Some quick thoughts:

• It’s too damn nice outside (around 80°F, sunny, nice breeze) to be stuck in this office.  I feel like the cat that’s been left inside to stare out the window.
• I hereby declare that I’m fed up with the use of the word leverage.  If I hear that word and there’s not a lever involved with lifting something it really grates on my nerves.  Perhaps I should leverage my hatred of that word and go do something productive….
• Which reminds me… the word solution is not to be used as a verb.  You have been warned.

Let’s take stock of the day so far:

• Headache—check.
• Having to review code, which is my least favorite activity—check.
• Interruptions for tech support questions (for which I am not responsible)—check.
• Having performance testing screwed up because the people that run the shared systems can’t keep a simple MQ Series server running—check.
• Urge to strangle the next poor bastard who comes through the door—check.

At least today is range day.  I can take it out on those evil paper targets.

I have a confession to make.  It’s kind of a guilty pleasure, but I like The Dead Zone series on USA.  The premise fascinates me.  Can you imagine having the ability to see the future or the past simply by touching a person or an object?

This episode from a couple of weeks ago really got my attention with the moral dilemma it presented.  Imagine knowing that one of your friends will die, but that saving your friend would cause the deaths of many others (a bus load of school kids and another friend).

* From the theme song for the show, New Year’s Prayer by Jeff Buckley.

I’m going to be attending a work-related conference this week.  It’s in downtown Dallas and I have to be there at 8:00 am.  Outside of rush hour, this wouldn’t be so bad (39 miles / about 40 minutes).  But I’m going to have to make my way through rush-hour traffic, which means I will be leaving at 6:30am. 

That would normally be bad enough, but this time change crap is really going to mess with me (it’s going to feel like 5:30am).

I’ve come to the conclusion that cats are insane.  I was over at a friend’s house last night for a birthday party.  She has a large cat that is generally pretty friendly.  I was petting the cat and scratching its back, which it seemed to like, when it suddenly bit me (and it wasn’t a little play-bite either, as it drew blood).  What causes a cat to go from happy to biting like that?

All I can conclude is that cats are not to be trusted.  They’re sneaky little devils and you never know what they’re going to do.  I’ve always preferred dogs to cats (although I don’t hate cats), and this is just one more thing that reinforces that.  A happy dog isn’t going to bite you while you’re petting it.

I saw a circular in today’s paper with one of my pet peeves in huge type (it was a full page ad).  I can’t stand it when people use the contraction “it’s” (it is) when they really intend to use the possessive “its”.  Unfortunately, many people don’t seem to realize when they’re doing it.

Some other pet peeves are using “your” for “you’re” and “then” for “than”.

Over the years I’ve felt a great deal of frustration at the goings-on of our government.  I paid many thousands of dollars a year in taxes, yet it often seemed that my voice was not being represented.  In fact, my viewpoint was often the subject of ridicule among the chattering classes who felt that they knew better than me how to spend my money and run my life.  I know that many other people also feel this way, as evidenced by the explosion of talk radio and libertarian and conservative weblogs.

But despite my anger at being ignored and marginalized, I never lashed out at anyone or became violent, and neither did my fellow travellers on this road.  At our hearts, we’re law-abiding and orderly folk and would prefer to live without making a lot of waves (which, not so coincidentally, is why we fight so hard against what we consider to be bad legislation).

Why am I bringing this up?  Well, the anti-war crowd seems to be very frustrated at losing the debate over this war.  Rather than suck it up and work through legitimate channels, they are engaging in destructive and violent behavior (exactly the kind of thing they accuse us of at every chance they get). 

What really ticks me off about this crowd is that the rest of us are having to pay for their tantrums through our taxes (and insurance).  Worse still are those college students who are wasting our money by walking out and disrupting classes.  If I’m going to be forced to pay for their damn education, then they can at least do me the courtesy of being grateful for that education by taking advantage of the chance they’ve been given.  If they’re so unhappy with America, then they can give up their slot to someone else who deserves it.  After all, why take money from someone you hate?

No, I’m not referring to the addlepated “peace” protesters, but that foul fowl know as the grackle.  I spent a significant amount of time outside yesterday cleaning up the yard and mowing.  I have a bad habit of ignoring the back yard area during the winter, so I had a lot of leaves and junk built up back there.  As I was bagging the leaves (which was no mean feat, given the winds we had yesterday), I didn’t give much thought to the fact that I was standing under a big tree.  Or at least I didn’t until I noticed something odd on my jacket.  One of those filthy little buggers up in the tree had dropped a little gift for me.

Let’s just say that I was less than thrilled.  It’s lucky (for the bird, anyway), that Denton has this pesky little ordinance about discharging firearms in the city limit, or that bird would have been reduced to a fine red mist and a cloud of feathers floating on the wind.  I briefly contemplated a silent attack using my high-powered assault slingshot, but my temper cooled before doing anything rash.

I saw a brief video of the Iraqi Information Minister* on TV this morning.  I thought it humerous because I could hear him talking, but I couldn’t see him because he was completely hidden behind a wall of microphones.  Now if I could just find a way to similarly turn off his rantings and ravings (along with much of what is coming out of the Arab world).

* I consider any country that has a Ministry of Information as untrustworthy simply for having such an organization.

It another big race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.  Somewhere on the order of 400,000 rabid NASCAR fans will descend on the area, backing up traffic and getting in the way of local residents.  Every Friday before a race weekend I end up stuck in a traffic jam on 377 at 1171.

Argh.

It’s too bad I can’t have those front-mounted rocket launchers I’ve always wanted for my Avalanche….