Life goes on
Mar 02, 2010 by libjpnSorry for the absence, but there hasn't been a lot happening, either at the mothership or in real life. I've also been dealing with infestations of the spammy kind, both on a mediawiki installation I run for the local community and here, again, the skin template gets spam urls injected about once a week. Really depressing. So what's up with you guys?
Comments
Mar 03, 2010, 03:31:16 Ugh wrote:
Ugh Jr. turns one year old today. Hard to believe.
Mar 03, 2010, 08:44:08 libjpn wrote:
Well, the installation has been upgraded from 3.33 to 3.55. If anything funky happens, put a comment here or drop a line to libjpn at the google conglomerate.
Mar 03, 2010, 09:21:53 nous wrote:
Ugh -- congrats...only a dozen more years until Jr. gets interesting. (Just one more reason why I teach rather than parent.) Duck some flying cake for me too.
Not much going here beyond writing my second chapter of diss, taking my second quarter of Escrima (now with added Silat!) and spending far too much time on video games.
Still sucking on guitar, but sucking more entertainingly.
Going to see Finntroll in concert in April. First concert of the year after seeing a bunch of shows last year. Hoping for more tours in the fall to distract me from going on the academic job market -- such as it is.
Mar 03, 2010, 21:41:04 Ugh wrote:
[i]only a dozen more years until Jr. gets interesting. [/i]
Funny you should say that, he does seem like he's been the same for the past 3-5 months or so (though I attribute that to him refusing to learn how to crawl). However, I think once he learns to communicate, and if he takes after his mother at all, things will get very interesting (my wife was descrbied by her mother as "if her eyes were open, her mouth was too").
Mar 04, 2010, 13:04:11 libjpn wrote:
Sorry, didn't move the bbcode extension when I upgraded, will get on that this weekend.
Mar 04, 2010, 21:36:13 Ugh wrote:
Damn you LJ! ;-)
Mar 05, 2010, 06:00:06 nous wrote:
Still waiting for the rest of the gang to show. All the climate change wrangling must be distracting them.
Unrelated note...I started blogging about guitar stuff a few months back. It's at:
http://loudbadguitar.blogsp...
Mostly I've blogged about amp modeling software. Nothing too serious. It might be interesting to the other guitar players here, though.
Mar 05, 2010, 18:32:05 OCSteve wrote:
Well I don’t play guitar but I certainly appreciate anyone who does – anyone who actually tries in fact. I tried to learn it for years and did play bass for a few years but once you get beyond 4 strings I’m pretty much done.
Weird, because I like the instruments that have a definitive mode. By “definitive mode” I mean you push a valve or plunk a key and get what you expect. With the whole fret thing it seems like a guitar would fit there, but no… My first instrument was the trombone but the uncertainty drove me nuts. Third position is oh, about here, and some days differs from fourth position by a centimeter or so. Fingertips this side of the bell vs. that side… What the hell is that? And I actually got very good at it: stage band, state competitions etc. But it still drove me nuts. Your hand just had to “know” where to go on the slide and do it in a fraction of a second. So I moved on to the baritone – Wow! Now there’s an instrument – you just push a valve or three! Except, not always – how you purse your lips etc. changes the sound… Anyway to bring that all back to the guitar – at one point I said Hey! Frets! Push here and always get the same sound… Young and stupid – my preferred way to go through life…
The global warming thread – I scanned it. Mostly I’m just proud of myself for resisting jumping in with both feet.
Oh – and I finally quit smoking. 2 months now and it’s the hardest damned thing I ever did. The withdrawal after almost 40 years… Wow. I suppose kicking heroin has to be harder, but this is the hardest thing in my life experience I’ve ever done. Somewhere about that third week I would have happily ripped your head off and beat you with it… And it totally fucked up my metabolism… And there is a whole lot to be said about being “regular”…
Yeah – more healthcare is what I want… Quit smoking, don’t drink so much, lose weight, get a colonoscopy… Giving up cigarettes and cutting way back on the booze and shoving a camera up my ass is one thing – but give up pasta and potatoes and bread and red meat?!? Fuck you Doc… When the study comes out saying sex is bad for you I’m just going to take a long walk off of a short pier…
Mar 05, 2010, 22:24:23 libjpn wrote:
Well, I can't seem to update the bbcode plugin. More digging thru nucleus webpages
Mar 06, 2010, 05:20:45 nous wrote:
OC -- Your self control re: the AGW thread is almost as impressive as your quitting smoking. Congrats on both for your health's sake. Hope that's continued to improve.
[i]Anyway to bring that all back to the guitar – at one point I said Hey! Frets! Push here and always get the same sound…[/i]
Funny thing. Play guitar for a while and you begin to notice that the tough part is not fretting but rather picking and trying to keep the other strings quiet. Start to get that down and you notice how crappy your timekeeping and dynamics are...I'm just happy that I'm getting to the point where I can usually find the note I hear in my head, and that when I don't I can find my way to something that sounds decent from the note that I did hit. Slowly.
I'm just happy that I've found things I can suck at and still enjoy with no negative consequences.
Mar 16, 2010, 08:51:15 Jeff wrote:
"I don’t play guitar but I certainly appreciate anyone who does"
If not for my arthritis and my complete lack of rythem, I'd make a damn fine guitarist! LOL.
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"OC -- Your self control re: the AGW thread is almost as impressive as your quitting smoking. Congrats on both for your health's sake. Hope that's continued to improve."
N+1 to that! Way to go.
Mar 17, 2010, 18:44:40 JanieM wrote:
Since lj lured me over here with a travelogue thread, I'll add a side comment for OC.
A doctor friend of mine once told me that kicking the nicotine addiction is harder than all the others, including heroin. This is of course anecdote and not data, but I think you can give yourself a lot of credit for stopping.
My dad smoked as a young man (WWII and all that) but stopped once he had kids. The warning about what you're up against is that twenty years after he stopped, he still had the urge for a smoke and a cup of coffee after supper.
He stuck to the coffee.