Just announcing the celebration of my friends new baby.
Congrats L and G!!!
7lbs 6oz.
21.5"
Happy Birthday!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Celebrate
Just announcing the celebration of my friends new baby.
Congrats L and G!!!
7lbs 6oz.
21.5"
Happy Birthday!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Supercooling water
I wasn't going to blog anything today, but I found this really neat link about supercooling water.
This guy had some bottled water in his garage overnight and apparently lives somewhere cold as it got down to 1 degree Far. He went out to get a bottle expecting it to be frozen and it wasn't. When he opened the bottle, it imediately turned to ice. The next day he tried to repeat the process and he filmed it. Really cool to see. On the downside, you may not be able to view the video clips. He used a strange video format that you need to install a special viewer. I was able to translate it to a quicktime (mov) format so that all of you can watch it easily, but then I realized I may be breaking copyright laws here. So I'll see if I can get his permission to post my converted file of his movie. In the meantime here's his blog where you can read about it.
Cyen
This guy had some bottled water in his garage overnight and apparently lives somewhere cold as it got down to 1 degree Far. He went out to get a bottle expecting it to be frozen and it wasn't. When he opened the bottle, it imediately turned to ice. The next day he tried to repeat the process and he filmed it. Really cool to see. On the downside, you may not be able to view the video clips. He used a strange video format that you need to install a special viewer. I was able to translate it to a quicktime (mov) format so that all of you can watch it easily, but then I realized I may be breaking copyright laws here. So I'll see if I can get his permission to post my converted file of his movie. In the meantime here's his blog where you can read about it.
Cyen
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Avatar
Ok... I goofed on this one. I previously posted how I couldn't find an "avatar" fan site... I googled it again, and if I had only used that NEW computer thingy on the side of the window... I think it's called a "scroll bar" or something... Turns out there was a good fansite at the bottom of the first page. So if anyone else is searching here's a link... http://www.musogato.com/avatar/
- Cyen the web-bender.
- Cyen the web-bender.
Eat a Frog day...
I had a better day today. Didn't start off too well as I had to deal with the maintenance people this morning to try to get my front door fixed. They were about an hour late, but the guy came and did the job (sort of... he left it unpainted, and exposed wood, but at least it's up.) But, after he finished the job, I was able to pull some information out of him about how they schedule appointments. It took some doing at first, because he was making up excuses as to why he was late (which was not what I was asking him), but in a nutshell they make appointments, but they make appointments for everyone who requests the same time slot. In other words, If I request an 8am appointment the guy at the desk will say "ok". Then if someone else calls and asks for 8am, he'll also say "ok". Then the actual worker will get a handful (he said sometimes more than 5) and it's up to him to decided which one he wants to do first. This explains a lot.
I hate getting upset at these type things, but it really bothers me when someone say's they'll be there for an appointment, then don't show. I also hate these things because I get angry at myself for getting angry in the first place over such a small inconvenience of no weather-stripping. There are people with MUCH more serious problems, and here I am angry because I'm being inconvienenced. Oh well... life goes on.
When I told someone about my woes this morning she said, "well you ate your frog this morning..."
"huh?"
It's a saying that means you had to have something bad happen in the morning so that the rest of the day should go better. I never heard this saying before, but like it.
On a GREAT note... no squirrels this morning! Wouldn't that be great if I scared him off on the first day (not likely, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed).
How does one find a good apartment? Is there such a thing?
What's better... an apartment complex, or a single landlord who is renting one or two apartments in a building? I need to start looking.
switching thoughts now...
This morning the President was to give another speech to try and defend his position on the war. A woman on CNN said something to the effect of... The public is losing it's support for the war, and the president is trying to make a speech to regain some of that support. (She worded it much better than I). It struck me as odd... If the approval rating is around 30% (according to some polls), and basically the President is supposed to "represent" the people... what has to happen for the people's will to be carried out? Does it always have to lead to something ugly (protests, fights, arrests, etc...)? I guess time will tell, but I predict things won't change until the next President is elected.
Changing gears again...
Why are there no fan sites for the Nick cartoon "The last avatar"? I got hooked on this cartoon over thanksgiving weekend, and just watched the season finale last friday night. I went online to try and find some images, or fan sites for this cartoon, and there was very little. Even the official site on Nickleodeon was somewhat lame. I guess I have to keep digging, or make my own :)
Enjoy the rest of your day (or night) stay healthy (Get better D and E),
Cyen out.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Not a good day...
The dreaded "S" word...
I awoke early this morning (around 5:30am) and had trouble falling back to sleep. I am a light sleeper now due to a problem I've had in the past of having squirrels in the attic of my apartment. I went through a nightmare of dealing with not only the squirrels in my attic waking me at dawn in the morning, but also dealing with the idiotic maintenance people and the property manager. Eventually after many sleepless nights and mornings they caught the little buggers (what they did with them I don't know). Well, last year the squirrels came at the first real cold snap in late october (i think). Here it is December, and I thought I was going to have a good winter... until this morning. Sure enough, I walked into my kitchen and was folding a grocery bag, when i heard the distinct sound of a squirrel in the attic. My heart dropped. I honestly do not know which is worse, to have the squirrel problem, or dealing with the humans at my apartment complex. On a good note, as soon as the squirrel heard me moving around he left. I can only "HOPE" that i scared him off (but I seriously doubt it). I will probably be blogging about this experience as time goes on. ugh.
Bees>
On another nature related note: No longer can we use the old saying about how science doesn't understand how a bee flys (is it flys or flies?)... Some scientists have studdied it and think they have come up with an answer. It's an interesting read here, but in a nutshell, bee's use their wings differently than any other insect... instead of increaseing the rate at which they flap their wings to gain altitude (or to carry nectar), they change the tilt of their wings, and maintain a steady beat (around 230 beats per second!). At the end of the article they say how this information may help the robitics engineers trying to create small flying robots. Cool!
Well, early to bed tonight, so I'll be well rested when the squirrels arrive tomorrow morning.
Cyen
PS> I have been struggling with maintenance reagarding a different problem (the weather stripping around my door). It's like pulling teeth trying to talk to the guy in charge. I figure one problem at a time.
I awoke early this morning (around 5:30am) and had trouble falling back to sleep. I am a light sleeper now due to a problem I've had in the past of having squirrels in the attic of my apartment. I went through a nightmare of dealing with not only the squirrels in my attic waking me at dawn in the morning, but also dealing with the idiotic maintenance people and the property manager. Eventually after many sleepless nights and mornings they caught the little buggers (what they did with them I don't know). Well, last year the squirrels came at the first real cold snap in late october (i think). Here it is December, and I thought I was going to have a good winter... until this morning. Sure enough, I walked into my kitchen and was folding a grocery bag, when i heard the distinct sound of a squirrel in the attic. My heart dropped. I honestly do not know which is worse, to have the squirrel problem, or dealing with the humans at my apartment complex. On a good note, as soon as the squirrel heard me moving around he left. I can only "HOPE" that i scared him off (but I seriously doubt it). I will probably be blogging about this experience as time goes on. ugh.
Bees>
On another nature related note: No longer can we use the old saying about how science doesn't understand how a bee flys (is it flys or flies?)... Some scientists have studdied it and think they have come up with an answer. It's an interesting read here, but in a nutshell, bee's use their wings differently than any other insect... instead of increaseing the rate at which they flap their wings to gain altitude (or to carry nectar), they change the tilt of their wings, and maintain a steady beat (around 230 beats per second!). At the end of the article they say how this information may help the robitics engineers trying to create small flying robots. Cool!
Well, early to bed tonight, so I'll be well rested when the squirrels arrive tomorrow morning.
Cyen
PS> I have been struggling with maintenance reagarding a different problem (the weather stripping around my door). It's like pulling teeth trying to talk to the guy in charge. I figure one problem at a time.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Sunday
Movie>
I just saw the latest Harry Potter movie last night. I don't think I can pass a good judegment on the movie itself due to the location that I saw the movie. I wanted to see it, but the best time available was at a theater that I loathe... Lowes. It's been a very long time since last I visited lowes (at least a year or more) so I thought, 'well maybe things have changed.' No.
I got there maybe 20 minutes before showtime. There was a long line. I didn't stop for popcorn (as it cost way too much), and yet I had to sit in the third row. Ok, I guess that's my fault for not getting there sooner, but I didn't think it would have been that crowded after 3 weeks since the release date. (wrong again as it's the number one ranked movie for the 3rd week in a row). I sat through what seemed like 10-15 previews, one was for a movie that will be released in November of 2006! Really, should you be doing previews 11 months ahead of time? The film was too dark (until about 7/8ths when it seemed like someone flipped a switch on the projector and it became noticably brigther) not to mention scratch lines and dark shadows on the edges of the screen. So... It was hard for me to enjoy the movie with all these distractions. In spite of all that, I did like the movie overall. I think it was probably about 20 minutes too long (cut a lot of stuff at the beginning). I enjoyed the charaters, and the effects, and for short periods of time I was transported to Hogwarts.
Books>
I'm actually reading Harry Potter as well. Enjoying it so far.
I'm also (finally) reading a small book i picked up at a small bookstore in Berkeley, CA... called the "Stolen Sharpie Revolution". Interesting book about a subculture who independently makes there own "zines". Usually small budget magazines done on a photocopier. I will probably never make my own zine, but reading about the process was/is interesting. It's also interesting to me because the zine community were almost like the first "bloggers". I would imagine that with the ease of blogging it probably has diminished the zines.
Politics>
I just finished watching a debate with Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky on C-span's Book TV. I'm not sure if I consider myself a "fan" of Chomsky, but I like a lot of things that he says and stands for. I will admit though that much of what he says goes over my head. Even the subject of this debate was beyond me, but at the same time I found the exchange of ideas interesting. The topic of the debate was "Israel and Palestine After Disengagement". One thing that I was rather shocked and very dissapointed with, was that this was a debate sponsored by Harvard, and was between two highly educated men, and yet neither one could speak to one another in a civil manor. Each one was taking "cheap shots" at the other, interrupting one another, and at times even over-shouting the moderator who was trying to keep things in line (and failing). These two men of such high esteem, education, political backgrounds, etc... can't manage to have a civil debate about peace in the middle east... It was very sad. If you are the slightest bit interested in this, you can watch it online on C-span's website here. (The opening comments of each speaker are tedius to listen to, but once the questions from the audience start things heat up quickly.) You'll need "realplayer" to view this.
Table>
I was inspired by sister's blog to finally fix a small rickety end table that I've had. The glue of the legs had long since dried up, and there was only one screw holding each leg on. So I took the legs off, sanded them down (by hand at first, but then I used my dremel and saved a lot of time). Then put some new glue on, and reattached the legs. One leg may still give me problems as it didn't sit too well, but the other three snugged up nicely. I've got it clamped now, and will let the glue dry overnight. Thanks to my sister who finally gave me the motivation to fix this little table.
Well, this is turning into a small book, so I'll sign off now.
Cyen
I just saw the latest Harry Potter movie last night. I don't think I can pass a good judegment on the movie itself due to the location that I saw the movie. I wanted to see it, but the best time available was at a theater that I loathe... Lowes. It's been a very long time since last I visited lowes (at least a year or more) so I thought, 'well maybe things have changed.' No.
I got there maybe 20 minutes before showtime. There was a long line. I didn't stop for popcorn (as it cost way too much), and yet I had to sit in the third row. Ok, I guess that's my fault for not getting there sooner, but I didn't think it would have been that crowded after 3 weeks since the release date. (wrong again as it's the number one ranked movie for the 3rd week in a row). I sat through what seemed like 10-15 previews, one was for a movie that will be released in November of 2006! Really, should you be doing previews 11 months ahead of time? The film was too dark (until about 7/8ths when it seemed like someone flipped a switch on the projector and it became noticably brigther) not to mention scratch lines and dark shadows on the edges of the screen. So... It was hard for me to enjoy the movie with all these distractions. In spite of all that, I did like the movie overall. I think it was probably about 20 minutes too long (cut a lot of stuff at the beginning). I enjoyed the charaters, and the effects, and for short periods of time I was transported to Hogwarts.
Books>
I'm actually reading Harry Potter as well. Enjoying it so far.
I'm also (finally) reading a small book i picked up at a small bookstore in Berkeley, CA... called the "Stolen Sharpie Revolution". Interesting book about a subculture who independently makes there own "zines". Usually small budget magazines done on a photocopier. I will probably never make my own zine, but reading about the process was/is interesting. It's also interesting to me because the zine community were almost like the first "bloggers". I would imagine that with the ease of blogging it probably has diminished the zines.
Politics>
I just finished watching a debate with Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky on C-span's Book TV. I'm not sure if I consider myself a "fan" of Chomsky, but I like a lot of things that he says and stands for. I will admit though that much of what he says goes over my head. Even the subject of this debate was beyond me, but at the same time I found the exchange of ideas interesting. The topic of the debate was "Israel and Palestine After Disengagement". One thing that I was rather shocked and very dissapointed with, was that this was a debate sponsored by Harvard, and was between two highly educated men, and yet neither one could speak to one another in a civil manor. Each one was taking "cheap shots" at the other, interrupting one another, and at times even over-shouting the moderator who was trying to keep things in line (and failing). These two men of such high esteem, education, political backgrounds, etc... can't manage to have a civil debate about peace in the middle east... It was very sad. If you are the slightest bit interested in this, you can watch it online on C-span's website here. (The opening comments of each speaker are tedius to listen to, but once the questions from the audience start things heat up quickly.) You'll need "realplayer" to view this.
Table>
I was inspired by sister's blog to finally fix a small rickety end table that I've had. The glue of the legs had long since dried up, and there was only one screw holding each leg on. So I took the legs off, sanded them down (by hand at first, but then I used my dremel and saved a lot of time). Then put some new glue on, and reattached the legs. One leg may still give me problems as it didn't sit too well, but the other three snugged up nicely. I've got it clamped now, and will let the glue dry overnight. Thanks to my sister who finally gave me the motivation to fix this little table.
Well, this is turning into a small book, so I'll sign off now.
Cyen
Friday, December 02, 2005
Life on my computer...
I had this idea a few days ago, and just came upon a website that reminded me of my idea. The website is called happypalace and is a blog of various images. I don't get it really, as it seems to be a hodge podge of images, but some neat vintage images. The first image that popped up when I loaded the page, was a line drawing of a floppy disk with the label of "My Entire Life". This led me to the reminder that I just came up with this idea about a week ago...
About a week ago, I had bought a new TV. In throwing out my old TV (which I hated to do), I was curious how old it was, and how long I had had it. Must have been close to 11 or 12 years. I thought I should know this sort of info. So I created a simple text file on my computer, that I will now log all the semi-important things that happen in my life. For example, I put the purchase date of my new TV. I recently had to call my apartment complex to get them to come out and fix my dishwasher, which they then had to replace. So I noted this as well. There are only a few entires at this point, but I think it will be neat in 10-20 years to open this file and look back and see what was "important" that I felt I needed to keep track of. (And it will be searchable, so I hope once I have a bunch of entries it will be possible to find what I'm looking for.)
Music> I happened to watch the Daily Show last night, and they had a first... They had a musical guest of "The White Stripes" (which I like - not all of the songs, but most of the songs). It was neat to see them perform, and although I enjoyed it on the Daily Show, I hope this doesn't become a regular feature on the Daily Show... I think if it did, it would be more of a "late night" or "the tonight show" or "Jimmy Kimmel" and not a Fake News Show. I guess time will tell. On a related note: I saw a link a couple days ago for a Live recording via NPR radio of the White Stripes. I thought "cool, I can stream it and record it on my computer (for personal use)" - But when it started... OH MY... it was horrible! Just a bunch of screaming, and poor audio quality. The live performance on the Daily Show was ten times better though.
Politics> I passed a house this morning on my way to work (I pass it everyday), and this morning was a sign out front that said "Impeach Bush Cheney". I remember this house had signs out front during the election for Kerry. I admire someone who puts a sign outside of their house stating an extreme political point of view. I don't know if I'd ever do it for fear of some sort of retaliation (a rock through a window, paint, etc...). I guess i can do it in a different way... on my blog :) Impeach Bush.
23 Days until Christmas...
Cyen
About a week ago, I had bought a new TV. In throwing out my old TV (which I hated to do), I was curious how old it was, and how long I had had it. Must have been close to 11 or 12 years. I thought I should know this sort of info. So I created a simple text file on my computer, that I will now log all the semi-important things that happen in my life. For example, I put the purchase date of my new TV. I recently had to call my apartment complex to get them to come out and fix my dishwasher, which they then had to replace. So I noted this as well. There are only a few entires at this point, but I think it will be neat in 10-20 years to open this file and look back and see what was "important" that I felt I needed to keep track of. (And it will be searchable, so I hope once I have a bunch of entries it will be possible to find what I'm looking for.)
Music> I happened to watch the Daily Show last night, and they had a first... They had a musical guest of "The White Stripes" (which I like - not all of the songs, but most of the songs). It was neat to see them perform, and although I enjoyed it on the Daily Show, I hope this doesn't become a regular feature on the Daily Show... I think if it did, it would be more of a "late night" or "the tonight show" or "Jimmy Kimmel" and not a Fake News Show. I guess time will tell. On a related note: I saw a link a couple days ago for a Live recording via NPR radio of the White Stripes. I thought "cool, I can stream it and record it on my computer (for personal use)" - But when it started... OH MY... it was horrible! Just a bunch of screaming, and poor audio quality. The live performance on the Daily Show was ten times better though.
Politics> I passed a house this morning on my way to work (I pass it everyday), and this morning was a sign out front that said "Impeach Bush Cheney". I remember this house had signs out front during the election for Kerry. I admire someone who puts a sign outside of their house stating an extreme political point of view. I don't know if I'd ever do it for fear of some sort of retaliation (a rock through a window, paint, etc...). I guess i can do it in a different way... on my blog :) Impeach Bush.
23 Days until Christmas...
Cyen
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