Swordplay.net

Ya so, it seems I’ve changed blog engines yet again. b2evolution was causing problems for my host. Apparently it has some vulnerabilities that allow spammers to assault the commenting system. And while their attempts were not actually sucessful, they did manage to totally cripple MySQL. Thus every other site on my host’s server suffered. So b2evo had to go.

I’m back on WordPress now. I’m not totally thrilled with it, but I think it will allow me to do some of the things I said I wanted to do.

Anyway, bear with me. I will get my old links back and get the page looking pretty soon. And let’s hope I can actually stick with WordPress for more than a few months. (I really don’t have the best track record).

Joel Blogging

Oh hey, I totally forgot to post this video clip of my jack-o-lantern. He’s an angry pumpkin. I went all out this year with a light show. Enjoy!

Joel Life

Yes, you are correct. I have not posted recently. So just to keep things from getting stale, here’s a bunny with a pancake in its head:

Joel Blogging, Online Miscellanea

I need to pay a little more attention to this blog to get it where I want it to be.

I feel like I should have a real Links section. I mean, this is a web page. What’s the point of a web page that doesn’t lead you places? I’ll at least link some of the other blogs I read. Just my friends, mostly.

I’d also like to figure out a better way to do the Currently… sidebar. It would be great if that section could automatically get archived. It’s a little labor-intensive to put up new items, so I don’t want what’s there to just go poof when I update. That stuff shouldn’t be completely ephemeral.

And lastly, I’d like a way to make a static page within the site template. I was surprised to find that b2evolution doesn’t have a way to do this. You can make a permanent page. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to do it and have it NOT be a blog post. I can probably come up with a hack to get it working.

I’ll try to work on these things this week.

Joel Blogging

The marathon of standardized testing is over! The SAT’s, PSAT’s, and ACT’s. All in a two week period. I don’t have too much to say about the experience, other than that it sucked. But as much as it sucked for me, it was many times worse for the poor kids taking these tests.

Hopefully I can get on with my life now. And maybe even have more things to post about here.

Joel Work

It’s Yom Kippur, and thus I’m home. I’m not going to temple or fasting or anything. Things have been going at pretty much breakneck speed for a while at work, so I’m just enjoying the day off.

I think we’re going to go out and see Corpse Bride a little later. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my all-time favorite movies, so this has a lot to live up to.

I will likely also be playing a lot of WoW today. I’ve hardly played at all since before the summer. I think I just needed a break. But the latest patch has drawn me back in. My Tauren Druid just hit level 56 last night. I’m in the home stretch!

My Sexy Moonkin

UPDATE: Corpse Bride was great!

Joel Gaming, Life, Movies

My Dad sometimes would tell me about something my Great-Grandfather used to say. “A lazy man runs twice, and a cheap man spends twice”. It basically means to do stuff right the first time. Well, I should have known better.

For the second time in a week, I had a powersupply meltdown in my PC. The first was understandable. It wasn’t the best PSU to begin with, and I had been using it for well over a year. It finally gave up the ghost. But rather than do the right thing and get a high-quality, name-brand replacements, I decided to be cheap. I just went out to my local hole-in-the-wall computer store and bought the best PSU they had. Which cost all of $30.

So a week later, I install my brand new copy of Black & White 2. It’s a gorgeous game to look at, but that means it’s very taxing on a system. I crank the detail settings and get to play for all of about 5 minutes. Then I smell that stench of electronic death and the whole thing cuts out, never to stir again.

It’s my own damn fault.

Joel Family

I’m sitting here in my little temporary office while a couple hundred kids are having the worst day of their lives. Yes, it’s the SAT’s!

These tests get longer and more stupid all the time. It’s really an endurance test for these poor suckers kids. I’m so glad this kind of thing is behind me.

But running the show here isn’t exactly fun, either. I’ve already had a parent yell at me and another interrogate me. I’ve also had a kid refuse to take the test he’s supposed to and others demand special treatment. Gotta stay firm. But it’s kinda funny. The ones who insist on doing things their way are just screwing themselves over. And I don’t have time to argue with them and convince them that they are risking their scores being cancelled. They are making their own beds…

Joel Work

Happy New Year to all the Semites in da house.

I had a pretty placid couple of days home from work. I got a new cell phone, replaced a blown power supply in my main PC, and ate some good deli.

I also finally got to see Serenity over the weekend. I highly recommend it to fans of the TV show Firefly. And for those who aren’t fans of the show, I highly recommend running out and getting the DVD’s to rectify that particular shortcoming.

Well, it’s back to work tomorrow. Should be a busy couple weeks coming up, unfortunately. I will be administering an SAT, a PSAT, and an ACT exam for hundreds of kids. Any one of these is no sweat by themselves, but back to back to back is a little much. Mainly just a lot of tedious details to keep track of and nervous parents and kids to assuage. The fun never stops!

Joel Life, Sci-Fi, Work

I spent the afternoon at the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park. It’s an annual event that takes place about seven blocks from my house in one of the most picturesque parks in Manhattan. There was the usual assortment of vendors, minstrels, sword fights, and jousting. And of course, the LARP‘ers were out in full force (and full costume).

God, I love seeing so many people unashamed of their own unbridled geekiness. To put on a full body costume and walk the streets of New York as a wizard, knight, or tavern wench takes a certain brand of courage I probably will never have. And at the same time I can’t help but cringe a little. Most folks are just there to get their freak on and have a good time. But there are always a few who you just know are going overboard with the whole thing.

Well, I still love it. Though my wife, I think, has a more typical attitude: “I guess I can put up with it once per year.”

Joel Life