Yep, tomorrow is the kickoff for NaBloPoMo. I did it last year, by gosh, and even though I'm "away" I'm going to do my best to do it again. I was gonna be chatty here, but I just realized that I should probably save it for tomorrow, hm? :)
See ya then!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Once more unto the Breach, deare friends...
So, it's nearly November. Time for the 3rd Annual NaBloPoMo. I did it last year, and I actually enjoyed the challenge. I like to blog, but for some reason sometimes I just can't make myself sit down and do it. So I'm going to give it another go this year, and hope to keep up with it afterward.
What surprised me last year was that I discovered some really interesting blogs out there through the NaBloPoMo home page. Sadly, because I was unable to access blogs for a few months, I lost track of them. I hope to find them again this year, and even more besides. And of course, I hope to find a reader or two again. If you're one of those who were kind enough to start to follow my blog last year, I hope you come back. I will get the hang of this. Really, I will.
(Oh! I just found one of them again, and it looks like she fell out of the blogging habit as well... now I don't feel quite so bad.)
What surprised me last year was that I discovered some really interesting blogs out there through the NaBloPoMo home page. Sadly, because I was unable to access blogs for a few months, I lost track of them. I hope to find them again this year, and even more besides. And of course, I hope to find a reader or two again. If you're one of those who were kind enough to start to follow my blog last year, I hope you come back. I will get the hang of this. Really, I will.
(Oh! I just found one of them again, and it looks like she fell out of the blogging habit as well... now I don't feel quite so bad.)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Take the good with the bad
One of the cool things about this job is that you get to go to so many different places. One of the strange things is how varied those places are, and how quickly you can go from one extreme to the other. For instance, earlier this year I went from being at this place on a Thursday:
to being at this place on that following Sunday:
Now, if that's not a little culture shock, I don't know what is. Of course, some of the other places I get to go are cool, too... like where I am now. First, the view from my hotel balcony:
Not bad, hmm? OK, one more... I took this as I ate lunch yesterday:
Susie's a bit jealous, I know, because she's been to this area of the world before and loves it, and I really wish she could be here with me. There's so much to see here, and I just know I won't have time to do, well, any of it.
to being at this place on that following Sunday:
Now, if that's not a little culture shock, I don't know what is. Of course, some of the other places I get to go are cool, too... like where I am now. First, the view from my hotel balcony:
Not bad, hmm? OK, one more... I took this as I ate lunch yesterday:
Susie's a bit jealous, I know, because she's been to this area of the world before and loves it, and I really wish she could be here with me. There's so much to see here, and I just know I won't have time to do, well, any of it.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Coke Zero? More like Coke Hero...
Isn't it weird how you can consider someone a great friend, even if you never see them anymore? We've been in England for three years now, and in California and Nebraska for the 4 years before that, and in that whole time we've seen our friends Will and Raye maybe 4 times. Yet I still consider Will a great friend; possibly my best non-spouse friend.
Some time ago, Susie and I jumped on the weight-loss wagon (Weight Watchers, to be specific) and we were points-counting fools. We got some of our friends into it, and we sort of became "The Points Mafia." Susie and I did really well on it, too. Will didn't play so much; he preferred to look on in bemusement.
Well... some years on, and I've fallen off the wagon. The weight is piling back on, and while I'm not back to where I was, I'm getting uncomfortably close. And now some new work requirements have highlighted this to me most distressingly. So it's back on the weight-loss wagon. I've mentioned it here before, and the follow-through was, um, lacking, but the wake-up call has sounded, and the motivation is both internal AND external this time.
So, what's with the title of this post? Will, for reasons relating to college (and doesn't THAT cover a multitude of sins?) is known to his friends as "Coke." And he's been on the weight-loss wagon now, too. And damn successfully, I might add. He's been blogging his progress, and I think it's pretty great how well he's doing. I really hope he keeps it up, and I hope I can be as successful... this time.
Some time ago, Susie and I jumped on the weight-loss wagon (Weight Watchers, to be specific) and we were points-counting fools. We got some of our friends into it, and we sort of became "The Points Mafia." Susie and I did really well on it, too. Will didn't play so much; he preferred to look on in bemusement.
Well... some years on, and I've fallen off the wagon. The weight is piling back on, and while I'm not back to where I was, I'm getting uncomfortably close. And now some new work requirements have highlighted this to me most distressingly. So it's back on the weight-loss wagon. I've mentioned it here before, and the follow-through was, um, lacking, but the wake-up call has sounded, and the motivation is both internal AND external this time.
So, what's with the title of this post? Will, for reasons relating to college (and doesn't THAT cover a multitude of sins?) is known to his friends as "Coke." And he's been on the weight-loss wagon now, too. And damn successfully, I might add. He's been blogging his progress, and I think it's pretty great how well he's doing. I really hope he keeps it up, and I hope I can be as successful... this time.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Is this thing on?
Yeah, so this is a pretty cavernous empty room I'm looking at. I suppose that's what happens when you only post once in 9 months. I don't know why I stopped. It's weird. I enjoy posting. I like the feeling that maybe out there some stranger is reading my words and going "hmmm." I guess it's just an inertia thing. When I go away, I get out of the habit, and when I come home, it's hard to start again. Now, of course, it looks like I'll be going away again in a few weeks, so, yeah, my timing is right up there.
Anyway. Here I am.
Anyway. Here I am.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
A story to welcome me back...
I'm a pretty big "Star Trek" fan. No, really; I know it's hard to believe, but I am. One day I was watching an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and I got to wondering about how those people would fare in today's world. So I wrote this quick little story-like thingy. Sort of a "Dilbert" meets "The Office" meets "ST:TNG." Enjoy.
-------------
Life aboard the Enterprise: The TRUE story.
"Captain's Log, Stardate... umm.. is this on? Damn. Ahem. Captain's Log, Stardate 43210.5 The Enterprise has been ordered by Starfleet to investigate a 'stellar anomaly' in sector 134.3256 mark 6. We have set aside our current mission of... dammit, why did this thing stop recording? Anyone?"
"Sir," replied his first officer, "like I told you before, you have to hold the 'record' button down the whole time, not just at the beginning." Will Riker looked at the ceiling, the floor, the walls. Anything to avoid looking at his captain. "I've never had a problem with mine," he said.
"Well," said Picard, "I'll just finish the damn log entry later. Helm, set our course."
"Aye, sir." The young helmsman's fingers began dancing across the console. Suddenly, an odd beep sounded from the helm controls. A puzzled look crossed the crewman's face, and he repeated his last entry. Again, the odd beep. "Um, captain? I'm getting a 'system access error' in the helm control program."
"How can that be? Did you remember to hit control-B before entering the coordinates? You did. Did you enter the coordinates in the new format?"
"Um, new format, sir?"
"Yes, the new 3.4 format, the one that we had that training session on last week? The one from the fuel consumption monitor program?"
"Um, sir, this is helm control, not fuel consumption..."
"I know that, ensign! But the newest version of FuelCon requires that format, and since it imports the data directly from the HelmCon app, we have to use that on the bridge."
"Oh. I'm sorry, sir, but this isn't my regular post. The old helm guy got laid off last week - well, he took 'early retirement from Starfleet,' but it wasn't by choice. Anyway, I'm usually with hardware development, you know, the deck 17 gang? So I was -"
"Never mind, ensign. Can you correct the problem now that you know what it is?"
"Well, no sir. The program is completely locked. I can access other programs; see, the Torpedo Launchers, the Phasers, all that, but the Helm Control is-- uh-oh."
"What does THAT mean?"
"Well, sir, now the whole thing is locked. I can't even reset it. I'll have to do a hard reset, with the switch underneath. The reboot will take about 30 seconds. Sorry, sir."
"Don't worry, ensign. Everyone has to reboot a console now and then."
"Yes, sir. Um, sir? It's not coming up. It's hanging in the hardware selftest."
"Right. I'd better call engineering, then." He taps his comm badge.. nothing. He glares at the ceiling, looks at the comm badge.
"Sir," says Riker, "We've found we get the best signal when we stand near the main viewscreen."
As the captain moves toward the viewscreen, he glances down at the ops console, where he notices...
"Mr. Data, are you playing Minesweeper on duty AGAIN?"
With a guilty start, Data clears away his game and buries himself in the status reports on his screen.
Arriving in front of the viewscreen, Picard once again taps his comm badge. At the distinctive chirp of a good signal, he says, "Picard to Engineering, come in, LaForge." There is no answer, no sound at all. He taps the comm badge off, then back on again. "Picard to Engineering, come in." Suddenly, the computer's voice booms from the comm badge.
"I'm sorry, the Comm System user you are trying to reach is unavailable, or has traveled outside the range of his equipment. Please try your comm again later."
Visibly containing his anger, Picard growls, "You have the bridge, Number One. Keep trying to reboot that damn console; I'm going to find LaForge." He stalks toward the turbolift doors, which fail to slide open as he approaches. He pulls himself up short, obviously annoyed at having his dramatic entrance spoiled so. Finally, the doors slide open, and he enters the lift.
* * * * *
Moments later, Picard enters the Engineering section of his starship. There are parts of at least six different ship's systems strewn across various consoles. The entire Engineering staff seems to be crowded around one table in the back corner, so he approaches it. Seeing his Chief Engineer at the center of the crowd, he speaks.
"Mr. LaForge. A moment, please?"
Startled, Geordi jumps up. "What is it, Captain?"
"First, why was I unable to reach you by comm?"
"Really?" asks Geordi. "Let me check," he says, removing his comm badge to get a look at the back. "Oh, no. I'm sorry, sir, I grabbed the wrong one this morning. I meant to leave this one in the charger, but I guess I got them mixed up."
"Well, let's not let that happen again, shall we?" said the captain, raising an eyebrow enquiringly. "As for my other question, why is my Helm Control console down again?"
"Sir, I've tried to fix that. I've reinstalled every system. I've checked all of the connections. I'd say it's a bum operating system. If you'd just let me install a Vulcix operating system and get rid of that MicroFleet Viewports software, I promise you, you'd see a world of difference..."
"Mr. LaForge, I am NOT about to let you use such an, um, 'experimental' system on _my_ starship..."
And as the captain and his chief engineer begin their old familiar argument, the helm control console comes back online. But without a connection to the network. And the comm badge system loses another 37 calls that day. And the weekly crew health report somehow loses its formatting and prints out on actual paper... in a single column one letter wide and 35.3 kilometers long.
Just another day on the Starship Enterprise.
-------------
Life aboard the Enterprise: The TRUE story.
"Captain's Log, Stardate... umm.. is this on? Damn. Ahem. Captain's Log, Stardate 43210.5 The Enterprise has been ordered by Starfleet to investigate a 'stellar anomaly' in sector 134.3256 mark 6. We have set aside our current mission of... dammit, why did this thing stop recording? Anyone?"
"Sir," replied his first officer, "like I told you before, you have to hold the 'record' button down the whole time, not just at the beginning." Will Riker looked at the ceiling, the floor, the walls. Anything to avoid looking at his captain. "I've never had a problem with mine," he said.
"Well," said Picard, "I'll just finish the damn log entry later. Helm, set our course."
"Aye, sir." The young helmsman's fingers began dancing across the console. Suddenly, an odd beep sounded from the helm controls. A puzzled look crossed the crewman's face, and he repeated his last entry. Again, the odd beep. "Um, captain? I'm getting a 'system access error' in the helm control program."
"How can that be? Did you remember to hit control-B before entering the coordinates? You did. Did you enter the coordinates in the new format?"
"Um, new format, sir?"
"Yes, the new 3.4 format, the one that we had that training session on last week? The one from the fuel consumption monitor program?"
"Um, sir, this is helm control, not fuel consumption..."
"I know that, ensign! But the newest version of FuelCon requires that format, and since it imports the data directly from the HelmCon app, we have to use that on the bridge."
"Oh. I'm sorry, sir, but this isn't my regular post. The old helm guy got laid off last week - well, he took 'early retirement from Starfleet,' but it wasn't by choice. Anyway, I'm usually with hardware development, you know, the deck 17 gang? So I was -"
"Never mind, ensign. Can you correct the problem now that you know what it is?"
"Well, no sir. The program is completely locked. I can access other programs; see, the Torpedo Launchers, the Phasers, all that, but the Helm Control is-- uh-oh."
"What does THAT mean?"
"Well, sir, now the whole thing is locked. I can't even reset it. I'll have to do a hard reset, with the switch underneath. The reboot will take about 30 seconds. Sorry, sir."
"Don't worry, ensign. Everyone has to reboot a console now and then."
"Yes, sir. Um, sir? It's not coming up. It's hanging in the hardware selftest."
"Right. I'd better call engineering, then." He taps his comm badge.. nothing. He glares at the ceiling, looks at the comm badge.
"Sir," says Riker, "We've found we get the best signal when we stand near the main viewscreen."
As the captain moves toward the viewscreen, he glances down at the ops console, where he notices...
"Mr. Data, are you playing Minesweeper on duty AGAIN?"
With a guilty start, Data clears away his game and buries himself in the status reports on his screen.
Arriving in front of the viewscreen, Picard once again taps his comm badge. At the distinctive chirp of a good signal, he says, "Picard to Engineering, come in, LaForge." There is no answer, no sound at all. He taps the comm badge off, then back on again. "Picard to Engineering, come in." Suddenly, the computer's voice booms from the comm badge.
"I'm sorry, the Comm System user you are trying to reach is unavailable, or has traveled outside the range of his equipment. Please try your comm again later."
Visibly containing his anger, Picard growls, "You have the bridge, Number One. Keep trying to reboot that damn console; I'm going to find LaForge." He stalks toward the turbolift doors, which fail to slide open as he approaches. He pulls himself up short, obviously annoyed at having his dramatic entrance spoiled so. Finally, the doors slide open, and he enters the lift.
* * * * *
Moments later, Picard enters the Engineering section of his starship. There are parts of at least six different ship's systems strewn across various consoles. The entire Engineering staff seems to be crowded around one table in the back corner, so he approaches it. Seeing his Chief Engineer at the center of the crowd, he speaks.
"Mr. LaForge. A moment, please?"
Startled, Geordi jumps up. "What is it, Captain?"
"First, why was I unable to reach you by comm?"
"Really?" asks Geordi. "Let me check," he says, removing his comm badge to get a look at the back. "Oh, no. I'm sorry, sir, I grabbed the wrong one this morning. I meant to leave this one in the charger, but I guess I got them mixed up."
"Well, let's not let that happen again, shall we?" said the captain, raising an eyebrow enquiringly. "As for my other question, why is my Helm Control console down again?"
"Sir, I've tried to fix that. I've reinstalled every system. I've checked all of the connections. I'd say it's a bum operating system. If you'd just let me install a Vulcix operating system and get rid of that MicroFleet Viewports software, I promise you, you'd see a world of difference..."
"Mr. LaForge, I am NOT about to let you use such an, um, 'experimental' system on _my_ starship..."
And as the captain and his chief engineer begin their old familiar argument, the helm control console comes back online. But without a connection to the network. And the comm badge system loses another 37 calls that day. And the weekly crew health report somehow loses its formatting and prints out on actual paper... in a single column one letter wide and 35.3 kilometers long.
Just another day on the Starship Enterprise.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Happy Pi Day!
Just a quick post on my lunch break. Pi day? Notice the date (and if I've done this right, the time) of this post. Gotta run!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Wow, it's been a while, hm?
Yep, I've been away. Then I came home for 2 days, and went away again. I'm still "away again," but at least this time I'm at a school in Germany (where we just got about a foot of snow last night, pictures may follow).
Anyway, for my legion of fan (heh), I'm sorry I was away for so long, but I think I'll be able to write more now. Probably not every day, but more often than monthly, anyway. :)
At least this time it's not like the first (or second, or third) time when I started to blog, where I wrote for a week and then forgot for months. This time, the interruption was not due to a lack of interest on my part, but on a lack of ability (time, place, etc). What that means is that I'm back. Slowly, anyway, for now, but if you're reading this, then stay tuned, tell your friends, and I'll see you again soon!
Anyway, for my legion of fan (heh), I'm sorry I was away for so long, but I think I'll be able to write more now. Probably not every day, but more often than monthly, anyway. :)
At least this time it's not like the first (or second, or third) time when I started to blog, where I wrote for a week and then forgot for months. This time, the interruption was not due to a lack of interest on my part, but on a lack of ability (time, place, etc). What that means is that I'm back. Slowly, anyway, for now, but if you're reading this, then stay tuned, tell your friends, and I'll see you again soon!
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Posting Difficulties
Hi to anyone popping in to read this blog. David asked me to post a quick update. There have been some cables cut in the Middle East, and it's having a HUGE effect on internet and phone access where he is, so he won't have access to the blog for a while.
Sorry about that!!
[posted by Susie]
Sorry about that!!
[posted by Susie]
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