positive thinking

When on a project which is not ideally managed, it is useful to list your own solutions to the problems.

Even if you can't fix the problems, if you can fix them in the future, the experience is still useful.

would you rather be the lackey or employ the lackey

From gossip files.

Ludacris employs a lackey whose only responsibility is to ensure the rapper's GameBoy always has charged batteries.

Laf.

false history

I had an interesting discussion about the perception of history, so I started researching historical inaccuracies. I'm starting with American History.

I'm working through a very interesting paper on the separation of church and state as it is popularly called. The author of the paper states that the U.S. Constitution actually calls for "the separation of religion and state."

I remember holding a little copy of the Constitution, but certainly haven't read all of it. I should take another look.

creatures of habit

It amuses me to watch people use my browser. Apparently a lot of people are used to having Yahoo or Google as the default browser home page, so they get confused when they use my settings. I like a blank page for faster browser startup, especially for work.

One friend started up my browser, and waited a couple seconds for the expected home page to load. When it didn't, he hit the home button and was confused when nothing happened. Laf. He searched around the bookmarks but neither Google nor Yahoo are in my bookmarks. It would have been faster for him to just type in the url, but I guess that didn't occur to him.

Laf. Change is good.

because geeks have more fun

While doing research on visas to freak myself out, I ran across this thread on
re-entry permits.

If you read the very last 2 messages, it's funny. If you're a geek, that is. Haha.

Ah, the cultural reverberations of Star Trek. Or something.

history books

An interesting article on omissions in Chinese history teachings.

I have only the fuzziest idea of Vietnam's history.

I read that Chinese are told that Chinese resistance ended World War II.

An article from the Financial Times on Chinese history textbooks.

Apparently it can really be a bad thing to be a Chinese reporter in China. A 30 year old Chinese journalist was mutilated by a group of attackers who entered his home.

This is why news is depressing.

Oh, in funny news, hay fever sufferers in Japan may be able to thank China for the levels of pollen.

vaio parts

I replaced my ac adapter for my pc, and got a new battery. Apparently all the recent power issues were solely the ac adapter breaking down. My coworker told me that the Sony timer is 3 years long. So another year and a half before my pc's time may be up.

Laf, what a reputation Sony has.

The adapter was about $130, and the battery was about $270. Ouch! Company will cover it actually though, which is very cool. Anyhoo, anything for a reliable computer. I was stressing out about it before. I would have replaced the stuff earlier, but without replacement parts it's hard to narrow down the source of the problem. Yesterday I borrowed the parts from a guy on the same project, which is how I figured out that the problem was the adapter.

On a side note, I was in a huge rush to buy the parts this morning before work. And going to the PC parts section of Yodobashi camera, I told a salesguy that I was looking for an AC adapter. I was annoyed to be asked if it was for computers. Dude, why would I come to the PC parts section for anything else? But I guess they can't assume anything. They probably sell all sorts of adapters. Still, why aren't the PC parts kept in the PC parts floor? Weirdos. j/k.

dell japan 3 day sale

Or so. Anyway, the computers look like pretty good deals.

I'm eyeing the 19" LCD monitor with TV tuner for about $680. I could get a whole setup for about $1280 ($680 + $600) but looking at U.S. Dell the computer portion is available for about $300 so I dunno. Laf.

Anyway, my primary need is for a TV. A regular TV is about $200 to $300. An LCD
14" TV is about $500. Hrm...

adobe

It's cool that IRS tax forms are now editable so that you can save any information
that you type in the form.

It's stupid that the newest version of Acrobat Reader includes Yahoo's tool
bar. Since I don't want the tool bar, I haven't downloaded the newest
version.

slamdunk stuff anyone?

Just wondering if anyone else is a fan and wants me to order stuff for them?

Lemme know... Laf.

slam dunk goods!

no key chain, but planning to spend about $120 on SlamDunk stuff. Heh. Aw yeah!

It's good to have income so I can buy useless but highly desired stuff.

Job tactics

Interesting slashdot article on How to Leave a Job on Good Terms