MarcFriedenberg.com

I think I may have been looking at the world in the wrong way my whole life. More detail to come later?

Softball was played yesterday. A great time was had by all. Many great hits and defensive plays were made. First base was made impregnable by Marc.

I’m learning some Debian at work for our gForge installation. Maybe every Linux user knew this already, but I was amused to see that Debian release names are based on ToyStory characters. Starting from 1.1, we have buzz, rex, bo, hamm, slink, potato, woody, sarge, and the upcoming etch.

I want to get a job where I have to come up with a series of codenames for things. The big cat theme that Apple is going with (Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard) is cool but uninspired. Without putting too much thought into it, I have decided that I will give all my childen codenames. The theme will be subway system names: T, MTA, Metro, SEPTA, and BART. My childen will be fast, comfortable, and filled with panhandlers.

I came across this picture of me at Governor’s School, apparently when I was still in that phase when I thought blondes had more fun. I’m not proud of all the decisions I’ve made, but I do take responsibility for them.

I really like Gmail. For whatever reason the stock tip spam problem has apparently figured itself out remains (see here, nyah), so but now I have a new picayune complaint. When I do receive spam messages, the “Spam” link on the left is made bold, and the number of unread messages is displayed beside it. Because I’ve never had a false positive, I would feel quite comfortable suppressing this information, i.e. never receiving notification of new spam. Because I’m slightly OCD, I’m constantly forced to go in and mark the spam messages as read so that my screen looks clean; this wastes precious seconds and has the secondary effect of making me look at spam, thus defeating the entire purpose of the filter. So, who can offer some input on how to solve this problem (the notifications, not the OCD)?

The elderly woman who serves as the cashier in the cafeteria where I get breakfast is as sweet as the morning dew, but if you try giving her a twenty dollar bill on your $1.85 meal, she will rain hellfire upon you.

I really recommend RSS for staying abreast (hehe) of MarcFriedenberg.com updates. Not sure what RSS is? IST does a nice job of explaining it.

I’ve been told by a certain person that I should stop using this site so informally. Maybe I’ll stop blogging and just put up professional content.

I get frustrated easily, but I’ve never been more frustrated than when I’m trying to drive around Boston. It sucks.

Scientists have determined that purple is the funniest color (to prove this to yourself, trying pronouncing “purple” aloud again and again, each time a little slower than before. It’ll leave you in stitches (unlike Brian (see below))). This fact, coupled with the fact that many people have a hard time knowing when I’m joking, has led me to create a new color-coded humor system. People used to tell me that my sense of humor is off-color; this system will solve that problem forever. I will make parts of this site that are supposed to be humorous color-coded according to how funny I personally find them. Here is the system:

• Boo me off stage / hack my Web site
• Pity guffaw
• Legitimate chortle
• The Puerto Rican Day episode of Seinfeld
• Gob’s magic shows
• The first time I saw Dumb & Dumber
• Riotous cheering
• Repeated whizgigging
• Every Simpsons episode compressed into one moment (the scientists mentioned above believe the universe started this way)

Let’s try this system out. I came across an interview with John Cusack in Time Magazine this week that I found very amusing. Like a Talmudic scholar, I’ve color-coded the relevant passages. Let’s see how your selections match up with my own.

Does your family have strong opinions on whom they’d like to see you settle down with?
My family’s basically given up on me. There’s deep sadness whenever I walk into the room.

I’ve heard that you were always the dog in your family plays.
Sure. I was the youngest for five years until I got replaced by my little sister, a wound I feel to this day. What’s this story about?

It’s a Q&A with John Cusack.
What do you wish it was about? Maybe you don’t wish it was about anything. Maybe you’d rather not be talking to me.

Are you going to run for political office?
Yes.

When?
Now.

For what?
Emperor.

Of what?
The universe. Of all that you can imagine. I’m gonna take over God’s turf.

Why haven’t you blogged recently?
I did once.

The whole nature of blogs is that you write frequently.
Not me. I blog every 10 years.

What are you eating?
Green beans. Are you gonna publish that, like he didn’t even have the common courtesy to stop eating?

Will we see you cheering on the Cubs in the World Series this year?
It probably will finally happen this year for the Cubs because I’ll be in Bulgaria.

As always, feedback is welcome. As always, I won’t receive any. Summer is a little slow.