Posts from — August 2005

Now that I have my access log stats working (thanks Russ!) I have more accurate records of visitors to my site. One of my favorite tidbits has always been the Search String Referrers. It shows – or it can show- how someone came to my site via a search engine. In a nutshell- what were they looking for that led them to my lovely site.

As it turns out, I’m not the only Elyse Luray perv (although I’d still prefer a date w/ the lovely Kristen “Veronica Mars” Bell as I think Elyse is married and her NJ accent is starting to wear on me).

What else? Hrm- some people are already searching for Texas in the Rose Bowl, a few people for the Jardin Japones (see Argentina pics under the pics area), some for my seminal work in Luddition Through Economics, and others the crap-tastic Sofia Coppola canned champagne! Someone(?) is even stalking my friend Pam, and another is looking for Helen Y (wedding pic searches?).

Damn – ROME (AP) — Pierluigi Collina, the world’s most widely recognized soccer referee, is turning in his whistle because of a business conflict.

First came Bitch Dog, then came Palestinian Bomber and now Jew Table. Wheeeee!

I knew Jeff would reply to the previous post:

While steely dan is shit they are also the house band in hell.

jeff

I rode my bike into work yesterday. I still need to take a break (or two) going up the hill in the Presidio. I’ll get in shape soon enough though to make it all the way up without stopping. The hill coming out of Sausalito was a killer too thanks to the lovely wind on the way home. But it was really nice in Sausalito and Mill Valley yesterday, which kind of made up for the scary fog-water-wind on the bridge.

August is so odd in SF. I turned on my heater for the first time since winter. This was after being in the upper 80 weather in Napa over the weekend with the Texans and Kristen.

I’ve been playing with icecast and muse so I can stream some music to work. I already use my box at home as a squid proxy server which I tunnel to from the office, so I thought, let’s see if I can get to some of my tunes. It works, but it’s a pain in the ass.

TZ has a radio going but his random playlist has Steely Dan in it. And as most people know, Steely Dan is shit*. In reaction to his station/feed, I made my “station” play a loop of a complete box set of Led Zeppelin. So no matter what time of the day it is, it’s always time to get the Led out! (I’d put up a link to my feed, but I’m lazy and I don’t want it to get bogged down).

I still use the software from SlimServer now and then, that still seems to be great (for single use). I should get a squeezebox one day . . . . hrm, maybe after I get Sirius. Too much crap to buy though, new machines, bike crap, … The diversity of “want” just aids Luddition Through Economics. . . .

In other ramblings, why do lame fuckers run in the street with traffic? I was always told that if I go jog (and have to run in the street) I should run facing traffic (on the left side of the road). That way I can jump out of the way if something bad is headed my way (unlike bikes which go in the bike lane with traffic). If I run with traffic some whore in a volvo stationwagon could cream me from behind. Hrm, that’s a bad term, sounds a bit too SF. Heh, I’ll keep it in, I’m rambling. Actually I saw a cute jogger that I wanted to cream from behind recently, har har. I barely saw her though as she was wearing the “sf invisible suit” aka- grey sweats in the fog. Smart move. btw- the “sf invisible car” is a gray or silver sedan that refuses to use lights (including signals) on the west side of the city.

*I know I’ll get an email from Jeff about this. The real/full (Kenny Strickland) quote is “Heart is shit, Dad!” But I can’t say that anymore because although they may be shit, the Sisters Wilson do a mean cover of The Battle of Evermore.

Normally I try not to blog about work, ya know, just in case. . . but I just got out of a quick meeting with someone I don’t know (who I thought was pretty high up in the eng side of things). I was there to try to explain why I thought it was important that we be more consistent in our design and testing- especially in regards towards testing cross-functionality across browsers and platforms.

I guess the troubling bit for me is that I don’t think explaining what certain web standards are and how they work in most browsers but not in others was really understood. Maybe I just assume that it’s a given that a (semi)mature software company would know that ahead of time, like in the planning stages. Maybe if it’s necessary for a relatively low-level guy in one of the side products of the company to explain this, then it’s not a good thing.

I also hate it when I have a headache and I’m trying to articulate my feelings and thoughts and the garbage that comes out is the previous two paragraphs.

Bascially, design your shit right from the start. Don’t ignore common practices or standards because someone has some printout with stats that they think back up their way of thinking. Stats can be arranged to be presented as the presenter wishes. Think about your goals and stick to them, don’t take the easy way out.

I should write that last line down and re-read it constantly. Especially when I opt for a delivered calzone instead of the salad I should make. . .

I should also correct the blog so that I walk the walk in addition to just talking the talk. . .

Damn you Derek (and Sam)! I’m trying to get some work done and you pass along this? I’ve only read the first entry and now the rest of my day is looking bad. . . .

I should have some movie posts up soon, some recent flicks didn’t pass the 3DMT™ but others are still pending. . .

what flavor pocky are you?
[c] sugardew

Nice quotes/comments:

-To the person complaining about breast feeding, and the OP who talked about someone wearing no shirt. Both of those are natural, the former should indeed be acceptable, whereas the later is debatable.

-Yeah, breastfeeding is natural. So’s shitting.

from the comments here

Just a heads-up fair warning- this is going to be a random blog update- lots
of rambling. . .

Man I need to get cable. . . or do I? My two favorite chicks on tv (for
now) are on the ol’ rabbit ears. href="http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/miscellaneous_tv/001024.php">Veronica
Mars (the lovely Kristen Bell) is on repeats getting ready for a new season (w/ Charisma Carpenter) and Elyse Luray is back for another season of The History Detectives on PBS. But still, I’d
like cable at times. . . . soccer games and all that, you know, not just goofy
shows. . .

Brian called me from the Virgin Atlantic FirstUpper Class lounge at SFO today to tell me that their free Basil Hayden’s was quite nice. Thanks for rubbing that
one in.

Happy Hour went well, except we missed Kristen who was experiencing a lack
of momentum problem. I’ll go into my momentum theory some other time. But
thanks to the people who did show up, I hope you had fun- I did.

Angie’s Bday party was quite fun as well, I didn’t take my camera, so I
don’t have any inappropriate pictures, but I’ll try to get some. I think
Angie’s 22 (again) now. I did get to see Sabeen bite someone at the party.

It’s freaking cold outside now. Stupid SF fog. Summers here are so weird.
I hurried home after work to go out for a bike ride and the fog and cold
sucked away all my momentum (see! I need to talk about this more).

Supposedly some of my Texans (Skye and Yasmin) are coming in town this week, so I’ll be meeting up with them at some point.

SJ’s leading the West in the MLS, who knew? I need to get down there for
some games. I’ve been a bit fair-weathered this season after their href="http://www.kenneths.org/flog/futbol/donovan.test">pre-season moves,
personel changes and dismal start. Anyone up for a game?