The Halls

I am a regular guy. In the most annoying way.
I crap every morning almost immediately upon arriving at work.
While it's good to be regular, and not have to buying pallettes of metamucil to have a happy intestines, it can also be annoying because I almost have to schedule my day around it.
No early morning meetings for Aaron.
And if I get off to work a little later than normal, it has the potential to be 20 minutes of white knuckled road rage for Aaron, as he almost kills everyone around him when the urge strikes in the middle of the drive. Then pulling into the parking lot, and sprinting directly into the bathroom.
Today had the potential to be such a day.
As soon as I dropped the girls off at school, I started off towards work, and could feel some rumbling, but figured I could make it to work as always. 30 seconds later, and I realized I not only was I not going to make it to work, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it the 1mile back home.
I was taking the seat belt off at the top of the street, opening the garage door from 100yds away, unbuttoning my coat, and unbuckling my pants while screaming 45mph into the driveway.
I looked like glenn close in The Jagged Edge, running and stripping at full speed towards the bathroom.

Complete disaster was averted, but it's almost an hour later now, and I still feel drained, like I just finished running 10 miles.

I can't figure what did that to me. I had several pickled jalepenos last nite with dinner, but they've never had that effect on me before. It would be an unacceptable lifestyle change if can't eat them anymore.

But I need to figure out what that was all about, or just go back to working from home.

Posted by Aaron at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We had a decent weekend, did a good amount of stuff. We played some cards friday nite, had dinner with friends on saturday nite, and today we went to church and I played in a volleyball game.

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We drank wine all saturday nite, which was cool, I don't drink wine much anymore. So we had some good stuff, and Chad claims he's gonna get me into a upcoming wine tasting.

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I have recently been wanting to be more irish. I want to drink with friends and sing drinking songs. But that's going to be a tough sell, I think.

Posted by Aaron at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's hilarious to me the amount of work that goes into encryption.
Every new thing comes out with a nearly "unbreakable" encryption scheme, each better than the last.
But they all get cracked eventually.
I'm in the same boat, I make a living from selling software, which admittedly, could be cracked and pirated. Yet I have as much pirated stuff as anyone I suppose. It's a vicious cycle.

Posted by Aaron at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I hope that I've finally fixed the server name resolution problem that was preventing the top banner pictures from appearing, and the random pictures. I know you missed 'em.
Hopefully this will allow me to fix the server at work with the same issues at well.
Exciting stuff, isn't it?

I sort of had a resolution to myself that I would stop making boring posts, but I don't seem to be able to come up with much exciting, funny stuff. I'm still thinking about some good material.

Posted by Aaron at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I got the bathroom shower all caulked up tonite. I was going to install all the shower stuff, but of course by now, I lost the instructions. So now I have to get the instructions from the store again.

I have the next 4 weekends planned already.
this weekend, monthly potluck
next weekend, poker tournament
3rd weekend, seeing Lisa Lampanelli at the Rococo
4th weekend, another UNL wrestling dual

But that's all right, it's nice to know what I'm going to be doing.

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Did you know the mule is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse?
I guess I kindof knew that, but I didn't quite realize that they also are almost always sterile. So how do so many mules come about? Are their whole farms dedicated to making mules? Because they've been around a long time. How can there always be so many?
Inquiring minds...

Posted by Aaron at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The weekend was fair, very busy.
Friday we went to the horseshoe, and played in a omaha 8/b tournament, and BJ and I got killed, but Chad, who only played in it reluctantly, ended up getting 3rd for $340.
Unbelievable.
I then played NL holdem the rest of the nite, and I started out good, but ended up getting slowly beat down.

Saturday I took the girls out to sell girl scout cookies in the 37degree weather. That was fun. We went to my aunt's and stayed inside for a good long time to warm up. There's few things in this world I hate more than door to door selling.
Later we went to the UNL vs ISU wrestling meet, but UNL lost. There were some fun to watch matches though, so it was a good time.

Today, I woke up to 4 inches of snow, so Aubrey and I cleared the driveway, and our neighbor's. Then we went to my volleyball game, which was pretty fun.
Later that nite, we went to Nalini's place to celebrate his recent marriage. They made a really good dinner, and it was really spicy.
I loved it, but it was bad for my diet.

This week, I hope it do be low key and maybe I'll try to catch up on sleep, and get some more done in the bathroom.

Posted by Aaron at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, no surprise. I got the trim done, and the sinks fixed, but the homework suffered.
I need to get a tutor or something.

Posted by Aaron at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tonite I have much to do. I have two sinks to fix, the trim in the bathroom to nail in, and homework to do. All this needs to be done tonite, because tomorrow I'm going to play in a omaha h/l tournament at the horseshoe.
I do not have high hopes...

Posted by Aaron at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I went to judo last nite, and it went pretty well, at least in the sense that I didn't get hurt. At least not seriously. I did, however, suffer the most debilitating injury I've ever had when it comes to my job.
I've had two knee surgeries, and was working a day later on a laptop the next day in both cases.
I sprained my wrist real bad in judo once, and couldn't move it, but could still type, so it didn't affect much.
But last nite, I somehow managed to tear all the skin off the tip of my right ring finger, and I can barely type at all. Thus, it's the worst work-specific injury I've ever had.
I should go home.

Posted by Aaron at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lincoln is actually going to get some big name acts here in the near future.


And if you're older than 30, you should remember

but probably not for being a jazz pianist, more for 'Rockit'.

Either way, I'm most likely not going to either, as I'm too old to go to MCR, and was a causual fan at best of 'Rockit', certainly not a $150 fan then, or now.

Posted by Aaron at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a pretty cool guy who works for us in the same capacity as me, he manages our office in Baltimore. I always enjoy talking with him as he has a good sense of humor, and a good sense of forward thinking. He takes on tasks without asking, and always brings up good points most others overlook.
He recently fired off this unsolicted email.
All:

I'm taking a survey to determine the percent usage of desktop office
tools (excluding email and web clients) within Ingenient. As our company
grows, it is very important to consider this carefully for both cost
reasons and interoperability of our document and data files.

Please complete (or add to or modify) the following table.

Desktop Office Tool  File  Purpose        Windows or Linux  Your Usage
(Yes/No/Comment)
-------------------  ----  -------------  ----------------
---------------------------
MS Word              .doc  Documents     
MS Excel             .xls  Spreadsheets  
MS PowerPoint        .ppt  Presentations      
MS Project           .mpp  Schedules     
MS Access            .mdb  Databases     
OpenOffice Writer    .doc  Documents     
OpenOffice Calc      .xls  Speadsheets   
OpenOffice Impress   .ppt  Presentations 
OpenWorkbench        .rmp  Schedules     
mySQL                .myd  Databases     

Your feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Regards,
Mark

I knew he was doing this mostly for his own info, mostly to bring to everyone's attention the need for future licensing of MS products in the future. I replied to him to tell him the apps I was using, and he and I talked at length of the various open source apps I use, and what for, so it was clear to me he was also fishing for new programs to use.
Then saturday nite, we got the famous 'reply to all' response that was enivitable, although I don't totally fault the guy, because he's the newest manager, and korean, so he may not have understood the 'email etiquette' 100%. But here's his 'reply to all' that actually made me laugh out loud for almost a minute.
Mark,
IK office has 15 staff and 22 PCs including laptops.
IK is using ppt/excel/word with illegal copies.
I am not sure how I should address this situation.

Thanks,
jglee.

Priceless.

Posted by Aaron at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have finally finished putting trim on the doors in the bathroom, which I think was the hardest part, at least compared to the two main pieces.
I still have to do the floor pieces, so hopefully that will go faster.
It's getting closer and closer to the end. I can hardly wait.

Posted by Aaron at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Heh. Competition is good. I love that the Wii is kicking the crap out of the PS3, I thought it was way too overpriced and over-featured anyway.

Posted by Aaron at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sortof a repost, but only because I have some much better choices.

The top 5 albums of 2006
I really was disappointed with last year's music. I have gone through a couple 'best of' lists and am going to listen to some other's favorites, in the hopes of finding something new and good.
Otherwise, this is all I've got.

I also thought it would be big of me to post some title that were either recommended or deemed "hot" by the radio community, and did not make my list.

I only liked 1-2 songs on these
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Panic! at the Disco - Panic! at the Disco
The Black Keys - Magic Potion
Placebo - Meds
She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge
Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, Thats What I'm Not
Blue October - Foiled
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

These were ok, but still not great as total albums
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Gorillaz - Demon Days

5) Straight outta Lynwood - Weird Al

This guy can't miss. Every album is very good, and very current. I even like the polka medlies!
Do you know background of the title? Back in the 1990, the famous NWA album 'straight outta compton' was released, with much fanfare and rebelrausing.
Know where Lynwood is? Right next to Compton.
Know where Weird Al grew up? Lynwood.
So he is a true gansta.

4) Tool - 10000 days

Not the best tool album, but even sub-par Tool is very good. Two complaints,
1) I love the vicarious song, except for the chorus, I would love to see this track remixed with a slightly different chorus. Maynard, if you're reading this, contact me and I will explain.
2) Too much filler. I get sick of all the non-musical tracks.

3) My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Only got this recently, but it is quickly one of my favorites now. Not every track is great, but at least three are top-notch.

2) Built to Spill - You in Reverse

This is probably the most listened to album of the year for me. But at the end of the day, 4 tracks really stand out. A close second, and nearly perfect.

1) Lagwagon - Resolve

Technically, this was released in late november of 2005, but that means by the time you're really listening to it, it's already 2006.
All but one song is great, and each slightly different from previous songs.
I can't say enough good things about it, other than on the first listen, I hated it. I had to listen to for almost 2 weeks before I really started to like it.

I'm currently getting the following in a attempt to see if there was some new music last year I missed.
-My Chemical Romance - The black parade
-Placebo- Meds
-Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
-The Black Keys - The Magic Potion
-The Decemberists - The crane wife
-Wolfmother - Wolfmother

We'll see.....

Posted by Aaron at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The top 5 albums of 2006
I really was disappointed with last year's music. I have gone through a couple 'best of' lists and am going to listen to some other's favorites, in the hopes of finding something new and good.
Otherwise, this is all I've got.

5) Audioslave - Revelations

This was fair at best for me, really only one song I liked a lot.

4) Tool - 10000 days

Not the best tool album, but even sub-par Tool is very good. Two complaints,
1) I love the vicarious song, except for the chorus, I would love to see this track remixed with a slightly different chorus. Maynard, if you're reading this, contact me and I will explain.
2) Too much filler. I get sick of all the non-musical tracks.


3) Straight outta Lynwood - Weird Al

This guy can't miss. Every album is very good, and very current. I even like the polka medlies!

2) Built to Spill - You in Reverse

This is probably the most listened to album of the year for me. But at the end of the day, 4 tracks really stand out. A close second, and nearly perfect.

1) Lagwagon - Resolve

Technically, this was released in late november of 2005, but that means by the time you're really listening to it, it's already 2006.
All but one song is great, and each slightly different from previous songs.
I can't say enough good things about it, other than on the first listen, I hated it. I had to listen to for almost 2 weeks before I really started to like it.

I'm currently getting the following in a attempt to see if there was some new music last year I missed.
-My Chemical Romance - The black parade
-Placebo- Meds
-Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
-The Black Keys - The Magic Potion
-The Decemberists - The crane wife
-Wolfmother - Wolfmother

We'll see.....

Posted by Aaron at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is a hand I just lost, after perfect preflop play.
(I'm unpredictable, BTW)

Full Tilt Poker Game #1555124836: Table Villa Tuscany - $0.05/$0.10 - $3 Cap No Limit Hold'em - 23:09:25 ET - 2007/01/07
Seat 1: ParsRGood ($6.70)
Seat 2: Matt_R ($9.85)
Seat 3: ZEKE500 ($18.75)
Seat 4: skiingcouple ($0.50)
Seat 5: O-SAN ($5.55)
Seat 6: unpredictable ($4.60)
Seat 7: Paulumn0487 ($12.60)
Seat 8: milesoftrials ($7.85)
Seat 9: BVEMS ($13.50)
skiingcouple posts the small blind of $0.05
O-SAN posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to unpredictable [Kc Kh]
unpredictable calls $0.10
Paulumn0487 calls $0.10
milesoftrials calls $0.10
BVEMS raises to $0.65
ParsRGood folds
Matt_R folds
ZEKE500 folds
skiingcouple folds
O-SAN folds
unpredictable raises to $1.50
Paulumn0487 folds
milesoftrials folds
BVEMS raises to $3, and is capped
unpredictable calls $1.50, and is capped
BVEMS shows [9d 9s]
unpredictable shows [Kc Kh]
*** FLOP *** [2s Qd Tc]
*** TURN *** [2s Qd Tc] [Kd]
*** RIVER *** [2s Qd Tc Kd] [Js]
BVEMS shows a straight, King high
unpredictable shows three of a kind, Kings
BVEMS wins the pot ($5.75) with a straight, King high
BVEMS stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $6.35 | Rake $0.60
Board: [2s Qd Tc Kd Js]
Seat 1: ParsRGood didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: Matt_R didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: ZEKE500 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: skiingcouple (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: O-SAN (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: unpredictable showed [Kc Kh] and lost with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 7: Paulumn0487 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: milesoftrials folded before the Flop
Seat 9: BVEMS showed [9d 9s] and won ($5.75) with a straight, King high

Posted by Aaron at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Right now, we're watching the extreme makeover show that was in Lincoln back in the fall. Everyone's all excited to see background shots of the town we live in, since it so rarely happens.
So far, it's all I expected.

I spent most of the weekend trying to finish up the trim in the bathroom, and I failed. I failed in almost every possible way. I had to get a door in there, and I almost botched that, but ultimately got it in there. But then I botched the trim around the door, so I went today and got replacement trim, and I need to stain that again before I can start this again.
I suck.
Once that's finished, I will see the light at the end of the tunnel, and most importantly, put the toilet in so I can pee downstairs.

Posted by Aaron at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My goal this week was to get the trim installed in the bathroom, but everytime I thought I could begin, I would realize I needed to get 1 more little thing done before I could even begin. First I had to repair a small section of the floor I laid, and wait 1 day for the glue to dry. Then I was going to start and I realized I wasn't going to be able to do any of the trim without the furnace room access door installed. So I had to wait a day to buy it, and then another since you have to stain it first as well.
Then I was stuck at the door hanging part, as the door doesn't fit in it's original size, so I've been doing a lot of cutting and trimming, just to get the door to fit right.

Class starts next week, I have high hopes that this will be the last homework filled class I have to take. Then it's just 2 classes of thesis, and I should be done. Hopefully....

Posted by Aaron at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I'm back at work, after many days off. I now realize I don't like work. Perhaps more accurrately, I don't like waking up early. Early for me is 9am. I was really enjoying sleeping until 10-11am everyday. We all did.
Now it's back to reality.

I won our big UFC fight nite poker tournament, which I could not have been happier about. Then last nite, Chad, BJ and I went to the horseshoe, and I lost it all there. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

I accomplished my goal of installing the bathroom laminate flooring in the bathroom, and tonite I plan to install the trim. Once that is done, I can install the second door, and then, finally, the toilet. That was the only thing I cared about really, I just want to be able to pee downstairs without going up and down the stairs.

Posted by Aaron at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)