Do you think like me, that the world is turning into a place where reality is almost always somewhere else.
I seems to me, that in these times, it's too easy for people to shun reality by obsessing on the internet, video games or cell phones. We've all seen friends on their cell phones, while walking down the road together, or driving while on their cell phones. We all know people that can't stop talking about the games they've been playing. 
I still think that reality is 
the car your going to hit, the pole you're going to walk into, or knowing you're with someone when you're with them.
But I'm from an older generation.
Its seems more and more families are becoming "remote families", friends are becoming "remote friends", and reality is becoming a "remote reality". My world has become just that.
I'm here, but "here" isn't where my mind is at. Life has become physically disassociated, and its all tied together by communication links and computers. All the non-residents who come here to work, must have it really rough if they are raising families back home.
In addition, computers and comunications are providing
pleasure and controlling our self esteem.
The next generation is going to be far more interesting than mine.

...

A lot of the options in FreshUI were not available in Vista.
Things like "Add New Programs, Add Remove Programs, Active Desktop, Desktop Themes, Icon Size..." have been eliminated or reworked in Vista. I did get it to do a few things that were handy...like adding Cmd to the file context menu.
Thanks bro!!!
I bought a new watch at Walmart
My other one exploded. This is the coolest gadget watch I've probably ever owned. Casio finally came out with something great! Its got a remote control built into it. In learn mode you press a watch key, aim a controller at it, press one of its keys, and the watch will remember it. I'm going to have some fun with this at the next sports bar I go to...har har.
We stopped by stopping by Green Lake.
It was frozen over. Its amazing, the number of people that jog in freezing weather. I'd bet we saw 300 people walk or jog down the lakeside pathway.
Somewhere along the way, we drove around Ballard.
Ate at the Ballard Brothers Seafood fast food restaurant joint. My blackened cajun salmon sandwich was yicky. It got a little too much blackening. I could have used it to do a charcoal canvas of something. Becky had the fried cod and it was great.
The hilight of the day was the guy who was beating up a bus.
The guy was yelling and screaming about something. Its so sad that people will let themselves fall that far.

Four cuts for one shoulder...my my, you are one complicated dude!
Hopefully, you're 35 will be back to 100% soon. Just don't go blind.
We're not partying.
We're just passing the time, growing quietly older together and watching the snow fall outside of our window. Renee and her baby are over for the weekend, so we're catching up on Hollywood's latest.
I'm not really doing much at the place I work at.
Haha, there are no references to who I work with or where I work at anywhere in my blog/phlog. I'm kind of undercover, kind of like a secret agent...bwahahaha. As long as what your hearing isn't bad, I'm good with it. I'm just trying to blend in.
The editor  <p>'s all over my documents. 
The paragraphs in this blog are caused by the microsoft plugin that lets me code for Word style editting. I can't control it. What I know is that the [ENTER] generates <p></p> tags,and [SHIFT][ENTER] generates <br> tags.
<p>paragraph</p> = a paragraph block.
<br> = a carraige return.
They work very differently. 
  

The Monte Carlo caught fire today.
I missed most of the coverage on this. However... 
The Mgm caught on fire 11/21/1980.
I was there. The smoke from the fire killed 87 people. It was by far the most tragic event I'd even seen in my life. Huge helicopters pulled people off the roof. A couple tied a series of sheets together that didn't make it all the way down to the ground. A lady fell to her death at the end of it, her husband broke his leg. At the time, it was said to be the 2nd worst hotel fire in history. I took 36 pictures of it, but my ex (Lisa) thought she deserved them more.

I think because they want to make a difference in life.
Their solution works, but in the most horrible of ways.
It is very possible, that a rock could have changed the course of the Colorado River millions of years ago.
Its hard to imaging what Las Vegas would be like now if it did.
The Twin Towers attack did change the world. Its sad to say it, but our world today would be different if it hadn't happened.
And if you like your world as it is today, then that tragedy was necessary.
For the present to exist as it is, everything good or bad had to have happened exactly as it has happened.

But then again, it NEVER does.
Thats the thing. Waves crashing into the shore, wind blows the roof off, the toilet decides not to flush any more.
We've never been in control.
Its all just an illusion. If something were to come by earth and were to shift the atmosphere just a few miles, we'd die in 5 minutes.
All good things go bad.
Its hard to see, but all bad things go good too. It all works out, and it all works out better. Any change is good. 
If something did shift the atomsphere a few miles, and the next form of life did have bigger lungs (or smaller), then it would all be okay.
What is trying to be in control, is something all around us.
Its small. Its as brutal. It is beautiful. It is designed to take whatever is around it and consume it. Its byproduct feeds other things that are created just like it. In other words, plants eat dirt, and we eat plants. We have the same nature.
Its brutal. It is beautiful. It is simple.
The most important goal in life for any person should have been
Living longer. That should have been apparent when we are kids. Money, luxury, they are all worthless if you are only here 80 years. Our goal, for the next century should be, life extension. We should be creating something that is better than something that is both brutal and beautiful. This entry is -1m.

"Legacy code" often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling. - Bjarne Stroustrup http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_system
I've heard the Legacy Systems referred to as if they came from the dark ages.
The incandescent light bulb is a legacy system of sorts. 
It might be old, but its still here, and its still working. Until there's a really good replacement that people can afford, they're not going away. You can bash it all you want, but if you can't replace it, you're just bashing it.
I put this in here, because, I read somewhere that XP was legacy software. 

Winhelp32.exe wasn't included in Vista. It takes up about 255k of disk space.
The Winhelp32.exe program that comes with Vista takes up 9k that tells you the old help isn't supported because its old.
Help from your existing programs probably won't work!
That means you have to add it from the windows website after verifying your Original Windows Software or copy it over from XP and futz with it to make it work. This seems like a time wasting enhancement to me.
Why didn't they just call their new help software something else?
Is it possible that they couldn't figure out a way to enhance the old help, so they trashed it? hmmm.
I don't like buying a new everything every time I upgrade.
Thats like finding a new wife because you moved.
Its expensive, it takes time to relearn, and the old one worked just find, so why replace.
I think this may be one of Microsofts failings.
I've written oodles of applications with VB 6 and ASP classic.
It would take months to rewrite them for the sake of upgrading to VB.Net or ASP.Net. 
I just hope Vista doesn't go the way of the Windows Millenium Edition.

I read the Apollo Series spacecrafts were practically inflatable! IKEA should carry something you can blow up besides their cool shopping bags.
Mattress beds are fine
But bugs build their own little version of New York City in them, the size you get is all you get, and short people can't move them around easily.
Water beds were a great idea at one time 
but when you discover something else is living in your bed because you forgot to condition the water, they lose attraction.
Leaks are always fun to wake up to, too.
Air beds are vesatile.
They can be shrunken, enlarged, carried under your arm, be used in the back of a truck, and used as a floatation device.
And dust mites can only pitch little tents on them.
For paranoid folks out there, an air bed could save your life.
If you are at the top of a smoldering building, and smoke starts billowing under the door, you have your own separate oxygen supply. I'd bet you could even slice one up and make a parachute out of it, but, that would be something I'd leave to Myth Busters to check out.
And for the college dorm people out there, they're perfect.
Once your through with college, you can practically stick your bed in a scrapbook.
So There..pltpltplt!!! bwahahaha

Becky and I were getting cabin fever, so we took a ride down to IKEA in Renton.
We'd heard about it from a lady in Target, and she wouldn't shut up about it.
She's probably still at Target talking to us about it...haha.
IKEA is gargantuous furniture store, with a unique personality. 
Most of the stores items are imported, and have a very low price tag. For the smaller items, its like a treasure hunt. 
Once you hike into the store from the parking lot
(gosh, my feet are so sore), you come to an entrance inside a warehouse looking thing.
There are maps showing you the winding paths through the store, and the shortcuts between the different departments. It seems the maps all have the tops facing north, which would be cool if you had a compass, but I found I kept having to turn them upside down or sideways in my mind. That alone will make you feel drunk after an hour of walking. I didn't take the time to mastered it. 
The furniture was incredible for the price.
Most of the items were unusual. From the kitchen to the home office, they had furniture for all the rooms in a house. I think I liked their decorated bedrooms the best...they decorate a small bedroom where everything in it is for sale, even the things on the shelves. You pick up something off a shelf, and find a tag on it that tells you which department its stocked in. You write that down, and find its shortcut on one of the maps.
IKEA is probably the first store I've seen that didn't have isles.
The stores's lay out seems to be designed for you to take your time. I think you are supposed to get lost in it. There are shopping bags everywhere throughout the store, so there's no reason to go back to the store's entrance.
A cafeteria is part of the store, somewhere near the exit.
I liked the idea of going into a restaurant before paying for our merchandise. It just seemed to make sense. Becky had the chicken marsailes plate, which I thought was gourmet. I had the swedish meatball plate, which was like eating a "Hungry Man" TV dinner. The soda fountain had imported varieties on tap. The deserts, well, I forgot what they were called, but they were very good.
Finding the stores exit (and we though we'd seen everything)
Going to the check out registers was yet another surprise. We found a shortcut, went through a wall, and it took us into another warehouse. It was stocked with "As Is" items that were marked down 50%. Normally, thats where I'd start in a store, but we were exhausted, and just wanted to hike back to the truck.
I think if we were to go in again, it would be earlier in the day. It would have made a nice day trip.
NOTE: They didn't have any inflatable furniture, darn it!

Wish I could say I was still a talented beer drinker.
Seattle is 180 degrees away from Louisville.
In  Louisville, I could walk to Fourth Street Live in 5 minutes, and try a different beer every night. 
Any place we go in Seattle is going to take over 20 minutes to get too by bus, and thats a real buzz kill.
I can't seem to find any good beers in Seattle.
A good mead, cider beer, or any kind of fruity beer is hard to find. Bud and coors are practically flowing in the streets downtown, but I can't find any really good stuff anywhere.
About wine - on last week's black ice day, I walked to Lyons.
Thats our local convenience store (which is smaller than our apartment). There, I bought a small bottle of Cabernet sauvignon. It was rather nasty, but I drank it anyway. The really interesting thing about this wine was, the smell lingered on my breath for two days! I'm just glad it didn't turn my hair flourescent orange. So much for wine tasting.
Great coffee is everywhere in Seattle.
Even Wells Fargo has an coffee station. I'm surprised we don't have an expresso knob built into on our kitchen faucet.

Bill Gates' house lies on the east shore of Lake Washington in the town of Medina.  The house was designed by James Cutler and covers approximately 66,000 square feet.
http://www.seattle.gov/html/visitor/gateshouse.htm

I haven't found a way to add an "Edit With" or "Print With" option to the right-click menu in explorer.
What I'm reading so far is, you can't do that.
The "Open with" has moved from Folder Options to:
Control Panel | Programs | Make a file type open with a specific program.
I've been messing with around in RegEdit with no luck so far.

I always liked taking a Slob Day
Slob Days are when I don't feel like getting up. I don't take a shower. I just lay back and watch tube.
I think its actually good not to shower a couple of times a month.
I think I heard somewhere that it lets your skin and hair replenish its oils.
Oxycodone makes me feel tired and irritable.
The dentist gave me some for an abscessed tooth a while back. My tooth still hurt, but I felt too dopey to care.

Got up, showered, rode the bus to work. Worked. Rode the bus back home.
And here I am, 13 hours after I got up, glancing at Seattle's view, and watching an old Mash episode.
I really liked the theme of Mash
Every episode of Mash is about another day that was somehow extraordinary. If only every day of living was like that for all of us. Maybe your day and mine was extraordinary and we just didn't notice. hmmm.
To SAE: Glad your operation turned out okay.
Hopefully, tommorrow will be just another average ordinary day for you too!

We've been ghost hunting...and found nothing.
We spent a lot of time going to haunted places. 
But I wouldn't be afraid of a ghost if I saw one.
If one killed me, then I'd be a ghost, and then I could kick his butt right back.
So why would one kill me?
Anyway, I heard there was a haunted lighthouse around here.
I heard it was a sure thing.
Once I get a location, I'm going! YEA!!!

I got through the portal, and there was AIR. It was great ! I didn't expect I'd have air, however, every breath I took of it was refreshing. I could feel its energy pulse through my entire body, but it was disturbing. What would happen if there wasn't any?
I became aware of these beautiful visions.
They were all blurry at first, but after a while, they seemed to crystallize into shapes of form and depth. I was beginning to see Heaven
The sounds were incredible.
I first heard music, at least I thought it was music. I could sense the vastness of Heaven in my mind.
I could sense that others were helping me.
I didn't understand anything and I welcomed their help. It seemed clear to me that these helpers were angels.
Everything was warm.
The energy of it all...I was in love with this place. I didn't know why I was here, or how any of this happened, but I liked it.
And finally, after a few moments of struggling, and with the help of the angels,
I finally got up on all 4s.
My instincts told me where and how to find milk, and I walked over to get myself a suckle. The instincts with the songs and the visions that guided me through the portal, had left once I was born. I'll hear them again some day, but for now, I'm in for a ride of a life time.
If I ever do this again, I'm going to be like those things standing on two legs.
They act like they know everything.

I can't even spell it.
It looks like Becky will have company during the day...and that's GREAT!!!
And I'll get to teach it new tricks, like untying shoes...bwahahaha....

Channel 13 News was at my bus stop this morning. They didn't interview me  :^( .  Our bus was shut down. There was black ice everywhere. A bus driver going the other way yelled out "Go to the stop on Lakehurst (about a mile away). Well, I, being in great health, a leader and all, took a deep breath, got in front of the crowd and went straight home. I was out there for over an hour.

1 tsp - Liption Instant Tea
3 tsp - Sugar
4 ozs - Hot Tap Water - Stir
2 ozs - Milk
Top with lots of Whipped Cream, and stir in slightly.
Dust the top lightly with a pinch of tea for decoration. 
Looks best in a fancy tall glass. Add vodka to it only if your are nuts.

A European fellow asked me what's that funny odor.
I said, I think its maple syrup.
He said, what is it, like a medicine or an herb.
I said, no, its maple tree sap.
I suppose they could have made rubber or turpentine out of it,
but in this case, they added sugar to it, and WE EAT IT ON PANCAKES!!!
He said, you mean it could have been a tire, or fuel, but instead you eat it !
AYup, that we do. That we do.
We were rolling on the floor laughing.
btw- they don't add sugar too Maple
Its already sweet.

I'm now posting my pictures (both thumnails and full image) in the Ads sections. Like most of those pictures, you can click them and see the full size picture, and you can right click the picture to set it as a background.

Discovery Park
Discovery Park has a light house.
It also is home to townsend chipmonks, a large variety of birds, and seals love the beach!
The Mongolia bluffs overlook the Puget Sound.
It surrounds the Fort Lawton military base.
Chittenden Locks
Chittenden locks is a link between the fresh waters of the lakes and the salt waters of Puget Sound.
Barges, pleasure craft, an all kinds of boats come through these locks.
There is also a fish ladder there that allows salmon to cross between the waters.
And hey, Canada is just 90 minutes up the road. I can't wait to see if the changes between the US and Canada are as great as the ones between the US and Mexico.
We'll be headed to an Indian Reservation in Puyallup, Wa.
Hopefully we'll squeeze in a trip to Everette.

We're making the best of things.
Ya know, I believe everything happens for a reason. If it doesn't make sense now, it might 100 years from now. Since wealth, fame and fortune won't be my treasure here, maybe the people I meet and the knowledge I gain will be. So now, for me, work is the best thing about Seattle. What I learn here should go far.
All past issues seem to have died away.
If anything, at least people know my name. I'm still fearful of writing freely in this log.
I'm afraid of saying something like "someone looks beautiful today", which could be taken as "they looked ugly yesterday"
My laptop fried last night.
I lost a lot of pictures from December.
So, I went out to get a new laptop at Frys Electronics (they have great sales on Friday), and ended up getting a Tablet PC. We couldn't afford it really, it cost $500 more than what I wanted to spend, but I need to keep up on technology.
I love it, and it makes up for the buses!
It has a touch screen (which I can't wait to write some programs for), 250gig hd, 3gig mem, AMD Turion dual processor, card readers, dvd+-, webcam,bluetooth,Wireless-G, 3xusb 2.0s, and weighs about a  pound. The only thing I don't like about it is the glare off of its screen. Maybe I can look really cool and wear Polaroids when using it!
Becky, Peter and I are searching for some kind of opportunity.
I still think the mobile notary worked out well, and the Segway dealership opportunity still intrigues me.
Time will tell!

There's not much that can compare to the excitement of wiping the fog off your bus window to see that you've missed your stop. I had to walk about a mile in the rain. On the plus side, it was downhill !
Buses are fine, but they automate another porton of your life.
For me, they take away control. I'm getting rustier as I get older, and walking in the rain hurts.
This event shouldn't have happened.
This is one of those times in life where I can honestly say if I had it to do over again, I'd do it differently.
I planned the trip and the stay in Seattle so very, very badly.
We might have lived further away from Seattle, and paid for parking in town.
I might have researched it, and found out that corp-to-corp wasn't a good option.
My credit card info wouldn't have been hijacked. I would have used an inactive credit card for the trip.
Bad planning is the reason for: the rushing to get here, rushing around to find an apartment, being without cash, and living out of my budget. My budget's blown, I'm tired, and free time has gotten scarce as a result.
I didn't allow enough time to plan. I let myself be rushed into a major decision and I'm paying for it.
It will take time to undo the damage.
But time has a way of creating good out of bad.
I'll learn a good computer system. I'll be more careful in the future. I won't repeat these mistakes again.
Hopefully, I'll learn from these mistakes and become a better person.
* Making a few mistakes is normal. Making many mistakes is stupid.
Writing down my mistakes will help me consider them in future decisions.