Although the pendulum of my career goal in life has swung another direction¹ I still need to keep up with my current career and as such I just dropped $160 on Collection 3386: Implementing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007. Its a self-paced E-learning course from Microsoft - I’ve never taken one of them before, but I really need to get more up to speed with the product - there are huge changes from 2005 and I’m getting lost on what in the old one is what in the new one.

Course is slated to last 10 hours total - I’ll run through it and see what I think, then probably setup a time to take the test for 070-400. I’m a tad nervous - I was an MCSE back in the NT 4.0 days, but never kept current with my certs. Now that I’m a full time IT consultant, I figure it’s in my best interest to re-certify and grab some new certs along the way. The only thing I hate is the $125.00 price of each MS test. But hey, at least it’s all tax-deductible, eh? Normally I wouldn’t care about the certs at all, but if I’m paying for the course I might as well see it through to the end.

I’ll let you know what I think about it.

1. I kinda want to be a truck driver again, it was an insane amount of fun. I loved it - though I didn’t realize until after it was over [↩]

I’m feeling pretty sick right now, a weird stomach flu thing going on - destroying my creative urges. I still wanted to leave a post today, and I thought I’d pull up something from the past.

For those that don’t know, I had cancer when I was 28. It came, it went, the world kept on turning - but my life was never the same again. I posted the below to Craigslist.org’s “Rants & Raves” section under Minneapolis on March 16th, 2006. It was a pure act of depression, as I had no idea how I was ever going to recover from it. People liked it, voted it up, it ended up on the “Best Of” list, and was then published in a few cancer-related magazines.

It’s been almost 2 years since I wrote it. And a lot has changed. I’m no longer depressed, I’m healthier, and my life in all aspects is much better then what you’re about to read.

But now I have a burning desire to find a ‘purpose’. To leave my mark on the world. You never truly die if your memory lives on, so I should do something that people remember. But was it that?
And I no longer know what I want to do when I grow up - I’m tasting everything I can in life and trying to find the right fit. It’s been fruitless thus far, but there you have it.

Anyway, read on to see what I wrote in an act of desperation to Craigslist years ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been using the Firefox browser for several years now. Initially it was due to the heightened security it inherently has, because it doesn’t run ActiveX objects - but soon it became my browser of choice simply because of all the amazing plugins you can download for it.

There are many many lists full of what their authors feel are their ‘essential plugins’ and I will add to that with my own list.

- One of the first plug-ins I install is the amazing Foxmarks. Foxmarks is a bookmark synchronizer that automatically synchs bookmarks between 2 or more copies of Firefox. Since I have, at a minimum, 4 machines with Firefox¹ this is a necessity for keeping things in line. And when I’m not at one of my machines² then I can access all my bookmarks at my.foxmarks.com - which keeps everything organized exactly the way I have on my browsers end. It even includes a neat ‘preview’ feature that lets you see a thumbnail of the site in case you’re not sure it’s the one you want or not.

del.icio.us - Delicious is both similar to, and completely different from, Foxmarks. Billing itself as a ’social bookmarking’ website. When you come across a website you like, you save it to your delicious account and add tags to help you remember what it was about. Even better, you can search for tags to find content similar to something - like dogs, linux, comics, how-to to even stuff like Fauvism, luddites, and anti-consumerism. Best part - go to any commerce site online, find something you like and save it with the tag of ‘wishlist’. Delicious has a special link just for it.

DownloadHelper - Download helper is a small plugin that does what it sounds like - it helps you download media from websites. Anytime you visit a site and DH can help you, an icon next to your address bar lights up - clicking on it takes you to a box letting you know what it can download. Love YouTube? Finally you can download those videos! And more then that, you can download all the images on a web page with a single click of a button.

Exif Viewer - Exif is the EXchangeable Image File metadata that almost all digital cameras and camera phones have today. This data tells you a lot of interesting things about a photo such as what kind of camera took the picture, when and where it was taken, the focal length, shutter speed, and more! If you take pictures, you can learn a lot by looking at the information of photographs that you like. I use this constantly, and am always amazed and just what image files have hidden information in them.

Web Developer - Perhaps this plugin is aimed at the more technical user, Web Developer adds a new toolbar with various web developer tools. With it you can disable/change stylesheets, enable/disable images, disable javascript, cookies, etc and even mess with the information that forms send out. It’s invaluable for troubleshooting your own websites as well as making it easier to peer into the inner workings of websites you like.

Colorzilla - This is one of the neatest plugins out there. Colorzilla is a webpage DOM color analyzer. You activate it, drag the eye dropper to the color you’re curious about and click - voila, the color you seek is displayed before you in all its hex and rgb goodness. It comes in real handy for matching your website with widgets you find on the web.

Adblock Plus - This plugin needs no introduction. It is the defacto standard for blocking obnoxious ads you find online. It’s simple as 1. See obnoxious ad 2. Right click on ad and 3. Click on ‘Adblock Image…’ and boom, you’re set. You can even use wildcards to block a wide number of ads automagically. Make it even more powerful with the Filterset.G Uploader plugin. The uploader will automatically update your Adblock filters every few days with the ones from G. This makes it a no-brainer to block those ads.

AllPeers Beta - If you use BitTorrent at all, you need this plugin! It manages your downloads, automatically handles queuing and source monitoring and even lets you chat with your friends - all from right inside Firefox!

I use more then these, but these are the ones I ensure I install first on a new machine - so try them out and let me know what you think. What plugins do you use on your Firefox? I’d love to hear em!

1. 1. Work laptop 2. Personal laptop 3. Home desktop 4. Home server [↩]
2. Me, not around a computer? HA! [↩]

See this? It’s a shower curtain. But not just any ordinary shower curtain, it is the greatest one in the world. It features show postings for events that took place at the infamous CBGB’s night club. It is technically impossible to get one any better. Guinness Book of World Records declared it the greats curtain ever¹. And soon, it will be mine - I just ordered it. Order yourself one too over at Interpunk.Com

1. Well, they didn’t really certify it [↩]

We did it in New York City at Grand Central Station and now we’re doing it here. This Saturday the MN chapter of Improv Everywhere will be meeting up at the Mall of America. We’ll be starting at 6:15pm, meeting at 5:30pm on the top level of the West parking lot (’tween Nordstom and Macy’s). Depending on how many people show up, we’ll pick a place in the MoA and at the cue we’ll all freeze in place and stay that way for 5 minutes. Sign up here! Come join us, or come and watch - either way it’ll be great!

Here’s the NYC chapter @ Grand Central:

I watched him smoke as I stood with him outside restaurants and, when I relented, in my own yard. This was before I’d smoked a single cigarette myself. I saw that smoking altered him just slightly, like a course correction at sea, one degree toward a new point on the horizon. His face grew softer as the cigarette seemed to dull the razor’s edge of unhappiness that sometimes dragged through his life. I remember realizing that it really worked for him, thinking: That shit is inside him. It did something to him. Lord. I was sad, pissed, and a little bit jealous. I told him he was a fool, once, but after that I bit my tongue. Make no mistake, smoker or not, it sucks to watch your son draw on a cigarette like it means something to him. That’s when a smoke looks less like a casual comfort in a cold world and more like an abyss, a dark deception. I’m responsible for my own stupidity. This. This is my boy, and in some way I can only bear witness to this. My boy, smoking like some barfly. That’s when you feel like strangling a tobacco executive. - Learning To Smoke, Esquire Magazine

The above passage is from a recent piece Tom Chiarella did for Esquire magazine. Tom is 46 years old. He also decided to start smoking. Within 30 days, he got himself up to a pack a day, trying over 3 dozen brands, before he quit. Why? He wanted to see what it was like.

And with the way he wrote, it makes me think about smoking once more. It’s quite interesting that I read this piece today, as I also received a congratulatory email from QuitNet, telling me it has been 184 days, 5 hours, 21 minutes and 4 seconds without a cigarette. I have not smoked 3684 cigarettes, which saved me $864.80 and 28 days, 3 hours of my life.

And I miss smoking.

I didn’t quit on my own volition. No, it was the meds¹  that did it - in particular the one I use to put me to sleep. It has properties which, after long term use, seem to break addictions. They aren’t sure how or why - but it causes people to start to dislike what they’re addicted to.

Granted, I fought it fairly hard. I diligently bought my smokes and trudged outside, lighting up and feeling…. Well, nothing. It didn’t taste good anymore. It felt less of a freedom, or time to reflect - and more like going to Mass - you did it because you were raised to do it and it’s just what you did - so I quit.

But man, I miss smoking.

I still have one, every now and then. Only now I can taste the sickly sweet taste of the tobacco. I can feel the smoke entering my lungs, feel its warmth and thickness on the coldest bitter night. I can enjoy it. But not often.

Man, I miss smoking.

1. Temazepam, AKA Restoril [↩]

What would you say I could offer you access to over $1 million dollars in tools, for only $100/month? I’m talking about rapid prototyping machines, vertical & horizontal CNC milling machines, laser cutters, lathes, CNC plasma cutters, MIG welders and a ton more. Imagine all the projects you could work on!

Well, I’m in talks, hopefully we’ll have that around here soon. We may have one of those here in our fair Twin Cities. It’ll be tough to open a business + plan for a wedding and such - but I think it can be done, I’d love to have 2 dreams done by the end of the year.

In episode 12, season 3 of Futurama - title “The Route of all Evil” - Fry, Leela, and Bender brew beer inside of Bender, and end up treating him like an expectant mother.

Well now, Simon Jansen of Asciimation remembered that episode and decided to make an actual functioning brewing Bender, and wrote out all the steps he used, including circuit diagrams! Fanboy note: It’s joked that Bender is powered by an ancient 6502 processor, so Mr. Jansen decided to gut an old commodore disc drive and use it’s 6502 to make Bender talk.

Kudos to you man, kudos!

Hello kiddies, here’s some links I’ve come across this week and thought you might like:

How Porn Ruined Sex (Semi NSFW) - The second half of the title is “How about you don’t ask to come on my face on the first date”. It’s a little diatribe on how the younger guys these days (25 and under I’m assuming) were raised on internet porn, watching it since they were 9. And as such, they don’t think of regular sex as being ‘fun’ sex. Suckers.

Scrabble Tile Coasters - Now this is definitely cool! Take the letter tiles from scrabble, arrange them to coaster size, apply a cork backing and BAM, your tables are safe once more! Then I started looking around, and Hasbro will be more then happy to sell you spare parts - 100 letter tiles, 4 racks and a tile bag will set you back $6.50, shipping and handling included. I’m fighting the very very strong urge to buy 12 sets.¹ What would I do with 1200 scrabble letter tiles? I don’t know, and that’s the greatest thing about it.

A new position - Didn’t get the chance to get your rocks off yesterday? Wanna give it a go tonight? Bring your laptop to bed with you and let Style.Com’s Hotlist of sexual positions teach you something new. Complete with reader ratings²³ and wooden doll examples, it’s SFW!

Extreme Plastic Surgeries - In the 21st century, we have the luxury of making many of our dreams come true - at least ones that involve plastic surgery. Whether your dream is to be a cat, a lizard, Barbie, Ken, Klingon or have super large tits, it’s all possible.

Got Cats? FURminator is for you - Cool Tools reviews a cat brush that has a tag line of “Intense Feline Grooming”, so you know it has to be good.  Available from Amazon⁴ for $28, Debbie says “The FURminator is the only really functional cat-grooming tool I’ve ever found.” and “It does a tremendous job of removing loose fur.”. I’m sold.

How We Spend Our Money - The New York Times shows us how we spend our money, in all it’s charted goodness. I <3 charts. Spoiler: Upper class spend more then middle class, middle class spends more then lower class. Lower class does better then homeless - but only marginally.

Cheap Ways To Say I Love You⁵ -  Get Rich Slowly has an article on more frugal ways to show your love. Although written for Valentine’s Day, these tips work the rest of the year as well - with the bonus of not being expected, it will be even more meaningful. Trent over at The Simple Dollar has 9 more ways for love on the cheap, while the folks at Zen Habits raise the bar and show you 50 ways to be romantic.

My Kind of Savior -  Ajinbayo Akinsiku writes manga novels. He’s also a Christian and aspires to become an Anglican priest. He also wrote “The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation”. Mr. Akinsiku says his Son of God is “a samurai stranger who’s come to town, in silhouette,” here to shake things up in a new, much-abridged version of the Bible rooted in manga, the Japanese form of graphic novels. Like how that sounds? You can buy it from Amazon for a shade over $10. Now that’s a good price for salvation!

That’s it for this week, my friends. There’s plenty more I’d love to share, but there’s only so much commentary I can make about it. If you’d like, feel free to bookmark my public Google Reader page, or even subscribe to the RSS feed.

Tonight I’ll be at Hennepin Stages to see the musical “Don’t Hug Me” with some friends, and this weekend is quite hectic as well. If I don’t see you all, have a great weekend and happy holiday⁶!

1. I’m seriously fighting the urge. But the wedding, she will be pricey, so I must conserve [↩]
2. The winner: Doggy style - and by a long shot.  Though cowgirl is second. [↩]
3. Reverse cowgirl is better imho [↩]
4. Amazon.Com link uses the referrer tag from CoolTools, I don’t want credit for someone else’s work [↩]
5. From the Better-late-then-never department [↩]
6. If you get President’s Day off, like I do. Yay for banker’s hours [↩]

So I’ll have some links and such, but it’s a Friday free for all this week.

First up, it’s Cody bashing - from me, and others. First, I get up this morning to find this JUST PUBLISHED piece on MPR entitled “How old is to young to see Juno” - holy Christ! The movie came out 2 months ago, and NOW you decide to write up some fluff? And the parents in the article - could they be more dense? Yes, you really should wait for a movie to ‘break the ice’ about your teen slutting it up. Because personal responsibility is unacceptable. It’s never your fault.
Then, from the sexy folks over at MNSpeak, I learn about a leaked Diablo Cody screenplay for the movie “Quotey”, which is a “dramedy about a brilliant-yet-spunky screenwriter who says what we all think but still faces persecution for her quirky ways“.
Finally, the people over at CC2K take a look at the dialog in the next Cody screenplay and wonder just what the fuck is she saying. I will say, I agree with all their points.

So how was your Valentine’s Day? Mine was great, lovely dinner under the a canopy of sharks. And I found out the singers I had hired to sing to Mishka were not only liked, they were loved. She cried, they made a big scene - she was supervising the front gate so everyone waiting in line got to see it too. She said “I saw 4 men come down the escalator in Tuxedos and I thought to myself ‘That wonderful crazy bastard didnt!’” - but I did baby, but I did.

It’s been a few days now with Vista on the new Dell laptop and I have to say, I don’t think Vista deserves all the crap it’s gotten. The only problem I’ve had is the thing where it won’t properly sleep or wake up all the time - other then that, it’s been great. Then again, with 4 gigs of ram and a 2.2GHZ Core 2 Duo proc, maybe it’s beefy enough to handle any inconsistencies - either way Service Pack 1 comes out in a few weeks (Or I could DL it now from MSDN, which I may do) and from what I’ve been hearing it has a lot of nice improvements.

I finally have all of the episodes of “The IT Crowd“, a deliciously wonderful UK sitcom about Roy and Moss, the IT department of a large company. They are banished to the basement and are lead by a woman who doesn’t have the faintest idea on how to even turn a computer on. It’s one of the few TV shows that I not only love, but I identify with - especially the BofH attitudes of the staff “Did you try turning it off and then back on?”. You can’t buy it in the US, but The Pirate Bay has it for download - though as soon as an NTSC version hits it’s mine!

Seriously, how can you not love this:

Upcoming photo gigs: I’ll be shooting for the F1 Overnight Website challenge, the city of Minneapolis’ Bike Walk Week and MPR’s next Story Slam. See me there.

The links? They’ll show up later. I’m a busy guy today, damn it!

Until then, here’s JACC on the kazoo singing his rendition of “All you need (is love)” - thanks again, JACC!