BrokenMonitor.NET

Better Than Flowers

What’s better for your spouse than some flowers? Well, a Canon PowerShot SD1000, of course!! I know, I know. I have some previous posts where I discuss why digital cameras are not as good as analog ones (mostly for the sake of taking meaningless pictures). But, the other day my spouse said, “It would be nice to be able to take pictures of our children and have them printed so we wouldn’t have to pay to go to the studio and have them taken.” Since it involved saving money, I’m in. Now we can take really high quality pictures at ridiculously high resolutions and print them off. I think she was jealous of my brother’s spouse as well. They are always taking photos and videos and sharing them with friends and family. In our case, we used to take photos and let the undeveloped film sit around for a while and then send it away for 3 days to get developed (or lost in one case….thanks Wal-Mart/Fuji). Even after we received the pictures, we never distributed them in a timely fashion if at all.

On a different topic, it’s good to see that Hecatomb is not eating enough food and staying up really late to do work for ‘the man.’ I realize I said I would post my menu from the entire day, but that is really boring info and I don’t get on here enough to do so. But here’s yesterday’s for what it is worth:

• Yoplait Yogurt (light…)
• Orange
• Left over sub sandwich (you know, those really long ones you buy at your local deli)
• Spaghetti
• Garlic bread
• BlueBunny Strawberry Cheescake frozen yogurt (not ice-cream!!)
• Lot’s of black tea (Earl Grey, English Breakfast and a couple Irish Breakfast’s)

As you can see, I’m not so much counting calories as I am trying to change my diet. More good, less junk. Despite the fact that I’m eating well, it is not really that enjoyable. I used to have ‘toaster pastries’ for breakfast and now I have fruit and yogurt? No wonder it is not enjoyable. Mmmmmm!! That fresh orange sure goes swell with this black, bitter coffee!! Hot Dog!! Sign me up!!

Today’s Weight: 215 Lbs.

I don’t want to be left out!

So, along the same lines as Mr. gfuss…

Today’s Weight: 223 lbs.
Today’s Menu:

• Nature Valley Oats and Honey bar
• Chicken Club TOASTER® Sandwich - Breaded Chicken Breast, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Smoky Cheddar Cheese & Honey Mustard
• Diet Pepsi

And my evening snack at work (hey, I won’t get home til 2am!) will be a bag of Pizzeria Pretzel Combos® and a Dr. Pepper.

Down We Go….Again

That’s right! It’s time to lose some weight. Why now? Well, probably because someone else in my house wants to and I’d like to get somewhere close what my license to drive shows. This time around, however, I’m loading up on the good stuff. Fruit, salad, more fruit, some yogurt, grape-nuts, more fruit, etc. While that will most likely not contribute to any weight loss, it does make me feel a lot better when I go to bed at night…..hungry.

That is the largest hurdle I have when it comes to lessening my caloric intake. During the day, I’m okay. I even made people question my mental health when I refused paczkis today. I had to explain to them I wasn’t too interested in fasting for 40 days. That is, after all, what you are supposed to do. But, since this is 2008 (and America) people make up his or her own rules. At any rate, my vice would be the period of time following supper until I get in my bed.

This is a good time to ask, “Why do people blog? What the heck do these things do? Do they save the world? Do they allow people to collaborate?” Oh, wait. I know! They give me something to do when I have checked my e-mail, browsed the usual ’sites and exhausted myself on Super Mario World (SNES on Wii).

Vice cont’d:
If I can make it from supper to bed with only having water or tea, I’m all set. For whatever reason (e.g. boredom, commercial, addictions) I find myself in the kitchen around 9:30-10:00. To get around this, I cut my hand just behind the thumb each time I go into the kitchen after 9:30. This isn’t working too well as I frequently go in the kitchen for non-eating related tasks such as loading the dish washer. Luckily, I’m full of crap and would never cut myself (for something as trivial as a diet).

So, we’ll see how it goes. I guess I’ll use this blog to track my progress as it’s not getting used for anything else at the moment. I guess Hecatomb is too busy with the new job (and really hot beach babes).

Today’s Weight: 219 lbs.
Today’s Menu:

• Orange
• Apple
• 1 slice of Red Baron Pizza
• Yogurt
• 2 pieces of corn-bread
• 1 BBQ Beef Sandwich
• Mac & cheese
• Carrots
• Yogurt

Wow…that’s a lot of crap. I’ll try better tomorrow.

Ah-ha

The first post of 2008. Okay, I’m over it.

Wiiow

Let me just say one thing: Nintendo
I would say more, but typing with a Wiimote is not very conducive of a blogging environment.

Happy Holidays From Gfuss

So, I’m at work and my boss says, “Cory, do a set host servername and login using this name and password.” So, I do. (Please note that I actually typed a valid OpenVMS server name, but didn’t want to put it here.) Well look at that. When I logged in, I get a big fat Christmas tree and a scrolling message built entirely of ASCII test.

This has caused me to look at hundreds of ASCII pictures over the past day and a half. Why? Because it is exciting to get back to the heart of a computer. Being a full-time employee, you usually have to do ‘high-level’ tasks such as: demote Active Directory servers, upgrade to Exchange 2007, replace a stepped gear in a Printek 4503, test new anti-virus products, and on and on. There usually isn’t much time to get back to the good old days (specifically those days before and during college) where I could spend entire afternoons learning why something was doing what it was. So, seeing ASCII art, not only reminds me of what is happening each and every time I press a key on my keyboard, it reminds me of the amount of work that goes into controlling, documenting, and setting standards. It also takes me back in time to my Commodore 128 (R.I.P.). It takes me back to creating ugly animations on an Apple IIgs. Most of all, it takes me forward. All of these things I have done in the past, help to move me forward. They help to restore the excitment I had and drive me forward to learn more.

You find it hard to believe that ASCII can do this do a person? Well, so do I. All that I really intended to do was show you a holidy gretting using an ASCII picture I found from this guy. But I guess coffee does more than wake me up. It contains magical powers that transform me into a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist*. That’s why this blog entry is so powerful. So amazing. Has it moved you yet? Oh, well…on to the ASCII art!!!

                                    .
                        .       *
                              |         *
                   .    *         .            *
                                          /
                *      .       ,    *          .    *
                               `;.
                      *   -      ;:,   -    *     -   .
              .  -               ,:;:,
                     .          ,:;%;;:,           *
                          /    ::;%#%;::   *    .
                   *           ::;%#%;:'
                                `:%#%'  .   .,,.
                         *    .    #     .,sSSSSs
                                   #  .,sSSSSSSSS
                                .,sSSSSSSSSSSSS'
                           .,sSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs,
                       .sSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
                       sSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS'
                       `SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS'
                       sSSSS;nww;SSS;mwwwn;SSSSs
                       `SSS;nnw;sSSSs;wwwnnn;SSSs
                      .sSS;nnnw;SSSSS;wwwnnn%;SSS
                     .SSSS;nnnww;SSS;mwwwnnn%;SS'
                     SSSSS;nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                     `SSS'%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
                        ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
      ,                 ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;
   .,;;;,.,;            ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmwwwnnn%%;        ;     ;
     `;;;;,;;;,.,;      ;%%nnnwwwmmmmmnnnnnn%%;  ,    .;;,.,;;;.
      ;;;;;;;;,;;;;;,., ;%%nnnnnnnnn;,ooo,;n%%;   ;;;;;,;;,;;,;;;,.
      ;'   `;;;;;;,;;;;.;%%nnn;,ooo,;OOOOO;n%%;  .;;,;;;;;;;;;;,;;'',
            ;'  ';;;;,;;,...   OOOOO;`OOO'..,,;,;;,;;;''';;;''';;'
                  ';;'    '''''`OOO'OOooo' ''' ;'   '     '     '
                   '         ;,.,;, `OOO'
                         ;,.;;';;;';,;.
                     ;,.;;';;;;;;;;;;;'
                   .,;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;'
                     ';'  ';'   ';;
                             Season's Greetings to ALL

*My coffee does not have magical powers. It does, however, contain chemicals that block the holes in my brain. This prevents the ’sleepy plugs’ from getting into those holes. It also helps to make you urinate more often. Ahhhh, the power of the Interwebs.

Be Charitable

Yes!! That’s right!! It’s finally here!! Visit the official site of Gfuss at Gfuss.NET and donate to the Gfuss Student Loan Fund. What’s the money used for, you ask? Well, all money goes to help pay Gfuss’ current approximate college loan debt of over $35,000 USD. You heard it correctly. Over $35,000 USD!! Be a pal and help him out. When you’ve finished donating, feel free to hang out for a while and explore the world of Gfuss.

Why Apple Is Almost Cool Part II

I’m at the Apple store in Columbus. Is it a cool place? It’s a store that has Apple products. You decide for yourself. I’m more concerned about the CheeseCake Factory right now.

Why Apple Is Almost Cool

My employer received Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) through the Apple Maintenance Program yesterday. Cool. I put the DVD drive in my G4 tower. Cool. I launch the installer.

Almost Cool.

“You cannot install Leopard on this system.” What?!? 800Mhz G4 with 1.25Gb of memory and (2) 40Gb hard drives? What?!? Oh, dang. I need 67 more mega-hertz. Why? Because Apple is almost cool. Why do they care how ‘good’ my system is? I want to install Leopard. If it runs like crap, or doesn’t run at all, what have they lost? Nothing!

So, being a non-Apple person (which means I am not afraid of the CLI), I will launch the Leopard installer from a machine that meets the requirements and then boot my 800Mhz G4 into Target Disk. Oh, look! My G4 system drive shows up over IEEE1394 and I can install Leopard just fine (without the extra 67Mhz). Dirty rat bastages.

This reminds me of the article I just read about a gentleman that HAD an iPhone. It was bricked by Apple. So he sold it and got a Nokia. He said the only thing he misses is the zoom feature when on the Internet.

Now if I could just get Mac OS 7.4 to boot on my Apple IIgs.

Why High-Speed Interweb Access Is Of The Devil

WOW. See? If I didn’t have high-speed Interwebs, I wouldn’t have discovered that you can still download the WinAmp skin that Hecatomb made. Not sure if it still works, but it’s available for download!!