Thanksgiving List for 2009

• Mel, Sarah, Azmir and Shana, for pulling my head out of my ass every morning
  
• John, Marie, Camille, Ana, Armin, Patrick, Matthew, and Laura, for the Last Minute Poetry Club
  
• Moe, for the pie baking


• Jerah, for hosting last year's Thanksgiving feast


• Francesca and David, for hosting last year's other Thanksgiving feast


• Jenni and Rod, for inviting me to be a part of their wedding


• Josh, for introducing me to Nery


• Dad, for coming up with the idea to hook me up to Christmas dinner in Ottawa via Skype


• Nery, for the help with my diet and the back-cracking


• Linda, for the Network Care


• Sue H, for coming to the office holiday party with me


• Francesca and David, for hosting the holiday party


• Din Tai Fung, for the melt-in-your-mouth dumpling goodness


• Katyia, for the visit
  
• Harris, for hosting the New Year's Eve party


• Katyia, Dorothy and Andre G, for the perfect day-after-New-Year's at Disneyland


• Bobby, for the land and the intro to sailing


• Jerah and Kim, for the birthday celebration at Disneyland


• Dee, Christa and Ken, for getting me going at Gold's


• Wilshire Boulevard, for the straight shot to the office
  
• The City of Los Angeles, for slashing infrastructure budgets and making that straight shot a bloody bumpy ride
  
• Sammie, for being the coolest redhead


• Angela, for the Partnership Explorations course


• Shelby, for the new hangout
  
• Sam, for being a great buddy throughout the course


• Ham, for the tastiness


• The IRS, for the opportunity to exercise my integrity


• Pat and Ana, for the barbecue


• Sam and Jerah, for freeing Kansas


• Tom, for being an awesome manager (miss you!)


• Yelp.com, for finding the best restaurants all over town


• Francois, for Nantucket


• John, for moving to Canada
  
• Mary, Sara and Will, for being awesome participants
  
• Annette and Eric, for being awesome head APs.
  
• Mo, for the San Diego Comic-Con badge


• Patty, for putting through the badge transfer


• Trinity and Nala, for the hospitality


• Martita, for taking over for Natalie


• Martita (again), for being a great partner for the ILP Weekends


• Mark, for the dinner, the good times, and especially for the start of a new partnership


• April, for introducing me to the Michael Jackson flash mobs


• Root beer floats, for the foam


• God, for having the fires further away from home this year


• Mel, for the boxes and the late night Del Taco


• Darrick, for being an awesome roommate


• Chaa, for the loft


• Charles, for the grilling


• Jane and Tig, for the J-Classic 2009


• All the people who helped organize, race and join in on the festivities of the J-Classic 2009


• Sue B and Charlene, for the extra bed in Vegas


• Dave and Sue B, for the gunfire


• Treasure Island, for the play money


• Apple, for the iPhone


• Kim, for the birthday celebration at Disneyland


• Amanda, for the invitation to flash mob the people in line at Staples


• Izzy and Ryan, for an awesome wedding


• Sue B, for her hospitality


• Bridget, for licking my hand clean


• Clark and Marga, for the invitation to crew on their sailboat


• Mom, for all her years of hard work. Happy retirement!


• Dan, for the kick in the nads


• Charles, for the Roomie Nation


• Andre and Malou, for the new loft


• Rowan, for the glimpse


• Gabriel, twice, for helping me move


• Drew W, for bringing lunch at the perfect time during the move


• Conroe and Staci, for the Janet Jackson flash mobs


• Nayla, for catching the chewed-up nacho


• Drew B, for the ride to my car


• Summer and Moonshade, for the decorating help


• Aram, Jesse and Georgi, for the free Starbucks


• Rudy and Jay, for always taking care of my packages


• Rob, for being my buddy at ALIVE

I gotta feeling

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feeling

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feeling

Woohoo

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feeling

Woohoo

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feel--

Tonight’s the night!
Let’s live it up!
I got my money.
Let’s spend it up!

Go out and smash it,
Like, oh my God.
Jump off that sofa!
Let’s kick get off!

I know that we’ll have a ball
If we get down and go out
And just loose it all.
I feel

Stressed out I wanna let it go
Let's go way out, spaced out,
And losing all control

Fill up my cup.
Mazel tov!
Look at her dancing.
Just take it off!

Let's paint the town.
We’ll shut it down.
Let’s burn the roof,
And then we’ll do it again.

Let's do it! Let's do it! Let's do it!
Yes do it, and do it, and do it.
Let's live it up.
Yeah do it, and do it, and do it do it do it.
Let's do it! Let's do it! Let's do it!
Cuz I gotta feeling

Woohoo

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feeling

Woohoo

That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night.
A feel-

Tonight’s the night! (Hey)
Let’s live it up! (Let's live it up)
I got my money. (Got paid)
Let's spend it up! (Let's spend it up)

Go out and smash it, (Smash it)
Like, oh my God. (Like, oh my God)
Jump off that sofa (C'mon)
Let's get-get off

Fill up my cup. (Drink)
Mazel tov! (L'Chaim!)
Look at her dancing. (Move it move it)
Just take it off!

Let's paint the town. (Paint the town)
We’ll shut it down. (Shut it down)
Let's burn the roof,
And then we’ll do it again.

Let's do it! Let's do it! Let's do it!
Yes do it, and do it, and do it
Let's live it up
Yeah do it, and do it, and do it. do it do it
Let's do it! Let's do it! Let's do it do it do it do it!

Here we come! Here we go!
We gotta rock!

Easy come, easy go.
Now we on top.

Feel the shot, body rock.
Rock it. Don’t stop!

Round and round, up and down,
Around the clock.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Saturday to Sunday

G-g-g-g-get with us.
We know what we say.
Party every day! (puh-puh-puh)
Party every day!
I gotta feeling

That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good good night.
A feeling

Woohoo

That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good night
That tonight's gonna be a good good night.

Woohoo

See the video on YouTube.

In honour of this year, I present the Rooster (or Cock, if you're feeling snickery):

Don't screw everything up by speculating on and publicizing the deaths of people whose next of kin have yet to be notified.

How would you like it if your mother was reported to have died in an accident when she was actually alive and well?

A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

The comments caused the Texas Democratic Party on Wednesday to demand an apology from state Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell. But a spokesman for Brown said her comments were only an attempt to overcome problems with identifying Asian names for voting purposes.

Source: The Houston Chronicle

Jerah: Thanks for the new rooster

Ian: You're welcome. Happy Fried Chicken Day.

Jerah: Thanks!
I didn't know Fried Chicken had a day

Ian: It's a very special day.
First Monday of April.
We celebrate the goodness that is fried chicken, crispy or original, white or dark.

Ian: Not that I'm having any fried chicken today...
Yoghurt, apple and turkey slices for breakfast. Grilled salmon Greek salad for lunch. Chicken, cauliflower and brown rice for dinner. And I'm going to the gym now. Wheeee!

Elena: heh heh
ubernerd

[An hour later]

Ian: Okay... scratch the salad, bumping the dinner up to lunch, adding a smoothie... will figure out what to do for dinner later... maybe the salad. ;)
I was accused of being a normal person when heading off to the gym today.

Elena: who would say such a thing?

Ian: Someone on the tech helpdesk? ;)

Elena: bastard

Ian: =)

Elena: some people can be so mean

Ian: I looked at my lunch... brown rice, cauliflower, a chicken thigh, all cooked in a rice cooker (pressure cooker)... and realised that it would be far more romantic to call it Shades of Brown.
=)
It's his humour. Doesn't affect me. Kinda proud of it, actually. I'm breaking beyond the barrier of nerddom!

Elena: yes, into the barrier of malignant narcissists! why be normal?
besides, you sent me a spreadsheet about your narcissist test results, for heaven's sake

Ian: LOL
I have a spreadsheet for everything.

Elena: mmh mmmh.

Ian: [A leadership program I used to coach] has this spreadsheet that tracks all the participants' assignments, stats, etc.
They call it "The Grid."
As a joke, I made one for my dating.
Which, once made, was never used.

Elena: "joke", right

Ian: Feh. I have no idea how to track or measure success in dating. Not like there are assignments.
I suppose there are stats...

Elena: HAHAHAHAHA
oh you're killing me

Ian: Conversations, Contact Info Requested, Contact Info Received, Dates Requested, Dates Fulfilled...

Elena: wow
you will not every break the barrier from ubernerddom, I'm sorry, you can't even see the barrier from where you're sitting
but i love you just the way you are

Ian: 1st Base, 2nd Base, 3rd Base, Home Run...
=)
I will define my own hybrid class of nerddom.

Elena: HAHAHAHA

Ian: I'll be that overlapping piece of circles in the Venn Diagram of Nerddom.

Elena: can't wait to hear this
venn diagram of nerddom
i love it
way to own it, my friend

Ian: And just to prove to you--yes, you, my I Love Reading legal type friend--just to prove to you my shared nerdiness with your world...
I'm going to blog this.

There's just something so inspiring I can take from them to take out into life and live it.

I'm just broaching the surface on this TED stuff, but what I've seen so far has been absolutely amazing.

The video starts in the Midwest and ends in San Francisco.

Total nerdgasm watching it and wondering what cities were flown over. I think that giant mass of light around 15 s into the clip is Denver.

On the other hand, if you're not a great speller, or you're into small African mammals related to the mongoose, you'd be better served at http://www.comparethemeerkat.com. Who knew that meerkats had Kazakhstani accents?

(Courtesy of James)

US Democracy Server: Patch Day
Version 44.0

President

• Leadership: Will now scale properly to national crises. Intelligence was not being properly applied.
• A bug has been fixed that allowed the President to ignore the effects of debuffs applied by the Legislative classes.
• Drain Treasury: There appears to be a bug that allowed loot to be transferred from the treasury to anyone on the
• President’s friends list, or in the President’s party. We are investigating.
• Messages to and from the President will now be correctly saved to the chat log.
• Messages originating from the President were being misclassified as originating from The American People.
• A rendering error that frequently caused the President to appear wrapped in the American Flag texture has been addressed.

Vice President

• The Vice President has been correctly reclassified as a pet.
• No longer immune to damage from the Legislative and Judicial classes.
• The Vice President will no longer aggro on friendly targets. This bug was identified with Ranged Attacks and the Head Shot ability.
• Reveal Identity: this debuff will no longer be able to target Covert Operatives.
• Messages to and from the Vice President will now be correctly saved to the chat log.
• A rendering bug was affecting the Vice President’s visibility, making him virtually invisible to the rest of the server. This has been addressed.

Cabinet

• There was a bug in the last release that prevented the Cabinet from disagreeing with the President, which was the cause of a number of serious balance issues. This bug has been addressed, and we will continue to monitor the situation.

It's kinda like the B-sides of dances, since all the best ones were already used in the first video:

***** The Secret saved my life!, December 4, 2007
By Ari Brouillette

Please allow me to share with you how "The Secret" changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of "The Secret" is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don't want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.

At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.

My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.

Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I've never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of "The Secret". Normally I wouldn't have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn't have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.

The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the "Law of Attraction" in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn't exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 "The Secret to Relationships" that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.

The next day in the exercise yard I carried "The Secret" with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.

Check out the comments in the full review. They're about as good as the review itself.

Courtesy of Elena.