Tag Archives: General

Tina Fey Wins The Election For Republicans

Honestly, if voting for McCain and Palin means we get to see Tina Fey doing Palin impersonations for four years, then I’m all for it.  Fey makes Palin likable beyond reason, and when I sit to watch and re-watch all the SNL clips with Fey playing Palin, I sometimes forget which is who and what any of it has to do with the government, which excites me a great deal.  So much so that I’m wanting to get out the vote and make rock.  Or get out the rock and make voters.  Something with a rock and a vote and comedy.

I have no idea how elections are won and what one thing has to do with another when it comes to campaigning and mind washing, or why celebrities think they make a difference with their online viral videos.  No idea at all.  But I do idea that the candidate who is better parodied is the candidate who America chooses.  Maybe it hasn’t always been like this, but it’s been this way for two decades, and I imagine it will continue to be this way.  People like to laugh at jokes they understand.

Tina Fey plays the role of Sarah Palin.  Tina Fey is Funny.  Thus, Sarah Palin is funny so we should all vote for her.  (Maybe it doesn’t work exactly that way.)

All I can say is that I’m planning to know what I’m voting for when the time comes.  Hopefully it’s a bear in a tree safely removed from a harmful situation.  (Ambiguity.)  One of those endangered species types that suffers from strangely-hot weather.

It makes me smile.

Update:10/9/08

Just received (via snail mail) the latest edition of a weekly I subscribe to, and one of its comics is a total rip off of my Fey/Republican joke.  How dare they!  Okay, okay.  Clearly they didn’t steal the idea from me, but the joke was obvious.  I’m slipping.

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Competitive Weight Loss Program

As an aside to my regular happenings, I joined my co-workers in a big fat loser competition.  We started last week and I weighed in at 187.4lbs.  Which is close to my actual naked weight of 180.6lbs.  The competition will last eight weeks (final weigh-in just before Thanksgiving break) and is percentage based.  I’m aiming for a ten pound loss, which is about five and a half percent either way.  (Right?  Someone help me with my math.  Thanks.)  We’ll have to *weight* and see how it goes.  Not sure if 5.5% is enough to be competitive against the rest of the office, but since there are no official rules and anything goes, I plan to bring donuts and cookies.  For them, not for me.

And that should be "big fat-loser", not "big fat loser."  It makes me laugh however you say it.  Which probably means we’re saying it wrong.  But you get the idea.

Wish me luck.  The winner gets $227.50 and second place gets $97.50.

Update: 10/3/08

Thompology has joined the competition .  Although his entry is an unofficial one, this will definitely add some entertainment to the compteition, and probably keep me more motiviated.  (Trash talking in real life is way different than trash talking in the office.)  Game on!  And, good luck.

Link Juice And Other Stuff

Last week, before I disappeared into the real world to deal with things that have nothing to do with my online persona, I changed the site’s commenting policy.  Previously, all comments here were labeled "nofollow", but now after you meet the minimum number of on-topic comments you’ll get the link love you deserve.  Which is also to say, if your comments are completely off topic I will have to remove them.  And while I understand the reasons for leaving the "nofollow" tag, I can’t stand when bloggers don’t share the love for thoughtful and worthwhile comments.  Total bummer.  (Don’t worry, the minimum number here is very low, and the criteria is not terribly strict.)  The policy is retroactive, so some of you may already have the new status.

In other news, while migrating my employer’s web site to a new hosting company as well as switching registrars, I accidentally, and somewhat embarrassingly, created a DNS redirect loop that ultimately resulted in this blog appearing on the presentation screen in our board room while trying to demonstrate the company’s new site layout to a group of colleagues.  Which is to say, my very large face was up on the wall when it shouldn’t have been in front of people who have no idea I keep a blag.  I was shocked, to say the least, but quickly put this site into maintenance mode until I could correct the DNS issue for their company site.  Thankfully propagation times are much faster than they used to be.  Still, hearing a co-worker unexpectedly shout, "Hey, Justin, it’s you!" during the middle of a presentation, is kind of a strange way to start the day.    I chuckled.

Continuing on, I noticed that my writing here is directly related to the amount of journal writing I do with pen and paper in the real world.  (I’m a fan of ink on paper.)  Which isn’t to imply that I outline my ideas before I bring them here, just that if I’m not actively keeping my writing mind working, then all my outlets suffer.  Just ask any of the people I email on a regular routine — last week was quiet across the written board.  But we’re back.  I spent a good portion of the morning putting pen to pad and, not surprisingly, here we are.

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My Blog Post Was Stolen

Honestly?  Yeah, it’s true.  I’ve had a post completely republished on another site without my consent and without any credit.  I’m not sure how to feel about it.  Initially I was shocked and upset, but what does any of that matter?  I went through a brief bit of flatteredness, then back to being upset, then off to do things in real life.  It’s all very funny.

I think it’s great that anyone would want to re-post something I’ve written.  Heck, I read some of my stuff and I want to re-post it.  But to re-post without crediting me or my web space is kind of silly.  Especially since I offer the re-use of my content for free under the creative commons license.  Why not throw back a little love?

But what really gets me riled up about all this is that the villainous site is ranking higher for my post in google searches for specific search terms.  Which shouldn’t bother me, because those search terms were not the point of my post, but I don’t like being out ranked — anywhere!

So I’ve written the site owners through the comments, as it seems that’s the only way to contact these people, and if there’s no reply then it’s a formal written complaint to the site owners citing sections of the DMCA and then another letter to the site’s hosting company citing more sections of the DMCA.

It’s tiresome.  All I really want is my name on the post; I took the time to live through the experience and then spent the time to write about it.  In any event, I’ll keep creating and they can keep stealing.  But no, I’m not saying where my post is published.  I don’t want to send them any more traffic.

You’ll want to read it hear first!

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A Relatively Quick Hello

I want to say welcome and thanks for stopping by to all of you whom I’ve encountered in the last 8 or 9 days.  Be it in real life or virtual, social-media life.  I’m happy to have you over, and I aim to keep you as mostly entertained as possible, even if it means I have to sell sea shells by the sea shore to do so in front of a video camera with a half broken lens.  I’m here to please, and pleased that you’re here.

To keep this as simple as possible, and brief — the drum we’re to be with marching is not what you’d expect from your usual run of the mill beta tester.  Which is to say, “don’t expect what you’d typically expect.”  The name tags are real.  The lies are real.  The laughter is legit.  The smile was purchased from a friend I used to know back in middle school.  Still, I trust that you trust me to share with you, and I appreciate that.  I am clearly obvious and obviously clear without being blatant about wanting to meet, greet, and chat with all you fine people.  We’ll have to exchange cryptically coded memos as the year wears on.

All that aside, I’m looking forward to further exploration with all of you.  And those things I told you, they’re almost all true.  We’re gearing up to make seven documentaries about the long lost soul of a great underground statistician known as the unknown.  Equivalent to forty-two hours of gut wrenchingly good and somber times.  You’ll have a hard time and be well pressed to find anything like it anywhere else on the InterWeb.  I mean it.  I really do.  My producers are getting upset that I’m even saying anything about it right now, but that’s of no concern to us.  So stay tuned and stick around.

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Weak Wednesday Wrap

The truth is I have several posts, each somewhere between 30 and 90 percent complete.  I’m hesitant to rush any of them, and I’ve been too distracted this week to bother with finishing any.  Can you blame me?  What with TechCrunch 50 and DEMO ’08 going on, there’s a ton of startup coverage which I’m compelled to read, even if most of the companies have been less than interesting.  The commentary is great.  So far two companies from TC50 have impressed me, at least what I can get from all the secondhand feedback.  I’m holding off with any reviews until I see all the companies.

In the meanwhile I promise (mostly) to finish some of these half-done posts very soon.  They include, but are not limited to, and could be bumped: a recent blog-find I want to promote; one of my favorite Sacramento restaurants; title tackling; and, my first impression of Picasa’s latest feature addition.

Loads of good stuff on the way.  In the meanwhile, remember to follow my Stumbles or my Feedreader shares .

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PSI Basic, Basically Bull *Sigh* Seminar

I recently had the opportunity to attend Basic in San Francisco from PSI Seminars.  (PSI stands for Personal Success Institute, and is pronounced “sigh”, as in the Greek letter.)  This is the first in a series of three seminars, roughly totaling a grand sum of $11K and requiring about 21 days of your life.  (You can take as much time between seminars as you like, but you get discounts if you sign up sooner.)  If you opt in, there’s a serious commitment.  To take the Basic will cost you about $600, which is where they weed out crazy people and anyone not interested in further self-exploration.

The creators of the program have cultivated a self-help pyramid scheme with a side of cult-like following.  It’s amazing, frightening, and all around intriguing.  It’s usually someone close to you that will lure you in, inviting you to one of their graduation ceremonies from one of the three seminars.  These graduations are more sales pitch than graduation ceremony.  You think you’re showing up to support someone close to you in his accomplishment and you come out having been pressured into signing up for Basic.  (Some graduates believe so strongly that the program is what others need, that they will shell out the initial payment for someone else.  That’s how I arrived.)

The solution they provide, regardless of what anyone finds wrong with himself, is that we have our parents to blame.  In some way, the obviously awful and difficult life we are living now is because of our parents, and where we fall short is also because of them.  Busted relationships?  You didn’t get along with mom or dad.  Fear of commitment?  Mom or dad didn’t accept you.  Problems with addiction?  Mom or dad was an alcoholic.  You get the idea.  And after they get you to accept and believe in blaming your parents, they ask you stop blaming your parents.  “You have the power now to choose.  Choose not to carry resentment, which leads to resistance and revenge.”  Holy crap, everyone is cured.

But wait, there’s more.  We can’t really cure ourselves in just four days.  If you want the healing to stick, you must sign on to the next show, where you can go deeper and really break up the programming we and our parents spent so many years putting into our heads.  A lot of the time during the first four days is used selling the next seminar, and telling everyone how great it is.  To reinforce this statement, graduates from the programs are available all weekend (volunteering) to answer questions and support you in your decision to sign on to PSI Seven, the next seminar.

Obviously their tactics aren’t as blatant as I’ve made them to be, but I use exaggeration to make a point.  It’s an emotionally exhausting weekend for many people.  You’ll laugh, dance, chat, sing, connect, and cry.  The facilitators are preying on people who, a) believe they have lost control of their lives, and b) people that  think they don’t belong anywhere.  Many leave the first class believing they’ve scratched the surface to recovery, and they want to break all the way through.  Handing over a few thousand dollars for this is a very small price to pay, and you’ll make some friends along the way.

I’ll tell you what, and here’s the deal — rather than shelling out a bunch of cash and throwing away valuable days of your life, invite me to coffee, buy me an Americano, and ask me to listen before I respond.  It’s the best gift I could ever give you.  OR you can watch the Last Lecutre by Randy Pausch .  (Randy passed away July 25, 2008, and this lecture made it on to the Google Search home page.  It’s that good.)

Let me wrap this up as plainly as possible:  I am not a fan of PSI Seminars.  Stay away.

Vacationing Or Working, I’ll Decide

So I’ve been out and about, away and such, for a almost eight days, and I’m just now returning to the home where I lay my head to rest peacefully most nights.  I probably should have given some advanced notice, but I didn’t make time before venturing off to Portland for a bit of birthday bashing and celebrating, then making my way to a family camping trip in the Crystal Basin Recreation Area of Northern California, and rounding it all out with a four-day, out-of-town seminar for work.  You could try to imagine the fatigue, and whatever else, I’m experiencing at the moment, but I’d suggest not worrying about that.  (I’ll do that for all of us.)  Do know, though, that I have returned and I’m fully committed to getting this writing stuff back on schedule.  So let us be to rest, and we’ll meet again Wednesday.

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I Am My Niche

This says more than it means just as much as it confuses the situation all together, so let me clarify, or maybe muddle it a bit more, whichever helps most, hopefully.  And it goes something like this:

There’s a lot of talk, or advice, going around about covering the topics with which you’re familiar but also that aren’t heavily covered already.  (A niche.)  So?  Ta-da!  Here I am, right?  I mean, there’s some sense to it.  Of course I’m going to know all about me, and understand why it is the factors that push me to and fro cause me to behave and respond the ways I do.  It just goes without saying, and it’s not as crazy as it sounds.  Not to mention, I’m pretty certain no one else is writing about me, and if someone is then I’d like to know about it.

Here is where it takes a turn for the better, though.  I’m not meaning to write about me as I would in diary form.  No, I have an email blog for that particular activity.  This here niche I’m intending to cover is all the goodness that comes about as a result of the stuff that happens to me which is written about in the email blog.  Simplified — A bunch of cryptic gibberish about the goings-on that are my life is what I write in emails to people I call at home; and whatever I can learn from those happenings, or whatever ideas pop into this oddly shaped head of mine, is what I aim to pen in this here space.

Whether you read me here, there, everywhere, or no where (which doesn’t work too well,) know that I’m always writing something somewhere for, or to, someone.  Today, here and now, it’s this and it’s for you.

Thanks for reading.

It’s Being Done Differently Now

It was time.  I had to do it.  I changed the site layout, or “theme” as it is referred to in the loop.  I’m announcing this obvious fact for the folks in the feed-readers; they can’t see a layout change.  For the most part, at least.

Anyhow, like I was saying.  It was time.  The previous layout was too dark and difficult to read (look at.)  I’m not a fan of sites that use light-colored text on dark backgrounds.  It doesn’t make any sense to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the _look_ of it, but it does not read well.  If you’re planning to have anyone read your stuff, it needs to be easy on the eyes.  I don’t want to get into a long UI discussion (although, maybe I should), but trust me when I say that this new layout is much better.

I’m not sure if the spark for change came from a talk I had with a fellow blogger, or a conversation I had with a colleague about her business’s web site.  Probably it was a combination of the two and, either way, it sent me out tinkering with all sorts of pre-developed WordPress themes.  (An added bonus to using WordPress is the many site layouts that are freely available for personal use.)  After several hours of working with Gimp and creating my own CSS from scratch, I decided it was a better idea, and also much quicker, to mash together a bunch of already existing lines of code.  (Why re-invent the wheel, just make it more round.  What?  I mean make it roll farther.)

This was only half my problem.  I spent a bit of time this evening, searching for a reason as to why my PHP was not working with WordPress 2.6, which I had hesitantly upgraded the site to late Monday evening after trying it on another site I host.  2.6 was working great everywhere I used it, with all my plugins in tact and new features working flawlessly.  But then I loaded up my new layout, which, silly me, I was testing locally on a linux box running WordPress 2.5.  (Imagine that!  It was working in one set of conditions, but not another.)  “Warning!”  “Error!”  “the function() requires a string at line 18.”  Oh my.

What I’m getting at, is that there are going to be some kinks for a few minutes, and I’m doing my best to work those out of the mix.  So, if you would be kind enough, bear with me a minute or two, and, if you notice any errors, please draw them to my attention so I can remedy the situation.  I’m just getting back into the old smell of PHP and, honestly, I was never a CSS fan.  However, it’s proving to make a whole lot of sense now that I’ve plopped myself in the world of web site development. (Is it still a client if you do the work for free?)

I’ll leave you with it so I can get back to it.  My next goal is to clean up the tags and categories.  Both of these are useful tools when used correctly, but we’ll have to let that sit a moment.