things can only get better...

as so eloquently sang by howard jones in the late 80's. actually i may be turning the corner on my doldrums. although i'm not superstitious, even my fortune cookie today read: "forget yesterday: tomorrow will be golden". i'm feeling better physically and mentally. it appears as though "we" will recover most, if not all of my recent data loss. unless you're me, which you are not, you don't know how good that makes me feel. i also have a secondary hard drive in place to act as backup so i don't experience this sort of meltdown again. have even toyed with the idea of swapping off-site storage space with jc. (if we decide to get really serious about backing up data). that means that even if the house is lost in a natural disaster, i would still have access to my data backup. sort of sad, when you think about it.
drop-add day is saturday for my fantasy baseball team. i'm hoping to drop a couple of stiffs and pick up some mad playas.
have the last of this serious of dr. appointments this coming wednesday. have no reason to think i'll get anything other than a good report.
tomorrow is friday...going to the first of several planned twins games. hoping to get there early enough to score a cap as it's DQ cap night as well.
have a great weekend!

for real???

Helpdesk: What kind of computer do you have? Customer: A white one... ******

Helpdesk: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen. Customer: Your left or my left? ******

Helpdesk: Good day. How may I help you? Male customer: Hello... I can't print. Helpdesk: Would you click on start for me and... Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates darn it! ******

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says it can't find it... ******

Customer: I have problems printing in red... Helpdesk: Do you have a color printer? Customer: Aaaah...................Thank you. ******

Helpdesk: What's on your monitor now ma'am? Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me in the supermarket. ******

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore. Helpdesk: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer? Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer. Helpdesk: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back. Customer: Okay. Helpdesk: Did the keyboard come with you? Customer: Yes. Helpdesk: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard? Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah...that one does work! ******

Helpdesk: Your password is the small letter a as in apple, a capital letter V as in Victor, and the number 7. Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters? ******

A customer couldn't get on the Internet: Helpdesk: Are you sure you used the right password? Customer: Yes I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it. Helpdesk: Can you tell me what the password was? Customer: Five stars. ******

Helpdesk: What anti-virus program do you use? Customer: Netscape. Helpdesk: That's not an anti-virus program. Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer. *******

Helpdesk: How may I help you? Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail. Helpdesk: OK, and, what seems to be the problem? Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?

not my best day...

today has been fairly forgetable so far. it started with my rising about an hour earlier than normal, hence my glazed over, sluggish status. at 6:30 am i drank the first half of the wretched berium, which really isn't all that bad, if you like watered down milk mixed with candle wax. i was scheduled for a routine CAT scan , as part of my ongoing follow-up care, to be followed by bloodwork at the lab. of course there was a mixup. "no, you must first have your blood work done at the lab" i was told, then come back for the scan. ok. well, as it turns out i had to get blood drawn before, AND after the scan, just for fun. i know, i know, no big deal. it's just that i'm tired, cranky, have an upset stomach from the berium and just generally owly. unproductive day at work, i'm still trying to recover my music files (thanks again jeff), my fantasy baseball team's in last place, it's cold and raining, etc...guess i'll just feel sorry for myself for awhile and then get it back together, regroup, and try again tomorrow. yes, tomorrow will be better!

worst case scenario...

saturday was a dark day. i discovered that i could no longer read data from my 160 gb external fire wire drive, or more critically, i could no longer access my music files. yes, 12,892 music files, 51.3 gb's worth. still there, but gone. some critical files got corrupted, and that was that. after consulting with my main peep, jeffrey, he recommended that we boot from a knoppix cd (linux based file system) to try to get at the data. it appears the files are all still there and we will be able to recover the data. i'm not out of the woods completely yet, but i feel a lot better about it today than i did yesterday. i've used knoppix in the past at work (it's been awhile though) to recover data from corrupt or non-bootable systems and it's saved my bacon more than once. anyhow, a big shout out to jc for helping me dig out of this jam, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY monday :-) i'm buying a new hard drive this week and will be backing up my files on a regular basis going forward. you'd think that a tekkie like myself would have a disaster recovery plan (or in ITIL language- continuity management plan) but NO. as i have said before, i'm a moron. never again...thank goodness i still have the 40 gigger ipod to get me though this. more later...

little known facts...

thirdthoughts...now viewed in 5 countries! just perusing my web stats as i do on occasion. since april 17th, i've had visitors from the us, japan, australia, canada, and france. that just goes to show that americans aren't the only ones out there mindlessly surfing the web.

chart

From April 17, 2005 to April 23, 2005 1-7 of 7


Rank Top Level Domains Unique Visits %
1 com - commercial, for-profit organizations 14 51.85%
2 net - network infrastructure machines and organizations 6 22.22%
3 edu - 4-year, degree granting colleges/universities 2 7.41%
4 jp - Japan 2 7.41%
5 au - Australia 1 3.70%
6 ca - Canada 1 3.70%
7 fr - France 1 3.70%
Basis: 27 results from 117 unique visits of which 90 unknown/could not be evaluated.

more later...

radio+ blog experiment...

as you can maybe see if you glance to the left and below, i'm experimenting with radio.blog, which is, as far as i can tell, a cool way to run a mini-radio station from your blog. i'm always looking to add a dash of spice or a fresh concept to my ever-boring bi-weekly blog. perhaps this will keep me amused for a short time? don't even bother with this if you are "dialed-in" as the pre-loading of the song will take forever. the tracks are nothing special, basically random mp3's i uploaded as a test. i think one or more of them got hosed up in the process. but again, i'll play with this awhile and if i want to keep up going forward, i'll have to tweek it a bit. this was a bonus post...nothing more to report at this time.

where did the weekend go?

had a good but fast weekend. went down to rochester on saturday to celebrate my dads birthday with the family and also got in some cold, wet golf. finally on sunday the weather was good. went to church, watched some baseball on tv, to the park with the kids, and the first official grilling of the season tonight. now...back to the work week. is it to early to be thinking about next weekend yet? more later...

my review: so far...so good

happy friday and welcome to my last blog of the week.
as previously mentioned, i went to my first formal book reading yesterday. i wish i could say that i am an extremely well-read, horn-rimmed, intellectual type and that joining in on the gathering of a bunch of scholarly book worms, meeting to compare and discuss like-minded interests, is a normal occurance for me. however...that is not really the case. i do like a good book though and i think this one is (will be when i'm finished). the reader\author was wesley stace, a.k.a singer\songwriter john wesley harding who is currently touring the country in promotion of his recently published book "misfortune". the reading was scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm, and at 3:45, there were not more than a handful of people there. in general, i think that a book reading scheduled at 4:00 pm on a thursday afternoon on one of the most beautiful days of spring, is a tough thing to compete against. i did get to meet (again) wes and he said "we've met before", which is sort of a cool thing...to be remembered. after the reading, which included a couple of short text's from wes's choosing, and a couple of accapello numbers, i had the opportunity to chat a little and get my book signed. here's my most embarrasing moment:

me: "i just got the book a couple of days ago"
wes: "where did you get it"?
me: "amazon"
wes: "they did a great job with this" (thumbing throgh the jacket, admiring the craftsmanship)
me: "i've only read the first 2 chapters"
wes:"how are you enjoying it so far"?
me: "so far...so good" (DOH!)

maybe that doesn't seem as dumb to you as it does me but it was one of those times where i wish'ed i'd said something clever...or more complimentary. oh well...
enjoy the weekend.

extra credit:
there are dozens of reviews out there but here are a couple:

usa today (scroll down a bit)

news day

amazon

by now, pharaoh had reached his destination....

i'm planning on attending my first ever book reading this thursday afternoon at the u of m library. not something i would normally do i suppose but this one is a must. one of my alltime favorite musicians, turned part time author, john wesley harding (a.k.a wesley stace) has released his first ever published book entitled "misfortune". don't really now what to expect, how long does it last? is it just a few excerpts? is there any audience interaction? but, i'm still looking forward to it. i did receive the book in the mail last week and am through the first few chapters. it's sort of a classical, 1700's, dickens-like novel which i love. apparently he's already working on a new one. don't know what this means to his musical future but you can be sure i'll stay tuned. more on this later...
in other news, it's warm and rainy. the grass is greening up by the second. hoping for another nice weekend.
i'm in last place in my fantasy baseball league....i hate being last. makes me feel inferior, which by definition, i guess i am. i've noticed the points system seems to fluctuate a lot, like the stockmarket, so hopefully i'll get out of the cellar soon. more later...

10:15 on a saturday night...

well, not exactly but close enough to where i had to say that. it has been a productive day around the house and now it's "me" time. took the kids for a walk to the park this morning (gorgeous weather today btw), put the screens in. transferred all of the winter items (skiis, shovels, roof rake) from the garage to the shed. drained the gas from the snow-blower, brought out the patio table & chairs to the deck, set up the weber grill, hacked up a large tree branch that had fallen in the yard, stored the leftover fire wood in the shed, played wiffle ball with the kids, pushed owen in the swing, etc. i'm tired but will probably be up for a couple of more hours. i'll check back early next week.

meet me in st.louis...

finally have the summer '05 vacation plans etched in stone. we are going to st.louis the week of august 14-18. we'll be staying at the drury hotel across the street from union station. some of our plans include visiting the st. louis zoo, six flags. and of course taking in a st. louis cardinals baseball game. i'm feeling a little bit better now that the plans are set. i was starting to stress out about what we were gonna end up doing and when. boston would have been fun, but airfare for 5 really blows. i haven't visited my old town for awhile so it should be fun. more later...

monday, monday...

it was quite a weekend what with the passing of the pope, alaina's first communion, and my first ever fantasy baseball draft. i have new pictures posted here.
can't believe my oldest will be 8 in a couple of weeks!

here's my fantasy baseball starting lineup:

c jason kendall (bench, mike liberthal)
1b travis hafner (bench, carlos pena)
2b todd walker (bench, ty wigginton)
3b eric chavez (bench, morgan ensberg)
ss khalil greene (bench, juan uribe)
of manny ramirez, carl crawford, brad wilkerson (bench richard hidalgo, cliff floyd, willie mo pena)

p curt schilling, brad radke, zack grienke, kris benson

more later...

more changes...

ok, i am a bit confused but that's fine. i attempted to implement a couple of minor changes to the site, only one of which appears to have worked properly. as you can see i have now enabled the ability to post comments re: my posts. that means if you have a particularly interesting comment to make related to a post you can compose a witty response which will be readable by the entire world. at this point, it's wide open so that anyone who wanders by can comment. please feel free to take advantage of this feature but use discretion and don't embarrass me :-) if i need to lock it down to select individals i have that ability as well.
the second thing i have tried to do is enable the feature that lets me create and publish posts to this blog via email. i'm supposed to be able to send posts to a super-secret email address and have them appear here, as opposed to having to log into blogger to make posts. so far that attempt has failed miserably as i have tried twice and although the emails haven't bounced back they also haven't appeared here. not sure why it hasn't worked but it's a minor inconvenience. i will probably just log into blogger and post updates just like i always have. this doesn't really effect you at all - just would have made it a bit easier for me.
it's a busy weekend for the price's once again. tomorrow, as previously mentioned, is alaina's first communion. this event will occupy most of the morning and then i believe we are going out to lunch somewhere. i then have to go to my first-ever fantasy baseball draft, which is scheduled to last 4-5 hours. i'll post my starting line-up early next week. needless to say i am excited about the upcoming baseball season and this will give me an excuse to follow the stats even closer than i normally would.
that's it for now, enjoy the weekend.