3 Idiots is a great movie.  Please take the time to see it.  Aamir Khan is definitely one of my favorite actors.  With R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi as well this movie is going to fit right in with my collection.

You have to read subtitles unless, of course, you understand the language.  Don’t let that stop you.  Please see this movie.  Not only is it very fun, but it’s got a good message.

If all goes according to plan it should be available on YouTube soon.  Watch for it.

I’ll be going on vacation at the end of August so it’s time to get back in to some kind of shape.  (Something besides round anyway.)

I have far less weight to lose this time. I’m going to use weightwatchers again. Hopefully following the plan will let me drop the weight pretty quickly.

I’ve also been looking into joining a kung fu class.  Both for exercise and a bit of fun.  I don’t find traditional workouts enjoyable or fun.  Even in the days long gone when I’d go out and run for exercise I never got that “high” from endorphins that people talk about.  It never felt good.  I never had a good time of it.  I’m living right next to some hiking trails so I’ll probably be hitting those as well.

I need to build a rackmounted computer that is super fast.  It’s going to be installed in a mobile rack for recording audio to ProTools on the go.  I think what I’ll do is document the process here so that I can refer back.

Here are my first thoughts:

1. Not sure about a chassis.  Never bought a rackmount chassis.  Are there particular things that I should take into account when researching them?  I suppose it has to be light but durable.  It will be in a mobile rack.
2. SSDs?  A nice fast SSD for the system drive might be a good way to have darn fast response from ProTools.
3. RAID? What does ProTools think of RAID?  RAID 10 probably right?  Striped for speed and mirrored for protection.
4. No point in running 64-bit. ProTools doesn’t work unless you’re running 32-bit OS.
5. Memory- Not 64-bit so no point in installing more than 3GB
6. Video- A nice video card should probably be installed in case I decide to do post production work… SLI???
7. Processor?  No idea yet.  Probably Core i7

I’m moving my home PC over to 64-bit tonight.  I’m pretty excited about it.  I’ve been using 64-bit at the office for a while, but I’ve been nervous about doing it to my home machine. I’m also considering moving to Windows 7… Not quite sure.

In other news I’ve got some pork chops in the slow cooker that are just calling to me. I’m salivating already.

The wife and I found a cookbook called Shakespeare’s Kitchen that has some wonderful recipes in it almost a year ago.  I’m finally ready to cook something from it.  I’m almost embarrassed that it took so long. 

It’s not that I haven’t had the desire to do it.  The problem is that some of the ingredients are difficult to find in the local markets.  The recipe that I’m using requires some currants.  Unfortunately I can’t seem to find them.  I’ll be visiting another market in the next day or so to keep up the search.  I have to do it soon or I’ll have to freeze the chicken.

The recipe is for chicken with artichokes.  It sounds absolutely delicious.  I can’t wait to prepare it.  Yum.

Noun

Singular
maverick

Plural
mavericks

maverick (plural mavericks)

1. An unbranded range animal.
2. One who does not abide by rules.
3. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): One who creates or uses unconventional and/or controversial ideas or practices.
4. (poker slang) A queen and a jack as a starting hand in Texas hold 'em

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maverick

The McCain/Palin campaign has been using the term “maverick” quite a lot lately.  They’ve said that both McCain and Palin are mavericks.  I assume that they are trying to distance themselves from the current administration without using any of the democrat’s buzzwords. 

Mavericks are cool right?  Tom Cruise was Maverick in Top Gun. James Garner and Mel Gibson were Bret Maverick the well dressed poker player and con man.  Who wants Maverick as a president?

Let’s start with the first definition.  We can all probably agree that there are no “unbranded range animal[s]” in the race.  Sure, the childish folks out there might name call, but in reality it’s not happening.  I think I can safely ignore that definition.

The second definition is where it get’s interesting.  The McCain/Palin campaign surely can’t mean that the candidates will not abide by rules or should I say “laws.”  This definition clearly works for the current administration.  The Bush regime has no problem breaking the rules and ignoring those pesky laws that obviously don’t apply.  The campaign may defend this usage by saying that they mean the rule of corruption and garbage that has infested the government.  The problem with this argument is that you’d have to say McCain does not follow the rule because he follows the rules.  This does not work for the common usage of the term.  I think they want to say that he’s not afraid (to use a cliché) to think and work outside the box to solve the country’s problems.  I don’t think that works for me.

Number three doesn’t sound very appealing either.  I don’t want any surprises from the next president.  I don’t want to worry about an unpredictable cowboy with his finger on the trigger.  I’m not saying that McCain/Palin are all that.  What I’m saying is that the term “maverick” implies reckless, unpredictable, careless.  Is that what the M/P campaign thinks American wants?

The 4th definition, like the first, doesn’t really apply unless you want to do some name calling.

It amuses me to no end that this is still my number one picture on flickr. It gets more views than anything else. I don't have any other pictures that get anywhere near as many views.

Only 5 days left until the Carousel

It's always amazing to me when I find myself listening to a song that I've heard a "million times" and the lyrics finally creep into my brain.  It's funny how I can hear a song over and over and the words might not make it through.  Then one day I'll realize he said that?

As an example, I was driving down the street the other day and Shaggy's It Wasn't Me burst out of my speakers. I found myself singing along with Rikrok and Shaggy.  (This isn't unusual for me.) The funny part is that it was the first time I heard the story in the song. 

I knew the lyrics.  I was perfectly able to sing along.  Why is it that I never caught the story?  There has to be some psychological or neurological explanation. What's it called when you can retain information, but you never process it?  I've found that I will often realize that there's language that's not okay for the kids right before it comes up in the song but I don't remember the bad words before the song starts.  I think that is related somehow. 

Isn't it fantastic?  And now to search for or build the perfect theme.