Checking In

Well that was a bust.

You remember how I said that the storm had changed course and was now to go right over DC? Yeah, well, they were smoking crack. The thing got to about Richmond and hung a left for the mountains. We got some "feeder bands" (my new word for the day) that came through, but I don't think the brunt of the storm ever made it to DC. I crashed at around midnight, and when I woke up this morning, my alarm clock wasn't flashing. We didn't even get a power dip during the night (my alarm clock will reset and start flashing at any excuse).

We did have some flickering earlier in the night. Which lead to me turning things off and unplugging my router, modem, and answering machine. But, that was about it. Though, before I went to bed, Dominion Power (my power company, along with VA Beach and Hamton Roads) was reporting almost 1.5 million people with out electricity. Mark Warner, our govenor, said on the news that he expected it to be closer to 2 mil by dawn. But, that was before Izzie turned on her blinker and made the left turn, so who knows. They do expect it to be several days, if not a week or two, before everyone has power back.

We did have two neighborhoods evacuated around here. If you've ever been to Mount Vernon, it was the neighborhoods around there. They're very lie lowing areas and there was a fear of serious flooding. Which, they are still worried about. Since the storm ended up in the mountains, it'll be a couple of days before all the water gets into the Potomac and Bay, and then out to sea.

About the only cool thing to happen was I acctually saw the Emergency Broadcast System go into effect. I was watching the news, hoping for something interesting to happen, and had flipped over to catch a little of some vampire movie on Sci-Fi when suddenly the screen goes red and I'm told to turn to Channel 8 (the local cable news thingy, I never watch it, so I don't know what they carry, but they aren't network). I turn over there to find out that a flash flood warning is now in effect for my county. I'm on high ground though (the third floor on high ground) so I just turn back to the vampire movie. I'm guessing they can do this on a county by county basis.

The Federal Government made the call to close yesterday and today, not as much because of the storm, but because of Metro, the local mass transit. Metro feared people being blown off elevated platforms, and so closed at 11am on Thursday. Since, a lot of people who work in the city take the metro into work (so you can avoid insane traffic and parking problems) it was decided that it was easier just to close things down, since so many wouldn't be able to get home. I'm sure the fact that they got a load of shit during this winter for not closing during some of the worse snow storms, played in thier minds as well.

The wind here is still a little gusty, but all in all, I've seen worse thunderstorms. At least for what we got here. Move out to the east, closer to the shore, or to the south, and I'm sure they'll tell a different story.

So, that's the way the story ends. I hope you guys had a more eventful night
then I did.

My day

Ok, now that I have that out of my system.

Today started out rough. I woke up over an hour late for work. I hit red lights on the way in that I never hit. And my lighter suddenly decided to stop working. Today should have been terrible, but it wasn't. Instead it started to shape up like an ok Monday. Not great, but workable.

Then I got home.

I was walking up the steps to the apartment and thought to myself how I was waiting for the Eclipse order. I had a sudden surge of "may be its here." Then a quick realization that I just ordered the thing late Friday night/early Saturday morning, and it didn't go out until Saturday. Eclipse is in Arizona, how the hell could my order be here already?

I got to the last set of stairs and turned the corner. As I climbed the last batch I saw the boxes. Yes, there wasn't one, but two boxes. "Holy shit, the order's here already, cool! But, what's the second box? The order wasn't that big that he needed to use a second box." Then I glanced at the return address. Sonore Records. Shit, I'd forgotten about this order. Holy hell, I not only had the Eclipse order, but the Sonore order as well. The Sonore order included a Ruins CD and the Japanese Independant Music CD/Book. The book I've been waiting for. An A-Z encyclopedia of the Japanese Indie scene. YEAH!!!

So I lined up the CDs on the dining room table and thought about which to listen to first. May be Scorece or Sunburn Hand of The Man. I've never heard these guys before. But wait, I probably should listen to those disks when I've got time to really focus on them and take them in. I should probably start with something I know. A band I've heard before. That leaves Acid Mother Temple and Ruins. Hmm... I don't think I'm in the right mind set for Ruins. Let's go with the AMT.

And so I slipped it in. I decided to listen to the opening bit for a minute before going to check email and the like. After a few minutes, I sat down on the couch. An hour later I got up, speechless, typed out the below message and email of confusion and went for some dinner. Air, may be air will help clear my head. That deffinetly helped, and the below review was written. As I said in the comments. A bit oover the top, but I was going for that. And it's not bad for being the first real review I've written in a long time.

I have 8 more CDs to listen to over this week. Sometimes you just have to look around and think to yourself, "life is good."

Expect more reviews this week.

Picking Hold Music

Told you I was bored.

Beth is bitching about crappy service from her car insurance company (and rightfully so). This little bit is what caught my eye:

So I called them, and listened to the world’s worst holding pattern music, something like salsa meets reggae.

This reminds me of a story. Before I had my current job I spent two weeks working as a traveling PC tech. Basically, if you called Dell or Compaq (or a few smaller companies) for support and they decided that a part need to be replaced, I was one of the people who would come to your house/office and replace it for you.

Each morning we had to fill out paper work for the broken parts that we had to send back to the manufacturer. One day one of the guys I'm working with called one of the smaller companies to find out what he needed to do with a part and gets put on hold. Before the music starts playing, he's asked what kind of music he wants to listen to.

Let that sink in for a minute. They had different options for hold music.

Either this is the most considerate company in the world, or customers spend way to much time on hold, and this is an attempt to appease them. I seem to remember it being the second, as the guy was still on hold when I left to make my rounds.

Real Mexican Tacos

I don't really feel like working today, and don't really have anything pressing to do. I guess I should be reading about SQL Server, but I'm not. Instead I'm wasting time on here, just babbling.

If you ever get the chance to eat real Mexican tacos, I highly suggest it. What do I mean by real Mexican tacos? Well, for those that don't know. Like Chinese food, what Americans refer to as "Mexican" isn't actually Mexican. Instead it's usually Tex-Mex, an American version of Mexican.

There's a place in Woodbridge that serves authentic Mexican food, including great tacos. According to the coworker who turned me onto this place, they started out as a Mexican grocery store that happened to make tacos in the back for the local Mexican immigrants who wanted a taste of home. They became so popular that they eventually opened up a full restaurant.

So how authentic is this place? The TV is on the Spanish channel and the menu is in Spanish. The main menu has English translations under the Spanish. The daily menu for the tacos (what kind of tacos they have changes from day to day) is just written in Spanish on a chalkboard. If you don't speak Spanish, you can ask the guy at the register to translate for you.

I only go with the co-worker that I mentioned. He speaks enough Spanish to get by in there. About all I can do is count to a hundred and I know the name of a few tacos that I really enjoy. Its an interesting experience. With the exception of two or three times that I've been in there, I've been the only non-Latino in the place. And everyone is speaking a language I don't know. You get a real feeling of what life is like for immigrants in this country. But, it's a really nice place. Good simple food that fills you up in a healthy way.

I was thinking today, while we ate there, about the fact that the restaurant doesn't go out of it's way to be friendly to non-Latinos. Don't get me wrong; the people are always nice and understanding for customers who don't speak Spanish. I mean things like the menus being in Spanish, and things like that. Is there anything wrong with this, I thought? It isn't terribly inclusive of everyone. But, then again, for people who are not from this country, and are looking for a little place to remind them of home, it's probably a welcome site. So, I figure it is a good thing that its set up as it is. Some of their customers live in a culture where they are outsiders. They may not speak the language well, and may not be completely familiar with the customs. This is a little spot where the rolls are reversed. Where they know what's going on, and I'm the outsider. And I, personally, don't think it's a bad thing for them to have that in their lives.

Plus, they make great tacos.

Ok, that was weird

So, I made the post below about the NC Experiment blog and then sent a little email to Beth, saying that I dig her site and trying to figure out where she got her slide show from. I also asked if it was cool to link to her site. The primary audience for her blog seems to be friends and family, and I figured it would be polite to ask if it was cool to publisize.

So, after I sent the message off, I head out to grab the clothes out of the dryer before they lock the door (next apartment will have a washing machine and dryer in the apartment). After I get back, and put the clothes away, I go back to screwing around on the web and end up looking at my refer logs. And damn if Beth's site doesn't pop up. It looks like she came in through her refer logs.

Now, I'd included a link to this site in my email, but I can't help but wonder that she just randomly ducked in through her logs, only to find a message that was praising her.

Hmm... Now that I think about it, it doesn't sound as funny (it being refer logs and all) But it was a few minutes ago. Of course, I overslept this morning, and am still half asleep after downing a the big cup of coffee. It's going to be one of those days.

BTW, I've already heard back from Beth this morning. She's cool with the link and says that you can find the Java code for the slide show here

Changes

I guess I'm in a talkative mood tonight. I think I've posted more in the past few days then i have in the last few months. Probably the last year if you just look at posts where I acctually provided any kind of content. Hopefully, things will stay this way.

Anyways, I've been making some changes to the layout here, trying to get things set up with the new birth of the blog. I know I'm going to be making one more change to things (the name of the blog). But, I guess the rest will pretty much be in place for the time being.

The main changes that have happened (beyond finally getting the stylesheet to work right) are the links. I've included links to the labels that I'm ordering from and the magazines that I'm reading. I've got a feeling that music will be playing a big role in things now. And instead of having to create a link over and over again, it just makes sense to create perminant links on the side.

I've also decided to change the name of the blogs I list. I had given the names of the writers before, back when I was trying to be a good member of the blogging community, since that seemed to be the norm. I then looked at the list, and realized that with a few exceptions, none of the people listed are likely to be names that mean anything to most readers, and so I changed it around to the title of the blog.

I've also added a new blog to the list, The North Carolina Experiment. I came across this site, after poking around the blogger site near the end of last week. I've been going through the archives and waiting for new entries ever since. I'm not really sure why I feel so compelled to read this blog. With the exception of Boing Boing, Adventures of Accordian Guy, and Tokyo Tidbits, all the other blogs listed there are people that I have some kind of relationship to. Jesse over at The Three Dot Column is on a Moorish Othodoxy list that I'm on, the rest are friends.

I guess the reason that I'm so intruigued by the NC Experiment is a voyeristic nature. The same reason that I read Tokyo Tidbits and Accordian Guy. But, something is different. Tokyo Tidbits is set in a city that I've found myself facinated by. And Joey, over at Accordian Guy, is just full of funny stories. Beth at the NC Experiment though, is different. It's more low key then Joey's stuff.

I've been thinking about this off and on all weekend. The best I can come up with is that it's really well written. So much so that I'm feeling very self concious about my own abilites (I used to be able to write, somehow I lost the touch). She also has many of the same faults as I do, and views the world with a similiar outlook. I guess its an issue of taking satisfaction that you aren't alone and that others feel just as akward and celebratory about life as you do.

Its either that, or I'm falling in love with her. :)

Changing direction

There have been a few changes in direction with this blog, since it was first created. The latest change, I feel needs to be addressed.

A little over three years I finished my last trial. It was particularly hard one to go through, though they have never been easy. This one ended in the loss of a friendship, when I made a rash decision that was motivated purely by me being burnt out and wanting to avoid drama. I needed time to lick my wounds, and pushed someone away that I shouldn't have. I regret this. Even more because attempts to mend things have resulted in either anger or nothing from the other party. I fucked up, and I don't think I'm ever going to get the chance to make things better. That saddens me, she was a little flakey, but a fun person to be with, and I think I'm a poorer man for not having her as a friend.

After the trial I spent a year or two in hibernation. As I said, I needed times to lick my wounds and try to make sense of what had just happened to me. I flirted with trying to live a normal life during this period, but ultimetly found it distasteful and boring. I was not built to live the normal life. My priorities are not thier's, and I crave magic in the world to much. I prefer to see things with the eye of the "adult child" (to use a Taoist reference). I'm not always successful, but I try. I also finally came to terms with my inner geek during all of this, and I feel better for doing so.

About a year ago I started to get fed up with hibernation and started feeling restless. Unfortunetly, I'm not much of a social person in the best of circumstances, and in this Bablyon, it's even worse. So I turned restless on the vine, trying to find my place in all of this. I picture this as the birthing pains of the new me. The trial being the conception. I decided that what I needed was god. I needed to reconnect with the spiritual in my life. Hell, it's worked in the past. Hence all those posts about Christianity and Islam and other things. I was trying to force myself into that role, and picking up where I left off. Except I'm no longer the person I was when I let things drop. And recently, I've decided that its wroung to force these things. Instead I'm focusing on the passions I do have right now, following them to their ends, and seeing where things take me. I'm sure I'll end up at religion sooner or later, but I think I need to take the new me for a test drive first. I must know myself better, before I can try and know god.

This acctually leads into the next part of this post. I was reading through some old entries and I came across this entry, where I said the following:

But, my instinctive suspect also extends to Protestant scholars. And I am instincevly accepting of John P. Meier, a Catholic priest.

I was struck by how badly I worded this phrase, and now feel the need to go back and do a little damage control. First, I have no problem with any of the Protestant denominations. I am not so full of myself to think that I have any answers when it comes to religion, and in fact am suspicious of anyone who things they do. The rant is in relation to Historical Jesus research. A subject ripe with dogmatism. Since I was raised Irish Catholic, I am aware of the dogmatic tendancies of Catholics. And so, when reading the research of a Catholic priest, I feel comfortable in being able to feel out the dogma. And reacting as I feel the need to do so. Other denominations though, I'm not as familiar with thier doctrines, and so it is harder for me to reconize when a piece of information is being put forward because the evidence is pointing in that direction, and when they are making the evidence conform to their dogma. And so I end up questioning everything.

I'll probably reread this in a few months and decide that I completly misrepresented myself, but i guess that's good enough for now.

Budget weekness

Every month I set myself a budget, and ussually it's not the same budget that I end up with at the end of the month. More often then not my downfall is music. I just don't seem to be able to go a full month with out buying new music. Esspecially now that my interest has been rekindled. New music makes me feel better, it reminds me that there is magic in the world. I need it.

So, a couple of days ago I placed an order with Eclipse, even thouugh I probably shouldn't have. And then yesterday, while I was picking up some books on Transact SQL, so I could read them over before this new contract starts (that's what i tell myself, in fact, I'll flip through them about a month after I've started the contract) I picked up When The Man Comes to Town, from Johnny Cash. I've been listening to this album pretty much constantly since. Some songs I prefer more then others, but the over all feel and vibe is just so emersive in it's sparseness. Rubin did a great job producing this album. I need to pick up the other three albums he did with Johnny and the box set when it comes out. The feel of this is perfect. It reflects that organic quality of Johnny's voice. And provides a vision of a man who is facing the end of his time, and is not scared of it. Just the production work of this album is brilliant. And while right now I'm not a fan of all the songs chosen for this album, there's nothing here I don't like, and I imagine everything will grow on me.

Hurt is playing right now, or exactly, it just ended. The way the piano builds at the end of the song until it over takes everything else, except Johnny's voice. Brilliant.

Back to the bookstore thing. I have this reoccuring vision when I go to the bookstore, that the people behind the register are building mental images of people, based on what they buy. It's probably not true, but it's also probably what I would do in thier place.

Because of this I like to throw them off a little. Get a little eclectic in my purchases. This last time wasn't to eclectic, the Johnny Cash CD, the Transact SQL books (database programming if you don't know) and a copy of The Economist (I picked up a copy of the Economist a few weeks ago, because of a cover story where they blasted the PM of Italy, for using his post to escape the law and make money. I kind of dug the news they have on the entire world, instead of just focusing on the US, so occasionally, I pick up a copy to see what's going on in the world. Basically the same reason I read Z Magazine and Monthly Report, but I subscribed to them, instead of just randomly picking up copies)

Last time I bought a SQL Server book from Microsoft, a book on hacking with Google (Google Hacks, from O'Rielly), a copy of the new Wire, and a copy of the new NewType USA (Wire = finge music; New Type = anime). Then I tried to use my credit card before my check cleared, and got a denial. Luckily, I had enough money left on my check card. Budget shot to hell.

That's enough for now. Just felt like sharing.

What is identity?

An interesting rant from Joi Ito about the nature of identity and how he thinks it needs to be handled in an online enviroment.

I'm not sure if I agree with him, I haven't given the subject a lot of thought, but the underlying philosophical points are fun to play with.

Who are you? And how many of you are there?

Personally, I'm kick starting my fourth identity, at least, not counting cover stories that I use to live in occupied territory. And I seriously doubt that this will be the final identity that I use. Looking back, I seem to have a routine of about five years from conception of a new identitiy, through gestation of the identitiy, into a full realiziation of the identity, and then finally the death of the identitiy. Followed by 2-3 years of recovery after the death of the identitiy, and then conception of a new identitiy. I think I'm in the gestation phase right now, though it still might be the conception phase.

What the hell was in the coffee?

An email I sent to a list I'm on, in responce to AOL cutting Mozilla loose.

[NOTE: I've since read things that make it sound like Netscape is not yet, officially dead. Mozilla is out from under AOL though]

Every analyst in the business saw it coming. Not a sole was surprised.

Number 1 and 2 from blogdex this morning:

1. AOL Cuts Remaining Mozilla Hackers
2. the Mozilla Foundation launched

Basically, the short of it is, Netscape has been officially killed, to
the average user (silly PC users, at least) IE now looks like the only
browser on the market.

But, underneath the surface, bubbling up on computers all over the world
like some super virus, there lies the only software package currently
available today that has a true chance to slay the giant, Mozilla. Now
free of it's corporate bonds, Mozilla is free of restrictions, free to
innovate, free to do... um, pretty much what they've been doing all
along. :)

As part of the AOL/Microsoft settlement, Microsoft "had to give" (I'm
sure it was hard for them) AOL royality free access to IE for 6 or 7
years. When word leaked, every software analyst on the planet was
counting the days till AOL killed Netscape, and cut Mozilla loose, in a
cost cutting measure. But, what would happen to the open source Mozilla
project? The development community was quick to jump in. "AOL/Netscape
is not that vital to the project anymore" they said. "They just give us
domains and server space for builds, which other companies have already
promised to give us." they said. "Mozilla will live on no matter what"
they said. And today, they delivered. Kudos. And for this, I'm
acctually happy. In the short run, MS has won, but in the long run,
they may have just signed their death warrent in the browser wars,
because now it's a geurilla war. Now, the oposition will take the
market away machine by machine. And they won't give them back. Sooner
or later, the emporer will bow before the will of the people.

A moment of silence though for the fallen. Netscape was the sole direct
decendant of the mighty Mosaic, from which all browsers came. It showed
it's age in recent years, as younger, more nimble browsers ran loops
around it, but it still commanded a certain kind of respect from those
who knew the history. In it's death throws, it birthed Mozilla, and for
that, we are grateful. Mozilla will live on in the proud tradition of
it's forefathers honoring thier memory. It will avenge the murder of
it's ancestors, by the pretender to the thrown. And one day, people
will know what good software is.

So raise a glass, one and all. We mourn for the past, and toast to the
future. We will avenge the fallen, and rejoice the new born. They
think they have won, but we have just begun. Now the war is on our
terms, and we can not fail. We will not fail. And we will not stop,
not until the pretender has been crushed and the world has been shown
the true power that comes from the will of the people!

SOLIDARITY!!!!

Pack Ratting

I'm in one of those moods again. One of those moods where I just start hording various bits of information. The underlining idea is that one day I'll bother to process it all. Technically, this is the way I always work. I haven't read more then 10-20 pages out of, probably, half the books I own. I've currently got about 5-6 DVDs that I haven't watched. And two or three CDs that I haven't listened to yet.

It's not that I'm buying the things for the sake of buying them. I'm buying them for the moment that the impulse to input them strikes me. Some are an issue of buying things to late. I couple of weeks ago I found that I really had the urge to listen to Slayer, who I haven't listened to since high school. This feeling went on for about a week. Then one day I picked up an album, and before I could listen to it, a coworker mentioned Kula Shaker and I've spent the last several days listening to them. That's over now though, and now that I think about it, may be I'll listen to that Slayer album today. Most of the time though it's the, "this looks interesting"/"I heard really cool things about this" idea and so I buy it, and then process it when the mood strikes me. Ussually with DVD's and CD's it's not that long. Some of the box sets can take awhile to be fully heard/seen. But, that's becuase there's so much to them. And, it'll probably be awhile before I sit down and watch The Three Colors Trilogy, but that's becuase I've already seen all three films (in fact I own them on VHS) and so there's no real drive to watch them right now. But, one wet, cold, Sunday afternoon, I'll see them on the shelf and think, "let's watch French films!" and I'll watch them, and listen to the commentary tracks, and go exploring, and then I'll be so happy I bought them.

Short tangent, when I bought the trilogy, I also picked up Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. I first saw this film in my second year of college. Such a great film. Highly reccomended. And I'm so happy that it's finally on DVD. Now, I just need to pick up his other films.

You kno what though? This wasn't the point of this post. Nope. The point was to talk about the current flurry of purchases. It started with the announcement from Fantagraphics that they were having money trouble, and needed people to buy books this month, so they could cover their debts. So, I dropped a large chunk of change on several books that I've been meaning to pick up, but haven't. They should be arriving tomorrow.
Then a few nights ago, I was watching Chomsky on booktv, and he reccomended a book by Howard Zimm called, A People's History of the United States: 1942 to Present. I ended up picking the book up, and since I was doing some shopping, I went looking for other things and scored some cool used books; Scandal, studies in Islamic Heresy, Pirate Utopia's, and Drunken Universe; all three are Peter Lamborn Wilson books. And then last night, I started talking to a guy who's started a little group that distributes copies of out of print books and writings from various people. I'm sure I'll end up picking some stuff up from him in the not to distant future.

Information is good!

BTW, I'm listening to the Slayer album right now.

Math

For some reason I'm on a math kick right now. Joey deVilla reccomended a book called "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers," the biography of Paul Erdos. I picked that up on Wed. along with a book on information theory. Today, I picked up A Beautiful Mind, the biography of John Nash, and The Man Who Knew Infinity, the biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan. It was also one of those days at work, so we ended up just blowing the day off and spent the last 2 hours or so before 5, watching the movie version of A Beautiful Mind.

There is something comforting in the lives of these men. Well, to be honest I haven't cracked the two books I bought today, but there was something comforting about Paul Erdos, and seeing Ron Howard's dipiction of John Nash. It wasn't the "movie quality" of the film that got my attention, instead it was the portrail of Nash himself. His mannerisms and the way he had trouble dealing with people. The way Paul Erdos forsaked everything that came between him and mathmatics. And I imagen what I will find in the other books as well. The knowledge that great men have just as much trouble with the world. That these great men were different and didn't fit in.

I've spent the last year or two jjust trying to come to terms with myself. Trying to accept myself for who I am. Not trying to hold myself up as some superior or putting myself down as some flawed existence. But, just acceptinng myself as someone who is different then the rest of the world. Who does not care about the things that others care about and who cares greatly about things that other people can't be bothered with.

I'm making great headway, and reading about these men is a great help. I just felt like writing that.

Just thoughts

So, I've been getting used to this new laptop and the Mac OS. On the subject of the laptop itself, I'm enjoying the freedom that I have now. This has become my primary computer period. I'm using it at work and at home. This is nice since it gives me more freedom in what I do and where I do it. In short, I just feel more connected since I'm seeing the same interface no matter where I am. No issues of being at my "work" PC or my "home" PC. Now I'm just using my laptop.

Mac OS X is another little treat. I'm still learning the ins and outs of the OS, but I'm pretty happy with what I see so far. I'd forgotten how much I like the multi window interface. I haven't used it since college when I had access to UNIX workstations running X Windows. The touchpad is a little annoying since it makes getting around the screen a little more involved then it should be, but that's an issue with laptops period. And I think as I become more accustomed to a touch pad and start to learn all the keyboard commands for everything, this will become less of an issue.

In other news, about a week ago I was randomly going through porchparty.com and I came across an interesting profile in the Freaks Down Here section. I emailed the woman in question and got a responce from her earlier this week. One of the things that I found interesting about her responce was the mention of the 4th and 5th dimension and it's interactions with this dimension and our lives. This struck me because it's something I've given a lot of thought to over to last couple of years.

The idea that I've been playing with is that the 3rd dimension that we live in, does not exist in a bubble. Instead it is being acted on by dimensions above and below it. I'm not sure of the exact nature of this interation. I figure there are two possibilitiies.

1) Dimensions exist in different realms, but that actions in one realm can be a factor in actions in the realm. I guess to easiest way to explain this would be to say that a cause in another dimension, while having an effect in that dimension can also have an effect in this dimension. Another way of looking at this would be to apply a new vector to chaos theory. Not only can the butterfly wings in one part of the world have an effect in another part of the world, but it can also have an effect in another dimension.

2) This dimension is only a 3rd dimensional manifestation of a multidimensional world. We are not aware of high dimensions because we are unable to perceive things in the correct manner. Just how A. Square is only able to perceive A. Sphere in 2-d terms in the novel Flatland. Now, there are two sub thoughts that go with this theory.

a) 3-d entities (us) are completly seperate from entities that exist in other dimensions. Meaning that a 3-d entity is completly distinct from a 2-d or 4-d entity.

b) 3-d entities are simply 3-d manifestations of multidimensional entities. We are just unaware of the fact that we are in fact multidimensional beings.

While I'm not sure exactly what theory is correct, I'm currently leaning towards 2.a as the most likely of senarios. The reason for this is because the theory works on many levels.

1) The subject of magick. And yes, that k is in there for a reason. I use that spelling to differentiate stage magic from occult magic. Anyways. The metaphor that I have found most interesting for magick is that it is finding a way to tap into elements outside of this dimension and effect those elements in some way that causes a particular effect in this world.

2) Aliens. I can't remember the name of the person who came up with the theory, but there is a theory that extraterristrial entites are in fact extradimensional. Instead of being from another planet, they are beings from a higher dimension. This makes even more sense if you go with the one universe, multiple dimensions theory. The reason being that these entities can then have two causes/purposes for existing in our dimension.

a) They are exploring lower dimensions, in a similiar maner to Grant Morrison's experiments. The common look to these beings simply being fiction suits that they have constructed.

b) They are in fact a leak between the dimensions. The result of a faulty filter in certain people's subconcious. This would account for the disorenting effect of contact. These people are litterally coming into contact with something they are unable to comprehend.

The other interesting thing about the alien idea is the physics. Much has been made of flying saucers that defy the laws of physics. If these crafts are in fact bleed through from a higher dimension, then this is a step in explaining how these craft can move against the laws of nature. Simply put, they are not goverened by our laws.
The idea is that different dimensions have different sets of rules. What's the purpose of gravity in a dimension that does not have depth? Obviously as you move into higher dimensions new laws will come into play. And those new laws could look to break our laws when applied in our dimension. For instance, the right angle turns that some craft have been reported to make could be caused by a manipulation in time that does now allow us to see the full movement of the craft. Many sceintists theorize that the 4th dimension is time. That these entities will experience time in the same manner that we experience depth. In short, they experience the entirety of time in a moment. Time is not a series of individual points to them, as it is to us.

There's another idea in here about religion and god, but it's just not coming to me right now. I'll have to wait on that for another time. Hope you enjoyed. I've got a feeling that there will be more of this type of writing in the future.

The Switch

I'm writing this entry from my desk at work. What's so special about that? Well, I'm not using the machine that work has provided for me. Instead I'm using an Apple iBook that I ordered last week and arrived today.

Five years ago there was no way I'd switch. I was doing tech support at the time and Apples suck when it comes to doing support. Laptops are even worse. Now though I don't do tech support and so I don't care. Instead, I'm having fun with new gadgets. :)

Doc's firstborn

Turns out that Doc's "firstborn" just happens to now be working at my old alma mata, or how ever you spell that, UMBC.

I just might see if I can wonder up for that show. Sounds interesting. Unfortunetly, UMBC is a good 2 hours from here so it might prove a bit much, but I'll make sure to post if I do make it.

I think I might have a pulse here

So, I'm back from the dead.

How have things been for you? Hopefully good.

Now I know what people are thinking, "where the hell has he been?"

The answer is working. Right around the time that I stopped blogging I suddenly found myself being thrust into the technical lead role on the contract that I was working on when my boss was moved over to another contract. Now, nothing against my boss, but the two of us have very different styles of doing business. He's more a 'from the hip' kind of guy, where I want to know exactly what tasks are expected of me and an idea of what they are supposed to look like. So, when I got into the leadership role, suddenly I had to figure out what was still left to do on the contract as it came to an end, figure out how to do it, and then do it. All with in a two week period.

Not fun, and at the end of the year, I was looking for a new job. Just fed up with everything I'd been through over the last year. Things started changing though in Jan. Through a friend, who's also a coworker, the brass was informed about how I'd been jerked around in the past by our former VP, how I was getting paid less then he felt I deserved, and how he felt my title was inadequate for the work that I was doing. This resulted in four things

1) I got promoted to System Engineer
2) I got a raise (or, technically, I've been told I'm getting a riase, though I haven't seen anything official yet)
3) I had several high level people go out of their way to tell me how important I am to the company
4) My friend earned some major brownie points with me.

It deffinetly helps to have friends who are willing to stick up for you.

The other big development is that I've been moved from working on contracts over to the company's Technology Forecast product (which my friend happens to be the director of). My new role is basically two fold, one, to write the software report (a report on existing and emerging software technologies) and two, to create modeling and simulation tools based on the tech forecast. The software report should be interesting, but the tool creation is what I'm really excited about. So, 2003 looks like it might just be a good year. Hopefully it doesn't go south.

So what does all this mean for the blog?

Well, it should mean more posts as I start using this as a storage site for links and ideas. I'll also hopefully learn enough to acctually start providing interesting commentary, instead of just posting links with occasional half ass thoughts thrown in now and then.

Ultimetly though, we'll just have to wait and see.

And with that I'll end this little reunion. As always, have fun.