So, after reading JT.Net’s post about U2, I’m trying to figure out something. U2 used to be cool, but I think everyone can agree that at some point they sold out.

So, when, exactly did U2 jump the shark? I’d like your opinion.

Happy Virtual Friday, everyone!!!!!1!111!

I’m lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you till it hurts
I know you hurt too but what else can we do
Tormented and torn apart
I wish I could carry your smile in my heart
For times when my life feels so low
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring
When today doesn’t really know, doesn’t really know
Continue reading →

I was wrong. Yep, wrong.

Grier Martin, the guy I campaigned for for a seat in the N.C. House, is not a registered Republican after all. He’s a Democrat and always has been.

Grier sent me a note this morning setting me straight. Turns out his former neighbor on his street is listed as David G. Martin and is a lawyer, too. I neglected to check the address properly and jumped to conclusions. Grier’s actual voting record is here.

We at MT.Net are just making this stuff up. Sorry, Grier!

I was happy to see Clemson and South Carolina took a firm stand in response to the appalling fight during the two rivals’ annual football game. Both teams were bowl-eligible but are staying home this year – an unprecedented move.

I was shocked at the intensity of the fight. The picture in the paper of a Clemson player kicking an unhelmeted South Carolina player in the head was just sickening. Just when I thought the thugs were all in the pro leagues, this sets me straight.

Bowl games are very lucrative to schools. Teams work hard to get there. Deciding to skip their bowls shows that the schools take sportsmanship very seriously. I applaud their decision, and I hope its message is received loud and clear.

Most of my music collection has been encoded in OGG Vorbis because Oggs are patent-free, are smaller, and – most importantly – they sound better. I was thinking I was stuck with using my Zaurus PDA for taking my music with me, since there aren’t many portable Ogg players out there.

Then I found the iRiver, a 40GB portable player, with MP3 and Ogg support and an integrated FM transmitter.

Oh, and it runs Linux, too. Pretty cool.
Continue reading →

My buddy Mike sent me a good article on technologies that printer and copier companies use to watermark every color print you make. While I’ve known for a while that such counterfeiting countermeasures were there, this PC World article is the first I’ve read which tells how to find the countermeasures (use a blue LED light and magnifying glass).

It also warns that there is no easy way of disabling the electronics which print the encoded serial numbers. Not that it won’t stop people from trying.

The companies have been very helpful to law enforcement, and that is a good thing. Counterfeiting is a serious crime. But some companies added the features at the request of foreign governments in order to sell their products in those countries. Thus, this criminal-catching measure could easily be used to track down dissidents in unfriendly countries such as China (or is China our friend now? I lose track).

Here are a few more links to sites describing printer watermarking.

Travis had his four-week checkup this morning and I had the privilege of tagging along. Turns out Travis has been a very productive eater. He weighed in at 9 pounds, four ounces, measured 22 inches, and has a head circumference of 37.5 (sorry, I’m not sure what the units are).

Anyway, he’s in the 50% percentile for everything but height, where he’s 75%. His weight gain amounts to over an ounce a day. Pretty impressive!

A few more ounces might get him to the point where he sleeps through the night.

I completed an interesting experiement today. Well, its interesting if you’re a total dork like me, that is. But then again, you’re actually choosing to read this cruft, so what does that say about you?

Anyway, back to my experiement. I had read an article about Amar Bose. Bose, genius inventor of Bose speaker fame, is in his mid-70’s and has great eyesight, which he credits to eye exercises he does each day. Eyes are muscles like any other muscles, I suppose, so why couldn’t you strengthen them with exercise? Just for fun, then, I thought I’d see how long I could go without wearing my glasses or contacts.

Last I had my vision tested, it showed 20/60 or so, uncorrected. So I’m not blind without glasses, but my vision isn’t perfect, either. But its tolerable.

I didn’t begin my day thinking today was the start of my experiment. I think sleeping on the couch last night put me away from my habit of unthinkingly grabbing my glasses upon waking. Thus, I began my day away from my glasses and really didn’t think about them until later.

I read the paper just fine and saw what I needed to in the room without much strain. In fact, the thought of not seeing well really didn’t cross my mind. It was kind of neat. And empowering.

After our morning walk was the first time I “rememhered” that I wasn’t wearing my glasses. By that time, though, I was thoroughly enjoying seeing out of my own, unaided eyes. My goal of a full day of seeing with my own eyes was a sure thing from that point on.

Tomorrow I’ll have to drive to work, and because the law says I have to wear glasses when driving, I’ll have them on. I’ll wear them throughout work, too, more than likely.

We’re just wrapping up a roller-coaster weekend, one that had some tremendous ups and white-knuckled downs. Fortunately, it ends on a high note!

I woke up at my usual time Saturday to take my (stupid) driving class. I got to the building five minutes before class started but was dismayed to find the door was locked. Two other students waited with me almost a full hour before another student wandered up, called a number on his cellphone, and then led us back to the other door behind the building!

I felt like the kid in Gary Larson’s famous Midvale School for the Gifted cartoon. Driving school may be stupid, but what does it say about me if I can’t even find the right door?! To my credit, neither door was marked with a suite number or business name, and the side I was the only one with building numbers on it, so it was clearly the front. But no one told us where to go once we made it that far.

The class was predictable. It was pretty much like a flashback to high school drivers education, but without the gory drinking and driving films. Wandering in an hour late didn’t seem to affect us much, as the other students (there were 8 in all) were in the middle of watching a video. We watched a half-dozen of those videos throughout the day, each one taking the material of the prior one and retelling it. At least the fresh faces and the stunt car crashes made them interesting.

One was hosted by the late Christopher Reeve (“This is old!” one student quipped). Chris seemed so at ease in front of the camera. Very, very genuine. And not pretentious at all, the way I had once imagined him to be. He seemed like a regular guy. Watching him on tape made me sad again about his recent death.

I left class and arrived home at 3 PM, where I was met by a house full of sleeping family members. Kelly whispered how she’d had a trying day before I let her sleep again, stepping out to take the recycling out.

The rest of the evening was a bit challenging, too. Hallie didn’t want to spend much time with me, preferring that Kelly wake her up. For his part, Travis spent much of the night demanding to be held, screaming relentlessly when he’d put him down. At least he held off while we had dinner, though.

Towards bedtime, Hallie’s attitude deteriorated. She became whiny and didn’t want to clean up or get ready for bed. Travis began to get restless, too, and no amount of movement seemed to satisfy him. Kelly needed to break away and do some chores, which left me with two kids pleading for my attention. I went to bed on the couch in an effort to get some better sleep, taking a splitting headache with me.

At 2 AM, I awoke with what felt for all the world like a hangover, though I’d only had a glass and a half of wine with dinner. I drank water and rummaged around in our master bathroom for an ibuprofin, noting how Kelly and Travis were sleeping soundly next to me. After chasing the cat down from the kitchen counter, I fell back asleep until 8 AM.

Today has been a winner from the get-go. Hallie woke up in a fantastic mood, Kelly, Travis and I (in spite of my early morning headache) got more sleep last night than we had for weeks. Also, the weather was shaping up to be absolutely gorgeous, with highs in the mid-70s.

Travis had plenty of alert time during breakfast, after which we took advantage of the day and set out for a walk on the greenway. I wore Travis in the Baby Bjorn. Kelly and Hallie took turns pushing the stroller, with Hallie sometimes riding during Mommy’s turn. That hour of walking felt so relaxing. Just what we all needed!

While we were walking, Kelly and I were amazed to hear Hallie quietly reciting the alphabet! We were so proud to hear that that we both burst out in applause. We’ve worked with her on letters and we’ve sung the Alphabet Song, but neither one of us expected her to pick it up so quickly. Just when we think we’ve seen it all, Hallie finds yet another way to blow us away. She is a genius!

I took Travis from Kelly to give her a break and was delighted to have him fall fast asleep in my arms. All too often he would bawl when Kelly would hand him to me, but not today. The time he spent riding with me during the morning walk had softened him up and made him a champion napper, at least for today. I spent some quality time moving sprinklers around the yard with him, cleaning up around the house, or just sitting on the couch with him snoozing on my chest. It was unbelievably fun to see him so comfortable with me. I was a very proud dad.

While Hallie was napping, Kelly wandered out to find me and Travis moving sprinklers around the yard. As we were standing there, two separate neighbors stopped us to either deliver gifts for Travis or promise to deliver them! We stood talking with them for a half-hour over the neighborhood and other things. Afterward, Kelly and I agreed at how cool our neighborhood really is. The people are just so friendly!

After dinner, Hallie followed me out to the back porch as I took the trash out. We stood there for fifteen minutes as I showed her the moon, pointed at some planes flying by, and talked about one day seeing the stars through a telescope. Hallie became enchanted with the dark, and begged to play some on the porch. When she walked over to look at Kelly, who was inside nursing Travis, I formed a little halo over Hallie’s head with my hands. Kelly knew exactly what I meant.

When Kelly brought Travis out to join us in the dark, Hallie had begun to entertain herself over at the corner of the porch. As we watched, she began to twirl around, singing a song and holding her hands out in front of her. We both watched as she spun around and tried to make out her mumbled words.

She was singing something along the lines of “bees, byes, bows, bears” over and over, and holding her hands out at each word. It looked like a twist on “eenie, meanie, miney, moe.” She learned it in preschool and was obviously happy to be showing it off. It was a priceless moment.

The fun continued before her bath. Kelly brought her her solar-powered calculator and showed Hallie how to “use” it. Hallie spent the rest of the night pushing buttons on it and pretending to calculate numbers. Then, the calculator became a phone, and Hallie made numerous pretend calls to relatives and friends. I raced to videotape as much as I could of her antics, and managed to get a good bit of them captured on film. She was in rare form tonight.

I had Hallie settled on my lap for storytime when Kelly was telling her goodnight. As she closed the door, I told her how I wished every night would be this good.

“Every night? Try every day!” she said, and she was right. This day has been one of the best.