You do not know the power of the pink side of the Force!

I find your lack of cuteness... disturbing...

Via BoingBoing

QuickLogger Plus

UPDATE 2007-09-26: Welcome again Lifehacker readers - it looks like a bunch of you have followed the breadcrumbs from the recent QuickLogger 2 article to the original QuickLogger article to get here. You may have noticed that QuickLogger Plus is a little stale to say the least - it's been well over a year since the last update. I feel like I owe you all an explanation for that, but I don't have the time to do that right now - I'll try to post something soon. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, and if you haven't already, check out Joshua Tallent's QuickLogger 2.0 - it looks good!

UPDATED 2006-09-12: New features added (finally!) Read all about it here. If you still want a copy of the original, it's available as quickloggerplus.2006072801.vbs, but I highly recommend using the new version.

A few days ago, Lifehacker posted a neat little script called QuickLogger for keeping track of what you do during the workday. I downloaded, loved it, and immediately became dissatisfied with it. For starters, it didn't use the time format (ISO 8601) that I prefer, and it didn't automatically rotate the log file. So I made a few changes to make it work the way I liked it. Then, I started thinking of other things that I'd like it to do. One thing led to another, and the original 23-line script was now mutated into a 200 line monster (including comments and whitespace) that I dubbed QuickLogger Plus. The user interface remained the same, but under the hood there were a ton of configuration options.

I decided it was time to share my monster with the world, so on Friday (July 28 2006) I posted my changes to Lifehacker. So far, the response has been positive. According to my web server logs, it's been downloaded over 60 times since posting to Lifehacker - not bad considering that it didn't get posted until 48 hours after the original article.

I've got one feature request that I hope to implement in the next day or so - I could probably do it now, but since I can't really test it from my Linux system at home, I'll have to wait until I'm back in the office on Monday to test it under XP. If you've used it and have any comments, feature requests, bug reports, etc. please post a comment here, or drop me an e-mail (address in the script comments). I'll make this page the semi-permanent home of QLP - any updates, etc. will be posted here.

Music video Thursday: "1985"

All right, here we go - the second installment of "Music video Thursday". I'm actually looking forward to these - I've got a number of videos lined up for the next month or two already. And now... on with the show!

"1985" - a poignant examination of a middle aged lady, looking wistfully back at her life, at opportunities missed, dreams forgotten, the changes in the world around her...

Well, it could have been poignant, coming from someone other than self-proclaimed "drunk rock" group Bowling for Soup, but at least they manage to bring back the beauty and grace of 1980's music videos:

Ahhh, Video Hits - the memories come flooding back...

Music video Thursday begins: "Technologic"

I've decided that Thursday is the day to post music videos to my blog. Just because. You got a problem with that? Oh yeah? Well come over here and say that.

And now, for your viewing and listening pleasure, we are proud to present our feature presentation: "Technologic", by Daft Punk. Don't try to understand what's happening, just sit back and... ummm... watch, I guess.

Buy it, use it, break it, fix it

Llllllllllolipop Jones!!!

The Pig and the Box is a fun kids story, and a decent fable about the pitfalls of DRM - distributed as a free PDF download, with a Creative Commons license.

Officially kid-tested by three of our in-house story testers, resulting in smiles, giggles, and three thumbs up.

Jump?

I can only assume that David Lee Roth was abducted by aliens, or at least dropped on his head as a child... repeatedly... it's the only logical explanation for this:



EDIT: Upon further review, it appears that Diamond Dave has always acted like a mildly retarded monkey. Or maybe everyone acted that way in 80's music videos. Whatever.

Hey Anonymous!

At 10/6/06 00:25, Anonymous (who the heck are you?) said...

Ummmmm, I thought u were going 2 keep this up 2 date?????

Yeah, I thought I was going to do that too. Ever hear of a certain road that's paved with good intentions?

So, does this count?

Idiot.

2005-11-10: "Hey, watch this, I'm gonna keep this blog up-to-date and stuff"

2005-11-20: "Hey, look, I'm posting and stuff! w00t!"

2006-02-01: "Ummmm.... yeah... where was I?"

The beatings will continue until morale improves I get back to this. Lots of stuff happened in the two "silent" months - not sure how much of it I want to talk about online, let's wait and see...

Holy Flock!

Well, it's out - I just got my invitation to download Flock, the new web browser. Actually, I'm posting this right from Flock's built-in blogging tool, and playing around with the full integration between Flock's bookmarks and del.icio.us (which I just started using a couple weeks ago, and loving it). It also looks like it has integration with Flickr, but since I don't really use it I haven't played with it yet. I'll post more later once I've gotten a better handle on Flock.

Bring out your dead! [clang]

DEAD PERSON:

I'm not dead!

CART MASTER:

What?

CUSTOMER:

Nothing. Here's your ninepence.

DEAD PERSON:

I'm not dead!

CART MASTER:

'Ere. He says he's not dead!

CUSTOMER:

Yes, he is.

DEAD PERSON:

I'm not!

CART MASTER:

He isn't?

CUSTOMER:

Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.

DEAD PERSON:

I'm getting better!

CUSTOMER:

No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.

CART MASTER:

Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.

DEAD PERSON:

I don't want to go on the cart!

CUSTOMER:

Oh, don't be such a baby.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Scene 2

In a related note, I'm not dead either. Just this blog. Steps will be taken shortly to remedy this, most likely followed by tripping and falling on my face, as seems to happen whenever I make pronouncements online.

OK, it's a nerd thing

Which OS are You?

Tastes like chicken?

I have no idea if this is serious or not, but... it's Hufu - the healthy human flesh alternative.

Welcome

Set93_01
Originally uploaded by cowboy_k.

Birgitte Joy arrived @ 2005-06-20 19:43, weighing 8lbs, 4ozs, and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing fine. Dad is too, but no-one ever asks about that.

Are we having fun yet?

I'm having so much fun right now, I can't begin to describe it. We've got two kids down with chicken pox right now (nothing like feverish children waking up every 30 minutes or so all night to make you feel rested), and the company's primary DNS servers were not operating properly over the weekend, and when we finally got them working I found out it was something that I had done to screw it up.

At least tonight is shaping up to be an OK night - the DNS servers are still working, the poxy kids are feeling somewhat better (enhanced with Tylenol), and I should be able to get to bed at a decent time. Tomorrow is a new day, full of new opportunities... to screw things up royally again. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

P.S. My apologies to RyeShy for the DNS debacle.

Awake and not happy about it

Stupid servers at work started sending out alerts about an hour ago, about the same time that Kol started fussing (he's been running a fever and generally cranky today, probably the beginning of chicken pox). Turns out it was a simple problem (needed to restart the primary DNS server), but now I'm wide awake. This sucks. I'm going back to bed now - hopefully I'll be able to "shut down" pretty quickly...

Unplanned hiatus is over

It's been a quiet month here on the blog, which is completely the opposite of what's been happening offline for me. Here's the highlights:

• Chicken pox - Julianna is just about over them, which means that Mari and Kolbjorn are probably going to be dealing with them in a few weeks time.
• Baby on the way - we're hoping the baby isn't early, 'cause the due date is pretty much right after we expect Mari and Kol to be finished dealing with chicken pox. We had an ultrasound yesterday, and we actually got a decent look at the baby's face - very, very cool. No idea about the gender, and that's just fine with us. We've also finally settled on our name choices - of course, we're not saying anything until the little one is finally here.
  
• Renovations - the main bathroom is finally usable after six months, except for the sink (need to rip out some of our freshly installed and painted drywall because we forgot to put in a crossbrace for it). The concrete for half the driveway has been poured, and the rest of it should be finished PDQ (weather permitting), and the frames are in place for the sidewalk to the front door. The basement and deck have had no progress.
• Work - craziness continues. Big project right now: our co-lo ISP has asked us to move our servers to a different IP subnet. It's not a quick and easy job, to say the least. Also continuing staff changes, budget fights, etc. Situation normal, I guess.
• Babylon 5 - just about finished season 4. This has been very exciting - when B5 was originally broadcast, our local TV station dropped it midway through the third season. Had a friend who worked for another local station who taped it off the satellite feed and made a bunch of copies to distribute - managed to keep up with it until early fourth season, when his manager caught him using the company equipment for his little operation. Since then, I had never seen any further 4th or 5th season episodes. Fantastic show - the acting wasn't always stellar, but the writing and story are excellent. I'm almost going to be sorry when I finish watching the entire series - but hey, that just means I can start again from the beginning and pick up on all the hints of things to come that I missed the first time through.
• Aquarium - we've added a whole lotta fish, including some "refugees" from my sister's tank (which she is decomissioning while they are in the midst of renovations). Current count is 13 pristella tetras, 6 black skirt tetras, 2 cardinal tetras, 6 panda cory cats, 5 otto cats, 1 upside-down cat, 1 pleco, and 3 angels. It's a very busy tank, but not too crowded. Very relaxing to just sit and watch.
• The Saskatoon Curse - yes, it struck again. Transmission trouble with the van stranded Kristen and the two youngest in Saskatoon one day a few weeks ago. Warranty covered the repairs, but we had to borrow a vehicle from my folks for a few days while ours was in the shop.

I'm sure that there's more that I could ramble on about, but I'd really like to watch one more Babylon 5 episode before going to bed. A man's got his priorities, you know.

One last note - I've still got more Gmail invites than I know what to do with. If you want one, just let me know. Doesn't matter to me if you're a close relative or a complete stranger - ask, and ye shall receive.

Transformer training wheels

Now this is a pretty cool idea- instead of training wheels, these guys have figured out a way to make a tricycle that turns into a bicycle while in motion. Just wish it was past the prototype stage - Julianna's soon ready to drop the training wheels, and this looks like it would be a much more natural progression. Oh well - guess I'd better make sure her helmet fits right, and stock up on the band-aids.

Competitiveness vs. fatherhood

My mom just gave me the Star Wars Trivial Pursuit DVD Saga Edition game the other day, and Julianna was itching to play it against me. Now, this is a problem for me - I'm a very competitive person when it comes to games, I'm pretty good at normal trivia games, and I'm a complete Star Wars fanboy. I tried my best to restrain myself (she's only 7), but I beat her. Twice. I did my best to help her along, and I managed to make it close (both games she had at least 4 wedges), but I had to win. Actually, by the end of the second game, it was getting to be way past her bedtime, so I just wanted to end it quickly. I comfort myself with the thought that it will help her to be a good sport about winning and losing.

Before going to bed, Julianna told me that she plans to challenge Kristen to the game tomorrow. She's pretty confident of her chances. So am I. Sorry, dear, but your daughter is gonna kick your butt all the way to Tatooine.

I can't dance

But even so, this is pretty cool. Bunch of engineering nerds at university decide to build a 128-square-foot computer-controlled disco dance floor (think Saturday Night Fever). Relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights.

Happy birthday to me

Well, another year older, another year wiser... or some such nonsense. I'm 34 years old as of today - it's kinda strange, seeing the big four-oh getting closer and closer. In many ways, I don't feel any older than I did when I was first married (over 10 years ago now)... and in many ways, I feel way too old...

Had a good birthday this year - got a phone call from my sister, got an e-card from by brother in Asia, got an actual physical birthday card (with a fart joke no less) from my other brother, my folks came down from Saskatoon and took me (and the rest of the crew here) out for supper... oh yeah, and the kids were pretty excited about it too - sang "Happy Birthday" for me before I left for work in the morning, stuff like that. Work was stressful today, but I'm able to forget that until Monday morning. Nothing like some fettucini, birthday cake, and ice cream to make me a happy camper.

Topped off the evening watching two more Babylon 5 episodes (half-way through the third season), and going online and ordering seasons 4 and 5 - I got a little birthday money, so I splurged and got them delivered by Xpress Post, so they'll be here sooner.

34 years... hard to believe it's been that long. I guess I'm an old guy now - don't quite know exactly when I crossed the line into "old", but I'm here now. Oh well - now I have the missing piece of the "grumpy old man" honorific. If you need me, I'll be sitting in my rocking chair on the porch, complaining about the humidity and talking about how things were better in the old days.