April 2004 Archives

100000

That's right folks. I've grown up a bit. I'm now 100000-years old. It's quite a monumental achievement. For the last 16 years, I've been languishing in five-digit territory but now I'm getting serious. I've got thirty-two years of six-digit ages to go through now. I may not live to see another digit and if I do, my children won't be living at home anymore (we hope).

It's the beginning of a new era.

Helpful information for the confused

For those of you who are utterly and totally confused, let me explain.

In the binary counting system -- the system of ones and zeros that computers use -- the number 32 is represented as 100000.

It works like this:

*	32	16	8	4	2	1
7				1	1	1
8			1	0	0	0
15			1	1	1	1
16		1	0	0	0	0
31		1	1	1	1	1
32	1	0	0	0	0	0

Going from right to left, a binary number increases in degree by 2 (just like decimal numbers increase in degree by 10). When you reach 32 (the age I'm at now), it takes six digits to represent the number in binary.

Okay, back to the Fozzolog.

How did I celebrate by 100000th birthday? By filling a 44-ounce cup with vomit... My own vomit.

You might read that to mean that I went on a drinking binge or something like that, but that's not what happened. I just happened to get a stomach virus or something. It effectively ruined the day I was hoping to spend with my family in recognition of my clearing the six-digit threshold.

My mom gave me some denim shorts, though. That's cool. Thanks mom!

So, here's to another 100000 years of Fozzolog!

Went to Logan today to meet with a client, fix a server, buy cheese, have lunch with Mike and Chadd, pick up a stuffed rabbit that repeats everything you say at my in-laws house, and more.

What a day. I did get to listen to a lot of talk radio, though, because I was in the car a lot. Rush was doing hilarious impersonations of John Kerry. Sean was calmer than usual today and had some good guests.

Here’s a drawing Maya made at school of me and Tux, the de facto mascot of Linux.

“Dad and Tux“ by Maya Barton

BTW: I’m the one with the spiked hair. ;-)

Had a good Easter holiday. Spent some time with Christine's family and then with my family.

When we went to my parents', my dad showed me some pictures he had gotten developed which included some photos he took at the Barton Armenian dinner last weekend. So, I include those here... along with another interesting one.

640 x 422	Here are my three nephews: Ben, Brennen, and Cole at Jodie's house.
640 x 419	My nephew Cole riding a gas-powered scooter at Jodie's house.
641 x 427	Maya and I on a gas-powered scooter.
640 x 421	Here's a picture of my parents' cat Charlie -- the most complacent and tolerant cat I've met -- after I put a dress-up tutu on her.

I’ve been so busy this last week with work I haven’t taken any time to author any Fozzolog entries. I probably don’t really have time to do it now, but I’ll go ahead and try to quickly get one in.

Books

I’ve been reading a lot the last couple of weeks. I find it gives my brain a nice break from work-related stuff.

The first book I read was Sean Hannity’s Deliver Us from Evil : Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism. Dave brought this to me when he came up for our small-claims court appearance last month.

Hannity’s book is a great read — especially during the general election year. I know a lot of people find Hannity’s radio program to be annoying and his radio style to be caustic, inflammatory, and irreverent, but his book is none of these things. He does a good job of laying down the facts and backing them up.

The book is basically a persuasive case for the reelection of George W. Bush. It compares the appeasement policies of today’s democratic party to that of Neville Chamberlain and argues that appeasing terrorists and totalitarian regimes like that of Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein is hopeless.

So, good book.

Next, I read The Footprints of God, a novel by Greg Iles. This is an interesting piece of fiction that is a techno/religious thriller about a top-secret creation of artificial intelligence based on the human brain funded by the U.S. government. The main character is a medical doctor involved with the project as an ethics advisor.

Dave brought this to me too. He and I previously read another of Iles’ books, Mortal Fear. The Footprints of God is definitely a better book but I found the ending a little weak and unnecessarily romantic.

Now, I’m reading When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan. I gave this book to my parents a couple years ago and wanted to read it since I read some stuff about Reagan in Hannity’s book.

This book is surprisingly uplifting. I love reading it and I want to read more about Reagan and his life. Ronald Reagan is, without a doubt, the most honest, most integrity-filled, best president we’ve had during the last 100 years.

Work

Iodynamics has a lot of work right now. It’s been a struggle to prioritize and organize everything and get it done. Drives me nuts, but it’s a great situation to be in.

We’re going to be bringing on some contract work soon with the possibility of transitioning the contractors we like to permanent employees.

It's been a couple years since the last Barton Armenian dinner party. We did it again today.

My cousin Jodie and her husband Phil hosted it again at their house in South Jordan -- less than 10 minutes away from where we live now.

The meatpies were delicious. The sarma my mom made needed salt, but once you salted then, they were great. I didn't have any of the string bean soup my sister brought, but lots of other people were eating it and I didn't see anyone spitting it out on the floor. It was probably alright.

The kids had fun playing outside and watching Scooby Doo in Jodie's and Phil's home theater. Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing Eli and making him laugh and smile.

640 x 480	My sister Allison yakkin on her cell phone while carrying a plate of dinner.
480 x 640	My niece Audrey holds a happy Eli.
640 x 480	Nephews Ben and Brennen check out cousin Cole's Bronco.
640 x 480	My dad and his half brother "Uncle Ralph" chow down.
480 x 640	My cousin Jodie manufactures another meatpie.
640 x 480	Lucy prepares to go down the slide.
640 x 480	Maya poses for a picture while playing outside. That's Phil's and Jodie's house behind her.
640 x 480	My aunt Sandra and uncle Bob (who is my dad's brother) unintentionally strike a pose worthy of hanging on the wall in an interpretive art gallery.
640 x 480	My brother Tom and his son Cole.