This time, to the handful of you that use Scribnotes or other services hosted by rallepoint.com. Apparently, there was a miscommunication regarding the registration renewal of rallepoint.com, and by "miscommunication" I mean complete incompetence on the part of my hosting service. Really I am the incompetent one for letting them have control over the renewal process anyway. I don't know how long it's going to take to rectify this situation, but due to some bad coding, there's really no easy way for me to temporarily get Scribnotes up and running somewhere else. I sincerely apologize and please bear with me over the next few days.

Thorough reporting or subtle insult? You be the judge.

Gaines, the 15th overall pick of the 2003 NBA draft, saw little time as a rookie with the Magic. He averaged only 1.8 points in 9.6 minutes for the league's worst team.
Source: ESPN.com

Here, now let me try.

A couple of years ago, Dustin won the MVP trophy, in a Filipino basketball league.

Well, not as good. But I think you get the point.

It's official. I haven't really examined the content, but in terms of interface, this is the coolest blog ever!!!. If you're not a computer nerd, you will not agree.

Regular Readers: Help JohnnyH make a decision.

Other HTML/CSS Inclined Readers (if you exist): Please explain to me, in your best elitest attitude, why putting together a 3,000 line style sheet complete with innumerable browser specific hacks, is "better" than using tables or, worse yet, *gasp* nested tables? Oh how I yearn for the lashing I would receive if anyone with extensive CSS knowledge actually read this.

Does it bother anyone else that a good reason for fussing someone out in this world is for "stealing" a parking space that is exactly 1 car over from the spot the guy had to "settle" on. And is it even worth pointing out that the spot he got is actually closer to his apartment building than the spot I got is to mine? And that even if I lived in his apartment building that his spot would still be closer by at least 10ft.?

Should I continue the argument even further as to why this guy was not setting a good example for his two young daughters awaiting their father's attention as he argued over a parking spot, at 11:30 p.m.?

The guy had his turn signal on, he says. And he could very well have a good case in that respect. I honestly didn't notice. And if I had, I really would have just taken the other, less "attractive" spot. Because really, sir, do you think I get my kicks out of taking people's parking spots?

This was, by far, the least productive week of the summer for me. I managed only to get a couple of pages written to start my thesis and did zero coding. There were some good reasons for not being productive (Jeff being in/leaving town, Beth coming back) and there were some bad reasons (my obsession with tweaking GMail Connect! and watching the user list grow and grow; a newfound interest in MVP Basebal on Travis' Gamecube; paying $25 for a soccer match that ended in PK's, the team I was rooting for losing, and having the telecast cut off just before the final winning PK).

However, in order to counter this past week in procrastinator's paradise, I have planned the most productive week of the summer. Hmm, might be lofty expectations for the week leading up to the biggest holiday of the summer. We'll see how it turns out.

Take Jeff's comments on JohnnyConvo ...

"Whoo-weeeee doggy, it's hotter than hell way over here in Kowloon. Yes siree. And it's the darndest thing, but i'll be damned if I ain't the tallest person here."

Add a recent article about the upcoming Batman movie...

At a converted airplane hangar an hour north of London, his crew has built a full city block of Gotham, much of it based on the towering slums of Kowloon in Hong Kong, which were razed in 1994.
Source:Newsweek

And you have the very good, coincidental kind of unintentional comedy ... the complete opposite of the kind you'll find via The Sports Guy

[Edited] Sometimes you just have to edit yourself.

I'm semi-excited about turning up at the top of Google search results even if it is only just for a fairly random combination of words.

Given the above, that is totally not why I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. last Thursday/Friday (I can't remember and don't care to check) starting and then finishing GMail Connect!. In all honesty, I was just very frustrated with the process of finding people to invite and wanted a more straightforward way of finding people. I think I found it, I just wish there were more Gmail users who agreed with my philosophy. It seems like there are a lot of people out there that just want to ramp up the traffic to their site. I was almost the complete opposite. In fact, I almost didn't launch the site because I cautiously worried about bandwidth. But let's be honest, you don't care why I launched it, so let's move on.

What I really want to do with this edit is make sure I leave in the part where I thank everyone who has helped me and supported me over the last few days, with special thanks to those who are emptying their invite quotas every night in an attempt to offer some hope to the growing waiting list. I also really appreciate the kind words about the site. Before I start rambling again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

My growing frustration with finding ways to get rid of my GMail invites inspired me to create this.

GMail Connect. I call it, and if you have invitations please please please go sign up and start handing them out. It's the quickest and easiest way I know of to spread the love.

JohnnyH, as an apology to you for the "confusion" of my last post, I pass this along to you and the rest of my readership ... bowman (no, not Nick) via David via Dave Barry. Enjoy.

... Office Depot was having a sale on a laptop for four days ending yesterday that, after rebates, the lowest priced configuration came to $599. $599 for a laptop! Wow.

... That had it not been for JDawg's keen eye yesterday at More Better Purchase, I would have missed the release (and associated $10 off sale price) of The Simpsons Complete Fourth Season DVD. I know I've been whining a lot lately about my lack of funds, but I had a gift certificate that covered most of the cost. Besides, you can't beat $10 off!

(Additional Note: Part of the reason I almost missed the release is because this past weekend I didn't participate in my normal routine of reading the Sunday sale ads. When I caught one of the sale ads at the check-out counter, I noticed that the Simpsons were plastered all over the thing, including that nifty little trick where they put the week's major video release all over all of the TVs in the ad. Interesting.)

... That when you email your boss on Tuesday and ask him if he will be in on Thursday, he actually is there on Thursday. (Please note that I would find this shocking if it were true in my case. Unfortunately it is not true, and I have wasted a day of productivity waiting for him.) [Edit: He arrived! Shocking!]

... That at least as many as two of my friends would like to see me put my health in jeopardy by eating 6 hot dogs (hopefully they mean "Lite Beef Franks") and an entire box of mac and cheese. Not that I can blame them after yesterday's post, but come on. No man should be asked to do that twice in his life!

... That I'll probably do it (see above) anyway.

... That a guy can win, and by win I mean dominate, Jeopardy 11 times in a row and counting. The guy has won $371,000 in 11 appearances. I mean he even gets the pop-culture questions right! T-Rav has surmised that the only way to stop him is to bring back Rosie Perez's character from White Men Can't Jump.

... That the Deee-troit Pistons could beat the mythical Lakers in 5 games in the NBA Finals. I wanted Phil to get his tenth, but I'll settle for watching the Lakers go down miserably.

... That people could get so upset over a stupid little comment a comedian makes about their city. This is old news, but the shock remains.

... (See above) And that Mitch Albom could be one of those people after the unfair remarks he made about the fine people and city of Raleigh, NC back in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.

... That you made it this far. Good job!

If I'm being honest, I must tell you an unhealthy relationship exists between myself and Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese; a relationship consisting of gluttony, lies & deception and insatiable desire. On many occasions I have cheated on Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese with a cheaper, generic brand. And there have been times when I have enjoyed the cheaper brand more than Kraft?.

But the troubles don't end with cheating. Many times, my Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese (or the cheap "other" brand) tempts me into devouring an entire box in one sitting, an unhealthy habit to say the least. Sometimes it's ok for me to eat an entire box of Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese, as it may be the only significant substance to my lunch. But the time I had six hot dogs (albeit "Lite Beef Franks") wasn't one of those times. Or the time(s) I had just four hot dogs (again, "Lite Beef Franks"). Or even the time I had two chicken sandwiches, each with a slice of swiss cheese and marinara sauce. No, neither of those instances were good scenarios for eating an entire box of Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese in one sitting.

Suffice it to say I have a kinship with my Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese. Despite the unending cycle of reckless behavior I'm led into, I take great pride in my ability to prepare a box of Kraft? Macaroni & Cheese. The careful allotment of butter (or margarine), the proper spreading of the powdered flavoring, the delicate and measured pouring of the milk - straight from the milk jug, mind you, not from a measuring cup. Sometimes I am too liberal with either the butter or milk, but most of the time I get it just right. And when I do get it right ... Oh what a wonderful thing.

And that my friends, is all you need to know about the Mac & Cheese Affair.

For whatever reason, the GMail invites have been flowing into my account. I have to admit that I've wasted at least an hour just scouring the internet for ways to get rid of them (gmailswap, and gmail4U). Most of my "swaps" have been goodwill swaps, but I did receive these for one invitation ...

one, and two.

Interesting talent just walking around out there in the world.

I suppose I can't write and not tell you how things are going with me. Made pretty good progress on my work today. For about 3 hours, I thought I had developed code that would find a solution within 2 or 3 "units" of a very low lower bound. Turns out I made a minor mistake in generating my random problems that led to this very good result. When I fixed it, I found myself within 4 or 5 units of the very low lower bound. Still very good, I think, but I need to make sure with the boss man. I think things are still looking good time wise, but we'll see after I meet with the boss man on Thursday.

Now that you're sufficiently bored and wondering why you even bother to still read this at all, I bid you good evening.

I just recently started using a comb again and the results are astounding! My hair has gotten a little long, and now that my barber has gotten a real job, scheduling a haircut is a little less convenient. Combing it when I get out of the shower helps it "relax" a bit, though Beth said it looked too "flat" today. Anyway, I kinda like when it's less all-over-the-place and more "flat".

The point is, I think the last time I used a comb was fifth grade picture day, when they handed out those little disposable combs to us, you know, to put the finishing touches on our look. Which was kind of important, I suppose, since these were gonna be the pictures our parents would be handing out to our relatives for the next year. And I guess if you were the flirting type (oh and I was), then you might be treating these pictures as your dating resume for the next year, so looking good is a must.

Being that it's been so long, I kinda forgot how much the little things can hurt when not carefully directed along the scalp. How is it 9 and 10 year olds are safer with these things than I am? Do they make special combs for younger kids like those safety scissors that wouldn't cut whip cream? And why is it necessary to make the "teeth" of the comb so sharp? I think I'm asking too many questions.

Combs are pretty cool though. If you ever get the chance to use one, I highly recommend it.

Oh, and JDawg's coming back soon! (for visit).

I realize it sounds pathetic, but the moment I've been waiting for since becoming a Gmail account holder has arrived ... I am the proud owner of 3 (now only 2) Gmail invites!

After perusing gmailswap and ebay (which was never really something I was considering), I've determined that I'm not as prepared as I thought I was ...


[Pause for live update: Thanks to the generosity of my beautiful girlfriend, I am now partially in control of 3 more Gmail invites, bringing the grand total to 5!]

... As I was saying, I don't really know what to do with them all. So if you're really interested in getting your hands on one, drop me an email or leave a message here. I'd prefer a 200+ word original work of fiction or an essay, which may or may not be fictional, detailing why you want/deserve a Gmail account. If you're not up for writing, but really want one, just let me know.

Special Note: While I'm not a huge fan of the capitalism that has evolved from the distribution of Gmail invites, anyone who donates $15 or more to thedustin.com will receive an invite if they want one. *While supplies last

Gmail Invites Remaining: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0

I'm about to head out of town and don't really have the time to discuss this, but does anyone else see something wrong with building a domed race track?

Dan and I have often discussed this theory of his that highway patrol and other locality enforcement agencies adopt policies for catching speeders that work more towards generating revenue than trying to stop the "bleeding of speeding" (my corny terminology, not his). This theory is most evident when a highly publicized or rash of speed-related accidents occurs in a particular area and enforcement agencies step-up patrol of the area for a period of time to make citizens feel safe again. Then once the furor dies down, the revenue machine starts up again while the enforcement machine takes a break.

While I've been quick to excuse myself every one of the 3 times I've been caught speeding, I know that I was speeding and "deserved" the ticket in each case. But what gets me is that every day I jump on the highway there are people passing me at speeds exceeding any margin that I've ever gone over any speed limit. In this vain, I consider myself one of the "good drivers" of the world and wonder what forces are at work that allows these speed demons to drive far more dangerously than I ever have with no repurcussions. An article I just read on CNN.com gives me new hope that using speeding tickets as prevention rather than revenue might be becoming more of a reality.

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- State police are taking to the woods, dressed in camouflage and armed.

But the weapons are radar guns, the quarry is speeders and the season never closes.

Police at the Rockview Barracks near State College began using so-called "camo cops" patrols after a 44-vechicle crash on Interstate 80 that killed six people in January.

"As a result, there were many, many letters and questions and fingerpointing -- What are you doing? What are you not doing enough of?" said Lt. Jeffrey Watson, station commander.
Source: CNN.com

Interestingly enough, the use of the so-called 'camo cops' is a reaction to a "highly publicized speed related accident". The bright spot to me, though, is that enforcement agencies are at least getting creative. It reminds me of when local police started using seemingly harmless disabled vehicles as speed traps. If people start getting more paranoid about not being able to sense the watchful eye of enforcement, then perhaps they will start slowing down all the time instead of just when they see an unmarked Crown Victoria.

For my part, and I know that this doesn't go for everyone out there, one of the motivating factors that leads me to "speeding" is basically just keeping up with traffic. Once or twice a month I travel to the Maryland-DC area on a highway marked 65 m.p.h. though 80% of the cars go 75 or more. Subsequently, this leads us to the classic "if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it" argument and to this I must answer, yes, because I may not have a choice if I'm just being pushed off by the rush of the crowd.

I know that asking for 100% enforcement, perhaps even as low as 50% enforcement, might be a little too much considering personnel issues and logistics. But seeing a couple of good ideas come out of law enforcement agencies just proves to me that the creative capacity is there to actually do something to prevent speeding rather than react to it.

And on a more emotionally motivated note, let me add that sitting between speed zones and acting like you're doing a service to mankind by catching people on the slowdown just adds to the negative light that continues to be shed on law enforcement. Which is really sad because I admire the loyalty, honor and bravery that goes along with being a law enforcement official.

[Editor's Note: During the writing of this post, I got too caught up in editing/rewriting/proofing and managed to nearly burn a pound of ground beef whilst making Manwich. Thank goodness for the sizzle of burning beef.]

I don't want to speak too soon or anything here, but in the interest of keeping everyone updated, my thesis work is going quite well. Of course, when I tell you I haven't written any pages yet, you'd probably laugh and say that's the Dustin (no pun intended) we know. But honestly the brunt of the work I have to do in the early stages is a) translate code from Visual Basic to C++, which is basically done; b) create a crude random problem generator which I should knock out soon; c) formulate and code some lower bounding schemes and d) putting it all together. Well now that I type it out it seems like a little bit more, but realistically b) and c) should be done by the middle of next week and d) can probably be done by the end of next week.

Consequently, getting everything done by the end of next week would be perfect timing as my advisor, "King", returns the following week from being out of town. That would be a great time to sort of update him on what I've done, get some feedback, and then begin writing. My vision then is that writing will lead to more coding and, thus, I have a perfect cycle to help replenish myself when I get tired of the monotony of each task.

Obviously everything won't play out as it has in my head, but a guy can dream can't he? I just realized today that no matter what I do, everything requires typing and lots of time at the keyboard. Many of you would believe that'd be paradise for me, but I really do enjoy other things besides sitting at a keyboard. Like playing NCAA 2004 or Jak and Daxter (Yes the original. I'm a little behind the times.).

Seriously though, I'm actually really proud of the balance I have in my daily routine. A little (and I'm serious about the little) TV, sometimes some breakfast, work a little, lunch, work a little more, workout, PTI, dinner, and then I finish off the night with ... more work! I've always known that I was more of an evening worker, but my productivity between the hours of 7 and 11 the last couple of (work) days has been phenomenal. It's funny how I couldn't get myself to do a lick of homework between those hours during the semester (instead opting for 11p.m. or later) and now I'm super-work-man in that timespan. It probably helps that TV is in reruns though.

Oh, and one more thing. I was finally able to scratch something else off my list, at least temporarily ...

• Finish project for former boss of friend (or is it boss of former friend?). Negotiate for a yacht, settle for long-sought-after "extra" monitor money

Well except for the money part. He'll probably submit some revision requests before we talk money.

No, Thunder did not come home with the $15 practice tire. I'm sure the foreshadowing hit you like a ton of bricks. What makes it even worse is he could have gotten 2 for $25. And as JohnnyH pointed out, 4 for $50, though if he was gonna buy 4 "the guy probably would have sold them to him for $40". But, then, what would we have to look forward to for the next race if Thunder bought the practice tires this time?

Speaking of JohnnyH, I think he spent as much time in a car or on a plane as he did in Concord, NC. Considering he was only around for 16 hours and 6 of those hours were spent at the race track, there wasn't a lot of time for hijinks and hoopla, but it was nice to get the latest from the world of pilot training. Oh, and in typical JohnnyH fashion, he had gone out the night before he flew to Raleigh so there were plenty of entertaining stories there.

The more races I get to, the more I feel like the $100+ ticket price is almost worth it just for the experience and atmosphere outside the race track. Of course, then you might ask, "why spend the money for the ticket, just go and hang out?". To that I'd say you might be on to something. But then again, that's like going to a baseball game just for the hot dogs. It's a little different because you can't get the hot dogs without the ticket, but the point is that all of it, going to the race, camping out in the massive RVs, and then enjoying the smell of rubber and exhaust, is part of the package. Each experience by itself is fun, but the fun is amplified by infinity when you put it all together.

I don't know if I'll ever have the kind of money that would afford me the opportunity to travel from race to race week in and week out. But after every race I attend, the price I'd be willing to pay (or in my case, willing to let someone else pay) to go to one gets higher and higher.

Just don't tell NASCAR I said that.

"If I can get a practice tire for $15 or less then we're bringing home a practice tire!"