StrideKnight

So yesterday I bought some stock in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, about $500 worth. I'm happy I did, but it feels like a mixed bag. It feels like taking advantage of the inevitable taxpayer dollars that are going to be thrown at the problem. The obvious reason is that quite frankly we shouldn't be bailing out the Freddie Maes and Fannie Macs and Bear Stearns. I understand that they worried about the whole network collapsing, but quite frankly that's all the point isn't it? That Capitalism provides the means to get quite rich but also the pitfall of losing it all is fundamental to whole equation. If it all failed some other megalith would be raised in its place.

I was reading on one website that Bear Stearns was leveraged 34 to 1. Jesus Christ. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642367125066615.html?mod=fpa_mostpop
Just let them fail already. Or two of the better ideas I've heard is to bailout FRE and FNM but assign a steward for receivership back to the taxpayers or something, and/or break them up into smaller companies so the whole too big to fail thing doesn't occur again. We're just setting ourselves up for a market crash of even bigger proportions by propping it up using the monetary system.

I actually ran into Socialists outside the T-Station the other day. Rather humorously they were trying to hand out their newspaper and of course no-one wanted it. I grabbed it tho and conversed for a moment and supposedly they're going to email me about going to a meetup or something. Nader is of course their president of choice (I wish he could win).

It all triggered an interesting conversation between Maureen and myself about how to effectively affect change. Whether you can actually create change from the inside, which seems likely - think New Dealers, vs the radical shift of anarchy-imposed ideals.

All in all, I ended up moralizing that if I do make any money because I bought FRE and FNM at rock-bottom prices and they recover, it probably won't cover my share of taxes that are going to be used to bail them out, thus everything reaches a schizophrenicly zen-like balance.

You know, watching Catholic TV in spanish, is one of the most relaxing things I've done lately. You don't have the oppressive/antagonistic religious BS but with all the calmness and nicety.

I realized a few days ago that it's been about 6 months since I posted something on here so I feel like I should do an update. Summarizing events is both hard to do at any level of depth, or easy to do trivially, but the stretch between the two is vast. Thus I shall opt for the short version. Life continues.

We're a year and roughly two weeks away from the wedding, which promises to be fun. Getting the reception straightened out was a nightmare tho, but I'm very happy with the place we chose in the end. Things just kind of steamroll in this whole process too, so it's very easy to get overwhelmed.

I literally have only my german classes left for my degree, which should be done by the end of this summer, god willing. I'm taking some programming classes from UMB anywho, because I had an interview with Turbine over in Westwood a few months back about the LOTR MMO and they said that they'd like to hire me, but I need more demonstrable programming experience. So I'm taking a few classes, working on some projects, and contributing to some game projects over on SourceForge. It'll be nice to do something I enjoy. It just means that I'm always busy now that I actually have to travel for classes, when you throw in work+overtime+gym(I've lost 35 lbs so far, yay!).

I'm sure there are other things to mention but at the moment I haven't the foggiest. Warren Ellis is of course Brilliant, Crooked Little Vein was awesome and I want more FreakAngels. I'm going to a Mindless Self Indulgence + Birthday Massacre concert down in Hartford soon. That'll be fun, but I'm probably going to be the most normal person there. In a similar vein, The Middle East is a weird club.

Now I'm going to go back to watching Catholic TV in spanish with perhaps a nap thrown in. Peace out folks.

... is one of the most brilliant games I've ever played. *hugs BioWare*

I just finished series 3. Torchwood alone is not enough to sustain me until spring. I don't have enough old-new episodes on hand either. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Just got back from disney on Tuesday. Got a cold from the immunesystem depressing effects of too much alcohol. Was a great trip tho :) Not as relaxing as say the caribbean or something, but hella fun. Plus, I proposed to Maureen, which was awesome :) Now we're all excited starting to plan for the wedding. Hehehe :) Now I'm stuck at work and sick tho. I'm hoping to sleep tonight and tomorrow and perhaps return to normal life sometime friday and actually be able to cope.

There's a fair number of them if you search on youtube or on http://www.potterpuppetpals.com The other good one is Wizard Angst

Blogmusik.net is a nice site, especially with the internet royalties BS going on lately. Been using it alot with all the work I've been doing lately, plus going out of town like every other weekend. The summer's completely flown by. I can't believe it's already bloody freakin August - Going to Disney in two weeks. It's going to be unbelievably... hot.

Still been thinking about things now that I'm finishing up my degree. Namely, wtf am I doing already god damnit. Given that it was something in IT, I thought about a bunch of stuff, and what I've thought for now is that I'll work on getting some random job but work on overall getting into game program. The physics degree will help, and I've heard it's competitive and long hours, but wtf not. It's something I've thought randomly over the years and never really gave it a go. Might as well :/

Been watching the new series of Dr. Who. Excellent stuff. Also, picked up a copy of Ellis's Crooked Little Vein. Read the first 10 pages. Amazing. Game Informer has surprisingly interesting articles occasionally. They surprise me when they have stuff on the Uncanny Valley or Alternative Reality Games. Harry Potter 7 FTW. Don't want spoilers, so all I'll say is that I'm happy with where it went and satisfied overall. Ahh well, enough for now.

I've been reading quite a few collections and anthologies of short stories lately, mostly sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and all their crossbreeds. Conceptually I really like short stories. You can do alot of things you can't get away with in a longer story. For example, a complete lack of character develop, if done correctly, is not the death of a short story where it would be for a novel. Plus, sometimes, there's just nothing more to say on a subject.

I had this big whole post about various things, but I just decided to delete it all. Fuck it.

So a friend and I were having a discussion on the currently pathetic state of fiscal affairs here in the U.S., and this is a direct quote of what he said. I found it to be one of the most humorous things I've heard about it in a long time:

"In this country we throw money at our problems. That has always been the case and will always be the pontificators don’t offer solutions because the masses are either too stupid to understand them, too easily swayed by those collecting off the status quo or are comfortably ignorant (I include myself here). In other words, there is no solution. Imagine yourself the captain of ship, at sail in the middle of the Bering Sea. One half of your crew hates the other half and half of each doesn’t even realize they are at sea. Every move you make must be in accordance with the majority oh and by the way your taking on water. Now imagine that you are also an idiot. This is the plight of W. "

Hehehehehe.

I wish I could memorize all titles to Beatle's songs, so I could just talk in their song titles.

Also, I've been training/supervising people at work. It's weird. Interesting perspective on cogs in machines and distributive processes. I swear to god, I didn't think I could lose my mind anymore than I have, but being stuck in that room with them has made me lose the last of my marbles.

I hurt my left shoulder stretching today, wtf knows why. Doing productive things with my left arm is now out of the question.

If the dude from law and order is elected I may shoot myself, but if romney's the only one in the straw poll what's the point? Can we just elect a democrat now and skip the whole process?

Komakino - Man on Mars is a good song... away I go back to studying.

I've realized what my problem with republicans is... That they have black nethervoid holes where their hearts should be. No, just kidding... mostly. But seriously, I think the reason I dislike them so much is that they in general represent the antithesis of my philosophy. The religious zealots aside, economically they're all about the centralization of wealth. The rich get fewer and richer and the poor get more numerous and poorer.

The country was based on, in some sense, essential equality for people and it goes back to the bible with love thy neighbor. The concept isn't screw thy neighbor over for a buck. I mean, sometimes they have good points... yes smaller government is good. But part of the government's job is to look after the welfare of the people, and what the republicans have done is implemented situations that 'cause the welfare of 90% of the population to decline, thus forcing the government to institute said programs that republicans decry.

Then you get the war thing... even if I grant you that maybe we should've gone to Iraq and Afghanistan, the protracted war in Iraq is retarded. Not to mention the BLATANT disregard to american opinion on what we should be doing there. Isn't the whole point that the leadership is supposed to listen to it's constituency and act upon the views expressed?

Furthermore, 60 years ago war stimulated the economy because we produced things, now all it does is dump profits into companies like Haliburton, republican owned and operated, that are now based in Dubai of all places. If we had taken a tenth of what we spent on the war and put that to serious research in biofuels we could end the $350 billion that we send out of the country every year to buy foreign oil. Furthermore, it would stimulate the economy, farmers, and put more money back into the pocket of the consumer... thus bettering the economy.

Then there's the environment. If this administration lagged its ass anymore he'd be out of office before anything even made it to the president's desk. Goals my ass. All I see is CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND, here, in Iraq - except the ones you've slaughtered, Mr. President.

Now, a brief note on the religious zealots. I have to wonder how they justify the destruction of the barrier of church and state. Just because we say "under god", doesn't mean that can't mean my personal Lord and Savior Loki, who demands a sacrifice. The whole point is that MY god doesn't trump YOUR god, and vice versa, so nobody's particular religious code outweighs anyone else's, contrary to the situation they've created.

You know what gets me the most is tho... that people as a whole, you try and have an ongoing productive converstion with them, and all you get is people trying to place blame. I could forget everything and just let it slide if something just CHANGED and they made progress. But hoping for that is like bashing your head repeatedly into the wall.

I swear, one day I'm running for office.

First, the interesting thing... I go to check my bank accounts for the roughly $8500 I should've had in there the other day, and low and behold they were empty, and in fact one was -$145. Turns out Maureen owed UMass roughly 10grand and they turned it over to a collections lawyer who emptied our joint bank accounts. Serious suckage. Means I'm going to need to do alot more overtime soon.

Anyways, the more interesting thing was the Google Tech Talks. Now, I may be way behind the times, but there's some very interesting talks that Google hosts on a regular basis and then posts on video.google.com They're all very well done for the most part, and very interesting about both computer and random topics. I've been watching through some of them lately and I just thought I'd post them here for other people's consumption and just so I can keep personal track.

Deconstructing the XBox Security System - A talk by the head of the XBox Linux project about cracking the security system of the xbox to boot and run linux, including distributive and networked processes.

Human Computaton - A talk about using "human cycles" to help solve problems computers can't. Specifically he talks about fun internet games he has developed to help computers recognize, tag, and identify pictures and the items in them.

The Paradox of Choice, Why Less is More - A talk about how, while good in creating more "freedom", an excess of choice also has serious drawbacks and creates problems. Not entirely unexpected to me in alot of ways, having read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (sp?)

Journey to the Center of the Earth - A talk about deep cave explorations, focusing mainly on the Sisteme Cheve in Mexico, including info on common practices and methods.

At work and very sleepy - 5 hours in the last 3 days. More to follow.

So, I got a Wii on friday, picked up Super Paper Mario, Rampage, and Zelda:Twilight Princess. RE: The first two, paper mario is fun, I approve, and Rampage is Rampage, except now when I smash things I actually smash them (and the 3d aspect is interesting), which is good.

As for Zelda. I think it's probably a good thing that nobody described it to me as Windwaker meets Silent Hill, but that's probably the best description I've come up with so far. Played through like 12 or 13 hours so far, and it's creeping me out a little less, but it's still freaky in twilight mode. Thoroughly enjoyable. Plus the graphics are very nice and the control system is surprisingly novel and enjoyable. Granted, I still do a swing slice everytime I want to do a shield attack, but whatever I'm retarded. I actually spend all Sunday playing. Freaking awesome.

I also saw Borat and bought the Fountain and Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. Borat was painful to watch but hilarious at the same time. The DVD came with 8 deleted segments that were also very funny, including at a pound and another where he's being given a tour of a supermarket.

The Fountain was amazing like I knew it would be. The reviewer on the back of tha case said it best when they said " ... it can blow your mind and break your heart at the same time." Pan's Labyrinth was really good... I don't want to like it because it doesn't sit well and it's so depressing, but it's good and well done and... I wouldn't say enjoyable, but engrossing... good in a Requiem for a Dream kinda way.

Anyways, work beckons :(

P.S. A Taste of Armageddon, an episode from Star Trek:The Original Series, is a surprisingly interesting and complex episode.

Sometimes it's hard to keep everything straight. Been working alot of extra OT, just finished www.pacelawbrazil.org. Been studying A++ and reading a 900 or some ridiculous size book on TCP/IP protocol. Got another one and then a book on assembly around here (I think) I'm going to try and polish off soon.

Installed a Ubuntu partition on my laptop, turns out it's the only distro that most quickly identifies my wireless card without using ndiswrapper, but I get shit for speed. I've been using it for kismet and stuff like that tho, so no choice :( I always forget how much I enjoy linux when I don't have it. My only problem with it is that I always seem to happen to have hardware that there aren't any native drivers for. But then when I get it up and running I really enjoy it :) I'm going to have to find/get used to replacements for things like dreamweaver/photoshop/visual studio, but yay none the less. I doubt there's a flash dev app for linux :/

Still working on various goals. Plugging away. I'll probably propose soon. Life continues inevitably onward.

Been a busy month.

I went to the Circus, that was ALOT of fun. I'm sorry, but Barnum and Bailey's is definately far too much fun. Maureen's family came up to Boston this past weekend too, which was great. Got to hang out and have fun, watch a couple movies, see the wee ones, good times.

I finished my bit of WeddingSteps, took more time than I thought it would overall. My job was basically the massive amount of PHP/MySQL backend that lets them easily maintain and update the site. It was fun doing it too, nice to produce something like that. Plus the money helps :P

I'm sitting at work doing overtime. Which is about as fun as pulling teeth. But I return to my above statement about needing the money. Suckage.

I've been thinking lately about protesting against all the crap that's been going on politically. Which is weird for me because I'm normally satiated to be an armchair activist, but I guess this bullshit is really beginning to wear thin on me. Maybe I'll think of something nice and subversive to do.

Lots of random thoughts... time to go write things down on paper and get things organized and get some more shit accomplished.

Hope you folks are all well.

I was re-reading old posts the other day, shit makes me laugh.

Got a job doing a wedding services website. All MySQL and PHP. It's good to get my hands on it again and mess around with stuff. I always want to, but it's hard to be motivated with all this other crap going on + not getting paid for it + no real direction. But being paid for projects is always good :) Unfortunately, because I was overzealous and looking forward to doing it, I basically did 95% of it in like 4-5 days, now I have two weeks to finish the project but only some CSS and HTML left do it... sigh. The funny bit is that they haven't even told me the name of the site yet, so I'm kind of like... just trying to make shit up. YAY MONEY tho.

I've had to put on hold getting my certifications while I'm doing this project, which is kind of a bummer in a way, because that at least made me feel like I was working in some kind of a direction. However, Moe's not working so I can REALLY use the money.

Plus I've been feeling the need to get the f*** out of dodge lately. I'm just tired of living in the city. I miss trees and country and fresh air. Plus everyone in and around boston just has an attitude. I need to get the hell outta here.

I'm going to Barnum and Bailey circus in a week and a half, so I'm really looking forward to that. Haven't been since I was like 10 or 11 with my grandfather. Very cool. I shall wrestle a bear or something while I'm there. Watch the obituaries.

From our dear departed friend Mitch Hedberg... An important moral and lesson on life:

I went to see a heavy metal band in New York…called Monster Magnet. Man, they were heavy, boy. The lead singer got on the monitor, and he said, “How many of you people feel like human beings tonight?” Then he said, “How many of you feel like animals?” And everyone cheered after the animals part. But the thing is, I cheered after the human being part because I did not know that there was a second part to the question. “Yes, I do feel like a human. I do not feel like a tree.”

Yarrrr. Altho they're full of crap about being able to download a full length feature movie in 30 minutes at current standards. We didn't even get that in the dorms, and we abused the hell out of that connection.

Been busy this week studying for the A+ certification and trying to simultaneously bone up on some languages. Fun stuff.

Saw The Prestige... Liked it alot, and it was fun figuring it out, plus great performances by everybody especially I think by Michael Caine, but maybe I just like him too much. Not as good as the Illusionist, but because of something that I can't discuss without drastic spoilers (How Danton does The Real Transported Man).

Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360 may be my most disappointing game in a while. Perhaps I had false hopes for the franchise, but it's just annoying and unwieldy. I played it for 30 minutes the other day, and a grand total of an hour today and I think it's just going right back to Blockbuster tomorrow. Ugh. Should've rented FFXII even tho it's a time sink.

We were going to celebrate our 6th year anniversary this weekend, but between noisy upstairs neighbors and a general meloncholy attitude, it didn't really happen, so we're going to go away in a couple weekends instead. Any suggestions for nice places to take off to in the general range of reasonable travel are welcome.

A guy I worked for before sent me an email friday about some work he wants me to do, which would be good, because he made it sound like quite a bit of work (couple thousand maybe), and I could really use the money. Especially since I've been getting overly stressed about all the shit I've got going on lately. I've been getting these headaches that I hope some simple sleep will solve, but I'm worried they're stress related :/

Time to make brownies (the special kind) and watch Hollywoodland, ciao folks.

It's funny, I don't normally care so much about the change in seasons.  They just come and go, only impacting me as far as what clothes I have to wear to be comfortable or if I need to do the odd bit of shovelling.  Surprisingly though, this year I'm really looking forward to spring.  What really got my thinking about it is that soon I'll be able to go fishing again and how I need to get my gear out and ready and what have you.  Maybe it's a little silly but for some reason it's really got me looking forward to the cool mornings by the water leading to the lazy afternoons, just sitting in the woods for hours not doing anything but trying to avoid catching fish.  I wonder if this is how people normally feel.  The most excited I normally get is looking forward to the nice cold breezes of autumn to break the heat of summer.

I guess in alot of ways it reflects my views of time passing in general.  Every year passes at I'm like WTF where did that go, but I don't really care in any grand sense.  This year was a bit more surprising to me than most when my birthday rolled around, as turning 24 is the number directly preceding 25.  My goal has always been to retire at 30 so I can spend the rest of my time with wife/kids, and I realize that the deadline draws near.  I still think it's easily possible and that I can do it roughly then (plus or minus a year), but the impetus has begun to set upon me.  Kind of like when I had to actually take an exam I'd cram for two days beforehand and actually manage a good grade (I still don't know how I managed to get a B in mechanics without showing up for class even once).

In that vein I picked up a book on the CompTIA A+ certification today and I'm about to delve into it, plus I ordered a reference book for VC++ to refresh myself, and I'm working my way through an actionscript reference and fine tuning those skills.  I figure even if I don't use the certifications I plan on getting on a regular basis they at least look good on my resume, plus if I need to get a temporary job doing some bullshit like that while working towards my real goals then all's the better.

I missed the ides of march this year, god #@!$it.  Seasons change and we'll see what goes around with it, back to the grindstone.