TpcMurray

Am I back?

2010-09-01T00:08:00.000-02:30

Ok, so I haven't written in, what, almost 3 years? Is that any reason to stop reading my blog? I should think not. I'm not a very demanding content creator, so it should be easy for you. :)

Ok, so where was I ... ok, yes. The old format. Lets do that again.

Weather: Lovely! Quite nice for this time of year. It's burning up our lawn a little though ...

Music: Hrm .. been listening to a bunch of Pulse on Sirius. Other than that, mostly CBC Radio 1. I must be getting old, I prefer current events to tunes.

Family: Well, I'm married now and have a little 18 month old girl. I'll be blogging about her a lot, because she's hilaaaaarious, and that's what parents do. Here's a pic of our little angel ...

Work: iMaint 3 was a great success. In fact we've shipped iMaint 3.5 since then. I've moved on to the redesign of the UI, essentially merging our web and vb6 UI's into a single c# WPF UI. It'll be slick.

House: Well, we finished that a couple years ago. Have a front lawn, but no back lawn or shed. Although, a month or so ago I finished our back deck (see!? I inherited at least a little skill from my pa). A pic in shameless self promotion:

'The' Deck (tm)

S'all for now.

Empire Avenue

2010-08-31T10:10:00.002-02:30

Joined EmpireAvenue (www.empireavenue.com). Fun site! EAVB_WLYIKPGSJV

15 McHugh: Day 28

2007-10-18T19:47:00.000-02:30

A month has gone by already, and it feels like we are no further ahead. Probably because we almost aren't.

The clearing of the land is done, but the grade was too high and is currently being dropped 2 feet. Holy dirt!

We've been in talks with our geo-thermal/in-floor heating contractor, and things are looking good on that front. We'll be digging 6 foot deep piping trenches in the back yard before too long.

The aforementioned contractor #2 couldn't take on our project, so we defaulted back to
contractor #1, who accepted the project and is due to start 1st week in Nov. If that holds up, our move in date would look to be late February. That'll give us a few months to fine tune the interior before the spring comes and we can start the landscaping. Good times. :)

One silver-lining is that the local truss company has become freed up and can build our trusses. Joy. We still may buy out of town due to some rumors we heard, but we'll see how that goes.

One bad thing about being late is that Nicole and I can only live in our current location (my aunt's house) until she returns mid December. That means moving in with either of our parents, or renting an apt for 3 or 4 months. The former offends our love of privacy, and the latter would be expensive and work laden (mostly because we'd have to find it, then furnish it).

In the meantime, via an old friend now working in the US, we have a high end home building firm reviewing our house plans to offer some free advice. Free is good! (http://www.horizonbuildersinc.net/) Thx Vic!

Terry

15 McHugh: Day 13

2007-10-03T11:57:00.001-02:30

Holy nutz. If you aren't going to build a house turn-key, you should acquire project management skills before jumping into this. I have huge lists of phone numbers, estimates, dates, square footages, etc. It's a lot to manage, and that becomes apparent when talking to contractors who ask you questions you don't really know the answer to, but should.

So yeah, many delays. We were late getting things moving ourselves, so we dropped the ball on a couple of things. For one, the local truss company, Pro Truss, is booked up for the next 3 months, so we had to put out our plans to other towns for quotes. Pain in the ass given the distance. This should have been done long ago. Also, getting a certified contractor has become a problem again. The original guy is running very late (can't help us until mid November!) so we've started looking elsewhere. We found another certified guy, and this weekend he'll let us know if his team can take our project. They are currently doing two commercial buildings using RewardWall, and they can only take on one house before the building season ends. Hopefully ours!

In the meantime, Nicole and I have been searching for the best prices on various things we need: appliances, flooring, faucets, etc. We found a fantastic little store in Hare Bay called Jesse Collins and Sons. Highly recommended! They have a large stock and must move a great deal of it quickly because their prices are great. We are buying 1600 sq.ft. of BEAUTIFUL hardwood there, and so far their appliance quotes are the lowest. Chester Dawe in Gander has pretty good flooring prices too (recently bought out by Rona) so check out those guys before you buy.

TPC

15 McHugh: Day 1 (Sept 20th)

2007-09-20T14:37:00.001-02:30

New house underway!

Quite a bit of work has gone into the process to this point, and things are getting somewhat confusing, so Nicole and I though it a good idea to document the house development for ourselves (should we be brave enough to attempt this again later in life) and for anyone else who may benefit from our decisions and/or mistakes.

We are considering this day 1 of the house building process, because the clearing of the land started last night. However, all the steps leading to this point are important and at times obscure, so we'll list those too.

July
1. Downloaded a decent piece of house design software and laid out the basics of what we wanted.
2. Sent our design ideas to a professional to have the house plans drawn up.
3. Put a $1000 down payment on the block of land we wanted (lot 13) which is somewhere in the middle of this woods.
August
1. Put our old house up for sale.
2. Sold it 1 day later! Woot!
3. Received completed plans. Design work plus 5 copies came in at about $400.
4. Met with many banks haggling mortgage interest rates. Have pre-approved mortgages in several places, I guess we just have to pick a bank once we are ready to begin.
5. Delivered copies of the house plans to various people:
  1. Surveyor's: survey the land, and provide the plot plan. (Surveyor's eventually sent their completed work and their copy of the plans to the town engineer; see Sept 6)
  2. Building supplies stores for materials list estimates.
  3. A specialist in geo-thermal heating and heat pumps.
  4. Construction contractors. This was tricky in our case as we are doing the entire house with RewardWall (only using lumber for the interior walls) and needed a certified contractor. In our area, RewardWall is supplied by Newfoundland Styro.
September

Sept 6: Town engineer had our building permit ready. Picked it up along with the copy of our house plans, and a booklet detailing at which stage each of the town inspections will occur. Cost: $387.79.
Sept 10: Dropped off a copy of the plot plan to our excavator, and gave him the ok to grub (see Defn #6) the land. He said this work is often in the ballpark of $5000. Ours would be more because the land was higher than grade (2 feet had to come off the top) and it is a large block.
Sept 19: Surveyor's finished their work (pegging the boundaries of the land). Paid their fee of $340. Also, Excavation began in the evening.
Today: Drove up to the land again to take a look, grubbing is going well. Also visited the geo-thermal guy and picked up his estimate. Expensive stuff! He's working on some additional numbers for us.

Woot! House is Sold!

2007-08-31T10:46:00.001-02:30

Weather: A little cloudy, but it's 16.5 degrees Celsius, which is pretty warm for this time of year/morning.

Music: 3 songs on repeat: Plain White T's – Delilah, Stabilo – Kidding Ourselves, Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah.

Family: Nick is back to St. John's for another year at MUN. Tom finished his helicopter's license a few months ago, and yesterday he completed the PARE test in 3:31 (requirement: 4:45 or less). Gratz Tom!

Work: The usual. iMaint3 is coming along nicely. Most of the other programmers are deep into my architecture now and the system is refining quite well. I'm working on a scheduling recurrence system right now (generate 'every last weekday of every 3^rd month' type stuff) which is proving to be a lot of fun.

Zievo: Dead stop. Too much else going on.

Home: House is sold! Woot! Nicole and I have temporarily moved into my aunt and uncle's house (they are currently living in Nunavut) while waiting for our new house to begin construction. We purchased a block of land at Grenfell Estates (block 13) and will start building soon. The house we are going with is a custom design, yet simple, that we arrived at by using graph paper cut-outs to lay out the rooms and sizes we wanted. The final plans were completed by an engineer in Gander and picked up Tuesday of this week. So far so good.

Next step: contractors. We are going with a RewardWall house which is stronger, warming, and more sound proof than a wood framed home. Sounds great, but finding certified workers is tricky. We are also fairly sure we want a geo-thermal heat pump system, water to water. That'll give us in-floor heating with a very attractive monthly power bill.

Exciting times!

The Poetry of Lyric

2007-07-26T14:10:00.000-02:30

"Deep within I'm shaken by the violence of existing for only you. I know I can't be with you ... I do what I have to do." - Sarah McLachlan, Do What You Have To Do

Rant: Hello Again

2007-06-20T18:13:00.001-02:30

Wassup y0! Just a little update. I know I promised pics from Cuba, but that's old news now ... cheap way out, I know. If you really want to see, check out Nicole's profile on Facebook, she posted some good stuff. :)

Weather: 11 degrees and wet. Been like this the last two days too as we played softball (SPN). Hard to play when you are shivering like a leaf and have a wet taint.

Music: Hardly listening to anything lately. Too busy at work and haven't been in one spot long enough to turn on a radio. I did see a Biography Channel profile of Sarah McLaughlin the other week and pulled out some of her old tunes. You all should listen to her again for the first time! Amazing song writing. "Deep within I'm shaken by the violence of existing for only you ... I know I can't be with you. I do what I have to do."

Work: Work is moving along. The room is really into my architecture code now and I've been putting out a lot of bush fires in the code base. Lots of bugs to go around. I like to think, though, that the room sees all the changes as a positive thing. We'll see for sure when we ship the app to clients come December -- judgment day.

Softball: As I mentioned above, we are playing softball. Nicole and I actually put the team in ourselves. She's the manager, I'm the coach, or at least an excuse for one. It's not like I played a single sport until I hit 30. No joke. Anyway, we haven't won a game yet, but we are having a blast!

Stock Market: I've started playing with the stock market. Yes, good times, good times. The bad part is that I didn't actually have any money to invest, so I pulled from my line of credit, meaning to make a profit I have to cover both the LOC interest rate, and the commission fees on all my buys and sells. Haha, rough camp. It was looking bleak for a while, but I hit a few quick growers that made me a little coin. Recently I bought CVE:NWT at $0.86 a share and its working out for me really well, I'm up over a grand. I could lose it all tomorrow, but hey, that's how it goes. It looks really good though, and it's still worth the buy in my opinion. Consider this a stock tip!

Home: Home life is awesome! Nicole and I bought a cabin up Stony River last month. Visited it a couple times, but haven't had a chance to stay there yet. Looking forward to it. Also, we bought a block of land on Grenfell Estates! We are block 13, a nice long corner block. We'll be putting our current house up for sale soon, and are currently in the process of designing the House of our Dreams ™, version 1.0 (no one gets it right the first time). Self design too; using a program called Chief Architect 10 so we can ray trace a walkthrough to make sure we like the layout. Sweet software.

That's it for now. I might even post again soon, but no promises.

TPC

Word, Office 2007 Blog Post Test

2007-03-24T23:48:00.001-02:30

Haven't blogged in a while, but I may do so more often now that I can do so with Word. This is a test post, but I'll write something unlame in the next few days. I'll tell you all about the trip to Cuba Nicole and I are taking April 2^nd (day before my birday) for a week. Good times!

TPC

Rant - The Usual

2007-01-06T22:13:00.000-03:30

Hrm .. stare at the word 'usual' for a while, until you start noticing smaller sets of letters within the word ... it starts to seem really weird after about 15 seconds. Damn, so does the word weird. Yeah, moving right along.

Weather: 3 degrees celcius and raining. Unusual for this time of year (don't stare at unusual). All our snow is melting and there are more quads roaming the trails than skidoos.

Music: I'm listening to a considerable amount of Coldplay lately, mostly old stuff. I haven't seen anything new pop on the scene that interested me. Then again, I haven't looked all that closely, probably because I'm quite pleased with C-old-play.

Work: Pleh.

Home: Good times! Nicole and I just bought a 20 gallon aquarium! Tomorrow we'll grab some colored stones for the bottom (the dude with the patent for painted rocks is laughing his ass of somewhere), some plants made with well processed petroleum by-products (read: cheap plastic), a highly inspiring background picture (or rather, the cheesiest excuse for a sea scene since the first season of sponge bob), and some high energy fish! Although I'm coming across as negative and sarcastic, I'm actually quite excited. The whole setup is going into our downstairs office, as I find the pump+water sound quite relaxing, and watching the fish grounding+inspiring.

Zievo: I made a new years resolution to work on this quite a bit more. The project management world is really lacking a solid piece of software, and the crud I've built to date is already better than most of whats out there.

Happy New Year all! I wish the best kind of accomplishment to you all.

TPC

Nanowrimo: Day 3/30

2006-11-03T19:30:00.000-03:30

So, I found this neat widget on the NaNoWriMo site that auto updates to show my words per day and my total word count and all that fine stuff.

See how I had zero words for day one? That's cause I didn't post til after midnight. Sad beans.

See how I don't have adequate words for any of the first three days yet? That's cause I'm lame. Also sad beans.

However, now that I have the widget in place, I'll likely be updating here less often, because my little widget driven automated system can handle it. Happy beans.

Nanowrimo: Day 1/30

2006-11-02T02:16:00.000-03:30

Slow going. I have an idea at least. My word count is currently 689/50000. That's 1.4% complete. Ouch. I'm hoping I can justly blame that on being a noob with a shaky topic and zero plot. I have hockey tomorrow, so I'm not sure I can pick up the pace right away. I hope my weekend is productive.

Can't post anything yet, nothing I have really ends anywhere meaningful. Soon ...

TPC

NaNoWriMo!

2006-10-31T11:38:00.000-03:30

So yeah, I've gone and done something heroic (read: foolish). I'm going to attempt to write a novel (albiet a very short and highly unedited one) in a month. It's NaNoWriMo! National Novel Writing Month: Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon. 50,000 words in 30 days; about 1700 words a day. I'll likely post it here in pieces as they are completed, so feel free to read and comment. Keep in mind though I'll be doing zero editing until Dec, but I don't exactly have a complete plot in mind so plot ideas, twist ideas, etc. are welcome.

Wish me luck!

TPC

Rant - October Update

2006-10-25T13:05:00.000-02:30

Weather: Horrid. Cold and muchly wet.

Music: Sting's 'Songs from the Labyrinth' ... Lute pieces (and only lute) from the 16th century written by John Dowland. It's not for everyone, but there's some fantastic stuff on there. Come Again is one of my favorites.

So a bunch is new in my life. For one, I'm working from home 3 days a week. The office was a bit too noisy and distracting, which my boss agreed with, so he allowed me to code-it-up in the ole basement office tue, wed, and thur. I'm getting considerably more done, and I've learned a lot about disciplining myself. That'll become more important once I leave the company and branch out on my own. *fingers crossed*

Nicole has left DPSI already! We are pleased. She has a new job with ALC (Atlantic Lottery Corp) as a Business Development Manager. Excellent pay, great benefits (better health plan than mine .. I'll be moving over to it soon), and lots of free stuff (company car, laptop, blackberry, camera, hotels, gas, etc.). The second best part: her boss isn't a complete dick like the last place, he's a great guy. The best part: she works from home 3 days a week! Might not always work out to my three days, but some > none. In response, we'll be turning the downstairs office into a two person aclove of accomplishment. Yes, an all out bastion of bullwork; a mecca of mastery even; a palace of productivity; a santuary of success (I kept them alphabetical for your convenience).

I also bought a snow blower. The plow on the front of my quad wasn't quite cutting it, and this year we have two driveways and three vehicles to keep cleared out. It's a Honda of course, me being the hard core brand loyalist that I am. It's a monster too, should clear the driveway in no time: HS1132TC.

Anyone have any Christmas shopping done yet? Hrm? I have two gifts for Nicole, but I can't say what they are cause she reads my rants too eh.

No yew didant gurlfren *snaps fingers, purses lips, and moves head from side to side without moving anything below the neck*

TPC

Doh

2006-10-10T15:16:00.000-02:30

So yeah, I had this nice big blog entry written up with new info about my life, Nicole's exciting new job, two new CDs I started listening to, etc. but Blogger ate it. Gone. Part of the RAM flush on my machine shortly ago when I move from the entry page to the publish page but the publish didn't publish as promised. Disheartening.

TPC

Rant: The Usual

2006-08-02T09:47:00.000-02:30

Current Music: Tristram by Matt Uelmen
Most prominate feeling: Overworked.
Overall mood rating: 7.0 out of 10.
Weather: It's raining right now, and we may have a thunder storm. That's not a bad thing, maybe she'll rain herself out before the weekend's big trip.

So I have Friday of this week off for our 6th annual quad trip. This year we are camping on the beach at Terra Nova Lake. We've done that once before, and it was my favorite trip, so hopefully it'll be comparible this year.

After the trip, I 'begin' my holidays. I have next week off and Nicole and I have decided to get into our vehicle and just drive. No idea where. We'll have tenting gear in case we decide to stay in a park somewhere, but it could just as easily be a hotel. I can't wait to be somewhere I've never been before, and be sitting around with nothing to do. I feel like I'm on my way towards burn out, so I welcome the inner peace that comes from being bored.

Nicole is doing great with her photography. She has 5 wedding bookings already this summer and its her first year! We've been trying to keep her web page looking good. You can check it out at www.nicolerowsell.com. It'll be updated with portfolio sections as she finishes each of the wedddings.

My brother Tom is doing great with his helicopter training program in Gander. Here is a tiny 4 second clip of him cruisin along in the chopper (I uploaded it to google video): http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8327066156490163232

TPC

Rant - Been a While

2006-05-10T10:38:00.000-02:30

Current Music: The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice
Most prominate feeling: tired.
Overall mood rating: 7.2 out of 10.

Weather: Weather here in GFW has been uncharacteristically (excellent 8 syllable word) beautiful lately. Hope it keeps up.

Home: Nicole has moved in with me. We are VERY happy with the move. So far (the last few weeks) things have been fantastic. We are doing more together, and getting more of our personal things done. We went to Corner Brook two weekends ago to get away for a bit and do some shopping. Last weekend we did some driving to places we haven't been and went hiking to take some pictures. I took the portrait of a bush. I hope it doesn't mind going public. :)

Work: The upcoming iMaint 3 is getting less and less attention as I get moved on to other short term projects. That's unforunate as at current I'm the only iMaint 3 resource, so when I'm not doing it no one is.

TPC

Rant - Who The Hell Am I

2006-03-06T11:31:00.000-03:30

I don't know who I am anymore. I don't say that lightly.

I thought most people were grounded in their core values by the time they were my age, which is 32 come April 3rd. Not that all core values are productive, but at least they exist. Maybe I'm disillusioned and most people are not grounded in core values, but if that's true the world is scarier than I formerly believed.

I think it's impossible to not have some values. I have many. However, I've lost my core values, and I'm fighting a real battle to deal with that. Many of the core values I've had in my life, meaning beliefs I've held from birth until recently, haven't meant anything to me for maybe two years. I'd give some detailed examples, but I don't want to scare some of the people who I know read this blog.

I don't think I can just get new ones. We are talking about the fabric of your individuality, not a new pair of jeans. My core values defined me for 30 years, they made me into the person I am. I still like and dislike things based on the residuals of those values, and it will be very difficult to shake those if I choose to. That's what core values are all about: slowly molding your personality the way a waterfall molds rock.

I gravely miss that power. I more accurately miss believing in those larger-than-life values, and using them to help me make decisions and overcome obstacles in my life. I miss blind faith. I miss conviction.

This has lead me to wonder if I'm normal, as determined by a random selection of people at a party. I don't think I am. I know most people think the same thing on some level, but I'm not talking about individuality. You know when you go through your mental list of people you know ... family, friends, work mates ... and you categorize into the people you like and the ones you aren't exactly partial to? In more detail the categories can range from quiet types to womanizers to deep and intelligent people, but all are usually just normal people trying to get some enjoyment or productivity from their day.

Then sometimes there's a real three-dollar bill, an eccentric. Someone who people don't know if they like or not, and that's if they flat out don't like the person to begin with because the person is too unfamiliar. Talking with the person is uncomfortable. Being alone with them is fear inducing. Well, I think I'm that eccentric.

I don't feel I fit in anymore. I've somewhat alienated myself even from my long time friends, and family. I didn't intend any such transformation, but it's there. No matter who I'm with or what setting I'm in, I have the nagging feeling of 'I don't belong here.' When other people laugh, I have to fake it. When other people talk I have to feign interest. Then I have to suspect they know I'm faking it. That makes the entire interaction shallow. That's arrogant, and my fault, I'm aware, but I just can't turn it into something else. Every social situation now is painfully difficult for me.

I'm told I over analyze everything, so what do I think? I think I feel alienated because I don't believe what other people believe. I used to, and I truly, truly miss it, but it doesn't happen anymore. What other people say to me is rarely interesting -- I try, but I drift. What they find funny I find mundane, thus the fake laugh. I think what they believe in is hollow, but trying to portray my stance is like trying to explain Christianity to an atheist.

So that's me. This isn't a pity trip, just a blog to help me get through the self admission phase. To all the normal people out there: I envy your conviction, and I silently apologize for making you feel uncomfortable.

TPC

Short Story - Bequeathed

2006-01-28T14:28:00.000-03:30

From a quick glance Tanner knew the count and location of each sheep in the flock. The other shepherds doubted him, but he trusted his talent. In an attempt to occupy his thoughts he tried to picture each of his sheep now, but the effort didn't grant him the escape he hoped for. He was in town, no where near his fields, and ignoring that fact was not an option. He lost his concentration as he was thrown against a building and pinned across the throat by a meaty arm.

"Now maggot, what was it you called me?" The kids called him Roach, but his mother called him Robert, sometimes Bobby. Tanner wanted to tell the truth, that he called him Robert, but he knew that would lead to pain. He stood silent. "What, you don't remember? Maybe this will help!" Tanner saw the punch coming and tried to harden his stomach, but that didn't lessen the pain. He lost the ability to breath and thought he might be sick. Roach looked to his buddies and back to Tanner with a smile. His need to display dominance escalated when his friends were in the vicinity, and he was obviously proud of himself today.

"Someone's coming!" Tanner heard, and fell to a sun warmed ground as Roach let him go. "I'm not finished with you!" Roach growled and turned to run with the other kids up the alley towards the town's main square. They were out of eyesight in time for Tanner to throw up in private. He noticed tears in his eyes, which would have angered him if the tears came from Roach, but they belonged to his stomach in it's effort to retch. This was bad timing. On any other day he would retreat to his familiar flock and fields, but today was different. He couldn't miss the gathering.

He had been excited about the event since he heard the news. Wizard Malachi had called for the entire village of Ridgewood to meet in the town square, which Tanner was told never happened in the 71 years the wizard lived in Ridgewood. No one knew the reason, though some weeks ago gossip about the event usurped the weather in general conversation. Tanner heard everything from disintegrating the Mayor -- a rather pompous man and not well liked, so this was more wishful thinking than probable -- to prophesizing the end of the Great Age. Whatever the reason, magic or prophecy were sure to be involved.

Tanner grunted to his feet, leaning against the building to steady himself. He looked up the alley to the street, waiting for the strength and will to move his body.

"Why didn't you hit him back?" Tanner, startled, turned to see Shana, his little sister. She was nine, four years younger than he, and allowed him no peace. Any time he thought he was alone, she uncloaked in some mysterious little sister way to deliver another speech about his inadequacy. Mother said to be patient because Shana loved him. Tanner expected that was true, but her arguing with him about his every move wasn't any kind of love he needed.

"Maybe you didn't notice the fact that Roach is twice my body weight and was surrounded by his friends?" Tanner tried to sound authoritative, to add weight to his point.

She rolled her eyes. Shana never followed the rules of logic before, there was no reason for her to start now. "Well, I would have hit him back."

"And now you'd be in a coffin." He held his scowl as he turned, not disarming it until he faced the street. He didn't want her eyes on his when the scowl gave way to the pain in his abdomen. He nursed it as he moved, meandering involuntarily, also nursing his hatred of Roach.

Awe struck Tanner as he reached the main square. There were more people in town than any time he could remember, and he recognized surprisingly few. Many dressed in ways he hadn't seen before and he wondered how far people had traveled to hear the wizard speak. Most gathered around the platform near the north wall that his father said was used for hanging criminals before the time of the Empress. Now it was used for public announcements, or rare occasions when traveling entertainers caravanned through town.

His lungs still laboring for air, Tanner stepped into Mr. Pugworth's general store to sit on the bench near the window, his usual spot, and an exceptional indoor view on this day. Shana shot past him to steal the end with the best view. If he wasn't in pain he might have cared.

"Malachi, you are being unreasonable," said an intimidating voice at the back of the store. "If the Avanarr come ..."

"He's a Wizard too!' Shana whispered in amazement. Tanner forced her pointed arm down in an effort to remain discrete. She was right. The grey haired man talking to Malachi had the same living magic. It shimmered like heat waves in midday sun, but instead of coming from everywhere at once it jumped from place to place like tiny ribbons. Tanner noted this wizard's magic didn't sparkle orange like Malachi's, but pure yellow.

"I do not fear the Avanarr Obius, I fear losing the trust of the people. How will we live if the people come to see us a threat? Even the Empress makes mistakes. The people must know the truth."

Obius sighed a submission. "Then please hurry. We must leave for Dal'Mar within the hour. It is the only place we are safe." Malachi held his gaze for a moment then they both walked out the front. Through the window Tanner could see Malachi making his way through the crowd toward the north wall, exchanging greetings and shaking hands with the townsfolk. Shana trailed Tanner as he walked outside to get a better view, but Malachi was quickly swallowed in a sea of people. Tanner walked towards several stacks of crates at the mouth of an alley and nimbly perched himself atop. He managed to lead Shana safely up as well, and stood her next to the store wall to reduce her chances of falling. Tanner hid his smirk when she didn't object to his unspoken instruction.

"Most of you know me; many of you know me well. Today I ask you not to hear me as a wizard, but as a citizen. I ask you to hear me as a friend." Despite the numbers, the desire to hear the announcement brought absolute silence in the square. "We all honor the Empress, and she has shown her love for us. She has bestowed a lasting peace and unity upon our land. Her visions and wisdom to understand those visions has opened hearts, and joined peoples." Malachi paused, lowering his head and clasping his hands together. It reminded Tanner of beggars asking for money. "Some of you may have heard rumors about the most recent visions of the Empress. I can tell you those rumors are true. She has seen a vision of fire raining from the sky, and of great suffering for the people of Talitha." Respectful whispers grew to murmurs, which grew to countless discussions among everyone gathered. A few voices could be heard loudly asking what the visions could mean, and who or what would cause such a thing. Malachi's voice was still clear as he raised his hands for quiet. "Please good people, please!" Tanner marveled at how quickly any person could regain the attention of an audience this outsized. "The meaning of the vision is not yet known. But what is known is that the Empress does not see symbolism in the vision. She believes the vision is literal, and that such a firestorm can only be caused by wizards. She has demanded that all wizards report to the capital to be placed under house arrest."

Voices rose again, this time a mixture between discussion of the decree of the Empress, and an interest in the five mounted warriors riding into town through the west gate. Tanner had never seen such soldiers before, but heard the word Avanarr spoken several times. Many leather patches lined with rows of tiny metal squares decorated the soldiers. The same armored patches covered every horse. As the soldiers rode closer Tanner noticed their size. Each soldier was considerably shorter, yet twice the bulk of the men in Ridgewood. Various weapons were visible, and all were weighted to match the girth of their owners. Tanner had seen smaller versions of those weapons used for hunting, but these would destroy any flesh they touched.

"Tanner!" Shana screamed, but it was too late. Roach pulled at his shirt and Tanner fell to the ground, landing hard on this back and knocking the wind from his lungs. Tanner immediately sat up and forward into a hunch and struggled for a breath, but his lungs refused him. He turned in time to noticed Roach and two of his friends close in on him. Tanner was also in time to see Shana run in behind Roach and plant her foot firmly between his legs. He grunted aloud and sank to his knees as Shana ran into the now rousing crowd in the direction of the platform, chased by both of Roach's friends.

"Your stupid sister made it worse, maggot," Roach snarled through gritted teeth. With that he spun into a punch to take Tanner square in the face. A few seconds later he realized he was on his back again with blood pouring into his mouth. As his nose burned now and his eyes filled with water Tanner wondered if his nose was broken. He had never been punched in the face before. It took him a moment to get past the shock and resolve the need to get out of this situation. Too late. Roach kicked him full force, this time into his left rib cage. Tanner didn't have to guess, he heard a cracking pop. Something definitely broke. He may have gotten off with a bloody lip before Shana got involved, but now Roach frothed in rage. Roach wouldn't stop unless Tanner stopped him.

Unsure why, Tanner maintained his bearings after the kick. He faltered to his feet and stood there, bent forward, until Roach came close. As Shana had done, Tanner planted a solid kick to Roach's crotch. Roach threw his head back in a yelp and crumbled to his side on the ground. The pain in Tanner's chest drove him to the ground as well. Within a few seconds he stumbled to his feet and hobbled his way to the back of the crowd before succumbing again to the pain in his chest. He stopped for wind and turned to see Roach being helped to his feet by a buddy, and then they both started towards Tanner.

Tanner rose and began working his way deep into the crowd. Roach wouldn't be foolish enough to attack him in plain sight, and someone would recognize Tanner and react to the blood on his face and sleeve.

After pushing his way through countless people Tanner heard screams rise ahead of him, then all through the crowd. People started pushing frantically and Tanner almost fell several times. The pain in his chest was making him weak, and he was having trouble seeing. After passing several people running in the opposite direction, he broke into a clearing immediately to the right side of the north platform.

Tanner cleared his eyes of tears in time to see four soldiers surrounding Malachi fly off through the air as though something exploded. Malachi rose from the center with blood down the front of his robe. He straightened with a look of anger on his face. The soldiers gathered themselves with amazing speed and raced back towards the wizard. Several shards of something metallic glinted in the air, spinning around Malachi's head, then shot off towards the soldiers embedding deep into their foreheads. Tanner gasped as he watched the four men slump to the ground, dead, before his eyes. At the same time, an arrow from the last Avanarr caught the wizard in the eye.

As the crowd fell into further chaos, Tanner watched the great wizard limp to his knees. All around him the air began to shimmer with Malachi's living magic. It twisted in streaks of red and yellow, sometimes collapsing to a mass of orange. It stayed above the wizard's body for only a few seconds, then shot to surround the head of the last soldier. The soldier arched his back in a muffled scream, then fell to the ground. The magic rose up again, split into several streams, and shot off in many directions hitting several remaining members of the crowd. One of them hit Tanner faster than he had time to react.

First there was sharp pain at the base of Tanner's skull, and then blackness. For an unknown period of time Tanner remained unconscious, but when he awoke, everything was different. The crowd still screamed and ran in various directions, and there was still blood down Tanner's face, but he didn't care. He was calm. More calm than he ever remembered being. He recalled his damaged face and broken ribs and instinctively, using some understanding that seemed foreign yet natural, he willed his wounds to be mended. His nose stopped bleeding, his ribcage popped again, and all his pain subsided.

Tanner turned to face the crowd and watched several people slump to the ground as ribbons of magic left them and raced for him. He didn't move. Three more strips hit him as the first did, but this time he watched it. This time he felt it. The magic coursed through him with purpose, learning him, teaching him. Information started flowing into Tanner's thoughts about magic and its use, about the creation of things he didn't recognize but now knew how to conjure and control. An entire world entered his head in an instant, and it felt perfectly natural. If felt like counting sheep.

"Tanner!" Shana raced to the front of Tanner, looking back past him. Tanner turned to see Roach and his two buddies step close. Roach looked to his friends, then to the array of people to make sure no one could see them. He obviously didn't see the bodies on the platform.

This time Tanner saw the punch coming, but decided he didn't need to move. The punch moved his head a little to the right, but not enough for him to break eye contact with Roach. Tanner calmly watched Roach strike with two more fast punches, a left and then another hard right. The punches pinched a little at first, then tingled for a few seconds, then nothing.

Red faced and breathing heavy Roach drew his leg back for a kick, but his foot seemed to move unnaturally slow. Tanner raised his own foot to Roach's shin and easily held off the kick. Roach braved another punch, but Tanner caught his fist. Roach tried to pull free, but failed. Tanner was somewhat intrigued by how weak Roach seemed, and with that thought he began to squeeze Roach's hand. Roach's face curled into a silent scream as he dropped to his knees. Roach seemed too weak. Or maybe, Tanner thought, he himself had become strong. Tanner released Roach's hand, grabbed his shirt, and lifted him clean off the ground into the air.

"How are you doing that?" Shana exclaimed. Tanner tossed Roach carelessly to the ground at the other boy's feet.

"I think I'm a wizard." At that Roach's friends scurried past them. Roach jumped up as well, tears in his eyes, and ran in the same direction. Tanner could distinctly hear them running away behind him. He could also distinctly hear people.

Tanner turned around to see that dozen's of people had noticed them and were now staring. Most had worried looks on their faces, and some women covered their mouths. He spotted his parents working quickly towards them. Obius, one of the closest people, stepped towards him.

"How old are you my boy? Fifteen?"

"Thirteen" answered Tanner without emotion.

"Hrm. Quite young. I'm quite surprised you survived."

"What has happened to him?" Tanner heard his father ask. He stood worried behind his mother with his hands on her shoulders, and Shana ran to stand in the same way before his mother.

"He has survived the Gouitsu, the joining with living magic, and now it is a part of him. As such, he is no longer safe here, as you have seen." Obius gestured towards the platform without looking. "He must come with me to the wizard city of Dal'Mar. He will be safe there."

Tanner's mother ran to him, dropped to her knees, and threw her arms around him with a wail, tears welling into her eyes.

"I understand how difficult this is for you, but we do not have time for good byes. You may visit him in Dal'Mar if you wish. Please, quickly, there may be more Avanarr." Obius took Tanner by the shoulder and started towards the east gate. He paused to look back at Malachi's corpse. "Please bury him" Obius asked of Tanner's father, who offered a silent nod. Obius nodded in return.

Once they reached the east gate Obius stopped at a horse and prepared it for travel. "Why did they kill Malachi?" Tanner asked, not understanding why Malachi, and now he, were in danger of the Empress.

"What is your name."

"Tanner."

Obius leapt easily onto the horse, reached for Tanner, and swung him up to the rear. "Tanner, I believe a war is about to begin and you have just become a soldier. Hold tight." Obius kicked the horse into a run through the gate and onto the main road east.

A soldier. A wizard soldier. Tanner thought of his sheep grazing in the fields, and wondered of their fate without him. He thought as well of himself riding out of town without his family, to the wizard city of Dal'Mar and wondered of his own fate.

GHETTO SPONGE BOB

2006-01-25T14:44:00.000-03:30

Maybe not politically correct, but I was sent this picture with it's caption, and I lauged A LOT.

Ghetto Sponge Bob

Girls - Example: My Girlfriend

2006-01-20T17:15:00.000-03:30

Why do you girls insist on reading into everything? You do it thinking you can wean vast amounts of information from a single line spoken by your guy. Then the poor fellow tries to explain himself and you, wanting only to believe your original conclusion, twist everything he says to dig him into a hole, the evening into an argument, and the next few days into a slow makeup process (or worse).

This has been happening to me (at varying levels of severity) for so long that today I realized I'm a complete slave to it. Nicole has me trained like a 3 year old house pet. I uttered the usual innocent sentence then realized that her honed skill could contort the line into an attack. Fear struck into me. Luckily the conversation was via Messenger so I had a chance to defend the line prior to being asked to, hoping my clarification would soften the blow. It didn't exactly work, and that lead to a conversation about this very thing happening between her and I. Let's enter the Magic Kingdom, shall we?

Nicole: she's heading there at 6
Nicole: and will get a table for us all
Terry: ok
Nicole: I said it would be more like 6:30 before we arrive
Terry: time for us to go brush our teeth
Terry: you have to change I guess do you

Fear struck me when I reread that line.

Terry: that's too bad, cause you look fantastic. I really like that sweater on you

I thought that was a fairly descent recovery, thank you very much.

Nicole: lol
Nicole: I'm sure you do
Nicole: or did u just say that because you implied I should change
Nicole: not real good

I guess not.

Terry: I told you before I love that sweater
Nicole: you may love it for here (at work)
Nicole: but not that nice for going out somewhere
Nicole: so I can handle it if you would come out and say what's really on your mind sometimes meatball
Nicole: I just don't appreciate beating around the bush is all Terry
Nicole: then I question did he mean this or did he mean that. Cause the statement, 'you have to change I guess do you' can be taken different ways

I'm in it now. Best to lay it all on the line ...

Terry: well, here's another unnecessary and long breakdown of where it came from then
Terry: I first thought 'neat 6, that's when Nicole gets off so we can go right over' and by the time I thought that you had said you told her 6:30, and it doesn't take that long to drive there, so I assumed you wanted to go home and do something or other. My first guess was maybe touch up makeup and pee or poop or something and brush your teeth, but then I remembered how girls are generally picky about what they wear to the bar, so I thought maybe she's gonna change
Terry: so that's what I typed
Terry: then I realized 'oh yeah, Nicole's a girl. she's gonna twist that into a nasty remark.'
Terry: so then I came back with my other line about liking the sweater, which was TRUE btw, because even though you accuse me of lying every other day, you know I don't lie
Terry: so that's where it came from :)

Then come her next two lines and I realize she's playing with me. This whole thing is a ball of yarn to her, and I'm her ever predictable and controllable Terrypuss:

Nicole: lol
Nicole: I'm crackin

So, I try to think of a come back but everything I think of is weeaaak.

Terry: you are laughing because you know what you are like and that I'm right
Terry: and just for doing this to me again I'm pasting this to my blog

And so it all ends with my pitiful retort, and this posting on my virtually unread blog. I hope the few of you who wander across the place at least enjoyed the story.

Well, it's almost 6. I better go think up an original sounding compliment to give when she show's me what she's changed into ...

TPC

Rant - Patchy Details

2006-01-19T13:06:00.000-03:30

Some fun facts!

I finished a draft of a short story I've been working on. It's a fantasy called Bequeathed and is about a boy named Tanner. My brother has finished his critique and I'm awaiting another from Mike. Once I finish going through both, I'll post it here for ya'll to tear up.

I fell down today! Yup. It was raining as I got out of my CRV in the parking lot here at work, EXACTLY 8am (I wasn't late .. oh no .. *whistle*). I could see no snow outside the vehicle, just pavement covered in rain. Little did I know there was a nasty layer of black ice between the two. Unsuspectingly, as I stepped out and stood next to my door, I grabbed and slung my very heavy Dell XPS Gen 2 laptop carrying backpack over my right shoulder. That was exactly the twisting momentum my feet needed to abandon their post, leaving me to flop ungracefully to the pavement. I landed hard on my left arm and left ass cheek in a nicely blended mix of water and dirt. Ignoring my throbbing arm and my potentially damaged laptop, my first reaction was embarrassment and fear that someone may have seen me. What a stupid reaction eh? Stupid yes, uncommon no. I told my co-worker's the story and their first question was not "are you ok?" but "bwahahahaah! did anyone see you!?"

And because I am low on personal fun facts, here are the top 14 Chuck Norris facts:

1. Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried. Ever.
2. Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
3. Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
4. The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
5. If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris, you may be only seconds away from death.
6. Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.
7. Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies
the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.
8. Chuck Norris' blood type is AK+. Ass-Kicking Positive. It is compatible only with heavy construction equipment, tanks, and fighter jets.
9. Chuck Norris is 1/8th Cherokee. This has nothing to do with ancestry, the man ate a fucking Indian.
10. In fine print on the last page of the Guinness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Chuck Norris, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone else has ever gotten.
11. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.
12. Chuck Norris originally appeared in the "Street Fighter II" video game, but was removed by Beta Testers because every button caused him to do a roundhouse kick. When asked bout this "glitch," Norris replied, "That's no glitch."
13. Someone once tried to tell Chuck Norris that roundhouse kicks aren't the best way to kick someone. This has been recorded by historians as the worst mistake anyone has ever made.
14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is based on a true story: Chuck Norris once swallowed a turtle whole, and when he crapped it out, the turtle was six feet tall and had learned karate.

TPC

Quiz - Perfect Major

2006-01-10T23:22:00.000-03:30

Found a what is your perfect major test on Mike's blog, thought I'd give it a try. Here are my results:

Engineering

100%

Chemistry

100%

Mathematics

92%

Philosophy

92%

Biology

75%

Linguistics

67%

Journalism

67%

Anthropology

67%

Psychology

67%

Art

58%

English

58%

Sociology

50%

Theater

50%

Dance

33%

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

Art? - One of my Sketches

2005-12-29T16:01:00.000-03:30

For anyone up to date on my postings, I promised a photo of the sketch I charcoaled for my mom for Christmas this year. It is a hand made duplicate of a print from the wall in our hospital, as outlined in a previous post.

So here is the drawing. On the left is the photo of the print Nicole and I took back in early December. On the right is my copy, framed and just prior to my wrapping it up.

My mother cried. She honored me with the response "it's the best gift I ever received." I struggled to keep from crying myself. It made the entire effort very well worth it.

TPC

Rant - Nothing Substantial

2005-12-19T08:53:00.000-03:30

So, it's 8:55 AM, Monday Dec 19th. The Tim's run hasn't returned yet. No coffee = zombie mode. Zombie mode = ramble online.

I have to bull through these next 3 days before I can get a little holiday rest. Gonna try and stay away from 'too much' beer this holiday, to avoid the 'need a vacation from my vacation' problem experienced after typical binge weekends. So, here I am in day 1 of 3. What to do, what to do. I could write about something new in my life I suppose.

What's new .. oh yes! I am no longer last place in the hockey pool! 13 of us, and I've slowly managed to move into 9th place. That's quite an accomplishment, as I have a lifetime record of being in last place in hockey pools -- except that one time when last place won a prize, then I was second-last place. I'm not making this up.

I have ALL my Christmas shopping done too. That's a huge relief. Waiting on two items to show up in the mail, and then I have to wrap everything before my girlfriend scours my basement looking for her gifts. Nicole loves surprises so much she can't actually wait until Christmas. :)

Coffee is here! Time to return to the land of the living.

Rant - General Update

2005-12-12T11:14:00.000-03:30

Work is boring today, so here's some e-ramble.

Nicole and I: Doing exceptionally well. She truly makes my days easier to bear. Making her laugh has been an ever elusive joy for me, but lately I think I've tapped into her humor a little. I'm so proud of that I want to put it on my resume.

Zievo: Not much progress on my life long dream. The Pendulum prototype (project management and time tracking tool) is functional, and we've been using it at work for the last several weeks. It needs a few more features critical to it's success as a prototype (a roaming event system, and a graphical time editing interface), but we can't seem to find time to work on it. Christmas is going to slow progress as well, likely to a stop.

Comedy: Discovered Dane Cook recently (thx Nick). His Retaliation CD put laugh tears on my chin. 100-foot native Americans, that's what I'm talking about.

Christmas: Shopping: maybe 60% done. The hard one is my mom. She spotted a drawing on the hospital wall (when she was in for minor surgery) that she wanted me to draw her.
- Step 1: Acquire a photo of it (tip: walking around in a hospital taking photographs of wall drawings with a camera on a tripod can yield some very strange looks ... tripod was necessary because of the picture being behind glass, which would cause a nasty glare if flash was used, so we had to use a high ISO film with a long exposure time, and tripod was necessary to reduce blur).
- Step 2: Photoshop it and print to paper without skew (skew caused by my poor camera skills ... don't let my ramblings in step 1 fool you).
- Step 3: Acquire appropriate frame, sketching paper, and charcoal pencils. All completed so far.
- Step 4: Actually draw the thing. Wish me luck, I haven't sketched in about a decade. Maybe I'll post a pic once I get it done.

Nick comes home the 17th I think, and my last day of work is the 21st. At that point, all 3 siblings will be moved back into the parents house for the holidays (in my case 5 days). Our time will be spent laughing, giving gifts, consuming spirits and much of mom's cooking, and playing various games, mostly video (yearly tradition). Good times, good times.

So yeah. How are all ya'll doin?

Rant - My Girlfriend

2005-11-12T16:20:00.000-03:30

So, Nicole and I play this game where at random times one will ask the other a series of questions meant to interrogate each other's feelings. A typical session may proceed as follows:

"But, do you love me?"
"Of course I do."
"How do you know?"
"Because I think about you even when I'm busy."
"So, how much do you love me?"
"All the way."

One of the unspoken rules says that if answers are repeats, the questions persist. Answering "because I just know" will result in "but HOW do you know?" The only way to stop the interrogation is to come up with 'convincing' original answers.

Today's session went as follows, with me starting the questioning:

"Do you love me?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"All the world."
"That's not very big. Our planet is just a spec in our galaxy, let alone our universe."
"Oh. So how much do you love me?"
"The entire universe."
"Ok. Well, I'm still working on the planets."

Then she kisses me lovingly and walks away.

TPC

Code - Type Resolution Problems

2005-09-30T13:32:00.000-02:30

I developed a Wizard framework in C# which is laid out as follows:

The basic understanding is that there's a base form in Wizbase which is used to build wizard pages. Navigation through the wizard pages, and various other utility functions, is handled by WizardMain. I needed to be able to store an 'execution' of the wizard (user's selections on each page from beginning to end) and wanted to do so generically. Serialize the data maybe? That was my first thought. Here's the kicker: the data to be stored was in custom classes down inside the arbitrary wizard code. This is a problem because the framework is compiled without knowledge of 'arbitrary wizard' code, and thus does not have a reference to any of its classes. How then was I to serialize and deserialize Types of which I had no knowledge?

One idea was to move the code into the arbitrary wizard, which has direct references. I disliked that, as it left the work to the wizard programmer, as opposed to the framework programmer. So, I started doing tests using the BinaryFormatter. Guess what? It could serialize it to a file no problem. I assumed it used reflection to do so, and was not that surprised once I thought about it at little. So I did the deserialization code.

// deserialize the memory stream into the original object and return
BinaryFormatter binaryFormatter = new BinaryFormatter();
return binaryFormatter.Deserialize(memoryStream);

Guess what? No workie. There were numerous problems.

First, I learned the BinaryFormatter stored, along with the raw serialization, the version number, culture, etc. of the assembly from which the Type came. That meant every time I recompiled the project, that nifty little version number line in the AssemblyInfo.cs file changed the version number on me, and thus the serialized format couldn't be matched up to any classes in the running code.

Culprit 1: [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

I changed the asterisk to a 1, which fixed the immediate problem, but I wasn't fond of the entire concept, so I switched to the slightly more forgiving (and hand editable) SoapFormatter. So far so good.

Next problem: Still wouldn't deserialize. File not found error. File not found? That's odd I thought. Turns out the serialized SOAP ASCII mush knew what class it was, and the CLR was trying to find the file from whence it came. Kinda neat actually. My test *.sln file had 3 projects being compiled into their own folders, so I added a post compile command line to copy the arbitrary wizard dll into the same folder as the wizardmain.exe. Guess what? It worked. Deserialization of an unreferenced type, made possible by the Type resolution of the CLR.

Om ... wait a sec. My layout, noted in the pretty Visio diagram above, reminded me that the arbitrary wizard file may not be in the same location as the WizardMain.exe. In fact, that's why the xml file exists: to tell the WizardMain where to get and load the arbitrary wizard file(s) from. Crappy. What now? The CLR can't resolve Types in assemblies in random locations on the target hard drive.

Some research lead me to understand that there's an event raised when the CLR can't resolve a type. I threw in an event hander for it:

// setup a handler for the case where the type to be resolved cannot be
// found by the CLR (ie: containing assembly is not in the current folder)
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += new ResolveEventHandler(FileResolveEventHandler);

And the associated handler:

public Assembly FileResolveEventHandler(object sender, ResolveEventArgs args) {}

In my code that accepts an intial call from the arbitrary wizard, I just grab the assembly location:

_CallingAssembly = Assembly.GetCallingAssembly();

And inside the event handler just above I just inserted the following single line of code:

// we previously stored a reference to the calling assembly,
// and we know we are attempting to resolve a type in that same assembly
// (some wiz file) therefore, we merely pass that reference back to the
// appdomain via this handler, and we should be good to go
return _CallingAssembly;

And we have it. The WizardMain.Exe can de/serialize unknown types, regardless of location, allowing my framework consumers to store and retrieve anything they want (assuming it has the [Serializable] tag).

Cheers!
TPC

Zievo - A New Direction In My Life

2005-09-29T17:39:00.000-02:30

And so the very first public and tangible aspect of our (Greg, Cory, and myself) future multi-million dollar software company has materialized. It is, none other, than a tiny slice of the web devoted to such.

Check out the zievo website!

Yes, there's really nothing there, I know. We can't rightly open up the innards until there's something to sell. However, there have been over two years pumped into our first flagship product and we are excited about releasing it into the world. That's when it's time comes of course. Alpha is just around the corner. :)

So what is the first product? It's a project management tool that fits in a mostly unfilled niche. I don't want to talk about it too much, but I'll certainly post again when we let this baby loose.

Out of the way MS Project! Time for something that helps instead of hinders!

TPC

Rant - Time Off

2005-09-06T17:23:00.000-02:30

So Monday the 29th of August I was at my desk at work and it hit me ... BAM! I'm burnt out. I can't even read my own code. I go for a walk outside for a few minutes, take a few deep breaths and come back with a new perspective. From this perspective I'm about 1,000 lines of prototype code over my head for a Monday. Multi-threaded enterprise software architecture is a bitch.

So, I call my parents and book their summer cabin for a week. I email my boss and tell him I know it's short notice, but I need a week off and would appreciate his help in getting it. I write a grocery list until the approval arrives (10 mins), head home to pack (20 mins), grocery shop (20 mins), drive to the cabin (70 mins), unpack and settle in (40 mins), then nap for most of the rest of the day.

The rest of the week I spent doing whatever I wanted with a few exceptions: no food containing fat, no alcohol, and no communication with the outside world, until the upcoming Friday. How'd it go? I'm seriously a new man. I did quite a bit of time in my isolated paradise napping, lounging around in my PJ bottoms, reading (and finishing) the novels on my night table, playing my new guitar, experimenting with fat free super healthy recipes, and drinking many a cup of Tetley on our back patio overlooking the salt water harbor, at times-of-luck watching a mink jump off our wharf to fish for her and her family. Turns out they live under the cabin. No wonder I saw her so often.

It was remarkably relaxing, and amazingly productive. After two days winding down I had the NEED to code. I had both laptops with me (new and old) so I coded when I wanted to. I got more done in that 4 days than in the previous month at work, given my clarity of thought and how easily my first designs turned out to be great designs (read: good enough).

I learned something about myself. I argue with people in my head A LOT. How bad is it when you are carrying out argument scenarios while virtually isolated from society? It stopped after the wind down period. I'm not sure if that was because I noticed the affliction, or because it was a side effect of my being burnt out, but I've decided to use it in the future as an indicator. :)

So, that Friday I drove home for a bunch of reasons. First was to have lunch with a long time friend at the office (his last day) who found the courage to take his wife and 3 kids and move to Africa to do missionary work of sorts in a small school there. That's humbling courage. Later that day Nicole returned from her week in Florida with her mom and sister. I spoke to her only once when she was gone and missed her dearly. (Did I mention she's beautiful?) ALSO later that day two other long time friends got married. (Gratz Buckwheat and Vicki!) The wedding was beautiful, and the reception was hilarious. Good times all around. The next day, Saturday, being Labor Day weekend, we up and went camping at Malady Head park (2.5 hours from GFW). There were 12 of us, so we got a large group site as usual.

Well, that's my last week-and-a-bit. Quite a bit happened compared to my usual life, so maybe a little more interesting post than usual.

As a sort of fade out, here are some of the camping pics:

Left2Right: Deanna, Donna, myself, and Nicole.

Left2Right: Nicole, Greg, myself.

Left2Right: Nicole, Donna, Tom (my brother), and myself (tossing a horseshoe, our favorite camping game).

Rant - Ding, Dong, the Deck is Done

2005-08-16T13:10:00.000-02:30

And so, I finally have the free card reader promised me (almost 6 weeks later). It's a nifty little Fujifilm DPC-AD, for reading XD cards. Kewl part is the reader is worth $57, and I only paid $80 for the camera. Happy day. :)

With that, now I can show pictures of the deck talked about so long ago. Here's a shot of the deck partly done.

And here are a couple of shots of the finished deck (the beautiful retriever in the shot is the ever obedient "Jake the Dog").

TPC

Poem - When Two Worlds Collide

2005-07-07T16:57:00.000-02:30

Mom and I had a huge telephone fight on her birthday in 1994. I was 19 and living away from home. I couldn't admit it to her then, but with reflection I knew I was wrong. So, quite late that night I wrote it down on paper. The next year I gave her the poem as her birthday present, as an apology. We both cried. I thought it might be appropriate to share it with the world. Maybe there's a stubborn 19 year old out there who can't find the words, or a mom who doesn't see that her son does love her. Best of luck to you both.

When Two Worlds Collide

So long we lived in different worlds that battled day and night.
Too many times the words we spoke were meant none but to fight.
Our younger days you won your way, but that could never last,
For the little boy that once you knew was aging much too fast.

My world was but a freedom in which all the rules were mine.
And once I thought I learned it all I left your world behind.
No longer were there pleasures that you would not allow.
I could choose what I saw fit, I grew unloving and proud.

Yet you gave me all you owned, your world was filled with love.
You wouldn't turn away from me, from what I had become.
You offered loving guidance showed me stepping-stones for life.
I fought against your every word and cut you like a knife.

Our worlds have since collided and now I live in yours.
I see the world that you saw, its cruelties and horrors.
And then I see your love for me although a selfish boy.
Still wishing me a heavenly life of happiness and joy.

If I could take back what I've done, the tears that I have caused.
If I could replace the memories, and time that we have lost.
The example I set for everyone was likely my greatest sin.
I hope from you, I hope from God, that I can be forgiven.

I love you more than words can say. There'll never be another.
There are so many dear to me, but I only have one Mother.
I know I'm not a perfect son, but you are not to blame.
For you are the perfect Mother, God help you never change.

Terry Murray
August 13, 1994

Rant - Camera, Template, Chat Laughing

2005-07-07T11:36:00.000-02:30

The fun stuff in this post is at the end, but I felt the need to get a few things said first.

I found a cheap digital camera. It was a broken Finepix A203 (the female USB Mini-B port for offloading pictures has a broken pin) which usually retails for about $200, and I took for $79. The salesman said he'd throw in a free card reader so I could get the pictures off the camera. I'm kewl with that as it's faster and burns less batteries then the Mini-B port. It's also a much higher quality camera than I could have gotten for my 'less than $100' price requirement. And hey, free card reader. With that said, the reader won't arrive until next week. So, I promised patio pictures, which I've been taking, but I can't post them until the card reader arrives. By then I expect the patio will be about complete, so that posting should have lots of progress pics.

As return visitors may have noticed I updated my template. I honestly liked the old one better, but I dislike the constrained width. My laptop's resolution is 1920 x 1200 (fabulous for writing code), so a 400 pixel main post column is far too small for my tastes. What about this new look? Kinda dreamy. Maybe I should rename my blog to 'Heaven by the Sea.' :) Maybe not. Totally not me.

Ok, now some rules on laughing in chat (IRC, instant messagers, chat rooms, news groups, etc.). Keep in mind that if you are currently breaking these rules, its likely because you were not around when the terms were being invented on BBSes, usegroups and IRC back in the late 80's. It tooks years for the pioneers to fine tune these rules, so pay attention.

:) = A smiley is basically the same as a smile in real life. Hard to screw that up. I'm trying to show that I'm not being serious or maybe that I wish to diffuse a situation some. Don't make wise cracks at someone that you don't know well without at least including one of these to indicate you aren't serious. Most internet mediums don't allow people to see your face in real time, so placing these properly is critical.

heh = This is most often used in response to someone else's comment, and means I am humoring you. I could ignore you, which I may want to do, but am being polite. It's almost the same as a smiley in tone but can often mean 'please leave me alone, I'm busy.'

hehe = Person makes joke. Joke isn't laughed at, or person rereads and realizes the joke may not be quite as funny as originally thought. This is often said by a person in such situation because 'hehe' implies a certain submission, a sort of self depreciation, used to dig a person out of a hole. When a person uses this, help them out. Or, knowing they are already situationally weakened you can use the opportunity to tear them a new butthole.

haha = Something you or I said was humorous, at least enough to make me smile. That's it. Note the double 'ha'. No more than two.

hahahaha = Something you or I said had enough humorous potential to make me smile and show my teeth, maybe even slip a small chuckle.

lol = This means 'laughing out loud.' Don't type it unless you really laugh out loud. Its hard to get people to laugh out loud in real life, so it should be equally as hard online, and rewarding to the joker when seen. If you type it every few lines, people stop trying to make you laugh. You are no longer rewarding. You have become 'easy.'

rotfl = Acronym for 'rolling on the floor laughing' and is acceptable when used properly. By properly, I mean you are an identifiable level above 'lol' and are at least going to need tissues to clear the tears off your face and chin. If you type this and your ribs aren't hurting, or you haven't spewed Blackhorse all over your keyboard, my friend you have blundered. Personally, I don't think you should be agile enough to type 'rotfl' when you are in this state, so I don't use it myself and usually don't believe it when I see it.

rotflmao (my ass off) rotflmaoomfg (my ass off, oh my f'n gawd) and any other rotfl* = Do you think any of the rotfl* deviations are making your current state of laughter more clear? More pronounced? More accurately descriptive? My poor misinformed friend, trust me when I tell you this: they are truly not. Please stop typing acronyms just because you have learned them. I'm betting the only people online who speak to you are people who also use rotfl* regularly. You are all wondering why smart people ignore you, aren't you? It's because you are an internet abuser, about 1% of the way up the 1337 ladder, and deemed by most unfit to be spoken to, let alone shown the error of your ways. Put down the keyboard.

lolololol .. = This means you are a complete moron, full stop. I can only parse such a blasphemy as 'laughing out loud out loud out loud out loud.' How do you see that as being possible? To whom does a sentence like that make sense? Only morons. Point made. Stop typing it. Your useless bytes are slowing down the internet.

So why follow these rules at all? Because any chat attempting to use any of these emotes has moved beyond technical exposition to something more emotional, to an exchange of not just ideas but of feelings and reactions. So with that, know that most people have come to learn what particular level of emotion is attached to each of these types. If you use them incorrectly you are in the least giving the wrong impression, and in the worst ostracizing yourself.

Those among you who already know the above are probably saying 'amen brother! down with chat spam and IM idiocy!' Those among you getting these wrong: please allot some extra time in the evenings to learning these commandments, a few hours for the sake of bettering yourself. If you are currently thinking 'sheesh, it's only stupid chat.' Right you are ... but realize that from our point of view it's only stupid when you are there.

:)

TPC

Rant - Camping, New Patio, WoW Status

2005-07-06T08:27:00.000-02:30

Camping Weekend: We went to Terra Nova park this weekend for some camping. We found a beautiful place on the white sandy beach of fresh water Terra Nova Lake. Thx to the absolutely amazing new Google maps you can see our exact camping spot (just to the right of that point on the south side of the lake). Nine of us drove our four vehicles (we mostly own 4x4s, but one car made it in just fine) across the beach right to the spot we chose as our campsite. I took my quad which made for a few fun little excursions (Nicole was quite covered in mud after one, I'm very sorry I have no picture of that because it was priceless ... with that said I think I may buy a digital camera soon so I can take my own pictures for a change) and we played a good deal of horseshoes. At one point in one game there were 3 ringers at the same time! Probably common among professionals, but we are just hacks so that was quite the spectacle for us. :)

New Patio: Why stop at just a new office? My patio has been falling apart (in some cases quite literally) for about a year. This year one of the rotting steps leading to the upper deck cracked clear in half -- quite dangerous. So at my request my brother Tom ripped it down about 3 weeks ago. I roughly designed a new one on paper and my dad, the eternal carpenter by trade, has already framed it out. Last night Nicole and I stained what was done already, mostly frame. Dad will be dropping of the boards for the flooring today so tonight we get to stain all those in preparation for their laying. Pictures will come soon.

World of Warcraft: I haven't played the game in over a week. Friends still paste me links to new WoW information, but I find I am losing interest quite rapidly. If you've read my previous posts you know I have no desire to regain that interest.

So overall things are postive. As of writing this I've made plans with Nicole to buy a small digital camera on our lunch break. I'll use it tonight to take some deck pictures for tomorrow's post.

TPC

Rant - Update with Pictures!

2005-06-27T14:36:00.000-02:30

I've updated my June 24th entry to include before and after pictures of the room now that Nicole and I are finished. Next step: start using it. :)

TPC

Rant - New Office

2005-06-24T13:04:00.000-02:30

The new downstairs office is sweet! The walls are a freshly painted deep, comforting grey (thx again Nicole!). I found a very comfortable blue futon that matches the carpet fairly well. I found a floor lamp that matched the grey walls, and bought a similar color desk lamp. I didn't get track lighting after, because I found a sexy ceiling unit with 3 individual heads. It's been installed and I didn't electrocute myself. That's good news I think. :) The heads can be directed with considerable range, and currently highlight the wall maps with as much of the dramatic as my testosterone allows.

The north west corner of the office. Notice the beautiful dame (Nicole) looking forward with great anticipation to putting her newly chosen grey on top of the existing 'ugliest yellow in the world' (tm).

The south west corner prior to our exploits, and another shot of my beautiful interior decorator like assistant, Nicole.

In contrast to its previous level of chaos and misuse, the room is now inviting, very comfortable, and quite private. Pictures below!

The sexy new ceiling fixture.

North west corner after the paint is on and some of the posters are up.

The south west corner. Here you can see the mural map, floor lamp, medium light rubber tree I mentioned, as well as my comfy new futon.

TPC

Rant Update - Not Wasting My Life

2005-06-09T09:29:00.000-02:30

Last night I did what I said: I setup my environment, at least in part. I cleaned out the 'storage' room downstairs (a cozy little room with lush new royal blue carpet) and converted it into an office. At Walmart last night I picked out the paint I want for the walls (Granite Grey) and I now have to hunt down some track lighting. I think I'll need an additional floor lamp, as well as a pull out couch of some sort so it can double as a guest room. There is a decent sized window, so I have a great rubber tree plant that can do well in that room too even though its a basement room (they are med light plants). The plan is that the room be used for work only, that being Zievo code (Zievo is the name of the company we are birthing), writing (our books are known as the Celestial Trilogies and I hope soon to give you a taste of our world), painting (dad is an excellent painter, so I've always wanted to try it and see if I inherited any of his talent, not to mention that many of my walls are bare), and any other non-time wasting projects I take on.

A few weeks ago I received three maps from National Geographic that I can't wait to put on the freshly painted walls. A huge world map mural, one of the solar system, and one of the universe as a whole. They will help me focus, I find them very grounding.

It's dad's birthday today. He's 51. Not bad eh? He's young to own a 31 year old. Yeah, I thought so too.

In other news, Nicole and I are taking a break. Neither of us are putting our all into the relationship right now as we both have other stuff going on in our lives.

As you may have previously noted from the blog description above this blog was intended to have more than rants, namely software architecture essays/code and some example writing that Nick and I are doing for the books. Now that I have my own space, it's time for those to come to light.

Prolific, I'm coming for you.

TPC

Rant - Not Wasting My Life

2005-06-08T09:45:00.000-02:30

In the world I've created for myself, the gray one that doesn't allow extremes, I find myself struggling to raise the bar on the general level of productivity in my life. I'm not asking for the moon here, I don't want to break any land records for work accomplished in a week, just the ability to focus on a task that matters to me without it turning my stomach.

What is it that gives me such amazing stints of accomplishment? Why at times can I be not only focused, but creative or even prolific? What chemical is in my brain that makes it not only possible, but enjoyable?

I haven't felt or seen that for months. That upsets me, as I have some great projects I'm working on that need my attention. My brother Nick and I have a plot summary for some novels we wish to write, and for a while we were doing quite well with character sketches and related shorts -- getting our feet wet so to speak. It was even exciting. Now its drudgery. My friend Greg and I are working on a software project on the side to fill a hole in the project management industry (I was originally going to purchase, but what I needed didn't exist). I've spent about 2 years on some of the subsystems (primarily an enterprise scale data transport layer in c#) and what we have planned is exciting. We are getting close to having something in alpha form. But actually sitting down and working on it? Drudgery.

So, I'll start laying blame. My health isn't the best. I'm tired a lot. I play floor hockey most weeks, but that doesn't seem to be enough. So, I started swimming at the Y in the evenings which seemed to help some, but I slacked off that too. More drudgery, not to mention that I seldom enjoy being in a change room full of testosterone and creatine laden muscle heads casting sidelong glances to add data to their eternal manhood evaluation.

There's also work. I haven't had any real energy for this company since .. well, since back when we believed all the lies. I still do my job, but there's nothing else in it: no more energy, creative breakthroughs, all nighters, or epic team efforts that end in success and praise from above. Sometimes I feel like I drudge so much at work that I just can't bare to do more in my spare time.

And the big finale, WoW. I truly enjoy the game. They've built it so that the smallest accomplishments are rewarding, the biggest ones are more so, and I feel good when that happens. In a way it satisfies much of my need to accomplish. It doesn't help that many of my family and friends play it too and we are sometimes all online together reaping the social rewards collectively. It may be 'just a game' but with the built in chat client (very IRC or Messenger like) the sense of community is very real. My own disgust that comes from how much time I spend playing it is placated by my knowledge of how much more time other people spend watching TV, which is far less mentally stimulating. And the fact that I'm making excuses for myself tells me that, once again, I'm playing it too much.

So what's the resulting solution? I have to suck it up! Excuses are for the weak! I have to get off my ass and do something. I have to take the spike of energy I currently have (the one that prompted this blog entry) and use it to get back on my horse. In the process, I have to set up my environment so that when the spike is gone, my routine and surroundings encourage me to be productive and not waste my time.

I bloody hate the idea.

TPC

Rant - Absolutes

2005-05-30T09:39:00.000-02:30

From where comes the fixation humans have with absolutes? Sentences are ridden with inaccuracy caused by a compulsion to categorize to an absolute.

"She's a bitch."
"I don't exercise."
"Star Wars movies suck."
"Sentences are ridden with inaccuracy caused by a compulsion to categorize to an absolute."

All pure black or white. None of these sentences are accurate. Fine, people want facts, and absolutes seem to be the easiest way. Saying 'she can be a bitch sometimes' presents information that is far more accurate, yet can't be relied on and thus is tossed out. And both parties in conversation are happy to use an absolute, even if they know the line is bogus. If they stick with the 'sometimes' clause, the sentence can apply to anyone. Let he who has not sinned ...

So it becomes a scale issue. "Of all the movies I've seen, Star Wars is definitely in the bottom 5 percentile." What's so wrong with that statement? (well, aside from the fact that such geekly sentence structure usually comes from Star Wars types.) I think more people should try on lines closer to "I'm lucky if I get an hour of exercise a month," or "she can be a bitch at times."

Will such accuracy stand up to the drama of "She's a bitch"? Doubtful. It never works for me anyway. In casual conversation, truth is secondary to entertainment. That's one of the reasons I'm not a first class socialite.

TPC

Rant - Depression

2005-04-28T15:22:00.000-02:30

I've hit a low. Some sort of depressive state that's inhibiting my ability to be positive about positive things. For example, I spend my life in front of this keyboard, so computers mean a lot to me. Yesterday, my new laptop arrived, and really I couldn't care less.

So what's my problem? I don't really know. Nothing substantial enough that it grants immediate recognition. My eating habits lately lick ballz, and I'm certainly not exercising to any acceptable degree. My girlfriend tells me I'm strong enough to just bite the bullet and get over it and I need to do so or it'll just get worse. She has faith in my strength. I don't know about it getting worse, but I feel more affection for this state than I do for the people around me. The idea of putting up a strong front sickens me.

On an emotionless level of raw logic and truth, the state itself has me thinking about the complexities of the mind and what could put me in this state. Something that's hurting me that I'm denying to see? Possible, but I doubt that. Maybe its some sort of weight-lifting necessary to flex my brain to an extreme, an unavoidable system diagnostic that I just have to live with. Maybe that's where the affection for it comes from, so my brain gives me what I need to let it roll to completion.

The question is do I fight it or wallow in it. We'll, I'm not taking any major steps I can tell you that. An all around good idea is to take a couple multi-vitamins and swim a few laps, so I'll give that a shot after work today. I could use the time to think.

Rant - On Life and Love

2005-04-12T16:24:00.000-02:30

I'm a great starter of projects. I'm a powerhouse of energy and ideas at the beginning of a project because I can fill in all the fun pieces. As soon as the project gets moving and we start hitting problems, I'm useless. I lose all hope. I have no will power. I have no desire. I just want to waste time watching movies, reading geek news, playing video games or avoiding anything that would give me any real sense of accomplishment. I'm weak. I hate it.

I complain a lot, and sometimes with a level of abrasion that is difficult to counter. I find it grounds me, keeps me striving, and in a very real way I believe it helps people gauge how they act around me. To some degree it keeps people in tune, and I believe forces many to over-evaluate my opinion before presenting their disagreement of it. This is due in great part to my opinion having more respect than it deserves (I say more than it deserves because I am quite often embarrassingly wrong) and people generally not wanting to confront me. Naturally, my attitude has a noticeable share of arrogance coupled with it. I attribute much of that to fearfully accepting a position to manage 13 developers when I was 26 and having a lot of trouble maintaining order. It is how I adapted, and now a part of who I am. But that’s just an excuse. In short, I’m arrogant. I hate that too.

Here's one: I'm also overly affected by how people see me. Odd for an arrogant type eh? Not really. Most of us arrogant types are hiding our insecurities. I try to make myself immune to opinion, but that can, for example, lead to me laboring to build and maintain my indifference while anguish tears my heart out. I can't stop mulling over opinions, let alone ignore them. And try as I might to form my own opinion, I'm horribly quick to adopt the view of someone else. I've listened to two intelligent people debating with remarkable effectiveness and shifted my opinion at the end of each rebuke, looking forward to the end of the discussion when I could squeeze and love my shiny new opinion.

So I'm a weak, arrogant, conformist. And I know it. I aim for otherwise, but I can't ever find it in myself often enough to make it real, to make it a part of me. Who do I want to be? Someone truly strong on the inside, humble, and a free thinker. Meet my girl friend, Nicole.

I called her last night and she was crying. Life is kicking her in the shins. Her employer just her changed her sales quota to make it near impossible for her to make the kind of money she has depended on the last 5 years (reduced by about 20k a year, no joke). She is having problems with her roommate and her roommate’s dog (or yap engine, whichever you prefer) but can't afford to move right now and in a town with a population of 6000, money isn't the only problem. I sooooo want to deal with the roommate situation, but Nicole doesn't want that. She's right in what she says: that she has to live with her. I can't get involved; I'll just make matters worse. Virtually all of her friends have moved away, and lately she has been trying to build new friendships. Again, in a town this size that's difficult. That works out to her spending a lot of time with her family and with me, or locked in her downstairs apt bedroom to avoid the roommate and the yapper. I went over and spent the night with her, and tried to cheer her up. I don't think I did a good job. :(

But today she comes to work all smiles (I'm fortunate enough to work in the same room as her … small town). She's all about a new business idea she has, business plan already underway. Her strength humiliates me.

I can't imagine not loving her. I roll my usual opinionated arrogance and she crumbles and submits. Then I realize I’m an asshole and try to retract. Then she’ll either carefully tell me I’m wrong, or agree that I’m right. She doesn’t have my arrogance. There is a guy who works at a low paying job next door. He's a very large guy, balding at a very young age. He is made fun of a lot. She makes every effort to talk to him. She mentions what a great guy he is and wishes people didn't make fun of him so much. She can think for herself. Yet, she doesn't think anything of herself, she asks why I like her. She has humility. That melts me. I see her as a better person than I am.

She has every strength I admire. I love her completely. She is everything I want to be.

TPC

Complaint - Blogger Sux

2005-04-07T15:16:00.000-02:30

Ok, I write my second posting of all time, spend a solid 30 mins writing it, and it vanishes. The publish button brings me to a nice generic and completely useless timeout screen, which is nothing new. Naturally I click back to try again. The problem is the editor window is cleared out. The blogger compose control did not retain my text. My effort has been completely wasted. 30 mins of my life (not to mention the additional 30 mins I spent scanning my temp files folder for some cache dump copy of my text, and then coming here to flip my lid about the whole ordeal) that I'll never get back because the web developer/architect who created this horrible control did not have the ability or foresight to deal with a timeout caused by -- you guessed it -- blogger.com's slow ass site.

So now what? Do I have to cut and paste the HTML contents into notepad before I click Publish each time in case blogger chooses to timeout my request? Is this normal procedure for the average technology ignorant blogger?

My boss is always trying to argue how web applications will lead the future, how rich clients will take the back burner. That isn't going to happen.

For those of you who don't know, the web was created to be like the worlds largest online encyclopedia. Pictures and text, and the ability to download binaries. That's it. Now, Flash is great I'll admit. Adds a whole new flavor. But who's idea was it to run business applications in a gawd damn web browser? Some moronic admin supporting 300 computers who was too lazy to install a push technology client on them all? Give me a break. Web application development set a huge slice of the developer community back about 5 years (those stupid enough to jump on board). Even today they are only just catching up with the capabilities we've had in rich window apps back when the web was invented.

Want to know the next wave? It's called 'smart clients' right now. It'll likely come to be known by many names with many variations in theme, but either way it'll be what you use all the time with or without knowing it. Smart client's is how the best in the industry plan to allow rich client developers to build rich applications that can be launched from a web link. All the deployment benefits of 'web apps' but still developed as a rich client with just as much power, flexibility, and responsiveness as ever.

And in reponse to all my technical jumbo mumbo my boss says "but the basic user doesn't care what the technology is, they just want working apps!" Yes. Excellent wording of the obvious. Here's a simple response: smart client apps will be far more 'working' then any web app pitted against them: faster, more responsive, more adaptive.

So where will that leave web apps? The same place as my missing blog.

TPC

Rant - Dere be dragons here ...

2005-04-05T23:45:00.000-02:30

So here I am in this brave new world of online (public) journal entry. It's a somewhat different take for me, as here I'll feel more inclined to write the truth vs. simply writing what makes me feel better (fear of public disapproval and mass flaming). So will that completely remove it's therapeutic value? I hope not. Maybe I'll wean some pride from those of you who share my views and encourage my opinion. If some of you are as miserable as I get at times, or expose via comments that your misery puts mine to shame, then I'll get tons of therapy from laughing at your troubles, the way I laugh at mine in hindsight.

Let the fun begin.