Here are my suggestions for the next few Ubuntu releases, continuing their alphabetic, alliterative habit:
- Jaundiced Jackal
- Keelhauled Kestrel
- Leprosied Lemur
- Mangy Mongoose
- Narcissistic Newt
- Obese Ocelot
- Paunchy Peacock
- Queasy Quahog
- Retarded Rhesus
- Salacious Salamander
- Turgid Tadpole
- Ulcerated Urial
- Vapid Vole
- Wasted Walrus
- Xenophobic Xenopsylla
- Yammering Yak
- Zombied Zebra
The list is complete. Now perhaps Ubuntu's developers can focus on fixing the distribution instead of coming up with cutesy names.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 11:47 2008-11-29 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Happy Thanksgiving (General)
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Those who know me know I have much for which I am thankful and much for which I should be thankful. Most importantly, I'm still sober. Next up, Kelly decided to give me another chance after seeing the work I'd done to get and stay sober. Beyond that, I'm healthy, the cast on my left foot and leg notwithstanding; I have a nice home, good job, a working automobile, and a small but growing circle of friends.
I have everything I need and much of what I want. This is a blessing, no doubt about it, and I am truly, genuinely grateful for this. It could be far, far worse, and I don't have too look far or for very long to see that.
And, of course, to show my gratitude, I ate way too much.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 16:29 2008-11-27 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Clot That Wasn't (General)
…life threatening.
I returned to the surgeon's office yesterday to have the sutures removed from my toe. Handsome bruise below my ankle, isn't it? In the process, I complained about the pain I'd been feeling in my left calf. It bothered me Friday and Saturday, let up Saturday and Monday, and then returned late Monday. The surgeon sent me next door to have an ultrasound done on my left leg.
The executive summary is that I do, in fact, have a couple of clots in my left calf. They are not deep (think deep vein thrombosis) and so are highly unlikely to break loose and reach my lungs, heart, or brain. But they are real and cause some pain. However, the foot surgeon only does carpentry; for plumbing problems, I have to see my family doctor to see how he wants to treat it. So, tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., I visit my internist/PCP/family physician/general practitioner to see if I'll have to take blood thinners (such as Lovenox).
This is fast losing its charm, but I've got to admit I'm quite relieved that it isn't anything more serious than some relatively superficial blood clots—I'm not going to blow a gasket. However, for about thirty minutes this afternoon, I was feeling a little anxious.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:29 2008-11-26 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Note to Self… (It's Funny, Laugh)
…remove wife's nude pictures from cell phone.
A fellow in Arkansas left his cell phone, which contained nude pictures of his wife, at a McDonald's. Not surprisingly, those pictures wound up on the Internet. Doh! Equally unsurprising, the man and his wife are suing McDonald's, the franchise owner, and the store manager.
I concede that the store manager, or the management personnel on duty, didn't handle this situation appropriately. The real “villain” here isn't McDonald's, though, it's the moron who left his phone behind. The AP article opens, “Here's some food for thought: If you have nude photos of your wife on your cell phone, hang onto it.” Good advice, yet I think the better advice would be: Don't carry nude photos of your wife around on your cell phone. Dude, there are just some things that you don't take out of the house. I'm reasonably confident that his wife has given him a well-deserved tongue lashing.
I especially loved this reader comment on the article: “Was she Super-Sized?”
Posted by Kurt Wall at 07:53 2008-11-23 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Perl is Like a Camel (Work)
I've been refreshing my Perl skillz ahead of an intermediate level Perl course I'm taking at work in December. Perl is ugly code, but darned effective. On the topic of Perl's aesthetic deficiencies, I ran across this quote in the Llama book:
Camels are kind of ugly, too. but they work hard, even in tough conditions. Camels get the job done despite all difficulties even when they look bad and smell worse and sometimes spit at you. Perl is a little like that (Learning Perl, 4th Edition, p. 5).I couldn't say it any better.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 20:00 2008-11-22 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
DMV: The Saga Continues (Tirades)
After foot surgery, I'm on crutches for four to six weeks and going to be significantly limited in my mobility for another four to six weeks after that. Accordingly, the surgeon signed a form that tells the DMV I can have a temporary handicap parking placard. Awesome. Thanks, Doc!
So, I go the DMV to get my temporary handicap parking placard. Get my number, sit down, and wait for for my turn. I'm driving crutches around, mind you, and have this cast up to my knee on my left foot and leg (yes, it is a delightful shade of purple, isn't it?). My number is called after about twenty-five minutes and I go to the window (Window 20, if you must know). I give the guy my form and my ID. After a few minutes pecking at his computer, he runs my debit card, gives me the receipt, and the fun starts.
He asks me if I'll go to another window to get my placard. This
“other window” is on the other side of the DMV
building. Hello! I'm at your window, the window that dispenses handicap
parking placards. In the first place, I'm not here for my looks and I'm
not carrying these crutches around because they match my wardrobe. I need
this placard because I'm, um, temporarily handicapped
mobility-challenged. You do actually remember the form you just
looked at, don't you?. Secondly, do you mean to tell me that you
don't actually have handicap parking placards at the window
where you hand out handicapped parking placards? Sputter!
Idiot. Moron. Imbecile.
I was starting to say “Okay” when he said he'd get the placard for me and would I please have a seat whilst I waited. So, what made him change his mind? Quoth Kelly, “He saw me roll my eyes.” Gentlemen, when your wife rolls her eyes at the guy at DMV, get out of the way because what's coming isn't gonna be pretty (and be thankful it isn't you on the receiving end).
Man, I love my wife. ;-)
Posted by Kurt Wall at 14:45 2008-11-21 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Pot, Kettle, Black (General)
So, al-Qaida's number two guy called Barack Obama, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice "house negroes." I'm quite amused. Here in the United States, a lot of people would readily call Ayman al-Zawahri and Osama bin Laden "sand niggers."
Sigh. The world will be a better place when al-Zawahri and bin Laden are nothing but grease spots in the desert. Don't bother to capture them and put them on trial. Just end their miserable lives and get 'em on their way to hell.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:11 2008-11-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Toe Is Fixed (General)
…or at least hopefully so. I put up a few pictures taken during the procedure. Kelly made it back to San Jose in time for us to unload the trailer and start to put away her belongings. Then we got up at dark-thirty Friday morning to drive me to Waverley Surgery Center to have my left great toe fused.
What I didn't realize was that the surgery might not succeed. That is, even after a plate, screws, and some donated bone tissue, the bones might not knit. In which case, we'll have to do "something else" to encourage the fusion. This "something else" is not something insurance companies want to pay for until 3 months have elapsed. So, in three months, we'll see if the bones in my left great toe have become a single bone.
Meanwhile, I have to stay off my left foot for a month. I'm already tired of crutches. I would be better off with a walker, but I didn't want to give netllama any additional fuel for jokes about my age. Actually, the nurses recommended crutches so I took their recommendation. As usual, Kelly ("Even when I'm wrong, I'm right!") was right because the crutches have been unstable compared to a walker. I'll spend the rest of this week at home and then return to work next week (the 24th), just in time for Thanksgiving on Thursday and National Shopping Day on Friday.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:20 2008-11-17 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Coming Back (Sobriety)
I'm delighted to let everyone know that Kelly is on her way back to San Jose.
After some time passed, a lot of conversations, a lot of prayer, and no small amount of forgiveness, Kelly decided that she loved me more than she was mad at me. I've done a lot of work, too, but I did that because I didn't want to drink. No, Kelly made this decision on her own. At least, it was nothing I did. I'm thrilled she's changed her mind, of course.
As of 8:30 tonight, she was in Richfield, Utah. She hopes to get as far as Sacramento on Tuesday, but even if she only makes it to Reno, she should still make it here Wednesday.
YAY!
Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:51 2008-11-10 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Proud (General)
I'm proud we've elected a black man as our next President.
I didn't vote for Barack Obama. Nor did I vote for his main opponent, John McCain. I voted for the Libertarian Presidential slate, Robert Laurence Barr and Wayne Allyn Root, one of the 487,101 votes they received. Despite that, I'm proud that we've finally elected a black man to be our President. If nothing else, it shows that we're not the same country we were when George Wallace was governor of Alabama.
Now, perhaps, this country can finally begin an honest and candid conversation about race. To be sure, there will still be some people <cough>Jesse Jackson</cough> who will call him an Oreo and insist that America is still a racist country and that nothing has really changed—all us honkies just voted our guilty consciences. Well, in a phrase, fuck Jesse Jackson. Obama won fair and square because more people of every skin color and ethnicity voted for him than for his opponents, giving him a convincing majority in the Electoral College.
I wouldn't care to predict how he'll govern a country that is still center right, but I'd guess he'll move toward the center. He's a compelling speaker, bright, and, by all accounts and everything I've read and heard, an agile thinker. I doubt I will agree with all of the decisions he makes, but I have a hard time imagining he'll be any worse than our current President.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:51 2008-11-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)