So, I took the plunge and joined Facebook. Some of you have already made me a "friend" and I thank you.
After only a short time, the appeal of the site is apparent to me. The "wall" allows for quick twitter-ish type posts. The ability to find friends of friends is great. Facebook allows for a user to stay in touch with a lot of people everywhere. It's vastly superior to MySpace and a overall great networking tool.
I am also surprised at how "buggy" the site is with it's friend functionality. The recent activity section seems to omit "activity" at certain times. Sometimes friends are missing, but will reappear the next time I logon.
I have experienced an issue with the site every time that i have logged on. This really surprises me, given that this website has been established for many years and has millions of users.
Anyway, I'm even monitoring my Facebook IM via pidgin. Contact me if you are so inclined.
Later
I have watched this clip from South Park over and over again. It just keeps getting funnier. So, I present to you Cartman singing Lady Gaga's Poker Face. It's South Park, so expect NSFW language.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of all time. Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" is considered by many to be the pinnacle of jazz music. Others will contend that it was more of a pop album than a jazz album.
All I know is that it is one of my favorites.
Yahoo Article: Kind of Blue At 50
After week two of the NFL season, I can tell that I have already made a huge mistake by asking Hangtime to participate in our friendly "Pro Football Pickem". Hangtime already has a commanding lead; meanwhile I'm in the cellar.
I can't believe the games this week. How could I have been so far off the mark? With only one game left to play tonight, I only correctly picked winners for 6 out of 15 games this week. Yikes!
I'm going to have to do some more analysis for next week....
Update: Jodi and I won her collegiate office football pool, so now I don't feel so bad.
Coldplay released a live album for free download from their web site a couple of months back. This is my quick review.
For starters, I love it when bands do stuff like this... The band is giving it's fan base a little something for the support that has been given to them and maybe, just maybe, pick up a new fan or two along the way.
Let's face it, Coldplay needs some positive press. The well known band has been under fire lately for stealing songs by Joe Satriani and Cat Stevens. Speculation is that the band has already reached an out-of-court financial settlement with Satriani.
Maybe they should change their name to "Coldpay" (*Zing*).
Download -- Coldplay: LeftRightLeftRightLeft
Why would you download it?
Simply for the live version of their mega-hit "Clocks" and the price (free).
Why you could care less?
There is a reason it's free. Given the extensive list of radio hits from Coldplay, one would think that this album would include more known songs. The most notable songs included are "Clocks" and the often maligned "Vida La Vida".
I ran across an interesting article today... Hopkins student kills man with samurai sword. After breaking into a residence, an intruder was killed in self-defense by a samurai sword wielding resident. Some entertaining and uninformed quotes from the article:
"You don't expect to hear that someone you know killed a guy with a samurai sword"
The police spokesman said the student who wielded the weapon had no advanced sword training. "He wasn't a ninja," Guglielmi said. "He may have been moderately trained or on the intermediate level."
"To inflict lethal damage requires some skill"
As a black belt, I am required to have a samurai sword and I'm expected to learn basic sword techniques and a few katas. I find the sword workouts to be fun and informative. It's a great diversion from the sometimes monotonous black belt level katas and workouts. Our karate style doesn't put a huge emphasis on the katana and that's just fine with me. In my opinion, swords are very interesting and I do enjoy having basic knowledge of the weapon, however, the truth is that it's just not practical in today's world. Not one bit of my knowledge of drawing a katana will help me if I'm mugged on the street. Of course, all of this is my opinion and your actual mileage may vary.
A few years back, we had a bonafide samurai sword expert attend one of our karate camps. Simply put, he was amazing. He taught the black belts, basic strikes and blocks. It was a little concerning being in a gym full of people with swords, but you just have to trust that the guy behind you was smart enough to step in the right direction at the right time... of course, the person standing directly in front of me is thinking the same thing about me.
After the demo and workout, I was talking with the expert's assistant and he was showing me a new technique for sheathing the sword. While showing me the moves, he boasted, "If I was ever on the street, I could out-draw anyone in the world". I replied that typically if you read about someone in public with a samurai sword they usually end up getting tasered and 7 out of 10 times they are naked. Needless to say this ended my lesson with the assistant.
One of the funniest elements of the news story.. and "yes", I really don't give a rat's rear-end about the dead criminal... is the comment about needing training to kill someone with what is essentially a three foot razor blade. I always think that if I was ever involved with an incident that was "media worthy" that I would be erroneously described as a monster with killing skills just short of Mel Gibson's character from Lethal Weapon.
Now for your moment of Zen... or other great uses for a samurai sword...
Awesome... awesome video. A must watch...
Here is a quick update on the hubby's ex situation summed up in an email from him to the police chief of Norcross sent earlier today.....
Please advise - bothersome, probable stalking behavior
Inbox
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Reply
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show details 1:22 PM (4 hours ago) |
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My wife XXXXXX and I reside in the XXXXX XXXXX subdivision and I had an encounter yesterday that has both of us concerned.
Yesterday while checking my mail, I found myself approximately 20 feet away from an ex-girlfriend of mine. That sounds innocent enough, but over the past few years I've increasingly been feeling like my space is being violated and it is making me and my wife increasingly uncomfortable. In addition, my wife shared with me this morning that she had a nightmare last night, dreaming that someone was trying to get into the house. I understand bad dreams are always a possibility, but I can't help but to think it was prompted by her presence in our neighborhood.
Over the past year and a half to two years:
- This woman has used to combination of her first name and my last name to create a "Twitter account" and sent me a request to follow. At first, I did not fully think that she could be the person sending me the request. I looked at the profile and felt more than confident it was her. I emailed her (and sent a message via a social networking site) and asked if she has an account; a few days later, the account name had been changed to reflect her real name and I received a reply via Myspace where she denied having an account. I still have the original request Gmail-originated email from me and the Twitter request email.
- She has relocated from North Carolina to Atlanta despite having no ties to the area, aside from me. My wife and I had been dating for over a year; 7-8 months after we were engaged (2-3 before we were married), she relocated to Norcross.
- I received a phone call from her one evening (after she moved to Atlanta) asking me to accompany her to the bank ATM; it was almost 8pm at night. This encounter prompted me to change my phone number. Even after this incident, she continued to email my blackberry (I do not have the device any more).
- Has said that she was able to locate our residence by Googling XXXXXX's name; neither of us have been able to find a google hit that identifies my wife and she did not have a listed phone number in the phone book. XXXXX believes she was followed home.
- I've "run into her" at the NY Fitness on Malaise Blvd.
- XXXXXX left town on a business trip on May 6, 2009 and left an indication as such on a social networking site; they are not "friends" on this site. The same day XXXXX left I received an email from my ex asking me for a favor.
- A few weeks ago, I was standing outside our residence speaking with a neighbor when a familiar vehicle drove by; the driver waved. The attributes of the driver raised a flag in my mind. This occurred one other time. While walking to the barber shop near the corner of Stab Me and Run, maybe an hour to an hour and a half before I saw the woman at the mail station, I saw the same vehicle driving down XXXXXXX and turn into XXXXX. It is the same model and color as the car she drives.
I believe the encounter was prompted by the fact that the owner of the unit she is visiting has moved (it seems as if a mutual friend to them both lives there now). My wife and I spoke with the unit owner (while she was still living here) and let her know our concerns. I do want to stress the encounter yesterday was non-confrontational, but I don't want to let things escalate to the point of a confrontation. It is quite worrying, especially factoring in that I have not had a relationship with this woman since 2003 and we haven't been in regular contact since early 2006. My wife and I are rapidly closing in on our 1 year anniversary and are looking forward to having kids sometime in the not-so-distant future; I can't help but to worry about how much more she is going to try to intrude on me and my family as we continue to grow. Any advice or first steps to address, and hopefully resolve, this situation would be most helpful.
Many Thanks,
The XXXXXX's
Yes folks.... she has gone from a whole nother state to ATL to Norcross (in his prior apt. complex) to our small subdivision in 2 years......
She doesn't live here but was visiting a friend because she lives a bad area and they carpool..... I call huge bull kaka on that one!
I told him when I do confront her, I want her to lift her dress so that I, myself, can witness the ginormous testicles she must own. The ironic thing is, although she has big balls, she ran like a timid school girl when she saw him check the mail.
SHINANININIGANS!
MSNBC has a quiz on it's website that selects some of the harder questions from the civics test, which a Citizenship and Immigration Services (INS) officer would give as part of the naturalization interview for an immigrant seeking U.S. citizenship.
So, do you think you have what it takes to pass the test?
Take the Test Here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13442226/
I got 95% of the answers correct; however, I will admit that I had to completely guess on two questions (which I luckily got one right). My knowledge of Constitutional amendments is lacking.
In my opinion, the trick question of the bunch was -- Who selects the Supreme Court justices? Much like the infamous Bill Clinton quote, "it depends on what your definintion of 'is' is" -- this question really depends on what you mean by "select".
Given that only 49% of Americans can identity the Speaker of the House, I speculate that most natural born U.S. Citizens would perform poorly on the test. I would like to know how different political groups (centrist, liberal, statist, libertarian, conservative) performed on the test. Not sure where you fall on the political spectrum?... yep, there's an online test for that too (are-you-a-centrist-liberal-conservative-statist-or-libertarian-according-to-this-quiz)
Make note that I did not refer to political parties, since they do not always represent a consistent view point. For the record, I am an independent with my political views on the libertarian side (again, not the party).
Time for some R&R. I have been working on a project that has been scheduled to "go-live" ever since March of this year. Each month brought our team new delays and required weekend work and extended hours. As the project continued toward the goal line even more hours were required to get it production ready.
This weekend the project finally launched and I can honestly say that I'm proud of the work. Sure, it could have been better, but overall the software is solid and should provide my company with a lot of value. When I started this job last year, I began the path to the release of this project. It has been a long and sometimes strange journey.
It was a tough weekend. By Saturday at 10 PM, I had logged in 24 hours of work for the weekend. During the launch, I was a little disappointed in the quality of the work that some people put in on the project, but such is life.
Of course, my work load doesn't immediately go back to normal. We will be dealing with support issues from the launch and prepare the second company to move to the software (i.e. a second go-live) in the next few weeks.
I will save my "What makes a good programmer?" rant for later -- lets just say that I've never worked on a project with so many programmers which had to removed. I will ask everyone a couple of simple questions -- Do you provide value to your employer? If not, why not? Maybe, it's time to find a new job. Are you prevented by your management from providing value? If so, do you at least support your teammates?
Next on my life's to-do list: Jury duty and find a doctor
