Tuesday 31 August 2004

Hans has swallowed a golf ball

Last night I did the practical session of a first aid course which mostly consisted of resuscitation practice, disease paranoia and realistic bandaging techniques.

The first rule of disease paranoia is: you do not touch blood.
The second rule of disease paranoia is: you do not touch blood!
Apparently you need to be far more careful of hepatitis than HIV, since it exists in a much higher concentration in blood and stays active for 24 hours in dried blood. And by "much higher concentration", I'm talking about one hundred thousand times more. I'm this close to locking myself in my room wearing tissue boxes on my feet and a surgical mask.

Realistic bandaging mostly means wrap it up and go to the doctor. If the wrapping would further irritate the injury, put another bandage or two (rolled up) beside or on top and wrap over that. Tourniquets, different bandage types, splints etc. are all out. No scrubbing wounds, either. If it doesn't fall out when squirted with sterile salty water, then it needs to be handled by trained medical personnel under sterile conditions. Most infected wounds come from fibres and other foreign material introduced by attempting to clean them.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Forgive me, I'm practicing my knowledge to help me remember it.
PPS - Plus if you haven't heard it before, it's good for you too.

Monday 30 August 2004

Fanboy

I think one of the best things you can do for your friends is to be their biggest fans. It sounds a little silly, even to me, but to be that interested and excited by their lives has got to be an ego boost. And who can honestly say they wouldn't like that kind of attention? Many of us want to be famous, simply to feel the kind of love that streams from legions of adoring fans.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I am, of course, assuming that your friends need an ego boost.
PPS - Some might need to be taken down a peg instead.

Sunday 29 August 2004

The Sunday Mok - Overrun by Heroes

Our delivered newspaper was stolen on Sunday morning, because it had a SIM card worth $50 in phone calls inside as a promotion. Understandably, hundreds of others were stolen that day, too. Played City of Heroes.
Monday at work I kept upgrading my program. Hopefully all (or most) of the changes can happen behind the scenes so that it just seems to get magically better as time goes on. Watched Australian Idol. Played City of Heroes.
On Tuesday nothing out of the ordinary happened. I went to work, I went to karate, I probably played City of Heroes at night.
On Wednesday I realised that I haven't played Knights of the Old Republic in a while, and I haven't finished it either. I stopped playing shortly after I got City of Heroes, which is clearly a large part of the reason, but also because I ran into an unavoidable battle that I can't seem to win. I've tried ten times or so without success, which disheartened my efforts slightly. Played City of Heroes.
On Thursday I located a bug in my program that's been bothering me for some time. I had yet to figure out a good way to work around it at that stage. Dinner that night was a barbeque on top of the Kangaroo Cliffs that overlook the Brisbane skyline - a beautiful place, to say the least. I saw Glenys (who's been in England) for the first time in two years. I'm pretty sure I played Heroes for a while.
Friday we had only one kid show up for youth group, so we just joined the older group for their trivia night. Then I stayed up late playing Heroes.
On Saturday I woke up thinking for a moment that I had to go to work, then remembered that it was Saturday. That was cool. I bought a suit for the upcoming wedding, played Heroes, saw Sons of Korah play at the Princess Theatre and met up with friends for more celebration of the return of Glenys. Huge day.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Apparently my life consists primarily of City of Heroes.
PPS - I'll only get worried if I start to dream about it too.

Friday 27 August 2004

We don't need to explain ourselves to you

There's a store I just noticed today on my way to work called "The Church of What's Really Happening Now". It's empty. I mean completely bare - concrete walls and floor, zero decoration. I don't know if it's a joke, somebody's idea of A Statement, a disused art gallery, a shop that's yet to open or what. I think I'll keep my eye on it, just in case.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - My guess, at the moment, is that it's somebody's statement.
PPS - Exactly what they're stating is still a mystery.

Thursday 26 August 2004

Hero TalkTM

Character creation is a rich and interesting part of the game (and one for which NCSoft has been much praised) and I definitely care about how my characters look. My brother Ug the Caveman (as he is known online) is, shall we say, more obsessive. Next to him, I may as well hit the "Random" button and charge straight in without a thought. Last night I saw him agonise for a full ten minutes about which armoured shoulder pads to put on the fourth revision of his tanker character. The others, apparently, did not cut it.

Part of the bother with revision three was his power choice: stone armour, which completely overrides the model when active and makes it look just like a lump of rock. This was, clearly, No Good At All, and was finally cast by the wayside at level 6 to start over. Personally, I'm reluctant to throw away any character, because it represents a certain time investment, and my time playing the game is limited by other activities like work. Even if I've made a bad choice about powers, I'm unlikely to back out. I guess that's just me.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I would, however, be interested in seeing the power respecification effects of certain areas.
PPS - 'Cause that "Jump Kick" power is hopeless.

Wednesday 25 August 2004

They're thinkers

I try to avoid writing about City of Heroes extensively because (a) it's old news now and (b) if I start, I might never stop. Anyway, today I want to write about zombies.

There are regular zombies that look normal (as zombies go) and then there are huge zombies - the ones the game calls "Abomination". They look like they're made from the parts of four or five pro wrestlers, with some extra muscles stuffed under the skin just for the hell of it. They're not too bright unless one of their living handlers is around, so I typically attack those guys first. While the smaller zombies tend to follow you for a while, Abominations give up fairly quickly and just stand there looking not-so-bright. It's quite amusing to see them running after you, then stopping entirely, just because you got about 100 metres away.

That's not all, either. You can walk back up to them - pretty close, too - without drawing any aggression. I've tackled relatively large groups of Abominations one by one because the others simply did not care that I was right beside them, beating up their companions.

So now I think I've learned to handle zombies and their human handlers adequately, and they're not that fearsome. Eidelons, on the other hand, are something else entirely, and my tanker probably doesn't quite have the appropriate powers to handle them yet.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Best zombie moment ever in the game was when I saw one say "brains".
PPS - I may write something else Hero-related tomorrow.

Tuesday 24 August 2004

Greeks bearing gifts

Apparently the family PC at home has a Trojan horse program resting on it. AVG Anti-virus found it and reported it, so Ug uninstalled it, and that should have been that. Windows had the "brilliant" idea of storing the uninstalled program as part of a system restore point. Even that would have been fine, in a way, but the AVG Resident Shield keeps finding the backed-up version and telling me to run the main scan, which I do. The main scan skips the restore directory, so reports no infection, by which time the Resident Shield has vigilantly located the offending program and warned me again.

I was about to blame Microsoft (as I usually do) when it occurred to me that the program, if it was a bit clever, could have placed itself in the backup directory. That way, it would get re-installed if you tried to roll back to a clean version of Windows. Tricky.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Of course I can get rid of it.
PPS - I just didn't have the time last night. Too busy being a Hero.

Monday 23 August 2004

And then the bartender said...

I seem to be losing my ability to spot sarcasm. Not the regular kind, of course, with the whining tone, but Australian deadpan sarcasm where I say something that is blatantly untrue and you laugh because you know I did it deliberately to make the opposite point. It's entirely possible that I'm losing my sense of humour altogether, which is bad news if it's true, especially for this blog.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Perhaps I need to wear a pair of those fake nose glasses until I feel better.
PPS - Actually, that'll probably just make it worse.

Sunday 22 August 2004

The Sunday Mok - 22 August 2004

Last Sunday I played City of Heroes (it really does take up heaps of my time) and got some good experience and enhancements by teaming up on some unfortunate higher-level monsters and thugs. I think we were technically out of our depth, even as a team, because I died once or twice. I thought I should see a doctor about these spots on my ankle that look like mosquito bites.
Monday I caught up with the latest Australian Idol happenings and saw a performance that was described as "Ned Flanders sings Robbie Williams". It really wasn't all that bad on the chorus - it was just the non-musical verses that were the problem. Fortunately Daniel got through to the final twelve, because he's an excellent singer. At work I ran into problems when trying to <jargon>deploy a .NET rich-client application on an IIS6-based server</jargon>.
It took until Tuesday to solve the deployment problem, and I'm still a bit unhappy with it, but at least it works. I blame Microsoft. Again. I also attended a presentation on Kelvin Grove Urban Village which was so boring that I literally fell asleep. At karate in the evening I felt a bit off my game, especially when sparring. I was kicked a few times in the chest (remember how it's a non-contact club?) and was just too slow all around. I blame stress caused indirectly by Microsoft.
Wednesday it rained, which was strange because it's been a very dry Winter and it came out of nowhere. Our youth leadership development training in the evening focused mostly on how to improve in a few areas, especially discipline. Suggestions of cattle prods were not well-received.
On Thursday I received an email about the rich client .NET application stating that it did not work properly. Unfortunately for all involved, I am now halfway between working versions of the program, so cannot just fix the one already in use. They'll have to wait for the next full version, which is probably more than a week away.
Friday I continued working on the new version of the program - I think that will be the best way forward. At youth group in the night, we played some Olympic-esque sports, and had to cut out the rice cake discus and ping-pong shot put because of time. I noticed, in a distracted sort of way, that I've been a bit more aggressive lately. I blame hormones and the changing season. I'm sure Microsoft is involved somehow.
Saturday was a sleep-in, Heroes, Invader Zim day, going non-stop from about 09:30 to 00:15. I think I've had my fill of Zim for now. That cartoon can just be a bit too ... assaulting in large doses. The images and sounds get kind of harsh. It's the cartoon equivalent of the difference between easy-listening and garage thrash.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I'll sleep when I'm dead.
PPS - This concludes our broadcast day.

Friday 20 August 2004

Merge Or Die

The lesson of our project management training seemed to be this: if two other projects merge into one, you'd better find some other project to merge with too, if you want to win. There were some tiny and shallow lessons in time, resource and budget management, but hardly enough to qualify as informative.

The one interesting part of the game was "risk" cards, whose effect was delayed until the next time a player landed on a risk square. I would have liked to see some kind of risk payoff system, where a project leader could take some risk on purpose and have some kind of positive effect at a later date. As it was, only negative risks were possible.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It was a bit of fun, too.
PPS - And it let me take a 90 minute break from work.

Innovative Project Management Training

Later today I will be partaking in some experimental project management training. I say "experimental" because it is apparently in the form of a board game. My immediate thought was about pen-and-paper roleplaying. I'm a level 5 Lackey Programmer.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I'll let you know how it goes.
PPS - I'd better make sure to bring my +1 Pink Slip Book.

Potato, Pertayter

Even though they're both words (and synonyms, at that) I much prefer the word "oriented" to "orientated". The second one (which I shall avoid typing again, if I can) just sounds so ... moronic, in my opinion. It feels like it came about through the same kind of process by which we now tend to accept the spoken forms capsican, Wimbleton, supposably and Febuary. Don't get me started on aks (ask) or [let me be] pacific. If you talk to me and mispronounce words this way, you can expect to lose my respect fairly quickly and my attention shortly after that. Honestly, it's one step away from being a slack-jawed yokel.

Yeah, I guess I am a pedantic bastard sometimes. I blame programming and reading.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I wonder if the upcoming movie Wimbledon was, in part, intended to correct that particular speech error.
PPS - Probably not.

Thursday 19 August 2004

Into the Spring of things

We humans like to think we are essentially immune to the hormonal effects of the seasonal cycle, but I think we are not. I have noticed repeatedly over the past few years that Spring holds one of the more powerful effect boosters. In Spring we see the most rabbit-like coupling - I even used to refer to it as "mating season" until a few odd looks made me reconsider. The point is this: Spring is coming soon in the Southern Hemisphere. Our hormones are warming up to shut down our higher brain functions for about three months.

Usually it's fun to watch and sometimes to experience, too. The intellectual consequences of our actions are all postponed until December and the emotional consequences are tripled. If you're on the plus side, this is a good thing, and allows you to partake in all those silly-looking activities like double-straw milkshakes and serenade picnics. If you're on the minus side, it can really bring out the rage to see yet another pair of hands clasped together as two people float along the street, blissfully unaware of their surroundings.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I still have two weeks to sharpen my axe.
PPS - Spring is something I love and hate at the same time.

Wednesday 18 August 2004

A Little Lost Triffid

For a long time at our house we have had a blockage in the shower drain. It's something we had essentially learned to live with. We kept a plunger nearby and used it every time, about sixty seconds into every shower. We wouldn't have done so, but we could not find the blockage anywhere in the pipes - it was all clear. That is, right up until the last possible point where it could be blocked.

In a determined, last-ditch exploration, we have now found the remains of a plant lodged in the pipe, just out of view (and reach) right at the end where it joins the larger drain outside. It's in such an awkward position that it can't quite be completely removed by hand. We need some kind of tool like a sturdy 20-30 centimetre hook to dig it all out. For the moment we have dislodged enough that we can put the plunger away.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - And since the plant is dead anyway, it's unlikely to grow back.
PPS - I've just realised how this post is made a bit more gruesome by its title.

Tuesday 17 August 2004

Infected by a Meme

Passed on to me via SpunkyClam:

::15 Random Favorites::
1. Kate Beckinsdale
2. Emma Bunton
3. Keira Knightly
4. Jess Gower
5. Rose McGowan
6. Alyssa Milano
7. Julianne Moore
8. Alyson Hannigan
9. Eliza Dushku
10. Angelina Jolie
11. Star Wars
12. The Dune books
13. Programming
14. City of Heroes
15. Making fun of J.Lo

::14 Favorite Foods::
1. Fettucine Carbonara
2. Kung Po chicken
3. Mongolian lamb
4. Satay chicken
5. Thai green beef curry
6. Salad sandwiches
7. Egg & lettuce sandwiches
8. Nutri Grain
9. Coco Pops
10. Chocolate
11. Iced coffee
12. Corn chips
13. Hot chips
14. Stir Fried Random

::13 Most Watched Shows::
1. The Simpsons
2. Big Brother
3. Futurama
4. Joan of Arcadia
5. Australian Idol
6. Faking It
7. Seinfeld
8. Frasier
9. Rage
10. Star Trek: TNG
11. Buffy
12. Angel
13. The Simpsons. Again.

::12 Good Bands in your Opinion::
1. Gerald
2. Jet
3. Rookie
4. Garbage
5. Alabaster Box
6. Cat Empire
7. Sounds Like Chicken
8. Soulframe
9. The Lads
10. Blind
11. Half Way Out
12. Reel Big Fish

::11 Memories::
1. Tripping and falling in a car park. This was just a few months ago.
2. Faking a hamstring injury during a school athletics day and being disqualified.
3. A disagreement with a friend about the correct pronunciation of the word "pronunciation".
4. NCYC 2001's "Just Arts" festival day.
5. The Michael Jackson concert in 1996 in the middle of Schoolies Week.
6. Skiing in 1997 with the lads.
7. Accidentally knocking Kym off the t-bar ski lift and having to climb all the way up the mountain with her.
8. The first time I saw The Matrix.
9. Falling off a friend's bike that he asked me to ride home from school.
10. Faking drowning at a waterslide park and being lectured by the lifeguard.
11. Boxing Day 2001, when I fell, once again, in unrequited love.

::10 Close Friends:: IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
1. Muz
2. Chris G
3. Miv & Jules
4. Julie & Rory
5. Lyd & Rich
6. Bron C
7. Gurenisu
8. Stu
9. Bridgit
10. Tim
(it's not fair - I grouped couples together and still ran out of space).

::09 Things you're looking forward to::
1. Having my own kids
2. Travel
3. My first car
4. International super-stardom (yeah, right)
5. Writing a book
6. "When all of the ships come back to the shore"
7. A unified global data-net for all our communication, one-way or two-way or multi-way
8. Becoming confident enough to speak out more, and wise enough to shut up just a bit more than that.
9. New Year's Eve 2100 (crossed fingers)

::08 Things you wear daily::
1. Dr Martens boots
2. Black cotton socks
3. Black trousers
4. Jocks
5. Business shirt
6. Jacket
7. P.U.S.H. wristband
8. Sunglasses

::07 Things That Annoy You::
1. Spelling mistakes. Especially my own.
2. Writing user interfaces
3. Dealing with software users
4. People who can't listen
5. People who mispronounce words because they don't read
6. Pro wrestling
7. Rabid pro wrestling fans

::06 Things You Touch Everyday::
1. Keys
2. Phone
3. Keyboard and mouse
4. Hair
5. Towel ("Don't leave home without it")
6. Desk

::05 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over::
1. Fight Club
2. The Specials
3. Romeo + Juliet
4. Office Space
5.

::04 Of Your Favorite Childhood Toys::
1. Mr Blanket
2. Big Ted
3. Medium Ted
4. Little Ted

::03 People You Have Kissed::
1. Rochelle
2. Nikki
3. Rhiannon

::02 Of Your Favorite Songs::
1. Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
2. Cat Empire - The Wine Song

::01 Person You Could Spend the Rest of Your Life With::
1. Uh ... Jesus?

Mokalus of Borg

PS - These things have a way of getting around.
PPS - And saving us all from the burden of free thought. Lousy brain.

Monday 16 August 2004

A Personal Best

Friday night I went bowling and scored a personal best game - two hundred pins exactly. In case anyone's interested, the entire game went as follows:
X, 7/, X, 9/, X, 8/, X, 5-, X, X, X, X
That's eight strikes, three spares and a more disappointing five-zero frame. So, yeah. Who da man?

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I was initially disappointed that I couldn't pair up my strikes.
PPS - I guess you can't have everything. ;)

Sunday 15 August 2004

The Sunday Mok - Really Late Edition

I know I missed my Sunday post last week, because I was away at a camp. On the drive up and back, I dozed while my driver perservered. Considering that I was the only passenger and the trip took just over two hours, this is one of the less considerate things I've done recently. That was Sunday.
On Monday I continued working on the spiffy new version of my bulk data entry program. For dinner, we went to the Crushers Leagues Club for an all-you-can-eat buffet that featured mostly Chinese food. Given that Chinese is one of my favourite food groups, I think I overdid it a bit.
On Tuesday it became apparent that our partial testing release of Professional 2 was going to be delayed by a slow database rebuild. I also found that the bowling alley to which we would be going on Friday with the church youth group had lost our booking. Our group coordinator Michelle was (to put it mildly) upset by this, since it would have made the fourth time in a row that we had failed to deliver the promised bowling goodness.
Wednesday was a public holiday, so I went to a park with friends. To get there, I walked for about an hour from the city centre, and now my right knee is in slightly worse shape than it was before.
On Thursday I resolved to stick to a stricter diet to lose the ten extra kilograms I've been carrying around. As I walked home from the bus after work, I was significantly depressed, and started feeling better just after dinner. I am currently blaming stress for creating a mood swing situation, since I had two deadlines to meet on Friday. I hate deadlines.
Friday I spent a couple of hours getting the bulk data entry program to work properly. The only problems were the web server configuration settings, but these were not blindingly obvious to begin with. I stayed up until about a quarter to two playing City of Heroes.
On Saturday I did a rough calculation of the amount of time that I've spent playing Heroes all week, and have concluded that it is the greatest game ever to enter this house. That's just based on my own play time - I have no idea how long my brother has played this week. I suspect it's significant.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Now I'm off to play a certain game.
PPS - It's stunning how quickly a game can take over your entire life.

Friday 13 August 2004

Very sorry, Mr Rock, sir

Maybe we shouldn't do it, but every time we mention The Rock at work, we have to call him by his real name, Dwayne Johnson, because, well, it's funny. In person, I have no doubt that the name "Dwayne" would never exit my mouth.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It's probably most like teasing a lion at the zoo.
PPS - Of course you never want to actually get in there and poke it with a stick.

Thursday 12 August 2004

Happy Nothing Day

In my town, they give you the day off work to go to a show. Specifically, it's the annual agricultural exhibition (more commonly known as The Ekka) and it's on until Saturday. Yesterday was "People's Day" which means everyone gets the day off work. Seriously, People's Day is quieter than Christmas and fewer shops are open. It's the one holiday whose emotional/religious content is at absolute zero and everyone does one of three things:
1. Go to the show.
2. Go to a park with family or friends, because everyone's at the show.
3. Stay home because everyone's at the show or in the parks.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I went for option two, after a decent sleep-in.
PPS - It's hard to tell which is the most popular option.

Tuesday 10 August 2004

Switching Trips

I've started watching Australian Idol, since my friends (and just about everyone else) watched the first season and seemed to like it. Last night was the first "live verdict" show, and I was about as nervous as the contestants. It concerns me that television can make me feel as strongly as that. I guess that's the curse of being a reality TV addict. I just hope it doesn't turn my mind completely to ... uh ... you know ... sloppy, sort of mucky stuff.

I wanted Chanel to make it through, and was so worried that she might not. Seeing her reaction to being chosen, I could see that she thought she'd be going home. I'm less nervous for her now, because I think she's secured a significant portion of the voting public.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Then again, what do I know?
PPS - I have a suspicion that Hayley, although she's a great singer, was voted in for her looks.

Monday 9 August 2004

Gestural Symbiosis

We (Australia) have been watching Big Brother until a few weeks ago. One of the characters we grew to love was Bree, who had a peculiar smile she used to express a bit of cheek. It's basically a toothy grin with the tip of the tongue through the teeth at the corner of the mouth. I picked up this same gesture just from watching the show, and it seems my friend Michelle has done the same. I saw her reproduce it last night, and liked it plenty. It's a very agreeable expression, when done properly.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - It does need the cheeky situation to really pull it off.
PPS - That's possibly what makes it so endearing.

Friday 6 August 2004

Wired for ... something

I had way too much caffeine yesterday. I can tell because I wrote about two thousand words in the afternoon, mostly concerned with project management and general software design. That's what tends to interest me when I'm in that state. I write it down because I can't imagine anyone listening to it all. There might be enough for an article, with some editing and fleshing out, or it might be complete rambling nonsense. I have yet to review it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I'll let you know if it turns out to be useful.
PPS - Chances are that it's just more wordy than my usual writing.

Thursday 5 August 2004

Unskilled and Unaware

Yesterday I read (skimmed) a research paper called Unskilled and Unaware of It, and it's been playing on my mind ever since. The basic point is this: you need certain skills to recognise those same skills, either in others or yourself. Otherwise, you are likely to consider yourself to be far above your actual level of skill. Ignorance, rather than wisdom, is more often the cause of confidence.

I have, naturally enough, been trying to figure out the skills in which I might be deficient, even if I believe I am adequately competent. I have come to the conclusion that I am magnificent in every way, which was a relief. ;)

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I have known people who have below-average senses of humour.
PPS - Those that try to bring the funny are invariably unaware of their lack of skill.

Wednesday 4 August 2004

It's really more of a guideline

Last night at karate (a non-contact club, mind you) I was punched in the nose. There was a little blood - only a few drops, so it wasn't all that bad. It is the second time I remember bleeding there. I can't remember if the first time was due to a punch or not.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I should expect stuff like this to happen.
PPS - But, as I mentioned earlier, it's a non-contact club.

Tuesday 3 August 2004

Children fighting over toys

I read this post on SlashDot and thought it might be indicating an article about the coming personal digital device revolution where we all carry around a phone-PDA-iPod-GPS-hard drive. Then I skimmed the indicated article which seems to be more about a disagreement between RealNetworks and Apple over the rights to interact with iPods.

In a hacker's ideal world (and by "hacker" I mean "programmer"), we all use interoperable standards. The iPod wouldn't be the issue at stake, as such, because it would use the one universal managed music format that is freely available to everyone. RealNetworks and Apple would both be providing a service of downloadable music for a fee, and the disagreement would likely be over content theft or the rights to a certain label's music. See the difference? You can do what you like with your content, but the protocol must be open. That's how we create better competition and serve our users properly, because what they want is the music, not the method.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I acknowledge that it is often difficult to create a standard that fits everyone's needs.
PPS - Most of the time, though, we don't even try.

Monday 2 August 2004

Light, dark, yin, yang, the whole deal

Just a little observation I've made recently: people who take joy in forms of destruction (explosions, demolitions, smashing things, car crashes) are almost never the people who take joy in forms of creation (design, painting, cooking, writing). It could be that these just represent two kinds of personality, like introverts and extroverts. Some people would blame different interests. I think it goes deeper, down to the core of whether you identify with the light or dark side of The Force, so to speak. If it's fun to smash things and you watch shows like "When Buildings Fall Down", it's possible you're on your way to being the next Darth Vader.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I took a break from City of Heroes yesterday.
PPS - In practice, that meant playing for only two hours.

Sunday 1 August 2004

The Sunday Mok - A Hero's Life

Although I was scheduled for a very busy day on Sunday, I came down with a head cold, so I just attended church services. I skipped a lunch event, a charity walk and a karate seminar. This was also the day that I started playing City of Heroes.
On Monday I missed the entire Big Brother final eviction because of a bug in Pinnacle PCTV Pro. I have since found out that the file is corrupted and will still play under certain limited circumstances. My Aunt and Uncle came over for dinner, too, which was unexpected, even though I had apparently been notified in advance. I thought about Saturday night and Kym a bit, too, because she demonstrated a knowledge of and concern for my beliefs that had not been mentioned that night.
I almost called in sick on Tuesday, then soldiered on after clearing my head of the mucus that had built up overnight. I did stay home from karate, though. At work I started a significant redesign of the bulk data entry web service, because it was not equipped to handle some new demands.
My head cold continued on Wednesday (and is, in fact, still going right now). I missed no work during the week. The Youth Leadership Development training at night made me uneasy about my role, because we were discussing the need to be proficient in areas where I know I definitely lack skills.
On Thursday afternoon we had a power outage for an hour. Most of our section went home fairly quickly, but the power did come back on in time to resume work. I stayed. At night, I created my second City of Heroes character - a magical blaster called The Bane Mage.
Friday I actually started writing the new web service. I took time to design it properly, which pinpointed the trouble spots and let me informally specify them. I'm doing this one by the book, just to see if it really does keep costs and development time down. The youth group program for the night was based on The Apprentice, which worked rather well.
On Saturday I filled most of my day with City of Heroes (I can quit any time I want) and also trekked out to the Garden City Megaplex to see Shaolin Soccer. Shaolin Soccer is, by far, the best kung-fu sports comedy ever. I do think that it could have been written a bit better, though.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - Then again, without poor writing, how would we know it's a kung-fu movie?
PPS - I mean, apart from the kicking, punching, jumping and screaming.