tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-193648442011-07-07T19:18:37.399-07:00The random thoughts of a random humanRoderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.comBlogger891100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-64802905465888046392009-07-02T00:05:00.000-07:002009-07-02T00:06:43.000-07:00

It seems like there has been an unusually high number of celebrity deaths the last few weeks. Each one reminds me about my own impending mortality -- and a day I do not look forward to. Other than watching them on TV as a child, I admit I do not have many memories to tell about them. My brothers had posters of David Carradine (as Caine in "Kung Fu") and Farah Fawcett. Karl Malden filmed a scene

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-21595980431501003982009-06-26T16:18:00.000-07:002009-06-26T16:25:29.400-07:00

... a scrawny young college graduate walked into a shiny little office building in Belmont, California for his first day of work. He had been hired despite some people raising reservations that during the interviews a few days earlier, he came across as possibly being too shy to talk to customers on the phone. But others argued that the kid knew Unix, networking, and SQL and thought logically

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-46303426582161924442009-01-06T02:55:00.000-08:002009-01-06T03:38:18.478-08:00

Someday I will start publishing more photos of my travels over the years. The hard part is most of my pictures were taken with old-fashioned film so I will have to spend time digitizing them. And then I might pay for a photo hosting site. I am leaning towards sticking with flickr.Not sure why I am starting with this photo. It really does nothing to show where I am. But I thought it was

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-14159726075520820812008-10-26T20:56:00.000-07:002008-10-26T20:56:01.010-07:00

I only recently caught up with season 12 of the Amazing Race and I am 4 or 5 episodes behind on season 13. That is one downside of having a DVR -- I can delay watching something practically forever. The technology is still not perfect. I may have missed an episode or 2 along the way, and I think I lost my notes on another episode.I will only make my comments brief, so I can start watching Season

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-35624678632510915422008-07-01T01:25:00.000-07:002008-07-01T01:25:11.721-07:00

Been a while since I posted anything here. Someday I'll even comment on the final two episodes of the Amazing Race which I still have to watch. Hopefully, I will get that done and post my comments before the next season starts.In the meantime, I have been keeping my nose to the grindstone at work. I have not been on a plane in months, but if I had to be stuck anywhere, the San Francisco Bay Area

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-38727047151905854202008-01-13T21:12:00.000-08:002008-01-13T21:10:10.134-08:00

After last week's episode, this week seemed a bit more tense. Maybe because the teams visited the busiest city in the world. Maybe because the Goths had a penalty to serve and it was guaranteed to be an elimination leg. I did not even note who came in first. The whole show was basically a race between the Goths and Nate/Jen for second to last place. In the end, Jen got a friendly bit of help

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-82017249906620074072008-01-13T19:45:00.000-08:002008-01-13T19:43:24.732-08:00

This leg of the race turned out to be scenic but fairly non-eventful. The granfather / grandson team took a fast forward that involved getting tattoos and ended up winning a trip to Cancun. The Goths may have gotten lost on the roads of Italy and finished last. Luckily it was a non-elimination pit stop but they face a new twist of a Speed Bump (an extra challenge) in the next leg.The teams were

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-50287252112700854702008-01-05T22:43:00.000-08:002008-01-05T22:41:13.612-08:00

In this episode, it was another case of airport drama as teams tried to catch early flights from Lithuania to Croatia. Not listening to details probably cost the race for the brother / sister team who had one several of the early legs. They were booked business class seats instead of economy by a travel agent. It was hard to tell if the agent was just upselling or if the economy seats for a

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-66598779679658960512008-01-05T20:54:00.000-08:002008-01-05T20:51:55.579-08:00

This was probably one of the more uneventful episodes of AR I can recall. However, one team went from almost worst to first and another team was eliminated after earning bad karma in the previous leg, so it was not a bad episode overall.It seemed like most of the leg had the teams scrambling for flights from Burkina Faso in West Africa to Vilnius, Lithuania. I imagine it is not a popular flight

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-64207362327273772482008-01-05T20:14:00.000-08:002008-01-05T20:13:38.832-08:00

As I stated in a previous blog entry, I lost a few episodes of this season's Amazing Race. I believe they were 2 and 3. This means I can comment only on 1 and 4 and hope I do not lose any others going forward.The 12th Amazing Race started at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. I guess it was as good a place as any to start since most of the teams were from Southern California. I did not pay close

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-4015917536718854682008-01-02T22:05:00.000-08:002008-01-02T22:04:16.263-08:00

I guess it has been a while again since I have updated my blog. With a writer's strike pretty much ending any original (non-reality) programming on network television, one would think I would have few distractions from blogging. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. It just takes a few.Lately, I have been spending time reading other blogs that shall remain nameless. None of them are

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-82726331109660467642007-11-10T23:59:00.000-08:002007-11-10T23:57:59.511-08:00

I must be officially old when people start to reminisce about life and technologies in the 1990's as they do in this Engadget Blog Posting. Spin the clock back another 15 or 20 years and now you have a television show with no cell phones, pagers, or even personal computers and it would be doubtful anything could be done in 24 hours. Roll the clock back just a bit more, and the show would be

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-74384846583439512342007-11-10T23:50:00.000-08:002008-01-05T20:14:49.114-08:00

A very belated congratulations to Eric and Danielle for winning the Amazing Race and $1 million dollars after being "Yielded" twice, surviving an elimination penalty, and basically tolerating each other. The editors made their relationship look less stable than maybe it really is. I did not think they would survive so long in the race. In the end, Eric's memory of Danielle's opinions of the other

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-36440380083901645622007-11-04T21:52:00.000-08:002007-11-04T21:51:40.031-08:00

This episode marked the end for Danny and Oswald. Not sure how they fell behind again after all the teams were bunched together in Guam. They must have gotten lost driving again. Despite the bunching, the Beauty Queens seemed to breeze through this leg from start to finish. It left very little tension in the race. The airlift and search and rescue exercise were highlights in this episode, and may

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-40308680908239661502007-11-04T20:00:00.000-08:002007-11-04T19:59:09.467-08:00

In this leg with no airline flights involved, one would think a six-hour gap between first and last place would be safe. But Team Cha Cha Cha decided to do just about everything wrong.1. Earn bad karma by dealing with the devil team disguised as blond beauty queens.2. Never ditched their incompetent taxi driver (or at least a driver with communication issues)3. Waited to long to ask for

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-23570136397874374912007-11-04T16:11:00.000-08:002007-11-04T16:09:23.055-08:00

Okay I took a six-month+ leave of absence from my blog for reasons I may or may not go into someday. On top of that I lost my notes for an episode (if not two) of the Amazing Race All-Stars. But since the new season starts tonight, I better post what few notes I do have.This leg involved teams racing from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The order of finish was pretty much determined in the Kuala

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-3614185743134229952007-04-20T22:25:00.001-07:002007-04-20T22:25:55.537-07:00

This episode turned out to be a two-parter. What started out as a gap of 16 hours or so between first and last place ended with the last few teams just a few minutes apart. However, a 30-minute penalty incurred at the end of a non-elimination leg resulted in Team Guido being Philiminated. Meanwhile, Team Cha Cha Cha decided to try to win some karma points by allowing Joyce and Uchenna to win a

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-10886957520548424912007-04-09T00:50:00.000-07:002007-04-09T00:47:51.966-07:00

This leg of the race was largely determined by luck in getting chosen off a waiting list for flights from Mozambique to Tanzania. The most dramatic moment was Eric and Danielle getting booted off a plane after they had already been seated. It was interesting that Eric had a premonition that something like that could happen. It also seemed a bit unfair given that they were the first team to get on

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-13483207520985344542007-04-08T22:52:00.000-07:002007-04-08T22:51:04.144-07:00

The key to this leg of the race was depending on the kindness of strangers. Charla and Mirna moved from last to first [as opposed to Romber who fell from first to last in the previous leg] by getting a local to give them directions around Maputo. They also were quick to find both men and women willing to pay to have their nails painted. Meanwhile, Joyce and Uchenna showed that nice guys can

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-49945260869006042732007-04-08T21:40:00.000-07:002007-04-08T21:39:43.800-07:00

I'll have to post some very quick recaps of the last few episodes as I've fallen way behind in my TV viewing. Perhaps it has just taken me this long to get over the shock of this episode.On this leg, the Karma police decided to strike down Team Romber pretty early instead of making Rob feel the huge disappointment of losing on the very last leg. I was hoping that when Rob and Amber were married,

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-51515949051299943552007-03-12T12:45:00.000-07:002007-03-12T00:43:36.577-07:00

This week marked the end of the race for the beloved Kentucky miners. All through this leg of the race I kept hoping the karmic police would step in and punish Charla and Mirna for trying to cut in line. Their panic can also be a bit annoying but that does not impact Karma points. Fortunately, they gained some points for inadvertently helping the hopelessly lost Team Guido. The miners somehow

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-66320620654988972862007-03-11T23:57:00.000-07:002007-03-11T23:56:33.665-07:00

The theme of this episodes race revolved around paying attention to details. Missing one instruction about speed limits cost Kevin and Drew the race while Romber cruised to another victory.The Road Block challenge took the teams into a staged boardroom meeting. Letters on buttons or pens or shirts had to be combined to find a secret word that would get them the next clue. Eric should have been

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-8529748016442816502007-02-25T10:48:00.000-08:002007-02-25T10:47:21.257-08:00

With the small amount of hits my blog gets, I easily noticed a random blip of recent activity around my review of The Departed. I take that as a sign that the Academy Awards will be on tonight.I have been negligent in sharing my thoughts about several other movies I have watched since seeing The Departed, and maybe I will give them the fuller reviews they deserver at some later date. Also, I have

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-78819573752490079302007-02-24T19:30:00.001-08:002007-02-24T19:30:22.012-08:00

The Amazing Race is back and well I guess I am too.I guess I now better appreciate people who manage to post entries more regularly. It is so easy to let blogging slide way down on the "To Do" list.Anyway, it is hard for me to comment on the first leg of the race because I messed up. Not entirely but pretty badly. I forgot that by DVR was set up was specifically to record the Amazing Race 10 and

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-56618870846256597022006-12-11T00:48:00.000-08:002006-12-11T00:49:00.160-08:00

I guess attaining 3000 hits is a great achievement for a major league baseball player, but it is a tiny pittance for a web site that has been around for only slightly more than a year.For Year 2 of the Chronicles, I have migrated to the Beta version of Blogger and updated my template to take advantage of the new features without giving up much of the old look at feel. The labels should allow

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-71601216913063012022006-12-11T00:14:00.001-08:002006-12-11T00:14:15.644-08:00

Congratulations to the Models for winning the Amazing Race 10. I guess it is nice to see a couple of reformed drug addicts show what people can do if they set their minds to it. My gut thought Rob and Kim would win, but as usual, I guessed wrong. I should have known the Models would win when challenges included putting a dress together and traveling between the fashion capitals of Paris and New

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-41592204237612207872006-12-03T22:46:00.000-08:002006-12-03T22:47:48.590-08:00

The Thanksgiving holiday, a pileup of work assignments, and apartment cleaning prevented me from paying attention to my blog last week. Bad way to start off Year Two of my Chronicles, which is due for some minor tweaks to take advantage of the new Beta Blogger features.Anyway, this edition of the race has remained true to form and had the teams finish in almost the exact reverse order than I

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-57658214362533917772006-11-19T23:45:00.000-08:002006-11-19T23:44:50.181-08:00

The Cho Bros pretty much choked this week, or at least that's how it was implied. Starting out the second half of the leg having to confront their fear of heights may have made them too tentative for the rest of the leg. The time they wasted needing to stop and ask for guidance over and over was about as bad as driving the wrong way confidently. But at least they dispelled one stereotype that

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-67667151797454461112006-11-16T02:25:00.000-08:002006-11-16T02:26:08.056-08:00

A while back Tom Kyte was reminiscing about some old IBM equipment and joked about wireless electricity. 11 months later this news article talks about a more practical wireless electricity solution.

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-89101695906357402372006-11-13T22:58:00.000-08:002006-11-13T22:57:46.524-08:00

This was a pretty tense week. It ended with a literal cliff hanger as the Male Models rappelled down the side of a stadium tower face first hoping to finish first and get a nice prize from Phil only to find out the race was not over. The Beauty Queens should not have been that far behind them. Meanwhile the remaining three teams were about an hour back and scrambling not to be eliminated.The Bama

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1162803419159538572006-11-06T00:50:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:55.768-08:00

Carl Backstrom's Blog mentioned a cool video of a trip from LA to NY taken with time-lapse photography. But the link to the movie from that site seemed to take too long to download. So I found a better source here. The mount did not seem to drift at all. It is also pretty interesting that nobody tried to steal the camera from the back of that convertible (or maybe any attempts were edited out).

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1162800740208092152006-11-06T00:05:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:55.691-08:00

All good things must come to an end (I figured I needed a Star Trek: TNG reference in my blog eventually). For the miners, the race around the world finally ended in Madagascar. At least Mary got to experience some new things, and learned that Madagascar is more than just an animated move. It also was good to see that the new non-elimination penalty of a 30 minute wait for a non-first place

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1162450915404483052006-11-01T22:55:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:55.627-08:00

I have been meaning to write this for weeks but I suppose the day after Halloween is as good a time as any to stop procrastinating.One thing I have been thinking about as the "Big Four-Zero" quickly approaches is going on a healthier diet. I decided I will not try to eat less and exercise more since the more I think about not eating the more I actually do eat. I am sort of like that slow reading

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1162192652867014072006-10-29T23:12:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:55.560-08:00

Rob summed up how the show has developed so far by observing, "It's amazing how this race flips, dude!" [Yes. All people in California address each other as 'Dude' or 'Man']. The coal miners went from last to first and back to last place, but were spared from elimination once again. They seem to be following the BJ and Tyler tactic of winning by losing and lulling their competitors into

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1161590405487866942006-10-23T00:56:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.494-08:00

Congratulations to the Miners for leaping from over 5 hours behind in last place to first with an assist from the Chos and a Fast Forward where Mary improved to 4 out of 6 in the unofficial episode naming contest. Maybe someone needs to inform her that Steven Seagal has starred in only one or two slightly successful movies in the last 10 years. Audiences cheering as his character fell to his

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1160979247317319502006-10-15T23:08:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.344-08:00

I cannot remember the last time a team could not get seats on a plane and having that put them into last place for the whole leg. The bad news is that is what happened to the Coal Miners. The good news is it was the first non-elimination leg. They must now face the interesting challenge of keeping their possessions and money, but having to go from last to first and/or possibly facing a 30 minute

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1160382198530608922006-10-09T01:15:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.281-08:00

I now see why so little action took place last week. I think the race planners were letting the contestants gather some strength for some pretty tough physical challenges this week. Each team looked exhausted and relieved as they reached the mat; they could barely celebrate not being eliminated.This stage of the race was particularly tough on Rob. He was treated for heat exhaustion before

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1160254943285724082006-10-07T13:56:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.207-08:00

I'll start right off and say that The Departed is the best crime movie that I've seen in a long time. V for Vendetta and Inside Man are the only other movies I remember this year that kept me entertained from start to finish.The story, adapted from a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs, adds an interesting twist to the usual the undercover cop infiltrating a crime gang story by spending

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1160032824229846742006-10-05T00:16:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.141-08:00

The latest X-Men DVD was released this week, but my review is based on what I saw on the big screen this past summer. If I remember correctly, the movie set a box office record for an opening weekend. I think Bryan Singer deserves most of the credit since he did such a great job building expectations with the first two entries of this series. The director and producers of X-Men 3 may have only

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1159855840146751312006-10-02T23:00:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.077-08:00

Some day, I may post reviews on this season's new shows, a few of which may eventually earn a slot on my Must See list. Some may get canceled or get relegated to 'online only' status before they get a real chance. But so far it looks like this:Must see TVSunday: The Simpsons, The Amazing Race, Desperate HousewivesMonday: Prison BreakTuesday: HouseWednesday: LostThursday: My Name is Earl, The

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1159853945983094412006-10-02T22:30:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:55.006-08:00

Actually I had written this up much earlier, but the computer swallowed my posting (Perhaps I shut down my browser before saving anything). So now I have to rewrite this from memory.This week's episode was not as action-packed as the previous episodes, but it was still nail biting. Most of the teams were so close together that a 30-minute penalty moved one team from second place to near

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1159168577995491682006-09-25T00:10:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.939-08:00

Random luck (or lack thereof) played a major role this week. Transportation allowed the teams to bunch together and arrive in Outer Mongolia all even, and the team positions changed pretty frequently from there depending on whims of taxi drivers, automobiles, and animals. It's not clear that any team did anything to deserve the bad karma. It was the cardinal "no-no" of driving in the wrong

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1158648251429470542006-09-19T01:07:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.875-08:00

This edition has started with much promise. The producers did a good job of bringing people from all around the country from different walks of life, but the teams were not radically different in makeup vs. past seasons. I found it amusing that all of the teams looked more like sibling than what they really were (except for the team that is actually brothers). Fortunately, so much about the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1158475515676012652006-09-16T23:40:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.804-08:00

The only reality show I care about, The Amazing Race, premieres with its 10th edition in less than 24 hours, but I still will take an occassional glance at the other game shows.My random thoughts:Treasure Hunters: NBC tried to capture the magic of The Amazing Race with this initially promising entry. It was touted as being created by one of the producers of The DaVinci Code. Interestingly, the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1157838803746617432006-09-09T14:51:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.736-08:00

... or maybe it's trance / house with a shade of David Byrne, butVitamins are Good for YouWonder if there's a video for this.

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1157245044967343892006-09-08T01:25:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.606-08:00

One of the many things I did during my summer vacation (from blogging) was purchase a PC. A close connection helped me procure a fairly brand new high end desktop PC previously used only for game demos at the recent E3 convention at a great discount. It has a 3.0GHz dual core Pentium D, dual nVidia video cards, dual 150GB SATA disks in a RAID 1 configuration, and yada, yada, yada.I also finally

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1157610533406581892006-09-06T23:23:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.671-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had a rare opportunity to cross paths with the globe-trotting Tom Kyte. The meeting went down like this:Me: Hi, Tom.TK: Hello. brief pause Are you on strike from you blog? another brief pause... and at this point I get the sense he is accessing his L2 cache The last thing you wrote was about a Backyard Bellagio about two months ago.He was, of course, absolutely correct. At this

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1149409584406828742006-06-04T01:23:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.469-08:00

Two guys show what happens when you mix Diet Coke and Mentos.Thanks to ex-talk.bizarre contributor bc for passing this out along with other neat finds.

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1149129171483416002006-05-31T19:30:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.388-08:00

My only other blog post related to Oracle has been beefed up, cleaned up, and converted into a Case Study (Metalink DocID 369427.1). Actually that happened a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I'd mention here eventually. I have to thank a couple of people on my team (Hector and Vickie) for pointing out the typos and suggesting improvements and finding some statspack snippets for me. I think this

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1148534633055194792006-05-24T22:20:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.320-08:00

After the final 12 contestants were announced, I predicted that Katherine McPhee would win and never tuned back in until the last 10 minutes tonight. I hate being wrong, but hopefully, a Taylor Hicks victory will lead to a rise in popularity for prematurely gray haired, pudgy dudes. That will make me feel much better in the long run.

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1148378279514685352006-05-23T03:25:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.260-08:00

I neglected to run the Bay to Breakers race this past Sunday. A weather report of high humidity with a chance of showers and lack of training because of tendonitis in my Achilles heel were my primary excuses for skipping this. I think since my first race in 1987 I've only participated in about 40% - 50% of the time, so it has not become some "can't miss"” ritual.I actually did manage to finish in

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1148284977298229632006-05-22T01:02:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.133-08:00

Better late to post than never.The hometown Hippies (though I guess only one member of the team is from San Francisco) win The Amazing Race. After racing around the world, it came down to remembering the flags of every country they had visited in the correct order faster than the Frat Boys. I probably would have gotten stuck on Russia as well, since I was used to seeing the Soviet Union flag. The

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1147759981989054622006-05-15T23:10:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:54.066-08:00

Apologies for being very late in posting about the show this week. I was staying at a hotel with pretty poor Internet access (though that may have been true across the whole island I was on) and even poorer TV reception. I probably could have scheduled things better to watch the show on time, but I guess I needed a break from the hectic world by going low-tech and sauntering at a 28.8 kbaud

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1147073080853022602006-05-08T00:22:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.990-08:00

For a blog that is supposed to be filled with random thoughts, I guess it should be unusual to have so many posts about TV [though there's nothing about random number generation that prevents this from happening either]. The topic of how much television I watch has even been raised quite often this week as I've interacted with separate circles of friends (childhood, college, work, ex-coworkers)

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1146734683497046002006-05-04T02:22:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.926-08:00

This was the most intense non-elimination leg ... ever. (Minus the first season of this show, which I completely missed) I don't recall so many teams finishing so close together in such a late leg. Wow! I'll never complain about "bunching" again if it results in these types of endings more frequently. It was fun to watch the tensions mount as the teams begin to feel they've got a chance for the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1146211759780059832006-04-28T01:08:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.861-08:00

And then there were four.The oldsters did a great job of staying in the race for a long time, but elimination always seemed inevitable. And I suspect that it was not the strenuous challenges this week that did them in. I think Ray and Yolanda even admitted Fran and Barry had "dusted them" on the bike ride to a lighthouse. I think their downfall was caused by taking too long to find the final clue

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1145769084757115952006-04-22T22:10:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.798-08:00

The desert heat must have affected the Race contestants this week. They all acted out of character and finished in almost reverse order. The usually happy Ray and Yolanda started to show strain in their relationship, the Oldies had no problems seeing clue boxes, and the Frat Boys displayed hints of self-doubt.BJ did a dead-on impression of Lake and then mocked the behavior of the Nerds and the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1145503825323549432006-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.735-08:00

Work and other commitments have kept me busy this week. Posted my Friday movie reviews on Monday and may not get around to my Amazing Race reviews until Saturday. So I'll continue the trend of being 3 days late by pointing you to a (cartoonishly violent but) funny video.Also, here's a photo of two recently hatched Canada gosling and parents lounging at the Oracle pond.

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1145341227328210252006-04-17T23:19:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.672-08:00

Over the years, it's almost become a ritual for me to visit the movie theater with some friends on a Friday or Saturday night (even though I already subscribe to just about every cable channel available). Last year was an odd exception as I knew it might be hard to enjoy regular movies after watching the Lord of the Rings. Time to play some catch up (though I'll forego the hyperlinks and just

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1144997941457635082006-04-13T23:58:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.597-08:00

The theme this week was shards -- ancient ruins, plate shards, glass shards, pottery shards, and the shards of a broken spirit.Apparently, many of my friends were unaware of the time slot change for the Amazing Race resulting in low ratings. Hopefully we'll hear better news this week. But if CBS decides to cancel the series because the production costs were higher than the ad revenue, I'll blame

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1144225148678971532006-04-11T23:34:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.409-08:00

- I was supposed to be attending my first SF Giants game of the season tonight, but that pesky rain has postponed the game by a couple of days. Only 31 rainouts over about 50 years is a decent record.- If California does slide into the ocean it will be due to mud slides rather than earthquakes.- Most of the times I've dislocated my shoulder, some form of rain was implicated.- Traffic always

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1144308486497633252006-04-06T00:35:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:53.467-08:00

Kind of an interesting mish-mash of stuff happening this week. However, in the end it was a predictable finishing order as the teams spent more time touring the beautiful island of Sicily.The hippies continued to have fun while staying at or near the head of the race. They played with a dog and put up a bogus "Official sign in sheet" at one of the challenges that the Frat Boys almost took

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1134204148614819562006-04-05T01:10:00.000-07:002006-11-13T20:57:51.773-08:00

My two cents on all the rain in California:From the Simpsons:Lisa (concerned upon seeing Homer who had moved out of the house for some reason): Dad, where have you been staying?Homer: Have you heard of the Four Seasons?Lisa (relieved): Yes!Homer: Good. Because that's what I've been living through while sleeping in the park.Usually there are four seasons in the Bay Area: Rainy, Sunny (except for

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1143868022785713322006-03-31T21:00:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:53.332-08:00

Slight delay in posting this week -- not because I was pouting about the Double-Ds elimination (though maybe I was), but because I had a bunch of meetings and after work activities did not allow me to watch the episode until now. Thank goodness for the DVR.- A pox on Lake for using the Yield, but the Double-Ds still squandered several opportunities to beat other teams. I guess Long Island gals

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1143018089730138672006-03-22T00:25:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:53.270-08:00

Readers, the lesson for this week is "Learn to read a map." It might be difficult enough to find someone who speaks English in a foreign country, but maybe even rarer that the person can give good directions as well. But I understand the difficulties some teams may have had in Germany. Street names get concatenated together so you have to get used to separating out the -strasse and -platz parts

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1142834553605111532006-03-19T22:00:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:53.209-08:00

For me, there's been a dearth of fun movies to watch between King Kong, which was not perfect but very enjoyable, and this weekend. V for Vendetta may mark an early start to the US "blockbuster" movie season (X-Men 3 coming out in May might be considered more of an official start).The movie delivers the pre-requisite action and suspense that make action movies fun. These were even more enhanced

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1142669973674918772006-03-17T23:55:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:53.147-08:00

The California Golden Bears men's basketball team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament earlier today even though it was St. Patrick's Day and Cal's colors blended together would be green. But I didn't feel devastated about the loss. The team made great progress compared to last year and I hope they get even better next year. Hopefully someone will convince Leon Powe to stay in college

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1142414316941525692006-03-15T01:15:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:53.020-08:00

Wow.I think I made a mistake by hitting the delete button at the end of what felt like an action-packed episode. I may have already lost track of several details and thoughts I had while watching.- The hippies were risking a hospital visit jumping in front of VWs like that, but it was comical.- I have a fear of heights (as mentioned previously) but zip line with that sort of scenery would be

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1142394503201027152006-03-14T23:00:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.960-08:00

I usually discourage "chain e-mail" from my friends and relatives. They usually take on the form of old jokes, urban legends, actual chain mail that says I'll have bad luck if I don't forward the message to several other people, or even stale parodies of urban legends about the ill fates of people who do not forward chain mail. I'd almost like to think I've seen it all by now. But every so often

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1141061143651391962006-03-09T00:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.774-08:00

Recently saw this entry by Tom Kyte and decided to see what an online anagram generator would do with my name. It returned a much longer list than I could ever imagine. Some interesting results and several quite embarrassing. A few cleaner highlights:A CARDINAL MOCKER (Go Giants! We got Matt Morris now)A CARAMEL DRINK CO (Yes, I drink colas and root beer on a regular basis)

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1141805590985188182006-03-08T12:01:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.895-08:00

The subtitle for this episode was "I'm filthy ... and I love it!" Nice choice. If I were driving a car when the contestant said that line the way she said it, I'd likely lose my focus and smash into a fire hydrant.Otherwise the race had more adventure than interesting banter this week, but there were no major surprises at the finish.The panorama shots of the beautiful Brazilian countryside (and

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1140765759191877242006-03-07T01:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.657-08:00

The #1 reason I actually watched Dancing with the Stars this season is Jerry Rice -- the greatest wide receiver to ever play in the NFL. Fortunately, he spent most of his career and best years with my favorite team, the 49ers. [Bay Area sports fans have almost been unfairly blessed to see other great athletes like Willie Mays, Joe Montana, and Rick Barry play here on a regular basis].It's been a

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1141201252317920242006-03-01T00:15:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.837-08:00

...but the jury is out if this run will be better than ever. Someone needs to warn the producers that their casting is getting a bit predictable. Ken and Barbie pair - check. Senior couple - check. Eye-candy single women - check. Beefcake single guys - Check. Token minory couple - check. Alpha male / submissive partner - check. Nerds - check. Supposedly there are 16 personality types so there

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1138584068950186942006-01-29T17:15:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.537-08:00

The last few weeks have been a very busy time for me thanks to an unusual confluence of work projects that all had to be completed around the same time. Most of this was my own fault. I'm a lifelong procrastinator with an unusual job position that I haven't gotten around to fully defining (but that's on my "To Do" list), so I volunteer (or cannot talk my way out of) lots of odd projects (and I

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1136541744256640352006-01-06T01:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.475-08:00

Several months ago a colleague / friend of mine, Vicken Khachadourian, wrote a humorous story about meeting the singer whose songs have held significant meaning throughout Vick's life. His story was even published in a few Armenian newspapers that circulate in major US cities. It is also posted on the armeniapedia.org site. Somehow I managed to play a tiny part in this, meaning I've already

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1136266249311935652006-01-02T21:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.418-08:00

I suspect this news will spread pretty quickly. A man was saved by his cat.I've heard of cats who were trained to use the toilet and flush afterward. Recently a Russian cat circus has been appearing in New York (looks like the photo album section is currently generating some MySQL errors though).I have to remember to train some pets if I find myself older and still living alone. Fortunately the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1136248193136983332006-01-02T17:28:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.350-08:00

Tried to include this SVG file in my blog, but I guess my ISP doesn't know how to send a file type of image/svg (everything is basically sent as text/plain).It was kind of fun spending some hours the last couple of weeks getting refamiliar with HTML. Then once I started doing that, then I had to dabble in CSS, DHTML, XHTML, SVG, Javascript, etc. (I knew I was getting too far when I started

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1135933783605838822005-12-29T23:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.270-08:00

Recently, I've developed a habit of walking to a nearby grocery store every Sunday afternoon and buying three oranges and a bunch of bananas [along with some junk food to keep my diet "balanced"]. My intention is to eat an orange on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights. Monday night all 3 oranges seem equally firm, so I pick one at random, and it tastes great. But by Wednesday night, one of

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1135228746645322982005-12-21T21:16:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.212-08:00

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1134971154708942552005-12-18T20:57:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:52.152-08:00

Guess I decided to join the trend and widen the columns of my blog. The toughest part was figuring out how to keep the rounded corners. Tried looking for free GIF editors, and the ones I stumbled across looked to complicated for what little I was trying to do. Finally discovered CSS3 will eventually take care of it for me, but until then, I'll have to settle for the Mozilla specific -

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133857421432766202005-12-18T14:05:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.587-08:00

The UK newspapers have been reporting on the first actual face transplant in France. It made me wonder how much longer before life imitates the art of Face/Off. I found it far-fetched that you could fool someone's closest friends and family by just switching faces (and swallowing a voice modulator). Eventually the change in accent or body language might give one away. Or you wonder if the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1134204750071947902005-12-15T23:00:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.905-08:00

This is based on true stories that I've run into about 3 times over the last few years (though coincidentally two of these cases appeared in the same week):A customer's environment kept slowing down every afternoon for a few weeks in a row. Most of the time the slowdown would only last 10 or 20 minutes and then return to normal. However on certain days, performance would degrade and keep

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1134203809779320052005-12-12T23:55:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.712-08:00

I was incorrect about the Amazing Race ending last week. Tuesday Dec 13 is the day of the two-hour finale. From the trailer for the final show it looks like the teams will go to the great northwest, search a stadium, and take at least one flight somewhere which may act as a bunching opportunity.Ranking the teamsLinzs (I thought it would be Linzes but not in the CBS promos): 2-1They may be the

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1134196385086178802005-12-09T21:50:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.649-08:00

This was a wild week. Had to juggle work (including a 5:30am conference call) with taking care of some personal business. And on the one night I had a few moments of time, there seemed to be router problems between my ISP and blogspot.One potential downside to renting an apartment is every so often, the landlords can decide to enter for special purposes. But fortunately they give a couple of

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133591117762757912005-12-02T21:43:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.526-08:00

I definitely would not classify myself a bird watcher. Maybe at best I'm a bird noticer who coudn't really name too many species. Anyway about a year ago, a strange-looking bird decided to call my apartment complex its home. At first, I'd be lucky to catch a glimpse of it about once every few weeks. Usually it would be at 2AM, when I'd be dragging myself home after working too late or

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133421990491504092005-11-30T23:26:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.469-08:00

The Warriors finally look like a good team this season, but I fear I'll be jinxing them just by posting this. I say this because the last time I was excited about the Warriors was November 1994. I was with my manager in Beijing, China to teach a class. Managed to find an English paper with NBA standings (though delayed by a day or so) and saw the team had started the season undefeated with

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133335647625795682005-11-29T23:15:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.408-08:00

I think the most amazing thing about "The Amazing Race" is that everyone involved (and potential witnesses to the filming) can keep the winner a secret despite the fact that the whole race is probably over before the first show is edited and aired.I started watching the show in it's second iteration when it was a lead in to "CSI". And I've been hooked ever since despite my general distaste for

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133250612975048292005-11-28T23:45:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.348-08:00

"Prison Break" is one of the best television series of the 2005 - 2006 season.When I first heard that the premise would be about a man who intentionally gets himself sent into jail just to break his brother out, I didn't think the show would survive a full season. It's one thing for a series like "24" to show what it takes to thwart a terrorist plot, but how much action could go on in a prison

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19364844.post-1133127665416051462005-11-27T13:30:00.000-08:002006-11-13T20:57:51.275-08:00

One of my New Year's 2006 resolutions, was to start a Blog."But isn't it still November?" you ask.Yes, it is. But another resolution I have is to get a jump start on these things as much as possible.Why?These days, things are changing faster than ever, and you have to run ahead just to keep up. If stores can start putting up window displays for Christmas before Halloween, I can get my Christmas

Roderickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04786742146419131378noreply@blogger.com3