Short, and to the point

Disclaimer: I don’t want to embarrass anyone, but since the person I’m referring to probably doesn’t read my blog, it’s probably not an issue.

Every once in a while, I get a conversation like this in MSN Messenger:

Anonymous says:
R you there

Anonymous says:
?

sernaferna says:
Yep. What;s up?


Then... nothing happens for like a half hour or an hour. If at all.

I don’t know if he’s starting the conversation and then getting bored of it, or just checking up on me to make sure I’m still at my desk.

Anyway, anonymous-person-whose-name-I’m-not-mentioning, if you do read my blog, don’t be embarrassed. I find it kind of humourous, that’s all...

Today

Today was just one of those days, I guess. Three posts before 9:30AM, and then nothing for the rest of the day, while I ran around and tried to get a bunch of things done.

So, just to kill some time, I’ll give you some of the names (or messages) people are using on my MSN Messenger list right now, that are weather-related:

• omg, its JUST snow (not happy with the way others are driving, perhaps?)
• Dear Mother Nature: bite me
• one guy is currently “today is a good day”, but this morning was something like “fu..ing snow falling from the sky” His version was more eloquent, but it did include the f-word...
• gotta love this weather (sarcastic?)

There were probably others, throughout the day, but by this point maybe people have logged off and gone home.

Spam Comments

Further to my post yesterday, in which I mentioned that I was worried about the fact that people can spam comments now, I looked into Blogspot’s Moderate Comments feature, and I’m not worried anymore. If it comes to it, and I start getting a lot of spam, I’ll just turn on that feature.

Phew.

Google Video

I just found out that there’s something called Google Video, and I’m tempted to sign up and upload the cartoon I created. (For those of you who don’t know, I created a short cartoon. It’s only about two minutes long, but it’s pretty safe to say that it’s the most brilliant thing anyone has ever created, in the history of the world. Ever.)

But I don’t really know much about this Google Video thing, so I’m hesitant...

Breath Capture

I just thought I’d share this with you. This article is ripped off 100% word-for-word from news.com; see the real thing here.

Just when you think you’ve heard of everything, something like this comes along. Breath Capture offers a novel way to show you care: “Capture the breath of a loved one or friend and keep them close. Forever.”

Literally. In a capsule, which can be mounted on a base of solid oak, or worn as a pendant of various designs. And for those unscrupulous individuals who might be tempted to sell a knock-off version, take note of this plainly posted statement: “Breath Capture is a patent-pending method and apparatus for collecting human breath as a keepsake display.”

Posted by Mike Yamamoto

Writing

On my vacation, I did a lot of reading. I mean a lot of reading. I went through at least half a dozen novels, as well as a book on Einstein’s life and work. (Einstein for Dummies, since I’m an idiot when it comes to physics... But I really want to understand the theory (theories) of Relativity, etc., because I hate feeling stupid.)

Incidentally, I also read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carré, which was great. I say this all the time, but if you’re into spy novels, I recommend this book, or anything else by this guy.

So, partially because I spent so much time reading, and partially because I was so well rested, I really wanted to do some writing. (I had been tempted to bring my laptop with me, just in case I got that urge, but didn’t bother because I didn’t know if Venezuela has the right type of electrical sockets. Of course they did, so I could have, but in retrospect it’s probably better that I didn’t, and just enjoyed my vacation.)

I had hoped to start writing as soon as I got home, but then I ended up spending my two extra days off on my pictures (which still aren’t done), and then I ended up back at work. Suddenly, now that I’m back in the grind, my urge to write has gone down again—when I’m stressed, I have much less of an urge to write, even if it’s just a little bit of stress.

But one thing I did want to work on was my descriptive writing, which, as I’ve mentioned, I don’t normally do. So I wanted to beef up my novel, and add some in. I even had a couple of parts where I thought could use some description—not the least of which is my main character, who isn’t described at all yet.

I gave it a shot last night, and I think I got mixed results. I didn’t even get to the part I wanted to beef up, because right at the beginning I saw an opportunity, and I took it. With a vengeance. Man, did I do some describin’. And I think I went way, way too far... So, at some point, when I can take a step back and read it critically, I’ll have to go over it again, and maybe take some of that description back out.

But I will say this: It was fun.

Deleted Comments

I should have mentioned this earlier, but it didn’t occur to me...

I don’t normally censor the comments on this blog, but a day or two ago I removed two comments that I’m absolutely sure were spam. (It left a feeling of dread in my stomach, as I assumed I’d be spending the next six months of my life constantly removing spam comments from my blog, but no others have yet shown up.)

So I’m just posting this on the off chance that it wasn’t actually spam, but someone who really thought that I needed to know about a website where I can get MSN Messenger emoticons. And if that’s the case, then I apologize for removing your comments.

Today

I don’t feel so well today, and I’m not really sure why. I’m not even sure what’s wrong—it’s not my stomach, or my head, or anything else I can put my finger on. I just feel weird. I had a good night’s sleep last night, so I shouldn’t be tired. (In fact, I just got back from a vacation that was almost three weeks long, so I really shouldn’t be tired.)

Some Random Thoughts

I’m at work just waiting to go home, so I thought I’d throw in some random thoughts for y’all.

• I just noticed someone on my MSN Messenger list that I don’t recognize; I wonder who it is? I’m sure I’ll remember at some point...
• After my 3 week absence, I was too lazy to completely read all of the posts I missed on the blogs that I follow. So I just read the last few posts on each, and I’ll go from this point forward.
• In addition, another friend of mine has started a blog—not that the ones I currently follow are written by “friends” of mine—so I guess I need to start reading that every day too... Unless s/he doesn’t post that often, as most people who have blogs do.
• Today was my first day back at work, after my vacation, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was gone for [a day less than] 3 working weeks, so I had quite a few emails to read when I got back, but very few of them required attention, which was nice.
• I had been planning on doing a whole bunch of posts about Venezuela—what it’s like, particular posts about certain places, a quick post on [Venezuelan] Spanish pronunciation, etc. But I’ve decided that I’m not as interested as I was, so I probably won’t bother. Burn.
• On a similar note, I’m well on my way to getting all of the pictures edited, that I took on the trip. I’ll be posting them online as soon as I can. Be warned that there are a lot, so you probably won’t feel like going through the whole set.
• We had shark steaks for supper last night, which were quite good. I think I like them better than salmon steaks. But, of course, nowhere near as much as I like beef steak. (That should have gone without saying, but I thought I’d throw it in on the off chance that someone comes to my blog who doesn’t actually know me personally.)

Experiments

I had once mentioned a couple of experiments that were done in the past. I’ve just come across another one, the Stanford Prison Experiment, that I also found interesting.

Frigging Messenger

I got a notice from MSN Messenger this morning that there is an updated version available, and would I like to download it? “Sure!” said I. “Let’s go for it, and see what happens!” In fact, I’ve already downloaded it at home, and although I was only using it for a few minutes, it looked like there might be some new features, and/or upgraded functionality.

Unfortunately, the new version disabled a feature that was critical for me to be able to use Messenger at work! I used to be able to set Messenger to use a different proxy server than I set Internet Explorer to use—which I did, because I have to use a proxy for Messenger at work, but not for Explorer. That feature is no longer available—I now have to use the same settings for both. (You have to set it in Explorer, and then Messenger uses the same settings.)

This is supposed to be Rule #1 for application development: Never take away a feature that the product used to have. I’m surprised that they did this.

Frigging Norton

I like Norton AntiVirus much better than McAfee. However, there is one thing I hate about it: it really, really wants to scan MSN Messenger. If I tell it not to, it gives me a warning every time I start Windows, and tries to tell me that there is an item which is “affecting my status”.

But, if I turn that feature on, then Norton has a nasty habit of automatically starting Windows Messenger behind the scenes once in a while—and on my computer, when Windows Messenger starts, it automatically signs me in. What’s worse, when Norton automatically opens Windows Messenger, it opens it up running in the background—not even the little icon in the taskbar shows up! So I don’t even know it’s running, but I’m signed in, and people can send me messages.

So, my apologies to Macker and Tara, who sent me messages today, when I was away from my computer, because Messenger told them I was online. I wasn’t ignoring you.

Venezuela, Day 2

I’m here in Venezuela, and luckily my cousins-in-law have internet access, so here I am writing a quick blog entry. Of course, I haven’t done much for the last couple of days, so there isn’t anything to write about yet—maybe tomorrow.

MSN conversation, on the last day before my vacation

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
what kind of shoes are you wearing?

sernaferna says:
Brooks

sernaferna says:
(Running shoes)

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
wow. you wear running shoes to work? What kind of pants are you wearing?

sernaferna says:
Jeans. [wink]

sernaferna says:
It's the last day before my vacation, and I'm not planning ot work very hard today. [tongue-out emoticon]

sernaferna says:
So I'm wearing jeans, and a dress shirt and suit jacket on top. [tongue-out emoticon] I figure if I do that, I'm allowed the jeans part... [tongue-out emoticon]

sernaferna says:
brb

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
wow. you're so stylish [smiley face]

sernaferna says:
(REally? It seems so 1980's...) (HE typed as he stepped away from the [computer icon]...)

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
<<being facetious. Yes, it's 1980s. Particularly if your jeans are black. [tongue-out emoticon]

sernaferna says:
lol No, they're regular blue jeans.

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
acid washed? faded?
Patched???

sernaferna says:
None of the above. [wink]

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
whew [smiley face]

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
you're still fashion forward, serna [smiley face]

sernaferna says:
hehe

sernaferna says:
Can I post this conversation on my blog? [tongue-out emoticon] There's a good chance I'll be bored this afternoon, because I'm trying not to do work on my last day before vacation. [wink]

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
you most certainly may [smiley face]

Don't piss in my ear and then tell me it's raining says:
I enjoy the fame *blush*

sernaferna says:
lol

Still just killing time...

If you had wanted to email me, today would have been a good day. Whenever I have a lot of time to kill at work, I always find myself checking my email compulsively, over and over, just in case there is a new email for me, that I can read and waste some time on.

What’s that you say? This is the most useless thing I’ve ever posted? Oh come now. I’m sure it’s not the most useless thing... I post useless things here all the time. Surely something I’ve posted in the past must be less useful than this...

Probably not a record, but still impressive, for me.

Wow, I’ve already posted five times today (including this post), and the day’s not even over yet!

I must be pretty bored.

Vacation, Sweet Vacation

I only have a couple of days left at work, and then I’ll be gone for a couple of weeks on vacation, to Venezuela. (Yes, I’m starting my vacation in the middle of the week. It’ll give me a chance to rest up, before leaving on my trip.)

So if you don’t see any posts here for a couple of weeks, that’s why. Either that or I’ve been kidnapped in Venezuela, and they’re holding me hostage. In which case I’ll probably never be posting here again, because nobody I know would have enough money to pay off the kidnappers, and they’d have to just kill me. Which would be sad, because, frankly, I like myself, and I think it would be a pity if I were to die. Oh sure, it’s bound to happen some day—I recognize this. It’s just that I think the world would probably like me to be around for as long as possible.

Flavour Shots, from Tim Horton's

Tim Horton’s has introduced Flavour Shots, which can be included in their coffee. I thought this was a great idea; they have Butter Caramel, Raspberry, Hazelnut, and Orange. (They also have something called Hot Smoothees, which seem to be along the lines of hot chocolate, but using the same flavours as the flavour shots.)

Unfortunately, I tried the Butter Caramel flavour shot, and didn’t like it. Not only does it give a strange after taste (to me, anyway), but it also makes my coffee breath even worse.

I’d be interested to hear what others think of this. As I said, the idea sounded great to me, and I was really looking forward to the flavour shots—Butter Caramel especially, because it sounded delicious—but I was disappointed with the result.

Olfactory Enhancements Revisited

It happened again. This time I can actually taste it. In my mouth.

At the risk of stating the obvious, perfume isn’t supposed to be for your mouth. It’s supposed to be for your nose.

Blech.

No Title Required

You know how sometimes you meet someone on the street whom you barely know, but you accidentally make eye contact, and because of that you have to make small talk, but it’s hard because you don’t know anything about them, and you forget their name?

That’s sort of what it’s like to comment on someone’s blog, and wish them a happy anniversary, even though you don’t know them, you just sometimes read their blog.

Not that I know from experience. Because I don’t.

But in any event, happy belated anniversary “shout outs” to Fil and Raymi the Minx.