Powdered Non Sequitur Man

Since he’s disabled comments on the relevant post, I’ll post this here: A closed mouth gathers no foot.

Why is it that my copy of Mathematica 5 crashes so often when I’m using the help system? Is there some flag in there that says, “hey, wait a minute, he might be about to figure out how to use this software. Quick! Crash! Crash before it’s too late!”

Hey, I know… rather than doing a quick lookup in a table with 50 rows, why don’t we simply assume that a state’s postal abbreviation is the first two letters of its name? Which means we have to truncate the name, unless the state name is already two letters… uh… yeah.
Here’s a Daily WTF [...]

Dell shipped my new computer this morning; I should have it by next Wednesday at the latest. Assuming I’m home to sign for it. (Mental note: telecommute for PSU gig next week.)

Written on the whiteboard today in the computer science lounge at PSU: “Old programmers never die — they just forget a bit!”

I was all stoked because work ordered me a new computer for my home office (well, actually, I ordered it and work paid)… for about half an hour. Then I discovered that one of my oldest and bestest friends will, in all likelihood, be a dad.
This is incredibly cool. I’m almost sad I [...]

Go ahead. Ask me why I (a) don’t shop at Wal-Mart and (b) *love* living in Portland. Social justice isn’t a verboten topic here. See: City Commissioner Sam Adams: The Case AgAainst Wal-Mart

…and really, how can you not love an MIT survey?

Celsius1414: Zen Pockets raises some intriguing questions for me — especially since, as I still haven’t got a key to the office where I’m supposed to be able to go at PSU, I’m currently carrying around a rolling backpack with not one, but two separate over-the-shoulder bags crammed inside it (one for my laptop, one [...]

When I voted for Sam Adams (not to be confused with the beer of the same name), I knew that he was relatively progressive, gay, and a longtime aide to our former mayor.
I didn’t know, however, that he had such a great sense of humor. Witness: City Commissioner Sam Adams: Cuttin’ the grass.
Be [...]

Purseket lets you keep all your crap in a modular thingy that you can then toss into whatever bag you happen to be using that day. I drool.
(Found via MeFi thread on GTD)
[EDIT: Of course, I have a sewing machine, so I could probably DIY without too much difficulty.]

Continuing this website’s fine pants tradition: there is a drycleaning business near my house (SE Foster near 51st, if you must know) which, when I went by, had a sign out front reading PANTS - MOST FLAVORS.
And now you know as much as I.

This may possibly be the most entertaining meal check I’ve ever encountered. From a midafternoon snack we had while on vacation:

1 G-Hammerhead
1 G-Nitro
1 Gard Commie Tots
1 Side Corn Cob
1 Side Swt Pot Fry
1 Tavern Green

Who knew such intriguing linguistic possibilities lurked in two glasses of beer, fried starchy veggies, corn, and a salad?

Kudos to my buddy Jordan, who (a) is into photography, (b) got a digital camera on Sunday, and (c) has a part-time job raising and lowering bridges here in Portland. Put all that together with Sunday’s interesting weather, and you get this amazing (and unaltered!) image.

I’m finding that I quite enjoy Evanescence… about two years after I started seeing them pop up on the “listening to” fields of my LJ-using friends.
In other news: the Beatles may have had some impact on modern music. Oh, and I hear I might like the Sisters of Mercy, as well as some [...]

I realize that I haven’t posted in quite a while; partly, this was because we went on vacation for four days, and since it was a vacation and not a trip, I didn’t bring my computer. I’d meant to post something about where we were and how I’ve been doing, and to follow up [...]

First day on the job at the new research gig. Was amused to see this comic on the door of a grad student’s office here.
So far: kinda weird. Like homework, only less and more so, and I will eventually see a paycheck from it. Will try to write more later, after [...]

I just spent what is, for me these days, a decent chunk of change to register for three tutorial sessions (two on Python, one on PHP) at O’Reilly’s 2005 Open Source Convention. I’m looking forward to (a) going to the sessions and (b) eventually, one day, having money again. Still, though, they offer [...]

…or does the word “moblogging” make anyone else think of the old In Living Color sketch where two of the brothers Wayans were talking about ways to make “Mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money?”
Well, at any rate, *now* it won’t just be me. (=

In other news, my grandmother will probably die sometime this summer.
Some years ago, she was treated for cancer. Nobody wants to read all of the details, but the short version is that the radiation treatment all but shut down her digestive tract. For years, she hasn’t been able to eat more than a [...]