Living in fear is no good to anyone.

Thanksgiving is at JPL this year because king_luddite moved to Albuquerque. There's a website listing who's coming and what they are bringing (it also shows earlier years in case you need ideas):
http://www.clanspum.net/~jarrod/showfile.php?file=thanksgiving.txt
Leave a comment here or send me an email if you are coming and listing what food you will bring. Feel free to invite some friends; it's best if everyone can contribute something so there's enough food to go around. :) Dinner will be served at around 4 p.m.

My birthday is next week, so Movie Night this week will double as a birthday party for me. I've only been a perfect cube twice before and won't be again for 37 years.

You scored as Tweedle Dee & Dum. Yes, you're both - because they're exactly the same. You're quite dumb, and blatantly oblivious to most things going on around you. You love to tell stories and screw around. You're loveable, but sometimes extremely annoying. </td> Tweedle Dee & Dum 69% Caterpillar 25% Cheshire Cat 25% Alice 19% The Mad Hatter 13% Queen of Hearts 13% White Rabbit 0% Which Alice in Wonderland Character are YOU? created with QuizFarm.com

There is movie night tonight. I'm making farfalle with a red sauce, royal_spice is making a salad, lalabob11 may be making bread, and I've heard rumor that niap_si_efil is making cupcakes, but I don't know. I have no idea what the movie(s) will be.


Random things:

( Look At These Fucking Peppers )

( Curves )

Movie night was very crowded. The fried chicken came out good and was all eaten quickly. There were a bunch of friends of Omni's that few others knew. Most of them didn't really seem to fit in or enjoy our crowd. Things didn't quiet down until about 0330 when most everyone went home.

Saturday, lalabob11 and I drove out on US-60 East and up into the Manzano Mountains. I had planned a route, but part of forest road 422 was still closed for the winter, so we ended up having to backtrack to the highway. I took some photos of a deep wash while we were exploring. The photos will be uploaded to Flickr eventually. We then went up NM-55 and NM-337 to Tijeras. From there we had planned on going up to Sandia crest and watching the sun set, but instead decided to go to Hobby Lobby and buy crafty things. I got a couple of sun-catchers to put together and bake and lalabob11 got some point protectors for double point knitting needles. Then we went to visit her sister and see the new baby (I hadn't seen him in person yet). After that we had dinner at Shogun Sushi which was relatively cheap and reasonably good. The scallop sushi wasn't the freshest I've had, but it had especially tasty seasoning, so it was the overall best scallop sushi I've had. On the way back to Socorro we stopped at Walmart to see if they had the pocket knife lalabob11's been wanting. They couldn't be bothered to have someone come to the back and open the cabinet to see if they had the knife, so we couldn't get one (jerks). I ended up getting a set of two cast iron pans that I've been thinking about that were ~$5 cheaper than at the Socorro Walmart. The pans are both about 10 inches in diameter, but one is deep (3 quarts) and the other is shallow. The cool thing is that they can be used as lids for each other.

Sunday I was around the house all day, doing random stuff. I did some dishes, made turkey mole, baked a rich chocolate cake, set up and used the Roomba Sage that I ordered that arrived the other day (it vacuums pretty well and is relatively quiet, but it's not good at edges) and I made the sun-catchers. One is a planet with rings and the other is two frogs sitting on a lily pad. It's hard to find these sorts of sun-catchers in stores, but the company that makes them has a website, so I think I can order more directly if I want.

If you cross the U.S.-Canada border with a computer, you may be uselessly accosted.

Many Mennonites are leaving Missouri due to new ID requirements.

Only on Tuesdays

Smith v. Smith (scroll down a bit) is an interesting case regarding child custody and the gender identity of the child

In 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith spoke out against McCarthyism with this speech. There's good material to learn from there.

...the president can displace from office a man whose merits require that he should be continued in it. What will be the motives which the president can feel for such abuse of his power, and the restraints that operate to prevent it? In the first place, he will be impeachable by this house, before the senate, for such an act of mal-administration; for I contend that the wanton removal of meritorious officers would subject him to impeachment and removal from his own high trust.
--James Madison

I forgot to post earlier. It's omnipaul's birthday. I'm making fried chicken.

The "War" on Women

There is movie night tomorrow. I'm going to make green carne adovada. I don't know how it will come out as I've never tried making something quite like this, but it should be tasty even if it is totally "wrong". I'll have tortillas, cheese, and some rice to go along with it.

The other day chamewco posted about poetry. I don't have exactly the same "block" he talks about, but I often don't notice poetry and lyrics. With songs, for instance, I usually don't hear the words until at least the third time I've heard the song. The sounds are much more important to me than whatever the words may be saying. If the song sounds bad to me, I won't care about the lyrics.

I found a fun comic I'd never seen before, ( The Warehouse )

This is an interesting bit of code I encountered today. It's both straightforward and complicated at the same time.

while((bFirst ? 
       FProcess32First(hSnapShot, &processInfo) : 
       FProcess32Next(hSnapShot, &processInfo)))

On Friday evening, I put the top down on the jeep because I knew I'd be doing a bunch of driving and the weather would be nice. Movie night went well; some people that don't usually come came, making the crowd about as big as it would usually be excepting that people were away on spring break.

Saturday morning I drove up to Albuquerque to meet popefelix and pick up the bar stools I ordered from Unpainted Furniture. Lunch at Taj Mahal ended up being more complicated than anticipated, but was OK. After lunch I went up to Desert Rat, looked around since I hadn't been in the store before, and bought a tow strap and clevices to replace the ones that were stolen back in January. Next was 328 Chinese to get a bunch of takeout for dinner. Ying and John were both very friendly, chatted with me a bit, and gave me some free crab rangoon and chicken in foil while I waited for the takeout to be prepared. It turns out they've been open since January 26th. When I asked Ying, she said 328 is "just a name; a lucky number." Finally, I went to Unpainted Furniture to get the stools. It had been my understanding that they would be assembled stools I would just need to finish, so I had taken the back seat out of the jeep. They were actually just pieces in boxes that I'll have to put together myself. This is good and bad: it's more work for me, but they will likely look nicer than if they had been pre-assembled. When I got back to Socorro, I bought a hat at Brownbilt's to protect my head from the sun when my jeep's top is open. Finally, we had a big dinner of the take out from 328. The dishes were all as good as before at the old Hong Kong.

Today, Sunday, royal_spice and popefelix came down and we went out to explore in the jeep. We first went out to Garcia Canyon (it's west of Water Canyon) and drove until we ran out of road the jeep would fit on. We then parked and hiked up the canyon and then up the west side for a while. Next was Jordan Canyon (it's west of Garcia), but a short way up the road, there was a locked NFS gate with a "Road Closed" sign. There was a track over some big rocks around the gate that I could have made, but it was decided best by all to just go somewhere else. We instead went back to the Water Canyon road and up the South Baldy road to the top. Up there, we hiked around some looking at the panorama. Once we were tired, we went back down and to Socorro and had dinner at Sofia's. After dinner they left. A good day was had by all.

Photos of 328 Chinese were uploaded to my flickr yesterday. Photos from today's trip will be uploaded tomorrow, probably.

There is a movie night tomorrow. I'll be making a very simple mac and cheese, maybe some fried hamburgers to optionally mix in to the mac and cheese, and also some green vegetables of some manner. I have some ideas for the movie, but nothing is definite yet, so feel free to bring things to be played.

Women and the Bush Administration

This is really long, but an interesting discussion:
Event Transcript "Same-Sex Marriage in California: Legal and Political Prospects"

There is movie night tomorrow. We won't be watching Dr. Tran (yet), but I will be making a big turkey and dressing.

Every time I go to Walmart, I glance at the empty shelf the Nintendo Wiis go on. On Tuesday evening, the shelf wasn't empty. There were two. I wanted to buy them both and sell the second to one of my friends at cost or eBay it if there wasn't interest among my friends. While waiting for 40+ minutes for someone to come over to unlock the case (I prodded many employees and there was an announcement over the PA), a couple came over and also wanted one. I didn't feel like being a dick/fighting about it, so I only bought one Wii.
For those of you with Wiis connected to the internet, my code is: 3369 4653 4227 1295

Hopefully the UCSF study will add to the pressure on the US government to rethink its irrational ban on the medicinal use of marijuana -- and its destructive attacks on patients and caregivers in states that have chosen to allow such use. Rather than admit they have been mistaken all these years, federal officials can cite "important new data" and start revamping outdated and destructive policies.

President Bush has not yet subordinated our judiciary to the military, but the more we learn about U.S. attorneys fired for failing to succumb to Justice Department and congressional political pressure, the more the Bush administration looks like the tawdry, third world, small-time dictatorship its opponents accuse it of being.

More anecdotal evidence for the ~30% crazification factor:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cm/content/view/179/159/

Why Private Police Forces are bad for most of us.

The other day, niap_si_efil lost his phone. He then found it. The condition he found it in sucks, but I was entertained.

I thought I had a good understanding of knitting looms. It appears they can be far more complex.

This is an interesting list. I'm surprised at how few names I recognized.
The 50 Most Important People on the Web

lalabob11, two_pi_r and I won't be in Socorro on Friday night, so there won't be a movie night.

This is weird. On September 11th, 2001, the BBC reported live that the WTC7 had collapsed ~20 minutes before it actually did. The not-yet collapsed building was on screen during the live broadcast. WTC7 is the brown one, right behind her head. If you watch the video, you can see it, or you can scroll down in the article to see stills of it.

How could our government not be interested in an unknown, highly technological object hovering over a major airport, as reported by competent airline personnel? What about passenger safety? Or national security? Or just plain scientific curiosity?

This copyright navigator is really cool.
http://navigator.carolon.net/

For MySpace users:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/ichagirl/myspaceass.jpg

There is a movie night tomorrow. For those that had heard about my friend Amber from WA, she had some stuff come up with work and won't be here this weekend. I'm cooking ham steaks, brussels sprouts and corn. The movie might be a documentary about modern history and religious extremism, but it could also be something else someone brings.

"The News Media and Secrecy" by Phil Hoskins:

If we are to have any freedom at all we must always have the right to know about, debate and make decisions about any government program that impacts our personal lives in any way. It is our right as a citizen and there is never a justification for abrogating this right, at least absent "exigent circumstances."

And there is that phrase again, the one that this administration contends has already come into existence because some idiots flew planes into buildings and killed Americans. If this is all it takes to be "exigent" we are in deep trouble. A common definition might be "Generally, an emergency, a pressing necessity, or a set of circumstances requiring immediate attention or swift action." If this is a never ending war, the Administration's reasoning is merely a cover up for a power grab of unprecedented dimension.

The last line in that quote there really sums it up: the "war" on terror is never ending and the reasoning provided is just a cover up of the completely unreasonable, anti-democratic power grab of our now near-despotic executive branch.


Can Richardson build national appeal?

Since it was mentioned in someone's journal, I felt I should make it clear that there will be a movie night on Friday. I'm not sure what I'll make yet.

I'm off to visit some of my PAX Enforcer friends. I plan to make various posts during my travel. If I haven't posted again by Friday afternoon, something has gone wrong (the internet is fuxxored, I have been physically incapacitated in some way, I am being held by the government without charge, etc.).

Even though I will be gone, two_pi_r and lalabob11 are hosing a movie night tomorrow. I don't know what the food or movie will be.

These comparisons seem obvious to me, but they aren't in the press as often as they should be:

Another Vietnam? Defenders of President Bush's Iraq war policy have long shrugged off such comparisons. But as the war heads toward the four-year mark and a newly empowered Democratic Congress takes aim at presidential spending for more troops, the comparisons are becoming more frequent.

Generals are saying the Iraq War is making us less secure. Whee:

Nearly four years in Iraq have hammered US army and marines into a skilled counter-insurgency force but has left it unready for war against a conventionally armed foe, US generals warn.

Is Bill Richardson the new Al Gore?
Richardson's my favorite prospective candidate right now, but there's lots of time for things to change.

Turkey at movie night tonight. It's got pine nuts and garlic in it. :)

More about the Electoral College:
Math Against Tyranny

The same logic that governs our electoral system, he saw, also applies to many sports--which Americans do, intuitively, understand. In baseball's World Series, for example, the team that scores the most runs overall is like a candidate who gets the most votes. But to become champion, that team must win the most games. In 1960, during a World Series as nail-bitingly close as that year's presidential battle between Kennedy and Nixon, the New York Yankees, with the awesome slugging combination of Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Bill Moose Skowron, scored more than twice as many total runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates, 55 to 27. Yet the Yankees lost the series, four games to three. Even Natapoff, who grew up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, conceded that Pittsburgh deserved to win. Nobody walked away saying it was unfair, he says.

Natapoff's argument is all about that analogy. Pittsburgh may have won the Series that year, but they clearly weren't the best team that year. I, at least, don't want the candidate that wins the Series, I want the best candidate.

car_help
This community just got started. Pass the link around so people know about it and maybe we can all help each other with car troubles.

Most are offensive, but some are really funny:
http://www.thingsmyboyfriendsays.com/

There is a movie night tomorrow and there will be one next week too. Tomorrow I'm going to make a hot vegetable salad thing and turn the leftover squash into something. I think I'll make a big turkey next week.

I forgot to post earlier about Movie Night tomorrow. I don't know what the movie will be, but I'm probably going to make some manner of roast squash.

Tree with tribble-fish
Originally uploaded by jarrodlombardo.

Our tree. :D

There will be a movie night tomorrow (Dec 22), but not one next Friday (Dec 29th). We will be watching Terry Pratchett's Hogfather tomorrow, assuming I can get it to play on my DVD player.

"Christmas makes things sadder and strengthens the cheap plastic crap industry. It's supposed to be about Jesus, and if it truly was, I'm sure I'd have a problem with that too."

Of all the tragic aspects of this national disaster, this is worst: The people who have been catastrophically wrong about everything are still in charge. And a year from now, when things are even worse in Iraq, we can be sure the neoconservatives will still be demanding that yet more American soldiers die so that Kagan and his ilk can continue to live out their increasingly destructive geopolitical fantasies.

Bush's actions don't border on criminal. They are criminal. He's a lunatic with keys to the greatest nuclear arsenal in the world, a madman with heavy artillery, a nutcase with military might.

The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people — about 33,000 of them women — in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage.

"What If All the Ice Melts?" Myths and Realities

Fork Art

Furries, cute-junkies and potheads will like this safe-for-work animation:
http://www.machwolf.net/flash/puppies.swf

There will be a movie night tomorrow. I'm not going to make dinner, but I will obtain some manner of food for general consumption.
( Very Silly 12 Days Meme )



flemco and takhisis, the authors of Two Lumps, put up a crazy Christmas tree.

The cuteness is almost overpowering:
http://www.silentkimbly.com/

Tomorrow there is a movie night. I'm going to be making a baked pasta dish and also mashed sweet potatoes (assuming I can get enough of them). Today is lalabob11's birthday and last Saturday was radiatorcliffs' birthday, so come bearing good wishes for them tomorrow.

Next week there may or may not be a movie night. I don't know yet; it depends on our plans as regard the Midwinter Feast that Saturday.

Since I'm going up to see the Thomas Dolby and BT show on Friday, and two_pi_r is probably going up to the 2600 meeting, there won't be a movie night this week. Next week there will be a lalabob11's Birthday party movie night.

JPL movie night is a second Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of leftovers. Come, eat, hang out, watch movies, play games.

There is a party at the frame shop on Friday that lalabob11 and I are going to go to, so there won't be a movie night this week. Next week is doubtful due to Thursday being Thanksgiving, but I don't know for sure.

We should get home from the party sometime between 2200 and 2400, and people are welcome to stop by once we're home. Albuquerque people in town for Rocky Horror are welcome to stay at our house.

I posted that there would be no movie night tonight last week, but here's a reminder. There will be movie night at JPL next week, but not tonight because JPL is going up to Albuquerque for the Casa Imbri Gaming Night.

The movie night this Friday will feature red chile. I'm making carne adovada and a very similar but vegan dish with black eyed peas instead of pork. This afternoon I became inspired with an idea for a great side dish, but now I can't remember what it is.

There is a movie night tonight. The plan is to make fried green tomatoes and corndogs.

There will be a movie night next week too.

November 10th, there won't be a movie night because there is something at Casa Imbri that evening (I can't recall what it is right now, but JPL wanted to go up for it).

I'm making a whole bunch of food, so I hope a bunch of people come. The pulled pork is actually based on a North Carolina recipe, and not South as I said before, but it's still really good. I made the sauce a few minutes ago, and it is fabulous. I used cider vinegar among a few other changes, and it's better sauce than last time. There will also be lots of slaw, corn and beer.

In my last post I appear to have been wrong about when Rocky Horror is. I didn't know for sure. Anyway, there will probably be a movie night October 27th and also on November 3rd. People coming down (for RHPS or otherwise) are welcome to stay at the house, as usual.

I meant to post this on Tuesday, but forgot:
All of my photos from NDK are up. There aren't very many.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarrodlombardo/tags/nandesukanx/
baronj with a sign, Director Amanda looking Frida Kahloish, and a guy in a banana costume are in there, among some others.

It turns out the Indian Cooking class has been cancelled for a month because too few people registered. I'm trying to get my registration transferred to next month.

8500 Bottle Rockets with 1 fuse:
http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/08/bottlerockets.html

October 13th:
JPL has traveled too much of late, and we're all in need of some rest. Also, I have stuff I need to do in Socorro early Saturday morning. So, we won't be going up to pwned_kisa's party (sorry), but we won't be hosting a movie night either. I'll be here, and people can come over, but I won't be making food or generally making a big deal of anything.

October 20th:
It's 49ers weekend. There will be a movie night. I am making a South Carolina pulled pork barbecue and slaw. I'll probably also make corn and have a bunch of cheap beer to go along with it. Everyone should come.

October 27th:
There will be a movie night. Since I think this weekend is Rocky Horror weekend, I assume extra Albuquerque people we know will be around. They are welcome to stay here Friday and/or Saturday as needed.

November looks good for movie nights except for Thanksgiving weekend. I don't know of anything going on in November other than Thanksgiving, so I plan on movie nights on November Fridays. There will probably not be a movie night Thanksgiving weekend, but there will be the big Thanksgiving dinner at king_luddite's house. I'll post and email more details soon.

There is no Movie Night tomorrow as JPL will be at baronj's party.

There may not be a movie night next week as I will be in Denver and lalabob11 and two_pi_r may not want to host one.

This Friday, tomorrow, there will not be a movie night here at JPL because there's the Casa Imbri 3.0 housewarming in Albuquerque.

Next Friday, September 22nd, there will be a movie night at JPL.

Friday, September 29th, there will not be a movie night at JPL because of the Flatwarming Party at Forward Observation Post November-One-Three (baronj has a silly name for his abode, don't you think?) in Albuquerque and then king_luddite's gaming night the following evening.

Movie nights should return to normal weekly scheduling for October.

If you are interested in the three parties listed above (the ones not at my house), you should contact their respective hosts about attending. I do not wish to invite anyone to someone else's party out of place. Everyone who reads this (and hasn't been specifically banned) is welcome to attend JPL Movie Nights.

I think I didn't post about it before, but there is a movie night tonight. lalabob11 and I are making a vegetable stew. We're using vegetables from radiatorcliffs' mom's garden along with some of my tomatoes and some stuff from the store. I'm going to make corn bread and maybe rice to go along with it.

Does anyone recognise this zombie-killing board game?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lobstar/63396648/

And if you want to know what you can do to help? Don't be terrorized. They terrorize more of us if they kill some of us, but the dead are beside the point. If we give in to fear, the terrorists achieve their goal even if they were arrested. If we refuse to be terrorized, then they lose -- even if their attacks succeed.

"When it comes to terrorism, much of our political leadership appears to have lost both its nerve and its mind."

Regulating Research
http://www.badscience.net/?p=278

GTA: Lego City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ShVV8L_o0&NR

Jonas Geirnaert graduation project "FLATLIFE" (2004), selected for Short Films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2004.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5377830501271604815

There will be a movie night at JPL tomorrow. Dinner will be something involving chicken, probably roasted. The movie will be The Aristocrats.


Ernie and Bert Explore a Pyramid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSmWHHZpVE

An icon I think many of you will like:



A Nation of Wimps from Psychology Today by way of ravendisplayed.
One quote I found very appropriate from my experience with many of my peers and younger people:

The perpetual access to parents infantilizes the young, keeping them in a permanent state of dependency. Whenever the slightest difficulty arises, "they're constantly referring to their parents for guidance," reports Kramer. They're not learning how to manage for themselves.

So many of the people I see in college have no idea how to deal with simple situations necessary for living an independent life. It's a sad position for our society to be in.


How does the risk of terrorism measure up against everyday dangers?
A False Sense of Insecurity?
BY JOHN MUELLER
Ohio State University
BoingBoing's description of the paper:

Only traitors try to make us afraid of terrorists.
In this mind-blowing, exhaustively researched Cato institute paper by Ohio State University's John Mueller, the case against being afraid of terrorism is laid out in irrefutable logic, backed with credible, documented statistics about terrorism's risks.

Lincoln:

You might reply that our liberties define our nation: If we abandon them, we give up on America itself. But Abraham Lincoln said otherwise, and lucky for us. By sacrificing a bit of freedom for suspected Confederate sympathizers, he helped win freedom for nearly 4 million enslaved African-Americans.

I think it was worth it. And I bet you do, too.

Until we Democrats can specify when and how we'd take the same harsh measures that Lincoln did, we don't deserve to sit under his mantle. Or to run the country.

The author takes a naive view of the Civil War as being primarily about freeing slaves, but I had never known that Lincoln had many people imprisoned without charges. I think slavery ending was a good thing, and the war did cause that, but other things could/would have done it too, given time (possibly a civil war or slave revolt internal to the Confederacy; possibly economic pressure from other countries; possibly something else). Regardless of the state of the slaves, I feel the Union should have let the Confederates secede and let the issues between the nations work themselves out over time instead of flatly rejecting the Confederacy's negotiation attempts, forcing the Battle of Fort Sumter (the first battle in the war).

If you are in (or considering a move to) the Socorro, NM area and are looking for a place to live or would like to check out alternatives to your current living arrangement; a room is now available at 814 Leroy Place. The house is situated across from Brown Hall and has immediate access to most campus facilities. The distance from the house to most classrooms at Tech is closer than several dormitories. Rent is $254/month plus utilities split evenly with the three other tennants (~$70 per tennant per month). The house has DSL internet, a new hot water heater and electric range, spacious common room (~530sq. ft.), garage, and circular driveway. The room available is the second largest bedroom in the house, has a walk-in closet, bathroom, and patio door. You would be living with lalabob11, two_pi_r and myself. For information about this room, please contact me at sublet@jarrod.spum.us

UPDATE: Two people have already expressed interest, so unless they both flake, the room is taken by one of them.

X-Posted to: jaberwockynmt, thegreensheeps, newmexicotech, nm_techies

There is a movie night at SJLP tonight. Next week there is a movie night at Casa Imbri (I believe one of them posted about it).

If any of the Imbri people come down tonight, please bring my pie plate. If not, I'll get it next week, assuming we go up (which is likely).

My stand mixer came today. I'll be able to make a full batch of CIA chocolate chip cookies now instead of needing to halve the recipe (maybe; it might still be bigger than the mixer can handle, but it's much better than schlake's 4 quart can do). Many other things will also be easier to make. Wooo!

There will be no movie night this Friday as JPL will be out of town for the night.

sacra_imbri is hosting Movie Night at Apartment Imbri in Albuquerque, so there will be no Movie Night at SJLP this Friday. I need my tomatoes watered sometime before 1000 on Saturday, but since SJLP will still be in Albuquerque, I can't water them myself. Can one of you help me out?

Tomatoes!!
Originally uploaded by jarrodlombardo.

Two tiny tomatos. They're only about 1/4 inch.

Since I don't know of anything else going on and there aren't any conflicts for me at least, there is a movie night tomorrow.

Next week I'll be in Dallas, so I don't know if the rest of SJLP will want to host a movie night.

There isn't an organized Movie Night tomorrow. I won't be making a big dinner for everyone. People are welcome to show up and hang out if they want though. I'll be at the Taiko PAS thing, but others should be home then. Once that's over, I'll be home.

This is a webcomic I just found that's pretty silly:
http://www.wigu.com/overcompensating/

The past few days have been some of my busiest at work. Having a lot of things to work on and having clear goals for them is refreshing (and not the usual situation for me). I don't think it'll keep up though, meaning that work will probably be trudging again soon. The alpha-version product we are shipping tomorrow for a few customers to evaluate is really cool/easy to use and does some really complicated ray-tracing stuff in near-real-time (millions of rays in a few microseconds). I'm not supposed to talk about it in more detail (trade-secret stuff), so I'll stop here.

Dining Room Table Complete
Originally uploaded by jarrodlombardo.

With Brad's help lifing the glass, I finished the table today.

Dining Room Table Base
Originally uploaded by jarrodlombardo.

This is the base to the dining room table I'm building. It just needs some more sanding and clearcoat and it'll be done. The top is a big piece of glass that will just sit up there.

Next Sunday I'm hosting an Easter dinner at my house. Dinner is at 2. Significant other's, children and friends are welcome. I'll be making hams, kielbasa and cabbage, and a Polish white soup. It would be best if you could bring some food to share with everyone, but it isn't absolutely necessary.

My house is 814 Leroy place. It's just across the street from the south end of Brown Hall. The number is on the wooden fence near the street and also on the mailbox near the front door.

It's really cool when you're listening to the radio and a really cheesy 80's instrumental comes on that you recognize, but it takes you a moment to figure out what it is: Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme.

I'm doing well. Work is tolerable and home-life has been good. I've been busy with projects. I gor the water filter installed in the kitchen and I should be able to have the table finished by the 15th when I want it done.

jaberwockynmt's LiveJournal popularity rating is 4.35/10. jaberwockynmt is more popular than 99.04% of all LiveJournal users. jaberwockynmt is more popular than 93.9% of their mutual friends. How popular are you? LJ Popularity created by thehumangame.

Tonight is the baronj/omnipaul birthday party at my house. They are making some main-course type food (I don't remember what). I'm going to make Scotch Bonnet Slarg (no habaneros were to be found in Socorro and that's what baronj was able to find in Albuquerque) and Better-Than-Sex Cake from my old housemate Chris's recipe (holy shit is it rich). I'll take pictures of the food as I make it, and they'll get posted up on Flickr.

The other day I got the "Spinach" thing I mentioned. It's a Spinach Corduroy LoveSac SuperSac. I took pictures of it when as we unpacked it, but I've been lazy and they're still on my camera. It is really heavy and hard to fluff, but it is really comfortable, especially for cuddling with 2 others.

I'm against by-law marriage because the system is very discriminatory based on creed. If you don't know, I'm very far from being a christian myself. I found this document through one of the political communities I read:
5 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License
Some of the reasons I have to be against the legal system of marriage are the opposite of some of his (one of my biggest being that marriage is between exactly 3 parties: man, woman, state; he is against it for there being more than 2 parties and I am against it for the number of parties being limited at all and the sex specification), but it's still an interesting read.

Logarithmic Maps of the Universe

How to become an early riser

A well written method for making sturdy sandals from old truck tires.

Comments on Basic Instinct 2

An Economic Analysis of Airport Security Screening

( Answers to yesterday's lyrics meme. )

Plan B is a plan to save our civilization from the impending/happening-right-now ecological crises that are cause by our industrial neglect for the planet. It proposes concrete steps to, "rescue a planet under stress and a civilization in trouble."

Phrase puzzles:
http://intelligence-test.net/part1/
http://intelligence-test.net/part2/
I was able to get 30/33 on the first one and 9/24 on the second one. I didn't have any outside help or look anything up, but I did look at it on and off for ~7 hours. I couldn't figure out 26, 28 and 31 on the first and I couldn't figure out 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15, 17-21, 23 and 24 on the second. Email me if you can't get one I got or if you got one I couldn't figure out. Please don't post any answers in the comments.

"Listen" to the digits of Pi

I ordered something "Spinach" today. I hope it's worth the price (it was expensive). When it arrives, many of you will probably help me set it up/want use it.

This week, March 24, there is no Movie Night at JPL. There is Movie Night at the new Casa Imbri in Albuquerque instead. I'll be bringing up some Lentil Adovada (a vegan experiment). Hopefully it turns out as tasty as I think it could be. Update: this Movie Night at Casa Imbri is also a savya Birthday Party.

Next week, March 31, there is a baronj Birthday Party / Movie Night at JPL.

April 7th there will probably be a Movie Night.

April 14th there will not be a Movie Night. On the 15th there will be a birthday party for me followed by a feast on Sunday the 16th (I'm not christian anymore (that ended when I was about 12), but I have always enjoyed the Easter Feast my family held, and any excuse for Baked Ham, Kielbasa and Cabbage and Hudzik Borscht is a good one for me).

April 21st there will probably be a Movie Night.

April 28th there probably won't be a Movie Night (lalabob11 and I have a wedding to attend the next day).

I think that's enough speculation for now.

Albuquerque people (and others from afar and those who just don't want to go home) are more than welcome to stay the night at any of the Movie Nights or other events at the house. We have couch space, cuddle space (in the beds of the people who live here) and lots of floor space. Some time in the next few months I'm going to get a very large LoveSac too, so sleeping friends will have even more comfortable places to do so.

Random things:

The Department of Homeland Security gets a failing grade in cybersecurity for the third year in a row.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2723

a German word meaning "little man on the traffic signal"

http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/archives/001698.html

Young boys wearing pink velour dresses and blonde wigs (I don't know why):
http://riotclitshave.livejournal.com/371429.html

Content:

Recently, conversing with two different people I'm getting to know, my usage of the word "useful" was questioned/considered unusual. When someone tells me something about themselves, I say it is "useful" information because it helps me understand the person, which can in turn be used to become closer friends and I could then more effectively help the friend or be helped by the friend in a time of need. I don't mean it in any sort of manipulative way.

LJ just changed the number of userpics paid users get. Every paid account now has 30 pics and gets extra for loyalty. Every three months that a person has been continuously a paid member, they get another userpic. They even did it retroactively, so I now have 38 userpics, which is awesome, since I had been thinking about new icon ideas but note being really serious about it because I didn't want to delete any of my existing ones.

I have a tenant. Woot. It's Sara, my de facto landlord. It's complicated, paperwork-wise, with her being the landlord and a sublettee, but good because we all already get along with her and now we don't need to put signs up around town to find someone.

Last night, lalabob11 and I convinced Sara that she needs to get a LiveJournal account. She's having a hard time coming up with a good username, so for those of you who've met her, you should add some suggestions in the comments.

I was poking around http://www.vw.com again. I got a slick (from a marketing perspective), but somewhat annoying message popup.

The sentence could be interpreted a few different ways:
"Getting what I want requires pleasing people above me."
It's one of the "questions" the the following really coolly designed meme.
( Personal DNA )

If you are in (or considering a move to) the Socorro, NM area and are looking for a place to live or would like to check out alternatives to your current living arrangement; a room is now available at 814 Leroy Place. The house is situated across from Brown Hall and has immediate access to most campus facilities. The distance from the house to most classrooms at Tech is closer than several dormitories. Rent is $254/month plus utilities split evenly with the three other tennants. The house has DSL internet, a new hot water heater and electric range, spacious common room, garage, and circular driveway. The room available is the second largest bedroom in the house, has a walk-in closet (new), bathroom, and patio door. You would be living with lalabob11, two_pi_r and myself. For information about this room, please contact me at sublet@jarrod.spum.us

The other day I asked people to suggest names for the house. The below poll will show you the overall results as votes are cast, but only I'll be able to see who voted for which names.
Poll #687860 House Name
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 35

Check all of the house names you approve of: