*yaaawwn*

How about some X-Files stuff this morning? The Xcursion boys have their Medusa review up, while Red has posted my take on the episode at GeekSpeak. And while I'm at it, I might as well mention that the Official Site has posted some very cool pictures from Sunday's upcoming episode, Per Manum. There's a script crawl on the homepage, so beware of spoilage.

I am a hurtin' unit this morning. I spent the day in our new office yesterday, moving computers, servers and printers, as well as installing them and a phone and voice mail system. I finished up there at around 7:00 and then proceeded to happy hour for a couple. I am so pathetically out of shape, I think even my fingers are hurting today.

posted at 8:10 AM | link |

I was driving from one of our satellite offices back to the main branch today when I was hit with one of those Top-40-song-induced-flashbacks. Dancin' Oldies 93.7 was playing Sheila E's 80s hit, "Glamorous Life". Good God! I was immediately tossed back in time to the night that my best friend and I went to see Sheila E and her band at a New Haven night club called Toad's Place. Jeez, it must have been what, 1985? I think I was a junior in college at the time. God, that was a fun night, and she was incredible.

It's sort of sad when they start playing songs from your college days on "dancin' oldies", isn't it?. I'll tell ya though, I was gettin' down in the truck.

posted at 3:24 PM | link |

The Onion, which has a new issue out today, is moving its offices from midwestern Madison, Wisconsin to the tragically hip New York City. I wonder what The Times will think of its new neighbors?


a rose i got from the boss today.
happy valentine's day, everyone.

For your edification, this from the History Channel website:

"The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.

So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young, single men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. "

And while we're on the subject of love, you might want to take this test....

beansie cam

posted at 3:43 PM | link |

(BTW, my reason for not using Napster has nothing to do with any moral objections I may have - I just don't have a CD burner and can't see what use I'd get out of it otherwise).

posted at 1:37 PM | link |

I am finally feeling somewhat healthy again. I'm sure the full night's sleep I had last night has made all the difference. As a matter of fact, I need to try to do my best to get to bed at a decent hour every night. My body doesn't bounce back like it used to.

We seem to have emerged unscathed from the Kournikova. Four of our users infected themselves by clicking on an attachment they were told they shouldn't click on, but the virus wasn't really a virus, per se - it was a worm, with no mailicious code, whose intent is to clog up and bring down e-mail servers. That didn't happen here, thankfully. Everyone and everything was cleaned by 6:00 P.M. last night. Not bad.


I've been trying to form an opinion on yesterday's Napster appellate court decision, but possibly because I am not a Napster user, I don't really have very strong feelings on the matter. I think Napster and the service it provides is great, but is it legal? Giving away copyrighted material? Never has been before. And isn't that exactly what makes Napster so much fun - the fact that you're getting something that you should really be paying for, for free? "Contributory copyright infringement" is what they are calling it - that Napster cannot claim that it has no control over what its users do, and that it (Napster) has a responsibility to control or monitor how its system is being used. I tend to agree with the court's decision, I'm afraid. If the recording industry had its act together with regard to technology and the web, users would have been able to download copyrighted material in digital form (for a much lower price than retail) years ago. Artists like David Bowie and Prince ( or TAFKAP, lol) have been making their music available digitally for quite some time now (hell, Bowie even provides his own ISP for crying out loud). I don't think this decision signals the end of Napster. Just the end of the free stuff.

posted at 10:44 AM | link |

OY! Our office got hit with that Anna Kournikova virus at lunchtime today. As far as I can tell, we only had 4 machines infected. I'm off to install the current anti-virus definitions and do some hard drive scanning. I hope this doesn't keep me here until all hours of the night.

posted at 3:34 PM | link |

For my Napster-using friends: Appellate Court ruling expected today.

Is it Friday, yet?

posted at 11:04 AM | link |

I've updated cool stuff. Back to laundry.

posted at 1:25 PM | link |

Here I am, on the back end of another weekend. And amazingly enough, there is no snow in sight! Well, at least there isn't any falling from the sky. I have a list of good intentions for the day - laundry, site updates, some X-Files related writing - I'll let you know later how much I actually accomplish today.

I've been torn about whether or not I want to see "Hannibal". Wait, that's not exactly true. I'm pretty sure I don't want to see it, I just need to stay strong against the hype machine. Silence of the Lambs was a damn near perfect movie, except for the very last scene, when a very dapper-looking Hannibal Lecter tells Clarice that he'll be "having someone for dinner." As the audience cheered at the notion of Lecter brutally murdering and then eating someone, I thought to myself, "Um, excuse me, this man is not the hero of this movie." I have not read Hannibal the book (although I have read both Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs), and I know nothing about the plot of the film, but from what I have read about it thus far, I get the feeling that the portrayal of Hannibal picks right up from that last telephone call scene with Clarice. No thanks. Maybe I'll rent it someday.

In a continuing serial killer/grisly crime theme (lovely, the things I'm interested in)... read how drama on PBS, in this case "Mystery", isn't just about corsets and castles. Mmm, I love that Dave Creegan.

I went to the mall yesterday and was of course assaulted at every turn by some marketing expert's notion of Valentine's Day. The best had to be the "love" section in Spencer Gifts, LOL. "Booby Oil", "Bondage Starter Kit", "Comfy Cuffs", edible condoms, oh all sorts of "romantic" stuff. We were in hysterics.

posted at 11:45 AM | link |