I don’t know about you, but sometimes there is a certain tediousness to my job. Not in the designs, per se, but in the fact that I use the “Lorem Ipsum” text a LOT. If you’re not familiar, Lorem ipsum is a Latin ‘filler’ used to simulate text on designs but keep the reader from focusing on the content instead of the overall design. There are variations, but most start with something like this: Continue reading
Months after leaving MBNA, I finally have started to work out again. I used to be able to work out daily for free there, and when that privilege ended (something about taking a severance cutting off my use of the gym … got me), I pretty much stopped working out. The first two months kept me busy around the house, but when I started working – and working long hours – the whole eating well and keeping fit thing started to fly out the window. I gained weight, I stopped sleeping well (although I’ll find out more about the sleeping thing next week) and I started to just not feel as well.
So, I joined a gym near where I work. Today was my first workout, although it was an abbreviated one considering my lack of cardio training all summer. I also discovered that while the Bally’s King of Prussia is a beautiful facility, they don’t supply towels. They might have mentioned that when I signed up. I used my clean t-shirt to dry off instead. Other than that, I like it … if first day impressions count for much. It’s got everything under the sun in terms of equipment, a pool, a track, aerobic and spinning classes, 2 racquetball courts – pretty nice. I think I’ll actually be motivated to haul my butt out of bed before work because it saves me time in my commute. And if I sleep better, so much the better.
In other news, we’re still waiting to hear about the damage down south due to Hurricane-Tropical Storm-Hurricane-ad infinitum Ophelia. My parent’s beachhouse is in N. Topsail Beach, which took a nearly direct hit. I’ve heard some scattered stuff but nothing concrete. Hopefully the house weathered it okay.
The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey
Deception Point by Dan Brown
Unusually Stupid Americans by Kathryn and Ross Petras
Well, they denied it despite the numerous rumors that Wachovia was going to buy them. But the rumors were at least half true: MBNA has been bought by Bank of America for $35.1B.
I can’t say that I’m surprised – the bank has been ripe for a merger or takeover for quite a while. The fact that they are going to do another job cut after their much-publicized severance package deal earlier this year is not going to sit well with those still around. It’s a shame because many people stayed thinking that they would be protected – I hope that they still are.
As for me, I’m hoping to enjoy a bounce-back in my stock after the fall it took in April. Unfortunately, the people who are going to benefit from this most are also the same people who have put the company in this position in the first place – the new executive management. As usual, the little guys are going to get hurt.
I have liked the way that B of A does business, though – maybe this will end up being a good thing for those who remain, and for cardholders who have chafed at MBNA’s recent strategies. Stay tuned…
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Where have I been, one might ask (if one really cared, which I am almost assure one does not, unless one is someone involved with poker, pharmaceuticals or porn)? Well, the fact is, I have been very busy both at work and home. The tally of projects occupying my time lately:
I haven’t had the chance to take many, but here are a few shots…
Well, I have to admit that althought I am a Dallas Cowboys fan, I have been enjoying watching the Eagles over the last few years. You have to respect the way that they have been putting their team together – there are a lot of hard-working, personable, respectable players on that team. They players genuinely like to play for them, and seem to want to stay. I like Andy Reid and although I was dubious, I actually like Jeffrey Lurie. So, it was with great sorrow that I watched yesterday’s loss in the Super Bowl.
That being said, I have to question if the Eagles were ready to play yesterday. Brian Westbrook, Terrell Owens and Greg Lewis all looked great. But some of the play-calling was questionable, and I will never understand the clock-management in the 4th quarter. I think that they could have pulled this one off, but they crumbled. Call it first-time jitters but they choked. Well, hopefully they’ll make it back next year and do better the second time around.
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Each Christmas, I get it into my head that I should stock up on beer. My relatives are finally getting into the game since they have realized that I am a true beer snob. My grandmother got me Chimay for my birthday, for chrissakes. Lately, though, my habit has resulted in some very nice purchases.
In October, it was my hunt for Pumpkin beers. I was really looking for Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale, but couldn’t find it and had to settle for Post Road Pumpkin Ale (made by Brooklyn Brewery) and Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale (made by the dreaded Coors). Then I finally found the Dogfish Head and was happy. But with the Xmas season approaching, that meant holiday beers – or at least holiday gift packs. I picked a “Traditional Beers of Scotland” four-pack that looks interesting – beers made with heather, gooseberry, kelp and other exotic ingredients (it seems there was a law banning the use of hops in beers brewed in Scotland, so they found other substitutes).
But I also managed to pick up the Saranac Holiday Twelve-Pack, something that I discovered last year to my eternal gratitude. Although I got somewhat chinced by the fact that they left out my Season’s Best in place of two Roggen Bock’s I have to say that I really have enjoyed the half-case. You can read my reviews of their beers here:
In the end, I have a lot of beers to get through, and at least one question about a “Beer of the Month” club. So, I will hopefully have a lot more to enjoy in the near future. Of course, that means I’m going to have work harder to keep off the weight – but it’s worth it … right?
‘Update 12/6
I have 95% of the posts up, but I have some formatting to do. Also, I want to say thanks for the theme I picked off of Alex King’s site: Ian Main’s Human Condition. I’m going to modify it, but I figured I should offer up the praise in the mean time. If you want to download it, check it out here
I finally got some time this weekend to do some stuff on the side that I had been meaning to do. The first was trying out the new beta of a CSS-editor program. I’ve used the previous version, and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to seeing the new version and seeing if I could help iron out some of the bugs that I had found/quirks that I hadn’t liked. This is my second beta-test of a program (first real one, though) and I have to say I’m hoping that it gets better.
The program I am working on is a complete mess – while the functionality is marginally better, it seems that they have spent more time on interface design than architecture. In fact, the processing of this program is so slow that the program is nary unusable. I have put my comments in, and hopefully will see some fixes in the near future. If not, this program is doomed…
The other was a demo of a game that I have loved in the past in both board game and PC versions – Axis & Allies. I have always liked the board game version, but can’t find anyone willing to spend the hours to play. The first PC version was a mess, but the Iron Blitz version was more playable and fun. Far from perfect, as the AI was nearly incomprehensibly stupid, but at least close to the flavor of the board game. So, when I heard that Atari was putting out a new version, I was excited.
Now, I’m very disappointed.The whole point of moving the board game to the PC was so that people like me whose friends think spending time with their kids is more important than playing games can still play some of their favorite games. It’s to take a relatively finite board game and jazz it up with moving graphics, new features and single-player playability. The old versions had this (well, mostly). The Atari version … well, it’s just a mess. First of all, it IS NOT Axis and Allies. This uses the name in an ostensible manner for what becomes a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game. Instead of creating units and using strategic oversight (as a general does), now you control individual units, supply chains, ammo dumps, and the minutiae of warfare in WWII. Using what seems like the old Age of Empires engine, you micromanage units as they go and try to achieve objectives handed to you by the generals. You decide what units you want to build and then deploy them in lengthy animations. Granted, this is a demo and my graphics card needs a serious update, but I found myself hating this.
What happened to simply making the game better? If I wanted a RTS, I’d pick up Battlefield: 1942, which is infinitely better than this game. I want Axis and Allies, albeit an improved version, and this is nothing of the sort. They’ve taken Monopoly and made you analyze construction contracts and real estate zoning regs. They’ve taken Life and now you have to add auto maintenance, stock portfolio management and local crime stats to how you play the game. It was a complete disappointment that the folks who have made such a fantastic board game have killed themselves with this PC version. Now, this might be a good game for what it is, I didn’t get that far. But it isn’t Axis and Allies, and THAT is what I was looking for.
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of Bush “Whoops’s”
And I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I enjoyed most of the coverage, although it was too Americo-centric for me. There were a lot of good competitions that we never saw because the Americans weren’t involved. Would it have been so hard to show some of the Iraqi team’s great showing? And there was next to no baseball coverage because the Americans failed to qualify. On the flip side, I have to laugh at the men’s basketball team - I actually found myself wanting them to lose because of their arrogance and lack of team play. Once again, the prima donnas on the team show why Larry Brown could take a bunch of role players (for the most part) and win an NBA championship, yet stars can’t win. Why? Because they aren’t a TEAM. Iverson was the key evidence of this – before the loss in the qualifying round, he said (and yes, I’m paraphrasing) “Practice? We’re professional players here – we don’t need practice.” After, he had the balls to say, “Well, we haven’t worked enough together and we got beat”. Hmm, I think that is what teams practice for, Allen…I do have to say that I was impressed with what Athens put on for a show. The opening ceremonies were very well done (I skipped the closing ceremonies), and although I kind of had Greece in the back of my mind for destinations, it’s a lot higher on the list after seeing the scenic shots NBC showed. My wife, of course, has wanted to go there for years – now I’m on board with her.As a whole, I thought that the Olympics were a success. Sure, there were some ugly moments but overall I enjoyed the coverage – and we watched a lot of it. My favorites: women’s beach volleyball and the swimming events, although I got to catch a LOT of gymnastics that impressed me.
