Another First

My oldest niece just had a baby boy this morning, and I am, for the first time, a Great Uncle!

... well, I've always been a great uncle...

And then...

... several what-the-hell??s later you realize that one of those scrapped methods shouldn't have been scrapped, after all.

And you thank the 0s and 1s that you just commented everything out and kept the source of the previous three versions.

Does Not Compute

Have you ever been programming and thinking, "There has got to be a more efficient way of going about this... but I don't feel like figuring it out." ?

And then, twelve methods and several days later (exaggeration), it hits you exactly how to be more efficient, so you write one method that scraps all the other twelve.

And you want to pound your head against your keyboard in a fury of angst for having wasted so much time, not having sat down and thought things through...

... but then you realize that those twelve other methods were actually what led you to the more ideal method and better understanding not only of how to solve the problem but of how the language, itself, works...

Deep.

I know.

It's the Last Midnight

Well, my dance academy's classes start next week.

Wish me well!

If you want... I won't force you. I've actually come to not expect any well-wishing from anyone.

Not that there aren't those who, indeed, sincerely wish me well (especially, I would dare say those of you who actually read my blog).

I've just stopped expecting it... I haven't decided if that's sad or not.

Cynical, yes.

But, then, what is a Chedner if not cynical?

I Need a Tan

... that's it.

Cookies

Intro:
Jim & Jenny are siblings. Jenny & Jim's parents gave Jenny a cookie for cleaning her room. Jim cleaned his room, too, but he didn't get a cookie.

Cookies
a scene by Andrew Martin Pankratz

Jim: Why does Jenny get a cookie for cleaning her room and I don't?

Parents: Because girls are better at cleaning rooms.

Jim: But my room is just as clean as Jenny's!

Parents: That can't be true because you're a boy and Jenny's a girl. But don't worry, if you want a cookie, you can fix your bike's chains. Boys are good at that.

Jim: I can't put the chains back on the gears! I tried, and I just can't...

Parents: You just need more practice and to get stronger. You need more vegetables, not a cookie!

Jim: I don't even like riding my bike!! I like playing in my room! And I always eat all my vegetables, and Jenny doesn't. It's not fair! I cleaned my room just as well as Jenny, and you won't even look at it because I'm a boy. I should get a cookie like Jenny!!

Parents: Your tone is very inappropriate, Jim. Life's not always fair. We're not against you tidying up your room, but you're a boy, and boys should be rewarded for doing boy things. Boys should be outside. Girls should be inside. Boys should be fixing things. Girls should be cleaning things. We reward you for doing what we expect of you.

Jim: Well, what you expect is dumb!

Parents: That is enough! Go to your room, young man!

How my mind works sometimes...

Me (while brushing my teeth): Ugh... my tummy hurts from eating too many chocolate chips.

...two seconds pass...

Me (spitting): What did I eat to make my spit brown?

... two minutes pass...

Me (flossing): ... idiot...

Dear Andrew,

You know that horribly messy room... yeah, the one downstairs?

You should go clean it.

*loves*
Andrew

Retirement?

Well, my posts have been few and far between lately. Starting up a nonprofit corporation which I hope will be super spectacular sure does take a lot of time & energy. It's been great, if not yet lucrative -- the first tuition due date isn't until the first of September. The student body numbers are looking really good, and we're quite optimistic for huge success.

Anyway, due to my lack of posting lately, I'm kind of wondering if people still read this blog and are still interested in little ol' Chedner and his escapades as an entrepreneur instead of little ol' Chedner and his escapades trying to reconcile his gaydom with the creeds of his religion.

Speaking of religion, I really don't know where I stand, religious-wise, anymore... I guess I'm not too concerned about my eternal destiny. I figure I'll live the best life I possibly can live, and if that's not good enough for God, be there one, then God's kind of an a-hole diva, and I'd rather not have to live with that for the rest of eternity.

I mean, really, if, come judgement day, you hear, "Yeah... you know what... you didn't wear the right kind of underwear to get into the top tier of heaven..." are you going to take that seriously? I wouldn't. I would laugh and say, "Yeah... which way to the farthest away from you?"

Don't get me wrong, it can be cool to belong to an exclusive club -- I mean, how else are you goinng to know you're better than everyone else? But it just doesn't seem very practical to me.

But, I digress. What I'm trying to get at is: Is this the retirement of Chedner, the blogger? It's not that I don't have anything to blog about -- there's always something to blog about, whether it be some philosophical pondering or some inane, yet whimsical, thought. I just wonder if I have an audience for my new self, the less angsty, mostly business Chedner.

I guess I'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I must retire... to bed.

ciao

Dreams DO Come True!

It has been a childhood dream of mine to be able to read every issue of the Uncanny X-Men.

That dream, my friends... [pause for tears of geek-joy]... is coming to fruition.

In other news: Ben & Jerry's Cream Cheese Brownies ice cream... pretty derned good. I am debating whether or not it's my favorite. Its competitor: Karmel Sutra. Mission to Marzipan could easily be my favorite if the non-marzipan parts weren't so so-so and if the marzipan veins ran more plentifully.

In other other, somewhat related to the original other news: I made some naan today; it was pretty good. I wish I had the stuff to make some curry to go with it, but the naan was good, naan-the-less (badum-ching).