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Archives for June 2001
Attention!
Ladies watch out! Adam Hartman is back on the market!
Working Late
I’m almost done with the IHS Job Bank project I’ve been working on for the last two weeks. I’ll probably end up recycling a good deal of code from this project in the future. That being said, what I really need to develop is an “code toolbox” for internal use. Could save me quite a bit of time and effort down the road, especially with a few of the larger database projects I’ve been working on lately.
A few of my old Cato cronies have set up a weblog. It also seems that James is taking over Liberzine, which really needs a good content management system. As we all know, independent content sites die when they become too much of a pain in the ass to maintain.)
I saw Nickel Creek on The Tonight Show on Thursday night—they played “Reasons Why.” Despite the amazing virtuosity of the trio, they manage to somehow keep things tastefully restrained. I also have to admit that I was very impressed by their vocal arrangement.
I watched Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch) tonight. Very cool movie. I enjoyed the running cartoon motif throughout the film. I may have to read Rashomon to understand it better. I remember seeing the Kurosawa film in college. I also seem to remeber reading a short story called “In a Grove.” Perhaps it was just symbolic of ancient ways in general?
‘Special’ Seat
I biked out to Old Town with Clark yesterday (About 20 miles). After about 8 miles I realized that I am drastically out of shape. I’ve seriously got to do something about this. I’ve resolved to start riding more, so I bought a new saddle for my bike. It has a big cut out area in the front to better protect my “goods.”
My “goods” thank me sincerely.
Times are rough for my dear friend Phil. He’s dancing with Playmates at Hollywood parties.
Archie Bunker Can Wait His Turn
I listened to Morning Edition today at weta.org. I love All in the Family as much as the next guy, but should they really have put the Carroll O’Connor obituary before the John Lee Hooker obituary?
Where are their priorities?
A Reading Rainbow
I really can’t describe how wonderful it is to have enough time to read fiction again. There was a period recently when the only books I was reading were very technical and had pictures of animals on them.
I read Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut last night. It actually reminded me of Stanger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. Of course, Vonnegut has much better writing style.
I’ve been thinking about gaps in my education lately. I’ve made a list of books I’m planning on (re)reading
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville (rereading prompted by Cat’s Cradle)
- The Diagnosis, by Alan Lightman
- Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (I read a collection of short stories by him last year, which amused me greatly. Especially “Lyndon Johnson.”
- The Civil War, by Shelby Foote (Been sitting on my bookshelf for years, waiting for me to conquer–Like smarter people and Proust)
I’ve been using ordered lists far too often in this weblog. They are a bold neon sign proclaiming that I need to learn to write properly.
Tour Guide
‘Rents and Katie are in town for the weekend. Things we could end up doing:
- Go to museums
- Church?
- Bens Chili Bowl
Had a great idea for a short story. Young urban Jetta owners plotting to firebomb a crackhouse in their neighborhood to hasten urban gentrification. Could be funny indeed.
Scheming
I wonder what would happen if I went to the Scientology “Founding Church” on Connecticut Avenue and tried to sell them Amway products? There’s a kind of symetry in the idea. Don’t you think?
It’s a sick world.
Heard a really cool cover of Collective Soul’s hit “Shine” tonight. It was by Dolly Parton. Jerry Douglas and Chris Thile (from Nickel Creek) did session work on it. The instrumental work was amazing, as would expect from the cats involved. When it comes down to it, Dolly knows.
ID Sensual Lubricant
One of these days I am going to buy a digital video camera and make an action movie about my cats. I think I’ll call it Crouching Charlie, Hidden Basie. It will feature spectacular aerial fighting, of which my cats have become quite adept.
I went for a walk in Dupont Circle today and I noticed that there are giant cardboard bins that say “ID Sensual Lubricant” on the sides about every 15 meters along 17th street. These are undoubtedly left over from the Gay Pride parade. It might very well be the perfect way to reinforce every negative stereotype anyone might be harboring.
Insightful comment from my friend Mike: “It’s about time! Of course they are not going to sell them individually since no one would pay money for Three.”
Digital Coin Purse
I totally want an IBM Memory Key. Things I would put on it:
- My PGP keys. Both public and private.
- Photos of my fiance, my family, and my cats
- A Flash presentation for clients
- An MP3 by my band
Don’t Let the Children Hear!
This story reminded me of the Laurie Dann killings in Winnetka when I was in elementary school. I guess I remember just two news events from elementary school. At the time, they were both things that the school tried to avoid telling us about:
- The Challenger disaster. No, we didn’t watch it live and I only found out about it after lunch, from someone who went home to eat. It had very little, if any, impact on me and I don’t really understand people who consider it to be the defining collective experience of our generation.
- The Laurie Dann killings. I think people’s parents were tweaking out and calling the school to make sure their kids were safe. So they locked all the doors at Greenbriar, to be safe. In retrospect, it was probably a good idea, considering there was a child murderer on a rampage and all. But at the time it really freaked me out. I saw a janitor locking doors and I asked someone, who then told me what had happened, just 20 minutes away.
Anyway, the story from Japan shows that this crazy shit even happens when you take guns out of the equation.
Yuck
You would have thought that the PR guys at Disney would have dealt with this before there was any possibility that it could have turned into a news story. Ladies and gentlemen, behold incompetance of the first degree.
Recent Musings
O.K. I’ll admit it. I’ve been remiss in updating this log recently. To be honest, I just haven’t had anything insightul to say (not to imply that I ever really do say anything truly insightful)
A few observations:
- Almost every episode from the first two seasons of The Family Guy is online at the shows website. The writing on this show puts The Simpsons to shame.
- DVD piracy will become a “problem” when–and only when–there is a single, easy to use software application that facilitates the copying of DVD to VCDs made on CD-R media. None of this DeCSS to DVD2AVI to TMPGEncode to Nero crap. It’s too damn complicated; it takes too long; and the result looks like crap anyway. But, if you really want to try, check out http://www.vcdhelper.com
- XHTML would be a wonderful thing, were it not for a complete lack of support in Dreamweaver 4.0. Macromedia better get on this soon, because HTML-Kit has some serious shortcomings–not the least of which being the fact that the code it generates won’t always validate.
- I finally finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Absolutely brilliant book. Why must I always be envious of the accomplishments of others?
- Now I’m reading Buckminster Fuller : Anthology for a New Millennium. It’s a collection of Fuller’s writings edited by Thomas T. K. Zung. The passages have short introductions by people who either knew Fuller, or were influenced by him. What other book contains writings by both Steve Forbes and Valerie Harper? The man’s poetry (yes poetry) was amazing.
- I subscribed to Safari for my business. A full report will come in due time, but right now I think the service blows. There’s no way to read the freaking book. The usability restricts the sites utility to mere reference. It’s actually quite a shame. I’ll probably just cancel the subscription and order books when I need them.
