Old dog, new tricks.


I found a pretty cool tutorial on how to turn photos into images of little planets today so I thought I would try it out. Unfortunately I don't have the right camera or the right panoramic images or the right software (Photoshop), but I was able to mimic the process in Photoshop Elements and a normal photo and produce a satisfactory result.





I was inspired by the images I found at this flickr page.

I like trying out these various photo techniques, like this one, or the tilt shift photography, which you can find some great examples of here.

I also haven't done any camera tossing in quite a while, but that mainly because I don't want to break my camera. I need to get out the old cheapo camera I used to use and go to town with it one day..

Damn naps.


I'm on a bad sleep cycle right now. I get up really early in the morning (for me), work all day, and then because I'm exhausted from not enough sleep the night before I end up drifting off on the couch for a little while. Eventually I wake up around 10PM wide away and ready to take on the world, so I stay up until 2:30-3AM rolling around on my bed trying to fall asleep again. It's both weird and aggrevating how easily I fall asleep at one point and then can't later.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel though in a few weeks when it gets warmer outside and the sun is out longer. I can go play some golf after work and keep active later in the evening and hopefully wear myself out so that I fall asleep at normal time.

Alternatively, I could move my bed into the living room and fall asleep watching the political commentary shows just like I do after work. That stuff puts me right out.

It's also pretty stupid sometimes.


I don't post anything political on my facebook page but perhaps I ought to start. It's weird how I have so many liberal friends who never post anything there but my conservative friends have no problem posting their ignorant rants about how Obama needs to be impeached. It just makes them look foolish and I feel bad for them. Their hero Bush drove the country over the edge of a cliff politically, economically, and morally, but they don't see it.

Nine years ago terrorists struck the US and the entire country was behind the President, but instead of truly uniting the country against an enemy Bush, Cheney, Rove and the other minions in the White House chose instead to divide the people, consolidate power among the base of the conservative movement, and alienate a good portion of the american public and our allies abroad, and in the end they did it all for money and power, and they did it all out of fear, but eventually the american public saw through their fear mongering and decided enough was enough.

We let people who have no respect for the Constitution run this country for eight years and for some reason we still have to listen to them whenever someone in government wants to actually follow legal procedures. They have such fear in their hearts that they actually believe the time we live in is the most dangerous time americans have ever gone through.

More dangerous than when a little man in Germany had conquered all of western europe and was exterminating people along ethnic lines while on the other side of the earth an island empire was expanding it's domain by killing or enslaving millions.

More dangerous than when half the United States decided it no longer wanted to participate in our system of government and tried to secede, while the other half went to war to prevent the destruction of the United States. Brother fought against brother on US soil, and more americans died that in that war than in all the other wars combined. And yet some people believe some pricks in a cave on the other side of the earth who managed to exploit a weakness in our airline security are actually more dangerous than an open rebellion that killed over 50,000 people in just one battle, the battle of Gettysburg, than in the attack on 9/11.

More dangerous than the revolutionary war, when british troops marched through the colonies and won almost every battle while the rebels suffered heavy losses. And yet despite the losses of troops and morale on occasion, we actually defeated the british.

And I can say they believe the times we live in are more dangerous because these people are willing to trample the Constitution out of fear that we will have another terrorist attack. They would trample the very document that our revolutionary ancestors fought and died to create, our civil war ancestors fought and died to define, and our world war two generation fought and died to ensure.

All this talk about how much more dangerous a time we live in is silly. Humans have always lived in dangerous times. What has made us different from every other species is our willingness to do something about it. Our millennial crawl through time to create a better life for each succeeding generation, be it in art, or science, or society, or politics. The crawl has been slow and arduous because progress is always held back by some people who are too afraid of change and others who are too afraid of everything else. They ban and burn books, they try to discredit science with arguments of heresy based on their own backwards thinking, they try to manage a society based on their often moral failings, and they use fear of change to cow the masses into following them.

Eventually, society sees through their fear mongering. The conservative argument is discredited, the liberal argument is co-opted by the conservatives, and the liberals push society further, and the struggle begins anew. Don't believe me? See how many conservatives who argue against Obama's "socialist agenda" really campaign to dismantle medicare or social security. Sure, every few years they try to use a backdoor means to destroy social security via privatization, but invariably the stock market takes a huge nose dive due to their incompetent economic plans and the privatization idea is scrapped for a few years until they think the electorate has forgotten the market collapse.

Hopefully I will live long enough to see many such conservative arguments fall by the wayside when the US passes a truly universal healthcare bill some day, or when DADT is overturned, or when the US finally signs an agreement on climate change.

Hopefully, my conservative friends will live to see their arguments fall as well, not because I want to rub it in their faces, but because I want us all to live without fear in a better society.

The Lost season premiere.


I've got some questions about the MIB/smoke monster and whether Locke and Ben really met Jacob or the MIB at the cabin (and whether or not Hurley met Jacob or the MIB later, for that matter). For now I'm going to work on the assumption that Jacob cannot turn into a smoke monster although that would resolve my questions if he could.

It seems that at some point one of the two entities was trapped in the cabin but we don't know when and for how long. I would guess Jacob was really trapped in the cabin while the MIB appeared here and there as the smoke monster, but by the time Hurley showed up at the cabin I suspect the MIB had taken residence since I suspect Christian is in league with the MIB (given Christian's manipulation of Locke).

Illana's team seemed surprised the ashen circle was broken when they found the curtain but she had stated Jacob had not been there in years and someone else had occupied it for some time. So who broke the ashen circle to let Jacob out?

Also, as much as the temple seems like a cool place I'd feel a lot more comfortable behind the sonic fence built by the Dhama group now that we know the MIB is the smoke monster.

There's too much to think about. I can't wait for next week's episode.

At the Santa Monica Pier.


Sometimes the iphone surprises me. I thought this picture came out pretty well for a camera phone.

Maybe.


So one of the concerns I have about the new i device that was announced yesterday is that I don't think it is quite powerful enough for me to use in place of a laptop. There are a few applications I use that require a laptop, such as the application that produces this blog, that will not run on the i device and will never run on it since the company that made this software has apparently given up the ghost, at least in terms of providing any support or feedback to it's customers regarding the software.

Of course the alternative would be to end this blog and start a new one and simply link back to this one as an archive, or I could get a desktop and the i device and if necessary update the blog via a VPN connection, which would actually be pretty cool in a really geeky way. I'm just trying to think about how I would do that...

1. I could access the keyboard viewer on the home computer remotely to type content via the VPN connection.
2. I could compose the content locally on the i device then send it to myself via email then copy and paste the content remotely
3. I could just not post on my blog when I'm on vacation and have a good time instead

I'm leaning towards a new laptop right now and I'm hoping that the new laptop will have blu-ray built in, but I'm still considering the new i device.

As it turns out, I have plenty of time to make my decision anyway, given neither a new laptop nor the i device is ready right now, and I can't afford either anyway.

Still it's nice to think about.

Planning for the future.


After some careful calculations, I have determined that I will have some money for discretionary spending available in the second week in November, but I'll probably blow it on something consumable like a Big Mac, so I probably ought not think about it much more.

Is it weird I say that whenever I'm about to drink Coca Cola?


I'm working on following through on a resolution or two and it involves eating at home more and consuming fewer calories. To be honest, it's not that much fun, but if I take a nap after work I have a lot less conscious time thinking about all the fun I'm missing by not eating food that's really bad for me.

Saying good bye to my macbook.


It's been a good long run for me and my macbook but it's time to sell it and get a new one. I took my baby in for service tonight and they fixed in in store while I waited so i don't have any more excuses for holding on to it when I can sell it now.

I'll be without a laptop for the first time in quite a while, but hopefully not too long. I'm hoping new macbook pros will be released soon. Also I'm hoping that a big bag full of money falls from the sky in front of me so i can afford the macbook pro. Even if I can't I'll probably buy one anyway.

I have no idea how time went by so quickly.


It really is amazing how quickly the weekend goes by. I had a nice time this weekend playing golf on both Saturday and Sunday, but it just doesn't feel like I've done a whole lot, which given how poorly I played, is true.

It would be nice if I could get a job playing golf full time, but I wouldn't be required to be that good at it.

I didn't have time to go to the grocery store this weekend so I'll probably do that during lunch tomorrow. I'm working on multiple goals here, one to lose weight and the other to save money, but I'm not sure which one will show positive results faster, or if at all. It doesn't help that I've been coerced into buying Girl Scout cookies from multiple girl scouts.

I didn't have time to clean my condo this weekend but to be honest I wasn't planning on dedicating any time to that this weekend anyway. I'll probably do some cleaning tomorrow though, or at least buy the cleaning supplies.

I didn't get enough sleep this weekend despite sleeping late both Saturday morning and Sunday morning. Perhaps I need to take some ambien, or perhaps I just need to go to bed earlier instead of staying up late writing on my blog.

Here's hoping the work week goes equally quickly.

Good bye, Conan.


I was home tonight on a Friday night to watch the final Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Sure, I have no money so I couldn't afford to go out, and I fell asleep earlier in the evening and had not plans with anyone, but even if I did have plans with friends and money to spend I would have cancelled the plans and saved the money to watch Conan's final show, or perhaps I wouldhave gone out and had a great time but DVR'ed the show to watch tomorrow. But that would have meant remembering to erase some other shows on the DVR because with my luck the DVR drive would be full and I would have only recorded a few minutes of the show. But I digress. Let's get back to a point.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and remember watching David Letterman on his morning show and then on Late Night. After many years the show was passed on to Conan, and while Conan got a lot of criticism early on I was always a big fan of his show, from the very first show opening video which I thought was hilarious. You can see if here.

I watched Conan's first Tonight Show also but I over the past few years I stopped watching TV except for the occasional really great show like Lost, so I kind of feel a little responsible for his show's ratings not being as high as they could have been. Of course I'm not a Nielsen viewer so I really have no responsibility at all, but I kind of feel it.

Its unfortunate that where i am The Tonight Show is on at the same time as The Late Show and especially The Colbert Report, since I suspect that many of the people that would appreciate Colbert would also like Conan. I know I like all three so even when I was up and the TV was on, I'd have to choose who to watch, or I might go with a news/commentary show. Now with Leno taking over again my difficult choices are narrowed again to a reasonable number, until Conan returns hopefully with a new show in seven months.

Tonight's show was a nice ending though to Conan's run and he ended the show with some nice advice about not being cynical. It's probably too late for me in that regards, but I'll try.

Team Coco Forever!

I cannot afford to clean the carpets.


On the plus side, i think i found a picture frame nail in the carpet I had dropped some time ago. On the minus side I dropped a different picture nail in the carpet tonight and i don't see it, so it's really a wash until find it again when I lance the bottom of my foot.

If you are too lazy to do anything about it.


Now that I think about it after surveying the shambles of my condo, sitting on the couch tonight watching TV was not the most constructive use of my time. Tomorrow I will be more productive and probably clean something.

Things I have to get done this weekend:

Organize the office
Do my laundry
Clean the kitchen
Play golf at Butler Pitch & Putt
Sweep and vacuum the condo
Clean the bathrooms


Now if I only have time to perform one of these tasks this weekend, I wonder which one I will pick?

You have to take some goals more seriously than others.


After getting badly beat by a 13 year old in several video games tonight, I realized that the only way I would ever get better would be to stop all this socializing and get serious about my gaming, once and for all.

They are malfunctions because I bought them at some point.


The problem is not that I have no clean clothes to wear, its that I have no clean clothes I like to wear.

Hockey? Seriously?


It turns out there is a hockey team in Austin, the Texas Stars, and they play in a nice little arena in Cedar Park where they charge outrageous fees for parking. I had a pretty good time there watching the fights and the occasional hockey demonstration. I was surprised to learn though that sports venues are considered appropriate places to demonstrate your obnoxiousness. Whether you are harassing the opposing goalie by continually repeating his name or alternating with the guy seated next to you the contraction "C'mon" until you both get winded, it's all welcome at the hockey game.

Who knows, maybe some time in the near future I'll go back to see another game. If I do, I'll make sure there are at least three of us alternating "C'mon," so I don't lose my voice so quickly.

Gone soon.


My macbook will soon be leaving me forever. I've decided to sell it so I've been busy trying to consolidate all my stuff from two computers into one, and this blog is one of the last things to consolidate. I plan on getting a new macbook pro in the near future but for now I'm going to be portableless at least for a few weeks or maybe a month?

Before I sell my system though I have to drop it off for some minor service, probably on Sunday.

Now that I've transferred my blog though I should be able to continue posting without issue.

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't have rushed this consolidation...

Drinks on me!


I thought I had run out of drinks today when I checked the fridge today, but then I realized I still have a full bottle of Dripping Springs vodka and a bottle of kahlua. Looks like tomorrow I'll be enjoying some black russians for lunch!

Venice Beach, CA.

Saturday night's all right for fighting, but not for blogging.


Despite the loss by Texas, I had a great time in California cheering the team on and hanging out with mostly new friends but the occasional old friend as well. I got back in town on Saturday night and have slowly come to terms with the fact that I have to return to my regular work schedule again, which started today, and my regular blogging schedule, which starts now.

I usually spend my time celebrating my blogging anniversary by complaining about how poorly I did keeping up this blog with interesting posts. It's actually pretty easy to keep up my blog with uninteresting posts, it turns out, but the interesting ones are more difficult, I would usually say.

After another attempt at self deprecating humor I would launch into another spiel about how this year is going to be better than last year. I'm going to spend more time working on it and working on my writing, being more creative and getting my mojo back.

I've never been particularly successful at following through on those plans so I'm not going to repeat them again this year. I'll just state that I'll try to be better but not make any obviously full of BS promises on this stuff. Really it's most likely going to be about the same, so if you've gotten any humor out of the last 7 years you'll probably get about the same out of the next year.

I actually don't think I have any readers anymore, just myself anyway. Every once in a while someone asks, "do you still write on your blog?" I have to tell them I do, and then regale them with my most recent bon mots, like when I write that "I'm too tired to pay attention, or write in this blog tonight," to which the response is usually something along the lines of "that's really clever. Have you seen my coat, I'm tired and I have to leave."

So really this post is to myself, to tell myself to hang in there and keep writing for yourself and try to enjoy the process even if the results come out like yesterday's sh#t.

If I ever want to actually do anything.


It's amazing how I never have to work late when I have no plans for the evening.

But I'll finish strong.


I cannot believe how ridiculously bad I am doing at trying to follow through on my resolution to eat better this year. I think next year I'm going to make resolutions that I have no problem keeping, like staying single and not socializing, in the hopes that I'll completely fail at those instead of things I really should do.

Not my day.


So I was dumb enough to schedule myself to work this morning, and tonight I was not smart enough to know not to park under a tree full of grackles, a particularly evil species of bird that likes to leave guano on just about every spot of a vehicle.

Tomorrow not only do I work early but I also scheduled more overtime for the evening so I'm not sure when I'll have time to get the car washed. Looks like I'll be driving the Sh#tmobile at least until Tuesday...

Or am I losing brain cells as I get older.


I'm not sure why I scheduled myself to work tomorrow at 8AM. Not a smart decision...

Take a break once in a while though.


I feel a little like any number of movie characters who at some point in the movie face a great adversity and contemplate giving up their dream, only to find inspiration in a friend or mentor or perhaps a talking animal who convinces the hero of the film that he has to try to fulfill his dream or disaster will strike or he will regret it or he won't get the girl or they will foreclose on his mom's run down four bedroom house in the suburbs, except that I really haven't faced any great adversity lately other than my own laziness, and I kind of enjoyed it.

An old year has past us by and a new year has come and I'm planning on making this a better year than last year. I feel like in 2008 I improved my living situation and in 2009 I basically put a lot of really expensive window dressing on it but didn't another great change other than my debt, which really isn't something that makes me proud, although my credit limit was recently raised again so someone likes it.

I've made some resolutions to take better care of myself this year than last. I think coming into 2009 i was in much better shape, and I'd like to end 2010 in the best shape of my life (or at least the best it's been since I moved to Austin).

Also I'm going to go back to writing here daily. It just takes some discipline which over the past few months has been sorely lacking but I find I really need in many parts of my life. I'm hoping the new found discipline will get me to start working out again, and kicking my crystal meth habit (kidding! I have no intention of kicking that habit ( just in case anyone doesn't get my dry sense of humor, I am kidding again, I don't have a crystal meth habit)).

Or get a life.


Today was our little sister Megan's birthday, so that was nice. We spoke on the phone for a little while and I managed to keep myself from asking when she is going to break down and have a fifth child like our mom and our grandmother. Megan swears she is done having kids with four now but we'll see.

I also spent the evening hanging out with the oldest sibling, Jay, down at the Alamo, eating too much and laughing just the right amount, which was pretty much throughout the movie. The movie showing? It was the Elf Quote-A-Long, with a disgusting eating contest of spaghetti and syrup followed by a contest to drink a liter of Coke (it's a 2-liter in the movie), with the grand finale burping contest. The Alamo handed out jingle bells, bubbles and balloons to do stuff with during the film although really only the jingle bells were appropriate and I would have been happy with just those. It's such a great movie and it was cool to see it in a theater full of people who love it, the way all movies should be enjoyed.

Instead of just irritatingly bad.


It's irritating that I'm not feeling well but it's not so bad that I cannot go to work.

Having a second go at The War On Christmas.


A couple of years ago I wrote an excerpt for a fictitious book called The War On Christmas, in which Kris Kringle returns to the North Pole to reclaim his role as the Christmas Gift Giver from Santa Claus, his replacement. I've always liked the idea of the story better than the eventual writing I produced, I thought it was too rushed for example, so I'm re-writing it and will probably post the re-write sometime in then next few days.

I don't actually expect it to be any better, just longer, but it's good practice for me to do this so that whenever someone tells me I should write professionally I can show them this and they can tell me they were wrong. :)

If I decide to write more excepts I may have to come back and re-write this section again, since it is the ending and earlier excerpts may contradict what I have now. Perhaps I'll make this a yearly endeavour to add to the work until there is enough for a really bad book.

Oh, f@#k it!


It's weird how I feel completely relaxed cursing in front of certain people. I guess that's due to the level of comfort I have being in their company. Instead of pointing out my inappropriate language perhaps they ought to just accept my inability to control my cursing as a compliment.

How hard would it be to put together a tournament?

Okay, here's my idea for a 16 team tournament based on the BCS rankings, and as a bonus we get to keep a good portion of the bowls (but move the days they play on except for the big four). With this schedule it only adds 1 more week to the schedule. Here's how it would shape up if all the higher seeds won:

Round 1 - 12/19

Alabama Vs. West Virginia - Independence Bowl - LA
Texas Vs. Miami - Cotton Bowl -TX
Cincinnati Vs. Brigham Young - Liberty Bowl - TN
TCU Vs. Penn State - New Mexico Bowl - NM
Florida Vs. LSU - Gator Bowl -FL
Boise State Vs. Virginia Tech - Emerald Bowl - CA
Oregon Vs. Iowa - Holiday Bowl - CA
Ohio State Vs. Georgia Tech - Little Caesar's Bowl - MI


Round 2 - 1/1/2010 - New Years Day

Alabama Vs. Ohio State - Orange Bowl
Texas Vs. Oregon - Rose Bowl
Cincinnati Vs. Boise State - Fiesta Bowl
TCU Vs. Florida - Sugar Bowl


Round 3 - 1/7/10 Final Four

Alabama Vs. TCU - Orange Bowl
Texas Vs. Cincinnati - Sugar Bowl


Round 4 - 1/14/10 National Championship

Alabama Vs. Texas - Fiesta Bowl


And here's how I would predict the games:

Round 1 - 12/19

Alabama Vs. West Virginia - Independence Bowl - LA - 35-17
Texas Vs. Miami - Cotton Bowl -TX - 42-10
Cincinnati Vs. Brigham Young - Liberty Bowl - TN - 45-38
TCU Vs. Penn State - New Mexico Bowl - NM - 28-21
Florida Vs. LSU - Gator Bowl -FL - 31-28
Boise State Vs. Virginia Tech - Emerald Bowl - CA - 28-24
Oregon Vs. Iowa - Holiday Bowl - CA - 21-17
Ohio State Vs. Georgia Tech - Little Caesar's Bowl - MI - 35-31


Round 2 - 1/1/2010 - New Years Day

Alabama Vs. Georgia Tech - Orange Bowl - 35-14
Texas Vs. Oregon - Rose Bowl - 38-21
Cincinnati Vs. Virginia Tech - Fiesta Bowl - 31-28
TCU Vs. Florida - Sugar Bowl


Round 3 - 1/7/10 Final Four

Alabama Vs. TCU - Orange Bowl - 28-24
Texas Vs. Virginia Tech - Sugar Bowl - 17-14


Round 4 - 1/14/10 National Championship

Alabama Vs. Virginia Tech - Fiesta Bowl - 24-21


Would have been nice to match up Texas and Virginia Tech in the finals but the brackets didn't work out that way. Still, a rematch with Alabama would be pretty cool and I think Tech's defense would be able to hold them this time because the Tech offense would be on the field a little longer.

Oh well, we watch college football with the system we have, not the system we want.

Ack! Can I go back?


It's weird to think that I'm at to an age at which I actually want clothes for Christmas. Okay, okay, money first mind you, but clothes or linen second.