And in the masterpiece trolling department, tonight we have a clear winner. (Yes, in the truly classical trolling sense, it initially appears that the commenter is really serious about what he is saying. Only with careful discernment, and a few tips from people who have seen this character in the past, can one recognize the true flame-fanning intent. Oh, and the user bio is a riot too.)

What might we have in the way of content other than the idle amusements of troll-ignited flamefests on Slashdot? Hmmmm...

I'm beginning to think it might have been a bad idea to join Jaeger in his second mini-resolution, because ever since I stated the intention to do so, the frequency at which I go running has gradually decreased. I was thinking about it today after work, but my brain and body's mood could best have been described as "Blaaaah." I took a nap instead.

Perhaps I should repeal said intent, in the faint hope that removing the obligation will remove the psychological weight that goes with it. This could (possibly) allow me to just go back to running for fun and refreshment, rather than attempting to fulfill some sense of duty to a prior commitment I made. Or even if I decide not to run again for fun and refreshment, there would be no loss, because I wouldn't really be changing anything, would I?

It's settled then. Based upon the logic stated in the above paragraph full of meandering psychobabble, I hereby withdraw myself from participation in Jaeger's second mini-resolution. If I happen to run every now and then anyway, fine. If not, then I will happily accept physical un-fitness as the natural consequence of my (in)action. There.

In the computing, programming, web design, and other such things department: I feel I have been stagnating lately. I want to learn and embrace all the great technologies being pioneered in all sorts of areas. Like the stuff I learned at CLIQ, about Zope and XML. A part of my also wants to get back into writing real applications, like something with KDE or Gnome, as opposed to the groups of scripts spitting out html. I mean, web stuff is great, but ultimately, it begins to feel very constricting if it's all you do.

Oh, I suppose there's also the possibility of writing a full-blown Mozilla app in JavaScript. That does hold a certain sick appeal. Very sick. Appeal.

Then I have these ideas that it would be fun to learn OpenGL programming, and write god-knows-what in the way of 3d shit. Tantalizing.

The point? [sigh] With so many great technologies at my fingertips, just choosing what to do and what to learn becomes a huge obstacle in and of itself. Remember DOS? It was easy, because the only programming tool that existed (aside from DEBUG.EXE) was gwbasic. Later, qbasic. You want to program? Load up the basic interpreter and go.

Oh, and then there was Turbo C++ after I bought that. Even with all the functionality it offered, that was fairly daunting, but not so much that I couldn't go in and have some kick-ass fun with it.

Nowadays though, there's a bazillion libraries, languages, and programming environments. All pretty much at the fingertips of anyone with a computer and a net connection, and freely available. Where to even begin? In a way, the amazing array of choices available is a great blessing. But, if you want to take the "glass is 1/100th empty" approach, it can be a curse just figuring out what to do.

So what does one such as myself do when faced with such possibility? When in low energy mode, it becomes easier to throw my arms in the air, sit back, and be amused by the trolls on Slashdot. Maybe watch a DVD or two.

In slightly more motivated moods, it's easier to take the tried and true path: Throw together a few perl scripts, SQL queries, and Gimp effects. Viola! A new website design that does essentially the same thing that the old one did, with minor variations and feature additions / removals.

Blah.

I'm gonna listen to a few more songs, and then go to sleep. Signoff.