October 2, 2008

Buying a house...or trying to

Well folks, I'm in the process of buying a house. It's located very close to my parent's house here in Canton. I've filed all the paper work and now we are just waiting for it all to be processed.

Here are some pictures:

Posted by Mike at 5:45 PM | Comments ()

September 7, 2008

It's been a while since I posted anything...

It's been a while since I posted anything and that's pretty much because I haven't had much to say. I've been busy with things at work, Robyn has come and gone, while she was here we went to Lakeside which was awesome as usual. I've been house hunting, since I'd really like to own a house before we get married so Robyn doesn't have to live in the neighborhood I currently live in. It's not horrible, it's just that it used to be a lot nicer and now I just wouldn't feel comfortable with her walking the streets here.

Overall, I would say life is good.

Posted by Mike at 4:28 PM | Comments ()

December 6, 2007

"Now I'll be famous."

I'm sorry sir, but no, you will not be famous.

Can anyone name any of the gunmen who went on shooting sprees within the last 20 years? Maybe one or two, but I can't think of any off of the top of my head.

I won't name the gunman who killed eight people and wounded five others in Omaha, Nebraska yesterday. I won't list the date even. I'm not even going to call it the worst this or the bloodiest that.

I'll tell you who will be remembered. The ones he killed. They will be remembered and mourned by their loved ones.

No, Mr. Gunman, you will not be famous. You will just be remembered as another sad, pathetic person who couldn't deal with life and took out your frustrations on those around you.

Posted by Mike at 6:52 AM | Comments (7)

November 12, 2007

New Glasses

Well, I haven't worn glasses since grade school. I don't even know if there are any pictures of me wearing them as a kid. In recent years I've noticed my eyes getting weaker, particularly with distances. I decided to go to the eye doctor and see what he could do for me. Below is the result. I'm not sure about the prescription as my eyes keep needing to adjust when I look at things depending on the distance. I'm going to try them for a few days before I decide whether or not I want to take them back to see if my prescription needs adjusted.

Without further ado....The Pictures!

Posted by Mike at 8:36 PM | Comments (9)

July 30, 2007

It's been well over a month...

It's been well over a month since I've posted an update. Please forgive me.

This Friday, I'll be flying to Boston for some reason. :-P

Then someone and I will be flying back here on Monday.

Wednesday, that special someone will go with me and my family to Lakeside.

In other news: I've filed all my paperwork to apply to Western Governors University for my Bachelor Degree in IT Security. Soon, I'll find out when I'll start. part of me is excited, and part of me is dreading doing school and work again.

Work is going well, though I applied for an actual Goodyear position, but so far I haven't received an interview invite. HP is in the middle of Goodyear's RFP (Request For Proposal), which will determine whether or not HP gets to renew their contract with HP, and that includes me. If HP gets the contract, they say they will try to hire me as an actual employee. That would be very nice!

Posted by Mike at 10:12 PM | Comments (5)

May 16, 2007

Look what I got in the mail today! Woo hoo!

Posted by Mike at 8:38 PM | Comments (8)

May 1, 2007

O.k. He vetoed it, that's no surprise...what to do now.

Dear Democrat and Republican Leadership,

Remove all non-war related items from the bill, leave the benchmarks that President Bush himself endorsed at one time, and resubmit it. If he vetoes it again, he will prove once again that he is a hypocrite. He criticized President Clinton for not having a time-line, but now he doesn't see the need for one?

Dear President Bush,

Quit smirking like you're a bad poker player with a winning hand. Especially quit smirking when you are talking about putting American Soldiers in harm's way. You have already disappointed the American people enough. Stop killing our men and women in uniform. Listen to what we told you in November. Currently 71% of us disapprove of how you are handling the war. You and your ilk have driven many of us from the Republican party. It's no longer a party we recognize. It used to be the party of smaller government, but you've taken the party in a direction that many of us were appalled to see it go.

You accuse Democrats of being political, but you forget that they are not alone. Many Republicans are opposed to this war as well. What about us regular citizens? Are we being political?

Please do the right thing. Bring our troops home by holding Iraq to the benchmarks you agreed to.

Posted by Mike at 6:25 PM | Comments (6)

April 30, 2007

My Birthday

I'm getting a very special present for my Birthday this year. Robyn is coming to see me! She'll be arriving on Friday the 25th and returning to Boston on Monday June 4th! I'm just a wee bit excited! We haven't seen each other since November.

It will be nice to take a break from work too.

Posted by Mike at 11:26 AM | Comments (5)

January 28, 2007

Simplicity

Simplicity is always something I have desired, but seldom achieved.

One area of chaos in my life is the fine art of doing the dishes. I am sorely lacking in this great discipline. My dish washing skills are very weak, because I do not practice them.

I've said for years that I was going to box up all, but one dish, one plate, one bowl, one spoon, one fork, and one knife and force myself to keep them clean and not fill up the sink.

I decided that instead of doing that, which would be impractical for the rare times that I have company in my apartment, I would buy one of each of those items and, in that way, practice my dish washing skills and perhaps achieve enlightenment that way. It took me a while to find what I wanted, but below are the results of my quest.

I've had them for about three weeks now, and so far I haven't left one dish in the sink. I wash them after every meal. I found the plate, bowl, and mug at Walmart of all places, they have a very earthy look to them. The saucer/bowl is from World Market as are the silverware. I wanted silverware that was strong, nice looking, and also kind of earthy or organic. I came upon these by chance. I bought the tray at Walmart too. Wooden to go with the earthy theme.

Since taking that photo, I've gone back to World Market to buy the knife to go with that set, and since I liked them so much, I bought another complete set of the silverware. all the stuff from World Market was on clearance, half-off.

Posted by Mike at 3:38 PM | Comments (5)

December 27, 2006

Celebrating the birth of The Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6 (New Living Translation)
New Living Translation (NLT)

6 For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

This Christmas season Jesus' title Prince of Peace has been frequently in my thoughts. This war that our country has been embroiled in has also been weighing heavily on my mind. Every single person fighting in it is a child of God, a child of the Prince of Peace. Every person who has died, every family that has mourned the loss of a loved one, every baby born in the midst of gunfire and explosions, every teenager pointing a gun at another human being for the first time, every Iraqi, every Insurgent, every American, every Israeli, every Jew, every Muslim, every Christian, every Buddhist, every Hindu…

…and, yes, even every terrorist…

…every man, woman, or child that draws breath on this earth, is each a child of The Prince of Peace. Then why is it that we live in a society, in world, full of war and strife? Some say that if all religion was gone that the wars would end, but I've seen many fierce battles of words that have nothing to do with religion. God tells us in Exodus 20:3 (New International Version) "You shall have no other gods before me." Oftentimes we take this literally, thinking perhaps of stone idols, or old Greek or Egyptian gods, but we have other gods too. I've seen great battles fought, great hatred spewed, all in the name of a favorite computer or video game platform. "Windows SUCKS! Fine, keep using your Apple Macintrash then! The Sony Playstation 3 is garbage! The Nintendo Wii Rules!" If religion were gone we would create new religions, we would find new things to battle about. Perhaps it is evolution, perhaps the war gene will be wiped out as humanity keeps killing each other, but we've been killing each other for thousands of years. Since we came down from the trees, since we came fourth from the garden, as soon as we believed that something was more important than another human's life, we began killing. Whether it be approval or wealth, food or land, pride or prejudice, love or hatred, there will always be something inspiring people to take up arms against each other.

The Prince of Peace grew up from that infant born in a feeding trough in Bethlehem. In his ministry he said many profound and ground breaking things. One of which is the following:

Matthew 5: 43-47 (Paraphrased from The Message) "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer and meditation, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves...."

So much of this season is about gain. As consumers battle each other to buy presents, and corporations battle each other to sell more product, it's easy to forget those in a far off sandy region of the world who seek to gain freedom, or peace, or security for those they love. Every side of every war believes in what they fight and die for. Would it not be preferable to settle our disputes with words instead of guns and bombs, to kneel and pray together instead of burying our dead? To do that we have to be willing to listen as well as to speak. To receive peace you have to want peace. The Prince of Peace won't force himself upon you. You need to choose your path. If there is one prayer that I would ask you to say in honor of the Prince of Peace who's birth we celebrate this season, it would be this:

"May Peace Prevail On Earth"

The above is something that I wrote to be read before our gift exchange on Christmas eve. Normally I find something that someone else had written, but I couldn't find anything appropriate, so I wrote that instead.

Posted by Mike at 8:23 AM | Comments (4)

November 19, 2006

Switching Domain Registrars

I'm switching domain name registrars. I have to pay a yearly fee to own merelyadequate.net. iPowerWeb charges less than half what No-IP charges, so I decided to switch. I'm only saving $8.50 a year, but why pay it if I don't have to? Commenting is screwed up during the transition so comments are turned off for this post. My mail server won't work during the transition either, so you won't even get notified about this post if you're subscribed to my blog.

Posted by Mike at 8:49 AM | Comments ()

November 15, 2006

STOP!

Ok, for some people, the image below must be rather confusing, since they ignore it so frequently.

The above image is a stop sign. A stop sign indicates that you are required by law to, oh I don't know...stop!

Today, I had to jump halfway across the street because some complete and total moron was going to just roll through a stop sign, until he saw me. It was not dark out, it is a wide open intersection, and the stop sign is very obvious. Still, this idiot couldn't be bothered to stop until it flashed through his tiny little brain that he might end up in jail for running down a pedestrian.

ok, I'm through ranting now.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:48 AM | Comments (8)

November 6, 2006

Please vote tommorow...your future depends on it

If you live in the U.S., please vote tomorrow. I don't care who you vote for, but just do it. Your future depends on it.

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up. - Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Posted by Mike at 4:00 PM | Comments (4)

October 28, 2006

Spam, spam go away, and don't come again another day!

Greetings my faithful readers! My problems with spam comments never show up for you, because I never approve the spam. Sadly, at times I still get a lot of it, so now I had to implement one more safeguard.

Comment Challenge!
Aothored by Jay Allen.

Below you will see a picture of the usual comment screen, with one addition.

Just above the Post and Preview buttons, you will see the sentence "Please type the word "nosp@m" below.

Before hitting Post or Preview you must type that word or your comment will be marked as junk, and I will have to go sifting through all the real junk to find it. Note that the word is "nosp@m" and not "nospam".

I'm sorry to have to do this, but every now and then I get a barrage of spam comments, usually advertising unseemly things.

Posted by Mike at 2:35 AM | Comments (4)

October 11, 2006

Notification System Update

With the recent update, I needed to update the MT-Notifier plug in that I use to notify you all. There are currently six of you. In updating I had to resubmit your subscriptions which will send you an email with a link you will need to click on to subscribe. I hope this doesn't cause too much confusion.

Posted by Mike at 2:38 PM | Comments (1)

My New Computer (iMac 500MHz DV SE)

Sunday, when I came home from lunch with my family, I was putting air in my tires. This gave me time to examine the landscape of my neighborhood. I glanced at the big pile of junk that the neighbor who had just moved out had left for the trash collectors to pickup, and I noticed an old computer with what appeared, at first glance, to be a monitor on top. Then I realized that the monitor wasn't just a monitor. It was an iMac!

iMac 500 DV SE

I had no idea if it worked, but I grabbed it and took it inside. I cleaned it off, plugged it in, hit the power button, and heard a beep, which didn't sound good. I unplugged it, flipped it over, and opened the panel and saw that the memory chip had come loose. I pushed the chip back in, plugged it in, hit the power, and received a nice chime sound which is what I should hear if it's starting up correctly. After wiping the hard drive, and installing Mac OS 9.1, it worked fine. The only problem was that I could only get sound out of the headphone jacks and not the speakers and the programmer's button or the sound was not letting me upgrade the firmware, so I knew I couldn't install OS X on this machine without major problems. Finally I gave up on OS 9 and installed Ubuntu Linux. The speakers work perfectly now, which is interesting because Apple's own OS wouldn't make them work correctly.

So anyway, I now have another computer at home. I think I will set this one up as a dedicated firewall/proxy server for added protection from the evil-doers on the Internet!

P.s. I'm posting this on the new iMac.

Posted by Mike at 7:23 AM | Comments (34)

October 5, 2006

Movable Type 3.33 Upgrade

Greetings and salutations to all of you.

I've now upgraded to Movable Type 3.33, because I've been receiving too many and *^%#@ SPAM comments!

It has features that will help with that.

To any of you that have an account to log-in here: the current log-in is now: Merely Adequate Login.

Please update any bookmark links I have sent you. All log-in information is the same, including passwords.

Posted by Mike at 7:51 PM | Comments (3)

October 1, 2006

School, Gaming, Work, Church, Robyn Updates

It's October 1st, I feel I should write...something!

I'm in an odd, nostalgic mood, I'm listening to Metallica - ...And Justice For All. It reminds me of a simpler time: 1990-1991 to be exact, but it spans more time than that. I remember a time when I didn't worry..where I didn't have anything to worry about. Well..I wasn't aware of anything anyway. Ignorance really can be bliss.

Now I live in a time where i have bills to pay, a girlfriend who I love more than anything who lives too far away, a job that doesn't pay me what I am worth, and a car that I still have three more years of payments on that is choking me to death. Oh...and I can type one mean run-on sentence.

School is going well. It involves a lot of reading this time around, but I think I can take it. I'm told the next class I will be taking, Java Programming, will be rough, but I'm not exactly a stranger to programming, though it's been a very, very long time. I'll have a full-blown associate degree in February and I will be able to begin my bachelor degree program. I hope to take a small break between the two.

I've been playing some older video games from time to time. Currently I'm playing Soul Reaver for the Playstation. it's one of my favorites. I won't be buying any Microsoft X-Box 360's. Sony Playstation 3's, or Nintendo Wii's any time soon. The Wii is the most affordable, but I just can't justify the expense right now, and honestly, I don't play enough games to justify it, not to mention there are some months where I'm not sure if I 'll be able to buy food or gas for my car. The last game that blew me away was the magnificent Shadow of The Colossus, I truly consider that one of the best games I've ever played. Artistically and game-play-wise it is amazing.

Work goes well, though I still wish they would pay me more. I've applied for several Goodyear jobs, but due to budget constraints and my lack of any actual college degree, I haven't actually been hired for any of them.

Mom and I are still attending Rivertree and really enjoying it. I'd like to become more involved, but between work and school, I don't feel I have enough time. It's sad how I can always find excuses to not serve the one who died on a cross to save me.

Robyn and I are still very much in love and planning a split December visit. She will come here for part of the trip and then we will fly back to her town for the latter part. We are both excited. No definite plans for the wedding yet, but we are working on it.

So that's it...that's my update. I hope to update more frequently from now on. My apologies for not doing so before.

Posted by Mike at 7:24 PM | Comments (3)

September 11, 2006

September 11th, 2001

I remember that day. I remember the screaming. I remember the tears...yours, mine, the tears of the world. Two symbols of the world trying to live, work, and fellowship together, came crashing down. The ideas behind them did not. The act of violence and destructions made more ideas flourish!

Peace
Hope
Love
Community
Compassion
Tolerance
Kindness

All of these ideas remain intact.

Violent horrific acts are committed every day. September 11th, 2001, while terrible, was not alone. Atrocities occur all the time. We must not ignore them. We must uphold the ideals we were clinging to after 9/11.

Never forget the horror of that day, and always acknowledge the other horrors in the world.

Live your life with, Peace, Hope, Love, Community, Compassion, Tolerance, and Kindness.

When I first heard news of Chinese fighting for their freedoms in Tiananmen Square back in 1989, the following lyrics kept running through my mind.

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetimes argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are

The lyrics are from Sting's song Fragile. They brought me to tears then. On September 11th I thought of them again. They only added to my tears that day. "...nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could"

Jesus' death was an act of violence that did not come out the way his executioners planned. He died, but he rose again. This act of violence allowed him to bear the weight of the world's sins, past, present, and future. It allowed him to share his message of Peace, Hope, Love, Community, Compassion, Tolerance, Kindness, and Salvation with the world.

Posted by Mike at 8:38 PM | Comments (5)

July 19, 2006

I'm still waiting for someone to show me where Jesus said his kingdom would be brought about by legislation.

Seriously, where do we see Jesus or any of his followers running for office? Look...I'm a Christian and I HATE abortion, I think it's appalling...but, there are times where it is clearly preferable to the alternative. You know what I hate worse than a nice, clinical abortion? A scared 13 year old girl having her guts ripped out in some back alley, all because her father has been raping her since she was five years old.

It would be nice if we lived in a perfect world, but we don't. People on both ends of the political spectrum seem to think we do.

I'd love to have all of our soldiers home from Iraq, safe and sound. Should we pull them out now? Of course not, and most of them would agree. That would be totally irresponsible. Trust me, we've mucked around enough in the middle east, we don't want to just abandon the Iraqis.

I don't think anyone is running around saying "Boy! Aren't abortions swell? I hope to get pregnant just so I can have one!" Yet some would depict pro-choicers that way, like it's the freaking 11th commandment. Oh, I know, it's murder...prove it. I'm opposed to it just because we don't know whether it's murder or not, we have no way of knowing, unless someone comes out with a soul detector. I'm opposed to repeat criminals reproducing too, that doesn't mean I want to whip up some legislation in favor of it.

Some throw Christian labels around like swear words. Christian Right! Fundamentalist! Evangelical! Look, just because I believe in the Bible and that Christ died on a cross, for my sins, and was resurrected, doesn't allow you to automatically cram me into one of your nice, little niches. God is much more than any human words can ever describe...and so are our relationships with him.

There are people that hate the fact that I read my Bible...that I go to church...that I believe Jesus when he says "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Do I want those people to take my rights away? If not, then why would I support legislation to take other's rights away?

Matthew 7:1-5 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson
The Message at Navpress NavPress

Matthew 7
A Simple Guide for Behavior
1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."

The most dangerous judgment one can make, is judging someones eternal salvation. Only God knows a persons heart. Only God knows if they truly choose to spend eternity with him, or without him. Their choice is up to them, not to you.

I'm no Wiccan, and I'm not trying to attack or support them. Wiccans are human beings and like all other religions, they are composed of children of God, what they choose as their relationship with him is up to them and each should examine that very thoroughly. One thing I agree with them on is their creed "Do what you will, so long as it harms none." That is my idea of how we should approach legislation. Why do some want legislation that tells me who I can sleep with? Why do some want legislation that tells me who I can marry? How does who I choose to sleep with or marry harm anyone? Ok, I understand that you think it's whittling away at the morals of our society. The fact of the matter is that the government can legislate any way they want and that doesn't change what we believe and that doesn't change what what parents choose to teach their kids.

I implore you as parents. Teach your kids right from wrong! Don't trust anyone else to do it for you! Don't trust the school, the government, not even your church.

Of course, this rant was inspired by today's news.

House Fails to Override Stem Cell Veto

Lets get this right...freezer-burned fetuses, sitting around in fertility clinics is ok, but using them to find cures for horrible diseases is not? I know, I know, some nice people adopted some of theses fetuses. That is wonderful! How much ya wanna bet that not all of them get adopted?

Look, I don't want to tell you what to believe. I just really hope that you will think about what you choose to believe. Think about why you choose what you choose.

Do you really believe the right is correct?

Do you really believe the left is correct?

Is there somewhere in between?

Do you really believe in God?

Do you really believe that God doesn't exist?

Have you really sought him?

Do you really believe everyone who doesn't hold your exact, same beliefs is going to hell? Ooops! What if they are right and you are wrong?

Do you really believe that all paths lead to God? Think about it. Do you think God is so wimpy that he has no standards? No requirements?

I realize that this post may offend some. I won't apologize. It's how I feel. Instead I will leave you with this verse.

Joshua 24:15 From the Jewish Publication Society

"24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'"

And a small post script.

Which commandment said to legislate morality? Hmmmm...nope, I can't find it either.

Posted by Mike at 6:49 PM | Comments (3)

May 26, 2006

This Memorial Day Weekend...Letters From War

This coming Monday is Memorial Day here in the U.S. This day is an honored time to remember the great men and women who served and serve our country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day

I ask, this Memorial Day, that you forget your like or dislike of the war that is going on, your love or hatred for our current administration, your adoration or disdain for our capitalist society. I ask that, instead, you would think about every man and woman over there right now. Think about their reasons for being there. Think about what they feel they are fighting for. They are fighting for freedom...theirs, ours, freedom for the Iraqis.

I am far from being a patriot. I have serious issues with our government and I think we are in our current military activity for all the wrong reasons. Instead of railing against it, I want to take the time to kneel and pray. Not pray that we will win or lose, not pray that we will kill more of them than they will of us. I will pray that, in the end, our brave men and women will come home safe and sound, and they will be wiser for what they have gone through. I will pray that the Iraqis will experience peace and freedom. I will pray that God, who can make good out of every situation, will use this awful time to teach all of us something about how we should live and how we should treat one another.

I heard a song this morning on the way to work. It was playing, and over it were audio clips from families that have loved ones in Iraq.

The song is called Letters from War, and it was written and recorded by Mark Schultz, who I had never heard of until this morning.

Here is a link to a site with the song, in video form, to be viewed on line or downloaded.

Letter's From War on Vimeo

And finally, here are the lyrics:

Letters from War

She walked to the mailbox
On that bright summers day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away

He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said I'd been thinking 'bout dad
And the life that he had
That's why I'm here today
And that the end he said
You are what I'm fighting for
It was the first of his letters from war

She started writing
You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
make it home
make it safe

She wrote every night as she prayed

Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh her tears stained the paper
With every word that she read

It said "I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
And thats when I saw him
He came back for me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son
He asked me to write to you
I told him I would, oh I swore"
It was the last of the letters from war

And she prayed he was living
Kept on believing
And wrote every night just to say

You are good
And you're brave
what a father that you'll be someday
Make it home
Make it safe
Still she kept writing each day

Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand

He said "mom I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again",
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war

Make it home
Make it home
Make it home

Here's his actual web site:

http://markschultzmusic.com

The more I listen to this song I think of how much my parents love me , and how supportive they've always been to me. Then I think that those men and women fighting for our freedom have parents that are just like that. They live every day writing..."You're good and you're brave. What a father that you'll be someday. Make it home. Make it safe."

So to all of our men and women fighting across the sea...please...Make it home. Please make it safe. God bless you all. Your service is appreciated and you are loved.

Posted by Mike at 5:53 PM | Comments (8)

May 15, 2006

An Apology - I had to turn on comment registration

I've been getting tons of comment Spam. This is when someone posts a whole bunch of comments on one post, with links to advertised sites, usually with questionable content.

I've made two changes.

One: You can choose to register with TypeKey. This is a service that helps protect bloggers from Spam. Under the Smileys You will see the line "If you have a TypeKey identity, you can sign in to use it here." Click on sign in to use your TypeKey login or to create one to use in the future.

Two: If you have chosen not to register, I will have to approve your comment and it will not show up until I do so.

I apologize for this inconvenience. I really like having it be nice and easy for everyone to comment, but cleaning up all the Spam comments has been ridiculous.

Posted by Mike at 9:21 PM | Comments (7)

April 18, 2006

OK, this is cool.

I saw a bunch of SPAM comments on my blog and before I could block the IP address of the spammer, I got this email from my server. Totally cool!

A visitor to your weblog Merely Adequate has automatically been banned by posting more than the allowed number of comments in the last 200 seconds.
This has been done to prevent a malicious script from overwhelming your weblog with comments. The banned IP address is

201.110.39.246

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Posted by Mike at 10:47 PM | Comments (6)

March 23, 2006

Copy Cat: I just love this commercial!!

Posted by Mike at 10:39 PM | Comments (5)

March 22, 2006

No worries, I'm still alive

It's been over a month since my last post, so I decided to write an update.

I've been busy with school. Last block was tough, because I had a bad cold for about two weeks, and got behind. I ended up with a B in my Algebra class, which was good. I would have had a B in my science class too except that one of the assignments in the second to last week ended up losing it's file extension when I posted it. The teacher said he couldn't open it. I explained that all he had to do was open it using File Open and it would open. I currently have a C+ in the class. I'm hoping to hear back from him.

In other news: I cancelled my regular phone at home and transferred the phone number to a cell phone, I'm actually saving a little more than 20 bucks a month and I can box up the phones in my home, eliminating some clutter and take a little off of my electric bill. Once again, the cell number is the same as my number at my apartment.

As long as we are talking technology, I should mention that the new HP laptop has been working great. I love it! I bought a new toy to use with it and to use at work. I did something I'd never done before. I wooted! That means I bought something from Woot.com It's a cool web site that sells one product per day. They have some awesome deals, and sometimes they have some junk. What I bought was a Soyo 1.8" 20GB USB Hard Drive. It's very cool and allows me to quickly backup stuff at home and work. It also allows me to listen to MP3s at work without breaking the rule of storing MP3s on Goodyear PCs. It's one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. It's a tiny little hard drive (the same ones that go in the iPods) it fits in my pocket and is powered and connected by the same USB cable.

In entertainment news: I've been catching up on my Hayao Miyazaki films. He is the Japanese animation master who brought us such films as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. I bought Howl's Moving Castle and loved it so I also bought Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Nausicaa - Of The Valley Of The Wind. All great movies and they all managed to get some top notch vocal talent to do the voices. I need a few more movies to complete my collection, so I'm sure a few will end up on my birthday list.

Well, I think that's enough for my update. During this block of classes I'm taking Algebra II and Management Of Information Systems. Wish me luck!

Posted by Mike at 8:28 PM | Comments (5)

February 12, 2006

St. Luigi

I want to introduce you to St. Luigi.

No, not this St. Luigi. Meaning no disrespect.

I'm refering to the St. Luigi at:

616 Winthrop Avenue
Revere, MA

Luigi's The Italian Eatery and the only place I could find that was out delivering tonight. After eating pretzels all day, the cheese burgure, onion rings, and fries I just ate were amazing! I think they would have been good without my involuntary pretzel diet, but they were especially tasty because of it!

Thanks Luigi's!

Posted by Mike at 6:18 PM | Comments (5)

Snow, Snow, Snow! Part Two

Why do they even make rear wheel drive cars any more? My rental is a Mustang. I had asked for a compact car, which would have been front wheel drive, but all they had was this POS Mustang and they tried to sell me an upgrade because of the impending weather. I just tried to leave the hotel to go grab some fast food, since all I have in the hotel room is a bag of pretzels. I first approached the parking lot to find that it was in the middle of being plowed. I went upstairs to buy the diet coke I am drinking now, and then went back down to find the lot as cleared as it was going to be. The Mustang had snow all over the driver's side, so I cleared it off and got in. I made it to the road and managed to drive past four fast food restaurants and three restaurants, all closed. Then I tried to turn around and got stuck in a parking lot. A very nice gentleman came by in a big truck and pushed my up the very slight incline and I was on the road again. My trip back to the hotel was uneventful. So, here I sit drinking diet coke and eating rolled gold pretzels for lunch.

And here are some nice winter driving tips from our friends, Click and Clack.

Car Talk's Official Winter Driving Tips

Posted by Mike at 12:31 PM | Comments (1)

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Boy, did we pick the right week for me to come to Boston or what?

They've been threatening snow since the night I got here. It hadn't even started when I arrived back at the hotel at 1:15 this morning, but now the city is eveloped in the storm's icy embrace.

I've included some exciting pics from my hotel room below.

This is myNotebook as it is set up in the hotel room.

This is one of six snow plows that drove by while I took this picture.

Posted by Mike at 11:04 AM | Comments (3)

February 10, 2006

Ok, Wireless is cool!

I'm sitting in the airport, my plane isn't due to arrive for another hour or so. What am I to do? Oh wait, I'll just log onto the wireless network and post a blog entry on my new laptop! How cool is that?

I'm a tad excited about this trip. I haven't seen Robyn since August and I've missed her a lot. Today is our monthly anniversary of the day we met. Next month it will be two years, wow! It's so cool that we get to spend our anniversary and Valentine's Day together. Woo hoo!

Posted by Mike at 2:38 PM | Comments (3)

February 9, 2006

Mixed Bag

Greetings all,

I apologize for the lack of updates, but it's been a busy week. I'm preparing for my trip to see Robyn, and her Mom had a heart attack last weekend, so things have been a little hectic. Her Mom is stable now, but still in ICCU.

School has also kept me busy. Algebra is a lot of work. My problem is: I understand the concepts and can put them into practice, but it takes so much work to memorize all the rules. I like when things just make sense, I don't like fabricated rules.

Robyn and I are both excited about the trip, but we will be spending time at the hospital, so we won't get to do as much stuff as we had hoped. The important thing is that we will be together. It's been difficult not being with her throughout the trauma of this week.

On a lighter note: I bought a laptop for the trip, so I can do my school work. So far, I really like it. It's my very first Windows PC. Up until now, I've been an all Mac guy.

Here is a link to it.

HP Pavilion dv4335nr

Posted by Michael Welsh at 9:50 AM | Comments (2)

January 14, 2006

Robyn, School, and Cat Sitting Updates

My Christmas Gift from Robyn arrived Finally!

Meet Curt!

This is the second to last day of my first block of classes. Monday I will begin Algebra and Environmental Science. I had 27 credits transfer from my previous college experiences so I will be graduating with an associates degree in November. Woo hoo!

Oscar, the diabetic cat, is still here being a mystery to me. I think he just wants non-stop attention. Today I fed him, gave him his shot, gave him his treats, scooped his litter boxes, pet him, and played with him. He still won't leave me alone.

Posted by Mike at 10:29 AM | Comments (7)

January 9, 2006

Cat Sitting

Well folks, I'm cat sitting for a few months. Mom and Dad are in Florida till March so I'm here with lil ol' Oscar. He's been a part of our family for about 16 or 17 years. He has diabetes and requires an insulin shot twice a day. He is the sweetest cat, with a great personality. Mom misses him a lot. Here's a few pics of him sleeping.

So far we're getting along just fine.

Posted by Mike at 8:27 PM | Comments (7)

January 1, 2006

What does 2006 hold?

Well, here we all are in a new year. I wish everyone a happy new year.

So, what's going to happen this year?

I've got two weeks left in the current block of classes and so far so good.

A new year at work, I managed to accomplish two of my major goals before the year was up. I wanted to revamp my printer tracking database and rewrite my documentation. I did both last week. So, at least I know I will be starting the new year slightly more organized.

I wish you all the best this year!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:59 PM | Comments (4)

December 30, 2005

I better not find out who stole the Christmas Present that Robyn sent me.

The present was supposedly delivered shortly after noon on Thursday December 22nd. That means somebody stole right from my front porch. Whoever you are, you'd better hope and pray that I don't find out. You not only stole from me, you stole from girlfriend.

The funny things is, that I receive lots of packages, almost always left on the front door. I've never had one stolen...till now.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:18 PM | Comments (7)

December 27, 2005

Fun with the U.S. Postal Service

Robyn made a mistake. She knows it now and she won't make it again.

Her mistake?

She trusted the U.S. Postal Service to deliver my Christmas Present. Yes, you may be looking at your calendar and noticing that today is December 27th. She mailed it on Monday, December 19th. Granted, that's close to Christmas, but I shipped hers FedEx on Tuesday, December 20th. It should have arrived Saturday, but it arrived on Thursday. Each day I've come home and checked the mail to see if her package for me has arrived, but nothing yet.

Sadly, she lost the tracking slip so we can't even check to see where the package is.

I'll post again once I get it.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:35 PM | Comments (2)

We're all thinking about it - - Weight Loss -- Aggghhh!

I want to be healthy. I want to be in shape. I want to lose weight.

Ever wonder what your ideal weight is? There are a number of places to find that information on the web, but the best one I found was here.

Dr. Koop - Ideal Body Weight

It was the easiest one to use, and the one automated one that I found that factored in your body frame as well as height.

Here's me.

Ideal weight is 188 - 206.8 lbs. (85 - 94 kg.). You are overweight by 43.20 lbs. (20 kg.).

How is Ideal Weight Determined?

Your ideal weight range--188 - 206.8 lbs. (85 - 94 kg.) --is based on a formula that calculates what is a healthy weight for most people of your height (72 inches) and frame size (large).

Now I just need to come up with a plan to reach that goal. I'd like to get down to around 210.

I need to make some changes to my lifestyle. I need to eat smaller portions and better things. I need to exercise more. I need to stretch daily. (I'm feeling too old.)

As I formulate a plan I will keep all of you, my faithful readers, posted.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:22 AM | Comments (7)

December 4, 2005

Ubuntu

Well, I've done it. I've become a real geek apprentice. I'm now running a version of Linux called Ubuntu.

From the website:

"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we all are". The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

So, now I'm running Mac OS X.4 on one hard drive and Ubuntu on another. I even got Thunderbird all set up for all my email and for my school nesgroups. Fun stuff!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:49 PM | Comments (5)

November 19, 2005

New Colors and A School Update

Once again, I have decided to change the colors and graphics of my blog. I didn’t make any drastic changes this time, just a different font and some nice rusts, greens and blue/greens. My feeling is that it looks much more appropriate for the current season.

School is going well. The primary interface is Microsoft's Outlook Express, or in my case, Microsoft Entourage. Both applications are combined email and usenet clients. Basically, they allow you to read and post email and do the same with internet newsgroups. In this case, we have custom newsgroups that reside, only, on Western International University’s server.

We have four newsgroups per class: Main, Chat Room, Course Materials, and Individual. The Main newsgroup is where we have class related discussions. The Chat Room newsgroup is for more general discussion, not always directly class related. Class Materials is for just that. Supplemental class materials are posted there. Finally, the Individual newsgroup is where we post our assignments for the professor to review.

The way class discussion works is that a topic is posted and everyone responds to it, usually quoting the original post as well. If you have ever sent emails back and forth, each time responding to something the other person said, then you know exactly what class discussion is like.

The two classes I'm taking are IT 101 Skills for Learning in an Information Age and COM 110 Effective Persuasive Writing. So far I am really enjoying both classes. My fellow students are great and both professors are doing a wonderful job.

Well, I hope everyone is having a terrific weekend. I'm going to sign off now and do some more reading for school.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:31 PM | Comments (5)

November 15, 2005

School days, school days...

Axia College Online of Western International University

Yes, I finally decided to go back to school. with my work schedule, I needed something flexible. I contacted the University of Phoenix Online and after assessing my situation, they recommended their partner school, Western International University.

My first goal is to earn my Associate of Arts in Information Technology.

My next goal is to earn my Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

I really don't know if I want to go for my masters or not, if I do it will either be a Master of Science in IT or a Master of Business Administration in IT. But lets not jump too far ahead.

Yesterday was my first day of classes and it went quite well. I'm really excited and I've never felt this motivated to finish school. I've let it drag on for far too long. Going to school online is a perfect fit for me because I seem to do just about everything online. In the first day, I've seen more class interaction than I ever saw in an actual classroom. In most classes I've been in there are a few talkers, but getting info out of the rest of the people takes some prying. So far, everybody is participating and it looks like we have some nice folks in my classes.

Wish me luck!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:09 AM | Comments (8)

October 26, 2005

A Heroine, Science and Art

A heroine - Rosa Parks died Monday evening October 24th, 2005. Her one simple act made waves across our nation on December 1, 1955. Her act of defiance and bravery paved the way for a civil rights movement that has made major progress and some wonderful changes in our society. I applaud her act, but the battle is not over. I don't know if it ever will be. I don't think we can evolve beyond ignorance and hatred, which are the complete and absolute foundations of racism.

Science - An Elevator To Space! This is real and it goes beyond science fiction. Check it out.

Art - Shadow Of The Colossus. For several years I've been hearing about a game called Ico, it was supposed to be a wonderfully immersive game with characters you will care about and a story to pull you in. So far, it has lived up to it's reputation. When I bought it, used, at Gamestop, the nice gentleman who was working there gave me a copy of the demo for Shadow Of The Colossus, a game developed by the same folks who made Ico. Ever since I've played video games, I've longed for more immersive games, for more games that didn't have boundaries that reminded you that you were playing a game. Don't get me wrong, with games, as with any fictional entertainment, you have to suspend reality, but with games, all it takes is hitting a literal invisible wall and your suspension of reality is completely shattered. Shadow Of The Colossus is one of the few games on a long list of games, that comes close to that ideal, and gives me hope, and I've only played the demo. I'll beat Ico first, but I will play Shadow of The Colossus.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:54 PM | Comments (5)

October 8, 2005

Black Umbrellas In The Rain

Black umbrellas in the rain
Huddled around a tent
Staring into a hole in the earth
Hearts broken
Souls rejoicing
Heaven welcoming
A Son reunited with Mother and Father
A family united in mourning
Shared umbrellas
Warm embraces
Driving off, into the rain drenched city streets
Breathing easy, this rented breath, this rented body
We have to return them eventually
In exchange, we receive...
Wonders.

Jon's father passed away this week. He went in his sleep. The funeral was today.

Peace, Hope, Love.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 2:29 PM | Comments (8)

September 29, 2005

Update

Well, I haven't blogged in quite a while, so I decided to let you all know that I am not dead.


Work has been busy. Moving printers, adding new printers and dealing with every day maintenance keeps me running. I still am learning new things all the time and I still really like my job and the people I work with.

Movies, I've been watching a lot of them. Dad and I went to see Corpse Bride last Saturday, and we both really enjoyed it. That same day, I received a call from the local library saying that several movies that I had reserved had come in. I watched Alien Vs. Predator, which I really liked. I finally saw Ray, which was just amazing! Monday, two more came in. Tuesday, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which was very good, but you really have to pay attention, and even then you might have to go back and see what you missed. Last night, I watched Bruce Almighty, which was very funny at times, but also had a good moral to the story. That's it so far for movies. I'm about to watch The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which looked really silly to me, but for free, I'll make up my own mind about it.

In gaming land, I decided to take a break from Everquest again, so I canceled my accounts. The great thing is that if I get a craving, I can just start up my account again and my characters are there waiting for me. In the meantime, I'm trying Mark of Kri again, it is a gorgeous game with a really innovative combat system. I never beat it, so I decided to try again.

TV doesn't hold my interest for very long sometimes, but at other times I can get totally hooked. There are lots of shows that I enjoy, but this season I am going to just stick with West Wing for sure, and probably 7th Heaven, so Robyn and I can talk about it, since she loves it, and I don't exactly hate it. An advantage of watching 7th Heaven is that I discovered Just Legal, which I'm really enjoying. It stars Don Johnson as a burnt out, drunk, lawyer who hasn't gone to court in years because he just plea bargains every one of his cases. His co-star is Jay Baruchel who you may recognize from his mentally challenged character in Million Dollar Baby and his die hard Led-Zeppelin fan from Almost Famous. He's a great young actor, and his character is a lot of fun to watch.

Well, that's it for now. I hope to do a real blog entry soon.

T.T.F.N.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:24 PM | Comments (1)

September 13, 2005

What is missing?

I've watched the Katrina disaster unfold.

I've watched children and elderly be abandoned along with their families because they have no means to escape.

I've watched police who were sent to look for looters, become looters themselves.

I've watched politicians trying to blame other politicians for the slow response.

I've watched politicians congratulate each other on the wonderful job they are doing.

I've watched journalists, shocked to the core, demanding that the government act.

I've watched people, safe in their homes, much like me, sitting back and making judgments about the situation. God, I hope some, if not all, are acting, even in a small way, to help, and not just judging.

I've watched myself, fretting about my life, about how I don't make enough money, or about how some have born false witness against me, or about how I never finished college, or about how I owe my parents too much money, or that there are weeks that I feel guilty when someone pays for dinner at a restaurant, because I know that I don't really have the money to pay, or about the fact that my girlfriend lives way too far away. I have a place to live! A car to drive! A job to pay the bills! I need to count my blessings and shut the heck up! I've sent what I can to the Red Cross, but the fact remains that I am very bad at managing my money! But I am getting better.

I look at my DVD collection, how much money is there? People have had their homes destroyed and I have a terrific DVD collection! I barely watch these movies! I have two Playstation 2's! Two computers! One is the server which you are reading this on! I am so wealthy. I have a family and friends who would do anything to help me. I also have a girlfriend who loves me

Again, I have sent what I can, but it never feels like enough.

While I don't think that the lack of speed in the response was racially motivated, I do have to wonder if it was motivated by classism. Classisism is a real problem. Hell, I'm classist sometimes, probably racist too, at times. It's soooo easy to label people, to herd them into categories! It so much easier, and cheaper than looking at them as fellow human beings, as people to be loved and cared for.

Even though I don't think the lack of response in New Orleans is racially motivated, I am still moved by human history, and the fact that there are dark parts of humanity, a lot of them. Racism exists, and it is no secret, it is still very strong, and that is sad. So I will end with the lyrics to one of the saddest songs in human history.

Strange Fruit: By Lewis Allen

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

So, in the year 2005, what is missing?

Why do we still treat others poorly?

Have we not evolved, as science says we will?

Do we not overflow with love, as the Bible tells us to?

I leave you with the same question I began with.

What is missing?

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:41 PM | Comments (5)

September 4, 2005

Cards For Katrina

Another good way to help with the Katrina relief effort.

Cards For Katrina

Thanks to Irene for letting me know about this one.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:44 PM | Comments (3)

September 2, 2005

A Week of Tragedy and Hope

I wish the tragedy part wasn't still going on as I am writing this. I wish people weren't fearing for their lives. I wish people weren't looting and shooting at relief helicopters and police. I wish I could go down to New Orleans to help, but I have no vacation time left. I donated to the Red Cross and I also donated by buying a shirt from Bungie, the makers of Halo and Marathon. They are giving all proceeds to support the Katrina relief effort.

Here's an excerpt from their site.

Seriously. Stop reading for a minute, get a credit card, go to the website and buy the T-Shirt. It's $19.99 and about $15 of that will go directly to the Hurricane Relief effort, through the American Red Cross. Not a penny profit will be made and every cent of cash will go where it's needed.

Don't have a credit card? Grab a parent, make them read this, and get them to buy it for you. And hassle them about it. Make them do it. Come on, you talked them into buying you Halo 2 right? Well this is much more important. Do it. Do it. Do it.

I've always respected Bungie as a game company, even after they were bought by Microsoft, but I'm even more impressed now.

I discovered the Bungie effort while reading about all the donations being made by readers over at Red Vs. Blue.

Red Vs. Blue is a phenomenon I discovered last weekend. There is a Red Vs. Blue Wikpedia entry that explains it in more detail, but let me just say that it is part of a new kind of film making called Machinima. They use the XBOX version of Halo to tell stories. The stories are about two teams of soldiers who are ridiculously pitted against one another in a game of capture the flag. It is funny, irreverent, course language-wise at times, and pretty much pure genius. I wish I had thought of it.

They posted two posts today on their site in support of the Katrina relief effort. Not only are they funny, irreverent, course, and smart, they are also good, caring human beings. The outpouring of support I've read on their site has given me a little extra hope.

Finally, this is a blog from INSIDE the disaster. The Interdictor is a blog from one of the people trying to survive in New Orleans.

My prayers are with all the people involved in this disaster.

Ps. Here's a pic of the Bungie shirt. (The Flood are the real bad guys in Halo. It's fitting that our dollars can help fight the flood damage left over from Katrina)

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:27 PM | Comments (1)

August 23, 2005

Robertson Vs. Chavez

Dad sent me the following article.

Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination

Exactly how long has it been since Robertson read his Bible? He and his political agenda have pretty much made him the poster child for separation of church and state. Ever watch his show? He's always come across as so fake to me. This just beats all. So much for a gospel of love.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:58 PM | Comments (9)

August 5, 2005

I can die happy now

Or rather, live happy.

I really missed Twizzlers.

Now I can enjoy them again!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:48 PM | Comments (7)

July 31, 2005

Dad met a beautiful woman last night

Dad went to the airport last night, to pick up Mom. She's returning from her month long trip to Florida. We will have our usual Sunday lunch today, and I will get to give Mom a BIIIIIG Hug!

Welcome Home Mom!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:23 AM | Comments (7)

July 27, 2005

My Router Got Fried

Last night we had an awful storm and now only one port on my router works, which makes it useless.

Fortunately, I have two routers and I just finished configuring the 2nd one to work correctly with my setup. I have no way of checking to see if Jon's connection works or not. I'm not sure if my mail server will work or not so I am posting this and hoping that the notifications go out.

Ok, off to work!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:29 AM | Comments (3)

July 21, 2005

Help Save 700 Women

Greetings readers,

I am on the email list of Amnesty International, and this info came in an email today.

I am writing today to ask you to take one simple action to protect women from violence. Please, join me in signing the 700women.org petition.

Every day 700 women are assaulted by their intimate partners--and four are murdered.

In September, Congress will consider the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which is the most important legislation ever enacted to protect women from domestic violence and sexual assault.

If it is not reauthorized, victims of domestic violence, sexual violence and the organizations that support them are at risk of losing aid and protection.

I know I emailed this to some of you today, but I wanted to post it here. I also added a link to the right, as I think this is such an important cause.

Please, join me in supporting the reauthorization of VAWA. It's simple and important - and will only take you a minute.

Click here:

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:35 PM | Comments (5)

July 17, 2005

In Response to Icerabbit's question

Icerabbit asked: "How do you like MT so far compared to iBlog?"

I responded with a comment, but then decided to post my response here as well.

Several things I love about MT:

-Plugins (Thus enabling things like smileys, those are done with a macro.)
-Ability to post from anywhere.
- It's running on my server. (Meaning, it's not LiveJournal or Blogger or another service. I like being self sufficient.)
-A living, active forum, full of helpful people. This is not a slam on iBlog. It is just the result of having a lot more users.

Things I love about MT compared to iBlog.

-Plugins. (See above)
-Ability to post from anywhere.
-Valid XHTML!!!! Wooo hooo!
-I have control over what MT generates.
-Easy to backup. Especially if you are using MySQL.
-Built in comments! Once again, no reliance on a service.
-Blog hosting. If I upgrade to the full version, I can host blogs for others, with no cost to them, and no need for them to purchase an application.

I'm sure I could come up with more, but, at this point, I really like MT more than iBlog. I will still use iBog for some of my blogs, but for my main blog, I'm sticking with MT.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:39 AM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2005

Warning labels on sugar filled beverages?

I came across this article today. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I can't imagine it doing much good. Is there really someone out there that thinks Mountain Dew is a health drink?

What I'm more interested in is something more powerful than a label. Money! Specifically taxes. Recently, in Ohio, we've once again raised the tax on cigarettes. They are almost four dollars a pack now. I'm torn on this issue. I firmly believe that people should be allowed to decide what they will and will not put in their bodies, but I also firmly believe that people should be responsible for the consequences of putting said substances in their bodies.

Tobacco wastes a lot of health care dollars. Ya know what else wastes a lot of health care dollars? Fat! No, I don't mean overweight people, I mean the very thing that helps make them overweight. I think if we are going to excessively tax cigarettes, we should tax other unhealthy things. How about taxing the heart attack inducing Enormous Omelet Sandwich from Burger King. It has 740 calories,410 of them from fat. Speaking of fat, it has 46 grams of the wonderful, healthy stuff.

So why not tax all unhealthy things? Lets be consistent.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:44 PM | Comments (9)

July 13, 2005

If you can read this we are probably about to exchange auto insurance information

What is the deal with bumper stickers that have print that you couldn't read unless the car was parked and you were standing next to it, leaning over? Either the font is way too small, or too fancy, but either way, they are really tough to read. I think before we outlaw cell phones while driving, we should outlaw impossible to read bumper stickers.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:26 PM | Comments (1)

July 10, 2005

Please wash your hands

Ok, Dad and I were at Hometown Buffet on Saturday afternoon. We both went to wash our hands and while we were in there, we saw a gentleman in a green and white striped shirt walk right past us without washing his hands. Sadly, he wasn't leaving the restaurant, no, he went right up to the buffet and grabbed a plate and then proceeded to contaminate all the serving spoons he touched.

Look, I don't care how vigorously you cleaned your genitals this morning, they are not sanitary, especially not according to food service standards.

So consider this a Public Service Message. Please wash your hands.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:26 PM | Comments (11)

July 8, 2005

Tom Cruise struck a nerve

Let me start by saying that I do think Psychiatry is a real science. Dad sent me this article by Ruben Navarrette Jr. While I think Cruise may have been a little overzealous, ok, a lot overzealous, he brought to light an important issue. Can you name 10 people you know who have been prescribed something like Prozac? The scary thing is, you probably can. I'm sure there are people who reap great benefits from these drugs, at least I hope so. But when I go to my doctor's office and see signs stating that no drug reps may go beyond a certain point, I have to wonder who is in bed with the drug companies.

Our society doesn't stop. We don't sleep enough or exercise enough. We we eat too much and drink too much. We have a hundred different kinds of cigarettes, candy bars, beers, liquors, and yes, prescription drugs.

Makes you wonder how we've survived so long without all these things.

Tom Cruise may have come off like he was a little crazy, but that doesn't invalidate his point. We, as a society, over medicate, from birth to death. Instead of slowing down, exercising, and sleeping more, we ask our doctor to give us a pill to pop. Heck, we see all the ads on TV, so we know what to ask for. Some of those doctors prescribing those drugs, don't know much more about them than what the ads tell us.

Maybe we are so uncomfortable with the topic that Tom raised because we are not quite convinced that these drugs are helpful, that maybe the magic pills aren't as magic as they claim to be. Maybe a nice walk in the park would do us some good.

FYI: Here's the whole transcript of the interview by the way. View it here.

Yep, he is a tad zealous.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:30 PM | Comments (3)

July 7, 2005

Judith Miller wasn't jailed for exposing a CIA agent

Judith Miller was not jailed for exposing a CIA agent. She was jailed for not revealing her source. If they were to jail her for exposing a CIA agent, you wouldn't hear a peep out of me.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:00 PM | Comments (2)

July 6, 2005

Judith Miller is in jail. Will you be next?

I'm sure you've heard about Judith Miller, the Pulitzer prize winning journalist, who refused to reveal the identity of her confidential source, in an article she was quoted in, about a leak at the CIA. She didn't even write it, but she's the one who gave her word to the source, and she's the one in jail. I'm hoping the source is grateful. I'm sure he or she is.

I'm forced to ask myself, what would I do to stay out of jail? Would I give up my source? Should I? If I did, my credit as a journalist would be shot. No source would ever trust me again.

With the current state of things, we need journalists who are willing to go to jail for their craft. We need journalists who will reveal things we need to know. We need journalists who will investigate situations like Guantanamo Bay. We need journalists who will not allow the facts they uncover to be shrouded in darkness.

Left or right, conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, don't you want a press that is free to tell you the truth, without fear of repercussions?

Judith Miller did not shout fire in a crowded theater.

Set her free.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:19 PM | Comments ()

July 5, 2005

FYI You can now subscribe

Using the Notify List, to the right, you can enter your email address to be notified of new posts. If you want.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 9:50 AM | Comments (2)

MT-Notifier is working!

I found my problem. In the MT.cfg file I had set the following as a relative path, instead of as an absolute path.

I had it set, using the example, as.

Now, that works for me, but when any of you would try to edit your subscription settings you would get something, again using the example, like.

When it should have been.

Well, anyway, it works now that I found that little problem I found it by going back to the original Movable Type Installation Instructions.

Good night all. It's way too late again. This stuff is addictive.

I'm really glad I'm off tomorrow too!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:11 AM | Comments (1)

Late

I'm up too late again. It was a busy day. Jon moved downstairs, so I had to run the ethernet cable down there. After purchasing a drill bit extender, I managed to make the right sized hole and then use a tent pole and some tape, to push the cable through.

I've been scouring the internet to try and figure out what was wrong with the Subscription part of my blog. I think I've figured it out, but I need to go to bed because I'm not thinking straight.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:01 AM | Comments ()

MT Notifier

I installed MT Notifier tonight. I'm testing it now. I subscribed and should be notified of this post. We shall see.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 1:43 AM | Comments ()

July 4, 2005

Wow it's late! Or early ;-)

I've been working on my server forever. I finally, now that I don't need it, got PHPBB up and running. It's a discussion board.

Merely Adequate Discussion

I also migrated my Movable Type database, to the preferable DBD MySQL, after much trauma.

I was able to get my email server to email people properly. I sent a test to Dad, let's see if he gets it.

Since the email server is working, I decided to add a subscription thingy on the side there, that will allow folks to subscribe so they can be notified of new posts. IT'S CURRENTLY BROKEN! And it gives the validator two errors. But I'll figure it out once I get some sleep.

I also fixed a problem where my web server wasn't starting up after a reboot, I had to delete and reinstall Apache 2, but that fixed it!

I'm going to bed. I haven't stayed up this late in a long time.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:39 AM | Comments (2)

July 1, 2005

Leisurely Drive

I awoke at 4:45am this morning, 15 minutes before my alarm. I got up, and started working on my computer, just having a nice morning. I decided that today, I would take it easy. I'll still have some overtime this week, so I decided to get to work around 9 and take the scenic route, up 43 to 76. It was a nice drive. It takes a little longer, but it's much less stressful. It's a good day so far!

I'm excited about kayaking tomorrow with Dad and Jim.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:31 AM | Comments (3)

June 30, 2005

Appeals Out Of Control?

Ever get tired of seeing convicted criminals appeal over and over and over again? Why not make it so if, during the appeal process, new evidence surfaces, and it is unfavorable to the criminal, the current sentence being served be made harsher in some manner?

Sounds good to me.

I know the appeal process works differently in different states. I'm sure they could all use a few revisions to not waste as much taxpayer money.

Now, admittedly, I didn't exactly do tons of research before spouting off about this topic, so please feel free to correct me on anything I may be wrong about,

Posted by Michael Welsh at 9:31 AM | Comments (3)

Virtual Strip Search

Well, we all might want to get in better shape before we go to the airport.

Virtual Strip Search.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:14 AM | Comments (5)

June 27, 2005

Adopt a Chinese Blog

I was surfing the web tonight and came across this article:

Chinese Blogger Slams Microsoft

Shockingly, the Chinese governement blocks web content with phrases like "China should be a democracy" or "Free Tibet".

Once I get a new hard drive for my server, the current one is too small, I'm considering upgrading to the full version of Movable Type and supporting the following movement.

Adopt a Chinese Blog

I hope that I do not take my freedom for granted. I hope that I can share it with those less fortunate.

To see bloggers that are offering to adopt other bloggers, look here: adoptablog

Posted by Michael Welsh at 9:34 PM | Comments ()

June 25, 2005

iBlog

I've been reading and posting on the iBlog Forums recently and it inspired me to create a new blog to help newer users learn about iBlog. Lifli has been good to me and I've learned a lot from iBlog, so I thought I would try and give something back.

So, without delay, I am introducing...

Merely Adequate Blogging With iBlog!

It is just a collection of informational posts created in, and about, iBlog.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:19 PM | Comments (2)

June 24, 2005

I've really been enjoying Movable Type

I love how fast it is. I love that I can easily post from any place I have an internet connection. I love that I have more control over it's output. I love how customizable it is. I've been having lots of fun.

I decided to start using the notification tool, that emails people when I want to notify them of a new post.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:39 PM | Comments (3)

The Land of The Free?

I first read of this at Sareth's blog.

High court OKs personal property seizures

Apparently, if the government thinks a private business can generate more tax revenue with your property, then they can just take it. Now, in the past, governments have taken land to make way for train tracks and highways, and intergalactic highway bypasses. With the house letting the flag burning ruling pass and now this, I'm wondering if we are going to still be the land of the free.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 5:50 AM | Comments (1)

June 23, 2005

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

Well, lions anyway.

Dad sent me this article about a kidnapped girl who was rescued by lions in Ethiopia.

Police: Lions free kidnapped girl

I felt it was post worthy.

Dad said "Too bad they didn't eat the kidnappers. "

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:42 PM | Comments (1)

War

I've always liked Bob Marley's song War. It has a very powerful message and, until I decided to post the lyrics today, I never knew their origin.

War - By Bob Marley

Until the philosophy which holds one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there is no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumors of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

In looking for the lyrics, I came across this link. H.I.M. Haile Selassie I War Speech to the U.N.: The Life of Bob Marley at bobmarley.com.

It's a long read, but well worth it. It really makes you think about the state of things, today, in the world.

In 1963 Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, gave a speech to the United Nations. It is included in the link above. In 1976 Bob Marley turned a portion of the speech into a song. It's always been one of my favorites.

On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa Conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.

Amazing words. Do we heed them today?

Posted by Michael Welsh at 6:09 PM | Comments (1)

June 22, 2005

Build #1 of iBlog v1.4.5 is out

You can read about it here. I will download it and try it tomorrow. So far, it is reported to be stable.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:33 PM | Comments (2)

It's all Movable Type Now

Well, I did it. I switched to Movable Type. I loved iBlog, and I still think it's a wonderful application. In fact, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a simple, easy to install and use, Mac OS X based, blogging tool. I am, at this point, going to still use iBlog for my Spirit, Faith, and Hope blog, so I haven't totally abandoned it.

Now for the cool stuff. I have set up an email server, thanks to Postfix Enabler. In Movable Type, comments are part of it, so I can use the mail server to email me when I get comments. I really love the fact that I can post from anywhere that I have an internet connection, and I don't need anything, but a web browser to do it.

As you can tell, I designed a new banner for the new layout. I also moved all the links to the right. The three column layout was too cluttered. If you click where it says "Click Me" under the Friends - Family - Familiars, Pictures, and Mom and Dad's Pictures, all the links appear and you can choose what you want.

On another note. Under Archives, you can also select Old Blog Using iBlog, and you can view everything before I switched to Movable Type. There is a lot of history there.

Fun, fun fun!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:07 PM | Comments ()

June 21, 2005

Movable Type Pricing

I read an article, today, called Movable Type almost gets it right... He makes some very good points about the new pricing for Movable Type. Now, I'm only a new convert to Movable Type, I haven't even moved my full blog to it yet, but once I do, I may want to upgrade to a version that will allow me to host blogs for friends and family, but not at 70 bucks, I like, Jim's 19.95 option and think it would be a wise decision for Six Apart to make.

On a side note, this is my first attempt at linking to another article using the track back system, which lets them know that I have linked to it. We shall see if it works.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 7:39 AM | Comments (3)

June 19, 2005

Happy Birthday and Father's Day!

Today we celebrated Mom's Birthday, Laurie's Birthday and Father's Day! We had a great time kayaking in the morning and we just opened gifts and now we are off to see Batman Begins! I'll post more later!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 4:21 PM | Comments (4)

June 18, 2005

Smilies

I finally have smilies working, thanks to the following site.

Silverberry

They can be used by me in posts, or by you in comments. When you comment, you can just type the normal ones, or you can click on the smiley menu and it will put the smiley in the comment for you. Have fun!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 10:29 PM | Comments (2)

June 15, 2005

Collapsible links to the right

Well, I added links to the side and successfully got them to stay hidden to you click on Click Me, right under the Friends, Family, and Familiars heading. Thanks to Daniel Nolan and Elise Bauer for their great, informational sites!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:43 PM | Comments ()

June 12, 2005

Posting from Dad and Mom's House

This is the best part of Movable Type is that I can post from anywhwere that I have an internet connection.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 11:13 AM | Comments ()

June 11, 2005

Mystical

This is the Kanji symbol for Mystical or Occult. I'm just using it to test the image uploading option in Movable Type.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 11:40 PM | Comments (1)

Post Dos

Post number two. Still just testing at this point. Everything works very smoothly and very quickly so far.

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:59 PM | Comments (2)

Testing 1 2 3!!

Testing Movable Type! I finally got it up and running! Woo hoo!

Posted by Michael Welsh at 8:41 PM | Comments (1)