2008 -- off with its head!

A grueling year in some respects, an excellent one in some others. Dragging the illegal regime in DC down as far as possible before we kick them completely out next year may have been the best part. I still remain astounded that they didn't move on Iran this year (either the economy got in the way, or Bush finally just got tired of taking orders from the Grey Man) and that Cheney is apparently going to leave without blowing off a nuke. I really thought there was danger of that this year. But, I suppose there's still 20 days. Would they dare now?

Meanwhile, though, there's a new year to greet, and as ever a winter to slog through before things really open up. I wonder how well I'll do at confronting winter better than I have in the past. I don't really feel like hibernating as much as usual this year. The rough beast awakens, slouching toward Belchertown? Perhaps. And if I do pack it in, there's always Barcelona games to get me through the darker days. The way they've been playing, it may be spring before I even notice.

Oh, yeah....

Why was I thinking of registering deadmanwalking as a new blog? Not anything to do with Sister Helen Prejean's admirable efforts, but rather an acknowledgment of how decrepit I feel physically. If 2008 had themes to note (and hell, every year does), one of them would be physical pain. That's one set of changes I'd like to be working on, for sure.

NP: Doris Day, "Christmas Present" (hey, it's on the TV, not something I chose)

Changes...well, one notable one, anyway

Oh, yeah, lots of 'em on tap for 2009. (Although I've rejected one, opening a blog at deadmanwalking.blogspot.com....good thing, because it already exists, and boy it is strange*). I've been working on one tonight, and in the small scheme of things it's a big one for me: Just after the new year kicks in at midnight, I'll switch my default e-mail client from Eudora to Thunderbird. That's fairly momentous inasmuch as I've been using Eudora without interruption on any number of Mac and Windows platforms since 1992. It was great software -- always stable and well-adapted to my e-mail needs, nicely hackable for customization if you cared to do a little research, and even now it could do the job for a while longer. But with Qualcomm's decision more than two years ago to discontinue traditional development on Eudora, it's one of those apps that's quickly becoming non-compliant with current Internet mail standards, I'm trying to get everything open-source anyway, and it seemed like time. I don't like to be stuck on something that hasn't been supported for 26 months now.

Besides, I can always install the Penelope extension for Thunderbird to get some of Eudora's feel, since further development (which does seem to be at a crawl) will be based on Thunderbird. So, best of both words here, maybe. But I felt this still needed to be noted: Eudora has been utterly central to my computing experience for the better part of two decades, and the old-geek part of me kinda hates to leave it behind. But that's computing: Adapt or die.

Hey, it's another rock eulogy post

And a late one at that -- I meant to do this last week, on the 15th anniversary of his passing on 12/4. But fans of the late, brilliant Frank Zappa would certainly recognize that this blog's name is a riff on one of his iconoclastic bits of weirdness (from the One Size Fits All album).

Zappa could be juvenile, puerile, and downright pointless at times -- and that's OK. In fact, those are all rock values to celebrate, wouldn't you say? I do. Of course, he was also an astonishing musician, a killer guitarist (personally the aspect of his career I miss the most), a composer of true inventiveness, a social critic of unerring accuracy, and that rarest of Americans -- somebody who said exactly what he thought and didn't give a damn whether people liked that or not. That's something always worth celebrating. So here's to Frank.

Wake up!

Guess I'd better get un-dormant here.......

So what's this going to be?

The obvious -- a way to communicate to (at?) people that I haven't heretofore used. But what else?

• A place for random musings on life, events, some sports, etc
  
• A place to talk about music, of course
  
• A track-my-weight-loss blog (yes, it's the ol' transparent weight loss trick! But it is said that being public with a weight loss attempt is a good strategy); it was past time to go after this, and I'd say see the next couple of posts, plus the old one I just moved in from another place, to find out more

What is it not going to be?

• A place to talk about politics -- sorry, but ethical constraints and all that
  
• A place where I talk about work; blogging publicly about work is just one of the stupidest things a person can do, you know?

It'll certainly evolve, too, but that's the initial idea. Stay tuned.

Who knows where the time goes?

RIP Sandy Denny, 30 years ago today. If the rock era has produced a finer singer, I haven't heard that person yet.

247. 200. The numbers that matter.

The weight is 247. Pounds, that is. That's what I registered on my doctor's scale this afternoon.

200 is the number of days from today until my goal, which is to dump 1 pound every 10 days. That would be a loss down to 227, which isn't quite what I'm after; I'm hoping that with some aggressive action on this front, particularly in the beginning when much of what I can lose is easy flab and water, I'll be able to go lower --- 215 seems nice. That's probably still a touch heavy for my height and build, but to be at 215 would be a pleasure that I haven't felt in a long, long time. The effect on my knees, my wind, and my overall health would be significant. And 1 pound every 10 days is something I ought to be able to do.

I'm going to be transparent about this, which is why I'm reactivating this blog that I never quite got going in the first place. (It was probably ambitious to start blogging only a few months after starting a new, information-intense job, do you think?) The title of the whole blog could yield some interesting guesses as to the original nature of my plans, but those have changed. If I can keep this going, though, you'll get some of the flavor of the commentary I'd originally envisioned for it, as well as general musings, links (oh, yeah, gotta serve up those links) and maybe even a podcast -- I do those in my work and would love to put one together myself.

First things first, though. Back to the transparency: Blogging has been one tool that people have found to work when undertaking a health regimen. It tracks progress and may do well to force some in slack times, it can draw comments and suggestions, and it creates a support system. I can certainly use that last. So grab an RSS reader if you don't already use one -- Sage for Firefox is handy, or something like SharpReader for Windows or NetNewsWire for the Mac would do the trick too -- and follow along.

First target: 2 pounds down by April 22......

Arf, she said

I always wanted to name a blog with this.