Hurricane Charley is on his way to Tampa. This is the first time that a hurricane has ever hit Tampa since I’ve lived here. I’ve been getting hammered with phone calls all morning from people trying to find out what’s going on and where we’re going to evacuate to. I have two ferrets and two computers, so I’ll be right here. However, I’m pretty bummed for not getting a UPS. The last thing I’ll be doing is evacuating to some crazy hurricane concentration camp. I still don’t know what the big deal is, I mean, it’s only a category one. The only thing I’m a bit concerned about is the possibility of tornadoes popping up. Shudder to think. In the picture you can see the Tropical Storm Bonnie by the panhandle, why didn’t they name Hurricane Charley Hurricane Clyde instead?

Just a brief update, been busy this past week, sprained ankle and digital crack has taken up my free time.

I was browsing through the Sunday ads and CompUSA actually had some decent deals. One being a Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM HD for $130. They also have a 2.2GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive but it’s a bit pricey. It’s about the same size as most jump/thumb drives, I figure the more models they come out with that have larger storage the cheaper the older ones will be and then I’ll indulge. Just more things to add to my tech wishlist, I’d rather go wireless first. You wouldn’t believe how annoying it is dragging a wired laptop everywhere.

While I should be camping out in Tennessee, I’m stuck in bed on my laptop, feeling like crap. At this point there are only 4 things to make one feel better:

• Wolfgang Puck’s Vegetable Soup
• Arctic Shatter Powerade
• New Simpsons at 8PM
• UT2K4

I hate you.

Today and tomorrow I will be finishing my move from MT to WP (as time permits), implementing and testing new plugins, and changing the default template to it’s original form.

I had such a blast in Orlando, I’ll post more about the trip, perhaps along with pictures, when I complete the site.

Here I am casually browsing the intrawebnetdotcom. When I went to type a web address into the address bar in Firefox, by accident I typed just a W and hit enter and well, a virgin eye surprise is in store! Try it and be disgusted and frightened!

In my family, today is a valued holiday, bigger than Christmas. My grandparents hail from ye Ireland, Donegal to be exact. There is still quite a clan of us in Donegal. My grandfather is full of stories of Ireland, when I got older I was informed of the other not so pleasant, political horror stories and such, shattering my childhood dreams of leprechauns and pots of gold. Today means more than just wearing green. St. Patrick’s Day is a day when we celebrate very heartily and remember to take great appreciation for our family and our friends.

The Irish culture is beautiful and full of fascinating folklore. There are so many versions of every story, it’s quite impossible to know where fact ends and fiction begins and St. Patrick’s Day is no exception. I know several versions of the story of the patron Saint Patrick (who was really a Brit); from chasing pagans away and bringing Christianity to Ireland, using the shamrock to teach the Holy Trinity, chasing snakes away and luring the last into a box with a drink and tossed the snake into a lake, another about a dragon and so on and so forth. As my relatives would say, “If you don’t like the story, change it a bit, it’s the Irish thing to do.” As Irish folk tend to be remembered for their story telling.

Whichever reason you celebrate, enjoy St. Pat’s. Just remember if you’re drinking today in honor of St. Pat, you better be drinking Irish, and I don’t mean green American domestic beer!

Get into the Irish Spirit:

• Bake some Soda Bread
• Listen to classic Irish music
• Drink Guinness!
• Then Listen to the Dropkick Murphys
• …REALLY LOUD!

Instead of green beer, drink Irish tonight:

• Guinness
• Caffrey’s Irish Ale
• Murphy’s Irish Stout
• Murphy’s Irish Amber
• Harp Lager
• Or try a Black and Tan or an Irish Car Bomb

Saint Patrick was a gentleman,
Who through strategy and stealth,
Drove all the snakes from Ireland,
Here’s a toasting to his health.
But not too many toastings
Lest you lose yourself and then
Forget the good Saint Patrick
And see all those snakes again.

The time has come where we have splurged and brought a new addition into our home. We decided it was time to bring another ferret into our home for little Lucy. With Danielle and me not being home as much as usual we figured it was time for Lucy to have a new friend to prevent her from being lonely while we are gone. (His first pose is in front of the Dreamcast. He must know it’s Dreamcast week.)

I don’t know how many of you are or have been ferret owners, but the introduction of a new ferret to an established one is SUCH a process. I prefer to relate this to the equivalent of already having a child and bringing home a new born into the family.

Our first mistake was getting the LARGEST ferret at the pet shop. When it comes to ferrets, Danielle and I love the big guys. We didn’t take into account just how intimidating he would look to Lucy. We assumed his size would be perfect so she could romp with him and we wouldn’t have to be as worried if he had been a baby.

This morning, Lucy was getting more curious about him and venturing closer and closer to his cage. I decided to take Murphy out and hold the two together to make a short acquaintance. They seemed to be coming at each other very playfully so I thought I’d try out letting them romp.

Sorting out the pecking order is what Lucy had in mind. There was old Murphy, squeaking and hopping just as vocal as old Lucy, but Lucy was out to show her dominance. And she did. And now they are separated again. Well, perhaps children don’t really do this.

Oh, the woes of motherhood.

I don’t buy into the whole Valentine’s Day thing and this year I tried to persuade Danielle from feeling pressured into giving into the flowers, candy, and dinner theme. So we opted to go to a flea market and peruse around. I love going to flea markets because every so often you will find a nice little game store there that’s moderately priced. Although, the past couple of places we went to, we hadn’t been so lucky. I remember this one guy trying to sell me Nintendo games at $20.00 a cartridge. Um, I don’t think so.

This time, however, we were much luckier. We have been fighting off the temptation of buying a PS2. I’ve wanted so badly to get my hands on a nice Dreamcast. And yesterday, we got incredibly lucky.

We found a nice little booth at the flea market that had a nice array of used consoles and games. We browsed through the NES games, that’s were priced between $3.99 and $9.99, I can handle that. We found a copy of M.U.S.C.L.E, and had to grab it regardless of the price. Out of curiosity I asked the guy how much he was selling his Dreamcasts for. He said, “Thirty-five dollars”. I said, “WHAT?! Does it work?!” He responded with, “Of course. But you know if it doesn’t, bring it back and I’ll give you your money back.”

We caved. We bought it. We also nabbed a couple of games and were on our way. We decided on the way home that we’d visit a couple of our favorite pawn shops and see if we can find some more games and accessories.

By the time we finally made it home, we had spent just under $70.00 and got a Dreamcast, 4 games, keyboard, web browser, and two memory cards.

So, I was the first to check it out, loaded Jet Grind Radio and indulged for a little. Then I let Danielle have her turn and what happens?

The Dreamcast stops working.

Okay, so I try to maintain my composure, but I’m pretty pissed. So I start fiddling around with the little guy, turns out it’s not spinning discs.

Argh.

It was getting late and I was a bit too tired to toy around with the DC so I put the project off for the morning.

After a cup of espresso, I decide to give it whirl and tinker with calibrating the laser. I take it apart, adjust the calibration device a bit and after a couple of tries, she’s fully revived and now I’m off to enjoy ye old Dreamcast.

Marriage, defined by our country, is the union between a man and a woman. However, in San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom changed city policy. Newsom said gays and lesbians have the right to wed under the state’s equal protection clause even though voters in 2000 approved a ballot initiative that restricted marriage to heterosexual couples.

Among the first couples to get married were Del, 83, and Phyllis, 79. Both long-standing activists, leaders, and icons of the lesbian movement. These two women have been together for 51 years! That’s half a century, five decades! Imagine, being together for 51 years, all the things they have witnessed, everything they fought for, to finally be able to be married. I couldn’t think of a couple more deserving of the first marriage taken place there.

Although, no state allows gay marriages, and this is considered an act of disobedience, it’s aimed to challenge the law on gay marriage. Putting aside the legalities of the issue, the day was still astoundingly symbolic, especially the story of Del and Phyllis which is just too beautiful to be forgotten. Not to mention the scores of other couples, who have equally shared their lives with someone for an amazing amount of time, who are celebrating this monumental day.

Almost 100 marriage licenses were given out and almost every couple exchanged their vows on the spot. Sadly, today, opponents are fighting it out in court. They’re seeking the obvious, to invalidate every license and resume laws of oppression.

Even Webster has a better definition of marriage than our government:
1 a (1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage

Update:View pictures of the weddings here. Wait there’s more, here and also more over here. [via Jake]