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Sadly, I Drive Past This Once Every Couple Weeks

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:39:14 -0400

Looks like my city made it to the big time, and not in a good way:

http://failblog.org/2008/07/03/sign-d...

From the failblog - http://failblog.org/2008/07/03/sign-design-fail/ Google Maps FTW (Thx Qwertz): You can even see the signs on the street view, although someone seems to have run over a part of the signs on the left… no doubt trying to read it.

Shamefully, I didn't even think of capturing this for the Failblog on one of my many trips driving past it.

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5 Word Challenge: When Good Nursery Rhymes Go Bad

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:29:28 -0400

5 word challenge Group on Vox

http://challenge....

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in...

This week's challenge: carpet, jury, pasta, shapeless, whey

My apologies to Mother Goose.

Artist's rendering of the incident in question.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider who sat down beside her,
and frightened Miss Muffet away.

Miss Muffet came back, with a big burlap sack,
shapeless and ragged and brown.
She started to sneak, and before it could squeak,
stuffed the spider inside with a frown.

As she stomped on the bag, her face started to sag,
as she realized the results of her fury.
Murder most foul, the public would howl,
and conviction by judge and by jury.

She snuck into her house, as soft as a mouse,
dragging the sack behind her.
Under the carpet she loved, she roughly shoved
the bag (complete with the spider).

She was cooking her dinner when something within her
made her sit down with a start.
The pasta au gratin lay burning, forgotten,
as the guilt grew and grew in her heart.

She went and got dressed, and promptly confessed
to Little Boy Blue down the lane.
Although he was shocked, his emotions all rocked,
sympathy to her he did feign.

They went for a stroll to see Old King Cole,
and find out what he would say.
That jolly old stinker threw her in the clinker,
and there still she spends all her days.

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Get Your Rock On

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:29:29 -0400

Nothing cheers me up quite like counting down the hours on my last day before a 5-day vacation (it starts tomorrow for me). Except maybe some Nirvana, played on a group of ukuleles.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Smells Like Teen Spirit

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Trivia Results - Episode 1

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:36:39 -0400

Question mark

As promised, here's the answers (in red) to yesterday's trivia questions. Categories highlighted in blue are the ones my team answered correctly.

Round 1
1. Category: Military History. What major historical event happened on June 6th? For bonus points, name the year. D-Day (1944)
2. Category: Science. Louis Pasteur invented the pasteurization process in 1862. This process was used for milk, along with what else? Wine
3. Category: World Events. What event will take place August 8th through the 24th of this year? Summer Olympics
4. Category: Space. Dwarf planets like Pluto are no longer called "planets" by the IAU. What is the new term for these astronomical bodies? Plutoids
5. Category: Organizations. Joseph "Piney" Armone and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano belonged to this "organization". What was its name? The Mafia

Round 2
6. Category: Musicians. This musician was responsible for such tunes as "Beyond the Sea", "Splish Splash", and "Mack the Knife". (Name the musician) Bobby Darin
7. Category: Literature. Name the author whose works include Tender is the Night, The Beautiful and the Damned, This Side of Paradise, and most famously, The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. Category: Human Anatomy. Name the two locations on the human body where you'd find phalanges. Hands and Feet
9. Category: Bugs. The "Rocky Mountain Wood" and "Groundhog" are two nicknames for this critter. Name the bug. Tick
10. Category: Math. Reduce 7/8 * 6/7 to its smallest form. 3/4

Halftime Bonus Question
B1. Which of the following two telecommunications companies announced last week that they will merge before the end of the year?

A. Sprint and AT&T
B. Verizon and US Cellular
C. T-Mobile and Alltel
D. Verizon and Alltel

D. Verizon and Alltel

Round 3
11. Category: Music Groups. The Bee Gees were made up of three brothers. Two of the brothers were Maurice and Barry. Name the third brother. Robin
12. Category: Sports. Since 1993, Gary Bettman has been the commissioner of this professional sports league. Name the league. NHL
13. Category: Lakes and Rivers. The Seneca and Cayuga lakes are part of the group known as the Finger Lakes in what US State? New York
14. Category: World Capitals. Suva is the capital of what island nation? Fiji
15. Category: Chemistry. What is the periodic table symbol for the element Titanium? Ti

Round 4
16. Category: Movies. This actress played Princess Vespa in Spaceballs, and also starred on Melrose Place. Name the actress. Daphne Zuniga
17. Category: U.S. Constitution. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870. What was the purpose of this amendment? Equal right to vote (no restrictions based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude)
18. Category: Native Americans. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole indian tribes were known by what name to U.S. Settlers? The Five Civilized Tribes
19. Category: TV. Sean Astin and Mackenzie Astin were the children of Patty Duke and television actor John Astin, who appeared on what 1960s TV series? Bonus points - name the character he played on the show. The Addams Family (Gomez)
20. Category: Cartoons. The Refreshments play the theme song for which prime-time television cartoon? King of the Hill

Final Bonus Question
B2. Which U.S. President said, "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world...."

A. George Washington
B. Harry S. Truman
C. Dwight D. Eisenhower
D. Thomas Jefferson

A. George Washington

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Thursday Trivia - Episode 1

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:15:25 -0400

Question mark

The wife and I left our kids with a non-family-member babysitter for the first time ever last night so we could go out with her sister & mother for some dinner and live trivia at a local restaurant. We didn't win the competition (not by a long shot), but we came close to getting 3rd place. We didn't care because we had a lot of fun just hanging out and participating, and is definitely something we'll be doing again in the future.

Some of the questions were pretty easy, but others left us scratching our heads. See what you think - I'll post the answers tomorrow to let you see how you did.

Oh, and if you feel like trying to answer these yourself, just be aware that some people may try to answer in the comments, so don't read ahead unless you want some of the answers spoiled for you.

Round 1
1. Category: Military History. What major historical event happened on June 6th? For bonus points, name the year.
2. Category: Science. Louis Pasteur invented the pasteurization process in 1862. This process was used for milk, along with what else?
3. Category: World Events. What event will take place August 8th through the 24th of this year?
4. Category: Space. Dwarf planets like Pluto are no longer called "planets" by the IAU. What is the new term for these astronomical bodies?
5. Category: Organizations. Joseph "Piney" Armone and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano belonged to this "organization". What was its name?

Round 2
6. Category: Musicians. This musician was responsible for such tunes as "Beyond the Sea", "Splish Splash", and "Mack the Knife". (Name the musician)
7. Category: Literature. Name the author whose works include Tender is the Night, The Beautiful and the Damned, This Side of Paradise, and most famously, The Great Gatsby.
8. Category: Human Anatomy. Name the two locations on the human body where you'd find phalanges.
9. Category: Bugs. The "Rocky Mountain Wood" and "Groundhog" are two nicknames for this critter. Name the bug.
10. Category: Math. Reduce 7/8 * 6/7 to its smallest form.

Halftime Bonus Question
B1. Which of the following two telecommunications companies announced last week that they will merge before the end of the year?

A. Sprint and AT&T
B. Verizon and US Cellular
C. T-Mobile and Alltel
D. Verizon and Alltel

Round 3
11. Category: Music Groups. The Bee Gees were made up of three brothers. Two of the brothers were Maurice and Barry. Name the third brother.
12. Category: Sports. Since 1993, Gary Bettman has been the commissioner of this professional sports league. Name the league.
13. Category: Lakes and Rivers. The Seneca and Cayuga lakes are part of the group known as the Finger Lakes in what US State?
14. Category: World Capitals. Suva is the capital of what island nation?
15. Category: Chemistry. What is the periodic table symbol for the element Titanium?

Round 4
16. Category: Movies. This actress played Princess Vespa in Spaceballs, and also starred on Melrose Place. Name the actress.
17. Category: U.S. Constitution. The 15th amendment was ratified in 1870. What was the purpose of this amendment?
18. Category: Native Americans. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole indian tribes were known by what name to U.S. Settlers?
19. Category: TV. Sean Astin and Mackenzie Astin were the children of Patty Duke and television actor John Astin, who appeared on what 1960s TV series? Bonus points - name the character he played on the show.
20. Category: Cartoons. The Refreshments play the theme song for which prime-time television cartoon?

Final Bonus Question
B2. Which U.S. President said, "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world...."

A. George Washington
B. Harry S. Truman
C. Dwight D. Eisenhower
D. Thomas Jefferson

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AutoLink for Twitter - New Greasemonkey Script

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:18:01 -0400

Greasemonkey

@Pistachio on Twitter gave me a great idea for a new Greasemonkey script. Twitter users know that putting the @ sign in front of someone's Twitter ID (e.g. @twitterID) is the way to reply to that person through twitter. When you're on twitter.com, or using a twitter client, this @twitterID is usually hyperlinked to that Twitter profile page (e.g. http://www.twitter.com/twitterID ). However, this is usually NOT the case when you view a Twitter ID on any other webpage (including Gmail). I decided to put together a Greasemonkey script that changes that, so that any Twitter ID, anywhere (even in Gmail) will be hyperlinked to the corresponding Twitter profile page.

Since I try not to reinvent the wheel when possible, I built my script on top of Jesse Ruderman's AutoLink Greasemonkey script. (I did delete some of the functionality that people might not want, such as bugzilla IDs and phone numbers - if you want the full version of that script, get it here. Note that you'll have to merge my Twitter filter into his script if you want the Twitter auto-linking functionality.)

Once you install the script, @rossruns will look like @rossruns. As an added benefit, Jesse's script already converted email addresses and plainlink URLs into hyperlinked versions, so you get that auto-linking functionality with this script, too.

Want to install this script for your own use? First install Greasemonkey, and then get the script here. (Instructions to install Greasemonkey can be found here.)

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Sometimes "Meme" Looks Suspiciously Like "Me! Me!"

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:07:26 -0400

I'll thank Hieronymus for tagging me with this one:

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I had just finished my first year of college at UVA and was hanging out back home with my parents in State College, PA. I had snagged a job with the Applied Research Lab (ARL) at Penn State, but this summer, it was purely a facilities-related job. However, it would get me an "in" to the computer science/engineering group where I would be working for my next two summers.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

I've got a whole lot more than 5 things on my to-do list, and they're definitely not all going to get done, so I'll just summarize:

Document workflows to review: Qty 14
Lay out the 10 bags of mulch on the flower beds
Install ladder hook on garage wall
Replace cheap-ass floodlights that the builder put in with decent light/motion sensitive ones
Go play trivia with Dee tonight (hooray for finding our first non-family babysitter!)

3) Snacks I enjoy:

In no particular order: sourdough pretzels, assorted fruit, almonds, granola bars, Oreos, Powerbars, Doritos, ice cream (good thing this question wasn't "Snacks I'm allowed to eat" or my answer would be a lot shorter!)

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

After making sure everyone in my immediate and extended family were taken care of financially for the rest of their lives, I'd spend a couple years travelling around the world. I'd put aside enough to keep my family comfortable for the rest of our lives and then donate a substantial portion of the remaining money to causes that I feel need the money.

5) Places I have lived:

Again, in no particular order:

Norfolk, VA
Charleston, SC
Orlando, FL
Fairfax, VA
Bainbridge Island, WA
Annandale, VA
Concord, NC
Camarillo, CA
Charlottesville, VA
State College, PA (summers, during college)
Liverpool, NY
Baldwinsville, NY
Bel Air, MD

6) Jobs I have had:

In approximate order of employment - includes non-paid positions:

Babysitter
Lawn Mower
Lifeguard (Pool, not ocean)
Swimming Instructor
Hershey's Track & Field Program for Kids - Assistant Coach
Maintenance & Facilities worker
Software Engineer
Pizza Delivery Guy
Radio DJ
Radar Engineer
Systems Engineer
Electrical/Instrumentation Engineer

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:

This thing has made the rounds, hasn't it? Of those who don't appear to have answered this yet, I choose:

Corey, Lemon, Mariser, Lightchaser, and Sheri. Feel free to ignore my tag if you're not interested!

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For the College Fan Who Has (Virtually) Everything

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:27:34 -0400

Saw this at a nearby store while I was out book-shopping this weekend. I'd love to find out how many people actually purchase these:

$600 worth of ugly

And yes, that price tag is right. For about the same price as you would pay for a generic La-Z-Boy, you can get one of these monstrosities in the color scheme/logo of your choice for your favorite collegiate/professional football team.

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Father's Day Weekend Fun at Casa de Ross

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:16:46 -0400

Although this wasn't my first Father's Day weekend, it quite possibly might have been the best one yet.

Saturday was just an easy-going sort of day - I worked out at the gym, did some shopping with Violet, puttered around the house, and cooked some excellent chicken and vegetables on the grill for dinner (although all the hard work marinating/seasoning everything was done by my wife, so I can't take all the credit). After we got the kids asleep, Dee and I watched No Country for Old Men, which lived up to every bit of hype that I've heard about the movie. Definitely a must see. By itself, Saturday would have made the weekend, but in this case, it was superseded in specialness by the Father's Day Sunday I had the next day:

My alarm went off at 8AM, and before I had time to even galumph my way over to it to hit snooze, the bedroom door opened and a torrent of unbridled energy in the form of my toddler came rushing in and crawled all over me and the bed, excited to give me my Father's Day cards. I snuggled with her for a little bit while I opened the two greeting cards she and my wife had bought/signed for me, and cheered when I saw that one of them also included a gift certificate to a nearby bookstore - as my wife put it, I'd be able to get in some guilt-free book shopping that day.
I spent the next couple hours hanging out with and taking care of the girls while Dee went to her Weight Watchers' meeting and out to the grocery store. The highlight of that time came when I was throwing around a nerf ball with Violet and she told me out of the blue, "Daddy, I love playing football with you."
My new books

When Dee got back, she let me duck out of the house for a couple hours to hit up the bookstore and use up my gift certificate. I spent a little time just browsing through some of the bookshelves, but ended up with 5 books that I'm really looking forward to reading.
I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some yardwork and home improvement projects, with Violet tagging along and "helping" whenever possible. Although I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, I did make a dent in my ever-growing to-do list, which always feels good.
After I managed a quick shower and shave, we dropped the kids off with my mother-in-law, who was nice enough to watch them while Dee and I went out to eat at the local Thai restaurant. A couple hours, some beers, and some excellent (and very spicy) food later, we stopped by Jack in the Box for a couple Oreo milkshakes on our way back to get the kids. Ended up VERY stuffed, but also equally happy with how the day had progressed.
When we got home, I had a little more bonding time with Violet in the form of bedtime story time, and then the kidlets were in bed and very soon after, so was I. The alarm on Monday morning was a rude awakening (literally), but still couldn't detract from the happiness I felt from the wonderful weekend I had.

Don't ask - not sure even *I* want to know what's going on here

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You Stole My Jesus Fish!*

nobody@vox.com(Ross) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:48:01 -0400

Just discovered what I want for Father's Day. Now how do I go back in time and tell my wife two weeks ago so it'll be here on Sunday?

Gefilte Fish Plaque

(Gefilte Fish plaque can be found for purchase at Sticker Giant, here)

*Apologies to all who thought you were going to get more of a homage to Seinfeld than you actually did. Blame it on my new project, which is still keeping me too busy to write more stuff here.

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