Ramblings of an Anonymous Coward

iPod Solution

i've been working out my scheme for getting music rotated in and out of my iPod so that i keep the music i like on there, so that new music makes it on without any effort, and stuff i don't like as much is what gets moved out first. i have been working with the smart playlists to accomplish this and 'lo and behold it seems some others have been doing the same sort of thing.

• making iPods shuffle work better.
• do it yourself smart radio

of course, i still wouldn't mind a 60gb iPhoto.

Rate My Shrink

think of rate my shrink as a hot or not without the pictures and an ability to say a little something good or bad. ok, maybe they aren't so much the same, but this new website allows people to rate their psychiatrists. time to give the mental health profession a little feedback . . . internet style!

like any sort of online review system, comments should be taken with a grain of salt and perhaps a shot of vodka or two. regardless, once there are more reviews i expect it will make for an interesting read. now i do wonder whether someone with multiple-personality disorders should fill out a review for each personality. that could prove to be very amusing!

OC Isn't Just a County Down South

i've been known to get obsessive-compulsive at times, often with the silliest of things. so when i discovered the retail alphabet game (4th edition) and later found myself wandering the aisles at the local market looking to see if i might stumble across those last few logos.... well, maybe that was just a little bit too much? i'm all better now because all 26 have been found and are in my extended entry.

i'm hiding these to make the last second save for those that didn't mean to click through or ended up getting here via the permalink. use your mouse to highlight the text in the blockquoted box to see the answers.

answers to the retail alphabet game, 4th edition

a: saturn
b: abs
c: canon
d: glad
e: zales
f: ruffles
g: lego
h: yahoo
i: bic
j: jif
k: burger king
l: google
m: samuel adams
n: nasa
o: kinkos
p: ups
q: dairy queen
r: walgreens
s: sony
t: citi
u: blockbuster
v: volvo
w: mt. dew
x: twix
y: layz
z: zenith

Clean Up

three times a year the local waste managment company does what we refer to as "big trash pickup" day. this is when they'll take the large/odd-shaped items that won't go into the regular can. in addition, it is a great opportunity to get a lot of extra junk out of the house, garage, and yard. tomorrow morning is the first pickup of the year and none too soon.

while i have plenty more to go through, i've finally started getting rid of things that i just don't see myself needing. tutorial notes from the 1989-1993 usenix conferences, early 90's copies of communications of the acm, oodles of technical publications, and so on. and yes, those did go to the recycling bin. more is sure to go... i have just begun! i just feel compelled to get rid of things now, to clean up, get things in order. it isn't just a good idea, it needs to get done.

even my bloglines has far too many things saved for later...

• make ringtones for your phone.
• the mathematics of love
• does female intuition exist? maybe, in a way
• recharge regular batteries -- i could save a bit here!
• a laptop is stolen from a uc professor and boy is the thief in a world of trouble. cia, fbi, .... ouch! scarey thing he mentioned was about microsoft noticing the reinstall of windows xp.
• the talmudic iPod -- makes me wonder what other interesting ways this can be marketed.
• mt upgrade hints to get to version 3.15. i want to upgrade, but since others use the same instance of the blog software, it won't happen too quick. :-(
• new documents found including writing by sophocles, euripides, and hesiod.
• ticketmaster uses mysql - mentioned at mysql conference
• kinkyscreen.com - sexy computer backgrounds. some nsfw, others are.

oh, and there are many, many more, but the remaining ones tend to be on the totally geeky side.

so there, i've cleaned that up a bit too. one step at a time. but it's gotta get done.

SimBolts Defending Cup

it looks like the tampa bay lightning have begun their stanley cup defense during this damn lockout and fucking cancelled season. a sports writer from the tampa tribune armed with a ps2 and espn nhl 2k5 has been playing out the fucking lost season and has been covering each game as if it were real. sharks only had 93 points in the final standings?

if you want a quick laugh, try jules winnfield on hockey (nsfw, 4min video), with kudos going to chris chelios. the filming, btw, looks like it was done at glacial gardens in lakewood, ca. i'm not sure what to think about my actually knowing that from a short video clip with just a couple glances at the background.

Musical Madness

my iPod has been nearing overflow for some time with 8,506 songs and with 40 iTunes still in my account from pepsi caps, i will either have to clear away some more space or upgrade to a 60gb iPhoto which frankly will only push the problem out a little further as i haven't ripped all my cds yet not to mention all the cds i'll continue to get. and if i went with an iPhoto i would want to put some pictures, cd photos, and so forth on the darn thing.

at some point i will simply have to be more discriminating about the music i put on my iPod. do i really need 22 eric clapton cds? all three versions of shania twain's up!? i did keep only the latest version of ottmar liebert's nouveau flamenco, so that's a start, but live aus berlin must stay despite having the other rammstein cds. anyway, what would be nice is for there to be some way to tell my iTunes player how to select what should be synced up. something that would make sure any new music gets on and other less played and low rated music gets rotated on and off occassionally.

as i sit here listening to billy squier's greatest hits, i must confess that i always thought of him as more of a one-hit-wonder, but the fact of the matter is he turned out more than one or two hits. i find myself saying to myself -- oh yeah, he did that song too. my one disappointment about this cd is that it includes a few less-than-great tunes and fails to include lonely is the night and surely they could have dropped another track and worked in too daze gone.

this is also as good a time as any to admit that just the other day i discovered that the song stuck in the middle with you is by the group stealers wheel. all these years i thought it was by steely dan. i hang my head, but would like to note -- stealers... steely -- somewhere in my youth a bit flipped and never flipped back.

moby's new cd titled hotel is excellent. i haven't listened to the whole thing yet, but so far my favorite track is "where you end". you can buy it in stores now. :-)

South Park, Part Deux

i remember doing some south park characters a few years back, and it seems that the is a new south park studio. my results are in the extended entry.

4-4-3-2

sadly, i remember mulligan's stew from elementary school. the whole "4-4-3-2, that's the formula for me and you" schtick. aside from it being about the nutrition recommendations at the time, i distinctly remember eating two recipes that came from the comic book that accompanied the tv show. one was no-bake pizza which is pretty much what are in those snackables lunches now while the other was no-bake cookies. i remember those being particularly yummy.

much to my surprise, my daughter brought home some cookies they made at school. they looked familiar. they tasted familiar. while i'm not 100% certain, i think these are those very no-bake cookies!

ingredients:

• 1/4 cups of milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cups of butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 square unsweetened chocolate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal

you will also need a saucepan and waxed paper.

directions:

1. place milk, sugar, butter, salt, and chocolate in a saucepan and heat
2. stir ingredients until mixture boils for 1 minute
3. remove mixture from heat
4. add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5. add peanut butter and stir
6. add oatmeal and stir/mix
7. spoon mixture onto waxed paper
8. chill

now if i could only find the recipe for these treats my german grandmother used to make with i believe dark chocolate and this thin paper like stuff on the top and bottom. it, too, was chilled and was fantastic.

Fun With Google Maps

looks like a lot of people are having fun with google maps. here is a small list that i have stumbled across so far:

• google sightseeing is in blog form showing some interesting images from satellite mode.
• memory maps: initially found here, but it is actually a flickr group. pretty neat, i'll have to add some myself. update: i've made a memory map set on flickr.
• myGmaps which is working to let you create and host custom maps to be viewed using google maps technology. i have a project in mind myself already.
• real world mix of google maps satellite view.

$2 Bill Ya'll

don't worry, this isn't about kid rock, though the police showing up might not make that so obvious. in baltimore maryland a fellow that was a bit peeved with best buy decided to pay with two-dollar bills. the cashier and manager and police officer all thought the worst and mr. bolesta was arrested. yeah.... like hand-cuffed, leg-irons and taken out of the store. what idiots!

sure, the bills were in sequential order, but he gave a perfectly reasonable explanation and a quick call to the guys bank would have cleared it up immediately. what do the "genius squad" at best buy do? call the police, get him arrested and then the BPD call in the secret service. this is where i chime in with a napolean dynamite impression -- "gosh! idiots!

i have my issues with best buy after they were less than helpful with respect to my iPod, particularly since a pricey service contract was also purchased. lets just say my next iPod will not come from there and i'll make sure to use that service contract at least once to take a small bite out of their profit. this fellow in baltimore certainly has a bigger issue with them now and i hope to goodness he kicks them in their collective asses for their stupidity.

oh, and if you followed the anandtech link in the above linked article, you'll see the baltimore pd's response...

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

pun not intended, but that is a fucking cop out. if the guy were buying bomb making materials or something, fine. he was paying the fucking installation charge (which was originally waived; hence his protest) for a car stereo. the events of 9/11 have had some real and lasting effects, but let's not insult the real injuries and issues with bullshit excuses like this. you all were stupid, acted unreasonably, should admit it, and finally make ammends as best as you can. don't pull out 9/11 to cover up your ignorance. it is as sickening as those that pull out the proverbial race card when it doesn't apply.

The Answer Is Always Pi

i'm not sure which is more disturbing

1. that i thought pi for pie was really cool, or
2. that i recognized immediately that the number on the pie was not correct. the correct number is 3.14159265358979323846264. and yes, i noticed this before mousing over the picture and seeing the comments. admittedly i noticed the first error, not the second. :-)

and now a quote from olivia newton-john's grandfather (yes, that niels bohr)...

never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.
-- niels bohr

Six Feet Under, Season Three

thanks to comcast on-demand i have finally seen season three of hbo's series six feet under. in a nutshell, it has gone downhill since seasons one and two; however, there were still enough hooks to keep me watching for the time being as well as looking forward to watching season four.

potential spoilers ahead -- click at your own risk

the season started with this whole is nate dead thing which i found simply too goofy. where they trying to be tim leary-esque or something. if you can't tell, i didn't like it. maybe it appealed to someone... i dunno.

claire starts art school which for me is promising. her character always has this bit of a dark artist feel about her which is in stark contract to her looks. i suppose she is the proto-typical rebellious teen which leaves the writers plenty of room to develop her character which they do throughout the season. she goes from a jerk boyfriend to a confused but good deep inside fellow and as the season closes, she managed to get pregnant around the same time she broke up with her boyfriend. she then elected to have an abortion which i suspect will come back to haunt her -- there was some foreshadowing when her mother (ruth) told her about getting married and having children early.

speaking of ruth... for an older woman she sure does get around. ending last season she was with nickolai and this season she tried to hook up with a new character (internist, arthur) and finally ended up marrying (yes, marrying) a geologist named george sibly. it is his seventh marriage -- widowed twice. he is rather plain and i don't see his character doing anything more than being a calming influence to the rest of the cast. but ya never know.

a quick word about arthur martin -- the internist. now this is an amusing character. he is the stereo-typical nerd not only in looks but applifies that persona with his mannerisms. in many ways he was a good match for ruth and her quirks, but alas his unwillingness to carry on an immediate sexual relationship was clearly problem and she moved on quickly. i look forward to arthur being around longer. go nerds!

brenda and billy. well, they have gone from subtle to throwing it out there in the open. billy loves his sister brenda. romantically. go ahead... ewwwww, i'll wait. yup, he said it outright and that of course freaked her out (as it should) and will keep them apart for the time being.

lisa and nate. they married. not a good match and this plays out through the season. frankly i found lisa simply weird... the vegan chef turned full-time mom. never satisfied with what she has -- and that's ok, but her constant berating of nate for his efforts simply made me want to slap the shit out of that woman. since i don't hit woman and this is just a television program, i didn't do that. lisa is pronounced dead in the last episode which of course puts nate into a tail spin. they strung out her disappearance to death for several episodes giving viewers plenty of time to wonder what really happened.

nate and brenda. back together? well, it ended with that as a possibility; however, given that brenda got a new romantic interest in that same episode, i guess we'll just have to see where it goes. i thought those two made a pretty decent couple, but perhaps that is because i found brenda's character interesting in a number of ways -- fucked up one minute giving into thoughts and emotions, lucid the next. one of those too smart for their own good types which reminds me of the feynman quote:

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool. -- Richard Feynman

and a bright person is that much more able to fool themselves i think.

i'm not sure what i think about the whole federico and vanessa diaz thing. i'm sure some will say it is right on, others will say they went way overboard. one thing i would hope everyone could agree upon is her sister is a manipulative little bitch. she has her kind moments (in prior seasons), but she needs to stop trying to hand her baggage off to her sister. federico's willingness to do just about anything to pull vanessa out of her depression was tainted at the end when he found himself frustrated, drunk, and getting a blow-job from a stripper. this could prove to be a provacative storyline next season. on the funny side, he thought the woman was a prostitute and offered her money when she was ... ummmm, done. she made it clear she wasn't. he was embarrassed and he offered to take her where ever she needed to go and they left awkwardly. yup, i see this getting back to vanessa and causing frederico a lot of grief. maybe it's me, but i feel sorry for the guy -- he did a lot and fell prey to a lapse of judgement. had he not thought she was a hooker, i'd have called it more than a lapse. however, i expect when/if vanessa finds out her sister is going to twist her arm to make things even worse for rico. good luck dude, i think you'll need it.

keith and david. david and keith. now there is a relationship with ups and downs. no pun intended. the find themselves in therapy trying to work out their differences and seem to be making some progress. at the same time i personally felt that they were busy following a therapist's recipe rather than making the tools their own. i suppose that is realistic... we've all done that right?

anyway, after a paintball game where keith purposefully puts himself on the team against david the two end up hooking up with sarge for a threesome. as predicted to me, this caused the relationship to go downhill quickly, but at the end of the season they found some common ground and have begun making up again. i wonder if this is going to be a seasonal breakup and makeup cycle for them.

oliver, the art instructor was quite the character. over-played i think, but certainly spiced things up. brooding artist hates world and things all artists must hate the world too. claire's love interest in russell was snuffed out when oliver had his way with the confused and attention seeking student. i'm thinking russell will either worm his way back into the picture or is going to end up killing himself. he was a good match for claire so i'm thinking this rift will be temporary. but what do i know?

for me this season wrapped itself up in personal relationships and how people deal with them. what they expect from them. many episodes touched on things that made me feel awkward -- more awkward than i would prefer from my entertainment. but then again that could be me overthinking and reading more into situations than are there. whatever.

things i am hoping for next season:

• i'd like to see brenda's character develop more and with nate seems to be the most logical way to take it. but lets not have them get married in season four, ok?
• ideally i'd like to get some sort of explanation for lisa's death -- if for no other reason that to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she never went back to their house and saw nate and brenda kiss in a moment of weakness.
• i'm expected the vanessa/frederico relationship to have a few more ups and downs, so lets hope they are interesting.
• less of keith and david's relationship. that whole we can have gay guys kiss and have sex thing has gotten old. let's move on.
• arthur. will he try to get between ruth and george? maybe he'll just go out with a freaking bang?
• brenda's mother margaret reminds me of hillary clinton -- i think they can take her character into some interesting directions.
• hey, can we bring back that sexy rabbi? [ducking]

well, that was a whole lotta nothing. i've typed too much junk to just delete this post, so off we go. until season four....

Google Maps Gets Cooler!

if google maps wasn't cool enough, they have just added a satellite view and it's images are reasonably new and closer than you might think. try it yourself, look up your home address then use the "satellite" link on the right. zoom in to taste.

an amusing view is of the whitehouse (1600 pennsylvania ave)... if you are at the default zoom (2 notches out), i swear to goodness it looks like it is in a pentagram with horns and everything. or maybe it is just me seeing things. whatever.

enjoy

Music and Movies

it has been a while since i mentioned the latest batch of movies i've seen. in addition to my short and mostly worthless remarks about these films i thought i might mention a little music i've listened to as well. i'll start with it to boot.

music

• garden state soundtrack -- a pretty good soundtrack featuring the shins, iron and wine, and coldplay. my favorite track is iron and wine's cover of the postal service hit "such great heights".
• lifehouse by lifehouse -- their latest album doesn't deviate from the sound of their earlier hits like "hanging by a moment". the signature single from the album is "you & me" but i fully expect "we'll never know" to have an equal impact in airplay. "the end has only begun" is a likely secondary hit. this album is definitely worth the listen.
• guero by beck -- another fine offering from the beck-meister. no single track jumped out at me as being the hit, but at the same time there were plenty of tunes for your listening pleasure. "girl" has a good soft beat, but "que onda guero" will probably attract the most attention and airplay, so be sure to wave back. :)

movies

• two days -- i'm very disappointed. while the theme was novel and should have been rather disturbing way it was presented in an unbelievable manner and was almost more comedic.
• the notebook -- i have already posted about this film and will leave it at that. i give it the thumbs up.
• paparazzi -- i can't recommend this movie because it wasn't that good; however, if you like watching people plot and carry out their revenge and get away with it, you might give it a look.
• vlad -- how can you make a movie about vlad the impaler bad? watch this film and you'll find out. on second thought, don't waste your time.
• corn -- it sounded interesting at the time. :(
• supersize me -- the adventures of morgan spurlock eating nothing but mcdonalds and recording how it impacts his health. all in all i found the movie interesting and amusing. texas has another reason to think everything is big there. heh. and did you know mcd's frys don't seem to breakdown and mold? go figure. i might have to try that sometime... just to prove it to myself. supersize me was well presented to be entertaining and informative.
• this life -- lets just pretend i didn't see this.
• troy -- most people seem to either love the movie or hate it. while not epic, i thought it was an excellent movie (albeit long) adaptation of homer's illiad. there was plenty of fighting and the plot to match. i could have done without them trying to glam up brad pitt and orlando bloom, but it's a price worth paying to keep the ladies interested i suppose. thumbs up!
• shall we dance -- yeah, it's a chick flick, but i'll tell you this... i'm not the dancing type, but even i could feel the enjoyment some of these people were getting out of the activity. sure, gere found the dance instructor hot, but that isn't where this film takes you. i like the way they crushed all the misconceptions at the end. it's not a movie i'd want to see many times, but was a nice story and diversion.
• ladder 49 -- a movie about a baltimore fireman and his passion for the job. it was a decent movie but frankly was not on par with backdraft or turk 182. i will say it didn't have the traditional hollywood ending. thumbs up none the less.
• donnie darko, directors cut. this movie leaves so much up to interpretation. me? i'll have to discuss with fred what i should say about this film, but do know i can utter "cellar door". now that's lovely.
• i heart huckabees -- i was definitely amused by dustin hoffman and lilly tomlin being existential detectives, but beyond that... i guess i just didn't quite get the movie enough to appreciate it. whatever.
• exorcist: the beginning -- the prequel to the infamous exorcist movie from the 70's. yawn! not scary and doesn't even do a good job to startle people. i don't even see how the two tie together myself.
• the final cut -- robin williams plays alan hackman, a "cutter". the basic idea is that you get some sort of chip put in you at birth and it records everything you see. after you die, cutters take what you saw throughout life and turn it into a rememberance film. that is sort of a creepy idea actually. with this happening you have people that think this is wrong, protest, and fight to keep from recording and being recorded. i didn't care for the ending, but the flick was novel enough that it didn't matter so much. thumbs up and kudos to williams for another excellent non-comedic roll.
• what the bleep do we know is a pretty nonconventional movie. it is more of a documentary than anything... or at least in the same sense that fahrenheit-911 was. despite some of the bunk science used to bolster the points they were trying to make, the movie will make you think some. how can quantum physics not make you think? there is plenty to argue about in the movie, but that is really a feature -- it gives you something to talk about. i give it a thumbs up for that.
• after the sunset -- i mistakenly thought it was tied to the movie "before sunset", but it was really a cops v. jewel thieves movie pitting pierce bronson and salma hayak against woodie harrelson. the comedy flops back and forth and each side tries to outwit the other. i was pleasantly surprised and found the movie to be quite entertaining and worth the thumbs up. no doubt worth the rental.

I Left Before Sunset... Really

today wasn't a productive day. hell, it hasn't been a productive week. regardless of the reason, i decided to head home early and when i called the house and said so my statement was accepted with skepticism. while my offer to take a picture and upload it to flickr was declined, i did it anyway, if for no other reason than to make sure it was recorded and could be referred to later.