cleverswine.net

This morning I was browsing Weather Underground because there are lots of neat weather related features on that site (almanacs, astrology, maps galore, etc). I was looking through the various Portland weather stations and came across one called “Felony Flats, Portland, OR“. I thought that was pretty funny. What’s funnier is the link to the station’s web site: Coffin Cruisers Hearse Club of Portland. I had no idea there existed a community of people who drive hearses (and have personal weather stations).

I know it’s lame to duplicate a blog post from someone else, but I must quote what I saw on Jason Kottke’s web site today. I guess I’m one of the 5k at the moment.

Some days, the web feels like 5 people trying to make something; 5k people turning it into a list; and 500MM people saying, “FAIL.”

From Portland Metblogs:

Why do people feel compelled to take a summer vacation - when everyone else is doing so - prices are higher - it’s hot and sticky and gross outside?
Read more here

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here, but I can’t say that I have anything real interesting to write about…

It’s 98 degrees in Gresham right now.

My contracting job is almost up, and we banged out this web site in 6 weeks: http://www.xrankcelebrity5.com/. There’s a good chance that I will stay and work full time for this company (Avenue A | Razorfish).

Bren is having her wedding dress altered today, or something like that. I’m staying inside the air-conditioned house.

We just finished watching “The Wire” seasons 1-4, and now we’re watching “Dexter“. The Wire was great, and so is Dexter so far.

I installed a plugin for Windows Media Center to watch Netflix Watch Now movies via the WMC interface. It’s nice.

The Astros are awful. They will be playing the BoSox again today. The Kansas City Royals are doing as well as the ‘Stros.

I like this comic, as I believe that everything can be explained via mathematics.

Purity

This comic is especially funny since I’m about to get married.
http://www.lessaid.net/fun/apt-get-wife.png
Note: apt-get is a Linux (Debian) command to install software, therefore “apt-get install wife” says to add wife to the system.

For those who know what I do for a living, but don’t actually know what I do, I submit this link to an article called What Is Programming? If you would like to know what my levels of enthusiasm are, check here.

These are things that I am not: web designer, tech support, network engineer, and a bunch of other things that I can’t think of right off hand. I’ve not eaten today because I’ve been inspired and wired.

So I’ve been using FriendFeed for a few months now. It basically aggregates my online activity (mostly via “social” networks like Facebook and Flickr) and then provides a feed for anyone to consume. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s really too bad that we need something like this. I think it’s a sign that the social web is out of control. Anyway, I find it useful to track what my friends are doing on the web, since we have similar interests. To see what it looks like, check my feed here: http://friendfeed.com/cleverswine.

Meanwhile, I twittered for the first time last week. It wasn’t as good as people say it is. I’m unfulfilled.

Seeing a web nerd speak from the heart, for the whole world to see, is not all that common. I was pleasantly surprised when I came across this post on zenhabits. The author has written a letter to his 3 year old son, giving him advice on being happy in life’s journey. Note all of the positive comments that follow the post. I wouldn’t suggest that web nerds make a habit of this, as it would cease to be special, but it’s a nice break from the mundane “how-to” articles.

I’ve no time lately to write anything interesting, so I’ll present a list of interesting things that others have produced…

I’m very tempted to hand over $10 for this…
SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you something, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it.
Update: I bought something. I’ll post again when I find out what I bought.

A brilliant, yet simple, invention! Easy PB&J Jar

You’re not so cool after all…
10 Items You Think Make You Cool, But Don’t

CNN doesn’t know if calling Obama a monkey is racist or funny
I’ve actually been following this. To my amazement, most people outside of the U.S. and a lot of younger Americans have never heard of using “monkey” as a derogative term. Maybe the future is bright after all.