Gravity 2, /dev/mug 0

/dev/mug shotAs someone once said, “it’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop”. Today my favorite work mug, seen here – a nice big dark blue latte mug with “/dev/mug” (unix joke – go ask your sysadmin) emblazoned on the side – decided to give me a practical demonstration of the hazards of gravity (weak force, indeed…). The two dozen-or-so resulting pieces are now sitting at the bottom of a trash bin. Annoying, yes, but not half as much as realizing that I’ve only had this one a month and a half, after purchasing it to replace the one that gravity claimed shortly before that, which I had successfully kept from gravity’s cruel clutches for four years!

I don’t think I’m getting more clumsy, so I can only conclude that gravity is either getting stronger, sneakier, more malevolent, or all three. Watch your mugs!

As tempting as it is to simply order another for round three (annoying and massively unfair that these rounds only seem to end when gravity wins), I’m not going to. At least not right away: if a lesser mug suffers the same fate, it might as well be getting ones I like…

Quest for US Permanant Residency: The Story So Far

My wife and I, both Canadian citizens, came to the U.S. in January of 1999 when I was offered a position at Princeton University. We came down under the NAFTA visa, as it was the quickest way to get into the country, and Princeton’s intention has always been to work toward our permanant residency. Seven years later, and we’re still waiting, and the way things look, it could very well be another seven. Here’s where we are. Continue reading Quest for US Permanant Residency: The Story So Far

Thomas Dolby has a Blog!

Thanks to Matrixsynth, I’ve learned that Thomas Dolby has a blog. Cool stuff (and if you don’t know his music, find some and listen!), and it’s great to get some behind-the-scenes info. Also nice to know we have similar taste in controllers (I love my UF7!).

Being the geek I am, I loved his description of his live rig, and now that I’m starting to do more gigs (albeit with a much simpler rig), I would love to see him play live. Hmmm…maybe the PA gig in May

This Blog Thing:

OK, so I’ve been a little delinquent putting up stuff here (and it always seems to come down to a boring meta-post like this one!), and I think there’s two reasons for this: one, it’s not a natural thing for me to put thoughts into words in a venue where just anyone can read them, and two, subconciously, I feel like I have to be a) somehow profound, and b) lengthy.  And it’s just not working (I have two posts in the works right now where I’m trying to be both of these, and they’ve been in draft mode for some time).

So to that end, I think it’s time to try to break out of that mode, and start posting shorter stuff more often, and not worry about the level of profoundity (it that even a word?).

Hmmm…just saying that feels liberating.  We’ll see how long it lasts…

Crazy Weather

From an 80° day in February (and temperatures in the 70’s just a week ago), we now have…snow!  Yup, it’s currently snowing (near white-out blowing snow) in Princeton.  This has got to be one of the craziest years for weather in some time.

This moment of weather musing brought to you by the Steve’s-not-dead-just-resting blog department.  As you were…