• Bank robbing: with vacuum cleaners : Stealing Money from a Safe with a Vacuum
• Interesting article about employee salaries. : How Much Do You Think He Makes? (via Speaking of talking about salary...)
• Hmm...random (corporate) leadership tips : Goodbye Microsoft, Hello Facebook! (via Mini-Microsoft)
• Hahaha! (it was more funny when sitting in a hotel room on a business trip trying desperately to fall asleep) : Aw man!  You say that for ALL the awesome stuff
• For the Doctor Who fans out there : Whovian Whumor
• It's like steam-punk space faring! : Soviet Lunar Program
• Income distribution graph in America : Middle Class
• Haha! Sorry, it's another Doctor Who mention; no, I don't know why all the pop culture Doctor Who references so amusing : But It’s the Only One with Tea Time
• Interesting Earth's Atmosphere visual. I honestly thought there'd be a lot more in some of the places : Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom (via Bad Astronomy)
• Glass sign making (yes, I find glass stuff fascinating) : Mental health break- the graceful art of glass signmaking
• Ah, how I wish I was this good with words : Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language
• Okay, not exactly the best article to read before flying across 9 time zones to Spain... : 50 Secrets Your Pilot Won't Tell You (via J-Walk Blog)
• And yet another Doctor Who mention, this time in a comical graph! : More Like Doctor When
• Bruce Schneier video : BRUUUUUCE!

Now playing: Emm Gryner (featuring Joel Plaskett) – Gem and I – 06 Gold Soul of Rock and Roll

Once upon a time there was actual content being posted on this site. And things were good.

This isn't a post that's going to correct that. Instead, it's a return to the time honored navel-gazing of original series blog posts!

So, today I went clothes shopping. (note: this marks the 4th time I've done this since graduating college.) And today I stumbled upon several truisms:

• Apparently, all other things being equal, I do get larger as I get older, just like everyone else. This made me sad. Especially since it's still impossible to find anything in my sizes.
• Clothes can be expensive! Or at least it seems that way when doing big-bang style shopping.
• I really don't know anything about fashion.

Related to that last point, Wikipedia's article on scarves could use some work. Or maybe I'm just overthinking things...

Now playing: Emm Gryner – Gem and I – 08 Revolution Don't Roll

I read a bunch of different web comics. Why? I don't know, they're entertaining? In any case, I've been doing it since college, and so have amassed quite a few. Occasionally one stops publishing, but in general it seems that most have stayed around for a while.

Anyway, in case something happens to my saved favorites or my RSS feeds (again!), or in case anyone is interested, here they are:

Bookmarks

• Errant Story
• Gunnerkrigg Court
• Sinfest
• Sluggy Freelance
• Something Positive
• Tux and Bunny

RSS Feeds

• Applegeeks
• Cat and Girl
• Ctrl+Alt+Del
• Dilbert
• Dinosaur Comics
• Goats (if it ever comes back...)
• Goblins
• GraphJam: Music and Pop Culture in Charts and Graphs. Let us explain them.
• HijiNKS Ensue
• Indexed
• Megatokyo
• Not Invented Here
• Order of the Stick
• Penny Arcade
• PhD Comics (gotta keep up with my grad school friends & their lifestyle )
• Questionable Content
• Scenes From A Multiverse
• Schlock Mercenary
• The Gods of ArrKelaan (on indefinite hiatus)
• User Friendly (on irregular hiatus?)
• Wondermark
• xkcd

Okay, so if I think about it, I'm not even sure I like some of those comics anymore. And some aren't even being updated. Maybe its time to stop being such a packrat & clean them up...

Now playing: Emm Gryner – Gem and I – 09 Get Brave

No real content; just a collection of links:

• I'm surprised how high Portland is, and how close to Seattle it is. And come on people! Just 2000 more and we can unseat Los Vegas! http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/Cities_By_Population/
• Because ponies are so deadly: http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/Suspicious_Pony_Blown_Up/
• Ah, money & education: http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2010/Sep-13.html
• Neat library desk! http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/Information_Desk/
• Haha! Addictive fun! (requires IE9 or another modern browser though) http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Performance/HamsterDanceRevolution/Default.html
• "No", but the titles are amusing: http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Do-you-ever-make-yourself-laugh
• People are weird. And appalling. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/spanish-man-toted-girlfriends-decapitated-head-bar-drinks/ (via J-Walk)
• I've been to this restaurant; the goats are definitely part of the appeal! http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/Hire_A_Lawyer_Before_Putting_Goats_On_A_Roof/

Now playing: Alanis Morissette – So-Called Chaos – 10 Everything

Sorry, another Link Post. QA testing is going on at work, so 1) the release is getting close because Waterfall + fixed deadline = really scrunched testing timeline, 2) now everyone gets to find out what parts of the specs were just flat out wrong, or what parts need some creative re-writing to reflect bugs in integrating systems. Both of which mean every issue is a Severity 1, Priority 1, RUSH, RUSH, RUSH issue. Yet it always seems to just work out. Hmm...

Oh, and a quick shout-out & HI! to all the new visitors who are coming here because that kid jumped off the Vista Bridge & killed himself last week. Enjoy the pictures of the bridge! It's things like this that make me glad I don't have ads and so am not profiting from the 3x increase in traffic from such a tragic event.

• Hurray for Harry Potter!
• Monkeys! fun! Smuggling! not fun!
• hahahaha! "Jane Austen's Fight Club"!
• okay, weird video...but it has monkeys!
• Maybe I'm crazy, but most of these items don't seem that strange to me. (via J-Walk)
• Wow! "Vitamin Water" is not supposed to be healthy?!

Now playing: Donna Lewis – Now in a Minute – 03 I Love You Always Forever

Sorry, it's been a bit since the last post...between work picking up (insanely) and talking to a new friend , things have been busy. I've actually got a stack of pictures of Portland/Fleet Week to go through & tag & post, so hopefully those will go up at some point. Anyway, here's a link post:

• Interesting (via JWZ)
• Accurate
• Reading another web comic
• (the Lego pictures just made me smile...)
• mmmm...pancakes
• ah...computer humor...gets me every time
• fun! programming humor! (via EricGu)
• Floating TARDIS
• Ummm...okay?...
• cool: lego printer
• wow...number 1 for *serial killers* (via J-Walk Blog)
• http://www.bugbash.net/comic/21.html'>http://www.bugbash.net/comic/21.html'>Need to remember this for the next meeting I'm in
• haha
• Awesome! PowerShell + Visual Studio
• This is a bit too much driving in a week for my tastes...
• Oh dear god no. NO. Even the imagining of it is painful

Now playing: Josh Ritter – So Runs The World Away – 06 Folk Bloodbath

At the end of May I flew down to San Jose (California!) to visit my parents for Memorial Day. The first day consisted of having lunch at Alice's Restaurant (with burgers named after motorcycle brands; the Yamaha burger that I had was really good...pineapple + teriyaki sauce is surprisingly tasty on a burger!), then driving down coast through Santa Cruz to Monterey (& back). Second day was sightseeing in San Francisco (yay! finally got to ride the cable cars & see Ghirardelli Square!). The last day included trips to Beard Papa's (a nice recommendation from Ms. Snootypurse), In-N-Out Burger, and Half Moon Bay to see the beach and the house my parent's are trying to buy.

Overall, a fun trip...not terribly relaxing, but the change of scenery was nice.

And now, the photos: (full album @ Bay Area, California (2010-05))

Pacific Ocean at Pebble Beach on Monterey Bay, California

The "Lone Cyprus" on the 17-mile drive in Monterey

Union Square, San Francisco

Now playing: The New Pornographers – Together – 08 Up In the Dark

Actually got this in an email from my grandpa earlier today, and it seemed really cool!

• Fordson Snow Machine - 1929 concept

The video certainly makes it seem to work well. And I liked the emphasis on the reusability of the existing vehicle. Still, I have to wonder how strong and easy to replace/fix those drums would be. Not to mention how well it performs outside video-conditions. It didn't look like it in the video, but I also wonder about whether it gets stuck when stopped because it sinks into the snow too much...

Now playing: Vienna Teng – Waking hour – 12 Lullabye for a Stormy Night

Went down to New Orleans a month ago for a vendor conference/training session. Overall it was fairly informative, and possibly worth the money to the company (6 people from my division went...to an event with 40-something attendees...with 3 main session tracks...). The three days went kind of fast. In any case, I got to see New Orleans! Never been down to "the South" like that before (sorry, I don't really consider Florida during Spring Break to be very old-south-ish). We were at the Hotel Monteleone, which is a cool old style luxury hotel. With a unique floor plan that caused me to spent 15 minutes trying to get to the rooftop patio for the initial sign in. Found out that Bourbon Street isn't really my sort of thing. But, on the advice of a friend, I got to go out and have fun my way, by looking for better wifi, and failing that, any cell coverage. And by getting up early and walking around the French Quarter taking some pictures of course!

Looking up Royal Street towards Canal Street in the evening.

St. Louis Cathedral ("a minor basilica")

And of course, the Mississippi River, with a steamboat (the Natchez)!

Now playing: The Awkward Stage – Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights – 07 Only Good Days Caught on Camera

Back in April I headed down to the Bay Area again. Drove this time instead of flying. It's a looooong way down there! But, it was pretty, and now I've at least seen southern Oregon, Mount Shasta, and the Sacramento Valley. Plus driving was cheaper than flying – just two tanks of gas each way, so ~half the cost of flying. Driving down at Christmas should be an even better deal...although then I might need to head down the coast instead of taking I-5...driving through the snowstorm at the end of April was bad enough!

So, here are some pictures (full album here):

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

Coast Guard ship heading out of San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. It actually came back an hour or so later escorting a grain freighter/tanker of some sort. And sorry, I did a bit of quick internet searching, but I couldn't find the name!

South side of the Golden Gate, looking out towards what maps say is "Baker Beach".

Now playing: Vienna Teng – Inland Territory – 07 Stray Italian Greyhound