I have a couple things I can be doing that are workie-ish, but then what the hell am I going to do this afternoon?

I feel even better today than I did yesterday, so that’s good news. I was a little worried on Sunday/Monday when I was feeling pretty crappy after a couple days off work for sickness the week before… turns out the allergic reaction to kitties set me back a couple days, but my immune system still seems to be in its prime.

Michelle, my sister Jen, and Mom & Dad will probably be interested to know that I made an actual appointment to go to the doctor next week Tuesday, just for the general checking up/physical examination, etc. I said to the woman when I called to schedule an appointment, “I don’t remember if I’ve been to a doctor this century,” and I really don’t. So seeing as I’ve paid for insurance for a year and really only used it to get a tetanus shot, it’s probably time to take some action. I’m working on getting my teeth cleaned, too.

Today is my last day of “work” for the week. I do have to go to Waukesha County Technical College tomorrow for a work-training seminar, but it sounds like that is just going to be a day-long lecture, so I can totally deal with that. I might even take my PDA w/ the foldie keyboard and try to take notes that way… y’know, just to look like “one of those people.”

Speaking of gadgets, I think I know what sort of phone I’ll shop for next month when my contract is up—LG just debuted a new music player phone thru Verizon that is very, very similar to the Motorola ‘KRZR,’ but cheaper, lighter, and (let’s be honest about shitty Motorola phones) probably better. I haven’t seen any reviews for this VX8600 yet, but I’ve got a few weeks before my ‘new every 2’ discount kicks in anyway…

But other than that, it is the opening of deer season this weekend, and this year I managed to take off work the two days that sandwich the weekend. So, I’ll be driving up north from Waukesha on Friday morning, and then I get to stay in ER until Monday PM. Jen and Christy are coming up, too (in addition to the hunting party of me, Dad, Joe, Uncle Mark, Christopher, and Uncle Jim) because we decided to ‘have Thanksgiving’ a weekend early. Jen has to work the day after next week, so it’ll be deer & turkey, all on the same day.

I bought a new jacket for the deer hunt this year, and I hope to hell it lasts a long time, cuz I feel like I paid kind of a lot for it. I think it might be the exact same jacket that Dad bought last year. I’m not sure, though…

Uh, total gear-shift here, but I thought this was kind of cool: http://www.lifehacker.com/software/top/google-earth-goes-back-in-time-214599.php
This does afford me the opportunity to say that Lifehacker might be my new favorite website. I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled onto it, but I think it was in the context of a Firefox extension search… Anyway, I’m subscribed to the ‘partial-content’ (ad-free) feed, and every day there are at least 3-5 posts that are all interesting to read. Some of them are stupid, or link to something that’s bullshit, but if you’re like me, you are interested enough to click them and give a look, at least. The last 4 things that I found on the Internet that are actually cool all came through links on that site… So, if you’ve got the time, give it a look.

Sweet—time for lunch, and still plenty of work left to do when I get back…

Hey. I feel better now, so I need to get back and mention a couple things…

Well, I guess just one thing, but more to come tomorrow.

In regard to the recently completed mid-term elections:
I was one of the independent swing-voters. That being said, Democrats– you are now on notice, and will remain there at least until ’08.

Also (maybe there were two things): Wisconsin, I thumb my nose at your homophobic self, but I rest in the knowledge that in 20 years, when all of you who voted for the marriage amendment are dead or too old and tired to get to the polls, the rest of us with a conscience will be overturning that one.

See you tomorrow…

And I thought it was slow where *I* work:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BURRITO_OR_SANDWICH?SITE=NCKIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

… feeling better, by the way. The Cold-Eeze? worked.

CAUTION: LOST season 3 spoilers (I guess) in this post…

The other night was the final “fall” episode of LOST. Now they’re on a hiatus until February, during which time we are going to be treated to a ridiculous-looking show featuring Taye Diggs, which, I’m sorry, I already wrote, and (I’d like to think) wrote more interesting. But I digress.

Over the course of 6 fairly non-descript episodes, I just want to make it clear to anyone who missed it: we did not find out shit.

THINGS THAT WERE POUNDED INTO OUR HEADS WHICH WE ALREADY KNEW
– Sayid is a soldier
– Sawyer is a conman with a heart of gold
– The Others are creepy
– The Black Smoke Monster makes no sense
– Jack is a control freak
– Locke is a tool
– Kate runs

NEW REVELATIONS THAT WE EITHER DIDN’T CARE ABOUT OR JUST PISSED US OFF
– There are actually fucking two islands
– Some dude with an eye patch is in another fucking hatch
– Desmond’s mutant ability is to see the future
– “What else should we do with Eko? Ah, piss on it, he’d dead.”

QUESTIONS WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ANSWERED THAT STILL AREN’T, OR LOOSE ENDS THAT ARE STILL HANGING AROUND
– Why the hell did The Others want to kidnap Walt, and if he was so important, why let him go so easily?
– If you really, really needed a surgeon, you probably could’ve just asked.
– The numbers? Any relevance to the numbers? Anywhere?
– So if Mike and Walt got away, when is the rescue plane showing up?
– How did the Others get there, why are they still there, what is their connection to the Dharma Initiative?
– When did Locke stop walking?
– What the hell is the Black Smoke Monster?
– Why the hell was Eko building a church?

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’m sure I could think of more. On a related topic, though, what is with this trend in popular TV now where they actually start out with an interesting movie-type premise (i.e., a plane crashes on a creepy, weird island, or a guy gets himself sent to prison with the intent of busting himself and his brother out)?

The way I see it, these shows start out with pretty spectacular potential, but how can they not peter out when that first, cool story arc is completed? You can try to do what they’ve done to LOST, which is to just stretch it out to an obscene and frustrating length, or you could change the way you think about making television—instead of trying to come up with a perennial ratings blockbuster, try to come up with some really great 1-season ideas year after year…

I dunno, I don’t work in TV.

I’m home sick this afternoon, so not a lot happening here… Odds are good that I will see most of what follows here today.

Please don’t forget to go out there and vote today. Ask everybody you see if they voted, too.

It’s what makes America great, yo.

I actually did get some work-type stuff done, so it’s not as if I’ve done nothing today. However, I also got some “computer housekeeping” things in order. I thought I would offer some comments to those of you who sometimes come to me for answers or conversations on things Geek. To the rest, this is not recommended reading…

Item 1—Firefox 2
I had upgraded my Firefox install, then rolled back to 1.5.0.7 (and I could go off on the version-naming rationale that people use) when one of my favorite extensions and my favorite theme did not work yet. Come to find out that support/work on Session Manager (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2324/) has ceased. This one provides functionality that exceeds the newly built-in crash recovery/restart option for installing new extensions, etc. I like being able to save a “session” at will, and go back to it much later if I want to. To be honest, I have no idea why this option was not included in the release of FF2.

Anyway, monkeying around with Firefox made me think that you may be interested in some of the extensions that I use in my browser. Here’s a list, with links.
Adblock – (I prefer it over Adblock Plus)
Adblock Filterset.G Updater – (must-have in conjunction with Adblock or ‘Plus’)
Bookmark Duplicate Detector – (self-explanatory)
CustomizeGoogle – (I don’t even like the text-ads, or the Google cookie)
Firefox Showcase – (I don’t find it that useful, but it’s kind of neat.)
Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer – (There used to be one that let you sync your bookmarks to any FTP server, but it was buggy and this is the best alternative I’ve found.)
Gmail Manager – (I think it’s nice to be able to manage a whole mess of accounts at once. Even if you just have one, it’s pretty sweet.)
GooglePreview – (If I’m not mistaken, it was Schrubbe who saw this one working on my laptop, and thought the little pictures were an enhancement from Google.)
IE Tab – (There are some sites that I use that still only work in Internet Explorer. This way I can open them in a Firefox tab.)
IE View – (Similar to IE Tab, but opens a separate IE window.)
Minimize to Tray – (Very nice if your taskbar real estate is at a premium.)
UnPlug – (My favorite thing to do with this one is download trailers from Apple.com.)

Item 2—Mac OS X
I like the look and feel of OS X. I also think that Macs are outrageously overpriced. These days, Windows XP is, IMO, as stable as its hipper chief commercial competitor (despite what the zealots on either side would have you believe), and a PC is (relatively) cheap. I tried to figure out a good way to make my Windows desktop as pretty as a Mac, and it was a real bitch to do so.

I found a link to something new that I’m going to test out on one of my computers at home later this week, and I’ll probably be back to talk about it a little:
http://www.flyakiteosx.com/

Item 3—I Swear There Was an Item 3
But I forgot what it was. That and it’s time to go home. Later skaters.

* – I just remembered..! free voicemail and fax service via email was number 3!

You can tell it’s Monday when even the Old Farmer’s Almanac tells you to piss off:

Advice of the Day
If you wish good advice, consult an old man or old woman.

When I first sat down here this morning, I was going to write about how when the work is slow, that’s when we all remember how to annoy each other. But then I thought that people I work with might read this, and I don’t want to say anything I might regret.

So after that, I thought I would write about how I have a *few* ideas, but still don’t know what I’m going to get Michelle for her birthday. But of course I know Michelle reads this, so I didn’t want to give anything away. (On a related topic to those of you who actually live *with* the important women in your life—how do you get away to shop for them and preserve surprise? Well, actually, maybe that’s not too hard after all. Er, I dunno. Ah, forget it.)

Sometimes it’s a lot easier to blog in a vacuum. I’m trying to remember a time when I didn’t think anyone was actually reading the blog, and hence I didn’t give a damn how or if what I said might be offending anyone.

It seems that I can recall a point in the not-so-distant past when I thought that tact or (an even stronger sentiment) grace in writing was a sign of weakness; that if you were afraid of offending someone, you were less real, or the words you used were less true. Thinking about that in the present, I can see that being inflammatory or offensive is actually just a sign of poor writing. If you need devices that you know will rile people up just to get them interested in what you’re saying, then your thoughts simply aren’t that strong.

Moving on to a different topic, Christy called me last night and asked if she could get a copy of the interview that I did with Grandma & Grandpa in 2000 about their experiences during World War II and beyond. The conversation was framed around a class that I was taking at time called ‘The Rhetoric of the Vietnam War.’ But it was the last time that I had a really in-depth talk with them about those things.

I recorded the talk that we had, and though the quality was not that great, I still wanted to share it with people. I was planning to clean it up digitally and then put it on a CD, but I haven’t had a chance. Since Christy asked, I think I should probably get back to that, though.

So that’s what I’ve got for you this Friday. I’ll be around the Fox Valley if you will be. Otherwise, keep next weekend in mind, because Michelle’s birthday celebration is coming up, and she says she “wants to remember it this year.” Please join us to see if that happens…

Today is the last day of October, so that means that a week from now, we’ll all be off voting in our respective polling places, (trying) to steer the course of our nation. I’m not any sort of a pundit or activist, but particularly for those of you in Wisconsin, I thought I would offer my opinions on some key races that are coming up next week. This post is less about steering your vote, and more about gaining additional perspective.

Governor
If you ask me, both Jim Doyle and Mark Green are, frankly, dickwads. I can’t ever remember a campaign that talked less about issues. Politics has become a subsidiary of the entertainment industry, and this race is a shining example.
“Governor Doyle, what is your position on stem cell research?”
“Well, let me tell you that my opponent wants all your grandchildren to die of cancer…”

“And Congressman Green, how do you propose to increase retention of college graduates in the state?”
“Yes—did you know that my opponent takes weekly field trips to Tijuana and drives busloads of illegal immigrants across the border to inflate diversity statistics at UW campuses?”

Anyway… I am likely to vote for the Green party candidate, Nelson Eisman. At least this way, I’ll be able to sleep at night over the next four years… Here are links for all three candidates:
Jim Doyle
Mark Green
Nelson Eisman

Attorney General
The way I see it, this official should be free from the constraints of politics as much as possible. The Attorney General’s job is to uphold the law and work to eliminate crime. This is all that should matter. Given that position, I’ll probably vote for JB Van Hollen. The biggest reason for my decision here is the fact that Kathleen Falk was an assistant AG for 14 years. To me that says, “well-acquainted with politicking.”

VanHollen
Falk

US Senator
Herb is running basically unopposed. It seems like he’s about as vanilla as you can get as a US senator. He hasn’t done anything in particular to distinguish himself, but I guess he hasn’t really screwed up, either. The most that I know about The Senator is that he’s been there 18 years, and likely to be in for another 6 at least. But, when you’re worth 800 million bucks (pun intended), why the hell not get more visibly involved with an issue like, oh, I dunno, limiting wage increases for Congress?

wisconsinvote.org on the Senate race

Question 1
“Shall section 13 of article XIII of the constitution be created to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state?”

So what we’ve got here is a preemptive strike against non-heterosexuals who would like (deservedly so) social equality with everyone else. I think Kevin was the first person who said to me (and I’m paraphrasing) “LBGTQ issues are the civil rights movement of our generation.” How true.

Creating laws to undermine a person’s civil liberties because you don’t agree with their lifestyle is EXACTLY the same as insisting that people whose skin is a different color sit in a different dining room, or go to a different bathroom, etc.

The reason that this proposal is even on the ballot is because it’s a lightning-rod political issue designed to get ultra-righties to the polls. People who think it’s a good idea will try to scare the ignorant into thinking there’s some sort of subversive homosexual entity in Wisconsin that’s going to start marrying their dogs on November 8.

The fact is, this amendment is wrong, it’s mean-spirited, it goes against the separation of church and state, and above all, it is completely unnecessary. This from wisconsinvote.org on the proposal:

“Under present Wisconsin law, only a marriage between a husband and a wife is recognized as valid in this state. A husband is commonly defined as a man who is married to a woman, and a wife is commonly defined as a woman who is married to a man.
… “A ‘no’ vote would not change the present law restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman nor impose restrictions on any particular kind of domestic relationship, partnership or agreement between unmarried persons.”

So if you’re a hate-mongering homophobe, by all means: vote yes on this one.

Question 2
“Should the death penalty be enacted in the State of Wisconsin for cases involving a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence?”

Less controversial, and I recommend taking a look at wisconsinvote.org on this topic as well.

Finally, a more general comment on something that has begun to more significantly influence my political ideology over the last 12 months or so: If you’re into the RSS as a news-delivery medium, subscribe yourself to this feed: AP Science Feed

The thing is, politics is a game that’s on TV for our amusement. It is in both parties’ interest to foster an adversarial atmosphere because we get too wrapped up in hating the other side to notice anything that’s actually going on. None of this will make a goddamn bit of difference if we destroy the planet in the next 50-100 years. So watch the research that’s happening, listen to the reports, and if you actually do care about the world that your kids and your grandkids will be living in, take some responsibility. Ask the people that represent you to do the same.

Tomorrow, back to regularly scheduled minutiae.

Working on my “after-work” list, and it got a little shorter when it turned out that the server fixed itself, so to speak.

You may or may not have noticed that my site & shat was down this morning, but I did a little troubleshooting at lunch, and finally concluded I would probably have to plug a monitor in and futz with something at the end of the day. I got back to my desk and found, quite happily, that it seems to have cleared itself up. So one less thing.

I was up north for the weekend, getting things set for the deer hunt coming up in a few weeks. This was kind of funny– as I was driving up, I thought about how wet you can get sitting in a tree if it snows or rains, and what the possibilities were for preventing such a circumstance. Last year, I took an umbrella out for part of one day and sort of propped it up in my jacket. Turns out Dad had thought of this, too, because he bought me, Joe, and himself an “ultimate umbrella” that straps to the tree and hangs over your stand just right. So there’s two less things.

We did get all the treestands set up, and I think we’re gearing up for a good hunt. We all have at least one extra day off from work, and a lot of the prep is already completed. I still need to do a little shopping, but nothing too difficult. I’m looking forward to it.

I drove Grandma home to Milwaukee, too (one less trip for Mom to make). It was a nice, pretty easy ride. We stopped by my apartment in Oshkosh on the way, since Grandma hadn’t seen it yet. After that, we ate at Culver’s.

We listened to the Packers game on the way. It was a good win, even though it was against a team even (GASP) worse than Green Bay. They’ve got Buffalo next week (another pathetic group), and I know there are people hopeful that the team can get back to even. I still think it’s a real stretch to expect them to win 3 games in a row. I’d say they’ve got a 50-50 shot of beating the Bills, then I guarantee 3 consecutive losses to Minnesota, New England, and Seattle.

I played with Michelle’s iPod a little bit on Sunday evening, but when I sat down at the computer in frustration, intent on figuring out what was keeping Ubuntu from recognizing it, Michelle reminded me that she would rather spend some time with me than watch me fix the iPod. It was a good point. And I guess that’s one other thing less.

One final thing: seems like Family Ties star Tina Yothers is now attending UW Oshkosh…