Why the Baseball Playoffs Rule
There are a whole bunch of reasons why I prefer baseball over most other sports. And there are a few sports that I just can't even watch at all, the most notable being basketball.
First, why I dislike basketball. And no, it has little to do with Kobe Bryant raping (oh sorry, allegedly raping) the 19 year old hotel worker. But, in a way it does. Basketball is a game of showboating, its a sport where it doesn't matter how the ball goes through the hoop, its always worth 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the situation.
And sure, there are moments when celebration is warranted, like when you've won a championship or a buzzer beater to win the game. But the vast majority of points are just way stations on the road to the 110-109 victories. And dunking, while its marginally interesting to watch (assuming the watch-paint-dry channel is down for some reason) its just an extension of the look-at-me-ism of the sport. Its not a team sport although there are always five guys out there on the court. Its a sport for mutant giant freaks who would most likely end up in jail if they didn't possess a boatload of athletic talent. Its a ghetto sport, its a game for thugs, its the drug dealer's past time, its just wholly uninteresting to me.
And they have the lamest playoff arrangement ever. How many teams in the league don't make the playoffs? One in each division? Something ridiculous like that? How can that be the run to the championship when damn near every team makes it in to the post season? And yeah, I may be off by a bit on the number of teams that make the post season, I've not been paying any attention to basketball (with the exception of enjoying the spectacle of Kobe's blunder and whoever is the next NBA star to fuck himself up by thinking with his pecker instead of the little hamster in the wheel in his head), so hey, if I get some facts wrong, set me straight or don't. It won't change my dislike for the sport one iota.
Take baseball as a counter-example. In baseball there are two leagues, American and National and in each league there are three divisions, East, West and Central (this will change soon but for now its valid). How many teams make it into the playoffs? Eight. The divisional winners for six and then the two remaining spots are wild cards, the teams with the next best records in each of the leagues. Eight teams into the post season out of, what, 30? Now that's a playoff race. Not all but the crappiest of the crappy.
Baseball's playoffs also feature absolute top tier pitching matchups. The stuff of dreams for baseball fans. Clemens against Zito. Schmidt against Schilling. Super star pitching stud against super star pitching stud.
Basketball will feature bottom of the barrel scrapers against teams with ten times the payroll for a three game blowout extravaganza that shows almost no skill, just the chasm between the teams with money and those without. Its not even good sport either.
The best sport in the playoffs, in my book, is in hockey. Everyone's hungry, everyone's playing at their best. Passes are crisp, shots are like rockets, the fights are more intense (and yes, I like the fighting in hockey but that's another post for another time) and the games have a palpable intensity, even through the television. Another cool thing (literally) about hockey is that, at games, you can cheer like mad and not get overheated because of the chilled arena and the ice. Its kind of nice!
The skinny is that I'm jacked for the playoffs for baseball. Jacked because both the Giants and the A's are in it again this year and there's a chance of a bridge series again (though the last time the two teams met in the World Series, the earth quite literally shook). But its just a good time to be a fan and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and maybe this time Felipe can suceed where Dusty flailed.
In Nauseating Food News
Welcome to Texas! The state where they will and do deep fry anything and everything. Because if it tastes alright normally then it'll be downright smackalicious when its battered and then deep fried in oil. The latest gnarliness to succumb to the fat fryer? Oreos. Oh yeah, to heck with giving a damn about arterial plagues, about heart disease, about being able to see your feet. To hell with it all in the name of more consumable fat.
Texas-Fried Oreos, Anyone? and how about a pic to chew on too?
But wait, they are concerned for your well being, just check out this story excerpt, "Skip Fletcher, the head of the company called Fletcher's that has been selling corny dogs at the fair for over 60 years, said he uses peanut oil to fry the food in order to cut down on cholesterol.". See now, they want you to live longer so you can chow down on more outrageously terrible for you foods.
If you can eat then they'll deep fry it for you first. Which makes me wonder, would people eat deep fried dog food? What about deep fried chew toys? How about deep fried pizza? Or deep fried grapes? The list goes on and on into endless and exceedingly fat perpetuity.
And fat buggers wonder why they can't lose weight? Its because you're eating lard and fat, you morons. Oreos are evil transfatty poison cookies, try them deep fried and you get double to bonus fat fucking.
P and I were out shopping the other day and came across a family of overweight people, they had a small kid of about 2 years old who was already just bursting at the seams. Its sad because they'll never know the joy of bombing down hills on a bike, they'll never know the pleasure of a strong and fit body. They'll only know the momentary pleasure of another deep fried fatling crossing their wattling palates.
And let's not even do anything but scratch the whole surface of the Eating contests. Why do people hate America? Because there are millions of people all around the world right now who are dying of hunger and then we have these grotesque displays of food waste? World Champion Eater is what it says on these fat bastards shirts and the only thing about them that's world champion is their ass size and the impacted fat between their ear holes. How wrong is it to have contest for literally stuffing one's face as full as possible as quickly as possible when there are people going to bed hungry again and again. No wonder our nation is so hated the world over.
There are a whole bunch of reasons why I prefer baseball over most other sports. And there are a few sports that I just can't even watch at all, the most notable being basketball.
First, why I dislike basketball. And no, it has little to do with Kobe Bryant raping (oh sorry, allegedly raping) the 19 year old hotel worker. But, in a way it does. Basketball is a game of showboating, its a sport where it doesn't matter how the ball goes through the hoop, its always worth 1, 2 or 3 points depending on the situation.
And sure, there are moments when celebration is warranted, like when you've won a championship or a buzzer beater to win the game. But the vast majority of points are just way stations on the road to the 110-109 victories. And dunking, while its marginally interesting to watch (assuming the watch-paint-dry channel is down for some reason) its just an extension of the look-at-me-ism of the sport. Its not a team sport although there are always five guys out there on the court. Its a sport for mutant giant freaks who would most likely end up in jail if they didn't possess a boatload of athletic talent. Its a ghetto sport, its a game for thugs, its the drug dealer's past time, its just wholly uninteresting to me.
And they have the lamest playoff arrangement ever. How many teams in the league don't make the playoffs? One in each division? Something ridiculous like that? How can that be the run to the championship when damn near every team makes it in to the post season? And yeah, I may be off by a bit on the number of teams that make the post season, I've not been paying any attention to basketball (with the exception of enjoying the spectacle of Kobe's blunder and whoever is the next NBA star to fuck himself up by thinking with his pecker instead of the little hamster in the wheel in his head), so hey, if I get some facts wrong, set me straight or don't. It won't change my dislike for the sport one iota.
Take baseball as a counter-example. In baseball there are two leagues, American and National and in each league there are three divisions, East, West and Central (this will change soon but for now its valid). How many teams make it into the playoffs? Eight. The divisional winners for six and then the two remaining spots are wild cards, the teams with the next best records in each of the leagues. Eight teams into the post season out of, what, 30? Now that's a playoff race. Not all but the crappiest of the crappy.
Baseball's playoffs also feature absolute top tier pitching matchups. The stuff of dreams for baseball fans. Clemens against Zito. Schmidt against Schilling. Super star pitching stud against super star pitching stud.
Basketball will feature bottom of the barrel scrapers against teams with ten times the payroll for a three game blowout extravaganza that shows almost no skill, just the chasm between the teams with money and those without. Its not even good sport either.
The best sport in the playoffs, in my book, is in hockey. Everyone's hungry, everyone's playing at their best. Passes are crisp, shots are like rockets, the fights are more intense (and yes, I like the fighting in hockey but that's another post for another time) and the games have a palpable intensity, even through the television. Another cool thing (literally) about hockey is that, at games, you can cheer like mad and not get overheated because of the chilled arena and the ice. Its kind of nice!
The skinny is that I'm jacked for the playoffs for baseball. Jacked because both the Giants and the A's are in it again this year and there's a chance of a bridge series again (though the last time the two teams met in the World Series, the earth quite literally shook). But its just a good time to be a fan and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and maybe this time Felipe can suceed where Dusty flailed.
In Nauseating Food News
Welcome to Texas! The state where they will and do deep fry anything and everything. Because if it tastes alright normally then it'll be downright smackalicious when its battered and then deep fried in oil. The latest gnarliness to succumb to the fat fryer? Oreos. Oh yeah, to heck with giving a damn about arterial plagues, about heart disease, about being able to see your feet. To hell with it all in the name of more consumable fat.
Texas-Fried Oreos, Anyone? and how about a pic to chew on too?
But wait, they are concerned for your well being, just check out this story excerpt, "Skip Fletcher, the head of the company called Fletcher's that has been selling corny dogs at the fair for over 60 years, said he uses peanut oil to fry the food in order to cut down on cholesterol.". See now, they want you to live longer so you can chow down on more outrageously terrible for you foods.
If you can eat then they'll deep fry it for you first. Which makes me wonder, would people eat deep fried dog food? What about deep fried chew toys? How about deep fried pizza? Or deep fried grapes? The list goes on and on into endless and exceedingly fat perpetuity.
And fat buggers wonder why they can't lose weight? Its because you're eating lard and fat, you morons. Oreos are evil transfatty poison cookies, try them deep fried and you get double to bonus fat fucking.
P and I were out shopping the other day and came across a family of overweight people, they had a small kid of about 2 years old who was already just bursting at the seams. Its sad because they'll never know the joy of bombing down hills on a bike, they'll never know the pleasure of a strong and fit body. They'll only know the momentary pleasure of another deep fried fatling crossing their wattling palates.
And let's not even do anything but scratch the whole surface of the Eating contests. Why do people hate America? Because there are millions of people all around the world right now who are dying of hunger and then we have these grotesque displays of food waste? World Champion Eater is what it says on these fat bastards shirts and the only thing about them that's world champion is their ass size and the impacted fat between their ear holes. How wrong is it to have contest for literally stuffing one's face as full as possible as quickly as possible when there are people going to bed hungry again and again. No wonder our nation is so hated the world over.
:: posted by Erik at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 29, 2003Like this post?
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One Giant Leap Backwards for Equality and Tolerance
Sex Before Marriage, Homosexuality and Shacking Up in Indonesia to be Criminalized. Sure, they aren't quite sure what the punishments will be but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to put a good old fashioned stoning in the mix. Everyone loves a stoning except the stonee and I bet they get knocked unconscious pretty quickly in any case before their head is split open by their friends and neighbors hurling large rocks at them.
Its sad that, in the last few days before my own wedding, that there are others out there in the world who cannot safely express their love for their partners out of fear of criminal reprisal. Not to mention the narrow minded musckle bound dumbfuck homophobes who need to pound the snot out of "queers" to prove to their buddies that they're not gay (though, in reality many of them harbor secret fantasies about gay sex).
Why can't people just accept the fact that homosexuality isn't the horrible cultural bomb that people want to think it is. People love each other, why should it matter, and more pointedly, why should it threaten you or anyone else that two people love each other even if they happen to be both male or both female? Espousing hatred in the name of family values is like calling the way cigarettes kill people a population check.
Sex Before Marriage, Homosexuality and Shacking Up in Indonesia to be Criminalized. Sure, they aren't quite sure what the punishments will be but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to put a good old fashioned stoning in the mix. Everyone loves a stoning except the stonee and I bet they get knocked unconscious pretty quickly in any case before their head is split open by their friends and neighbors hurling large rocks at them.
Its sad that, in the last few days before my own wedding, that there are others out there in the world who cannot safely express their love for their partners out of fear of criminal reprisal. Not to mention the narrow minded musckle bound dumbfuck homophobes who need to pound the snot out of "queers" to prove to their buddies that they're not gay (though, in reality many of them harbor secret fantasies about gay sex).
Why can't people just accept the fact that homosexuality isn't the horrible cultural bomb that people want to think it is. People love each other, why should it matter, and more pointedly, why should it threaten you or anyone else that two people love each other even if they happen to be both male or both female? Espousing hatred in the name of family values is like calling the way cigarettes kill people a population check.
:: posted by Erik at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Ten Questions for Bill O'Reilly or Just How Out of Touch with Reality Is Mr. Bill?
Just how whacked IS Bill O'Reilly? Enough so that he thinks he says "shut up" rarely according to this Time interview, 10 Questions For Bill O'Reilly. The guy's got a huge ego, an agenda and a stick so far jabbed up his ass that he tastes wood.
I have tried to actually sit and watch his show but he's such a freakish cartoon character of an asshole that I have to change the channel or risk implosion.
Anyway, need a wee peek inside the mind of a professional shit stirrer? Take a read.
Two New Links to Peruse
New goodies that offer very different offerings. TechTV's a geek's wet dream minus the pizza boxes and empty two liter bottles of Coke.
TechTV | new things. turn us on.
And PaintballGun Review is just a good resource for our newest hobby/obsession. And yes, we are buying guns and will soon be marking everything we possibly can. I wonder how legal or otherwise it is to engage in running paintball warfare through the local woods?
PaintballGunReview.com - Paintball Gun Review and Information
Just how whacked IS Bill O'Reilly? Enough so that he thinks he says "shut up" rarely according to this Time interview, 10 Questions For Bill O'Reilly. The guy's got a huge ego, an agenda and a stick so far jabbed up his ass that he tastes wood.
I have tried to actually sit and watch his show but he's such a freakish cartoon character of an asshole that I have to change the channel or risk implosion.
Anyway, need a wee peek inside the mind of a professional shit stirrer? Take a read.
Two New Links to Peruse
New goodies that offer very different offerings. TechTV's a geek's wet dream minus the pizza boxes and empty two liter bottles of Coke.
TechTV | new things. turn us on.
And PaintballGun Review is just a good resource for our newest hobby/obsession. And yes, we are buying guns and will soon be marking everything we possibly can. I wonder how legal or otherwise it is to engage in running paintball warfare through the local woods?
PaintballGunReview.com - Paintball Gun Review and Information
:: posted by Erik at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Mega Cheesed
I just checked Intellectual Poison in IE and damned if it isn't completely and utterly buggered now. Yep, this just may be that mythical straw.
[Update: Found a copy of the code on my work machine, saved from the 19th so that's awesome! Things are back to normal again! And the lesson learned? Don't trust Blogger to caretake for your code, back it up and save a copy regularly or be prepared to lose a weekend every now and again.]
Cool Blog Stuff
I just added a cool dealie from Bravenet down there underneath the guestbook called the GuestMap. It allows surfers to do a virtual pushpin map of the world. I'm sure most of my readers are in North America but now there's actually a simple little tool to find out if that's true. Of course, it only works if people go and use it (and if it doesn't make the page hang when loading, in which case its history).
Please take a moment and push a pin in for where you (or where you would like to be if that makes you happier) and leave a note.
In Mildly Saddening Blog News
First, Daintily Dirty drops off the blog-o-scope and now Layne has announced that, due to her increasingly complex life and the dangers represented by blogging, she's going to have to scale back her truth scale or maybe its her disclosure scale?, anyway, things are changing over there. I'm not sure what that will mean down the road but I do know that I have loved reading her all this time and will continue to do so. Unless her blog becomes just a screaming men-suck blog but hey, I'll bet she could even pull that off as well.
In Countdown News
Its Monday, by this time next week I'll have been married for two days already. Saturday is approaching like an out of control freight train stuck on warp. I'm excited about it but will be nervouse that something will munge it all up until its happened. Oh well, such is my nature. But I'm looking forward to being married, looking forward to making a permanent life with P and very much looking forward to having weekends and evenings free again.
I just checked Intellectual Poison in IE and damned if it isn't completely and utterly buggered now. Yep, this just may be that mythical straw.
[Update: Found a copy of the code on my work machine, saved from the 19th so that's awesome! Things are back to normal again! And the lesson learned? Don't trust Blogger to caretake for your code, back it up and save a copy regularly or be prepared to lose a weekend every now and again.]
Cool Blog Stuff
I just added a cool dealie from Bravenet down there underneath the guestbook called the GuestMap. It allows surfers to do a virtual pushpin map of the world. I'm sure most of my readers are in North America but now there's actually a simple little tool to find out if that's true. Of course, it only works if people go and use it (and if it doesn't make the page hang when loading, in which case its history).
Please take a moment and push a pin in for where you (or where you would like to be if that makes you happier) and leave a note.
In Mildly Saddening Blog News
First, Daintily Dirty drops off the blog-o-scope and now Layne has announced that, due to her increasingly complex life and the dangers represented by blogging, she's going to have to scale back her truth scale or maybe its her disclosure scale?, anyway, things are changing over there. I'm not sure what that will mean down the road but I do know that I have loved reading her all this time and will continue to do so. Unless her blog becomes just a screaming men-suck blog but hey, I'll bet she could even pull that off as well.
In Countdown News
Its Monday, by this time next week I'll have been married for two days already. Saturday is approaching like an out of control freight train stuck on warp. I'm excited about it but will be nervouse that something will munge it all up until its happened. Oh well, such is my nature. But I'm looking forward to being married, looking forward to making a permanent life with P and very much looking forward to having weekends and evenings free again.
:: posted by Erik at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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One Party, Two Aced One Liners
I'd meant to write about this on Saturday morning or afternoon (whichever came first) but got sidetracked by how comfortable my bean bag chair was and in doing wedding prep stuff. It was all good and we're in pretty decent shape for a Saturday launch at this point. Still plenty of things to take care of but the vast bulk of things have been dealt with.
Anyway, there was a birthday party for TT, one of my old housemates, little sister to one of my best friends, current housemate to her older brother and one of my other best friends and it was just an excuse for the gang to gather and have a good time. And we did have a good time.
There was some good grubbing, some good music, alot of chatting, some razzing of me because of the pending wedding. P didn't make it out because she wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay on task working on wedding stuff.
There were even some fire dances in the street with two of the folks, TT being one of them, swinging lit doohickeys on chains or straight torches. I did shoot some video and will post it when I get the chance to edit it some. Its pretty cool stuff but it needs some louder music.
Anyway, over the course of the evening, I'm lucky if I get one good laugher punchline in. Something that's off the wall, out of left field (hmmm, off the wall and in left field? sounds like Fenway Park) but not on Friday. On Friday I had two damned good lines, one of which was caught on the video and my friend, Darcy's reaction to it.
The first came while Johnny was expounding on the "best damned" bean dip he'd ever had, coincidentally made by Darcy. He dragged a chip through it and left a deep furrough (furrow?) down the middle. For some reason, we started talking about what it was. Johnny wondered out loud what it meant and I said it was foreshadowing. It took a second for that to hit and then he nearly fell over laughing. Perhaps its not quite as funny out of the context but please be assured that it was the funniest thing I'd said in a while up to that point.
And during the fire dancing in the street, before the police came to shut things down and just before the neighbor Kilroyed over the wall to ask us to quiet down, I got my other off-the-cuff remark in that made Darcy spill her drink. It was while TT and her pal, who's name is totally escaping me although she was quite attractive and mysterious, were just getting into their second round of twirling. Its audible on the video too. I said "The first rule of the Fire Club is, you do not talk about the Fire Club" and Darcy commenced to convulsing with laughter and moments later said it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard and that I'd better have gotten that on tape.
There were a couple of other moments where my humor flew above people's heads (who hasn't seen Scarface? come on now, its true comedy gold and yes Mark, the chainsaw in the shower scene I alluded to was from Scarface). It was fun and damned if I didn't enjoy the heck out of myself. One of the best parts was pedaling home afterwards, a little buzzed, happy and glad to have such an excellent group of pals to chill out with. Without them I would have likely blown the taco stand that is Santa Cruz long, long ago.
Oh yeah, I also met one of TT's pals from way back who's a Gracie disciple, the family that began the Ultimate Fighting Championships and then dominated it for years. Their style is Brazilian Jui Jitsu and there are a couple of local dojos that I've been wanting to get into to get some workouts in to see if it works for me.
Sweet Wedding Bounty News
I've only become aware of this in the last few weeks but apparently its customary for the bride and groom in a wedding to get each other a gift for the wedding. And no, coming out of the honeymoon suite buck naked with a big red bow around your phallus doesn't really count.
P couldn't contain her excitement to give me mine early so I got mine last week. She had a San Francisco Giants Louisville Slugger made just for me with my full name (spelled correctly!) burned into the end of the wood. Its a serious hunk of lumber that feels really quite nice to hold, swing and gaze upon.
But it leaves me in a slight conundrum of what to get for my soon to be wife? Anyone got any input on this? It needs to be readily available, cool, unique and suited for her. Actually, I just had a couple of cool ideas that I might look into. But please, let me know if you've got some ideas as well.
I'd meant to write about this on Saturday morning or afternoon (whichever came first) but got sidetracked by how comfortable my bean bag chair was and in doing wedding prep stuff. It was all good and we're in pretty decent shape for a Saturday launch at this point. Still plenty of things to take care of but the vast bulk of things have been dealt with.
Anyway, there was a birthday party for TT, one of my old housemates, little sister to one of my best friends, current housemate to her older brother and one of my other best friends and it was just an excuse for the gang to gather and have a good time. And we did have a good time.
There was some good grubbing, some good music, alot of chatting, some razzing of me because of the pending wedding. P didn't make it out because she wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay on task working on wedding stuff.
There were even some fire dances in the street with two of the folks, TT being one of them, swinging lit doohickeys on chains or straight torches. I did shoot some video and will post it when I get the chance to edit it some. Its pretty cool stuff but it needs some louder music.
Anyway, over the course of the evening, I'm lucky if I get one good laugher punchline in. Something that's off the wall, out of left field (hmmm, off the wall and in left field? sounds like Fenway Park) but not on Friday. On Friday I had two damned good lines, one of which was caught on the video and my friend, Darcy's reaction to it.
The first came while Johnny was expounding on the "best damned" bean dip he'd ever had, coincidentally made by Darcy. He dragged a chip through it and left a deep furrough (furrow?) down the middle. For some reason, we started talking about what it was. Johnny wondered out loud what it meant and I said it was foreshadowing. It took a second for that to hit and then he nearly fell over laughing. Perhaps its not quite as funny out of the context but please be assured that it was the funniest thing I'd said in a while up to that point.
And during the fire dancing in the street, before the police came to shut things down and just before the neighbor Kilroyed over the wall to ask us to quiet down, I got my other off-the-cuff remark in that made Darcy spill her drink. It was while TT and her pal, who's name is totally escaping me although she was quite attractive and mysterious, were just getting into their second round of twirling. Its audible on the video too. I said "The first rule of the Fire Club is, you do not talk about the Fire Club" and Darcy commenced to convulsing with laughter and moments later said it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard and that I'd better have gotten that on tape.
There were a couple of other moments where my humor flew above people's heads (who hasn't seen Scarface? come on now, its true comedy gold and yes Mark, the chainsaw in the shower scene I alluded to was from Scarface). It was fun and damned if I didn't enjoy the heck out of myself. One of the best parts was pedaling home afterwards, a little buzzed, happy and glad to have such an excellent group of pals to chill out with. Without them I would have likely blown the taco stand that is Santa Cruz long, long ago.
Oh yeah, I also met one of TT's pals from way back who's a Gracie disciple, the family that began the Ultimate Fighting Championships and then dominated it for years. Their style is Brazilian Jui Jitsu and there are a couple of local dojos that I've been wanting to get into to get some workouts in to see if it works for me.
Sweet Wedding Bounty News
I've only become aware of this in the last few weeks but apparently its customary for the bride and groom in a wedding to get each other a gift for the wedding. And no, coming out of the honeymoon suite buck naked with a big red bow around your phallus doesn't really count.
P couldn't contain her excitement to give me mine early so I got mine last week. She had a San Francisco Giants Louisville Slugger made just for me with my full name (spelled correctly!) burned into the end of the wood. Its a serious hunk of lumber that feels really quite nice to hold, swing and gaze upon.
But it leaves me in a slight conundrum of what to get for my soon to be wife? Anyone got any input on this? It needs to be readily available, cool, unique and suited for her. Actually, I just had a couple of cool ideas that I might look into. But please, let me know if you've got some ideas as well.
:: posted by Erik at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 28, 2003Like this post?
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Blogger and the Macintosh
I wouldn't be surprised if a whole lot of MS fanatics get a good kick out of this post. Its about the Mac's shortcomings, or more precisely, my Mac's shortcomings.
Granted that my little laptop isn't the newest and certainly isn't even close to the fastest but these sorts of things happened even when I first got it.
The first and most persistent pain in the ass has been that Java stuff will work. Sometimes. Sometimes it just doesn't seem to get there all the way, like it began to go and then got bored midway and just stopped.
OS X hasn't made any real difference and I blame the browsers as much as the OS (even if that's not technologically sound to do so). Basically, its sucked for a long time. I know Java is supposed to be the write once, run anywhere but it doesn't run all the time, never has, don't know if it ever will. Don't know if it ever will but it often chooses a crappy time to crap out.
Another joyous thrill is the mistake of making any attempts to adjust templates like Blogger uses to publish this blissful slice o' blogging love. In a word, don't. Don't try to mess with it. I've heard the advice before but I forget every once in a while and will end up getting to spend a whole night (oh boy!) fixing a shitted up template that, for some unknown reason, decided to cut off the code mid-streak.
And even now, there are some changes because there's a difference between the new and the old Intellectual Poison, why? Because the old template's gone, in the move to the new system, they went from a good handful of templates to a pretty wee handful. And then another hour or two of futzing around with it. Only to get back to where I am now.
And that means there's still that code tail up there on the left but it may not be there for everyone. The whole thing kind of just pisses me off and I'm ready for a change even though I've got one of those free hoodies on the way. Maybe it is, finally, time to move to Movable Type.
I wouldn't be surprised if a whole lot of MS fanatics get a good kick out of this post. Its about the Mac's shortcomings, or more precisely, my Mac's shortcomings.
Granted that my little laptop isn't the newest and certainly isn't even close to the fastest but these sorts of things happened even when I first got it.
The first and most persistent pain in the ass has been that Java stuff will work. Sometimes. Sometimes it just doesn't seem to get there all the way, like it began to go and then got bored midway and just stopped.
OS X hasn't made any real difference and I blame the browsers as much as the OS (even if that's not technologically sound to do so). Basically, its sucked for a long time. I know Java is supposed to be the write once, run anywhere but it doesn't run all the time, never has, don't know if it ever will. Don't know if it ever will but it often chooses a crappy time to crap out.
Another joyous thrill is the mistake of making any attempts to adjust templates like Blogger uses to publish this blissful slice o' blogging love. In a word, don't. Don't try to mess with it. I've heard the advice before but I forget every once in a while and will end up getting to spend a whole night (oh boy!) fixing a shitted up template that, for some unknown reason, decided to cut off the code mid-streak.
And even now, there are some changes because there's a difference between the new and the old Intellectual Poison, why? Because the old template's gone, in the move to the new system, they went from a good handful of templates to a pretty wee handful. And then another hour or two of futzing around with it. Only to get back to where I am now.
And that means there's still that code tail up there on the left but it may not be there for everyone. The whole thing kind of just pisses me off and I'm ready for a change even though I've got one of those free hoodies on the way. Maybe it is, finally, time to move to Movable Type.
:: posted by Erik at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Rush Limbaugh May Not Be Big and Fat Anymore But He's Still an Idiot
I've got a few things to get to this morning before the ballgames get started and wedding chores take up the day. Wedding chores that we should have gotten to yesterday but we were both kind of burned out and had a more relaxing day than chore oriented.
Anyway, I was just watching the ESPN NFL pregame show which, for some unfathomable reason, now includes Rush Limbaugh. Rush, who's toned down his anti-liberalism rhetoric for the mass audience but is still no less of a racist, no less of a GOP mouthpiece and no less of a fucking idiot.
My ire was raised when they started talking about what's wrong with Donovan McNabb, who's off to his worst start ever and is struggling like mad to get his game back on track. Rush goes off on a freakish little tangent about Donovan never really being the shit, but only being publicized as the shit because the NFL was looking for a black quarterback to be successful. Um, sorry, Rush but are you on fucking crack? The NFL needed a good black quarterback? What about Warren Moon, what about Randall Cunningham, what about Michael Vick, what about Kordell Stewart (oh wait, nevermind about Kordell)? The honest fact is that anything that the fucking talking face of the GOP has to spew is going to be based on some dislike, some hatred, some inequality, some deep seated requirement in his personality to knock anyone and everyone else down.
Rush Limbaugh, no longer big and fat though still mishapen and quite ugly, is a racist idiot who should be taken out behind a barn and beaten with lead filled hoses until he agrees to shut the fucking hell up and go back to his little ditto head radio show where brainless fucknuts across the country just nod their head and say, you go Rush, you go! You so right. And then they go and fuck their sister to make more in bred half monkey GOP party line morons who can't even see that the Republican party sees them as numbers and couldn't give the first damn about any of them (at least not until they're rich enough to have a voice in our new pay-for-play government).
I've got a few things to get to this morning before the ballgames get started and wedding chores take up the day. Wedding chores that we should have gotten to yesterday but we were both kind of burned out and had a more relaxing day than chore oriented.
Anyway, I was just watching the ESPN NFL pregame show which, for some unfathomable reason, now includes Rush Limbaugh. Rush, who's toned down his anti-liberalism rhetoric for the mass audience but is still no less of a racist, no less of a GOP mouthpiece and no less of a fucking idiot.
My ire was raised when they started talking about what's wrong with Donovan McNabb, who's off to his worst start ever and is struggling like mad to get his game back on track. Rush goes off on a freakish little tangent about Donovan never really being the shit, but only being publicized as the shit because the NFL was looking for a black quarterback to be successful. Um, sorry, Rush but are you on fucking crack? The NFL needed a good black quarterback? What about Warren Moon, what about Randall Cunningham, what about Michael Vick, what about Kordell Stewart (oh wait, nevermind about Kordell)? The honest fact is that anything that the fucking talking face of the GOP has to spew is going to be based on some dislike, some hatred, some inequality, some deep seated requirement in his personality to knock anyone and everyone else down.
Rush Limbaugh, no longer big and fat though still mishapen and quite ugly, is a racist idiot who should be taken out behind a barn and beaten with lead filled hoses until he agrees to shut the fucking hell up and go back to his little ditto head radio show where brainless fucknuts across the country just nod their head and say, you go Rush, you go! You so right. And then they go and fuck their sister to make more in bred half monkey GOP party line morons who can't even see that the Republican party sees them as numbers and couldn't give the first damn about any of them (at least not until they're rich enough to have a voice in our new pay-for-play government).
:: posted by Erik at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 26, 2003Like this post?
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Further Butchering of Language
Leave it to the Japanese to mangle the holy heck out of English in an attempt to cross market themselves. A link from Chew's Place, go and check out Engrish to see some of the colossal mishaps that just a few letters out of place can effect.
Good stuff and pretty darned funny too.
Leave it to the Japanese to mangle the holy heck out of English in an attempt to cross market themselves. A link from Chew's Place, go and check out Engrish to see some of the colossal mishaps that just a few letters out of place can effect.
Good stuff and pretty darned funny too.
:: posted by Erik at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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How About Some Hot 
Action?
1. Of the cast of characters in your life today, who amongst them are people that you cannot envisage your life without?
The first is easy, P. We're getting married next week so I don't have any desire to not have her as a main and central figure in my life. There are lots of others, my immediate family including my nephews, without whom I wouldn't be able to be the favorite uncle, I'd still be the favorite cousin but its different when you get to the uncle stage and I'm sure that it will change again when the title changes to dad. I've got a good group of friends, I wouldn't want to go through life without them. And there's no way I could get through my life without my boys, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Johnny Walker.
2. If you could name a Talk Like Day (as in our recent Talk Like a Pirate Day), what day would you initiate?
Easy ones would be Talk Like John Wayne Day or Talk Like Bob Dylan Sings Day. But why go easy when we could go with something really hard like, Talk Like an Egyptian (with a nod to the Bangles), Talk Like A Homeless Guy with a Serious Drinking Problem and No Frotn Teeth Day or Talk Like Buddha Day (which invokes all kinds of curious spinoffs, like Talk Like Jesus Day, Talk Like David Hume Day, Talk Like Descartes Day, Talk Like Shakespeare Day or Talk Like Thoreau Day). I like this one.
3. What's your favorite home remedy for a cold or flu?
Miso soup, as hot as possible. Lots of it too.
4. What's your most embarassing moment? (I could swear this has been asked before but I can't find it anywhere)
There are so many, its hard to choose. I think I'll go with the time I was hungover and trying to put in an order at McDonald's when I was pants-ed (you know, when a "pal" sneaks up behind you and yanks your pants to the ground) and if I recall properly, I was not sporting any undergarments that day.
5. What's the funniest product name you've come across or invented?
The Crack Creme was a pretty good one and is the most immediate one that comes to mind.
6. What's your ideal honeymoon?
Six years on an island in nice warm waters with my new wife, lots of supplies, no other people and a go kart track, mountain bike trails, snorkeling gear and no hassles whatsoever. Maybe 8 years. Oh yeah, and a radio that could just barely get in Giants games from PacBell Park.
And in the Belated Spirit of Talk Like a Pirate Day
My pirate name is Bloody Jack Roberts, as disclosed by Your Pirate Name, with a thanks to Esther for the link.
Action?
1. Of the cast of characters in your life today, who amongst them are people that you cannot envisage your life without?
The first is easy, P. We're getting married next week so I don't have any desire to not have her as a main and central figure in my life. There are lots of others, my immediate family including my nephews, without whom I wouldn't be able to be the favorite uncle, I'd still be the favorite cousin but its different when you get to the uncle stage and I'm sure that it will change again when the title changes to dad. I've got a good group of friends, I wouldn't want to go through life without them. And there's no way I could get through my life without my boys, Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Johnny Walker.
2. If you could name a Talk Like Day (as in our recent Talk Like a Pirate Day), what day would you initiate?
Easy ones would be Talk Like John Wayne Day or Talk Like Bob Dylan Sings Day. But why go easy when we could go with something really hard like, Talk Like an Egyptian (with a nod to the Bangles), Talk Like A Homeless Guy with a Serious Drinking Problem and No Frotn Teeth Day or Talk Like Buddha Day (which invokes all kinds of curious spinoffs, like Talk Like Jesus Day, Talk Like David Hume Day, Talk Like Descartes Day, Talk Like Shakespeare Day or Talk Like Thoreau Day). I like this one.
3. What's your favorite home remedy for a cold or flu?
Miso soup, as hot as possible. Lots of it too.
4. What's your most embarassing moment? (I could swear this has been asked before but I can't find it anywhere)
There are so many, its hard to choose. I think I'll go with the time I was hungover and trying to put in an order at McDonald's when I was pants-ed (you know, when a "pal" sneaks up behind you and yanks your pants to the ground) and if I recall properly, I was not sporting any undergarments that day.
5. What's the funniest product name you've come across or invented?
The Crack Creme was a pretty good one and is the most immediate one that comes to mind.
6. What's your ideal honeymoon?
Six years on an island in nice warm waters with my new wife, lots of supplies, no other people and a go kart track, mountain bike trails, snorkeling gear and no hassles whatsoever. Maybe 8 years. Oh yeah, and a radio that could just barely get in Giants games from PacBell Park.
And in the Belated Spirit of Talk Like a Pirate Day
My pirate name is Bloody Jack Roberts, as disclosed by Your Pirate Name, with a thanks to Esther for the link.
:: posted by Erik at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 25, 2003Like this post?
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Its Fresh, Its Cheesy, Yep, its the Cheddar X!
A week's worth of new questions is up and ready to be torn up.
Head on over to the and get some for yourself.
And hey, if you want to respond to the questions but don't have a blog, drop me a note and I'll post them for you here (don't forget to pull the nospam out of my email address or it won't get to me.
A week's worth of new questions is up and ready to be torn up.
Head on over to the
and get some for yourself.
And hey, if you want to respond to the questions but don't have a blog, drop me a note and I'll post them for you here (don't forget to pull the nospam out of my email address or it won't get to me.
:: posted by Erik at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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A Little Lunch, A Little Ego Stroking and A Potential Job Offer
So I went and had lunch with one of my old employers. I knew going in that there was more than just a lunch thing going on because he'd already told me that my old mentor was leaving the company. And that was going to leave a large and ragged hole in their ability to care for those clients that had previously been his.
So part of the lunch was to test the waters for whether or not I'd be interested in and a good fit for rejoining the company. Of course, one of my huge questions was what kind of a raise I might be looking at. And no, not just so I could have my ego stroked. I wanted to know so that I could actually make a reasonably informed decision about whether I'd want to give up my easy commute, autonomy and very lax dress code for higher pressure, higher stakes, much more client facing and more travel likely PR in an agency setting where there is support available.
But there was no talk about what my possible new salary would be, it was more about whether I could be happy doing the work, whether I could reassimilate myself into the agency mode and whether I could actually handle the workload as it is very different from what I do now.
I've thought over a pro and con flowchart in my head and there are a large number of both so maybe I need to actually chart all of this out, assign weighted values to each pro or con and see what the math indicates I should do. It seems that my inclination is to stay put. I've got a nice gig here in my present company. I like my work, I like the office (for the most part), I make decent money (good money with my incentives) and I get to ride to work everyday in pretty much whatever clothes I feel like wearing. Its really not a bad job at all. And I'm held in pretty high regard from my boss because of the high quality coverage I've been able to secure for us over the last 18 months or so.
Plus the fact that she's really gone to great lengths to make it worth my while to stick around here. By implementing my incentive program (which is going really well this second time around) and lauding my successes to the rest of the company in our meetings, she's giving me a vote of confidence that's very welcome.
But it is nice to think that other companies are seeing a value in my work and considering trying to hire me away from my present position. I wish there were some way to parlay it into more pay here but I don't think I want to risk having to take the other job because I burned my bridge here. That would take alot of the fun out of it. Instead, what I was thinking about doing was seeing where the other job may lead before turning it down and then letting my boss know that I was offered another position with more pay but I chose to stay here because I believe in the company and like what I do. But, I will, in the end, most likely just let it slide and not worry about it. That doesn't mean that I'll never move on from here because I fully intend to but when I move it'll have to be of my own volition and not just so I can earn more jack because I know I'll have to bust my ass to earn my pay with the other company and there's alot more dignity swallowing when you're responsible to clients in an agency setting.
It has been interesting but I think I'm happy where I am for now. It will also afford me the chance to explore some of my own projects that I want to try out without risking loss of job as they're totally non-competitive. We shall see, there's so much to think about after the wedding that I've already filled up a few pages with notes. Now it'll just be a question of figuring out which ones come first.
In Interesting Ecological News
Giant Snakehead Fish caught in Wisconsin's Rock River This is a fish that can get out on land and shuffle itself along for a little ways. Its also one hungry, hungry fish that's also aggressive and has no natural predators here as its an Asian import. What's all this mean? It means, if this snakehead fish starts to find a place to thrive in then it will likely kill off most of the indigenous population. And that can upset the ecological balance which will cause wider and wider ripples through the ecosystem and will, ultimately, end up with the whole world collapsing upon itself. No wait, that's a wee bit extreme. But its bad to have non-native species introduced to a new area where there are no natural predators. We'll see what happens with this one down the road.
But check out the article just to see the pic which is pretty scary. Especially if you were a five inch fish just trying to get by.
So I went and had lunch with one of my old employers. I knew going in that there was more than just a lunch thing going on because he'd already told me that my old mentor was leaving the company. And that was going to leave a large and ragged hole in their ability to care for those clients that had previously been his.
So part of the lunch was to test the waters for whether or not I'd be interested in and a good fit for rejoining the company. Of course, one of my huge questions was what kind of a raise I might be looking at. And no, not just so I could have my ego stroked. I wanted to know so that I could actually make a reasonably informed decision about whether I'd want to give up my easy commute, autonomy and very lax dress code for higher pressure, higher stakes, much more client facing and more travel likely PR in an agency setting where there is support available.
But there was no talk about what my possible new salary would be, it was more about whether I could be happy doing the work, whether I could reassimilate myself into the agency mode and whether I could actually handle the workload as it is very different from what I do now.
I've thought over a pro and con flowchart in my head and there are a large number of both so maybe I need to actually chart all of this out, assign weighted values to each pro or con and see what the math indicates I should do. It seems that my inclination is to stay put. I've got a nice gig here in my present company. I like my work, I like the office (for the most part), I make decent money (good money with my incentives) and I get to ride to work everyday in pretty much whatever clothes I feel like wearing. Its really not a bad job at all. And I'm held in pretty high regard from my boss because of the high quality coverage I've been able to secure for us over the last 18 months or so.
Plus the fact that she's really gone to great lengths to make it worth my while to stick around here. By implementing my incentive program (which is going really well this second time around) and lauding my successes to the rest of the company in our meetings, she's giving me a vote of confidence that's very welcome.
But it is nice to think that other companies are seeing a value in my work and considering trying to hire me away from my present position. I wish there were some way to parlay it into more pay here but I don't think I want to risk having to take the other job because I burned my bridge here. That would take alot of the fun out of it. Instead, what I was thinking about doing was seeing where the other job may lead before turning it down and then letting my boss know that I was offered another position with more pay but I chose to stay here because I believe in the company and like what I do. But, I will, in the end, most likely just let it slide and not worry about it. That doesn't mean that I'll never move on from here because I fully intend to but when I move it'll have to be of my own volition and not just so I can earn more jack because I know I'll have to bust my ass to earn my pay with the other company and there's alot more dignity swallowing when you're responsible to clients in an agency setting.
It has been interesting but I think I'm happy where I am for now. It will also afford me the chance to explore some of my own projects that I want to try out without risking loss of job as they're totally non-competitive. We shall see, there's so much to think about after the wedding that I've already filled up a few pages with notes. Now it'll just be a question of figuring out which ones come first.
In Interesting Ecological News
Giant Snakehead Fish caught in Wisconsin's Rock River This is a fish that can get out on land and shuffle itself along for a little ways. Its also one hungry, hungry fish that's also aggressive and has no natural predators here as its an Asian import. What's all this mean? It means, if this snakehead fish starts to find a place to thrive in then it will likely kill off most of the indigenous population. And that can upset the ecological balance which will cause wider and wider ripples through the ecosystem and will, ultimately, end up with the whole world collapsing upon itself. No wait, that's a wee bit extreme. But its bad to have non-native species introduced to a new area where there are no natural predators. We'll see what happens with this one down the road.
But check out the article just to see the pic which is pretty scary. Especially if you were a five inch fish just trying to get by.
:: posted by Erik at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 24, 2003Like this post?
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The Will of the People Beaten by Scumbag Telemarketers, For Now
Court blocks Do Not Call Registry because they say the FTC overstepped its authority to register people who don't want the fucking telemarketers to call them.
Sorry but 50 million people have spoken and they've all said a huge collective "FUCK YOU" to the telemarketing community. Now they want to sue for the right to harass you at home whenever they fucking well choose.
All I can say is that if its open season on us then its time to really become truly nasty to the assholes who won't stop calling. Next one that calls me is going to get an earful and then a demand to be removed.
This kind of shit really, really aggravates the hell out of me. Sure, they have a right to a livelihood but they don't have the right to annoy everyone or intrude on their evenings. Telemarketers are, generally, idiots who can't do anything but bother people and solicit money. And I've read and seen news that sometimes telemarketers are prison inmates in call centers with access to your personal information. How in the hell that happened, I have no idea but the fool who came up with that should be locked in a dark room for fifteen years with only the sound of dripping water to keep him company.
Court blocks Do Not Call Registry because they say the FTC overstepped its authority to register people who don't want the fucking telemarketers to call them.
Sorry but 50 million people have spoken and they've all said a huge collective "FUCK YOU" to the telemarketing community. Now they want to sue for the right to harass you at home whenever they fucking well choose.
All I can say is that if its open season on us then its time to really become truly nasty to the assholes who won't stop calling. Next one that calls me is going to get an earful and then a demand to be removed.
This kind of shit really, really aggravates the hell out of me. Sure, they have a right to a livelihood but they don't have the right to annoy everyone or intrude on their evenings. Telemarketers are, generally, idiots who can't do anything but bother people and solicit money. And I've read and seen news that sometimes telemarketers are prison inmates in call centers with access to your personal information. How in the hell that happened, I have no idea but the fool who came up with that should be locked in a dark room for fifteen years with only the sound of dripping water to keep him company.
:: posted by Erik at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Very Bad and Dangerous Mojo Indeed
A man who should be on top of many people's lists of people to NOT piss off is pissed off.
Four of Hunter S. Thompson's Prized Peacocks Found Dead. Why do you not want Hunter Thompson pissed off at you? Because he's liable to shoot you forty or fifty times and then turn you over to the cops. And he is very well armed. I've heard stories from his neighbors about him getting whacked out and just shooting off his guns into the night.
Apparently it was some wild dogs or dogs gone wild (not to be confused in any way with the Girls Gone Wild series because that would be well, disgusting). And I don't envy them now, they killed Hunter's pet birds and now he's probably stalking them in psycho fashion with a very high powered hand gun and rifle or two, maybe even automatic weapons loaded with depleted uranium rounds.
Stupid Dead Comments
Well, apparently Haloscan has gone up in smoke as any attempts to get to their site are met with refused connections.
Damn! I need to get Intellectual Poison ported over to Movable Type so I can avoid these irritations in the future. Maybe I'll add that to my list of things to start on tonight.
Oh well. Guess I'll get back to work instead.
A man who should be on top of many people's lists of people to NOT piss off is pissed off.
Four of Hunter S. Thompson's Prized Peacocks Found Dead. Why do you not want Hunter Thompson pissed off at you? Because he's liable to shoot you forty or fifty times and then turn you over to the cops. And he is very well armed. I've heard stories from his neighbors about him getting whacked out and just shooting off his guns into the night.
Apparently it was some wild dogs or dogs gone wild (not to be confused in any way with the Girls Gone Wild series because that would be well, disgusting). And I don't envy them now, they killed Hunter's pet birds and now he's probably stalking them in psycho fashion with a very high powered hand gun and rifle or two, maybe even automatic weapons loaded with depleted uranium rounds.
Stupid Dead Comments
Well, apparently Haloscan has gone up in smoke as any attempts to get to their site are met with refused connections.
Damn! I need to get Intellectual Poison ported over to Movable Type so I can avoid these irritations in the future. Maybe I'll add that to my list of things to start on tonight.
Oh well. Guess I'll get back to work instead.
:: posted by Erik at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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The Morning Fix: Comcast Feasts on your Personal Information
Comcast Devours Your Life / Privacy shmivacy wherein Morford discloses the sad fact that, according to Comcast's privacy notice, they can do just about any damn thing they want with information that they really have no business having access to. Information like your credit card numbers, your social security numbers, your viewing habits and every damn thing else they can figure out.
And there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it.
The article was excerpted here in its entirety but I've since repented and you'll have to face the double pop up gauntlet of SFGate (who still don't seem to realize that pop ups do nothing but get closed almost immediately).
Which reminds me, I've gotta figure out where the stupid pop up engine is on P's computer because it invariably pops up the same garbage again and again regardless of where you are online. Pop up ads are useless and anyone who buys anything from them should be put in jail for encouraging more of the fucking wastes of time.
Comcast Devours Your Life / Privacy shmivacy wherein Morford discloses the sad fact that, according to Comcast's privacy notice, they can do just about any damn thing they want with information that they really have no business having access to. Information like your credit card numbers, your social security numbers, your viewing habits and every damn thing else they can figure out.
And there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it.
The article was excerpted here in its entirety but I've since repented and you'll have to face the double pop up gauntlet of SFGate (who still don't seem to realize that pop ups do nothing but get closed almost immediately).
Which reminds me, I've gotta figure out where the stupid pop up engine is on P's computer because it invariably pops up the same garbage again and again regardless of where you are online. Pop up ads are useless and anyone who buys anything from them should be put in jail for encouraging more of the fucking wastes of time.
:: posted by Erik at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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News from the Just Not Getting It Department
I was heading home last night, crossing Riverfront St. to get on the bike path that runs all way through town and out to the trestle that takes me back into Seabright. Nothing unusual about that, but when I hit the path, a guy went buzzing by me on his bike. Uphill, at speed, without pedaling. I followed him for a little while and not once did the guy pedal the bike. Not a single revolution of his pedals by his own power. He was motoring along with one of those little add-on motors that basically turns an exercise machine into a toy motorcycle.
And he had this smug look on his face as he motored by, like he was actually doing something good for himself by riding a bike. And normally he would be doing something good but it appeared to have completely missed him that bikes are really only good for you if you do the pedaling. Not if you allow a motor to propel you everywhere. You might as well get a motorcycle or a car for all the exercise you get from it. It just struck me as kind of stupid and I wanted to catch up to him just to tell him so but my little cruiser bike's a single speed and there was no way I was catching him on it. So I'm writing it here instead.
People, if you're riding a bike for exercise then you absolutely need to pedal. Sure, you can get a motor if you want but don't use it unless you have to. The bike is there for pedaling, its fun to pedal your way home instead of letting the motor push you. I'm sure that guy talks about how good it is to ride his bike into the office everyday without even considering the fact that he's getting absolutely zero exercise by his method.
Oh well.
Another Just Not Getting It Post has to do with a conversation we had last week on the way back to New York from Maine.
It went a long ways toward explaining the gap between the haves and the havenots. My brother, who is a have by the virtue of his incredibly tough work ethic and his brains and he deserves every accolade he receives, was talking about one of our relatives who bought a whole bunch of something on sale because she knew that she could put the extras up on auction at eBay and would make a decent chunk of change from it. My brother couldn't fathom why someone would go to all that trouble just to make a couple of hundred bucks.
The reason is that his time is valued at a much higher rate than other peoples and it was a losing proposition to consider spending two hours to make two hundred bucks when he makes that much in an hour or less normally. And he was slightly derisive towards her for what P and I thought was a good idea and a good way to generate some extra income without much risk. It highlighted the gap that exists between those that have to figure out where the PG&E money is coming from, where the money to pay the telephone bill is coming from and how much money is left over to buy groceries. It was a non-issue to him, his life operated at whole other magnitude of expense and the paltry sums of electric bills, groceries and other necessities was below his threshold of ability to care about.
It kind of gave me a glimpse into the huge chasm that exists between those of means and those who live from paycheck to paycheck. I don't hold him to blame for the gap but I do think that his ability to empathize with those in less fortunate circumstances has diminished greatly. I wonder if he's become a Republican in thought if not in deed (no wait, we had the George Bush is a crook talk and we were in total agreement there so I think his soul is still safe).
But its scary to think that this is my brother, a highly intelligent guy who does come from not the most wealthy past and he's unable to empathize with lower income people's plights. What does that mean for rich politicians in Washington who can't even begin to worry about not having enough money for dinner or they have to choose between getting the car fixed and paying rent?
I was heading home last night, crossing Riverfront St. to get on the bike path that runs all way through town and out to the trestle that takes me back into Seabright. Nothing unusual about that, but when I hit the path, a guy went buzzing by me on his bike. Uphill, at speed, without pedaling. I followed him for a little while and not once did the guy pedal the bike. Not a single revolution of his pedals by his own power. He was motoring along with one of those little add-on motors that basically turns an exercise machine into a toy motorcycle.
And he had this smug look on his face as he motored by, like he was actually doing something good for himself by riding a bike. And normally he would be doing something good but it appeared to have completely missed him that bikes are really only good for you if you do the pedaling. Not if you allow a motor to propel you everywhere. You might as well get a motorcycle or a car for all the exercise you get from it. It just struck me as kind of stupid and I wanted to catch up to him just to tell him so but my little cruiser bike's a single speed and there was no way I was catching him on it. So I'm writing it here instead.
People, if you're riding a bike for exercise then you absolutely need to pedal. Sure, you can get a motor if you want but don't use it unless you have to. The bike is there for pedaling, its fun to pedal your way home instead of letting the motor push you. I'm sure that guy talks about how good it is to ride his bike into the office everyday without even considering the fact that he's getting absolutely zero exercise by his method.
Oh well.
Another Just Not Getting It Post has to do with a conversation we had last week on the way back to New York from Maine.
It went a long ways toward explaining the gap between the haves and the havenots. My brother, who is a have by the virtue of his incredibly tough work ethic and his brains and he deserves every accolade he receives, was talking about one of our relatives who bought a whole bunch of something on sale because she knew that she could put the extras up on auction at eBay and would make a decent chunk of change from it. My brother couldn't fathom why someone would go to all that trouble just to make a couple of hundred bucks.
The reason is that his time is valued at a much higher rate than other peoples and it was a losing proposition to consider spending two hours to make two hundred bucks when he makes that much in an hour or less normally. And he was slightly derisive towards her for what P and I thought was a good idea and a good way to generate some extra income without much risk. It highlighted the gap that exists between those that have to figure out where the PG&E money is coming from, where the money to pay the telephone bill is coming from and how much money is left over to buy groceries. It was a non-issue to him, his life operated at whole other magnitude of expense and the paltry sums of electric bills, groceries and other necessities was below his threshold of ability to care about.
It kind of gave me a glimpse into the huge chasm that exists between those of means and those who live from paycheck to paycheck. I don't hold him to blame for the gap but I do think that his ability to empathize with those in less fortunate circumstances has diminished greatly. I wonder if he's become a Republican in thought if not in deed (no wait, we had the George Bush is a crook talk and we were in total agreement there so I think his soul is still safe).
But its scary to think that this is my brother, a highly intelligent guy who does come from not the most wealthy past and he's unable to empathize with lower income people's plights. What does that mean for rich politicians in Washington who can't even begin to worry about not having enough money for dinner or they have to choose between getting the car fixed and paying rent?
:: posted by Erik at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 23, 2003Like this post?
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Another Sign of the Pending Apocalypse
P brought home People, the fluff magazine that is basically nothing but ego stroking for celebs and gossip just one half notch above the National Enquirer.
The cover of the issue she brought home was with John Ritter taking center stage because of his recent death. Yes, the same day that Johnny Cash died. And sure, there was a little banner across the top noting Cash's death. But come on, leading with John Ritter over Johnny Cash? Using Ritter's death instead of Cash's to sell magazines?
I wonder if it worked. It bothered the freaking hell out of me though.
Why? John Ritter was an actor, not an especially good one and not an especially funny one either. He was a sitcom star, the lowest and most utterly droll of the television offerings (with the possible exception of soap operas that do nothing but delude women and women in men's bodies all day, every day). Sitcoms are, by their nature, pathetically predictable, low stupid comedy that relies on cliches and stereotypes to deliver the laughs (usually forced upon the audience by the application of a laugh track). Sitcoms are incredibly poor entertainment (and yes, I know there are plenty of people out there who love Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and any of the other crappy half hour shows that suck ass from start to end).
Johnny Cash was a musical legend in both person and deed. He crossed stereotypes, appealed to a far wider group than any ridiculous sitcom ever could (and no, Baywatch doesn't count though it was the highest watched show in the history of TV when it was on and I bet its reruns still trounce most shows it goes up against though it was a thoroughly stupid show that could just as easily have been watched without sound and the viewer would miss nothing of the storyline). Johnny Cash sang about America, he sang about the fiery passion he felt for his wife, he sang about good times and bad times and was an icon on the music scene for decades.
John Ritter's claims to fame include, Three's Company where he had to fall at least twice an episode, Problem Child 1 and 2, both terribly stupid movies and 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter, a show I never bothered to waste a half hour of my life watching, why?, there was nothing new there, just rehashed jokes that were barely funny the first time they were used twenty years ago.
Johnny Cash broke new ground, he broke the rules, he made his own rules and didn't give the least bit of a damn what people thought of him, good or bad. He was old school cool.
How People decided to run him second fiddle to John Ritter's death is beyond me. But it bothers the hell out of me. Don't worry though, I'm over it. And don't think I am happy either man is dead but I think the world is a far worse place because of Johnny Cash's passing than John Ritter's, heck they're not even canceling his show, the one he starred in, the one that featured him. How is that going to work and is it just a bad attempt to capitalize on his death. Its just a little sick, I think.
One more thing, the idiot judges who awarded Everybody Loves Raymond yet another Emmy for their terribly uninteresting show should be exiled to an island in the middle of the ocean. Everybody Loves Raymond is incredibly bad TV that can only make old people laugh. How these terrible entertainers command such income for their awful work is beyond me. But whatever, it means that it should be relatively easy to sell out and make millions but duping the country into liking some crap I write.
P brought home People, the fluff magazine that is basically nothing but ego stroking for celebs and gossip just one half notch above the National Enquirer.
The cover of the issue she brought home was with John Ritter taking center stage because of his recent death. Yes, the same day that Johnny Cash died. And sure, there was a little banner across the top noting Cash's death. But come on, leading with John Ritter over Johnny Cash? Using Ritter's death instead of Cash's to sell magazines?
I wonder if it worked. It bothered the freaking hell out of me though.
Why? John Ritter was an actor, not an especially good one and not an especially funny one either. He was a sitcom star, the lowest and most utterly droll of the television offerings (with the possible exception of soap operas that do nothing but delude women and women in men's bodies all day, every day). Sitcoms are, by their nature, pathetically predictable, low stupid comedy that relies on cliches and stereotypes to deliver the laughs (usually forced upon the audience by the application of a laugh track). Sitcoms are incredibly poor entertainment (and yes, I know there are plenty of people out there who love Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and any of the other crappy half hour shows that suck ass from start to end).
Johnny Cash was a musical legend in both person and deed. He crossed stereotypes, appealed to a far wider group than any ridiculous sitcom ever could (and no, Baywatch doesn't count though it was the highest watched show in the history of TV when it was on and I bet its reruns still trounce most shows it goes up against though it was a thoroughly stupid show that could just as easily have been watched without sound and the viewer would miss nothing of the storyline). Johnny Cash sang about America, he sang about the fiery passion he felt for his wife, he sang about good times and bad times and was an icon on the music scene for decades.
John Ritter's claims to fame include, Three's Company where he had to fall at least twice an episode, Problem Child 1 and 2, both terribly stupid movies and 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter, a show I never bothered to waste a half hour of my life watching, why?, there was nothing new there, just rehashed jokes that were barely funny the first time they were used twenty years ago.
Johnny Cash broke new ground, he broke the rules, he made his own rules and didn't give the least bit of a damn what people thought of him, good or bad. He was old school cool.
How People decided to run him second fiddle to John Ritter's death is beyond me. But it bothers the hell out of me. Don't worry though, I'm over it. And don't think I am happy either man is dead but I think the world is a far worse place because of Johnny Cash's passing than John Ritter's, heck they're not even canceling his show, the one he starred in, the one that featured him. How is that going to work and is it just a bad attempt to capitalize on his death. Its just a little sick, I think.
One more thing, the idiot judges who awarded Everybody Loves Raymond yet another Emmy for their terribly uninteresting show should be exiled to an island in the middle of the ocean. Everybody Loves Raymond is incredibly bad TV that can only make old people laugh. How these terrible entertainers command such income for their awful work is beyond me. But whatever, it means that it should be relatively easy to sell out and make millions but duping the country into liking some crap I write.
:: posted by Erik at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Can You Recognize This Presidential Candidate?
Just a few, won't take more than ten minutes to read. And no, I don't agree with all of them but I agree with the vast majority of these. This came to me in a forward from my sister.
Who's the Mystery President?
-I attacked and took over two countries. I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury.
-I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!).
-I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
-I set an all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
-I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
-In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any President in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).
-After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst Security failure in US history.
-I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history.
-In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
-I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
-I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
-I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
-I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV.
-I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
-I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
-I cut health care benefits for war veterans.
-I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
-I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
-I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
-Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.)
-I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
-I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
-I am the first president in US history to order a US attack AND military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
-I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States, called the "Bureau of Homeland Security"(only one letter away from BS).
-I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but I did it!!).
-I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
-I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
-I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
-I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
-I withdrew from the World Court of Law.
-I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
-I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.
-I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
-The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron corporation).
-I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
-I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
-I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
-I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
-I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
-I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
-I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts.
-I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
-I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
-I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
-I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war.
-I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
-All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
GEORGE W. BUSH
The White House,
Washington, DC
This information should be useful to voters in the 2004 election.
Circulate to as many citizens you think would be helped to be reminded about this record.
Just a few, won't take more than ten minutes to read. And no, I don't agree with all of them but I agree with the vast majority of these. This came to me in a forward from my sister.
Who's the Mystery President?
-I attacked and took over two countries. I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury.
-I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!).
-I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
-I set an all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
-I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
-In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any President in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).
-After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst Security failure in US history.
-I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history.
-In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
-I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
-I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
-I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
-I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV.
-I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
-I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
-I cut health care benefits for war veterans.
-I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
-I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
-I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
-Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.)
-I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
-I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
-I am the first president in US history to order a US attack AND military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
-I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States, called the "Bureau of Homeland Security"(only one letter away from BS).
-I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but I did it!!).
-I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
-I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
-I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
-I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
-I withdrew from the World Court of Law.
-I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
-I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.
-I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.
-The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron corporation).
-I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
-I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
-I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
-I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
-I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
-I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
-I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts.
-I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
-I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
-I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
-I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war.
-I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
-All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
-Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
GEORGE W. BUSH
The White House,
Washington, DC
This information should be useful to voters in the 2004 election.
Circulate to as many citizens you think would be helped to be reminded about this record.
:: posted by Erik at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 22, 2003Like this post?
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Now I Know and You Do Too
Apparently I am the way I am because I was an angry little girl growing up.
Though I think this raises quite a lot more questions than it could ever answer.
Angry Girl
What kind of little girl were YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla
Apparently I am the way I am because I was an angry little girl growing up.
Though I think this raises quite a lot more questions than it could ever answer.
Angry Girl
What kind of little girl were YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla
:: posted by Erik at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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How To Get Shot and Live to Tell the Tale
I don't about any of you but I got shot at least 9 times this weekend. Twice in the top of the head, three times in the throat (maybe four), twice in the chest, once in the arm, once in the butt.
Total damage?
Well, my throat looks like someone gave me the mother of all hickeys. Everything else is already pretty well healed up.
And that's just the start of the story.
This weekend was all about bachelor party fun and we did end up going down to play war games on an old military base. Yeah, Jailhouse Paintball, the sport for little boys who have grown up but still want to play cowboys and indians or Rambo or need to feed the adrenaline monkey within. And feed that monkey we did.
First, I'm sure there are people wondering if it hurts as much as some people like to say it does. The answer is that it depends on who shoots you. If its some jackass with his gun pumped up to 360 fps, that's a .68 caliber paintball travelling at 360 feet per second, then yes it will hurt like a mother when you get tagged by it. There were several jerkos out there with high powered guns (or markers as they prefer to be known, isn't that quaint?) and yes, they did hurt to get hit by. Normal speed for the paintballs is around 240 fps and they did have a cool little range area to check and make sure you weren't waaaaay over or way under (like my first gun was). Some people did not, apparently, take advantage of the range to play nice.
Second, it is far more strenuous then you might think to engage in shoot 'em up games with paintballs. I've talked to a couple of the guys who played and we're all sore, sore legs, sore arms, sore whatever parts got marked. But it is also far, far more fun than I think any of us anticipated. Another outing is already in the works and this time we'll be much better prepared.
Third, no, it isn't a cheap way to spend a day. But you definitely get what you pay for, the games are intense, the rushing adrenaline, the sting of a paintball, the joy of it not bursting on you (thus magically extending your game life), the thrill of opening up on a crouched over runner as he manuvers around to try and flank your position. There's alot of sweating involved, there's a lot of diving, crouching, ducking and covering and tense standoffs with volleys of paintballs.
So, about the games we played themselves. Its not just a typical capture the flag style game. There were several different games we played, from a double elimination reds against yellows to The Alamo of Texans vs. Santa Ana's finest (this is always a losing battle for the Texans but that didn't make it any less fun).
Some pics of the place and the injuries sustained there.
Paintball Arena, Left Side of Arena, Neck Shot, Close up of Neck Shot, Close up of Body Shot and Body Shot.
Overall, it was a superb time, I wish my gun had been functioning better earlier in the day (they had to give me another one because I wasn't getting much more than 120 fps out of it and that meant I could watch the balls hit the ground fifty or seventy feet away). Once I had the new gun, I was alot more dangerous and that made the games far more fun.
I think everyone who went had as much fun as I did. And then we proceeded to Monterey where I got far too intoxicated for words (didn't help that we sort of forgot to have dinner) and was put down a little after midnight but not before horking up pretty much everything that had been in my stomach up to that point (sorry Tim, I know that sucked to find on the room's floor). And I got to spend almost all day yesterday hungover and camped out in the big bean bag chair watching football and groaning.
And we are definitely going to go back down and get some more paint spilling action on soon.
Bonus Pics: New York and Maine pics from last weekend. I was going to try and storyboard them out but just don't have the time right now. Maybe I'll get to it later but most likely not.
I don't about any of you but I got shot at least 9 times this weekend. Twice in the top of the head, three times in the throat (maybe four), twice in the chest, once in the arm, once in the butt.
Total damage?
Well, my throat looks like someone gave me the mother of all hickeys. Everything else is already pretty well healed up.
And that's just the start of the story.
This weekend was all about bachelor party fun and we did end up going down to play war games on an old military base. Yeah, Jailhouse Paintball, the sport for little boys who have grown up but still want to play cowboys and indians or Rambo or need to feed the adrenaline monkey within. And feed that monkey we did.
First, I'm sure there are people wondering if it hurts as much as some people like to say it does. The answer is that it depends on who shoots you. If its some jackass with his gun pumped up to 360 fps, that's a .68 caliber paintball travelling at 360 feet per second, then yes it will hurt like a mother when you get tagged by it. There were several jerkos out there with high powered guns (or markers as they prefer to be known, isn't that quaint?) and yes, they did hurt to get hit by. Normal speed for the paintballs is around 240 fps and they did have a cool little range area to check and make sure you weren't waaaaay over or way under (like my first gun was). Some people did not, apparently, take advantage of the range to play nice.
Second, it is far more strenuous then you might think to engage in shoot 'em up games with paintballs. I've talked to a couple of the guys who played and we're all sore, sore legs, sore arms, sore whatever parts got marked. But it is also far, far more fun than I think any of us anticipated. Another outing is already in the works and this time we'll be much better prepared.
Third, no, it isn't a cheap way to spend a day. But you definitely get what you pay for, the games are intense, the rushing adrenaline, the sting of a paintball, the joy of it not bursting on you (thus magically extending your game life), the thrill of opening up on a crouched over runner as he manuvers around to try and flank your position. There's alot of sweating involved, there's a lot of diving, crouching, ducking and covering and tense standoffs with volleys of paintballs.
So, about the games we played themselves. Its not just a typical capture the flag style game. There were several different games we played, from a double elimination reds against yellows to The Alamo of Texans vs. Santa Ana's finest (this is always a losing battle for the Texans but that didn't make it any less fun).
Some pics of the place and the injuries sustained there.
Paintball Arena, Left Side of Arena, Neck Shot, Close up of Neck Shot, Close up of Body Shot and Body Shot.
Overall, it was a superb time, I wish my gun had been functioning better earlier in the day (they had to give me another one because I wasn't getting much more than 120 fps out of it and that meant I could watch the balls hit the ground fifty or seventy feet away). Once I had the new gun, I was alot more dangerous and that made the games far more fun.
I think everyone who went had as much fun as I did. And then we proceeded to Monterey where I got far too intoxicated for words (didn't help that we sort of forgot to have dinner) and was put down a little after midnight but not before horking up pretty much everything that had been in my stomach up to that point (sorry Tim, I know that sucked to find on the room's floor). And I got to spend almost all day yesterday hungover and camped out in the big bean bag chair watching football and groaning.
And we are definitely going to go back down and get some more paint spilling action on soon.
Bonus Pics: New York and Maine pics from last weekend. I was going to try and storyboard them out but just don't have the time right now. Maybe I'll get to it later but most likely not.
:: posted by Erik at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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Sep 19, 2003Like this post?
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Further Sign of the Pending Demise of the Human Race
I wish such aberrant stupidity as displayed by this "Russian Mafia" tough guy were the exception rather than the rule. But I just really don't think it is.
A Man Offered to Kill Kobe's Accuser for the measly sum of $3 million. He wrote this, along with many of the ways that he could kill her for him, in a letter. A letter that was read and reported to the cops who set up a sting, gave the idiot some money (most of it fake) and then arrested him for conspiracy to commit murder.
Is he an incredibly stupid LA Lakers fan or just an incredibly stupid jackass going after his 15 minutes of fame? He appears to be an idiot professing ties to the Russian Mafia (the first rule of the Russian Mafia is you do not talk about the Russian Mafia) and all kinds of nasty business he's been involved with.
The whole thing smells, tastes and looks completely contrived, like a mongoloid publicist's idea of making Kobe look better in the media for turning in this horrid human being. I am curious to see how this all works out.
I just don't understand how he thought he wouldn't get caught by mailing his offer to Kobe openly. Either way, he'll have loads of fun in prison, hope he plays nice with the other boys.
I wish such aberrant stupidity as displayed by this "Russian Mafia" tough guy were the exception rather than the rule. But I just really don't think it is.
A Man Offered to Kill Kobe's Accuser for the measly sum of $3 million. He wrote this, along with many of the ways that he could kill her for him, in a letter. A letter that was read and reported to the cops who set up a sting, gave the idiot some money (most of it fake) and then arrested him for conspiracy to commit murder.
Is he an incredibly stupid LA Lakers fan or just an incredibly stupid jackass going after his 15 minutes of fame? He appears to be an idiot professing ties to the Russian Mafia (the first rule of the Russian Mafia is you do not talk about the Russian Mafia) and all kinds of nasty business he's been involved with.
The whole thing smells, tastes and looks completely contrived, like a mongoloid publicist's idea of making Kobe look better in the media for turning in this horrid human being. I am curious to see how this all works out.
I just don't understand how he thought he wouldn't get caught by mailing his offer to Kobe openly. Either way, he'll have loads of fun in prison, hope he plays nice with the other boys.
:: posted by Erik at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comment |
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A Tragi-Day in Pictures
I know, I was supposed to get this done much earlier this week or even over the weekend but things have been busy and I got a new game (Madden 2003) for the PS2 so cut me some slack.
My birthday, 9/11, and the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history (yeah, like you all needed that reminder) began quietly, a little after midnight I remembered that it was actually officially my birthday. So I grabbed my camera and headed out to snap a few pics to start the day(night) off right. Full Moon Its hard to snap pics of the full moon and have them mean something so I just snapped and went back to bed (and yes, this is the best of the bunch).
After finally getting bed, we rolled out, packed up and headed up over the hill to drop off the car and get a ride to the airport. We parked in Los Gatos, a lovely day out and I shot this pic of the street, Los Gatos Street and the Jetta, Jetta in Los Gatos.
After our pal got out of his meeting, we were dropped off at the airport and were soon awaiting the boarding call to take the first of our flights for the day, Boarding Area. Not much over security so far on the day, just a normal check point. I later learned that travelling with P was part of the reason, I no longer fit the single guy profile. Oh boy, no more body cavity checks!
Once we were settled in and the plane was continuing to fill, On the plane awaiting takeoff, I started playing with my false zoom lens attachment, Zoom pics and what happens when you snap a pic through the wrong end of the monocular, Wrong End of Monocular.
We got to fly over Lake Tahoe during the daylight, which was cool as I'd not seen it before (or hadn't been paying attention or was in a non-window seat), Lake Tahoe, More Lake Tahoe, Shore of Lake Tahoe. Later on there was a cool and huge S in a river we flew over, Big "S" in River.
And then the wing tip was just begging to have its picture taken, Northwest Wing Tip.
The next thing I knew, we were on the ground in Minnesota, in the rain, Mini-Soda Rain, and no Layne sightings, damn! Oh well, how about another pic of the rain? Rainy Airport in Mini-Soda. The nice thing about flying is that you can almost always rise above the nasty weather and see a decent sunset if the timing is right, Sunset at 37,000 feet.
New York was mellow, quiet and people seemed to be very cool to each other. The pics of the WTC memorial didn't come out so I'll have to cheat here and post some that aren't mine. But it was every bit as brilliant and poignant and calming in real life as in the pictures. A ground level shot of my own, 9/11 in New York, before we headed up the street to Gray's Papaya, Gray's Papaya for a little snack, the continuation of a tradition and to introduce P to one of my favorite New York City landmarks, Me at Gray's Papaya.
Then it was back to the apartment, a night's rest and the weekend up to Maine with the family. And yes, those pictures forthcoming as well.
I know, I was supposed to get this done much earlier this week or even over the weekend but things have been busy and I got a new game (Madden 2003) for the PS2 so cut me some slack.
My birthday, 9/11, and the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history (yeah, like you all needed that reminder) began quietly, a little after midnight I remembered that it was actually officially my birthday. So I grabbed my camera and headed out to snap a few pics to start the day(night) off right. Full Moon Its hard to snap pics of the full moon and have them mean something so I just snapped and went back to bed (and yes, this is the best of the bunch).
After finally getting bed, we rolled out, packed up and headed up over the hill to drop off the car and get a ride to the airport. We parked in Los Gatos, a lovely day out and I shot this pic of the street, Los Gatos Street and the Jetta, Jetta in Los Gatos.
After our pal got out of his meeting, we were dropped off at the airport and were soon awaiting the boarding call to take the first of our flights for the day, Boarding Area. Not much over security so far on the day, just a normal check point. I later learned that travelling with P was part of the reason, I no longer fit the single guy profile. Oh boy, no more body cavity checks!
Once we were settled in and the plane was continuing to fill, On the plane awaiting takeoff, I started playing with my false zoom lens attachment, Zoom pics and what happens when you snap a pic through the wrong end of the monocular, Wrong End of Monocular.
We got to fly over Lake Tahoe during the daylight, which was cool as I'd not seen it before (or hadn't been paying attention or was in a non-window seat), Lake Tahoe, More Lake Tahoe, Shore of Lake Tahoe. Later on there was a cool and huge S in a river we flew over, Big "S" in River.
And then the wing tip was just begging to have its picture taken, Northwest Wing Tip.
The next thing I knew, we were on the ground in Minnesota, in the rain, Mini-Soda Rain, and no Layne sightings, damn! Oh well, how about another pic of the rain? Rainy Airport in Mini-Soda. The nice thing about flying is that you can almost always rise above the nasty weather and see a decent sunset if the timing is right, Sunset at 37,000 feet.
New York was mellow, quiet and people seemed to be very cool to each other. The pics of the WTC memorial didn't come out so I'll have to cheat here and post some that aren't mine. But it was every bit as brilliant and poignant and calming in real life as in the pictures. A ground level shot of my own, 9/11 in New York, before we headed up the street to Gray's Papaya, Gray's Papaya for a little snack, the continuation of a tradition and to introduce P to one of my favorite New York City landmarks, Me at Gray's Papaya.
Then it was back to the apartment, a night's rest and the weekend up to Maine with the family. And yes, those pictures forthcoming as well.
:: posted by Erik at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comment |
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Cheddary Goodness That Just Ooozes Its Love
A new for the new week. Get down on it!
1. This one's from Lileks: �Families of terrorists who blow up men, women and children, some of whom are Americans, no longer receive money from Saddam, because Saddam no longer rules Iraq. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Explain.�
Any way to chop more power away from Saddam is a good thing, especially when it might result in less deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, speed up the rebuilding process and allow the US to get its big, fat, stinking nose out of there.
2. You've got the Magic Button of Death. Every time you press the button the person you want to kill will die. One other random person will also die. Do you use the button? Who do you whack?
Can I change the button to a Magic Button of Uncontrollable Defecation? I'd have no problems inflicting horrible diarrhea on someone but I'm just not ethically programmed to end life.
Okay, with my rewired MBofUD, I would hit Bush a good twenty times a day (yes, even with the "curse" of inflicting the same upon a random person), I'd also have to get Rumsfeld, Carrot Top, Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, how about Sharon Osbourne too? Let's see, lots of people in need of uncontrollable bowel distress. Dick Grasso but that's more because I think he's been too wound up and could use the release a good shit could give him. Madonna, lots of Madonna. The cast of Friends but I'd first make them all be locked in a room with one bathroom (hey, did I just invent a new grotesque reality show?). Will and Grace, done. Dharma, done, done, done and done some more. Al Davis, oooooh yeah. Wankers like the corrupt CEOs from WorldCom, Enron and the Adelphia guys. I think I could likely go on and on forever. The Magic Button of Uncontrollable Defecation is a scary and fun power to have.
Or how about a Magic Button of Truth, when you press it the target cannot lie?
3. You've won a million dollars with the conditions that you can only use it to purchase things for yourself and anything you haven't spent in a month is forfeit. What do you buy?
For me, easy, land, lots of it, on the ocean so I can build a house with another chunk of the money. A cherry Porsche 914 with the V-8 conversion engine in it (can you say 0-60 approaching motorcycle times?). New tech fun: top of the line Apple Powerbook, 40 gig iPod, the hugest damn flat screen monitor/TV available, the new Clie UX90 when it finally gets around to coming out late next year. Season tickets for the Giants and A's games. Kayaks, sailboats (little ones), mountain bikes. And skydiving and pilot lessons (sure, I'd have to wait to get the plane but that's cool).
It wouldn't be any problem at all to spend it.
4. You've won a million free and clear. What do you do with it?
See 3 above though I'd make sure my homies and I had one hell of a good party or ten. P would get the car she wants and her own shop to cut hair or not, whatever she wanted to do. Trips to South Africa (maybe drop $30K for a house or two down there), Europe, Mexico. Skydiving. I'd have a damned fine time. Oh yeah, pay off debts, yadda, yadda, yadda.
5. What song or band do you listen to when you want to reminisce or visit a moment in your past? What's the moment?
This may seem strange but I listen to NWA (Niggas with Attitudes) when I want to revisit my youth, growing up in the countryside of rural Vermont. The Dead always makes me think about prep school.
6. Or, is there a song that defines a period in your life?
Yep, plenty of moments in my life have been punctuated by a song or two. Eazy E's "Boys in the Hood" from NWA stands out. We must have listened to it fifty times one summer, Jeff and I out at the cabin or at the house, drinking, having a good time and being hicks playing tree darts, going swimming in places all over the Upper Valley, chopping down trees to burn, late night parties out at the cabin. Yeah, that'll work.
7. Can you know what someone is like just based on how they look or act without meeting them?
To a certain degree, yes. But people are far more complex than superficial appearances. The guy duded out like a punker may actually be a different person under the costume. The question I was trying to get to had something to do with pre-judging people based on appearances but it was hard to get at properly. I think it is possible (and, to some degree, a time saving requirement) to draw some basic conclusions about people based on their appearance and demeanour. If a guy scowls at his girlfriend all the time then I'm going to presume that he's a bit of a dickhead. If two have their arms around each other, or they're always in contact then I'll think much more kind thoughts. Its natural to shuffle people into labels because there is just not enough time to meet and get to know everyone decently well enough to form informed opinions. So we label, accept or discard and move on to the next new face and attitude.
There ya go, a long winded this week but some fun questions. Now go get your own!
A new
for the new week. Get down on it!
1. This one's from Lileks: �Families of terrorists who blow up men, women and children, some of whom are Americans, no longer receive money from Saddam, because Saddam no longer rules Iraq. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Explain.�
Any way to chop more power away from Saddam is a good thing, especially when it might result in less deaths of US soldiers in Iraq, speed up the rebuilding process and allow the US to get its big, fat, stinking nose out of there.
2. You've got the Magic Button of Death. Every time you press the button the person you want to kill will die. One other random person will also die. Do you use the button? Who do you whack?
Can I change the button to a Magic Button of Uncontrollable Defecation? I'd have no problems inflicting horrible diarrhea on someone but I'm just not ethically programmed to end life.
Okay, with my rewired MBofUD, I would hit Bush a good twenty times a day (yes, even with the "curse" of inflicting the same upon a random person), I'd also have to get Rumsfeld, Carrot Top, Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, how about Sharon Osbourne too? Let's see, lots of people in need of uncontrollable bowel distress. Dick Grasso but that's more because I think he's been too wound up and could use the release a good shit could give him. Madonna, lots of Madonna. The cast of Friends but I'd first make them all be locked in a room with one bathroom (hey, did I just invent a new grotesque reality show?). Will and Grace, done. Dharma, done, done, done and done some more. Al Davis, oooooh yeah. Wankers like the corrupt CEOs from WorldCom, Enron and the Adelphia guys. I think I could likely go on and on forever. The Magic Button of Uncontrollable Defecation is a scary and fun power to have.
Or how about a Magic Button of Truth, when you press it the target cannot lie?
3. You've won a million dollars with the conditions that you can only use it to purchase things for yourself and anything you haven't spent in a month is forfeit. What do you buy?
For me, easy, land, lots of it, on the ocean so I can build a house with another chunk of the money. A cherry Porsche 914 with the V-8 conversion engine in it (can you say 0-60 approaching motorcycle times?). New tech fun: top of the line Apple Powerbook, 40 gig iPod, the hugest damn flat screen monitor/TV available, the new Clie UX90 when it finally gets around to coming out late next year. Season tickets for the Giants and A's games. Kayaks, sailboats (little ones), mountain bikes. And skydiving and pilot lessons (sure, I'd have to wait to get the plane but that's cool).
It wouldn't be any problem at all to spend it.
4. You've won a million free and clear. What do you do with it?
See 3 above though I'd make sure my homies and I had one hell of a good party or ten. P would get the car she wants and her own shop to cut hair or not, whatever she wanted to do. Trips to South Africa (maybe drop $30K for a house or two down there), Europe, Mexico. Skydiving. I'd have a damned fine time. Oh yeah, pay off debts, yadda, yadda, yadda.
5. What song or band do you listen to when you want to reminisce or visit a moment in your past? What's the moment?
This may seem strange but I listen to NWA (Niggas with Attitudes) when I want to revisit my youth, growing up in the countryside of rural Vermont. The Dead always makes me think about prep school.
6. Or, is there a song that defines a period in your life?
Yep, plenty of moments in my life have been punctuated by a song or two. Eazy E's "Boys in the Hood" from NWA stands out. We must have listened to it fifty times one summer, Jeff and I out at the cabin or at the house, drinking, having a good time and being hicks playing tree darts, going swimming in places all over the Upper Valley, chopping down trees to burn, late night parties out at the cabin. Yeah, that'll work.
7. Can you know what someone is like just based on how they look or act without meeting them?
To a certain degree, yes. But people are far more complex than superficial appearances. The guy duded out like a punker may actually be a different person under the costume. The question I was trying to get to had something to do with pre-judging people based on appearances but it was hard to get at properly. I think it is possible (and, to some degree, a time saving requirement) to draw some basic conclusions about people based on their appearance and demeanour. If a guy scowls at his girlfriend all the time then I'm going to presume that he's a bit of a dickhead. If two have their arms around each other, or they're always in contact then I'll think much more kind thoughts. Its natural to shuffle people into labels because there is just not enough time to meet and get to know everyone decently well enough to form informed opinions. So we label, accept or discard and move on to the next new face and attitude.
There ya go, a long winded
this week but some fun questions. Now go get your own!