I knew her well enough to know that I'm proud to have known her at all. She had the beauty of Audrey Hepburn, the grace of a swan, and the sparkling soul of a diamond. She was studying dance in college. She would have made any stage a palace. She was one of the few people I knew in school that I looked forward to meeting again someday. Sometimes someday never comes. She deserved much more than 20 years.

Last night at 3am, a name of a girl I knew well, and had a strong fondness for, back in high school popped into my head. I Googled for her name today. Turns out she got killed 4 years ago. Her folks set up a small scholarship fund at the college she was attending at the time of her untimely death.

I really wasn't prepared for that...

Today, after watching Kordell Stewart and the new but fantastic kicker Jeff Reed (6 for 6 FGs, 1 ExtraPoint, 19 total), I grabbed a Coke and started to read my sunday paper. Yep, there are some of us that still prefer a printed newspaper. I came across an article by a former Allegheny County commissioner, Bob Cranmer. It was titled Dad, I'm pregnant': One family's story.

Reading it, I realized I was reacting in a way I'd never reacted before. I reacted from the father's perspective. I imagined myself in the same situation, a 16 year old daughter coming home and saying those words, "I'm Pregnant". It was disconcerting to both be in that situation, and also to realize that being in that situation isn't as far fetched anymore as it once was.

For a long time, when you're young and dating, and doing the thing no parent thinks their kids are doing, and the deed we never admitted to our parents when it was happening, your worry is about being the person that would become the mother or father. And how you're too young for that to happen, and you realize it would really throw your life off course. Then, time passes you by while you're not looking, and suddenly, your friends are getting married, folks you went to high school with already have kids, and you're no longer too young. And your perspective has changed. You realize you identify with the other viewpoint now. You understand so many things your parents told you when you were young (not all of them, because, after all, we're all smarter than our parents were ;).

And also we realize more than ever, when we were young, how stupid we really were in so many places we thought we were so smart. And we realize as every year passes how little we really know, and how much we still need to learn. And of course, just when you think you have got the rules memorized, the game is over.

Wow, maturity is a real downer...

Why is it that all good things must come to an end? Just when the saga was really getting interesting (a bloodless but very sudden and intriguing change in power, reshaping of the landscape, and vivid characters), it has now rather suddenly ended. The plot had even gone under a radical shift, which did somewhat signal the end was near, but the protagonist was interesting enough in her views to keep readers coming back. I shall miss this latest web-opera...

I'm glad that the long musical drought in which we were subjected to years of horrid bubblegum pop with not one, but THREE crappy boy-bands (does no one remember the last intense flameout that was NKOTB?), and one half-dressed, no talent, blonde teeny-bopper for each of the big 5 music companies, is starting to see the first good rain. Artists like Avril Lavigne (who is quite impressive for being so young, thank god she didn't let them bleach her hair and make her do porn-esque "dance" moves with 15 boys behind her mimicing ever move on a 15 foot tall plastic/metal monstrosity on some soundstage), Gorillaz, Thicke, etc. Now all we have to do is find a way to ship Britney Spears on an expedition to the core fo the sun, and life will be tolerable with the radio on.

Tumult in the Mozilla world. Mozilla 1.2 has a nasty flaw, not discovered until after it went gold, necessitating a 1.2.1 milestone. Phoenix Technologies asked The Phoenix Project to rename Phoenix to something else, To Be Announced. And the trunk is kinda wonky right now... Well, over at MozillaNews.org, we opened the ever expanding Mods section. New Mozilla splashes, games, resources and links, and soon themes and icon sets, and whatever else makes it in there. Stop by if you run The Lizard...

I admit it. I like Camchicks (née camwhores). Especially Nay. She's hot. Sure she's 17, but she's clothed, so it's cool. Now you have to admit it: You like the eye candy they all provide too. Put down the pretensions for a minute. Stop being 'hip' and 'cool' long enough to admit that at one time or another, we all like stuff that's not what all the 'cool' kids like. But then, we're not kids are we? So it's ok to not be cool 100% of the time. It's growing up.

And speaking of growing up, we need to talk about this whole "first post" thing...

These days, it seems that as technology companies evolve their product lines in the march towards ubiquitousness (and yet not commoditized), and greater accessability for the masses, they are leaving behind a very important group. Those of us who can be described as technophiles, geeks, hackers, (even enthusiasts to some) are being left behind with the oversimplificaion of products. Yes, most products don't need to be as complex as they are for the majority of users. But those of us who prefer to see the gears turn, tinker with the innards, and get our hands dirty are being locked out and spoon fed the pablum that is modern computer related technologies.

Often times, many of us would (and do) pay a bit more for the next level of product. Let Joe Sixpack buy Widget Standard. We want Widget Pro. We want to be able to get at the core. 99% of car buyers and users do not care about the spark gap, engine timing, cylinder offset angle, etc. But for those who DO, auto manufacturers cater with high end parts, technical manuals, and loads of other goods for the engineer in all of us.

To manufacturers: Don't weld the hood shut, just bolt it, and let those of us who want to peek underneath do so.

This is now my inaugural post to my journal. It is my journal, not my blog, even though for all intents and purposes, it is a blog. While you can read my opinions on Mozilla over at MozillaNews, the Mozilla centered news site I help run (and basically do all the news posts), I don't think it's appropriate to have a non-topic-specific journal there. Mozilla is already politically charged enough as it is without adding my baggage. So for now, this is where my general rantings and ravings will go.

To start things off on a charged note, we'll revisit, very briefly, the Linux Vs. Windows debate.

Linux kicks ass in serverspace. Even in some vertical markets of workstation implementation it kicks ass. I think it would be great for CAD systems to move to Linux. Crashing while designing the floor trusses in a high rise would be a Bad thing. But as a desktop, right now and for the forseeable future, it sucks. Let's move on.

Windows, on the other hand, is an excellent Desktop OS. Asidee from app support, it's a fantastic single user environment, and with some proper security restrictions to the horrid built in Worm Distribution System called Windows Scripting Host, we'll be set. And get rid of IE, my god. Use Mozilla. But Windows sucks in the serverspace, and has no business being there. Too bad MS doesn't see it this way... An ideal world would have lots of Windows desktops with decent security, all connecting to Linux based servers. Oh, and there would be free money and magical pixies.