Month: October 2003

Well, I tried to no avail to install Storage.pl into my home directory. I did the make/install stuff just fine, and everything lookedÂ… well, indecipherable, but otherwise just fine. I am no perl guru, that’s for sure. So I guess I will just have to wait to install mt-blacklist until they’ve written a work-around for this particular requirement.

And in the meantimeÂ… *sigh* I may just go ahead and delete the 20 or so spam comments that have appeared on my site in the last week or so… by hand. I did at least go ahead and upgrade Movable Type to 2.64. I’ve been dreading it, but I should have known it was going to be easy.

I think today was the first time someone has link-spammed my blog–you know, posted a comment for the sole purpose of getting others to follow the URL they use. Movable type must do some cool filtering, because this person also tried to post an image linking to their porn site, and it just didn’t show up. Strange, because I would have thought it would. (I have HTML in comments turned on and all that.)

I also managed to delete an entry today. I’ve encountered this movable type bug before, where I’m editing someone’s comment, and save it, and then when it takes you back to the entry page the body of the entry is actually the same as the comment entry. I’m not sure how this happens. (And actually, it’s possible that it could be a safari bug� I was just editing comments again–in mozilla–and didn’t have the same thing happen.)

I found out there is a new Fluke album, but it doesn’t appear that it’s going to be released here. djnoise had good things to say about it, so I’ll be making an amazon.co.uk order soon, I think. (How is it possible that it’s substantially cheaper to buy something from amazon.co.uk than it is to buy it from amazon.com? Aren’t they the same f’in company?)

There are multiple concerts coming up that I want to go to. Dressy Bessy is on Monday at the 400 Bar. They had a really catchy tune in But I’m a Cheerleader. Then Friday the Umbrella Sequence is playing at the Uptown Bar. I’ve been wanting to see them ever since I found out they’re local (I think). At first I was upset because, Low is playing at the Triple Rock that same night, but then I found out they’re playing the next night too! So it’s going to be a concert filled weekend, because those are both shows I really don’t want to miss. I hope low isn’t going to sell out� maybe I should buy my tickets in advance.

Today I turned to google to tell me whether it’s “feed a cold, starve a fever,” or “feed a fever, starve a cold.” I was going to go on search results alone, but the first result was actually someone else wondering the same thing I wasÂ… so I clicked and found out the true answer is neither. Modern medicine says you should eat the sameÂ… and that over eating, and especially starving, is bad in both cases! I learned something new.

Unfortunately, while I’m sick, I usually don’t eat as much. I don’t think anybody does. It’s at least partly because you have this fear in the back of your head that you won’t be able to hold it down. And I often just don’t feel like eating. Oh, and another factorÂ… if your nose is stuffed up (which mine is) you can’t taste anything! So at least half the pleasure of eating is stripped from you.

I was thinking that I’d probably go home early today, but every time I’ve talked with my manager it’s been about timelines, and when I can have things done byÂ… and I haven’t had the heart/guts to tell her that I really just want to go home. Plus, I called in sick two days in a row like two weeks ago, and I’m sure the perception is that I’m just sick all the time. When in reality, I think it’s just that when I get sick I’m more susceptible to further illnesses. So maybe I am sick all the time, who knows? I guess that’s a small price to pay for working less. Except that when I was sick that other time I kept coming in even though I felt like shit. I hardly ever just disconnect from work entirely.

Anyway, I really hope I’m feeling better by Friday. Jason is having his post-fest party on Saturday (and a smaller movie viewing on Friday), and there are people I want to make out with who are going to be there! Laura is going to miss the whole thing, as she’s flying out to California to pick up a friend’s car and drive it back here. They’re stopping on the way back to see Zoomanity. I was very tempted to go with them, but I just can’t justify the expense right now. I will have to see it soon though; I’ve heard only good things about it.

PS, when you search for zoomanity on google, the first result is a site called metaplasm, a fascinating blog-style list of compound and (mis)created words and their definitions. Fun stuff!

I looked up all the books I had wanted to read earlier, and theyÂ’re all on hold or checked out. I was tempted to run to a library in south Minneapolis (out of my way from here) to grab a copy of Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot before they close in an hour, but I decided against it. I have plenty to read already, and besides, IÂ’d rather read the new one.

IÂ’m composing in word (Word X for Mac) right now, and I think thereÂ’s some kind of weird bug where every time I hit return it turns my font back into Times. I wanted Apple Gothic, damnit!

Earlier, I had actually written a whole blog entry about my exciting sexual adventures last night, but then, just as I had chickened out, and decided I was going to save the entry as “draft” in movable type instead of “Publish”, Eudora crashed on me hardcore, rendering the decision moot, as I lost the entire entry. (Hence my composition in word.)

Anyway, the entry was a little explicit. And while I know some of you readers would like to know what makes me come, IÂ’m not sure everybody shares that same desire. (Those of you who really want to know will just have to find out for yourselves!)

IÂ’m going to go home early now, and play more morrowind. Yay for the weekend!

I’m in a horrible mood today. Not sure what it is.. but I think it was somehow related to listening to sigur ros all morning. (got me depressed.)

Plus, laura thinks something dead might be stuck in the walls or ceiling or something. I don’t know if I ever told this story on here before, but at one point when we first bought the house, we figured out there was a dead mouse behind the refrigerator, and I paid Nate and Laura $5 (each? I can’t remember) so they’d take care of it, and I didn’t have to clean it.

And a bunch of people here at work were talking about partial birth abortion, which got me all pissed off, because I’m not sure any of them are pro-choice, but I could tell everybody was too polite (timid?) to say anything specific. Not that I wanted to talk about it anyway.

I was in a fine mood this morning when I left home (an hour late to work). I had some cloud cult song stuck in my head (Took You For Granted–It’s a sad song, now that I realize which one it was.) while laura and I rolled around trying to get out of bed, or trying not to get out of bed, I’m not sure which is more accurate.

So, speaking of booksÂ… (mopsa’s romance novels don’t count) Â…after watching The School of Rock, Jason, Tom and I stopped by the bookstore. There were about fifty books I hadn’t seen before and now (of course) have to own or read. Of course I ran home and added them to my amazon wishlist.

I’ll just list the four big ones: First, I’d read about this, but hadn’t ever actually seen it–Orson Scott Card wrote a novel called Robota that was published in a large format with illustrations by Doug Chiang (who won some awards for his CG test / trailer for the movie–who knows when that’ll come out). The book looks damn cool, and I go in for that sci-fi illustration stuff, so this is a MUST OWN for me.

Second book: Steve Martin has a new one called The Pleasure of My Company. I didn’t look at this one as much as the others, so I don’t know if it’ll be good, but I’ll read it because I’ve liked everything I’ve read by Steve Martin quite a bit so far.

Then there was Bringing Down the House : The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions I probably wouldn’t have even looked twice at this, except I was there with a guy who works one night a week at Barnes & Noble (Tom), and he said it was greatÂ… I picked it up to read some random pages in the first chapterÂ… ten minutes later I’d read the first chapter, and was onto the second. Seems quite interesting, and a compelling read!

Finally the book that we looked at first in the storeÂ… Al Franken’s Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Tidbit from Tom: I guess when the lawsuit was announced, the book went from being WAY low on the list of top books selling on amazon to #1 in less than a day. Anyway, I picked it up, and basically found it hysterical.

School of Rock was also hysterical, by the way. Way better than I’d expected, and I even expected it to be pretty good. (I don’t know why, given Jack Black’s so-so track record.) It had just the right balance of over-the-top trademark Jack Black humor, and feel-good movie ending. You’ll understand when you see it, but more people (I’d say 98 % of the audience) stayed to watch the credits in this movie than in any other movie I’ve seen in quite a while.

Last night I started reading Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, which has been on my shelf for at least two years now. A couple of things stuck with me from the first chapter. One was his definition of a scientific theory, and how it includes the ability to make predictions for the future. I sometimes forget about that stipulation when I’m making up theories on the universe and everything, but I think it’s not as important that you be able to test those predictions, so much as you have an idea for HOW to test them.

In my heart, somewhere, I want to be a scientist. I have grand hopes for my sister. She’s basically staying in math just because I’m making her (and she’s good at it). I really hope she’ll find she likes science too, because that’s really the whole reason I’ve encouraged her to stay in math.

Some other time I’ll expound about the link between science and art.

This morning I was looking for Sigur Ros’s () album on my shelf, and found that I’d miss-alphabetized her space holiday’s album Manic Expressive. I pulled it down and have been listening to it all day. They’re sorta mellow orchestral electronica with yo la tengo-esque vocals. Then I did a web search, and found out that they have a new album released just yesterday! How unlikely is that?

Also, on the way to work this morning I heard Junior Senior’s “Rhythm Bandits” again. It was another one of those “sitting in the car waiting for the song to end” mornings.

Well, I’m off now to go watch School of Rock. I’ll let you all know what I think of it… if I remember!