Eulogies

You can tell a lot about the people you think you know by who they eulogize. Kurt Vonnegut is dead, and those who know his work have paid their respects.

G'night Kurt.

8:34 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Epic Movie

please, if you go see this movie, shoot me an email. I'd be happy to remove you from my little "friends" list... Come on people, what a fucking waste of time. Do crack, crush a kitten, lob a turd through a hospital window-- anything but see this complete waste of resources. Do they really need something to do at the EPA? Let's clean up this toxic waste dump on celluloid...

7:52 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

some people just disappear

It's a fact of life, although in recent years I have taken great pains to stay in touch with a wide assortment of folks. Some people seem to think that, without daily contact, they are not in my thoughts.

I shudder to think what will happen when their kids leave home. Gotta take the long view folks, always the long view. Truly prevents frustration.

1:47 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

that's what i get
Current mood: depressed

guess all my bravado got to me. i'm pretty fucking depressed, and haven't felt this way in years. i'm going to try to go to World Grotto tonight and cheer up. unless i don't feel like it.

10:27 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

hope it works out for you America!

So continuing my quest against laziness and sloth... Full disclosure: I used to waste a LOT of time. This was before Myspace, even. We Americans are innovators when it comes to wasting time, that's for sure. So it's not like pissing away the hours is anything new, but the web and consumer electronics (made overseas, making them affordable for every moron) have brought sloth to a whole new level...

So what? Well, next time you fill out another survey, or fwd someone "Bill Gates pays you for your email" bullshit, consider what else there is to do in this world. Not just the world, right outside your door. How about meeting your neighbors? Or if your neighbors suck, maybe you could do some volunteer work? There's a shortage of blood-- maybe you can give a little there...

You see, we're enjoying a particularly cushy period of history right now. Did you know about the trade deficit? Are you familiar with the book detailing how our global economy is flattening? What the hell does this have to do with that DDR marathon you have planned?

Plenty. Live it up. You have precious little time left. Let's say you're 25. By the time you are my age, here's what you'll see around you:
- an immigrant population willing to work harder than you or your parents
- gas around $5 a gallon, and relatively few cars running on alternatives
- food prices approx. 2 to 3 times what they are now
- a lack of basic social services provided by the government, due to outstanding debts
- personal debts so large and onerous (as a nation, but on an individual basis) that people will be working several jobs to make ends meet

And why? Because, while the Chinese broke their backs making our iPods, they are building a powerful middle class. The Indians and Pakistanis are building a tech-savvy culture and highly educated populace, crossing old caste lines. Europe's ascendancy as a political power broker, as the US alienates itself across the planet. And a Middle East both radicalized and waning, due to money troubles... This is to say nothing of the escalation in violence and disease across Latin America and Africa.

What does this really mean? Well, for one, you can forget about the dozen or so subscription services you currently use. Xbox Live? Yahoo Music? Better learn to play banjo, buddy, because that's all you'll be able to afford for luxury entertainment...

Sure, we have great resiliency (or we used to), and we seem, as humans, to be adaptable. So it's not like there will be rioting in the streets. There will be a malaise similar to that in the 70's. Those of you who pissed away the hours playing Lumines instead of learning how to cook, build, play or think will pretty much be fucked.

Enjoy your future! (Oh, and if you don't pass this along with a survey about which superhero you are, bad luck will follow your spiders for the rest of their days!!!)

1:39 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

1:13 AM, almost time for bed

So I got up at 7:30 am. Worked all day, pausing from 4-7pm to take care of kids. Afterwards, I got back to work, conducted a lengthy chat meeting with one of my teams...
And now I'm about to go to bed, though I need to go wake my son up and have him go pee (night potty training, how fun).

This is the 2nd day of extra-long days as I prepare my team for a HUGE event next week...

So y'all have to understand, when people tell me (students, most often), "uh, I don't have time for that," I just roll my eyes. Really? Were you performing surgery on yourself? Drafting a new constitution for Iraq? Raising two kids, working 3 jobs, and trying to blog on Myspace, just in order to have some semblance of "free time?"

You don't MAKE time. You HAVE time you need to make the MOST of.

A few of today's accomplishments:
- set up crazy cool feature blogger via phone
- verified travel details for the team next week
- chatted with a guy who runs a site that sees over 15 million a month
- bathed the kids
- still can't find my house keys
- made dinner for the kids, getting veggies in them
- conducted a 2-hour chat session
- set up new RSS client
- read hundreds of posts

10:13 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Happy Hot Damn New Year Everybody!
Category: Blogging

Well, I'm about to descend back into the "bunker!" After a crazy 2006, it looks like 2007 (year of the Wii) is going to be even nuttier.

My "day job" has me working approx. 50 hrs. a week. Often more. I do this for a number of reasons. For one, I went through a terrifying period where I got laid off several times while my kids were being born. So I have this constant fear of being laid off. The biggest motivator is the fact that I telecommute, and since I'm on the computer all the time anyway, I tend to drop in on work constantly. We have an incredible year planned, but with huge challenges. I love my job for these things, and for the first time in my life really feel like I'm building a career.

Add to this the lovely children. There is no sarcasm there. My kids are amazing. We went to see a movie the other day (Happy Feet, which was quite good), and Belle actually turned to the annoying granny behind us, one of those who feels the need to narrate the whole damn movie to her idiot grandkids (who keep asking what's going to happen next-- my favorite), and asked her to please be quiet. Weston potty trained in a *week*. How the hell did these kids get so cool? I've no idea. I do know that while I love being at home with them, it gets really chaotic sometimes. Just putting them to bed tonight by myself (Kellye had to do a little work) took 90 min. of constant hoofing it around the house, getting grapes, teeth brushed, shows started, bathroom in, etc... So the kids take a lot of time and attention, but it is worth it. I'm no deadbeat dad, that's fer sure. Probably why I don't hang out with a lot of men though...

Then there's "everything else" I do. I still teach classes, for now on Tuesdays from about 2pm to 11pm. I'm beginning a project for another college that'll have me in Second Life quite often, yet another time drain. So there's 2 more jobs! Oh, did I mention my little business, Llamapod? The one that has yet to see significant sales? I guess the only good news there is that we'll be selling off the assets of the company this year, since we pretty much screwed the pooch long ago.

That leaves little time for recreation, honestly. I try to blog for myself (on Vox and Blogger), and we finally started watching movies again. I'm making a concerted effort to improve my body and mind this year, however. If I keep going the way I am now I'll be dead by 40.

So if you're wondering where the hell I am, I'm either working, playing with the kids, or blogging. :)

That doesn't mean I don't love you all-- just that these are busy times. Having kids will teach you to take the long view, and you soon learn years feel like months, and nothing stays still for long. So be patient and know that once we've built the new house it'll get a lot better. I mean, there has to be some upside to having a half-acre field of dreams, right?

Hope everyone has a great year!

7:44 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Bizarro!

Been poking around Second Life. It's a lot of fun to just fly around and watch people fuck. haha, just kidding. Most folks hide that. Although it's pretty funny, when you first teleport somewhere, you see it "build" in front of you, often from the inside-out. So you could, in theory, stumble upon some naughtiness.

Anyway, there is a lot of business that actually occurs in the "world" of Second Life. Opportunities abound for you artists, in fact. In many ways SL is like a sprawling, New Age Byzantine empire.

If you're looking for me, I'm Superpixel Gerard.

www.secondlife.com

4:20 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Holy crap this is cool

I've been using the new Netscape for a while now (duh, I work for them-- indirectly), but I just discovered the DIY channel... YES! These aren't just how-to's on tech, but on life, the universe, and everything.

- How to mow your lawn to look like a football field
- How to avoid self-help guides
- How to choose insurance
- 5 easy ways to free up your garage space

are just 4 I found within mere seconds. I'm in love!

http://diy.netscape.com/

9:59 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Ladies, here you go

See, you can tell a man what you want.

http://badmojo.vox.com/library/post/to-the-men-who-have-had-sex-with-meor-might-in-the-future.html/

(copy/paste it kids, I don't feel like HTML today)

12:28 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment