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oh Boy! what a name!

One week ago, we arrived at Bristol Hospital with butterflies in our stomachs in anticipation of finding out the sex of the baby. Bri and I were *really* hoping for a boy. We thought Jen hoped for the same, but afterward she admitted to having secretly wanted a little girl.

When Jen was pregnant with Bri, three ultrasounds ended with no determination of sex. Arrgh!

Even so, almost everyone we knew had been convinced Jen was having a boy. They’d all used various old wives’ tales to come to that conclusion. Jen’s carrying high (or was it low?). There was a glow about her, that only happens when it’s a boy, everyone knows that! It’s obvious!

They were wrong. All of them.

I knew it because I’d had a dream and in this dream, she was a girl. There were no details beyond that. But when I woke up, I was convinced. We didn’t even consider boy names from that point forward. (I’m not normally this superstitious. Or at all. I don’t know what came over me.)

This time around, events played out in much the same way. (There is one pretty big twist, but I’m not going to write about that today. Maybe another time.) Once again, everyone predicted a boy. And once again, I did not.

After an agonizing 20 minute examination where the ultrasound lady measured every little body part, she announced that it was a boy! Jen was disappointed that she didn’t bother to show us a penis, but I was so excited I didn’t bother to do a proper verification.

In any case, we were very excited to have arrived at this milestone.

Having already discussed the possibilities, it allowed us to settle on a name: Santiago Jose Rodriguez. We’ve continued the tradition of taking a family member’s first name and using it as the middle. Bri’s middle name is Margarita, after my father’s mother. Jose is Jen’s father’s name as well as that of Jen’s great-grandfather on her mother’s side. I love the fact that the entire name can be pronounced in both Portuguese and Spanish.

Only 4 more months!

While in Spain last year, Jen Bri and I stumbled upon a performance of traditional Galician dance. Jen, having been part of the Portuguese Club’s Rancho Folclórico, was ecstatic at having found something so similar yet so distinct from the portuguese style of dance.

Galicia is the region of Spain directly north of Portugal (see below). As you might imagine, the language, customs and cultural identifiers are similar to that of Portugal.

But surprisingly there is a Celtic influence in Galicia. It is evident in some of the food, even in the name of the region, but most of all, in Galicia’s music. You can detect obvious similarities to Celtic music through the use of bagpipes and other instruments I can’t name, but simply sound Irish. (Admittedly, Celtic is not synonymous with Irish, I’m just making an observation here.)

Getting back to the folkloric dancing, the Celtic influence is also readily apparent in the footwork and the costumes of the dancers. The dancers lifted their feet and performed turns which distinguishes this dance easily from that of the Portuguese to their south. One set of male performers even wore wooden shoes! I’m not sure if that is a Celtic trait, but it certainly separates them from the Portuguese.

Bri and I enjoyed it as much as Jen, although I think for slightly different reasons. In any case, I’m posting the first of several videos here, after the jump. I apologize for the low quality, but I only had my digital camera with me when I decided I wanted to record the performance for posterity.

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This is turning out to be quite a year for our household!

Earlier this year, Jen learned that she was being inducted into not one but two(!) honor societies! Her major is Elementary Education, so she was invited to join Kappa Delta Pi, the Honor Society in Education (picture above, thanks to Tina).

Jen is minoring in History and so was also invited to join Phi Alpha Theta, another honor society. What a geek!

As many of our friends and family are aware, we are in the process of buying a house. We expect to close on May 25th and can’t wait to move in. The house is part of an estate, being sold by the daughters of man who recently passed. As you might imagine, there is plenty of work waiting for us, but nevertheless we are all super excited about the move.

Well, except for Bri…..but she’ll get over it, because……
Jen’s pregnant!

We found out on Bri’s birthday, so it was only natural that Bri announced it to the family at her birthday party this past Saturday. Most people were shocked, presumably because they’d all given up on us having another kid. But I shocked all my critics and pulled it off in the end!

Naturally, it’s much too early to know much more that the due date, which, for now, is pegged at Dec 17th. This is going to be a December baby, just like me. This is my big opportunity; I’ve been given the chance to right all the wrongs of my childhood. This kid’s gonna receive two gifts! One for his birthday and one for Christmas! bwaaahahaha!

Anyway, we don’t find out the sex until August sometime. I don’t know how I’m going to hold out. And for the record, I’m cool with either. But I would love to know. Three more months is going to kill me…..

You may remember my post re: exporting the native X :0 display via VNC. Well, I’ve discovered a better solution than the one I’d found previously.

I had no idea, but there is a Xorg vnc module available, vnc4server on Debian and Ubuntu. Pull this package down, make a couple minor xorg.conf edits, restart gdm, et voila, we’re in business!

This makes my MythTV frontend, built on a repurposed Akimbo 1st generation set-top box, that much more bad-ass. Now if only I could get the infrared remote to work.

The full instructions appear below, recorded for my forgetful self, ripped from the Highland Lakes LUG site in case they disappear (thanks guys!)…….

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I realize I commented on this once before, but the sheer magnitude of the number below almost knocked me out of my chair! Microsoft made almost 5 billion dollars in the first three months of the year.

The world’s largest software maker said net profit in the three months to 31 March was $4.93bn (£2.47bn) or 50 cents per share, up from $2.98bn last year.

That’s profit, folks, not revenue. I checked Wikipedia for the accounting definition of “profit” because I was fairly certain I had a basic misunderstanding of the word. It turns out there are various forms of profit and this figure (Gross profit, maybe?) likely represents something other than what they deposited at the bank, which would be “Net Profit after Tax”…..I think.

I tried to find a more definitive statement of what they took to the bank last quarter. I ran across this and this. I’m more confused than ever!

How much did they make?! An assload of money, that’s how much!

Those bastards have the audacity to put out a sub-standard product and rake in tens of billions of dollars a year??

Some of you are going to think: “If they’re making that much money, they must have the best product. They deserve it.” Well, I challenge you to buy a PC without some form of MS Windows installed. Believe me, I’ve tried. (Sidenote: Some have succeeded in getting a credit for the OS since they installed Linux instead, as stipulated in the MS license, but not me.) This is known to geeks as the MS tax.

And before you think to yourselves about how highly you regard the technical marvel of an operating system MS is making so much money off of, remember the last time your machine succumbed to a virus, a trojan, some piece of malware. Think back to the last time your machine slowed to a crawl and you weren’t able to figure out why. Think about the wasted time, whether it was yours or that of the family geek who came to your house to “clean it up”. How many times has that happened?

It doesn’t have to be that way. (Hint: it’s free.)

I’m in Va Beach for a firewall project which necessitated my staying here over the weekend. I’m so very bored that I decided to come to Panera to mooch their free refills and their free wifi.

I thought this might actually be a relaxing way to spend the morning. Until I was joined by a couple who are apparently headed for a crash landing. Well, they’re at the next table, but it sounds like they’re sitting with me. She’s crying now….great.

I don’t mean to make fun, but damn! Find a table in a corner or something!

OH! They’re done, I think. Have a good life, MFer!

(I’m a bastard, I know)

UPDATE: Ok, so today is going to be “Observe and bitch about those around you” day.

Several women and a pile of kids walked in a few minutes ago. As they all sat down (right near me of course), I couldn’t help but notice the moms all doing that really annoying ‘cater to your childs every wish, no matter how inconvenient or inappropriate’ thing. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, they’re creating little monsters, before my very eyes.”.

Almost immediately, I realized I was being a judgemental jerk and kinda sorta felt bad about it.

Imagine my sweet surprise, when just a few minutes later, I watched one kid try SEVERAL TIMES to slap his mother in the face! She was absorbed in conversation and didn’t even notice his flailing little arms until the third attempt or so. Feisty little bugger!

Do you think the kid was put in his place? No, of course he wasn’t, because if he had ever been disciplined in his short little life, he would probably not be trying to slap mommy for the entertainment of the viewing public. Instead, she turns to the little bastard and says “I’m going to take all your cars away!”.

Oh no, not the cars!

Now, if the cars meant the world to the kid and she’d followed through on the threat, then maybe this would be an appropriate punishment, but I heard the way she said it. It came out of her mouth for the millionth time and her tiny little assailant wasn’t buying it. He went back to the cars, ignoring her meek objections to the (near) bitch slaps.

The Daddys have shown up now. Ike’s father has about as much control over him as momma does. This kid has bigger balls than any man at that table!

Don’t tell my mom, but sometimes I miss the days of good old fashioned beat-downs….

Wow, this video makes the geek in me positively giddy. The coolest bit is when they do a search for Gaudi (about the 1:25 mark) and then begin manipulating the retrieved photos.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysEVYwa-vHM[/youtube]

UPDATE: Those sneaky bastards snuck ads into the video after I posted it here! I’ve redirected the link to YouTube. That ought to show them….

Ronaldo is continuing to kick ass for Manchester United. He has reportedly voiced his desire to leave England for Spain, but Man U. says they won’t be entertaining any offers, no matter what the amount. If they stick to their word, he’s stuck there until June 2010, at which point he’ll be 25 years old. Assuming he keeps playing as well as he has, this kid is going to be a ridiculously rich man in a few years.

Jen tries to get Paulolo to run down the beach, as we had been doing for 10 minutes already. As soon as the camera was turned on, he refused.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctPQvjevzhs[/youtube]

Paulolo has eaten enough and decides to show me what he’s made of!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwKAt-XR0mY[/youtube]