meJoe.com

My best friend in 2nd grade recently found me. Just the realization it was him brought back a rush of past memories. Then it started. I wanted to see who else was out there. I looked. I looked some more, and more… I can’t stop! I look, I find, I connect, then the cycle repeats. I am now looking for people I don’t even know.

What can I do to fight this addiction!?

Dude, I could not stop laughing! Outhouse suddenly turns into elevator and water skis - surprise! had me rolling on the floor. I had never fathomed this combination of words in the same sentence, so I had to watch.

Thanks to the TV in Japan blog, ya’ll made my day.

Yeah, so I spilled it. It had one foot in the grave anyhow. I should get a free Dr. Pepper for my accidental bravery. Sorry about the noisy old machine though, and the domino it knocked over. Actually the domino part was kind of funny.

Honestly I am very sorry. I’ll be sure to contain my excitement the next time we enter the wonderful land of Stock Keeping Units.

In college I acted in this little performance art piece called, “The Gas Heart“. Written by Tristan Tzara, this Da-Da work was that stereotypical “artsy” performance in which costumed actors (usually wearing black) run around doing and saying things that make little sense. To illustrate this point to you, the characters were: Eye, Mouth, Nose, Ear, Neck, and the Eyebrow. I played the nose.

A good friend of mine, whom I had lost touch with, recently contacted me (thanks MySpace) and reminded me of it. Anyway, I’m looking for some pictures of us during the play. The costumes were hilarious, the set was insane, and the music was “experimental”. When I find some I’ll post.

Last night I was watching the news. An airline industry analyst from Malaysia was interviewed about government regulation. He said, “The government is doing the right thing by taking measures to eliminate inefficient competition.”

Inefficient competition? What the heck is that? Doesn’t efficiency equal competition? Is this the same as saying non-competition?
I think inefficient competition can mean three things:

1. No competition
2. Competition in industries where commodities prevail
3. To describe entities that could be saved by moving to a new market to compete

Items 1 and 2 are easy to grasp. Number 3 is tougher. I had to think about it for a bit, but the concept could make sense.

First, this phrase must be analyzed from the point of view it is expressed. After all, the term “efficiency” is relative to the perspective. An environmentalist might not view competition in the logging industry as efficient. For point of view, we will choose the Malasian government. It is in Malaysia’s best interest for its companies to thrive.

The analyst was probably recommending that government provide incentives for airline companies to move into markets that did not require them to compete so directly. This is about reacting more effectively to other sources of demand.

I probably should think about this some more…

The other day I tried to sneak the word “spiffy” into some official communications. I said, “Check out our spiffy new graphs!” I knew the work would be reviewed by a savvy editor, so I took a chance. The audience would have been mostly technical server-admin-types. You know, business-speak weary folks who’d rather read slashdot than the latest business book top seller. My thoughts, “This is so witty, they’re gonna want me to write even more!”

Nope.

“Spiffy!?” accompanied their (editors and marketing types) perplexed expressions. I couldn’t tell if they thought I was foolish or something else–like derailed by my creativity (maybe?).

“Dang”, I thought, as I back-peddled, “Sure spiffy, you know, I used it to emphasize to y’all the importance of using an informal tone”. Good save? I’ll stick with my ignorant bliss on this one.

Looking for the private last word, I jump to Merriam Webster:

Spiffy: adj. - fine looking: smart. spiffily, adj.

I’m on to something… there has to be more though…

Hacker Slang (answers.com)
1. Said of programs having a pretty, clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface. “Have you seen the spiffy X version of empire yet?”

and:

2. Said sarcastically of a program that is perceived to have little more than a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should be drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word was common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to 1.

This is one of those words whose meaning flips based on “tone of voice and context”! What a bad word! All geeks can appreciate a dose of that.

How bout ‘dem apples!

Yeah!

I’m on Wordpress now. I used to work with a little tool that I built on my own. Forget that. This is a realm where build looses to buy (or free!).

Wordpress is very cool. Its got all these nice, AJAX-y interfaces, sexy, time saving features and total Web site management (say goodbye to hand-coding). All of these things mean I should be posting a lot more. I even have some friends that might want to read it!