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Relevant:

So, if you’ve never been to Reddit, they’ve got a section called “Ask Me Anything”, where someone qualifies themselves and then encourages responses (e.g. “I’m a nurse in an ER, AMA”). Plenty of people have participated – celebrities, politicians, armed forces veterans (some WWII guys have made it). The all-time most commented was the one from President Obama. There’s endless reading to be found there.

Well, the developers of Microsoft Excel did one back in November. Lots of great stuff in that thread, but my favorite was this one:

I sometimes accidentally open up Excel when attempting to open Eve Online, and I usually can’t even tell the difference for several hours. Thanks for the great clone/simulator for Eve Online!

My questions are:

Did you have any contact with CCP Games or the Eve Online team to help them develop their famed Massively Multiplayer Spreadsheet Simulator?

Is the move to subscription-based pricing in Office365 because of complaints by CCP that they didn’t want your software acting as a free clone/interface for Eve online?

Are there any plans to bring back one-time purchase? I always appreciated being able to play Eve/Excel whenever my subscription to CCP Games expired.

Are there any plans to port Excel/Eve to Xbox?

How did you manage to get around the extreme video card requirements that are required in Eve but not Excel? It is fantastic to be able to play it on netbooks and other lesser computers.

If this doesn’t make sense to you, then you’ve either got no sense of humor, or you’ve got some Googling to do…because that right there is FUNNY.

Via Reddit:

A priest and a rabbi buy a car. The priest walks out and sees the rabbi sprinkling water over the hood. “What are you doing?” Asked the priest. “I’m blessing the car,” said the rabbi. “Oh, as long as we’re doing THAT…” The priest walked into the garage. He later came back out with a hacksaw and cut 2 inches off of the tailpipe.

It’s been about two weeks since my last post; I haven’t given up on this blog, or forgotten about it. I’m sure that the approximately four of you who actually read it have been compulsively pressing F5, and been in for some disappointment. So, just wanted to let you folks know that I’m still here, and still intending to post. I’ve got a number of topics I intend to address soon, but time is my enemy, as it tends to be in these contexts.

Stay tuned.

Here is a kitten.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time. I’ve also been meaning to get this blog up and running for a long time – I registered this domain back in April. I actually learned quite a bit in the process – despite my use of WordPress, Ametys was my initially planned platform…and then I learned what a nightmare it is to try to get shared hosting for a Tomcat instance at a reasonable price, and that the platform’s development team didn’t seem to think that “making it easy to remove the demo pages” was something worth working on. Even that was something I’d sort out if the hosting companies who offered Tomcat hosting didn’t spend most of their time convincing me that they both went to the Comcast School of Customer Service(tm).  Avoid Arvixe and HostISO like Yankees apparel at a Red Sox game.

There are a number of things which brought me here. My ever increasing disdain for Facebook and its “privacy policy” makes it a less desirable place to express my ideas. Even setting principles aside, Facebook’s “notes” functionality is marginalized at best (they seldom land in the feeds of others), and don’t allow me to share experiences with the greater internet. My posts won’t get lost amongst a sea of mindlessly reposted political half-truths and click-bait headlines. I look forward to further customizing WordPress as I learn to use it, something else Facebook doesn’t offer. As I write this, I wonder about you, my audience, my reader. Am I writing for your benefit, or mine? Is ‘journaling’, once a private activity, now something that implies the need for an audience? Maybe those are questions I will answer over time…or possibly, you’ll help answer.

To wrap up this first post, I’ll make a few blanket statements:

1. Unless otherwise expressed (or implied, e.g. a post largely comprised of a link or quote from someone else), my content is my own. Feel free to link, feel free to quote, but do not feel free to plagiarize.
2. What’s written here is a matter of personal opinion. It does not reflect on anyone else, including my employer, business associates, or any organization with whom I’m affiliated.
3. In case anyone besides me cares, I have no intention at this time to run ads on this blog. If you see an ad on my page, run a virus scan, because it’s not coming from me. Similarly, I do not run any tracking software of any kind on this blog, aside from raw page views. No analytics, no trackers, no profiling, nothing. If you know me personally, you know that I consider such things a cancer, and would never inflict such things on my readers.
4. If you plan to comment, understand that:
   1. I will moderate you.
   2. I reserve the right to remove comments at any time, for any reason.
   3. I’m okay with disagreements, but I am NOT okay with incivility. Usenet and 4chan are still perfectly good places for that kind of behavior.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve made it to the departure gate…almost…

I got in line to check my bag in. I’m convinced that traveling for longer than ten days without breaking the 50-pound limit is impossible. All that is in my suitcase is clothes for the week, toothbrush/razor/soap type stuff (ALL travel sized), my travel adapter, a phone charger, a towel, and a precision screwdriver set. I clocked in at 49 pounds. This worries me, because if the 8-kilogram limit on carry-ons to London is accurate, I’m not sure how I’m getting that stuff there and back; it may be an expensive proposition no matter how I slice it :/. Anyway the lady at the baggage check-in was extremely friendly and helpful. While they had a self-checkin area before the baggage line, I assumed it worked like the domestic airlines where those only worked if you had actual tickets; I was using exclusively my passport to check in. As it turns out, the self-checkin kiosks worked for people like me as well. Instead of making me use the kiosk and get back in the line again, she was really nice and checked me in. I got an aisle seat, one of the two last seats on the plane.

Once she had my bag, I proceeded to my favorite part of the airport: the security checkpoint. By “favorite”, I mean “the part that I, like everyone else in this building, enjoys the least”. Now here’s the thing: In practice, I don’t ultimately care. In principle, I absolutely do. As I pulled Tiny out of the bag, three different people checked and told me, “only put one laptop in each bin”. It never, ever gets old to respond with “…I did” to the men and women who man the conveyor belts, because their eyes light up in amazement, which is impressive given that they see thousands of laptops every day. Half out of concern regarding whether I actually wanted another X-ray and half out of principle, I opted for the pat-down instead. The guy was *all* business, when he went over the fact that he was using the backs of his hands as he patted down my posterior, I told him, “dude, It’s all good, I don’t really care, do your thing”, but gave the whole schtick just the same. I otherwise had no issue going through security. Also, I came to a decision: passengers 75 and older can keep their light jackets and shoes on while going through security. I now have plans for my 75th birthday, when I will once again, opt for the pat-down.

I’m convinced that for some reason, Delta has put me in about the furthest gate possible. There is an upside to that: I got to traverse the concourse with purpose; normally I peruse it out of boredom, but I did get to see most of the core bits of it. I saw a currency exchange kiosk and thought that I’d save myself a trip on the flip side of the flight. Given the exhorbitant fees in exchanging the currency in addition to the difference in value…well, let’s just say that the Biblical scene of Jesus flipping the money changer tables in the temple seems all the more justified.

Uncertain what the food situation is going to be on the plane and whether I’ll be awake to have any, I decided to stop at one of the ‘alternative’ food places on the concourse to get some form of holdover. I wondered if it actually constitutes ‘alternative’ if such places heavily outnumber the McDonalds/KFC type places to which these shops are designed to provide an alternative. In any case, I got what amounts to a ‘vegan Mounds bar’, an almond/coconut granola bar, and a bottle of strawberry banana Naked. I’ve learned something. There are people reading this blog who are card carrying chocoholics. There are other people reading this blog who can’t stand the substance. Vegan chocolate will satisfy neither. I’d try to isolate the pseudo-chocolate substance based on the ingredients list, but I couldn’t even tell you what language it’s written in.

As posted before, I forgot my trusty M&Ms pillow at mom’s house. This posed a problem, but I figured that pillows would be among the easiest things to purchase at an airport. I stand corrected. I can either get the neck pillows (i.e. utterly useless), or, I did manage to find a Hello Kitty pillow that actually looked comfortable. I debated to the point of looking at the price tag. I’m not paying $30 for a pillow *and* dealing with the explanations. If Delta sells those craptastic airplane pillows onboard, I’m buying one and doubling up on the Unisom. I *will* fall asleep on the flight!

If you only remember ONE travel tip I provide over the course of this blog and forget all of the others, it is this: pack a power strip in your carry-on. Get one with half a dozen outlets, even if you’re not sporting a laptop. If all you’re bringing is a phone or an iPad, great – forget the charging stations. EVERYONE is all over them, and everyone in a close seat in close proximity is eyeballing them, waiting for one of the present occupants to blink. If there are two people sitting next to each other on a wall, it’s because they’ve found an outlet and are holding it hostage, whether or not they are traveling together. Bring a power strip. If all the outlets at your gate (and the ones next to it) are occupied, you can ask to plug your power strip in, charge your phone, and the people who have already planted their flag on the socket don’t have to give anything up to help you. Conversely, even if you’re the one who has found the magical available wall outlet, plugging in through your power strip is the easiest means of making friends at the airport. The only down side is if you end up with four ‘new friends’ and your flight starts boarding.

Finally, if you’re a Verizon customer wondering what it’s like to be a T-Mobile customer, come to Kennedy airport. I’ve experienced multiple dropped calls, super slow connectivity, and plenty of pings north of 200ms. My T-Mobile phone is intentionally left at mom’s to enable me to text overseas, but I do wonder if the reverse is also true – I’d wager plenty of money that T-Mobile has better throughput here than Verizon, but presently, I’ve got no means of verifying that.

Alright, unless something crazy happens, I hope for my next post to be made from Frankfurt in some form or another. Then again, I am flying DELTA, an acronym for “Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport” from a frequent flyer whose judgment I trust.

Later!

Quick post from the Air Train to Kennedy:

Bad news: Mom’s NAS was out of storage space.
Good news: it now has storage space.

Bad news: I got to the platform to catch the 3:45 train to Jamaica at 3:48.
Good news: the train was eight minuses late.

Bad news: forgot M&M travel pillow at mom’s.
Good news: testing to make sure I get missed call notifications while gone worked. Also, WordPress mobile obviously works.

Til the concourse!