I have been a little uninspired lately. I could blame plenty of external reasons, but the truth is no one does anything for you, you have to make your own way.

I can't even list all the happenings of the year, most of them I didn't even blog about. There was some "50 Rules to Life" that says visit some place new every year. Well I visited 3 major spots, outside of Germany, the local trips pushed me far outside of my comfort zone and that to me is probably one of the most significant accomplishments I can list for the past decade.

On the "technical" front, I am exuberant over the visitors to my site. And a really big thanks for everyone who supported me technically, financially or just good advice. Its hard to quantify what a few words of encouragement or thanks can yeild. Thank you. All of you. Big or small, I appreciate it. All of it.

And other things, life, work, play, blah blah and all the things I intentionally keep vague. Well I doubt my supervisors or co-workers will ever read this. But you guys cut me a lot more slack than I deserve. Thanks. ... And for all the friends and family who either forget me or remembered me or forget me first then remember me again. Thanks too. ... Lots of cool gifts. I finally got an MP3 player - it only took me 3 years.

And on a more serious note, I feel I contributed more this last year. Hopefully in the future I'll do better. I don't feel like it means much, but I can feel I'm moving in the right direction.

Thanks for reading. Yes, I know I still have errors on my site. Yes, I know I owe many many people pictures. Yes ladies, I'm still single. No guys, it does not play OGG. Yes, I'm supposed to be spending more time developing more sites. And finally - NO - I'm not going to bother with new years resolutions this year. Every day is a new year - just make it so.

Posted in: Life, Philosophy,

I am in the process of switching servers. It is a MESS. There was some problem with Apache and htaccess which I thought I fixed. Now there seems to be a problem with email. Nothing works. The whole weekend has been a disaster.

If you are having problems accessing this site, please be patient.

Thanks.

Mr. Mauriat has just died - Mr. Paul Mauriat that is.

I never downloaded the "Love is Blue" MP3. Coincidentally a fan of Mauriat (not me) happened to email me the file, just because he liked it so much, he thought I would like it also.

The sentiment was nice, and so was the music.

Posted in: Music, Random,

I have received at least a dozen different automated calls telling me to vote for someone. Majority after I voted. So much for Do-Not-Call.

Anyways, this is the second draft of this post. Originally I had planned to explain my reasoning for the candidates and state proposals for which I had voted. I did vote earlier today, but after I did, I realized that my reasoning does not make much difference for others to read. The bottom line is that common sense and rational thought does NOT prevail in politics. It is up to the voters to do that. I want to emphasize how incredibly devisive and partisan this country has become. To affiliate with anything seems to imply close-mindedness. I don't know how to combat that ignorance.

I did vote for change and balance. We'll see tomorrow if it makes a difference.

Posted in: Politics,

I'm not sure from where I caught it, but about 2 weeks ago I fell ill and lost my voice. After 5 days of not being able to talk clearly I went to see the doctor and he informed me that I had laryngitis caused by a bacterial throat infection. The odd thing was that he told me to wait another 2 days before starting the anti-biotics. Unfortunately the next day it got worse, so I started that day itself. It took 2 more days before I could talk without straining myself. After the 5 day anti-biotic regimen I had regained about 90% or so of my voice. I couldn't laugh or sing, but that didn't bother me so much. As I write this, I know I'm recovered even though I still have a slight cough.

My brother had a cold a few weeks ago, and at the same time I had been planning a trip to Texas. I would be leaving on a friday night. The thursday before, I was a little upset because I could feel a slight sore throat developing. I doped up on Zinc, vitamin C and cough drops in the hopes it wouldn't ruin the weekend. On the flight, I felt a little odd during the pressurization of the cabin. On the ascent, there was no trouble, however on the descent, my ears would not "pop". I tried swallowing, holding my nose, holding my breath, but nothing worked. I started to get a little nervous, as the pressure caused some intense pain for my head. Luckily for me an Indian doctor was seated next to me (what are the chances?). He said, not to worry, and that after the connecting flight when I go up and then down it will balance out. I felt a little bit better, at least psychologically.

The connecting flight was short, after taking off, I felt the pressure release ever so slightly. And I was so releaved. But during the descent the same thing happened again. I started wondering in my head. What will happen to me? Will I collapse? Will my nose bleed? Will I damage my eardrums? Will this affect my batting average? Unfortunately this time there was only some senior citizen dreaming about his golf clubs next to me. Who lost his keys. Poor guy.

I made it out of the airport and to my destination without incident. I thought if I slept it off, I would feel better. However from that saturday morning my voice went and it only got worse over the weekend. Sometime sunday afternoon, my ears did finally "pop". Of course by then I had become accustomed to the dampened noise. So instantly the volume went up everywhere. Just weird. Well that sunday was a bit nicer.

Even so, the trip wasn't entirely ruined, but it's tough to talk and have a good time if your only choices are knodding or talking like the godfather. Its been 15 days and I'm back to blogging. In case anyone was wondering, there was no repeat pressure incidents on the return flights. Now I'm trying to figure out the moral of the story. I couldn't pinpoint who "infected me" and I can't ever recall getting so bad during a trip (or flight), so I guess it will be one of those odd experiences in life.

Posted in: Life,