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January 31, 1999
News
Information about Ty Davison straight from the horse's mouth.
News Archives
Years worth of mind-numbing details, ponderings, and events.
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External URLs that have cropped up in the course of the News history.
January 31, 1999
It's been a really dreadful soccer week for St. Francis with two losses, one to #1-ranked Bellarmine and another to #7-ranked Serra. Details, for those who enjoy reading about depression, in the Sports section.
This sorry news has, I'm afraid, clouded my otherwise sunny disposition. I'm inclined to say that this past week has been no worse than most, but when big bummers happen, it's difficult not to get into a funk. Fear not, however, I'm sure I'll be out of it any day now.
January 26, 1999
I'm not often asked how I come to my wacky moral judgments and opinions (perhaps I don't get out enough), but in case anyone is interested, check out the on-line info at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. For example, here's a quick article on ethical or moral relativism that I think is brilliant. I figure there's at least an outside chance that I'm not the only one who's wacky. (Or, maybe I am.)
Rain continues to wash over the Bay Area making today's soccer game against St. Ignatius unlikely.
January 23, 1999
My brother Bret left early this morning after a week-long visit that included much in the way of fun and games. He got to see us beat both Mitty and Riordan, to practice with us yesterday, to play numerous Mac games (I noticed he's a lot better at Mario Bros. than I am), to visit the City, and to go hiking at Rancho San Antonio.
Speaking of Rancho, we were amazed to see 19 deer during our hike yesterday. What was even more fun was that we got to walk right through the lot of them and watch them graze. There was also a wide variety of other wild life (quail, turkeys, etc.), but nothing topped the deer.
Today Bellarmine game was postponed because of rain until next Wednesday.
I've rewritten the lame ending to "Freedom To Be Stupid," my rambling op-ed piece about hate crime law.
January 22, 1999
The Lancers destroy a woeful Riordan team.
January 20, 1999
Bought Macromedia's Director 5 for $40 today at Software & Stuff, the local cheap software store. Director 5 is a few versions back (currently they're at version 7), but I'll take it. Upgrade price to the latest version (Director 7) is $499, so it's unlikely I'll upgrade, but I suppose it's better than the $999 retail.
The Lancers enjoy an excellent victory over #3-ranked Mitty.
January 19, 1999
Headed yesterday to the City with my brother Bret who came down for a few days. We did lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, went through the Exporatorium, and drove through the Haight-Ashbury district. In all, a pretty exhausting but extraordinarily fun day. (We also happened upon this guy—artist?—outside the Exporatorium where he was doing a seemingly impossible job of balancing various objects on top of one another. Weird and amazing.)
We then returned to Mountain View where we stayed up late chatting. Even Erin, who's in the midst of finals week at St. Francis, stayed up a little past her bedtime to join in the festivities.
January 15, 1999
I heard this first from Mark who got it from Christine:
Redmond, WA (AP) — Microsoft announced today that the official release date for the new operating system "Windows 2000" will be delayed until the second quarter of 1901.
Gotta love the Microsoft humor.
I've been rockin' right along on the genealogy work. Now up to over 2,000 individuals in the database. Interesting stuff, too, as you see families evolve, splinter, and, in some cases, die off. It's a powerful reminder of mortality and of how we're all links in a larger chain of human history.
I made my last student loan payment today, finally erasing what started as over $10,000 in debt. I could've paid it faster than the little over seven years it took me, but I funneled a lot of money into the stock market instead. That turned out to be a worthwhile course of action. But enough of the past. As of today, I've got the student loan monkey off my back. Excepting normal month-to-month living expenses, Erin and I are now debt-free. (Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty I'm free at last!)
January 14, 1999
It's not like the switchboard's been exactly overheating due to the volume of calls routed to ye ol' Davison homestead here in Mountain View, but perhaps things will pick up now that I've successfully repaired our answer machine. Using a little elbow grease, Yankee ingenuity, and the Panasonic web site, I've got our answering machine working good as new. You're now welcome to dial up, speak your mind, and get cut off by the incredibly annoying 30 second time limit like hundreds, if not thousands, have done before you. Go for it!
Apple announced sterling financial results for the 5th quarter in a row. See Mac Advocacy for details.
Beat Sacred Heart in soccer.
January 13, 1999
Interesting news as PacBell announces Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service to Mountain View for $49 a month (plus a $198 install fee). The upside is that DSL, which uses high frequencies to move data over regular copper phone lines, is anywhere from 2.5 to 100 times faster than a regular 28.8k modem. You can use still use your phone while on-line, too.
The downside—and you knew there was one, didn't you?—is that PacBell's DSL implementation is incompatible with everyone else's (since there are no DSL standards yet), and DSL still isn't as fast or as inexpensive as a cable modem set up. Despite the temptation of immediate high speed access, I think I'll wait.
I've posted, at long last, "Freedom To Be Stupid," a treatise on Hate Crime Laws. Read at your own risk.
Got good news on the soccer front as Serra tied and Mitty lost. That opens the door for our moving up in the standings as we enter the second half of the season.
January 12, 1999
In addition to all the other excitement that's been going on recently, I've been trying to get a jump on one of my goals for 1999, namely completing a Davison genealogy. By the grace of Sherlock, the spiffy MacOS 8.5 search engine, I've located several Davison genealogy sites which at least theoretically tie into mine. If so, it's possible that I'll be able to add to the already more than 1,700 people I'm tracking. Look for a Genealogy section in the updated Davison On-line web site—whenever that happens.
In case anyone's thinking about making their own attempt at genealogy work, let me highly recommend (again, since I already make this recommendation in the Mac Advocacy section) Leister Productions Reunion 6.01. At a retail price of about $100 it's pretty well par for the course, but it's so far beyond most genealogy programs in terms of power and ease of use that it's not funny. It'll even be generating my web pages for me which is a darn nice trick not to mention one heck of a time saver.
My cold seems to have vanished and Erin's is definitely on the way out the door, in case anyone is interested in the latest Davison medical news.
January 9, 1999
Mediocre soccer day as #9-ranked Serra ties us 0-0. Details, for those who want them, in Sports.
Erin's been fighting a cold over the course of the last few days, something that's made gearing up for today's cheerleading competition especially difficult. On top of this, we're down to the final couple weeks of the semester, so there's that pressure as well. I'm hoping that she's over the worst of it, since I'm probably the one who gave it to her. (Sorry darlin'!)
On the brighter side, the cheerleading competition went spectacularly well, with the squad scoring 86 out of 100—good enough to qualify for Nationals.
January 7, 1999
Believe it or not, early January is one of my favorite times of the year. For me, it's a chance to assess how successful I've been in achieving my goals for the last year and to plan my course of action for the coming year. I have yet to complete every goal I set for myself, but that's more or less my nature anyway: set my sites high and fall short. This isn't as bad as it sounds, or at least if it is, I've adjusted myself psychologically to it.
One of the big goals for the coming year is to save a substantial amount of money for a house downpayment. (It's not like we're starting from scratch, but we've a long way to go yet.) This will be an interesting challenge coupled with this summer's trip to France and my desire to put out an album—two major expenses among others.
But there's something about the new year that gives me hope. I've always been a person captivated by the potentialities of life, and I think that's why I enjoy January so much.
The Lancers beat St. Ignatius.
January 6, 1999
News about my use of RAM Doubler and my experience with Tomb Raider II in MacAdvocacy.
January 5, 1999
I'll be updating the main page with news from MacWorld as it comes in.
January 4, 1999
Here's the text to my year-end/year-in-review article: