Aperture Science Chronological Life Data Tracking System

I always seem to have this recurring problem when I write. It usually begins with an idea that happens earlier in the day that I’m not able to act on at the moment. No worries, I’ll just file it away for later… then when later comes I just stare blankly at wordpress/word/whatever – not so much from a lack of remembering the idea of awesome as much as the actual act of getting it into words. In fact, I find that the only way I can really get anything going is to pretty much just start rambling on paper, let my thoughts take hold, and then go back and edit out the ramblings later.

I think this time I’ll leave it, just for you. All the text after this is edited, though. >.>

I started the year with a 60-hour work week, which sucked, followed by a 20-hour work week and 4 days of the flu, which also sucked. I feel like I’m just now caught up enough to really appreciate the fact that a new year is here.

One thing I’m trying this year that I’ve never really done before is making a resolution. But ugh, I really hate that word. It conjures up images of false promises to oneself just to fit in with tradition. Let’s look at this another way, hmm?

Looking back over the recent years of my life, it’s not very hard to recognize a trend in how I spend a lot of my time – I do things I enjoy doing which are easy to do. Computer games, reading, and so forth. Unfortunately this tendancy of mine means there are lot of things I would enjoy doing that are not easy which I have not done. I own two guitars I don’t know how to play. I own a bike which is in disrepair, rollerblades and running shoes which haven’t really been used, stories that I started two years ago and haven’t touched, half-complete computer programs… I have left a trail of unfinished and half-assed stuff in my wake. What’s sad is that I can point exactly to the root of all this – I procrastinate the hell out of everything. “Eh, I’ll do it tomorrow.” “I’m not in a guitar mood today, maybe another time.” Pulling back the microscope a bit farther shows that this lethargy has affected other aspects of my life as well, from a to z, and specifically in areas like work.

So, how do I fix all this?

I’ve started trying to actually establish goals and make lists for myself (by the way, the program OneNote has been absolutely amazing for this), and then sticking to those. It’s a process which is taking some getting used to. I’m also trying to get in the habit of doing things as the occur to me (”Man, I should really go clean the kitchen before playing WoW.”) and not postponing them until later.

I guess we’ll see how it goes.

One of the software engineers/mission operators for the Mars Rovers has started posting his person journal from the early days of the program. Definitely worth a read if you like that kind of stuff.

Mars and Me

I have this fantastically awesome post or three planned about my vacation and meeting friends and just general awesomeness… but my sinuses are currently waging war against the rest of my head, and I can’t focus on anything long enough to get something accomplished without breaking out into a fit of sneezing and sniffling.

I kinda got it started. Hopefully things calm down tonight.

I hate my sinuses.

I mentioned in an earlier post that there’s an absolutely awesome white cat that lives outdoors in my apartment complex. It’s just the friendliest cat you could ever hope to meet, and usually comes running up for attention when I park my car.

I was hoping to take the cat in and give it a home, but unfortunately it turns out that he’s owned by one of the downstairs neighbors. It kind of sucks that they just let him run around outside (declawed), but it’s good to know that there’s people looking out for him and taking care of him.

Booo. I was so looking forward to adopting him.

November is just around the corner, and northern Florida is finally starting to see a bit of the colder weather. For most of the last week we still had temperatures in the 70s, but the last few days have seen it drop to the mid-60s, and as low as 40 at night.

Yes, I said 40. All you people with snow suck.

Anyway, this cold weather isn’t that big of a deal for most of the people I know. Really it just means digging a light jacket out of the closet. However there’s always the weird Florida people who just can’t cope with any kind of cold. Last night as I was coming back from Krav class I passed my upstairs neighbor giong out to her car… and she was fully decked out in a winter coat and gloves, and had a scarf covering her face.

It wasn’t even 40 yet! Probably somewhere in the mid 50s.

It’s not just my neighbor, either. Every year about this time the residents of Florida start looking like they’re headed to ski resorts instead of work. We won’t even see our first freeze until after December, most likely. I don’t understand how they’re not sweating under all those layers.

Honestly, sometimes I just don’t understand Florida at all – and I’ve lived here most of my life.

One of the things that never fails to impress me about the Disney corporation (other than it’s ability to separate people from their money) is the class of customer service they provide.

Several months ago Jess and I went down to Walt Disney World using the passes I bought at the beginning of the year and spent the day at Epcot, the best Disney park EVER. The fireworks, the culture, figment…. it’s just COOL!

Disney runs a hydroponics facility at Epcot (in The Land) that they use to provide food for some of the restaurants in the park. There is a behind the scenes tour you can take where they go a little more in-depth on some of the methods they use to grow the plants, and at the end they’ll give you a little paper that explains how you can set up your own mini-hydroponics at home. Unfortunately when I moved I lost my copy.

After a few months of looking through various boxes and stacks of papers that I still need to deal with in my apartment I gave up on finding it. I guess a bear ate it or something. I figured perhaps Disney might be able to send me another one, so I filled out the little ‘contact us’ form they have on their web page. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really expecting a reply. However, I saw this in my inbox this morning.

Thank you for your interest in Disney’s Horticulture at the Walt Disney World Resort. We are always pleased when a guest takes special interest in our landscapes. I have enclosed a few pieces of information for your reference. Hydroponics is a really neat system of growing different crops-and The Land at Epcot is a great example of what hydroponics is all about. Basil, beans, broccoli, mint, peppers, strawberries, and tomatoes are all plants commonly grown hydroponically.

In addition to the enclosed information, you may want to check out the websites listed below (these websites are not endorsed by Walt Disney World(r)).
www.howtohydroponics.com
www.growingedge.com

I hope this information is helpful to you. Please feel free to contact me at the phone number or e-mail address listed below if you have any other questions about Disney’s Horticulture.

Happy Gardening!

WDW Disney Gardener
(phone and email snipped)

Attached to the email was a PDF copy of the original paper I had misplaced.

How completely awesome is that?

For saying her name and then snapping the photo as the turned around, I think this came out rather well!

( She doesn’t like cameras. )

A lot of times when I write in my blog I feel like I what I want to say doesn’t come anywhere close to the amount of words I wind up putting in an entry. This is definitely one of those.

I read this morning an article on Fark about the number of pet abandonments on the rise, partially due to the economic crunch. There were stories in the comments about pets being left on the side of the road, tossed out of moving cars, even locked in homes that were repossessed.

How the hell can someone do that? I mean seriously, how? I understand everyone has different levels of affection for their pets, but it’s not a television! You can’t just leave it behind for the next person. Just…. arrrgh!

There’s this fantastically beautiful white cat that lives around my apartment complex. Just the friendliest thing you could ever pet, been declawed and everything. How could someone just put a cat like that outside and walk away?

I was doing my normal daily routine of catching up on news (and avoiding work) when I noticed the below tidbit quietly hidden away on Slashdot.

Otherland: The MMO

(If you’re not familiar with Otherland, I’d suggest brushing up on it over at Wikipedia real quick.)

There’s a few reasons I’m excited about this. One of the attributes of Otherland that is made very obvious in the books is the ability to completely ignore the rules when designing an area of the net. Bug-sized avatars in a giant world, corrupted versions of childhood stories, other planets – these all happen in the novels, and I fully expect the game to be the same way. Each place could have it’s own physics, it’s own rules. It would definitely make for a much more dynamic environment than most MMOs currently have. It sounds like they’re also hinting at the possibility for player-created areas. So cool!

There’s also another reason that I have fairly high hopes; Tad Williams (the author of Otherland) is directly involved with the creation MMO. According to his website he seems to be pretty happy with how it’s going, and it looks like he is having a huge role in the design process of the game. This is definitely good news, and is at least a guarantee that it won’t be the player slogging through the story that’s already been told – it will instead be an extension of the books.

I’m definitely looking forward to checking this one out.

So you might have noticed funnly little alien-lookin pictures of people who leave comments on my blog. Those pictures are merely placeholders for what should really be there – a Gravatar!

What is a Gravatar, you ask? It’s a universal avatar that many weblogs support, including wordpress (which I use here). You simply give Gravatar your email address and the picture you would like to use, and when you leave a comment on someone’s blog that has that enabled, it goes and grabs your image for all to see.

Pretty neat, huh? Go check it out!