| Sunday, July 30, 2006 |
| Bear Hunting |
I'll be in the Wind Rivers range for the next week.
Technically I'm not hunting bears, but I'll be looking for them. And if I find one I like, I'll be bringing it back with me. |
posted by Brett Crockett @ 10:00 AM   |
|
|
|
| Wednesday, July 19, 2006 |
| I Heart Windows |
While working thismorning, my lappy started bogging down, so I decided to re-boot. It took nearly a half hour to save the document I was working on, and shut down iTunes. Then, I went to the Start menu to restart, and for over 5 minutes, nothing happened. At that point, I CTRL+ALT+DEL'd and still, nothing happened. Finally, I decided the only way to "fix" my problems would be to take out the battery and unplug the power. So, that's what I did. Then in calssic 8-bit Nintendo fashion, I blew into all the openings in the computer that I could find. Mic plugs, CD-ROM, USB jacks, headphones, and a couple of those PCMCIA slots were all subjected to this technique for an average of three seconds.
Then, the re-boot. Then, the horror.
I tried restarting in Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, etc. THe whole kit-n-kaboodle. And nothing. It just flashes a quick blue screen and goes into a restart loop.
Scott suggested it may have caught "the mexican virus." He could be right, but are these the symptoms? I'm opening up to what others might have to contribute as far as diagnosis goes. Feel free to comment. For your effort, I'll send you a fragment of the HD if I can't get it fixed. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 11:12 AM |
|
|
|
| Monday, July 17, 2006 |
| On Peace and Fruits |
On the morning of September 23, 2005, I awoke to the sound of roadwork outside my window. A new coating of asphalt was being placed over existing asphalt that was in generally good condition and warranted no repair. However, in an end-of-budget-year push, the city was quickly laying down blacktop and replacing pipe that really didn't need it. The reasoning was (however faulty) that if the city let those budgeted funds go unused, their subsequent budgets would be garnered accordingly, and it was possible that, as a result, they might run out of funds early in some future budget period. So, they brought in the dump trucks, tar sprayers and the steamrollers.
I wondered, "Is all this really necessary?" There are some things we do in life that seem to come of ether rather than of necessity. Budgets for example, and fruits for another.
I like a tall glass of orange juice as much as the next guy. In fact at one point, I drank more than 1 litre per day (it was about 50 cents/litre in Switzerland). But there comes a point in every man's life when he has to stand up and say: "I may like orange juice, but that doesn't mean I have to like oranges."
After all, we have chicken, ribs, steak, pork chops, bacon, sausage, salmon, halibut, sushi, french dip, noodles and all sorts of bread (toast, rolls, frenchbread, sourdough, cinamonrolls, bagels, muffins, crackers, brochette, carrotbread, Wonder... and possibly even "maize," which I suspect is some type of bread). Plenty of stuff to eat. Do we really need more?
I say we do not. Especially not fruits. They are acidic and hard to pick. Wars have been fought over them (see the Pineapple War of 1812, the Kiwi Plague of the 1430's, and more recently the Treaty of Grape which resulted in the infamous Grapefruit Massacre. Some also believe JFK was shot with a "salad shooter." Said salad reportedly contained Mandarin oranges and some type of nut assortment.) If all that weren't enough, fruits can have worms or other vestibules of horror embedded in them. Worst of all- they have an unpleasant texture. Ask anyone: which would you rather feel on your cheek- the texture of cotton candy, or the texture of the outside of a pineapple?
So with this, we establish The Coalition Against Fruits and Several Vegetables. Our goal is to eventually stop all consumption of fruits (and any vegetables that seem like they should be classified as fruits), and also celery.
We'll start with America and over the next few months, as we experience success at home, move the campaign abroad. We invite all to join our ranks in crying out "We love the juice, but we disdain the fruit." For just as if we didn't have budgets- we might use money more wisely, if we didn't have fruits- we might have peace on Earth. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 6:00 AM |
|
|
|
| Thursday, July 06, 2006 |
| SLC at it's Best |
Photo courtesy of Paul Mayne, 2006
Salt Lake is the greatest city in the Union, or at least in Salt Lake County. For the sake of time, here are just 3 of the many reasons:
1- I saw a midget (little person) riding his bicycle on the grass at liberty park.
2- I saw a man puting a moon boot on his right foot (the left one was alredy on) while sitting under a tree at Pioneer Park. Keep in mind that its 95 degrees in Salt Lake this week.
3- The taco stand Paul showed me for lunch last week offers the best food at the particular corner on which it is located (the green arrow on the map is on the wrong corner, but you get the point). You get tacos for a buck and you don't pay until you're done eating. Best part is, you sit on the sidewalk or lean against the wall of a building with a sign that says "Please do not stand or lean against the building." At first I thought it was a weird thing to ask. But I've decided it's pretty reasonable considering the fact that to topple the walls of Jericho, they just did a little jig and then shouted really loud. Surely we can't expect the feeble wall of a downtown business to withstand more than the walls of a once great city. |
| posted by Brett Crockett @ 11:45 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
