Marcos

Fozzie died today.

He was pretty old for a Bouvier, or any dog his size; would have been 11 in December. But what got him was sudden: aggressive cancer that blocked his small bile duct and kept his liver from doing its job. I knew something was very wrong when he wouldn't eat - if there's one thing Fozzie has always had, it's a voracious appetite. It's been a struggle to keep his weight down in double digits the past few years since his arthritis slowed him down and he wasn't burning off as many calories running around the backyard like he was on fire. But he still had the enthusiasm and energy of a puppy right up until the past few days. Funny how we only have pictures of him sleeping or sitting when he was so rarely still for any amount of time.

I held him while the vet put him under. The morphine eased his pain to the point where he got some of his appetite back and ate some treats before he drifted off.

I was trying to find something I wrote ten years ago when he was a puppy and I was trying to housetrain him. It was a silly little thing putting the whole thing as a text adventure game from his point of view, called "Fozzork". But it appears that story is also gone.

Living with Fozzie wasn't always easy. He's had issues since we got him, and as he got older he only got crazier. But he was still, all in all, a good dog, and I will miss him.

Good-bye, Fozzbucket.

ETA:Jody's entry on losing Fozz.

Jody's parents were in town and wanted to have a belated observation of Jody's birthday (which was at the end of July). Her mother asked Connor what kind of party Mommy would like, and he said "She's a girl, so a princess party!" So we threw Jody a Princess Party! Click the pic below for more photographic evidence. :)

Jody's blogging about it even as I type this over at mightybear. Plus we have pictures (click the one below to see the whole set)!

In the wake (sorry) of Michael Jackson's passing, Benjamin Zimmer at Language Log posted a small investigation into the origin of the chant at the end of Wanna Be Startin' Something. It turns out that ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma ku sa is a corruption of the line ma ma ko ma ma sa ma ko ma ko sa, from the 1973 single Soul Makossa. Soul Makossa was released in Cameroon, and the line in question is just the singer scatting makossa, the Duala word for "dance". But the song was a surprise hit in the NYC club scene and helped pave the way for Disco, which would be how Mr. Jackson heard it.

Lest something untoward happen to someone else in a misguided attempt to spur more research of this type, I've done it preemptively:

• Susudio is just a nonsense word Phil Collins came up with to fit the drumbeat. He intended to replace it with a real word later, but decided he liked it and kept it (well, it is an S-expression).
• Karamu is a feast that takes place on the sixth night of Kwanzaa. Liming is a Carribean expression for "hanging out". (Both show up followed by "...fiesta, forever" in Lionel Richie's "All Night Long").

And Now You Know.

In between our anniversary and Fathers' Day celebrations, Jody and I got some DVD viewing in over the weekend. Reactions:

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

How'd we miss this one when it came out? Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer in a detective thriller/farce? What's not to love here?

Jonathan Creek

We've actually been watching these for a little while; our British friend Tony recommended this quirky BBC series, and we're glad he did. Very funny show about a true crime writer who keeps conning the titular character - the genius behind a popular stage magician's illusions - into helping to solve baffling murder mysteries. Sort of "Psych" meets "X-Files", if the latter didn't have the existence of real paranormal stuff as part of its premise. Sadly, only the first three series are out on DVD, even though it ran for seven four.

Chess In Concert

This one we don't have on DVD yet; we recorded the PBS Great Performances episode. So far we've only seen the first act. No surprises here: Josh Groban and Idina Menzel sing the Hell out of their parts. Menzel's "Nobody's Side" has you cheering for the cynical worldview, while Groban's rendition of "Anthem" is positively heartrending. Adam Pascal does a pretty good job keeping up with them, as does the chorus, but the rest of the main cast tends to pale in comparison. I'm particularly disappointed in Marti Pellow's Arbiter; he just doesn't seem to have the voice for the part.

Rice is still meddling with the book after 25 years, and it shows - this still feels like a stirring musical in search of a story. But it's good to see a lot of the things that got dropped in early changes make a comeback, like having two different tournaments a year apart in different locales, which means "Merano" is back in. A few new numbers that were not in any previously recorded version of the show help flesh things out storywise.

But - if I may put on my pedant's cap for a moment - why they moved the setting back in time five years is beyond me. The Marketers shouldn't be singing about the Rubik's Cube craze in 1979! It's anachronistic!

via Jody

This summer Jody has been working with Connor at the pool to move him in the general direction of being able to swim. This has been a slow process, since he has completely terrified of the prospect of getting his head wet. She tried to make it easier with headgear, but that didn't help (the goggles! they do nothing!).

Saturday, the Vilas came over and we all went to the pool. I don't know if it was Miguel and Finn's relative bravery (especially Finn - what a swimmer!), or Daddy's presence in the water, or sheer attrition, but Connor finally went under water. He put his ears in, then his face, and then went all the way under with the water over his head! We're very proud of our brave little boy. Maybe now he'll let us work on floating...

He's also doing well with his bike (albeit with training wheels). The occasion for the Vilas' visit was Miguel's 6th birthday, for which he got a new bike - coincidentally exactly the same kind Connor has (Spider-Man-themed). So they took them for a spin in our driveway. Several times Connor successfully pedaled all the way up the (steep) driveway without having to get off and walk the bike. So progress is being made on that front as well.

By the end of the summer maybe he'll be swimming and riding without the training wheels. Here's hoping!

OK, Jody's PC needs a new video card to replace her GeForce 8600GT, which is flaking out and causing huge delays when switching application contexts. We're not looking for top-of-the-line here; something in the $100-$200 range is ideal.

I got a GeForce 9800 GTX+, but it requires a separate power connection, with a six-pin connector that her PC's power supply doesn't have (and the card manual advised against using an adaptor; if the supply isn't built for it, it isn't built for it).

So I'm looking for a card that will be a moderate improvement over the 8600GT without requiring a new power supply to go with it. A separate power connection is OK as long as it only requires a four-pin connector.

Suggestions?

The rest of the kids' (mostly) Mario-themed room, with a touch of Thomas. (More lousy phone pics, I'm afraid.) Click the pic below to see the whole set on flickr.

Hey, remember all the way back in December when I posted about wanting to turn our kids' new shelving unit into a Super Mario mushroom?

Well, a day shy of 5 months later, I got it done. Went with Jody's idea - blank calendered vinyl, which is not sold in art stores but is readily available at your friendly local neighborhood sign shop. One big sheet of white and a small sheet of black set me back $20. Then I just had to cut and apply. I think this was the first time I ever used the "length of string tied to two tacks" method of drafting a giant ellipse.

The actual affixing was a little tedious. Lots of smoothing of air bubbles. But I think the end result is pretty darn cool, and Connor and Chase agree.

Unfortunately, my camera has gone missing at the moment, so the only pics I can share are via Blackberrycam. But I think the effect shines through the crappy photography.

Before:


Photoshopped goal:


Unphotoshopped reality:


Being appreciated by its audience:

No idea how I wound up as Riker. Or, for that matter, why there's any noticeable difference between Riker and Kirk. And I'm definitely not Kirk. I expected Spock..

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 80% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 65% Spock 64% Data 58% James T. Kirk (Captain) 50% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 50% Chekov 50% Beverly Crusher 50% Worf 50% Uhura 45% Jean-Luc Picard 45% Geordi LaForge 40% Deanna Troi 40% Mr. Scott 30% Mr. Sulu 30%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...

Our kids are big fans of Star Wars. They're not real clear on the story, but they like to beat on each other (and me) with toy plastic lightsabers. We have a total of three such toys: a green one, a purple one, and a red Sithy one for whoever is going to be the Bad Guy du Jour (Daddy is often nominated for this part). Additionally, Connor's friend Miguel has a blue one, so the entire gamut of lightsaber colors is represented.

My goal in acquiring this assortment was to avoid fights over who got the lightsaber. Naturally, this has completely backfired, and they fight over who gets which one instead. Ah, well. I refuse to stock two of each!

Anyway, right now Connor and Chase are gearing up for an epic battle and Connor told me he wanted to be Count Dooku. So I handed him the red lightsaber, and he said, "No, the guy with the purple lightsaber. What's his name called again?" So I told him it was Mace Windu, and just to clarify things, Googled him up so Connor could see some pictures.

"The bald guy?" he said, looking at a screen full of bald Samuel L. Jacksons (except for one photoshopped image of Jules Winnfield with a lightsaber). "Yes." "If he's bald, why doesn't he wear a wig?"

An eminently reasonable question in Connor's world, I suppose. I said, "Are you going to walk up to Master Windu and tell him you think he should wear a wig? 'Cause I'm sure as heck not." But I don't think Connor picked up on my meaning....

So as I blogged about, we switched to Comcast last year for TV, Internet, and phone service. We've had our share of hassles, but we're mostly happy with it. (That there have been three phone outages in four and a half months makes me nervous from the 911 perspective, although less than it would if we didn't have cell phones.)

Our previous TV vendor was DirecTV. I inadvertently paid them for one more month than I needed to, and they sent me a refund check for the balance. Attached to the check was a comments card on which they asked what they could have done to keep me from leaving, with a checklist of a bunch of small incentives that wouldn't have helped....

... and a big square that says PLACE STAMP HERE.

They want me to spend postage to tell them why I left.

Is that as lame as I think it is, or is it just me?

... at least, in terms of piled-on nightmare clichés.

First, I went in to work and found out I was laid off.
Then I noticed I wasn't wearing pants.
Then Security called and told me that I'd locked my keys in the car with the engine running.
When I ran down to deal with that, I remembered that I'd had the kids with me, and they weren't in the car, and I had no idea where they were.

That's when I woke up. I guess that was the point at which my brain said "Wait a minute. this was 100% plausible before now, but the kids? There's no way Connor wouldn't have pointed out that I wasn't wearing pants..."

via Stephen Goddard...



I dunno, Gospel, maybe?

Steps taken:
1 - Go to Wikipedia and hit hit “random article” (or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random).
The title of the first random article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to the Random Quotations page (http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3).
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” (http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days).
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

So I got the Hale-Boynton House, a quote from Bob Newhart, and this photo.

Edit: Restored original photographer's title and signature at their request

Having been multiply tagged, I herewith present a double dozen (plus one) of items regarding yours truly which may or may not prove interesting, despite the backlash engendered by this particular meme...

1. I'm an only child. This is not really shocking to anyone who knows me, as I'm the poster child for Only Child Syndrome.
   
   
2. My mom was a WAC. It is therefore entirely accurate to say that my mother wore combat boots.
   
   
3. Mom's Army stint was before I was born, but Dad was in the Air Force throughout my early years. I am, however, the least bratty of Air Force brats: we moved exactly once after my birth, when I was two. I believe my father pulled strings to avoid being transferred ever again because he didn't want me to grow up that way, and I am grateful for the resulting stability. My parents still live in the house I grew up in.
   
   
4. My wife Jody and I, meanwhile, live in the house she grew up in. Which is kinda cool.
   
   
5. That move when I was two was from Massachusetts to Georgia. I am therefore technically a Damn Yankee. Jody likewise, for the same technicality - she moved here at age two from New Jersey.
   
   
6. When I was a Cub Scout, my dad was the Cubmaster. This was what they call a double-edged sword ... pretty cool, but I didn't exactly get away with anything. Nor was I allowed to miss any events. Ever. :)
   
   
7. Growing up, I rarely saw most of the family on my dad's side, but we visited the folks on my mom's side every summer. On said maternal branch, I am the only male of my generation: my mom's sisters have six girls between them, all but one older than me. This made those summer visits interesting. I particularly recall the time they kidnapped me to the mall to update my look. Sadly — but again, not shockingly to those who know me — the fashionability didn't take.
   
   
8. Possibly as a side effect of the gaggle of girl cousins, I had an easy time making friends with girls in high school. Unfortunately, this led to a frustrating series of "gal pals" who refused to see me as a possible romantic interest.
   
   
9. One of those girls, whom I naturally had a tremendous crush on (hey, she was not only pretty, she also liked Dungeons and Dragons!) was into the band Rush. I devised a cunning plan to impress her by learning their songs. Predictably, this did not net me a date, but it did net me an appreciation for Rush, which continues only somewhat abated to this day. (And no, Jody, it's not just cognitive dissonance!)
   
   
10. I later introduced that girl to the guy she wound up marrying. This was typical of my luck prior to the cosmic scale-tipping that paired me up with Jody, who is much too good for me.
    
    
11. Speaking of Jody, we met on the Internet - back before there was such a thing as the World Wide Web, when only college folks were online. She chose the same nickname as me to use in a chat program, I teasingly accused her of identity theft, and the rest is history. (As is usually the case with history, I'm skipping over a lot of messy details, like the fact that she didn't exactly like me at first.)
    
    
12. Some people have hobbies; I have a cycle of obsessions, each of them seemingly carefully chosen to be of no practical use whatsoever. Among them are calendars (including the design of new ones), languages (including the design of new ones), chess (including the design of new variants . . . is anyone detecting a pattern here?) I also go through phases of intense interest in philosophy and physics and math (my current leisure-time read is a book on the history of mathematics), but so far I haven't contributed anything new to those disciplines. Watch this space!
    
    
13. Fortunately, I also spend plenty of time obsessing over things relevant to my actual career, i.e. information technology. After 15 years in the industry, I still program for fun, and spend almost as much time on the computer at home as I do at work.
    
    
14. So yes, I'm something of a geek. I'm a bit more balanced than most, however: I did almost as well on the verbal SAT as on the math — only a 10-point difference — and even won a three-county poetry contest in high school. (No, you can't see the poem.) So I have some liberal-artsy obsessions, too (see "languages" above).
    
    
15. For example, to return to high school for hopefully the last time in this post, my main non-girl-related obsession at the time was Spanish. Besides studying ahead in the book and reading whatever Spanish text I could find, I practiced by translating the lyrics to popular songs. Who could forget such hits as Susurro Descuidado by Wham (or is that "Juam")? Or La Balada de la Isla de Guíligan?
    
    
16. This was indicative of a more general interest in music (I was also a band geek), which spans multiple genres. Besides classic rock like the above-mentioned Rush, I like at least a limited subset of most any type of music you can think of, classical to country, disco to techno, punk, 80's pop, TV show themes, incidental movie music, and musicals. (Yes, I'm straight. Shut up.)
    
    
17. Nevertheless, I have no musical talent to speak of. I can play several instruments, with varying degrees of skill, but it's pretty much all mechanical, no real art to it. Vocally, I can't carry a tune to save my life, which I find frustrating — especially my inability to harmonize.
    
    
18. Fortunately, this is not a significant handicap in the realm of Filk, which I have been known to indulge in.
    
    
19. While mostly immune to embarrassment on my own behalf (I pretty much have to be), I can get so painfully embarrassed on behalf of fictional characters in TV shows or movies — or reality show contestants, or callers to radio shows — that I literally have to look away/change channels/turn off the set. If someone else is watching with me, I just leave the room; unfortunately, Jody refuses to indulge this behavior, instead pausing the show until I return so I don't miss a single excruciating moment.
    
    
20. My zest for knowledge includes allegedly-practical information that I never actually apply. For instance, I love the TV show Good Eats, even though I never cook. (Jody thinks I just have a crush on Alton Brown. Which is totally not true. Even though smart is sexy.)
    
    
21. I was awarded an Air Force scholarship to Georgia Tech, in electrical engineering (pish-tosh, why would we need computer programmers?). But my ROTC tenure was exactly one year - it seems I wasn't well-suited to the military lifestyle. Plus I wanted to study computer science instead. Unfortunately, that meant my parents had to foot the bill - which they did, something else I'm grateful for.
    
    
22. Tech was my second choice, though. I wanted to go to art school! (Dad talked me out of it. We're up to three big thank-yous to the parents here..)
    
    
23. I have never had a broken bone. Of course, I have now jinxed myself and will no doubt slip on ice and fall down the porch steps tomorrow morning.
    
    
24. I never learned to skate, either roller- or ice-. This no doubt partially explains the lack of broken bones. It also presents some difficulty, as Connor wants me to teach him how.
    
    
25. Although I have managed to bluff in this sort of situation before; for instance, I taught my best friend how to drive a stick even though I didn't actually know how to drive one myself. (Key insight for anyone who learned how to program before they learned how to drive: clutches are not binary!)
    
    ETA: No, I'm not tagging anyone. But feel free to join the madness if you like.

On the 28th, I posted about the Challenger disaster, but technoshaman reminded me that we should not forget the other space pioneers who were also lost around this time of year.

The 27th was the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire which killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee — during a training exercise before the mission could ever launch (it never did).

And yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the day Columbia had the mirror image of Challenger's experience, blowing up on reentry instead of on liftoff. That time we lost Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, and Laurel Clark,

And that's not even considering the astronauts and cosmonauts killed at other times of the year; see this page for a full list.

Here's hoping that list doesn't grow any longer.

...the first attempt to put a civilian into space ended in tragedy, a horrific reminder that spaceflight is never routine.



Ellison Onizuka.
Christa McAuliffe.
Gregory Jarvis.
Judith Resnik.
Michael J. Smith.
Dick Scobee.
Ronald McNair.

Take a moment today to remember them. May our leaders honor their sacrifice by staying mindful of the danger without letting it stop our progress. Onward and upward, ad astra per aspera, for ex astris [venit] scientia.

Just trying it out.

Feels pretty good.

Let me try another one: "Ex-President Bush".

Yeah, that's even better.

In one 24-hour period we've lost two distinguished actors best known for hanging out on islands. Of course, the mysterious Mr. Rourke and the indomitable Number Six will live on, in reruns and maybe even other actors, but it won't be the same. Likewise Khan Noonien Singh and John Drake (who may or may not have also been Number Six) - to say nothing of Kim Possible's sometime nemesis Señor Senior Sr. and Braveheart's nemesis Edward Longshanks.

Hats doffed for Patrick McGoohan, who died yesterday at age 80, and Ricardo Montalbán, who joined him today at age 88. Rest in peace, gentlemen.