So, my business trip has been postponed. We are now looking at March tentatively. $wife is a bit disappointed, for all the reasons she was excited to be going. Now we are going about canceling our tickets, and trying to figure out what to do with the winter clothes we bought for the trip. At least my company is being more than decent about it, and is offering to reimburse the fees we incur for $wife's ticket (in addition to mine, which they are paying for in the first place), since we had no control over the changing of the trip. I'd love to say, "We'll just take a vacation week and go anyway", but we couldn't afford the hotel or rental car, and it isn't that great of a vacation destination anyway Well, guess that means I go back to plotting where to take $wife out-of-state to first. Any suggestions?
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Black Dogs, Electric Sheep, & Dysphoric Humans
So, I'm feeling quite dysphoric today. I can't concentrate at all, and I'm tired. I had a hard time trying to figure out exactly what I was experiencing. At first I thought I was just tired and not feeling well from sinus (cedar season just began) and getting over a cold. Then I thought, maybe I'm restless from it almost being the holiday weekend, and still needing to go shopping for a gift. However, I also just want to curl up and go to sleep, although I'm not sure I could. (If you don't know, ask your local geek what electric sheep have to do with sleeping (and more specifically, dreaming) And, even if I wasn't at work, I don't know what I'd be doing. Nothing sounds like I'd enjoy it.
I hate this feeling. I almost find myself wishing I was depressed instead, because that's a little easier to deal with. Of course, I wouldn't agree while being depressed. I was diagnosed as having bi-polar disorder several years ago. The symptoms used to be out of control, now they are just really annoying for a couple of days at a time, and pretty much forgotten about the rest of the time. Of course, it'd be nice for them to just go away altogether, but I'm pretty happy that they aren't running my life, or dictating what I do on a daily basis anymore.
I'm not presently on medicine. I used to be, and honestly, it was just as bad, in a way all it's own. It lessened the duration of my depression phases, but heightened the sensation of mixed states and dysphoria. The dysphoric states it created basically left me feeling as though my body was depressed, but my mind couldn't be because of the medicine, or the other way around. Things just never were in sync.
I'm doing much better now, and the majority of my days are just normal, which is quite nice. As for today, it's almost over anyway (the work portion that is), and usually by the time I've figured out what is bothering me, its only a day or two from going away. So, Happy Holidays to everyone!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Movie Review: King Kong
Friday, December 02, 2005
Christmas Time Tackiness
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Fasting
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Happy Belated Thanksgiving Day
Monday, November 21, 2005
Interesting Quote Today
This was one of my quotes for the day, courtesy of my Google homepage:
I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises. Neil Armstrong US astronaut (1930 - )
Now, it's an interesting quote, until you look at who said it. Then is just becomes a bit odd. This is an Apollo astronaut. I don't think he got their without exercising. Perhaps he was referring to exercising just for the sake of exercise, not when it is part of accomplishing a larger goal. Of course, there is no context available, such as when he said it, to whom, and what the immediate preceding bit of conversation was. Still, it caught my interest for a moment.
-- Madasi
Monday, November 14, 2005
Update Overdue
Well, I made, and immediately broke, my decision on weekly posting frequencies. It's just been one of those two week periods!
The whole family is sick. My wife is getting over it, but still feels it. Our kids are somewhere in the middle of it, and I'm just starting the cycle. It's some kind of cold/flu crud. I couldn't ever tell the difference between the two. Lots of congestion, and runny noses in the kids, sore throats, itchy ears, sore muscles all over, and a general lack of sleep. Fun for the whole family!
Looking down the road, I have a business trip coming up next year. A trip to Buffalo, NY, in January! People keep telling me I'm crazy, and that I'll hate it as soon as I step outside into a real winter. I've got mixed emotions about the trip. I'm pretty excited, because it'll be my first real business trip anywhere. I also enjoy flying a lot, and relish any excuse to do so. However, I'm not looking forward to going through the current hassle they call airport security these days.
My wife may get to come with me, maybe. I'm excited about that! I think she will have a blast. Unfortunately, I'm not sure she will get to come. We can't afford the ticket (my company will cover the room, car rental, and my plane ticket. My wife is permitted to come, but we pay for her ticket), so we were going to use some frequent flyer miles to get one. Or so we thought. I've cycled back and forth countless times now, between getting excited because she can go, and being bummed out because I found out she can't. If she gets to come, I'm gonna be ecstatic. She's never flown, never seen snow, and never been to another state before. The idea of getting to share all those firsts with her, and to have her along for some of my own (first business trip, first time to NY, first time driving in snow!) gets me all warm and cuddly inside. I think we'll have to bring some of her special hot chocolate along.
Well, I mentioned in my last post about looking for a traffic stat service for here, and guess what Google rolls out! They call it Google Analytics. It (optionally) ties in with the their Adwords program, so you may see a small one popping up here in the future. Maybe. I might decide that even a small one is too corporate for this website. Not that I've figured out my voice, or my audience yet. Just thinking aloud.
Well, that covers it for the moment.
-- Madasi
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Maintenance Issues
I (finally) kept my promise, and removed the Haloscan commenting system, reverting to the built-in Blogger system instead. Anyone can post, you just have to pass a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Program to Tell Computers and Humans Apart, in case you were curious), to help fight blog spam.
Speaking of blog spam, it was in the news the other day, being called splog. Come on, splog? I thought spam was a bad name. Personally I would have gone with blam! But, I'm afraid my wife is right, it sounds too cool.
At the moment, the website stats service I was using has been down for many, many months. It was really good, and I keep hoping it'll re-open soon, and be better than ever! However, I may have to begin the search for a replacement. The point being, for the moment, I have no way of knowing how many visitors are stopping by. (Or if visitors are stopping by.)
Well, the weather is chilly, which doesn't happen too often here in Texas, so I'm off to bed to snuggle with my wife. G'Night!
Monday, October 24, 2005
Posting Frequencies: Revisited
So, I've decided to revisit the issue of posting frequencies. I think I need some more stability in scheduling my life. Instead of the current, get up & go to work, work, get off work, do stuff until I go to bed in time to get up in the morning for work.
As such, I'm beginning here, on my blog. And I'm doing it with this commitment: I will do everything in my power to make a minimum of one post every week, if at all feasible. (In other words, barring emergencies, or family tragedies.)
So, you heard it hear first, I'm going to try to be less of a perfectionist, and post more often, even if it's not quite "finished". One method of facilitating this, is that I'm trying out the ability to post by e-mailing a special address. This should make posting as simple as firing off an e-mail during my day. My logic is that if I make it easier to do, I'll be able to make myself when I have to, and it won't limit me if I want to, but am short on time.
So, until next time, Madasi
-- "I reject your reality, and substitute my own!" - Adam Savage, Mythbusters
Friday, September 09, 2005
Slow Down and Hear the Windchimes
Monday, August 08, 2005
Rated PH for Parental Humor Only
Saturday, July 30, 2005
B-Day
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
As Seen on /.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The Stupidest Lawsuit Since the World Began
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Salon.com Books | "Shut up and act"
I'm not going to bother explaining who Bruce is, if you don't already know, go get a little culture in your life! I'll just say, I'm a fan! The article discusses, among other things, his new book and mentions some upcoming movies he is involved in. (Including an Evil Dead remake!)
Go. Read it. Now.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Optimus keyboard
But the idea of a re-programmable keyboard, who's keys display exactly what they control in realtime sounds pretty cool! Now, I'm sure you'd have to do some work getting the proper pictures set up if you were creating a new key mapping for a program, but the reward might be worthwhile!
But, conversely, I can see this getting hijacked as well. One moment you are browsing the web normally, and the next your keyboard is displaying all kinds of NSFW images all over it! Very not cool! But, in the end, I'd buy one if it was available today. (Assuming infinite resources!)
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Wehaddababyit'saboy!
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Filler_ninja's Xanga Site
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
X days to go!
Friday, April 01, 2005
Google Gulp
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
A Note on Comments
Markl's Thoughts: Shipping Software
On Posting Frequencies
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Movie Thoughts & I Weigh 321 lbs.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Comparisons
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
GMail
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Hooray!
Monday, January 31, 2005
Intuit Up to Shadowy Business Practices
Sunday, January 30, 2005
My Destined Eye Color!

Your eye color is dark blue. You rely on your logic
solely, and may have more mature interests than
many of your friends and family your age. You
can sometimes also be interverted and lonely
from a lack of understanding with people, and
can be rather frustrated with some types of
folke. Some may describe you as cold and
distant, and you are honest with how you feel
about things.
What Color Eyes Should You Have? ( With Anime Pictures ^-^ )
brought to you by Quizilla
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Sysadmin.isSmart == false;
Monday, January 24, 2005
Wall Drug
Monday, January 17, 2005
Explanations
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Copyleft Commies
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Bittersweet Moments
Finding out we were pregnant again was my bittersweet moment. We have a daughter already, and she is, of course, the light of my life. She brings joy into our household daily, and makes me curse the necessity of going to work, and not seeing her grow up. But then, anybody with children knows what I'm talking about already. However, finding out that another child is on the way made us stop and think. First we wondered if it was too soon. After all, our first daughter will only be 18 months when this baby is born. Family tended to heavily voice their opinion that it was too soon. However, friends were on both sides of the issue, with some advising to have all our children as close together as possible. This, however, is obviously a moot point because the baby is already on the way. (Train ... left ... station ... blah, you get the point!) No, my main cause for concern was money. When our daughter was born,we were both working crap jobs. (For the same company, no less.) And, because of timing and minor pregnancy complications, we had to pay the deductible twice. Or, more accurately, we are still trying to pay off those bills. Shortly after finding out we were pregnant the first time, we were told by a nurse, who helped people fill out government paperwork, that we made too much to qualify for any government assistance, so we never applied. Later, we found out that we would in fact have been eligible for Medicaid, and it would have paid it all, but by then it was too late. As things stand now, we've moved more than 5 times in the last two years. I now have my first good job. My wife has a crappy job, and is actively looking for a better one, with no luck. We now know we make too much for any government assistance, as we just went rounds with a caseworker about this. (If things keep up, there may be a rant coming up about the incompetence we have dealt with there!) So, right now, ends are meeting, barely. We both get paid weekly, and most weeks we have less than $5 in the bank on Friday, before we deposit our paychecks. We make enough to get by, on paper. However, neither of us have any experience at truly budgeting, or living on one. So, now that we have another baby coming up, I need to get insurance coverage for my family through my job. (Didn't have it before because we were on Medicaid through this month, residual from the period we weren't working. We don't want to be taking tax money to live, it's actually rather embarrassing to my pride, however, at the time it was the only way to put food on the table.) So, that's about $300 per month out of my check, plus a $2000 deductible come delivery time. Just the monthly premium will stop the ends from meeting, and I have no idea where the deductible will be coming from. In addition to that, my wife's job has begun cutting back her hours, and will probably keep whittling away at them. And, as you can see from that bank balance I quoted, we need every penny she was making to begin with. So, we are looking at scenarios. She doesn't know it yet, but I'm toying with the idea of a part-time second job. Maybe at a small computer shop, or the local cyber cafe thingy. (Hey, I'm a nerd, it's what I know best.) We are talking about dropping cable, cell phones, and yes, blasphemy, internet access. We don't see many movies these days anyway, because our daughter won't sit through them. And television sucks all our time away without giving anything back. So, that's the bitter in my bittersweet. But, I don't think I'd change it if I could. I've found life throws difficult things your way, but that in the end, if you respond properly, good things can, and will, come out of it. That's how I met my wife. But, that's another long boring (for you) entry.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Alton Brown Goodness!
Monday, January 03, 2005
Dating Games
Gotta Get My Stuff Done
Great little animation, and I'm not sure what the style is, with how you kinda see the hand drawing it, sometimes. Interesting effect, in my opinion. Now, I gotta get my sleeping done, my wife commands it!