Poignant Zen passage...

Life itself is a powerful teacher. To stay flexible, open, and sincere
at each juncture is worth a lifetime of "practice." To be a truly
compassionate person requires the ability to respond sincerely, being
comfortable with the apparent contradictions, confident in one's
ability to choose actions with heart/wisdom.

Taken from the commentary in this month's On The Way - The DailyZen Journal.

No rest for Tina.

Tina, my Tiburon, recently turned 1 year old on April 7. Yesterday, I took her in to get her 15,000 mile service (she actually had about 15.7 K under her belt). After the job had been completed, I was informed that her rear liscence plate frame had been broken while she was in the car wash (they have a car wash machine where customers get free washes for life)...note that I hadn't requested a wash, though I didn't mind. Because of this, they reduced my bill by $20. I was able to get a replacement frame for $10, so I came out 10 bones ahead.

Here's a picture of what they did:



Here's the replacement:

Ode to Pete Nash.

This one goes out to a co-worker that I have come to greatly admire, Pete Nash. Here are some of the reasons I think he is so cool:

• He sometimes greets people on the phone, "Pete Nash!"...you'd have to hear it to appreciate it.
• He went to UIUC, and never fails to reply to to my ILL.
• His wit and great sense of humor.
• His cleanliness - he keeps moist wipes and hand sanitizer at his desk (Being the biter I am, I do now as well.)
• He's really freakin' smart.
• He's a straight-shooter.
• He's a great problem-solver.

While I'm at it, I should also give props to some of the other great people I work with: Steve Mitori (my team leader), Dave Walter (my boss), and Lee Puett (my boss's boss, formerly my boss).

Someone should tell Unilever...

that their "invisible solid" deodorant stick is not very invisible...especially on brown skin...

My new favorite band...at least sentimentally.

Bloc Party. Their lead singer, Kele Okereke, is the son of Nigerian parents who immigrated to England. And their music's pretty good.

Also digging...The Killers, Kasabian, The Bravery, and the rest of the British-inspired dance-rock movement.

It's official...I killed Windows XP.

So I tried to dual-boot Linux and Windows on my newly acquired notebook computer... Well, I got the Linux operating system, Fedora Core 3, to work. However, Windows XP Home now crashes on boot-up...with a blue screen of death. Thankfully, I had not done much system set-up besides installing Firefox and Partition Magic.

When I try to recover it using Dell's built-in PC Restore, I get a black screen and the message "Cannot restore". And since Dell anticipated that this feature would be able to recover from the vast majority of operating system woes, they don't send the Windows installation CDs in the package...so I had to call technical support and request them. The CDs should arrive late next week.

Until then, I can only run Linux on my laptop...which wouldn't be so bad except for I can't figure out how to get WiFi to work on Linux.

Europe better be fun.

I'm missing the following concerts (here in StL) which I would normally go to because of my trip:

The Roots
The Killers
Kasabian
Dave Matthews Band*

* - I get back the day of the concert.

Jarrod Ross is my new hero

We ran the St. Louis 5K (3.1 miles) in Forest Park this morning. He finished in 21:46, while I came in at 29:43...I'm such a bum. You can check out the results (a full listing or by age group) here.

UPDATE: Check out pictures of me and Jarrod at the finish line.

I made a decision.

I went with the Dell Inspiron 600M. With the Boeing discount, I was able to upgrade to the top-of-the-line model (and get a few accessories) while only going over my original budget by $70.

It's over...

and I feel like crying...

ILL...sob...ini

Undecided 2005

I'm looking to buy a notebook computer. However, I can't find one for a reasonable price which satisfies all of my source selection criteria. You can help by taking a look at this table and telling me which one to pick. Alternatively, you can look for an option I am not aware of which satisfies my criteria.

2005 MLB predictions.

Here's what the ESPN.com "experts" are saying.

They all pick the Cardinals to win the NL central, but only two think that they'll make it back to the Series. Here are Obi's picks:

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Angels
AL Wildcard: Red Sox
NL East: Marlins
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Padres
NL Wildcard: Dodgers
World Series: Cardinals over Twins

AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL RotY: Dallas McPherson (I don't know who he is)
NL MVP: JD Drew (same incorrect pick the last 4 years)
NL Cy Young: Oliver Perez
NL RotY: JD Closser (I'm not sure if I know who he is)

Anyone notice how half my award picks are on my fantasy team?

We're goin to the 'ship!

ILLini.

My newest toy.

Cretive Zen Micro 5 GB - Black.

RH Top 10.

Phoenix FM and AtEase have teamed up to create a poll to decide the top 10 Radiohead songs, to be played on the radio station.

Deciding my 10 favorites was tough, but this is what I came up with:

1. Paranoid Android
2. Morning Bell
3. There There
4. Pyramid Song
5. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
6. Airbag
7. Optimistic
8. Idioteque
9. I Might Be Wrong
10. Go To Sleep