Sheep Guarding Llama

Min and I had a very busy morning today. She had her interview at 10:00 this morning and had to leave the house a bit before me. She actually managed to call me after getting out of her interview before I even managed to leave the house to go to my own. Unfortunately, she felt like the interview was a bust and that there is very little chance that anything will come of it. We are still hopeful but it was very depressing.

My interview was at 11:00 but was only with a recruiter, not an end client, so my stress levels were far lower than Dominica’s were. My interview seemed to go very well but it is very difficult to tell with a recruiter because interviewing is much less an exact match for a particular position type of situation as it is attempting to figure out what is likely to match down the road. This interview was for a particular position but still it is quite different. I don’t have a regular interview for that position yet and we are not expecting to hear anything about it until Monday afternoon.

After my interview I drove up to Vincent Mazda in East Rochester which was right around the corner and I dropped off my car to finally get its inspection taken care of. That has been lingering on for a month now. What a pain that has been. Eric picked me up from the dealer and we went down to Jay’s Diner on West Henrietta to get some lunch. We drank coffee for a little while to make sure that they managed to finish up with the car before going back north to East Rochester to pick up the car. Then it was time to go back home.

Overall, my work day today was pretty short but I was kind of tired after having worked the Wegmans overnight last night and then having to get up for an interview this morning. Plus I had not gotten around to getting all of the paperwork necessary for the interview done so I did that this morning as well before I left.

Min had to go to work at 3:00 today to work the “B” shift so that left me home alone with Oreo. Oreo loves getting to hang out with me! I am his favourite, you know (shh… don’t tell Dominica.)

Nothing exciting happened this evening. It was a quiet night of sitting at the computer doing some miscellaneous chores and listening to podcasts which I haven’t managed to get to in a while. So that made me happy to catch up a little. I did a little work on my syllabus for the “New Media and the Internet Lifestyle” class that I am going to be teaching this semester down in Castile. I think that that class is going to be an awful lot of fun.

My big news of the day is that I recorded the first episode of the SGL Podcast. Technically, it isn’t a podcast yet because I haven’t syndicated it but that is just a technicality. The point of getting to where I did today was to see if I would be able to use Audacity with my new Logitech headphones to do a decent recording and it seems to have worked really well. Audacity is a really great product and did a great job of recording and then editing the show. It is about sixteen minutes long this time which, I think, is a pretty good length for what it is. I am really happy with how the show turned out sounding. I am always concerned that I will sound weird or awkward when I am recording but when I listen back to it I think that I sound a lot like any other professional podcaster that I listen to regularly so that makes me happy. Using Audacity to take care of things like compression and normalization really makes a big difference and recording in high quality with a nice USB microphone and doing all of the editing in high quality before mixing it down to the MP3 version makes it that much better too.

Min got home a little after 11:15 and was very glad to be home after having had that bad interview and then having had a really bad day at work after that.

I have decided, I think, that I am going to make the attempt to use WordPress to run SGL. I would consider using a hosting service instead of running it myself but the reality is that SGL is already so large that most hosting services won’t touch it. And now that I am starting to add audio on a regular basis, or at least I hope to be, it is going to grow at breakneck pace. It takes approximately one megabyte of storage for each minute of audio that I record. So that is pretty significant.

Min was very excited to see on CNN today that the Humane Society has been doing an amazing job of rescuing pets and other animals trapped in New Orleans from hurricane Katrina. Thousands of pets of being rescued and many are managing to be reunited with their owners although many, as you imagine, are now ownerless and will need new, caring homes and long term care. Dominica and I are asking everyone who can to consider donating to the US Humane Society to help save more of these poor pets that have had their lives torn apart by this disaster as well but were abandoned by their owners and had no way of escaping and didn’t get to make any choices themselves. And for families, espeically children, who have lost everything, bringing them back together with their pets can be critical in mitigating long term emotional trauma. Losing a house is devastating, losing a house and knowing the puppy that loved you starved to death in it because you left him behind could be the straw that tears a fragile family relationship apart.

Today is my relaxing day. Normally on Wednesdays I have to take a break and relax between having worked the overnight and having one to go tonight. So today I relaxed.

Tomorrow both Min and I are interviewing in the city so we would appreciate everyone praying for us. Min is doing her second round interview and we are very hopeful that she will get the position. I am doing an initial “interview” – after having done two on the phone – with a recruiter discussing a really perfect position up in Greece. It is too perfect so I am very doubtful that I will get it but we are really hoping that it comes through because it would make a tremendous difference for us. Also, my friend Ted is leaving tonight to go to Gulfport, Mississippi to help out with disaster relief and he asked for people to pray for him and his wife as they travel and work down there as well. So lots of prayer requests today.

Tonight is my last night at Wegmans for the week. Tonight I am at Culver Ridge which is just down the road from where Josh and I used to live in Irondequoit. On the way up to the store I was running a little bit early so I stopped by Borders in Henrietta and picked up some Lonely Planet guides to Montreal and Quebec. I figured that we needed to have some on hand in case we ever wanted to go up to Quebec at the last minute. It is so close that we can go there on the spur of the moment so best to be prepared.

Work went well tonight and I was back just a little after midnight. That worked out well. I need to get my sleep tonight to get ready for my interview tomorrow.

The BBC carried a good article today about support coming to the U.S. from the European nations. Lots of Americans complain about the support that we send to other countries and act as if we never need it ourselves. It is true that we have been exceedingly fortunate over the past several decades that we have not been ravished by natural disasters or domestic warfare (with the one obvious exception) but when we need support from the world, I think now people can see that the everyone is out for the good of everyone and, for the most part, we can all work together as a positive force. It is only unfortunate that it takes natural disasters such as this or the tsunami that hit southeast Asia earlier this year to show multi-national compassion. But at least at times like this we can see where people’s hearts are. I think that this is a really positive statement and it makes me very happy even at such a terrible time. And don’t think that only Europe is helping. There has been a tremendous outpouring of support from all over the world including some very small nations and several that were devastated by the recent tsunami and should not be expected to be aiding us now. Many of them are still in worse shape from that event than we are currently from this one. So, this is my personal big “Thank You World” for you all of your support.

Dad came over at 7:30 this morning and took Min and I out to breakfast at the Omega. We have hardly been there the last week or so with all of the college students back in town and the Labor Day Holiday and everything. It is nice to start getting back to normal.

After breakfast, Min went off to Canandaigua for class. Dad and I (mostly dad) ran three runs of Cat5e cabling down from the new office to the basement so that we don’t have to use wireless in that room anymore. That will be a big help. This house is really starting to come along now.

Min got home a little after 1:30 and then went back out again to go to Super Walmart to see if they had some supplies that we needed. I have a really busy week this week and had to work at home getting caught up on everything. So far things are going pretty well and I am well on track to have an okay week. It is tough having a short week, though, it is way too easy to fall behind. I really appreciate that Wegmans has me in town tonight. That will help a lot.

Min picked up a new memory foam layer for our bed. The platform bed is dramatically harder than the regular floor and I don’t think that she was prepared for that.

On a sad note: Bob “Giligan” Denver died today at age 70.

I walked to work tonight. Boy is that nice. I wish that I could walk to work every night. Excercise and no fuel costs all in one shot. I worked for forty minutes and then had a break so I walked down to the hotel and talked to Mary for a minute and then walked over to Tim Horton’s and got an egg salad sandwich and then walked back to Wegmans. I wrapped up around 12:30 am and walked back home getting in just after 1:00. I had some stuff that I needed to get done so I worked on that once I was home so I didn’t get to bed until closer to 3:00.

Happy Labor Day. Labor Day, America’s most useless and misunderstood holiday. Who thought that Labor Day would be a good idea? Apparently, the United States’ Department of Labor thought that it was a good idea. Apparently, Labor Day is a celebration of socialism. Unlike all of our other holidays which are designated to celebrate great people, events or religious holidays, Labor Day is a political party holiday and not appropriate in a nation trying to free itself of partisan politics. You can learn more about Labor Day from the official information page at the U.S. Department of Labor. See, SGL is educational.

We got back from the Comics Cafe around 10:30 and Oreo was extremely glad to see me. He gets so worried when both Min and I are away. We think that his previous owners might have packed before taking him to the shelter and that he might connect Andy’s packing with me abandoned because it seem to bother him with Andy moving.

We saw Demetrius Nicodemus last night and he was really good. But it doesn’t appear that he has an official website so I can’t send you to his page. If you do a search on his name you get a listing of places that he was performing at over the last couple of weeks including lots of links to write-ups, listings and reviews in Rochester. So now that I have written that we saw him, you are likely to get SGL if you do a search for him. Either way, he was really good. I would have to say that he is the best comedian that I have seen at Comics Cafe since having seen Kirk Nolan there with Min a few years ago.

It is great having the windows open finally. The house was only sixty eight degrees this morning and fresh air too. So nice that summer is finally winding down. Spring and Fall and definitely my favourite times of year. I know that everyone says that but it is really true. Fall gets a lot of publicity up here because of the incredible foliage but I think that Spring is very underrated. It has a lot to offer if you don’t mind the mud.

Art, Danielle and Michael came over just after 12:30 and Art began building Min and my new platform bed. We have never had a bed so this will be a real treat for us. The bed is made of MDF (medium density fiberboard) and is super heavy. Now that it is in place, there is no moving it. Ever. It is about 12″ off of the floor which is perfect for us. It gets us closer to the window so that we can make better use of the breeze coming in as well. We are rearranging the room so that the computer desk is no longer going to be along the wall between the main door and the bathroom but is going to be along the side of the bed against the outside wall. And instead of being the big new desktop (big meaning mini-tower so not all that big) but will be used as a stand for our laptops. So that is going to change the room a bit as well. We are planning on adding some speakers that go on either side of the bed so that we have the ability to listen to stuff in our bedroom and then adding a small shelf above the window in our bedroom that will allow us to put a projector (I saw A projector as if we were going to get a second one, I really mean put THE projector) there so that we can watch stuff on the six foot empty wall opposite the bed. That is the really nice thing about projectors. They are so portable and flexible. With a small house like ours, if we really wanted to we could easily get three or four usable locations for the projector. Right away we are going to have two and the plan is to make a third spot in the downstairs office area. That really allows us to maximize the use of the projector since it is such a large single investment. We really like having the LCD monitor in the living room because it allows us to watch more than one thing at a time if we want to. So we don’t plan on making any accommodations for the projector in the living room.

Dad is coming over this evening to get some dinner with us for the one time that we were able to schedule it all weekend and to inspect the new office area to see what is going to be needed to run cabling from there down into the wiring plant which, luckily, is just below it.

We had dinner at Dennys, they were about the only place in town that was still open. I really dislike pointless holidays. Then dad came over and took a quick look to see what we were going to have to do to make the wiring work in the basement. He didn’t think that it looked like it would be too bad so we are planning on giving that the old college try tomorrow morning after breakfast.

After dad left, Min went back to bed and got to try out sleeping on the new bed. Oreo was happy to sleep there too. Min is really happy finally having a real bed to sleep in.

At 9:00, I went out for me evening walk. I went down Lima to Highland to Center and up 20A. I stopped in at the hotel and found Mary working the evening shift. I talked to her for a minute and then went back to the house to wake up Min at 10:30. So 90 minutes of walking while listening to my book on my MP3 player. It is a total walk of about four miles. It is hard to measure out exactly because MapPoint 2004 that I use doesn’t have my road, the road that I connect to or Volunteer on it so there is a lot that I have to estimate. While I was walking, I used my Pocket PC to do a quick survey of the streets that I was walking down. The trip down my road showed many wireless access points – many of which were open. Maybe thirty total just in that little stretch. It really shows how popular wireless networking has become. It is true that almost everyone that I know has a wireless access point now and I am about to graduate to my second one. Even my dad has one and my aunt and uncle are talking about getting one. Jeremy will love that.

I took Min to work and Mary and I went over to Tim Horton’s and got some donuts and some dinner for Min that we took back to the hotel. We walked to and from there too but that wasn’t far enough to care. I just love living in Geneseo now that I can walk everywhere and that I have something productive to do while walking. MP3 players, books on MP3 and PodCasts are the best! Mary drove Oreo and I home and came in for a minute to check out the new bed but couldn’t stay long.

Dad is supposed to be picking Min and I up to get breakfast around 7:30 so I can’t stay up too late tonight.

The weather is gorgeous today. It was nice and cool last night and bright and sunny today but only about seventy degrees. So we have the windows open and are enjoying the fresh air. Min and I slept in until 1:00 which is normal on days when she is going to be working a double. She needs to sleep right up until she is going to leave for work so that she doesn’t get totally exhausted while she is there.

I think that I forgot to mention about Min’s interview on Friday. The person that she was supposed to be interviewing with ended up cancelling because he got called away on an emergency (nothing bad, work stuff) and wasn’t able to see her on Friday. So they rescheduled for this Thursday at 10:00 am. So, it sucks that she has to wait for a week wondering whether or not she is going to get it but at least she still has the interview. So if everyone could remember to pray for her on Thursday, we would really appreciate it.

Eric called this morning and said that he had tickets to go to Comics Cafe tonight and was wondering if we wanted to go or not. Min is working but I am not so I decided that it would be fun. Min has been there since I have been. She was very unhappy with how crude and inappropriate they were the last time that she was there. They are pretty consistently bad but every now and then you get something that is really good. Like the “Midget Caller” comic that Min and I saw some years ago.

Andy got back to Geneseo around 1:30 to continue his packing. He just has the little hard to deal with stuff left. All the little things that need to go into bins. So he is working on that today. Everything should fit into his car when he is done packing it all.

While Min was having breakfast this morning, she had a disaster and had raspberry jam go all over the kitchen chair and the carpetting. So the time before she went to work was spent attempting to keep the jam from staining everything. While she was still cleaning that stain up, I discovered one of my books on CD that had been in the car that Dominica had accidentally spilled coffee onto some months ago. I think that I see a trend here.

I did some site maintenance and moved August out to the archives. With the updates from August added to the archives, the archived dailies now contain in excess of one half million words not including any of my XHTML formatting which must account for many thousands of additional works. To give you a good comparison, the King James Version of the Bible has 783,000 words. At the end of this month, I expect SGL to pass the two thirds point and should in about a year be actually longer than the Bible. So for all of you who have taken the time to read the entire site and say that you can’t find time to read the Bible. Shame on you.

I did some more work on the site today. It has been pretty ugly all weekend so I thought that it would be nice to get that underway. I have taken too much time off the last two days from working on it and it isn’t the pleasent site that it used to be. Soon enough I will have it working better. I promise.

Dominica stole my Pocket PC today to take to work with her. Apparently my geeky toys are too much fun to resist.

There isn’t a whole lot going on today. I am mostly relaxing around the house working on the computer and hanging with Oreo. Andy is packing and cleaning getting the last of his stuff taken care of around the house so that he can get up to his apartment and get started on getting that all put together. Min is at work and I will be spending the evening with Eric, Amanda and Amber (Amanda’s sister) at Comic’s Cafe so I decided that I wanted to post the update on the early side today so that it would be taken care of and I don’t have to worry about it later. If anything exciting happens yet today, I will tell you about it tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that gas in Henrietta last night was only $3.19. That is a 60¢ drop from yesterday morning’s prices in Caledonia. So things are looking better even if they aren’t looking good.

Just in case someone out there is not familiar with the cent “¢” sign, it is the correct way to write monetary amounts less than $1 (correct being an awfully relative term) and you can learn more about The Demise of the $0.01 Sign.