links

• Owner of A Lonely Heart / Smooth Criminal
  ... on a violin.


• Depression linked with impaired spatial ability


• Téodor, what does it mean that Roast Beef has depression?

Saturday

“Saturday” or perhaps, “WaPo Horoscope is Crap”

My “crazy adventure” that was “well worth” my money was a happy hour with a high enough ABV to warrant sleeping through today.

On a recommendation, perhaps I'll go with BBspot's instead:

If life gives you lemons, don't rub them in your eyes again.

See? Much more relevant to learning moderation than this, from the Post:

Your loftiest goals are possible. But if you can't easily explain your intentions, perhaps they're still not clear to even you. Break your plan down into concise steps.


I'll break this down into concise steps for you: “I need to sleep through the day so I don't feel like death.”

Broken down, indeed.

How libraries should really work.

For all my climber-friends:



(Click on it to see the more-readable size.)

Also – This comic takes place in an elementary school. Did your elementary school use the LOC system? I was pretty sure most elementary schools used the Dewey Decimal system for cataloging and shelving and whatnot. Maybe this is a very advanced elementary school.

Friday

You'll risk a few dollars in the name of having a good time. Decide what you're willing to lose. The crazy adventure your money buys now is well worth it.

Sooo...

Today is payday.
I'm going to Happy Hour.
I have very little idea of how much I'm willing to lose.
Probably I'll ponder that after the first beer.
If a crazy adventure cannot be bought, I'm going to be disappointed.
However, I can't think of a crazy adventure that I could buy tonight.
At least not one that I'd particularly enjoy.

Hmm.

tee hee

Everyone else is linking to it, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. Of enjoying someone being thoroughly mocked. Sweet.

Thursday

At least, I think it's Thursday. I was planning on reading my horoscope before the day started, but only managed to snag the Style section of the Post on my way out the door. And then the day started with the bossman re-arranging my priorities, again. Some days I want one boss, not three. Anyway. Thursday.

The value attach to what you're giving others is relative to what you feel while you're giving. Give with an open hand and heart, and it's received as such.

Hmm. Well, that's kinda crap. So when you smack people with an open hand during open-heart surgery, they understand? ... right on.

I think I need to find a more amusing horoscope to muse me.


Today I 90% finished migrating the network monitoring service to the new server. It will be even cooler when we start all over again with clean configurations instead of the horrible, horrible cruft that's there now.

Also -- The Who's “Endless Wire” is pretty good. Better than expected. Bruce in‛75 wasn't as good as expected. Next up – Arcade Fire's “Neon Bible”.

Wednesday

Somewhere tucked in the back of your closet is the equivalent of a hot-pink fedora or a screaming polka-dot bow tie. Your life force is too strong right now to keep it hidden. I dare you to wear it!

Okay, so, the thing is – I have a bright pink shirt that I can get away with wearing to work. And I probably would have, if I had read this in the morning, instead of late at night. Damn.

I think I'll start reading the horoscope in the morning and exploring the potential effects of complying with it, the hindsight and expectancy-confirmation biases.



I did listen to the Springsteen album. It was fun. Not superb, but good.



You'll stay the hell out of the way of my life force if you know what's good for you.

Oh, no... wait.

I'm fixing the network monitoring server. Nevermind the fun thing. Grr.

The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves...

Yesterday, five CDs that I ordered arrived. This is awesome. I am excited. More on this later.

Today I'm going to do a fresh installation of Solaris 9, documenting all the while. Hopefully I can run the install from the network rather than change CDs multiple times.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band are going to accompany me, playing at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, in 1975.

I brought my headphones and everything; God help anyone who interrupts me.


Hey, I know it's late, but we can make it if we run...

Tuesday

Want to conspire with forces beyond your imagining? Focus on the best possible outcome for all involved. When you align with an intention, you can go anywhere.

First off, HELL YES do I ever want to conspire with some forces beyond my imagining.
Second – the rest is crap.

Lunch today was good.

I cannot even being to imagining what the best possible outcome for all involved would be. That would be like being the future.

Word.

Monday

You could wait all day for someone to get his or her act together. Do what makes sense for you to feel complete. Nothing's so important that you have to put off for tomorrow what you could do today.


I suppose this could relate to work – the network monitoring server is dying, slowly, and I took it upon myself to move the services to another server rather than waiting for someone else to get on top of it. But that did very little to make me feel complete. Yeah, that's about it. Well, that, and the work that was so important that I had to put other stuff off for tomorrow. So.


I'm not sure I even want to touch the last sentence. ‘Cause – really – everything gets put off until tomorrow, unless I happened to finish it today. And I finished nothing today; just created more work for myself. Procrastination is a skill I've mastered over the years. Oh yeah.

three point six seven miles

On a 42x16 fixie:

18.19 minutes riding time (eh.)
11.8mph average (whopping!)
22mph max (I guess I still have a fast-twitch muscle or two – I certainly didn't let that happen going down a hill...)

And it damn near killed me. I have approximately zero cardiovascular capacity. Just legs that can still go, it seems. Just not for very long. My chest hurts. Possibly my heart, specifically. But I've done this before – barely have the coordination to get the bike in through the garage without dropping it on Dad's red mid-life crisis convertible; hands shaking while I try to guzzle water. Fun. So I'll just not move for a while and it will all be better.

Quitting smoking? Nah... I learn the nifty trick of biking and smoking a cigarette. I got the no-hands thing down cold, so lighting up won't be hard. Not getting a cherry in the eye, though... that'll require some luck? skill? practice? Ouch. Maybe I'll just quit instead.

Hopefully I won't ruin my sleep cycles by falling asleep before bedtime. It is awfully tempting, though. ... take another drink of water, chew up some ibuprofen, and just curl up right here.... zzzzzzzzzsnork wha? what? huh?

The Crank Bros. "Candy" pedals are nice (and pink!) -- not too much different than the Time ATACs they replaced, other than weight. I think the seatpost needs to be moved up or down, I'm not sure which... my knees twinge a bit when I'm doing anything but pushing down on the pedals -- and that's not going help the smooth pedal stroke I think I've developed by riding this thing in the past. The handlebars weren't tight enough, but I didn't notice that until a bigger bump when I was almost home. Handlebar tape held well. Haven't checked the rebuilt wheel yet, but I don't think I heard the pop of any of the spokes de-tensioning. Don't know what I think of the new waterbottle cages. Didn't lose any bottles, they're pink, but... I'm undecided.
(D&M: I'll take a picture soon, I promise.)


Next: Spend lots of money on a headlight. I have an older NiteRider that goes on my helmet. Any suggestions for a handlebar-mounted one?



My legs are gonna hurt tomorrow, aren't they. Limping at work will amuse.

Sunday

Take time for the small things and the big things handle themselves. Some of the habits that make you feel accomplished, enriched and stronger only take about five minutes — like reading or doing sit-ups.

Are you calling me fat?! Are you calling me fat?!

This is so wrong, I barely know where to begin. Oh wait, I already did – I'm not fat. Fuckwit horoscope. Anyway, I have big things to do, and there is no way that doing the small things will make/let the big things handle themselves. No Way. I will, nonetheless, read a bit today. The NYT magazine has an interesting article on auditory hallucinations, for instance. I'm going to go read that now. And just in case It was calling me fat, I'm going to start to break in the reconstructed fixie. ... fuckwit horoscope...

Shaggy's Ego-dystonic Stylings

For about as long as I can remember, my facial features and hair have not matched my self-image. :::thinks back::: Okay, maybe not always, but for the majority of the time for as long as I can remember.

This is, I think, an emotional reaction. And it ebbs and flows. Since I went shopping yesterday with L., I saw more mirrors than usual, and noticed it more. So, this morning I trimmed the beard to a shorter-than-usual and a more uniform-than-usual length, cleaned up the sides and whatnot. This was more of a rough cut — took about an inch off in the longest places. I'll make it neat and tidy tomorrow. It seems better. More beard-like than very-shaggy-goatee-like, I think. Maybe an improvement. M. claimed that it looked good.

My long, lovely, curly locks are still ego-dystonic. But a tight ponytail takes care of that, for now. Perhaps those could be donated, if I wait a bit longer.

It does seem strange that one can look in the mirror and think, "That's not me," and not know what would be, because regardless of what you think/feel, it is you. Weird. Anyone know the name of this phenomenon?

So, apparently...

I can email my posts in. Interesting development, since their other mobile posting options don't work with my weird smartphone.

Someone Else's Saturday

A mistake calls you to correct it. That doesn't mean it's a sin or a crime. It's just a mistake and you can fix it easily and move on. This you'll do before the sun sets.

The only call I got today was from the person mentioned in my previous post today. And we interacted before the sun set. I don't think there were any mistakes or corrections involved. So... I've got nothing. That horoscope makes no sense. The WaPo print edition creates a nice non-sequitur for my life, I suppose. Weird. I still trust the dead-tree horoscope more.

Saturday

You love spontaneous fun as much as the next person -- but you also know when it's time to buckle down and get serious. Unfortunately, not everyone else does, and this could negatively affect the harmony of your day. A flighty person who doesn't know the definition of the word 'preparation' will throw a wrench into your carefully laid plans. But don't worry -- if you summon up every ounce of your flexibility, you will be able to handle it with grace!


The hindsight bias does this horoscope a mighty favor. As will probably be the case with every post-hoc horoscope analysis. (Oooh, I could actually read it in the morning, and then I'd get to see how well the expectancy-confirmation bias played out.)

I had plans to buckle down today and install the last of the daylight savings time patches today, but that hasn't happened, and probably won't. The person who “affected the harmony of [my] day” wasn't “flighty” so much as “hungover” and definitely knows the definition of the word “preparation” and how to “buckle down”. I don't think there wasn't a “wrench” involved. And my plans were far from “carefully laid”. Today did require an “ounce” of “flexibility”. While there is some chance that I handled it with “grace”, writing about probably costs me a few points.

Regardless of my horoscope and any biases influencing this writing, today was fun -- spontaneous fun. Not a bad thing at all. Wandering around downtown with a good friend was good, even if it was cut a little short. I need to work less, not more. It's just unfortunate that I need to install those patches during off-hours. I also think the person in question will handle it with grace, too.

A trope.

I am a Capricorn. Please leave comments as to what that means for my short- and long-term outcomes.

So this is a bit of a trope, and perhaps a stupid one. Only one way to find out... (hire a bio-chemist.)

A race.

A friend informed me that I'm blog-racing one of her friends. This is a very silly idea, but it may prompt me to write more, which is a good thing.


Dear Self-discipline,

Get your game face on.

Thanks,

Me

How is it not a fixed quantity?

I've spent the past week getting all of our Sun Solaris servers upgraded to accommodate the DOE's alteration to the DST start and end dates. And all of the Java installations on those servers. And our Document Management System... which I didn't finish.

So I'm pretty pleased that my Verizon cell phone thinks that the time is now 2:27 rather than 3:27 (which is the "real" time). The Cingular work-phone jumped to 3a right on schedule.

Good job, Cingular. And good job, Verizon, but mainly because you make me feel better about myself.


(And it looks like this website is off, too. By an hour... and five minutes. Doesn't anyone use NTP anymore?)