October 2003 Archives

Dean Cain to Play Scott Peterson in Movie

I was sure it was gonna be Ben Affleck.

Google!

Get a little of that off your chest.

Harvard said it. Must be true.

Greater diversity on college campuses significantly lowers rates of binge drinking among high-risk students, according to results of a Harvard University study released on Thursday.

The research may enable college administrators to fine-tune their admissions and housing policies to cut rates of binge drinking, study authors said.

"If you have younger white males together to the exclusion of other groups, you're going to have fewer role models for lighter or nondrinking behavior," Henry Wechsler, the study's lead author, told Reuters. "That may explain why fraternities have had such a high level of drinking problems."

....

Previous studies have shown that binge-drinking rates vary greatly among certain student subgroups. For example, African- and Asian-American, female and older students have lower rates of binge drinking than do white, male and younger students.

[emphasis mine]

But I thought affirmative action was A Very Bad Thing....

It's my Half-Birthday.

I'm celebrating by having another Skinny Cow mint ice cream sandwich. I may even go a little crazy and brave the dreary chilliness on my day off to go get some chai.

Only eight writers born in the USA have won the Nobel Prize for Literature since the annual awards began in 1901.

Um, so? There are other countries with out there with really good authors. You know. Literate people who can write. And in English, too!

I know the movie industry is a huge supplier of jobs in New Zealand, but the country has so much more to offer than tours of movie scenery.

I mean, that's not a trip that you can just take on a whim. Would you really let a dumbass Tom Cruise movie be the thing to get you off your ass and down under? The first person to bring up Lord of the Rings gets their ass kicked.

I know there are these blogger alliance thingies going on. All fun and games, whatnot. And I know there's the TTLB New Blogger Showcase going on. Also cool. A service to the blogosphere, even.

But why would you ruin the fun by doing things like bloc voting and clamoring for endorsements? Let's take ourselves a little too seriously. You just fucked up the contest. Even one of the winners and the proprieter of the contest think so.

Okay, maybe it's not actually happening that way. Oh, wait, maybe it is.

I changed my mind. I don't even care enough to finish the thought. I think I'll just link whore instead. I'm not above it.

Kind of like Mad Libs. Spirit fingers for audience participation.

Everything I came up with was either dirty or creepy, so I couldn't bring myself to enter. If I think of something, I'll post it.

Now that I have food in the house, I want to eat it all. Right now.

/Church Lady

A security consulting firm issued three security advisories for Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). Now I'm no computer expert, but I don't think these issues just appeared. The recommended fix? Upgrade to 10.3 (Panther), which just came out last week.

(via MacNetJournal)

I've never really had to grocery shop on a tight budget before. Even in college. When I was in the dorm I was limited by facilities and had a cafeteria anyway. And once I moved off campus I was sharing food with my roommate so that gave me a little more leeway. After that I just spent whatever I wanted.

Now, for the first time, maybe ever, I went into the grocery store with a set dollar amount and tried my darndest to get bang for my buck. I think I did okay. I had to go around and put some things back. I hate when people just drop random stuff on a shelf. Nothing like finding a thawed frozen dinner in with the paper towel. So I did actually go around and put things in their proper places.

I got ramen. Soup. Potatoes. Apples. Carrots. Peas. Green beans. Broccoli. Cheese. Sour cream. Tomato sauce. Powdered chili mix. Onion. Italian sausage. Slim-fast. Cereal. You're drooling, I know.

I came up with that list during one of my periods of intense boredom at work. Next time I'll plan ahead a little better and maybe get some fixins for lasagna or for Lauren's garbage soup.

But, damn, meat is expensive. I've noticed I've eaten a lot less meat lately. And forget this buying cereal stuff. I'm gonna hand my friend $10 and have him hook me up with cereal and microwave popcorn at the company store.

Soft music replaces school bell to reduce classroom stress.

Give me a fucking break. (Not that we don't do dumb shit like this in the United States.) If a teacher can't look at the clock and see that they need to wrap it up because the bell's about to ring, then that's their fault.

Is it just me, or are people just making a big joke out of this box cutter thing?

Srah, this made me think of you.

(via Twin Cities Babelogue)

There have been a lot of quizzes going around lately, and I usually ignore them. But I couldn't pass this one up. (via Margi)

Rod Roddy, The Price is Right announcer extraordinaire, died yesterday after suffering for more than two years with colon and breast cancer.

Frankly, the guy creeped me out a little. I don't know if it was the manic expression or the garish jackets. But whenever I see or hear about or think of new cars, I hear his voice. Which doesn't help the creep out factor, but there it is.

How is he dead and Bob Barker is still alive?

I wish I had the balls to do this.

Sounds like a fair trade: blood for beer.

Sure does! What would be really fun would be if they'd give you that pint immediately after you donate. That's better than neglecting to eat first.

I used to run a little Javascript showing my recently played iTunes tracks (made possible by the wonders of Kung-Tunes, which I've raved about before).

I decided I wanted to do it with PHP instead of Java. I got the PHP code from this guy Tim and modified it a bit so it displays the way I want it to.

The result is the most recent track displayed in the sidebar (currently over there on the left under 'round hyeah) and the last 25 songs on their own page (also accessible from the sidebar).

"Baby Got Sac"

Until the next time, anyway.

I figured out what was the deal with the broken images. I just had to turn the hotlink protection back off.

And I made adjustments to my fonts, so y'all probably still aren't getting the nifty fonts that I'm seeing, but at least it ain't Courier New anymore. I'm leaving the Marker Felt as a nice treat for the Mac users out there. Failing that, Copperplate. Else, it's Trebuchet like everything else on the page. If your computer sucks so badly that you're getting your default sans-serif, you deserve it. At least it's not Comic Sans.

I didn't feel like making y'all go to the trouble of downloading a font just for lil' old me. Plus I had trouble finding one that I both liked and am allowed to distribute.

Because you care. I can feel it. I'm doing this for you, gentle reader.

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Free For All. I was afraid to see what might turn up, but it worked out okay. I might try it again sometime. Hell, I might even hand over the keys for guest blogging sometime.

No, maybe not. That actually makes me even more nervous. I know how y'all are.

The Free For All participants:

I grew up in Michigan, so I developed the corresponding dialect.

According to the Dialect Survey, it looks like pronunciations show stronger correlation to a region than terminology does, except in a few well-known cases like carbonated beverages, long skinny sandwiches from the deli, and public rail transportation.

See the results for your state or search by specific words or phrases. How do you pronounce aunt, coupon, and syrup? Is it a sub, hero, hoagie, or grinder? Does thespian rhyme with lesbian? Is it a rotary, a roundabout, a traffic circle, or something else?

(via Srah)

I must say, I really do like this whole Free-For-All idea...I'm not sure why. I heard about it from Ruthie on Thursday who heard about it from someone else, etc... Maybe it's that little bit of anticipation not knowing what someone is going to post on there. But, on the other hand, I guess it requires a certain level of trust of other bloggers to know that you're relativly safe doing so. I don't think I've heard of anyone doing a free-for-all thing who's gotten a post they had to remove.

Anyway, I'm starting Free-For-All Friday over at my blog. The last Friday of every month (starting on Halloween), it's gonna be free for all - all day. There's a few other bloggers who are going to join in. If you want to be part of the madness, just drop me a line!

orange haired boy

This is truly an exercise in trust. I feel a bit suspicious as I'm about to post something on someone else's blog. Yeehah!

This is Lauren, also known as Ms Lauren of Feministe dot us. I'm in the process of making my Garbage Soup and beginning my Sunday routine of reading a great many blogs and posting absolutely nothing to my own. I'm also listening to Buju Banton, for anyone who cares.

Let me tell you a story:

I have these hippie next-door neighbors. I don't have anything against hippies really, unless they make me listen to the Grateful Dead, play Grateful Dead covers in a college band, practice with their band at all hours in an apartment building with paper walls, go lawn bowling across my back porch, bring over their friends dogs so they bark all night while I'm trying to study, and let their friends park in my designated parking spots because they're too high to park in visitor parking and find their way to the correct apartment. So I basically have something against these guys. And all hippies who wear patchouli. Okay, so for all of my free-minded talk I have a few prejudices.

I've declared a one-sided war. I play GG Allin with the speakers against the walls. I let Ethan run around and stomp and hit the walls. I yell at the wall. I'm terribly immature.

It doesn't help that my boyfriend is a freelance body piercer at the only nearby head shop. The hippie neighbors go into his store regularly and buy smoking paraphanalia and strike up conversations with the boyfriend, thinking that we're all great friends. They irritate the hell out of me. I haven't done a damn thing about it in the name of neighborly cordiality.

Last night, Ethan (4) and I decided to have a late dinner and went to the grocery store later in the evening. It was pouring outside by the time we got home. Our poor stomachs were growling. When I pull up to my apartment, all the parking spots were filled because my hippie neighbors invited their friends over to get high and watch the Purdue game.

I had to figure out a way to get a four-year-old and eight bags of groceries into my house during a downpour. I was not amused.

I decided to park directly behind the two cars in my parking spaces, effectively blocking them in. I got Ethan indoors, got the groceries indoors, and marched back outside and locked my car. I unloaded the groceries thinking of all the shitty things I would say to them for having the nerve to park in my spaces, goddammit.

Ethan and I fixed dinner and sat down to eat, and, of course, there was a knock on the door. I stomped over to the door with all of the rehearsed lines in my head - every pithy thing I'd planned to say.

"Is that your car?" the neighbor asked.
"Yeah," I said, and then I caved.
I moved my car. I didn't say a damn word. The neighbors went back inside and it was like nothing had happened at all. So much for making a point.

*

Thanks for the opportunity to tag your site, Erica.
I'm giggling as I write all this because I still can't see one damn picture on your website, even in the MT screens. Either I'm stupid or technology sucks, maybe a bit of both.
xoxoxox

I can't decide how I feel about it. But it ain't dark. Still working on that font thing.

Also....

One more day to participate in the Free For All. (Don't forget to mark your post Publish as the default is to save it as Draft. I saw a couple posts that I assume were meant to be published that were sitting in Draft mode so I went ahead and put 'em up.)

Dennis Miller? On Boston Public? Really?

Um, Brrr. I've been wondering why it's been freezing in my house. The weather's gotten a smidge chillier. I figured the basement (where my room, bathroom, and miscellaneous living space are) tended to be a little cooler than the upstairs. Turns out the heat just wasn't on. And the climate control has a whole timed program punched in. How fun is that? Flipped the switch. All is well.

Emergency! I can't find the fukuoku.

This entry at grouphug.us caught my eye.

I run a fairly popular blog site and also write another one that people think is "written by" an asian female. People have no idea that I'm both people.

This is killing me.

College Football: Michigan done made Purdue its bitch. Hell yeah.

Major League Baseball: The Marlins won the World Series (or more importantly, the Yankees lost). Blah blah blah. But get this. The winning pitcher threw a complete game shut out. Way to end it in style.

Hi there, I'm Kat.
^..^
Kathleen.
NOT Kathy {shudder} (no offense to the Kathys of the world, it's just not me)
Katerina
Kateroo
Miss Kitty Kat
Kitten of my Life (my friend Corrie calls me that sometimes, LOL)
Kitten of my Heart (again, Corrie)
Pumpkin
Snuggy Baboo

I met Miss Irk online in December of 1999, then in person in May of 2000 - too bad I can't find the pics right now, they're awesome! Picture her in bibs (overalls, not what a baby wears to eat strained peas), with almost shoulder-length straightened hair with the cutest little flip at the ends, with a rose between her teeth. To quote... well, HER... "pinch her cheeks!"

I'm just hangin' out tonight, waiting for the second phase of the evening to get a move on. The first phase involved the hubby and I deciding what exactly we wanted to do tonight, and making the journey to procure the items to make it happen. We'll be eating delivery from Pietro's (he ordered cheese bread and chicken tenders, I ordered the stuffed shells manicotti, because they were out of stuffed shells), carving pumpkins, and watching A Mighty Wind. A nice night to ourselves, which we don't often get. However, while waiting for the vittles, he decided to get absorbed in his newest Terry Pratchett book, so here I sit, waiting for Phase II (which if you know your South Park trivia doesn't include much of anything, but ours will be much better than nothing).

hello hello. smg here from over at www.smgweb.us. i'm very excited to be here because i've never used MT before. so, in addition to pimping myself out on someone else's blog, i'm seeing something new. alas, my host doesn't support the shiznit you need for mt, so i can't do it. i don't have the skills to convert anyway. sigh. i'm pathetic.

S-Train aka Progressive Thug in da house! I'm honored to be guest-bloggin' at the swirlspice. And since I'm straight trippin' boo, I got to T.. R.. I.. P..

Let's see... How did I come across my gurl Erica's swirly world? Hmm.... Hell if I know. :) But does it matter folks? It ain't how you get there, it's the gettin' there that counts, hosses and hossettes...

Seen alot of things in this old world
When I touched them they did nothing, girl
Oo baby, here I am, signed, sealed delivered, I'm yours, oh I'm yours

You got me E, and I'm not leavin' (unless you want me too... *sniff*). Enough trippin'!

Seriously, I'm a blogger for life (after my little hiatus) and having blogs like this one out there makes the whole experience cooler than a fan. I'm a big fan of personal blogs or blogs that just don't talk about politics only. You really see the power of blogging when people are sharing experiences. It may leave you open sometimes but in the end, it's a beautiful thing.

A series of posts and pings led me eventually to some scripts by Orange Haired Boy. I've already implemented this nifty (and customizable) PHP version of the Ecosystem XML feed so I can toss the Javascript version. He has a couple other things that look neat, too, which I will keep in my back pocket.

This is Tanya, coming at you live from Life's Like This. It's a beautiful sunny day here in central Connecticut, I hope the rest of you are enjoying fair weather as well.

We interrupt this blog to bring you a special message from MamaBlogs.com. Need a blog of your own? Dont' have the technical know-how or drive to do it yourself? But you don't like the Blogger software? Now you have an alternative! MamaBlogs.com tastes great and is less filling. Chock full of special FDA approved secret ingredients, MamaBlogs.com will help you grow hair and find a girlfriend. Best of all, it's Free!. We don't want your money - use it to buy your mom a present.

MamaBlogs.com - because all the cool kids have a blog.

...and now we return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks to Erica for her generousity in letting me post this. You rawk, sistah!

I should never smoke this early in the morning. I had thought up an entire post and now, voila, it's gone. no real surprise there.

So, this is the home of the swirly-goodness. The Swirlspice! Irk! Erica...yeah, that fits better for me. Erica. Or E, if you will.

Actually, Erica is the person I blame who started me on blogging. Well, she didn't tie me up or anything (though, that could have...oh nevermind), but she did start this here swirlspice blog and I got to reading it (way back when it was on blogspot) and decided that it was a pretty cool, fun thing to do. And, being the sheep that I am, I couldn't resist.

Now, I'm addicted hooked. I've met some really great people. That never would have happened...if Erica hadn't started blogging. (okay, it may have, but you don't know for sure now, do you? huh, do you? no, I didn't think so! ) I would be sitting here, missing out on some grand fucking times. I'm glad it's worked out the way it has.

Thanks E!

*licks you*
mel

WOW! This is amazing. I can talk about anything I want..... sadly, I don't have anything to talk about now. How unfair is that one? I'm crashing on Erica's site and I can't think of one thing worthy of her "home". I so need to get a life.

-d

Oh yeah, my site.... www.noshoesorsocks.net come stop by sometime.

First time reader, first time poster. Just thought I'd say you have a nice place here. It was fun in Buccachat last night. Boy, you people sure like gettin' licked. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :D

I am Ruthie - I normally hang out over at Simply Girly. I am not sure how I found Erica, but I think she's faboo! :) Also - I am totally loving this whole "free for all thing." My friend Lewis has come up with the idea to do it once a month. So starting on the 31st of October we will do a "free for all" posting thing on the last Friday of every month. Check it out

and since its 5am I am going to stop yammering now. Thanks for the invite doll. This has been fun! :)

Brought to you by the letters A and B.

Shakira has joined UNICEF, becoming the U.N.'s newest (and youngest) goodwill AmBassador. She fascinates me. (Speaking of, No Creo still makes me smile 'til my cheeks hurt and reminds me of happier times.)

At work we wear shoe covers, also known as booties. Every time I put them on or take them off, I think of the song Booty CAll. Aw, heeeeeeeyelll naw!

The Detroit Red Wings BlAnked the Dallas Stars yesterday. Steve Yzerman had two goals. I [heart] Stevie Y.

I was sure I lived in a Blue StAte. Guess not. (via Solonor)

This could be a hoax, but an "insider" has decided to share some of Qwest's ABhorrent Business prActices. None of it really surprises me.

Hello all. This is Emily, also known as Emmles, also known as swErlspice, of the swerl/swirlspice dynasty, also known as Irk's lil sis. I'm itching to use this extended entry feature. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. Whatever.

Yeah, yeah, so I'm Glenn and I'm Black. Impressed? Scared? Heh ;-)

This free-for all posting thing is all the rage nowadays, huh? This is my fifth guest posting in a free for all this week!

I don't really have much to say but I'd like to share how I found Erica's blog, because I'm sure most bloggers are interested where in the hell people found them.

I found E's blog via P6's blog when he had this whole thing about what it means to be a "Black Blogger." He posted a link to E's blog because she wrote what it was like to be a Biracial blogger. It was pretty interesting, and I've kept my eye on her blog for awhile now and recently added it to my Newsreader...

I *heart* Swirly :)

--skurdycat

I love Erica
Yes I do!

I love Erica
How 'bout YOU?!?!?!!?!?!

xoxo,
kathyhowe

I'll be BucaChatting for the rest of the evening.

My trust exercise for the week. Seen at Mel's.

How to play:

1. Log into movable Type using the info below.
2. Post whatever you want. Post multiple times, even.
3. Make sure you mention who you are and feel free to link yourself. (I took the liberty of linking those that posted without linking themselves.) (I'd especially like to hear from my non-blogging friends.)
4. If I don't like it, I'll take it down. No explanation necessary.

My bad. Pretend like you didn't see that. A few things....

When I'm driving down the road, and someone comes up from behind me and passes me, why do they, upon noticing the rainbow sticker, feel the need to turn all the way around in their seats (bodily, not just a head turn), to get a look at me? It's always some dirty guy, too.

Is being a hippy a requirement for employment at Whole Foods? I think it is. I was watching people bike up to Whole Foods for work while I was sitting in the car waiting for Jamba Juice to open. They all had a woven bag or really strappy backpack. Half of them had knit caps over their dreads. All of them had corduroys with the cuffs walked off. Okay, so it was three people. But you know I'm right.

AND. Jamba Juice now has 16 oz smoothies! Used to be the smallest size was 24 oz. That's a lot of smoothie. Spirit fingers for portion control and budget consciousness. And I think I've got the proportions for the pumpkin spice smoothie down. Must try it at home.

It is very strange taking my own garbage out. I've done it at my parents' house, but it felt like I was taking their garbage out. Now being responsible for doing it myself? It's just strange. I ain't no Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout. Also strange, my roommate was supposed to have flown to Michigan yesterday. But I swear this afternoon he drove by, opened the garage door, put the garbage and recycling bins back in the garage, and then closed the door and drove away. He saw my car. It's not like he thought I wasn't home and wouldn't get to it. Just weird.

I was having a bowl of Lime Shrimp ramen (sans soup, because what kind of condensed soup goes with Lime Shrimp?). Granted I have a low tolerance for spicy food, but that kicked my ass.

This Friday brings yet another installment of BucaChat. Drinking, chatting, blogging, fun! (And maybe webcams.)

My dilemma is this. I need something to drink. All I have in the house is two bottles of dessert wine and a bottle of cheap champagne. Those will surely make me more sick than tummy toasty, so I need to invest in one bottle of liquor. I need bang for my buck here.

I do not have the fortitude to drink anything straight up, nor do I have the funds for complex beverages such as the Swirlspice. It's gotta mix well and last long. Suggestions? What's your favorite quick-and-dirty, yet effective adult beverage?

I have another couple of posts I'm working on about my job. Things that happen, how I feel about it, whatnot. First I'll tell you what my job is like. I'll be referring back to this.

The gist: I'm a tablet press operator at a small pharma company. Powder goes in, pills come out.

The tedium:

I'm sitting in a computer lab at work. There is a guy at the back of the room who is chomping down his food. Mouth wide open. Smacking. Breathing heavily through his nose. He sounds like dogs do when they eat.

My roommate eats the same way. Like he has to vigorously mash all food between his tongue and the roof of his mouth, and this can't be accomplished without audible suction. I had to get up from the table and walk away from him.

Oh my god, this guy is slurping. Shoveling and slurping. I think he thinks his food is gonna crawl away if he doesn't inhale it all immediately. He also likes to fill his cheeks, chipmunk-style. And then talk. I take it back. Dogs are quieter when they eat. I'm leaving.

I feel good knowing S-Train's got my back. He can keep his troll, though.

Here's a thought:

The winner of the Stupid Cunt of the Week award. Less for her opinion than for her faulty logic and inability to articulate it. Blandford is right.

(via Queer Day)

I had lunch with the fabulous Kathy Howe today. Lemme tell ya, she is the coolest thing ever. The word that comes to mind is vibrant. I think next time we need to involve drinks.

Buzz, you may be jealous now.

P.S. When I first got there, I saw the biggest bootie I've ever seen on an Asian girl, and two women who I swear were the live action Patty and Selma.

*snicker*

Don't people check these things?

Today's Boondocks:

(click it)

New stylesheet. I'm pretty sure that no one has the Marker Felt font so my banner, dates, and sidebar titles probably still appear in Courier New and thus they don't look nearly as cool to you as they do to me. I can see it in Camino, but not in Safari, so who knows. I may keep looking for something new and I may even provide whatever font I find for you to download. Or I may not.

I worry that it may be a smidge dark. If you have trouble reading it or find something that looks funny, let me know.