A fool and his money are soon elected.
— Will Rogers died 1935
Nothing’s changed.
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An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homeland.
— Adolf Hitler justifying the creation of The Gestapo
Sounds familiar to the language used by our president in regards to “homeland security” and various freedom elimilating legislation passed by the US Congress. I keep repeating myself when I talk about this stuff. For as much hate Mr. Hitler generates with just the mention of his name or ideas, its funny to see the same people endorse a lot of things he had done during his regime. Its not a swastika this time around people, this time its the American flag.
We have put the house up for sale. Working with HUD and a friendly real-estate agent has been nice and fairly easy. For all of those that have never bought a home I would strongly encourage you to talk to your local HUD office and get in on some free classes. You may even qualify for down payment assistance and other similarly helpful things.
The end is drawing near for yet another chapter in our lives. Crystal and I moved here over 2 years ago in hopes of securing some of that American dream of home ownership and now we are moving on. I look at the quaint, cute home; the familiar features and get an immediate rush of emotions and memories. Here my children both came home and learned to smile, laugh, walk, and cry. I have to come to terms that this wasn?t meant as a permanent home and moving was inevitable. The sweat putting the place in order, repairing the various brokenness wasn?t in vain. Rather, these were necessary to make life bearable.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Posted: 12th October 2009 by Michael in UncategorizedI recently saw the latest Indiana Jones movie. After a two decade hiatus, this last version is sure to be a fun thrill. On the cheap-o-meter, I?d say it?s worth a matin?e fare price for those that want to see an action movie but perhaps only the cost of a rental for those that are purist to the original movies.
I don?t want to spoil things so continue only if you want to read some spoilers. Well, pretty much the entire synopsis.
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Crystal went to the first doctor checkup for our current pregnancy. We are incredibly excited. I am really depressed I couldn’t see it. There is something magical seeing that little person for the first time. Standing two inches tall from rump to head, he or she will float around growing until that big day in April.
In my work I sometimes chat with colleagues and we laugh about how sometimes we come across code bases that are so bad they resemble lint balls in some of the projects we’ve been working on. Then someone, usually me, says something like “it wouldn’t surprise me if we ran across a few ‘Hello World!’ lines in that mess.”
It may not a surprise in some cases but it’s always funny. And yes, it’s happened.
It’s been hard adjusting to getting up at 6:30. I’ve been tired all week. Eventually I’ll get accustomed. Crystal and I have both been sore lately. I wore a pair of shoes that weren’t broken in all that well and she went on a fitness evaluation that’s left her very sore. So today I “bummed” it and wore my old shoes. What relief.
I’ve gotten headaches for the last week or so. I think my diet is partially to blame. I’ve gotten a lamp at my desk to help my eyes out. I burned my hand pretty good on some hot oil that splashed from a pan as I flipped some food I was frying. Hopefully all this stuff settles down soon!
We’re getting some Ezell’s Chicken for lunch today: I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve been working to get some serious documentation going on at work. I’m converting some lighter applications to an internally developed MVC type module system. I have been grabbing the easier tickets and solving issues. My favorite was a class that was reading from memcache a sorted list of preferred slaves to read from when doing selects. The method was always returning the first slave regardless of the time since last update. Finally I am working to put together ideas on how to create a products/package system to make ordering and putting together products easier.
Finally, I built a new machine using a motherboard Nate gave me, the SATA cable Jerry gave me, and the case and hard drive the fella I’m doing this for gave me. It runs fantastic and I am really pleased to be able to help someone out without having to buy anything but a 4-pin to SATA power cord. I think the previous motherboard got damaged somehow because it’d restart randomly.
I am on a quest to find delicious food. Here is my round up for one of my favorites: fried chicken.
- Popeye’s – Crispy, tasty, and lots of yummy sides. This one takes the throne for now.
- Ezell’s – Similar to KFC’s Original Recipe texture but slightly crispier and less greasy, it tastes like something my grandma would cook had I had a grandma from the South.
- Kentucky Fried Chicken – When it’s fresh Original Recipe is actually pretty good. The sides are pretty yummy.
- Church’s – I compared this to a cross between KFC and Popeye’s not shining in either’s pluses. The sides are tiny and fairly mundane.
- Albertson’s Deli Fried Chicken – You’ve got a hankerin’ or are broke; this will probably satisfy.
- Frozen fried chicken in a box – The delis are all closed and no restaurants are open. It’s hard to cook this stuff to be tasty. Have plenty of hot sauce on hand.
- Fried chicken at X buffet – Just skip it. It’s bad enough you’re eating at a buffet.
Apparently Oprah used to have Ezell’s flown to her in Chicago. I like KFC’s and Popeye’s hot sauce and have yet to find a suitable alternative in a bottle I can find at the grocery store.
There’s a place in Tacoma that sells fried chicken I’ll have to check out. Anyway, this is definitely not something I can eat more than once a month.
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I am sipping on a mocha right now which I paid $3.65. It’s so expensive I won’t be doing it often but it’s a nice treat. I used to get hot chocolates because I hate the taste of coffee but recently I hate some of that Kirkland Signature stuff at Nate’s and it’s bearable. A mocha is like a hot chocolate with the benefits of coffee with half the nasty taste of regular coffee. I am not sure why I hate the taste of coffee so much but here’s to getting over that.
*sip*
I have been playing a couple games recently. The first is Hearts of Iron III. This game, now that patch 1.2 is out, is quite simply awesome. I have been playing as the Italians on my commute home from work and have really enjoyed because able to replay history during World War II as a nation which I traditionally do not play. I admit I have it set to easy right now but we’ll see how it goes. My conquest of Yugoslavia has just begun!
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Okay, so maybe I am a day or two late… but the sequel to one of my favorite games of all time has been released. I am probably going to pick it up on Steam although I’d prefer disc copies. I downloaded the demo and have found an amazing installment of the series.
The learning curve is steeper then ever. The demo seems a little off base, though; it starts in 1939 and you can play one of the 4 major European powers. What’s odd is the placement of troops makes for some interesting game play. As Germany, for example, you start with the bulk of your forces on the Polish frontier and the Northern half of Alsace-Lorraine. You should, as the German player, move forces West from the Polish frontier, rearrange your forces on the Western frontier, and execute a successful campaign in Poland. All quite daunting while you are trying to to learn a brand new game. The tech tree is rich and interesting. The optional AI control, though a little retarded at times, does a good job getting you what you need.
I was up late Saturday night starting the demo several times and then a few hours Sunday until I was able to finish the demo which abruptly end, I believe, on December 31st, 1939. I bet most of my gripes will be solved if I had started in 1936. Since this is a game and developr I really enjoy, I will gladly pay the asking price of $39.99.