I'm Back!

Yesterday at around 5:45PM my year officially ended. I unplugged the intercom, disconnected the sound system, and put things as "away" as I could convince myself to.

One of the advantages of working in academia is the seasonality of the work: there is a definite ebb and flow to things. Summer is almost here, and for the next two weeks I get what is usually (and still hopefully) a proper run up to Summer.

Here's hoping . . .

-D

What is the downside?

I've been trolling around the behemoth known as Google for the last few days exploring the very nooks and crannies that make them what they are. I got a gmail account a few years ago thanks to a good friend who sent me an invite. I now use that address for all my academically related items. I started blogging a year and a half ago just to see what all the stuff was about, and have enjoyed the creativity that it affords me. I recently started probing around and have discovered a slate of features that make me both excited and a little cautious:

Google Calendar is a very nice feature that will send me an SMS message when I have an appointment listed on their service.

Google Reader is an RSS aggregator that is surprisingly easy to use, and lets me keep all my usual haunts (at least those with RSS functionality) in one place.

Google Earth is a wonderful way to kill time while zooming in and out on your favorite vacation spots. People have actually plotted points of interest here that include (among others): airplanes photographed in flight, cruise ships docked in multiple places simultaneously, and people doing ordinary things outside.

Google also has a docs and spreadsheet feature that they basically bought outright from Writely. The concept is cool, but the funcionality of it has me thinking a lot about the need for, and future of, group based software.

On a larger scale, with all this free stuff, what is in it for Google? The old adage of nothing is truly free reverberates with me much more than usual on this. Yes, the basic structure of the Internet was built on getting free stuff (browsers, video clips, music, etc . . .) but from a business sense, what is the bigger picture here?

I would love to hear some other viewpoints on this.

-D

Yeah, I know

I've been ignoring my blog. Actually, I've been spending time with my other one over on wordpress as it's currently been tasked for a class I'm taking.

It's February and it looks to be a busy month. March has Spring Break, and April has Good Friday. I know that February has Valentine's Day, and I am very fortunate to have someone with which to celebrate, but right now I'm also looking at days off.

I wish you all well!

MTC
-D

MMMMMM

Hey ya'll. Just an unsolicited ad for something wonderful. I had one of these pies a month ago and had another one a week ago. I almost wanted to curl up inside one of these and take a nap. One of the best apple pies around, period!

Tootie Pie Company

-D

powered by performancing firefox

Just a test post

Got my hands on a cool little FireFox extension that allows one to post from within the browser.



I hope that 2007 is good to all of you, and don't sweat the small stuff!



-D

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Dear 2006

This is it. Today is your last day and tomorrow we start the whole process all over again with your successor, 2007.

I lost some very good friends, 2006. I didn't get a chance to say farewell. Some were due to job issues and I hope our paths will cross again. For another I had the honor to serve as a pallbearer at her funeral. Regardless, I never had the chance to say farewell to any of them.

There were other pitfalls as well. From a personal standpoint I hit some of the lowest points of my 39 years. I got my priorities screwed up: I devoted way too much time to worrying about things over which I had no control; and I didn't worry about some things that I should have. I let myself go both emotionally, spiritually, and physically and probably spent too much time worrying about my own backside.

On a positive note, when you're in the valleys of life you tend to get a better appreciation of mountain tops. This last Fall, I decided that I'd had enough of Top 40 and spent an entire week listening to, and discovering Country music. Yes, I'm tuned to the newer guys like Rascal Flatts and Tim McGraw; but found a certain refuge in some of this stuff. I was songs like Mountains by Lone Star and Kenny Chesney's You Had Me From Hello that gave me perspective on what was important in life.

In all honesty 2006, you weren't a complete bummer. I did successfully fulfill my residency requirement for my degree and in the process made some new friends over the Communications department at UNT. The classes weren't easy, but I learned much and view them all as time well spent. I also completed one of the goals I set for myself as I complete my degree. I was able to spend some good times with my wife, and thanks to her found a few more haunts down around Austin and San Antonio. We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, and we had some good times in the process. I was able to spend some time with my father, brother, and nephews this Summer and I walked my first 5k on Thanksgiving day.

As a closer to today's missive, here are the lyrics to another song that got to me this year. My wife made me a mix CD this last Summer and this song had me listen to it about a dozen times. It's on the Cars Motion Picture Soundtrack and I recommend an iTunes download if you are so inclined.

Brad Paisley
Find Yourself

When you find yourself
In some far off place,
And it causes you
To rethink some things.
You start to sense
That slowly you’re becoming someone else
And then you find yourself.

When you make new friends
In a brand new town,
And you start to think
About settling down,
The things that would have been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell.
And you find yourself
That’s when you find yourself.

Well you go through life
So sure of where you’re heading,
And you wind up lost
And it’s the best thing that could happen.
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way
It’s really just as well.
‘Cause you find yourself;
That when you find yourself.

When you meet the one
You’ve been waiting for,
And she’s everything
That you want and more,
You look at her
And you finally start
To live for someone else.
And then you find yourself;
That’s when you find yourself.

We go though life
So sure of where we’re heading,
And then we wind up lost
And it’s the best thing that could happen.
Sometimes when you lose your way
It’s really just as well.
Because you find yourself;
Yeah that’s when you find yourself.

Here's to 2007!
-D

Merry Christmas To All!

Hey folks, just a quick Merry Christmas to you. 2006 has been a heck of a year (and more on that later), but to all who are out there here is to 2007!
-=D

A Wii Problem

Check this out, especially Ensign Eddie. Make sure the cats are nowhere near when you play this thing.
-D

Hanging out with 30,000 of my closest friends.

Thanksgiving was a good one today. I was up until about 1AM baking an apple pie that I wanted to try out. I learned one lesson, cast iron skillets make decent pie tins in a pinch, and having to end up with a deep dish pie is definitely a bonus.

Over the last few years, my wife has rediscovered one of her old college passions: running. She did a triathlon last year and has done the occasional 5k in the area. This year, she got me to enter the Turkey Trot with her. Thankfully, I was able to walk the 3 miles as I blew out my ankle last week and it's still not recovered. We arrived around 8am and hung around taking in the sights.
Around 9 am, we got in line and waited for the start. The announcer cracked some jokes, then came the count down. Due to the sheer number of participants, it was a few minutes before we could get a pace going.
















Once we got going, it was fun to actually walk
down the middle of a street and not have to
worry about being hit by anything.

I was shocked at how far three miles can really be. The route took us through Deep Ellum, and back around to City Hall. Thankfully, the finish line was dead ahead.

My time was around 90 minutes. I know it's pitiful, but with a bum ankle and not really trying to set any land speed records, I'm happy.

Overall, this looks to be a new family tradition. It was crowded, a little hot, and crowded; but it was something that I would definitely do again.

-D

Casino Royale

Wow! It's the night before Thanksgiving and wife, myself, and some friends went to see it. Yes, I was a big Pierce Brosnan fan, and Connery will always be sacred, but Daniel Craig is not just another pretty face ( I mean that both theatrically and cosmetically: this guy will not win any contests). What he does bring is a grittiness that the franchise has long needed. I didn't know it, but I was getting tired of the cliche'd lines, the over the top villains, and the too clean getaways. Casino Royale basically erases the past and starts over, but with much better results than the previous Superman franchise (so I gather). We are given a flawed, but likeable, hero and we get to see what makes him the way he is. The Bond girls (at least one in this case) are fleshed out (theatrically, not cosmetically), and the end result is a movie that leaves you panting, and applauding.

It also has a cool theme song: You Know My Name by Chris Cornell.

-D

glumbert.com | The Office Space Thriller

Just installed IE 7. Nothing has blown up, but the day isn't over yet. It does have a cool feature that I decided to give a test run.
Check out this revised trailer for Office Space.

glumbert.com The Office Space Thriller

An idea for a new law

If you vote early, you will be free from the barrage of campaign ads that always happen this time of year. I know it's a pipe dream, but I'm getting a headache.
-D

NaNoWriMo

No, it's not a new form of microscopic poetry, it's a rather interesting concept that Ensign Eddie (see his blog link to your right) has stumbled upon. It's interesting, novel (both the adjective and the noun), and if I had the time I would do it. Imagine cranking out your great American novel in a month? Imagine a support group to help you do it. The next James Ellroy or James Michener might be lurking within you, or it may very well be James Garner, but you won't know until you give it a whirl. Being in grad school means I'll crank out almost this much in term papers over the next month, so I can't do it.

What's your excuse? ;-)

-D

Fair well

Last night the Texas State Fair came to a close. Although I wasn't there to see it out, I did get my requisite corny dog and I did get a walk through the creative arts exhibit.

I'm not sure why the Fair has always grabbed me. A friend said recently that the state fair was everything he liked about Texas all in one place, and I think I agree with him: cars, gadget demonstrations, animals, mechanical contraptions, farm machinery, agriculture, and people having a good time. I didn't get to try the latest fried concoctions, but that's why God makes next year.

BTW, Heroes is getting really good.

-D

To forgive

I realize this is the third post in almost as many days, but I was perusing the news today and found this article on CNN's website regarding the recent shooting.

We often view the Amish and other similar communities as being backwards due to their refusal to keep step with current society. We view the plain clothes, the horse drawn buggies, and their old country demeanor as oddities, but the end of this article (Reaching Out)caught me off guard, although it should not have. I think they've retained something that modern society lost a long time ago: the ability to see the big picture. No press conferences, no lawsuits, no political grandstanding; just common compassion for your fellow man.

They will be in my prayers.
-D

Heroes

Okay, it's bad enough that Mrs. Geek stuck the entire first Season DVDs of Prison Break in front of me one weekend when I was feeling especially competitive and thought I could knock out the complete season in one weekend (I did). It's also really bad that I actually liked the series and have begun recording it. It's even worse that I'm taking classes right now, and combine that with the fact that I have little time for much else in my schedule, I decided against my better judgement to watch the first episode of Heroes that my wife recorded last week. If you're not familiar, it's a very X-men esque show where normal people start developing abnormal powers. One man can slow down and speed up time; a high school cheerleader has amazing regenerative powers; a housewife apparently has a very violent alter ego; an artist can see the future; and yes, one man can fly. Subsequent episodes will reveal more characters, and yes, there already is a bad guy.

The show is not completely family friendly so be warned if you have impressionable kids. I am hooked nonetheless. Now what do I do? Maybe that time shifting guy can help me out.

-D

One of the best burgers in town . . .

. . . at least according to D Magazine. I was talking to my brother and he told me that D Magazine had rated a small place in Oak Cliff as the best cheeseburger in town. A friend of mine found the name, and off I was on my quest. Wingfield's Breakfast and Burgers is just what the name says it is: Eggs, a breakfast meat, and toast all wrapped together. They also do burgers, and any place that exists has humbly as Wingfeild's has got to know burgers. I phoned in my order: burger, cheeseburger, onion rings and french fries, was given a number and was told it would be about 20 minutes. I found the place easily enough and was fortunate to find a parking space right in front. I walk and and discover that the place has no dining room, which would explain the parking situation, and that I was not the only one waiting for dinner. When you walk in, there is a counter about waist high and enough space for maybe 5-6 hungry souls to stand (not sit) about anxiously waiting for their number to be called. An old air conditioner in on one end of the room (our end, thankfully) tried in vain to keep up with the heat and humidity coming from the kitchen. When your number is called, you pay and leave. Simple.

Wingfield's menu is pretty straighforward: burgers and cheesburgers available in a single, double, or triple configurations and available with and without cheese and bacon. Fries and onion rings are also available and are quite good. I looked as far back into the kitchen as my vantage point would allow, and saw a griddle covered with burger patties and workers busily assembling said burgers to send out to a grateful world. After a few minutes, my number was called, I got what I came for, and headed home.

When I got to the house, I opened the bag and was greeted by a burger that would qualify as a double in most restaurants. I was also unfortunately greeted by a bottom bun that was soggy almost to the point of collapse. I shuffled some things around, armed myself with a bottle of ketchup, and dug in (cheeseburger and fries were for the wife). Lettuce, dill pickles, mayo, and mustard instantly greeted me followed by the star of the show, the patty that was cooked almost well done. Wingfield's deals in speed, so I took it as it came and I was not disappointed. The onion rings had a strange aftertaste to them; not bad, just strange. Overall, it's one of the better burgers I've had.

If you're ever in South Dallas, look them up and make sure you call ahead as the line can be quite long, so I've heard. You can google their number.

-D

What do you get . . .

when you add a new bluetooth dongle, a laptop, a bluetooth cell phone (a cheapie Sony Ericksson ZR20a), and some spare time? I found out I've got a multifunction presentation remote and a really cool way to get all those pictures off my cell phone finally?

I think I just geeked.

-D

Farewell Summer 2006

Summer high points were our trip to Austin and San Antonio. Alamo Draughthouse, The Salt Lick and the S.A. Zoo were wonderful as were the fish and chips at the Mad Dog Pub on the Riverwalk. I would also count my short trip to the Johnson Space Center and Kemah Boardwalk in there as well.

Low points were wife being gone for three weeks and some other things that won't bear being mentioned in this forum.

Fall can go either way. I'm pulling another nine hours worth of coursework, but Fall also has the State Fair, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the start of the Christmas season.

Here's hoping.

-D

Checking In

Yes, I'm still here. I took a few weeks off to get caught up on stuff at work and things are really hopping right now. Give me another week or two and I'll be back.
-D