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Musings for the week of 2009-01-05

Olaf — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:59:59 +0000

Kids’ countdown to the new year at noon at Ink in Gainesville. #
Happy New Year! We’re out of here and heading to the beach in the later A.M. #
I was just singing along to a song using my bass voice. My wife said it sounded like a burp! #
New Year’s Day is nearly over. We made it to the beach in time for dinner and look forward to some post-holiday vacationing! #
Heading to the beach on a warm-ish January day! #
Just ate an *immense* amount of food at McGuire’s in Pensacola. #
Mama Mia! The ladies picked the movie tonight… #
Just got back into town. Having real Internet access again is like a sip of really good coffee after a camping trip! #

Twitter Updates for 2008-08-05

Olaf — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:59:59 +0000

This one is for real: please vote for my Threadless.com submission… http://is.gd/1g0F #
Drum circle tonight in downtown Gainesville (GA). Look forward to some sweat-laden percussion! #

Top 5: Things You Wanted to Know About Me

Olaf — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:41:50 +0000

The meme is apparently now a lost word; used only by uncool dads and hipless (as in the lack of being hip) half-wits. I’m getting on in years, relatively speaking, and am inclined to use such lingo as to embarrass those who would be so easily offended.

For lack of better alternatives, I bring to you the current meme on my plate. Young whipper-snappers may be unfamiliar with this word, but it is essentially an Internet chain-letter. Spazzmanda passed this on to me from her blog, where she refers to such activities as “tagging.” I always thought that was a cultural art of defacement by way of graffiti, but what does an old fart like me know.

The Rules: Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Your answer, of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? One decade ago I was two months from my 2nd wedding anniversary with my lovely wife, Amy. We had no children, though we had pets. We were in our first year at our first house together (and current house). Amy was still in school at North Georgia College and State University (though it may not have been a State University at the time), and I was working for…Whittman-Hart, perhaps. I was a consultant beginning to cut my teeth on information systems security. It would be my primary job and objective for the next several years. I registered gradin.com for the first time – it was a standard 2-year registration and cost me $70.00 (I think my last registration was $8.95 for a year). I was finally able to access my awesome Mindspring account web space using my rocking X2 US Robotics Sportster (externel) modem via www.gradin.com. I was working in Allaire’s Cold Fusion, though I couldn’t afford a license for the server to host my own site using their technology. I used Allaire’s Homesite as my primary editor with Photoshop and Fractal Painter as my graphics packages. I think I was trying to get onto Bellsouth’s xDSL beta program, but with no luck due to my distance from the carrier. I was, however, involved with Wachovia’s beta online account access. It was a glorified BBS – awesome!

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today? I’ve got ESX hosts to convert to 3.5i, installable. SAN storage to attach, and VMs to migrate both through traditional migrations, as well as the new and improved Storage VMotion. I also have some process proposal documentation to get done for the collected efforts of the Norcross lab engineering team, as well as that of our Hillsboro office. I hope to get some ping-pong in at lunch, ride my bike 10 miles back to my car, and then facilitate a drum circle for 100 people in northeast Georgia with some friends.

3. Snacks I enjoy: Have you tried my nuts? They’re salty and dimensionally variant. I enjoy the texture especially, though others are just happy I am able to share – there’s more than enough for everyone to enjoy! I also like beef jerky and granola bars.

4. Places I’ve lived: I’ve had a good spread in my life, though as of late my homestead has been very static. I began in Ocean Springs, MI; moved to Plano, TX, and then jumped to San Diego, CA shortly thereafter. We moved a couple of times there, but finally moved out the state to Tuscon, AZ. From there, we departed for Waycross, GA, and then onto Gainesville, GA where I live now. I’ve moved several times throughout both of these places in Georgia, and I’ve been here the longest amount of time so far.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: This is actually the title of a post I’ve been working on for a while now. It’s a recurring theme throughout our decade+ of marriage, and one that will most likely continue to develop and mature in time. The most boring thing I think of from our list is to pay-off debt and acquire some commercial real estate to lease. There’s money accumulation prospects in that, so we would do well to set ourselves for the inevitable loss of said billions through the frivolous purchases from our list. There are two more intriguing opportunities: 1) Develop a waterfront district on Lake Lanier – a boardwalk with shops and dining – that aids in the lake’s restoration efforts, as well as providing some awareness about the lake’s ecosystem. 2) Convert an old mill on the outskirts of town into a turn-of-the-century arts and crafts guild. History tells us that these guilds are mere congregations of passionate people in the arts and crafts and generally have no ability to sustain themselves financially.

5 “Tagged”

The Hot is Here to Stay

Olaf — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:21:16 +0000

Well…that’s it, folks; it’s official. Summer is here and it’s not going to be getting any cooler for a while. Enjoy the longer days, bar-b-q’s, swimming, and sun. The lake still isn’t up to a satisfactory level for those using it recreationally, but at least it’s still here!

Balthazar and I swam in it just this weekend. It felt quite nice, though I did receive my admonishment from Amy about diseases and bacteria living on our skin after the swim. I didn’t shower either of us afterwards, which apparently is the logical choice after soaking in the lake’s bacterial soup.

Gainesville Revokes Local Business License

Olaf — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:48:14 +0000

I had written about Silver Stars shortly after they had opened, and today I report on another momentous event for Gainesville and its small business community. Silver Stars has been shut down indefinitely for failure to obtain a proper business permit. Funny thing is, they were given a permit to do business originally. After these several months, the City Council’s office has finally over-ruled the original permit granted.

I had originally applauded the city’s apparent progressive attitude towards new business ventures in the likes of adult novelties, though now I see this was a mistake. Silver Stars seemed to be doing well in their inauguration into the Gainesville business community. I know they had many customers, friends, and partners throughout the city. Their website reports that they are still able (and encouraging people) to process online orders. There is some glimmer of hope, I suppose, that they may be able to work out a business license through some loophole. Should that happen, they’ll be back in business until the Council finds some other way to shut them down.

Incidentally, I’m looking through the City Ordinances trying to find the specific violation, but have been unable to do so. If anyone can point me to the specific code, I’d appreciate it.

Gävlebocken (The Gävle Goat)

Olaf — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:27:39 +0000

In a small city north of Stockholm, 5,000 onlookers welcome a giant Goat as it is unveiled each year around Yule. For several decades now, the Gävle Goat has made a historical mark in Gävle history as it is either sacrificed or spared during the Winter.

In 1969 the goat was burned on New Year’s Eve.

In 1970 the first goat burned six hours after it was erected. Two heavily intoxicated youths were tied to the crime. With contributions from several donors, the goat was rebuilt, this time of reeds.

In 1971 the local merchants who had previously built the goat abandoned the project, tired of seeing it burn each year. The science association at the Vasaskolan upper secondary school took over. Their little goat was broken to pieces.

In 1972 the goat collapsed due to sabotage.

It’s a Guiness Book record holder – probably for all times, but I haven’t checked that factoid out. I love the idea of a massive, miscellaneous craft project brought to local cheers and jeers. It’s unclear to me how the whole thing got started back in 1966, but it’s town tradition now that triumphs through all manner of abuse. I mentioned to a friend of mine in Sweden that my family should start our own goat (Gradinbocken) to display at the house and arouse further suspicions that we were…off. He pointed out that anyone late to that party may not notice something as obvious as a 1,300lb straw goat either. Still, it’s a worthy venture I think! Anyone want to start a Gainesville tradition? Maybe a Godzilla-sized chicken would be more appropriate…

The Lumberjacks were Here

Olaf — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:41:30 +0000

This morning a guy with a fluorescent-green shirt came to the door a little after 8:00am. “It’s a little too early to be sporting that color,” I thought. Apparently, after 7 or 8 years now, it was time for the local officials to take notice of a small stand of Mimosa trees I had reared from seeds. Two of them them were growing underneath the power lines, and seen as a serious enough risk that they would be cut down immediately. It’s very unfortunate because the trees are beautiful and provide some cover from the neighborhood traffic during the summer. I’m thankful, I guess, that they didn’t have to cut the biggest down. But I’m still sad to see them go. My wife was able to salvage a portion of the second tree; they merely cut the offending limbs off.

Bah! Wireless power will be all the rage in the future…

Silver Stars: A Sensual Boutique

Olaf — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:49:04 +0000

It was about a year ago that I wrote about Gainesville’s decision to close its doors to the occult. If you’re on the business end of the occult, maybe now is a good opportunity to try out your entrepreneurial venture again! Gainesville is now the happy home of one Silver Stars: A Sensual Boutique. This year’s Chamber of Commerce approval board must be a younger, more accepting group, though I haven’t heard of any reversals yet on fortune tellers.

Silver Stars is described as a classier place, targeting primarily women and couples:

Forget venturing into the sleazy adult video store in the seedy part of town. We strive to provide women and couples with a safe, clean, upscale and positive environment that presents all of our products in a fun and intuitive way.

Not for nothing, the store is located just over the city line to avoid some harsher political scrutiny, as well as maintaining a minimum amount of pornographic material. I believe it’s the magazines that can get you shut down in Gainesville, but their videos are described as “educational” just in case. However, if I read quickly through the list of items bulleted on their site, I get the false impression that I might be able to do a lot of my Christmas shopping there too:

Bath Products
Handmade Soaps and Lotions
Educational Books & DVD’s
Party Supplies
T-Shirts
And Lots More…

*There’s a lot to be said for “and lots more…”

Status Upgrade: “Celebrity”

Olaf — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:56:48 +0000

An associate from work recently pointed out to me that the likelihood of the names, “Fox, Olaf, and Balthazar” from Gainesville being someone other than my family is a losing bet. A bit like solving the geometric theorem that three points make the line, I presume.

It turns out that a picture of my wife was randomly discovered on Digg over the weekend holding a dollar bill on which those terms were written in permanent marker. In addition to the fact that there is now irrefutable evidence showing her guilt to federal property vandalism, the incident now brings her image to celebrity status. Digg is bigg, and showing up on it in any form is worthy of commemoration in my mind.

A Night of Amazing Celtic Music!

Olaf — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:59:13 +0000

My wife and an old high school friend of ours, Colin Blackledge, have put together a most remarkable double-event concert this Friday off the downtown square in Gainesville. Seven Nations and Emerald Rose will be performing in the small pizza bar venue that is the Monkey Barrel. For $15.00, you can get in to see these great acts as they jam Celtic-rock style! If you want to give up some information in advance, you can avoid the line and get priority entry to the event. Just call (770) 287-0970 and let them know you are interested in the Friday concert with Seven Nations and Emerald Rose.

Friday, October 26th
The Monkey Barrel
115 Washington St.
Gainesville, GA 30501

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Seven Nations is a five-man Celtic rock band that features bagpipes and fiddle. Their style is a fusion of traditional and original music. 7N has toured the world playing the Winter Olympics, Irish/Scottish Highland Games and Festivals, as well as traditional concert venues.

Emerald Rose is a four-man Celtic folk-rock band with a rich, traditional world fusion sound with influences randing from the Chieftains to Jethro Tull. Blending amazing vocals and driving guitars and bass, their music ranges from traditional jigs and reels to original folk rock and pop.