Oh, Yeah...

Forgot to mention that the birthday passed quietly awhile ago. Year XXXV.

Anyway, this was posted (not by me) coincidentally on my birthday. Appropos, since it does mention the land of my birth.


see Obama pictures

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The Fruits of a Month's Labor

GRE: 1280--V: 650, Q: 630

Won't know what the Analytical score is for a couple weeks.

Meh.

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Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

So, if you've been following the Wife's blog, you generally know what's going on in my life, aside from work and stuff. Which is why I've adopted this attitude for the past four months...



The Wife and I talked about this at dinner the other night. She told me, "Yeah, there is no this..."

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Going Corporate

I've just barely recovered from the flu-shot-proof Andromeda Strain that's been going around. And, the only real thing I have to show for all that time off is this proof that I'll not only gank stuff from YouTube, but even go legal to give you, the reader, quality content. The video in this post has long since been removed, I'm pleased to offer, thanks to Hulu...



And yup, it's really them.

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Yes, I've Said This

...because who says every day can't be a Law & Order marathon?


moar cute puppy pictures

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Soul Power, Redux

I admit it. It's not work or life that's been keeping me from keeping y'all updated. It's these masterworks from the Daptone Records catalog. Soul music in the Stax tradition. Most of the catalogue was recorded in analog and within the past 10-12 years. The albums below (which you can purchase on vinyl!) were all recorded in the past 5 or 6!

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Check out some samples...


SeeqPod - Playable Search

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Old School

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Ill, at Home, & Cruising teh Internets

I didn't feel so hot today, evidenced by the additional 3 hours of sleep I got this afternoon. So, I'm taking some time off to cruise teh internets...

1
7 Habits to Win in Office Politics

2
Man Cuts Off, Microwaves His Own Hand

via the esteemed Mr. Ellis

3
FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills

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Lifehack Linkspew

This year, my personal laziness just happened to coincide with a resolution I made before Christmas not to make any New Year's Resolutions. Why commit one time to something other than those things to which I've already committed to methodically achieving?

Because lifehacking is a lifestyle (Jesus Christ, did I just say that? Did I just invent that?) (ETA: Yes I did, according to the Google search I just did!)...anyway, here...

• 3 Reasons Why New Year's Resolutions Fail
  
• 6 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolution
  
• 11 Tips to Carve Out More Time to Think
  
• How to Use a Todo List to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever

I gotta go.

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Whew!

Sorry I was M.I.A.--well, no not really :). Between being plunged into holiday business, then family business, I've been too busy living it to blog about it. Still, I'm going to throw a few posts up because my "to blog" backlog is stacked up to my head, here.

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Holiday "Break"

...my ass. Holiday travel and year-end cleanup to do. So, I'm on strike today, and will probably be so for the next couple of days.

I'm watching videos...

1


via Warren Ellis

2
Strindberg + helium--yes, as in that Strindberg. Apologies, but I forgot where I ganked this from.

3
And, if I don't get to chat with y'all before Christmas (There, I said it! What're you gonna do about it?), then you can sing along...

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Rollin' on a River

Ike Turner, a Rock 'N' Roll Pioneer, Dies at 76

The best I can do for a tribute is this McSweeney's bit. If only our country's foreign policy was this advanced...

OK, America, you done fucked up again. Things got a little out of hand, and you went and blew up another country. Now you got everybody all mad at you, and you don't know what to do. Well, don't worry, America. Ike's been down this road before, and I know exactly how to handle it. You better listen to what I'm telling you, America. Ike knows what he's talking about, and Ike's willing to help you out as long as you do exactly what Ike says and stop being so stubborn. You dig?

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Ask a Filipino

Because I'm too lazy to answer these sorts of questions myself, here are some frequently asked Filipino non-martial-art-related questions...



via Hyphen Blog

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An Open Letter to All Inquiring Minds

This blog's definitely been thin on entries, and even thinner on actual life updates. You can blame, in part, life at The Big Red School on the Hill.

I can, however, offer a quick breakdown...

1
Work: Job is still good. It has its days of course, but thus far the major benefits (steady pay, insurance, and a golden ticket to a lot of community activities) still outweigh the occasional pain in the ass. Even the fact that didn't get a shot for a position that most people (at work) think I had a better than even shot at getting. I should've at least (so I'm told) been a sure-shot for an interview. Welp, never got one, which is okay really, because it was one of those situations where I had absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain by trying.

2
The Wife: I spent the weeks before Thanksgiving helping recover from, as a friend put it, "A hot oil treatment to the face."

3
While this is usually the time of year when I would bitch about the general inconvenience of the holidays or the idiocy of taking time off from work to engage in activities that are generally more tiring than the job you get paid for only to have to return to said job at the end of it, I'd have to say that I've been pretty good about keeping to the routines I've set for myself.

3
The writing: Keeping me busy. Freebies out on teh Intarwebs here and there. The goal for '08 is to have more paid stuff.

4
Training: was pretty dismal in '07. No yoga this past summer, just some classes with a local kung fu instructor who I happen to work with. My sparring impressed. My bow-legged horse stances did not. I've resolved to at least go back more frequently after the New Year, and hook up with a local FMA guru--the one who suspiciously eyed my sticks at a seminar awhile back.

Okay, now I'm going to collapse.

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Life Saver

Finally, I have time to blog because I took this piece of advice...

So it dawned on me to group my feeds by the way in which I want to read them, not by topic. If there were some feeds that I didn’t mind missing, and some of which I wanted to read every single word, I should organize them that way, not by their putative subject areas.

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Little Boy Blue and the Man

...wait, wrong one.

You're Cat's Cradle!

by Kurt Vonnegut

You believe quite firmly that free will deserted you long ago and far away. As a result, it's hard to take responsibility for anything. Even though you show great potential as a leader of a small 3rd world country, the choices are all made ahead of time. You're rather fond of games involving string. Your fear of nuclear weaponry is trumped only by your fear of ice.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

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Eyes--Back in My Head, Now!

Yes, I've got a short respite until I'm back in the academic diamond mines. And, like an absentee parent who shows up out of the blue once every other holiday, dispensing money and presents before disappearing for the next few milestones of your childhood, I leave you this...



Yes, that's them.

Via Warren Ellis

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What a Shitty Thing to Wake Up To

Norman Mailer, Author and Social Critic, Dies at 84

Weekend Edition Saturday, November 10, 2007 · Norman Mailer, who burst on the literary scene in 1948 and published his most recent book just last month, died Saturday at the age of 84. Co-founder of the Village Voice, the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award, he was nonetheless a controversial figure who lived life large.

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One-Click Usury!

Because why should Vinnie the Loan Shark have all the fun?

Person-To-Person Lending Flourishes on Web
by Jessica Smith

Morning Edition November 2 2007 · Known as a nation of borrowers America at last count had a collective $2.5 trillion in consumer debt. But it could fast become a nation of lenders as Web sites that enable ordinary people to lend to each other flourish. Welcome to the era of coffee shop money lending. In a café in Washington D.C. 31-year-old Kelly Vielmo stares at a laptop screen and browses a listing of people who want to borrow money. He has logged into his account at 'person-to-person' lending site Prosper.com.

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"You're the Inspiration"

This is why I scored 99% as a "sci-fi/comic" nerd...



From Jeff Vandermeer's Ecstatic days

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