rob was here.

It's always good to have goals layed out before you.

If not a definitive plan made of bulleted tasks and timelines, then at least a general feeling of a direction to help you wander out of the dark. It's nice to stand from some point-of-view in the future, and look back at an old list of goals that you wrote months or years ago to see what you accomplished.. The things you've completed, experienced or learned since that point. The sense of accomplishment is the gain.

It's now over a year since I graduated from a university in a technology-related field which I am very interested and happy in. I've been planning and thinking hard about my general life plan since then. I've been looking at things I have accomplished (my job, my own car, my travels, etc) and things to come down the road (living with my girlfriend, having my own home, lots more traveling, etc). I have an image in my brain (more or less) of where I want to go in life, and I'm trying to steer the boat in that direction. Alas, these things comprise more of a uber-personal goal list, which I didn't intend to get into great detail with post. (But I mentioned it so I could find it again in the future.)

Now, aside from these personal life plans, I want to establish a set of very attainable mini-goals. My goal time for having all of these things done is say, around 3 months. In 3 months time, I better be able to look back at this post and say to myself "self, you're doing okay with those mini-goals!".

• Learn more of the popular Design Patterns as defined by the Gang of Four. I'm trying to use Design Patterns more and more in life (work and play). I find myself relying on the same handful over and over, when there are so more I know I could use.

• To become clear of Microsoft. I'm one of those slashdot and digg readers who will scowl and crow at the concept of people using Microsoft software (particularly the Windows operating system), but I do so from a Windows operating system. Talk about a hypocrite! Well.. I started to change all that. I now use Fedora exclusively at work. I plan on changing my home computer from Windows XP to Ubuntu Dapper Drake in early June, when it is released. I really like open source technologies.

• To become a novice-level xhtml, CSS, and also common scripting languages. I've dabbled in these but never enough to do anything worth while. I want to spend some serious time getting more familiar with these technologies.

• To pick up mountain biking and jogging more. I'm guilty of not using a bike that has come into my possession.
  

These goals themselves may seem rather boring to the casual reader, but again, they're my interest and hobbies. :)

I just made it so anyone can post comments on this blog. I know some people who try to comment don't use blogs, and even if they do, they may not be using blogger.com as their blog host. Lots of wordpress and myspaces people out there. Up until now, you were required to have a blogger.com account to comment to me. No more of that.

Also, kudos to both furlong and naeim for answering the riddle in my previous post. The answer is that those animals are the code-names for the official releases of the ubuntu operating system.

Here are the previous and upcoming versions of the operating system for those who are interested:

The Warty Warthog (released october 2004)
The Hoary Hedgehog (released april 2005)
The Breezy Badger (released october 2005)
The Dapper Drake (due june 2006)
The Edgy Eft (due later 2006)


yay for ubuntu.

I was just thinking,

What does a newt, a duck, a badger, a hedgehog and a wild pig have in common?

warning: the answer swarms with geekish vibes, but it's all cool.

First person to get this wins.

The black angus at quizno's has long been my favourite sub for quite some time. But now it's old news.

Today I had something fantastic for lunch.. Make way for quizno's Prime Rib Sub. Oh baby. It's as if you could goto the drug store and buy a toothpaste tube full of endorphines, and then you start brushing your teeth with as much endorphones as you can fit on your toothbrush, but eventually you ditch the brush just start eating them right out of the tube. It's amazing I tell ya!


Heaven in sub form.

Hail the new champ.

Have you ever looked at your receipts? I mean really looked at them; beyond numbers and the taxes. There's usually some pretty funny material buried away in there.

Take a look at this receipt from yesterday. I went through the Wendy's drive-through for some lunch. At first the receipt appears normal: Spicy Chicken Combo.. It appears I have substituted a potato for the fries. And I got a diet drink. Pretty normal right?


Look again. There is a goldmine of oddities in there.

First off... the receipt is titled with PARKED in large letters with a back-drop. I found this weird because I went through the drive-through. I guess they are indicating here that I actually stopped my car to pay with my debit and to accept the food. I wonder if I maintained some speed during this process, would the PARKED title still be there? I'm curious to know if it says PARKED when you go in the restaurant to eat, because you usually really do park then.

A second oddity occurs after HST in the payment section.. It clearly explains:

(______)

What does this mean?? Is there something supposed to be in there. Am I supposed to fill this out?? I'm guessing this perhaps should contain the percentage that is applied for HST tax, being 15%.. but whatever. (______).

The next oddity is my favorite one. For some reason, it's blessed with the largest font size of the entire text of the receipt. Standing out above all other things is an astounding Lets Go!
It's funny because this font gets a larger status, than say, the name of the restaurant.
Lets Go? Lets Go where? Maybe they are trying to get your ass out of the drive through so they can serve the next person.. Talk about energetic!

Finally, the finale. The receipt ends with a kind "See You Tomorrow".

Uh oh. Does this mean I have to come back tomorrow? And then I'd get another receipt ordering me back again on the next day. This command in it's very essence implies a daily intake of Wendy's fast food.

I'll keep an eye out for other funny receipts.
Just some food for thought.

I just had a thought, with regards to people who goto explain their thoughts but never finish.