Congrats!

I don't know anyone in the US that has off today; not that I know a huge number of people.

Well, my wife is a teacher and they get all week off. I also found out indirectly that one of the engineering firms we work with has today off as well.....

I had an ATi Mach 32, ATi Rage Pro, Voodoo2, and Geforce 256 at various times back in the day. The Rage Pro was actually a pretty good chip at the time, but like others, I was very happy to have the Voodoo card for Quake games.

I like the Gmail April Fools joke - well done.

Wih renewable energy and recycling, why would we need those resources to begin with?

Because resources are finite here on earth? Because no matter how much you recycle metal (for instance), we are building new skyscrapers much faster than we are tearing down old ones? Because the population continues to increase and use more resources? Because the left is throwing up barricades to putting up more solar power systems in the desert where they are probably the most efficient and a good use of non-farming land?

Take care of this planet and its people first, and once that's done, then head off into the wild black yonder.

Because at that rate we would NEVER go. There is always more to be done here on earth. You can't just put it off indefinitely and magically wish it into existence when we might need it for the preservation of the species.

And the species will not survive no matter what we do. In the end, everything ends. And why would we want this species to surivive if all they do is destroy everything everywhere they go and constantly war and shit on each other all the time. What's worth saving if we can't even get it right here?

That is a very defeatist attitude. I expected more from you.

Although, to quote Al Bundy: Let's all follow the example of our friend the cockroach. They were here before Man, they'll be here after Man.

So, who knows. You may be right.

Earth Hour, bah...a gimmick for Luddites. I celebrated Human Achievement Hour by having everything electrical turned on and running.

Same here, and I like your new name for it. Just to make sure the sudden lessening of power usage didn't crash our fragile power grid here in California. We have a history of problems with that, you know.

This comment was edited on Mar 31, 2009, 09:35.

I mean you're not helping! Why is that, Leon?

Busy day yesterday - went to my own Dr. Toothy (his name is Dr. Payne - yeah, I know, but he's pretty good) and they said they accidentally scheduled the appointment too soon and I would need to come back another time (to qualify for the 6-month insurance requirement for cleanings). No biggie, they aren't far from the house (15-20 min) so I went to work. Got a call later - they had pulled my dad's file by accident (same first name, different middle names) so I was due after all. Need to reschedule.

Gave blood after work - and if you haven't donated in a while, don't be a pansy and go! It really doesn't hurt much at all. Does a lot of good!

Also was our 6-year old's first T-ball practice this season. Should be a fun T-ball year!

On a positive note I started a new relationship a few months back; and she is by far the smartest and sexiest woman ever. So that is a plus.

Do you hate her. too?

J/K - congrats!

nin - can't you just use your Bushnells and look in his window to see if he reads them or deletes them immediately?

One other note on the movie I forgot to mention before - I am very happy with the fight scenes. None of this chop-chop-chop-chop shakey-cam shit where you can't follow what is going on. Very well done!

Cutter - I think just about everything you said (for a change ) was right on. I haven't read it, so this is from someone with no preconcieved notions about the story/characters.

The audience snickered the first time we saw the big blue penis hanging out. One girl in front of me snickered about every time. I don't want to think about why....

I didn't like the scene about the 6-year old girl and the result, so I am glad to hear it wasn't just me - I too thought it was a bit more than necessary.

I liked the voices just fine.

I wish fucking dumbshit people would quit bringing little children to adult films. Asshats. Quit fucking up your little kids but saving a couple bucks for a theater ticket instead of a sitter.

Tonight was Guy's Movie Night anyways, so yesterday I went and got tickets to the 5pm show today. Should be fun!

Just got back from Missouri late last night. Don't know why the hell I am awake now, but I can't sleep.

Funeral went well for my wife's grandmother. It was nice to see all the relatives again on her side. Hate these short trips, though - be nice to stay longer, but that was not in the cards.

Just got home from the hospital - she had a massive stroke this morning but was able to hit her medical alert button she wears. As she had her stroke, she fell down and banged her face/head pretty hard. (had some lacerations, etc).

She lives close to another hospital, so they took her there first. They stabilized her as best they could and she went to the second one, which is much better equipped to handle these kinds of cases. By the time she got there, she was beyond help from surgery or anything else. As of this afternoon, she had no brain function and is already gone. She is on a ventilator and her heart is failing - he blood pressure has plummeted and she will not last long according to the doctors. The family wants to let her go without pulling the ventilator, if possible.

She is 86 (I thought she had hit 90 already). Her birthday is in 2 days.

I came home in time to spend a few minutes with our son before he went to bed.

Sad to see her go, but we are all glad she went quickly and didn't suffer long or have a lesser stroke and suffer long-term consequences from that.

We are OK. A bit sad, but doing OK.

Thanks for the words of support.

Got a call a bit ago that my wife's grandmother (she lives less than an hour from us, in the same town as my in-laws) just had a major stroke and is in the hospital. As soon as I get details on where and what is going on, I am heading out to see her.

She is over 90 years old and had a small stroke a few years back and has had high blood pressure and a small brain tumor that is benign enough not to operate on, so failing health is not unexpected. Still really sucks, though....

Edit - Oh yeah, and today is our son's 6th birthday. Yippee. What better way to celebrate it?

This comment was edited on Feb 17, 2009, 14:20.

I (and MANY others here) have been VERY happy with the Samsung 22" WS monitors. I love mine....

A tip for you Bats after reading about your morning:

Stay away from me.


That is all.

If showdogs could speak, they would say, "STOP DOING MY HAIR LIKE THAT, GODDAMMIT!"

Agreed. We watch the show (at least bits and pieces) at times and wonder who the hell would actually like to own a dog that looks that rediculous....

We have a mini-schnauzer that gets a little shaggy and then gets a schnauzer cut. I think even the schnauzer cut looks a bit funny when they leave the hair along the belly and the eyebrows that long. We usually tell the groomer to tone it down a bit as well for a more balanced look.

We are in San Francisco for the weekend - making a trip to the Rock today - I haven't been there in maybe 15 years and my wife and 6-year old son have never been. Should be fun!

Our company does most of our work with cities and counties here in northern CA - but with the state still without a budget (only 7 months late), the cities and counties have not been moving forward on any projects and some are, in fact, a couple months from going broke. Our workload is maybe 5-10 % of normal right now - and the project managers (including myself) just had our pay reduced by about 10 % and they may institute a furlough program to keep folks from being laid off. But if things don't turn around quickly for us, that may be coming as well.

It is ugly out here right now....