Wow, I have been totally lax with the updates. I promise to get that going soon. However, I need a little help from you guys. I am looking at a couple content ideas. If you would, give me some ideas about favorite restaurants/attractions/etc. as I am looking at personalized travelogues about certain cities.
Also, if you would like some special dates put on a calendar, please send those dates along so we can share those with everyone. Thanks.
Have a lot of updates coming soon. First off, we have an actual and final message board. Really, I promise. Go to the Content - Message Board link to get there. Also, I have updated the Support page with some links to software I use and some support sites of note. I have also trimmed down the code for the menu. Hopefully that will speed up some of the page load times.
There is a lot more to come as I am finally figuring out some time management between life, work, reading, training and the site itself. Wish me luck and feel free to jump in with any suggested comments and idea.
But first, from the files of Deb & Jody Wittmeyer, a lighter side of Ogre:
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| Cory, Renee & her niece Abby (yeah, that's right, | Cory & Abby at play |
(I have to mention that I originally messed up a caption. Abby is Chris' daughter (Jody's son). I really ought to try to get home more often so I don't make as many idiotic mistakes. Apologies all around.)
As Jody's email goes: "John, here are a couple pictures of the tough guy! Thought you may find some room on your web site.(Although he doesn't know ;) .... Enjoy! Make it good, so I can laugh before he kills me.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Well, I have been waiting for the military to get their act together on their site (I mean, at least it's just me who doesn't update this one), but here is where Tom is at for the next couple of weeks and more specifically, what he is up to.
Also, since I really haven't gotten a lot of input into what anyone thinks of the demo site design, I'll probably be adapting the site over soon. However, I want to thank Nana for some content requests and Glen for explaining what he wants out of a message board tutorial. I'll get to work on that stuff soon.
As far as things on the horizon we are really looking forward to:
New Fall TV season. Check out the following recommended shows: The Shield (granted, its re-runs until January) and Scrubs
Movies: Clear off your calendar and prepare to be scared to death. From Japan, filtered through Hollywood (hopefully not too badly), comes The Ring.
One more thing.... There is now a tutorial on how to register for the Message Board, available here. Let me know if this does the trick.
Not a whole lot to update other than a couple of notes:
Having fun playing fantasy football against the Millers and their friends on Yahoo.
Learning quite a bit in my Network + class; as well as learning that I already know a lot of this - so that's nice.
Tom has gotten out of Basic (congrats bro) and is now stationed at Fort Lee, VA for the next couple of months. If you have his address, find the time to write him (we owe him a couple of letters). Sorry about missing your call on Sunday morning.
Saturday, Leslie and I took a mental break and ran up to Lawrence, KS to pick up some wonderful Jimmy John's sandwiches. If you haven't had one, try to find a franchise in your local area and try it. Had a nice day walking around and just getting away from Stillwater for a bit. Could've made more of a trip of it, but we really had to get back and do homework and housework. Maybe next time we'll really get a chance to relax.
Looking forward to making it home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.
Tom should be making it home in a couple weeks too.
Jason and Ruth are expecting. I figure I can announce this as most people who would know them probably already know. And for those who didn't...consider yourself informed.
May have a new site design coming up too. (Hehe, already did that.)
A couple links to pass along from friends and the like:
The Belief-o-matic, a way to see what religion your beliefs may concide with. Kind off an odd way to check your head.
Slate brings an alternate view of Harry Potter.
An one of those articles I keep going back to which is one man's view of how we could be planning to combat terrorism. Can't say I agree with all of it, but it does give some food for thought.
Well, I have managed to convert most of the old site pages over and have some of the rudimentary new pages online too. More content work to come of course. Have heard little or no comments about the redesign though most people probably haven't seen it yet.
Leslie & I are heading out to Illinois to spend the week with my family so expect no updates until we get back. Hope you all have an enjoyable and relaxing holiday.
Leslie and I have been down a few days with a wicked stomach flu. We both seem to be on the mend though.
Coming soon to the message board, a blurb on our trip home for Thanksgiving. Or not.
For your entertainment or embarrassment, an image submitted by Dan Vandiver in Japan showing yet another reason the world laughs at us sometimes:
Yep, it's Friday the 13th again...for whatever that's worth.
Just for your entertainment, I found a page that gives a little history on this day. Enjoy.
Didn't get any of those updates done as I had promised. Sorry about that. Merry Christmas to all of you and we'll see you next year.
Hope your new year is healthy and happy. Just got back from the Houston area a day or two ago and am reluctantly getting ready to go back to work.
So, we just got back from the conference/job hunting in St. Louis and Indianapolis and I am going through my email and I get this image (well, an excerpt of it), which is hilarious when you are aware of one of Jason's stories of things that inmates do to humor themselves. He probably won't tell you - and I certainly won't - so consider it an inside joke of sorts.
Well, after weeks of interviews and campus visits and anxiously awaiting job offers (all of which came in an overwhelming rush), Leslie has accepted a position at UNLV. Basically, we move in just over a month.
Of course, this means I have to bust my hump and line up a job for myself too. So, all those updates you were expecting to the site (HA!) are likely not gonna happen. Stay tuned for sanity checks as we pack ourselves up for a haul across the plains and desert.
Got a visit from Jeff Hallock - in town for his brother's graduation. Leslie and I went out for dinner with him and caught up on all kinds of things. Then he showed up the entertainment majesty that is Homestar Runner. Of particular mention are the Strong Bad email section and the Trogdor game (which makes more sense when you check out one of the emails).
I also got an email from Justin Mooney (hi!) that linked me to a story that I had just finished reading on Wired. Check it out here and hopefully get a chuckle.
And in case any of you missed the notice, Leslie got her Certificate in International Studies in a ceremony Friday evening. Go ahead and flood her with congratulatory emails.
Leslie and I are off to Utah (and for me, on to Vegas from there) for the NAFSA Conference, at which Leslie will be a presenter. I, of course, am heading out for some job searching so wish me luck. So, no updates for awhile - not that I've been really up on them over the past couple weeks anyway.
Tomorrow we load the truck but today we continue to muddle through packing up our possessions. I do not recommend this as a leisure time activity. Anyways, we will be able to check email from Leslie's laptop as time and willingness allows. Other than that, we'll check in next time from Las Vegas.
Wish us luck on the drive out there....
Alright, obscure reference but very appropriate. We got into town late Friday afternoon and were thankfully able to move straight into the apartment; which is very nice digs by the way. Come on out and give us a visit.
However, our internet service needed a human touch to be turned on; something which we could not do until today. The firewall set up here on the student side of things is very tight, so messenger programs and the like will not be functional on the workday side of things which will be a restraint on our ability to talk with some of you.
Otherwise, we continue to unpack and I continue to try to find work.
I don't have a lot of info on this yet but I hear Galva got pretty whacked by high winds last night. From what I know, which is pretty much this, only one person got hurt. Which is damn amazing and thankful news. If anyone has been in contact with my family, could ya give me a ring or an email? I am trying to get a call through to whoever I can.
UPDATE: Got a hold of Jason Lindstrom and everyone and everything seems relatively okay amongst those we know. The Strand farm lost a barn but that is thus far the worst of it. There is definitely no word of electricity for awhile though. A couple links covering the scant info I have.
Galesburg Register Mail story
KWQC Channel 6 story and video
So, I read this article about a woman who is forcing her belief system on others so much that it is now going to cost some charities a LOT of money. AND SHE'S NOT DONE! People, convince others to change their minds through dialogue, not by twisting their arms in fascist fashion.
In other news, Galva seems to remain in the dark but folks seem to be okay. Brenda says their house got a little roughed up, but so did a lot of others.
I have got an interview next week for a job I would really like to have. Not that the job search of late has been very productive; but I would enjoy a great job over a "I really just need a paycheck" variety. So, anyways, wish me luck.
From the Galva.com site, some pictures of the damage there. Most of it is just of parked vehicles but you can kinda get a sense of the mayhem anyways.
Not a lot of things make me feel old. I mean, why should I? But this article (and this one too) kind of makes you stop and think about all the stuff that we take for granted that goes away. I knew I saw less of these things the last time I was in Mexico, but now they will probably just be a memory in a few years.
In other news, I've finally decided to work on the website a bit. Not that you will notice anything fantastic, but I am getting some of the pages updated from the old (or even older) formats. Stick around, I may even actually add content.
As many of you know, I can count the amount of television shows I can actually stomach watching on both hands - if you spread it out across a whole decade. So, since I'm a big fan of FX's The Shield and not much else (though I enjoy Monk whenever I can catch it), I have currently been in a major slump as far as any potential Nielsen rating hirings go.
Tonight, I can safely add another show to the list. It is Peacemakers with Tom Berenger. Kind of a murder mystery/CSI-like/western concept. Some of that usually bores the daylights out of me but this seems to work. So I'll give it a try. Enough of one to suggest it to all of you to watch as well.
Other than Leslie, I don't get acknowledgement of actual visitors to the site...and I stopped looking at traffic monitoring a long time ago. So it was with some surprise that I found out that Mitch Shiever comes to check out the incomplete project from time to time. Everyone say "hi" to Mitch and wish him luck on his new job.
Speaking of work, I just got down with a difficult but (hopefully) fruitful second interview today for a position at UNLV. To be honest, that's a good group of people I would have to work with if I got the position; so color me interested and impressed. I also just (at 9:30pm) found out that I may have an interview for my old job as Project Manager at Aristocrat next week. So at least I'm finally getting a foot in the door a couple places.
From our Entertainment/Science desk, a scientific chart for you about the condiments in your fridge. In other science-ish news, I just remembered an old article about the Dark Sucker theory. It comes from a site I haven't visited in years, IFAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions).
Yes, I'm bored.
The first thing on my mind, of course, was "Glad I'm not there." So far all those folks without power in the NorthEast seem to be muddling through okay, and that's good news. I swear, its like there is a determined effort to make the rest of us think New Yorkers are actually polite. Go figure.
Well, I was gonna link this story anyway, but while it was humorous to begin with; I'd really like to see all these snobs whine about their "backyard" being sullied after today's events. Good luck you dopes.
It seems that Keiko, the killer whale from the Free Willy flicks doesn't want to go to the wild after all. More here.
Speaking of creatures who missed the point, here are some tales about stupid neighbors, race-baiting Bush websites (original and "corrected" - check the middle pic on the bottom - editions), and oversized little leaguers just to round out the mix of madness. (For more on the original version of that "tasteful" website, go here.)
Just because I can, a little more invective, courtesy of August 9th's Doonesbury:
And yes, we are fine...the flooding was on the other side of town.
A movie critic from Kansas City tries to explain reality to the movie industry. I doubt she'll succeed, but let's wish her the best anyways.
And I haven't linked any Dave Barry stuff for awhile, but here is what we'll just call the Back to School edition.
And in a tie-in to yesterday's idiot parade, we bring you "people who should stick to waving protest signs." I may be cruel in your eyes, but I care a lot more about history than I do a duck. Not that I particularly like liver, but I don't ever plan on stopping anyone from eating it; though I may stop you from cooking it in our kitchen.
Other stuff:
Democracy in action?
From Australia, a humorous look at SWAT hand signals (yes, its off-color and you HAVE been warned).
Last but not least, are you about to have a blackout? A link for the paranoid.
Update: I almost forgot to mention this. I have a two-week temporary job at Bally Gaming filling in for someone at their help desk there. Its not a permanent gig but I can at least be doing SOMETHING for a few days. Wish me luck and all that.
Our building is filling up with students. One of the guys who moved in next door to us is really, REALLY loud. Hopefully he'll find the error of his ways soon. Or just move somewhere else....
Okay, an update to that ludicrous lawsuit against Al Franken. It has been basically laughed out of court as it should have. And then there's this odd story, which still seems like someone's idea of a joke to me, but it appears to be real.
If you are familiar with the trashy web trend of having people vote for pictures of you, ala Amihotornot and that nonsense, Ned Bronson linked me to Amigovernorornot.com, which is a pretty squirrelly take on the idiotic California rebellion-of-the-grumpy. My favorite pick thus far?
And yes, that link has potentially offensive stuff at play too so once again, you were warned.
Alright, stop imagining my singing voice. Trust me, its better that way. Alright, we are soon off to Ohio for the weekend for Leslie's family reunion in the Dayton-ish area. We'll be back late Monday. Should be a lot of fun.
A lot of the link topics have been of a serious nature of late. Relax, this entry is all in good fun.
For today's offering, we have a quiz called Programming Language Creator or Serial Killer, courtesy of Craig Trible. Even if you score high on this, remember that you had to think about it a couple times.
Leslie has contributed a link concerning the dangers of drinking in excess. Yes, it will make you shudder. (And yes, it's comedy people.)
Plus, who said playing computer games was bad for you? Not the BBC.
Berkeley Breathed is coming back on November 23 with a comic strip appropriately called Opus. Hopefully it will get syndicated so we can all read it.
In other news, the RIAA has decided to feed on poor kids living in public housing. Of course, they aren't picking on individual people because they are money-grubbing fascist punks; its because they care.
Anyone tired enough of recent events to want to go to Mars? NASA may be looking for you soon.
Your humorous moment of the day. And now, for your humorous insight of the day (ok, its a few days old):
Well, the media is warming itself up for who knows what tomorrow. Funny thing is, there are a lot of well-intentioned people who will probably say and do a lot tomorrow for all the wrong reasons. And isn't that probably the saddest part about this whole situation: that we really haven't learned as much as we should have? Then again, maybe I'll be proven wrong and the day will be without a ton of flag-waving and forgetting the fact that we are remembering regular people who got shoved into the front lines of a conflict between psychopaths and the rest of the world. For some more perspective on this, I read this article earlier today which somewhat delineates thoughts I hope have crossed your minds.
Also on the subject, some clearing of the air about things you may think about 9/11. On a broader scope, this article from the New York Times points out the international perspective; which, while you may or may not want to care about it, still exists.
I had some social commentaries about ridiculous news articles I've read recently, but it can wait for a couple days.
Well, the baseball postseason has started, which means I now spend a lot of time glued to the television. Thus far, the Yankees have dropped one; which is a nice start to things. But we've got the Twins, and probably the Red Sox if necessary, to take care of that unpleasantness. Right now, its time to focus on the Cubs taking a long shot at winning the National League. Yeah, I'm probably dreaming but its fun to watch.
UPDATE: Cubs Win! And I tell you, if all their games are that tense, I'm gonna need a cardiologist. Geez.
If you want access to course material from a prestigious university, MIT has made them all available online at their CourseWare site.
Well, the Cubs are in the Division series (too bad they dropped that first game) and so are the Red Sox. So yeah, I'm still interested enough to keep watching baseball.
In the current events type of thing, I'm going to totally ignore that whole mess in California and hope it goes away now that those imbeciles have turned a serious situation over to an even worse actor than Ronald Reagan...and that's saying something. No that's not a political assessment, I mean it for what I said, so hold your email.
Tomorrow you should not be surprised to start seeing colorful $20 bills. You can read some more about them here, as well as past attempts of playing with our money.
I would put this on the support page but a) no one goes there, and b) its more human interest anyway. This first story is an explanation of the Scroll Lock on your keyboard, the second about the guy who brought you Control-Alt-Delete. Thanks for Robert Robinson for the heads-up on the first story.
FYI: The site may be misbehaving in a few days. I am just about out of space on this particular service and they have been spamming me about giving them money for more space. Personally, I'd rather not do it. So I found another hosting company that should work out a lot better (I hope so anyway). So between now and early next week you should notice a temporary outage as I move the site and then adjust the domain registry to the new server.
UPDATE: Well, the Red Sox lost, absolving me of any reason whatsoever to watch the World Series. Season's over kids...unless you are some kind of sicko.
Well, other than striking out without even trying to hit that last pitch, you can't put the blame on him solely. Or even Kerry Wood. Or that fan in Game 6. But damn, how depressing. Maybe next year?
On more thing, is it just me or is that smug, pompous twit Miguel Cabrera absolutely scream "Future Yankee"?
Okay, on to happier - or at least different - topics.
In case you haven't heard, vodka is 500 years old. Raise a toast.
Bad idea. Absolutely horrid idea.
Here's an article comparing those RIAA nitwits to Edison's power grab with the movie industry way back when. Here's hoping they fall on their face just the same.
This weekend, Leslie finally gets away from work long enough for us to hit some haunted houses and the local Oktoberfest celebration.
Well, it is a hateful world apparently. Did you know you are just the puppet of a shadow Jewish government? At least, that's what the Malaysian Prime Minister believes. Education: it does a body good, chump.
I was reading an article by Madeleine Albright in a recent copy of Foreign Affairs. A pretty good objective read to be quite honest with you.
One happier news, the Dilbert site is hosting the results of the annual Weasel Awards. The results are about what I expect with the cross-current of readers of the comic.
From the world of delusion, the World Series that should be in progress: a tongue-in-cheek look at the Cubs-Red Sox series.
At ESPN, Jim Caple continues his delusions with the Series heading back to Boston with the Cubs up 3-2.
"Evil" Ned Bronson will age you with linking us this story about modern day kids playing, and shredding, our beloved childhood memories.
George Washington was known for a lot of things. Making whiskey is one of those more obscure accolades. Some recreational distillers are working on changing that.
In sad news, Fred "Rerun" Berry from What's Happening! passed away Tuesday. I don't know about you, but I used to watch the heck out of that show.
To close, you've probably been hearding about how all these people and cities are buying drugs overseas to save money. At the New York Times, there is a story about students finding that their textbooks cost 50% or more in their bookstores than online. (Use Member ID wallenfeldt and password guest to access the story.)
Okay, I've held my tongue for awhile but seriously, what is up with California? They give a standing ovation to a child molestor (Roman Polanski earlier this year at the Oscars), elect some serial woman molestor (Schwarzenegger of course), and then stand up and applaud a suspected rapist (Kobe Bryant) like he's a victim or something. Now to be quite fair, maybe he isn't a rapist, but he still cheated on his wife and that shouldn't be applauded.
In happier news, bubble gum is now 75 years old. The alternate World Series ended on a strange note. The results of the World Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships are in (yes, there is such a thing and they have a website).
On the strange end of things: why are we trying to sell money through TV ads?
On the "yeah, I want one, but only if no one else does" category, a story about a gadget you can get that changes streetlights.
Tom called from someone's cell apparently and let us know he and the rest of the unit had made it to Fort Hood this evening. As dumb luck would have it, Leslie and I went out for 10 minutes and missed his call. In any case, all is well for now.
I'm building a subsite called Galva Guard and will be putting up news stories and whatever images we receive from Tom or whoever submits really. This may or may not break my bandwidth and storage budget. We'll just have to see I suppose.
I guess I'm feeling a bit out of sorts really. It isn't right to watch your little brother getting prepared to go into a conflict area. Granted, he's younger and definitely more fit than me at the moment and I have no doubt he is trained, and will continue to be trained, to do the best job possible. The problem is me being overprotective I suppose and its something I'm just going to have to deal with. Some days it just infuriates me that this is the situation we're all in.
In any case, I'll try to stay objective about the whole thing. Online anyway.
I've been wrapping up the last book of the Star Wars New Jedi Order series, The Unifying Force. As far as hobbies go, this one is pretty benign. And for a book series that has had its ups and downs, it sure the heck finished on a high quality note. Just figured I'd share that in case you are really full of spare time and nothing else to do.
Well, Mom has sent along some newspaper clippings from the Galva and Kewanee papers. If I can either get to a scanner or find a way to obtain them in some other way, I'll post them up.
I've been kind of busy on a temp job I've had, which has just wrapped up. Maybe some more work from it later, who knows. In the meantime, I've been accumulating links like a mad man.
From our pal Evil Ned, a site that hurts the mind as much as it tickles the funny bone.
From the land of delusion, we learn that the Maoists' Long March was shorter than we've all been told, CBS is a weak-willed pack of chumps when it comes to presidential biography type flicks, and Canadians are in on this Nigerian email scam business.
In other news, Rhode Island is apparently a rampant comparison yardstick used by writers. Another article tackles the curious nature of champion Kenyan runners, and yet one more approaches that oft-asked question (presumably someone was asking it), "What if Guy Fawkes' bomb had gone off?" Yes, these stories vaguely interest me. Move on if they bore you to death.
From the tech desk (fine, my same cluttered desk), we have a story on the guys who research map info for Mapquest and one about presidential candidates' websites.
Speaking of that bunch, there is a game at Slate where you can narrow down your candidate of choice called Whack-a-Pol. At Kuro5hin, there is a slightly tongue-in-cheek article on why Bush is not using Jesus as his inspiration as he has so often said.
Andras Simonyi, the Hungarian ambassador to the US, credits rock music as one the leading cultural elements that helped bring down Communism in his country. Kinda freaks you out when you think about what rap music may be doing to our society, huh?
In news of a passing age, Disney's latest movie, Brother Bear, may be among its last animated movies as they are getting rid of the animation department.
From KFC comes news that fried chicken is good for you. Slate dissects that notion for you here.
Popular Science breaks down the best inventions of 2003. Yes, it is already time to evaluate our year...two months before it ends. Let the Top 10 lists begin!
There have been a couple of ridiculous political subjects I've been completely unable to find the words to properly express myself about. So, I'll let the pros do it.
Mike Thompson from the Detroit Free Press tackles the CBS pulling of their movie about Reagan:
Boondocks takes one more crack at Rush Limbaugh:
I have been working intermittently on a contract with HP to set up huge network printers for Bechtel. Thursday, this landed me up at Yucca Mountain, which is either: a) the solution to our nation's nuclear waste disposal problem, or b) the thing that will make Las Vegas an uninhabitable wasteland. And you thought you had problems with where to put landfills....
Moving on to other scientific type things, it has now been found that dark beer is good for you. So hey, toast a stein to those research scientists. Also in science, a story on flying cars and other pipe dreams that never happened.
And now, back to the decline of Western civilization for a buck. Some morons have decided that trading in terrorist futures is not only profitable, but totally ethical. Look, I only got a semester of Catholic school in kindergarten and even I can tell you that betting money on whether or not people die is not, and never can be, ethical.
What else? Oh, in the same week we commemorate the Jonestown massacre, Britney Spears get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Coincidence? No, but both events make me sick to my stomach. At least with Super Tart we get an explanation. Jim Jones is still an inexplicable cancer.
In thoughts on current affairs, Slate tackles the whole concept of marriage and comes up with some suggestions for the debate. A Maryland high school student politicizes PDA, making you question why good arguments are fronted by silly people. This guy is another example, except his beef is with email spammers.
With a lot of tech jobs moving overseas, one individual has found employment with the help of his family, La Costa Nostra that is.
And just to show you that I do like to be entertained by humor and touching stories, here's one about a father able to make it back to his daughter's wedding, and one from The Onion about media bias. Here's an off-color article on what to do when your internet goes down. While you still have internet access, check out the Zombie Infection game.
The KKK has decided to start taking out its own members. Let's hope they keep their stupidity within the family from now on.
At the