question:
in geekdom, if a gal regularly backs up her computer, does it make her more attractive?
Archive for October, 2006
catching news
I track a news feed in my bloglines and everyday there are around 100 new headlines from around the world. My bloglines is set to only show the headlines, not the article text. I scroll down the list and an average of 5 headlines per day will really catch my eyes and I will go read the article. Regularly, I try to keep up with the “big stories” but during busy times - like now - I only use impulse when making my selection.
Today my impulse selections were:
Model Campbell released on bail
Brazil ’serial killer’ convicted
Bee fossil, DNA generate a buzz
I almost selected Blaze at refinery ‘under control’ but at first I had read “Blaze at refinery ‘outta control’” and during the moment between my impulse being fired and my finger clicking on the mouse, I reprocessed the title and thought “oh no wait, it’s ‘under control’ now, I don’t need to read that”.
So…what do these impulses say about my subconsciousness. I cannot say that consciously I am that interested in Naomi Campbell and serial killers. The bee thing is kinda cool. Are the impulses based on the (possible) topic of the article…or on single words that stand out. Like…chocolate.
I want to do an eye tracking test to get more information on how I scan headlines. Just for some understanding of how I generally absorb information. What do I tune out and what catch me?
click the day away
Today has been a day of looking for answers to various work-related problems. Browsing through forums, tutorials, articles, wikis, and so on and now my right index finger feels numb everywhere but under my nail where it aches a little. Interesting aren’t I?
The other night I dreamt that I had plans with various people and at each engagement I was boring as all hell if you can imagine hell as a boring place. Or I guess a boring place would be hell. So in my dreams it was hell for people to hang out with me. I think the dream was influenced by lack-of-plans weekend and guilt over having no plans although there was reason to my decision. Either way, today I was wondering if I am entertaining or not, and if I want to be entertaining. You don’t need to respond to that ponderage.
And if I were to go anywhere in the world, is there a product that would always be there waiting for me and would that product be:
nutella?
Oooo great link from there: wiki_nutella references a product called Plumpy’nut developed for famine relief. That is too gleeful for me.
feeling a little bit better this friday shut down
I have a lot to do at work. A lot. Sometimes my brain hurts but I think it is from learning. So, when I feel discouraged, I just remember that day after day I gain experience bit by bit. I am overcoming the “this is too hard” freeze-up which feels really good.
Today I realized that it was time face character encoding hell. Making an application for Japanese mobile phones so it has to handle Japanese characters of course. This is not always so easy. It feels like it should almost be easy, but it is not completely. Many attempts result in screens showing mojibake. If you don’t know, mojibake is a term borrowed from Japanese to refer to garbled appearance of characters that your computer cannot support (or is not configured to support). Moji = character, bake = appear in disguise. I like it - mostly because before reading that bake is “to appear in disguise” roughly, I thought of bake as in baked, broken, toast, kaput.
After a day of surfing the Japanese Java forum, using rikaichan for rough translations, trying, testing and seeing a lot of mojibake and question marks, I finally added something to my database that phpMyAdmin showed as being really, truly, Japanese script. Yay! There is still the other half to deal with - assuring that I can retrieve text from the database and present it non-mojibaked but I don’t think that will be too hard.
Not much else going on but work. Yesterday was another intern’s birthday and a number of us went for supper in Yokohama followed by delicious delicious ice cream. This weekend I have work to do, and likely next weekend too, but sometime in November I will travel somewhere. Where, I don’t know yet.
Oh, and I think I might like earthquakes too much. Last weekend early Saturday morning we had one a bit bigger than the normal little ones. I woke up, felt it, had some half-asleep thoughts of my apartment building tumbling over, smiled, went back to sleep. Forgot about it until someone mentioned it later that day. I know earthquakes are scary, kill, cause damage, etc….but it just feels so incredible when something that seems so sure and constant (the earth below you) shakes. I might become an earthquake chaser. Like that movie…with the cyclones…but not them…
outta here!
short
I’ve been staring at the same powerpoint textbox for 15 minutes and I wonder where my time goes.
sweettooth
What’s going on! I have not posted anything about what kind of groceries I buy in Japan. Maybe because I am still a little lost in the grocery store, but getting more familiar. I think next trip I might brave buying a daikon cause I finally know how to use it (even though it is a staple vegetable in Japan and you eat it everywhere). I was going to list the items below with their prices in this entry, but my bus is coming in 14 minutes. Instead, if you are really interested, click on the picture and go to its flickr page. Mouse over the squares to see my notes.
Some of these items are staples for me (yogurt, raisins, nuts, cheap cheap cheap curry, coffee) others are new (lotus root, rosemary, pumpkin pudding) and others are very addictive and I probably shouldn’t buy them again (the sweet potato candy/chip/snack thing).
I will try to document my grocery purchases again - some interesting stuff to be bought!
man supervises our grilling skills
Maybe it was an unconscious response to having a vegetarian stay with me for 2 weeks…last night I ate pig intestines. I don’t know exactly why but my friends wanted to and I almost said “no I don’t think I want to go there” but…maybe I just wanted to fit in : P or do something out of character.
We were at a lamb bbq restaurant and they brought a plate of raw pig intestines for us to grill at our table. When they came I had forgotten what we ordered and was like, “that’s not lamb!”. I won’t post pictures of the raw meat - not quite appetizing. We cooked them over the grill small piece by small piece. They did taste quite good - chewy and juicy. If you can imagine…meat flavoured gum?
Later my stomach did not feel so hot but I think it was mostly psychological. I layed in bed thinking about meat and couldn’t fall asleep. Tried counting sheep but they only looked at me with mournful eyes, shimmering with rememberance of their devoured friends.
I don’t regret eating the above at all. It was tasty and if you eat meat, I recommend trying. But I can’t say I will try it again, I think once was enough for me.
running in february
This morning I received my 東京マラソン当選通知メール. That is my Tokyo Marathon election notice email…roughly…I think. No, I am not running a marathon, just a 10k race but I am still scared as all hell about it. The spooky thing is that I received the email on Friday the 13th and my registration number was 1313…a little freaky ain’t it?
But I paid and I can’t back out now (unless I want to waste 60$). I was apprehensive because this morning’s jog was a little sluggish. Then I was on the bus on the way to work and I saw a number of runners. They were the insanely fit old men-type who wear those wee bum cheek revealing shorts and angular-shaped sunglasses so part of me thought “oh god I will be left choking on their dust!” That’s me sans-confidence thinking and will I ever get into a pair of sweet hot pants thinking like that? No. So, I need to do the race. Even if it means finishing last.
If anyone has tips - please let me know. I kinda wish I had a coach…maybe (s)he would tell me that I shouldn’t have tried those pigs intestines last night which is another story that I will get into if time allows today.
chrysalis
While doing some research on butterflies, I came across the most amazing picture on Wikipedia.
Go to the large version! Good to look at on a day where life is confusing you and you need a reminder that no matter how alien-like and slimy things are, they are still amazingly beautiful. Also…it’s cool that you can see peoples’ reflections in the chrysalises (chrysali?)…
agree to disagree
I was going through the motions of updating software and when EULA time came I hit the Agree button but for some reason I imagined an “Agree to Disagree” button. This gave me a laugh followed by disappointment because the button was not actually there. I went on to think of some humorous situation in an application that could use an “Agree to Disagree” button but came up with nothing.
If you can make me an “Agree to Disagree” scenario - some small program I can have on my computer and then click on Agree to Disagree to my heart’s content, I will love you.
shudder
When I was 12 I started a diary and in my first entry I wrote about that day’s experiences. My best friend got a new bed and then we went to the Milky Way and I got a strawberry ice cream cone with sprinkle dinkle.
Years later I found the almost unused diary (had been abandoned some 2 weeks later), read what I wrote and shuddered. This was all I could come up with?! I was 12 and full of pre-teen torment and twisting pain and tears and frustration and I wanted to break things! But I wrote about a new bed and getting ice cream and I used the word “dinkle”.
Since then I have often looked back on my past writings and shuddered. I have shuddered over things written on this site in the early days and have questionned whether or not I should delete. Usually there’s at least half a year that passes before I can really shudder at something I wrote. If it’s about a guy, maybe two months but…
Recently, I have been shuddering a lot. Like…minutes after I write something. I just reread this and shuddered. I think that maybe I am having a growth spurt. My mind is changing at alarming rates. I can’t relate to myself from 20 minutes ago. It makes it rather hard to make a point because I have no point. I start sharpening and then it seems like yesterday’s news and I get a new pencil. I think I should regress back to fingerpaints.
strawberries from arnold
These strawberries are better because they are from California of course. Arnold says so.
Actually I couldn’t buy any…there is something evil looking about the poster. But I wonder how much this American celebrity turned politician is able to influence people in Japan to buy these strawberries…if I was Japanese, would seeing this in my grocery store make me excited?
tv & escalator
Sunday:
Phew those six months flew by. The middle was last weekend but I think today is more representative of halfway through my stay in Japan. This morning I went to Yokohama with Sarah to see her off. I thought about spending some time around Yokohama station, but decided to come back home instead. I have a pile of things that I want to do around the apartment today and tomorrow (a holiday here) and I am already not so quick on my feet due to Friday night’s escalator incident.
The escalator incident: Friday night Sarah and I braved a typhoon to find some place izakaya like for supper. Leaving Yokosuka-chuo, we stepped onto an outdoor escalator. I took another step down, slipped, skidded down three steps on one foot, fell completely, my lower back making first contact with the edge of a step, and then proceeded to slide down another few steps on my back. Then I laid there winded, letting the escalator carry me (well I guess I was doing that before too), a little embarrassed by the shocked faces of upward going women gasping “abunai! abunai!”. Thankfully I was able to stand up at the bottom. I hit that low back sweet spot – right on the spine – that makes the words “paralyzed for life” flash before my eyes. Also thankfully, I had a patch of bloody escalator marks down my back. If you’re going to be hurting, you might as well have a visible wound that makes you laugh! When I was going up an escalator this morning, laughed and felt uneasy at the same time. The conclusion of the escalator incident is that I am in no constant pain, but there is a bruised spot that makes it hard to run, walk quickly, or walk up and down stairs. Enough of a disability to milk today, giving myself time to write, play guitar and watch tv.
Watch tv ???!!!
Yes you heard that correctly.
Meghan has a tv: It’s been quite a while and I was quite happy without one but when my moving friend offered me hers for my stay in Japan, a number of people recommended that I take it to help with my Japanese learning. Jeremy also noted that it helped him a lot. So I have a tv and it is weird but fun. I don’t understand anything but so many of the shows have bad soap opera lighting and I could never catch onto bad soaps either. I have it on now but with the volume down. It seems as though I have lost the ability to listen to tv and work at the same time. No matter, mostly sports…quite similar to Sunday afternoon tv in Canada. I am mostly paying attention to commercials. Right now I really want coffee, a new camera, and beer.
But not really beer. There was drinking both Thursday and Friday night and even last night I squeezed a couple in despite feeling like I had enough for a while. Had to – we dropped in on the Yokohama Oktoberfest.
might get scattered
My wifi pursuit (see post below) was motivated by disappointment with my keeping track of thoughts, findings and adventures. From now on, I am making an effort to write at home, on the road, in the train, and while eating cake. The other thing I need to do to get things out and in this box is lose the need for flow. So things might get scattered. Why am I explaining? I was about to explain why I was trying to explain myself….but….I’m going to stop…..now.
