The Departed

Sue and I went and saw The Departed on Thursday. Fantastic movie. If you like dramas at all or if you have liked even one movie with Jack Nicholson, go see this movie. It's one of the best movies Sue and I have seen all year.

Happy (Belated) birthday to Eric!

Happy birthday baby! Eric is another year older yesterday! We were in the state of New York all weekend so I did not get to post a blog for him. We will post later about the weekend hopefully with the help of some pics from Paul and Sue so that we can do Ithaca justice. Leave a comment and wish Eric a happy birthday all! It makes him happy when there are comments...

My life soundtrack

Opening Credits: Sugar We're Going Down - Fall out boy (Remix)
Wakin Up: Tango de Roxanne - Mounlin Rouge
First day of school: Leaving on a Jet plane - Jefferson Airplane
Fallin in love: After her (original Satellite) - Dave Matthews Band
Fight song: If I Had it All - Dave Matthews Band
Breaking up: Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Prom: Spotlight - Dave Matthews Band
Life: I've got the Power -Snap (Coyote Ugly soundtrack)
Mental Breakdown: Cry Freedom - Dave Matthews Band
Driving: Tourniquet- Evanescence
Flashback: Goodbye Love - Rent
Getting back together: Happy New Year - Rent
Wedding: My world - Avril Lavigne
Birth of a child: Things I'll never say - Avril Lavigne
Final battle: Possesion - Ferry Corsten
Death Scene: Beer Barrel Polka - Welk, Lawrence and Floren, Myron
Funeral Song: Sweet Emotion - Fog Hat
End Credits: Sometimes I Wake Up Crying - Dixie Chicks

If Your Life Was A Movie. . .

...what would the soundtrack be? (Thanks to R for the idea. I'll go one better and include a link to hear it in iTunes if you have it installed.)

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

Opening Credits: Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone
Waking Up: Bob Seger - Against the Wind (wrong artist, but close enough)
First Day At School: Ferry Corsten - Are You Ready
Falling In Love: Marilyn Manson - Dope Show
Fight Song: Fall Out Boy - 7 Minutes in Heaven
Breaking Up: Stabbing Westward - Breathe You In
Prom: Fall Out Boy - Music or the Misery (no link...weird)
Life: Garth Brooks - To Make You Feel You Love Me
Mental Breakdown: Michelle Branch / Santana - Game Of Love
Driving: KMC Kru - The Devil Came Up to Michigan (local group from my middle school days I think, so no luck with the link. But this song is awesome!)
Flashback: Rent - Seasons Of Love
Getting Back Together: Eric Prydz Vs Retarded Funk Remix - Call On Me
Wedding: Alice Cooper - Poison
Birth of Child: Dave Matthews Band - When The World Ends
Final Battle: Plumb - Better
Death Scene: Rent - Finale
Funeral Song: Elton John - Rocket Man
End Credits: Dave Matthews Band - I'll Back You Up

I swear I did not cheat (ok, except when a song that belongs to Sue only that I want no claim to came up. Those were skipped. Otherwise there would have been way more chick rock in there.).

Certainly amusing. Poison for my Wedding song? That can't be good. And When the World Ends for Birth of Child is a little, well, depressing. But hey, you can't knock any list that starts with the Violent Femmes:)

Nurse by day...club kid by night...

Last night Eric and I drove down to Detroit to our favorite club, The Bleu Room Experience, to see Ferry Corsten my favorite DJ of all time! It was awesome!! He rocked. Saturday night we found out he was in Detroit on Sunday so we just said, "Oh hell ya, we are going!" and we did. I worked Friday and Saturday night so we didn't have much of a weekend and this just made up for that ;) The DJ that opened for Ferry was a Detroit guy named Kenneth Thomas who has toured with Oakenfold and Van Dyk as well. He kicked ass too! He did a remix of Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars and it was great! I love that song to begin with. We bought his disc at the end and it is great. With Glow sticks in hand we danced hard from 10:00 pm until 2:00 am and I did it in 3 inch heels! Go me! I found some multi-colored glow sticks at Target for a buck so I was excited to try them out! The colors did not show as well as I hoped but they were just a buck ;) Eric and I knew we were having fun because everyone kept asking us if we had extra drugs to share and we were like no, this is just us. Of course I had a little alcohol to help me. Our new philosophy is to party as if we are high! It is the only way to go.

Why we have to kill Tyra Banks

Because she says things like, and I didn't make this one up, "Sometimes you just have to model through it."

Grab the torch from under the bed. We'll stop at Home Depot for a pitchfork on the way.

MSU football

The Ohio State vs Michigan State game was ugly today. Part of it was injuries, part of it was stupid mental errors early, but mostly it was just Ohio State was so much better than the Spartans. In nearly ever position, Ohio State was just bigger, faster, and stronger. I was bitter that this game was such a blow out, but at least this was a game where at the end of 60 minutes I didn't think we should have won (unlike say Notre Dame and Illinois).

I'm not sure if that should make me feel better or worse.

Weasels

Dilbert has their yearly weasel poll up at http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/shop/html/weasel_poll_2006.html.

Here's my votes:

Weaseliest Pundit/Reporter?

Got to go with Bill O'Reilly on this one. If the catagory was biggest windbag on TV, he would also win oddly enough.

Weaseliest Industry?

Tough call. Pharmaceuticals wins I think ("I've patented a gene! I didn't create it or design it, but its mine!"). But I could easily be persuaded that Health Insurance or Corn Growers would fit the bill.

Weaseliest Company?

Fox News I guess. Fair and Balanced my ass!

Weaseliest Politician?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iranian President) - "We're not making nuclear weapons, I swear. Pay no attention to all that crap we bought from Pakistan in the 80s and 90s. That was just scientific curiousity. Really! Death to America."

Weaseliest Celebrity?

Mel "I'm not anti-Semitic you f-ing Jew" Gibson

Weaseliest Sports Person?

Barry "Steriods? What are those? If you say I took any I will kill every reporter in this room!" Bonds

Weaseliest Organization?

Republican Party - "They were just overly-friendly emails. Friendly is usually considered good, so overly friendly must be really good, right?"

Weaseliest Country?

Venezuela - I hate all you American pigs. Please buy my oil!

Two articles about marijuana in a week?

CNN.com - Canada troops battle 10-foot Afghan marijuana plants

Best line from this article:

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those forests did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hiller said dryly.

A Vest to Hug You

Slashdot.org had a link to an article about a vest that can hug you: New vest offers wearer a portable hug.

I don't know how to tell these engineers this, but that is not a hug. Hugs involve the extra morale boast of noting that an actual human will let you get close enough to touch them with at least your arms. Not "five air bladders [in] what looks like a puffy winter vest." By that logic, those water wing things that kids wear are mini hugs:)

A mini hug

Happy to be in Michigan again.

The weather up here is great. It is just right again. I am so happy to be able to experience fall again. It is cool and all of the leaves are changing and falling. Football just is not the same when it is 80 degrees out. Tailgating is better in the cool weather. Halloween is better in the cold. To top it off, this Friday the forcast is for possible snow, a high of 38 and low of 29. I almost cried I was so happy! I love it. Now I need to toughen up, the south made me a wuss in the cold. Here are some fun Michigan things to that I got in an email:

-If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Michigan .
-If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Pellston is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Michigan.
-If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Michigan .
-If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Michigan.
-If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Michigan.
-If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Michigan.
-If you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time, you might live in Michigan.
-If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Michigan .
-If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan.

- Part 2 - You know you're a true MICHIGANIAN when............

1. "Vacation" means going up north on I-75.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events.
7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
11. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
15. Down South to you means Ohio
16. A brat is something you eat.
17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn.
18. You go out to fish fry every Friday.
19. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
21. You find zero degrees "a little chilly."
22 You drink pop and bake with soda.
23. Your doctor tells you to drink Vernors and you know it's not medicine.
24. You know what a Yooper is.
25. You think owning a Honda is Un-American.
26. You know that UP is a place, not a direction.
27. You know it's possible to live in a thumb.
28. You understand that when visiting Detroit, the best thing to wear is a Kevlar vest.

The season starts earlier every year.

I cried a little in Target today. They already have Christmas decorations out for purchase:( All I can say is: Bah Hum Bug. Sue and I (ok, mostly Sue) just put out Halloween decorations this weekend!

I think my depression reached its peak when I noted the fact that the Halloween decorations and the Christmas decorations are both for sale at the same time at Target. One holiday at a time please. I know they all help you get me to buy useless crap, but still. Pace yourself people!

It's 4:20 somewhere...

I was perusing the news and I finally found something to write about. As I now work in one of the most liberal cities in the country (a huge change from my last job), Ann Arbor, MI, I found this article on CNN very amusing and fun: Marijuana may stave off Alzheimer's Ann Arbor is known for the Hash bash and as I have just learned while researching this that "Ann Arbor has very lenient laws regarding the possession of marijuana - a $25 fine and a simple civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor or felony." I wasn't even drug tested pre job because the city doesn't believe in it. Not that I am a frequent smoker, I don't think that people should be sent to prison for Marijuana smoking. So all you smokers out there, here is another good reason to continue the fun. Who knew THC prevented acetylcholine from breaking down. I guess that all of the Amsterdam people will be clear as a bell when they are old.

Back in the Groove

I've been an unstoppable programming machine the last two days, even ignoring the fact that I accidentally deleted a day's worth of work yesterday. By the way, when you are getting rid of a folder of older code that you no longer need, be sure you have the older folder selected before you do a delete. Or, at least make sure you have not disabled the recycle bin. Or even, and I know this one is just plain crazy, read what the delete prompt actually says before you hit yes.

I came to a another realization yesterday. I mentioned eariler this week that I don't seem to be able to concentrate for long periods at all lately. But after the last few days I realize my problem is not that I have not been able to focus. The problem was I just didn't have enough to do. I need 8 hours of actual work to do or I tend to wander around the interweb a lot. These last two days I have been working 12 hours a day because...wait for it...yes...I'm SO close...DON'T STOP WITH YOUR SEXY ELLIPSES...YES....I had work to do!

And not that crappy, "write a spec for this product work, e-mail it to everyone, and get sign-off from all the major parties" bull shit work. Actual down to the bare metal, "I don't need no stinking OS to help me link functions, I LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress biatch" coding! Fuck ya. Bring that shit on!

God I'm a nerd. Self-love rambling like this raise the interesting question of how the hell did I ever get an actual woman to stay around me long enough to realize how awesome I am in bed? Or even let me hang out at second base long enough to let me figure out how to be good in bed in the first place? It is a mystry for the ages...

Some good videos to get a smile after you accidently delete all the code you wrote this week.

News from Iraq

Blond Returning To Work

A Man's Favorite Tool

Real life Simpsons

Blog topics are, like, HARD and stuff...

I just cannot seem to get together enough thought and time to create blogs lately. Come to think of it, I don't seem to be able to concentrate for long periods at all lately. Today was the first day in a while where I turned off my computer at the end of the day and thought, "I fucking showed that code who is boss today!" And of course I then worked 12 hours just to make up for some of my slower days.

I think it's my sleep. Or more correctly my lack there of. With Sue working nights, I'm like a cranky 3-year old that has been up way past bed time. I know that I'm tired. I know I should go to bed. But I stay up andwander around the internet or late night TV. Just because sleep seems like time when I'm doing things less fun than I could be doing otherwise. That debatable by the way. Have you seen the shit that on TV at one in the morning? Although I am thinking of getting a muscle shocker of some kind. I can't decide if I want to shock my abs, ass, or just strap it right to my forehead.

I am crabby and unable to concentrate at all right now. Did any of this make sense? Who knows. Might as well ask me to calc the first hundred digits of pi and eat a pie at the same time. Just not possible:)

Anyone have a topic they would like me to ramble on about? I have a lot of time on my hands all alone. And I'm not the WoW junkie I once was, so that can't cover it all. I don't care what. Personal, political, philosophy, mocking, news, whatever. I'm in. I'll commit. I'm a comment slut. Wait, where did that last one come from?