July 15, 2018
Step 1: Get New Computer
COMPLETE!
I'll admit the name "Inspiron 5676" does nothing to make the heart beat a little faster but that's okay, I take medicines to prevent that from happening anyway. It's what's inside that counts, and the new 2nd Generation Ryzen 7 2700X is AMD's top-of-the-line processor. It has a 1TB hard-drive, but it also has a 256GB SSD, which I'm told is important these days. That's all matched up with a Radeon RX580 graphics card, which is ATI AMD's best card that isn't in "ludicrous" territory.
So what I'm saying is that this girl should be quite the performer! I'd have it hooked up already except for one little thing. That is, it only has a HDMI port to hook up a monitor and my current monitor, which is 10 years old, only has DVI. I knew this ahead of time though, and ordered a ViewSonic 24" monitor beforehand... it'll be delivered on Monday, and THEN I can get it all set up.
Darn thing weighs about 1573 pounds, though.
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July 09, 2018
Let Me Explain...
I'm tired. I've been on a month of mandatory 50-hour weeks and it's been wearing on me. Okay, I guess I didn't work 50 hours last week, but since I DID have to work on a national holiday, that makes up for it. So I'm getting home from work late, I've been sleeping poorly, and quite honestly the atmosphere at work is... dark.
Of course, I've also got computer problems of late, but the thought of going to BigBlueBox to buy a new one is... exhausting. It's always very loud there and it makes me sad to see what's happened to this company that I used to work for.
And to be blunt, I'm not enjoying Formula 1 very much. Oh, this race at Silverstone was actually pretty decent, but even that felt more like a chore than an experience.
You guys have any requests? I'm willing if its something that'll kick-start my brain. Gimme an idea!
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July 08, 2018
Computer Issues
Well, my computer, purchased in 2013, is showing signs that it'll be passing away soon. Last night it refused to boot, in a manner that I've seen it do before, that indicates the hard drive is failing. While I've managed to get on now, I may not be able to later. So if there's no sign of me for a day or two, that's why. F1Update! may be unavoidably delayed.
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July 07, 2018
Farming Seems Pretty Metal!
While you're waiting for me to get off my tucus and post the F1 Quals results, here's something for you to watch.
Ben, your thoughts? Because to me, it looks like farming is straight out of Warhammer 40K.
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July 03, 2018
There Are Times...
Holiday! I was really looking forward to having the day off tomorrow, relaxing a bit, setting up my photo studio, taking a few pictures of figures, eating hot dogs, watching baseball, and just generally being American on the 4th of July. A good time!
So there I am today, hard at work, pushin' data through dem tubes, secure in the knowledge that while I had to put in 10 hours, it was going to be an easy 10 hours. I'd already put in two with no hiccups, no worries, and a tasty ham samitch to boot. Because a good ham samitch makes everything better, don'tchaknow? All in all, a good plan for the day. Better still, the last three or four hours would almost certainly be spent alone in the room I'm currently residing in. It's the smallest of the three workspaces, I was moved there back at the end of May because a new training class was taking over the old office... 25 people, would you believe? Anyway, I'd be alone in my office, and perhaps the entire building come to that... people want to leave early when there's a holiday involved, go figure. Anyway, why does that matter to me? Because it lets me sing!
I forgot just how dark "Shattered Dreams" was, really. Although if you were a wrestling fan during the WWF's "Attitude" era, shattered dreams brings something else altogether to mind. Anyway, yes, singing is fun to do at work when there's nobody around.
I don't sing that one though. A little out of my vocal range, really. I first heard this song as the backing music for a gameplay video and liked it a lot more than the game. Yes, it's another entry in the "electropop + random female singer" genre, but it's better than most. At least I like it.
Heavy rotation on the mp3 player. Don't sing this one either... it tends to generate a lump in my throat and tears to form in my eyes. I'm a soft-hearted sap of a duck, what can I say? Also, hey look fireworks! It's a July 4th reference! *ahem*
So yeah, singing at work. I was looking forward to that, maybe break out Straight Outta Hidamari. Good times, good times. And then the data... stopped. The part that serves me claims fell over. No biggie, that happens. Except it stayed down. A few minutes turned into 15, then 30, then a hour... and the boss sent out the e-mail: we don't know when it's coming back, clock out, you have to make up any time missed by the end of the week or you lose your holiday pay AND get two absence points.
I sat there feeling like I had been hit in the face with a lobster. Make up the unfinished time? Five hours for the incomplete regular day, plus two to cover part of the eight hours of OT we have to do... SEVEN HOURS??? All of a sudden, my midweek holiday had gone from a day of relaxation to... well, a normal work day. Oh crepe. By no fault of my own. After waiting for another hour (off the clock) hoping the program would start working again, I went home... but not before stopping at the boss's office. "I'm taking off... is anybody going to text us if the system is still down in the morning?" Don't know, this is all happening fast. "Great. Well, if I don't see you here tomorrow, have a great 4th of July holiday off." And I walked out.
For all my fellow Americans, enjoy your 4th of July holiday with grilled meat and explosives! For everybody else, have a good Wednesday!
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June 13, 2018
Video Players Gone Bad
On the Sunday after the Australian Grand Prix, in an attempt to figure out just what the hell happened with the virtual safety car (and to watch the race in a form that wasn't ESPN's first try), I yarrrr'd the broadcast. It was a 5GB file, nothing at all out of the ordinary and actually somewhat smaller than either Kimi No Na Wa or the KanColle film. No huhu, in other words. Which is why it came as such a surprise to me when my video player grabbed its throat, choked, and died when I tried to watch it. And froze, then crashed, Windows.
My software of choice, ZoomPlayer, hasn't worked since. Oh, it will eventually load any video you throw at it, but only after about five minutes of frozen computer. Then it stutters until you back the video up, at which point it plays okay. But god help you if you want to watch the video again immediately because nothing else will. I've moved to my backup viewer, Media Player Classic which comes with CCCP, but only for viewing. For the life of me, I cannot make subtitles go away in MPC, which makes screenshotting a little difficult.
So here's my question to y'all: what program do you use to watch stuff? I used ZoomPlayer for at least a decade, I have no idea what-all is good anymore. So help me out here, and maybe I'll have more lobsters on the face pictures!
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June 10, 2018
"...And THAT Will Retire The Side."
Submitted without comment.
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June 06, 2018
Ubu, I Also Accept Credit Cards, Amazon Gift Cards, And Rye Bread
"I would pay good money to see a train do that in real life."
-Ubu
At no time did you say it had to be successful real-life multi-track drifting.
Y'know, if it wasn't for the train the cameraman is on, that looked like it was going to work.
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June 03, 2018
Test Test This Is A Test
I think we're back!
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May 31, 2018
So, About That Doctor's Appointment...
Some good, some bad, some "eh, whatever"... about what I expected, in other words. Unfortunately, my doctor couldn't make a judgement on my hip because he still needed to see the x-rays. Seems the immediate care place I went to isn't part of the same medical network so I had to officially request that they be sent to his office. He did give me more of the muscle relaxant (cyclobenzaprine, if you're wondering), so that's a plus.
In the bad news department, I probably have carpal tunnel in my right hand... and yes, it may very well have been caused (or at least hastened) by my hip injury. See, back when my hip was really darn bad I had to lean on my cane quite a bit... and I don't mean that in the metaphoric sense, but in the "put weight on cane" sense. This had the unexpected side-effect of causing my right palm to hurt, making me wish for a padded glove or something. Shortly thereafter, my thumb, index and middle fingers began to give me a hard time, alternating between numbness, tingling, and extreme sensitivity (that last one is a kick... today it felt like I had sliced my finger open when I picked up a ham sandwich on generic white bread. Who knew white bread was sharp?). Now it's pretty much all the time.
Getting back to the hip thing, my doctor had a hip replacement a few years back, so we discussed that in detail. For him, it was the greatest thing ever... he went from having constant, incessant, not-quite-crippling-but-awfully-awful pain to... well, nothing. Which is a GOOD THING! I'm not at that point yet, and he wasn't suggesting that I was, but if this continues to worsen, well...
In point of fact, my hip basically doesn't hurt right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly going to be a danger to Shakira any time soon, but it only hurts when I lift my leg (like when I step into the bathtub) or if I lie on it for more than a few minutes. Oh, and getting into the car is still a nightmarish scenario that's at least as painful as it is embarrassing. I get in back-first, squirm as far in as I can (or as far as the steering wheel lets me), get my right foot in... not so easy with size 14-EEE, it always gets caught up by either the door or the sill... pivot to face as far forward as I can, hook my cane under my left foot, then lift that into the car... remember, it hurts when I lift my leg manually, but getting it airborne with a tool doesn't as much... then either swear or groan in pain, depending on my mood. Until I figured out how to do this, it could take me 15 minutes to get into the Duckmobile. Nowadays, it's only a couple of minutes... still slower than your normal person, but every bit helps when it's raining.
One big surprise that I got was that I had lost something like 35 pounds in the year since I last saw the doc. No, not surprised... stunned? Shocked? Completely and totally amazed? Pick your favorite word or phrase, I was that. Still, there had been indications... loose pants, mostly... so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but... well.
So that's it... oh, and there was blood drawn as well. Somehow it'd been five or six years since the last blood test, which surprised me. In any case, the results of that are of some interest as well... doc says that carpal tunnel is often found in diabetics, for example... but that's a test I'm not worried about getting the right answers for. We shall see what we shall see.
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May 29, 2018
Deja Vu!
Okay, we all know the song from Initial D, right?
Right. And we know it's spawned a gazillion memes, with the best known being Multi-Track Drifting...
...though I've become fond of Initial Duck...
...but just a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon one that I've never seen before, one that made me laugh out loud until there were tears coming from my eyes (as opposed to my fingernails maybe?). What is this paragon of memedom? Why, this:
Well, it worked for me.
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May 28, 2018
So, About That F1U!...
After watching Monaco yesterday, I flipped over and watched the last half of the Indy 500. I then puttered about until around about 6pm, when I decided to take a nap. I figured I'd just do the F1U! after I woke up, no problem.
I didn't get out of bed until Noon on Monday.
F1U! is now on "sooner or later" mode, probably tonight but maybe Tuesday evening.
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May 15, 2018
Figure Foto Test Thwee
Sometimes, simple is best.
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May 09, 2018
Still With Us
I'm still alive, still kicking. Compy chair is still killing me, despite memory foam pillow and another pad to boot. It's taking a toll on me, though. Broke down twice at work yesterday... went on my lunch break intending to take a nap, and just couldn't get comfortable no matter what I did.
Hope to get the broadcast schedule up tonight.
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May 06, 2018
It Was 20 Years Ago Today...
It was May 6th, 1998, and a younger Wonderduck is running a RadioShanty somewhere in Duckford. This particular store had a DirectTV dish on the roof for demo purposes, and while it usually had the "attraction channel" running, it could also pick up WGN out of Chicago. So, at 1pm I clicked over to watch the Cubs take on the Houston Astros, the team leading the National League in hitting/offense. The Cubbies had a rookie taking the mound in only his fifth major-league start... some kid named Kerry Wood.
His first pitch was a rising fastball that clonked off the umpire's mask... maybe not the most auspicious way to begin a game. And then...?
The 20 strikeouts tied the major league record for a 9 inning game. By Bill James' game score metric, this was the best pitched game ever.
And it wasn't even close. Wood had a near-100mph fastball, but it was his curveball that was his out pitch. Watch the last pitch he throws, to then batting average leader Derek Bell. It would have broken the shin of anybody in the left-handed batter's box... but it starts out belt-high, center of the plate. Bell couldn't not swing at it, but he also couldn't not miss it.
20 years.
Edit: Shortly after I posted this, the weekly baseball show "Hit and Run" on the sports-talk station I listen to devoted most of their four hours to The Game. Along the way, they mentioned a story I'd never heard before.
Astros second baseman and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio was one of two men to reach base in the game, getting hit by a pitch in the 6th inning. Once he trotted down to first, he said to Cubs first baseman Mark Grace while gesturing towards Wood "Thank him for me."
This is a guy who hit .325 that season, with 210 hits, 51 doubles, 20 homers, and 50 stolen bases... and he knew that he couldn't touch Kerry Wood that day.
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May 02, 2018
Mmmm... DRUGS!
So I was given two different drugs to help deal with my hip: a painkiller and a muscle relaxant. The painkiller isn't so much of a much, to be honest.
But oh my giddy aunt is the muscle relaxant the greatest thing ever! Took a half-pill at 11pm, and slept until 530a. Only hydraulic pressure got me out of that bed, and I immediately returned to it ASAP. My alarm went off a couple of hours later and I kept resetting it.
Finally, I just gave up and texted my boss: "I'm calling in... this muscle relaxer is GREAT." Her reply was "LOL see you thursday."
It may not be the greatest job ever, but my boss is pretty cool.
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May 01, 2018
Hip To Be Square
Monday morning dawned bright and new, a beautiful way to start a week! I had spent as much time as possible either in bed or in my "comfy" chair, attempting to take it easy on my hip. It seemed to have an effect too, as moving around Pond Central caused no problems, no flareups, nothing like that. I had no way of knowing that five hours later, I'd be sobbing in the break room at work, the pain having become too unbearable for anything else.
This morning I hauled myself out to the car and right to the nearby immediate care facility. Once the doc came in and palpitated my thigh and hip, looking for sore spots... prod prod prod YEOWTCH prod prod prod... she put me in the hands of the x-ray techs, Torquemada and Vlad Tepes.
The angles they wanted me to put my hip into were... hell, I might not have been able to do them even when my hip DIDN'T hurt. And all of it on a hard, flat table that made my back scream. I don't think they were enjoying themselves, but I can't be sure.
Finally, the doc came in with the results: the x-rays were all consistent for arthritis and small bone spurs. Which was about the worst answer they could have given, because that doesn't go away. So I'm stuck with this for now. Whee.
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April 23, 2018
50
Today is April 23rd, the 113th day of the year. According to some numerologist, the world will be coming to an end today. Between that endpoint and the very first April 23rd, though it probably wasn't called that back then, a measurable percentage of all the human beings that ever existed were born on 4/23.
These people were athletes and admirals, poets and politicians, musicians and murderers, teachers and terrorists, rapscallions and royalty (though I may repeat myself), and any other pairings of first letters that you care to put together. Though all different, all are bound by the dint of being born on the 23rd day of April.
And half a century ago, in a hospital located on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, on a day the Chicago Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves 10 - 4 in front of 4399 people, I was foisted upon an unsuspecting world. Light the birthday candle!
Though I've said it before, it bears repeating: nobody is more surprised than I.
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April 21, 2018
Catching Up With Wonderduck
It's been an awful week.
Out of the past seven days, Friday was probably the best. I slept up to my alarm clock going off, at which point I quickly reset it to give me an additional 45 minutes. I showered, got dressed, then sat at my computer until I was late for work, unwilling to go. Still, it was only going to be a half-day and then it'd be the weekend after I accomplished a couple of things. Buoyed by this optimistic thought, I headed to the Duckmobile.
It took me much too long to get into my car, involving a lot of pain and agonized epithets. The good news is that most of the leg pain has faded... the bad news is that only most of it has. My hip does not appear to be as swell as it used to be, meaning (among other things) that I can't swivel my leg all that well. Also, the act of "lifting" my leg is painful... the muscles in the upper leg contract, and it hurts. A lot. I've figured out that I can hook the handle of my cane under my shoe and lift it like a crane... that doesn't cause the muscles to hurt. Then it's just the "getting the leg into the car" part... and that, my friends, is where the agonized epithets came from. Still, I managed, drove to work, put in four hours there, and then began my errands.
First: a quart of oil into the car's engine. Easily done. Then gas up the car, then pick up my prescriptions. And then... renew my driver's license. Oh, and they had to give me a vision test, which means actually going to the DMV. So I cheated. Instead of going to the main office, which is always busy, I went to an outlying office which is mainly for CDL renewals. Was in and out in under a half-hour. Drove home, had some lunch, took a nap, woke up, did two hours of nothing, went back to bed.
I've come to one realization: I'm not a success. I'm unlikely to ever be what anybody would term a success. And that sucks. I let a single failure, though a big one, guide the rest of my life. What did my story about Friday have to do with this realization? Nothing, it was just a way to pad this post out to something more than 20 words. Gotta entertain the two or three readers I have left after all.
My birthday is Monday. I'll put up my usual birthday post, including the usual rocket test, make the usual jokes, then go to work, come home, stick a candle in some pudding, then call it a day. What would that day be like if I had succeeded that first time I majorly failed?
I don't know. I can't possibly know. It may not have been any different. It may have been totally different, with a wife, kids, maybe grandkids, all gathered to celebrate one of those big milestones in life. Or maybe the cast of some broadway play telling the audience that their lighting designer turned 50 that night, and 500 strangers would sing 'happy birthday' to me. Or maybe it wouldn't be at all... maybe I was accidentally trampled by a circus elephant at the age of 34 in that other existence. I don't know. I can't possibly know. What I do know is what it's going to be now.
Vanilla pudding, in case you're curious.
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April 16, 2018
Something's Bitten Me
Sometime during the day at work, I started to feel... not all that well. It happens, Mondays are like that in the office. But this was something different. I really felt crappy, like I'd been run over by a small truck or something. Maybe it was Fettuccine in white sauce with chicken and broccoli, where all three ingredients tasted the same, that I had from Saturday catching up with me. Or Sunday's meatloaf. Or the (fresh) vending machine ham samitch I had for lunch today. Or maybe it was none of those things.
Whatever. I felt poorly. I still feel poorly. I am going to bed. When I wake up, I will either start the F1U! for China, or I won't. We'll see how it goes. Sorry everybody.
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