Made a quick visit for Kathy’s niece’s 11th birthday party.  Caught Penn & Teller live at the Rio.  Excellent nail-gun trick.  And real-gun trick.  Good stuff, very entertaining.

Then, back to work as usual.

*sigh*

There’s always a nice feeling when an imminent Star Wars movie is about to come out.  Forty year-old men begin to crawl out from their parent’s basement.  The seasonal section at Rite-Aid becomes colorful like Christmas as a whole new slew of goods made in Chinese sweatshops for Americans to blow money on comes alive with sugar and cheap plastic.  It’s unmistakably Jedi season again.  Mind tricks galore.

Okay, so it’s an animated movie.  Only kids and true geeks will probably go see it, myself included.  IMAX, dead center, day one.

So, in honor of this great rare feeling, I’ve decided to post a couple amusements that fell through the tubes.  Such as Lego’s re-enacting a great piece by Eddie Izzard.

And this one is just a little too true.

And last, for posterity, we have some BBC footage about a Drunken Darth Vader being spared jail time. Yes, the finesse British sense of culture never ceases to amaze me.

My work here is finished.

For now.

Since I have such endless vitriol aimed at these things, maybe I should just give it it’s own category.

I’m still completely baffled at how much these things cost, and how they are so not worth that much. One thousand dollars, maybe. But over two grand?? Come the fuck on. Why not just save up for a house and play video games like Peggle on your far-less-than-cool PC?? Two grand, people. Are you pissed off at Windows to the point where you have no problem shelling out that kind of dough? Why not just reinstall the freakin’ OS? Or just upgrade that piece of shit for $500?

And I see these things at their worst. Every day. Damaged to the point where the lid won’t even close. And the place I work just seems to have an endless supply. It’s sick, just sick. Endless Kool-Aid.

When befuddled with problems, it can go like this.

Thankfully, there are herbal remedies nearby.

Many times these days I’ll check myself in the mirror and see spinning beach balls within my eyes. It does not mean I need a vacation, or a trip to the beach. It means I’ve been working on Macintosh Computers non stop. And as any Mac user will know (or not know), the spinning beach ball is the equivalent of the Windows hourglass. That menacing little icon that just spins around while the system tries as hard as it can to process data; it’s the only validation you really get signifying that something is happening behind the curtains.

In Windows, when that spinning icon has been rotating for a few minutes, you have to liberty to say, “screw this,” and pull the plug on the whole thing. With Macs, you have to be gentle. They don’t like having the plug pulled on them. In fact, they really hate it, because you will screw the whole thing up by pulling the plug. Granted, there are some funky commands you could try, that usually do work. My Mac-certified supervisor is full of them. Still, I want to pull the plug when she’s not looking, then pretend I don’t know why it won’t restart. I just want those beach balls to stop spinning. Is that so wrong?

I did take a class on the Mac in 1995, which would’ve been OS 7 by my reckoning. I learned how to make videos. Or a video. It’s stored on a zip disk somewhere.  Remember those?  Now I’m dealing with clients who are in their 20’s, who have probably been using the Mac since they were kids. I do learn a lot from them. And, when there are moments of my shortcomings being dreadfully exposed, I like to remind people of the ambiguous mechanical virus that only Macs seem to carry. Better get a handle on that fast, Steve.

With both of us being so busy lately, it had been a while since we ventured outdoors for a day trip. We had made reservations to visit Ano Nuevo a while back, and go figure, it was on a day scheduled with rain and high winds. Nonetheless, we braved the elements and got to see one of California’s fascinating displays.

We went with a guided tour since that seemed to be the only option. Large groups of northern elephant seals migrate to this area annually for about 3 months out of the year to mate. The other 9 months, they all go separate ways leading solitary lives in the Pacific. Nobody really knows how they know to return to the same place.

What I thought was a beached log turned out to be the first sighting about 20 feet away.

Strike a pose, man.

They were of all ages and sizes. The cute factor mainly resided with the pups.

The adult males just didn’t have that warm fuzzy appeal.

One thing that really stood out were the noises that these animals made. The air was filled with a cacophony of banshee-like wails made by the pups (weaners) mixed with very deep guttural belches made by the males, somewhat similar to a clogged toilet after the obstruction has been dislodged. It was, um, interesting.

Off in the distance was an old, abandoned house built in the 19th century.

I forget much of the details, but when it was built there was actual land where there is water now. Over the years, the land depleted from erosion making it an island. The tour guide did confirm the place is now taken over by the seals; researchers who venture out there have spotted them on the second floor in the bathtub. That would make for a great picture.

Speaking of which, Kathy got a neat shot of the highway coast lined with yellow mustard flowers.

All in all, it was a very cold, wet but amazing day in the great outdoors.

So I’ve been working this new gig lately. I won’t say who or where it’s at, since I’ve signed so many papers saying I wouldn’t do it, but it’s really great. One big thing, being an avid Windows user for over ten years is that I’ve been working mainly on Apple computers lately. I’ve always wondered what the big deal was, and I must say, I’m still waiting for some big deal.

Granted, I’m only working on Macs for troubleshooting issues, not leisurely things. I don’t have much time for actual ‘playing’ around with them. So many stories I’ve heard, like the, “Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I went for sooo long without using a Mac!” my expectations have fallen somewhat flat. I still think Linux is the most promising OS right now, and yes, it’s my opinion. The only thing better than having a choice of three main operating systems right now, could only be having four. Maybe five. I must say choice is the big thing with me.

So instead of dissing the Mac, which for me, could be just as easy as dissing Windows, I’ll point out a couple things which I’ve found most interesting.

Target disk mode.

If one Mac is in trouble, summon another to help it out. By holding down the T key on a despaired Mac, you can render it to be viewed as a drive. At least, a drive to another Mac with no issues. Connect them together with a firewire cable and run the Disk Repair utility. Well, at least I thought it was neat.

OSX = Unix based OS

Being a fan of Linux entails respect to the stability of Unix, which OSX is based upon. Things you might learn in Linux, can be quasi interpreted to modern day Macs. Which is very helpful in trying to learn both systems.

The removal of programs also goes very different. Windows basically has to backtrack everything that was set forth in the registry, the uninstaller never gets rid of anything completely. With the Mac, I found the process very funny; you drag the unwanted program into the trash. You are then rewarded with a gratifying ‘cloud poof’. It’s as if the system is telling you, “yeah, it’s really gone.”

But Macs and PC’s, unfortunately, both fall under the species of computers. They both seem to have equivalent breakage. Looking underneath the hood of each, you can clearly see the difference between the two; PC’s, very solid and logical - Macs, cheap, yet space age looking. On the outside, they both make the same funny, whirring noises. But really, the Mac has better lipstick. Hands down.

We’ve all heard the saying; Careful what you wish for because you just might get it. As soon as I heard about the Walking with Dinosaurs BBC presentation coming to San Jose this December, I half-jokingly kept bugging Kathy about it. Sure, I do love dinosaurs but as we all know, the whole prehistoric subject tends to be child fodder. “Are you serious??”, she’d retort. “Yeah, come on! Let’s go!”

Okay, wish granted. She got us tickets. We honestly thought we’d be the only ones there without kids, but surprisingly we were wrong. Folks of all ages attended. In fact, we saw more adults than children. It really didn’t matter. I was just so happy to further cement my geek status. It was truly an entertaining show.

We had the titanic Brachiosaurus.

Ankylosaurus and Torosaurus. Well-armored Cretaceous herbivores.

Obnoxious Utah Raptors, vying for the camera.

And the obligatory appearance of T. Rex with child. Go go, Godzilla.

(was that T. Rex? apparently not)

Then the heart-clenching moment at the end. The announcer reminds us all that the dinosaurs lived for 170 million years, and suddenly vanished.

Nooooooo!!!

Yes, supposedly a meteor six miles wide crashed into the Earth in what is now the Gulf of Mexico. Dust and debris blocked out all sunlight, plant life died out, in turn, so did they. But their successors live on in the form of birds. So there you have it. Giant monstrous beings that tasted like chicken. This planet is amazing.

Seriously, One Hundred and Seventy MILLION years. Monkeys stopped throwing poo at each other and began crafting sticks into spears about ten thousand years ago. Meaning that (whatever your belief may be) Homo Sapiens, or Human beings have only been around for a fragment of the time that the dinosaurs were. Again, it all depends on what you believe. Monkeys are still throwing poo at each other, so what do I know? But for a whole species to live that long, without opposable thumbs, televisions and computers, whereas we are more likely to blow ourselves up; all evidence of our gameboys, wars and amusement parks will be vaporized. Only cockroaches and twinkies will remain.

It all started with Fedora, the free version of Red Hat Linux. Yes, Linux. Call me converted, or whatever. Deviants of Microsoft and/or Apple have definitely created some sort of OS heaven. Many have used it since the 90’s, or even earlier. Some actually enjoy it’s parent, Unix, which I find god awful, ugly and boring. Yes, it’s very functional, but it’s still mighty fugli.

But, for me, Fedora was my first. Which lead to Mandriva, and it’s highly appreciated cousin, PCLinuxOS. Terrible, unoriginal name, but a very excellent OS for beginners, next to South Africa’s Ubuntu and it’s odd naming convention; one can’t upgrade from Edgy Eft to Gutsy Gibbon prior to Feisty Fawn; or you can just do a fresh install of Gutsy Gibbon. Animal crackers sold separately. Unfortunately, my old laptop’s graphic card doesn’t comply with all of Linux’s crunchy goodness. Ubuntu does come in several different versions. It’s actually based on Debian, which is the platform Fatcow uses to host this website. Albeit gay-looking, Ireland’s Linux Mint is one fine version. It’s your mother’s Linux. At least, my mother’s Linux. So neat and orderly. Then there’s that bastard creation, Italy’s Sabayon, designed for 16 year olds. Turkey’s Pardus is pretty kick-ass despite the fact it won’t go to a resolution higher than 800×600 for me. Gobble gobble. Otherwise, it would be perfect. It took me a while to settle on something I really liked. In fact, I don’t know if I really have. What I’m writing on now, and what’s kept me up configuring past 2am with glee is Novell’s latest toy, Germany’s OpenSUSE 10.3. Sure, if it’s that great, why am I messing with it so late? Maybe it’s my Microsoft roots. I don’t know. I don’t enjoy a computer without some, or a lot, of fussing. Hence why I don’t use Macs. I would be bored out of my wits (and broke) with one of those.

The Koh Chang frog was never really spotted. We did see a toad by a swimming pool but were advised that it might spit poison if we got too close. Nonetheless, we did so much in Thailand that hunting down elusive frogs had to take a back seat to our agenda.

We’ve been back for nearly two weeks and I’m feeling almost ashamed for not posting any pictures. We’ve got soo many pictures that I’m looking into creating a photo-blog page for this site. But for now, I’ll divulge merely a fragment of what we got on digital, not even half from the first day, yet it feels like a lot. There’s much more to come.. I just don’t know when.

Thailand is full of monks, monkeys, insects and German tourists. Bangkok, it’s capital city, is one of the most populated, congested and polluted cities in the world, but it was so amazing to see and experience. So much going on. Thailand also has the deadliest drivers ever, yet I didn’t see one single accident. Unless you are a resident and know the rules of the road (or lack thereof), public transport and walking is the only way to get around. I’d be too terrified to even ride a bicycle there.

A very common site to see at places is a little Buddha shrine, like this one at Kathy’s aunt’s house, where we stayed frequently. You never know when a prayer might come in handy so you’ll see a lot of these. You can also smell incense buring at random times throughout the day. At least, I’m pretty sure it was incense.

Lovely floating lotus flowers, my current wallpaper:

Next on the agenda was to the primary tourist destination by way of the Chao Phraya, aka: The River of Life. From the boat we could see many historic buildings and structures lined up along the river.

Okay, so they looked more like this:

The man you see in the picture is Thailand’s King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, aka: King Rama IX, in the order of the dynasty. The King just celebrated his 80th Birthday on December 5th. Yes, the King of Thailand is a Sagittarius. I will say no more on that. The King is a very beloved and respected man in his country. You will see his picture everywhere.

Our destination, The Grand Palace (I won’t even attempt the Thai spelling of it) was pretty amazing. And very crowded.

Gigantic Ramakien statues.

And smaller ones, intricately adorning the walls of the Palace.

Lots of bizzare creatures, formed in stone.

The lions had very big butts. Meaty.

The place just went on forever, it seemed.

Yes, he’s real.

Got Buddha?

The enormity of the golden Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho gives testament to the dedication of Thailand’s dominant religion.

Close up shots of his feet, embedded with mother of pearl depicting mythical beasts.

Last photo in this series shows me donating satang, or rather, pennies into the monk’s bowls. No those aren’t tears from me being moved by the holiness; they are buckets of sweat pouring out of every inch of my body. Thailand is one infernally hot place. Believe the hype.

More temples, more Buddha’s, more monks, more monkeys. All will be posted to this site.

Someday.