Perception is Reality

...and reality does not exist.

I've been asked by more than one person about my poetry. What does it mean? Please explain it.

I can't. I won't.

I think poetry, posts, are art (With apologize to Ash: good, bad, I'm the guy with a keyboard) and my attempt to explain it to you will fall short of your own interpretations.

I also caution you that I myself might interpret my own work differently that what you think is obvious, logical, or most likely. I.e., If you think the post is about you, it might be, or it might be as a dream with symbolism only I can recognize. Or, I can't recognize it either but it is the imprint of emotions and memories that key to something more than just reading some words.

That said, if you want to get to know me in person, you might gain some insight into my personality. No profile can define me. Attributes are isolations and about as useful as one chemical in my makeup to a scientist - "Yes. Carbon - but is it intelligent life?". If you are lucky, we might share ideas that make us happy.

I hope someone, somewhere, enjoys my posts.

Here and there

Sometimes I'm here and sometimes I'm there posting blogs in other places. Reminds me that information is only relevant to the purpose for which it is organized.

At any rate, if you don't find me here you might know where else to look. Of course if you are looking you might try my yahoo photos - among other places ;)

Long life?

...is a chinese curse. Or at least "Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior" seems to indicate that life is half empty as it is full.

A FYI for all of you who don't know; "A" and I are no longer "an item" as they say. I wonder what a non-item would be?

N.

Monday mourning

I mourn the loss of my weekend ( typing /mourn into my chat window ).

How sad is it that when I came to work I automatically placed my fingers on the A, W, D combonation as if I was driving my World Of Warcraft (WoW) character about?

The really weird part is how I think the WoW interface could be used in a desktop setting. Not in it's current incarnation, but close. I've experimented with other 3D interfaces on Linux (shh, don't ask, don't tell) but couldn't find one that really performed anything other than eye candy. There are a few useful demonstrations, but lack of any full system with applications designed for 3D use and designed for that type of user interaction.

I tell you another thing; sound rocks. I've turned down all the special effects and turned up the ambience in WoW. I've observed the game becomes much more emmersive, which if you've played WoW is scary. I can also tell what zone I am in without looking. I find it cues me in to expect certain animals and non-player characters. Sound is a subtle but easy to ignore attribute that really does enhance playability and enjoyment of the game.

Not that I played all weekend. I finished my college work for the week, read my Heavy Metal magazine, installed and connected to my Kuro Box (still trying to determine what firmware I wish to run).

Back to School!

Well, I'm back to school!

As part of my attempt to focus on learning, I'm going to keep a diary. Hopefully this will help increase my desire to write and eliminate some of the writing blocks I have in my personal and professional work.

This makes me happy

He can't play the drums nor can he play piano;
http://www.zappinternet.com/?video=fodCyoDmiV

That rocks.

Ah...time

Well, it seems I haven't been here for quite some time. I want to start posting some items related to my professional work (or line of work to be more specific) but I don't know if that is professionally sound.

Alkalol...don't drink it.

The Alkalol company makes this wonderful product. You don't drink it, but you can gargle and do a saline nose wash with it. Gross huh? :)

Well it isn't nearly as gross as the sinus infections I'm prone to up here in metro DC. Ick. This alkalol *dissolves* mucus. I know - fun for the whole family. Next time you have a cold that is lodged in your head and things are too thick try this stuff. I haven't seen it in the big drug stores, but it has been around for awhile. At least now it seems you can find it online at places like Amazon (Alkalol Mucus Solvent Topical Liquid - 16-oz. Bottle)

Where I've bean?

I've been busy living life and not updating my blog. Which is more important?

I sometimes wonder about the usefulness of the blog. My friend Mike expressed the same concerns that I have, that is a blog is full of useless information that seems awefully contrived and self-centered. I enjoy it because I can look back upon the writings and remember where I was and what I was feeling. It helps me remember and makes me happy. Sometimes people mention to me things I've written and it gives me reason to speak to friends or strangers about a common experience. Sometimes it gives me reason to reflect upon my buddhist studies and cultivate inner peace and avoid anger and attachment.

Happiness is what it is all about, isn't it?

I'm back?

Well, got a little bit of Pennsic this past weekend. It was fun for a two day event, but I think just one more day would have worked better. I didn't get to see enough of my friend Crystal and also would have liked to browse the merchants some more. I wish the drive wasn't so long.

Camping wasn't bad - although a bit cold. I had a double air bed blowup matress that as basically two layers of air matress on one. I would have liked to have had a real firepit but didn't get the wood and settled on a small grill with charcoal. It was hot enough thanks the the fire priestess (thanks Crystal!)

And we might have a new clan: Clan Noshame is born!

I'm still on vacation.

Whew! Just heading back from Seattle, WA. Sitting in the airport now - wishing I was home already. The mountains were beautiful - wish I could hole up in isolation for a week, but a day was good enough. Enjoying a new book "Meditations on the Path to Enlightenment" which I'm hopful will help me further along the right path.

I look forward to seeing my children and friends back home.

Ack. Ick. Phbbttt. Hack.

Squeemish readers please avoid!

I wanna die - my sinuses are killing me. Woke up not wanting to move or wake up, then coughing and puking up all sorts of sinus evil. It is the blood that scares you most! Auggh! Auggh! And the blood vessels in my eyeballs seem to have ruptured from all the puking. Ouch - feels like thumbs on my eyeballs. Fever anyone?

Did I mention I was supposed to be working on a major presenetation of the status of our program with my co-workers today? It took me ten minutes to type this entry. I can hardly focus. I'm gonna set the clock for an hour and have a lie-down. I *HATE* being sick.

What I do

I'm going against the grain. Up to now, I've been testing web pages with JAWS for Windows and determining where the Section 508 guidelines require certain techniques. I've started trying to prioritize and build statistics on how likely web content is to be inaccessibile. Things like Frames top the list and depreciated HTML are towards the bottom of the list. I hope this statistical approach (maybe just 'data driven' or 'metrics' approach is better?) will also become a *process* that can be used by non-technical staff to help determine which EIT is most likely to be at risk and target manual assessments on these high-risk items.

I started this because I had to review a 1500+ web page site - try that with JAWS! Eeek. I also want to use publicly available (freely available open source) tools and create publicly available tools and an open process that can be used by other agencies or groups at no direct costs. It will either be a complete failure or a new way of doing assessments!

No Respect & A Movie

Went and saw a midnight showing of Spiderman 2. Summary: It rocked! Better than the first one.

The bummer was the theater decided to turn off the air conditioning around 12:30ish. A theater full of geeky bodies in the heat. Use your imagination. Ok, don't if you are eating.

The real problem was *35 minutes* of commercial bullshiite. I'm not going to put up with it anymore. I'm going to demand they tell me when the movie REALLY starts so I can sit outside. Damn if I want to be a captive audience. I'm sure some marketing dweeb is thinking they have all they could want and it will only get better. They keep it up and I'll start splicing nudes into the snow white films ;)

Bluaugh!

I SLEEP NOW! (I still have my skeleton!) I'm tired. Couldn't sleep and ended up with 2.5 hours of sleep total. I wish I didn't need sleep.

Found out paint does not always dry inside of 7 days - 6 weeks! Ack! A month and a half of no wiping and no cleaning - who would have known? All the paints I had growing up were damn near impervious to indelible ink pens inside of an hour. Maybe it was just my parents were smart and encountered this same problem well before I paid attention to it.

Thinking of Dodging beer and watching Dodgeball! tonight.

Government? Cluster!

Heard on Metro: "With the government alert on domestic terror AND
upcoming events in the area.." they make it seem like a government
planned event. Huh. Maybe it is? ;)
--On the way home

Perchance to dream...

Ah, I purchased another Shadowrun Figure at the Game Parlor in Woodbridge yesterday. I promised myself I would start gaming more. I miss gaming but don't have the time.

I am hoping my fascination and purchase of the figures will remind me to stop and play. I also enjoy the figures themselves. They are well done pieces of art that remind me of fantasy gaming and past fun with friends. While at the gaming store I also realized I don't have enough dice ;)

WoW WOW

I saw more pictures of World Of Worldcraft (WoW), this time of Player vs. Player (pvp) combat. I can't wait for this thing to come out and my productivity and sleep levels to go down the tubes!

On another note, I cancelled my Final Fantasy XI account. The game just isn't all that, introductory piece is annoying an not educational about the game, and it really is designed as a controller based PS2 game. The keyboard button config tool was horrible and the navigator interface you went through before playing the game was painful too. Sigh.

--Saardek

Ack.

Well I was sick on Monday. I hate feeling tired and miserable. I went to work on Tuesday and it was so hot and sticky outside I thought I had developed another fever. Icky icky icky.

I played some FF11 last night. I still don't like the interface. The login process interface sucks - hey, I *have* a computer. I understand PS2 users need the interface to check email and board info, but the interface is not only non traditional it sucks. Example: you have messages - choose check messages. Wouldn't it be easier to automatically display them on logon? They already made gross assumptions about the interface and user interaction..it wouldn't be unexpected. They also make you go through several screens just to play the game! Bastards! I understand it may be PS2 focused for development, but you released a *Windows* version (I play games on windows and it won't run on my preferred Linux system(s)). This PS2 concept also fails to properly address keyboard and gamepad configuration. All and all I think this game was money wasted. I'll probably cancel before renewal next month.

--late while on the train to work.

Pumpin' the Cathedral

Jeeze, it is so hard not be cynical when they keep shoving crap at you. Just watching the ceremonies for Reagan and they keep panning into and out of the cathedral. It feels like a sex shot or something.

Now you can say I'm wrong for mentioning it, but it is such a farce that they want to pay respects when they are really off hoaring for ratings. Belittles the whole event if you ask me.