Everyday Things

Sometimes it's remarkable what those among us in the world can create. Sometimes it's also remarkable what has yet to be created. I look around and see what we've been able to do as species. I looked at a car on the road today and saw the subtle nuances in just the exterior metal, just the things that make one every car look different from the next. I thought about how that piece of metal had to have a history, had to be designed, had to go to a factory to be formed, and had to be just right to be put on the car. I thought about how every car is just so different, but has a history similar to the next.

I then thought about how, despite the fact that we've been able to create such things, we have not been able to do some things that I thought would be natural by now; some things that seem obvious. For instance, creating a car capable of obtaining greater than 30 mpg on average but still have decent power. Once we make a breakthrough, we're stuck. The corporate world then prevents that breakthrough from evolving.

The world can be such a phenomenal place and such a depressing one all at once. I'm sitting with my laptop, connecting with many friends wirelessly. I'm drinking a beverage we've known how to make for hundreds of years. I'm imagining what the future holds. I'm remembering what the world was like before cell phones.

It's all so amazing. Sometimes it's really not, though. I guess every person goes through experiences that gives him a subset of the "real world view." I just hope yours is the most amazing one.

Couldn't We Just Win The Lottery Instead?

This friggin' blows. This page says that MTHFR deficiency, which I'm convinced is the reason that we are in a world of hurt right now, occurs in only about 200,000 people in the US. The girl has it.

I'm not going to ask what comes next, because I'm actually afraid somebody or something will show me, and I'm afraid it'll just get worse.

Well, Gosh, Sort of a Lot Has Happened...

I feel like I haven't blogged in a bazillion years. The reason is that, in the spirit of "kick him while he's down," life has been a little cruel of late. After New Years, we've both been messes on and off. The last week or so, I've been under a remarkable amount of stress. I've been struck by the friggin' plague, I've been trying (and failing) to work really hard, and now there's a new wrinkle.

The Girl has a fibroid. The doctors say "take it out" (surgically). She's nervous. I'm nervous. I think, though, that if she decides to do it, it will ultimately be OK. She also has MTHFR (pronounced to me "motherfucker"). I mean, why not pronounce it how it looks? It's not good. Genetic to boot, too. Might as well call it what it is. That particular malady is bad. I personally think it's to blame, but there is no way to prove that.

I was down, I was bruised, and now I keep getting kicked and I think maybe a rib is broken, metaphorically speaking. I don't want to ask "what next?" because I'm afraid then something will actually be next. We don't want something to be next. We just want to escape the rest of the first half of this year relatively unscathed. Even the most optimistic part of me can't seem to believe that, though...

Apple, Safari, and Keyword Searches

One of the things I've gotten used to in browser-land is the ability to do keyword searches in a browser's address field. For instance, opening Firefox and typing g XKCD would search Google for XKCD. I know every browser by now has a little search bar right next to the address bar, but this is just something that makes my life a bit faster, and I've grown used to it.

For some reason, though, Apple has decided not to include this capability in Safari. Firefox has it natively. Opera has it natively. I don't know about Chrome. Safari does not.

Now, I recently got back into Safari after Apple released the beta of Safari 4. I downloaded it. It's nice. I could get used to using it, but first I had to solve the keyword search problem for it to be a browser I could use.

After much searching of the Tubes, I came across GLIMS. This is special in that it actually worked with the Safari 4 beta immediately; no waiting for the software community to catch up. It made me happy.

So, if you, like me, require keyword searches, go pick it up.

Vermont, Part 3: The Tiredness

It's amazing. Apparently, the height of the mountain plays a significant part in determining which body parts feel like they're going to fall off the next day. Both arms and legs are major contenders. However, the winner, shockingly, was my head. All mental jokes aside, it's felt like it was going to explode out through my eyes all day. Not a good feeling. Much more sleep in the car on the way home later, I felt better.

On the way back from Vermont, the major event was that we missed the EMS and snowboarding shop in Paramus, NY, and just kept thinking we'd see them. We didn't realize they were in Paramus, so we kept hoping. Hope turned to despair when we reached I-95 in New Jersey, though. At that point, we just felt like we needed to eat or we'd expire from hunger.

All-in-all, though, the trip back was OK (except for the headache), and the ride was not bad. Definitely the way to go if you plan to go up to New England and don't want to take the three hours going through New York during rush hour. That's just a major nightmare.

Anyway, we're back, and I got to snowboard for one day in powder up to depths of two feet. It was exciting, and now I know where there's a condo I can rent to get a bunch of boarders on vacation.

:-) Out...

Vermont, Part 2: Snowboarding and Insanity

Today, we woke up and went snowboarding. Holy jeez, is it nice up here. There are 119 trails on Okemo Mountain. Many of them had POWDER! Actual POWDER! In some places, they had TWO FEET of powder, which turns out to be very difficult to snowboard in. I loved every second of it; even when I wrenched my left arm nearly out of its socket. Yup, even then I was having a phenomenal time. Snowboarding in Maryland and Pennsylvania will never be the same. My new nickname should be the Mogul Killer.

The night turned out to be even more interesting. We attempted to go to dinner. Some of the roads had snow on them, and one of the party found a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a snow covered hill. Said party member also had nearly bald tires, and couldn't get back up the road. After he tried for twenty minutes, he let me try. When that happened, I managed to put his car into a four foot snow drift on the side of the road. Much digging later, and two more times getting stuck on the snow drift, and we finally got back to square one.

Meanwhile, Irene was up at a house trying to get help from a less than helpful gentleman who decided to chastise her about not having snow tires. Oh, Vermont, you kidder! This guy called his plow guy, who came without any sand to throw down. Still, with his plow, he was able to get to road into a state that allowed us to get the car back up the hill... finally.

We were an hour late for dinner. The dinner was remarkably tasty, and we spent it humorously assigning blame to the various party members. Let the drinking begin!

Vermont, Part 1: The Drive

It's Monday. The GPS is remarkably useful, but also a damned liar. We began at 10:45 or so. The ride was actually pretty pleasant for being well over four hundred miles. The key, if you ever decide to drive north, is to skip Manhattan. That will save you three hours. We learned this when we drove to Connecticut, and so we got lucky this time; no Manhattan. As for the GPS, it originally told us we'd be here at 5:45 PM. We got here at 7:00 or so. Granted, we stopped for food, but this should have bumped us to only 6:15. The snow cause a phenomenon I like to call "minute creep," which means that, for ever two minutes you're on the road, the GPS's estimated arrival time creeps up one minute, which can make the GPS a new-age torture device when you have to pee.

The real fun began when we hit the Vermont line, though. That's when mother nature decided to see if the Mazda would handle like a snowboard, or at least I assume so due to the snow it put on the road. Every mile, the snow got just a little worse. At that point the Girl was driving. That was interesting, since her foot REALLY likes the brakes. Every time she stopped, I thought we would careen into a slide. Thankfully, we did not, and she actually did pretty well.

When we got near to our destination, we had to call to obtain step-by-step instructions for getting to the place. At that point, the snow had built up to the point that the Mazda's traction control was probably praying for the pain to stop. I eventually took over so that I could weasel our way up the mountain in the snow, inch at a time. We made it though, and it's snow-licious up here. I can't wait to see what snowboarding on powder is really like. I hope my camera can take a run too. I've always wanted snowboarding pictures.

Gamey

Do you like first person shooters? If so, then I have three words for you; Left 4 Dead. OK, so that was two words and a number, but you get the idea. It fills a nice empty space in my brain; the space that wants to shoot zombies in a party-like atmosphere with my friends.

The premise for the game is interesting, but it's really not necessary. After all, the only action in the game, really, is shooting zombies. It bears mentioning anyway, though. You and three friends (or you and friends and AI) are actors in a movie. There are initially four movies in which you can participate. In each move, you have to get from the beginning, which is an area that is infested with zombies, to the save point, which is where other survivors pick you up and remove you from the area.

As for the rest of this weekend, it was also full of games. Forrest was down, and so we played Smash Brothers Brawl pretty much every second we had down time. Another game to just wail on stuff.

The main purpose of the weekend, though, was Friday night; the Jonathan Coulton concert. It was pretty much awesome. Paul and Storm opened for him. The venue, the Birchmere, just makes the experience more awesome. It's a dinner theater-style place. The food is too expensive, but the atmosphere makes up for it.

I miss the gamer part of me. It's been so long. Forrest is really the only person who brings it out in me, too. Playing solo just isn't as fun. Computers can either be too challenging or not challenging enough, but you can always feel the algorithm in whichever way they swing. Humans are algorithmless thus far. It makes things more interesting...

Well, Is It?

I feel happy. I feel accomplished. I feel like I could build a house. What I couldn't do, however, is build one that remains standing for any period of time. Oh, it would stand initially. It would almost certainly come tumbling down like a house of cards, though, after a short time. Have you ever played poker with 2x4s? I bet it's hard.

I helped frame a wall today. It may well be the best wall ever. I don't know why. I just get the feeling that it could be.

The girl practiced knitting today, a skill she acquired yesterday. I'm proud. She made the most magnificent, slightly deformed eye cover ever. It's just the right speed for somebody with my particular inability to be normal.

I then came home, had a beer, and blogged. Does it show?

Speedy Little Demon

The new beast arrived on Monday. So,

Monday, Construction...

Tuesday, Testing...

Wednesday, Operating Systems...

Thursday, Software...

Friday, Benchmarking...

Saturday, More Benchmarking...

If you haven't figured it out by this point, benchmarking means playing Portal and looking at the frame rate. The results? Portal is steady at 240 fps, peaks at 300 fps. That's with EVERYTHING turned up. :-)

This machine RULES!