Mop-Boy

2:22pm: The Used Sex Toy
So I bought a bunch of domains from a friend a while ago thinking I was going to capitalize on them. Well I changed my mind. The new url to my LJ is UsedSexToy.org. I already sold the .com

10:50am: City of Heroes
I finally broke down and got City of Heroes. I must say that after resolving a constant server disconnection issue, I love the game. I've never been a real RPG type person, mainly because they were all either fantasy, or just not interesting. It costs a monthly fee to play it, but my neighbor has it and we've decided to make it our weekly poker replacement. :)

7:40pm: Unix! I get it now!
When Wayne's World came out in 1992 I wasn't into computers or programming. So when I first watched it I didn't get the Unix nerd joke. I get it now! I feel so special. :)

7:44am: Woo! I Love Candy!

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
Mop-Boy goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Brian Kilby.
ant1978 gives you 13 brown cherry-flavoured gumdrops.
autobottrixter tricks you! You lose 7 pieces of candy!
bkilby tricks you! You get a dead frog.
chipc gives you 9 tan raspberry-flavoured wafers.
coolslider tricks you! You lose 9 pieces of candy!
finback tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!
hooper_x tricks you! You lose 4 pieces of candy!
lord_xiphos gives you 2 dark blue banana-flavoured nuggets.
mouse_pad tricks you! You get a wad of paper.
obsequiosity tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!
Mop-Boy ends up with 2 pieces of candy, a dead frog, and a wad of paper.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

8:57pm: Google + rss feeds = yea! :)
So Google has this personal homepage thing. Go to So google.com and click on "Personalized Home". The rest is you setting up your news and rss feeds. Check it out!

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5:42pm: Mind Control Worm: Science Fiction?
I found out about this on slashdot. Someone posted an article about a mind control worm.

Here's the article from NewScientist.com:

Parasites brainwash grasshoppers into death dive

* 12:02 31 August 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Shaoni Bhattacharya

A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects’ proteins reveal.

The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. Somehow mature hairworms brainwash their hosts into behaving in way they never usually would – causing them to seek out and plunge into water.

Once in the water the mature hairworms – which are three to four times longer that their hosts when extended – emerge and swim away to find a mate, leaving their host dead or dying in the water. David Biron, one of the study team at IRD in Montpellier, France, notes that other parasites can also manipulate their hosts’ behaviour: “’Enslaver’ fungi make their insect hosts die perched in a position that favours the dispersal of spores by the wind, for example.”

But the “mechanisms underlying this intriguing parasitic strategy remain poorly understood, generally”, he says.

Now Biron and his colleagues have shown that the worm brainwashes the grasshopper by producing proteins which directly and indirectly affect the grasshopper’s central nervous system.

To view a video of the parasite and grasshopper in action, which includes a brief interview, in French, with lead researcher Frederic Thomas, visit the Canal IRD website (clip marked "Juillet 2005").
Selective manipulation

“It’s a very novel study, because there are very, very few papers on how behaviour actually changes,” says Shelley Adamo at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, an expert in insect behavioural physiology who is familiar with Biron’s work.

“One of the reasons they are interesting is that parasites are often able to get in there and selectively manipulate behaviour," she told New Scientist. She says the eventual hope is that understanding how parasites manipulate their hosts’ behaviour – by affecting the nervous and endocrine systems – might further the understanding of how human behaviour-systems link.

Biron and colleagues found that the adult worms – those ready to prime their hosts for a watery death – altered the central nervous system function of their hapless hosts by producing certain molecules mimicking the grasshoppers’ own proteins.
Gravity response

And grasshoppers housing the parasitic worm expressed different proteins in their brains than uninfected grasshoppers. Some of these proteins were linked to neurotransmitter activities. Others included those linked to geotactic behaviour – the orientated movement of an organism in response to gravity.

The team used an approach called “proteomics” to study the hijacking of the grasshopper’s behaviour. This technique analyses all the proteins expressed in a cell or tissue.

Biron and colleagues collected and analysed the proteins of grasshoppers (Meconema thalassinum) with and without parasitic hairworms before, during and after the grasshoppers’ suicidal plunges into a swimming pool at night-time.

“This is a unique approach and a very exciting one,” says Adamo. “This is the first time it’s been used to address this issue.”

9:32pm: So Now What?
I'm at my wit's end. We're running low on money, I'm already working full time and school, my wife is freaking out about having to go back to work early, and we have a one-month-old that we need to find a daily sitter for if my wife has to go back to work. There is not enough beer in the world.

1:06pm: The Thin Line
I'm always amused hearing about stories of how online games affect our real lives. This is no exception.

http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/08/18/1529229.shtml?tid=123&tid=10

"A man has been arrested in Japan after on suspicion using a bot to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash, according to this report from NewScienist.com. "I regularly say that every form of theft and fraud in the real world will eventually be duplicated in cyberspace," says Bruce Schneier." - Slashdot.org

This is funny on so many levels. :)

10:40pm: What Aisle is the Baking Soda in?
I had to ask someone where the baking soda was in the grocery store today. With all of the thousands of uses for baking soda, I had no idea what products it would be stocked with. Does anyone else here know which aisle or similar products you will find baking soda?

11:25pm: I Love My Daughter
So tired. My wife is resting, Anjali has Jondus so she has to spend a day or two under the sun. She even has sunglasses to enjoy it with. No really, she does! Andrea is sore, and will most likely be going home tomorrow, but Anjali is going to stay on her tropical vacation for little longer.
Braces: Some of you may have noticed the picture of Anjali with her leg braces...



Anjali has what the doctor called a "hip click" in her left hip. Bascially this means that her left femur fits very loosely in her hip socket and can be easily dislocated. The brace is to be worn at all times for a few months while her muscles and ligaments develop and strengthen.

My little Forest Gump! :)

10:50am: Anjali Joy Johnson

Anjali Joy Johnson

July, 27th 2005

17:17(5:17 PM)

7lbs 5oz

20" Long

Brown hair

1:55pm: Soon...
My wife is currently dilated at 8cm. I'm headed to the hospital.

11:04am: The Stages Continue
My wife and I spent the night at the hospital last night. The good news is that at 5am this morning she was dilated about 2cm so she doesn't need her cervix "lock pick" anymore. The bad news is the contraction pains are really bad for Andrea. She had to have pain killer in her IV to sleep around 5am. When I left, she was getting ready to have the baby eviction juice put in.

As of a half hour ago I got a call from Sara, who had relieved me so I could go home to rest, that my wife was being given her epidural. I'm going to get some rest, because the epidural will help Andrea rest until it's time for the final push.

7:03pm: Eviction!
It's time. We went in for a check up at the clinic today and my wife is over due with no signs of labor. Andrea and I were sent from there to the hospital to see about inducing labor, as there could be health risks to my wife and the baby if they let her pregnancy go for too long. She is currently in the hospital and looking at a day or so to be in labor.

I knew the kid wasn't going to come out of her womb without being evicted!

9:55pm: Picking Your Nose And Speed Bumps
So I was driving home with Andrea today, and while bumbling the car over a speed bump and picking my nose, I realized it may not be such a safe practice to pick my nose while driving over a speed bump. I mean, how would it look if I stumbled into work one morning cursing the parking lot architects while blood poured from my nose.

This also made me think about the things we take for granted. People who don't signal while driving, the people at stores who demand the cashier at the closed register to help them because they don't want to wait in line. We take so many rules for granted not considering the reason they were made to begin with.

Rules are important. They give us direction when we are unable to think straight. Rules allow everyone an equal chance to play the game. If a law is unjust, then there are more rules and procedures in place to make them just.

Protocol, procedure, and syntax. It's now what you say, but how you say it.
Posted with: MultiBlog

10:09pm: Electrifying Experience
We had an electrifying experience today. my wife, Andrea, and I had an idea to have pregnancy photos taken. This is when we take pictures of my wife and how she looks when pregnant with Anjali.

Last night I went over to Grandma & Grandpa J's house to borrow a camera and a tripod. When I got home, I forgot that we were going to need more light. I knew that Grandpa J had two lightweight lights mounted on a tripod that he used to take photos back when JFK was in office.

The next day I went over and picked up the lamps. They were old, but working. When I got them home, my wife and I immediately began getting everything setup for our photo shoot. When I was setting up the lights, Andrea wanted to help, but I told her I'd take care of it.

I set up one light, and all of a sudden I heard my wife scream! I looked at her and she shuddered and knocked both lamps over on herself. She looked as if she was waving a bee away or something. She ran inside talking like a very upset Rain Man..."I got shocked, definitely got shocked, definitely, definitely..."

When Andrea was being shocked, she was holding the lamp with one hand but wasn't able to let go. She had to use her free hand to smack it away, which is why they fell over. My wife felt so upset that she needed to call the hospital for help.

Andrea became more upset as to why I wasn't doing anything. Now if you get shocked and you're still standing, you're going to be alright except for being a little shaken up. She, on the other hand, was more worried about something happening to Anjali, as she stopped moving right after the shock.

I got my wife dressed, and attempted to get her to calm down while I took her to the hospital. I assured Andrea that Anjali was ok and that being calm was the only thing we could do to help her. If my wife is ok, then Anjali is ok.

When we got to the hospital, they checked my wife in and ran some tests. Anjali was still kicking. Later on that day, Andrea and I went to her weekly doctor appointment, and was assured that Anjali was ok.

The doctor prescribed no direct contact with century-old lighting equipment any contact with electrical devices for my own sanity. Hopefully Mommy will listen to Daddy when he says not to mess with something. Someday Anjali will ask why Daddy is always the one who changes the light bulbs in the house and not Mommy.

Anyone else have the sudden craving for fried chicken?
Posted with: MultiBlog

9:30am: Did you set the VCR to record?
I was at work yesterday on a phone call with a client when my wife started calling my cell phone. I assumed it was important because she wouldn't just leave a voicemail and let me call her back. Being that Anjali could come at any time, I have to stay aware of the changes of my wife's condition.

Normally I don't answer it unless I'm on break or anything, and my wife understands that Daddy can't talk on his cell phone during working hours. Well not only did she called once, but she called over three times in a row. This is normally a sign of an emergency, as if she needs to get a hold of me and she can't leave a message, it must be important.

I had to excuse myself and place the client on hold after the umpteenth time the phone rang. "This is it!" I thought. I needed to answer the phone to get the word from my wife that it was time and then let her know I'm on my way. I hit the talk button on the phone and softly said "Yes, dear?"

"Did you set the VCR to record?" my wife asked.

"Um...I’ll call you back." I replied.

I had to profusely apologize to the client and explained to them why I placed them on hold. They were luckily very forgiving, and congratulated us on our upcoming arrival.

11:39pm: MyAnjali.com
So I've jumped into yet another project. I created a site called MyAnjali.com. Anjali is what we've decided to name our little girl upon birth. I've created a site for friends and family to visit and share our experience. We're also looking to get some parenting advice from others when we're up in the middle of the night with a screaming baby.

I used some html, javascript, css, and lots of PHP. I'm also using a collection of PHP blogger API functions I found to post and manage the site. It's working out rather well.
Posted with: MultiBlog

11:35pm: So an update on me. I'm quite happy with my new job. It's the first time in years I've felt like going above and beyond for customer service. I think it's because that in retail, you deal with any Joe who may be trying to rip you off. Always standing guard for that jerk who might pull a fast one on you.

I'm a webmaster to more than 30,000 people nationwide. Basically I'm in a call center doing customer service and tech support for websites HTML/Javascript...etc for anyone that calls in. These people already have established accounts, and I love every one of them. Even the pissed off ones. I guess it's because I have no real assets to protect. Just make the customer happy! :)
Posted with: MultiBlog

11:17pm: Everyone Else is Doing It
Pookie

11:13pm: Amputation of the Soul
So I watched this exclusive story tonight about a guy who hiked down a narrow rocky canyon and got stuck. He was there five days until he cut his own arm off. The story wasn't so bad until he began describing how he cut the nerve. It was very detailed, and now I can't get it out of my head. I've got work tomorrow, could use more money, my wife could give birth soon, and I can't sleep.

I need some booze.

7:37am:

Your Political Profile

Overall: 55% Conservative, 45% Liberal

Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

6:58pm: iFrames
Y'know I remember a time when the html iframe tag only worked for Internet Exploder. I just learned today that it also works for Firefox. I wonder what other browsers it works for now.

6:39am: First Day
I started my first day at my new job yesterday. The company I'm working for is much smaller than Epson, which I recently quit, but this new company has a complete training room with HP thin client desktops for each person. Not even Epson had this, but then again, Epson wasn't much of a business when you worked for them. Horrible inside communication within the business lead to horrible service to the customer. This new place puts an emphasis on customer service no matter what. I think they actually have the infrastructure to back up that claim.

12:40pm: Back on Track
I landed a new job. It's Customer/Technical support. For webhosting/design business. I've been wanting a tech job for sometime now. I've also been working an on call computer support business on the side, but it's only a hobby right now. I don't get enough business to warrant making it my primary work.