Signs & Government @ its Worst....

This is something that came up this week that I've thought a lot about.

Someone I know said, "If I am laid off from my job, I'll take it as a sign [from God] to finally do what I've always wanted to do as a career. If I am retained, then I was meant to work where I am working." Do we, as humans, really get to decide what our sign from God is going to be? Isn't it really God choosing what He wants us to do according to his plan?

I went to Google to find an answer and came across this discussion. I like this quote:

Use your gut, use your intuition, trust your sense to know your truth, and the ways that the god of your understanding communicaties with you, you get to "learn that language" no one else can do it for you. It will be very individual, and most likely something that is personal and meaningful to you.

I can find comfort in that. It goes along with the idea that God gave us the ability to choose - our curse or our gift, depending upon the circumstances.

I am jumping to something else, though this could have easily been its own blog post called "You should have a usable website but I don't have to have one in order to tell you to have a usable website."
This came across on Techwr-L on Wed and I find it really funny. A usability site that isn't usable...

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Goldstein
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 1:46 PM
To: techwr-l@lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: RE: GUI Elements defined

OK, it's irony time: Guy McDonald discovered that the home page for http://usability.gov lacks a certain... usability. Specifically, in IE7, the bulleted items activate the hand cursor, even though they're unlinked. The site works fine in Firefox. Before I write to HHS, can someone check if the site works in IE 6? Opera? etc... >
-----Original Message----->
From: Dan Goldstein
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 12:00 PM
To: techwr-l
Subject: RE: GUI Elements defined
And for more definitions of Web-specific elements, see http://usability.gov/pdfs/glossary.pdf

LP

I used to list Linkin Park as one band I couldn't stand, in the same vein that I can't stand "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks and any material from the loafish Meat Loaf. I still think the "Shut up! Shut up! when I'm talking to you!" lyrics in their debut single are cliche and I think that song, as a whole, sounds like two separate songs joined together by the "Shut up!" lyrics.

That said, I heard this song in my truck today as I was returning to Mr. Movies with a DVD *inside* the case instead of in my DVD player. I like it.

WAH...and an Apology Foretold

I'm working @ home because Megan has 7th grade orientation. I hope her 7th grade year is a lot like mine. Socially, I remember bouncing from group to group and making a lot of friends. It was the year I was asked to couple skate @ Super Skate and she knew how to skate backwards so that was a huge moment for me. She also turned out to be in 9th grade so even *that* was cool. Megan won't have that opportunity, though, because the school she will be at is only 7th & 8th graders. Later that year, I had a girlfriend and that was ultimately very cool.

But this isn't about that.

Last night, as I drove Megan to a classmate's house to work on their project, I apologized to her. I told her about my co-worker whose car engine is "falling apart." She said that her first instinct was to call her father because he likes cars and has done work on cars and understands them.

I am not like that. I believed in blinker fluid as a freshman in college.

I apologized to her because I know, someday, she will have car trouble. Some light will come on or turn off or some thing will sound funny under the hood. She will call me and say, "Hey Dad, the car is [fill in the blanks]. What do you think it is?"

Maybe between now and that phone call, I will know more than I do now. If she asked that question today, I would reply, "I don't know."

I would then go on to suggest taking it to a mechanic.

More Season Finales

The season finale of "24" was on tonight. I still have Friday's "Prison Break" and Sunday's "Desparate Housewives" to watch. Maybe another show too.

But not tonight.

Good night...

Somehow...

... I ended up watching this:

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And, after that, I read this.

Saturday Night

We drove up to Zhwingle, Iowa, on Saturday morning to get our camper. It was an uneventful drive. After the camper was hooked up, Karen drove through Dubuque to get to Balltown.


After lunch, I mowed my in-law's yard with the riding mower. It was the first time I'd ever driven a riding lawn mower and it was okay. The bouncy ride made my Pepsi flat but other than that, I did okay. I didn't remember how to put the damn thing into reverse so I was always looking forward. After the majority of the yard was done, I used a push mower - a non-self-propelling - to finish. That was more work than I thought it should be.

After that was done, I took a nap on their couch. Then, we ate supper - meat loaf, baked potato, corn, and French Silk pie for dessert - and played Euchre. Louie and I beat the women 3-0. Then we all went to bed.

That's what I wanted to write about.

I slept like a log. It was 10:30 when I got into bed and I slept so soundly. I woke up once, at 5 AM, and then, after that, I didn't wake up until 8:30-ish. It was wonderful.

Today, we went to 10 AM Mass in Balltown, followed by breakfast - French Toast & Holy Cross sausage - and then played Euchre. The men lost.

Then I drove the camper home. After we got home, I decided to mow. Alex thinks mowing the yard is fun (?!?!) so he ended up doing 85% of it. I think he will be doing all of it in the near future.

Tonight was a huge TV night. The season finale of "Deparate Housewives", the season finale of "Survivor", the WWE PPV "Judgment Day", a new "Breaking Bad", and to top it all off, the episode from MASH called "Adam's Ribs" (one of my favorites!). I taped DH, I caught some of Survivor, the results of the PPV are here

The week ahead is crazy busy (after work)

Monday - Alex has a game

Tuesday - Megan has a tour @ her new junior high. I am leaving work @ noon, racing to Regina by 12:30, racing her to the jr high by 1, then working @ home until 2:30, when I'll pick her up again and bring her home.

Wednesday - Alex has a game

Thursday - Nothing. I think the plan is to get the kids' floor cleaned up and/or the basement put back together.

Friday - Up in the air. We have talked about loading the camper and going to Riverside with Mark & Susie for Karen's (free) meal @ the buffet for her birthday. Susie's birthday is also in May so her meal would be free as well.

Saturday - Up in the air. We have talked about going to the CR Kernels game @ 4 for a concert called "The Music of the Eagles," followed by a 6:35 game, followed by fireworks. We may also be playing @ 5:15 Mass for the next to last time until the new church is built. I need to bring my drums home.

Sunday - Up in the air. We have talked about hosting a barbeque, but it is also the weekend of the Blues-n-Barbeque event in the North Liberty park, which I think would be fun to go to.

Monday - Nothing. Probably take a long nap from 12:30-3.

At work, it is going to be an insane 9 days. I have 5 days (5/18-5/22) to get as many and as much documentation for the next update completed. It means trying to 'will' my way through more work than can be reasonably completed in a 40 hour week. After Friday (and Memorial Day), I will begin developing UI changes for at least 39 changes to our software and that number is likely to go up. I need to be done with all of these changes by 4 on Wednesday so I can give the paperwork to my co-worker so she can test them on Thursday and return any changes she has on Friday so I can make those changes and wrap up the entire process.

My goal is to be done with all of that work by Friday, 5 PM. If I am, I plan to take a full two weeks of vacation, starting 6/1 and not returning to work until 6/15. What a glorious break that would be! If I am not done with my work by Friday, I will work a 1/2 day on Monday 6/1 and a full day on Tuesday 6/2. I *really* want to be done with my work on Friday so I can give myself a full two weeks off. That is my goal.

So that's what I have to look forward to this week.

5159

5150 is the code for mentally unstable, if I remember the press releases that surrounded the Van Halen release of the same name. It was the first release with Sammy Hagar replacing David Lee Roth. No one thought it would work, but it did. For several years, in fact, as the "Van Hagar" band rocked the world, releasing a lot of singles, a lot of albums, and a lot of songs that showcased Eddie and Alex Van Halen.

I feel a little off tonight. I watched the season finale of "Lost" and ... just when I thought I understood everything, the season finale asks more questions. Okay, I get that Jacob wanted everyone to return to the island and he was the one that got Hurley to agree. I also get that he visited everyone, at some point, and interacted with them in an innocent way. He gave Jack the candy bar that was stuck in the machine. What the episode doesn't explain, though, is who the hell is John Locke? How is he in Jacob's house, instructing Ben to kill Jacob and yet, John Locke's body was in the casket. A character said, "If that's John Locke, who's in there with Ben?"

I DON'T HAVE A CLUE!!! Let's see what the Internet says... maybe Juliet is alive. Basically.... wait and see what happens in 2010. I did read that the eye that is in the 13 second teaser is Jack's. People are equating the eye at the end of season 5 with the eye that opens up episode 1 in season 1. Read this:
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00024255.html

Rain Rain Rain & How to Spend $100 quickly...

We went to the North Liberty fields for Alex's game ... and waited until the games were called off because of lightening. On the way home, we stopped at the Rec Center and signed up the kids for swim lessons. They are both taking two sessions x $25 each = $100.

Bayside Review Posted!

http://www.dailyvault.com/article.php5?id=195

The best concert I'm not going to attend...

Bands Announced so far:
Rock Gone Wild in Algona, Iowa from 8/21-8/24 ... two 4-day General Admission Passes + one 20X20 tent site for only $175.00 ( plus shipping and taxes )
Puddle of Mudd
Saxon
Warrant
April Wine
Skid Row
Lita Ford
Dokken
Great White
Kix
Candlebox
Saving Abel
Eve 6
Tantric
Saigon Kick
Jackyl
Cherie Currie (lead singer of the Runaways)
LA guns (featuring Phil Lewis)
Honeymoon Suite
Tyketto
powerman 5000
Hardcore Superstar
Primal Fear
Helix
Armored Saint
Lizzy borden
Rhino Bucket
Black n' Blue
Dirty looks
Lillian Axe
Gypsy Pistoleros
Texas Hippie Coalition
Tigertailz
Crazy Lixx
Sick of Sarah
Ernie and the Automatics
Stuck on Stupid
Savior
Ashamed
Frainkenstein 3000
Mighty Swine
Downtread
... and more

Guardrail

The tune "Guardrail" by Bayside is my new favorite song. I have been listening to it a lot in the truck on the way to work. I like the part about the caught up, / In the day-to-day / Drama of being you / To notice me / And what's become of my eyes phrase the most. I know people like this, that are so self-involved that they don't notice other people or how their actions influence people that, if asked, they would consider their friend. So here are the lyrics to "Guardrail." It is from the Sirens and Condolences album.

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You wanted to know just what makes me tick,
I guess I could say that,
You and your bullshit,
Are pushing me towards an explosion.
I guess you're what drives me.

I wish I could ride you,
Drive you too fast into a sharp curve,
Break your neck like you broke my will,
The guardrail will take you home.

I guess you get caught up,
In the day-to-day,
Drama of being you.
To notice me,
And what's become of my eyes,
The vessels are an angry red,
Just like the blood from my
lips, as I chew on them.

I wish I could ride you,
Drive you too fast into a sharp curve,
Break your neck like you broke my will,
The guardrail will take you home.

I keep your picture as a reminder,
of what I wish I wasn't.
It's like a fun house mirror
version of myself, through
those f'ed up eyes of yours.

I wish I could ride you,
Drive you too fast into a sharp curve,
Break your neck like you broke my will,

The guardrail,
The guardrail,
The guardrail,
will take you home.

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You can sleep with a gun but when u going to wake up and fight for yourself?

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There are a lot of cool Metallica youtube videos from their recent hall of fame induction but this is the video that I wanted to include. It is not from 2009. I like the choppiness of how the guitar riff is played. I also like when the camera goes to Ozzy and you can see him singing along... and Hetfield's laughter towards the end of the guitar solo...

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And... flame me if you want - I don't care - I still contend that "St. Anger" is not the crap-ridden release that others make it out to be. I think SA is a great record. It can still receive a few spins in a row in my CD player & the title track is never skipped:

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No Words...

Masterpiece

It's MY JOB to READ!

And I didn't read the directions. Alex had a project due today and he and I worked on it last night from ~7:45-9:15. It was on Robert Feller, a baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. He was supposed to make a poster with pictures. I suggested printing pictures from the Internet, instead of drawing them, and gluing them on.

He is getting docked points for not reading the instructions that said, "Remember, not all of us are artist's (sp) so do your BEST Fourth Grade work in all of the drawing you do."

That means, no printing pictures from the Internet.

And this was an exercise in creativity how?

Also, he is getting docked points because it is not a colorful poster. Uh, the majority of the pictures printed were in COLOR INK! Hello?

Life goes on but I feel robbed...

Buzzing along...

Lauren, on Techwr-L, posted this today:

I guess it would be best to avoid (or use, in some cases) everything generated
http://www.1728.com/buzzword.htm
http://www.robietherobot.com/buzzword.htm,
but this one is exceptionally lovely
http://www.elfqrin.com/buzzwgen.html.
More fun
http://www.westegg.com/cliche/random.cgi.

Enjoy!

RIP

Captain Chaos is dead. He was 75 when he breathed his last. I remember always thinking Captain Chaos was a funny comedian. I remember being taken to see "The Cannonball Run," the movie in which he starred and liking it enough that I purchased the movie on DVD.

My kids don't think CC is very funny, but maybe, someday, they will.

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