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Tai Shan hopes you have a great day.


Be sure to check out the Panda Cam at the National Zoo.

Somebody Told Me...

...That I needed to update my Blog. So, here we are with an update.

I've decided to follow up on my "Gravy Train" post. I want to know what you 1 or 2 readers think: Do the street musicians make any money? One day I think I'll drag my saxophone out in front of the Treasury building, or maybe out by the Ellipse or something. See how much money I can cash in. I figure, "Heck, I've gotta be at least as talented as 70% of these guys...if they were really that good, they'd be in a band!" It isn't nice, but is it really that far from the mark?

Another topic for today is the Virginia Governor's election. I'll admit it, my guy didn't win. However, if a Democratic victory in this VA election can propel current Governor Mark Warner (D) into contention for the Presidential Nomination in 2008. In all seriousness, if Hillary runs, she will most likely win the nomination. And, if the Republicans don't win next time, I'd rather see a President Warner than another President Clinton. After all, VA hasn't gone down the toilet with Warner as governor...quite the opposite, in fact. VA is one of the few states with a rather large budget surplus!

Perhaps it will take another Democrat to balance the budget? If it does, it won't be Hillary.

-Kal

Diplomacy Rants...

I'm playing a diplomacy variant game known as "CommieDip" on Redscape. The game is dominated early by three superpowers, the USA, European Russia, and Asian Russia. For more info, visit the Game's Forum. I am California, and I'm holding out in the Mexican Province of Sonora while the USA owns Los Angeles and San Francisco. Here is my Rant:

Kal: I'm on a Poll for Brave new World..."Which of the Six 1sc nations will survive the longest?"
Mike: lol
Kal: Not too embarassing, I mean...the USA mauled me. I didn't stand a chance. Yet, I will outlast him.
Mike: hehehe
Mike: Sure you will
Kal: No, seriously. He is -2 this season, and that will effectively take out any chance he has of pushing on Mexico and I
Mike: lol, nice
Kal: Coupled with the Nukes that will hit him this year, he will lose the ability to defend against us too
Kal: He is already in a bad way with Canada, New York, and Cuba
Kal: And he abandoned his Pacific Islands
Kal: Guam doesn't have an american unit for several spaces around
Kal: Asian Russia nabbed Hawaii
Kal: Brazil is about to jump in to help Cuba clean up the Caribbean
Kal: He's toast
Kal: And as soon as he gets eliminated, he'll have an email from me stating simply: "I told you so."
Mike: lol

Who'd'a Thunk it?

You are a Social Conservative (31% permissive) and an... Economic Moderate (56% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

To be Continued...

Why is it that every "season finale," or half-season "finale" in SciFi's case, has to end in a cliffhanger? I am SO annoyed with SciFi friday's result. 3 Shows in the lineup...all three have cliffhangers until the second half of the season starts in January.

I'd love to watch the next half, but I'm getting rid of cable. I'll be watching IPTV and surfing the net on Fridays in January instead. Screw you, TV series writers.

Go Broncos...first D-1A win in 2 seasons...

"Choo Choo! Roll On, Gravy Train!"

There are a lot of things I could talk about today: Rachel being in Germany, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ophelia (you came and you brought me a Turkey, by God!), Hurricane Rita, my obnoxious cat, "Global Warming," the price of gas, what I'm having for dinner tonight, what I had for dinner last night, and the absurd list goes on. What I will talk about is something completely different. Street Musicians.

How do I happen upon these upstanding members of society? Why by riding the Metro, of course! Like a good environmentalist, I've declined to drive my gas-guzzling SUV to work since I started my job in Bethesda last December. So, when I arrive at the Bethesda Metro station, I'm greeted by music from one instrument or another just about every morning.

A lot of Street Musicians are poor. I suppose that's fine. One fellow that is frequently at the top of the Bethesda station escalator plays a trumpet. By the looks of him, he's not that well off. I doubt he's homeless, but he probably doesn't have much. He does have a trumpet, though, and he plays hymns on it every day except when it approaches Christmas time, in which he plays carols of all types. I've almost come to take this fellow for granted, he's always there, and the fact that he's playing hymns that I recognize brings a smile to my face.

This is not the sort of fellow I have issue with. Indeed, when I was living back home in Kalamazoo, I even considered taking my saxophone downtown and trying my hand as a street musician. Not seriously, no, but the thought was there.

The kind of Street Musicians I take issue with are the ones that are very obviously poor, and most likely homeless, that have the newest and shiniest electric guitar. Of course, since it's electric, they all have amps and microphones so they can sing. The first time I saw one of the musicians like that I was like...HUH!? The man had what was convincingly all of his worldly posessions stacked up near a column next to which he was positioned with his gear. My mental thought was "sell your gear, you need the cash." Looking back, I think that's a bad idea...but only if he was getting plenty of donations to the cause.

Recently there's been different guy in the evenings as I head back to the station on my way home. He also has the guitar, amp, and microphone. He did not have all his worldly posessions...which I suppose was good. Maybe he was just trying to make some extra cash. I suppose I can respect that. But I prefer the guy with the trumpet just the same. Maybe because he isn't singing.

At any rate, it's better than pleading for money like the guys that are by the Smithsonian station. At least they're providing some backdrop other than the sound of buses, cars, and people walking. While I don't necessarily enjoy all of the sounds they produce (my man with the trumpet is an amature at best), I do prefer them to the Asian guy handing out -rather, forcing upon me- the "Epoch Times"...whatever the heck that is.

This post really was a bunch of rambling wasn't it? Gah...

-Kal

"Bah!" to the Audio Blog.

You were going to get an Audio Blog entry today but I decided not to. Garageband was giving me an error. I'd bet it was because I was playing a song with QuickTime but I don't know that for sure.

I'm home way early today because I had to take Rachel out to Dulles to fly across the "Drink" for work. She'll be back in a week and a half. That means it's just me and the cat for the next several days. One of us might not survive...heh.

You may still get the Audio Blog, so we'll see. But not right now. And now, care of Delilah, your moment of Zen...

For Sure, Dog.

In stores now, it's Microsoft Werd 4.11!

This cracks my sh*t right up.

Update: The WMU Broncos actually pulled out the win, but the Detroit Lions are pitiful...38-6 loss to Da Bears.

"Peace"
K-Dawg

Blog Spam & The Pitiful Broncos

My Blog keeps getting SPAM. How freaking annoying. Not that anyone leaves comments, but for those of you that do, please beware. I've posted a word verification to keep the Spam-Bots from posting Homeowners Insurance and Mortgage spam in my comments sections.

As I write this post, the WMU Bronco football team is in the process of going 0-3 again this year. They lost a close one to Virginia in week one and got demolished by Toledo in week two. Right now they are facing an uphill battle against Southern Illinois, that Division 1AA football powerhouse that they are. Sickening. I'm waiting for the MAC to cut the Broncos loose for being awful. Luckily for them, the MAC has a precedent of letting crappy teams stick around. That's how Buffalo and Eastern Michigan still remain...

...Hallowed are the Ori...

...give me a break.

Okay, so I love Stargate. However, Season Nine has been less than thrilling. We went from crazy powerful Goa'uld and Replicators to the Priors of the Ori. Why is it that whenever they knock off one powerful enemy, a more powerful one emerges? And why haven't the Ancients done anything yet? And why, having won their hard-fought freedom, are the Jaffa so ready and eager to submit themselves to some new false gods?

We need Colonel what's-his-name to bring the his Daedaleus back from the Pegasus Galaxy and kick some butt w/ the Prometheus.

-Kal

iPods Galore!

So, I'd written this really long post about iPods and Rachel getting an iPod mini and how I couldn't wait to get my own. I wanted to cap it off with this link...but Camino and Blogger tag-teamed to deprive me. And frankly, I'm not writing it again.

So, here's the link again, because I really want these for my eventual iPod.

-Kal

Goodbye, Lusankya...

Wedge killed it. Sacrificed the most powerful ship in the New Republic Fleet to ram a Yuuzhan Vong worldship. How disappointing...

-Kal

General Wedge Antilles: The Perfect Imperial

The renowned Wedge Antilles of Star Wars Lore has been around for years. He starred in all 3 Original Movies, and his character and history has been advanced throughout the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" Novels.

For those who may be unfamiliar with our friend Wedge, he (along with Luke Skywalker) are the only Red Squadron (X-Wing) pilots to have survived the Battle of Yavin. He's the one that didn't get a medal. Besides Chewbacca, that is. He flew Rogue 3 in the Battle of Hoth, and helped Luke takedown some Imperial Walkers. He capped his movie performance by flying as Rogue Leader as Lando Calrissian's wingman to destroy the Emperor's Second Death Star at the Battle of Endor.

In the Novels, he plays increasingly important roles. He Rebuilds Rogue Squadron and then leads them to defection in order to topple an Imperial Warlord. In the process, he (not-quite) single-handedly captures Ysane Isard's Super Star Destroyer Lusankya. He eventually becomes a New Republic General.

Why is he the Perfect Imperial? Well, to answer that, we need to look at the New Jedi Order series. After the fall of Coruscant, Wedge is charged with liberating and holding Borleias in the Pyria System after it is captured by the Yuuzhan Vong (in the book "Rebel Dream"). He has a large fleet, including the newly refitted SSD Lusankya. Wedge uses different styles to defend the system. He uses the "Hard-Style" Defense of the New Republic, then the "Soft-Style" Defense of the Rebel Alliance. On the Third Vong Attack, he is asked what style it will be that defends the planet. His response: We've shown them New Republic, We've Shown them Rebel Alliance. This time, we'll show them the Empire.

Wedge really outdoes himself in this attack. He plans Operation Emperor's Hammer. In it, he fakes a losing ground battle as the Yuuzhan Vong land on the planet while his fleet stays in orbit over their base. As they withdraw towards the base, giving land up to the Yuuzhan Vong, the New Republic forces halt within their base's borders with the Yuuzhan Vong right behind. As soon as the friendly forces are safely inside the base's "kill zone," Wedge finally puts the Lusankya and the other Star Destroyers to the use they were built for. Operation Emperor's Hammer delivers full-scale orbital bombardment on the Yuuzhan Vong's ground troops, completely obliterating them. The New Jedi Order series, to this point, had been a series of devastating defeats, especially on the ground, for the New Republic. I wanted to stand up and cheer for Wedge! He truly is THE MAN!

-Kal

Cruisin' Time!

Well, we're all packed. Just ready to go tomorrow. We'll set sail from Miami on the Carnival "Fun Ship" Facination. Never been cruising before and Rachel and I are really looking forward to it.

It'll be great! See ya when we get back.

-Kal

Wedding v2.0 - 7/16/05

Well, yesterday was the "other" big day. Wedding 2.0 (Part Deux, Take Two, Rerun, etc...) took place at Faith Reformed Church in Portage. The reception was at the Fetzer Center at WMU. The picture on the left here was "Before." Rachel and Katie arrived at the church at 6:30am to be ready for the hair stylist. I woke up when Rachel got up at around 5...but quickly went back to sleep. They had places to go and people to see.

I, however, had other things in store. I got up for good at about 6:45 and started getting around for the day. I needed to get our headlamp replaced because it went out on Friday night. The light itself wasn't the problem, but the connector that attaches to the light had gotten so hot that the plastic casing had melted and burned up. We tried to buy a replacement, but of course there were none in stock. Luckily, our friend "Griff" was able to fix it up so that it would work for now. That took all my morning free time. I arrived at the church at around 11:15 with dad and began the process of the day. George was already there and dressed. We were a bit surprised.

Anyway, I was first for pictures, so I needed to be dressed by 12:15. A quick Subway Lunch and then it was off to be dressed. My pictures were taken quickly, and Rachel hadn't quite finished with her hair. The photographer gave me leave to join the rest of the groomsmen in our Ready Room to play Smash Brothers. Mike had the foresight to bring his Gamecube and had already been beating on George and Dan. Believe it or not, I took 2 of the 3 games I was in!

Back to pictures, Rachel and I had a "moment" once she was ready, since we had opted to do pictures together before the ceremony instead of just after. She was beautiful. :-) We then did about a million pictures with just about everyone.

The Ceremony went very well. The musicians were great, as were the officiants. The only hitch was when Rich dropped the rings. But that was funny, not bad. As this was Rich's first time officiating a wedding, Pastor Dave had been giving him tips during the rehearsal, telling him to prepare for every eventuality, because it can and will happen. Dropping the rings was specifically mentioned, by Rich no less. He made a nice recovery.

After more pictures and some cleanup...then more pictures...we got to the Reception. The reception also went pretty well. A lot of folks left early but those of us that stayed had a lot of fun too. I was subjected to the Rudowske Family Tradition of the Ball & Chain dance. The Ball & Chain has been passed down through each wedding. The ball is a bowling ball with "Life Sentence" Etched in the side, and attached to a heavy duty chain with a lock & key. The bride gets the key while the groomsmen and/or the last one subjected to the tradition shackle the new groom. The bride gets to pick the song, and when she feels the groom has had enough, she'll give him the keys. It's really quite comical. Tradition calls for the song to be a secret until he's chained up. However, the DJ slipped and I played it off like I didn't notice. However, I'd actually conspired with Dan & Daniela, who smuggled an authentic Stetson into the reception. As the song started, the Hard Hat Chris had provided gave way to the cowboy hat. Now, if I could line dance, it would've been perfect. As it was, the whole crowd enjoyed my dancing around like a fool. ;-) The rest of the evening went fairly smoothly, the DJ being the only complaint we had, but he could have been a lot worse. The reception wound down at 10:30, and we packed up to go.

On the way out of Campus, we stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a Turkey Tom (for Rachel) and a Pepe (for me) still wearing our full regalia. I think the girl working the counter could barely hold her amusement in. After that, we headed to our King Suite w/ Jacuzzi room at the Baymont Inn. That's where we took our "After" picture on the right.

Well, that's all I'm willing to divulge for now. We did have brunch at Lunchtime to open presents with the family this morning, and that was a lot of fun. Now it's back home to VA Tomorrow and off to Miami-Key West-Cozumel next Monday!

-Kal

Wow...

Link

Ever want a sex change? Apparently it just "happens" to some lucky ladies in Myanmar. Talk about off-beat news...

-Kal

Patriotic Ask Yoda, and Then Some.

Hoooah! I finally got this posted! I tried about 6 times yesterday to no avail. It uploaded to Blogger probably 5 times and didn't work. So I'm probably wasting plenty of space right now.

Anyway, in honor of the Nation's 229th Birthday, I here's a picture of Yoda & the National Mall. Heck Yeah, Washington Monument. As you can probably tell, this is from the Lincoln Memorial side of the Mall, and is not July. It was actually November. My birthday, ironically enough. This, like Yoda's trek on Metro's Blue Line below are both new and unseen pictures. Enjoy!

[EDIT: That's not a UFO on the right-hand side, just a bird flying across the view. With all of the breaches in Washington's No-Fly Zone recently, it's not a rogue student pilot either.]

In other news, we had a frustrating evening. So after I get home from work we run out to nearby Landmark Mall to pick something up. We get back...and our keys don't work in our lock anymore. We seriously couldn't get our apartment open. It royally stunk. So we waited for about 45 minutes as the emergency maintainence guy took his sweet time arriving and then fighting with our balcony door (he jumped the metal bars that protect the balcony itself) to get us back inside. We're obviously in but it was VERY annoying. And I don't want to repeat it.

Poor Delilah thought the world was ending - she was scared to death of the funny looking man trying to break in through the sliding glass door. What a crappy day. Or maybe a carpy day if you're dyslexic.

-Kal

Ask Yoda's Adventures Returns!

Now that Blogger has started allowing Image Uploading to their servers...we might see a return of Ask Yoda's Adventures!

Since the demise of "kmiller.us" (now www.kmiller.us directs to this blog), Yoda's Adventures have been on hold. However, here is Yoda, enjoying his ride on the Blue Line. :-)

-Kal

Audio Blog Entry #2

Time for another Podcast! Audio Blog Entry #2.
Runtime: 3:41

No Special Guests, just me jabbering like I do. :-)

Enjoy!
-Kal


Links referenced: This Week in Tech
See Also: Leo Laporte's Site

Audio Blog...?

Kinda dumb, I know...but here it is: Podcast (Audio Blog Entry)

Not a podcast in the true sense, but maybe eventually.

Holy Blast from the Past, Batman!

Batman: The Movie

Right now I'm watching the original Batman movie from 1966. You know, the one with Adam West. The real Batman movie. I love it.

Anyway, as I write I am using Windows XP on Sparky once more. I've rid the laptop of Mandriva Linux. I like a clean install of SP2, it's good for an old laptop. Have I abandoned OSX? Not on your life. :-)

Star Destroyer White?

Okay, so it's time for me to pick a bone.

The Star Wars books deal a little bit with a former smuggler/information broker/gangster named Booster Terrik. Through a twist of fate, he ends up being the only civilian owner of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer (the Errant Venture).

Now, according to the book I, Jedi, Booster wants to paint his Star Destroyer bright red. Funny, sure, but he takes it as a personal slight from the Emperor. The only color paint in sufficient amounts (and inexpensive enough) to do the job is, of course, "Star Destroyer White." This make sense, Mon Calamari Star Cruisers (Admiral Ackbar's cloud-like ship in Return of the Jedi, if that helps), which are similar in size, are also the same shade of white.

My beef is as follows. Over the course of the Saga, the Empire builds six Super-class Star Destroyers: Executor (Vader's ship in Empire Strikes Back), Lusankya, Iron Fist, Razor's Kiss, Indimidator, and Knight Hammer. (Sadly, I did NOT look up that list.) These ships are 5 times the length of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, and they're painted gray. With that in mind, why could Booster only get White?

Not that gray is much better, but still. With each SSD being 8km long (and proportionately wider and taller), they would require a MASSIVE amount of paint to touch up.

-Kal

Real Stargate?

It's a pity there isn't a real stargate on Earth. I would hope that using the 9th Chevron on the gate would get us to: A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

That'd be pretty spectacular. Opening up a stargate that goes straight to Coruscant? Anyway, that brings up the interesting possibility of an Asgard vs the Galactic Empire showdown. The question is, who would win? Sadly, I'd put my bet on the Asgard.

Why, you ask? A Number of reasons, actually. First, their ships can cross galaxies in a few hours. How many times have they (from the Ida galaxy) showed up at Earth (Milky Way) with perfect timing? Next, they have transporter technology and similar variants, where they can project a lifelike hologram some distance. If for no other reason, the Empire's crewers would be distracted by little gray guys running around their ships. Finally, their ships are just so darn maneuverable. And the whole being able to zap people into holding cells is cool too. Of course, the Rebel Alliance/New Republic would jump to the side of the Asgard in a heartbeat...the Asgard being aliens, and friendly at that.

Can you imagine a fleet of fast, maneuverable Asgard ships taking on a fleet of bulky Star Destroyers? Nothing against Star Destroyers, I mean, but they'd be a bit outmatched I think.

The Goa'uld, though, would be another story. They're not so advanced as the Asgard, enough so that I think the Empire could win that battle. It'd be tough, but the Goa'uld are enough of a threat that the Rebels/New Republic would need to side with the Empire. Could you imagine a Mon Calamari host? A snake parasite inside a fish. Ugh!

Anyway, enough of this.

-Kal

Where's Windows?

Not here! Not that I'm anti-Microsoft, but Windows XP is finding itself abandoned in my home.

First, it was displaced by our purchase of an Apple iBook and the positively clean Mac OS X. Now, as I write this post on my old HP Laptop using Mandriva Move 2.0, I am using the iBook to download Mandriva Linux Limited Edition 2005 and burn the CDs for installing on the HP. Goodnight, Windows XP.

Too bad it's the only option at work. :-)

-Kal

Star Destroyer Linkmaster

Star Destroyer Linkmaster has started its maiden voyage!

First Link: The Laporte Report

Gotta love Leo Laporte. Formerly of TechTV's The Screen Savers, now does Call For Help 2.0 in Canada and has a weekend Radio Show in San Francisco and throughout the world over the web. His website has his blogs, and podcasts of all tech varieties!

...bored. Could you tell?

-Kal

Another Day, Another Blog

This is going to be blog attempt #2...

With a deep space theme. :-)

-Kal