I was shopping the other day. When I came to the checkout, I looked up at the balloons. Most grocery stores now have balloons tied to the lane light as an impulse item. There are usually 'Happy Birthday', a smiley face, and the obligatory holiday balloon. I've seen all the holiday balloons - at least, I thought I had. The usual suspects are St. Patrick's Day or Valentine's Day, though I don't know anyone who wouldn't club someone for getting them a balloon for Valentine's Day. I don't like chocolate, but a balloon?
So, glancing up I see the balloons. They are Christmas balloons! I was shocked, stunned, something other than curious...
I have never seen a Christmas balloon. I don't even know how to process that information. I don't think it's sacrileges. I don't think it's neat. I simply do not know what to make of it. Balloons don't fit with Christmas. Sure, plenty of things have found their way into the Christmas holiday. Maybe, the first time someone put up blinking lights, it threw someone else off.
For some reason, those two things cannot exists as a merged unit in my brain. I love balloons. I love Christmas. It's been two days and I still find myself stopping a few times a day and saying, 'Christmas balloons?', aloud.
Trapped behind the glass
Send out a tiny tap
Look around and see
Crowds tapping, shouting, all around me
There's ten and twenty smiling girls
Times the ten and twenty more
And they all see what I can see
They all seem the same as me
There's one who is the front and center
Don't know who and can't resent her
Like to see what she can see
Like to have those eyes on me
I can be out-shouted, out-spoken, undone anyhow
If I ever doubted, that would be now
Call me idealistic
I believe in till death do
Partners in crime
Riding on, riding through
We're in this together
So, I'll drive, I'll drive
I believe in forever
So, I'll drive, I'll drive
Call me fatalistic
But, I never thought I'd find
Yang to my yin
A like one, a like mind
Call me deistic
But, with God as my witness
Never say never
Never say, nevermore
Viewed from the window
You're always in good light
The distance is a world away
And still you can incite
A gem, a needle
Hay in my hair
I'm over here
and you're over there
Pounding a way out
From years of holding in
Convince myself, you'll never know
To rise above the din
The closer I look
The less I want to know
Try to crush the spells allure
Instead, I watch it grow
Something is not right with Orion. I don't know much about astronomy, and no, I'm not going to break into song. I do know Orion. Like a lot of people, Orion is my favourite constellation. Probably, because he is so easily recognizable - or his belt, at least. My second favourite is the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. Not as well known, but a lovely cluster to the right of Orion's belt.
Every fall, I'm excited to see Orion appear. Excited like, 'There's my man!' He's an old friend who shows up in the fall and keeps me company through the winter. Any cold winter night, when I'm out in the dead of night for one reason or another, and the world is asleep, he's up there in the sky. Orion and snow-angels are the only things that get me through the winter months without as many complaints about being cold. But, something has happened to Orion.
Last year he was in a different position in the sky than he had been in every year previous. Everyone I asked about it said I was crazy, but most hadn't paid him any mind since they were children. He was higher than he should have been - almost overhead. He's never been overhead. I've lived in the same place for ten years, and he's always been at the same degree through those years, except last year. There are tons of astronomy enthusiast. I thought I could find some mention of why the constellation was in a different position. I found only one crazy site:
http://www.zetatalk.com/index/earthrv8.htm
Last night, I was outside, late at night, and decided to see if Orion had risen enough for me to see him. I couldn't find him at first, then I spotted Pleiades. I followed it left, to where I thought Orion's belt should be, but it wasn't there. It didn't make sense, so I looked around the area, and there it was, Orion's belt. Only, it wasn't the familiar left-to-right belt we all know. It was up-and-down, like a stoplight! Impossible, right?
I've never seen Orion's belt straight up-and-down, but there it was. If I had a better camera, I would have taken a picture, but my digital is just a cheap one I got for web photos. No chance it could take a decent shot of the night sky.
I don't know why there's no mention of it anywhere. It must be some type of normal change, otherwise there would be posts by alarmed amateur astronomers all over the net. All I do know is, I want to know why.
Does God care about the internet? More importantly, does God care about my internet access?
Until yesterday, I would have said, no. Why would He care? There are far more important issues in the world, than whether I can use my dialup and DSL on the same phone line. Yet, He does have the whole omnipotent thing going, so I guess there's always room for something new.
See, I've been having trouble using my dialup with the DSL. I could take apart my computer and slap in a network card and use DSL on it, but I simply don't want to. I know it's faster, better, blah, blah, blah. I don't want, and I'm not going to. I like the machine I use for dialup and I'm not taking any unnecessary risks with it. Not going to happen.
I was ready to have the DSL taken out or, at least, moved to the main phone line. I pulled out all my Verizon paperwork to call them in the morning. I put the paperwork on my keyboard, because my desk is filled with things I'm getting to, eventually. I really only get to the things I've put on the keyboard, and that's only so I can move them from the keyboard to use it.
That was two nights ago. That night, I was saying my prayers and part of me was thinking about how I'll miss using the DSL on my other systems. Some say, God doesn't talk to people. Some say, anyone who thinks He does is schizophrenic. All I know is sometimes when I'm praying a little voice tells me the simplest solution to some problem I think is too much for me.
I'm sure people without faith would say it's merely my subconscious, but when it's a problem I've tried to solve and can come up with no solution, even through waiting for my lazy subconscious to suggest something, prayer works.
The little voice said, "Turn on the firewall in the router, instead of on the computers." Hmm... would that work? My problem had been hang-ups and dropped connections. I couldn't figure out what was causing them. Maybe, if the router isn't firewalled, it's getting hit and that added 'noise' is making my dialup crash?
The next day, yesterday, I tried it. I turned the firewall on in the router. Last night I spent two hours reading all about the crazy belief that telomeres prove evolution. TWO HOURS - with nary a dropped line.
God sure knows his internet access.
Spammers are some of the smartest people around. They often say of evil people, 'if they only put their knowledge towards good...' I was listening to Leo Laporte (secret crush since he was Dev Null) on the radio. He mentioned a new technique used by spammers to get past the CAPTCHA system used for verification.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA
Seems, they've set up a virtual stripper who'll take off an article of clothing, if you type in the captcha image code. Then, their system uses your inputted info to gain access to a site they couldn't, otherwise!
http://techguylabs.com/radio/ShowNotes/Show402
I'm always impressed with the way spammers get around what seems like the most brilliant idea in security. A few years ago, there was a virus that would email a copy of something in your My Documents folder to someone else. This was a fun virus. I never had it on my system, but I did get a few files from it. One was a resume. One was a presentation. It was neat. A bit like when you find a note somewhere and read it - seeing a little slice of a strangers life. From those stray notes, over the years, I've learned that everyone writes 'toilet paper' on their grocery list as 'TP'. Either that, or on all the grocery lists I've found, every one was meeting someone with those initials at the store.
The most interesting way I've seen for verifying a human is behind a post was a simple equation - 2 + 3 = ____ and you had to fill in the blank to post. This might have been on Laporte's site. I'm sure this could be easily scripted to by-pass, but if it isn't used on many sites, the spammers wouldn't bother. Anything that becomes the universal way to verify will be broached. Best advice? Keep it creative. Keep it unique. That way, no one will bother.
How about questions like: Newscaster for the Peacock station, last name only ________.
With revolving questions like that, it would take a lot of work to break the code.
I think a tiny robot is in my house. You know how you can tell you have a pest, because they are kind enough to leave a little something behind? Mice leave little, black, 3D commas. Camel-back crickets leave something that looks like minuscule birds were around. This is what I found on my floor today:
These were sitting side-by-side - the penny is only to show their size. They are rubber. They are O-rings. They are very, very small. I can only guess they were left by a very small robot.
I don't know what a robot-trap looks like. I don't know what bait to use. I doubt a local exterminator would take my case.
Yesterday, I added 'Current Crush' to my profile. A friend saw it and sent me a bunch of links for Mike Doughty pages. I wrote her back and asked her what her problem was, didn't she understand a crush? Turns out, she doesn't!
I didn't know there was a girl out there who didn't know the basics of having a crush. The first rule of crush is never, ever get more information
This is really the most important rule.
Perhaps, a brief description of a crush is necessary? The dictionary, well dictionary.com, defines thusly:
15.Informal.
a.an intense but usually short-lived infatuation.
Personally, I think infatuation is too strong.
I have years of experience on crushes. I have had a crush on a rock before. I still harbor a crush on Jack Skellington. So tall, thin, clever, witty... ::swoon::
Where was I? Ah, yes. Crushes are very fragile things. Like analogies, they do not hold up to scrutiny. A crush can be broken, yes broken, by a word, an action, a tiny bit of information that doesn't fit the slim boundaries of the crush.
My current crush is based solely on the album Haughty Melodic. The music, lyrics, voice of Mike Doughty. It doesn't, as is the case with many crushes, have anything to do with the real, flesh-and-blood Mike Doughty. He would only spoil the crush. He's a decent looking fellow, from the liner notes, so I mean him no ill-will.
How old is he?
Don't tell me!
Is he married with tons of little children with lovely unique names?
I do not want to know.
Who are his influences? Where was he born? How tall is he?
Good gravy! What a way to mess things up!
A crush is simply liking someone or something for that one thing you know it by at the time. A crush is not wishing you could meet them. A crush is taking that one little piece you see and admiring it. It's like looking at a man's wrist and admiring the way that small bone stands up and throws a light shadow. The slim line of the wrist giving way to the broad base of the palm. That wrist is the crush. To see the rest of the arm or, horror of horrors, the person, would likely break the crush.
Crushes are fragile little things. They required no work, but a little protection.
I didn't mean to ruin Halloween. I love Halloween. I've always had fun dressing up and have never - not once - resorted to the sexy kitty/nurse/devil costume.
They say what you dress like on Halloween reflects who you'd like to be. In that case, I would like to be a zombie, cave girl, burglar, Adam Ant - many things - but never a sexy kitty. I've never worn a pre-made costume. I used to plan my costume in July or August, but recently I've been winging it later in the year.
I would have loved to try a female Jack Sparrow, but I've seen too many, so I never got the chance. I did dress as Mia from Pulp Fiction the year that was released, a giant needle sticking out of my chest and all, but I try to avoid the usual suspects.
I started a new job three years ago. Everyone I work with is very creative, except when it comes to Halloween. They all donned the basics - vampires, little kids, as-sexy-as-you-can-get-away-with-at-work kitties. I showed up the first year in one of my made-up costumes. They all said they liked it. The second year, my boss said she gave the prize away too soon, when she saw my costume. The third year, people threw on cat ears or a witch's hat. This year... barely anyone bothered.
I couldn't figure out how it had gone from a fun event, to a non-event. Then, someone cheerily pointed out that this year I hadn't dressed for Halloween - not really. At the time, I just shrugged. I thought I was following their lead. I can wear my costumes to parties and events, why dress at work?
The more I thought about the look on her face when she realized I hadn't put any effort into a costume, the more it bothered me. She was pleased I hadn't dressed. Pleased.
I think I ruined Halloween. They were all very happy to pull out a pre-made costume and slap it on. Then, I came along with my weird, self-made stuff and they simply didn't want to bother to meet the new curve. They all gave up. It's an empty victory and a competition I never meant to create.
Maybe, I'll ask off for Halloween next year?
