The Fun Continues
So remember my shoulder issues? It's taken an interesting turn, and I suspect it's related to an upper-back injury I acquired over a year ago. Yesterday, while watching TV, I realized that my left hand had the pins-and-needles feeling -- as if I'd just struck my funny bone about two minutes prior -- and it spread to the left hand gradually.
I gave it a few hours, and watched We Are Marshall (eh) until midnight. It was still there, and so I went over to the VA and saw the docs. I have an appointment tomorrow for MRI and CT scans of my head and c-spine. Awesome!
More as it develops...
Like a Runaway Glacier
18-19 by krautwald.
I had forgotten just how tedious font design can be when you're doing it right. Back in the day, when Fontosaurus was putting out 1-2 free fonts a week, I was able to take designs from sketch to production in a matter of hours. But those were free fonts, with incomplete character sets and kerning and spacing that was, um, a bit on the side of sloppy?
Part of the reason for the delay with the Fontosaurus updates is that I am rebuilding a great deal of my previous works -- making them into what they should have been. And the new works are coming along slowly as well.
I do miss the methodical thinking that went along with this, though. So much of life is crash-and-burn now-now-now urgency that it's nice to spend quiet time getting those glyphs "just right" before committing them to public consumption.
Thankful For
This holiday season, I am thankful for the following:
Kate. The last eleven-and-a-half months have been amazing, and the start of what I hope and believe will be decades of life together. I can't imagine growing old with anyone else.
My job. This is the most stability I've had in a position since leaving XATA in the summer of 2006, and the best part? I actually enjoy what I do -- it's the perfect balance of my skills, I love the people I work with (even when we disagree!), and it's mentally stimulating enough to keep me engaged in what I'm doing.
My friends. Every last one of you contributes to my life and makes it more awesome. Whether I see you every day, or just once in a blue moon, your awesomeosity rubs off on me.
What are you thankful for?
My Must-Have List
A friend asked me, as I've been categorized as "in a fulfilling relationship" as to what my must-haves are. My first reaction is:
- Kate
In all seriousness, however, I must admit that Kate is definitely unlike anyone I've dated before, and I think that that is why we've been as good as we are. I've dated a lot of people, I've been in a few serious relationships, even been married once.
What I've learned is that you cannot have a concrete list of things that are absolutely necessary. When you find the right one, you'll know. Kate's the one -- we're different in a bunch of our interests, but have a few in common. We're different politically: I'm more engaged than she is. We differ on the abortion issue. I love football, she fell asleep at a Vikings game. She dislikes bicycling, I don't need to point out my obvious addiction.
But we come together where it matters. We agree on the things that are truly important -- the need to secure our financial future, the desire to be parents, that we support each other in pursuit of our dreams -- and that our lives are richer for having fallen in love with each other.
I don't know how to quantify her, and that's part of what I love about her. She's a complex woman, smart and funny and possessing of a mushy interior hidden by a tough outer shell. I do know that I can laugh with her, that I love the mischievous glint she gets in her eye sometimes, and that waking up with her in my arms is the best start to a day that I could ask for.
Chalk this up as sentimental, and not true to the original challenge, but I don't think that love is something you can find by checking off boxes on a list.
What’s Goin’ On?
The author's living room. Prepping to move.
I originally wanted to write a deeper piece for this blog about the process of moving out of my current place. But really, things have been too crazy for that, so my 200th post here will mark a brief apology and a run-down on the things that have been taking a lot out of my time to write here:
1. Moving. I've started the process of trickling boxes out of the living room (pictured above), and into the new place. This next weekend will see a lot more of that, and I should have my current place nearly-empty by Sunday. The remainder of the moving will happen the weekend after that (the 8th) -- most of that will be the big/heavy furniture that won't fit into the Subaru or that I cannot move by myself.
2. Redesign. I've been overhauling the template for this site since Sunday. Really happy with the way it's playing out, too. I hope to have the design layer finished tonight, and I'll be busting out the HTML/CSS between now and the coming weekend. Oh, and wouldn't you know it? Smashing Magazine posted a whole bunch of grunge tutorials. Useful!
3. Writing. Yeah, I'm back at it, despite a blow-up of a keychain drive that housed my novel. I managed to recover that fragment, but not until after I restarted from scratch. So I'm pulling in chunks of the original, and it's working well.
4. Swimming. Going well. Last week, I kinda plateaued, after making serious progress the previous six weeks. It was a little disheartening, but I've got lessons again tonight. Here's hoping that all goes well and that I don't drown.
5. The Bike. Haven't done as much of it this year as I'd have liked. So I'm throwing myself to the wolves and racing the Red Barn Cyclocross on Saturday. If you fancy the idea of seeing me puke up a lung, have a stroke, and die in the middle of a muddy field, now might be your chance! (I would request that ex-girlfriends and ex-spouses not show up as I don't need anyone adding insult to injury at the moment of my death.)
Sarah Palin
Americans, regardless of political affiliation, should be insulted that any party would nominate someone as outright stupid and vapid as this idiot. It's almost like Dubya and Dan Quayle had a love child (with a history of head injuries)...
Suggestions for Mr. Obama
At the urging of a friend, I just read this piece in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times. The premise is a little bit goofy, but the message is right on the money.
It's time to go forth and kick a little ass, Senator, and Friday would be the day to do it. Get out there, call McCain and Palin's schtick exactly what it is: a line of crap that reeks so bad that you'd have to have a dead skunk wrapped around your face to not be aware of their stink. When that debate rolls around, push him. Hit him hard every chance you get. And I'm not talking the soft gloves, the one where you're vague or polite about it. It's time to put on the brass knuckles and fuck his shit up. Tell McCain -- to his face -- that he's full of crap, that he's lying, that no matter how he tries to seize your message of change, that the bottom line is that he represents continued failed economic and military policies and that he has no place in this election. Hit him and hit him hard.
From day one, this has been your election to win, and right now McCain is outright lying, using deceit and fearmongering, to take it away from you. Are you going to stand for that shit?
Look, Senator, I've got your back. I've given you money, I've given you my voice, and I've given you what shreds of hope that I've had left after the previous eight years. I've been to your rallies here in the Twin Cities, and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to help you win in November. But the bottom line is, Senator, you need to stand up, dust yourself off, and kick his fucking ass.
Millions of us have your back. We know you can win this fight. You just have to start throwing punches.
Sarah Palin
I call her the "warhamster" -- she's got the voice of a rodent and is a warmongering shithead. So "warhamster" seems to work.
This snotty little bitch derided Barack Obama for being a community organizer. There is an awesome retort on Time's Swampland blog.
And there's more over at Making Light.
Really, I'm just annoyed as fuck about the excited crowing of the local Republicans. They can't even see past their own stupid allegiances and realize that voting for a McCain-Palin ticket is basically giving BushCo another four years, and that Palin, while she might be physically attractive, has all the hallmarks of douchebaggery that the guy in office currently has.
Seriously. The first Republican that starts talking smack to me is getting punched in the face. (Granted, I may only be taking that action in Imaginationland, but there will be teeth and blood everywhere. Everywhere, I tell you.)
Wintel…Really?
Photo from some e-commerce website, so it's probably just a promo photo from the manufacturer.
So I'm making my first stab at building up a Wintel hardware box in over a decade, and wow. Interesting experience. The featureless black box above is the case I'm using, and I already have it and the power supply in my grubby little paws. Today, I just ordered a huge batch of parts -- everything but the actual processor and the wifi card, and I'll be picking those up next Friday after work.
Those of you that know me have known of my preference for Mac hardware for a long time now. I've been a Mac user since the days of System 7.1, have stuck with the company through thick and thin. So you might be wondering about my new hardware purchase.
The thing is, I am in need of a lightweight server space -- it doesn't need a shit-ton of horsepower or hard drive space. It's going to run headless and be something I can administer via Remote Desktop on my Mac. So, what's the purpose? Apache, ruby on rails, MySQL, and some other lightweight stuff. Nothing fancy.
I'm sure you'll tell me that I could get something similar by buying a Mac Mini, and while that's all good in theory, I'm not willing to pay the extra money for the aesthetics and super-compact size of the Mini. Now, if Apple could make an el-cheapo $300 box on a MicroATX board, that fit the above description, I'd consider buying one.
So when this thing's done, it'll be "sandbox" on my internal network and it'll be running Ubuntu. (Yes, I know CentOS would be lighter and more applicable, but I enjoy command line interfaces like I enjoy being kicked in the balls.)
Big ups to my friend Dan, who helped point me in the right directions on this one.
Oh, the Geekery
Last night, at poker, it was determined that there should be a new hand: the "prime straight." This would be A-2-3-5-7 or 2-3-5-7-A (whomever was smart enough to claim the ace as an 11 would win the apparent tie). There would also be the "prime straight flush", of course.
We also discussed the A11 Offense, a new scheme in football which puts a center and two tight ends in front of two quarterbacks in the shotgun, and six wide receivers. From the website:
The A-11 features up to all eleven players wearing an eligible receiver jersey number, either 1-49 or 80- 99, with two quarterbacks in the shotgun formation at 7 yards, and with nobody under center - thereby meeting the criteria for a scrimmage kick formation. In “base” sets, the A-11 Offense has a center, and a tight end on each side, and three wide receivers to the right, and left respectively. By spreading the potentially eligible receivers across the entire field, it forces the defense to account for every possible receiver on each play. Of course, on any given play, only six of those players can go downfield to catch a pass, and the five “covered” players remain ineligible to catch a downfield pass on that particular play.
Pretty nifty stuff, really. I'm hoping that it'll be a possible addition to the next version of Madden, and I'd love to see some NFL team play some A11 this year or next.
In other geekitude, I'm building a new Wintel machine.
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.@nickhobart dude this one is SLAYING me. http://www.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=84 [fontosaurus]
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Dude. Last hour VERY productive. Spent it trying to get a migrated contact lens out of my eye. Fuck. [fontosaurus]
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I'm at Wells Fargo (425 E Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis). http://4sq.com/6e3CnI [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Wells Fargo
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I'm at Don Pablo's - Roseville (2700 Lincoln Dr, Roseville). [fontosaurus]
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Checked in at Don Pablo's - Roseville
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I favorited a YouTube video -- Cycles http://youtu.be/-0Xa4bHcJu8?a [fontosaurus]
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have my Friday off, so here's my Follow Thursday: @mightywombat, @veloveggies, @Scoutwell_Cat, @kilgette, @actualmiles, @DoWhatITellYou #ff [fontosaurus]
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Man, talk about enabling commerce. http://is.gd/aeKE9 [fontosaurus]
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