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January 28, 2005
rei
That's interesting. I just got a phone call from REI, where I put in an application before Christmas. I'm interviewing for a part-time gig next Thursday. That would be pretty nice if I got it; I could definitely use a little extra money, and it would be fun to work with outdoor equipment.
Still, it was kinda out of the blue. I had almost forgotten that I put an application in there.
Posted by Mark at 04:00 PM | Comments (1)
subway
I discovered a new Subway today. The sandwich shop, not the train type.
I've had 12" veggie subs for lunch 2 days running now. I needed something to counterbalance the wings and beers from last night. I wanted to get out of the house for a bit, and Asylum called, so I braved the bitter cold to go out. Tonight, Chris is meeting up with some friends at a place on U street. I haven't decided if I'm going to go or not.
My new cube is going to be nice; I found out where I was moving yesterday just before I left. It's closer to the window and closer to fellow programmers. I think that some people got the short end of the stick as far as where they were moved, but them's the breaks. I've not enjoyed my cube's location, so I have no complaints.
I had a meeting this morning. That was okay. Nothing too exciting lately.
Posted by Mark at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2005
party time
I replaced the turn signal bulb last night. It wasn't quite as tough to get to as the oxygen sensor, but it was still a tight squeeze. I always get a kick out of being able to do minor auto repairs myself. I think the next thing I am going to have to do is replace the battery; the car is reluctant when starting up in the morning, and not just when it's super-cold outside. Any recommendations on a new battery brand are welcome.
I'm wrapping up loose ends on stuff, trying to stay motivated. I can really tell that the sun is staying out a little later every day, and that definitely gives me an extra kick of energy.
The ISS Holiday Party is this weekend. I know that they hold it in January to cut down on rental costs for facilities, and I honestly prefer having it in January, when not as much stuff is going on. That said, they really ought to call it the "Winter Gala" or "Yearly Gathering" or something that doesn't draw so much attention to the fact that Christmas and New Year's were a month ago.
Posted by Mark at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2005
matt's photos
Some of my favorites:
twirling log
basketball players
bottlecaps
Posted by Mark at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
work stuff
They're having a blood drive at work today. Just discussing the topic makes me woozy. I would truly and deeply love to donate blood, but I just can't do it. If they would let you just pass out and then take the blood, it would be fine, but for some reason, they frown on that.
I made an attempt to do it freshman year of college. But they pricked my ear, and the next thing I knew, I was twitching on the floor. Sigh.
Probably the hardest thing I ever did as a videographer was take video of a blood drive at Syracuse. I got some great footage of the needle actually going into the person's arm. I had to lean against a pole and look just through the black and white viewfinder to do it. It's not that I'm a wuss (although I'm sure that's open to popular debate, despite willingly participating in things like kung-fu and mountain biking, which carry a high risk of physical harm), it's just that needles make me pass out. Chop off my arm, I don't care, but keep that needle away from me.
I started playing Wind Waker last night and I'm finding it similar enough to previous 3D Zelda games that I don't need much of a tutorial to get into it. I have mixed feelings about Baldur's Gate, which I started playing when I finished Planescape: Torment. On the one hand, it's a pretty finely-crafted RPG that seems to capture the essence of the D&D world. On the other hand, there is such a thing as being too open-ended. I don't have a good feeling for where I'm supposed to be going and what I'm supposed to be doing, but not in that Sim-City kind of way where you feel like it doesn't so much matter. It feels more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, where there is a "right" path to take, but it's really hard to get there and the choices you make seem counterintuitive and random, rather than "ok, if I help this person here, it should point me towards a better path, versus killing him, where it will take me down a worse path." So I don't know if I'm going to go back to that one.
They are moving us around at work this weekend, which is exciting. I can't wait to see where my new cube is going to be. I hope I'm someplace near a window. I've never liked where I am at, because I'm not really near the other developers. So even if I'm in the middle of the building, as long as I'm near the other developers, I'm fine with that.
Posted by Mark at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2005
snowbound
I didn't mind being stuck in Massachusetts an extra night.
Posted by Mark at 09:47 PM | Comments (1)
go mom
So, first off, I'm really proud of my Mom for getting a new job, working at Bucknell University. That was a pretty big step for her...she'd been at Susquehanna for a long time, and her generation isn't as used to switching jobs as mine. It was a big deal for her just to open herself to the opportunity to do something new and better, to try really hard to get it, and now to leave her old job and do something different. But, it's a good change, and I'm happy for her.
I'm just getting back to the office myself after an extended Boston weekend, partially stranded at Kara's mom's house in Rockport. I'll have to see if some of the pictures came out. We had something like 2 and a half feet of snow built up. My back is still a little sore from shoveling.
It was good to get away, to see Kara, to spend some time not doing a whole lot of stuff, just sitting around, reading, having her study, watching football. They cancelled my flight Monday morning and some of the major roads were closed, so I had to spend an extra day up there. Not that I minded.
I missed a few meetings while I was away but nothing major was decided...lots to be done.
So, um, that's it...time to go home soon.
Posted by Mark at 04:23 PM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2005
frustration
Just not in the best mood today. Inauguration. State of the world. Chinese people (?) plotting to irradiate my girlfriend. Work is still quiet.
It's all getting to me. I need to get away for a few days. Thankfully, tomorrow I'm doing just that.
And also I'm running low on wiper fluid and my turn signal has started blinking really fast so I guess I need to fix that. Trash is piling up in the kitchen. Would it kill somebody to take it out?
I went out to Asylum last night. I needed to get out of the house; I'm starting to get a little cabin feverish.
Seriously. 40 million dollars for 10 inaugural parties. Whatever happened to the days when the prez gave a short speech at the White House, then everybody had some cheese sandwiches and champagne and went home? Does it not seem a little wrong to you, given all the instability in the world today, that our government should be fiddling while Rome burns?
Yeah, you know what, maybe that 40 million wouldn't bring back the quarter of a million people killed by giant waves a few weeks ago, or the 26 people blown up in Iraq yesterday, or the thousand-odd soldiers killed in that wasteland of a country over the last year or so, or whatever...but doesn't it seem a trifle excessive and inappropriate?
"It's to honor the troops," they say. If I were a troop, I'd prefer being honored by my commander-in-chief developing a coherent foreign policy. You know, one that doesn't presuppose that those pagans over there in oil country will welcome us with open arms for disabusing them of their fantastical notions about the nature of the divine.
Sigh. What do I know? I'm not very good at contradicting myself. That's probably why I'll never be Secretary of State.
They say that you get more conservative as you get older. Well, you know, ok, I'm pretty liberal right now, I'll admit that. But I'm also a pragmatist. Has violent occupation and the forced acceptance of ideals ever worked? Did it work in Vietnam? Did it work for the Soviet Union in eastern Europe or Afghanistan? Did it work for the British Empire in the Middle East? How is Israel doing these days? How about Northern Ireland?
I don't pretend to have an easy solution to the problem. I suspect that it's tied to the cycle of poverty...I think that people tend to be less likely to blow themselves and others up for their god when they have fast food and comfortable chairs. But one thing I do know, and that's that our current course of action is just making people angry.
And our leader can't even admit the possibility that he's made mistakes. What a Christian thing to do. "Father, forgive me, but I can't think of a single thing I've done wrong."
Posted by Mark at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2005
lightspeed
December of last year, me driving to pick Kara up at the airport. Manual camera settings with the shutter open for 15 seconds. Neat effect. I probably took about 40 or 50 shots this way, but I don't think any one really captured what I was going for quite like this one...having the guages blur like that actually adds to the effect, I think.
Posted by Mark at 09:59 PM | Comments (1)
printer for Kara's mom
Y'know, I probably should've just gone to Boston this past weekend. I think I had a day off a little too soon after Christmas. You need some time to build up projects and stuff to do before you have a three-day weekend, otherwise it just gets wasted.
I did manage to do a little cold-weather hiking yesterday, which was fun. Too cold for that today, though...yesterday I think it was in the 30s and sunny, without too much of a wind chill. Today the wind was just bone-crushing. I got cold walking from my car into the office.
Haven't been blogging too much lately because there hasn't been a lot to blog about. Too much hibernation, not enough interesting stuff.
But here is one interesting thing: Kara's mom needs a new printer. Criteria are: color, low price, low cost-per-page for ink. I know there are some good B&W lasers out there, but, again, need to have color. Not a photo printer, not an all-in-one device, just a solid color printer for low-volume occasional personal use. Sub-$100, including rebates. However, low cost of toner/ink is a major plus, as that stuff can easily exceed the cost of the printer (the old "give away the razor, charge a premium for the blades" business model is alive and well).
Recommendations? Post below (you don't have to sign up for TypeKey, just put in your name and an email addy, or make up an email, I don't care).
Posted by Mark at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005
my web alphabet
I'm bored at work. Decisions are being made, and until they are, I don't have any projects to work on.
So I started thinking about my surfing habits, and the sites that I go to on a regular basis, and I came up with the idea to compile a personal "web alphabet" of sorts. That is, one site per letter of the alphabet, according to what FireFox tells me I've visited most often.
So I opened a browser window and put in each letter of the alphabet, one at a time, and took the URL that came up for that letter. This yielded some interesting results, as some letters had a lot of popular sites, leaving popular sites like Straight Dope, Something Awful and Screenhead out of my list. Less popular letters gave me some pretty weird sites that maybe I only visited once or twice.
Anyway, this is kind of a neat activity to do, and if nothing else, lists some interesting sites to check out. I'd be curious to see if anybody else does this.
A - Aqualady's blog
B - Ben's Bargains Freebies Category
C - Chakadrum's Blog
D - Defamer
E - Evil Avatar
F - Fark
G - Gizmodo
H - Homestar Runner
I - I-Mockery
J - Jedinet
K - Kotaku
L - Linkfilter
M - MarkDalius.com
N - Rec.Humor.Funny
O - Wachovia Online Services
P - Penny Arcade
Q - Mountain Bluebird Spider Traps
R - Rinkworks
S - Slashdot
T - The Onion
U - Cafepress Upload Page
V - Viceland - A to Z of Design
W - Wigu
X - X-Entertainment
Y - no page (you'd have thought I'd gone to Yahoo! once in the last few months)
Z - Zug Credit Card Prank
Posted by Mark at 02:20 PM | Comments (1)
January 11, 2005
my awesome smart girlfriend
First off, I can't say enough about how proud I am of Kara for sticking it out and getting through this CPA thing...she still has a ways to go, but I'm amazed and inspired by how she's stuck it out so far. So now I know for sure that she can do it. That changes my focus on our relationship somewhat...now I'm less concerned with her trying to get to DC, and more concerned with her just focusing on the remaining portions of the test, and getting those passed and her CPA completed. We'll get to the same city sooner or later, by hook or by crook. Right now, the CPA is the most important thing.
Great job babe. You can do it! You can do it nine times!
So that's the biggest news. Another is that I managed to beat Planescape: Torment last night. Amazing. And I have to say, in all the years I've been playing games, I can't say that there are many times when I go back and replay a game. This, on the other hand, is one of those times. I have never played a game with such depth of story as this one. I kinda want to play it over again from the beginning and see what else I can uncover. It's just such an incredible piece of art, of fiction writing, that it transcends what a "game" is supposed to be...it just feels, to me, more like a work of interactive fiction than anything else I have ever encountered. "What can change the nature of a man?" This game, maybe.
The commute in this morning was miserable, but I'm glad I did come in, as we're having a surprise meeting at 2:30 to announce our new assignments. I believe I am getting a new manager. As long as I have some work to do, I'm fine with it.
Me and Brian were supposed to do Mongolian BBQ tonight but he's sick, so I think I might go out in Adams-Morgan. See if maybe Ed wants to grab a beer. I was good and stayed in last night, even though I was kinda jonesing for some wings.
Posted by Mark at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2005
woo!
Kara passed part of the CPA!!! Yeah!
Posted by Mark at 06:55 PM | Comments (1)
January 08, 2005
torment
Planescape: Torment is INSANE. If you haven't played this game and you have any interest at all in playing RPGs, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It's got shades of Memento, stuff that just makes your hair stand on end...I was playing late last night and I literally got goosebumps.
Everybody who ever wants to design an RPG of any type needs to play this game before they start. I mean, I have no idea how far along I am yet, but the game is just amazing. I don't want it to end.
Posted by Mark at 06:10 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2005
tgif
Lots of interesting stuff going on at work...and by interesting, I mean boring. We're transitioning, some people are leaving, some others are getting moved around. It's all good for me, though. We have tons of work to do, I'm 99% sure that my abilities and contributions are held in high regard, and so I'm just sitting back and seeing what happens.
Last night was fun. I don't fraternize with the troops too much, but it was really good to get out and hang out with coworkers for a little bit.
That said, I have tons of stuff that needs to get done at home. The extra little windfall that is saving my butt from bills still has to be allocated, and that involves cleaning a mountain of bills and related papers off of my desk. I'm still pursuing Comcast for the $96 they owe me, and I have probably about $200 worth of random junk laying around that needs to go on Ebay, craigslist, or to somebody who will give me money for it.
But I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend, too. Tomorrow will be a good day for computer gaming in-between washing clothes and maybe going for a walk.
Posted by Mark at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2005
happy hour
I was going to work from home today, but ended up coming in because of a post-work happy hour for a coworker who is moving on to other things. And I was going to work from home tomorrow, but I forgot that some of the guys from work are heading out to the movies. I've got some things to take care of at home, but I guess they can wait until the weekend.
Did a little Home Depot shopping today; I bought Brita filters there, but then discovered that they were still on sale at Safeway. So I have to head back there. Man I love Home Depot. So many tools, so many projects. I picked up a new light socket for the basement to replace the old one, where the pull chain stopped working. I'm going to install that over the weekend. I haven't done any electrical work for quite some time, so that should be fun. Also bought a framing square, which ought to help a great deal with both small measurements and also my ongoing attempts to make straight cuts with a jigsaw.
And I got some other stuff...finally bought a new bottle of vitamins, and I'm drinking green tea again. Gotta get back in shape.
Posted by Mark at 02:18 PM | Comments (1)
January 05, 2005
bonus
Planescape: Torment is awesome. It's like Fallout with swords. I love it. I've only just started getting into it, but I can already tell that it's just what I needed in terms of an RPG to work on.
I also got a very tasty spot bonus for the last few months' work today. That is going to go very well towards settling up some bills and getting 2005 off on the right foot in terms of personal finance. Things are looking quite good at present. I am going to make a point of replenishing the funds in my ING Direct emergency savings account. It's been pretty heavily taxed over the last few years, and it will be extremely good to build that back up again.
Always check the expiration date on your coupons to see if they didn't expire a month ago. Also, if you want to buy Brita filters on sale, going to a Safeway near a college campus is a good way to discover that college kids apparently drink nothing but Brita water and are probably going to buy up all the stock of filters.
I have a project to work on, it seems. And I think I might have a new boss. He seems cool so far. I'm gradually adjusting to the prospect.
Addendum: I'm going to go download and install Firefox. I've been using the whole Mozilla enchilada for awhile, but Firefox is the new hotness and I want to contribute to the craze.
Posted by Mark at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
too early
I'm at work at 6:30 on a Monday morning, having dropped Kara off at the airport. She's probably on her plane by now, waiting to take off. She gets to go back to bed. That's the advantage of being the visitor rather than the host.
New Year's was great. Kara and I went out to a lounge in downtown Washington with her friend Kate and some others...little change of plans from hanging out at Brian's, but that's a different story that maybe I'll go into later. Anyway, no real plans for the weekend; we walked around the zoo, ate and drank a lot, and spent quality time without any specific goals in mind, which was nice.
I'm quite sleepy, so I'm going to cut this short. I sometimes get a little introspective around this time of year, but I have to say, first, 2004 was a good year. A really good year. Especially compared to 2003, which wasn't so good. I have a great place to live, a great job, a great girlfriend, and solid plans for the future. 2005 has a lot to live up to.
Posted by Mark at 06:49 AM | Comments (1)