Emblog

Slo-Mo Jump Fail

2011-12-30T19:58:00.001-06:00

p52.mov Watch on Posterous

Complete with creepy slow laughs

Look what I got for Christmas!

2011-12-30T18:37:00.001-06:00

A slightly used little boy!

There is an art and elegance to what Jobs helped create. A human connection that no other, soulless tech company has had. No wonder Apple inspires an almost reverent following, much like a great musician, painter, or writer.

2011-10-05T19:22:00.001-05:00

3 yo Larkin running around yelling,"Here comes the neighborhood!", "What am I, chopped liver?", and "Get the unicorn out of my head!"

2011-09-07T20:19:00.001-05:00

Daddy was so proud at the Braves game

2011-08-31T19:56:00.001-05:00

p39.mov Watch on Posterous

Ugg smash!!

2011-08-13T19:18:00.001-05:00

Larkin has a crush on "Mr. Baseball"

2011-08-13T18:35:00.001-05:00

Place went nuts when Uggs hit a solid single to extend the streak to 33 #braves

2011-08-13T18:31:00.001-05:00

At Turner Field, watching Legends softball game between 1991 Braves and other alumni. 2011 Braves throwing in right field.

2011-08-13T16:39:00.001-05:00

Way to go USA womens soccer!! Awesome finish today!

2011-07-10T13:16:00.001-05:00

Working with legacy code inspired a haiku...

2011-06-30T11:08:00.001-05:00

Trying to catch something
swallow it whole -
nary a peep.

What could possibly go wrong? "London's E-Health Cloud program will send patient records to the stratosphere next month"

2011-06-27T23:38:00.001-05:00

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/londons-e-health-cloud-program-will-send-p...

My brain is not well. I just googled what the ALT keystrokes are to create an asterisk character...

2011-06-10T15:38:00.001-05:00

My fortune. Nice!

2011-06-10T08:25:00.001-05:00

Amazing time-lapse video from NOAA showing tornado strikes in April: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXOgzUTyII&feature=player_embedded

2011-05-31T11:56:00.001-05:00

Larkin was right. The sky IS blue and gray today. Well, I've got one of those thingies that keeps rain off you in the car. #mygeniusinnerdialog

2011-05-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

Shame on me for believing a random tweet. The TN bill probably won't hit the House till 2012, so it's still got a chance.

2011-05-20T21:33:00.001-05:00

Nevermind, don't say "gay" bill died in the house.

2011-05-20T19:07:00.001-05:00

TN passes law outlawing some words in schools. So proud...

2011-05-20T17:20:00.001-05:00

Avatar in 3D, Dances with Rambo. Do NOT miss it.

2009-12-29T22:07:00.001-06:00

Posted via email from emrysx's posterous

I am really digging the Lea theme for Winterboard (iPhone). Very stylish, clean lines, good sounds, etc. Good stuff.

2009-12-21T14:42:00.001-06:00

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RT @ruiml: The next phase in human-computer interfaces? http://10gui.com/ Exciting concept!

2009-10-14T12:44:00.001-05:00

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Wow, so many new developments for Larkin in just the last couple of weeks!

2009-10-13T13:01:00.001-05:00

All of the sudden she can:

Blow her nose
Count to three
Know colors like red, green, yellow
Say, "hat" when she puts on a hat
Say, "up, down, yeah, and no" a lot
Consistently sign for, "more and all done"
Sing Twinkle twinkle little star.

Maybe more, and some of the more basic things she could sort of do earlier, but not consistently or often.

It's like an explosion of development in the last few weeks.

My head's spinning!

Got to get this stuff on video...

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Wow, it's amazing how sketchy a supposedly 2 star, mid price hotel can be these days.

2009-09-10T23:21:00.001-05:00

Don't bother trying the quality inn and suites in Florence, KY. First room was under construction (toilet in the tub!), second had hair on the pillows and a spider in the tub. The whole place was seedy as hell, and I swear the lady at the front desk, while nice, services the trucker guests.

Needless to say we took off and found a nice La Quinta near the Cinci airport.

Ahh, clean, hairless sheets ahoy!

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Beware of Birthcertificatetoday.com and Easybirthcertificate.com Scams

2009-08-27T13:31:00.004-05:00

birthcertificatetoday.com is a site that charges you $19.99 just to get a link to VitalChek.com, which is a legitimate source for ordering vital records.

Their site tries to look official, and the fine print at the bottom even tells you what they are going to do, spelling and grammar errors aside.

They say they are PayPal verified, and lead you to believe that you're paying through PayPal, but I don't believe either is true. The PayPal image isn't even hosted by PayPal.

birthcertificatetoday.com is a site that charges you $19.99 just to get a link to VitalChek.com, which is a legitimate source for ordering vital records.

Their site tries to look official, and the fine print at the bottom even tells you what they are going to do, spelling and grammar errors aside.

They say they are PayPal verified, and lead you to believe that you're paying through PayPal, but I don't believe either is true. The PayPal image isn't even hosted by PayPal.

Another site, probably owned by the same people, is easybirthcertificate.com. Same deal, $20 for just a link to what you can get for free.

Buyers beware of this scam, unless you enjoy paying $20 just to get a link you could google for in 5 seconds...

www.nocellpower.com just saved us hundreds of dollars. If you get this error for an Aqualogic salt water converter, check this site out.

2009-08-02T11:50:00.001-05:00

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Makes me happy to see LaRoche back in a Braves uni.

2009-08-01T15:19:00.001-05:00

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Finally replacing bb with iphone 3gs. Am quite literally astounded. Wow.

2009-08-01T11:09:00.001-05:00

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On the way to get Larkin's tubes put in. Can't wait for her to feel better!

2009-07-30T07:47:00.001-05:00

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: going fishing!

2009-07-04T12:32:00.001-05:00

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Sunbaked fatigue, a couple of stiff drinks, upcoming Italian dinner, amazing weather. Nice!

2009-07-03T17:47:00.001-05:00

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Delayed on the tarmac from Nashville to Philly. Larkin's hanging in there so far...time to watch uk office on ipod.

2009-07-02T07:25:00.001-05:00

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Orly? Sore throat and crud when vacation is only 2 days away? insert owl pic here

2009-06-30T22:05:00.001-05:00

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Grilling brats and burgers with a hefeweizen. Nice.

2009-06-07T18:08:00.001-05:00

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had every intention of setting up the new exercise equipment after a lot of yard work and our walk to the park to let Larkin swing, but completely ran out of gas. Good thing I have tomorrow!

2009-05-30T20:44:00.001-05:00

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Shhh...rocking a sleeping Larkin.

2009-05-30T13:25:00.001-05:00

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I've only missed one NBA conference playoff game so far, which is a new record. Come on Cavs, back LeBron up! Go Nuggets, too.

2009-05-27T22:22:00.001-05:00

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just opened a fortune cookie: "You have air active mind and a keen imagination." Yes, I am a daydreaming air-head...

2009-05-27T13:30:00.001-05:00

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I did not just see LeBron do that. Wow...

2009-05-22T22:34:00.001-05:00

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Cheney = fail

2009-05-22T13:24:00.001-05:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090521/pl_mcclatchy/3237981

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Demo went well. Woohoo!

2009-05-19T13:54:00.001-05:00

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: Ok, I'm ready for the presentation/demo today. Go team! Win teh game!

2009-05-19T07:58:00.001-05:00

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Parked way out at airport, got to ticketing when I realized I left cell in car. Hauled all the way back out there to get it. Could have been worse!

2009-05-18T11:03:00.001-05:00

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Just ate a HUGE meal at Buca de Beppo. Wow. Back to bed! =P

2009-05-17T18:57:00.001-05:00

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Zombified

2009-05-17T17:23:00.001-05:00

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wow, haven't been up this late/early in years. The joy of updating production servers... Ouch @ tomorrow...

2009-05-17T04:54:00.001-05:00

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Chips-a-hoy resealable bag for the win

2009-05-16T23:49:00.001-05:00

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Wolfram Alpha is neat, but as expected it's overwhelmed by traffic. It couldn't find anything for many of my queries. Neat though!

2009-05-16T14:07:00.001-05:00

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Dave Grohl is incredibly talented. Love, Captain Obvious.

2009-05-15T23:30:00.001-05:00

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Testing my new posterous account. Easy as emailing it in. Nice!

2009-05-15T20:35:00.001-05:00

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Untitled

2009-05-15T20:29:00.001-05:00

Ok, I think I got the hang of it now. Easy as pie. -bb

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Testing with blackberry

2009-05-15T20:24:00.001-05:00

Let's see how easy it is to send an update to posterous and update facebook, twitter, etc. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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2009-03-22T00:53:00.001-05:00

Cannot be trusted to get to bed on time when Ash isn't home.
And Larkin will get up as early as always! =P

2009-03-12T19:28:00.001-05:00

thinks both Etta James and the Inkspots are pretty great.

2009-03-11T22:12:00.001-05:00

appreciates Flying Dog Porter's cursing label.

2009-03-08T18:27:00.001-05:00

is dog tired after a day of pruning huge spruce trees.

2009-03-06T19:04:00.001-06:00

is so tired all of the sudden. Might have to watch a DVRed show and fall asleep!

2009-03-04T17:19:00.001-06:00

Is on the way to get his little buddy!

2009-03-01T11:57:00.001-06:00

Making our way slowly north through the blizzard. Wow!

2009-02-28T21:25:00.001-06:00

Is sad that Ned blew a bulb and the slideshow ended early this year.

2009-02-28T20:26:00.001-06:00

I've been left alone at the grill. Hot dogs and steak.

2009-02-28T19:34:00.001-06:00

I've been left alone at the grill. Hot dogs and steak.

2009-02-27T15:19:00.001-06:00

This weather suuucks!

2009-02-27T10:24:00.001-06:00

Waiting for the womenfolk to get ready so we can hit the road again. Doing my best not to think about work!

2009-02-26T19:33:00.001-06:00

The Johnson 3 are on the road to Chattanooga, and then to Calloway Gardens and FDR park for fest. Time to relax!

2009-02-25T22:13:00.001-06:00

Heading to bed. One more day and it's time to head to the cabins on the lake and relax!

2009-02-24T20:04:00.001-06:00

Cranked out 15 pages of an RFP response today, so that felt good. Now let's see how much gets chopped...

2009-02-22T22:21:00.001-06:00

Heading to bed and preparing for a new work week. Time to start identifying my strengths and delegating my weaknesses.

2009-02-22T17:58:00.001-06:00

testing http://ping.fm/S3xs3

2009-02-22T17:43:00.001-06:00

Testing the iGoogle ping.fm gadget.

It's all connected, man!

2009-02-22T17:40:00.001-06:00

Just learned that Larkin's daycare teacher lost her job, and we are NOT happy about it. Larkin LOVED her.

2009-02-22T08:47:00.001-06:00

Testing ping.fm to post to facebook, twitter, blogger, tumblr, etc all at once

Alabama in the Sugar Bowl

2009-01-03T07:14:00.006-06:00

While watching the Alabama game get away from the Tide in the first quarter, I decided to play with our new Nikon D60 and see what would happen if I got up close to the TV and used shutter delay on about F25.

No photoshopping, just timing and experimenting with leaving the shutter open for varying points of time.

I thought the effects captured some of the motion of the game in an interesting way, as well as perhaps the mood of Saban and Wilson as their heads were surely spinning.

Field of View

Dropping Back

Pressure

Unhappy Saban

Wilson

Obama in Union Station in DC

2008-12-28T08:35:00.001-06:00

Lookie who we ran into in Union Station in DC over the holidays. ;-)

Historic

2008-11-04T20:27:00.002-06:00

I know I wasn't alone back in 2004, or even before that, when I saw Obama for the first time and knew that I was looking at our future President, and a symbol of racial harmony, thoughtful and intelligent leadership, and hope.

This has restored my hope in human kind. We're witnessing a future in which racial differences fade away, and the old politics of cynicism and partisanship crumble.

It's really happening, and it brings me such joy.

Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off

2008-10-25T07:28:00.004-05:00

Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off - Watch more free videos

LOLCats on Breastfeeding

2008-09-09T09:23:00.002-05:00

Yeah, it's been a few months since I posted here. We've been a little distracted with Larkin. I'll probably be creating a new blog for her to post pics and videos, but needless to say, we're having a blast.

This pic really made me LOL.

more animals

Early Bird

2008-04-24T14:52:00.002-05:00

On Saturday morning, April 12th at 6:15am, our first child, Larkin, decided to break her water and come out and play with us. Needless to say, Ashley and I weren't exactly prepared for this since it wasn't supposed to happen for at least another 5 weeks, but we sprang into action, packing whatever we could think of and heading to the hospital in Nashville.

We weren't sure what to expect when we got to the hospital, and were even thinking they may just put Ashley on bed rest, but no, Larkin was really ready, so 30 minutes later Ashley was wheeled into the O.R. for an emergency C-Section, while I placed a number of phone calls and text messages to whoever my muddled brain could think of.

I got my "scrubs" on and waited in the hallway for about 10 minutes, and then they took me into the O.R. to join Ashley. Within about 3 minutes, at 9:13am, I heard Larkin belting out quite a first cry. She got to spend a couple minutes with Ashley, and then they whisked her away to the nursery to do all that new baby stuff they do.

I went with Larkin to the nursery while they finished up with Ashley, and learned that even though she was 5 weeks early, she was a pretty healthy 5lb, 9oz, and 18 inches long.

The neonatal nurses were monitoring her temperature and respiration closely for most of the day. I was lucky to be able to run back and forth between Ashley in recovery and Larkin in the nursery, but poor Ashley had to wait until 12:30 am this morning to get to spend quality time with her little girl again.

Even though patience isn't her best virtue, Ashley did great waiting it out. She's been wonderful and strong from the moment Larkin decided she was going to join us sooner rather than later, in fact. Wow, what an amazing mother she's going to be!

We are back home now and settling in. I'm taking my second and final week of paternity leave, which has been great. We're getting into some semblance of a schedule at this point, and getting some half decent sleep.

Ashley is recovering well from the c-section, and I can already tell it's going to be a challenge to keep her from overdoing it. Larkin is improving quickly, and we're feeling incredible grateful that what issues she has so far are relatively minor in the long run.

Her lungs are in good shape, and we're working on getting her feeding down, both on our end and hers. Since she's 5 weeks early, she is still learning the whole "suck and swallow" thing, but she's getting it down and her appetite is growing rapidly. We also found that most of her clothes didn't fit her, so we had to go out and get some "premie" clothes to tide her over till she catches up in size.

The main concern right now is her little left hip. It's apparently fairly common for first-born girls in the breech position to have Developmental Hip Dysplasia, which means her leg can easily pop out of her hip joint. We took her to the orthopedist and they put a Pavilk Harness on her, which she'll probably wear for 3-6 weeks. It's not as bad as we thought it'd be, and it's a near sure thing to correct the issue and let her hip bone grow correctly and lock her leg into place. She doesn't mind at all, but it does make changing diapers a little more tricky for us.

All in all we feel very grateful that she's healthy and happy, and we're doing great.

Here are a few pics of her first days with us.

Music You Should Check Out

2008-03-09T21:10:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to do a little write up on the albums I've recently picked up, and I've waited and waited, so here's a handful that I highly recommend:

Strung Out - Blackhawks Over Los Angeles
Strung Out have been around since 1990, so I'm shocked that I haven't heard of them until 2008. This album is just plain old good punk rock with some heavy metal thrown in.

Like some of my other favorite punk bands, Bad Religion and NOFX, Strung Out isn't light on social commentary, and the past 8 years have provided a bevy of material for disgruntled punk and rock musicians.
From IGN:

That seventh release, Blackhawks over Los Angeles, is the band's best release to date, both musically and lyrically. As an example, the title track has a searing guitar "battle" that is eerily reminiscent of classic Maiden. Singing over that guitar attack, lead singer Jason Cruz wails, "Curfew tonight in Hollywood as the insurgents drawing near; Helicopters and ecstasy and the shot heard round the world. The camera shines for channel zero as the cool kids running scared. The armies got a brand new toy and they're just waiting for the word."

The tenor of the album stays remarkably focused as the band ratchets up the social commentary on tracks like "A War Called Home" and "A Letter Home". The latter is written from the perspective of a young soldier who is obviously not buying the propaganda his government is selling.

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Trent Reznor is back in a big way with this concept album describing the year 2022, where things are just going from bad to worse as a result of the policies of the last 8 years.

I happen to be a big, big fan of Concept albums, where the entire album strings together a story, and for me, the darker the story the better.

Wikipedia describes the theme:

Nine Inch Nails' 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military, which Trent Reznor said "reflect[ed] future directions". Reznor later stated that Year Zero was a concept album, and that he "wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist". It criticizes the American government's policies, and how it "could be about the end of the world". Previously, Reznor had called the 2004 US election date "one step closer to the end of the world".

Even though the fictional story begins in January 2007, the timeline of the album and alternate reality game mentions historical events, such as September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. From there, fictional events lead to worldwide chaos, including bioterrorism attacks, the United States engaging in nuclear war with Iran, and the elimination of American civil liberties at the hands of the fictional government agency The Bureau of Morality. Regardless of being fictional, a columnist of The Hartford Courant commented, "What's scary is that this doesn't seem as far-fetched as it should, given recent revelations about the FBI's abuse of the Patriot Act and the dissent-equals-disloyalty double-speak coming out of Washington in recent years." The "recent revelations" he referred to was the Justice Department's inspector general revealing abuses of the Act by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This isn't a hook-laden album and has moments where Reznor spirals out into the sonic ether, but as a whole, this album is an enjoyable piece of art. I'll be interested to see if the movie or television provides this soundtrack with visuals in the future.

Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace
It's been a while since I picked up a Foo Fighters album. No particular reason, I just haven't. I loved their first couple albums, but then my entire CD collection got stolen when someone broke into my truck in Atlanta, and I just never replaced my Foo Fighters CDs.

This has been on my "to buy" list for a while, but on the recommendation of Rik, I finally picked it up...well, downloaded it from iTunes...
This is a very, very good album. Dave Grohl has got to be one of the most talented musicians going these days. The album has a nice mix of hard hitting rock, and slow, quiet, reflective moments sung and played beautifully by Grohl and friends.

Johnny Cash - American IV - The Man Comes Around
I cannot believe that I'm just discovering the American Recordings from the Man in Black. Wow. Here's how it happened:

I was watching the season finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox, and the final battle at the end, where Federal troops were storming the hotel room of the creepy as hell robot who's hunting John Connor, has "The Man Comes Around" playing as the bot lays waste to the intruders.

The song, with it's apocalyptic theme, is simply awesome in this scene, as we wonder about the future of mankind when technology becomes self-aware and resolves to destroy us.

I went straight to iTunes and found American IV, and I LOVE it. This album, along with American III, was recorded when Cash was facing his own mortality, and his wife, June died in 2003. Cash himself died four months later, and American V was later release posthumously in 2006 to much acclaim. The raw message of death and redemption, along with some other lighter tunes, that Cash's gravelly voice conveys is simply haunting.

He sings a bunch of covers, as well as some of his own songs, but the stark style of the recordings, just Cash, a guitar, a piano, and some famous guest vocals, really evokes the reality of death and hope in a way that I can't easily describe.

I cannot wait to pick up the entire American Recording series eventually, but III and V are on my immediate radar.

Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
Steven Wilson's prog-rock band originally released Stupid Dream back in 1999, which I didn't realize until after I'd already bought it. No matter, it's more PT, and more is better.

Like every PT album I've gotten, this is very good. PT is much more accessible than other modern prod-rock bands, like Dream Theater, so I'm a bit surprised that Wilson hasn't broken it big in the US yet.

Some of their tunes are actually pretty radio friendly, but hey, we all know commercial radio is dead, so I'm not surprised. Pick this up, as well as PT's last few albums. They're all great.

It's Over, Hillary. Accept It.

2008-03-06T12:45:00.002-06:00

For the good of the party, she needs to accept that it isn’t going to happen for her.

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek crunches the numbers and finds that, despite the Clinton camp’s furious spinning and celebration of their victory in Ohio, and their primary victory in Texas, it would literally take a miracle for her to catch up to Obama in delegates.

In fact, as the Texas “Two Step” caucus votes are going to give the majority of Texas delegates to Obama…so Obama really wins Texas.

Thanks to SNL's skit, the media is now overcompensating and not asking Clinton the tough questions, propagating the Clinton campaign's exaggerated victory claims of Ohio and Texas, and seemingly ignoring the fact that the numbers are even less kind to Clinton now than they were before Tuesday...

Back to Alter’s article:

Hillary Clinton won big victories Tuesday night in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. But she’s now even further behind in the race for the Democratic nomination. How could that be? Math. It’s relentless.

To beat Barack Obama among pledged delegates, Clinton now needs even bigger margins in the 12 remaining primaries than she needed when I ran the numbers on Monday–an average of 23 points, which is more than double what she received in Ohio.

…

So no matter how you cut it, Obama will almost certainly end the primaries with a pledged delegate lead, courtesy of all those landslides in February. What happens then? Will Democrats come together before the Denver Convention opens in late August?

We know that Hillary is unlikely to quit. This will leave it up to the superdelegates to figure out how to settle on a nominee. With 205 already committed to Obama, he would need another 200 uncommitted superdelegates to get to the magic number of 2025 delegates needed to nominate. But that’s only under my crazy pro-Hillary projections. More likely, Obama would need about 50-100 of the approximately 500 uncommitted superdelegates, which shouldn’t be too difficult.

But let’s say all the weeks of negative feeling have taken a toll. Let’s say that Clinton supporters are feeling embittered and inclined to sit on their hands. It’s not too hard to imagine prominent superdelegates asking Obama to consider putting Hillary on the ticket.

This might be the wrong move for him. A national security choice like Sen. Jim Webb, former Sen. Sam Nunn or retired Gen. Anthony Zinni could make more sense. But if Obama did ask Clinton, don’t assume she would say no just because she has, well, already served as de facto vice president for eight years under her husband. (Sorry, Al).

In fact, she would probably say yes. When there’s a good chance to win, almost no one has ever said no. (Colin Powell is the exception). In 1960, when the vice-presidency was worth a lot less, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson gave up his powerful position to run with John F. Kennedy.

How about Clinton-Obama? Nope. The Clintonites can spin to their heart’s content about how big March 4 was for them. How close the race is. How they’ve got the Big Mo now.

Tell it to Slate’s Delegate Calculator. Again.

Why Should You Vote for Obama?

2008-02-12T07:16:00.002-06:00

For those undecideds out there, watch his response to another undecided voter:

Chicago Sun-Times Endorses Obama

2008-02-10T10:24:00.000-06:00

On this Sunday after Obama swept the Feb. 9th primaries and leads Hillary Clinton in the delegate race, I found this excellent endorsement by the Chicago Sun-Times. It's not surprising that the paper chose their hometown hero, but the reasons why are well written, and go a long way toward capturing the Obama phenomenon that is sweeping across the county.

It's really amazing how Barry Obama is igniting the previously apathetic and disaffected. I've got dear friends who have been tuned out of politics since before they could vote, and they're now canvassing and making blind calls in support of Barack. The young people of this country are getting involved and finding passion in their support of Obama and his hope for the future of America.

It really is an amazing thing to experience...something I never thought would happen in my lifetime. The Chicago Sun-Times puts it best:

On June 5, 1986, the curiously poetic name of Barack Obama appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times for the first time. Obama, new to us but presenting himself as a "community organizer" on the South Side, was quoted in a news story calling on Mayor Harold Washington to get asbestos out of a public housing project.

Obama was right about that one -- the poisonous asbestos had to go -- and perhaps we should have weighed in at the time with a strong editorial. It is the job of a newspaper -- especially this newspaper -- to stand with the powerless against the powerful.
And so today, as we mark the 60th birthday of our newspaper, it is a special pleasure to give Obama this newspaper's endorsement in Tuesday's Illinois Democratic presidential primary. Because we believe he's right again.

Obama is right on the issues, right in daring us to believe in a goodness greater than ourselves, and right in having the confidence to appeal to all of us as one America.

Obama has the power of a celebrity's charisma and the grounding of a common man's birth.

There's been talk of Camelot in the last few days. Back then, that young president said to us:

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

And once, we had another great leader, who said, "I have a dream."

Americans took them at their word. They joined the Peace Corps. They marched on Selma. They protested a pointless war.

We need a president and a leader like that again.

Obama Declares War on Drugs "A Failure"

2008-02-03T09:04:00.000-06:00

Well, it certainly looks like the new generation of politicians have arrived, led by Barack Obama. Finally a major candidate is willing to say what baby boomers have been denying for decades: that our "War on Drugs" is a failure, and the time for decriminalization is coming.

We've spent billions of Federal dollars since this "War" (which is about as real as the "War on Terror") began, putting millions of Americans behind bars for possession of marijuana, amongst other drugs.

Norml.org reports that Obama, in a 2004 video, states, "I think the war on drugs has been a failure, and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws."

Washington, DC: A newly discovered video of a 2004 appearance at Northwestern University by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, in which he calls for the federal decriminalization of marijuana, was posted online today by The Washington Times. In that appearance, Obama states, "I think the war on drugs has been a failure, and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws." Obama continued, saying that while he supported decriminalization, he did not support the full legalization of marijuana.

Republicans for Obama

2008-02-03T08:42:00.000-06:00

I found RepublicansForObama.Org this morning, and there's an interesting thread on why Republicans are voting for Obama, including this post on how Republicans have lost their way with regard to fiscal conservatism:

The republican party is full of a bunch of jokers right now. Sure, Obama is very liberal on a lot of issues, but he's got to be more conservative than the bozos who were in charge of congress since '94 (and who then lost it) on several different issues.

The most obvious is how the republicans have squandered all of our money. Say what you want about Bill Clinton, but at least he did what the republicans never seem to be able to do-- get a balanced budget. It's hard to believe that Obama will be as dumb as the republicans have been with our nation's money.

And another one which expresses frustration with how the GOP has tried to apply faith to policy:

As an evangelical, I am thinking of supporting Obama precisely because he does not fuse America and American ideals with the Kingdom of God. Nor does he dismiss the importance of faith in challenging our values and behaviors.

Instead, in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, he seems to understand that our task is not to invoke the name of God by claiming God's blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices-saying, in effect, that God is on our side. Such thinking leads inevitably to absolutism, self-righteousness, bad theology and "bombastic" foreign policy.

Rather, Obama seems to take the position that we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God's side. Such a posture leads to much healthier things such as humility, reflection, repentance and even accountability; things we'd all like to see return to the politics of our day. This is, what I think, part of Obama's vision of a new politics. A vision that can unite us all around the story we find ourselves in.

Sarah Silverman Helps Matt Damon Get Even With Boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel in Music Video

2008-02-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

God this woman is hilarious. Silverman's boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, often tosses jabs at Damon at the end of his late night show with lines such as, "Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time..."

Well, Damon gets even with Kimmel in Sarah's new video entitled, "I'm Fucking Matt Damon."

You have got to check it out.

Two Sites You MUST Visit in 2008

2008-01-21T17:14:00.001-06:00

Make sure you know the truth about what the candidates are saying, and what they stand for. These are non-partisan sites that will help you understand who you're voting for, no matter the party.

Bill Clinton's latest lies about Obama come to mind...man, I hold him in high regard as one of the best Presidents in the last few decades, but his attack dog role for Hillary is really making him look sleazy...

http://www.factcheck.org - Learn the truth about what all the candidates are saying.

http://www.ontheissues.org/ - Learn what the candidates stances on the issues are before you vote.

The Latest Right Wing Attack on Obama

2008-01-10T22:37:00.000-06:00

Both I and my friends have been working to correct some of the vicious misinformation that's been floating around right-wing blogs and email forwards. The latest rounds involve charging Barack as an anti-white racist, and spreading the lie that he's a Muslim.

FactCheck.org is a service I've subscribed to for years to keep politicians and organizations on both sides of the aisle honest, and exposing them when they aren't.

The latest article from FactCheck addresses both of the latest anti-Obama misinformation campaigns:

If these two nasty e-mail messages are any indication, the 2008 presidential campaign is becoming a very dirty one.

One claims that Obama is "certainly a racist" by virtue of belonging to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which it says "will accept only black parishoners" and espouses a commitment to Africa. Actually, a white theology professor says he's been "welcomed enthusiastically" at the church, as have other non-blacks.

Another e-mail claims that Obama "is a Muslim," attended a "Wahabi" school in Indonesia, took his Senate oath on the Koran, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. Each of these statements is false.

These false appeals to bigotry and fear remind us of the infamous whispering campaign of eight years ago, when anonymous messages just before the South Carolina primary falsely accused Republican candidate John McCain of fathering an illegitimate child by a black woman.

Check out the full article for much more information, and when you hear or read people spreading false claims and lies about candidates on either side of the aisle, please step up and fight it with truth.

Barock the House

2008-01-04T20:24:00.000-06:00

Here is Barack Obama's victory speech in Iowa.

He says in this speech that one day we'll look back at Iowa as where it all began, but if you really want to see where it all began, read his books: Dreams of my Father, and The Audacity of Hope.

Then watch his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. (Part 1, Part 2)

Barack Obama Wins Iowa Primary

2008-01-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

This is fantastic! I can't wait for February when I can cast my vote for him in the TN primary. The moment I saw him speak at the Democratic convention in 2004, I knew he'd be President one day.

It's happening faster than I thought (I hope anyway), but he's the right guy at the right time to heal this country and re-establish our standing in the world.

Funny story: Over the holidays at a family-in-law gathering, an in-law came up and we started talking about the candidates, and after I said I supported Barack, and have since before his run for the Senate in IL, he asked how I could reconcile the fact that Obama is a Muslim...

Wow did that take me aback. Sure, I don't think the world, or the Muslim religion for that
matter, is ready for a Muslim leader of the free world. Until the fundamental and extremist portions of Islam can join us in the 21st Century, we all know this couldn't happen. It'll be hard enough for Mitt Romney to get elected as a Mormon, and ask me how thrilled I am at the prospect of Huckabee mobilizing the evangelicals ala 2000 and 2004...

Religious and cultural aspects aside, I simply said, "Oh, that's easy: he's not. He's a Christian and has been involved in his church for years."

It was an awkward moment, but one that proves that hayseed America will believe whatever their talking heads tell them...

Reading Linux Files in Vista

2007-12-08T17:25:00.001-06:00

Since I do have to work in Vista sometimes and to play some games, I need to be able to access my music library on my Linux Ext2 drive. I found this handy driver which allows you to have your Ext/Ext2 drive show up as just another letter in Explorer.

The trick to getting this to install in Vista is to Right click on the installer, Properties, and set it to use XP compatibility mode.

Now I don't have to reboot from one OS to the other. Both can see the other's file system perfectly.

Upgrading from Windows to Ubuntu Linux

2007-12-02T09:49:00.000-06:00

My name is Drew and I'm officially a Linux convert.

I had this realization this morning. I've got all the Windows programs I currently use working in Ubuntu 7.10, whether it be through Wine or VirtualBox.

When the time comes for me to install other apps, whether they be games like World of Warcraft, or apps like Visual Studio 2008, I'm 100% positive that I'll succeed then, too.

Let me back up a bit. My Sony VAIO laptop came with Vista Business on it. Now contrary to those great Apple ads bashing Vista, my experience with that OS has been almost completely positive. I love the interface, everything runs, and my 3D games run about 90% what they did under XP Pro.

So why would I leave Vista for Ubuntu? Quite simply, I can do everything I used to do in Windows, and more, but on a FREE, open source OS that runs more quickly, more efficiently, is totally customizable, has a massive support base of active users and developers, and I can run multiple virtual machines loaded with any OS on top of the lean Ubuntu OS.

I've been toying with Ubuntu over the last couple months while dual booting with Vista, and lately the only reason I've booted into Vista was to convert my WMVs to MP3 and run some programs I thought would only work in Windows, like Out of the Park Baseball 2007.

However, as of this morning, I have learned that there is nothing I can't run in linux using Wine or VirtualBox.

Wine is a Windows compatibility layer that allows me to run windows apps directly within Ubuntu. I've got OOTP2007 running from an icon on my desktop, and it runs FASTER than it did in Vista, and is 100% functional. I also came upon a great reference for getting World of Warcraft running in Wine, so if I ever resubscribe to WoW, I'll have no problems there either.

VirtualBox is a free product from InnoTek which allows you to run virtual computers on top of Ubuntu Linux. I've got one virtual machine (VM) configured now, which runs Windows XP Pro. When I boot that up, I get a window (fullscreen optional) that contains exactly what you'd see if you booted into XP. The performance is fantastic, and I use it to run the latest version of iTunes, which doesn't seem to run in Wine yet.

I'll be installing Visual Studio 2008 at some point, and I don't expect problems there either.

One thing I love about running Ubuntu is that it just feels clean. It's not bloated, slow, and it boots up every time. Another thing is that the interface is clean and minimalistic. While I love Vista's interface, on my 13" laptop screen, all the bells and whistles seem to get in the way.

The Ubuntu interface is just more intuitive to me, and that may be because I'm a developer and open source software is designed and developed by developers, not teams of corporate marketers and designers. Plus, the idea of open source software appeals to me on many levels, and I'm happy to be "off the corporate teat", as it were.

I'm still dual booting, but now my linux partition dwarfs my windows one, and right now, I have no reason to boot into Vista at all.

Vacation in Aspen

2007-11-22T12:11:00.000-06:00

My first time here. Flew into Denver, had a nice snowstorm the first night. Took 6 hours to get to Woody Creek, outside of Aspen.

Staying in house of a friend, free. Nice.

Looking out the window, water dripping off the tin roof. Winter branches clumped with snow. Blue sky, wispy clouds. Steam rising past the window.

It's great to be away from work that has overtaken my consciousness. Nice to have an internet connection, a lifeline. Yeah, haven't completely let go.

Read Fight Club yesterday. Can you tell?

Gigabeat - Toshiba Drops Support

2007-11-19T20:02:00.000-06:00

No, that's not an official statement, or even news. If you own a Gigabeat S series, you already know that Toshiba stopped supporting this platform the day they released it. I got mine pretty early on, and I don't think they've released a single firmware update for it.

I was reading ScionGuy's review of the new Zune firmware and software update, and while it looks great, it evoked the bitterness that's been growing towards my Gigabeat since I shelled out a few hundred bucks for it.

I own a Toshiba Gigabeat S30 (read: precursor to the Zune). I think the first model of the Zune looked exactly like the Gigabeat, actually.

It's not that the interface sucks. It doesn't, I like it a lot. The sound and video quality is fine. The feature set is OK. The killer is the dreaded power drain.

The device has two ways to turn it "off". The first is the easily accessible On/Off button on the side. The trick here though is that this doesn't really turn it off, so much as go into power-sucking standby mode.

If you use this button, and then don't use the Gigabeat for a day or two, it will most likely be dead the next time you turn it on...even if you had it fully charged when you turned it "off".

I've seen some folks say this is a "feature" of the OS on the device, the MS Portable Media Center, or PMC. If that's the case, I'd expect this to be a problem for the Zune and any other PMC device.
Apparently if you really want to turn the device OFF, there is a tiny little pin-hole size switch on the bottom left. So if you keep a very sharp object in your pockets at all times, you'll be able to play your device for a stretch 3 days in a row. Or, you might injure yourself bending over.

The power drain kills me and makes this thing almost unusable. I can fully charge it, play it for 5 mins on Friday, and by Monday (it’s been off all weekend), it’s dead again.

Here's the thing: When I turn my MP3 player off, I want it OFF. What's with this standby crap? Save my spot to flash and turn the damn thing off already!

I’ve been patiently awaiting a Rockbox port for this device, but I’m not sure it’ll ever happen. Progress is glacially slow, and at this rate I doubt it'll ever happen. I may have to give up and get something else…I've never been an iPod guy, but if they play MP3s I might go in that direction.

I like the Zune's, but I'm leary of the PMC. If I found that Zune's definitely do not have this battery drain problem, I might consider it.

This is so frustrating for two reasons: 1) It bugs the hell out of me for a company to release a piece of hardware and promptly forget about it, and 2) I really like everything about the device, except the drain. Unfortunately, that's enough to ruin the whole experience.

There's no way in hell that I'm going to buy another Toshiba device, that's for sure. At least Apple and Microsoft are bound to support their hardware after release.

LOL Cats

2007-11-10T22:37:00.001-06:00

I created a Picasa album containing my favorite LOLCat pics from icanhascheezburger.com . I've seen these on FARK threads, but never knew there was a nexus of them.

Vista Drag and Drop Explorer Crash

2007-11-04T15:57:00.001-06:00

Since I got my Sony VAIO laptop with Windows Vista Business Edition on it, I've had this problem where dragging and dropping files crashes Windows Explorer.

I did a little research and found that it might be due to Shell extensions. If you're having issues with Explorer crashing while using right-click Context menu items, you have a similar problem.

I fixed this problem by downloading a free utility from nirsoft called ShellExView.

This program allows you to enable and disable context menu items, shell extensions, and more.

In my case, explorer crashed while dragging and dropping, so I focused on entries of type "Drag & Drop Handlers".

I disabled and re-enabled items, testing the crash until I found that the offender causing explorer to crash was the Bluetooth Information Exchanger, which handles drags and drops to Drives and Folders.

I know there are others with this same problem, and many may be Sony VAIO owners.

Windows Vista - Access Denied? Cleaning Up Junctions for Sony VAIO

2007-11-04T15:39:00.001-06:00

If you have a Sony VAIO, you may have the problem where some of the shortcuts in Windows Explorer give you Access Denied messages that you shouldn't be getting.

What's actually happening is that those are junctions, something Windows NTFS file systems can use to link folders and provider compatibility to older programs. For example, in Windows XP, you had a c:\Documents and Settings\ folder.

In Vista, that is now located at C:\Users\, but in order for Vista to be compatible with older programs that expect the "Documents and Settings", Vista creates a junction that redirects calls to Documents and Settings to c:\Users. These junctions are more than just shortcuts.

On my Sony VAIO laptop, the people at Sony built the drive from an image located on some Y:\ drive, so all my junctions were incorrectly pointing to a non-existent Y drive.

It's easiest if you install SysInternals Junction.exe into your C:\Windows\System32 folder so you can call junction from anywhere at the command prompt.

Open command prompt by typing cmd into the Start Search box.

Type cd\ to get to the root C:\ directory

Type dir /aL /s > junction.txt to recursively view all junctions on your harddrive and output it to the junctions.txt file.

Now you can view all the junctions and ensure that all of them are pointing to the correct folders.

Open the junctions.txt file and whenever you see a junction or symbolic link (symlinkd) that is pointing to a non-existent drive, you can go to that directory at the command prompt and relink the junction.

For example, I have a junction in the C:\Users\Default directory that shows:

11/02/2006 07:02 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data [Y:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming]

To fix this link I'll type:

c:\Users\Default>junction "Application Data" C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming

Note the quotes around the first argument since it has spaces in the name. The second argument doesn't have quotes because it has no spaces.

Now, if I type "dir /aL" in this folder, I'll see that this junction is now correct:

11/02/2006 07:02 AM <JUNCTION> Application Data [\??\C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming]

Well, I know the first part of the path looks weird ("[\??\C:\...]"), but it works. You can test out the link in windows explorer to ensure that it works. I don't know why the "\??\" shows up, but it works. If I find this is a problem I'll post a follow-up.

So if you want to repeat the above for every incorrect junction on your machine, you'll need to "cd" to the directory in question and repeat the junction command for each one.

I know some of the links show up as "symlinkd", but I didn't have any trouble deleting them and recreating them as junctions using the junction.exe tool. You can find more on Symmetric Links here. For my use, I don't really need symmetric links, so junctions will work fine. Your mileage may vary.

The only symlink I found on my system was at c:\users in the "All Users" link. I deleted and recreated it as a junction with junction.exe.

In the course of correcting my junctions, I found that I had a few areas where junctions were creating circular references. For example, if I looked at my junctions.txt file, I found that I'd have one entry that looked like this:

Directory of C:\Users\emrysx\AppData\Local\Application Data

And then the next one looked like this:

Directory of C:\Users\emrysx\AppData\Local\Application Data\Application Data

And then the next was this!

Directory of C:\Users\emrysx\AppData\Local\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data

Et cetera ad nauseam.

Now this may not be a problem due to the nature of junctions and links, but it bugged me and looked like a mess. Additionally, I couldn't see why these would be useful since I didn't have a link at the root pointing "C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data" to "C:\Users\emrysx\AppData\Roaming". Therefore it looked to me like I had messy junctions that were never going to be used.

So I deleted the "Application Data" junctions in C:\Users\emrysx\AppData\Local and C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local.

So far I haven't had any trouble with my applications or Vista as a result.

Emblog

Slo-Mo Jump Fail

Look what I got for Christmas!

There is an art and elegance to what Jobs helped create. A human connection that no other, soulless tech company has had. No wonder Apple inspires an almost reverent following, much like a great musician, painter, or writer.

3 yo Larkin running around yelling,"Here comes the neighborhood!", "What am I, chopped liver?", and "Get the unicorn out of my head!"

Daddy was so proud at the Braves game

Ugg smash!!

Larkin has a crush on "Mr. Baseball"

Place went nuts when Uggs hit a solid single to extend the streak to 33 #braves

At Turner Field, watching Legends softball game between 1991 Braves and other alumni. 2011 Braves throwing in right field.

Way to go USA womens soccer!! Awesome finish today!

Working with legacy code inspired a haiku...

What could possibly go wrong? "London's E-Health Cloud program will send patient records to the stratosphere next month"

My brain is not well. I just googled what the ALT keystrokes are to create an asterisk character...

My fortune. Nice!

Amazing time-lapse video from NOAA showing tornado strikes in April: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxXOgzUTyII&feature=player_embedded

Larkin was right. The sky IS blue and gray today. Well, I've got one of those thingies that keeps rain off you in the car. #mygeniusinnerdialog

Shame on me for believing a random tweet. The TN bill probably won't hit the House till 2012, so it's still got a chance.

Nevermind, don't say "gay" bill died in the house.

TN passes law outlawing some words in schools. So proud...

Avatar in 3D, Dances with Rambo. Do NOT miss it.

I am really digging the Lea theme for Winterboard (iPhone). Very stylish, clean lines, good sounds, etc. Good stuff.

RT @ruiml: The next phase in human-computer interfaces? http://10gui.com/ Exciting concept!

Wow, so many new developments for Larkin in just the last couple of weeks!

Wow, it's amazing how sketchy a supposedly 2 star, mid price hotel can be these days.

Beware of Birthcertificatetoday.com and Easybirthcertificate.com Scams

www.nocellpower.com just saved us hundreds of dollars. If you get this error for an Aqualogic salt water converter, check this site out.

Makes me happy to see LaRoche back in a Braves uni.

Finally replacing bb with iphone 3gs. Am quite literally astounded. Wow.

On the way to get Larkin's tubes put in. Can't wait for her to feel better!

: going fishing!

Sunbaked fatigue, a couple of stiff drinks, upcoming Italian dinner, amazing weather. Nice!

Delayed on the tarmac from Nashville to Philly. Larkin's hanging in there so far...time to watch uk office on ipod.

Orly? Sore throat and crud when vacation is only 2 days away? *insert owl pic here*

Grilling brats and burgers with a hefeweizen. Nice.

had every intention of setting up the new exercise equipment after a lot of yard work and our walk to the park to let Larkin swing, but completely ran out of gas. Good thing I have tomorrow!

Shhh...rocking a sleeping Larkin.

I've only missed one NBA conference playoff game so far, which is a new record. Come on Cavs, back LeBron up! Go Nuggets, too.

just opened a fortune cookie: "You have air active mind and a keen imagination." Yes, I am a daydreaming air-head...

I did not just see LeBron do that. Wow...

Cheney = fail

Demo went well. Woohoo!

: Ok, I'm ready for the presentation/demo today. Go team! Win teh game!

Parked way out at airport, got to ticketing when I realized I left cell in car. Hauled all the way back out there to get it. Could have been worse!

Just ate a HUGE meal at Buca de Beppo. Wow. Back to bed! =P

Zombified

wow, haven't been up this late/early in years. The joy of updating production servers... Ouch @ tomorrow...

Chips-a-hoy resealable bag for the win

Wolfram Alpha is neat, but as expected it's overwhelmed by traffic. It couldn't find anything for many of my queries. Neat though!

Dave Grohl is incredibly talented. Love, Captain Obvious.

Testing my new posterous account. Easy as emailing it in. Nice!

Untitled

Testing with blackberry

Alabama in the Sugar Bowl

Obama in Union Station in DC

Historic

Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off

LOLCats on Breastfeeding

Early Bird

Music You Should Check Out

It's Over, Hillary. Accept It.

Why Should You Vote for Obama?

Chicago Sun-Times Endorses Obama

Obama Declares War on Drugs "A Failure"

Republicans for Obama

Sarah Silverman Helps Matt Damon Get Even With Boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel in Music Video

Two Sites You MUST Visit in 2008

The Latest Right Wing Attack on Obama

Barock the House

Barack Obama Wins Iowa Primary

Reading Linux Files in Vista

Upgrading from Windows to Ubuntu Linux

Vacation in Aspen

Gigabeat - Toshiba Drops Support

LOL Cats

Vista Drag and Drop Explorer Crash

Windows Vista - Access Denied? Cleaning Up Junctions for Sony VAIO

Orly? Sore throat and crud when vacation is only 2 days away? insert owl pic here