Friday January 2nd 2004 08:26 AM PST
My brother got last minute plans together for New Year's Eve. We all ended up going over to Vera's house
where we hung out for a few, then made our way over to Trio in San Marino. We got the private back room to
ourselves. So it ended being Jen and Me, my parents, Steve and Vera, George and Bacca, Justin and Vic, and
Eric. So we all had a great time. We watched the floats head down the street all night long and we had a great
meal. By midnight, we were all getting really obnoxious, so passing us new year noise makers was a BAD IDEA.
The little horns made us sound like a flock of geese on crack. We honestly got into a noise battle with the other
rooms of the restaurant.
We got home at about 1:30 and went promptly to bed. I got up in the morning to check out the news then
went back to bed. We did absolutely nothing on the 1st. Well we did argue about where we were going to get
lunch. Jen felt like Tops, but there was no way in hell that i was crossing the parade line, even a few hours after
the parade was gone. The alternative to Tops is HighLife Burger. Its owned by a relative of the guy who started
Tops, so the menu is EXACTLY the same. Only difference.... it two blocks away. On a lazy day, thats really
good. The place was JAM PACKED. Every person in South Pas was there.
We ended up getting Pizza for dinner and just sitting watching TV. Really an uneventful day, but it was nice to
just be lazy.
Saturday January 3rd 2004 09:20 AM PST
Koga writes so many entries speaking of the incredible amount of ass clowns he encounters during his
adventures on the Streets of Los Angeles. I just want him to know he's not alone. But i am making the
challenge here and now. Find worse parking jobs than these.
Sunday January 4th 2004 07:31 PM PST
So it seems that the music industry reported that the number of people downloading music online has been cut
in half. They say this astounding reduction in sharing is due to the number of lawsuits that the RIAA has take
out against "sharing people". I don't know, but i think there might be another reason... I think all the good
music that was ever worth downloading has already been downloaded. Now everyone is scratching their heads
wondering when someone will produce something worth listening to.
Sunday January 4th 2004 07:36 PM PST
Oh, and why does it always end up that the lowest IQ enabled news reporters get the job of sitting at JPL? I've
been watching the mission control feed for the last few hours and the reporter has a rocket scientistic cornered
asking him the same stupid question over and over. Why can't they just put a plain feed on that we can watch
without the stupid commentary. BTW i am a little pissed at BushBoy... bitch puts on high security level... that
means there is no chance in hell to get a tour of mission control at JPL right now.
Monday January 5th 2004 03:01 PM PST
I thought that Jen and I got sick at the same time. We both got a cold and felt bad this weekend. What i
realize now is that Jen got sick long before me and was on her way to getting better. I on the other hand was
just feeling the beginning of it and, as per usual, the same cold has now hit me like a ton of bricks. Well at least
i got a job to do. Rush job on a game. Life could not get any better.
Tuesday January 6th 2004 08:47 AM PST
Tuesday morning boredom fixed with a quiz.
What Drink are you? Thanks to
Pat for this one.
Congratulations! You're a Long Island
Iced Tea!
|
Tuesday January 6th 2004 09:05 AM PST
Don't get caught saying "what we done did" on national television or you'll end up looking like the biggest
dumbass on the face of the planet. Oh, sorry that's not right.... Don't get married after watching "The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre".... oh well, take your pick. They're both going to put Britney's face all over the tabloids and
sell a few more records. Oh, keynote is on.... bye
Wednesday January 7th 2004 01:20 AM PST
So I know i am going to catch hell for this one.... Red Bull has some of the best sporting ventures around the
world. They sponsor events and people that are just too damn crazy for words, but i've come to the conclusion
that... well... Red Bull tastes like ass. I know this may come as a shock to some of you. :) But honestly the
best use for Red Bull is as a mixer for other drinks. Where am i going with this stupid rant you ask? Well its
going to be a long night and now i need to stay awake to code. I've found that AMP has the same twitch-like,
jitter effect as Red Bull. AND it doesn't taste like ASS. So back to work.
Friday January 9th 2004 03:46 PM PST
I totally forgot to write about this one the other night. Jen and I went to the YardHouse and had dinner and a
few drinks. We were sitting at a table next to a couple that was in a HUGE booth. Now violation #1 was made
when they sat next to each other in the HUGE booth. Usually when on a date you sit across from the other
person so you can talk, if you want to have sex in the booth, you request a smaller booth that's not so public.
Violation #2 was they literally were on top of each other. If you're in a HUGE booth, its a waste to not use the
space. Just like an SUV, if you don't use the fuckin space, get a smaller BOOTH. (side note: it funny that this
restaurant is notorious for having 3 hour waits. maybe its because they give booths to two people when they
could seat 6 there). Violation #3 was, he was fuckin dumb enough to order a YARD. I know its called the fuckin
yardhouse and i know you're trying to impress the girl, but... You can't fuckin DRINK OUT OF A YARD. Order a
PINT. It fits in your hand, and you can actually DRINK it while TALKING to the GIRL that you should be SITTING
ACROSS from. Violation #4... and this one makes me forgive the dumbass for all the other violations. Why?
Cause it made me laugh my ass off. Violation #4 is attempting to pick up and pour the contents of said YARD
into a PINT glass while holding the yard in one hand and the pint in the other. If you don't get this one, then
here's the basic principle. A yard is a very tall and thin glass "pipe". At the bottom there is a large ball that
contains most of the liquid that you're drinking. If you were to hold this glass "pipe" at one end and attempt to
turn it horizontal, the other end would probably not be able to support the weight of the liquid inside. Its like
holding a tape measure out as far as you can. Its not going to hold. SO i see this happening out of the corner
of my eye and i'm laughing before it even breaks. The ball end of the yard is about 4 feet above the hard wood
floor when the yard body breaks. This has to be one of the best restaurant accidents i've seen in a long time.
The best part is, there are 5 people on top of this in 10 seconds. They must have a lot of assholes in there
every
hour that do this. My advise, like i said, order a pint.
Saturday January 10th 2004 08:38 PM PST
thanks to koga for this one.
Which Starfleet Captain Are you?
Mackenzie Calhoun- You are the wild man of
Starfleet. You love outwitting oponents by doing the one thing they
wouldn't expect from a Starfleet ship... fighting dirty. Of course to get away with your craftiness, you only exist
in books. Doesn't matter, you're much cooler than Archer. Some people say you're a self righteous SOB. They
might be right, but you don't give a damn.
Thursday January 15th 2004 02:18 AM PST
"The Mars solar day (sol) is considered to have a length of
24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.25 seconds; it is usually abbreviated as sol.
Sol 0 is the particular spacecraft's landing day"
--From one of the MANY NASA web sites.
So its now SOL 12 and the rover just sent back rear hazcam images showing the lander behind it. They
successfully moved the rover .8 meters from the lander and now we wait another SOL before the majority of
the images get transmitted. Well time to go to bed.
Friday January 16th 2004 05:43 PM PST
I didn't sleep last night. I've become a severe insomniac. I tried to sleep the other night and just couldn't. My
sleep schedule is just fucked up now. And today i've tried to deprive myself of sleep so i might be able to sleep
normally tonight. Well all it really did was fuck things up. I was awake when Jen woke up today, and all i
seemed to do was piss her off. So i guess today was just about the worst day i've had in awhile. So what
makes the day even more intolerable? The fact that i can't play music REALLY FUCKING LOUD. I live in an
apartment now that is a little cramped and the neighbors would really not appreciate my playlist titled "pissed".
I find myself skipping songs that were purposefully put into an album to act as a break between overly
aggressive songs.
I just want to sleep.
Saturday January 17th 2004 04:02 AM PST
So its 4AM and i have been kicked out of bed. I can't sleep, and Jen finally started getting pissed cause i was
keeping her up.
Wednesday January 21st 2004 11:14 AM PST
So i was trolled a couple nights ago by some soding brit. No big deal, all my comments are under my control. :)
So...
Speaking of Brits
I ordered a tiny James Bond digital camera the other day from think geek and got it yesterday. Will had
mentioned that a friend of his had one for about a day and returned it cause it didn't shoot in low light. Well,
thats true. The CCD on this camera is very very low LUX, BUT... the thing is fuckin small. The only real problem
i had with it was the beep. I pop the battery in and hit the power button and hear a VERY LOUD beep. Then hit
the button again to switch modes... another loud beep. Then take a picture. ANOTHER LOUD BEEP. I don't
know, but this is a James Bond camera right? Doesn't that mean that maybe it shouldn't make so much fuckin
noise. Stealth-Like :) So, i performed surgery on the poor unsuspecting camera. Cut a few wires and the
camera is now silent. Now i really can take little covert shots from the palm of my hand. I've played around
with it and for its size i'm really happy with it. The really nice thing is if i shoot on low rez i just upload the file
without having to recompress it. Its already a tiny little jpg, so i dont have to worry. MANY pictures coming
soon.
UPDATE 1/29/2004 (with pictures)
Here's the procedure if you want to MUTE your 007 Camera. Now, you do this at your own risk. etc etc etc. Ok,
there is one screw on the bottom of the camera. You'll have to remove the serial number sticker to get to it.
Once this screw is out the camera comes open and there is a very simple circuit board assembly inside. The
speaker is glued to a microprocessor at about the middle of the circuit board. All you have to do is clip the black
and red wires leading to the speaker. Done! Put the camera back together and NO MORE BEEP!
Wednesday January 21st 2004 11:22 AM PST
Wednesday January 21st 2004 02:55 PM PST
So i've been a bad little blogger these days, but then there's nothing worth talking about. I've been sending out
my resume like mad, and i've yet to get even ONE response let alone a "thank you, we got your resume". The
only person who has actually contacted me about work was a business owner that was referred to me through
Jason and Sean. I mailed him immediately to do a little script job, but he'd already gotten things moving. BUT,
he was nice enough to explain this and send me a quick 3 line email. That's all i'm talkin about. "hi, thanks,
you actually exist, sincerely, blah"
So still looking for a job. Nothing yet. But keeping the fingers crossed.
Thursday January 22nd 2004 02:17 PM PST
The little fuckers are out in packs now. Two kids yesterday and now another one today, all trying to sell fuckin
magazines. Will was talking about the shit that Coke pulled a couple years back at a school, well... i think the
magazine shit is worse. We're no longer talking about the kids telling the companies how to market the product
to them, we're talking the kids themselves selling the product door to door. Talk about child labor, this is awful.
The thing i really want to know is the ratio of sales to doors knocked on. I have this feeling that somewhere
down the line there was research done, and it was found that children have a higher likelihood of making a sale
door to door than someone older. Everybody possible seems to be taking advantage of this. Those
candy bars at every high school, the girl scouts, the boy scouts, and these fuckin magazines drives. These guys
aren't even affiliated with the high school. They're being bussed in from somewhere with a scripted introduction
and little identification cards. I'm taking my little video camera and wiring it to my peep hole on my front door.
Monday January 26th 2004 01:55 AM PST
My Contribution to
FUH2.com
I was doing a little thinking. The H2 gets by certain EPA restrictions and actually gets a tax break due to its
weight (which allows it to be classified as farm equipment?). I am really uncertain of the accuracy of these
claims, but i do know this. This thing has a incredibly bad fuel efficiency, and, because of its weight, its sure to
kill me if one were to ever impact me and my Honda Civic at a decent speed. I know the people that buy this
"SUV" are very impressed by its design and "safety" ratings, blah blah blah blah... i really don't care. I think
this one is plain and simple. This vehicle is bad for the environment, and is a safety hazard to others on the
road.
So here are the FACTS as noted by the hummer site. The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the H2 is 8,600
pounds. This included EVERYTHING, passengers and all. The CURB WEIGHT is 6,400 pounds. So empty, with
no passengers, no fuel, no payload this vehicle weighs over 3 tons.
So i think i've found a little loophole that the environmentally conscious people of California might be able to use
to fight back with. In South Pasadena, the gross maximum weight restriction for non-truck route streets is
6,000 pounds. This weight restriction in most cases has been created because of the "significant surface
damage which is likely to result from heavy truck traffic and vehicle weights far in excess of those considered
for roadway design" as stated by a City of South Pasadena Document i found. Its a basic principle. Roads that
are required to hold a certain weight of traffic are constructed from materials that will withstand those weights.
Places such as bus stops are reinforced because of their repeated exposure to "traffic impact".
I've spent a little time trying to find cities in California that impose weight restrictions on city streets. I've found
a handful that have the 6,000 pound limitation. There is some interesting city municipal code out there. I
believe there is a clear message set up by the cities, and it might just need to be enforced.
Don't take my word for it. Do a little research on this, i really do want to hear what people think.
Monday January 26th 2004 08:51 PM PST
In the last 24 hours i have received about 150 Mailer_Daemon notifications from AOL. It seems that a very
nice little spammer out there has been sending out junk mail by the ton, and their reply address is a randomly
generated email address @ iriggs.com. So in addition to AOL sending me ton of return messages, i also have
people sending me hate mail because they actually think that my domain has something to do with the spam
they are getting.
So if there is anybody out there visiting my site because of a piece of shit mail that was sent to you, please
forward me the email and any information about it. The AOL system is nice enough to NOT include the body of
the message, so i have no idea where they originate.
Wednesday January 28th 2004 09:54 PM PST
Went to dinner tonight at Mijares with my parents. We sat at a table next to a HUGE table of about 20 people.
We figured when we sat down it was just a big family, but then we started looking. I had my back to their table,
so i didn't really take too much notice, til my mother said they looked like JPL types. At that point i turned
around and recognized about half of them. A large group of them must have been having dinner before going
into the "office" for the night. I have to admit thats one of the perks of living in the Pasadena area.... there
are more smart people around.
Thursday January 29th 2004 07:01 PM PST
Why is always when i want to do something SIMPLE, there are people out there who just don't get it? I got a
new printer today. I want to put it EXACTLY where the old printer was, and i want it to work just like the old
one. So heres all i want to do.
The new Brother printer should connect to my windows box via a parallel cable. Easy enough. Then i should be
able to share the printer to the network and use the windows box as a print rip. Done deal. THEN i should be
able to print to that computer's IP from any other computer on my network. You'd think that this would be
easy. Now here's the problem. This printer is designed to be a USB printer when connected to a MAC, so when i
set up the printer on my MAC i can't select the correct print driver just because i'm using Print to IP. THIS
SHOULD BE EASY. The print driver is there. The computer knows how to talk to the printer. It just needs to
send the SAME FUCKIN DATA to an IP instead of down the USB Cable. Is this too damn hard. And the greatest
thing about all of this... the print utiltity lets me select any OTHER brother printer EXCEPT THE ONE I'VE GOT.
just needed to scream. I feel better now.
Friday January 30th 2004 11:33 AM PST
So Koga sent me a link to a club thats going on tonight at the Hollywood Athletic Club. You know what kind of
club it is. So anyway... the website gives a breakdown of the playlists in each room. The 80's room listing just
spawned a little desire for a 80's flood. So i've queued up about 5 hours of 80's in my playlist. Started off with
Boingo, so i can tell its not going to be a bad day.
BTW Brian...
Don't worry, you did more than i did yesterday. I never got by the checking of the mail for no paychecks and
the flickering computer screen. Finn's tonight?
Friday January 30th 2004 02:13 PM PST
Something has to be said about how good the spam recognition is in Apple's Mail software. I've honestly been
flooded by junk mail. Because of my habits with catch-all accounts, I've got close to 100 different emails that
i've actively used, and any address at any of my domains finds it way to my ONE box. So that one box is
checked using OS X and Apple's Mail. Apple made claims that their recognition is 99% effective. Well it EASILY
holds up to this claim. I have to admit i've trained the software well with where it should put certain pieces of
mail. I've got rules that will process before the Junk rules are checked, and i've found the number of false
positives has dropped to nothing. I was skeptical at first to just delete everything in my junk box, but now i will
not hesitate to delete 5000 messages without looking at them. I also must say that i found a nice solution to
the spammer problem i had. They CC a large number of people each time they send out spam. The AOL mailer
daemon will respond saying that the message was not able to be sent because the addresses are not valid, but it
will include ALL the addresses. So slowly but surely i'm actually accumulating a set of valid email address that i
could (if i were so inclined) send out my own wave of junk mail. :)
Saturday January 31st 2004 12:05 PM PST
OMFG i got out of the house for once! I actually went out last night and had to travel more than 1 mile. Ended
up going out to dinner with Jen and her good friend Karie. We did the usual dinner at Crown City. Then we
drove all the way out to Marina Del Rey and went to Wendy's group photo opening. Great location right on the
beach, and right next to a bar (which everyone ended up in). After a little hanging in the bar, which i thought
was called Whaler's Village or something (or is that the place in Hawaii?), we headed up to Finn's to regroup with
everyone. Upon arrival, the place was a fuckin mess, packed to capacity. Wendy actually pulled me aside early
and said she was about ready to pay somebody to leave so we could get a table for everyone that was there. So
we finally get a few seats and pack about 12 people around a table that is designed for.... well the guys next to
us were at a table just as big, and it was only two of them. Just like most people in Los Angeles, taking up too
much space. So we hung out there a good deal and had a damn good time all around. The "rockstar on call"
was harassed by a fan that claimed to have seen a show in Cincinnati or some city, we never really were clear.
But then again, most of what this guy said was unclear cause he was so fuckin tanked. It was good for a laugh
when it happened. We all stayed there to very very very late, something around 2. Jen me and Karie got home
some time around 2:30 and went right to bed.
