| View: | User Info. |
| View: | Friends. |
| View: | Calendar. |
| View: | Memories. |
| You're looking at the latest 20 entries. Missed some entries? Then simply jump back 20 entries. | |
|
|
LiveJournal for skadoo.
|
||||||||||
| Thursday, April 21st, 2005 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| Friday, April 1st, 2005 |
|
||||
|
Stolen from Snopes: Claim: April Fools' Day began in the 1500s when the Gregorian calendar took over from the Julian. Those who forgot the change and attempted to celebrate New Year's (previously celebrated on the 1st of April) on the wrong date were teased as "April fools." Status: Undetermined. Origins: IT has become tradition on the first of April to pull jokes of the harmless variety on those near and dear to us. We plot and we scheme, and often the yuks are funnier in our imaginings than how they play out in reality, but that doesn't stop us from sending the little kid in us out on a rampage. Even the most staid among us have been known to indulge in a practical joke or two, so beware of trusting anyone on that day. How the custom of pranking on April 1 came about remains shrouded in mystery. When the western world employed the Julian calendar, years began on March 25. Festivals marking the start of the New Year were celebrated on the first day of April because March 25 fell during Holy Week. The adoption of the Gregorian calendar during the 1500s moved the New Year to January 1. According to the most widely-believed origin for April Fools' Day, those who could be tricked into believing April 1 was still the proper day to celebrate the New Year earned the sobriquet of April fools. To this end, French peasants would unexpectedly drop in on neighbors on that day in a effort to confuse them into thinking they were receiving a New Year's call. Out of that one jape supposedly grew the tradition of testing the patience of family and friends. But that's only one theory. Others are: The timing of this day of pranks seems to be related to the arrival of spring, when nature "fools" mankind with fickle weather, according to the Encyclopedia of Religion and the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Country Diary of Garden Lore, which chronicles the goings-on in an English garden, says that April Fools' Day "is thought to commemorate the fruitless mission of the rook (the European crow), who was sent out in search of land from Noah's flood-encircled ark." Others theorize it may have something to do with the Vernal Equinox. Some think to tie in with the Romans' end-of-winter celebration, Hilaria, and the end of the Celtic new year festival. Wherever and whenever the custom began, it has since evolved its own lore and set of unofficial rules. Superstition has it that the pranking period expires at noon on the 1st of April and any jokes attempted after that time will call bad luck down onto the head of the perpetrator. Additionally, those who fail to respond with good humor to tricks played upon them are said to attract bad luck to themselves. Not all superstitions about the day are negative, though — fellas fooled by a pretty girl are said to be fated to end up married to her, or at least enjoy a healthy friendship with the lass. In Scotland, an April fool is called an April "gowk" — Scottish for cuckoo, an emblem of simpletons. In England, a fool is called a gob, gawby or gobby. In France, the victim of a hoax is called a "poisson d'avril," an April fish. ("April fish" refers to a young fish, thus one easily caught.) The French delight in shouting "Poisson d'Avril!" at the denouement of the foolery. Some also insist that all pranks include a fish or at least a vague reference to same within the joke. Asking someone during a phone conversation to hold the line, then later returning to the call and inquiring of the victim if there'd been any bites is a popular groaner. So are pranks which trick the victim into placing calls to fish shops or the local aquarium. The media also can't resist getting into the act. Radio personalities are especially drawn to creating playful hoaxes. The year Canada introduced a two-dollar coin, pranksters from CHEZ FM fooled listeners into believing April 1 was the last day the treasury would honor all the two-dollar bills still in circulation. Local banks and the Royal Canadian Mint fielded call after call from concerned citizens. That same year, other radio pranksters had people going through their pocket change in search of the elusive two-dollar coins which had mistakenly been minted from real gold. It's not just the DJs who give into the urge to prank on April Fools'. Canadian Member of Parliament Sheila Copps was responsible for a particularly creative leg-pull in 1996. On the respected news show CBO Morning, she announced that the clock in Ottawa's Peace Tower was being switched over to digital. Arguably the best media-generated April fools' joke dates from a Richard Dimbleby "news report" aired on 1 April 1957 on BBC's Panorama. It opened with a line about Spring coming early this year, prompting the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland to be early, too. Against a video backdrop of happy peasant women harvesting spaghetti from trees, whimsical claims about the foodstuff's cultivation were made in a straightfaced manner. Spaghetti's oddly uniform length was explained as the result of years of dedicated cultivation. The ravenous spaghetti weevil which had wreaked havoc with harvests of years past had been conquered, said the report. More than 250 viewers jammed the BBC switchboard after the hoax aired, most of them calling in with serious inquiries about the piece — where could they go to watch the harvesting operation? Could they buy spaghetti plants themselves? (For those anxious to try their hand at homegrown pasta, Panorama producer Michael Peacock offered this helpful hint: "Many British enthusiasts have had admirable results from planting a small tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce.") Although adults get into the spirit of things (ask any zoo worker about manning the phones on April 1 and having to field endless calls for Mr. Lyon, Guy Rilla, and Albert Ross), it's the children that seem to truly celebrate the day with wild abandon. April Fool pranking between students and teachers is an ongoing battle of wits, with kids favoring the timeworn standards of a tack on the chair, the "missing class" (kids hide under their desks when the teacher is momentarily called out of the room), or a springy fabric snake coiled in a can of nuts. Not every teacher fights back, but those who do are often inventive about it. For more than 20 years, one grade school teacher in Boston comes in early on that day to write the day's assignment upside down on the blackboard. When her curious students arrive, she tells them she did it by standing on the ceiling. The style of April Fools' pranks has changed over the years. Sending the unsuspecting on pointless errands was an especially prized practical joke in those earlier post-Julian days. In modern times, that form of pranking has shifted away from April Fools' merriment and seemingly become a rite of initiation into many groups, both formal and informal. New campers are routinely sent on a mission to retrieve the left-handed smoke shifter from its last borrower by more experienced campers who then quietly guffaw to themselves as the tenderfoot wanders about in vain on his quest. Others are often roped in to add to the hilarity, with each person the newcomer asks pointing him in towards yet someone else who will further the joke. Rookie pilots are sent in search of a bucket of prop wash, and new carnies sent on wild goose chases for the elusive keys to the fairgrounds. Current tastes seem to run more to funny phone calls and media-driven extravaganzas. But it's still okay to reach back to older times for inspiration. Be a traditionalist — on April 1 send a co-worker to fetch a tube of elbow grease or 50 feet of shoreline. |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
According to the message on the website Yehoodi is gone for good. That's too bad, as that is where Skadoo was born. I emailed Frank and sent my condolences. I'm still hoping it's an April fools day joke. I hate hackers. From the yehoodi main page: Well, it's been a great ride. Unfortunately, due to circumstances way beyond our control, Yehoodi.com has been put to rest. We cannot continue to serve the lindy hop community. We wish there was something we could do, but it has been a great six and a half years. Thank you to all our loving members past and present. From the staff here at Yehoodi.com, "We'll see you on the dance floor!" The Yehoodi Staff. |
||||
|
|
| Sunday, September 12th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
Especially if you have high speed Internet you need 3 programs; Anti Virus, Firewall, and Spyware finder. You can get all these programs for free as long as you use them for home use. Anti virus software finds computer viruses, trojans, and worms. You can get AVG 6.0 from Grisoft.com A good firewall program will keep programs from using your connection without your permission. It also keeps people from scanning your computer and taking advantage of securitiy holes. Free firewall is available from Zone Alarm. Spyware is saved on your computer when you surf the Internet. It records where you surf then uses your connection to send this information to marketing companies. It also loads pop ups to get you to buy stuff based on your browsing preferences. Many times spyware does worse stuff, like steal your credit card information. To kill spyware use Ad-aware. Just remember to update the definition file before running it. As a side note, it's best not to use Internet Explorer to surf the Internet. If you want to block annoying popups and surf without the security holes of IE I recommend you use Mozilla Firefox. It's just as easy to use as IE and you won't want to go back. Don't uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer, there are some sites that won't work without it, but for 99.9% of your browsing use Mozilla Firefox. Get it free from Mozilla. Yes free is good, but sometimes paying for certain programs just makes sense. Zone Alarm Pro will tell you when your credit card, bank, SSN, and other important numbers start going out on the Internet. After you have enjoied certain programs for free its nice to pay for the more expanded version. It's good to pay the people who provide a program or service that you enjoy. It keeps them producing products that you enjoy. I love Trillian for IM chatting. It runs all the most popular chat programs in one interface. www.trillian.cc. After using it for free you may want to pay just so we can all keep enjoying well thought out programs. |
||||
|
|
| Wednesday, July 21st, 2004 |
|
||||||
| We have web servers that spew radiology images to desktops in the hospital. (As long as you have a proper log on.) I've added anti-virus and recent microsuck patches to the Win 2K servers. Now my interface server (which talks between the storage servers and the web servers) can't see the web database server. I'm so pissed! Plus it uses a dicom standard, which is under TCP/IP but works much like UDP. Anyway, our support people at Siemens Medical can't 'dial' in and look at things because their SRS server is down. FUDGE! Google and MS Knowlege base are letting me down. The tech manuals aren't much help either. MORE FUDGE! | ||||||
|
|
| Monday, July 12th, 2004 |
|
||||
| So, I blew out a tire on the way home from Nebraska. They are 50,000 mile tires, I have 54,000 miles on them. Anyway I put on my spare (donut) tire and drove the 150 miles to home. Here's a little hint for all you car owners out there. Check the air pressure in your donut. I was looking at it today before I got my new tire and it seemed a little flat. It called for 60 psi, it had 35 psi. So yeah, I put some air in the donut. When you need that thing, you really need that thing. | ||||
|
|
| Monday, June 14th, 2004 |
|
||||||
|
I am in Malvern PA this week for a Siemens Medical Academy class. It's lovely here, lots of trees and green. And lots of lovely humidity. No, really, I do like humidity. You should see how big my hair is. :-) I got in last night, the car rental place gave me a Geo Tracker. The cool thing about renting a car is that you never know what you are going to get. I didn't expect an SUV-light thing, but it's nice to be able to see above most of the traffic when you don't know where you are. My sense of direction is still a little off. This disturbs me a bit. My sense of direction is usually dead on as if I have a built in compass or something. The hotel is nice, with an indoor and outdoor pool, not to mention high speed Internet connections in the room. Thanks goodness, I can't live without the Internet. Today was my first day of class and we sailed through it, getting out 2.5 hours early. I'm clearly more on the ball with this class than the instructor. I've been appalled at some of his errors and gently explained some concepts to some of my class mates when he (the instructor) was missing the point of the question. I have been biting my tongue in half because their books and PowerPoints have glaring errors. (They need to learn the difference between MB and Mb for one thing.) Russ, you'd be laughing your tiny butt off, I helped the instructor at first break with his MS Outlook settings. Anyhow, before this trip my boss told me to schmooze the Siemens people. I'm trying to pick all the brains I can, and I am passing out my business card left and right. I'm also trying to not be too critical of their systems. So far it is working, and it's only day one. Wish me luck, and lots of grace. |
||||||
|
|
| Tuesday, May 25th, 2004 |
|
||||
|
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleoli I only wish I were so clever. Enjoy! |
||||
|
|
| Monday, April 12th, 2004 |
|
||||
 Demure Flirt What Kind of FLIRT are you? brought to you by Quizilla |
||||
|
|
| Friday, December 5th, 2003 |
|
||||
|
Ok, Russ passed my resume to his company. I'm going to be working up at IBM in Boulder for ARC. It's not going to challenge my tech knowledge, but I will be helping with some new processes and making sure things get done correctly. Ryan B. is supposed to be working on the same project that I am, I hope that we can carpool. It is an hour drive both ways. It is just a relief to be employed. Thank you all who sent me your good wishes and prayers. A big thank you to everyone who helped with my resume and who passed it up to their bosses. |
||||
|
|
| Thursday, December 4th, 2003 |
|
||||
| Carmella wouldn't come in last night before I went to the gym. I went out and called for her several times, she just meowed at me from the roof. So I left. I came home and Will had her on a towel on the couch. He was upset because she cut her paw. (I know that he denies it, but he loves the kitties.) Her left paw outer toe was missing a hunk of flesh up to her claw. Yikes! It looked horrible, but she was walking normally, not favoring the hurt paw. We put some Bactine on it and put her in the kitty carrier until all the bleeding had stopped. She wasn't bleeding when I got home, it was just an open wound. It looks much better today, I'm sure she will be fine. But geeze, what a dumb kitty. I wonder how it happened. | ||||
|
|
| Monday, November 24th, 2003 |
|
||||
There is something so magical about snow. Water defies common chemistry. It's solid state has a greater volume than it's liquid state. It's ability to form crystals, surface tension, etc. I don't know why I love water and snow. I just do. My southern bred cats are fascinated with it, but generally don't appreciate the cold wet stuff. But I just love it when it snows. |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I know what the problem is, but apathy is difficult for me to shake. Getting out in the snow with my roommate to go to the Japanese grocery store was fun. I kind of felt like I was back in Japan for an hour. I wish now like I did then that I had tons of extra cash to buy dishes and tea sets and things. Just because they are pretty. Will and I are learning how to roll sushi. I'm also concentrating on making some of the soups that I so loved over seas. I've got miso soup down. Next is real ramen soup. I remember trudging out the main gate in the snow in Misawa to go to the best ramen house. There's nothing like a big bowl of ramen to warm you to your toes. I hope to host a cocktail sushi party soon after Thanksgiving (but not the weekend immediately after, no one is in town). Will is happy about the idea as well. Now all we have to do is master the art of sushi rolling. I'm going to be making lots of rice rolls just for the practice. Will doesn't mind. He loves nori and rice. |
||||
|
|
| Wednesday, November 12th, 2003 |
|
||||||
|
Ok, so Lee in San Diego sent Will some awesome CDs!! The Verve Story 4 disk set. I listen to it all the time and I still haven't tired of it. Right now I am listening to the Count Basie Orchestra with Joe Williams singing "Every Day I have the blues." Here is a sample of what a gem Will's got: Disk 1- 1944-1953: 1. Blues - Nat King Cole 2. Oh Lady Be Good - Charlie Parker 3. I've Found a New Baby - Lester Young 4. Trav'lin' Light - Billie Holiday 5. Repetition - Charlie Parker 6. Picasso - Coleman Hawkins 7. Tanga 8. Celia - Bud Powell 9. Just Friends - Charlie Parker 10. Bloomdido - Dizzy Gillespie 11. Jeep's Blues - Johnny Hodges 12. Drum Boogie 13. Port of Rico - Illinois Jacquet 14. Tenderly - Oscar Peterson Trio 15. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Stan Getz 16. Echoes of Harlem - Roy Eldridge I've ripped it to MP3's just so that I could listen to all 4 disks at my computer without putting in any CDs. I love Lee!! If you want to listen to samples from this collection, Amazon.com has them up. |
||||||
|
|
| Tuesday, October 28th, 2003 |
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|
| Thursday, October 9th, 2003 |
|
||||||
|
I spend a bunch of time updating other people's computers I don't take the time to do my own. I found a good deal on a 40 GB/7200 RPM hard drive ($50 after rebates). I've got it installed and I just love it! It is so much quieter and the seek time is much faster than my old hard drive. Noticeable faster. I know that 40 GB isn't a large hard drive, but it was a 28 GB increase from my old hd. As soon as I get a new jobby I'm getting a new mother board and processor. |
||||||
|
|
| Tuesday, October 7th, 2003 |
|
||||
| Yay! I didn't get sick! Which was great because I was able to drive back to Nebraska and visit my parents and other family. It was good to see them before they start traveling south. Mom and dad looked fantastic! So why am I bugged? I'm worried because my nephew (17) confessed to 2 counts of armed robbery. His delusional parents posted bail for him and now he is living at my parent's house with his mom. This pisses me off. He was in juvie jail, not regular jail even though he is being sentenced as an adult. I don't think that they are doing him any good by getting him out. I'm just worried that he will cause problems for my parents, that some of his friends are going to start hanging out around their house, and that my mom and dad won't get to travel because they have to stay home and baby-sit this self-centered cretin. This maybe one of the last years that my parents can travel. I want them to be able to enjoy every minute. They didn't retire to stay home and baby-sit a 17 yr. old. I think the best thing for this kid is jail. His prior run-ins with the law haven't taught him anything. | ||||
|
|
| Thursday, October 2nd, 2003 |
|
||||||
|
Someone had a bad cold/flu at the St. Louis Blues Exchange. I think someone brought it back to Denver with them. There were about 10 people out Tuesday night who were feeling sick after St. Louis. I think I might have picked up something as I have a bad headache and I'm starting to get a little cough. I would love to find the cretin who brought the crud to St. Louis and smack them, hard. A bad cold can land me in the hospital. I do not need this. Not like anyone does. |
||||||
|
|
| Tuesday, September 30th, 2003 |
|
||||||
|
I went out with a couple of girlfriends on Saturday night to La Rumba. Since these women had tried or are trying Match.com I told them of Ali's renaissance man email. Well, on Monday Trina received the EXACT SAME EMAIL. hehehehee I had such an evil thought. If both Ali and Trina respond to it and agree to meet this guy, they could "accidentally" meet him at the same time. Confronting him about his opening email would be interesting. |
||||||
|
|
| Monday, September 29th, 2003 |
|
||||
|
Yesterday I did the computer transfer for the friends of friends. I bid the job low to get my name out there and just to get some work. The job was straight forward and fairly easy. The hard part was trying to read the owner's mind on what he wanted. He was really straight forward and very helpful, but sometimes people don't know what they want their computers to do. He and his girlfriend were thrilled with the job that I did and are happy to refer me! Yay! Money is good, working is better. |
||||
|
|
|
|
LiveJournal for skadoo.
|
||||||||||
mellow.
frustrated.
chipper.
dorky.
accomplished.
worried.
amused.