It’s been quite a week. School and work and work and school. And also the SDOSS meeting about how Sign On San Diego uses open source.

I’m happy but tired. I’m way behind on a few things, and just have not found the times to make things right. In some areas, things are great, but I dropped the ball on a few things too.

But classes are good. C++ looks like a worthy class. I’m going to try and dual program – using Visual Studio .NET in the labs at school, and also XCode here on my Macs. I also want to experiment with plain old gcc.

Leah and I are taking a class together! That’s what we did last night, before getting some much needed groceries. The class is Technical Writing, and it is a new one for City College, and it looks pretty good. I think having a bit of formal training in technical writing is going to be helpful for both of us. Wherever she works, she ends up being tasked to write things – descriptions and marketing materials. And it’s the same for me — proposals, testing plans, documentation — these are all part of my supposed skillset. I suppose I just want to learn to do it better.

The new work situation is working out well. I really like working part time as a concept. I love the concept that I am spending most of my time doing schoolwork, and secondarily doing paying work. They want me for more hours for the next few weeks — and I’m going to see what I can do.

One bad thing, the schedule has been tight — so Leah and I have not hit counseling in a two weeks — we had a scheduling snafu last week, and there was simply no time this week. :-\ But we hope to get there next week.

Things seem to be on track.

Okay, onward.

It was 2 years ago today that I met Leah. I was pretty giddy. She’s wonderful and I love her. She’s not feeling well right now. I hope she gets well soon. We’re gonna get married, but we don’t know when. We’re real interesting.

And yes, I’ve been quiet lately here on the blog. Well, I’m not quiet in my Spanish, C++, and Technical Writing classes. Be patient with me. I’m busy and working and kind of a chaotic-type person right now. I’m working on the problem though. Reordering ones priorities in pursuit of new, ambitious goals is hard.

Hey, Onward.

1. Agent Orange — Tori Amos
2. Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye — The Black Crowes
3. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown — Jim Croce
4. Ballet For A Blue Whale — Adrian Belew
5. Big Black Mariah — Tom Waits
6. Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open) — David Byrne
7. Black & White — Sarah McLachlan
8. Black & White x 5 — Bill Conti
9. Black And Blue — Lyle Lovett
10. Black Beauty — Frank Zappa
11. Black Cat Bone — Laika
12. Black Cat Bone — Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland
13. Black Coffee In Bed — Squeeze
14. Black Cow — Steely Dan
15. Black Dog — Paul Shaffer
16. Black Friday — Steely Dan
17. Black Flag — David Byrne
18. Black Light Trap — Shriekback
19. Black Magic Woman — Santana
20. Black Market Baby — Tom Waits
21. Black Milk — Massive Attack
22. Black Moon Creeping — The Black Crowes
23. Black Morpheus — 808 State
24. Black Napkins — Frank Zappa
25. The Black Page — Frank Zappa
26. The Black Page (1984) — Frank Zappa
27. The Black Page #1 — Frank Zappa
28. The Black Page #2 — Frank Zappa
29. Black Page #2 — Frank Zappa
30. The Black Page Drum Solo/Black Page #1 — Frank Zappa
31. The Black Rider — Tom Waits
32. The Blackouts — Frank Zappa
33. Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos — Public Enemy
34. Black Water — The Doobie Brothers
35. Black Wind Blowing — Billy Bragg & Wilco
36. Black-Dove (January) — Tori Amos
37. Black-Eyed Susan — Morrissey
38. Blackheart — Motorhead
39. Blackhole — Beck
40. Blackjack — Ween
41. Blue Calx — Aphex Twin
42. Blue Chevrolet — The Beat Farmers
43. Blue Christmas — face to face
44. Blue Christmas — Bright Eyes
45. Blue Eyes — Cary Brothers
46. The Blue Flame — David Byrne
47. Blue Flower — Mazzy Star
48. Blue Fools — Matthew Sweet
49. Blue Jean — David Bowie
50. Blue Light — Mazzy Star
51. The Blue Light — Frank Zappa
52. Blue Monday — New Order
53. Blue Monday – (’88) — New Order
54. Blue Monday (Original UK Release) — New Order
55. The Blue Nun — The Beastie Boys
56. Blue Savannah — Erasure
57. Blue Shadows — The Blasters
58. Blue Shadows On The Trail — Randy Newman
59. Blue Skies — Tom Waits
60. Blue Suede Shoes — Frank Zappa
61. Bobby Brown — Frank Zappa
62. Bobby Brown Goes Down — Frank Zappa
63. Bobby Brown Goes Down (Live) — Frank Zappa
64. Brown Eyed Girl — Van Morrison
65. Brown Moses — Frank Zappa
66. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It — Frank Zappa
67. Can’t Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head (Live) — Kylie Minogue Vs. New Order
68. Clear Blue Day In Limbo — Stew
69. Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You) (Blacksmith Club Mix) — Christina Aguilera
70. Devil with the Green Eyes — Matthew Sweet
71. Devil With The Green Eyes (Remix) — Matthew Sweet
72. Diminuendo In Blue And Blow By Blow — Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
73. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow — Frank Zappa
74. Evergreen — Matthew Sweet
75. Everything’s Gone Green — New Order
76. Fourteen Black Paintings — Peter Gabriel
77. Get Whitey — Frank Zappa
78. Green Book — Steely Dan
79. Green Earrings — Steely Dan
80. Green Flower Street — Donald Fagen
81. Green Grass of Tunnel — Mum
82. Green Grow The Rushes — R.E.M.
83. Green Onions — Booker T. And the MG’s
84. Greenback Dollar — David Byrne
85. Greensleeves — Vanessa Carlton
86. Greensleeves — Vince Guaraldi Trio
87. Grey Matter — Oingo Boingo
88. Grey Stripe — Aphex Twin
89. Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles — Captain Beefheart
90. Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel — Frank Zappa
91. Hot-Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel — Frank Zappa
92. Hotplate Heaven At The Green Hotel — Persuasions
93. In The Blue Of The Evening — Bud Powell
94. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (Brownsville Mix) — They Might Be Giants
95. The Jimmy Carl Black Philosophy Lesson — Frank Zappa
96. Joan Miro’s Procession Through The Insides Of A Purple Antelope Across A Sea Of Tuna Fish — Adrian Belew
97. Lesson_2_The_James_Brown_Mix — Steve “Steinski” Stein & Douglas “Double Dee” DiFranco
98. Let’s Make the Water Turn Black — Frank Zappa
99. Let’s Make The Water Turn Black/Harry, You’re A Beast/The Orange County Lumber Truck — Frank Zappa
100. Lime Green Sweater — Negro Problem
101. A Little Green Rosetta — Frank Zappa
102. Long White Cadillac — The Blasters
103. Man In The Long Black Coat — Joan Osborne
104. Mary C. Brown and the Hollywod Sign — Dory Previn
105. Memories Of Green — Vangelis
106. Mr. Green Genes — Frank Zappa
107. Ms. Pinky — Frank Zappa
108. The Orange County Lumber Truck — Frank Zappa
109. The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part I) — Frank Zappa
110. The Orange County Lumber Truck (Part II) — Frank Zappa
111. Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spits — Sonic Youth
112. Orange Wedge — Chemical Brothers
113. Oranges — They Might Be Giants
114. Oranges Testimonial — They Might Be Giants
115. Paint It Black — Vanessa Carlton
116. Pink Cashmere — Prince
117. Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings – LP Version — LL Cool J
118. Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings – Remix — LL Cool J
119. Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings (Instrumental) — LL Cool J
120. Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings (LP Version) — LL Cool J
121. Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings (Remix Instrumental) — LL Cool J
122. Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Getting Crushed By Buildings (Remix) — LL Cool J
123. Pound For A Brown — Frank Zappa
124. A Pound For A Brown — Frank Zappa
125. 7A Pound For A Brown (On The Bus) — Frank Zappa
126. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus — Frank Zappa
127. Pound For A Brown Solos (1978) — Frank Zappa
128. Purple Haze — Frank Zappa
129. Purple Haze — Jimi Hendrix
130. The Purple Lagoon — Frank Zappa
131. The Purple Lagoon/Approximate — Frank Zappa
132. Purple People — Tori Amos
133. Purple Rain — Prince
134. Purple Toupee — They Might Be Giants
135. Say Goodbye To The Blacksheep — The Furys
136. Shake It (Like A White Girl) — Jesse Jaymes
137. The Singularity: Your Future as a Black Hole — Bruce Sterling
138. Son Of Mr. Green Genes — Frank Zappa
139. Son Of Orange County — Frank Zappa
140. Soul Sister Brown Sugar — Sam & Dave
141. Stormy Pinkness — They Might Be Giants
142. Time Is Tight/Hiphugger/Green Onions — Paul Shaffer
143. Truckdrivin’ Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) — Beck
144. Two Dozen And One Greyhounds (Medley) — The Simpsons
145. What Does Your Sould Look Like (Part 1-Blue Sky Revisit) / Transmission 3 — DJ Shadow
146. What’s That Blue Thing Doing Here? — They Might Be Giants
147. The White Boy Troubles — Frank Zappa
148. White Blur — Aphex Twin
149. White Blur 2 — Aphex Twin
150. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais — The Clash
151. White Pepper Ice Cream — Cibo Matto
152. White Person — Frank Zappa
153. White Riot — The Clash
154. Wild Blue Seas — Single Gun Theory
155. William Brown — Randy Newman
156. Yellow Butterfly — Michael Nesmith
157. Yellow Jacket — Ventures
158. Yellow Man — Randy Newman
159. Yellow Peril — Steely Dan
160. Yellow Submarine — The Beatles

This weekend Stew will be appearing at the Adams Avenue Street Fair. Sunday. I’m gonna be there. Can’t wait.

Previously: Stew plays, Joe Mulls.

Love that Stew!

Everything’s a bit blurry. But we have new couches as of Tuesday. Leah made Adas Polo Rice the other day. That was great. Classes going well. The rat-a-tat Spanish teacher is still rat-a-tat. Killing ’em in C++ class. Technical writing is good. Enjoying my work (it’s painless and simple) and my freelance too. And Stew will be here Sunday. Marriage? not yet. Still talking about what the heck marriage is. Leah feeling better after being under the weather. We also saw Wimbledon last weekend and enjoyed it. Lite confection of a movie. My Mom will be staying with us next weekend — she has a class reunion to attend. They were roofing this week next door – the NOISE! Bas was pretty shaken up, but he’s chilled out now.

And that’s it for today. Trying to get back in the swing of writing here.

I came across this C++ Tutorial. I’ll be reading it. It’s nowhere near as useful as Roedy Green‘s Java pages, but it’ll do in a pinch.

More work done, another week nearly over.

I need to take a couch to the dump and go to work!

So today is coming to a close. Started out with a trip to the dump! Then a drive up to see a football game featuring two of Leah’s kids. Then lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (Cobb Salad). We then saw Mr. 3000 (not bad) and made our way home. Herculean driving of the 170 miles (that’s just one way) by Leah.

So tired. Tomorrow: spring cleaning in the cabinets, and then Stew!

Also, C++ homework and Spanish homework. Oh, and a wee bit of freelance. I have some invoices to… er… invoice.

G’night!

Oh yeah, Joelle put up a photo of Leah and I at Rock The Walk. We look about as good as could be expected having had a long day and being out of shape white people. 🙂 We wish her well in her endeavor to do the AIDS Walk thing tomorrow morning!

So yesterday Leah and I went and saw Stew at the Adams Ave Street Fair as promised. He was wonderful as always. He also mentiond a little fun fact about having a song on TV tomorrow — which is to say today. So here’s the 411, direct from the Stew camp:

last time we had a song on a teen oriented tv show we got tons of email from adults who just “happened to have the tv on at the time and heard your music” along with alot of folks who “never watch that show but just happened to be watching it that night to see what all the talk was about.” But the best email we got was from someone who said they were watching tv with the sound down and then heard our song…really.

Now you don’t need an excuse for watching such a show. we’ve just given you one. Actually i’ve heard Everwood is a cool show. I don’t watch prime time tv so i dont know but i’ll be watching this monday at 9pm. Word has it that if you dont dig tv you should tune in 45 minutes into the show. we’re on close to the end.

you have been notified.

everwood
this monday
9pm
WB network

I’m pretty sure I’ll be outta class by then.

A few weeks ago I got an email from the people doing promotions of Joel Spolsky‘s new book — they wanted to send me a free copy since I’ve linked to Joel so many times over the years. Hey, I like free stuff. I suppose this is what’s called a “review copy.” Well, I’m happy to have a copy I can cart around and read in the tub — as opposed to his site, which I can’t really read in the bathtub.

The book is conveniently titled Joel On Software, after his site, Joel on Software. It’s great stuff about software engineering, how to write documentation, and more. It’s particularly apropos right now because it ties into the Technical Writing class I’m taking at City College.

I also am happy to see The Joel Test in print. It’s been quite a while since I originally read it. Perhaps I should make some copies of that one to send to some of my friends.

Well, yesterday I downloaded and listened to this interview with Joel on IT Conversations. More good food for thought. I particularly like the part where they talk about how FogBUGZ is built in VBScript and they paid an intern to write a VBScript compiler that could spit out PHP. So when they update the VBScript, they can “emit” (I have never heard that verb with regards to software development) a web based version whenever they want it. Really cool stuff. I sense that Joel is the kind of developer I would love to buy a beer. I bet he’s got great war stories.

Anyway, go buy his book man! Totally worth a read.

I put my latest pix of stew (from yesterday’s show) up on my flickr site.

The entrails of my self are all over the place right now.

My mother comes Friday — she’s going to a reunion this weekend and staying with Leah and me. We’re in a bit of disarray right now, so we have a bit more cleaning to do.

Counseling today went well. Learning so much it makes me cry. A lot of work is happening, man. Work is hard.

Technical Writing class good. I’m in a group and we’re writing a manual about the Library at City College.

C++ is good – – though not as OO oriented as I might have hoped. Still, “call-by-reference” made my head hurt the other night in class.

Spanish is Spanish. Working on Past tense and lots of busy, er… practice work.

The part time job is exactly what I hoped it would be. When I’m not there, I don’t worry about it. Which is precisely the kind of job a boy like me needs.

Quote of the day: Don’t be a “guy” — be a “man” — anyone can be a “guy” — from …say anything.

I make mistakes. Lots of them. Supposedly this helps me learn. Why’s it got to be so hard? Phew.

Leah and I went to class in a rush, we had an outline due tonight. But alas! No class. I suspect our teacher played hooky to watch the presidential debate.

Ah well, more time to prepare the house for the imminent arrival of my mom, tomorrow.

Just posted this to a mailing list:

There’s so much hype and mystique about what the Semantic Web could be, might be, will be — I am particularly taken with a new series of articles (still unfolding) on xml.com about Paul Ford’s work on actually trying to *build* semantic web applications.

* Screenscraping the Senate

* Uncle Sam’s Semantic Web

“The United States government and the Semantic Web are a perfect match: imagine all of those senators and representatives, each query-able by age, party affiliation, bills proposed, committee membership, and voting record. For the last few years, I’ve wanted to collect as much data on the U.S. government as I could, convert it to RDF, and build a site and a web service that make it possible to explore that data. This will be my goal over the next year, and I’ll document my progress here on XML.com.”
…
“Does creating a Semantic Web of data make it easier to analyze and explore that data in new ways? In addition to testing the Semantic Web concept, if all goes well, I’ll have a nicely organized map of the U.S. government, structured using publicly available ontologies, available in a single, reliable format (RDF), which anyone can incorporate into their own Semantic Web projects. It seems worth trying.”

My sister wrote me something the other day and I’m going to share it here.

I saw Morrissey play at DAR Constitution Hall tonight and I had this welling of emotion when he came out. Anyway, it’s hard to put it into words without it sounding a bit silly, but thanks for taking me to see him in 1992 in that tiny place in C-ville. I was 15 and you were 22! I am forever in your debt.

Dag, that was 12 years ago, in Charlottesville Virginia. I was so proud to be able to take my sister. and the show was wonderful. At the time I was working as a Respiratory Therapist for the University of Virginia Medical Center. My those were heady times for me. My first apartment. Alone in a new town. It was a great treat to see Morrissey at the peak of his game as a solo artist.