No Doubt the Mall has Music

For some reason, shopping at malls have a tendency to cause music to stick in my head. I'm not sure exactly why, but it has happened a number of times, such as here. Well, its happened again.

I'm not exactly the frequent mall patron, but I found myself in the mall several times over the past few weeks, including last week when I went to pick up a suit at the Men's Warehouse. The mall played No Doubt's “Don't Speak,” the chorus of which lodged itself in my head thereafter:

Don't speak
I know just what you're saying
So please stop explaining
Don't tell me cause it hurts
Don't speak
I know what you're thinking
I don't need your reasons
Don't tell me cause it hurts

I've never actually heard of No Doubt. I did hear that song sometime last decade when it was new, but I never paid attention to who it was from. Well, the next week, I was at Borders Books, Music and Cafe (which is an anchor tenant at the same mall) and another song lodged itself in my head, but this time, only the accompanying instruments — I couldn't recall the words, which was even more frustrating than having a song in my head to which I could recall the words. I happened to be on iTMS looking to see what No Doubt sounded like beyond “Don't Speak” and tried listening to a song called “Running.” As it turned out, that was the second song I heard in the mall.

Running, running
As fast as we can
I really hope we make it
(Do you think we'll make it?)
We're running
Keep holding my hand
It's so we don't get separated

If you're waiting for some kind of pithy conclusion, I confess I don't have any. I just found it interesting that (1) music seems more likely to be “sticky” to my brain at the mall and (2) in the last two or three weeks, I've heard multiple songs from the same band (which I was not familiar with) at the same mall that managed to get stuck in my head.

Anyone else have a song stuck in your noggin at the moment?

I've Been Infected with a Worm!

Thanks go to Ed.

I'm Hap, Hap, Happy (But, I'm not a Loman)

Another interesting quiz from Christopher. What are you? (20 asisaid points good in the next Challenge if you can explain the title without Googling for it.)

Your Social Dysfunction: Happy You're a happy person - you have a good amount of self-esteem, and are socially healthy. While this isn't a social dysfunction per se, you're definitely not normal. Consider yourself lucky: you walk that fine line between 'normal' and being outright narcissistic. You're rare - which is something else to be happy about.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com Please note that we aren't, nor do we claim to be, psychologists. This quiz is for fun and entertainment only. Try not to freak out about your results.

Gone School'n

I'll actually put a real post on within a day or two. Right now, I'm just trying to get through the first week of assignments for school. It is off to a really fast start this semester. I've already read, among other things, an entire novella from Herman Melville. As one professor of mine, other than the one that assigned it, says, “I'm unsure of this thing they refer to as 'American Literature.'”

See you soon.

Crazy Long Meme (Part II)

Continuing from yesterday. It has been a crazy day (the start of a new semester), but fortunately I already had these answered, so it is a matter of copying and pasting.

25. Orange Juice or Apple Juice?
Orange Juice without pulp, unless you have mulling spice to go into that (hot) apple juice.

26. Who were the last people you went out to lunch or dinner with?
If you mean ate something not cooked at home, my mother, today [Sunday], at White Castle. If you mean ate at a restaurant, my friend Roger a couple of weeks ago at Lone Star.

27. Favorite type chocolate bar?
I like trying different ones, but probably a Midnight Milky Way.

28. When’s the last time you voted at the polls?
I can't recall if we had any elections in St. Charles County in 2005 — I think I voted sometime in the Spring of '05. Otherwise, November of '04.

29. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
This summer. I don't really like tomatoes by themselves, however.

30. Have you ever won a trophy?
Not that I recall.

31. Are you a good cook?
I think I can be — I just don't do so very often.

32. Do you know how to pump your own gas?
Of course.

33. Sprite or 7-Up?
I guess 7-Up, but I don't like white sodas that well.

34. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?
No.

35. Last thing you ate?
Three Jalapeno Cheeseburgers, two Regular Cheeseburgers and an order of fries from White Castle (if you aren't familiar with White Castle, their burgers are only maybe 6-7 cm squares — so it is normal to eat more than one.

36. Ever thrown up in public?
Yes, back in second grade.

37. Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?
The latter, certainly. Proverbs I think would agree with that. Millionaire status in-and-of itself can be rather empty. (Not that having a million bucks wouldn't be nice — I figure I could buy mutual funds that would produce over $50,000-$100,000 a year if I had a starting principle of one million dollars, and even 4% CD's would provide a decent annual income.)

But, while I'm too materialistic for my own good, I think finding true love would be priceless, whereas a million dollars is, well, a million dollars. From an outsider's stand point, I've seen millionaire status ruin people, but true love improves them. The latter is far more of a real blessing, should it ever come to pass.

38. Do you believe in love at first sight?
The jury is out on that one; I'm inclined to say yes with major caveats.

39. Can ex’s be just friends?
I think probably, but probably not if they had a real reason for becoming ex's in the first place.

40. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
I think that would have been my dad, last January, but I'm not positive.

41. Did you have long hair as a young kid?
No, but it was substantially bushier than I have it now (but never overly so).

42. What messages are in your voice mail?
A call from my former Greek instructor asking a computer question (I answered his question the next day), a message from my mother telling me where to meet her (I met Mom shortly thereafter), a message from my new broker on an appointment time and a message from a friend who was inviting me to come play Catchphrase at a little diner (I didn't make it). I probably have a few more too — I let my messages get erased after the 30 day limit on old messages passes (Cingular charges extra to keep messages permanently, which is just as well).

43. Where would you like to go right now?
The Ozarks.

44. What was the name of your first pet?
The first animal that lived in the same home as I did was actually there before me — a cat named Antler. My first pet was a Siamese Fighting Fish (Beta) named “Pumpkin.”

45. What kind of bag do you have, and whats in it?
A leather messenger-style bag with a laptop compartment (not always filled — depending on the weight of the other cargo). It may carry school books, cabling for computers, etc., depending on where I'm heading. It always carries some tape, Lifesavers or another similar candy (which I mostly pull out when I have a sore throat), some old papers, and (usually) a mini-stapler.

46. What was the last thing you drank?
An Iced Latte from Starbucks (I'm drinking it right now).

47. What is one thing you are grateful for today?
The projector at church worked flawlessly.

48. What do you think about most?
It depends. My mind generally multitasks, but yields a big portion of its “capacity” to one thing or another at a given time. Theology and philosophy, often. What I need to be working on next, as well.

49. What is your new years resolution?
Well I lost about 50-55 lbs. (23-25 kg) last year, and I guess a good goal would be to keep it off. I'm also resolving to stop and smell the flowers more often.

The Crazy Long Meme (Part I)

Christopher answered this really long meme, and I thought I would do so as well. It is a rather nice one. Given its length, I decided to split up the answers into two parts so that it wouldn't grow tedious reading my answers. Feel free to provide your own answers in the comments.

1. Your name spelled backwards.
Reltub Ythomit

2. Last incoming call on your phone.
Pastor Mark Friz, calling last night to ask me to run the projector this morning.

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
According to my download history, it was Splunk, sometime last week. I was going to try this nifty log file search engine on my server, but it wouldn't install.

4. What’s your favorite restaurant?
I've done this one before! Let's try different classes of restaurants, to make this interesting:

Fast Food:White Castle — if you haven't had White Castle in the last month, life just isn't right.

Pizza (Delivery/Takeout): Pizza Hut. It is the best pizza under one roof. (SM)

Pizza (Restaurant): CPK. The California Pizza Kitchen knows gourmet pizza; I like everything I've tried there. I especially like their signature Barbecue Chicken Pizza and their Tostada Pizza with Lime Chicken:

Southwestern black beans, sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses topped with chilled shredded lettuce, fresh tomato salsa, green onions and crispy tortilla strips with our garden-herb ranch dressing. Also available with grilled lime chicken.

Quick Service: St. Louis Bread Co. (a.k.a. Panera Bread outside of its home city). I love their Panini sandwiches and I.C. Mochas, among other things.

Two Star Restaurant: The Hen House (of Bourbon, MO) has the best fried broasted chicken around. I think I'm fudging this a bit, the Hen House is more like a “1.5 Star” restaurant, according to the definition of two star restaurants, but maybe — twenty asisaid points to the person who can identify this allusion — the restaurant star rating code is not a set of rules so much as suggestions.

Three Star Restaurant: Lewis & Clark's is one of the best values in the “moderate” ($12-$15) entree range. They have the best blackened fish I've ever tasted, great spuds, delicious salads and breads and a comfortable atmosphere. It is the best dining available, in my opinion, on Main Street/the St. Charles Historic District.

Four Star Restaurant: Devil's Pool at Big Cedar Lodge (Ridgedale, MO) is a casual setting, but I think it can be placed in the four star range justifiably. Their entrees grow a bit pricey at $18-$20 for dinner, but the flavors are bold and exciting, without getting exotic. I personally love their grilled chicken with chile lime drizzle. Their house salads and ever changing selection of breads are also very good. Deserts are tasty too. Portions are extremely generous, hence I've only had desert to-go.

Five Star Restaurant: I've never eaten at one, although I think Devil's Pool could easily qualify from a culinary standpoint, although not from the other aspects.

I'm not an expert on ratings, so I checked my selections against Mobile Travel Guide's definition of two, three, four and five star restaurants, which you can see here.

5. Last time you swam in a pool?
Some time in late August in an “ool,” as the pool store sign puts it (think about that one). There are advantages to having your own pool, even if it is just a Costco-purchased inflatable 4 footer (they are so cheap, and yet so convenient!).

6. Have you ever been in a school play?
No. I have been in a few Sunday School plays in the past though. I'm not an actor.

7. 2 or 3?
3.

8. Type of music you dislike most?
Rap. But, edging close to that lately is 80's music. Even some stuff I use to like now gets on my nerves. Enough with the stupid synthesized instruments and weird voices. Music is suppose to sound good!.

9. Do you have cable?
If you mean, “do I have a non-antenna based way of receiving TV,” yes. If you mean literally cable, no. I have a dish. I'd like cable, and keep talking to the cable company to arrange a suitable “triple play package” (It seems odd when I call that I already have the cableco's digital phone and high speed Internet but not TV). I think the price is finally right (again), and they've gone to digital simultrans (so I'm told, see part 1, part 2), but I'm waiting for them to get some more DVR's in again.

Assuming they really did launch the simultrans system, cable will be completely and unequivocally superior to satellite. Cable does not go down in the weather (unless the utility poles are knocked down, of course), cable provides more local programming (TWC WeatherScan, TWC Local Forecasts, public access channels, etc.), cable provides more HD programming, cable can provide a triple play package and cable can provide bi-directional services such as interactive TV (iTV) and Video On Demand (VOD).

Nevertheless, in the long run, I'm putting my money on AT&T U-verse (“Project Lightspeed”) fiber service as the ultimate in communications: faster internet, digital TV, digital phone service and Cingular cell service on one bill (a “quad play” package). It uses IPTV for the television portion and has the advantage over Verizon FIOS that they don't have to do a new cable run all the way to the house wanting the service, only to the subdivision. C'mon Mr. Whitaker, start upgrading the St. Louis region, please!

10. Have you ever ridden on a 4 wheeler?
I believe so, long ago. Definitely, and more recently, if you count a John Deere “Gator.”

11. Have you ever made a prank phone call?
Only to my grandpa (we use to bug each other on the phone all the time).

12. Boyfriend/Girlfriend?
No. I'm trying to wait on God about this one…

13. Would you go bungee jumping or skydiving?
Emphatic “no.”

14. Farthest place you ever traveled?
Timbuktu. Ok, not really; in reality my traveling is rather unimpressive, but I'll admit it: the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

15. Do you have a garden?
Yes, but it's been taken over by vines.

16. What’s your favorite comic strip?
That's a tough one. Probably a toss-up between Drabble, Pearls Before Swine, Foxtrot and Dilbert. Which one depends on my mood.

17. Do you read a newspaper every day?
Yes, the Post-Dispatch. I shouldn't admit this, since I'd like to write for them again, but they're really ruining the paper with all of the ads in it recently.

18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem?
Beyond the first verse, I have some gaps that require humming.

19. Bath or Shower, morning or night?
A combination bath/shower is preferable, IMO. I go with night only because I'm not enough of a morning person to make it anywhere on time in the morning if I bathed in the morning.

20. Best movie(s) you’ve seen in the past month?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). Late December/early January is my movie viewing time of the year, so I've seen a bunch as of late, but that was the best. Also notable was Holes (2003), Shrek 2 (2004, which I saw at the cinema), and Johnny English (2003, repeat viewing). The worst movie I saw during my movie viewing extravaganza? Guess Who (2005), which came highly recommended by several people. I only watched about an hour of it and then turned it off — it was moderately offensive and unamusing.

21. Favorite pizza toppings?
Supreme/Deluxe, usually. I like a pepperoni and onion if I get a Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, however. I've already talked about some of my favorite CPK choices above.

22. Chips or popcorn?
Depends. Usually chips, but movies go best with authentic theater butter and popcorn… I mean popcorn with butter.

23. Have you ever smoked peanut shells?
I'm with Christopher on this one — I didn't even know it was possible. For the record, I've never smoked, inhaled or otherwise been connected to any kind of smoking device (other than second hand smoke in a restaurant).

24. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
No. Are you nuts?

To be continued… tomorrow.

Pardon the Remodeling Dust

I've never been entirely happy with the new asisaid design I switched to early last year. The background color was a bit too minty and light, and the header was too plain. I've been wanting to try a photo-based theme for awhile, so I decided to go through my newly cleaned up iPhoto and pick out some photos. Virtually everything you see (including every photo up in the main header and in the sidebar headers) has been taken within the last few months. The first, third, fourth and fifth photos in the header were actually taken just in the last week, for example.

Note for the archive: I plan on changing the header more frequently in the future, so if you are reading this weeks or months after I posted this entry, go here to see the header I am actually referring to (in case I've changed it).

I've also replaced the drawing of a hill side that was at the bottom of each page with a real hill side of a similar shape. The drawing was a cropped portion of the old asisaid's header, which changed with the seasons. It never really fit in with the new site design, but the bottom of the page needed some color. I think this looks better.

Well, this is a work in progress, but I'd like to hear any thoughts y'all have on whether I'm headed in a good direction. Post your critiques below.

Cleaning up iPhoto

Back in May of 2004, when I decided it was time to bail out of my messed up Fedora Core desktop and ended up landing in Mac OS X 10.3, I started playing around with iPhoto. After a few months, I embarked on copying thousands of photos from the past few years and putting them into the program. Unfortunately, I had been rather unorganized in this respect previously, and I ended up with a bunch of duplicates and not enough time to manually pick them all out.

Now, you're thinking, “seriously, Tim, what's so hard about finding a few duplicates and removing them?” Not much, if you're talking one trip's worth — although even that took a long time — but it is a major project when you have just short of 12,700 photos in your iPhoto library.

Enter Duplicate Annihilator. While I hated to pay $7.95 for a program that hopefully I'll only need to use once (although I may need to do so again — somehow I managed to bypass iPhoto's duplicate protection and end up with duplicates even on photos taken after I started using iPhoto), I bit the bullet. The program can do a number of checks to find duplicates, however I stuck with the default MD5 checksum method, which seemed pretty safe. After letting it go through my album for a little over two hours, it returned 1580 photos that were duplicates, marking each one as such in the photo's comment area.

I created a new iPhoto Smart Album that displayed only photos with that comment and then went through with a Finder window open to “spot check” to make sure Duplicate Annihilator had indeed only marked photos I could manually find a duplicate of. After I was mostly satifisifed, I used iPhoto to burn the duplicates to CD and then deleted them off of my hard disk. That brings my total library down to 11,112 photos checking in at 8 GB of space (13 movies are also in iPhoto, though I have more from my digicam that I took before iPhoto supported movies and have not yet added into my library).

It is good to try to clean things up, especially now that I've been taking photos at 3-5 megapixels (and hence each picture weighs in at between 850 KB and 2 MB). Until recently, I had been trying to economize on space by taking 1-2 megapixel images when I was just doing routine stuff. However, I have some really special photos I wish were at the highest quality possible, and, of course, there is nothing I can do about that. Given that I have close to have half terabyte of storage at my disposal, that seems silly. The practical bottleneck was my old camera's (the DSC-S75) support only for the old non-“Pro” Memory Sticks that only went up to 128 MB in size. Short of constantly swapping sticks, I had to weigh between quality and quantity of photos (even the four 128 MB sticks I own go quickly at that camera's full 3.1 MP quality). When a new Sony digicam went on sale recently, I upgraded (to the DSC-H1) and that allows me to use the newer Memory Stick Pro format. I have a 2GB Memory Stick Pro on order — via Amazon.com for only $129 — and that should clear up this long time annoyance. But, I digress. The long and the short of it is that I want to try to keep a closer eye on my photo organization; I take too many pictures to be messy about it.

Now that I'm organized and ready to go, I think I'll try to post some new shots online. I managed to get some really great bald eagle photos today in Winfield, MO at the Mississippi Lock and Dam No. 25. Maybe I'll post them tonight or tomorrow.

Fill in the Blanks Meme

Christopher answers an interesting meme where you fill in the blanks. My basic answers are italicized and longer ones are below each statement.

1. Before I walk out the door, I always check to make sure I have my wallet.
I'm in sad shape without it. For one thing, I'd be driving illegally. Second, I'd be without money. Third, if I did have money and got away with driving illegally, and it was during the school semester, I'd have to pay $5.50 for lunch without my ID, which would really hurt given the quality of the food (but I don't have time to drive elsewhere for food on days I eat lunch there).

2. I can't seem to catch up on my reading list.
Right now, I'm prioritizing by putting books that were given to me ahead of those I bought, since I might get asked how I liked the books. I'm also sorting by the likelihood that the giver will ask me. Right now, that has me reading Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. It's an interesting little book, although as a non-Catholic I'm clearly not the target audience; things that I'd like to hear more about (Catholic distinctive) are often passed over with the assumption the reader already is familiar and in agreement with them. I do like it, however, and will talk more on it another day.

3. The one surface in my house that always seems to get cluttered fast is any flat surface.
Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but not by much. I have a semi-permanent stack of papers on the space I cleared up on my desk when I ditched the 19” CRT for my Apple Cinema Display last January. My nice reading chair by my “current reading” bookshelf is always collecting stuff. My dresser collects stuff. Tables collect stuff. The floor collects stuff. I try to reign it in every-so-often, so usually things are more or less presentable, but it is a constant battle with the (cue the dramatic music) Stuff that Covers Things.

4. If I sleep past 11:00, I feel that I've slept in too late.
Most of the time, even if I'm off, I try to get up by 9:00 or 10:00, but I enjoy sleeping beyond 10:00 every-so-often. If it gets past eleven, though, I feel like I've missed too much of the day. Usually I try to schedule everything so I never have to get up before 7:00 (I'm still mumbling about the time I had to get up at before 4:00 so that I could be down at Newschannel 5's “Window on St. Louis” a few years back).

5. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get my todo list done.
I have too many irons in the fire and so I end up being slow on everything. I get overwhelmed and then fail to get anything done. Some people seem to manage a bunch of different obligations much better than I do.

6. I hope to have my income taxes done by April 15.
I figure that's a good date to aim for. Seriously, I usually get them done a few weeks earlier than that.

7. This year I'd like to make more time for reading.
I spend a lot of time reading and writing, a lot of time reading stuff online too (news, technical information, etc.), but I'd like to spend more time reading things I'd like to read. I'd like to read Narnia and the Lord of the Rings. I'd like to finish the Divine Comedy. I'd like to finally catch up on the Left Behind series (even though its gone down hill, I'm hoping the prequels might prove worthwhile). I'd like to read some more of Karl Barth's works. I'd like to actually have every book on my bookshelves read (excluding reference works).

Trying Ubuntu

I've always liked Debian GNU/Linux distributions, but I've never gotten around to trying Ubuntu. Given my appreciation for GNOME and simplicity on top of the aforementioned appreciation for Debian, I decided it was time to give it a whirl.

Presently Ubuntu is installing itself on my Shuttle XPC which I have just given the new name of guildenstern (I'm tired of my Dilbert derived naming scheme for computers). I'll post in the coming days what I think. This will be the first entirely new distribution I've tried in quite some time.