My skills at not procrastinating have improved. Instead of starting the defensive driving course the day before it’s due, I’ve decided to start the week before. Boy, do they ever want to make sure you’re paying attention:
Yes, sir, Picture of Random Guy Yelling and Pointing in the middle of the chapter text. I completely understand that according the Florida Law no one has the right-of-way. No, sir, I’m not doing other stuff while waiting for the 50 min timer for Chapter 1 to finish, even though it took only 15 minutes to read, and I don’t need to memorize it because the exam is open notes.
September 27th, 2007
no comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese
The e-mail spam filter is slowly learning. All the pharmaceutical e-mails are getting sent straight away; now it’s mostly the “Busty Asian [etc, etc.]” mails that the filter has to figure out…
Speaking of Asian chicks…I learned an important lesson today.
Today my friend and I went to a Chinese buffet, and my friend reminded me that there was the potential for a pretty waitress to, er, introduce myself to. After determining that the women there were out of my league (ie, 40-50 years old and likely married), I set my primary focus to eating and trying the few new foods that this buffet had.
After getting seconds, we were chatting a bit, and a voice behind me indicated a desire to pick up the used dishes. Without thinking I brought the dishes towards the purple-clad arms near my right shoulder. 15 seconds later, my friend said, “What about her?”
Instantly, I realized none of the out-of-my-league employees had worn purple. Whipping my head around, I tried to catch a glimpse of the alleged potential target, but by then it was too late. So my next trip to an Asian restaurant, I will be sure to sit with the back to the wall, so as to not miss any potential opportunities.
(DISCLAIMER: I don’t really go around to restaurants trying to meet women. But the occasional waitress or cashier will be, er, especially friendly and attentive. You never know.)
September 22nd, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese, Science/Technology
At work, normally I have milk and one or two types of juices stocked in our mini-refrigerator (everyone else favors soda, or maybe Gatorade). Unfortunately, I was already running late this morning, so couldn’t stop by the grocery store before work to pick up any drinks.
For lunch, I had a Kerrybane (ie, Philly cheesesteak–not a usual choice for me) and water, and really felt like a drink with taste, which would normally be covered by the juice supply. Of course, there was none left. Rummaging through the refrigerator presented the possible drinks:
- Water (as if I didn’t have plenty of my own)
- Coke
- Diet Coke
- Sprite
- Sprite Zero
- Diet Dr. Pepper
- Someone else’s Gatorade
- Ginger Ale
- Root Beer
Ah! Root beer! I didn’t feel like soda, but root beer is one of my preferred carbonated beverages if there’s nothing else. The sound of the can opening, the liquid hitting the bottom of the glass, and the fizzy bubbles bumping against each other only increased the anticipation of consuming the rarely drunken carbonated beverage. As the rich brown liquid hit my taste buds, I realized something…
It didn’t taste that good. Even five years ago, it would have absolutely hit the spot. I’ve heard that taste buds change as you age…just another sign that I’m getting old.
September 22nd, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese
I’m supposed to have what’s essentially stage 2 of a program finished for tomorrow morning. But my brain’s stuck in neutral, so I’ll try typing mindlessly until it gets going again.
Although this week hasn’t been a great week timewise to do so, I’m going to try to be on FICS next week; those of you who were interested in getting some games in, my handle is LiquidEggProduct (makes sense)
Thanks to Derek for rekindling my interest in blog stats. It’s interesting to see the variance in the types of regulars and semi-regulars. Person A visits practically everyday. Person B visits twice a month, and tries to catch up on a bunch of posts all at once. Trackbacks get target blogger’s attention.
Two days in the past week, this site has had a record number of unique visitors. Thanks in part to the guy from India who did a Google search for “C# interview questions” (who says stereotypes aren’t based in fact?) And the Lithuanian who wanted the secret code for Super Chick Sisters. And the South African who did an image search for “uckg”.
The most visited post of all time is the first Manuel Uribe post, by a very heavy margin. It’s received more hits than the second, third, and fourth most popular posts combined.
September 13th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Grilled Cheese
Companies are starting to release more natural juice type stuff products. It’s really sad that the labels have to remind us that natural juices settle, and they don’t necessarily taste the same exact way each time due to natural variation. We’re so used to fruit drinks as solutions, we’ve forgotten fruit juices are actually suspensions.*
Found out what Panel De Pon is (aka Tetris Attack). A couple of friends are crazy good at it, and have to give me about a four level difficulty handicap to make things semi-competitive, even considering my experience in video game-fu.
Another buddy has started getting into Go, and he went to a club in his area for the first time when I visited him. We played a game that weekend, which I won. I’m gloating now, because that will likely be the last game that’s competitive. Next time around, it’s likely that some sort of handicap will start looking mighty good.
September 13th, 2007
2 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Gaming, Grilled Cheese, Science/Technology
- Sleep from 4am - 9am Sunday
- Sleep from 3pm - 8pm Sunday
- Sleep from 12:30am - 6:30am Monday
That’s 13.5 hours of sleep over a 48 hour period which, in theory, is sufficient. My body’s saying otherwise.
September 10th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese
Vacation has been satisfactory enough so that I don’t feel like going back to work on Monday. I’d not been planning to post anything until then, but wanted to get this out.
I am way behind on personal e-mail and blog stuff, and will catch up upon return.
John Witter of the Jig-Saw History Blog was the original guy to tag me.
Rules:
1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them.
4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged.
Eight Random Facts About Me
- Despite my obvious whiteness, I’m about a quarter black.
- I have a phobia of anorexics, but it does not extend to the (involuntarily) starving or especially thin.
- Much of my casual wardrobe consists of free T-shirts from giving blood.
- After living in Miami for five years, I root for the Heat, Marlins, and Panthers, but will never back the Dolphins.
- Practically any drink with rum as the primary alcohol gets a thumbs-up from me.
- I used to be able to accurately multiply two 3-digit numbers in my head (but not nearly as fast as just using a calculator).
- The opening move 1. e4 is anathema to me. I don’t remember ever using it in a chess tournament.
- I will undoubtedly think of a few items that were more interesting than #3, #4, and #8 about an hour from now.
Tagged: BabyA622, I Hate Pink!, Reassembler, Hardcore Pawnography, Out of the Ether, thelaw, Mr. Fantasy, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
August 24th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese
Last night, after picking up the rental car, I drive to the Dallas tollway to get to my friend’s place. The entry sign clearly said “Change Made”, so there shouldn’t have been a problem with me having naught but a $10 bill.
The sign should have said “Change Made only if you have a $1 or $5 bill”. Instead of an actual person manning the booth, there was a change machine that worked for $1 or $5 only. Seeing the cars pile up behind me, I desperately slipped in the $10, but no dice. Panicked thrashing through luggage wasn’t any help either. Left with no choice, I meekly crawled through the booth, well aware of the behemoth camera recording the scene of rental car’s license plate in conjunction with a red light indicating an unpaid toll.
The next booth actually did have a person; with relief, I got change and asked for the NTTA’s number (North Texas Tollway Authority).
This morning I tried to call them to do a little preemptive action. After jumping through several voice menus, I managed to get to where a violation number had to be entered to go any further.
Not having one (yet), I attempted to call them a second time. After pressing “1″ for English, the system started spewing the second voice menu. Apparently, a defeated sigh is a valid option, because that took me to the Tolltag customer menu.
Time for attempt #3. I hate this.
(UPDATE: Spoke with a representative who said if it was only that one time when that happened, there won’t be any problems. NTTA is now off my archenemies list, bringing the total to zero.)
August 17th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Burning Agony, Grilled Cheese
That 3-1-1 policy (severely limiting the amount of liquids one can bring on a flight) is a knee-jerk reaction to a single event. Someone tries to blow up the plane with shoes? Check everybody’s shoes. Next time it’s liquids, so ban the liquids. If Al-Qaeda’s smart, the next plot will prominently feature socks and underwear, leading the FAA to ban socks and underwear on all future US flights.
The electronic chess set I carry on flights seems to give the inspectors fits, as this is the second time in a row they called for a bag check. (For you chess people, game score of the sad miniature below.)
Being an airline employee, I can fly at a nominal price, but on a space available status. Fortunately, the flight was not nearly full, and they even asked whether I wanted a window or aisle seat. The most natural answer, of course, was to request a middle seat to double my chances of sitting next to a cute girl to flirt with.* Of course, there was the flip side (doubling the odds one of those 55-year-old South American men who like me a bit too much would be adjacent), so I stuck with the window.
After we were seated, we discovered we’d be delayed 45 minutes, and we were already at a point where we couldn’t use electronic devices. So, it was time to break out the SkyMall. On the cover was a chick in a bathing suit, which is as close as I’d get to sitting near a cute girl on the plane. Products featured that are useful for someone who’s not me:
- Another “revolutionary” electric razor from Norelco
- GrillAlert, which lets you know when your meat’s done cooking from 300 feet away
- Pop-up hot dog toaster, for those who like eating unidentifiable meat
- Thunderbolt storm detector, to tell you when a storm is coming. Only $430.
The sad game against the crappy computer. The only possible defense is that I haven’t played any serious chess in six months (diagrams made with apronus.com’s diagram editor, since I’m well away from my usual tools)
| White (Me) |
| Black (Crappy Computer) |
| 1. d4 |
d5 |
| 2. c4 |
dxc4 |
|
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted! Most low-level comps don’t handle it very well, making too many positional or developmental sacrifices to keep the Pawn.
|
| 3. Nc3 |
Nc6 |
| 4. d5 |
… |
|
The combo of not playing in six months and being generally too lazy to study openings anyway meant I thought for a while about the last two moves. For a long time, my favorite reply to the QGA was 3. e4, trying to establish a classical center and not block my Queen’s Bishop. It seems that move tries for too much, and Black can counterattack the center.
This move 4.d5 is probably the same, an overextension. I was eager to kick the Knight around and try to make some central gains (anticipating 4. … Ne5 5. f4 Ng6 6. e4.)
|
| … |
Na5 |
| 5. Qa4+ |
c6 |
| 6. dxc6 |
Nxc6 |
|
For some reason, I thought Black had to recapture with the Pawn. Put it down to tiredness.
|
| 7. Bf4 |
… |
|
I’m still not sure what’s best. I was eager to bring the Rook to the d-File and stop e5, besides bringing pressure to c7. Perhaps trying to develop the Kingside forces was better, but I thought it might to too slow to take advantage of my slight development advantage.
|
| … |
Qb6 |
|
Seems to be a very strange and bad move. There are probably some tactical reasons the comp played this that I’m not seeing.
|
 |
| 8. Nd5 |
… |
|
Shouldn’t 8. O-O-O be considered here? Yes, Black can take on f2, but it sure looks like a time-waster.
|
| … |
Qxb2 |
| 9. Nc7+ |
Kd8 |
| 10. Rd1+ |
Bd7 |
 |
|
Up to here I’d foreseen, and was anticipating picking up the Rook with a winning advantage. But then doubt crept in my mind about this material grab, and Black would end up with heavy initiative due to my lack of Kingside development. I played the next move to try to increase pressure against his King (threatening Qxf7, which then would hit f8 and d7) and guard the c3 square, but it backfires. Qxf7 is a non-threat which is easily parried and gives Black time to consolidate its defenses.
|
| 11. Qxc4 |
e5 |
|
Strangely, the crappy computer still has me up .4 pawns in this position. Must be event horizon. The rest of my moves are rather poor despite thinking forever about them.
|
| 12. Qxf7 |
Bxb4+ |
| 13. Bd2 |
Nxd4 |
| 14. Bxb4 |
Qxb4+ |
|
Black has forced checkmate in three moves. I resign.
|
August 17th, 2007
3 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Chess, Grilled Cheese
- Fall asleep at 9:30pm last night
- Wake up at 4:00am this morning
- Realize I need to do wash because I have zero pairs of clean underwear
- Stuff wash in washer
- Do some work and “work” until 7:20am
- Take a shower, etc.
- Realize I never put clothes in the drier
- Put on clothes and grab a pair of soggy underwear
- Hang aforementioned pair of soggy underwear in the car, hoping it will dry out before getting to work
- Attempt to stuff underwear in pocket so no one sees it
- Dash into restroom and quickly change
- Vow never to let this happen again
August 8th, 2007
4 comments
Posted by Donnie
Filed under Grilled Cheese, Weaksauce Losers
thank...