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4.24.2004
Does this look like a man who had all he could eat?

Mr. Simpson, this is the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since my suit against the film, "The Never-Ending Story".

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4.22.2004
Guess I don't have to worry about counting my eggs. As I was walking in the door this morning I had a phone call waiting. I got the job. That was quick. Unfortunately, this will probably be the only time in my life when I'll be getting a 100% raise.

So, yeah, I start Monday.

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4.21.2004
On Monday I had an interview for a position currently open at work. It seemed to go fairly well, although I was a bit taken aback near the end. Something along the lines of "since we have to send you places to get trained, which will cost us between $3,000 and $4,000, we expect you to stay in the position for at least 3 years. Do you really want to do this for 3 years?" Hmm. I said "sure, yeah", but the real question is, how would I know if I wanted to stay in the position for 3 years if I'm not doing it yet? As of yet I haven't figured that one out. Of course, I suppose I shouldn't count my chickens before they've hatched, so we'll wait and see what happens.

Apparently since I'm a Blogger user I get to try out Gmail early. That's cool, although I honestly don't have much use for it, having my own domain and all. Having a gig of space on a free service is pretty nifty, though.

Not much else to speak of. We're currently trying out a cable modem (we already have DSL). The pure speed is certainly faster (we're *really* far away for DSL, and as such we can only get around 500k/s download if we're lucky), but I honestly don't notice much difference on web sites, and I like the idea of no restrictions with DSL (TDS gives you up to 254 IP addresses and doesn't care if you run a server). I just wish I could convince TDS to put a remote DSLAM (what you connect to) near here, so we could actually get full speeds. I'm not exactly ready to get a T-1 just yet.

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4.13.2004
I guess things haven't changed that much over the last 50 years:
04-13-04-1.jpg

04-13-04-2.jpg

And this would be the current state of the wall at the South end of the dining room (that's a single sheet of drywall up there, 4'x12'):
04-13-04-3t.jpg

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4.09.2004
After over two years of prodding (ok, so I haven't really done much lately), Carrie finally has her very own blog (which, BTW Carrie, stands for Web log). As I mentioned there, hopefully she can keep it both more interesting and updated than the rest of us. Looking back over some of my previous posts reveals quite a bit of, well, boringness. And I don't think this one is exactly that high on the excitement ladder.

The ReStore comes to the rescue yet again. Previously, I had picked up tons of CAT-5 for a mere $10. The plan has been to get some keystone RJ-45 jacks for around the house, but unfortunately they are quite expensive (ie, $4 for one jack). Today they had a whole bunch of boxes that had apparently come out of some place with electrical outlets and 3 RJ-45 jacks for $2 a pop. The wiring blocks are a bit wide, so you can't put two side by side, but other than that, 3 for $2 sure beats 1 for $4.

The kids went to the vet today to get their comprehensive exams and dental cleanings. Freckles apparently had chipped a tooth, which had exposed the pulp inside. I'm pretty amazed that she didn't seem to have a problem with it. We had the option of either having it pulled (for $88) or getting a root canal (possibly $700-$800). It didn't take much thought to choose the former, especially when the vet said she'd be fine without it. They're currently zonked out, still recovering from being put under.

And with that, it's bed time.

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4.01.2004
[shakes head]

As many of you may (or may not) know, I've been busy lately working on the dining room, specifically getting the walls all patched up and ready for paint. In the process I've had to rip up some of the carpet in places, which is fine, since there's a wood floor underneath which we plan on exposing once everything is painted. Well, in the entry way there had been some vinyl flooring. We didn't mind it that much, but when I ripped up the carpeting near there I noticed that the wood floor appeared to continue into the entry way.

What did I find? Well, first I found there was not one, but two layers of said vinyl flooring. Below that was plywood. As I began to rip up the plywood, I noticed there was *more* vinyl flooring below that. And below THAT was a layer of vinyl tiles. And finally below that, wood.

Of course, I'm using the past tense here, but I've only started to rip up the two layers that were beneath the plywood. Unfortunately I have a feeling some refinishing will be in order...

On another note, we say a girl today who couldn't have been more than 13 or 14. What made her unique was she was wearing some buttons. One was along the lines of "Eating a hamburger stops a beating heart". Another was "You're NOT an environmentalist if you eat meat", which continued on about how "factory farms" are a leading source of pollution. I resisted the urge to ask her if you could be an environmentalist if you ate organically grown meat. Needless to say I was a bit taken aback that someone so young could be so opinionated about such a complex issue.

Of course, the irony here is that while she did get a salad, we were all eating at Fuddruckers, known for the "World's Greatest Hamburgers".

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The Simpsons Archive

Vital stats:
DOB 2/16/79. I'm a web developer at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. I like lots of old music, including The Who. I spend a lot of time working with computers. And my favorite TV show (when I actually decide to watch TV, that is), obviously, is The Simpsons.

Education:
In May 2002 I officially graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BS in computer science. In 1997 (man that seems like a long time ago) I graduated from Washington Park HS. Yes, I know, that site isn't very impressive, and no, I haven't touched it for several years.

WFS Logo

WFS:
One of the best experiences I have ever had was on a trip called Western Field Studies. This is a 33 day adventure throughout the western United States. Students travel on a school bus to national parks, monuments, forests, and places of historical interest and camp out (in tents or under the stars). I was a part of trip 25, which took place in the summer of 1996. A first for WFS was we took along a laptop computer and kept up a web site. That link will take you to the 1996 site, where there is a link to the current site.