Jun 29, 2006

superman returns..

I'm sorry. I guess I just can't get used to anybody besides Margot Kidder playing Lois Lane. Kate Bosworth is a good actress - but she wasn't playing Lois Lane. She was playing a character who didn't have any of the same mannerisms or character traits of the Margot Kidder Lois Lane.

And come on! If Brandon Routh is going to play Clark Kent, he's gotta be a lot clumsier than that!!

Now Kevin Spacey was an amazing Lex Luthor. Unbelievable. But even in this case, it was just wrong when someone other than Gene Hackman plays Lex Luther.. Or maybe it was the absense of "...the greatest criminal mind..." quote.


And I guess that's the point.. I'm used to old characters.

There is an exception though. Jimmy Olson (the photographer on the daily planet) was played by Sam Huntington.. and Sam really did come across like the Jimmy Olson of the Chris Reeve movies.


I did like the movie. It's always cool to see new superman tricks, even if the story is meh (it was) and if the characters seemed fake (they did). Best part of the movie were the effects. Coolest effect of the movie was a small one - a bad guy shoots superman with a handgun at point blank range - right into superman's left eyeball - and the entire screen is zoomed in on that eyeball with the bullet flattening on it in slow-motion. I could watch that over and over.

Oh, and they did a sequence of Krypton's explosion. Definitely a different type of planetary explosion than we're used to seeing.. it was cool.

Jun 25, 2006

Trinity Softball - still undefeated.

Following is the text of an email I just sent to the softball team:




Hi everyone!
I was thrilled to log on to the web site and see that we defeated Tasti-D-Lite. In my mind, they were an unknown. They were 2-0, but their wins were to some pretty good teams. I'm very happy about our win because it looks like we're coming off the hardest part of our schedule.

So if any of you have a mind like mine, you're wondering if we have a chance to go undefeated for the rest of the season. I did an in-depth look at the rest of our schedule and have come up with the following "scouting report" for the teams we have left:


On Thursday, we'll play M&K. They're 2-4. They've lost to TD Tigers (who we beat), The Blue Star Jets (Who we destroyed), Imclone (a 5-4 team). They've beat the Rockerfeller Rascals (a 3-1 team in our division), I can't find their other two games - But from what I can tell, they've had a rough schedule. Let's not write them off.

Then we'll play the STV Sluggers - 3-3. They edged by Doherty's (2-3), and beat Ur-ine trouble (4-2) back in April, plus they beat partsearch (0-3-1) this month. Their losses are to Scrubs (4-1), Linden Travel (5-3), and the Rockefeller Rascals(3-1). The appear to be a respectable team, but have only beat 1 team that has a winning record at this point.

After that it's FFTW. They're 5-2. Wins are to Imclone (5-4), Arup (1-4, we beat them in Game 2), Children's Apparel (2-4), 8-ball (1-5, we beat them in game 1), and Infringers (1-4). They were destroyed 18-1 by doherty's (2-3), back in April. They've also lost to Ur-ine trouble (4-2). So while they have a good record, it looks like they've had an easy schedule - and don't seem too hard to beat.

Then, Doherty's - 2-3. They have a losing record, but remember, this is the team that destroyed FFTW. They're other win was an 18-0 shutout against the infringers (1-4). Losses are to Ur-Ine trouble (4-2), STV Sluggers(3-3), and Ogilvy Red Storm (5-2). They lose to good teams, but when they win, they win big. We should definitely give this team some respect.

Partsearch - 0-3-1 (a tie). They've not won a single game. The tie was to Children's Apparel (2-4). Looks like our easiest game of the season.

Scrubs, who are 4-1. Scary record, but they've had a pretty easy schedule so far. Their loss was to the Blue Star Jets, who we defeated 17-1, two weeks ago. Wins are to Partsearch (0-3-1), STV Sluggers (3-3) (huge game for them, the score was 22 to 6), Serenity Now (1-5) (another big game, they won 15-2), and Linden Travel (5-3), probably their most difficult opponent and they won by just two runs.

Ok, that said, what would the stats geek on those other teams say about us?

Trinity (6-0). This undefeated team looks to be the real challenge of our season. They started out against some weaker teams. Their first game was to 8-Ball (1-5). Then they played ARUP (1-4). After that, they played the TD Tigers (4-1) and handed them their only defeat. Their next game was an 18-1 route of the Blue-Star Jets (2-4), and then they defeated Urbitran, (1-5, but are in division 2.) Their last game was against Tasti-D-Lite (2-1), and they've given them their only loss as well. They're coming off the hardest part of their schedule and will want to complete the season undefeated. I want to see everyone come out to the game against them, because we're going to need you. If we can beat Trinity, all of our other losses will be negated as far as I'm concerned. They're a good team and we really need to show up if we're going to be competive.


Update on my shoulder.
On Friday, I was worried. I couldn't even reach the gear shift in my car, and was using my left hand for just about every activity. I kept comparing myself to a friend who had to have shoulder surgery after a seemingly benign ski accident two years ago.. But Saturday, it was a little better, and today it's starting to behave like normal again. It still hurts to throw, even lightly. The improvement is definitely continuing, however, and I'm happy to say that if this improvement continues, I'll be ready to play catcher again by thursday. Very happy about that.

-steve

Jun 22, 2006

I think I just hurt my shoulder

Trinity Softball is 5-0. woot.
I think I might have hurt my shoulder. oops.

It was an event I won't soon forget.. Softball has 7 innings total, and it was the top of the seventh. we were up by 1 run. 1 out. There was a runner on second and I was up to bat. I hit a fly ball over the right-fielder's head, but not too deep. Since it's astroturf, he had a good distance to run after it (but not too much) and I knew I had three bases automatically. Rounding third, I see that he's just getting to the ball so I break for home. I see the ball coming in and see that it's going to be close, so I do a head first dive for home plate. On astroturf. I have one focus - stick my right arm on the plate and keep it there - and that's what happened, aided by the marvelous friction of the turf. Problem was that the rest of my body had too much forward momentum while my forearm was firmly planted on the turf, and when that happens, bad things occur at the place where the arm and the rest of me come together. I felt a severe pain in my shoulder and I just laid there for a moment. I knew I was safe. Hearing the concerned voices of teammates and the blue, and not wanting to keep them concerned, I said I'm ok and got up.

The opposing team would go on to score 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh - So while we scored four more runs after mine, my run was the one that kept us ahead of the game. Since we were ahead anyway, I don't feel like I hit the game winning run, but everyone was giving me credit for it. I was gracious, said thanks and took high-fives.

Now I'm at work (I had to scurry off after the game for a 9PM conference call with Tokyo) and I just raptured the plastic bag out of a trashcan for a makeshift ice-pack. I also have ibuprofin, which I'm avoiding taking right away because I'm trying to assess the damage. It seems that I have a full range of motion in the shoulder, and I'm taking that as a good sign. Any movement exacerbates the pain though, and I don't really know what that means at this point.

I am going to be here for the rest of the night (graveyard shift here is primetime for the asia markets, and I have to support them. Conveniently, I'll also be here when London starts up, so I can support them, too.)

By morning I should know if this is something that I can ignore and it'll go away, or if it's something more serious.

The team we played was 1-4, but they were also a division 2 team (we're division 3) - so this was definitely one of the unknowns for the season. As I see it, there is only one more unknown: If we can get past tomorrow's team, which is division 3, in a different league, and also undefeated at 2-0, we have a great shot at going undefeated for the rest of the season, because every other team we're playing is in the same league as us. They've all lost to teams that we've already beat.

-steve

Jun 19, 2006

something I learned on saturday

If you're going to make a running "workout" playlist on your ipod, make sure none of the songs are in 5/4 time.

-steve

Jun 17, 2006

bachelors of america lose another key asset

so long, riz - we harly knew ye..

georgia


michigan


california


nevada



Yup. Today, he gets married..

Jun 15, 2006

baseball

you know, sometimes among the whole yanks/sox debate, you can lose sight of what's truly important:

The Mets today have quietly extended their winning streak to 7, and they didn't do it against scrubs, either. They first swept the NL West Leading Diamondbacks, and now have taken two in a row from their closest competitors in the NL east phillies. All of this on an away period that many analysts thought would knock them out of first place.

Philly is 8½ games out of first place. Atlanta is 12.

And, once again, the mets, at .641, have the best record in baseball. The next-closest team, The White Sox, are at .636. Chicago is at .616 - every other team in baseball is below .600.

Jun 14, 2006

alone...

first, an update to the david lee roth thing (see post below). one of my two readers told me that nbc, which is the copyright holder, pulled the video from the site I was linking to (they were probably embarrassed). Thanks, for the headsup, Mike! In case you missed it, the video was of DLR on the Jay Leno show, doing a bluegrass version of shout. It was horrible..


I share an office with two other people. The other two people happen to be on vacation right now - one just left a couple of hours ago, the other returns tomorrow. But for about 3 hours here, I am utterly alone with nobody to talk to (who am I kidding - we're software guys - we don't talk to each other that much anyway). Still, it's kind of strange - the three of us have our own pet projects - each project is assigned a primary and a backup, and the leftover person is assumed to be a backup to the backup. Of course, I am the backup to the backup for several projects here - A problem happening at the same time as a the primary and the backup for that problem are unavailable would be exceedingly rare, but right now it's as likely to happen as any time.

Of course you know nothing is wrong. If it were, I wouldn't be typing this right now.

Also adding to the alone factor is the unfortunate coincidence that my wife is leaving town tonight on business for a couple of days - so it's just me and the baby to fend for ourselves. Sounds like fun. By the way, she brought our new ipod with her, so she can have something to listen to on the plane. for the first time in four days, I am ipod-less.

Jun 9, 2006

What the hell happened to David Lee Roth??

Check out this disturbing clip from the Jay Leno show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp6e321eOLs

Al Zarqawi

Here's what happened when he got to heaven..

He was rushed past st peter's pearly gates and taken direcly to God's study, where he found God and Jesus chatting about Clint Eastwood movies (Jesus is a particular fan of "Paint Your Wagon.")

Deeply humbled, Zarq says to God, "Oh great god blah blah blah I am so honored to be in your glorious presense blah blah blah.. Could you tell me, however, where I could find the prophet mohammed? I would like to finally meet him face to face."

"In a little bit, yes, Zarq."

"Can you tell me when? Please forgive me, but you've gotta understand I've been waiting for this moment my whole life!" His excitement was hard to contain.

"Just as soon as we sit down with a cup of coffee.. there are a few things I'd like to chat with you about regarding some of the stuff you did on earth. Would you like some coffee, or am I drinking alone?"

Well, would you turn down a cup of coffee when offered to you by God himself? so Zarq said, "Yes, I'd love some coffee.."

"Mohammed! Two coffees!"

Jun 7, 2006

self-indulgence (part 2)

Note - if you haven't read self indulgence part 1 yet, scroll down a bit and read it, then come back here.

Sorry for breaking this into two parts. I was writing part one on my blackberry, and my typing is slow as molasses on that thing. My train pulled in and I hit submit.

Where was I? Oh yes - Trinity Softball. We're winners. woot.

Next order of business is this web site..
Since self-indulgence part 1, a lot has happened. In 4 hours. wow. I can't honestly say I redesigned this site, because there's not much of a design to it. Rather, I kind of "re-laid" it out. It used to be three columns, now it's two. I consolidated some content, removed some other content - gone is the pond-skimming picture - not because I don't like it, but because I don't have a place to put it. Most interestingly (to me, anyway) is the google feed that I've set up on the left - which are articles from my google reader (see part 1) that I found interesting enough to add to this site. One click in google reader and it's here. Pretty crazy. The way I have it set up, there are probably 50 articles/day that come through and I read (at least the summaries) of all of them. If I find one particularly interesting, I flag it and it's instantly on this site, in that little box to the left.

Back to Trinity, we've released a CD of our spring concert from 2005, and the work they put into it is nothing short of astounding. I'm not at liberty to give a sample of its contents, but what I can do is provide a Link to where you can go buy it. If you're a christian, you're really going to love this CD. If you're not a christian, you're at least going to be impressed by the quality of the music.

I finally broke down and bought an iPod! Just picked it up at Costco. Nano 4GB. I think I'm the last person in New York to own one. I loaded the CD I was just talking about, about 30 hours of sermons, and some other stuff I had onto it..

I hate umbrellas.

Work is crazy.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Have a great day!

self-indulgence

Pardon me, but it's been a while since I've written a post of miscellaneous ramblings simply to indulge myself. But if you promise to keep reading, I'll promise to try and make it interesting.

I gave the tradedesk execs the following quote at work the other day and I think it applies beautifully to what I'm about to talk about: "if I could (develop the widget you just requested) quickly, I wouldn't be working here; I'd be working at google." google labs has a product in beta called google reader, which is a web application that will consolidate any rss-enabled web sie te for you. If you don't know what rss is, I could describe it as saying it is about as underrated as myspace is overrated, and has much more potential. You're thinking, "fine steve, so what is it?" It's a standard for syndicating the content of frequently-updated web sites. You're thinking, "fine steve, so what is it?" Well, if you are reading this on my tursi.com web site, you're actually reading an "rss feed" of a blog I have at livejournal.com. I actually write it on livejournal's site, add to the journal there, and my site here is instantly updated - and you can read the update just as if you were reading my blog at livejournal.com. But nothing chaged at tursi.com - nothing was uploaded to my server via ftp or any other method. Instead, every time you type in my web address, the server goes and finds my livejournal rss feede and displays it here.


Pretty cool, eh? Well, let's take it a step further - let's say you visit a bunch of web sites every day, and those sites have rss feeds. Wouldn't it be great if the content from those sites were automatically uploaded to a single web site, so you can go and read every site you visit without clicking through 15 sites? And what if this collective web site displayed and played all the media contained in those sites - whether it be video/audio/flash/whatever? What if this collective web site knew which content you already read and displayed only new stuff?

All of that is in google reader. It's an amazing piece of software that does all of the above and a lot more.

You should definitely go check it out.. The url is http://reader.google.com. In a future post, I'm going to show you how to add this site to your reader.

By the way, google reader isn't the only rss feed reader out there.. But it does have the potential to give rss the notoriety it deserves.

In other news...
Trinity softball - found out today that we're the last undefeated team in theleague of 16. Both of the other teams lost yesterday, one of them to us. We're alone in first place!

Jun 6, 2006

playing on astroturf

Wow..

Well, trinity softball just played our third game of the season. We were 2-0, our opponents were 3-0. Our opponents allowed the least runs per game of any team in the league so far, and had scored more runs per game than any team as well. Also, we had an astroturf field, and it had just rained, making it very slick. Astroturf makes for some high-scoring games because when the ball starts rolling, it doesn't stop.

we won. 18-11.

I hit two singles and popped out to right.

I also turned my ankle while stepping on first base.. It slid under my feet. No big deal - it feels a little glassy right now, but I'll live.

new to bash

Never used bash or any other linux shell before, but work has required me to use it.


(servername) cfg $ sudo su (loginname)

We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

#1) Respect the privacy of others.
#2) Think before you type.
#3) With great power comes great responsibility.

Password:
bash-2.05b$


heh.. I think I like it.