a113n’s daily dose

I’m in need of some umph
to get my year rolling. I’ve experienced more fatigue this past January than I can recall all of last year. Some of it is
job apathy, some of it is personal issues, some of it is undoubtedly 4 kids under one roof. At least it’s been a fast
January, and I can look forward to a more promising February (any excuse to shower the wife with gifts, and it happens that
her birthday is a week after Valentine’s day).

To tide me over, I’ve been thinking of trying out this href="http://www.lazarusworld.com/030922.htm">chili recipe. The kids probably won’t go for it, but I don’t see that
as a reason I can’t endulge myself. We’ll make it corn dog and chili night.

I’m still in search of a new job.
With the number of phone interviews I’ve had, most jobs are beginning to run together (a few calls that I’m not sure I
applied for). The situation with Neoteric has actually had a few shining moments, but nothing anywhere near what would
cause me to reconsider leaving. Interesting enough, Mellissa told me today that relocation could be a possibility (I’ve
ruled it out and even turned down an offer due to this). I’m not sure her heart is in it, but it’s a very thoughtful
statement. The cause was a promising call from a company in Lafayette, which I tend to confuse with Bloomington (Jason says
this is an insult to Boilermaker’s, which isn’t an issue for this Fighting Engineer). Turns out to be a 2 ½ hour
drive from Terre Haute -> Lafayette. I’m not too keen on spending 5 hours a day in a car alongside 8 hours of work, giving
me a 65 hour work week while only getting paid for 40 (talk about salary ripoff!).

• Current Location: Neoteric
  
• Website: http://www.puppywar.com/
  
• Website Description: Add a
  photo of your puppy and see how he/she stands against the world's cutest. As a dog lover, I am biased.
  

Sometimes everything seems
beyond control, like you become enveloped in darkness. A cliche, yes, but when you experience it, you understand. When you
try to reach out and grab something solid, there is only emptiness guised as hopelessness.

However, despite how
circumstances may seem, this is not the end all, be all. If there was ever sign of life beyond blackholes, it is found in a
spirit renewed. We have a tradition at the dinner table (which starts with the tradition of having everyone eat together at
the same time) where we go around the table one at a time stating our favorite part of the day. As one would imagine, there
are times when one person may not want to say anything–”Nothing good happened today,” is the typical answer. But this is
not allowed, not even of the adults. Something good always happens, but it’s difficult to think of it when we focus on the
negative (which is much easier given mankind’s tendancy to self-pity). All the kids now know that they are not going to
weasle out of it, and we believe their focus on finding something to say helps to alleviate whatever may be bringing them
down. Isn’t that what families are for?

I do my best to maintain a happy disposition around my home (though the
kids may argue otherwise), as I believe my attitude not only demonstrates what an acceptable attitude is for the kids, but
also sets the tone for the evening. I am not superman–I do fall into ruts; but I take things one step at a time, knowing
that although I don’t know when, eventually my eye will catch a gleam.

I was perusing the Gentoo
forums looking for a way to update php with breaking a lot of crap, and then it hit me. Life has been such a turmoil
lately, I haven’t updated the blog. So, for an update…

Job search continues, as do the prospects that seem to
take me into an abyss where the only light is another interview.

Beginning to branch in consulting work for web
design, been dropping seeds here and there, and few are emerging into small buds (pun intended).

Still angry at the
government, still to apathetic to do crap about it.

Kids are crazy. Nuff said.

Wives are crazy
too.

Bosses are even crazier.

Life is a rollercoaster, my aim is to go up as far as I can before I realize
that the higher up I go, the more my stomach turns on the way down.

Silly magnets.

Funny thing about life. I
get angry, I want to write an angry blog. When I finally get time to write the blog, meh, not so angry anymore. Perhaps
that’s for the best, as I’d end up making my raving madness a private entry anyhow, and what’s the point there?

• Current Location: Neoteric
  
• Daily Task(s):
  • Upgrade PHP (I will do it today!)
  • Study Java/DB/XML integration for phone interview
  • Play with Zend PHP editor
  • Fix v1.2 project options in generate jobs
• Website: http://www.vgmusic.com/
  
• Website Rating:
  
• Website Description: Old
  school [maybe new too?] video game soundtracks. Ahh, old school SNES FF themes, including CT. Like water over rocks...
  

Windows faces another virus
threat that remains currently href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/01/04/microsoft.patch.reut/index.html">unpatched. I find this interesting
given a recent article stating that of the
three biggest browsers (Microsoft, Firefox, and Opera), Microsoft is the most “unsafe”. Safety is measured as a function of
how many days last year a given browser faced major security flaws without a patch. Microsoft came out on top with a 98%
unsafe rating (meaning that Microsoft was considered safe for less than 10 days last year), which Firefox came out with only
14%. I’d say there’s reason to switch people.

• Current Location: Home
  

I received an email for an
unsolicited interview. So I reply to the email, requesting more info.

smtp1.ExpressPersonnel.com[63.170.35.62] said: 550 Denied by policy. (in
reply to end of DATA
command)

• Quote of the Day:
  Barb: "With
  that attitude, you'll be bending over by the end of the day"
  Jason: "I think I was just sexually harassed in the
  workplace"
  
• Current Location: neoteric
  
• Website: http://www.playingwithtime.org/cgi-bin/browser/gallerybrowser.pl?page=1&sort=clipTimeCode&searchCriteria=
  
• Website Rating:
  
• Website Description: Time
  effect of various events.