Author Archives: brad

The basement is, as the title of this post implies, almost finished. The carpet was installed two days ago. We’ve been working on it for about a month and a half now. All that’s left is some trim and a couple door fittings.

Here’s the best part.

Click for larger image.

Yay! I finally have a home theater! The projector is nothing fancy, an Acer 1150DX, but it’s plenty for my needs. It’s hooked up to an Aiwa surround sound system and our Comcast On-Demand thingy. I still need to pick up a DVD/VCR combo, but that will probably be a Christmas present.

I’m so thankful that Jen’s dad helped out so much. I’m not very handy, so his help was invaluable. We had to build some walls, install a ton of outlets, put in a ceiling, and lots of other fun stuff, so I’d have been lost on my own.

And I’m thankful for Jen’s help and patience. She handled a lot of the painting during the day so I could work on other (mostly heavier) things at night. Not to mention cooking for her dad and me all the time! No small task, that. And also thanks to Tom for his brief but valuable help.

Jack seems to be better now. He used to enjoy going downstairs by himself, but from the time we started demolition on the old stuff to the time the new carpet came, he was beside himself. He was really stressed out and didn’t even want to come near the basement, alone or with us. As soon as the carpet was installed, he took his toys down and has been having a blast down there ever since! Weird dog.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been working on for a while now. Hopefully I can resume some regular updates now.

And I’m taking requests for movie night.

Well, there seems to be a new trend in the technopolitical world.

First, Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) endorses Bill Gates for president:

For my president I want a mixture of Mother Teresa, Carl Sagan, Warren Buffet, and Darth Vader. Bill has all of their good stuff. His foundation will save more lives than Mother Teresa ever did. He’s got the Carl Sagan intelligence and rational mind. He’s a hugely successful businessman. And I have every reason to believe he can choke people just by concentrating in their general direction. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be useful at a summit.

And Scott also points us to the new Bill Gates For President Website:

Please don’t write this website off as a joke. We are serious. We’re not trying to make fun of Bill Gates what so ever. This website is made with the greatest respect for Bill and everything he has accomplished. We would also like to point out that we are not affiliated with Bill Gates in any way. We do this because we believe in Bill, nothing more, nothing less.

Wow. That’s a lot to digest. Where to begin? I thought long and hard about what I should write on this topic. And then a Slashdot article came up, and I found a comment there by Crow T. Trollbot that percfectly sums it up:

A politician with the honesty of Bill Clinton, the dashing presence of Michael Dukakis, the sexy charisma of Hubert Humphrey, the commanding stature of Joseph Lieberman, the popularity of Gray Davis, the humble background of John D. Rockefeller, the down-home charm of John Kerry, the electoral experience of Pat Robertson, the honesty of Dan Rostenkowski, and the huge following of Dennis Kucinich!

Man, and people think Bush is an imperialist. Just wait, folks. You ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait until President Bill tries to “embrace and extend” Canada.

I think Gore Vidal said it best:

Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so.

Reuters: Chess’s world governing body will introduce dope testing at the Asian Games this week, although the sport’s top official in Doha said he had no idea how drugs could enhance chess performance.

Ummmm….. okay.

Touchstone Magazine (I don’t read the magazine, but I do occasionally read the editors’ Mere Comments website) has an interesting write up on what has become one of my favorite films (and I know I’ll annoy Mike to no end by saying this): Napoleon Dynamite.

Jen and I watched it a few months back, and we laughed hysterically through the entire movie. Now, this may just be because we had watched The Squid and The Whale the previous night, which would make any movie look good by comparison.

But I digress.

Berry College professor Michael Bailey examines the film and finds much deeper than one might expect. Upon reflection, I think he may have some very good points, that the film makes some statements about isolation and family.

From the article:

Napoleon is, in effect, the anti-Ferris Bueller. He doesn’t want to have fun so much as simply to survive. He has no friends (at least at first), he gets bullied at school, and he is scared of chickens. In his fantasy life, in contrast, he is a superhero who shoots wolverines, joins gangs who want him for his skills, and forges alliances with wizards and our “underwater ally,” the Loch Ness Monster.

Seek happiness all you want, the movie seems to suggest, but if your heart is decroded, you will still be miserable, a man in body, perhaps, but still just an unhappy boy on the school bus.

It’s an interesting read.

Lori is the sweetest. She showed up at the end of lunch today with a cake to celebrate Kodiak’s second birthday. Kodiak went live the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in 2004.

Development continues, of course. I’m currently working on a gradebook and some other goodies.

As for other plans, I’ve been wondering lately about the feasibility and usefulness of open sourcing Kodiak. It’s not mine to give away, of course, as it belongs to the school, but if they went for it, I wonder if it could help other districts.

Rambling thoughts on a Tuesday night regarding what has become, somewhat depressingly, my life’s work.

Some Flash games I’ve been digging lately:

Red
Splash
DrawPlay
N (of course)
Sling
Zwok
Blue Print
Cube Field

Rock on.

Bacon……..

I’ll admit it: I don’t like Halloween.

And no, it’s not a religious objection or anything like that. I help my daughter get dressed up and I take her trick or treating and everything. We walked all over our development tonight, along with three other families. And this past Friday, I dressed up like a pirate and went to a costume party in my neighborhood.

I just don’t like Halloween.

It’s been six years today since we lost our son. He was stillborn on October 31, 2000. And every Halloween since, I can’t help but think what he would been like, what he would have looked like.

Honestly, I don’t think about him too much anymore. Too much other stuff to do, with work and church and family. But on Halloween, I can’t help it. Once or twice tonight, I almost turned back and went home, just to sit and be alone and think about him. But I figured that wouldn’t be very productive, and I didn’t want to leave my daughter.

So yeah, I don’t like Halloween.

In fact, I hate Halloween.

It happens every morning.

Actually, it happens every nine minutes every weekday morning.

I try. I really do. Every time it happens, I promise myself it will be the last time. But alas, I always fall back into my old ways.

It starts at 6:00 AM, when my first alarm goes off. I wake up, reach over to the clock, and push the big button on the top in order to shut off the noise before it wakes up my wife. I know it won’t wake my daughter. After seven years, she’s become impervious to the alarm clock.

But once the clock has been silenced, I lie in bed and stare at the big green numbers. And I think, “I could get up early today. Get my shower and then maybe make breakfast for everyone. Maybe even get to work early. Yeah, today, I’ll turn over a new leaf. In fact, I have time to take the dog for a walk before my shower. I’m going to do this every day from now on! This is the start of a new….”

And then I fall asleep again.

I know that it goes off again at 6:09 and 6:18, but I don’t really remember it happening on any given day.

And at 6:27, all I know is that I’m clawing at every button on the clock in quiet despair, because my brian is too mushy to get the right one. Sometimes I turn on the “nap” feature, which then panics me because I don’t really know what it does.

At 6:30, my second alarm goes off. My wife bought me the dual alarm clock a few years ago. Most people buy them so that each spouse can have a distinct wake up time. Not me. I have one because I have actually outslept my old alarm clock. It stopped trying to wake me up several times.

There’s another alarm at 6:36, and another at 6:39. That’s about the time I think, “Okay, no more fooling around. If I don’t get up now, I’m not going to….”

And then I fall asleep again. Until 6:45. At which point, I disable all alarms and climb out of bed to begin my morning routine. Or, if it’s an especially bad day, sometimes I unconsciously disable all alarms and then go back to sleep, only to be awakened some time after 7:00 by the cartoons my daughter is watching.

Now, before anyone tells me that I need to get more sleep, let me just say: “No duh.”

But the fact is, I usually feel better on less sleep, within reason. Less than about four hours, and I’m worthless. With between four and five hours of sleep, I can get up pretty well. Anything between six and nine hours, and I feel like a zombie in the morning. With nine and up, I’m a bit groggy, but generally okay.

1. Star Wars: The Mandalorian Armor by K. W. Jeter
2. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry
3. Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers
4. Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton
5. Star Wars: X-Wing: Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole
6. Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston
7. Star Wars: X-Wing: Iron Fist by Aaron Allston
8. Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command by Aaron Allston
9. Star Wars: The Paradise Snare (Book 1 of The Han Solo Trilogy) by A. C. Crispin
10. Star Wars: Rebel Dawn (Book 3 of The Han Solo Trilogy) by A. C. Crispin

Yes, I’m that much of a nerd.

But I only spent five bucks.