My Addled Brain

Currently playing: The soft beep of the Nextel

Unless you’ve never paid attention to these types of things (you didn’t notice my hair!), you may have noticed I’ve been playing around with the look of the site a bit. Let me know what you guys think.

My time here is beginning to wind down. After four solid days of answering phone calls, solving tech problems on the radio, and staring at the same four boxes of Linksys routers, I’m pretty much done with this. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some fun here, and tomorrow night a bunch of us are gonna hit the town. (BTW, the rumors of tomorrow night being someone’s bachelor party is patently absurd. Not that we wouldn’t be visiting the Gold Cup anyway.) But I long for home. My heart longs for home. But most importantly, my arteries long for home. I haven’t eaten this poorly for months. BBQ brisket heaped on a baked potato with butter, cheese, and sour cream. Breakfast tacos stuffed with egg, potato, cheese, and bacon. Not to mention late night runs to The Border™, pretty much the only place open after I leave the shop at night. (All the restaurants around here close at 10 PM. The mind boggles.) I can hear my aorta clogging as we speak.

But all this time at the office has made me a bit more productive as a result. Hopefully, the work I’ve put in this week will translate into the changes I need when I move my website to someplace more "professional". And by "professional", I mean somewhere that charges me money. But I’ll have a database backend, more space for some pictures, and lots of other zippy-keen things for your perusal.

Currently playing: Green Day - International Superhits

I find myself paying more and more attention to world events these past few weeks. Maybe it has something to do with the absolutely sorry state of affairs in the Middle East (read:Israel) and how our response to the events of the past six months have helped shape them. Now, I’m not a freaky peacenik deploring the horrific treatment of those cute and fuzzy Palestinians by the evil Israelis. On the contrary, I think the Palestinians have brought the past few months on themselves. But I also wonder what the state of affairs would be there if it were not for 9/11.

And then I start to wonder if maybe Israel has been a bit harsh, and should stand down from the occupied regions. Maybe we shouldn’t be so vocal about wanting to oust other known supporters of terrorism (read: Saddam Hussein). Maybe we (read: the US, Israel, Europe, etc.) shouldn’t be so angry. Maybe the Palestinians are the victims here. Maybe we should be the better people, and extend the olive branch first.

And then I read things like this, and wonder when we can start dropping bombs.

I’ve found several sources to learn more about what’s going on. Try here, here, and here. Remember - everybody’s biased, even news reporters, no matter how many times they tell you otherwise, even when you use a rubber hose. Another good source, and a place I’ve been visiting quite a bit recently, is here. Sgt. Stryker has a great grasp of history, and can put the events into a perspective that no infographic can even hold a candle to. And he posts pictures of Simpsons characters to make fun of people. My kinda guy.

And speaking of world events: for those of you who might be concerned about Robby’s plans to take over the world and make humanity his slaves, don’t worry (for now) - I locked him in the pantry before I left for Houston. So, unless he can make a half-eaten box of Raisin Bran, a sack of flour, a yellow onion, and a washer and dryer into an instrument of doom, we should all be fine this week.

Currently playing: Nerfherder - Nerfherder

It’s been an interesting couple of days on planet Texas to be sure. Some highlights (none of which include the 16+ hour days I’ve put in so far):

I’m staying in a hotel that reeks. Reeks of cigarette smoke, to be precise. Not the scent of a recently smoked butt, but the quality fragrance of a paint bucket full of ash and butts left out in the rain for a week, then air dried. Oh, yeah, I’m loving the accomidations. Not to mention the fact that I’m staying in a handicapped room, and the room is located on the third floor. What kind of mo-ron (that’s actually two words here in TX, but I’m hypenating it so you laymen out there still recognize it) builds a hotel with a handicapped room on the third floor. Utterly astounding.

The rental car they got me is a little better. Not a whole lot, mind you, but a little bit, anyway. It’s an ‘ought-1 Ford Focus. Took me a little bit to get used to the automatic transmission, but it’s not a bad car for having the engine space of a minivan.

Sunday, I headed out to BFE, Texas, to race remote control 4×4 trucks. That was actually pretty fun. My buddy Mike Rodio and a couple of his friends (Mike’s hetero lifemate Jeremy, and their friend Eric) have these ridiculous 4×4 trucks that can drive over damn near anything that’s lower to the ground than their wheels, and usually catch quite a bit of air while doing so. We had a great time drinking beer and running these trucks all over creation, and the fun only continued when Eric pulled out his tractor and proceeded to dig up a track in his backyard. Honestly, I really don’t think it gets more Texan than that. We continued to enjoy ourselves until it got dark, when the mosquitoes decided to crawl out from whatever hole they were in and proceeded to enjoy the four of us with a nice chablis. I look like I have chicken pox right now, for cryin’ out loud…

After feeding the bugs, we went inside and proceeded to enjoy a rockin’ fried chicken dinner, cooked up courtesy of Eric’s girlfriend, who’s name escapes me at the moment (which is pretty embarrasing, considering I won five bucks from her after cleaning her clock in Capcom Vs. SNK). After dinner, we started to watch Dude, Where’s My Car (in the words of Beetlejuice: "It keeps gettin’ funnier, every time I see it!") until we realized it was quarter to 11, and Mike’s wife was going to remove delicate portions of his anatomy for being out so late.

Other than that, I’ve been enjoying re-aquaining myself with the local cuisine, and it’s uber fat content. Good gravy, everything here is either fried, covered in barbeque, or mexican. I have enjoyed the breakfast tacos from Eats Mesquite Grill, and Mom’s Country Kitchen makes some killer lunchtime grub. Be sure to wash it down with a big glass of petrolium - it’s the Houston Way!

Currently playing: SoozRadio

So, this has been a strange week. I got the new section for the database pretty much sewed up on Tuesday, and was beginning my long-awaited retooling of old pages in the system (I love cleaning up code, which only goes to prove that I am, in fact, the biggest geek I know) when I get a call on the phone from our company VP. "Got any plans this weekend?" he asks me enthusiastically.

Uh oh.

"Nothing firmed up yet," I told him. Which was the truth, I hadn’t exactly figured out what I was doing yet. Not that having plans would have mattered.

"Well, we need you to head over to Houston for a week."

So, here I sit, in the exact chair I sat in a year and a half ago, taking the exact same calls I took a year and a half ago, the result of higher-ups conspiring against me. Well, maybe not conspiring, but whatever. Basically, I’m covering for the person who took my job when I left here, while he goes and gets married. It’s not a terribly difficult job: do technical support for our field techs, fix computers that come into the office, set up appointments for networks - that sort of thing. I know I’ve left a lot out here, but I have a feeling the website is going to get a LOT of updates this week for some reason…

Wow, am I rambling today.

Don’t think I’m not going to enjoy myself while I’m out here. I most certainly am. But I KNOW I’ll be spending almost all of my time on the Nextel walking techs through a basic cable modem installation. You try to do that while getting a lap dance sometime - it’s not nearly as easy as you might think.

On to other things. Last post, I completely forgot to mention that I was attending the wedding of one Shawn O’Shea and Richard Creed. In my opinion, and excuse to bust out my suit is a good one, and I was happy to be in attendance. Shawn looked absolutely beautiful (which isn’t very hard for her, she’s one of the most attractive women I’ve ever met), and Richard’s a pretty swell guy in his own right. They got married and had their reception at the Rusty Pelican, which sounds suspiciously like a bar where people still say "matey", but is in fact a rather nice restaurant. Everyone had a great time except Eric, who got sick. Since he and I drove to the wedding together, I had to leave early, but everything was wonderful, and I wish Shawn and Richard the best.

Links have been updated. More later.

Currently playing: Sugar - If I Can’t Change Your Mind

Lots to cover, most of which are in cute bite-size pieces.

First, I’ll starting something new next week. I’ll fill you in when I start (unless something happens that prevents me from starting, although I sincerely doubt it). It will be something that will definitely force me to update the website more often, even if it’s not this page in particular. And no, Robby has nothing to do with this. He’s too busy working on his N-Sync clones or whatever.

* Ix-nay on the ones-clay in ont-fray of the oolish-fay ortals-may! *

Whatever. First opportunity, I’m removing that damn Pig-Latin upgrade I gave you last month.

Good old Andy (who seems to provide me with at LEAST a quarter of my content these days) made up a great April Fools Day gag (which I should have posted last time…I KNOW, I KNOW) that had me rolling. And it seems to have been a popular gag, as it increased the hits on his site by twice over! So that got me thinking…watch this space for my next little bit of brilliance, “Ron Zook Gets a Hickey”, coming soon to a browser near you.

Bored on the web? (You must be, you found this place, right?) Then try playing with your own virtual Dubya! (Note: requires Flash) My personal favorite is the superman-esque suit, with him saying "Oops!" over and over. Not sure why, but there you go.

Not in the mood for vector-based executive office hijinx? Then check this out. It also requires Flash, but is both tragic and beautiful. If you can’t figure it out, move the mouse near the words to advance what’s happening…(Credit where credit is due dept.: thanks to Zeldman for those two fine links).

I’ll be updating the links page here in the next couple of days, fleshingit out with even more sites my mom probably won’t approve of. (Hi mom!)

I think the site will be moving to somewhere a bit more robust in the next few weeks. This means changes to the backend. This means a database. This means an easier method of entering logs. This means more friggin work. I must be loony.

Currently playing: Lisa Loeb (Grrrrrrr!) - Too Fast Driving

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Google. Well, maybe not. But I do. And I’ve always been curious to know how their search engine technology works. And now I know.

In case you can’t figure it out, it’s an April Fool’s Joke. Some people.

Well, another week passed by without incident. And by incident, I mean nothing even vaguely interesting. Just a lot of work, which I seem to be burying myself into more and more inbetween bouts of EQ and the occasional surfacing to visit the outside world. This last weekend was another big family gathering, as we celebrated the last big Easter at the sprawling Cuffe Clan estate (home of my aunt and uncle), in scenic Brooksville, Fl. Yes, Brooksville. What’s wrong with you? Just relax! Stop it! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS GETTING ANGRY AT ME?

Oh. Um…sorry. Robby’s got me pretty jumpy these days. He’s upset because when I go out I leave him at home. Apparently, he’s anxious for human contact. He says he’s lonely, but I’m convinced he’s sizing up specimens for whatever evil plot he’s cooking up in my closet. At least, I THINK he’s cooking it up in my closet. Who can tell, it’s all cluttered up with everything I don’t want in my living room. Just be glad I keep him locked up in my apartment (his giant hands can’t grip my doorknob, or I’m sure he’d get out on his own), and don’t let him out to unleash his unspeakable evil upon the world. Or something like that, I can never get a hang of his "evil" rhetoric he’s always spouting.

Anyway…the Cuffes are selling their house, and moving to Tampa. That’s why this was the last Easter (and most likely the last family gathering) up there. Easter was fun, the kids did an egg hunt, swam, and generally had a grand old time. We also came to the realization that most of the Cuffe grandchildren have gotten OLD. Hell, one of them is already in college. And as they have aged, by default, so have we. Egads.

So, to you, dear website reader: I hope you had a happy Easter, and wish you nothing but the best. Robby, on the other hand, wants nothing more than your total sublimation before him. What a sweetie.