I’ve been trying to find a better way to nap. For the longest time I had a silent egg timer that only made noise when the alarm went off. Most egg timers make annoying ticking noises which makes napping nigh impossible. I’d been told about Pzizz a piece of nap software that generates mp3s of specific times for naps. Normally I’d include a link but I think this is something you should avoid. Anyway, I generated a 20 minute “Energizer” nap and discovered by they named it that. The piece starts off with soothing music and a guy telling you to relax which is fine for the first two minutes. About five minutes later, the same guy comes back and effectively yells at you to relax. He then yells at you approximately every four to five minutes keeping you on edge and quite “energized”. After 13 minutes of this I finally nodded off and didn’t wake up for two and a half hours and this is why: The voice that tells you to wake-up is quieter than the narration voice.
Month: March 2008
New Movie Food Sneak Record
I saw Run Fatboy Run yesterday. I had a coupon for a free small popcorn. That was unlikely to be sufficient. Through the magic of cargo pants I snuck in the following:
- 1 bag of dried fruit
- 1 bag of trail mix
- 1 24 oz Pepsi Max
- 1 16 oz Wawa Strawberry Milk
- 1 bag of beef jerky
- 1 box of Fig Newtons
I was most proud of the Fig Newtons. Physics initially said no until I realized the main pockets were bigger than the cargo pockets.
Arvo Part, for the win!
I’ve begun collecting Pepsi points for the Amazon Unbox downloads and finally cashed some in today. I could get a single track for 5 points or the whole album for 60. While I could theoretically “win” if I bought all tracks from an album with less than 12 tracks.  I gunned it for some symphanies I liked hoping they’d be listed as a single track, no dice, they were broken up by movement. Time to get a little more, modern. As anyone who’s worked with me knows, I greatly enjoy the School of Estonian Sacred Minimalism especially Arvo Part. Looking through the catalog I found an album of his that contained the following:
Track 1 – 5 minute chorus for SATB
Track 2 – 38 minute mediation on the void of space for orchestra with sacbut and hurdy gurdy or some other ridiculous arrangement.
10 points, 1 album, WHAT A BAAAARGAIN!
Wire Shelving: A Crisis
I have many boxes of Magic cards and the bulk total is about 60,000. I stack them in cardboard boxes but over time, their shear weight crushes these boxes leading me to replace these boxes annually at a cost of about 24 dollars (8 5000 ct boxes at 3 dollars a piece after tax). I hypothesized that I could double the lifetime of a box by putting it on shelves. Being an actuary, assuming a 5% annual rate of return and 10 years more of Magic I could spend 95 dollars on getting kickin’ shelves and come out ahead actuarially, which is how I’d always preferred to come out (… I should probably rephrase that).
I tell my dad of my revelation and head to Lowes, hit home organization and see the $60 black matte shelf unit I wanted. I pump my fist in actuarial triumph and grab the box and two extra $12.00 shelves… which are only available in chrome. I put the shelf unit box down and go to the chrome shelving unit and stop in horror upon seeing it’s a model-busting $75. I could have off color shelves but then how could I sleep at night? Could I be so callous and just let my model? I sigh, grab the chrome shelf unit and slump home. I get home, and my dad asks me why I look so glum to which I respond: “My model couldn’t survive my dedication to looking fabulous.”
Afterword: If I can get the boxes to last 16 months, my model will live again. Keep this cardboard in your thoughts and prayers.
Dave Hasel in the Dunk Tank
While cleaning out my room I found this gem.
It’s Dave Hasel in the dunk tank at the 2001 Council Camporee. I’m having a contest to see who can add the best caption to the picture. The easiest way to do it is just to comment but if you want to go one better, Picbite allows more complicated comments at my favorite cost of free. My PC comment is “I love Friends of Scouting thiiiiiis much”. I also think that’s Travis Woodling off the right.
15 lbs of pool noodles
One of the activities I’d like to do for the Playwicki camporee involves kids splicing with pool noodles. Pool noodles are apparently damn expensive out of season at 3 to 5 bucks a pop so I thought I could buy in bulk. I checked Amazon and found a large bundle for $99.00. It didn’t actually give a quantity just that it was “15 lbs of pool noodles”. Pool noodles aren’t goods I typically buy by the pound as this is like purchasing cups of rope or a slices of cheese in nanohectares. So, if anyone has any pool noodles, I’d like to know their weight.
15 lbs of pool noodles
One of the activities I’d like to do for the Playwicki camporee involves kids splicing with pool noodles. Pool noodles are apparently damn expensive out of season at 3 to 5 bucks a pop so I thought I could buy in bulk. I checked Amazon and found a large bundle for $99.00. It didn’t actually give a quantity just that it was “15 lbs of pool noodles”. Pool noodles aren’t goods I typically buy by the pound as this is like purchasing cups of rope or a slices of cheese in nanohectares. So, if anyone has any pool noodles, I’d like to know their weight.
Email Censoring
I sent a missive to Tom Leitz, Nick Grammiccioni and Joe Naylor yesterday regarding using PDFs on the OSR site. I hate the utter and total flatness of PDFs and how annoying it is to make them every time a minute change is made but no matter. The email was bounced back from Tom who uses a bsamail.org account and the reply said that the message contained “potentially offensive language”. I checked through the message and realized I’d used the word “bitch”. As a test, I sent Tom another message consisting simply of “Carol Moyer is a bitch”, which he got. So either bitch isn’t offensive or the mail system knows Carol Moyer.
Email Censoring
I sent a missive to Tom Leitz, Nick Grammiccioni and Joe Naylor yesterday regarding using PDFs on the OSR site. I hate the utter and total flatness of PDFs and how annoying it is to make them every time a minute change is made but no matter. The email was bounced back from Tom who uses a bsamail.org account and the reply said that the message contained “potentially offensive language”. I checked through the message and realized I’d used the word “bitch”. As a test, I sent Tom another message consisting simply of “Carol Moyer is a bitch”, which he got. So either bitch isn’t offensive or the mail system knows Carol Moyer.
Leader Guide Saves!
CIS 1055 requires us to create a cross linked site for an organization in which we participate. Suddenly the Ockanickon Leader Guide that I’ve slaved over for nigh on two months is useful. I added some stupid functionality like an image map and a few other things and one thing was the addition of a midi that starts when you click on something in this case Scout Vespers plays when you click the map itself. This was ultimately my undoing as the instructor thought I mislabeled the MIDI file as “Oh, Christmastree” instead of “Scout Vespers”. For both the non-Boy Scouts that read this, Scout Vespers is the same tune as “Oh, Christmastree”.