The Life And Times of Warren

Crabby!

2008-09-04T03:56:43Z

I was at a friend's house tonight.

She has a little boy around 18 months old who is really cool. We drew stuff on some paper, and played with a stuffed crab and monkey. We went "hunting bears." He was delighted to discover the wonder that is the "LOLCat".

As long as you give kids your undivided attention, they love you. It's kind of like cats, except cats only live for about 15 years. Kids go away (hopefully) in about 18.

Which will still make me pretty darn old if I ever steal my own kid.

Blogging.

2008-08-28T18:13:46Z

A lot of my friends don't have blogs. I tell them they should start them because you can say anything and still have plausible deniability, but they still don't want to start blogging.

They say a lot of the reason is because we already work on computers all day, an escape is nice. I say "poppycock!", mainly because the word sounds funny. It's laziness on their part, sure as my posting here once every 8 months is laziness on mine.

So being the nice friend I am, I've started to blog for them. I sign up for an account for them, and blog as if I was channelling their spirit from another plane of existance.

Now since I'm not with these people 24/7, I do have to make up a lot of stuff for them to whine about. But that is what we had creative writing classes for back in the days when we actually went to school.

Not wanting to limit this to only friends, I've even started a blog for John McCain. I figure he's really busy and all, so I consider it like a political donation. I anxiously await his thanks. Maybe he'll send me an autographed picture or something. That would be sweet.

Yeah, it's a cross-post... deal with it.

2008-06-06T14:37:49Z

Hey kids, imagine the fanciful worlds that you can discover in an old abandoned refrigerator!

“No lions and witches in wardrobes,” my stepdad always used to say. “You need to explore in the unexpected places!”

...

Anyhoo, just trying to keep my mad "MSPaint" skills from totally dulling.

And the picture was "borrowed", and not mine... here's the original... http://flickr.com/photos/jarednixon/109489762/in/photostream/

phlll @ 2008-05-26T18:54:00

2008-05-26T23:00:03Z

I'm trying to make the decision tonight between going to sleep early or having some margeritas with some people I know. I did a lot of yard and housework today, so I'm leaning towards sleep.

Ten years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about going out. On a "school night" even. Maybe even five years ago.

But I probably would have tried to shirk some of the work back then. That way I'd be in better condition to go party.

Work habits

2008-05-07T03:42:00Z

One of my job functions is figuring out what people are looking at on the Internet while on the clock. Quite often, porn is the favorite subject (or even worse, MySpace.)

You'd think it'd mostly be boobs or something (I'm a fan of boobs myself) but no. Apparently many people I work with are into.....

...feet.

Yikes.

phlll @ 2007-12-01T10:26:00

2007-12-01T15:28:17Z

Still alive, not to worry.

Even if my comic update schedule is beyond tattered.

Hoping to fix it very soon, but we'll have to see.

Hmmm...

2006-11-29T14:14:24Z

I don't know if I just consider my life just a series of the same events happening again and again (work, school repeat) or that the other stuff I do just doesn't merit mention, but I never seem to use this thing.

But since I've last posted, I've learned:

-Don't try to patch a roof with tar on a windy day.
-If you DO try this, make sure you move the car (in case the ladder blows over)
-Also, make sure you're wearing "junk" clothes, including shoes
-Tar is hard to get off of skin, especially when embedded in arm hair
-Tar can be removed from a washing machine easily if you wipe it down with gasoline

Like all great thinkers, I feel the best way to learn things is the hard way. Well, I don't actually think that, it just seems to come that way.

phlll @ 2006-09-29T09:35:00

2006-09-29T13:38:24Z

The squirrel revoution continues...

http://www.nbc11.com/news/9946298/detail.html?rss=bay&psp=news

When will people finally realize that this is all part of the plan for squirrel tyranny? When you hear that grunting sound a squirrel makes as it runs up to attack you, you'll believe that the war of 1000 years has truly begun!

At least, if you don't have some peanuts or something.

phlll @ 2006-08-24T14:52:00

2006-08-24T18:58:20Z

Tonight is the first night of my last semester of school. At least until the next one.

Not ever getting around to earning a bachelor's degree actually kind of sucks. Especially now that I want one, and am still years away from realistically getting it.

See kids, Uncle Warren thought it would be fun to goof off in college during my late teens/early twenties. And while it was fun figuring out wonderful skills like making flour explode; it may have been more beneficial to do this in my classes, instead of for my roommates.

It wasn't all goofing off, though. I also had to earn a "living" doing low-paying retail.

But I goofed off there, too. Sometimes with fire.

When squirrels attack!

2006-08-15T13:20:16Z

Once again we turn to the world of squirrels. Here's a little news clip I found today...
Lawsuit: Shopping Center Aided Attacking Squirrel

As someone who went to Penn State and fed the squirrels (and had one run up me because I was out of peanuts) I heartily endorse suing anyone out of existance who helps these squirrels with their nefarious "master plan."

Woo!

2006-08-10T14:06:32Z

Actually had a small victory in my continuing fight with the Cavalier this week.

The beast has been leaking antifreeze for.... as long as I can remember. For a while I blamed the defective head gasket, but when that was replaced, it still leaked (although much less.)

Lately it was getting worse, so after consulting with my good friend Chilton, I decided to tackle the water pump.

Replacing it went about as well as expected, but the car kept coming dangerously close to overheating when I was done. Seems I glossed over the section about the bleeder valve on the engine.

Works fine now, except for the other things I need to fix, like the ignition.

I also got an A in my summer class. Since I went back to school again this means 8 A's and 1 C. Yay me.

So... yeah.

Accomplished am I!

2006-08-01T14:34:26Z

Normally when I have a take-home final I wait until the last minute to complete it.

With maturity and expert time-budgeting, I've submitted it a full 13 1/2 hours before the closing time!

See, it isn't really putting off something if you have a full half-day left when you finish. Even if you've had the opportunity to complete the project for a couple days.

Procrastination sucks, but feels sooooo nice.

2006-07-31T02:51:55Z

So I'm going to Ponderosa yesterday, and I see Brandon.

"Hey, how's it going?" I say. "How about that summer course? Have we done anything at all in it yet?"

Brandon looks at me and says "The final is posted. It's due Tuesday."

Oops.

12 (or 14) completion questions. That aren't two word completion questions, but more of the "Explain why x is different than y" type.

Guess my next few free hours are going to be fun.

Someday I'm going to make a list of helpful advice for all the kids going into college. Considering how many times it took me to finally get through it, my perspective is surely valuable.

Maybe I can give some pointers for the driver's test too.

The Suckiness Ends!

2006-07-25T15:40:01Z

After a little over two weeks, my sucky time has finally ended!

I was on.... jury duty!

The judge says that next to military service, this is the highest honor that can be called upon a citizen. Sounds nice, but ugh.

It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if the case had been exciting. Something like murder or scandal or affairs! But nooo.... I get a mail fraud/tax fraud case.

For days and days of testimony. Looking at the same dozen documents again and again. For two weeks.

At the end, the jury debated for a scant 90 minutes. And decided that the Government had not made it's case.

Not saying the guy is innocent, just that they didn't have anything to tie him to the case.

Would I do it again? Maybe. I'd just like a shorter case.

Garden follies.

2006-07-19T03:21:49Z

I watered the garden last night. Someone told me once to put cayenne pepper on leaves to keep the bunnies away. After I watered the plants, I put chili powder on the leafy things as a deterrent (I couldn't find the cayenne.)

When I got home today, all was well. About an hour later I went outside, and the "suspected broccolli" was wiped out.

And the yard bunny was standing there, unafraid of me. Normally they run, but apparently chili powder makes them brave.

It must be pretty tasty, too.

phlll @ 2006-07-17T18:25:00

2006-07-17T22:32:41Z

Still trapped in the middle of a rather sucky two weeks.

I've not been able to be at work for days now. While that sounds like a blessing in itself, I'm thinking I'd rather actually be there. Falling further and further behind in my duties is rather discouraging, as I'm the only one in my position at my workplace.

My yard rabbit has discovered my garden and begun to attack it with a vengence. All my spinach is gone, and now he(?) is starting to work on what I think is broccoli.

Lastly... that post I said in November about all those aerosol cans being a good thing is something I stand beside in wintertime. It just kind of bites right now.

Grrr.

2006-07-09T20:44:29Z

In the "this really sucks" department, the renfest has been cancelled. Forever, it seems.

And my next two weeks are going to suck, too. But I can't say anything about that yet.

phlll @ 2006-07-07T23:21:00

2006-07-08T03:21:30Z

Fighting seems to be down right now, but....

Reruns.

2006-06-30T16:07:59Z

We did this before, but its still cool.

a) pick up a book which is the closest to you at the moment
b) open page 123
c) find the third sentence
d) post it in your Live Journal (plus the instructions)
e) don't choose the book, just pick up the one closest to you

While the filter housing cover is off, be careful not to drop anything down into the air filter housing.

It's nice to make people happy.

2006-06-22T20:05:04Z

I just invented a new game.

1.
Go here: https://www.vtext.com/customer_site/jsp/messaging_lo.jsp
or here: http://mobile.yahoo.com/sms/sendsms

2.
With your knowledge of cell phone exchanges in you local area, type in a prefix with a random 4 digit suffix.

3.
Type a mysterious and vague message, like "Little toes need the biggest licks!"

4.
Send, and enjoy knowing you've just spread a little sunshine anonymously!

Summer lovin'

2006-06-14T15:01:37Z

The word for this summer is garden.

Although this is the third summer I've spent in the house, this is the first time I've ever planted a garden. Well, there was this one time I tried to grow catnip (unsuccessfully) in college, but that didn't work out at all.

It's a learning experience, to say the least. Here's some stuff I've learned:

-Digging up grass is really hard when your primary tool is a hoe.
-Rabbits like to rip up the garden, even if you didn't plant things they'd like.
-You actually want it to rain, so you don't have to haul water outside every night.
-If you don't label the starter pots, they WILL get mixed up, which makes planting an adventure.

I also replanted a day lily that my sister gave me a couple months ago.

And I'm giving the catnip another try, too.

phlll @ 2006-05-16T20:33:00

2006-05-17T00:33:53Z

I've been looking around this stupid site for at least half an hour trying to figure out how to edit the links at the top of my page. Since I changed the background style, they seem to break up wierd due to my use of dashes.

Bother.

It's been a while....

2006-04-27T19:39:31Z

Last week I was on my way to work and got a flat tire. On one of my new tires, so it was doubly annoying. Then after I changed the tire, I continued on my way to work.

Then my donut went flat.

The day only got worse from there. Suffice it to say that I would never call in to work using the events of the day as an excuse not to come in, because they would never believe me.

In good news, I passed the Security+ exam yesterday. And today was my annual evaluation. School is pretty much over for the Spring semester (two more classes, no more tests), and I should be getting some nice high marks.

I'm also learning a lot about Project Management these days. The best way to learn it is to head up a project and watch people work on their parts. It will either "just work", or "fail spectacularly".

Avoiding work...

2006-03-23T18:16:37Z

"This is accomplished by a request-and-answer protocol between the client and server."

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

phlll @ 2006-03-13T09:32:00

2006-03-13T14:24:57Z

Over the weekend it was time to work on the "family" car. Now I have a car partially disassembled in the garage. Again.

Stupid patterns.

In other news, Sparky caught another mouse at 2 AM and demanded his kitty treat reward. Since he didn't kill this mouse (or even injure it) I took it down the street for my normal "catch and release" operation.

And just in case I was wondering, the cable company is still just as evil as they were when I got a dish back in 1997. Even if they're the only way in my town to get Internet if you don't have a home phone (and none of your neighbors has a usable wireless connection within range.)