Archive for September, 2006

I think I’m the last person on earth to know this, but you can actually play Zork Online, implemented in PHP.? Talk about memories!? Although *officially* my first computer was a Vic-20, and my first game was radar rat race, Zork was the first game that actually hooked me to the point where all I wanted to do was play, spending endless hours in front of a computer screen (commodore 64).? I still think it’s one of the best games ever made.

And Grues are still the scariest monsters ever.

This weekend we went to the durham fair. Lots of awesome goats and baby piggies. For food:
1) Chili in bread bowl (B-). Actually not bad for fair chili.
2) Roast Beef samis, slathered in bbq sauce. B+
3) Chicken wrap w/ Ranch. B+
4) Various samplings of hot apple cider. Overall, not that good this year, not at all spicy and really watered down.

My focus this year was home improvement crap. I guess the big thing now are these gutter guards that have that lip that only allows water to get in, and nothing else (so they claim). I was interested because the gutter screens I have now are all rusted and useless and falling apart, and since we have a billion giant oak trees on our property, the gutters can clog with junk pretty easy. I talked to a vendor, and they had that silly little contraption that shows you how it works. At first glance, it looks pretty impressive. Water tension/cohesion keeps the water flowing underneath the lip, until gravity exerts enough gravity sauce on it so that the tension breaks, and the water just trickles into the gutter.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like anything that floats on water that doesn’t break the surface tension will also go into the gutter along with the water. Like an acorn would never get in there, but I bet a small enough leaf that just sits on top of the water stream would go right down. It also looks like a strong enough stream of water, or any water with a turbulent flow (like during a strong rain storm) would go right over the edge of the lip. I’m not convinced it’s a good investment, and once the guy saw that I was trying to think of ways to defeat his system, he lost interest in the sale.

I guess I’ll try those plastic gutter covers, those look pretty promising.

Anyone out there have gutters? What works best for keeping mother nature out?

This morning, at around 4am, I’m awakened by this strange sound. It sounds like young children screaming and yelling in the distance, in violent pain. Incredibly freaky. After about 5 minutes of this, I think I figured out what it was. I’m almost 99% sure that it was the pride of coyotes that live across the street from us, doing whatever it is that coyotes do to each other.

Karen hears it pretty frequently, but this was my first time. And it is eerie, unworldly, and extremely unnerving. I want to tape record it, and post it. It would make perfect Halloween music.

No, not the kind you’re thinking of. I walk by our server room today and notice something moving out of the corner of my eye.. a pretty good sized field mouse! Mice are pretty tough to catch. Here’s my bosses solution:

A little too draconian for my tastes.

Here’s my solution:

Take one part Netgear Router Box (ironically, the box is actually more useful than the router)

One part makeshift prison (all corners are sealed):

Goad the mouse into the prison, and then make the only opening in the prison your router box.

A few short minutes later, he’s free to go play in the woods with Mr. Snapping Turtle and all his fine friends.

Those old fashioned mouse traps really stink, because if you’re not careful, you can hurt your pets or friends.

Mr. Cow! NOOOOO! That peanut butter isn’t for you!

1) Open the calculator in windows, and put it in scientific mode.

2) Click “Pi”. You get pi to like a million places. Lovely.

3) Now click “NOT”.

Not Pi is -4? Head explosion begins, right.. about … now…

Today I go to Subway to get lunch for me and the Walde.? I get a wrap, half a tuna grinder, a bottle of soda and 2 bags of chips.? I lay it all out on the counter, all ready to buy it.? The guy looks at me and says “Do you want to make this a meal?” and I totally freak out.? What does that even mean?? If I say “no”, do I somehow have to pay more?? If I say “yes”, does something weird happen?? Do I have to buy MORE stuff?? I don’t know what “meal” means in this context, I didn’t order anything called “meal”.? So I just sort of stare at the guy for like 5 seconds, and finally blurt out “I don’t know what that means.? I just want to buy this stuff”.? And the guy gets all pissy!? What?!?!?!
I mean, I’m not super stupid, the numeric meal system is a cornerstone of modern civilization.? When you order, you just say the number, and then you usually have to say the word “coke”, and bam, you’re done.? Occasionally, you are made to say their stupid vendor specific adjectives like “super” or “biggie” or “king” or “mega” or whatever. ? Makes perfect sense.? But after you already order a bunch of stuff?? Don’t even mention the word meal to me, or I will completely lose my mind.