My latest attempts at self help involve what I call "achieving little victories"--small steps towards the person who I want to be. A lot of times a little victory is my finally doing stuff that I've been pocrastinating from doing, that in some way slightly reduces the quality of my life.

So far, the lttle victories I've one include getting most of the plastic wrap up on my bay (aka ball-turret) window, getting more sleep each night, and getting my hair cut today. I was particularly bad about the last one in the past few weeks, because I had been going to a place in Orchard Park, which is a bit of a drive, especially considering that the only time I can go is during the weekends because although it's close to work, barber's hours are almost identical to the bank-type hours I work at (still much better than retail work hours, though).

Still requiring some perseverence is dieting and housecleaning and doing worthwhile things that benefit society. But that's the thing about little victories, they're easy to accomplish and if you don't win them right away you don't feel too bad about it.

69 confession questions

1. The phone rings. Who do you want it to be?

Someone I enjoy talking to. Somone from back home. Or a telemarkered with a sexy voice.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?

Unless the snow's too deep.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?

Depends on how well I know the person and how comfortable I am with them. People who don't know me well think I'm shy and withdrawn. People who are the closest to me wish I would shut up for at least five minutes.

4. Do you take compliments well?

Yes and no. If complemented by someone who does something I disapprove of, sometimes I find it hard to confront them about what's bothering me.

5. Do you play Sudoku?

I'm paid to sit in front of a computer screen and solve logic problems for nine long hours a day. Do the math (pun intended). Satre said hell is other people, but I've often thought hell to be coming home from a hard day at work to a living room full of sudoku puzzles.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?

My guess would be that many of the things that currently make survival a challenge for me in a civilized world would greatly aid my survival in the wilderness.

7. Are you flexible enough to give yourself a good time?

No, I find watching yoga videos exceptionally boring. And who can honestly take Rodney Yi seriously?

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid?

Till I was twelve. I never had a busty blonde counselor in training make me man, though they helped improved my archery and arts and crafts skills immeasurably.

9. What was your favorite game as a kid?

Candyland.

10. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, would you?

I've never really been pursued, so the thought's never occurred to be. My soul has enough evil to deal with, so probably no.

11. How many people have you picked up using Myspace?

Myspace is for lamerz, dude.

12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?

I've dated people of other religions before. But they weren't really religious, so it was a moot point.

13. Do you like to pursue or be pursued?

If I were persued, it would probably be an ago trip. If I were any good at persuing, like picking out a girl cashier at Wegmans and successfully picking her up, that would kick ass. But that would require understanding unspoken languages that us semi-autistic folk can't understand.

14. Use three words to describe yourself?

Cryptoloquacious, semiprescient, hyperbombastic.

15. Do any songs make you cry?

Certain hymns make me feel very emotional, but it's not really a sad kinda thing.

16. Are you continuing your education?

Does one really ever stop learning?

17. Do you know how to shoot a gun?

I've shot bolt action 22's at camp. Unfortunately, it wasn't busty counselors who taught me.

18. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed?

All the paperwork needed to make it look like an accident.

19. How often do you read books?

Having recently graduated college, reading for pleasure is still a hard to accept idea.

20. Do you think more about the past, present or future?

On my plane of existence, they are no different.

21. What is your favorite children's book?

"I had trouble getting to Solla Sollew" by Dr. Seuss.

22. What color are your eyes?

Brown, though until I was 8 I demanded they be recognized as green.

23. How tall are you?

Not tall enough.

24. Where is your dream house located?

Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water.

25. Best vacay ever?

A carribean cruise two years ago.

26. Coolest picture?
of me??

The one is high school when I had a lot more hair and a lot less fat.

27. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth

It's on my to-do list.

28. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden?

Two years ago with a psycho friend, I think. She was nothing but trouble. I should look her up some time.

29. How about the movies?

When I saw Casino Royale last month.

30. Where was the furthest place you traveled today?

Orchard Park.

31. 69 or 420?

42.

32. Do you like mustard?

I abhor it except when used as a dry powdered spice.

33. Do you prefert to sleep or eat?

I've sometimes been told I'm part cat, so all of both. One preferably right after the other.

34. Do you look like your mom or dad?

My dad.

35. How long does it take you in the shower?

Depends on who I'm with. ;)

36. Can you do a split?

Maybe, and I'll end up splitting a lot more than just my legs.

37. What movie do you want to see right now?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. With Richard Harris as Dumbledore. But I guess it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

38. What's the most subversive thing you've ever done?

Fill in missing questions in questionaires to see if some people don't read carefully and actually answer the very embarrasing questions I put in.

39. What did you do for New Year's?

Hung out with a good friend in Chapel Hill.

40. Do you think The Grudge was scary?

I didn't see it. I just can't see a movie where Sarah Michelle Gellar runs away from bad guys instead of kicking their ass. Because Buffy just kicks that much ass.

41. Do you laugh a lot?

I usually "laugh on the inside" unless something is unbearably, unbelievably funny. I laugh on the inside a lot, but it's only once in a blue moon I'll really laugh out loud really hard, and usually it's at something no one else regards as funny.

42. Do you own a camera phone?

Is it even possible to buy a phone without a camera in this day and age?

43. What's your favorite position?

I think that the positions of both the Republicans and Democrats have some merit, though one based more on reason and the other the based of emotion.

44. Was your mom a cheerleader?

Her town was too small to have a football team.

45. What's the last letter of your middle name?

Classified information.

46. how many hours of sleep do you get a night?

3 when I'm irresponsible. 7 if I'm good.

47. Do you watch MTV?

Being 31, I'm am technically classified as the "MTV generation", which sits in-between generation X and generation Y. I can remember back in the day when they used to play music instead of being the 24-hour a day Real World marathon they've turned into. So no, I haven't watched MTV since the early 90's. I'd watching it again if they started playing music videos again.

48. Do you like care bears?

"Care Bear Stare!!!!!!!!!"

49. What do you buy at the movies?

The world largest keg of diet coke.

50. Do you know how to play poker?

I keep learning and keep forgetting.

51. Do you wear your seatbelt?

No sense in being a missle.

52. What do you wear to sleep?

All the gifts the creator gave me.

53. Anything big ever happen in your hometown?

There was the several Duke championships, the Peterson murder trial (I went to school with his son), and the Duke Lacrosse case (the chief prosecutor lives two doors down from my parents).

54. How many meals do you eat a day?

1 - 2 big meals with occasional grazing in-between.

55. Is your tongue pierced?

No. I am reminded of a funny commentary on that, however:

56. Do you always read MySpace bulletins?

What are those?

57. Most visited webpage?

(e:strip)

58. Do you like funny or serious people better?

John Cleese strikes a wonderful balance between the two.

59. Ever been to L.A.?

The farthest west I've ever been is Milwaukee.

60. Did you eat a cookie today?

No. That's solely the realm of blue monsters, and I am not blue in the least.

61. Do you use cuss words in other languages?

Merde! Ces questions sont tres stupides.

62. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads?

I pay for my music, because people who steal music provide the media industry with all the excuse they ever need to do DRM stuff like make it so I can't watch a DVD I legally buy from Japan or prevent me from recording TV shows on my computer. There are some people who desperately want to control how I use my technological devices and who will want to charge me for every little insignificant thing I do with them. If I steal music, I am in effect giving those people even more power and filling their quivers full of arrows. And if I ever find myself in some kind of showdown with these people over their tactics, I'd like the piece of mind that I am 100% in the moral right.

63. Do you hate chocolate?

No, but I don't love it to the extent that women usually do.

64. What do you and your parents fight about the most?

We bicker, we don't fight. Usually it's about some inertia issues of mine.

65. Are you a gullible person?

I don't know, but I'll take your word for it.

66. Do you need a boyfriend/girlfriend to be happy?

I've spent most of my life without a significant other and I useless feel powerless to change this situation. It's been a significant source of strife for me in the past, but I've gotten used to it by this point.

67. If you could have any job (assuming you have the skills) what would it be?

Something that's lets me push the boundaries of creative and technology for the common human good.

68. Are you easy to get along with?

To a fault.

69. What is your favorite time of day?

3:00PM, but it has to be a nice day.

I've got too much to do to write a long post right now. I've spent most of superbowl sunday caulking my bay window. I had to pull down all the thermal plastic I had put up in November because all the wind blowing straight through the window had pulled the thermal plastic from its mooring tape. Yes, it's really scary that wind cuts right through my bay window, which is why it as of tonight sports more silicone than all tonight's half-time show dancers put together.

With most of the sources of leaks accounted for and plugged the next round of plastic should go on far easier and stay on far longer. It's kind of depressing, though, that what should be the comfiest room in my house that I should find the most soothing has turned into that which is most painfully cold. Home should be the place that makes you feel comfortable for the few hours you get to spend inside of it, and I'd like for my living room to exemplify that. I won't bitch and be a pussy about having to walk outside in freezing temperatures wearing a big down jacket that everyone says is way to heavy. I'll take those lumps. But inside my own damn house, things should be different, dammit.

Incidentally, the really sick part of my personality feels that it would have been splendid weekend for an outdoors ice cream party. I keep imagining a box of ice cream sitting outside on a table, and it never melts, and it all seems really cool.

For the past two days, I've had the New Order song "Bizarre Love Triangle" playing in my head, and it isn't going away. It's driving me nuts.

Going further off on a tangent, these guys so totally have the right idea about how to spend an icy winter. If Buffalo had hot springs, and I was Japanese, and I was a monkey, I would so totally be a Buffalo Japanese hot spring monkey.

Finally someone has come up with a solution that will let (e:paul) develop natively for Internet Explorer while making sure that firefox-using (e:peeps) can still use their favorite browser.

Recently, the weather has been kinda like the winters back home. Cold, unbearably rainy and wet (not like a good dry snow) and punctuated by ice storms.

If the trend has to continue, I'd certainly hope that a Bojangles would fall down from the sky and relieve my sweet tea withdrawal.

I need to cut back on the caffeinated beverages.

The entire day, I've Grandmaster Flash's song "White Lines" running through my head. While I probably could never get tired of hearing that thumpin' bass line intermixed with people screaming "Freeze! Rock!", this is getting a little sick.

Goals for this weekend:

1. Make a dish from this book.

So far, it looks like a pretty decent cookbook with fairly hassle-free recipes for simple stuff.

2. Read more Hitcherhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, so I will be even less oblivious to the cultural references on Slashdot than I currently am, and will thus know where my towel is.

3. Drag my lazy butt to see Perfume before it goes out of theaters.

4. Try to do something social with another human being.

I am salivating. Severely.

I've wanted to write programs for cellphones for years, but most mobile manufacturers make the process needlessly difficult. I've looked at Windows mobile, but I can't find a single, bare bones "Hello World" visual basic/c# tutorial anywhere on Microsoft's site (lots of pretty promotional crap, though). And the mobile java community has had it's head shoved up its ass for years (how many acroynyms and layers of abstraction does one need, anyways?). And palm? Don't even get me started. Nokia python? Was easy, but couldn't do much with it. The closest thing I ever found to a usable mobile API was Trolltech's Qtopia+python, and that had way too many user interaction issues.

If this phone comes with some sort of Cocoa programming library like the kind I use for the macs as work, this phone will kick some serious ass.

I am posting from my old Sharp Zaurus. It dates from a time when I used to have in a group of technologists that I today no longer have faith in. Still, it's a intriguing curiosity, sort of like a steam-driven car from last century.

I thought that I'd turn the Zaurus into something useful' maybe a recipe guide to keep in the kitchen or something of the sort, maybe some kind of remote for home automation. Who knows. Since my powerbook's LCD got cracked, it's also the only portable web browsing technology in my apartment. I guess this post technically qualifies as a mobile post, though it's not really from a cell phone.

In my first week back from my micro vacation in NC, Ifindthat I come back to a situation where I still don't have my shit together. My house is a mess and the spreadsheets at work that I'm supposed to hook up to the database are full of typos that break things and this weekend was taken up by sleeping constantly to get rid of my sore throat with rest and tons of OJ.

I guess I need to look on the bright side of life. Last weekend I found out that there's still a lot of people back home who love me very much.