Thursday, March 30, 2006
More Mac Book Pro Pics
Can you tell I'm excited?
Me in my thinking cap.
Sweetness.
HOLY CRAP A MOVIE! AHH!
Everyone knows I'm "all about the box" :)
Me in my thinking cap.
Sweetness.
HOLY CRAP A MOVIE! AHH!
Everyone knows I'm "all about the box" :)
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
The story I promised to tell
Today did not start out like any regular day.
Around 6am my cell phone started ringing. Actually, I distinctly recall it only rang once. I have it set to the combination of vibrate/ring. The number wasn't in my address book. My thinking at six am is cloudy. I put the phone back down and went back to bed.
7am the phone rings. Again. I am peeved. I stupidly think this must be because I updated my resume on monster. The calls haven't stopped. I'm not planning on going anywhere. I just updated it to keep things current. I decide to answer the phone. If a recruiter is rude enough to call when I'm just waking up, I'm going to chew him out.
"Hello," I say into my cellphone. Just waiting for the other end to start into their spiel.
"Chris, where are you?"
I recognize the voice on the other end as my program manager. I am fully awake and cognizant. It dawns on me that we underwent a 2 hour migration install of our latest and greatest onto our production server yesterday at work. By we, of course, I mean that I spearheaded the migration, and if anything went wrong, it was my ass.
I liked my ass. It had cushioning.
The correct answer was exactly what I said into the phone: "Now."
I live 4 miles from where I work.
I skipped a shower, shave, and something delicious in my stomach. I threw on the first pair of pants I found on the floor of my apartment. The white t-shirt I wore to sleep will have to do. My hair is a disaster. I throw on my thinking cap -- the hat I always wear -- and run out the door.
I look as unprofessional as I sound.
My car starts up, and Paul Oakenfold comes to life with some mindless trance techno that magically keeps me awake on those road trips I take on the weekend.
I arrive at work, wave in using my RFID badge, run up three flights, and get to my office. My PM informs me what the problem is: "We have a work stoppage. New development has made it onto the new server."
New development. Before running through our migration checklist, I was working on new development.
What was Murphy's Law again?
To make a long story short, I had placed a page in 'debug' mode, while I was adding new features to it. My computer's clock was not in sync with the clock on our CVS Server. So when I checked out the branch of code all tagged and ready for production, the file I had modified (and committed) was still seen as modified. The modified file stuck around, essentially overriding the copy I was pulling from CVS.
And then I ran the build script, and *BOOM*, our users couldn't do work.
It took all of 30 seconds to pull the correct file out of CVS and compile it on the server. But it was still embarrassing.
I find out then that FedEx has delivered my Mac Book Pro two days early. Or would have, if I was home to sign for it.
However, I did manage to pick it up. And its working tremendously. So that's a minor consolation.
That, and I still have my ass.
Around 6am my cell phone started ringing. Actually, I distinctly recall it only rang once. I have it set to the combination of vibrate/ring. The number wasn't in my address book. My thinking at six am is cloudy. I put the phone back down and went back to bed.
7am the phone rings. Again. I am peeved. I stupidly think this must be because I updated my resume on monster. The calls haven't stopped. I'm not planning on going anywhere. I just updated it to keep things current. I decide to answer the phone. If a recruiter is rude enough to call when I'm just waking up, I'm going to chew him out.
"Hello," I say into my cellphone. Just waiting for the other end to start into their spiel.
"Chris, where are you?"
I recognize the voice on the other end as my program manager. I am fully awake and cognizant. It dawns on me that we underwent a 2 hour migration install of our latest and greatest onto our production server yesterday at work. By we, of course, I mean that I spearheaded the migration, and if anything went wrong, it was my ass.
I liked my ass. It had cushioning.
The correct answer was exactly what I said into the phone: "Now."
I live 4 miles from where I work.
I skipped a shower, shave, and something delicious in my stomach. I threw on the first pair of pants I found on the floor of my apartment. The white t-shirt I wore to sleep will have to do. My hair is a disaster. I throw on my thinking cap -- the hat I always wear -- and run out the door.
I look as unprofessional as I sound.
My car starts up, and Paul Oakenfold comes to life with some mindless trance techno that magically keeps me awake on those road trips I take on the weekend.
I arrive at work, wave in using my RFID badge, run up three flights, and get to my office. My PM informs me what the problem is: "We have a work stoppage. New development has made it onto the new server."
New development. Before running through our migration checklist, I was working on new development.
What was Murphy's Law again?
To make a long story short, I had placed a page in 'debug' mode, while I was adding new features to it. My computer's clock was not in sync with the clock on our CVS Server. So when I checked out the branch of code all tagged and ready for production, the file I had modified (and committed) was still seen as modified. The modified file stuck around, essentially overriding the copy I was pulling from CVS.
And then I ran the build script, and *BOOM*, our users couldn't do work.
It took all of 30 seconds to pull the correct file out of CVS and compile it on the server. But it was still embarrassing.
I find out then that FedEx has delivered my Mac Book Pro two days early. Or would have, if I was home to sign for it.
However, I did manage to pick it up. And its working tremendously. So that's a minor consolation.
That, and I still have my ass.
New Intel Powerbook
Take a look at this:
Its frickin' sweet.
Its frickin' sweet.
Right now in Pittsburgh...
At a FedEX sorting facility...is my Mac Book Pro!
I'm definitely excited. Its been a while since I've been an 'early adopter', hardware wise. I have friends telling me that doing SLI graphics cards is great and all, but only at super-crazy resolutions, and in six months time, someone will come out with a single graphics card that's better than your two.
Its not an arm's race I feel like competing in, simply because an xbox or gamecube doesn't need upgrading, and the graphics only get better with time.
Also, I'm not objecting to people commenting on the blog. I do, of course, reserve the right to delete something fuckwittedly posted. I know a friend of mine of the west coast berated me for responding to a derogatory comment. My response was, "Its no fun if I don't play too!".
But by all means comment on things. If you're reading this, and I'm writing this, we've both probably got better things to do with our time, and we aren't doing them.
Anyways, I have a story to tell people, but later. Just know that I'm excited to grab a dual core laptop that will suit my needs.
I'm definitely excited. Its been a while since I've been an 'early adopter', hardware wise. I have friends telling me that doing SLI graphics cards is great and all, but only at super-crazy resolutions, and in six months time, someone will come out with a single graphics card that's better than your two.
Its not an arm's race I feel like competing in, simply because an xbox or gamecube doesn't need upgrading, and the graphics only get better with time.
Also, I'm not objecting to people commenting on the blog. I do, of course, reserve the right to delete something fuckwittedly posted. I know a friend of mine of the west coast berated me for responding to a derogatory comment. My response was, "Its no fun if I don't play too!".
But by all means comment on things. If you're reading this, and I'm writing this, we've both probably got better things to do with our time, and we aren't doing them.
Anyways, I have a story to tell people, but later. Just know that I'm excited to grab a dual core laptop that will suit my needs.
Monday, March 27, 2006
I joined MySpace.com
For those of you reading the title, stop blinking and wondering why. I didn't join MySpace to belong. I'm more than happy not to belong to a never ending "look at my cool drinking / clubbing/ at a show / being slutty " pic contest. I left high school.
I also like a web page devoid of GIANT FLASH ADS and BLINK tags. And a layout that's borderline comprehensible. Yeah, I use a blogger.com template. I'm lazy. Your Myspace page is a giant eyesore. What's your excuse?
And that's why I use Orkut, Google's Invite only social networking site (and so do my friends), or this blog.
Or we just try to stay off the radar completely.
But, to sum it up, I'll still be here, blogging away, its just that I'll be able to read everyone's rants on MySpace as well.
I also like a web page devoid of GIANT FLASH ADS and BLINK tags. And a layout that's borderline comprehensible. Yeah, I use a blogger.com template. I'm lazy. Your Myspace page is a giant eyesore. What's your excuse?
And that's why I use Orkut, Google's Invite only social networking site (and so do my friends), or this blog.
Or we just try to stay off the radar completely.
But, to sum it up, I'll still be here, blogging away, its just that I'll be able to read everyone's rants on MySpace as well.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
New Glasses
So what does everybody think of the new glasses?
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
David Cross, Eating a Tasty Whopper
Doesn't that just make you hungry for a BK Chicken Sandwhich for some reason?
Saturday, March 18, 2006
V For Vedetta, A Review
I think the typical American is going to walk out of "V For Vendetta" wondering "What the fuck did I just pay to watch?"
The answer, of course, is the best film shown in 2006 so far, and for those of us who couldn't put the comic down, all I can say is that its transition to film was done awesomely.
There were some things wrong with the comic, however, that they've updated for the movie. The comic was written before real studies had been conducted or released about the worldwide impacts of multiple nuclear exchanges between America and the Soviet Union. The term "Nuclear Winter" hadn't been thought up yet. So it was assumed that if Britain removed itself from NATO (which they update to 'coalition of the willing'), it would be safe from any ensuring nuclear war when the cold war heated up.
Since that premise no longer holds up, the terror of the day is biological terrorism.
This changes the bombed up, quarantined, irradiated London from the comic book to a busting megaopolis, with a fascism more palable. The government and the corporations are run by essentially one party, who's platform is nationalistic socialism.
They call the systemic rounding up of all Irish, Black, Jew, Gay, Muslim, Socialist, Activist, and non-angelic Catholic persons 'The reclamation' as opposed to 'mandatory resettlement'. They show mass graves instead of a creamatorium.
But the baisc premise of the comic, which is the marketing catchphrase for the movie, "People should not fear their governments, governments should fear their people." holds true.
Evey Hammond is transformed from a 16 year old girl working at an ammunition factory with other orphans, who violates curfew to work the streets (and is caught by the finger, and rescued by V on her first night of doing so) to an executive assistant on the future's FOX News (slash whatever government proproghanda station you like watching these days). She's an 'educated revolutionary'. Instead of being illiterate, and having V teach her to read, she can quote Shakespeare with the best of them.
Still, regardless of what you think of the movie, the friend I saw it with jumped during the violence. It kept her at the edge of her seat. She was, literally, wrapped up in the movie. Invested in the plot as it unfolded. She didn't know what was going to happen because she isn't a comic book nerd such as myself. And I think how moving it was to her speaks volumes for this film.
The answer, of course, is the best film shown in 2006 so far, and for those of us who couldn't put the comic down, all I can say is that its transition to film was done awesomely.
There were some things wrong with the comic, however, that they've updated for the movie. The comic was written before real studies had been conducted or released about the worldwide impacts of multiple nuclear exchanges between America and the Soviet Union. The term "Nuclear Winter" hadn't been thought up yet. So it was assumed that if Britain removed itself from NATO (which they update to 'coalition of the willing'), it would be safe from any ensuring nuclear war when the cold war heated up.
Since that premise no longer holds up, the terror of the day is biological terrorism.
This changes the bombed up, quarantined, irradiated London from the comic book to a busting megaopolis, with a fascism more palable. The government and the corporations are run by essentially one party, who's platform is nationalistic socialism.
They call the systemic rounding up of all Irish, Black, Jew, Gay, Muslim, Socialist, Activist, and non-angelic Catholic persons 'The reclamation' as opposed to 'mandatory resettlement'. They show mass graves instead of a creamatorium.
But the baisc premise of the comic, which is the marketing catchphrase for the movie, "People should not fear their governments, governments should fear their people." holds true.
Evey Hammond is transformed from a 16 year old girl working at an ammunition factory with other orphans, who violates curfew to work the streets (and is caught by the finger, and rescued by V on her first night of doing so) to an executive assistant on the future's FOX News (slash whatever government proproghanda station you like watching these days). She's an 'educated revolutionary'. Instead of being illiterate, and having V teach her to read, she can quote Shakespeare with the best of them.
Still, regardless of what you think of the movie, the friend I saw it with jumped during the violence. It kept her at the edge of her seat. She was, literally, wrapped up in the movie. Invested in the plot as it unfolded. She didn't know what was going to happen because she isn't a comic book nerd such as myself. And I think how moving it was to her speaks volumes for this film.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Back Ups Are Painful
My mac has the first Firewire chipset on the market.
It apprently works great with the iPod. It doesn't work so great when you're trying to back up your movie and television library, a whole 34.5GBs of Data.
The back up hung twice. It was just like the Firewire drive I was back up to just dropped off the face of the planet.
I really need to just bite the bullet and buy a new computer so I don't have to baby sit it as much. It is going to suck coming home from work today and moving 1 or 2 GBs of data at a time, to make sure it gets backed up all good and proper.
It apprently works great with the iPod. It doesn't work so great when you're trying to back up your movie and television library, a whole 34.5GBs of Data.
The back up hung twice. It was just like the Firewire drive I was back up to just dropped off the face of the planet.
I really need to just bite the bullet and buy a new computer so I don't have to baby sit it as much. It is going to suck coming home from work today and moving 1 or 2 GBs of data at a time, to make sure it gets backed up all good and proper.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Welcome Federal Agents
I knew at some point in my life, I'd probably undergo a background check. This is that part of life that everyone hates. Where a complete stranger takes all the documented pieces of your life, assembles them to his or her (dis)liking, applies the secret patriotism sauce, and determines whether or not you're worthy of holding secrets.
Both my uncles hold or held Top Secret Clearances, one of them with a "Eyes Only, Need to Know" clearance on top of that. My family has also had a history of progressive activism and vocal dissent. My parents grew in an era where civil rights leaders spoke of a dream, where friends dropped out of college to help African Americans register to vote, despite threats of violence. I know my parents wrote to their senators, and pleaded for a resolution to the Vietnam conflict.
I think both fall in the line of Patriotic values.
What is disconcerting, to say the least, is that I might have been covertly investigated. This article on the ACLU's website shows that a pacifist organization, the Thomas Merton Center, was secretly investigated by the FBI, specifically because it posed peaceful opposition to the Iraq War.
I was a foot soldier for the Thomas Merton Center. I went to vigils. I signed petitions. I spoke out when it was my turn, and bowed my head in silence when led in prayer for the victims (of both sides) of 9/11 and the War on Terror.
I doubt most of the fulltime TMC staff would remember me. I was just another college kid in the crowd at the events. Another person to pass out flyers on campus, or bug my friends for signatures. But I'm sure my name is somewhere on their petitions. Face somewhere in a photo.
I think the issue here is one that is tantamount to democracy: The right to voice dissent peacefully. The right to lawfully protest without repercussions. If the government feels the need to secretly investigate people who are lawfully, legally, and civilly protesting, it makes you wonder why its so afraid? Maybe at some level, the powers-that-be are aware that America isn't pleased with the bait-and-switch war mongering of the Bush administration? That some might deem their actions 'immoral'?
Right now, the majority of America disapproves of the current administration, and I have a feeling that even still, the majority is afraid to voice it opinion. This administration has shown no quarter to Americans who voice dissent. From arresting Cindy Sheehan to investigating bloodthirsty peacemongers to CIA proproghanda passed off as news in Iraq, one can only wonder if this administration has had the 1st amendment flown down to Gitmo to be tortured.
I will no doubt undergo a second background check at some point in the future. It comes with the line of work.
Hopefully the agency doing it will be decent enough to tell me they're doing it.
Both my uncles hold or held Top Secret Clearances, one of them with a "Eyes Only, Need to Know" clearance on top of that. My family has also had a history of progressive activism and vocal dissent. My parents grew in an era where civil rights leaders spoke of a dream, where friends dropped out of college to help African Americans register to vote, despite threats of violence. I know my parents wrote to their senators, and pleaded for a resolution to the Vietnam conflict.
I think both fall in the line of Patriotic values.
What is disconcerting, to say the least, is that I might have been covertly investigated. This article on the ACLU's website shows that a pacifist organization, the Thomas Merton Center, was secretly investigated by the FBI, specifically because it posed peaceful opposition to the Iraq War.
I was a foot soldier for the Thomas Merton Center. I went to vigils. I signed petitions. I spoke out when it was my turn, and bowed my head in silence when led in prayer for the victims (of both sides) of 9/11 and the War on Terror.
I doubt most of the fulltime TMC staff would remember me. I was just another college kid in the crowd at the events. Another person to pass out flyers on campus, or bug my friends for signatures. But I'm sure my name is somewhere on their petitions. Face somewhere in a photo.
I think the issue here is one that is tantamount to democracy: The right to voice dissent peacefully. The right to lawfully protest without repercussions. If the government feels the need to secretly investigate people who are lawfully, legally, and civilly protesting, it makes you wonder why its so afraid? Maybe at some level, the powers-that-be are aware that America isn't pleased with the bait-and-switch war mongering of the Bush administration? That some might deem their actions 'immoral'?
Right now, the majority of America disapproves of the current administration, and I have a feeling that even still, the majority is afraid to voice it opinion. This administration has shown no quarter to Americans who voice dissent. From arresting Cindy Sheehan to investigating bloodthirsty peacemongers to CIA proproghanda passed off as news in Iraq, one can only wonder if this administration has had the 1st amendment flown down to Gitmo to be tortured.
I will no doubt undergo a second background check at some point in the future. It comes with the line of work.
Hopefully the agency doing it will be decent enough to tell me they're doing it.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
South Dakota Bans Abortion, Former Bush Aide Charged with Retail Shoplifting
I think my friend speaks for me best with this AIM transcript:
(12:33:04) Redrobot5050: he's from philly
(12:33:10) Redrobot5050: and believes in abstinance-only sex ed
(12:33:20) Redrobot5050: apprantly he's from that 'utopia' part of philly
(12:33:36) valatruck: lol
(12:33:39) valatruck: the projects /
(12:33:39) Redrobot5050: where magic 'top-down' policies from 'out-of-touch government administrations' can save the world
(12:34:16) valatruck: abstinance-only sex ed is a good idea
(12:34:22) valatruck: gives you more time to shoplift
(12:34:58) Redrobot5050: double true
(12:35:11) Redrobot5050: and if abstinence fails
(12:35:20) Redrobot5050: there's always the "chuck norris abortion pill"
(12:35:27) Redrobot5050: a double roundhouse to the stomach of your gf
(12:35:49) valatruck: yup, my gf and i have a pact
(12:35:53) valatruck: if she gets pregnant
(12:35:58) valatruck: im buying her a football helmet
(12:36:04) valatruck: and we're going to push her down the steps
(12:36:35) valatruck: that should take care of it (since i can't get birth control from wal-mart anymore due to activist pharmicists)
(12:33:04) Redrobot5050: he's from philly
(12:33:10) Redrobot5050: and believes in abstinance-only sex ed
(12:33:20) Redrobot5050: apprantly he's from that 'utopia' part of philly
(12:33:36) valatruck: lol
(12:33:39) valatruck: the projects /
(12:33:39) Redrobot5050: where magic 'top-down' policies from 'out-of-touch government administrations' can save the world
(12:34:16) valatruck: abstinance-only sex ed is a good idea
(12:34:22) valatruck: gives you more time to shoplift
(12:34:58) Redrobot5050: double true
(12:35:11) Redrobot5050: and if abstinence fails
(12:35:20) Redrobot5050: there's always the "chuck norris abortion pill"
(12:35:27) Redrobot5050: a double roundhouse to the stomach of your gf
(12:35:49) valatruck: yup, my gf and i have a pact
(12:35:53) valatruck: if she gets pregnant
(12:35:58) valatruck: im buying her a football helmet
(12:36:04) valatruck: and we're going to push her down the steps
(12:36:35) valatruck: that should take care of it (since i can't get birth control from wal-mart anymore due to activist pharmicists)
Friday, March 10, 2006
Speed Metal, Rediscovered
I've been really trying to get into Filter's third album lately.
Many of you are probably lost there, shaking your head, wondering "Filter made a third album?"
Yeah. It received mixed reviews, because while the majority of the tracks are impressive, the album itself doesn't really stand out. The blend of mellow, heartfelt songs, and hard, angry agressive songs seems like an effort to appease the old fans of "Hey, Man, Nice Shot" and the new fans of "Awake On My Airplane".
They are radically diverse fan bases. You can appreciate their softer, poppier music, even though you loathe to say you like it. Its not why you'd run down to a record store and BUY a Filter album. I'm sure for fans of the softer, more modern Filter, the reverse is equally true. But I digress...
The harder songs gave me pause, however. The distortion, the fast, angry, adrenalin filled guitar chords. The machine-gun like verbal barrage.
Filter must be a fan of the group Orange 9mm.
I've been a long time fan of Orange 9mm. Ever since I went through Peter's CD collection while he was at college. Orange 9mm stands out as a precursor to hardcore music. It has the same intensity, but not of the suckage of shitty indie music that basically equates to a sonic enema. It is not some laughable excuse of "pre-hardcore" music.
However, the CDs were lost when my car was stolen.
Thankfully, Orange 9mm's three albums are offered online via iTunes. For a mere a $19.98 you can discover what speed metal can be. It will flatten your balls. You will be left with a feeling of "Drowing Pool and Korn are mere posers."
Check 'em out.
Many of you are probably lost there, shaking your head, wondering "Filter made a third album?"
Yeah. It received mixed reviews, because while the majority of the tracks are impressive, the album itself doesn't really stand out. The blend of mellow, heartfelt songs, and hard, angry agressive songs seems like an effort to appease the old fans of "Hey, Man, Nice Shot" and the new fans of "Awake On My Airplane".
They are radically diverse fan bases. You can appreciate their softer, poppier music, even though you loathe to say you like it. Its not why you'd run down to a record store and BUY a Filter album. I'm sure for fans of the softer, more modern Filter, the reverse is equally true. But I digress...
The harder songs gave me pause, however. The distortion, the fast, angry, adrenalin filled guitar chords. The machine-gun like verbal barrage.
Filter must be a fan of the group Orange 9mm.
I've been a long time fan of Orange 9mm. Ever since I went through Peter's CD collection while he was at college. Orange 9mm stands out as a precursor to hardcore music. It has the same intensity, but not of the suckage of shitty indie music that basically equates to a sonic enema. It is not some laughable excuse of "pre-hardcore" music.
However, the CDs were lost when my car was stolen.
Thankfully, Orange 9mm's three albums are offered online via iTunes. For a mere a $19.98 you can discover what speed metal can be. It will flatten your balls. You will be left with a feeling of "Drowing Pool and Korn are mere posers."
Check 'em out.
