2b 4 212 2 14 a 22 1 46 4 371 1 2 b 7 2 14

I will give one hint and one hint only, but only upon the request from whoever is trying to solve it.

I really despise the concept of such sites, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd pick Facebook any day. Why? Stability.

The burrito to end all burrito's(at EV1)

http://www.angryblog.com/burrito/

One of last month's popular search queries was "blown head gasket symptoms". Here, I shall list a few of them:

One of the first things you may notice if your head gasket is blown is your car will run rough. This will be caused by a loss of compression within the cylinders, which allows the pressure from the combustion of the fuel and air mixture to escape.

Another popular sign is steam from the exhaust with a high rate of coolant (anti-freeze) consumption. This is because on the downward stroke of the piston, the intake stroke, the fault in the head gasket allows for coolant to leak or be sucked into the cylinders, which will then be pushed out the exhaust pipe. Because the exhaust runs at such high temperatures, especially the catalytic converter, the liquid coolant turns to steam instantly, causing a white cloud to be seen from the exhaust pipe.

If either of the above two symptoms occur, check your oil for signs of water. Anyone who has taken a basic science class of any sort knows that oil will emulsify in water, causing the two to separate. When you pull your oil dipstick, you'll notice a heavily broken pattern of oil, and probably a milky substance in between. The milky substance is actually water.

One final thing to check would be your coolant. Look for both a low level/high rate of consumption and signs of oil in the water mixture.

Be advised, all of the signs of a faulty head gasket could also be signs of a cracked cylinder head or cracked block (the main part of the engine). These two conditions are very costly to repair, and typically are used as justification for purchase of a new car.

Yesterday was payday. I worked my typical 80 hours in the two weeks with about 8 hours of overtime. After taxes (over $200 worth of deductions!), I only got a little under $650.

The way it breaks down...

• Rent: $150
• Car payment: $270
• Miscellaneous debt: $60
• Miscellaneous bills (bank deposit): $100
• Internet: $40
• Total: $580

Not to mention my car needs gas, I need new shoes for work, and I need to eat.

How am I suppose to live like this? I'm expected to move out, but it'd be impossible. Yes, I've bought a couple "toys" from the last couple paychecks, but I've budgeted for them and been able to easily get by even after spending the money on them.

I think I need to put out my resume a few places, because I can't make it on this little bit of money, not with the cost of living like it is.

Where, in all that, was it my fault?

Okay, so I was just trying to find some more music videos and live performance videos on YouTube, but there's something wrong...

Almost 90% of the search results that I get for any band or song title are teenagers sitting in front of their crappy webcam with a crappy microphone, singing off-key and off-beat from the original song. They get all these positive comments and high ratings, which drive their videos up to the top of the search results and push the legitimate videos downward.

Then there's these "fan vids", made by the Anime freaks, who find a need to key the choppy animation from movies and video games up with the music from these bands. Because so many people (for some completely unknown reason) are into Anime, these videos are also pushed to the top of the search results.

There needs to be an easier way to separate the legitimate videos from the crappy wannabe videos.

No, I'm not saying that people shouldn't sing in front of their webcams and post it all over the internet (though there are a good percentage of those that I've found that should destroy their recording equipment for the sake of humanity), but there are other videos that people, such as myself, would prefer to see instead of the crackly-voice fretted guitar solo from a Logitech QuickCam.

So here lately I've been spending a lot of time on YouTube, checking out the music videos for a lot of songs that I like. I just got blindsided though...

Some of my favorite bands include Tonic, The Black Crowes, and Candlebox, but none of them have really been able to exceed my expectations when performing live. The Black Crowes do a good job, but there's an element that's missing: Energy.

I just happened to watch a couple clips of Counting Crows, and I have to say, I never really noticed this before. The band is just so energetic and devoted, even when doing a live gig. It's hard to find any band that's not overly-processed to the point where they're incapable of putting on a show that is equal to or better than their records, but Counting Crows is fully capable of it.

I can't stand to watch the guy when he's singing, especially in this video, but they did a live session of "Anna Begins", which is totally phenomenal. Check it out here.

I have about 4 more things to finish before I can actually deploy the new blog. Right now, I'm toying with the idea of running a script on the database to clean up the improper escaping of quotes and such. I don't want to do it just yet, because I want this old version of the blog to still work. I'm just not sure if I want to do it yet, though.

Maybe, just maybe, this weekend you'll get to see the new blog. :)

Money. BLARGH!

I have my checking account set up so that if the balance is less than $20, I get an e-mail.

BALANCE INFORMATION Account:XXXXXXXX Balance:-$31.66

I took a look at the website and they charged me an overdraft fee yesterday, but nothing else has shown up for today. WTF?!

I happened to stumble across a possibly incriminating file containing photographs of pages of a (at the time) classified government booklet. The book was basically just a policy for encounters with extraterrestrials, but it's enough to set me a bit on edge.

The policies basically are (were?) to make sure that nobody said anything, and to use scare tactics if need be. If anyone did say anything, it was to be passed off as a hoax or natural event.

At any rate, this booklet was dated 1954, which was a fair bit of time in the past. I can say that it's not one of those "far-fetched" things, speaking from experience.

Up until tonight, I've just passed the things I've seen off as hallucinations, natural events (such as a meteor shower), or just something normal being seen in a different light. Now, I am fairly certain what I've seen is none of the above, and that I've had a glimpse of things not of this world.

Okay, so now I look like complete crackpot lunatic, and any respect anyone has had for me is now gone. That's nice. But I know what I saw, I know what I have read, and I know that it's not something that can be explained as simply "sewer gas". Hollywood may be partially responsible, but the government is even more so.

I am going to go no farther with this topic than this: I don't get scared easily, and I can usually ignore things, or deal with them. This is completely different. Right now, I am downright TERRIFIED, having this been revealed to me. Why? Dunno. I just have no comfort in knowing that these other lifeforms have come to our planet, and the governments of the world find it necessary to censor them right out of existence. Apparently there's a pretty good reason for them doing so, and if it's a matter of public safety, then even more reason for me to be freaked out like I am now.

I'm tellin' ya, I am FREAKED OUT!

Apparently some people have been having a bit of trouble adding additional pages to the blog. Alas, there's hope!

Step 1: Create the TPL Simple enough. Let's say you're working with the "twans_x" template. Drop a file, something like the following, in templates/twans_x/about_me.tpl {include file="header.tpl"}

{include file="footer.tpl"}

Step 2: Edit the switch() In system/page_functions.php, there is a function called MakePage(). Here, you will be making some changes to the switch() structure.

If you notice, each condition begins with "case" and ends with "break;". Simple programming concepts apply here, so I won't go into detail.

What you need to do is create a condition for the case "about_me", and display the about_me.tpl file. It should look something like this:

// ... there's more code before this

// ... and there's more code after this

Step 3: Edit the Navbar Using your MySQL management software, issue the following query:

INSERT INTO blog_navbar VALUES(0, '?page=about_me', '-- About Me', 99, 'y');

The '99' in the query is to specify the position in the navbar list where this link will appear. A higher number will ensure that the link will remain at the bottom of the list, while a lower number will ensure that it remains at the top.

All done! That should be all it takes to accomplish this task. You can actually apply it to adding any sort of a static content page.

On a somewhat related note, more progress has been made on the newest version of SkuddBlog, version f0.0. I'm really trying to focus on getting the basic blog functionality done, but I do have plans to integrate user-to-user messaging, dynamic page management, and a completely web-based configuration scheme.

I'll probably be ditching the "Blog Ticker" and Last.fm feed, but there will eventually be support to add "blocks" to the right bar, all through the web browser.

I've yet to decide how I'm going to release the new blog. I would love to be able to keep it available to everyone, but at the same time I don't want all the other sites to look like mine. What I may end up doing is release the code under the LGPL, and include a template other than the one I'll use for my own site. We'll see though. That's a ways down the road.

Someone with the IP address of 71.171.0.170 has decided they want to try and break my blog. Why? I don't know.

At any rate, they have been banned. I don't really care who it was or what the intent was, but they're banned. If you want to run a security test on my site, get my permission first. I don't come to your house and try to pick the locks on your doors, do I?

Anyhow, here's the technical information about that IP address:

; <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> -x 71.171.0.170 ;; global options: printcmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6810 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 4

I've heard it said that dreams are a window to your soul; a means for you to see what you are really about. Having that been said, explain this one for me.

Last night, I had a dream that I was up on a rather large stage in front of a huge crowd. I stayed asleep for this dream to sing two songs in front of the crowd: Tonic - Open Up Your Eyes, and I can't remember the other one.

Now think about the symbolism for a second. I tend to be introverted, and avoid getting up on a stage in front of a large group at all costs. Tonic, however, is one of my favorite bands. In the dream I wasn't nervous in this position either. I had fun, and even when I woke this morning I felt like I had a lot of fun.

Breaking it down a little further, what about the lyrics to the song?

Choosing stones... Big enough to drag me down Where I am... People's voice's make hollow sounds Just be quiet... They'll go away Open up your eyes... Don't let your mind tell the story here Open up your eyes... Just let me go It's so safe... It's so safe floating in the glass While above... While above all your troubles pass Just be quiet... They'll go away Open up your eyes... Don't let your mind tell the story here Open up your eyes... Just let me... Open up your eyes... Don't let your mind tell the story here Open up your eyes... Just let me go, let me go, let me go Open up your eyes... Just let me go...

It's a good song, and it does say a lot. But yet I feel like there's a large chunk of all this that I'm missing. Granted, dreams don't usually make sense, but this one feels like it's supposed to.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Apparently the account I used a couple years ago for eHarmony is still active. I got a message in my inbox today that said they found a match for me...and she works 2 doors down from where I work.

Odd, if you ask me.