Castle Shima

Besides, when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush. -- Alice Cooper

Tower View
The Rings To Mortal Men
Unlike alot of my contemporaries, I loved watching the Olympics. It feels strange not having it on at night or not watching it as soon as I get home from work. I know that this event doesnt hold the majesty that it once did, but I love watching the international competition. This is what the world is supposed to be like, being together in a (somewhat) peaceful environment.

I was impressed with the opening and ending ceremonies. The Chinese performances for the closing ceremonies were just a taste of what is to come in 2008.

The one thing that I noticed was during the ending festivities, the parade of nations wasnt as large as it was during the opening one. I guess the Phillipine delegation already ran away.
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Out In The Yard
Woman with last her $2 wins $18 million. Time to go to Vegas!
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Woman pepper sprays grocer for food. She really wanted his meat.
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Farscape:The Peacekeeper Wars comes out soon. I'm not a fan of the series, but I know plenty of other folks who are.
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Vengence came for the cake. At least he didnt give them a whiff of his Bat-gas.
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Hero has finally come out in the US! This is a Chinese period piece similiar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon so dont watch it if you are expecting a no brainer action movie.
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Background Noise
Housequake by Prince

We got the baddest jam in the land
Everybody shut up...
Listen to the band...
Housequake!
Shut up already...
Damn...

***************************************
* Days go by
* And still I think of you
* Days when I couldnt live
* My life without you
***************************************

What the? Did you just shoot at me with your eyes closed?! -- Detective Spooner from I, Robot

Tower View
Both Sides Of The Coin
Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living, I have to explain that I am a systems analyst with a specialities in data warehousing, data marts, business intelligence tools, and project management.

In English, that means I work with computers and data.

Whenever I talk about my work or computers in general, I try to keep the conversation as non-technical as possible. This is because not everyone knows all the little abbreviations that geeks like me tend to talk about. Almost everyone at one point or another has had to deal with a computer person practically speaking in tongues, especially when they need computer help.

Apparently, even we computer folks are not invunerable to this kind of thing.

Home networking is not forte, but I've been lucky enough to have my friends, Fury and Methos, help me set up a miniature newtork by linking my computers to a router, then to my cable modem.

For those that dont know what a router is, its a small box that lets you hook up multiple computers to it. Then this box would pass signals from your computers to the cable modem. This way they all can share the same modem.

Last week, when I couldnt connect to the Internet, the first thing that came to mind was that the modem went bad. After all, it was several years old.

When I called my cable company's technical support, the technician walked me thru several procedures. After a few minutes, he suggested that I exchange the old modem for a new one then to call them back to get it set up for the network.

After running down to one of their offices and exchanging modems, I hooked up the new device and called the technical support team again. A different tech responded, but once again, she walked me thru several steps.

Thirty minutes later we realized that the original modem was fine, but that both my router and network card had burned out. Before we could do anything else, a shopping trip was required.

The good part was that, according to this technician, I should be able to simply connect their modem to my new network router, turn everything off, and then turn everything back on. The connections would work automatically afterwards.

I believed the tech since Methos, who works for this company and specializes in networking, had told me the same thing a few weeks back.

So of course, it didnt work for me.

When I returned home with the new parts and got them set up, there was still no response from the modem. My computer could see the router and the modem could see the router, but the router would not let my computer talk to the modem.

This was going to require yet another call to the cable company's technical support.

This time, a technician named Pauline responded to my call. When I explained my problem to Pauline and asked what I was doing wrong, she told me "Remove the router. You dont need to to use it."

When I asked her how this was going to solve my problem, she simply replied "Your computer will be able to reach the Internet."

Well, duh.

I asked her how this was going to resolve my issue of connecting my multiple computers to the cable modem. Pauline told me "Just connect the wire from the modem to whichever computer you want to use for the Internet."

I almost blurted out Are you f**king kidding me?!

As calmly as I could, with my hands shaking slightly, I asked why I would do something like that. Pauline then tells me that her company doesnt handle routers and they dont support home networks.

So I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Let me get this straight. You are telling me that your company, which spends thousands of dollars promoting the home networking capability on television and on your website, which recommends the very same router I have here, does not support home networks."

"Oh no, sir. We just sell separate connections to people that want to use multiple computers."

The sentence almost came out again: Are you f**king kidding me?!

Needless to say, that call ended shortly afterwards. I know I should have gotten her manager right after that, but the sentence kept wanting to be screamed out.

Fortunately, Fury was able to help me get the connection working properly. After that I wrote a letter to the cable company praising the first 2 technicians and then recommending that Pauline be hung upside down by her toes.

Actually, I was abit kinder than that. I should have suggested beating her head in with the company manual.

That might have helped, but somehow I doubt it.
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Out In The Yard
Tyler wins the Gold in the Olympic Time Trial. Rah!
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Parody video from MoveOnPlease.Org takes a shot at Mooreon.. Have fun with this one!
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Here is the lazy man's sniper rifle from Barrett. I'm going to have to get me one of those...
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Background Noise
Stand Or Fall by The Fixx

Is this the value of high existance?
should we proclaim with such persistance?
Our destiny relies on conscience...
Red or blue,
Whats the difference?
Stand or fall...
state your peace tonight...

***************************************
* Days go by
* And still I think of you
* Days when I couldnt live
* My life without you
***************************************

There are those days where I just crave that taste in my mouth. -- Patty at work, discussing spicy food. Right.

Tower View
Sarcasm Part 1
The prosecutor in the Kobe Bryant rape trial wants to delay the hearing. Apparently they dont feel they can get a fair trial now.

Gee I wonder why. The case has been blown open now. The accuser may actually have to testify about the fact she had sex with another man after her time with Kobe. That this event was so traumatic that she had to have sex again just to figure out it was a rape.

Either that or he was so bad that she had to compensate with another man...

So what else is there to do? Try to squeeze money out of the man if you cant prove the truth to twelve of your peers! I thought matters like these were never supposed to be about the money.

Who am I kidding? Of course it was about the money.

So on with the civil suit...
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Sarcasm Part 2
Is it me or is Walmart contributing to the death rate? I say this because every time I go inside that store, I always feel like I want to kill myself.

Twice I went there last week. Twice I felt my will to live just sucked right out of me.

Why is everyone in there always have LOTS of teeth missing and wear clothing with more holes than swiss cheese? And those are the employees.

The clientele range from those believing that bedroom slippers are appropriate footwear in public to those that may not to have bathed in over a week.

I know I'm a snob. I know that not every person that walks into Walmart is a backwoods, tobacco chewing, mullet wearing redneck. But its really hard to deny the fact that when every time I walk in there, I'm surrounded by these stereotypes.

This is what I get for trying to find an inexpensive backpack at 10p at night.

Just put me on suicide watch.
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Out In The Yard
Swordwielding thief shot by police. Never bring a sword to a gun fight.
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Two men engage in a "sword" fight at Home Depot. So where are the outraged people out to ban those deadly 2x4's?
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Man escapes police by drowning himself. He avoided jailtime, didnt he?
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Live Strong goes across the nation. Now I wont have to keep explaining why I have a yellow wristband to everyone.
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Background Noise
Who Knows by Avril Lavigne

Find yourself
Because I cant find you.
Be yourself.
Who are you?
Who knows what could happen.
Do what you do,
Just keep on laughing.
One thing's true,
There is always a brand new day...

***************************************
* Days go by
* And still I think of you
* Days when I couldnt live
* My life without you
***************************************

I dont need Michael Moore to tell me about September 11. -- Rudy Guiliani

Tower View
Moments In Time
It feels strange not watching cycling on tv any more.

The Outdoor Life Network put quite a bit of money into broadcasting this year's Tour de France. Commercials were asking "Where were you during the Cyclysm?" as the ever hyper Jason Lee was proclaiming Lance was going to "beat the crepes of every pedal pusher in the world!".

And their investment paid off. Not only did we in the US get to watch Lance make this historic event, but we got to watch him do it in a dominanting fashion.

The best thing that we average folks can do is buy the clothes and relive the memories.

And I'm just waiting so I can get mine. Heh...
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Points Variance
Cool Points go to:
1. Matt Damon. The Bourne Supremacy was excellent and when asked who he was going to vote for, he simply said "I'm going to vote for Kerry." I may not agree with his decision, but I like the fact he kept it short and to the point. No long winded speeches.

2. The lunchtime Marines - They were polite. They were courteous. They made it known that they didnt appreciate Kerry interrupting their lunch.

3. The Pantagraph for sueing Michael Moore and demanding a public apology using their paper for "unauthorized... misleading" use of the newspaper opinion page.

4. Tyler says goodbye to best pal, Tugboat.

This weeks Stupidity Points go to:
1. Saturday Night Live for having Al Sharpton host. Not a funny show and Al simply didnt help any.

2. The Tonight Show for having Michael Moore on the show. After having Bill Maher on the show, we pretty much figured who you were voting for, Jay.

3. The FCC. If Janet Jackson and Howard Stern are getting in trouble for their on air antics, why isnt the manager who handled the Democratic Convention being cited? This man said "Dont you people know what the f**k you are doing?!" during a live broadcast and not a single peep from the FCC.

Then again, its not like anyone actually watched this thing.

4. Mike Imrem for his article saying top athletes dont cycle and Lance Armstrong is not a tough guy when compared to Ricky Williams. Apparently Mike has forgetten that cycling is mandatory for many football players.

Ronnie Lott, one of the hardest hitters in the sport, was always seen on his riding his bike on the streets of San Fransico.

Mike also forgot that Armstrong was a triathlete and a cyclist for most of his life, suffering through the hurt and pain of the European mountains as well as against cancer.

Ricky is a powerful runner but has left the sport after seven years in the pro league. Six of those past years has seen Armstrong winning the most grueling, painful race in the world.

And he isnt the toughest athlete. Right.
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Out In The Yard
Phillipines upset by Australia's criticism on troop withdrawal. How dare they be called cowards! Unlike the French, the Filipinos kept their rifles when they ran from the fight.
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Fire fighting with manure. Now that is some sh_t.
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Save the Chili Cheese! Apparently we dont have enough gas in the world.
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Elderly man drives tractor thru McDonald's. Apparently, the Farmer's Market was closed.
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Background Noise
Alone + Easy Target by Foo Fighters

Head is on...
I want out...
I'm alone
And I'm an easy target...
Metronome...
I want out...
I'm alone
And I'm an easy target


***************************************
* Days go by
* And still I think of you
* Days when I couldnt live
* My life without you
***************************************