2006-02-02
soundclicks
seeing as how it's a new year and all, i spent a little while running the numbers from my main MP3 page (the link's always at the top right of this page, or you could just click here) but if you click here instead, you get a nifty spreadsheet i worked up that crunches the numbers for the site's traffic. personally, i think the music's more interesting (though i have to admit i'm rather fond of numbers too). for the truly click-impaired i'll summarize: traffic and downloads were up overall, and streaming plays were down. the actual spreadsheet can give you an idea of which songs were the most popular, etc. and i'm happy to say that since posting the first songs back in March of 2004, the main and sub-pages on that site were hit 4,511 times, and my tunes were streamed or downloaded 2,781 times- respectable numbers, in my book.
2006-02-01
let there be sight
thanks to my folks, and a great Christmas gift, i am leaning back comfortably in my computer chair typing this post- and i can see the (tiny) type on my screen! for years my father's traded computer work for one Dr. Betts at Mountlake Terrace Eye Care, for goods and services from his office. they passed some of that bartering power over to me, in the form of the first eye exam and contacts i've had in years- 5 years, to be exact. it occured to me this evening that i've never actually had any form of vision correction since i moved into this place- so tomorrow (when i'll likely get here when it's still light out) i'll get possibly the first good look around the neighborhood i've ever had.
since the eye care place is close to my folks' house, i also had the opportunity to spend a little time with 'em this evening, something i mean to do more often. tonight they took me out to dinner at my dad's favorite restaurant, a little Mexican place in downtown Edmonds that makes a great carne asada. add in a little black beans, and a Negro Modelo, and we're talkin' about some fine food; and of course the company was excellent. thanks for the gift, and dinner too, guys.
so now i sit here in a pair of contacts that are so comfortable i can't even tell they're in my eyes; i liked the ones i used to wear (extended wear or disposables) back in the day, and these are even better. i think the last prescription i had for glasses/contacts was a little too strong; these don't put everything into such razor sharp detail, but seem more natural. the doc told me it's easy for people to overcorrect for nearsightedness (like i have). i still need to get some glasses, and enough contacts for the next year- i imagine i'll be spending most of my time in the contacts, but it's certainly nice to get them out and let your eyes breathe for awhile, every now and then. besides- glasses are an opportunity to totally change your whole image. gonna have to look around a bit and see if there's something that really catches my eye. the last pair i bought were like $300, and that was quite a while ago. i know i liked the ones with springmounted frames, but i have to admit the ones my dad has, flexible titanium frames, are super light and very comfortable.
bummer for the day: today was trash collection day, and when i got home from work/eye appointment/dinner/coffee with folks, the lid for my trash can was nowhere to be found. annoying. that can's practically brand new, and has locking handles. either some kid made off with it (doubtful ?) or the garbage guys didn't lock it down with the handles and it blew off....though it blowing so far i couldn't walk up and down the street and find it is a bit of a stretch too. 'spose if this is the worst thing that happens to you in a day,your day's not all that bad.
time to get some other stuff done before i'm totally consumed by the CRASH i feel comin' on.
since the eye care place is close to my folks' house, i also had the opportunity to spend a little time with 'em this evening, something i mean to do more often. tonight they took me out to dinner at my dad's favorite restaurant, a little Mexican place in downtown Edmonds that makes a great carne asada. add in a little black beans, and a Negro Modelo, and we're talkin' about some fine food; and of course the company was excellent. thanks for the gift, and dinner too, guys.
so now i sit here in a pair of contacts that are so comfortable i can't even tell they're in my eyes; i liked the ones i used to wear (extended wear or disposables) back in the day, and these are even better. i think the last prescription i had for glasses/contacts was a little too strong; these don't put everything into such razor sharp detail, but seem more natural. the doc told me it's easy for people to overcorrect for nearsightedness (like i have). i still need to get some glasses, and enough contacts for the next year- i imagine i'll be spending most of my time in the contacts, but it's certainly nice to get them out and let your eyes breathe for awhile, every now and then. besides- glasses are an opportunity to totally change your whole image. gonna have to look around a bit and see if there's something that really catches my eye. the last pair i bought were like $300, and that was quite a while ago. i know i liked the ones with springmounted frames, but i have to admit the ones my dad has, flexible titanium frames, are super light and very comfortable.
bummer for the day: today was trash collection day, and when i got home from work/eye appointment/dinner/coffee with folks, the lid for my trash can was nowhere to be found. annoying. that can's practically brand new, and has locking handles. either some kid made off with it (doubtful ?) or the garbage guys didn't lock it down with the handles and it blew off....though it blowing so far i couldn't walk up and down the street and find it is a bit of a stretch too. 'spose if this is the worst thing that happens to you in a day,your day's not all that bad.
time to get some other stuff done before i'm totally consumed by the CRASH i feel comin' on.
2006-01-31
ok last post then i'm really outta here
after midnight and time to crash. just a quick note to say: wow, is m'boy ever sick! he's run a temperature over 100 for days, and keeps spikin' up around 103. he sounds like death, too. never heard him so congested. missed school again today (hard way to start a new quarter of school) and basketball practice tonight, too. his mom's thinkin' of takin' him to the doc tomorrow if he doesn't look any better. i figure he'll get better on his own (he has the same thing i did, only worse) but it certainly couldn't hurt. poor guy. get well, Loren! that's an order.....likely a tall one from the sound of you on the phone this afternoon.
my boss's truck :(
one of the things i like best about my boss, Scott, is that he has good taste in what's plain old cool. he has a knack for finding (deals on) useful things that maybe aren't the shiniest or the newest, but still have more life in them than someone else might see. sadly, one of those things might have met the end of its useful life today: a very cool old flatbed truck (not sure what year exactly, but if i had to hazard a guess it would be late 60s to mid 70s).
but let me back up a little to tell the story properly. a couple months ago (it must be, now) there was another traffic accident out in front of the shop. wish i had a dollar for every time i hear squealing brakes out there, and i've seen 3 accidents in the last 10 months, and know of a couple more. in the last one though, a nice old Greek guy in a Mercedes SUV got hit in the intersection, then plowed right over an embankment (a good 3 or 4 foot drop) and, still steering, and trying to stop his rig, managed to wedge that Mercedes right in between Scott's super-cool old flatbed i mentioned before, and his Ford pickup (which does most of our delivery duty). it was relatively minor damage to both trucks. one of the headlights on the big truck got broken, and a fender dented, and the front bumper of the Ford pickup got bent a bit, but all in all it could've been much worse.
well, today it was. one of the things you have to know about Scott is that the guy's got a heart of gold; it didn't surprise me in the least when i gathered, this morning, that a company we do some business with asked to borrow that big ol' flatbed, and Scott fixed up the broken headlight and gassed it up for 'em. the other company's normal driver was out for the day on some personal business or other, and they had a temporary driver to drive Scott's rig. seems that driver took a corner too quickly and rolled it over. now, this is a big truck we're talking about- it's rated for 24,000 lbs GVW- and i'm thankful to report that the only injury (as far as i've heard) in the accident was a broken arm, suffered by a passenger in Scott's truck, which is both lucky and unlucky as those things go. i prefer to think of the glass as half full. the truck was loaded up over 16,000 lbs, and it could easily have been a much worse story. someone took a picture of it, and i thought it might be interesting to look at, so here it is. by way of comparison, to gauge the size/weight of all the stuff involved, notice the yellow box flipped over on the ground. that's the fruit of my labor, a steel box that held steel parts weighing approx.700-1,000 pounds. extrapolate that to include the remainder of the load, and the truck itself, and compare with the car (which looks to me, from the picture, likely to have been involved in the accident somehow).
be careful out there, folks. and take it easy on the corners.
but let me back up a little to tell the story properly. a couple months ago (it must be, now) there was another traffic accident out in front of the shop. wish i had a dollar for every time i hear squealing brakes out there, and i've seen 3 accidents in the last 10 months, and know of a couple more. in the last one though, a nice old Greek guy in a Mercedes SUV got hit in the intersection, then plowed right over an embankment (a good 3 or 4 foot drop) and, still steering, and trying to stop his rig, managed to wedge that Mercedes right in between Scott's super-cool old flatbed i mentioned before, and his Ford pickup (which does most of our delivery duty). it was relatively minor damage to both trucks. one of the headlights on the big truck got broken, and a fender dented, and the front bumper of the Ford pickup got bent a bit, but all in all it could've been much worse.
well, today it was. one of the things you have to know about Scott is that the guy's got a heart of gold; it didn't surprise me in the least when i gathered, this morning, that a company we do some business with asked to borrow that big ol' flatbed, and Scott fixed up the broken headlight and gassed it up for 'em. the other company's normal driver was out for the day on some personal business or other, and they had a temporary driver to drive Scott's rig. seems that driver took a corner too quickly and rolled it over. now, this is a big truck we're talking about- it's rated for 24,000 lbs GVW- and i'm thankful to report that the only injury (as far as i've heard) in the accident was a broken arm, suffered by a passenger in Scott's truck, which is both lucky and unlucky as those things go. i prefer to think of the glass as half full. the truck was loaded up over 16,000 lbs, and it could easily have been a much worse story. someone took a picture of it, and i thought it might be interesting to look at, so here it is. by way of comparison, to gauge the size/weight of all the stuff involved, notice the yellow box flipped over on the ground. that's the fruit of my labor, a steel box that held steel parts weighing approx.700-1,000 pounds. extrapolate that to include the remainder of the load, and the truck itself, and compare with the car (which looks to me, from the picture, likely to have been involved in the accident somehow).
be careful out there, folks. and take it easy on the corners.
NBA fantasy basketball
is hella fun. i'm just getting my feet wet this year, but i'm not doing too badly overall; my team's in 2nd place, a little more than halfway through the season. the best team in my league this year is run by a guy who goes by the handle "kg'smydaddy"; his winning percentage is a little better than mine, 88.5% to my 82.3%. this is prob'ly gonna change this week, as we're matched up for the 2nd of 3 times this season. at least two of the other teams in the league are abandoned, as far as i can tell; most of their eligible players sit on the bench, and whoever plays against them that week gets an easy win across the board.
for anyone unfamiliar with fantasy basketball, there are a lot of different rules depending on your league setup. for my first year trying out fantasy sports, i chose a league that was fairly easy to follow. each fantasy team totals the stats of their players in 5 categories: points, assists, steals, blocks, and TTL rebounds (both offensive and defensive). each category where your team outscores your opponent's counts as a win, for a total of 5 wins, losses, or ties per week, in any combination. my teams stands at 53-11-1, and the #1 team at 57-7-1. if i beat that team across the board this week (highly unlikely) i'd be #1, at 58-11-1, while the other dropped to 57-12-1. chances are it'll be a split decision though; if i had to guess it'd be something along the lines of my team going 2-3 this week.
still, there are at least 5 teams in the league that are actively pursuing their league play, so 2nd (so far) out of 5 still isn't bad, for a first timer.
the last two weeks of the regular season are for all the marbles; the top seed (#1) team plays the 4th seed in the semifinals, while the #2 and #3 teams duke it out. the winners of those 2 games go on to the finals. at the moment it looks like i'll be the #2 seed, if everything holds true to form, and the #3 seed is likely to be one of two teams, against both of which i have a record of 7-3 so far. it looks fairly good for a trip to the championship for ol' inf- though i have to admit the odds are against me winning it all- at least as of this moment. you never know, players get hurt, etc. i could tank and go in the toilet tomorrow (can't today, all the action for my team's done hehehehe).
when the season gets done i plan on posting the highly elaborate spreadsheet that's grown up over the course of the season; i keep a running record of all my players' stats, including the ones i waived, for comparison (i may not have made a lot of personnel moves, but i made good ones) and it helps me decide who to put in when i have to choose between players on any given day. overall i'm prob'ly a little slow to waive players- i keep rooting for the guys i've got, rather than jumping ship early. actually, i'm contemplating dropping my bottom guy right now.....we'll see. Loren likes the guy....and he's a Sonic player i like too- so it makes it a little harder to let him go. but business is business dammit! [grinz].
ok i'm out for now. housework calls....and FOOD!
for anyone unfamiliar with fantasy basketball, there are a lot of different rules depending on your league setup. for my first year trying out fantasy sports, i chose a league that was fairly easy to follow. each fantasy team totals the stats of their players in 5 categories: points, assists, steals, blocks, and TTL rebounds (both offensive and defensive). each category where your team outscores your opponent's counts as a win, for a total of 5 wins, losses, or ties per week, in any combination. my teams stands at 53-11-1, and the #1 team at 57-7-1. if i beat that team across the board this week (highly unlikely) i'd be #1, at 58-11-1, while the other dropped to 57-12-1. chances are it'll be a split decision though; if i had to guess it'd be something along the lines of my team going 2-3 this week.
still, there are at least 5 teams in the league that are actively pursuing their league play, so 2nd (so far) out of 5 still isn't bad, for a first timer.
the last two weeks of the regular season are for all the marbles; the top seed (#1) team plays the 4th seed in the semifinals, while the #2 and #3 teams duke it out. the winners of those 2 games go on to the finals. at the moment it looks like i'll be the #2 seed, if everything holds true to form, and the #3 seed is likely to be one of two teams, against both of which i have a record of 7-3 so far. it looks fairly good for a trip to the championship for ol' inf- though i have to admit the odds are against me winning it all- at least as of this moment. you never know, players get hurt, etc. i could tank and go in the toilet tomorrow (can't today, all the action for my team's done hehehehe).
when the season gets done i plan on posting the highly elaborate spreadsheet that's grown up over the course of the season; i keep a running record of all my players' stats, including the ones i waived, for comparison (i may not have made a lot of personnel moves, but i made good ones) and it helps me decide who to put in when i have to choose between players on any given day. overall i'm prob'ly a little slow to waive players- i keep rooting for the guys i've got, rather than jumping ship early. actually, i'm contemplating dropping my bottom guy right now.....we'll see. Loren likes the guy....and he's a Sonic player i like too- so it makes it a little harder to let him go. but business is business dammit! [grinz].
ok i'm out for now. housework calls....and FOOD!
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