Bledded Wiss

I got back from Omaha last night, after being in the wedding of my friend Adam Turnbull and his wife Lori Hokomoto.  I was the "Second Best Man", behind Adam's brother Andy, but ahead of my friend Jeremy who was either the "Third Best Man" or "Worst Man", depending on your point of view. Okay, maybe we were just groomsmen, but Second Best Man sounds more important...

The wedding went off okay, despite the rings being left in a suitcase, and arriving with no time to spare.  The attendance was a bit smaller than I'd expected, though I think most of that can be blamed on the blizzard that came through the night before.

I had a phone interview this morning for a job administering the network in the Residence Halls here at UNI.  I think I'm an ideal candidate for it, since I have a strong background in Residence Life, having been a Resident Assistant for several years back at ISU.  I'd never had someone put me on the spot in an interview before, but one of the system administrators asked me "What are the five components of the ActiveDirectory Single-Master model?" and frankly, I had no clue, and told him so.  I e-mailed him later and asked for the answer, and he told me that he really didn't expect the interviewees to know and recite them, but he wanted to see what our reaction would be.  Well, I was honest, I guess.  If you want to know what they are, here you go.

The other question involved troubleshooting a sluggish network port, and that one I answered immediately, as it's something I've dealt with here before.  They seemed a bit surprised by that, so maybe I wasn't supposed to know the answer to that question either.  The phone interview is to determine who the "short list" of candidates will be, and I'll hopefully know by next week if I'm on that list or not.

Fur-Lowed

Well, it looks like I'm going to be furloughed.  One half-day every two weeks, with a corresponding cut in pay.  Our governor finally caved to the Republicans in the state legislature, and the University is going to have its budget cut once again.

It sucks that my pay is going to be cut by about $100/month, and it's going to really suck to be a student here in the next two years.  Tutition for next year went up 19%, and the article says that double-digit increases are likely for next year as well.

Anyone want to hire a Pee-Cee guy who dabbles in Mac and Linux, and can write a weblog?   I didn't think so...

My new digital camera came today.  I think I'm in love.  This camera is just amazing, and since I know it can produce great shots, I'll have only myself to blame for my crappy ones.

The thing I love about digital cameras is the instant feedback.  Whenever I've tinkered with my Canon AE-1 35mm camera, I've found that about 10% of my photos turn out well, another 25% are passable, another 10% are amateurish, and the rest are out of focus, underexposed, or poorly developed.

With a digital camera, I can look at the image instantly, on either the camera or my laptop, and do some trial and error to produce the picture I'm looking for, not to mention the savings in only getting the shots you want on paper, and not having to buy film.  With my 256MB Compact Flash card, my camera can hold 167 shots at the highest quality (3.3 Megapixels).  Even I can't shoot that many pictures in a day.

You down with D&D? Yeah you know me...

Since everyone else is doing it too, I took the little quiz to figure out what Dungeons and Dragons character I'd be.  Here are the results:

I Am A: True Neutral Dwarf Ranger Mage

Alignment:
True Neutral characters are very rare. They believe that balance is the most important thing, and will not side with any other force. They will do whatever is necessary to preserve that balance, even if it means switching allegiances suddenly.

Race:
Dwarves are short and stout, and easily recognizable by their well-cared-for beards. They are hard workers, and adept at stonework and engineering. They tend to live apart from other races; generally in deep, underground excavated systems, and as such tend to be distant from other races.

Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.

Secondary Class:
Mages harness the magical energies for their own use. Spells, spell books, and long hours in the library are their loves. While often not physically strong, their mental talents can make up for this.

Blog-o-rhythm

I'm going to try to get back in the rhythm of updating this thing more regularly.  Things have slowed down at work, I'm starting to have time and the desire to write in my weblog some more, and I even got a few e-mails over the last couple of months (from complete strangers) asking me to start up again....

Probably the biggest news in my life is that I'm now engaged, for those of you that haven't heard.  Be sure to stop by my wedding web site and check it out!  It's in a perpetual state of update, as we assemble our plans.  September 7th has been set as the wedding date.

America The Beautiful

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

In the last several days, when the TV has been filled with images and stories of great tragedies.  I think three musical moments have touched me the most, each having brought tears to my eyes.

The first was the impromptu singing of "God Bless America" by the U.S. Congress on the steps of the Capitol, when they regrouped, following a day of terror.

The second was yesterday, at the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" by the Coldstream Guards in London, during a changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.  It was the first time they'd ever played it, and they played it before their own anthem, as a show of solidarity and compassion.

The third was just now, during the National Prayer Service in Washington, when the soloist sang that verse that I put at the top of this page.