Been awhile since i've written... been busy! I moved more shite back home this weekend, and I've been studying like a bastard for my last OS test coming up this Tuesday. Not much time devoted to more leisurely persuits. I'll make do, though.

Friday was my last day at my internship. All in all, looking back, it was pretty decent. Just like any job, you have your on and off days, but it was a fun time. Just a pretty relaxed atmosphere, a chill place... and Bobby Brown on Fridays. What more can a college student ask for?

Well, the ability to write a poem whenever he wants to. I tried tonight and came up with this:

Spread your arms and cease the rain
Smile and break the clouds
Laugh and dance in the cool wind

Let the night wind blow away my doubt and despair
Let it carry you to me

Sail into my soul tonight

So.. yeah, it went really nowhere. I guess I just wasn't much feeling the love tonight, so to speak. It might just find itself ressurected at a later date, though.

Time to go hit some Social Implications research. Won't you come join me on this cold, windy night? We'll make ourselves some hot chocolate and talk of years ahead, years filled with bliss and grandeur. Sleep well, reader.

Sing with me, guys... "I LOVE CREDIT CARD DEBT, CHA CHA CHA!"

Tonight I paid bills. Lovely. I got paid today, $200.69, and a hefty $125 of that went to my cards. Alas. Soon (maybe next year) I'll have them paid off, and that should be a nice relief. Can't wait until I start bringing in some bigger checks this summer. And I'll have health and dental insurance again, after years without! Well... I've not had the dental since, ah, three years ago. Health has been more like six or seven years, if I'm not completely mistaken. 'Been a long time coming.

Today, as a whole, wasn't that eventful. Work went well - I was finally able to get cranking on a project that has laid dormant for the past few weeks - but I didn't go lift, since Steve wasn't feeling all that well. I just sat around and read some OS. The weather was quite crappy, too, so I didn't feel like going out anywhere. Cold, rainy, slushy, gray, windy - bah.

Perhaps it was mostly the weather that set me into a somber mood. For the better half of the day, and up till now, I've been a bit less cheerful, trending on the sad side.. One of those moments where I can't put a finger on why I'm not bouncing around like a euphoric idiot, but I know I'm not. Tomorrow is always another day, though. Maybe it will be a little brighter.

Nothing else to write about, I guess, so I'll go. Sleep well tonight.

Tonight is a bit of an odd night. I'm not quite sure why, but it's just different. Maybe it's the storm on the horizon. The black clouds just barely visible to the west, yet blue sky right above. The sun feels warm on my arms, on the back of my neck. I'm out riding bike, the breeze blowing through my hair, the real wind almost dead calm - so it's an easy, fun ride. I'm in tune with the trees and the chunky hum of my thick mountain bike tires on the paved river trail. But whenever I glance across, to the other side of that slow stream, there's those black clouds. I'll make it home in time - no fear, I won't get wet. My chain won't rust. But they're out past Mandan just the same.

I've an OS test coming up next Tuesday.

The fact that I have this last and final test coming up so soon really is unfortunate. Why? Just because I haven't started reading yet. Why am I sitting here fucking writing in the blog, then? Since reading OS, as you, reader, know, is something I really, really hate doing. I'd rather spill all the nasty details of my life, like who I dreamed about last night... but that's for another time.

I had fun today, though. Like riding my bike around when the wind is low and the sun is high. Colonel Kernel and I ate of the tasty chicken wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, I got some coding done, and I generally didn't do much else. A fine day.

But i must be going now. Enjoy the rest of this night, and dream of all that you can do tomorrow.

Hola, children. I really don't have time to write, but fuck it. Research for my Social Implications class seems rather petty right now.

This weekend was pretty wild - just a lot of stuff that went on. Colonel Kernel and I, along with another dude from the Computer Science department, went to a computing conference in Duluth, MN. We didn't present any papers or even go to any sessions, but we did participate in the programming contest. That was the official reason for going, I suppose. Unofficial reason: fun. After the contest (at which we placed somewhere between 8 and 12th place out of 30 teams, we think) we drove back to the hotel and then took a cab over to a dance club in Superior, Wisconsin called the Stargate. There, I just got blasted... had some ten beers and a few shots of the Jagermeister. Colonel wasn't too bad off, and the other dude was having a blast. I did try to dance, but that turned out to be a mistake. I'm a coding barnyard animal; i have no moves. I am the antithesis of "fly". So yeah, it was a humbling experience, seeing a bunch of honeys, but knowing I was absolutely cut.

Yes, I do realise that those girls there probably suck, and so aren't my type, but... it still sucked. It opened my eyes a bit to the reality that while some good-looking and just plain good girls are out there, they sure as fuck weren't at the Stargate in Superior, Wisconsin, getting drunk and shaking their shit on the dancefloor. It made me realise that danceclubs aren't my type of place, and that bars are pretty much out of the question for me - in regards to meeting girls. It also made me realise that I'm probably screwed when I move back home, since my social life will most likely shrivel up and die, only to be blown away during a bastard of a summer hailstorm... or something. And it made me realise, too, that most of the good ones are probably taken anyways. People my age, or close to it, are starting to get engaged left and right. It's quite bizarre for me, since I'm just sitting back on the outskirts of all this, wondering what the fuck is happening, why noone picked me to go out and play kick-ball with them. Why I was sort of glanced over, never to be remembered. Why I apparently blend in so well with the background scenery of last-months broken hopes and yesterday's glamour gods. And why noone else seems to be here to join me.

Today was pretty cool, though. The Colonel and I went on a 18-19mile bike ride this afternoon, which was pretty fun. A good work-out, too, since it was really windy. Still was warm, thankfully. 87 degrees in the middle of April in North Dakota is pretty sweet. Then, this evening, I had Funkmaster Pink and and his girlfriend come over and join myself and Steve and The Princess for some lovely grilling. I did some burgers with some Cloverdale hot dogs, to much enjoyment of all in attendance.

I live for mountain biking, beer, and grilling out. Thank you, summertime!

That's really all for now. Perhaps I'll make my way into the shower and recommence my intrepid research. Fare well, reader, and dream tonight of the slow, beautiful lullabye of distant thunder.

I'm too damned tired to write anything tonight. Sorry.

Hola. Figured it's been awhile since I wrote in here, and I'm bored to boot. Sit back and enjoy the update.

What's notable of late? Well, I got a place to live in Bismarck! Thank god that happened soon; took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Turns out the place is in central Bismarck, just north of a park. It's a two-bedroom side-by-side duplex. At three levels, including the unfinished basement, it's pretty large - plenty of space for a single goat. Supposedly it's pretty decent place. Note the fact that i've not actually seen this rental unit yet - I had my dad take a look at it, whereupon I heeded his suggestion to go for it. Figured he knows what I like, and if he says it's shit, then it must be. Like a three-bedroom house in central bismarck that I could have probably gotten. Turned out to be pretty bad.. like shitty linioleum in the kitchen, no dishwasher, little counter space, and right on the corner of two fairly busy streets. Uh, no.

So I'm pleased that I have that shit taken care of. Now I just have to deal with moving all my crap back home. This includes the loveseat, papasan, bed, stereo, computer, and the cookware i've purchased whilst in fargo (the wusthof knives, some other miscellaneous accessories like pyrex bakeware and such) - and the phatty towels I got the other day at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. What a great place! But the move does seem rather daunting; mostly since it will take place in the latter part of this semester. I wish I could do it after I graduated, but it will be nice to have most of my shit in place west of here in "the Bis", so I can drop in and get unpacking like a rabid ass mofo. Word.

Ah, this weekend... what ever did i do? Jack and shit. I drank a good amount of beer though, so that made for festive times. I killed the rest of my Jagermeister too (that I purchased, ah, maybe November of 2001 mind you). Friday night, see, we had a little soiree here. The Princess' friend Rachel came into town, so those two along with Steve and I hung out, drank, and watched Jackass: The Movie and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Pretty special but funny as shit. And the Lobster and her man-friend showed up later too, so that was pretty cool seeing them. Besides drinking this weekend, I helped code part of the resource management module for our distributed OS project, and finished my LAN homework too. And it was the Coyote's birthday today, so we went with her sister and brother-in-law to Mexican Village for dinner. Good stuff, and a fun time.

I get to grill out this summer in the back yard!!! score! :)

Oh, and goddamit it, I've been jonesing like a dumbass for a woman this weekend, too. Note the cyclic nature again - i'm in one of those "spells" now. Mayhap it has to do with the onset of Spring. Who knows... all i know is that I wouldn't mind some play. But the proverbial well runneth far too dry in Fargo as of late. Seeings as I have bigger fish to fry, however - like this whoring last semester of school - it might just be good that I don't have the extra burden of dealing with relationship matters (or similar crap) right now.

I get to mountain bike by the river this summer!!! yay! :)

I've been searching the 'net far and wide for platform beds like a junkie in need of Funyuns lately, too. See, I really don't want a footboard. Why? Well, i hate having my top sheets, comforters, etc tucked into the foot of the bed. Bugs the hell out of me. Can't much keep them free with a footboard at the end. Yet the kicker is that I've been lusting after sleigh beds - particularly the cool styling of their headboards. I'd just buy one and get it over with but that bastard footboard keeps fucking it up. There's one solution to this pickle. I've discovered something called a "platform bed" that appears to have the headboard of a sleigh bed but a nice low-height footboard at the end that would let me keep the sheets untucked. And i get the wooden side rails! Problem is, these platform beds are very elusive creatures. They're sneaky, eluding most every effort to find them. The ones I have come across are a bit spendy though (like $2600). Part of me wonders if I can just get a sleigh headboard and say fuck the side rails and wee footboard, since maybe the comforter and sheets will obscure the metal bed frame. Might just have to ask a friendly neighborhood sales associate about that.

Seeings as I'm pretty much out of things to say, I'll go kick it in the living room for awhile. Enjoy the first evening of daylight savings time.

Why is the font all fucked up in the editor?? I don't want 14pt Tahoma! Bastards!

Alas... i make do, even in the face of the ill-tempered font gods. I've been wasting the better part of this evening procuring various digital pleasures like Matthew Good Band mp3s. yay! I shall have to buy all of their CDs soon. They haul. Other than spending lots of time on the net, I read for awhile for class and did some more work for my job in Bismarck.

And I looked for places to rent, too. Tomorrow is crunch-time on that. Since it's April 1st, I'll be trying like a mad bastard to find a place to rent in Bismarck. I might have to even step down to an apartment, as much as I don't want to. Thing that irks me is that there are houses available for like $650/mo, but they go far too fast. If I can't nab one i'll be stuck getting an apartment for about the same price. Granted, it might be of better quality than the comparable house, but the idea of having my own place is very very tantalizing. Hell, I could have a yard, a garden, and no goddamned yetis or whatever they are living above me. I could blare Rush as loud as I wanted to, and have parties, and it would all be just a lot of wicked fun. Let's hope the rental gods are a little more benevolent than their font-dictating counterparts.

As lame as it sounds, I guess I haven't much more to say. I reckon I'll be going to bed soon. Sleep well, courageous one, and keep your head high, let the sun dance across your eyes, feel the wind run about in your hair, and connect with all that is.

Okay, well, the "more" in "more to come later" below is coming now. Why? Because I don't feel like dealing with reading my 489 book just now. The social implications of computers are interesting, yes, but right now writing in my blog and jamming to the pink disc of Mellon Collie is far more enticing.

So here I am.

What, you might just ask, have I been doing with my bad goat self this weekend? Suprisingly, lots more than the usual homework. Yesterday I worked a full day, as per usual, and I then went to Funkmaster Pink's. There we proceeded to drink copious amounts of Rolling Rock, talk of politics (mostly how fucking retarded this war is), life (the importance of spirituality), and women (the fact that we both are fiending like mad bastards and aren't quite getting any, much to our obvious disdain, and how confusing the opposite sex can be). After kicking back a good lot of the refreshingly light brew from out East, we got the clever idea to walk up from Pink's place to Taco Bell. It's not too far (about 11 blocks away), but it still made for a good little jaunt. Personally, I was hoping that Burger King was open so I could have a nice fattening burger after drinking, but alas it was far too late. Chicken Supreme gorditas work well to feed drunken goats, though, so all went home with inward smiles.

Today was fun as well. Steve and I went out shopping - he procured some roses for his lady friend, The Princess - while I explored Hemp & Bead and The Vinyl Connection. Afterwards we took off for the mall. The intent was to hit Creative Kitchen since they're running a sale on some Wusthof cutlery. Now, I had planned on getting a seven-piece Wusthof block set at Bed Bath & Beyond today, so I could use a 20% off coupon I recieved in the mail (it brought the cost of the set down to $200.00). I noticed some separate knives on sale at CK, but the block I wanted was $229.00. On a whim, I asked if they would do a price match for me. The helpful clerk checked for me and, praise the gods, found she could. The fun part of this is that she didn't charge me $200.00 for the block - she actually rang the block as 20% off their price! So here's goat, a bit estatic to say the least, scoring a $400.00 regular-priced knife set for $189.00! hehe... I also procured some other goodies like wooden spoons and a baking set that contained a mixing bowl and some other stuff. Then at Bed Bath & Beyond I got an oven mit and pot holder, some Pyrex bakeware, and a bread pan (or "loaf pan", as Steve calls it, bless his little heart).

Being a consumer is fun sometimes. Thanks, Minnesota Revenue!! *cue primetime gleaming-white-teeth smile*

And now I find myself sitting here, wondering what to blab on about next. Hmm... my life is pretty damned simple and boring, so who the fuck knows. It seems like I just sort of slide along day to day in this bizarre little cloud, a bit oblivious to the petty shit going on around me, to the wicked commercialism engrossing so many of us, not much caring about the deculturalization of us young folk. They can have their Wal-Mart and Sam's Club and fucking GAP... all I want is my queen bed with six pillows so I can fall asleep and be relatively comfortable whilst everyone fusses about their day wondering what Johnny thinks of her hair or what Lisa thinks of his new shades. Maybe I'm blowing a bit of this out of proportion, but hey, it's how I feel sometimes. I feel so out of place in this society of ours sometimes that it's just sick. The thought of making smalltalk about the weather in the elevator in the morning with some lawyer who works two floors below me makes me want to yack - it's so damned fake. I don't give a shit about the Vikings, I never wanted to go to prom, I drove a piece of shit yet still very kickass '68 ford ltd that appeared to be the colour of pea soup, and i've never cheated on a girl, nor been addicted to drugs. Hell, i've never smoked weed. But i know good bud when i see it. I've never beat anyone up, I've never gone behind anyone's back. I'm a supporter of the Green Party. I still haven't had sex yet, for chist's sake. And I write code. Statistically, I probably don't exist.

But in a way, that's how i like it. I'm staying under the radar, doing my own thing. I don't have many people to answer to, I don't have a girl who is constantly wondering what I am doing, having her paws in my life. I drive a Ford Taurus - the ultimate in stealth vehicles. And I'm a fairly quiet, laid-back dude, I think.

The moral of this story: one of these days i just hope the spaceship comes to take me back home. I'll be damned pissed if home doesn't have Kahlua though. Or velveeta shells 'n cheese, smoked salmon, Killian's Irish Red, Jagermeister, rock concerts, and an Olive Garden here and there. They best not come till I try the IHOP that just opened here, either. Still need to order some Ligenberry pancakes... (The Big Lebowski rears its head once again...)

Now that I've ranted, and you, reader, have endured such a chaotic flood of my thoughts, I shall let you go. Do sleep well tonight, and dream of chasing down the ice cream truck, back when you were five... and how good it tasted on the way back home.

quick post... more to come later. For now, enjoy some new poetry, hot of the press... so to speak.

Enjoy the rest of this fine springlike night, and dream of gazing upon stars this summer.

----------------------------------------

The Gorge

3/22/03

Speeding fast, road trees sky world a blur
The sun falls and lightning strikes
Blinding flashes answer angry shrieks under the hood
Hot rubber and anguish thrust us towards torment

I clasp your hand as the rain falls
We are as one in the storm
Machine hot below us, fire in the sky

Let the rain hit the windshield
Don’t wipe it away
Let the hail slam down
Don’t hide away

If I slide, don’t hit the brakes
Just let me spin off in the dark
If I grip fast and pull through this night
Be at my side tomorrow

And if I don’t drive at all
If I slide to the edge and let the dust roll over

If I stop above the river and beneath the sun

Walk away from me
Make your way back home and let me smile

Time for a bit of relaxing moment. Today has been pretty hectic. I didn't get my normal break between OS and Stats; I had to go help my old history professor look at some computer equipment for the department. Then, after Networks, I camped out for awhile and just read some operating systems for the exam Thursday. We studied, too, but that went a bit worse than expected. This worries me.

I'll make it through, though - I always do, somehow.

Also, it appears as though we won't be going to Minneapolis this weekend. Instead I plan to go back home to Bismarck on Saturday morning. Chances are, I'll come back to Fargo on Monday sometime, earlier the better. I'm taking absolutely no homework either, so it should make for a nice, relaxing few days.

I guess I haven't much else to say, so I will bid you, faithful reader, farewell for now. Sleep well, and dream of contentment.

Today has been just your standard, run-of-the-mill, average, Ford Taurus type of day. I worked... and I ate (Subway and some chicken alfredo pizza for dinner) ... and I bummed around a bit as well. Still attempting to avoid OS for all it's worth. Shall all be over Thursday, though.

I spent awhile with the lobster last night, which was really cool. She called me out of the blue (weird in and of itself since i was considering on calling her last night) and we shot the proverbial shit for a little bit, wherupon I went over to the ghetto, picked her up, and went to Denny's. I had this thing called the "Super Bird", i think, that was fairly tasty. Turkey, bacon, etc. Perhaps not the most healthy thing a person could eat late at night, but I'm still alive. For now. It was rad seeing her though, and I had a blast. Nice to get out once in a while, especially while in the throes of a painfully busy week.

Oh, Steve and I (and maybe a few others; who knows) may head down to Minneapolis for the weekend, since our spring break is next week. Joy! I really want to get down there, make the pilgrimage to Motorwerks BMW, and check out an Infiniti dealer or two (I reckon that Sears there carries some). Since I think the G35 coupe is the shit, but I do need to make sure I can fit in it. And I'd love to check out some home furnishings stores, as well, to see if I can score anything for my new pad i'll be setting up in bismarck. And hey, one could always hit the 'Vu, I suppose... :)

I should get ready for my Social Implications class. Bah. Thank you for reading, and never lose hope - in anything.

Oh, shit, by the way... got my taxes done! By the TAXMAN... yay! This company in west fargo. Actually got $20 off the cost since they give a discount to the employees of the web design firm where i work. Mind you, it still cost me $125, but i was out of there in about 30 minutes. They also scored me about an extra $240 from my Minnesota state taxes, so that more than paid for the fees.

So quick and painless, it's a shame I ever did them myself! (queue the prime-time-commercial grin)

This post will be a quick one. I need to get my ass in gear and read some operating systems, much to my disdain.

However, here's a prose piece I just wrote, for use in a collaboration project with Funkmaster Pink. Inwardly I hope that it's good enough... :)

Peace, guys.
(alas, in short supply, in times like these - no thanks to our fearless Texan..)

---------------------------------------------------

Hidden Agenda

3/6/03

It is in the large fourth-floor meeting room that David P. Roberts finally realizes the meaning of the dream. He is nestled in boredom, wrapped in a blanket of warm, stale office air, rolling in and out of a soft catnap. Entranced by that middle place, the murky paradise between fancy and reality, the message clicks home. He has been seeing the future all this time.

Today, David sits amongst his coworkers, listening to their frightening tales of second-quarter earnings. He occasionally mirrors their concern with a slightly wrinkled brow and a few perfunctory nods. Sometimes he smiles. Inside, though, brews his own fear. David has seen the future. His stomach turns inward and begins stabbing itself, for tomorrow morning, corporate survival instinct will reign. He knows he will fire his underlings, the very people he smiles at now. Sheila, Ted, Ray, the others around the mahogany table, they all stare, everyone concerned for the company - and yet he smiles.

Word up faithful bitches of progress! I'm on my break between OS and Stats, and thought I'd divulge a little.

BTW right now, I'm jamming to a partial set of songs from the Pumpkins' last show, at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago. Specifically, "Rocket" is up. That song fucking hauls ass; and this whole show is awesome. Every time I listen to it, I get goosebumps, honestly... it's amazing. If only I could have been there! My god...

Anyhow, the main reason I'm writing right now, I suppose, is due to my mass desire to avoid any OS reading like the plague. We've another test coming up there next week already, on Thursday, and needless to say I'm not looking forward to it (do I ever, though?). Seems like we just had one like last week or some shit. Granted i got a 100% on the first one so i'm not too worried, but i'm still concerned.

("I am One" is up now.. yay! But the mp3 is fucked so "Rhinoceros" is going now...)

I get my stats test back today, hopefully, so i'm inwardly hoping that went well. It should have - I only had to punt on one part of one question. Course, sometimes one gets suprised.

Funny, lately, that I've been lamenting a bit more about relationships. Traditionally this comes in cycles for me; often, I'll go weeks without giving a shit, but then there will be spans of a week or so where I'm really down about still being single. As I've explained before, the whole fiasco back in November and December soured things for me quite a bit. So I've hardly had any desire whatsoever to persue something since then. I realised too that I didn't bring a lot to the relationship. What exactly do I have to offer someone? No clue, really. Perhaps I do have things to offer, provided I hook up with a girl that allows me to offer those things. Alas. But I find myself coming back to it, thinking that no, I really don't have a lot to offer - so what's the purpose of being in a relationship then? I'm fine being on my own; I have relatively little fear of being alone as long as I have friends (ie I'm not one of these people that spaz if they're not in a relationship). My world is pretty much okay right now, and adding another person, some cool girl, would kick ass, but it would make things more complex, too. And right now, those benefits seem outweighed by the negative complexity involved.. the having to answer to someone, being told who you can't chill with (this seems to be commonplace in many relationships and bugs the living fuck out of me), etc etc. To hell with it.

("Shame"... performed well here, yet recorded like crap)

But on the other hand, right now, I have just a hint of that empty feeling inside, that one believes can only be fixed by some beautiful girl just out of reach. I know that's a fallacy too, though, since a relationship isn't quite a panacea, isn't something that'll fix all your problems. At least not for me.

("Blissed and Gone" - a fun little tune)

So, whatever, I suppose. All i can really hope for is this little tinge of desire for a gangsta bitch to subside, so I can keep it real once again. Make the most out of this afternoon, and remember to keep it real, too, homes.

This shall be a quick post, one, sadly, long delayed. This past week and a half, or so, has been a bit intense - work, school, Adaptive Latitudes (our possible business venture - http://www.adaptivelatitudes.com - and more. I'll have to write more soon.

In the meantime, here is a peice I just wrote last night. Finally, I write again! My last peice was written, well, sometime last October. Alas. Enjoy your evening.

-----------------------------

Unwanted Perseverance

3/2/03

England, a quiet Sunday morning
Sun just barely awake, mist still low
Spirits still riding
I stand alone amongst the beauty of emptiness

Down by the water, not far, I hear a few yelps;
The village hounds, playful in the fresh light
Call out to others “Come out and play! Come enjoy this day!
“Come, make this day yours and breathe life into this sleepy shire!”

But all the others are sound asleep,
Becoming what they’ll never be
Living lives unlivable, loving the unlovable
And finally coming home
In an airbrushed world of subconscious gilded perfection

To me
(and those abandoned best friends turned prophets)
the townsfolk are nothing but quaint porcelain dolls,
fragile unmoving things smiling in their unwaking fancies
I am not of this place; I do not belong

Bending to a sudden desire for a rosy-red porcelain smile,
I pause, and imagine joining the town in its morning retreat
I leave the hounds for a moment and slip away

You’re coming back to me again –
From the water, from the fog, you come towards me, like always
I cannot resist this
I smile and walk to meet you, euphoric with delight

And I pull away, opening my eyes, locking my heart
For I know you’ll return to the forest
And run back to the stars
You’ll blot out the sun for me, like always
Leaving but a faint hint of what could never be

Wondering what good it is to dream,
Why one should ever hope,
I clear my head of such silly thoughts

I resume my morning stroll, resolving to make new friends –
In the company of fellow cast-off souls
I’ll praise the sun by the waterfront

Well, here I am, back again for some more excitement. Just kicking back, procrastinating (i really ought to be reading some Networks shit for next week), and listening to some Tim Reynolds that Funkmaster Pink gave me last night. 'Tis an excellent album.

First, I'll finish my story that i started last time. Mixmaster H and I left Fargo here at around 10 last saturday, 10 at night that is. We drove to his hometown of Morris, MN, picked up his dad, and drove to St. Louis. We got there around 1pm on Sunday, and spent the rest of the day in the hotel room, awaiting our software demo the next day.

Sunday was my 22nd birthday.

The session blew major ass, on Monday. "Mix" and I didn't demo PlotMaker - another person did. He sucked it up, hard, confusing basically everyone in attendance (over 60 professional soybean breeders, etc). Thankfully we had the opportunity to speak for about 10 minutes after that, saving a bit of ourselves. Nowhere near the level of interest we hoped to see was generated, though, angering and saddening us. Alas.

So where do we go from here? Who knows... we've a few angles we may play, but it's anyone's guess at this moment. Because there was someinterest, though, I'm going to start working on a website for our little organisation (since we're not a true company yet, etc). All we need to do now is think of a name - and, so far, that's proving to be harder than we thought. Oh well.

I think I'm going to score some food; i'm not terribly hungry, but I am a little, so hell - if it postpones networks some more, it's all good. Have a fine evening.

Well hell, this could be a long entry, so i'll see about maybe taking a few hrs off early at work tomorrow so i can study more for the exam in Social Implications tomorrow. Since I have a good 70+ pages to "read". Bah.

By the way, as a side note, turns out I scored a 30/30 on my OS II test I took last week. Praise the gods! Totally didn't see that one coming... let's just all channel some positive energy in the hopes that I'll keep this run going.

The Goat had himself a rather eventful weekend, so I'll take a few dozen moments to recap the excitement. Friday and Saturday I didn't do a whole hell of a lot - if I remember correctly I just sort of putzed around and got some homework done (gosh, I never seem to do that on weekend nights...wtf). Saturday night, though, Mixmaster H and I took off for St. Louis to be at the demo of PlotMaker. The drive was about 14 hours, and the trip rather uneventful.. fairly routine highway travelling. Course, the events that transpired whilst there offer the most enjoyment upon reflection. I just realised that I can't much tell you all of it now, for that would spoil everything. Much better to keep the reader in a state of suspense. So, actually, I'll be lazy and just tell you more tomorrow. :)

Don't worry; noone got hurt. Physically, that is.

I suppose I'll mosey on over to my Social Implications text and nestle in for a good night's cram. Sleep well, and dream of someone that brings you a bit of light in life.

I don't have a huge amount of time right now, since I have to go get my hair cut and I may try to go lift after awhile as well, but... I just needed to quick vent for a second. Work was fucking bunk this afternoon. It just got really frustrating towards the end because I changed the functionality of an admin-side editor I'm creating for some of the websites I help maintain, and this change dictated that I change how the stored proc used for updating the records in the database works as well. Needless to say the thing worked damn near fine before I started fucking around with the proc, but then the editor happily decided to not do any updates. Of course, just to make my life joyful, it also decided not to tell me why it was pooched. After about an hour and a half of a wild goose chase I stumbled upon the reason it was breaking - something i should have thought about far sooner. Alas. Course, to fix it, i'll have to spend the better part of wednesday interfacing my proc with some other portions of the database to get it to work. I guess the thing that pisses me off is that the proc is really fucking simple (i'm just updating one field in one table of the database; i'm not dealing with any wicked logic or joins or any of that shit); i'm spending all this time to get one little bit of functionality implemented correctly. Oh well... you have good days, you have bad days.

Time to call "Colonel Kernel" and see if he wants to lift.

Tonight I started plugging away on my taxes. Goddamnit, it looks like i need to file a 1040. nice finding out about that after i'd done my 1040a. All because of a fucking $36.00 net reported on my 1099-b. Yay for education IRAs!! So it looks like i get to delve into the wonderful world of researching how in the fuck one completes the investments portion of the 1040 - like Schedule D. Fuck me...

And tomorrow's Black Friday. Alas.

Sleep well, faithful reader, and dream of glorious, happy lands - lands without federal income taxes.

Listening to some Sunny Day Real Estate ("How It Feels To Be Something On", a fine album) and drinking a tall glass of Brita-purified water. Ahh, the pleasures in life...

Today was a pleasant day. Work kept my interest level peaked, I got a few errands done - including finally getting some Carmax, I worked out with Steve, and I met with the other guy in my Operating Systems project group. We're working on the Resource Manager module of the distributed OS we're making, and I'm getting excited to work on it. I really get off on architecting systems, looking at things from the grand scheme and peicing all the little bits together. Of course, i still enjoy my lower-level implementation coding; I dig it when I'm in the zone, pumping out some phat programming wizardry, going at it all ninja-style and shit. But sometimes I need to pull myself away from that in an attempt to drive towards some balance.

I'm a balance junkie, what can i say?

I'm also a fucking Tower junkie. The Dark Tower, that is, by Stephen King. The whole series just rocks to beat hell. I read my first bona-fide Tower book, The Gunslinger, back out in California (so, something like 1996?), and I've been mesmerised by Roland's world ever since. Not only are the four books in the series amazing (the last three will be out in a year or two, supposedly), but so much of King's work connects with the series... books like The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, Rose Madder, Hearts in Atlantis, Insomnia, and now even 'Salem's Lot bring it all together and enrich this place I can escape to now and again.

Oh, tonight I also crunched on PlotMaker some more. I wrote this visualization report this past weekend, and I extended it a little tonight to handle some mouse events and shit, besides just tightening the code itself and making the UI a little nicer. Hopefully it pays off.

I think I'll go venture across our hallway here in The Preserve and hit the shower. I'm almost out of words, so I'll spare you the pain of reading shitty writing (sshhh... i know what you're thinking!!). Sleep well, and dream of days yet to come and nights unforseen.