Grapes Over Easy

To my dedicated readers,

This great experiment has come to an end. Grapes Over Easy is closing up shop. We have completed the tasks we wanted to complete, and are moving on to the next big thing.

Thanks for your patience,

bg

Oh yeah, if you really can't live without me, go on over to bugfrog.com.

So, first day of 2009 and it's time to think about what I'm going to do for this year. Goals, dreams, hopes....groan. Based on last year, I'm more successful with resolutions when they are specific measurable goals, instead of "I want to be a better person".

Feel free to hold me to these and make fun of me if I start to slip. I need the support and a kick in the ass sometimes.

2009 Resolution T0-Do list

1. Actively do things to create happiness in my life. Penguin put up a post about survival that resonated with me considering the past 39 years or so. A desire for comfort and a passive outlook have been barriers that need to be removed. Thanks for clarifying. Identifying the enemy makes it a better target.
   
2. Plan and have more date nights with Aimee. We need more good time together instead of just serving the various masters we are slaves to. The passive outlook plays here. I need to actively create the time we need to spend together. Once a month for starters.
3. Be the person that I want my son to grow up to be. Not angry, passive, and bitter. If I can't do it for myself, I need to set the example for him. I don't care what he does in life, I just want to make sure he has the tools to explore, discover, set, and achieve his own goals.
4. Be the friend I want to be and want to have. In 2008 I didn't make enough time for friends and was usually tired and useless when I did. Friends are hugely important to me and I need to make sure they know that.
   
5. Get electronically organized. I'm working with at least 3 blogs, 6 email addresses, Google Apps, iGoogle, Exchange Servers, iCal, Mobile phones, iPod Touch, Paper notebooks, a Laptop, at least 2 main Desktop computers, school computers, you get the idea. This is far less than other people who do a great job of being organized. How to get a handle on this, I'm not quite sure. Suggestions welcome.
   
6. Build at least 2 fully functioning sites with Je. (Obviously, Je's feelings on this are important, and I actually hope we can do more, but I don't want to scare anyone.) MyLinkChop and hopefully PickTheWeather will get done. This is totally possible, and I'll be pissed at myself if I don't get there.
   
7. An extension of the previous one, meet out regularly with Je. We seem to be able to develop good ideas together and it is fun. Hopefully I won't be a complete lazy pain in his ass.
8. Don't be a complete lazy pain in the ass. It seems easier for me to react to the energy of the people around me than to generate my own energy and motivation. That needs to change (passive outlook again?)
   
9. Plan out at least 3 more ideas for sites and/or projects to do beyond ones that actually get built. Plan them extensively, not just a brain fart. I have lots of ideas for animations, scripts, stories, games, etc. Make them happen. Don't settle for ideas.
10. Build a game in Unity. This is great software that I know I could do some awesome things with. Lets do it.
11. Learn AS3 and become a kick ass flash guy. Even if work never moves an inch, I need to do this.
    
12. Learn more Maya and 3d. Build things. Don't talk about it. Build it.
    
13. Learn to network and talk comfortably with other people I don't know. I really suck at this. Bad. I think being able to talk to other humans without alcohol involved would be helpful.
14. More public speaking. At least 3 public speaking opportunities. This is in addition to if I teach the game class again.
    
15. Drink less alcohol. Long ago for many years I drank to numb and dull my senses to be able to handle the world around me. I don't want to do that anymore. I'll need to find a different way to deal, but I can put that energy elsewhere.
16. Travel. Make at least 3 trips this year, anywhere. Also, ultralight travel. Less stuff, more opportunity.
    
17. Train Poe. He's going to be HUGE and he needs to be well behaved. It takes time and energy. I can do it.
18. Paint the house. Inside and the trim outside. It needs it. Get it done. It shouldn't take more than a hard week or 2.
    

For most of 2008, I felt like I was just trying to catch up and so I was always tired and annoyed at all my have-to-do tasks. That is the wrong way to think about it. I have to do things to make my life happy and full. This isn't a pain in the ass, it is the joy of life. Enjoy life. Embrace it.

Part of me says this is a lot to shoot for, but I am ignoring that part of me, because this isn't. All of it hinges on me not worrying so much about my immediate comfort and destroying a passive outlook. As a matter of fact, I might add a few things later too.

2009 is going to be a great year.

Make a plan, follow through with your plan, evaluate your plan. Improve your plan for next time. Learn from it. Here's how last year's resolutions went:

(Here's a link to the mid year evaluation if you are interested, too. HOP )

FINAL SCORE: Of a possible 13 points (full point for success, half point for progress) I have 6 points. While some would consider this a solid F, I consider it halfway there. You have to start somewhere, right?

A more detailed review is below if you care, but it really doesn't matter either way. I'm on to the new year. 2009, watch out! Oh, and I'm probably moving doing related stuff over to the bgxlabs blog at bgxlabs.com/wp. See you there. The more ranty, personal crap might stay here. Not sure.

2008 Resolutions

1. Figure out how to sleep. This has been a problem for a long time. I need to fix it. Actually this one is the most important.

• Caffeine is doing the trick for me. I'm sticking with it.
  

2. Maya 3D king. That is what I will be known as by the end of the year. Modeling, texturing, and animation in Maya.

• FAIL

3. Exercise at least 3 times a week. Climbing, elliptical, kayaking, whatever.

• FAIL

4. Eat more salads. I like salads. This shouldn't be to hard.

• Great here. Holidays have interrupted the plan a little, but still good.
  

5. Try to have a date night each month with Aimee.

• Depends. If you count hanging out with school parents or blog friends a date, then awesome. We are kicking ass.

6. Make home desk comfortable.

• Pretty good here. Got a used chair and am pretty set.
  

7. Grow a good garden that actually produces food.

• Did well with the zuks. Mildew never went away, but next time will be better.
  

8. Hike and camp several times this year. Take Declan out camping.

• FAIL

9. Have more fun with Jeff.

• Jeff has been taking classes just as I have been teaching them. FAIL.
  

10. Read more.

• Have a few cool magazines I'm reading regularly, but not too much more than that. And the Tao most nights.
  

11. Don't waste time futzing on the internet (this blog doesn't count as futzing.) This one alone should free up enough time to do all the others.

• Getting better. I recognize the futzing sooner and don't call it "research" anymore.
  

12. Travel around in Colorado somewhere. We live in an amazing state. We should see it.

• Shit. FAIL.
  

13. Keep a good attitude and don't get bogged down by all the crud that seems to crop up. None of it matters, get past it.

• A little better. Am trying to expand my life beyond just the things that bug me. Seems to help.

Coraline

New animation for February.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3n67BQvh0

Sweet.

This is bugging the fuck out of me. I just need to vent a little.

http://www.ksat.com/news/18279836/detail.html

So you ran over the old woman, the baby flew out of her arms, smashed into the windshield, rolled up the windshield, and then fell through the open sunroof sustaining only minor injuries. But the sunroof being open was an Act of God. If your God was involved, having the sunroof open wasn't where the miracle was happening. Maybe God made the sun come out earlier so that you would open the sunroof that day? Is that it? God is causing global warming so that today you would have the sunroof open when you mowed down an old woman carrying a baby. Must be it. I'm sure that's what the family is saying right now, "Grandma has tire tracks and a Chevy logo embedded in her forehead, but God's watching the weather channel and He's got a sunroof override switch on the right side of the Captain's Command Chair of Heaven, so we're cool."

An Act of God is you not running someone over every freaking day while you are fucking with the damn sunroof controller. Thank God you weren't poor and upgraded to the car with a sunroof. Sunroofs should be standard equipment on all vehicles. It will save the lives of babies. Even if it saves one baby's life, isn't that worth it? Thank God you fart sunshine and flowers for all us sinners.

Everybody has a different definition and description for their own faith, but when you start attributing the most dumbass part of the entire thing to An Act of God, you are a fucking moron. Oh my! It was an Act of God that I didn't have a delicate glass vase in the passenger seat that the baby that flew in through the sunroof (after I plowed over his grandmother) could have landed on. He could have been run over AND sliced to bits. Thank God I just ran him and his grandmother over. Blessity bless and Praisity Praise!

Wouldn't an Act of God be somehow avoiding hitting the old lady carrying a baby? I'll even step way beyond my own faith and sincerely thank anybody's god who might have been involved that the kid's skull didn't crack open like a stale egg all over your freaking windshield. That's the image that will stick in my head, and I hope to your fucking God you keep it in yours.

Amazon can review the reviews people give to things. Is anyone doing this for movie reviews? Can we aggregate reviewer opinions and somehow create a comparison to what we thought of a movie? That way we can say "Oh! This guy hated it, I'll love it."

No lie. You can't make this up. This is a list of the headlines from 2pm on December 9, 2008 on cnn.com. On their own, not so bad. As a group, this is the important news of our time. Just read through the group, and see what you think. These are all real, but I've removed the story links because it just doesn't matter.

• Simpson codefendants avoid prison
• Clinton, Rice break bread, talk diplomacy
• Gore not looking for White House job, aide says
• Ticker: Obama inaugural outfit revealed
• Sen. Craig's sex-sting plea will stand
• Child missing after military jet hits house
• GM exec: Automakers likely will want more
• Suze Orman: Be smarter than auto CEOs
• Brown: No way to justify CEO bonus
• Army dad shocks girl on Santa's lap
  
• Teen leaves work, heads home, vanishes
  
• Hidden dangers in the hunt for food
• Which dress should Mrs. Obama pick?
  
• Rapper Common: Obama will change hip-hop
• Santa freaks out screaming toddlers
  
• iReport.com: 365 days in 30 seconds
• Giant mutant potato weighs 22 lbs.
  

LOVE the news.

Je has already started thinking and working this out, but wouldn't it be great if you had a ID manager that would allow you to customize your online identities? Not an online "identity manager" but an "online identity" manager (that could be online). Open ID with multiple IDs.

There are more and more social networks popping up for everything. Some you want to have more personal information about you, others not so much. Work related social networks use this group of information, kangaroo clown porn networks use this more anonymous information, for example.

If you could manage all your identities in one place, that would be helpful. It could be online, or a desktop AIR style app.

You've seen this before I'm sure, but this is just a note for me to pass on to Lil Froggy. I don't know if the Dalai Lama really made these, but it doesn't really matter to me.

Gives new meaning to "Keeping it on the DL"

The Dalai Lama’s 18 Rules For Living Your Life

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:

1. Respect for self
2. Respect for others
3. Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

And my own addition:

19. Let other people live their life by their rules, no matter how f*d up they seem.

I love that over the holidays, long lost friends and family show up and you can get back in touch. And then there are the new friends you haven't met yet.

Makes me all squishy inside.

My new friend Kacy here is a pretty high up in the Lamb and Welding world:

Ministry of Commerce

Ming Yuan

---------------------------------------

Greetings
Fromn Mrs.Kacy Meng

I know that this may come to as a surprise, I am the above named person from Hong Kong, and married to late Mr.John Meng who used to be a private contractor with the Mobil Petroleum Company in Benin Republic before he died in the year 2005.We were married for Nine years without a child.

Yes, I am truly surprised! The person writing the letter is the very same person who is named in the letter! Talk about culture clash.

When my late husband was alive he Made a numbered time (Fixed deposit) for 36 calendar months, valued at USD$3,000,000.00 with a Finance House in Benin Republic for safe keeping as Fund Belonging to his foreign business associate.This money have been floating as unclaimed since 2003 in the bank. According to the Benin law at the expiration of 5 (FIVE) years, the Money will revert to the ownership of the Benin Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.

It must be amazingly simple to open a bank account over there. No names, no ID. You want to put money in our finance house? Sure! Come on in. We'll put it in this mostly clean pickle jar in the corner for you. When you or anyone else needs it, just ask. BTW, what's a finance house? Is that like a public house in Britain? That's a pretty big tab. You might consider a new place to put your money. And lets not even get into the "If you don't claim it, I get it" policy. Who agreed to that? Oh, and where's the foreign business associate? Something here is starting to smell fishy to me.

Presently,I'm in a hospital where I have been under going treatment for oesophageal cancer,I have since lost the ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I do not have much time to live.It is my wish to see this money distributed amoung charity organizations and also to be useful to you,because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness,I can not live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them again.

Ironic that you won't have to live with it, it seems. HEY! Maybe you don't have cancer! Maybe you have agony-itis, and once you give me all your money, you'll be cured! This could be a legit thing after all. This could be my chance to make a Christmas miracle!

Please,I beg you in the name of God to help me retrieve this money as soon as possible, I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money.

Great. Now you're bringing God into this and he's going to want a cut. Don't you realize that 3 million doesn't go that far anymore? By the time fees and taxes are taken out, we're going to be splitting about $700k, and then there's the wire transfers, account setup fees. Ugh. Pain in the ass. Maybe God should just take this one on his own.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Accredited Lawyer incharge of the Fund who will advise you the best procedure to get the money transferred to your account,Please be sympathetic and assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein.

I wonder if I got my own Accredited Lawyer, could we speed things up a little? As often as I deal with this, I have a guy who really understands the ins and outs of this process. I should forward his contact information.

Regards
Mrs.Kacy Meng


----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

--
Este mensaje ha sido analizado por MailScanner
en busca de virus y otros contenidos peligrosos,
y se considera que está limpio.
MailScanner agradece a transtec Computers por su apoyo.

I especially love that it was scanned by a Latino spam filter. That inspires confidence.

Who cares if they were implanted in the breasts of the tatoo girl on your leg.

Check it. Not for the faint of heart.

As the economy slows, even the recycling business is feeling it. Below is from this article in NYT. Do you think that pretty soon local governments will start charging for or ditching recycling programs? I do.

_________

For much of this year, the company shipped about 25 containers a day, each filled with 23 tons of refuse to be recycled. But after the Olympics, demand slowed for recycled metal. In October, demand for everything else took a sharp downturn, and for the last two weeks the company has not shipped a single container.

“It just came to a complete stop. Absolutely a stop,” said Gilbert Dodson, the recycling company’s co-owner. “I’ve seen it slow over the last 25 years, but this is the worst,” he said of the current downturn.

Like his counterparts in the auto industry, Mr. Dodson is looking for extra space to accommodate the growing number of bales on his three-acre property. The recycled goods keep arriving in big trucks, even though he now pays only $21 a ton for refuse he paid $120 a ton for earlier this year, but there is nowhere for him to export.

“It keeps coming in,” he says. “But no one is buying.”

Today is Veteran's Day. We can never say thank you enough to the ones who stepped forward to defend our country and the world around us. We should never take those sacrifices lightly.

Thank you.

Story of Anthony Acevedo

First Drive

First Drive 2

First Snow 08

Icy Water

Supercool Sounds

These might not show up right away. There may be some time until they are processed by YouTube. Pokey pokes.

Any day is a good day for Björk.

First, her Pixieness describes how a television works here. Not exactly accurate, but who really knows for sure. Oh- Robert Smith needs his hair back when you are done.

Then we move on to a version of Big Time Sensuality here. Where exactly does she store that voice? It certainly couldn't fit in her body. Maybe a storage trailer hidden in a secret bunker?

Amazing on both counts. Love that little sugarcube.

Not sure what kind of controls they have in Dubai on structural engineering, but I hope they don't have any tectonic instability over there.

Must be a great place to live if you are an architect.

Link

Either the guy is delusional or he knows something we don't. I am terrified to think that he never cared about his campaign because he knew it was all taken care of already. Vote vote vote vote vote vote vote your ears off. We could be days away from Shrub declaring martial law and putting us all in Gitmo.

// from the Q

http://m.cnn.com/cnn/lt_ne/lt_ne/detail/189956;jsessionid=0820B7A7DFAFD3848D0A66819FD79A8A

This is just creepy to watch. Sure we all know it sounds like the same stuff all the time, but do they have to always say it the same way?

Syncronized Debates

Be Amazed

After some crack detective work, police suspect foul play.

I apologize in advance if it seems I am making light of this.

The way it comes off, I hope this is just crappy writing.

She may be smart (up for debate), but there is a huge place full of nothing in that head.

Fruit Flies. Is there any topic she is not completely uninformed about? Must not cover bugs much in all those untitled Alaska publications she reads so frequently.

I know we talked about this before, but this is important stuff, so lets go over it one more time:

Enjoy your Halloween, but BE SAFE!

1. Have an adult check your candy before you eat it.
2. Make sure your costume has reflective tape so you can be seen by speeding motorists. Getting hit by a car is a real annoyance. Trust me on this one.
3. Be sure all cauldrons are well ventilated.
4. Carry a flash light to help determine if body parts are real or fake.
5. Avoid people wearing garlic. They smell and it can burn your flesh.
6. Most threats of holy water turn out to be fake, but do you really need to find out? Find an easier victim.
7. Prevent communicable infections- clean all dismembering utensils promptly. A clean axe is a happy axe, plus, once it dries, blood will discolor most metals.
8. If your victim overwhelms you by surprise, play dead. Most people will just assume they destroyed you and walk away. Then you can get up and go after them again. The look in their eyes when you appear from around the next corner: Priceless.
9. When presented with two sticks, fingers or pieces of silverware held perpendicular to each other in the shape of a crucifix as a feeble means of self-defense, try not to laugh. If someone else witnesses you laughing, they might realize how worthless that is and come up with some real defenses. Ignore and continue feeding.
10. Three children are worth the same number of points as one adult, and one-quarter the hassle. It's up to you, I'm just saying. You get no extra points for energy expended.

Happy Halloween!

Seems like other people have been having problems with signs getting stolen.

I like the idea of the epoxy, vaseline, and/or poison ivy. I know it would backfire on me somehow, tho.

http://m.cnn.com/cnn/ne/politics/detail/186593

As I read this headline I was thinking to myself 'of course the kind of race the candidate runs is important.'

Sometimes its tough to decide things. Chicken or fish? Coke or Pepsi?

Slutty or skanky?

Joe Plumber doesn't like the spotlight it seems. Poor guy. Wonder if McCain asked him if he could use him as a poster boy?

NEW YORK—"Joe the Plumber" is lashing out at the media for analyzing his personal life since he suddenly became a focal point of the presidential race last week.

Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Holland, Ohio, told Mike Huckabee on his Fox News talk show Saturday that he is upset by the attention and has been unable to work with reporters crowded on his front lawn.

"The media's worried about whether I've paid my taxes, they're worried about any number of silly things that have nothing to do with America," Wurzelbacher told the former Republican presidential hopeful on his show, "Huckabee."

Wurzelbacher said he felt terrible after reading some of the criticism of himself posted online.

"I felt about that small," he said. "I mean I really did."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has been portraying Wurzelbacher as emblematic of people with concerns about Obama's tax plans.

Wurzelbacher became famous after he met Obama and said the Democrat's tax proposal could keep him from buying the two-man plumbing company where he works. However, reports of Wurzelbacher's annual earnings suggest he would receive a tax cut rather than an increase under Obama's plan.

"You know, I am a plumber," Wurzelbacher said. "Just a plumber."

Wurzelbacher said he agreed to appear on the show after he received phone calls from friends serving in the military who voiced their support.

"You know, when you can't ask a question of your leaders anymore, that gets scary," he said.

On Sunday, McCain was to travel to Ohio, where he might appear with Wurzelbacher.

http://m.cnn.com/cnn/ne/politics/detail/184230;jsessionid=D4DF242E4A749C2B0E7AA9C50A42CF5E

I LOVE this!

Extreme sushi challenge.

Fun ad for sushi.

This link might not be available for long, so get it while it's hot.

Microsoft: I love you. I want to be with you forever.

Yahoo: No. Go away.

Microsoft: No really, I love you. You, me, together. It's real.

Yahoo: You are gross. No.

Microsoft: What some candy? I bet if I ask your family, they'll want you to be with me. I'll ask them.

Yahoo: You are creepy. Leave me alone.

Microsoft: Everything about you works so well with me. I love you.

Yahoo: I can't believe this. NO. You make me feel icky.

Microsoft: Ok. Fine... Ask.com likes me.

Yahoo: GOOD! Ask for a good life far away.

Microsoft: FINE! I'm leaving.

Yahoo: Hasta la pasta.

Microsoft: I love you.