Digital Wilderness

2006 Goal Tracking

• Learn to whistle loudly using my fingers
  I think I’m gonna just buy a whistle
• Learn three five card tricks
  Eh, don’t care about this so much anymore…
• Learn five origami models
  Completed – I’ve learned/relearned the crane, the flapping crane, the frog, the waterbomb and the iris.
• Redecorate/organize my family room and den and spare bedroom
  This goal is done for the time being. Other things are taking financial priority right now.
• Get involved in a puppet team
  Much more progress on this next year, once I find a church home. I have a decent start on building my own team, though.
• Take a another small business development class
  Completed – I went to the class “Secrets to Starting Your Own Business” in Feb. Attended the Accounting and Financial Management workshop on Nov 30. There are two more I want to go to next year. This goal is complete, though.
• Get A+, i-Net+ and/or SAS certified
  No new progress
• Take a week-long vacation; visit another state/national park on my list
  Completed!
• Find a church home
  More on this in a separate post later
• Have a consistent daily quiet time
  Slacked this month
• Memorize 200 Bible verses
  Only 9 left…I’m at 191
• Swing dance once a month on average
  At 5 for the year…no way I can meet this goal now. Oh well…
• Be more punctual
  So-so month
• Run a 5K
  Completed

What Kind of Reader Are You?

…or videoblogs or vlogs. Whatever you want to call them, there are some really good ones out there. Here are two of my faves:

Geek Brief
Rocketboom

Check out more video podcasts at podcastalley.com or any number of other sites. Post your faves in the comments.

Here’s an interesting article written in 1998 about some experiments done by one individual to help reduce traffic jams:

Traffic Wave Experiments

The basic idea is “ANTITRAFFIC DESTROYS TRAFFIC,” with antitraffic being empty space. Take a quick read and see if you can do your part to do away with traffic, or at least be aware (and more patient and understanding!) of what others may be doing to that effect.

Congratulations to Ryle High School, my alma mater, on their win tonight! The Raider football team beat Henderson County 59-28 in the class AAAA semi-finals. They will face off against defending state champ Louisville Trinity next Thursday, Nov 30. This will be the first trip to the finals for the football team. Go Raiders!

Have a safe and joyous Thanksgiving everyone!

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
he chastens and hastens his will to make known;
the wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
sing praise to his Name, he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning:
thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
and pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Words: Nederlandtsche Gedenckclanck, 1626;
trans. Theodore Baker (1851-1934), 1894.

After 10 years and three computers, my 17″ Dell CRT monitor finally gave out. It just so happened that this occurred while I was working on re-installing the drivers for my video card, so I was worried that I had messed up the card somehow. After some quick testing, I confirmed it was indeed the monitor. Ten year life span…not too shabby! This gave me an excuse to finally get a flat panel monitor. I didn’t have a chance to research flat panels, since I couldn’t see much on the monitor, so I just went to Best Buy for my research. Last year, or earlier this year – I can’t remember when, I had actually bought a flat panel, the Samsung 731B, from Circuit City. It was horrible. The text wasn’t clear, everything was fuzzy when scrolling, it was dark, etc. I chalked that up to a bad monitor, but after the experience, I decided to return it and hold off on getting a flat panel for a while.

I wasn’t about to get another CRT, wanting to jump into the fancy schmancy flat panel world, so I went straight to the flat panel section. After debating between widescreen and standard, I ended up with the standard format MAG LT 917S 19″ monitor. Wow, this is nice! It looks huge compared to my 17″ CRT and I like the extra space. It’s nice and bright and the text is clear. This isn’t a big name brand monitor, but it’ll looks like it’ll work out just fine. The downside to is that there are a couple of pixel defects, one of them actually several dead pixels in a row, so I’m going to return this for a new one of this model. However, I’m going to give it some time first, and fully test it out before I take it back. Just want to make sure I can live with it, without getting headaches, eyestrain, etc.

For those who care, I’m still primarily on Ubuntu, though I did have to install Windows XP to I could get run some of my gadgets (GPS, mp3 player) and games (World of Warcraft). I can probably get those to run under Ubuntu, but I’m tired of messing with them for now, so I opted for the easy route for the time being.

Database of American Proprietary Eponyms

An eponym is a general term used to describe from what or whom something derived its name. Therefore, a proprietary eponym could be considered a brand name (trademark or service mark) which has fallen into general use.

Back in elementary school, I remember a lesson in which the teacher pointed out how corporate brands and products were used in everyday life. The lesson was primarily focused on the mangling of spellings, such as donuts instead doughnuts (courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts) or drive-thru instead of drive-through (take your pick on who started that one…).

The above linked website focuses on words that have penetrated our everyday vocabulary but are actually a trademarked/copyrighted brand or product name.

The ones that are frequently in my vocab are: Google, Frisbee, Coke, Kleenex, Band Aid, Wite-Out, Post-It, Chap Stick

Which eponyms do you find yourself using the most?

This is fast becoming one of my biggest pet peeves, mainly because I find myself falling into it more and more often, not because I don’t know how proper English, but because I’m being influence subconsciously by corporate America.

As most of the universe knows, You’ve Got Mail is the phrase uttered by AOL to signify when an account has email. However, when you expand the contraction, you end up with “you have got mail.” Who talks like that?!? In what form of English is that proper? I cringe every time I hear it or see it used, especially when I find myself typing “I’ve got” in emails, blog posts, etc. I manage to correct myself most of the time, but nevermind that I do catch myself. I hate that I even type it to begin with!

So next time you’ve got an email to reply to, you’ve got to make sure to avoid using this phrase . We’ve got to improve our grammar! I’ve got to get to bed now. Until next time, when I’ve got more to post…

Geesh…