Technical Duckery

Marathon This Weekend!

2009-01-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

I am running the Houston Marathon this weekend. It is an open act of defiance following my performance at the Little Rock Marathon. For those who don't know, I had an injury that was completely unrelated to conditioning/training. I limped along the course, but had to have surgery within a week of the race to repair the damage.

I've recovered and it's time to get back to it. My PR is still 4:32:38, set at the 2004 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. I was on pace to do much better at Little Rock and felt really great when I was injured. I finished there in 5:22:57. There, the time wasn't as important as finishing without major damage was.

Unfortunately, I will be running this race injured. However, I will still be trying to break my PR. I have been faster than 4:32:38 for 4 years, but I haven't had the right race. I just hope my injury will not play in to the performance.

Anywho, just keeping you informed and me distracted.

My iPhone Killer and the Obama-love

2008-12-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

Two things I just had to get off my chest:

The Obama-drooling media is out of hand. The Washington Post ran a story detailing the workout regiment of Barack Obama. After mentioning the 90 minute-a-day gym visits and the 48 day streak, it praised him for being the fittest president. My problem? It's not that he's fit. I respect the heck out of him for that. It's that the same newspaper ran a story about President Bush's workout regiment which is somewhat less involved and called him a fanatic and possibly unfit to serve as president for it. I remember the story at the time because President Bush is a 4:00 marathoner and they were criticizing him for it. It amazed me. And now this. Another thing that amazes me is that some people think there isn't and wasn't a media bias for this guy.

The next is a development that could be my personal iPhone killer:

There may be some kinks in it. Can I talk on it with it not in speaker mode? What is the battery life like? Will I get teased if I start wearing a yellow overcoat? All very important questions if this is to replace my iPhone.

Student Involvement and a Fake Butt

2008-12-09T17:09:00.001-08:00

I'm on campus to give a final exam and I've noticed something. There are tons of students here at 7:00 PM. I'm here a lot at this time and I'm always one of the few. If only the students would get more involved with class like this on a weekly basis, college would be so much more beneficial to them.

I also have to point out the funniest Google News image choice. Yes, it's someone sticking a finger into a fake butt. I know I'm 27, but I still find this hilarious.

Funniest Video I've Seen in a LONG Time

2008-12-04T19:36:00.001-08:00

Nutrition/Activity Chart

2008-12-01T10:34:00.001-08:00

I found the following daily summary chart interesting. It is from yesterday, November 30th, and shows exactly why I can't lose weight. Pizza for breakfast. Lunch over 1,000 calories. I burned almost 3,500 calories by running 18 miles and barely created a calorie surplus. I just took a fitness and nutrition assessment at the gym and got a 8.2/10 for fitness and a 1.6/10 for nutrition. This is why:

If you happen to be interested in this application, it's the MyPlate App for the iPhone. It has a pretty decent interface at livestrong.com. I'm hoping that it will help me be more responsible with my nutrition and possibly lose a few pounds before my marathon in January.

Police Cruiser Gets an Update

2008-11-25T16:47:00.000-08:00

Now this is cool. I think this is the type of innovation that needs to happen more often.

A Message to Dog Owners

2008-11-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

Suppose I'm out in my garage at 2:00 am working on my car. I have a 2.5 acre yard and the nearest house is over 250 yards away. Working on my car is reasonable use of my property even at that late hour. Now the person across the street and down a quarter mile has dogs. Those dogs won't stop barking because it is late and they hear me.

This is what I want to explain to the dog owner. In such a situation, I am not keeping anyone awake. It's the DOGS that are keeping someone awake. I swear... They have extremely sensitive hearing. That's not my problem. They bark when a grasshopper pees in my front yard. RIDICULOUS.

Anyway. It's nice to be poor so I can worry about stuff like this and not blog about the economy.

Funny Stuff from Obama Voters

2008-11-18T18:01:00.000-08:00

I know that if McCain had won, you could just as easily find 10 idiots to do this that voted Republican. Just switch it to, "Is Obama a Muslim?"... but still. This is hilarious. In a really sad, sad way.

The Baddest of the Bad

2008-10-12T15:26:00.001-07:00

I was sitting on the couch watching a great Western. It was Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It is a great, great movie with Bob Dylan as a quirky sidekick (image below) to Kris Kristofferson's Billy the Kid.

Anywho... it was while watching this movie that I realized that cowboys are the "baddest" of the movie stereotypes. I mean bad in the sense of Samuel L. Jackson's wallet in Pulp Fiction. Here's why:

Most western movies show a scene with the tired cowboy settling in to a nice warm bubble bath waiting for the inevitable visit from whoever is playing Ms. Kitty. Despite being in a bubble bath by themselves, the macho image of the cowboy is not diminished. Isn't that amazing?

Let's look at the movie 300. That movie will make anyone want to take their shirt off and kill someone. However, put those Spartans in a bubble bath and all of a sudden they look like a bunch of guys in red panties rather than killing machines. Do you like gladiator movies?

Darth Vader would rust and the Emperor would just look creepy.

There are two possible exceptions: Bruce Lee and Shaft.

Although Bruce Lee would not look completely silly, he would not look very threatening. I mean he couldn't do all that jumping around in those bubbles. With Shaft, you'd just assume that there was a woman under the bubbles. Shaft may be the only legitimate exception.

PS -> Chuck Norris has never taken a bubble bath and I refuse to speculate due to possible roundhouse kick related repercussions.

Great Advertisement Soundtrack

2008-09-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

I think EA did an excellent job producing it's advertisement for Mercenaries 2. Oh No You Didn't:

Also, I'm sitting here watching Boondocks. It's the Kidnapping Oprah episode. What a great show.

OK. Stop. Running IS Healthy.

2008-08-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

I am so tired of people telling me that they don't exercise because it doesn't make you healthier. It really aggravates me. If you don't like it or don't want to, that's fine. What I don't like is the rationalization based on false information and the insinuation that my efforts for a healthier lifestyle are all for naught.

Without fail, Jim Fixx is mentioned. He is one of runnings founding fathers. He wrote The Complete Book of Running and ran every day of his life. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack while running at age 50. Ironically, he was found by an elderly man smoking his morning cigarette.

However, the story NOT told is that his father died in his early 40's of heart disease. It is very possible that running extended his life by almost a decade.

The truth is that running is... DUH... very healthy.

http://medheadlines.com/2008/08/13/run-to-slow-aging-process/

After 19 years of study, only 15% of the runners had died, from any cause, compared to 34% of the group of nonrunners. As was expected, the rate of death due to cardiovascular disease was much lower in the group of runners but the running group also had fewer deaths attributed to cancer, infection, and neurological disease, among others.

By the 21st year of the study, participants in both the running and nonrunning groups had started bearing signs of advanced age. They are now all in their 70s and 80s. What has proven to be quite remarkable is that the age of decline is dramatically later in the runners than in the nonrunners.

The onset of initial disability occurred 16 years later, on average, in the group of runners than in the group not running. Even more surprising is that, as age advances, the gap between the health of the runners versus the health of the nonrunners widens, in effect compressing the ill effects of old age into the shortest amount of time possible.

For me, it has the potential to be life saving. My maternal grandfather died very yound of colon cancer. Running has been STRONGLY linked to a reduction in colon cancer. I would explain why, but it's kinda gross.

They can't explain it...

2008-07-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

It's sooooo funny listening to people justify the use of the n-word by blacks. In this clip from the View that is now infamous, Whoopi and some other chick are railing on Elizabeth about it:

I really didn't buy Whoopi's argument. The other chick didn't even form one.

The bottom line is that the NAACP, the most powerful and established civil rights organization in our nation, has the following to say about it during their burial of the N-Word:

"No word defames, degrades and denigrates like the N-Word and we want to STOP it!"

In the wake of that event, Rev. Jesse Jackson challenged the entertainment industry and the American public to stop using the N-word and other racial slurs.

You see! Even Jesse doesn't buy the argument. He's a liar, he's a hypocrite, he's a sensationalist... I don't care. He's definitely one of those.

The problem isn't that the n-word is profane. The n-word is wrong and it should be profane. Jesse is wrong. And these two windbags are DEFINITELY wrong. American society, black or white, should be shun and ridicule an individual if they say nigger. Even Jesse.

Dr. J. V. Remsen, Jr., Great Scientist

2008-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a public note that LSU has a truly great ornithologist working for them. Dr. James Remsen responded immediately to an email inquiry about a large woodpecker I had been observing in my yard for the past few weeks. I had heard news about the infamous Ivory-billed Woodpecker being spotted in Pearl River WMA and thought that this may be a sighting, but that it was probably a more common Pileated Woodpecker. I gave him as much detail as possible and he was able to confirm it was a Pileated.

The point of this is to say that this person is a "baller" at LSU and in the ornithology world. Maybe it would be better to say that he is regarded highly in academic circles. Regardless, he took the time to respond personally to me. I think that's the kind of scientist I want to be. I want to be a scientists who embraces the larger community and is an ambassador for my field.

Dr. Remson, I salute you.

Contemporary Christian Music

2008-07-02T08:48:00.001-07:00

I have a couple of controversial views towards contemporary Christian topics. The first is that I don't care for The Passion of the Christ. That caused quite a stir when I said that in the pastor's office. I'm happy I didn't lose my job over it. The second id that, for the most part, I don't care for contemporary Christian music.

The main reason is that most of it is too pop-y for me. I like classic rock more than anything else. Second is that I like listening to it during concentrated worship. I just don't like listening to it in the car. At that point, it's just music. The third thing is that I have problems with many of the artists. That's what this post is really about.

I like Switchfoot. I like P.O.D. These are both Christian bands who made it big and still spread the Good News and gave their testimonies. However, for every one of these bands, there are 10 artists that use contemporary Christian music as a platform to make it into popular music. I know that there was a South Park episode about this that was horrible, but that doesn't invalidate my point. I am always questioning how genuine an artist is due to this. There is no better example than sweet little Katy Hudson. Isn't this a good song:

Well Katy Hudson had to change her name when she signed with Capitol so she wouldn't be confused with Kate Hudson the actress. She changed it to Katy Perry and produced this, well ... interesting music video:

That just annoys me so much. It's a shame that it affects my enjoyment of other contemorary Christian artists... but it does.

As If I Didn't Hate Al Enough

2008-07-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

props: Billy

Mind Blowing Gates eMail

2008-06-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is reposted from BoingBoing, but I couldn't help reposting it.

This is the tail end of an email from Bill Gate's to one of his minions about his own experience with Microsoft Movie Maker (a product I really like, btw)

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

Full eMail here.

I've always thought that Bill Gates was usually frustrated with the product his company puts out. You can see the difference when you see Steve Jobs talk about his products. He is excited and wants people to play with it. Bill Gates only goes through a script to make sure nothing blue screens. Anyway, this is very interesting to me.

50 Nerdy Pick-up Lines

2008-06-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

http://bloggasm.com/50-nerdy-pick-up-lines.

My favorites:
4. If I was an enzyme, I’d be helicase so I could unzip your genes.
18. I’m a fermata… hold me
29. What’s your sine? It must be pi/2 because you’re the 1
40. I wish I was an Ion so I could form an exothermic bond with you.
42. Our love is like dividing by zero…. you cannot define it

I also really love this pick-up line video:

Movie Madness

2008-05-27T16:38:00.001-07:00

Hollywood is well organized. I just looked at Yahoo! movies and I'm amazed at how well planned it is.

4 weeks ago: Iron Man kicked off the summer season alone.
3 weeks ago: Speed Racer was supposed to dominate, but split with What Happens in Vegas.
2 weeks ago: Prince Caspian is the only release.
This past weekend: Indiana Jones was the only movie that opened on Memorial Day weekend...
Next weekend: Fairly active with 2(!) releases. Kung-Fu Panda and Don't Mess with the Zohan.
2 weeks ahead: The Incredible Hulk
3 weeks ahead: Possibly the best weekend release combo is only 2 movies: Love Guru and Get Smart.
4 weeks ahead: WALL-E pretty much by itself. (Wanted(?) is also wide distribution.)
5 weeks ahead: Hancock alone.
6 weeks ahead: July 4th, so no new movies.
7 and 8 weeks ahead: Finally has multiple wide release films including: Hellboy II, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Dark Knight, and Momma Mia.

The point of this is to say that the movie companies have perfectly planned out how your summer movie-going experience will be. They basically divvied up your money. I find that incredibly interesting.

The Color Red

2008-05-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple and an outspoken leader of the feminist movement, is officially a bad mother. I'm sure she will tell her side of the story and, just like Alec Baldwin, use her fame to obscure the other. However, this is a great criticism of the radical feminist movement.

"How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart" -Rebecca Walker

Just a News Note

2008-05-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

An article posted in The Guardian says that a teenager was arrested for calling Scientology a cult. (link here) This is the same country that DIDN'T arrest protesters for saying that Europe would get it's own 9/11 soon and that people who say bad things about Islam should be beheaded. (CNN link) Interesting governmental policies over there.

Two iPhone Stories

2008-05-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

I think YOU should get an iPhone. That's right.. YOU. I have two iPhone stories that illustrate why I think you should.

Story 1: An Hour Saved at Chili's

Our close friend Jamie Dillon recently graduated from LC in Alexandria. When the ceremony was over, it was obvious that everyone was going out to eat. Jamie's family said that Chili's was the preferred destination for our crew of 9. I immediately pick up the iPhone. I open up Maps application with one button press. I hit the "locate button" and it shows my location on campus. I click search and type "chili's" and it brings a push pin to the only Chili's in town. I touch the pin and it brings the information for the store and it's phone number. I click the phone number and it calls the reservation line. I set up call ahead seating for 9, but the hostess says that they can only hold call ahead for 15 minutes. I am in a town where I don't know my way around. I hit back on Maps and I look at the best way to get to the restaurant and withing 12 minutes, I'm at Chili's with Tash and Grace. The group of 10 who got there right before I checked in was told it would be an hour and ten minutes before they could be seated.

Sure, you could do this with Goog 411 and it probably would have ended the same way, but such things are natural on the iPhone.

Story 2: A Whole New iPhone

You find out the worth of a company when something goes wrong. Apple has done great. My headset button was broken on the provided headphones, so I bring them to the Apple store. They change them out no questions asked. I mention that my pictures are really fuzzy and asked if I could pay to have it cleaned. I literally asked to pay. The guy at the desk replied by looking at the phone, seeing a scratch on the face of the phone and offering to replace the device. I took them up on the offer and sealed my love affair with the company. Surely a laptop isn't far from being purchased thanks to that support.

Anyway, I couldn't be happier with my iPhone. Sure, there could be a little more storage and some people complain about 3G. However, it has been a great device for me and I can't think of many people who would not benefit from owning one. It unifies so many devices by having an excellent phone, decent camera, superior mP3 players, great portable video player, sufficient mapping software, etc... OK. I'm done. You get the idea.

Uncle Tom's Cabin Issue

2008-04-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I've finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Ok, I'm not going to lie... I just finished listening to the audiobook version. I thought the book was pretty good. I'm sure it was powerful when it was written. It's probably not as powerful to me since it's hard to relate to the feelings and actions that it describes. However, I walk away from that book with a few questions.

Number one on my question list is what the hell do people mean when they insult Powell, Rice, Keyes, etc. when they call them an Uncle Tom? Sure, Uncle Tom was the "house nigger" who was close to his first family. What other major actions did he take in the book? He saved a child from drowning after being sold. He preached the Word to everyone in the book. He refused to whip his fellow slave. He DIED rather than sell out his fellow slaves while in the process converting his killers to Christianity. This man was a SAINT, not an insult! Seriously, can someone explain this to me?

Idiotic In Retrospect

2008-04-18T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about something this morning. Think back to what was in sports commentary a year ago.

1) Tiki Barber criticizes his coach and his QB. Tiki said among other things that the Giants made a huge mistake letting Kerry Collins go in favor of Eli Manning. Just for clarification, that's the Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. I love Tiki Barber, but he should be ridiculed for such an idiotic series of statements that proved so ridiculous in retrospect.

2) Kobe Bryant wants to be traded. Why? ... because he felt like the Los Angeles Lakers had tricked him into staying on a bad team. He felt that he was the only player on the Lakers roster and should go somewhere where he thought he had a chance of winning. That was before this season... where the Lakers are the number 1 seeded team in the ridiculously talented Western Conference. This without making any major moves to satisfy Kobe's demands. Way to go, Kobe. That's the high school education working for you right there. In retrospect, that was idiotic.

A Great Podcast

2008-04-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to recommend my top 3 podcasts since TWiT, Car Talk, and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me are all extremely well known. 'Round these parts, I think this would be a better recommendation:

CBC Radio's Search Engine

The host is Jesse Brown and he has some great interviews. My favorite piece so far has been on the movie Zeitgeist. The classic line, "Well I'm either not covering the movie Zeitgeist because I'm being controlled by a vast group of elitist bankers who created Christianity, assassinated Kennedy, and faked the moon landing or I'm not covering the movie Zeitgeist because the movie is a steaming pile of bull s**t." The show is a mix of This American Life (in production/style), TWiT (covers tech frequently), the old History Channel always learning something new) and Saturday Night Live (sometimes hilarious).

Completely unrelated: My favorite episode of Scrubs was just aired. The musical episode. Classic.

A fun way to kill time.

2008-04-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

The iPhone has been great for the times in my life when I need to kill time. Sometimes I read Google News. Sometimes, I play games. Most of the time, I browse YouTube. There are some great documentaries, crazy conspiracy theory exposes, and music videos that I always love. However, there is a type of video that never fails to lift my spirits:

I don't care much for the title given to that particular video, but I think this is hilarious. Try it out if you are tired of watching sxePhil or a girl with baggy sweatpants, Reeboks with the straps, who may be giving that big booty a slap.

That Hulu You Should Do

2008-04-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.hulu.com

Enjoy it in all of its online video beauty. (props Luke and TWiT)

A joint venture between NBC and NewsCorp, this site has full episodes of 100s of different shows, full length movies, and current HD trailers. You could waste DAYS at this site.

Recommendations:
1) The Tick (Entire series of live action superhero comedy)
2) Firefly (great SciFi series)
3) About a dozen full length movie including 28 Days and The Big Lebowski

There's a New Runner in Town

2008-03-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

... and believe it or not, he's an American. Ryan Hall has been the star of American road running ever since shattering the U.S. Half-Marathon record. He debuted in the marathon with a 2:08 in London. This is really exciting to see an American born citizen who could be very competitive in an African dominated sport.

Also in this video is the tragic report about Ryan Shay.

The Motto of the United States

2008-02-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

Freakonomics has voted on a new motto for the United States using only six words. I like the result:

Our Worst Critics Prefer to Stay

This sums up my feelings on the country right now. This is why I do not like the title of Obama's book (The Audacity of Hope) and the statement by his wife (her husband's success being the first time in her adult life she has been proud of America). We live in a country where we can disagree. We live in a country that has unprecedented freedom even when compared to itself historically. We live in a country where a black woman can get an Ivy League education in law, marry a tremendously popular politician, and still say that she has never been proud of her country. It's great to be American and there's no better proof of that than the success of it's most vocal critics.

Comics

2008-02-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

via xkcd.com

via whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com

Where I At?

2008-02-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should update those of you who I don't talk to on a regular basis with the comings and goings of my life. I refuse to give a reason since it would be superfluous and entirely unhelpful to say "I'm busy".

My Research
I am currently working on 2 different topics.

The first topic is actually the more pressing. I am writing a paper with Dr. Christopher Branton about how we can better teach Software Engineering in the classroom. I think we have some really good ideas, but as of yet, we are like blind guys at an orgy. (Just feeling things out.)

The second is preparing for my proposal defense. My current topic is the architecture profiling of distributed systems. The details of the topic are left off partially because they are subject to publication and mostly because it is probably extremely boring to anyone reading this. Moving on...

My Stuff
I bought an iPhone. I am really impressed by the device. It has been more useful in DTD life than I ever thought it would. I've been letting everyone play with it which has led to a couple of friends purchasing one as well. Natasha also got us a plasma TV. It's big. Grace loves it. Moving on...

Grace Nickel
This girl is crazy. She is getting smarter and more active every day. I really feel like more of an involved Dad now that she can interact with me pretty well and play for longer than I can. I don't have an online photo site, but Natasha does. http://picasaweb.google.com/natashaburris

My work
I've also done a couple of websites during my spare time:

The first is for the United Way of Washington Area which at the time of this post is still a one level site.

In the wild at uwofwa.org

The second is the Franklinton Chamber of Commerce. Not really my design style, but really fit their goals for the site.

In the wild at franklintonlouisiana.org

Lagniappe

A new banner has been posted on the right hand side of this page. It is for a movie that will be coming out by Ben Stein. Be sure to check out the trailer by visiting the link.

Coolest Google Map Location

2008-01-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

I DARE you to find a cooler location to view in Google Maps:

Link to map

Now it begs the question... what is it? I know it would be easy to find out, but it's fun to speculate.

The Evil Madmen Taking Over The World Shopping Emporium....

The location of the world's largest underground magnet and nobody's figured it out yet....

Charlton Heston's back yard....

Neat.

A Late Merry Christmas

2007-12-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

Arg. I misspelled Louisiana. Oh well, you get the idea.

To Bill Brasky!!!

2007-12-11T06:35:00.001-08:00

Unlike imaginary Jedi urinal beheadings, the following events actually did take place.

I am basically a dead man walking. I'm going on no sleep because of a long story with a short fuse. I'm in the library until 6:30 AM working on a term paper. The second to last figure is a very simple Ontological depiction of an employee/manager relationship. I was trying to think of a good name for the boss, when I thought of Bill Brasky!

Being in the less than perfect state I was in, I started laughing hysterically. The guy next to me looked at me and asked what it was. I pointed at my screen and said in a drunken fashion, "Bill Brasky!". The guy starts cracking up and says, "Best damn salesman in the office".

So what did I say in front of no less than 20 quiet strangers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6OO0suqkA4

You have to visit the link, because I refuse to type it. About 50% of them got it. The other 50% laughed even harder.

Luke's Early Christmas Present

2007-12-07T15:13:00.001-08:00

I'm going to apologize in advance, buddy. I have no idea how to gift wrap an ass kicking. I'll just wrap a bow around it and hang 50 points on top of it.

In case you were thinking you would be celebrating a fantasy football championship on Dec 25th, just remember the reason for the season and move on. It's better that you not get your hopes up.

I don't know... maybe I'm being a little harsh. Do you want me to bench my quarterback or something so it will hurt less when the game is over?

A Couple of Grace Pics

2007-12-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

When you are in a J.C. Penny and your child falls asleep, you CAN take advantage of your surroundings.

Who knows... maybe I don't have to mow the yard 'til I have a son.

All pics today are from a cell phone camera. Sorry for the questionable quality.

How Does Her Garden Grow

2007-12-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

We have a new dog. Her name is Daisy. You have no idea how long it took to get her still enough to take a picture of her face.

If you couldn't tell from the face, she's a miniature Schnauzer. White with black eyes. It's amazing how much instinct they show during play. She just gets into this pose.

She's adorable when she plays like this. That leaf was just ASKING for it when the wind blew it.

Yesterday, she gave us quite a scare. She ran in to the room (leaning badly to her right) and just collapses on my lap next to Grace. She wasn't breathing and was completely limp. I take her outside and gave her the Heimlich maneuver and she comes to. She purged her system and just laid there for an hour on her side panting. She's fine now, but that was scary.

We really hope that she will make a lasting pet. Our first experience didn't go well when Smokey decided to go crazy and start attacking us. Maggie was great, but was just too big to have around kids. She's a great dog, but she belongs outside where she is now.

What's Going on in Russia

2007-10-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty happy lately. This feeling has extended to my political interests. While I don't really care much about the upcoming Presidential race, my candidate for Louisiana Governor did win in the primary election. So it seems that I have been looking for a cause.

Thanks to Audible Mind, I seem to have found one.

http://audiblemind.blogspot.com/2007/10/gary-kasparov-speaks-out-against-putin.html

In this post, Audible Mind shows an interview of Chess Grandmaster Gary Kasparov by the Wall Street Journal. This is extremely interesting since he is giving an extremely unfavorable description of Putin's Russia. I encourage any readers of this blog to view the video. Watch until the end where Kasparov is obviously aware that even in today's Russia, dissent can be punished by death and how he acknowledges and accepts that risk. This is a truly great act on the part of Kasparov. He has taken the role of intellectual revolutionary and could possibly bring about much needed reform in Russia.

I was jaded about the Russian government until recently. Rather than being the first look at a secretive and authoritarian regime, this is in fact the culmination of the secrecy of that regime. The secrecy provided the doubt and Kasparov is providing the affirmation of that doubt.

My man of the year is definitely Gary Kasparov.

New Apple Gear

2007-09-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't keep up with dates, today is September 5th. Traditionally, it is the day that Apple gives the consumers who love them more things to spend their money on.

One newsworthy mention is the the iPhone has been reduced to $399. That's actually pretty reasonable. Must have sucked o be one of the first to jump at it now. $200 to have the phone for ~2 months.

Anyway, the really good news is that there are three new iPods. I think the item of most interest to me in the group is the redone iPod Nano. It is not the "Phatty" that had made its way around the net, but it wasn't far off. The biggest innovation is the new iPod Touch. It's basically an iPhone without the ability to make calls. The classic was redone, but I don't have much interest in that remake. I loved the Classic iPod as much as everyone, but I like solid state memory more than massive space.

Of course, none of this will lead to a purchase for me since I just bought the new as of 8/30 Sony Ericsson W580i and I am anxiously awaiting the delivery as I type.

This phone is a decent mp3 player, FM radio, a track and field manager with pedometer, and loads of free games and ringtones to help with the cost of having the device. (Although it only costs $80 with contract)

Best Dream EVER

2007-08-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

I had to come write this down while I still remember it. I was at a summer camp right, except for the the fact that I'm Luke Skywalker and everyone else is characters from Star Wars. Besides that, it's the exact same thing as summer camp. I just snuck around the entire time watching Darth Vader sing campfire songs and play volleyball and such. Finally I saw him go into the bathroom and I followed him in. When I see he's at the urinal, I say, "Hey Vader, that's a niiiiice cock." When he looks up, I decapitate him.

That's it. Best dream EVER.

Not a Conservative Anymore!

2007-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

The title of this post may come as a surprise to the readers who know me. Well, I just can't accept that stigma with the current Louisiana governor's election. Frankly, I am ready for a radical change, and if I have to shed the conservative label to get that, I'm ready.

Where did the blame lie for the problems after Hurricane Katrina? Apparently, Mayor Nagin showed that it couldn't have possibly been him. He successfully ran for his office as an incumbent post-Katrina. However, the most blame to me lies at the state level. I was very worried that all blame would be shifted to President Bush, FEMA, and the federal government. That would be ridiculous given spheres of influence and the examples of other areas of devastation. It is obvious that the state government showed its absolute incompetence during that time. Thank the Lord that Gov. Blanco knew she would not be able to shed her failures as governor and win another term.

Now that the failures of state government have been exposed, we as a state can take a look at Louisiana politics. The blatant corruption that we have put up with for so long doesn't seem as tolerable anymore. Kickbacks and social programs don't cut it. Two years and no levees despite an out of control budget don't cut it. For me there is only one viable solution: Bobby Jindal.

I have just returned home from the Bobby Jindal bus tour/rally at Washington parish courthouse.

The above picture was taken after one of the most electrifying speeches I've ever heard.
I literally could not stop smiling. This man knows what it will take and has the ability to follow through with the changes we need for Louisiana. He knows that we have the resources to become one of the best states in America, but are stuck at the bottom of virtually every comparative list because of the corruption and incompetence that we the voters have allowed to flourish here. The change that it will take to better our state and our lives is within reach. So I really hope that each and every person that reads this post will do a little research and show up to vote for this amazing politician. Frankly, Louisiana can't afford to miss out on his leadership.

It's time for a fresh start Louisiana! Read more about Bobby and his campaign at bobbyjindal.com. Also, I have designed a T-shirt that's available at my online store: teaseliberals.com.

Minneapolis - ICSE 2007

2007-05-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am breaking my blog silence to tell everyone about my current trip to a conference in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a great town this time of year. The weather is wonderful. The shops, restaurants and people are best described as amiable.

The conference itself is the best conference in my concentration (IMO), the International Conference on Software Engineering or ICSE (pronounced icksee). It has been amazing to go to a talk and sit next to people who have algorithms named after them that every CS major knows. I talked for 15 minutes to one of the founders of my field for goodness sake. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little starstruck.

Since I don't have the time or patience to set up a photo sharing site, I've added some of the photos of the trip below with commentary. I recommend clicking on the cityscape pictures to see the higher resolution versions.

Minneapolis really is a beautiful city. Just look at the view from my hotel room. The weather was wonderful:

The next three photos are from a series of walkways that connect many of the downtown buildings. This means that you can walk to almost any destination without going out in inclement weather. It was really great:

This is a photo of my fellow SELab researcher and friend Jason (Zhixiang Shen) and I waiting for today's keynote address:

I'll end with a rather comical looking picture of me on a Segway:

Reno 911! Miami

2007-03-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

Natsha and I just returned from Reno 911! Miami. I have to say that my first trip to the theater since Pirates of The Carribean, DMC was well worth the trip. I will say that if you do not enjoy the show, you will not enjoy the movie.

So why was this movie worth $4.50? If you are a fan of the show, I believe that this movie was the formed by the writers of the show making little notes about what would be funny if they didn't have to worry about the censors. It was raw and, quite frankly, nasty most of the hour and a half.

It was the perfect movie for today. I wanted to see 300 and Natasha wanted to see Music and Lyrics. This was a comprimist that worked to my favor.

After today, I think we are about to join Netflix. Since we have seen about a 10th of the movies that we have wanted to but been to busy for the last three years. We really enjoy movies but usually rent a movie, forget to watch it, then pay $20 in late fees for it.

I hope every thing is well with all of you.

Long Time No Blog

2007-01-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

For the past month, I have had too much life to live to post about it. However, today I had some news worth posting about. For the next four months or so, I will be the Band Director of Franklinton High School. It's a temporary position, and I think the opportunity is too hard to pass up. It will definitely be a unique experience that I'm looking forward to. Don't worry though. I'm still in school. I'm just doing all research work right now. So I'm a full-time teacher, full-time student, and part-time teaching assistant. That is so screwed up.

The other newsworthy items in my life are:

1) The cruise was stinking awesome. God willing, we will be going on another one very soon.
2) Christmas was fun. We had way too much food and visited Houston after the 25th.
3) We moved my brother into his new house. It's a really nice place in Watson, LA which is on the way to school.
4) I rebuilt the bathroom again. Hopefully, this time will be the last.
5) I finally got a home theater projector. InFocus, really nice, GREAT deal.
6) I won one of my fantasy football leagues. I'm really happy about that. It's the first time I've won in a league that I give a rat's behind about.

I hope to post about most of that stuff soon, but with the schedule I'll have this semester, Technical Duckery could definitely get a little lean.

I hope you are all having a great start to 2007.

New Phone Number

2006-12-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

In the interest of having better cell phone service I have changed my number to (985) 515-8896. We've been having issues that could be related to only being in our home area once every 3 months.

Unexpected Purchase

2006-12-14T20:44:00.001-08:00

I am now the owner of a Toyota Camry. More tomorrow. A quick description... just like this picture but no sunroof

A Great Morning Today

2006-12-14T09:33:00.000-08:00

First, the great news: I passed the Theory of Computation Exam. Apparently my appeal was convincing enough to squeak by. As far as the Algorithms exam, I failed in my appeal, but I am convinced that I got the answers wrong. Whether or not I feel those questions determine proficiency in the subject is another story.

Second, the final went fine yesterday. I now I made some errors, but I have done well throughout the year so I'm pretty sure I got an A. (Not that GPA matters at all in my program...) But it's good to be done with all of that stuff. I have to go back tomorrow to finalize my TA duties.

Third, I'm feeling the first excitement about the cruise in a VERY long time. I'm ready to be with my seniorita with some margaritas.

Fourth, It's almost Christmas! Happy Holidays to you and your's. I hope Santa is good to everyone and that you remain moderately sober for the new year.

Just One Test Today

2006-12-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

I will be officially done with my obligations as a student for the semester at 2:30 PM. While I still have TA duties to attend to, it will still be a huge relief. So how does a guy celebrate such an occasion? Well, if he has a twin brother who will also be finishing the semester today, said guy meets up with said twin and they absolutely ravage themselves at a local Chinesse buffet. Let the gluttony begin!

Only a few days left until the cruise!

Thank You for Clearing That Up

2006-12-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

I am doing some research on Internet Mobility and happen to end up on the following page:

U.S. Copyright Office - What Does Copyright Protect? (FAQ)

Excerpt from that FAQ:

How do I protect my sighting of Elvis?
Copyright law does not protect sightings. However, copyright law will protect your photo (or other depiction) of your sighting of Elvis. Just send it to us with a Form VA application and the filing fee. No one can lawfully use your photo of your sighting, although someone else may file his own photo of his sighting. Copyright law protects the original photograph, not the subject of the photograph.

Whew!!! Thank goodness they have a resource to answer that question. Actually, the bad thing about this is that you know that is actually a frequently asked question.

It's... What I Do

2006-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

I rarely read an article that makes me wish I had written it. This article is one of those. It's hard for CS guys go even watch movies sometimes. I remember watching Jurassic Park after I had my degree and having to stop the tape at some point when the 12 year old girl is portrayed as the computer whiz and saves everyone by instantly knowing how to use some piece of software she's never seen before. (I wonder if biologists and geneticists have the same trouble with that movie.) And let's not even talk about Hackers. So I want to present the following article:

What code DOESN'T do in real life (that it does in the movies)

A few gems from the article:

1. Code does not move
In films and television code is always sailing across the screen at incredible speeds; it's presented as an indecipherable stream of letters and numbers that make perfect sense to the programmer but dumbfound everyone else. I understand that to the non-savvy person the abilities of a programmer might seem amazingly complex, but do they honestly think we can read shit that isn't sitting still? It'd be like trying to read six newspapers flying around in a tornado. Sure, I can watch a kernel compile, tail a log file, or simply monitor the scrolling output of a program - but the most value I get out of those activities is when execution stops and I can actually scroll back to read what the hell happened (unless the output was going slow enough I could read it as it happened).

4. Code is not three dimensional
Remember in "hackers" when the gibson is depicted as a three dimensional city that the hackers must navigate through? Bullshit! We may use a dash of color in our shell to make things a bit clearer, but last I checked my terminal app doesn't require OpenGL. I'm working here, bitches - I'm not playing quake.

Re: Tunak Tunak

2006-12-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

I had to post a reply to Jordan's recent post about Tunak Tunak. Here's the reason why I need to reply: Everytime I watch Tunak Tunak by the still popular Dhaler Mendhi. I love the music but laugh because Indian people are funny like that. So I wanted to post something for people to laugh at white people about. And not just any white people, the freaky deaky Danish. So here it is for your enjoyment:

Tommy Seebach Band - Apache

Total Bossa Nova

2006-12-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema (1964)

Watch this short video and think of the emotions you feel when you watch it. Bossa Nova is great.

Appeal forms are filed

2006-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

The department created a way to appeal the grades on the General Exams. I have filed a total of five forms for the two exams I failed. I feel very optimistic after filing them. The questions I got "wrong" were answered correctly. I'm pretty aggravated about the whole thing now. I'll keep everyone informed.

The Delio

2006-11-19T20:54:00.000-08:00

I can now say more about the previous post.

Here are my results for the General Exam:
Operating Systems: PASS
Computer Architecture: PASS
Algorithms: FAIL
Theory of Computing: FAIL
Programming Languages: PASS

My minimum criteria for success was to pass 3 out of the 5 tests. However, there are some issues regarding one of the failed test that I can not accept. I am giving this until after Thanksgiving before I start raising cane. I want to give the department time to do the right thing. After that, I will request a meeting with the Department Head. I have started to look at my options for what to do if I need to go further.

You pick your battles...

2006-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

... and I am putting on my stretchy pants.

(if you don't get that reference, see here)

I can't post anything about what is going on on a public web page, but things could be better in Baton Rouge. To sum up everything with giving no information whatsoever, my career plans are in question. But don't worry, I don't plan on going down without a fight.

Shuffle It.

2006-11-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

When my world is spiraling down around me and I can't seem to see any light from my chair in Coates Hall, I pick up my iPod for something... anything.

I expect the most heartfelt blues ever played. B.B. when he didn't have a dime. Clapton when the only thing that brought him happiness was a needle. Something that matched me.

Instead, my Shuffle gives me The Ghetto Boys "Damn It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta"...

and I quote:
" But real gangsta-ass niggas don't flex nuts
Cuz real gangsta-ass niggas know they got em
And everythings cool in the mind of a gangsta
Cuz gangsta-ass niggas think deep
Up three-sixty-five a year 24/7
Cuz real gangsta ass niggas don't sleep"

I laughed and moved on. $80 well spent.

Trying out my new stuff

2006-11-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'm still warming up to the iPod shuffle. My three complaints are:

1) The interface buttons have been changed. I think they were looking for a design that would have more "feedback". In the previous design, it was kinda hard to tell if the button had been pressed. Now it feels kinda "clunky".
2) The engraving is ridiculously small and look like it's been painted on. When people start paying for the "engravings", they will be disappointed. I can't complain, though. I didn't pay for it.
3) Sill no exercise variation of the ear bud. The standard iPod headphones are not ideal for running. They don't stay in when sweaty and when they are covered in sweat, hold water to the point of not being able to hear the music.

Those are all somewhat small complaints. The big question mark of durability and how well it holds a charge after repeated recharging can only be tested as the miles pile up on it. I'm very pleased overall though.

1) The clip design is every bit as functional as I thought it would be. A great design decision.
2) The brushed metal exterior looks nice.
3) The extra storage space for cheaper than the original is nice.
4) The battery life is surprisingly long.

I will definitely be recommending this to all runners out there. This is just a great buy for the $$$.

The other new toy is actually a video game. As always, I am 2 or 3 years behing the curve when it comes to video games. So I bought a game called Viewtiful Joe for $6. A game recommended by both Jordan and Ronald. The gameplay, the design, the music, EVERYTHING about this game is beautiful. I could really get addicted to this one. What's funny is that it is a throwback in gameplay to the days of Contra and Double Dragon. They just added better design, a 3D perspective, and some better functionality. One cool feature is that the game centers on the main character's ability to slow down time to accomplish certain feats. Anyway, it's hard to describe other than saying it's an absolutely beautiful game. If you are one of the few people who hasn't played it check it out.

Also, I got Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour for $8 to be a Natasha and I game. Jordan let us borrow this one 2 years ago and we had a lot of fun playing it. Hard to pass up for $8.

Test 5: Programming Languages

2006-11-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well... That's it. I'm finished with the 2nd biggest hurdle to get my degree from here on out, I clear out my remaining course work and research really hard.

I'm back home and checking out the new iPod.

Test 4: Theory of Computing

2006-11-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

Bum Bum Bum... Another One Bites the Dust!

I feel well about how that test went. I won't say that I passed it because the person who grades them has been known to be really harsh on "little mistakes".

Tomorrow is a test that I'm now getting worried about. Programming Languages is usually one of my stronger subjects, but that also means that I've neglected it a little bit in my studying. The more I look over my notes, the more worried I get. I'll let everyone know.

The iPod shuffle has been delivered. Natasha opened it for me and I could feel the coolness of the shiny metal skin through the phone.

Test 3: Algorithms

2006-11-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Wow. That test was hard. But just like yesterday, it was straightforward. I really think that's another exam taht will be in the pass category. From here on out, I feel confident about the remaining subjects.

Tomorrow is Theory of Computing. I'll do another report.

In the mean time, here's a picture of Grace in line art:

("unsquished" version here)

Who wants to guess how much I miss my wife and child here in Baton Rouge?

My iPod left China and landed in Alaska overnight. By this morning, it is being held in Memphis TN, so I may have it by Friday...

Test 2: Computer Architecture

2006-10-31T20:48:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time to post, but today's test went well. It was very hard, but straightforward. I can stand hard, just not leftfield hard. Everyone took the full 3 hours to finish the test, but we all felt good about how we did.

Work decided to go retarded on me this week. As soon as I finished the test, I had to do work until past 6:00 despite the fact that tomorrow's test could be the hardest of the 5: Algorithms...

I'll let you guys know.

Also, John Kerry is a punk. Only that ass could say such a stupid thing and then blame Republicans for it him saying it. I'm not saying I'm 100% pleased with President Bush's performance, but I thank my lucky stars every day that John Kerry is not in power.

Test 1: Operating Systems

2006-10-30T14:12:00.000-08:00

Ouch. That was not pretty at ALL.

The way these test are organized, all of the graduate faculty who have taught or do research in the given area give questions. We don't know who gives what questions... except that it is obvious by the style of question.

So they usually give 7 questions and you answer 5. Three hours are given for the exam. This time, they gave 5 and you had to answer 5. Not good.

The first three were obviously written by the same professor and in a single word were ridiculous. The last two were the only questions not written by that professor. Those were relatively easy.

I give myself about a 20% chance of making it past this one. No big deal though. I'll just have to take it again in the spring if I fail. My goal in this round of testing is to pass 3 so there's still hope.

And just for Willy Harv's amusement, I've decided to blame this poor performance on President George W. Bush.

Other notes worth noting for those who like notes:

My iPod Shuffle has shipped and is in a FedEx facility in Suzhou, China as I type.
Sheriff Harry Lee has been making some provocative comments lately. This is really the talk of the town down here. More at NOLA.com.
Tomorrow's test is Computer Architecture. Hopefully I will do better.

Almost there.

2006-10-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

My general exams start on Monday. I can't wait to be free of this. The Developmental Council Meeting went as well as an event with an open bar can go.

In the mean time, I have been amazingly apolitical which has allowed me to make an observation:

The only true fair & balanced political coverage in the US is comedy.

How sad for us...

Worst Marketing Campaign EVER

2006-10-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Someone should get fired over this.

The following image is a screenshot of the front page of University Recreation at LSU. The image there shows on the front row, from left to right: me, Dad, and Billy in costume. Apparently URec wanted their race to be represented by a prison bitch, an old man, and a butt pirate.

If that weren't enough, the main advertisement shows an image of me running in costume. (shown below) What the hell are these people thinking? There was a chick there in a Lara Croft outfit. LARA CROFT for goodness sake!! They chose a picture of me over Lara Croft... I'm not kidding. Someone should be fired.

Three paragraphs

2006-10-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Remember in high school... English I... We learned that precious method of expression otherwise known as the three paragraph report. I still use it frequently. It's the perfect way to organize ideas and to have them read and understood.

It starts with an introduction. A simple blurb about what they hell you are talking about and why the hell you need to say it. It puts everyone on the same, single page.

The next three paragraphs are the epitome of information transmission. If you can't come up with three main points or a paragraph to explain them, then you chose the wrong subject. You get a C for not knowing what the heck you are talking about. If you add an extra point or take a second page, then you are blabbing. The teacher won't even read it... just give you a C.

A conclusion to reiterate what points you made to really sync up with the reader.

I really wish all human communication was like that. On paper, organized, and meaningful. In one day, I've been frustrated with large amounts of irrelevant data, angered by missing data, and confused by disorganized information. For an entire day, I've been on the wrong page of a different book that hasn't been written yet. Perhaps I should require that all information be passed to me in the form of three paragraphs reports...

A guy can dream.

More Nickelodeon Memories?

2006-10-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the greatest shows ever made. I feel sorry for kids today that don't have The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Hey Dude, Salute Your Shorts, and let's not forget You Can't Do That On Television.

Despite all of those great shows, The Pete & Pete theme song may set it apart. Enjoy.

Uno Mas Cuadro

2006-10-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Me olvidé de un cuadro en mi artículo anterior. Aquí está la pequeña muchacha preciosa.

Tomado por Katy Madden a.k.a Shutterbug.

Grace Pictures

2006-10-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not read Natasha's blog, I wanted to share a couple pictures:That is one happy baby!

New iPod Shuffle

2006-10-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I really don't kow why I haven't heard about this... Apple has a new design for its iPod Shuffle. This is even smaller than the previous design which was pretty ridiculous. The key to me is that it has a built-in clip as seen on the right of the image. It also only offers a 1 gB version at a price of $80. (Free shipping and engraving) See more here.

So how did I find this out?

Well my previous mp3 player is officially not working. It has acted up since the day I got it and now it's just done for. I've been using it for the past month as a radio player. So I am now officially an iPod owner. I have ordered it and expect it to arrive in the next couple weeks although the estimated ship date was listed as "October".

I should know better, but it offered free engraving and I couldn't resist. I didn't want to just put my name and phone on it. I may tape that on later. Instead I just put the words "Don't panic." in nice friendly letters.

EDIT: It is now estimated to be delivered by Nov 7th. Ugh.

A New Type of Experiment

2006-09-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

My good friend Ping Zhang came home from China wih a new bride and a present for Natasha and I. It was a Shibajie Mahua manufactured by Guifaxiang in Ping's home town outside of Shanghai. It comes in four flavors as shown below:

Purple is traditional, Blue is Chinese Pepper, Yellow is Hard Nut, and Red is Haw. Yes. I said Haw. That is the only time I have seen that word used without being preceded by the words Hee or Yee.

So I had an idea to make a blog post out of it. Not so much copying, but rather paying homage to Steve Don't Eat It. And what's better is that Natasha agreed to join me.

The first we tried was Traditional. This makes sense because it was before they got "creative" with the recipe... Whatever the hell that might be. It's basically like dried spaghetti made with peanuts instead of flour wrapped around some stuff that resembles graham cracker crumbs mixed with syrup and dried. All of this combined looks like a piece of poo, as seen to the right.

I don't know if it was the look or the smell, but Natasha took approximately 3 molecules of it for our experiment. I have to say that the Traditional and the Chinese Pepper were pretty good but very different. Hard Nut lived up to the name and was outrageously hard to chew, but tasted pretty good. Haw tasted like it is basically the same as Traditional except that it has already been eaten and then regurgiatated.

I think I would eat them again, but I'm not sure they would actually be sold anywhere in the US. Natasha is safe.

An Odd Race Report

2006-09-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

I won an age group today at the first 5K of the season for the Northshore. It was the Great Wake Up Race in Abita Springs. (1/2 mile from the brewery.) More than 150 participants showed up for the run. My time was 23:20, which is one of my slower times, but since the race didn't start until 9:00, it was probably hotter than 80 degrees and very humid. Everyone was rolling back their expectations by at least 1:00.

So that's the summary of the morning's results. But I heard something shocking and hard to accept on the way home. You see, I beat my Dad for the second (or third, I can't remember) consecutive 5K. And I don't mean finish at the same time. I was ahead from the bell. That led him to say the following statement:

I guess the days of me beating you in races is over.

I guess I should have seen it coming, but that's an odd feeling. I've been either catching up to or running with my Dad for 9 years. The thing is, I'm not getting any younger, he's getting older. I was feeling a little scared and sad when that hit me. In a second, time was rushing very fast. I know that he will beat me again in a race. He's just too dedicated and too fast. But at one moment, I realized he is a grandfather just like my grandfather was. The best way I can say it is that it is still a little odd.

At What Point is Diebold Wrong?

2006-09-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Diebold Election Systems is a subsidiary of Diebold, Incorporated. Diebold is known for making many ATMs, vaults, and even most of the tubes and whatnot at your local bank drive-through. Diebold Election Systems is known for making the worlds most unreliable and unsecure voting systems.

So why do I care? Well this would make an excellent case study for the application of software engineering. The vast majority of systems are requirements driven. Just imagine how the project starts... We need a system that ____. You would think that the requirements for a voting machine would... uh... you know... let people vote. Of course it isn't that simple but you have to imagine reliability and security are among the top requirements of the system.

Since these systems have been used, it has been said that one person cracked a Diebold system in less than two hours using a hotel key and a laptop. Diebold had to pay a huge sum to California for selling them machines that were faulty. In one case here in Louisiana, a politician who lost her election went to the warehouse where the machines are kept and found that some machines were actually wired wrong. She would press the button by her name and the opponent's name would light up as if she voted for her opponent.

"How can this happen?" isn't even the most interesting question in this case. The most interesting question is: "Why is this continuing to happen?"

Despite the loads of past problems... despite the multitude of sites that outline how to easily hack the machines... despite all of that, Diebold continues to back its product. Diebold continues to say that the machines should not give receipts to voters or even keep a paper tally in addition to the electronic tally. At what point is Diebold wrong?

I'm Published

2006-09-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago, I mentioned how busy I was and that I couldn't really say what it was that was keeping me busy. That's because I didn't want to inject any part of what I was working on into the public domain. Even now I'm limited in what I can say. What I can say is this:

After a year in the program, a paper I helped with has been published!

(Image © iasted.org)

Title: "Ontology-Based Error Detection in Software Design: A Case Study"
Authors: Allyson Hoss, Doris L. Carver, and John W. Burris

This paper will be presented by its primary author (Allyson) at the 10th IASTED Conference on Software Engineering and Applications and appear in the conference proceedings. The main thing this means for me is that I will be listed as a published author in most of the online citation databases.

My contribution was writing practical UML diagrams for the case study. They also had to be flawless in their design. One misuse of a relationship could have caused the paper to be rejected. I also helped review the paper for clarity and correctness.

Thanks for letting me brag.

I'm Going Crazy

2006-09-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Seriously... I am one brain cell away from being able to hide my own Easter eggs this spring.

R.I.P. Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

According to FoxNews.com, Steve Irwin was killed today while filming a nature documentary. A sting ray hit Irwin in the heart with its poisonous barb. I salute you, Mr. Irwin. You left this world doing what you love and while you were here did wonders for conservationist movement. You helped me remember how amazing God's creation is and why it should be protected. My prayers will be with your family.

To see Steve Irwin in his funniest television appearance, go here. Also, did you know that he was afraid of parrots?

This Post is Sans Serif

2006-09-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Until recently, I had no idea what "sans serif" meant. I realize that his could very well be yet another case of me being an overly ignorant person, but I like to think that when I find things out that I probably should have known, I should share.

Well serifs are little edges added to the ends of the letters. The most obvious example of a serif is in the capital letter "E" in the photo to the right. Sans, of course, mean without.

The font on the left is Times New Roman, the most widely used font serif. The font on the right is Verdana, one of the most common web fonts that is also a font sans serif.

I hope someone found that as enlightening as I did. And if you are reading this post before 6:00, why the heck aren't you watcing the Tech game? We're holding on...

Harsh Reality of Education

2006-08-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

I admit that this post is yet another blog post that allows me to rant about the few bad things in my extremely enjoyable life. I realize that makes me petty and self-absorbed. So here's my ran about why the beginning of the fall semester at LSU blows:

1) There are too damn many people. Everywhere I go, it is packed. You would expect that there would be some sort of accomodation for this... Instead, there are lines, no parking spots, and constant loud noise.

2) All of those people crowding the halls will keep the URec completely unusable for the first three weeks of class. They will then disappear. That means I will be pissed off every morning I come to school for three weeks when I can't park there, run there, or punch things (that I won't get arrested for punching) there.

3) I have an instructor that quized me on the syllabus that he had not handed out yet. When I was slightly off, he stated that it had been on the web for weeks. (Nevermind that I had read it, just not studied it. It's a syllabus for Pete's sake.) Why does this aggrivate me? My other professor to date has not handed out or posted a syllabus. Trust me when I say that in Computer Science graduate school the latter is standard practice.

4) I still don't have a solid TA assignment. As it stood this morning, I was given a choice: (1) Instruct a lab, but come to school 5 days a week. (2) Grade papers and come to school only 2 days a week, but miss cruise to Mexico. I have been dealing with this since 8:00 AM, it is now almost 3:00.

Thanks for letting me get that out. I have just been so stressed with finishing my research lab duties, school, and home that I've seriously thought about shaving my head. I don't know what I thought it would solve, it just seemed like the most logical solution...

Karaoke Revolution

2006-08-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have a new first. My brother and I got a Nintendo Entertainment System of our own after it had been sold for almost 3 years. I actually think Sega Genesis was out by the time we got an NES. The only computer game I have ever bought was Quake III Arena. It was $10 in a bargain bin. I usually just play the demos since there's so much in them. But the time is NOW, and I JOHN W BURRIS... for the first time in my entire life, have paid full price for a video game.

That game: KARAOKE REVOLUTION PARTY!!!

It has been worth every penny. Here's the story:

Jordan and Katie recenty bought a game called Guitar Hero (read more here). Well I played it at the recent draft party and really enjoyed it. Beyond that, everyone was enjoying it at the same time. The coolest part about it was how I could tell that Jordan and Katie had spent quite a lot of time practicing. That's really cool when you think about it. They have an activity that they spend loads of time on together and having a good time. I considered buying a Sony Playstation II with Guitar Hero and 2 controllers online just so Natasha and I could play. The total cost was going to be around $195. That would have gotten me a Playstation 2, 3 controllers, around 10 games, memory card, Guitar Hero, and 2 Guitar Hero controllers. Not a bad deal... But then I started looking at what I could get for the system I already have and love playing, the Gamecube.

The first game was Mario Party 7 ($50). It is well known for being the best party game made since some girls don't like Super Smash Brothers Melee. However, it wasn't quite right. (I ended up buying one just for the microphone inside.)

Karaoke Revolution ($50) practically screamed at me when I saw it. Both Ron and Brad had mentioned how fun it was. There was no hesitation as I ran to the Wal-Mart attendant.

So here's what the game is: You sing karaoke into USB microphones. You are judged based on both accuracy in timing and pitch. The closer you are, the more points you get and the more the crowd gets into it. You can sing duets, have battles or just plain sing karaoke. The character creater is pretty good as well. This is a really, really fun game so far. I'm glad that the Simpson crew exposed me to this type of gaming.

It has 50 really cool songs. (See song list here under the title Karaoke Revolution Party) I had gotten perfect on only 2 songs: Dust in the Wind (Easiest difficulty) and That's Amore (hardest difficulty)

We will be playing this game tonight at my brother's with his friends and tomorrow night in Ruston with our dinner club. Tuesday my Mom and Dad may be coming to play. That may be interesting.... Dad's voice has never been mistaken for Andrea Bocelli.

After the successful sessions that Natasha and I had playing this game, I looked for some lists of great games. I found this list at gamestats.com and was dissappointed that Karaoke Revolution Party did not fare well. Neither did Mario Party 7. Then I noticed that Super Monkey Ball 2 was near the top of the list, so I completely dismissed it. If anyone knows of some really good games for couples, let me know. I think Mario Kart: Double Dash is in the near future. I've also considered Pikmin 2 and Lego: Star Wars but I'm not sure how fun those would be for Natasha.

The Chrsitening

2006-08-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of Grace's christening. It's a little dated, so to see the latest photos of Grace, it would be best to go to Natasha's blog.

A Big Blue Recliner

2006-08-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing a few of you have been wondering what I've been up to. OK, so maybe not, but I'm gonna fill you in regardless.

I spent last weekend away from the family at a fantasy football draft party. Taylor hosted it at his place and it was very fun. Taylor cooked steaks, Jordan brought a fun game called "Guitar Hero", and Taylor's dog ruled us with an iron fist. (Oh and we drank beer.) The draft is almost over and I think I got a pretty decent team out of it. However, I thought the same thing last year when two of my top three picks got injured. Brad drove up there with me which actually made the drive pretty enjoyable despite the fact that I drive so much during the week. I will say that the group is a lot different than it was just a few years ago in Ruston. I dare say that it seemed like we were a lot older.

Now to explain the title, I also moved a big blue recliner into my living room. I think every old Dad should have one and being that football season is almost upon us, the time is right. So my week has revolved around working hard and relaxing in my recliner.

This weekend we head north again to see the McClung family and do our standard dinner partying. I think Luke and his bride will be there, but I'm not sure if anyone else will show. It should be fun regardless.

School starts in 3 or 4 days. I have a really easy class schedule with a much easier TA schedule. This will all help since I also plan on taking the general exams this semester.

You are now "caught up". :-)

NFT posted on Forbes and Yahoo! Biz

2006-08-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

The company that I used to work for and still hold a minority interest in has now been mentioned on Forbes and Yahoo! Business. This is really good news since Internet commerce is driven by publicity. Google isn't worth squat unless it can maintain users and keep a good image whereas Halliburton would be just as successful if you and I never heard of it. So anyway, here's some linkage:

Yahoo! Business

Forbes Business Wire

NFT-TV.com

If you are unfamiliar with the company, you may want to check it out. It's well worth the read. (It will also increase the page ranking of the articles.)

Football Season Approaches

2006-08-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

1998: Louisiana Tech Football Highlights

This video is part 1 of 4 and shows the "golden age" on Louisiana Tech football. The 1998 season was only our 10th season in Division 1A football and the record was not great when we finished 6-6. However, this team was the David to the Goliath that was Alabama and it set record after record for its amazing offense. When and if you watch these videos, here are some of the players:
#13: NFL QB Tim Rattay
#16: NFL WR Troy Edwards
#81: WR Sean Cangelosi
#9: WR Delwyn Daigre
#8: RB John Simon

If you are a fan of Tech athletics, these are some of the athletes you can thank for the program that we have today. To see the other 3 parts visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdywBSH5uk

A Job Posting

2006-08-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

No, no, no. I haven't given up on my educashon just yet. I just have to share the oddest disclaimer on a public job posting I've ever read. Under Application Procedures and Clarifications of the job posting:

(5) Do not knock on the office doors of Mr. ______ or me without invitation for interview. Doing so will reduce your chance to get hired. Mr. ______ and I only interview applicants who are in good health. In your main message to me, you should indicate whether you are in good health or not. If you are sick (for example, if you have a cold or hay fever), please indicate that in your main message so that the interview (if any) will be conducted after you send me another message indicating that you have fully recovered from your illness.

I have recently come to know Mr. ______, and I usually think of him as an excretory opening at the end of the alimentary canal, if you know what I mean. This proves that I am not being hard on the guy. I think such a disclaimer really limits the quality of the people who apply. You have to have pretty low self-esteem to send a resume in which you have to state, "As of today, I'm rash free".

Latest Web Design

2006-08-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well I've done another website.

I hate doing them. I really do. I don't find the process interesting or challenging at all. I might if I used the design as some sort of creative expression, but I don't. However, I have experience and that usually means that I am obligated to do web siites for groups and organizations that I am affiliated with. I don't mind that much since it gives me an opportunity to contribute where others have need. So anyway, Dr. Carver asked for a redesigned site for our research group and I actually got fairly excited about the chance to help give the group a new image. To show the new site, I want to start with what we were going from:

(site viewable here)

We wanted to add 3 things to this site.

A modern look and feel
A display of our affiliation to LSU
A sense of "activity" to our lab

To add #1, we simply used the now standard fonts, more images, and more acceptable design principles.

To add #2, we used the web templates provided by LSU as the basis for the design. Now, by web templates I do not mean prefabricated sites. They provide a few images, the logos, and accepted colors for use on LSU sites. For more info, see http://www.lsu.edu/pa/identity/web.html. I actually spent considerable time improving the template's footer to make it transparet to the background image.

#3 we are still working on. It may take more reliable updating and constantly adding new images.

So here are the fruits of our labors:

(viewable live on http://selab.csc.lsu.edu)

While this isn't the most impressive site I've built, I think it is a considerable improvement and meets the criteria we set for it. You can even see the new logo treatment in the top left corner. Hope you enjoy!

Mexico or Bust!!

2006-08-09T17:41:00.002-07:00

That's right, baby! Natasha and I are booked for a Carnival cruise! 5-days cruising through the Gulf of Mexico with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. Margaritas and my senorita will be the only things on my mind. We depart in mid-December so it is going to be a hard, hard wait.

We have not taken a trip since our honeymoon and that one didn't go all that well. So I started looking into the pricing of different cruise lines. I will be making a series of posts to help everyone with what goes on in the cruise process in case we inspire someone else to go cruising. I'll post about how I found the rate we got and how the process goes, then keep everyone updated on what we go through.

Local Controversy

2006-08-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Washington Parish (the parish I have lived in most of my life) is in the middle of an ongoing controversy about the use of Eminent Domain by the government. While this case is definitely not equivalent to the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court that the government can seize property for use as private development, it is definitely related. The state and local governments want to create a reservoir in Washington Parish and use that land as a residential development area. Currently, the property is used by few and worth very little to the government or community. However, the people who own the land and have lived their all of their lives aren't going down without a fight.

While I have commented that eminent domain could be one of the greatest threats to personal liberty in our country, I have to say that I am on the side of the government on this case due to the compensations offered and the methods used for property selection and acquisition. The opposition is a extremely vocal group named the "Washington Parish Community Preservation Alliance" which I deduct is primarily made up of members of the Pittman family who's land would be seized in the development. They have made several good points about corruption at the state level, but absolutely fail to convince me that the project would not be beneficial to the community. Their video, which is nearly unwatchably bad quality, also omits a few things. The commission has been repeatedly halted by interruptions so much so that they had to eliminate public comments. They mention that the reservior could create horrible disasters in the event of a hurricane despite no precedent for such a statement. They also mention that the commission lacks scientific proof of statements, but then immediately follows with a statement that building the reservior next to a landfill doesn't "make sense". Remember that in viewing their side of the story, you will be getting a very emotionally charged argument.

I am also a little disappointed that they are personally attacking the members of the commission. Thus, the hesitation for people to comment during the footage. I know some of those committee members and they are only interested in the community. Beryl Schilling, Bob Bateman, and Mike Burris (my distant cousin) have used their time and resources for the community as a whole throughout their lives and I think they deserve a little respect from that community. When the video suggests Bill Durden is overpaid at $5,600 for accounting a project that has over $1 million in assets, they start showing their colors, but when they mention Sen. Thomas' personal problems, they cross the line with me.

Anyway, I hope that this wasn't a complete waste of your time. This is the first time I remember being as interested politically in something that was going on locally.

The New Electric Car

2006-08-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

I think that it's perfectly acceptable to be an environmentalist and a conservative. It's not like you have to be a hippy, liberal panty-waste to care about our Earth. Unfortunately, those hippy liberal panty-wastes designed the first series of electric cars that would ultimately fail due to lack of range, lack of saving money, and horrible design. Enter Tesla Motors. (www.teslamotors.com) Perhaps they will do a little better establishing the technology since they have an awesome sense of style to go with it.

Although, it looks and sounds amazing, I'm afraid that the price tag is still too outrageous. Most people who can afford such an expensive ride do not care about gas bills. (Nor the environment unless a camera is pointed at them.)

I'm afraid that this latest attempt at Earth-friendly transportation will go the route of the De Lorean. We can only hope that if it achieves some degree of success that more reasonably priced similar vehicles are produced.

Che Guevara

2006-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I am the last person remaining on this Earth who did not recognize the image that is spray painted on every street corner in America. It amazes me that after living with a far-left political activists for almost an entire year, I didn't bother to Google it. Well the opportunity presented itself today and I have identified this portrait as that of Che Guevara, or "el Che". While it was no surprise to me that he was in fact, a South American revolutionary, he is actually a very complex historical figure. The actual portrait that this stenciled graffiti is supposed to depict is pasted below. This portrait has become known as the most famous image of the 20th century. While I seriously doubt the subjectivity of such a title, I wonder how many people, like I did not know the whole story behind the man pictured and what ideals he truly represented in both his life and his death. As I read about him, I wonder if those people with his image on a t-shirt blindly accept him as a leader emeritus and representative in death of what they truly belive or if they blindly accept his image and legacy without a sense of skepticism. Perhaps this is the way that the blind lead the blind...

The readers of this blog know that I would not have agreed with this person politically. I would not be buddies with this person. But I do believe that if you have the time or interest, (and assuming you are as ignorant as I) you should read the unbiased article for him on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara

If you aren't into expanding your knowledge and are seeking a delightful distraction to the harsh reality of daily life, may I suggest a web site that is entirely dedicated to cats who look like Hitler (aka "Kitlers"):

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Sports Cartoon

2006-08-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

I know my readers who grew up in the same generation as I did will appreciate the trip back in time.

I also learned how to blog videos from youtube.com, a great movie site that gives a fair amount of distraction when needed.

Almost Pancaked

2006-07-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

I went to Choctaw Landfill on Saturday in my Dad's truck to dispose of a wall that I replaced on the outside of the house. I usuallly love going to the dump. It barely smells and is in constant motion. In fact, I brought Alexandra with me to see it. She was fascinated.

That's when it happened. We drove up to the actual dump location and an old fella told us to back it on in. The whole time we were backing a machine that is almost exactly like this one:

was moving garbage. This isn't that odd since, as I said, the dump is always in motion. As I back up, I notice that the 5 foot diameter metal, pointed tires are coming closer to us. In fact, directly at us. I couldn't drive the truck away since we were in reverse on the edge of a garbage pile. So I just had to watch.

The old fella ran over a screamed at the driver and the "trash smasher" stopped within a foot of the truck. That is as close as I think I've ever been to dying.

So what possibly could have made the driver of said "trash smasher" so distracted? The heat you say? Nope. He was on the damn phone. He didn't even turn to see what was behind him before going into reverse. He was quite mad that his conversation had gotten interrupted.

Let me repeat that... He was mad that he had to stop talking on his cell phone in order to prevent him from causing my accidental death.

Luckily he messed up again and when he finally drove away from the truck he slammed into an excavator when he wasn't looking where he was going again. Note that he still didn't hang up the phone. I am going to contact the operator of the dump today and hopefully have the guy taught a lesson.

Why I Hate Baseball

2006-07-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Baseball is an absolutely boring sport. I can totally understand why it is no longer America's sport. I bet if it weren't for pauses and breaks a baseball game would last no more than 30 minutes. NOt to mention the games are during the hot and humid summer. However, that is not why I hate baseball.

#1: MLB - the big leagues.

This is what prompted this post. Today I found out that it is very likely that the Houston Astros are trading Oswalt, Ensberg, and Everett to the Orioles for Miguel Tejada. This happens every year around this time. Today is the tade deadline and some teams are essentially giving up and trading players to teams who are going to make a run for the World Series. These trades can be extremely bad at times. It's basically a chance for the team to cash in a what success it has had during the season.

Well I'm glad they made some cash, but what about the fans? Season ticket holders and dedicated fans now have to endure the last part of this season watching a team that has no chance to win most weeks. It also changes the outcome of the season since some teams will undoubtably play the weakened teams while others will play teams which beefed up as well.

MLB has officially sold out.

#2: Minor leagues

I love the New Orleans Zephyrs. It's great to go to the games and see some pure baseball and great entertainment. However, since it is nothing but a training ground and rehab center for the majors, you can't follow a player from season to season.

#3: College

The last chance for baseball and they can't stop using aluminum bats.

Where's My Camera?

2006-07-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have never wanted to catch something on film as bad as I did today. (At least for humorous purposes. Marriage, baby, and other things technicaly take first place.)

I walked towards McDonald's for a yogurt parfait since the dairy shop was out of VANILLA... Well in Free Speech Alley there were some people shouting about Bush's lies, an illegal war, and most importantly the evil corporations that perpetrate the whole thing. I am very Republican looking, so they shouted at me. Hey, I'm part of the machine... No disillusionment here. So I let it slide.

When I get to McDonald's, there are three guys who are in front of me in line. They are sweating, holding papers, and wearing anti-government, anti-capitalism, and anti-corporation shirts. I posted an approximation to one of these shirts that I found on Amazon.com. Of course, the real one had some revolutionary instead of a Family Guy character. They were part of the protest!

I laughed out loud. I was apparently high enough from their smell to ask what the hell was wrong with these people. I approached the (smallest) of the three and asked "Isn't McDonald's part of the machine?", "Doesn't spending money at McDonald's work against what you support?" and "McDonald's may be the most evil corporation in America by your metrics. Aren't they slowly destroying the health of Americans and exploiting the poor cheap labor?"

The guy looked me right in the face and says, "You're right, but we needed some food."

Wow.

Biloxi, MS

2006-07-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

The trip was pretty good. This despite everything going wrong. The air conditioner in the car stopped working in Covington, LA. That's 30 minutes into our 2 hour drive. That made the trip a LOT longer. But I want to divert this post to what we saw in terms of damage.

We took the scenic highway through Waveland, MS. By taking this route, we drive through Perlington where Natasha used to live and through Pass Christian where my Grandma Pierce used to live. We got to Waveland and things looked pretty rough, but when we got through Waveland to the Pass Christian bridge, we noticed something... there was no bridge. There wasn't even much of an indication that there used to be a bridge there. There were NO houses left. They weren't flooded or torn down... they were just gone.

We went around the bay to Pass Christian to find that a town built around a beach had no beach left. We drove down the gulf coast eventually reaching Gulfport where a beach was open, but the water was closed. We finally ended up in Biloxi. Although the area around the beach was torn apart, the city around it was still in good shape. They did have one beach open, but the water was technically closed. Luckily there were enough people breaking the rules that we broke them too. Here's a before/after Katrina picture of Biloxi:

(for full size image, go here)

Simply amazing. Most of the buildings that are up in that picture have since been torn down. Those buildings were so beautiful.

So anyway, we had fun on the beach. At one point of of Natasha's nieces was stung by a jellyfish. It didn't leave a mark, but she definitely felt it. I ended up carrying both of them on my shoulders out of the ocean (more than 100 yards and they are ten years old which means they weigh more than Grace). The thing was I had been stung all over my ankle and leg, but couldn't show it because they were scared and needed me to be calm and collected. Those girls are great. I'm gonna miss them when their Mom gets back home.

Big Trip Tomorrow

2006-07-21T19:15:00.001-07:00

Natasha and I have had two little visitors for almost a week now. Her nieces Alexandra & Victoria may be with us until the start of school at the end of summer.

They've been really good and Natasha has been working really hard around the house, so I'm going to take them on a trip tomorrow. We are travelling down to the Mississippi Gulf for some good 'ole beachin' ghetto style. Apparently, Natasha told them it was a secret so they are freaking out over the surprise. I'll try to have some pics up tomorrow.

More Than a Little Crazy

2006-07-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

I usually hate to post about current events because everyone hears about that stuff all of the time, so a post about North Korea is perhaps a little out of character. But I just gotta...

We all know that Kim Jong IL, the "great leader" of North Korea, has a serious inferiority complex. He has given himself ridiculous titles and made outrageous claims to his superiority over the average man. For more, see his official biography at: http://www.korea-dpr.com/library/103.pdf.

Well his megalomania has reached new heights. According to the North Korean Information Minister via ESPN News, the "Great Leader" tried golf for the first time and had 11 holes in one. He did say that after a small amount of practice, he is now able to get holes in one at will. Anyone in North Korea who doubts this is guilty of treason.

This man wants to have his finger on the trigger of a nuclear missile!

State~by~State Project

2006-07-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

My project for The Team Advertising is almost done!

This project has been a thorn in my side for almost an entire year. I originally thought it would be a month of work. However, a simple automation project turned into a multi-phase complete redesign. The first implementation of this project was just a simple database backend to the old site:

I wasn't extremely happy about putting my name on any site that was lime green and pink, but the project would have saved The Team thousands of dollars. To view the old site in action, see http://vagardener.com. That may only be the old site for a day or two after publishing this post.

We went through an initial redesign when my contact wanted a new bookstore, a reader poll, and a few nice features added. This project was completed September 2005. That's when my contact left the company. When a new person was assigned to the project, all work was essentially scrapped and massive delays started happening. Eventually, I was able to implement this design:

To view the new sites in action, go to http://alabamagardener.com.

This has been a lesson learned for me. After this site, I am going to remain focused on the projects I already have. Nothing was worse than having mountains of school work and a side project always being on my back burner. Whenever I got free time, it had already been assigned to this project. From now on, work is graduate school.

A Bouncing Baby Girl

2006-07-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some pictures that Natasha took yesterday of the youngin. She is growing up WAY too quick.

I think that it's obvious that she got her good looks from me...

Nothing else, so cool picture

2006-07-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm working horrible hard right now, so rather than give an actual post, I wanted to post this really cool picture:

I'd love to take a shot with those puppies. I wonder if they hit the can in this shot... I hope that I will be able to tell everyone what I'm so busy with in a few weeks, but I can't say anything until the project is completed. I hope you are all doing well and voting Republican.

(And re-enacted by bunnies)

2006-07-11T11:04:00.002-07:00

Mad props to Katie for finding this awesomely funny, time-wasting site:

Angry Alien Productions

These movies are 30 second summaries of the greatest movies ever made... and re-enacted by bunnies. While they are only funny if you've seen the movie, they are always entertaining. I recommed the Brokeback Mountain and Pulp Fiction bunny movies.

Obesity: The Real Epidemic

2006-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

I've been griping about this for some time now... America is just too damn fat.

I've been spending considerable time on a college campus through the years. From 1999 to 2006, I've noticed that the percentage of fat students is rising drastically. On the one mile walk from my car to my lab, I counted 9 people I would consider unhealthy due to weight. That may seem like a low number for a large campus like LSU... well that was only out of 77 people... and I don't consider a spare tire unhealthy.

So as I opened my browser this morning, the following graphic was there:

A study was done MSN Health & Fitness that showed just how bad it is and how quickly it got there. I would encourage my readers to view this link:

Obesity in America by Kathleen Donnelly

This trend is lowering our life expectancies and increasing our helath care costs. I think that this is possibly the second largest domestic issue that faces our nation and I really hope President Bush increases his efforts to make this nation healthier.

Want to know how you stand in this study? Find out what your BMI is here. A BMI of over 30 is considered obese. However, remember this is a blind test that computes this number based on only two variables. At my height of 5'11", 215 pounds is considered obese. I know a lot of very healthy people who are at that height and weight.

Italia! Italia! Italia!

2006-07-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

(All images on this post are used from foxsports.com)

Today was the final match of a fantastic World Cup. Congratulations to Italy for a well deserved win. Of course, the talk of the match will not have to do with the victory for the Italians, but rather that Zidane (one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game who is retiring from International competetion) head-butted an Italian player:

This drew a red card, which put the French a man down while they were playing very well and made Zidane leave his final game early. This makes Tyson's ear biting look like schoolgirl slap fight. Absolutely shocking.

On a final note, the only team to play Italy this World Cup without losing was the good 'ole U S of A.