In a mirror, dimly

Such quotable people!

MR: Since I already did the first one the wrong way, it’s easier to do the second one the wrong way too.

(note: pair programming becomes pair blogging - thanks Sri!)

Friday Five

1. What is your favorite scary movie?
Scary movie? I avoid them. On the other hand there are a slew of vampire movies that would fit the halloween theme. The most stylish would be the 1984 classic starring Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon and David Bowie, “The Hunger“. Then there’s the ‘87 classic “The Lost Boys” (Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman). I have the soundtrack CD for it and still play it. Then there’s the more recent “Blade” (Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Stephen Dorff) and “Blade 2” (Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Ron Perlman). “Blade 2″ is ineresting as it stars Luke Goss and Danny John-Jules - Luke was part of the 2 member boy band from the 80’s called “Bros” while Danny John-Jules is famous as playing the Cat in the long-running sci-fi comedy series “Red Dwarf”.

2. What is your favorite Halloween treat?
Watching allegedly scary moveies with groups of friends - Army of Darkness starring Bruce Campbell for instance.

3. Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume.
Nope.

4. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events?
No - they’re silly. Hanging out with friends (say, Jed + Jen) is a pleasure.

5. Will you dress up for Halloween this year?
I thought about it: I have decided to dress as a computer geek this year.

Quote of the day:

SG: Everyone needs to get their feet wet with PL/SQL
PP: Oh, my feet are dripping.

People have the most interesting things pinned to the walls of their office cubicle. Dilbert cartoons aside, you will often see kid’s drawings, calendars and family pictures. Spirituality makes it into the workplace in subtle ways - a Pagan co-worker of mine has a work space that is distinctly different in character from the Independent Baptist who sits across the hallway from her. Someone has a nice quote written on his whiteboard -

A real leader creates new leaders, not followers

which I suppose is balanced by the quote that is eppitomizes the empty humanistic pop ’spirituality’ that orbits the vacuum without filling we have today

Know what you are and be that perfectly

I mean, where’s the nudge to strive for something better in that quote? How does that motivate? If I am a headcase now, does the spirituality that the quote represents say I should shoot to be as barking mad as possible … true spirituality would sy I shouldstrive for something higher than myself, for betterment.

Flags abound in the office. There are little flag pins stuck into cubicle walls and 8 inch high flagpoles with flags stuck in the crack between adjoining cubicle wall segments. One guy has an expensive looking American eagle statue on the corner of his desk. Im really surprised that it’s not been stolen: anything of any value that hasnt been bolted to the ground seems to walk. Loose change in a desk drawer will walk even. Perhaps patriotism protects it.

Then there are the toys. Our work area alone has a Dilbert candy dispenser and a Mr. Potato head. There’s candy in our work area, lots of candy. Someone has worked out that if you keep the caffeine and sugar levels high, you keep the geeks in a productive haze of productivity.

Found out about the St. Louis Area Geocachers Association through a business card left in one of the caches yesterday. Their website is fascinating and includes a condensed list of all the local caches. Of particular interest was the Bookcrossing cache - combining the fun of geocaching with the read-and-release fun of Bookcrossing.com. We were planning a trip to St Charles today anyhow, so adding a cache hunt as well is a huge bonus!

I’ve been reading about Geocaching and wanting to try it for an absolute AGE! Our current house guest (’plaid dragon’) “just so happened” to have her GPS with her this weekend. Needless to say, we dashed off to hunt down some caches faster than a starving cat onto a piece of herring.

The main Geocaching website offered an amazingly rich array of local caches - from micro (containing just a little log book so say you found them), through virtuals, and the regular hidden treasure style ones. Our day began and ended with a regular cache, one easy, one harder.

Photos made it from camera to computer, but not yet onto the ‘net. It will happen though.

“WHY”
by Michael Card

Why did it have to be a friend
Who chose to betray the Lord
Why did he use a kiss to show them
That’s not what a kiss is for
Only a friend can betray a friend
A stranger has nothing to gain
And only a friend comes close enough
To ever cause so much pain

And why did there have to be thorny
Crown pressed upon His head
It should have been the royal one
Made of jewels and gold instead
It had to be a crown of thorns
Because in this life that we live
For all who seek to love
A thorn is all the world has to give

And why did it have to be
A heavy cross He was made to bare
And why did they nail His feet and hands
His love would have held Him there
It was a cross for on a cross
A thief was supposed to pay
And Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away
Yes, Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away

1:00am is not the time to get into this, so dear reader(s) I will bid you a fond goodnight, and return to rant tomorrow sometime on the topic of attitudes - do we really choose them? Are we really that much in control of our outlook? Comments / feedback on the question is invited, and, might be included in my thoughts / post (if permission is granted).

David T Moore was the other preacher I heard today. Found his archived show online - get it while it’s fresh. (looks like the link to his latest message - the one I heard - “His Needs, Her Needs, Our Needs, Part 1″ and will change when his next show is broadcast) It was definitely quoting from a book I read of a similar title: His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage by Willard F. Harley Jr. In fact, looking at the contents page, I would say that Mr. Moore was working directly from the text. So, listen to the radio broadcast then buy the book. It’s well worth it!

I have to say, the hot-key insert of a hyperlink (hightlight some text, and press Ctrl-Shift-A) is rather nice. Entering that post was a breeze. I’m liking Chronicle Lite more and more … and I am torn as to what I should do - should I blog using it, or do some more development? Perhaps the tagline should be “blogging with pleasure”?