Ten Things You’ve Probably Done That I Haven’t

By lytspeed Posted in General Leave a reply

I read on Andrew Nicolle’s blog about ten things that he had done that his readers hadn’t. Initially, I was tempted to copy him, in a sort of uninspired chain-blog way. But then, I thought about how I want to make most of these entries relate to creativity somehow, so I decided to flip it around.

Here’s my list of Ten Things You’ve Probably Done That I Haven’t.

1. Watched an episode of The X-Files, Survivor, or American Idol. (There are several years in my life in which I have spent less than 1% of my waking time watching TV. I’m pretty proud of that.)

2. Saw the ocean before the age of 35.

3. Watched Gone With the Wind.

4. Had some kind of surgery (yes, wisdom teeth and tonsils count!)

5. Had sex before the age of 22. (I’m not saying that waiting is a bad thing, it’s just a bit unusual to wait that long.)

6. Attended a high school football game.

7. Owned fewer than four handheld computers.

8. Met more than one of your grandparents.

9. Read The Da Vinci Code. (It’s on my list.)

10. Resisted the urge to car dance at red lights while people are staring at you.

What D&D Character Am I?

By lytspeed Posted in Gaming, Geek Leave a reply

I’d have to say this survey is pretty close, and I’m a sucker for D&D stuff. I found it through bluejack’s site.

I Am A: Chaotic Good Elf Bard Ranger

Alignment:
Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups.

Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.

Primary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.

Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.

Deity:
Hanali Cenanil is the Chaotic Good elven goddess of love, beauty, and art. She is also known as the Heart of Gold and Lady Goldheart. Her followers delight in creation and youth, and work to spread happiness, love, and beauty. Their preferred weapon is the dagger.

Find out: What D&D Character Are You?

Alberto Gonzales for Torturer General? No thanks.

By lytspeed Posted in Signs o' the Times Leave a reply

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the Bush administration, and that I’m terribly disappointed in the results of the 2004 presidential election. But I’m growing even more alarmed about the early actions of this “same as the old boss” president in his new term. He wants to replace all of his cabinet positions with hand-picked yes-men and yes-women to eliminate any dissenting opinions from his closest advisers. Evidently Bush can’t handle reasonable dissent, as evidenced by the reduced role Colin Powell was forced to play in the latter part of his term as Secretary of State.

One of those Bush picks is for Alberto Gonzales, whom George Bush would like to see replace John Ashcroft in the Attorney General position. This is an extremely dangerous move, in my opinion, and could further threaten the stability of already shaky international relationships. Largely because of Gonzales’ past work, Bush saw fit to disregard the Geneva Conventions and allow torture of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Powell publicly opposed this move, and felt that all prisoners should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Gonzales, on the other hand, has described the Geneva Conventions as “obsolete” and “quaint” in official memos.

Why would we want to place this person in the position of Attorney General? Do we care that little about human rights? Or do those rights only apply to Americans in Bush’s eyes?

In filling his cabinet only with ardent supporters, and with Republican control of Congress wrapped up, Bush is preparing to steamroll anyone who gets in his way, and that is not an acceptable or responsible way to run a Presidency of the United States.

If these issues concern you as well, please call your state Senators today and urge them NOT to vote for confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Today, 60 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, let’s make a stand for human rights, not against them.

For more about Gonzales’ record, see the following links.

Wikipedia

Boston Globe Online

American Idol, Guitar Player Style

By lytspeed Posted in Music Leave a reply

In a rare meeting of Texas and Wisconsin, two of my favorite guitarists will be playing at the Boulder Theater in a few days. Willy Porter will be opening the show for Eric Johnson in the same small venue where E-Town is taped every week. I’ve seen both of these artists at this venue before, and both shows were excellent.

Willy Porter is a phenomenal guitar player and songwriter, and it stuns me that he hasn’t gotten the national recognition that he deserves. I think part of the problem has been that his studio work is much more toned down than his live playing. When he plays live, he covers all the parts that are covered by other musicians on the studio tracks. With intimate knowledge of the fretboard and alternate tunings, Willy is able to adjust his guitar during the show to play any of the tracks off his albums, and usually throws in a unique cover or two.

Eric Johnson, while not a household name, is at least well-known in the guitar player community, and has been since he appeared on the cover of Guitar Player magazine in 1986. (The cover caption said, “Who is Eric Johnson, and why is he on our cover?”) A veteran of the music business and its contract pitfalls, Johnson has somehow managed to stay at the forefront of guitar virtuosos for the last twenty years, despite sparse album releases. In recent years, his album output has increased, in part due to a relaxing of his legendary perfectionism.

I’m very excited about the show, and will report back about it when it’s over.

Oh, the Important Advice for the Day: Always open Yoplait yogurt containers away from your body.

Oh Clementines

By lytspeed Posted in Geek Leave a reply

I love my Treo 650. This entire blog entry, including the picture and the hyperlinks, is being generated on the Treo.

First, I took a picture of a coworker’s clementines sitting in formation on the floor (don’t ask) using the built-in camera. Then I resized the picture using JPGview. Then I uploaded it to my FTP site using VFSFTP. Then I moved it to the appropriate folder on my web server using a DOS batch file, which I activated by logging into my desktop computer using PalmVNC. Finally, I went to my private WAP submissions page and typed this entry.

Is there an easier way? I’m sure there is, using some pre-constructed software. But the point of this Creativity Journal is to explore creative things, and being able to say I used my own creativity to put together this site and devise my own method of doing this means something to me.

Update: In the interest of full disclosure, I did edit this post after uploading. I had specified the HREF link for the picture incorrectly, so I respecified it within the text of the post. That made the picture show up. Also, I added line breaks. Evidently, the Treo 650 sends a different CR/LF combination than the Treo 300 did, so no paragraphs showed up. No problem; I just need to do a little more work on the code.