Blog of a crazy man

Lots of news since last time I posted. I found out Monday that my job laid me off, permanently. Alicia was also fired from her job about a month ago because she had to have a limited availability because of child care. So now my family has no source of income so we are trying very hard to find new jobs. I just finished applying for unemployment this morning, so that might help with some of the bills, but we could really use your prayers right now.

On a lighter note, however, I’ve used the free time to publish a book using Lulu.com. The book is called Wounded Souls. The book is a collection of flashes that I have previously published here and on “365 Tomorrows.” It’s nothing new, but I hope that some of you will like to have a copy of those flashes printed with some nice cover art, courtesy of my lovely wife. The book is 60 pages including the Creative Commons license text. The price tag is $9.95, which is honestly more than I would like to charge for the book, but that’s the lowest price that I could charge and still make a reasonable profit using Lulu. Check it out if you get the chance, and please consider buying it.

Just letting you all know that I got a new camera and have posted a ton of new pictures and should be posting even more soon.

One year ago today I embarked on a little experiment. I thought I’d mess around with Blogger, just try it out for a while. Little did I know that one year later I’d be writing this post using a WordPress install hosted by Weblogs.us. Little did I know how many friends I’d make, how much fun I’d have, or how much trouble I’d get into. But I made it through the first year.

This blog has changed allot since I started it. I’ve switched hosts twice, I’ve gotten a domain name, I’ve gotten a personalized skin, I’ve done some great posts, I’ve done some terrible posts, I’ve gone through extremely personal periods, I’ve gone through completely non-personal periods, and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Here’s to another crazy year.

Nurse: Doctor, we’ve lost him.
Doctor: NO! [Slams fists on patient's chest]
[Beep...Beep...Beep]
Nurse: Wait, he’s alive!
Doctor: Thank God.
Nurse: But, Doctor, he’s still…crazy.
Doctor: But there’s good news…
Nurse: What?
Doctor: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Gecko.
Nurse: Don’t you mean Geico?
Doctor: No, Geico is an insurance company, I mean that I’m now riding a giant Gecko to work, so I don’t need car insurance.
Nurse: Huh…so how do like riding the Gecko?
Doctor: It’s a bit bumpy, and no air conditioning, but it’s not bad.
Patient: Could you guys shut up and let me finish blogging?
Doctor: Oh yeah, sure.
Nurse: I’ll check in on you later.
——–

I’m back. Just got in to Columbus at 3:30PM (EST). Feels good to be home.

Sorry I didn’t keep you up to date like I had said I would, but it was pretty fun. Nothing particular though to blog about. So I’ll get back to my regular blogging tomorrow sometime.

Alright, I’m not posting anything new really, but I am giving you some more stuff to read.

JErm and Extreemlee have created a new site called digitalSURGERY.net that is aimed at bloggers and website owners. It helps you get the scoop, in plain simple english.

Check it out when you get the time (and you should have plenty of time while I’m not posting :))

Link.

I’ve been grounded since Monday and haven’t been able to get online, but I’m back now.

I got 22 new emails, 12 spam mails, and lot of things to sort out. But I’m glad to be back.

Sony researchers have created several Aibo robot dogs that are capable of curiosity and learning. Using somthing called a metabrain the researchers gave the robots a curiosity about their surrondings, and an awareness of the value of learning.

The researchers placed the dogs in rooms with several small balls and, over the course of four to five hours, the dogs began to wiggle their legs, crawl, and eventully play with the balls. They were never programed to do any of those tasks. The robots were also given the ability to become bored when something didn’t have any thing new to offer them, thus driving a continuing desire to learn more about their surroundings. The researchers essentially created robot dogs with minds like real puppies.

Very creepy, but also very cool.

Link.

The Electronic Frontier Froundation (EFF) has published a legal guide for bloggers who aren’t sure how the law applies to them.

Obviously a necessary bookmark for any blogger.

Link.

I bought the domain jmweirick.com yesterday. I pointed it to this blog for now, but hopefully sometime in the future (when I get a job) I’ll find a webhost and start expanding the site. I’m going to put up some forums and make it into a comunity site, kinda like what JErm has.

This is my personal blog, it’s nothing more than a place for me to come and vent about my life. It’s mostly because I have a bad memory and forcing myself to write down what happens during the day, I might be able to remember it better. So let the blog begin!