mjm wired ;)  

I'm sure everyone has seen those Library of Congress website commercials on TV lately. So I paid the site a little visit and found my first name in the Library. Apparently it was in a A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures. Of course I was already sure I knew the reference. Interestingly their pronunciation is much better than some spoken incarnations of my name. Of course it still isn't how my parents chose to pronounce [...]

Sometimes in an argument when someone gets trapped in a corner, I often hear them say "Well at least I can admit it". I cannot begin to express my frustration with that comment. What does it mean exactly? Perhaps they are implying that they are taking the first step in the path to correcting their problem or issue. With the frequency of the statement, I seriously doubt that. Maybe they think they are somehow better than those who "cannot admit it". In what way? [...]

The last 4 days were stressful on me and my family. Every now and then, an event comes along and it is no one's fault, but everyone must help out. And sometimes you know that no matter what you do, you really can't change anything. You can get frustrated or admit "cest la vie" and get over it. I would like to think I opt for the latter, but I've done my fair share of brooding too. I guess the question that always puzzles [...]

Some of you may have already seen this link posted on Slashdot (please read it). The thing that caught my eye was that I read "Ann Arbor, Mich" in it. Basically the article states that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is serving subpoenas indiscriminantly to users who both download and share music files using P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing programs. In terms of liability they may also target user's parents, grandparents and roommates all depending on account information from their ISP (internet service [...]

Lately I've had Christina Aguilera on my mind. No, her music. Particularily the songs Fighter and Beautiful. They echo in my mind, often annoyingly. So, as requested by Merrick, I am writing a blog entry on it. Her music isn't the worse out there (thank Britney for that), and I guess she has a good voice. While I'm on the topic of music let me run down the list. The Scientist by Coldplay is pretty good, the video isn't that bad either (one of [...]

Many years ago in Mr. Culbertson's 10th grade english class, there was a student who sat a few seats behind me. I think his name was Chris (?) and he was one of those "head-banger" types who listened to bands like Pantera and Corrosion Of Conformity. One seemingly random day he told me that I should be called "two bucks fifty" (not fitty). I'm not sure what it meant or why he said it. The name never stuck and once or twice some annoying [...]

I would be lying if I said that I didn't have any fun over the July 4rth holiday. I joined my family for a weekend stay at a retreat center by a lake near Waterford. Although I had some reservations on going, I guess I did enjoy myself. While we were there, I thought about how inconvenient certain things were (note that we did have both electricity and running water). And I found it ironic that with years of "independence" that people had now [...]

After spending some time in my garage today, I have a new "wish". Pushing aside wealth, fame, looks, and knowlege is a desire to have packing materials reduced. Items for purchase should not come in large boxes with excessive packing. I could live without all the foam and crumpled paper. If you break something when taking it home, well then, you should be more careful! Does this post have a personal slant? Oh yeah, you [...]