Updates from December, 2002 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • adam 01:51 on 2002/12/31 Permalink  

    Buy me an H2 

    While wishing I had won the recent PowerBall lottery, I realized that among the treats for friends and family, I would have bought myself a Hummer H2.
    Tonight I made the mistake of configuring one via their website, and now I really want one. Too bad it’ll cost about, oooooh, $55,000 or so. A little bit more than I can afford right now. Which is where you come in – wanna loan me $50,000? Maybe I should set up a site like buy me a ferrari.com….
    (5 minutes later…. I just checked the “buy me a ferrari” site, and I had the wrong link. And when I fixed it, the site as it was is there no more. But you get the idea, I think, just from the domain name….)
    (the next day…. I just read an article about the H2 at the SFGate.com. I’ll admit that it’s not the most environmentally friendly vehicle, but in my defense, I don’t plan on driving it all the time – just when I have a reason. I’m not sure what those reasons are, but I’ll figure them out later… :) )

     

    • lee 14:51 on 2002/12/31 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Happy New Year, Adam!
      I don’t want an H2. I want the real thing, the big Hummer. For just one day, for a trip on I-95 so I can get even with all the a-holes. If not a Hummer, a tank will do. Or any given atmosphere-eating-trash-the-planet-for-your-children SUV. If you’ve ever changed lanes without using your turn indicator, I’ll let you know if my fantasy ever comes true ’cause you’re a friend. Unless you’re driving an H2 — in which case …

  • adam 23:27 on 2002/12/30 Permalink  

    Less OB/GYN's for deliveries? 

    nbc30.com – Health – More Doctors To Stop Delivering Babies
    So I watched it ’cause my wife is in that field – whatever. The article I’ve referred to, by the way, is not what they broadcast on the air tonight – it’s a wire story, but since the station can’t seem to keep their website updated (unlike their competitor), it will do.
    Apparently, out of 85 OB/GYN’s the station polled, 28 (or 33%) were going to stop doing OB work. The reason is that they’re paying upwards of $50,000 a year for their malpractice insurance – so can you blame them?
    Anyway, the only reason I’m even mentioning this is a great quote from the story – some woman who lives in Columbia, CT, complaining about how if there are fewer OB/GYN’s to deliver babies, then she’d have to drive further to find one.
    I’ve lived in Connecticut for 28 years, and I have never, ever, heard of Columbia, CT. Since this station seems to favor the northern part of the state, I’ll make a stab and guess it’s up there. Guess what? If you live in the ass-end of nowhere, you’re going to have to drive far to do ANYTHING. Apparently all of the OB/GYN’s in Connecticut have their offices in the southern part of the state…

     

    • Jay 07:49 on 2003/01/06 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Excellent point about the cost of Mal insurance. With respect to Ct. how long does it take to travel from one end to the other? Not that far, if my faulty memory serves me correctly.
      Great blog…I am adding you to my links.

  • adam 23:41 on 2002/12/29 Permalink  

    What I would have spent my lottery winnings on… 

    CNN.com – California town for sale on eBay – Dec. 25, 2002
    Ok, so I wouldn’t just buy the town – I’d obviously have just a little – ok, a lot – of money left over. I’d help the folks living there fix up their houses, come up with some kick-ass attraction to make money on the area, and then go back to Plan A: taking over the world.

     

  • adam 00:17 on 2002/12/28 Permalink  

    Welcome each day as a fresh new beginning.

     

  • adam 00:09 on 2002/12/28 Permalink  

    Great acts of kindness will befall you in the coming months.

     

  • adam 00:18 on 2002/12/27 Permalink  

    laptop toy: kensington FlyLight 

    I bought one of these FlyLight things on a lark – I don’t fly that much (their primary purpose), but I figured it couldn’t be too horrible – plus it was cheap.
    I use my laptop in bed a lot, and when my wife goes to sleep, sometimes she wants the lights off – which I can understand. Sometimes I have one of the kids in bed, in which case, that’s another good reason.
    Either way, this thing kicks butt. You just plug it into your USB slot and that’s it. It’s got a pretty powerful LED that puts out enough light for the whole keyboard, or a document that you may want to read. If you’re working off of battery, then you don’t have to worry about it draining your battery faster – it’s only supposed to use less than 90 seconds of power for every hour of use – not too shabby.
    And if you look at it, it’s kinda cool. I have also used it on my desktop computer. It’s a tower, and sits under my desk – not exactly an easy place to work when you’re, say, untangling a power cord, or trying to add another device to the home network. Plug this into the USB port and suddenly I can see what I’m doing – with a minimum of fuss.
    Check it out – and if you get a good price, just pick one up – you’ll probably find a reason or way to use it.

     

  • adam 23:51 on 2002/12/26 Permalink  

    If they outlaw training manuals…. 

    then only outlaws will get training.
    Defense Watch has a report by Ralph W. Omholt on his experience with buying the ground-school training course CD-Rom for a Boeing 737. He had a legitimate reason – he’s a “career pilot qualified to captain the Boeing 737 and an instructor pilot” – and was contacted by the seller of the CD to return it, as the FBI was asking for the CD to be returned. After doing so, Omholt was then subpeona’d for a federal grand jury investigation about the CDRom.
    It would be interesting to know more, but apparently once you receive such a subpeona, you’re not allowed to talk about it – thanks to the “USA Patriot Act.”

     

  • adam 00:15 on 2002/12/24 Permalink  

    Just an entry for my peeps 

    Not much to say – we’ve so far been unsuccessful on the “Sweet Magic Kitchen” front, but hope springs eternal. Ever toy store we’ve been to is sold out, and now the “runner up” kitchen toy is sold out too. Jen made a pre-emptive strike with :emma: by telling her that we found out from Santa’s Elves that they were running low on the kitchen set she wanted, so she may not be able to get it for Christmas. I told her I’d email the big guy and see if we could find out more – and maybe get her on a list to let Santa know what she wants a little earlier, since she didn’t tell him about it until it was too late. She took it in stride, so that’s good. Sometimes I love the amount of flexibility parents have when working with these things.
    In other news, it would appear that we’ve just won a free DVD player. Our chiropractor’s office was holding a raffle for all their patients – every visit got you another entry in the drawing. We’ve only been once each since this started, so we had two entries. I called the house earlier tonight to see if there were any messages, and lo and behold, there was – we won! It seems to be the same model we already have in the basement, but this is good for two reasons: a) it means Jen won’t have to learn how to use another “toy,” and b) it means I can finally watch DVD’s in the bedroom without having to hook my laptop up to the TV (with cables running all over the place to accomplish that).
    Pair winning the DVD player with a very nice dinner over at a friends house (pork chops – mmmmmmmm!) and you have a very enjoyable evening.
    I’m going to sleep now – more soon, probably after the Christmas festivities and such.

     

  • adam 00:54 on 2002/12/22 Permalink  

    Caveat blogger: watch what you say, or it'll bite you in the ass 

    Free Speech — Virtually (TechNews.com)
    With a background in journalism, I understand wat they’re saying – Joe Q. Public, who’s never blogged before, may not know he’s crossing a line when he starts railing on a company or person that wronged him.
    If it’s a fact that can be backed up, you’re probably ok – but when you start involving opinions, you get into tricky territory.
    Add in when people write about work, and you’ve got even more fun. When I was laid off, I consulted with a labor lawyer. He found out about my blog (probably from emails we exchanged – it’s in my mail signature) and reviewed it. One of the things he suggested was that I remove the note I wrote after being laid off. I didn’t take it off, since I didn’t name any names (especially not the companies name – wouldn’t want to give them any more free advertising than I accidentally gave them when I first started there) nor give any specifics, but he thought that a potential future employer may take issue with it – and that it might not reflect well on me. The jury’s still out on that, but I left it in ’cause I believe in freedom of the press – especially when it’s my press ;) .

     

  • adam 00:25 on 2002/12/22 Permalink  

    Mad Max and the scoot-jockeys… 

    FX networks is showing Mad Max. It’s the first time I’ve seen it in a very long time – so long, in fact, that it’s almost like watching it for the first time. The dialog feels wrong, and the accents, while Aussie, just don’t feel right either. I figure it’s ’cause I watched it when I was younger, so I was more into the story than the dialog and writing.
    Either way, watching it now is kinda funny – the “fashion” at the time was supposed to be a bit futuristic, but it’s just kinda cheesy by todays standards. But the movie is still excellent – that transcends fashion!

     

  • adam 00:18 on 2002/12/22 Permalink  

    Using the local webserver 

    If you use Mac OSX, then you’re machine is also a webserver – you just need to know how to deal with it. Turn it on in the Sharing preference panel, then look in /Library/WebServer/Documents – that’s where your “root” directory is. Put images, notes to yourself, whatever you want in there, and it’s accessable from your web browser – either go to http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1 to view it. If you’re on a network (i.e. you have multiple computers at home, or you’re in an office), then other folks can access your computer (via Apples Rendezvous or by your IP address) – so be careful what you put there!

     

  • adam 01:11 on 2002/12/20 Permalink  

    It's sweet AND magic! 

    So, we’ve seen more than a few Santas in the last week or two. And lots of people who see a little girl (aka :emma: ) and ask if she asked Santa for anything for Christmas.
    Up until recently, she didn’t really specify anything. But she’s been quite adamant lately in saying that she wants a Sweet Magic Kitchen.
    We didn’t buy her one for Christmas. She’s got other stuff to look forward to – stuff I’m sure she’ll love. But this is the first we’ve heard of any kitchen sets.
    And it’s not just that she asks for it, it’s that she says “I want the sweet magic kitchen because it’s sweet AND magic and I can change the colors with hot or cold water.”
    Just like that, all in one breath. And she’s beginning to believe she’s getting it just a little too fervantly – like to the point that we’re starting to worry about her reaction if she doesn’t get it from Santa. So…..
    We’ve been trying to find one. Amazon/Toys ‘R Us/Target don’t have any in stock (of course, their online stores are all basically the same place). The local Toys ‘R Us didn’t have any – the staff at the customer service desk heard me asking an employee and all but shouted that they’re out of stock.
    So tomorrow I’m casting a wider net and trying several stores in nearby towns.
    Think good thoughts for me, will you?

     

    • Sabrina Grobleben 20:11 on 2003/03/02 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Did you ever find the Sweet Magic Kitchen? I just started looking for one for my daughters birthday later this month and can not find one. I was told by calling the 1-800 number for Fisher Price that they were not going to make any more, but that doesn’t make sense because they just released on 08/21/02 and it has been awarded several top 2002 toy awards. (I also did not see a recall so it makes even less sense.)
      Let me know what you find out as I have already sent an email to Fisher Price and am going to Mattels web site next.
      Thanks!!

  • adam 10:40 on 2002/12/19 Permalink  

    Beset on all sides by spammers… 

    My consulting business has it’s own website and all that – it’s over at computerboy.com. It’s also got it’s own spam hi-jacker. Some nimrod has been sending out spam from a non-existant email address at my domain name – and since it’s spam, there’s a large number of messages that aren’t going through. Guess who gets those error messages? Me.
    Dozens of them. And it’s really starting to irritate me. I’ve been filing abuse reports with the various upstream providers and dial-in owners (a whole two companies – this spammer isn’t that bright, apparently), but I know that won’t stop them from doing it.
    At the same time, I’ve got a mail server in my basement that I use for my own testing and other nefarious purposes. I thought I had it locked down so it wasn’t just an open relay. I was wrong. I just got through reading over 100 bounce messages from that, and reports from several “watch dog” groups that have now black-listed that server. I don’t mind so much, since I don’t really use it for mail, but it’s irritating, and now I have to re-check everything to see where I went wrong, then have them re-check the server. Man does spam suck.
    And you know what? It’s not “free” or no-cost. They send it out at the expense of others (i.e. you and me, who have to pay more for dialup and server fees so that the ISP’s can handle the load), then I have to waste what little free time I have during the day to try to get work done with dealing with it – meaning that I have to push back important projects with deadlines that I’m already close to missing.
    Someone find me who did this. Or re-invent email so that it won’t happen anymore.

     

    • lee 16:25 on 2002/12/19 Permalink | Log in to Reply

      Sounds ugly. Hope this means only your domain name is being blocked and not the IP address for our webserver — that would be a total Bad Thing.
      Maybe you should ask for help, like that guy did who asked for help tracking down the guy who stole his powerbook by paying for it with a face cashier’s check.

  • adam 11:03 on 2002/12/18 Permalink  

    Free advertising pays off 

    When it’s for a good cause. If you go to Excedrin.com between now and December 31, just click on the “Toys for Tots” link and the folks at Excedrin.com will donate money to the Marines for use with the “Toys for Tots” campaign. It’s for a good cause – so just do it!
    Excedrin Headache Resource Center

     

  • adam 00:10 on 2002/12/17 Permalink  

    Yes, it's been a while…. 

    Yeah, I know it’s been a few days – sorry, but the kids have been sharing various ailments (aka all three of them had an ear infection at once a couple of weeks ago) and now it seems like the cycle is starting anew – :abby:’s been cranky in the way that suggests another round of ear infections. Joy.
    In other news, I took some cool photos at a recent trip to the middle-of-nowhere, CT, to see a Christmas display. I’m hoping to have them finished soon. There’s other stuff in there, so I’ll try to post it all at once and make everyone (aka me) happy.

     

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