Erik’s Blog

A Johari Window is a 2×2 block grid that shows a mapping of a personality. The contents of the blocks are determined by choosing five traits from a pre-determined list.

Does that make sense? I didn’t think so.

I saw this on Heather Champ’s blog and decided to give it a whirl. I set up the initial Window for myself; now, if you feel so inclined, you can contribute to the Window by going here and choosing five traits that you think represent who I am. Your entries will somehow overlap with my entries and produce…something.

I’m just trying to avoid homework here. Don’t feel obligated.

I found out today that I’m one of six people in my class (junior year of the Graphic Design program at the U of U) chosen as candidates for the Antista Fairclough Scholarship. It’s $2,000 and can be used for tuition, books, supplies, etc.

Not too shabby.

I never win these things (or much of anything else, actually) but I’m still going to give it a shot. Who knows? Maybe luck will work out in my favor this time.

Today, Bush — which I will pronounce from this day forward like “hush,” just to be disrespectful — earned his official title of King Teflon II, King Teflon I being Ronald Reagan.

Here’s the quote that earned him the title:

The guy knows history isn’t going to be kind to him. After all his bluster and chest pounding about staying in Iraq, there’s no way in hell he’s going to back-pedal now.

So I guess in 2009, after the next president is sworn in, we’re leaving Iraq.

You think after he’s gone, Dubya is going to be called upon to do foreign affairs stuff like Clinton, Bush Sr., and Carter? Do ya? Methinks Dubya is going to have a nice, quiet, solitary retirement. It’s unfortunate he can’t retire early.

Have I mentioned that I think George W. Bush is an ass?

Another book that I finished a short while ago but forgot to review.

I’ll cut to the chase: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan is an incredible book.

For those who don’t know what it’s about, the book traces some of the parallels between plant and human advancement, the idea being that plants use us just as much as we use plants. Sounds really stuffy and dry, doesn’t it? Trust me, this book rocks.

Four human desires are discussed along with their associated plants: sweetness (apples), beauty (tulips), intoxication (marijuana), and control (potatoes). The section about control (potatoes) is probably the most intense as it contrasts organic farming, “monoculture” (such as planting acres of only one thing, like potatoes in Idaho), and genetic modification. It’s interesting, fascinating, and majorly creepy all at the same time.

Anyway, great book, highly recommended, run don’t walk to your bookstore and get a copy. You won’t be disappointed. [5/5]

Where do I begin? How do I adequately gush over this article?

To have somebody else — a complete stranger — say the same things I’ve been saying for years and then back it up with other folks saying the same thing…

Are we onto something? Is a tide beginning to turn?

One can hope.

For some reason, this collection — image plus links — seemed oddly related. Call me crazy. [Image captured from Yahoo!]

Back east there was (and for all I know still is) a joke about men trying to convince women that 6″ is THIS BIG [holds fingers 2″ apart].

Looking outside at the 1″-2″ of snow weather.com said we’d get today, I have to wonder if the folks running weather stations in Utah are using Man Rulers.

That doesn’t look like 1″-2″ to me.

Just when you thought it was safe, that all the fund drives and Girl Scout cookies and, and, and…whatever, were all over and done with, here I am asking for MORE MONEY!

Yes, that’s right, it’s time for another MS Walk!

Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to beat last year’s bounty ($1,025). I’ve set my goal at $500. I think that’s realistic.

I’ll be sending emails to a number of you some time soon asking/begging for help. Feel free to ignore the emails if you think it’s going to come between us as friends. If you feel compelled to do so, please consider helping out with a donation. I’m not picky, small donations are fine.

Thanks!

Although I somehow missed the notification, I was recently tagged by Mateo to take part in this meme. Not being cool enough to be tagged with these things often (ever) I am jumping at the opportunity to join the flock.

Yeah, fitting in and all that. I’m entitled every now and then to stoop to popularity contests.

Anyway, here we go:

Four jobs I’ve had

• Graphic Designer
• Software Engineer
• Site Designer
• Author

By “site designer” I mean civil engineering site designer. I did things like design roads, utilities, drainage, etc. Very un-glamorous and the pay was crap.

“Author” may surprise a few people. I co-wrote a Linux book many moons ago along with four other highly intelligent people. It’s out of print, but you can purchase new and used copies from Amazon.com starting at around $0.20.

Don’t read the reviews on Amazon.com, though. They mixed my book with another book and in the process mixed up the reviews. Our book was actually well received.

Four movies I can watch over and over

• Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind
• Blue Velvet
• Mulholland Drive
• Manos, The Hands of Fate (MST3k)

I’m a huge fan of quirky cinema. David Lynch satisfies my needs nicely with his two films mentioned above. Both contain mysteries that reveal new info every time you see them, Mulholland Drive in particular. I wish more folks in Utah didn’t shy away from movies like these. I don’t have many people to discuss them with.

Eternal Sunshine… is a very recent addition to the list. I haven’t been haunted by the memory of a movie quite to the extent as this one (outside Lynch’s collection, that is). Severely odd and highly recommended.

As for Manos, it has to be the worst movie every made. The MST3k folks did a superb job of mocking it. My wife and I quote their heckles frequently.

Four places I’ve lived

• Salt Lake City, UT
• Alexandria, VA
• Fairfax, VA
• Hyattsville, MD

Not much to say here. In 1995 I moved to SLC, and before that I was within 20 or so minutes from Washington, D.C.

I think the D.C. area is a good place to be from and a nice place to visit, but I doubt I’d ever move back there. Ever.

Four TV shows I love

• Twin Peaks
• The X-Files
• A&E’s Short Stories
• MTV’s The Maxx

Yep, all of them are dead. I’m more of a reader and music-listener than a TV watcher, but when I find a show I like I’m pretty much a fanatic about watching it. I think each of the shows listed above broke ground, Twin Peaks in particular.

Think about it: before TP, there was no Eerie Indiana, Northern Exposure, Picket Fences, X-Files, etc. That show set the standard, and the sheep followed.

I don’t think I’ve ever missed a TV show so much…

Four places I’ve vacationed

• Switzerland
• Tanzania
• Wine Country (California)
• Mont Tremblant, Quebec

I’ve been to more, but those seemed to be the most exotic. Mostly I putter around my local area when I have time off. That will most likely continue until I get out of college next year.

Four of my favorite dishes

• Sushi
• Onion Soup
• Grilled Salmon
• Just about any curry

I would add pistachio nuts to the list but I don’t think that qualifies as a dish.

This list was hard to think up because I love lots of different kinds of food. Not to be self-serving but I love the Pain au Levain (semi-sourdough) bread I make every week during summer, I love good clam chowder, I’m nuts about crabs (real crabs, which are thrown in a pot of boiling water while they’re alive, cooked, then cracked open with mallets and eaten Bohemian style). On and on. The four listed above are the most realistic for Utah, though.

Four sites I visit daily

• Princess Sparkle Pony’s Photo Blog
• MacRumors
• The Motley Fool
• Flickr

Another tough list. I do most of my web stuff through RSS/Atom feeds using a great news aggregator called NetNewsWire Lite for Mac OS. I’m sure folks who are trying to earn a living advertising on their blog sites hate these things because they eliminate most of the purpose of visiting actual blogs. And with so many blogs closing comments, there goes that last reason for a visit. Pity… These aggregators are wonderful, though. I’m hooked.

Four places I would rather be right now

• Wine Country, CA
• Portland, OR
• Any place where it isn’t snowing
• Puerto Vallarta

Okay, that last one was just thrown in. There aren’t many places that stand out as being places I’d rather be. Wine Country (which includes Sonoma and — to an extent — Napa counties) will always feel like a slice of heaven for me, and not because of the wine. It’s just a great, peaceful place. It costs too damn much to live there, though.

Sebastapol, home of O’Reilly & Associates, has the single best ice cream joint in the Milky Way Galaxy: Screamin’ Mimis. I’m not kidding, folks, Mimi’s ice cream is heavenly. A few years back I had two quarts of the stuff flown to Utah for my anniversary ($80, including shipping… What can I say, I was a Linux fat cat with lots of $$ laying about) and it was worth every penny. If you’re ever in Sebastopol, CA, stop by and check it out. “Mimi’s Mud” and “Tiramisu” are on the top of my list. I’m jonesin’ for the stuff just thinking about it.

My wife and I don’t know how long we’re going to remain in Utah after I graduate, and Portland seems to be the place we’ve scoped out for a possible move. We visited a few summers ago and decided it’s a good place. Not overly exciting (and definitely not in the same league as Wine Country) but it’s still nice. People actually walk around the city. SLC is dead even on a hoppin’ night. I miss being in a city that draws people out of their homes. SLC is nice, but it’ll never be like that. Ever. Really. [Minor update: By “draw ing] people out of their homes,” I mean getting them to mill about the city. Folks have no problem collecting in cliques and moseying off to the mountains, but the city itself rarely gets a visit. Some festivals manage to collect the locals and when that happens it almost feels like there’s a community here, but other than that it’s a ghost town.

And technically I don’t specifically want to be in Puerto Vallarta, it’s just that my wife and I are going to hit Mexico at some point after I graduate to celebrate the end of my hell, and for some reason a tourist trap sounds nice. I don’t want to have to think immediately after graduation. Canned entertainment may be just the right thing.

Four peopleOne person I’m tagging

Like Mateo, I don’t have a gaggle of blogging friends. Of the few I know, all but one have been tagged with this meme already. So, Marc, YOU’RE IT. [Another minor update: I just remembered my friend Tris has a blog. She may want to remain anonymous so I won’t link her here. Nonetheless, she’s been tagged as well.]

There you go. I’ll probably edit this thing twenty times over the next 24 hours so tune in often.

I just read a glowing review of WordPress over at zeldman.com. After 11 years of hand-coding, Jeff decided it was time to switch to a content management system (CMS). After evaluating the scene, WordPress won.

I’ve used WordPress a few times and think it’s a good system. However, every time I try a new CMS I always end up going back to the simple, featureless software that I wrote for this blog. Part of the fun of this thing is doing my own programming. Nobody can claim my software because it’s MINE: I created the stylesheets, I did the design, I coded the database interaction, I coded the basic admin interface, I created the hela-cool AJAX comment system, I coded the RSS and ATOM feed creation scripts all by my onesies, blah blah blah.

Still, I’m considering trying WordPress once again. Maybe when school’s out.