Monday, January 23, 2006
Monday Afternoon Mash Up
There's a lot I want to say here, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, so consider this post a "living draft" and ignore the less-then-stellar quality of the writing.
The Steelers are going to the superbowl in Detroit. A perfect way for Bettis to retire. After watching him play this Sunday, I can see why he wants out. He is no longer tactically relevant. In the third quarter, he had rushed a total of 38 yards for 14 possessions. That means he averages less then 3 yards a possession. Every coach has figured out that when Bettis is standing next to Rothelsburger in the freaking center of the line, the odds are its going to Bettis, who's going to go straight down the line. So the defense responds by putting six guys in their center. Its just not getting the return it should. When they only need 1 or 2 yards and its gotta count, I can see it happening, but more and more, he's getting shut down.
But those are just the thoughts of a nit picky armchair quarterback.
I finally explored Morgantown. Well, I didn't explore much of it, but I drank at a house party. The load of crap I expected to get thrown my way for going to Pitt was a lot smaller then I expected, but then again, you really can't argue with a free education. And I haven't gone to a single Pitt football game, and I've rooted for WVU more times since moving here then I have for the panthers. Including the backyard brawl. But then again, Pitt's not a football school. In my mind, its a dark tower: Benedum.
I was also warned to be wary of abercrombie and fitch catalog model perfect people that would make me uncomfortable and socially conscious. I only saw one. And he was a pretty cool guy. So I didn't feel very self conscious.
But then again, I did spend a good hour getting ready by singing along to the postal service so I would be confident when I met people.
I don't know why I was so hesistant to go to Morgantown. I'm not anymore. It wasn't the Pitt-WVU rivalry. I think it was just the beginnings of me becoming a shut in.
I think anyone that's really been close to me remembers...hyperactivity...one might even say manic energy. The other side is how much I am a slave to my routine, afraid to deviate: Work, Work out, cook, read/game, sleep. Limited interaction through IM.
Which brings me to another social factor: A lot of WVU people asked the question: "Do you have MySpace?", to which my answer is "No, MySpace sucks ass." I don't like MySpace. Its blogs are public, so the people who blog on MySpace aren't really part of the *cringes as I type the phrase* blogosphere -- nobody but other MySpace users are reading. Don't get me wrong, that's still a lot of people, but think about the signal to noise and heat to light ratios generated by 40 million teenage girls obsessed with Hello Kitty and burnt out 20-somethings hoping to get humped by every guy in the Navy that stops off at Pensacola.
I also don't like it because it seems like MySpace pages are all based off web templates that fell off the ugly tree and hit every single branch on the way down. Then an ugly lumberjack came by and cut down the ugly tree, and it fell on the templates. Then an ugly dog came and pissed all over them. I think you get the point, the templates went on an ugly journey, or perhaps the designer was an fictional, retarded 9-year-old
To be honest, other blogging websites aren't much better -- Xanga and DeadJournal have obliterated readability for emo-goodness.
All I'm saying is compare a blogger.com template, while semi-generic or bland, or a livejournal template, and the site looks better to me.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I hate MySpace so much because it reminds me that my friends who are very capable of stylishly decorating their rooms in ways that will forever exceed mine, stylistically shit in their own nest on the web. And as a result, I get a punch in the eyes. The goggles, they do nothing...
But I guess the lock-out/lock-in that I spoke of is what really pissed me off. I already have empty profiles on other social networking websites because I keep all my shit up to date here. I don't want another bullshit profile just to read about "The Joys of Fleet Week" or "Why doesn't anyone like me?" or "Twenty Reasons why Staind is Better the PoD."
I really need to upgrade my machine so I can thresh around with GarageBand more. Thankfully, the day of upgrade goodness will be here quite soon.
Finally, I think I'm going into hiding this week, since I've got friends coming up this weekend. I need to clean and get ready to cook for whoever will be staying in the guest bedroom, which I assume with be Chuck and his girlfriend Linda. Janurary also marks the first month where I didn't complete a technology book, as I further complicate my social life by making music, gaming, hanging out with people, and working out more. I don't have as much time to develop on my own.
Anyway, I need to catch up on my career goals, and I think I need a little "me" time. I'm back in the world of dealing with a legacy production system. Suddenly, deadlines are all the more tighter, code changes all the more specific and tedious, and testing an ordeal. Its a grind. I have some ideas on how to clean it up, gleaned from the pragmatic programmer, but there are trade offs to my optimizations, and I'm not so sure they'll be such an easy sell, considering the effort/return ratio.
Has anyone else been loving the last two Penny-Arcade Comics, where their girlfriends find "embarressing things" on their computer?
One final thing: Apparently a computer virus is due to strike networks on Feb. 3rd. This one deletes data. Feb. 3rd is my first girlfriend's bday. Yeah, I'm a considerate fellow, I still remember. Its easy to remember, that's back in the days when I burned things into my memory. I'm sure she'd remember mine, but that doubled as our anniversery, so I'm sure she'd be as quick to forget it as I would be if I didn't happen to have to remember my birthday for signing up for all the online newspapers I love so much. But yeah, I just wanted to publically state that I had nothing to do with the creation of this virus. As soon as I heard, my first thought was: "Looks like I got off easy, compared to the other guy... :)"
The Steelers are going to the superbowl in Detroit. A perfect way for Bettis to retire. After watching him play this Sunday, I can see why he wants out. He is no longer tactically relevant. In the third quarter, he had rushed a total of 38 yards for 14 possessions. That means he averages less then 3 yards a possession. Every coach has figured out that when Bettis is standing next to Rothelsburger in the freaking center of the line, the odds are its going to Bettis, who's going to go straight down the line. So the defense responds by putting six guys in their center. Its just not getting the return it should. When they only need 1 or 2 yards and its gotta count, I can see it happening, but more and more, he's getting shut down.
But those are just the thoughts of a nit picky armchair quarterback.
I finally explored Morgantown. Well, I didn't explore much of it, but I drank at a house party. The load of crap I expected to get thrown my way for going to Pitt was a lot smaller then I expected, but then again, you really can't argue with a free education. And I haven't gone to a single Pitt football game, and I've rooted for WVU more times since moving here then I have for the panthers. Including the backyard brawl. But then again, Pitt's not a football school. In my mind, its a dark tower: Benedum.
I was also warned to be wary of abercrombie and fitch catalog model perfect people that would make me uncomfortable and socially conscious. I only saw one. And he was a pretty cool guy. So I didn't feel very self conscious.
But then again, I did spend a good hour getting ready by singing along to the postal service so I would be confident when I met people.
I don't know why I was so hesistant to go to Morgantown. I'm not anymore. It wasn't the Pitt-WVU rivalry. I think it was just the beginnings of me becoming a shut in.
I think anyone that's really been close to me remembers...hyperactivity...one might even say manic energy. The other side is how much I am a slave to my routine, afraid to deviate: Work, Work out, cook, read/game, sleep. Limited interaction through IM.
Which brings me to another social factor: A lot of WVU people asked the question: "Do you have MySpace?", to which my answer is "No, MySpace sucks ass." I don't like MySpace. Its blogs are public, so the people who blog on MySpace aren't really part of the *cringes as I type the phrase* blogosphere -- nobody but other MySpace users are reading. Don't get me wrong, that's still a lot of people, but think about the signal to noise and heat to light ratios generated by 40 million teenage girls obsessed with Hello Kitty and burnt out 20-somethings hoping to get humped by every guy in the Navy that stops off at Pensacola.
I also don't like it because it seems like MySpace pages are all based off web templates that fell off the ugly tree and hit every single branch on the way down. Then an ugly lumberjack came by and cut down the ugly tree, and it fell on the templates. Then an ugly dog came and pissed all over them. I think you get the point, the templates went on an ugly journey, or perhaps the designer was an fictional, retarded 9-year-old
To be honest, other blogging websites aren't much better -- Xanga and DeadJournal have obliterated readability for emo-goodness.
All I'm saying is compare a blogger.com template, while semi-generic or bland, or a livejournal template, and the site looks better to me.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I hate MySpace so much because it reminds me that my friends who are very capable of stylishly decorating their rooms in ways that will forever exceed mine, stylistically shit in their own nest on the web. And as a result, I get a punch in the eyes. The goggles, they do nothing...
But I guess the lock-out/lock-in that I spoke of is what really pissed me off. I already have empty profiles on other social networking websites because I keep all my shit up to date here. I don't want another bullshit profile just to read about "The Joys of Fleet Week" or "Why doesn't anyone like me?" or "Twenty Reasons why Staind is Better the PoD."
I really need to upgrade my machine so I can thresh around with GarageBand more. Thankfully, the day of upgrade goodness will be here quite soon.
Finally, I think I'm going into hiding this week, since I've got friends coming up this weekend. I need to clean and get ready to cook for whoever will be staying in the guest bedroom, which I assume with be Chuck and his girlfriend Linda. Janurary also marks the first month where I didn't complete a technology book, as I further complicate my social life by making music, gaming, hanging out with people, and working out more. I don't have as much time to develop on my own.
Anyway, I need to catch up on my career goals, and I think I need a little "me" time. I'm back in the world of dealing with a legacy production system. Suddenly, deadlines are all the more tighter, code changes all the more specific and tedious, and testing an ordeal. Its a grind. I have some ideas on how to clean it up, gleaned from the pragmatic programmer, but there are trade offs to my optimizations, and I'm not so sure they'll be such an easy sell, considering the effort/return ratio.
Has anyone else been loving the last two Penny-Arcade Comics, where their girlfriends find "embarressing things" on their computer?
One final thing: Apparently a computer virus is due to strike networks on Feb. 3rd. This one deletes data. Feb. 3rd is my first girlfriend's bday. Yeah, I'm a considerate fellow, I still remember. Its easy to remember, that's back in the days when I burned things into my memory. I'm sure she'd remember mine, but that doubled as our anniversery, so I'm sure she'd be as quick to forget it as I would be if I didn't happen to have to remember my birthday for signing up for all the online newspapers I love so much. But yeah, I just wanted to publically state that I had nothing to do with the creation of this virus. As soon as I heard, my first thought was: "Looks like I got off easy, compared to the other guy... :)"
