Moon Above House

I usually get the mail when I get home after work. This time, I noticed the moon nicely positioned above my house. I like how my car headlights give a perspective of my driveway.

Hannah's Swim Day

Hannah and her Kindergarten classmates demonstrating their swimming skills to their Mommies and Daddies. Parents were invited last week to an Open House Observation Swim Day. Hannah was very happy that I showed up and was so excited to show me how well she could swim. I'm so proud of her.

"How's all that working out for ya?!!"

I dug up these pictures from 2002. I had a BBQ at my place on July 13, 2002 and Tom and friends were there. It was actually a belated house-warming party.


Here's Tom on his good day! Paul is behind him. I actually posted these pictures to piss Tom off. He kept telling me that I shouldn't post his pictures, and I kept telling him that I would. Oh well, "How's all that working out for ya?!!"

Outsourcing the President

Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of December 12th, 2005.
The move is being made to save the President's $400,000 yearly salary, and also a record $521 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead the office has incurred during the last 5 years.
"We believe this is a wise move financially. The cost savings should be significant," stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). Reynolds, with the aid of the Government Accounting Office (GAO), has studied outsourcing of American jobs extensively. "We cannot expect to remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay," Reynolds noted.
Mr. Bush was informed by email this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time. Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India will be assuming the office of President as of December 1st. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320(USD)a month but with no health coverage or other benefits.
It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily at night, when few offices of the US Government will be open. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the American Express call center, "stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President someday."
A Congressional Spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem because Bush is not familiar with the issues either. Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issues at all.

Blue Shirt Error

I hate when this happens. The Blue "Screen" Error that is! How do I troubleshoot this error?

Error From Hell

Try troubleshooting this on your system.

Akshardham Complex - New Delhi, India

After 5 years of non-stop, round-the-clock construction, the massive and awesome Akshardham Temple Monument to World Peace was inaugurated this week. The Akshardham Temple in New Delhi, India, constructed by the BAPS foundation -- the builders of the various Swaminaryan Temples across the world, is truely a modern day Wonder of the World.

It is one of the biggest and most intricate religious places of worship ever constructed. Combining several completely different and contrasting architectural styles of Hindu temple architecture of northern India --Rajasthani, Orrisan, Gujarati, Mughal and Jain. The Akshardham Monument is entirely constructed of marble and the red sandstone that Delhi is famous for, and that so many of her monuments are constructed of. It was completed in only 5 years a world record of sorts.

So after years of waiting, the Temple was opened to the public -- and to photographers. It is widely being heralded as one of the greatest monuments India has ever produced.
The Akshardham monument, built without steel, is entirely composed of sandstone and marble. It consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India's great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities.

The monument is a fusion of several architectural styles of pink stone and pure white marble. Pink stone symbolizes bhakti (devotion) in eternal bloom and white marble of absolute purity and eternal peace. The monument was built after over 300 million man hours of services rendered by 11,000 volunteers and artisans. It is the one of the wonders of the modern world, and the wonders of modern India.

Resigning in Style

Apparently, this is an actual letter of resignation from an employee at "Zantex Computers", Australia, to his boss, J Pilgrim. His boss, known as Pilly, apparently resigned very soon afterwards!
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Dear Mr Pilgrim
As an employee of an institution of higher education, I have a few very basic expectations. Chief among these is that my direct superiors have an intellect that ranges above the common ground squirrel. After your consistent and annoying harassment of my co-workers and myself during the commission of our duties, I can only surmise that you are one of the few true genetic wastes of our time.
Asking me, a network administrator, to explain every little nuance of everything I do each time you happen to stroll into my office is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of precious oxygen. I was hired because I know how to network computer systems, and you were apparently hired to provide amusement to myself and other employees, who watch you vainly attempt to understand the concept of "cut and paste" for the hundredth time. You will never understand computers. Something as incredibly simple as binary still gives you too many options. You will also never understand why people hate you, but I am going to try and explain it to you, even though I am sure this will be just as effective as telling you what an IP is.

Your shiny new iMac has more personality than you ever will.You walk around the building all day, shiftlessly looking for fault in others. You have a sharp dressed useless look about you that may have worked for your interview, but now that you actually have responsibility, you pawn it off on overworked staff, hoping their talent will cover for your glaring ineptitude. In a world of managerial evolution, you are the blue-green algae that everyone else eats and laughs at. Managers like you are a sad proof of the Dilbert principle. Seeing as this situation is unlikely to change without you getting a full frontal lobotomy reversal, I am forced to tender my resignation; however I have a few parting thoughts.
1. When someone calls you in reference to employment, it is illegal to give me a bad recommendation. The most you can say to hurt me is "I prefer not to comment." I will have friends randomly call you over the next couple of years to keep you honest, because I know you would be unable to do it on your own.
2. I have all the passwords to every account on the system, and I know every password you have used for the last five years. If you decide to get cute, I am going to publish your "favourites list", which I conveniently saved when you made me "back up" your useless files. I do believe that terms like "Lolita" are not usually viewed favourably by the administration.
3. When you borrowed the digital camera to "take pictures of your mothers birthday", you neglected to mention that you were going to take pictures of yourself in the mirror nude. Then you forgot to erase them like the techno-moron you really are. Suffice it to say I have never seen such odd acts with a ketchup bottle, but I assure you that those have been copied and kept in safe places pending the authoring of a glowing letter of recommendation. (Try to use a spell check please. I hate having to correct your mistakes.)

Thank you for your time, and I expect the letter of recommendation on my desk by 8:00am tomorrow. One word of this to anybody, and all of your little twisted repugnant obsessions will be open to the public.
Never f*** with your systems administrator. Why? Because they know what you do with all that free time!

Sincerely

Adrian Barragan

St. Alban's Bay - Georgia, VT

View from my client's house.

This is Georgia, VT. You're looking at St.Alban's Bay which connects into Lake Champlain. I went to do some computer work at a client's house yesterday and had to take these pictures. Check out my license plate!

Drive to '07!

Here's my new bike. My friend, Tom, got me thinking about health, exercise, and all the good stuff, and I decided to give it a shot. Got this bike in late Fall and therefore, only took it out a couple of times for a spin. The first spin was around the Milton area and that was enough of a workout for me. The 2nd one was with my friend Anthony. We threw our bikes in his pickup and hit the bike trail in St. Albans (used to be an old train track, which is now converted to a bike path). We completed about 10 miles!! I was out of shape but managed to somewhat keep up with Anthony. Drive to '07, baby!!

Dashboard

I noticed my car mileage at 44040 (miles) as I drove my 2002 Honda Civic into my garage on Friday after work. I guess I filled up on gas too, at $2.49 per gallon!

Oh My Defrag!

User called to say that the laptop was really slow! No kidding!! It took forever to defrag this bad boy. Actually, the red colour does look pretty cool.

Sabrina's Poem

Sabrina wrote this poem today, titled "Family Poem." I thought it was pretty cute and creative. Here's her poem:

I would like to have it all
But I am not so tall
It would be so nice if I could do
Something that you don't know, do you?
It's nice to be eight
It's nice to have a gate
My favourite color is pink
My least is the ink
I am one
Who thinks I'm done
Cause I said Hi
Now bye-bye

The K'Nex Case

Modder Alan Kilian needed to build a Linux PC to serve as a wireless controller in a Science museum displaying mechanical art, so he built a PC out of a KNEX construction toy set.

Windows Live Ideas

Windows Live Safety Center

Microsoft has put out a beta of its new Safety Center that lets you run free Web based scans for viruses and other malicious software. It also includes maintenance tools for defragging and cleaning up your disk. You can read more about it here: Windows Live Safety Center.

For Those Visitations

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Google Earth Hacks

Quick and Easy Enhancements to Google Earth Using GoogleEarthHacks.com

Sabrina Lost Tooth #3

Here's Sabrina's 3rd tooth. She was really excited. I was doing some computer consulting at a client's place and she called immediately to give me the good news. She gave me instructions to contact the Tooth Fairy.

Sabrina's note to the Tooth Fairy. She's 8 year's old!



Sabrina made this drawing for the Tooth Fairy. Yes, the Tooth Fairy came by after Sabrina went to bed to collect the note, drawing, and the tooth, and left her some money. She's now looking forward to loosing her 4th tooth! Oh Dear!

Dangerous Species of Help Desk Callers!!

The 10 most dangerous species of Help Desk callers
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035_11-1034684.html

UVM Water Tower

The Water Tower at UVM. It's one of Burlington's landmarks.

Day and Night at UVM

The Given and HSRF buildings - Day view

The Given and HSRF buildings - Night view
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University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

New Hampshire State House

State House - Concord, New Hampshire
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Took this picture after dinner at The Barley House Restaurant, which is right across the State House in Concord, NH. Mark, Anthony and I stopped here on our way home from Portland, Maine.

Kittery Trading Post - Kittery, Maine

Various items at the Trading Post.


Is this crazy or what?? I can't describe how many guns were for sale at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. Mark was in heaven here!

Dinner at Bull Feeney's

Mark and Anthony at Bull Feeney's Restaurant.

Harjit and the waitress at Bull Feeney's, Portland, Maine.