Archive for April 28th, 2004
Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 | LiveJournal Archives | 2 Comments
I was watching Wil Wheaton on the Screen Savers this weekend. It was a rerun of an episode last week, and he was talking about his blog and how he just tells stories on it. I started thinking how great it would be to write more, and more eloquently on my blog, but I find that most of the time my stories aren’t that interesting, or that my days do not really produce stories. I’m not politically or sociologically minded, so I can’t really do observational anecdotes either. I guess I’m just not enough of an intellectual to really make this journal worth reading. Well, at least not in the mass community that is. I’ve got 40 people that list me as their friend, which means there’s a possible 40 people, most close personal friends, that are reading this at any given time. I’d like to think that I could write something that had a bit of a wider appeal, but aside from branching out into fiction, which I’m not that good at, personally, I don’t really see what it’s going to be.
Wil’s lived a pretty special life and has made the best of it, whereas I’ve led a pretty average life, and stayed just on the up side of normality through most of it. I’m not bad off, in the grand scheme of things. I’ve married a wonderful woman whom I love to no end. We have our problems, but if I have to give up adventure for love with speedbumps, I’ll take love. I have an awesome house in a town that I think is great and only getting better. Sure, there are things I’d love to be doing to the house that we don’t have the money for, but its still the perfect house for us. There’s not a day that passes that I walk through the rooms and halls of that house and don’t feel happy and proud that it’s ours, that we are in the process of owning it, that it is our domain to do with as we please. I have (now) five animals with whom I share this personal space. All of which have their own unique personalities and quirks. They are all memorable and special in their own way and I wouldn’t give up any of them for a second, even though lots of people have tried to convince us to do so. I have a job that, while monotonus, stressful, and occasionally nearly unbearable, immerses me in an incredible, creative, artistic environment, where I feel very much at home. I have friends who work close with me and while a bit more money could make some of my dreams and desires come true, I’ve never gone hungry. In fact, I’ve gained weight, so I must be eating well. Sure, I’d like more money, I’d like more free time, I’d like more luxury, but I’m not living a bad life in the long run. Maybe it’s just not sparkly enough to be put into prose.
I think I will try to be more observational, I’ll try to be more thoughtful, I’ll try to be more insightful as I walk the walls of work and home, as I walk the roads of Denton. I will try to find the poetry and prose in the life I already have. There’s not telling what’s out there, waiting to be seen and remembered.
Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 | LiveJournal Archives | 2 Comments
well. I got the initial code and design down for the rebuild of the overly “Flash-y” site done. If you’re interested you can check it out at http://www.art.unt.edu/new2. A lot of the links still go back to the old Flash based version, but I’m slowly replacing them. Its not to say that I don’t like Flash, I very much do like Flash. I just feel that in this case it was not very well done and was causing problems with our screen readers. It turned out that there were some simple work-arounds to get past the screen readers, but a few people, myself included, were not very fond of the navigation of the first version. My intent was to strip out the Flash and streamline the navigation. I feel I’ve done quite well at that. You can see the first version (the flash version) at http://www.art.unt.edu/new.
Anyway, the dogs are getting along better and better as the days pass. They’ve really taken to eachother quickly. I think that’s really good. The cats, on the other hand, have yet to figure out what do to with this new behemoth of a beast that has invaded their territory. Tashi, the first cat, has already decided that its her house, and no mangy mutt is going to keep her from roaming free. She doesn’t pay any mind to the dog, and runs away when he chases her, but otherwise, she’s unaffected. The other two however, are afraid to even leave the cat sactuary end of the house. So much so, that one litteraly exploded in a fountain of urine on the bed in the guest bedroom the other day. This is not the first time this has happened. When we first installed a “Cat-Flap” (that’s so fun to say, say it with me, cat-flap, cat-flap, catflap) in the door to the laundry room, where the cat “stuff” is (food, water, litter), one cat just didn’t understand the concept, so he never went, he finally just found release on the guest bed. Unfortunately, that was the week my parents were visiting. How embarassing.
To protect the cats, yet not restrict their freedom, we’ve installed a second cat-flap (teehee) in the door to the living half of the house (bedrooms and bathrooms) so we can keep that closed and create a barrier between the cat sanctuary and the free nation of canines. The cats can pass through, but the dogs have no access past the door. Unfortunately, I think the cats (or at least two of them) are still too scared to invade enemy territory, even though their life sustinance is at the opposite end of said realm. They’ll learn though. They gotta eat, right? What I don’t get is when the dogs are obviously outside or in their cages, the cats are still to afraid to go through. Pussies.
Anyway, as far as Ia and Knight, we pulled an old nylabone out of the back that we had saved for trips (it was a bit worn down, but not so much it wasn’t still safe) and now the dogs pretty much don’t have anything to fight over. They each have a bone, they each have places to sleep. We even fed them at the same time outside yesterday, and they were fine with it. Such good dogs.
I contacted Kathy Schaeffer about the Denton Dog Park project yesterday. Turns out the project is still in process, but the location has changed dramatically. Its now at the far south end of town, rather than the north end near us. So now it’ll be a drive to go out there rather than a brisk, longish walk. Its nice to know its still in progress though. She suspects it’ll be opening sometime next Spring.
Anyway, time to get back to some simple cut and paste coding. Maybe I can finish the top four pages today. Though, I was tempted to not come back today… hmm….
