Jony is Online!

When my brothers and I grew up, we spent many hours playing with our stuffed animals. We gave each of them names and unique personalities. One of the longest lasting personalities among our animals, is an old "Smokey the Bear" stuffed toy named Jony.

Jony, the son of Smokey the Bear, was an inventor, entrepreneur, wizard, and all around wise guy. He had the ability to be anywhere, anytime, and always has plenty of cash on hand. A lot of things happened to this bear during our lifetime. His body got so worn, that my mom decided to make him some new clothes: new blue jeans, and a silky red shirt. At one point, he "died" and my brothers buried him in a shoe box in the back yard. A week later, they decided that he hadn't really died, and dug him back up. When my youngest brother got married (it was his bear), my wife and I made him a little tuxedo, so he could attend the wedding.

Anyway, we still talk about Jony, and he still has a place in my brother's home. Recently, Jony started a MySpace page, complete with pictures of Jony in all sorts of situations. If you don't have a MySpace account, you can't view them, but here are a couple of examples:





(PS - I just checked, and it does appear you can view the pictures without an account now... weird)

Jony has even appeared on YouTube, recently. If you haven't seen the original (not-original?) Jeff Peckman alien video, see it here:



Wait, what was that? An alien? A puppet? Look again with the colors enhanced:



Hey, it's just our lovable old Jony! Hey Jony!

3rd Annual Portland Pirate Festival

With Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day just around the corner, I decided to visit the official website, and see what's up. After some amount of surfing (yarr, sailin?), I found that Portland, Oregon (my home town) is having their 3rd Annual Pirate Festival:



Dang, I wish I still lived close enough to go, because you know I'd be all piratey and stuff! Yarr, and shiver-me-timbers! Maybe one of me mates will attend, and keep their shifty eyes peeled for me. Avast!

Then again, maybe I'll just order a commemorative T-Shirt. Whoa, maroon is a fairly... unseemly color for a pirate, isn't it? Wouldn't be good to be a marooned Pirate wearing a maroon commemorative T-shirt! I mean, look at the guy modeling the T-shirt: he's about the furthest from being a pirate as I've ever seen! In fact, he's so far from being a pirate, he's actually an Opposite Pirate!!

Guess I wont be getting the shirt either. (ye scurvy bilge rats!)

Garfield Minus Garfield

What happens when you take a Garfield comic, and strip away the main character? You get the GarfieldMinusGarfield.net online comic:



The mission of the comic?

Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.

Some of these are actually quite hilarious, and strangely sad. What does Jim Davis think about it?

Garfield creator Jim Davis was intrigued by—and pleased with—the concept. “I think it’s an inspired thing to do,” Davis said. “I want to thank Dan for enabling me to see another side of Garfield. Some of the strips he chose were slappers: ‘Oh, I could have left that out.’ It would have been funnier.”

In any case, I'm keeping this one in my bookmarks.

Eight Eight Eight

Eight. My favorite number since my neighbor told me his was Seven. I didn't want to copy him, so I decided that Eight would be my favorite. After all, it's snowman shaped, and I like the snow. It has no sharp edges, matches the number of bits in a byte, is 2^3 (both prime numbers), and is the total number of fingers most people have on their hands (not counting thumbs, of course). The can of Mt. Dew I'm drinking right now has 12 oz, but it's my second can, so I've nearly finished 24 oz, which is 8 * 3.

Today is August 8, 2008, which can be correctly described as "eight eight eight", which means today should be my most favorite day ever. Hmmm, nothing special about today, except maybe that the Beijing Olympics is starting. Google has a neat graphic to commemorate this fact:



I'm working from home, which is always nice (I eat lunch with my family, instead of in my never-the-right-temperature office). I fixed two software bugs already this morning, and I'm on the verge of fixing another. Isis stock price is up 8% (well, 8.25% to be exact), and that would be nice if I had shares to sell. Still, it means the company is doing well, and that's good for job security.

I hear a lot of people are trying to have their babies or get married on 8/8/8. There are those that are even shooting for 8am or 8pm, as the recorded time for the event, so that they can be 8/8/8 @ 8.

For me, 8 is still just my favorite number, and no, my ATM PIN is NOT 8888.

Futility

(Click the pic for full size view)

Our Pool

In June, we had this sudden urge to have a pool installed in our backyard. It's something we've wanted to do for years, but until recently, it's only been a dream. I'm not sure what changed, but we decided to take the plunge (pun intended) and do this thing!

After hearing a few quotes, we decided to go with Indian Summer Pools. The owner/salesman/CEO was very knowledgeable, and appeared to have a VERY good rapport with his previous customers. He lives in the area, and has connections with several friends of ours. We knew that he was the best choice, and boy were we right!

Here's what our backyard looked like BEFORE (click on the picture for a bigger version):



Actually, I took this picture AFTER the grass had been removed, but before anything else had been done. Notice the tree coverage - we have a couple of Eucalyptus trees growing there. What a pain! Every time there's any kind of wind, branches go flying, and that's no little thing! These branches are DENSE and HEAVY! I was afraid it might hurt somebody someday, so I asked that both trees be removed before the pool was put in.

Anyway, 5 weeks after the picture above was taken, this is what it looks like now:



Can you see the difference? I know it's sleight, but it's there, especially in regards to that big wet thing in the middle! ;-) Seriously though, we jumped in the pool for the first time on Friday (July 11, 2008), and we've been swimming ever since. That rock like thing in the center of the picture is actually a grotto/waterfall, and a great place to launch yourself for a cannonball!

The pool itself covers 460 sq ft (+52 sq ft for the spa), and goes down to 7 feet deep. I think I heard that it holds 22000 gallons of water. Want to see more? I photo documented the whole process, from excavation to finished product here if you are interested. Now if you don't mind, it's like a hundred degrees outside, and I'm going to take a dip!

Global Disease Alert Map

Here's a google map EVERYONE can enjoy:

http://www.healthmap.org/en

Want to know where the latest Cholera outbreak is? Wondering which kids really have the Measles? Maybe you just suspect the guy across the street as having Anthrax. Now you can check it all out in one easy to use interface. Fun for the whole family!

Bill grogan's goat

I was humming this song from summer camp today, and it made me want to see if I could find the lyrics. Well, I did, and now I'm singing it proudly at the top of my lungs in my office:

Bill Grogan's goat
Was feelin' fine
Ate three red shirts
Right off the line

Bill took a stick
Gave him a whack
And tied him to
The railroad track

The whistle blew
The train drew nigh
Bill Grogan's goat
Was doomed to die

He gave three groans
Of awful pain
Coughed up the shirts
And flagged the train

That's all there is
This story's done
I hope you had
A lot of fun

Julie

I don't know who Julie is, but this video probably doesn't look anything like her:



All I know is, this is the weirdest thing I've seen on You-Tube for a long time. For some reason, it makes me laugh more and more every time I see it, just because it is so WRONG!!!

(oh, don't ask me why the author of this perverted video tweak chose to use a dog barking as the soundtrack, but it definitely adds to the creepiness!)

WARNING: I would strongly recommend AGAINST watching the "suggested" videos that follow the video above. They show a bunch of deformed people and babies in an unfriendly light. I almost didn't post this video for that reason alone, but since the "Julie" video is not real, figured I'd be okay as long as I posted a special warning. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

ISAD

Arrr!! Today be International Scurvey Awareness Day!! So eat a lime already!!

- Cap'n Dewbeard

Pleasing Government Commerce

I heard about this on the radio, and thought it was pretty funny. Apparently the Office of Government Commerce in England ordered the new logo to:

...signify a bold commitment to the body’s aim of improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement.

For £14,000, here's what they got:



... but if you turn it sideways ...



... you get a whole 'nother meaning! I doubt they'll be erecting any signs with the new logo anytime soon. ;-)

German Engineering vs Terrorists

This is worth sharing:



Dude, sucks for him!

Silverlight Einsteinchen

You'll have to install Microsoft's "Silverlight" to see it, but that only takes a second. This website (click the title above) has a bunch of little videos starring a very strange looking character. Einsteinchen demonstrates the theory of relativity in a way that most people can understand. There are 12 videos in all, and they are quite enjoyable.

Now that I've watched them all, I think I'm ready to build my own time machine!

The Time Machine Works!!

I've gone back in time, and am writing this blog entry TWO DAYS BEFORE my "Silverlight Einsteinchen" entry above. Sweeet!!! Now I'm off to buy a lottery ticket. He he he.

Racist Swim Team?

My oldest daughter had her first home swim meet yesterday, and it was a blast. Lots of different races, and lots of kids competing. I got recruited as an official timer for the second half of the meet, which I guess is a normal thing for parents at these things.

Anyway, they are supposed to post the results on their website at some point, so we can see how they did. I know that she did good in the freestyle, but it was hard to know how she compared to the other girls that raced in the other heats. I went to the website, and though the results aren't yet posted at the time of this writing, I noticed an interesting bit of text on their home page:

As a reminder, the Home Meets are intended for WHITE swimmers only.

Sheesh! Harsh enough! I swear I saw kids of all races at the meet!! I'll be sure to make sure THAT doesn't happen at the next one. "Hey, THAT kid isn't WHITE!!! Get her out of the pool!!!"

Um, wait. I think they mean something else. Let's see what the whole paragraph says:

Thank You to all the upper level TMEC swimmers that come to the Home Meet to help out and cheer on your fellow swimmers trying to acheive RED times!!

As a reminder, the Home Meets are intended for WHITE swimmers only. Once a swimmer has achieved a RED time in any event they may not swim in that event at the Home Meets unless they have aged up and need to achieve a RED time in the new age group.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I see. It's a racing thing, not a race thing. Huh??!?!?!

Greeebs.

Dew Monkey!!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Wii Head Tracking

This is VERY cool. I have a Nintendo Wii, but I would never have imagined I could do what this guy did with his:



If I didn't have like a million other hobbies I'm firing up right now, I'd consider trying this out myself!

Click on the title to go to Johnny Lee's Wii Remote webpage to see other cool things.

R.I.P. Gary Gygax

I just learned that Gary Gygax lost his last few hit points this morning. For those of you that don't know, Gary Gygax was one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, and was one of the biggest influences in my young life. I still remember breaking open my "Basic D&D" box, cutting out the die chits, and playing a D&D module (B1?) with my next door neighbor. I never had so much fun in my life, and I still look back at those days with much fondness.

Thank you Gary Gygax, and may you find a new treasure type in the next existence!

Update: No, a 70th level cleric did not resurrect Gary Gygax, but Order of the Stick did do a nice tribute to the dragon lord:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0536.html

Check it out!

AMD Dual Core Optimizer

Ever since I bought my AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core, I've regretted it. Don't get me wrong: I love AMD chips, and have never had a problem before this one. Turns out, that the AMD Dual Core just doesn't play nice with a LOT of things, and this just KILLS all kinds of applications, games, movies, etc.

The typical problem is this: you start an application, and it appears to run very very slowly, or jerky. You get impatient, and pull up the task manager, which takes FOREVER. You discover that your application is utilizing 100% CPU ON BOTH CORES!!! DAMN!!!

My most recent problems have occurred within a cool game called "The Movies", and in Microsoft's XNA Game Studio. After doing some searching, I came across something called an AMD Dual Core Optimizer. The heck is that? Apparently, it helps control the behavior of the chip, when software vendors decide to go around the windows API, and do direct calls (which apparently is the reason for the issue).

Well, I can tell you, I installed this puppy, and all is wonderful again! My XNA is working (mostly), and "The Movies" appears to be playing nice again. If you have an AMD Dual Core, I recommend taking a look at the link above. Be sure you know what chip you have before installing anything though: I can't be held responsible for anything that you might do wrong!! (whew, disclaimer out of the way)

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

BPPV is the cool acronym you can use, but it still means dizzy dizzy dizzy.

About three nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and the room was spinning around me. Unusual, but not the first time its ever happened to me. A couple of years ago when I had a sinus infection, I was quite dizzy for several days, until I finally got smart, and got some antibiotics.

The odd thing this time around, is that I knew I wasn't congested. I decided to ignore it, and go back to sleep. The next morning, I got out of bed, and the room spun out of control. Before I knew what was happening, I was lying on my back in the middle of the bed, trying to focus on the fire detector on the ceiling. Round and round and round it went for a few seconds, and then everything settled down, and I was back in control.

I got up slowly, and though there was still a little dizziness, it went away quickly. The rest of the day I was fine, and had no further episodes. That is, until I went back to bed that evening. Once again the room spun out of control, and I'm left feeling disoriented and light-headed.

This has continued happening to me now for three days. Of course I'm worried, so I decide to make a fool out of myself, and head to the Urgent care clinic. I explain my condition to the doctor, and he surprises me by immediately recognizing it as a form of vertigo.

To test his theory he applies a technique that is called a Semont maneuver (see link above for details). Essentially, he has me sitting facing the wall, and then lies my head back, and then quickly turns my head to the right. That does it! I'm swimming in vertigo for a good 10 seconds before I land.

The doctor explains that this indicates the problem is in my right inner ear. To prove this, he repeats the procedure, but turns my head to the left. To my surprise, there is no dizziness at all. After allowing me to sit up, and suffer the dizziness again for a few seconds, he explains that I have a mild case of BPPV or Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.

The cause? One common cause is the formation of small crystals of calcium carbonate in the inner ear (also known as "Ear Rocks" - dude, I have Ear Rocks?), and the motion of these particles mess up the normal sensation of balance. One of the most common things that leads to this is a head injury, but since I've not had any such injury, this is unlikely. It is also possible that a virus is infecting my inner ear, though this is less common.

The cure? Its very likely it could go away on its own. Still, the primary treatment for BPPV, is physical therapy. The article linked above describes the therapy (Semont and Epley maneuvers) and is probably what I'll have to undergo, once I have a chance to see my primary physician.

Of course, that's going to have to wait until I return from my trip to Washington DC to install software for clients. Wait until they find out I have Ear Rocks!! Dude!!