Entry... 12/1/99 11:50pm

Well, here we are. This is it. Less than one month to go until the calendar year 2000 starts. Just 395 days until the new millenium starts. 24 shopping days till Christmas. It all comes down to right now. I haven't even begun to wonder what I am going to get people for Christmas. I don't even know how I am going to be able to do it this year. Things are really tight.

I don't know if I got into this at all, but the company I work for has been sold lock, stock and (smoking) barrel to a giant corporation in California. Things can only get even more interesting at work. So much for that new credit card, eh? I wonder how long it will be good for. A lot of people aren't waiting around to find out. I have more people leaving than coming in right now, and I suspect it's going to get worse. The fear doesn't keep people from scavanging the good office supplies and equipment that gets left behind by the outgoing employees. It's fairly pathetic how people watch me disassemble a system and ask "Is that better than the one I have?" Maybe we're all lucky we still have jobs right now. I just don't know.

When I was watching an episode of South Park last week, I noticed that they showed a black screen with the words "For Mary Kay Bergman" at the end of the show. I brought up a big South Park web site and found out that the woman who does all the female voices on the show and in the movie killed herself with a shotgun. According to the news report, she had some sort of "progressive phobic disorder", but was not being treated for it. Her ability to imitate voices put her in a lot of TV shows and Films, and I am sure that you have seen many of them. According to her own official site, she has been doing voices for 14 years. I found a picture of her here. She will be missed.

Guest Choice claims to protect and promote consumer choice on their website. They also offer some great homegrown opinion. They featured my friend, Dave "The Hittman" Hitt, recently. Dave has a new article about the Microsoft Anti-Trust Case on his website, The Hittman Chronicle. It's the best version of the story I've read so far.

Entry... 12/2/99 1:15am

Guess what time it is campers! Time for me to give up the latest new batch of places that I found interesting on the internet! So hang on! Need to catch up on your erotic reading? You can visit the Erotica Readers Association online.

The World Wide Water Cooler features all sorts of jokes and funny stories, organized into categories.

Do you like tests? Paris Soulier runs a fairly interesting site, delving into information on Wizards, Warriors (Barbarians), Spirits, Norse beliefs and magic, and exploration of the human Psyche through Metaphysics and Personality Tests. Whew... did I just cut and paste all that?

A thousand links. Ok, maybe less. Maybe more. Is it all as Useless as they say? You be the judge. The Uselessness of Homepages features Eve Andersson (the Goddess of pi and a site worth a visit), who then links to an incredible series of sites at Photo Net, run by Phillip Greenspun. You have got to take a tour there to believe it. His photography in Alaska is incredible.

One more. Yet another online magazine: The Stranger

Oooo. I'm feeling a wee bit peckish. Time to raid the brownie supply.

Entry... 12/3/99 3:30pm

So, they already played Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer on TV for the year. I can't believe that they did it right off the bat. It was on December 1st. Needless to say, I missed it. But I know someone with a video tape of it, so I won't miss out this year. Shame on those corporate execs! We're not ready to think about Christmas specials till at least the 15th! There is quite the history to the show. It was written in 1963. Many scenes were added and deleted over the years, and you'll be surprised to learn what Yukon Cornelius was really looking for. You'll have to read the whole story to find out. The ending where Santa goes and gets the Misfit Toys was added in 1964 after audiences requested something happy happen for them. On the flip side, here's an article about the evil that is Rudolph.

Here's a bit of holiday cheer. Take this holiday quiz.

I've stumbled upon a great search engine called Google. I've already lost a lot of time with it. Now you can, too!

Tonight I am going to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) performed by the Bootstrap Players. I love this show more and more everytime I see it. Their motto: "Shakespeare on a shoestring - 154 sonnets, 37 plays, 3 actors, all in 2 hours or less!" Tomorrow night I have a Christmas party to play for at a country club somewhere west of here. We're featuring Christmas classics such as "White Christmas", "Blue Christmas", "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night", and "Grandma got run over by a reindeer."

Entry... 12/6/99 8:35pm

Ahhh. Another Monday off. I found myself in front of the computer for most of the day and ended up revamping the main menu on my website. I also applied the new background to several of the major subpages. I have a few other ideas that I will implement in the coming days, but this will do for now. I don't want to shake the tree too much.

My landlord showed up today to get the rent check, so I wrote it out for him. Ouch. I took the opportunity to complain (again) about our non-working burner. Might as well get something out of him for Christmas.

CleanSheets bills their online magazine as "Showcasing intelligent and sexy erotic fiction, poetry, and art, as well as information and commentary on sexuality and society." I think that's just a clever way of saying "(Snicker) We've got a site full of dirty stories! (tee hee)"

Jade maintains a wonderful site, featuring her photography and her Journal.

Tomorrow at work we are being visited by our new owners. All employees have been invited to attend meetings with the new Human Resources director to get the lay of the land. Our CEO is officially gone, and is no longer a full time employee. It's going to be an interesting day. Gosh, I'm going to have to push all of my arbitrarily assigned deadlines back now that I am losing another day.

Christmas shopping status: Upgraded from "Huh? Already?" to "Got one thing done."

Entry... 12/8/99 1:00am

Work today was very interesting to say the least. I really don't know what's going to happen with the company. Maybe we'll be around. Maybe we won't. Maybe we'll get money to stay on. Maybe we won't. It's way to early to tell. I got a phone call just after lunch from the guy who is doing the repairs on my boat. Suddenly this is going to cost me 3 times what I thought it would have. The thing needs a brand new engine block to do the repair right. I don't know how I am going to work it out, but I know what needs to be done. I just have to bite the bullet, and hope that somehow everything will work out right. To celebrate this series of bad/good/we don't know news, my boss and coworker and I went out to Sutters for lunch and had a few Beamish stouts apiece.

I just got home. I went out to Valentine's tonight to see a local band, Arc perform. I almost thought that I missed it. I checked the Metroland to see what time the show started at 8:15, and the blurb said that it started at 8. Well, I flew down there, and beat the band there. They didn't start till 9:30 or so. I hung around after their set (which was great) and listened to a band from California (ugh) and another local band called "Monsters of Groove" (double ugh). I really couldn't believe how young this band (or the groupies) were. High school, at the very least. Afterwards, bandmembers of Arc and I hung out downstairs and chatted while a local trio played bar tunes. We drank some more Beamish and danced and just were stupid. I needed that sort of distraction.

I found a really cool javascript today called The Orbs of Wonder. Very cool.

Desk pop can count up by one today: 146.

Entry... 12/10/99 5:23pm

I watched a few Christmas specials on video last night. "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (love the dog!) and "Rudolph's Happy New Year." That's the one with the little baby, Happy New Year, with the big ears. Lame, but hey, it's Christmas.

News in the boat department: Chips out of the exhaust ports in one cylinder from dirt and sand and rocks getting hauled up into the intake vent. Remedy: New Rings, new piston, and a new engine block. Ouch! That totals up to $1400, give or take a few pennies. I really want to be able to use this boat this summer, so I approved the repair. I want to do it right, and this seems the best. The kicker is that there is no technology for my engine that allows a filter to be put on the intake port. This could happen again in 5 years! Aieee!

I hope I never, ever see a Compaq Armada laptop again for the rest of my life. I have been fighting all week long with a stubborn little 7770, and today I gave up and formatted the hard drive and started over. Now, some of you may feel that wiping the begger clean is a victory of sorts. To me, it means that I wasn't able to fix what ailed it with patches and fresh software. I had a real lack of tech support on this one. No one wanted to come near it. I halfway don't blame them, but I really felt alone on this one. So now, behind me, are five shiny happy little laptops, ready for device driver and software loads. I at least got the latest rev of the OS on them by COB. Something to deal with next week.

I did some fun behind the scenes javascripting today, just learning mostly. But this stuff will help me do the next website I work on. It'll be a lot more efficient and look better.

It's time for a link fest! I'll just toss these out now. I revisited the Church of the Subgenius, and found this page Kook Love just chock full of links. There's trouble in the Church of Bob, though. Some ex-member is getting mad and getting even. Dave Navarro has a photobooth in his house. You can read yet another E-Zine called Ooze. I found an online guitar magazine called Guitar9 that gives lessons and tips. I wonder if they knew about Kurt Vonnegut's Ice-Nine?

Tomorrow morning I am helping a friend move, and then I have a gig. But tonight I plan to slam on my drumset for awhile. It's good for frustration, and it has been a frustrating week.

Desk pop can count up by two: 148

Entry... 12/25/99 12:25am

Well, it's 12:25am on 12/25/1999, otherwise known as Christmas Eve. It's been a fairly busy day. I've been done with my shopping for about 2 weeks now, and had no last minute errands to run. I was supposed to have taken all of this week off from work, but I would have just been sitting around with nothing to do. With our new vacation carryover policy at work, I would just as soon keep these days for next year and use them in the summer, or get paid for them if I leave the company. I spent most of today in the kitchen, making a cherry pie and baked ziti. My brother and I messed around a little bit with our new basement recording studio, and I put down a couple of (really awful) drum tracks. I expect to improve on my musical contributions. It's one thing entirely to play and have a good time, but entirely a different thing to play when the red light is on. All it takes is practice. Tomorrow morning I will awake to a partially empty house, as it is just me and my brother here tonight. Our other housemate is visiting his family north of here. We all expect to meet up at my parents house tomorrow afternoon for the big Christmas dinner. We are expected at the family homestead in the morning for breakfast. Following that will be the annual opening of the presents. (Oh boy!). I did spend a part of the day watching the classic movie "Scrooge" and the not-so-classic "Scrooged" (with Bill Murray). I find myself in a suitably good holiday mood, and I am happy and content.

Any ferret fans out there? Why don't you name your next furry addition "Blog, the magnificent ferret"? That was the name of an animal act in a Scooby Doo episode I saw last night. Dick Van Dyke joined those meddling kids during a romp around a carnival.

I can take this weather. As long as it isn't blowin' and snowin', I'm fine. It's been cold, certainly, but it could be (and has been) worse. The moon is simply breathtaking this week, and we have been lucky enough to enjoy clear skies almost every night. There was the coolest halo around the moon last night.

Just seven days from right now, it will be the year 2000. I will be on a dance floor somewhere north of my current position. With any luck all the lights will be on. I really cannot wait to never hear about this little scare again. Of course, they are trying their best to scare the great unwashed with terrorist threats and high level infiltration of our government. But come on, really, why should the average joe fret about this? His trailer park is safe, I can bet. They want those overpaid fools in Washington, and boy oh boy, they can have em.

I know I have been quite negligent in keeping this journal updated in the past few weeks, and I suppose I have no good excuse. There's so much I want to mention, but I think it's probably best if I just kept going from here. So, Merry Christmas everybody. I hope that you and your family are happy, safe, and warm. Let's all have a drink sometime.

Desk pop can count up by four (somewhere in the last two weeks): 152

Entry... 12/27/99 4:05pm

Well, well, Merry Christmas! Is it over? What? Oh! It's over! Ok, then. We can get on with it now.

A few words I don't want to hear ever again: "Y2K", "Leverage", and "Millenium" Even next year, when it actually *is* a new millenium, I don't want to hear it. They used it up this year. Everyone and their Mother knows there was never a year 0. Besides, if those wing nuts who are trying to tie some apocalyptic meaning to this new year, then they already missed the boat by 5 years.

I had a great Christmas. My Father gave me a subwoofer speaker system that I can plug into just about anything I have. I got a stone game called Mangala from my Daughter. I had to play myself the first two times. The first time I played I kicked my own ass. I also got a fleece pullover that I think I am going to wear until July. It's freaking cold outside. We had the first snow that really stayed on the ground today. I know I am being a big wimp about this, but I am just sick of snow and winter already. I got a new pair of gloves, that I almost lost already. I went out for lunch at the mall (still crowded!) with some coworkers today and left them on the table when I left. But I went right back inside when I realized that my fingers had no protection and reclaimed them. The bus boy who had them said "I knew that you'd be back. These are nice gloves."

Last night I had a friend over for dinner. I haven't seen him in a couple of years, so we caught up with each other, and then pulled out a card game that we haven't played in 6 years or so. It was one that developed out of other card games that we used to play all the time. He called it "Pecking Order." We found a couple (un)willing victims to play a full round with (We bribed them with coffee and pie.) I really enjoyed playing it again. I hope that wasn't a one time deal.

Desk pop can count up by one today:153

Entry... 12/28/99 2:28pm

I finally finished Kurt Vonnegut's Bogombo Snuff Box last night at about 3 in the morning. I took my time with this final (but actually, his first works) published collection of short stories. Kurt is 78 years old now, and limits his writing to essays proffered upon request. One bonus of the book is that in his afterword, he included an essay on being a mid-westerner that he recently authored. A nice treat. I have yet to read his final novel, Timequake.

So, Ok, When Does the New Millennium Really Begin? Read all about our calendar, and the common schools of thought regarding timekeeping.

Phoon yields a nice picture of the current phase of the moon. I found this link of the ACME Laboratories website. They also let you make online labels that look as if they came out of a Dyno labeler. Watch out, ladies! I made one myself:

Need a fully enclosed, single surface manifold? You can buy stock and custom handmade glass Klein bottles. They even made some drinking mug Klein Bottles (for the thirsty topologist.) This is what happens when geeks make jokes.

Entry... 12/29/99 5:10pm

Finding a room for New Year's Eve in Gore Mountain, New York is no piece of cake. I finally had to settle for a two night stay, but I got a great rate. I am now a close personal friend of at least 20 inns and resorts, and know enough about the services and restaurants in the lower Adirondacks to be able to open up my own travel bureau. I'm looking forward to being away for the entire weekend now. It will seem more like a holiday, and more special, I think. Here's a shot at where I am staying:

Entry... 12/30/99 4:00pm

Time for another linkfest! Just in time for the New Year, too. I figure since I wont be around this weekend, you'll need a few things to do to keep busy.

The Adventures of Nuck and Futz, and the author's box. In other futz related links, you can learn about futzing in general in an article examining the Futz Factor.

Naked Jane. All band. All hype. All the time. One of Naked Jane's fans made a web site.

Pigdog is a great online alternative magazine. They did a big spread on The Burning Man desert celebration. Read about how some got sick, some got lost, and one got saved. Another online magazine, Pissclear has a lot of tips and tricks at surviving the festival.

Desk pop can count up by one today: 154

Entry... 12/31/99 10:04am

So here I am at work. It's really really quiet. Too quiet. We are entertaining ourselves with busy work, making sure the backups ran, and updating all of our virus protection software. I wonder when they will release the hounds. I still need to pack and hit the bank.

I'm pretty excited that my daughter now is using the computer I got her for Christmas for email! I've already gotten a few letters from her, mostly thanking me for the Christmas presents. Ah, modern times. Electronic thank yous. She is already forwarding spam, though. I'll have to try to curtail that.

I found some great Star Trek parody scripts on the Heptune website. "Star Quirk" is a pretty good example of what they do. The site is located on Guam, which as I write this entry is celebrating the new year.

Ever wonder what Shania Twain's husband "Mutt" Lange looks like? Not at all what I expected. Take a look at all the songs he's written and records he's produced. It's pretty astonishing. I'll bet you've been humming some Mutt songs...

So, what makes this a leap year?