On the way to Nick's cabin in Coldwater, MI for my bachelor party weekend.
Mikey is driving with my brother Scott (best man), but I'm not entirely sure whether his coming is supposed to be a surprise or not...






 Only in California... (See what I'm talking about)
OK, so some crazies in California have covered their house in aluminum because they think their neighbors are bombarding them with radio waves. We all know that there are nutcases out there doing this sort of thing.
Yes, it's silly. Sure, it's ugly. But why is it illegal?
Are there nutcases like these folks in other countries? I'm forced to think of those "proud to be an American" country songs... Are you really proud to live next to these people? I mean, REALLY? We're all headcases.





 Problem du jour
Ugh. So, as if planning (and paying for!) a wedding isn't enough, Dana and I have to be in Houston, as most of you know, five days after we get married. In Chicago. So in addition to all the wedding hullaballoo, we've got to find reputable movers, get a quote, and secure their services.

All of this is much, much harder than you can possibly imagine. See, any good moving company (any company you would trust, say, moving everything you own across the country) will come to your house to give you an accurate, weight-based estimate (who knows these things?). After getting the estimate you have to make sure they don't have too many complaints, make sure they've got all the right insurance, and all kinds of other nastiness that one just doesn't have time for while working full-time, trying to get married, and set up a home office half a country away, among the other, more trivial problems that life offers up (like the Sox taking two out of three in the Cubs-Sox series this past weekend).

Anyway..

On top of all THAT, we happen to be moving in the middle of the summer, when everyone else in the world moves. And we're moving at the end of the month, when nobody has trucks available (because everyone wants to move at the end of the month). Add on top of that the fact that the truck WOULD arrive the first several days of July, if it wasn't a holiday weekend, and will likely be delayed because of that, and that I have to start working from home on the FIFTH, and one wonders how all the stuff will even get from the truck into the house (if we hire, as we're now discussing, a you-pack-it-we-drive-it kind of company).

Dana is being an angel and trying to coordinate all this from work. Our newest option: come pick up our stuff BEFORE the wedding but don't deliver it until AFTER we get to Houston. Let's hope we can be accommodated.

UPDATE: I've posted this thread at movingscam.com to solicit help, if you'd like to follow along.





 More PSP stuff (See what I'm talking about)
OK, I realize nobody but my brother cares about most of this stuff (And I really just post it to get on his Nintendo-fan-boy nerves), but now the hacker community have gotten a PC Engine emulator to run on the PSP.

And for those of us who aren't Japanese, the PC Engine is what we called the TurboGrafx-16 here in the states. While most of the rest of you were playing Sega, we were playing TurboGrafx. Bonk!





 Birds attack Houston residents (See what I'm talking about)
Just what, exactly, are we getting ourselves into?

From the cnn.com article: "Like a scene from the horror movie 'The Birds,' large black grackles are swooping down on downtown Houston and attacking people's heads, hair and backs."





 PSP Hacker: PS3 & PSP Buddies (See what I'm talking about)
Well, all the news is coming out. One of my wishes (so far) has come true: PSP-PS3 integration.

Now tell me about the TiVo! Please, please please. And the rumor about a possible Apple-Sony media partnership? YES PLEASE!

The specs for the new PS3 are pretty freaking sweet. And I'm especially wondering why they find it necessary to put TWO HDMI connections in the box.... Hmmmm......





 70-miler (See what I'm talking about)
Went on a short ride Saturday (a little short of 30 on Saturday with Matt, Crea, Hutch and Bally), but the big one was the 70-miler Fas and I did Sunday, from my parents' house to Bally's in Grayslake and back (map to the right is not really indicative of the route we took). It ended up being just a shade under 68, actually, so we rode around for another two miles to make it a nice, round 70.

Yes, I'm aware that 68 is a round number.

These big rides (and more to come) are basically to prepare me for the Udder Century, planned for several weeks from now (which reminds me, I have to register still), all leading up to the 24 Hour Challenge the weekend before my wedding (my bib number: 207).

If I had to do a century yesterday, I could have, but we lucked out as the 15mph winds were only against us the first half.





 Xbox 360: big letdown. (See what I'm talking about)

While I didn't watch last night's MTV "special unveiling" (it's TiVoed for later perusal), I was able to catch a couple synopses of the event online, including this one from Gizmodo, helpfully telling us what the new Xbox is not.

It's NOT a PVR, it's a media streaming device (so if I have pictures or a movie on my PC, I can play it on TV via the Xbox, but that's it). No TV recording. No DVD burning, and especially, no iPod-killing MP3 player (but the removable 20GB hard drive is a reality - what purpose it will serve remains to be seen).

Oh well. We'll have to wait a week for E3 until the Sony unveiling, and the two can duke it out for my money. Plenty of time to decide.

Besides, I still need my PSP first. :)





 Email from state.gov
OK, I'm taking a survey here. WTF should I do?

I just got an email from someone with a *very* similar name to mine, with the email origination from state.gov (the US Department of State. Yes, I checked the header - it's legit).

It was very simple: subject is "NPT RevCon provisional list of participants", the complete text of the email is "save for London", and there's a PDF attached. No, I have not (and will not) open the PDF.

So I asked my good friend, Google, what this NPT RevCon might be. Oh, yeah. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

WTF do I do? It's pretty obvious this guy is trying to email himself this PDF from work (strangely, the header says the message is addressed to mark.fitz -=at=- gmail dot com, when my address is markfitz. How did it get to me? Does gmail allow "dot" names in their email addresses? Did GMail screw this up, or is this dude a complete idiot?

Anyway, please leave a comment. Should I: do nothing, email the dude, or email GMail? Or something else?

Let me know.





 PS3 vs. XBOX360 wishes
OK, so assuming the new XBOX is everything that they speculate it will be (PVR, iPod, and online console with WiFi, wireless controllers, etc; not to mention with a 6 month lead on the new PlayStation or Nintendo Revolution), my guess is that to survive, Sony's going to need to do something radical.

Duh, right? OK. So let's assume that Sony has all the third-party support they do now (they will), and that the technology they include will be on par with XBOX360 (it will). If they don't have the PVR functions that the XBOX has I just don't know why I would get one.

So here's my pitch to Sony: spend the extra six months you have tightly integrating the PS3 with the PSP. Get a slot in the damn thing for CableCard, and here's the kicker: license the TiVo software. Bring them to the next level. Share video with other TiVos on the network.

Paypal donations from either Sony OR TiVo are welcome.





 m a r k a n d d a n a . c o m (See what I'm talking about)
Finally have some updates on the wedding website, but right now all that's there is the new scrolling images control on the right of the page. This thing took freaking forever to get working correctly (I didn't have any problems with it, save for the custom scrolling graphics, which will have to be updated - it just took a lot of time).

I feel the inner web-geek coming out again. Finally!





Keep laTroy off the field and we just might hold on to this one!










 More reasons to want a PSP... (See what I'm talking about)
Napolean Dynamite on UMD for PSP, a new gameboy emulator... What more could a guy ask for?

Oh yeah, AMPLITUDE! GIVE ME AMPLITUDE ON PSP AND I WILL BUY ONE, SONY!





 Moving (See what I'm talking about)
MovingScam.com :: View topic - Julie Brown's moving saga: "Start packing as soon as possible. Packing allows you to see what you don't need. Unload the closets, drawers, and extra rooms. We threw away an average of 2 huge trash bags a week of junk--and we will have two full carloads of donations to Goodwill. We also sold about 30% of what we owned. Everyone owns more than they think they do. Also, never underestimate how long it takes ti wrap every piece of glassware you own in something protective. "

As if planning the wedding wasn't enough. This is going to be a complete nightmare. Not to mention all the reports of how easily (and often) people are scammed by movers. Especially inter-state.

Seeing as most (all?) movers charge per pound, this should be a good way for me to get rid of some stuff that I really don't need. Finding a reputable mover, though - and quickly - is going to be the biggest challenge..





 Star Wars TV
Star Wars saga will continue after next week's release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. George Lucas has confirmed he will shoot a tie-in TV series.���: "We're going to do a live action show based on minor characters in the Star Wars series.

'It's a spin-off, it doesn't involve any of the key characters. It's a different world unto itself between episodes three Revenge of the Sith; and four Star Wars: A New Hope,' he told Australian The Daily Telegraph.

'It's a definite that we do it - the rest we haven't discussed on any level,' producer Rick McCallum confirmed.

The intention was to produce 100 hour-long Star Wars TV episodes that would use Sydney actors, directors and crew. - that being the number necessary to sell the series into lucrative television syndication. "

No comment.... yet...





  Great news!

Email from my supervisor below. Names italicized and genericized to protect... well, to protect me:

Mark--

I was holding off because manager wanted to work out the final terms with me, but manager has not been available to talk the last two days so I'm just going to tell you:

BIG BOSS (last remaining hurdle) has agreed & all hurdles have been cleared, & you will be allowed to telecommute from Texas.

Congratulations!
Supervisor


INSERT SIGH OF RELIEF HERE.





 Court blocks TV anti-piracy tech rules
Salon.com Technology | Court blocks TV anti-piracy tech rules: "'Are washing machines next?'"

Yes! Down with the FCC regulating how I can record shows. It's freaking hard enough to get something I recorded on the TiVo to DVD, for crying out loud!






Sweetness. google maps on TiVo. This is my house. :) Posted by Hello






Testing a little hack within Hello for the send to Blogger. Here's Big E in his natural habitat. Posted by Hello






Here's my first experiment with the Rasterbator, an online tool that takes pretty much any image you can throw at it and blows it up to pretty much any size you can imagine. This is a picture of the Big E that's 9x5 8.5"x11" sheets of paper. I have one of Lance Armstrong that's an additional 40 pages or so in size, but I want to take the time to trip the borders off that one before I put it up. Posted by Hello





 Picture message
test forward


iTunes control on the TiVo. Awesome!










 Another morning commute story..
So i never got around to posting it earlier, and don't want to let this one escape the ole memory banks before jotting it down..

When I got on the el this morning, there was this transvestite like hangong on one of the vertical poles next to an (the only) open seat, blocking it. (S)he looked pretty tired or otherwise out of it, but the hands, face, and especially budding moustache definitely 'outed' her.

The point of this is, I thought about it for a while, and I'd like to say I made eye contact and smiled and went on my way, but there was something about it that just made me uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was the sexual ambiguity or incomplete transformation or what, but I felt myself consciously trying to not think about how strange I thought the whole thing was. Of course, (s)he was hanging on the pole like a stripper who'd had too much medication, and kiind of unintentionally stuck her butt in the face of the person next to her whenever the train slowed or stopped... That was pretty weird.

I guess it's no different than the totally strung-out guy D and I saw on the el on our way to Houston last weekend...

Whatever. Just needed to do a memory dump.





 MedGadget blog: MedSight (See what I'm talking about)
MaxSight: Performance-Enhancing Contact Lenses - MedGadget - www.medgadget.com: "performance-enhancing contact lenses... designed to help hitters pick up the seams on the ball better and to protect the eyes from the sun."

Did I just find the perfect blog marriage between Dana and me? Med gadgets? Sweet!

..I'm still waiting for my infra-red and night-vision ocular implants, though...





 Houston!
Here are our pics of our trip to Houston, including those of our new place.










So, I'm on my way home from work, putting an official end to this tough week. Technically, I'm not going home, though. Decided it would be a good idea for me to spend a couple hours in a dark room with some strangers, so I'm headed via bus to catch a screening of Sin City. Any other movie and i might fall asleep...



I uploaded this via Flickr just over a week ago. Awesome.





 *IF* I can't keep my job...
I hope this isn't a sign.. Just read this in last week's RBR newsletter. I imagine I'd handle things in a similar vein. Maybe add some more alcohol to the story though...

I was riding on my lunch hour-or-so last week when my buddy Phil pedaled up next to me. “What’re you doing way out here?” I asked, knowing that he works in another town and wouldn’t have time to ride this far on his lunch break.

“I got laid off this morning,” Phil said. “Fifty jobs gone -- outsourced to China.” Meanwhile, the president of the holding company that owns Phil’s company got paid -- I hesitate to say “earned” -- $46 million last year.

Whoa. You could buy, oh, 4,600 gold-plated Colnagos with his paycheck. That’s a new Colnago every day for 12 years. “Dang, got a speck of dirt on my chain. Time for a fresh bike.”

Sure seems like a lot of money to pay a guy who can’t do something really important like dunk a basketball. Then again, I got a C in Economics 101. And promptly switched my major to philosophy, which is another strike against me.

But back to Phil. The reason I’m not worried about him is that as soon as bad news struck, he got on his bike. Forget paying $150 an hour to lie on a couch and talk to a stranger about strangling your mother. The best therapy comes on two wheels.

When I got laid off, first thing I did was go for a ride. When I got laid off again two years later, I tucked my pink slip in my jersey pocket and hit the road. Downsize this, you miserable bean counters.

My non-cycling friends say, “How could you go for a ride at a time like that?”

To which I say, “How could I not go for a ride at a time like that?”





 Back from Houston...
Well, D and I are back from Houston, and the trip was (mostly) successful. In the successful column we may record that we found an apartment for next year (and nice landlords, heaven be praised), we're just a few blocks away from a number of bars (and bike lanes all the way - who knew), we have *gasp* a front AND backyard, and we're getting to know the city a lot better (though we've got a long way to go still).

Houston is pretty weird, for those of you who have never been there. The city doesn't have any zoning laws, so you'll see an industrial park next to a strip mall, both surrounded by residences adjacent to the downtown area. And there's seemingly no warning or order to any of the mess. That being said, we're living four blocks from "The Village", which is pretty cool, on a nice tree-lined street. Pictures to come.

Under the unsuccessful column, of course, we will record the two Cubs losses this weekend. Oh well.

Of note: there were a shitload of people in Cubs stuff at the game in Houston on Saturday (we had awesome seats). That being said, most people were pretty cool about it. Sure, you'd have the screaming groups of kids whenever they passed by a Cubs fan, but the single most strange thing was the middle-aged woman who - I'm not making this up - growled at us. Very strange.

Bonus: instead of 16-oz Old Style (which will always hold a place close to my heart), they have 23-oz Shiner Boxk at the game.

Also of note: Beer is much more expensive at Minute Maid than at Wrigley. But my hot dog was ENORMOUS.