Published on
April 30, 2005 in
stuff.
Thought I should blog something today. I spend a lot of time reading other people’s blogs. I am always amazed an how much people have to say. I guess I have a lot to say but I don’t think it is blog worthy. One of my original rules for myself was to “keep away from the self-aggrandizing entrys.” Many blogs I read are the “all about me” type. These kinds of blogs are interesting enough sometimes but it is not my style to be so self absorbed. I have run accross some notably interesting blogs including Rori, Fillipe, and the incredibly fascinating almost voyeristic PostSecret.
I remember talking to people in the tech community several years ago about this budding new web based technology called blogs. At that point it was in it’s infancy. Blogging has become very popular. It is the perfect tool for web-master wannabees. Even the (so called) stars are getting into blogging. Everyone seems getting on the “blogwagon” as it were.
So, I’ll continue to post about mostly nothing and continue to read other blogs. Now that the university is going into summer session I will have even more time to blogstroll.
Published on
April 27, 2005 in
stuff.
I installed Spam Karma a couple of days ago in an effort to fight the mounting spam attacks. It seems to work well and has stoped comment spam from reaching my blog. I don’t get much traffic to my blog so I don’t know if this will interfear with others posting a comment. I could masquerade as someone else and see how it works but what’s the point of that.
Published on
April 24, 2005 in
stuff.
This is my friend Mike. Mike is a true friend. The kind of friend everyone wants but few people ever have. I ‘m blessed to have Mike as my friend. He is here with his wife Sue. Mike and Sue have been our friends for many years. Mike is a pretty cool guy. Mr. meticulous I call him. He does things in excruciating detail sometimes, and then he thinks he hasn’t done enough. Mike knows a lot too. He is a wealth of information about jazz music. He loves some sports. I’m not sure which ones but I think basketball, and fooball. Sports hold very little interest for me so I never pay attention. He and Alice have some great conversations about sports. He and I really hit it off when we realized we both liked jazz though. We have been on some great vacations together. Mike is a person you want to go on vacation with. He researches in great detail any place he visits – before he gets there. I suspect he knows more about a place when he gets there than most locals. Me, I just go to places and find out things as I go along. I like going places with Mike.
Mike recently found out he has a tumor on one of his adrenal glands. He will soon have surgery to have it removed. He is dealing with it well. I’m not. No one has said yet whether it is malignant. Most of the time these things are not. I will pray for my friend Mike. To add to that most of the time stat.
Published on
April 19, 2005 in
stuff.
I never understood how someone you know can walk past you almost brushing your shoulder and not acknowledge you. I’m not talking about when you are in a crowd. Here is a scenario: you are walking down the corridor of a building. Some you know (well) is approaching and just as you meet they turn away so as not to have to speak. Or maybe they drop their eyes to the floor so as not to engage yours. But on other days, given the same scenario, they may say hello or give a nod of acknowledgement.
All of my life I have never understood this phenomenon. A simple greeting is not dfficult and does not commit you to anything. I can remember as a child walking down the street in a small city in upstate New York and passing someone and trying my hardest to say hello. I was always baffled why some people chose not to respond or act like you are not even there. Very wierd – and it hurts.
Then there is the inevitable self examination: Do I look funny?; are they afraid of me?; are my pants unzipped?; maybe I’m walking funny; did I do something wrong?; maybe they don’t like black people; maybe they are from the south and speaking to someone black is taboo; maybe I’m imagining that I was just snubbed; maybe it isn’t normal to want to say hello to everyone you pass just because you are both members of the human race; maybe they don’t like one of my brothers and they know I’m related to him; maybe I said something I shouldn’t have; maybe I’m just not worthy; maybe they can’t talk; maybe they can’t nod; maybe they can’t smile; maybe there is something preoccupying their thoughts; maybe they didn’t notice my efforts to exchange a friendly greeting; maybe I’m wierd; maybe I’m ugly and they don’t greet ugly people; maybe it’s just me!
But I’ll keep trying to just be friendly, human, and real. 
Published on
April 18, 2005 in
stuff.
It is 2:15 a.m. and here I am again. Watching the Chappell Show “best of” and working on this blog. I meant to go to bed aroung 10:00 p.m. but here I am -again! -trying my best to go to bed by 2:30. Got to get ready for email monday.
I did add random quotes to my side bar thanks to the code Rori gave me. Thanks Mrs Maroulis!
Good night.
Published on
April 11, 2005 in
stuff.
It is 11:10 a.m. and I finally got caught up on my email from the weekend. What a chore. I was thinking about what I did before email (yes, I’m that old). I remember that reading interoffice correspondence was the task for Monday mornings – and every morning. In fact, if I needed to communicate to someone who wasn’t in the office next door I would likely:
1- pick up the phone or
2- put any ‘cya’ communication to paper and distribute it via interoffice mail, and, depending on its importance I may have even made a phone call to tell the intended recipient to expect the memo or
3- walk down the hall to talk in person or
4- not communicate the little things.
Email has changed all of that. Now there is no excuse for not communicating even the most trivial things.
I am not one for small talk so most of my email messages tend to be short and direct. Some think I am far too serious but I think I am pretty light hearted 
. I used to think I spent too much time with email but a careful analysis confirms what the experts have been saying – email is an essential tool (suprise!!). Now, if only I could get some work done…
I have a new pastime that has proven to be interesting. I start at someone’s blog and pick a random site on their blogroll to visit. From the new site I pick another random location and etc., and etc. I tend to get stuck reading each blog I visit to get a flavor for what they are all about so that so far I have visited a maximum of 7 blogs in one “stroll”. I have found very interesting blogs and people on every stroll. Since I don’t have many links on my blogroll I usually start at Rori’s or Matt’s blog both of which have a wealth of paths to start on. Maybe I’ll publish some of my future strolls. Anyway, it helps pass the time between work, studying, writing, playing Myst IV, going to the movies, remodeling our bedroom, and anything else I need a diversion from.
Published on
April 7, 2005 in
stuff.
I posted something last week that was just too painful for me to leave public so I hid it. It is still on the blog so I read it everytime I am masquerading as blog admin. But I just cannot allow it to be public yet. The few people I have been able to share this with have been so supportive. I am beginning to believe that tough times help you to discover who your real (soul mate types) friends are.
It is funny how life seems to roll along and then things take a turn that leads you to a place you didn’t want to go. Even though you may know deep down what is coming you hope, sometimes blindly, that the road will straighten out (construction ahead!) or that the turn it takes doesn’t go where you think (know) it does. But reality is a bitch sometimes.
Published on
April 5, 2005 in
stuff.
I am taking this class that had the potential to be quite interesting but has turned out to be quite boring. It is supposed be a course in advanced telecommunications and network management. The instructor’s area expertise is VoIP so guess what… right – the entire course has been focused on VoIP. I know there are other advanced topics in telecommunications but we haven’t covered them. And what about network management??? Today we started a short discussion on network management that turned into what? You guessed it – a discussion about how to manage a network when implementing VoIP. The class is interesting enough but certainly not what I expected or hoped for. Fortunately the semester is almost over. I like the instructor and find him very knowledgeable but this class is a disappointment.
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