"On that grind" written by Joe on estrip.org

Category: goals

11/20/13 10:55 - ID#58327

On that grind

I have so many projects and things I want to do and not enough time. I feel like outside of work I am going pretty much all the time, or feel guilty if I'm not. I have been so motivated lately that I don't want to give them up.

I want to :

Arduino/Raspberry Pi - There are so many awesome projects that I've seen and (e:Paul) and I have thought up, and we almost have all the hardware we need. The Arduinos themselves can be super frustrating to deal with but I think there is a lot of potential in what we can do if we can get around all the hardware and software quirks.

PHP - (e:Paul) got me back into programming. It's definitely much better this time around without slogging through . If I get good enough I want to freelance. Terry may have clients who could use help and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of work on Craigslist. Plus brushing up on my programming skills makes things at work and my other projects easier too.

Deutsch learnen - This has no practical use besides talking to (e:Paul) and (e:Terry), but it's really satisfying to learn so far, mostly through Duolingo. This is the first non-technical subject I've studied in almost 5 years, so it's nice to switch it up. Apparently second languages slow brain decline as you age (http://news.discovery.com/human/bilingualism-protects-brain-into-old-age-130108.htm) Sorry I don't have a link to the OG study. I want to get to A2 (basic) level by March, which would be about 6 months.

Get more sleep - I'm practically narcoleptic lately. Hopefully this will change soon since I asked my boss to start at 8:30 instead of 7:30. It'd make it easier to bike to work.

This doesn't even count all the projects at my parents house that need to get done with whatever time on the weekends, or things like the tree planting. Or the fact that I should really try and see my old friends more and meet new people. Or doing things that don't really have any use but are still fun too.

A hustla's work is never through.

Permalink: On_that_grind.html
Words: 365
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/20/13 11:17

Category: going out

11/19/13 12:26 - ID#58322

hodown throwdown

(e:lilho) came back into town. Friday night (e:terry), (e:lilho), (e:mike), (e:libertad) and (e:casey) managed to pry (e:paul) and I away from the Arudinos for a few hours to go out to Cathode and then Marcella's. Another weekend, another crazy fun night.

Cray eyes

All decked in plaid - schwul!

Crossing the fence

twerkin it like a champion

Permalink: hodown_throwdown.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/19/13 09:18

Category: food

11/17/13 10:19 - ID#58320

fine Eyetalian dining

Paul is definitely related to Clidia.

Permalink: fine_Eyetalian_dining.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/17/13 10:19

Category: food

11/14/13 10:38 - ID#58304

Mazurek's Bakery

I was starving all day at work so naturally I had to look at food porn. Somehow I started on Dunkin Donuts page, and upgraded when I found the website for Mazurek's Bakery. Apparently they've been around since 1933, super old school. It was on 543 South Park Ave, so I had to stop on the bike ride home. I had a hard time choosing but I got three pastry hearts, a chocolate chip cookie and a black raspberry paczki. I wish I took a picture before there was just one heart left.

The lady didn't know what to do while I took the picture

love these pastry hearts

So nice out today

Permalink: Mazurek_s_Bakery.html
Words: 130
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/13 10:41

Category: beer

11/14/13 10:25 - ID#58303

Bierklub part drei

Don't ever try to go beer for beer with (e:Terry), it won't end well.

Terry on a typical day

Aroo!

Permalink: Bierklub_part_drei.html
Words: 30
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/13 10:28

Category: computers

11/14/13 10:20 - ID#58302

Windows XP is still (not) kicking

Who would have thought I'd be trying to support Windows XP 12 years after it came out?

I was attempting to get QuickBooks working for Squeaky Wheel on a donated computer they had. on opening any new workbook, the error "Unrecoverable Error 20888 41171" would come up and it would crash to desktop. Looking in the .NET error log, it would hang when it tried to write an XML file to the temp folder, thinking it didn't have proper permissions. In XP running as an admin this is pretty much impossible since there aren't granulated privileges like in Vista and after, so there must have been an issue with the .NET install itself.

The installation was a fresh copy of Windows XP, so you think it would work out of the box. somehow though the .NET framework got completly borked. QuickBooks requires the .NET 4.0 framework, which was partially installed on the machine, although Windows was only reporting 3.5 being installed. The installer for 4.0 couldn't rollback the the libraries already installed or finish the current installation. All that I could do was either manually roll back to 3.5 and try again, or uninstall all the way back to the default 2.0 framework. This would have taken forever on a Celeron D, so I just installed an extra license of Windows 7 I had.

Reinstalling is such a Windoes solution to things. I am glad (e:Paul) got me on Fedora.

Permalink: Windows_XP_is_still_not_kicking.html
Words: 232
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/13 10:20

Category: holiday

11/12/13 09:16 - ID#58290

Veterans Day

So I was thinking about Veterans Day and how weird the idea behind it is. It's so tightly wound with the cultural worship that seems to go along with the US military. Besides the veterans of World War I and II, what is being celebrated? The day originally marked the armistice of World War I, but it seems to be so far from celebrating peace today.

Why is someone who spent 18 months slogging around a base, or drone bombing random Pakistanis considered a hero, to be protecting our freedoms, to be serving our country? Who in this country are they actually serving, and what are they actually protecting us from? When people use that kind of language they expect that it makes the military exempt from any sort of criticism, disconnected from what they actually do. I don't see what invading Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, or Somalia did to protect or serve the US. I don't see why we should be proud that $682 billion will be spent this year on an army when our Congress claims we can't afford food stamps, basic research or healthcare. Obligatory cost of war link

I know the military is an employer of last resort for many, making it difficult to blame the soldiers on the ground. But they still choose to take part in a unit that instigates rather than defends. This isn't to say there is no good in the military, or those in it haven't done good where they're deployed - I just don't think signing up for a fighting force is a job worthy of the language and reverence that it currently gets. There are so many people in this country struggling to make it a better place through service and self-sacrifice - we could be celebrating them in the name of peace instead.

Maybe I am jealous of everyone who got off of work.

uncutsaniflush writes at 05:30:26 11/13/13 - Comment #70752: Gandhi has said "Means are after all everything. “As the means so the end." It is the morality of the means that must be judged. It is wrong to use immoral means to achieve a moral end. In such a case, the end, itself, becomes immoral. Certainly, if one applies that standard to the United States and its military action in recent history, the country is a moral failure. The very idea that it is acceptable to kill innocent, unarmed noncombatants during the efforts (such as drone strikes) to kill leaders of organisations that oppose the U.S. is immoral.

Terrorism exists in the eye of the beholder. To those perpetuating the "terrorist" actions, terror is an acceptable, justifiable means to a desirable, moral end. If one thinks about it, the very idea of the "Shock and Awe" Iraqi invasion was to instill terror in the hearts of the Iraqis. Thus, it is terrorism.

There has always been a gap, if not outright dichotomy, between the actions taken to protect the U.S. and lofty ideals of American freedom and democracy. It saddens me that nothing has changed and that the U.S. is still killing in the name of . . . It saddens me even more that a Democratic administration is doing the killing.

paul writes at 03:11:04 11/13/13 - Comment #70751: We are the terrorists. I mean who killed more innocent people and caused more terror at this point. I am pretty sure its not them.

ExBuffalonian writes at 03:08:18 11/13/13 - Comment #70750: It starts to be absurd when our country has drones patrolling other countries, looking for terrorists to attack, bombs their targets, takes out innocent civilian bystanders and considers them acceptable collateral damage. At what point do you have to start asking who's the terrorist? Too many people think they've finished doing their part in this so-called democracy just by going out to vote once every 4 years or so. We should all be asking ourselves these questions and engaging in these conversations. We need to stop assuming people are virtuous just because they served in the military, because that's a very naive outloook. In my book, nobody is above suspicion until proven otherwise.

paul writes at 10:32:22 11/13/13 - Comment #70746: I guess I like to fantasize that everyone has at least limited free will in a democracy without conscription. When it comes down to it, the choice is, will you possibly kill people for money or not. We aren't talking about a defensive war in any of the situations mentioned and honestly most of the military people I have personally met aren't that stupid that they cannot be accountable for the decisions.

tinypliny writes at 12:55:23 11/13/13 - Comment #70744: Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:

uncutsaniflush writes at 11:18:18 11/12/13 - Comment #70743: Not everyone is as clever as you and (e:paul). Many who serve in the U.S. armed forces believe the lies that they are told about God and Country. Don't hate and despise them because of that. Ultimately, every country has a war machine that needs cannon fodder. I don't despise the grunts who do the fighting and the dying. Many of those who survive come back broken physically and spiritually and mentally. My anger is for their masters.

paul writes at 09:56:41 11/12/13 - Comment #70742: I feel the same way but the last time random guest said to me, " Sorry paul but anyone that lives in america and doesnt like it needs to cross the border. Go to Canada PAUL. yOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO DO THAT YOU KNOW CAUSE OF THE THOUSANDS OF MEN THAT DIED TO KEEP US FREE. sTOP COMPLAINING OR MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Permalink: Veterans_Day.html
Words: 314
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/12/13 09:25

Category: estrip

11/12/13 05:39 - ID#58289

Walk and Chalk

On Sunday, (e:paul) and I took a break from our computing and (e:terry) his anime to go out for a walk on a really nice day. We ended up stopping at Hu's for some chalk so we could advertise estrip on the busiest corners.

I think it'd be awesome if more people joined and this place was bumping.

We stopped at the coop for some groceries. I forgot to take pictures, but they were selling organic cucumbers for $3.29 each! That seems insane! I thought of you (e:tinypliny).

We also grabbed some soup from Globe before heading home. The pumpkin curry with coconut flakes was amazing, I love their soup. they also had these desserts that looked amazing - can't remember what they're called.

At home Terry put on the movie Christopher and his Kind, about a gay writer Christopher Isherwood living in Berlin in the 1930's. Paul looked into his life more and apparently he was super famous - he collaborated with Truman Capote.

I had never been up these apartment stairs on North Street before. It was like a little street with a drawbridge at the end.

Rainbow, so schwul!

They knocked down a house on Elmwood recently, north of Bidwell - was this on fire? I can't remember.

Presbyterian Church construction - concrete formwork that looks like a moat. Someone lost their baby in it

Delicious things and figures made from sugar at Globe - surprised I was able to resist

Permalink: Walk_and_Chalk.html
Words: 251
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/12/13 09:57

Category: dancing

11/10/13 01:35 - ID#58279

Infected Mushroom

On Friday, (e:paul), (e:terry), (e:YesThatCasey) and Tanya and I crammed in Tanya's truck to see Infected Mushroom at the Town Ballroom. We were expecting an EDM show but it was more like an electronic jam band, who apparently are Israeli. It was still a crazy fun show even though we came late.

Paul said the music and crowd reminded him of Germany. Between electronic music coming back, people riding bikes and moving back to cities, are we becoming more European?

Afterwards we had a failure at going out, which is okay because I passed out as soon as we got home anyway.

In bed (in Tanya's truck)

Someone's mom came with them and supervised from above the whole show

Permalink: Infected_Mushroom.html
Words: 133
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/10/13 01:45

Category: bikes

11/09/13 07:06 - ID#58270

bike accident

So yesterday I got into an accident on my bike. I was in hurry to get to work and riding on the sidewalk on Route 5, which I know is dangerous. I usually take a lane for the most of it but I hadn't been able to across the street yet. I started to approach a driveway where a car was waiting to turn borth . I made eye contact with the driver, he waved and I kept going.

when I started to pass him, I saw him slowly rolling forward, right into my wheel. I freaked out, rolled onto his hood and got off my bike.

The driver was panicking like crazy, he was so worried that he hurt me. Normally I would have been pissed (I always have dreamed of administering some u-lock justice) but I think was I was in just as much shock. My bike seemed okay and I wasn't hurt at all. Somehow I managed to dent his hood and bent his license plate off. He got out and just kept apologizing but the only thing I could about after that was getting to work, so I rode off.

Later, Bert's Bikes said my bike looked fine. Still, it was so stupid for me to not get his information, or yell at him for waving me on. An accident could have been so much worse if he pushed me into the road. I guess it shows why taking the lane is important. The only thing that I damaged was my ego. I like to think I'm a good cyclist but that was so ameuter and avoidable.

On the plus side, I rode every day this week, with my best time to work ever, averaging 19.4 mph!