Another (great, crappy) entry!

Ahhhh, is there anything better to cap off a long holiday weekend than getting up before sunrise and trudging off to work? I didn't think so. For those of you who didn't know, or live in another country, or who live in Canada, last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. Personally, I was thankful for many things including:

My newfound knowledge of a contender to rat turned pop-culture-icon-amongst-4-to-12-year-olds, Pikachu. It's a contender that would have a higher furry rating, if such statistics were kept. I give you... Big Koala.

The knowledge that I didn't have a teacher like this. Wow, it's amazing how deftly he integrated the vocabulary in with the rant! [Blogger's thought: I love how the third paragraph let's us know that the correct word is "coherent"] Let's see if I could create a question in approximately the same format.

1. The (teacher, pencil) in this story wrote a sentence that just seemed to rant on and on after the context needed to select the correct word had already been established, which wastes students' time simply so they can read his opinions on something which is particularly irrelevant to the class. [Blogger's note: the correct answer is teacher...sort of]

It's time to get back to work. Until next time...

R & D, retrograde

I've recently had a chance to embark on a very interesting experience. Under pressure to build a prototype as quickly as I could, I had to design a printed (read as: permanent) circuit board with previously untested electrical components. Today I finally received excess amounts of the mysery component and was able to try some testing in the lab. It's an interesting feeling when you've already sent off the design only to find that it's not going to work the way you plan. Or it's just not going to work, period. In a last ditch effort to prevent me from having to perform major surgery on this board, I will have to call the PCB place and rework the error. In other news, I'm very ready for a four day weekend.

Also, here's a highly recommended movie for the holiday season.

[blogger's note: I was surprised to see that I wrote a comment about the movie on imdb over four years ago. I was awfully harsh, it would seem. One star?]

Now time for some turkey...

Hilarity at 160 kbps

As the news seems to report more and more jobs being sent overseas, I am happy to report that we probably don't have to worry as much as we're being told. For instance, while checking out the specifications on a recently ordered product from a company that proclaims that it is American, I found this gem:

"This product don't contained restriction substance, compliance ROHS standard." [sic]

That's right. [sic] indeed. Apparently they spent their money on engineers who can slap together four different substrates, and had to resort to hiring Timmy from Mrs. Kooney's third-grade gym class to do the technical writing.

For those who enjoy streaming radio and ranting lunatics who claim to own everyone's psyche because he took two semesters of psychology in college, may I recommend Radio Free Colorado? Not much on the site itself, but occasionally the guestbook has others ranting back at him. The actual radio format is classic rock (generally good, but repetitive), but that's not the only reason to listen. [blogger's note: after finishing that sentence, George Harrison started playing - so the songs are still a big reason I listen]

While the station remains commercial-less most of the day, somewhere between 2:30-4, the manager, Gary Burke, comes on and asks for donations. This is where you find out that those who post complaints on his site are all from competing stations (I know that's not true) and that he knows what everybody is thinking due to taking two classes of psychology in college. Anyway, it's quite an experience - I recommend a listen.

Now it's back to the work grind I go. Here's hoping Gary pays us listeners a visit before the day is over.

Spanish word: blue jeans
English translation: blue jeans

Unofficial Study Finds Moving Causes Ignorance

That's correct. Ever since I moved, I have found that I know absolutely nothing about what's going on. Does Alito still exist? Is it now unfashionable to still tease Miers? Is teaching evolution outlawed? Are there still 50 states? As of now, I have decided I need a newspaper.

I did, however, find out that Sony has "interesting" anti-piracy programs on some CDs. I must have installed it on my old computer, because I used to get all these blue screen errors...that couldn't have been Microsoft's fault, right? I couldn't imagine I would have worried about the hackers though...it would have been the equivalent of stealing a Pinto on cinderblocks.

It's now time for me to return to work. In closing, I'd like to present a new feature to the blog: a useful Spanish vocabulary word for you to use!

Today's word:
Spanish: ácido deoxirribonucléico
English: Hairless Poodle

Until next time...

My cup is looking half-empty

Arrested Development is being phased out! But if all of you (and then about 1.3 million who don't visit these pages) watch the next time it's on, perhaps we can save it! You don't even really have to watch it...just turn your tv on and pretend like you're watching it. Although it would really help if you had a Nielsen box; it would also help if you spent 3/4 of your income on all products advertised during the show.

Does anyone else remember how difficult it was to change the day you took your final exams? Sometimes it wasn't even worth it.

Okay, so maybe they're not the brightest and if she even really did take a final, she likely didn't do so great. But I just wonder if it was an ethics exam...

Well, I better get back to the land of the working. My cup is now looking completely empty. Probably because I was drinking out of it while I was writing. Probably.

Scalito!

Wow. How incredibly clever. They should have gone with Alia...

Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas...maybe even thumbs.