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Archive for September, 2008

Twitter-pated

Sep 30

Posted by Aaron in Geekery | 1 Comment

Well, I’m finally on Twitter.

I heard about Twitter a year or two ago, through the digital grapevine, and wasn’t impressed. I have a hard enough time maintaining two blogs, a wiki, three personal projects, stupid-burning, and reading/commenting on other blogs I follow — and now micro-blogging? Please…

But when I found out that I can update it with my cell phone, and receive updates in Firefox, I decided it was feasible to do, and signed up. (Although it didn’t help that half the people in my department at work signed up the same day. Peer pressure is a bitch.) Read the rest of this entry »

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French Revolution and Modern America

Sep 28

Posted by Aaron in Musings, Rants | No Comments

A while back, Melissa and I watched the movie “Marie Antoinette“, starring Kirsten Dunst as the eponymous role.

I thought the movie was pretty good — Melissa was a bit more critical, but she disapproves of most things. ( :) )

For those of you completely unaware of historical references, the movie was about the brief period of time before the French Revolution began. In a nutshell, the French Revolution occurred because the wealthy ruling class was so far divided (both financially and socially) from the servant / lower class that a Peasant uprising occurred. Other factors believed to be involved as causes were:

  • the exorbitant national debt of france (partly due to Louis XV & XVI’s warmongering / overseas military activities)
  • the “conspicuous consumption of the noble class…despite the financial burden of the populace”
  • “High unemployment and bread prices”
  • The ineptitude of the leader, Louis XVI, to deal with any of these (and many other) problems

[Source] Read the rest of this entry »

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“Time in a Bottle”

Sep 26

Posted by Aaron in Musings | No Comments

I’m taking a Piano class this semester. My instructor, Barb Armstrong, is terrific — she really allows us to work at our own pace, and keeps pushing us along. My co-worker Zak had taken it the past two semesters — he learned “Toccata & Fugue in Dmin”; That was really awesome to watch. (Go Zak!)

It’s been 10 years since I had a Piano class, and while I’ve done some self-teaching, I haven’t been in a structured environment since then. I feel this burning desire to learn Piano; Like if I don’t learn to play it I’m going to die. So I find it very emotionally rewarding to be in front of the keys, even if I’m just doing Scales and Chord Drills. Read the rest of this entry »

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Mabon

Sep 25

Posted by Aaron in Friends, Family & Pets | No Comments

Pumpkin patchThis past Sunday, we celebrated Mabon - a harvest celebration. Mabon is traditionally a Pagan holiday, although I’d say it now falls under the more modern categorical moniker “Secular Holiday” (which is a bit of an oxymoron), to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox.

The Fall / Autumnal Equinox is the day when the amount of daylight and night-time are equal in duration. Most people know it more commonly as “the first day of fall,” if you go by the “Astronomical” scale rather than the Meteorogical scale.

It’s a point of transition — Summer ends, Autumn begins. Most plants begin to wilt, tree-leaves start to change, the air gets a bit chillier and takes on a drier, more musty-smelling flavor. Read the rest of this entry »

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Parenting: much ado about sleeping

Sep 22

Posted by Aaron in Musings | 1 Comment

Sullivan!Look at that face — Could you possibly resist it if it were crying?

Because that’s precisely what pretty much every “parental guide”, other parents (including our own!), and advice column has advised us to do at night, when he wakes up. “Just let them cry it out,” they say, “they’ll get over it after a few nights.”

I just can’t do it though — we’ve tried it. For about 2 or 3 days, when he would wake up, I would callously make him wait before we went in. First wait-period was 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 — every time he wakes up (which is a bit of a mis-statement, as he never really goes back to sleep) the duration of the delay increases.

The problem is, it doesn’t work. One night he cried for 2 and a half hours solid. Seriously. He’s done this in the car too. The kid’s got lungs like the Three Tenors. Read the rest of this entry »

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