CNN.com – Flat-screen�TV emits international distress signal – Oct 18, 2004

…from one with less than stellar feedback. Waiting it out, updates as they come. Won the item on Friday, i’ve paid for it, thankfully with a Credit Card, and received what seems to be a bogus tracking number, and no further communication from the seller since Saturday’s bogus number.

I’ve had situations before where tracking number don’t even work until the item is shipped so I’m not sweating that as much–it’s just that the guy has limited and less than 90% feedback, and happened to have had two of the exact (“New, Sealed in Box”) iBooks on the market at the same time, both selling a decent amount(*) below the retail. As Bob Marley says, time will tell. There’s more to the story but I won’t divulge, unless I don’t receive the iBook. ;)

Either way, i’m looking forward to becoming a Mac bigot.

*I just noticed on Apple’s site, they (now?) have 1.33Mhz iBooks, although when you click through, it lists 1.2Ghz. interesting.

Good weekend. we headed to spokane to hang out with the other third of illect–Jae, meet his parents, and visit the church he’s a part of. It’s interesting, Spokane. It reminded me a bit of south bend, or maybe even manchester, NH. It was pretty industrial; not at all as I expected. Franks Diner was excellent, and hoplessly filling, and Jae’s mother was extremely hospitable, making me miss my own mother.

My mother’s an amazing woman. I still don’t fully get how she operates–she won’t let you go without cooking for you at some point during your stay, and always is looking out for you, first and foremost making sure your belly’s full. That’s really life though at its most basic…living, and being fed. I miss her greatly since we’ve moved out here. I hope to get to get back to Indianapolis as soon as I can to see her.

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I’m-a deliver and give a speech with vigor
Pass the wine cooler you big black…. [laughter]

–LL Cool J, “Jingling Baby (remix)”

I have only one explanation for why noone ever sits next to me on my commute. That fact makes the ride particularly comfy, actually, but it’s always interesting to note that, like the last kid to get picked for kickball in elementary school, i’m always the last alternative to people looking for an empty seat.

on the commute i’m either in a seat by myself, or i end up standing up to finish the ride. yesterday was one exception. someone sat next to me, and we even chatted for a second, and she actually wished me a nice day on her way out.

I often wonder if the reason so many people (at the very least, appear to) like me is because when they first see me they have a general impression about what they expect my personality to be like, then they’re “pleasantly surprised” when they find out that my mother taught me how to treat folk with respect, and my God taught me to treat humans what they’re really worth? Or, maybe they’re scared to not like me (ha! doubt it–i generally come off as a ‘teddy bear’).

i don’t dress like a homeless person. i don’t smell. i don’t think my face is particularly unattractive. it must be that when i’m sitting on the bus, headphones on, head bobbing, i just appear to be a big black ….

is that they keep spoofing IP addresses.

in case you don’t get it–i’m currently in the middle of a comment spam attack that started about 10a.m. and is still continuing, apparently. thankfully wordpress makes it really easy to remove these.

i guess it’s time to check out a blacklist plugin.

j.

What an exhilirating week. Miami was hella humid, but beautifully sunny. I am not sure I could stay more than a week in South Beach though, where full clothing is optional.

It’s always great to see what my peers are doing, and come home chomping at the bit to get going on a bunch of Cool Stuff(tm). It’s particularly fun to know that the stuff that you need to do your job is actually fun to implement.

One of the most valueable things I got cleared up in my head is a subtle (apparent) difference between Change Management and (software) Change Control. :)

I had no headaches on the flight–thanks for the prayers, and thanks Linda for the Afrin suggestion. :)

On to the week, back to the job of real work. It is comforting to know however that there are others around the globe “in the struggle” to come up with solid software implementations in this "niche".

I’ll be gone for the week for a work conference. It should be fun; I haven’t seen a lot of these folk in a while, and I’m not bringing my laptop–so it’ll be limited internet for me. This could be nothing but a good thing; as I hope to actually get some rest (yes its in Miami Beach, but i’m too old for a lot of that stuff these days :)

I’m completely concerned with the two headaches I had on my last two trips. they lasted the entire flight both times, and they were the most horrendous pain i remember. the flight to Miami is nearly twice the length.

I went to the Doctor this weekend to get some kind of word–and not that I don’t trust the Doctor–but I’m just not sure if I explained myself properly when i talked about my headaches. I’m hoping that the prior headaches are sinus related (although I had the typical “face pain” I felt it all over as well). I was also told that my normal recurring headaches are most likely due to stress, and the set up of my job (staring at a screen all day). A wise man did once say “The number one killer of black men is stress”. ;)

It’s in God’s hands–i’m still scared out of my wits. If I can find alternate routing (that would allow me to “test” the altitude :) i’m more than willing to pursue it tomorrow. In short–I am not looking forward to this flight. All who do pray, could you remember to do so on my behalf? thanks.

I saw this on the bottom of my slashdot page (randomly generated):

“When you don’t know what you’re doing, do it neatly.”

:)