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It's been a while

So, when you find yourself overwhelmed with just so much stuff to do, where you can barely find time to eat, take that amount of work, double it, and figure out how to cram that into one day. That's the amount of stuff that I've had to do in the past few weeks. Now, some of you I'm sure have had roughly the same amount of work. I know you know who you are. ka-POW!

Anyway, the problem with having this much to do, is that something gets deprioritized. And by that I mean, yeah I can put that off until later. Now that most of the busy stuff is done, I can get back to my life. But, that means that I'm going to have to spend some time reading all the blogs on my blogroll. That's a lot of stuff to keep up with, gadgets, news, etc. Plus, I have to clean the house.

I brushed Blur last night, and I ended up with a hairball the size of a tennis ball! How gross is that! I should give him some more attention. He really deserves it. Plus, tomorrow is Friday Cat Blogging Day.

I think I'm going to finish reading Blink and Getting Things Done this weekend and then buy me an organizer of some kind.

Blah. Why couldn't it be Friday. Happy June mofo. Coming soon: Google Sitemap

Priorities inside the beltway

There's an interesting article in the Post today, where Tom Davis (R-VA-11th) is trying to fight the sale of the Washington Nationals to one George Soros. Of course, this has got to be top priority for someone who doesn't even live in the District.

Maybe you should also prevent me from buying my coffee at Starbucks since I'm a liberal too? Oh, maybe that would be the case if some other Republican was trying to get the same cup of coffee as me. You're an ass Tom Davis. Abuse you're power. You're speaking as a citizen my ass. Fred Malek's probably a buddy of yours no? Or maybe he donated some money to help you out? Or he will?

"You've got a league with a steroid problem, and you're going to sell the team to a guy who is pro marijuana? I just don't think we need or want that in the nation's capital. I just don't think you want such a polarizing figure."

Yeah boy, Mr. Davis, that marijuana is some performance enhancing drug. You did hear about that guy that hit 60 home runs in a season while taking bong hits right? Yeah, neither did I.

Don't Save Toby

Save Toby was a hoax. He is scheduled to die tomorrow, but I say screw it. It's not really going to happen, and if it does, it's one bunny. This guy is truly a terrorist. Preying on the weak.

To Do List for the summer

These are goals that I've come up with (that I can make public) for this summer:

• Bungee Jump


• Sky Dive


• White Water Tubing


• go to the beach


• Golf under 90

That's good enough for now. Oh yeah, and think about what I'm doing for the rest of my life.

Definitely Burning Out

Here I am at the office. Exhausted from the bachelor party, and having driven home, played with Blur (who is on Carnival of the Cats, Thanks LabKat!) for a while and then came directly here. I'm exhausted, and I hope I don't forget something...

Burnout

I think after the next two weeks, I'm going to officially be burnt out. I'm exhausted, and feel overwhelmed. I should schedule a vacation, but before that, I should learn how to deal with burnout. I'm getting too old to be on call 24x7. Maybe I'll just buy a bunch of magnets.

Licking my chops

Here's a picture of me (looking like I have a cleft pallet) and my favorite catnip filled toy. The stuffed bunny. I'm a city cat, and my daddy tells me that rabbits aren't really bright red. Nor filled with catnip. I like this one just fine.

Some timewasters for you

Well, if you're looking for ways to procrastinate, here is some help...

• Poom - probably the most difficult of the time wasters, but very fun.


• Programmer or Serial Killer? - Can you tell the difference from a picture?


• David Hasselhoff Paper Airplane - No, really.


• My Other Keyboard is a car - some geek's car


• Nice ad - for an AC unit?


• Cool Mosaic - in a conference room somewhere, and made entirely of post-it notes.

Yeah, that's about it. Now I have a ton of work to do. You have no idea.

Oddities

For the past week or so, I've read about oddities in nature. Stuff that you might see on a tv show about the end of days. While I don't believe that the end of days is nigh, some people may. Some cults may even form due to the number of odd occurences that have happened within just a few days of each other.

Here's what I'm talking about:

• Red Heifer - Beware the red heifer. Ok, upon more research, this calf was born over three years ago. But I just heard about it. Maybe there is another one? Google cache


• kitten with two faces - a kitten was born Sunday in Roseburg, Oregon with two mouths, two tongues, two noses and four eyes. pic


• 6 legged puppy - in Malaysia. pic


• Smoking Monkey - He smokes, and rumor has it, that his girlfriend monkey smokes too.


• Mermaid Girl - now has two legs.


• 5 legged, 6 hooved calf - born last week on a ranch east of Tucumcari, N.M.


• A boy having periods - not right


• Three headed six legged frog - yeah pic

Godaddy and Gitmo

There has been some chatter on the net today about Godaddy.com's CEO posting (on the front page of Godaddy) the headline about his blog entry: "Close Gitmo? No way!! Think our interrogation methods are tough? Prisoners in the Middle East talk quick. Here's why."

I think that strategically, this is a terrible terrible move. Such a polarizing issue as Gitmo is nothing that should have anything to do with a business. Also, when you are a (semi-)public figure such as the CEO of a large company, you have to keep your nose clean. Unless you want to stir up a firestorm, let others deal with it. You're taking on the ACLU for fuck's sake! You're essentially condoning torture!

Sure, everyone remembers September 11, 2001, except those younger than like 6 years old. Did America deserve it? In my mind no, in the minds of possibly millions of other people, we deserved it. I'm not being unpatriotic in any way, I'm just saying that when you're a bigshot (read: United States), you're going to have people that hate you. That's a fact of life. Deal with it. It's not like everybody loves the New York Yankees right? If you're a Yankees fan, deal with it. Are you going to raid someone's house and force them to like the Yankees? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Yes, United States soil is sacred soil, I believe that, I also agree that we should put the prisoners there on trial. That way, we at least establish a reason that we can keep them there, rather than essentially imposing martial law and detaining (what you call) "terrorists" without charging them with anything. I'm not saying that they're all innocent, most probably aren't. But, we're talking about people. These are real people, and they have rights. Do the words Geneva Convention mean anything to you Bob?

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

Call me unpatriotic, I'm not. I support our military. I want them to be safe, and all come home alive. I don't support their commander in chief or his reasons for going to war. Hey, why don't you come to my house, invade the shit and make me like Bush! Torture me too while you're at it! I'll admit something I'm sure, because hey, torture works!

Golf Review: Patuxent Greens Country Club

Today, I went to play golf up in Laurel, MD. We played at Patuxent Greens Country Club. It is a 6,294 yard, par 71, semi private course with plenty of wildlife (it received Audubon certification as a wildlife sanctuary in 2002) roaming around. We saw herons, squirrels, geese, ducks, turtles, a rabbit, some large fish, and a bunch of woodchucks (that Ji thought were otters).

I played the most solid round of golf I've played this year. I shot a 96, which isn't fantastic, but with no full service driving range, it's a little difficult to get all warmed up while playing. Ji got beat up by the bunkers, and Z got badonked by all but one tree he hit.

It's a relatively easy course, with a few dog legs and tree lined fairways. We played the twilight time (3:00 PM on Sunday) for $37.50 per person. That is very cheap for a course like that. It was extremely well kept, and reminded me a little bit of Blue Mash. I lost three balls just because I had monster drives where two of them landed in the water and one bounced and rolled right on through the fairway. Seems like I made the two in the water, I hit them just a tad bit too far right. One of the greatest things that I've finally figured out is how to hit my driver. Of course, it may be that I quit smoking, so I'm healthier? Regardless, I enjoy golf more so now than I did before. My game is getting better and better, which I'm happy about (obviously). My goal this year is to break 90.

I think my only complaint about today would be that the course is so flat. There were no hills that I can remember, and very few knolls to speak of either. I'd definitely go back to play there, so maybe I'll join their Honors Club. It might be worth it.

Food Review: The Lost Dog Cafe

Today while running errands with my sister, she took me to a gourmet pizza deli in Arlington called The Lost Dog Cafe at 5876 Washington Blvd. This is a place for dog-lovers. (I like dogs too, but Blurby is still the best). The owners, Pam McAlwee and Ross Underwood also started the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation where they have helped rescue and/or placed hundreds of abandoned and unwanted animals since 2001. The The Lost Dog Cafe is also a deli and a beer and wine store, and you have to walk through that part to get to the cafe. The smell of pizza hits you right in the face as soon as you walk in. We sat in front of the 4th picture down (the one with the pool table), right where the couple is sitting.

On to the food. I started with a pint of root beer which was fine, chilled, but no ice. As my meal, I ordered the Pedigree Pie (garlic butter, artichokes, tomatoes, spinach, parmesan, mozzarella and fontina sprinkled with basil) and my sister got the Nouvelle Veggie (momemade tomato sauce, fresh mushrooms, broccoli, onions, green peppers, mozzarella and cheddar cheese). We ordered the Dog Collars (Tabasco flavored onion rings, baked and served with ranch dressing) to start. Mind you, I did feel a little awkward asking for dog collars at a restaurant.

The dog collars were mediocre, I'm not sure if they always come out slightly soggy, but there was what I would call a "hint" of tabasco flavoring.

My pie was very good. Very flavorful and a lot of spinach and artichokes. The spinach looked like it had been frozen, but I'm not complaining, just an observation. I guess it would qualify as a white pizza since there was no tomato sauce on it. The tomatoes were fresh however, and nice and juicy.

My sister's pizza was also very good. The homemade tomato sauce was amazing. It was pretty funny since the brocolli had kind of burned and looked like a small forest fire had burned the brocolli.

Overall, the experience was slightly more "playful" than I'm used to, and it was a very young crowd. All of the restaurant workers seemed very happy to be working there, and it was a fun place to eat. I recommend going there if you've got a lot of energy, and are hungry.

Apparently, there's also a sister cafe open in the same plaza there in Arlington. It's called, not suprisingly, the Stray Cat Cafe. That's another place I've got to try. Maybe for Friday cat Blogging

Contortionist Blur

I know it doesn't look comfortable, but it is.

What Cisco thinks of Taiwan

It's not often that there are technology products printed with unintentional...insults we'll call them. Well, here's one pack of screws that came with either a Cisco PIX or a Cisco 2970 switch. To be honest, I have no problem with Taiwan. However, I don't know what "washer USA" means either.

Legally Blog

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a Legal Guide for Bloggers however, it isn't "a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice". I have to read these links yet, but I can do it later. Right now I'm too exhausted. Stress does that to me, and right now, you have no idea.

Duck or duct tape as fabric

Here is one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a while. Apparently, the online home of duck tape hosted a contest called a prom contests where the man wears a suit (or whatever) made completely of duck tape, and the woman wears a gown made completely of duck tape. Some of them are quite creative, while some are just nasty. The disturbing part is that there are over 250 entries! Freak-Monkeys!

With 19 colors and a little creativity, some of these kids are bound to create something odd or marketable, or even start a business to peddle their wares.

Test driving Mozilla Sunbird

I'm testing out Mozilla Sunbird. So far, I think it's a little lacking. Granted, it's version 0.2, but here's what I would change. Any Mozilla developers listening?

1. default for events is set to private: this should be customizable, where you set your own default to public


2. don't try to guess time: if you add a new event, it sets the time range for the event to the current time


3. color code events: I should be able to see all my work related events (meetings, deadlines) to show up on the calendar as say, purple, and all personal things as yellow


4. password protect: I should have to authenticate before I look at my calendar file


5. images: I can't add images to my events. Currently, full day events (birthdays, anniversaries) show up as a blue star. What if I wanted a birthday to show up as a cupcake?


6. color schemes: default blue, light blue, lighter blue and black and white. Boring.


7. category summary: how many parties do I have in my calendar? How many softball games?

A lot of these features are things that I think are going to be implemented before version 1.0, but I'm looking for a calendaring app soon. One that can go online, and offline, and cross platform. Basically, I'd like an offline version of ExtCalendar2.

iCalendar standard compliance is mandatory. Sunbird is iCalendar compliant. I'm talking about RFC 2445, not Apple's iCal.

Really cool products (read: gift ideas)

Here is a great site for my age group. With my friends getting married, or buying houses, pretty much anything they have would make a good housewarming gift, or probably not so much a wedding gift, but birthdays would work too.

Guess which product is my favorite?

Adventures in pet care: dieting and litter

I needed to get some wet cat food this past weekend, and though that I would also pick up some more litter. Little did I know what I was getting into.

The idea has come up to put Mr. Blurby pants on a diet. He's a hefty cat, previously weighing in around 17 pounds. He is definitely a large cat in terms of sheer size, but he does have a pooch (like his dad). So, after seeing this on Nanon's list, I decided that I'm going to help Blur lose a little bit of weight while doing the same thing. I heard that by feeding one's feline better food (such as Iams or ScienceDiet), he will automatically lose weight. So, I bought him a bunch of cans of both. He's already been on Iams Weight Control dry food for a while, though it hasn't seemed to help, perhaps since I was giving him 9-Lives and other brands of wet food.

Then I decided to take a stroll around to the other cat areas of Petsmart, and found that there are "ecologically friendly" littters. I was pretty shocked, and the best part is that it's flushable! So, I really want to try Yesterday's News which is made of recycled newspaper, but the actual shape of the litter seems like it would take Blur a little while to get used to. The shape reminds me of rabbit food. So, I opted to buy him some Swheat Scoop, which is made of wheat. It's clumping, flushable, apparently naturally absorbs odors, and it looks like conventional clay litter, so it hopefully feels like it to Blur.

Maybe I'll just toilet train Blur.

Found a new Robot Co-op site

So, I've been a long time person on 43things.com written by the guys at the Robot Co-op. They have announced that AllConsuming is now part of the Robot Co-op. I just discovered Allconsuming, and it's not so much my kind of site (read: reading).

However, I'm very curious what this new TootieTails site is about.

But, I think I should go to sleep now.

Chillaxin and golfin

Last night, me and my friend Dorsey were bouncers at a bar on Capitol Hill called the Hawk and Dove. There was some birthday party that we were working security for. Obviously, he's a little more daunting than I am. Things went pretty smoothly, but it was extremely hot in the bar, since we were wearing long sleeves and long pants.

Anyway, today I woke up a little late, and went golfing at my default golf course, the blue course at East Potomac Park. It was a beautiful day (a little on the warm side), but regardless, not too bad. I felt good shooting, and my golf buddy today, Z said it best when he said, "Playing golf today, I was so happy to be alive." Z also said that today he played the most solid game he's ever played. He didn't lose a single ball. I lost one, although I felt very good playing today. My putting was on, driving was on, but short game was still a little off. Today was very relaxing, I really wasn't thinking of anything but the game. One of the most chillaxing times I've had in a long, long time.

Cats and parasites

This is actually very disturbing. I read this article about cats in Britain and toxoplasma gondii. Apparently, this is a parasite that can be transmitted to humans from cats. The life cycle is here. The article states that people with taxoplasmosis are at greater risk of developing schizophrenia and manic depression.

Professor Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague...found the women infected with toxoplasma spent more money on clothes and were consistently rated as more attractive. "We found they were more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends and cared more about how they looked," he said. "However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men."

By contrast, the infected men appeared to suffer from the "alley cat" effect: becoming less well groomed undesirable loners who were more willing to fight. They were more likely to be suspicious and jealous. "They tended to dislike following rules," Flegr said.

Now, I think that this is probably a common parasite that is scanned for before a feral or stray cat is offered back up for adoption by a shelter. But, people can be tested for an antibody to determine if they have been exposed to toxoplasma gondii.

Sounds like a joke doesn't it? Well, I thought so too. Apparently it's not. Well, I'd think twice about it if only Fox News reported it, but, it's been reported all over the place. So... is this something that I and other cat lovers should be worried about? I may have to be, since I'm a guy, but the girls probably don't have to worry :)

Just sharpening my claws on Dad's leg

Sometimes I like to claw my dad's leg so that he'll stretch me.

Don't forget to go visit the Carnival of the cats this week at Music and Cats and see me on the Friday Ark!

Mobile phones, smart phones, etc.

I've had what I'd call a "semi-smart phone" since I had the Sony Ericsson T68i. It was the first phone I had with Bluetooth. I don't remember exactly when I got it, but after that, I got the Motorola V600 for a couple of weeks. I really didn't like that phone, so I returned it and then got the Sony Ericsson T637. I got that phone about a year ago. During that time, I've also had a Palm Treo 600 and a Palm Treo 650. Those were easy to use because they have the Palm interface.

But, I just recently got a Nextel Blackberry 7520, and I love it. The phone is great, it uses email push technology, walkie-talkie, and bluetooth! I do have a few complaints about the size of the handheld, but it works. Just when I get one, I see this article about some Arlington, VA based company called NTP, that can displace Research in Motion from the United States. NTP has also settled with other wireless push companies including Good Technology, of Santa Clara, California and Nokia of Finland. NTP is an intellectual holding company that was incorporated to hold the patents of Tom Campana who developed a push wireless communications system.

This is an interesting legal case because, they were offered 450 million dollars and turned it down, 75% of RIM's revenue comes from the United States, and I would say that every lawmaker and/or their assistants here in Washington have one. So, if they want to side with NTP, and do the right thing, they'll have no email as they know it now. To further confuse things, Verizon and Microsoft are also shortly entering the fray by providing their own email push clients.

Pretzels and their websites

Today, I got to work and was pretty hungry. So, I bought a bag of Snyder's of Hanover's Old Tyme Pretzels. While I was eating them, I noticed that there was a URL on the package, http://www.snydersofhanover.com. I thought to myself, "What could be on their site?". Well, my gosh, I'm glad you asked that. You'll find that there is a plethora of information on their site, including, the history of the pretzel. Who knew? There's even a Pretzel of the Month Club!

My favorite pretzels are actually Rold Gold pretzels by Frito Lay. However, I will say, that the Rold Gold page is much less impressive than Snyder's of Hanover. It's like Frito Lay is almost embarassed that they also sell pretzels.

My favorite pretzel bakery for soft pretzels is Pennsylvania's own, Auntie Anne's. Coincidentally, they are the official pretzels of the Philadelphia Eagles! You can buy Anne Beiler's (Auntie Anne herself) book here.

If I can't get Auntie Anne's, I'll settle for some Wetzel's Pretzels.

Of course, no pretzel story would be complete without mentioning our "revered" President. ha ha.

Rock the Vote 15 years

So I went to the 15th Anniversary Rock the Vote 15th Anniversary Dinner and Awards ceremony. I had a great time. The food wasn't so good, but it was AWESOME to be in the National Building Museum with so many enthusiastic and honored people.

Here are the pictures. It was so much fun. Enjoy the pics.

Signing off for a few hours of sleep...

yakuza

What's in your greasemonkey?

You know how I blogged about the meme What's in your firefox?, well, here's my attempt at creating a new meme: What's in your greasemonkey?

• Ta-Da List Enhancement: Shows your tadalist lists while you're looking at a list. It sounds confusing, but here is an explanation.


• Flickr/43 Things Together: Shows a person's 43things.com things on their Flickr profile page.


• Friendster Sustom Skin: Friendster skinning


• Butler: shows goole results, and then links to searches on Yahoo!, Ask Jeeves, alltheweb, Teoma, MSN, Lycos, Technorati, Feedster, Daypop, and Bloglines


• Secure Gmail: All my gmail sessions are belong to SSL


• Homestar-Fullon: All Homestarrunner.com emails are shown in full browser windows.


• Homestar Runner - StrongBad Emails: adds a next and previous button for StrongBad emails


• Gmail Delete Button: Now I have a delete button on my gmail.

Citibank debacle

The nation's largest bank, Citigroup, is possibly the latest US bank victim to have it's customer data compromised. Although compromised is a strong word, I believe that it is effective in this case. Apparently, UPS, the nation's largest courier, lost a package from Citigroup that was heading to Experian credit bureau. Now, before you get your panties in a bunch and call up Citigroup and yell at them asking how they could let this happen, be advised, the tapes, which contained account, payment history, and social security numbers, covered CitiFinancial Branch Network customers and about 50,000 customers with closed accounts from CitiFinancial Retail Services for a grand total of 3.9 million customers.

I remember back in February thinking, "I'm glad I bank with the Citi," when I heard that Bank of America was missing computer tapes containing information on 1.2 million US government employees. I thought the same thing when police in Hackensack, NJ were arresting 9 in conjunction with data theft from 4 banks including Bank of America again. On the other hand, with the most recent breaches at LexisNexis and ChoicePoint, they've probably already got my identity anyway. And yours too.

One of the things that I've learned in my years connected to the web, is to encrypt anything that might possibly cause embarassment or cause some sort of negative situation. It can be a pain in the ass, but hey, you won't really appreciate it until it happens. I really hope that Citi had the foresight to ship tapes of encrypted data, and not just plain text. That to me, is just common sense.

What's in your firefox?

Firefox is a great browser, and I have said that multiple times. One of the things that I've mentioned is the extension support. Which leads me to a recent meme: What's in your Firefox?

Here is a picture of my extensions window:

And here are the explanations:

• CookieCuller: let's me manage all my cookies


• SessionSaver: when I close Firefox, I generally have more than like 6 tabs open. With SessionSaver, when I open Firefox again, those same tabs open up.


• Blockfall: tetris-like game.


• Open link in...: allows you to open a link in a new background window, tab, foreground tab, etc.


• SecurePassword Generator: a little utility that helps me generate secure passwords.


• Popups Must Die!: a popup blocking extension (I believe this has been rolled into version 1.0.4)


• Greasemonkey: perhaps my favorite extension. Allows me to install user scripts to modify everything about anything.


• BugMeNot: allows me to NOT register for all of these websites that require registration


• del.icio.us: extension to help me with http://del.icio.us bookmark manager.


• SpellBound: Spell checker for a browser.

So... What's in your Firefox?

Off to L.A.

Well, it's almost 3:30. I'm about to head out to LA. I'm going to LA for the wedding of a friend of mine. I've traveled quite a bit this year, and I think I have a trip to NJ, and one to FL coming up in the next few months. Maybe I'll try to squeeze a trip to somewhere else warm in there somewhere. I need the vacation.

Plus, I'm not sure if I would even have been missed if I didn't come into work today. Ahh the love. Maybe one of these days, I'll try to go two days without coming in. Or longer. Office Space anyone?

Perhaps I could just waste my time all day playing Poom.

I loves me some catnip!

There's nothing like a pinch of catnip after breakfast.

The best browser in the world: Firefox

I'm convinced. Firefox is the best browser in the world. Not only is there a built in pop up blocker (that works well with the newest version 1.0.4), but it allows you to load extensions or plugins.

So far, the most useful I've found is Grease Monkey. Of course, it's useless without User Scripts that allow you to customize essentially anything on any site. I use some of the Gmail scripts such as Smart-delete button and Auto Save. But I really like the tadalist user script.

I would say, if you use firefox, get greasemonkey and start surfing the web like you want to.

Imagine all the mouses

I was reading this article on Reuters today since I'm a self proclaimed gadget freak. I also like a good computer mouse and keyboard. I use these black IBM keyboards, and a black IBM mouse made by MicroInnovations (I can't find a link anymore but this is close).

Anyway, one thing I found interesting was the fact that when you have more than one computer mouse, you don't have mice, you have "mouses."

The move to newer and more innovative mouses -- the agreed plural for the device -- comes as a range of more portable products hits the market and users demand more versatility and precision.

I don't remember ever being consulted on what the plural for mouse was. Somebody had better tell all the retailers to retool their websites lest they be incorrect.

But, check out these ergonomic mice. I think this one is pretty cool.

Hulger Handsets

Back in September, I blogged about Pokia handsets. They've now come out with a mass-produced line called Hulger. Although these aren't quite as cool as some of the one off headsets that Pokia originally offered on eBay, they are still retro and pretty cool. I think the handset might be a little difficult to carry around, but hey, if you want the look, you've got to get one of these.

I'm guessing that they will start mass-producing some (or all) of their product lines, such as the Ealing Bluetooth handset or the DJ Convoy.