May 2004 Archives
Since I'm recovering from yesterday's late night being lazy today, I stayed in, opened up the windows so I could listen to the tornados blow through rain come down, and did some laundry and cleaned the kitchen.
I put the laptop away and have been channel surfing instead, between laundry loads. I watched part of the Women's College World Series, then I watched the Pistons/Pacers game. Now I've got Food Network on and I'm watching Top 5's Flaming Foods episode.
The top five flaming foods are:
5. Saganaki Filmed in Detroit's Greektown. Opa!
4. Bananas Foster Possibly my favorite dessert. Created in New Orleans in the '50s.
(Hell, after these two, I've seen all I need to see. *drool* But we continue.)
3. Steak Diane Never had it, but ya can't go wrong with beef.
Honorable Mention: Coffee Diablo aka Cafe Diablo aka Cafe Brulot. Never even heard of it before. Must try it!
2. Baked Alaska I always thought this was a seafood dish, like crab or something.
1. Cherries Jubilee Cherries are not my favorite fruit, but I wouldn't push this away.
Ever notice how good food renders you speechless? If you eat something orgasmic, it's really hard to come up with words to describe it beyond, "Oh mah gah!" Great food really is like great sex.
The Sound Of Violence (Club Mix), by Cassius.* I'd put this song in a similar category as A Better Life, if you borrowed/listened to that one (and if you missed it, just ask). It grooves.
Start It Over, by Guster (supposedly with Dispatch, Jump Little Children and O.A.R.).* I randomly saw it listed on someone somewhere's blog (not one of my regular reads) and immediately ran off to download obtain it strictly for my personal use. Never heard of it or seen it anywhere else. Probably pretty old. Like, Parachute old I'm guessing.
The other day I dusted off the little audio recording program I have and thought I'd bust out some tunes with the headphones on, because I can really only make myself do it full out when I can't hear myself. And holy shit, let me tell you what hilarity this is. I totally cracked myself up. Think American Idol, the early episodes. I could only record them in an uncompressed format, so the files are ginormous. Otherwise I'd share 'em. Because they are so damn funny that I'm beyond being embarrassed. Maybe I'll dig up my Voicemonkey password....
In the mean time, enjoy those. Maybe even tell me what you think.
*Links removed Sunday, 13 June 04.
A friend of mine is in town for the holiday weekend. He's staying with another friend at the friend's girlfriend's house, about 45 minutes northwest of me, while he's here.
Their plan for yesterday morning, a surprise for my visiting friend, was to take a Segway tour of downtown Minneapolis. The gloom outside put the kibosh on that, which is too bad because it looks a really neat thing to do. I was gonna pass on it this time anyway, but I'm certainly taking note of the tour for future reference.
After watching the Shock/Sparks game I moseyed on up to hang out with them. This was a big deal for me because I can count on one hand the number of times I've strayed outside of the immediate Twin Cities area (aside from leaving the state all together). Just going outside the I-494/I-694 loop is highly unusual. It gets pretty spread out pretty quickly and there just hasn't been anything out there I've been interested in seeing (since I don't fish or hunt or have a cabin). To my delight, gas was about 10 cents cheaper up there, so I topped off on my way.
It wasn't raining while we barbecued, but it certainly was chilly, and we saw the lightning in the windows well in advance of the rain that was pouring down when I left. Steaks, chicken, crab, corn, and potatoes all went on the grill. After a couple pints of Mississippi Mud Black & Tan and plenty of chips and salsa, I was already getting full by the time dinner was ready, but I stuffed myself silly anyway.
After that we played Taboo for hours. This is one of my favorite party games. There's a fancy new edition with an electronic thingy for giving you the words and buzzing and scoring and such. When we started hitting repeat clues (at about 3 a.m.), we figured that was enough. I could have stayed, but it was only a 45 minute drive home and I kind of have a thing about crashing at people's places. I avoid it if I can. There wasn't any real reason not to stay, I just like sleeping in my own bed whenever possible.
I had a nice evening. Food, beer, games, cool people. Fun, but not overstimulating or overtiring. Still, it's after 4 a.m. and I should probably go to bed now.
This is the kind of message we get from our friendly neighborhood Vice President of Human Resources:
I have heard that there is some anticipation regarding the company meetings this week. These meetings are the normal quarterly company meetings that we hold every quarter. They were delayed and then scheduled at the last minute. Since [the CEO] won't be here, [some chick] is doing the scheduling for [some dude]. I apologize if this has created some mental anguish or confusion.
This is the same guy that "investigated" me. Eloquent fellow, ain't he?
Maybe I'm being a little nitpicky, but it just seems unpolished. Although the delivery of this news is about on par with the delivery of every other piece of news about the company (actually, about the pending acquisition). But they so very kindly handed us some little booklet about how to deal with our feelings as the merge/acquisition takes place.
Forget this glossy crap that some smooth talker is making a fortune off of. Just write me one coherent memo or, for the love of god, use Powerpoint to make your presentations at quarterly meetings instead of Word docs. Quarterly meetings which take place in a giant echo-y warehouse, with industrial fans blowing. Because we can hear, especially when you don't use a microphone.
Or how about we get a raise, a little hazard pay, now that we're handling Schedule II controlled substances?
Just a thought.
I received my brand spankin' new Guster live CD/DVD — Guster on Ice: Live From Portland Maine — this week. I haven't had a chance to watch the DVD yet, but I have listened to the CD. Frankly, Guster would have to really really fuck up for me to not like something of there's. And they do have a couple songs that are complete duds. (In the liner notes, there's a blurb on each of their CDs. Under Lost and Gone Forever, it says, 'Features the smash hit "Rainy Day.'" Ha ha!)
But the live show is a staple of the Guster experience so I actually enjoyed hearing the crowd erupt into cheers for the favorites and sing along and such, instead of just being annoyed by it, which it usually is the case on any other live CD.
My favorite tracks:
- Happier - I like the live renditions of this better anyway. This had a little extra electric guitar to it. Good crowd sing along.
- (Nothing But) Flowers - Finally I've got a quality recording of this. I heard them play this at Detroit TasteFest last summer and really liked it. You got it, you got it....
- Come Downstairs and Say Hello - Gave me chills. One of my favorites from Keep It Together. This version is almost 7 minutes long, but the way the song crescendos, it doesn't feel too long. There's plenty of time to savor the slow part at the beginning (raise those lighters), to get into the faster part with some funky new vocal stylings, and then Brian totally rocks on the hand percussion at the end.
- Demons - There is no doing this one wrong. I {heart} Guster. *sigh* A little extra/different electric guitar in this one, too.
- Airport Song - Extra rockin' and good crowd sing along ("dirty, room so dirty!"), especially since it's quiet in the beginning. This is Brian's big hand percussion showcase, usually with strobe light, and I could totally picture him going crazy. You can't hear 'em, but I'm sure ping pong balls were thrown. I bet you can see 'em on the DVD.
- Homecoming King - Not super spectacular, but one of my other favorites from KIT. Extra keyboard, extra harmonica, and extra funky.
- Fa Fa - Also gave me chills. With horns! They rock hard on this song.
Okay, and that was, like, half the disc. But it's good! So good. Yum.
The funk has broken. The fog has lifted. I'm in a marginally better mood, strangely brought on by the cold and rain we had earlier this week.
I have lots to say now, but I haven't found the time. I'll save it for the weekend when I'll somehow be busy, but actually do and accomplish nothing.
Many many many thanks for all the nice things y'all said. I'm a shithead about responding. To emails, phone calls, everything, everybody. This is normal for me. I heard ya. I read 'em. I really do appreciate it, even though I may not have told you so (yet).
I believe it was Daniel on My Favorite Superhero.
Congratulations, Daniel. And thank you! *tosses confetti*
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs, lying in a pile of leaves?
Still blah. Watching basketball, tennis, and 24 (it's taped, must watch).
Got some phone calls to take today. Might have news later. Maybe not. Blah.
Is four years old today. Happy Birthday, Spiderman!
Several factors conspired to put me in a bit of a bad mood. For the first time, in a long time, I was just sad.
It's really not a great idea to read other people's blogs in which they are candid and forthright and let you in and make you feel along with them. And to also have "mood" music playing.
And then to think about how much you are hating life right now. And how you feel really powerless to change it. Or maybe you know what to do but you're afraid to do it. Because you seem to have this fucked up all-or-nothing approach to change and risk, which used to be a lot more "all" and is now a whole lotta "nothing."
Frankly, I'm a little embarrassed to put the rest of it up here. It's recorded elsewhere for posterity, but I can't bring myself to post it in its entirety. I spewed it all out, and the second I finished, I started to doubt it and qualify it and all this junk which is part of the problem in the first place.
But having Britney Spears come on the ol' iTunes will snap you out of it pretty quick (if it doesn't just piss you off).
Meh. Carry on.
Speaking of lust in a bottle, I luuuuurve me some Satsuma-scented products from The Body Shop.
It's a citrusy sort of scent that is soooo delicious. It makes me smell good and it makes the whole shower smell good. All fresh and fruity and yummy.
I long ago finished the shower gel I got for Christmas (might have even been two Christmases ago) and now I'm almost out of the lotion. You know how you horde the last little bit because you don't want to use it up, but then you end up going without it for, like, ever? Yeah. So I should probably just restock. Mmmm... Satsuma.... :9
I have been remiss.
*sob*
Lust
Tell me that word doesn't make you squirm, just a little. In a good way or a bad way.
Just the word. Even before you get to thinking about, say, expressions of it.
(Inspired by Dawn)
I turned on the tv looking for something and came across The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour. I didn't think it was an ongoing thing. This must have been a rerun.
I wouldn't say it's good exactly, but it's not that bad. It totally reminds me of the Muppet Show, but with people. I mean, they're no Sonny and Cher, or even Kermit and Piggy (who make an appearance). Okay, and the Nick La Shave ("Hi, I'm Nick Lachey, and I wanna shave you.") was kinda funny. If it were somebody I didn't loathe I might even like it.
I'm going back to ESPN now.
Dear KathyHowe,
You will note that I have no immediate plans to leave Minne-scro-ta.
I'll go to marriage counseling with you if you promise to consider a career brief stint one night stand as a "lingerie model."
Love,
Erica
P.S. *licks you*
There. I said it.
Anyone else bored to tears with the "slippery slope" arguments against gay marriage? Since few opponents of homosexual unions are brave enough to admit that gay weddings just freak them out, they hide behind the claim that it's an inexorable slide from legalizing gay marriage to having sex with penguins outside JC Penney's. The problem is it's virtually impossible to debate against a slippery slope. Before you know it you fall down, break your crown, and Rick Santorum comes tumbling after.
Ooh ooh, this is one tasty article by Dahlia Lithwick.
The real problem is that there are really only three arguments against gay marriage: One is rooted in entirely God's preferences—which have little bearing on Equal Protection or Due Process doctrine, as far as I can tell. The second cites inconclusive research on its negative effects on children. The backup is the slippery slope jeremiad, which seems to pass for a legal argument, at least on cable TV.
It makes sense and it's entertaining.
Another problem with the slippery slope objections to gay marriage is that they present a moving target. No two opponents of gay marriage seem to agree upon where this parade of horribles begins or ends. You can order your comparisons off the Santorum Menu ("bigamy, polygamy, incest, adultery"), the Scalia Menu ("bigamy, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity"), or off the James Dobson Menu, in which all of the above evils ensue, plus the demise of heterosexual marriage altogether. Call this argument the horse-and-elephant leavings, smoking on the ground after the parade of horribles has passed by. No one can plausibly explain why the entire institution of marriage is at risk from gay unions. Which raises yet another objection to slippery slope arguments: These are projections into an unknowable future. Asking proponents of gay marriage to prove that these marriages won't be bad for kids or families is asking that they prove a negative. The law cannot know the long-term future social effects of legalizing gay marriage (Stanley Kurtz, who has quite fixed views on gay men and their philandering ways, notwithstanding). We can only determine whether it is fundamentally unfair to bar one whole class of citizens from a privilege constitutionally afforded the rest of us.
If Dahlia were on stage before me, I'd toss my legal briefs up to her.
One of the most persistent complaints of conservative commentators is that liberal activist judges refuse to decide the case before them and instead use the law to reshape the entire legal landscape for years to come. The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in finding that the ban on gay marriage violated the state constitution, did exactly what good judges ought to do: It confined its reasoning to the case before it, rather than addressing the myriad hypothetical future cases that may be affected by the decision. Opponents of gay marriage should consider doing the same.
Just... just... just go read it already.
Tomorrow when you wake, you find that none of this is real.
We don’t exist.
We are nothing more than voices in your head.
Spectres.
And you are quite mad.
Have a nice day!
Whoa.
- Is Localfeeds coming back ever? It's been months now.
- Yesterday I mentioned Bushisms. Today we have Kerryisms.
- Everyone else in the world is laughing at our complaining about the current cost of gas. Even though, at $2/gallon, we still have some of the cheapest gas in the world, here are some reasons why it could still be cheaper than it is.
Which might just be me. But anyway.
The WNBA regular season opens today. Minnesota at Seattle. Phoenix (and thus Diana Taurasi) vs Sacramento. Lots of games to be monitoring while on break at work when you throw in the Pistons Game 7 against New Jersey.
I'll be reading Women's Hoops Blog all season. Lots of info and commentary, and they're local!
Also fun: WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Game at Radio City
An All-Star team of WNBA players will square off against the 2004 USA Basketball Women’s Senior National Team on August 5 at New York’s historic Radio City Music Hall. The match-up, dubbed “WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Game at Radio City,” will serve as a final send-off before the U.S. goes for the gold at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens. ESPN will televise the event nationally beginning at 7 p.m. EDT
Detroit Shock Head Coach Bill Laimbeer and his assistants will serve as coaching staff for the WNBA All-Star Team. Starters for the WNBA team will be chosen by a 51-member media panel (three local media members from each of the WNBA’s 13 markets, together with 12 national media members) and will be announced on-air at halftime of ESPN2’s coverage of Detroit at Houston on July 15. WNBA head coaches will select the first five reserves, who will be announced on-air at halftime of ESPN2’s coverage of the Minnesota at Connecticut game on July 22. The final reserve will be selected by WNBA fans via on-line balloting on WNBA.com and will be announced on air at halftime of the Los Angeles at Sacramento game on July 29 on ESPN2.
Sa-weet! I'll just go ahead and add that to my calendar (where I might already have the complete Shock, Lynx, and Mercury schedules, with televised games and games to potentially attend specially noted...).
If this says what I think it does, then Chris Muir got Day by Day syndicated. Congratulations, Chris!
And today's Boondocks was just funny.
Has anybody ever gotten this error message
Could not save your blacklist data: Got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet'
when trying to add URLs to your ban list?
I'll go look around for an answer later, but I figured I'd ask because I don't have time to look right now and I just manually deleted about five comments and banned a couple IPs because I couldn't get a site added to my Blacklist.
I'm kind of thinking it means my Blacklist is just too big. It has 3742 entries at the moment. I don't know enough about how the thing works to know if that's a reasonable assumption.
I hope you have not forgotten that May is National Masturbation Month.
A whole month!
(A month is nothing. It's more like years at a time around here. *creak*)
If you missed the New York event, you can still follow Portland's Masturbate-A-Thon, taking place this weekend. Or host your own personal celebrations, charity event or not.
Like you wouldn't anyway.
- Bonfire of the Vanities #46 at Some Great Reward.
- Patricia Miranda is likely to be the first member ever of the U.S. Olympic women's wrestling team. Women's wrestling is the only new sport added for the 2004 Athens Olympics. (via Women's Hoops Blog)
- A collection of Bushisms at Slate. Frequently updated, going back to 1999. Every bit as laughable as you might think they'd be (if it weren't the president we were talking about).
- Chank: Local company, free fonts, sassy!
Some of you may know me. Others may not. I like to think of myself as cosmic partners of the SwE/Irl sisters ... except that I live thousands of miles away, my father is black, I have "bad" hair, and I have a penis. Other than that we're pretty much the same.
I am Glenn. You may have heard me referenced before as "Black Glenn" (in contrast to "White Glenn" Reynolds). I blog here, but there's currently issues with my domain, which is why I have momentarily channeled my inner GlennSpice.
The Problem: My domain name (contractorpeon.com) was purchased as part of a domain/hosting package. I switched hosting providers months ago, but the original host still has to perform renewals on my domain. Despite many e-mails back and forth to try and prevent it the domain name lapsed and my website has been down since Friday night. I checked again this morning and the website has propogated to some servers but not to others. So depending on who your internet provider is you may or may not be able to access it. Currently I'm at work and I cannot.
I had originally planned to go off on a long diatribe, but since my website will be up worldwide within a few hours I won't gobble Erica's space. But I will take the opportunity to encourage you NOT to visit my blog.
What? He said "Don't visit his blog?"
Yes, I said DO NOT VISIT MY BLOG. Why? I tend to rub people the wrong way. It used to be only in face to face situations that this happened, but it seems it's creeped over into my online space as well. I swear too much. I take major offense to perceived slights. I'm a Godless heathen. Basically I'm just a bad, bad, evil person that sacrifices billy goats in pentagrams in midnight Satanic rituals.
Thank you Erica for allowing me to temporarily use your space to inform people of my situation and to further alienate anyone that was on the fence in regards to whether or not they liked me.
I sent out a flurry of inquiries on Sunday night.
I was perusing websites of local companies and totally randomly came across Stupidvisor's face. She just got hired by a teeny tiny little company that looked really interesting to me but now that I know she's there I won't even consider it.
I want to punch her in her fucking face. But whatever.
I've got a bite on one opportunity which I will not elaborate on because I don't want to jinx it and lawdy knows I've been in this stage before and nothing came of it. Suffice it to say the resume has been redone yet again. I feel better about it because in the interest of keeping it short, I've had to leave a bunch of information out of every incarnation. I was thinking with three years of work experience, how long does it need to be? But the recruiter specifically asked me to fill it in and a lot of the questions she asked me today were things I'd list in the "responsibilities" section, so....
She sounded cautiously optimistic. So I am, too.
Sunday morning, following Saturday's party, my roommate made breakfast for the few folks that stayed the night. In the process, he dripped pancake batter all over the counter, and there it stayed until I left for work today.
I was all prepared to be pissed off if he thought he was gonna leave for China (on Wednesday) and be gone for a month and leave that GOTdamn batter puddle hardened on the counter.
But he had female company today, so he cleaned up. She's staying over. He said he was really excited about her and they've been together almost constantly over the last five days and he's disappointed he's got to leave now.
I say whatever it takes, and if he forgets the fact that I owe him money for the party (especially since I paid rent on time this month), even better. I will even forgive him for using my bathroom (he couldn't make it all the way upstairs?) and leaving the toilet seat up.
Apparently convenience store owners are particularly screwed by high gas prices.
Profit margins for gas, which are already slim, tend to shrink when prices rise. In 2003, convenience store owners reported an 8.8 percent margin on gas, meaning if gas cost them $1.00 per gallon, they could sell it for $1.088. That's the lowest margin since 1985, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores. Add in credit-card fees—typically 3 percent—and the cost of distribution, which ranges between 2 and 4 percent, and the margins for gas are razor-thin, at the most a couple of pennies on the dollar.
And if you have to eat price increases, your margin slips further. That's what happens when gas prices rise. Convenience store owners buy gas every day or once every couple of days, and they constantly adjust their prices. But as this Energy Department report shows, it takes about 10 weeks for a change in the spot price of oil to filter fully into the retail price of gas, with about half the change working its way in within two weeks. This lag is a boon for convenience store owners when gas prices are plummeting: The price they pay to fill up their tanks falls rapidly, while the price they charge falls more slowly. But it's poison when prices are rising. Each day they pay more to fill up their tanks, but they're unable fully to pass on the hikes to their customers....
Rising gas prices hurt profits inside the convenience store as well as at the pump. When drivers spend more on gas, they're likely to spend less on Twinkies and Marlboro Lights.... [G]as accounts for two-thirds of the sales but only one-third of the profits.
Considering a good portion of these convenience store owners don't even pay taxes, about all I can manage is "sucks to be them."
I already have a number of email accounts in active use so it's not like I need to be starting up a new one. Better to have and not need than to need and not have, I say. (Which is why my room is such a pack-ratty mess, but that's not the point.)
In a fit of total unoriginality, I selected the same username I've used for every (non-swirlspice) account I've had since college, when it was first assigned to me.
Thanks for the hookup, Em.
Let the gay marriage begin!
I survived the party.
I maintained a pleasant buzz the entire night.
I did not get sick.
Nobody else got sick.
Only three people stayed over.
I'm disappointed my ex-roommate didn't make it.
Kathy Howe came with a friend.
I enjoyed their company immensely.
I only had to explain blogging once.
I finally got to catch up with a whole lot of folks.
I promised to go out more often.
I'm still broke, so I don't know how much that'll happen.
Engineers will go to Home Depot and build their own beer bong.
My house remained surprisingly clean.
I had fun. :)
The lady at the drive through of the McDonald's I frequent (shut it) who collects for my Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle usually wishes me a "blessed day." Even though being wished a blessed day is not a rarity, it still catches me offguard a little when I hear it. So this bit at Worthwhile Magazine made me chuckle.
I went through the checkout line at my local Kroger this week and as I was receiving my change, the cashier offered up, "Have a blessed day." It's not the first time that has happened, but the phrase always flummoxes me; I never want to say "You too" because, well, it's not how I practice religion. Too out in the open for my taste and beliefs.
But it got me to thinking: What if everyone just came up with a phrase that could startle? We could have some real fun offering it up in the elevator in the morning. Just pick your adjective. Have a crappy day. Have a gay day. Have a cloudy and cooler day.
So, if you were wishing someone a _____ day, what kind of day would you wish them?
I think I'd say, "Have a booty day." If you say it fast enough, it'll take a second for it to sink in. Then after you've taken off, they'll either chuckle or if they didn't like it they can't say anything to ya anyway.
Is there a temporary moratorium on severed head jokes?
I did watch the video. It was not as horrifying as I thought it would be, but I think Sherri's words went a long way towards preparing me. By "not as horrifying" I mean I didn't have a strong gut reaction to it.
- The old guy at work who's been driving me nuts is officially dubbed Rainman. Tonight started off mostly okay because he stayed out of my way, but at the end of the night he was following me around and asking so many questions I damn near had it.
- Then I decided I wanted Jimmy John's for dinner. Only Jimmy John's was already closed at 11:00. So I had McDonald's. Again.
- And then there's the matter of this party my roommate and I are having tomorrow. There's a ton of cleaning to be done. Which is fine. I haven't managed my time well this week so pretty much all of it has to be done tomorrow. Which is also fine. Except that the kitchen is a fucking disaster area. I won't even bother to describe to you how nasty my kitchen is. It makes me want to kick my roommate in the fucking balls. I refuse to be responsible for it. I will clean every other room in this house (except his bathroom) and sweep out the damn garage, but I refuse to touch that kitchen.
(He made a comment once about how sometimes he just gets the itch and goes on a cleaning frenzy. If he would ever clean up after himself on a semi-regular basis, he wouldn't need to go on a cleaning frenzy.)
Anyway, I'm ready to hit the sack, but I have a video that needs to be watched because I know I won't have any other time between now and Sunday at noon. Might as well have a beer.
Last episode. For real this time. I hope. I couldn't choose between Kathy and Shii Ann, so I voted for each of them once.
My tv reception sucked ass so my videotape was missing audio about 95% of the time. I'm actually kind of glad. I didn't really feel like watching it.
I've never heard of Vanawaatu (the location of the next season to air) (not sure if I even spelled that right because I couldn't see it because my reception sucked). And it was completely unsurprising that...
See bits of Guster on Ice: Live From Portland Maine at Kikkerfest.
Over 40 minutes of video, a sneak peak at the extras, show review, and an exclusive photo gallery.
I pre-ordered the DVD — which you can also do via Kikkerfest or via guster.com — a few weeks ago. It comes out on May 18 (that's next Tuesday, yo).
I noticed a referral from someone logged on at my previous employer. I have no idea who it might be, but I figure it's got to be someone I know (and whoever they are has been reading frequently as of late).
Anyway, I also noticed that the time zone was listed as Eastern, not Central as I would expect, and as it has been with other hits from that domain. So I did a whois on the IP which places them here.
But that's not the point. This whole story is set up to tell you that once I dug up the info on the IP address, I discovered that one of the nameservers listed is MUYFEO.[FORMEREMPLOYER].COM.
Muy feo! Bwaha!
There hasn't been an update on Flowers for Al and Don in a couple months. Donations have been suspended and the excess money collected was supposed to go charity.
I know it wasn't intended to be an ongoing project and I'm sure it's a lot for Darren to manage, but I was wondering if the pending legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts will rekindle some interest.
In any case, time to retire the link from the sidebar. It was good while it lasted.
If you're really tired, and you decide you want to sleep for another hour or two, just reset the alarm clock.
Don't snooze for two hours. Seriously.
I just know someone's going to yank down their pastel Teddy bear scrubs and poop out a dildo, still vibrating, and a bottle of controlled substances onto the floor right in front of them, the two objects buzzing together like a wet fecal castanet, before we've even got introductions out of the way. Fucking nurses.
--John Kusch
(Context won't help.)
Being on a new shift at work means working with a new crew of people. (BTW, I now work 2-10:30, M-F, for anyone that's attempting to keep track.) So far, going to work every day has not been entirely unpleasant. That's mainly because of the shortened hours, and partially because I don't hate my co-workers.
I've made this comment in a couple places, so I figured I might as well go on and say it here.
I'm ambivalent about the fact that the Nick Berg beheading video is available on the internet. Obviously the terrorist group that did it put it out there for a reason. I don't necessarily think it should be banned or kept from folks. But why is there so much demand for it? (Actually, I have no idea exactly how much demand there is for it, but I'm sure it's linked everywhere and I get the feeling plenty of people will watch it.)
That said, I downloaded it, but I'm not sure I'll watch it. Same as with the Daniel Pearl video. Not even the most "realistic" of movie scenes can compare to knowing that what you're watching is real. My stomach turns just thinking about it.
UPDATE: Apparently two local Twin Cities radio stations played the audio on the air today. The text of that Star Tribune article is below.
I rented House of Sand and Fog.
I was disappointed. It sucked.
Both my hair and my forehead are getting browner. For my forehead, this means it's darker. For my hair, this means it's lighter. Dang sunroof is a blessing and a curse.
Contrary to my mother's annual claims, my eyes are still the same shade of shit-brown.
Hello, and welcome to the 45th Bonfire of the Vanities, a weekly collection of self-selected utter blogging crap.
Of course, we are all bloggers of the highest tolerance caliber, but even the best of us have a bad day, a lapse in judgement, an obscure sense of the amusing, a bursting need to let everyone know that we really like something that nobody else will admit to liking everybody else hates.
Read on. You'll see what I mean.
- I wasn't the only one who thought so.
- I'll start with my own worst post of the week. Mind, meet gutter. Gutter, mind.
- Golden Lamb Inn. Coincidence? I think not.
- nikita demosthenes has this
piece of tripepropagandathis touching moment with the Shrub-in-Chief. - But I really loved that Crazy Stripes ad campaign from two Christmases ago.
- Goodsnake from Some Great Reward puts the smack down on Gap's sizist pricing. For an extra $2 you should definitely get fries with that.
- Kiril must be some sort of superhero because he has the ability to post crap in two places at once.
- At Sneakeasy's Joint he presents us with the SEJ workout. He said something about working out in the buff and I mistook "Back Bay" for "back bacon," so I think I've missed his point entirely. At The Cycling Dude it's again with the nekkidness, this time on a bicycle. Are you sure you're not participating? (While you're there, wish him a belated Happy Two-Year Blogiversary.)
- Leveraging those consumer dollars.
- Sean Hackbarth of The American Mind wants to do his part to help Krispy Kreme weather the low-carb storm. Can you scrape up enough for a dozen from that Amazon link?
- Not tonight, honey.
- "You know you have serious blogger apathy when you don't even notice a milestone." I'd congratulate Jen Lars on her 50,000 hits, but I don't really feel like it right now.
- Uh, okay. I'm not even sure what to say about this.
- Susie of Practical Penumbra blames it on the person she quoted. 'Fess up, Susie. That goat story must have touched you in some way.
- Sorry, I can't find my graphing calculator.
- Elderbear at Elderbear's Den celebrates his birthday with a contest. Here's a tip: If it's audience participation you want, try less math and more boobies.
- I bet you think this post is about you.
- Aaron of Aaron's Rantblog is reading too much into his son's homework. Whatever you need to tell yourself, Aaron.
- I don't see what's so bad about this one, but I maybe shouldn't admit that.
- Brian J of Musings from Brian J. Noggle is eagerly awaiting the DVD release of an iconic American television show. I totally had your back until you posted the theme song.
- And you found this how?
- Gnotalex at Dodgeblogium wants an explanation for an odd German fetish. Talk about making you work for the payoff.
- Sorry, National Talk Like a Pirate Day was in September.
- The Gleeful Extremist talks about a pirate story that sounds suspiciously like a "historical romance." And references Oscar's pet worm Slimey...?
- You said "sac."
- CD of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts is a tad bit arachnophobic. The diagram was useful, but I think an instructional video on how to wave a plunger at them would be even more helpful.
- I'd eat my way to safety, and be vampire-free for the rest of my life.
- Interested-Participant brings an unfortunate industrial accident in China to our attention. If it had been powder or salt, I bet they would have had a chance.
- You can never have too many shit-themed plays on words in one post.
- Eric Scheie of Classical Values brings us the latest in travel safety accessories. I'll give you a dollar if you put them on.
- I confess, I stopped reading after "War on Terrorism."
- The Everlasting Phelps makes a modest proposal. Call me crazy, but I think he's being sarcastic.
- I counted two metaphors.
- Seems Owen of