Light Bulb

Argile: this morning has been nuts. and is going to continue to be nuts.

Sven: that’s unfortunate

guess i’ll be amusing myself today, eh?

9:29 AM Argile: well, I’ve got a meeting at 10, then bww, but this afternoon will be grunt work so I’ll be here then, you can talk to Wulgar.

Sven: uh, great

9:32 AM Argile: hey, you know I’m just trying to expand your social life

9:34 AM Sven: otherwise i’m just a few steps away from running off to the alaskan wilderness, growing a bushy beard, and living off of grubs for the rest of my life

9:36 AM Argile: please don’t do that

I fully expect you to prepare my taxes every year for the rest of my life

9:37 AM because I also expect you to outlive me by a considerable margin

Sven: well, that last part may be a tad optimistic

9:40 AM Argile: yeah, that’s true, my plan will likely kill us both

9:41 AM Sven: but, the circumstances of your death will likely result in government seizure of all your assets

so at least you won’t have estate taxes to worry about

9:47 AM Argile: yeah, but that’s assuming there’s still a government… which means my plan won’t work

Sven: well, if your plan results in our untimely deaths, i’d like to think that’s also an indication that the plan didn’t work

9:48 AM Argile: eh, true…

9:49 AM I’m more about the timely deaths

Sven: ah

the plan is for us to die after the plan comes to fruition?

9:51 AM Argile: well, preferably after years of enjoying our success

Sven: ah

well, ok then

9:52 AM Argile: did you read about obama’s speech?

Sven: you sent me an article about it yesterday

Argile: about those bastards who acted like little, whiny children?

he gave a speech last night to the country

Sven: oh that

um, didn’t read much about it

Argile: go to ccn.com

*cnn.com

9:53 AM they heckled him during his speech, incorrectly, as though this was some sort of town hall meeting or something

9:54 AM Sven: oh yeah, i did hear about that

Argile: I don’t recall dems ever calling bush a moron to his face while he spouted “strategery”

Sven: which, i’d argue, would’ve taken a lot more restraint

9:55 AM Argile: yeah

9:56 AM These are people who largely came from good institutions, who live to give speeches, and represent our country, and yet they can’t handle sitting around and being polite for 30 minutes

10:00 AM Sven: it’s pretty childish

it’s like something out of Liar Liar

“your honor i object”

“why?”

“‘cuz it’s devastating to my case!”

10:02 AM but you’re in a meeting now

10:42 AM Argile: yes, yes I was

these things happen

10:47 AM here’s a present: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/not-photoshopped-incredible-forced-perspective-photography/14968

10:48 AM Sven: neat

10:49 AM Argile: the fact that none of those photos were manipulated is even cooler

10:50 AM Sven: it is pretty impressive

Argile: I’m all about the banana one

10:51 AM Sven: that would be fun to have a deathmatch on top of a giant banana

10:57 AM Argile: I’m surprised more shooters haven’t taken advantage of fruit-based levels

11:01 AM Sven: i can honestly say that i’m a little surprised by that too

considering some of the other crackhead shit that gets put into videogames

11:03 AM Argile: well yeah… I mean, you remember that timesplitters game from freshman year?

the one that had monkeys and stuff?

11:04 AM Sven: yep

pretty inspired lunacy

11:05 AM Argile: there hasn’t been one since, even though it did very well

there’s totally room for more games that let you play as a snowman with a flamethrower

11:06 AM Sven: that would kick ass

11:07 AM Argile: exactly. Who cares about being your average soldier with an m16 shooting average terrorists with ak-47s when you can have acid-spitting llama deathmatches on the moon?

Sven: programmers just have no imagination anymore

11:09 AM Argile: see, if you or I actually learned how to program, we’d make some pretty sweet stuff

11:10 AM Sven: that would be embarrassing, to be shown up by an accountant on video game design

11:11 AM Argile: yeah, just a little bit

you’d probably be good at the programming though, it’s basically math with variables

11:18 AM Sven: might take a little getting used to

Argile: like anything else, you just have to ask yourself if you want to take it on as a hobby

11:19 AM for instance, most nights now I spend an hour running through a photoshop/illustrator tutorial while watching netflix

I’m learning some cool stuff that’ll probably have an impact on my career

11:20 AM of course, relating programming to accounting is more difficult

Sven: yeah…can’t see any connections offhand, anyway

11:21 AM Argile: well, one thing would be programming xcel, or your own programs to carry out mathematical functions

11:22 AM or, say, getting a job working for TurboTax or something

11:24 AM Sven: i dunno, maybe

i’m pretty good at using excel at this point

11:25 AM Argile: well, let’s say you want to calculate fees, taxes, etc, so you program a function that has you enter, say, 3 -4 numbers and then it spits out an entire spreadsheet of data for you

this isn’t really the type of programming we were talking about, though, but it’s a start

11:26 AM although really, the main argument at this point would be if you wanted to learn it for yourself

Sven: right

11:37 AM Argile: so, really, the question is… are you man enough to program?

11:38 AM Sven: probably not

i am most definitely mouse

Argile: sigh

evan, it takes millions of dollars and years to shoot a movie

11:39 AM two people with an idea and minimal programming skill can create one hell of a game

11:40 AM Sven: probably true

although, just shooting a movie only takes a month or two

11:41 AM more if you’re doing the LOTR 3-movies-at-once thing

11:42 AM Argile: what I’m getting at here, though, is that our ability to make a whimsical, profitable game for, say, the Iphone within a year is much greater than our chances of pulling together a huge movie set

Sven: very true

11:43 AM Argile: see what I’m getting at here? Spending some free time learning a skill that could become a fun source of extra income might be worth it

11:44 AM Sven: possibly

11:45 AM although i would like to invite you to take on 6 credit hours of post-graduate classes on top of your full-time job and then see how motivated you are to spend time learning a completely new skill

11:51 AM Argile: I’m not saying it’s easy, or that you have to do it right now

or that you ever have to do it

Sven: i’m aware of that

11:52 AM Argile: I’m just sayin’ that on a lazy saturday afternoon you might want to try a very simple thing and see if it’s interesting at all

11:53 AM Sven: i might look into it at some point

11:55 AM Argile: who knows, might like it, or find it easy… you know me, though, I have to keep pushing people

Sven: yep, it is your calling

or, one of them

11:59 AM Argile: yeah, though admittedly my desire to push people is because I wanna know people with useful skills

12:06 PM Argile: wings time

1:31 PM Argile: and, 16 wings later, I’m feeling pretty good

1:32 PM Sven: i should hope so

1:33 PM Argile: This afternoon will be a mixture of awesome after-taste and dentyne ice, I think

1:43 PM Sven: sounds tasty

1:49 PM Argile: oh, it is

1:54 PM Sven: i’m still takin’ it easy on the food after this past weekend

Argile: oh yeah, this was the first time I’ve used my card since sunday

not counting gas

1:55 PM Sven: RIGHT

oops, left caps lock on again

1:56 PM but yeah, i’ve just been keeping the portions smaller in general the last few days

could feel myself starting to get a bit paunchy

Argile: lol

it happens

1:57 PM omgwtf – it’s teh mnster of gnrality! http://bit.ly/yJtzB

sorry, I felt the urge to use moron-speak

1:58 PM Sven: that also happens

2:00 PM i’ll bet whoever writes that blog feels very intelligent and superior

despite the fact that he just put a monster metaphor onto a basic middle school-level message

2:01 PM Argile: really? I felt it was an in-depth discussion of advanced financial principles

enhanced by the addition of a murderous creature

2:02 PM Sven: well you say “tomato”, and all that

2:08 PM Argile: you know what’s helped me a lot over the years? Typing of the Dead, that’s what

2:09 PM Sven: enhanced your typing skills, has it?

2:15 PM Argile: oh, most definitely

Sven: yeah, i’ve found i’ve also gotten pretty damn fast with a 10-key

2:16 PM it’s kinda fun to see how quickly i can enter in numbers in a row on a spreadsheet

which my job actually calls for, like right now

so, you know, i’m not just frivolously typing numbers

2:21 PM Argile: uh huh

Sven: well, typing numbers fast isn’t impressive unless you have a list of them

Argile: I think you just sit there with notepad open and type pie’s digits all day

Sven: hmmm

i might actually start doing that

see how much of pi i can memorize

2:22 PM Argile: and you don’t want to learn programming?

Sven: i’m joking

2:24 PM Argile: except… not really

2:27 PM Sven: no, i’m really not planning on memorizing pi

2:28 PM Argile: http://www.sitepro.com/index.cfm/event/blog.entry/entryId/246/

let me know if it sucks

2:32 PM Sven: nope, doesn’t suck

2:36 PM Argile: score

speaking of excel, I’ve got 10,000 parts to enter now. hurrah!

2:37 PM Sven: fun

2:39 PM i’ve got a computer screen to stare at for a while, i suppose

2:41 PM Argile: sigh, well, I can’t use the 1st CD

all the information is in InDesign files, which, of course, is a program I don’t have here…

Sven: uh oh

2:42 PM Argile: I’m hoping they have the squirrel baffle as a pdf crosses fingers

whoa

2:43 PM putting asterisks on either side of a phrase bolds it, apparently

Sven: i was wondering waht was going on there

heehee…squirrel baffle

that’s just a downright amusing combination of words

2:45 PM Argile: well, never mind. My afternoon plans are shot now

Sven: d’oh?

2:46 PM Argile: well, their entire product catalog is in a file format I can’t open on this computer

2:47 PM guess it means I’ll be doing some homework tonight…

Sven: d’oh!

2:50 PM Argile: well, football game is on… so…

2:51 PM Sven: yeah, i’m gonna miss a lot of it

is it on network TV?

Argile: nfl network actually

so I might be beaming it over the internet..

Sven: dammit

2:52 PM guess i’ll be missing the whole damn thing

Argile: lol, sports bar?

2:53 PM hit up jethros with maurice

actually, maurice has directtv, he might get it

Sven: oh yeah

i’ll have to head his way after class

2:55 PM Argile: problem solved

2:56 PM Sven: and there was much rejoicing

3:01 PM Argile: tell me about it

I just benched Roethlisberger

I’m playin’ ronnie, he’s got Ten. D and I’ve got Pit’s

3:02 PM Sven: hmm

i’m playing bob, and i’m already faced with that dilemma of being in 2 leagues at the same time

bob has aaron rodgers, while i have rodgers in my other league

sonofabitch

Argile: lol

always sucks when that happens

3:03 PM thing is though, you just have to play the best lineup in each league

if your other players make up the difference, great

Sven: yep

plus, the other league has money riding on it

Argile: well, then it’s a no-breainer

speaking of no brains…

3:04 PM Sven: george romero’s releasing yet another zombie movie?

first horror movie to be presented in 70 years at cannes, or whichever film fest he’s releasing it

3:05 PM Argile: meh.

They’ve become so derivative and formulaic

3:06 PM looking forward to 9 this weekend though

Sven: didn’t that come out yesterday?

3:07 PM Argile: yeah, but I’m going to take my parents to it

mom likes to see movies at theaters, and there hasn’t been anything recently

Sven: that is true

you’re taking your parents?

like, you’re paying?

3:10 PM Argile: oh, I won’t pay, but they’ll appreciate me getting them out

Sven: ah

3:13 PM any other crazy plans for the weekend?

3:20 PM Argile: going to find a better place to look for girls in this town

Wulfgar and I are going to tap our connections, see what’s out and about

Sven: you’re giving up on booze street?

3:30 PM Argile: that place is so dismally depressing

it’s fun with a group of people

or if you’re hunting for one night stands

but when you’re trying to find a decent girl… not gonna happen

aren’t you coming up this weekend?

3:31 PM or is that in a week?

Sven: that’s the weekend after this one

18th-20th

3:33 PM Argile: gotcha

3:34 PM lol check out the batshit-crazy people I meet on twitter: http://www.movinglightgallery.com/

3:36 PM Sven: the language on that site kinda makes me feel like vomiting

3:41 PM Argile: yeah, i read the first few words and clicked away

3:50 PM Argile: a voice of reason in a troubled, troubled world: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/davenport/2009/09/are_social_media_contributing.html

3:52 PM Sven: yeah…not that it’ll do any good

3:53 PM Argile: well, yeah, when crap like this is happening: http://mondegreen2.livejournal.com/

3:54 PM things like this simultaneously depress me, yet make me hopeful about our chances of being published

3:58 PM Sven: i actually started to nod off while reading it

4:00 PM Argile: it’s pretty horrible

4:05 PM Argile: my god, 1.49 billion shares of stock were traded today

4:06 PM Sven: that’s many

4:09 PM Argile: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/09/the_12_most_awesomely_nerdy_breakfast_cereals.php

4:10 PM Sven: mmmm…cereal

4:11 PM Argile: Urkle-Os!

Sven: that seems like an SNL commercial

Argile: yeah, it really does

4:12 PM Sven: well, it’s another class day for me

and i’m alone in the office right now, so there’s really nothing keeping me here

talk to ya tomorrow