So I decided to go playing tonight. I updated my forums to a new version of the tool I had been using. It's really not bad. It has a lot of new capabilities. I know no one was using it before, but it's just fun to play with anyway.
Current Brainstorms
Thursday, March 27, 2003
So I decided to go playing tonight. I updated my forums to a new version of the tool I had been using. It's really not bad. It has a lot of new capabilities. I know no one was using it before, but it's just fun to play with anyway.
So I decided to go playing tonight. I updated my forums to a new version of the tool I had been using. It's really not bad. It has a lot of new capabilities. I know no one was using it before, but it's just fun to play with anyway.
11:09 PM Posted by Big Dave | 0 Thoughts
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
I came in this morning and discovered to my amazement two things. One, Mike wasn't here. Highly unusual since I got in at 9:00 and he's typically here by 8:30. Two, Mikes stuff was in a white box on his desk. Apparently Mike the "new guy" is no longer the new guy. I wish you the best of luck Mike.
Let's see... Big events at church. We got a new youth director. I didn't know until I showed up Sunday night.
Anyone who needs to partake in a culturally enriching experience may want to consider the following options;
Carrollton Community Band tonight at 7:15
Metropolitan Winds concert Friday at 7:30 at the Eisemann Center in Richardson
I will be attending both of these illustrious events in support of one (clinically) crazy little drummer girl.
10:56 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
I came in this morning and discovered to my amazement two things. One, Mike wasn't here. Highly unusual since I got in at 9:00 and he's typically here by 8:30. Two, Mikes stuff was in a white box on his desk. Apparently Mike the "new guy" is no longer the new guy. I wish you the best of luck Mike.
Let's see... Big events at church. We got a new youth director. I didn't know until I showed up Sunday night.
Anyone who needs to partake in a culturally enriching experience may want to consider the following options;
Carrollton Community Band tonight at 7:15
Metropolitan Winds concert Friday at 7:30 at the Eisemann Center in Richardson
I will be attending both of these illustrious events in support of one (clinically) crazy little drummer girl.
10:56 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Tonight I decided to take in a movie. It had been a while since I enjoyed something at the theatre so I went to see a movie that I've been wanting to see for a month, Daredevil. Ben Affleck made a pretty decent Matt Murdock. I have to grudgingly give it to him. However, I was sadly disappointed in Jennifer Garner's portrayal of Electra. She couldn't fool me into actually believing she was a capable fighter. Which is a real shame, because I liked her artificially accented green eyes. I loved Colin Farrel as Bullseye. He had that part nailed. The maniacal laugh. The twitching. Ah, it was greatness.
I honestly think that Daredevil is one of the most "human" super hero conceived. A lot of torture. A lot of pain. And a lot of resentment form the perfect weapon. Nothing to live for. Nothing to loose. Fueled by anger.
If you couldn't tell, I really liked this movie, but I don't know if it's one I'll add to my collection. Like American Beauty, this one has moments of true inspiration, but it's only through pain that the inspiration becomes a reality.
8:55 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Tonight I decided to take in a movie. It had been a while since I enjoyed something at the theatre so I went to see a movie that I've been wanting to see for a month, Daredevil. Ben Affleck made a pretty decent Matt Murdock. I have to grudgingly give it to him. However, I was sadly disappointed in Jennifer Garner's portrayal of Electra. She couldn't fool me into actually believing she was a capable fighter. Which is a real shame, because I liked her artificially accented green eyes. I loved Colin Farrel as Bullseye. He had that part nailed. The maniacal laugh. The twitching. Ah, it was greatness.
I honestly think that Daredevil is one of the most "human" super hero conceived. A lot of torture. A lot of pain. And a lot of resentment form the perfect weapon. Nothing to live for. Nothing to loose. Fueled by anger.
If you couldn't tell, I really liked this movie, but I don't know if it's one I'll add to my collection. Like American Beauty, this one has moments of true inspiration, but it's only through pain that the inspiration becomes a reality.
8:55 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Since this is actually something I'll support I'll post this comment here
"If you wanna help save Clone High from being cancelled, here's the link to the "save Clone High petition"
http://www.petitiononline.com/CloneH/
There's not enough signitures (sic), so spread the link around!!
For updates on Clone High, visit
http://www.deadjournal.com/users/clone_high_fan/
Or email
liquor_pig@iamwasted.com"
For those of you who are not familiar with Clone High, it's an extremely tongue-in-cheek cartoon. I love how it pokes fun at everything. Ghandi is a sex crazed skinny guy who wants desperately to be popular and fit in. Abe Lincoln is an awkward brilliant idiot with high morals, but also wants desperately to fit in. Just sign the stinking petition and watch the show. But I will admit that it won't appeal to MTV's traditional audience. Hopefully Cartoon Network or Comedy Central will pick it up.
8:44 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
"If you wanna help save Clone High from being cancelled, here's the link to the "save Clone High petition"
http://www.petitiononline.com/CloneH/
There's not enough signitures (sic), so spread the link around!!
For updates on Clone High, visit
http://www.deadjournal.com/users/clone_high_fan/
Or email
liquor_pig@iamwasted.com"
For those of you who are not familiar with Clone High, it's an extremely tongue-in-cheek cartoon. I love how it pokes fun at everything. Ghandi is a sex crazed skinny guy who wants desperately to be popular and fit in. Abe Lincoln is an awkward brilliant idiot with high morals, but also wants desperately to fit in. Just sign the stinking petition and watch the show. But I will admit that it won't appeal to MTV's traditional audience. Hopefully Cartoon Network or Comedy Central will pick it up.
8:44 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
It's 2:43 and all is well...
Actually, it's not all well. I'm frustrated that I'm up at work until all hours of the night because the assignments we gave to our contractor weren't finished at 5:00. Our sales team is presenting a demo to a HUGE potential client tomorrow. The reports that we've been working like mad to complete still had bugs in them so I'm taking care of them. Currently I'm at 5 down and 1 to go. Unfortunately I saved the doozy for last. I can see the light at the tunnel. Especially since I'm cheating. I'm not doing it the pretty way by any stretch of the imagination, but the ultimatum came down. Get it done. Easier said than done.
We are doing some really cool stuff though. We've recently switched over from JClass ServerSide to Jasper Reports. Jasper is an open source product that isn't quite as powerful as JClass, but we never used most of the JClass functionality anyway. Besides, it's extremely hard to beat at price of $0. Especially when JClass runs about $1200 per CPU.
I'm trying to learn more about DB2 stored procedures, but 3 in the morning isn't the best time to learn anything. I'll get this wrapped up and then go down to my car and grab the sleeping bag that I leave in it. I know that I if I go home there is no way I'm going to make it back up here by 7:00 to go over the reports before the demo.
You want to know something though? I'm glad I have plenty to do instead of too little.
And I'm taking off by noon.
2:49 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
It's 2:43 and all is well...
Actually, it's not all well. I'm frustrated that I'm up at work until all hours of the night because the assignments we gave to our contractor weren't finished at 5:00. Our sales team is presenting a demo to a HUGE potential client tomorrow. The reports that we've been working like mad to complete still had bugs in them so I'm taking care of them. Currently I'm at 5 down and 1 to go. Unfortunately I saved the doozy for last. I can see the light at the tunnel. Especially since I'm cheating. I'm not doing it the pretty way by any stretch of the imagination, but the ultimatum came down. Get it done. Easier said than done.
We are doing some really cool stuff though. We've recently switched over from JClass ServerSide to Jasper Reports. Jasper is an open source product that isn't quite as powerful as JClass, but we never used most of the JClass functionality anyway. Besides, it's extremely hard to beat at price of $0. Especially when JClass runs about $1200 per CPU.
I'm trying to learn more about DB2 stored procedures, but 3 in the morning isn't the best time to learn anything. I'll get this wrapped up and then go down to my car and grab the sleeping bag that I leave in it. I know that I if I go home there is no way I'm going to make it back up here by 7:00 to go over the reports before the demo.
You want to know something though? I'm glad I have plenty to do instead of too little.
And I'm taking off by noon.
2:49 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Sunday, March 16, 2003
So far I've had an incredibly pleasant weekend. Friday night Desiree and I went to check out the Mustangs in Las Colinas. It's a giant water fountain. We took Sonic and enjoyed the lovely weather and the gurgling of the water.
Yesterday we had every intention of going to the Kite Festival in McKinney. We got a late start and it was 1:00 before we would have made it out there. So we decided to go to Wal-Mart and pick up some kites and go fly them on our own. We got a combo pack with two complete kite kits. I just didn't realize that one of those kites was a stunt kite until we went to put them together. We didn't fly them for very long because the wind was very inconsistent. The kite would be flying fine and then all of a sudden it would crash.
Last night we ate at Red, Hot & Blue with her family. They have the best potato salad. And that's coming from someone who doesn't normally like potato salad. Ah well.. off to cause problems else where.
12:42 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
So far I've had an incredibly pleasant weekend. Friday night Desiree and I went to check out the Mustangs in Las Colinas. It's a giant water fountain. We took Sonic and enjoyed the lovely weather and the gurgling of the water.
Yesterday we had every intention of going to the Kite Festival in McKinney. We got a late start and it was 1:00 before we would have made it out there. So we decided to go to Wal-Mart and pick up some kites and go fly them on our own. We got a combo pack with two complete kite kits. I just didn't realize that one of those kites was a stunt kite until we went to put them together. We didn't fly them for very long because the wind was very inconsistent. The kite would be flying fine and then all of a sudden it would crash.
Last night we ate at Red, Hot & Blue with her family. They have the best potato salad. And that's coming from someone who doesn't normally like potato salad. Ah well.. off to cause problems else where.
12:42 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Friday, March 14, 2003
Sheesh... this has been one incredibly busy geek.
The last couple of weeks have literally flown by. I have been putting in a lot of hours at work and at church. Not so much time at home. Last night I went home at 6:30 and fell asleep by 9:30. I was tired and I guess I needed it.
However, my brain is back to full charge and has been thinking of some really wild things this morning. Note: no drugs (except for caffeine) were harmed in the expression of these thoughts.
Here are some examples.
1. I have a little portable hard drive. It takes firewire and USB inputs. I decided to see if I could connect it to two computers at once. One using firewire and one using USB. When that worked, I decided to see if I could map a network drive from one computer to the other connecting to that portable hard drive. So basically I have two mappings on my computer pointing to the same hard drive. One local and one networked. Now how many people do you know who would actually think up stuff like that. Better question. How many people do you know would actually do it?
2. I've been working on dynamic reports to go on our system at work. At one point today I was thinking about the headers and thought how funny it would be if I used the Diablo font for the headers of the reports. Maybe no one else would laugh, but I would laugh. And isn't that all that really matters.
Let's see, it's been a long time... what have I been doing?
Church:
We are looking to fill the youth director positions left when our last youth directors left unexpectedly. We've had several interviews of candidates, but we have one who is looking to be tops on our list. Sunday night will be a movie night were he gets to come and meet some of the kids. I'm planning on making the kids watch The Blues Brothers and preface with this thought. God doesn't always call who we expect, but we can count on Him to make the unexpected a reality. Because they are, after all, on a mission from God. Of course part of it may be my own proclivity to share the Blues Brothers gospel, but I think it will be fun. I'm going to take my framed picture of the blues brothers and I want to see if I can find a black hat to wear. I'm a little crazy. Can you tell?
I've also been working on getting quotes and getting things in line to upgrade the A/V system in our youth room. My church is starting a contemporary worship service in the fall and this system will be used by that service as well as our youth. I have one quote and am trying to get another to come in. I have to get all my ducks in a row and talk to the trustees, the finance committee, and the contemporary worship committee themselves. It's become my mission/goal. It's going to happen. Oh yes. It will happen.
Desiree:
For reasons unbeknownst to me, Desiree has decided to stick around for the ride. Though we are both incredibly busy and don't typically get to see each other except on the weekends. This is a record for me. And to be honest, I'm not doing a dang thing to work at it. It just seems to be coming along naturally. I wish I could explain it, but it just seems to defy explanation.
Work:
Yesterday marked 7 months that I've been with Benefit Harbor. I truly enjoy what I do, but things can get awfully hectic in a hurry. Mike started two weeks ago. He's a good enough guy, but seems to have stepped on some toes already. Since he's a 3 month contract to hire, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Last Friday we moved our offices around. I was told to go home at 1:00 so I went out and enjoyed the beautiful day. This monday I came in and found my little cubicle. Mine is quaint, but I'm glad I'm not on the middle row. Those are maybe 4' x 4' cells. One nice thing is that I have an entire wall to decorate to my liking. It doesn't have anything up there right now, but soon... Much Dilbert and hilarity will be clipped.
I suppose that is the major run down. Now I have to return to the fray.
9:50 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Sheesh... this has been one incredibly busy geek.
The last couple of weeks have literally flown by. I have been putting in a lot of hours at work and at church. Not so much time at home. Last night I went home at 6:30 and fell asleep by 9:30. I was tired and I guess I needed it.
However, my brain is back to full charge and has been thinking of some really wild things this morning. Note: no drugs (except for caffeine) were harmed in the expression of these thoughts.
Here are some examples.
1. I have a little portable hard drive. It takes firewire and USB inputs. I decided to see if I could connect it to two computers at once. One using firewire and one using USB. When that worked, I decided to see if I could map a network drive from one computer to the other connecting to that portable hard drive. So basically I have two mappings on my computer pointing to the same hard drive. One local and one networked. Now how many people do you know who would actually think up stuff like that. Better question. How many people do you know would actually do it?
2. I've been working on dynamic reports to go on our system at work. At one point today I was thinking about the headers and thought how funny it would be if I used the Diablo font for the headers of the reports. Maybe no one else would laugh, but I would laugh. And isn't that all that really matters.
Let's see, it's been a long time... what have I been doing?
Church:
We are looking to fill the youth director positions left when our last youth directors left unexpectedly. We've had several interviews of candidates, but we have one who is looking to be tops on our list. Sunday night will be a movie night were he gets to come and meet some of the kids. I'm planning on making the kids watch The Blues Brothers and preface with this thought. God doesn't always call who we expect, but we can count on Him to make the unexpected a reality. Because they are, after all, on a mission from God. Of course part of it may be my own proclivity to share the Blues Brothers gospel, but I think it will be fun. I'm going to take my framed picture of the blues brothers and I want to see if I can find a black hat to wear. I'm a little crazy. Can you tell?
I've also been working on getting quotes and getting things in line to upgrade the A/V system in our youth room. My church is starting a contemporary worship service in the fall and this system will be used by that service as well as our youth. I have one quote and am trying to get another to come in. I have to get all my ducks in a row and talk to the trustees, the finance committee, and the contemporary worship committee themselves. It's become my mission/goal. It's going to happen. Oh yes. It will happen.
Desiree:
For reasons unbeknownst to me, Desiree has decided to stick around for the ride. Though we are both incredibly busy and don't typically get to see each other except on the weekends. This is a record for me. And to be honest, I'm not doing a dang thing to work at it. It just seems to be coming along naturally. I wish I could explain it, but it just seems to defy explanation.
Work:
Yesterday marked 7 months that I've been with Benefit Harbor. I truly enjoy what I do, but things can get awfully hectic in a hurry. Mike started two weeks ago. He's a good enough guy, but seems to have stepped on some toes already. Since he's a 3 month contract to hire, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Last Friday we moved our offices around. I was told to go home at 1:00 so I went out and enjoyed the beautiful day. This monday I came in and found my little cubicle. Mine is quaint, but I'm glad I'm not on the middle row. Those are maybe 4' x 4' cells. One nice thing is that I have an entire wall to decorate to my liking. It doesn't have anything up there right now, but soon... Much Dilbert and hilarity will be clipped.
I suppose that is the major run down. Now I have to return to the fray.
9:50 AM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
All I can say is this is laugh out loud funny. Terry Tate: Office Linebacker courtesy of Reebok
8:35 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
All I can say is this is laugh out loud funny. Terry Tate: Office Linebacker courtesy of Reebok
8:35 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
Sunday, March 02, 2003
I'm had a lot of stuff going on this week, but for some reason, just haven't had anything to say. This week we saw the worst ice storm in quite a while. I had off Tuesday and Wednesday. I did some work from home, but pretty much just enjoyed the unexpected time off. I decided on Wednesday morning that I needed to drive to work to get a couple of things. The trip was uneventful until I reached the parking lot that surrounds the office building. It was one large sheet of ice. The path to the back of the building is sloped in a bank. I couldn't make it around the back of the building and ended up parking backwards on the slope. Well... not parking exactly. More like sliding.
The week has been quite enjoyable. We had a new guy start this week. He's quite competent. It's nice to have someone else to help with the crazy times. We're breaking him in kind of slow, but I'm confident he'll be great.
It's quite a burden that has been lifted. Last week after a series of frustrating occurrences I found myself questioning what my future would be. This week was a much needed break from reality for a little bit. Many of my concerns at work have been lifted. While I still have my concerns about the future of the youth program at my church, I had a long talk with a close friend who gave me a great deal of comfort after everything that had happened.
This weekend has been relatively low key. I've watched a few movies, done some reading, and run a bunch of errands. The weekend isn't done yet, but I have truly enjoyed my relaxation. It's been a while since I let myself forget about all the things that have been going on.
4:55 PM Posted by Big Dave
| 0 Thoughts
I'm had a lot of stuff going on this week, but for some reason, just haven't had anything to say. This week we saw the worst ice storm in quite a while. I had off Tuesday and Wednesday. I did some work from home, but pretty much just enjoyed the unexpected time off. I decided on Wednesday morning that I needed to drive to work to get a couple of things. The trip was uneventful until I reached the parking lot that surrounds the office building. It was one large sheet of ice. The path to the back of the building is sloped in a bank. I couldn't make it around the back of the building and ended up parking backwards on the slope. Well... not parking exactly. More like sliding.
The week has been quite enjoyable. We had a new guy start this week. He's quite competent. It's nice to have someone else to help with the crazy times. We're breaking him in kind of slow, but I'm confident he'll be great.
It's quite a burden that has been lifted. Last week after a series of frustrating occurrences I found myself questioning what my future would be. This week was a much needed break from reality for a little bit. Many of my concerns at work have been lifted. While I still have my concerns about the future of the youth program at my church, I had a long talk with a close friend who gave me a great deal of comfort after everything that had happened.
This weekend has been relatively low key. I've watched a few movies, done some reading, and run a bunch of errands. The weekend isn't done yet, but I have truly enjoyed my relaxation. It's been a while since I let myself forget about all the things that have been going on.
