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Between a co-worker and myself:

(6:20 AM) co-worker: the most amusing part is that it's all in parantheses
(6:21 AM) myself: (I love parentheses (in fact, I've been told that I use too many of them (actually, an old English teacher accused me of writing in LISP (he was a bit of a geek))))
(6:22 AM) co-worker: at least you close all of them
(6:22 AM) myself: I wouldn't want it to fail at compile.

Hi folks...
Normally, I don't write posts like this, but I don't have much of a choice.  Recently, I spent a week in the hospital, after missing most of the previous week of work.  As you may or may not know, I have an open wound - literally a hole in my leg - from a previous abcess/infection that very nearly killed me and resulted in the loss of my leg in June of 2009. That's almost healed.  Around two and a half weeks ago, I started having issues with my leg, again.  It turned out to be a large hemtoma near the existing wound site.  A hematoma is a place - like a bruise - where blood pools under the skin in large quantity.  Think a huuuge blood-filled zit.

I had to go into the emergeny room on Tuesday the 19th of January.  The next day, I had surgery to open up, clean up, and debride the wound area.  This left an open wound area that is 5.5cm wide, by 5.8cm long, by 0.5 - 1.0cm deep. (If you really want to see, pictures can be seen here.) I was discharged from the hospital on the 26th of January.  I have not been released to go back to work until today.

Because of the amount of time I have missed, Joni and I have fallen dramatically behind in our finances.  We have no money in savings - having used it all the previous summer when I was in the hospital for three months, and therefore we are flat broke.  I quite literally do not know how I'm going to pay my rent.  Unfortunately, this means that we may very well face eviction.  Some people you can explain the situation to, and get extra time... and some people, you can't.  Therefore, I am forced to do something I don't want to do.  Beg.

If you can possibly find a few dollars to send to us, "donate" to our rent fund, please donate to us via PayPal. If 100 people donate $10, our rent will be paid (yes, we know it's expensive. We used to have roommates, and yes we're in the process of finding someplace cheaper, and when I actually am able to work normally, it's not that bad).  We're not asking for any specific amount... Just what you feel you can spare, and that you link to, re-post, or re-tweet this posting.  Thanks so much for understanding, folks. We know that the economy sucks right now, so we appreciate even more that extra little bit. So many thanks to everyone that can help, and so much understanding to those that wish they could!

Sometimes my conversations at work just make the whole day worthwhile... the conversation for the day ended on a relatively tame note... we were discussing Houston weather, and I told him be glad he wasn't in tornado country... this ensued (Oh, yes, parental advisory, explicit lyrics...):

(2:49 AM) Me: we broke a record.
(2:50 AM) Me: record was 28 back in 1997.
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: I'm pretty tired of "breaking records" in houston
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: Ike worst storm in x years
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: coldest shit
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: just
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: Houston
(2:50 AM) Co Worker: figure it the fuck out.
(2:50 AM) Me: lol
(2:50 AM) Me: at least you're not in kansas
(2:51 AM) Me: then you'd have to worry about
(2:51 AM) Me: biggest tornado outbreak in x years
(2:51 AM) Me: biggest motherfuckin nasty-ass tornado ever
(2:51 AM) Me: most pieces of straw driven through your little homie while you tried to hold on to a pipe, screaming while the wind tried to drag you away, ever
(2:51 AM) Me: you know.
(2:51 AM) Me: just kansas.
(2:51 AM) Me: normal shit.
(2:51 AM) Me: cows.
(2:52 AM) Me: chickens through telephone poles.
(2:52 AM) Me: day to day crap.
(2:52 AM) Co Worker: hahah
(2:52 AM) Co Worker: in Los Angeles, they'd say the same about Texas.
(2:52 AM) Co Worker: nuh uh, it's too hot over there.
(2:52 AM) Co Worker: Hurricanes!
(2:52 AM) Me: Yeah well..
(2:52 AM) Me: at least I went my whole life without having to learn how to dive underneath my desk every time the ground moved!
(2:53 AM) Me: I may have a lot of things to be afraid of, but _everything that I stand, walk, move, operate, or live on, around, in or near_ is not one of them.

The day started off even better than that....  we have a very few employees that work in our remote offices.  The joke started a long time ago when the company moved from their old location to their current one. Apparently when we upgraded offices, the remote employees, be they in any of the company's remote locations, keep getting downgraded to smaller and smaller offices.  (All joking aside, the remote offices are pretty much like the local ones. Just on a smaller scale.)  Regardless, apparently their are a lot of towers in India, where companies rent tower-top offices for their employees... or at least in my imagination...

(2:26 AM) Me: and they work like 7 days a week or something.
(2:26 AM) Me: eesh
(2:26 AM) Co Worker: Think so.  In a small office.
(2:26 AM) Co Worker: together
(2:26 AM) Co Worker: It's 145pm MOnday, in India.
(2:26 AM) Me: They work with [a remote admin, my superior]?
(2:27 AM) Co Worker: yeah
(2:27 AM) Me: ah
(2:27 AM) Me: let me guess. Small, triangular shaped office.  One on each wall?
(2:27 AM) Me: heh
(2:27 AM) Co Worker: hahaha
(2:27 AM) Me: trap door in the middle...
(2:27 AM) Me: office is at the top of a tower.
(2:27 AM) Co Worker: HAHAHAH
(2:27 AM) Me: rent's cheap
(2:28 AM) Me: but the owl's and bats roosting overhead get annoying.
(2:28 AM) Co Worker: HAHAHAHA
(2:28 AM) Me: have to keep replacing monitors when they fizzle and die from bird crap
(2:28 AM) Me: and don't even get _statrted_ about the white stuff on the keyboard...

...You don't even want to see the living conditions I came up with for the folks in the Florida offices.  Let's just say that beach access is easy to come by when you only have to open the flap.  It's the rogue waves you have to watch out for, though. They really screw with equipment. And rfc1149 networking is a bitch during hurricanes.

...yeah, I amuse way too easily... see this for proof.

I've been gone for a while. In the hospital. More information on that, later.  For now, here's a video on Barak Obama.

Well, we're back from vacation.  I was an idiot and mis-typed my password too many times and the firewall blocked the motel's IP address.  Whoops.  So, that's why no updates mid-vacation. I'm working on getting photos and videos online, now.  Since there's nothing up yet, you'll have to make due with this video of a kitten riding a roomba.

So we've started our vacation. Four wonderful days in Galveston, TX.  ...yeah, I know, it ain't fabulous Hawaii, or Awesome Ireland, or anything, but Galveston is close, and can kick just as much ass as those other places.  It's all in what you do, and who you're with.  In my case, my wonderful wife. (Although if she turns into a nine year old Indian boy (thanks Tom Waits), I'm running for it.)

Okay, so we arrived at our motel (yes, there's a "mo," not a "ho." People do still stay in motels), a couple of hours ago.  It's not too bad.  You can tell they haven't finished post Hurricane Ike rennovations, but the room has fresh paint, fresh carpet, doesn't smell, and has what we need.  The guy working the front desk says that they're still re-doing the rooms, cause of FEMA.  Basically, they re-did the rooms, and re-opened, just in time for FEMA to commandeer them as a shelter/voucher hotel.  Apparently the people who stayed at this location were form what passes for the 'hood' in Galveston... or at least what passes for "the place where assholes live."  Apparently they had a lot of holes kicked in walls, furniture thrown over the second-floor railing, and so on.  Personally? I think they've done a great job cleaning it up.  Looks fine to me.

Okay, so we're in Galveston (woo).  Today's orders of business?

• get dinner
• drive down the SeaWall a bit
• decide which beach we're going to, tomorrow.

I forsee a lot of hanging out on the beach.  I don't know if my wife wanted to go to Moody Gardens, or not.  I'm not a big one for walking around - me being so fat and all - but I figure I can handle a Rain Forest Pyramid, or two.

Pictures, video, and a ton of other stuff will be posted, as we get it.  Whoooooaaaaaa BUNDY GALVESTON!!!

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So the State of Texas just raised cigarette taxes.  I'm paying around $5.99 a pack for the Camel Menthol Lights I smoke, and other standard brands (Camel, Marlboro, etc).  Okay, I can deal with that.  I opposed it.  I'm still opposed to it.  The Federal Government, however, is intending to raise cigarette taxes, on the federa level, up to $1.01 per pack (from $0.32)!  Why is this insane?  Let's look at who it hurts..

Smokers?  Yes, smokers feel the pinch in their wallets.  Fine. Cigarettes are a "luxury item," persay.  As a smoker, I'm not upset about the price hike because of the price being so high...

The government? Yes, the government is raising taxes to fund other things. However, the more taxes increase, the fewer people smoke. The fewer people smoke, the less tax collected.  In all honesty, they're hurting themselves. A tax hike this high could actually cause a significant decrease in the amount of cig tax collected.

The farmers?  Ah yes.  Here is where we get to the meat of the issue.  People like my aunt and uncle, for whom tobacco farming is their livelyhood, will pay the highest price.  The higher the taxes, the fewer people smoke.  The fewer smokers, the lower the buy price of tobacco.  The lower the buy price of tobacco, the harder hit are the farmers. If we keep taxing cigarettes and other tobacco products, there are going to be some farmers who are suddenly out of work.  I know everyone will say "just switch to corn, or other products..."  I wish it was that simple.  Unfortunately, you're talking about having to purchase new equipment, learn different growing techniques, different planting schedules, and so on and so forth.  It gets tough.  Very tough.

Look, cigarette taxes are understandable.. but when they're doing more ultimate harm than good, maybe it's time we re-considered?  Take some time to notify your congressperson and senate leaders on this issue, huh?  If not for smokers, then do it for the farmers.

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...if for no other reason than my wonderful wife just saved me nearly $1,500 on my taxes.
She earned no income in 2008 (retired teacher), so when we filed jointly, I found we owe just over $200. The filing system I used (taxact.com), has an option to show the difference between married filing joint, and married filing separate. Separately, I would owe over $1,700. Damn. I really need to take fewer deductions on my paycheck. Of course, that means less money. Right now I'd rather get what I get, and have to pay an extra couple of hundred at the end of the year. Of course, when I get a raise and my tax bracket changes, that may make a huge difference.

Sometimes I think I should hang my head in shame.
I just don't understand why.
Seroquel? Why aren't you helping like you should?

I was all set to make a series of posts, this weekend. Using this new book I have to help with blog fodder, No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog. Then, I got sick.

Oh yeah... not just sick, but siiiiiiiiiiiick...    See, the folks at my work have been tossing both regular and stomach flu back and forth for the past week.  Of course, I wound up with a bastardized version of the plain old flu.  It seems to be quite at home in my chest, so I'm coughing and hacking with bronchitis.  I'm aching and hurting, and I feel out of it and generally crappy.  Therefore, no amazingly profound update from me.

To be honest, if you're coming here for amazingly profound anything, you're barking up the wrong tree, hound.  I'm just a simple geeky guy, living with a simple geeky girl, and we've got a couple of weird-ass dogs, and I work for a web hosting company, so I post code that I use day to day.  You'll find code, book links, cPanel information, wine (and other alcoholoic beverage) reviews, some pictures, some video, and a little bit of (in?)sanity.

Cover of Anathem

I'm going to go lie in bed and be miserable, as the antibiotics are already tearing my stomach to shreds.  If you need a good book, I highly suggest Anathem by Neal Stephenson.  For those of you familiar with Stephenson's works of Snow Crash, etc... you'll understand the genius that is Stephenson. His ability to create a complete new world, so totally separate from our own, and yet so completely like our own.  Enter the Mathic world, where those that think, philosophize, and theorize in math and science are cloistered much as our religious types would be.  Follow Fra Erasmas on a journey that will change not only the way he thinks and perceives, but the very foundation of what he believes.  It may shake you up a bit, too.

On that note, my wife just called. She's on her way home from breakfast, so I'm going to see if the stomach will let me eat something.  With luck, I'll be better, soon.  I kind of doubt it, though, as I just realized I've been staring into space for nearly an hour, and don't remember writing most of this entry.