myspace makes me feel dirty

Of the last 20 myspace friend requests I've received approximately 1 was from a real person. My track record might be better if I used myspace proactively to 'friend' people I don't already know but that isn't likely to start happening anytime soon.

I don't know too may people who would want to declare their allegiance to someone advertising their adult webcam but apparently there's quite a demand for such things.

As I was writing this post I received 7 friend requests from spam profiles. Some of them looked like effort was put into making them believable but others are obviously fake:

Who I'd like to meet:
No files placed in the folder.

Yeah, that sounds like someone I'd be interested in.

Shutdown Day

World Shutdown Day was yesterday and I participated as best I could. When midnight rolled around on Friday I powered down my file server and turned off my PC and proceeded to leave them as well as my laptop, internet tablet, and iPod in an unpowered state for 24 hours. I included the iPod just for good measure because since it can run Linux one could argue that it is a computer...

Although I did break my technological fast to finish some projected budgets for a grant proposal at the Wireless Neighborhoods office I didn't check my email, brows the web, check my RSS feeds (see graph), or anything else I'd typically use a computer for.

This was an interesting experiment. I channel about 95% of my news, reading material, music, movies, TV, radio programs, and correspondence through my PC. Since I'm also lacking a TV, discrete DVD player, CD player, or radio of any kind -- save the one in my car -- this left me wondering what to do with myself. I ended up spending the day reading, exercising, cooking, cleaning, browsing at Borders, drawing, and relaxing outside. It wasn't bad. Now that spring has arrived I hope I'm going to spend more time doing the aforementioned activities then sitting at my desk watching episodes of Space Battleship Yamato but you never can tell with bees.

I weep for America

Now, I realize that politics has a nasty tendency to bring out the worst in people but this is ridiculous. Oh yes, and geosynchronous satellites are a lie. At least the web design adds to the author's obvious credibility.

instant dissemination

like most internet junkies i come across interesting things every now and again that i would like to share with others. however i feel somewhat silly posting every link i find individually just to say 'look i found this'. this friday google, as it often does, came up with an elegant solution to this problem. Google Reader, my RSS aggregator of choice, now has a blogger template element for shared items (you could subscribe to the feed as well should you so desire). this frees me from posting about random internet things, unless they are particularly mind blowing, and provides some level of new blog content on a regular basis. oh google how i love thee.

perspective

actually working with computers every day rather than just playing around with them in my spare time has led me to some conclusions about what they can and cannot do:

computers can:

• take you to Google -- an important step on the path to enlightenment
• entice you to waste ungodly amounts of paper
• cause bouts of disarmingly intense impatience in otherwise normal people
• infinitely expand the amount of time it takes to perform mundane tasks

computers cannot:

• maintain themselves and thus:
• be trusted in the hands of most users
• bring you joy no matter how much time you spend configuring them, playing games on them, overclocking them, or downloading things with them

they are, at best, tools that help us accomplish otherwise complicated tasks with ease. at worst they are a bulky steel and abs boxes filled with heavy metals that are incapacitated by malicious software.

I've been feeling a lot like this lately

2007

I'm sick of being just a consumer. Ultimately, I would like to take an active role in the creation of all things I use on a day to day basis. This is a tall order but an easy first step is that since I read blogs -- which I do often -- I should be blogging -- which I will do, (less) often. We'll see how this goes.

Bike Tour

From May 14th-20th I will be biking to Indianapolis as part of the third annual Cover Indiana Bike Tour. The event is primarily a fundraiser for the 71 Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Indiana. Each rider is to find sponsors for their 350 mile journey to raise money.

Now is the time where I implore my faithful readership to help out. Even though you may only number in the single digits your assistance would be greatly appreciated. When you break it down on a per mile basis there is sure to be a rate you can afford:

1¢	per mile	$3.50
2¢	per mile	$7.00
5¢	per mile	$17.50
10¢	per mile	$35.00
25¢	per mile	$87.50
50¢	per mile	$175.00
π¢	per km	$17.69

All donations collected go to local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International to help them in their mission to eliminate poverty housing worldwide. It is an ambitious goal but over 200,000 homes have built so far providing over 1,000,000 people with simple, decent, affordable housing. So please:

Thanks,
dan

ding 23

I turned 23 last week. It was ok. If I learned anything in the past year it is that I don't really know how to take care of myself -- i.e. stay healthy, keep the kitchen clean, etc. I still kind of act like I'm in college. I suppose I'll adjust soon enough.

bah!

So, it turns out that the internship I had this past summer paid me as an independent contractor rather than as an employee. That means that I got a 1099-MISC rather than a W-2 from my employer meaning that the IRS knows that I earned money without it being taxed. This ensued. Ok so my reaction was a bit more subdued but you get the point.

Oh, this news made me sad. Batman was one of my favorite superheroes...

i tag. do you?

del.icio.us is a 'social bookmarking tool' that has been getting a lot of press recently -- on the web at least. The first several times i saw it mentioned it didn't really pique my interest but when the del.icio.us Firefox extension showed up as the 'featured extension' at mozilla.org i thought i'd give it a chance.

After several weeks i am completely sold. I frequently bookmark sites while browsing and i can't see myself going back to keeping them in a hierarchical collection of folders anymore. del.icio.us allows you to 'tag' bookmarks with keywords and then subsequently group related keywords, a process they call bundling. Flikr uses a similar scheme for tagging photos. Additionally, you can see who else has bookmarked the same site as you, search popular bookmarks, search by tag, send and receive recommendations, and so on.

You can also access your bookmarks from anywhere because they are hosted for you. Previously, i had been playing around with Portable Firefox so i could have this capability. This solution is much simpler.

Feel free to check out what i've bookmarked. i'm adding more all the time -- way more often then i post.

frak!

This post contains BSG spoliers. You have been warned.

Season 2, Episode 16.

So I didn't see that coming. Billy frakin' died. He was frakin' shot by a thug. That sucks. What a waste of a well-mannered well-centered future politician. I guess Dee and Lee can continue with that ambiguous relationship they've been having but this will shake things up.

And the President -- frak! She has been having a tough enough time already what with having just recovered from terminal cancer and having a traterous, mildly-insane vice president nipping at her heels. Now she's lost the only other person in the government that is really on top of things. Good luck holding the fleet together.

Starbuck shot Lee? Frak! She really needs to get her act together.

6 degrees

Six degrees of Wikipedia is a fun site. It finds the shortest path between two subjects via the links in their Wikipedia entries. I haven't managed to come up with any combination that takes more than six degrees of separation.

day: 16 year: 2006

8:30-9:00	wake up
9:00-10:00	return rented equipment for NWA concert to ITS
10:00-10:30	breakfast
10:30-12:00	programming for GHS
12:00-1:00	lunch
1:00-4:30	Elkhart Co. ReStore staff tour St. Joseph Co. ReStore
4:30	receive phone call informing me that the set and lighting should have been done for Hello and Goodbye at NWA for yesterday's rehearsal. this comes as an unpleasant surprise.
4:30-6:00	hang lights at NWA
6:00-8:30	mennosong concert at the for Camp Amigo Staff
8:30-8:45	borrow lights from Uble Center. at this point I am in a hurry because I would like to do several things before Hello and Goodbye's practice at 9.
8:45	I back into a dumpster in excess of 5 mph. this damages my car. I am quite upset.
8:50	I am pulled over for speeding. I take this in stride as my nerves are already shot from failing in my responsibilities at NWA, hitting a large steel object with my car, and the general life-crushing-down-on-me feeling I've been having these days. I explain the situation. the policeman tells me to relax -- after searching my car for marijuana.
9:00-10:45	worked at NWA
10:45-11:00	ran to CVS for some cough drops and other things for colds
11:00-11:30	documented this day

unfortunate

All good things must come to an end. No more Firefly.

This turn of events would be slightly less disheartening if Joss Whedon hadn't given up on this intriguing blend of sci-fi and western for Wonder Woman.

FF7:AC

I just took this quiz and found out that I am awesome.

If you haven't seen Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children you should -- that is if you're familiar with FF, it could be a bit confusing you aren't.e

radio

WGCS plays the Calvary Hour before its broadcast of CMC on Sunday mornings. I normally don't listen to this but this morning when I tuned in I heard something that I wasn't really expecting: me. mennosong was prominently featured in the programming. Now that I think about it I remember Adam saying that he did give them a CD. I was once again reminded how unforgiving it is to sing in a quartet and how little forgiveness most microphones offer. Still, it's nice to know we made it onto a nationally syndicated radio show.

tires

I like my car. One problem I've had in the past few weeks however is that it slides around quite a lot and seems to get stuck in 2" of snow. Clearly it was time for new tires.

Without giving it much thought, I told the guy at Monteith to get me two new tires exactly like my old ones. It turns out that Mastercaft 'Ultra High Performance' tires, specifically the Avenger LSR, cost upwards of $100 a piece. Ouch.

I suppose this is one of the perks of owning your own vehicle.

Dan's List '05

This may not be the most appropriate place to post my Christmas list but whatever. My GC webspace is set to evaporate in not too long so I have to start looking into alternatives. Also, come to think of it, this list may be too late to do anyone any good.

If things could bring happiness these would get me closer to it:

Gadgets

• I could use a laptop but I'm waiting for the new iBooks and PowerBooks to come out in Q1 of '06 before I make a decision. Depending on the specs -- and my funds at the time -- I may jump ship on Apple and go with Lenovo (IBM) or Acer.


• Newegg, my favorite online retailer, actually has a 'Stocking Stuffer' section of their website. While I'm not entirely sure how a 42" plasma screen would fit in a stocking they include it in their listing of desireable things.
• The MAKE Blog has a Christmas list with a bunch of cool stuff on it. I'll pass on the Griffin RocketFM though. I prefer cables for my audio.

Garage Stuff

• I like tools. I love DeWalt chordless tools (18V XRP) as well as Kobalt and Craftsman mechanics tools.

• I need a 3/8" drive 6-point metric socket set like this one or this one before I ruin something with my 12-point ones.

• I could use a half inch breaker bar and an extension but this whole accessory set would be righteous.

• I sold my motorcycle helmet along with my motorcycle. I now need a new one of each. I don't expect anyone to buy me a Honda 599 but a helmet would be nice and the HJC SyMax fits the bill. Black size L please.

Clothes

• I don't exactly have a refined sense of style but I do find most things from Travel Smith, Prana, or SCOTTeVEST appealing.

• Like this blazer. (Did I just ask for a blazer?)(40")

• This hat, which is much like the hat I wore for 80% of my waking hours from 2001-2003.

• A beanie like this one.

• These lounge pants which have all kinds of pockets for stashing gadgets and are, as a reviewer pointed out, as comfortable as sweat pants look much classier.(M, black)

• A few tuff neck t-shirts -- because I could always use more black t-shirts.(M)

• And some Carhartt work socks. Now that I have propper work boots all those ankle length socks I have no longer have what it takes to keep my feet happy. You can also get them at Tractor Supply.

Music

• Arvo Part: Kanon Pokajanen I have heard only bits and pieces of this acclaimed work and would much like to add it to my library.

• Tavener: Lamentations & Praises This album by Chanticleer is easily good enough to justify me owning a propper copy.

• The Shure E2c 'noise isolating' earbuds are quite nice. I tried out a friend's pair and they do what they're supposed to -- quite well.

• I had thought that I would make some speakers sometime but that doesn't seem to be happening. In the mean time I would love to have the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system in my room.

• While the 5th generation iPod seems great at first glance the battery life and video resolution are actually quite unimpressive. I'll wait for 6th generation thank you.

I am, of course, always appreciative of other things. These are just suggestions.

justice

One of sources of the volunteers that we draw on at Habitat for Humanity is the Elkhart County Work Release Program. I continue to meet people that I probably wouldn't have otherwise through this relationship. These guys are serving time for back child support payments, traffic violations, drunk & disorderly conduct, or other seemingly minor offences. In talking to them I began to seriously doubt the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. For the most part they seem to have their lives in order but something unfortunate happened and now they're in jail.


The prison system is that in its current incarnation endeavors to change inmates' behavior by making them not want to go back to jail rather than enabling them to become productive citizens. That doesn't sit with me.


This afternoon as I was on my way to Lowe's and I heard the last installment of a five part NPR series Beyond Prision by New Hamshire Public Radio. It was fascinating. It walks through James Gilbert's transformation from a troubled and violent youth into an educated professional 'in spite of' rather than because of 'the system'. I listened to the rest of the series this evening. It is a window into the lives of two men who eventually became cellmates and their quest to 'de-criminalize' themselves through self-discipline and education. If only this were the rule rather than the exception.