naladahc | tripping along the golden path

IM'd with Pixelfrog today. Seems he's thinking of upgrading the Geoff Johns Message Board to the new version of Ikonboard currently in use at the People's Front of Judea that I have implemented. Pix is actually the guy that turned me on to Ikonboard in the first place earlier this year.

Oh...and I have to agree with Pix. This is indeed the best picture...EVER!

So Matt updated last night. I'll update my 10.1.5 to 10.2 on my Pismo tonight.

I'll see if I can tolerate the burdensome and dog slow Aqua for a bit. At least on Nirvana. Maybe I can try all the Terminal hacks I've been reading about to make the Dock a bit more useful.

Of course, I think my initial feelings still hold true.

Holy shit!!! The Sassiest Mama I know has actually returned to the net. Oh la la! has been updated. And look. There's a secret coded message to Nala about domicile hunting.

If you're reading this baby, you'll have NO problem finding a place when the time comes. Currently, i'm looking at studios and one rommie situations. Studios have dropped below $1000, and landlords are approaching tenants and offering to lower rents to keep them there.

Oh... after so many years... you are mine! Oh yes! You are mine.

Now. I only have to find a Jetfire and I'm all set!!!

One of those mornings...am I awake or am I still dreaming?

We were talking - about the space between us all

And the people - who hide themselves behind a

wall of illusion

Never glimpse the truth - then it's far too late -

when they pass away.

We were talking - about the love we all could

share - when we find it

To try our best to hold it there - with our love

With our love - we could save the world - if

they only knew.

Try to realise it's all within yourself no-one else

can make you change

And to see you're really only very small,

and life flows on within you and without you.

We were talking - about the love that's gone so

cold and the people,

Who gain the world and lose their soul -

they don't know - they can't see - are you one

of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself - then you

may find, peace of mind is waiting there -

And the time will come when you see

we're all one, and life flows on within you and

without you.

And that's all the late George Harrison (and I too) have to say about that.

Your Cowtown Report for Friday, 9/6/2002.

Apparently, the opposition to the extra car rental tax have gotten the issue on the ballet to have the tax stopped.

Back in May 2002, Cowtown Mayor (and SJ Alumni) Michael Coleman, and instituted an additional tax for those renting a car here in Cowtown.

Of course, the car rental businesses were outraged...and well they should be. Coleman tried to rent a car a few months back and they refused to rent to him.

Ya see. It comes down to this...Columbus is a joke.

I suppose that isn't totally fair. The "Midwest" in general is a joke.

These cities try so hard to mimic larger metropolitan areas. They fail miserably on every single account. Outrageous taxes. Insane cab fares just to get the and from the airport. A complete lack of downtown living. Basically absent public transportation.

Cowtown is not Chicago. Cowtown can barely be called "urban".

Cowtown is a white, generican, mall-shopping heap of smoldering now.

I'm sure there is a tax on talking about taxes.

I keep expecting to get this message...

Hi. I'm your naladahc@yahoo.com email account. Remember me? You used to use me all the time when you travelled and at work?

Of course, those were the days before I started getting 30 spam emails and hour. Ah. Those were the days weren't they?

I just wanted to remind you that I'm here. Even though my 6MB limit is filled daily with html spam emails about viagra, incest pics, granny porn, printer ink cartridges, debt consolidations, and various other prizes you won.

I admit, I still giggle when the spam comes for "Mr Hoonty".

Anyway, I actually contacted you to ask you to PLEASE PUT ME OUT OF MY FUCKING MISERY!!!

My life as an email address sucks. Please...call Dr. Kervorkian. Anything to kill me.

Sincerly,

Your old Yahoo email address

P.S. Thank you for not using Hotmail.

So. Mac OS X 10.2. I've been running it a few days now.

All I can say is...I still hate Aqua with a passion. I loathe the horrible anti-aliasing that I have little if no control over.

It doesn't help much that it is pretty dog slow responsive on my Pismo laptop. And that machine is only 2 years old.

It is that godawful Aqua. Ugh!!! Processor cycle hog.

But...what use can I put this OS to? The only legitimate reason I can see for installing OS X is to learn Unix command line stuff and maybe how to compile some Unix binaries to run under Darwin. That's about it. And maybe use it to learn PHP and Mysql interaction with Dreamweaver MX.

So.

I suppose I'll work on cleaning my shit up in the studio this weekend and trying to move some data around on Satori and free up a partition for installation.

I think I'll go so far as to not install a Classic environment to force myself to reboot into my beloved OS 9 when needed.

I hope to high hoont that performance is better. I mean it is a G4 and has 1.5GB of ram and 32mb of video ram. I'll get XWindows installed and FINK and learn to do some Unix stuff on it. That's more important to me than trying to use it as a replacement for Mac OS 9.

Ok. That's what I'm a gonna do!

I've been trying to learn how to better use CSS to do layout. One of the reasons I went to this current design of naladahc.com was so that it would be much much easier to recode with divs and CSS positioning.

I have been eagerly digesting commentary and articles on zeldman.com and alistapart.com in regards to standards compliant and proper coding. I fully believe in the power that CSS, when fully implemented in all modern browsers, can bring.

But when it comes down to it...does it matter since I don't do this for a living and should I care if the html I generate passes validation? Should I truly and honestly care?

Naladahc.com is primarily for my friends and family across the country to check up on the insanity and lameness that is my life. It serves as something for me to do instead of watching mindless tv and also serves as a place to host the message board so that my various cronies have something to do with their day.

That's about it.

So. While I've indeed been going out of my way to learn how to use CSS so that I can redo all of the site as an XHTML and CSS standards validated fully accessible site, I read this article on Zdnet today.

In "W3C members: What standards?", writer Paul Festa goes on to show that most of the members of the W3C don't even use standards in their own sites.

Of course, I wouldn't expect Microsoft to, but the others should! I mean really now. Isn't this the whole point of standards?

"Although we fully support work and the mission of the W3C, our goal is not to evangelize W3C standards, but to work closely with Web developers to help their sites work effectively in a cross-browser world," a Netscape representative said. "Netscape.com, along with other highly trafficked sites, needs to ensure that content will be able render properly across a wide variety of browsers, both old and new."

"The good news is that people are still using HTML," said Hakon Lie, chief technology officer at Opera Software. "Not in exactly the right way, but it could have been much worse if people had started using some proprietary language like (Adobe Systems') PDF."

I'm pretty perturbed at the state of domain names and such these days. Network Solutions now offers a service were basically you pay them to wait until someone doesn't renew a domain name and you "snatch" it up for yourself. Is this not enabling a form of theft?

What started this was an email from Network Solutions yesterday informing me that one of my domains is up...at the end of 2003! But...that I could pay them and renew it now. Why does this feel like a scam to get me to pay for an extra year?

Anyway, I need to get to the core of this. I could have swore I renewed in 2001. I am pretty sure I got it in 1998...hence 2001 would have been legit. 2004 should be the renewal.

Of course, looking up naladahc.com on NS shows that is is taken. However, I did enjoy some of the "Other Names You Might Like" that could be acquired:

libraryadahc.com

librariesadahc.com

usdaadahc.com <---sounds disgusting

agricultureadahc.com <---maybe if I grew up in Barnesville

depositadahc.com <--- no one has made a deposit on me lately.

My domain doesn't expire until November 2003. Kinda scary they want me to renew it this early.

Well. It had to happen.

Apple's education market share half of Dell's

With Jesus and black magic on my side. Nothing can go wrong!

Um. Well. I'd switch to Unix, Linux, or BeOS. Hell, I'd switch to Windows 3.1 if Jeremiah Cohick tells me to. OBEY Jeremiah Cohick!!! OBEY!!! I think I may need to start a Jeremiah fan club.

Hell. He's even got a blog. Too bad he's all into the undead and things.

As a Zen saying goes...

To follow the path:

look to the master,

follow the master,

walk with the master,

see through the master,

become the master.

Autumn just doesn't want to get here. Or perhaps Summer just doesn't want to give up.

It is supposed to be high 90's today in Cowtown. High 90's!!!

Oy the insanity. Ugh!!!

Since so many people I know who read this site are either Mac users or switching to Mac OS X, I figured I'd just list off some sites to get Mac OS X info.

Why?

Well. Even though I despise Aqua, I'm going to learn the guts of Mac OS X and Darwin so I can better operate at work in my Solaris environment. Yes, I'm going to be using Mac OS X...but not the Mac part. This'll be fun and exciting... something I haven't experienced on Windows or Mac in a long time.

OSXFAQ - Technical News for Mac OS X

This is... OSX Page

Mac OS X Hints

macosx.com|munity

Fink

XDarwin

Open OS X

Of course, this is really just for me to access these links on whatever browser/computer I'm on! =)

Know any other ones, leave a Shout with an URL.

It amazes me that a product like The Gimp can still survive with such a horrid name.

Regardless of the fact it is an acronym... it is more often used as an derogatory term for a person with a physical handicap.

Hmmm. Now I have reached a point where I loathe advertisers and marketers, but maybe... just maybe... a new brand name is in order for this. Maybe something that tells a non-geek user what the hell the app does?

This and that to make you realize our supposed 'democracy' and way of life have been threatened... not by anyone in the Middle East mind you... but by Junior, Uncle Dick, and the corrupt regime, corporate run entity, um... um... executive branch. (America: if you haven't already, please drop your pants and undies, bend over, and prepare to get FUCKED like you've never been FUCKED before by Bush and friends!!! And I don't think conservatives like to use lube!!!)

Long-Term Joblessness Rose by 50%Over the Last Year (NY Times)

Iraq isn't the real enemy (Guardian Unlimited)

Doubt cast on Tony Blair's 'nuclear threat' claim (Guardian Unlimited)

Amping Up The War Propaganda NPR/BBC (Bushwatch)

Ah. Isn't the 2002 illusion of America grand!!! Keep the fun coming guys!!!

Be wary of Washington's spam solution (Zdnet)

"Another reason is that free-speech loopholes will almost certainly leave any federal anti-spam law wanting. Politicians, always cunning about keeping their options open, have exempted themselves from all existing and proposed anti-spam laws. The Democratic Party has been caught spamming, as has Bill Jones, the recent unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor of California."

If you spam...you are eliminated. Pure and simple. No questions asked. No loopholes. A spammer would know what would happen if caught. Elimination.

Some would say I am too severe. I don't think so. Not anymore.

I never woulda thunk DJ had it in him...

But he done good!

Come 2020...she'll be visiting a 50 year-old Nala in San Francisco for her 18th birthday. Perhaps I'll treat her to sushi. God knows she won't get any in T-town.

Who knows...maybe she'll go to OSU. Let's pray for Stanford or UC-Berkeley.

I can't believe it. I honestly can't believe it.

I just received an email from the upper management that we'll each be getting commemorative "Remember 9/11" pens.

I don't think that I could be more offended by anything at the moment.

Bizarre errors happening to the site. Comment posting causing errors. The message board is acting up.

Bad craziness. Total bad craziness.

From the Register...

"Intel's new chip for security Renaissance" By Thomas C Greene

Some great comments...

"Surely, the most recent 'innovations' in Microsoft products have been entirely self-serving. For example, virtually all of Win-XP's mighty engineering effort was devoted to making it more difficult for consumers to use one copy on more than one computer, save for a few minor cosmetic changes and trivial whistles and bells. It was all about product activation, and almost nothing else. Come on, really Mr. Consumer, does XP do anything for you that 98 didn't? (I mean aside from binding itself to a single machine.) Outlook is still the Prime Mover of viruses; IE is still riddled with scripting vulnerabilities; the OS still crashes. Office is still the same too. Oh, XP's got maybe a score of obscure little 'features' that 2K lacked. Do you need any of them? Do you even know what they are? Can you name three? It organizes your day; it formats; it prints; it saves; it makes backups; it tracks changes for committee editing. What else does it"

The fact is, Windows and Office have for quite some time done virtually everything a Windows home or small-business user wants done. There's really no need to 'upgrade'.

And what about your hardware? Got a P3 or P4? I bet your computer runs just fine. Unless you're running servers or databases or doing scientific work or hard-core graphics work, you don't need a more powerful machine. If she's a bit sluggish, strap on some extra RAM or drop in a nice graphics card. There's really no need to buy a new system.

And it goes on...

It's quite a beautiful scam -- the evil ingenuity of Corporate America never ceases to swell my heart with profound nationalistic pride. But if the US economy continues down its current path, I seriously doubt it has a chance. We may all be a good deal poorer three years hence; and the likelihood of selling Joe Sixpack a $1000 desktop that does less than the one he's already got is going to be slim to none.

That last part is my super mega favourite quote! And it is sooo true.

God bless America! Read the full article for super mega fun. I feel guilty posting quotes.

Well. The US has gone to "orange" terror level.

According to CNN, "orange level" means...

High risk of terrorist attacks. In addition to the previously outlined protective measures, the following steps may be taken:

• Coordinating necessary security efforts with armed forces or law enforcement agencies
• Taking additional precaution at public events
• Preparing to work at an alternate site or with a dispersed workforce, restricting access to essential personnel only

I wonder if they go to "red" will they send up home. Hmmm..

Ok. It has begun.

I've been turning OS X 10.2 into a primary OS to get into the guts of using it. I will attempt to use it all of the time on my tower. I can't stand how dog slow it is on the Powerbook...so we'll stick with the tried and true and perfectly fine OS 9 there.

We'll see how all my hardware works. (Though I have a sneeking suspicion my Que CD-R isn't working under X!)

Well see if I can use this daily without wanting to hurl becuase of Aqua (however, I'm having headaches due to a refresh rate problem it is causing with my Viewsonic monitor! And I'm NOT buying a new monitor!)

I've even swapped my ATI RagePro AGP card for an Nvidia Geoforce2 MX to see if this Quartz Extreme shit makes a difference.

Ok kids. It's time for some Unix goodness.

Later!

Oh...and Mozilla 1.1 has to be my favourite browser now. Go get it. Give up and ditch IE on Windows and Mac.

So Matt and I find ourselves watching the "Hitler's Wet Dream" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The blong-haired tanned blued-eyed semi-nude people running around acting poorly are truly Hitler's orgasmic fantasies.

I think this episode is also the epitome of how horrible Next Generation was while Roddenberry was still alive. Ugh. Total shit.

To the shock of the woman distributing it, I refused to accept my company's "Remember 9/11" pen. (Note: I was sitting in another IT person's office when she came around. After she left, I explained to him how offended I was by this act of the company. He didn't disagree. He even shared his overall feeling of the media's behavior so far today.)

I have rejected marketing and manufactured sentimentality. I have rejected 'group-think' and american-borg creationism.

I will not allow my society to dictate my feelings and attitudes about the horrible yet not-all-that-unexpected course of events that have unfolded these past 356 days.

I will not let my the world seen through my eyes be clouded.

I have been a good American today and a good human.

Well. I'm 3/4 moved into my new office.

I've got double the space I had... and I've got 3 enourmous windows that face east. This will pose a problem because, like most of my pre-press and publishing brethen out there... I prefer a relatively dark room. Hopefully the blinds'll keep the rays of evil Ra out of my space.

I get a huge cabinet to store the voluminous cables, drives, and other bits of IT support crap that I must keep handy. Yay!!! Real storage space rocks balls yummy!!!

Hopefully they'll move my Dell, my Sparc5, and my G4 tomorrow so I can reorganize whilst having accessing to the oh so important net and chat. Not to mention the People's Front of Judea!.

And I've still got about 300 100MB zip disks if anyone needs 'em.

Geek day. Uneventful geek day really.

Fables #5 out. It rocks. I love this series.

Hunter: Age of Magic # 15 is starting a new storyline with Timothy Hunter tackling a bad-ass. I just wish the art was up a notch.

Catwoman: Secret Files #1 is downright hilarious. Holly's comments about continuity, retcons, etc., are frigg'n great.

Doom Patrol #12 Haven't read it yet, but Tan Eng Huat's art is great as usual. I love this style, especially in this medium.

JLA #71 is so boring. Why do I buy this superhero shit.

New X-Men #132 I had to get cuz of Jimenez. I like his variation here. Maybe Lanning's influence.

Green Lantern #154 out. Lame "let's raise sales" with gay bashing issue.

Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta is... different. Not thrilled with it. It is better than JLA, but doesn't touch on real Planetary stories. But... Ordway, Ordway, Ordway!

Chas didn't get all this weeks shit in, so I have to go back tomorrow for Transformers, Tom Strong, and the new trade of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

This is an interesting development. I happen to get a lot of the free IT trades both here at work and at home. They are typically enterprise-level focused, and unfortunately some read as if bankrolled by Microsoft. Since they are all free, they are also heavily dependent on ads. I do however get a good deal of info from them.

But over the past few months, I've noticed they are actually reporting on Mac OS X developments. Apple products were never ever mentioned in eWeek, Internet World, and the other rags.

Today alone I've noticed several articles on eWeek all about Apple and Mac OS X.

S'funny. Add a little decent Unix and people are taking notice.

--

On my own Mac OS X experiments, I've run into some snags. The CDs burned via Toast on my QPS Fire CD-R aren't working right. Definitely need to investigate the guts of this issue. Thank god I bought tons of cheap ass CD-Rs the other day.

My SanDisk SmartMedia reader isn't supported. So that sucks.

This brings me to a rather large issue facing the design and publishing community, of which I am a part of... drive support.

So many third party vendors have not provided OS X kernel extensions so that their hardware will work. Most scanners do not work natively under OS X. Many printers don't work under OS X. And Apple is going to force OS X down the throat of buyers of all new hardware come January? I just don't see this as being a positive move.

There are so many important reasons why large installations of any operating system just don't upgrade because the vendor demands it. Hell. Microsoft has had an enormous problem forcing users on to their Windows XP and new licensing program for this very reason.

Companies have set buying and refresh plans. Apple has never been in the enterprise. Yes, with OS X it hopes to make inroads into established Unix shops and Linux users, this is even noticed by others in the developer community. It probably will. But it just may do this at the expense of its loyal publishing market.

--

I just realized that O'Reilly has released "Essential Blogging". The Trotts who created Moveable Type, which runs this very site, are co-writers.

Anna Nicole is on the Stern Show. My god she is completely retarded. They are trying to get her on a scale to verify her weight. Before she arrived, they all took bets on how much she weighs. While I don't think she's in the 300 range as many of them said, I definitely think she's in the 230# range.

Where the hell have I been?

There was a time back in my youth when I was quite into astronomy and both the U.S. and Russion space programs. I could name off obscure facts about astronomy and such, in fact you could say it was a "geek" thing.

Now I'm reading some information that has blown my mind, and it was published 5 years ago! And I am just finding it now!!!

Seems like the Earth as a 2nd moon. Yes. A second moon! Cruithne!!! And it was discovered back in 1986 even!!!

Sure it is a captured asteroid that's not visible to the naked eye. Sure it takes 770 years to orbit. But I love this stuff!!!

I mean. I love watching purveyors of astrology constantly try to redefine their supposed "accurate" predictions every time some new cosmological item is discovered. Wouldn't Cruithne have been influencing events for some time??? And not considering the effects of such a near Earth object would certainly throw off any form of accurate astrological prediction. No?

Toilet visit triggers air security scare - BERLIN (Reuters)

Yay for hysteria!!!

The Pickett is right. The weather is the culprit.

Since July 1, I've managed to make it smoke-free with only a minor 2 hour lapse due to my being uncomfortable in Athens.

After the nicotine and habit tremors disappeared, I really haven't though of smoking.

BOOM!!! The temperature drops now into the 40s-70s range, autumn scents are in the air, and I crave a cigarette like no tomorrow!

I had a minor freak out this morning.

It was about 6:10am. I felt like I was in Toledo. I could hear the ships going out to the Maumee Bay. They always blew their horns. The sound would resonate deep in my mind. Why they blew their horns is beyond me.

I then realized I was safe in bed and it was just the lame train that runs parallel to Olentangty River Road.

First ever smiley found, preserved for posterity The original smiley, or emoticon, invented in 1982 by Scott Fahlman but subsequently lost, has been retrieved...

I saw parts of yesterday's "United Bushes" speech.

What was amazingly funny was the fact that Junior himself fails so many of the points he levels at Hussein and Iraq. He and his administration have lied, cheated, and stolen a lot to acquire the presidency.

"Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade of defiance," Bush said.

It all comes down to the fact that there is really no difference between Iraq and US leadership. So one shoots people on the streets and gasses their own, and the other looks the other way when the products of their country cause harm...or even perform drug experimentation on their own.

Bush said Iraq has admitted to producing tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and other biological weapons for use in bombs, artillery shells and missile warheads.

Why does the US have anthrax in labs? And refuses to give up nukes?

There is no difference really.

I'm wondering this... what does Hussein have on Junior and Uncle Dick? Or does it go back farther to Senior and the Actor? Sometimes, it feels as if Uncle Dick is going "Saddam knows X and we need to eliminate him before he talks about X!" And Junior just nods and has that look in his eyes.

Are there any leaders of men any more?

These are not leaders of men. These are people who like control and power and transfers of large amounts of currency.

Siddartha...help us!

Outlook Express Lets Attackers Skirt Filters (eWeek)

A feature in Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook Express mail client that enables users to send large e-mails in several parts can also be used by virus writers and attackers to sneak malicious code past filters and anti-virus software.

So I've been using OS X this week at home and at work. On my home hardware I'm not at all thrilled with video performance, which has been my #1 complaint since I installed 10.0.0. And I even have 1.5GB of ram and 32MB of video ram!

While 10.2 is better, I think Apple has mislead a lot of people in regards to which hardware should run it. It really needs a 733mhz or higher G4, at least compared to the 400mhz at home. Getting the OS to boot and run and having the OS perform adequately are two separate things entirely. Matt seems to be ok with it on his 2001 iBook, he doesn't use it in a heavy production-type environment, mostly just text-editing and coding, and web browsing. Of course, he thinks I complain for purely personal reasons. Not quite. I have a bigger picture of OS X I need to think about. Mainly the fact I admin 50+ Macs for a living at work.

Macfixit: Giving Mac OS 9 the Boot collects a large number of reader's input.

As I'm experiencing at work, OS X and the vendor support is just not there. Not there at all.

Greg Norman writes: “In three words: Large Format Printers. What good is a $3,500 to $6,000 printer if it will only run in OS9. Neither Epson or HP has announced they will make drivers for OSX for there large format printers.

Frank Lazar adds: “In DTP we depend on a variety of high-end devices mainly scanners, calibration devices, and printers from companies such as Heisenberg and Gretag, devices which access hardware in a way that can't be done in Classic. Apple has failed entirely to the point of not even appearing to make an effort to win these companies to the fold. Apple does not have the lever of market dominance to enforce compliance by numbers alone as Microsoft does.

Many publishing firms, digital video houses and service bureaus have significant investments in Mac OS 9 applications and compatible hardware, meaning equally massive investments have been, and will continue to be required in order to totally adopt Mac OS X.

Aside from the extreme cost, many users simply find Mac OS 9 comfortable, and are staunchly opposed to having an operating system choice forced upon them.

David Hannon writes: “Apple is alienating and dividing its users. There are many private individuals, and large publishing companies, who will never switch to OS X because of the costs involved in upgrading all their software. Add to that the cost of the learning curve to understand the intricacies of the new operating system, and it will never be worth it to them. If Apple abandons OS 9 they will see millions moving to dreaded Windows machines because it is a known standard. They won’t be adopting OS X as Apple hopes.”

Here where I work, I have to fall into the latter group. We'll be migrating all 50+ Mac OS 8.6/9.0 systems to Windows 2000 on Dell Hardware. There's not sense in throwing in another OS that I will be the sole support for, even if half of our business uses Solaris. Solaris and Mac OS X are different beasts.

So. I don't think I'm the only Mac OS Admin out there having to make tough decisions. My personal gripes with Aqua and OS X aside, there are substantial issues involved with migrating to this new OS across the board in publishing and print fields.

So. Apple. What's up?

As far as I can tell...you are definitely going to remain a "consumer" focused company, with theses little "i"apps with some net appliance things.

I know Mac OS X is the future. But I don't think you have any clue on how to get your installed base of loyal users there. Especially in my area.

Happy Belated Birthday to the D. Alas, every birthday from now on will be much the same.

So. I'm now completely and utterly moved out of my old office. I've got about 5 feet more to the right of me. Two huge windows overlooking the Olentangy River.

I'm still awaiting ye old 7' tall cabinet so I can organize IT detritus from two floors.

I think I'll put up that 40x60 Boys Don't Cry poster. Maybe bring in some TF geekage too.

Several of the girls... well... if you can call the 60 or so women I work with who are all 45+ girls... they decided to go to Taco Hell. They asked if I wanted something.

Well I had Taco Bell the other day and still am feeling it. But did that stop me? Noooo! So I got one of those bowls and some chilitos.

Anyway. The point of all of this is the "spork that came with my meal.

My god. The spork amazes me.

Sporks are weird

but commonly feared

with prongs like fangs

and the cure for hunger pangs

some claim they can cure a cold

but only the very bold.

we worshipp and adore

those sporks, and want more.

Apparently we are facing summer's last stand here in Cowtown. With 7 days left until the autumnal equinox, ye olde summer is fighting back trying to stay alive.

According to weather.com, it is 82°F, but feels like 87°F. Of course, as I always say... FUCK THIS SHIT.

It is time for this godawful heat to end. It is time for Nala to unpack all his turtlenecks. It is time for autumn to arrive.

Ok. MaxPower should be over soon. We're off to finally see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It has John Corbett of Sex and The City (Aidan) and Northern Exposure (Chris Stevens). And of course, whilst looking up the movie on IMDB to provide you with a link, I came across a list of Memorable Quotes from Northern Exposure... I love this one by Chris...

There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and for the most part we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us. Thing is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We're talking about dialectics, the good and the bad merging into us. You can run but you can't hide. My experience? Face the darkness. Stare it down. Own it. As brother Nietzsche said, being human is a complicated gig. So give that ol' dark night of the soul a hug. Howl the eternal yes!

Definitely a good film. I highly recommend My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

It is nice to see a small budget little indie film like this sorta take of into something huge. And it makes me happy to see it kill the lame "SwimFan" film, which is falling fast. Yay!!!

Being Polish, I can understand some aspects of the Greek ethnicity. Of course, Poles tend to be a bit more distant, especially my family.

I wonder when I'm going to find my Polish bride.

Even though I haven't worn Docs in about 11 years, I'm still the black one. Test yourself.

I'm so hungry this morning. Relatively cold left over Chinese food last night. But Mac's won't open for another few hours.

Max never called to go out last night. I managed to stay up until midnight, which for Nala is a miracle these days. If I'm fully awake at 10pm it is shocking. He must have fallen asleep.

Ugh. This hoont. He doesn't like when I blog from my Powerbook on the bed. Gotsta have his nose in my blogging business. And I won't even go into his peeking out the window drama. Must find him a little window bench for 2nd floor window hoonting.

While doing a Google search on naladahc I came across a link of a link of a link to some Ohio and Cowtown Bloggers. In what seems like 3500 years of my being on the net, I really haven't read many local bloggers in the flat wasteland that is central ohio.

So I'm waiting in the always dreadful Thurber Village Big Bear line with groceries when two teens with ratullets catch my eye in line in front of me.

Will this hair style just not die???

It just goes on and on and on and on.

15 days until 5 years. Scary. Isn't it.

There is nothing worse on a Monday morning than...

1. Waking up to the Stern Show and having it be a repeat from years ago.
2. Taking the dog out at 6:40am just to have him come back inside.
3. Washing up and feeling like I am in my 50's.
4. Walking downstairs at 7:15 to find that the dog has shit in the kitchen, even though he didn't want to go out about 30 minutes ago.

Yes. It is a Monday.

Once again Nala has sucessfully resurrected an almost dead Macintosh. This time it was an 8600 that has not really been turned off since 1997!!! It is amazing how many production hours this puppy has on it.

And the beauty is...I've kept it going!!! YES!!! Hoont-ching!!!

This machine is the equivalent of a P133 or so. How many P133s are still out there in the field doing actual daily production? Not many.

While you can knock Apple for some things, you can't knock them for making the 7500-9600 line in the 90's. They were and still are rock solid and still updateable systems!!!

Ok. Now it is time to close my office store and become invisible while I try to put my business life back in order.

The great nala xhtml-css conversion is almost upon us. Yes. I've got all of one page almost completely converted.

Of course I'm taking as much time as possible to deliver to you my readers the best web standards compliant often-hoont-related site and blog.

Well...that's not entirely truthful. I just haven't cared too much about it so only my index page is redone.

But ya know. I am thinking of you. Every moment of every day.

Ok. Now I need to see if I can poop the hoont.

We've been suckered once already here in the Land of Cows... teased by Persephone... making us think she was on her way to Hades. But alas, I think... just maybe... autumn will show up on time in a few days.

I mean, if there is a god that I need to supplicate myself to... I will bring you offerings and perhaps sacrifice virgins (if I can find one). Anything to let the cool days and nights of autumn arrive here in the Cowlands to remind me of bygone San Francsico visits.

(While deep down I won't believe in your supposed divinity because... well... because I'm not into the god and undead rising from the grave thing... I will at least pretend to believe in you. I'm an American... and we are really good and making up shit to believe. And being a recovering christian also should give me some points. No?)

Definitions that many need to know:

[Aqua] 1. Name of the Mac OS X Graphic User Interface (GUI)., 2. Any computer interface that looks like it was made for a 'tard'.

[Cowtown] aka Columbus, Ohio. Supposedly the heart of the heart of it all. A vast wasteland located in the Midwest, known primarily as the home for The Ohio State University and that's about it. To the west is San Francisco. To the east is New York.

[Cowlands, The Land of Cows] Cowtown, but also including Dublin, Hilliard, Delaware, and other central Ohio areas.

[Easton] The 7th level of Dante's Inferno. Place to watch 12 year old girls dressed like mini-whores.

[Geeking] Paying more than minor attention to any one thing in one's life. There are comic book geeks, star wars geeks, and football (insert other sport here) geeks. (NOTE: Athletic geeks will say they are not geeks. If they spend more than 30 minutes a week focusing on anything not related to a career or work, it is geeking.)

[Luna] 1. Name of the Windows XP Graphic User Interface (GUI)., 2. Any computer interface that looks like it was made for a 'tard'.

[Mad Cows] True name of the Columbus Bluejackets. Do not let the marketing fool you.

[San Francisco] The promised land of cool weather. Residence of The Fabulous Deb Doran and Sassymama.

Ok. I am a geek and all... but even I wouldn't waste $80.00 on Hubzilla.

I almost forgot. Last night Matt and I ended up watching what quite frankly ranks of up with Vertical Limit on my list of "films that just suck so goddamn much". The name of this film you ask? Highlander IV: Endgame

Ugh. This one's quite the mess. It is amazing that such poor storytelling makes it to green light and then millions are spend on it.

Mind you... I think Highlander is one of the best and most original films of the 80s.

But man...can a studio kill a good idea or what. Highlander is self-contained with a beginning, middle, and end. It ends. Nothing more.

Trying to drag additional story out of it just makes it lose something.

Oh well. Who cares I suppose. Highlander 5: The Source will be out next year.

Dear aimless American flock:

I am so sick of the words "weapons of mass destruction"!

The majority of these supposed "weapons of mass destruction" are based off of US technology or items sold to these countries.

This is all about capitalism and a US companies god-given right to sell whatever it wants to whom ever it wants.

Profit is important.

So what if it comes back to bite us in the ass. Think about it.

And if some other country were to use chemical or biological weapons on US territory... don't fear... we'll be here to sell you the antidotes or other medications.

Your friends, the US Military / Pharmaceutical Complex.

Yay!!!

My new Epson Expression 1640XL- GA scanner is here!!! And I've got it fully operational already.

Let's just say that Firewire connectivity on a scanner completely and utterly blows away SCSI. My god. This thing screams.

I love it! I love it! I love it! (You can almost taste how moist I am!!!)

Now's the fun of color calibration begins...

From today's The Onion - What do you think?

Europe, the U.S., and Saddam

A number of America's top European allies, including France and Germany, strongly oppose any potential U.S. military action against Iraq. What do you think?

Michelle Glover, Dietitian - "It's good to see that after more than 50 years, America's shrewd piss-off-the-world strategy is finally starting to pay off."

Rick Edgerton, Cab Driver - "Fuck Europe. I hate those sniffy little watered-down wimps. So what if they're absolutely right? Fuckin' horse-eaters."