The Hadron Collider gets ready to collide stuff.

It give us amazing information about the inner workings of the universe, or it might tear a hole in the time-space continuum and bring about some bizarre, inter-dimensional Cthuulu-style Armageddon.

A few facts about the collider:

• "Experts say the collider has the potential to confirm theories about questions that physicists have been working on for decades including the possible existence of extra dimensions."
• It could create tiny black holes."Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk."
• "You're talking about such incredible power inside both the accelerator and detectors that you never really know until you turn it all on what's going to happen."

Here's an article on CNN. 

I remember this was covered on a funny Monty Python or other BBC comedy show.

Here's a screwball that actually believes this nonsense.

Today at 2:30pm | Edit Note | Delete

Ass is truly one of the greatest swear words.

It's primary advantage over other swear words: it is usually uncensored because it can refer to an animal. Other strong points include:

• It is easily mixed with words like "dumb" and "hat" to make whole new descriptors for virtually anything. It even pairs well with some partial words, such as -tacular, to make new words.
• It is generally easier to adapt to polite company, as long as it doesn't get paired with "hole" in which case it's almost universally offensive.

I have no idea what came over my oldest son, but yesterday he apparently decided his TMNT costume (Raphael) was, in fact, his buddy.

So he's been carrying it around on a coat hanger. He even insisted my mom put a seatbelt on it in the car.

It's very funny, actually -- and very out of the blue. I've no idea what prompted this sudden 'imaginary friend' phase.

My oldest son asked me to help him put on his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume, so I obliged him.

Five minutes later, he asked me to take it off of him. I asked him why.

"Some people just don't want to wear their costumes," he said.

Then he explained further, very matter-of-factly: "Some people want to wear their costumes, some people just don't want to wear their costumes."

I think he was teaching me some sort of lesson about something.

Courtesy of a friend's blog I found this. Amazing grace, beauty, strength...and humor, in action. :)

Two events to report:

• My first Dungeons and Dragons game since about 3.5 years ago will be taking place soon. We'll be playing 4th Edition for the first time. It's not the beginning of a campaign or anything -- just a sort of "D&D Night" with some old friends -- but I'm still looking forward to it.
• Thanks to a friend and colleague from my Sierra On-Line days, it looks like I'll be writing (freelance) to provide content for an actual video game -- scripts, color and story text, that sort of thing. I'm pretty excited, really. the pay won't be great but it ain't bad. I've really been wanting to get more fun, creative work like this. It will also make a good addition to my already highly varied writing resume, and the money will also help with the next item...
• We've also officially booked our Disneyland Vacation for next April -- 7 nights of the Disney hotels/theme parks/merchandise.

This weekend looks to be both fun and potentially hellish at the same time. The next three days (Sat-Sun-Mon) will just be me and the boys mainly. Amy works, and my usual weekend 'help' (my mother) won't be available because she has to watch my nieces while my older brother moves.

My blogging efforts have slowed greatly, largely due to 3 things:

• An increase in work
• Working from home
• Joining and using Facebook

Work has increased, although not so much that I'm swamped. Working from home, however, often means 'downtime at work' is spent getting things done around the house. And Facebook, of course, is just faster and easier than blogging.

Blogging still serves it's purpose, though. I blog mainly as a medium to 'practice' my writing, and I don't think I could start an anti-Chung Moo Doe list on Facebook. :)

The camera on the LG Dare rocks, easily it's best 'extra' (or standard, these days) cell phone feature. Here are some other quick thoughts:

The touch screen works pretty well, although it seems bit wonky occasionally. [Sometimes I'll touch something to open a Web site or application and it does nothing, requiring a 2nd or even 3rd attempt. The virtual keyboard is surprisingly accurate though--more so than I would have thought.]

I like the customizable 'desktop' and the fact that I can put my own shortcuts on it.

The music player seems good enough, but I haven't dug into it yet. I may be soon, though, as I'm growing increasingly interested in using it for music playback.

The only real downside is that Verizon is still a pain in the ass with regards to giving you easy access to your phone's ringtones, music, pictures and videos.

Basically, to really do all the things you want to do with a new fancy multimedia phone, you need to spend some time Googling and searching forums for information (unless you're happy paying $1.99 for ringtones and 

In a nutshell, you need to do the following:

• Download Bitpim (a free application) -- or something like it -- to be able to access the phone via your USB cable. You can transfer files from the PC via Bluetooth, but only one file at a time and only in a limited fashion.]
• Figure out the arcane file system on the phone to learn where things like ringtones are kept (see below for some more info on this).
• Download a program that can convert .3GP/.3G2 media files to a more suitable format (.WMV, .AVI, etc.). I've found a few, but I'm still trying out different ones.

For anyone interested, if you're using Bitpim to browse your phone here is where to find media files:

• Ringtones are stored in Brew\10889
• Video, music, and sounds are all stored in under MMC (at least on my phone, which I've equipped with an SD card and I've set all video/sounds/pictures to be saved there.)

I've spent a week with my new cell phone: The LG Dare, courtesy of Verizon Wireless. Here's a quick 'review':

The best auxiliary feature hands down...

...is the built-in 3.2 megapixel camera. It's suitable for photo-quality (300dpi) 5x7 shots and near photo quality (200dpi) 8x10 shots.

The camera also sports quite a few advanced features (rapid shot, face detection, and various options for adjusting white balance and other attributes), as well as a flash. The on-board photo-editing features of the camera allow you to resize, crop, and do panoramic stitching, as well as a host of other options. 

If you want a secondary digital camera (which I did, because my wife always seems to has ours), the Dare can't be beat. I have a good camera and a great phone without having to carry two separate items.

The other features are new to me, but I'm getting quickly spoiled by them. The virtual keyboard works surprisingly well, and the touch screen in general has practically ruined me for ever wanting to use a standard phone ever again. I've never been a big digital music listener, but I think I may load up an SD card with some tunes.

As it happens, I already own Bluetooth USB adapters for my PC, a Bluetooth stereo speaker system, and a Bluetooth stereo headset/microphone (courtesy of a review I wrote about a year ago). This gives me unprecedented flexibility and new integration options for using my phone, which I'm only beginning to explore.

I'll write more tomorrow in order to keep this short. :) 

I went to Fred Meyers last night to pick up some milk.

Unfortunately, I was bitten by a shopping bug, which tend to run rampant when I see signs like "take an additional 50% off." I ended up buying three small 2-packs of Marvel comics characters for my youngest son.

He doesn't know any of the characters--Thor, Loki, Dr. Strange, Iceman, Pyro and Antman -- but that didn't stop him from waging terrific battles between both the various characters and some conveniently located toy dinosaurs as well.

And now he knows who all the characters are and to an extent what their superpowers are, and if they're good guys or bad guys.

Thor smashed a number of bad guys. Pyro and Iceman fought by shooting at each other ('shoot shoot, shoot shoot' he would say, with little shooting noises). Towards the end of the evening, Pyro spent a lot of time riding on an Allosaurus while Iceman rode on a Stegosaurus.

Yeah, kids are totally better than TV.

Work has been light this week, but looks to pick up next week. I got a lot done though!

• Trimmed some trees
• Drained, cleaned, and refilled the pond
• Got some landscaping done around the kids' Big Toy, putting down anti-weed fabric and filling in the area with 13 bags of play sand.
• Grilled some great food -- I think 3 times -- this week.
• Lots of other miscellaneous, mundane chores around the house.

I also got something new and shiny

I upgraded my phone to an LG Dare this week while upgrading our cell phone plan.

My main reason for the upgrade was that I have been lamenting my lack of a personal camera good enough for snapping shots of the kids (my wife usually has our main digital camera with her).

The Dare has a camera good enough for photo-quality (300 dpi) 5x7 shots, and near photo quality (200dpi) 8x10 shots. It's also got a flash and a slew of relatively advanced features like face detection, rapid multi-shot, panoramic stitching, and others. Best part of all -- I don't have to worry about carrying an additional item about, as I (almost) always remember to carry my cell phone.

Our cell phone plan hasn't been updated in about ten years. Now we get nearly twice as many minutes and better features for basically the same money we've been paying.

It's strange to think that when we got our first cell phone plan you could potentially go 100 miles away from your designated 'home area' and be considered 'roaming' (and get charged ridiculous per-minute rates for roaming calls). Now, cell phones are so ubiquitous the plans are easier to buy and understand (thank goodness).

Of course, I had to do some Googling and download a free program -- BitPim -- to be able to get around Verizon's iron-fisted control of their phones and network so I could do simple things like copying music and ring tones to and from the phone. (I hate Verizon's closed network, but unfortunately it's still advantageous for us to remain in it.)

I also learned that if you buy a grill, buy brand name

Getting some simple replacement knobs for my grill was a chore.

I bought my grill at Lowes -- Perfect Flame brand -- and it's a nice grill. But that brand is made in China and distributed by BBQTek (a Canadian company).

I had to do some serious digging just to figure out who I could get parts from (admittedly, I don't have the manual anymore) and how to get them. I ultimately got the knobs, but it took too much work.

Bottom line: I like the grill, but next time I'm in the market I think I'll pay more and get a Weber or other brand name.

My youngest son, for whatever reason as of late, has been so die-hard into Superman that it's nigh impossible to peel him out of his Superman pajamas (complete with cape).

For him, it's not just about wearing Superman, it's about being Superman -- so just buying a shirt with a Superman picture doesn't quite cut it. He likes Iron Man, Hulk, Batman, and Spiderman as well, but lately -- it's all about Superman and only Superman. Even his way-cool, recently purchased Batman pajamas (which look like Bat man suit in The Dark Knight) won't coax him out of Superman.

I'm not even sure why he's so fixated on Superman. He hasn't really seen much of Superman. There are no current cartoons or movies for him to watch with Superman in them. (I Guess I better get some Justice League DVD's from Netflix.) :)

Anyway,  I decided to go get him one or more Superman T-shirts -- the simple royal blue shirt with the traditional logo -- and finding such shirts is damn near impossible.

Timeless though Superman may be, he is not in vogue right now. I walked one end of the mall to the other and found nary a single, simple Superman logo T-shirt. Pickins were slim on Amazon too.

I did *finally* find a single tank top with underwear after digging through Toys R Us for a bit. It was the next to the last one (the other one was too big -- size 8 -- otherwise I would have picked it up). He can wear the tank top, and his older brother can have the underwear.

I like this picture not only because it's very cute, but also because it looks like my son Katsuya (superman) is setting my other son's (Kazu's) hot dog on fire (with his heat vision, obviously).

(I couldn't resist a little photo shopping...)

This was a busy week and stressful week.

I've had to work in the office a lot (and less from home) because I was recently saddled with taking over an E-Newsletter for my department.

This is overall a good thing. I've been getting more responsibilities and it's obvious to me that I'm being regarded as an increasingly important asset. [I already know that a few other contractors were 'cut' in the wake of budgetary issues, and they chose to keep me in preference to him/her/them.]

However, this was stressful -- it was one of those situations where no one on the existing team (except 1 person, who helped me get started) really knew anything about the software, procedures, or anything else about creating and publishing the newsletter.

It took about 2 weeks of wrangling help, support calls, and leg work digging up the information I needed to do the job. I probably know more about it than anyone else now.

And I just sent the damn newsletter off to about a zillion people.

Talk about a load off.

TGIF indeed!

I saw a big truck about the size of a U-Haul the other day that said "Clowns Unlimited" on it.

If your average VW bug holds fifty clowns, that truck must hold two-million or more -- or maybe it really does hold unlimited clowns.

But how are they unlimited -- in number only, or are they clowns without limits?

I find the idea of both unlimited clowns and clowns without limits terrifying.

Finally. It's been a busy week. A few highlights:

• Stressed at work while I ramped up learning a new (and arcane) program and take over the department's newsletter. Fortunately, said program wasn't too tough, and the newsletter is largely locked and loaded for distribution early next week.
• My wallet is nearly $700 lighter thanks to my car, but at least the car is now licensed.

I'm really, really, really anxious to see The Dark Knight, which is getting rave reviews. (I'd be anxious to see it regardless, but the good reviews make me even more excited about it.)

Most likely, however, we'll see Hellboy 2 (also very well reviewed) this weekend, which I'm also really excited to see.

We tend to see movies about 1-3 weeks after release to avoid crowds, and because that's just the way our schedules tend to work best (my wife works every other weekend). Sometimes we sneak off and see a movie around lunch time during the week.

Later in the coming week we'll probably take the kids to see Wall-E.

My car has been a pain in ass lately. 3 trips to the Emissions testing station in about as many weeks and 300 miles -- and it still says it's 'not ready to test'.

Apparently the on board computer couldn't complete a 'drive cycle' that makes it ready to test. I finally took the car to the dealership today (I've only got another 2 weeks or so until my tabs expire).

The good news is that the dealership found some bad sensors and such that were preventing the drive cycle from completing. The bad news is that it will cost about $500 to make the necessary repairs.

To top it off, a game I've been trying to play (Assasin's Creed, for the PC), which I got via STEAM for a mere $29 (it's always nice to get the triple-A titles 6 months after they were released) has turned out to be the crashiest crasher since crash came to crashtown. It completely crashes Vista (64) to a blue screen of death.

I have a more than capable rig to run the game, and having worked in game support and IT for many years, I'm more than a little PC/technically savvy.

I sent an email to UBISOFT support, only to get a very typical "try all these standard troubleshooting blah blah" emails that outlined all the usual crap I already told them that I tried. I sent a slightly snarky email back, but essentially told them that it didn't help. Hopefully they have some better ideas, but I doubt it.

The anti-video game lawyer schmuck is facing permanent disbarment from practicing law in Florida-- basically for being an ignorant jackass.

Woot!

My only question is: Why did it take so damn long?

He hasn't been driving with all his clowns for quite some time...

Full story here.

Not only does my youngest son Katsuya (age 2) love his Hulk hands, he's scarcely taken them off. Last night he only removed them long enough to drink some milk, and then insisted that I put them back on him.

This morning, at about 7am, he walked into our bedroom holding his Hulk hands. "I have Hulk hands for you daddy!" he said.
I put his Hulk hands on him and he's been Hulking about ever since.

So far this morning, the only time he's not wearing his Hulk hands is when he's playing with his Hulk action figure (with Iron Man in a supporting role, and sometimes Spider Man). [He actually called them "action figures" last night at one point. Very funny.]

He also takes great delight in watching this video (so do I, actually) -- which you'll see serves as obvious inspiration. He'll watch it repeatedly, at least until he runs off, grabs his action figures, and starts making them beat up his robots (or dinosaurs, or each other, or whatever is handy.)