Good advice for handling expensive gadgets Because sometimes you just want something to hold when you go to sleep. But I'd suggest buying a teddy bear.

Among other things, it's water resistant Now if I can just figure out how to talk underwater. Kahn yooo Eer Me now? Goood. (How do you type like you're talking under water?)

By Far the Coolest Ever Set of PDF Files I haven't tried them out yet, but don't think I'm not saving that for a rainy day.

Krispy Kreme Lovers Unite... And let's help save Krispy Kreme. While the outlook is not so dire that all of us need to go on a doughnut-for-every-meal eating binge, I think we should band together to make sure our grandkids can experience the thrill of driving by one of those famous "Hot" dougnuts signs.

Does anyone else besides my imaginary friend think I'd be good at this job? Would the adventure of moving across the country frighten or encourage you? And how many of you think I would have the gumption to apply for such a job? Oh, and let's not share the details of this little talk with my mom. I don't think she'd like it.

Seriously, Big Brother, I said SLOW DOWN!. What's really funny is that if you ask me what I want to do for a career, the letters RFID might actually come up in the conversation. But I only want to use them to track inventory, not people.

Umm, no he shouldn't. When I read these arguments proclaiming that Hamm should give back the gold, I find myself agreeing with every part except for the should. I don't think it makes him any less of a person to keep it, and because I don't know him personally, I don't know if it even makes him a better person to give it up. And I don't see how these people (columnists) can say whether it will or will not make him a better person if they don't know him personally. But we're all entitled to our opinions I suppose.

That's great, but let's all stop wasting gas anyway. Myself included.

Say something bad and I'll wash your mouth out with it Ok, not really. This is what I'll be giving a presentation on in 3 weeks. And my presentation partner and part-time roommate will be out of "town" (ok, country) the week before. David, wanna fill in for him?

And just so you know, I don't plan on just leaving you with these corny "imagine thats" all the time. Life updates are coming soon. And that's not a promise, it's a threat.

Whoa, slow down there, Big Brother - An article so shocking, it deserves it's own weekend entry.

Just got off the phone, this was the conversation ...

thedustin: [puzzled by a 1 a.m. caller] Hello?
Caller: Uhh is this KFC?
thedustin: Umm, no.
Caller/Chicken Lover: Ok, thank you.

Does KFC offer delivery now? If they do, which is least healthy to eat at 1 a.m., fried chicken or pizza? Oh wait, KFC told us a few months ago that fried chicken is actually good for you, so I guess the answer is fried chicken. I'm completely flabbergasted now, I don't think I can go to sleep. Maybe I'll try to solve this KFC caper.

(Still laughing from today's first item)

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground. Question about that little trap described at the end of the article. Were they trying to catch the bear, or Homer Simpson?

As if we couldn't get any lazier in the kitchen ... Someone came along and made that.

My girlfriend has one of those No, not one of those tiny helicopters, one of those rat things (she has a hamster). Yes, she is turning 24 this year. I guess that makes her about 23 and 3/4.

Google goes for $85 per share Anyone got an extra $85 I can borrow?

Sears launches consumer electronics line Because I've always wanted that Craftsman DVD player to match my toolset. Hmm, do you think they're guaranteed for life?

Ok, so I think I've come up with a better name for this whole 'Today's Favorites' thing. For the forseeable future, it will be called 'Imagine That', inspired by one of my favorite Bethisms. Ok, now on with the show ...

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
- President George W. Bush, at the signing of the $417 billion defense-spending bill

I just thought it'd be nice to start the day out with a quote. There's another one coming, that won't be so ... shall we say, biased?

Microsoft Delays SP2 auto update Ok, so if you haven't been following along, basically Windows XP has about as many holes as a block of swiss cheese, if not more, and Microsoft has been working for a long time on ways to fix it. And the tech world has been on their butt to get the mass update known as Service Pack 2 (combining their previous interim updates with newer more sweeping updates) out and ready for distribution. Ok, it's taking them a long time, but give them a break. From what I understand they're almost rewriting the OS. Maybe it was their fault from the beginning but at least their spending a significant amount of their resources to fix it. Stop making them come out with these "release" announcements that they basically have to take back because everything's not ready. I could write an entire entry about this. Hmm, looks like I already have. Sorry bout that.

"But in Washington, officials argued that keeping a low profile - by, for instance, alerting just the security officers for the targeted institutions - wouldn't work. The story would inevitably leak and cause an even bigger fuss because the government would be accused of hiding dangers from the public".¹
Ok, just to catch you up this is referring to the government's decision to release information about possible attacks on financial institutions in NYC a couple of weeks ago. The simple fact that this statement is so true just really ticks me off. We don't have to know everything people, we really really don't. Despite what they say (see above), I do think the government wants to protect us. I mean what if the aliens that landed at Area 51 told the government they'd kill us all if they told us about their visit? How bad do you want the truth now?

Inspirtation at work Third paragraph. The whole thing is pretty good, I agree with the part about running into people you like. The part I find funny is the part about determining what time is best for a daily swim. It's funny because it's true, and everything's funnier when it's true!

He must be racin' better because People ain't got no stories on him this week Being a Junior fan, I've been a little miffed by the fact that they've been ranking him in the freakin teens for the last few weeks in the Power Rankings. Seriously, the man had second degree burns on him!!! Let's see, he drove the car for 50+ laps in the three races following the accident, he was good enough to stay in 3rd place in the points, he had a top 5/10 finish at the Brickyard until his tire blew on the last lap because NASCAR doesn't know how to clean up a track, and he finished in the top 10 at a road course last week, where he traditionally struggles. Yet he's still only the 11th best driver in Nextel Cup? Uhh yeah.

My Inspiration would like the Post Post Script of this She's a big fan of the movie. Do you know what movie it's from? [Edit: My mistake. The movie is mentioned in the post.]

Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts Usually when I update the points standings in the Ralle Cup Fantasy League (as untimely as it is) I open two windows, one for the NASCAR.com results and one for my results input screen, and drop all of the unnecessary toolbars/status bar stuff. Today when I did it, I decided it might be kind of cool to start using Firefox without the Navigation bar. So far, thanks to the handy keyboard shortcuts it's been a fairly easy transition. Ironically, I did run into a problem trying to "copy" the url of the keyboard shortcuts page for this piece, but only a small setback as I see it.

¹ Klaidman, Daniel; Thomas, Evan, "Al Qaeda's 'Pre-Election' Plot", Newsweek, August 16th 2004.

In an obvious attempt to generate a more exciting read and to make up for the lackluster life that I lead, I'm starting with a new gimmick today. Right now I'm calling it Today's Favorites, but I'll gladly accept bets on how many times that changes. Anyway, here's today's favorites, and I have no qualms about updating it throughout the day so if you find it interesting check back a couple of times a day.

Britney Covers Bobby Brown's 'My Prerogative' For Forthcoming LP
Count me as one of the millions¹ of people who are NOT looking forward to hearing Britney's voice ruin that song. My prediction is that it will sound like all of those old Chipmunks covers where they would just put the record on double speed in the studio and then record it. The beat will be faster and the pitch will be higher. Oh, and the song will be one of two "new" songs on a greatest hits album.

Metal Rubber?
Will tires one day be made of this material? One day, will we all be saying, "Let's burn metal rubber!" I don't know. All I know is the one thing that disappoints me most about this article is that it appears the material was developed very close to Va. Tech, which means they're beating us to innovative technologies.

Siemens working on breathalyzer cellphone
Doesn't this just make it more likely that one of your drunk friends is gonna call you in the middle of the night? Do they really need encouragement?!?

Fuel Efficient(er) Jeep Grand Cherokee
As if I needed another nudge to buy a new car when/if I finally get a job. Ok, so it's no Prius or hybrid Accord, but I've been in love with these cars since before I could even drive, and the fact that my mom got one last year hasn't helped. Now they drop cylinders ... ON PURPOSE! ... I just hope it's not the master cylinder²!

¹ According to my search on a certain site that I don't want to give publicity to, Bobby's Don't Be Cruel album is certified 7x platinum. So that's what I mean by "millions".
² Inside joke, I'm not that car illiterate.

I was going to spend a lot of time writing about how I've recovered essential data from my dysfunctional, but recently labelled "healthy" hard drive. However, the excitement of recovering a bunch of 1's and 0's seems a little less significant compared to what millions of people may soon face on the Gulf coast of Florida. So instead of writing about data recovery, I'm praying for those in the path of Hurricane Charlie.

Just want to take a moment to share with the world that I'm back on the ole Dell, improved (but not "new") I hope. If you're wondering, I went with a 120GB Seagate 7200rpm 8MB buffer. On paper, this is only an improvement over the last hard drive in the buffer department (2MB -> 8MB) and size (80GB -> 120GB), though I'm hoping there will be an improvement in the reliability department. It does seem a little quieter but I have to admit I never really paid attention to the other one that much. I'm not really that excited about the extra 40GB because that just seems like even more "stuff" that I could potentially lose, but I'll take it. There were moments when I thought 80GB wasn't going to be enough, even though I said when I got the computer that "there's no way I'll ever use 80 gigs!". I think it was all those "Simpsons" episodes that I had piled up.

First, the good.

1. I have an extra 366Mhz machine just sitting in my room, loaded and ready to rip with the last "consumer" version of Red Hat Linux (9.something I think?, not Fedora).

2. I've been wanting to do what Eric did and make the open source switch, but just haven't been able to pull myself away from my Windows box. I'm just so used to it, and having to take the time to relearn computing is something I haven't been able to do while still in school. So maybe I'll learn something over the next couple of days.

3. I didn't spend all day on the computer, in fact I spent only 1 hour actively doing something on the computer today (including the few minutes it will take me to write this). Actively being the key word here, explanation to come.

4. Sometimes even inanimate objects need a "break".

Now, the bad.

1. I am the digital equivalent of a "pack rat".

2. I thought about sending my most recent thesis work to my remote server, but decided not to. I think the last time I did was about 15-20+ hours of work ago.

3. I just signed up for iTunes, and just spent about $10 downloading files.

4. Side project work = Not recently stored on a remote server.

5. New hard drive = $80+ (Might as well move up to the $130 level though).

If you haven't guessed by now, my hard drive went kaput on me today. No real warning, it just died. And of course, I'm not the kind of person who "frets" over making sure all of my stuff is backed up. I haven't completely lost hope that data recovery is possible, but it's not looking very likely. And while I will definitely be ok in terms of my thesis and side project work, this is a setback, and it's one I wasn't anticipating, and I miss my computer.

Back in high school, I was interviewed by the local newspaper for a piece about the six finalists for a local scholarship that's handed out each year to an outstanding senior. Being the self-aware and slightly self-assured person that I was, I shamelessly likened myself to a modern day "renaissance man", and yes, I did use those exact words.

In my defense, I wasn't actually trying to compare myself with Leonardo, or Michaelangelo, or any of the other Ninja Turtles. When I look back now, I think I was just trying to characterize my somewhat evolved strain of ADD and easygoing-ness. I liked almost everything I tried, but with sports I became easily frustrated if I wasn't good enough to "win", and everything else I almost always lacked the focus and determination to become truly "good" at it. There were, and still are, just so many things that I like to do and it seems there's not enough time to practice and do well at everything. Not that there aren't a ton of people out there who participate in a wide variety of activities and do them well. I truly admire those people. It's just sometimes I wish I was one of those people.

I bring this up now because I'm really starting to think about what I want to do for a career. It seems a lot of people I know are in the same boat and I wonder if their uncertainty has a similar foundation as mine. Like me, is it because there are so many things they like to do, but aren't really sure which one to pursue? Or is it because they don't really know what they're good at or what makes them happy? Do those two reasons sound similar?

Then again, who knows. Maybe there's a career in working the festival circuit. I am a bonafide, self-proclaimed Renaissance Man, you know.

It doesn't yet pain me to say that I broke down and downloaded iTunes today. So far, the only thing I've downloaded was Bill Clinton's speech from the DNC, but that was free, so I'm still financially afloat. What may eventually "pain me to say this" is my tendency to like a lot of music and the expected cost of a compatible portable player (I'll probably buy the upcoming 'hPod' version).

Oh and to explain why I'm so late jumping on the online music service bandwagon, I was sort of waiting to get a good idea of which portable player to get. Once I finally decided (though not yet purchased) the choice was pretty easy as to which service I would join. I don't expect this to stop me from buying CDs, I just absolutely love the format too much to completely abandon it. I do hope, however, that it will help me make better decisions about which CDs to buy. Then, for the songs that I become completely obsessed with but don't like the whole CD, I'm one click away from feeding my obsession. And we all know how inhumane it is to deprive ourselves of our obsessions.

[Edit] It's probably relevant to point out my initial reservations regarding the iPod, other hard drive based MP3 players. Oh, and just to be perfectly clear here, nothing has changed regarding my reasons for NOT purchasing one. My first impression of the whole thing was just not very good.

At 23, I'm very grateful to have been blessed with good health, and besides a broken bone or two, that I have never had to deal with any prolonged physical impairment or illness. At the risk of sounding petty and ungrateful, though, I have one request for all of you docs in training out there: Can someone please find a cure for a runny nose?

I just don't understand the purpose behind a bunch of fluid dripping from your nose all day. And no matter how much you blow and blow and blow, you throw your tissue away and drip-drip, there's some more. Am I right, Thunder?

Where does it all come from? If matter can be neither created nor destroyed, is there something I can do to stop supplying my body with an endless supply of snot? What would be the consequences of such an action? What exactly is this thin, liquidy snot compound? Somebody please help me!

In the meantime, I will continue unraveling my roll of toilet paper in a vain attempt to stop the run. Feel free to leave instructions for your cures here.