Category Archives: Weird stuff

Are you prepared?

I had the oddest experience at the grocery store today.

I was running some errands, and stopped in at Dominicks to pick up some stuff.

I approached the checkout lane, and the cashier said “Are you prepared?”

Not knowing what she was talking about, I said “For what?”

To which she replied “The end.”

I figured she was probably a religious nut … and said “What are you talking about?”

At this point, she just started scanning the items I had and nothing more was said about it.

Chicken & Egg

I have come to a realization … in the morning, it’s much easier (and safer) to drink your coffee with your eyes open … however, coffee is a great aid in getting your eyes open. So how do you accomplish one without first doing the other?

It’s a chicken & egg thing, I suspect.

Who says I’m not a philosopher?

[tags]Coffee, Chicken, Egg, Morning[/tags]

Coincidence

I had a very odd experience today … a very strange confluence of events that kind of freaked me out.

I’ve currently got 3 monitors on my desk … one 21″ CRT, one 17″ CRT, and my laptop (MaxiVista gives me a ‘virtual’ display on my laptop). Obviously with that many displays on my desk, space can be at a premium.

I requested, and today received, a new 20″ flat panel display to replace the 21″ CRT. With the help of a co-worker, I swapped the monitors. Now I have plenty of desk space.

I asked our IT guy where I should put the monitor … and if I could use the rolly cart to move it (21″ CRT’s are not light). He told me to use the big cart in the computer, and just leave the monitor on the cart.

(Ok, enough rambling … here’s the gist of this post)

So I grabbed the cart and started pushing it out of the computer room … the moment I crossed the doorway of the computer room, the building’s fire alarm system went off.

For some reason, my first thought was that the alarm had been set off by moving the cart out of the computer room. Obviously this wasn’t the case, but it was the first thing that I thought of.

Lucikly there was no fire and the alarm was set off accidentially (not by me).

Zombie Dogs

U.S. scientists have managed to revive dead dogs to life, by using a technique similar to cryogenation, in which the dogs’ blood was drained and replaced by a cold, saline liquid. A couple of hours, their blood was replaced, and an electric shock brought them back to life with no brain damage. The technology will be tested on humans within the next year.

Slashdot | U.S. Scientists Create Zombie Dogs

This just gives me the hebe-jebies.

I’m alergic to Los Angeles

Well, the sore throat I had turned into a full blown sinus infection.

Seems like every time I fly through Los Angeles I get a sinus infection. It’s happened the last 3 times we had a layover in LAX.

I’m thinking it’s the pollution … could be the quantity of pollution or just the type.

I won’t bother going to the doctor for this … he ends up giving me anti-biotic and something for the cough, but if I just rest and take OTC cold remedies, it goes away in just about the same amount of time.

I hope Ginny doesn’t catch it.

Open source on the brain

I think I have open source on the brain.

This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I was listening to WBEZ … and they played a promo for Fresh Air … Terry Gross was saying “On the next Fresh Air” … but I heard “On a LINUX Fresh Air”.

Oh the tricks the mind plays on us.

Of course, every time I hear Yellow Submarine on the radio my mind translates it into “Yellow Subroutine“.

Who’s crazy now?

Anyone in jail?

I just received the oddest phone call from my dad … he wanted to make sure everyone was home (both Ginny and myself).

He didn’t necessarily want to talk to us about anything in particular … he just wanted to make sure we were home.

Turns out he had just received two collect calls from Cook County Jail that he had refused … and he wanted to make sure he shouldn’t have accepted them.

In all my years, I don’t think I’ve had an odder phone conversation with my dad.

Statistics?

Recently I’ve noticed that I’m becoming somewhat obsessed with statistics. Web statistics, mail statistics, computer performance statistics, stock performance statistics, etc.

I’m not exactly sure why … maybe it’s because I need proof that something I’m working on is actually doing something.