Hey, this thing works!

I can blog from my cell phone now!!! Dang, now I can post when I'm in the crapper! COOL.

Tis the season, part II

Bah Humbug! What the hell does that even fracking mean?

To the immediate left, you will see me if I were on Southpark... except my hair is a bit longer, and I'm not wearing a Hawaiian flowerdy shirt... I wish I was, but I'm actually looking quite corporate today with a wine colored long sleeve button down oxford. I look very Biff. Can't wait to go home and throw on generic t-shirt #12 and go to the gym, if I can... but as you are about to find out, I may not be able to break away from the domicile.

Family coming in from out of town today... in a few hours. I think all 3 of us are sick to some degree - I've mostly fixed my back, but I'm still feeling the effects. It wasn't my neck after all. After 3 nights of pretty much not sleeping, I rolled up a towel, put it on the floor and threw myself on it, relieving about 89.3% of the pain - for that night. It's slowly slipping back in - but mainly as a form of numbness in my fingers and hands - and slight pain in my arm. Should be fun - I wonder how sick Grandma will be at the end of her visit?

On the work front, I'm nearly finished up with my Access controls matrix that I've been working on. I'm actually doing mapping with it - live in Dev, and making usability changes as I go along. Man, I feel like a real programmer or something - doing dev on prod and vice versa. Woohoo! I R s0 L33t dOODz!

One of my friends lost her mom yesterday, and it brought back to my mind the way I felt when my dad died back in 2002... I guess I'm more insulated from it - but it just reminds me to live life to the max if I can - and grab any opportunities to do fun stuff.

Well, back to reality. It was nice to come up for a bit of air, but now, the salt mine is calling again.

Other things throbbing... and not in a good way

Well, I didn't go take that test. If anything, the class made me realize that I should study on my own. I may attempt it in January.

One thing the week did give me: a pinched nerve, or a blown out disk in my upper back or neck. I have pain and electric shocks shooting down my right arm, and there is no way to get comfortable to fall asleep. Once I manage to get to sleep, it's ok...

Today wasn't as bad as yesterday, but it's still pretty terrible. I don't think I've ever had this much pain ever before in my life. I know for sure I haven't had this type of pain for this long.

My brain throbs with anticipation

I'm heading off today - well not actually heading OFF, more like heading over - since it's local - to begin a 6 day class that will prep me for taking the much vaunted CISSP examination. (That's the Certified Information Systems Security Professional for any n00bs.)

I've been wanting this class for a long time, and finally, I'm getting to take it. YAY! I have some old co-workers that are in the class as well, so I think we may hook up to study in the off-hours. I'm thinking that taking the exam is probably equivalent to getting one's CPA... I plan on taking the test on Sunday - if the cards all fall right, and then I can add some letters to my title. Yay!!!

Sad note

James Kim, a gadget editor from CNET, and formerly of TechTV was found dead yesterday. His family had become stranded in an outlying area of Oregon, and there has been a massive search for them - after dropping out of sight for over a week. James' wife Kati and their 2 little girls were found alive on Monday, but James struck out to seek help - apparently on Friday or Saturday after being stranded for a week in the snow.

Searchers found James yesterday. He traveled 8 miles through treacherous terrain - but had circled back and was within a mile of the disabled vehicle he left.

I really enjoyed watching James on The Screensavers on TechTV, and reading his articles and reviews on CNET.

Rest in peace James. You will be missed.

For more information - visit this site.

Tis the season...

But I can't find that box of grenades I bought last year to get ready for the season. I think it would be a lot of fun to drop one in the bell ringer's bucket - might make them stop ringing that damn bell for a few minutes.

I got the tree up, lit, decorated, but nothing is under it at this point, save for the cat when she's trying to be stealthy. The bushes out front are properly adorned with small multi-colored twinkling lights, which are oh-so impressive to me that I spent a whole 10 minutes draping them. I think it took longer to figure out the wiring diagram.

There's a good reason I don't put lights on the house proper: I would kill myself on a ladder, but additionally, I don't have the time to pull off all of the planning I'd need to do. Last night, I realized that to do it properly I would have to get an electrician to install outlets under the eaves of the house at the corners... And then I'd have to have some way to control the lights using wi-fi or something like that. I MUST HAVE COMPUTER CONTROL OF ALL CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! Hell, to turn the bush lights on and off, you have to unplug it from the wall outlet by the door. It makes me feel like a troglodyte...

I can see myself spending a few thousand dollars lighting the house. I simply cannot let myself be sucked into something like that. I guess I have an addictive personality when it comes to tech.