Thursday, August 25, 2005

Bullshit Protector


600% more effective at keeping the present administration's bullshit out of your ears.
http://www.wiseass.org/bullshit.html  Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Fish with a bicycle...


My love and I  Posted by Picasa

fish without a bicycle....


Dogs and cats, living together!!! it seems possible, but maybe that's because they're all chicks.... Posted by Picasa

Nothing like a nice cuppa joe in your lap to wake you up...


I am oficially having "One of THOSE days". All the work stuff that went awry last week has come home to roost, and must be cleaned up. Additionally, and more importantly, it seems that I have lost all patience with everything.

But put a smile on it, buddy, and I'll give you some chain lube, k?

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Kipling...

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Saturday, August 20, 2005

Da Winnah!


Here's Kel with a bunch of trophies we moved out of her ancestral home. She played softball and was a cheerleader, and the homecoming queen... as you can see it adds up.
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Mental Hygiene Day!


If only it were so easy to clean out the mind. I mean, the cruft and detritus that builds up over a week, hosed off, and the self put away clean like so many dishes out of the dishwasher. The dust of a thousand almost finished work and personal projects vacuumed up and dropped in the bin. Bits of thoughts half finished swept up and up in the disposal - flick the switch and they're gone.

Those that study the mind say that sleep does some of this, allowing the brain time to make connections and file stuff away. I used to meditate for an hour a day and get some of this done. Later in life I would go to an empty auditorium, or the practice space and play piano or guitar and let the mind float, and create one thing while filing another. With the onset of responsibility and family, not so much. I know it's possible to build this into a day, as others build in exercise and therapy, but it has never seemed natural to me. I guess, really, all of society is unnatural in that aspect - you work when you have to , eat when you have to, sleep when you have to, and try to fit in the meditation or the things that make your life go round on the side. How fucked up is that ? I mean, there are those that have a perfect fit and get paid to do what they love, but I'm not sure I'm one of them. Operations is cool, and maybe if I were to work for Goddard or the National Radio Astronomy Observatory or the NSA or something, that might be cooler still. But I don't think that's it. And I used to pine away about being more involved in the music industry, but I don't have a lot of respect for it these days. I have a lot of respect for musicians, and for those who really care for their craft, but the people that run the industry seem to mostly be of a poor cut. That doesn't mean I wont keep after it though. My neighbor, who's deeply involved in it, he's having a great time. He's got some drama as well, but I think that's par for the course.

Maybe whatever you do, you have some friction, and little bits get rubbed off, and you have to have time to heal and recuperate and get you shit together. Unless you're like a Zen master, or a saint or a lama, maybe you just need that downtime to get yourself back together. I guess what I'm saying is that putting the hours in and getting the work done with sufficient concentration sustained for hours on end, bringing the intensity up and down at the sound of a call phone or an email - you chop off bits of thoughts and feelings, and sooner or later you have to go back and put the things you put aside away or finish them.

I'd like to think that I finish more than I flush. Lately I've been flushing a lot of things. Some that might be too big, or too important to flush. But I have lost momentum, and to regain it, one must be fleet of foot, quick and silent. The mind neat and orderly, poised. The work part of my mind is fine for this, it's the play part that's dusty - work has become or assumed, or subsumed play, and is trying to throw out all the other bits. But it's not as much fun. I'm missing something in the dark corners of my mind, and I think it's high time for a fall cleaning. I'm going to go find it.
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Thursday, August 18, 2005

Loss of Control


Horoscope for: Thursday, August 18, 2005

Deadsuperstar,
Unexpected changes at work can toss your schedule right into the recycling bin. Don't put up too much of a fight as circumstances are now really beyond your control. On the other hand, it's not a great idea to just throw in the towel or you will lose what little command that you have. Finding the balance may not be easy, but it's the only sensible path. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Lioness


Kel in winter. Posted by Picasa

My friend and his daughter...  Posted by Picasa

FreakyDeakie


See what I married into ? there's my youngest sis, her kid, my daughter, and my eldest sis in law. Can you believe she was pissed about not being in my blog? Damn! it's MY blog! at any rate, I think this is from last Halloween. Funny, Halloween's my wife's birthday. The oddness of the ocassion is probably most clearly represented in my niece's expression, as she looks at my daughter - WTF is your problem, freako! Thank god this only happens once a year! Posted by Picasa

tis the season...


So what's this whole father / son thing ? look who's inside making the nachos, and who's outside getting ready for the season ?  Posted by Picasa

Mmmm Mmmm Database!


What's that, Dixer? Bacon tastes good ? Pork Chops taste good ? Database tastes GOOD?! Posted by Picasa

Radhi


Radhi! Here's a pic of a great friend of mine. I have no idea what the hell she's eating here - I think the picture's from Barcelona. At any rate, Radhi's birthday is this coming Friday, and I just wanted to get a shout out to her. Radhi used to work with me at the evil empire, for one of the evil overlords. Definitely a bright light in a dark place. She decided to reapply her intelligence and get her MBA, and she's doing it - at 26! Not to mention she's having a little trouble beating the boys off with a stick, so I thought I'd just compound the problem for her. Love Ya! Posted by Picasa

Monday, August 15, 2005

MRaaWwrrr of DOOM


So I came in to work today to find that the database has been clubbed to death like a baby seal. There's not enough of it left to make a change purse. which means that my guys are getting behind and they're all restless and bored. If you remember the post about the zen fishermen, well guess what - the busy little beavers in Ops have fucking damned the river, and all the fish are drying out in the sun. we're not getting any more, because the danged river aint there. YEEEEhaW!!! Posted by Picasa

Accipiter strikes again.


Pop-it C MAN! http://www.accipiter.org/  Posted by Picasa

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Death before Dishonor!


Oh my GAWD.

so I guess I've had a little pent up frustration, and this weekend it decided that it would no longer be tethered. Friday I worked a full day, and it was sooooo busy that I forgot to eat anything all day. Friday night was Vortex night as usual, and one of my favorite guys that I've been trying to get out of his shell came with me from work.

might be the last time that happens.

so I get to the 'tex and proceed to drink at my usual pace, not realizing that I haven't chowed all day. My lovely wife and sister-in-law have been there for a little bit, and decide that they'd had enough and bolt. I wasn't ready to go. On top of that I was having a fabu time talking to CC and watching him realize that this cute oriental geek was trying to pick him up. So I had a few more, and then decided that if I were going to get home, I should go. Now.

navigated my way home, only to find that my neighbor the DJ rap star was lying in wait. Sure enough, five minutes after I get home, he comes over and we get down to the business of drinking. Copious amounts. Niagara. Flow rates like the Amazon. So, still having not eaten anything but the corner of a chicken sandwich generously donated by the twins, I rapidly approach the status know as shitfaced. This is alright with me; I'm at home with my wife and a good friend with no place to be and no time to be there. So I let it rip. The new music my wife has been listening to that I hate, let that rip. The idiot in the oval office? Ripped. The state of the media today? destructed. dev team at work? Obliterated. Of course, I have no recall of any of this, it's all hearsay. Though I did get a compliment from one of the worlds foremost DJs - " man - when you're drunk you sure can mix!"

so I spent most of Saturday recovering, and swearing that I would never do anything so stupid again. I went to Home despot to get another disposal, since ours was jammed and starting, nay, continuing, nay, intensifying the disposal smell. So I came home from HD to find my sister-in-law twisting my wife's arm to go out. You know she's just been divorced - she's 25 and a doll, with a couple of hangups, but she's bored. And my wife, she's 25 and a doll, with a couple of hangups, but she was cool enough to marry me, and I want to stay out of her way while she's kicking it and figuring out the whole 25-30 thing. So they hang out a lot; I mean they're fucking twins, so what do you expect. But they're like the dynamic fucking duo, a hurricane corridor, don't feed the bears. So I replaced the insinkerator, and they went out. Sis was already looking good, and the wife was not going to be outdone and got all dolled up. Ironically, they only went around the corner, and came back about the time I was all covered in grime from finishing the disposal. So I got cleaned up, and found them watching Chapelle season 2. Guess what? We got drunk.

I wasn't planning to; the ladies were well on their way, and enjoying themselves. But then my freakish neighbor showed up, and told me how entertaining I was the night before. That sealed it. I never made it in the biz, but we have some kind of freakish bond - I understand enough of what he goes through to be a pal, but don't care enough to ask him every 5 minutes to do an album for me. So we're cool. And we drink a lot. So when he comes over, it's on. Death before Dishonor!

and he's got a thing for my sis.

not unexpected. She's a babe. I mean I should know, I married her sister. And I got the evil one.

At anyrate, so we fucking rocked the house all night long. Watched a bunch of Chapelle, spun some tunes, just got rocked. I felt like a fucking chaperone. Not my problem. The wife, who'd been up longer than I, passed out, and we finally ran the DJ off to his house. Sis set off the alarm, and the cops came - but I slept through that.

an excellent weekend all told. I think my liver's moved out, though. I can't seem to find it.

GAME...Blouses.  Posted by Picasa

Friday, August 12, 2005

Kel on holiday


Kel and I went overseas for our honeymoon. Here she is with this smartass at the Tower of London. Really he wasn't that bad, aside from trying to make a couple of newlywed tourists feel at home. He made fun of my shirt and told Kel I was a lucky guy, which I am.

it was a fabulous trip - we need to go again soon. we're both such workaholics that I sometimes forget that we need to take breaks out for ourselves. Posted by Picasa

K Doll Baby!!!!


My sister-in-law, the unlovable

So helpful, so wise. So.... single. Thanks for the help with the avatar!
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The Slave Driver


I like to work. I'm a workaholic. I'm obsessive compulsive about aspects of it. I'm anal retentive about aspects of it. maybe I'm just an asshole about it in general. This is a part what makes me a good operations manager. The other part is that you have to kind of float above the operations and see the data and the nodes of human / data interaction, and see if you can get those nodes to settle. kind of like rearranging the rocks in a river. I have very good zen fishermen ( analysts ) and a lot of river ( data ). I get more data all the time, but I don’t get any more fishermen. I have to make sure that the nets they use are the very best at catching specific kinds of fish, in a specific way that zen fisherpeople are comfortable with working. So when someone hands me an old television instead of a rock, it screws up the whole zen vibe, the fisherpeople get all out of whack, and the fish we're looking for get away and get into our clients fisheries and generally all hell breaks loose.

Normally, I'll accept a brick instead of a rock, because I can probably make it work, and eventually get all the edges rounded off. and normally, I'll just hand the old television back and say that it's not a rock, and therefore kind of a problem and would you guys in development please try harder not to put trash in my river. Lately, though, because I've been very focused on my life off the river, I have been even more diligent on the river. I have not been accepting rocks under a certain size, or that smell funny, or that look somewhat difficult to work with. I'm supposed to do that to some degree anyway, but lately I've been a complete rock Nazi, and it's wearing on the engineering dept. I mean, they're hiding when they see me coming. Not taking my calls. Wont put their Tupperware next to mine. "For a good Time call " in the shell station bathroom. not yet mad enough to key my car, but that's just because we're all adults and they know they've been giving me televisions because televisions are cheap and easy and rocks are not. Ironically enough, my boss, who's in a conning tower watching my rock and zen fisherperson direction, and his boss, who's on a beach somewhere drinking maitais and schmoozing clients, just told me in that meeting that I should inform them of the rejection ratios on my rocks in order to help them understand WTF engineering is doing. In other words, reject what you will, just tell us about it so we can correct it at the quarry, thus saving engineering some face, and they wont have to look so depressed every time I rant about the fact that fish are getting by and we're all going to fucking starve because it's all their fault.

heh. I don’t know where that came from.
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the Triumverate Posted by Picasa

oh... this could be bad.... Posted by Picasa

sasamarama Posted by Picasa

Al Posted by Picasa

Call of the Vortex!


A man turns the tables on his bartender. 'Nuff said. Posted by Picasa

VAX


This is my VAX. It was a gift from a friend of mine that used to toss them in dumpsters when they were replaced by better systems. This is a cluster of four - 2 4000/106A and 2 ba415 cabinets. I got lucky and snagged an external drive array, and a tape backup unit.

It's not particularly speedy, but it's interesting because it's completely different than the *nix boxes I normaly run across for work. Vax Management System ( VMS ) is a really stable system - there are some systems out there that have been running for more than 25 years without a reboot. So dont give me any shit about you *nix or BSD, this that or the other... Of course it does heat up the house pretty good - that's why I put it in Kelly's office! =P Posted by Picasa