armin sykes . com

2005

Saved for posterity, or maybe for no particular reason at all. Here are some of the previous things that I blathered on about.

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[Blahrchive]

June 29, 2005.
Bigger and badder.

I appear to be gaining weight again, instead of losing it. I'm not sure what's going on with that, as I should be burning slightly more calories per week than I used to be.

I also spent too much money on books and dvds this month. Bad Armin, no biscuit.

In completely unrelated news, my new upstairs neighbor was moving in furniture yesterday. He made several trips with a pick-up truck and some helpers. Other than some mild thumping, though, things haven't been particularly noisy up there yet.

1 comment

June 28, 2005.
Life in the Fast Lane.

Well, that was quick: I already have a new neighbor upstairs. Although he hasn't moved any furniture in yet, he was moving in some miscellaneous stuff yesterday from his car. I don't know if he's the only one who'll be living there, because yesterday was the first time I noticed him, and he was alone. I saw him bring in a box full of CDs and a dart board.

Today is the last day I have to respond to the "generous offer" my apartment managers left on my door earlier this month: extend my current lease and get some money off of my July rent in return. Again, I find it oddly coincidental that the offer expires just when someone new is moving in upstairs. I paid my July rent yesterday.

0 comments

June 24, 2005.
Public figure.

In a few more hours, I am hosting a chat about GCA on the Pyramid magazine site. I did that once before, in 1999 I think. Of course, now GCA is an official product, so it has a different sort of baggage attached to it. Since the program hasn't hit the streets yet, this is mostly a sort of preview and questions session, which shouldn't be difficult.

Other than that, not a lot to say today.

0 comments

June 23, 2005.
Property value.

Yesterday, they were replacing the carpets upstairs. You wouldn't believe how incredibly noisy that is. At least I was able to muffle a little of it with my headphones, and eliminate the noise from their radio. Today, starting just after 8 AM (it's now 10:45 AM), they've been up there thumping and banging--I guess probably cleaning and general maintenance. Annoying, but less annoying than the kids used to be.

Shifting gears....

This makes me so angry. The supreme court approved the ability for local governments to seize the property of private citizens for no better purpose than to build something else there, just because the local government thinks it might create more tax revenue. This may be the same local government that determines the amount of compensation that the property owner will receive for that property when it's taken from them. Here's a CNN article about it: High court OKs personal property seizures.

1 comment

June 17, 2005.
Serenity.

The upstairs neighbor finished moving out on Monday. It has been so very peaceful here since then. I'm enjoying this quiet time very much. I can't really expect that the apartment will stay vacant for many months as it was when I moved in, but it sure would be nice.

I finally got a notice on my door from the managers, yesterday, wanting to save me some money on my July rent if I hurry up and renew my current lease. Funny that they waited until the apartment above me was empty.

This week, I saw both Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Batman Begins at the local cineplex. I found both to be very entertaining and enjoyable. Mr. & Mrs. Smith was actually funnier than I would have expected from the previews. Batman Begins was the kind of experience I want from a Batman movie, and was an excellent way to renew the franchise.

In other movie news, a friend of Kevin's got him tickets to the next Serenity sneak preview. I hope the movie rocks, and that Kevin and Gina enjoy it, because now I hate them.

0 comments

June 12, 2005.
Haulin' ass.

My upstairs neighbor is filling up a U-haul with his stuff. So, either he's moving out, or he's getting a whole new set of furniture. I'm betting on moving out. This is an unbelievably excellent development for me, as he and his kids were draining away my sanity, and I was afraid that I might need it some day.

2 comments

June 11, 2005.
Buh?

It's kind of funny how I can have absolutely nothing to write about most of the time. Other folks seem to have no problem writing about any old thing, but me, I got nothin'. It's not that nothing at all happens in my life--I'm not dead--but I just find so much of it so much the same that I don't really have anything to say about it. And yet, I seem to manage to have things to talk about with my friends when I see them. Funny, huh?

So, I've decided that I'm going to try to spew something out here, whenever I update something else on the site. It'll probably be pointless blather, much like this entry, but at least it'll result in something being written.

0 comments

June 4, 2005. Work.
Writer man.

I have an article due, as required by my contract, related to my GCA project. The article is just a Designer's Notes thing, which means I can write about nearly anything. Anyway, after wasting a week thinking about how best to approach it, I decided to just sit down and start writing some things down.

I figured I'd start with a little history of GCA, and from there maybe I'd segue into a bit about the program itself, and see where that took me. Well, my first draft was over 2,000 words after I'd segued into the program stuff, so I guess I have the article written (it's only supposed to be 1,000 words).

It's not really very good, if I do say so myself, but it exists. I'll probably do a second draft, and maybe get some feedback from my beta crew (who were helpful with suggestions about what to write), but at least I have something written.

2 comments

June 2, 2005. Work.
Is there anybody in there?

I'm capable of working quite intensely for long periods of time, and even mostly enjoying it while it's happening. However, once I stop working, I'm burnt out, and have a lot of trouble getting back into working again. As I expected, that has happened again.

After my vacation last week, I'm now finding it difficult to do more than sit and stare at the screen. My mind wanders easily, so I often find myself sitting there, having done nothing for who knows how long, while my mind was meandering around somewhere else. That wouldn't even be so bad if my mind was visiting somewhere productive, but no. Instead, it wants to think about old movies, or tv shows, or the game session we just had, or something that happened in high school--just useless crap.

So, in the spirit of bloggers everywhere who share useless crap that other people can read for no good reason, I'm sharing with you. I hope you enjoyed it.

4 comments

May 28, 2005. Site.
You have it, or you don't.

Still playing around with the site. Using some CSS styles now, too, although nothing complicated.

I'm not sure if I like the blahg better with the colored header block for each post, or without it. I think it makes it a bit easier to see where the different entries are with the color. However, I kind of like the simplicity of the look without the color as well. I do know that I didn't much care for the blahg without the lines between the entries, but I'm not sure entirely why.

I guess I'll still be playing around with things for a while.

Update: Trying some CSS borders to replace the rule between items.

1 comment

May 27, 2005. Site/Life.
Shaken, not stirred.

Just playing around a bit with the look of the site, because it entertains me. That's what I'm supposed to do when I'm on vacation at home, right?

I've enjoyed my week of pseudo-vacation. Still did a little work, mostly easy stuff. Been thinking about an article I'm required to write, also, which is tied to my GCA project. I got some good suggestions from my beta group as to what to write about, but I'm having trouble formulating how to put things together. I should probably just write it in sections, and not worry about it too much. Anyway, I think I'm going to quit for the day, and go read or something.

Update: Woohoo! Added a system for comments. Needed to change the page to a .php to make sure things would work correctly, but that's not that big a deal to me. But comments are cool. (And no, I didn't write the comments system, I just adapted it for use here.)

6 comments

May 26, 2005. Life.
Hot and Cold.

The forecast this morning said it might get into the nineties today. It's only 85 now (just after 3 PM), so it probably won't make it. Tomorrow's forecast shifted from 85 up to 91, however. It's a mini heat-wave.

In response to the morning forecast, I installed my air conditioner. I don't like the heat that much, and I have the air conditioner, so I didn't see any reason to put it off until later. My apartment is now nice and cool.

0 comments

May 25, 2005. Life.
Sunshine and Hammocks.

Since shipping off that project on Monday, I've been taking a couple days off. In fact, it feels so nice not to be rushing to complete something, that I may just end up taking the entire week off. Aaaahhhhhh.

Not that I mind working, most of the time. When I'm in the zone, I totally love my job. I love typing away and getting something that works, something that does stuff, at the end of it. I imagine it's kind of like how a fine craftsman must feel. Not that I'm particularly fine, or anything. But, still, it's nice to be short of the pressure for a bit.

I just wish I could be taking a proper vacation, right this minute--out of the office, out of the apartment; no email, no cares. Oh, well, maybe later in the year.

So, why the title of this post? Because it's supposed to be 84 degrees today, and I'm not working. I feel like I should be napping in a hammock or something.

0 comments

May 23, 2005. Work.
Flyin' on a Jet Plane

The project that was sucking up all my time is *finally* shipped off. Now I need a vacation before the next rush starts.

0 comments


May 14, 2005: Site: I added a new book to the scrapbook: recent pictures of my mom's flower garden.


May 10, 2005: Electronics: Last week I heard back from Bose, and returned my broken headphones for warranty repair/replacement. They arrived at the service center today, and now I just have to wait a few weeks to get something back.

Wonderfalls - The Complete Series

TV: On a completely different front, I noticed the other day that I never mentioned here Wonderfalls, a charming, wonderful television show. I enjoyed it very much when it was on (for all of four episodes), and actually laughed out loud numerous times, which doesn't happen with most shows.

It came out on DVD some time back, and of course, I bought it. There were nine episodes which had never been broadcast, which was a shame. (It's surprising that shows like this even manage to get made, given how fast they're canceled.) Wonderfalls had a mid-season start, so the boxed set is a full 13 episode season, and as such it does have a season finale, which is more than many shows canceled early have. Even better, the season finale works well as a show finale, so you aren't left hanging, although you are left wanting more.

Anyway, it's a great show, so I wanted to rectify my error of omission.


May 3, 2005: Electronics: I ordered a new set of my Bose headphones, because I couldn't stand to be without them (which is rather sad). I got them yesterday, and was quite happy. I also found the warranty info for them, which is one year, so I should be able to get the other pair fixed. I'm still waiting to hear back from Bose, though.


Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones

April 25, 2005: Electronics: It's just one thing after another, it seems. My beloved Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones have gone on the fritz, with the left earphone frequently failing to provide sound or noise cancelling. Damnit. And it just happened tonight, with no warning, just suddenly no sound on the left. Sent an email to the company, but I expect I'll be out some more money soon. And my old, regular headphones are unwearable, so I'm currently using the really cheap, little things that I wear when riding my bike. I guess I should find an intermediate set for times like this, now.


April 22, 2005: Life. Went back to Troutdale yesterday and got a replacement for the wrong shoe. Now, I'm all balanced again.


April 20, 2005: Life. I guess I called it right on about my big rocker/recliner. Last night, the back broke away from the seat on the right side. Now I'm short a chair.


April 19, 2005: Life. I went to the Troutdale outlet stores last Friday with the sibs. Looked for a new pair of sneakers, which I got. Turns out I got one regular size 9D, and one 9E or something. Gotta go back now and exchange the wide one for a regular. I'm not sure why I didn't notice in the store how loose the right shoe was, but I suppose it must've been because of slightly swollen feet or something, from the tromping around I'd already done that day. The guy I called at the store said that if I bring back the shoes with the receipt, they should be able to give me the shoe I was supposed to have, so hopefully I'll get to do that soon.

Also, my big rocker/recliner isn't doing so well. The right side is starting to get all out of alignment, and I can't really rock without it making springy-creaking noises. It's annoying. I guess I'll have to seriously look for a replacement soon.

So ends a completely trivial blahg entry.


April 11, 2005: Work. Been working on documentation for GCA 4. I knew I didn't like writing docs, but I'd actually forgotten how slow it could go, even when you're writing the reference (which is basically just looking at each piece and describing what it does). Worked the whole work day yesterday on it, and only scratched the surface of the main windows. Ugh. Lots more to do today.

I did get my new laptop. It actually shipped early, and was here on April 1st. It's very cute, very small, very light. The one thing I didn't think about when I went small was the size of the keyboard. In this case, they made a few decisions that will take me some considerable getting used to, particularly concerning the reduced size of the comma, period, and slash keys. Since they are reduced in size relative to the other keys, the period and slash have moved left under the row above. Since I'm a touch typist, that means I keep hitting slash when I want a period. Indeed, much to get used to. I think I'll be able to adjust, though, if I spend enough time typing away on the thing. We'll see.

The screen is really beautiful, though. I'll certainly have no trouble staring at it for hours on end. The touchpad, on the other hand... I still hate those things. I'm glad I bought a portable mouse to use, instead, and it works beautifully. It's wireless, with a handy receiver that stores inside the mouse body. And it helpfully turns off the mouse when the receiver is stored inside, so you don't have to remove the batteries all the time.

I also got a computer backpack to use for toting the laptop around. It's nicely padded, but actually has more room than I expected. I thought I'd only be able to fit some papers in there with the computer, but it turns out I can put in my project case, and a book or two as well, so I can actually lug around nearly as much in the new pack, with the new machine, as I could with the old machine in my regular old school backpack.


March 29, 2005: Work. Last week I ordered a new laptop. Living here with all the bloody noise from the neighbors, I thought it would be nice to be able to leave once in a while, but still be able to get my work done. So I considered (for a couple months) getting a new laptop. Finally, I did get one.

I had a brief bout with technolust, which had me looking at really nice, fancy machines that could play high-end computer games and such, but I managed to bring myself back down to the basics that I really needed: something small and light, easy to lug around with other things that I might need, decent battery life, and a screen that's at least a bit bigger than my old machine (preferably wide screen). I settled on the Dell Inspiron 700m, which I'd looked at for a while.

I won't get it until some time next month, but hopefully I'll be able to put it to good use once it arrives. I also ordered a portable wireless mouse for it, since I don't care for touchpads. I'm interested to see how that'll work out, as well.


March 15, 2005: Shadowrun 4th Edition Announced. The top half of the article's formatting is a bit mangled, but that may be because it's a repost from some forum somewhere.


March 10, 2005: Heh. Invader Zim Action Figures.


February 24, 2005: A pair of animated gifs in the vein of that from 1/31. The second is a sequel to the first, so watch them in order. The Idea and The Execution.


January 31, 2005: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor! Hehehe. (Animated GIF.)


[2004 Entries]

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This page last updated September 17, 2005. Contents Copyright © 2004, 2005 Armin D. Sykes. All rights reserved. Click here to contact Armin.