Dave Mancuso dot Com

They always forget the Atkins Diet missing piece–sleep. At least I did, this week. It looks like I can’t miss sleep the way I used to. It just kills me. I just had trouble going to sleep for some reason.

The other missing piece that people forget is the vegetable and salad family. No one seems to remember that low carb diets feed you more veggies and salad than you’d eat in months on a carb diet, if you do it correctly. That helps too.

I’ve spent the last couple of nights (and a morning) diving into the Microsoft Exchange Server. It’s an email server that has calendaring and other goodies built in.

The one problem is that it’s a virus magnet. Everyone and everything tries to infect the messages sent through the Exchange server. If you set up this email server, you’re creating a huge target for bad mojo.

The other problem is that it’s Microsoft. This software has some weird dumb stuff going on with it, like most Microsoft programs. For instance, like Brad said, why does a software install special extras in its list, and then go to the next item in the list–special extras all over again? And then it goes through the entire list again after installation just to make sure that everything was installed? Are they just doing this to convince me that the money I spent was worth it?

Working with Microsoft is sometimes like fighting a tug of war that you know you’re losing–so you try to figure out the best way to lose in order to make the best of things.

…Web pages like this restore my faith in the fact that we’re doing ourselves proud as a species.

Wow. And if the regular technopop remix of Tiptoe Through the Tulips isn’t enough, check out the seven minute extended version on the same page.

And all because I was trying to find a page to explain Tiny Tim to my children.

My wife asks me why I use television references so often in conversation. Frankly, it’s because for better or worse, television in the past four decades is a common language of reference among our generation.

If I use the words “and they told two friends, and so on. And so on. And so on…” most people near my age will laugh and understand the reference, much better than “’tis a tale told by an idiot.”

On the other hand, maybe E. D. Hirsch was right.

I’m watching the lunar eclipse tonight–it’s really cool. At full eclipse I can see the whole moon in shadow with binoculars, yet still visible. It’s not disturbing like the solar eclipse I saw ten years ago, but it’s still fascinating. I stand there watching and I think of people watching eclipses through Grecian times and back in Stone Age times, as long as people have been on Earth. Some things are pretty timeless.

Man, I wish I could have seen it even better. I need to get a telescope. Wouldn’t it be cool to make a small platform somewhere that ambient light isn’t a factor? At least the ambient light here is much less than in Philly where I grew up–I can see much more of the Milky Way than I see near the city.

We went to Alyssa’s elementary school Fall Fun Festival. It was really cool. The hayride was one of the high points–it was probably the fastest hay wagon I’ve ever ridden on. It wouldn’t have been as wild if we hadn’t been riding over (and across) ruts and holes. I thought we were going over several times, but the tractor pulled us through flawlessly (although bouncily). Good times.

I can’t even remember what Alyssa did to set Drew off. It was a few weeks ago. Whatever she did, we sent her to the other room. Drew, however, screamed in outrage and flopped on the floor. He then proceeded to kick his feet and pound his arms in the first true tantrum I’ve ever seen him perform.

Then he jumped up, and crying little angry tears, shouted “Alyssa! ALYSSA!”–(sniff)–“YOU STINK!”

Then a pause.

“Alyssa! You stink–ALL THE TIME!”

“Not just some of the time! All of the time!”

We were laughing too hard to tell him he couldn’t say such bad things to his sister. What else could we do?

And they’re mostly negative. I maintain my faith, though. Virtually everyone I know who saw The Matrix:Reloaded hated it, but I thought it was great.

Guess I’ll find out about Revolutions soon.

I just finished watching The Royal Tenenbaums. I’m at a loss to describe the film, but I really got into it. But then, I’m always into character movies. A movie could have zero plot, but if it’s about deep, engaging characters, I’m there.

I’m also at a loss to guess why this movie was in the comedy section at the video store. When I was in Play Performance in high school, we did monologues and other short scenes. Some were classed as dramatic, some as comic, and some as serio-comic–a piece with elements of the two. I guess that’s what this movie would be called, serio-comic.

Or maybe it’s just not really classifiable. That’s one of the things that make movies like this interesting to me.