engadet does gizmodo

Is it me or does the newly redesigned engadget bear a suspiciously striking resemblence to Gizmodo?

You be the judge.

Teen-aged boys

It's been over 6 weeks since my 17 yr old hit me. Needless to say, I've never gone this long without seeing any of my kids. Number one son is hiding at his mother's house or should I say "behind his mother's apron".

Some women recognize what's going on, almost all men grok it in fullness.

1a: karma is real
1b: payback's a bitch
1c: now I know how my father felt (tho I never smacked him nor spent time in juvy

2: as a Buddhist who believes in reincarnation, I realize it may take while before Michael grows up and learns the lesson(s) at hand

3: while my other two are watching their older brother, I pray they at least make their own (different) mistakes

This may take awhile.

Speaking of family, I had a great trip home last week. Spent lots of time with Mom, who's doing incredibly well after 2 breast cancer operations in 6 weeks. The unexpected joy was spending mucho quality time with my brother. As in 3 meals in three days. Not to mention is seemingly normal new girlfriend. Big shout out to Bruce'n'Barb as well. Ahhhh, Cleveland. Land of my birth.

HHDL in Vancouver

Lisa and I saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama today in Vancouver. He's here for the opening of a new center.

Tears streamed down my face though his speech was what I called "Dalai Lama Lite". Lovely enough but not a spiritual talk per se. I've been reading a handful of his books lately and I guess I had my hopes set a bit too high.

Being in his presence and hearing his voice was a joy. A true joy.

Perhaps the most touching moment was when he entered the room and his two RCMP escorts clasped their hands together and bowed to him. F*cking secret service agents wouldn't have done that. Oh yeah, it was qualatatively different being in Canada seeing him.

I promise to work harder for the enlightenment of all sentient beings. Each and every day.


Om mani padme hum.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Lisa and I are on our way to Vancouver BC today to hear His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak tomorrow.

First time. I could use the inspiration about now.

Altoids tin pocket shrines

While I admire those that re-use Altoids tins for DIY electronic projects, I use them to make pocket shrines.

Mints, gum, smalls, you name it, I'm shoving something into it.

I finally completed enough to warrant a web gallery of my Altoids personal shrines. Still working on several more so I'm looking forward to posting new pix as I complete them.

This one is for the older guys out there

I've got three sons who I love dearly. Three teen-aged sons. Starting to get the picture?

I always suspected that this upcoming school year was going to be a "challenge". I'm going to have a 12th, 9th, and 7th grader. Two in high school, one in middle school. Come Feb, the oldest turns 18 and God willing graduates in June.

Getting there is proving to be a trip. I have to laugh at myself because we've all gotten along so well this far, that it shouldn't be a surprise how quickly it's fallen apart.

When I relate stories of my rebelling 17 yr old, my male peers stop me midsentence and remmind me what it was like for us. Whether we knew each other back then or not. One of those Universal Truths.

So he's pushing off from Dad, discovering himself, making his own mistakes, living at his mom's, and probably hating me with every fiber of his being.

I'm trying to pace myself given that I have two more to go.

Fatherhood. Wouldn't given it up for anything. <sigh>

One's employess

I was renting a DVD at Blockbuster yesterday. The clerk was trying to get me to sign up for their online deal. Hey, I'm a Netflix junkie.

Anyway the thing that struck me was he kept saying "they're desperate to have people sign up". Hello... You work for them. You should be saying "we/we're".

Note to company owners everywhere: make your employees part of the corporate family. Duh...

Hawks beware!

Hats off and a big thanks to the voters in CT for dumping Lieberman. I dunno from no Lamont but I have to laugh at Lieberman for not quitting but transmuting into an independent candidate.

Are the rest of you politicians listening?

Thoughts, random thoughts

Sometimes things you plan backfire; unintended results abound. The real tradegy is when we don't learn from past experiences. Even worse when we drag others into our drama.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama tells us to love those who cause us pain. The paradox is that those we already love are easy. It's those that we have trouble loving that provide us with our hardest lesson(s).

I've been coasting on the belief that things worked out so well. Coasting blindly. Now it's coming to a crashing halt and my eyes are being forced open. Open to confront that which I didn't want to see.

And I promised myself that I'd never blog like this again. You now, the personal stuff. Yet I'm doing it. I can't help myself.

What a challenge. Definitely something to meditate about/on.

JetCityOrange, the web site

As many of you know, this blog is the companion site to JetCityOrange the web site. And over at JCO, things have been hoppin'.

I put together a quick'n'dirty page the day NPR aired a story about the "mosquito ringtone". Little did I know that it would get 63,000+ visitors who've listened to the 17KHz sound 123,000+ times! Whoa!

Another pleasant surprise has been the growth of my barcode tattoo photo gallery and my barcode art gallery. So far only two people have denied my request to allow me to post their photos and others have volunteered theirs out of the blue.

One project I wish I could devote more time to are photos for the Google Pack Screensaver. Hey, there are only so many hours in the day.

Speaking of time constraints, new video camera aside, you don't see me joining the YouTube Generation. Yet...

My kinda car

a.) my father drove a Mustang. Several of them in fact.
b.) the new Mustangs look pretty fun.
c.) Steve McQueen's Bullitt has one to the best car scenes ever.
d.) Steve did his own driving. In a Mustang.

Now you see why I snapped this photo when I parked behind this person today. Sorry it was on my Sidekick's camera, not my Oly.

In the news

So we're up to our eyeballs in two Middle East wars (remember Afghanistan?). Israel is using a kidnapped soldier as a flimsy excuse to try to oust Hamas. Or should I say "the democraticly elected government of Palestine"? Less than a week after things come to a head, Britain and the US are evacuating ex-pats (what do they know they aren't tell us?). And diplomacy seems to be a four letter word to Bush.

The US will stand by Israel no matter how egregious their actions. They must have the bomb or their enemies would have pushed them into the sea by now. Meanwhile the price of gas is going down at the pump while crude is over $70 a barrel. During the summer when folks taking vacations. Drving vacations.

Will someone explain even half of the above to me? Please??

Whadda ya wanna bet that when Condi the Hun goes to the Middle East next week, "cease fire" and "peace talks" won't be in her vocabulary? Why not send Jesse Jackson over? It worked before.

Mmmmmm...

When I cook garlic is an ingredient, not a spice.

Chatter

It's said that I watch as many movies as I do because it's one of the few ways I can quiet myself. Too many neurons firing most of the time. That's why meditation is such a challenge for me.

Petrol

I have a stick. Gas is expensive. Therefore I coast a lot more than I used to.

Clyde sez I'm jealous

It all starts with this video

The Top 10 Reaons Why This Video Makes Me Nuts

10.) at first, seeing the Kellog's logo put me at ease. it was all downhill from there.

9.) even though i can't understand japanese, hearing the guy's inflection gives me goose bumps

8.) at least i *hope* they're goose bumps

7.) obviously some folks have waaaaay too much time on their hands

6.) is this the first take or how often did they have to repeat this sucker?

5.) are you SURE the japs don't have The Bomb? cuz if they do, the west coast is fucked. seriously fucked.

4.) shouldn't someone check just to be sure? like with geiger counters and shit?

3.) HEY, i swear i saw clyde's hand in there somewhere. here, watch it again in slow mo...

2.) and the schmucks who did this wonder why their wives left them. six months ago. and none of them have noticed yet.

1.) excuse me but didn't the japanese INVENT the microwave? what up wit dat dawg????

Bore de France

You hoped it happened in football. Everyone acted surprised when it came to light in baseball. Basketball? Who knows. And golf, well, in spite of Tiger they just aren't hip enough.

Doping has ruined the Tour for me this year. I just don't care. I sure as heck ain't gonna get up early to watch it live. Simply put, I don't care who wins. And it's not just because Lance is retired.

Junkies on two wheels.

Knee High By the 4th of July

Well. For once I did it.

Today is 04jul06 and the Zea mays in my front yard extends above my patella.

My wish list item for Vista

It's gonna suck. It's Windows.

The only thing I want from Vista is a Ctrl-Z shortcut in Solitaire.

Note to self: try this!

Don't cha just wish you'd thought something like this up yourself? Kinda lends itself to other "creative" applications.