Moniker Design: May 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Small Rant About the Software Industry

Does this make any sense to anyone? How is the company that makes your operating system vulnerable to hackers going to make an anti-virus software package that's any more secure? (In other words, they want to charge you $50 a year to fix their mistakes.)

Not that Macs are much better. They are quite secure but yesterday alone several programs quit multiple times. Acrobat twice, Photoshop three times, Illustrator four times, FreeHand once, and I'm sure that if I was doing work with any other programs, they would've quit too.

Friday, May 26, 2006

A Small Rant About the Music Industry

So for the last few days, the top downloaded song on iTunes has been "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado and some guy called Timbaland. First of all, does anybody know what promiscuous means? (Hint: not a good thing.) Second of all, does it seem at all likely that the birth-control industry and the music industry have a synergistic relationship? Third of all, why are people buying songs they can hear on the radio every 45 minutes? Finally, am I the only one in the world who knows that Top 40 stations exist for the sole purpose of killing popular music by overplaying it so that new music can enter circulation?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Volkswagen vs. Lambourghini

Adrian showed this to me while I was in Florida.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Crosstown Traffic

Here's what it's like to drive with me. (Only one of these photos was taken while I was in motion.) The top two were taken during a park-your-vehicle-and-get-out-and-pick-some-wildflowers kind of traffic jam, between Montgomery and Birmingham, AL. The bottom left is Interstate 65 with Nashville in the background, and the dreary one on the bottom right is Cincinnatti, OH. And here's a helpful hint for driving on the Interstate: stay right except to pass, and if you must drive in the left lane, please try to go at least the speed limit! It's just common courtesy.

A Shorter Pensacola Beach

Photos of Pensacola Beach, taken on Thursday, May 11. Hurricane Ivan did a lot of damage to the Pensacola area, especially to the beach. Most of Santa Rosa Island is inaccessible by the main road, including Opal Beach. Something about the "Road Closed" sign is an appropriate symbol of the whole vacation experience. I had anticipated this trip for quite some time, but when it actually happened, it was different than I had planned. Fact is, I’m not a college student anymore, and neither are any of my “college buddies”. We are all getting older, moving away from that time and place. In thirty years, my most significant memories shared with college friends may not be of college at all. Maybe they’ll be of camping trips in the mountains, or days out on the lake, or family picnics in the backyard. The longer I live, the more I realize the future is a mystery I can’t predict with anything resembling accuracy, and the past is just that – the past, gone forever, but I still haven't learned how to truly appreciate the present.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Centennial Park

In Nashville's Centennial Park, there is a full-scale replica of the Parthenon of ancient Greece. Utmost attention has been paid to authenicity, including the signs warding off ancient trouble-making teenagers.

The Surprise Party

Sharon has worked for months planning a surprise party for Paul's 25th birthday. (His birthday is actually Saturday, the 6th.) Paul's parents and brother and sister-in-law were driving up from Florida, and we were to have the party after Paul got home from work. Part of the plan involved me "leaving" to go to Pensacola today. To make it more authentic, I decided to arrange this family photo before I "left". (Troy is taking his afternoon nap.) Paul was surprised to see his family here, but even more surprised to find I'd never left!