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Just lost a long blog post, so here's the highlights: 3.5 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Saturday, 3.5 miles today for 32.5/165. Read The Black Tattoo - great story/humor but not too well written - still an enjoyable read, especially for teenagers or a little younger. Found a good translation of Lysistrata which is up next. Saw Indy - really enjoyed it - and Kung Fu Panda - pretty much sucked sadly. And an epistemological rant about trying to compare or evaluate separate realms of knowledge.

I'll try to put more into the next post. Sorry for any disappointments.

Another slow week in walking with 3.5 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Saturday, and 3.5 miles today, for 32.5 for June and 165 for 2008. It's gonna be a tough push to make the last 35 miles in 11 days but I can definitely do it - might even be able to take off next Sunday to give the footsies a rest. If not, I've still made it a good way since mid-May.

Saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend - was surprisingly good. I'm not a huge Indy fan so it might not have lived up to the old ones, but I enjoyed it. I even liked the overall plot. Much like in Transformers, Shia LeBoeuf proves he can not ruin a role that doesn't require much. No idea if he can act beyond that. Also saw Kung Fu Panda which was fairly disappointing - no memorably clever lines or scenes. Jack Black singing Kung Fu Fighting during the credits was probably my favorite part. From a technical standpoint, the animation was great although I didn't notice any special leaps over previous animation, like the water in Lion King or similar feats.

While looking for translations of Aristophanes, I read The Black Tattoo, on a coworkers' recommendation. It's a young-adult-fiction fantasy/horror, and I really liked the story and humor but the writing never really sucked me in - I was always aware I was reading. Now I have found a modern translation of Lysistrata, which is up next for me. Then I might go back to a foreign relations textbook from UT called No Common Power. It's about the post-Cold War US superpower, which is a bit out of date, but the perspectives should still be useful to understand international issues today.

I've been frustrated recently that people don't seem to separate types of knowledge. Science by definition deals with observable verifiable repeatable data. If you can't sense something or its direct effects, it's not science. Scrap Intelligent Design in science - it's a philosophical question. I'm open to combining subjects so that philosophy of science is included in science curriculum, but only when it's specified as such. On the other hand, that also means science's authority ends when things can't be proven - evolution, the Big Bang, every scientific theory out there, doesn't disprove or prove the first thing about the supernatural. I'll posit a 3rd kind of knowledge - Truth. With the capital T, it's what's really out there, and science might get us there, religion might get us there, and which one's better or worse we'll never know (same as if they're both just distractions to divert us). So keep investigating all kinds of knowledge, keep discussing all kinds of knowledge, look for inspiration from any one field to understand another, but stop trying to compare them or use the standards of one to judge another. Why can't we all just get along?

Finally a reason not to obliterate Terry Bradshaw from of the face of the planet - his 10-10-220 commercials (most of which are reasons for the opposite) finally resurrected ALF! Even jokes about eating cats. A commercial that actually makes me smile. :) Now if they can just add Brainy Smurf!

Things change. My local 7-11 is closing on Friday at 6AM cuz they opened up an Exxon down the road. Now that just sucks. Until any other station gets a Slurpee machine (don't even think it, you Icee/Slushee idolaters!), there's no convenience store like a 7-11. Fortunately there's still one about 4 or 5 miles away - just a tad more inconvenient.

And two restaurants I've eaten at for a long time in Round Rock have closed - Lone Star Cafe and K-Bob's. But hey we've got Chili's and Bennigan's and who wants something that's not bland enough to be appreciated by any tastes anywhere, right? Not that I'll claim that the closed restaurants were daring culinary experiments, but I'm tired of local restaurants and even local chains getting outpriced and outgenericized.

That's my casual rant for the day.

Well if I have any enemies out there I guess it was a good day for you. For a Valentine's date (admittedly, with just a friend, but still it's the spirit of the thing), managed to incur the following:
1) After picking up the flowers, the little round vase (wafer-theen, one might say) rolled on the car's floor, re-shaping the arrangement and spilling water all over the passenger floorboard.
2) For clothes, discovered that of my 2 non-white button-up shirts (hey for dinner at a nice place I'd rather not go for the frat-daddy look), 1 was missing the second-to-top button and the other was still at the cleaners. That left me with, well, a white shirt.
3) Would've worn said shirt with blue pants to avoid the ultimate frat-daddy "Why think for yourself when you can pay others to determine your life?" look, but no, the newly-bought blue pants didn't fit, leaving me with khakis. Gosh now if I could've just paid a whole lot of people to beat me and make me humiliate myself, I would've been able to know who I was.
4) Determining above fashion led me to be late, causing dinner to push us to the edge of when we could catch the play, and my utter ignorance of downtown parking caused us to miss the play.

Best part of the day came when we decided to rent Wonder Boys after we missed the play (great movie! I highly recommend it!). Said date said this was all no problem, but for some reason I'm not sure of, I'm beating myself up for it quite nicely. No wonder I don't get these too often.

Sorry to vent, loyal reader(s). Thanks for your patience.

Congratulations to the Patriots! As much as I like the Rams, that was just one of the best games I've ever watched. One problem, though - Patriots' offense had one decent drive and that was for the final field goal and Brady gets the MVP? Nice story, but compared to the incredible defensive effort (and coaching that put them in a position to win with a FG), not exactly MVP. And today Belichick says that Brady's worked so hard "no one deserves it more." How about Bledsoe toiling away for years on a team that never put the right talent around him? I agree with Brady starting, but deserves it more than Bledsoe? That might be pushing it. I do hope Terry Glenn doesn't get a Super Bowl ring - talk about wrong place at the wrong time.

In other news, colds suck. Especially when they refuse to go away and leave you alone. Bah humbug.

So how long's considered an acceptable commute? Looking at a position in Taylor that might be 40 minutes or so away. Seems kinda long, but I enjoy living in Austin. If I move to RR, doubt I'd spend much time in Austin although I'd be saving gas like nobody's business.

If you're not the lead dog, the view might never change, but at least you've got a convenient target.

Anyone else annoyed by Fox's Instant Viewer Internet Polls during football games? Guess that's their answer to the common comment "There can't be anyone who knows less about football than the people in the booth!" Reminds me of the first viewer poll in the Roman Coliseum where the audience's applause determined if gladiators lived or died. Trivial tidbit from the oft-mentioned Jason Suggs - while the thumb-down signal was how the emperor sentenced a gladiator to death, the opposite was not a thumbs-up but a hand waving. Guess the makers of Gladiator thought Siskel&Ebert were better models. (Random side note: if you'd gone back 5 years and said that only one of Siskel&Ebert would be alive today, who would pick the fat one? Just saying.)

Got my first sunburn of the year yesterday. I love Texas, but you should not be able to get a sunburn in January! It's just unnatural. Downright spooky, even. OK it's not, but how many legitimate opportunities do you get to say "downright spooky"? Gotta make your chances when there are none to take.

That's enough rambling for now. For the truly committed (or should-be-) that still read this, I'm hoping to add a Recommended Books page in the next month. Why should you care? 1. I have impeccable taste. 2. It's going to probably include those little links to Amazon and B&N. So if you're going to buy books there anyway, use my links and help me earn an extra Slurpee or two a year.

OK that's really enough rambling.

Thank you to Jason Suggs, who has identified the Stephen King story mentioned earlier: The Mist, included in Skeleton Crew. And if you think I'm detail-oriented, he already knew the ISBN too: 0451168615. Even if I ever do get the Reading List page up, ISBN's will not be included.

So I'm watching another Duke basketball game (and further understanding why they call the sportscaster Dukie V). Kryzsewski's stint at Duke has been incredible - I'm glad to see him staying at the level he enjoys instead of chasing the bucks, but I think it's only fair to other college teams that he only be allowed to coach college every 2 or 3 years. Boston College is supposed to be a legit Top 25 team, and Duke's up 40-13. They do this to EVERYONE, sooner or later. Defensive intensity, teamwork, no-look passing, red-hot shooting (42-13 now) - this is a clinic, not a competitive match. Think Globetrotters vs. Generals but no one gave the Generals their job description. Hmm, maybe the Globetrotters would have a chance. Seriously, maybe Duke's regular season should be playing each NBA team once (save the scouts' travel budgets). My money says they'd come out with a winning record, although Shaq would destroy them, seeing as how Elton Brand's been their only legitimate big man pretty much ever (yeah their centers play well but they'd be small forwards on a lot of teams). OK it's 42-19 meaning BC's first scoring "streak" has brought them almost to half Duke's score. Duke's longest streak was one point shy of BC's current score. As even as the number 3.

OK here's my first try at a fable:

There once was a kingdom on a cloud. A king and his court ruled the people fairly if not always generously. One day some mischeivous djinn walk up to the castle, start stealing nobles, and throwing nobles off the cloud (fortunately all the nobles had golden parachutes, preventing serious injury). So in their everlasting shortsightedness, the nobles created an invisible maze around the castle. The djinn became frustrated and soon stopped trying to get to the castle.

Unfortunately the people of the kingdom who worked in the castle (not a lot of jobs on a cloud) also were frustrated by the maze. Most nobles didn't care if the peasants had a map - they just punished those who were late to the castle. The few maps that were given were usually hoarded by selfish peasants. Since the nobles didn't leave the castle, they didn't care.

The djinn had never bothered the peasants, so they didn't understand why the nobles needed the invisible maze. The nobles would say, "The djinn, of course. Don't worry about them - they're not your job," leaving the peasants with as little understanding as possible. Finally a pancake maker named Ram (yes, that would make him a Battering Ram) got tired of following the maze, picked up his sledgehammer, and broke a straight path from the village to the castle. The nobles couldn't see the holes in their maze that they never walked in, so they didn't notice. The peasants were happy (or at least stopped complaining) as their lives were back to the way they were before.

So the nobles' lack of communication caused the peasants to let the djinn right back in.


If that fable made sense to you, you've probably been a part of a standardization process at a large corporation where the execs say "It's done this way." and the managers say "It's never been done this way." Ah, the life of a consultant.

Thank you for your patience with my madness and puns.

On the drive back Friday night it was foggy pretty much the whole way, ranging from headlights appearing gradually insteado f popping over the horizon to difficulty making out the taillights 20 feet in front of you. The road never looks cooler than with good fog. Makes me think of the literary antecedents like The Everlasting Story's Nothing and a short story Stephen King wrote about a deep fog that contained a portal to some hell region that demons kept coming through (good story, but I can never remember the name). And of course Snoopy's ubiquitous "It was a dark and stormy night." Poor Snoopy - I admire Schulz for a lot, but he should have hung it up before he exhausted the franchise's humor (and then some!) like Calvin&Hobbes and The Far Side. While the newspaper's far less interesting without those comics, at least they were funny until the end.

Pats and Eagles in their conference title games? I guess the Eagles were initially favored, but it seems like playing in the NFC East this season should disqualify anyone from the postseason. And usually playing in New England has been sufficient to do that for the Patriots. Intriguing.

Anyone who missed Duke-Maryland tonight - well I hope you're not a college basketball fan cuz it was one of those Instant Classics. Great offense, great defense, 25 lead changes in the first half. Dunleavy's so much more impressive as a player than his father's ever been as a coach.

btw saw a funny sign on the road for Purcell's County Cafe in Giddings - A Good Meal Without a Mortage. From what I remember of French, I think Mortage would have something to do with Death. Maybe it's vegetarian or sumfin. Just a random thought.

OK they're all looking older, but doesn't Phoebe look like a middle-aged ex-hippie who did waaaay too many drugs? More lines on her face than a football field.

OK so Bob is whining I never update so I'll toss up a quickie. Sorry it's not more, adoring fans.

The reason this is so rushed is that I need to drive to Austin tonight cuz I've got an interview tomorrow! With luck I might be able to resign as soon as Monday. Of course I've gotten my hopes up before. Wish me luck!

Otherwise glad to see N'Sync was edited out of Star Wars 2. The Way It Should Have Been. Now if we can just convince Lucas about Jar-Jar.

The Onion was back today. Not their best issue, but still refreshing.

As explanation, work's turned up the heat a couple of notches which leaves me without time/energy for blogging. Hopefully I'll write more when things slow down or I get a new job. One way or another.

Sorry again for my inconsistency.

A couple of links for you today - one for conspiracy buffs who I'm sure will link this to Watergate and one I wish was just a horrible, horrible rumor.

Yeah, um, I'm not exactly the most consistent blogger. But hey it's not like my blog has as many fans as UT football, so my inconsistency is not as damaging as, say, Chris Simms'. I can already hear the groans from those of you who think I force UT football into every situation the way Applewhite forces the football into his receiver's hands in the end zone. :-)

Texas beats Washington 47-43 in the 2001 Holiday Bowl. And Major Applewhite has the fairy-tale ending. Anyone else think he told UT's defense to give up that last touchdown so he could win the game in the last minute? Don't think he'd do that to his team, but could a more fitting finale have been planned?

I am back at my long-term Houston client for a while. Enjoyed my twelve days off and actually in my apartment, but time to get back to the grindstone. If I'm not careful they might even come up with something for me to do. If anyone knows a database programming job in Austin (or any job I'm qualified for) let me know!

If you haven't seen Lord of the Rings yet, why not? I know people are thinking I use more LotR references than UT football references, but the movie has been universally praised! I have not yet heard from a person who saw it and didn't like it. Not everyone loved it as much as I did, but everyone at least liked it. For the initiated, two things I didn't notice my first (of three) time seeing it: the stone trolls from The Hobbit are in the background of a scene and Boromir's horn is broken when he falls.

The media is calling 2001 America's Year of Change. Cuz, you know, the Internet, stock market bubble, and Columbine hadn't been enough to change anything about America. I don't want to trivialize 9/11 at all, but I think using that kind of phrase for the year just ended is trying to coddle Americans back into a false (but more freespending) sense of security. "No, no. We had to change then due to the horrible events, but we're back to the status quo now, nothing to worry about, no recession, no other people who want to hurt us, no problems for you to worry about solving. Just relax for these marketing messages." Here's hoping that we'll maintain the awareness we were shocked into even as the pain recedes.

And that's my soapbox for today. Promise I'll be back sooner than last time.

So if we replaced the government with a system that made use of the parties but couldn't be controlled by them (yeah it's a pipe dream but wouldn't it be cool?), do you think the Pubs and Crats might unite in saying that the new system stunk/was ineffective/is the devil Bobby Bouchet? Darn tootin. (no idea where that phrase comes from but I love it) So is anyone surprised that coaches and sportswriters are bemoaning the unfairness of the BCS that has replaced the traditional media and coaches' polls in determining college football's national champion? To note precedent, both polls regularly take shots at each other's biases since media outlets and coaches each have a fairly strong interest in each team's ranking. Without a playoff, it'll always be biased - just depends on whose bias counts for more. That said, good luck Nebraska! If a few games go the way they might (go Maryland!) UT could end up #3 this year, so the bowls should be fun.

On to work, I switch projects tomorrow. Always an adventure, especially since I might be coming out to this current client again. Quick employment question: how many people thought they were going to work in a truly awesome place, only to have it revealed as a business, for better or worse? Seems to happen to a lot of my friends (I've done it twice myself), and I'm trying to figure out if we're all just too idealistic. That, and I'm trying to figure out if I would recommend my current company to fellow job-seekers. I think I would, because as disappointed as I've been at times, it still treats all of its people better than most companies.

Reading the Left Behind book. Not the series, cuz while I like the details of how people would react if millions suddenly disappeared in the Rapture (and the realizations of what it meant about everyone who's left behind), I don't know if the story itself seems interesting. We will see. I held out on the Harry Potter books cuz they seemed too popular to possibly be good, and they turned out to be great. I hope I'm similarly wrong this time.

And many thanks to Baskin for this article. Trust me - read it - the picture might be the funniest part.

Sports, work, and books. For better or worse, that's about the sum of things these days. :-) I hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season.

8 days until Fellowship of the Ring midnight premiere.
15 days until Christmas.
Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

All hail Major Applewhite! Major, on behalf of all UT fans, I thank you for giving us your all. You've been the best QB on our team all four years and I'm glad you had a chance to prove it Saturday night - I just wish Simms' injury (what? hurt feelings?) had been a few plays earlier and you'd be studying the Miami defense right now. Most importantly you should be starting our bowl game and I for one will not watch the first quarter unless you do.

Otherwise went to a wedding on Saturday and got to hang out with some good coworkers and college acquaintances. If not for the aforementioned game would've been a perfect evening.

Thinking about adding a Chuck's Recommended Reading page to this site. Anyone have requests or suggestions as to layout, aesthetics, etc?

Interesting phone call this morning - talked to the government agency I referred to many blogs ago to turn down the job and they mentioned several better jobs will become available early next year. Hopefully waiting will pay off either there or at another company, but I wonder if I ever would have known of the new jobs if I'd accepted. Sometimes it's good to hold out I think.

"Nobody steals books but your friends." An excellent quote from a Roger Zelazny character on finding that his house has been burglarized of everything but his books. Truth can be found in the oddest places sometimes.

For those who feel left in suspense by the hand drama (gotta be at least one person reading this - oh wait that's me!), it is broken. Small "spiral fracture" in the bone under the pinky. All the orthopedists I could find in Austin had no appointments before Friday - alas! Guess it's not too bad, but still it looks like I'll be doing Christmas e-cards this year. Can't complain about the time and postage saved, but it does feel slightly impersonal.

And now a question for whichever gluttons for punishment take the time to download this page. A point's come up in several conversations recently - I see no reason not to be completely open with pretty much anyone. Everyone I've discussed this with says they don't because they're afraid of getting hurt. Why? What potential hurt do you open yourself to? Is it based on the discloser's expectations or are there more objective hurts involved? As someone put it today, why should intimacy (get yer minds out of the gutter!) entail risk? Just something I'm trying to figure out. btw if anyone thinks my complete openness is self-deceiving hypocrisy, please let me know. Thanks for your input!

5 days until we hold Colorado to 6 points. :-)

Wow. Occasionally there's just a college football weekend that restores your faith. After a lackluster and decidedly un-Top 10 performance against an injured A&M team, UT now finds itself at No. 3 as the only 2 teams above it that mattered were upset in stupendous fashion. So now we get to put our No. 1 defense up against a team that just scored 62 points against Nebraska. And I have to go to a wedding at the same time as the championship game! urg. Still next-to-no-chance at the Rose Bowl, but the way Miami's playing perhaps we just won't complain and can focus on trouncing another Top 10 team in a BCS bowl. All that assuming we do to Colorado what we should next week. I truly love the turmoil of late-season college football, especially now that UT's actually a player. :-)

In other news, anyone else sick of Christmas music yet? Unlike retailers, radio stations in Austin at least waited until after Thanksgiving (just after like 12:01 AM Friday) to acknowledge the final holiday of the year but it's already too much. This could be a reaction primarily to country Christmas music which seems especially annoying in anything larger than once-a-year doses.

Hand still hurts - think I'm going to a doctor tomorrow. If it doesn't recover soon I'm going to have to do e-cards this year. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! I hope everyone is consuming mass quantities of turkey and related foods and at least contacting family and friends if you can't be with them.

Does anyone know how to set up the archive on one of these things? If so please let me know.

I'm about halfway through my Christmas shopping and about to start my Christmas cards. Only problem is writing hurts since I'm starting to think I might have broken something in my hand playing football a few weeks ago. Might be time to get a signature stamp. :-)

Still have not seen the Star Wars trailer in the theater despite another Harry Potter viewing - most upsetting. Now it's just time to wait for December 19 and Fellowship of the Ring.

Nothing too deep today - it's been a nice relaxing kinda vacation week. Hope you're having the same!

Woohoo! Saw the midnight premiere of Harry Potter! No plot spoilers or anything below, so read on.

Most Disappointing: No Star Wars trailer! That better be fixed by tonight. (The actor who played Ron was a close second, but he's a kid so no harm done.)
Most Impressive: Alan Rickman - well, he just rocks. There's a lot of scenes, characters, lines (both from the book and added) that competed here. Hagrid's a much more interesting character than I thought in the books, Harry's good, Hermione has that whole brainy girl thing down pat. And one of the goblins is supposedly Mini-Me but I couldn't tell which one.
Most Pulled from Another Movie: OK maybe it was the John Williams score but the Quidditch game was truly just several Star Wars chase scenes. Still very fun to watch of course.
Most Endearing: Although it was obvious which scenes they cut/combined, they left all the most memorable quotes (and I'd just finished rereading the book so I say this with a fair amount of confidence).
Most Confusing: I thought Robin Williams had a cameo?
Most Personally Satisfying: They pronounced McGonigal correctly (even if they spell it wrong).

All in all I recommend it. I think Shrek was a better movie myself, but this is one of the better efforts this year.

Wow it's been awhile. Gonna be as slow as Bob at posting before too long (just kidding - kinda).

Came up with two analogies for technical problems (could be redefined as management interference in technical issues, but let's gloss over that) today that might be useful for readers (might not - entirely up to you).
1) Crossing the beams - as used in Ghostbusters, it is the technical option that should only be used as a last resort. Unless there's a 60-foot Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man approaching, you should not be doing anything you refer to as "crossing the beams." It should be noted that managers have been known to laugh at the term and ignore the implications - amazing how much managers have in common with Bill Murray characters, ain't it?
2) Say you want a dish to hold food in, so you buy a bowl. Later you need to drain pasta, so you punch holes in the bowl. You now have an excellent sieve, but it pretty much sucks as a bowl. Managers frequently seem to think the same object should function as a bowl and sieve simultaneously.
For the truly geeky, I can offer examples, but they're all from the database.

Seeing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (gotta admit I liked the British title (- and the Philosophers' Stone) better) on opening night Friday. Combined with the first full-length Clone Wars trailer, should be something to see. Great way to kick off a vacation.

Is there such a thing as a pathological use of parentheses? If so, I'm afraid I'm guilty. Alas.

Politics, politics, politics. Getting conflicting feelings regarding the new Justice Department rule that lawyer-client conversations can be monitored in terrorist-related situations. This one really bothers me in terms of its civil rights impact. On the other hand, how many countries would announce the policy before making use of it? I think I'd be satisfied if the monitoring was by a third-party who didn't report to any prosecutors and could only reveal anything (to investigators, not prosecutors) that would assist a terrorism investigation.

And Bush called for more state civil defense forces. Those looking for this term in the Constitution might find it in the 2nd Amendment, where they're called "militias." A term that's nowhere near as disreputable in history as it has been for the last five years. You can bet gun restrictions (on the ground, at least) aren't going to be happening for a few years.

Looking forward to 7 days from now - when I begin a 9-day vacation! Ooh, much goodness to be had hanging out in Austin for 9 glorious, consecutive days. Might head down to Houston for 1 day to see Bob if our schedules are so inclined (I'm in Houston for 5 months, and the only week he's in town I'm on vacation?!? what's up with that?), but otherwise just kick back and enjoy my apartment. And Christmas shop. And watch football (you think A&M'll be demoralized after OU - wait til they see what we do to them at Kyle Field!). And do the whole Thanksgiving thing. I'm guessing I might be making my priorities just a little too clear here. :-)

Gotta love TV. Only The West Wing could have an eight-year-old girl die before the opening credits and keep its dignity.

On my favorite TV scene of the night, the Enterprise (current incarnation) needs to move its position by mere meters. So what sophisticated device that has never been used for navigation is brought out for this maneuver? That's right - a joystick! Gotta love the gamers who influence these series.

Random thoughts today because I don't got nothing else.

The Kansas Athletic Director is vowing to raise the lowly Jayhawks to the top of the Big 12 simply by replacing the coach. Um, think it might take a little more than that as you have 3 of the Top 5 schools in the country in that conference, and all 3 are excellent recruiters. But more power to ya!

Elsewhere schools continue to try to develop rivalries with schools that don't care. Wonder if the Texas Tech President's concerned because people got hurt, or because the governor's chief of staff got injured? Bets, anyone?

With all due respect to the New Yorker editorial cartoonists, on today's Internet, everyone knows you're a dog and your favorite brand of dog food.

Thanks, Kat, for this cartoon. Yeah, I probably am that bad, although I'm not much into the dress-up thing.

Watched the World Series and while I'm not much of a baseball fan in general, I think I've figured out some of their problems. The pitcher dilution has nothing to do with the number of teams - it's because Arizona and New York have all of the bext pitchers on just two teams. Of course, into every rotation some Kim must fall.

So now that the trend is to make measurements more complicated, how about factoring in the ratings for commercials into a show's ratings? For example, the first 2 episodes of 24 should be reduced for the number of times we were forced to watch the promos during the World Series (and on the wall behind the batter). Just a thought.

And sometimes the good guy wins. One of the best plays I've ever seen was W;t, about an English professor dying from ovarian cancer. Its exploration of the limitations of intelligence and its interaction with the emotional/spiritual world is just incredible. And the actress who's been the star of the traveling tour (at least I've seen her twice as part of the touring company) is simply awesome in her portrayal of a woman undergoing more pain and stress than anyone should be subjected to. Anyway that overly glowing review was set up just to highlight the fact that the actress (whose name I can never remember) has landed a recurring role on NBC's ER as the mortician. Only seen her in two episodes, but it's nice to see someone who takes some career risks on the more-demanding medium of the stage can also land some nice prime-time face time.

Guess it's a good day when that's as much as I've really thought about today. Except that I looked at the Texas Union Informal Classes brochure and realized that there are no classes left for me to take this semester. Oh, well, gives me something to look forward to in the spring.

So, for those of you who know me, what would you think if I moved to Atlanta or Baltimore to help open a new Enform office? Figure if I have to leave Austin, Houston or Dallas would just really depress me as I'd still be living in Austin 2 days/wk and being depressed the other 5 days. So if I'm gonna move, I feel I should just launch. Thoughts? Lemme know.

I swear I can remember when priorities were (or at least seemed) simpler. I'm now finding myself with the following decision:
1) Accept a job with a net 36% pay cut (since they insist on investing 8.5% of our salary for us) that is in Austin, stable, and flexible hours-wise. (Could get a promotion that would reduce the differential to 23% within a year.)
2) Move to Houston and continue current salary with fairly decent stability.
3) Reject current job offer and hope better Austin job offer comes along soon, knowing that at some point current job will force me to move to Houston or quit (have been looking in Austin for 3 months with no prospects).
4) Go somewhere outside of Texas with a tech job.
5) Teach in Austin.

Option 5's been rejected for a while because, well, got financial commitments along the lines of rent, car payment, and sending my parents to Hawaii for their 30th anniversary. However Option 1 might also present difficulty in the Hawaii trip. Options 2 and 4 have been rejected due to my stated number-one priority of staying in Austin. Kinda leaves a one-dimensional decision between 1 and 3.

So why is it every time I consider that decision, all of the other possibilities come rushing in, demanding consideration. If I truly don't care about the money, why is 2 even an option? Would like to believe it's just the Hawaii trip, but don't know if I buy that 100%.

Aaarrrgh! This shouldn't be all that difficult of a decision. But it is. Feedback welcome (and apologies to those who have sat through this rant repeatedly over the last month or so).

OK, so those of you who wrote me about those lousy daily-posters setting unreasonable expectations, you win. Was victimized by Bryan and Rebekah pulling another surprise visit on Thursday (gotta love friends who give up Austin for Houston just to visit ya), and then victimized by low-speed modem connection on the weekends.

So enough belly-aching. Had an interview this afternoon for a job with a gov agency. Went well - pretty sure I'll get the offer. Not the ideal match for what I'm looking for, but it involves a lot of database skills. I'm overqualified, but she said I could probably get promoted within the year (I'm actually overqualified for that position too ;-)). So the pay cut would end up being 15% instead of 30%. Oh yeah, and they have a mandatory 4% deduction for a retirement account. I'm all for saving, but don't know if I like "we know how to spend your paycheck better than you do." (not quoted from anyone)

The reason I'm not identifying the agency is that both people I've interviewed with have made special pains to mention their diversity. And I get the feeling it's one of those agency-wide mandates - Publicize Our Diversity! Unless fat counts as an under-represented group (unlikely in technology), not sure why they'd push it otherwise. Sure, maybe both of them just value it enough. The reason I doubt (besides natural cynicism): today's interviewer referred to having a black woman, a couple of Indians, a Chinese man, and the rest Americans. In case it needs to be said, Austin government agencies don't attract a lot of immigrants. You make the call. (btw this was a very nice lady so if anyone can connect these dots to identify her, please don't)

OK, I'm probably going to get some heat for being familiar enough with either artist to make this comparison, but just heard the new Jewel song (Standing Still) and I could swear she's sounding like Lisa Loeb. I like Lisa Loeb - just kinda surprised.

One of the things I liked about the job interview today was that they're very flexible hourswise. It got me to thinking about what university courses I would take given the option. Narrowed it down to: History, Math, Education, French, Logic/Philosophy, Theology (those of you who know my job will probably have noticed there are no computer or business topics mentioned). Tried to think of a thesis if I were to try for degrees in all of them and the best I could come up with was: The Historical Influence of the Catholic Church on Teaching the Logic of French Mathematicians. I think that would actually be a real topic, if not a weighty or interesting one. :-)

Way to go Clint Stoerner! How many winning QBs can throw for less than 100 yards. And, since Austin's "close" to Dallas, we missed the Rams-Saints game so we could watch Cowboys-Cardinals. Where's the FCC on this kind of issue that viewers actually care about? Urg.

Can't wait to hear Falwell's take on this. Oh, wait, yes I can.

A bit of education from a friend who's going back to get more education herself:

Incidentally, I can tell you the origins of the phrase "tragedy of the commons" ...
It actually has nothing to do with "commoners". The phrase was coined by Garrett Hardin in 1968. It refers to the once upon a time practice of having a town "commons", a patch of green in the middle of town where all shepherds were allowed to graze their sheep. Obviously, what was best for each individual shepherd would be to graze his flock there every day, keeping them convieniently fat and happy. However, if everyone did it, the commons would become overgrazed and the grass would disappear. I have
most often heard it used in modern examples to refer to our wanton use of natural resources.
(This is on my Social Psychology test tomorrow, so that's why I'm letting myself write this email. :) )

All hail the great and wise scholar Kat! Thanks for disproving my over-sensitive class war assumptions.

Alright so today I heard a story that, to me, was one of the most impressive displays of concern for others since, say, September 18, when stories turned from municipal officials who gave their lives to stars giving a night for a tribute concert. My friend teaches martial arts (the really-want-to-learn kind, not the aftershool-day-care kind), and I'll give you the story in his words:
"However, the highlight is that one of my students beat the heck out of three red necks to defend a Muslim guy. One of them had a knife, one a 2x4. He sent two of them to the hospital. The third guy ran. I'm happy. Just wish I could see some action. Oh well. I'm content w/knowing I trained him."
Way to go, Bryan's student!

btw in case I gave you this address, Happy Birthday Mom! 6 powers of 2 so far - here's to 7!

Ryan Leaf could start for the Cowboys this Sunday. If not, it'll be the would-be-as-overrated-as-Leaf-if-anyone-had-any-expectations-for-him Clint Stoerner. And this after firing 2 defensive starters for attitude problems (insert comment about pot-and-kettle here). Maybe Jones can hire Schottenheimer and Morhninwheg to co-coach this team next year, just to complete the anti-leadership.

Read a Time magazine article today about the Cipro hoarding. Discusses "the problem of the commons" - that everyone would be better off if everyone didn't buy Cipro until needed, but each individual could improve his* lot by hoarding Cipro to insure his supply. Judging by the name of this problem, I assume that the difficulty has always been assumed to be that commoners lacked the understanding to comprehend the big picture, or the discipline to sacrifice for the greater good. The article points out, though, that the government just hasn't been seen as speaking for the greater good in the last 25 years (when LBJ & Nixon proved as worthy of the public's trust as Jerry Jones and Wayne Huizenga). It concludes that not hoarding Cipro is a very minor sacrifice that will test the current poll numbers shown to support the government.

I agree, but I think there's a bigger question: who will we look towards to define the common good? Even our democratic government lost that automatic trust. As much as I love God and respect most churches, religion lost that centuries before. The media? Ha! And all "experts" get tainted by those who are on retainer by one political party or another. Who can we trust to define this common good? I don't know that most people are ready to trust anyone outside their immediate circle, and very few people seem to trust anyone's integrity that disagrees with them (changing the measure of integrity from honesty to agreement). Hope we figger somethin out real quick like.

Time to go home. Or at least to the hotel. Toodles!


* - I've had teachers claim that the exclusive use of "his" is sexist. To demonstrate how seriously I take that concern, please allow me to share a story from my dad's grad school days. Concerned that s/he wouldn't satisfy the special needs of gender-neutral individuals, they took to using s/h/it for their papers. :-)

OK, so today I get a petition to make sure and extend the Internet's tax-free status. Although I'm always in favor of lower taxes, I believe the conservative position (when not utterly replaced by cash flow vectors) is that the market should make the choices, not the government. My friend pointed out that it also prevented taxes on Internet access. I like that idea, too, but why should this utility have privileges over electricity, phone service, or entertainment/news services? Just a thought.

Is it a bad thing that I now think The Drew Carey Show is one of the funniest shows on TV? Trust me, it's worth watching a few episodes to get used to it.

I'm also glad I don't actually bet money on professional sports, because if I did, I'd bet on the NFL, and man, that's a losing proposition this year. Read today that underdogs are 22-2-4 in the last two weeks. Can't imagine I could have beaten that.

To correct any potential political incorrectness from the previous post, I intended Sluts to be non-gender-specific and I guess I should have said the People Who Compete for Them. Concept still applies.

I found out today that there is someone (reportedly) who thinks Houston is a better place to live than Austin. I think someone's been getting a little too much smog. Probably while sitting on the highway for a few hours. Admittedly it's a lot easier to find a job in Houston, and rent's cheaper (although gas is more expensive - how'd that happen?), and there are more options regarding restaurants and events. But Austin's still a university town, with all of the change that goes with it, for better or worse. Quantifiable circumstantial evidence: My company has had at least 10 people transfer out of our home office in Houston (5 to Dallas, 5 to Austin that I can think of). One person has transferred to Houston. 'Nuff said.

Watch out - Chris Simms actually had a decent game against Colorado, a (previously) ranked team. If he does this again, that'll be four times in the last two years he's looked like a legitimate starting quarterback. Of course, Major Applewhite did that in most sets of four games, and managed to beat teams like Nebraska. Simms beat a single overrated A&M team (he'll increase that total to 2 this year). Too bad for Simms - he'd be a legitimate starter at most schools, but UT had the best. Now we've got the 2 best QBs in Texas - at all levels.

What do penicillin and standing ovations have in common? Both have lost their effectiveness in recent years due to overuse. So now we have to resort to Cipro (which will soon go the same way), and there's no real way to compliment actors. If anyone can think of any other commonalities, lemme know.

OK, dunno why I'm doing this exactly. Occasionally I've got thoughts I think might be worth sharing, but I don't plan on telling anyone about this page directly, so I might have to depend on people stumbling onto it. Nous verrons.

Regardless I'm big on feedback. If you've got something to tell me, lemme know anytime.

Wow - Washington Redskins just won a game. There go my hopes of someone getting an 0-16 season, or at least 2 1-15 seasons in the same division. We'll just have to see if Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder can keep their team more firmly at the bottom in the standings as well as the fans' hearts and minds.

Does Fox seem to be becoming the Sluts and the Men Who Compete for Them Network? 2 Temptation Islands, Love Cruise, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, Who Wants to Be a Princess. Wonder if we could hit them for a truth-in-advertising violation.

Over and out.