well, i guess i start @ the drugstore this sunday... the manager guy said they'd crosstrain me for the pharmacy, but i'll mainly be doing front stuff for now. i won't have to miss sloan though, as i'll be out by 2pm sunday afternoon (anyone want to go?). got a call and set up an interview for that project intern position at that large HMO next week. wegmans called me... but didn't leave any info on position openings or sched. i dunno... maybe they will have something open in their pharmacy that will fit into my new schedule? still volunteering @ the VA. all of a sudden i may be very busy =]... i'm glad... it's getting real old sitting @ home.

ugh, it got up to 95 degrees here today... while it's a common occurance in new york city... it's not here. tomorrow's not supposed to be any better. this is shaping up to be the hottest june buffalo has ever had. the air is stale and doesn't seem to be circulating, on the plus side... i don't smell stanky stale urine, and i don't have to worry about the smelly garbage juice that runs down the sidewalks of that big city downstate. i'm also quite relieved i do not have to camp out in a stinky-sweaty person's armpit (and no one in mine) while riding the crowded subway home to brooklyn after work. i do miss sitting out @ the seaport at night and just watching cars cross the brooklyn bridge though.

a couple big decisions by the supreme court today... here are 2 of em. music & entertainment companies can fug us some more. this ruling will benefit proprietary technologies and formats... and weaken open formats like mp3. how very american. i'm not sure i am pro or against this decision. however, i think if cable companies don't need to open their lines up, i think there should be a similar decision to let telcos close up their lines. right now, telcos are at the disadvantage, and cable is dominating broadband at a time when the telcos are just starting to build fiber to homes.

jeremy roenick is such a classy guy.

If people are going to sit and chastise professional athletes for making a lot of money... being spoiled and being cocky, they need to look at one thing and that's to look at the deal that we are probably going to end up signing in the next three weeks.

what the deal that's still going to pay you more money than many people will make in a lifetime? the deal that lets you work doing a job you love? for every one of you, there are hundreds if not thousands of people in this country who are working for nothing, in crap jobs, and trying to make ends meet. so before you start talking about how crappy the deal you are getting is, please think about someone other than yourself. what a total d-bag.

uhhhhh... but... uhhhhh.... ummmmm... wtf?

t.c. hooked me up with some episodes of robot chicken. it's hillarious, kinda like monty python in cartoon form on steroids, and angel dust, and acid, and ritalin... no wait... i don't know the history of it, and tom cruise does, so i should be more responsible and not promote it... er something.

could this be the beginning to barnes and rubin? dan, it seems your time is now... fresh outta law school... you can be the new head in the billboards.

hit me up with some of this.

the easy transition from opensource bsd to opensource bsd on different hardware platforms. i need to get a new computer sometime so i can start running/testing fedora 4 and solaris 10.

checkout dhini's cafe next time you're in the area... or are in the area and looking for a place to eat. it's leng's fam's new place. it's got a good lunch menu (i'll have to go for dinner next time)... big portions... good price... and leng's mom is the nicest chef. (corner of hopkins & w. klein).

man... geico ads crack me up. unfortunately this site doesn't have all of them... but i like the new speed racer one.

so i just watched this on wned/pbs tonight. it was quite good... so next time i head up to the TO, i have a new adventure for myself. there's nothing i like better than to wander around a city and explore its architecture and how it blends with the neighborhoods and find that fabric that connects the past to the present, and the people to inanimate objects.

i'm hoping i can keep july 3rd open... i'd really like to see sloan @ the friendship fest... but i probably won't be able to keep the following thur free for sarah harmer @ thursday @ the square... and i'll be extremely lucky if i can squeeze the lowest of the low in @ the end of july.

i really have to get to changing around this blog... or something. it's starting to bother me.

night.

the brac commission wants to close down lots of stations, one of them being the niagara falls airbase. i along with many other people don't understand the reasoning or logic behind this, especially coming from a presidential administration that is so pro defense. the nf airbase is a relatively large installation whose members have seen regular duty over these last couple years. the base is also a border base, and not that canada is a threat or would ever threaten this country, but if the policy of this administration is to shore up entry and exiting in this country, i'd think a border base would be a good thing. all that defense stuff aside as i'm very much against wars in general, the economic impact of this base is huge for this region. again, since the base is a large one, there are many people working on it full time, part-time, and serving in the reserves. these reserve units have servicemen/women from rochester and as far away as pittsburgh. that's a pretty large region, and many of these people also have families. what happens when the base closes? families will be uprooted, and more income will disappear from a region already struggling with the problems of the past. so... i got this letter and stuff from my state rep (it's below). she included a form letter that i'm able to send to the brac commission, and i would like to ask others to print it out and send it too (you might need to blow it up or you can use it as an outline for your own). there are many good reasons this base should stay open, and i hope you agree.

ok enough of that... now the fun stuff.

gothamist has some great entries 1,2 on the popsicle incident. only in new york can things like this happen.

i really have to see this movie/documentary, because it's all about penguins.

and on the topic of birds, there appears to be a turkey thing in the whole region. i haven't seen the ones that used to frequent my parent's backyard in a long time. i wonder if someone ate em.

every other place can suckit.

more later.

letter from state rep mary lou rath 

print and send to the BRAC Commission! 

a good amount of activity on the job front today... will probably continue through this week and hopefully by next week i'll have something to share. i feel a little more confident today with my goal of a 60 hour work week for the summer.

i think i unofficially got into a masters program in pharmacology too. hopefully i'll have something official by next week, though this program would put me quite a ways away from the northeast, new york/brooklyn, and toronto.

dell's introducing a new sub $100 laser printer. i love this quote, "Dell is going to screw everybody".

for my drinking friends. just as long as you don't drink and drive.

wi-fi is cool and all... but i still prefer wired connections. they're stable, reliable, and easier to diagnose. or maybe i just like how a full 48 port patch panel looks. waiting on the wi-max spec by intel.

xboxing at school. them lucky kids.

mass solar energy deployments on the cheap. perhaps sooner than later.

i want to continue my tax-free online shopping. so what would differentiate shopping online vs. a store than? i'd rather have the product in hand after i purchase instead of having to wait for it to be shipped to me. best buy has competitive prices... so i'd look for things @ a best buy store rather than get them from buy.com or amazon. this kinda policy shift ended my hmv.ca shopping too. i used to be able to buy stuff on the cheap cause of the usd to cdn currency rate... now that's not there anymore since amazon took over. i have a love hate thing with amazon. great selection, but killing all the loopholes.

drone programming is dead. the only thing i see surviving for the forseeable future is anything that requires creativity (web stuff), and the further mixing of consulting and IT.

i think it's quite ridiculous to allow someone to pass a class with a 55. new york state has been putting this off for years now. i remember when i was in high school o so long ago and when they first started mentioning the change. i frickin graduated high school in 1997.

i think it would kinda weird me out if i was injected with dye and placed in a room under some machine that picks up emissions or activity from my brain and told to have sex.

that's the name of that tune.

here's a link from tc. i especially like the takes on the soundgarden and the cure tracks.

so i went and dropped off 15 job apps and resumes to eckerd, rite-aid, cvs, wegmans, and target in amherst. i covered tops and walgreens last week. i think i hit up every single chain pharmacy in the town of amherst... i think i'll go searching for the independents these next couple days. i know that there are some openings for the 2 24 hour pharmacies in the town of tonawanda... so i applied to the overnight positions on the weekends. i don't think i'd mind working them... since... a) i am an insomniac, b) everyone has moved/is moving away anyways... so it's not like i'm gonna be doing much on the weekends, and c) i need to create some positive cash flow. if i do the overnight on weekends... i can still try and see if i can find something to do full time during the weekdays. i would very much like to move out of the rent's house. i think a year and a half back is long enough after having gone 6 years of not living under the same roof prior to this career change. besides... if i get into a masters program where i actually have to move again... $$ would be good to have.

pretty boring post... you'll have to excuse me... i drove around for almost 4 hours dropping these apps off this afternoon.

the first half of ep 3, i was bored out of my mind. i was starting to think that everything i heard about it being better than the first 2 prequels were way wrong. the lines were unbelievably bad, i didn't give a crap about what was happening in the movie. there was no real conflict at all. this was what i was dreading, this was what happened when i watched the first 2. then it got a little more interesting. i can at the very least say i was entertained. the $5.50 tix was not a complete waste. if i saw the movie in the city for $11 i think i'd be a bit pissed coming out of it... but $5.50 was a fairly good price (thank you amc and your student discount).

congrats to aaron... he got into wake med... which means he won't have to sell pencils, or copiers, that is unless he doesn't pass his boards.

so jp's off on monday for good... leng's out soon. i feel like i should leave too, there ain't no one round here no more. how do i get into canada? will someone from up there please adopt me?

i need to buy a 1394 cable. i reinstalled xp on my parent's comp. anyone have the word with directx 9c? will it break roxio 5 if i install it? i'm asking because on my own computer when i redid it, i installed sp2 before installing roxio 5, and roxio 5 wouldn't install with sp2 on it already.

i seriously need a job, i'm running low on mighty taco money.

why do they want to cut money to pbs? there's so much garbage on tv and they want to cut funding to the only station that's not spewing crap?

Hi,

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check at the bottom if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=2

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year—$100 million—and end funding altogether within two years. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

The next vote on the cuts will take place tomorrow (Thursday). Help us reach 400,000 signatures to be delivered to the committee members.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=3

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

on terri schiavo shows massive brain damage. the last little blurb in the article talked about why some religious groups and the roman catholic church were against removing the feeding tube. i wonder if it ever occured to them that it might have been God's will for everyone involved to let go? it's not an easy process, but if these groups believe in a God, by keeping her here on earth, they're just holding up her journey.

and... climate change legislation support.

Climate Change

Dear Mr. C,

He makes me lie down in Green Pastures... He leads me beside Still Waters... But what if we LOST them- or worse yet, destroyed them?

Today, June 14th, as you think on these timeless words from the Psalms, your U.S. Senate is taking up a comprehensive energy bill that can affect the future of our earth. Several measures are on the table, include climate legislation. The decision they make will have a profound impact on the fragile web of life on this planet. Before the Senators vote, they need to hear voices from faithful Americans who want this energy legislation to advance in a positive direction - one that will preserve the health of our planet.

Call Now! 1-888-556-5790 (toll free) to urge your Senators to work to preserve the earth.

OR Email your Senators HERE - right now if possible - and let them know you want them to act to preserve the earth. We have prepared a suggested text for you, and sending it is just one button away.

Also, visit www.FaithfulAmerica.org for more information on this crucial issue. Blessings to you, Vince Isner And Your FaithfulAmerica Team

the whole process of voting or not voting on john bolton (scary pic)for un ambassador led me to think about michael bolton from office space... which led me to this...


You are Michael Bolton.

You're kind of geeky and you share the same name
with a no-talent ass clown. I'm sorry.


Which Office Space Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

no talent ass clown... that's one of the best lines of any movie.

sloan's playing the friendship fest this year. hopefully some people will be back here for the independence days.

shakespeare in the park starts next week.

missed out on allentown this year... it was a little too wet and rainy for my taste.

just as long as the italian fest, and the taste of buffalo happen with no rain... i'll be good.

i got a call from dan the other night. tracy had found out that bern, aaron, ravi, elba, and i were in a band way back in high school. apparently she found it quite an unbelievable situation... then dan pulled out an old copy of the demo and played it for her. so dan called me up and told me he had listened to the tracks and said we sounded pretty tight. good old shezhad. those were some fun days. i don't even know how we got to the point where we thought making a demo was a good idea... i suppose we sounded ok, but how that happened, i have no idea. we'd always have "band practice", except i'd never show up. even when i did show up, all we did was argue. no it was more like ravi and elba would argue. i think in total, we were lucky if we got 3 minutes in of practice before a big fight would break out, bern would jump on ravi, stuff would be thrown around, and we'd just end up playing ping-pong, dr. mario, or trivial pursuit for the next 3 hours while ravi's mom made cookies or rum brownies for everyone. hey, since one of our bandmembers is getting married... think its time for a reunion? i think i'm too old to be a rockstar.

on the otherhand... i'm not really doing too much with my life right now... so rockstar would be an ok option too i guess. better than being asian. i think if i were in china, i'd still be in the first grade. i'm just not hardcore asian enough.

hey look ub in a story on yahoo.

it's frickin hot... time to get some anderson's.

it's really hot here. it broke 90 for the first time in 2 or 3 years in the region a couple days ago. in new york it consistently broke 90 over the summer, but i don't think i ever got used to that. it's been a swassnastic couple days. big big thunderstorm thursday night. it was reported there were around 2100 strikes of lighting in the area. i don't think i've ever been in a storm so loud either. part of the HH Richardson complex burned down.

it was a bittersweet weekend for me. said goodbye with a lot of other people to a man i respected, because he cared so deeply about his family and raised a great son and close friend. i also had a chance to catch up with schmieges, and stan & anita, who all flew in. talk about dedicated people. had some laughs, reminisced a bit @ pearl st. we were talking a bit how we were surprised that stan was the first to get married. i finally got to meet anita, she's really great... stan's a lucky guy. i'm really happy for both of them. i have no idea how stan managed to pull this one off (i don't think anyone does). there was some gentle ribbing on stan last night... ok maybe not so gentle (hey baer wasn't around). schmieges is always funny. so that one time when we were out @ kim's place when he went to sleep and vomited all over himself on the floor of kim's parent's kitchen... after he got home, his dad saw him with puke in his hair. his explanation was someone threw up on his head, and he kicked that kid's ass. he didn't get in trouble with the rents... what a bad explanation, i'd have never believed that. it cracked me up, i forgot about that part of the story.

are you religious? not religious? doesn't matter... send an email to your elected officials through FaithfulAmerical.org (a multi-faith group) asking them to apply more pressure to help with the situation in darfur. just a few months ago, there were motions in washington to provide aid for the region. however, that aid has been slow to get there, due to the sluggishness of politics. with the crisis worsening, we need to come together and apply enough pressure on washington to help alleviate what is going on there.

got some job apps out, hopefully i'll hear back soon. i start volunteering @ the va hospital next week. since i don't have a job, i can go in on weekdays during normal business hours and volunteer in their IT dept. this will give me a chance to refresh some of my skills... it'd be a shame if i lost everything. during off-hours and on the weekends, i'll be running meds to the er. i'm kinda interested in lab work too, so i'm gonna ask about that tomorrow. most likely, i'll be assigned to their processing lab, which is cool with me. the people @ the medical center seem really nice. this will be good, i need to get up off my bum. i'm not used to not studying and having nothing to do.

i like the guy who's all, "I will never buy Apple again, ever. If this is true, I am very sad. How will I get new software for my computer?" uhhh... get a new computer? you're going to have to do it eventually. i mean, if you're not going to by an apple again, you're either going to have to switch to intel anyways, or... ummm... what are your other options again? i don't know why some people are so anti the shift. when most people think of apple, they think of the operating system (i give props to the new os), or the physical design of the computer "case" (which i think is a ridiculous reason personally). remember with apple first came out all anti ibm way back when they first started competing with pc's? they eventually shifted to ibm processors. ring a bell? it's just a processor shift... chill people. apple's still going to make their own hardware, and software companies are still going to support os x on the power chips for a bit longer. if you really want some new software, there's a good base of bsd applications already ported to os x. in all seriousness, what else does a normal user need beside an office package, internet, and email capabilities? you can get all three for free on bsd sytems already.

i wonder what kind of underground network of coders and hackers will evolve with the switch. in this article, jobs says that os x will only run on apple hardware. well, now that the operating system has shifted over to intel, the most important piece of the operating system code has already been ported (jobs has said that they've been developing software for intel for awhile now). since os x is based on bsd, of which there are many free ports available... i'm sure true hackers will find a way to write a couple of unofficial, unsupported drivers for relatively popular hardware on os x. these are interesting times indeed.

here's an article from tc about how if we don't start working harder, india and china will kick our ass. being poor is a great motivator. i suppose it makes you grab the opportunities that present themselves and you run with them.

i like this... change... people are embracing it. the country needs to embrace it too. america needs to change with the times, we can't sit back on our already floundering pensions, or our manufacturing base. today gm announced that they were laying off a bajillion people over the next few years. delta might declare bankruptcy. things need to change... and they need to change quickly. instead of opening up, the religious right want us to isolate ourselves. i don't see how that will help us in the future. good news though, bush's approval rating from an abc news poll is at it's lowest rating since he's started serving as president. also good majority of americans aren't buying his social security plan either.

i like this too. people with money shouldn't always get what they want... it keeps them humble.

it was late friday night, and i was looking up the latest headlines @ cnet. this news caught my attention. the last couple weeks i've been reading about the recent interest by apple to part with ibm and go intel. well no official announcement has been made, so without more info... i don't think we can assume apple will drop the powerpc spec until they announce what the partnership is all about. a couple scenarios floated by people recently. 1) apple's going to intel for their new wimax technology, not necessarily dropping ibm's power line. 2) apple's going to contract the power line chips for intel to manufacture. 3) apple's actually going to the x86 architecture.

all 3 are possible scenarios, but the third makes the most business sense to me. apple's looking to broaden their processor base. ibm's power chips are only available @ limited speeds, while intel's x86 line has a number of different chips in its library. in addition, intel comes out with new chips on a frequent basis compared to ibm. this will allow apple to better price differentiation, and could lead to a boon in their marketshare. if they do switch, it would be a lot easier to switch now with os x, than with the old mac os. os x is based on bsd unix, which has already been ported over to x86 a long time ago in the form of freebsd, netbsd, and openbsd. so on the operating system side, the transition shouldn't be too hard to port. on the cost side, intel chips sell for less than ibm power chips. this gives apple a broader market because the price between a mac and pc won't be as noticeable. the mac and pc already use very similar parts, hard drives, ram, video cards, everything has been standardized across platforms for personal computing use, except for the processor and operating system. i guess now the question is, will apple open their os to include support other hardware like microsoft, or will they keep it closed so that you can still only use os x on a machine from apple? i guess that's what we'll find out tomorrow. for the money though... i still say linux on an x86 box.

in linux news... redhat has let fedora go independent, and core 4 is out tomorrow too.

even with bush going anti-stem cell, biotech is still positioned well in the US. especially out in the large biotech state of california. in related biotech news... buffalo's life sciences industry is inching along with some more movement in the area.

i really think it's stupid that UB dropped its varsity ice hockey awhile ago. this new report says the obvious... restart ice hockey. every other large-ish school in the region has a team, and they're all decent. canisius college, niagara university, buffalo state college, even the community college has a team. most high schools have teams too... how come the largest university in the suny system doesn't have a varsity hockey team... in buffalo?

new program out that allows you to rip the extras and everything else off a dvd. download and share your movies! if you need to decrypt the css protection... i'll suggest this program. both are free.

on a more serious note... my good friend leng's dad lost his fight with cancer this weekend. may he rest peacefully with God.

i think my body's not liking the fact that a spider bited me. i was moving stuff into the new building for the church i've been going to this afternoon. i think some of the stuff i was moving was probably sitting the the basement or something of the old building. midway through moving something... there was a sharp pain in my neck like somthing had stung me... and i brushed a spider away.

i'm pretty sure it's not dangerous. i'm not struggling for oxygen or anything... and i'm not breaking out in rashes... but things have been a bit hazy since... so if i don't wake up tomorrow... you'll know why =].

there's a pbs documentary tonight here about the darwin d. martin house restoration here in buffalo @ 10:30pm. the martin house was one of a handful of frank lloyd wright designs built in the western new york area.

amd's coming up strong in it's challange to intel.

if only i was just 10 years older and in the tech game, instead of only recently in the game. i'm pretty anti-microsoft and all... but having to only work 10 years or whatever my entire life and be financially set... i'd sell out to microsoft in a second.

if you haven't noticed yet, prices are already up because of the weakness in the us dollar globally. setting tariffs and trade barriers will only worsen the effects.

interesting article about pricing. i guess you should delete your cookies if you're a comparison shopper, so that websites can't detect where you've been. i guess this doesn't apply if you always shop @ amazon.

it's always kind of bothered me how minnesota doesn't play outside. there's something about playing football outside in late fall. the jets and giants are outside, as are the pats, bills, bears, eagles, steelers, browns, and PACKERS! i can't believe minnesota would sit back and have wisconsin one up them. half the fun of football are the winter games in the bitter cold. character builder i tell ya.

speaking of cold weather. bettman and goodenow are d-bags. nuff said.

childless cities... and possible reasons (globalization link from tc). bang for your buck places to live. not surprisingly new york and most of california's not on there.

i'd rather have an 800gb dvd disc than have to buy whatever new spec'd player they're coming out with next... blu-ray... green disc... whatever.

bees.

so today i saw a 4 little things of mini fatty pudgy things waddling around in my parent's backyard. i guess mr. pudge the groundhog is actually mrs. pudge.

buffalo to new york for $40 more than buffalo to cleveland to newark, and in both instances back it's direct from new york to buffalo (though one's from lga, and the other from jfk). is an extra 1.25 hours of airtime worth $40? i'd be getting into new york late in both cases. jfk to wherever i end up spending the night will be a long ride... as will ewr into the city. 2 jfk airtrain rides will be $10. the crappy newark airtrain to nj transit rail will set me back $14. or instead of taking nj transit rail, i can take the nj transit bus to newark penn station, transfer to a bus going to the port authorty for only $5 and get me into the city faster albeit with more transfers. i guess if i'm gonna fly into newark it's a question of saving $36 or $45 (13-22 super mighty burritos). either way... i suppose i can wait... cleveland's not THAT far from buffalo.

now the question is... get tix now and hope the job and money come soon... or wait?