Quiz Time

Ripped from Da Goddess.

You are...
What Dreams May Come - "I would goto hell to find you."

Love, above all else, is important to you. When you
love someone, you really love them, and you'd
do anything for them. Sometimes that an get you
into trouble, but to you that isn't important;
what is important is is maintaining the levels
of caring and trust in a healthy relationship.
You little romantic, you.


What movie quote are YOU?
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Note: I removed the image associated with this quiz because of it's poor quality. It added very little to the result.

Unreal Soldier

This is as close to becoming a soldier as I'll (hopefully) ever be.

Yes, that is MY face. Making 3D textures ("skins") is quite a bit of fun. It's also a work in progress. I'm pretty happy with the armor, but it could still come a LONG way.

Fun

http://www.by-art.com/mjong/mjong.asp

Memorial Day Weekend Photos

Ok so it's a couple days before memorial day but I wanted to share these photos I took. Grandma wanted a picture of the Tennessee capital building, so I went a took a few.

click image for full size

I parked down by the farmers market, just next to the bicentennial Mall. I donned my inline skates and headed to the capital. Skating up steps is NOT easy. Getting down was a whole other story. I got yelled at by the park police. Apparently I wasn't supposed to have my skates up there. Bah! I ended up skating down the hill! Let me tell you, that was an experience I won't soon forget. I was surprised how well the skates rolled on the grass to be honest.

I got to my car, took off my skates, had lunch at the farmers market (they have lots of food stands inside). I then noticed the big black globe. It's a huge hunk of polished granite on a fountain of sorts. Actually I think it "floats" on top of it. I'm not sure exactly, but you can "roll" the globe. I got a few pictures there. Click here for more information about this memorial.

click image for full size

The text reads:

"TENNESSEE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - THE STARS BEFORE YOU HONOR THE 5,731 TENNESSEANS WHO MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRAFICE DURING THE GLOBAL WAR.

THE GOLD STAR MOTHERS OF TENNESSEE RECIEVED THIS SYMBOL UPON THE DEATH OF THEIR LOVED ONE.

OPEN TIME CAPSULE BELOW ON 11 NOVEMBER 2045"

The Bicentennial Mall is really a memorial park for all the Tennesseans who have lost their lives protecting the United States. It's a beautiful tribute. The few pictures I took only scratch the surface of the various memorials. They are many and varied though-out the park.

I then headed off to get my hair cut, but I was early for my appointment. I was driving by the Centennial park (where the Parthenon is), so I decided to stop by and take some photos there as well. The city does a good job of making the park a very pretty place to visit.

Click here to see all the photos at ShutterFly.com.

I matter, but what about T?

ZDNet News had an article asking: IT doesn't matter?

The basic premise was that IT has been regulated to the background of most companies instead of the front lines. I say, "Yea and?" IT is not the answer to every problem a company has. It can help solve problems and make things run smoother, but it cannot MAKE a company with no business plan. The "Dot Com Bust" proved that basic business truth. Why people thought tech would be able to sustain a company all by itself is a difficult question to answer. I know I was a bit guilty of that thinking myself. There are a lot of exciting and amazing tech tools out there. It's easy to get overwhelmed in the hype. The tech boom was proof of that. Notice how "killer-app" isn't used as often these days.

The problem is that business, especially smaller companies, do not move at the same speed as technology. These great technologies stress and strain company cultures. It takes time for certain technologies to be accepted by an entire company.

You cannot just throw technology at a problem and expect it to work. The "boom" was doing just that. I and my company was just as guilty. I've learned from my mistakes and have begun to learn how to make the technology we have NOW work better and more efficiently. Actually get the return on investment that we expected.

Riding the upgrade train is not always necessary. I spent a hour with my Microsoft rep and now we'll be buying our software in a very different way. Buying as little from Microsoft as legally possible. This goes for any other software company for that matter.

What will VoIP offer my company over a traditional phone system? Nada. The system would be obsolete and in need of replacement before it's investment had be reaped.

Some companies can do well with throwing tech at certain issues. LCDs use less energy than CRTs, so a company in California where energy has been an issue may save money in the long run buying the more expensive (up-front) LCDs. However my company has its electric bill built into our lease, so saving a few kilowatts makes no difference to the bottom line, thus the power savings cannot be factored into the arguement. Though perhaps eye strain could be.

The point of this ramble is that IT is NOT dead, it is simply evolving into more than just a technology driven department. There is accounting and HR issues that have to be considered. IT should be making the company run better, more efficiently and within the bounds of the company culture. As many of you may know, just because it seems like a good idea doesn't always mean it will. If you force the users too far from their normal work flow to accommodate a new tech tool, they'll quickly ignore it and you've wasted your time and budget. Those were the days of the tech "boom". Those days are over.

Painting

I'll admit freely I'm not a great painter. All my artistic training was put into drawing. But tonight I felt like painting. Was it good? Uhh...well, not really, but it was interesting.

I call it my demon. It started out kinda like an Alien, then it just evolved. The various colors really mean nothing, I just wanted to keep the body parts separate.

Don't read too much into the subject matter either. I've been drawing monsters and demons for years. Call it therapeutic or whatever. Maybe I just have too much imagination to do things that already exist.

Please ignore the anatomy, what little there is. It's warped and twisted, much like the image itself.

Despite it's oddness I hope you like it anyway.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

What ever happened to them? There used to be like 3 or 4 hours of cartoons on every single network on Saturday mornings. I remember waking up at about 6 to watch the Muppet Show then watching cartoons for hours, usually ending with Loony Tunes.

Now when I turn the TV on there is hardly anything. FOX has a bunch, but even they are getting lame. ABC has all the Disney approved cartoons. What happened to the good cartoons?

Maybe I'm just old and grouchy now, but I watch as much Cartoon Network as I do Discovery or Comedy Central. I never watch "The Big Three" All these lame reality shows only tells me they aren't living in reality. Screw them. It's all mindless garbage. At least Junk Yard Wars has creativity to it. The people on that show have to have some wits about them and they generally aren't pretty. THAT is my kinda reality TV.

Anyway that was a tangent. I've noticed lately that Cartoon Network is picking up a lot of the good cartoons that Fox dropped. Makes me wonder. I'm not sure of network partnerships and affiliations, but I suspect there is something between the too.

Oh well, I'd rather watch Adult Swim.