tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70998362024-03-13T17:12:07.987-04:00Mark RebuckRandom thoughts from the mind of Mark RebuckMarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-31113111638808369942015-02-01T23:24:00.000-05:002015-02-02T11:22:27.868-05:00Cough... Cough... Dusting off the old blogI guess it has been a few years since my last post. But I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and have come to the conclusion that Facebook/Twitter simply don't work for me. So I'm going to reestablish markrebuck.com as the place where I communicate... whatever I feel I need to communicate :-).
To bring this blog up to date from my last post (mid 2009? really?):
Mary Beth and I had a MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-79015201468618371162009-07-07T15:43:00.007-04:002009-09-18T19:46:18.969-04:002009: Mid-year reviewI appear to have moved all of my web activity over to Twitter. My tweets feed automatically to my Facebook page. Maybe I'm just lazy, but I don't want to write full blog postings any more.
Still... It is getting late in the year, and I've only made a handful of posts to this blog in 2009. Someone asked me how I was doing on my focus areas for 2009 (see my previous post for more details). MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1387404197916652312009-03-08T20:52:00.007-04:002015-02-01T23:01:18.064-05:00New AddressYeah, yeah... Not a very exciting update. But I did promise to keep the blog updated, even if the content was boring.
I have a new mailing address, and will probably have a new phone number in a few days. The new address is:
262 Lincoln Ave.
Harrisburg, PA
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var myLatLng = {lat: 40.2664, lng: -76.7898};
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center: myLatLng,
MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-20944395981982561682009-01-03T09:15:00.005-05:002009-01-19T14:41:58.949-05:002009 ResolutionsAs promised, part II of the pair...
I don't really do "resolutions". I do "areas on which to focus" lists. In 2009, I plan to focus on the following:
My relationship with Mary Beth. I want a strong marriage, and I know that having a strong marriage will require work.
Food. Nothing fancy here. I need to get back to focusing on food-as-a-process instead of food-only-as-entertainment.
WritingMarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-27563448898631723332009-01-02T22:00:00.002-05:002009-01-03T02:49:57.937-05:002008 Year in ReviewIt's the time of year to make "Year in Review" and "New Year's Resolution" posts. So... Here is the first post of the pair. I'll introduce this Year in Review with one of my favorite quotes:
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, Friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the Air. You will soon or one day MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-44264715686880733502008-06-03T21:22:00.003-04:002008-06-03T21:33:13.142-04:00Sweet!The strawberries in my garden are finally starting to ripen. Mary Beth and I picked a few pounds of them earlier tonight, then had a wonderful dessert of berries and cream. OK, the cream was Redi Whip, but it was still a YUMMY dessert!
We only picked from the "overflow" area, where the strawberries have started to take over beyond their original bed. The main bed still hasn't ripened. I'll MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-48257011786227800022008-03-27T13:16:00.003-04:002008-03-27T13:53:08.976-04:00Thanks!I've been using Eclipse as my primary IDE for a very long time. While it has its strengths (e.g. integration with CVS, Java code editing), it also has a few weaknesses (e.g. integration with Subversion, no Swing GUI builder). Rumor has it that NetBeans is strong in the areas where Eclipse is weak, so I decided to take NetBeans for a testdrive. I downloaded the latest Mac version (*), installedMarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-74447149696690334332008-03-26T09:48:00.003-04:002009-01-06T22:22:54.114-05:00Props to NetflixI just got the following email from Netflix. This is exactly the kind of customer service I like to see. Did they have to do this? No. I didn't even notice the shipping problem they mention. But I like it when a company has the brass to say "mea culpa" and refund some $. In a world where customers can migrate to the competition in a few mouse clicks, I'm surprised some companies are still MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-24156715096235281612008-01-17T18:38:00.000-05:002008-01-17T14:15:34.823-05:00Mr. PerfectMBS confirmed something for me this morning. It was something I've suspected for quite a while now: I am, in fact, Mr. Perfect. A study of 40,000 women in the UK proved it! The 20 features that make Mr. Perfect so darn perfect:
At least 5ft 10in (Check. I'm 6'0" exactly)
Good looking. (MBS insists I am. I trust her opinion :))
12 1/2 stone (Check. That's 175 lbs., to the UK-impared. I'm MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-9441574956829367612007-11-13T22:27:00.000-05:002007-11-14T10:54:18.376-05:00ComputersI decided to get a jump on my mortgage by making an extra payment along with my first normally scheduled payment. So I logged on to my mortgage company website, signed up, then went to the payment page. I filled out he form, hit submit, and saw the following:
Error 404--Not Found
From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:
10.4.5 404 Not Found
The server has not found anything MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-62421288502537650242007-10-31T14:15:00.000-04:002007-10-31T16:39:12.181-04:00New DigsIt had to happen sooner or later: I bought a house. The reasons to buy were many (and growing), and the reasons to continue renting were few (and probably only imaginary anyway). So when Team P decided to head West to sunny Denver, CO, everything fell in line. They needed to find a buyer quickly, and I was familiar enough with the house to know that I would enjoy living there. Today at 1:MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-42552780377913331692007-10-28T22:43:00.000-04:002007-10-28T23:17:31.861-04:00Old School / New School... It's all good.After a pleasant walk around Wildwood Lake yeserday, MBS had the great idea of going to Hershey Park. I wasn't expecting it to be all that much fun, because the last time I was there (in the late 1980's) it seemed a bit... tacky and cheap. But I have to admit: The park was a blast! The "old school" rides like the SooperDooperLooper and the Comet were even more fun than they were 20 years ago.MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-87984787581681241992007-08-21T22:45:00.000-04:002007-08-21T23:14:36.114-04:0035 DownThis year's horoscope:This year you have the creativity and drive to create a better platform, be it professionally or personally. You might often opt for brainstorming sessions and choose to work in situations with a diversity of opinions and ideas. If you are single, during 2007-2008 you could meet someone very important. This relationship might not always be easy, but it will probably MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-41784493557014406102007-08-09T18:59:00.000-04:002007-08-10T14:33:11.970-04:00Niece Niki!Allow me to introduce y'all to my niece Niki.
My sister and I grew up without pets. But I think my sister saw how much fun Dreyfus and I had together, and decided she needed to get a little bit of canine lovin' for herself. I'm glad she did. Niki and Beth are going to have a great time together.
Click on the picture for a gallery of Niki pics. My photography skills have slipped a bit lately, MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-77854761203790523622007-06-27T16:16:00.001-04:002007-06-27T16:54:43.350-04:00Hello, againYeah, yeah, yeah... I've been slacking on updates to this blog. I don't really know what to say. Dreyfus got most of my attention during the last 9 months, and when I wasn't spending time with him, I simply didn't feel like blogging about MarkWorld. I'll try to get back to updating this blog more often.
I just got back (last night) from a wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon. Seeing the Grand MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-12895899788726257042006-12-11T02:02:00.001-05:002006-12-11T02:21:00.389-05:00DocumentationMy $5.00 bargain-basement soldering iron finally gave up the ghost on Saturday, so I went over to Radio Shack to buy a replacement. I went a little bit overboard and bought a fancy digital model.While the product itself works well, I'm a bit worried about using it. Page one of the manual includes the text:The soldering iron has a built-in temperature sensor that allows you to set the MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1164858665543262572006-11-29T22:34:00.000-05:002015-02-01T23:37:44.051-05:00The Best Stuff[Update on February 1, 2015: Every single link below is now broken. Ahhhh... Internet!]
Looking for a way to kill a few hours? Nate D. pointed me to The Best Stuff In The World a few days ago, and I'm totally hooked. There are so many wonderful things in this world!
If you are curious (or just bored :-)), check out my "top 10" list.MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1163012577141732492006-11-08T13:52:00.000-05:002006-11-08T14:02:57.170-05:00Salute the RankWhile listening to NPR this morning, I heard TWO commentators refer to our President as "Mr. Bush." I realize that the commentators on NPR have a liberal bias, and I realize that President Bush is a giant turd, but his title is "President", not "Mr.", and NPR should know better. As the old Army saying goes: You salute the rank, not the man.MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1162576173838407092006-11-03T12:46:00.000-05:002006-11-03T12:49:33.850-05:00This could be me
A coworker sent me this picture, and said he thought of me when he saw it. My first thought was "Oh man! He left the tent door open! The bike is gonna collect morning dew and get all rusty! That's just wrong!"MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1161457067279245442006-10-21T14:45:00.001-04:002006-10-24T16:52:12.653-04:00Almost PerfectThere is a tradition among Persian rug makers that they always leave one knot in their rug untied. The theory is that Man should never create perfection, lest God be offended.
I like to think of my second game of bowling last night as my version of a Persian rug. In 12 frames, I had 11 strikes... and one frame that was less-than-perfect :-):
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1160184109285205822006-10-06T21:14:00.000-04:002006-10-06T21:24:23.513-04:00Nice ViewApparently the hawks enjoy the view from the balcony at my new office building as much as I do.MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1160070020232261872006-10-05T13:11:00.001-04:002006-10-05T13:47:33.843-04:00First ImpressionsI was talking to a coworker (who sat in a different room in our old building, but now sits about 10' away) when she casually mentioned: I was holding out hope that you weren't quite such a geek. You don't look like a geek! Clearly, I hadn't talked to this woman enough in the past. I should start wearing a pocket protector so I can make more accurate first impressions :-).MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1159746221034852732006-10-01T19:33:00.000-04:002006-10-01T19:49:40.876-04:00Hidden in plain sightThere are a few movies that I watch every year, and I never get sick of them. One of my favorites is The Third Man. During this year's viewing (earlier today) I was struck by the following quote, which I never thought about during my previous viewings:
In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, andMarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1158958328561322812006-09-22T16:33:00.000-04:002006-09-26T11:18:09.390-04:001 / 365I've been watching Lost on DVD a lot lately. (Today in particular, to try and take my mind off Dreyfus' medical condition. See The Life, introduced two posts ago. But that isn't the point of this post...)
I just watched a scene in which one character asked:When did you come here? ...the date, what was the date?...to which the other character answered:September 22nd
What are the odds that I MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099836.post-1158809208862012382006-09-20T22:45:00.000-04:002006-09-20T23:26:48.943-04:00Worry vs. ConcernYesterday, I was talking to my father about Dreyfus' recent appetite loss. I mentioned how worried I was, even though I knew I was doing all "the right things" for Dreyfus. I was frustrated because I knew worrying wasn't helping the situation. My father, talented engineer that he is, applied Occam's Razor to the problem and simply stated:
Worry doesn't help. Concern does.
I've been thinking MarkRebuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04255135807241782499noreply@blogger.com