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I had email-posted this review friday afternoon from work. It finally showed up today. I had done the same with this other post last week and it took a day to show up. Blogger is all f'ed up sometimes when posting via email. Why do I even bother?

Labels: better late than never, hmm

I have seen a Jimmy Fallon movie. In the theatres. Now, I deserve to die.

Not that Taxi was bad, but the presence of this ex-SNLer with his "on the verge of laughter schtick" [hands making air quotes] sunk this movie. He was not funny. The movie had a ridiculous plot. In what world would a hot chick like Eva Mendes date Fallon's character? Especially as his boss? Especially as policemen? Knowing especially the pathetic bond Fallon's character had with his mom? The same one as the president's! No. The movie did not suck. Fallon sucked.

One more thing: Gisele Bundchen. Not that hot. She has skinny thighs.

2 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,
Nameless here forevermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me---filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door,
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.
This it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you." Here I opened wide the door;---
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word,
Lenore?, This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word,
"Lenore!" Merely this, and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping, something louder than before,
"Surely," said I, "surely, that is something at my window lattice.
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore.
Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore.
" 'Tis the wind, and nothing more."

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven, of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly, grim, and ancient raven, wandering from the nightly shore.
Tell me what the lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door,
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."

But the raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered;
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before;
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master, whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster, till his songs one burden bore,---
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never---nevermore."

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore --
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

Thus I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee -- by these angels he hath
Sent thee respite---respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, O quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore:
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me I implore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore---
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted---nevermore!

I thought I would rather put this here for you guys to enjoy. It should be alrignt because Poe's work should be out of copyright protection. Enjoy! Bawaaaa!

Labels: spooky

Happy Holloween. Here's a list of scary things to do tonight.

1. Read the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.


2. Watch a scary episode of the x-files.


3. Read a ghost story.


4. Watch a scary movie.


5. Scare some trick or treaters


6. Think about 4 more years of Bush

What will you be doing tonight?

Labels: lists, spooky, tis the season

I used to visit NASA's astronomy picture of the day almost everyday. Fascinating photos and informational tidbits about certain celestial wonders. If you love looking up at the myriad of stars in the night sky, then this site should be in your list of bookmarks. Maybe it should even be your homepage. Make it so.

Labels: links, out there

Delicious Library is going to be one of the next programs going on my TiBook. I have a lot of books, and need to create a library in my office for them, and this piece of software would be great to help organize it.

Labels: apps, computing, lists

Boston finally wins a World Series. Their first since 1918. Is the curse finally dead? Does it matter? It is now time to start the rioting in Boston. Be safe out there.

Labels: baseball

So if the Boston Red Sox can kill the curse that wouldn't die by winning game 4 of the World Series, will Fox actually show a Simpson's "Tree House of Horror" on Holloween? If so, then even more of a reason to root for the Sox.

Labels: baseball

If the new iPod photo or the U2 iPod not geek enough for you, then try John Gruber's DF-iPod. As much Mac geekery as 20 MB can fit.

Labels: Apple, geeked

The video to Eminem's "Mosh" from his latest album. Watch it.

Windows Media Player
Real Player
Quicktime

Labels: anger and frustration

Finally, after a couple of weeks of less than appealing movies appearing in the theatres, along comes The Grudge. It is October, the Holloween month, so therefore at least one scary movie should show up on screen to frighten audiences.

Firstly, I can't really watch scary movies, because I am either hiding my eyes behind my fingers missing all the scary action or averting my gaze. I don't like the sudden jolt of the scare, and I won't be able to go to sleep comfortably at night. So, The Grudge scared me even though we caught a matinee. I don't know if I would've been able to sleep alone in my house if we caught it later that night, even so I ended up sleeping on the couch with the lights and TV on, which was even more scarier because my couch is a at the foot of my stairs, and I could imagine the Grudge ghost coming down them. Yikes!

Overall, it wasn't that great of a scary movie. Again The X-Files already have done an episode similar to this one. A haunted house, which is usually the scene of my favorite ghost stories, manifests the evil done in it, so that residents experience it in all to physical ways. The plot is usual. The scares are alright. The non-linear story telling somewhat confusing, but useful in telling two different tales at the same time. The Grudge follows all ghost story conventions.

Questions for those who have seen it. Why is the dead wife the malevolent spirit? Wouldn't she be trying to seek justice rather than inflicting the pain on others as was inflicted upon her? Did Sarah Michelle Gellar bite it in the end? Was the pathologist also a ghost? What happened to the other detective? The policemen on the scene? The realtor? Did they meet a grisly end? Hmmm?

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

I don't know why guys don't find girls in glasses attractive. I find them down right hot. Tina Fey, hot! Racheal Harris, hot! I think it comes from my first crush being a girl who wore glasses. I wonder if she still does or did she eventually get laser eye surgery. Girls in glasses are damn sexy. Please, if you are a girl with some seeing problems forcing you to wear corrctive lenses, stay that way and avoid the temptation for laser eye surgery. If you are a girl who has perfect vision, get some fake glasses. You'll look damn sexy in them. And when you do give me a call.

Labels: girls, she's hot

I read this dude's comic, her, but really I want one of his paintings from the Girls and Robots series.

Labels: art, girls

I wanted to mention a couple places to go for some excellent eats. First, for muy autentico mexican food try out Mari Luna Mexican Grill in Pikesville. They have some really good mexican for moderate price. It ain't no Taco Bell, so it is fresh and good. Next is Sun, Moon and Stars Cafe. The chef is wonderful. It is hidden in an office building out of the way on Red Run Blvd, but is worth the journey. I especially like their fried mozarella. MMM.

Labels: go there now, mmm

This is the penultimate working draft. I am tired and want to catch some ZZZs. I may go to work. The report still needs proofreading and a final closing paragraph. Read it and give me any criticism.

Fact 52: Efficiency stems more from good design than from good coding.

Discussion

Can you really argue that this fact is actually a fallacy? Does it not make sense that from a well thought out design an efficient program emerges? Obviously efficient programs start with good design, which is true to a degree. After all, there is the old management saw, "Measure twice. Cut once," which speaks more truths about the importance of starting with a good blueprint before producing an item than any other platitude about production. Except, it is rather shortsighted to minimize the importance of code to a program. As Kent Beck said, "[C]ode is the one artifact that development can't live without (44)." It is the most important activity in software development, because in the end it is the code that is compiled into the program not UML diagrams, not requirement statements, not use cases, nor any other artifact that is generated when software is created. Robert Glass seems to disregard in that fact that code is what implements the efficiency of a good design.

To see the fallacy in that fact, let's add words to it so that it reads more factual. Since, it is generally agreed that the best software development processes use a feedback loop, so let's restate the fact merging the design and code into one phase, "Efficiency stems more from good implementation (design and coding together)." When restated, the fact makes more sense because it includes the importance of code as well as introduces the concept that design and code are irrevocably linked together in the development cycle. It is hard to divorce the two during development, and it is hard to see where one ends and the other begins. Design really is a part of the coding as Steve McConnell explains, "[T]he design might be intended to be detailed enough for coding to be fairly mechanical, but is design rarely complete - the coder usually designs part of the program, officially or otherwise (139)." Not all design is done up front. Some of it happens as the developer implements the design. Not all coding should be done after design for example code that is written as a "proof of concept." If efficiency is desirable in design, then it is also desirable in implementing the design, and therefore efficiency too can come from coding.

If the developer seeks efficiency, how is she to know if the design she has laid out meets that criterion? She must seek feedback to the design either through desk checking the design, conducting a peer review, or through implementing it in code. It may take several iterations until an acceptable design emerges. In fact Glass agrees that the implementation phase should be cyclical when he states in fact 28, "Design is a complex, iterative process. The initial design solution will likely be wrong and certainly not optimal (81)." Sometimes the design is implemented in code to make sure that it works and is feasible. Design should be iterative, because it is fraught with many difficult choices to make. McConnell declares that "design is a sloppy process... because the right answer is often hard to distinguish from the wrong one (161)." Glass also echoes the sentiment in fact 27, "There is seldom one best design solution to a software problem (79)." So if there is more than one way at achieving the optimal design, then it is best to let the implementation decide on the efficiency aspects to address. Designing an efficient program will be difficult because the developer won't know until it is implemented if it is truly efficient.

So design and coding can happen concurrently in the same phase, and design is difficult so that it should be attempted in an iterative fashion, but should seeking efficiency happen even during the design phase? McConnell argues that efficiency should not be considered during design because "[i]t's almost impossible to identify performance bottlenecks before a program is working completely (681)." The design can make note of certain areas to be of concern and can choose the appropriate algorithms or data structures to minimize their impact to the working program, but not until the code is written will the actual inefficiencies be found. Not until coding, does the developer know how successful the design is. He further argues that "[f]ocusing on optimization during initial development detracts from achieving other program objective (681)." Efficiency should not be the main focus of the early design phase, but can be left to later after the primary objectives of good code are defined.

In his discussion of the fact, Glass describes the areas that a good design can optimize, "external input/output..., clumsy interfaces, ... and internal time wastage (140)," and makes a strong case that these are the areas that a design should attempt to make efficient, but these areas are already well known as bottlenecks to performance. Hardware access is a fundamental performance bottleneck, extra function calls and indirect access methods add performance overhead, and ill-designed program logic can waste CPU cycles, but at design time effort should be made to reduce their impact. In fact these areas are so well known that they are already taken into account by most developers, so efficiency can only be gained during the coding process.

Now let's change the statement again, "Good design is not necessarily efficient." This may be counterintuitive, but sometimes designs that seem to be optimal, when they are coded, can produce an inefficient program. For an example, a design, which relies heavily on template functions and classes, may cause the size of the program to be larger because of the number of types of instances of these template classes causing inefficient use of memory. Another example is a design, which misuses design patterns; Abstract factories building Composites of Strategies kicked off by a change of State seems rather complicated to implement. Increase complexity through deeper class hierarchies and the need for virtual tables to store the method calls add levels of indirection or as Glass said a clumsy interface.

Glass focuses on the most notorious of inefficiencies, but does not mention that design may add inefficient compilation of the program. Like the example above of deep class hierarchies and their resultant virtual tables, the compiler must make these linkages before producing the executable. Also by designing a class hierarchy with many concrete classes compilation time may take longer. It may be a good design, but having a long compile time would make the developers waste their time waiting for the compilation to be finished.

Implementing the design in code may not always end up with an efficient program. Glass, in fact 29, states, "Designer 'primitives' (solutions programmers can readily code) rarely match programmer 'primitives' (84)." Admittedly, this is true only if the project is large enough to have stratified team members' roles and separated the designers from the programmers. A good design may be translated into inefficient code by the developer tasked to implement the design. It is dependent upon the coder to be able to code the design correctly. Here, it is the single most important fact about the relationship code has to design. Code is where "the rubber meets the road." If the code is poor, it will not matter how well the design was laid out.

Finally, is it efficiency that should be the focus of design? McConnell sums up succinctly the goal of design, "It's hardly ever true that programs need to be fast or small before they need to be correct (682)." He argues for producing a good, correct design before thinking about the need for optimizing for efficiency. Design should focus on "highly modular code that's easy to understand and modify (693)." Afterwards, measurements are taken of the bottlenecks in the performance of the program in order to tune and optimize the program for proficiency (693), but this is after successive iterations of the developed program not before. Design should focus on quality and let efficiency arise through good practices.

Controversy

The controversy of calling this fact a fallacy can be easily focused upon by restating the fact by placing code before design: "Efficiency stems more from good code than good design." This principle is the basis for Extreme Programming (XP), which emphasizes code before design. It seems as though Glass is trying to belittle this new practice in software engineering, when he points out that the controversy is between "those who see design as being of little value and those who see it as an essential prelude to coding (141)." He seems to believe that the followers of XP focus more on the coding than on producing good design, but he misinterprets XP. Coding may be the primary activity found on an XP project. Coding of unit tests, coding the program to pass the unit tests, and refactoring existing code so that the program succeeds in addressing the most simple of requirements. There is a method to the XP madness. In fact, Kent Beck includes a chapter titled, "Design Strategy," in his seminal book on XP, Extreme Programming Explained.

XP's goal as related to design is to produce the simplest design, which can meet the current written code. Design's role is sublimated to that of the code, yet it is still important. "We will continually refine the design of the system, starting from a very simple beginning. We will remove any flexibility that doesn't prove useful (103)." Again, design is iterative, and it seeks to produce efficient code, but it is not the primary duty of the developer in XP to produce design documents. Rather the code is continuously refined until it becomes a rather simple and easy to understand design.

XP's design strategy starts as writing unit tests to highlight the problem that the production code needs to solve. It moves to designing and implementing code to satisfy the test. Design and coding continuously happen until the test passes. If the design can be made simpler, than it should be. (106) This allows the XP developer to develop just enough to make the program work correctly, and whatever inefficiencies will not be coded. By starting with code, XP practitioners already are at the stage of knowing what code will be efficient rather than guessing at the beginning of the development by studying the design documents.


Sources

Beck,Kent. Extreme Programming Explained. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2000.
McConnell, Steve. Code Complete. Redmond: Microsoft Press, 1993.
Glass, Robert L. Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2003.
Broderic C Gonzales
October 21, 2004

Page 6 of 7

Labels: software development

Is that Sloth froom Goonies singing in the seventh inning?

Labels: tweet

I am tense tonight. Not because of the paper due tomorrow, but because the Red Sox are up 8-1 in the bottom of the seventh against the much hated Yankees. I am taking the day off tomorrow to finish my paper, but I will try to get as much done tonight.

Labels: baseball

This is for helping me write my report lest I forget.



> http://www.meridian.wednet.edu/mms/8th/mla.htm
>
> http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/works_cited.htm
>
> http://130.15.161.74/inforef/guides/bibliography.htm
>
>
>

Labels: "blog as notepad", links, lists

Fact 52: Efficiency stems more from good design than from good coding

This is from Robert Glass's "Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering." I am supposed to refute one of the facts. Unfortunately, none of them seem unreasonable. They are all true to some degree. The above fact is very true. A good design can produce good code. A poor design will produce bad code. Yet, I want to say that this is false?

What is false about it? I am so stuck on this question that it is keeping me from writing this paper. I am screwed. An allnighter is coming up.

Labels: procrastination, school

I am the greatest procrastinator in the world. I have a paper due tomorrow, but haven't started. I have a midterm project due next week. When will I start?

Labels: I'm a fool, school

I have already called Katie Holmes a cutie, today. Here's another cute brunette,Evangeline Lilly. She's one of the stars of ABC's Lost. She made me subscribe to the show on Tivo. All she now has to do is wear glasses and I am done.

Labels: boobtube, she's hot

There are PG rated movies that, while mainly catering to the preteen audience, can appeal to parents or the occasional adult who may catch it. Some of the enjoyable ones lately have featured pre-superstar, Lindsay Lohan. (Don't believe me. Check out Parent Trap or Freaky Friday. They're light and fun and don't subject there older audience to mind numbingly dumb situations.) Unfortunately, First Daughter is not one. As a 33 year old male, this movie was not targeted to me, but I thought it would have at least offered something interesting. I was wrong. Even my mother, who actually saw Princess Diaries 2, thought it sucked. In the nearly empty theatre, even the older teen girls (16+ they drove) didn't necessarily enjoy it. Although, one of them clapped when the big kiss came, but probably more from emotion than in approval of the movie.

Now I enjoy all movies I have gone to. The good. The bad. And the ugly. What little joy could be found in Katie Holmes. Though not a particularly intriguing part, she did give a performance that I liked. Bittersweetness she conveyed with those big, brown eyes. She should try to act in better movies. Another surprising thing is that the movie was filled with some recognizable actors, Micheal Keaton, that girl from ID4 who was Jeff Goldblum's character's estranged wife, and Lela Rochon. It was even directed by Forest Whitiker! Ghost Dog directing a preteen movie! Ghost Dog! How did this movie with this type of talent end up being bad to watch?


1 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Does anyone watch this show? So far it is very intriguing. Some what mysterious. I can't for the life of me know how long the conceit for the show will last. What happens when they figure out where they are? Will they change story lines. This show has a built in life span of about 2 years. The writers should use it and wrap it up succinctly. I also think that someone is going to die and it is going to be the hotheaded dude.

Labels: boobtube

I don't know about you but I have so many email addresses that it is hard to keep them clean from spam. On my ISP I have 3 email addresses. One at work. Another hotmail and yahoo account. Plus there's the one for school. That's six so far. How do people manage their accounts? Their passwords? Does anyone even bother?

Labels: why am i telling you this?

I am sure you've seen this passed around already but it wouldn't hurt to check it out again especially to take a break from the monotony of work. 30-Second Bunnies Theatre. Also, check out Amy's Diary. She couldv'e been in my third grade class for all I know.

Labels: animated, ha ha

RIP Christopher Reeves. He will always embody Superman in our imagination. Even when he lost the use of his limbs, that made him more superhuman.

Labels: fare thee well

Hooray! The bucs win their first game of the year. They do it behind Brian Griese who had been the third string QB. Man they are reaching. Tune in next week to see if they can make it two in a row.

The hometown team demoralized their local rivals, Washington Redskins, by winning an offensive challenged game. Both teams need to rethink their personnel at the QB position. Kyle Boller sucks and Mark Brunnell is getting old. If not for the defense...

Who still uses Windows95 nowadays? I do. Ain't that a bitch of an OS? Its on an 8 year old Dell with a 233MHz Pentium chip. This thing is a dinosaur.

Why am I talking about old hardware? Just recently I have decided that it was time to give up on dial-up so I have ordered DSL. DSL? The local cable co has a freaking monopoly on the cable system in my county, and until they have competition then I won't be giving them money. But anyway, I am trying to add ethernet to this box. What a pain in the ass. Installing the hardware was easy, but the drivers was hard. I tried for an hour to get the "Add Hardware" utility to recognize the card. I rebooted a dozen times, but still no luck. Finally, it works. Unfortunately, I had to change the IRQ for my modem to avoid an IRQ conflict. What the hell?

Once I have my DSL modem installed, I'll see how the set up works.

Labels: computing, home

Watch these ads that feature previous Bush voters. Effective in getting across the message that Bush is wrong for the country. When people sympathetic to your world view are abandoning you, then something truly has to be wrong. Maybe people are finally waking up to the realization that Bush has been terrible for the country.

Link via Kevin Drum.

Just on David Letterman, the founder of Found Magazine. Has anyone recovered anything that they lost and found in there?

Last night during the VP debates, the Vice President mentioned a website, factcheck.com in order to present the straight facts. It wasn't where he had wanted them to visit. If you click the link, you'll see that it takes you to George Soros's website. Splashed on the page in big bold letters is "President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests, and undermining American values." Geeze. It couldn't get anymore comical than that.

Labels: presidential

Wyman makes note that a new $50 bill has just been introduced. Interesting new design, but to see the difference, you need to compare it to the current design of the bill. The introduction of color to the famed "greenbacks" has begun in earnest. Pretty soon we won't have the monopoly money one liner to fall back on when discussing other countries' currency. Our's will fit right in.

Labels: commerce, F.O.B., links

My friend, Wyman Lee, has got a personal web site going on. I couldn't tell if its an actual blog, but it looks as if it is considering its got posts and all. I see that he has posted about the Amazing Race. Check it out. But turn on your pop-up blocker, because its a Lycos server.

Labels: Amazing Race, boobtube

Interesting concept of one line bios. I am thinking of what to put in mine.

Labels: hunh?, links

I need to learn to cook. I saw Racheal Ray do this barbecued succotash which I have a few of the ingredients already in my cupboard. She's one of my favorites. Thirty minute meals! She makes it look so easy that I can delude myself into thinking that I could make some of her recipes.

I also love watching Good Eats. Alton Brown is kind of a nerdy chef who treats cooking liking writing a program. He makes things so scientific that it makes me want to cook.

Actually, I rarely have the chance to cook. Keep stopping by mom's. I need to learn to cook, so that when I get a girlfriend, I can cook for her.

Labels: why am i telling you this?

It seems after Burt Rutan won the X Prize they are going to offer some form of commercial space flights to people. I don't think I have the intestinal fortitude for it, but if you like you can try out the zero gravity roller coaster flights that are being offered. Cue Star Trek them... "Space. The Final Frontier...."

Labels: science fiend, winners

I am at work wasting time. Most of the things I have to do are done, and I don't feel like putting any effort into getting something new to do. I am acting busy, but I am not. This is a post to that effect.

Labels: get me out of here, I'm a fool

Week 4 of the NFL season and another loss for Tampa Bay. Maybe we have returned to the glory days of the lovable losers. It is officially a long season now. What do Buccaneers fans have to look forward to? Maybe we can break the franchise record of 24 straight losses? Yikes.

As for the hometown Ravens, they play on Monday night. My cousin's going to the game.

Labels: football, it's over

Yes, I am getting sick and tired of courier new, so I am on the lookout for a new font for when I am writing code.

PS. Thank the lord that News Radio Quote Month is over. I had a hard time blogging from work because I could never find the link to a good News Radio quote site.

Labels: software development