Briefly ...

The last two weeks have pretty much been a tour of the third level of Hell. I've barely been online, and as I am a rather private person by nature I'm not likely to post much about it.

I will, however, share the fact that my dad is home from the hospital now and doing much better (on his couch, watching his soccer, without random medical people poking him every half hour). I plan to see him today but have to call first - as he said, he has a 5k run today, and then is helping this guy move furniture. (I wonder where I get my smartass sense of humor from ...)

The Dad Update

Just got word that my dad is recovering well and will be moved out of the ICU today. They will also be giving him a nicotine patch so he will stop being so mean to the nurses. :)

Crazy Week

This past week was fairly insane ... did more running around in five days than I usually do in a month. Then my dad had a heart attack on Saturday, so Sunday was spent at the hospital with my mom and brother. So now I'm even further behind than I usually am ...

Lessons from Cinema 2

1. When the blonde asks if you're flirting with her, you're gonna die.
2. When some one asks if you're a god, you say yes.
3. When the computer asks if you wouldn't prefer a nice game of chess, do not insist on playing Global Thermonuclear War.

Subscription Poof!

Dunno what happened, but my subscription count through Feedburner went from 20 on Friday to 0 on Saturday. I'd be twistedly proud of myself for that except some of my subscribers have told me they haven't unsubbed.

Well. Anyway. Since Feedburner is nagging about making the migration to Google, might as well do it now, since i don't have to worry about losing my subscriber count.

W00T!

Milestone #2: JISE is one year old today!
Milestone #3: This is post #200!
Milestone #4: I got my new template just the way I want it!

No can haz!

Nope, didn't work. DAMMIT!

No can haz!

Nope, didn't work. DAMMIT!

Today's the day ...

Hope this works!

Template Challenge

I found a template I really like, and put a lot of work into it yesterday ... And it needs a lot of work. Unlike other templates, I can't just use Blogger's drag-and-drop GUI to arrange the modules. I have to go into the code and move things. So I'm also getting a crash course in JS and a refresher in CSS.

The really fun part is, half of the documentation comments are in Portugese (the native lingo of the adapter) which I don't read as fluently as Spanish ... sigh ... so I'm getting some edumacatin' in that too.

Blogger Templates

This blog's first anniversary is coming up, and I'm contemplating a layout change ...

And as I was browsing the interwebs I found this great site, so I figgered I'd share. :)

Blog Templates

I'm Not Alone!

Other people think geeks are sexy too:

as seen on Double X Geeks

January Top EC Droppers

1. Politicus US
2. Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry
3. Deronda
4. Mutual Love
5. MARKFE
6. Glue 4 Families
7. Basketball Daily
8. Enjoy Work As Leisure
9. THE Andrea
10. iWalk,U2?

Who's the Bad Guy?

Listening to a show on History Channel about the religious Apocalypse ... they've gotten to the bit about God casting the devil out of Heaven. And I can't help but think of "The Devil's Advocate," Pacino's insistence (as the Devil) that he is a fan of man.

Ramble ...

I've done some studying myself, and although it's clear that Satan's supposed to be the bad guy, I can't help but wonder. In some versions of the old stories, it was the bad guy that insisted Man be given free will, to choose to love God or not, unlike the angels which had no choice.

My favorite story (rarely found nowadays) is that the bad guy insisted Man not be left lonely in Paradise, but given a mate to love and be loved by, to cherish and be cherished by, and yes, to be challenged by. God wouldn't do it, so the bad guy did: Lilith, Adam's first wife. And she wouldn't kowtow to Adam, but insisted on being treated as his equal. And Adam threw a fit when she wanted to be on top for sex, and beseeched God to rid him of her. And God did, driving her from Eden; but she turned to that fan of man, Satan, and he gave her the strength and wisdom to find her fortune alone.

Of course, God gets all the good PR, and Satan and Lilith are cast as evil enemies of humanity. But I wonder. Wisdom carries its own painful price for those who dare seek it - how rational is it to think we should be punished further for daring to use these amazing brains supposedly given to us by a beneficent God?