Month: January 2005

My Victory Sub

I cashed in the first of my “victory subs” yesterday. The spoils weren’t as spectacular as I’d expected them to be. In fact, by the time I actually ate the sandwich, it has been mashed by a water bottle and all the oil & vinegar goodness had settled to one side of the sandwich, leaving the other side dry and flaky.

Still, it was pretty good. Its hard not to be good when its a Spicy Italian with nearly everything on it. (pickles, mayo and mustard on an italian sub – nasty!) I’m not the biggest fan of subway, but they do a good job fitting a lot of veggies onto their subs, and the spicy italian is a great sandwich. Now if only the artists that work there wouldn’t be so stingy with the oil and vinegar…

Apple stuff

I still get tingly during MacWorld events. This one is supposed to be as big as others in the past, and I’m kind of hoping for the headless iMac/PVR thing. I don’t need office software.

Also, timed with the event was a protest over Apple’s e-waste policies. I agree whole-heartedly that companies should be heavily involved in cleaning up after themselves, especially those who profit so greatly on disposable products (fast food?). But I’d also like to point out that my macs haven’t needed trashing yet. My 1997 Power Computing clone was shelter bound, and my G3 (circa 1999) is still humming along and hosting this site. If absorbing the cost of waste helps Apple make their computers last even longer, I’d be all for it. But I wouldn’t mind getting something a little faster.

Mutts against Hate

Not in my dog park!

Barley was all about the anti-fascist rally today. Sporting a NIMDP (“not in my dog park”) sign, we all strolled around the park in attempt to make clear that we don’t really want neo-nazis in our neighborhood. We had some trouble picking out slogans for Barley because we didn’t want to make them seem like they were making light of a serious issue, so we settled on NIMDP and Mutts against hate.

Hair is cool and Mutts against a master breed were both nixed. But I think Elwood Blues was right when he said “I hate Illinois (or Oregon) Nazis”, not that we saw any.

Wedding photos

After three years of avoidance, we’ve (mostly Michelle) have started trying to put together a real album. We’re not the happiest with photos from our wedding, which I suppose is to be expected when the photographer shows up late, takes all the photos in the same spot, and misses important details like malfunctioning wardrobes. We were sharing these sentiments with family when we learned that the photographer actually indirectly asked for my father-in-law not to take pictures.

We were shocked to say the least, but then the anger set in. You mean we could have had more usable photos?!? But we don’t because the photographer not only did a crappy job, but she thwarted others from taking pictures.

The irony I guess is that both of our families put a pretty high interest on photography. Irony with paper-cut and lemon juice.

iGIS a.k.a. ArcCatalog

I’ve started GIS I this term and today’s lab introduced me to ArcCatalog, which is an awesome way to browse, preview and manage your spatial data. 3+ years ago we just haphazardly moved stuff between directories using Windows Explorer and often got stung. It was not an elegant way to handle data.

This is the equivalent of an iTunes for GIS data, but it’s not a free app. That’s fine though since it does way more than an iApp does. You can search based on name, file type, geographic region, and more. You can also search locally or on remote locations that you can connect to over the internet. I’m quite impressed and look forward to using it on something more than a simple exercise.

Rap Skits

I’m not sure who is propogating the myth, but skits on rap albums are not funny. In fact, I can count the number of entertaining skits on one hand. And that includes those that are just mildly entertaining the first time.

Take a lesson from indie labels. Stop recording 74 or 80 minute albums if you’ve only got 45 minutes worth of music. Hell, just release an EP. That’s cool in many circles. If you need an excuse, just say you love vinyl.

Culinary Contributions

My contributions to the culinary world include (and are pretty much limited to):

  • Smartground vegetarian Sloppy Joes
  • Stout and Sriracha Bratwurst
  • Ham flavored IPA
  • A few one-of-a-kind sandwiches (i.e. spaghetti, salsa, cheese and pepperoni wraps)
  • Artichoke, green chili and Jalapenos dip (I added the hot peppers, which I’ll count as a contribution in the loosest sense of the word)

Its painfully obvious that I’m a culinary dunce. Most of my work has been with sandwiches and leftovers.