Journals : 2006 : July
3 July 2006 | Link this
My current task is to create some level of order in my new office. I've had mixed success.
I'd been holding off until I got a new desk, which I finally ordered last week for delivery on Thursday. So this weekend, I set about finding a place for it to land when it arrives. I thought it would be nice and easy once I got all the records organized and filed away in their new home in the closet, but there just keeps being more stuff.
The fact that I'm simultaneously trying to reclaim all the stuff my parents have been storing for me for fifteen years hasn't really helped. But just look at this enticingly sexy sample of the stuff I'm finding in some of those boxes:
You should've heard the noises I made as I unpacked the above, along with a complete, unopened and unread Sunday Winston-Salem Journal from 1978 (with ads), and my collection of miniature Jungle Book figurines.
Pardon me while I re-live a childhood that may or may not have been mine...
8 July 2006 | Link this
My new 210 square foot office:
The old bed in the new office:
You've still only seen a little more than half of it. I turn cartwheels for fun in the other half.
I love this house.
10 July 2006 | Link this
Dollar store tikis are a wonderful thing.
My week is all about teaching myself Flash and PHP for a project I'm working on, a couple of years after everyone else in the world did so. That should mean that all my questions have already been answered online by now, right?
Alas, I fear there's no answer for my other question du jour. My G5 apparently doesn't like being in an enclosed space like the CPU cabinet in my new desk. Even with the door open -- which I had to do because it's also too big for the CPU cabinet in my new desk -- the fan is still running almost constantly once it heats up and I fear for its body temperature when it's getting a real workout.
That's what I get for having a really hot computer, huh?
Sorry.
24 July 2006 | Link this
And what kind of liver should you be? Why, the best damned liver you're capable of being, by gosh.
I promise I'll be ending this unplanned sabbatical very soon. Not that you probably care whether I do so or not, but there is birthday present solicitation to consider.
And, by the way, who knew that my birthday is also National Duran Duran Appreciation Day? I sure didn't until I heard it on the radio coming back from Charlotte this evening. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think I'm slightly more pleased by the fact that I share a birthday with Rosanna Arquette.
25 July 2006 | Link this
Happiness is:
- Having a Target gift card and a $5.00 off grand opening coupon on the day that the first Animaniacs DVD is released.
- Finding out that the expensive bathroom repair you were dreading is actually a really easy and cheap fix.
- Hearing "Ah Leah" by Donnie Iris on the surprisingly inoffensive local radio station that you find yourself listening to in the car lately.
- Seeing a classic movie in a 1927 movie palace, even if you are sitting next to a stupid, drunk middle-aged couple who are louder and ruder than most teenagers.
- Having one of those breakthrough moments when you realize that all this PHP stuff is actually starting to make sense.
On the other hand, ambivalence is realizing that, after years of consciously avoiding it, I'm about to become a member of the ranks of Americans with cell phones. It seems a necessary evil, now that I'm in a place where I spend so much more time in my car than on foot. Not, mind you, that I'll be conversing while driving. Heck, I rarely even converse on my land line; I can't imagine that a cell phone will suddenly alter my distaste for telephone conversations in general. No, I just like the idea of being able to call AAA when needed.
Don't worry, though. I still don't do instant messaging. And while the new house does have a doorbell, you can't hear it from the den.
27 July 2006 | Link this
I'd known the whole band was gay for years. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to learn that one of them is homosexual too.
Maybe this would be a good segue into the new rant I've been working on for some weeks now, so here is The Big Gay Essay. It sort of sums up a lot of my thoughts on the subject, which have appeared in a hodgepodge of rants and journal entries over the years. I'm working on a similar one about urban issues as well, in case you care.
27 July 2006 Later | Link this
As long as I'm completing long-unfinished essays that may piss people off today, I might as well go ahead with this one too. I think most of my regulars will recognize that this is not a rant against people with HIV, but one against certain institutions that seem to believe HIV is the only devastating disease on the planet these days.
While I'm at it, I've decided upon re-reading it that this one is ready to go to as well. I present for your perusal The Big Urban Essay.
Yes, I've been busy today. There's even new content over at Groceteria.
28 July 2006 | Link this
While we're discussing content, have I mentioned that I am the proud new owner of twincitysentinel.com? For those of you who aren't Winston-Salem old-timers (in other words, all but maybe two of you), the Twin City Sentinel was Winston-Salem's old afternoon newspaper, which ceased publication in the mid-1980s. I was surprised the domain was available, actually.
I haven't decided for sure what to do with it, but maybe it will become everything Planet Charlotte sort of never did. And maybe it will even use (gasp) a content management system.
28 July 2006 Later | Link this
MTV turns 25 on Tuesday. What's really interesting is that MTV itself can't be bothered to mark the anniversary at all; that particular celebration will be held on sister station VH1 Classic, which will apparently be playing every video featured on MTV's first day of programming.
Should be interesting. It's too bad not many people will see it.
31 July 2006 | Link this
It's nice knowing just enough Unix command-line stuff that you're not afraid to try something that will make your life easier, but also knowing little enough that you probably won't try something that's likely to take the whole server down with you.