Il Procrastinator

It used to be, it would frustrate me when older people used checkbooks at the grocery store to pay when a debit card would gave sufficed.

I realized today that I have a very similar, and similarly unbreakable, habit: I always hand my card to the cashier, instead of swiping it myself on the "newfangled" card readers.

Old :(

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

I communicate in grunts and nods,
and sometimes whistles.

I'm in Denver for most of the week for an advanced Rails studio. I'm having a great time, but I'm not sure what the deal with this Denver place is.

Never having visited previously in my adult life, I expected a compact city built in the mountains, amid Pine trees and snow. I mean, it is called the Mile High City.

But it's flat! Imagine my surprise when, after arriving at midnight and trekking across town to my hotel, I awoke to a view with no mountains. Fortunately, my hotel room window is pointing east, and I was able to get a beautiful glimpse of the distant Rockies once I ventured outside.

Denver's sprawl reminds me of Houston, without the humidity; of LA without the smog. Vast spaces separate buildings from each other, and large swaths of land lay green (but unshaped) between districts. Before I arrived, I fancied walking to the nearest shopping center in my free time - after all, it's only a couple of blocks on the map. But it's a five minute drive!

So, the point is, I took the rail. And the bus, when I found out that I couldn't cross the freeway from where the rail dropped me off.

Woot! I've been published. Schmap web page Here's the picture they used:

A few weeks ago Liz and I took a trip to Maui. Here's the lowdown.

Thanks to Liz's dad having an employee discount, we stayed at the Westin in Ka'anapali.


Other pictures from the Westin, including the parrots, the garden, and more views: Westin set

The first day we spent getting to know the island. We hung out in Lahaina a little bit, and drove back out to Kuhului.

Here's the famous Banyan tree in oldtown Lahaina. Yep - that's one tree.


More pics from Lahaina and driving around: Lahaina and Ka'anapali set

On the second day we headed out to Hana, which is a little town on the East side of Maui.

The drive is more about the sights along the way than the destination. Here's one of the many waterfalls:


( Read the rest... )

I'm willing to bet, every day, everyone of us in this room has some thought that is boastful or lustful or petulant, or something weird, and we would die if anybody knew we were thinking that. Get this part of the brain damaged, and every time you think one of those things, you say it! Or you do it! [laughter] This is the frontal cortex.

Ho-ho hoo ha!  D'oh!   http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2003/april/index.php?ft=sapolsky

That never happens to me.

This year, for the second time running, me and my team won the "Sandcastle and Sculpture" category at the Sandcastle Festival.




Our theme this year was "Beachopoly" - a board game in the sand. It's getting harder and harder to come up with ideas, but Liz was clutch with this last minute suggestion.



A couple of my favorite pieces.  Jimmy build the sea serpant,  I put together the dice.  Other features of the game board: a castle at the end, horseshoe, hat, car, gumdrop, and shoe game pieces, a bridge, a giant toothy mouth (a pit), and a jail. 

More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/sets/72157602092057663/
Luke and Megan also showed up on the front of the Daily Sound: http://www.viewda.com/webpaper/sbdailysound/webpapers/sbds070917/multi/index.html

Thanks to Emily, Jimmy, Molly, Jake, James, Megan, Luke, Liz, (and Donnie, Cody, and Marianthe for showing up for support)!

In August I went to Peru for 10 days with some friends. It was an unforgettable experience - filled with awe, some altitude sickness, mindblowing eye-openers, and a lot of fun. Here are the highlights.

Lima
We arrived in Lima on August 23rd at 12:30 am. Lima is a city of ~8 million people, so we expected it to be a South American version of LA. Wrong.



Lima (and, I shouldn't have been surprised to find, the rest of Peru) is massively poor. At midnight, the city is dark, deserted, and appears dangerous. We drove half an hour through deserted streets, finally arriving at our hostel.

The next morning the city started to bustle again. We had our breakfast ( a rice cake topped with a fried egg, with a side of fries ) and stopped at the local cathedral before heading out.





Cuzco
Cuzco is the gateway to Machu Picchu. The oldest continuously occupied city in South America, it has a rich history, with both Spanish and Inkan influences.



( Read the rest... )

There's only one season in hell.

It's not what you think. The constant beading of sweat on the skin, the drip-hiss of boiling droplets, the ringlets of perspiration, circling the hairline and armpits. The fire, licking at your bare feet all day and night. The screams of agony that fill your waking hours. The impossibility of sleep.

No, it's nothing like that.

It's a cold, drizzly winter. Not cold enough to be freezing, it snows twice a year. Until the rain beats it down, the snow is a dirty brown, tainted quickly by the endless stream of cars down the street.

Jeff wished he could go to that other hell. A passing car drenched him with the muddy contents of a puddle.

His wife had left him. She caught him with another woman, but she had her own secret: she had been seeing a woman too. She wouldn't admit it, and she enjoyed torturing her husband, squeezing money from him, denying visitation, and calling the cops.

The reason for all of this? They had no religion. That hell Jeff is in? Created by his own Godless self.

And so that's why Mormonism is the best religion in the world, you see sons?

You suck.

I spent all day yesterday ducking spoilers - both on the web (in my RSS feed!!) and on cable news.

Some of us have DVRs.

I read an article today (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_en_tv/nielsens_7) that, without warning, gave away the end!

Can we at least get a SPOILER ALERT??

This one (carefull... http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-06-11-sopranos-analysis_N.htm?csp=34) gives it away in the title of the article!!

WTF.

I went to bed at 8:30 last night (Friday).

:(

Take your top 20 artists. For each of these artists, collect the top 5 similar artists. The resulting number of unique artists is your [b]eclectic score[/b]. If the score is small (extreme = 5) your musical preferences are very limited, and if it is large (larger than 80, extreme = 100), then you have an eclectic musical preference. You can compute your own score at http://anthony.liekens.net/pub/scripts/last.fm/eclectic.php

My eclectic score is currently

68/100

The 68 related artists for my profile are A Perfect Circle, Architecture in Helsinki, Beatbox Giant Productions, LLC, Beck (3), Belle and Sebastian, Ben Folds, Ben Folds Five, Broken Social Scene (2), Coach Z, Coldplay (3), Comedy Central, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, Deftones, Dispatch, Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Eskimo Joe, Foo Fighters (2), Franz Ferdinand (2), Green Day (2), Guns N' Roses, Interpol, Iron & Wine (2), Iron Maiden, Jesse Novak, KoЯn, Limozeen, Little Birdy, Marzipan, Modest Mouse (3), Mudvayne, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nine Inch Nails (2), Nirvana (3), O.A.R., Oasis, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Powderfinger, Radiohead (5), Rage Against the Machine (2), Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers (2), Secret Pants, Silverchair, Snow Patrol, Something for Kate, Soundgarden, Static-X, Strong Bad, Sufjan Stevens (2), System of a Down (3), TV on the Radio, Taranchula, The Arcade Fire (3), The Beatles (3), The Cure, The Decemberists (3), The Flaming Lips (2), The Killers, The Postal Service, The Shins, The Strokes, The Walkmen, The White Stripes, Weezer (3), What's Her Face

After my sister's wedding last weekend, my dad, Molly, Liz and I went up to Yosemite for a few hours.

While Liz and Molly took a horseback ride through the valley, my dad and I decided to make the trek up past Vernal Falls to Nevada Falls. It was a crisp morning, the clouds were burning off, and we could still see snow up on the mountains. I don't think I've ever seen Yosemite so beautiful.





http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/yosemite/

I mentioned a while ago a rockslide that had occurred on the road to Yosemite: http://kornork.livejournal.com/?skip=60#27608

I checked it out in person last weekend. They've build a one lane road to go around it. They're estimating 6 years for a more permanent solution.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/rockslide/

http://emilyandjimmyswedding.com/

Photos on Flickr

It was a fun ride, you old codger.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_us/obit_vonnegut

Luke took the plunge and played a "gig" on State St.



He ended up with 7 dollars. I have a video that I hope to post one day, which is amazing, but I'm a moron and decided to turn the camera in the middle of the shot (so half the movie is sideways - but not a consecutive half).



More pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/streetperformer/

There was a stabbing on Carrillo and State streets today. It happened about an hour after I walked back from lunch. Three blocks were taped off when I walked home after work, and it looked like something big had happened. Apparently, it was more than a stabbing; it was a full fledged gang rumble.

The victim died at the scene. He was 15.

http://www.independent.com/online_onlys/2007/03/stabbing_on_state_street.html

Liz noticed this story in the LA Times the other day: Nowhere To Go But Up, so we decided to go try and find the place. It's right behind Velvet Jones on State Street, so it was pretty easy to get to.

Even though it's tall, it's almost impossible to see from the street, and we had previously had no idea it was right there.

I captured some nice pictures of it, although we felt weird and had to duck out early because one of the occupants was staring at us from the third story. Very cool looking place.





More photos here

Hiked to Tangerine Falls today.

The weather has been so nice lately. It doesn't seem normal for this time of year, but I can't remember what it's supposed to be like.



After we got to the falls, we decided to head up to the top of the falls. Instead of backtracking and taking another trail, we climbed up the side of the mountain. Contrary to what I've heard from psychologists, facing your fears doesn't always get rid of your phobias. I'm still a little shakey thinking about how high up we were.

There was a nice view at the end, once you scaled a 10 foot boulder with the help of an old, ragged rope. I thoroughly embarrassed myself when I was barely able to climb back up the rock. I'm surprised I can lift my own bodyweight with my arms.

I ended up having at least three ticks, but the hike was amazing.



All the pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/tangerinefalls/

Luke's old coworker Teri had a birthday yesterday - perfect excuse for Karaoke!



http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/20070217/

Just in case you haven't heard me do Symphony of Destruction live before, I've got the video:
Part 1
Part 2

Been meaning to post this. This is from "The Metal."

More pictures.

After Beer Friday at work and a foosball tournament, Donnie and I headed over to Madison's, where Luke was hanging out with Tracey and some of her friends.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kornork/tags/20070216/



Me and Tracey. Are you having a laugh? Is she having a laugh?

Saw Tenacious D tonight at the Arlington.  I wasn't planning on going, but someone happened to have a free ticket.  Nice of them. 

Got way too many photos, and put them all online.  Trying Flickr this time. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65626560@N00/sets/72157594535153255/



I'm not smart enough to upload the video to youtube.  Stay tuned. 

Oops! Caught in the act!

I got a camera yesterday. The word new is unnecessary, because this is, like, the first camera I've had, ever! Naturally, I fired it up and took it to OTT for my first photos.



Would someone kick me if I wear that shirt out again, please?

More photos: kornork.shutterfly.com

Ever have one of those Fridays where you're at work, you still have work to do, but it's around 2:30 and you know that, try as you might, you won't get any more work done that day? 

Happens to me about twice a week. 

My mind is a swarm of leaves in the wind. 

Wish me luck learning about IBindingList and IEditableObject. 

To Spend!!!!

I want all kinds of stuff, and I can hardly contain myself.  Things I've got my eye on: a camera, a guitar, a bike, a wii, a trip to portland. 

Not to mention smaller stuff.

I can't believe how strong my urge is to go do some buying.  I've spent all morning surfing the net for prices and brands, and I've come soo close to ordering the stuff.

Problem is, what will I do with myself once I get it?  To test my "need" to buy a guitar, I've been practicing with Luke's for a few hours (shhh, he's out of town).  Let's just say, it's not nearly as satisfying when I can't play any songs. 

I imagine it's the same with the camera (why would I all of a sudden have things to take pictures of, or skill to take pictures with?) and a Wii (I can only stomach half an hour of gaming these days).  I bike wouldn't do me much good in this weather.  And the plane ticket wouldn't satisfy any immediate urge. 

I'm screwed. 

In my 26 years, I have usually been able to overcome obstacles.  Tonight, Oracle database administration has me utterly and completely blocked.

I discovered today that I think of the great trauma, the widely predicted one that befalls humanity in the near future, in stereotyped terms.  I tend to think in terms of the fictional novel The Stand by Stephen King; the disaster will come quickly, affect everyone the same, and be easily overcome.  True, humanity will be desperate, but will be victorious in the in end.  Billions will die, but a cure will come quickly.  Humanity will band together, rebuild, start from scratch. 

The truth, I think, is far more brutal. 

Humanity will be devastated.  Oil will be be embargoed, and wars will cut country off from supplies of energy.  Electricity will be fleeting, as the main power goes out, people use up their generators and supplies of fuel, and eventually even the batteries run dry.  Small bands of people will band together, and all go to hunt for food.  Office workers learn to till the field; men who had been farmers before the troubles became valued experts.  Some men, in desperation, realize they can kill their fellow man and gain his share.  In some towns this proves unfortunate to the evil men, as they are captured and killed by the townspeople wanting to survive.  In others, the men will gain a power base that protects them from attack; in these towns, the people either band with the evil victor or are kept in abject poverty indefinitely. 

Humans don't rise immediately; they rise once they've conquered the demons that fill the void of law and order.  That could be many lifetimes.