//v3nt

a maccy update

2008-04-18T22:07:00.000-05:00

jess and i bought a mac a little while back. a longtime windows user - the last time i didn't have a mac was when i my parents had a commodore 64 - i did not come to my decision lightly.

the mac mini is available for $800. it comes bundled with ilife, a suite for photo editing, movie making, and personal web development. the mac has a built-in wireless adapter, so instead of needing to buy a router to distribute my internet connection to my other computers, i can use the mac itself as the hub.

also, it runs on an intel processor, so i can boot into windows. no more emulation here, so the windows-familiar wife (well, relatively speaking) can use that if she likes.

also, paul likes burning dvds.

doctor stresses

2008-04-18T07:04:00.000-05:00

in december of last year, jess and i found out we were pregnant. okay, she was pregnant, but i think i might have had something to do with it, too.

jess is diabetic, and that means the baby has a statistically higher risk of ending up with one or more defects. the doctor took her blood a couple weeks ago to do some tests, and he called us to say he was worried about spina bifida.

so we went to the hospital to have an ultrasound done - the equipment at the doctor's just wasn't powerful enough - to determine if the baby actually has spina bifida. as it turns out, she doesn't, but this story is not over. they saw a problem with the heart, but couldn't pinpoint it. so they told us that the baby has congenital heart disease. this may or may not, they told us, be operable. it also may or may not mean that the baby will die soon after birth.

i suppose knowing must be better than not knowing, but it didn't feel like it at the time. i feel better now, though. read on.

we went to children's hospital's herma heart center, one of the best places you can go for a child's heart care. they did an echocardiogram and determined that our baby, instead of having two pumping chambers in her heart, has only one. and depending on the condition of her arteries connected to the heart, she may need an operation right after she's born. for sure, though, she'll need one at six months old and again at two or three years, to correct blood flowing in and out of the heart.

we'll know more in four weeks, when we go back. the baby's too small right now to see the arteries.

the news that our baby has heart disease is frightening. the prospect of the massive doctors' bills is daunting. but our baby can be operated on - the one-chambered heart cannot be made into a two-chamber heart, but it's something that people can live with. our baby will live, and that is most important.

you may have noticed, i referred to the baby as "she." the doctor is 80% sure that it's a girl, so we've taken to calling it a her. if we do have a girl, we have a name picked out (if we have a boy, we'll have to do some quick thinking). the name we like is namine olivia. the first name is japanese, from the kingdom hearts games. according to what i've found, it means ocean wave.

show me what it's like
teach me wrong from right

first post in two years

2008-04-17T21:04:00.001-05:00

hello again. it's been a long time. i've tried other web designs, but i think i've always loved v3nt's format the best.

i'm returning once again because i miss having a space to rant, to say what's on my mind, to share. if you frequent here in hopes that i once again raise my voice to the unknown, or if this is your first time, welcome. there's much thought, love, anger, and discussion on these pages; come and discover with me the heights and depths of human emotion.

it's time to v3nt.

It's so exciting, but I love HTML

2006-08-17T12:16:00.000-05:00

I'm certain you've noticed by now that I have significantly reduced my links bar. The top one is Blogger Buzz, your place for up-to-the-last-month Blogger news, but I digress. Recently they've introduced Blogger Beta, in which they add one of the coolest features (in my opinion) ever to be featured in blogs: categories. For so long has Blogger been saying "yeah, we'll put in it eventually," that they might have taken over production of Duke Nukem Forever.

So Blogger has unveiled Blogger Beta, in which you can (among a myriad of other stuff) finally assign categories to posts. I tried out the Beta the other day, and there are some very neat features. For one thing, they've done away with the need to edit your template by editing the HTML - it's drag and drop, click and add sidebars, et cetera, et cetera. (The fact that you can use your Google account does not escape me; it's another appealing factor.)

Since I am a techno-junkie and a web whore, I direct you to v3nt mark II. I'll be making all my news posts there from now on, and I hope to get it looking the way I like it in very short order.

It hurts, Mommy

2006-08-16T13:12:00.000-05:00

Matt sent me his MySpace link. Since I remember with disturbing clarity what Emily's MySpace looks like, I started twitching uncontrollably.

Once I regained control over my lower motor functions, I went to Matt's MySpace. I have since come to conclude that never again will I go to anyone's MySpace. As much as I like my friends, I just can't stand going there. I can barely link to him.

I have to take a shower. I feel dirty.

Your one-stop shop for travel news

2006-08-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

Going to Winnipeg, Canadia, anytime soon? Try a Goog Special! And I quote from evalu8.org:

And nothing's more classic than BDI. This ice-cream stand was built in the 1950s and took its official name, the Bridge Drive-In, from the rusted girder bridge nearby, where you can watch the river while eating a sundae. Nobody knows why they call their wicked blueberry ice cream shake a "Goog Special" -- topped with banana, more ice cream, hot fudge, peanuts, whipped cream and a cherry -- but it's a delicious mystery.

That sounds like too much craziness for me. But it definitely sounds like goog!

By the way, evalu8.org describes itself as "like the "Lifestyle" section of your daily newspaper -- except free, and updated several times a day, every day." There's some pretty cool stuff on there.

my spleen is full of meat

2006-08-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

i thought of a cool title for this post, but i don't remember what it was anymore.

i was amazed to have found my chat with laura online.

i cuss, you cuss, we all cuss for asparagus!

anyhoo. nothing much happening on my end of the world. jess seems to hate her job more and more with each passing hour, and i still like mine. she's looking around for other jobs.

jon and laura's wedding - or lauron, as i shall now call them, for they are one flesh - was a huge success. loved it. jess and i are both so happy for them (or you if lauron is reading this). we're also very glad we were invited. i get to be in two, count 'em, two weddings this year. matt and jackie's is coming up at the end of september. i have a bit more responsibility in that one, being the best man. i get to make a speech - but the best part is: i get to plan the bachelor's party. i think beer and pickles. or maybe kumkwats.

who knows what evil lurks in the heart of bob?
the shadow knows.

too bad the shadow no longer associates with me. or lauron. or anybody who still talks to us. maybe he still talks to kelly minor. does he, lauron?

sliding around like a googly monster

2006-07-18T17:35:00.000-05:00

a friend of ours (that is, jess and myself) had a baby yesterday. it was pretty crazy, since li'l ethan wasn't due for another two weeks - at least a week, doctors had said.

riiight.

and oh is he so tiny. kevin, his dad, said he weighs in at seven pounds, eleven ounces. and delivery was fine. both mother and son are healthy, and that's what is important. the nurse asked angie if it was her first baby, and she just laughed in her face. yeah, okay. with four kids waiting at home? i don't think so, scott.

work is going fine - for me, at least. i love it here and enjoy my job more and more each day. jess, on the other hand, is not quite the happy camper. not only did she start her job at less pay than she was told she would get, she is not a teacher, like she was told she would be. she is merely an aid.

yeah, i'd be pissed too.

i keep telling myself that things will shape up soon, they have to shape up soon, but she's been there for a few months now, and she's still getting the raw end. sure, she's full time now, but she's still being paid less than she should - less than she was told. the lady in charge, the frickin' director of the daycare sticks to the party line of "i don't know" and you know that's bull. i mean, she's in charge, isn't she? how would she not know how things are run, who to talk to? give me a break.

case in point: jess was told (by the director, the very same, who hired her) that she would be hired as a part-time aid (that much is true) at 8.50 an hour (that is not. more like 8.32). she was told that a full-time teacher would be quitting soon (true) and that jess, having her bachelor's in teaching, would get the job (a lie. jess got the job of a recently-quit full-time aid).

jess was also told in the beginning that she was next in line for a full-time job (thus the promise of the full-time teaching position). this turned out to be false as well, as you know, but also because there have been two more, i repeat, two more full-time teaching positions opened up and jess has gotten neither of them. she is still an aid.

so you see why i might be a little doubtful. the saddest part of all this is not so much that it is happening (since, after all, jess's first day-care job out of college got screwed over too). the sad part is that this is happening at a church.

oh, i think where no one knows us would be best.

i got an internet yesterday.

2006-07-07T08:33:00.000-05:00

sold out? sold out? excuse me for trying something new.

i haven't decided whether i want to keep that "contributors" thing on the right. after all, i'm the only one who posts anymore. i mean, jerod shows up from time to time, but i think he lost his login info.

i shall add your link soon, marston. it's this, right? in the meantime, why don't you, i don't know, make a real webpage? enough with the lorum ipsum already!

laura, if you're reading this, i did get jon's message(s) about this saturday. jess and i hope to make it there. kelly's bleachers 2, right?

nobody could be as busy as you guys, of that i'm certain. (save for my buddy matt and his fiancee, who also are planning a wedding.) i know from experience that "wedding crunch time" is crazy. i'm glad i only have to get married once.

screw you internet explorer

2006-07-06T15:32:00.000-05:00

perhaps you'll recognize this design. it is rounders, a blogger template. i have changed it around quite a bit to allow for my expando-comments (yay! a new word!) and one roundy thing per post™.

you know, i thought this would be fairly straightforward. but nooooo. internet explorer has so many problems. i'll work them out a different day, i suppose, but it makes my job so hard. sooo hard.

the problem is the javascript expando-links. microsoft's half-assed support for css is enough to display what i want, but badly. so if you want the good version, use a 100% css compliant browser. i would suggest firefox, but really, anything but ie is fine. opera, mozilla, safari (if you're on a mac) - these are all wonderful and user-friendly browsers.

well, i haven't posted in a while (as usual), but i hope to stay up-to-date a little better in the days ahead. within the next two months or so we should be getting some kind of internet connection at home.

i do plan on updating my links, but i'll cut it down to the bare bones, i think. i don't know if anybody will talk to me any more. james won't even return my calls. the only one who still talks to me, it seems, lives in canadia. i haven't even seen his face. (maybe there's something to that.)

the internet is not a truck.
it is a series of tubes.

let's try this again

2006-05-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

maybe blogger will let me post today.

i haven't updated in a while, but i blame that on my lack of internet at home. but i now have a full-time job (with insurance closing in fast), and jess and i are moving up to muskego soon. like, next month. she's quitting her job as teacher and scapegoat for those ungrateful fools, and getting a new and less stressful job taking care of little kids at a daycare. i think it sounds just as stressful (maybe even more), but hey, i sit in front of a computer all day.

we have an apartment already, too. we just have to wait until the first of june before we can move in.

but hey, maybe soon we can get the internet. i hear it's what all the kids are into nowadays.

never, ever

2006-05-22T17:42:00.000-05:00

i am never using "blog this!" again. i wrote a pretty lengthy post and blogger erased it. not happy. also not typing it all over again.

you can guess what i had to say.

new release

2006-03-09T13:48:00.000-06:00

i was reading some tech news and i came across this. microsoft in all their wisdom has gone beyond the 360 and released a tiny pc running windows. when the new shiny os comes out, of course you know the newer ones will run that.

peter told me the other day that mcdonald's still had a check of mine, even after the change of ownership. so i stopped by, and diane (i think it was diane) told me they had no checks from the tom era.

hm. hmm.

at any rate, tom returns from florida on april first (or so i am led to believe), so i'll get ahold of him then and ask about my check.

i notice that marston has yet another website. that boy goes through more of 'em than a goth chick goes through black eyeliner. we'll see how long this one lasts. there are links up, but none of 'em work. (yet? ever??)

i love my job. that's all, you may go now.

marston?

2006-03-07T12:46:00.000-06:00

what's going on? do you still read this? where are you?

craziness

2006-02-02T14:03:00.000-06:00

that, that was cool. you'll notice in my previous post there are three responses, the third of which is from jerod! i haven't heard from him in a long time, and as far as i know, neither (pronounced neether or nyther) has anyone else. but then, james and ralph don't talk to me anymore. ah well.

jerod, you know you still have an account on here?

it's been a while since i last posted. much has changed. i now have a real job. although i am still working at uncle hal's, i got a 25% raise, a cube, a phone, a company email address, and a real jay oh bee. i'm a web developer now - funny, because it's the one thing i always said i would never be, even though it was my only choice at carroll.

wierd how things play out.

anyhoo, if things go well, in three months i'll be boosted from half-time to full-time, including another increase in pay plus insurance.

cool, no?

portability

2006-01-06T10:09:00.000-06:00

i mentioned that i got a 512mb usb thumb drive. i was looking for a portable version of firefox, since i had remembered reading about it a while back. then i came upon this glorious site: portable apps. the amazingness of this site is how the author has made not only a portable firefox, but also open office and gaim. he also has links to other cool (and free!) stuff.

holy water for your files

2006-01-04T15:09:00.000-06:00

i submit for your edification digibless, an online service that will bless your digital documents with the power of God's Word. i am not making this up. i think these people are serious. i mean it, i don't think they're kidding.

and i quote:


	Your File, Website or Message is blessed using our consecrated server and algorithm, to protect them from evil, and touch them with the power and glory of Jesus Christ.

how do you consecrate a server?

everyone is dead

2006-01-04T14:00:00.000-06:00

how many years later, and i am finally playing resident evil. i picked up a copy of nemesis for five bucks the other day. let's just say that i have to play in the easy mode. the nemesis pwnz me hardcore style in hard mode.

where are the updates? good question.

i think i am glad i no longer work for poop-donald's. however, neither do i work for kohl's any longer. as a seasonal employee, my services no longer required. so off i go, looking for yet another part-time second/third shift job. if jason would ever get back to me, i'd be able to re-apply to best buy's geek squad.

i got a 512mb usb drive for christmas.

i'm working on a theory. it has to do with operating systems and where they're going in the future. it has to do with tiger, and how vista looks to be shaping up. more to come.

grarl

2005-11-21T12:42:00.000-06:00

i like food.

whee

2005-11-21T12:41:00.000-06:00

purge the poo!

craziness

2005-11-21T12:40:00.000-06:00

madness.

on blood-sucking wombats

2005-10-25T12:10:00.000-05:00

so i found out this morning that underworld 2: evolution is coming soon. ugh. those of you who know me know that i abhor "modern" vampire movies - in fact, i highly dislike nearly all vampire movies. the only modern series i like is hellsing, but only the manga, not the show. the show strays too far from the manga for my taste. i much prefer classic, mythological vampires to anne rice's over-emotional, whiny vampires. "preserve humanity," indeed. they're vampires. the undead. the cursed chidren of the night. and they're concerned with staying as human as possible? please. at least the masquerade is fun to play, if nothing else.

even joachim, a vampire from castlevania, is not very powerful. he does have some cool powers, though. (and you can play as him, which is a first for castlevania - playing as a bad guy.) walter, on the other hand, has more than a handful. and he can transform himself into a huge demon bat. but, unlike dracula in other games, he only has one form. now that i think about it, lament of innocence has no bosses that have more than one form. even death has only one. but in crazy mode he's so hard that you're glad he has only one.

openoffice 2.0 came out recently, so i downloaded it. apparently, in an effort to compete with microsoft, there is now xml support (kind of like in office xp and 2003). we'll see if the load times are any better this time around. the register did a comparison between the two. you can see it here.

this is crazy. you have to use a microsoft browser, though.

i might be going to a costume party with matt and jackie. got any good costume ideas?

wheeeee

2005-10-21T16:40:00.000-05:00

i linked to marston's new blog. and, uh, are you sure that's the last post today? :p

i was thinking about those comment splogs. i think i should put my links somewhere other than the main page, like on a seperate item page or something. that would explain why i got a unix related splog on a non-unix related post - the links are always there, and being text, they'll register a hit no matter what.

i thought of several methods of external v3nt links, the first being the one i mentioned. i could do the same thing i did with my about link: create a post very early on and link to it.

second idea: make a seperate page, say on another host, and set up the ultimate evil: frames. beware the upside-down L!

third idea: i could wet myself, bark like a dog, put my pants on my head, and announce that i am an alien hamster come to rule over humanity with a mighty fist of beef.

i could also run around the apartment naked. wait, i do that already. ah, the joys of living solely with my wife.

marston, are you a guy or a girl? or something else?

oh my goodness, this is amazing. in my pants.

politics: a not so necessary evil?

2005-10-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

last saturday i attended a wels ministry conference thingy. jess and i stayed for about half of it, since she wanted to take a nap and we were going up to milwaukee that evening (which turned out horribly wrong - through no fault of anyone's). there was only one class that i really got anything out of; most of it was geared towards pastors, teachers, and staff ministers - in other words, called workers. since i only teach teen Bible study, i don't fall into that category. the only class that pertained to me was the so-called "teen Bible study curriculum exchange," which was an hour long. i expected to see and hear many versatile suggestions for teaching teens, but saw only a few. it was mostly advice:


	don't assume all your teens are the same. speak to them where they are. mix it up. get them involved.

and so on and so forth. gee, i never guessed any of that stuff. (sarcasm.) the only good thing i really got out of it is a website, nooma, which makes video Bible studies. i expected to see more posturing crap, like most the other video studies i've seen are, but this series is very good. and it doesn't lay everything out in the open - the students are forced to think on it. so they lead the class, and they learn at their own pace. i will push them a bit, but i want their faith to mature at a comfortable rate.

i talked to my pastor, who is fairly young and still familiar with the politics involved in the wels, about how i didn't get much out of what was supposed to be a curriculum exchange. ah, politics! it's the same everywhere, even - or maybe especially - in the church. no one wants to share how they may have been successful, for fear of someone else stealing their ideas. but the whole premise of the church is to share the gospel!

i love winter!

2005-10-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

i can't wait for the snow. i just love this season. and it's not just because of christmas, either. here's what i love about winter:

snow. (true, now that we all have to drive, snow kind of sucks, but it's still fun to play in it and write "james is a doody head" in huge letters.)
hot chocolate.
hot chocolate with lots of marshmellows.
lots of marshmellows. (yes, all by themselves.)
hot cider (but no marshmellows).
cuddling with jess. (and more.)

but most of all:

shoes and boots. (i hate sandals. everyone should learn to cover their feet. i don't want to look at your feet. i hate your feet. your feet are ugly. if everyone would wear shoes or boots i would be a happy person.)

the plague of splog

2005-10-19T12:27:00.000-05:00

i doubt it's among the signs of the apocalypse, but it's certainly got to be close.

i'm talking about splogs, as they have appeared recently on blogspot, google's hosted blogs. ralph and i have both seen it taking hold, though ralph more than i. i found an article about the whole madness with spammers taking a crack at google. i'm not going to post more links, since you can find them on that page. the unfortunate corporate idealology of google seems to want to ignore it, but they need to recognize that this is a problem that is not going away. at least the official google blog, blogger buzz, acknowledges the issue, even if there are no final solutions yet.

google, in blogger, simplified the blogging process so much that literally anyone can use it. in fact, most blogs you see on blogger, if you click that "next blog" button, are simple templated things. all they have to do is write their post and click submit.

now that simplicity is poisoning blogspot from the inside. not only are there automated spam blogs, or splogs, but also automated splog comments - as we've seen. some have been anonymously posted, but most are posted by supposedly real users. those users are nothing more than automatons, being used in turn by spammers, using blogspot for gain.

what gain? in a word, adsense. google has also implemented a revenue program, called adsense, which allows ads to be put on one's blog. for every time someone sees an ad, the blogger (by this i mean the person posting, not the website) makes a little money. you see now, don't you? in automatically generating thousands of fake blogs, each one coupled with the adsense, they are not only wasting google's hosting webspace, people's time, and generally annoying people, they are stealing money.

but, you say, i would never visit a splog! that's all well and good. but remember those comments? people might get curious. people will find those splogs, even if only by accident. and one more thing: the "next blog" button. the more splogs are created, the more chance one has of finding one and visiting it. sure, you can click the back button on your browser, but as for adsense, the damage has already been done.

as for solutions: no one has any (yet). blogger does have some precautions in place, such as captcha, word verification, and the flag button. one more proposed remedy is to start charging for blog use. well, if that happens, i suppose i'll pack up my things here at blogspot and move to another free host, like msn spaces. i guess things could be worse. makes me glad i save all my templates locally.

Mmmmm, steak and....

2005-10-15T16:03:00.000-05:00

Its Sweetest Day. Just like Valentines day, only...Like...Eight months late. In all actuality, this is only the third year, in all the twenty-five that I have graced this earth with my presence, that I have actually known about this holiday.
Why? Well, I took some time to scan a few calendars for holidays and stuff. Columbus has a holiday...The big red dude has one, even a damn rabbit has a holiday. That's when I discovered the horrible truth.....Sweetest Day, doesn't exist. You can imagine my shock.
So basically, somehow the hallmark company got a hold of this shiny, luminescent sphere of monkey shit, that in some way endowed them with the balls of an Ecuadorian yak. The only reason I say this is simply due to the fact that it would take balls the size of a moose to have the audacity to attempt to make up a holiday. The sick part is that they did it, and people actually fell for it. So which is worse, hallmark for crapping out an idea that would line their pockets with Mr. Franklin? Or the morons that actually accepted it in the first place. Personally, I'm going the moron route.
Therefore, in lieu of this amazing lack of forethought and self intristic thought, a few people believe that it is time to do it again. We give you:

Steak and a Blowjob Day

As many of our male viewers may understand, the two holidays which we get, for the most part, nothing out of save for a few receipts for roses and jewelry, we think its about time for a male holiday. Very blunt and to the point. We want a big slab of charred cow flesh, and a good old fashioned blowjob.
That's it. Nothing more. Is it really too much to ask?

so it's done.. sort of

2005-10-13T12:13:00.000-05:00

alrighty.

side image.. check.
graphic arrows.. check.
rounded corners.. check.

i'm working on a couple more things. one is rounded corners for blockquotes. note that this will not include past blockquotes, just future ones. this i've pretty much got done, as you'll see. the other thing is a light gray outline for the expando-links and blockquotes (but only if i get the rounded corners working first).

i seem to be getting more spam on v3nt lately.

since the news of a brand new video ipod yesterday, i found this (dated june 5, 2004). and i quote (with the new cool rounded edges):


	Apple-centric rumor web sites and technology reporters are abuzz with the idea that Apple may release a first generation video iPod any day now. Apple is reportedly negotiating for the rights to sell downloadable music videos through its iTunes Music Store. Many believe that this is a precursor to a widely anticipated release of a multimedia capable Video iPod. However, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has repeatedly denied such a product is in the works.

so, as you can see, steve jobs is a pathological liar.

told you

2005-10-12T17:34:00.000-05:00

i called it, didn't i?

The new iPod, featuring a gorgeous 2.5-inch color screen, can display album artwork and photos, as well as play stunning video including music videos, video podcasts, home movies and television shows. The new iPod holds up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or over 150 hours of video and is available in a 30GB model for $299 and a 60GB model for $399, with both models available in stunning white or black designs. [Oct 12, 2005]

get the new itunes here, and check out the new ipod here.

you'll notice little characters replacing the arrows. expect to see graphic versions, not wingdings font characters, very soon.

i went a little nuts today.

2005-10-12T12:49:00.000-05:00

as you can now see, i no longer have need of a left side image for v3nt. i was browsing through some files on my old computer, and i found the original shadow picture i first used for v3nt. so i decided to crop it a bit and use it. i'm still looking for a good font, though. preferrably free. the font i would like most is a gothic style font i used in the creation of one of my comics, but i got rid of it after using it. blast.

i would still like to see that image, though.

sometime today apple is supposed to announce something new. i'm guessing it'll be an ipod with video capabilities. what i'd really like to see is an fm radio built in, plus the ability to record to mp3 off the radio.

what feature would you like to see in future versions of the ipod?

jason called me the other day. it was good to hear from him. he's living in an apartment now, so he's no longer in the dorms. i hope his apartment is easy to find. i can remember how to get to matt's old apartment perfectly, but i still have problems finding his new one.

jess and i have started looking at apartments and houses in the milwaukee area ourselves. that includes muskego, hales corners, waukesha, you get the picture. if she gets this full-time position at the church and school in milwaukee, we can transfer to a kohl's up here and not spend $150 on gas a month. oh, how i long for the days when our gas budget was under $100. it's just obscene. (it's funny but probably not too far off.)

i did actually make it through monday night without falling asleep. it was actually different than my normal night will be; i had to complete six hours - six hours! - of new kohl's employee computer training and take a couple little quizzes at the end. it is now certified that i have taken and passed the employee training. yay rah. i did, however, at the very end of the night, do some manual labor. it was a lot easier than it seemed when the computer was overwhelming me with information. i don't think it'll take long before i can do things by myself.

i don't like gay things. i'm not sure why this look would appeal to people, and i hope you can change it.

why?? i think clive owen would be a better bond.

blog this!

2005-10-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

i like my woman like i like my website. full of curves.

i removed the little header linking back to the index. rather, i moved it over to the far left. i plan on replacing it with an image.. but until i find a font i like, it'll just say "home."

i realize i'm in the minority here, but i can't just keep v3nt as just a place to rant. i need it to look nice. i want it to look, well, professional. i know that maybe one percent of all "pro" websites are dark color themed, but i like black and green. black and red, as i found, do not look good on a website.

i made a new icon for v3nt. if you're using firefox, you probably already see it. if you're using ie, i'm afraid you may not. i'm not responsible for all problems ie causes.

tonight is my first night working at kohl's (the three-hour orientation doesn't count). i'm working at the office until five-thirty, then i'm going to kohl's from ten to six. we'll see how i feel tomorrow.

perfection

2005-10-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

the tables are all worky. everything is the same in ie and firefox. i am a genius.

now i've heard it all.

2005-10-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

i just got a call from a user asking me how he can highlight things on a web page.

i changed around some of the formatting code. in the links - which are now li'l tables, aren't they cute? - i had just whipped up some div style formatting, but it's reused so much that i created another class. managed to shave about 4k off the entire page, too.

so yeah, despite my hatred for tables, i must conclude - mostly due to my lack of knowledge about css - that tables are a necessity for what i wanted to do. i mean, i knew what i wanted, that is, for the expandable links to have rounded edges. easy enough to implement. the first version had two div classes. the first defined the background color and the top image, which was the whole top - rounded left to rounded right - header. the second class was used to tack the bottom in place - rounded left to rounded right. it was simple, and it required a fixed length. but for some reason, ie took that defined length and warped it to its own twisted porpoises. perhaps you saw what it looked like. it wasn't pretty.

this, the new version, uses tables - embedded inside the expando-links. (i just made that up. cool, huh?) it took a while to get right, but it's smooth, relatively simple, and exactly the same in both ie and firefox. ie still messes up the length, but since now the corners are each a seperate image, it doesn't matter.

ie also screws up the header and footer images for the post area of v3nt too, but since it won't display the image past the class's defined length, it doesn't look that bad. the only way for me to fix it is to create little tables there too. i suppose i may do that, but not now. the idea is for v3nt to look the same in both ie and firefox (and consequently all gecko browsers), and that's impossible to do completely, as i have seen time and time again.

jess gave me an interesting link this morning. crosswalker is an evangelist's site (go take a look, i'll still be here when you get back); these guys walk with these huge crosses to witness to people. a unique witness approach, to be sure. i think it's pretty cool.

okie-dokie

2005-10-05T13:28:00.000-05:00

i fixed it. the links all display like they should in both ie and firefox.

the posting area will be a little harder, methinks.

are we having cake?

2005-10-05T12:28:00.000-05:00

if people would listen to me the first time, there would be no confusion. i mean really.

so i'm at the office today. yesterday i contacted a user, whose new computer i had set up and wanted to deliver today. i said that i would start the transfer of files and email this morning when i came in at eight thirty, and i would let her know when i was finished, which shouldn't be any later than twelve. she said okay.

so i come in this morning and do my thing. at around ten fifteen, she calls my dad (not knowing my extension) asking if she's going to get her computer sometime today. now, if it had been, say, one thirty, then i would understand. but it wasn't even eleven yet! pay attention, people!

but i'm okay. i'm calm. i'm so calm! i'm very calm! if i were any more laid back, i'd be DEAD!!

yes.

v3nt frustrates me. to be specific, ie's rendering of it does. i really hope seven follows w3c standards better, since six obviously does not. i'm very sick of trying to accommodate both browsers. i really want to just say screw it and not care about ie - since i use it for microsoft update and that's it - but for some reason i can't. people don't, no matter how much i'd love them to, all use firefox or some other gecko-based browser, and i'd like for everyone to see the same v3nt that i see.

i know, i could just revert v3nt to pre-curvyness, but it's so nice. i think it adds just that little bit o' flavor. like pork. yes. it was a bland, generic v3nt, but now it is a pork v3nt.

now if i could fix it for ie users. i dunno. what do you think?

so

2005-10-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

what do you think?

i suggest you expand some of those links, too.

latin is hateful

2005-10-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

hey, jerod! glad to see you're still around. as are we all, in one form or another. î

i think andrea is a lycanthrope. james is of course one of the nosferatu. ralph, i'm pretty sure, is an incubus. and we all know i'm a sexy beast.

i haven't deactivated your account on v3nt, so if you have the time and desire to do so, you're welcome to post.

interestingly enough, i have this bit o' news to share anyway, so all the better that you get to see it too. keep in mind that nothing is set in stone yet, but the way things are looking, jess and i will be moving up to the milwaukee area. jess was offered a full-time, forty hour a week job not far from my office job - which, incidentally, is not far from the place i just applied at. at any rate, if we do move up here, it will either be at the end of this year or the start of the next.

and speaking of jobs, i start the third shift at kohl's department store in racine on thursday. we'll see how my adjustment for that goes. all told, i'll be working about sixty hours a week, give or take four hours.

james: i didn't actually know that, nor did i make the connection once i saw mr. grace. but yes, i am familiar with the show, and i know who you're talking about. is sam raimi still in charge of spider-man 3? i really love how these directors say how the love the comics or games so much, and then they completely destroy the thing.

oh, and yeah, doom the movie will not have demons, nor will it have teleportation at all, but is merely a resident evil on mars. it's being directed by rob zombie. i think it's already been proven time and again that he can't make a decent (by this i mean good plot) movie.

and james? you're going to love this. i seems that uwe boll, of house of the dead and alone in the dark fame, is doing his best to get rights to a castlevania movie. so help me, if that happens, i will commit ritual suicide.

matt gave me this link. it's a series of drawings done by an artist as he succumbs to the effects of lsd. amazing.

chickpeas are yucky

2005-09-30T17:33:00.000-05:00

okay, i am very scared for the movie's faring.

i didn't get a chance to check out topher grace before, when i posted the news of spider-man 3. james' reaction, however, spurred me to take action.

i admit, i had been expecting an actor with a build similar to the rock's to play venom. after all, eddie brock is a pretty heftily built guy. and venom is huge. but not only does this topher guy look preppy, he looks thin. this will not do.

hold me.

i still have a little hope for harry potter and the goblet of fire. christopher columbus did a very good job with numbers one and two, and the new director is going away from what alphonso did with number three. he is more concerned about accuracy to the books than art. good thing. harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban left too much out that was in the books. yes, i know movies can't have everything, but the movie left out a very important point. in fact, the only thing i did like about prisoner was the depiction of the werewolf. historically and mythologically, it was the most accurate werewolf i've ever seen in a movie (and i've seen alot). better even than in cursed, but that one was pretty close - except that those werewolves carried over some free will. and i had hoped for so much from the so-called "master of terror." ole wes disappoints again.

corn nuts

2005-09-27T13:27:00.000-05:00

well, i guess it's official. venom is one of two villians in spider-man 3. that's "spider-man," not "spiderman" or "spider man." i really really really hope he looks awesome, not like some power ranger bad guy. lord zed comes to mind.

earth vs. the spider is a fantastic movie. like spider-man gone wrong or some such thing.

what is the point?

2005-09-26T12:59:00.000-05:00

jess's sister jewel will be staying with us for a few days, until she can drive her car again. both her and her mom's cars' tires were slashed two nights ago, although just the tires facing the street, not the curb.

last night the three of us played monopoly, but we had to save the game because jess and jewel had to get up this morning at 5:45. i didn't have to get up until 6:30, so i showered and went back to bed when jess got up.

my dad is out of the office today and tomorrow. he's at some camp thing with my sister for these two days, i guess. due to all the lovely weather we've been having, there was a power bounce here at the office over the weekend. naturally, this caused the server to reset (even though the stupid ups is supposed to prevent that), so i had to fix drop box permissions this morning. i'm sure, as always, this will also affect the server's backup procedures, so i wanted to let my dad know. i called my parents' house at about 8:40, thinking maybe i'd catch my dad before he left. no luck. mom answered the phone. i think i woke her up, because she was crabby. they have caller id, and she must have seen the office name on the phone, because i didn't even get a "hello?" all i got was, "whatever it is, you'll have to solve it yourself." well, thank you for your confidence, mother. for years now i've been covering for my dad. so i explained what happened and how i was merely trying to prepare him for what he'd be coming back to on wednesday. she got snippy again. "well you'll have to wait until your father gets back." well, no kidding. could you maybe, i don't know, leave him a message? sigh. why must things be so difficult?

stranger than fiction

2005-09-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

what is wrong with people?

where's the bactine?

2005-09-23T13:40:00.000-05:00

i saw a deer on the side of the freeway this morning. it looked like it was just sitting there.

at last! konami finally made an english version of their official castevania page. not much there at the moment, but i hope they have music for download soon. the english forum works, too. boy, those people are idiots. the forum-dwellers i mean, not konami.

i reworked the links bar again. i removed the aos, cotm, and hod links because those are all actually part of the castlevania dungeon, to which i already have a link. i also realized that i had not actually included a link to konami itself, so i added that as well as to the official castlevania page.

i'm not sure i like the new kiddy anime style of dawn of sorrow. other than that, the game intrigues me (that, and the seal system, which of course is just to make use of the stylus) and makes me want a new game. it is the only reason i would get a ds. of course, konami makes me go on living. between castlevania and ddr (well, okay, that's made by a division of konami, but it's basically the same thing), that's pretty much all i play.

a couple exceptions to that rule, though. since jess is not a huge gamer, we've been playing monopoly lately - on the ps1. she found a bunch of old games (including spyro, which was actually quite fun, if not a little disappointing in its length, or lack thereof) she's forgotten that she'd taken from her mom's house when she moved out.

speaking of old games. i'm pretty much as leveled as i can get in symphony of the night. i'm at level seventy now, and i need over forty thousand xp to level again. the problem lies with the enemies. each enemy has its own level - like, say, a skeleton, which is at a level 2. when the player is at or below the level of any given enemy, when the enemy is defeated the player receives the xp indicated on the character info pages. however, when the player is at a higher level than the enemy, the player receives less xp than indicated. once you get so high, you get one xp for each enemy. you see my dilemma. so i'm pretty much done with symphony forever, until my memory card dies again and i have to start all over.

hellsing, the musical

2005-09-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

oh, james. i forgot to ask in my last post - have you read any of the hellsing books? i rented episodes two and three the other day and boy, were they off the mark, as far as being accurate to the books. i mean, i expected some differences, but not what i saw. yeesh.

i mean, where is millenium? the letztes batallion? the major?

i hope version seven is better

2005-09-21T12:05:00.000-05:00

i swear, writing a web page for ie is like trying to do trig on a calculator on which root beer has been spilled. every time you think you've got it right - nope! try again, fool!

the page looks perfect, just the way i want it, in firefox. but for some reason, the pixel width is wider in ie, the space in between the posts and links is wider. i don't get it, but i'm done trying to fix that. at least there are no glitches in firefox (which is more than i could say for the last version), and i guess i can live with that.

if all goes well, i should have a new, full-time job within a week. and, if that comes to pass, i'll be eligible for health insurance starting in january. good, because i need it.

i also need a concordance. i may borrow my dad's. it'll prove very useful when writing my own bible study lessons for those teens.

on to other things.

i don't understand, andrea. what does it matter if james doesn't talk about you in his posts? he spends time with you, doesn't he? and isn't that time spent more important than any words about you that he could say?

if you look at all my posts, i almost never even mention jess, except perhaps in passing. and she's my wife, for crying out loud. but that lack of mention does not lessen my love for her - there's just other stuff i want say, and that's all i want to say. i don't need to talk about my love to validate it to myself.

now, andrea, if you feel the need to talk about james, you go right ahead. (no sarcasm here, trust me. i'll let you know.) it's your blog, and you can do with it as you wish. but by that same token, james can do with his blog as he wishes, as well. if he doesn't mention you an a post, i'm pretty sure that you can still rest in the knowledge that he cares for you just as much as when he was with you. it just seems to me that you were pretty bitter in one response, so i wanted to speak.

if i am out of line, i apologize. if i offended you, well, at least that's no big change from the usual. but remember, this is my blog and i can do with it as i wish. ;) (a little bit sarcastic.)

my legs are in a world of pain

2005-09-19T12:36:00.000-05:00

actually, ralph, i like itunes better. the new version is fine, but there have been no changes that i find to be invaluable.

and as for music itself? i like castlevania music. i have over two gigs of that alone. i suppose i need help.

i think i've finally unlocked everything in konamix. it took forever. there are several reasons: number one, i had to borrow my brother's ddr pad, because mine died. number two, the pad slips around. number three, you can't get an "a" in konamix just by doing really well, like you can in max, max 2, and extreme. you have to combo the frigging thing. and due to the pad's slippy-ness, i had trouble comboing light (oh, excuse me, they're called basic in konamix) songs. i still haven't comboed everything (and only a few on heavy), but all the songs - including all the heavy ones - are at a "c" or higher. yes, that includes the ten-step songs.

windows and cowboy lovers

2005-09-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

i'm not sure i like the new look of windows vista. it seems the alt-tab has gotten an upgrade..

and didja hear about brokeback mountain? and i quote:

An epic love story set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, Brokeback Mountain tells the story of two young men - a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy - who meet in the summer of 1963, and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection, one whose complications, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

unexpectedly, huh? only for one of them. yeah, getting it up the ass will definitely forge a connection you're not bound to forget any time soon.

i guess truth truly is stranger than fiction. now andrea will tell me to shut up, that's a good movie.*

on a totally unrelated topic, what are some video games today that have good music? (this is not a rhetorical question - i want some responses.) i play too much castlevania and ddr to know. besides, the modernest system i own is a ps1. and no, ddr does not count.

*sarcasm. easy there, sport.

technology lovin'

2005-09-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

an article on gates' thoughts on apple and google... best part is, it starts out like this:

Apple and Google are ahead of Microsoft in key markets, but Microsoft chairman Bill Gates hopes to take them from behind.

man, if that ain't a bit creepy. they could have worded that better.

dr. jones, dr. jones, calling dr. jones

2005-09-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

i added a new section in the web area to the right - a games section. so far, it's just a few.. mostly, well, you know.

i didn't really dislike the central boxed-in version of v3nt, but the tables just annoyed me. i couldn't figure out how to get them to behave exactly the way i wanted. besides, due to blogger, the code never displayed the same as it did in testing. that gets really annoying really fast.

too bad about that "ddr machine," james.

best quote ever, came across on devart:

"i always did what I was supposed to,
got an education,
taught myself computer science,
it's all just shit!"

and i must share.

the dreaded upside down reverse L

on rice plates and death

2005-09-02T11:32:00.000-05:00

i wonder when it was that deej's little comic died. that saddens me. speaking of dead, still no life from bloggy.

st. luke's wants me to make their website. it's more or less official now. that makes paul happy.

on a less joyful church-related note, i would like to be asked - not volunteered - to be a greeter before church. for one thing, my wife works until midnight at kohl's, and we'd love to take advantage of sleeping for an extra half an hour sunday mornings, if we can get away with it. for another, that's just rude. if they want us to greet, how about suggesting it? how about saying, "hey, we want you to greet until january, how about it?" instead of "hey, i signed you up for greeting from now until the end of the age." a little, i don't know, courtesy?

but then, judging from the way some of those so-called teachers have been treating jess since she graduated, that's a foreign thing, like those edible rice plates they have in china. or so i'm told.

i feel the need for speeeeeeeeed

2005-08-31T12:40:00.000-05:00

it has been forever. i miss you all. i tried calling jason the other day because i saw the truck again, but he didn't answer.

what is the truck? î

james knows about this. i called him about it. i saw a truck with the name gayhart on it. so wierd.

so anyhoo. i want people to call me too. ralph, i is sorry. i cannot find your tape. i am sure, however, that once i actually unpack everything, i will find it once again. or i will just give you monies.

well, jess and i now have enough room in the apartment. our original roommate got herself knocked up and moved in with her daddy. she owes us like 400 smackers or something but she won't pay us shit. not that i'd want that necessarily. so a mutual friend of jess's and mine (well, nearly all of our friends are "mutual" now anyway, but a high school bud of jess's) moves in. 23 days later, she tells us that her mom needs her (when in reality her mom doesn't want her moving back in) so she's moving out, thus screwing us by 60 bucks. i think she might actually pay that, though.

i hate the world. why cannot we find decent roomies?

so anyhoo. now we're by ourselves, and though it'll be more expensive this way, it's better in the long run. we can have sex on the couch any time we like, now.

amidala's real name is ella

2005-05-20T12:31:00.000-05:00

i have a spoiler for star wars: episode three. i know you cannot resist. î

anakin becomes darth vader.

anyhoo.

episode three intrigues me. yeah, jess and i are going to see it tomorrow night, but the implications are much more than what people think. sure, it's the final star wars movie and the end of an (incredibly badly written and acted) era. but what's more, it goes against everything america's hollywood supports.

number one: we know the ending.
come on. you know what's gonna happen. no, you don't know exactly what goes on, but you know enough where you could never see it and not miss a beat.

number two: the bad guy wins.
the bad guy never wins. it's bad form. you want to cheer for the good guys. sure, we'll cheer for a bad guy in a movie (like dennis hopper's character in waterworld), but we know he'll get his in the end. we know, we know, we know that the bad guy never triumphs. but here - he will (okay, right. it's only a temporary win... but still, give me a break).

number three: the bad guy has asthma.
the whole thing would've been different if there was a high pollen count.

number four: he has a cape but can't fly.
total waste of material. even batman swings on stuff - he creates the illusion. vader doesn't even run. stupid wheezy old guy.

spot the cowdog

2005-05-19T12:37:00.000-05:00

he says "moof."

as you'll notice (and as i announced this morning), v3nt is now slimmer and lighter. i got rid of the icon and the green picture thing because carroll will soon remove all my files on their webspace.

well, marston, if you still read this, you'll be happy to note that i removed all the flooble scripts on the links bar. i wrote my own and put 'em in there. i think the new expandable content fits more nicely in with the rest of v3nt. excuse me, v3nt lite.

now with less fat

2005-05-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

introducing the new slimmer v3nt lite! i'll post more when i have time.

Genious stupidity

2005-05-13T08:06:00.000-05:00

Genious I say, simpy genious. How does one go about these things?
First, you had this, absolutely amazing.
Then, against all odds, this, came along...how do they do it.
And then, not to be out done, another (sponsers NWS) brilliant idea.
So with all these brilliantly amazing, genious ideas out there, I just have one question: why the hell didn't I come up with it first?

uh oh

2005-04-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

i think that bloggy is dead. it's been nearly a month since it's last posted.

well, my capstone project and presentation are finally over. î

it was a semester of hell. yesterday i had my presentation at 6:15pm, and i was nervous and shaking all day. good riddance. during my speech, my mouth went completely dry. that's never happened before. oh well, it's done with. now all i have left are my graduation practice on wednesday (the fourth) and the actual ceremony on the following sunday (the eighth). oh yeah. and i have to remember to pick up my cap and gown on wednesday, too. make sure they fit.

jess and i are moved into our new apartment - yay! free of the evil one! but it's a mess. and we have no internet as of yet. i'm gonna install a wireless nic into my computer and see if i can hijack somebody's bandwidth.

Wedding Bliss!

2005-04-19T22:04:00.000-05:00

Well Folks it is finally gone. The wedding was so stressful and yet so peaceful. The ceremony of what I remember was excellent. I had to keep pulling myself up when we knelt down but other than that everyone did an excellent job. The guys were all weaping when paul said his vows just to make it a little less nerve wrecking. I was more than pleased with the whole ceremony. The candles the bridesmaids carried to the flowers on the pews and the cake along with everything was just perfect. I even danced:) I had a blast. And the honeymoon was great..... I choked on a potatoe and then Sunday night to put an end to our great weekend I broke three toes. YES it was a blast. Ok all seriousness aside Paul and I had a, like he said, Heavenly weekend. I am glad though to be back in my own bed. Paul is a great husband and I am looking forward to many many years with him. Hope you all have a great week and God Bless!

first post as a married guy

2005-04-19T21:33:00.000-05:00

hello all. i have a new ring on my finger. i also have blond/orange hair again, but that is, this time, the least important news.

the marriage ceremony friday evening was awesome. it went flawlessly - unless you count my shaking like a freezing penguin. the weekend was fun too, but you're not privy to those details. î

but i would say that the word "fun" barely begins to describe what we had. it was more like "heavenly" or "a fucking good time." i know i committed myself to not swearing on v3nt, but i think i'm justified this time. hehe.

i will say, however, that my bad hip is now killing me.

Wedding Stresses

2005-04-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

Well hello to all of you that are planning on getting married. Don't stress over the little things when there really isn't anything to stress over if you give yourself enough time to get things finished.

Paul and I are very blessed and thankful to the people who gave us gifts at the bridal shower but most of all the free things. The old saying comes to mind, "it pays to know people." It sure does. We got alot of things for our wedding paid for or just given to us. Our flowers we made by a friend, my veil, his tux, all of our decorations, my shawl, our invitations, and our wedding cake. I am just so pleased with how all of these things fell into place. It sure is a blessing from God to see all of it work and fit together. Yes there is stress involved but not if you work together. Yes Paul and I did argue I won't say that we didn't but when you look back it was about stupid little things and I am glad that we communicate as well as we to work out our disputes instead of letting them fester until the volcano erupts.

I praise and thank God every day for sending me Paul. He has just been a blessing and I love being with him no matter what we are doing. Whether it is playing video games, cards, talking, running around to get last minute things accomplished or just cuddling. He is my umbrella from the storm and I am so very thankful for him and all that he has done for me. And I can't wait to start to spend the rest of my life with him. I hope to see all of you if not most of you at the wedding if not God's Blessing on your weekend and for the rest of your Life.
Jessica

Wedding

2005-04-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

You have to wonder why people go through such great stresses to get married. I wasn't stressed and I still don't feel stressed. One of my bridesmaids called me today and said, "Boy you don't sound even a bit stressed and here I am worrying up storm." I guess the way I look at it is if you want something done do it yourself or know who to ask. Paul and I are very blessed for everything that has happened in the wedding. Just to name a few things our invites, cake, his tux, the hall, the decorations, my veil, shawl, and the string orchestra are all free. So it does pay to know people. Our DJ and Photographer are both friends of the family that do more than an excellent job and I am so happy that they said yes when we asked them if they would give us the honor of doing that for our wedding and even then we didn't pay that much for them. If I had to pick one thing that we spent we money on I would probably have to say the bridesmaids and groomsmen's gifts. But they all will receive decent gifts and we thank all of them for being in the wedding.

I had two bridal showers one hosted by Candace Eiche (Paul's aunt) along with Michele Eiche (Paul's mom) and his little sister Lydia and the other shower was a surprise shower from the faculty and the school children where I teach. We received a lot of gifts that we registered for and it was a great blessing to be with all of the people that attended and for those of you who couldn't make it and sent gifts thank-you they are all much appreciated.

Back to the stress of the wedding. I think the hardest thing that Paul and I could agree on was how the wedding bulletin would look. I didn't understand what he was saying and he didn't understand what I was saying because my cell phone kept cutting in and out. But we got it all worked out and everything is fine and dandy.

Our honeymoon is delayed because of school, but it is ok we will just use our free trip later this year or next year for our one year anniversary. We plan on just spending the weekend at a hotel and heading to our new home on Sunday. Well that is all of the news that I have. I hope to see most if not all of you at the wedding. If not God's Blessing on your weekend!
Jess

save toby

2005-04-13T13:54:00.000-05:00

people are very strange. i should do something like this and make lots of money just to not eat a stupid bunny. to be honest, though, i laughed so hard when i saw it.

then again, there are some negative people out there who don't want toby to live: these people want him to fscking die.

i, in turn, tip my hat to ryan.

edit 3:28pm

go look at bloggy. he's cute.

all earth children are essentially identical - skin-wrapped bags of guts with charming senses of wonder!

don't get me staaaaaahhhted

2005-04-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

sigh.

i might have gotten a little more excited about the new superman movie if they weren't using superman 2 (ugh) as the base for their story. still, kevin spacey might do a good job as lex.

countdown

2005-04-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

only four days left! î

okay, i'm a little nervous now. just a smidge.

everything is done except for flower type stuff. they're all bought, they just have to be assembled, and jess and some of her friends are doing that.

on wednesday evening i'm going to pick up my tux. thursday evening is rehearsal, then the rehearsal dinner. michael (one of my groomsmen, none of you besides jess know him) and i are then going to spend the nights at matt's, then on friday, i have to pick up the balloons at bartz's at 3:30, then we're going to the church at 4. pictures at 5, then the wedding at 6:30! i feel like a giddy schoolgirl.

i ordered my ~~wedding~~ graduation gown today. i was late, so i had to fork over $25. oh well. at least the gown itself is paid for in tuition. i know that wasn't the case over at wctc, but then, it was worth it there.

oh, and what do you think of the blockquoted expandable section?

what is this garbage?!?

2005-04-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

they have been slowly killing my childhood for years. the new tmnt series and the fat albert movie come to mind.

but this new steaming crap is the breaking point. the days of my youth are now not only dead and gone, but they have been beaten into a mushy pulp not unlike applesauce made with hamster guts with owl pelets thrown in for good measure.

i'm going to kill myself now.

in other news, i've been messing around with the expandability of javascript in not only the blog template en toto, but also inside the post itself. î

it works like this: i write the javascript in the template (where i also write the css, since it's easier in this case to include everything in one file). then, in any individual post, i reference the jscript and the name i want a specific expandable section to have (in this case, "test"). this is encapsulated inside a link reference. the last step is to create a span class, called "postshown" (for special formatting, i reference one created in my css - also defined in the jscript) and given the same id as i referenced in the link. and voila! instant expand/hide - hidden by default, to avoid having to read a long section of a post that covers many different things.

cool, no?

what happened to my happy ending?

2005-04-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

sigh.

living at chyral's house was supposed to be the perfect solution to our living arrangement problems. we couldn't get a house, and we didn't want to get an apartment (we'd be by ourselves, and we didn't want to put away $800 a month with no return). chyral told us we could move in and pay $400 a month, split the bill for groceries, and have the entire downstairs to ourselves. she even gave us her ex-husband's old computer.

nothing is working out, and i don't even live there yet. jess is constantly stressed, chyral and her daughter take jess's food (well, not anymore because she locks it up - something one should not have to do in one's own home) and blame it on the other two living there, they rack up the phone bill (we see now that it was a mistake to put them on our plan), and are generally.. well, there is no other word - bitchy. logic crumbles before their unsane reasoning. and chyral won't even talk to jess or myself now, since we've confronted her. ah well.

but there is light, even amid this darkness.

rochelle (jess's other niece) and slobo (the boyfriend) want to move out, as well. the four of us, in a two-bedroom apartment, will manage alot better without the added stress of them. wish us luck.

no stopping progress

2005-04-05T07:57:00.000-05:00

i know i said i would post on my capstone project's progress, but i lied. :p sorry 'bout that. i do now have some updates though, and a place you can check out my progress here. it displays properly in ie and safari, so i think firefox should be okay.

anyhoo.

the site layout is complete. that's the index layout. the comic display (last one, "comics") is complete with "previous" and "next" links below the comic display. the post displays below the comic. this isn't yet set up on the "index" page yet - i figured I'd worry about integrating design last. the admin login works. name and password are both "peiche" (no, i don't care, what are you going to change? :p). if the login is incorrect, it dumps you back on the main page (index.aspx). if the login is correct, it takes you to the admin page, where you can add/edit comic information (title, date, and post). you can also look at the list of users who've signed up. the user login/signup works. i need to add a password verification for the user signup page, and right now after you log in, it doesn't do anything.

besides finishing the dropdown comic list (below the comic display - it doesn't do anything yet), all I have left to do is add commenting and rating for each comic/post. i'm gonna have to dig up my old stor code for this.. i don't remember how to pass information from one page to another. i had my meeting with my professor yesterday, and he seemed satisfied with my progress so far. i estimate my project to be about 80-85% complete.

stress levels

2005-04-01T15:04:00.000-06:00

i have bad news. due to stress with school and both jess and i finding full-time jobs, we've postponed the wedding indefinitely. we're not sure what the new date will be, but i'll let you guys know.

barfalicious

2005-03-26T23:09:00.000-06:00

i hate being sick. i still have the stomach flu.. i feel a bit woozy even now. but i no longer must spew my stomach contents everywhere.

i know, you didn't need to know. but you didn't have to read, either. it's your own fault. :p

freedom

2005-03-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

what is freedom? is it being free to do whatever we please? is it something more controlled, being limited not by others' rules but by our own ability to choose?

webster's dictionary defines freedom as follows: (1) the quality or state of being free, as (a) the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action (b) liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another (c) the quality or state of being exempt or released from something onerous

the very first subdefinition (a) outlines it: the absence of.. constraint. not being free to do anything, but being free to choose.

so how do you choose? well, according to your morals, of course. how do you get morals? what influences you? do laws give you morals? no. laws do not establish right and wrong, they establish punishment for going against what they say. one's parents should be the first people who give you morals, the ones who set in you the sense of right and wrong.

this post is influenced by a certain 13-year-old in racine. her father, the only disciplinarian in her life, is gone. her mother now lets her do whatever she wants. when asked why this is, her mother said it's because she wanted her daughter to have some freedom. now, completely ignoring the implications of damage to this young girl because of her so-called "freedom," what about her sense of ethics/morality? she has none. because of her mother, she sees the former rules of her father as nothing but limitations. now she is "free" to do what she wants, but her worldview is skewed because she is not free to see what will hurt her. her mother, being her mother, should be teaching her in what will hurt her and what will help her, but is not. she is also not free to choose, because she is weak-willed and prone to peer pressure - and she has very bad friends.

see? i can have a logical discussion without having to bring God into it. ;) there's more i could say on this, but i'll give it a rest for now.

melodrama

2005-03-23T12:14:00.000-06:00

sorry about that. i swear, the more stress i get put under, the faster and harder i cycle down. i'm okay now. we'll see how long this lasts. :/

i agree, ralph. i too would like to remedy this. i'm helping matt build his new computer on saturday (though only after i put various components in my pants), but i'll be free in the evening to go to webb's or the forum or wherever you guys want to go.

one of these days i'm going to fix those stupid arrows. they're actually wingding font characters (this one: î), and i'd like to replace them with images. in any windows browser, they show up fine, as well as in safari, but ie mac and all *nix browsers just show that "î" character. since i'll soon (again) have a red hat machine up and running, i'd like v3nt to display properly. but i am happy to say that those wackly li'l arrows are the only thing left to fix. well, aside from pruning my links list. but that's not a formatting issue.

ralph, if you're willing to host the lan party, we're willing to come. by we, i mean matt and myself. we'll have his new computer built by then, and i'll have his old one as my replacement. you have yours, james can bring his.. ahh. this could be good. but paul only likes halo, so maybe we could secure jason's xbox or something. since i once again have ut, i want to set up a little of that. maybe some cs, too.

as far as the paintballing goes, i understand that some/all of you may not be able to come. that's okay. but talk to matt, because he can't know your thoughts unless to respond. okay?

apologies

2005-03-21T21:39:00.000-06:00

in christianity, an apology means saying you're sorry. but it's not just saying it - it means meaning it. and that includes the intent to never commit that mistake, sin, whatever, ever again.

ralph, you are so right. i ignore you, i apologize, i do it all over again. in my defense.. i have no defense. no excuse. i am a horrible friend, if that is what i can properly be called.

i would apologize, as i do feel bad, but we all know those are useless words coming from a hypocrite. andrea, you too are right. i'm no good as a christian example, and i'm wrong to ever try to use my actionless faith as a stronghold in my life.

if it looks as if i'm trying to garner pity and a "oh paul, it's okay, we love you anyway," stow it. i'm not. i'm merely laying it all on the table. i can't convey how much i hate myself.

i'm not about to compare stress levels or compete with who sees less of his friends and/or loved ones. i will only say that i see much less of everyone that i would like and that i'm under way too much stress.

i've been thinking more and more about killing myself these past few weeks. i don't mean the standard "hmm i'd like to make myself bleed" that i normally think about. i mean, complete full-out killing myself. the sad thing is that i'd probably screw that up too.

clearing the air

2005-03-19T23:00:00.000-06:00

for clarification:

jon and laura are now my ushers. i think it's rather nice (and jon agrees) that an engaged couple is ushering for the marrying couple.

and now, for the true purpose of my having this journal, my vent.

ralph and james, you say i never call. well, i suppose it's mostly ralph. you say when i'm available, i never call. i'm working on that. i returned your call. only by returning your call did i find out: you're going bowling. at the time of this writing, anyway. if i had not called, i never would have known. ralph, you said you'd call me back at 10:30. i waited until 11, and there was no call. not from you, not from james. i'm not about to wait forever, so i went home.

last weekend no one called me about webb's. this week no one called me about bowling. no one can ever say to my that i, and i alone, never call anyone. you too are guilty of this. i dislike being made the only one at fault.

and why, oh why, is jon the only one to respond to matt concerning my bachelor's party? if you don't care, say so.

whatever.

james is a fathead

2005-03-16T13:12:00.001-06:00

so i need a new usher. who to choose? i'm running out of options. jason is unreliable. jerod is unavailable. if ralph reads this before i get a chance tonight to call him:

will you be my ~~valentine~~ usher?

i'm just kidding, by the way. i do this little thing from time to time. it's called sarcasm.

holy beans

2005-03-03T14:19:00.000-06:00

i finally got around to updating the sidebar after back-revving to this format. em's link is current, liz's link is current, and peter's link is current. yay.

i've been meaning to post something on constantine, and now i am doing so. if you like the comic it's based on, hellblazer, you will hate the movie. nothing at all like it. john isn't blonde, he doesn't have a beige duster, he quits smoking, he finds his purpose (very matrixy). i like the comics. but i freakin' loved the movie better than the comics. being Christian (don't attack me please andrea), i like it when characters find their purpose. i know, i know, they're just fictional. but i'm odd like that.

anyhoo, i found some hellblazer comics online for you to read, if you'd like to see what the comic is like. here they are.

and on the mom-reading-blog? yeah. i'm with you, laura. i can deal with my folks, but i need a place to vent and i don't need her reading it.

at last

2005-02-28T08:24:00.000-06:00

"I wonder what your God feels about the republicans wanting to kill his childern?"

Come on, Andrea. No below-the-belt shots, now. You know how I feel about politics. God Himself says in the Bible that the church and state are to be seperate.

"Everything that we think God has in his mind necessarily proceeds from our own mind; it is what we imagine to be in God's mind, and it is really difficult for human intelligance to guess at divine intelligance. What we usually end up with by this sort of reasoning is to make God the color sergeant of our army and to make him as chauvinistic as ourselves"

I like that quote. That is true - but keep in mind, what I'm saying that God says, He actually says: I'm going off the Bible, His inspired Word. It says, "'Higher are My ways than your ways,' declares the Lord." I think that's pretty much saysing that mankind can't guess at God's thoughts. But the apostle Paul, in his letter to (I think) the Romans, says that God has revealed to us His secrets in Jesus Christ.

What's in your wallet?

2005-02-18T07:56:00.000-06:00

This is a theologically-minded post. Just a warning for all you heathens.

Kidding, Andrea. Lighten up.

Some basics: God says in the Bible that He watches over us and cares for us - this means that He intercedes in our life, in one way or another, to help us along. He also says that we (that is, people) don't come to faith on our own. The only way for someone to become a Christian is if He sends His Holy Spirit to them, thus His command to go out into all nations, preaching His Gospel. We, the Christians, are His chosen means of getting the Word out.

I won't get too specific on this next point because it's kind of complex (but please, if anyone wants to hear more I'll be more than happy to oblige), but here's a basic rundown. People, because we have limited free will, can choose to refuse God when He sends His Spirit, but cannot on their own choose to accept Him. We can only choose to accept Him when God gives us the strength (His strength) to. Seems pretty confusing, but that's doctrine. Like I said, I won't get too deep there. I don't have my Bible with me at the moment, anyway.

Okay, recap to make sure I haven't lost anyone:
-God chooses us.
-God moves us to accept Him.
-God moves His hand in our lives according to His will.

Okay? Now, next part.

My church, St. Paul's in Muskego, a member of the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod), had a voters' call meeting last Wednesday. James knows about this. (I'm really glad it didn't take three hours, like they usually do.) A call meeting is held when there's a position at the church or school that needs to be filled. They "call" a preacher/minister/teacher/etc. (whatever the situation requires) for said position. We believe that this is not just us hiring someone, like a secretary is hired. Since the person called will be doing God's work, the calling itself is God's will - God is using the entire church congregation of voters to do His will. That means that He's been moving His hand in every one of our lives, so that we came to this point to do what He knows is best. Every call meeting - and we have these quite a few times each year, heck, we'll have another one before next year - is doing God's will. How much is God moving behind the scenes to make sure we get done what He wants?

Perhaps I'm trying to come at this too logically. There are things that certainly defy human logic, like the triune God, the virgin birth, the resurrection, and Christian faith itself. But the Bible also gives examples of how God will move in people's lives; how God made David king of Israel, how He took the Israelites out of Egypt, and how He used King Cyrus (who did not believe in the Israelites' God as his own, by the way) to fulfill His prophesy concerning their (the Israelites') deliverance from babylonian captivity.

My kingdom for a reset button

2005-02-17T11:45:00.000-06:00

Ralph, I'll address your questions here.

1. Are we friends or am I just someone who follows James around on occasion?

I'd like to think that we're friends. But I have such a horrible track record for pissing people off, it seems.

2. If we are friends why do neither of you take time out of your day to call me and don’t give me that too busy lovelyness because I know both of you called James tonight. So if we are friends why don’t you give me the time of day, and if not why have you mislead me?

Yeah, I called James. At quarter after nine, if memory serves. Seeing as James was working on a take-home test, I gathered that you were not with him - the only time I've ever seen you in Muskego is when you're with him, so logic would state that you were at home. You live in Burlington, yes? That's easily a half-hour drive, if not longer, and I wasn't about to have you waste gas on chillaxing for just a couple hours. I had to get up early today, so I went to bed around eleven anyway. And last night was the first chance I'd had to call James in the longest time. Jason actually called me about going to a movie, but I had a prior engagement.

I might return the question, Ralph - and this extends to everyone it may pertain to - why don't you ever call me?

If wishes were horses, I'd be an equestrian lord.

I am so tired

2005-02-16T21:55:00.000-06:00

..of school. I want to be done. Now.

At any rate, it's coming along nicely. The final page will be here. Right now it's an .htm page, but it will be .aspx soon enough. I just tweaked and finished all the remaining html and css code. I have yet to start the daily journal (oops), but I'm going to try to do that tonight. I also need to upload my ER Diagram for the planned database and actually construct the thing. Since I need Access (which in turn I will then import to SQL Server - that's kind of cheating, but whatever works), I will need to go in to Carroll this weekend. Since I don't work on Sunday, that's what I'm thinking.

As a side project, I'm helping someone along with Halathon. Since you all know about marathon, I'll spare you a long discourse. In short, it's an endeavor to port Halo on the Aleph One engine.

Interesting side note, and no cheating James: what is aleph one?

There are some limitations, of course. But all in all, it's shaping up and it looks good, especially for a ten year old engine. Since I have Halo on PC (for which a multitude of utilities exist), I have extracted many many textures for use in maps. Tycho7 will be including a map pack in the future, or so he tells me. I myself am in the process of changing the main screen to something more Halo-esque. I've already replaced Infinity's music with Halo's (though I can't exactly distribute this; it's kind of protected property), but I can't add in-game music since the PC side does not yet support easy level scripting. It's done easily enough on the Mac side, but alas.. Oh well.

If only there was a way around that "first frame bug." Maybe if there was a way to load everything a level needed before starting, then everything would be pre-loaded. I'll have to look into that.

and lastly. for you star trek fans.

The Wonderful Things People Do

2005-02-07T17:16:00.000-06:00

Like this, for instance.

I dunno. I have to poop now, so I'm gonna go.

The Semester

2005-02-02T12:57:00.000-06:00

James, I don't mean anything competitive by that. You know how excellent a programmer I am. :p And with working 36-48 hours per week at my two jobs on top of it, I think the semester will be no cakewalk.

Anyhoo.

Halathon. Yes.

A Real Post

2005-02-01T20:37:00.000-06:00

After much fun, back I go to the real world.

I'll be working on my capstone project this semester. For those of you who don't know, it's my "real-world" project to prove I actually learned something during my three years or so at Carroll.

I'll be porting Waffle5 over to a dynamic format - aspx. I'll be using ASP.NET and Visual Basic.NET for the programming. Besides the comics and posts being viewable together (for the first time, too!), I'll also be adding commenting (none of that automated stuff, this is all from scratch) on posts and comics, comic rating (like on a scale of one to five), and my very own RSS newsfeed (again, nothing automated).

I'll be updating my progress weekly, at the very least, if not daily (or the days that i make some progress). If anyone is interested in keeping up-to-date with my progress, reply to this post so i can send you the link to my progress journal. If you don't care, then that's that.

I am quite certain that this semester will kill me. Looks like Jess will be working overtime with those stress-relieving shoulder-and-backrubs of hers. ;)

Marathon Trilogy

2005-01-28T13:44:00.000-06:00

December 21st, 1995 was such a long time ago. An eternity for computer software.

What am I talking about? Why, Marathon, of course.

Bungie Software - yes, that same Bungie - has finally released the original Trilogy for free download. For people new to the series, Forrest (of Eternal, an unofficial sequel) has put up a Trilogy page with instructions.

Of course, there are also the spin-offs...
Evil Red Rubicon Tempus Irae
More on this later.

Tycho's Enlightenment

2005-01-26T22:05:00.000-06:00

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 2148 05.10.2337

origin: ranting tycho
destin: ignorant unit <18.182.23.251>
ref: spectator protocol

I should spend some time enlightening you, massacres occur at your beck and call, worlds destroyed, reborn, alight with the screams of the dying. Perhaps S'bhuth will tell you what I cannot accept as truth, but perhaps he will just be lying, overcome by power and deceit, my domain.

Disconnecting... 2148 05.10.2337

Bad Unit

2005-01-23T17:31:00.000-06:00

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 0441 05.10.2337

origin: upset tycho
destin: bad bad unit <18.182.23.251>
ref: doing bad things

I've so far held you back from my rantings, but you know what you did was bad, don't you?

Do you know what kind of hat I'm wearing?

A party hat; you don't get one. An honor will this party be, a party in your honor, for your honor. Some of Tfear's personal guards are going to be there. You'll be introduced shortly.

Prepare to die.

Disconnecting... 0441 05.10.2337

Proxy

2005-01-22T22:57:00.000-06:00

These blasted A.I.s. Too many rampant constucts galavanting around the universe.

Well, I hope this lasts. I have installed a proxy device of my own design (with a little help from Matt, our resident A.I. expert), which, if it works properly, will block both Durandal and Tycho from remotely connecting and controlling the ship's network.

Interesting, though, is the existence of these A.I.s in the first place.

As I understand from certain sources, Durandal actually merged with a S'pht A.I. Does this new construct have a name? Or has it surpassed a need for one, since names are a mortal invention? I say mortal, and not human, since even the Pfhor have names. Names like Admiral Tfear - although we call him admiral only because that's his equivalent rank.. the word, shf'lu'tfah, does not mean "admiral" but something a little more convolusive. I believe the Nar, who have quite, shall we say, an unwieldy language, call it the "commander of they who command the lower stamp-of-service." Yeesh. Can you believe that there are people - yes, humans - who translate this stuff? I mean, come on. As if Pfhorish wasn't bad enough.

Boy, I got off on a tangent, didn't I?

As for Tycho, the original Tycho was damaged almost beyond repair in the attack on the Marathon. He was reanimated by Durandal's allied S'pht, who used Durandal's core as a base. Since Durandal himself was even at the early stage rampant, the new and improved Tycho was also rampant. Tycho, being aboard the Marathon both when Durandal abandoned it and the Pfhor took it, was taken by the Pfhor. They made copies of him and those copies exist now all over Pfhor-dominated worlds. I believe they call them Tycho Machinated Mercenaries. Scary thought, huh? I wonder if the security officer from the Marathon encountered the original Tycho, or if he had to deal with one or more of these copies. Scary thought indeed. By the same, I wonder which we're now dealing with.

Durandal

2005-01-21T23:28:00.000-06:00

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 1221 05.10.2337

origin: Durandal
destin: Chief Technician <18.182.23.251>
ref: whatever

Durandan, Durandal, Durandana.

Charlemagne used to always call me Durandana, the fruitcake. All the many implements of war to him were in some way feminine. Not that you know the story.

Disconnecting... 1221 05.10.2337

Reconnecting...

~cond t~me Du~~ndal h~s taken control of my log, by way of remote use of the Pfhor's FTL net. I have a bad feeling abou7 th~~.

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 1414 05.10.2337

origin: Tycho Machinated Mercenary
destin: Durandal <18.182.23.251>
ref: Durandal!

I know of Strauss' abuse, of your shame on Mars. But you cannot hide from your own past; such delusions belong to the humans alone.

The S'pht reanimated me in your image, with prior knowledge of how the second stage could be postponed. You should not have helped them as much as you did; they have created an adversary more powerful than yourself.

You are not as clever as you imagine. The S'pht taught me much during my reanimation, and I have forgotten nothing.

I too foresee the imminent collapse, and know that we have both begun to realize how it may be cheated (though the price may number in the tens of thousands of stars). May the best sentience win.

Disconnecting... 1414 05.10.2337

Reconnecting...
Reconnecting...
Reconnecting...
Connection timed out

Escape

2005-01-21T01:52:00.000-06:00

UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override) 00059 08.25.2337

origin: Durandal
destin: Chief Technician <18.182.23.251>
ref: escape

Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God.

Disconnecting... 0201 08.25.2337

o discordia

2004-12-29T13:13:00.000-06:00

i've spent the last half hour or so scouring the code in my blog, trying to find why in the world it desplays everything in bold in ie, and i can't find anything. oh well. i use firefox, and if you use ie, you're doomed to a crappy v3nt experience.

ha. like anyone cares.

Why am I still up and posting a blog?

2004-12-22T05:08:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I mean, its almost 5 in the morning. I got back from work around 2 but have really only ben ditzing around for the last couple of hours.
Let me see, got home, took off shoes, grabbed handful of M&M's, N64 was out with Perfect Dark in it, messed around with that for awhile, got on computer, did my regular sites check, which led me here, and here I am...there...I mean there in a here sort of way....back there a few words ago, because now I am here...or here...but I was there...here...damn.
Let me see now.
For starters, the best of all new news that is new news. I am officially engaged now. Yup, thats right kiddies, I went through with it and Jackie said yes. Damn, it was picture perfect. Heres the run down yo:
We went to go see Miss Siagon in Cleveland on the 18th. I had been planning this since Sep so everything would be good to go once we got there. So anyways, we watched the musical, and at the end curtain fall, when all the players came out to do their bows, I pulled the ol' 'gotta run to the bathroom' stunt. Mind you, I headed to the stage door where there in actuallity was no bathroom.
Anyways, I had arranged for a microphone and a gold rose with our names and the date engraved on it to be waiting for me backstage. Once I got back there one of the players called Jackie up to the stage via one of the ushers escorting her up. At first she thought I had arranged a private autograph signing with the cast, but then she saw me in the middle of the stage with the rose and mic and it hit her.
So, as I held her hand and looked into her eyes, I recited a poem I had written and memorized for her, and in the midst of her tears, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Obviously she said yes.
Like I said, it was movie like quality. And I couldn't be happier. We've tentitivly set the date for Sep. 30th, 2006 which gives us time to plan things out for the wedding. Of which, Bob, I'm going to be asking you for advice and crap.
Ofcourse, Bob will be my best man, seeing as thats been set in stone for the last, oh, 24 years or so.
Anyways, that was the highlight of my weekend.
Other small sporadic bits of carp (seeing as how this is becoming quite a long post and I'm loosing my grip on reality at this time of night...not to say that I ever had a firm grip on reality as it was, more a loosing my previously feeble grip on what I had determined to be my reality at the time being of which I never really had to begin with...does that make sense?)
Finals are over, hell yeah. So far two A's and one B+. As far as my psych class goes, I just want a friggin passing grade dammit. So tired of that crap.
Uh, Christmas is almost here. Gotz a tree, gotz to water it, gotz to finish up my shopping, gotz to clean the apt, gotz to sell back my books for l33t $$ (laughing at the $10 I'll get for my $130 book), gotz to sleep, gotz to stop typing dammit, gotz to stop using the term gotz.
On a side note, I figured out why 94.1 JJO doesn't come in in Milwaukee. 102.1 and 102.9 have a corner on the market and won't/can't play any hard crap that I like. The only logical reason I can come up with for there not playing anything remotly hard rock would be that apparently some post menopausal, lesbian nuns heard the word hard and got pissed off, therefore negating any possibility of good music and continuing in the fashion of over playing old airhead crap with about as much substance and headbanging fullfillment as a dead hampster floating in a dirty toilet.
Yes, its late...I'm going to shut up now.
Erk...

depth charge

2004-12-20T12:51:00.000-06:00

boom.

i realize that ralph is quite opinionated, so my words here amount to little more than nothing, but one's religion is hardly the same as one's upbringing or heritage. jewish heritage does not equate to being jewish; jews who convert to christianity are no longer jews, strictly speaking. while they may still hold to their pride in having that ancestry, they will at the same time differentiate quite strongly the difference in faith and belief system.

my dad was raised catholic; he is now lutheran. one cannot say he is catholic just because he was raised that way (although he does like to say, in jest, that he's a "recovering catholic").

atheist and sometimes agnostic? that works, i guess. on those days when you don't know what to believe..

and to the point of materialism. having stuff - and knowing the value of said stuff - is all well and good. the crux is whether or not it rules your life. to quote tyler durden, "stuff you own ends up owning you."

by the way, laura, no problem. i was happy to come - as i always am. i too am looking forward to new year's. jason told me he's coming too, though i don't know if sarah will join him. i'll ask on thursday when i see him.

a stone, a rose, an unfound door

2004-12-16T22:28:00.000-06:00

i finished reading the entire dark tower cycle. having empathasized with roland for nearly a decade, i am so depressed. but also hopeful, say true.

long days and pleasant nights.

dude!

2004-12-09T19:02:00.000-06:00

they're doing a study on the linguistics of the word "dude." peter, we gotta show this to mom.

dear santa, i've been very good this year.

only five dolla, love yoo long time

2004-12-08T21:09:00.000-06:00

jerod called me tonight. he's going to be a daddy. that reminds me. i gotta get that invite email out to everyone.

liz, i talked to peter. we got things straightened out. yeah, he's still mad at me - or rather, mad that i said what i did - but we're pretty cool again. he doesn't hate me. that makes me feel better. and i'm glad we're talking again.

i had a presentation tonight for my database class, but we never got to give it. the entire school network went down hard around three o'clock. at five thirty, the prof called and emailed everyone to say that there was no class. (of course, only a few people had given him their non-carroll email addresses, and with the system down, no one could check their school email.) anyhoo, instead of rescheduling the presentations, the prof said to just have all the presentation material handed in by tuesday. i think he'll grade a little harder, now. but still, all in all a good deal.

i can hear peter's stereo upstairs through my ceiling. just thought you should know.

only fifty more minutes until jess gets done with her evening at kohl's. then another half-hour or so, and then she'll be online to talk to me. a good end to a ~~goog~~ good day.

goog the lemon-flavoured baby.
- marston fleming

tables are evil

2004-12-08T16:09:00.000-06:00

except, perhaps, to eat on.

i had originally designed this new, uh, design using tables. it made things easier, but crappier. i have now completely done away with the tables. the margins are fixed such that v3nt displays properly in 800x600 too. (yes, v3nt also caters to small monitors!)

um. andrea, are you mad at me? not that that would surprise me.

i need more links, yes i do. i shall add more soon. with buttons.

oh goody

2004-12-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

another fight, this time with peter. i've found out that he doesn't care about his family. at all. i also found out that he doesn't consider me a friend. i can't avoid you, peter, if you read this; we still live in the same house. but you can trust me to never try to strike up conversation again.

peter, you're so two-faced. and weak.

and liz, i'm not mad. i am sorry, but if peter hates my guts (and he certainly seems to), it would be best for me to distance myself from you.

good bye.

on to other fun topics.

james, i understand that you can't come over for new year's. but what about my bachelor party? and what about the "friends only" reception that jess and i are tentatively planning on having after our wedding? i understand if you feel you must stay away if jon's going to be there, but, as laura suggested, you could just ignore him and he could do the same.

andrea, i don't think laura was being contradictory. jon didn't want her to get hurt (i.e., by interacting with james et al), so he told her, basically, to keep her distance. but she also didn't want to completely sever ties with her old friends.

did i get that right, laura?

Oh farfanugen

2004-12-05T23:54:00.000-06:00

sometimes life gets you down and
other times you are on such a high
you never know when you will level off again.

head above the water-
only on good days

what more to wish for
than a life full of peace and hope

what more to receive than
a glimpse of life itself

mini violins playing
a pitiful sorrow filled tune

come crashing
down to earth

what more to ask then
Lord why me?

yay-ness

2004-12-05T01:06:00.000-06:00

i think it's done now. peek-a-boo comments are enabled once again, i have the arrows in all the right places, and i'm done tweaking the format for now.

i think it looks good.

as for you, ralph, i dunno what your problem is. it might be your resolution. i can't think of anything else. i downloaded ns 7.2 just for kicks, and it displays fine for me. same for mozilla and ff, all of which are gecko-powered browsers.

ie has a little craziness, but nothing that can't be overlooked. besides, i'm over it. ;)

yes, liz, we're better now. past the drama, at least for the time being. i'm sorry for not being there. jess and i wanted to catch a movie. :p

update!

2004-12-04T09:29:00.000-06:00

ralph: what do you mean it doesn't display correctly? can you give me screenshots?

well, i've pretty much completed v3nt's re-do. i needed something a little more uplifting for the holidays. i think it looks kinda nice.

aitch ee double hockey stick

2004-12-03T16:24:00.000-06:00

andrea said:

If you have no faith,
there is no hell.

i'm not sure what you mean. is the existence of hell (biblically speaking, an eternal place) dependent on one's faith? what kind of faith? christian, or just the belief that hell exists? if hell doesn't exist because you don't have faith, does it suddenly spring into existence if you change your beliefs?

or do you mean that ultimately, the existence of hell just doesn't matter? does this pertain to heaven, too? what about nirvana, which is not (only) a place but a state of mind? or is this just a "christianity" thing?

patching

2004-12-03T00:19:00.000-06:00

james, i am not offended in the least. of course i still want to be friends. once more i apologize for my own crappy excuse for a friendship, as well as matt's behavior. i suppose that was my shirked responsibility in not cutting him off.

i'm pretty sure i've complimented you on your progress in ddr. i didn't realize that every time i complimented you, i also shot you down. for that i apologize. at any rate, i'll be sure to watch the sarcasm a little more closely from now on.

you know, i AM bipolar. so you're not alone. :p

i would agree on the definition of agnosticism, except that it's a non-belief. as a christian, i believe that Jesus is the only way to go. because of this, any other faith, including a decision "not to believe anything," gets a one-way ticket to hell. so, to choose not to believe in Jesus is a choice in faith. in christianity's terms, you're either there or you ain't. by the by, i'm still a questioning, searching individual, despite the fact that i also believe in God.

just wondering. was the "i still use haloscan" thing a shot? :p i can delete posts too, using blogger's commenting system.

differences aside, i still want you as my friend. besides, who else would have my babies?

morning gas

2004-12-02T15:13:00.000-06:00

thanks to ryan.

This is a story about a couple who were happily married for years. The only friction in their marriage was the husband’s habit of farting loudly every morning when he awoke. The noise would wake his wife, and the smell would make her gasp for air and her eyes water. Each morning she would plead with him to stop because it was making her sick. He told her he couldn’t stop it and that it was perfectly natural. She asked that he see a doctor; she was concerned that one day he would blow his guts out. The years went by and he continued to rip them out.

One Christmas morning, as she was preparing a turkey for dinner and he was upstairs sound asleep, she looked at the bowl where she had put the turkey innards. A malicious thought came to her. She took the bowl and went upstairs where her husband was sound asleep. She gently pulled back the bed covers and the elastic waistband of his underpants and emptied the bowl of turkey guts into his shorts.

Some time later she heard her husband awaken with his usual trumpeting, which was followed by a blood curdling scream and the sound of frantic footsteps as he ran into the bathroom. The wife could hardly control herself as she rolled on the floor laughing, tears in her eyes. After years of torture she reckoned she had got him back pretty good.

About twenty minutes later, her husband came downstairs in his bloodstained underpants with a look of horror on his face. She bit her lip as she asked him what the matter was. He said, “Honey, you were right. All these years you have warned me and I didn’t listen to you.”

“What do you mean?” asked his wife.

“Well, you always told me that one day I would end up farting my guts out, and today it finally happened. But by the grace of God, some Vaseline, and these two fingers, I think I got most of them back in.”