Webthoughts

If you've ever wondered how to program the output of the lyrics to "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" in any of 621 different programming languages, this site is for you.

Somebody has way too much time on their hands.

Well, in a incredible display of stupidity last night, I managed to cut off over half of my fingernail on an industrial cutter we have a work (from the middle finger on my right hand, in case it matters).

It's really amazing how difficult it is to type and perform other seemingly simple, everyday tasks without the use of that finger (I can't really put any pressure on it at the moment without very strong pain in the finger). I hope this thing heals up soon (although I know it will be months before I have my full fingernail back again).

After a particularly nasty week at work, I was looking forward to doing some hard relaxing this weekend. Of course, it didn't end up that way, but I had a very good, productive weekend nonetheless.

I know it's opening day and all and I know no one really expected much out of the Diamondbacks this season. I also know that it's just the first game of the season for both teams and that anything could happen. But really, 16-6? Ouch!

Of course, it wasn't really a pitcher's duel for either team, what with Arizona giving up 23 hits and Chicago giving up 12. And what was up with Zambrano getting tossed in the fifth? Really Carlos, it's just the first game of the season. There's nothing to get upset about being pulled in the fifth.

Yes, this game is nothing to base predictions for the season on, but with 23 hits and no Sammy Sosa or Moises Alou, things look pretty good right now for the Cubs in the offense department.

Now we'll see what I say about that after tomorrow's game!

So, in a previous entry, I said (somewhat jestingly) that it looked like the Cubs offense wasn't hurting at all this season. I then said I may say something else after the second game of the season.

Heh.

So, the Cubs lost 5-4 to the Diamondback's yesterday despite a late inning rally. Of course, they did it just to spite me and my enthusiasm from the earlier post. Of course.

So, now, obviously, two games into the season, the Cubs are in disarray, they really miss Sammy and Moises and all is lost.

Pay no attention to anything I say. I never make any sense. *grins*

Well, my day has started out rather poorly.

My wife was backing out of the driveway this morning to go to work (I was eating breakfast at the time) when there was suddenly a loud "POW!" and the front of the car jerked. Not knowing what the noise was (I heard it from inside), I ran outside to see what had happened. My wife was just getting out of the car.

After a quick walk-around of the car, we saw the passenger-side front tire was flat. But, worse than that, that corner of the car was sitting almost on the ground. Uh-oh.

I got the car jacked up and the wheel off. That's when I saw it. The spring had broken. It was literally now in two pieces. Yes, the spring itself. In the process of breaking, the spring ripped up the inner sidewall of the tire (causing it to go flat).

Needless to say, the car was not drivable, even with a spare. So, one flat-bed truck later, the car is at my mechanic's shop.

This is likely to be expensive.

As I thought it might, it did go slightly out of tune when it was delivered. But, luckily, my brother knows tuning pianos, so all it'll take is dinner for he and his wife and I'll have myself a tuned piano.

Well, $1,000 dollars later, the car's fixed. I took it to the mechanic my family's used for years and he was surprised to see the damage done. He says he's never seen a front spring go like that (rear ones, yes. Just not front ones).

So, comments are working again. No more authentication errors or anything else of the sort.

If SpamLookup works out well, great. If not, then comments will go inactive again until I figure out the authentication problems.

Who knows? Maybe one of these days, I'll get around to finishing up the stylesheets for the archive pages as well!

From around pretty much everywhere: Are you a closer, minimizer or hider?

In the old Mac OS 9 days, I was a hider. I'd constantly be heading up the application menu in the upper-right corner of the screen to hide the application I was in if I needed to access the desktop or another application.

However, in Mac OS X, things aren't so clear-cut. I minimize and hide both. If I had to absolutely pick one, I'd have to say I'm a hider. Command-H is used often, but I find that more often than not, the application I want to switch to rarely comes forward when I hide the current application. I can't get used to the Command-Option-Click shortcut in the dock to hide all but the current app because I rarely use the dock (it stays hidden most of the time).

I wish I could get used to Exposé, but I haven't been able to get in the habit. I keep forgetting it's there. Maybe I'll use it more in Tiger if I get used to the Dashboard being around. Or maybe that last sentence is complete nonsense.

Will Mark Prior be able to go the distance this season?

Okay, yes, I know it's a somewhat narrow focus for this question, but with Mark Prior making his season opening start today for the Cubs, I thought I'd throw it out there.

Although I would love for the answer to be yes, I have severe doubts. The types of injuries he's had tend to be nagging and have a chance to affect his performance all season this year, even if he does last all year long.

I guess we'll see how it all plays out.

Print Window 3.1.3 should be released soon. Despite my earlier plans, I decided that another 3.x release was a good idea to address some lingering issues with the software.

This release makes changes to how file and folder sizes are handled and printed, makes a change in the way sorting is handled and fixes a few other minor issues.

I've sent the release to beta testers, so pending their approval, you should see it early next week sometime (or possibly over the weekend).

THE ZOOMQUILT: a collaborative art project

This is a very neat concept with slick execution. It's slightly disturbing in places, so be forewarned, but nothing too bad.

Today was spent mostly outdoors. After a rather chilly morning (it got down to about 29° last night), it turned into a really nice day.

Starting about Noon, I mowed the lawn, repaired ground, planted grass seed, washed a car, cleaned out gutters, and ended the day with a softball game.