Not A Dollarshort

Coloring Contest Reminder.

This is a reminder that entries for the latest coloring contest are due this coming Tuesday, July 2.

I've only received a handful of entries so far, so be sure to enter. (No matter how bad you think your entry is).

What would Anil Do?

mena: http://littlesister.mcgraws.com/blog/
anildash: so that's who you stole your layout from?
mena: ha ha. she stole my source too.
mena: Motherfucking Beatrix Potter lover.
anildash: I'll give you a $100 if you post that.
mena: Make it this fondue pot and we have a deal.
anildash: you camgirl ho.

Antics of the sleep deprived.

I've mentioned before that Ben has a habit of talking in his sleep.

Last night -- or I should say morning since we both went to bed around 5:30 am -- I was awaken by Ben tapping on my hand. Since I had just managed to fall asleep after about forty-five minutes of tossing and turning, I was not pleased.

It took a moment for me to process that Ben was "typing" on my hand.

Mena: Ben...What are you doing?
Ben: Wha?
Mena: What are you doing to my hand?
Ben: I lost the bile.
Mena: You lost what? Your bile? Are you going to throw-up?
Ben: No. I lost the FILE.
Mena: What file?
Ben: The TrackBack file.
Mena: You're asleep right now, right?
Ben: The file -- I lost it.
Mena: I'm going back to sleep and I'm sure you won't remember any of this when we wake up.

And of course, he didn't.

Related: How sleep deprived are you?

The mystery of the elderly Russian Mind.

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I were discussing just how quickly time passes once you reach a certain age -- particularly twenty-five. I was telling them how my time is measured by two things (1) brushing my teeth and (2) receiving a daily email indicating that my server stats have been resolved.

The log crunch is usually delivered between 9:30 to 11:00, depending on how much traffic we have received. When I get the email from my dear friend, "Cron Daemon," I usually breathe a heavy sigh and say "another day gone."

That's cheery, to the extreme.

But wait, there's more.

And so, when I'm finally ready to go to bed, I find myself washing up in front of the bathroom mirror. As I brush my teeth, I can't help but look at my tired-old eyes and say "Not you again. Weren't you getting ready for bed like five minutes ago? Oh yeah, that was yesterday."

We've got to get out of the house more, I guess. Being confined in an apartment has a way of eating at your well-being. And, I don't think Oleg, our downstairs neighbor, wants to hear any more of our fighting about pings or Netscape 4.0.

Speaking of which: A couple weeks ago I actually ventured downstairs to get our mail; usually Ben handles the important stuff that requires leaving the apartment. On my way downstairs, I met up with Oleg and his wife. Making small-talk (I assume), Oleg advised, in a joking manner, that I should "not to work too hard."

Since that conversation, I've been trying deduce the true meaning of his cryptic advice. Does he hear us talking and fighting about work at all hours? Or, does he think we're lazy because we don't have real jobs that require us to leave our apartment? Or, even worse, does he think we're odd because we don't leave the apartment enough?

Of course, considering that it's currently 3:30 am and he's walking around downstairs, it would sort of be a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Or something like that.

MT promotional news.

Part of the reason for my absence from dollarshort.org is that I've been busy working on the movabletype.org redesign. Also, we've just released MT version 2.2. Along with MySQL support, we offer a new feature called TrackBack. We're excited about the feature particularly because of its potential -- we can't wait to see what people will be able to do with it.

Because TrackBack seems to require a fairly large user-base to be most useful, we're hoping that other developers will want to integrate the feature (or at least compatibility) into their own tools.

But for present, I'm just hoping to get some sleep.

What Is the Deal?

If, like me, you're a sucker for illustrations of seemingly insane, flat-headed cats, then you'll love the cover of O'Reilly's Essential Blogging.

Re-reading the above sentence, I can't help but hear the voice of one of those child book reviewers from Reading Rainbow.

Even as a child, I found their delivery to be a bit off-putting. So much so, that, part of my classroom schtick involved me impersonating these kids.

Keys to a good impression:

1. When subtlety fails, shout

2. Be inquisitive of your audience? Example: "Do you like camping?!?"

3. Don't be afraid to confuse enthusiasm with hyperactivity

4. And, most importantly: always sound out of breath

Many a day was spent refining my routine.

Oh, to know me as a child.

Also in my childhood "stand-up" act:

My Flintstone Routine

"What is the deal with canned laughter in cartoons? I mean really, Hanna-Barbera, do you really think we believe that an audience is at the taping? As if there is even a taping!

The Angry Puppet Routine

"What is the deal with angry puppets? I mean really! Have you ever noticed how many angry puppets appear on television? And how do you know they are angry? Of course by the infamous 'quiver and turn' movement. As they turn to look at you, they can't help but shake in disgust!"

Note: This routine required a prop, either a sock or a cloth napkin, which I would use to demonstrate the "angry puppet" in all its glory.

For your pleasure, I present an update (1.5 megs) on an old favorite (courtesy of my webcam, Socky the panda, Dre, and Anil's mad video compression skills)

YACC.

It's coloring time again.

This contest, brought to you by Central Booking - Read Like Crazy.

Animals Don't Lie.

So my mom calls me up and says "I just saw the most depressing episode of Pet Psychic."

Coincidentally, she called me last Sunday to tell me the same thing; the difference being that last week, it was the first episode of the series, and apparently, just as depressing.

Mena: Why do you watch the show if it just upsets you?

Mom: I don't know. It's just so sad. I cried during the entire show. There was this raccoon whose mother was killed in a freak logging accident. And the little raccoon witnessed it! And now, it never wants to leave rehabilitation.

Mena: You know this is how the show works. Do you really expect a reading to be happy and positive? "Oh, I'm such a happy dog, I'm so spoiled. Keep up the good work." That's not going to happen.

Mom: I know. And there was this miniature horse...

Mena: I don't want to hear it.

The thing is, I'm just like my mother. If Ben and I actually got Animal Planet as a part of our digital cable package, I would subject myself to these same depressing segments on what animals (often abused animals) are thinking.

Why? Just to know that they are thinking.

Gold Box Update

News flash! Ben was offered a gold box item which does not (1) remove hair (2) belong in the kitchen. A honest to goodness DVD appeared in his box -- Ocean's Eleven to be exact. It was offered for $15.60 or something, about four dollars off of its regular Amazon price. There is a light at the end inside the Gold Box.

Completely unrelated:

Based on Merlin's recommendation, I'm now using SlashDock (for OS X) to keep track of the weblogs I read -- at least the ones that provide an RSS feed of their content. It's a pretty neat application.

If you're interested, the dollarshort.org rss file is here.

And also unrelated, Ben has written a tutorial on how to install SpamAssassin on OS X.

Foolish Mortals.

From the "it seemed like a good and fun idea eighteen hours ago" department.

The other day, after following a link from Boing Boing to these items, I was inspired to construct my very own miniature tiki lounge. This idea, already a bit too ambitious, was quickly abandoned after a bigger and brighter (and even more ambitious) scheme popped into my head: I wanted to build my very own miniature Tiki Room (as in Disneyland).

It didn't take very long to realize that this was not going to happen. Ben's exact words about the project were "it's going to look like crap." Not that he's not supportive -- he's just realistic. And he's right, I mean really, where would I even get a miniature Jose? Or Michael, Fritz, Pierre and the rest of the glee club, for that matter?

I wasn't ready to give up on a homemade Disneyland-themed miniature, however. I began to think smaller. How about making a model of an attraction without any animatronics, furniture or faux-fauna? How about the Haunted Mansion, specifically the Haunted Mansion stretching room?

It seemed doable.

It wasn't.