Spanky's Place

19/08/2008

What's so special about Chris Miller, and does he really use AutoSave?

Just doing some final prepping today, and got this question. Which was immediately followed by a case of the giggles.

I have no idea why the thought of Chris Miller using AutoSave strikes me as funny, it just does. Call my attention gone.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 19:24:55 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (3)

12/08/2008

YellowDay for Reno 911: A poor cocktail

Category Fun YellowDay

It appears that Spanky's YellowDay festivities have gone terribly wrong

Posted by Devin Olson At 04:35:00 Location Outside the Great Basin Brewery, Reno, NV | Permalink | Comments (2)

11/08/2008

YellowDay Skins

Category Lotus Technical YellowDay

Celebrate Yellowday with this desktop skin for use with the Marvel Client Skinning Edition for Notes! (Thanks go to Nathan for his awesome Yellowday graphic)

Posted by Devin Olson At 00:00:00 Location Sparks, NV | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/08/2008

Are you ready?

Category YellowDay

Some very cool things are coming on Monday.

Will you be ready?

Posted by Devin Olson At 00:00:00 Location Sparks, NV | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/08/2008

Warm Fuzzies

Category Technical Lotus BleedYellow

Back in April I Marvel Client Skinning Edition for Notes.

It's been several months since I published them, and haven't really given them much thought. I've actually been using a different set of skins on my own desktop. This week, while at a client's site, I walked by an employee's cubicle and happened to glance in. He uses my BleedYellow skin!

Oh, happy day.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 00:00:00 Location Sparks, NV | Permalink | Comments (0)

30/07/2008

Leaving Purgatory

Category Personal

Life is such an incredible, wonderful thing. It is truly the most precious commodity I can think of. It is one of the greatest things God has given us. There is nothing on this world more valuable, more important. Except for how we choose to use it; or when we choose to give it up.

Tanya's dad has left the hospital, and is now in Hospice care. He already had a DNR on file; this is simply the next step. He has made it quite clear that he no longer wants any treatment or medicines (other than for pain and comfort); and that he fully understands the consequences of this decision. As I've learned over the past 20 years; once Leonard Hoehn sets his mind to something, resistance is futile.

It is interesting to note that during these last few days his ability to communicate with us has vastly improved. Or perhaps it is our understanding that has improved. Either way, we are now able to grasp more than we have in a long time. Make no mistake, communication is still excruciatingly difficult, but we are getting better.

Leonard has made it clear that he is now ready to die. Or more to the point, is not willing to live any longer. If what he has had to endure for the last 8 months can even be called living.

I love this man dearly, and I don't want to see him go. He has lived a long and full life. God has granted him the right to choose. I must respect his decision, no matter how much it may hurt. This is a very tough decision; but like I've stated in the past, he is a tough old man. It is his to make.

I will do my best to preserve and protect his dignity. He has earned that much. Still, I'm going to miss him.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 10:28:35 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (6)

28/07/2008

Comments fixed

Category Technical

Bruce was kind enough to let me know that my comments were broken. They are now fixed.

Back to work

Posted by Devin Olson At 16:40:43 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (0)

28/07/2008

Tanya's Dad

Category Personal

Tanya's dad had a massive stroke last December. At the time, we were essentially told that he would never get any better than, to put it bluntly, an unaware husk of a person lying in a bed. They even administered last rites. His stroke was that severe.

He is, as I've said before, a very tough SOB., and pretty much proved everybody wrong by getting better. God was very much on his side, and wasn't ready to take him home yet.

Leonard has slowly continued to improve over the last several months. He still cannot speak (other than a "sssh-ssshh-ssshhhh" sound, and the occasional "Damn it!"), and has lost the use of his right side, but mentally is still there. We were going to have a bar-b-que for his 83rd birthday last week, but had to make due with KFC due to rain.

When I describe him as a tough old man, I mean it. He grew up as a Minnesota farm boy during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the Army 17, and served as a Tanker in WWII. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and later drove into Berlin with Patton's army. After the war he returned home, married, and raised 4 daughters. He has owned gas stations, delivered engine blocks, run several businesses, and was a hard worker his entire life. He endured all of the pains life could throw at him, and never complained. He did what needed to be done, because that's what good men do.

Like I said, he has been slowly getting better. The Doctors tell us he will most likely never be able to come home. Of course, these are the same people who just 8 months ago told us he would probably never wake up.

Anyway, he had a heart "issue" last Friday; and had to be taken from the care facility back to the ER. He has heart pain, swelling of his heart, a pretty serious infection, and all the fun stuff that goes with being 83 and in the ICU. However, as of this morning he is still kicking. I'm hoping that with God's help he will pull through this as well, and once again beat the odds.

We could use your prayers.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 13:14:21 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (5)

18/07/2008

Déjà vu

Category Announcements Personal

July 18th

A lot of really interesting things happed on this date. See if you can guess which of these had the biggest effect on my life:

390 BC - Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
1195 - Battle of Alarcos, great victory of Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur over the Castilian King Alfonso VIII
1536 - The authority of the Pope is declared void in England.
1792 - John Paul Jones dies in Paris
1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
1857 - Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war on the French.
1863 - American Civil War: The first formal Negro military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of Negro soldiers during the war.
1872 - Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.
1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.
1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
1918 - Three days after a German offensive near the Marne River in the Champagne region of France meets with failure, Allied forces launch a major counterattack, ending the Second Battle of the Marne and decisively turning the tide of the war toward an Allied victory.
1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
1929 - Pioneer of "gonzo" journalism, Hunter S. Thompson is born in Louisville, Ky., on this day. (Happy Birthday dude!)
1938 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrives in Ireland.
1939 - MGM screens a sneak preview of The Wizard of Oz. (After the screening, producers debate about removing what will later become the movie's signature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow.")
1940 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who first took office in 1933 as America's 32nd president, is nominated for an unprecedented third term.
1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
1948 - Juan Manuel Fangio, a.k.a. "the Maestro," made his Formula One debut finishing 12th at the Grand Prix de l'ACF in France.
1964 - Spanky's birthday.
1966 - Gemini 10 launched.
1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
1968 - Intel incorporated.
1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.
1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.
1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.
1977 - Vietnam joins the United Nations.
1982 - 268 campesinos ("countryside people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.
1984 - McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food restaurant, James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.
1986 - Video of the Titanic wreckage released.
1989 - Rebecca Schaeffer is shot by a crazed fan, prompting California to pass America's first anti-stalking law in 1990.
1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappeared from their university in Lima.
1992 - 'The Late Show (Australian TV series)', starring the D-Generation debuts on ABC.
1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 85 and injuring many more.
1994 - A court upholds NBA salary cap and draft rights.
1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.
1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur three years later, an F5 tornado hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.
1997 - 8000 low-caste Indians riot in Mumbai (Bombay) following a funeral for 10 children who had been killed by police.
1998 - A 23-foot tidal wave kills nearly 3,000 people in Papua New Guinea.
1999 - David Cone of the New York Yankees pitches the 16th perfect game in baseball history against the Expos at Yankee Stadium.
2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, sparking a fire that lasts days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.
2003 - Kobe Bryant is charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year old girl.

Still can't figure it out? Here is a hint: my Amazon Wish List.

Of course, if you really wanted to make my day, you could always buy my house.

-Devin

Posted by Devin Olson At 11:43:40 Location Cascade Township, MI | Permalink | Comments (11)

18/07/2008

Déjà vu

Category Announcements Personal

July 18th

A lot of really interesting things happed on this date. See if you can guess which of these had the biggest effect on my life:

390 BC - Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.
64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
1195 - Battle of Alarcos, great victory of Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur over the Castilian King Alfonso VIII
1536 - The authority of the Pope is declared void in England.
1792 - John Paul Jones dies in paris
1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
1857 - Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war on the French.
1863 - American Civil War: The first formal Negro military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of Negro soldiers during the war.
1872 - Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.
1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.
1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
1918 - Three days after a German offensive near the Marne River in the Champagne region of France meets with failure, Allied forces launch a major counterattack, ending the Second Battle of the Marne and decisively turning the tide of the war toward an Allied victory.
1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
1929 - Pioneer of "gonzo" journalism, Hunter S. Thompson is born in Louisville, Ky., on this day. (Happy Birthday dude!)
1938 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrives in Ireland.
1939 - MGM screens a sneak preview of The Wizard of Oz. (After the screening, producers debate about removing what will later become the movie's signature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow.")
1940 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who first took office in 1933 as America's 32nd president, is nominated for an unprecedented third term.
1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
1948 - Juan Manuel Fangio, a.k.a. "the Maestro," made his Formula One debut finishing 12th at the Grand Prix de l'ACF in France.
1964 - Spanky's birthday.
1966 - Gemini 10 launched.
1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
1968 - Intel incorporated.
1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.
1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.
1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.
1977 - Vietnam joins the United Nations.
1982 - 268 campesinos ("countryside people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.
1984 - McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food restaurant, James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.
1986 - Video of the Titanic wreckage released.
1989 - Rebecca Schaeffer is shot by a crazed fan, prompting California to pass America's first anti-stalking law in 1990.
1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappeared from their university in Lima.
1992 - 'The Late Show (Australian TV series)', starring the D-Generation debuts on ABC.
1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 85 and injuring many more.
1994 - A court upholds NBA salary cap and draft rights.
1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.
1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur three years later, an F5 tornado hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.
1997 - 8000 low-caste Indians riot in Mumbai (Bombay) following a funeral for 10 children who had been killed by police.
1998 - A 23-foot tidal wave kills nearly 3,000 people in Papua New Guinea.
1999 - David Cone of the New York Yankees pitches the 16th perfect game in baseball history against the Expos at Yankee Stadium.
2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, sparking a fire that lasts days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.
2003 - Kobe Bryant is charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year old girl.