I've updated Aiden's site to run Habari. Due to the infrequency that I checked the site, it was becoming a spam target. I also wasn't keeping the software updated which meant that the spam wasn't confined to the comments where it could easily be filtered out. I also put his pictures up on flickr rather than continuing to maintain yet another piece of software for them.

Looking through the pictures and reading the site brings back to the surface the pain and heartache of it all. I miss him, but I know in a little while his energetic little brother will come through the door shouting "Dadeee" and wanting to feed the cats and listing to his musica. Life is rough sometimes, but it could be so much worse.

Friends of mine also just had their first assignment through Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. I'm proud of them for sharing their skills with people in the darkest moments of their lives.

Even though he's been gone for 5 years, the wounds are still fresh and the love is still strong. I miss you my son.

I'm starting a new accountability project this year and I need your help. Accountability is useless if no one is holding you to it. So I need feedback, reminders, harassment or whatever to help keep me on track.

Here's how it works.
I have a list of Ten Things that I need to do each day. They are divided up into categories. Cleaning, Household, Accountability, Health, Personal, and Professional. Then there is a category that will be assigned by TBWITWW. Each of these 7 categories will be ongoing daily tasks. They'll last a minimum of a week and the goal is 28 consecutive days. If I've completed the task 28 consecutive days, I have to replace it with a new task while continuing the (now, theoretically habitual) old task. The final 3 task will be assigned per-day. They will be one-off tasks picked the night before.

So, each day should get a score out of 10 and each day I'll post the score to Twitter (and Facebook). If you don't see a post, let me know.

Additionally, the "Accountability" category requires public participation as well. So, for my first "accountability" task, I'm tweeting any discretionary purchase. Which means if I spend money on anything other than a fixed, recurring bill, I post it for the world to see. The idea is that this will not only hold me accountable, but help me resist impulse purchses. ("Do I really want the world to know I'm going to McDonald's again?")

So... keep me honest and on track. Please? And if you want to join in, let me know and I'll do my best to help keep you honest too.

I think the general consensus from most people I know is that 2009 gets, at best, a C-. I'd like officially declare 2009 The Vegas Year. What happened in 2009 can stay in 2009. Except there were a couple of pretty awesome babies.

Looking forward all that I can see
Is good things happening to you and to me
I'm not waiting for times to change
I'm going to live like a free-roamin' soul
On the highway of our love

CSNY

Despite the fact that 2009 was not a banner year by any stretch, I'm ending it on a hopeful note. Not a "Okay, this year sucked so I'm going to will myself to believe that 2010 will be better despite actually believing that it will continue to suck.", but an honest "I think there's some non-train light at the end of this tunnel."

So, Happy New Year to all of you, and may 2010 be the year you're hoping for.

So, one of the "benefits" of being unemployed is that I have a lot of time to catch up on TV shows via Hulu. I'll probably write about a few of them in the next few days/weeks but today, I'm talking about "Glee".

It seems Fox has two kinds of sitcoms. Ones that are excellent if somewhat twisted, and ones that are just bad. Glee falls into the latter category. There's nothing good about it. Seriously. Nothing. The characters are bad stereotypes, which is somewhat excusable in the students, as my memories of High School make me think that most of us were, in fact, bad stereotypes at that age. But the adults are so one-dimensional and formulaic as to be unwatchable. The music is entertaining, but not terribly creative, and the over use of auto-tune is painful. So, as a show, it's about what you'd expect for a pop-culture, lowest common denominator sort of sitcom.

But the worst thing, to me, is the stereotypes. They make no attempt whatsoever to break the molds that we've seen a million times before. The one gay character is flamboyant, fashion-forward, and terribly effeminate. The one handicapped character is good natured and self-effacing, The popular kids are football players or cheerleaders and they're all stupid. The Jewish girl is a self-absorbed, power-hungry princess. People who believe in chastity are hypocrites and bigots. The list goes on and on. There's no imagination involved at all.

Compare it to King of the Hill, which could be full of unquestioned stereotypes. In fact, it practically begs to be and, in the early seasons the characters were much flatter. But as the characters developed it turned out that Hank was more open minded than even he would admit. Dale was a better parent and husband than most of us are in real life.

I know people will disagree with me, but after watching almost all of the first season, I can say "Glee" isn't worth my time. (Which is saying something, since the job market indicates my time isn't worth all that much.)

My inner nerd is a little giddy right now. The other day, I was wondering if the occupants of the space station ever do spacewalks when the shuttle isn't docked. I sort of assumed that they would, but maybe there were safety issues and they didn't.

So today, I asked NASA. That's right. Thanks to the internet, I opened up the window on my instant messenger client for twitter and posted "@NASA: Do the space station residents ever take spacewalks when the shuttle isn't there?"

A few minutes later:

I then did a screen grab, uploaded to Flickr, opened the Flickr silo in Habari, and blam! Awesome. Even a few years ago, it could've taken days or weeks to hunt down this information and share it with you. Silly, maybe. But there's oh so much possibility.

To each of you who has sworn to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; [and] bear true faith and allegiance to the same", I thank you. To those that have left family, friends and comfort behind to live out that oath, I thank you. To the families who have stayed behind and supported those who put themselves in harm's way on our behalf, I thank you. To those left behind when a Soldier, Sailor, or Marine makes that ultimate sacrifice, I thank you.

All politics takes a back seat to the simple fact that our veterans give more than most of us can begin to understand, and for that reason they deserve our thanks and respect.

Grandpa Evans, Grandpa Rickert, Grandpa Merchant, Alan, Jay, Melissa, Chuck, and any other veterans that I've had the pleasure to know, I'm richer for it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The work I do is, at times physically taxing. The hours are inconsistent. The pay is low. And most people have no idea what's involved. And while I know the same can be said for many, many jobs, I can only speak from my own experience.

One of the jokes I like to make during the particularly trying times is "Well, is a life in the arts everything you dreamed it would be?" Most of the time the answer is, unfortunately. "no." But there are times when the answer is a deafening "Yes!". When it's just a job it's like any job. What other people do for fun is work for us. Your Friday night is our Wednesday afternoon. But there are performances that make all the work worthwhile.

My father used to tell me that he had never been paid to perform his music. The money he got at the end of a show wasn't for the show, but for the rehearsals, the set up and teardown, the driving, and the time away from his family. The actual performing was for him.

Being a part of a great performance is its own reward. When the elements you've put your time, sweat, sometimes blood into come together it can be transformative. Sometimes it's a personal experience and sometimes it's something you share with the whole audience. It can be funny or heartrending of awe-inspiring.

This is why We work while others play and play while others work. This is how we're able tho form lasting friendships with people we work with only a few days and hen don't see for weeks, or even years.

It is for those moments that I love what I do. And that is why, even when I doubt my ability to make my living doing what I love, I know, one way or another, I'll keep doing it as long as I'm able. His week has been a much needed reminder of that.