Random updates

Nuptuals : Mike and Soo are engaged. Allen and Vivian are engaged. Andrew and Cindy are engaged. My brother and Mami have set a date. And I'm so looking forward to checking out the food at Matt and Rebecca's wedding so I hope we get invited.

Employment : Uh, um, uh, I'm switching jobs (again). This is my last week at Barclays. Starting at BofA next Monday.

Current trials and tribulations : HD in 12" powerbook died, luckily I have a 17" :). The pigeons are back in the balcony and I've waited too long to check on them... two eggs laid in a nest already. How do I get rid of them? How stupid am I to stay up till 3AM to update a blog that's been quiet for a month? Madeleine hid one slipper and now only one foot can be comfortable walking around the apartment! I've looked all weekend and still no joy. Giving Verizon the boot and got Vonage VOIP for $15.00 /month. I have a spare 802.11b router now. Any takers? How's $20?

Good night!

http://47.241.129.131/

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Book o' the month : A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson is really funny to listen to... I have the audio book now and given my nature loving tendencies, his blurbs on bear attacks is tempering my love of the wild a little, but with lots of laughs...

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When do you have enough computers?

Let me do an inventory:
1) 1998/1998 powermac g4 500 mhz --> main server, always on
2) 2004 powerbook 12" g4 1.33 mhz --> only laptop, living room computer
3) 2002(?) imac g4 833 mhz --> kitchen computer
4) 2005 mac mini --> iTunes server and dvd ripper
5) 2004 amd pc --> dual book windows/linux (corp remote access)

Is there room for more?  Honestly, one can always do with more or less.  Since my pb 12" is not serving as my development machine since it's being used to shop of ebay for baby clothes for Madeleine most of the time, I figured I could get another one.    Dilemmas, dilemmas, I'm not made of money and Ann will kill me... but I was thinking of buying a Sharp Zaurus and that would've set me back $950 anyway...

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Sleeping with the Devil

Interesting story about the house of Saud and our country's ties to it. Listening to the audio book version. Only 1 hour into it and it's very disturbing. International politics and world affairs eye opener... kinda like Fast Food Nation did for my notion of McDonalds. Worth reading, even if it pisses you off about world we live in and the reliance on oil we can't give up. Damn my suv... but it's such a nice vehicle... :(

3/6/06 Follow up...
Saw a History Channel special on the development of militant Islam and it gave a more level handed perspective than that of this book's accont (though most of his arguments against the Saudi family still sound valid). A fuller history (from the time of Muhammad) paints a different portrait of the people and religion. Though their intolerance of the West and changing times is easy to dismiss as dogmatic and medieval, I don't think Europe and America have a much to stand on given their own histories. It's hard to have a perspective on it when living through the times (and of course not having been impacted in any of the acts of terrorism). I get the impression that like in war, the good guys and the bad guys appear to be determined by who wins and who happens to write the histories.

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