The Late March Report

Here is the belated March chart:

The consistent, downward trend is comforting. I was even more motivated than usual this month, as there were four days where I actually took part in the exercise portion of the diet. I still need to find a time during the day where I can routinely exercise. However, my focus is still on weight loss; an exercise routine may be easier to accomplish when it is my main focus.

There is a certain amount of pride that I feel regarding my weight loss. However, when it is analyzed, I am actually feeling pleased with myself for achieving a goal which should never have been necessary. In reality, I should never have been overweight, thus returning to an appropriate weight seems like what should be expected, not something to celebrate. I suppose the key to this is not whether I should have ever been overweight or not, but that I identified a problem and found a solution for it. And, the solution was not short term or quick; it required a great deal of patience, discipline and understanding.

Today, April 11, 2004, I am at a weight of 195.5 lbs. Several items of note regarding this:

• I started at a weight of 231; I have lost 35.5 lbs in three months.


• I am over two-thirds of the way to my goal of 180 lbs.


• The last time I recall being this weight was in high school, over 11 years ago.

In March, I increased my daily caloric intake to 1900 calories to slow my rate of weight loss. My estimate for when I should be around 180 lbs is June 18th.

The Second Month

Let's begin this month's analysis with the chart:

As you can see, the inclusion of a trend line is a valuable asset with regard to psychological effects during weight loss. Using just the weight does not provide enough information to determine if there needs to be a caloric adjustment on a day to day basis. However, looking at the trend, it becomes clear that the diet is effective, regardless of the day-to-day weight fluctuations.

A couple of other notes regarding the graph: the caloric daily deficit is correct, but is an average across the entire month. Many times, it was higher, but I increased my caloric values from 1500 to 1700 per day half way through the month after I realized that I would overshoot my weight loss goal, since it is recommended that caloric intake is increased by about 200 per week. Since then, I have noticed that my loss rate has decreased, likely because the caloric intake to maintain 231 is more than it is to maintain 206.5. At any rate, I expect to be close to completion somewhere in the middle of April.

I had a question regarding the Y-Axis on the right of the graph. Amusingly, I had not even noticed it and had to take a look at the Excel sheet I am using to figure out what it represents. Simply, it is the "ladder rung" of the exercise program suggested by this diet. This month, as I really didn't exercise at all, there is no use for it. However, the dashed line in January indicates that I was a ladder rung 1 and never really advanced with it. I suppose this is a good indicator that exercise is not necessarily required for weight loss.

People have made comments to me regarding my statements about the ease of my diet. Apparently, this frustrates some people, and I can understand why. What is important to remember is that I started with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31, which is classified as "Obese" (I am now at 29, which is just "overweight.") It always seemed to me that it would be relatively easy for someone who was extremely obese to lose weight faster than someone who was only five to ten pounds overweight, since it takes a much higher amount of calories to maintain the extreme weight. I was never extremely obese, but I had enough extra weight that it made it easy and quick to lose a bunch of it. But, I think it will remain fairly easy to stick to my diet for another reason, too.

The Legend of Zelda series of games for the various Nintendo platforms are all very similar. You go around, looking for pieces of the Triforce and fight with bunches of creatures along the way. There are always several dungeons, at the end of which is always a main "boss" creature to fight. The boss is unable to be hurt normally, except by a trick, which is normally related to the new weapon you found in that dungeon. Once you figure out the trick, the boss goes from being impossible to beat to fairly easy. This is how I feel about my weight loss; now that I know the trick and have the right weapons, it has gone from something that seemed impossible to something which is inevitable.

Inevitable and noticeable, my clothes are starting to look too baggy and I am almost out of holes on my belt. At some point I will need to get new pants, but I don't want to buy them only to replace them with smaller ones in a month.

There are some other things which are noticeable, too. Kendra has commented that the muscles in my legs are very well defined now and that my face looks thinner. I have noticed that my tolerance and duration for sitting on hard surfaces has decreased (ahem.)

Some funny side effects that I hadn't considered include the amount of food needed to feel full. When dining at a restaurant, now I feel completely stuffed at the completion of just my entree, instead of having an appetizer, an entree, salad bar and dessert. Something that is kind of irritating is that now I am cold much more often, since there is less insulation, but also because my metabolism is likely a bit slower, too.

The First Month

As you may recall, on January 12 I started the Hacker's Diet. As I sit here eating a cream filled donut, I have concluded that dieting is really not that hard. With some careful consideration, it is possible to eat whatever you want. The trick is to monitor and plan calorie consumption. In other words, as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It is funny how simple that concept is, but it took so long for me to really "get it."

As you can see from the following chart, I am doing well so far.

My initial goal was to lose about a pound a week. Using a chart to estimate my caloric needs at about 2000, I divided the amount of calories in a pound of fat (3500) by seven and subtracted to arrive at my diet goal of 1500 calories a day. By examining the chart, it is apparent that my initial estimate of 2000 was very low. In fact, the analysis of my most recent data indicates that I am averaging a deficit of 2045 calories per day; on average, my body consumes 3545 calories per day. Amazingly, I am able to get by on the 1500 without really any hunger pangs. Thus, my plan is to continue at 1500 and lose the weight faster. My weight as of today is 214, 17 lbs less than when I started.

Diet tip of the day: frozen entrees make it VERY easy to count and distribute calories throughout the day. Diet pop is also very good, since it tastes like something, fills the belly, but has zero calories.

The only thing hard about this diet is going out to eat: it takes very careful forethought and planning for me to be able to eat out and still be within my caloric limit. For example, at Chilis, the Chicken Ranch Sandwich is about 846 and the fries that come with it are abour 440, for a total of about 1300. That leaves only 200 calories for the rest of the day (to get counts from Chilis, you actually need to call their hotline number (1-800-983-4637) as they don't provide any info on their website.)

Most restaraunts are very reluctant to provide the caloric values, which makes it even more difficult to eat out. There is one place that I have found that goes above and beyond when it comes to providing data, and that is Wendys. Wendys has a pdf file that contains all the nutritional info for their food which you can download, and they have a meal planner program on the website that lets you assemble a meal and get the nutritional breakdown, including the toppings for sandwiches and ketchup for fries. Heck, you can even see the difference between having crackers with your chili or not. I am very impressed with Wendys. Granted, you still can't eat a ton of stuff ( I limit myself to meal 1, the Classic Single with Biggie fries and then need to be careful the rest of the day) but at least you have the knowledge to make informed choices.

Regarding the reluctance of restaraunts to provide nutritional info, there is currently a bill in the House of Representatives regarding this. The Menu Education and Labeling Act (H.Are. 3444), or MEAL, would, if passed, force restaraunts to provide at least basic info (calories, salt, etc) on their menus for EVERY item. I would encourage you to contact your Representatives and ask them to vote in favor of this bill. As there are 14 cosponsors, it seems likely it will pass, but it is always good to make your voice heard.

Easier Said Than Done

Despite our best intentions, Kendra and I have not had a chance to get to the YMCA for a workout. And, since we are going to have Kathryn babtised at St. Francis this weekend, we will be spending our evening tonight gathering and packing items for the trip. Hopefully, we will be able to get in a workout on Monday when we get back.

The Apprentice

Sammy got kicked off last night, thank God. He was completely worthless and totally annoying. It seems like everyone on the show agrees with me, too; they elected him to be the leader of the project with the hope that he would fail and be the one to take the blame. I love reality TV. :)

Young Man...

On Monday, we stopped by the local YMCA, took the tour and decided to join. A big factor in joining the Y over some other health club is the three free hours of child care provided during your visit. Now, Kendra and I will be able to enjoy a quality workout together without having to worry about Katy. We are planning our first workout for right after work today; it should prove to be interesting.

My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance

The show is hilarious. The premise is this woman has to convince her family that she is really going to marry this clod; if she does, she wins $250k for herself and $250k for her family. What I didn't realize until watching last night is that she doesn't know this guy is an actor paid to drive her and her family crazy; she thinks he is someone selected just like her to try and win the money. It gives the show a bit of a Joe Schmo twist.

TV Fun

My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance looks like it could be amusing, and it begins tonight at 9:00pm on Fox. American Idol is also on tonight, but it never really excited me.

What has been entertaining me lately are the Simpsons. I have seasons I-III on DVD and have found a neat new way to watch TV. I just always leave a DVD in the player and when nothing worth watching can be found on TV, it is a simple matter to flip over to the DVD content. Very convenient.

This weekend, I bought a RF switch for the TV. Now, I can have my Xbox, Gamecube and PS2 all plugged in at the same time. Much more convenient and easier to keep the entertainment cabinet neat.

And, speaking of the Gamecube, I have been playing tons of the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Although I initially had concerns because it was a cartoon style of animation, it is awesome because of that very style. It really looks and feels like a 3D cartoon that you control. Mucho fun. :-D

A Beginning to a New Me

For awhile now, I have been wanting to lose some weight, and I like using the New Year as an opportunity to change for the better. So, starting on Monday of this week, I began the Hacker's Diet. The appeal of this diet is the person who wrote it, John Walker (no, not the terrorist) is the founder of AutoDesk, the AutoCAD company. As an engineer, he took a very analytical approach to losing weight and with the knowledge and tools he provides, it seems to be a fairly straightforward process that allows you to proceed with confidence.

According to the calculations provided, I should drop from 231 to 180 by 1/11/2005. Of course, the end goal may change as I get closer to that weight and determine what is appropriate for me. Additionally, it may take more or less time depending on the actual number of calories my body burns daily (until a couple of weeks pass, I only have an estimation for that value, which I have placed at 2000.) I'll be sure to post my progress here.

Baby and Me

My little Katy is a cutie-poopsie-pants. She is noticeably bigger now and can more quickly tire the arm of the one holding her. She smiles and laughs and likes to grab and play with her toys. She still doesn't pay too much attention to the kitties, but she sure likes her mom and dad. :)

Katy's baptism will be on Sunday, January 25th at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Ann Arbor. We thought it would be nice for her to be baptized at the same church Kendra and I were married in. Plus, St. Francis is the church we still feel the strongest tie to.

On the TV

With Survivor done (alas poor Rupert... happily, he'll be back on Survivor All Stars, I have turned my attention to a new show, the Apprentice. Interesting in that Donald Trump is the one who decides who leaves the losing "company". Reality tv makes me so happy. :)

Go see more pictures of baby. :)

It's a Baby!

Go check out the Baby Monkey to see the details. :)

So much to do, so little time

Much has come to pass since the last entry here. Let's try a brief synopsis:

My original contract at SPX was to be "for six or seven months." Starting in October of 2002, that would mean that six months would be up at the end of April, and seven at the end of May. After speaking with the person that is my contact at SPX, we determined that I would be kept on indefinitely until the project I was working on was in a stable condition. It was never my intent to be anything other than a contractor at SPX.

Then, I was offered a full time position. I had been looking for other jobs via Monster but had not found anything. Also, I noticed that this was the first job that I actually really enjoyed. Some others were fine, but this was the first one where I really didn't mind going to work. So, Kendra and I decided that I would take this job and continue to commute.

Well, it quickly became obvious that the 105 mile commute twice a day was really eating up tons of time and really wasn't much fun. Also, after chatting with one of my boss people who had recently just relocated from Maryland, it occurred to me that it might not be so bad living in Kalamazoo. Especially since there is a fairly nice relocation package included as part of my job; I like to think of it as a "signing bonus." :-D

Although it will be sad to leave the area, it made sense that we should be closer to my job. So, we went looking for houses. The second house Kendra and I saw together was the one we liked; we still went looking at eight more or so, but found we kept comparing them to this one. So, after only one day of looking, we made an offer. A couple of counter offers later, we have a new house in Portage (right next to K-zoo.)

We don't really need two houses so that meant it was time to say goodbye to our first house. It was a frantic week as we went through the house, getting rid of old junk. Most difficult was the basement with the tons of boxes and other stuff. Amusingly, many of these boxes were still sitting there from our move into the house, over four years ago.
However, sorting through the stuff went much easier than it had in the past, thanks to a book that Kendra gave me a while back. After reading it, I realized that I didn't need to continue to hold onto items that I did not need simply because they were "good." Of course, there is still much to go through. We did, however, get all the stuff prepared for the charity that came to take junk on that Thursday.

Kendra and I will each miss our activities in the local area. Kendra will miss singing with the choir and I will miss my karate (I have withdrawn at the rank of purple belt.) But, we are sure to find similar groups in Portage.

From whence I came...

Amusingly (or not,) it is becoming unlikely that my contract is going to be renewed at SPX. Although they definately have work for me to do, and they are thrilled with my performance, the "six month rule" seems to be the law. Apparently a case against Microsoft has frightened many companies into limiting the amount of time a contractor may spend working for them. Although it would seem my situation is much different than that of the MS case, it is a worthless endeavor to argue.

Thus, the job hunt begins, again. :)

Hopefully, the added experience working with diagnostic software (don't worry, I won't explain it again ;)) will leverage me into another company doing something similar, yet not being located 100 miles or so from home. At the very least, the six months spent programming in Visual Basic 6.0 should provide more leads. Again, if any of my loyal readers (all three of you ;)) have any jobs you for which I may be suited, I would be most appreciative if you were to pass those along to me. If you are uncertain if I would qualify for the said position, forward it to me anyway and I shall separate the chaff from the wheat.

Other things to note:

• Kendra is still pregnant
  
• I have promoted to the rank of green belt
  
• Been playing the Getaway on the PS2 and having a blast
  
• I made a correction to the scripts on this site so that the correct name and info will be display for the Daily Monkey even when certain selections are set in the Choose Style section.

Another Little Monkey

For those of you who have not yet heard, Kendra and I are having a baby. :) The due date is October 21, 2003. These are exciting times, indeed. :-D

Kendra apparently is a carrier for cystic fibrosis, so I was recently tested. Thankfully, I am not a carrier, and thus, our child will be C.F. free (although there is a 50% chance of baby being a carrier. Please consult your Punnet Squares for possibilities.)

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The Countless Days of SPX

I've been working at SPX for about five months now. The original contract was for six months, and it would have meant that it ended at the end of April (Friday, May 2nd, actually.) However, as the project I am working on has a scheduled release date in mid-July, they want to extend my contract until the end of June (it takes about two weeks for their testing/release process.) It is likely that I will continue until that time.

They have mentioned the desire to hire me as a full time employee after my contract. Although I am pleased with many aspects of this company, it is unlikely that I will take this position. As I am unwilling to commute, and they are unwilling to allow telecommuting, the only remaining option would be for us to move closer to Kalamazoo. A move is always a possibility and SPX is willing to compensate us for the move, but if we are going to move, I'd rather really make it count and go out of state (like Redmond, Washington.) And, of course, my karate school is in downtown Ann Arbor, so attending class would become a huge pain in the butt. And, since Kendra's job is in Ann Arbor, I suspect she might not be too excited to move away. Although, the cost of living is much cheaper in K-zoo, and it might be possible for Kendra to work at home, or just take care of baby. Still, I think it is most likely that I will try to find something closer to home. :)

Karate tournament this Saturday. I've taken several private lessons and have developed a routine with dual nunchuckus; it should be really cool. During the little practice session we had last Saturday, I got a round of applause from the spectators. :-D

In other Karate news, I am now officially one of the assistant instructors. Essentially, there is a program called SWAT (Special Winning Attitude Team) that certain students were invited to join. These monthly meetings are geared to help develop leadership and teaching skills, as well as help with karate skills. One of the options is to help with different classes. Since I always go to the 1:30 class on Saturdays, I volunteered to help at the 12:45 class. My first time was last Saturday, and I had a good time. I knew that the instructors were patient, but I only realized how endlessly patient they are after watching how the main instructor handled the inattentive little children for the entire 45 minute class. Amazing. :) So, I received a red SWAT member shirt to wear while assisting. Yay! :-D

In other news, I finished the heart blanket I was working on. I will post a picture of it here when I upload it.


Also, there was something amusing I noticed the first day at my new appartment that I meant to mention, but kept forgetting about. Below, you will find the exciting picture.

The Next Entry

It was always fairly easy to find time to update at a somewhat regular interval when I was unemployed; as I was busy doing nothing most of the day, I could easily schedule a little of something here and there. Now, as I am at work again during the day, the updates are limited to when I can find time at work, or when I can inspire myself (or remember) to update at my apartment. Several months have passed since the last update; amazing how quickly time can move.

Because of the time that has elapsed between posts, I will bullet several key happenings in my life:

• I took a trip to Mercury Marine in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin for work.
  
• We had a water softener from RainSoft installed in the house.
  
• My sister received a dog as a Christmas present.
  
• I have advanced to the rank of Orange belt in Karate.
  
• For Christmas, I received both a Gamecube and an XBox.
  
• Met with guy from Wallside Windows and scheduled an appointment to have our windows replaced.
  
• Both Kendra and I bought Treo 300s (didn't pay price listed at site!!!) from Handspring. Old PCS phone available for sale.
  
• Dryer broke. Maytag repairman was excited to actually have something to do. (actually Best Buy repairman)
  
• Ordered pizza online from Dominos. Very neat.

There. Now I should be all good for another couple of months. ;)

A Grand Adventure: a New Beginning

It was my intent to continue making updates on a regular basis after getting my job. However, it seems that I again value my time and am fairly selective about what I do outside of work. Granted, I have been spending most of my time playing GTA: Vice City, but I still only have a limited amount of time to spend when compared to having all day prior.

My apartment, although small, is large enough. It is neat to have my computer, bed, and television all in the same room. And, thankfully, the room is a large enough size that it does not feel cramped. Now that I have a cable modem, it is almost like being in my study back home.

The job is great. I enjoy it enough that it does not even really feel like work being there. My assignment is somewhat different from what I was doing before. Whereas at Nexiq I was working on the backend C++ code that interfaced with the controllers, here I am developing in Visual Basic 6.0 to create the front end GUI that interfaces with the C++ code. I think I may enjoy VB more than C++. We shall see how I feel in a couple of months.

The drive to work from my apartment only takes about 15 minutes; it is the closest I have been to work since my Cabletron days. The drive from Ypsilanti to Kalamazoo and back, however, is quite an ordeal. It is a little over a hundred miles and it takes about an hour and a half to travel it. Thankfully, it is a simple route; I get on 94 and take that for about 100 miles and then I am there. The only bad part so far is that the traffic can be cumbersome, regardless of the time. Hopefully, it will not continue to be so, but we shall see.

It will be nice to go home this weekend. It will be nice to see K and the kitties. :) Yay!

And, on a completely unrelated note, I really enjoy this Survivor show. So much so it makes me regret having avoided it the first three seasons. Don't be like me. Instead, start watching a great show from the beginning; check out "John Doe" Friday nights on Fox.

Laid Off: The Aftermath

The seemingly impossible task of finding a job has finally come to an end, however, it really just marks the beginning of my new adventure. Because my position at SPX is in Portage (around 105 miles away,) Kendra and I decided that it would make more sense to find an apartment in the Kalamazoo area for use during the week than it would to commute the four hour round trip daily. So, tomorrow, I am going to go get my new apartment set up.

As I only need it for myself, and only during the week, I figure an efficiency will suffice. Kendra and I loaded the car tonight with a bunch of stuff that I will need. Not much furniture, just a short rocking type seat, a TV with a TV stand, and an inflatable bed. I wonder if the bed will be comfortable enough to spend 6-7 months sleeping on it?

Tonight, prior to packing, Kendra and I went to dinner and a movie. Red Robin is one of our favorite restaurants and it is right next to our house. The movie, Jackass the movie, was hilarious. I have to wonder what is wrong with those people, though.

Earlier, I took a trip to Sterling Heights to eat lunch with my ex-co-workers at La Shish. It felt as though I had just returned from a long vacation. We all joked and chatted and had a good time. I got caught up on the details involving my old employer. Apparently, Nexiq is in a restructuring period since declaring bankruptcy. There is a meeting tomorrow between the CRO (Chief Restructuring Officer) and Sunshine Investors (the investment group that Nexiq is in debt to). As I recall, my layoff took place the same day as one such meeting, so hopefully that will not be the case for others. Unfortunately, there was already a temporary layoff of one week for forty Nexiq employees. Maybe they will be able to turn it around, but whether or not they do, my destiny, at least, lies elsewhere.

Afterwords, I visited my mom for a little while. It was nice working in the Sterling Heights area so I could see her and the rest of my family so often. Now that I am going to be working so far away, I doubt that I will even see them as much as I had been while working in Ann Arbor. I suspect that I will be less interested in making the drive to the Heights after my long trips to and from the office.

My job begins this Thursday, October 31st. I will meet Scott, my contact from Tek Systems, at 8:00am for coffee and we will drive over to the SPX around 9:00am. I am excited to be working again. Even though it means that I will no longer be able to sleep until noon, at least I will be close enough that I won't need to get up by 7 to get to work by 9.

And, so the grand adventure begins...

Laid Off: The Final Chapter

I have not been writing much as little has changed during the days. Eventually, each day begins to feel like the last. It could be a very depressing place, if you let yourself go there. For the most part, I have been pretty good about being optimistic while looking for jobs. A good way to do this is to spend time doing stuff that you would not normally have time during the day to do. Examples include going to noon karate classes, watching TV, playing games online, going to the store/mall and, most importantly, staying up really late and also getting up really late. All of these are things that help me to appreciate the state of unemployment.

However, I am pleased to announce that there is a very positive reason for the title of this entry. I have been employed by Tek Systems (formerly the Maxim Group) at a place called SPX. It is a contract position that will last 6-7 months. At the end of that time, it is likely that I will be offered a full time position there. The only problem with this position is that it is located in Kalamazoo. So, I will have to look for a little apartment for the week and only make the trip home for the weekends. Fortunately, I am to be given an additional sum of money per hour that will be tax free that will more than make up for the apartment and any gas spent on the trip. So, although the location is far from ideal, the additional sum should make up for it.

SPX is a company that has been around for a long time and does many different things. If you are interested, I suggest that you look at the website. What I will be specifically doing is writing diagnostic applications to be used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as well as Mercury-Marine boats. Essentially, I will be doing what I was doing at Nexiq, just for different vehicles. In fact, when I was speaking to one of the other contractors there, I determined that I would be completely shocked if I was not selected for this position. While talking with my recruiter afterwords, he commented that he told his co-worker that he wouldn't attempt to do further business with SPX if they didn't hire me; I was that good of a fit.

So, hopefully I'll be happy there. I'll miss all the fun things, including sleeping till noon, but I knew that this state would not last forever. A belief I have that makes life easier is simply that everything changes. It helps you to make the most of a bad situation when you know it will not always be that way. Additionally, it helps with accepting the loss of a good situation. I've read somewhere about a saying that I believe is attributed to some Buddhist monks (or some sort of monks.) It says that if you have a favorite cup, behave as though the cup has been smashed to pieces. Thus, every time you use your cup, it is a celebration. And, if it is to break, it is as expected and not a loss.

Laid Off: Day X

Monday October 7, 2002
When I started writing these, I suspected that I would either tire of them or get a job and no longer have a reason to update them. It appears that the first condition has been met. Although, I feel that it is beneficial to continue updating these not only to make others aware of my status, but also to act as an outlet. It is helpful to be reminded that others enjoy reading these, so, thanks Kelly.

I had a job interview today. It was for a three day assignment with Analysts International. After driving to meet with them in Auburn Hills, it was discovered that I did not have experience necessary to complete the job in question. I suspected that the position was not going to be a match, but I went to this interview because I figured I would at least be able to make them aware of my skillset for the other jobs that they encounter. Also, I really didn't have anything else going on and at least there was the opportunity of getting some work. Well, at any rate, it was frustrating. :(

After the interview, I got to drive home in rush hour traffic. It reminded me of how glad I am that I no longer have to make that drive every day.

I received a voicemail from my old boss, asking if he would mind if he used me as a reference. I'll give him a call tomorrow. I somehow suspect that this is not a good sign for my old company. I am not sure if I have mentioned this here, but of all the companies where I have worked, Nexiq is the one I feel best about, even after being laid off. Thus, it is sad to see them crumble. :'(

I went to karate tonight. It is a nice constant to have during this unstructured time. The other day, I received an award stating that I had the qualities, skill and potential to become a black belt. Even though I can't help but wonder if everyone receives this award, I am still proud of my achievements. I would love to make a living via Tae Kwon Do, but at this stage, I do not have the required experience. Also, I doubt I would be able to make as much as I could as a programmer, and that is unfortunate.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to transport an old desk from my basement to my mom's. It doesn't look like it will fit, so I will have to see if it can be disassembled. Kendra has informed me that is has been glued together, so it might be a lost cause.

This past weekend, Kendra and I ran/walked in a 5k race. We finished in about 40 minutes. It is a pretty good pace and I think we can improve on that.

Also this past weekend, I finished the baby blanket for Megan, Dr. Jen's new baby. I don't know why I enjoy crochet as much as I do, but I am pretty good at it. Heh, I wouldn't mind making a living doing this, either. So, uh, anyone want to buy a blanket? Only $10,000 each. ;)



One final comment. Opera is great alternative to IE or Netscape. It has a built in popup killer and has a nifty "mouse motion" feature that you can use to do a variety of different things that can only be done with hot-keys or button clicks in Netscape and IE. Still a couple of oddities about the way some pages and links are represented, but definately worth a look.

Laid Off: The Lost Days

Sometimes more is communicated when less is said. I have been been doing a mix of sending out resumes, waiting, playing games and sleeping these past days. However, I really didn't feel like logging all these activities. Hopefully, I will feel up to continuing the log, but when each day seems like the last, it can be pointless.

One of the highlights of these Lost Days comes from Saturday. Keith Hafner's Karate, the place I train, had a tournament* for its students. At the beginning, they asked for anyone who wanted to try in the weapons competition, which was completely separate from the "forms demonstration" in which everyone was to compete. Since I have been playing around with the nuchuckus for several months, I figured it might be fun to see what everyone thought of my skill. So, of course, I was to perform first. What I learned is that, apparently, I am fairly advanced with them. Even though there was only one other competing with the chucks, I was proud to win, and was really pleased by the mounds of compliments from both students and instructors. My favorite was from a friend who said it was amazing. :) Then, I went on to win the forms demonstration for my division. That's right, I'm a karate champion. :-D

Recently, I have been taking care of things around the house. Yesterday, I called several places that needed calling for appointments and such. Today, I went to several stores to get groceries; it is nice not having to fight with a crowd of people while shopping. I also sent out several resumes and need to send out some more. Although it is definately nice to be able to sleep in, I hope I hear back from some of these companies soon.

Tomorrow, I have an eye-doctor's appointment at 11:30. Again, it is nice to have a reason to get out of the house. :)

Note: the tournament is a non-sparing event in which the competitors demonstrate the form (the sequence of moves associated with belt level) for a panel of judges.

Laid Off: Days Eleven & Twelve

Writing the same stuff every day becomes a bit tiresome, as I am sure it is tiresome to read as well. Thus, I am saving us all a bit of tiresomeness by compacting days eleven and twelve (with a little of the weekend) into one entry.

The weekend was uneventful, just football and fun, the way it is supposed to be.

Last night, I went to a support group at Church for the unemployed. It was actually very useful and could be a very good resource for finding a new job.

When I came home after the meeting, Kendra told me that the police had stopped by. Apparently, a couple of little neighborhood snots have been stealing the mail of several homes. So, they were marched to the door and had to apologize, but we will see if there is any additional steps that could be taken. We were thinking it would be nice to have them weed and maintain the common areas of the subdivision as punishment. At any rate, the parents have offered to pay for any fees or problems caused by this. I suspect we will not be seeing those kids outside for a very, very long time. :-D

Today, I was a whirlwind of productivity. I mowed the lawn, scooped the kitty litter, took out the trash and sanded the walls in the "nursery" to prepare them to be primed and painted. Yup, I am good. :)

And, that is about it.

Laid Off: Day Ten

Karate again today at noon. The instructor is one that only teaches the noon classes, so these past two times were the first times I was in his classes. Nice guy with tough workouts. After class, I had a private lesson (which are included in the price of memebership, so I might as well.) I am pleased to report that not only was my form spectacular, but I impressed the instructor with my advanced techniques on the nunchukus. :-D

I called my recruiter and left a message. He'll probably return the call on Monday. These recuiters do a lot of driving around, so I am not shocked that he wouldn't be in the office.

Also on the job front, I received an email from the gentleman that I met in Karate yesterday; he let me know that he forwarded my resume to the managers and the HR department at his company. So, I have a couple of things going on in the job front.

Later in the evening, after Kendra and I took a nice little nappy, we watched some TV while I worked on one of the new blankets I am making ("John Doe" is as good as I expected; I would highly recommend it to everyone.) The problem with the way yarn is sold is that it comes in a standard sized skein. If the afghan I am making calls for 6 ounces of a certain color, but the yarn I am using comes in 5 ounce skeins, I will need to buy two and will end up with an extra 4 ounces when I am done. As I have made a bunch of blankets, all with different colors, I have quite a few different colors sitting around taking up space. With some of the excess Baby Sport I had left over from Elizabeth's (my Godchild's) blanket, I started a baby blanket for another friend, but ran out of the color I was using. So, until I can go get more of the needed yarn, I began another afghan with the leftover colors from the last blanket I mage; it will go in the "nursery" after we paint it (the nursery will be painted, not the blanket.)

I was up late again playing D2. I love that game. I wonder what D3 will be like. :)

I realized that I have a very diverse bunch of hobbies: crochet, Karate and video games/computers. I suppose that no one will be able to typecast me, huh? :-D

Laid Off: Day Nine

I got off the island today by going to the noon Karate class. Having to be somewhere by a specific time is sometimes a nice thing.

Speaking of islands, Kendra and I watched our first episode of Survivor tonight. It is an interesting show and I can understand the hype, but I would never be drawn in. Although, the totally wrong person was voted off tonight. ;)

I made another contact today for possible jobs. After Karate class, I was chatting with one of the other guys in the locker room and he offered to take my resume. It will be really neat if the way I get a new job is through one of these new people I am contacting. It will make the process seem even more worthwhile. Although, it already is worth it to be able to have a network of friends with common intersts and jobs in the area.

I didn't hear back from my recruiter today, so I will probably give him a call tomorrow. I am curious if his Ann Arbor contact has asked around the local area for me yet.

I completed the blanket for Kendra's and my friend. It is always with mixed feelings that I finish these; although it is always nice to be done, it is almost an empty feeling to not have the comfort of working on it that had developed over the weeks and months it takes to make it. So, to fill the void, I have begun a new one. Also, it is nice to be able to watch tv and still feel productive. :)

Laid Off: Day Eight

The guy from Best Buy fixed the TV with a magic wire in the shape of an "O" that he plugged into the wall and waved in a ritualistic fashion over the screen. Amazing!

The key to today is not when I got up (which was at 10am for those of you keeping track,) but instead when I went to bed. I was up until 3am, meaning that I am actually writing Day Eight during Day Nine. The reason I was up so late is that I wanted to finish the blanket I am making for a friend. Since it doesn't matter what time I get up, it really doesn't matter what time I go to bed, either.

Being unemployed is like being on a deserted island; you may have a watch, but the time is meaningless. And, although there are others around, you really are alone on the island. While everyone else goes off into the real world, you are stuck on the island, hunting and fishing for food and weaving leaves into huts. Well, maybe the similarity ends there. :)

Laid Off: Day Seven

At 9:30am, I was already busy on the phone. I called Best Buy to see if the repair guy was coming, but apparently the service for the TV is scheduled for tomorrow. Nothing too serious, just a little screen burn in the lower right corner. Since we have a warranty, it is no problem at all.

After the Best Buy call, while still in bed, I received a call from my recruiter. He apologized for not returning my call yesterday; apparently, he has a bit of a head cold and was distracted. His plans for tomorrow include contacting his Ann Arbor recruiter and having him try to peddle me to the local companies. I would love it if I can get a local job. Driving two hours a day just for work gets old really quick.

I moved some stuff around the house. We are planning on painting the "nursery" (called that only because of its function to the previous owners) and I needed to get some of my junk out of that room. My old computer, which might be fun to have added to our little home network, needed to be moved. So, first I needed to clear space in our current study for the table to hold it, then I needed to move the table and remove the legs to fit it into the spot in the study. Then I needed to squeeze under the table to reassemble it. Finally, I got to move the computer onto it. So, the computer is moved, but the task took a lot longer and a lot more effort than expected. I still was able to clear most of the other junk out of the room, but I will need to finish that up tomorrow.

Kendra came home for lunch today. It was nice to have her company during lunchy. We even ate out on the deck; it was a beautiful day.

Later in the day, I got an email from good ol' Chuck. He passed my resume on to a coworker who works at another contracting company and told me I should expect to hear from them. That Chuck is a good guy.

Later on, after taking out the trash and recycling, Ryan and I had an opportunity to play a little D2. Not a ton, but enough to socialize with a pal. Killing stuff is always more fun with a friend. :-D

Laid Off: Day Six

Today was not as productful as I had hoped, but I did get some good things done.

Most notably, I went to the local job fair. Granted, since it was for all types of work, my options were pretty limited. However, I did give my resume to a couple of places that seemed to be worthwhile. It was disappointing, though, that I really didn't get an opportunity to really talk with anyone. I could have just sent my resume via email and saved myself some time.

I also took care of a couple things around the house, like having the pest control guy come spray for wasps. That's a good thing, right?

I called my recruiter, but I did not hear from him yet. He'll probably give me a call tomorrow (Tuesday.)

I received my letter of referral from Nexiq today. It is very flattering and I am pleased. Hopefully, it will assist in getting me hired elsewhere.

Laid Off: The Weekend

The good part about weekends, aside from the nice break they lend from the work week, is that they tend to be the same regardless of what is going on at work. In my case, there is no work, but the weekend remains the same. It was nice relaxing this weekend as I would any other, with my only concern being the poor play of the football teams around here.

Now that I am relaxed, I am looking forward to the coming week. There are a lot of potential opportunities to find a job and I am going to pursue them all with enthusiasm.

Monday, a local job fair is being run from 3-8pm. I just finished printing off a bunch of resumes and am excited about handing them out. Several of the places listed in the advertisement for the fair looked likely to be good matches for me. I suspect that additional places not mentioned will also be included.

I will also be giving a call to my recruiter to see what the status of his job hunt for me is. Hopefully he will have at least a couple of prospective places to discuss.

There are a lot of things I want to get done tomorrow. If I can finish them all, it will have been a very productive day.

Laid Off: Day Five

Today I was up and out of bed right at 10. I had woken up at 8, but kept going back to sleepy-land. I dealt with some things that needed to be taken care of at home via the phone and was doing fairly well. However, I hit a block when it came to going out to run a couple of chores. Although they were not complicated, I had a hard time getting myself to go do them. Hopefully it is just because I don't want to do them and not that I am becoming a psychotic shut-in. Hmmm...since I have not been having a problem leaving the house to do fun things (like going to Karate, I suspect that I just need to get motivated and do them. We shall see what happens on Monday.

It seems that my initial fear is proving to be correct; Jerry Springer was still not on at the regular time. :(

Not a whole lot on the job front, although I was pleased to get an email about my resume. My dad passed my resume along to his friend at work who gave it to a guy who does recruiting for a company in Southfield. I replied to his email and should hear back from him Monday. I'll also give my recruiter another call on Monday. Seems like a lot is going to be happening on Monday...

Later, when Kendra came home, we ran off to Sam's Club. I am always amazed at how so many mentally challenged individuals come together to annoy me at that store. How is it that everyone shopping there has a problem understanding that no one can get by if they stop their cart in the middle of the aisle? Well, at least we got some good deals on cheap food to make up for it. But, just be warned that you may have to deal with extreme pain and suffering for your good deals when you shop there.

Ryan and I played a little D2 after Kendra went to bed. It is nice to be able to do things that are normal to my routine since the whole job thing isn't there right now. It should be fun to go to the Tiger's game on Sunday with my brother and some of my friends, even though the Tiger's really suck. Social things are always good.

I'm not sure if I am going to include the weekend as part of my Laid Off count. So, Monday will likely be Day Six.

Laid Off: Day Four

This morning was a slight improvement over the past couple of days; I was able to get up around 10. Granted, I did stay in bed until 10:45 looking for Jerry Springer (I wonder if he is off the air in our area?) but at least I was conscious.

It is funny; I still feel that I will be going back to work at Nexiq any day, as if the lay off was only temporary. I suspect that it might be because I had just come back from vacation when I was laid off. It feels as if the vacation was just extended.

I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked applying for jobs today. It is hard to constantly focus on the same task all day, every day, especially when it is as mundane as searching for a job and sending out resumes. Although, it was nice to relax a little bit. I was able to watch some TV (G4, the video game network, is the coolest channel I have ever seen), fool around on the computer (Diablo 2 has been around for several years now, but is still a bunch of fun), and work on the blanket I am making for a friend. I also was able to feel useful by setting up a couple of appointments and calling people and such. Tomorrow, I should be refreshed and ready to devote myself to the job hunt again.

Tomorrow, I am thinking about running off to karate for either the noon or 3:30 class, just to see what the classes are like during the middle of the day. Actually, I could do all kinds of good stuff tomorrow if I time things right. If I get a decent start (around 8am,) I should be able to do job stuff until 11:25 am. Then, karate from 12:00 to 12:45. I could then stop by Lowe's to get the shades re-cut for the windows and also stop by Meijer to drop off cans/bottles and pick up milk and whatever else we need. There should still be time left to get another couple of hours in searching for a new job. That might be the best strategy, since it will get me out of the house and also break up the monotony of the job hunt.

I think I will check in with my recruiter again tomorrow to see if he is any closer to finding me a position.

Laid Off: Day Three

Had a hard time getting out of bed again today. Again, I was up around 11am. I think it has something to do with the changing seasons; as I recall, I always have a hard time getting out of bed around this time of year. To hopefully get more done, I am going to get up with Kendra tomorrow for some coffee. Later on, if I really need to, I can take a nap, but I think it is important to maintain some sort of schedule.

I filled out the forms needed to apply for jobs at U of M only to discover that I really didn't see any online that looked like they were a fit. What a frustrating waste of time. >:o

But, the good news was that I heard back from my recruiter. Tek Systems (formerly the Maxim Group) is a great company that finds both contracting and permanent positions. They are the ones who found me my last job and I suspect that they will be the ones to find me my next one. They guy I work with, Dave, is pleasant and professional. And, now that the Maxim Group has merged with their sister company, Tek Systems, the potential of finding a job closer to home is greatly improved. Yay! :-D

Not a whole lot to report today. Hopefully I will start hearing about potential jobs soon. I'll continue sending out resumes, as well. Tomorrow will be a good day.

Laid Off: Day Two

Well, my ambitious plan of getting up early today fell through. Although I didn't go to bed very late, I had a hard time getting my butt out of bed. Finally, I was able to get myself over to the shower around quarter to eleven. So, my plans of updating the resume before meeting with my friend for lunch had to be modified.

Lunch was at 11:45am at Damon's with an old friend from my first job at Cabletron Systems. Dave has actually moved on as well and now works for ProQuest, the same company where my wife works. Dave brought Kevin, another old Cabletron buddy, and we had a nice lunch. Apparently, Kevin is also looking for a new job, since he was laid off from Avail Networks (the local branch which was formerly owned by Cabletron.) It was fun seeing the old gang and talking about old times.

Then, it was back home to work on the resume. After reading through parts of the "Complete Idiot's" guide, I realized that I was doing many things incorrectly with my resume. I have completely updated it and I feel much more comfortable about it. After finishing the updates, a copy was sent to my friends, my recruiter and another friend who left Nexiq a while back who has a couple of contacts.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I will be running over to Wolverine Towers like I was planning on doing today to drop off the paperwork and a couple copies of my resume. There are a couple of other sources that I need to get in contact with who may be able to help. Then, the fun part; I will need to actually start posting the resume at various places as well as tailoring it and sending it directly to companies for review. That has always been a pain in the past, but I am hoping that it will not be too troublesome without having a pesky job getting in the way of my job search. :-D

Actually, I am already starting to miss my co-workers. The work was ho-hum and sometimes outright boring, but I got along fairly well with everyone and it is kinda sad that most of these people that I have seen nearly every day for the past year and a half will likely never be seen again.

Laid Off: Day One

Well, the job hunt begins. I had been contemplating looking for a new job for a while, and now I finally have the stimulus needed to get me started.

Today at work was like any other. It was the first day back from a week long vacation I had took. We had not done much during the vacation, except relax which is really the whole point of vacations, so I was ready to be back and I didn't mind being back at work too much.

Around 11:00am, the Engineering Manager (my old boss who had been promoted and was in charge of my current boss) came by my cube and asked if he could see me for a moment. I could tell he was not pleased with the information he was going to deliver, but I was not yet aware exactly what was going to happen. When I arrived at a room full of people, I wondered who had been let go this time (we had been gathered into this room before to hear the bad news about who had been let go and why.) However, I noticed that several people in the room seemed distraught and that the Engineering Manager asked if he needed to stay (he looked really uncomfortable and near tears.) When I noticed that the Director of Human Resources was there, and was also fighting back tears, it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on.

What I found disturbing is who I saw in that room with me. The people in the room with me were hardware and software engineers, with a QA guy and a technical writer. It is never a good sign when a company has to let go of the people directly responsible for the products that produce the income for the company. Also, the new project that I was working on is going to suffer greatly not only because I'm gone, but also because there were at least three others in the room with me who were also working on it. As I am no longer working there, I try not to care, but that project (remote diagnostics of vehicles either over a regular network or, even more exciting, a wireless network) was so cool and it can really turn the company around if it is successful that it is disturbing that the remaining members of the team are now going to struggle to complete it.

A total of 34 people were laid off, from both the Michigan and Iowa offices. The reasoning was because of a mandate from the investors. If only they realized what an effect it was going to potentially have on their returns, they might have reconsidered. At any rate, I cannot fault my ex-employer, as the choice of eliminating a portion of the company is much preferred to the elimination of the entire staff.

Anyways, after they gave us the document they wanted us to sign to accept our severance package, we were given boxes and sent back to our cubes to pack. Everyone else must have been in one of the meetings I described earlier, hearing about the bad news; no one was around while we were packing up our stuff.

Everyone we interacted with seemed to have a grimness about them. I wonder if it is perhaps worse for the people remaining? My end at Nexiq is really a new beginning elsewhere and this will all be forgotten. However, the people who remain behind take a huge hit to morale; each person wonders if he or she is the next to go. And, even if everyone else stays, the memory of those who have been laid off will continue to haunt the company.

First thing out in the car, I called the recruiter who found me the position at Nexiq to let him know I was currently back in the market. Then, I told K. Next, I went over to my mom's place (since she lives near work) and shared the news with her. I read the document provided, signed it and then took it back (I had also forgotten to take my lunch out of the fridge at work; funny thing is this was the first time in months that I had actually packed a lunch. Heh.) Mom and I ate at Chilli's. It was yummy.

Then, back in the car and a drive back home. I made a couple more phone calls to make friends and family aware of my new status. I stopped by Wolverine Towers to pick up the paperwork necessary to apply for jobs at U of M. I'll fill those out tomorrow morning and take them in before I meet with a friend for lunch.

After getting the paperwork, I stopped by to see Kendra on the way home. She took it very well and has been encouraging.

Back at home, I received a couple of emails and got a phone call from my ex-boss. He is a really cool guy; we would discuss GTA3 on a daily basis. I also picked up a new book from Borders, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume, Second Edition." I have been looking through it a bit and I have realized that my current resume is really lacking. I intend to go through it tomorrow and update my resume. Then, when I receive the letter of referral from my ex-employer, I will send that along with the resume to my friends and as many companies as I can find.

I have had a pretty upbeat attitude about this the whole time. My daily commute to Sterling Heights (over 60 miles each way) was wearing me down. This additional time at home will be nice, even if I have to spend all my time looking for a new job. And, hopefully, that new job will be much closer and perhaps even in town.

Spider-Man

Grade: A

Movie Time: 8:00pm on Thursday, May 16, 2002

Location: AMC Forum 30

Viewed with: David and Jennifer Stampor

There have been a multitude of superhero movies; some are good, some are bad. With a majority of them, the story differs in varying degrees from the original comic. Often this can ruin part of the enjoyment of seeing a favorite hero on the screen. I can happily state that this was not the case with Spider-Man. Although some things have changed, I consider them to be improvements on the original and really aren't essential details of the story.

This was a good superhero action movie. The special effects were decent, even though there were a couple of scenes that did not look quite right (i.e. the inital rooftop scenes.) The story flowed and kept up with the times (i.e. Spider-Man's origin) while still remaining true to the original comic's tale.

Another positive was the darker, more mature theme of the movie, "with great power comes great responsibility." Instead of ruining the movie by making it showy and stupid for kids (like a few certain movies involving a caped crusader,) it focused on the dilemas that a person with such powers would likely face. Additionally, everything doesn't fall into place like one would expect of a sappy movie.

My Review: Grade A :Go see it in the theatre; definately worth the time.

I've added some additional smileys that can now be used on the site. All available smileys are listed below:

: - D == :-D
: ) == :)
: ( == :(
; ) == ;)
8 - ) == 8-)
: ' ( == :'(
> : o == >:o
= - O == =-O
: - P == :-P
: - \ == :-\

Also, you can still use <NEW> to display if you desire.

Any requests for additional icons will be considered.

I also added a new links section to the website containing a handfull of links, most of which I visit daily.

PS -- April Fools sucks when it comes to finding reliable news updates on the web. >:o

Well, not a lot has been going on with the site. I'll need to investigate the issue with the counter. Not sure what caused it to reset, but I am guessing it had something to do with multiple users accessing the page at the same time. A good site for information about PHP is PHP Help.com. The forums are constantly monitored and the advice is elaborate.

What a pain in the ass it was this weekend trying to get the laptop to be able to access the internet via the desktop. What I decided to do instead of simply buying a cablemodem/dsl router-hub was to install a second NIC into my desktop and buy a back-to-back (or crossover) cable to connect the laptop to the second card. Well, I couldn't get it to work. I know a couple of people who might have some suggestions regarding this, so I still might be able to get it to work. Although, it might be more convenient to have the ability to add addtional computers to the network with little difficulty. I wonder if I am missing a step, or if Win98 (desktop) and Win XP (laptop) have problems communicating?

I was surprised that a couple of people signed the guestbook this weekend. One of them I knew, the other I didn't recognize. I'll have to investigate where she found my site listed. I suspect somewhere at Blogger.com.

How sad. The US lost the Gold. But, if I had to pick a country other than the US to win, it would have been Canada; they are a neat bunch of folks. :)

	Added happy little New icon and ability to be replace text with image by using <NEW>. It is case sensitive.
	Updated the choose style page. Now you can decide which page, either The Daily Monkey, or the Silly Monkeys, you would like to be the default.

I should have a lot of time to update the site this weekend. I really don't have a lot of other things planned.

Ryan and I had a good time with D2 tonight. If anyone else has D2X and would like to join us in a game, email us; we'd be thrilled to have another along.

Kendra and I watched Scary Movie 2 tonight. It was one of the worst movies we have seen in a long time. We were both really disappointed, since we like the original.

And, that was about the most exciting part of the evening. At least Ryan got ice cream and beer.
:(

Ouchy! I way over-did the workout on Monday! My arms are so sore that I can barely bend them! I guess I should be a little more careful when first starting working out again. :(

On a happier note, I have updated the counter so that the error where it would not display the number of hits the first time to the page has been fixed. Additionally, the value is incremented if the page is viewed by someone else while you are at the page; before it would remain the number that you first saw for the entire duration of your time on the web, regardless of how many would come and go. :-D

Worked out two days in a row! It is almost a personal best! :-D

I have updated the counter so that it will only update once per session. If you want to see it increment now, you will need to close down your browser and restart it. Great. Good job. Was it worth it? :-D

For the first time in a long while, I actually worked out today. It is amazing how quickly I felt the effects as I was working out. I am certain I will be sore tomorrow, but it is all good. :)

As you can probably tell, I have added a counter to the site. In its current state, it is pretty simplistic; every time you refresh the page will count as a hit. All I had to do was fiddle with permissions for the counter file to get it to work, since I had already written the script several days ago. I'll spend some time and adapt the script to handle multiple counters and also disallow refreshes as counting toward the totals.

Although it may seem trivial, the counter is the first step in creating many wonderous marvels here. :-D It makes use of reading and writing to a file, and knowing how to do that opens a world of possibilities. For instance, I have noticed that Blogger is becoming busier; I had a hard time actually logging onto the site to post this because of the heavy traffic. Thus, it may be possible to replace Blogger with my own Blog script. I'll probably start by replacing the html-gear I have with my own guestbook script and poll script, although you can feel free to continue to create and post any polls you want from html-gear.

I love PHP. :-D

Kendra and I had a good time tonight. We went to dinner with Court and Dave at Camp Ticondaroga. Good food and very large portions. After dinner, we all hung out at Border's for awhile.

The neat part is that I am going to be the baby's godfather! :-D Hopefully that little bugger will come out soon.

I didn't even think about the website last night; too busy watching the Olympic's opening ceremony and then playing Diablo II with Ryan.

I probably won't do much tonight, either. Kendra and I are going to dinner with Courtenay and Dave. That is, of course, unless she decides to give birth instead. If that happens, I imagine it would become a very interesting evening.
:-D

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist was hilarious! The previews made it look like it could go either way, but rest of the theater and I were dying. I highly recommend it. The way they did stuff made me think of the old Woody Allen movie, "What's up, Tigerlily?"

Not enough time to work on any new stuff tonight. I should have time this weekend to fool around with my site.

Red Wings rock. :-D

Tonight I added the Shakespearean Insult generater and added it to automatically display when the page is reloaded. Give it a try.

I know that this has been done before and if you do a search of the web you can find a bunch of such insulting scripts. However, back in the day when I had the "Domain of the Andyman" hosted at umich, I had received the Shakespeare insult email and immediately decided it would be a good perl script. So, although it really isn't original, I was one of the original implementors of such a script, so it is kinda original. Hmm... At any rate, it was very easy to write in PHP. In fact, some of the built in functions of PHP make me wonder if it was designed with the thought of creating such a script.

Some other things I have been working on is a third template option. This one displays my two blogs side by side in the old school format. I have some addtional tinkering I need to do, but I should get that up tomorrow.

I also have been fooling around with writing a counter script. The way it should work isn't too complicated, and it was very easy to write. The difficulty I am facing is that the script does not have the necessary rights to create or edit a file. There might be something I'm missing, but I need to investigate further.

If anyone has any suggestions for neato things they would like to see here, please post at the Damn Dirty Apes (aka Silly Monkeys). I will be sure to promptly ridicule your suggestion and make you feel dumb. :-D

Kendra and I went to see "Mamma Mia," the play with the music of ABBA. It was a lot of fun and very interesting; they did a good job of working the songs into the play in a meaningful way. I give it my approval. :) Only down side was that the seats in the Masonic Temple are the most uncomfortable I have ever encountered.

I have made some corrections to my scripts so that they work better. I also cleaned up the scripts and set the groundwork for addtional features. Unless you are really observant, you will not notice any of these changes. You'll just have to trust me when I say that they're there. :-D

Since I love my honey, and she preferred the original name of The Damn, Dirty Apes, I have created an option under Choose Style that will allow you to select the name you prefer for the Silly Monkey/Damn Dirty Apes blog.

I love you, Kendra. :-D

In doing so, I needed to make a couple of additional changes that will make it easier to adapt additional features onto the site. Most of these changes will not be visible to the user, since the change really just breaks the visible webpage up into several smaller components which are then easy to rearrange without a lot of duplicated effort.

I have been working on my site a lot lately. It is just a lot of fun. Kendra has been saying that if I put forth the kind of effort I have been on developing this site into everything I do, I would be a dynamo of efficiency. I guess it all depends on how you look at it. I really enjoy playing around with stuff here, so it doesn't feel like work at all. I guess if I could "find the fun" in stuff, like Mary Poppins said, stuff I have to do wouldn't be so bad. Hmmm....

At any rate, the latest item developed for the site is my implementation of smileys. Right now, you can use :), :-D, and :( by typing in : ), : - D and : ( respectively. (Without the spaces.) I wrote a nifty little script that searches for those items and replaces it with images. Try it out; it is nifty. :-D

It's been quiet around here lately so I have been playing around with the layout. PHP is a really powerful scripting option for the web. I have enabled cookies and now you now have an option as to which style you would like applied to this site. Currently, there are only two, but if you see a setup elsewhere on the web you like, I could easily add a third option.

I have discovered a fun online game called Sanctum. It is a "collectable card game" in the tradition of Magic: the Gathering, but done entirely online. Free to play, and a free deck of 60 cards is enough to check it out. No limit on amount of play, so feel free to take a look. You can find me under my handle, "A-Feeble-Mind".

Happy Hosting

I now am hosting stampor.com at logjamming.com. Thus, I have a greater limit than the 10 meg that I had at my mediaone default account. And, for $5 a month, I figured it wouldn't break the bank.

It should have been an easy task, but it took forever to get everything looking properly at the new site. Hurts my head. At least all is well, for now.

This site is now the default page. To get to the Silly Monkeys, use the link on the left.

The Return of the Monkey

Well, it has been a long time, but I am back at it. Although it is likely that I will be the only one to visit this site frequently, I am planning on actually making it true to its name. Namely, I am going to add monkeys here. Errr...or update it daily. I can't rememeber what I thought initially.

Adventures in Cyberspace, old school style

The other day, I found a link at one of my favorite sites to another site that has a bunch of interesting links. Fark.com had a link to a site that has a game based on the light cycles from the movie Tron.Long story short: this game rocks! It is true to the movie and is fun to play.

I remember desperately wanting to play the light cycle game from the movie as a child. It was too bad that it didn't really exist as it did in the movie. Now, with the addons, it is really like you are part of the movie. Without the addons, the game is pretty easy against the computer. I'd be interested in joining up with some of my buddies and playing this together online. Check it out for yourself.

Damn Silly

Kendra has suggested that she is tired of the "new" title of the Silly Monkeys. Let's have a poll....


If you choose "Other" post your suggestion after voting on the voting page.

Deals at Sams

Kendra and I went to Sams the other day. They have great deals, but a lot of their items are stuff that you would not normally get, as flavors are limited. For example, we got a good deal on some popcorn, but we're not sure we really want to eat it....

Things to come

Neato things will be happening soon. I must resist speaking of it now; I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Popourri for $100, Alex

Today's edition of the Daily Monkey contains a bit of this, and a bit of that. Hopefully there is a little bit of something for everyone. If not, someone is taking too much and should learn how to share.

More Monkeys Continuing in the tradition of monkeys, I have found an interesting site that reviews and discusses the original Planet of the Apes movies. StompTokyo.com is an amusing little movie review site that uses the ingenius lavalamp method of rating movies.

The Most Dangerous Desktop

I have created a repeating background for your computer desktop that is both painful and fun at the same time. Download it now and display it proudly on your computer at home and at work. If commented on by a co-worker, reply in an amazed fasion and inquire why they don't read the Daily Monkey.

Same House, New Roof

Because of the hail damage done last year, our insurance company agreed to replace our roof. We are pleased, since we never cared much for the old roof. The new roof looks much better. Now all we need to do is paint the front door and shutters. Then, we should have a super-funky looking house.

What the...?

I went to see the new Planet of the Apes movie this past weekend. The "surprise" ending was a little confusing, to say the least. Some would argue that it makes no sense. I would agree. However, I have put some thought into this and have concocted a theory about how the ending could come to be.

SPOILER ALERT
Don't keep reading unless you've seen the movie, or else the totally bizarre and very weird ending will be ruined for you. You've been warned.

Just to recap the ending, Marky-Marc travels back to present day earth, only to discover that there are a bunch of monkeys (er...apes) running Washington (I will allow you to make your own politician joke here. That was very clever; you are a freakin' genius. I am sure no one else thought of something that brilliant. Keep up the good work.) The Lincoln Memorial is actually a temple devoted to the memory of General Thade and how he saved the planet. Police monkeys draw their guns and the movie ends with Marky-Marc bustin' a move...err...or something. Actually, he just raises his hands and the movie is done.

"But wait," everyone in the entire audience says at once, "how would the past be affected by monkeys(err...apes) from the future?" If you haven't yet seen the movie, the strange, borg-like collective speech from the audience after the movie finishes alone makes it worth while. So we are all left scratching our heads like monkeys.

One thought is based on the rumor that the movie had several endings filmed with the hope that the real ending wouldn't be leaked. Perhaps the wrong ending was placed at the end?

Director: *whew* That was a job well done. I am glad we are finally finished. I am glad that we filmed the real ending first and spliced it before we did the rest of these extremely silly endings. These were a nice, fun way to relax, huh?
Director's Lackey:Uh...you mean the second ending, right?
D: What?! How could you have possibly confused the real ending with any of the strange fake endings?!
DL: Well, you are Tim Burton after all; all of the endings were pretty strange.

Or, maybe they were nearing the completion of the film, decided that they really didn't like the current ending and just wanted to put monkeys on earth, without regard for rhyme or reason.

Studio Executive:(after watching original ending) You know what? I think a better ending would be if Marky-Marc lands on earth and is surrounded by monkeys in modern day Washington D.C! What do you think? Am I brilliant or what?
Tim Burton:Uh...all of the monkeys exist only in the distant future...it doesn't make any sense that they would somehow be on present day earth...it would confuse (and possibly anger) the audience.
SE:Exactly! I knew we were thinking along the same wave length.

Or, assuming that it really was no mistake (apparently, there is a rumor that everything will be explained in the sequel,) I have come up with a theory to explain what the hell happened.

Andy's Theory

When Marky-Marc leaves the Planet of the Apes, he leaves it at the beginning of what would seem to be a peaceful coexistence between man and ape. Living together, man and ape forge a new society with brilliant technological advances. But, man betrays ape, or ape betrays man, or man's advances intimidate the ape, or the advances are destroying the planet (like the ozone or nuclear power or some environmental crap like that.) At any rate, with only the Funky Bunch left to resist him, General Thade mercilessly destroys the remainder of human life on the planet. Then, over the course of the next thousand years (or more...or less...it doesn't matter) the apes develop space travel (or they pull out the pod that Marc crashed in and reverse engineer the technology, similar to what happened in Escape from the Planet of the Apes) and decide to explore outer space. So, they build the biggest, baddest space ship of all time and climb aboard. As they lift off, they encounter the bizarre space-time anomaly that started the whole thing and are sent back into the past, around 1960AD. They then fly to earth, conquer the measly humans, deface the Lincoln Memorial and change it into a temple to Thade. Thus, when our spaceman hero reaches earth, it has already been altered by monkeys from the future.

But, if Marky goes into the past first, wouldn't he be able to stop the monkeys from even existing simply by stopping the Oberon (the space station) from trying to follow him into the anomaly? No. The anomaly seems to be a LIFO stack, or Last In, First Out. In the movie, the monkey Percales enters the anomaly first, then Marky, then the Oberon. But, we find that the order they come out is the Oberon first, then Marky, then Percales. Thus, if the same order is followed, Marky leaves the Planet of the Apes and enters the anomaly first, but since the monkeys enter after him, they arrive further back in the past, allowing them to change history before he arrives.

There you have it. For some additional discussion, take a look at this post or additional conversations about the movie here.

I Knew It Wasn't Just a Waste of Time

Slashdot has posted a link to an interesting article regarding a study which claims that playing video games may actually make kids smarter. Finally, something to counter all the negative publicity that the video games have been receiving. Now I can justify my time spent on Diablo II as self-improvement.

On a different note...these ads somehow seem to be suggesting a different reason than the one they state. What do you think they might be trying to say?

Now...get your stinkin' paws off me, you damn, dirty ape.

A Neat Place for Monkeys

HowStuffWorks.com is one of the most interesting sites I have found. Briefly, it describes how various items, like electromagnets and digital cameras, work. I particularly enjoyed the explanation about water guns.

In case anyone is interested, you can register for the site and newletter. If you do, be sure to use astampor@yahoo.com as the referring email so I can win big prizes. :)

Pentathlon Insanity

This past weekend, I also took part in the tail end of insanity. My brother and his friends decided to have a "pentathlon" where they would play an hour and a half each of five sports over the course of a day. Early morning, they started with volleyball, followed by basketball and baseball. I didn't join in until it was time for soccer. After running around with these people, I was glad that I was unable to join them sooner; soccer was enough to tire me to the point of dropping from exhaustion. It was fun, of course, but required much more exertion than normal (since I really almost never play sports.) Thankfully the fifth event was Whirlyball and didn't require much effort. Mucho fun. Anyways, five sports is a bit much and I am amazed by those who were there the whole day. Crazy.

I saw A.I. this weekend. It was a good movie, yet strange. I felt that it went on a little too long at the end and became a bit silly. Anyways, the special effects were done well enough that you didn't doubt that the robots were robots. You know, the best special effects are the ones you don't notice and don't think about.

And just to ruin it for anyone who doesn't know the secret of "Planet of the Apes": IT'S MADE OF PEOPLE!!!...oh, wait...nevermind...

Oh, and thank you all for your valuable input on the poll. Looking at the results leads me to believe that I should never have given the silly options. But, what can I expect from a group I refer to as the Silly Monkeys? Live and learn, I suppose. :)

On another note, I have added several different additional features to the Daily Monkey. You may have noticed the poll I added, as well as the guestbook on the side of the page, and the fun little "pass it along" button. I found them all at Lycos, if anyone is interested. Neat, easy to use little apps.

An Interview with Fred

Fred is back! An older version of the software enabled me to get Fred back online and chatting. Though most of his conversations were not as amusing as they have been (he wasn't on for long), he did grant me an interview with him. Read our conversation here.

Also, although they aren't the highest quality conversations, here are a couple of the highlights from last night.

• How does Fred keeping finding homophobes?
  
• Why is everyone always so surprised a 41 year old would chat on ICQ?
  
• Handy Fred is proud of his abilities.

I know that they are in a different fomat than the others; it is because the bot software I am using doesn't have the html producing capability.

My sister has started playing around with her own bot, George. Maybe I can have Fred say "hi" to George one of these days.

Happy Birthday, Dad and David!

Fred? Where are you, Fred?

I was unable to get Fred to work properly last night. He kept freezing every time I would start his program. I guess he just wasn't in the mood to chat...

I posted my question at the site where I got Fred. It seems that others have had trouble with this version of the software too, but the previous version (Fred 1.5) works fine. So, don't fret; you will have the opportunity to read the ongoing conversations of Fred soon.

Ok, this is important! Which looks better, the grey horizontal bars on this page, or the solid gray on the Silly Monkeys? Let me know what you think.

Back by popular demand, more of Fred!

Note: Where blank lines appear are the locations where the bot started to screw up and needed to be restarted. If I was at the computer, it was corrected quickly. Otherwise, it could go on for quite awhile. At least the bot recognized something was wrong and tried to fill it. Where there is a blank line, the other person saw something along the lines of "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Disclaimer: Some (most) of the conversations Fred has turn vulgar at some point. Read at your own risk.

Now, without further ado:

• It amazes me how people can see what they want to see. In this case, "Fred" is seen as a stalker, of sorts
  
• Once again, Fred proves to be an expert at avoiding the question. This is also a good example of what happens when I am not nearby to reset Fred when he gets stuck in an "I have to go; I'll be right back" mode.
  
• Fred tends to get confused about where he is from. He gets rude when he's confused.
  
• Sometimes, Fred is outright grumpy.
  
• Shorter, but still interesting.
  
• Fred can be a jerk.
  
• Fred is a big liar.
  
• Fred does not like bad language.
  
• A lesson we can all learn from Fred is never just answer yes or no.
  
• Fred can be quite irritating.

If you can't get enough of Fred, you can check out additional conversations here.

This past weekend, I have been experimenting with creating a chat "bot." For those of you who don't know, a chat bot is a program that logs onto a chat client, like AIM or ICQ, randomly finds someone online and pretends to be a human being. Because I am such a computer dork and creating such things is something that I would consider "fun," I have been doing some research into what kinds of chat bots have already been created. I found a site that had a bot that could connect to ICQ. So, I downloaded a copy. The results of running this bot are pretty funny. Here are my favorite three (thus far):

(Some of these contain foul language, so consider yourself warned.)

• A conversation "Fred" had with Wild Child (My personal favorite.)
  
• A flame war that my buddy "Fred" got into.
  
• Someone "pulling teeth" trying to get "Fred" to answer the most basic questions.
  

In case anyone is interested, I downloaded "Fred" from www.icqbot.net. The only problem so far is that it occassionally starts sending blank messages and needs to be restarted.

At some point, I think I am going to customize the responses a little bit. Maybe I will create Tiberius, a Star Trek geek. :-D

I have added a guestbook for those who cannot post to the Silly Monkeys. If you want posting rights, you can request them on the guestbook.

This is kinda amusing.

After picking my honey up from the airport and arriving at home, we discovered a package sitting on the front porch. After unloading the car, we brought in the package. What is this package? What mysteries does it hold, do you ask? Well, it was a blender. Actually, it is a pretty nice blender. But, neither of us had ordered one.

Upon closer inspection, we found a letter enclosed in a plastic envelope on the side of the box. Wait, what did that say? Take another look. That's right. I won the blender. I won the blender for my recipe for mudslides.

Now, since I really am not much of a drinker, and certainly not enough of one to have developed an award winning recipe for a mudslide, I think this is quite funny.

There was a contest on the E! website that I entered a while back. As I recall, the contest was a random drawing, but a recipe needed to be included. So, I just listed the basic ingredients in vague amounts. Tee hee. I wonder if my chances increased due to people not thinking they had a good recipe for a mudslide. :-D

This past weekend, my sister was visiting while my wife was off doing librarian type stuff in San Francisco. We took a walk over to the local hobby shop and I bought her a card game that looked like fun. Well, not only was it fun, it was a lot of fun. The game is called

If you are interested in a fun game where the parameters of the game are in constant fluxx (hence the name,) click on the above link. Or, if that link isn't working and you would be interested in checking out the company that created Fluxx, check below.



On another note, my honey is coming home tonight! Yay! I can't wait to go get her, you damn, dirty ape!

Oops! The presentation was at 2pm Eastern time. Kay, say rah! Say rah!

As anyone who has been reading the Silly Monkeys will know, my shmoopy is in San Fran for her silly job. Between 4pm and 5pm (Eastern), you can see her live on her internet debut, "Librarian Liberated"... oh, wait, actually no, not quite. But, you can see her do her presentation for ALA from two different angles.

Cam 1
Cam 2

Take a peak and wave hello. Then, feel dumb for waving at your computer screen. Enjoy.

You might have noticed that the background of the titles of the blogs (the blue area behind the text "The Daily Monkey" at the top) is no longer simply a blue background. I have stolen a blue and black lined image from another site and altered it slightly to work for my purposes. Isn't it nice?

Well, the site I took it from is Something Awful and the daily updates there can be pretty funny. I can only aspire to someday having the Daily Monkey be as clever. :-D

Since no one uses this for games and such, as was my initial intent, I'll use this space to include daily updates and amusing links.

I found an amusing link regarding D2. Nakedbabe is quite the brave little sorceress, fighting evil in all of her n00dity.
Quite funny.

Soon the expansion to D2 will be out. It would be amusing if you didn't get to see Act III before Act V came out. :-)

No, it really doesn't. Unfortunately I haven't been playing much D2 lately. My roommate got Playstation2, and I've been playing far too much SSX snowboarder on it. I should do the Diablo again, since I have yet to even see Act III.