Remember all those times ...

... your mother would show pictures of you when you were younger... usually to a new girlfriend that you had been working SOOOO hard to impress.

It's payback time...

Ok, I know... that's a mean thing to do to my own mother. Fine... here, I'll do it to myself.


I look much dorkier than she does...

I found these pictures on my class website. Thanks Brian for doing such a great job maintaining our memories, no matter how much we'd rather forget them!

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
Here are this year's winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money
to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.
The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house which renders the subject financially impotent for
an indefinite period.

6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And
then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are
good for you.

13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked
through a spider web.

The countdown is on...

As you can see, the countdown has begun. In just a few weeks I'll be on my way home, and not a moment too soon. I'm so unbelievably sick of Kuwait, it's ... well, it's unbelievable. Seriously.

I also have added a new counter, and it has a lot of interesting features with it. It gives me a very detailed account of everyone that visits this site, and how they found it. Those of you who are friends and family, it's not that hard to figure out how you "found" it: I probably told you. But if you are using a search engine, it knows which one you used. And even more interestingly, the keywords that were used. So far, it's only been running for a couple of days, so there's not much data, but I just noticed something.

Someone in Monroe, Louisiana uses Centurytel Internet Holdings for his ISP. This someone typed in "Scott Grattan" and "Kuwait" into Google, and found, not surprisingly, this website. In addition to their IP address (which is only useful to a hacker if you're not behind a firewall... you ARE using a firewall, aren't you?), it also reports their operating system (WinXP), browser (Internet Explorer 6.0), and the resolution their monitor is using (1024x768).

I don't know anyone in Louisiana (that I'm aware of), but apparently they know me... so whoever you are: Hi!

There's also someone visiting from Carbondale, Illinois that has been on the website for 3 days. They have been reading the archives, but very slowly (apparently).

Also, Tracy, I saw that you visited on April 9th, and I really think you need to talk to your network administrator. I know for a FACT that it was you, because your computer name is TracyStoddart.mcpherson.edu, which definitely means you're not behind any kind of firewall or NAT (network address translator). Any website that you visit can easily find their way back to your computer. Got any problems with spyware or adware? I'll bet you do...

I found something else very interesting the other day. Have you ever typed your name into Google, to see if you're on the Internet? Well, the other day I did a search for "grattan" in Google Images. In addition to numerous pictures of Grattan Raceway, Grattan family crests, and even a kid whose last name is Gratton and they spelled his last name wrong on the image "grattan.jpg"... I know how you feel kid.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that I found a picture of Ryan. It's the picture taken the day we brought him home, and it's the first one in the album. So, for those of you who are keeping score, he's barely a year old, and he's already doing things on the 'net better than I am. There were no pictures of ME in the Google Image search... just him.



I'm so proud!

Love to all!

The Boys of Kuwait...

It occurred to me that I don't think I've ever posted pictures of my coworkers... so there you go! (L to R: Carl, Nathan, me, Mike)

It's a real burden...

... being right all the time. I told you this would happen. Not surprisingly, this was NOT front page news...

Kuwait drops plot case against soldiers
KUWAIT CITY (AFP): Kuwait's public prosecution has dropped the case of two soldiers who were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of plotting attacks on US forces, the defense minister and a lawyer said Tuesday. "The case has been shelved and investigations have been permanently halted because there is no crime," the defense lawyer for one of the two soldiers, Mohammed Al-Mutairi, told AFP. Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah confirmed that the charges had been dropped. "Yes, certainly," the minister told reporters in response to a question if the case was "shelved" by the prosecution. The army's judicial department, however, "is still assessing the case" to take the necessary legal measures, said the minister, without elaborating.

The pair, one of them a major, were among 15 soldiers questioned on charges that they were plotting to attack US and other foreign troops in Kuwait. All others were released after questioning but the two were referred to the public prosecution for further investigation as a prelude to pressing criminal charges. "The whole affair was caused by some security officials who acted on weak information and rumours before verifying them," Mutairi said. The two soldiers were detained for about 40 days before being freed on bail. They were arrested on Jan 3, about 20 days after the US embassy warned that it had "credible information that terrorist groups" were preparing to carry out attacks in the country in the near future.

Source: Arab Times Online

My New Favorite Picture

My new favorite picture...
Posted by Scott via Hello

Also, my weblog is 2 years old today! Here's my very first month of posts! What a difference a couple of years makes, huh?