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December 1, 2002

So I've Decided

I'm not going to mention my family. I went home. It was nice. I'm back. I'm not sure why I hesitate here, and why I'm unwilling to talk about my family. I guess that, by starting this blog, I made an agreement with myself that I'd make a lot of [read more...]

And So, We Enter December

Matthew: I'm terrified of doing it. Portnoy: :D Portnoy: Alright. Portnoy: Here's what it is then. Matthew: lol Matthew: I'm ready to smell... Portnoy: One Nonfiction draft, due before the turn of the new year. Matthew: k Portnoy: More than one draft is cool, but at least one by Dec [read more...]

In Preparation For Winter

Home for Thanksgiving, my parents give me a box of Ramen noodles, a copy of "The Art of War." [read more...]

December 2, 2002

Wow - Fast Day

Work was amazingly quick. Next thing I knew, it was time to go home. Productive day, with me spending most of my time working on a new skin for the New Music Player that Ben and I made, for another station. I made a trip to the bank, but wasn't [read more...]

Google x 2

Googlefight.com Portnoy (62,100) vs. Complaint (3,960,000) Googlism.com portnoy is a shower portnoy is scheduled to appear on the following dates portnoy is the author of two travel guides for women portnoy is being updated portnoy is tremendously effective on moody pieces like the stark portnoy is the most expressive blues [read more...]

Monkeys. 'Nuff Said.

The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite This memo describes a protocol suite which supports an infinite number of monkeys that sit at an infinite number of typewriters in order to determine when they have either produced the entire works of William Shakespeare or a good television show. The suite includes communications [read more...]

December 3, 2002

Snow, Part 2

This is what I saw, standing on my front porch. You can't really see the snowflakes all that well, but the snow on the bannister should give you some idea of how much is on the ground. This is right outside my apartment/yard. That small black gate that's open [read more...]

Steam and Snow

Crossing the Chicago River, I noticed that the water was throwing up a certain amount of steam. I decided to take some video of it, to see if I could capture it somehow. Amazingly, it seems to show up fairly well. Chicago River, Steam and Snow In case you can't [read more...]

Invitation

Alex just called me up, to go to InterTown Pub and have drinks. I declined, saying that I wanted to stay home and work. I keep talking about being more social, but when it comes down to it... I find myself staying at home. I'm wondering if I'm being overly [read more...]

Hello, Googlebot

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Indicators

You know you're having a good convesation with a good friend when you spend an hour plus talking about dreams. Try out that formula - it holds true everytime. Juliet and I talked for a good while, me getting drunk on whiskey, her a bit silly from sleep deprivation. Good [read more...]

December 4, 2002

Gallery

A long while ago, jverbal shared with me his code for his image gallery. Great stuff, using a combination of ASP, XML and Flash MX. After digging through it for a long while, today I put together my own variation. It's not as slick as his (I'm not using ASP [read more...]

Hello World Without Credit Card Debt

*blinks* The... the world looks clearer. Sharper somehow. Has the sky always been this blue? This constant chipring and singing? Is that the birds? Are they always this happy? This is my last payment to my credit card company. I mailed this sucker earlier today, around lunchtime. All paid off! [read more...]

Too Stupid For Words

If you ask me, this hurts poetry more than it helps. "Randomness and uncertainty is at the centre of how the universe is put together, and is quite difficult for us as humans who rely on order." Good Grammar = Grant Money [read more...]

December 5, 2002

On My Way To Work

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WORST_COMPANY_CHRISTMAS_PARTY_EVER

OK, so I'm exaggerating. We closed down early today, and everyone made their way over to Diversey Bowl. Free pizza, free booze, free bowling. I got to talk briefly to some of the other station folk (many of whom I don't normally see on a daily basis). Had a few [read more...]

Slowness

Damn, I'm beat. Doing laundry right now, and trying to relax a bit. Sorry for not having more to jabber about here. Hopping on a plane to Columbus tomorrow, and getting ready for that. Soon soon, I'm going to need a vacation from all this fun. :) [read more...]

December 6, 2002

No entry today

Meh. [read more...]

December 7, 2002

No entry today

Meh. [read more...]

December 8, 2002

No entry today

Meh. [read more...]

December 9, 2002

Social Day

Work was alright - nothing spectacular. But afterwards, boy oh boy. Since Alex invited me out almost two weeks ago, I've felt... "not social enough." Bad to the point where I began wondering if I was seriously neglecting people that I called friends. At work today, Ben invited me to [read more...]

Columbus: Soon

I've got a few blurry pics and even blurrier stories about Cowtown. But not tonight - I think I'm pooped, and ready to conk out. Updates tomorrow. Sorry for not keeping this thing going over the weekend. I'm figuring that, with November and December being fairly big holiday months, I'm [read more...]

December 10, 2002

Columbus Retrospecticus, Arrival

Well, after several airplane flights... my trusty little Leatherman Micra got confiscated. I got it about 2 years ago, from my coworker Dave, as a "Welcome to Axiom" gift. It's come in really handy more times than I can count. Everytime I found myself at the airport, I'd forget about [read more...]

Columbus Retrospecticus, Saturday Day

Saturday day was spent hanging with Jacki and Devin. He's HUGE now! And he's getting super quick with the witty retort. I need to sharpen my skills to keep up with that boy. We went to Target as a group, looking for gifts. I wandered with him over to the [read more...]

Columbus Retrospecticus, Saturday Night

Juliet was scheduled to sell Christmas trees at her church from 6-8. During that time, Jim and Meg were driving down into town, and we were all going out to get some dinner. Before long, we had arranged for everyone to meet (Matt, Jesseca and Akhim), and decided on Juliet's [read more...]

Columbus Retrospecticus: Clarification

Juliet: i want to point out here that i wasn't talking trash completely out of the blue. i had just kicked jim's and --someone else's-- asses. i DOUBLED the highest score from either of them. that's when you decided you'd challenge me. i warned you not to, but you [read more...]

Columbus Retrospecticus: The Day After

Oh boy. I had a blast there, even if I did pass out towards the end. After the house (still fuzzy about the details), we all went to a Teejay's 24 hour diner. Nothing tastes as good as food around 5:30 AM. I had some kind of sausage omelette, and [read more...]

December 11, 2002

Amadeus

Alex and I talked about seeing Amadeus for a long while together, back when it got re-released to the theaters. Unfortunately, we never saw it together... until this evening. Amadeus is one of the first DVD's I purchased, and tonight was just a fun time getting immersed in a great [read more...]

Images of Columbus (from Jesseca)

I'm not going to caption these. Jesseca and I swapped our pictures today, and I daresay she got a few more in focus than me. Below, have a look at the interesting Saturday night, from another perspective and from another camera lens. Alright. Fine. What the hell. I'm on my [read more...]

Life of Pi

Saw this site on Favourite Website Awards. A very interesting site, despite the fact that it's merely serving as a vehicle to promote a book. I dig the variations in navigation, and in particular, am partial to the first extended monologue. Check out the site. [read more...]

December 12, 2002

Two Things I Saw Today

I'm not sure what my problem is. Twice today, I had good opportunities to take photographs and/or talk to strangers. But I didn't, on both counts. Kicking myself a bit about it. Really should have, especially in the second case. Oh well - maybe I need to get back into [read more...]

Unreal Tournament

JohnnyFlash set up the old Unreal Tournament upon the server. Grumpy, jverbal, Caffeine and I played a few games. I seemed to be doing ok at the start, but then it just all went to hell. I used to be fairly good at this game - but tonight, it was [read more...]

Preface

When I was a student at OSU, I had the good fortune of attending a week-long workshop, led by Billy Collins. During that time, he gave us a ton of exercises, just to get us writing. I forget the poet he made us emulate in this particular case, but the [read more...]

Another Reason Why I'm Not Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

When I was a child my mother found me at the piano bench playing myself. I was told to stop. I was told to keep practicing. My hands got good. When I was alone I took a pencil and carved my name into the wooden bench. And here I am, [read more...]

December 13, 2002

Happy Tree Friends: Kringles

I warn you now, fully and up front. It's terrible and just really, really wrong. But funny as hell. Kringle Karoling is my favorite. I've watched it like five or six times so far. [read more...]

Froogle

Still in development. [read more...]

Lost in Translation

Play with language. Ten times over! Original: My pencil is very, very big. Translation: My matita one is very, the very great one. -------------------- Original: I am a beautiful and unique snowflake. Translation: They are pretty and specific tape. -------------------- Original: I am lord and master of all I survey. [read more...]

Russian Ark

Saw this on k10k, a site that I've only just today started to peruse. There a ton of sites that other designer friends I know seem to frequent - I think I've gotta make the rounds and expand my set of URLs that I visit frequently. Apparently, the entire movie [read more...]

Twisted IX

These came in yesterday, and today I wore my t-shirt like a high schooler. I have to admit - I'm a fan of Rey's decision to go with a less prominent logo on the shirt. On the back, there's the standard station/Q101 identity... but the main focus of the [read more...]

Whew!

Work went from meh to holy jebus, towards the end there. Just got back home about 20 minutes ago, and it's closing in on midnight already. One small thing led to another... throw in a lot of waiting time for some weird permissions problems to get resolved long-distance, and here [read more...]

Sam

Tonight, as I was getting a 12 pack of Bass, I learned that Sam is at home, recovering. From OPEN HEART SURGERY. On top of that, I learned it was a QUINTUPLE BYPASS! Sam's a good guy, from the occasional talks I've had with him... I like him a great [read more...]