thosekids dot org

Hey, all. Over at thoskids, we're back online. That means plenty of fatdog action for peeps. We're still a long way off from the next fatdog edition, but we may soon have http://fatdog.thosekids.org/ operational, along with some other tiny changes.

Credit cards expiring in November and the confusion that follows from not telling your creditor about it is frustrating. Paying bills is fun.

Dug that Up

Dug that character thinger up earlier today. Hadn't read it in awhile. It was a good idea. I can't wait for the DVD and to share the film with the people that didn't make it out to the premiere!

Things have been good lately. I went home this past weekend and took Monday off from work so I could go to the shore (as we always do for my dad's birthday) on Sunday. We played the annual McCloskey miniature golf tournament and I was so looking forward to it... and actually doing quite well... up until the 14th hole. I had just taken the lead on 10 and 11 and was maintaining a slight one-stroke lead on Mom and Dad when it happened: I got stuck in a depression and could not make it out in less that SIX STROKES! So suddenly I was back three. No matter. I was going to make up for it. I gained a stroke on the 15th. All was well. Then on 16 I mis-hit the bloody ball several times on my way to another six strokes! Fucking ridiculous! That's when I threw in the towel (symbolized by my long-range and big-backswing shot into the nearest body of mini-golf water). On 17 I played nasty and attacked Mom and Dad's lies viciously taking them away from the pin. And 18 went predictability shittily for me, given how quickly my attitude had devolved on the previous holes.

Mom won. Sigh. After my tie-for-first victory last year I thought I might be able to string together a streak, but no. I returned to sucking. I just didn't have the durability. I need to work on the stamina under pressure.

The weekend, overall, was very enjoyable. I did a very small amount of landscaping and we completed the end-of-the-driveway path we'd been building. It looks great! Hard to imagine that it was actually the McCloskeys who did it. Spent a good deal of time with Mom and Dad and tried to get in touch with some other folks, but was a bit poor on the game and didn't stress it. Hell, I'm back in town in two and a half weeks.

The band is coming for an all-weekend rock-off this Friday. We should come out with a lot more original content... and the idea is to select a name in that timeframe, as well. And I got paid today. Biggest check yet... by about $30 extra... big woop.

Allright. This pre-lunchtime diversion is over and the crazy work continues.

As Completed by the Character Designer

Connor Duncan McAllister
"Maybe monogamy isn't the greatest ideal."

[my name is]: Connor Duncan McAllister
[age]: 21
[school]: Rutgers
[height?]: 6'0
[in the morning i am:] ready to get to school
[all i need is]: three dregs and a lawnmower, an A in Perl/Cgi 251 wouldn't hurt
[love is]: wonderful
[if i could see one person right now]: Vicki
[i'm afraid of]: My brother's monthly check ins
[i dream about]: quiting the landscaping business and becoming an engineer

-HAVE.YOU.EVER-
[pictured your crush naked?]: yes
[actually seen your crush naked?]: yes
[been in love]: yes
[cried when someone died]: no
[lied]: no

-WHICH.IS.BETTER-
[coke or pepsi]: Coke
[flowers or candy]: Lilacs
[tall or short]: short

-WITH.THE.OPPOSITE.SEX-
[what do you notice first]: her accent
[last person you slow danced with]: Vicki
[worst question to ask]: Do I have you in class?

-WHO-
[makes you laugh the most?]: Alec and Cathy
[makes you smile?]: Vicki
[gives you a funny feeling when you see them?]: Vicki
[who do you have a crush on?]: Guess
[has a crush on you?]: Dunno
[easiest to talk to]: Cathy

-DO.YOU.EVER-
[stay on AIM waiting for someone special to im you?]: not really
[save aol/aim conversations]: yes
[wish you were a member of the opposite sex?]: multiple orgasms, I ask you, do you wish you were?
[cry because of something someone said to you?]: yeah

-HAVE.YOU.EVER-
[fallen for your best friend?}: I did once, and I regretted sitting on it until it was too late. I wasn't ready?
[been rejected]: Kelly dumped me 5 years ago
[rejected someone]: nope
[used someone]: no
[been cheated on]: I dated Kelly Jones
[cheated on someone]: nope
[done something you regret]: Didn't go to Eli's party last year, but it paid off anyway

-WHO.WAS.THE.LAST.PERSON-
[you talked to on the phone?]: My brother Quinn
[hugged?] Vicki
[you instant messaged?]: Alec
[instant messaged you?]: Frank
[you laughed with]: Tom

-DO.YOU//ARE. YOU-
[color your hair?]: I frosted it earlier this year
[habla espanol]: si
[smoke cigarettes?]: no
[obsessive]: nope
[could you live without the computer?]: I'm a fucking engineer
[how many peeps are on your buddy list?]: 121
[what's your favorite food?]: Rat burgers
[what's your favorite fruit?]: strawberries
[drink alcohol?]: the occasional beer
[like watching sunrise or sunset?]: sunset
[what hurts the most, physical or emotional pain?]: physical,
[trust others way too easily]: no, I really have to know someone before I really trust them

Check It, Kids

While visiting your favorite Landover Baptist website, check out their store: a very hilarious product.

Remember, kids, Santa Claus did not die for your sins.

Woah, Daddy

Just finished watching Cold Creek Manor with Liz and Chris. Whatever you do, do not waste your time with it. It's terrible, takes forever to start, and there's no hope for it once it does. Sigh. My weekend has been gloriously *un*interesting. I hung around Friday and just relaxed with Liz, did some work, and such. I had a desire to do something, but all of the ideas I had were not the "something" I was looking to do. I slept in very very late Saturday, killed most of the day doing nothing. Gave Sarah a call later and ended up not catching up with her, because I got in touch with Quentin and Chris and went over to Sharp to hang with them. We ordered four pizzas over the course of the evening and watched some good television. Then I slept in later, today, and watched some movies with Liz... "Sister Act" was on HBO... "The Shape of Things" was on a different HBO... and then "Cold Creek Manor."

It was a weekend that defied memorable moments, but was pretty enjoyable and got me rested up for the week to come. This week, the development schedule at work kicks into higher gear because the next week I'll be taking a day off and my boss, Mike, will be on vacation. I'll have to get a lot done this week so I can work without him the next.

That's all that's new, though. Talk to ya's later.

SpaceHog!

It's a revival of this song, I tell you!

And this data transformation, today, is killing me. I'm going to duck out early after coming in a bit late, just because I can't handle it for too long. I worked last night quite a bit, but damn this is draining and annoying.

Let that be a lesson to you other companies: don't build crappy databases that fall apart, waste unnecessary space, and make use of data types in the most ridiculous situations! You'll only torture some intern some day down the road when you realize your folly!

Ahh well, back to the grindstone.

Happy Bastille Day

And by the way, Happy Bastille Day.

I can't help but remember the fireworks in Annecy this day seven years ago, enjoying the company of Emil, Nilesh, Aryn, and others. Riverfront fireworks celebrating independence that we all got the opportunity to see, having missed our country's own similar celebration due to travel.

I wonder if anyone has ever found the beach stone (a big hulking one it was) we threw into the Mediterranean Sea from Nice, France and wondered what type of group "PTP Jersey 97" was and who the hell all of those people were. I like to think so. And I like to think they were staying at the same hotel as us at the time... the one where our cancelled reservations across the street went through without our knowing except for one room. The hotel where Nilesh and I had two chandeliers and a jacuzzi bathtub in our room which had two double beds... and everyone else had standard ol' amenities. We were staying in that hotel when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear and I found it so hilarious that was the news on the television - even in France.

Oh wow. Seven years ago.

Dana and Casey Should Get Together...

Been watching episodes of SportsNight diligently. It's such a good show! I finished the fifth of six discs last night and will be very upset when there's no more show to watch. It seems like it's going to all rush to an end, perhaps because the show had to rush to clear up its loose ends upon receiving news of imminent cancellation.

Hmm. Work has been boring lately, because the fun stuff is out of the way and now it's just dealing with all of the old data and the more mundane aspects of the project. It's going to be a race to the finish line to see if I can get the appraisal system and timesheet software complete by August 13, but I feel I will be able to do it. I've made a "second half schedule" and am ready to act on it. Planning everything out helped me clear my head, calm down about all of the demands of the system, and will help me focus my efforts better: there's time set for the appraisal system and time set for the timesheet software. There's also a good week for finalization of the documentation (both in-house for future development and the "visible" document layer for the users). It's all shaping up and I just revamped the appraisal system interface:


Employee StartCenter


Employee computer self-appraisal

The timesheet application is designed to flow from Outlook, which all the employees here use for scheduling, contacts, and email. This hasn't been worked with in a week or so, but is coming along. It's far less detailed than the appraisal system:

TimeTrack user's Timesheet entry page

It's funny, too, because no one in the company that will be affected by the instatement of the timesheet software is actually supposed to know about it before it becomes policy. So I'm making this thing for people that don't know they'll be forced to use it in the future, due to a handful of new federal labor laws. I think it's gonna go down right after I leave here, though, so I won't be part of the backlash that much.

And oh yeah, Dana and Casey are two of the major characters in SportsNight. No real dirt in the title or anything.

Road Trip

I'm in Steve's room in Steve and Greg's apartment on the UMD campus, now. It's Sunday morning and in a little while, Drew, Mike, Steve, Greg, and I will be grabbing a metro train to Washington, D.C. where we'll meet up with Alisha and have lunch. It's been such a great weekend, thus far. We've basically just been hanging out and watching Eddie Izzard, Mitch Hedberg, and the Simpsons or playing video games, but it's just so comfortable to be hanging out with these people again. Greg returned from his trip to DisneyWorld last night and I'm so glad he decided to do that instead of come back today, as we've gotten in some good hanging out with him, as well.

The discussions we've had have an interesting range, as well. It's very interesting to imagine these people I've known since before middle school discussing their career plans, their interests and how they intend to pursue them beyond graduation. Steve is considering a future as a staff member to a Congressman or Senator (having realized he'd prefer not to work in a laboratory environment for the rest of his life after this summer). Drew is most likely going to take a position at Lockheed part-time when he graduates and pursue his MS at UPenn or Drexel (his plans are about as solid as I feel mine are, but I know he can do anything, so it'll be no problem). Mike has a serious interest in real estate (that is, buying and selling it to earn his millions) and plans to take a job with Verizon when he's finished school in December. He wants to live outside of New Jersey, though, so he'll have to consider a transfer from headquarters. He likes the work, is good at it, and I think it's a good fit for him.

I, having to job at the moment that can offer me a promise of employment in the future, am very uncertain of what my next steps will be. Directly after graduation, I would really like to be home. Central Jersey would be the best place for me at that time. I've made my plan to apply to grad schools and jobs at the same time and compare the offers and make my decision during this school year as the time comes. I'd like to work an assistantship as a hall director at the graduate school, which I'm going to work on getting ready for over the course of this coming year as an RA. I'm excited about all of the possibilities, but scared due to the uncertainty.

But, by this time next year, I'll have a straight answer for you!

Clarification

My blogger profile claims there is a difference between films and movies. This is true. "Film" is intended to mean "art film" and movies are productions such as Spiderman 2 - block busters and big budget films not necessary intended for artistic purpose, but instead as solely an entertainment vehicle.

Main Entry: art film
Function: noun
: a motion picture produced as an artistic effort

Main Entry: mov·ie
Pronunciation: 'mü-vE
Function: noun
Etymology: moving picture
1 : MOTION PICTURE
2 plural : a showing of a motion picture
3 plural : the motion-picture medium or industry

That may or may not clear up the difference. If it doesn't, I'll never be able to do it with you. If it does, cool.

And I don't make that distinction in some hoity-toity or elitist sense. I'm just trying to distinguish two things that are fundamentally the same, but actually different. You can be a movie buff and it's a different thing to be a film buff. I tend to think of my self as a "movie buff with an interest film," but hell - some stuff is just too artsy. The other thing to point out is that film often encompasses the process by which a film or movie is made - most especially the cinematography aspects of the production. I like that stuff a lot.

Allright.

The Plan

The plan is to head south for the College Park, MD area sometime tomorrow night. Will I have enough time after work to fit in a few episodes of Sports Night and get ready? Who knows?

I've been working a great deal on the framework for the next fatDOG. We're still a long way away, but it's going to be much improved and will introduce a lot of new things. I am excited about the project as a whole, but recovering from all of the mistakes I made in designing the database three and a half years ago has been really draining. If only I knew then all of the amazing *crap* I know now.

No Show

Found out from Drew that Mike, Drew, and I don't have tickets to the Saves The Day show this weekend. So alternate plans are... to consider a trip to College Park, MD to visit with Greg and Rawson. It's taken longer to get to that crossroads that I thought it would. I think my band is totally not going to have a practice this week, and even next week looks lame. I can't believe we have not had a practice yet this summer. It's so damn frustrating! I need to play music with them again. On that note:

Perpetual Breakfast
The Consistent Lie
Three Week Old Deli Ham
Incosistent Process Model
Beleaguered Booze Babies
Patience, Young Skywalker
The Brody Bruce Orchestra
Make With The Love
Actuarial Headache
Does not Compute

Let me know what your thoughts are for any of those. I've got to finish this up and then work even longer on this at home to make up for the lost hours spent having my finger x-rayed yesterday.

Still kinda sore.

Back in Newark and Sportsnightin' it up

Work is dragging out this week, most likely because I just am coming down from the high of a successful demo last week and odds are the holiday weekend made me want to work a bit less. My enthusiasm for the projects is a bit down, but I have a lot of good ideas and just need to motivate myself to act on them more effectively during the workday so I don't get stuck working crazy nights.

But in more important news... I bought the SportsNight complete series of DVD yesterday. I was hanging out with Carolyn, Jess, Jason, and their friend Alan (pronounced Ah-Lon, most likely spelled incorrectly) and we headed to Best Buy and that's a dangerous store to be in, because I always walk out of there with something and the prices on movies and other goodies are always very good. This deal was a steal, as now I have all 45 episodes ever created of SportsNight... which I don't talk about much, but have loved for a good long time (since about two and a half years ago when I discovered re-runs late night on Comedy Central). You want in? Come over and watch with me sometime!

After that, it was back to Carolyn's, where we were later joined by Brandon and Quentin and Chris! Q and Greb are back in town working the summer-RA beat, and it was so good to see them for once. I'm glad they've had good summers thus far, and are ready to hang a good bit as the summer goes further.

Peace out.

The 4th

I went home for the Holiday weekend just past and had an exceptional few days in Jersey. I left work a bit early (though it was pretty much later than everyone else, as 95% took the day off to extend their weekend), hung out with Liz and Leslie as long as they were around before work, and then hit the road. Back by 9:30 on Friday, I enjoyed the company of mom and dad as per the usual visit home. Molly was pleased to see me, as well, and I roughed her up a bit. She needs more exercise and less food!

Saturday was spent mostly avoiding yard work with my dad. It was very hot and the job mom had planned was a bit on the absurd side, so we tried our best. It ended up getting us Sunday - the actual holiday - but whatever... we tried. Drew came over late Saturday and hung out on the deck with the fam. Drew and I regailed mom and dad with many many stories about high school - mostly those that involved the terrorizaton of Mrs. Chawla back sophomore year. Drew, dad, and I watched Jurassic Park simply because it had come up in conversation and we happen to own the VHS. It was really very enjoyable to watch the movie, appreciate it, but also rip its computer references and other errs to shreds whenever possible. Afterwards, Drew and I ended up talking away the night about movies, life, grad school, jobs, and friends. He left sometime around 4:00, which is when I promptly went to bed.

Sunday was the day of yard work - ripping up the side yard between the deck/house and shed to extend the garden and build a much nicer looking path, as opposed to the weedy eyesore it tends to be most of the time. It went well, but was very tiring because of the heat and humidity. It will no doubt be a chore left for the next time I'm home. For the 4th, Justin, Drew, Keely, and I played it low key by grabbing some ice cream from Sundae's and then heading over to a development behind Stony Brook School. It was a good show clearly visible, but nothing too exciting occurred. I did fall on and sprain my finger lunging for a pass while tossing around a frisbee (had that checked today and there's no fracture). It was so great to see Justin, again. I hadn't talked to him in awhile, but he's doing well - as expected - and working a summer internship at J&J. Hanging out with Keely is getting much better, but still lends itself to awkwardness. It's terrible that's the case, but with me being in Newark all summer, there's not enough interaction to really quell the awkwardness through more frequent hanging out. She is doing well and seems very excited and anxious to get back to school and kick off her sophomore year. I'm so glad she enjoys it so much.

Monday I was off from work and spent that day more with mom and dad, putting off yard work and further discovering the inner workings of mom's scooter, which is missing a brake alignment screw that must be replaced. Lucy visited for the weekend as the Mossers were out visiting family, and she always gets Molly riled up and always finds a way to get some extra food from us McCloskey's. We will always have fat dogs. It's pretty inevitable that a dog that lives with us will be "treated" very well.

It was a fabulous weekend.

Got my Schwervon!

Seriously, now... why is Spachog's "In the Meantime" on the radio so often these days? It's great, but this is definitely the fifth time I've heard it in two weeks or so after not hearing it at all for three years.

Last night I went into Philadelphia to see a show at a bar's back-room called "The Fire." More importantly, this was Dave's show. He's in a group called Cheese on Bread (and allegedly "a Side of Fries") and they were down from New York, because the two band founders are from the Philadelphia area (if not the actual city). Two acts opened for them: this Scottish band Desc which has a cello player and just was rocking. You never really can make out all of the words at these mini-venues, but the rock was undeniable. The second act was even better. The duo Schwervon! played next. And this is the hot part: it's just a guy on guitar and a girl on drums, and they both go back and forth singing and the girl was a) an incredible drummer and b) a great singer. Their banter and such was really fun, too.

Dave's group, however, just took control of the stage and it was such a good time. The members of the other bands danced around while they rocked out, jumping around on stage, standing on chairs, and just shredding away. Everyone in their group was particularly talented, but the "side of fries" members of the group (that'd be the drummer, bassist, electric guitarist, and Dave on acoustic) were incredible! Each of them could hold their own in a solo show, but they just fed off each other. So great.

It'd been a long time since I last hung out with Dave, too, so this break was a good time. The place is on Girard Ave. between 5th and 4th streets. It was no trouble to find, offered no trouble in on-the-street parking, and was pretty cool. I mean, had there not been a show there that featured my friend, it might've been considered slightly on the "dive" side, but last night it was just a perfect venue.

Got home around 2:15 after the show and the drive back to Newark. Had a glass of water. Went to bed. Got back in for work, this morning. Goin' home later today.

Allright, well I've got to finish some stuff up before I head out of here early for the weekend.

FICA

Goddamn taxes. State taxes. Social Security taxes. Federal taxes. Taxes, taxes, taxes.

And rent.