JM and JS? Not My Kind of Duo

I never thought Jessica Simpson would ever enter my life. I was perfectly happy not knowing what she was doing until I found out what was going on. John started dating her recently.

As if the TV show with Nick wasn't enough, and all the drama with the divorce, John's going to be distracted by the paparazzi and the rumors. Continuum is out September 12, and if the two of them stay together it will probably take four years for another album. His whole demeanor will change.

I forgot to tell him that I have to live vicariously through him - single and rich, doing exactly what I enjoy doing. If he hooks up, I have no one to model my imaginary life after. Thanks alot.

So John, congratulations. She's hot, but don't get all stitched up, or someone will find a bag full of chicken-tuna sandwiches on their front porch (maybe the one you'll be sleeping on).

Interestingly Enough, I Play Golf.

"When you reflect on the combination of characteristics that golf demands of those who would presume to play it, it is not surprising that golf has never had a truly great player who was not also a person of extraordinary character."
-Frank D. Tatum Jr.

Fantastic Getaway Weekend

We went to our third bedroom to complete a monumental task in two days. We almost did it.

The third bedroom used to be a "guest bedroom" of sorts, but Beth and I wanted an office where we could shut the door and study when needed. We moved both desks from the living room to the new office, and completed many other tasks. Here's what we did, and yes, we are tired.

I finished putting my new computer together (motherboard failure last week) and moved my desk to the office. We moved two full bookcases to accomodate a second desk. I installed three Ethernet drops behind the desks.

And we installed two more ceiling fans (the cool ones with remote controls), a closet organizer in the bedroom, a shelf above the washer and dryer, boards on the attic floor for storage, and I organized every cable I have in a five-drawer organizer thingy. The drawers are labeled "data cables," "power cords/adapters," "telecom," "audio/video cables," and "small devices," just in case you were interested.

Have a good week, people.

Update: Oh, and we also framed two pictures I painted in high school. Talk about things on the back burner!

Back in Time

I tend to get up pretty early in the morning (or have so for the past few weeks) and my wife hates it (so I understand now) when I turn on the light to get ready. We're (actually, Beth is) renovating Anika's room this week so Anika sleeps in our room for now. She's the real reason I didn't use the light.

So now I've been reduced to simulating an experience like that of waking up in basic training for fireguard - middle of the night, flashlight in closet/locker, clandestine attempt to muddle in the dark and get dressed. I was thinking about getting a red lens for my flashlight, but then I wouldn't be able to tell the blue socks from the black ones.

At least the coffee pot is quiet.

Competition

Amazon.com has become pretty cool with their recommendations and new interface and such, but it's still a store, like any other. Case in point:

I used Amazon's cool new "lists" feature to create a gift list for Beth. When I finally decided to buy, I discovered that they were out of stock on one item. I was going to order the only other thing on the list, but it was under $25 (no free shipping). So, what the hell - I went to my own wish list (only to find that half the shit on it was no longer available) to find something that would bring the total above that required to get shipping free. I found one thing, added it to my cart and voila! It was currently unavailable from the supplier. Seems odd since it was a NYT bestseller.

Off to buy.com I went, and got everything I needed (read: nothing for myself). No wish list there, just impulse at its best working for me.

I found it cool that it was just like the good ol' days when one couldn't find something at Wal-Mart. He just went to Kmart or Target and got it. Only today I didn't have to even stand up, walk down an aisle (or fart in it), or speak to a single person, but Amazon.com knows that I didn't buy anything today and left their site to go directly to buy.com. They know what they need to do.

And I'm Spent...

I think I'm going to have a tumor before I figure out just how Samba works on my FC5 box. I've been trying to build a Linux file server using big hard drives on old hardware, sharing files via SMB, but it just doesn't seem to want to work. I thought I had it working last night (I started this low-priority project two years ago) and wanted to expand the server to include the new 200GB hard drive.

I fucked it up. Again. And I had to reload the operating system.

Since I reloaded, I'm back to square one. Samba is not working properly and I can't figure out what the problem is. Again.

Never mind, I got it.

No I don't.

Fuck it - I'm installing Windows. Some things just aren't free enough. I've bought and read an entire book on Samba, and I haven't had any success. I have also consulted four other Unix/Linux books and several computing experts (none of whom have visited and shown me what's wrong) to no avail. To quote a famous line from my lovely wife, "This is me throwing in the towel..."

Update: I've got Windows installed and formatted both drives. I am moving all my movies to that server. I'm also wondering why I didn't do this a year ago.

"Continuum" out September 12

John Mayer has released another single, a preview of what will be on his new album, “Continuum,” due out September 12. This one's called “Waiting on the World to Change” and addresses some of the things going on right now. He mentions the war, and a few other things I can't remember (Anika was unhappy at listening time) and almost went against something he said two years ago (during the 2004 elections) in an interview. I remember when someone asked him how he felt about certain artists who give a little speech about their political leanings before their performance, and John didn't like it. He said something like “We're musicians. If you've got a message, write a song about it.”

And so he did. Except that John's got more of a perspective than a message, more of a question than an answer. We really can't ask for anything more.

This new song renews my interest in his music (it's just been too long) and inspires me once again to find something I really enjoy doing and find a way to make a living doing it.

Maybe later. For now, I have to pay the bills and try to get ahead in my career.

New Name

I was a bit late for the training this morning and when I got there I was informed that people were asking where “the skinny man” was. Great. Now I'm the outsider. There's no longer “the fat kid” because “fat” became “normal.” I shall now live the remainder of my life with the shame that I cannot be like the other kids.

Just kidding. But they were asking for the skinny man.

The 3x5 is Better on the Other Side

I just tried to read a blog on live.com and it really sucked. It was actually featured on the front page of MSN, and had a cool picture of someone in a straw hat looking over the desert. The tagline of the blog (according to MSN) was "Getting Used to New Mexico." I just had to read it. And it sucked. My blog is better, and I should just stick to reading it all the time.

But I'm writing today to tell about something my experience this morning helped me to realize: out West, as I like to refer to my favorite place, the pictures are so much better. We took such good damn pictures out there, and other than the photos of Anika, there has been no scene here like any of those in Colorado, Arizona, or New Mexico. The sun just shines differently over there, and in my eyes (through the sunglasses, of course) makes everything look better. I really gotta get out more.

This Bridge is Gonna Kick Ass

There are several websites devoted to telling people just how "bad" Chuck Norris is, and he is. This website says so.

So I came across an article this morning about 12 percent of voters in Budapest want their new 2.5-mile bridge to be named after Mr. Norris. I'm not sure what the voters will decide, but if Chuck Norris has anything to do with it when they pick another name, I am certain the bridge will come down with just one roundhouse kick.

Update: I realize this post may come across as my undying support for Chuck Norris. Truth (of my opinion) be told, he's old and never was much of an actor. These sites mentioned above are mere parodies and exaggerations joking of Chuck Norris' abilities because of the B- or C- class movies and TV shows he starred in, similar in case to those of Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenneger. The only difference among these names is that I didn't have to look up the spelling for Chuck Norris.