And speaking of summer projects

Could anyone recommend a good Metro-area contact for house painting? I don’t have a whole lot needing done, mainly shutters, and touch up a few spots here and there. I don’t think anything’s been painted here except the front door — which I did shortly after buying the house and have touched up a couple times since. I’ve checked out several companies, but don’t really know anything about any of them. I always prefer to hire by referral anyways. For the most part, small area companies or “do it yourself” (independent) guys do better jobs — besides, I like “helping out the little guy.”

I have a mud patch

LOL, that’s what I told someone yesterday when talking about the amount of land surrounding my house. He asked if I had a front yard — “No, just a couple of parking spaces.” When asked about the back, I said “Not really, it’s more of a mud patch.” He gave me an odd look and I explained, “There’s no grass unless you count the weeds around the privacy fence, but every time it rains there’s an excellent mud patch.”

hehehe

That’s one of my pet projects this summer, to transform the backyard into a garden. I’ve gotten a bird feeder but haven’t assembled it yet. I’ve already started shopping for all sorts of yard markers and sculptures to put back there. There’s really not a whole lot of room. There’s an embankment and a privacy fence was run across in front of it when the house was built. My actual property line goes up the embankment into the hill behind the house. Not a whole lot can be done about it, so every spring I throw some assorted seeds back/up there so it will have some pretty wildflower landscape. Jessie and I periodically leave out food for the birds that nest in the trees behind the house — all the more reason to put up a nice set of feeders, maybe even a bird bath.

Yesterday I saw the most beautiful pair of cardinals. I want to encourage more birds to nest in the area … maybe even put up some hummingbird feeders and some nice wind chimes.

Rules for Dating a Marine’s Daughter

Even though Jim’s Army and not Marines, I can still see him doing this:

*grin*

Attennnnnnnnn… tion!

Rule One:
If you pull into my driveway and honk you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter’s body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:
I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don’t take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:
I’m sure you’ve been told that in today’s world, sex without utilizing a “barrier method” of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:
It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is “early.”

Rule Six:
I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:
As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don’t you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:
The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka – zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:
Do not lie to me. On issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:
Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car – there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Diiiiiiiiiissss… missed!

Weird dream

I had a weird dream last night. I dreamed that I was back living at my parents house — only parts of it wasn’t their house. There were some parts that were my grandfather’s house. I remember hearing the grandfather clock chime. I think I was around 12 years old or so, I was playing outside with my brother. Then suddenly I was grown, and for some reason I was “training” someone who looked like me how to “be” me. This was weird in the fact that she looked just like me, but at the same time looked nothing like me — this made sense in my dream, really! ;P She was my height, with tan skin and blond hair. (Two things I’ve *never* been: tan or blond!)

I woke up afterwards feeling very odd … I don’t remember what the purpose of training the look-alike, but I remember explaining what to do, or not do, in order not to upset my father when he’s in his “moods” …

This post sponsored by Hello World Web Design

Ok, not really … but I figured this would give Mara a giggle, and a chance to see her new feed toys in action.

A couple things:

1.) Per request, I’ve added a new link category called WP Plugins in Use that list the WordPress plugins used on this site.

2.) Someone left me a message on IM asking when the new AMO interface would be unveiled (I’m sorry, you didn’t leave your name and I didn’t have it in my history). I’ve been told that it will be soon. I received a note from one of the mods that the Addons queue will be locked down for the move and all Addons awaiting approval (over 300!!!) will be reviewed at the time — which can only be a good thing, as one of mine is awaiting approval.

Website changes

I spent the better part of the weekend working on my sites. I’ve added a lot of “fluff” to this one; a lot of personal stuff … things I’m into, hobbies, charities/causes I support, etc. I’ve added several FanListing buttons — hehe, and have yet to start adding my fave books, movies, anime, or bands!

I’ve started really promoting my site more, so I’ve joined several blog directories. At the exuberant nudgings of a friend, I joined MyBlogLog and have my recent visitors hidden away in the Scales, Visitors & Linkers snipper on the left menu. :mrgreen:

I’ve added my site to a few more WebRings and am looking for other venues (suggestions are most appreciated). I’ve also started promoting my new MySpace profile. I decided to make a new “less personal” profile for the sole purpose of promoting this website, my freelance works, and my artwork. So far, so good.

My next project will be a much-needed bbPress upgrade for Now We’re Cookin’s forums. I’ll have to re-do my template from scratch, which I am NOT looking forward to doing. ;P

Oh well, considering I’ve cleaned nearly everything in the house, I’m finding myself LOOKING for shit to do in between job interviews and reading php manuals.

New area bloggers meetup group

I thought I had blogged this already, but apparently I went brain dead on this or something. LOL

c.a. Marks of Alabama Improper contacted me this week with information on a new Meetup group for Huntsville and Birmingham bloggers.

Additional Info:
http://alabamaimproper.com/?p=894

Sweet! :mrgreen:

MonstersGame: Vampires vs Werewolves Menu v1.0 released

I’ve updated my MonstersGame extension:

Install / Download: [ Firefox site, here ]

Screenshot:

Description:

Browse the MonstersGame: Vampires vs Werewolves (UK) website with ease conveniently from the Firefox browser menu. Menu options available for World 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 players, as well as the forum, news, and support links in addition to other resources. This is a must-have tool for died-in-the-wool MonstersGame junkies.

Note: You need to have an active account on Server 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 in order to access the in-game pages. Once installed, you will see a new menu option in your Firefox browser menu called ‘MG’. For in-game play, use the options in the sub-menu appropriate to the server where your account is located.

A big thanks goes to: Tommelchen for his help in making this extension possible, the MonstersGame forum users who have helped out with ideas and testing, my clan members for inspiration and advice, and YOU!

Comments? Bugs? Suggestions? Feel free to contact me through the email in the About dialog box, or via my website. (Please do not use the feedback/rating system at AMO for support.)

Version Log:
0.1 – Initial Release!
0.2 – Aesthetic fixes.
0.3 – Added Training links.
0.4 – Added context menu.
0.5 – Added UK Server 3.
0.6 – Updated code.
0.7 – Added localization for US & UK.
0.75 – Added UK Server 4.
0.8 – Added Ancestral Site / Firefox 2.0.* compatibility
0.9 – Changed Server 1 links.
1.0 – Added UK Server 5.

Having a little fun with my search form

Note: this only works on Nitallica.Org and not on any sites mirroring this feed.

(Posted to WordPress support earlier today … this version modified for content and because I wanted to )

A while back I had installed Search Meter on several of my blogs — mainly to see what my visitors were looking for. This has come in very handy on Now We’re Cookin’! — if I see searches for a dish I don’t have, I hit my cookbooks or the net until I find something.

I check my Search Meter results just about every day to see what my visitors look for most. Here on my domain, I see a lot of searches by what are probably spam bots, for porn related crap. However, I also happen to know of several friends who regularly come on and search for certain keywords looking for dirty jokes. (Hey, you know me and my wild hairs )

I decided to customize my search page a bit to show a custom message at the top of the search results or “not found” message for certain topics — and maybe have a little fun with my visitors.

At the top of my index.php I added the following:

<?php

$searchval = "";

if(isset($_GET["s"]))
$searchval = $_GET["s"];
elseif(isset($_POST["s"]))
$searchval = $_POST["s"];

$crack = eregi("(PATTERN)",$searchval);
$pron = eregi("(PATTERN)",$searchval);
// Replace PATTERN with a string of related words separated by pipes.
$l2s = eregi("(learn to search|information station)",$searchval);

$crackmsg = "<h2>*** Notice ***</h2><p><strong>It appears that you are looking for illegal subject matter. ";
$crackmsg .= "Sorry, I got out of that gig a <em>LONG</em> time ago. ";
$crackmsg .= "Nothing of that kind can be found on this website. My advice to you: ";
$crackmsg .= "Try Google Blog search or Astalavista.</strong></p>";

$pronmsg = "<h2>*** Notice ***</h2><p><strong>It appears that you are looking for adult subject matter. ";
$pronmsg .= "This kind of material is not present on this site. ";
$pronmsg .= "You are probably a spam bot – your IP and complete header information have been logged.</strong></p>";

$l2smsg = "<h2>*** Notice ***</h2><p><strong>It appears that you are looking for my old Learn to Search website.";
$l2smsg .= "It was taken down prior to my retirement and will not be reappearing. ";
$l2smsg .= "If you are in need of tutorials for searching/scouring the net, I highly suggest ";
$l2smsg .= "<a href=\"http://www.searchlores.org/\">SearchLores</a>.</strong></p>";

$continuemsg = "<p>&nbsp;</p><p><em>If you are not, my apologies ";
$continuemsg .= "… continue on with your search … </em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr /><p>&nbsp;</p>";

?>

About halfway down the file (depending on how your template is setup), under the elseif( is_search() bit, I add:

<?php
if ($crack) {
echo "$crackmsg";
echo "$continuemsg";
} elseif ($pron) {
echo "$pronmsg";
echo "$continuemsg";
} elseif ($l2s) {
echo "$l2smsg";
echo "$continuemsg";
}
?>

I added the continuemsg just in case it’s a valid search … I don’t want to embarrass them too much.

And on down where the “Not Found” message is, I replaced that couple of lines with:

<?php
if ($crack) {
echo "$crackmsg";
} elseif ($pron) {
echo "$pronmsg";
} elseif ($l2s) {
echo "$l2smsg";
} else {
echo "<h2>Not Found</h2><p>Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.</p>";
}
?>

This can easily be modified to handle any topic … I just wanted to share in case anyone else had wanted to do this, or hadn’t thought to. *grin*

The things I’ve missed about working

The interview Tuesday went well — actually I had two of them! Monday afternoon someone from the same company, but a different department, called and wanted to see me as soon as the first interview was done. I haven’t heard back on either one yet, but a third interview may be coming up soon. (Please God, oh please, oh please, oh please!)

I realized a few weeks ago what I missed about having a “9-5 gig” … it was weird getting up and doing the daily routine but not actually GOING anywhere. For instance, I would get up, get myself dressed and ready for the day, get Jessie up and ready, and get Jim up and ready. Then they would each leave for school and work, and I’d sit down at the computer to start my workday. (Which was funny because I’m an hour behind my previous employer and many days was the first one on!)

I missed interaction with coworkers, the drive (I ~hate~ traffic, but love to drive!) and listening to whatever musical taste I have for that day (hehe), etc. But do you know what I miss most?

Supplies.

I quickly realized that I had to supply my own notepads, pens and pencils, and sticky notes — and I’m particular!! hehehe … oh well, hopefully that will change VERY soon!

*hopeful*

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