iAnthony

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2010-04-03T12:15:00.001-04:00

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Macaroni Pie...

2010-04-02T20:37:00.002-04:00

So for pretty much as long as I can remember, we've had a traditional dinner on Good Friday - macaroni pie. It's spaghetti with ricotta cheese, eggs, and vanilla extract, baked in the oven. It's, well, OK - kind of bland, and not particularly healthy, but it's a tradition. They weren't going to make it this year, because it was too much work and they don't get around too well, but I offered to make it. It's not really that hard to make, although it does involve quite a bit of stirring.

It came out OK, and the parents seemed pleased. My older brother even swung by for dinner.

Easter cookies....

2010-04-01T01:20:00.003-04:00

So I decided to bake the traditional Easter cookies tonight before I go up to NJ tomorrow to spend Easter break with the parents. OK, there really isn't an Easter cookie tradition. And my Easter cookies are suspiciously similar to my Christmas cookies, only with pastel M&M's. But I figure it gives me something to bring up and gives my parents something they normally don't get.

They came out OK, although not quite as good as usual, probably because I was in a hurry when I made them.

forty-six inches of Apple goodness...

2010-03-08T23:57:00.002-05:00

So we picked up some equipment at work that a department didn't need. Among the stuff was a 23" Apple HD Cinema Display. One of my coworkers had an extra ADC to DVI adapter, so I now have a matched pair of Apple displays on my Mac Pro at work.

Yes, it's only an extra inch bigger than the Samsung it replaced, but I still think it's cool, and it's nice to put otherwise obsolete tech stuff to work - especially since these monitors at one point were $3500 a piece.

And if you are wondering why there is a Windows logo on the right side, I run VMWare Fusion because I run some apps, including our ticket system, that won't work under OSX.

I checked, I have an engine...

2010-02-14T18:18:00.003-05:00

So yesterday I was driving back from an electronics swap meet when I noticed the "check engine" light was on in the "Danger Ranger", my '06 Ford Ranger pickup. I checked, and I do have an engine, so I don't know what that's about.

The gas cap seemed snug. The owner's manual doesn't make it sound like a big deal - says it could just be a loose gas cap or bad gas, and that it could take a few fill-ups and quite a bit of driving before it resets. It doesn't seem like it's running any worse than normal, or making any more noise than normal, so I guess I'll just ignore it for now. A coworker is going to let me borrow his OBDII meter, so at least I'll have a starting point. But at some point, I'll probably need to take it to the dealer - which means spending money I'd rather spend on brightly-colored shoes and deeply discounted beef jerky, and spending time waiting at the dealership that I'd rather be spending time doing something else.

I hate the check-engine light - it's silly to have one light that tells you "there is something wrong with your vehicle, and it could be anything from a loose gas cap to your engine is about to fall out". At least most computer error messages give you some info of what you need to do.

C is for cookie....

2010-02-12T13:58:00.002-05:00

So since I was bored, and hungry, I decided to bake some cookies. They are the same m&m cookies I made at Christmastime, only with non-holiday colored M&M's. I picked up the M&M's during my Tuesday Target run between snowstorms. Alas, I only had enough butter for one batch. Actually, given that I haven't been to the gym in over a week, maybe it's just as well.

i can haz snowstorm?

2010-02-10T16:51:00.002-05:00

Nibbler seems fascinated by the snow - she's been in my basement perching on the sofa looking out my french doors at the snow, or up in the living room peeking her fuzzy little head between the blinds to watch it fall and blow.

Easy for her to do. She doesn't have to worry about shoveling it tomorrow.

And yes, the pic with the blinds open is staged - they are normally closed, but I thought it would be a cool pic.

Evidently, the key to surviving the snowpocalypse is frozen pizza...

2010-02-09T16:19:00.003-05:00

I stopped by Target this morning - there were a few things I was running low on, but mostly I wanted to get out of the house. I really hadn't left the house since Friday afternoon, and it's supposed to start snowing this afternoon, so I figured it would be my window to get out and get some stuff done.

Predictably, they were low on milk and bread - I managed to snag the last loaf of Archer Farms bread in the store. Oddly enough, they were also pretty much out of frozen pizza. Evidently, that's up there on the list of things that people can't live without in a snow storm.

The roads weren't too bad, although the ones I was on are pretty main ones. Still, there were a lot of places where only one lane in each direction of a 4 lane road was passable, and corners/intersections were treacherous because you couldn't see around the snow piles.

So that's what the cat does all day...

2010-02-08T16:28:00.002-05:00

I've always wondered what Nibbler, my adorable yet evil cat, does while I'm off at work, slaving away over computers to pay for her kibble and Tidy Cat. I even set up a webcam in my basement to try to see what she does, but except for the occasional nibble and poop I rarely see her.

Well, since I'm home due to the snowpocalyse, I found out what she does all day - nap on my Poang chair. I think it must be in sunbeam range...

The chair, like the cat, is kind of special (and like the cat, was free). I got it back in 2003 when Ikea opened their store in College Park, MD - they had a promo where the first 100 people in line at either Maryland store got a free chair. I got their around 10:30pm, driving straight from work - I worked nights at the time - and camped out overnight to get it.

Can I get a cup of cake, please?

2010-02-08T13:23:00.002-05:00

Since I'm snowed in, bored, and running critically low on my cookie stockpile, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes - I had a box of mix and a can of frosting that I bought over the summer with the intention of making a birthday cake for a friend as a joke. I never got around to it.

If you are wondering why they have a patriotic theme, well, it's because I love this country and the freedom and opportunities that it's citizens enjoy. Well, that and because I bought the frosting on clearance at Target after the 4th of July - it was cheaper than the normal frosting, and I figured I could throw out the sprinkles and still be ahead financially.

Ranger extraction..

2010-02-07T17:02:00.003-05:00

Spent a couple hours today getting the Ranger from out of it's blanket of snow. Took a few hours - got a little help from some neigbors who shoveled around my truck and my neigbor's van - the spot they plow all the snow into is right next to our spots, so we had a ton of snow to get out from.

The biggest problem was finding a place to put all the snow - I ended up carrying a bunch of it pretty much halfway accross the parking lot to an snow-filled spot. My arms are sore from carrying it all...

I thought I had a walkway somewhere...

2010-02-06T16:51:00.003-05:00

Well, since it finally stopped snowing I decided to at least get the walkway shoveled today. I figure I'll deal with the truck tomorrow. There was so much snow I couldn't tell where the walkway was - a few times I thought I was shoveling sidewalk, only to discover I was actually shoveling a patch of my front lawn.

The first pic is what greeted me when I opened my front door...

Do you know the muffin man?

2010-02-06T14:21:00.002-05:00

On Wednesday I looked at weather.com and realized that I was probably going to be spending the weekend snowed in. I'd been wanting to make muffins for a while - ever since my fairly successful Christmas cookies - so I bought the ingredients for this strudel-topped muffin recipe. I made them last night and had a couple this morning for breakfast. They are pretty good.

I bet the flames add like 10 hp...

2010-02-04T23:55:00.004-05:00

I spotted this early-90's Ford Explorer in the parking lot of a diner where I was grabbing dinner with a friend. Nice flame job!

Good, if slightly out-of-date, stuff cheap

2010-02-02T21:12:00.002-05:00

Thanks to my night class getting preemptively canceled due to impending snow, and assuming the gym would also be closed, I actually drove home at 5pm tonight - which meant taking the back way to avoid Beltway traffic. Since my route brought me near Good Stuff Cheap, an odd-lot closeout store in Parkville, MD, I decided to stop by.

They sell a bunch of stuff - everything from expired food to dollar-store type items to logo merchandise from defunct businesses. I usually buy food items, which are hit or miss - sometimes they are good, which sucks because they usually aren't there the next time, sometimes not so much. They have a sign reminding people that it's safe to eat stuff after it's sell-by date.

I spent a grand total of $12.77 . I walked away with a fancy shopping bag (probably also from a defunct retailer) containing:
-4 small packs of peanut butter sandwich cookies
-3 cups of stove top instant stuffing
-4 small bottles of Starbucks syrups (labeled "not for individual sale")
-a 1 pound package of Target Honey Smoked turkey breast, frozen
-a package of frozen cream cheese filled pumpkin rolls
-a box of herbal tea
-a bottle of oriental mustard
-a Starbucks logo travel mug (14 oz, red, sadly not dishwasher safe)

A Hardee lunch...

2010-01-31T21:20:00.002-05:00

So I had a hamfest today in Odenton. Didn't make nearly as much as I hoped. Afterwords, I went to Ollie's, an odd-lot discounter, and then grabbed some lunch. Pasadena is home of one of the few Hardee's restaurants in Maryland. I don't think I've been in a Hardees since I was a kid on vacations with the parents.

This is the "portabello ThickBurger" combo meal. It was pretty good - definitely better than, say, McDonalds - but not quite as good as, say, 5 guys. It also was a little more expensive than other fast food places, and not as fast - they actually bring the food to your table. They also have a pretty diverse menu, including fried chicken, a bunch of burger and chicken varieties, and hot ham sandwiches. They also had signs advertising their breakfast menu, including a fried bologna and egg sandwich.

I wouldn't go out of my way to go there, but maybe I'll stop by next year...

My new $140 coffeepot...

2010-01-30T15:59:00.002-05:00

So I like coffee. A lot. I'm so addicted to caffeine that I get headaches and go through withdrawal if I don't get it. It's like crack, except there isn't free crack in the break room at work, unless you are a drug dealer.

So last weekend my Cuisinart Grind and Brew was giving me trouble - I couldn't get the basket out. So I decided it was time for a new machine, and that I was going to splurge. I'd read good things about Capresso grind and brew machines, so I looked for one. It's normally $200 but I found a refurb at J&R for $140.

Finally hooked it up last night and used it this morning. I'm impressed - it looks cool and makes a great cup of coffee. I don't usually like thermal pots since I can't see how much coffee is in it, but this is growing on me. The main basket swings from grinder to brewer by itself, which is cool. Programing controls aren't the most intuitive, though.

It's the time of year when things turn pink...

2010-01-23T22:25:00.002-05:00

I hate this time of year. It's cold, making me bundle up, making my hands bleed, making me scrape ice off the window and drive around with the windows closed and the heat on. And it's also the time of year for my least favorite holiday, Valentine's Day.

I've heard that Valentine's Day is great for people who are in a relationship, but since I seem to repel women like I have my own force field, I wouldn't know. I do know that two isles of Target are now full of so much pink and red and white that I don't know if I want to vomit or sob.

I was trying to take this pic without letting people know I was taking a pic and getting odd looks from disgustingly lovesick couples wondering why I was taking the picture, which is why it's blurry. But I think it came out kind of cool.

I suffer from yellow pickup envy...

2010-01-16T22:48:00.002-05:00

When you drive a small pickup like my Ranger, you feel like you tower over ordinary cars - but that bigger "real" full-size trucks tower over you. But I saw a pickup today that will make even a Super Duty F-450 owner feel inadequate. I spotted this truck on my afternoon drive around the Baltimore Beltway to the gym. It's an International CXT - basically a commercial truck chassis with a pickup bed on the back.

Unlike the one owned by Ashton Kutcher, this one actually was being used for heavy-duty work - it was towing an empty boat trailer, and had the name of a marine-services company on the back window.

Saucy!

2010-01-05T21:27:00.002-05:00

So I came back a few days before I needed to go back to work after Christmas break. One of the reasons was that I wanted to do some cleaning, along with a list of other chores and errands. Of course, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I still got quite a bit done.

One of the things I did was clean out my collection of fast-food condiments from my silverware and cutlery drawer. I'm not sure what I ever though I would do with all these Taco Bell and soy sauce packets. It's especially puzzling that I accumulated all this, since I don't even get fast food all that often...

It's not Christmas without tentacle..

2009-12-24T21:55:00.002-05:00

I drove up to NJ today to spend Christmas with the family. It was an interesting drive. One of the traditions in an Italian Catholic family like ours is fish on Christmas Eve. Traditionally, it's 7 fishes, but given my parents age and health problems, not to mention the fact that most of us don't like most of the fish anyway, we are down to 3. My brother and I helped out with the cooking - I cut a ton of garlic, while my brother made the traditional Calamari (squid) in tomato sauce - featured above, served over spaghetti. It's actually pretty tasty, but it's not the most ascetically pleasing dish around.

I thought I parked here...

2009-12-20T14:11:00.003-05:00

My truck, before I cleaned it off.

Just a little bit of snow.

Scenes from the snowpocalypse...

2009-12-19T17:32:00.002-05:00

So the Baltimore Metro area is currently in the middle of one of the biggest snowstorms ever. I have yet to venture outside, figuring that there is nowhere that I absolutely need to be for at least the next 36 hours - I plan on spending much of tomorrow shoveling and extracting the Danger Ranger from it's snowy cocoon. I spent most of today sitting around in sweatpants, although I also cranked out 3 batches of Christmas cookies.

Anyway, this pic is outside my window, taken around noon or so. Since then, it's continued to snow - the yellow Ranger is mine, and the snow on the back (I have an ARE hard tounneau cover) is now pretty much up to the top of the cab.

Fun with Windows 7...

2009-12-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

So everyone I've talked to has said that Windows 7 is really easy to install. And in my previous experiences with it, it was - I've installed the beta and the RTM on several real and virtual machines without a problem.

Until now.

Last year, I decided to build a Hackintosh - a PC hacked to run MacOS -as my main machine. I bought the recommended motherboard - an Asus P5W DH Deluxe - off of eBay, and assembled the rest of the parts from stuff I had lying around that I got free or cheap after rebate, plus a couple new parts from Newegg (processor, hard drive, ect). The first motherboard I bought didn't work, and by the time I found a replacement, I'd kind of lost interest - Apple came out with a Mac Mini that had dual monitor support, which was my main reason for building the hackintosh in the first place, and i began to question the wisdom of running a pirated, hacked OS on my main production machine.

So the Hackintosh sat at a friend's house for a while. A few weeks ago, I got a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate from a Microsoft event. I figured I'd grab the Hackintosh, throw 7 on it, and hook it up to my 42" LCD TV to stream music and movies to from my NAS. So yesterday I grabbed the machine, hooked it up, and threw in the Win7 DVD.

It booted up, started loading Windows, and then went to a blue screen with a stop screen and hex. Googled it, and found out it was an ACPI BIOS error. Went into BIOS, turned on ACPI 2.0 support, and it went past the error... only to stall on a "starting windows" screen.

Did a little googling, and found that this error was pretty common on Asus mobos. Tried a bunch of the suggestions - disabling the second NIC in BIOS, disabling USB ports, ect. Finally tonight I took out two of the 4 sticks of RAM and unplugged the USB card reader. It loaded fine, and after it was loaded I powered down and put the RAM and card reader back in and it still boots.

I've still got to finish loading some more software before it's ready for the TV. But the next time somone tells me how easy 7 is to install, I have a story for them....

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas cookies...

2009-12-13T16:14:00.002-05:00

For years, my mom has baked a bunch of Christmas cookies, including M&M cookies with red and green M&M's. Since she has some health issues, and my dad has even more, it seemed unlikely that she would be baking cookies. So I decided to take a stab at it, and got the recipe from her. My work decided to drop our normal lavishly catered Christmas party in favor of a potluck (boo) so I figured I'd bake them for that as well.

So this morning I started baking. I've never done any baking before, and it took a little while to get the hang of it - the first batch came out crispy on the edges and soft in the middle, the second batch came out burned. But the rest came OK, and I have about 30 decent cookies to take into work, which I figure should be enough - and about 12 damaged cookies left for me.

The other challenge was that I'm not exactly equipped for baking. I burned out the motor on my cheap $10 hand mixer, and only had two decent cookie sheets, so it took a long time to make two batches.

Next weekend I'll be at this again, to make cookies to take to NJ with me. I'll do a triple batch - I just need to buy more butter, I've got enough of everthing else. And I've already ordered 2 more cookie sheets and a better hand mixer from Amazon with my free Prime trial.

Cuts like a knife...

2009-12-11T21:55:00.002-05:00

So I picked up a package from JCPenney's yesterday - an item I bought online at a significant discount thanks to it being on sale and having a coupon. When I went to open the package, I found this notice to not open it with a sharp instrument. I thought that was odd, since the item WAS a sharp instrument - a set of 3 paring knives. I thought these would be decent knives, better than the cheap get-paid-after-rebate ones I have now, but if they need to be protected from other sharp instruments.

And then we'll eat pancakes to celebrate, and I'll be like gromgromgrom...

2009-12-10T21:36:00.002-05:00

So I had to take the truck in to get two new tires - one to replace the one that went flat on Tuesday, and one other that was overdue for replacement. The tire place is a circa-1970 shopping center that also has an IHOP, so I figured I'd treat myself to the kind of big breakfast that I really shouldn't eat. One of the IHOP holiday specials is the Eggnog pancake - two pancakes with an eggnog-vanilla creme in the middle, topped with whipped cream. It was pretty good, and hopefully worth the damage it will do to my arteries.

I'm tire-ed of stuff like this. It's a wheel pain...

2009-12-08T20:02:00.002-05:00

I was walking out of work tonight a little late - I stayed to finish up some stuff and make a personal call or two - and was rather disappointed to find that the right-rear tire on my truck was no longer, well, holding air.

I have no idea how or why it went flat. But I do know that it looks like I'll be visiting Mr. Tire tomorrow morning.

Your conference room has encountered an error and needs to catastrophically fail...

2009-12-07T21:18:00.002-05:00

So today, madanthony went to a workshop sponsored by a small specialty application company, held at the DC offices of a very large and well-known software company. The floor contained a few large presentation rooms, a number of smaller conference rooms, training labs, and some hoteling office spaces - pretty much all vacant. All of the rooms had touchscreen lcd's outside, running scheduling software to let you know if the room was in use or not. During breaks, I wandered around the floor and found that one of the touchscreens was having some problems - a BSOD (blue screen of death) with a driver IRQ error. Ooops.

Santa's Army...

2009-12-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

I take the back way into work, to avoid the mess that is the Baltimore Beltway at 8am. I'm not sure I actually save any time, but I figure it's a more pleasant drive. It takes me through residential neighborhoods, including down Putty Hill Avenue through Parkville. There is one stretch that has two houses, about two blocks away from each other, that "decorate" for Christmas by cramming as many light-up plastic decorations as possible onto their lawns. This is one of them.

Moon over Evergreen...

2009-12-01T22:52:00.002-05:00

Saw the full moon over campus as I was leaving work tonight and thought it would be a good picture. Would probably be an even better picture if I could hold the phone still.

On top of cavatelli, all covered with sauteed garlic...

2009-11-28T19:53:00.002-05:00

I'm at the parent's house until tomorrow morning, so I offered to cook dinner tonight. They mentioned they haven't had cavetelli with broccoli in a while, so I made that - my mom has a bad back, so it's hard for her to lift the pot of water. It came out OK.

I was hoping my mom would sit down and relax while I was cooking, but no. While I was peeling and chopping garlic, she had gotten a bunch of other stuff ready, and while I was cooking she was setting the table, down to making sure that the picture on the plate was facing the same way.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas, still...

2009-11-27T23:40:00.003-05:00

Given that today was Black Friday, the "official" start of shopping for the Holiday/Christmas season, it seems appropriate to post these pictures. They are actually from a week ago from the college I work at - they took a section of the quad and set up an ice-skating rink, complete with an inflatable santa and a santa on ice skates.

I have to admit that the first thing I thought upon seeing this was "Bah humbug". Maybe it's because I feel like Christmas has gotten too commercialized, to the point where I'm sick of it long before it comes - despite the fact that, as someone who is always looking for a way to make money, I'm generally in favor of commercializing pretty much everything. Maybe it's the "Christmas creep", the fact that stores are putting Christmas decorations out with the back-to-school stuff. Or maybe it's because I was in the process of delivering a laptop to a faculty member, instead of being a carefree college student watching Santa skate around the quad.

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-26T19:33:00.003-05:00

Spent Thanksgiving in NJ with the family - parents, brother, and my mom's two brothers. Here's the turkey, before I attacked it with an electric carving knife, sending a shower of turkey particles through the dining room, and below is my plate before I attacked it...

That will buff right out...

2009-11-25T22:41:00.002-05:00

I passed this squished Chevy Monza driving up to NJ today to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with the parents, about 15 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line on I-83. It was being towed by an early-90's Ford pickup. I'm really trying to figure out the story behind it - why would you crush a car, then transport it on a car carrier by itself? I'm also thinking that, unless they had a forklift, getting it on there would probably be a challenge - it's not like you can put it in neutral and steer while your buddy pushes.

What madanthony will NOT be having for Thanksgiving dinner...

2009-11-24T20:57:00.002-05:00

Spotted this last weekend at Trader Joe's, in the Tofu section, while stocking up on baked terriyaki -flavored tofu.

Oh, hai, were you going to sit here?

2009-11-23T21:11:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Nibbler decided to steal my normal spot on the living room sofa. She looks pretty comfortable, probably thanks to being in a sunbeam.... and to being in my carefully worn ass groove.

The pit of despair has a lovely restroom...

2009-11-22T11:07:00.002-05:00

The college I work for has a couple of houses that it owns in the neighborhood near the college. They are basic pre-ww2 craftsman bungalows. They are actually nice houses (and remind me of my first apartment, but the one I've been setting up equipment in recently has a bit of an odor, and several people - myself included - have felt kind of sick after spending an hour or two inside. One of my coworkers has gone as far as to call it the "pit of despair".

I do like the bathroom, though - but I have a weakness for subway title.

In a semi-related note, soon after taking this picture I was removing an old copier from the building, which is basically on the top of a hill with a giant staircase. After declining help from a coworker, I slowly started carrying it down the stairs - only to have the box that I had it in break, and the copier go tumbling out, breaking into a bunch of pieces at the bottom. It was spectacular.

What a difference 3 inches makes...

2009-11-19T21:33:00.003-05:00

A few months back, I bought a netbook - a 7" Asus eePC. It was a refurb that was $120 from an online retailer, with a celeron processor, 512mb RAM, and an 8 gig flash drive, running XP home. Once I upped it to a gig, it ran well, but it was just too small to use - the screen was tiny, and the keyboard was tinier - trying to do any serious typing on it was near impossible.

So not to long ago the same retailer had a blue 10" Asus for $250. Way better specs - 160 gig drive, gig of RAM (I'll eventually up it to 2), Atom processor. So I bought it. It's nice - it's actually usable, unlike the 7". The 7" will be going up for sale, either to a coworker or at the next hamfest I go to.

I haven't used it much - I have a 17" macbook pro from work that I generally use for laptop stuff, including typing this post - but I figure the netbook will be good for places where I don't want something as big or as nice as the Mac.

Bling Bling pig...

2009-11-18T22:08:00.002-05:00

Spotted this blinged-out piggy bank while standing in line at Old Navy this past weekend - I was nearby and had a coupon. ON always seems to have stupidly long lines, and their way of dealing with it is to put racks of random crap near the checkout to give you something to look at while you wait.

I love you for your yellow Cadillac...

2009-11-16T21:31:00.002-05:00

Spotted this super-clean early-70's Eldorado ragtop on the not-so-mean streets of Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood while grabbing dinner with a friend who lives nearby. I think my favorite feature is the matching yellow-centered hubcaps.

It's a bit chili in here...

2009-11-14T22:55:00.003-05:00

I made a giant crockpot of chili tonight - I used this recipe, with a number of changes - ground turkey instead of beef, left out the carrots and celery, left out the sugar, and eyeballed the spices. It came out pretty good - spicy, but flavorful. I probably have enough for another 8 or 9 meals - I'll leave it in the fridge for a few days, then freeze whatever is left.

The plot was awful, and the special effects unimpressive...

2009-11-09T23:44:00.002-05:00

I spent this afternoon in a movie theater - the White Marsh AMC 16 - but I wasn't watching a movie. Microsoft was holding one of their The New Efficiency launch events there, and I was able to go. After a lengthy wait to check in and after sitting in a theater eating free trail mix and watching the same silly promos over and over again, I we got to watch 4 presentations by Microsoft "evangelists" about the features of Windows 7. I actually picked up some useful stuff - I now have a head full of acronyms like DISM and PSR that might actually be useful. I also got a free Microsoft T-shirt and a not-for-resale copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Interestingly, the Microsoft T was an XL. The free T-shirt I got from Apple a while back when they launched Leopard 10.5 was a Medium. I wonder if that means something.

How to not sell computers...

2009-11-08T18:03:00.003-05:00

I was in Staples this morning, using up a Rewards certificate to stock up on toner and packing tape, and came upon the computer above. Now, I'm not one of those marketing geniuses, but if you are trying to get people to buy a $1300 high-tech computer, and you are also promoting your "Easy Tech" business, trying to get people to have you fix their PC's, it's probably not a wise idea to have a computer on display that's giving a boot error.

I know, it could be anything from a misconfigured boot order in the BIOS to a dead hard drive. Still, they should figure it out and either fix it or get it off display.

Kitteh in jail...

2009-11-07T10:25:00.002-05:00

Had to take Nibbler to the vet today for her yearly checkup and battery of vaccines. Getting her into the carrier wasn't fun, but I was able to get her in there after a few failed attempts and chasing her around the house a few times. She wasn't happy about going, and let me know with lots of very loud, very sad meows. She checked out healthy, though, so hopefully that's over for a year.

I know the picture is pretty bad, but I didn't want to spend a bunch of time taking perfect pics of an angry cat.

Stand back, I know Tofu!

2009-11-05T21:14:00.002-05:00

I've been looking for healthy dinner ideas, and tried just stir-fried veggies with rice, but it wasn't terribly satisfying, plus I figured I should be getting more protein in my diet. So the last time I was at Trader Joe's I picked up baked terriyaki-flavored tofu. I made it tonight, stir-fried with a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, some Schezwan seasoning, and some soy sauce.

How was it? Eh. It wasn't bad, but tofu, even marinated, is pretty much somewhere between sponge and ricotta cheese in flavor. It's the kind of thing you eat because it's good for you, or because you have to, but nobody ever would pick it for their last meal. I'd probably make it again, though.

Is our society not Violet enough?

2009-11-03T22:30:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I tried Mountain Dew's new "limited edition" Diet Ultra Violet flavor, and liked it - not as good as regular or code red, but a nice change of pace. I had picked some up at the Target in Westminster when I was up there for a hamfest in August... and haven't found it anywhere else since.

Until last week, when I was once again in Westminster, and once again stopped by Target - and found 3 cases of it, and it was on sale too. So of course I bought it all. I've killed off most of a case so far, and will save the other two for a little later.

Mirrorless Monday? I'm waiting for Trouserless Thursday...

2009-11-02T21:10:00.002-05:00

One of the things about working on a college campus is that you are frequently assaulted with the kind of warm, fuzzy, muddle-headed liberal thinking that seems to inflict most of the inhabitants of said campus. I encountered one of the odder examples of this as I walked into a basement bathroom mid-afternoon to expel some of the three cups or so of coffee that it takes to get me through working at said college and discovered that in an effort to boost the self-esteem of those seeking to relieve themselves, someone had instituted "Mirrorless Monday" and covered up the mirrors with paper adorned with self-esteem boosting proclamations.

Of course, the papered-over mirrors don't change the fact that people will still judge you if you have a booger hanging from your nose or a piece of lettuce in your teeth - they just remove the opportunity for you to know about it and correct it. In the real world, people do judge on appearance, and in the real world appearance does send certain signals - the way you choose to dress, the effort you put into diet and exercise, ect - are reflected in your physical appearance, and they send very useful signals to other people about you.

I wouldn't show my pussy here...

2009-11-01T21:56:00.002-05:00

Last week, a couple coworkers and I went to MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art, for a seminar sponsored by Apple and aimed at educators, about using Macs on Windows Active Directory. One interesting thing that we noticed was a number of signs - in the cafeteria, in the auditorium, ect - informing us that pets were not allowed. Which seemed odd - I would have no expectation that I could bring my cat to a college campus. But I guess art school people are different.

Meet my new friend, Herman Miller..

2009-10-31T22:08:00.002-04:00

About a year and a half ago, I went to an auction that had a bunch of Herman Miller Aereon Chairs. They are the famous mesh chair of the dot.com era, and they went cheap - I think $200 or so for what is normally a $400-$600 chair. Not realizing what they were, and also not having room for them in my truck, I passed, and have been kicking myself ever since.

So when I stumbled on the chair above at the auction I was at in the middle of nowhere in PA, I was pretty thrilled, because I noticed it had a "Herman Miller" sticker on the bottom. Nobody else seemed to know what it was - I ended up getting it for $13 (it was part of a group of stuff and I bid to "choose" it). It's not an Areon, and it's missing a caster, and has a very small stain on the seat, but for $13, I still think it's a hell of a deal - it looks like it's normally a $370 chair (it has the optional "flexnet" seat, plus casters).

Now I just need to find a caster.

The view from 322 North...

2009-10-28T23:59:00.002-04:00

So a while back I was browsing through auction site auctionzip.com and stumbled on an auction in the middle of nowhere that had some interesting computer stuff, including a bunch of computer cleaning stuff. It was quite a distance away, in the middle of nowhere in PA. But I figured it would be an interesting drive, so I took the afternoon off on Monday and drove up there.

It was a close to 3 hour drive each way, most of it on RT 322, a 4 lane trucking route up the mountains of PA. You forget how much very rural space there is in PA. It was a beautiful drive, but sadly the picture above - taken near Fishing Creek - is the only one I took. I didn't take my DSLR, and I also was kind of in a hurry driving because I was worried I'd be late - which turned out to be foolish, since not only did I end up getting there early, but they didn't get to the stuff I was there for until well after it was scheduled.

I think it was worth it - it was a nice trip, I got to eat some local donuts and a Dairy Queen Blizzard, something I haven't had in a while. I also spent $250 - I think I'll be able to resell the stuff for several times that, but it remains to be seen. I also bought myself a Herman Miller chair for $13 - it needs a caster and has a small stain, and it's a side chair, but still....

I wish I could go back, back in time...

2009-10-24T12:05:00.002-04:00

Our department recently acquired an unused storage room known as "the vault" - a small room in the basement of one of the buildings on campus - that we use for storing old, retired computers before they are picked up for donation or recycling.

Obviously, the room hasn't been used much in a long time, because the above calendar was hanging on the wall. Hey, in August of 1985, I turned 5 - and most of the students at the college hadn't even been born!

Well, that wasn't worth cheating on my diet on...

2009-10-17T21:12:00.004-04:00

So yesterday, I was hungry at work, and out of my ration of emergency granola bars. And unable to risk the swan song of a Mrs. Freshly's chocolate pie from the vending machine.

Probably not the best use of $1 or 500 calories. And yes, bsom, it's the one with the grey pudding...

(related post on my other blog here.

Handicapped parking...

2009-09-18T21:23:00.003-04:00

So I will admit to not being a terribly good or careful driver. To compensate for that, I tend to park far away from other cars, and look for spots that I can pull through so I don't have to back out. So I stopped at Target tonight after going to the gym after work tonight, and parked in a spot with no cars next to me on either side. Came back and was annoyed to find that, in a sea of empty spots, someone in a 10 year old Maxima had decided to park next to me. Right next to me, so close that I could barely open the driver's side door. Getting my rather large frame into my truck without putting a giant yellow dent in his door was a challenge - I did it somehow.

Wacky waiving inflatable tube man!

2009-09-05T17:13:00.003-04:00

I spotted this guy on the lawn of the Maple Donuts in PA that I always stop at when going to or from the parents. I'm not sure it sells donuts, and I hope that it's not a sign of despiration, because I love their donuts.

But I couldn't help but think of a certain Family Guy episode.

Barbie's first laptop...

2009-09-03T22:09:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, I worked at our Student Technology Center, working on various student laptops that had viruses, spyware, or otherwise weren't working properly. One young lady brought in this very pink Vaio. Not only was the entire body, including the keyboard, outfitted in various shades of pink, but the background, screen saver, and default font in IE and FireFox were all pink. I felt my testosterone level dropping just looking at it. I half expected her to come pick it up while carrying a small yappy dog in a bag. I wonder if this is her car...

What you apple-talkin' 'bout?

2009-09-02T21:55:00.002-04:00

I spotted this jack in one of the offices in our math department last week. The piece of tape says "Apple Talk" - a proprietary network protocol that Apple used to use a very long time ago. It's amazing that the tape has survived this long, since AppleTalk was turned off on our network years ago.

Bachelor plumbing repair....

2009-08-23T22:53:00.002-04:00

So I went to take a shower this morning, as I tend to do every morning. I turned off the shower when I was done - and it turned itself back on. This continued for a while - I would press the knob to turn it off, and it would pop back out. I finally got it to the point where it was only leaking a little. So later on in the day, I tried to turn it further to get it to go off - and it only got worse. Finally, I got a roll of packing tape (of which I always have a ton around, thanks to my quasi-lucrative eBay business) and held it down and taped it. After a few tries, I've gotten it to stay put off.

Eventually, I need to get a plumber out to replace it, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. I work for a college, and this week is move-in week, which means there is no way I'm going to be able to take time off to get it fixed anytime soon. Luckily, I have a second full bath, with a bathtub and shower that I have never used. Looks like I'll be using it tomorrow morning. I cleaned the cobwebs out of it last night.

Hey, that looks familiar..

2009-08-22T21:53:00.002-04:00

I spotted this Heathkit stereo receiver at a hamfest last weekend in Westminster, MD. My parents have the exact same receiver in the living room of their house in NJ, powering their radio, tape player, and single-drawer CD player....

Check out my rack!

2009-08-12T22:00:00.006-04:00

This is the shoe rack in my bedroom. I added the second rack on the top this weekend, and it now has enough space to house my shoe collection.

I've always liked nice shoes - probably because I used to be so fat that shoes were the only item I could wear that fit, and also because I spent 12 years in Catholic school, where a uniform was required and shoes were one of the few forms of personal expression.

Now, I'm not one of those people who takes great care of his kicks - most of these are well-worn, and some are downright beat up. And most of them were bought at bargain-basement prices - you can get some awesome deals on shoes if you stalk the clearance sections of stores and sites like shoes.com and bargainoutitters.com

Most of them are "casual" - ie nice sneakers. They work out well for work - nice enough to be acceptable, but sporty enough to be comfy if I have to walk around campus a lot.

Birthday cake...

2009-08-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

My boss found out it was my birthday and offered to take me out to lunch. I declined, since I haven't gone with them the last couple times they had birthdays - so he bought me this piece of cake instead. German chocolate.

So today's my birthday. Twenty-nine years ago, I came into the world, naked and screaming - and it's all been downhill from there.

I'm kidding, of course. Life could be better, but it could be worse. I'm employed, have food and shelter, can fit into pants I could only dream of fitting into a few years ago, have little debt beyond my giant, upside-down mortgage, a truck visible from space, a cat who can be really cute when she isn't trying to eat my arm, and enough gadgets to open a Radio Shack.

On the negative side, I'm also single, don't see that changing anytime soon, and while I like my job, I'd also like to move up and don't see that happening anytime soon.

I never really got the big deal about birthdays - it's just a day. It's a reminder that you are a year closer to death, and when there are lots of things you want to do in life it's a little depressing. I know - I can find the cloud in any silver lining.

That's not a very inviting sign...

2009-08-10T21:23:00.002-04:00

They are renovating the two main eating areas at the college I work at this summer. To deal with employees, summer students, and other people who want to eat, they've recast one of the food stands that used to serve Mexican food (think Chipotle or Baja Fresh, but crappier and more expensive) as "Demolition Cafe" with a limited menu. They've redecorated it like a construction site - but putting a giant "No Trespassing" sign with your hours seems like a bad idea. I mean, you want customers to come, not stay away...

Popcorn Ice Cream?

2009-08-09T23:44:00.002-04:00

I was in Target today, picking up some groceries and random household stuff, and had a coupon for Turkey Hill Dynamic Duos ice cream. They only had one flavor - "Movie Night" - a combination of vanilla with caramel and popcorn ice cream with popcorn and nuts. I decided to give it a try.

It's.. interesting. It can't be too bad, because I polished off at least a third of the carton. I actually like fake popcorn - I like the taste of popcorn, but not the squeaky sound it makes when you eat it. I'm the only person I know who likes buttered popcorn Jelly Belly jelly beans. I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy Movie Night again... although I do have a few more $1 off coupons left.

Where I'm writing this from...

2009-08-08T23:44:00.002-04:00

So I've got the new Mac Mini mostly set up. I've got the new printer, a Brother HL2170W (because it's networked) and scanner (a Canon Lide 100, because HP didn't have 10.5 drivers for my old Scanjet 4600) hooked up. I've got most of my apps installed on the mac side, and a Windows XP VM built in Fusion with most of the apps. I still need to install and configure some stuff, and am still trying to get my iTunes library over - bsom helped me with the path, but it crapped out 1/3 of the way through the import - I'll probably try it again before I go to bed, and turn off the power saver stuff so it doesn't go to sleep midway.

The monitors were pre-existing (a 24" debranded HP refurb and a 19" LG). I did spring for an Apple keyboard. The Kensington trackball was actually $10 at a hamfest a few years back. I'm currently stalking iSight cameras on eBay.

I prefer to flush by head...

2009-08-07T21:46:00.002-04:00

Spotted this sign in the bathroom of one of our academic buildings at the college I work for (near the Psych department, fwiw). The handwriting in the right corner reads "as opposed to what? by foot? by elbow?)

It's one of the few building that has urinals that don't autoflush, which presumably was the reason for the sign.

Inside my mini...

2009-08-06T22:09:00.002-04:00

I took my new Mac Mini to work today to upgrade it from it's stock 1 gig of RAM to 4 gigs. This is because I didn't have the precision tool I needed to open it up - a putty knife, which is used for prying the bottom of the case off. Once I got it open, it was pretty easy to take the four screws that hold the frame (which holds the dvd drive and hard drive) and to install the two memory chips. I was even able to get it back together again in one piece.

I'm currently running software update. It's going to take me a while to get it set up - in addition to installing all the mac updates and apps, I need to install VMWare Fusion and build a Windows XP VM, with all the updates and apps. Most of my documents from my old Windows machine are on my Lacie NAS RAID, but I have some I still need to grab off the PC. I also need to try to migrate my iTunes library over (I'm giving this a try) and install a new scanner and printer (the USB port on my old printer died, so I had it hooked up parallel, and HP evidently has yet to make 10.5 drivers for my old scanner).

Hey, what's your sign...

2009-08-05T20:59:00.002-04:00

The trick to making money in business is to find some small niche that needs to be filled - one small enough that it can really only support a small number of players, but big enough to be profitable. One of those fields seems to be the "real estate sign guy". Realtors don't put their own signs in the lawns of homes that are on the market - they hire some dude with a pickup and a bunch of posts to do it for them. It's brilliant, and it's probably one of the few real-estate businesses that actually does OK in a crappy market - more homes on the market longer needing signs.

I took a picture of this "sign guy's" truck at the intersection of Walther and White Marsh Blvd. last week on the way to work.

I hate when somebody else gets the last Shuffle..

2009-08-04T21:10:00.002-04:00

Not the best picture, because I took it while walking, but this is an iPod vending machine in the Macy's at the Christiana Mall in Delaware. I'm not sure why anyone would buy an iPod from a Macy's vending machine when there is an Apple store a short walk away.

Whose house? Waffle House...

2009-08-03T21:53:00.002-04:00

Drove back from the 'rents today, via I-95 so I could stop at the Apple Store in the Christiana Mall to buy a new Mac Mini tax free. Turns out it doesn't qualify for the free iPod after rebate, but still a good deal. I'm waiting for my 4 gigs of Mushkin RAM to show up from Newegg before I unbox it and start setting it up, building a VMWare Fusion VM on it, and moving my data over from the 3ghz Celeron I'm writing this post on.

Stopped at a Waffle House in Elkton, MD on the way back. Bacon egg and cheese on a biscuit, side of hash browns, and a coffee - $4.91 plus tip. Can't beat it.

Elmo want to eat himself...

2009-08-02T20:00:00.003-04:00

I drove my mom to church this morning, and afterwords stopped at a local, independent small-town downtown bakery to pick up some stuff. I noticed these cupcakes chilling in one of the cases. Probably a copyright violation, but so cute - especially the Cookie Monster cupcake, complete with cookie in mouth.

Blocked!

2009-08-01T19:20:00.004-04:00

I was headed up to NJ today - figured I'd see the 'rents and help them out a little. I took Monday off - I'm going to go back via Delaware and buy myself a tax-free Mac Mini on the way down. I drove up the way I usually go, though - via PA. On I-78 near exit 35, I hit a mile-plus traffic jam. A number of drivers decided to use the shoulder of the road as a third lane. This tractor trailer driver decided to prevent them from doing that.

I was kind of glad - I think that using the shoulder as a third lane is dangerous, and it's also problematic because sometimes police/emergency vehicles use it to get to an accident, if that's what's causing the traffic jam. But once I got to exit 35, I wanted to get off and take the detour that Tom-Tom told me to take, but getting over was difficult even though I was in the right lane, thanks to the extra "lane" on the shoulder.

While I was stuck in traffic, there was a vehicle next to me in the left lane - a blue Chrysler Pacifica. The passenger seat was occupied by a large women who was yelling loudly and gesturing towards the truck and going "good job" and then towards the cars on the shoulder and yelling "f*** them". She passed me about 20 miles down the road, so I'm not sure how much time the detour saved, since she stayed on the road and obviously wasn't that far behind me.

Honey, I shrunk the software..

2009-07-31T23:39:00.002-04:00

As the resident Mac guy at work, I end up buying a lot of video editing software. One that occasionally gets requested is Apple's Final Cut Studio, which was always funny because it came in a huge box with a ton of manuals. Apple just released a new version of it, and it is much smaller and lighter - evidently, they digitized the manuals. Which makes things much easier on the back. As you can guess, the new version is on top, the old one on the bottom.

This box has me all over it!

2009-07-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

coworker bsom was about to mail something he sold on eBay in a box that something from work came in when I noticed the writing on the bottom - "Single and Floppy". Presumably it's Engrish to let the people packing items know how much they can fit in the box. But I couldn't help remarking that I am, well, both single and floppy.

Although I have a date tomorrow night, so if things go well maybe at least one of those adjectives could change.

World's largest printer test page!

2009-07-29T22:06:00.002-04:00

So one of our science departments has a large-format Canon poster printer that they use for printing giant posters for science presentations. The first time I laid eyes on it, my first thought was "it would be awesome to print a Windows test page on that". Of course, it isn't that simple - a normal Windows test page won't scale, so you would just get a normal test page on a giant piece of glossy paper.

I mentioned it to bsom, and he had to test the printer anyway, since he had just replaced a number of parts on the printer. So he found a PDF of an Acrobat Pro test page and printed it on the printer. It now hangs on the door to my office, and barely fits.

Hey! Why is my car up on blocks?

2009-07-28T20:22:00.003-04:00

The first new car I bought was an Inferno Red Chrysler PT Crusier, in August 2001, my senior year in college. About 6 weeks after I picked it up, on a Friday afternoon, I walked out of my off-campus apartment to drive to an 11am econ class, only to find that someone had stolen the rims and left it on cinder blocks.

I traded the car in several years ago - in addition to the rim theft and a hit-and-run, it was cursed with electrical demons that killed a transmission controller, the entire guage cluster, and would make the air bag light come on when it rained. But I still have a red PT Cruiser model and a remote control car in my office, and one of my coworkers thought it would funny to put it on "blocks" (actually, the foam that Lenovo packs laptops in). And it was kinda funny....

This is Terry Tate's house!

2009-07-27T20:40:00.003-04:00

Evidently, someone at work was so annoyed by coming into the breakroom to an empty coffeepot that they felt the need to invoke the words of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.

Our break room has become a collection of passive aggressive notes about how to act in the break room. I'm waiting for it to turn into an official email or all-hands meeting topic.

Mmm... dusty!

2009-07-26T20:46:00.002-04:00

I did some much-needed vacuuming this afternoon. This is the dust container of my Dyson D7 (refurb from woot.com) after I did my living room, bedroom, and two hallways. Most of it is cat fur, courtesy of Nibbler. If shedding was a job, she would be President. If cat fur had market value, I'd be rich. I'm pretty sure my carpet will be black again in another day or two.

Do you think it's 1080P?

2009-07-25T11:14:00.002-04:00

Spotted this classic Zenith console TV at a yard sale today. It would make a hell of a fishtank, if I had the time, space, and skills...

Not just good. Sonic good...

2009-07-24T21:49:00.002-04:00

One funny thing about living in Maryland is that we frequently see ads for Sonic drive-in resturants, but there aren't any in the state. There are a few in PA, though, one of which is in Lancaster, right accross from the Tanger Outlet Mall. So of course when I was there on Monday, I put aside my usual careful watching of what I ate and ate like a pig. In the picture are the large tater tots with chili, cheese and onions and a large Sonic Blast with Reese's peanut butter cups. Not shown, on my lap, is a junior cheeseburger.

If I was running ME, I'd keep it a secret too...

2009-07-23T21:24:00.002-04:00

I spotted these books in a "Book and Bible Outlet" in the Rockvale Outlet Mall in Lancaster on Monday. For those who don't remember, ME was Windows Millenium Edition - it was basically Windows 98SE with a few extra features like system restore. It gets a horrible rep from computer nerds, but I honestly don't think it was that bad an OS - not as stable as the NT variants, but not as resource-heavy as 2000 was. But since it was released in 2001, I really hope nobody is still running it.

Pouncing or pooping?

2009-07-22T20:55:00.002-04:00

I saw this Garfield kid's ride in front of a store at the Tanger Outlets in Lancaster when I went up there on Monday. I realize that it's probably designed to look like Garfield is about to pounce, but when I saw the raised tail, the first thing I thought was "gee, when my cat's tail is up like that, she's usually about to handle some business in the litter box".

I guess we know where Barbie parks her Eclipse..

2009-07-21T21:27:00.002-04:00

Spotted this fine automobile in the parking lot of the Rockvale Outlets in Lancaster yesterday. I'm no expert on diamond-star cars, but I'm pretty sure that isn't a factory color.

Today's purchases...

2009-07-20T21:17:00.002-04:00

I took a day off from work and went up to Lancaster, PA today to hit the outlets. I'm not a huge shopper, but it's an excuse to buy some clothes I can use, drive through scenic (sort of)rural PA, stock up on near-dated Peppridge Farm products, and eat at Sonic.

Here's the pile of stuff I bought - which included 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of track pants, 2 pairs of boxers, a pair of gym shorts, 4 books, a few kitchen gadgets, and a month's supply of Goldfish. Probably spent around $140.

I have a couple other pics - I'll probably keep posting them throughout the week, unless something really cool comes up for me to take a daily pic of.

Another Hamfest...

2009-07-19T20:26:00.003-04:00

Went to a hamfest this morning at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship. I sold quite a bit of stuff, and more importantly I sold a bunch of large items that were taking up room in my basement. I only bought two things, and sold one of them to bsom at cost.

This is my space, towards the end of the day so I don't have a whole lot left.

Chicken for breakfast?

2009-07-18T20:35:00.002-04:00

Hit a couple yard sales this morning, but came up empty. After 2 hours, I decided to cut my losses and give up. I found myself near Perring Plaza and decided to stop at Chik-fil-a - because I hadn't had one of their chicken biscuits for breakfast in a while, and also because I really had to pee.

I'm a big fan of the chicken biscuit - it sounds weird, but it's tasty, even though it's probably not the world's healthiest breakfast food.

All computers are green on the inside..

2009-07-17T22:46:00.002-04:00

I have a couple year old Toshiba laptop that I got as part of a pallet of items I bought from the DC police department in an online auction. It seemed to have some wonky charging issues, so I asked my coworker bsom to take a look, since this model is known for having a power jack that comes loose and he's a whiz with a soldering iron. So he took a look at it tonight after work. This is the insides.

Unfortunatly, it looks like it's something else, so I'll probably just list it for parts or repair. I'll still probably get $100 or so, which should put me in the black for the lot thanks to some other stuff I've sold from the lot.

But I'm hungry now!

2009-07-16T21:49:00.002-04:00

We're currently tearing out one of labs and switching it with our help center at work. These panels were from the old lab, and were sitting in the hallway complete with "no food or drink" sign. I was tempted to take the sign off and stick it on the fridge in the breakroom.

How much for teh kitty?

2009-07-15T23:58:00.002-04:00

I was pricing stuff for a hamfest this coming weekend that I'm selling at (basically a swap meet for ham radio and computer enthusiasts). Nibbler the cat seemed interested in the price tags. Maybe she was worried I'd put one on her.

Laundry time...

2009-07-14T20:46:00.002-04:00

Realized that I was pretty much out of clean towels - all the nice fluffy ones are dirty and I'm down to the ones that are almost worn through and feel like sandpaper. So time to trudge down to the basement laundry room/room where I keep all the shit I don't know what to do with and do laundry.

My washer and dryer are pretty much the world's most basic - they are "Estate" brand, which is evidently the name Whirlpool puts on appliances that it's too embarrassed to admit they made. My house was a rental for a while before I bought it, and I suspect the previous owners bought the cheapest thing they could find. They do the job, though.

Please don't nom teh fishies...

2009-07-13T20:34:00.002-04:00

OK, this picture is actually from yesterday - the fish tank is in the waiting room of the clinical center that the college I work for operates. I'm a sucker for a sign with a cat, so I had to take a picture.

Worst. Test. Name. Ever.

2009-07-12T22:27:00.001-04:00

This was hanging on a bulliten board in a computer lab that I was replacing some computers in today (yea overtime!). I think it needs no comment.

Hai, I scratch everything but the post next to me...

2009-07-11T21:04:00.004-04:00

One of the nice things about having a cat is you can always take a picture of them for your daily photo site if you find the day almost over and you haven't taken a picture yet. One of the bad things is that when you want to take a picture of that cat doing something cute, she'll pretty much just sit there. I just missed getting a pic of her giving off a big yawn, but of course by the time I got the phone fired up, it was too late.

There goes Peter Cottontail...

2009-07-10T21:32:00.002-04:00

One of Baltimore County's fearless rabbits was chilling near my truck when I rolled out the door to work this morning. (s)he was calm enough to let me squeeze off a couple pictures before it hip-hopped away.

If I start finding any white veggies, I know it was Bunnicula.

Lets meet for burritos and conversation....

2009-07-09T21:47:00.002-04:00

Tonight I went to El Salto, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Parkville, located in what I'm pretty sure was once a Roy Rogers, to meet a woman I met at an online dating site. I was trying to come up with a casual but tasty non-chain restaurant, and it was the best I could come up with.

Date went OK - she seemed to like me, and she's easy on the eyes. Not sure if we have enough in common besides both being cat people for it to turn into anything, but we'll see.

Hey cat, I need to wear that....

2009-07-08T21:17:00.003-04:00

I was getting dressed and ready for work yesterday morning when Nibbler the Cat, as she often does, decided that the shirt I was about to wear to work would be a good place to sit. Because nothing quite helps improve your career prospects like showing up to work every day covered in cat fur.

Strangest Ikea as-is item ever...

2009-07-07T21:29:00.002-04:00

I live practically around the corner from the Ikea store in White Marsh. I was running some errands yesterday and had a craving for one of their $1 soft-serve frozen yogurts, plus I wanted to pick up some sheets that weren't made of flannel.

The frozen yogurt machine was broken, but I did stop by the as-is section, where I've gotten some good deals in the past. But this wasn't one of them - what does one do with a fake printer? I guess I could take one into work and ask our printer tech if he can fix it.

My love is bigger than a Honda, it's bigger than a Subaru...

2009-07-06T14:22:00.002-04:00

I spotted this pink Cadillac CTS barreling up the left hand lane of 83 South just south of the Maryland/PA border. I'm guessing someone was a very good Mary Kay saleswoman, or a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. Not the best picture, because it's hard to fire up the camera on the iPhone while driving 75 and trying not to hit anyone.

That is some very powerful chicken...

2009-07-05T20:38:00.003-04:00

My mom mentioned that they haven't barbequed anything recently, because my dad has been having some health problems. I don't generally grill either - I have a gas grill at Casa De Mad but I don't use it much, because grilling for one seems like a hassle, plus I haven't had my backyard fenced in yet (it's one of my goals for this summer) and feel kind of silly standing in an open yard grilling.

So I offered to BBQ some chicken breasts while I was up here. So my mom and I cooked these up, and they came out pretty good.

They 16's... I keep 'em clean, though...

2009-07-04T11:07:00.002-04:00

I ran to the local Stop and Shop grocery store for my parents yesterday - my mom handed me a giant shopping list and a thick stack of coupons. I'm not used to shopping for other people - normally I just wander around and throw stuff in my cart, and then get home and realize I bought 2 gallons of ice cream but no coffee filters.

The shopping center has a hand car wash, so I got the Ranger washed while I was there. It's probably the first time I've gotten it washed in about 8 months or so. It looks good, but I assume it will get dirty pretty soon.

Evidently, my boss is moonlighting in the pickle business...

2009-07-03T16:23:00.002-04:00

I drove my mom to a nearby Italian deli today, so she could pick up about 14 pounds of pasta salad for our 4th of July dinner today - we're celebrating the 4th on the 3rd because my brother has to work tomorrow night.

While there, I noticed this jar of pickles, which I found amusing since my boss shares his first and middle name with this pickle producer.