In about 5 weeks, I turn 30. Not that big a deal but I do plan on quitting smoking and ordering a mail order bride. Russian or Phillipino is a tough choice. And I need to figure out how I am going to celebrate. I am thinking about crossing off one of my big to-do’s and travelling to Dublin and the Guinness brewery (read Mecca). The big question is if I can get a passport in 5 weeks. And where to stay. And if anyone wants to come. So if you are free Labor Day weekend and want to go to Ireland with this guy, let me know. More importantly if you have tips about Dublin or other ideas of what to do to celebrate the beginning of the end of my life; feel free to post.

I have been mulling about with making a switch to Ubuntu for a while. I have a few friends making the switch to Mac but I have never been a huge Mac guy. Beatiful design but over-priced and the whole software/hardware stranglehold I don’t like. I really don’t have anything against Microsoft, hell I have been making a living off their tools ever since I graduated but sometimes you just get an itch. Anyway, I’m sure there will be more posts about what I experience, issues, etc.
First thing, I really like Ubuntu’s Live CD. I was really impressed it recognized my wireless network drivers with no issues. Very impressive! Also gives a great feel for the app before installing and just makes a lot of since. 700mb ISO download but absolutely worth giving a shot. Since I wanted a dual boot (for those times I just need something to work quick) I am still running Windows XP. I hit some initial issues with partitioning because … well I can be a dumbass. This dual boot guide is helpful, and this one which basically stated have Windows, then Linux as primary partitions and you’re golden. Voila!
Also this morning I kept getting connection failure errors with Synaptic Package Manager for downloading/upgrading software. I renamed the apt.conf file and now that is fixed.
Since I imagine I have bored 2 of my 3 readers to tears at this point, I will wrap it up.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 75% Green Lantern 75% The Flash 70% Batman 65% Hulk 65% Spider-Man 60% Supergirl 57% Iron Man 55% Wonder Woman 52% Robin 42% Catwoman 40%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

OK, you may remember when I told you the world was going to end last month. Well I mean it this time! It all starts a week from Thursday on Aug 3 2006. This comes from one of my ex-coworkers who for the last 5 years has been building a compound 2 hours outside the city. He is a big believer in The Bible Code. As I later found out he is also a believed reptilian like aliens live among us and Hilary Clinton is one of them. Sounds Very 80’s cheesy to me. Anyway, the world won’t end, just have some nukes going off in the middle East which will be the start of the end. So you have 8 days notice, I suggest a trip to Wal-mart this weekend to stockpile on water, canned goods, and guns/ammo. Hope you weren’t planning on taking vacation time anytime soon.

Deist on Top - What do atheists scream during sex? (NSFW)

I decided to write a lifehacker sytle post on how I use Outlook to manage my volumes of info. For some of you this may be old hat, but lately I have noticed the advantages to these changes really coming through.
First, go ahead and download Lookout. It’s a free email search utility that is quicker and higher quality than Outlook’s search. Obviously I try to keep emails in the correct folder but if you misplace something or look for info in your Sent Items, this will save your butt.
Second, using this lifehacker tip on how to highlight messages sent only to me allows me to see if this is an email I must read or (which is more likely) I am being cc’d for the hell of it. Not saying to ignore all those but highlighting messages just to me gives me a heads up that if I don’t respond, no one else will.
Finally, I have become a big fan of marking emails for follow-up. I constantly get feature requests, bug reports, etc that I cannot get to right away. Marking emails this way auto-generates a to-do list for me. You can also save the email as a task but usually just marking it is enough for me. Usually red or blue determine priority and other colors determine project. It’s not a great classification but it’s evolving and works for me.
Feel free to leave in the comments any tools, hacks, etc you use to help organize your personal info.

My buddy Dave Kudrav is in Afghanistan for a year to do some engineering work. Today he posted some very interesting photos of the old royal palaces in Afghanistan. Make sure to click on the photos for slightly larger versions. The palaces have seen better days but the decayed opulence in the midst of such poverty is stunning.

Renton posted lamenting the way things should work around our place of employment. I’ll add in my 2 cents. I don’t work on the main campus (along with probably 80% of IT) but naturally we have a ton of business to do over there. In the past, there have been hang tags given out to staff in order to park to do business. Well our vice chancellor in his dumbassery, choose to eliminate parking spots for new construction when we were already crunched for space with no plan to managed the parking situation. So now they are actively ticketing employees who park to do their job. If you are an employee or customer of UAMS, feel free to email or call Leo Gehring to express your feelings about the horribly mismanaged parking situation.

Now onto the good news. On September 22, 2006 this ordained minister in the Universal Life Church is performing his first wedding. I have been ordained for probably 10 years and have bugged multiple friends to let me perform the ceremony. The last wedding I was at I came close. They wanted me to put together some material on what I would be doing but that sounded like a lot of work. This time it is happening. All I have to do is take my certificate down to the County Clerk’s office, pay $5 and fill out an application. At that point, I can legally do any ceremonies in Pulaski county. I am nervous but very excited about it too. I expect that this marriage will be very successful in no small part to me.

So now I kind of wish I had paid attention at the past weddings I have been to. I am soliciting any ideas/input on what you have liked or disliked about wedding services. The bride wants it no longer than 30 minutes and it will be outdoors. I think it is better to err on the side of caution as the couple is somewhat conservative religiously (both Baptists). Please leave your best ideas in the comments!

So I mention to the coworkers the issues with my state tax. Of the 6 people on the team, 2 others had gotten the same sort of tax adjustment. In total, 1/2 the team had. You have to think that somewhere Arkansas has fucked up big time. I am going to sit back and wait for this to hit the press.
I did call the Dept of Finance and they said I need to provide proof of my CO residence for 2002. I would like to see them provide proof of my Arkansas residence. So I called the number they gave me to get a copy of my Colorado state taxes, disconnnected. Nice work fuckers! I hear a DotW coming.