The Doppler Effect

I kind of miss this

Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:55:22 GMT

Every now and then, I miss being able to go back and read old posts here on LiveJournal. Maybe I'll pick it back up. We'll see.

Gargamel

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:56:45 GMT

ADT Microblogging

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:13:16 GMT

just kidding

space-time thoughts

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 03:46:31 GMT

I just read a fascinating article that describes astronomers observing the light echoes of a supernova that appeared in our night sky over 400 years ago. For a few days, the light from the supernova was so bright that it could even be seen in the blue daytime sky.

Recently, a group of astronomers witnessed reflections of this light bouncing off a dust cloud many light years to the side and rear of the site of the original supernova. As the light from that original event which was observed on Earth 436 years ago continues to travel in space-time, it will eventually reflect off of further-off clouds, and future generations will still bear witness to the after-effects of that supernova which Tycho Brahe witnessed and wrote about in the fall of 1572.

Read the article.

A letter from my past

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:40:38 GMT

Tonight, I went over to Mom's for Christmas. One of the things she gave me was an envelope that contained some things I had made for my grandmother when I was a kid, that she'd kept and they found after she passed away last Christmas.

One of those items was a 11-25-81

Dear grandmother and grandpa Roy,

Today we went to Bergstrom A.f.B and saw the space shuttle Columbia. It was a fasinating experience to see a part of history being made even though everything in a persons past is history.

This six weeks period I got an A in reading and science and time is flying by faster every day. This week I'm getting today Thursday and Friday off.

Hope you have a great week.

Love,
David Rose

p.s. I when ever you see a blue envelope you know it's from me!

p.s. II sorry about the mistakes I made in this note!

Rails, meet Merb

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:00:47 GMT

Today, I read a blog entry which, at first, I thought was a cruel joke. David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of the wildly-popular Ruby on Rails web application development framework, announced that the widely-perceived-as-competetitor framework Merb codebase would be merged into Rails' codebase for Rail's next major release, version 3.0.

Only half believing this announcement, and being a savvy internet user, I did my research to see who else was talking about this huge development. The first evidence I stumbled upon was on the blog of Yehuda Katz, Merb project founder and lead developer. As the day progressed, I found more and more posts by core developers on both projects acknowledging the announcement.

For several reasons, the least of which is the pending new features coming in Rails 3.0, I'm very excited about this news. What makes me most excited about this development is the human factor. Two teams of developers, often perceived as competitors in their philosophy, product quality and mindshare, realized that competition in this case was less than ideal. By taking the best ideas from both projects, and merging them into one, the entire Ruby web-development community will benefit. Instead of continuing to take jabs at one another on their blogs and twitter and in conversation at Ruby conferences, they've agreed to pool their talent and create something great. They've recognized that their "enemies" should be their friends.

I've been developing on top of the Ruby on Rails framework since January of 2005, after watching the original 'Creating a weblog in 15 minutes with Ruby on Rails' screencast. I think it's great. I'm looking forward to it being made greater.

Super-Simple Broccoli Soup

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:21:41 GMT

Yesterday at Dad's house in Oklahoma City, I was watching an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares on BBC America. Gordon had asked the chef of the failing restaurant to make a soup using as many or as few as ingredients as he wanted. The chef made a broccoli soup with fourteen ingredients including expensive oil and cream. Gordon then showed him how to make a much simpler and way less expensive broccoli soup.

Tonight, I decided to try Ramsay's simple broccoli soup for myself. I cut the florets off of a head of broccoli and boiled them in just enough salted water to cover them for about five minutes. Next, I put the broccoli and maybe about a cup of the cooking water into the blender and ran it on high until the puree was silky smooth. Finally, I poured it into a bowl and nommed. It was delicious.

Folks, I highly recommend giving this one a try. It's almost as easy as boiling water, and the results are simple, delicious, and nourishing.

Motorcycle class is fun. You should do it.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:53:31 GMT

This weekend I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Course from local provider Moto Fun. My coworker, Denise, attended the course with me.

The MSF course is really quite fun, in my opinion. Our teachers from Moto Fun, Jude and Chuck, were great guys and great teachers. Jude was especially warm and humorous, as well as quick to compliment where appropriate. In seven hours of classroom time and ten hours on the driving range, we learned about the various motorcycle controls, how to get the bike going from a standstill, how to corner, stop, swerve safely, and so on.

Some of the exercises were substantially more difficult than others. The one I think most of us felt to be the most challenging was doing U-turns in a confined area. My first run though that exercise was nearly perfect, but as I watched everyone else botch it in varying degrees from not too bad to what-the-hell-that-sucked, I must have subconsciously convinced myself it was harder than it actually was. I was never able to pull it off perfectly after that first time through.

Overall, I felt that I did really well relative to the other students in my class, though i did make the occasional mistake. During my evaluation, I ran slightly outside the line in the U-turn exercise, and in the quick-stop evaluation, I forgot to downshift as I stopped. That last bit cost me 5 points off, so it was a really dumb mistake. 21 points off is the threshold for failure of the class. Everyone in my class passed the course with points to spare, and the mood at the end was one of excitement and relief.

I highly recommend this course. It is fun and informative. Even if you don't plan to own a motorcycle anytime soon, you will have fun, and you will gain a new respect for those bikers you see every day on the streets and highways. And you'll probably be inspired to join them.

Also, my house is for sale

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:54:52 GMT

Today, which turned out to be an historic day in America, with the election of the first African-American President, Barack Obama, is less significantly the day that my house got listed for sale. Today, I can quit crossing my fingers for Mr. Obama, and keep them crossed for change. Change of residence, in my case. In case you're interested, the MLS# is 6259301, though as of the time of this writing, it doesn't seem to have propagated to any of the real estate sites that I frequent.

WOOT!

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:43:39 GMT

That is all.

I've been to an astronaut's house!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:24:52 GMT

Many years ago, when I was working for my Dad at his shop, T.V. Doctor, in Westlake Hills, I got a call from an assistant of video game mogul Richard Garriott, a.k.a. Lord British. Garriott was well-known for his video game company, Origin Systems, but less well-known for the lavish Halloween parties he put on at his mansion off of City Park Road.

It was after one of these Halloween parties that the assistant called me. During the course of the party, three of his high-dollar VCRs had stopped working. I was invited to the estate in order to pick up the machines and take them back to our shop.

I pulled up to the gate and announced my presence to the voice on the other end of the intercom. When I pulled up to the house, I was greeted by Lord British himself. He led me inside, past the stairway that led to his rooftop, domed observatory, and into his huge bedroom. No no no... nothing weird happened. That's just where he happened to have placed the three dead machines. It's also where he had a huge rack of premium audio equipment and four Klipsch speaker cabinets built into the walls. And a bunch of trash from new CDs.

At the end of the day, (weeks later, actually) I was not able to bring any of his VCRs back to life. They were high-end Sony machines, the likes of which I'd never seen, and could not seem to find parts for. Consumer-grade VCRs had plastic gears and commonly-available parts. Richard's had metal gears, and we couldn't even get schematics for them without paying big money.

Oh. The astronaut part... Tonight, I read that Richard Garriott is on his way to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz rocket. He paid the Russian space program $35 million dollars for the privilege of spending ten days in orbit.

I wonder if he needs me to come up there and pick up a DVD player.

Movin' on Up? We'll see.

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:38:54 GMT

Two weekends ago on a Saturday, I was returning home from errands when I decided it was too nice a day to go straight home. In pondering where I'd like to drive, I decided that I'd head out east on MLK to check out this new neighborhood development people have been telling me about. It's called "Nine-Sixty-Nine", after the state farm-to-market road it's near. I've also heard it called "Agave."

I noticed an "Available" sign in front of a neat-looking house near the top of the hill, so I parked to get a closer look. Noticing the front door was unlocked, I went in and had a look around. It was awesome. Spacious, open floorplan, hardwood floors, silestone counters, huge-ass windows with a great view. Totally cool.

Upon exiting the house, I saw a couple standing in the carport of the house next door, so I went over to talk to them. They told me the house I'd looked at was $375K, but that there were others in the 'hood from the low-to-high $200's. They pointed out a green 2-story at the top of the hill that is currently for sale by owner for a sub-market price of $245K.

The homes in the new neighborhood are all designed by renowned or award-winning architects, and feature eco-conscious building materials and features. All of the homes could be described as "quirky" or "ultra-modern" or something like that. Some of them have crazy exterior treatments, such as green corrugated fiberglass in a couple I've noticed, or what could be described as steel mesh fencing bolted onto the exterior in another case.

The next day, I rode my scooter out there to have a look inside a few more of the homes. I really liked most of them, but of course some stood out more than others. Like the one 3-story with 'fencing' on the exterior. On the ground floor was two small bedrooms. The second floor was completely open, with stove/countertops/etc along 1 and 1/3 walls, and a large balcony. The third floor was obviously the master suite, with a nice bathroom and a small study. It also had a huge balcony. In another house just down the street from that, I noticed that the garage had garage doors on both ends. I went out to the back yard, and sure enough, the driveway extends all the way through the garage into the back yard. Quirky, no?

On Monday, I went to work and told a few coworkers about some of the cool houses I saw out there. On Tuesday, I woke up, and laying in bed, started thinking about the house at the top of the hill. I'd like to see inside it, and maybe I'd like to live there.

So, on Tuesday, I called a few realtor friends to get their opinion on the 'hood. They all responded positively, though one of them seemed a bit put out that I was asking for free advice.

Next, I contacted a property manager to discuss the feasibility of holding on to my current home and renting it out. That idea has since been ruled out.

This past Monday, I mentioned to my boss that I was thinking of buying a new home, and asked what he thought about that when taking in to consideration the new economic "crisis". He basically gave me a few reasons why he didn't think it was a bad idea if I can currently afford it. He also gave me the contact info for a mortgage broker that he's used several times. That was the ultimate vote of confidence that I needed in order to really get the ball rolling.

Later that day, I filled out a pre-qual form at that broker's website. He called me on Tuesday to get some more details, and I liked him right off the bat. I was able to get electronic copies of all the bank statements he requested, and scan my W2 forms and a paystub. I emailed it all to him a few minutes later.

Yesterday, the broker called me and told me he had run my credit score and all the other stuff. Apparently, I'd have near-perfect credit had it not been for a late credit-card payment I made earlier this year, as well as a late payment by a family member on a loan that I cosigned on back in 2001. He asked me a few more questions, like was I married, have kids, have other debts, etc, to which I answered no.

At one point, I expressed doubt that I was behaving rationally or intelligently, since what had started as a whim during a beautiful Saturday afternoon drive had become a possibly serious commitment. He replied, (I'm paraphrasing) "Now, this may sound weird or existentialist or whatever, but I believe that if you are meant to have this home, we'll find that everything will fall into place to make it happen. If not, we're gonna hit a bunch of roadblocks. I've been in this business for over thirty years, so I've seen it both ways. With some people, when push comes to shove, they shove, and things get bad."

This morning, I was talking with a coworker about what the broker had told me, and how I thought that was cool. Just then my cellphone rang. Guess who? Yup. "Hah! I was just talking about you!"

My broker told me that he had good news. I'd been approved for a loan that would cover asking price for the green house on top of the hill that I hadn't even been inside yet. Okay, so that's another piece that just fell into place.

I next called a realtor friend, the one who'd been put off by my apparent attempt at freeloading. I know he's intelligent and aggressive, and he has a good reputation. I told him I'd secured a loan guarantee, so let's get movin'. He came and picked me up from work, and we headed out to see the green house at the top of the hill.

The green house at the top of the hill is really cool, as I suspected it would be, since all the houses I'd seen there were. It's a split-level 2-story, with the northern 1/3 being about two feet lower than the southern 2/3. This gives the northern lower and upper bedrooms a sort of cave-like quality, in that you descend down into them. The living area is cavernous, with ~30' vaulted ceiling, and open to the kitchen. You can see most of Austin's skyline from both floors. One weird thing I noticed is that there isn't a "master" bedroom, in that none of the rooms had a bathroom directly adjacent to them. No biggie, but I found it odd. Another oddity was that the kitchen only seemed to have two dedicated light sources: a small pendant fixture above the island, and the range hood lamps. No problem at all during daylight, given the numerous south-facing windows, but I'm interested to see how it looks at night.

While we were pondering the lighting situation, my realtor's cellphone rang. He talked with someone who I assumed was another realtor about another deal he was working on, but mentioned that he was currently showing a client a house at Agave. When he said "My client is more in the 225-250 range," I didn't know he was talking about me. When he hung up, he said that one of his coworkers had a property at the bottom of the hill we were on, and that he was really trying to get it sold. I'd looked at this property by peering in the windows, and I knew it was cool. I also knew that it was going for $299K. My realtor said his coworker made it seem like we could get it for *much* less than that. Great. With choice comes complication. But what the hell, it won't hurt to go take a look inside.

We headed down the hill and went inside to check out this new possibility. All I can say is WOW. It is a COOL place. On the street level, there's covered and uncovered parking spaces. Upon entering, there's a stairwell that leads down to the master suite. Above that stairwell is one which leads up to the third floor, where there are two bedrooms and a bathroom. The stairways are open, in that they have a central steel beam supporting horizontal steps. In other words, you can see through the stairs. The divider between the main-3rd level stairs on the living area side appears to be steel tubing like you'd use for chain-link fence posts. Neat. On the bottom level, off of the master suite, is an outdoor screened-in room underneath the main-floor living area. The back yard has a huge tree. The only old tree I saw at all of the houses there. The yard backs up to an undeveloped wood that is supposedly going to become a dog park. If you've got ~$270K to plunk down, I would say go check this place out. The seller is desperate, apparently, and it could be a great investment. It's just too big for me.

While we were out in the 'hood, we also checked out another property that was FSBO, It was cool, too, but I pretty quickly said, "not nearly as attractive as the house on the top of the hill."

Long story short, I've decided to go with the flow and see if things will keep rolling in the right direction. We're gonna put my current home on the market at an aggressively low price in hopes that it will appeal to investors (flippers?), and see what comes of it. After my house gets listed, we'll make an offer to the seller of the green house at the top of the hill, who also happens to be the occupant and listing agent, with the contingency that my house sells. Who knows what the odds are? But if it's meant to be, the pieces will fall into place.

But who knows, if pieces keep falling into place, maybe I'll be moving soon.

poor doggie

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:10:36 GMT

There's this dog in my 'hood, a block over from my house (on the parallel street), which constantly yelps. Not barks. Yelps. Like, 100 yelps per minute, with occasional pauses of two seconds to several minutes. The past few days, I've waked up and fallen asleep to this poor dog's plea. This has been going on for months now, with the occasional lapse of a few days where maybe I just fail to notice it. I haven't yet peered over the neighbor's fence to see what I suspect is a dog tied to a tree or a stake, but I know in my gut that the dog is not happy and is probably not mentally healthy.

I've considered calling 311 and reporting the situation, but I haven't done so. What if I call in, and the cops show up and nothing seems bad? In fact, as i write this sentence, the dog is silent, whereas when I wrote the first sentence, the dog was "yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep!. yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep! yeep!"

Worst sentence ever

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:18:10 GMT

Of all the sentences I've ever read, the one I read in a KEYE web article tonight has got to be the worst sentence I've ever read, ever.

This article on Austin CBS affiliate KEYE's website, contains probably the worst-composed sentence I've ever seen in writing:

"Both Gregg and Pedro have each covered eight hurricanes each."

SXSW - Day -2

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:46:47 GMT

This year, several teams got to move in to the convention center a day earlier than in the past. The "tech team", as we're called, didn't have access to our normal space, but instead moved in to a room on the mezzanine level, along with about 70 rented iMacs.

These iMacs will be used at the badge pickup and wristband pickup areas, and must be preloaded with the software we use for these purposes. In the case of the badge pickup line computers, this process is quite detailed. Several plugins and scripts need to be installed, and each one has to be configured to run on that specific computer. There are many opportunities for error, and when you think you're done and go to test, it sucks when it doesn't work, because you basically have to start over and see what you missed or got wrong. It took us about eight hours to get 37 of the machines ready. Luckily, the wristband pickup line computers don't need to take and store photos in the database, so they'll be much easier to set up.

Tonight is my last "early" night, wherein I got to come home at a decent hour and get some last-minute housework done. Tomorrow night, we'll do a dry run on our badge pickup process, with SXSW staff and volunteer crew chiefs picking up their badges, and the Austin Chronicle staff getting their badges printed, to be delivered to them later. Traditionally, a large number of staff and crew chiefs gather at a club after this dry run, and have snacks and drinks, so a late night becomes a later, inebriated night. Good practice for what's to come, I suppose :-)

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:02:20 GMT

On my way home from work, I drove by my precinct's polling place, Winn Elementary, and was mildly surprised at how far into the neighborhood cars were parked. I decided to continue on home, and then take my scooter back to the school, so I could park right by the entrance rather than blocks away.

My neighborhood is mostly black and hispanic, with about maybe 15 percent being caucasian. Therefore, I wasn't too surprised that I was one of only a couple of dozen caucasian folks in the room. I was dismayed that I didn't notice a singe hispanic person, save for the guy on stage shouting instructions. Wonder what's up with that.

Looking for an empty seat near the rear of the room, I recognized one of the bartenders from my favorite local brewpub. It was Eric, from the Draught House! I sat down next to Eric and we had a bit of small talk. Then the guy on stage announced that Obama supporters should be on the right-hand side of the room, and Clinton supporters on the left. Eric and I were on the left, so we and most of the other people on that side of the room got up and moved to the right. Very few people moved in the other direction. I think it's safe to say that I live in an Obama-favoring 'hood :-)

It was somewhat exciting to partake in the democratic process at that level. I'd never been to an event like that. Also, it was cool to see so many people from my neighborhood all in one room, and even meet a few of them.

That's gonna hurt in the morning.

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:03:45 GMT

Tonight, I got a chance to work off some of the stress that's been building up by dancing my ass off at the Justice show at Stubb's. For about half of the show, I was relatively close to the stage, but more and more bodies kept cramming in, and eventually it got so crowded that I couldn't move my arms, much less dance. I moved to the back of the ampitheatre where I could feel the chilly night air and dance in freedom.

I'd heard that Justice puts on a great live show, which is rare for electronic acts. It's true. The show was impressive. No song was much like the version on the album. The duo sprinkled lots of teasers for upcoming songs into the set, and it drove the crowd wild. They didn't play my favorite song, which is the fourth track on the 'cross' album, but I still enjoyed the show muchly.

A coworker whom I trust to be in the know about these types of things has informed me that Justice is scheduled to play at a private party during SXSW. If I can manage to snag an invite and also eek out the time in my workday, I hope to attend. Wish me luck :-)

Productive Sunday

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:26:16 GMT

Most Sundays, I sleep way in. This being my last weekend before the SXSW event starts, I decided it best to get in practice of getting up at a reasonable time even on the weekend. Today, I woke up well before my alarm clock would have gone off an a weekday, but I still laid in bed for awhile. I hadn't eaten since about five o'clock on Saturday, so I was starving. My kitchen was mess, so I went to Hilbert's and got some tacos.

Next, I went by Karavel Shoes, because my boss Roland recommended them, saying they know their shit, and they take extra-special care to get you a good fit. They even have some foot-topography mapping device. Unfortunately, they were closed. Hopefully, I can eke out some lunch-break time to get by there on Monday or Tuesday.

I wanted to get some new jeans and slacks before SXSW starts, so I won't have to do laundry during the event, so I decided to hit up the outlet mall in Round Rock. I got a couple pair of black Levis, some dress shirts, tshirts and a pair of black chinos from Tommy Hilfiger (no billboard tshirts, mind you), and a ridiculously marked-down blazer from Banana Republic.

My next stop was my neighborhood Randall's, for tp, dog food, dog treats, juice, and a shower curtain liner.

Once home, I did four loads of laundry, including my new clothes. I also dusted, swept, vacuumed and mopped.

Dad and jasolater are coming to stay at my house for ten days to take care of Izzy (and attend SXSW) this Friday, so I've been slowly tidying things up. I decided to leave the mess that is my computer room, since they won't be occupying that room. My garage could use a day of tidying, too, but fuck it. It's a garage.

The last things on my homefront agenda are to clean my kitchen and sweep the back porch. The back lawn is looking pretty ugly, and the front lawn is a bit long, but I'm not gonna deal with that for now.

I'm really excited that my Dad has decided to attend SXSW. I think it will blow his mind. Hell, this will be my ninth one, and it still blows my mind. Hopefully, I can convince him to attend the NTN@SXSW party, and many of you will have a chance to meet him. He's a really great guy.

Movie Coincidence

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 04:10:20 GMT

I went to the movies this evening, as did seemingly half of Austin. Luckily, the throngs weren't too interested in the movies I chose to watch this evening. In fact, when I entered the auditorium at 7:40 sharp for the second movie, right as the reels started rolling, I was the only person in the room. During the preview trailers, about seven more people trickled in though.

The first movie I saw was "National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets". I expected it to be hokey yet entertaining, based on my recollection of the previous installment. It was both. In one scene, Lyle Lovett is seen playing at an event hosted by the President.

The second movie of the evening was "Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story." It was one of the most absurd movies I've ever seen, but it was pretty funny. In one scene, Lyle Lovett is seen playing at an awards ceremony.

So there you have it. Lyle Lovett had a cameo in both movies I watched tonight. That's all I wanted to say.

I hate this fuckin' traffic.

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 06:01:59 GMT

"I hate this fuckin' traffic."

My Dad and brother Jason are visiting, and Dad told a story wherein I am 3 years old riding with my Grampa down South Congress, and made that comment.

If I could go back to that day, ~33 years ago, I might append "33 years from now."

Sleepwalk

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:31:29 GMT

I finally got around to cleaning jasolater's old bedroom this weekend. I bought new sheets, pillows and a comforter set for the bed in there. It was all so clean and cozy looking, that I decided to sleep there last night. I dozed off comfortably and quickly.

Later, in the wee hours of the morning, I awoke, and noticed that the comforter and sheets had been pushed aside. I reached over to pull them back over me, but they felt strange. Then I noticed the humming of my computer system's various devices. What the hell?!? I was in the bed that's in my computer room!

My mind started racing, looking for a memory of having moved into the computer room. There was none. I didn't drink much the night before, and even if I had, I would have lost the memory of going to bed. I have very strong recollection of the entire evening up until I fell asleep.

After getting up to use the bathroom, I returned to the bed in the guest bedroom and went back to sleep. When I awoke at about 9:20, I could hear the music from the alarm clock in my own bedroom, so I got up to start my day. At that time, I remember reviewing some pretty bizarre dreams I'd had during those early morning hours, but I didn't try to commit them to long-term memory. I wish I would have, though... maybe the answer was there.

It's like rain, on your car-wash day.

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 06:22:19 GMT

Tonight, on my way home from the Austin Chronicle / SXSW Holiday party, I stopped at the Chevron station at 6th and IH-35 to get some beer and cigarettes. There was an Escalade having a run in the automated car-wash. The weather at the time was drizzly, as it had been all day. In fact, as I write this, it's thundering and pouring down here. I guess that guy washing his car is only slightly less annoying than when I see an office complex running its sprinkler system during a rainshower. At least the pimp-daddy's ride will look clean until it dries tomorrow.

What's wrong with this picture? (or is it just me?)

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:03:32 GMT

Is it just me, or does this image give the impression of the Earth rotating on at least 4 different axes at the same time? What gives?

The Last Call

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:56:13 GMT

I remember the first few times I saw parts of the television show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter" while channel surfing. I thought the guy was totally absurd, and an asshole, to boot. Long blonde hair with bird feathers and beads braided into it, leather vests and pants with chrome studs, and a bimbo-looking partner with a rack the size of a pair of basketballs. I thought it had to be a parody of something I wasn't otherwise aware of.

I don't remember when I actually started liking the show, but I've been watching it weekly for probably a year now. My first impressions of Dog, Beth and their family couldn't have been farther from reality. They are often brash and foul-mouthed, but they are really caring, compassionate people who ultimately want to help their clients learn to lead better lives.

One episode that I just saw tonight, titled "The Last Call," was particularly heart-wrenching. In this episode, Dog has two female bail jumpers to arrest. He decides to handle Ingren's case, and asks his wife Beth to handle Daphne's.

The cosigner of Daphne's bond, her boyfriend Bobby, had sent in a letter asking them to revoke her bond, as he no longer wanted to be liable for it, and would like to see her go to jail in hopes that it will wake her up enough to get off of dope and the petty crime that supports her habit. Beth takes the letter and Daphne's file into her office and calls Bobby's number. His answering machine picks up, and we hear, "Hi, Daph. This is for you. I told you not to push me. Take care of yourself." Beth hangs up, and comments, "Well, that's kinda weird."

Next, she calls Daphne. Daphne picks up the phone, and Beth asks if she's talked to Bobby. Daphne starts crying and explains that she has just learned that Bobby has committed suicide by hanging himself. Beth asks Daphne if she'd like to come in and talk to her, to which Daphne agrees.

Beth then calls Bobby's answering machine again so Dog can hear it. That's when it dawns on her that the message is effectively a suicide note.

Dog calls the other case for the day, Ingren, and she agrees to surrender herself at his office within the hour.

Daphne shows up at the office, and though she is sobbing mightily and the whole crew is aware of the magnitude of her situation, they place her under arrest and handcuff her. They sit her down on the couch and give her a handkerchief, and she covers her face and practically howls sobs into it.

In the meantime, the office gets some surprise visitors: Bobby's mom and older brother. Dog tells them that Daphne is there, and they say they don't want to see her. They're just there to ask about the bond so they can figure out what to do about it. Dog explains that Bobby had asked for it to be revoked, and shows them the letter.

While that was going on, Ingren shows up, and they put her in cuffs and sit her across from the still-violently-sobbing Daphne. Later clues in the show will indicate that the staff made Ingren aware of Daphne's situation.

Bobby's mom decides that she does, in fact, want to talk to Daphne, because she realizes that he'd loved her and would've married her if she'd not gotten involved with drugs and crime, or would at least made an effort to turn it around. She walks into the room where Daphne is, and Dog introduces her as Bobby's mother. Daphne shrieks, "I know, I know!" through her wailing sobs and appears to completely lose it. She starts convulsing and nearly falls off the couch.

That's when I lost it, too. I started to cry. This poor girl had some SERIOUS issues weighing on her soul at that moment. When I imagine what Hell would be like, it's like what this girl must have been going through.

So, what does Bobby's mother have to say to her? The short version goes, "I forgive you. Just get yourself cleaned up. Bobby loved you, so I love you. Even though you weren't married, you are my daughter-in-law. When you get yourself cleaned up, you can come see me. I forgive you." Then she almost collapsed as she made her way to the other couch.

Dog and Beth ask the other woman, Ingren, for a favor: when they're taken to jail together, Ingren is to keep an eye on Daphne and be there for her. Ingren seems a bit disconcerted at this proposition, but I think the intense emotional stresses she'd been made to witness tips her into agreeing that it's a good idea. We'll probably never know how that turned out though... the cameras aren't allowed once they've been booked into the jail.

Red Light Madness

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:06:02 GMT

It's been three weeks since I got my electric scooter, and I've only driven my car a few times since then. I'm really enjoying the scooter. I've put over 400 miles on it already, which seems kinda crazy when considering that it only goes 35mph and is therefore limited to a fairly limited set of routes and destinations.

There are a few hassles I have to deal with when driving the scooter. The most annoying one is tailgaters, but I deal with them in my car, too.

The second most annoying hassle is a certain signal-controlled intersection I have to wait at on my way to and from work. It's one of those intersections that has the inductive loop embedded in the roadway. The inductive loop is meant to detect fluctuations in the magnetic field over the roadway, thereby informing some computer that controls the signal lights that there is an automobile waiting to pass through the intersection.

Unfortunately, it seems that my scooter doesn't have enough magnetic-field-distorting mass to trip these things, so the lights never turn green for me. With no other options, I run red lights after I deem that A: the light is never going to turn green for me unless a bigger vehicle pulls up behind me, and B: there are no cops that can see me, and C: that it is safe to run the light.

I did some Googling, and came to believe that neodymium magnets applied to the bottom of my scooter might be a solution. In theory, the electromagnetic field around these particularly-strong magnets should be powerful enough to disrupt the electromagnetic field in the roadway inductive loop, thereby signalling that a vehicle is present.

This afternoon, I stuck a pair of neodymium magnets (1"x2"x1/8" each) to the bottom of my scooter, separated from the scooter's metal frame by a small piece of plastic. I then rode out to the nemesis intersection. I'll be damned, but I could never get up to the intersection without a few cars pulling in behind me. One cannot run a test without proper controls, and the control I needed was, "no vehicles but me."

I eventually gave up and decided to head back out there late at night, when, hopefully, there'd be less traffic at the intersection. Long story short: no luck. It was after 10pm, and traffic seemed pretty sparse. I tried several times to be the only vehicle at the intersection, and every freakin' single time, someone pulled up behind me.

I guess the true test will come when I'm not actively testing. There will come a day when I'm late for work and sitting at that goddamned light, and if it changes to green when I'm the only vehicle there, then I didn't waste $10 on some super-powerful magnets. If it doesn't change when it should, I still didn't waste the money... these magnets are really amazing anyway.

As an aside: Neodymium magnets are very strong. They come with warnings like, "you can seriously pinch yourself if you mishandle a pair of these." They're not kidding. As part of my order, I got a bunch of really tiny magnets as a freebie. A couple of them, about 1/8" cube, almost bruised my finger as I brought one near the other with too tight a grip.