direction.  It's cool to have a digital camera! I have taken a couple of pictures with it, but I have not done anything towards getting the interface to work with my computer.  I have the camera-to-serial-port cable, but I should get an AC adapter to prevent the unnecessary drainage of my batteries. This poor camera took such a round-about route to my home.  Jordan handed it off to Adam, who scurried forth about 130mi (for a first down) up here to the Sacramento area.  In failing to hand it off directly to me (incomplete pass; 2nd down), he left it with his dad, who took it to work (hand off to Adam's dad, run for 25mi; 3rd Down).  Once it was confirmed to be at his dad's work, I hopped over there and retrieved it (hand off to me; touchdown!). I doubt I'll post too many pictures from it, but we'll see what may come along and what relevance they'll have to my writings.  I certainly intend my blog entries to be at least 90% text and keep it from being cluttered up by too many images.  The image of my Guinness Bar Towel, above, came from this camera.  A larger version that contains that image will appear soon.  Expect a page dedicated to assorted photographs in the near-ish future. ***** "Don't you realise that missionaries are the divinely provided food for destitute and underfed cannibals? Whenever they are on the brink of starvation, Heaven, in its infinite mercy, sends them a nice plump missionary." - Oscar Wilde I really despise the whole concept of "missionary work."  I know these people probably do some good things for the people they invade.  Their help might include helping in houses and towns in need of repair or cleaning up, helping during harvests or hauling things between locations.  It's the religious bend on it that irritates me. I believe the rationale for missionary work was to "rescue the heathens from their godless state."  I find that point of view immensely condescending.  If anything, it shows the missionary's ignorance of life and the people within it.  Just like anyone else on the planet and in generations before us, those people have their own world view and beliefs.  I severely doubt that these people ever thought, "darn, I wish someone would save me from this godless state."  They were perfectly happy with their own traditions. When it comes to religion, I feel that people should make up their minds on their own as to what they believe.  Religious beliefs are so personal that, to me, one shouldn't have to be subjected to someone else's fanaticism unwillingly.  A person should want to seek it out on their own, not to have to talk to a door-to-door Religion Salesman.  "If you buy now, we'll throw in your very own copy of the King James Bible absolutely free!"  Granted, if someone wanted to visit a follower or vice-versa, that would be cool.  It's the forcing of religion on people that I detest. I guess it's because of this that I don't feel the least bit sad when I hear that some missionaries got themselves killed in a foreign country.  I do feel a bit sad that life was lost, but, to me, they didn't belong wherever they were to begin with.  I'll never pretend to understand their motivations or why they do these things, though I do have the ways that I have interpreted them in the past. Back to the Top