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 Posted February 8th, 2010 at 1:52PM I’ve been actively plugging away with both this site and other projects in the past few days. The employment side of things is also looking rosy, so while posts might come slow over the foreseeable future, rest assured it’s not for lack of time in front of the computer!
I completed the promised site redesign here, switching to the Atahualpa theme but keeping the same color palette from the previous incarnation. Everything is running smoothly for the time being but I need to work on the archive page. I’ve been running a pretty sleek plug-in for displaying archives, but displaying all 700-odd posts on a single page is asking too much so I’m on the hunt for a better solution.
In related news, I’m currently working on an e-commerce site running CRE Loaded. While I don’t know if I’ll ever master that particular package or the concerns and issues of e-commerce security, its great experience to get under the belt. I’m making a small sum and its given me the crazy notion of monetizing more of the various coding and design work I’ve played with for years.
To that end I’ll be retooling surfingonarocket.com to function as a professional portfolio site. Eventually I’ll be able to point potential employers there for proof positive of various skills, from writing and editing AP style to coding and designing, Web 2.0-style. I want to become more productive to that end, finally putting out some original WordPress themes and completing freelance work of any variety. We’ll see how that goes.
I took the census entrance exam the other day and answered 27 out of 28 correctly. I couldn’t for the life of me determine what I got wrong, since I was able to work through the entire test twice in the 30 minutes they gave us and wasn’t uncertain over any answer. But then when I took the practice I filled out the incorrect bubble on one where I knew the right choice, so its anyones guess. Apparently 10 correct will get you a job so I’m not concerned enough to re-take the test, and hopefully missing one won’t preclude me from an office job or anything besides being an ‘enumerator’ (the people responsible for going door to door, and, apparently, getting guns pointed at them on a regular basis – according to a 2000 census veteran). Office job will pay better too.
The final word? Even without the certainty of employment I’m planning my first track outing of 2010 – it’ll be at Monticello Motor Club with SCDA, May 17th. There will be a MINI contingent and associated discount, and I’m officially pumped. My MINI is still tucked away in the garage (now completely enclosed with very nice electric garage doors!) but it’s just a tech check and fluid change away from being ready for the event. Well, not quite, but close enough.
Till later, intrepid readers!
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Posted January 26th, 2010 at 6:15PM It’s hard to believe I’ve been silent on this issue for this long. I’ve been a fan of Conan for years and his move to the Tonight Show was a dream come true. Well, I got to enjoy it for all of seven months.
Taste in comedy is just about as subjective as you can get, so I’ll refrain from badmouthing Leno. I just can’t believe they chose The Chin over Coco though. Conan needed more time to build his Tonight Show audience (because you’ll always have people disappointed over any host change), while Leno’s show five days a week at 10p was just a clunker of an idea. Conan and the entire staff moved coast-to-coast expecting job security at the longest running late show in America. And Andy was back co-hosting!
The silver lining I suppose is that the last shows were truly gems. Big guest stars showing support. The return of the masturbating bear. And I loved watching Kathie Lee Gifford on the 10th hour of the Today Show getting her feathers all ruffled over Conan’s “spend as much NBC money as we can” skits (even after the one where the dino fossil sprays caviar all over an “original Picasso” and Conan has to confess that the $$$ millions spent… Really weren’t).
Oh, watchable Tonight Show, I hardly knew ye.
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Posted January 24th, 2010 at 1:59PM Thursday’s decision, in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, “is going to flip the existing campaign order on its head,” said Benjamin L. Ginsberg, a Republican campaign lawyer at the law-and-lobbying firm Patton Boggs who has represented both candidates and outside groups, including Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group formed to oppose Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
“It will put on steroids the trend that outside groups are increasingly dominating campaigns,” Mr. Ginsberg said.
Great, so expect this court decision to spur an even greater emphasis on dollars spent each election cycle, becoming ever larger the biggest determining factor in sorting winners from losers. It was always my interpretation that the bill of rights spoke for the rights of the US citizen, not institutions of any stripe. Obviously the Supreme Court has set off on a different understanding while attempting to cohere various first amendment rulings. Unfortunately the divergent result is to limit the individuals’ voice during the democratic process. From the NY Times op-ed -
The [Supreme Court] majority is deeply wrong on the law. Most wrongheaded of all is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights. It is an odd claim since companies are creations of the state that exist to make money. They are given special privileges, including different tax rates, to do just that. It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.
The majority also makes the nonsensical claim that, unlike campaign contributions, which are still prohibited, independent expenditures by corporations “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” If Wall Street bankers told members of Congress that they would spend millions of dollars to defeat anyone who opposed their bailout, and then did so, it would certainly look corrupt.
McCain for his part has called campaign finance reform “dead” and the majority ruling in the Supreme Court “naive.” It seems like Obama, being the constitutional law scholar he is, could chart the course toward renewed campaign finance reform, viewed constitutionally legal by this conservatively activist Court. It seems like the only hope for rational government down the line.
If payola and the exchange of money is granted a verifiable constitutional guarantee, where does that leave us? If freedom of expression extends to corporations buying elections, will it similarly extend to the individual looking to purchase crack cocaine or solicit prostitutes?
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Posted January 20th, 2010 at 4:00PM Whenever there are circumstances these days that require direction from the Oval Office, it becomes a chance to “test” Obama. During immediate coverage of the Haitian earthquake last week, Matt Lauer eagerly and repeatedly dubbed it a “test.” Or cite Biden’s flub over being tested within six months in office. Has No Child Left Behind progressed to the presidency, where we now compulsively scrutinize, dutifully grading along some cosmic POTUS curve?
Never mind the response he gives when asked to self-grade (who doesn’t give themselves an A?), but think of the ludicrous proportions that question assumes when posed to his predecessor – a man familiar only with the “gentleman’s C.” (No, I would not like to be shown to YouTube footage of aforementioned question being asked.)
No one has been pleased all of the time here, myself least of all. But Obama has arguably proven his acumen for the job by now. Can it with the ongoing tallying of job performance assessments and get to analyzing the policy already. Or dare I ask too much from broadcast news?
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Posted January 18th, 2010 at 2:48PM With the horrors of cheap axles behind me, I would like to take the time to thank the place I purchased them from. Whaaa you say? Well, when I made the decision to buy that DSS axle, the ‘lifetime warranty’ was what brought me in. And thankfully, FCPGroton stood by that warranty. I would not have necessarily faulted them for denying a refund for the original purchase, since it’s not exactly in their TOS. But I was eventually refunded for the entire ordeal, and with store credit obtained a Bentley manual for the 02-06 MINIs. Still new and shrink-wrapped, I’m waiting till I need it before opening the sucker. A much better buy for the money than those DSS paperweights!
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Posted January 13th, 2010 at 12:13PM I’ve been playing with the most recent version of WordPress – 2.9.x at this point – and have been pleasantly surprised at each turn by some of the recent changes. The sad thing is I don’t think any of these are “new”; it’s just that I haven’t spent much time back here lately.
- The WYSIWYG editor seems fully functional and reliable. I’ve always used the HTML editor (posts around here tend to be simple anyway). But I could get used to the new editor, especially with the fullscreen mode! (I don’t have much good to say about my PowerBook’s 1024×768 12″ display, going on five years old.)
- I’m also just beginning to install and upgrade themes, plug-ins, and WP itself from the admin backend, and it is a godsend.
- Along the same lines, I discovered the Atahualpa theme, which as a “theme framework” adds a whole new layer of accessibility with complete step-by-step access and control of site design through the WP backend.
- And when reading this, keep in mind that I connect to the internet at a blazing 26.4 kbps. The WP admin still loads flawlessly and skipping my end of the connection speeds up installs / upgrades / theming exponentially.
So I’m intent on making MULTIPLE posts in January. There are a few topics on the burner and I notice the old Twitter hasn’t been updated in nearly two months. Huh. I’d like to refurb the pages, particularly the links and colophon. I’m definitely getting the itch to make some design changes. I’ll either polish the hell out of the current theme (by Ahren Ahimsa), or move to Atahualpa.
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Posted December 30th, 2009 at 5:47PM Post-holiday depression? Middle of the winter doldrums? Job search got you down? Here’s my list of things to turn your mind off whatever and onto zombie cruise mode – here’s to better days far away.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
An oldie but a goodie, available cheaply. From Bethesda Softworks, Oblivion plays similarly to their newer Fallout 3 title, but takes place in a quintessential fantasy land replete with elves, ogres, and plenty of rats. I missed Oblivion originally (pre-PS3 pour moi), played Fallout 3 last year, and felt right at home picking up the new (old) title. The game occasionally shows its age – fraggy graphics, hang-ups – but is still worth a play for fans of the genre who might have missed it originally.
Metal Gear Solid 4
You guessed it – I’m not one to jump and fetch the latest and greatest game at an outrageous MSRP. But I did recently pick up MGS4. Enjoyable, short on actual gameplay but long on cinematic cut-scenes, and a real eye pleaser. Being the first of the series I’ve played, I was a little lost without knowing the full back story. There is plenty here to make a replay or two worthwhile and it’s as fine a platform as any to show off the graphic prowess of the PS3. I had non-gamers following the storyline for pete’s sake!
R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated
Lest everyone think I’m permanently wired to a playstation, I’ve also been giving my thumbs a workout by turning the pages of Crumb’s illustrated book of genesis. Finally, find out what everyone’s been talking about! Crumb and I might be heathens, but as stated in the intro, this is meant to be “a straight illustration job, with no intention to ridicule or make visual jokes.” A faithful reproduction of the King James bible illustrated along Crumb’s signature style? If you get offended, then you’re taking life too seriously.
Dog Hikes in the Adirondacks
This was a pleasant surprise during the conspicuous consumption season, perhaps of little interest to most of you, but just the resource I was looking for. This helpful paperback (published by Shaggy Dog Press in Westport, NY) rounds up 20 trails in the Adirondacks ripe for canine companionship, with the proceeds going to animal shelters and humane organizations throughout the area. It also includes topics like acclimating your dog to the hike, elderly canine hikers, and additional precautions and considerations to take in mind. Don’t ruin a hike by bringing other people – bring your dog!
(Note that I didn’t link a single thing here, as I believe you’re all adept at googling by this point.)
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