Church Of The Geek » life

Christmas Lights

Jay — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:19:26 +0000

Since we are now living in a house that we actually want to decorate, I took my first ever solo stab at Christmas lights this weekend. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out.

Aidan also took his first walk in the snow this weekend!

What is this to you?

Jay — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:44:01 +0000

That simple question (and the rest of this video) summarizes my thoughts on the topic of gay marriage perfectly.

Thanks to Don for posting this to his twitter account.

First Flickr Video – Aidan Swinging

Jay — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:15:35 +0000

A friend recently hooked me up with a Flickr Pro account, a gift that I will ultimately pay forward by purchasing a Pro account for another friend on Flickr.

Anyway, Flickr Pro status allows you to upload videos in addition to pictures. Here is my first Flickr video test: Aidan swinging in the backyard this past weekend.

CONAN IZ CRAZY KAT

Jay — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:51:36 +0000

I finally made one. I’ve spent enough time laughing at other lolcats already online it was bound to happen sooner or later.

That’s my wife’s favorite cat, Conan, hanging out in an Optimus Prime box.

Best Birthday Cake Ever – Mario Bros

Jay — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:34:15 +0000

Jen and Seth made me the best birthday cake I’ve ever received last night. Yes, yesterday was my birthday, and it was largely uneventful but this made the whole night great.

When People Attack Snakes, With Their Pants

Jay — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:32:13 +0000

Things this funny just don’t happen in Lansing all that often, especially at my all time favorite pet store.

On Thursday afternoon security cameras at Preuss Animal House, in Lansing’s Old Town, recorded what store officials believe was a customer reaching into a glass case, withdrawing a snake, and stuffing it where the sun doesn’t shine.

You can read the full article at the LSJ’s web site.

The Why of Things

Jay — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:40:10 +0000

Growing up, I was labeled a “bright” kid by my teachers and family. But I always had one big problem: If I didn’t understand something I would get really frustrated. As in, suppress the urge to go outside and break a two by four in half frustrated. Most classwork came so easily to me that I was not very prepared for the times when I didn’t fully comprehend something right away.

I haven’t felt that way very much since leaving school for the working world, but CIDR notation is making me feel that way again for the first time in a long time. CIDR notation is basically a way of describing IP ranges and also figuring out their broadcast and subnet masks. I’ve spent a few hours today trying to figure this out and all I’ve accomplished so far is a battle to keep myself from going outside to find that old friend the two by four.

In case you’re wondering, no, I’ve never actually broken a two by four in half out of frustration. It sure SOUNDS like a fun way to work it out though.

Here’s my real problem: The best way I can wrap my head around something is to know WHY it exists in the first place. What is it there for? What is the purpose? I understand how IP addresses work in the basic sense, which is why the complicated CIDR setup seems completely pointless to me. All IPs, unless you’re inside a network using NAT, are unique. So it really seems to me like someone created this entire system as a lazy way of distributing IP ranges. How hard is it to say, for example, 69.200.100.10 – 69.200.100.15? Why does there need to be this huge complex system?

Bueller?

All I’m getting so far is “it works this way because this other part means or does such and such” but what I need to know is WHY it’s necessary for that “such and such” to be happening in the first place.

Considering DNS is supposed to have roots in math, statements like this one drive me crazy:

indicating prefix length with a suffix

It’s either a prefix or a suffix, not both. This reminds me of my psychology classes where they tried to describe behavioral tendencies using mathematic formulas, and when I asked the professor about solving such a formula I was basically told you couldn’t.

Update: Many, many thanks to Mike Neir for giving me an explanation that, while it doesn’t make me feel like an expert, has at least answered my initial “big picture” questions and has set me on the path to really understanding it. Thanks Mike, you rule.

Twitter

Jay — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:49:34 +0000

So I’m giving Twitter another chance. For those of you who have never used it or seen it Twitter is basically a messaging system. Think of Facebook’s status indicator and build an entire service around it.

You can check out my twitter profile below.

Gut Busting Pizza

Jay — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:15:26 +0000

Warning: If you want to avoid the kind of bowel clearing magnitude one normally finds in South American prisons I highly suggest you avoid eating pizza from the Saginaw/Oakland Little Caesars in Lansing.

Jen, Seth and I are all experiencing… unpleasantness today.

We’ll just leave it at that.

Facebook, or, Jay finally caved in

Jay — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:09:08 +0000

After spending a long time thinking about old friends and such who were probably using the newer web 2.0 social networking sites, I finally caved this morning and signed up for facebook.

So yeah, there it is.