Y2K: 20 Years Later

Little Computer People

Twenty years and one day ago it was New Year’s Eve, 1999, and tensions around the world were running high. For months, the country had been rushing toward a single event — the moment computers around the globe moved into the new millennium and updated their internal clocks from 12:59:99 on 12/31/99 to 01:00:00 on 1/1/00. Those last two digits — 99 and 00 — were the crux of everyone’s worries. While human beings could assume the “00” represented 2000, there was a (substantiated) fear that many computers would interpret those digits as 1900. This simple programming shortcut, and all… (read more)

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Enjoying our Extended Vacation

Earlier today Susan and I debated which day the two of us had gone to the theater to see The Rise of Skywalker. The more we talked, the more it became apparent that the real issue was that we weren’t sure what day today was. If vacations are intended to help you forget about work for a while, ours is definitely working. The kids are out of school for two weeks for “winter break” and Susan took the entire time off as well. (I put “winter” in quotes because it still looks and feels like fall.) I took off the… (read more)

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What I Watched and Read in 2019

It’s that time again — the time when I go back and look at all the movies, television shows, and books I consumed throughout the year. MOVIES Over the past year I watched a total of 101 movies. I’ve been tracking what movies I’ve watched for four years now. In 2018 I watched 111, in 2017 I watched 127, and in 2016 I only watched 82. I always set a loose goal of watching 121 movies (approximately one every three days) and did not reach that goal. My true goal is 100 movies a year, and I just barely made… (read more)

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Ending the Trilogy of Trilogies

Star Wars Marquee

This post is spoiler free. Last Thursday, Mason and I attended a 6:05 p.m. showing of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. To quote Darth Vader, “the circle is now complete.” Except for A New Hope (I was just shy of four years old in May of 1977 when it was released), I’ve seen every theatrically-released Star Wars film on opening day. My dad took me to see Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as a kid; in 1997, I saw the re-released special editions of the original trilogy while… (read more)

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My Favorite Documentaries of the Decade

Best Documentaries of the Decade

Toward the end of each year I typically compile a few “best of” lists, but it just dawned on me that not only are we approaching the end of the year, but the end of a decade! As a frequent and fervent connoisseur of documentaries, I decided to compile a list of my favorite documentaries over the past decade. I originally intended to sort each year’s entries from most-to-least enjoyed, but in the end I decided I enjoyed them all in different ways. Also, I’m lazy. Enjoy the list. 2010 Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape: In the 1980s,… (read more)

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He’s Sick, She’s Sick, We’re Sick…

I came home from a Christmas dinner two weeks ago convinced I had contracted food poisoning. One of the restaurant’s dinner specials was pasta with shrimp, which Susan and I both ordered. Thing is, she doesn’t eat shrimp, so she ordered her shrimp on the side and I ate it, along with mine. By the time we got home, my stomach was all rumbly-tumbly and I was sure the shrimp was the culprit. In retrospect, I don’t believe it was. A few days prior to that dinner, Susan had gone to the doctor complaining of a sore throat and was… (read more)

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Happy 18th, Mason

Yesterday, Mason turned 18 years old. Let that sink in for a moment. I know it hasn’t quite sunk in for me yet. Last year on Mason’s birthday, I reminisced about all his previous birthday parties — the ones that took place at inflatable jump houses and arcades and bowling alleys. This year for Mason’s birthday, our extended families took him out for dinner. Tomorrow night, he’s having some friends over to play video and computer games. For his birthday, he asked for a 3D printer. Earlier today, he attended a college tour at the University of Oklahoma. Things are… (read more)

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Fun Free Short Story: Felix and the Skinks

To celebrate my 2,000th follower on Twitter, I decided to do something fun. Two weeks ago, I sent out a tweet to all my followers and asked them to send me a random word, which I would in turn weave into a short story. Over a period of 48 hours, I received a total of 47 submitted words. One of the submissions (“giant bunny”) jumped out at me and became one of the main characters in the story. Another word (“SpaceX”) inspired me to place the story in space. From there, it was a matter of coming up with a… (read more)

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Setting up Movie Nights with a PowerShell Script

I love watching movies, but miss the theater experience — and by that I mean trailers and concession commercials, not gum on the floor, people talking, and kids kicking the back of my seat. I decided to write a script using PowerShell to try and enhance my home movie experience. The result, which I’ve named MovieNight.ps1, is pretty neat! I’m splitting today’s blog post into two parts. The first half will be the fun half where I talk about what the script does. The first half won’t be technical at all. In the second half I’ll get into the technical… (read more)

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A Thanksgiving Toast

To get me in the holiday spirit, I watched several classic Thanksgiving-themed sitcom episodes this week. On Wednesday I watched old episodes of Cheers, Seinfeld, Married with Children, and even the Love Boat. The nice thing about sitcoms is that no matter what or how many problems arise during the show, they will all be neatly wrapped up by the time the end credits roll. Even if the characters get in a fist fight and all the food is ruined, by the end of the episode everybody will have a good laugh and the audience will applaud on cue. My… (read more)

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