Mouse Cleaning

I thing I might be the last person on Earth you still liked cleaning out the dirty computer mouse. There was something oh so gratifying about having a problem with your mouse, wether that be jumping or whatnot, and being able to solve it.

It just felt good to turn it over and go nuts on the little guy. finding a 12 foot long hair wrapped around a roller or just a pile of dust jamming up the works. There was something very, real about it. I mean what do you do if your laser mouse locks up? Nothing.

Doesn't that make you feel a little helpless?

My Friend Joe

I rely on it everyday to get me through the rough parts of the morning.

I appreciate it for it's insides and not its superficial exteriors.

Of course, I think its color changing heat paint is cool too.

We've been through thick and thin together. From imported Kenya beans to the giant cans of cheap ground coffee like dust.

I treat it with respect and try to protect it from harm.

If I ever misplace it, everything stops till it's safe.

It never criticizes me for my shortcomings.

We've never had a serious disagreement, except the time I wanted to quit drinking coffee and use it for a pen holder...but we worked it out.

I'm excessively loyal to it and would never use another mug.

I enjoy it's company.

I care about its needs, and always use a soft coaster and try to keep it clean.

I know it's full name (Cisco color changing coffee cup) even though I just call it 'Joe'

I would be lost without it.

Miscommunication

As per usual I have done a poor job of explaining it. It seems that what seems so clear in my head, has translated to a murky cloud in someone else's brain.

"All I want is know is the answer to the question."

"I don't understand the question."

"Try and listen then... Please tell me what is on that sheet in front of you."

"You lost me again.."

Maybe it's just me. I suppose I could be oversimplifying it, but really, if you take things in small bits it's almost always digestible. I just take it all at once and throw it on people. I can't expect everyone to work the same way. It's just harder for me to think in a straight line, so I can explain it to someone else. I need to be more linear.

Starcraft

In an effort to prepare for the new and upcoming release of the Starcraft II I have been boning up on my StarCraft skills. First off, note that I am not alone, the new Blizzard game has created quite a stir in the gaming community. secondly realize that while the orginal is over seven years old, it is still quite playable.

If you can get past the dated graphics and annoying screen resolution, StarCraft still is one of the best playing games of all time. It has great races with well weighted, yet totally different fighting styles. I'm finding that even after years of playing this game always has something new to show me.

Like how to get my tail kicked, by a troupe of flying bugs who stole my crystals and destroyed my carriers. StarCraft, the feel good game!

Babylon 5

Being a Science Fiction fan means that I have seen a lot of very poorly made movies and television shows. Some were still enjoyable to me like Waterworld and The Postman, just because of the ideas that were presented. In Sci-Fi ideas carry more weight than effects. We Sci-Fi nerds like to see others ideas of the future, the past, or just some interesting story twists.

Up until recently I had completely dismissed Babylon 5 as a series. I had never seen an episode but it just 'looked' too Star Trek for me. What can I say, "I was wrong."

They present a very possible and more accurate representation of mankind 100 years from now. A people still with faults, corporations, politics and greed. In the first season the acting is...well poor, and the effects are not up to ILM, but the story is great.

I just added season two in my netflix and I'm eagerly anticipating where the writers will be taking me!

Sore

I was out for a bike ride last night. It's a new practice of my mine, and one which I admit to being both a total agony and an absolute joy. I'm sore tired and uncomfortable after only an hour of riding. Clearly this means that I'm completely out of shape.

While I find the process painful, I also feel like I'm accomplishing something. I feel more rested every morning, and find that muscles groups that I haven't even thought about in a number of years are sore each day. Additionally there are the intangible benefits, like enjoying a hour with my mp3 player, wind in face and getting to see my town at a pace quite different from the fast lane.

That clearly is worth a little sweaty pain here and there.

20 Things I Learned From Sci-Fi

(A tongue-in-cheek list of things to come)

Tomorrow is coming for you, ready or not.

Robots and aliens will be there too. If you're lucky they'll be good. Don't bet on your luck.

If you hear the phrase "We come in peace" batten down the hatches, you're about to get pummeled.

Clones are evil. I don't know why. Oh yeah, so is déjà vu.

If you need artificial gravity on a ship or space station, you just need to spin the object in space. This works every time.

Technology will only work if you really don't need it to (eg. Transporters, hyperdrive or automatic coffee dispensers...).

In the future, machines will turn on us. So try and be nicer to your microwave.

Even if the odds seem infinitesimal, whenever you travel through time, you will always run into a relative of yours.

Causality loops, spacial distortions, titanium and spandex jumpsuits are really common in the future.

Sooner or later, you're going to have to hook your brain to a computer. Why wait?

The future is either really good, or really bad. We do away with moderation around 2015 or so.

Whether you like it or not, there will be a time when something catastrophic happens to Earth. More than likely we did it ourselves.

Lucky for us, Mars is a lovely place to raise a family and everyone vacations on Io or Callisto.

In the future, people can read your thoughts, foil hat or not.

At some point, we do away with physics. Therefore we have no relativity and have replaced it with huge explosions in the vacuum of space. Explosions are cooler than relativity anyway.

All aliens are smarter, stronger or more advanced than humans. Humans are the dregs of the universe.

Though we're really not that different from aliens. Even if they breathe cyanide and eat rocks, they probably can quote Shakespeare.

While we will have phasers, neutrino bombs and particle destabilizers, we will still mostly fight with our fists.

No one uses paper money in the future. We will have things called 'credits', which everyone has but nobody accepts as payment. Sort of like pennies.

42.

Real Work

Do you work? Real work?

I get paid for the job I do, and I believe that I've put in a lot of time learning my trade and perfecting my craft, but is it really work? Work is defined in the scientific work as the output of energy. Considering that I send about 80% of my job sitting on my duff, I would have a hard time describing it as "Real Work"

I have spend a couple of weekends helping out a friend. Shoveling Dirt. There is nothing like a few hours of scooping and lifting shovelfuls of clay to make you realize you haven't done a scrap of real work in ages. My body always ache after the work, and I find that tender keyboarding hands are easily hurt.

So as I sit here, I'm so thankful for two things. First that I have this great job, and secondly that I get the opportunity to realize that while getting some exercise and helping out a friend.