James Doohan, bonafide war hero and the actor who played Scotty on Star Trek, has passed away. Here's a compilation sound clip to remember him by. I felt I needed to post about this, considering the timing of my Sulu Dance post.

And finally, for a fitting tribute and farewell, here's "Amazing Grace." The bagpipe version, of course.

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Published: (2005-07-20 11:10:18.0)

Last year we bought our first nice patio set. Meaning it wasn't plastic. We were proud. We faithfully ate outside whenever the weather was decent enough. Life was good. I wrote poems and songs about the patio table. However being recently new to the nice patio table scene, we made a tragic mistake. We left the umbrella up. One day a storm came and the umbrella was caught in the wind. I came home to discover our patio table had shattered and lay in a massive heap of glass (like a pile of ice cubes.) I wept. I tore my hair out. I wore black and played Depeche Mode over and over again.

Time passed. Summer came again. We went in search of a new table. Our patio set was a "spiced mocha" color (I don't remember that crayon color) - brown for us heathen. The tables this year are slate, white or green. No spiced mocha. And the stores politely inform us that we can't just buy a table, we need to buy another set. Right. I then call glass companies to see about forging a new replacement. Sure they could do it, but they tell me up front that it would be cheaper to buy another table. Right. Then I call the manufacturer to check about a replacement. They tell it would be cheaper to buy another table.

I sense a dark and sinister conspiracy. They know I am weak and grieving ...

Bastards.

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Published: (2005-07-13 15:59:03.0)

So, here I am, hunched over and doing my best impression of prehistoric man. My spine seems to be curved like the new swooping S-curve Sun design. How the body puzzles me so. So, pop the motrin, and I'll continue to strain in effort to straighten, straighten, almost ... straighten ... nope, back to the distorted reality of the day. Sit up straight! I can't sir, really I can't. I suppose you could lend me a steel rod and some clamps, and a few bolts. That might do the trick. But until then, I'll have to walk the halls in shame, and try not to think too much on how I look like an ass. I'll close my eyes, and try to ignore the thoughts of those I pass by, "what's with him? He's walking around like he's got a stick up his ..." No, no, no, my temporary hallway companions, never mind my smirk and slip of the giggle. For it is not you I besmirch, but that I imagine myself as Dogberry:

"Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years? O that he were here to write me down an ass! but, masters, remember that I am an ass; though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass. No, thou villain, thou art full of piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a householder; and, which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Messina; and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and everything handsome about him. Bring him away. O that I had been writ down an ass!"

So, remember kindly, that if you think I am, know that I am. I am what I am. Right. I'm off to whimper quietly in my office. Behind a closed door, mind you.

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Published: (2005-06-16 06:10:00.0)

So I'm looking for a cool bag. You know that thing you just throw stuff in to transport from home to work, and visa versa. I've been using the bags from the JavaOne Conferences (by the way, have you registered?) for years now, but now I have a yearning for something different. You know, something sleek and cool. And by cool I mean lots of pockets and zippers and ever more pockets to hold my stuff. I have lots of stuff. Work stuff, art stuff, books to jot down poetry, pens, pencils, wine/beer opener and even a 5gb Seagate Pocket Hard Drive.

Tumi makes some cool stuff, but they are expensive. Timbuk2 have some nifty bags, but not nearly enough pockets and zippers. Chrome is local, and their Vagrant Utility Bag is a maybe. (detour link: Cars R Coffins: Bicycle. Punk Rock. Action.) R.E. Load Baggage has some very cool bags. If you want a truly unique bag, check out their custom stock. And then there's the Office Envoy from Jansport. The description "Concealed stash pockets—spy vs. spy. Hide your secrets." made me go "oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about." And did I mention that I want the bag to be able to last through me throwing it in the back of my truck and my usual beat-the-crap-out-of-my-possessions mode. Is that too much to ask?

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Published: (2005-06-01 14:33:43.0)

Yes I know, a little early.

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Published: (2005-05-06 00:45:19.0)

Cue stream of consciousness:
So you walk out the door and head to your car, filled with the thoughts of the day and all the things you need to do. Your brain whirs, calculating possibilities, sifting through conversations and email, reviewing meetings and that endless list of things to do, do, do like a mentat. You don't notice the rain - because you're not really there. You fall into the routine, turn the key and flip in a CD that you really won't listen to. Your eyes fix on the horizon, and your thoughts drift, ebb, and even flatline. You're a busy man, with things to do. Things need to be done. There are emails to write, schedules to create, spreadsheets to update, and lists to publish. The data comes in a flood, and you merely react. You don't remember most of the drive home, because its part of the routine. You finally notice its raining. Traffic slows, but your thoughts are off again and you're not really paying attention. After awhile you return, and start to wonder at why the traffic has slowed. You see flashing lights, orange cones and burning flares. For a minute you become human again, and silently hope no one has been hurt. As you pass by the accident, you see the crushed metal, the broken glass, and a group of huddled people silently staring at a tarp covered pile. You start to wonder what is under the tarp - and then it hits you. It hits you hard. You snap back, sit up straight and break into a sweat. You are human again, and you are no longer thinking about work, but about your wife and daughter that wait for you at home. Dinner is waiting. You make it home, and stagger from the car up to the front door. You turn the key and open the door, and your daughter runs down the hallway screaming that you are home, and rushes you and wraps her arms around your legs. You smile, and try not to cry. You pick her up and hug her, and ask what she learned in school today. Soon its dinner time, and your listening to what they have to say. You're actually listening, and not just absently nodding. You are human again, and no longer a ghost. After a dinner, instead of heading into the office and logging in, you head to the playroom and build houses out of blocks. You have a meaningful conversation with your wife, and find out what's on her mind. Your human again, and realize that yes, things need to be done, there will aways be those things, but that your family comes first. Being human comes first. Tonight, there will be passion in your hugs and kisses, and you'll wonder what you have missed.

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Published: (2005-05-05 12:52:06.0)

So it all started with an ominous message on my screen - "RAID not recognized." Not good. Not good at all. In a moment of brilliance, and a quest for performance, I had configured my dual 120gb Seagate Barracuda's for RAID 0. Which is great, until one of the hard drives winks off. And then basically both of your hard drives are out action and worthless. And then you're not so brilliant.

Conscious that my wife had been on my case to back up our data ("yeah yeah I'll get to it"), I began to sweat and plan my escape to Mexico. Luckily my brother-in-law was in town, and he is way more knowledgeable about these sorts of things. The solution was to delete the RAID definition, then recreate it. Which worked. But we definitely paused over that "Y" button ...

So first thing to do was pull out those DVD's and start burning. Burn baby burn ...

Then I realized that I had actually put our data on a third 60gb hard drive, and that we were actually ok. So I relaxed. After I burned the DVDs. A few night later, a loud sick grinding noise emanated from my PC. It rapidly increased then volume, then tapered off like a whimpering dog. ??? After I began to breathe again, I though "Ok, whatever that was, that was not good." The computer then politely informed me that my third drive had gone off on a smoke break. And it probably would not be coming back. "This rocks! Not! So not!"

So I surrender, and pull out my credit card. Off to pick up another drive (300gb Seagata Barracuda) to replace the dead 60gb (*cough* IBM *cough*), and then an external 200gb hard drive. And while I'm at it, I pick up a pocket 5gb hard drive. Schaweet.

So it looks like I'm stable (for now.) However I discovered a pitfall to moving your data from one drive to another. I use Adobe's Photoshop Album to organize my pictures. It's a nice program, and I really like the ability to have mutiple tags and sort criteria. Unfortunately, Photoshop Album uses Access for its database, and the location of all your pictures (including the edits) are hardwired in that database. It does have a "reconnect" feature, but you have to reconnect each photo one at a time. Considering I have over 4,000 pics, this was not a good option for me. So it was off to the forums to see if I could figure out another way. The solution was to go into the database and search and replace, which I was comfortable doing. But I started thinking, what if you were just a regular person who had no idea what a database was? Adobe did provide a work around, but that method required to reimport all your photos. Which meant you lost all your tagging and edit info. Yeah, thank you ... In this day and age, the program should be flexible on where you store your photos.

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Published: (2005-04-11 15:13:25.0)

I'm Catholic, but a dissenting one at best. Meaning I just don't agree with many of the Church's teachings, and the idea of an angry God never sat well with me. I went to Catholic school until college, and I was always at constant odds with the priests and nuns.

Be that as it may, the passing of Pope John Paul II greatly affected me, catching me by surprise. I was amazed by the outpouring of grief, and how the world turned its eyes to Rome. He was a Pope of many firsts, the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years and the most widely travelled (more foreign trips than all previous popes put together.) And another fact that awed me - he was responsible for one of the largest human gatherings, which was 5 to 7 million people in the Phillipines. I could go on and on, but if you were interested in his life, I'm sure you watched the news specials like I did.

One of the areas of the Catholic church that did pique my interest when I was young was its technicalities and rituals. Papal Infallibility is one of those technicalities. Many people assume the Pope is always infallible - but this is not the case. He is only infallible in certain and very special circumstances. Reading through the rules of engagement for papal infallibility - it seems to be that the Catholic church is in a bind. People have criticized Pope John Paul II for his stance on women and birth control, but from what I understand, he could not contradict what has been taught before, because the beliefs are considered infallible. And that means irrevocable. He could privately dissent, but he could never voice that difference publicly.

So if you read The Da Vinci Code, and were wondering what the big deal was, that may help you understand.

Anyways, what I really meant to say is that, after all is said and done, I believe Karol Jozef Wojtyla, otherwise known as Pope John Paul II, was a great man.

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Published: (2005-04-04 15:51:48.0)

Occasionally here at Sun, you'll encounter a person that's secretly funny. You know when you are milling around after a meeting, in those few moments when you're deciding whether to slink back to your office, or perhaps wander aimlessly around the halls a bit and randomly annoy your co-workers, you'll utter some random comment to a person you just met, and their reply turns out to be quite hilarios and utterly brilliant, tearing a hole in the mundane. I love those moments. Well, I love laughing, I really do. And I'm easily amused. Which may not be a good thing ... but my daughter enjoys it.

So, yes, lots of funny people here. Its just that you tend not to know it right away, because "Be Funny or Something" isn't on the meeting agenda. Maybe I should do that. Try to spice up those agendas.

So Tim Caynes is one of those people. And his latest post is quite hilarious. And it happens to be at my expense, which is even funnier. I happen to be a member of what he calls "woeful assortment of project managers." I laughed. I will ask him about his vacation though, and I will make it a point to ask about his children. And I will fantasize about poking him in his eye, or slapping him with a fish.

I'm grateful to these people, and I treasure those moments they catch me off guard and make me spit out my coke. Especially on those awful days when I stop and ask no one in particular "Can I have a mulligan please? No? At least a time out then." So thank you.

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Published: (2005-03-29 20:51:04.0)

The rains returned last week, and it's pouring today. Rumbling echoes from the skylights, and I'm in a mood. One of those moods where smiles are hard to find, and my mind just wanders off. I'm here, but not really. There's a poem that I've been writing in my head the past few days, and it won't leave me alone. I'm in a mood you see ...

standing here in the rain
oblivious to those that stare
wondering if you are proud
of your latest cheap shot
and the pain that
crashed into my world
i wanted to be angry
but all i could find
was an image of your half-parted cherry lips
as they pouted out such words

i smiled a smile that really wasn't

but i'm sure
if you came to me
and asked to hold my hand
there would be just the briefest pause
before I nodded and reached out
and when you again headed to those dark places
my love would be sure to go there

you can say yes or no
with a flick of your hair
but do you love me so
when I shimmer in this lover's madness

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Published: (2005-03-22 14:42:44.0)

I was just reading through the review for "Spamalot", the show from Monty Python that just opened on Broadway. The following quote brought a smile to my face:

"Its authors have had to walk a precarious line — pleasing those fanatical Python fans who have committed the entire movie script to memory while satisfying other theatergoers who never have heard of the Killer Rabbit, the Knights who say "Ni" or that cheeky French soldier who hurls insults such as "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

I guess you can put me in that "fanatical" group, because I have a hard time fathoming how people could not know about the Knights who say "Ni!" I mean, really, just thinking that is preposterous.

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Published: (2005-03-18 08:54:58.0)

Just thought I'd throw out a couple of pictures of our lovely Menlo Park Campus. "I'll just eat at my desk today." Pause. "On second thought, I'll think I'll stroll down to the cafeteria and eat outside in the sunshine." Moments in the sun, squinting into the blue sky, alone with my thoughts and my spicy cajun chicken wrap.

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Published: (2005-03-16 19:44:25.0)

Well, The Wiggles are coming town, and I got tickets for my daughter and I. If you are parent of a young child, then most likely you know what I'm talking about. Tickets went on sale last week, and two out of the three shows are sold out.

When I found out they would be in town, I thought "Sweet! That will be fun." The next thought was "Whoa, I'm truly a Dad now." I'm hoping she will have a good time, she pretty much knows all the songs and sings them to herself all the time. Whenever we drive in my truck, the first thing is "Daddy I want Wiggles!" Secretly, I am looking forward to rocking out to "Fruit Salad." Maybe that should be Song of the Day ...

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Published: (2005-03-16 11:23:04.0)

Seeing this picture, I thought "Oh boy, that is going to hurt ...". So the surf is up, and the Maverick Surf Contest is now on. So what is Mavericks? Here's an excerpt:

"The waves at Mavericks are the product of swells that are suddenly thrust upward by a rapidly rising sea floor. There, waiting on the side, surfers paddle or are towed into the growing face of the wave, aiming their long surfboards known as "guns" downward and attempting to ride it out as the water races up the face of the wave.

Jeff Clark discovered the Mavericks break in 1975 and surfed there alone for more than a decade until he began to share his secret with others. It remains primarily the playground of only experienced big wave riders.

Newcomers can be held down on the sea-floor by sequential waves, tossed "over the falls" off the back of the wave, or rattled around in a rocky underwater area known by locals as the boneyard. "

Here's a pretty cool photo gallery of last year's competition.

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Published: (2005-03-02 23:16:22.0)