Ancient History

Hmmm new desk... so nice... feels like I'm at work when I use it.. probally won't be the best for work since I will be wanting to play video games there now.

Two years ago I moved into a house... the bat cave as I call it... two months after moving in the sewer line backs up... after calling the plumber and getting the line snaked out the plumber informs me the line is Orangeburg (i.e. paper and tar). It should be replaced. I take the plumbers advice and promptly forget it.

Flash forward two years... Tom is in his bathroom "taking care of business". Tom flushes the toilet....it doesn't flush completely. Tom flush the toilet again... the toilet floods the bathroom. The sewer line has it's revenge. **Movie fades in to a flooded bathroom and Tom with his pants around ankles**

Ok not really but that is probably how it would go down in a movie... you know all sex and drugs and all. The flooding part is true though man that sucked.. I'm on my second plumber. This battle between me and my sewer line is becoming rather annoying since neither one of us are willing to give up the fight. The sewer line will lose since I have a secret weapon at my disposal... A BACKHOE! and a plumber that knows how to use it.

Checking the website stats tonight... I'm proud to say that one of you miscreants out there has a MAC! I'm so happy finally some one is reading this webpage with a proper OS... Ironic...I call MAC a proper OS yet I write this whole site in Windows... Oh well they all can't be winners. However I did notice that I still have more people coming here using Windows95/98 then I do MAC. For all the 95/98 users out there I implore you... upgrade go to a real OS even if it is Windows XP.

I noticed something odd this week... when I'm working around the house doing dishes cleaning whatever... I have my iPod plugged into my ears... when I'm at my computer I have my iPod on the charger and the iTunes fired up. I've never been able to work at that computer with anything plugged into my ears. I just find it odd since I have the exact same music on both my iPod and computer.

Just in case you were wondering I don't' think I can get my iPod to back up my music on my PC.

Tales from Hell..... Going to wherever the hell I was going this week I came up behind a KPD officer on a motorcycle... and his license plate frame said "Be happy I'm not behind you" When did cops get a sense of humor? My dad's a cop and he still hasn't grown a sense of humor.

"A word of warning - do not try and attack Jesus with anything less than a level 20 Wizard"

Finally I have my promiscuous packet sniffer for my PDA MMMUUUUWWWWAAAAHHHHHH feel the possibilities for securing home and work flow through my veins.

So here is a random question does anyone out there not listen to music set to random? Let me explain... I'm sitting at my computer writing this and I have iTunes set to random and the last three songs have been Tool, Tom Petty, and U2. Pearl Jam is up right now... I noticed that once I got my iPod I just didn't listen to music in album form anymore I just always listen to it randomly (now a song by the Refused - The Refused are Fucking) see what I'm talking about

Ah spring time.. it's a brisk 90 degrees out side...love is in the air... my brother is single... help my brother get laid... if you have a pulse and can medically pass for female (genetic test only) then you should talk to my brother.... yes ladies he is waiting to suck you dry and not in a good way either.

Happy Cinco De Mayo... yes the gringo holiday to go out and drink with our Mexican brethren.... to bad the Mexican brethren don't really dig Cinco De Mayo... and how did I celebrate? I gave blood! Oh boy! It's a dirty dirty job but someone has to do it... I don't know about you but I'm would just assume that dirty people not be the ones I'm getting the blood from... though if I don't take a shower I can get pretty raunchy....

Anywho... I was surfing around last night and I ended up at Launch.com for one reason or another and decided to see if any of the musicians I like had new videos that I hadn't seen yet.... sure enough there is a A Perfect Circle with a new video. I check it out... nothing special but it gets me thinking "ya know A Perfect Circle has a bit of money behind it this a pretty cheap video (especially compared to some of their other stuff)" I slough it off as a random though generated by a random brain cell trying to reactivate itself. This morning I'm watching TV while getting ready for work, and for whatever reason I have the TV turned to MTV (I still don't know why it was there so don't ask me). I'm halfway paying attention to what is on the screen and the following thought hits my head. "Damn I miss 120 minutes" OK for those of you in the group who don't remember 120 Minutes it was MTV's alternative/punk/cutting edge/underground show. I used to watch it on a pretty regular basis in HS and College. Last time I watched 120 minutes was about a year and half ago on MTV2 and it had changed for the worse....

It's bad enough that MTV is playing drivel to begin with (when you can see a video) VH1 is now the clip show network (admit it how many times have you been channel surfing and been sucked into a I love the 80's marathon?) I can't stand country... And slowly Tom realizes that he becomes dependant on the internet for yet another part of himself... his music fix.

I guess it's a good thing that I really like the music that I already own otherwise I might not be a very happy camper right now.

Good evening fair readers (all 4 of you). I’m sitting here tonight doing this update on Bender since my main computer is currently being occupied by my latest endeavor of installing Linux into a virtual machine… What does this have to do with me you ask? Nothing but you’re the son of a gun sitting there reading this website so you brought this on yourself.

I was watching the screensavers (they had an interview with Wil Wheaton (and by his own admission his Guinness induced double chin)). Towards the end of the show there was a article on installing Linux under Windows using VMware… I watched it… seemed pretty cool. Ok I’m a sucker for anything that I can try once….. so I download VMware, install… no problem… not a lot to configure (probably a good thing in my case). Pop in my current favorite Linux distro (Mandrake 10). Install fails… crap… restart virtual machine… ah there we go.. get through the first couple of screens… crap fails… try again… get as far as I did before… dies in the same place… ok must be a bad disk… so I look for Nero on my computer. Can’t find NERO since I haven’t reinstalled it since the last rebuild… Can’t find install disk… crap… hmmm (I think to myself)… I fire up VNC… get to my X desktop on Apache… ah there we go… fire up CD burner and burn ISO image of Mandrake from Mandrake 10 on Apache (Linux box) through a virtual X desktop session running on a Windows box… I will post a screen shot. Finally install starts… gets to disk 2… I insert disk 2… IT’S BAD TOO!!! SHIT!

Ah Star Wars Galaxies… truly digital crack…. I’m now glad I didn’t play Everquest since I now know I would have been totally sucked in. I play with a pretty interesting group of “regulars” we come from all walks of life and I would like to think that if these people lived in Hell I would be friends with them. Here is a quick rundown of the ones that come to mind.

-TB (short for Ten-Bears). Cool guy, just mastered weapon smith. Listening to him talk about components for weapons and assembling whole weapons you can’t help but think of some cooking show… “Cooking firearms with your host Ten-Bears” Yes he’s that excited about it.

-Harm (short for Harmony). One of several women (yes guys girls play video games too it was a shock to me as well) that is in my guild. Great fun to play with always wanting to go out and fight something… Harmony’s non combat profession is “Dancer” which wouldn’t be so bad except for my brother walking in on me playing Star Wars and Harmony doing a move out of a strip club. I told her about this and she laughed.

-Vik (short for Viking) Probably the one person who plays more then me… Viking plays a short, fat, and bald Rodian (Think that green thing that Han Solo shoots in the very first Star Wars). I play a Wookie… lets just say we antagonize each other… He calls me a lazy Wookie… I ask if he has seen the da-plane or where is my drink.

Yes these are the people that come to mind off the top of my head… there are a ton of other people. I just can’t think of any of them at the moment. Oh and with the exception of a very few people (I’m one of the exceptions) everybody has two characters… one to make money and one to fight. It is truly a unique group.

Anywhooo... I saw Kill Bill Vol 2, I like this move... it made me appreciate the first one just that much more and made me feel even better about myself... yes that's right a Quentin Tarantino Movie made me feel good about myself. I know it's a first... and kind of wrong at the same time. That didn't weird me out as much as the next thing. Quentin Tarantino still hasn't done his "erotic" film yet according to a interview I was watching. considering the guy used to work in a video store I have a mesh of Playboy, Skinamax, and "Reservoir Dogs" / "Pulp Fiction" going through my mind... lots of boobies... even more blood...

An update to last time... the incredible draining toilet that I thought was caused by my washer was actually caused something else secondary to my freaking sewer pipe collapsing. I'm not ankle deep in anything (yet) but give it time. Don't worry I'm getting things replaced this week... I think...

Wow something of a minor break through this week... I checked my stats for the first time in a while and under the section that tells me what kind of browser people are using I find the Mozilla 1.6 is in second place! And I know it's not me since I don't look at this site if I want to look at a live version of my site I look at kodiak.idlegames.com. Wow I'm stunned beyond belief... And at 21% of users that means one of you is using Mozilla full time to look here. I'm so proud of you Matt!

In other news not much is going on, I bought a TV card for $30 week. I originally planned to put it in my Linux box... however when my Linux box choked on the card and I had to reload everything and then got nothing but static when I actually hooked it up to the cable I gave up after 3 hours and decided to wait until I have more time and yet another Linux to play with.

So I've noticed that when I do laundry the spin cycle on my washer causes my toilet to empty out.... I'm glad I noticed before nature called.

I know I know.. I missed my end of the obligation and didn't update... I have a good excuse I swear.... I was watching "Taken" and having dinner with family.

First off let me start by saying GOD BLESS SPIKE TV! The good folks who have brought you Star Trek: The Next Generation Reruns for years now... Now bring you Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reruns!!!! DS9 is so cool.

Ever wonder how I look when I'm playing a game? So did so I took a picture... it wasn't pretty... and we will leave it at that.

Isn't it interesting how a song or a type of music can suddenly make you think about a particular time or place in your life? I'm listening to “A Perfect Circle” right now... Which always makes me think about my time at NAU and how I was very unhappy with parts of my life and happy with others but wouldn't change a single thing.

I also find it interesting how music have a immediate effect on your mood sometimes. Again with “Perfect Circle” some songs just make me rock out (thank God I live alone) others almost make me stop and think. Some are calming others inspire me.... I guess what I'm getting at is music should be a portal to your soul and person not something to be bought and sold at $.99 (or $.88 at wal-mart.com) Maybe you will think of that next time you que up a playlist.

Good Eats.... there is just something so wrong about explaining cooking through science... and I've noticed two things... 1. Once you have basic series of seemingly complex rules down you can do pretty much anything from scratch (kind of like computer) and 2. They have some great ideas for show themes... “Pork Fiction” ok I know it sounds like a bad porno title... ok hold on....

Going old school tonight... Depeche Mode “Violator” is on the iTunes. OK you can stop laughing now, no really you can stop any time now... I SAID STOP DAMMIT! Hey at least I'm not downloading Cyndi Lauper!

Anywho, I cleaned my computer for the first time since I built it yesterday. Just for the record I built “Prometheus” in January 2002. The dust was caked on quite thickly in more then a few spots... Someday I truly marvel at how technology still runs.

K-Lawn 1.0.0.0.0.0 is a failure... I only succeeded in watering and fertilizing my weeds... ok back to the drawing board and try again.

Happy first or second day of spring (depending on which day it actually started).... Not that this is a actual holiday but it is the official start of the “hot” season here in Arizona... 85 today in Hell... it's only going to get hotter from here.... I'm holing on off on turing on my coolers for a another couple of weeks with the thought that we will have one more cold snap before it is all over.

Prometheus is no longer the box it once was... no longer does it breathe fire it now plays games and that is about it.... I do my other stuff email (all 3 a week at home), internet, some graphic design (not enough to make it a consideration for a future box). So I'm looking around the internet for pieces parts for my next box... And I'm torn between having it now (or as soon as UPS can get me the parts) and waiting for the BTX form factor along with several other things that will be springing up this year... Past experience tells us it's 18 months before pieces parts are in sufficient supply to really make difference in what you should get... USB was introduced in 1998 and it was 2000 before you started to see a fair number of USB devices. So I'm at a dilemma. and of course there is always the choice of sinking more money into the box that I already have... which isn't a bad idea except in the long run it's almost always cheaper to do a wholesale upgrade then a piecemeal upgrade. And so begins project “Heretic”

Donald Trump... not only is the man the “star” the the “hit” reality show the apprentice (never watched it personally) but now he is pushing Verizon Wireless (I still want to be the Sprint guys side kick), and he is trying to trademark the phrase “Your fired” You know Don.... we have wars... poverty.... human rights issues and your worried about trademarking a fucking phrase? Yeah you are just as screwed up as I thought you were.

Happy St. Patty's day... the day when no snakes showed up in Ireland! Or something like that....

Anywhoo...I've repaired windows so I'm back to using the “dark side” however I have not installed frontage yet so once again I' m writing this update using OpenOffice Writer. It looks and works exactly the same in Windows as it does in Linux which I guess is good if you want to have the same look and feel and type ahead on either platform....

In other news the real reason I'm updating tonight is Apache has been upgraded to Mandrake 10.0 Community release. Which means “Drum Roll please” I'm now using the 2.6 kernel! What does that mean for me? Not a damn thing since my hard ware is so old it wouldn't matter anyway but I did notice that my Linux box was much faster after the upgrade..... yes let me say that again... my LINUX box was FASTER after the UPGRADE... not a clean a install a full upgrade. Surprised the hell out of me.

Greetings and salutions from Linux land tonight. Not for choice though more for the fact that the Windows side of my box (or as I call it the dark side) decided to start blue screening on itself every 45 minutes. Now this wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that I CAN'T FREAKING PLAY STAR WARS ON LINUX!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME SOE?!

Anyway this week in Kern land I've started my first open source project K-Lawn 1.0.0.0.0.0.0. Yes K-Lawn... what is it you ask? Well it is basically my attempt to get enough grass in my back yard to warrant the use of the following line “Apologize to my lawn” (With apologies to the cast and crew of “King of the Hill”)

Open Office is doing this type ahead thing where if I hit the “enter” key Open Office will finish the word for me... Problem is though it almost never picks the right word! Major pain in the ass if you ask me. How Wil Wheaton can write books using this software I don't know... Speaking of which have you read “Dancing Barefoot” NO? Neither have I but it's on the list.

Wow this really is kind of neat... tonight is really the first time I've just kind of worked in Linux not really doing anything sysadmin oriented and I find my self switching between desktop screens quite a bit... I'm talking to Brandi on Gaim, working on this update in Open Office (which is still doing the type ahead thing), and looking up web links on the other desktop it's really quite a nice experience again with the NO FREAKING STAR WARS!!

So I'm watching the Suns play tonight on TV... first time in a while I've watched a basketball game... The Suns are winning (which is a nice change of pace) so I'm watching the game and Scott shows up and starts talking about his woman problems (what else is new?). The game cuts to commercial... and Queer Eye guys come on in a commercial and start talking about why they love basketball... Now I like to think I'm a pretty enlightened guy... I have gay friends and I like my gay friends they are good people... however what I'm about to say may offend them and to them I say the following.... get over it.

WHAT THE FUCK!!?? YOU DON'T PUSH THE NBA TO STRAIGHT MEN WITH GAY MEN! HOLY FUCKING CRAP!.....

Stargate SG1... thanks to Curtis and Matt for hooking me up with their tapes of season 7... I am now thoroughly hooked on the stupid show and am kicking my self for not watching it sooner... I will pick up the new series from the beginning though.... All I have to say though is... Ascending? What the hell is that?

HAPPY LEAP DAY! Finally a day of the year I know that I haven't written on before! I'm sure I've missed a few of the more common days but this one I know for sure that I have not written on before.

So I was watching Star Wars Episode I on tv tonight... and I've decided that "A Phantom Menace" is not as bad as I originally thought. It doesn't hold a candle to the original 3 or even "Attack of the Clones" (which I still think sounds like a bad Sci-Fi movie). I still have just a few beefs with it and since I haven't beat on this horse for a very long time... let me get my shovel... ok be right back....

"Hello dead and buried horse that is the suck-tastic horse of Star Wars Episode I. I have a few more bones to pick with you (which is about right since you are bones... and kind of wormy too).

3. The kid... really Darth Vader is supposed to be all dark and menacing and junk not some dorky kid.

Ok I'm back, I've taken care of that little issue and let me tell you I feel a heck of allot better.

I get home from work today and there sitting on my porch are two boxes. One with a iPod (15gb) and one with a Firewire card and iPod dock. I immediately start to assemble things... After 10 minutes everything starts to click... it's great... 5 more minutes and a reboot later I my iPod is syncing with iTunes... 45 minutes later it's done (I have a lot of music and it take a while to download even with Firewire). I have been listening to the iPod since about 6 and it's almost 8 now.. I'm very impressed with the quality of the sound... every now and again I can feel the hard drive seek to get more info.

Playing with the iPod I can totally believe that Steve Jobs uses one of these things.... A while back I read a article describing the difference between Microsoft programmers and Apple programmers. Microsoft programmers talk about technology and the back ends to things. Apple programmers talk about how things look. I think apple maybe onto something.

Good, bad, ugly? I love it (thats good since I bought it). The bad? I am to smart for the install process instead of following the instructions (put the cd in the tray) I used logic and reason and just downloaded the software directly... turns out iTunes doesn't have the stuff for a iPod built in there is another bit of software you need. The Ugly? I think I may have gotten to small of a iPod.

Lo and Behold loyal reader... yes I've figured it out... and I truly have one reader. Which begs the question why after 3 years am I still doing this? Well quite simply there is no other way for me to sit and scream at myself in front of my computer then to write on this page. At least something constructive comes out of it. Really it's a real time stream of my thoughts for about 10 to 45 minutes at a shot. My one reader is me.... the rest of you are just along for the ride :)

Do notice that I've changed the link at the top of the page... I think my terror alert thingy is going to be staying put however I'm kicking around the idea of linking to various open source projects. I figure if anyone is going to bring the joy of open source to the masses that will be someone else... I can however help in this little spec of the Internet. My first goal is to get everybody who comes here to try a open source browser... Right now the stats sit at 99.29% of my visitors use Internet Explorer with 0.68% using Mozilla/Firebird..... I can already tell you that .68% is me checking my own web page with either Mozilla/Firebird/Firefox

I was watching "Clerks" with dinner tonight (beer and burritos) and was thinking to myself at how well "Clerks" has stood up over the last 10 years. I watched it in college and didn't think much of it... I watched it as a day in the life of clerks, you know since I was a clerk working at a grocery store. Now I watch it and see all of the various nuances that Kevin Smith put in "Clerks". In case it hasn't already been decided Kevin Smith is the man.

While channel surfing I ran into something that will be near and dear to all Zonie's (all 2 who grew up in Az and read this page) the "Wallace and Ladmo" page.. there is not much there and it's on a crappy station but at least it's on the Internet.

I've joined a guild on Star wars... and it's a new experience for me... up to this point in my life games have always been a solitary thing now I find myself actually working with (not against) other people to achieve a goal. Whatever it may be...

This guild uses a voice over IP app called Team Speak... Think of it as radio communications for the game... it's kind of interesting actually... I've learned allot about the game and the people who are on quite a bit. It gets really during large group raids.

Other then that I'm sure everyone had a fantastic valentines day. If you feel like sharing what you did I will be more then happy to post it here so the rest of us can get a clue... I will go first.

What did I do for valentines day? I cleaned my house and played star wars! gee imagine that.

IT LIVES!! que evil laugh! Ok granted I killed it in the first place but that is not the point. I didn't have to kill it but I did any way. So it's alive and working quite nicely now. I'm speaking of my Linux box of course... it's gone from Redhat 9.0 to Mandrake 9.2. What does that mean to you? Not a damn thing.. to me it means all sorts of new fun things to learn.

No Doubt keeps coming up on iTunes... intermixed with Dave Mathews coupled with the Guinness I had with dinner.... yeah I'm doing alright.

I know not the most filling update but I'm more interested in my Linux then talking at the moment.

Ok with that out of my system.... will some one please tell me what the problem is here? "Accidents" happen all the time... like the President losing 2.5 million Jobs.... I can see it "Laura, I lost those jobs do you know where I put them?".... "No I don't honey bunny, did you check the "water-pipe"?" "Good idea!"... I don't think I've seen anything more then a blip from Bill O'Really on that one. Of course he is on Al-Jazzera so I guess it's not entirely his fault... no wait it is...

Ok now that I have that out of my system... I feel much better... I think I know I'm spending so much time on star wars right now... it's a very nice escape from cable tv and it pissing me off more then I already am.

After watching the half time show yesterday I'm pretty convinced that a quote I saw a while back is way more true then I care to admit.... "MTV has completed it's devolution to the Shiny Things Network"... Yeah that seems to sum it up very nicely.

And as a side note... just below this entry is a screen shot of my stats for "Apache".... about 20 minutes after I took this screen shot I got a Kernel Panic and had to reboot. What caused the Kernel Panic you ask? Quite simply crappy hardware.... plain and simple.

Tricked you didn't I... you thought I stopped updating on Sunday and now here I am updating on Sunday... I'm sneaky bastard aren't I ? Well I think I'm a sneaky bastard.

As I previously mentioned on this very webpage I've bought and am thoroughly enjoying Star Wars Galaxies... I don't think I have had this much fun in a game for a very very very long time. Anyway we all know and love Curtis (some people love Curtis enough to move in with him... I'm not one of those people). Curtis is also on the Star Wars Galaxies servers from time to time and he found the time this week to send the following picture to me. In case you can't figure it out Curtis's character is the one on the right with a Mohawk. I may get around to posting of my Galaxies character when I do something cool...

Here is a interesting thought for you.... your in school... your in a class of 200... the teacher brings in a video camera and has all the students introduce themselves into the video camera so the teacher can learn all your names. The teach requests that you tell her something to associate the name with a face. What do tidbit of info do you associate with your face for the teacher?

I'm once again in love with my Sprint Service... so much so that I want to become the Sprint Guy... not the Sprint Guy's assistant... I want to be the Sprint Guy!

Helllo all... and welcome to another edition of "Tom; weapon of mass distortion".... how is that? Well my ego is so massive it bends light waves as to cause to think they see things that aren't really there like brilliance... and gasp a genuine thought or two... oh my... the scandal.

I'm sure you all remember my attempt at a thought provoking essay... yes I know.. hey I was bored and what do you care it's not like any of you read it anyway. Well I finally found a meaning to Geek and Nerd that I like... "A Geek is someone who is socially inept but serves some useful function..... A Nerd is someone who is socially inept and useless on top of it".... So I guess that makes my brother a nerd?

I've been kicking around the idea of a revamp of the website for about 6 months now... and I really like the lay out I have now... I've had it since 1999 and it has always just worked for me... At this point I truly think that the only point that I would try to "fix" is this page.... I've seen several open source (there I am again on my open source thing) blog apps (movable type) that allow for comments and multiple authors... and I know this is "my" blog/update site but there seems to be a core of people that come here on a pretty regular basis... I don't know maybe I'm thinking to much about this and should drink more beer....

Back... Recharged.... and ready to take on a new day.... of course it doesn't hurt that I have my laptop back in action after spending a week at Dell for a bit of R&R didn't know I used my laptop that much did ya?

Tonight's update is being brought to you by the Crystal Method's New CD (Or if your like me and have gone the way of iTunes) E-Whatever... "Legion of Boom" Good CD if you are into techno you will like the Album. If your not into techno I suggest you start with a earlier Crystal Method Album ("Vegas" is good for beginners). Or for a more Euro trash flare anything by the Chemical Brothers. Fat Boy Slim is good if you need your techno to have the MTV Approved label Scott.

As we all know I there are days (mainly weekends anymore) that I live on Slashdot... today's poll (I shit you not) is "Your Biggest Failure as a Nerd?" with the choices in the poll being "Haven't seen LOTR./Didn't build my own computer. / Don't run Linux. / Have a significant other. / Don't use caffeine. / Exercise regularly. / Only have one email address. / Less than excellent karma. " I'm sure you all will be happy to know that I pass the Slashdot test of geek-ness with flying colors the only thing I fail in is having a significant other. Considering how long I was single I don't think it's that big of a failure. Anyway it's just a Slashdot poll it's not like it's the ACT's or something.

Ms. Spears has been pushing her new "Sex Kitten" image pretty hard lately.... first she owes up to not being a virgin.... I think we all figured that one out a long time ago Brit... then the Madonna kiss... I've seen better lesbians kisses from much less attractive women... and now she has this video where she goes around killing cheating guys and spends half the video in some shear thing with diamonds.... I finally get it... she's hot... she's single.... and can't get Laid..... Brit I have a solution for you my brother is single and needs to have some action other then his hand. Why don't you give him a call.

Remember kids "Legion of Boom" Available now at all fine online retailers or your favorite P2P network.

I was going to post tonight but my computer blue screened so now I'm off to figure out why...

Welcome to 2004 a year of great pain, great change, and much unknown... ok maybe not.. I wanted to start with the opening monologue from the 4th season of Babylon5 but 1. I'm too lazy to go look it up and 2. Only 2 maybe three people would get it. That however is neither here nor in Epsilon Grid.

Ok so what have I been up to? Well the Girlfriend and I went to Disney Land (2 hour wait for it's a small world and wall to wall people). I don't think I've ever seen Disneyland that crowded. It's safe to say that we had a good time in spite of the large crowds. Next time we are going on a weekday when no one is around. Pictures will eventually get posted of some of the more intersting sites at Disneyland including the fabled "2 hour wait for a small world" sign.

This weekend was spent at a LAN party hosted by Curtis "Feral/Excess3" Kinney. Curtis throws a good LAN party... good selection of games and witty running dialog that never stops... from anyone.

Star Wars Galaxies... so I've decided to truly go to the dark side and try out a Galaxies. So far I like it very well. What is Galaxies you ask... well let me put it to you in terms that even my jack ass brother would understand. A bunch of people play this game and play on line. Everyone has a career path (a lot like real life) and a few have really cool jobs (read as Jedi Knight). Everyone else can be anything from a Scout to a Merchant to a Craftsman to (and I know you ladies will like this) a Entertainer. The possibilities are really quite infinite. So if you play Galaxies and are on Naboo... keep an eye out for a silver and brown Wookie with a big axe... that's' me :)

Just to tell you what kind of game this is.... I finished a mission and I'm walking around this town. Off to my left two people are fighting so I stop to watch, A couple of other people are watching too and then one of them asks one of the fighters to help out... next thing I know I hear 3 blaster shots and one of the fighters is on the ground. All I can think of is... damn... this game is dangerous to my character if I piss off the wrong people.

Stop me if you have heard this one before... so a Man, a Elf, and a Dwarf walk into a bar... Oh so you have heard it before... Ok... I understand... Yes I know that Curtis tells it much better then I do but you could have let me tell the joke... what do you mean I have no comic timing? OH I see... OK fine... I will just sit over here quietly and not worry about it.

Hmm I think that is a first even for me I just got into a argument with myself on the internet and kicked my own ass. How pathetic. I guess it could be worse how I don't know but I know it could be. Anyway now that I have that out my system I feel much better.

Watching CNN today I saw that the Homeland Security Dept had raised the threat level to Orange from that oh so soothing yellow it's been at for the last couple of months. What is the first thing that I do? Why I jump onto the website to check the threat indicator and sure enough it's gone from "Bert" to "Ernie" I don't know in my mind I think that Bert should be the higher of the two terror levels. But what do I know I'm just a simple guy. I was rather surprised that Krissy and Clint both alerted me to the change of my threat indicator... I wouldn't mention this except for the fact that they both alerted me at 3:56 P.M. Quite literally I got the email and the Instant Message at the same time. It was a little odd.

With Christmas fast approaching... I have done something that I have never done before... I have finished all of my Christmas shopping with days to spare. It's a nice feeling.

And quite possibly the most disturbing thing that I have seen in a very long time... I was surfing Slashdot tonight and there was a link for "Slashdot Personals". Ok so now for those of you who don't quite know why this is scary... I will explain it for you... this is a singles add on the Übergeek site on the Internet. It sent a chill down my spine... Geeks looking for a good time... OK I know like I have allot of room to talk as of late... but still there is still just something not natural about.

Which leads me to the end of year contest. "How Long Before Dorkus Has A Profile On A Online Dating Site" Email your guess to me and the winner gets the shame of knowing that they know my brother just a little to well.

You know when you don't play a game for a while you know that you will be rusty and need a while to get back into it... well upon playing "Return to Castle Wolfenstien" tonight I discovered just how truly bad I am... I either killed the wrong characters (only level of the game where you can accidentally kill civilians and I managed to kill both of them on two separate occasions) And then to get my butt ambushed not once not twice... three fricking times... I suck at this game I'm going back to Sim City.

I shouldn't be allowed near the computer while drinking... no I didn't do anything... well this time... last time I did though... totally on accident...

Last time I was drinking (beer) and playing the computer I was playing with Linux... I now realize that one should not drink and run open source operating systems with out adult supervision (sadly in my case that would mean either Curtis or Matt). Anyway I was playing with Fedora and successfully set it to authenticate to my win2k domain controller that I sometimes have running on my network (for testing purposes of course) so what does this mean... well two things.... 1. I did something that I've been wanting to try for a very long time now both slightly inebriated and by accident. 2. I have had a important step forward in my current long term professional goal.

Keeping with the alcohol theme tonight... I was watching the History Channel this morning, and it was some show about history's business. so I start watching it. The guest is the founder and chairman of the Boston Brewing Company... the makers of Sam Adams Beer... hmmm says I.... so I watch.... It's intersting nothing I didn't already know but I decide to check out the website. www.samadams.com I check out the FAQ... and there buried in the FAQ I find the following.

What are the ingredients in Samuel Adams?
Samuel Adams Lager has only four classic brewing ingredients: pure water, lager yeast, two-row malt and Bavarian hops. There are no adjuncts or preservatives in it. It's one of the few pure beers you can buy. Even German and other imported beers have adjuncts in them that stabilize them for a longer shelf life. We don't use any of those things.

What's an adjunct?
An adjunct is a starch that substitutes for some of the malt to make the beer lighter and give it a longer shelf life. Most American beers use corn meal or ground rice. All these things are illegal under the German Beer Purity Law. That's why Heineken does not pass the German Beer Purity Law and even the versions of other German beers they send us have been illegal to sell in Germany.

Now I want you to pay particular notice to that second paragraph.... Some of the Beer that comes from Germany is illegal to sell in Germany because of the purity laws. These laws state the beer may have only 4 ingredients... water, barley, hops, and yeast. I can tell you that the "beer" my brother and his friends brewed contained this stuff and then some.

Ok to be fair the 4th of July stuff they did wasn't bad. But I will stick with what I buy from the store for now.

Well after 3 and a half years of faithful service my PC speakers are starting to die... I can here them pushing brassy sound.... it's only a matter of time before they start to crackle and pop under the pressure. Ahh it's been a good run but when you use them pretty high capacity for 3.5 years it's bound to happen sooner or later.

Pirates of the Caribbean.... it dawned on while watching this movie that a whole generation of kids are going to grow up thinking the movie came before the ride.... I know it's sad...

So I've been feeling like total crap this weekend and only didn't start to feel somewhat better until this afternoon... read as I've been laid up sleeping and generally being lazy... Granted all I had was the Kingman Crud but it hit me pretty hard. Anyway in one of these moments of being laid up and lazy I was watching tv... I think it was something on the History Channel about the history of England... really good stuff.... anyway. So the England show cuts to commercial and I start flipping waiting for it to come back on and I stop on this show called "Room Raiders" well let me put it to you this way... I never found out if Mary Queen of Scott's was able to get the English throne out of the noble hands of Queen Elizabeth... NNNNOOOO I was enthralled by this guy going through three different girls rooms... I think I was mostly fascinated with just how stupid and how low MTV has sunk... then again I was watching MTV... hmmm maybe I am sicker then I care to admit.

So still laid up on the couch a hour or two later... recovered enough to have changed the channel (not recovered from sickness but recovered from the shock and awe of the sheer stupidity of the previous show). Enemy at the Gates is on TNT oh hey this should be good... So I watch it... Battle of Stalingrad... Best Russian Sniper ever... in some sort of pissing contest with the local propaganda officer for the affections of some girl... well so much for a war movie... but it should still be good I've seen a couple of things on the History channel about the battle of Stalingrad.... German Sniper... yeah they got that right.... ok the fights between the Russian sniper and the German sniper are probably overly dramatized... I can handle that... the movie comes towards the end... they are in a train yard and the Russian kills the German.... WHAT THE HELL???!!! According to history the Russian put his helmet on a stick and raised it above the rubble to lure German out... well the German shot at the helmet and the Russian shot where he saw the muzzle flash.... the Russian won...

Gawd... another good war movie thoroughly perverted for the ages... at least they seem to have gotten black hawk down right.

After that point I just turned to the History channel and watched it and the Cardinals game... yeah after 5 minutes of the Cardinals game I just the TV off completely... who needs TV when you can just sleep.

Moving off of the TV kick.. ye cell phone is dying... any suggestions for a replacement? More importantly any place where I can send my current hand set and have it out of my hair? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Turkey Day, the one day of the year where you can have seconds, thirds, and fourths and no one yells/screams/or tells you that you are going to die a early death. No none of that happens on this day... that all happens on the Friday after Thanksgiving. And at what point did "Happy Turkey Day" become an accepted holiday greeting? Probably about the same time "fo-shizzle" entered the popular vernacular. Honestly I don't know... I didn't get the memo either way.

So I've been looking for a new setup for my office.... you know it's one of those I will do it when I win the lottery things... but I have found the desk I want. Yeah I know... the pop up LCD monitor may be a little much but hey it's for me :)

Moving on the holiday season is upon us which means that finals will soon be upon us as well.. well for those in the audience who are in school (I think the number is 2) I bid you good luck.. as always take my advice.... drink heavily this time of year. It's the only way you will survive. I on the other hand will be celebrating (if you can call it that) a different kind of mile stone this December. On Monday the Semi-Journal will turn 3. When I was three my main activates were terrorizing my brother (still a favorite pastime, sleeping, pooping, and watching Sesame Street (we didn't have cable yet)). When I started this little project I didn't think it would be all that big of a deal and I would grow bored with it over time and let it fall by the way side. 3 years later I can honestly say the time I spend writing in this thing is my best spent time every day. I know people read this but I'm pretty sure 99.8% of the people that come here come here on accident on their way to looking for porn. I don't blame them.

I've been re-reading the early entries and it's interesting to read the stuff from the first year. I was a different person then I am now... I haven't noticed it over the years but I see bits of it here and there.

I know this webpage is by no means flashy but it is a reflection of me and who I am (read as simple and cheap). So thank you for three years of fun and here's to another couple of years/months/weeks whatever.

Another Sunday another day in the park. So how are things with everyone? Things on this side are great, it's thanksgiving week and I not see a turkey yet (with the possible exception of the Cardinals but there are not turkeys as much as something else)

Moving on another month another Linux distro to dual boot from... this time it's Mandrake 9.2, it's not bad... runs fast... doesn't recognize the my video (which is a bummer but I can deal with that). Mandrake is a nice change over the Redhat/Fedora setup I have been using for the last year or so. Mainly because it supports MP3's out of the box (Redhat won't support MP3's for legal reasons) Mandrake also does videos much better then Redhat. I've used Mandrake before and really liked it. I still like it pretty well. I think that this may just become my new distro of choice.

So once again this update is being brought to you by Mandrake Linux 9.2, what have you done to support the open source community today?

The Sprint guy needs a side kick a kind of trainee... I volunteer for that position. I think I would make a great Sprint guy trainee... I can babble for hours on inanne network details, I look the part (well I'm missing a trench coat), and finally I have the sullen dry wit that we have all come to expect from the Sprint guy. That is just my though though.

As if this website wasn't enough proof that I have waaaayyyy to much time on my hands...

So number portability will go into play next week. I think that this will be a great opportunity for millions of AT&T customers to jump ship to a cell phone service that doesn't suck. Just my personal thought there.... anyway I was thinking... I wonder how long before we start seeing commercials from the various wireless providers doing the preverbal "smack down" on the other wireless providers (think McDonald's VS Burger King VS Jack in the Box). It's only a matter of time before we see a Sprint commercial with the Sprint guy beating the "Can you hear me now?..... GOOD!" guy into a pulp... it will probably be on the super bowl.... then again we may also see Catherine Zeta Jones getting rather feisty towards a orange star looking thing.

If you think things can't get worse it's probably only because you lack sufficient imagination.

The alarm clock that is louder than God's own belongs to the roommate with the earliest class.

I wish to apologize for my out break of testing last night... I was bored since I was at home and on call... and well one thing led to another and the next thing I know I'm posting theses stupid things. I guess it could be much worse, I could have posted the one about what kind of boobs I have (soft and supple in case you were wondering and if you don't believe me just ask Emily)

Moving on... I'm still confounded by Yoda... you know that great Jedi Master that we all looked up to in our younger years only to have George Lucas turn into a Light Saber Wielding Super Ball in the last Star Wars film. At the time I thought it was funny... now I just think it is wrong. Way wrong. Kevin Smith never turned Jay or Silent Bob into a Light Saber Wielding super ball in the infamous light saber battle in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Myth Busters... I know that you have seen this show on Discovery... if not then you need to turn in your geek card before the end of this update. This show is pretty good they take urban legends and test to see if they possibly could happen. You know things like the guy who attached weather balloons to his lawn chair and floated over LAX (turns out it can be done... not cheaply but it can be done), or peeing on the third rail of a rail road will electrocute you (only if you are on your knees and have a REALLY REALLY healthy stream going on). You know fun things like that... I'm personally waiting to see if they do a challenge about the guy who died at his desk and no one noticed for 5 days!

The holidays are quickly approaching and once again it is time to prepare for friends and family to share in the feasting of Thanksgiving and Christmas... I have only one piece of advice for this time of year... drink heavily... drink very very heavily.

The Low-Fidelity All-Star: he was born with the cool, and it's totally natural. He runs the gamut from Hipster Supreme (only they can ingest as much coffee as he) to the geeky hipster%

You are the Low-Fidelity All-Star. You were born
with your cool, and it's totally natural. You
run the gamut from Hipster Supreme (only they
can ingest as much coffee as you) to the geeky
hipster (Mario Kart, anyone?).

What Kind of Hipster Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Finished watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones I have... Still a good movie and I still like it a year later. I had a interesting thought while watching Attack of the clones what if you took the Count Dookoo and Sarumon characters played by Christopher Lee and the Agent Smith Character played by Hugo Weaving ? I think that you would have very bad ass science fiction / fantasy villain bent not only on destroying humanity but pretty much the whole fabric of the universe.

And now for something completely different... I was watching Sponge Bob Square Pants this morning with Emily. I saw something that made me rethink my watching of Sponge Bob.... an advertisement for a toy dog... that drank real water and then went pee. I'm not kidding Emily will back me up on this one we both looked at each other and went "What the hell" I really do whish that I were kidding. This is what toys have come to... no longer is Tickle Me Elmo good enough for the annoying toy department we now need a toy dog that takes a whiz!

Moving on... I saw the Matrix: Revolutions this weekend... I was thoroughly confused.... which is especially amazing since I liked and understood Akira the first time I saw it.

The fedora project.... it's up and running on the main box.. so far so good... it's fast seems very stable for a development project and I look forward to using it and eventually upgrading my other Linux Box to something similar. Right now though it is just the same Red Hat distro that I have been using for a while with some new looks to it.

OK random observation.... In the last week I have seen 4 different sets of Mormon Missionaries driving around 4 different cars. Now I want you to stop for a moment and look at what I just wrote and really think about it. Keep thinking, come on Scott keep thinking.... yes thats right they were DRIVING! Now anybody who has lived in any place with a more then 10 people with in a square mile has surely seen Mormon missionaries... normally these are the fools you see out on bikes in the middle of the summer. 120 degrees... no shade... no wind... they guys are out there with shirt tie and black pants. I couldn't explain it to save my life really other then it was just weird. I guess I'm being just a little to observant lately. I need something else to occupy me while driving. Maybe I should start paying attention to the road.

Anyway....my beloved Red Hat Linux is going away... no not RED HAT just this one particular product. It's their bottom of the line product for people who want to try/use Linux with out getting tangled up into to much hardware. It has always been nice and it's what I learned Linux/Unix like systems on. I will miss it. However there are many replacements out there from which I can choose. Some are strictly roll your own (BSD) while others have a decidedly more geeky feel to them (slackware) While others bring you a windows like experience with out a windows like price (Mandrake). I haven't really been able to bring my self to go the route of BSD just yet so I'm sticking with Linux for the time being. I will probably go BSD if I ever get a MAC though. I like Mandrake pretty well when I tried it last year but I'm thinking that I will probably go the route of the fedora project. Fedora is the community based red hat sponsored Linux distro. So really no I'm not changing I'm just going to a different name of the same product. I'm such a distro whore it's not even funny.

Man the touch pad on Bender is acting all weird tonight. It just doesn't feel right.

So I was watching TV this evening and saw a commercial for "eharmony.com" the commercial went on to descirbe how more of it's members marry people that they meet on this site. I stopped to think for a second... geeks must be pretty social because I have not known many geeks to post a ad on a dating site... I've known of one or two.. but not tons. Just kind of weird the one group you would expect to like the format shuns it almost totally. I just thought it was odd.

Ah yes the Sunday after Halloween... which means the Simpson's Tree House of Horror Halloween Special! This years episode was better then episodes of years past but not as good as the early ones. Which really is the Simpson's on a whole.. that show will have one or two gem shows a year but on a show for show basis it's pretty consistent... consistently what is up for debate... some say garbage others say pure brilliance... I say pure brilliance. What do I know, I just write this garbage for you all to read.

Speaking of Garbage... I got to thinking why is is that I have done this little splotch of the web... and more interestingly for me why is it that people come here and read this? I know I've asked this question before but it's just one of those eternally vexing things to me. I've never really been able to figure it out... maybe it's my wit... maybe it's my sarcasm... maybe it's my exceptionally good taste in music (currently listening to Jane's Addiction "Strays")... maybe it's boredom on your part... maybe just maybe your the crazy one your writing this and I'm the one reading it?

No it can't be that... and no I'm not on drugs. Listening to Jane's Addiction will do weird things to the old Noggin though

Speaking of more things that are hard to explain... the Cardinals won yet again... that is two in a row for those of you keeping track. However they did beat the Bangles... So I guess take this victory with a grain of salt or three.

Finally for those of you came through in the last couple of days and saw the weird looking symbols... it was Open Office not playing nice with a HTML file made with front page. Yes I use front page. sue me... I like it... it's easy simple and does what I want it to do... anyway last time I checked I wasn't doing allot of scripting or database intensive stuff on this thing.

So we are in a bit of a “nuclear winter” in Hell... seems that California is once again giving Arizona the cold shoulder this time it is with Smoke from Southern California instead of the usual group of miscreants that come over here on vacation.

Then again they only go to the Grand Canyon for a couple of hours and leave. So I guess it really isn't that bad.

Moving on... Seeing Jay Leno in Flagstaff this weekend I'm excited and I get to spend time with Emily yes I spend every weekend with her, I still whish we lived closer... I knew what I was getting into when all of the started.

Finally in this rather short update tonight I have a small announcement I'm doing my first update from Linux! Yes, I finally discovered that Open office does HTML as well as XML... though I do like front page better for the purposes of this page it will work just fine. If I want to redo my entire website in Linux... then I'm going to need to get a more robust HTML editor then Open office.

For those of you who were worried about whether Matt had been abducted to Mexico to be some drug dealer's sex slave you can rest easy he is still in living in Little Mexico Leading the ever Über-college student life style. To this we salute Matt. Why I don't know but he's having a better time in School then I ever did.

Speaking of drug dealings... The Cardinals won today... who saw that one coming? Against the 49er's no less.

To be honest though I really have no clue how well the 49er's are doing on the whole this year.

I wish they would change the Terror Alert Level I want to see if my "Sesame Street" Terror Alert thing really works.

Marathon Sunday, today there as been the following marathons on TV... Planet of the Apes (all of them) on AMC, Cribs on MTV, I Love the 80's Strikes Back (my personal favorite of the day) VH1, and The Joe Schmo Show on Spike TV.

What is Spike TV anyway.. I watch it only because it has Star Trek on it... otherwise I could really care less about it. I don't get it and in general all the programming on it seems juvenile and not very well thought out. Then again this is me and I do demand just a bit more from my tv shows the occasional witty line or three. But anything on Spike is still better then anything on the Man Hater Network.. AKA Lifetime Television for Women.

I got a curious email from Curtis on Sunday... it was a subject only... "Trent Reznor may be the next Johnny Cash", Curtis I think that I do have to agree with you on that one... sadly I don't think we will ever truly know until quite some time down the road.

1 million Windows Users downloaded and have bought 1 million songs on iTunes... think I may be on to something?

Alice in Chains... Man in the Box just came up on iTunes... yeah this it's all going to be alright.

Lets talk about a great program from the nice folks at Apple computer... iTunes... I think the answer to music apathy or at the very least the apathy of going to the store to buy music is now over. At least for me it seeing as how most of you are pretty Anti Apple... except for maybe Matt and that is only because Kristi works at an Apple Outlet.

Anyway iTunes is very cool... I'm running it on Prometheus and Bender and I've been very impressed with the whole affair so far. It rips my CD's at a good Speed and encodes them on the fly which is always a time saver. Organizes my MP3's and retrieves album info... ok now none of this is new but what is new is you can share music across your local network. Right now I'm listening to my Moby CD's on Bender that are located on Prometheus. All with out having to map a shared drive and it all JUST WORKS!

I Love iTunes... it's easy, it's fast, it's efficient, and best of all the download is FREE!

And before I leave this evening... while writing this update I was on Bender. Meanwhile on Prometheus I was ripping a CD. When the CD was finished being ripped it was automatically added to the library... God this is great!

I finally made the connection tonight between the Johnny Cash song "Hurt" which is cover of a Nine Inch Nails song of the same name. I like Johnny's version better.

The two songs are almost identical lyrically.... here is this weeks challenge identify the line that is different. If you win the prize is a 12 pack of mountain dew (only catch is you have to pick it up).

So I was watching food network tonight... which in case you didn't know is my favorite channel right after cnn and the history channel. The had a show on about the "Great American Beer Festival" Let me tell you I had no idea there were so many frigging beers out there... I've tried a few.. most of the local brews in Flag (Beaver Street, Railhead Ale being my favorite) and most of the stuff at the Boiler Room in the Colorado Belle. During the course of this show there was a segment on how to "judge a beer" this went into some detail about how to judge a beer based on it's component pieces parts... Which means tasting the beer in it's various stages of production in order to catch anything that may go wrong before you bottle it. And if you had my brothers Vanilla Beer you know this VERY IMPORTANT part of quality control was not done. And if it was done it wasn't done correctly.

This show did convince me to try and "taste test" some beer I had in the house... which this week happens to be "Fat Tire Amber Ale" one of my personal favorites out of Ft. Collins Colorado.... Well after two bottles... I can report the following... it's damn good beer... I couldn't tell you the first thing about hops, barley, water, color, body, flavor, aroma. Or any of that other happy fun crap. But I can tell you it is good beer!

Moving on... "Kill Bill" was on the movie plate this last weekend.. and seeing as how Emily has never seen a Quentin Tarantino movie I thought this would be a good one to start with... man was I ever wrong... blood and limbs flying all over the place... parts of it reminded me of a Kung Foo Film from the 70's (Which probably had something to do with David Carradine playing the part of "Bill") Yeah... I'm lucky that Emily is still speaking to me after that blood bath...

Friday I read an article on newsforge on the trials of one Linux Geek going back to Windows for a week. I found the article interesting and it had several good points. This article was also unapologetically pro-Linux. After reading it and thinking about my own dealings with Linux, which range from triumphant (apache) to painful and utter failures (dual boot on Prometheus). The one thing I do agree with the author on is Internet Explorer / Outlook Express. Both of which have stagnated in development in the last few years. As a direct result I have migrated to Mozilla on 3 of my computer (Bender, Prometheus (Windows partition), Hospital Workstation). I have to say I've been using tabbed browsing for a couple of days and though I've used it before I never really used it like I have. I LOVE IT!. I've also been doing a test of the spam filters on Mozilla Mail and after some initial training have found it to be extremely effective. Hell I only converted 6 hours ago on the email side and after 10 messages worth of training Mozilla Mail has caught 15 spam messages! Yes folks I've gone back home. I still don't care for BlueFish that much and would like to see a wysiwyg HTML editor on Linux. I guess the words one step at a time come to mind.

I am the the single geekiest person you have ever met in your life... why is that you ask? Simple I'm doing this update sitting on my couch using my laptop with a full size desktop keyboard attached to the computer. Why am I doing that you ask? Simply I don't care for how cramped the little laptop keyboard is. Happy? Yes? Good.

Moving on... is Sharp Cheddar Dangerous? I've never been able to figure that one out... I mean it looks like if it got thrown at you it would hurt but I don't know. I guess it wouldn't be dangerous if they sold it in a grocery store now would it? Then again they do see matches at the grocery store and matches can be very dangerous. Hmmm I think I should call Ralph Nader over the dangers of Sharp Cheddar Cheese.

So I've been pondering something and I'm hoping that everyone who swings by here can help me out. Just how bored are all of you on a collective basis? I got 200 hits last month, that is allot of boredom... so please email me with how often you swing by.. results and any comments will be published. Unless you send naked pictures of yourself... in which case I will just send those out in an email to everyone I know.

As a PUBLIC SERVICE I'm now going to have a constantly updated threat indicator on this page. Now you can read the website and pee your pants all at the same time.

OK so first off tonight we have Krissy who sent out a rather disturbing email about the resurrection of the MULLET (get the women and children and run for the hills!!).. I think mullet main is being sold for 4 or 5 dollars a pound on the black market up here...

Thanks Krissy it's not like I don't worry enough already now I'm going to be stuck on some random tangent about a very bad hairdo... thanks a ton.

Moving on I received another very interesting email..... which I'm going to share in it's entirety...

I am a faithful reader of your website. You have a witty way of saying things. You are rather funny. It sounds like your trip was a good one. In some of your previous journal entries you have mentioned a girl friend. I however have not seen her mentioned in a while. Did you to break up? I hope not because she sounded nice. If so can I have her number? I will look to your website for your answer. Keep up the good writing.

Ok... now that you have read that... Read it again..... ok done reading it again? OK good... so originally I was going to place this huge reply letter but I decided not to since I didn't want to waste my time on someone I didn't know...

Some of you maybe thinking that the letter above is a joke... well your right. It's my girlfriend... some one is not happy that I haven't talked about them on my website much. Women... can't live with them... can't reproduce with out them... sorry.... it's my website I will say what I want I figure if I'm already in the dog house might as well complete the job. I originally thought it was Matt who sent the email but I thought better of that very quickly for two reasons. 1. The grammar is too good. 2. Matt would never waste his time on me. I thought it maybe Curtis but he is still buzzing from the Caffeine he got last month (Last Curtis sighting had him buzzing around (literally) somewhere North on Minot N.D.). My brother is not intelligent enough so I truly figured it was real...

Needless to say I was duped by my own girlfriend... it's a good thing I love her otherwise I wouldn't be talking about her.

OK that is all for me... anymore and I will be in the dog house till past Christmas.

If you have to have a lay over do it in San Francisco... they have Wireless Internet Access at the airport... you have to pay for it but who cares! it's fast fast fast!

Ok so I know you've all been wanting to read about my little "adventure" (also notice that if I were actually talking to you this statement would be dripping with sarcasm)

Well after 6 hours of traveling and 4 hours sleep and about 10 hours of losing myself and my cohort in crime in the streets of Monterey we are finally here. The day started at 2A.M. for me with a 3A.M. meet up at the hospital and up to Vegas… I wake up at 2 and the only thing I think of is to call Matt and/or Bruce and “Share the love” but I opted not to since I’m 1. A good guy and 2. I have to think of something better to harass them with.

Flight into SFO was actually very good for a change… landing was 6.3 on a 1 to 10 scale. Did you know that SFO has FREE wireless access in the terminal! You know what would be even better? Me being able to hook up my laptop to said wireless internet! Puddle jumper to Monterrey and we show up… It’s gray and cloudy out very chilly like Arizona in the winter after it rains. We show up to early to check into our hotel so off we go to downtown Monterrey.

Downtown Monterrey is very nice… The fisherman’s wharf is redone as a touristy type area all built around the Monterrey Aquarium. Let me tell you something this is the first time I’ve paid for a science type place and thought it was worth every penny! It was so cool… they had some of the biggest frigging fish that I have ever seen. Did you know that Sea Otters look like giant rats? Walking along downtown Monterrey in a area called “Cannery Row” as we are walking along I look down and there etched in the concrete is the name “KERN” I KID YOU NOT! In all fairness Kern is a very common name in Germany/Hungary area of the world. Anyway I thought it was cool.

We get back to the hotel and get the room… and plunk both Bill and I crash seeing as how we both only had 4 hours sleep. We wakeup an hour later for a group mixer for the conference we are going to. We get to the conference room and people introduce themselves to us. Our rep Laura comes in and the first thing out of my mouth is “HI Robin!” (Robin is our old rep who is no longer with the company). The room fell silent for a good 10 seconds. It was a interesting moment to say the least. We met some other surgery users and it’s always good to see what other people are doing with their systems.

Oh the joy that is being on a business trip. The conference it self if very good… several of the users presented their experiences and there were very good, we are coming away with a lot of stuff to bring back to Kingman and I think that in the end we will have a lot of good stuff to bring home.

At one point during the one of the breaks I approach our implementation rep about a product we have seen. We are very interested I the product… the reply is something to effect of… If you can provide us with a site visit that doesn’t almost botch something for us then you can have it. Hmmm I think that maybe we should just buy it instead.

So after all the sessions we head down to Fisherman’s Warf of Monterrey and take a harbor tour to see the local wildlife… we see several California Sea Otters and a ton of Sea Lions. Now just for the record a Sea Lion is what you would see in the circus as a “Seal”. Apparently the true seal is just to dumb. It was very cool I was hoping to see a whale or something like that but no such luck however we had good guides that had good stories which made up for not seeing any whales. Dinner on cannery row was really good… some dive bar… great fish… I don’t like fish and I liked this… it didn’t taste “fishy”

I was checking my website stats tonight and had a pleasant surprise with the number of hits in September. So yeah... I'm quite happy about that... of course for all I know Matt is up to his old tricks and coming by 4 and 5 times a day. Which I really wouldn't put past him.

Moving on... Wal-Mart... man what a scary experience... hell I walk in there at 5 in the afternoon and I'm scared... then again I think it is just a reflection of the town I live in... anyway I noticed they had the Christmas stuff up and I thought to myself... Damn they are late this year. Normally the Christmas Stuff is up right after Labor day... could it be that Wal-Mart is getting a clue?

In other news... everyone can stop sending the Labor Vibes. Brandi had her baby. A little boy, head over to her web site for pictures and all the normal stuff.

This is nice.. I'm updating from my front porch tonight (using Bender of course) and there are High School Kids down the street hanging around a car that one of them drove.... looks like something out of the Fast and the Furious.... given they are High School Kids it seems very approximate. I'm trying to think of what the popular cars were when I was in HS.... I can't really remember... weird it was only 6 years ago.. wow it was only 6 years ago.... that seems like a lifetime and a diffrent person. It's unreal how much you change as a person and how little some other people change. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Finally tonight I'm going to Monterrey for the weekend on business for my work. This should be a good trip for the system I'm in charge of. Funny story about that we had a site visit by another hospital last year and one of the people had stumbled onto this website about Kingman and the person who owned the website worked at KRMC. All of us couldn't figure out who it was until the the visitor said "My own little piece of Hell"... I knew right there that it was my website! Great just what I need. People looking for info about Kingman Arizona coming up with my website. I haven't been able to find my website using general terms about Kingman through google. Which has caused me to always wonder what exactly did this person type in.

I think my caffiene addiction is starting to affect me... I had two cups of coffee this morning and I've felt strung out all day... it's weird. Kind of a tired feeling and all you want to do is take a nap but you can't sit still for 10minutes. Yeah that feeling then again it may be boredom.

Anywhoo... ATI video cards... Linux and downloadable drivers do not get along. I think I posted before the Prometheus is now dual booting between windows and Red Hat Linux. Why did I do this you ask? Very simply I want to play UT2003 under Linux... that is the only reason. Right now the ATI drivers (in RPM format no less!) are kicking my ass... but on the bright side since I selected a workstation class install for Prometheus my X desktop seems to be auto healing. So let me translate that to something the everyone will understand instead of just Curtis and Matt.

Yeah that sums it up. I've tried compiling the drivers myself my box says that I don't have kernel sources....BULLSHIT!! I DOWNLOADED THEM MYSELF!!! I think the thing that frustrates me the most about Linux to this day is the drivers support. Most of my equipment works with Linux (my ATI video card so far being the lone exception that I have tried). NVIDIA has a Excellent driver that you download from their sight and if you have a custom kernel all you have to do is allow the driver to go out and grab the source and everything is compiled for you. All you have to do is adjust 1 line in X11 configuration script. It is insane how difficult the ATI driver is to use compared to the NVIDIA driver. Do you really want to know the real kicker... NVIDIA is in bed with Microsoft. Which means the NVIDIA chip set is more DirectX9 compliant and tuned for DirectX applications then anything else. Meanwhile ATI is actually more OS independent then NVIDIA but yet they can't put out a FRICKING usable driver.

Do you know what really pisses me off... sometimes you need to be a FRICKING programmer just to do some very basic things in Linux.

So other then Linux what are my choices for a OS on a X86 platform... any one of the BSD's.. ok but they are strictly roll your own... and that can be more mind numbing then Linux can be. There is Solaris.... Unix... but more Workstation oriented then I really need. Still a viable option though. BeOS? I really don't think that will work with most of my stuff. Outside of the X86 arena things become fuzzy and very fruity

So I always wondered what would happen if Curtis got ahold of a caffiene sampler pack from thinkgeek.com... well I wonder no longer

Igotthepackagetoday.Man,thatisalotofcaffine.IwonderifIshouldhavetriedeve
rythingallatonce.Probablynotbutitstoolatenow.Ihaven'topenedthesoapyet,It
hinkIwillleaveitwrappedandondisplayinthebathroom.I'vebeenslowtogiveoutth
emintsatwork,wellawareofhowfastIcangothroughatinbymyself.Ithinksomething
mustbewrongwiththespacetimecontinuum,becauseeverthingseemstobemovingvery
slowly.Iwatchedaquarterflip7timesbeforeithitthefloortoday,asitfellfrommy
desk.Idon'trememberbeingabletoseestufflikethatbefore.Itriedwaitingforahu
mmingbirdtocometothegardenbymyfrontdoorbutitwastakingtoolong.Idon'tknowh
owlongbecausetheslowingoftimeseemstobeuniversalandeffectingclocksaswell.
AccordingtotheclockIwasoutthereforonly3minutesbutIknowitwasmorelike30.I'
prettythirstynow,IthinkIamgoingtogetadrink.Thanksagainforthecaffinesampl
erpack.Thatstuffisreallytasty.

CurtisKinney
WellbeyondthelethaldoseofCaffine.

No I didn't copy it wrong that is how the email actually came to me... it may take a while for you to decipher it all.

Brandi is a very proud person it actually pains me to say this but... Man I feel sorry for her... she's 5 days overdue with her baby. I really do feel sorry for her... though she seems to be taking it in stride given the titles of her pregnancy journal pages.

Really we all need to be sending labor vibes towards Brandi... it's painful me to look at her.

Ok moving on... I would like thank everyone for their concern over my truck "Natookoo" she is fine though my credit card is smoldering. Again thank you for well wishing... She thanks each and everyone of you.

The new Perfect Circle CD really is good.. go take a listen.. I think most of you will like it.

Not much else going on.. remember pregnancy vibes... otherwise a very pregnant Brandi will come kick my ass.

Signs you are not going to have a good day... #1. You see smoke coming from under the hood of your truck as you begin to drive back to Kingman. #2. You can't start truck or you can get truck to barely run after seeing said smoke. #3. You have to tow your truck back home because you can't find the part that may or may not fix it.

Yeah that pretty much sums up my day... once again the Kern Family has sacrificed up another vehicle to the gods of North Central Arizona. For those of you keeping track... the first was in 2000 a 2000 Tundra that was ran side long into a tree by my father during a elk hunt (in his defense it was very muddy and it wasn't his truck). In 2001 we drilled a new hole into a tire on my Fathers 2001 Tundra (This event in chronicled in semi journal). Now I have sacrificed my 99 Tacoma to the gods of North Central Arizona.

After 18 months I have finally found a CD worthy of buying... A Perfect Circle "Thirteenth Step" It's a good disc... A nice progression from their last CD... though it may be a little to much for Scott since it has not been approved for use by MTV.

Anyway... I actually bought this CD at Hastings (yes I know I got raped) anyway I'm standing in line and their is this kid in front of me who has the same disk... he's 14 tops... probally closer to 12 or 13. He pays for his CD and I put my disk on the counter and notices I have the same disc and gives me this look like... oh man I'm listening to geezer music... great I think to myself. Oh well... so it's my turn and the clerk looks at me and makes a comment about how he hopes there are some CD's left when his shift is over.

So that is my story for the day... 18 months since last CD purchase... and for those of you keeping score at home the last CD I bought was Moby "18"

Hey Hey Hey... it's BLONDE TOM!.. OK I know it's stupid... my Silent Bob muse isn't exactly working bits of magic today.

I was thinking about something while driving home from Flag today... what do people think about when they are driving between cities or long distances with no one else in the car? Does Matt dread the thought of coming to Kingman more then he really lets on? Does Curtis play "dodge the illegal immigrant" on I-8 coming to Phoenix to visit Krissy? You know fun things like that... I seem to drive I-40 quite a bit and of course I-40 cuts across Northern Arizona which is pretty sparsely populated. Which means there is alot of wild life... so I play "Identify the greasy spot on the highway" and if I get lucky and there is a carcass on the side of the road I play "What got whacked?" Surprising number of family type animals out there in addition to your normal Elk, Deer, and Rabbits. I know A.j. can a test to that one. So far there has only been on thing I could not identify on the side of the road... either it was a very large porcupine... which I doubt since I believe that they don't live in this part of the country and it was as big as a wheel on my truck... I am inclined to think that it may have been a Boar Javelina.... and pretty big one at that.

I also cleaned my office for the first time since moving into the bat cave... and I really wonder where the hell does alot of this stuff come from that I seen to keep accumulating. It's really quite odd. Anyway I can see that floor again. Next project is to buy myself a new Office Chair.... though I don't know if it will go here or somewhere else...

Finally... tonight a word to all of you Linux geeks out there who use old hardware for your boxes... make sure that your hard drive is in good working order and not 4 months from a head crash... nothing sucks worse then losing that Linux build that you have so lovingly sorted together and built and got everything configured just so. So yeah... go spring for a new hard drive or at the very least back everything up.

First up Star Trek Nemesis. AS far as Trek movies go this one isn't bad but not nearly as good as First Contact. Think of it as being along the lines of the one where god needs a space ship... best part of the DVD... The out takes where you see the original ending... They finally install the fucking seatbelts in damn starship... The have been running around the universe for damn near 300 years you think they would have put seatbelts in at some point.

Second "Bowling for Columbine" Michael Moore movie.. very well done very interesting... if it doesn't piss you off in general some specific part of it will. Trust me it pissed me off.

As I sit here in the glow of my eclipse work station light.... With my Silent Bob Action Figure making sure that my Karma doesn't run over my Dogma I realize that I need to start drinking more when I watch Michael Moore Films

2. Everyone and I mean everyone (yes even you Matt) needs to start sending Brandi some MAJOR labor vibes

So I've been sitting here for the last couple of weeks on and off trying to come up with a new website since I'm getting rather tired of looking at the same on all the time... though it is very functional it doesn't have much style to it. Lets put it this I've discovered that I can only creative with a design when I'm buzzing on Caffeine and have a pen and paper in hand... I for whatever reason's have real problems functioning with a webpage like this. Well not the webpage itself but trying to come up with something unique and different... and well lets face it if it's unique and different that means that the chances are very good no one has done it before.

I think that my single greatest fault is that I have real problems thinking outside the box... I'm very logical and structured. Ask me to do something with out instructions and I'm lost... unless of course I have a through understanding of the subject in which case I'm fine.

Ah yes grilling such a pleasurable and leisurely ART FORM not a science but a ART. Waiting for the charcoal to get to the proper temperature... marinating your steak just so... yes their are few things more blissful the grilling with a beer by your side... none of which I will talk about here since this is neither the time nor do I really want to get into that discussion.

Ok fine I will... a cold beer and cuddling with the girlfriend are the only things that are more blissfull

Speaking of Emily.... we had dinner with the parents last night up in Williams... very nice dinner Emily and my mother appeared to get along very well... and I say this for the following reason... at one point in the evening the following transpired.

Yeah... and as a added special bonus I believe that this is the first time I've talked about either one of my parents here in the semi journal.

Moving on... Brandi is still pregnant... you all need to be sending more labor vibes her way.... I've been doing way more then my fair share.

SEATTLE - "Caffeine Saves," proclaims the neon sign shining in the window of Coffee Messiah, a hip Seattle cafe where espresso steam hangs in the air like incense.

This city's devotion to the black, bitter brew that brightens its dark, rainy winters will run smack into its equally famous liberal conscience later this month, when citizens vote on taxing espresso.

For many, the proposed 10-cent tax on espresso drinks is nothing short of heresy.

"This is not a luxury," 34-year-old tech support worker Rob Marker said solemnly, hoisting his iced vanilla mocha on the sidewalk outside Coffee Messiah.

"It's a way of life, man!" agreed 21-year-old security guard C. J. Lessig, between sips of her iced coconut mocha.

On Sept. 16, Seattle voters will face a ballot question asking them to add a dime-a-cup tax to their espresso drinks. This "luxury" tax, as Initiative 77 calls it, would pay for preschool and day care programs.

Seattle has earned a reputation as the tree-hugging, whale-saving, WTO-protesting, tax-friendly bastion of liberalism in Washington state. But scratch a lefty espresso addict, and you get Rush Limbaugh.

"Here I am, forced to pay more for my basic necessity to fund irresponsibility," said Marker, warming to the topic. "I believe people have kids without considering it. I take issue with the greater issue of public funding for child care. Yes, it's needed, but it also feeds irresponsibility."

Initiative 77 would tax only espresso drinks, such as lattes and cappuccinos, not drip coffee - even proponents understand that caffeine is a basic food group here. But people who pay $2 to $5 for fancy espresso drinks can afford an extra dime for kids, argues initiative sponsor John Burbank, executive director of the nonprofit Economic Opportunity Institute.

"The tax on espresso is progressive. Seattle is the coffee Mecca of the world," said Burbank, who drinks tall double mochas. What's more, he said, given the city's love for lattes, "It is completely recession-proof."

He expects the espresso tax to raise more than $6.5 million a year. A City Council staff estimate puts the benefit at between $1.8 million and $3.5 million annually.

A coalition of business owners led by Seattle-based coffee behemoth Starbucks is fighting the tax.

"A single industry should not have to carry the burden," said Wanda Herndon, Starbucks' senior vice president for worldwide public affairs. She hastened to add that Starbucks contributes to children's groups and supports the idea of improving early childhood education. Just not with an espresso tax.

"Children are our future," said Herndon, whose drink of choice is a tall, decaf, nonfat latte. "We all need to contribute."

The Coffee Messiah faithful generally scorn Starbucks as a soulless corporate demon. But on this issue, they agree.

"It's nice to put a label on it and say it's for child care, but they should be taxing the people affected by it," said Opus, Coffee Messiah's owner and barista. Like Madonna or Cher, he goes by only one name.

Opus, whose current drink of choice is the classic, plain latte, said he fails to see the connection between Seattle's jones for espresso and the need for better child care.

Opponents also point out that espresso, like most things in this city, is already taxed. Espresso drinks are subject to the 8.8 percent sales tax (about 25 cents on a $3 latte), and coffee shops and other businesses pay a .00215 percent "business and occupation" tax on their gross receipts.

So far, the campaigns have been low-key, grass roots and fairly evenly matched. Supporters of the espresso tax have raised about $125,000, while opponents have raised about $124,000.

If the tax passes, the money would pay for local preschool programs modeled after Head Start, grants to help poor families pay for child care, and raises for child care workers with advanced training. Many of these programs are hurting for money after state and local budget cuts. The tax would allow the 600 children to get off the waiting list for city child care subsidies, Burbank said.

Patrick Durbin, who teaches 3- and 4-year-olds at Able Child preschool, said he and his colleagues probably chug more espresso than the general population: "We need the energy."

But Durbin would happily pay an extra dime for his current drink of choice, double-shot mocha milkshakes. He's seen the difference it makes when preschool teachers have training and parents have the money to pay for quality child care.

"It represents the beginning of a public investment in early learning which is long overdue," he said. "It's a really benign, really painless tax. It's not going to drive anybody out of business. It's not going to hurt anyone."

---

Associated Press Writer Rebecca Cook drinks tall, nonfat, decaf caramel lattes.

---

On the Net:

http://www.yes77.org

http://www.noespressotax.org

My general comments about this... if you are drinking a ICED coffee drink you should have to pay 50 cents in tax and for as far as Espresso is concerned... if you pay more then a $1.50 for coffee you have the money to pay a $.10 tax!

Oh this is not good... I just lost all the directives for my Apache server on "Apache"... yeah this is weird all of my directives just poof up and vanished... weird...

You know what is truly just bringing a grin to my face? 1. Emily asks me how my computers are doing... Prometheus, Apache, Bender, and Epsilon3... all of them... She worries about Apache in storms because it doesn't have a UPS or any sort of protection (that's allot like covering you stump when you hump Scott (Jackass)). 2. Doing 2 weeks worth of updates through a telnet session that is through a web administration console that is secure. All by command line.... yeah now that is what I call efficient.

Hello loyal readers... let me start off this entry by making a quick clarification... I wrote the entry for the 31st off line which is why it is appearing at the same time as this one... do not adjust the horizontal, do not adjust vertical, but please do turn the volume all the way up.

So how the hell is everyone... I know all three of you did more the just hang out in where ever it is that you are from. My weekend was fantastic until the drive home... coming West on I-40 from Flag Emily and I hit 5 massive monsoon cells... at one point I can barely see apparently Emily had just a few problems seeing me from 20 feet back... And she didn't kill me after I didn't pull over...which is a definte plus! did I mention that my girlfriend loves me... even though I can be really stupid from time to time

OK so I'm sorry to announce that there were no winners in the "Name the Kern Family Cat" since my mother named it... and lets face it when mom names something that is it. The runner up was Krissy with the name 'Mars' which I thought was very cool. So Krissy and all the other entrants please see my brother for your box of Nilla Wafers... and if the Jack Ass doesn't pay up... keep harassing him.

Speaking of the Jack Ass... I also find that I have a bitter after taste in my mouth after reading his "update" and no it's not from that thick chew with a fork and knife beer I drink.

Well kids thats it enjoy what is left of your summer soon fall will be upon us and once again we will be tourtured with another bad season of "Enterprise"

Happy labor day weekend by fellow web travelers I’m so glad you decided to spend your long weekend with me TOM!.... no really what sick perversion has brought you here? If you are looking for midget porn you are talking to the wrong person you need to talk to these people.

Anyhow I’m spending my Labor Day weekend in Flag with Emily. It’s rough that she is in Flag and I’m in Kingman but I take solace in two things 1. It’s not 300 miles like another couple that I know 2. Thank God for PCS to PCS and the internet. When I really stop to think about it… I mean really think about it… only 7 or 8 years ago if we had done this we would have had HUGE long distance bills. The internet had not yet become widespread and ubiquitous as it is today. Cell phones were for people with a lot of money to through around on gadgetry type toys. We have come a long way baby.

Speaking of the internet….. I’m without a connection this weekend. Since Emily and her roomies will not be getting a cable modem until Friday. For those of you keeping track, the longest I have gone with out internet since 1997 is 5 days that was in the fall of 2002 during the elk hunt. By the 5^th day I was looking to sell my body to passerbies with cell phones that I could get onto the internet with. Yes I know I’m pathetic occasionally but we all have our vices. Just so happens that my vices are Caffeine and computers. It could be worse my vices could be sex, drugs, and rock and roll… or what parents would now refer to as abstinence, de-caff, and easy listening.

I’ve also found that I miss Flag way more then I originally thought. It’s been 2 years since I finished school and went back to hell. I guess you really don’t notice something till it’s not there any more. I don’t what exactly it is that I miss… the weather, the atmostsphere and vibe, or just that it’s not hell. I’m tending to think that it is not hell is the main reason. Aside from that though I’m generally happy with the decisions I’ve made. It could be worse… I could be stuck on the North Shore of Hawaii surfing the ocean since my job there pays me obscene amounts of money to work 3 days a week… wow if that is my idea of hell I wonder what my idea of heaven would be. There is some food for thought.

Wow I’m talkative today… don’t have a clue as to why I am so talkative but who cares it gives you all something to read and me something to talk about.

I’m running net stumbler right now… I’m picking up the “secured” wireless network I setup in Emily’s apt for her and her roommates once they get a internet connection. I’m hoping to holy hell that I pick up a unsecured wireless network with a internet connection to it… mainly for two reasons. 1. I want to check my email 2. I want to see how much pain and misery I can cause the other end of the wireless connection. Yes I know, I shouldn’t do such things. My thought is if they have a unsecured network then they deserve to have me leach off of their connection. Damn still nothing and I’ve been running netstumbler for 10 minutes…. Oh well keep looking.

Which sequel pissed you off more… The Matrix Reloaded or Lord of the Rings The Two Towers? Think about it and discuss it amongst your selves.

Ok so against my better judgement I'm going to post the following by mi hermano...

I thought I might take this opportunity to do an update for your journal. I know sometimes you let others do this for you, and I thought that this might be a good opportunity for a guest spot.

So for the past few days I have been down here in the valley house sitting for reason I really don't know why. I was hired by a bank last Friday, and instead of being able to start this past Monday, i somehow was still convinced I needed to house sit and watch a dog. Damn my aunt is good...

While I have been down here, I have been able to keep my self somewhat busy. i have been the Diamondbacks games all week so far. This is the most I have been to the ballpark since I worked there 2 years ago. It was fun. I went with Krissy one night and my dad the next two. All were time well spent.

I had a chance to meet up with Alison for a little while too. That's always fun. Regardless of what has happened between us, we have come out to be very good friends still, and thats really cool. I'll leave the details out of what happened, but long story short, she took me to the pound to look at cats, and I found one that I am going to go adopt, mostly because It's time we get another one since we have found two mice in the house over the past two weeks. If anyone has any good names for a cat, please feel free to email me with them, anything is better than "Tigger." Tom will buy the winner another box of Nilla Wafers.

I am very proud of my brother for taking on this "playa" persona that he has had over the past few months. Who knew pasty skin, and a computer screen farmers tan would attract so many women.

I found a book in Barnes and Noble yesterday. Seeing as I spent three hours in there, I thought I should buy one so no one would throw me out. It has the makings of a classic. the book is called "How to be a Villian, evil laughs, master plans, and secret lairs" I showed my dad last night and he called dibs on reading it next. It is very informative.

I figure if all else fails, a super villian is a good career track Speaking of which, I have spent the better half of the last two months trying to find a job, and have had no luck, until this past Friday. Since then I have been offered three jobs. One I took (Stockmen's Bank), One worth looking at (Kingman High School, yes KHS as an English teacher), and one that was a joke(Sprint, I love my phone, but working for them isn't what i want to do as well). Not realizing the plethra of jobs that would become availible to me, I took the first one offered, and I am happy to be starting with them.

Ok so the contest Du Jour is name the Kern Family Cat... you know where to send the emails... if you are that bored...

So let me descibe to you how I am doing this journal update... I'm on Bender... in the dark since there is no power right now... with a candle lit on the coffee table. While on the cell phone to Emily. Yeah I think one of us in this relationship has a problem..... and I know it's not me!

OK so my neighbors have power but I don't I haven't been able to figure this one out yet.... I've tried calling the power outage line and all I get is a busy signal... they probally left it off the hook..... fuckers...

Normally I love Sprint... Hell I even recommend it to friends and family... Lately though when I've been trying to talk to ye Girlfriend (Emily) I can't keep a connection for longer then 4 minutes!! HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL!

I know I'm old fashioned but I like talking to Emily on the phone and not on the internet.. you get the hear the inflections of the voice and get a sense of what she is saying. DRIVES ME UP THE FRICKING WALL

I'm also acutely aware that Sprint needs to make money but Geeze you would think they would at least build up their network to allow for intrastate calls....

What a pushy bunch of people that I have come here... I call three people tonight... and all three wonder if I have A.) Updated or B.) Talked about them in my update or C.) A combination of the two..... pushy pushy... well I guess better to have people on you about this then other things like Hookers and Blow.

Anyway the DPS picnic was this last weekend and if the DPS picnic were the Grammy's Big Tom (my father) would be the most popular man in the world right now. You know what he did to get these awards... NOTHING.... it was my father being himself! Which I guess isn't hard when your my father but damn it's hard to be my father when your not him.

Anyway spent this last weekend in Flagstaff with Emily and got to meet her new roommates. They are two of the more interesting people that I have met in my time. They are good guys... so I won't dog on them to much. Getting back to the subject of this paragraph. Hung out with Emily up in Flag and played college student all weekend.. god I miss that life so much hell I miss Flag. Well we all make our choices.. I made mine and I'm now paying the consequences for them. When you get right down to it though I have it pretty good. I bet some of you wish you had my problems. :)

Talking to Kristina this last week... she is doing very well and generally making up for my brother and his slacker-ness. Kristina did point out to me that I may want to actual notify people about the fact I like to post pieces parts of emails that people send to me in regards to the website. Rest assured world I will not post anything if you ask me not to post. Remember I'm kind of thick in the head so you actually need to be pretty blunt. Also remember just because you send email doesn't mean that I'm going to post it. I.e. stuff about making my Manhood bigger or Pleasuring my Girlfriend all night long... though I really don't think she would mind that to terribly much... hmmm....

I guess we had a power outage this weekend since I came home to find my Linux box with 29 days of uptime off and most defiantly not working... well that is what you get for not using a UPS! It was actually a good thing since I got to see and experience how changing a network authentication technology will adversly affect your main file server. OF course throw in a few kinks like LINUX and you life becomes kind of fun for 10 minutes or so.

"A rebel without a clue... (guitar solo).... The Paper said Ed always played from the heart, he got a agent and roadie named bart, they made a record and it went on the charts, the sky was the limit"

So I've been watching "I Love the 70's" on VH1... I have the following comments...

-- The people on that show are right... porn stars in the 70's had no business being in porn.

-- People did so many drugs in the 70's that they could put anything on the screen and it would fly.

Those are my observations about the 70's though I think the only geezer that comes by here is A.j. and even then he isn't that geezerly....

I guess I'm feeling slightly dated tonight (yeah I'm 24 and feeling slightly dated thats a good sign) the first time I felt "old" I was in Flagstaff visiting Emily in her dorms... I was working on her computer and they had a list of all the girls in the dorm and their birthdays... the oldest one was born in 81.... no a single 70's birthdate on there at all... that boy and girls was the first time that I said to my self... damn I'm old.

Keeping with the 70's theme tonight... how about that Gas Crunch! Only Arizona could get screwed by a company coming out of Californa which is based in Texas... gawd next thing you know Nevada will have Arizona tied up in the woods someplace going "Squeal like a pig for me boy!".....NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!... Though A.j. might enjoy that....

With the School year quickly approaching... I thought it would fun to take a trip down memory lane.... Smile Brandi and Emily... you both know you loved your times in the dorm... Lord knows I did.

these hellish stacks of humanity many years ago? From the sidewalk he raised his hands triumphantly and said, "It shall be like the projects with less violence and more marijuana!"

sleep, which is appropriate because that is all you have space to do. You have to do it standing up in the bathroom sink but it can be done. The luckier students have space to scratch their asses but the windows have to be open and their roommates have to be gone for the weekend.

I think it's a rule. This one kid tried but no one knows what happened to him. Let's just say his floor mates never saw him awake again.

vampire lifestyle. Did you know that if you stay up late enough they play the Tonight Show over again and it still isn't funny?

tumbling panties. The worst is when she turns out to be morbidly obese and you have to vomit in your laundry basket. Not that the dryers work anyway. I could fart on my laundry and get it drier than the converted toaster ovens that the university supplies.. Dry jeans? Forget about it. I had to convert mine to a deep-sea wet suit.

an Algonquin Indian translator(Miami students you know what that's all about). Then you have to go walking through the building kissing the asses of all the dweebs you live with and holding the door for anyone in the same county. What's with the door holding policy?

Like opening a door requires a spotter. If you've got arms, a coordinated foot,or useful nub, open your own God damn door. No matter where you go you have to use these gerbil-on-a-wheel elevators. I could climb up the side of the building with a corpse tied to my Johnson in less time than it takes for the door to close. Then you have to fucking march for miles from your dorm which is conveniently placed on the fucking opposite side of the campus from any building that is fucking remotely important. People on roller blades I accept, people on bikes I haveurges to clothesline but tolerate, but people on skateboards have a value just below medically retarded nazis. It must be explained to them that skateboards were cool when we were 11 and even then they weren't that cool. Where are you headed?

hall. The only dish they haven't fucked up is Lucky Charms. I think the university supplies them with a blender and unlimited horse meat mixed with some retired circus animals. The key to making the menu fresh and exciting is the food coloring. The charming and buck-toothed lunch ladies who have more facial hair than your father ever will proud announce, "Yesterday we had chicken nuggets and today we present to you blue chicken chunks that are totally unrelated to the nugget dish we served you just yesterday. We are serious, they have nothing to do with each other. I stake my hair net on it. You can have extra blue in yours.." And the ladies (who really seem to love living in the exciting scooping career) refuse to serve more than what fits on a toothpick. You can't just ask for a large portion, you have to ask for "more than the offensive line could consume this semester." Then you get a second blue nugget. Remember how excited the potato bar got you the first week? Now the potato bar makes you homicidal. (What are bacon flavored bits made of?)

Then you get to come home to your room. Mine is called a suite,which is a pretty cruel manipulation of the English language. I get to spend time with the closet case that the boarding office apparently found compatible with me. He's like Chewbacca's considerably less attractive estranged midget cousin. A wookie also has better control of the English language. My roommate is another rant all together. Most people get one of two kinds of roommates, the one who sharpens knives while he watches you sleep (mine), and the one who asks you what it's like to go outside (also mine). My suitemates next door live an intensely Rastafarian lifestyle. In an attempt to put Cheech and Chong to shame, their bong is a centerpiece of the room that they clean with wadded textbook pages. They smoke to Bob Marley at 5 AM on Wednesday nights which is a little too hardcore but you have to love their dedication to the sport.

End your dorm day by hopping in the shower. It's as big as a Tupperware container. It has 3 temperatures, fucking hot, really fucking hot, and nuclear. Whenever somebody flushes a toilet on the campus the temperature goes to skin removal levels and I go blind for a few minutes. I swear it is connected to every toilet. My brother flushed the toilet at home last week and I called him to tell him to be a little more considerate. The bathroom is as clean as any fast food restaurant urinal cake and after the average college student pressure washes the shitter with a bottle of Vodka it's as clean as any bus station. I've given up oncleaning in the bathroom and I'm disinfecting myself. A quick spray down with Lysol Direct and my body is fresh and repellent to several bacteria.

Bottom line. Turn up the music and try to get high off the fumes coming from under the bathroom door because they never share. The "best days of our life" will be over soon.

OK I'm done being lazy and letting everyone else provide content for the semi journal...

Ok last week or so has been very quite which is nice for a change... seems like my life has been pretty chaotic as of late and it was nice to not have anything go "boom" on my ass this week.

As I reported earlier I've been using BENDER in the living room quite a bit and watching a lot of TV lately... I didn't realize that the MVA's were in 2 weeks... what's more.. I really don't care. I think this is the first time in something like 10 years that I haven't looked forward to the MVA's. I guess that it is just another symptom of growing up.

I'm listening to Moby's "Play" Album (if anyone from the RIAA is reading this YES I BOUGHT THE FUCKING ALBUM!!) anywhoo... It's a pretty eclectic record and I've always turned it on when I didn't quite know what I was in the mood for. This album however does seem to have a certain quality to it... I wonder how many people "get it on" to this album... there is a thought for you. People getting it on to Moby.

I've had my doors and windows open with the cooler going this weekend... and you know what... with everything open my house is way cooler then it is with the cooler at full blast and every thing closed up. Cool enough that this has been the first weekend that I haven't wanted to double over from the heat in my house... Now all I need to do is figure out how to make my house warm in the winter.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE... I know that we have all been wondering what the Hell happened to Curtis... Well I got this email yesterday and well... read for yourself.....

My only source of nutrition is starbucks. I don’t even order anymore. I just walk in, give the guy a nod, a few minutes later, triple shot caramel macchiato ..

You know what sucks? Having a supplyer drop out on you, having your project fall 3 months behind, and having 2 weeks to get it caught up.

You know what sucks worse than that? Having your girlfriend come to visit in the middle of it, but only having 9 hours off between work days.

And to answer your question, no, I’m not alive. Maybe in a few weeks I will miraculously be resurrected, but who knows.

I can't tell if we are losing Curtis to Adulthood... Starbucks... or Evercrack... Hang in there bud... something will give eventually and you will just drop dead.

Last time I put out a open call for "beefs"... well I only got one "beef" but I did get several responses which in of itself was very unusual. So for your viewing pleasure I tonight present all 3 contributions made to the cause.

Very nice... Next we have Matt "Thirteen year old with a drivers licensee" Phillips

Caffine and Ego will take you anywhere you want in life.

---Ego should be defined as that ego you project to the rest of the world.

Having caffine and ego will only take you anywhere you want to go in life if you have a destination. If you don't have ambition to improve yourself, you are worthless.

Sage advice coming from Matt... he does seem to be full of it lately... though Matt is always full of it though not always sage advice.

Finally we have Brandi who we all know and love and so far has been the only person to contribute every time I put out a call for input from my 4 loyal readers

my beef is ford. what the hell. we bought a used car that was *FINE* less than 6 months ago. then all the sudden the transmission goes out, out of the blue?!?!?! okay so this car, which we paid $5,500 for... now needs a $3,000 transmission??? WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?! we might as well bought a new car for what it would cost to keep this car running. which by the way is a mercury sable, but that's really a polite way to say FUCKING FORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay, i feel better now. actually i'll feel better when it is FIXED. -brandi
"

Thank you to all of those who contributed and don't worry if you didn't get to contribute when I start feeling lazy again you will know it.

Holy fucking crap... who is coming to my little corner of the web? I had 10 hits yesterday, on a good day I get 7 on a average day I get 4. Holy fucking crap... And I know they can't all be Matt the boy has other things keeping him occupied... you all are some bored souls... then again I'm the one writing this drivel for you to read.

Moving on... what a diffrence a wireless card makes. I bought a new wireless card for BENDER and wow what a differnce... with my old linksys I would get a poor in my living room and no signal at the other end of my house. Now with the internal Dell card I get a excellent signal in my living room and a excellent/good signal at the other end of my house. Now that is what I call results. Best of all it's a draft G card so I'm equipped for when I get the new AP I've been wanting.

It's open mic night here... if you've got a beef email me.. I will post it unedited for all to see... you have 24 hours (8pm on saturday)

I've written the last couple of updates on Bender and I never noticed before but this page does not display well at 1024x768.... So I fixed it. It does make life just a little bit easier to write on Bender though. Another nice thing about writing on Bender is I have a Wireless network in my house so I can write pretty much anywhere on the property and post it right there....I seem to favorite my living room more then any other room in the house.... hell at least I'm not living in my office anymore..... now I just take my computer with me.

Moving on.... I'm going to break with policy tonight.... I had a very intersting day at work and I feel like sharing. I arrive at my job at 06:30 I'm the first one to get to the office I start the coffee check the servers/mainframes that sort of thing. So imgaine my shock when I arrived this morning and standing there before me are Adam my boss and Mike the Network Administrator... and there crouching behind the AS400's is Jeff the 400 God.... I don't worry when the first two are there... but I get really worried when Jeff shows up before me.

So we are working on the 400's my part in which is to watch quietly and learn. Something isn't working right so we have to call IBM support. Let me back up... the AS400 is not like a Unix machine or a Windows machine you don't have 5 different companies you can call for help. You have one company... Big Blue themselves IBM... (ok you can shudder now). Dealing with IBM support is about as easy as pulling teeth from a crocodile... with crocodile dentistry being much easier then dealing with IBM support. So Jeff is on the phone with IBM support Adam, Mike, and myself are in the network room planning the day what we each have going on and whatever comes up. Jeff starts getting loud... pretty quick he says "Let me talk to someone who knows what I'm talking about"....whoa... I'm rough on tech support even I'm not that rough... Jeff is now on hold... we start talking to him... the conversation consists of us giving Jeff big ups for telling IBM support where to stick it. After about an hour of being on the phone with IBM support IBM finally sends us a repair guy.... you would think these people are plated in gold.

I'm done breaking with policy... I shall not speak of work again for a long while.

Moving on Matt went to THE Star Trek convention in Las Vegas this last weekend... Apparently it was his first... who would have thought that Matt was a Star Trek Convention Virgin? Anywhoo he brought everyone's favorite Star Trek Convention virgin (yours truly) back a name tag that says "Tom" and a magnetic picture of Captain Picard.... currently they reside on my fridge the name tag will go to work when I get my new office... Jean-Luc is staying at home.

You know what I am pissed... royally pissed... I was watching TV this afternoon and saw a commercial for www.buymusic.com and I thought... oh cool this will be just like the itunes store that apple has... so I fired up ye laptop and flipped over there... they seem to have a good selection... I'm finding most of the stuff I want (I was looking for the name of the new Crystal Method album which they didn't provide me but did have all of their previous work). So I'm looking around and you can listen to samples of the music... seems to start somewhere in the middle of the track... not the greatest but I can deal with that. I keep seeing these icons on the bottom with numbers next to... most odd I think to myself so I click on one of these icons and window pops up explaining what they mean... apparently you can only down load and transfer certain songs by certain companies a limited number of times (the norm seems to be 1 download 3 transfers to a digital music device and 3 cd burns)....HOLY SHIT THIS IS NOT RIGHT!!! I BOUGHT THIS DAMMED MUSIC AND NOW I'M BEING TOLD I CAN ONLY BURN IT TO A CD 3 TIMES.... HOLY FUCK... this is not right... I read the fine print... to transfer the music to a digital player the player must be SDMI compliant... 1.)What the hell is "SDMI" and 2.) what about those of us who bought our MP3 players a few years ago and aren't ready to upgrade yet? I know for damn sure my Creative Nomad is not SDMI compliant... Pisses me off... Music companies telling me how I can use the music I buy... how many times I can burn it... and it's not like I can't get around the restrictions it's the fact they are telling me I can't do something with something that is by all rights mine! I paid for it Dammit!

Ok... now that I have that out of my system... the new Crystal Method is name "Legion of Boom" and will be on V2 records...

Moving on... I went to the Hualapai Mountains this morning just screwing around I planned on driving to a camp I used to goto on the top but they changed the lock on the gate and I don't have the combo... oh well... on my way down I noticed a gentleman on a bicycle riding up Hualapai Mountain Road probably a mile or so below the rangers station... the only thing I could think to myself was this guy is truly determined since Hualapai Mountain road is by no means an easy climb for a car much less a bike and crap this guy is just nuts...

This has been a pretty eventful week for me... one of the reasons it has been an eventful week is that I bought a new laptop.

Allow me to introduce "Bender" my new laptop. P4 2.4 GHz w/ 30GB HD and a 15" screen. It's Dell Inspiron 5100 Laptop... This thing is frikin great!! My only complaint so far is there is only a cd-rom and I should have sprung for the DVD... oh well... this is a "tool" and not a toy anyway... but who are we kidding we know that this is just as much of a tool as it is a toy.

Yeah this week has mainly centered on getting stuff configured on my laptop and generally getting a feel for how everything works.

Did you know that there is a 3 day Star Trek convention going on in Las Vegas with all the surviving members of the original show? When Matt told me that the only thing that was going through my head was... some of them are still alive?

Next up we have Krissy who has contributed before to the website but I do belive what follows is the first time she ever sent a comment in with out some sort of extra circumstance.

Now this scares me, but I wanted to see what 50,000 monkeys would do...even though it was attached to Wil Wheaton's name. [dramatic music: dum, dun, DAAAAHH] I tried, no dice, I do believe your link is expired. And I really know I have frightened myself with some tragic curiosity to explore the fading world of the good Dr. Beverly's, Star Trek, TV son.

So now I doubt that bit of info will get me anything but looks of shock or shun...but how 'bout I vouch for a small box of animal crackers in the neat little purse-like case?!?

Well Krissy..... I don't know whether to be supremely surprised or something else I can't come up with.... and just for the record... I've been having problems getting my Wil Wheaton fix this week also as it seems that his website is having some problems here and there...

Update from last time... the virtual Unix environment isn't bad... it does have X but only window maker which means it's a very basic environment at best. However the command line environment seems to be very complete. All and all I'm impressed. I think I will stick with a dedicated test machine. Makes remembering where you put all those important downloads a heck of a lot easier.

Does somebody care to tell me why I'm listening to Dee Lite "Groove is in the heart" ?

HOLY CRAP THE B-52'S HAVE A WEBSITE... holy crap they are old... I had no idea..

Have you seen David Byrne from the Talking Heads (favorite 80's group of all time) now there is someone who is showing their age.

Kind of in a funky chunky monkey mood tonight... which really sounds like a Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. You know Ben and Jerry's sounds really good right about now too...

Why did my brother have to run Baskin Robbins into the ground... When Matt was running the show he did fine... my brother took over an bam.. into the ground it goes... sigh...

So I'm setting up a virtual Unix environment on my main desktop PC. Honestly I'm just to lazy to do a dual boot setup so I'm doing this instead. I don't know if it will have X or anything like that... I've used Unix emulators before... they have always been command line though. I wonder if the SCO Group will come knocking at my door.

Ok last night I posted a question with the prize being a box of Nilla Wafers... boy am I glad I did this over the internet and not at my house... I would be missing a wall right now.

"1969 - 34 years ago - Apollo Mission - Neil Armstrong lands on the moon and says: "One small step for man, one giant leap for man kind." Do I win, do I win? :-D" -- very good dear I'm proud of you but your a little late on the draw... like 18 hours.. better luck next time.

You don’t mean the “powered by apache” and “powered by redhat linux” logo at the bottom?

Yes those are new but your missing one other thing that is different.... good try Curtis.

It was you, wasn't it. You're the one. You Xeroxed your ass... Sent it around the office... With MY name on it...

You been working out?

Anyhoo, all I know is that the annoying Yahoo pop up is gone and now there are like 20 others that took it's place.

did I win anything?

Yeah that is just slightly disturbing... now the correct answer should be all the pop ups are gone but since you have 20 more windows you may want to look into some anti spy ware software. I like spybot search and destroy

Next we have my slacker brother Scott.... who lost out to the winner by 3 minutes...

Finally the winner is Matt who clocked in 4 minutes after I posted last night which leads me to believe that he waits for me to post on Sunday....

Not only was Matt first he also almost got the second on right.. though I only asked for 1 change not 3.

So for the final tally First Place is every one's favorite rocket scientist in training Matt who will get a box of Nilla Wafers next time I see him.

In Second place is Clint Colbert who correctly guessed the pop ups were gone though not replaced by 30 others... for you Clint you get 4 days 3 nights in casa de me free of charge in the month of July 2003....

What happened 34 years ago today? First person to answer this question gets a box of Nilla Wafers courtesy of me. Also what is diffrent about my website... first person to answer that question correctly gets a super secret prize!

First off I would like to thank my readers for making sure I was alright after the last post.. your kindness was heart warming.... I WAS DRINKING!! Which is why I drink alone and probably should not post while intoxicated.

I'm in a different mood this evening... all the lights are off and I'm listening to NIN -- "The Fragile" lets see what happens shall we?

"I feel my mind slipping away.... trying to save face from the cuts and the scratches..."

3 years later this is a truly under appreciated Album... Have you listened to you NIN collection lately?

I would like to say HI to Tarish who pops up about once a year in my life we talk for a bit and then she disappears again... of course the fact that we both are very busy and her living in Virginia may have something to do with that. I find Tarish to be one of the most unique people that I have run into so far.. since she lives on the other side of the country from everyone out here she brings a detached third person view and often a view not clouded by involvement and other emotions... I admire her for that.

Random observation... why is it that people with hold information until they think it doesn't matter any more and then tell you? Random thought... thats all... It's something that I've noticed and I've always wondered what the motivation behind that behavior was... I know I've practiced it... with no real effect I've watched other people use it to great effect.

Monsoons.... they are not storms... they are winds that blow from the South bringing moisture to the Southwest and with that moisture thunder storms.

Hello faithful readers yes all 3 of you. I'm here to give you what you have been waiting for... yes I'm bringing you "Tom Uncensored" see just how boring my life really is... hours upon hours of boredom puncuated by moments of sheer terror.

Anyway Dorothea took off for New York this week and will not be back till the end of next. So of course what happens I have 3 women come looking for me today I work... go figure girlfriend leaves town and women want you... they can't have me... though I do know a rather angsty midget that might tickle their fancy and a few other things.

Moving on not much to report though I did get a rather intersting email from Curtis this morning.

If I had a blog, it would read like this:

“sorry for not updating last week. There probably won’t be an update next week either. If it an emergency you can find me on the Druzzial Ro server in everquest. I am a Vah Shir Rogue named Rapsca. Rapsca Lion if I’ve already reached level 20.

This may be my last post until the everquest servers are shut down permanently.”

What have I done?

WHAT HAVE I DONE!?!?!?!?!?

Raps….. er.. I mean

Curtis

It looks like we have sacrificed another soul to the "Evercrack" May the lord have mercy on his soul.... I would go in and retrive Curtis but I'm afraid that I too would get sucked in and never return... knowing my and my personality I would be one of these bastards you read about that goes around and kills all the newbie's and takes out hits on players that have pissed me off.

"Some people shoot to kill, some people shoot to maime...they're missing the point here. the point is you get to shoot somebody."... as quoted by my brother... someone needs to get laid.....BAD

Those who don't understand Linux are doomed to reinvent it, poorly. -- unidentified source

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents. - Nathaniel Borenstein

"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer." Dave Barry

The telephone is a good way to talk to people without having to offer them a drink. -- Fran Lebowitz, "Interview"

You should make a point of trying every experience once -- except incest and folk-dancing. -- A. Bax, "Farewell My Youth"

from the blood-is-thicker-than-water-cooling dept.
Donald Scott sends in this short yet resonant tale about doing tech support... for your family.
A couple weeks ago I got a package from my mother in Florida. It arrived by express mail, insured for four hundred dollars. In it was a surge suppressor. One of those big rectangular jobs that your monitor sits on and your computer sits under. I recognized it as the same one that, in the mid 90s, I personally placed under the monitor and over the computer that I bought for my mother.

This computer, from "Zeos", I think, had a catchy name which I’ve forgotten, and was marketed as an all-in-one, "zippetty-doo-da" fast, productivity-increasing, feature-packed system, from a company who’ll be there tomorrow. It was, like most computers you’d buy for your mom, immediately obsolete, but great for email. It was also great for playing computerized bridge and pinochle which is as far as my mother wants to go in computer gaming. For a couple years this Pentium 75 zippety-doo-dahed along quite happily, raising my mother's productivity considerably before trying to retire early, by pretending its motherboard was fried. Unable to convince it otherwise, I buried the "fried" motherboard unceremoniously at the curb and replaced it with one scavenged from a derelict PC carcass which was camped in my office.

This "new" PC was even faster than the previous, which made it about as current as writing email on parchment with an ostrich feather dipped in India Ink, but bought me another year of not buying a new system. That was a little over a year ago. A few months ago, that computer died too. So, a new computer was ordered, with a place to plug a complete modern life right into the back. USB ports, Serial ports, Modem Ports, Mouse ports, Ethernet, Fishnet, Parallel ports, Perpendicular ports, car ports, Video out, Video back in, and PDA handheld-infrared-ultraviolet-see-in-the-dark-intradimensional wireless toaster ports, pipe anything and everything into a tiny beige box. This box is great for email, and for playing computer bridge and pinochle.

For a month, my mother became really productive (mom's productivity is measured in forwarded joke emails), and then, abruptly, stopped being productive at all. Concerned about the uncharacteristically empty "Mother" folder in Outlook Express (a subfolder of "Deleted Items"), I sent several emails which went unanswered. It occurred to me that she might have been sucked into some port on the back of the computer and was deadlocked in a virtual game of computerized cribbage with either Keanu Reeves or a rogue supercomputer from IBM, but I didn't follow up on this. The next time I heard from her was on my answering machine - "You can cancel my internet access, I've packed up the computer and put it in the closet. Bye."

My mother's messages often sound like epitaphs, but this sounded particularly dire. I knew that either Keanu had beaten her in cribbage or her computer had died. Despite being totally generic, the new computer was still new and still under warranty, a warranty that the computer gnomes in her closet were unlikely to honor, but which my local computer supplier probably would. I took drastic measures and called her. A frustrated woman answered, close to tears "Well, it stopped getting email two months ago and then one day I turned it on and no picture showed up and I didn’t want to bother you because 'You're so busy' and I know it's my fault and…"

She was not particularly helpful in troubleshooting the problem. Furthermore, the computer's condition of being unplugged in a dark closet made successful diagnostics so grim a prospect that I patiently explained the whole "gnome-warranty" thing to her and asked that she send it back to me. Swayed by my logic, she agreed, and several days later a package arrived from her.

Understandably excited by the prospect of fixing a computer I bought because it wouldn’t need much fixing, I tore open the package to reveal one unremarkable, heavily over-insured surge suppressor. Remember the surge suppressor? Confusion descended. I felt as though I’d ordered a latte and been handed a stapler. Was it the words I’d used? Did the gnome story scare her? Did I say "Please just send me any object and I’ll use it to fix your computer from a thousand miles away." Again, I took emergency measures and called her. I pretended that I hadn’t opened the box in case it was an early Christmas present. "Please tell me this is an early Christmas present" I said. "No, it's that damned computer" was the reply that I both feared and got. Because this surge suppressor is about as mistakable for a computer as an old leather boot, I had two painful options; one of making my mother feel like a total boob, and the other of configuring an email client on a mid 90s
surge suppressor. Boob it would be. I said, as delicately as possible "Mother, this isn’t a computer, it's an old boot!"

On my desk now sits the multi-port roadster of a computer that arrived today from Florida. Sure enough, there’s the bridge and pinochle CD still in the drive and, sure enough, it doesn't work. I suspect that the huge dent in the case, indicating some sort of collision, trauma, impact, stampede or other violence might have something to do with that. Maybe the tech gnomes took a whack at it. Whatever. She's my mother. I love her. I’ll just fix it.

Ah 4th of July weekend... how do I love thee? Well this year I love the fact that it was a 3 day weekend... which is always nice. I think we should have more three day weekends...

You know pick on the French alot, did you know that in France they have a work week of 32 hours... and every one basically takes a vacation in August.... I could care less about taking a vacation with everyone else but I could handle the 32 hour work week.

Damn you Curtis... Curtis "recommended" "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" to me... Damn you Curtis... it's really good.

I've always been a fan of Tom Clancy games... and this is only helping my impression. Generally Clancy games tend to be less twitch and shoot (except multi player Raven Shield) and more about thinking things out and planning for what is happening in your game. I do enjoy that quite a bit. I also enjoy games like Sim City... they can go on for forever. I think what makes Sim City so great is that I can just sit and play it for hours and not realize how much time has passed.

Ok getting off the video game kick... those of us lucky enough to be in Kingman for the 4th ended up at my house for a Barbeque and get together. A good time was had by all... I found it most interesting because I really keep two sets of friends my "normal friends" who are married and have Kids and then those friends like me single and loving it (well as single as one can be with a girlfriend) I call the second group my "odd friends"... you would think that since I fall into the second category I would have the names switched... most odd.. I will have to think about that one for the future. Something I found funny others I just kind of knew would happen. Example... all the women were around the kitchen table talking about pregnancy and child birth including the women without kids... meanwhile out back all the men were talking nothing but shit... It was fun and good time.

Now all I have to do is drink through all the beer and eat through all the chips that were left at my house... damn I lead a rough life :)

Wil is now posting to a "Audio Blog" in the second post he talks about Flagstaff and Little America... Mean while I'm sitting here in my chair in front of my computer going "I'VE BEEN THERE!!! I KNOW THE MOBILE STATION HE IS TALKING ABOUT!!" Sad I know but it is true.

It's a interesting concept... and I listened to all of the audio blog entries... I guess they are in Tulsa now so they should be coming back on I-40 going to LA... I wonder if I could get a sign erected on I-40 that said "Wil Wheaton Stop Here"?

I would do something like this but I figure it's painful enough for all 3 of you to read this so I will continue to write... and if I have something very important to tell you I will just call.

Next on the list... I would like to thank A.j. Legault (see A.j. I finally spelled your name right) for the donation of a dinning room table to the cause of making my house just that much more fun to be in. For his generous donation A.j. gets free room and bored at Casa De Me (AKA the Bat Cave) whenever he wants... just like the rest of my friends.

At least Dorothea can't nit pick me about not having a dinning room table any more.. she's a woman though so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before she finds something else to pick at me about.

Earlier this year A.j. rescued a retired grey hound from a dog track in Phoenix and named it 'Kaibab'.... laziest damn dog I have ever seen... walks across the room collapses and falls asleep. Well mannered good dog just lazy as hell. Poops alot too... I have 4 piles of the stuff in my back yard from just a 2 day visit.

That is all from the great brown North that is Kingman and remember if you see Wil Wheaton tell to stop by Kingman and have a Alfonso's burrito... if nothing else it will make him never stop here again.

I'm happy to report that Kingman has taken yet another small step to no longer being a back water.... yes folks it is slowly but surely moving towards just plain stagnant....

So Dorothea and I went to the Starbucks that is now open at Safeway here in hell. Same outrageous prices (I have real problems paying $5 for a cup of coffee). So we get our cups of coffee... and I'm happy to report that they almost got it right on the first try... my whatever the hell I got that cost me 3.50 was good.. and Dorothea's iced thingie though watered down was still tasty. How exciting your reading about going to a Starbucks in Kingman AZ... Not even a real Starbucks it a stand in a Safeway...sigh....

I was in Wal-Mart a while back (yet another Kingman landmark) and was thinking to myself how great would it be to have a glove like keyboard so that I could interact with my PDA in a way that was more computer like... and I stopped to think about it... How would I use this functionality? I would probably blog from Wal-Mart when I was bored...

Yeah I don't think the world is ready for a hick blogger hanging out in Wal-Mart...

Interesting concept.... though I'm sure people have done it before.... I guess that the real trick would be to make it almost invisible just have your hand kind of twitching as you typed....

Oh my what a productive weekend... cleaned the house... worked on my truck... upgraded the video drivers on my LINUX box... very nice... and I never thought I would see the day where I could play Tux Racer at a full 60fps... it's a nice technical demonstrator... gets old real quick but a nice technical demonstrator none the less.

Speaking of LINUX... I would like to talk about something very near and dear to my heart and that is the GPL... the Gnu Public License. The GPL is not a carte blanche take everything from the buffet table as some companys would have you beleive. The GPL is a way to bring new technologies to the table in a timely manner and allow millions of people throughout the world use technology that would otherwise not be able to pay the fees required by some companies.

It's with this that I ask you my very non-techie and techie audience (all 4 of you) to stop and think for a moment. Not about ideologies or motto's or logo's but instead to consider something else... Think about who or what gives you the most bang for your buck in a suitable package that you like.

Moving on... Not a whole heck of a lot going on... I tried once again to install UT2003 on my Linux box.. and once again it barfed in my face... yes even with the new video drivers.... and yes the video drivers are working dammit... Maybe I will just install Halflife and take that for a spin.

Happy first day of summer! Of course it was actually almost cool here today so it really didn't feel like summer at all... more like mid spring. That however is beside the point.

The above is so true... words do not begin to describe it.... and only recently did I figure this out.

Why oh why did she have to be into reality shows... and not even the good ones like survivor or big brother which really are pretty mediocore in the grand scheme of things... why lord why?

Forgive me for I have sinned... I downloaded the new Metallica Video... And I actually almost liked it... I'm so ashamed.

Deftones have a new CD coming out.. I should go and pick that one up.... I like their stuff... defintly a bit of "What the hell"...

The impossible has happened... the Discovery Channel has pissed me off.... "entertain your brain?" What the hell? I guess when you have to pander to the lowest common denominator on the first geek channel that is what you get... I guess it's a good thing that lowest common denominator for the Discovery channel is Curtis/Matt/Bruce and Myself... Though I really did like "Walking With Cavemen"

I was watching a bit of TV the other day and saw a new commercial for yahoo.com and these people were searching for all sorts of stuff... and the only thing running through my mind was "Why aren't these people using google?" I know strange thought... Google doesn't have to advertise and I don't think I've ever seen a google add outside of google. Yet they are the top internet search engine... of course you could have said the same thing about yahoo back in 1997.

Fish sitting... ok now this is odd even for me... though it may not be as odd as reading random ramblings of a semi psychotic mad-man on the internet. I feel bad for the poor thing I give it 3 flakes of food for breakfast and thats it... doesn't it get hungry during the day? I know I would. Anyway it's a beta fighting fish and I have he/she/it through the weekend.

Now this is getting annoying... Upgraded to winamp3 recently and now the media keys on my keyboard don't work with Winamp. Microsoft is no longer supporting my keyboard... DAMMIT!! I wonder if they make the old style machine gun keyboards in an ergonomic style... hmmm... I type 60wpm

Question for all you Kingman DSL users out there (I think like 2 of you come to my site.) I have one of the new speed stream modems from frontier.. the 5200 series and I have to reboot the sucker about every week and a half... is anyone else having this problem?

Finally this evening... I'm at something of a dilema... the fan in my linux box (apache) is dying... I should probally get a new one... I also want to build a new test computer... so should I 1. Buy a new fan and be greatful that I'm fortunate enough to have a computer or 2. Quit whinning and go build a new test box ? NEW TEST BOX WINNING... WILL POWER IS SO WEAK... SO TEMPTING...

How long have I lived in Arizona... 24 years... my entire life do you think that I would intelligent enough to put sunscreen on when I go swimming? Well if you answered NO then you would be correct... which reminds me why I don't swim during daylight hours... hell it reminds me why I don't do alot of things during daylight hours.

Thanks Dorothea... I would only do this because of you... I still don't know if it's a good thing or not.

Moving on... How is everyone doing this fine summer ? I know almost everyone is working... some of you even will be able to keep your jobs after the summer... some of you may be hard pressed for work the entire summer.

so much pain.. should have worn sunscreen... you would think I would know by now.

I find I'm once again under that gun as it would be to produce a update out here. I find that I have real problems "preforming" in situations where I'm expected to do something. I find that it doesn't happen at work but it does happen quite a bit with this. I guess that is part of the reason why I have updated pretty regularly... some updates are better then others but for the most part they are a pretty even keel... kind of like me... I'm never good or bad.. just kind of on a even keel.

Anyway that is getting off the point.. what was I going to write about tonight... oh yeah my wonderful weekend with my girlfriend and parents in Williams and the Grand Canyon.... It was nice.

So once again I'm sitting here looking at the website and thinking I need to revamp it some how... then I remember that this is just for me and honestly I'm not doing that much with it. However I would like to actually start using some of the features that frontpage has on the website... I haven't quite figured out what features those would be... and hell I may just plunk down the money and move to dream weaver and switch the blog over to moveable type. And now as I'm looking at the price of dreamweaver I'm starting to think that I don't do enough web work to really justify it... but I would like to move to slash code or moveable type just because it provides a way for my readers (yes all 3 of you) to provide feedback... hell communicate with each other.. I don't know... I do rather enjoy having a rather large amount of control over how much gets posted.

If you go to my hosted site ( http://kodiak.idlegames.com ) I'm running that off of my linux box as I've mentioned before I think it could probally do what I want it to do with movable type or slash code.. hmmmm. If you want to know more about what I'm thinking about doing just click on the links that I've provided for you 50 times in the last 2 paragraphs.

Oh in other news CURTIS GOT A CELL PHONE! The reasons I'm posting this is 2 fold... 1. Because Curtis has been the last hold out in the world to not get a cell phone. 2. I know it will annoy the living crap out of him.

So I was going to write about my weekend in Williams/Grand Canyon with Dorothea... but I'm tired and I'm feeling lazy... so I'm going to post a bad email joke and something from Curtis... because we care about Curtis and Curtis has a big box of Star Wars toys in my garage... I wonder if he knows EXACTLY which ones he has.

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a
slowdown in the performance of the flower and jewelry applications that
had
operated flawlessly under the Boyfriend 5.0 system. In addition, Husband
1.0
un-installed many other valuable programs , such as Romance 9.9, but
installed undesirable programs such as NFL 7.4, NBA 3.2 and NHL 4.1
Conversation 8.0 also no longer runs and housecleaning 2.6 simply
crashes
the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to
no
avail. What can I do?

Signed, Desperate

Dear Desperate,
First, keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 was an entertainment package,
while
Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try to enter the command:
C:/ITHOUGHTYOULOVEDME and install Tears 6.2. Husband 1.0 should then
automatically run the applications Guilt 3.3 and Flowers 7.5. But
remember,
overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to such background applications
as
Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Please remember that Beer
6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.WAV files. DO
NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. They could also potentially cause Husband 1.0 to default to the program Girlfriend 9.2,
which runs in the background and has been known to introduce potentially
serious viruses into the Operating System.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited
memory and can't learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying
additional software to enhance his system performance. I personally
recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Single Malt Scotch 4.5.

Good Luck. Tech Support

This is an official scolding for posting on the 26^th, and not wishing/acknowledging Kristina’s 22^nd birthday.

You can counter bitch that I didn’t notice until today (Thursday the 29^th).

Thanks for the Linux heads up though.

Curtis

BAD CURTIS BAD!! Not noticing that I didn't post anything about your Girlfriends birthday... well let me make it very simple for you. 1. I didn't know.. I may be good... I'm not that good. 2. This is not a birthday board... if you are needing something like that I suggest you go get a geocities website and go for it.

P.S. Happy Birthday Kristina.. even if your lousy good for nothing boyfriend with 60 million things in my garage forgot to tell me.

Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later... I saw these the other day on the internet and I just had to have them. Who would have thought that I would become domesticated? I thought they were cool and all the stuff you buy at that site goes to help open source software.

Everyone has a mission for some people it's the establishment of equal rights and not "special rights" for others it's finding which way is up. My mission it seems would be get people to try things other then the established brand.... this coming from a person who drinks nothing but coke...

Anyway... I was going to write this evening's update on my Linux box as apart of my getting used to Linux as a desktop OS and not just for servers anymore... however I found that the included HTML editor is a straight HTML editor... which is great if I want to look at code all day but when I do this page all I want to be looking at is this page.. none of the code underneath. So I'm still doing updates on my Windows box. I did however upgrade to Red Hat Linux 9.0. It's nice.. not that diffrent from Red Hat 8.0 which is what I was using previously. I had all of my stuff back up and running with in an afternoon. I've also figured out Apache enough that I no longer need to place files in the default document directory in order to have my Linux box serve up pages (read as I kinda figured out how to configure Apache). So I'm excited about that. I think that my next step for my Apache test box will be to server up stuff that comes from a database.. oh darn I'm going to have to teach my self the basics of MYSQL of course I may just download and install slashcode and be done with it for a while.

Also special note to my fellow fledgling Linux Geek Curtis... dude... if you upgrade Linux distro's set aside 4 or 5 hours and make sure you really know what your doing... otherwise you will be like me and spend the day reloading your box.

Right now the only really keeping me from going totally to Linux is that I have so many games in Windows that I would litterally be dumping like $600 in software. The other side of the equation is that we use Windows at work and I do need to keep on top of what is happening in the Windows world... I guess I'm going to have to stay on the dark side for a while longer.

So I watched the last Buffy tonight... I wasn't impressed. I guess you have to watch it more then once or twice to really get it.

Coming from the man who was enthralled by the final Dawson's Creek last week and cryed through the final Babylon 5.

So as I'm writing this I'm enjoying a "Mogollon: Superstition Pale Ale" which is actually quick tasty and has a good bit of body. Dorothea describes it as "sawdust"... I'm a beer snob... so sue me.

Guest books... yeah you know them.. maybe you sign them... maybe you don't... I have one... every now and again someone will leave some sort of inane babbling... they are fun and you never know who will write what.

Finally remember the following "The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."

The Matrix Reloaded... go see it... that is all I have to say if you never saw the first Matrix movie go rent it and then go see Reloaded. Trust me you will be very happy to part with your $6. Just do your self a favor and go see it a real theater not at the ghetto theater in Kingman... Though I think of all my loyal readers (all 3 of you) only one will stoop to that level.. and well Scott you are just a cheap son of a bitch to begin with.

Anyway like I said "Reloaded" is really good but I have just a few thoughts I would like to share and since I don't know how many of you have seen it yet I'm going to give you fair warning. The rest of this update is going to be about "Reloaded"

3. 250,000 men/women/children in Zion representing the entire free human population... which apperntly has been repopulated 5 times before by 3 men and 7 women...

4. Does the history of Zion only go back 100 years? Holy hell... that means the machines have truly been around for a very long time (figure 600+ years given the time it takes to repopulate and not really knowing how many people who were plugged into the Matrix are now free)

6. Agent Smith what a Egomaniac... Me, me, me, me,... well I guess when you can replicate yourself into another program you do become some what transfixed by yourself (this is also known as a Virus Scott).

7. So instead of calling the wise one's among us "Obi-Wan" (like we do with Matt) will we now start calling them "Morpheus" or maybe just "Morph"?

Ok quick note... matt just informed me that the total number for number #3 is 23.. he didn't mention ratio's sorry... my bad

Oh my god... I have committed a major sin here folks... I watched "Dawson's Creek" tonight with Dorothea (it's quality bonding time with the girlfriend so get over it) and I actually enjoyed it... scary part is I didn't just enjoy it I was into it!... I feel so dirty right now...

So does anyone else get a "Mad Max Syndrome" When they see these little S-10 and Ranger trucks that are just thumping bass? All I know is I want to run into them to see if I can get them to blow up in a ball of fire.

What's with all the pop culture refrences tonight? See this is why I don't watch popular TV... I start to abosrb it this is why I'm in my own little world where I try to be my single greatest influence on myself.

If any of this makes any sense to you tonight please email and explain it to the rest of the crowd.

I got home from work today to find a email from my loving girlfriend waiting for me... this is what I find...

Really she is quite nice... just don't talk about being scared of lizards or screaming when going over hills in a truck.

Two days late... and more then likely more then a few dollars short... yep that is me tonight. I would apologize for not having the update up but 1. Those who would miss it would have started complaining by now.. and 2. They haven't been complaining so no one is missing it. So how is that for just a bit of Karma?

So what have you all been up to? Scott got a new job which means he can now buy me lunch.. not that he ever will since he is to cheap to even think about it. Uhhh... yeah thats about it...

OK maybe... though when I think semi refined englishman... I do not think Wesley Snipes... and can only barely imagine Cuba Gooding Junior... Wesley Snipes is probally better suited to continue playing a vampire hunter.

Speaking of vampire hunters does anyone remember the Castlevania games? Has anyone seem them for PS2 or Gamecube? Hell even X-box?

Life is good right now... I can finally say I'm happy... holy crap who would have thought?

Finally tonight... the new Matrix movie is coming out... as I'm sure you all know... however there is another series that you should be aware of.. "The Animatrix" it's series of online movies that flesh out some of the story of the Matrix. They are quite good and will leave you saying wow. Of course if you don't have broad band let me know and I will be more then happy to copy them to a cd for you.

So I was thinking today... Self... I think the world is ready for radical change in James Bond... I think the world is ready for a Black James Bond. I nominate Cuba Gooding Junior for the part. Why does the world need a Black James Bond? I don't know... I think it would be different anyway name one person other then Cuba Gooding Junior to play James Bond

That was my thought for the day. I have to say that it is a pretty good thought if I must say so myself since this is my own website I need to sing my own praises.

Anywhoo... Today is something of a minor anniversary for me... 1 year ago today I first looked at the house that I would eventually buy and move into. 1 year ago today I found my own little piece of hell.

A.j.... you have a new computer... and you haven't asked for help... I'm so proud of you man!

I have very few secrets... most things I will tell people freely... one random fact that you may or may not know about me is that I really do like just about anything by the "Talking Heads" you know the 80's the band... they are just great. I also like the B-52's... I know I know... hey we all have our deep dark secrets. Anyway last week I "backed up" about 400 megs worth of 80's music from Dorothea's computer (she wanted to burn them to CD) anyway... A lot of this stuff is actually not bad... then again there is not a cheeky Def Leopard or Bon Jovi song in the lot. Did I mention Dorothea has good taste in 80's music?

Anyway I went to Grapevine Canyon with Dorothea.... she's taking her class there at the end of the week so she wanted to check it out ahead of time. Anyway we get there.... and I'm showing her the various plants (if you live in NW Az or Southern Nevada you know them as weeds)... As we are walking up pops this lizard onto a rock... it's sunning itself no big deal to your friendly native zonei.... Dorothea stops dead in her tracks and won't move.. she is scared to death of it... I really whish I were kidding but I'm not. Did I mention Dorothea is from Long Island NY? It only takes me 5 minutes to talk her down into the wash. After that she calms down significantly and we look at the petroglyphs that carved into the rocks of Grapevine Canyon. It's rather cool and I borrowed a digital camera so I actually have pictures for those of you in the group that have not been down there.

Since Dorothea is from NY I also took it upon my self to explain a few things about the desert... always carry water... always have food... always try and stay oriented and know where your vehicle is... and don't get bitten by anything. I then explained the concept of a "dry snake bite" (where the snake bites but does not inject venom). Now if that didn't freak her out I then explained a Gila Monster bite... and how do you know when you've been bitten by a Gila Monster boys and girls ? WHEN THE DAMN THING IS STILL ATTACHED TO YOUR ARM! (I'm not making this up)

So Dorko (AKA My Brother) is now brewing beer... and I hate to say this since I don't want to inflate his ego any more then it already is... but I wasn't bad... actually it was good... I had a honey brew... and I enjoyed it. So keep a look out for "dotkombeers.com" because "You won't bomb with this .com"

Well loyal readers another week is half way through with... and I'm in a updating type of mood... I guess I need to express myself.

Ok so first off tonight my friends Brandi and Clint who are married and expecting. To them I would like to put out big props (why is it I have serious problem seeing me giving "props" to anyone?) Anyway... These two are awesome on so many levels I can't even begin to describe it.

Has anyone else noticed a inordinate amount of spam being put out lately? I used to get 3 or 4 pieces of spam a day on my main hotmail account... lately it seems like I've been getting that amount every hour. It's getting to the point that I'm starting to get annoyed... I wonder if this is Bill's idea of pushing us to "premium" services more? Anyway I'm loathe to use my ISP email account since I actually get very little spam off of that one. In the 8 months I've had this particular account I've gotten 5 pieces of actual spam. And I could tell you what website / signup it came from (Who'd have guessed that EBay would be a spam generator)

Speaking of EBay... man that thing is evil... I'm sure that what I'm stating is nothing new to any of you. But yeah I go there and I find so much stuff for so cheap. And I wonder... how do they get this for so cheap and where do they get it from? It scares me... maybe I will post my all to true experience with EBay in the future... but not tonight... anyone out there have their own EBay Horror stories (no dad the amount of money mom spends on EBay does not count)

I need a new Keyboard at home... I can actually feel my space bar starting to die.

Is anyone else a little freaked out by the "Talking Character" that Geocities is providing for their websites now?

Well happy readers.... I feel adrift and with out any real clear answers as to any of the questions I have been looking for.

Ok with that off of my chest.... HI!! Happy Easter for those of you who are of the Christian Faith.... Otherwise.... happy night before you have to go back to work! As you can probably guess by my opening line tonight there has been some drama in my life... no I'm not going to talk to you about it... I'm not even sure if it's drama.... all I know is that things are now different.

I feel like I'm in High School... I have no clue what I'm doing, I feel like I'm adrift emotionally, and personally lets not go there. At least work is good. I'm confident I made the right decision and I don't regret it.

By this point your probably scratching your head wondering what the hell is going on.... all I have to say to that is GOOD! I haven't lost my touch :)

Lets see if you can pick out what is wrong with these pictures... they are from Baghdad on top and San Francisco on the bottom.

Most odd.... I just watched a music video with Rob Zombie and Lionel Riche.... let me repeat that for you... ROB ZOMBIE and LIONEL RICHE... if you don't know who Lionel Riche is go ask someone over 35. Anyway, it's not that great but it is most odd and I downloaded it.

Last night Dorothea and I went to the Mohave Education Festival... it wasn't bad and about like I remembered it from when I did it years and years ago. There were the usual array of papers, crafts, and science projects. I found 3 to be very intersting... Which .22 cal rimfire cartridge is the best... no it was not funded by the NRA and only in Kingman.... Which Taco Bell Sauce Cleans a penny the best?.... when I think taco bell sauce and cleaning I don't think pennies. Finally.... what makes your teeth decay faster... coffee, milk, or soda? It should be obvious that it's not soda :)

I really hate that I have all these great things to write about when I'm not sitting in front of my computer... the second I sit down... I go blank... the fact you get anything remotely coherent out of me some days is amazing.

Finally I leave you with this... I think for one of the Ancients.... This is not that great.. Why couldn't I have been the squid?

second...Curtis had the following Brain Dropping..... looks like it's time for me to start upgrading equipment.

Yup, pop up when I connect to site first time… dvd burning or something like that.. But only one, oh, and the little geocites tower, but that is closed easily enough. Plus I keep getting errors… line one: syntax error. Then the optopn to debug, probably because I just installed microsoft’s frontpage. Kind of annoying. 3 windows I have to close, and I get the debug one everytime I open a new page on your site.

By the way, I got pissed off and reformatted my hdd this weekend.. without backing much up. Lost all my old emails, contact lists (trillian), stuff like that.

On the upside, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. I got a perfectly clean system with all the latest drivers and everything updated. I have 160GB of hard drive space. I have my server up, but not acting as a server yet, it dual boots win2k server (thought about using advanced server…more on that later) and our good friend LINUX!!! Only problem is, linux is having graphics problems. I think it keep trying to use a refresh rate my monitor doesn’t support (the lcd). Haven’t had much time to troubleshoot it yet.

System specs:

THOR:

P4 2.4b ghz

512 ddr 333

160gb (20, 60, 80 gb partitions)

Geforce 3

Sound blaster audigy platinum

Dvd 8x

Cdrw 40x

Kick ass case

19” Trinitron

Odin:

P4 1.5ghz

768 pc133

20gig hd w/ windows 2k server (gonna downgrade to pro, I don’t need all that server crap if I do pro right)

5gig hd w/ Mandrake Linux 9.0

geforce 2 64mb

no sound

cd 52x

boring beige case

15” lcd monitor

plus my roommate’s computer.. athalon 1+ghz.. geforce 2 or something.. I don’t remember.

I think I can have my own LAN party with myself J

Anyway, good luck with your modems. Mwaaaahahahahahahaha

lenny

I do have to say that Curtis does have some of the cooler names for his boxes... Still not as cool as "Prometheus"

Oh yes here we are yet again meeting like strangers in the night.... please don't mace me!

So I got a new video game this week (gee imagine that... who would think at 24 I'm still spending the majority of my free money on video games?)... It's the new Zelda game... I'm still early on... Damn it's a masterpiece... the last Zelda game was good... this one is just as good... I have to say this about video games.. I'm something of a snob when it comes to games.. I like them to be fun and entertaining and not really violent. Nintendo has always done that for me... very few computer games do that. Video Games are a form of entertainment... they all don't have to be action movies.

Moving on... So I fried my DSL modem today... I'm doing this update via dial up... I forgot how painfully slow dial up is... man this sucks.. I'm actually thinking that I need to get a second DSL modem just for a back up. So if I'm on your MSN/ICQ/Yahoo! lists... and I'm not around... don't be offended... though it's not like I ever start a conversation anyway :)

Music... Userfriendly today is really quite good.... I think it's quite telling... and very true.. Which got me thinking... how many bands have been around for more then a year or two... well Rock there are lots but very few are listened too by a wide Audience most tend to fall into some sort of sub-category and cater to one type of audience (Nine Inch Nails = Quake/Doom Players). Foo Fighters is the only straight ahead rock band that I could think of that has been around for a while that you will hear on Modern Rock Radio, VH1, MTV, et all... that is when you aren't being bombarded by commercials and reality game shows involving contestants from previous seasons of the show.

I'm listening to "Pretty Little Hate Machine" for those of you who don't know that was done by the original incarnation of Nine Inch Nails. I have to say after 10 some odd years I think it has held up rather well.

Finally please goto to the index page of this sight to see if any pop up adds appear... I've had mixed results and I would like some verfication from a computer I haven't touched (Curtis, Matt, Adam)

OK April fools... I came up with the greatest April Fools Joke ever... I was going to tell my boss I was putting in my two weeks today... well I cracked when I told him.. he figured out real quick... damn maybe next year

Anyway today is the 18th birthday for a friends brother... I've met this person before and generally like them... so I being the somewhat older person I am (if you call 23/24 somewhat older) I am going to pass on a bit of sage advice...

You are now 18 years old, you can vote for president, fight and die for your country, have all the laws of the land apply to you as an adult.... you still can not buy a beer!

First off big props to Brandi my ever observant and so far most loyal reader who noticed that my links to the onion were broken... I fixed them.. you should all go visit Brandi's site so that her hit count spikes.

Moving on to other bits of business.... as of late it seems that I'm getting more telemarketer calls then usual... my guess is the local Marine Recurtier is looking for a few good computer geeks... I don't know if I can crack a apple 2c... you know it's an apple... it just wouldn't be right.

Finally the intial votes are in and with 2 votes to 1 Emily's picture isn't going anywhere... since I'm a nice guy... I'm going to leave this vote open a while longer.. I know most of you don't care... but it will be something to eat up part of your day with.

I don't know about you folks... but when I saw that article... I about died... I wonder what else the Onion predicted and didn't mean to?

Moving on... so I've been watching the news a lot the last couple of days.. with the war in Iraq on in all... I know a few folks who are still in the military... I know for sure one of them is over there... I don't know about the rest since I don't talk to them that much... I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone on the ground. I'm 23 I will be 24 next month... this war is being fought by people younger then me... not 22 or 21 younger... like 18/19 younger... I think that is just scary. I also think about my own near brush with the military... I was 2 steps away from signing up with the Marines out of HS.... The Marine recruiter was the best damn car salesman I ever met... he would tell you anything that you wanted to hear... I opted not to... for various reasons... that was 1997 my 4 years would have been up in the later part of 2001... I hope that I wouldn't have been a grunt.. what may have been.

I'm still draft able age... as are most of the people I know... I don't worry about something like the draft but I keep it in the back of my mind. Always one of those contingency things ya know.

I look at some of the people I know and think to myself... if they were in the military what would they be doing? Engineer? yes I could see a few doing that... Comm.? yes I see one or two doing that... Field Officer? yep even got a few of those in there too. I just think it's kind of weird that is all. In most other countries around the world military time is compulsory in your youth you have no choice in the matter... here at least you get the choice. Though in my mind they should advertise the 2 or 3 year enlistment a little more.

Can you tell I've been a slightly more reflective mood lately? Anyway so like I said I've been watching alot of news lately... and I've been sticking to CNN mostly... I like their style and they seem to have a pretty even head on their shoulders. I've been noticing that my former Military friends tend to gravitate towards Faux News... excuse me.. Fox News... so I asked one of them about their preference for Fox.. their response was "Fox is very pro military and it feels like a game and not the news". Who would have though Embedding Ollie North with the Marines would be doing wonders for Fox's image.

Of course this brings me to the thought of the Liberal Media and how in the end... Alterman's right... Now more then ever is the time for thought in and discussion on what is going with our Government and our place in the world.. now is not the time for us to sit back and idly while the time while the world whizzes by.

Finally tonight... should I leave the picture of Emily flipping the camera off up on the website or replace it? You decide

Yes coming to you "Live" from a "Secure undisclosed location" while awaiting the "Shock and Awe" part of the "Campaign" ....

Seriously I just turned on CNN and they had LIVE pictures of the 7thCav going into Iraq... I swear they could have been in Arizona... for all I know I will wake up tomorrow and there will be a tank parked in front of my driveway (well actually I wouldn't be that surprised if that did happen... there are a good number of nut cases around here to begin with)

OK quick note PSCHYE!! I checked the stats for my site this morning ant it appears that a few of you couldn't believe it when I didn't update on Sunday. Since my site had 15 hits Sunday (normal for Sunday is 6)

Anyway how has everyone one been? I spent my weekend in California... at the happiest place on earth... No Scott not at a brewery though that would qualify as a pretty happy place. No Disneyland Resort... it's not just Disneyland anymore. Anyway I had a good time... went with friends from School... it was a good weekend for adults... I'm sure we will do it again in the future. It rained pretty much all day Saturday (so much for the weather in Southern California being nice). The upside was we were able to walk on to just about all the rides and if we did stand in line it was for less then 15 minutes. A good time was had by all.

Moving on... it seems the frat boy is bent of fulfilling revelations all by himself...

You and your cloud BEING got us INTO this mess... You and your cloud BEING can get us OUT!

You know I really hate it when I lose the remote that means I have to pic something and watch it or just not watch TV... tonight I opted to not watch TV and play Video Games instead... and I'm talking good old Console games here. Gamecube... yeah I still like it over a year later... it's a good little system... it's fun... and it plays games.. best of all the 3D graphics don't get all blurry (a la GTA3).

Which got me thinking... how much money have I spent on video games over the course of the last 15 years (1988-2003)Well I had 26 games for my Super Nintendo.. most bought at a price of $60.00 (average some were more others were less). 20 games for my Gameboy average 25 bucks a game (that is both original Gameboy and my Gameboy color). I had a Genesis/Sega CD/32X with a total of 15 games average $50... TurboGrafix 16 with 5 games at $50.. Playstation with 5 games again $50. Virtual Boy with 2 games at $20 (yes I had a Virtual boy... whats more I still have it!!). N64 I bought used with 6 games and bought 5 games for at $65. Gamecube with 5 games so far at $50... don't forget computer games... including expansions and sequels... about 20 games since 1996... at about $40 each on average. For a total of $4,750 over the course of 15 years... wow that is a chunk of change now isn't it? This is not including systems or anything extra just games

Wow and now that I feel especially foolish... but again it is spread out over 15 years... which would explain why I never really noticed it until now. Still though... damn...

Oh my god... I'm updating on a Sunday night... holy crap what's happening? I think it's called a return to routine... or I just have been home all afternoon thinking up of things to talk about for all of you to spend 3 minutes reading and then visit 15 times each in the next week until I do the next update... which by the way thank you since that does help my hit count and it does make me feel good... even though there are only like 4 of you.

Anyway... went do Sedona on Saturday with Dorothea... it was a nice trip... I didn't drive... I was uptight the whole time.. we did find this antique type shop that had and I'm not kidding here.. a Spanish Gun Turret... it looks like a wagon wheel.. you would have mounted a old brass gun on the thing.. it came from Santa Fe... I want it for my dinning room table. Now if only I could win the lottery to buy it.

I read an article today that said.. there are over 1 billion cell phone users in the world today... so it's not my imagination I am truly surrounded by these damn things... like I have any room to talk

This next tidbit I'm sure Matt and Curtis already know about... And if you follow this link I'm sure the rest of you will think I'm on crack. Though this song is now in the front running for my new theme song.

So I guess while I download the new Animatrix movie I will update my happy fun little website... so with out further Ado... HEEEERRRRREEEE'SSSS TTTTOOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!! (in your best Jack Nicholson)

Hi there... I'm good for a change. Brandi and Clint came up this past weekend... to visit family, friends, and to break a bit of good news to all of us... apparently it's not the water in Az that gets you pregnant... I don't know with all the pregnant women I know right now I could make a very good argument for the fact that the water does make you pregnant.

Yeah so long as it doesn't happen to me for a good long while I will be a happy camper.

In other news today... we are being led to war by a person who thinks he is a... oh wait... wrong blog...

In other news... I PASSED 70-216! granted I did it like 2 weeks ago... and have already done two updates since then... put I'm still damn impressed that I did it... What does this mean for me personally and professionally? Well personally it means that when it comes to all that neat fun network administration stuff I'm defiantly your geek among geeks... Professionally.... not a damn thing right now... it will pay off in the long run. Now I get to start studying for 70-217... Active Directory Services... who hoo... I guess it's time to bring Epsilon3 back online.

Music sales are down... the RIAA is still blaming pirates.... I don't know why don't we blame the crap that is coming out right now! Gee there is a thought... corporate America taking responsibility for something it created.. Of course I'm not stating anything that hasn't already been said before by other people and or groups...

Damn... 45 minutes later... and that movie is still loading... I need broader broad band....

My workstation is possessed... Friday afternoon I came up with the bright idea to Dual Boot my main box between Windows and Linux.. Hell this will be easy says I since I have a second hard drive all ready to go and lord knows I've done it enough before.

36 hours later... I have my main box up and running again with no Linux and a couple of very bad installs of Windows... you would think that I would learn...

OK so now after a couple of really less then lengthy updates I think it's about high time I get my butt in gear and provide you all with your minium required dose of Tom! YEAH! Aren't you happy that I keep a look out for all of you?

Afterwork today I was vegging in front of the television watching the E! true hollywood story of "Saved by the Bell" I thought it was rather fun... and in true E! fashion the only two people from that show who are no longer working were the only cast members that interviews for the show. Mr. Belding and Screech... how sad the principal and the odd man out can't find work. well kids I think that they are the best reason right there why you shouldn't get into show business.

Wal-Mart... Oh how I hate thee... I read a article recently on MSNBC.com about how the economy of the U.S. has never been more tied to company then at the turn of the last century with the Standard Oil Company.... I find this scary... and the reinforce this fact what did I do on Sunday? I went to Wal-Mart to take a look at the clientlle... I know I know... I live in Kingman Arizona... how bad could it truly be? Well I thought the HDTV in the electronics dept was a nice touch... all the rednecks looking at the HDTV... that was turned off... you know since I don't think we get a HDTV signal up here... I could be wrong... but I'm fairly certain we don't. Anyway I would boycott Wal-Mart on nothing more then I'm feeling angsty and feel like boycotting it.. but I do live in Kingman AZ... so I guess I either move or feed the machine... you know what... I think I will just goto K-Mart instead.

I'm done and getting off my soapbox about Wal-Mart... next subject... could you be a help and pass the envelope... thanks... ok next subject is.... BATHROOMS!! Who picks out these subjects anyway? Ok so I will talk about bathrooms....

So my guest bathroom has this Red and White Coke thing going on... I thought it was ok... it was giving Dorothea a fight or flight syndrome... which I guess is really not good when you are trying to relax.... So Dorothea suggested I redecorate my bathroom... 2 things with that 1. I'm a guy... I can relax in the middle of a war zone... 2. anyone who has seen my house knows that I do not like to decorate... To the rescue comes Dorothea... she will do it for me... and off to Wal-Mart we go.. (oh this makes sense now and I guess that would also explain why I'm talking about Wal-Mart). We get the stuff... all of this stuff... I don't know how to describe it all... it's difficult... so you know what I'm not even going to try. 3 hours and 1 very extensive cleaning later.. the bathroom is redone... I don't think anybody will want to leave now... even after they are done.

"You son of a bitch... you know what you did..." As quoted to me in a text message on my cell phone from my brother... can't you feel the love?

So how has everyone been? I personally have been really good for the last week or so... I'm a happy little camper at the moment. Life is good right now.

Sucks for you guys that I'm in such a good mood... since I really don't feel like writing anything.

OK someone out there is still using Windows 95... which one of you miscreants is it? I mean if you are going to use a out of data operating system at least use something liken Windows 3.1 and truly just be out of it... at least then I could look you in the face.

OK I've had my fun screwing with the self esteem/ego's of the above mentioned people and or drinks. Did you know that Curtis is the root of all evil? NO?! Then maybe you should pay attention a little closer.

Once again we have been reminded that space flight is neither routine or safe. I find this whole experience to very similar to the Challenger in 86. I was 6 when the Challenger blew up. I was home sick and my grandmother was watching me that day... I still to this day I distinctly remember that the news coverage was much like it was yesterday.... pretty constant and the same images of the cloud that was the challenger. I was 6 so I really didn't understand the implications of the Challenger blowing up, but I'm pretty sure that single event was the root of my so far life long interest in space. Whenever I got the chance to write about space exploration in college I always took the opportunity and even took the opportunity to make a case of world peace through cooperation in space.... of course the communist in my class was just mad that 1. the U.S. had won the cold war and 2. The Chinese had not yet put a man in space as of 1998.

Overall I have to say that the coverage of this whole mess by the media has been pretty good. They haven't been playing alot of mind games like they did after 9/11 and so far the families privacy has been respected. I think the only thing that I find truly disturbing about all of this is the souvenir hunters who have been out collecting pieces parts of the Columbia for their own personal profit or whatever. That sickens me... The other thing that I find amazing about this whole thing is human body parts have made it back to earth... which I find both remarkable and grizzly at the same time. What we have to remember is these people are pioneer's and they have a destiny that is in stars. Their lives and the lives of the 14 Astro/Cosmonauts that went before them shouldn't be forgotten.

Ok... moving on to a subject that is not quite so depressing and probably a hell of alot more fun for most everyone here. GAMES! Ok we have all been playing Counter Strike for a while now and most all of us either love it or hate it.... Lets face it Most of us Love Counter Strike... There have always been some elements that have been missing from Counter Strike... Real Time Mapping, A more realistic physics model, Something about being very easy for one side or the other to setup and camp. Right now there is alot of talk in amongst the gaming press about a new Tom Clancy game "Raven Shield" which is the 3rd game in the Rainbow Six Series. I've played the previous Rainbow Six games... they weren't bad... though a little heavy on the technical side they were dead on for accuracy and most of all FUN (which is something alot of game designers seem to forget these days). Anyway I've been trying the demo for "Raven Shield" out and though it is a bit buggy at times I think this game is going to be a winner... so for those of you who I LAN with... I think I have found the next game we all will be playing... best of all it's so easy even Bruce will get it the first time.

Which brings me to my final subject of the night... I don't often make mistakes which I will owe up to... but when I'm proven wrong I will owe up to them... I made such a mistake in my previous entry... Apparently Curtis had some bad hardware on his network and not a bad set up... so Curtis I'm sorry that I doubted your geek skills.

Dammit..... I almost put 2002 again! I guess that was a really good year for me... though not a damn thing happened... and this year is not shaping up to be any better.

Tonight we are going to feature the exploits of lenny... since he has been rather quiet the last couple of weeks... I thought it was only fair that we finally give him his own time.

I'm starting an epic Never Winter Nights mod... take that and post it
beeatch. ok, not really.
"But Lenny" you ask, "what happened to the one you where working on"
Well, it is still being worked on, but I am done with it as it was
officially published/released. However, version 2.0 is in the works right
now, and I doubt I will do more than play test it once or twice, since it is
really more like version 1.99999999, just a big refining and retuning thanks
to some new options made available recently, and the on take of a new
modeler and scripter.

So, what of this new undertaking? This one is unique, as the last was just
a conversion of a classic paper series: Eye of the beholder. The new one is
all new creative content. The main story has been hashed out and level
building will begin shortly. There are plans of Creating unique 3d models
for it, but I doubt that will happen as I'm sure my modeler (who is also my
scripter) will be too busy with other stuff.
Lets just say that the story is a great one, and leaves us with a lot of
potential. If everything works right, this should hit neverwinter vaults
hall of fame. Unless of course we get discouraged and never finish it, which
is likely because we've been meaning to start playing some good old fashion
table top RPG for weeks now, and have never gotten around to it.

yup, that's what I'll be doing with my spare time now. I figure it is a
pretty cheap hobby, and should work out nicely.

Oh ya, I ordered satellite internet. It will get installed eventually.

Curtis

P.S. yes, that means all case modding and Linux projects are on hold.

Good for you Curtis, you are expanding your horizons... who knows maybe you will even be able to get on with a full time MOD outfit. It is sad to hear about you Linux and Case modding projects... Then again you don't have a girlfriend so I don't understand how you don't have the time for them...

you hosted iste (idlegames) isnt' updated. last update is January 13. fix
it, or die.

Big words coming from a little man who can't even get his own home network running. And it's not my fault I have flaky hardware in my server.. well maybe it is but I really just don't care to fix it.

Then again when the Motherboard is fundamentally broke there really isn't much that you can do.

I know that I've been having a rough couple of weeks when I just now noticed that for the last 2 weeks I have been putting down 2002 for the year instead of 2003.

So once upon a time I came into a copy of Windows XP Pro and it was good... I actually liked this program very well... too bad that it was 4 month demo..... guess what ran out on me this weekend. So against my better judgment and some other things (read as laziness) I reformatted my computer. And for a change it went rather nicely, instead of the usual blood sweat and tears that is normally me trying to redo my computer. Anyway the reason I'm writing about this event since everyone I know who is semi decent with computers has done it once in a while... I did the original install on my computer one year ago... and left it up pretty much 24x7. Installed... Uninstalled... patched....updated.... and otherwise abused my computer. Never once did my 2000 build show any signs of wavering. I thought it was kind of cool personally. Normally I will rebuild a machine once every 6 months or so. 1 year is something of a personal best for me.

Anyway moving on to things that probally actually concern somebody other then myself.... The super bowl is today.... I'm not a big football fan.. I will watch the cardinals if they are on tv... anything more then a quarter is gernerally just to painfull.... I do watch the Fox Pre-Game... mainly though for Gillian Barbary's weather and Jimmy Kimmels picks.... Mainly Gillian though... To me the super bowl is yet another reason to blow a afternoon when I could be doing something constructive.. this year I rebuilt my computer.. last year I studied... year before that I studied... before that I worked... anyway point is I'm not one to really watch the superbowl... and the only reason I have been checking it occasionally is to see the new Matrix trailer. Which I'm fairly certain I have missed. But I don't despair to terribly much... I have a fat pipe at home and I will be able to download it soon enough.

I hit something of a minor revelation... maybe it's a major reveliation.... I don't know...

I was at home in my house... thinking in my house... the thought dawned on my... I own my house... not my parents... not someone else... me... this caused me to think some more... I moved from I'm a homeowner to what has changed in my life in the last 6 months... the last year... the last year as a whole has been pretty quiet... the last six months espically the last 3.5 months have been more abrupt and flowing. I've made personal decsions regarding people I that I thought would be in my life for a very long time.... and others about people that I hadn't really ever thought that would be in my life for more then a little while.

Anyway I find it intersting when I come to these decsions... this isn't the first time... I doubt it will be the last. I always follow through with them.

When I die... do not have a big funeral or memorial serivce... put on some music that you think I would like... order a drink.. and remember the good times.

"Finding a clean bowl is a lot like finding $5 in your wallet you didn't know was there.... it means you can have lunch"

How is that for a bit of bachelor wisdom? Of course in my life finding a clean bowl happens very infrequently... finding 5 dollars in my wallet that I didn't know was there actually happens more often. Either way they are both surprises... now if only I could find that playboy playmate that I asked Santa for....

You know when I bought the "Bat Cave" (the pet name for my house... though I think fortress of solitude may be more appropriate at times) I thought that I would have scads of extra cash every time I opened my wallet... since my house is a "investment" after all... and investments are supposed to net you money... Well truth is I don't have scads of extra cash and I think the idea of homeownership should be redubbed home indentured servitude... then again I'm probably just mad I've been doing house/yard work all weekend while growing up my father had slave labor to do that for him... at least in theory... in actual practice he still did most of it himself.

In other news... Simpson fans will be happy to know that The Simpson's have been renewed for another 2 seasons... Which I'm pretty sure means that after one more renewal the Simpson's will graduate classes from High School that have been around as long as they have. Scary thought if you ask me... of course I'm just hoping that Futurerama gets renewed... of course that may be asking just a bit to much.

While I'm thinking about it... go hit the Apple website and download the trailer for "Kill Bill" it's a Quentin Tarintino Film... if nothing else the sound track is pretty good.

Finally I would like to bring out Matt Philips.. Matt is something of a Anti-Zen master he brings alot of pain and misery to the table. Last week I asked for topics of discussion.... well I only got one.. and it was from matt.. embedded with alot of other stuff. So here now is a topic of discussion....

"Ok here is some more food for thought. Peter Likins, president of UA has drawn up a list of 16 programs to be cut at UA because of increased budget cuts, on the list are such things as Landscape Architecture and Humanities programs. This is all well and fine because most of those program suck anyway. But our Governor thinks oh no, lets not cut shitty programs, lets raise tuition 43% next year. "

I'm sure we all can understand Matt's ire... since we have all paid tuition or other costs once upon a time... the one thing that Matt has to remember though, is people go to college to become well rounded individuals (mentally and more often then not physically too). Matt remember you are a engineer which means you really have no artistically aesthetic side...while a humanities major may be aesthetically pleasing they couldn't build a rocket.

Gosh... it's Thursday the only good night on TV any more... where am I? Doing yet another update for my 3 loyal readers!

You know we really need to talk about this relationship... I give and give and give... and all you do is take... really provide me with fodder to write about... or at the very least an interesting thought or two.

I'm going to break with policy tonight because 1. It's my website, and 2. I want to!...

At work... it seems like everyone salutes me and calls me sir... I find it a bit disturbing since I'm a grunt and when it's all done and said I'm way lower on the totem pole then almost all of the people doing this. I guess I find it absurd.. or very disturbing. It just weirds me out that's all.

Now for the segment of the update brought to you by people who may or may not come here on a regular basis.

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! But....Now that I've reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet--we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter--with a pen!--and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the begining and mess it all up! You want to hear about hardship?

You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! It was either that or jackoff to the lingere section of the JC Penney cata! log! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the the phone rang, you had no idea who it was it could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know!!! You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died! Just like LIFE! When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were screwed! And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning... ...D'ya hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little bastards! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled, I swear! You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1984!

Now we have Krissy who has contributed before... but I don't know if she knows that she has contributed.

TWENTY-SOMETHING DRAMA

This puts it all into words perfectly. They call it the
"Quarter-life crisis." It is when you stop going along
with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot
of things about yourself that you didn't know and may
not like.

You start feeling insecure and wonder where you
will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you
barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that,
the people that you thought you were so close to aren't
exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people
you have lost touch with are some of the most important
ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing
that too and are not really cold, or catty, or mean, or
insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job. It is not even close to what you
thought you would be doing or maybe you are
looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to
start at the bottom and are scared. You miss the comforts of
home, college, of groups, of socializing with the same people
and yet maybe they weren't so great after all. You are
beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see
what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than
usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in
your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is
not.

You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the
greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused.
Suddenly change is the enemy and you try to cling
on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past
is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to
do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved
could do such damage to you, or you lie in bed and wonder
why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better.

You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot
figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.
One night stands and random hook ups start to look
cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and
talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to
make a decision.

You worry about loans and money and the future and making
a life for yourself and while winning the race would be great,
right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it.
We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as
hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

Send this to your twenty-something friends...Maybe it will help someone
feel like they are not alone in there state of confusion that are our

The Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers is a thoroughly awesome movie. If you haven't seen it yet (and if you come here I'm sure have seen it already) go see it. Just don't go see it in Kingman. Normally when see movies I will to Laughlin or I will see them when I'm not in Kingman. My experience yesterday reminds me why I never see movies in Kingman. First off the movies in Kingman are 20 years old... that is how old the building is... and the screen... and the projectors.... at least the seats are only 5 years old. Second the theater is not very dark... actually it is one of the brightest theaters I've ever been in. Finally people in Kingman don't know how to Not use cell phones, take their crying baby outside, better yet leave the baby at home, control their kids, and stop talking during a movie. Mind you this is with out bitching about the lack of stadium seating or or decent sound. Then again I only paid 2 dollars for the ticket... what do I care?

Something for some thought.... I was checking the stats for the website this morning... nothing unusual... people are still coming here... on average I have 4 hits a day so at least I know that people are taking long enough to let my page load before they take off.. they may not read anything but they are at least loading it... then again this number may be FUBAR because of Matt... thanks Matt.

I digress... so I was checking my stats and low and behold a popup add appears on my screen... this particular add is advertising Yahoo's upgraded service plan for websites. I personally found it very interesting... I guess that is the marketing juggernaut behind the internet at work.

speaking of bandwidth and things that make me go hmmm... I've had DSL for a couple of months now and have been playing with the idea of running my site off of a box that is sitting in my office... well if you call a room with a Boba Fett poster a office then I have a office. I had nixed this idea early on for various reasons... 1 The computer I would be using is too flakey... 2 I didn't think my dsl line could handle it... 3. I'm lazy.... so after some thought and deliberation I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and try using the web server at my house. So if you are feeling just a little curious go check out http://kodiak.idlegames.com to have this page served up cold and lumpy from my house. You won't get anything different... just this page with a different address. That's all... but it gives me a warm feeling in my belly

Only person who can stop Bruce from stopping Curtis from Taking over the world... A.j. Legault

Well folks there you have the TOM AWARDS 2003®© and remember if you didn't win anything you weren't nominated... all awards were voted on by Tom for Tom. All winners will receive nothing... maybe a coat hanger painted gold if I'm feeling ambitious.

January 4, 2003

I'm on call this weekend which means I'm hanging around my house not doing a
whole hell of a lot waiting for a call that may or may not come. I know
what fun... but since I have this little online journal thingy and I know
that I have at least 3 loyal readers (maybe 4 now it's hard to get a
accurate number since matt comes here 4 times a day out of sheer boredom).

Anyway I got a call from work at 4:30 this morning... 4:30 on a SATURDAY
MORNING....it sucked... but I got everything fixed. only took me two hours
of trouble shooting to get it all knocked down and taken care of. And since
it was 6:45 when I got home I decided to not go to bed but to watch
cartoons... WHOO HOO!! I haven't done that since freshman year in HS.... so
I make a pot O coffee and this is what I found on the Cartoon landscape for
Saturday morning....

The big 3 ABC/CBS/NBC... of the big 3 ABC and CBS have "traditional"
Saturday morning programming... NBC has some stuff later on but it is not
cartoons.... Everything that CBS has is from Nick JR... already to young for
my taste.... So I pretty much stuck with ABC and KidsWB...

ABC.... I must be getting old... I remember when cartoons were fun and you
had basic stories about good and evil... do the right thing... help your
neighbor... that sort of thing. That is not what I saw this morning...
instead I saw shows about tolerance and acceptance.... why prejudice is bad
and how it can work both ways... and doing the right thing is not always
easy. I was impressed... I didn't think that cartoons could communicate
these subjects very well but it appears as though the good folks at Disney
were able to do it... The good folks at Disney were also able to explain the
concept of "enabling" in a cartoon.... this was something that I didn't
figure out until I was in College... I guess I should have watched more
cartoons....

KidsWB... yeah.... it's for kids... like Nick JR is for Kids..... though
they did have a pretty good adaptation of X-men stay away from Kids WB....

Cartoon Network... Now this is where it is at... I saw cartoons on this
channel that I hadn't seen since I was in first or second grade... it was
great... hell they even had Smurfs.... I found the cartoon network to be a
nice trip down memory lane.... these are the cartoons that I remember.

CAT77... EARL TV.... Ah yes Earl TV... a survey of the Kingman Television
landscape would not be complete without a quick swing by Earl TV on it new
and improved 4 hour loop. This had all the normal crap in addition to my
brother, Gatlyn, and Curtis... those three all qualify for cartoon status if
you ask me.

History Channel... This is where I ended up spending most of my time this
since they had a documentary on Vietnam... and lets face it history is a
hobby.

So that is my survey of the Saturday morning Cartoon and then some
landscape... my suggestion to you..... sleep in and don't bother with it.

December 31, 2002 -- January 1, 2003

OK what can I say... I just couldn't stay away until the new year...
Anyway a little cheating never hurt anyone? Right?

How many people actually make new years resolutions? I normally don't I
always forget them and if I do remember them I just stop doing them in a
week or two. I have given some thought to new years resolutions... and
after about 10 seconds I got bored with it... looks like I'm going
another year without a resolution.

You can also tell what a party animal I am by doing a update on New
Years eve / New Years Day.... woo hoo...

It's been a week sine christmas and all my neighbors still have their
Christmas lights up... come on guys it's time to take them down already.

- know what really sucks about linux... you have to go searching the
internet for a program that may or may not make the program you want to
run... it's called a dependeincy... The problem doesn't really exist in
Windows since ONE vendor controls the whole thing... of course a missing
dependince in windows is fixed by upgrading

The making of a hangover.

Was watching the discovery health channel tonight, here's what i learned.

No matter who you are, your liver can only process one drink an hour, whether your male, female, fat, thin, young or old. (taking a cold shower or drinking coffee will not make your blood alcohol level go down faster)

Alcohol decreases testosterone, which makes your nuts shrink and decreases blood flow to jimmy.

Consuming good amounts of alcohol for several years ( like your college years) leads to feminization, decrease of shoulder width and increase in hip width, small nuts, infertility, and impadence.

What does this all mean. well i think it gives me a good answer to why i general don't like people who drink. Chicks are great for a short period of time, up until you hit your limit of the amount of estrogen you can take, and in the same way the guys who get drunk on the weekends are ok for awhile but their lack of testosterone acts just like the "estrogen effect" (i just made that phrase up, but damn, i plan to use it alot more.)

Then again, being male, i don't much like anyone else's testosterone, so that is why i don't like everyone else. Oh, and i guess it could be that most people are stupid drunk or sober.

semi-journal entry, december 26, 2002.

here's the year in retrospect- tom you have been a fine friend. you've listened to me rant about various issues, helped me move yet again, you've given us a place to crash while we were staying in kingman, you gave clint the grand tour of kingman in one afternoon, and you showed up to our wedding. what more could i ask for in a friend?

respectfully submitted,
brandi colbert

Sticking with the Christmas theme today.... time for a flashback.... this is my second year not working at Albertson's. I still like not working there. They were good to me but seriously they drove me up the wall. Anyway when I was a checker I dealt with the public a lot and I never said "Merry Christmas"... and I got in trouble for that on a regular basis... I also got in trouble for not saying.... "Happy Easter" either.... Anyway I was/am always of the view that I do not say "Merry Christmas" to anyone even if they say it to me first. I do this because (and I know this will come as shock to some of you) a lot of people are not Christian with in the United States. Don't worry they aren't here to eat your babies or steal your soul... these people live amongst us and look like everyone else... so how do you tell? You don't.... yes I know I'm taking the P.C. road with not saying "Merry Christmas". You know just remember that next time you feel like spreading happiness and joy...

Again with it being the Holiday season I thought I would do something different with the old semi journal. I'm not going to write a update for the next week (the next entry will probably be in 2003). As a result I know some of you (you know who you are) will go through withdrawals. So I'm making a once in a every couple of years offer... If you write a "Semi Journal" entry I will post it... think of this as your chance to be a guest writer... you can talk about whatever you want.... sing my praises... say what a great guy I am.... whatever I don't care. Just send the emails in my general direction and I will post them. Think of this as your time to influce all 3 of my readers... who knows maybe you will get some fan mail.

Well another week is upon us and I have to say that in the grand totality of this week as compared to all other weeks that I have experienced in my life.... this one was no different then any of the others.

Really though it has been a pretty decent week. I did get my Linux box converted over to Red hat 8.0 which is nice. For those of you who don't know Linux distributions are pretty much the same from one distro to the next... however the distro of choice for a Linux geek is something rivaled only by the religious fundamentalism of a member of Al Quedia. There are also some minor tweaks as to the placement of files and scripts within the computer itself. Right now it is just a learning tool. Maybe someday I will turn it into a part of my job on a regular basis.

Speaking of work I've been in a serious funk lately both personally and professionally. I can't seem to snap out of it. I really have no way of explaining it other then I think living alone is finally getting to my nerves. Strange thing is that this is the best mood I've been in for months now. I wonder if I'm one of those people who isn't happy unless they are sad/depressed/or bitching about something... damn I hope not. Wow if that doesn't make you feel a little better, then I don't know what will.

I guess the main root of my personal stuff right now is a while back I mad a realization that some things with some people will not work out they way you think they will or the way you want them to. I had a glimmer of hope recently and upon further examination of this "glimmer" I realized that the amount of change on my part and lack of change on their part was not worth it. It was this brief moment that I realized that I was right and they were wrong. I'm not sorry for my earlier decision and I'm now glad that I made it.

Of course saying what I've just said and doing something are two totally different things.

Ah yes, the semi journal... you have all come to bask in the glory and radiance that is me and my little spec of the internet. I have you so trained.

I went to a KHS basketball game tonight... mind you I never went to a basketball/football/baseball when I was in HS I didn't really care. Anyway getting back to the story at hand I went to this game and I actually had a pretty decent time... I think it was more fun then most PRO basketball games I've been to. And in case your wondering I went with Emily because 1. I got to spend time with a friend... 2. Made me think that I had a life (hahahahahahahahahaha.... sniff... sniff... sometimes I kill me)

The ring tone on my Cell phone is the "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" I think it's about right.

Speaking of the good, the bad, the upgrades... I have some upgrade reports for everyone... First off Winamp3 is out it's totally new version to the venerable WINAMP media player... I like it... I have always like Winamp. Only problem is that it doesn't work with my MS Keyboard with the "media buttons"... I would upgrade the drivers but since they don't make my keyboard anymore I guess I'm going to have to find something else. In other upgrade news... if YOU USE MANDRAKE LINUX 9.0 **curtis** DON'T UPGRADE YOUR VIDEO DRIVES UNLESS YOU FEEL LIKE USING A COMMAND LINE!!

In this episode of "Random Acts of Tom" we.... take a walk down memory lane, hope for a real football team and get a miracle, and give shout outs to all 4 loyal readers, and the greatest half hour on TV.

The semi journal is 2 years old this week... actually it was last week but I decided to mention this week because I didn't mention it last week... yeah... anyway I took a walk down memory lane and broke out the cold storage entries to see what I thought was important 2 years ago... pretty much the same stuff that is important to me today. It is nice to see that some things just don't change... I'm also happy that I don't have to deal with finals anymore... unlike other people I know but most of them are smart and will get through... the others will just fake it the best they can and do what they can.

The Lions played the Cardinals this week... the Cardinals won in Overtime... the fact the Cardinals won is a miracle... but it is only a minor miracle since they beat the Lions... The only team worse then the Cardinals.

"Andy Richter Controls the Universe", yes that is what I live for on Sunday nights... not the Simpsons, not Futurama, not Alias, not the Star Trek Marathon's on TNN. Andy Richter is what it is all about. He was Conan's side kick now he has his own show... and you know what else.. he is still funnier then Craig Kilborn.

First off I would like to talk about something very near and dear to my heart... that of the computer. I am a computer professional but the following question never occurred to me until just this evening when I was doing some routine maintience (BIOS upgrade) on my computer. Why do we still use floppies? The 1.44 MB floppy has been around for at least 10 years now. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the Floppy I'm just saying that maybe it's time we start to really move away from it. WE have better methods of booting a computer for repair and system level purposes. Of course if BIOS manufactures would actually provide us with a command line or GUI version of their BIOS update products I really don't think that a boot disk would be required anymore. Well at least for the average user... of course the average user is so stupid the floppy will probably be around for another 10 years.

Yeah.... so how do I tell little brother that I've been running a Linux Web/FTP/File/Print/SendMail Server for the last 3 weeks? (oh and uptime is now at 15 days 00:45 with a average load of 1.08) Which when translated to English means (2 weeks 1 day 45 minutes and average load in the last hour of 100%) in case you were wondering the overall load average is in the neighborhood of 95% (gotta love seti@home) HOW ABOUT THEM APPLES!!

Life... I went to the grocery store today (I'm sure you can already tell how exciting my life is since I'm writing about going to the grocery store) When I was in the checkout line I was talking with Charlene she asked me how things were going I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and said boring... she said bored with life or work... That got me thinking.. It seems like I'm in the mother of all ruts.. It's been like this for a while and only now is it starting to bother me...

Finally in case anyone was wondering... 2 coats of a oil based primer and 2 coats of latex paint cover up Perment Marker very well.

1. I do not pirate music. I do not go onto the internet and download the music a artist has worked very hard on for the last year of their life just so I can save 20 bucks. Yes I do burn cd's with music I OWN THESE CD'S. I support my bands!! I don't care if you are a college student with a out a dime to your name... maybe you should get a job at the McDonalds around the corner for 5.15 an hour so you actually have some money to spend.

2. If you find it necessary to attack me do not attack those close to me as a means to hurt me. Be a man and attack the real target.

3. Quit whining about the economy and start looking for a real job. I got some bad news for you, The universe does not revolve around you. Things are not going to go the way you planned.

No I haven't watched "Fight Club" recently. I think I need to though, I'm not sufficiently pissed off anymore. Not that I really have a reason to be pissed off. I'm just looking for an excuse to lash out and I'm not finding it.

I am so weak... yes you read correctly I Tom Kern am weak... why you ask... very simple.. on Thursday I bought a game for my Game Cube.. that most evil of devices... since Thursday I have spent 23 hours playing that stupid thing... not all in a row but it sure does feel like it... I really whish that I were kidding but I'm not. It's really sad if you ask me. I actually have blisters on my thumbs I've been playing this game so much... It's been years since I've had blisters on my thumbs from video games!!

So if you really want to ruin your life go pick up Metroid Prime for the Game Cube. It's a good game but kiss your life goodbye for a good long time.

In other news I feel true pitty for the PC consumer of the future.... It appears as though AMD has dropped out of the desktop CPU market. What does this mean for Joe computer buyer? Not a whole heck of a lot since Joe Computer buyer only does Email, Internet, and some Word Processing... What does this mean for Curtis, Matt, Clint, and myself? That the next computer that each one of us builds is going to cost a heck of alot more then what we could build it for today. It is truly a sad day.

Ever notice how some people can't sit in a room with another person and not speak? No? I thought so... It's so natural for us to speak when another person is in the room we don't even think about it. Next time your alone in a room with a person don't talk to them.... see how long it is before they speak to you... I think the results may be surprising.

I'm a little surprised he didn't mention it is the fire to my water.. the ying to my yang... the wayne to my garth

Second... I've been collecting these "Slashdot's" for a while now... and I want to share..

Girls who throw themselves at men, are actually taking very careful aim.

Tomorrow will be cancelled due to lack of interest

Why would I pay $20 to go to a strip club when I can be ignored by real women at any coffee shop for a mere $3 to $5 depending on whether I get a muffin.

My monkey requests that he be addressed as Mr. Furry Pants. I highly advise everyone to adhere to his request. Otherwise he'll become very angry and start throwing things.

Now if I could only remember which is the Self Destruct button...

How do you know its a rabid wolverine?
Fur and teeth my friend, fur and teeth.

"Q: What do you get when you cross Dracula with a used car salesman
A: autoexec.bat"

Some scholars are like donkeys, they merely carry a lot of books. -- Folk saying

I'm not a robot like you. I don't like having disks crammed into me... unless they're Oreos, and then only in the mouth. -- Fry

love, n.: When you like to think of someone on days that begin with a morning

Sometimes, when I think of what that girl means to me, it's all I can do to keep from telling her. -- Andy Capp

My parents went to Niagara Falls and all I got was this crummy life.

Neckties strangle clear thinking. -- Lin Yutang

Do not permit a woman to ask forgiveness, for that is only the first step. The second is justification of herself by accusation of you. -- DeGourmont

It is a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if they're attractive in some way. -- McCoy, "The Trouble with Tribbles", stardate 4525.6

OK, so you're a Ph.D. Just don't touch anything

Save gas, don't eat beans

What I need is a MATURE RELATIONSHIP with a FLOPPY DISK ...

Could someone please tell me why it is I have this obsession with Linux? Here sits a OS that really for all intents and purposes should really be ran on something with at lest 4 processors but yet here I am trying to actually use the damn thing like I would a Windows server. I'm so very confused about it all... Anyway... This is the first time tonight (actually for the better part of the weekend) that I haven't been fighting with my Linux Box... OH to think if I hadn't taken epsilon3 offline. Which is really what started this whole episode... I decided to dismantle my network as I knew it and start again from scratch but instead of having a Windows file and print server I would have a Linux File and Print server.. which no one else I know in town has.. that was Saturday morning.. 36hours later... I've gone through 10 Linux installs (no lie) 4 of which I actually got somewhere with...the last one has yet to blow up on me... it's been running for just about about an hour now.

You know it's pretty bad when literally the only thing that I do is work on the damn computer all weekend... thank god I'm on call next weekend. I will actually have a excuse to not touch my boxes. I can actually study for my MCSE tests which is what I probably should have been doing this weekend.

For whatever reasons known only to me and my ever so subtle subconscious I've decided to do a update tonight.

I'm going to break from my normal not talking about work thing and actually talk about work for once since I'm feeling like it and I know you all live OH so through me :) . Anywhoo... we had KHS Juniors/Seniors come through the hospital today I was delegated to be the "official" tour guide for the IS department. 5 groups of 2 or 3 people. I enjoyed it... and the following comments were made about me from my fellow coworkers... "I've never seen anyone find so much to say about so much that is so boring"... "You actually had them giggling the whole time" for all I know I had a bugger hanging out of my nose or my fly was open... "You are having way to much fun" Yes I was thank you very much!

In other news.. Scott (also known as "Juan" and "Dorko") sent a email to some selected people regarding how best to handle a student that has chosen a major that is in the views of friends and family a "waste".... basically this article said don't pressure the student and let them find their own way. Whatever you do don't ask "What are you planning on doing with your degree?" so I emailed my little brother back and asked "What exactly are you planning on doing with your degree?" There are some days that I love being me :) And if you have "sage" wisdom or "advice" for my little brother you can email him here

quick update... I've been working on this document for a while now. It's not much and be gentle I'm not normally one who writes papers.

Hello and good evening, I hope this update finds you all well and somewhat sane.

I would like to start off tonight with a observation about "writers block". As you all know I recently attended a wedding of some friends. While I was there all the guests were asking another guest (A.j. Legault everyone's favorite slutty park ranger) why he hasn't done of his "A.j. Letters" his response "I haven't been able to sit in front of a computer and write something" I found this interesting. Since A.j. is a master bullshit artist. Anyway what A.j. considers "Writers block" I consider a normal update. Most of the time when I sit down in front of ye computer I have no clue what I'm going to write about. I've tried taking notes through the week but I find that I want to write about everything that happens. I then become a slave to the webpage. Really that is no fun now is it? I find that 2 days of screwing off tend to help clear my mind of the clutter built up from work and allows me to focus more clearly on my life and not my life at work. I also find my semi free flow format of this page does help me to relax. It's also a way for me to post my thoughts and feelings which I find nice since I get harassed incessantly when I'm with my friends.

I've found a new favorite beer "Fat Tire Amber Ale" it's good stuff. Also if you are ever in Flagstaff goto the Beaver Street Brewery and try the Indian Pale Ale hmmm hmmmm good

damn I was just reading email and I lost my train of thought.. I guess I shouldn't have had that beer huh?

You would think with as much as I bitch I would have something to write about....

The friends in my life have been a little more productive then usual... lets share shall we?

Finally we have Curtis who we all know and love... one of these days I'm going to have to give Curtis his own page.

Brandi and Clint are finally married. Which for the rest of us means about squat but it just sounds nice. These two shall be fun to watch for the first couple of years. I'm still learning about Clint and Brandi is the first of my close friends to get married. It shall be fun.

Anyway, how is everyone I really appreciate all the emails I get from everyone who comes here telling me how there lives are going. Also I want you notice that the previous statement was 1. Dripping with sarcasm 2. A despirate cry for email.

Dammit I really hate it when this happens. I had all this great stuff I was going to write about, but I can't remember a damn thing that I wanted to talk about it was all really good too. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!!!

So like I said Brandi and Clint got married this weekend. The ceremony it self actually was quite short. Most weddings I go to seem to be about the same. This one was short sweet and to the point. What I thought was rather cool about it was that the person doing the wedding took on walk down memory lane... the first time they met, the first time they held hands, the first time they kissed, the first email, the first email with an attachement, the first time discussing IP firewall proxy's and NAT.... yeah it was good stuff.

I gennerally enjoy weddings since I almost always see a few people there that I know. This particular time it was Shawn and Ada... and I really should see them more since we all live in the same town.... Anyway since the group of us hadn't been down Mill AV in a while we decided to go down there for the evening. It was fun, one of the few times that I've down Mill AV and actually enjoyed it. The one thing that I saw this time that I hadn't seen before was a live music on the street. It was rather cool and I do enjoy most music. And if it is live I just enjoy it that much more.

I also picked up a PDA this weekend. For those of you keeping track this is #2 for me. I gave my first one to my mom. I'm finding that I'm needing one for work so I broke down and bought a used one off of a friend. It's a Hand Spring Visor Delux. It's not bad I like it. And if I find that I'm using it quite a bit I may just upgrade. So outside of using it as a electronic notepad and date book what else can you use these things for? I'm sure I will come up with something.

First off... I was checking the stats for the website tonight and what I found brought a smile to my face. I started this "online journal thingy" in Dec 00 as a way for me to vent... lets be honest that is really what I have done the most here. I had 10 hits in that first month. The hits for this current month so far have hit 142. That just amazes me. I know I'm a inserting guy (I like to think so) but I had no idea... now I know this translates to like 6 or 7 regular people but dam I never knew.

Then again I wouldn't put it past Scott and Curtis to come to this site a couple times a day just out of sheer boredom.

I went to the valley this weekend to visit my brother and help Clint and Brandi move... I was working... it was a good a time as one could expect to have. However my brother being the enterprising soul that he is hit on something do for a change. We saw Stone Temple Pilots for 10 dollars... yes it was worth it. I would have paid full price for a ticket to see these guys the show rocked. So if you ever get the chance go see STP if you haven't already. Trust me you will be thanking me for it.

Now here is something for you to ponder... and if you get confused don't worry... I'm always that way. Zach Delarocha left Rage Against The Machine.... Rage Hired Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to take the lead singer spot. Chris and Rage "split" before the album was completed. Now a band Audioslave is out. and this band is comprised of none other then Chris Cornell and the non singing members of Rage. I'm confused. some one please help me.

OK upon researching this question.. I've found the following... Looks like Chris Cornell and Soundgarden never did break up the just changed their name to something else.

In the spirit of Halloween this week... I've had the most terrfying realization come to me.. my parents have keys to both my truck and my house.

You may remember that I wrote about a presentation I was making to HS Freshmen? Well I made that presentation today with my boss. Lets just say that attention spans are even more rare at KHS then a single woman is in Kingman. Yeah... that is about all I really want to write about the whole experience.

I truly believe that there is nothing more serene in the world then to build a piece of software on your own system while listening to music... it truly is satisfying.

Somebody check some holy text... the Cardinals are in first place... I'm pretty sure that this is a sign of the apocalypse for a religion or two.

Looking in my fridge today... I was taking stock of what I had... 2 Gatorades, 1 almost full case of Coke, half empty gallon of milk, OJ from I don't know when, Oranges, 1 tortilla (not a pack of tortilla's just a tortilla), and a unopened block of cheese... What the hell is the cheese doing in there.. seriously I don't eat that much cheese it tends to screw with my stomach. I guess that is another mystery of my life. So if anyone wants a block of cheese your out of luck... since I ate it for dinner.

I once read something by Erma Bombeck (?). She was talking about how your kids don't really move out of the house until all their stuff is gone from your garage/attic. I took up the task of cleaning out my parents garage of my stuff yes all 4 boxes were condensed into 3 and taken to my house. Nothing of any real importance just crap from HS that I would rather forget... a Virtual Boy (Remember those?), year books, and some other misc items. Strange I didn't care much for HS and yet I still hold on to reminders of it. Most odd... most odd indeed.

Just for the record... I moved back to Kingman on June 12, 2001. I got a Hastings card on October 20, 2002. now if that isn't being lazy I don't know what is.

At what point do you say "enough" with a person? You've tried all you can but no matter what you do they don't seem to budge?

I got this in the email today and I felt like sharing. Enjoy and talk amongst yourselves.

A movie that can ALWAYS make you laugh: Happy Gilmore

A movie that can ALWAYS make you cry: Star Trek: Generations (Don't laugh)

Your three ultimate comfort foods-
1. Fruit Cocktail and cottage Cheese
2. Mexican Lasagna
3. McDonald's

Three teachers/professors who impacted your life POSITIVELY:
1. Mr. McChesney
2. Dr. Haney
3. Dr. Morgan

Three teachers/professors who impacted your life NEGATIVELY:
1. Prof. Lorents
2. Grossbob
3. That prof that taught Hinduism....

Name three life altering events from your past:
1. Driver's license
2. total and utter independence
3. tbd....

A song that makes you feel good every time you hear it:

"I Alone" Live/"Whish you were here" Incubus

A song that brings back painful memories every time you hear it:

"Innocent" Fuel

A TV show you absolutely loathe: Survivor and all it's spawn.

A TV show you love so much people question your sanity: Babylon 5!

The band/musical group/singer that you think you would be best friends with if you met them: Trent Reznor

The celebrity that you think you would be best friends with if you met him/her: Cmdr Taco... If you don't know who he is you wouldn't understand anyway

One person who had a great effect on you but is no longer in your life: Grandma Lewis

Would you rather re-live the first time you had your heart broken or the first time you failed at something very important to you?: Failed.... heartbreak passes failure stays with you

Would you rather re-live your most emotionally painful experience or your most physically painful experience?: Emotionally Painful, no sense in being crippled

If you had to pick one thing to be absolutely fabulous at, what would it be (ex- sports, music, comedy)?: Master of Languages

If you had three wishes and they had to be selfish, non-World Peace type wishes, what would you wish for?

1. Be able to live comfortably
2. Work where ever and whenever I wanted to
3. tbd...

Name five people you know and pick a quality you admire about each one of them:
1. Scott - Putting up with shit
2. Emily - Tenacity to go after what she wants
3. Brandi - Caring for everyone and everything
4. Bruce - He can build stuff
5. Curtis/Matt - Their excpetional skill at kicking my ass in certain activites

A - Arrests: I swear it wasn't me!
B - Best Quality: Logic and Reason
C - Choice Of Meat: Wild
D - Dream Date: A date. That would be nice....
E - Ex (most recent): ? do I even have any?
F - Favorite Food: Not Green and Not Moving
G - Greatest Accomplishment: To Date? Not killing someone
H - Happiest Day of Your Life: The days spent with others (most of the time)
I - Internal conflicts: Windows or Linux or Mac.... choices choices choices
J - Jam or Jelly: jam. Jam
K - Kool-Aid: No Kool-Aid... COKE
L - Love: Ask me for your lucky answer!
M - Most Valued Thing I Own: My Life... with out it I have nothing
N - Name: Thomas M Kern Jr.
O - Outfit You Love: ? if it's clean I'm happy
P - Pizza Toppings: ham, pineapple, pepperoni
Q - Question you want to ask: Bush seriously what is your problem?
R - Radical thing you've done: Nothing yet...
S - Sport To Watch: Soccer
T - Television Show: Scrubs/Firefly
U - Unique habit: "the look" ask Emily she knows what I'm talking about.
V - Very favorite Verb: GO!
W - Winter: whats that?
Y - Yesterday's best meal: Lunch... Fetticuni Alfredo with Shrimp
Z - Zoo animal: Tigers, Lions, Bears, Walrus!

TEN Movies I Can't Live Without:
1. Fight club
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Resivor Dogs
4. Traffic
5. Starship Troppers
6. Toy Story
7. Shake Rattle and Hum
8. Star Wars IV
9. Star Wars V
10. Star Wars VI

NINE Albums That Are Important to You:
1. Live - Throwing Copper
2. Pearl Jam - VS
3. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Little Hate Machine / Downward Spiral
4. Moby - Play
5. Garbage (self titled)
6. Incubus - Make yourself
7. Tool Anemia/Laterelaus
8. Tony Bennet (Anything)
9. Led Zepplin (Again Anything)

EIGHT "Bands/Artists" I Couldn't Live Without:
1. Moby
2. Incubus
3. Janes Addiction
4. Tool
5. Dixie Chics
6. Offspring
7. Led Zepplin
8. Sound Garden

SEVEN Things that Annoy Me:
1. People who don't spell things out (using ppl instead of People)
2. Stupid People
3. Idiots
4. Not knowing what to make for dinner
5. Ugly People (not physically buter personality wise)
6. Bad Drivers
7. People

SIX of My Favorite Songs at This Moment:
1. Whish you were here - Incubus
2. Long Time Gone - Dixie Chics
3. Like suicide - Sound Garden
4. Defy You - Offspring
5. Boom - P.O.D.
6. Bleed and Die - Puddle of Mudd

FIVE TV Shows I Watch Regularly:
1. Scrubs!
2. CSI
3. Law and Order
4. Simpsons
5. The News

FOUR of My All-Time-Favorite Books:
1. Be Cool - Elmore Leonard
2. A dummies guide to Linux
3. Dead Lawyers and other Pleasent Thoughts
4. Rainbow Six

THREE Albums I've Bought Recently:
1. Crystal Method - Tweekend
2. Tool Lateraulus
3. Incubus Morning View (yes I know these all came out last year but these are the last 3 that I have bought)

TWO People That Have Influenced My Life the Most:
1. myself
2. Emily

ONE Thing I Could Spend the Rest of my Life With:
1. My Sanity

Man some of you people are just whiney little bitches.... first you bitch that I don't update enough... then you bitch that I update to much... and when I go on vacation and come back and do a update you call it half assed and would boycott me if you weren't so bored.

I just want to point out that I'm the one writing this your the one reading this and you are the one CHOOSING to read this!

Ok with that out of the way... and man do I ever feel better. I'm doing well thank you for asking. First up tonight as you may or may not be noticing my website has been up and down for the last day or so because of Curtis and the shots of his case. Curtis took the liberty of posting the shots on a case modding forum and well I've been pushing a lot of traffic as of late. Lets put it this way I'm actually starting to think about the possibility of paying for a better website so I can get over what appears to be a very small bandwidth cap.

Thank you Curtis because of you I'm out of bandwidth and truly nobody will be reading this update for at least a not for a couple more days.

Who says there's not enough sex and violence in video games? I know I do! Go check out this site... you will be thanking me or cursing me when you are done. http://www.bmxxxx.com/ coming soon to a game console very near you.

I don't know quite how else to put this... so I'm just going to say... I'm going to be doing something very bad next week. It's worse then stealing candy from a baby, but not as bad as 2 Billion (that's Billion with a "B") worth of accounting fraud. I'm going to a career day at KHS South to talk about career opportunities in Kingman. I'm doing this in conjunction with my boss who used to be a chemistry teacher at KHS. I got tapped to go with him because I'm the most recent person out of high school... folks... I was a freshmen in HS in 1993... almost 10 years ago. I don't know if I can look these kids straight in the face and tell them that there are career opportunities in Kingman... actually I can't... I'm going to have to tell them to go to college or the military and then do your own thing... don't come back to Kingman or just graduate from HS and expect to get a good paying job.

I hate to tell these kids but the real world really and truly does suck. Of course I'm not telling you anything that you may or may not already know.

Hello and welcome back, I know I haven't updated in almost two weeks... I have a really good excuse honest... I've been off Elk Hunting for the last week and a half. That and I've been playing alot of UT2003..damn that game rocks. I'm back so lets stick this pig and roast it.

First off I want to thank all of you for the outpouring of emails I got wondering where I was. I don't know if the mail servers at my ISP could handle the WHOLE 1 MESSAGE I got wondering where the hell I was. So for your enjoyment here is that letter.

Thank you Curtis for giving a crap... The rest of you... I'm very disappointed in you... of course... A.j. showed up for dinner, Scott knew ahead of time... so did Emily... and so did Brandi and Clint... well I guess in retrospect...

Anyway.... when I hunt it generally involves setting up something similar to a Sniper position (in this case it's a blind on a hill) over looking a water source... And while I was sitting there for hours on end. I had a lot of time to think about a lot of things. In the end the vast majority of my thoughts ended up canceling each other out so really the pot never boiled over.

In other news. My boss got a hold of me this morning. You know just asking the normal questions... how was my time off? Did I have fun? Did I get an Elk? (Good, Yes, No). He then informs me that the dept has voted that I'm no longer allowed to take any time off ever again. It's nice to know I'm appreciated.

I've been missing cable something bad. I think I'm going to go watch some tv and let my brain rot.

Moving on... you know what.... I just don't feel like doing a update this week...

You know what sucks about living alone? NO? Hold on let me tell you... When you lose the remote to the TV you have no one to blame it on, then there is no one to help you find it, and finally if you do find it you have no one around to show off your victory dance to since you are so happy you found the remote. Yeah so if anybody sees a 3 in one remote set for a Magnavox TV, Phillips-Magnavox VCR, and Phillips DVD player. It's mine! Stop the remote at once and call me. If you don't have my number lord knows I've posted my email enough times on this site that you can get ahold of me that way.

Moving on a person who shall remain name less... and no it's not Dorko the Great. Sent me this link. http://www.minca.cz/suzuki/ Go take a look at it think up a story... bonus points if you tell me which of the following demented souls sent his to me. (A.j. (homo alone), Scott (Dorko the Great), Emily (NAU Chic), Curtis (Black Hat Hacker), Brandi (Hippie Chic), Clint (Don't have cool nick name yet but I'm working on it))

Big props to Curtis for noticing that I'm a creature of habit and for not having a life so I don't feel so bad.

"Do you understand what the chain of command is, it's the chain I beat you with to make you understand I'm in command" Line from the new show "Firefly". So far it seems alright.... instead of humans going out in to the universe and meeting other alien races... we are the alien races... It's interesting and different... parts of it smell of Buffy but that is to be expected (initially at least). Hey it's better then Dark Angel

Wow my keyboard is really starting to be wore out... I actually have to press the space bar pretty heavily to get it to work. Who would have though?

I was reading the Preface to the Holy Bible today... it's a interesting read if you ever get the chance... I discovered a few things.

1. When the Bible was originally translated into English (in the 1500's the fellow who did was publicly executed as a heretic)

2. The King James Version, did not come into existence until the mid 1600's and then was the only used for the next 200 years pretty much.

3. The first revision of the bible occurred in the 1880's and was revised again in 1901 or reflect ancient documents that had been found since the original translation.

6. In North America the copyright for the bible is controlled by a group of religious academics. (Note in some other countries the holy book is controlled by the government or fanatics...)

The other neat thing (which you may or may not know), the Bible comes in various flavors. King James, American Standard Revised, NSV, Original Greek. So just a bit of what makes life here so great, not only do you get to choose which religion you whish to defile/follow you also get to choose which version of the holy text with which to launch from.

I'm humbled... that is the only way to describe it. I've been subjugated by the forces of Reality TV.... My shows are now pre-empted for Big Brother.... I'm humbled... I do not control TV. I'm lead to believe that I as a individual do control TV but in reality I have very little control. It's really all very depressing... that and I failed a test today. That however is something in my realm of control and I need not comment any further on.

Once upon a time in a community college not far from where I live now. A.j. LeGault was pumping me for information. I don't remember what information it was but it had to do with some mutual friends who were dating. A.j. said something to the effect ***Come on Tom I know everyone tells you everything***. Yeah that is about right. Anyway for some reason that comment popped into my head today while I was driving. I got to thinking about, you know what A.j. was right (I really hate it when he is right... it means another angel loses it's wings). What do I do to instill this level of trust in other people? I don't think I do anything really but I know some of the most personal intimate details of the lives of most of my friends. The damdest thing is they just tell me I don't have to ask. I guess it's a gift... but damn one wrong move and I could kill just a few friendships that I tried very hard to maintain.

Have you ever wondered what happens when geeks cook? No? I have... and I often hear that the end result is not pretty. CPU's get burnt out... there is crusty stuff on motherboards..... in some of the more horrific examples whole houses have just exploded. But I digress... this week my favorite website slashdot.org interviewed Alton Brown of the Food Network Show "Good Eats" Truth be told I do enjoy the show and watch it whenever I see it on tv. Read on to find out why geeks and lava don't mix

So what is it with everyone and their weblogs? I guess it's the "in" thing to do right now.... have your own little running remarks of what's going on in your life. This is a kind of weblog and I've never made any bones about it. Hmmm..... very interesting. Anyway Brandi is getting married in the near future and she has started a weblog so why don't you scoot on over there and take a look at it.

Is it bad to tell a woman that you can't even score with them in your dreams? Just a wacky thought to go with another random act of Tom.

In the true spirit of America... Brandi had the following comments about my brother's comments

hi tom... just read your update....

isn't scott in the belly of the beast, then... considering he is a communications major?

what's really rough is when you graduate as a communications major, with your pretty piece of paper in your hand... and after all that money and time spent... you realize you just can't be a part of media bullshit...

...or can you, to put food on your table? something i question every day.

all of his points are valid, and they struck a chord with me, knowing where he's coming from as a comm major. i just try to remember that everyone deals with trauma in their own unique way. hopefully the media is helping someone out there come to grips with what happened. it's a tragedy to think that they're out there just trying to make another dollar. which they probably are. but here i am, the eternal optimist, hoping there's a handful of people out there that *need* what the media has to offer regarding the attacks on september 11.

just something i thought i'd get off my chest.

take care,
brandi

In the true spirit of the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the WTC and Pentagon. My ever angsty brother had the following comments.

All day i have been in my apartment trying to escape this day. For the past year now i have not been able to escape the images of September 11 2001. Why is this? I'll tell you why. I haven't been given the opportunity to forget what happened. Everyday the news has some sort of "image" or "Feel good Story" about this event that doesn't allow this memory to become just that. All week everyone has been saying we should all mourn sept 11 and remember all those who died. Well no shit. I am saying though, it is hard to reflect on the past when it is thrown back in your face every single day for a year. Can you honestly remember when the last day was that nobody brought up that event?
All day the news, radio stations, and newspapers have been reliving past events in order to "Inspire us," to help us heal? The fact of the matter is, is that the media wont let this be turned into a memory because they stand to lose money if they do. I can only imagine the amount of sponsors willing to help air old news cast commercial free so that someone may catch a glimpse of the add for cheese in the right hand bottom corner.
Tonight walking on campus, all of the sorority boys and girls are walking around with those in memory of NYFD shirts. I saw one being interviewed by the paper, and she said "Um, It's like really important and stuff, to remember what happened...um...because we were like really hurt by these events, and Like i wanted to cry for 2 weeks, because this made me so like sad, ya know?"
Right now I hate people. I am tired of everyone trying to relive last year so they can "feel" pain for the victims again. Why are we trying to relive this? Because it makes us stronger? or because certain individuals don't want us to forget so that they can cash in on it more.
I feel bad for the victims and their families. I would be questioning myself if I didn't. But the fact is I can't think and reflect about last year because the media hasn't given me the chance. Why reflect on something when it is always in your face? Ok I feel better. Thanks.

Stick that on your website and smoke it.

Scott

Ok with that out of the way... how is everyone? Seriously I don't know what is going on with anyone. Scott's in School, Brandi's getting married, Curtis is somewhere in Southern Ca, Gunner has a ghetto CD-Burner, and I think A.j. is getting laid on a regular basis? Seriously I really don't have a clue what is going on in anyone's life. On the flip side though my life has been pretty drama free for the last couple of months... hmmm maybe I would be ruining a good thing here.

I decided to go retro this weekend. I vegged out and played video games all day Sunday. I'm happy to say that I actually accomplished something too. I beat Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube. Which I think is rather cool because 1.) this is really a tough game and 2.) I still haven't beaten the original Super Mario Brothers (and when I say beat I mean by not using Warp Zones). The princess is long gray and dead for me.... Anyway Eternal Darkness is really a great game. If you have a Gamecube you need to pick up this game. Don't rent it actually buy it! If you don't have a Gamecube, then you need to pick one up and get this game. You will thank me.

Yeah yeah I know... Gamecube is for kids... trust me folks... you will be thanking me.

So I was watching TV tonight... as I often do for a few minutes each night. Often I watch the news or something educational... this being Friday I decided I wanted to let my mind veg... let me tell you there is some really awful crap out there. I did however achieve something of a milestone at least in my mind I did... I'm watching TV and I flip to VH1 and the show is on... I look at it for a split second and realize it's Saved by the Bell... cool I haven't seen this show in next to forever... then it has Star Wars/Star Trek characters in it... well to make a long story short the writers of this show somehow were able to meld all three ideas into one show... to bad you have to be on some serious drug(s) in order to make heads or tails of it all.

Moving on... I was up on our Acute Rehab unit this week at work. Acute Rehab is where people go to learn how to live again after they have had some sort of life altering illness (stroke, amputation, loss of sight). As I was walking out I got to think that if I were to lose some of my abilities to function which abilities would I miss the least. In short order I decided that the only two things I truly need are my sight to see everything that is my world and my hands so that I can type and have someway to express myself. As I'm sitting here typing this out using my hands (and here you've always thought that I've used my feet for years and years). That whenever I talk I always use my hands... I don't know it's one of those random questions that just kind of stuck in my head until I wrote it down.

I've always maintained a front of a cold and distant person, and I like this general perception of me. It keeps away the weak and timid, which cuts way down on the amount of time I've got to spend on weeding out folks in my life. I was talking to one of these strong and brave people this week. Normally this person is in a pretty decent mood and is generally pretty talkative. On this particular occasion they were for lack of a better term "out of it". I in my normal point blank fashion asked them if there was anything on their mind. They let go for a little while and after they were done this person was back to normal the difference was like night and day. Why am I telling you this? Well first off it's my webpage and I will write whatever I damn well will want to write about and second it made me feel good. And as well all now it's a hell of a lot easier to make someone feel crappy then it does to make them good. In this particular case both I and the other person felt good (I really can't speak for the other person but I'm pretty sure they felt good after it was all done and said).

Some people find inspiration in God... I find inspiration in God and other people

Don't ask me where the warm touchy feely mood came from tonight... I watched "Starship Troopers" damn that is such a good movie.... the first movie where I watched it and went... "hey those are real bugs, wait no they aren't, holy crap thats good CG work"

So I'm back from Colorado... overall the trip was not nearly as bad as I was anticipating, however it did not meet my expectation of a "good time". Since you here why don't you sit back, relax, grab a Coke (no Pepsi), and listen to my little tale.

Thursday morning after several false starts I make my way out of Hell towards Hell Central (Las Vegas) to fly out to CO. I get to the airport and with this being my first time traveling I get a bit lost. I quickly find my way though and soon enough I'm checked in get my boarding pass. I get to the gate and wait for the plane to arrive sine I'm 1.5 hours early I pull out my book and start reading. Soon enough the plane arrives and they start boarding... with security they are also doing some checks of shoes and bags... GUESS WHO LOOKS LIKE A TERRORIST!!! yeah I made the shoe inspector pay. Anyway we get on the plane. This being my first time flying I really had no idea how fast a plane moves to take off... FROM A STANDING STOP! it surprised me. The plane creaking the whole time also did not instill much confidence in my choice of airline. Somewhere over Lake Powell we hit a storm system... and the ride gets real bumpy real quick. It's like that the whole way into Denver (at this point we are still 40 minutes out). Finally we land in Denver... as I'm walking through the concourse to find Scott and Alison I catch the local news... Eastern Colorado is under a Tornado Watch! holy shit... And that is when I notice that all the bathrooms are Tornado Shelters. Oh yeah this is good... I'm from Arizona the only natural disasters we get here is blinding heat weeks at a time. Eventually I find my way to the terminal where Scott and Alison are supposed to be arriving. They show up and we head to baggage claim/terminal. Since I only have one bag (that is a carry on) they go get their bags while I go rent a car... Now this part I have a beef with. I made reservations with 5 different companies (hey I'm anal what did you expect?). On all 5 of the companies they said the minimum age to rent was 21... when I got to the counter at 4 of the 5 companies told me to take a hike since I am under 25. The last one (thank god) rented to me. Finally we are on our way to Boulder.... Now realize that it's 25 miles between Denver and Boulder.. it takes us about 2.5 hours to get from the Airport (30 miles from Boulder) to our hotel. We get there and check in. Find the parents and promptly get lost looking for Pearl Street... I blame my parents. Anyway for the uniformed (and those of you not on this trip) Pearl Street is a road that has been blocked off in Downtown Boulder and made into a Mall. They pulled it off rather nicely.

Friday morning we get up... get breakfast and meet Dean + Grandparents in the hotel bar for a few minutes. Pleasantries are exchanged and we are told what is going on. We then leave for Golden, Co. Yes the home and birth place of COORS Beer!! If you ever get the chance to goto the Coors factory GO! it's great fun. They give you beer during the tour and after and best of all IT'S ALL FREE!! (3 Drink max). We hang out there and check out the gift shop.. about the only thing they didn't have was Coors branded condoms I'm sure if I asked they would have told me that they were in the back in the "special" section. After Coors we return to Boulder for the Wedding rehearsal... I want you all to realize something. Scott and I were ushers at this thing. "how hard is it to usher you ask?" Well let me put it to you this way... I have my degree and apparently I'm to stupid to usher since all ushers had 20 minutes with the "Wedding Planner" just to themselves. Let me tell you something This person makes Hitler and Bin Laden look almost nice. I did not like her. So after "Usher Boot Camp" we are excused. Until the party that evening. ((( fill in dead time here ))) Party time rolls around. Lets stop for a second let me describe the scene to you... The party is set in a country home just outside of Boulder. It's an acre with grass and trees. There are farm animals in the neighbors yards and a Tent in front of the house for the band. It's a swing band (not my favorite but I dislike other forms of music more). Everyone is dressed "casually" which means button down shirt and slacks. It's a very nice party. There I am in the middle of this wearing a shirt that says "CIA" and I'm not making this up... Tending Bar. Don't ask me how but it happened and had there been a tip jar I probably would have gotten a penny. you know what I'm going to let you fill in the details yourself.... but lets just say that that bar tender is more fun once they have a beer or two in them.

Saturday morning.... 09:30 we arrive at the church... for once in my life I'm wearing a suit and tie.... probably the last time for a very long time. The wedding starts at 10:30 the family is in a salon of sorts visiting... while Monica gets ready (btw Monica is our lucky contest winner in the "Who Wants to Marry Dean" contest we held a few years back) I'm the look out to make sure that Dean doesn't see Monica before the wedding... it's a odd custom.. I don't quite get it... but I was not getting paid for this weekend so I'm not going to try and think... when I get married then I will start making waves. The ceremony itself is nice.... there were two ministers... still haven't quite figured that one out... after the ceremony there are the obligatory pictures... we all smile... Dean and Monica then take off after a short reception. Total time of Wedding + Reception 1.5 hours. Btw they left directly for their honeymoon where they will spend a week in wonderful Paris. And probably see the better part of France while they are at it. After the wedding we all split back for the the motel and change. We then go see the sights the Front Range Colorado Rockies have to offer. Estes Park home to the Stanley hotel. Which is where Steven King stayed while writing "The Shining" or if you are a Simpson's fan "The Shinning". We hang out up there for a couple of hours and find our way to a couple of malls. One of which has to be the single largest mall that I have ever seen. "Flat Iron Crossing" in Broomfield Co, It will make you sick how big it is.

Sunday morning arrives... this is getting old.. I want my bed back and not this piece of crap the hotel is providing for me. After showering and getting my stuff pulled together Scott, Alison, and myself all head down to have breakfast with the parents. We do and then we take off for Denver and the Airport... now mind you I did all sorts of map quest maps for the trip in and I didn't do any for the trip out figuring that Scott would be in the co-pilot seat and would be able to help out.... instead I get Alison... anywhoo we get to the airport I turn in the car and look at my watch... it's 10... my plane doesn't leave till 3:00. Great... so I get to the ticket counter and while I'm checking in the nice lady at the ticket counter asks me if I would like to be put on "Standby" for a earlier flight... Hell Yes... so I make my way through security... much easier then it was in Las Vegas... and make my way for the gate. I'm there no more then 10 minutes and I hear my name called... I go and check and I've been bumped up to the earlier flight... sweet... A few minutes pass and we start loading up.... apparently I only look like a terrorist to the folks in Vegas. Once on the plane I have a nice window seat and a women sits down in the aisle seat. I nod to her and that is all I really do... a minute later I hear this scream "ANGELA WE ARE BACK HERE!!" I don't turn to look but I see that "Angela" is now standing to get into the row and the only open seat is the one in the middle.. the whole time I'm thinking to myself... She coudn't have gotten on board with only one ticket. So the woman who sat down originally moves over to the middle seat and Angela takes the Aisle... it's a wonder anyone makes it past here. The woman and I chat a little... she is going to a confernce in Vegas and is meeting her Dad and boyfriend. Some time passes we leave the ground... while in the air "Angela" leaves to presumably answer natures call... I've seen Airline Bathrooms I'm still wondering how the hell she got in there. Meanwhile the woman next to me starts talking again...

Woman... I can never remember if we gain or lose a hour.. I fly so much from D.C.

She goes on to explain how she is sitting for licensing next month and will probably be come a shrink for the navy. I try and give her the best tour of the southwest that I can from 30,000 feet. More minutes pass this time the flight isn't nearly as bad... We land in Vegas and I get lost looking for my car... I find it after 2 trips around the airport.... 3 hours later I'm home...

Well that was my vacation... I hope you all enjoy it just as much I enjoyed writing it...

Just a few quick things before I goto ground for the next few days in Hel... err Colorado....

OK kids I'm back and let me tell you something after the last week I actually have stuff to write about. I don't remember half of it so your just going to have bear with me.

Time for brain droppings... and I don't think I will ever know why it is that I continue to subject myself to this sort of crap. So I was surfing the net looking at various radio station websites and I came upon this one in Vancouver. Ok I'll bite they are Canadian they can't be that bad.... well I found the following link in the website. Just follow it and you will understand why I hate pop culture... unlike my brother who will probably eat this crap up because it has been Maxim/MTV approved.

Moving on to less subjective material... I was cleaning my house this weekend and I noticed that there was a unusual amount of hair in my bathroom sink when I was cleaning it... Since I'm the only person who lives in my house and I'm fairly certain that I'm the only person using my bathroom. I have come to the following conclusions.... 1. There is someone with Blonde hair using my bathroom and they are going bald... or 2. I'm losing massive amounts of hair. Either way I don't like the consequences... more on this as my hair may or may not fall out.

Right now I'm listening to the radio station I mentioned two paragraphs up... I got to say this is pretty pathetic for alternative music.... Or maybe my view of "alternative" has become so skewed What I think of as "alternative" is really something else... but really isn't the meaning of alternative "not main stream".... well I guess if that is the case this may or may not qualify I will have to continue to listen.

I'm done with the Canadian radio station for now, I will come back to it later... maybe

I lied when I said that stuff happened.... I actually kept a kind of running list of things that I wanted to write about and almost all of them have to do with cleaning in one form or another... damn I need a life.... no wait I actually have one of those, holy hell I have a life.

Anyway the Joy of Cleaning.... I don't understand how people can actually enjoy cleaning... I like a clean place just as much as the next guy but I get such a bad case of A.D.D. that it takes me the better part of a afternoon to actually clean my house. Anyway the nice thing is that I only really have to clean once or twice a month since I'm the only one who lives here and really I keep most of my mess contained to my "office" and living room.

My garbage can reeks... I've never noticed it before... and I actually started thinking about the reasons why it may or may not reek... I will let your imaginations run away with that.

OK you know I tried using structure for this whole entry and it's just not happening... I'm not feeling "it"... hmmm at least I actually have something to write about... Anywhoo welcome back to Emily who spent her summer in Colorado playing role model to a bunch of campers.

So I'm taking a honest to god trip this week... I'm going to Denver for a wedding... to put it bluntly I'm less then thrilled to be going. Emily says that I'm going to have a good time, I say otherwise. To prove it Emily says that if I don't have a good time she will take me out to Dinner... I can already tell you I'm not going to have a good time.

With this wedding coming up I started to think to myself... "Self, why do people have large grandiose weddings?" Having never really been involved I asked the very Engaged Clint Colbert for his sage thoughts on large (200+ guests) weddings.

Food for thought... food for thought.... In next weeks episode of "As Tom slowly goes bald" The Denver Wedding and Tom's really strange family... and no Scott won't be the only member of the circus I'm talking about.

Another weekend... another update... too bad it's Monday seeing as how I was to lazy to do a update yesterday. So lets get this cow tipped, shall we?

First item, I wish to thank Matt and Robert for being the gracious hosts of a Lan Party over the weekend I only had to travel 300 miles to get there. Believe me though it was worth it. My only complaint it that we need more games.

Secondly I finally got my DSL modem today... notice I only say modem nothing about DSL itself. That comes tomorrow (hopefully). Which means that after more then a year I will be back in the high speed internet fast lane. I guess the next thing I will do is work on getting either my website hosted locally by me or doing something a little bit more audacious... Hark I hear yonder call of a Quake server.

There has been this tapping at my window all night... it's not like a TAP TAP TAPING AT THE DOOR in the Edgar Allen Poe sense of the word... more along the lines the kind of tapping you hear when the window expands/contracts in the heat. Yeah that is the kind of tapping I'm talking about.

Clint tells me he is trying to get a job at Ultimate Electronics, Clint I won't think any less of you if you do get a job at Ultimate Electronics.... Fry's Electronics... then we need to have a talk.

Let me say something right here and right now. SUB NETTING SUCKS ASS!! If you don't know what sub netting is don't worry about it. If you do.. then you understand my pain.

OK moving on pop culture has been pissing me off a little more the usual this week... so here is my litany of things that are pissing me off right now.

Virgin media group... ok somewhere out there I know some of you have cable and you have seen these commercials where the not bad looking girl has a choice between trailers and she chooses one first called "common mobile" where she gets a sandwich and is charged a lot of money for something that is skunky... she gets out of that trailer and goes to one called "virgin mobile" where the tag line appears "Pay by the bite, hugs for everyone"....I'm confused... what is it advertising and why does it not just come out and say it instead of making countless people go "what the hell"

The same thing has been on the TV for the last 2 days now.. and when you have 65 channels this is not a good thing.... it's so bad it's forcing me to actually study and stuff which is really bad since I'm not in school anymore.

Frontier communications....I was supposed to have DSL access two months ago... I'm getting it next week... nuff said.

Ok moving on... I am happy to see that the North American Wireless industry is dragging it self to 3G service levels. I'm especially pleased that this little backwater that I live in now has a 3G network. I haven't actually tried it but it is supposed to be really good. Of course how good can something be when it has a 2mb a month download cap... then again we are talking about cell phones here folks.

OK now that I seem to have calmed down just a bit.... seeing as how I am getting DSL service this means that it will actually become feasible for me to host internet games on my network (read as have a dedicated server). Do I have any requests for games?

Finally tonight... seeing as how I have a pretty healthy dose of college students and recent college grads who come here I found this "guide to college" on the internet... remember it is for ASU so don't pay to much attention to it. Just go to NAU or better yet a real college U of A

07 Aug 02
DO YOU NEED ANY NAPKINS?

This may be the most important piece of news I’ve ever reported on Toolband (or any website for that matter). The other night after watching Sasha play with ‘Mother Tongue’ at ‘The Gig’ on Melrose, my hungry friend and I pulled up to the drive-through at the local Tommy Burger on Hollywood Blvd. (Pinks was crowded with tourists at 2:00 am and the "Shig-Shack" was closed). When the guy at the drive-up window handed me our bag of greasy food, he said "GOD BLESS YOU." ( I’ll swear to this on a stack of Crowley firsts). WWWWWhat... ever happened to "Do you need any straws or napkins?" And strangely enough, the guy’s name tag said "Jesus." So, now back at the dimly-lit loft, while nibbling on a chili-burger with a glass of red wine, the heathen, near-vegan is wondering if Jesus has finally returned, and is working at the Tommy Burger? Maybe no one believed him. Don’t laugh. Has anyone out there EVER had this happen to them? A guy named Jesus saying "God bless you" as he hands you a bag of chili-burgers and fries? That’s what I thought.

When does school start back up again? I have to say that my life is really boring right now since no one is in school having unnecessary drama and there fore I'm not being entertained. Really folks when I have to talk about the lack of drama you are bringing into my life I think that is a major point of contention and discussion. Yes... it is a major point of discussion about how boring my life is.

Anyway moving on... not much in the world of Tom this week. Scott goes back to the valley on Friday which means he will bitch about it until he comes home or moves somewhere else. Curtis gets out of the Marines on Friday for the better or worse of our country (I tend to think worse).

Damn really not much tonight... keep those interview questions coming I've gotten some good ones so far but I'm looking for a bunch more. And just in case you weren't paying attention the first time "A couple of questions any questions that you would like to see asked of me if I were famous"

I'm watching CSI tonight as many of you may or may not know CSI is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. Anyway there is a murder in High School and all the CSI people were talking about what they were in High School... you know a bunch of Crime Scene Investigators... what are they? They are all brains and not in the in crowd. But it got me thinking.... 1. What was I in High School, and 2. What happened to all they people that I was friends with. Well that is easy enough to Answer 1. I was below the radar in High school and really didn't care. and 2. I still talk to all of my friends from High School that I gave a crap about. I guess what truly scares me is when I talk with people I went to school with and the subject turns to "whatever happened to?" Inevitably the conversation always turns to who's gotten married and who has kids... and lately the additional topic of who's getting divorced has also been added to the list. I just want to point something out here. I'm 23 years old. I've never been married, don't have any kids, and haven't been divorced. Kids I'm what happens when you go against the main stream and actually think for your self.

Moving on... I hate television... will somebody please tell me why I'm paying for cable? (somebody leans in from the side and whispers something in my ear).... Oh yeah that's right... something about the gratuitous violence on cable and the occasional bit of unscrambled female nudity.

Finally I've decided on a few things for the website. From here on out any comments I get about my website will be posted right here in the journal... and will be answered by me (yes I know I'm being lazy but I'm wanting this to be a community experience). Second I'm probally going to be redoing the Bio so what I need from all of you is this... A couple of questions any questions that you would like to see asked of me if I were famous. Yes I know it requires you to click on the email and actually generate a thought or two but think about all the fun we can have with this.

Finally this evening my little brother Scott (who by the way is still pretty high up on the Jackass meter) wrote this little bit about the semi journal. In a email entitled "suggestions"

Most memorable superhero?.... what this question makes no sense... I've never been a super hero nor have I ever experinced a super hero since they are NOT REAL!!!!

Favorite "Mash" episode... The one where "Hawkeye" and "Honeycut" do that thing to "Charles" with the stuff.

Fav internet site?... my chair!! You don't really expect me to do the internet sitting on my butt do you?

Thank you Scott... for submitting those questions you get a fun filled day with the parents in Sunny Phoenix Arizona!!! Where they will help you move and wonder aloud to you about things that you really don't want them thinking about. !!

Checking on my stats tonight... 52.79% of you are using Windows NT 5.0 (A.K.A. Windows 2000) *sniff* I'm so proud of you all!! However only 1.57% of you are using a Mac... for some reason that is slightly disappointing.

OK I want the OFFERBYMAIL.COM people to either die or to stop sending me mail. It's bad enough that I get a enough junk mail to choke a Rhino but these people seem to think that I'm in dire need of a new home loan, legal advice, Russian mail order brides, and stuff to make my go all night with my lovemaking. So to the OFFERBYMAIL.COM people let me sum it up for you real quick... I don't need one, I don't have any problems there, where is the thrill of the hunt?, and I can't remember the last time I went I on a date that may or may not have required me to last all night.

I took my truck in to get serviced yesterday... you know the usual oil, spark plugs, check out this light on the dashboard... the mechanic finds a problem with my water pump. they tell me it will be Monday before they can fix it... So in the mean time I'm in a rental car... It's a Camry.. don't get me wrong it's a nice car... very clean very quiet picks up very quickly... I just don't like it... driving this car around has made me remember why I'm a truck person.

I've been watching alot of TV lately (can we tell someone needs to get out just a bit more?). Anyway I've decided the following. ESPN and Cartoon Network have the best promo's of anyone on TV.... no contest. CNN has gone way down hill but they are still a better source of info then MSNBC or Fox News... I don't think A&E has changed it's line up at all in the last 10 years which is still excellent by the way. MTV is now VH1 and VH1 is now MTV. GAC has sucked and will always suck. The History channel and FX are my all around favorites. And don't forget TNN the only channel that shows Star Trek and the WWE right next to each other... explain that one to me...

A while ago I tried to come up with a better "getting to know you" survey question thingie.... and well outside of the questions that I came up with I can't think of any more and I've been trying for months now. Any ideas and or suggestions?

Hey look at this I got some more responses.. it seems that a couple of you are catching on here....

Yes Curtis it does, unfortunately for you I don't know if that means you finished the book or the video game.

no i haven't read any good books lately but that is funny you should bring up computer program books, because that is so Shannon. i went to use their bathroom and there's a Linux book next to the toilet where a scandalous magazine should be. what is this world coming to? :)

if you're looking for a good book and you haven't read it already, read "My Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. it's a really good book that i read a couple years ago. i just bought a new copy of it and Clint read it, he liked it a lot. it's not a difficult read and it gives a unique perspective on our culture and society. and it's not boring.

Do you know what is really scary... I have BIIIIGGGG Linux books and I often read them when I'm otherwise "indisposed" I'll tell you what if reading those books doesn't want to make you move quicker I don't know what will.

Another week, another update yeah this is quite the life... I put up bits of my life on the internet and you people provide me with no additional drama from which to write about. I think we really need to talk about our relationship here. Then again I'm not in the mood for one of those "talks" maybe I will just do it later... yeah I will talk later....

Anywhoo this weekend I went to the Grand Canyon to return the favor to A.j. of staying at his place since he stayed at my place for a couple of weeks. It was a good trip and a good time was had by all. The highlight of the trip was A.j. at a Bar-B-Que trying to get me a woman... I don't know if it was a one night thing or something else... but it was kind of funny watching him list off my credentials.... He even got a couple of names... So big ups to A.j. who is out there trying to get me laid.

Next item of business... Washing machines... I need a new one... not a washer and dryer just the washer. My current one leaks to all hell and I'm getting rather tired of it all. So if any of you out there know where I can get a new washer (new to me used is ok). That is my assignment for all of you this week. The winner of this contest will get a 12 pack of coke and a free load of laundry.

Does anyone read for fun anymore? I'm not talking fun like "I think computers are fun so I'm going to learn everything there is to know about Windows/Linux/Unix/Mac OS" fun I'm talking fiction. The last book I read was Tom Clancy's "The Bear and the Dragon" over a year ago. Since then I've read 5 books but all of them come under the category of computer books for my own sick pleasure. So read any good books lately?

"for those of us who don't have the speedy cable modem or the like, ICQ is a big fat waste of time, because it takes hours upon hours to download. who needs it when we have messenger, that takes up practically no room, easy to download at work when no one is looking, and faster sending of messages? ICQ was cool in a "put it in a museum now" kind of way. :) "

Thank you Brandi... and for the record... I've been on a dial up for the last year now... a painfully slow dialup... I am however getting DSL in the near future.

Curtis... you are totally correct we should all take a deep sigh of relief knowing that you will be no where near weapons that can cause serious bodily harm and/or sterility. And is that a bit of angst I'm detecting in you?

Finally tonight since this is the second one in two days... I was watching "Robocop" this weekend... we all know this movie... well if you watch very closely when Robocop is in the lab you can see on one of the initiation screens that he is using a file called "command.com".... right now Curtis and Matt are both in shock... yes folks that's right... Robocop doesn't use some fancy operating system he uses DOS... or maybe Windows95/98 hey now there is a thought for you.

Dammit... I hate it when I have nothing to write about and all I've been thinking about all day is what to write about and I came up with all of these great ideas... dammit dammit dammit... I really hate it when that happens.

I achieved a certain level of bachelordom this weekend. I opened my fridge to get a snack and all I found was condiments. No real food, I've often heard of this happening but have never seen it in real life until now. It's a odd feeling I'm sure I will get used to it though.

Def Tones? Whatever happened to them? They put out "White Pony" in 2000 and now we haven't heard a peep out of them in 2 years... anybody have any ideas?

I've been on the internet pretty much constantly since 1996. And pretty much from the start I've used some sort of IM technology it started with ICQ and has moved to messenger. I guess my real question is when did we all move from ICQ to Messenger? I mean in 97/98/99 I talked to alot of people on a pretty regular basis on ICQ. When MSN first came out I barely used it.... then at some point along the line more and more of my friends started to use mesenger and pretty soon I was using messenger more then ICQ. What is so great about the MSN that we all use it? Why didn't we just stick with ICQ. Sure it was a little clunky but really weren't they all in the start of it all? I don't just some food for thought.

Hey so how's that for making something catchy out of the date? I did that all myself with no help. Yep that is about all my NAU education did for me.

The last week has been fun, I had a 4th of July party... I didn't find out I was having it until a hour before the happenings... it basically consisted of my babysitting my drunk brother. Though I did end up grilling burgers and this German stuff... anyway I was told I grill very well and everyone was impressed. Not bad for a guy who normally subsists on spaghetti, coffee, and peanut butter sandwiches

A.j. is still here... he told me he would be around for a weekend.. we are now going in our second week. He's a good "roommate" It's nice to have someone around every now and again. I'm trying not to complain but Dammit he backed up my sewer line. OK honestly it was probably already there he just helped it along really really really well. Ah yes the joys of homeownership. Why oh why did I ever move out of home.. oh yeah... money and chics.... chics like it when I spend money... I guess I should spend it on them... hmmm food for thought.

I would like to talk about random acts of stupidity that I've seen/observed. However there just don't seem to be that many Darwin award candidates lying around at the moment.

Oh big ups to Brandi, who is causing all sorts of drama for my life. I'm not apart of it, but I get to "watch" alot of it. Brandi thanks for keeping my life not boring. Clint, I expect better out of you.

The house has lost it's guest virginity!! This weekend I played host to Brandi, Clint, and A.j.. It was fun, I haven't gotten to spend much quality time with Brandi since we left school and A.j. is just a nice refreshing change of pace. Since I live alone I don't notice when I don't have those nice little things like Towels in the guest bathroom or extra soap. You know fun little things like that. Needless to say that I was quickly informed of what I was lacking and how to best go about rectifying the situation. Yeah I pull no punches with my friends and they pull no punches with me.

Speaking of things that I have/need I would also like to take this time to publicly thank the following people for the following items.

Brandi and Clint for the complete set of guest towels including full towels, hand towels, and wash clothes. Apperntly having hand towels helps you to get laid? I don't know they said they saw it in Maxim.

Finally this evening I would like to say congratulations to Brandi and Clint on their engagement.

So Arizona is down 2 towns and it's starting to look like we may lose a third. All I have to say is Shit... It almost makes me glad I'm not living in Flagstaff any more... there is something about running away from a fire that just does not sound fun.

Any whooo, Brandi just informed me that she bought Aaron and Andrea a electric butcher knife.... Now I know more then a few of you who come here know these two... and I'm pretty sure that you would all be with me in the assumption that they would probably use the knife on each other in a fight.

For the longest time I wanted nothing more then to live alone. All through school and when I got out I just wanted to live alone. Now that I do live alone I find it hard to come up with stuff to talk about. I blame it on a lack of interaction of with other people. Sadly I interact with people more now then I did before I moved in. So I will chalk it up to a under active imagination.

Minority Report is a really really really really good movie, all of you should go see it. I think that every one will enjoy it and if you don't, you will at least go "What the hell"

Since I'm with out cable I've been reduced to watching free tv... oh someone please shoot me now... I would kill for 10 minutes of the History Channel..... a episode of Dexter's lab... part of a rerun of Star Trek (any of them). So I've been watching alot of Movies lately. Now as I'm look through my DVD/Video collection I see that it kind of progresses from Cop/Spy movies to Action to Social issues to Movies that really have no context to comedies. Most of the movies I have fall into this pattern with the pattern being chronological and the movies more or less being put into these categories. Through out this collection are war movies... and all I have to say is lately it's been really hard for me to sit through these movies not because of the violence or blood and guts but the realization that these people that are getting killed are my age and could very possibly some of my friends in the Military.

Well here is something new and diffrent... Tom is doing a update on Saturday night... I think this goes to show a certain level of dedication on my part.. and a lack of anything better to do with my time. Of course I see 5 of you are online right now on messenger... so it's nice to see I'm not the only one.

So I'm finally in the house I would like to thank the following people for helping to make this possible

Bruce... for leaving his mag lights in the back of my truck... his large purple mag lights... all I have to say is Bruce is very secure in his man hood... not only does he have a the whole engineer thing going on for him but, any one who carries purple mag lights around in their car you don't want to mess with.

And finally we have Matt... who not only provided me with a picture to hang on my wall. So seeing as how Matt and Curtis were the only one's to enter my contest from a few weeks ago. Curtis wins the trip to Nowhere while Matt our Runner up gets a box of Nilla Wafers (your welcome Bruce) and another super secret prize to be reveled a later date.

Speaking of things I would like to hang on my wall... I know it's getting bad when on every website and magazine out there it seems like Justin Timberlake is giving advice on how to deal with a bad break up... I thought he and Brittany were still an item... apparently not which means it's time for me to "make the magic happen".... Oh and in a sure sign of the Apocalypse... another member of N*suck is going to the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION!!! WHY DEAR GOD WHY WHY WHY? He's 23 and blowing 20 mil on rocket ride... on a RUSSIAN ROCKET!! well in all honesty their manned launch record is better then ours... the just have more problems in space then we do.

Finally this evening... I have been with out cable for the first time in a very long time... and I have come to realize something... 85 channels of drivel is way more appealing then 5 channels of drivel... so yeah... in case you had any wonder at all... there you go... choice over non choice.

Well once again it's Sunday, and once again you are probably reading this on Monday. Man do I have you trained or what? Maybe I don't have you traind and I'm just in one heck of a rut... I will say your trained... and you can say I'm in a rut. First off happy 100th birthday to Great Grandma... who at 100 is more with it then some 35 year olds that I know.

Moving on, I'm in my house (almost) just move my bed and I'm in. All the particulars will follow in a email to be sent out in the next couple of days. And if you don't rate a email, plead you case. Each case will be judged on a case by case basis.

Well thats it Kids.... start to generate crap so I can have something to write about.

Well the Western Conference Finals are over, and the Lakers are going to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row. Glory hogs... for me the NBA season is over and I can finally get on with life. What getting on with life means is now I'm doing nothing but watching baseball until the NBA comes back on.

Moving on to somewhat more pressing issues at hand. With the recent purchase of a house I find that I'm at loss for ideas on how to make this house best reflect my personality. Short of painting the walls black and blacking out the windows. What I need is a outside perspective. What better way to get a outside perspective then from those of you bored enough to make it a regular habit to come here. so email any suggestions you may have to me... The winners will be announced here and depending on who the winner is will either get a free night in Abode de Tom or a all expense paid trip to nowhere... yes beautiful nowhere where nothing happens and nobody knows you.

Finally this evening... I have made some changes to a few pages on the site and I have added something that I have been kicking around for a while now. Geocities keeps tabs on what people type in to get my webpage.... I have taken this a step farther and have posted the top 3 draws for the last month. Since the Semi-Journal is the page with the most search hits off of Google I will probally display the results from it. Anyway people type in some really weird stuff to find this page.... sad thing is most of time they don't even know it's my just yanking their chain. Ain't life grand?

Have you ever wondered what happens when you take a person out of their natural environment and put them into what for them is a unnatural environment? No? hmmm I must be thinking to much again. It's a dangerous habit, I really shouldn't it that much.

I as a rule tend to not write about work since I'm not really sure if any people from my work have found this site (if you have hi guys). I don't know why I never write about it I spend most of my waking time there and really my life pretty much revolves around it. Work is good, I enjoy what I do. I think the only thing that I would really complain about it that I still haven't quite mastered the minutia of detail that my job some time entails. Let me explain, a sculptor does not start a sculpture by making all the hair and facial lines as they go along. No the sculptor roughs out a form of what he wants and then slowly over time works that figure into what they want.... well I have the rough cut part down no problem. I'm having problems with the details. I always have and probably always will. I know it's not an excuse but that is just the way I am. I look at the big picture and let the person who thinks they know what is going on do the detail work. I know it sounds coincided but it's worked for a really long time and I've not had a problem with it yet.

So thats about it for this evening.... oh and one other thing, my mother showed me a picture for my Pre School graduation picture (can you tell I come from a small town yet?) Anyway I'm fairly sure that I graduated with about three quarters of them from HS.... it's a little scary... even scarier is that I'm not the only one that has come back.

I just read something very interesting on one of my news sites (www.slashdot.org) apparently in August there is going to a virtual Star Trek convention. Having never been to one of these things myself in real life I didn't think much of it until I read further into the article... The way this is all being setup is so that a person attending can assume a avatar of their species of choice... So let me explain since I think Curtis and Matt are the only ones that understood what I just said. Basically when you go to this online convention, you will get to pick a image that looks like one of these species and as you walk around talking to people this character will be what the other people see... I'm sorry but I just find the whole concept of the online star trek convention scary.

In other geek news... At work today a fellow employee told me that she and her husband had just purchased a life size replica of Han Solo encased in Carbonite... I didn't know you could buy that type of thing... and I have to admit that is very cool. I guess my next question is what is the thing made out of.

Geek culture is a scary scary scary thing... you should not be a geek unless under the close supervision of a master geek.

So all of you out there who were saving your selves so you could be just like your favorite pop singer can go ahead and go get laid now. Honestly though are we really surprised? How many of us saw that performance on the VMA's a couple of years back where she stripped on stage? Now that was entertainment.

Ok moving on to more serious matters, the final X-Files was tonight. And that is going to be two hours of my life I'm never going to get back. Lets just put it this way..... go to a video store and rent the X-Files movie... that is pretty much everything you need to know right there... All the details after that are pretty frivolous.

So "Chong" has been back home for a couple of weeks now... talk about someone that take real work at keeping entertained. On the bright side at least it's not me that has to do the entertaining part.

The bald headed one; A.K.A. Moby. Yeah he's the man he put a new CD this week. It's good lots of people will be doing lots of things to this CD. I'm sure it will be showing up in any number of car commercial ad's before to long and I honestly hope he makes a boat load of money off the whole deal. He deserves it, in my mind Moby is one of the few truly talented artists of our time. zzzz

Can you tell my life has been really boring lately, I've spent the last two updates talking about pop culture things that I really don't have any control over. Hey it's fin it's my webpage I will write whatever I damn well please.

Soundgarden.... how many of you have actually listened to Soundgarden... you know the Seattle Band where all the members are now involved with other projects since they broke up. The music is kind of heavy, but not in it's lyrics... I actually find it kind of enlightening. And at this point everyone is thinking that I'm smoking crack. No seriously go listen to "Super Unknown" or "Down on the Upside" or "Bad Moto Finger" and you will hear what I'm talking about.

So I've figured out the perfect way to get a gift for someone. When you need to get them a gift wait until an item they use all the time either breaks or commits suicide (yes house hold appliances can commit suicide just like people). That way you can get them something you know they will like and will use. It's a win win situation.

Moby, he has a shaved head... looks kinda like Mr. Burns. He probably has his own cult that worships him

No doubt... ok you guys can drop the 80's ska thing... it was fun the first 10 times

Brittany Spears.... Career advice, posing in Playboy will do wonders for your career

Well I was just looking over my web site hit stats, as I often do just before I write one of these little "inane babblings" is what Scott called it. Anyway I think it's some sort of way to validate myself... I write these little blurbs.. people come by and take a look at them... I got to say it's a little scary when you look at it all. Way to many people are interested in my life and my goings on. It's weird actually, at least to me it is, I'm not a rock star, I don't do anything terribly interesting, and I don't preach my social/political views here.... Best I can figure there is only one thing keeping all of you coming here. First your really fucking bored (that would be the most obvious answer) or My life is way more interesting then yours....in which case I really feel sorry for you. I think my real question is of all the hits I get in a day how many are family and how many are friends?

Speaking of friends.... a long while ago (read as I was still living in the dorms in Flag) I posted a online ad.... No I'm not going to tell you where, it's not like you don't have enough to make fun of me with. So anyway out of the blue I got a response to it, well after some prodding by various that shall remain nameless **cough**cough**emily**cough**adam**cough**cough** I email her back for shits and giggles... holy crap I get a reply... and she includes a link to her "home page" Hot damn. I'm going to go check it out... it's the front page to a amateur porno site....so what have I learned from this... first off I'm not going to write her back... and secondly there has to be a easier way to meet girls.

OH and while I'm thinking about it... welcome back to Chong..... he's in Kingman for the summer... just remember I'm providing you with a internet connection because I'm nice not because I want to.

I knew a dial up connection was slow but I never realized until I tried to download a 43 meg file just how painfully slow it was... The 5th time this weekend and I still haven't gotten it. Talk about things that suck. Just for the record it is a game patch. Who knows maybe this will fix the physics engine problems that the game has been having.

I just noticed something, my keyboard is filthy! I'm talking like parts of it are actually black it's so bad...wow this is actually disgusting. I am now officially grossed out by my own computer... how sad is that.

In other news... not much of anything is going on... dork boy (a.k.a. Scott) returns to the wilds of Kingman this week to take up residence in his old room... This one I still haven't quite figured out but I'm not even going to begin trying for fear of having my head explode.

I'm so desperate for caffeine right now I'm actually drinking a Diet Coke.. I don't know which is worse my chemical dependences on caffeine or the fact I'm drinking diet coke.

Damit 2 weeks until the new Star Wars Movie opens and I have only seen I magazine cover... of course after the over hyping of the last one I have to say I'm glad to see this one is coming in much more calmly. Why isn't "The Force" real? Seriously you know go into McDonalds "I want a Big Mac, Coke, and Large Fries" as you wave your hand like a Jedi... Dammit dammit dammit. Yeah I could think of a few other ways to use the force... all of them for the purposes of good of course.

OK I will be the first to admit that I'm not the best person with people... I will also be the first to admit that you can't learn every thing you need to know in school. When I was in school I was promised that in my job I would not have to deal with people. I could play with the computers and get my stuff done.... THEY LIED!! I spend the better part of my day dealing with people and pretty succesfully I might add. I still have problems relating to people.. which brings me to my question, why didn't they have a workshop of some sort on how to resolve conflict? And no Scott this does not mean I do not know how to communicate. I learned how to do that in one hour of one class... you have to take an entire degree in the subject.

So in other news I just realized it's Finals time at the University... Sucks to be you.

Alright so here I am again and there you are once again.... So glad that you could make it. Last couple of days has been fun. I slid down to the valley for the weekend. I was to help my brother move... he had already pretty much moved so when I showed up it just a matter of saying "yep" Hung out down there and tried to figure out what to get mom for mothers day... let me tell you something it is very hard to get a gift for a woman who basically Martha Stewart on crack... it was odd.

Saturday night in the Valley what is a person to do? Good thing I have my brother the pop culture whore and Kristina to help me out... Which is probably not the best way to put it.... ok lets try this again, Scott, Kristina, and myself went to a comedy festival at ASU... it was 7 troupes as they all did their thing... some improv, some skits, some games.... Long and short of it is I don't think I have laughed that hard in a very very very long time... damn they were funny. It wasn't cerebral humor it was more along the lines of satire and the just plain obvious... I had a good time.

I think Brandi has gotten herself a new boyfriend... why don't you slide over to her site and read just to be totally sure...

After a fun filled weekend in the valley I left for home.... and me being the sadistic son of a bitch that I am... I went home through Flag... found one friend of like 5 up there... I couldn't tell you where the other ones were at. I find that I still miss Flag but, not as much as I used to and have actually grown to tolerate Kingman again. It's odd I guess it's all a state of mind.

Maxim Magazine, OK now here is a magazine that sells very well and kind of comes under the category of why didn't we think of this before. I'm sure most of you have read it with the following reactions...

Quick question... how many of you actually wait up on Sunday nights and maybe other nights of the week to see what I will post in ye' journal? Over the course of the time that I have done this I think that pretty much every one that I know has asked me when I'm going to be doing a journal entry... and the more militant one's in the bunch actually threaten me if I'm online and not doing a journal entry.

Now if we all remember a back a little ways, I recently joined a wellness center (it's not a health club it's a wellness center... I don't know what the difference is but they get mad at me when I say it is a health club). So I went there this morning..... who ever thought of the idea of a health club/wellness center should be drug out into the street and shot... honestly that place is a medieval torture chamber. Yeah it's nice place just rather hellish.

So when did the Simpson's start to become something of a ritual? Every Sunday night I watch the Simpson's and whether or not I've seen them before I almost always find it to be funny and enlightening. Read as it's good for a half hour to not have to think. Every one should watch the Simpson's maybe every one will learn a thing or two from them.

I had something a revelation this week while I was at the torture chamber, in my world people who can do advanced things with a computer get my respect. In the real world people who can do advanced things with a computer are reviled by society and forced to go live in caves off by themselves where they quietly hack away from the rest of society. So what does this conclusion draw? Well simply that hacking will never be a Olympic sport... which I find to be kind of depressing... Beauty and physical talent fade after a short time, intelligence and skill are only strengthened by the march of time. I think it is sad that society on a whole is so superficial as to reward those individuals who may or may not be dumb as rocks but can run faster, farther, and longer then anyone else around. I think we need to really be looking at something here.

While we are on the subject of hacking... one of my hobbies (outside of this website) is my Linux box which is currently just a overgrown toy that I use to more or less abuse as I see fit. This week I finally acheived my goal of 3 years. I have a Linux box that is usable as a home workstation. I can instant message, write email, surf the web, share files, print, edit pictures, burn music, listen to music, watch videos (pretty much all the formats), dial out to the internet, and connect up to my Windows machines. If you ask me when it comes right down to it I think that is pretty good alright.

In on of A.j.'s update letters he was telling the group about his father and the upcoming visit that A.j.'s father planned to make.... A.j.'s coworkers advised him to "drink heavily"...... I think I'm beginning to see the wisdom in that statement.

This weekend has been fun... family came up from the valley (Phoenix for those of you not local to Arizona). As a direct result of this my brother and myself had to watch our Great Grandmother. To recap, Great Grandma is going to be 100 in a few weeks... she lives alone still is sharp as a pistol. I can only hope I'm like that at 40... I know some 35 year olds that just kind of drool over themselves most of the time and occasionally their will be a soul that will provide a outlet for their frustrations while said 35 year old is on the clock at work.

Speaking of feedback... I get very little on this whole website of mine... I don't know about the rest of you but when I see a website that I like and it is a personal site. I tend to email the author and let them know that it's cool.... NO, I don't expect you to do that here. however the occasional bit of creative criticism would be nice... at least I would know that the page is being looked at. Is a ploy for validation? Yes, yes it is. Is this a ploy for email... yes yes it is.

WHOO HOO!!!! I JUST FINISHED PLAYING QUAKE AND I DID NOT COME IN DEAD LAST 3 TIMES IN A ROW!!!! Ok I was next to last but it is not dead last!!

I finally have gotten tired of having flabby man breasts and not having a lot of energy... So instead of taking my brothers approach to life and bum off anyone that I can I have instead joined a wellness center... not a gym a wellness center... don't ask me what the difference is because I couldn't begin to tell you. So we will see if I actually go or not.... I will initially I hope... I've always had this hang up about fitness... I'm all for it I just don't like how it's presented to me... "Be like us be one of the pretty people and you will live forever"... my thought has always been along the lines of "Eat right, exercise, diet, Die anyway"

Speaking of Scott conserving energy him coming home this summer (don't ask me why he just is I wouldn't trade what he has for the world) has caused me to seriously to start looking around for a place of my own... living with the parents is fine but after a while Scott starts talking and then people start getting weird ideas in their head from SCOTT about how I've cloned my parents and am generally up to no good of any kind. You know the usual type of crap. So yeah hopefully sometime in the not to distant future I will be living large (well as large as I can in Kingman Az) with a bachelor pad that is mine alone.

Is it normal to want to strangle the living daylights out of people or is it just me?

You know what Conan O'Brien is the man, Kilborn is a jack ass and doesn't deserve his own show... we should all watch more Conan O'Brien.

So last night I was watching South Park for the first time in like a year and Kenny was no where to be seen. Instead it was this other kid Butters... he sucks... Kenny is much better... basically because Kenny always dies in some violent and unique way in every episode... Butters is a weak replacement for Kenny... Think of it like this... Butters is to Kenny what Gore is to Clinton.

Who is Joe Isuzu? And why is it that every time he shows up on the TV I want to buy a Isuzu?

Which is the better band of the 80's? Talking Heads or B52's? Discuss amongst yourselves

Which psychic power would you rather have? Psychokinetic (the power to control other peoples minds) or Telekinesis (the power to control objects with your mind)?

OK WHO IS USING THE MAC?? I know one of you out there is using a Mac and hasn't told me.... I find this disturbing... really I thought that we could trust one another.... apparently I was wrong... Here I am kinda sorta opening up and one of you out there is using a Mac behind my back... OK really I'm jealous... I've always wanted a Mac I could just never bring myself to buy one.

While we are on the subject of operating systems... it seems that about half of you are using a Winders2000 finally... I'm very proud of you and at the same time I'm also a little scared since Curtis and Matt are the only people outside of me that use Winders2000 and know about this site....And no I don't come to the website to look at it... I have a toy server running on my network and I have my site posted there so I can see how it looks when I post it. This is so I don't pollute the stats for the site. Also which one of you malcontents is using Windows XP? seriously we need to talk, it's flashy but you would have better system performance using something else... like Winders2000 maybe.

On another note I would like to thank all of you (I think the number is now in the neighborhood of 7 regular readers) who see to come here on a pretty constant basis.... I've had multiple hits a day for the last couple of weeks (multiple hits being defined as =>1).

You know April Fools really screws with you. I was at work and I have web site that I visit multiple times a day for tech news and discussion ( http://slashdot.org ) well they were posting April Fools jokes all day. Most of the jokes were the kind of thing that would really screw with me on any other day... The one thing that was posted and I thought was really true was a story about Wil Wheaton from Star Trek the Next Generation and how he is going to have a recurring role on the current Star Trek series Enterprise. If you follow Star Trek at all Wil Wheaton's character (Wesley Crusher) was found to be a super human of some sort... and basically was taken under the wing of a being called the Traveler to go through the universe. The story had Wesley visiting the Enterprise several times over the course of 2 seasons. It turned out to be false, but the point is it had just enough believability to be thought of as true and that is what made it great.

Wouldn't you know it.. I write about how MTV is showing videos again and sure enough they take them off the air and put the crap back on dammit dammit dammit dammit

HAPPY EASTER!!!! Yes the most holy of Christian holidays and how do we celebrate it ? We "hunt" Easter Eggs from a RABBIT!!!! What the hell!!!! Christ went to heaven for our sins and we celebrate his resurrection with eggs hidden by a RABBIT! OK now that I'm calmed down... Now don't ask me why but the Easter Egg Hunt was inspired by ORION the hunter who has his bow right now and is hunting a rabbit... don't ask me where the eggs come in... but go read a astronomy book... that will help to clear things up... it's weird... who says you need drugs to be trippy, all you need is a astronomy book.

Speaking of Drugs, a wonderous thing has happened on MTV recently, the music videos have returned. And when I say returned I mean they are on for the better part of the day and on during prime time. I haven't seen videos during prime time since I was in HS. Anyway two things have become very clear to me... first when did hip hop start involving guitars ? Second when did all the rock bands start to look the same... Seriously they are all these strung out guys who have dread locks and look like complete crap. I guess they must all be doing the same drugs or something like that. Also have you ever noticed that when you hear a band interviewed on the radio the sound pretty normal and like decent people.... when you see them on tv interview they look like they are on speed and/or are wasted on alcohol not to mention how freaky the look.

Ok now that I think I have gotten all the angst from the tv out of me.... I've been looking for a house.... it's a intersting exerpince since I really don't have any money and all told it is Kingman... I can't say that I'm thrilled with the idea of staying here for a couple of years and actually owning a house... I look at it as money in the bank. Anyway it's a little shocking to see what your money can buy you. You get so used to a particular house/neighborhood that is never really dawns on you how much it costs to live in that neighborhood until you actually start looking around.

So the hospital is starting to look like a giant high school reunion for me... seriously... I'm but one of 5 or 6 people that I graduated high school with. It's really a little odd. I think the part that really has me going is that most of these people who are my age also have kids and are married and/or getting divorced. It's odd, I'm going to leave it at that.

Moving on.... there is a website out there that I think every one should check out. http://www.thespamletters.com/ . In a nutshell this website is one mans attempt to stop spam.... Where he comes up with some of this stuff is beyond me and some of it is just too funny. I think that every one should go and check it out.

Ok so once again it's Sunday and here I am doing my little web page.... I'm a little pissed I have a routine... I watch 2.5 hours of the Simpson's on Sunday... it's my little treat to myself. The highlight of the evening is the Simpson's on Fox which may or may not be a original. Well tonight it's the worst Sci-Fi flick I've ever seen "Independence Day" on Fox... ok I understand that the Oscars are on this evening it's try and take away the other guys thunder night but come on here folks there has to be something better then Independence Day.. seriously it's War of the Worlds with a less cuddly (i.e. not from Mars) race that is wiped out by a virus (albeit a computer virus but a virus just the same). In my book it's a good way to spend a afternoon in the theater but really do we have to subject ourselves to now... 5 years after it's release in theaters? I just don't get it. So yeah that is my rant on the state of the Fox Television Network.... of course FX is nice they show 5 hours of M.A.S.H. everyday which is a nice change of pace from the gruel that is on the rest of the television.

OK now that I have that on my chest, recently I have been blamed for a young woman leaving the Hospital... I had no action dealing with her leaving directly. Actually because I took no action is why I'm being blamed for her leaving. Anyway I thought that was a nice change of pace the normal bull that I put up with...

There seems to be allot of dust in my room... every thing is just covered in the stuff. I guess that is what happens when you don't dust and really don't' use most of what's in your room. I've noticed that my keyboard does not get dusty but Game Cube and VCR are both quite dusty... I think this will require more study.

I really need to start taking notes through out the day... during the course of the day I will be doing something and think that it will make a good anecdote for this page.. and I promise myself that I will remember to talk about it here... and invariably I forget (gee I wonder why that is... I mean my hair isn't a dye job after all). so It's both a little frustrating and at the same time a relief since if I did take notes it would mean that I would feel obligated to update this page more then once a week. I already spend what I think is a incredible amount of time on this page I don't really think I need to be spending any more on it. Of course is I updated it more often I may get more readers... not that I would know since the friggin guest book hasn't worked in forever and a day.... and there really is nothing worse about being a computer nerd then not being able to get something on the computer to not work... oh it drives me up the wall sometimes.

OK A.j. sent out one of his "A.j. Letters" this week. In which he describes in the following orders 1. How many guys he made out with at a gay bar. 2. His parting words to his late father and the ensuing circus that was his fathers death. 3. The joys of finding a dog 4.The comedy styling of Rodney Carrington (your guess is as good as mine) 5. My brothers theory behind picking out the gay bars 6. My brothers ability to pole dance at said gay bar.

I've been friends with A.j. for a couple of years now... I couldn't tell you how he knows me... but I can tell you exactly how I know him. Flash back to August of 1998 I'm in the bookstore at MCC buying a programming suite for my C++ class when this goofy guy just starts talking to me... me being the social being I am (and let me tell you in those days I was way more pissed off then usual) just grumbled at him and that was that.... That semester I also had a public speaking class and low and behold there is that funny looking guy again sitting next to this girl that I can't decide if she's Mexican or white...Well soon enough they are talking to me during a break in class... I'm really not having it they keep talking and I keep mumbling back at them.... the next day the funny looking guy and the Mexican white girl sit next to me in the lobby.... to make a long story short... they haven't left me alone yet... A.j. and the Mexican white girl (and in case you didn't know that would be Brandi) are two of my most trusted friends... which really impresses me since I was such a ass to both of them for the first year or so.....

Ok so now why did I go on this little tirade about how I met Brandi and A.j...... Oh yeah... so A.j. sent out his letter and he sends them out on occasion. I generally find them insightful and a good way to try and see things through his eyes instead of just my own. I remember once A.j. said to me "Tom why don't you start doing a new letter too?" I pretty much discounted that thought for one reason, I can't come up with half the stuff that A.j. comes up with. and as I was reading his last letter that question popped into my mind and I thought... holy crap I listened to A.j. mutated the thought a little but I listened to A.j. and what you see before you in the form of this little web page of mine is the mutated thought that started this whole thing.

The scariest thing that has happened to me in a very long time happened this morning.... So there I am eating my waffles and drinking my coffee reading the Kingman Sunday paper... and in the Engagements section (you know what I'm talking about where all the people in town who have gotten engaged announce it to the rest of the world)... I know all 4 of the people on the page... and what's more they are all younger then me.. Holy crap... I'm 22 right now and will be 23 in a couple of weeks... I find it unfathomable to be 22/23 and married.... Then they are all planning to live in Kingman! Oh god, those poor fools. I don't know if I should be happy for them or if I should mourn that they will never leave the little piece of hell that is Kingman.... it's just sad.

I've been rereading most of the Semi Journal, as kind of release to see where I have been in the last year or so and I find it very interesting... A year ago I was in School not really sure what I was going to do and really going through the motions. Now a year I'm out of school and seriously trying to get my life in order. What I find most interesting though are the statements that I made... I would like to state corrections, explanations, or affirmations at this time.

1. Any statement about any person in this journal is entirely true at the time it was written. All of the statements hold true to this day except for one... Danielle (my old roommate)... You annoyed the living shit out of me in the apt... However you are one of the more colorful people I have known and truly hope that things work out in the end for you

3. A clarification. I hold a fundamental philosophy that everyone in my life is in a transitory state. Most people in my life are just "passing through" except for the few that I'm related to. So for the rest of you I offer you this tidbit of offering if someone in your life means so much to you make every effort to keep in touch just don't let them slip away you will regret it later.

Finally this evening... Don't hide who you truly are to make peace to society... if society does not like who you are then that is their problem not yours.

UNIX is cool, command lines are cooler then GUI's and I want a version of Windows where I can pick the Desktop just like in Linux... SCREW WINDOWS!!! *CHANTING* LINUX, LINUX, LINUX, LINUX!! This geek moment brought to you by new Extra Strength Tom, for those days when Regular Tom just isn't enough.

OK first off I have taken a novel approach to the Guestbook problem.. I just created my own... so if you click on the icon that says "the bored" on the homepage you will goto the new guest book... and do go since curtis singed the other one like 15 times and he's in the Marines... we need Curtis focused on other things right now.

Well I should have been studying for my windows tests this weekend... what did I do instead? Well if you have read my last journal entry you would know... but just in case you are to lazy to look (I'm talking to you Scott Kern) then I will tell you. I've been playing with Linux once again. And this time it's actually working.... it's doing everything that I want it to do and I'm actually enjoying the experience. I find it a little odd I've played with this setup for so long and it basically has come to me in the course of a weekend. Granted I'm still clueless but I have the pieces parts working that I want to work. Windows Network connectivity, Apache HTTP services, Send Mail, and remote telnet access. Yeah it's pretty damn cool if you ask me. Tom is now UNIX enabled... oh yeah that's right just look at the shear geek ness running through my veins... Admit it you wish you could be like me (I know you wish it Curtis the force is strong with you).

Keeping with the geek theme this evening... I'm happy to report that the new Star Wars Movie actually looks like it could be a winner.... I will admit it I liked the last one the first 5 times I saw it but yeah it wore thin on me.... lets just say that I can still recite most of the movie by heart and really don't care on when I see it again.

Finally this evening... with my recent breakthrough with Linux I think it's time that I seriously look at buying my own domain name... you know something like www.kern.org or www.kernthegreat.net , you know a URL... any ideas? Please if you have any ideas feel free to let me know at cignus20@hotmail.com (is this a blatant attempt to get email other then Spam.... yes yes it is). Also seeing as how the guest book isn't working any comments that you may have can be directed to this email address as well. OK I'm done... I still have laundry and a house to clean.

Ok first off tonight what happened to Alex Trebeck's mustache? I was watching "Jeopardy" and there was no mustache... that had me worried until I saw the questions that were being asked. Now normally when I watch Jeopardy I can get a fair number of the questions right or be really close in my mind to getting them right... Tonight I got almost every question right and wasn't even trying..... Then lady pops up dressed like a bee keeper... asking some question about bugs... saying to take care of this type of bug I have to wear this protective gear. What kind of bug keeper am I? AND SHE'S DRESSED LIKE A BEE KEEPER!!!!!! UH HELLO?! You know I remember there was a time and place when it took a PHD to get anywhere on Jeopardy... now apparently all you need is a brain.... how sad.... at least the Scarecrow will enjoy the show.

Meanwhile over in my world... and by the by it's Friday night and I'm writing a journal entry if that right there doesn't speak loads I don't know what does. Anyway I'm once again loading Linux on to one of my computers...But wait Tom I thought that is all you ran was Linux on your computers... well that is not entirely true.. come with me down memory lane. I was first exposed to Linux when I was in the dorms at NAU (you never would have guessed huh, imagine dorm life... people are trying new drugs and other sorts of things what am I doing? New operating sysystems) There I experimented with it... at the time I only had one computer and a 12 gig hard drive and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of cutting up my hard drive for this new operating system. So over the years since then I've loaded it and unloaded it and have become fairly decent at installing Linux. Running Linux however has been a different story. As of late I've had multiple computers and have always said to myself that I will run Linux on the old one... yeah right... well lets put it this way.... I've run Linux on every computer I own from my Dell to my Laptop to both of my custom built boxes... and it's always the same story I install Linux go to use it and I can't do something that I really want to / need to do. On Epsilon3 it was printer and file sharing (though I eventually did get that set up and working I wasn't able to do security like I wanted it) my laptop the modem didn't work (but everything else did) My AMD Athlon XP1800 is to new for the downloads I have (they are about 6 months old now). So that leaves me with my older AMD 850. Which is no slouch but lets face it. That computer is the bastard step child of all my computers... new floppy old cd small hd... really awful case... it sucks to be that computer. The good news is it seems to be working though.

I didn't realize this until Emily told me the following. It's spring break at NAU this week.... I can't believe it's already spring break the real world sucks there is no spring break, summer break, Christmas break, all you get is two lousy weeks a year.... what the hell. At least I found out before I went to Flag for the weekend only to find there is no one around.

What is this another update in a less then 24 hours.... did Tom get laid ? (I wish) no I've just been stimulated by the media. This is why I shouldn't be allowed to watch anything other then Star Trek. Lets start shall we?

OK we all know (or maybe we don't know) that Bushy was in bed with Kenny Lay and Co. before Enron went belly up (and just to show you what a great guy Bush is when you say Ken Lay to him now he goes "who?") Enron Fininaced Bush's campaign now this is nothing new but here is something that is... The GAO is currently trying to get some minutes from a meeting the Dick Cheney's old company had with the Taliban. That's right the same friendly folks who brought us terror and destruction were in bed with Cheney's company (Halbitron, which by the way is now in deeper shit then Enron). In July and August of 2001 Halbitron was negotiating with the Taliban to build a oil pipeline across Afghanistan. Kind of makes you stop and think doesn't it....

OK now this one I'm still trying to figure out... I thought she was like Lesbian and stuff? I guess her fling with Ellen was just that a flash in the pan. So anyway Anne is now married with a child. So how Anne going to tell this kid that she used to date a woman? I know it's small minded and simpleton of me BUT COME ON FOLKS THIS IS A SERIOUS THOUGHT!!!!!

Meet the "Teddy Borg" Basically it's a Teddy Bear with a network switch in it... yes thos are computer cables coming out of it.... yes the eyes are glowing green. That is just damn cool.

Ah Sunday night is upon us once again.. I've had dinner watched the Simpson's and am now sitting in front of my computer ready to put down what has accumulated in my brain for the last week. Yeah it takes a week of events to fill one of these things up and sometimes more. So won't you join me as we go down brain dropping lane?

OK so last week I bought this game called "Black and White" the basic idea is your a all powerful being and through your avatar "mine is a giant tiger" you try and gain the following of the people of a land. Well lets just say that I've pretty much spent every free moment of the last week playing this game... My avatar has become something of a whiny little bitch... it sleeps, eats, and poops... and really doesn't do much else... kind of like my brother in real life. So yeah the game is not going well for me... I'm thinking I need to continue to train my avatar until it gets everything right.

I tried Linux on my laptop this weekend... and actually it worked pretty well... couldn't get the modem to work but everything else worked... which is more then I can say for when I try and install Windows 2000 on my laptop. Sadly though it had to come off something about having to be able to actually do work with my laptop and I'm still not proficient enough with Linux to use it as a main operating system. I still say it's a good little system... needs to get better in the ease of use department and I would be sold hook line and sinker.

What is with the TV ratings system... I get the TVPG and TVMA and all that happy fun stuff the things that I don't get are those little letters under the main ratings like 'L', 'S', 'V'.... I figure 'L' and 'V' stand for language and violence respectively I'm still trying to figure out how they figure into a episode of the Simpson's.... None of the characters use any of the 7 words you can't say on TV. So I'm at something of a loss. There is no real violence on the Simpson's no one gets killed, maimed, or otherwise decapitated. Now "Southpark" there is a show that deserves the 'V' rating. That poor Kenny kid always gets killed somehow... I really do feel sorry for him. I think the rating that just totally has me dumbfounded is the 'S' for the "Simpsons". Really when was the last time you saw Homer and Co do anything that you haven't already seen on the "Flintstones" or "Friends"? Really I think someone is going a little overboard

And right about now some of you are looking at your screen going "yep Tom has finally lost it..." I got news for you folks I lost it so long ago I don't think I ever had it.

I have to say that I don't think I can really do the pace that I have been keeping up for the last few days... drinking... socializing... working... screw that I'm going back to just studying and playing video games.

So last night I went to a Kingman wedding... a friend of the family was getting married and I was invited by association. I originally planned on writing a rather long essay on the entire affair but after really thinking about it I have decided I will just put down the high lights.

-- If you pass out with your shoes on your passed out and there fore a light weight drunk, if you pass out with your shoes off you are "asleep"

-- One should always keep track of their personal effects just in case their ride loses their personal effects.

-- Jeff Foxworthy nailed it when he said there is always one girl at every party who's dancing by herself way to early in the evening.

-- My brother came home with a girl.... truth be told it was his girlfriend so it really doesn't count but if had tried very hard he could have come home with 2 women... YEAH BABY!!

I think those are the most significant of the brain droppings so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

I did pick up a new game today... "Black and White" is the title.... it came out last year and I've been playing it all afternoon... it's really quite good and well worth the 30 dollars I paid for it. Originally I was going to get Sonic adventure for my Gamecube but yeah this is a better game and was cheaper.... what can I say I'm a cheap son of a bitch.

I've noticed that my online updates are forming something of a cult following.. if you call 5 people a cult following that is. Anyway I got the idea from friends of mine but I've found one site that does it really that way I want to do it and if I can ever figure out how it is done I'm going to redo mine like that. So go ahead and jet on over to www.moby-online.com and take a look around. It's really a cool site for one of the more eclectic and great musicians of our time.

Another week has come and gone upon us and what do we have to show for it ? A paycheck, I think a few grey hairs and lets not for get the ulcers eating at my stomach lining... oh yeah it was a good week. I for one am glad to see it die.

Now if we all remember back to when I got hired at the hospital I was hired to bring a electronic charting system online in the surgery department. Well I'm happy to report that the electronic system is up and running. Now all we have to do is get the billing built and every thing will be good to go. Hopefully that won't take to much longer.

In other news my brother has determined that after he turned 21 that he does not like Beer... gee Scott you are so prissy about your food I didn't think you drink anything but the 50 dollar a bottle tequila that you are so fond of.

Other then that not much else was going on... valentines day came and went and not a damn thing happened... really did we expect anything from me though? I would like to rant about something but I just don't have the energy to do that tonight. So I'm done...

OK I think the next time I goto the Valley it's going to be a day trip and I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend in Flagstaff.... I'm sorry there is just to much gong on in the valley for me to keep up with.

So my little brother, who we all know and love as Scott, turned 21 this last week. I doing my good big brother thing went to Tempe to help him celebrate... seeing as how he it did it for me on my 21st... (quick flashback on my 21st Scott and his friend Scott ended up getting drunk in my dorm room and passed out while I was still sober enough to do laundry and clean up the puke)... So I go down to the valley for lil brothers birthday... I show up no one is around... the usual suspect are MIA... hell even my brother is MIA so after waiting around for a while he finally shows up and head out for dinner. At some point Kristina catches up with us and we have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Now you have to realize that the one thing that my brother wants to happen on this day is for him to get carded he didn't get carded earlier in the day at Trader Joe's and he's hoping to score at the restaurant... no luck neither one of us get carded when we order our beer. So after not being carded Scott goes to the bathroom to cry about not getting carded, while he is gone Kristina gets the waiters attention and tells them it's Scott's 21st... he says "He doesn't look young enough to be 21"... Scott come back from crying in the bathroom. Our food shows up we eat... at the end of dinner a guy comes up behind my brother and tells him in a mob like voice to "get up" Scott gets up not quiet knowing what is going on he is then told to stand on a chair. He does this without question. The waiter then announces to the entire restaurant that today is Scott's 21st and he has to dance while they sing happy birthday if he stops they will start again from the top and keep dancing until they finish.... that was damn funny. We go see a movie and we call it a night.

Saturday morning rolls around and we go find the requisite family to visit since I'm down there and they complain that I never come to see them (not my fault I live in Kingman). After finding Brandi and returning to the Bat Cave Scott starts to complain he is bored. I tell him if wants to go someplace all he has to do is get in his car and go... somehow I'm dragged along by being told we are going to Papago park. Imagine my surprise when we show up at a strip club... and hey there is no cover charge from noon to 6pm alright it 4pm on a Saturday afternoon we can't go wrong... we walk in they tell us the strippers come out at 6pm.... which explains why there is no cover charge THERE ARE NO STRIPPERS!!! So we pile back into Scott's truck and head for Papago park... not really knowing the lay of the land in the valley I trust in my brother... we show up at another strip joint... and this one offers "personal massages" oh great is all I'm thinking as we walk in... when we walk in the front door we see nothing and then from behind this glass window that is tinted so dark we can't see in comes a voice asking if we are here for a "personal massage" no I reply we are here for the strippers... again no cover charge till 6pm and no strippers till 6pm. we leave. finally we end up at Papago park and screw around there for a while. After we get done with that I go over to Brandi's to visit with her and Scott goes home and cries some more because he didn't get carded the day before and he didn't get to see any strippers.

I roll in around 8 or so and Bruce finally shows up after not being around all weekend... We order pizza and afterwards we are going to goto a car show... ok I can handle that... so Bruce and Scott are dressed really sharp for this car show.... I'm told that there are going to be people from Bruce's work there and he is trying to get a promotion. OK I'm still going in my jeans and tshirt. Finally they convince me to change into a button down shirt by telling me that there will be other IT guys there and this will be a excellent way to network. We pile into Bruce's car and again we take off for where ever. about 10 minutes later we show up at this place called "Acme Roadhouse" hmmm ok Bruce says we are here to get a guy from work... ok not a problem... then I here Gentlemen get your ID's out... fuck we are at a bar... I was duped... ok fine... I will deal with this. I'm not a bar person never really have been so I'm my normal cheery self standing in the corner with my drink looking like a bouncer (hey if I'm going to be pissed off I might as well look the part and try to help out the bar really would you be scared of me though?). So the drinks are free... hell it can't be that bad... I have a beer and couple of shots.... stand guard at the pool tables. Scott just stands there not talking to anyone... he's a fish out of water... but he's at a bar and he got carded which is what he wants. Bruce is picking up on the ladies... Just so you all know we have always had Scott pegged as the corruptor and Bruce as the corruptie not the other way around.

We leave at some un godly late hour... it's 2 when I crash for bed....I wake up I'm not hung over....well that is a plus... I hang out with Scott some more and I take off for home... the plan being to go through Flag and visit some friends up there and go back to Kingman from Flag... I get on I-17 and say forget it, there is to much traffic to see friends that may or may not be around... I head home.... The end...

Words of wisdom from this weekend "Balloon Killings are not a victimless crime", my personal favorite "Hey baby want to see my yard stick"... yeah that is what happens when you hang out with construction folk.

Well the Super Bowl is on and after the PRE PRe Pre pre game show and the pre pre pre game show and the pre pre game and the pre game and the half hour to toss a coin it's finally on... As I'm writing this the New England Patriots are winning the game.. and it looks like the patriots may pull this off. not bad since they were the underdogs.

The other reason we all watch the Super Bowl is very simple... the commercials and the cheer leaders... but they don't show the cheerleaders nearly enough so I guess I will have to talk about the commercials instead. Really when you think of super bowl commercials what do you think of? Generally some of the best commercials around. This year the Best one time commercial has to be Rudy Giuliaini thanking America for the support the NY City received after the terrorist attacks. The best series of commercials (and it seems like every year this company puts out some of the best commercials) is Budweiser... you know the Frogs, WAZZUP, How you doin? yeah those commercials. And I hate to say this but Brittany Spears is just getting annoying... yes she has a nice body... yes she shows it off... but god will you just shut up and look pretty? The most telling commercial was the one done in the the mastercard style of so much for this so much for that... and at the end it said "Ever wonder where terrorists get their money? If you use drugs some of it may come from you" Very true and food for thought.

Really not much else going on in life as of late... no one has almost died... a few tooth brushes have been violated... Tabuli has been made... yeah it's been a quiet week all around.

Hello and good evening... it's so nice to see you again... I know you have all missed me terribly... Since the last time I was here working on this page a few things have happened... First my computer is up and running... finally I have box configured the way I want it configured... and how is that you ask? It's setup to do one thing and do it well it's designed to play games. That is this computers sole purpose in life and let me tell you it is fast fast fast.. of course I will read this in like a year or something and think that I was smoking crack or something like that.

Anyway I named this computer "Prometheus" who is the Greek god that brought fire down from Mount Olympus to the humans... seems approximate for this box. Then again my next one will probably be so fast it will tear a hole in fabric of space and time. Getting back to what I was trying to think about... what to do other people name their computers? At work we name all of our internal servers after Greek gods (Hercules, Athena, Zeus, Apollo and the like) I name my computers Epsilon 2, Epsilon3, Epsilon 4 the first one to be named was Epsilon3 because Babylon 5 was on the air at the time and that is the planet that Babylon 5 orbited. It just so happened that particular computer was the third one I owned so it was named Epsilon3. Epsilon4 was my laptop since it was always meant to compliment desktop. My last computer was named Talladega (you know as in Talladega motor speed way) simply because I happened to be watching a Nascar race that day. That one was also more of a experimental platform and was never really designed to be anything more then a test box.

Gee, aren't you the lucky ones you get to read all about how I name my computers... Moving on to other things in my life. Little brother turns 21 in just over two weeks... I'm thinking about getting him a hooker... any suggestions as too where to get one?

Finally this evening I know that reading my journal is the highlight of the week for 99% of you (for the other 1% the highlight of your week is not killing someone) I would like to apologize for being a little later then usual with tonights update. Seeing as how one A.j. LeGault conned me into working on his page last night that I was unable to work on mine. So if you don't like tonight's update deal with it and blame A.j. You can find a link to MY HANDIWORK on the home page.

Yep it's just me sittin here listening to my porn star music... Moby a song called "Double Tap" and I swear this song sounds like something you would hear in a porno... not that I would know what kind of music you would hear in a porno or if you would even hear the music considering what is going on in the movie... yeah I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

I noticed something earlier this week my keyboard had become very slick... i.e. the keys are very smooth and my fingers slide off the keys if I'm not careful. Mean while my keyboard at work is brand new and doesn't feel like this... all I have to say is I guess you really can wear out a keyboard, who knew?

Funny thing happened at work this week... A coworker asked to see some pictures of my friends since I always talk about you guys but don't have any pictures in the office (could it have something to do with the fact that I don't have a desk?????)... So what do I do? I bring up my website and show the pictures that I have posted here... next thing I know the entire office is looking that the pictures.. so yeah everyone on this website is famous... how about that?

Now the song is Imperial Teen "Yoo Hoo"... it's a odd song.. defiantly poppy but different... I like it..

I came into a Pentium 2/233 this week... I'm hoping to have a website up and running on it sometime in the near future. Which will be nice since I load my updates locally and then do some more interesting stuff with video and other fun things like that. Of course this website will be run using Linux and Apache.

Ok I'm done.... I'm trying to come up with something witty and profound to say and I can't... so I'm going to repeat something I heard on TV today.... "I would rather have a car company pay me $150,000 to use a song in a car commercial, because if I say "no" they will just have some knock off of it. Then I donate the money to a environmental activist group to take down the car company" -- Moby

You know what I discovered today? I discovered that if you take a whole sheet of labels into the mail boxes etc and tell them to use your label you will lose all of your labels and they will still use their own labels.... bastards. Why you ask was I in the Mail Boxes ETC store today. That is easy to answer I had to ship something derr doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

I've recently been thinking about the origins of the update page and when I really started to think about I realized the idea came from several places. They all used the same basic format a person or persons typing up what had happened in their day and trying to make some sort of sense out of it all. I think the real genesis for the update page came when I realized that since I didn't take many pictures I might want to remember the not so big but still important things that go on around here. You know just a thought.

It's Sunday night so you know what that means boys and girls... IT'S UPDATE TIME!!!!

Before doing the update this evening I read through the entire journal just as a kind of summary of the last year. Man was I depressed in a few spots there. This evening I'm going to reflect and pass out the first and so far only "Tom Awards®"

Best Performance -- Scott (my brother), for making it look like he is going to school **We all know you are down there partying little brother**

Best Angst Performance (sans antlers) -- Matt, the paintball course... pretty much the whole day

Best Angst Performance (With Antlers) (Tie) -- Scott and Bruce, for playing baseball inside and breaking the "open" sign

Best Background Player -- Curtis, for always being there in spirit. And when he is there you know right where he is.

Best at stirring the pot/Best at starting shit needlessly -- A.j.... really need I say more

Most Responsible for pop culture sucking right now (tie) -- N*Sync -- Creed -- E! Entertainment Television

Person I'm most envious of -- Bruce, for his ability to list everything he hates/dislikes on a list 4 pages long

Well there you have it folks, the "Tom Awards®" 2002. All winners will be annouced through the above statement and will receive 1 free rooty tooty fresh and fruity from the Spatula king himself. And for those of you not really keeping track the Spatula King is Curtis

Wow, two updates in two days I don't think I've updated this much since the last time I did two updates in two days.

The reason for this update is two fold, first I wanted to share some interesting site statistics that I discovered today while playing with my site setup. Second I seem to get a lot of questions about what a typical day in the life of Tom is now that I've working in the real world for a few months.

I'm going to start tonight by saying thank you to my loyal readers who (all 5 of you) who in December caused my lowly website to have the most hits it's ever had in one month..... Drum Roll Please...... In December 2001 I had over 53 hits !!!!!! I know it's not much but when you get down to it for a personal website that means given the 5 people who come here regularly, chop it 4 to account for random acts of web surfing and divide it by some number that I'm arbitrarily pulling out of the air it means that on average you all visited 2 times a week.... you must be bored.

Some other random notes and facts about my website, 85% of you use Windows 95/98 the other 15% use Windows 2000. The vast vast vast majority of you use Internet Explorer 5.5 (time to upgrade people IE 6.0 has been out for a while now). Most of you have my web page book marked or have the site memorized since only half of you link in from the outside. Those of you that linked in, 75% of you linked from http://www.oocities.org/bdcruser which is Brandi's site. Why don't you go over and see what she is up to.

Ok now the part you have all been waiting for, a day in the life of Tom... I know you've been waiting your entire life for this.

06:15 -- Alarm goes off, mumble something to self about getting quieter alarm, go to kitchen start coffee.... mumble something about instant instead of brewed

06:33 -- go outside to get paper, cement cold...oowooowwww oooowwww, back inside... warm...

08:20 first work ticket, Power Point Problem, tell user it's file error she's going to have to recreate her work... user in tears... I feel no sympathy.

09:07 --> 12:00 Check stuff on internet for new viruses, check on my servers, do paperwork.

12:31 check personal email, I have EMAIL WHOOO HOOO!!!... damn it's a forward... and bad one at that

13:05 confirm with user from earlier in the day it's a file problem... she cries... I still feel no sympathy

14:05 --> 16:30 study for certification tests do whatever else happens to come my way

Well new year new attitude same old Tom gosh don't you just love how some things never change.

I've been watching alot of TV these last few days and something has become very apparent to me, the gift to get this year was a new luxury automobile. I didn't get one did you? Come to think of it I don't know anyone who did. I don't even know anyone who got a new car... or a new used car... hell a old car even.... yeah television lies, television is evil.

And now for something from the so incredibly amazing department I can't even believe it. I've been called "Hot" and "Very cute" by WOMEN twice in the last week.... damn I'm must be doing something right. And just so we are clear it was two different women.

I've been studying for my MCSE exams as of late... it's a seven test series and I'm taking the first one on Friday, 70-210 Installing and Configuring Windows 2000. So when I pass this test what does that do for me? Right now not a whole hell of a lot... down the road it helps me more then I can even begin to fathom.

Did I mention that Scott (my brother) is a JACKASS!! (no ok I just wanted to mention that)

Ah yes the last update of the year, what great things are we going to be talking about tonight? I don't know but why don't we see where this all ends up when my fingers tell me they are done for the evening.

Scott, came home from the Valley for the last week or so, which means I was out with him most every night and not studying for my MCSE tests... dammit dammit dammit... so yeah I got allot of nothing accomplished over the week but my brother did get me a most kick ass present for Christmas, He got "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" complete with 24 seconds of never before seen footage... yes that's right 24 seconds of never before seen footage. Yeah that movie is great and is very A.D.D. friendly.

I also got a wireless network access point which cool so now I can surf the internet from my laptop anywhere I want to that is with in range of the access point...... yeah that kicks ass

gosh it seems like there is more I want to talk about but I just can't think of it right now... damn... I will do another update if it comes to me.... maybe I should just start taking notes during the week for updates.... for some reason you people seem to take pleasure in my life...

Emily, you are the most beautiful woman alive with a heart of gold (see I actually put it up)

Linux is no longer my bitch... yes sadly this is true... I know you are all weeping with me... yes after a week on my computer Linux decided it didn't like working with me so it up and stopped working. Can't say I'm really sorry, it was a nice file and print server but I really don't have a need for it right now in my home Network. Maybe when I'm actually running some honest to goodness servers. So Linux was my bitch... now it's not. I have lost this battle I will win the war.

Moving on, spent last weekend in the valley (Phoenix to those of you who live close to a valley but not they valley), anyway I seem to go down there about once a month to visit my brother and his roommate. It's always a good time we go to the movies hangout and kick each others ass at counter strike. This time we went paint balling . Yes paint balling you know where you have guns that run on compressed air and are shooting at real live opponents. I had a blast, best 25 bucks I've ever spent. I'm thinking I may need to invest in a Paint Ball gun but I'm not for sure on this yet. Anyway now I'm very sore from yesterday all the running jumping and diving to avoid getting hit... didn't help any... when I got finished I looked like I had been assaulted by a bunch of clowns.

Happy Birthday to Brandi, who while I was getting my ass un-duly kicked at paintball was at Disney land. yeah thats fair. Happy Birthday Brandi.

Ok first things second, second things first. The journal, I know that when I started this I said I would only keep it for a year but I have found this medium to be a very effective way for me to get things out of my system and in general just kind of keep people up on my state of mind. Even if the only people that read this on a regular basis are Brandi, Scott (my little brother), A.j. and Emily. And when I say regular basis I don't mean every day I mean on something approaching once every couple of weeks when they are board. If you feel that you have been left off of this list and you are a "regular reader" of the Semi-Journal then by all means email me at cignus20@hotmail.com and state your case please include a resume and references from three people (not family) as to why you should be considered a regular reader.

Ok now a few weeks ago I started up a running list of questions about what would be on one of those get to know you emails. Well I have a few more questions thanks to those friendly folks that always keep me on my toes

-- What is your Theme Song (i.e. the song you would have playing when you enter a room) -- (Bullet With Butterfly Wings, By the Smashing Pumpkins)

--What has been your single greatest achievement in the last 24 hours? (Making Linux my bitch (kinda))

Where is the alarm clock in your room (i.e. next to your head, or across the room)-- (Across the room and then some)

Moving on, now to tonight's headline. Linux is my bitch. That's right after 2 years of on again off again pain and torture I have finally succeeded in building a Linux box that does every thing I want it to do... which is to be a file and printer server and have the capability of being a small web server in the future. I have done this and now that I have done it my next task will be to actually try and use my Linux setup as a honest to god real computer instead of just as a straight server. The first step in this process has already happened with the introduction of a seti@home client onto the system. Which by the way is now running and processing seti work units.

I think that is it one final thought, I know that finals are coming up for some of you so here is some advice that got me through finals while I was in school... Drink heavily

Ah yes, the end of yet another weekend. This weekend being of particular significance since it is Thanksgiving weekend which is the kick off to the Holiday season and a dry run for Christmas. My holiday was decent (only 2 plates) I've definitely had better performances in the past but I just wasn't feeling up to the challenge this year. 1 month to Christmas and I've got no idea what I'm getting anybody... I hate that, you know buying gifts for people. You try to get them things that you know they will like and will hopefully use. That is my main hang up I can hardly find stuff that I think people will use.. I know it's a hang up but that is how I buy my stuff. If I know I'm going to use it I generally go for the best I can get and don't worry about the price.

Moving on, with this being a holiday weekend people were in town... and what do people do in Kingman Az when they are bored? Well nothing used to be the standard answer now however there is a new answer. We LAN Party it... Yeah I know it's pretty bad but come on what else are we going to do ? Anyway this particular LAN Party featured 5 players and 2 games (counter strike and quake) a good time was had by all and plans are in progress to repeat the formula at some point in the future. You there really is nothing quite as satisfying as kicking someone's ass at a game and be right there to rub their nose in it. yeah it was nice.

I've never really dated much in my life... don't know why really just never have. Being in Kingman doesn't help but hey you do what you can. Anyway I've noticed recently that my standards for women are really quite high... I got to thinking about what caused this and realized that I can trace my abnormally high woman standards to two female friends of mine (you know who you are). To the both of you I would like to say (since I know both of you read this on a semi regular basis) Thank you, you have done more to help my self esteem with women then you could ever imagine.... and I would also like to say HELP A BROTHER OUT AND SEND SOME OF YOUR FINE SINGLE FRIENDS OVER TO ME!!!!

Ten days later and I'm still pissed off... oh well that is part of the joy that is knowing me.

It's actually getting cold in Kingman now... not like Flagstaff cold where we had snow by this time last year but the kind of cold where you start to need a jacket in the mornings... it's nice... I don't miss the Flagstaff cold that is for sure but then again the snow was a nice touch.

In other news I'm now on call for my job... which basically means that when something goes wrong with the computer I'm the first person the gets to hear about it this week... I don't mind it... if the users were such giant idiots... but you know we don't live in a perfect world... and anyway I don't mind going into work at 2a.m. for something that is not my problem anyway.

I have a new addiction... what is it you ask? (I saw your hand from this side of the internet (neat huh?)) It's called CSI you know the cop show on CBS Thursdays it's on at 8pm here in Az... 9pm for most rest of the country.. it's a good show watch a few times and you will get hooked... trust me on this one. It doesn't have any of that 3rd party love triangle crap that you have in other shows this one is all about the police work and how the cops interact with each other. It is so cool I can't begin to describe it...

I was going to say I came up with more questions for my forever in progress survey thingy but I can't remember them.. oh well I'm sure the mood will strike me some time in the near future... like when I get called in at 2 a.m. You know that type of thing. Oh well it's the pits to get old and decrepit like me.

You know what is scary? I went to the World Series twice in a week... saw the Diamond Backs win in game 7 in the 9th inning. And it was great to watch but in the grand scheme of things I can honestly say this........PPPPPPBBBBBBBTTTTTTTHHHHHHH I got to go to the world series and you didn't nener nener nener!!

OK seriously now that I'm done gloating on to more pressing, or depressing depending on how you look at it, issues. I normally make it a policy to not comment on my situation since I'm the one that is responsible for it but I really no longer care. I fully regret coming back to Kingman. I miss Flagstaff terribly, it's not the people that I miss (the vast majority of people that I met there were completely forgettable (save for Jen)). I find people in Kingman to be lacking any real depth... and it really frustrates me that I chose to come back here. I know, I know I'm bitching but I do it so little and your the one reading this by CHOICE!

So yeah that is my thoughts and feelings on the subject of being in Kingman I'm not really happy about it... but I take solace in the knowledge that I will one day leave... permanently. I will probably make that decision the way I make most of my important decisions, I will wake up and in a fog say "I'm leaving" and leave just like that.

Finally tonight, I would just like to say the following. I have another policy where I never speak first I only speak when spoken too... I've found this to be very effective on the Internet. I don't recommend anyone else try it... it's a long time between conversations.

Oh my GOD, I think I'm getting a life... naw... I'm just having a spell where I actually am making plans... yeah that is all there is...

Ok so I went to the world series... home of the 8 dollar bottle of corona and some serious Yankee ass kicking... It was everything I expected and would go again in a heart beat. When I get the pictures back I will put them as per social norms and because I know you want to see them A.j.... (seeing as how my other 2 loyal readers were with me at the game)

And just to show you how bad I do need to get this life thing going... I bought a new computer case.. and people are envious of me... yeah this is bad... it's a nice case though. It will put fear into my LAN gamming opponents. Oh and big props to Matt who shamed me some months ago about my previous case by stating... "Nice case Tom my mother has that one"... ouch man ouch... you know where to hit a man and make it hurt.

Finally this evening I would like to say happy birthday to A.j.... I in no way can come close to burning A.j. like he did me at my birthday... but I will try and good things come to those who wait.

Today what a trip... I did nothing and in no way did I feel guilty about it at any point in time... man it's great being gainfully employed. Really it's just been a day of screwing around with the computers and getting everything locked down on the boxes.

To give you some idea of how boring today has been let me share something with you.... I was talking to A.j. earlier today and told me he got lucky while in uniform..... and while on the job...... and just so we are totally clear he got lucky in that way.. Which probally brings up your next question... so Tom how has your love life been lately? About the same actually thanks for asking... and just so we are clear about the same means non existent.

Well what a week this has turned out to be... not for anything all that extraordinary but just for the things that didn't happen. I found this week to be exceptionally calm and very worthwhile of just kicking back and relaxing.. To bad work didn't have the same ideas. Really I have just been enjoying life right now.

Talking to Brandi, I always find her to be a impartial 3rd party observer that gives me a woman's view of things... I never realized how much I valued her thoughts and opinions about various subjects until this week. I certainly hope that she finds my thoughts and opinions equally insightful and helpful. Anyway Brandi is getting her own Apt tomorrow... so I guess that means she is the first college grad that I know who has grown up and moved out on their own... I envy you but at the same time I have other plans :) .

I updated the sight also tonight... one of them real obvious the other one not so obvious you will have to hunt around to find it.

You know those get to know you emails... you know the ones that ask you all sorts of personal questions and you answer them and then send them to all of your friends... well I've been thinking up of some of my own quesitions here they are... maybe I will put them out at some point in time.

-- Desired Profession? (By day a millionaire playboy, by night a crusader for truth and justice with a really snazzy car)

Well it's 8:43p.m. MST and I have to say that today has probably been one of the most eventful in my life in a long time... join me on a exhaustion induced flashback won't you?

04:31 It's still raining there is no way we are going to be looking for elk today

04:33 I hear my father moving around in the house... yep we are looking for elk today.... get out of bed get ready.

05:43 Out in the middle of nowhere a hunter tells us that the road turns to pure muck and to turn around. we do

05:47 We pass the hunter that told us to turn around... he is driving a 2 wheel drive truck... we were scared off by some dude in a 2 wheel drive truck... how sad.

06:15 We are on the top of a hill ready to glass and find elk... I hear a hissing sound... I check it out... one of our tires has a hole in it... we book it off the hill to a flat spot...

06:23 We make it to a flat spot next to a dead cow that has bloated and exploded... lets just say it has a giant hole where the ass should be and is bursting in the stomach.

09:30 watching NFL pre-game... news breaks in we have started bombing Afghanistan...

13:45 The only tire shop that is open charges us a Arm and part of a Leg to fix the tire... we had punctured on the hill earlier in the day.

14:00 On the road back to Williams... we see a single elk.. in the wrong unit... sitting on someone's back porch... we decide not to shoot it out of a matter of principle and the cop sitting behind us.

Yep that was my day... more fun then a barrel of monkeys or 2 horny playboy playmates.

Good evening all... yes all 3 of my loyal readers... I don't know the exact number but 3 sounds like a nice low number that way when the day comes and I find out who all has been reading this little internet site of mine I won't be disappointed. Things are good. I haven't talked to Emily in almost 2 weeks now.... don't why just haven't... my guess she is booked up with school and all. I'm not pushing the subject it's happened before and I'm sure it will happen many more times.

I just watched the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" season premier on UPN tonight... I gotta say I'm really starting to dig this show I have watched it from time to time and not really payed attention but have thought it was pretty decently written and acted. I find it to much more tolerable then it's other WB breathern (Dawson's creek, Roswell, what other crap they have on that network) Anyway as I was saying I really do think that Buffy is a show that everyone should watch... I really do think you will be surprised... and if you need any more of a reason let me give you one.... THERE ARE LESBIANS!!!!!! as Howard Stern would say Lesbians = ratings.

You know it's bad when I'm writing about the television fare AGAIN in less then 3 months... yeah this is not good.

Hunting on the Kaibab... let me tell you this is some great country up there.... remote... not alot of people.... thick and snarly as all get out... I only almost rolled my truck once... and given the circumstances that was more then enough fun for me.

OK I'm done.... now if my father will just get off of the internet so I can get this posted.

The events of the past week to me seem be something out of a very very very bad movie... even a week later I still can't quite believe it. What's been done has been done.. that is all I have to say about the whole situation and really don't wish to talk about it anymore.

Otherwise it's been very quiet for me... work is good. All I need is a beer and I would be good to go.

I had a intersting thought last week... I find it amazing how many people are instantly displaying flags in the front of their houses as a sign of unity and strength of the american people... this puzzles me... why didn't we do this before? did we find shame in being just like everyone else? Was it to much trouble to get the flag out in the morning? Was it not "trendy" or "Cool" to support your country? I don't know which of these it is but I know what has caused this whole outpouring of patrotism... I personally think that being a patriot only when it is popular or cool is right there is giving up before the fight has only begun. That is my own personal thought.

I have not served my country in any real capacity outside of taxpayer.... I will say this. Curtis, Nick, Dan, and Matt. Where ever you guys are you have my support in what ever action OUR country takes against enemy nations or groups.

I have to say that I really am just to happy... It's amazing what a new job and a new outlook on life will do to a person. I personally find it amazing. But then again who knows maybe it is just me being delusional. Anyway I'm just in such a good mood I'm sure people can't stand me.

I have rediscovered something since I have started working at the hospital.... Games... you know video games... I used to really be into them in High School and early college... but between work and school and I just didn't have the time like I used too... now that I have time I'm finding them all over again.. I personally think that the technical end of gaming is a excellent way to teach applied network and packet routing theory... but that is my own personal thought and it would probably not fly in a academic institution of any real caliber. Which means it would fly with no problem at NAU... hehehehe

Other then that not much really going on... Denise and Ryan had their baby... a little girl... congrats to them. I think Brandi is still looking for a job... and I think Emily is alive... I'm still debating that one.

Round two... ok so I've been at my new job for a week now and so far so good I haven't pissed anyone off, I haven't killed a computer, and I haven't destroyed a network... I have been learning alot and in the process just becoming in awe of the incredible detail that goes into planning and building a network... much less one piece meal like what has been done at KRMC... I'm just in Awe...

Anyway week one wasn't bad... we had a vendor in this week to install a new system of some sort for something (yes I know what was installed and yes I have a clue what it does I just don't feel like sharing it) Anyway the vendor was not the nicest person in the world but what are you going to do? The vendor for my system shows up next week... that should be fun I will start getting trained and my deployment date is in 3 months... for those of you keeping track that is Thanksgiving... the words holy crap and I'm really in for it now do come to mind.

On the other side of the spectrum I'm finally clear of the grocery industry once and for all, wed was my last day ever and it was a bitter sweet moment... I think I will miss but right now I'm glad to have a straight schedule and fixed days off.... I wonder if I will get sick of that? Probably not....

I would really like to write more but I can't decide if I'm going to the valley for labor day weekend or staying in town... decisons decsions....

OK it's been something like 3 weeks since I did a update... time to get down to work. I must be on a role twice in less then 3 months there has been something going on in my life... damn this is so exciting I don't know what to do with my self.

Ok so first off I finally got a real job that does not involve the grocery business... I'm exstatic about this. I'm now a systems analyst for Kingman Regional Medical Center. I will be doing systems deployment and desktop support. It's in Kingman but I can deal with that. So anyway I'm ready to goto work at this job and really sink my teeth into it.

Of course this also brings up another good question.. where do I live? Do I live at home and pay rent ? Or do I find a apt and pay more rent? or do I buy a house? Well seeing as how I have no money in the bank.. and the best way to get money is to live cheap I'm going to be combing the first and third options to make a very doable situation... This makes sense in my mind and if doesn't make sense in your mind I guess you just have no concept of what it is to be me.

Moving on ever since I have gotten back to Kingman John Nugent has been bugging me to get this game "Half-Life; Counterstrike" well I've been able to get every version of this game except for Counterstrike but by god every version of this game I have picked up is excellent I can't believe it. I guess it is just a really good game.

Ok that is it for now... no one is bothering me over here so that means they are planning my demise... be good people.

First off let me apologize in advance for this journal entry, I'm using my backup computer to write this tonight since I'm doing a backup on my main computer... yeah I know most people are happy to have 1 computer... I have 3 computers and use them all and I'm looking at getting a new desktop to replace the current Dell and make the current desktop into a dedicated file and print server... yeah I need a girlfriend BAD@!

So in the life of Tom over the last week or so, random things have been happening but nothing remarkable... I still blame it on N*sync, again no reason I just do. My mom got a digital camera for her computer now this is one nice camera, she picked it out herself and everything. I am very impressed with it. I want one I just can't bring myself to spend 5 or 6 hundred dollars on a good I know I will use. Speaking of spending money living at home has afforded me some extra money for me spend on myself I picked up the new Depeche Mode yesterday, not bad "Songs of Faith and Devotion" is still my favorite Depeche Mode CD. I also picked up Incubus I know they have a bunch of cd's out and this is their latest one that came out over a year ago. I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but it is excellent. Of course my whole reason for going to the store yesterday was to get the new Crystal Method CD... which they didn't have I was bummed but I will try again next week... I probably just got the release dates wrong.

Ok now your probably wondering why I'm backing up my computer and using my back up. Well before I came home from Flag I went to Tempe to visit Scott and Bruce... well on this trip I took my main computer and on the way back to Flag the hard drive that contained all of my music and video's was knocked loose and I lost it.... I almost cried right there.... even I'm not that bad. So two months later I finally have completed rebuilding the hard drive and am now backing up everything. This is mainly a process of making cd layouts and burning off cd's I'm up to #6 of #16... I have just a ways to go. I did the layouts for this back in February and it was 23 cd's.... damn I should have done it then.

Finally tonight the MTV 20th birthday has been on all day... I have to say that I still think that MTV has lost a lot of what it means to me since I graduated high school. Basically during the day they were playing a retrospect of videos from 81 to 01... and well they weren't full videos but the countdown versions of the videos.. which I found to be unacceptable especially when it came to the early nineties and the pearl jam/nirvana... I guess we all can't have what we want.... And then this evening they are having a "party" and they have all these people that have been on MTV in the last 20 years... and I find it really sad that they have to introduce "Billy So and So of Band XYZ" because the kids today have no clue who they are... I truly feel sorry for the current generation... I blame that on The Back Street Boys... No reason I just do.

Ok that is all for tonight, have fun and Brandi congrats on finishing school I hope you have better luck finding a job then I have had so far.

Well the job search is a going... in no one particular direction but it is going and that is something to hopeful about.

Anyway since I'm working afternoons now I have time to watch that fine fare known as morning cable television... and let me tell you there are some real gems on in Kingman right now. Lets take a looksie shall we?

Channel 21... MTV... This used to be a really good channel, something bad happened, after I graduated high school. I have not been able to figure it out. I blame Carson Daly.

Channel 22... VH1... During the morning this is the "Behind the Music Network" and that is real hit and miss.

Channel 28... The History Channel... This channel is generally pretty good for something blowing up every 5 minutes or so.

Channel 44... E!... The home of the "E! True Hollywood Story", this morning it was the 2 HOUR tale of "Beverly Hills 90210"... Lets just say the high light of the show was finding out which season and episode that Tori Spelling's character lost her virginity.... (Season 8, last episode... just so you don't have to watch it)

Channel 77... CAT77.... I haven't quite figured out what this channel is yet... I know that it is local and that my brother Scott was on it like 10 times a day up until 2 weeks ago. Nearest I can figure it's local access that isn't locally accessible.

Ok and there you have a tour of my morning TV watching habits... aren't you so lucky to have read this.

3 weeks since the last update... damn where has the time gone? I can tell you exactly where it has gone.... I've been working at Albertson's for 40 hours a week trying to get money to pay my bills that is where it went. Yeah can you tell I'm in a chipper mood this evening?

Anyway things for me have settled back into a sort of routine and with that I am happy, I find there to be order in routine and the mundane and it makes me feel like I have control of the situation. Which is a nice illusion when your sitting up at 12:30 A.m. trying to get to sleep and your writing yet another damned journal entry.

Being back in Kingman is bringing several things to light for me, first and foremost that almost everybody that I knew in High School that stayed in Kingman is now married with children... I find this to be very scary. Not so much that they are married with children but they are my age and married with children, for some reason this is still odd to me... Yeah I have to get my happy ass out of this town ASAP.

I need to start taking notes for when I do these journal entries so I actually have something to write about instead of just kind of babbling.... then again you people are the ones reading this stuff.

Ok two weeks later and I'm still unemployed... yeah this still sucks.... what are you going to to do though? Me ? I'm just sending my resume all over the place and hoping for the best... I hate looking for jobs... I remember why I never quit Albertson's in HS... I didn't to have to go through the hassle of finding another job. And hey at 5 bucks an hour the money was good then for a 16 year old kid... and the money is still good for a 22 year old kid looking to start his career... It's just going to take a little while longer then I had hoped.

Ok in other news stuff has actually happened in my life for a change. HOLY SHIT STUFF HAPPENED!!!!!!!

OK lets start from the beginning, after spending a few days in Kingman and interviewing for a job at the local hospital (looked like a good job, thought I had it... never heard back) I went to Tempe with the pretext of looking for a job.... yeah right.... I ended up watching movies and hanging out down there... I didn't even toss out a application. I just needed some downtime. After 3 days in the valley I made my way back up to Flagstaff for work and to begin packing... yeah that is always fun... Brandi got me this kick ass picture frame it's Dilbert with the caption reading "The cubicle warrior prepares for battle"... I don't know why but everyone associates me with Dilbert... must be my dashing good looks :)

Anyway, Monday night rolls around and work takes me out to the bars in Flagstaff... now lets recap, I have never really been to the bars in Flag. Sure I've been downtown and even eaten at a bar or two but I've never been there to meet and greet.... so me being the bar virgin that I am get taken out to the bars.... we hit the first bar I have 6 drinks bought for me in the course of 30 minutes (2 jack and coke, 1 double jack and coke, 1 kamikaze, 1 Washington apple, 1 butter nips and scotch).... Lets just say I was stumbling when we left there.... good thing I was eating all day... then we went to another bar and someone bought me this drink called a "mind eraser"...... shit it works... I don't remember much after that... I do remember me making a comment about Tracy's cherry... and in the off chance your reading this Tracy... I'm sorry, I was just a little toasted... I'm not normally like that.

OK so I go to bed at 2 A.M. and wake up at 5:30 A.M. and with sufficient hang over say... "lets move home" and well I was home and un packed by 9A.M. Damn I can move when I want to. This is where I have been for the couple of days now... probally working at the store in Kingman... yeah I know but you take the good with the bad.

OK that is it and my mother is giving me shit about not having a sex life... great just what I need my mother giving me shit about my sex life... to bad I don't have one.

I'm done I'm finally done with school and all of it's entirety... and I'm still unemployed... this fucking sucks!!!!!

Let's just say that I'm not happy about this whole situation and really do wish that I had done some things differently in my time... of course that would have taken the fun out of everything... I still should have done them differently. What is driving me nuts...

have you tried finding a job in a field that you have no experience in but am very enthusiastic about? NO?? didn't think so. let's just say it's a giant drag on the ego more then anything else that I can think of. Probally the one thing driving me up the wall is everyone telling me what to do!!! fucking A people leave me alone and let me figure it out... and if you have a bit of advice give it to me and leave don't try and explain the deeper significance of it to me God Dammit.

shit.... I should just go join the peace corps..... yeah it's not experience but it is doing something worthwhile and it keeps my mind off of doing something else.

Ah yes here we all are agian.. me and my 3 faithful readers... I think we all need to be finding something better to do then read this (or in my case to be the one writing it)

So anyway moving on I'm finally almost done with school one more class and it's all over.. I will have my degree and I will be on my merry way to whatever... And if I had a job it would be just that much better. Well we all can't have what we want all the time.

I should really write more but I have to get some sleep I have a class in the morning and it can't be good to be on the internet while I should be in bed... 2 more weeks.

As I sit here typing this on another Friday night alone and listening to my music (currently Led Zeppelin) I wonder to my self.... is the path that I have chosen for myself the best one? I'm not talking about school vs. anything else.. I'm talking about my conscious choice to not hit the bars and not go out... I don't really get it I prefer to be alone then to be around people in situations where I may be in my mind compromised. People seem to like me well enough I just want nothing to do with the whole thing of going out to the bars and seeing and being seen... That just doesn't seem to be me. At the same time though I feel like I should be out there because I owe it to myself... I really don't get this... I hate thinking... it's a dangerous habit... people should not do it on a regular basis..... well at least not when they don't have any alcohol to help alleviate the effects.

Anyway that is what is going through my head right now, and the thoughts of what I need to do after I graduate... do I stay in Flag and work at the store or do I go back home? That is something that I have really been avoiding in a major way as of late.... and as of recently haven't thought about but now it's really coming to me... I don't want to go back to Kingman but at the same time I really don't want to stay here and work at the store. If I could get a job at the store where I didn't have to deal with shit head customers all day I would probably be more open to the idea of staying in flagstaff. As it stands right now I will probably know what decision I will make when I actually make it... which is how I seem to make most all of my major decisions in life.... great another fly by the seat of my pants decision... just what I didn't want to do again.

I think right now the really shitter of it all is that I want to pursue a life but at the same time have no interest in it... great more indecision.... I seem to be good at that... strange how I get so irritated with people who are undeceive at work but here I am not being able to make up my mind... yeah this sucks.

OK finals is once again upon me... and once again I'm not studying... can we say "Don't care anymore!!!" Boys and Girls? WE CAN? SCORE!!!!!!!

So yeah it's is abousletly amazing to me how quickly one person can get so thoroughly on my nerves and not even realize it... the scary thing she doesn't even realize it... Oh and if your wondering I'm talking about Danielle... No wonder her last roommates hate her... I am amblivent towards her I neither like her nor dislike her.... for like and dislike and like are emotions... and I feel nothing... I can not wait until she is gone. I'm seriously thinking about just hiding the phone and forwarding all the calls to my cell phone and not telling her... just to piss her off.... Yes I know I have a mean streak... if you were in my shoes you would understand.

Moving on to better topics of mind and body. Emily has gotten herself a shiny new boyfriend... if I were mean I would be taking bets on how long they would last... even I'm not that cold..... well most of the time. I do wish them all the best. **Message to Scott (Not my little brother, Emily's boyfriend) you so much as even think about hurting her I will be the least of your worries... OUR MOTHER WILL COME AND HUNT YOU DOWN.... consider this fair warning** Also if anyone from work (Currently Albertson's) is reading this, I think I speak for all of us when I say "Sandy, I wish you nothing but good luck and great joy from here on out and in the rest of your life to come" OK little brother, quit sending those damn ninja's after me it's getting old already.

And with that I'm mostly done... I'm sure I have more to write but my attention span is nil sooooo I'm off.

Ok so it's been how long since I did a update? Damn near 2 weeks... well now that I think about it it's really not that bad. It could be worse I could just let this whole website go to the way side and forget about it all. But that is not fair to the three maybe four people that come here on a regular basis. I mean come on if I don't do this then what else are they going to read?

So anyway since the last update I had a birthday, I'm now 22 and officially old I know it's getting bad when I'm telling my 30+ year old friends to calm down. If age is a state of mind then I'm damn near death old. Anyway unbeknownst to me, my brother and A.j. planned a surprise party for me... now I always thought that I would enjoy one... well guess what I didn't I was miserable and didn't really want anything to do with anybody. I appreciate the thought guys but in the future tell me ahead of time, and if you choose not to then don't expect me to come out and play. That's been about it really... Danielle is really starting to get on my nerves.... I will be so happy when she moves out..... I'm thinking about unhooking my phone in spite of her (having a cable modem is a beautiful thing). Tracy is staying for summer and has this idea that I need to goto the bars with her... I don't get it... but if she says so then why the hell not... not like I'm doing anything else, well except for that whole school, work, graduate, get my life started thing.

I know there is more I want to write about but it's late and I should probably sleep... or at the very least goto bed and stare at the ceiling for the next couple of hours.

Well today I recieved a very strange gift.. and I want to share it... the gift is below......

I have adopted a new brother ! He has not been forewarned,,and is finding out the same time as you.

A couple of years ago at Mohave Community College, I met (then 19) Tom Kern. I found him to be miserable, quiet, moody (ask his friends), and just an all around asshole. I wanted to kick his ass,,,and I know that he was planning my demise too. I never knew if Tom lived a sheltered childhood,,or he just got off, by being the poop of the party. He would not hesitate to tell someone that he did not like them (now I did admire that). But I think that deep down,,,he was just upset over the failure of his Clearasil.

Tom cracks jokes ! Tom will clean up after friends that puke in his house ! Tom chats with the ladies ! Tom will haul furniture ! He has even attended a meeting of Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays !

Above all,,, Tom has a fantastic sense of humor,,,and lets his friends pick on him constantly (Im doing it now !).

Tom is an Eagle Scout who believes that the BSA should not discriminate against gay scouts, and that is cool.

And even though his lovelife is in the shitter,,,he has a cable-modem on his computer that downloads porn quicker than you can say “hand me a tissue”.

Tom has become a serious wise-ass in his old age, and he is in search of the perfect woman. She cooks,,,She cleans,,,and she screams bloody murder during sex , while using the bedroom alias of “Inga- the-Enforcer”, whom inflicts only minor bruises.

Now,,,if we could only get him to get a new haircut. That fucking thing on the top of your head (your hair Tom) doesn’t even look real.

On the other side of the coin. Tom HAS maintained my webpage for over a year now, and gets me into Sam’sClub whenever I want.

With his adoption,,,Tom will receive a certificate,,, and a life-time supply of government pens !

As an added incentive,,, Tom is turning 22 this week. For all you ladies,,,here is your chance to be the first on your block,,,to touch Tom in that “Special” place. The aftermath will probably kill the poor boy,,, but he’ll have fun.

Well here I am... just like I promised I'm updating my online journal thingy... Yeah online journal thingy, that's something you want to hear out of a CIS major and future IT professional. Yeah just a little unnerving there.

It's actually been a kinda sorta busy last couple of days. Not much in the name of homework but just stuff in general seems to be piling up. It's been fun though, went to dinner with Brandi last night, that is generally fun we never seem to run out of things to talk about.... then again we talk about everything under the sun. What do you talk about you ask? Well that is between me, Brandi, and several internet sys ops. heheheheheehe.... sorry geek humor.

Coming up in the near future, my brother got me tickets to see Collective Soul in the valley with him and some friends as a birthday present. Did I mention that my brother kicks ass? No? well he does.

OK so maybe I haven't been that busy... man no good gossip to post... not that I would do anything like that...

Well that is that for this evening... I'm working on getting the guestbook fixed.... It should be working in the next couple of days or so here.

Holy shit... it's been a month plus since I last did a update... damn... ok first off I would like to apologize to everyone else who comes by here every now and again... yeah I know what I said... back off.

Well what has been going on? Sadly not a whole hell of a lot... which probally explains why I have not touched this page in so long. Spring Break as come and gone... mid terms have also come and gone. Both were unremarkable, as most things are these days. There really seems to be no real way defining moments or even whole periods of time lately... it just all seems to be in a real lull.... I blame it on N*sync... no reason I just blame it on them. I did take a weekend trip to Tempe to visit my brother and his roommate... I took my mp3 hard drive with and grabbed a lot of great stuff.... including the new Poe CD... Haunted. I listened to Poe a little bit in high school but that CD disappeared before I left for Flag... This new one isn't bad... Poe is one of those artists that seems everyone knows about but can't remember a single song that she has done. Well rest assured it's a good cd.... I highly recomend buying it... don't lift it off a friend like I did.

I really can't think of anything else... I will try to update more often... but yeah we all know how well I will follow through with that one.

Damn Valentines Day is Wednesday? Who would have thought? Not me, I have enough problems keeping my classes straight much less what day is what in the grand scheme of holidays where we give crap to one another. And no I'm not bitter. At least I don't think I'm bitter...

Anyway what fun I have had as of late. I started by getting a 46% on my Database exam (can we say "Crap" boys and girls?) followed by me losing my mind over said class and test and having a panic attack over our first assignment. I have now come to the conclusion that if I fail the class I fail it, if I don't I don't either way I'm going to slog my way through it. Rest assured though faithful reader I will make it through.

Ok so following the panic that ensued after my database class.... I summarily went out on 2 different evenings.... and both times had 20+ emails waiting for me when I got back home... well that will teach me to go out and have a good time. For those of you who are wondering what I was doing I was at work and fixing computers so no bar hoping.

Welcome back to Brandi who arrived this week Jet Lagged and Kiwi'ed from New Zealand... she is now looking for a job down there! Damn go some place for two weeks and you fall in love with it... go figure.

My brother (yes Scott) is now working for the Arizona Diamond backs as a ticket agent...which I think means that he is the guy that sells tickets in those little booths.. he's pleased with himself though.

Has it been 2 weeks since my last update? Yeah it has... man it seems longer then that...time drags when your not having fun.

Anyway there have been several reasons for their not being a update to the page... among them my grandmother going into the hospital (she's doing much better) and a cumalitive of there really not being a whole heck of a lot going on. Classes are alright, I'm trying to decide if taking the advanced DB course was a good idea but I think that if the teacher gets her act together that shouldn't be a problem. Then again what does she care she is leaving for industry at the end of the semster... I know I won't cry. It's also my brothers birthday in a week and I have no clue what I'm going to get him.... probally something for his apt... maybe a ratpack poster or something along those lines... I don't know he's pretty eclectic. Man I'm so wired from homework... yeah thats right I did homework which means I didn't watch any tv tonight and I actually will be almost prepared for class tommrow... well time will tell if I am. fuck, I'm tired but I can't goto sleep.. ok I'm done... ttyl

OK the night before school starts and what am I doing? I'm sitting here typing on my computer to do a journal update... What a guy I am for my 3 loyal readers.

Not really a whole lot to report, the new roommate is cool. The Apt is the cleanest it has been in months... she's bit loud at times but you know who among us isn't. So yeah it won't be problem. I can't wait for her and Andrea to go at it... they will be friendly at first but one of them will snap and after that.... WHOOO HOOO ENTERTAINMENT!!!!

My how things change in 24 hours... OK to bring all 3 of you up to speed here is what has been going on for the last day.

1. We get note from Aaron P. that he is moving out....moving in with other friends nothing against us.

2. Aaron P is in the process of moving out... new roommate is in process of moving in. Looks cool enough be their stuff.... hiking boots A.F. logo's on all the stuff....

Well after 2 seconds of shock I get over it and become fine with it. She seems alright a bit to much of a partier for my tastes but then again it seems like everyone I know is in that category. So anyway that bastion of bachelordom that was the bathroom and my room is now been fought back to my room... Ok I can handle this... Hey new experiences are what college is all about and I'm going to have to share a bathroom with a woman sooner or later might as well get used to it before I get to set in my ways. Honestly it's all good. Except for one little teeny tiny ity bitty thing.... THERE IS A CHRISTINA AGULIRA POSTER HANGING ON HER DOOR!!!!! not that I have anything against Christina Agulira but she makes crap music... and that is wrong!!! She and Brittany Spears must be stopped at all costs!!!! Of course this is coming from a diehard metalhead so only time and my Frank Sinatra Poster will tell, yeah thats right FRANK F***IN SINATRA!!.... you got a problem with that? No ? good I didn't think so it would be a shame for me to have to make you rethink your taste in music.

Ok so back to the subject at hand it's often thought that the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences are the one's that you never see coming... that is how I feel about this and intend to learn as much as I can from it. And if it turns out to suck... I will do what I always do Crank the music and annoy the hell out of everybody.

Well what a thoroughly uneventful 2 days it's been... I mean nothing at all has happened... I don't think there are enough Adjectives in the English language to really describe, So I won't even try....

I guess which begs the question why on God's green Earth am I doing a journal entry? Honestly I don't know. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm bored and really have nothing better to do, or I'm so strung out on sugar I don't have any other way to release energy then through semi creative thought... I'm willing to bet the bank it's probably the second of the two reasons.

I think it's really interesting on how attached people become to one another when they say that they want no attachment... yes I know it sounds confusing but bear with me as best you can here and maybe it will all make sense in the end. OK so like I was saying I find it odd at best the people get so attached, it truly does confuse me more so then they whole must have a significant other thing that also just blows my mind on an almost daily basis. Is it some sort of fear of commitment, a fear of getting to close... what is it. It's truly one of the more interesting thing that I can almost get a grasp of. I don't know maybe I'm just reading into things to much or wanting something that I have a feeling will probably never happen.

I don't know which makes me more frustrated. A) I have this great friend whom I care for deeply and have no desire to hurt in anyway shape or form but at the same time want to try and take the relationship to the next level. B) She says that she doesn't want to take things to the next level, but everything that I get from her to me says that she is afraid too. Or C) I'm afraid and don't want to screw up a pretty good thing that I have going already... did I mention it sucks to be a guy? I'm sure it must suck to be a girl more though... but that is another topic for another day.

So yeah, that is pretty much my entire emotional turmoil right there in big bright letters for all of you to enjoy, ponder, lament, wonder, and otherwise plunder.

Remember "Don't sweat the petty stuff, and don't pet the sweaty stuff" - Brandi 2k1

Hello there little doggies !!! and how have we been ? Good I hope, well our intrepid hero survived his time in the valley and is happily back to doing the web page updates that 3 people wait for with baited breath.

So 1 week into the new year/century/millennium what is that different? Well outside of me wanting a new computer really bad after using Bruce's for the last week... not a damn thing. Actually it's kind of a let down, in the 60's it was thought that their would be a permanent moon base and large orbiting space station... Well the moon base is so far off it's not even a pipe dream but the space station is partially true... now if we could just create a maniacal computer that plays chess and kills people we would be set... Right now I will settle for a computer that eats my homework when I really need to get it done.

Well back at the homestead in Flag there isn't much of anything going on I've got today and tomorrow off. I need to get a hold of Tim so I can get the power cord so I can fix his computer... maybe I will just tell him that I don't want to do it... man from now on I no longer fix computers I have so many other things that I could be doing with my time it's not even funny.

Scott is doing nicely in the valley he just informed me that he has almost got a job lined up at Gateway country, for those of you who don't know my brother is not a computer guy.... actually he is the anti computer guy... come to think of it the only computer he has ever installed is his own... and I had to tweak that for him. What will Scott be doing at Gateway you ask? Well that is simple, he will be installing and setting up new computers. What does that mean for the average computer user in the valley? Be AWARE BE VERY AWARE. Wow I really can't think of much else that is going on, damn that's cool

Well there is no more arguing about whether or not we are in the 21st century anymore since we are finally in it!! Of course there are still people that say the world is flat... So I'm sure that somewhere there is some group of people somewhere that still say it's the 20th century... Well it's a free country, it's nice to have idiots to keep all of the sane people entertained.

Anyway I had a good new years, I did something for a change instead of my usual one of the following

2. Watching TV or screwing around on the computer (again who would have thought)

3. Going over to someone's house and having the first words of the new year be "Fuck you Tom" (in all honesty that only happened once... and I would have said it first if I were thinking on my feet that night)

So anyway like I was saying I actually did something, since I'm in the Valley helping my brother with all his nice stuff. We all decided to go to the Tempe block party for new years... it was fun I really enjoyed it... The Jimmie Hendrix guy, the AC/DC tribute, the 3 dollar crappy bratwurst off of the worlds largest grill... the fun just never ends. For midnight we had a choice of either watching Hootie and the Blowfish... or Crazy Town... and who did we pick ? Crazy Town... MAN DID WE PICK THE WRONG BAND. The long and short of it this, they were high and wasted and could barely play.... I doubt they could play sober... I would almost have rather seen Creed... and for those of you who know me, that is quite a stretch since I'm firmly in the camp of Creed is a major big time Pearl Jam rip off.

Ok I'm done... I need to get food.... apparently there is a Bob's Big Boy down the road, we're gonna go there and hope for the best.

Well how shitty do people drive on purpose? I mean it's called a SPEED LIMIT not a speed suggestion... aaarrrrggghhhhh is it really that hard!!!

Oh by the did I mention I spent the better part of 4 hours on the road today with nothing but stupid people for as far as the eye can see. So yeah I'm writing this offline and will probally write a few more off line too... so don't be surprised if the page gets several updates all at one shot.

So right now I'm sitting in front of my brothers roommates computer (That's 3 degrees of separation for those of you keeping track out there). I'm supposed to make the computer "turn and cough" I'm thinking more along the lines of a full sex change (no I'm not turning it into a Mac but that would be my preference). And as I'm doing that Gatlyn is going around the house hiding condoms all around the house. I would be pissed but Bruce kind of has it coming for him so really who knows. OK 2 more updates and the Norton is done. I need to get moving.

Wow, it's been 9 days since the last journal entry.... I guess I've been having fun since I don't know where the time went. Wish someone would have told me so that I would have known....

Anyway Christmas was good. Santa brought me every thing that I had asked for...MP3 player and a GPS unit... not much but when you get to be my age (21) you don't want many toys, you just want really expensive toys. And contrary to popular belief Santa does have a budget and can only afford so much in toys....

Since it is the Holidays I'm home, not Flagstaff home but Kingman home. It's a nice change and all but it just feels weird... always does. It's really not my home anymore but it just seems so familiar. So really I don't know what to make of it all. So of course since I'm home I'm operating out of my laptop and not my main computer so again it's a little odd but not anything that I can't handle.

In other news.... not a real lot going on, A.j. should be in Hawaii by now or very much on his way. Brandi is supposedly in Kingman, but I haven't heard from her. I'm sure she told me that she would call. Oh well if she does she does if she doesn't she doesn't. I did see Emily yesterday, took her a gift from Flag, nice picture book.... I have a hard time taking snapshots much less portraits. I will leave that stuff to the experts and I will continue to be lead driver and keep on doing that stuff that I do ohh so well.

Finally for the three people that read this on a regular basis, you all know how to operate me, you ask nice and give me the OPTION OF DOING SOMETHING... you don't TELL ME TO DO SOMETHING. If you tell me to do something I get very irritated and will respond accordingly. I.e. I won't do it and do everything in my power to make you equally pissed off at me. Just a note in case any of you forgot that.

Well what can I say about the last few days, I've been quietly regaing lost karma from school and in general feeling quite good. So what does this all mean? Well basically that I've been renting movies and eating/drinking the stuff that I want to eat/drink (read as pizza and beer). So lets just say that if I had a woman right now I would be in such a state of bliss people couldn't deal with me.

What else? Well I redid the front page to my website, hope it works better then the old one. It was just becoming to crowded and I needed my space on the front page.

Ah yes finals are finally done, and what does this mean for everyone's favorite superhero? Well for Batman it means fighting pesky college students for the next 4 weeks.... For me it means some much deserved and needed downtime. Of course downtime means I will plan on doing a million and one things.... I might do the one thing... if I'm feeling up to it and sufficiently motivated. Neither of which really happen when I'm in this mode so probably aint a damn thing going to happen to me outside of work for the next couple of weeks... ahhh pure bliss.

So how did I spend my first day of Winter break? Simple spending money....ewwww I really hate spending money. I mainly bought Christmas gifts, for my brother and my self... I already hear you asking what did I buy me? It was such a shock when I bought to I might add. I was in Hastings here in Flag and I was going to buy the new U2 and Fatboy Slim CD's when I saw it... the box set I have been waiting for all year... and it was priced to move and out in front, only 30 dollars for the DVD version of it. What box set was it Tom Petty? naw I already have that one, The Dixie Chicks??? Please.... I like them but I don't like them that much, U2?? Nope, I'm sure they have one but I just haven't seen it? Who then? well I will give you 3 guesses, ok ? ok !

editors note... if you would like to know what Tom bought for a box set email him at cignus20@hotmail.com and he will be more then happy to tell you, also he promises to behave himself.

Finals are the time of year where the students are separated from the party goers....

Well how about that for a pearl of wisdom? I know it's not much but hey we all have to start with philosophy somewhere. So it's finals time and once again I'm sitting here typing on my computer for all of 3 possibly 4 people to read, ya what a guy I am.

So lets go over my week in some depth.... Well as we all know my week starts on Saturday when I get off of work... since I didn't work Saturday it started when I got woken up by A.j. wanting to go to breakfast... and the day was spent hanging out and not really doing anything all that productive. Sunday.... Hey everybody I wanna do Linux today... I did... it died.... I spent the better part of the day trying to figure out why it died (note to people, this is also when I discovered that my new network card didn't work in Linux) So the majority of the day and the better part of the night was spent in Linux websites and kinda studying. And oh yeah standing downstairs talking about incoherent stuff with the roommates... MONDAY.. BY GOD I'M GOING TO STUDY TODAY!!!... I sleep all day, I have a final at 5:30pm I take it I think I pass.... Monday Night, by god I'm going to study... I talk to Brandi... DAMIT DAMIT DAMIT DAMIT!!!!! Tuesday 0600.... wake up, for the final at 0730.... take that final... come home study for the test I've been meaning to study for all week.... 1230... Cobol test, this test will literally decide my future. I take it I think I did pretty well... Damn I'm smooth.

OK wasn't that fun? So I've been downloading crap all day, mainly videos I'm thinking I will make them up as Christmas gifts this year. You know every makes Music CD's for Christmas but really how many Music Video CD's do you see floating around? I know not many, It's a cool idea... I might expand upon it in the future.

Finally tonight, Our cool person of the week is..... EMILY !!!! I only know one Emily and she probably won't read this for a week or two so I can change it later... I probably won't though since I'm just that lazy. And why is Emily our cool person of the week? Simply enough because she is one of the most honest people will put you in your place and make you feel special all at the same time. Yep that's Emily one of my closest and best friends.

Well what do I have to say for myself? Not a damn thing, I make no apologies for anything that I have done, I will make no apologies for any thing I will do. Anything and everything that I have done and will do is deliberate and is either intended to help or hurt. Apology is policy people go around doing things they know are wrong and then apologize when they get caught. Apology is not my policy.

And how was your day? Mine was actually pretty good for a change, A.j. from the Grand Canyon showed up at my door step last night (of course I was at work) stayed the day in Flagstaff and we hung out.. the nice thing about having A.j. around is that he wants to eat at all the good places in town...Which means that I get to eat real food and not have to pay for it. Did I mention that my diet consists mainly of bad pasta and instant meals? Of course as a consequence of this I didn't study for my finals as much as I would have liked to, but I know my Cobol cold and the java is easy to remember once you have the basic structure down. Marketing is some common sense (and 3 3x5 cards). Management is there and Production OPS is looking to be not a problem.

So, like I said I was at work last night, the never ending soap opera that it's turned into.... I swear it's like being in High School again only with people openly bitching about each other and generally carrying on. The bright side is I got to work with Traci, who is one of the few people that I genuinely like working with. Lets just say this -----MSG TO TRACI, TRACI IF YOUR READING THIS SEND ME A PICTURE SO I CAN POST IT, K? THANKS!----- yeah I know that's corny but hey it's easier then asking someone out right, ya know?

Well in other news (since I really don't want to think about finals I will write about something else), I bought a new network card for my computer. What does this do you ask? Well honestly not a damn thing... Well at least in my current configuration, that and it was only 20 dollars... So hey who's complaining? I know I'm not... anyway I bought this Network card and threw it into my computer and Win2k just loved it found it right away and it's worked great... Linux (yes I have both on the same computer) hasn't cared for it to much.... actually Linux won't detect it... I'm thinking about installing my old one back in so I can full Linux functionality... I will probably just end up using the old one in my Dedicated Linux Box.

Well that is all from up here tonight, I guess I had better study... YEAH RIGHT....

Hello good citizens of planet Earth, this is Tom of the clan GhostBear we have come to reclaim our blood right as the true warriors of this planet. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT KERN? I think someone needs to stop thinking about Mech Warrior so much... Maybe I will buy it after finals for something to do.

Well I think I can honestly say that finals have gotten to me, I've spent the better part of the afternoon going over Cobol and marketing... sad part is I'm understanding most of it.. maybe there is hope for me yet. I haven't gotten to my management or production ops homework yet... I'm sure I will know way more then I want to know about those two subjects in a matter of days here... 5 days and I'm done with the majority of my finals. I honestly have to say there has got to be a better way of testing students over the knowledge they have learned from a class then a test at the end of the class to see if they can bring it all back up on queue...

OK so anyway, like I said I spent the better part of my afternoon studying. That is not all I did, I made a CD for Em's friend Erin... your welcome ladies. The CD has 17 songs on it... 2 are good.. one of those is question able at best. I don't know about anybody who willingly listens to country music... of course they probably think the same thing about everyone's favorite Metal Head. OK so what else is in the news today... Florida yea what a crock... give it one of them and lets get on with our lives.

Finally Today is December 7. 59 years ago today the U.s. was attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor bringing the U.s. into World War II. Today is a day that we should all reflect on and learn the lessons that were a result of this day. I personally feel that FDR did know about Japanese intentions on Pearl Harbor, FDR also knew that the American People would not goto War with out a good reason. Pearl Harbor provided a reason. For this I think FDR was wrong and should not have dragged the U.s. into a bloody and costly war that really had nothing to do with us, if it weren't for two things. Eventually the Imperial Japanese or the Nazis would have finished in the Old World and moved to the America's and We wouldn't have known a Soviet Union as our enemy for 50 years we would have known a totalitarian dictaorship of Nazism as our Chief enemy. For these two reasons alone now in the year 2000 I truly think that FDR did the right thing. So when stop to think about the sacrafices that were made on this day 59 years ago today think not only of the soliders and saliors that gave their lives at Pearl Harbor think also of every Solider, Salior, and Airman that was lost, killed, or captured by they enemy.

Well it is Wednesday night and not really doing a whole hell of a lot... I should be studying but I'm not feeling responsible for my future right now... anyway this will be the last time for the next week or that I am able to just sit and do nothing at the computer and feel good about it. I've been in a kind of funk for the last week or so, I don't know why I just am. This seems to happen every year right around this time and generally lifts right around spring break. Best guess... I'm not getting enough sunlight... something about sunlight affecting mood, lord knows I get enough of the stuff in the summer.

Ok in our big props portion of the entry tonight the winner is... ummm I need the envelope... thanks... ok the winner is Shen or as we all know here Qinger!! And why is Qinger our winner tonight? She did a ton of stuff on our CIS 310 project, with out her we would both be working on that stupid project. Did I mention that Qinger is Awesome? NO? Well Qinger this one is just for you....YOUR AWESOME!!

OK People I haven't talked to in a while, A.j. you alive there good buddy?... Craig, I know you alive I see you pop up on ICQ every now and again, what have you been doing?

So has anyone else noticed how sensitive women are? I never really noticed

until tonight... I sent the picture you see on the right to a few friends of mine... they all replied with death threats... gee a little sensitive aren't they?

So anyway not a whole lot is new in the world of Tom, Patty from work gave me a book "Fait of my Fathers" by John McCain. Did I mention Patty is AWESOME? Well she is.

Mainly been studying for finals and trying to keep from going nuts.... so far it's not working.

Ok quick question why is every one and their mother so obsessed that every one and their dog be in a good mood? Especially if your a guy and your at work? I find this whole phenomenon rather annoying and honestly I feel like it's all being directed at me. My God don't you people have other things worry other then whether or not I'm in a good mood... some one has to be pissy it might as well be me get it ? got it? good.

Ok moving on to other things... in case you couldn't tell I've been at work for the last couple of days. Of course everyone there is obsessed with being happy, shit if I look at them the wrong way they think I'm pissed at them. Ok I know I'm overly sensitive but these people make me look like a friggin brick wall. Not that I'm complaining but good lord, you deal with the public all day your bound to run into a few bad apples of course if one of them you work with looks at you the wrong way it's time to cry...

While we are on the subject of people and being sensitive, I'm still trying to figure out this whole need (at least in America) with having to have a significant other... I really don't get it. I mean are people so afraid to be alone that they will go to great lengths to make sure they are not alone? That is another thing that drives me absolutely nuts... however this one I'm guilty yes I've gone after the girl but rarely if ever do I succeed. Meanwhile I know people who are so afraid to be alone that they put up with great amounts of pain to just to not be alone... again I find this annoying and disturbing.

I know I have more to rant about but, it's Saturday night and I know I have better things to do then write things that will not be read by anyone.

Well Hello, thanks for coming by my web page. As I'm sure you've figured out this is a page that I keep up to let people know what is going on in the world of Tom. Currently this stands at 2 people that care that number will soon be 3 though!! I just have to hook up the third person's computer. So why am I doing this... well first because I'm sick of all my friends having journals and not updating them!!! GAWD THAT DRIVES ME UP THE WALL!!!! You know who you are... start up dating your pages more often will ya?

Ok now for the not so egotistical reason, or more egotistical reason I can't decide which one it is. I'm graduating from the university in 6 months and I thought it might be kind of cool to document my last semester in school and my adventures in the real world. Really this is just an excuse to blow off steam and not have to look at homework for a couple of minutes a night. Speaking of which I really should be doing that database homework... Qinger might get mad at me... naw I will save it for my day off.

What else what else... well you can get the basic rundown of me over on my bio. Outside of the stuff listed there not much has changed. My brother is a undergrad at ASU, his roommate is Bruce... yes the same Bruce that has 3 pages on this site dedicated to him. My parents are good people.... they are just having a rough go at it with empty nest syndrome... mom should be fine in a few years... dad well dad is dad. I have 3 friends I talk to on a regular basis, Brandi I bounce all my women questions of off, A.j. I bounce pretty much anything under the sun off of, and Emily I bounce what ever is left off of and wait for her reaction.