RedJen's Rearview Mirror

The entire outside of the house has gotten a face lift. Power washed, then all the hardboard & trim checked, (replaced where needed) and followed by a fresh coat of paint. Did I mention that they did this in about 15 total hours? Three hours on power washing on Friday and then 12 hours on Saturday.

First revision - now looking to put the house on the market on Thursday. The carpet guys can't get here until Wednesday.

I'm wondering if my neighbors would mind if I filled all of their trash bins as well as mine. So far I'm running at about 30% keep and 70% throw away.

Other stuff -
I heard from two friends outside of NC yesterday. One has been offered a post-doc in South Carolina. The other is facing the loss of her mother within the next week. I'm thrilled for one and ache for the other. It amazes me that we can feel such divergent emotions at the same time.

Back to work for me, I'm sure there's more stuff to get rid of around here...

It is official. The house is for sale as of this afternoon. Once Bryan sends me the link, I'll post it here. I have a few small things left to do. A few things that still need boxes and couple of places that need a last bit of touch up paint. Did I mention that I'll be glad then this is done...

Tired doesn't begin to cover it. Now that it's on the market, I want this place sold so I can concentrate on work and getting ready for vacation. Did I mention that I'm going to sleep early...

Here is the virtual tour through the house... Click Me

Check out the slideshow & virtual images.

I just finished a conference call with a group on the other side of the ocean and in this image Dilbert really does sum up how I felt...

I have a serious case of short-timer's disease going on at work. Luckily, vacation is just around the corner. After this week, I just have to get through Monday & Tuesday before I get some R&R. Now to make a list of things to get done by this weekend...

In house news, we've been on the market for 10 days now and have had about that many showings. I have someone coming in this evening. I'm wondering if I'll have time to mow the lawn before I need to make myself scarce. Thursday my brokers are having a Broker Open House to bring in some more agents to see the place. I'm hopeful that it is just a matter of time at this point.

In new house news, I haven't started looking very seriously and that's the plan until after vacation. Leslie took me out Saturday looking at listings to get a feel for what is available now and if I'm guessing right to let her get an idea what I like/don't like. After that, I do know that Apex is too far away for me. I'm probably going to end up in Morrisville or the west side of Cary. But that is something to dwell on later. For now I need to mow the lawn, run the vacuum and get ready for vacation.

The original article can be found on ars technica

The way people have been treating each other (in general not just in MMORPGs), I don't think I should be anywhere near this "experiment". People's actions will just piss me off. I'd want to put a bullet into the skull of the first person who got sick and then purposely infected everyone they could. To me that's the height of petty, self-centered egotism. To unknowingly pass on a disease is one thing, but to purposely do so is a premeditated assault.

As for seeing how a disease could spread in a network... If this was done in such a way that the players had no way of knowing that the study was going on, then I could see using it as a model for how such a disease can spread in a society. Because there are no real world consequences to a virtual outbreak, I'd argue that players will go out of their way to see how quickly they could infect as many people as possible.

If however you are looking to study how a terrorist group could introduce an biological weapon into a society in such a way that it would spread through contact, then tell the players about the disease (not the terrorist part) and watch how quickly people revert to animals and assault their fellow players to see how quickly they can harm the other people in the game. I suspect that the first people to purposely make themselves toxic will be the same people who "camp" fallen corpses so that as soon as the other player resurrects, they can quickly kill them again (because that’s fun).

Honestly, I try to treat everyone I meet like an adult, but some days people just go out of their way to prove that to be wrong.

This morning as I opened the door to go to work, Blue executed a perfectly timed escape dash. I have real doubts that it was spontaneous. It was too perfectly timed to have been unplanned.

Checking out how well I can use a remote system to post updates.

I've made it past security. Now begins the first wait to board the plane. Being habitually late for things, missing a plane is something that a have a real issue with. So I may be sitting in the airport early, but I'll be in my seat before the plane takes flight.

I'm sitting in NY now, wondering what to do for the next 3 hours. One stop closer to vacation, but the whining 5 year old behind me is on my last nerve. If I wake up and this was a joke I'm going to be royally pissed.

Take off... Mike, Aaron and Amanda made it to our connecting site. We're on the plane and prep is ubder way for take off. When next I have a chance to post, it will be from the land of the Scots.

We made it into Glasgow and then to the cottage we are staying for the first 10 days. I'm writing on paper as well, so the stories will come later with the pictures.

It is hard to have a limited tech holiday with these guys. I'm sitting in an internet cafe saying "no" to using the terminals, while the other three get their high speed fix. Did I mention that Mike brought his laptop...

One of the boys seems to want to be a dead boy. So far there has been very little determined to case him to pause. Sheep sex was the first. With so many around it was only a matter of time. We're hoping that Coke Zero will be pause generator number two.