Not Necessarily Interesting News

I’ve been watching the progress of the Mars Rovers just like everyone else. I was curious as to the location of the Spirit rover on Mars so I fired up xplanet to give me a view of Mars from Earth. I looked around and found coordinates for the lander and all previous and future landers. I also found coordinates for major features on Mars and included them. With this data I was able to generate this file. I’ve setup a cron job to update the picture every half-hour for your enjoyment. If you’re lucky you might get to see one of Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos passing through the frame.

Feel free to click the thumbnail to see where your favorite rover is right now. If you don’t see the rover you’re looking for it’s probably on the far side of Mars at this time.

I finally gave in and went to see the doc today. I had a couple of reasons to go. The primary motivation for the visit was a mole on my left shin that’s been itching for a few weeks. There’s one thing I know and that is you don’t screw around with ‘funny’ moles. I also wanted to beg for some allergy meds to help me with my Cedar Fever problem. The doc took a look in my ears, nose, and throat and said ‘yep, you’ve got allergies’. Thanks, doc, you really know your shit. He wrote me a scrip for Zyrtec and RhinoCort Aqua. I had no clue what Zyrtec was until he prescribed it. The Rhinocort is a spray-in-your-nose thingy with some sort of steroids. Whatever, as long as it works. The Zyrtec already seems to be helping. We’ll see come morning because that’s usually when things are at their worst.

Next he wanted to take a look at my leg. I pulled up my jeans and down my sock. He leaned over and looked at it and sat up in less than a second and said ‘that’s gotta come off. You’ll have to come in next week and we’ll numb it up and cut it off and throw a couple stitches in it. We’ll send it to the pathologist to take a look.’ The quickness with which he sat up was a bit disconcerting. Oh, boy! A baby surgery and another scar. I’ve got at least a dozen scars from various stitches I’ve had in the past due to injury. I guess I collect them like some folks collect tattoos. Maybe they’ll have to take the leg below the knee and I’ll get one of those cool carbon-fiber prosthetic legs.

I go in next Tuesday to get it taken care of.

: We’re All Gonna Die Someday from the album “The Captain” by Kasey Chambers

I borrowed a Windows file recovery program from a friend that does exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, the one file out of 10,000+ that I wanted, needed, to restore is gone. It got written over in the ‘the first great Tony fuck-up of 2004’, I’m sure there will be more. I made VHS copies of the video that I gave to family so I can get a better copy of it than the small Quicktime on the website but that’s not the point. I lost the original. I pulled an all-nighter editing that together the night before his wake so it could be shown at the wake. I lost other important stuff but this was irreplaceable to me.

I am so pissed-off right now I could scream. What a way to start my year…*sigh* Someone pass the whiskey.

: Smash from the album “Smash” by Offspring

Our canister HEPA filter died last night. This is a really bad thing. It’s the only thing holding back the flood while I try to sleep. The fan blade came off the spindle and no matter what I tried I could not get it to stay on. Hose clamps, screws, and even epoxy. That thing had a whole lot of air flow going through it that would pull the blades right off again. It was really a bad design flaw once I looked at it. It was getting old but these things are expensive and we had just bought a replacement filter for it last month at $75.

We decided to go out today and look for a new one. Our old one was one of the biggest that Honeywell makes. Our one requirement of the new one was that it needed to use the same filter because there was no way I was throwing out a $75 filter cartridge. We found exactly what we were looking for at Home Depot this morning. It was _not_ cheap. $165 to be exact but it’s worth a good night’s sleep. We ended up getting the biggest one they had again. It’s the Honeywell 50250. It’s a little larger than our older one but it appears they fixed the design flaw of the previous version. It is also quieter.

Thank God allergy season only lasts 4-6 weeks.

: I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow from the album “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” by The Soggy Bottom Boys

…and a hockey game broke out.

Last night I went to my first hockey game. My sister is a season ticket holder for the Austin Ice Bats. Her seats are on the glass near the home goal. I’m not much of a hockey fan but it wasn’t too bad. I was disappointed that there were no fights though. I always say: You’re not having fun until someone is bleeding. I did manage to get a puck that was shot over the glass into the net. It was also fun having hockey players faces smash into the glass 2 feet from your face when they got checked.

: Souvenirs from the album “Margaritaville Cafe – Late Night Menu” by Jimmy Buffett

I was driving up 183 in Leander this morning when I heard a siren approaching from the rear. I can hear them a long way off because I drive a convertible so there’s not much sound-proofing. I was sitting at a light in the right hand lane and the fire rig went to go around the stopped traffic in the turn lane. I was at the head of the line and the light was green so I pulled across the intersection to give cars room to make room for the truck. I eased over to the shoulder and the guy behind me took it as his chance to pass me, cutting off the firetruck in the process. You know the type, white trash, driving a souped-up ’90 Camaro, wide tires on the rear, hood scoop, and all. I decided that he wasn’t gonna pass me or cutoff the firetruck to do so. I pulled out halfway into the lane he was in and hit the brakes. I guess there’s something about brake lights higher than his hood suddenly appearing that caused him to rethink his actions and let the truck pass. I caught up to the firetruck a mile or so down the road after it appeared they got called off of their run and were sitting at a light. I got a wink and a thumbs up from the fireman in the passenger seat.

I kinda hoped Camaro Boy would hit me. He’d have plowed far enough under my Defender to rip that silly hood scoop right off his piece-of-shit Camaro and rest my bumper firmly on his windshield. I, of course, was told that I was #1 for my troubles.

: Sunny Afternoon from the album “Fruitcakes” by Jimmy Buffett

Well, here’s to hoping this year is much better than this last year. 2003 really sucked. 3 deaths in the family, unemployment for several family and close friends, and extended hospital stays by multiple family members.

It wasn’t all bad though. I did get the car of my dreams, my Defender 90. I did get re-hired by IBM after last years’ lay-off, and we took a really good trip to DisneyWorld.

If it wasn’t for close friends and family I don’t know what I’d have done.

I think I’m due for a good year.

: Navras from the album “Matrix Revolutions” by Juno Reactor Vs. Don Davis

…is a dead one. Texan ranchers don’t take kindly to coyotes running about their ranches. I found these along a Farm Road near Bertram this past weekend. There were at least 1/2 dozen hanging from this one fence. It’s not an uncommon sight around these parts.

: Divorce Song from the album “Exile in Guyville” by Liz Phair

Just finished watching all 10 hours of my Christmas gift. Band of Brothers is now my favorite thing I’ve got on DVD. I had seen a couple episodes when it first came out on HBO a couple years ago and have been wanting this set for as long as it’s been out. The mini-series is based on the real-life story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. It is basically a 10 hour version of Saving Private Ryan. It is an unblinking look at WWII. It shows the good and bad of both sides of that conflict. The men who fought in that war are to be respected.

: Am I Awake by They Might be Giants

My wrist has been bothering me off-and-on for a few years. I’m pretty sure it’s carpal tunnel. I attribute its original injury to one of the sweetest games ever invented, Total Annihilation I spent way too many hours/days/weeks playing that game around ’96/’97. Every once in a while it acts ups and gives me problems. The past month has been one of those times. I went to the doc who prescribed Darvocet. It helps a bit. I’m supposed to go see an ortho surgeon hopefully for a Cortizone shot. That should help dramatically. If not it may be time for surgery. Oh boy! Another surgery…

: O Little Twon Of Bethlehem from the album “It’s Christmas Time” by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra