Google suggests...Crap!

I get a call from a Peer who noticed a very interesting thing.  In Firefox, in the upper right hand corner is a Google search window.  It's great for doing a quick search.  The other neat feature it has is google suggestions:  Placing other words in context with the word(s) you are searching for to help you do a better search and get to the information you want faster...

Only today it seems a bit off...



Two perfectly beign searches...returning suggestions with NOTHING really in common with what I want.  I mean, I guess Windows does follow DST...but I don't know if I would want Antique apples...

Then for fun...I tried this:



I mean...That's not the first thing I think of when I think of that...although I have never been to Seattle...

I think this last one says it all...

How do I do this?

Ever since I was 13, I have wanted a motorcycle.  The idea of driving down the road, with the wind whipping against my face and I feel the beast of a machine purring beneath me has intrigued me.  I almost bought a motorcycle twice...but both times I chickened out...mostly because I have never been on one and don't know if it will be all that I expect it to be.  Then I came up with this great idea last night:  Take a Class on how to ride/maintain a bike.  That would finally put my dreams to the test and see if they are still valid!

...Then Robyn brought up two very good questions:

1. Do these "intro to Motorcycles" classes exist around us?


2. Do I need a bike first before they will let me in the class?

If anyone has ideas, insight, please let me know.  I don't want to end up buying a bike and then find out I can't stand it....I somehow doubt it...but you never know.

....No Title...

...explanation. 

No title

...Really?

So I had a machine go bad.  It was still under warranty so I called to have a tech come replace the motherboard.  (mostly because then the machine is still under warranty...apparently I'm not good enough for them to replace motherboards...EVEN THOUGH  I did about three months ago and had no problems....glad I gave into their crap they fed me today.)

Tech comes, replaces it.  Machine POSTs....yay!  All is done right?

...Right?

...Hello...?

Apparently one good boot does not mean the machine is fixed.  Now it won't boot anything.

Hard Drive?  pishaw!

CD-ROM?  So 90's!

USB drive?  What do I look like?  I'm not a call girl!

So now I get another new motherboard/Tech Combo tomorrow...

Why does this have to happen on the ONE machine I don't want to have trouble with....

Yosemite!

Look!  I'm in Yosemite!  Woo!



...apparently Yosemite likes my neck and left pectoral...

This made me laugh this morning

Oh Penny Arcade....you are awesome!

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/07

Beer! The final Verdict...

So as some of you know, Robyn, Gerrit and I tried succeeded in making beer not too long ago (Pictures are here). After the agonizing wait for the beer to finish the fermentation, we finally were able to taste our end product!

The Final verdict? I like it! I was really afraid that it wouldn't come out and have a very vinegar evident taste. It came out alright.

I think my next test will be to make a Stout.

Boris the Spider

Is my new favorite song. Robyn and I heard it yesterday as we were driving to the Greatest Store Evar! Second best store for Groceries. Here it is!

I sometimes wish...

That I had been born in the heyday of Command line, Terminal computing.  I find myself a little more at home there.  I do like my GUIs, don't get me wrong, but there's something about checking arp tables, restarting services, or installing things from the command line that I just love.

It could be that every time I do it...people think I'm a magician.  "Whoa, how'd you do that?!!!" Me: "I just did, that's how!"

That, or if I could have been around during the Age of exploration.  Knowing that I was one of the first people to see new lands (well, at least by non-indigenous people) would have been awesome.

Yeah, that or the Future.  I mean, Captain Picard is just a kick ass guy!  Maybe I could freeze myself and wake up in the 24th Century.  Maybe I could give Wesley some pointers...

Did anyone ever talk to him?  All I can ever remember anyone saying to him is "Shut up Wesley!"

Seriously?

Went to Wegman's last night to do the weekly shopping. Since we do most of our shopping at the Greenstar Co-Op, it was pretty light night. We also had dinner there, since Mondays the fridge looks more like a vast wasteland than the cornucopia it is during the rest of the week. Since we only had a few items, we decided to use the express lanes for quickness. We found one lane empty and began to place our less than ten items on the belt. The cashier looked...about 12, which means she is probably 16 or 22.

I'm fishing in my pocket for the Money. The total comes to $15.21. I handed the nice lady a Twenty. As she is about to close the register I pull out the required change and say "I actually have the 21 cents." I was expecting a reply along the lines of "Ok, not a problem" or "I hate having tons of change too...here's a five spot."

Did I get that? No. The next sentence that was uddered quite frankly scared me.

"umm...I don't know how to do that..."

What? You don't know how to do simple addition? Isn't that required? When I worked at Friendly's eons ago, I had to pass a simple math Test before I could work the register. Nothing outrageous. Just simple addition and subtraction.

The bill is $22.37. What is the change from $30? From $40?

Have things gotten that bad that people can't do simple math problems without consulting a calculator or pen and paper Cell phone?

Ok, I'm off to consult my PDA for my current schedule.

How can you not love this??

Awesome.  It made me laugh.  Hopefully you'll laugh too.

Look what I found!

It's so pretty!  A message pad for me!  Now to get it to talk with my MacBook Pro...that'll be an interesting challenge...

Great ideas...spoiled

Over the past two weeks I had a couple of great ideas for posts. Things I wanted to write to help expand my thoughts and attempt to get a better grasp on my psyche and how it works. Unfortunately, I did not write them down. I talked to Robyn about them, and we had a good old fashion discussion, but they never made it to this site.

And that right there is why I suck at blogging. I have ideas I want to express, funny stories to tell, but I never put them up. Why? There are several reasons why.

1. This is a public space. I mean, most of the time the ramblings are about me and why I did something, but rarely is it just me. There are other people involved. Part of me says "Mark! You were part of that conversation/interaction...you have the right to post it! Just make the other name anonymous!" Big problem with that is it would be very easy to tell who I was talking about. It's not that I would feel bad about writing about them, it just goes back to my feeling that "don't write anything that might make someone upset." If that were the case, there would be nothing ever written. Ever.


2. I'm lazy. Often times, these ideas come to me either at work or somewhere I don't have internet access at my finger tips. I mentally jot it down to post later...but knowing me, I was sidetracked by the glow of my MacBook Pro or the latest Netflix arrival. (By the way, just watched The Invincible Iron Man, it was pretty good! I enjoyed the voice acting and the story (even if it was a bit off from the main story...but enjoyable nonetheless)).

Funny

I like this video...and I had some spare time today.

Watch it

Love it.

Photoshop boredom

Here's what I do when I'm waiting for something to install/load/whatever...

Goodbye Moto Q

About a year ago, I wanted to Celebrate getting a new job. I decided to buy myself something I had been thinking about for some time: The motorola Q. After about five minutes I had come to my final thoughts: I love the Q. I can sync my Contacts, keep my calendar up to date, and in general only carry one device. Before, I had my Palm TX for my schedule, and my phone for my contacts (since my phone before the Q did not have BT.) Best Part, I can Sync it with my Mac! Granted, I needed some 3rd Party Software to get it to work, but still...it worked!

Here comes the hard part...Last month, I stopped using it.  Did it break?  Far from it.  Did it not do something I wanted?  It did all I asked of it and more.   So what happened?

Verizon Happened.

Since my Q is considered a Smart Phone, all data traffic is billable.  That means any txt/pix messaging that goes on, is billable.  Having txt/pix plan?  That just saves me from the additional charge of .10 or .25 for the honor of receiving the message.   In order to have unlimited data and reasonable messaging?  100 bucks a month...compared to the 60 I pay now....

40 more a month...would it be worth it?  Perhaps...but for now my cheapness is winning this fight.

So for now, my warrior Q friend, I must bid you goodbye.  Perhaps at a later date we can remeet and relive our happy times....remember getting the tree last year and sending messages to G&S to find them?  Good times.  Good times indeed.

Christmas

So here's a quick list:

two new tires for the truck :(

LEFSE KIT! Seriously! We both want one!

New CD/Radio/Alarm Clock.../Mini Pony
Harry Potter Movies 4 (Goblet of Fire) on up ( I think 5:Order of the Phoenix is out..but not sure)
Shrek the Third
Any Disney Movie Besides Cinderella ( we already have it)
Any Cute Pixar Movies we've missed since the Incredibles...
A Universal remote to replace our Way too many remotes.
A Ronco Dial-a-matic Food slicer (It looks so cool on the Rotisserie oven commerical!)
A better 5.8 GHz phone (the one we have now has HORRIBLE Range...Thanks Panasonic!..Or...Pantech?...P

-Something!)
The Chronic(what!)cles of Narnia

For me:
Heroes (The NBC show) on DVD
Subscription to Linux Journal
Amazon Gift Cards
A Wii...Well It has be on here :)
iPod Touch...because it's cool :) (maybe not a real serious gift...but still...so shiny!)
I also went through and cleaned up my wishlist on amazon...and my lawyers will be contacting them about IP infringement! They totally ripped off my idea!

 

For Robyn

Brita water filter that goes on the tap (or pur or something like that.)

Glass Tupperware style containers.

Amazon Money

2 quart non-teflon sauce pot

Pressure cooker

 

 

Welcome to the reopening!

Hello Everyone!

I decided to redo my website a bit.  Since I got kind of lazy, I thought I would just use software I've used before.  It seems to work alright...and We'll see how it goes.  Let me know what you thing!

New line in my office...

So I got a new network connection in my office...

Yeah...I'm happy.