Until Ragnarok

Isotopes Baseball

2009-06-25T00:11:43Z

Manny Ramirez is in town and it's supposed to be a big deal. Don't really care, supposedly he's yet another steroid user. My unit at work has been doing monthly outings to the Isotopes this season. Weeks ago we decided today would work best for most wanting to attend. Fortunately, we lucked into Manny being doing a stint with the Isotopes before returning from suspension. Game starts soon and we will be leaving to attend.

Lazy Leftist

2009-05-30T16:09:29Z

I saw a bumper sticker the other day I agree with, but I'm sure I don't agree with the driver of the car. The sticker was "Impeach For Peace" with a URL for impeaceforpeace.org. With the Messiah selling out Israel, among many other offenses, this seems appropriate, but I'm sure the occupant of the car wanted to impeach Bush and has been too lazy to peal off the bumper sticker.

Bataan Update

2009-04-18T14:46:42Z

Never got around to updating my Bataan experience. It was a wonderful experience and I'll most likely do it next year. The day starts will a sobering opening ceremony and then participants hit the trail. We met up with Marcus' friend Neil, who does the event with his father, and a couple friends they had invited. Neil's grandfather had been a Bataan survivor.

Our group marched together for eight miles until we reached the fork where the full marchers go on a circular route and come back to that spot and the honorary marchers head straight to the finish line. Neil's father stopped at that point and caught a ride back. I ended up with some blisters on the balls of my feet but they healed within a week.

The results are now posted. I did it in 4 hours and 42 minutes. Looking forward to participating again next year. Some pictures below the fold.

The gang waiting for the opening ceremony.

Me at the end.

Bataan Memorial Death March

2009-03-28T17:54:35Z

In a few hours I will be leaving town to participate in the Bataan Memorial Death March. My friend Marcus talked me into it last year and we will be driving to Las Cruses today, staying the night, to be ready by 0430 tomorrow morning. I'll be doing the honorary march, while Marcus will be doing the full heavy category. I think this is his third time. I'll try to post tomorrow when I get back.

Nuked Not Once, But Twice

2009-03-26T12:38:35Z

A Japanese businessman was on business travel to Hiroshima on 6 Aug 1945 and returned home to Nagaski by the 9th. Unfortunately, its a link to the New York Times.

(h/t John Derbyshire in the Corner)

Crossword Synchronicity

2009-03-19T12:17:48Z

Yesterday I ran into some synchronicity on the two daily crossword puzzles I solve. First, the on-line puzzle at the Cape Cod paper had the clue "Wilson's predecessor"--4 letters. Then, the puzzle in the Albuquerque Journal had the clue "Roosevelt's successor"--4 letters. It was the good Roosevelt and the answer for both was Taft.

Teleprompter Jesus

2009-03-14T16:31:39Z

He can't go anywhere without it. He even needed one to introduce a cabinet appointment. He might even have His office working on a wearable version. A photo collage of President Affirmative Action and His crutch below the fold.

(h/t Ace)

Happy Pi Day

2009-03-14T16:22:26Z

Last time I mentioned this day was in 2006. To celebrate Pi Day, my officemate and I bought pies at lunch and shared them with the squadron in the afternoon yesterday. Today, Karen and I will enjoy the leftovers.

Merry Hopechangemas!

2009-01-20T13:47:37Z

Today's the Immaculate Inauguration. In about three hours I get a new boss who despises me and my profession. It's going to be a rough four years. At least I get a free unicorn, my mortgage paid and gas tank filled.

Replacing the Neon

2009-01-10T17:13:39Z

This summer my 1995 Plymouth Neon reached 170,000 miles. Quite amazing for my lovable POS. At that time I decided to shoot for 200,000 miles and performed some needed maintenance. The car is only used to get me to and from work, a daily round trip of under 30 miles, so it does its job well. I'm still getting 32-33 MPG with it.

Last month I drove out to pick-up some medicine and as I was leaving the Walgreens parking lot, I pushed in on the clutch and the pedal went all the way to the floor. I was able to limp home by shifting with the RPMs. The car lurched to a stop in the garage when I hit the brakes and there she sits. I decided at that point to not bother getting it repaired and began looking for a used car.

I found a 2001 Honda Civic I was interested in, but it really shook at idle during the test drive. A friend looked at it and discovered the front engine mount was cracked. I asked the dealership to replace it, which they did, but the shaking remained. They also had a 2003 Civic, which rode well, but they were asking too much for it and refused to budge. I went to the Honda dealer down the road and was directed to their older used car lot across town.

They had a 1990 Honda Accord they had got received as a trade-in. It only had 130,000 miles and had been purchased new from that dealership. Obama (PBUH) bless the younger generation. The owners had planned to give the car to their grandson, but he couldn't drive a stick shift and evidently wasn't willing to learn. His loss, my gain.

The car is a trip back in time. The speedometer is in the standard increments of 10, but has 55 highlighted in bright orange. It still has the factory cassette player. It also has a cigarette lighter, not a power outlet, and ashtrays located throughout the interior. The car's in great shape, we got a good deal, and I don't have another car loan.

Turns out the problem with the Neon is a $26 clutch cable. My friend came over and helped me discover the problem. I'm going to replace it and place the car on the base's lemon lot. It has other problems and it's time for it to go. Eleven years and 150,000 miles is a lot of great service. Sure I had a few major repairs, but it got me to Montgomery, Alabama; Dayton, Ohio; and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sweet Schadenfreude

2009-01-10T15:46:19Z

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is up for sale. Who could have thought that hating America and holding your readers in contempt would be bad for business? Can the drive-by media please die faster.

At least there is hope for the Seattle P-I workers. Someone has set-up a retraining class.

Balloon Fiesta

2008-10-04T20:12:19Z

The annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta began this morning. There were a lot of balloons in the sky as Karen and I headed to our weekly Saturday morning breakfast outing. Shortly after returning home, we were treated to a few balloon that drifted near our house. The first one passed to the north of us and the second one was just to the east. We hope to attend the fiesta more than once this year. It was great last year.

A Day of Adventure

2008-09-21T15:09:04Z

Yesterday started great with Karen's and my tradition of having breakfast at Flying Star Cafe. We love the place and it has some great breakfast items. The best aspect is the "petio", the patio where you can bring your dog. Albuquerque weather is great and dining outside should be taken advantage of when possible.

Last Saturday we spent the last of our bribery check, er economic stimulus check, and purchased a dresser, to be delivered yesterday. The truck showed up around 1100 and the dresser looks great in bedroom.

Friday night I looked at Saturday's geohash and decided that the one in the graticule to the south of Albuquerque would be obtainable. I also decided to try my luck at the local confluence.

As we were getting ready, the door bell rang. It was a couple of Obama supporters checking to see if I was registered to vote. Told them I was, which is true, just not in New Mexico. I also mentioned I was undecided, but leaning towards the Messiah. I wanted to see how they would try and sell me. The answer: Obama will punish the rich with higher taxes and give me $1000. I countered with the rich are already bearing a huge burden of the taxes, but their reply was I will get money if I vote for Barack. Hopefully they will be back and try to Change my mind.

Back to the GPS fun. We loaded Cubby into the Neon, grabbed the Garmin, and headed west on I-40. We hit the spot on I-40 where the GPS unit said the confluence was 1 mile due south. I knew some hiking would be involved, but didn't see a good place to pull over. The decision was made to try again after better planning.

Then it was on to the geohash near Belen. We made it and got to see some skydivers. After accomplishing our first land geohash, it was back to Albuquerque. We decided to stop at Flying Star again. Karen had the Greek goddess salad and I had the New Mexico burger with their homemade BBQ chips. Delightful. Cubby enjoyed her complimentary dog biscuit and water.

WSU Volleyball Moving Up in Polls

2008-09-09T12:46:02Z

The WSU volleyball team moved to 18th in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll. It's their highest ranking in school history. At the top are the Nitally Lions.

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Now playing: Dennis Miller - The Dennis Miller Show - 05 Sep 2008
via FoxyTunes

Fortune Says Obama Wins

2008-09-09T03:28:39Z

A sad fortune I received from my fortune cookie this weekend. The fortune said, "You will move to a wonderful new home within the year." The only way I see that happening is if the Messiah wins, He slashes the military He hates, and I'm out of a job and move from Albuquerque. So the Pei Wei fortune cookie has spoken, the Obamessiah will win in November.

A Geeky Way of Celebrating My Anniversary

2008-09-09T03:19:52Z

This May, the web comic XKCD introduced the concept of a geohash. It's a randomly created set of coordinates based on the date and Dow Jones value. I bought a GPS receiver a few weeks ago to take part in the fun. This weekend I learned about retro hashes, where you enter a date in the past important to you (or not) and visit it now.

Today I decided to see where our anniversary's hash would be as it is tomorrow. Lo and behold it was within five miles of our house. I asked Karen if she wanted to celebrate our anniversary in a nerdy way, she agreed, and we were on our way. I added our story to the XKCD wiki. Karen's Displaced Origin site is close as well and we will visit it soon. My Displaced Origin site is close, but in the Cibola National Forest and will require a hike. Maybe this weekend.

Another interesting geography bit is the idea of confluences. For some reason, round numbers are fascinating. We live within 20 miles of one point. That is on the to-do list for an upcoming weekend.

Interesting Mode of Theft

2008-08-05T01:34:39Z

A co-worker mentioned a new method of theft today, at least one I hadn't heard of before. The co-worker's friend wrecked his car last week. When he picked up his rental car, the attendant measured the tread on the tires. The story was people had been renting cars, swapping the tires, and returning cars with bald tires. Simply amazing. A thirty dollar rental does beat two hundred dollars for new tires.

Testing New Toys

2008-07-19T13:18:38Z

FoxyTunes recently started supporting signatunes at LiveJournal and offered the ability to post any song in your signatune. I thought I'd give both a test.

A few weeks ago the wind here was howling. Returning from work one night, I had to dodge a few tumbleweeds in the middle of the road. There were also a few tumbleweed remains in the road where they had lost to a vehicle. As I pulled into my neighborhood, a tumbleweed was "walking" the sidewalk. It was hugging the privacy wall and appeared to be walking up the sidewalk.
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Now playing: Sons of the Pioneers - Tumbling Tumbleweeds
via FoxyTunes

Batman's Toys

2008-07-19T13:08:24Z

Haven't seen the movie yet; I still need to go see Iron Man. Wired takes a look at some of Batman's gadgets from the latest movie.

One For Michael

2008-06-14T20:01:50Z

Here's a comic for Michael Scott.

My Music Server Has a Twisted Sense of Humor

2008-04-26T13:41:09Z

The server that houses all our ripped CDs runs Music Player Daemon (MPD) and pumps music to the soundcard around the clock. To hear it, I have a Coby wireless FM transmitter, model CA-737, plugged into the soundcard output allowing us to listen to music all over the house, even to the end of the driveway.

This week, MPD decided to show its sense of humor. First, it played Toby Keith and two songs later picked a Dixie Chicks song. I got a chuckle out of that juxtaposition.

Getting Older

2008-04-26T13:28:48Z

My birthday must be getting close. I received my annual letter from the Ponzi Scheme office informing me how much money I won't be seeing when I retire and how much I've lost that could have been better invested by me. Therefore, it must be about three months before my birthday.

It perpetuates the scam that you are only paying half the taxes and your employer is paying the other half. Wrong! You're paying all of it. You're total Ponzi Scheme tax is factored into the amount an employer is able to spend on employees. Why, oh why, am I forced to pay into this boondoggle? Why can't I opt out?

Successful Launch

2008-04-16T23:23:28Z

Print the banner, we successfully launched C/NOFS this morning. Here's the blurb from Spaceflight Now.

Pegasus launch a success

An experimental Air Force satellite designed to monitor the space environment and improve warning times for conditions that can cause communication outages and GPS navigation degradations was successfully launched today from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. An Orbital Sciences air-launched Pegasus rocket carried the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) spacecraft into orbit. The winged rocket was released from the L-1011 carrier jet around 1 p.m. EDT to begin the ascent. It was the 25th success in a row for Pegasus.

Currently, we're getting good data from the satellite and contacts are progressing as expected. The team is happy and looking forward to the Launch and Early Orbit (L/EO) phase.

Launch Day

2008-04-16T12:49:09Z

Today's the day.

This is the song I woke up to, in my head.

"This is it". After a small problem at the launch site, the launch was delayed for two days. Now, we are go for a launch this morning.

Because I promised it, here is a picture from Sunday of my launch mustache. Karen thinks I look like a state trooper and a co-worker at last night's pre-launch dinner agreed. She said I should go as a Super Trooper next Halloween. Thankfully, if we launch today, I'll get to shave tomorrow.

Prophetic Science Fiction Movies

2008-03-29T13:41:48Z

Aside from the ~~global warming~~ climate change silliness, Popular Mechanics does a good job of assessing the ten most prophetic science fiction movies ever. (h/t Jonah at The Corner)