Not My Fault!

The
more you know about computers, the more potential you can squeeze out
of them. The flip side: the more potential there is for stuff to go
wrong.

Now, I've never had a computer for more than a few months until I managed to do something
that pushed it to its limits. At work we have Dell Latitude D410s,
really nice pieces of laptop that're great for business, plus they're
ultra-lightweight. I was programming this massive program in SAS that
had to interface with MS Excel, and that's where stuff started to go
wrong. Mostly because Microsoft programs don't really play well with
others if they're not in the Microsoft club.

Long story short,
the whole thing freezes up and I'm unable to get back to Windows. So I
call up the folks at IT, where I gotta leave my number and nature of
the problem 'til they get back to me. Meanwhile, I try booting it
normally again, then in Safe mode, then in MS-Dos, and every time it
won't load a single thing.

Here's the fun part: as soon as IT
calls me back, the computer decides to spontaneously boot up Windows
again. I explain what the deal was and say I still want to see
what's wrong, since now I'm scared to reboot it. Well, they say they'll
log onto it from their office when I can log off again, so I continue.
And about one minute after I hang up, I get blue-screened and
the computer crashes again, this time worse off than before: I can't
even get to choose if it'll boot to Safe mode or DOS.

I
eventually shipped the computer up to the IT department. So I'm making
do by other means. It ain't so bad, but it's certainly irritating.
Particularly considering that the more I can do with software, the more
stuff ends up going wrong. KF

I Suddenly Feel Much Better

Some things make you feel better about yourself. And occasionally, the same things make you feel really guilty about feeling better about yourself.

The
other day I was walking with one of my co-workers to get some lunch. We
pass buy a woman on the street dressed up as scotch tape handing out
flyers.

Take a moment for that to process. A woman was handing out flyers, dressed like this:

I
almost always take flyers from people on the street, just because I'm
usually curious about what they got to say via pamphlet, and 90% of the
time it's interesting enough to warrant taking whatever it is they're
handing out (notable exceptions include LaRouche and Jews for Jesus,
although the latter's pamphlets are entertaining in an absurd way).

So
I pick up the pamphlet. I look down and read what it says, and start
laughing. My co-worker, she asks what the deal is and what it says, so
I hold the sign up to her; it reads:

Suddenly, I'm conflicted with feeling satisfied with my own job, while feeling bad about Ms. Scotch Tape. KF

Trying On the News

A lot of y'all I'm sure heard about Google's new Google China service. Quick link here: Google to Launch Censored China Service.

Long
story short, Google is censoring search results on some topics deemed
sensitive by the Chinese government (e.g., Taiwan, Falun Gong). I'm not
gonna talk about the ramifications of it; you want that, read official
sources, not some guy's blog. ...except for Chinese blogs, but that's a
different case.

Anyway, I wanted to try this out for myself. So out of curiousity I check out www.google.cn and try the following:

Man, even I
was surprised at what I got. Every single article was something harshly
negative about Falun Gong. I mean, I'm not big on the history behind
them, and I tend to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but it was a
lot even for me. Check it for yourself here: falun gong - Google China / 法轮功 -Google China

Headlines
include stuff on their "wickedness", "spiritual shackles", "anti-social
behavior", and a lot on them having hacked into a satellite signal back
in 2004. (I don't understand Chinese (yet), so I'm sticking with the
English link up there for now.) Compare Google.com and Google.cn (click
on images to follow link):

Google.com

Google.cn

My favorite is the line at the bottom:
据当地法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。
Translation: Due to local laws and regulations, only partial results have been displayed.

Strange...
Yet expected. Though, it ain't as bad as Microsoft's MSN-China that
barred the use of "freedom" or "democracy" in blog names.

I'm reminded of something once said by Commissioner Pravin Lal, Chief of Surgery of the U.N. Alpha Centauri mission (bio):

As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last loose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.       ~Commissioner Pravin Lal, "Librarians Preface"

All the best science fiction has a firm basis in reality. KF

Yes, I Do Have Work Today

This is going to be a short post, just to answer a couple frequent questions.

1. Yes, I did have to go to work today.
   
2. No, (private) companies do not have to give you every federal
   holiday off. Government agencies, however, do give all federal
   holidays.
   
3. No, I'm not upset about it. I had stuff I needed to finish today anyway. 

That should do it. KF

Waiter & Customer

A
lot of y'all know my general feelings on blogs of folks I don't know...
There are exceptions, though. My huge aversion to non-personal blogs
mostly apply to (a) the political bullshit-spewing blogs that B-average
PoliSci students manage to slap together, and (b) teen angst (read: 90%
of Xanga). The ones I do read are generally from people I know, or
people who are skilled and entertaining writers (or, in the case of Onigiriman, both).

I did find one very, and I mean very, entertaining site a few days ago called WaiterRant.
It's a fellow working as a waiter at a moderately-pricey place in NYC,
though the style of writing ends up being a lot witter and plenty more
entertaining than your average Seinfeld episode. The subject-matter is
what you'd expect, most posts dealing with interesting encounters with
some customers, or stuff that just goes awry in the service industry.
I'll leave y'all to check it out sometime.

The Customer Part...

Anyway,
reading through it reminded me of an incident--two incidents, really--a
few years ago... though from the Customer end of things.

Part 1:
Me
and my friend are dining at a hereafter unnamed Italian restaurant for
lunch. I order an entree salad and sweet tea, and as we wait for our
meal we start catching up on a few things. Meal arrives. We start
eating and, after a couple mouthfuls of salad, I lift up a piece of
lettuce and right underneath it is this:

I
place my lettuce on top of it, and lay the fork on top of that just to
make sure it doesn't go anywhere. I wait for the waiter to get back.
Now, some of you might get all freaked about it, but that's a silly
response. First off, it was a ladybug; those are generally cleaner and
used in agriculture; I've encountered far worse in food I was still
expected to eat. And second, here's why...

Waiter comes by shortly (decent guy, so he's checking on the tables frequently).
Waiter: How is your lunch?
Girl: Oh it's fine
Me: Fine but just one question...
Waiter: Yes?
Me: (lifting lettuce leaf) Does this come standard with the meal?

Waiter
freezes. Me, I'm smiling and saying all this jokingly, 'cause I know
how the rest of this is going to turn out. The waiter apologizes
profusely and takes it back. Expectedly, the manager comes out with
another, fresh salad, and explains everything: they get the lettuce
fresh, and it's all just hand-washed. So sometimes--I quietly interrupt
and say it's no big deal, really. Then the rest of my expectations play
out...
Manager: Well, is there anything else I can do for you today? Perhaps some dessert?
Me: (thinking) ...the magic words...
Me: (grinning) The tiramisu sounds nice, maybe with some coffee?
Manager: Certainly.

After all this, the dessert and salad were, of course, comped. My half of the bill comes to a wonderful $0.

Oh don't look at me like that. I left a tip. I'm not some cheap bastard. But the story doesn't end there...

Part 2:
Same
restaurant, two years later. I'm eating with my best friend R and
another friend from high school. He already knows about my previous
experience. Anywho, we order everything; R gets a pasta dish. Once the
waiter comes out, he offers grated cheese on top of the pasta. As he
starts grating... an ant falls through the cheese grater. Just one, but
still living.

R swears my eyes just lit up with joy at that. But come on, he knew full well what was gonna happen as well as I did!

This time, all three of our meals were comped. I can't remember if I passed on dessert then or not.

Conclusion:
Now,
I admit, I'm not upset about the situation in the slightest; the waiter
and manager were both real nice about it. But honestly speaking, I
don't intend on returning to said Italian restaurant again if I'm in
the area. Considering I had two incidents in a row with something
living turning up on my party's food, I don't see how anyone could
begrudge me over that.

Nevertheless, considering the courtesy of
the staff there, I can't be harsh. After all, I did say "unnamed"
Italian restaurant for a reason. KF

Reflecting on 2005

This
is likely a first. Most New Years', I'm with friends or at least
family. But, this is my first New Years' in DC, all my friends and
family are out of town, and I haven't left the place all day.

Nevertheless,
I'm thinking this year was likely the most significant in my life so
far. I just wanted to recap on some of the major things... for me... If
you want commentary on newsworthy events, check BBC or LFT, not some guy's blog.

Jan. 11 - Mother's Hajj

My mother went to Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, this year. I'd always thought I'd be the one to accompany her, but these kind of opportunities don't come easily and I'm happy to have seen her off on this journey with her sisters and brother-in-law.

March 14 - BILE!

I got my gallbladder removed this day. So I'm one organ lighter. I still do like the conversation that it can sometimes bring up... Me: I had my gallbladder removed Person: Don't you need that? Me: Oh my God! The doctors lied to me! At which point I start running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

April 7 - Stolen Computer
My
computer was stolen this day. I spend the following weekend re-doing
lost work on my economics thesis. I also vow revenge on the son of a
bitch thief who lifted it.

May 9 - Econ Thesis

This was a more major event than it might seem. While my International Affairs thesis was fun, my Economics thesis is what I brought up with nearly every single employer during my interviews. If it wasn't for the experience I got working on this, I wouldn't have the job I do now.

May 26 - Graduation

I finally graduated with a marketable degree. This means I have to start planning how to pay my own bills. But at least I managed to have a little embarassing moment during this graduation ceremony, just like the deal at my high school one. Only it involved walking on stage at the wrong time, instead of my voice cracking.

May 31 - Cousin's Wedding

No it wasn't big for my own life, but it was cute. It also means that my sister's that much closer to 'next in line'. ...kidding.

July 26 - Move to Virginia
For
the first time, I changed my 'permanent' residency to another place
besides Nashville. College is understood to be a temporary thing, but
this is where I finally moved out of the house. This also means I've
successfully escaped the failure of being 30 and living with my mother.

I mean, I still love my mother, just. You know. I'm not going to be... Ah hell, moving on...

Aug. 26 / Sept. 25 - Lunar: Dragon Song Released
Lunar
is one of my all-time favorite series. The original two games, Lunar:
The Silver Star and Lunar: Eternal Blue were absolutely
amazing--engrossing storylines, great characters, and really fun
gameplay, all three elements of which are better than any other RPG to
have come before or after.

Unfortunately, Lunar: Dragon Song
(Lunar: Genesis in Japan) was lousy by comparison. A decent game in its
own right, and for a handheld system (the Nintendo DS), but it just
doesn't measure up to what the series should be.

Why do I mention
it, then? (A) It's the first new Lunar game, that isn't a remake of a
previous one, in nearly a decade, and (B) My name's in the credits. I
did some initial translation of storyboard documents for feedback, and
wrote most of the text for the official US website. I just wish it'd measured up...

Sept. 29 - Found Work
And,
I finally find a job. Not just any job, but one that uses the education
I got in college, with intelligent and qualified coworkers, and not to
mention a really great supervisor. To think I was initially hesitant
about accepting...

Oh, and sorry, but I'm not mentioning where I
work on here. I'll tell you in person if you ever care to ask, but I'm
not mentioning it on this site.

Miscellaneous
A few other good things happened... The Serenity movie, based on the incredible Firefly
series was finally released, which was incredible... (There are only
two things I'm obsessive about, and that's Lunar and Firefly. I'll
literally buy up anything related to either of those--within reason.) Also, Sid Meier's Civilization 4
was released this year, and the only thing that keeps me from playing
it 24 hours a day is the fact that it runs slowly and stretches my
computer's capabilities to the limit.

But to close out, I wonder if 2006 will be as significant. ...likely not. But it'll still be good, I'm sure.

Coding Fun

This is just going to be a short update, no fancy pictures or anything. But I just hit upon a realization.

When
I was little, I used to think I was gonna be some kind of video game
designer when I grew up. I gave that up for something more realistic
once I realized that that entailed sitting in front of a computer
entering in code for 6-8 hours a day.

So I pursued economics. Now
that I have a job in that field, half my work entails sitting in front
of a computer entering in code for 6-8 hours a day. And I've gotten
back into webpage editing for a bit, so when I get home I end up
sitting in front of a computer entering in more code.

Ok, ok,
granted, it's not mind-numbing. The stuff I do at work is writing and
interpreting SAS code, which is all statistical code. So it's not so
bad, and I kind of enjoy it. And, yeah, saying 'half' my work is a bit
of an exaggeration. That and the webpage stuff I do is always of my own
accord.

Just thought it was funny that I sort of ended up doing
all this code regardless. Like some sort of strange, inevitable
destiny. If I believed in destinies. KF

EDIT: Just picked up the Serenity DVD! Haven't watched it yet, but I'll toss up a glowing review of the movie somewhere along the way. KF

Ruling Narnia

So I saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe yesterday, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. But at the end of the film, it got me thinking...

If I were crowned King of Narnia...
I'd be a tyrant

Oh ho... if those woodland creatures thought that Cold Witch was evil, just wait 'til they find me in charge... and unlike that stupid witch, I wouldn't screw things up.

So, I present to you my 7-step plan to ruling Narnia with an Iron Fist.

Step 1: none
of that "sharing the kingdom" business with three siblings. It was
stupid in the Middle Ages, and it'll be stupid in Narnia. Any ruling
siblings will be banished to "Spare Oom" and the wardrobe summarily
burned. That shouldn't be hard to do initially; I just propose that we
take a trip back home to see how the family's doing--and make sure that
they go through the door first. No witnesses, of course.

Step 2: on
my return back to the castle, I shall announce the mysterious
disappearance of my brethren, and dispatch search parties left and
right. But, I won't pay them... this makes it so that the most
altruistic of people will be away from the castle while I work on
ensuring my eternal reign. In the meantime, I will retain control of
their kingdoms for myself in their "extended absence". For now, I still
come off as the good guy (important to stave off Aslan's return).

Step 3: I
shall now create a division to explore all the Deep Magic of the realm,
and fund and feed them generously, so that they feel obligated to tell
me everything. And while I'll hire some competent people to avoid that mess at the Stone Table, I'll steer clear of ancient magical contracts just to be safe.

Step 4: I
shall then re-create an army. But, unlike that Witch, mine won't look
ugly and evil. It'll be comprised of the best looking creatures of the
realm, including the cute and fuzzy. Any huge, lumbering creatures will
undergo makeovers to make them appear "good at heart". Then, I shall
re-instate the "Secret Police", but unlike that idiot Witch, they'll
actually be secret. The SP's goal will be to destroy any cute
and adorable creatures that aren't a part of my army, or at least in
the reserves (any SP discovered will be publicly executed, to make it
look like I'm against them). This ensures that any army that rises
against me will have to be comprised of the ugliest creatures from
across the land.

Step 5: I
shall establish castles all over the land (seven in all), filled with
only loyal feudal lords... who know I can have them banished to the sea
at my whim. I'll see if I can't use magic to keep an eye on them, at
that. I'll reoccupy the Witch's Castle myself--and do some
redecorating, so it doesn't look so evil, of course.

Step
6: Lastly, I need to eliminate all possibility of rebellion. That means all possible locations... Fortunately, all of these are in
woods--and woods are flammable. Maybe as I burn Owlwood we'll hear some
new song by Jimmy Buffett.

Step
7: I'll have to trump up some reason as to why I'm burning all these
places. But there will be a few who don't buy it, and figure that I'm
evil... which will inevitably get Aslan to come back. But by now, I
have a full army and eyes across the entire kingdom, so Aslan has
nowhere to go. The lion's death will come easily, and from a bunch of
arrows, not a dagger atop some magical stone edifice.

And
with Aslan gone, Narnia is mine to control! Now I can start sending
expiditions across the rest of the land to see what else there is.
Maybe expand the kingdom while I'm at it. Oh, yes, and living a life of luxury with everything I want right before me. KF

The $200 Question...

What does this look like to you?
(no cheating for those of you who already know)

A) A door-stopper
B) Part of a TV case
C) A car door handle

Scroll down to find out...

.
.
.
.
.
This image should explain it:

I was pondering over the most amusing way to explain that.

Anyway,
here's the deal. My car's done me well so far. It's lasted for a good
long time (126,000 miles, 11 years, and counting). And, parts-wise,
it's pretty reliable. But over a week ago, as I get into the car, I
open the door and hear a
*snap*
*clink*
*scratch*
...damn.

As
if that weren't enough, a couple days later I get into my car (by
climbing across the middle from the passenger side), try to start the
engine, and... the key won't turn. I switch it around, and it still
won't turn. For about 10 minutes I fiddle and prod with the key and the
ignition, and finally manage to get it to start.

I figure the key
I have is worn down (it's a copy, anyhow), so I don't use the car and
get another copy made when I get home from the one my mother had. Now,
when I get back after the holidays, the copies won't work and, lo and
behold, the other key I took with me got dropped somewhere in an
airport. My mother ships me the key I left with her posthaste, and now
apparently it fits fine into my car.

So much ado about nothing.

Anywho,
there's still the matter of the handle to fix. You know, if it were
just one big problem, like the catalytic converter's busted, I'd feel
better since I'd know just what to do: take it to a shop to get it
repaired. With this, well, my car's fine, I just can't get into it. KF

Home for the Holiday

I went back to Nashville for Thanksgiving, and all I have to show for it is this hat:

But come on, isn't it an awesome hat?
Let me start at the middle and work my way outwards.

So, who knows when I'll be back in Nashville. I'm not so sure, but until then, at least I got this hat. KF