I SAID: "They're crazy if they think they're ready to implement that."

I WANT: to figure out where I'm going from here

I WISH: for safe travels for some people I care a lot about

I DO: a million things at once, since I can never seem to concentrate on just one

I DANCE: not very well

I SING: only when alone

I CRY: when I get overly sentimental, which I manage to avoid most of the time. Last was watching L marry C.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: coherent, particularly lately for some reason

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: code, until I end up with carpal tunnel and am forced into early retirement

I WRITE: on /. and in a personal journal, but rarely anywhere else.

I CONFUSE: people's names. If I meet two people at once I will invariably mix up their names for a long time afterwards.

I NEED: a break from the real world, I think

I SHOULD: be working instead of filling this out

I REFUSE: to compromise myself or what I believe in for someone else, no matter how much easier it might seem to make things.

I START: lots of pet projects that often end up sitting there untouched

I FINISH: eventually. But usually not until there is a firm deadline and we're right up against it.

aka, how L and I met each other, with the pieces filled in that I never knew before Friday.

Note: I wrote this Tuesday after coming back, and after finishing it, I decided that while I needed to write it, it wasn't worth posting. Now I've kinda changed my mind... not sure if that's wise or not, but it's here, for better or worse. Mainly because I want to tell a shorter story that will make more sense if the players are known. Also, since I am posting from home instead of work, I have IM logs in front of me so what was originally a lot of "sometime in spring of 2001" and such are replaced with actual months.

This story goes back to spring of my junior year of college, sometime in January or February of 2000. I have a friend Joe who is a freshman, and one evening we're hanging out in his room watching a DVD or something and he introduces me to L. They met in physics class (both are freshman at the time). At that time, she was involved with a guy she had met in the fall, plus Joe had a major thing for her... so romantic feelings on my part towards her were pretty much nonexistent... we used to talk occasionally but not terribly often.

The summer comes and Joe decides to stay in Blacksburg and take a few summer courses. L has rented an apartment with some friends for sophomore year, but it's only got two people in it for the summer, so Joe moves in to be the third person for the summer session (that fall Joe was my roommate on campus for my senior year).

At this point is where the story was never really filled in for me. L and I talked on IM occasionally, and Joe and I were in touch, but all I was told was that there had been a big argument of some sort and Joe was moving into the fraternity house for the rest of the summer (he was still just a pledge so they bent some rules by doing that). What I learned this weekend is that Joe had been badmouthing L to his frat brothers, but it turns out that many of them were friends of hers, and when they came to help him move, they were quite pissed when they found out she was the one he had been calling a bitch all summer.

And apparently the main thing that started all the fighting was Joe professing his undying love for her, which didn't go over too well seeing that (a) L was with someone at the time and (b) Joe can often be something of a jerk and L didn't really like him all that much to begin with.

So the fall comes, and Joe and I are roommates, and L and I are still talking on IM, but she never comes over to our side of campus to visit or anything, and never really gave me an explanation why. So in February of 2001 she and I are talking online, and she's coming on campus, and asks if Joe is around... so I told her no, and while she was on campus she dropped by to visit. She and I talked for a while, and then Joe got home. He looked at her, he looked at me, and he turned around and walked back out of the room. The look on his face was priceless... at that point she gave me a partial explanation of what had happened. After she left and Joe came back, he never mentioned it at all...

After I graduated, L and I were out of touch for a long time... we started talking again in December of 2002, right before her graduation, and that's when the real friendship started to form. What began as a random IM (I honestly have no idea what it was that got us talking again) turned into an amazing friendship over the next two years. We talked online all the time, we talked on the phone when we had the chance, and of course she visited me on Memorial Day weekend of 2004... from then on it's the story I've told before.

Friday before a holiday weekend, nice company cookout (hot dogs & burgers) for lunch, and now the office is silent as everyone fights to stay awake. Is it time to go home yet?

Weekend was excellent. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but all went well.

Got up there Friday around 5:00. L wasn't home from work yet but her fiance was (we'll call him C because his name starts with a C!), so I met him right away. He is a good guy and we got along right off the bat. L got home soon after and we all sat down and talked a bit, relaxed in front of the TV, eventually had dinner...

After dinner the three of us sat out on the porch and talked until 1:30AM. It was like we had known each other for a long time, not like we had just met a few hours before. And it was quite clear early on that the two of them belong together. At one point, C walked over to the 7-11 near their place, and left L & I alone to talk for a few minutes. She looked at me and told me how happy she was that we were hitting it off and then gave me a big hug.

Saturday morning we all got up, showered, dressed, etc. L's mom came over to help her get ready, then we went to Macaroni Grill for a pre-wedding lunch with some other friends of theirs. Ended up having eight of us for lunch.

Then we went off to the ceremony, which was in front of the statue at George Mason University, since they met while working on their Master's Degrees there. The wedding was small, with just L & C, L's mom, myself, two girl friends of L's, and the Justice of the Peace. I felt pretty lucky to have the chance to be one of the few there. I have pictures, but I'll leave it up to them where they get posted and I'll follow up with a link later if people want to see.

After the wedding we headed back to L & C's for the party. Ended up being about a dozen of us just hanging out and drinking for most of the evening. Three bottles of champagne, a bottle of rum, some white wine, some red wine, some tequila, and who knows how many beers later, L was asleep on the couch and everyone else had gone home.

So he took L upstairs and then came back down and we went outside and had another drink, which gave C & I a chance to talk. That was a good thing to do because, let's face it, L & I are still great friends, but she and I did date and there were only a few weeks between our breakup and when they started dating, so things could have ended up very strange between us.

I made sure that he knew that if he ever hurts her I'll kill him (although it's quite clear that it will never come to this, he really is a good guy). And if I had had any doubts about him, they went away during that conversation. I told him to bring her home safe, and to bring himself home safe. And he told me he would do his best to do both, but "she's more important."

What more could I have needed to hear to know that one of my best friends in the world has ended up where she belongs?

Sunday was relaxing, we slept in, watched a little TV, L had some breakfast then C & I went out to Taco Bell. Soon after that I loaded up the car and headed home.

C got his confirmation on Saturday-- he leaves for Iraq on June 3rd. L will follow as soon as she has everything straightened out here-- dental work, shots, other stuff like that.

And that is all.

As I told you all a few months back, L is engaged. The wedding is in October in St. Croix...

But she and her fiance are going to Iraq. The company he works for is one of many that is offering a ton of money to people go to for a year, and she's going with him. I'm not too happy with the idea, but I don't get to make that choice do I? They're going to Basra... for those of you who follow news, Basra is where the British helicopter was shot down a couple weeks ago. RW, since you've been over there, I'd be interested in your opinion especially.

Now this weekend they're having a party since it'll kinda be the last chance until the wedding. And they're "officially" getting married on Saturday... just doing the legal aspect so that they are married when they go over there, which makes sense.

So this has the potential to be a very interesting weekend...

How's everybody doing? My apologies for my absence of late... I still love all you guys! There have just been some busy times at work this past month and so web surfing has suffered...

Not a whole lot else new going on here. Anything new and exciting with you?

Hello Circle, how's it going?

I was out of the office on a ship all week last week so I haven't been keeping up or writing much.

For anyone who wanted to see them, pictures of the car are here.

And in other news... L is engaged :-/

(face was added later since I realized that not everyone knows who L was)

Ok, what's going on?

Thursday night one of the companies we work with here in VA had two hard drives fail in their RAID array - catastrophic failure.

Monday morning our corporate office (in SC) had two hard drives fail in their RAID array - catastrophic failure.

Umm, is something going on? Anyone else seeing sudden failures? It's pretty rare to see two drives die at once-- the whole point of building a RAID array is that most of the time only one drive is going to fail. And it's not like we're talking two offices close together, so a localized power issue isn't a likely culprit either.

Maybe it's just an odd coincidence, or perhaps a conspiracy.

First, an update on yesterday's story. Here is today's followup story. Interesting things in there. Additionally, here is a collection of other interesting documents, including the DOJ letter itself.

Also, if you missed the sample test link I added to yesterday's JE, you really should go take a look. I think most of the children of people here in the circle could get a 70%.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=99291&ran=84449

So, using a nationally recognized test to choose qualified applicants for a job is discrimination? This is just sad. Reading the sample question and realizing that people can't get a 70% on this test is even more sad.

First off, as a resident of Virginia Beach, I don't want people on our police force that can't handle some basic math. These are people tasked with providing for public safety and enforcing the law. If you can't figure out how many MPH over the limit I'm going, how am I going to respect it if you write me a speeding ticket? The idea that we should tolerate uneducated police officers to maintain a racial quota is not only offensive, it could be just plain dangerous.

Second, it's (yet another) sign that something is seriously wrong in this country when any group is told that they cannot insist on hiring people who are actually qualified for the job. I don't care if you're black, white, or purple, or whether you originally came from America, Europe, Africa, Asia, or even Mars for that matter... if you're not qualified, you don't get the job. That's the way it should work. Anything less, particularly in a field where public safety is at stake, is unacceptable.

UPDATE: the newspaper has now posted a sample test. After reading that, I'm now even a little concerned with the white applicants. Only 85% of them are passing? Anyone who has finished the fifth grade could answer those (in fact, with the new standardized testing in Virginia, you wouldn't even get out of fifth grade if you couldn't answer them)!

For the longest time, I've wanted a BMW. When I was a senior in college I went looking and fell in love with what was then the current 5-series. So I always have an eye on the used car listings to see if something interesting will come up.

Back in September, a local BMW CCA (Car Club of America) member posted a classified ad for his 2001 530i. The options were exactly what I wanted, but the price was a little more than I wanted to spend at the time.

Right after New Year's, I got in touch with the seller, and found that he had dropped the price a bit because he was in a hurry to sell. I had more than enough for a down payment that would leave me with a payment I was happy with, so I went and looked at it. It's in great shape, only 47000 miles. He's the second owner, he bought it as a certified pre-owned, and it's still under the CPO warranty until October.

After a very disappointing experience with my longtime credit union, I was able to find financing elsewhere, and as soon as they finish processing everything, it will be mine. The waiting really sucks... but I have to wait for the title processing company to do the payoff, get the title, re-title and register it, and then I'll finally get plates for it.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Nothing exceptionally exciting to mention here, since the only big thing I wanted this Christmas was the Nokia 770 I ordered myself. However, it did arrive on Friday, so I'll have it for my upcoming vacation. So far it's neat but I haven't done much with it yet, I'll probably have more to say after the trip.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm still alive. I just haven't had much chance to keep up with things lately... hope all is well with everyone.

So, I ordered a Nokia 770. Unfortunately it's not here yet, but I'm anxiously awaiting it. Pretty nifty little gadget... wi-fi and bluetooth, running a variant of Debian. And a few blog posts around the web have gotten me thinking about where things might be headed. Russell Beattie believes that the mobile phone as a primary internet access device is the way we're going. At least in his early posts about the 770, he wasn't inspired. But after trying a PSP as a web tablet, he has started to change his tune. The latest 770 post is the one that really got me thinking.

I don't think the mobile phone as client is the way we're going. I think the mobile phone as access point is the future. Ari Jaaksi, head of Nokia's open source operations, seems to agree. The mobile phone is just too limited. Screen size is the biggest limitation. I've got Google Maps on my cell phone, but it's not great, because you just can't see enough. Smartphones might help (personally, I can't stand them), but even a Treo doesn't have a screen anywhere near the size or resolution of the 770. And if it did, who would want to hold it up to their ear to use it as a phone?

When true 3G mobile internet becomes common, the mobile phone can virtually replace the cable modem and wireless access point. Why do I need broadband to my home when I can get broadband performance from the tiny phone in my pocket, and wirelessly connect my devices to it (there's an answer to this coming later)?

So that covers the access side, but what about the client? If the phone isn't suitable, what is? I propose that for 90% of what the average user does, a mix of 770-like devices would fit the bill. The 770's screen may be a bit small, but it does have decent 800x480 resolution, which is going to be plenty for most websites. For web surfing, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, and casual gaming (we may talk a lot about FPS games here, but casual games are much more widely played), a small web tablet would do the job perfectly, when bundled with a bluetooth keyboard. Those of us doing development and playing resource heavy games are still going to have machines at home. And there's the answer to the earlier question-- you'll want broadband to your home because you'll always want access to your stored content. If high-speed wireless connectivity is widely available, you won't need an iPod-- your music will be on your home machine and you'll be able to listen to it remotely on your device when you're away from home. Recorded TV or movies? Same thing.

I don't think convergence is coming to the mobile device, it's coming to the home device. The box next to your TV should be able to store your music, your TV shows, your movies... or play your games, let you do your development, anything that requires large amounts of storage or processing power.

But everything else, which is most of our computing work, can be done on a small wireless device, as long as the device has a reasonable interface. That's where the phone falls flat.

To answer Russell's question, the killer app is: everything you can do on your desktop web browser, but from anywhere. The killer app is real wireless freedom.

Or, the 770 will flop like every other attempt at a web tablet has.

So, what does everybody think? I have more thoughts, but this is plenty long for now.

Short notice I know, but I've got a Fantasy Hockey league that has 6 players. Planning an auto-pick draft for this weekend, and we would be interested in a couple more players. Not too many, probably 2 at the most. After a season of Fantasy Baseball where half the league paid no attention, people who actually plan to follow it would be preferred!

It's a rotisserie league on Yahoo. Post here or e-mail me if interested.

Ok, I've been quiet on this one for too long. If you don't want my opinions feel free to skip it.

First off, if you don't live in an area that is threatened by hurricanes every summer/fall, then sit down, shut up, and pay attention.

This is not President Bush's fault. I've lived through hurricanes affecting this area under Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. None of them were created by the President in question, the Congress, or anyone else. People have died in hurricanes under virtually every President to serve this country. There is always property damage. There are almost always looters. This is not a new situation. Bush told Louisiana to call for a mandatory evacuation, and Louisiana listened to him.

The National Guard has a job to do. Their job is to follow the orders of the state governor. If they were not in there soon enough, it is the fault of the state governor, and no one else.

Do you know what happens when a mandatory evacuation is called due to a hurricane on the Atlantic coast? The police force you to evacuate. You don't decide to stay at home. If you're in your home, you will be removed from it. That's why it's called a mandatory evacuation. I've been seeing it during hurricane season my whole life, although thankfully never in my city. If the people are not forced to leave, then it's not a mandatory evacuation, it's a voluntary evacuation.

After the storm, what the fuck do you expect relief workers to do when they're being shot at? I don't care if you're black, white, purple, or green, if you shoot at the people who are trying to save your ass, then you're an idiot. Today, a group of people opened fire on contractors being sent in to repair a levee. That is disgusting, and you can't blame it on Bush.

DHS has provided states with funding to plan evacuations and drills of those evacuations since its inception. No major city should be without an evacuation plan-- if it is, the state should be held accountable for its waste of that money.

I am disgusted with the behavior of the people of New Orleans in response to the storm. Shooting at rescuers? Sitting in stores trying on Nikes? Stealing jewelry, televisions? ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.

On August 7th, an author I respect said:

In my lectures on survival topics I often mention that there is just a thin veneer of civilization on our society. What is underneath is not pretty, and it does take much to peel away that veneer. You take your average urbanite or suburbanite and get him excessively cold, wet, tired, hungry and/or thirsty and take away his television, beer, drugs, and other pacifiers, and you will soon seen the savage within. It is like peeling the skin of an onion--remove a couple of layers and it gets very smelly. -- James Wesley, Rawles

Is there any doubt now as to the truth of that statement?

The lesson we all need to learn from Katrina is that no matter who is in office, the government (federal, state, or local), cannot and will not protect you. Take responsibility for yourself and your family. If you don't have at least a week's worth of whatever your family needs to survive (food, water, medicine, flashlights, batteries, candles, and yes, guns and ammunition) in your home, then you are not prepared. In the best case, it would all be in bags you could easily take if you had to leave your home in an emergency.

Some will question that statement, particularly the gun recommendation. To them I say, you can have all the food and water you like, but the people with the guns will be the ones eating it. That may sound harsh, but look at what we've seen in the past week and ask yourself if you can really argue with it.

They raided a nursing home and took whatever they could lay hands on. "We had enough food for 10 days," Peggy Hoffman, the home's director, told the AP. "Now we'll have to equip our department heads with guns and teach them how to shoot." TownHall.com