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Copyright |
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©2005 Jason Cross
All Rights Reserved
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 Saturday, May 4, 2002 |
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I really like Ann Arbor. The U of M campus is very scenic - a classic college town look, with lots of brick and trees. We rode into town around 9:15 - a mere hour forty-five later than planned, ate some pizza at a college pizza joint, and met up with Jess, Benn, Megan, Brad as well as Jess' new beau Josh and her cousin from Kansas, Beth.
Kristin is anxiously awaiting warm water as I write this. The Residence Inn is generally nice, but has had its share of problems. Our first room smelled, well, bad. How bad? There *might* have been a dead raccoon in there, we didn't wait around to know for sure. So they gave us another room, a better room, a two-level suite. Of course, it turned out that this room didn't have have water (who needs hot water?!). So we head over to the previous room, the smell having dissipated over the night, with the promise of hot water awaiting. And eventually they will fix our new room. We shall see.
Spirits are generally high, the Untouchables are on the television, and I'm signing off until later. |
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Friday, May 3, 2002 |
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We are now in Michigan, driving down I-94, we the intrepid travelers. My cell phone battery has died once, thanks to lots of stuff going on back at work as well as using it as a cellular modem. Thankfully, Jake loaned me his power invertor giving me a standard AC outlet in the car allowing me to plug in my phone charger. Ah, the toys we boys enjoy!
It's been a beautiful day, perfect for a drive, which certainly has made this somewhat longish trip not too bad at all. Hopefully the weather will keep cooperating (hear me weather demons?!).
Next stop - Ann Arbor. |
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Yup, I am writing this from the car - Ian's driving and we just left Princeton, Illinois. Trying to make up for a later time leaving than planned - darned slow tire center at Wal-Mart! So in the interest of time, we opted not to stop at the Iowa-80 Truck Stop ("The World's Largest Truck Stop") as I-80 tradition dictates. On the way back, though... |
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Ok, not so much the wizard but to Ann Arbor for Jess' law school graduation.
And for a bit of an experiment, I'm going to try to use my cell phone as a wireless modem along the way, updating our progress on this site as we go.
Stay tuned! |
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Thursday, May 2, 2002 |
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So scientists have now made a remote controlled rat by implanting electrodes into the brain of a live rat and sending impulses to turn, jump, climb, etc. Click here if you don't believe me. They say they may one day help with search and rescure efforts.
Now, I'm all for animal testing for responsible reasons (pretty hard to do medical testing without it), but this seems a little overboard. |
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Happy May Day from JasonCross.com!
Yesterday I was out at FB for a meeting, and all of these school kids were there handing out May baskets. Very funny, though I forgot mine there. :(
Luckily my dinner at Mosaix more than made up for it with fine food and even better company. |
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So I'm debating about what to write in my blog today. Funny how I spent all this time creating the site, with all sorts of things to pontificate about before it was up and ready, and since, there have been less bloggy thoughts.
So today I will attempt to just do some random stuff, we'll see! |
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Monday, April 29, 2002 |
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Last night I went out to dinner with Mom and Shawn, Cindy, Robin and Sierra (sp?) of Uncommon Grounds fame, and Marcia Hansen (aka the 9th grade US History teacher who somehow managed to keep her sanity despite salamanders in the hand and mice in the desk). We were going to go to Buca Di Peppos, but instead decided to try this brand spankin' new restaurant near the airport called Johnny's Italian Steakhouse.
Highly Recommended
The service was excellent (of course they had been open less than a week so the shine was still on), the food was great, prices were reasonable (in that $10-$15 Italian range), and the atmosphere was very nice, even though the chairs were pretty slippery on the floor (Robin compared it to being a human ouija board - the spirits would move us here and there). |
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Finally, after spending too much time working on it, my new ImageGallery system is done. What does this mean to you, my five JasonCross.com readers?
Umm...
It will let me post images to the website faster and easier. Automation! Blinding me with SCIENCE!
"But wait..." you think. "There are already pictures posted on the site. OBVIOUSLY he already can put them on the site. So why spend so much time on this ImageGallery doohickey?"
But now it's easier for me, the Jason Cross in JasonCross.com. And sometimes Jason likes it when things are easier. And you will like all of the new pictures that will be posted in an easy to view format because of it! This I decree! ;)
Anyway, new image galleries are posted. Check them out on the box to the left titled, oddly enough, Pictures. |
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Sunday, April 28, 2002 |
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So this evening I went to see the movie Life...or Something Like It starring the beautiful yet somewhat eerie Angelina Jolie. While it wasn't exactly A-Number-1 movie material and more than likely won't make my DVD collection (which is saying something if you've seen my DVD collection), it wasn't that bad either. I think Ebert was wrong in his 1-star review, but would consider it to be at least as good as Queen of the Damned which he gave 2-stars to...
And for the record, Jason X is of no relation to me... |
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Friday, April 26, 2002 |
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Why was "Little Red Riding Hood" banned in California?
A traditional version of the classic tale was banned in the town of Empire, California, in 1990. Ironically, it wasn't because of the gory attack on the grandmother, or because the wolf gets hacked open at the end, or even because of the sexual undertones of the innocent girl being seduced by the aggressive, conniving wolf. It was banned because this version puts a bottle of wine in the basket that Little Red Riding Hood was taking to her sick grandmother. The local school board was afraid that the story would encourage drinking. |
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Thursday, April 25, 2002 |
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So Microsoft released their new XP PowerToys which includes a decent little program that will take a folder of images and make a little web viewing gallery out of them. But while I like the idea, I prefer the concept of just being able to upload a directory full of pictures to my site and then easily and automatically creating a gallery - in short, I want the ability to create a gallery from anywhere I can access my site with no special programs needed.
So I've decided to program such a system myself. Yeesh, for not being a programmer, I sure seem to be coding a lot lately, between this site and now this new ASP ImageGallery system. I suppose part of it is to keep my own skills in shape enough to know what I'm talking about at the office.
Ok, so now I'll make this deal with myself - Self, when you have the ImageGallery done, take some time to do things like, oh, continue writing that dang novel you've been bouncing around for months now. There, deal.
Between tennis games and enjoying the great weather of course! ;) |
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With all of this great weather, I'm really in the mood to play some tennis. Unfortunately, few people that I know in the area seem to play. Luckily Ian gets back from DC next week (at least for a while), so I can start to get my skills back then. Then I'll just have to concentrate on not going crazy and buying that expensive racket I've been wanting.
It's funny, because I'm not really into most sports, yet for some reason tennis does it for me. It's the only sport I can think of that I enjoy both playing and watching, and since I started my new workout regimen last January, my fitness level is up so I can hopefully concentrate on improving my game. Now if only Indianola had some sort of adult tennis league... |
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Wednesday, April 24, 2002 |
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Why is it that people seem to have little problem with the concept of artificial crab meat yet still cringe when I talk about vegetarian hot dogs? I'm just saying, we all know what's in regular hot dogs (or maybe the point is we DON'T know what's in them), so aren't "not-dogs" the better way to go? |
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Monday, April 22, 2002 |
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Tonight's fortune cookie fortune, courtesy of Hy-Vee Chinese Express (sadly the best chinese in Indianola):
"Bad habits are hard to break.
Especially if you like them."
And there you go. |
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I really hate these web sites where pop-ups ads jump in front of the window I'm trying to read. And they're everywhere - it's rapidly becoming one of the most major annoyances of the Internet (ok, so they'll never quite replace spam in the number 1 category, but still).
This site has a list of web pages you can go to that will disable many pop-ups. Unfortunately, the more people that use these, the faster they seem to change the procedures making the pop-ups work again. But I guess going through pop-up stopping every couple weeks is better than all those annoying ads for X10 cameras and classmates.com.
Now if only they could stop those awful Flash animations that suddenly take over a whole web page with music and video about nasal decongestants and the latest premiere on HBO... |
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Sunday, April 21, 2002 |
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Just got back from doing the Gnomeradio show. What a blast. Unfortunately there was no recording equipment available, so this show will not be broadcast later on their website. Ah well, maybe it was for the best, considering how random some of the topics got. An example:
Caller: Uh, yeah. I'm 14 and my parents won't keep paying for my cell phone. Do you know anything about these prepaid phones? Do they require a parent to sign for you?
Us: Probably.
Caller: Oh.
It was tons of fun though, and I'd love to do it again (hint hint Lockergnome people!) It gave me a few great chances to plug our Internet services as well as JasonCross.com. Next time, I'm going to have a gang of callers all set to call in - it will be like some sort of weird reverse Who Wants To Be A Millionaire thing.
Myself, Lori, and Brian Talkin' the Talk
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Just got back from Des Moines where I bought some lawn chairs (which were kind of an impulse buy, as I rarely seem to use my back patio) from Bed Bath and Beyond, ate some good BBQ at Famous Dave's (no big surprise to my friends), and stopped by Sam's Club, where I picked up Everything's Eventual - the latest Stephen King short story collection.
There's just something I love about King's short stories. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy many of his novels, but the man sure can write a mean short one. A great mix of creepiness and damn fine characterization.
Plus, Sam's Club has great deals on hardcover books - this one was $16 instead of the cover price of $28. Bonus!
Tonight - Gnomeradio from 7 to 9pm on 1350AM. Listen in! |
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If the number one question remains Is It Good For The Kids? then surely a close second must be Who Is Jason Cross?
Find out soon! - I'll get around to doing this page sooner or later... |
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Saturday, April 20, 2002 |
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This morning I was going through some of my old computer file archives, and I happened across a directory full of old writings from high school and college. Very funny - what a sap I was! ;) It's always cool to find things like that you had figured were lost forever. Of course, some of it would be better off having been lost for all time - an example of which I present to the world:
Ahem.
Away! Away my son!
By Jason Cross
Written 8/16/1995
Away! Away my son!
The night has fallen fast.
The final road is gone.
The ending thread’s gone past.
The darkness has won out
And has broken apart the light.
Away! Away my son!
To beyond the fallen sight.
Away! Away my son!
Surely divert thine eyes.
For the end is riding
And it will not heed our cries.
But even if it stops us
Forever shall not gain.
Away! Away my son!
For knowledge cannot be slain.
And there you have it. |
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After reading the JasonCross.com launch announcement, I got a call from Josh today seeing what was up. We ended up going to the Outback and bowling this evening. A good time was had. Josh had noted that he had considered donating to the Wicked Projects Fund but when he saw the grand total of zero donations to date, opted not to. So we made a bowling wager of $5 per game in donation to help the VPOTUS get his Segway. It was a close game, as we both were playing pretty miserably, but in the end, there should soon be $10 in the fund thanks to Mr West. |
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Friday, April 19, 2002 |
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So you're sitting there asking yourself what exactly *is* this site? What is its raison d'etre, its modus operandi, it's boggle?
Simply put - it's a blog.
So now you're asking yourself - ok, self, what exactly *is* a blog?
The Webopedia defines a blog as: Jargon. (n.) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly-accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
To boil it all down, it's a site where I can put bits and pieces of my life out for the world to see. Why would the world care about seeing bits and pieces of my life? Who knows - but for some reason you're here reading this right now, so obviously there's some method to my madness.
So read up, dig around, link the links, see the sights (and the sites), and come on back again one day, for hopefully things will continue to change.
-Jason |
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Found this on Gretchen's blog. Sometimes you just want to smite something, so when the urge strikes, use Wrath! |
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Tuesday, April 16, 2002 |
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Ok, listen up faithful JasonCross.com readers, sitting ever so patiently, wondering when the heck this blog will go from being in the perpetual state of "in development" to the ephemeral state of "live". . . It's coming, but this darned nice weather makes me choose between sitting inside coding (since I've opted to create my own blogger (JCWebLog - coming soon!) or enjoying this amazing, summerlike weather. While some of you readers who purport to know me would think the choice would be obvious, think again! You will learn that perhaps I am not so easily defined. I will be on Gnomeradio this weekend on Sunday from 7pm to 9pm. Listen in, heck, call in! KRNT 1350AM. Should be a blast, I know I will at least enjoy it - hopefully you will too. |
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Saturday, April 13, 2002 |
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Last night was the annual dinner for SITI including their dinner and awards banquet. A great time was had, including music by The Instigators. Thanks to the lovely L for making the party afterwards an *ahem* memorable time! ;) |
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