gimme a gold star

So, classes have been simultaneously much easier than I thought they would be, but still challenging.  I have no doubt, that as long as I'm not too distracted, I'll be getting better than a passing grade at the end of the week.  Looking forward to that bit.

Speaking of distractions, the fellow nerds and I retired to the nerdery last night to enjoy another late night of watching BBC's Sherlock again.  As much fun as I do have, I don't think I can afford to do that again this week, if I wanna pass my class.  On a barely related note, I think the nerds are on to me; they found out I like redheads.

Required viewing

Now, a delightful tune we will play for you this evening:



Because I'm always surprised by how many people haven't seen this movie.

Breakfast of champions

As I've mentioned before, nobody in the entire state of Utah knows how to make even mediocre donuts.  All except these guys, that is.

This was one of only two things that made my Friday tolerable.  My coworkers better be grateful. 

@#$%^&*!

Today seems determined to give me a ridiculously proportioned challenge.  Apparently, I've been given a Top Gear style challenge by the "powers that be" to sell half a million brake pads in five hours, or something like that.  Okay, not really.  I've been given the near-impossible task of finding a date for tonight by 7:00pm, otherwise my tickets for the concert I want to go to are null and void. 

I'll admit that sometimes I can be a bit annoying, and possibly a bit of a burden, but really?  So what, is today supposed to be divine justice or something?  This is some serious bull...

Okay, I should stop complaining, but after having been stood up once, and straight up denied for a date in the past day and a half, I'm not particularly stoked to go find another one.

Jumping the penguin

So, I heard that Valve will finally be releasing a Linux version of Steam soon.  I doubt many programs other than ones produced by Valve will be initially compatible, but I'm really loving the idea that this may (in time) start a serious effort by other developers/publishers to support Linux as a gaming platform.  I really hope this transpires rather quickly, to allow me to be free of the tyranny of windows and other evil Microsoft products. 

But, for now, the only penguin I got is this wooden one that was actually made in India.  It's quickly become somewhat of an office meme here in IT.  We've become rather fond of inserting it into towers in place of hard drives or other internal components, to the detriment of others.  And no, it doesn't stop being funny.

compounded celebration

So for Utahans, the 24th of July is a holiday that is just as big as Independence Day.  Why?  Well, to put it simply we're celebrating that we stuck it to the man by escaping the tyranny of a place that supposedly cherished the fact that it exists solely because it fought for independence from another country's tyranny, all for the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness; that is, unless it's for those dang Mormons.

However, this is lost on some people, and a surprising amount of people I know seem to not like, or not understand the point of the holiday.  I feel sorry for 'em.  To me, not getting the spirit (or point) of the 24th is like not understanding the point of Independence Day either.

On a somewhat unrelated note, this weekend the Deer Valley Music Festival will be featuring a rendition of the 1812 overture complete with actual cannons (the way it should be done).  I'd really like to go, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to yet.  Either way, I can't really think of the 1812 overture without thinking of (and laughing at) this excellent Calvin and Hobbes comic.

click the pic to enbiggen

Update:  Okay, I realize this may seem like it was in bad taste, due to recent events and all.  Please understand this was entirely unintentional.  Despite my morbid sense of humor, I'm not that big of a jerk.

Free-range children!

Sometimes, I see things that may be a bit out of the norm, and my imagination will just go crazy.  Take for instance this bumper sticker I saw a while back:

Yeah, I remember signing my kids up for Cowboy Ted's kiddie barn!  Now my kids are grazing only the finest grains and corn.  Got hyperactive kids?  No problem!  They'll just throw 'em in with the sheepdogs.  Got fat kids?  The cows enjoy good company.  Got shy kids?  They won't be out of their comfort zone by sticking with the sheep!

Now the wife and I can rest easy, knowing that our kids have a much reduced chance of getting mad cow disease, because unlike other day care centers, Cowboy Ted's only serves the kids the finest of FDA approved food that doesn't exceed the 3% limit on human flesh content.

I hope more concerts are in my future...

I was beginning to think I was losing my touch.  I was sitting outside with a friend, when he pointed out a helicopter.  I immediately identify it as an MH-47E, but it took me a few minutes to verify that I was correct.  Still, I am proud of myself for recognizing it so quickly, and I just love living so close to Hill AFB.

Also had an excellent time at the Deer Valley Music Festival, despite not being able to talk anyone into going.  But at least I got a good snapshot of the place.

Yeah, that's my leg in the shot.

Hopefully I can convince someone to go next time.

The sound of hatred and shame

Well, what did I NOT do over the weekend?  Didn't take over the world to exact evil upon it, still haven't hunted down the souls I seek revenge upon, and I'm still longing to to engulf something huge in glorious fire.  Aside from that, everything else and more was accomplished over that period of time.  Wait, what?  You want an account of what took place?  All right, I'll tell ya.

After goofing off with the roomie and some friends after work on Friday,  I ended up spending the evening (and a good portion of the night) with some very lovely ladies while watching the BBC's Sherlock.  I shouldn't be surprised that it's fantastically enjoyable, but I can't help but try to lower my expectations when everyone I hear is talking it up beforehand. 

Saturday was even more ridiculously busy as I spent the morning wishing I was sleeping while cleaning the house, then spent some time with friends before jetting off to pick up a date for lunch/dinner at the Olive Garden, followed by watching that new Disney movie Brave with the same aforementioned friends. 

The movie was fairly enjoyable*, but unfortunately I was the insensitive prick that caused the whole theatre to be up in arms.  Yeah, that's right.  Before the film started, I turned off my phone, or at least I thought I did.  Come to find out, my phone is such a piece of crap, it won't actually turn off, forcing me to remove the battery after getting some frantic calls from my dad.  Naturally, this instigated the 'walk of shame' as theatre patrons pegged me with half-eaten junk food after the end of the movie.  Okay, that didn't actually happen, but I was ashamed enough that it wouldn't have made me feel any worse if that did happen.

After all that fun, I called my dad back to have him give me an unintelligible conversation about his last will and testament, or at least I think that's what he was talking about, because my phone is a flip phone piece of crap and his ain't much better because it's got an apple on the back of it.

After all that was done, I was late to a concert up in Park City (part of the Deer Valley music festival); the Music of Michael Jackson with the Utah Symphony.  After being horribly embarrassed, because I never realized my ticket was paid for until it was too late, it was quite possibly the funnest bit of entertainment and company I've had in a while.

So that's the end of the longest, most boring post evar!

*I think I mostly liked it just because of the lovable accents, along with the audio and visual style, because the main character was a bit meh.

The Mentalist

Different people will always have differing opinions, viewpoints, and interests.  Even when talking about the same subject that both have an interest in, they will be differing reasons as to the who what why and how of the situation.

Take for instance, my roomie.  We both share an interest in guns and shooting.  I like shooting and working on guns because I enjoy the activity itself.  I can just consistently go for the sake of becoming a better shooter, and I'll work on guns because I enjoy tinkering with 'em.  The roomie come from a different line of thought.  He enjoys shooting, but not entirely for the sake of it.  He likes shooting because he likes projects. 

What do I mean when I say that?  Well, take for example, his Saiga.  After he bought it, he spent a good amount of time and money modifying it with just the right parts and accessories to be just the way he wanted it.  However, after he 'finished' the project, he took it out to the range once to make sure it functioned properly, and has never taken it out since.  He enjoys it only for the fact that it was a project to work on.

I'm not saying this is bad, I know plenty of people that share the same mentality, I just will always find that viewpoint very puzzling is all.

random retardation

So quite a while ago, I mentioned that I went to Boondocks for a little shindig for Jeremy's son.  I completely forgot to post a picture of Jeremy while he's Faith Hill-ing the place.  It made me laugh.

On an unrelated note, it's why I'm friends with more guys these days; they don't talk behind your back as much.

Busy with un-work

Another week full of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off has taken it's toll on the blog.  I'm at a loss of where to start on it.  Let's see.  Friday I spent time with the usual suspects after work, which was a bit more uneventful than usual.  Although, I was invited to a nice little shindig on Saturday, that was a good amount of fun.  Enough that it made me miss dancing again.  It's one of those things in which I really want to spend time with all the nice people I know, but at the same time, I'm quite disappointed in myself for not making sure I had time to go dancing.  Whatever.

Now, I'm not complaining about having too much to do, I'm just feeling a bit moronic for not managing my time better.

I must say that this week has been pretty good so far; well, even that's an understatement.  Everyone seems to be going out of their way to make me feel good, which is more than incredible.  So, thanks!

On an unrelated note, I'm looking absolutely unruly, and am in desperate need of a haircut.

More July-ier than the last

Happy late Independence Day, everybody!   I had a great time spending my whole day with friends and family, but I think my favorite part of the day was watching the vipers fly overhead.

This was made possible by contributions from the following products:  The Kentucky Rifle, Gas Masks, Repeating Rifles, The Gatling Gun, Maxim Machine Gun, The USS Enterprise (all of 'em), The Manhattan Project, AIM-9 Sidewinders, Grumman F-14B Tomcat, and various 'smart' ordinance.

Oh, and an honorable mention goes to whatever brave man insisted we not sign the ban on cluster numitions.  Good on ya.

The best firework for freedom ever.

Speechless

So, my lack of posting yesterday was a combination of sleep deprivation and being somewhat busy.  I'm thinking today might be somewhat similar.  Except for work, that is.  Since tomorrow is an important holiday, most of the company has taken the day off, so my usefulness has pretty much been reduced to being here for looks. 

I'm hoping tomorrow will offer more entertainment or at least occupy my time.  Thankfully I have plans to go to lunch with some nice people, so that should be good. 

Also got involved in a fun conversation at work about licensing and pirating Microsoft products.  One of our coworkers insisted that he actually pay money for Microsoft home products.  After giving him a light mocking, he responded with, "Well, I guess I'm just nice like that."
Our admin says, "sounds like you're too nice.'
I quip, "sounds to me like you have more nice than sense"

Sleepy Sunday

How is it that I end up knowing more people who live in or near Sandy than anywhere else in the valley?  Especially when I live on the opposite end of the valley.  Whatever.

So here's some music.  I'm so glad I've finally snagged another copy of this one.  Haven't heard it in forever.