MS Word 2002 sucks. It won't print simple .RTF files correctly if you choose multiple copies collated. It cuts off the bottom 1/4 of the page. What's that about? Also, Symantec's System Center Console (MMC) for a managed Symantec AntiVirus server is goofy. You can get a list of managed clients (both new versions and older versions), but you can't do the remote NT client install to some of them simply because they aren't listed in the "available computers" list. In other words, one part of the program can 'see' all the computers, but the other part can't (it can see some, but not all). It's stupid. UPDATE: it appears that this happens because NT client install is relying on File & Print Sharing to be enabled. I guess it needs a root share in order to install software. This is hilarious, because normally file and print sharing is turned off for security reasons. Also, why's it called "NT" client install, instead of "2000/XP" client install? Like anyone still uses NT!

Gripes: DSL has always been touted as "instant-on", but it's not. It's only really fast dial-up. They should be truthful. A/C repairmen are stupid. No one keeps their A/C set at 70*F all the time, it's too cold, and uses way too much energy. Setting the temperature at 80*F should not "freeze-up" the unit. Stupid. Many sources suggest keeping your thermostat set "up" to 80*F.

SBC DSL customer service techs are so stupid - the Yahoo software is not required to use their service. Anyone suggesting that is just plain lying. They can "activate" you over the phone, which should be the recommended course of action when setting up a network to use their DSL (via a DSL modem, network router, and PPPoE combination). They repeatedly try to brainwash people into installing the crap Yahoo software to activate, and then you just have to uninstall it afterward - what a hassle. Just another example of horrible customer service.

Been shafted three times in two days by local McDonald's restaurants. Firstly, the McDonald's on South Meadows Pkwy shorted me 2 cheeseburgers on the drive-thru, so I ended up getting out, going in, waiting in line, and finally getting the 2 cheeseburgers in question, plus they threw in an apple pie for my troubles. At least that one ended up well. Secondly, the McDonald's on Kietzke shorted Misti a hamburger, but since it was late, the main restaurant was closed (only the drive-through was open), so we ended up having to wait in line at the drive-through again (there were 3 or 4 cars in front of us again the second time - busy night), but didn't get anything for our troubles this time - except that I ended up nearly puking my guts out at 2 a.m. this morning because of my Filet-o-Fish. Can anyone say food poisoning?

Recently passed 4,141 workunits on Seti@home and 38,383 miles on our Toyota. Tried a new type of cereal, Post Selects "Blueberry Morning", a cereal with real, wild blueberries, crispy multigrain flakes, oat clusters, wild blueberries, and sliced almonds. The chubby guy downstairs (the one with spine cancer) uses Blue Rhino propane for his barbeque grill.

Just did a comparison between two garlic butter spreads, and there's definitely a winner. The first one I tried was McCormick Garlic Spread, and the second one was Lawry's Garlic Spread. As much as I hate to see an East coast company beat out a West coast company (McCormick is based in zip code 21031, whilst Lawrys is based in zip code 91016), the McCormick's spread definitely tastes better, and yet that's not the whole story. According to the nutritional information labels on each product, the McCormick's is also the least unhealthy for your body (I doubt either would be classified as "healthy" by anyone), albeit by only a small margin. Given the same size serving, McCormick's has less calories, fat calories, total fat, and saturated fat than the Lawry's, but more sodium.

Went to the Nevada Museum of Art's Grand Opening tonight (free admission = score!) and viewed some 20th century Mexican art by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, María Izquierdo, etc. I can't say I was terribly impressed by the whole experience, but there were some good points, but also some not-so-good ones. The entire second floor smelled like all 10,000 people (the alleged amount of visitors for the day) all farted at the same time in the same place. We did like the red, house fire room, the red carpet downstairs, the rooftop gallery with the Siamese mushrooms, and the hardwood floors in certain rooms. The mixture of the ultra-strong perfumes worn by some and the second floor farts was a little much, as was the heat that grew hotter as one ascended floor by floor.

We haven't yet seen "Frida" (the movie starring Selma Hayek about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera), but look forward to it. I think it's funny that she wasn't afraid to paint herself with her unibrow and a moustache. If I were an artist (or a Photoshop guru like Brad), I'd make a few improvements in a self-portrait. The naked guy on the third floor was not art, just a couple of naked photos and a hefty bill at Kinkos - not to mention about 15¢ worth of pushpins - completely tacky. And, my word, based upon some of the "self-portraits", I'd have to say that there are some really disgusting, creepy looking artists out there. Either that, or they just plain suck, which I think is more likely the case. I especially thought the "Floor at Supercuts" piece was hilarious (the glass panes with all the hair in them). Who thinks this stuff is good again? I do think it's cool that the museum has a webcam, though.

The media room was goofy with some completely stupid music video playing, but the movie theater was a nice feature. The guy shooting the zebra and the tigers wasn't art, either, just some fool's attempt at expressing his angst. How passé. Also went to Target (Prater, not Greatland) and got a wonderful bag of popcorn. Mmmmm.

Becca has been making her first attempts at riding the kiddie rides at Super Wal*Mart: Garfield (the cat)'s car, the tractor ride, and the Richard Scarry "Lowly Worm" in the apple ride (never worked as of late), but hasn't yet tried the pelican or Spiderman's car yet. The missionaries (Elder Bowle and Elder Rutledge) came over last night and tonight, too, first to break the fast with us as part of the ward's 40-day fast, but they had to run, so they came back tonight to share a brief message with us. (Actually, only Elder Rutledge made it back the second night with Brother Wanlass - splits.) I luckily cured "ugga ugga" in three of my Neopets with just one visit to the Healing Springs, nice. =)

Did you know that the Free Methodist Church also has a General Conference? I didn't.

Tried some tasty Sunnyside Farms' "Cowabunga" chocolate milk today, along with some Beano. The Beano seems to work fairly well, actually. The real test will be Beano vs. pistachios, though. Hmmmm. We had our first choir practice of the new Mt. Rose Fourth Ward (after the recent split) at Brad and Emilie's home. It went very well. We're practicing three (3) beautiful SATB choral arrangements, namely "In Humility, Our Savior", "America the Beautiful", and "I Need Thee Every Hour". The latter two are free sheet music (which we very much appreciate), but the former costs a nominal fee per copy. Kinkos, of course, made a little money off the deal for copies, but all in all, this first round of songs was very cost-efficient.   =)

Passed the 4,000 mark on Seti@home. Found two (2) pieces of red hair in a bag of Great Value (Wal*Mart brand) Beef Jerky. Yucka. Got a letter from Jason in jail. He's doing very well, from the sounds of it - better than I expected, in fact. In case I forget again, Becky was 6 lbs., 14 oz, and 19" tall at birth. (I tend to forget these details.)

We attended Paul's funeral this past Wednesday in Carson City. It was nice, and I got to see a few people that I hadn't seen in awhile, like the Kidders and George Keele.

Paul passed away early Thursday morning. Here are two of his obituaries/biographies (iverson1.pdf & iverson2.pdf) for posterity's sake. For Mother's Day weekend this year Misti and I went out to dinner at Benihana's Japanese Steakhouse, rented "Sense and Sensibility" (not as bad as Brad makes it out to be - actually kinda funny in a few parts), went to Motherhood Maternity to get some new clothes, had dinner at my folks' place (got my mom a gift certificate to Moana Nursery), and went to the cinema to watch "X2: X-Men United". X2 was awesome, but I'm still always amazed at how much of a ripoff the concessions are - $3.25 for a small bottled water.   =(

There was recently an experiment in the news about monkey's typing Shakespeare (here's the MSNBC article) - like anyone really thought this would work...???

Just tried my first "Tropical Sprite Remix", one of the new versions of Sprite that have just come out. I think regular Sprite is better. The ward men sang "Love is Spoken Here" in Sacrament meeting this Sunday, whilst the primary children sang "Mother Dear". They both went remarkably well considering our lack of earnest preparation. The Brandt family was baptised this weekend, too. They're an awesome family, and really excited and active in all church activities. It's cool to see them at work.   =)

Well, San Antonio, Texas was rather gloomy the past couple of days - humid and overcast. Lots of clouds. The armrest ashtrays on some of Southwest's airplanes have been welded shut. I finally finished a book I've been reading off and on since last Thanksgiving, "Glass, Paper, Beans (revelations on the nature and value of ordinary things)" by Leah Hager Cohen. This book impressed me in so many ways. First of all, although this book is written in English, it helps the reader to know at least a smattering of both French and Spanish, as 1/3 of the book takes place in Northeastern Canada, and another 1/3 takes place outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. Secondly, the sheer amount of research and note-taking that Ms. Cohen has obviously done in preparation for this book is simply impressive. The book's appended bibliography lists exactly 118 works, plus approximately 20 more works referenced directly throughout the text itself. Now I know that most authors do lots of research before and during the process of writing a book, but never have I read a book that has struck me before with it's sheer volume of preparation. Thirdly, the extraordinary level of detail that the author captures is simply mindboggling. I really like this book a lot and highly recommend it.   =)

Had a reasonable amount of discomfort on this past business trip, including an overbooked hotel (they gave my confirmed room away), a transfer to another hotel that only had a smoking room (the Adam's Mark Hotel, on the Riverwalk), a toilet that didn't flush correctly, a shower that lost it's pressure midway through, an on-screen checkout process that didn't work (ended up having to check out the old-fashioned way), a wake-up call that didn't happen, a cab driver that seemed a little disgruntled and slightly agitated at the world, my fair share of airport layovers, a pager that doesn't seem to work anywhere but in Reno and Phoenix, and some completely crowded flights next to overweight people (the 'no armrest syndrome'). I'm definitely glad to be home.   =)

I don't know who even sings the stupid song, but whoever produced the song "I can see clearly now, the rain has gone" (the bright sunshiny day song) was an idiot. The distortion is so heavy in that song that it makes me turn the channel every time. What a bonehead blunder that was.

I was listening to some religious AM radio station today on my way from Reno to Silver Springs, and they were having a discussion about Adam and the concept of so-called "original sin". I guess I knew in an academic sort of way that some people believed in this concept, but I found it disturbing to actually hear people talk about Adam like he was a horribly weak person who should've prayed more and didn't know what he was doing. It was an interesting broadcast in the sense that I got to listen in on others' beliefs, but very saddening to me because I believe Adam to be one of the most righteous men to have lived on Earth, that he knew exactly what his choice in the Garden meant before he did it, and that his decision was fully necessary for the progression of the human family. I feel he deserves some respect and personally find it disheartening when people try to say that we all are stained because of Adam's transgression, like everything is his fault. Just my two cents on the subject.

On Friday, my folks and Heather and Bonnish returned home from Hawaii (Maui). On Saturday, Misti, Becky, and I went to Susanville for the annual children's fair. Gene and Ronda and their kids were there, as well as Nerea and her kids, Cody and Jeremy, and Grandma Faye, naturally. Misti and Gene both saw some friends from their childhood that they hadn't seen since they'd moved, along with a myriad of other assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, nieces, and nephews, trying to keep track of which without a chart proved dizzying.   =)   I saw a couple of sheep with tails at the fair, with no obvious signs of flystrike.   =)

Last night's episode of Enterprise was cool, but poor Trip got shot down pretty harshly. I feel bad for him. Space travel must be hard.