• NaNo begins

    I had an idea. That idea stuck with me for several months. It was, in fact, the idea from last year that I abandoned in favor of another idea, one that may or may not have worked out had I been in a better emotional state last November. Apparently I’ve abandoned it again, but that’s mainly because I still have no idea at all how to get from Point 0 to Point F.

    Then I had another idea about a week ago. It was cutesy, clever, and would’ve removed all obstacles of plotting from my path as it would’ve followed a tried-and-true genre-stereotypical route from start to finish. Alas, I simply couldn’t bring myself to actually write the thing. I have some pride left, after all.

    So here it is, the first of November, the start of National Novel Writing Month. I’m probably going to sit down this evening and wing it, though I did have a bit of inspiration on the bus ride to work this morning, mainly having to do with what part of last year’s effort was the most effective and easiest to write

    Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

  • Reason #14,015,864 not to websurf with Internet Explorer

    Gah. Argh. Just… grr. How many more gaping vicious nasty security holes will have to be discovered before I can either convince people that IE really is evil or I can relax about what browser people prefer around here because I can finally trust the thing?

    Why do I ask? Well, check this link out.

    New URL Spoofing Flaw Found

  • If this toy is sold, the terrorists will have won.

    I know that the roomie and my favorite local political blogger have both linked to it, but I just wanted to add my snarky two cents’ worth to the Toy Story.

    Check out this screenshot (warning, somewhat large image) from my visit to the article, and see if you can spot the delightfully ironic juxtaposition…

  • It’s the simple stuff that gets ya.

    Now, I adore our front desk crew. They’re hardworking, patient, smart and funny ladies. Every now and then, though, they run into trouble with operating their computers…

    *ring, ring*

    “Yes?”

    “My computer’s being funny.”

    “Okay.”

    “I can’t open email without it also opening MSN, and it won’t let me put in my password.”

    “Right. Be right there.”

    *walk to lobby, observe state of the desk in question, slide stack of books and paperwork three inches to the south*

    “There you go.”

    “Huh? What?”

    “You had stuff sitting on your keyboard.”

    *sounds of astonishment*

    I love my job. I wish all of my support calls were so simple to resolve!

  • A first, tonight, in skygazing.

    I’ve seen a couple of solar eclipses. My first was when I was pretty darned young. Until tonight, though, I’d not seen a lunar eclipse. Thanks to Mari and Doug (and especially Doug’s nifty homemade telescope) that’s been remedied.

    I don’t know about “blood red moons,” but there is a definite reddish tinge to an eclipsed full moon. The really notable part isn’t the color, though. It’s the strange darkness of what is normally a bright white circle in the sky. You get used to full moons looking a certain way, and it’s rather sinister to see it so dim and rusty-red.

    It was a nifty experience, indeed. So… I wonder when Mari will get around to posting those pictures she took? (I didn’t bother trying with my camera. My first attempt to snap a picture of a full moon back when I first got the thing resulted in a high resolution picture of almost nothing, punctuated by a little white dot. Bleh.)

  • A computer accessory, huh?

    Dawn just sent me this bit o’ linky fun, so go forth and read, especially (but not exclusively) if you like cats.

    Review: Juvenile felis catus