davidgagne.net

The Naming of Things

dvg — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:14:18 +0000

A Partial List of Artists in My iTunes Library That I Cannot Decide How to Properly Name

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts or Jett, Joan and the Blackhearts?
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers or Petty, Tom and the Heartbreakers?
Rilo Kiley or Kiley, Rilo?
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists or Leo, Ted & the Pharmacists?
Biz Markie or Markie, Biz?
John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band or Cafferty, John & The Beaver Brown Band?
Camper Van Beethoven or Van Beethoven, Camper?
Lynyrd Skynyrd or Skynyrd, Lynyrd?
Rob Zombie or Zombie, Rob?

What Is In My Pants?

dvg — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:56:29 +0000

What’s in Jimmy Kimmel’s pants?

Contextless Content: Episode #26 (David Bowie)

dvg — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:17:34 +0000

GatorDVG: I didn’t know Elton John was gay until like 2002.
a.friend: well, i can see that. I mean in the ’70s (when I was listening to him) he was considered cool rock and roll
a.friend: still kinda is, just the gay thing never came up
GatorDVG: I just thought the Donald Duck costume was him being kooky.
a.friend: so did everyone else…sort of like David Bowie
GatorDVG: wait
GatorDVG: David Bowie is gay?
GatorDVG: are you serious??
a.friend: u said that like you were a kid who just found out about the Easter Bunny
GatorDVG: dude
GatorDVG: come on
GatorDVG: really?
a.friend: really

Displaying Older Posts

dvg — Tue, 06 May 2008 23:38:02 +0000

I’m suffering from a little bout of writer’s block these days. When you combine that with the fact that I haven’t been cruising the ‘net finding new and funny things, it makes for a dearth of new content on this site. I was thinking that it would be cool to display a single post from the archives at the top of the home page when there’s nothing new to see. Something like, “Hey! Sorry I haven’t posted anything new in x days, but check out this from y years ago …” I got as far as writing the SQL for it, but then I stopped working on it. I think it’s a good idea, though. Maybe someone will decide to write a plugin to do this. (Or, more likely, someone already has and I am just too lazy to find it.)

In case anyone is interested, here is the SQL to find a post written on “this day prior to today”:

select * from wp_posts where date_format(post_date, ‘%m/%d’) = date_format(now(), ‘%m/%d’) and date_format(post_date, ‘%Y’) < date_format(now(), '%Y') and post_status = 'publish' and post_type = 'post' order by comment_count desc, id desc limit 1

The query sorts by the post with the most comments on the assumption that that is probably the most interesting post if there were multiple posts on that day.

Heading for Alaska

dvg — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:25:58 +0000

The awe-inspiring Jennifer A. Gagne, my little sister, is en route to Alaska with her friend, Alicia. They are going to work for the Summer as rangers at Denali National Park. How friggin’ cool is that? (They’ve created a website to record their travels, of course.)

The Seam and the Hole

dvg — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:13:52 +0000

When the barista at Starbucks handed me my coffee this morning, the hole in the lid was directly over the seam in the cup. This, I have come to learn, is a recipe for disaster. If the hole is within a centimeter of the seam you are almost guaranteed to experience “coffee drip” on your shirt. Walking into the office with a coffee stain in the middle of your shirt is a rotten way to start a Monday.

As politely and nicely as I could be at 5:30 in the morning, I asked, “Are you a new guy?” I hadn’t seen the barista and I was earnestly trying to be a good citizen of the world.

“No,” he replied, “I’ve worked at Starbucks for a while.”

“Oh,” I said, removing the lid and repositioning it, “it’s just that if you put the seam right over the hole, the coffee drips.”

He looked as if I had insulted him horribly and was a terribly rude customer. I was embarrassed and hastily grabbed my coffee. Of course I hadn’t snapped the lid all the way and so spilled coffee on the counter and the floor. “Figures,” I said, trying to at least allow him to laugh at me. No such luck. Just a disapproving stare.

So I left, got in the truck, and then hit the steering wheel with the coffee, causing it to splash from the hole onto my jeans and the seat.

Happy Monday!

Plugged in and Ready to Fall

dvg — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:38:23 +0000

One of my favorite songs is “Radio”, by Alkaline Trio. (mp3, lyrics) My sister got me to start listening to this group a few years ago and I’ve since collected everything they’ve recorded. What’s really funny is that for the longest time I thought it was a beautiful love song. Part of the chorus is — I thought:

I wish you
Would take my radio to bed with you
Plugged in and ready to fall

“What a romantic line,” I always imagined. The rest of the song is so sad, and sounds so angry. But with that one line he’s saying that he wants her to listen to him singing to her as she falls asleep. I thought this for many, many months … until I actually read the lyrics one day. I was so wrong. He’s really singing:

I wish you
Would take my radio to bathe with you
Plugged in and ready to fall

He’s no longer in love with her at all. He wants her to get electrocuted! So. Yeah. Totally changed the song for me. Still a great song, don’t get me wrong. But completely different. Talk about misheard lyrics!

2008 PTO Calendar

dvg — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:42:45 +0000

Looking for a list of the typical PTO dates for 2008? Yeah, I was, too. Here it is.

Tuesday, January 1 - New Year’s Day
Monday, January 21 - Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 18* - Washington’s Birthday
Monday, May 26 - Memorial Day
Friday, July 4 - Independence Day
Monday, September 1 - Labor Day
Monday, October 13 - Columbus Day
Tuesday, November 11 - Veterans Day
Thursday, November 27 - Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, December 25 - Christmas Day

src = U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Faceted Email Browsing

dvg — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:16:35 +0000

Seek allows for ‘faceted browsing’ of email and looks, pretty much, like the coolest thing to hit email since the @ symbol. It’s Thunderbird only, though. At this point I don’t know if it would be possible for me to abandon Outlook. The email functionality I could take or leave, but the address book and calendar are so entwined in my life there’s no way to chunk them. I need to be able to synch with my iPhone … mumble grumble … … must to do something …

Let It Bleed

dvg — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:49:39 +0000

It’s been ages since I posted an mp3 for you. Here’s a great one for today »
Song of the Moment

Yes, I know not always. But some days it would just be nice if you felt like every now and then you could.