Yee-haaaaaw!

OK, it's been (as of about nine this morning) a week free of the nico-beast. I smoked about a carton a week. That's a little over thirty bucks. If you believe these numbers, that's about 2200 minutes I didn't take away from my life (at 11 minutes a smoke). That's the most important part to me...

Well, ladies and gents, it's time to run. We have to go catch our best friends (and their ever-enjoyable kiddies) for breakfast. Mmmmm, breakfast......

Y'all come back now....

For your viewing pleasure....

Here are the folks I was tied up in a classroom with at Browns Ferry from Jan. 2006 to Feb. 2007.



They were a pretty damn fine group of people. Hope none of them object to being put online...

Tonight I kind of got to wondering...

how these beasties are doing. I know about the cat. She has taken to meowing frequently...

All in all, just another average day...

Come home, see Suzanne for a very little bit, and attempt to crash...

Unfortunately, today's sleep was interrupted in the middle. Once I was up, I found other things to do for an hour. Heck, Steven Wright was on TV for a while. That guy cracks me up...

No cigarettes yet! In fact, it's getting easier. But as always, it will still be a long road ahead. Such is life...

Wow, Wal-Mart was NOT very exciting at 3AM...

At least I got everything I think I require for a few days. I'm actually happy to have gotten out of the house because jackin' around on the computer or checkin' out the boob tube just wouldn't have cut it. Boredom really makes my mouth yearn for some nicotine, but I haven't broken yet. I think I'm truly feeling all of the right motivation this time...

It's going on 2-1/2 days...

You might ask for what....

I've decided that it's high time that I made a real attempt at quitting smoking. I've half-ass tried a few times over the years, but this time feels different. It seems like I have much more desire right now. MUCH MORE! I haven't fired one up since Saturday morning. The crazy thing is that there's not a whole lot of withdrawal anxiety yet. It might come....

Tonight will provide an interesting test of my willpower because I will be absolutely bored most of the night (except for the planned 3AM trip to Wal-Mart). I think that it'll go just fine...

I can't remember the last time...

I slept for 6 hours and felt über-refreshed. I am satisfied...

Though at least a few people at work think I'm an odd bird (particularly for wearing a kilt)....

It's a ways off, but...

In future elections, a great thing to ask a candidate (legislative or executive) would be how they would prevent us from getting into a war that seemingly has no end. Though it's in the past, the Congress relinquished their power to declare war with their open-ended allowance for the President in 2002. I would love to be reasonably assured that the Congress will probe harder the next time. Hillary has been getting hammered for her vote a little bit on the campaign trail. The questioning should continue and grow for the incumbents who voted yea back in 2002...

I finally changed the CD in my car out. I was kickin' it to Prodigy on the way into work last night. I hadn't listened to Firestarter for quite some time...

I'm tired as heck so I'm out of here. Y'all have fun!

This is the worst part of having a day off during the night shift...

I am almost fully acclimated to the hours again, but finding something to do in the wee hours of the morning can be rough. At least there's interaction with other people at work. I do kind of miss (from my last plant, Quad Cities) the ability to work on my off night. Back then, I'd do eight hours so I could see Suzanne before I went in. We did have fun today. We met our best friends for a good dinner at TGIFriday's. One strange thing was succumbing to the sleepy monster around 11PM or so. I didn't figure that I would be able to sleep after I had a triple shot espresso beverage from Starbuck's around 9:30. Fortunately, it was a short nap....

I am still thoroughly captivated! VNV's CD has some awesome stuff....

My ennui led me to read some of the news. I thought that one cool story was about one of Scott McNealy's ventures. It's called Curriki. Another related concept is Open CourseWare. Very cool ideas...

In closing:

Words cannot express the sorrow I (and many other people) feel about the horrible events at Virginia Tech yesterday. I hope for the quickest possible healing for everyone involved.

It feels so good to be alive (not that it ever felt bad)...

I do believe that I'm finally getting into the groove of nights. It's about time. Concerning restfulness, yesterday and the day before were atrocious. I think I'm getting my vamp back on now...

April's been fairly cool so far (wetaher-wise). I haven't been following the weather from where we were in Illinois. I was kind of hoping that it would be consistently warmer here. We had a decent stretch of warmth in March. The heat will come...

Is it time for new internets? Some of these people think so...

http://cleanslate.stanford.edu
http://100x100network.org
http://orbit-lab.org
http://geni.net

Well folks, the time has come. See ya....

I'm obsessed!

Please click read more...

I suppose that it may have been inevitable given my nature. I find something that I absolutely love and become completely fixated. I have not listened to any other music (save for the country music radio that Suzanne made me listen to in the car the other night) since I purchased Judgement on Saturday evening. When I discover something of beauty (lest we forget, eye of the beholder), I focus on it to discover every nuance and analyze exactly what it is that I find so enthralling. I must be weird...

I'm hoping that my sparse amount of sleep today doesn't kick my booty around three in the morning. It's a strange day when I don't sleep well...

Well, if this first day is any indication (no, I haven't even gone in yet)....

I was correct in remembering just how much of a lifesucker the nights can be. Not in terms of sleep....

I actually slept very well. In fact, I got down just before Suzanne woke up. Therein lies the rub. I won't really see her until the weekend. She works here in the daytime. I'll see her on Saturday, Sunday, and my day off on Monday.

It could be worse. As I've told several people in the past, I tend to look at these things relatively. Unlike my time on an aircraft carrier, I still come home every day. There's a lot to be said for the sacrifice of military folks. And let's not forget those who support the military, either. Some of them have to be gone from home quite a bit as well.

I suppose I'd better get stirring now. I have to get ready. Y'all have fun....

I hadn't followed the Imus thing much...

In fact, today was the first time I heard any of the uproar. I would like to hope that I wouldn't have said something like that. But...

I'm guilty of helping to perpetuate a double standard regarding racially charged material. I frequently watched Chapelle's Show and I still enjoy Mind of Mencia. Over dinner on Sunday night, I was noting to Suzanne how Carlos Mencia wouldn't get away with some of the things he says if he was a white male. I've never heard Sharpton raise hell about Chapelle or Mencia. That's no excuse for what Imus said. But it's still a double standard...

Imus has apolgized. He will take a public flaying. However, in light of other racially questionable material that continues to air without a ruckus, I hope that Imus doesn't get the boot...

Last free night for a while...

Sure I'll be off once a week from here on out to June, but it won't approach the nice chill-out state that I've been in since Friday. I didn't succeed in beating the sleep monster last night. I guess I was more beat down than I had thought. That can happen when you party too hard. I think I'm ready to go for tonight...

It has been weird being nearly idle for several days in a row. But I wouldn't exactly say that I've missed being at work. Tonight we ate pizza with a couple of friends and their kids. Always fun!

For what it's worth, Suzanne and our friends thought I looked super spiffy in my concert shirt and kilt get-up....

By the way...

I just remembered that I had actually heard the show closer (yes, I'm still on that) before...

I had looked up some VNV stuff on YouTube and ran across this little ditty. The video's not "official" or anything but it's fairly well done. The visuals at the show for this song were SWEET!

Phenomenal!

As usual, VNV put on a KILLER show! The supporting band (And One) did a great job as well. VNV did a nice mix of new and old and even had a couple of tunes from their upcoming release. Speaking of their upcoming release (Judgement) (go here for samples), it is a kickin' piece of work. There are a number of things I dig about VNV. A few of them are complexity, emotion, and grinding beats. Judgement does not disappoint. I also have to get some of their older stuff if I can. They did an older piece that I don't recall hearing (I probably just don't remember it) before. Moving....

As an added bonus, I got up early enough and out on the road soon enough to get back and have an Easter lunch with Suzanne and my in-laws. We also got to go out to eat with my Mom and Kenneth this evening. I figured that we'd better do that since this will be the last time we can go out to eat with them on a Sunday night for a while.

Time to try and stay awake until the morning....

Y'all have fun!

The zero hour approaches....

I'm just about to set out on my trek to Atlanta. I figured that I should make some last minute java. Suzanne and I just got back from having breakfast with Ric, Teresa, William and the kids. I think it's going to end up being a LONG day (and night). That's what caffeine and Red Bull are for. I'm ready to go! Suzanne's going to go visit with her family. I'll bet there are still tickets to the show. If y'all can make it, I highly recommend seeing VNV....

For everyone who celebrates it, Happy Easter (in advance)...

Peace!

Woohoo! I'm starting my several days off a little bit early...

I just called in to work to take an extra day off. I hate burning the time, but after the last couple of days, I'm SO ready to just chill for a little while. Plus, this will give me a chance to adjust to vampire time....

Of course I'm still looking forward to seeing VNV Nation in HotLanta!

The news was just talking about the latest foodborne (peanut butter) Salmonella outbreak. See more here. It doesn't take much.

Here's some decent news from the Middle East. It's always cool to see situations like that work out for the best.

Burning the American flag is STUPID!

However, I happen to be one of "those" who doesn't think it should be against the law. There's a long discourse about that. But the heart of the matter is that although the act offends many people, it causes no direct harm to anyone. Where are the laws against other forms of stupid? Anyway, it seems that three Yale students were arrested for burning a flag. When I first saw the headline, I thought to myself "Oh crap, not another silly flag-burner case!" The biggest problem in this case is that the flag was affixed to someone else's home. They need a good flogging for that. The Supreme Court ruled that flag-burning was protected under the First Amendment in 1989. See here for more of a history about flag burning. I remember when that little Constitutional amendment about flag desecration was introduced and narrowly defeated just last year. As can be expected, the measure was re-introduced in the House in January 2007 as H.J.Res.9 and H.J.Res.12. Time to fight again...

Ticket? Check. Hotel? Check.

I wouldn't exactly say it was self-mutilation....

New holes in my ears? You've probably guessed it, check.



In case you wondered exactly what's new, there's a hoop on each ear right up about the middle of the ear and close to the outside. I know it's probably kind of odd, but look at the source. I actually cringed a little bit as the needle broke through the cartilage....

I think the next art (for Art) will be a little ink.

Well, that's all I have to say about that. We're supposed to get some stormy weather this evening. Hopefully we'll finally get some rain.....