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Tuesday: May 01, 2007 - May_Rewrite May_Rewrite Ricky was kind enough to turn my blog into an SEO friendly one by writing me up a brand-new htaccess file. I have tried making them in the past to do similar work but my weakness with regular expressions has always stopped me from finishing the project. What does this mean to you, gentle reader? Not a whole lot. Essentially what it does is change the entries from looking like http://www.redzeppelin.org/entry.php?blogid=050107 to http://www.redzeppelin.org/050107. With the ? removed the blog no longer because so obviously database driven and the pages are considered more original than with a template style. It might need awfully exciting to you but it made my dog-day. [Comments: 0]· permalink · Bookmark May_Rewrite at del.icio.us · Digg May_Rewrite · Bloglines: May_Rewrite

Wednesday: May 02, 2007 - Oh John Locke Oh John Locke First of all I'm sick, which is why there's been such a delay in entries. Onto Lost!

What a great episode! It's nice when things actually happen. I really enjoy seeing the development of the connections between the characters in the story. I don't think, as has been hypothesized by so many, the island is purgatory (or hell as suggested by John's dad) because I don't think it would really make sense for people to be able to die there. I'd like to know why Daniella needed TNT though. Someone is going down. And if every baby on the island dies, why is Alex alive? Anyway, there's a little part of me very, VERY afraid that this show could move all sci-fi and that would totally ruin it for me. So far I've been able to justify everything with plausible explanations (plausible for Lost anyway) but man, if they're in an alternate universe I'm done with that show.
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Thursday: May 03, 2007 - New Baby New Baby In the spirit of pushing out rugrats, Jamie's sister gave birth last night to little Sport. They're going to name him Leonard Lee IV and have been battling for a nickname. Jamie's sister's mother-in-law is a little bit flaky and I've taken to her idea of calling him Sport. haha, it reminds me of college when my old roommate Kevin would be call me sport...or big guy...or coach. I guess the ironic part is that I am now in fact a soccer coach. Speaking of which, it's our team's last game on Saturday so I'm ditching Habitat to go watch them play a game for the first time. Since the new head coach took over the same week I started they've been undefeated but the games are on Saturdays at the same time as Habitat so I haven't been able to go. The head coach asked me if I'd like to continue to help out with his traveling team so I think I'll do that to ensure I get outside at least once a week. [Comments: 0]· permalink · Bookmark New Baby at del.icio.us · Digg New Baby · Bloglines: New Baby

Weekend: May 06, 2007 - Sick as a Dog Sick as a Dog Man, I have been so sick since Thursday I barely was able to get off my contribution to Brian's Caption Contest. Since the rules say I can't directly solicit votes for mine, vote for the second-funniest one and that's probably mine.

I updated the baby photo from Thursday's entry so you could actually see the real Leonard Lee IV (Sport) instead of a baby seal. I was going to put a real baby at first but I didn't want to confuse anyone.

Since I was sick I had to miss my soccer team's last game of the year. That double sucks because I didn't get to see a single game. I'm not exactly sure what I would have done at the game anyway except hand people their water bottles. The head coach is a miracle worker and there's no way I'd ever tamper with his vision. At least I got a T-shirt for the season. Thanks Kurt!
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Tuesday: May 08, 2007 - Paris Hilton Sculpture Paris Hilton Sculpture After making a Britney Spears-birthing-on-a-rug sculpture the same artist has come through with a Paris Hilton sculpture. Paris is going through an autopsy after a drunk-driving accident. Nasty. I admit that I might have seen The Simple Life a handful of times but I'm not sure why she's the toast of the town.

Ok, since I'm doing a back-entry since I was sick here's my first Every-Song-In-My-Playlist starting with Alice in Chains' Don't Follow. I wish I could play this on the guitar but not going to happen anytime soon. Db isn't exactly my favorite learn-a-song key.

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Wednesday: May 09, 2007 - Sympathy for the Benvil Sympathy for the Benvil Well that title sucked. I guess Ben and Devil don't combine very well. Anyway. Last night's episode was awesome! I don't think Jack and Juliet can be trusted even though they will make a compelling case next Wednesday in fighting off The Hostiles. Why didn't anyone come looking for the Dharma people after they all were killed? If this is some sponsored research wouldn't it be a little suspicious that everyone they sent had been replaced in the cameras by some smelly hippie? On another note, there's no way John Locke is dead. And wouldn't that grave have filled in by now unless it was very, very recent? And whatever happened with the second plane that crashed on the island at the end of Season 2?

I am going to start posting audio files of every song on my playlist in the hopes of getting myself into the right frame of being a musician again. I hope by at least having to write about a song a little each day I'll slowly remember what it's like to be around it. Today's song is Alice in Chains - Heaven Beside You. Killer intro. How's that?

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Thursday: May 10, 2007 - Alice in Chains Alice in Chains Yesterday I met with Dr. C about finishing my second masters and it looks like I have about a month to do one more "final" copy of the translation, write the prologue section and create a bunch of long examples. Unlike years past I actually want to do. Rather than coming up with philosophical reasons why this steaming hunk of text will have no scholarly impact I have simply outlined an area of my office wall with painter's tape where my degree would go (not that I have any of the real ones hung up anyway) and it needs to go there.

Continuing my all-playlist list, we still have Alice in Chains but today's song is Man In The Box. Alice in Chains will always remind me of high school because I traded some CD for the AiC Jar of Flies album. I listed to it a lot in the hopes of being able to quickly acquire knowledge of popular music but it wasn't really until I got to college and suddenly had unlimited mp3s at my disposal that the goal was really reached.

I'm not missing the 12 of 12 this month.

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Weekend: May 12, 2007 - Weekend 12 of 12 Weekend 12 of 12 After missing last month's 12 of 12 I sure wasn't going to miss this one (even if they did happen to fall on a non-updating weekend).


10:15am: Good morning me. For those of you that have known me for a while, you might not have known that in karate we actually learned how to summon white flame balls. Had I stuck with it until I black belt I would have learned to do it for more than the first ten minutes of being awake.


11:00am: And I would do anything for breakfast...but I won't do that.


11:30am: Oh great. New pets. Stinging pets. With stinging pet babies. Awesome. Wildlife: why people come to Florida.


What mom would be excited about this offer?


In case you can't tell, the sky is really, really hazy from all of the forest fires burning near Jacksonville.


Abby the Tornado ripped through Laptopville, weaving a narrow path of destruction. Letters V,M and J were all reported as saying they were "grateful to be alive". The replacement keyword came today so I can go back to typing words like "hub" instead of having to think of synonyms.


Abby adequately herding sheep. That's what German Shepards are supposed to do right?


Once I got the bottom of the laptop off I read the directions. Oops. It still managed to get fixed. Go me.


Still hazy on my way to SBUX.


3:51pm: 92F outside. I had wolfed down my Iced Venti Vanilla Latte by the time I got home.


11:00: Nerding it out with Steve. At least I haven't given in to Warcraft.


12:50: Bedtime! Not even three Iced Venti Vanilla Lattes can keep me up. Not the sleeping dog in the corner.


BONUS! Here's my trying to master the timer feature on the camera. I actually have about a dozen pictures just like this one.
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Monday: May 14, 2007 - Music Library Music Library I spent almost the whole day in the music library working on my thesis. What a drag. With only about two weeks before a working final draft to be done I plan on spending all of my time there until it gets done. I did discover that in the three years since my leaving that there is now a copy of a similar dissertation from the 1970s now available. You bet your butt I'm going to use it so I don't have to work through all of the Latin sections. Cited! Unfortunately, although I don't think Spanish has changed much in three years, I think a lot of this woman's work is just flat out wrong. She obviously didn't have Dr. C. She would smack that down!

Smackdown!
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Tuesday: May 15, 2007 - Jerry Farwell Dead Jerry Farwell Dead So Jerry Farwell is dead. One of the things that lead to my abandonment of Catholicism was that it seems so arbitrary for people to decide which groups God hates. My personal feeling on Farwell was that he was a hate-mongering white robe that needed tangible enemies of the church and he liberally attacked any group he felt could win more fervent support from his followers. As a member of "Immoral Minority" I guess he would condemn me to hell for thinking interracial marriage is a-okay and that needlessly bringing in children to the world that are not going to be cared for or loved is way better than deleting a ball of cells. Oh well, I'll try not to loose too much sleep over it. [Comments: 4]· permalink · Bookmark Jerry Farwell Dead at del.icio.us · Digg Jerry Farwell Dead · Bloglines: Jerry Farwell Dead

Wednesday: May 16, 2007 - They're coming--RIGHT NOW They Even though nothing really happened I thought that was a pretty darn good episode of Lost. I hate to say this but I was *almost* sad that Charlie was going to die even though I've been rooting for him to die since practically day 1. I'm not really sure what's going on with that underwater station. I painstakingly made a near screenshot-quality drawing of the underwater station and I don't really understand how it can be completely submerged with a swim-in AND an air-filled room. I don't know much about liquid states but I'm pretty sure they move around and fill in where they can. And just because some hot chicks with guns live there I don't think that's enough for water to abandon one of its favorite properties. It was nice to see Rose and her husband again; I had forgotten they were still there. I would also like to know how many extras are still alive. Are the survivors down to only the main characters now? I guess all the questions will be answered in a two-hour finale next week. [Comments: 3]· permalink · Bookmark They're coming--RIGHT NOW at del.icio.us · Digg They're coming--RIGHT NOW · Bloglines: They're coming--RIGHT NOW

Thursday: May 17, 2007 - Viva Commercial Viva Commercial

If you've never seen this Viva commercial you're missing out on the possibly the worst commercial in the history of the world. First of all let me say that if there is one thing in your house not to skimp on it's paper towel and Viva is hands-down the best. I should know because I have made some significant messes from time to time. I hate this commercial because (first of all) no one's mom would ever do that. Ever. I can tell you this--if that had been me, my ass would STILL be sore from the punishment. Secondly, is that bottle of orange soda magical? How on earth is that kid able to shoot a huge stream of like that at his mom, wait a few seconds and then, simply by pointing it at her, able to make it shoot full blast again? He didn't even re-shake it while covering the hole at the top!
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Weekend: May 20, 2007 - Before and After: Finishing my paper wasps Before and After: Finishing my paper wasps This weekend was mostly boring, filled with thesising and not playing poker. Jamie came back from Temple on Sunday. I cleaned the house in preparation for her return which included Raiding the army of paper wasps that had build a thriving community of stinging on my back screen door. With the Big Bopper out and only the rice-sized babies present I gave my whole back door a thorough coating of Raid. I haven't seen any of the wasps since. Bam. Take that.

In other news the Cubs took two of three from the hated White Sox had likely would have swept the poor-hitting enemies had the game not been postponed mid-comeback. Oh well. Hard to believe it's May already. Where does the time go?
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Monday: May 21, 2007 - Stupid Me Stupid Me Last night Chris, Jamie and I made the trot over to CP to play some poker. Although I made both of my final tables (finishing 3rd and then 5th) my night was completely ruined by my inability to remember what cards I had in my hand. In the first game I had enough chips to stay alive until the first seven people went out but with two huge stacks against me I didn't really have much of a chance. The second game though, oh that second game, I had a ton of chips. I was bluffing up a storm and just raking in the chips. At the time of the hand I had the second-most at the table and was biding my time to take out the female, white-trash chip leader. Finally I got my chance with 2/4 suited; I wound up with a set of twos and kindly checked to her to lure her into my trap. Sure enough the snaggle-toothed slut raised me some paltry sum and I immediately re-raised all in. She flipped over top pair and I whipped down my 2/4. Except that it wasn't a 2/4, it was a 4/6. At some point I should have double checked my cards. Not only did I have trip twos, my five highest cards were on the table. I yelled some expletive starting with F and everyone at the table must have thought I was crazy. Oh well, at least I'm not a redneck. A snaggle-toothed redneck slut. Bam. [Comments: 2]· permalink · Bookmark Stupid Me at del.icio.us · Digg Stupid Me · Bloglines: Stupid Me

Wednesday: May 23, 2007 - Lost: Season Finale Lost: Season Finale Even though I have been as sick as a dog the past couple days I'm glad I was able to stay awake long enough to watch the season finale of Lost. Even though a lot happened I feel like it was on for more like 30 minutes instead of two hours. We picked up some good information: Jack will grow a beard and Kate will be still be hot post-island. I would have to imagine it was Locke's funeral that Jack attended but I guess it could be anyone's.

It's interesting that now The Others are outnumbered and I would have to think that they will now consolidate with The Survivors. I was disappointed that, although Sayid is my favorite character, he, Jin and "The Dentist" weren't actually killed. One of the things I really liked about Lost was that there were actual repercussions for actions and not Grey's-Anatomy-style off-the-hooking. Oh well. And Hurley driving that car into camp was kind of lame but I guess that's why we had to endure the episode where he found it.

As Jamie pointed out, why didn't Charlie just open the door to escape death? Because he thought he was supposed to die when in fact it could have been easily averted? Weirdy. And how did he find the time to underline boat on his hand? PLUS, wouldn't the destruction of the window have blown up Brian's air-seal? Whatever. I guess now the wait is on.
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Monday: May 28, 2007 - 110% Percent 110% Percent You'll be pleased to know the final step to my 2nd masters, the dreaded thesis, is done. Hooray. Now, onto more exciting matters.

You know what I hate? When people use percentages that are over 100%. Don't get me wrong, if you're talking about your portfolio and you're seeing gains of 110% well, good for you. However, if you're a sportscaster you should never, EVER, be allowed to say "he's really giving 110 percent." Look, you CAN'T give over 100% to anything. 100% is all you've got. If I have $1.00 I can't spend $1.10. It's impossible. So unless there's some extra effort credit card, and I don't think there is, stop using percentages that are over 100% to describe non-mathy things. I guess it's ok if you're a mathlete.
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Tuesday: May 29, 2007 - Freedom Freedom With all but the administrative parts of my thesis done and Jamie out of town I'm celebrating. Last night Matt came over to work on some tunes. Now that Lost is over I might go play poker on Wednesdays. I've got the time.

More than anything I really could use some sleep. For the past couple weeks I had been in a vicious cycle of Starbucks throughout the day and NyQuil at night. Man, that stuff really works.

I don't know why I keep rooting for the Cubs. You'd think after nearly 30 years I'd get the hint they suck but I don't. I just don't understand how they can still have so many problems with one of the largest payrolls in baseball. It's like each section is really good, but never in the same year as any other section. Last year the starters were awful and the bullpen was fantastic. Now it's the opposite. And the offense...wow. Just anemic. Oh well. I wish I got paid millions to totally suck at my job.
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Good Things Take Time... -2 days until FSU Football (2010)


Random Picture...
A condensed version of how big our ship was.


Time Machine: 09-07-2009 · 09-07-2008 · 09-07-2007 · 09-07-2006 09-07-2009: I'll start with the good news: my death from the swine flu is no longer imminent. Now, onto the bad news.

WHERE THE HELL WAS FSU'S DEFENSE?! *I* could have been playing cornerback last night. I can easily ignore receivers as the blow past me or trip on my own two feet as a RUNNING BACK shoots past me for a catch in the end zone. Uggggggggh. On the bright side, the offense looked pretty good--at least Christian Ponder and the vaunted offensive line. The running game looked anemic when Jermaine was in there but his backup looked like a punisher. The fact our receivers c(w)ouldn't catch the ball made life rough. Fortson looked like the only guy who actually was willing to take one for the team and try to catch it, although Richard Goodman's catch on the two-point conversion ended with him getting blasted.

Anyway, where was the bloodthirsty FSU defense? Who were these cowards playing constant zone coverage? It doesn't take a PS2 NCAA Football expert very long to realize there's a time and a place for zone but if you want to win you need to MAN UP. Granted, the man coverage, when "utilized", made the secondary look absolutely stupid, with their coverage at least five yards behind the Miami receivers.

Whatever, we'll be good next year.
09-07-2008: It looks like my vice-like grip over NCAA Pick 'Em is officially over. After tweaking "the algorithm" I still finished near the bottom of the picks because I clearly overweighed the section dedicated to "do they like to get upset?". The numbers correctly picked the ECU upset of WV but unfortunately they also picked three more upsets and, knowing that no more than three teams ever get upset in a week, I released WV out of a personal affinity towards the school. I also, until the game started, thought USM was in fact Mississippi State which they are clearly not. Oops.

I went out to Virginia to watch the FSU game with Kathy & Co. The bar had a lot of FSU fans but none that were particularly into the game. It didn't help that there was over two hours in combined rain delays. FSU looked good but I think anyone would look good against Western Carolina. They're not East Carolina, that's for sure. Catamounts, for the record, are mountain lions. They are not horses despite containing the word "mount". We'll know for sure how good FSU is when vaunted Chattanooga rolls into town next week.
I took the day off blogging but only because I was thinking of you.09-07-2006: Although not as gratifying as some wins in the past, I was able to fend off tchris and jamie in a little three-way poker last night. At different points in the night we all had huge chip leads and somehow blew them. We're all big bettors so it was a lot of fun despite the low number of people.

I really need a new computer. Mine shuts off after about five minutes of use due to overheating and I still have not been able to find the right replacement fan. I'm hoping by the week after my birthday to have enough money to buy the new one from Dell, even though they won't let me get it without the video card. I talked to their retarded sales/tech guy and asked them simply if they could not charge/install a video card. They do not have dual-monitor options and I wasn't ordering any monitors so I didn't need the card. He replied that they could not and I was out of luck. I replied by asking him if the computers were really built by hand like they say in the commercials. He said yes. I then asked if they guy installing it could just "leave out" the video card (I'd be throwing it out the day I got it) and have the person hand-writing my bill leave off the cost of it. He said no. Oh well.