Entry... 6/1/2000 10:20pm

What? Oh man. June is here already, and I never finished May. I have a ton of stuff to share, and as usual, no time at all to get caught up. I'll give it a try now.

Last Thursday was the annual Chase Corporate Challenge. It's a 5K race through downtown Albany. This year 3,500 people showed up to participate in the race. This is the fifth year that I've done it, and the second year I've walked the course. Last year, as you may remember, I messed up my knee in indoor volleyball (the wall won.) This year, I may have been able to run the race if I had actually trained for it. But, surprise, I didn't. I made the first mile in and the second in . I didn't take a picture at Mile 3 because I handed off the camera and ran the last half mile. I finished in 49:43 minutes, beating my time from last year by a good 5 minutes. The rain held off until I got in line for my T-Shirt, but it felt so good.

I finally saw American Beauty on Friday night. I mostly enjoyed it, but think they could have done without the voice-overs by Kevin Spacey. I call it the Blade Runner syndrome. Take out the cheesey, indulgent things, and I think you would have a stronger movie. I agree with many when I say that the dinner table scene was the best. I also rented Mumford, a film about a small town psychiatrist. Jason Lee (Mall Rats, Chasing Amy) had a great role as a rich, high tech inventor who rode a skateboard everywhere. A good film.

Let's see, what else, what else. Oh yes, my gig for Saturday night got cancelled, so I got to go to an afternoon house warming party at a friend's new house. Got incredibly lost in his neighborhood. The streets just seemed to loop and weave in incomprehensible directions. I even stopped and asked two mailmen for directions. One had no clue, and the other wasn't totally sure, but his directions put me on the right track. We had a few beers, and a grilled burger or two, and watched the kids play hide and go seek. There's nothing funnier then watching a 3 year old and a 5 year old play hide and go seek. They would "hide" (stand behind a bush - you could see their legs) and the other one would look right at the bush and not see them. Precious!

Then it was time to GO TO THE LAKE. The annual Opening Day party was this weekend, and my Dad got his boat in just in time for me to be able to use it. The weather wasn't terrible, a bit chilly at times, but we did get some moments of sunshine. I forgot to take my camera out for our pass-by of the other boat club, but I took some shots as they came by our docks. I'm the one firing the cannon for the flag ceremony. I didn't go swimming this weekend, another first. I always tried to get in the water (which was 58 degrees) by this time. Am I getting older, or just wimping out?

Back to work on Tuesday with the rest of America. I sure as shooting didn't want to be there. The weather, of course, was perfect. Figures. But it was volleyball night, so I got to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air as my team played hard, but lost. Not a bad effort, though.

Wednesday night I had a softball game. We won, 17-15 against a really good team. They were knocking the ball everywhere, but we managed to rally from a deficit and played some good defense to hold them in the last inning. Our team is now third in the league standings. I took a really hard fly ball right on the right wrist, and am still feeling some discomfort there when I put pressure on it. I hope it's just a temporary thing.

Hey... I think that gets me caught up. It's Thursday now. I worked on a new design for the Arc home page after work, and found out that church was cancelled for this week. So, here we are. I think I will share some links with you, and go read some more of the John Grisham novel I started on the boat this weekend. I'd like to be done with it before this weekend starts. The plan, of course, is get back up to the lake. I hear we might have some nice weather... Ssshhhh.. Let's not jinx it.

I found this web site written by a 60 year old sailor on Lake Erie. He writes about the different types of boats he has owned and sailed.

In an old entry, I made reference to Erica Jackson. She now has some new websites, and emailed me to tell you about them. You can visit her again at Some Crazy Dame and I'm Erica Online. Say that last one outloud, fast. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was brought down yesterday by NASA. After nine years in space, it was finally decided to bring the craft down while 2 of the three remaining gyroscopes on board still functioned. They needed at least 2 to guarantee safe re-entry. I hope to see the coverage of this event on NASA TV this weekend. It came down in the wee hours of the morning, so perhaps there will be some nice flashes.

Freevibe is all about giving up drugs. Read about the effects of several favorites in their drug lowdown.

Visit Movie Mistakes Ever catch something in a film that doesn't look right? A T-shirt is blue in one scene, black in the next? Hair is messed up and then suddenly combed? This site lists a ton of films, with many entries per film.

Entry... 6/7/2000 12:43pm

After day of rain and cloud, the sun finally rises on the tableau that is our lives. A little man with a bearded face pokes his head outside and stares up at the blue sky, quite unsure as to the source of the bright light in the east. Might that be the sun? He trembles, and his skin does a delighted dance, soaking up the energizing power given off by cosmic eruptions. The world is at peace once again.

Instead of eating lunch, I am sitting here writing. What am I thinking? I need to get away from here for an hour, like I do everyday. Again, like everyday, I wonder where to go. I reflect back over the weekend. Friday night out at the movies to see Mission Impossible:2 (Lame, but pretty.) The remainder spent at the lake buried behind the pages of the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Great book. Great sunburn. The Mother Duck that took up residence in our dock had, indeed, flown the coop. Her nest stands empty, but for some eggshell. She and her newly hatched hatchlings were nowhere in sight. Band prace was actually productive, and fun this week. Softball and Volleyball were both cancelled due to the floods. Er, rain. For a second there, I thought they would begin gathering animals two by two. Rented The Bone Collector last night (Bah.)

You may or may not have noticed, but I changed the picture on the front page of this site. A coworker of mine came up with this design. If you feel inclined to create your own twist of the picture, feel free! I'd love to see what you come up with. If I like it, I'll feature it on the front page.

The Commerical Sex Information Service (CSIS) is a clearinghouse of information about laws, sexual health, commerce and culture as these topics relate to sex work. Jason Pettus has a great site, lots of art, a journal, and great links. In fact, I found a reference to a zine called Factsheet 5 on this site. I used to know the founder of Factsheet 5, Mike Gunderloy, way back in the 80's. Mike ran one of the first multi-line BBS systems in the area. It was a total geek fest. We would all gather at Mike's place, and instead of talking to each other, we would log on to the BBS and type to each other. All you could hear was keystrokes and giggling. Youth is wasted on the young, someone said, and they were right. Anyway, here is a link to Broken Pencil, Canada's version of Factsheet 5 (now in someone else's hands. Mike retired long ago.) Broken Pencil is a great E-zine about Canadian culture.

Status of the Remuneration compensation upgrade: Stalled.

Entry... 6/9/2000 2:39pm

Weird Al's latest video "It's all about the Pentiums" is available on the internet (for a short time, get it today, don't delay!) at The Pentiums

For the last two years, I have been tormenting my housemates, and anyone else who might make the mistake of asking me if I need anything, with requests for a "big screen tv". I found myself with nothing to do on Wednesday night (danger, will robinson!) and decided to go price compare the local retailers (run, will robinson!). What could be the harm? (oh my god, you're gonna get it, wil robinson!) I figured that I would have a better idea as to who around here sells what, and where I could negotiate a good deal. I like bartering. (hold on to your checkbook, wil robinson!) So, with a friend in tow to act as guide and conscience, I struck out for parts unknown, clutching a photocopied page from the yellow pages and current prices of popular models from the internet. I felt ready, reasonably well informed. I knew what I wanted. I predetermined my minimum feature set, so as not to be swayed by a fast talking (or worse, a no talking) salesperson. You can't fool me. I know what I want. So, the first place I went to didn't have anything I liked at all. Move on. That was easy. I made the appropriate notes: "Ugh. Barf. Zenith? Ooog." The second place was closed. Curses! This can't be! I'll have to come back on another day so as to complete my review of area stores. I scribble down the hours and head for store #3. They don't carry the brand I want, but I ask about comparable models. All they have are models a step up from what I want. I get handed a book of glossy photographs to look at. I poke around, thinking "Ok, strike this place," when he mentions that a unit in the display is the last one. I didn't get any further. (put a fork in him, he's done, wil robinson!) I say those fatal deal making words, "Ok, what's your price if I pay cash for this right now?" I felt sure that he would come back with a price higher than I would be comfortable with. He didn't. I was expecting to pay about $800, plus tax, and he came back and said $750. Now that's a deal in itself, but I had no idea how much of a deal it actually was. I said that I would give him some money to hold the unit for me, and I would do some research and come back and get it the next day. When I got home, I looked the set up on the internet, and found that it lists for $1300 and typically sells for $1150-$1200. Woo hoo! Installation of the beast was a chore and a half. It weighs about 200 pounds, and measures 33 and 7/8 inches wide. Sure enough, the space I had for it is 33 and 5/8 inches wide. I had to rip out a divider in my entertainment center to accomodate this monster. I tried to put my 27 inch TV in the family room, since my 19 inch TV coughed up blood over the winter. Wouldn't you know it, but it won't fit in the shelf. Foiled again. I'll have to come up with a different furniture arrangement back there. But the new TV looks great. I'm very happy with it. I'll probably be at home tonight, watching a movie.

The summer eating season has begun in earnest. There's nothing better than sitting in the sun with shirtsleeves rolled up to my elbows, a light breeze in my hair, and both hands on some slippery well-done cheeseburger. I went to one of my favorite outdoor grills for lunch this week for the first time this summer. Even though the food is certainly not high caliber, it beats the mall.

I've got two submissions for new splash screen art already! They're great. I can't wait to put them up. Send your art in today!

Entry... 6/12/2000 4:40pm

I rented Boys Don't Cry with Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny on Friday night. Wow, that was a disturbing picture. I won't give the film away. I was unaware that it was a true story, occuring in 1993 Nebraska.

Spent most of the weekend on the boat. It was a little breezy, but nice overall. I started a book by Clive Cussler called Flood Tide. Good solid summer nonsense reading, as I like to call it. I got halfway through the book. No sunburn this weekend. I spent most of the time in the shade, making up for cooking myself last weekend. I think I would prefer to have a few layers of skin left when I get older.

June is a busy month in terms of parties and birthdays, and Father's Day. I went shopping on Friday night for a whole load of goodies, and I spent a few hours in the wee hours of Saturday morning with a saw and sandpaper making a lamp for a friend of mine. I went to a birthday party on Sunday for a two year old boy. At two, they have no idea as to what is going on around them, so it's fun to watch them react to the noise and the brightly colored toys. All the other youngsters who are there get confused when they see all the toys to play with, and don't know why they can't take them home with them. Lots of fun!

I got to hear the new Matchbox Twenty CD at work today. It's pretty good, but I wasn't blown away by it. A lot of new music is starting to sound the same, I think. It's time to shake up the music industry! The CD belongs to a coworker who just bought himself a brand new canoe over the weekend. I'm looking forward to chance to take that puppy and a six pack out for a ride.

Softball game tonight! I hope that the rain yesterday didn't soak the playing field too much. Looks like we will play, though. I won't be able to play volleyball tomorrow night, since a coworker and I are going to an all day Golf tournament. Sponsored by a local computer vendor, we are treated to a day of golf, cart rental, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and plenty of prizes. The beer, we have to pay for ourselves. That reminds me, I'd better email the volleyball team and tell them that two of us won't be showing up.

Today's shower: Brrrr.....

Entry... 6/14/2000 10:43pm

It's going to get pretty quite around the office tomorrow. June 15th is the one of the main RIF dates for our corporate reduction in force. 16 of the some 38 people whose jobs were eliminated will walk out the door tomorrow. 2 more leave on Friday. Most of them have new jobs. Most of them have been spinning their wheels waiting for this day to come so that they can collect their severance and retention bonuses and move on. Permanent employees (like me) will wave, or go to the big after work happy hour tomorrow and listen to them exult in their new lives while we cuddle our beers. Some of us will cry that it isn't us leaving. We are going to bounce right back up to our original size by the end of the year. We bought another local company, and we are consolidating their 50 employees into our office. As a part of the upcoming integration, I had to travel over to their current site to talk about telephone and PC needs. I can't believe, in this day and age, the absolute crap that they are still running. Can you believe Windows 3.1 on a 386? I couldn't believe it myself. We're planning to give them a bunch of PC's that are being vacated this week.

Tuesday brought about a golf tournament sponsored by some companies that I buy a lot of equipment from. I am not a golfer. I'm learning, but I am certainly not here yet. I get out there and duff the ball around the course as best I can. Luckily, we played a four man scramble so my team had a fighting chance. A 20 year old intern from Cloughton-Harbor carried us around the course, for the most part. He was an amazing golfer. True to how this summer is going so far, we played in the rain. I had more luck in the door prize department than I did on the course. They had a ton of prizes to give out, ranging from T-shirts (I didn't need another one of those), putters, mugs, windbreakers (They said Cisco on them, and I did want one of those), and golf balls. I won a Titleist golf bag (now I have 3 bags) and the grand prize: A Compaq Aero handheld PC. They sell for about $300. It runs Windows CE, and accepts Compact Flash cards. It can be used as a portable Mp3 player, or with the right plug ins, a GPS, a cell phone, or an Internet browser (just plug in a modem). I was very pleased!

Had band practice tonight. We're gearing up for a Father's Day barbecue on Saturday. Of course, the forecast is for rain. I stopped in and visited my Mom on the way home. She fed me dinner, and we made plans to celebrate her birthday, Father's Day and my housemate's birthday on Sunday.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I rented Mystery, Alaska on Tuesday night. Russell Crowe did a great job as Sheriff John Bebe. He had the accent down cold. What was good about his Northern accent was that he didn't go over the top with it. He had just enough to hook you in with it. I enjoyed the film, and no, I won't tell you who won.

Entry... 6/26/2000 9:55am

Hey campers. It's been awhile. You know, every summer gets like this. There are so many things to do when the weather is nicer. Of course, some yahoo at work always comes up with far reaching projects that require more attention than they are worth. I have that going on right now. I need to get 40 computers reconfigured and shipped to a new office in Cohoes this week. Plus we have 3 major servers to configure and ship to Colorado. I have 2 softball games scheduled, and the normal volleyball games. All of these may take a backseat to working late on these computers, or I'll have to come back to the office after the games. I still haven't decided which to do.

No waves means No wind.

This past weekend brought the annual long distance race to the lake. I was appointed tactician on the boat, and we set off in light air for a 30 mile jaunt around the lake. We never made it. The light air turned to no air, and we baked in the sun for 5 hours before calling it quits. Disappointing, to be sure. I did some swimming, and reading, and worked the finish line from 11pm to 1am. I only saw one boat go by during that time, and they had also dropped out (just a lot later than we did). I watched a giant spider spin his web, and catch his dinner.

Last week, our softball team had 2 wins. We remain undefeated in the league. They were big wins, against tough teams with good records. We have 2 games scheduled this week.

Model Railroading is, as you know, huge. Here's a local web site set in Rensselear, hosting the Rensselear Railroad Heritage Exhibit.

Status of the Remuneration compensation upgrade: In process (again), but retroactive.

Brian Benson set off to take a shower with 100 different women. Read (and see) his adventures at The Shower Project.

A Guiness Book for sex? Check out the online Sexual Records.

Get out. Outside, that is. Check out Destination Outdoors.

I got a fortune cookie the other day that I love. It suits me. On the back, it teaches you a new chinese word. The word? Pi-jiu. It means beer.

Entry... 6/27/2000 8:05am

We lost our first softball game last night. Now we are 5 and 1. An astute member of our brief fan club remarked "Now you don't have to worry about going undefeated anymore. Just play one game at a time." Wiser words were never spoken, Kemo Joe Torres.

My brother tossed me this link - Stinky Meat. This is what happens when you leave the meat out to dry. This link, of course, led me to another link, which led me to another link, which led me to another link, and so on and so on and so on... I just left the house after a week behind the computer monitor. What's that ball of fire in the sky called? (Links above provided by Ontap and The Spark.)

Entry... 6/27/2000 2:25pm

Well, I had been wondering what I would do when the Desk Pop Can Count made it to 200. Something to make it special, I guess, and that certainly did happen. I bought a car today. I had been looking semi-seriously for the last couple of weeks (thank you, high gas prices) for something that would give me good mileage and not break my bank. A coworker introduced me to his BMW 320i, and I learned that I could get a lot of car for a low price. Hard to do this day and age. I did a lot of comparison shopping, a lot of surfing the web, and test drove 4 different models of BMW's before I settled on a cherry 1984 733i. It has a 6 cylinder, 3.3L engine that delivers 180 horsepower and a firm, 5 speed manual transmission. It caters to my practical side, since it is the full size sedan, with 4 doors, a full sized spare, and a spacious trunk. Plus, it has a sexy side with the sunroof, 12 speaker audio system, and a teak and leather interior. Coke can number 200 took the ride with me to DMV to register the car and get the plates. I'll pick up the car tomorrow at lunchtime. Just in time for my birthday!

So then, officially: Desk Top Pop Can Count: 200!