Bring back the noise!

So I think that ever since I branched off to my own site, my great friends of the LJ community have not been as responsive to any of my posts as they might have been in the past.

This is probably due to the fact that being on an external site engine, it’s a little more difficult to “point, click and comment” on a given post.

To increase the ease of using my site, I have now incorporated a plugin that allows the use of any OpenID user to comment with a little less hassle.

Once you’ve used your Continue reading Bring back the noise!

There are only two kinds of programming languages…

Those that people always bitch about and those nobody uses.

Having said that, I think that it is clear to most, if not to all, my feelings on programming.

In case it isn’t, let me clarify.

It’s all well and good for anyone who likes to stare at tons of lines of code for hours, reading it all into their heads and then visualizing what the code is supposed to do, and then add one little semicolon, then spending hours figuring out what went wrong, and then ultimately hunting down some darned semicolon and blaming it.

So early on, when my father, a software engineer, attempted to get me interested in programming, I got the basics and then moved on to another field Continue reading There are only two kinds of programming languages…

Resolved: Resolutions don’t work

So I sat down and realized that it’s been a long time since I wrote anything, and realized that I like writing, if for no other reason than to get some things out of my head. “Brain dump”, if you will. Then, a couple nights ago, I vocalized a resolution that “starting tomorrow, I’ll spend about 10 minutes a day writing”. Obviously, I didn’t do it – until today when I realized that I missed doing it yesterday. Oh well.

This past month has been a little crazy, with friends visiting from Israel, family events, holidays, and much much more.

So I’ve joined a gym and begun training a couple times a week, with the goal of ultimately losing 60 pounds. That’s like losing Continue reading Resolved: Resolutions don’t work

Ye cannae change the laws of physics!

Ever have a train of thought that started somewhere, then progressed a bit, then spawned two or three other thoughts, which took on a life of their own, and all of them important, all of them relevant, and each and every one really important? Now what happens when that happens recursively and begins to stack up?

Think fractals.

Then make whatever you picture that to look like much bigger.

Cram it all into my head.

Add water. Bake at 350°.

So it all started when at about 11:300 on Friday, our team at work gets word that at 9pm the power to both of our Continue reading Ye cannae change the laws of physics!

And everything is… yellow.

So today I went out and saw the spankin’ new The Simpsons Movie (2007).

I must confess, I’ve never been a huge fan of the yellow-skinned animated characters – they have cased me to smile now and then, but they were not “spectacular!” and “totally rad, dude!” to me.

Maybe it’s because the comedy influences I had when in developing years ranged from the old-time USA comedians (Jack Continue reading And everything is… yellow.

The circle.

My grandmother passed on yesterday afternoon, July 16th.

She was 95 years of age, and she was one tough lady.

She came over from Germany way back, when the world was in a pretty bad state of turmoil, and she managed to do some pretty amazing things. She raised my father and my uncle – mostly on her own. From the stories I hear now, I know that they two were no easy walk in the park.

It seems that she was a “True New Yorker” – didn’t take any flak from anyone, did her own thing, and tried to have a good time.

Continue reading The circle.

Do you believe in the power of monkey cheese?

Today has been a pretty active day for me.

It started off with the nice morning Central park scoot – thanks to NYCKickScooters (see a quickie video at the bottom of this post!) and the folks at Xootr (the Mg is awesome!) – and we did the regular loop of about 6.1 miles (or about 10km!).

As if that wasn’t enough, I left the group and stayed in Central park – right off Terrace Drive, there’s a clearing that bands play in and skaters of all kinds congregate to practice and show off. Some young punk band was there filming a video clip of themselves playing “music” on the stage – and they were pretty bad.

After hanging around for a bit, I decided to head Continue reading Do you believe in the power of monkey cheese?