Things that Make Adman Happy:

Big straws. Lots of straws are too narrow, but sometimes they are nice and big and let lots of liquid go through. This pleases me.

Unwrapping Cadbury Cream Eggs without tearing the wrapper. I'm not much of a food guy, but there's something about the unwrappy, anticipitory pleasure of the unwrapping ritual.

Eating ice cream straight from the container, and keeping the level of the ice cream that's left completely flat. I don't know why, but I've always done this.

Cracking the top of creame brulee. Just like in Amelie.

When you open a fresh bottle of wine, and begin to pour it, the "glug glug glug" sound starts BEFORE any wine comes out. It's like magic! I love that part!

Just thought you should know.

Sleep!

Man, two nights ago, I woke up at 3:33am. Last night at 4:24am. No one should be awake at those hours. Least of all, me. Then, of course, I lie there and *try* to go back to sleep. That doesn't work so well. Muh.

I'm going to give the ol' mattress a flip and twist. Maybe having a hill in the middle of the bed will be better than the pit we have now. :)

More

More Google/Yahoo searches that landed people on this page:

"funny quotes from A Mighty Wind"
"Benedryl half life"
"HOW TO GET A BETTER LIFE" (yes, all in quotes)
"puppy when does get better"

Letsee if I can handle these. I'd hate to dissapoint my readers:

Funny Quotes from "A Mighty Wind"
Hrm... I've only seen the movie once, and don't remember many funny quotes (per se) off the top of my head. Basically anything Harry Shearer says is funny, especially since he sounds so much like Princpal Skinner.

Benedryl and Half Life
Benedryl, as far as I know, is NOT radioactive. Therefore, I can only assume the querier was searching for information about playing Half Life while taking Benedryl. I would not reccomend this. When I was first having eye problems, I took the first anti-allergy stuff I found at the supermarket. I'm not an allergy guy, so didn't know much about the medicine. I took two Benedryl. 15 minutes later, my computer screen was getting all fuzzy and stuff. I'm not quite sure how I drove home.... If you're going to play Half Life, drink caffeine and stay up all night! It's best played in the dark with headphones.

HOW TO GET A BETTER LIFE
Man, isn't this The Question. If only the answer actually were posted on a webpage somewhere, as apparently our poor, unhappy soul thought it might. Well, I have a pretty good life. I'm not saying it's better than yours, but you don't see me searching for stuff like that. First, have good parents who don't have their heads up their collective asses and are any of alcoholics/druggies/abusive/deadbeats/etc. That will provide you with a good start.

However, rereading your query, you already have a pretty bad life, or at least want a better one. So what can you do from this day forward?

Find good friends, like mine, who you can rely on, have fun with, and be able to depend on when you really need it.
Find a person who you're attracted to, with whom you can share your innermost secrets and who will provide you with love and attention and affection in a way that typical friends can't and shouldn't. If you are so inclined, marry that person.
Work. Work provides both money and a feeling of accomplishment.
Play computer games. They are fun and safe way to escape the drudgeries of real life.

puppy when does get better
I'm afraid I'm at a loss with this one. Answer depends highly on the problem. Be nice to your vet. Love your puppy. All will be well.

Any more questions?

Well, let's see here...

Friday we had a "teambuilding" event at work, which was a lot of fun. We had a nice lunch down at Mission Bay, and then participated in a boat building contest. We were given supplies to build a boat, and we were judged on design, presentation, and a race around a buoy. As you can imagine, there was lots of wackiness and lots of fun. Our team, in spite of coming in second in the race, took first overall in the competition. We got a trophy and everything.

Here's me and some boys...




Friday night, a group of us went out to see "Identity". It was a little weird, but it still scared me. I don't think I like scary movies. I don't like being scared, and I don't like the lingering creepy feeling they leave me with. It doesn't even have to be high-brow, cerebral scaryness, either. All it takes is a woman walking backwards in the rain, with some scary violin music playing. But it was fun to go out with the peeps.

Saturday was a lazy day. Diana and I got in the jacuzzi and sat in the sun and she read the rest of "The Two Towers". That afternoon, I golfed with Iwan, which was fun. I played really well for myself, shooting a 70 on a par 58. Iwan, who usually beats me by 6 or 8 strokes, got a 69. I was very pleased. That night, he came over and we barbequed some burgers for dinner. Yummy.

Yesterday, Diana worked in the morning, and I hung out and did some programming and played some Nethack. That afternoon, I met her at her parents house, and we watched the end of the Timberwolves game (who lost, boo), and went for a nice walk on the beach. We had some discounts and gift certificates for SoupPlantation, so we went there for dinner, which was nice. They had all my favorite bits. Then to bed early, and we watched "Never Cry Wolf", which she had borrowed from her parents. I'd seen it before, but it's a nice, quiet, introspective sort of movie which was enjoyably sleep-inducing.

I've officially started a new programming project. I'm starting to write a sort of general-purpose scrolling tile-based 2d graphics engine. I'm sure a million have been written before, but not by me. So I wrote some stub classes last night, and I've got some good ideas, I think, so that will be fun to work on. Hopefully, when it's done, it should be general purpose enough to use in the game people are planning on writing at work, as well as work for some other ideas I've had. I'd love to do a sort of Gauntlet clone, or a side-scroller like Super Mario Bros, or a top scroller like Ikari Warriors or Heavy Barrel. We'll see, I guess, how it goes.

I got a screenshot of my GTA self. I need to take matching pictures and I'll post 'em here for comparison. It still cracks me up to watch "myself" run around in the gang-ridden world of Grand Theft Auto wearing my comfy clothes.

Work is slow. I'm updating a document, taking frequent breaks to practice/play in our departments foosball tournament. I'm not good at foos, but getting better. Baditude is keeping the email wires hot with his online version of the Hero Clix game.

Tonight is a happy hour in honor of my old friend and co-worker who's back in town for the time being. It will be fun to see her again. Tomorrow is a "team building" event with co-workers. It's something about a competition to build and/or race boats. Should be fun. Or at least more fun than sitting around here all day.

As I sit and think, I kind of realize my life isn't really so dynamic as it used to be. I'm in a solid routine, which is good and bad. It's a good routine and I'm happy and satisfied, but it's still the same old routine. And I'm not quite sure what can be done about it. Or if anything needs to be done about it.

Diana and I have been walking more in the fields behind our house. There are bee-boxes back there. We crept up to 'em the other evening and watched the little guys go in and out. It's a good walk, especially right around sunset. I'm happy for the excercise, since I haven't played official sports in quite a long time.

Speaking of sports, I'm hoping to golf more. It's staying light a lot later these days, so after-work golf is certainly an option. Golf is an expensive hobby, though.

Random ramblings from me.

Nethack

In rec.games.nethack, there is a Nethack Haiku contest. I've written two entries (the first of which was complimented by someone else, which is nice). I realize these will probably only make sense to someone (Norm) who has played the game, but I offer them to you, dear readers, nevertheless:


"Come buy my pretty trinkets!"
Pakka-Pakka calls.
The giant mimic tenses.
(I realize I screwed up the 5-7-5 syllable structure here...)

and...

A cool, sweet fountain
Lifegiving water to quaff
Streams of snakes pour forth.

Haikus are fun. Someone suggested that English haiku should only have 3-5-3 syllables, as English has more expressive words in fewer syllables than Japanese does. The above might then turn into:

Cool fountain
Lifegiving water
Snakes pour forth

Sounds more like a haiku that way, says me.

I played a little Grand Theft Auto today, but my heart just isn't in it like it used to be. I'm still pretty pleased with my skinning of the model. I should take a screenshot and a real life picture and compare the two... Hmmm.....

Boys Don't Cry

Diana picked out this movie from the library yesterday. It was a pretty good watch. Really the weirdest thing about it was how similiar I look to Hilary Swank's character at some points. I'll have to find some representitive screenshots or something when I get home. Otherwise, it was a depressing look into a bleak world filled with angry, unlikeable characters, but it was enlightening all the same.

There's some talk of people here at work developing a game. Apparently one guy already has an idea and design all set out. I recruited myself to help with coding, and I got Baditude involved to do some (as much or as little as he wants) artwork. I've worked in projects like this before, and it's always easy to start and hard to follow through, but the experience should be fun.

That is all.

Aww...

I was just reviewing my past hits to this page. I can see what computers connect, and where they came from. In rare cases, a search engine will pull up this page, and I'm able to see the URL of the page that generated a link to this page. In that URL is the phrase that the person was searching for.

Two notable instances are there:

"Does marriage get better" (this page is link #5 from Yahoo)
and
"Why does it hurt so bad to get dumped"? (this page is link #7 from Yahoo)

Both of these questions are a little heartbreaking in their own ways. However, this one just came through:

"fish shocker schematic"

That brightened up my day. :)

Anyways, a little tip, people. Put "quotes" around your search queries to search for that exact phrase. Otherwise, you get pages that have any of those words in them at all, and for pages with a lot of text (like mine), that's quite a few.

Back to work...

Sunday turned out to be a pretty quiet day. Diana gave me an easter basket with some of my favorite candies, which was very nice of her. We had some breakfast and went for a walk on the beach. I hadn't been to the beach in so long! It was a lot of fun. I can't remember the last time I've been swimming in the ocean. I'll have to do more of that this summer. After our walk, neither of us had any any of what to do with our day, so we went home and made smoothies! They were good and good for us. :)

Diana's sister called that afternoon, and came over to visit and show us pictures from her 3-month foray to New Zealand. She's been backpacking around, staying in hostels and meeting other world travellers and it sounds like really having a great time. Aside from family and friends, it didn't sound like she had much attatchment to living in the U.S. at all, and if not for those reasons, would have been perfectly happy staying in New Zealand for a long time.

We made dinner. Alicia (a vegetarian) learned what rennet was. I'd only learned recently (from Baditude and H-Bomb) what it was, but was a little surprised that she didn't know. I don't know if it was an awkward moment or not, but I can't help but wonder what was going through her mind at that moment. We watched "What's Up, Doc" with Barbara Streisand, which was a childhood favorite of Diana and Alicia. It was silly and fun. I'm conflicted on whether old-school Babs was pretty or not.

Anyhoo, then to bed, and now to work!

Letsee...

I had Friday off. Diana and I saw "A Mighty Wind", which was fun, but I think I liked "Best In Show" better. Then we got pizza for dinner, which was very yummy. Today we pulled weeds in the morning, and then basically crashed out all afternoon. I went to the San Diego Riptide arena football game with Iwan and Eryn, which was fun. They are going to see Convoy tonight, but I decided I wasn't interested in staying out that late tonight. And the show is probably sold out anyways.

No plans for tomorrow. I like three day weekends. :)

Phone Booth

Who would have thought that A Mighty Wind would have sold out on a Wednesday night? I guess it was opening night, but still. Oh well. I ended up seeing "Phone Booth" with Diana and Iwan across the street. I liked the movie. It was a little contrived (well, I guess a LOT contrived), but it was entertaining and engaging, which is more than I can say for most movies I see.

Before the movie, we had some time to kill, and I played a few games of the drum game (I don't remember what it's called). Think Dance Dance Revolution but with drums. It's a lot of fun, and really challenging.

Today is Thursday, and we have tomorrow off from work. I'm hoping to sleep in. Diana and I aren't sleeping well. It might have something to do with the big chasm in the middle of our bed. Maybe mattress/bed shopping should be a priority this weekend.

Eryn's online Hero Clix game is in full force. See the link in my previous post for the play by play.

Diana's back!

Letseee... it rained really hard two nights ago. Our most recent gutters worked like charms, so I think I'm done worrying about them for now. Yesterday, Diana and I went along the same walk that I discovered on Sunday, and that was really ice. Nice ocean view from there, and we stayed to watch the sunset. I'm glad she's back.

Tonight, I think we're going to go see "The Mighty Wind", which will be fun. I don't think I'm as big a fan of those movies as the next person, but it'll be good to go out. This Saturday, the San Diego Riptide is playing, AND Convoy is going to be in town, so I'm hoping I can go to at least one of those.

In other news, Eryn has set up a little test online version of the Hero Clix game to play via email. It looks like a lot of fun! You can watch the game from his page in the Features section. (I hope he doesn't mind me posting that, but it's not really hidden).

Well...

My love has been gone for the weekend, which means I've reverted back to my bachelor self. Which has it's good and bad points. I've played a lot of freaking Nethack, I'll tell you what. Last night I talked to Diana on the phone, and went to my parents for dinner, so I had some interaction with people. Today has been one of those surreal "quiet days" where I haven't actually said that much out loud.

I went for a walk today to enjoy the sun. I found a nice little protected habitat place and followed my nose to the big chasm that seperates the two halves of Carlsbad. There was a really steep, rocky trail leading down to a creek in the middle, so I traversed down it. It was really neat down there. There were two old cars down there, and when I saw the first one, I was thinking I was going to be "a hiker" in the headline "body of missing San Diego woman found by a hiker". But they were old and no bodies to be found. I wondered if there were fish in that there stream, though. Anyways, as I was thinking these things, I heard a buzzing, and a bee flew by. Then another. Then I heard more buzzing and saw about a dozen bees heading my way. I did NOT want to get swarmed. The only way to go was almost straight up. The trail I'd come down was really (more than 45 degrees) steep. Nevertheless, I hightailed it (literally... I was using my hands and feet) up as fast as I could go. That got my heart going pretty quick. I made it up about 1/3 of the way before I had to stop, and there were no bees around, so that was good. Kind of scary, though.

I just went out and opened an account at Hollywood video, and rented "Blade Runner" on DVD. The first time I tried to see it (at the Campus Cinema at Davis) I got a migraine.

I have demo code for doing DirectX stuff in .NET. Now I just need to come up with an idea of a simple game (Breakout, Bejeweled, Tetris, etc). I have lots of idea fragments, but nothing that is a complete game. (For those of you who read this and have game ideas, keep them SIMPLE).

Ok, movie time.

Eggs! Eggs it is!

Last year, I think probably almost exactly a year ago, I discovered a hummingbird nest outside the front doors of my work. I was standing out there, enjoying the sun, and a little hummer flew right up to me and chirped angrily at me, and then flew into the tree. I found him sitting on a little nest, about the size of a little egg cup. It was very cute.

Well, I was just out doing the same thing, and in a nearby tree I heard the same sort of chirping. "I know that sound!" I thought. A couple seconds later, a little hummingbird flew out of the tree and away. It only took a few seconds to find the nest. I used my glasses as a mirror and saw two little eggs in the nest! It's all very exciting to me. The whole "circle of life" thing right before my eyes. It'll be fun to keep an eye on 'em, and watch the little guys hatch like last year.

Ahhh spring. :)

Foos.

I've been playing foosball at work. We have a table set up in the server room, hidden amongst the racks of servers. We have some REALLY good foosball players here. Players that I've seen before who I thought were REALLY good were only pretty good compared to these guys. So, of course, a couple foos tournaments have been set up, and I (a self-proclaimed "advanced beginner") and a pretty intermediate guy have partnered up. We actually won our first game, but got smoked our second game. But it's a double elim tourney, so we still have another game to play at least. Foos is fun. It's something new that I'm not good at, but I like the feeling of getting better.

Diana's going away this weekend. Up to Santa Cruz with her friends. She should have a good time. I'll try to keep myself busy with Nethack and hopefully working on the fish with my dad.

Not much news to report.

I like daylight savings time. It's nice that Diana gets home when it's still light out. We took a walk to our secret sunset spot last night, which was nice.

I played some good Nethack the other day. I'm still pretty much a novice, but getting better. The game is really challenging, which is nice. I think a lot of computer games aren't really hard enough, or hard enough in the right sort of way. Anyways, I've had some good adventures, and it's fun that Norm is playing as well. He sometimes provides me with much-needed game updates during my workday, and I like having someone to lament my latest death to. Good stuff.

Tonight is the first game of the WCD playoffs. Baditude is hosting, and we're all going to go watch the computer play itself in football. I still can't get over how geeky that sounds (is?). Oh well.

Letsee...

Friday night, Diana and I went out to dinner and saw "Bend it like Beckham". It was enjoyable. Nothing too special, but fun to watch and worth seeing.

Saturday, I finally finished "Shogun". Great book. I'm now searching for a cheap way to get ahold of the miniseries that was on TV in the 80's. It's for sale new for about $250. I found a copy on eBay for $25. I'd rather just rent it from somewhere, but haven't found anything. Saturday afternoon, I got my car smog-checked, which left me wandering Encinitas for a couple hours. I had lunch, and cruised around browsing several stores. Diana was off doing her own errands, so it was sort of a lonely day. That afternoon we did our taxes, which was fun. Looking over my last years taxes, I found a big math error I'd committed that had me paying too much in tax. Which explains why they sent me back a refund for most of what I'd paid, which was nice of them.

Sunday, we went down to the Encintas street fair and walked around, which was fun. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to take a walk in the sun and look at the booths and watch the people and soak in the atmosphere. Baditude called right before we left, and said that he and some other folks were going to see "Bend it like Beckham" that night, and did we want to go? Diana said that we'd already seen it, and that we were going to the street fair. Baditude said that that's where HE was yesterday. It seems we probably could have worked our weekends out a little better.

Speaking of working weekends out: there is a little movement to have a winner-takes-all poker tournament. It's always a pain in the butt to try to get everyone together at the same time, but I think a tournament would be a lot of fun. I've never played poker for more than a couple hours straight, and I have no idea how long it would take a group of eight to get cut down to one winner, but it seems like it's worth finding out. Just have to find a date that suits everyone.

Cruisin'

Still getting over being sick. Still sniffing and blowing my nose a lot. Feeling mostly normal, but still a little fuzzy at times. This week has gone without a whole lot of excitement. Wake up, go to work, come back from work, have dinner with Diana, watch some TV, read some Shogun (100 pages left!), play some Nethack.

Sweet. Tonight is Survivor, and a new ER. Woo hoo!

The fact that I'm actually excited and looking forward to that is a little sad. I look forward to having more energy and getting out more. Diana and I found a pretty good sunset-watching spot up behind our house. We can see the lagoon and the ocean from there, so hopefully we can make use of that more in the future. Unfortunately, there's a house full of pellet-gun toting teenagers who don't seem to be afraid of pulling the trigger at each other (we saw one shoot the another), so we sort of need to hide out a little.

Hello.

Tusday night. Not so much is going on. Diana pleasantly surprised me by being home by the time I got home, which was nice. We spent a silly night eating pizza and I had a beer (woo hoo!). Pizza, beer, salad, fruit, and a Cadbury Creme Egg. Not too shabby. I'm in a good mood, in spite of the fact that I'm still pretty beat by this cold. It's getting better every day, but by about 5pm I'm just drag-ass tired.

Tomorrow is a congratulations lunch for the group of folks that worked on the project that I was a part of for the last year and a half or so. That should be fun. I'm really happy that it's all up and running without (m)any problems.

I played more nethack yesterday, and have been reading the spoiler files. Apparently backing up your save games and reloading 'em when you die (which I'm doing), is about the most reviled thing you can do, according to the nethack community at large. So I'll either stop doing it, or not tell anyone about it. You take your pick. :)

Tonight's the Real World season finale. It's crazy how quickly you get to "know" people on TV, and how fast they're forgotten about when they're not on TV every week. I can hardly remember who was on last seasons Real World or Survivor or whatever.

You know what's a good move? Carrying something in your left hand, and trying to get your car keys out of your left pants pocket with your right hand.