InfiniteVoid

As I was at work, a bit frustrated with my current projects, I noticed that the upcoming subject for the Austin Python User Group meeting was "Beautiful Code". And so I went.

The place was packed. Usually there are about 10 people, but there were probably 30 at this one. (Possibly due to them starting to use Meetup.com again to get the word out.)

The talk was really good, despite the fact that I was worried that it was going to turn out to be a sales pitch for the book by the same name.

Though, now that I try to retell some of the points, they're all coming out a bit cliche. Ah well. This is why I write code and not english for a living. :p I'll link to the slides once the link has been sent out.

So afterwords I drove home and listened to loud music and was in a really good mood. And then I got home and stepped into an empty apartment and had nobody to share my good mood with. And it is one of those rare occasions when I actually regret being single.

On the other hand, I just got two more discs of Rome in, and can watch scantily clad soldier drama to my heart's content. :D

This morning, as I was waking up, I had a dream that someone knocked on my door. And then someone opened the door and came in. I was a little worried that someone was coming into my apartment, and that I had left my front door unlocked, but for some reason I didn't get up.

Anyawy, that someone rounded the corner to come into my room, and it was Fran Drescher. Fran, it seems, had come by to drop off a birthday card for me. The birthday card was from my friend Chris. And all the while I just lie in bed sleepily and thank her for bringing it by.

It is not my birthday. (I was born in December.) I do not have a friend named Chris. WTF?

Iu ĉe klienta kompanio nia diris al kunlaboranto mia ke li konas min de la loka esperanto-grupo. Malgranda mondo! Sed mia kunlaboranto ne memoras lian nomon. Nek estas helpa lia priskribo pri tiu ulo. Do, ĝi estas mia posttagmeza mistero. Kiu li estas?

Heh. Mom forwarded me this great parody of Hilary Clinton. Enjoy.

Today I am neither coding nor testing. Nor fixing bugs. No, I'm writing a document so that someone *else* may do testing. Even though I didn't write the original software.

I can not think of a more boring task.

Du amoremaj birdoj en la strato.
Unu tro malrapidis.
Plumoj malantaŭ la aŭto.

Djohns and I were having a conversation the other day, as we do, and I was probably bitching about work and having to deal with cleaning up someone else's mess. And then he shared with me a thought that someone had shared with him:

On the IQ Bell Curve, 100 is average. Forty points below that is borderline mentally challenged. Forty points above that is borderline "genius". So, for someone at the high end of the scale, dealing with someone of merely average intelligence can be seen as being as frustrating as someone of average intelligence dealing with someone who is borderline mentally challenged.

Sure, it doesn't hold up in many ways, but it is deliciously elitist, and does seem to explain many of my gripes about some of my jobs. :p

Recently, I have noticed an odd tendency in my brain. When someone tells me something, my initial mental response is "WHORE!". Sometimes I even say it for comedic effect. Well, if it's on the internet.

"I lost 5 pounds!" "WHORE!"

"I got a promotion!" "WHORE!"

"I'm moving to another state." "WHORE!"

"I ate the last cookie." "WHORE!"

"I got an A on my test." "WHORE!"

It reminds me of an incident back when I was in elementary school:

The bus ride to and from school was about 45 minutes. On one long ride home, two girls were sitting in front of me. I think one's name was Nicole, and the other was, let's say, Star. Because that was her name. And try as I might, I can't really think of a fake name anywhere near as trashy.

Anyway, I had my seat to myself. I was bored, so I kept peeking over the seat and eavesdropping. They didn't like this, and started calling me names. I can't really remember what they said, but it can't have been all that bad because I remember that their insults reached a crescendo at the final jab, when Star told me "You're stupid!" Not to be outdone, I searched for anything... anything to respond with. "Oh yeah? Well you're... you're... A WHORE!"

Star's eyes got big and she moved to another seat. Her friend followed, and consoled her as she broke out in tears. "You're so mean! I bet you don't even know what that word means!", Nicole yelled back at me. "Yeah I do!"

Later that evening, I was helping mom sort laundry for our family of 5. It was my job to turn all of the socks right-side-out so that they would wash properly. (Not a fun job to have when your father works in the shrimp business and wears work boots all day, by the way.) And as we're standing there in front of the washing machine, amidst piles of clothes, I remember the earlier conversation. "Mom? What's a whore?"

"Where did you hear that word?"

"I dunno."

"Well, why do you want to know what it means?"

"I called Star a whore on the bus."

"That's a horrible thing to call someone! You tell her you're sorry tomorrow morning."

"OK..."

I never did apologize. Though, in my defense, Star was married and pregnant by Jr. High.

Called it!

Sunday I went shopping. I hate shopping. I hate trying on clothes. But I needed quite a few new clothes because an alarming percentage of mine decided to disintegrate in the last couple of weeks. Holes, tears, broken buttons, WTF?

Anyway, in a couple of hours of efficient shopping, I had dropped a good portion of my last paycheck, but came away with new pants, shirts, shoes, and a snazzy new wallet that will actually *hold* my money (instead of dropping it all over the floor). Yay!

Djohns and I share a sick, dark sense of humor. We also are giant geeks and play WoW. Which lead to the following conversation this weekend.

D: "Aww, there are no corpses around for me to cannibalize."
I: "Make some!"
D: "There are no humanoids around to kill."
I: "Make some! Nothing makes meat tender like 9 months in the oven!"

Lastatempe mi ŝanĝis miajn agordojn ĉe Google por sendi novaĵojn pri Esperanto al mi. Ĉisemajne, interesa (angla) diskuto ĉe OSNews pri lingvoj en la EU. Tie troveblas la kutimaj misinformaĵoj pri la lingvo, sed ankaŭ komento pri aliaj planlingvoj. Mi malakordus ke "preskaŭ ĉiu planlingvo kreita post Esperanto estas pli bona", sed "Lingua Franca Nova" ja estas interesa.

Ĝia gramatiko estas pli simpla -- neniom da akuzativoj. Nek bezonas oni ŝanĝi la formon de adjektivoj. Mi ne sufiĉe legis por lerni kiom facila estas la vortfarado, sed mi divenus ke malpli facila ol en Esperanto. Alia malbonaĵo -- formoj de vortoj ne indikas kia vorto ĝi estas. Tion mi trovis esti ege helpa kvalito de esperantaj vortoj. Nu, almenaŭ, eble mi legos plu ĉisemajnfine.

Wii friend code: 3219-3685-8336-0436
Mario Kart code: 1161-0302-7132

<Successfull>false</Successfull>

Bah. re: cable:

If I want to install a dish, I have to pay a $100 deposit, AND purchase $100,000 worth of renter's insurance, which may or may not actually make switching more expensive, but it sure would be more of a hassle. SO, nevermind on that.

So it seems that the quality of Time Warner cable service has degraded over the last couple of months. I've had multiple internet outtages and frankly their DVR has always sucked and it doesn't look like they ever roll out software updates.

I did a bit of searching and found "AT&T Homezone", which provides DSL and dish network at a price slightly less than what I'm paying now, but with a DVR that sounds quite a bit more featureful. Do any of you use one or both of those services? How is the quality/reliability? I've never had a dish -- how often does weather cut out your service?

Are there any other alternatives that I should consider? (Other than going cold-turkey?) : )

I deleted several of the following today. *sigh*

public void myMethod(String someArg) throws Exception
{
    try {
        ...
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        throw new Exception(e.getMessage() + e.getStackTrace())
    }
}

The Five Questions Meme, from p3rlm0nk.

The rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

( My Answers )

Today's word of the day.

(Ok, so it's a phrase.)

[Edit]: Further research into the etymology of "vajayjay" yields: http://www.oprahsvajayjay.com/.

I'm home for lunch after going on-site to help a client debug something.

I walk in the bathroom and pass a mirror and see that the shoulder in my shirt is ripped wide open.

I have no idea when it happened. Probably the last time I washed it.

And nobody mentioned it to me.

Wait, I heard someone @ Client Company talking about the 80s and Flashdance. Now I wonder if she was mocking me. :p