If you are reading this ...

you're in the wrong place.

try jonathanhickman.com

And if you have any problems with that site, leave me a comment here.

Thanks!

Fireworks downtown

Ok, so the fireworks were beautiful - they really were - but I wish they would start telling us before they have massive fireworks shows in my neighborhood.

And why, for that matter. I mean, there's got to be some occasion. Am I the only one who doesn't know what it is?

edit: Honda Hoot. duh. Maybe I should just read the paper....

Moving

Because Wordpress is like ice cream and blogger is like Fisher Price (parallel structure anyone? anyone?), I will be moving my blog later tonight - cross your fingers.

I don't think this move will affect anybody unless you read by feed. If so, go back to jonathanhickman.com and get the new feed. Now with options!

And be sure to give me feedback.

Hearing people eat

I cannot stand listening to people eat.

It seems like the world is evenly divided between people who can't handle that sound and people who are oblivious.

And people in the second category always finds the noisiest food to eat in the quietest places.



Yesterday, cellphones. Today, chewing. What will tomorrow bring?

I sure am glad the military has made it to the 20th century.

Oh, wait....

Bonnaroo top grossing event of its kind

So, Bonnaroo made a ton of money this year ...

and oil companies made a ton of money this year....


When the oil companies made huge profits, the masses were indignant and cried out for lower prices at the pump. Does that mean should protest for lower Bonnaroo prices next year?

I, of course, have boycotted Bonnaroo every year since its inception! Just like I have never given up anything for lent or had a New Year's resolution....

Cell phone noise

Why do cell phone conversations stick out?

I'm sitting in the library and someone across the room is on her cell. It's extremely distracting. She's breaking no rules; this isn't a quiet study room, and other people are talking, but only the person on the phone is distracting.

Is it because you only hear half of the conversation? or do people talk louder on the phone?

I just wish they had telephone free rooms on campus, like there used to be smoking and non-smoking rooms.

the thrills of pet ownership

Walking to class this morning, I discovered my cat chewed completely through my headphones cord last night.

Joy.

Ironically, he almost chewed through the wireless internet adapter cord a few weeks ago, but I caught that one in time.

Yankee or Rebel?

as heard on NPR -

Do you speak like a Yankee or a Rebel ?

I thought I'd score more towards the north; I know I don't speak like the archetypal "southerner." But I actually scored "just south of the Mason-Dixon."

Surprisingly accurate.

How'd you do?

Rockytop Brigade

It's good to be listed again!

thanks to Johnny for all you've done!

Man purse

So I'm going to get myself one of these for "graduation." My only question is this: should I get the standard for $70 or pay extra to have one custom made?

And of course you know I'm trying to justify the custom made option.

Speaking of tipping

Interesting question

link

Slashfood

In reassembling my bookmarks, I completely forgot about my beloved slashfood. In honor of remembering it, I'm doing a glance at what I found interesting there today:

Apparently you can die from eating expired foods. Sure, everyone knew that, but expired pancake mix? I don't know about you, but I almost never pay attention to expiration dates; I always go by smell. I'm starting to rethink the sniffer test.

A blogger in Spokane, WA, did some buffalo wing blogging, touring the nearby buffalo wing eateries and rating them. Now that is my idea of some fun blogging.

And good for you, too, since spicy foods offer so many health benefits. The two main things in my diet are hot tea and anything that makes me sweat, so I think I'm set.

And lastly, tipping is always a big issue for me, and apparently I'm not alone. Although I hate having to tip the wings delivery guy, I do. Apparently not everyone feels that way.

My new laptop

I am DIGGING my new laptop.

I paid very little for it (about a fourth of what I paid for my first laptop back in '98), it weighs next to nothing, and it's extremely portable, but the widescreen makes it seem big when you're using it.

It's too soon to say whether it really was a good purchase, but right now I am living in a world of no regrets (except regretting that last glass of wine last night - whew).

ok, so I lost my entire bookmark system when I lost my hard drive (I thought I did some backups, but apparently I didn't backup my bookmarks - losing a decade worth of bookmarks).

I've recaptured probably a third of my rss feeds. What am I forgetting?

Laptops

I looked around in class today and noticed that I held the only non-Dell laptop. I'm not exactly sure what that means.

I bought a cheap POS Gateway from Circuit City.

Either I'm a rebel or I'm a fool.

Perhaps both.

Blogging

I've been meaning to say this all week but am just getting around to it:

Michael Silence blogged on Tuesday about some of the best blog writing around, and his point is a good one: there is too much information out there not to write clearly and precisely - which easier said than done, but that's another point altogether.

But here's my beef: one of the five has a wretched feed system (feeds, if you don't know, are a way to read many blogs quickly instead of having to visit every single site). Luckily, most feeds aren't snippets, but there are still too many blogs that only give a few lines in their feeds. To me, that's arrogance. I suppose the blogger gets more statistics (or perhaps more page views) from making readers actually visit their sites.

Of all of the blogs I read, only three or four have teasers, and I actually don't even read them that often, because it's too much hassle.

For those that think this is a good idea, it's not. Please let us read the web the way we want to. Quit trying to mandate that I come to your site if I want to read your thoughts, or (gasp!) I might stop trying.

I mentioned yesterday that I finally got my air conditioner replaced. The old A/C unit started forecasting its demise sometime last fall, and by spring this year it was only effective when it didn't get above 80 outside (either that or the building's insulation was effective below 80). By the beginning of June, I was keeping all of the shades drawn to block whatever heat I could.

My apartment manager said he was looking for a new A/C unit, but I think he was trying to find one to fill the old space so he wouldn't have to rip out the window - which he eventually had to do. And once he found a unit, he had to wait in line for the company people to do the work (he does small jobs but this was no small job). The company people have their priorities in the wrong order, but that's another story.

So today was the first hot day I came home to a working air conditioner in a room where the blinds are up, so I no longer have the feel of coming home to a hot cave, and let me tell you ...

it was everything I thought it would be.

Malware

Wow. Microsoft claims to have ridden the world of 16 million instances of malicious software from 5.7 million unique Windows computers over the past 15 months using its malicious software removal tool (that installs automatically each week with the new patches that most computers automatically install).

I usually have very little positive to say about M$, but this is a good thing. If you let your computer be overrun by viruses (not relevant here) and other malware, you are hurting everyone by letting your computer be turned into a spam or virus bot, not to mention how much poorer your computer runs if you don't take the time to make sure you know what's running.

The amazing thing about the statistic, of course, isn't just the number but the fact that those 16 million instances are coming from only 5.7 million computers. Some people are repeatedly allowing their machines to get infested, so we can't just rely on M$ to get this crap off of computers but must get people to stop letting their computers get infested in the first place.

link