Please Stand By
With the recent email from Haloscan saying the service will be permanently shut down on the 11th of February, I'm starting the process of converting all of my blogs over to Disqus.
Tonight was the first step in that process. We'll see how the export from Haloscan and import into Disqus goes. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Jan 29, 2010Tonight was the first step in that process. We'll see how the export from Haloscan and import into Disqus goes. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Friday New Word of the Day BLOW OUT
My manager just told me these new words have got to be moved out, they're taking up space and we've got to start making space for all the new 2010 models (though it looks like the Toyota line may be delayed). Anyway, here's a whole ton of new words to add to your vocabulary just don't be all Washington Post-y and steal them to pretend you came up with them on your own, that's lame.
Tasklost - lost in the swirling maelstrom of an out of control tasklist. Side note, I just read an interesting idea, instead of making a To Do list, try making Don't Do list, it should be shorter.
Banus - bonus anus, you got one asshole and were gifted with a second one.
Corno - pornography featuring corn.
Soilitary - people who don't bathe often, are dirty (or soiled) and are often alone are considered soilitary types.
Tokel - someone who becomes a yokel when they smoke dope.
Dimmy - dim dummy. Yes, its redundant but I enjoy saying dimmy, as in "Don't mind him, he's just a dimmy".
Cramp out - when you are on a long bike ride (or run) and you cramp up so badly that you have to wait for a pick up, the time spent waiting for the ride is the cramp out.
Fassel - a fast vessel. Created when Cyclelicious misheard me while mountain biking the other day. But its a good word and its going into the book.
Champang - the feeling of regret after getting really drunk and stupid on champagne.
Distall - a distilled installation, a barebones software installation.
Hornon - horny moron. See here for an example of a hornon.
Portraded - positive/negative portrayal solely for the purposes of pushing through a trade (think Manny Ramirez pretending to be hurt so the Red Sox would trade him).
Portarded - portrayed as an imbecile.
Perude - perusing prudes. Like window shopping for sexual frustration.
Furstration - frustrated over fur. Think the increasingly ridiculous PETA.
All these new words are simultaneously cross posted to my Fictionarium. Head over and have a peruse.
Jan 28, 2010Tasklost - lost in the swirling maelstrom of an out of control tasklist. Side note, I just read an interesting idea, instead of making a To Do list, try making Don't Do list, it should be shorter.
Banus - bonus anus, you got one asshole and were gifted with a second one.
Corno - pornography featuring corn.
Soilitary - people who don't bathe often, are dirty (or soiled) and are often alone are considered soilitary types.
Tokel - someone who becomes a yokel when they smoke dope.
Dimmy - dim dummy. Yes, its redundant but I enjoy saying dimmy, as in "Don't mind him, he's just a dimmy".
Cramp out - when you are on a long bike ride (or run) and you cramp up so badly that you have to wait for a pick up, the time spent waiting for the ride is the cramp out.
Fassel - a fast vessel. Created when Cyclelicious misheard me while mountain biking the other day. But its a good word and its going into the book.
Champang - the feeling of regret after getting really drunk and stupid on champagne.
Distall - a distilled installation, a barebones software installation.
Hornon - horny moron. See here for an example of a hornon.
Portraded - positive/negative portrayal solely for the purposes of pushing through a trade (think Manny Ramirez pretending to be hurt so the Red Sox would trade him).
Portarded - portrayed as an imbecile.
Perude - perusing prudes. Like window shopping for sexual frustration.
Furstration - frustrated over fur. Think the increasingly ridiculous PETA.
All these new words are simultaneously cross posted to my Fictionarium. Head over and have a peruse.
Labels: fictionarium, nwotd
Cycling outside the bike lane
When is it OK for bicyclists to leave the bike lane?
The following rule of the road for cyclists comes from California Vehicle Code section 21208 (a).
According to the code, whenever a bike lane is present, cyclists traveling slower than the normal speed of traffic should remain in the bike lane except when:
* Overtaking and passing another bicycle, vehicle, or pedestrian within the lane or about to enter the lane if the overtaking and passing cannot be done safely within the lane.
* Preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
* It?s necessary to leave the bicycle lane to avoid debris or other hazardous conditions.
* Approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
The law also provides that no cyclist shall leave a bicycle lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety.
Read the full law online at www.dmv.ca.gov.
Put These Foods on Your No-Buy List for 2010
The following rule of the road for cyclists comes from California Vehicle Code section 21208 (a).
According to the code, whenever a bike lane is present, cyclists traveling slower than the normal speed of traffic should remain in the bike lane except when:
* Overtaking and passing another bicycle, vehicle, or pedestrian within the lane or about to enter the lane if the overtaking and passing cannot be done safely within the lane.
* Preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
* It?s necessary to leave the bicycle lane to avoid debris or other hazardous conditions.
* Approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
The law also provides that no cyclist shall leave a bicycle lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety.
Read the full law online at www.dmv.ca.gov.
Labels: bicycle, bicycling, california, law, vehicle code
5 Foods You Should Avoid in 2010 via Change.org.
The 5 are:
Factory-farmed meat
Seafood on watch lists
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Foie Gras
Out-of-season produce
Of the five listed, the last was one that made me pause and think for a little bit as to why. Of course, the linked article explains it more clearly but the skinny is that the cost and damage incurred by transporting produce an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork is just not sustainable. Eat locally, eat in season.
Regular readers will be aware of my war against HFCS and how much worse for you it is compared to plain old sugar. Granted neither is great for you but HFCS poses a much longer term health risk by vice of the body's inability to effectively process it and the fact that HFCS does nothing to satiate the consumer (that is, you don't get full after eating something loaded with HFCS which means you will tend to eat more than you need or should and end up fat).
I'm not sure why Foie Gras is on the list really, it is an insanely expensive delicacy that most people on the planet have never tasted and will never taste. But it is some seriously nasty stuff even if it tastes great (I don't know because I wouldn't eat it even if I could afford it).
The factory farmed meat makes sense to avoid even if you don't find the factory farming process to be like hell on earth for animals. It is unsanitary (as in chickens with Mad Cow Disease unsanitary) and perpetuates what amounts to torture before consumption.
It is hard to eat properly all the time and I don't think anyone expects perfection in consumption but it pays to be aware of and try to limit the ingestion of foods that do you more harm than good.
Jan 25, 2010The 5 are:
Factory-farmed meat
Seafood on watch lists
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Foie Gras
Out-of-season produce
Of the five listed, the last was one that made me pause and think for a little bit as to why. Of course, the linked article explains it more clearly but the skinny is that the cost and damage incurred by transporting produce an average of 1500 miles from farm to fork is just not sustainable. Eat locally, eat in season.
Regular readers will be aware of my war against HFCS and how much worse for you it is compared to plain old sugar. Granted neither is great for you but HFCS poses a much longer term health risk by vice of the body's inability to effectively process it and the fact that HFCS does nothing to satiate the consumer (that is, you don't get full after eating something loaded with HFCS which means you will tend to eat more than you need or should and end up fat).
I'm not sure why Foie Gras is on the list really, it is an insanely expensive delicacy that most people on the planet have never tasted and will never taste. But it is some seriously nasty stuff even if it tastes great (I don't know because I wouldn't eat it even if I could afford it).
The factory farmed meat makes sense to avoid even if you don't find the factory farming process to be like hell on earth for animals. It is unsanitary (as in chickens with Mad Cow Disease unsanitary) and perpetuates what amounts to torture before consumption.
It is hard to eat properly all the time and I don't think anyone expects perfection in consumption but it pays to be aware of and try to limit the ingestion of foods that do you more harm than good.
Burnt Clutch
So I had a thought last night before bed that I didn't stop to take the time to write down as I usually do with thoughts I have right before bed. Usually, if I don't write them down, they are gone by the time I wake up. But not this time, which is a sign of something, I'm not really sure what.
My brother wrote me the other day, a short email contained in the subject line, "Are you okay?" which has been on my mind alot since. Am I okay? Have I ever been okay? Is okay good enough since its kind of like pulling a C, its passing but it ain't nothing to shout from the rooftops about.
Great = A
Good = B
Okay = C
Not okay = D
Bad = F
Given that scale, yeah, I'm okay but it would certainly be a hell of a lot nicer to get to good or even great every once in a while.
I've been thinking an awful lot about what makes me tick or not tick as the case may be. The most apt metaphor I can come up with is a car that's got a nice big V8 engine, its got lots of power, makes a great sound when you blip the accelerator and could make the vehicle (me) rip it up on any road its put upon. The only problem is that the clutch connecting that massive, beautiful engine to the wheels has burnt out and can only engage just a tiny bit of the engine's power.
So I am engaged in trying to find a way to better engage my engine and put the power to the pavement more effectively. One step along that way is to talk with my doctor and see about trying out another medication for my ADHD. Another is to make sure I'm going to bed earlier, being up past midnight every night has been taking a toll on me that was hard to see until I started going to bed earlier and feeling much more complete and ready to attack the day.
How do other people do it? How do other people stay on task? How do keep track of all the myriad things you need to get done in a given day, week, month, year? I'm open to suggestions, ideas or what's worked for others. Let me know in the comments.
Jan 15, 2010My brother wrote me the other day, a short email contained in the subject line, "Are you okay?" which has been on my mind alot since. Am I okay? Have I ever been okay? Is okay good enough since its kind of like pulling a C, its passing but it ain't nothing to shout from the rooftops about.
Great = A
Good = B
Okay = C
Not okay = D
Bad = F
Given that scale, yeah, I'm okay but it would certainly be a hell of a lot nicer to get to good or even great every once in a while.
I've been thinking an awful lot about what makes me tick or not tick as the case may be. The most apt metaphor I can come up with is a car that's got a nice big V8 engine, its got lots of power, makes a great sound when you blip the accelerator and could make the vehicle (me) rip it up on any road its put upon. The only problem is that the clutch connecting that massive, beautiful engine to the wheels has burnt out and can only engage just a tiny bit of the engine's power.
So I am engaged in trying to find a way to better engage my engine and put the power to the pavement more effectively. One step along that way is to talk with my doctor and see about trying out another medication for my ADHD. Another is to make sure I'm going to bed earlier, being up past midnight every night has been taking a toll on me that was hard to see until I started going to bed earlier and feeling much more complete and ready to attack the day.
How do other people do it? How do other people stay on task? How do keep track of all the myriad things you need to get done in a given day, week, month, year? I'm open to suggestions, ideas or what's worked for others. Let me know in the comments.
The Forgotten Spice Girls
There were originally ten Spice Girls when the band was formed. The five that became the real Spice Girls killed, chopped up and buried the other five in a shallow grave. This is their story.
There was:
Tacky Spice - she really liked puffy scarves, heavy eye makeup, too much too strong perfume and always, always wore clothes that were too tight.
Old Spice - yeah, she was old but she was the best dancer of the bunch. And she smelled great too.
Scowly Spice - actually, Scowly Spice made it through the culling but emerged as Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham. She's retained alot of Scowly Spice's personality though since nobody has seen her teeth in at least ten years.
Sugar Ann Spice - the rest of the band decided her name was too cute and they tore her limb from limb backstage before their first gig at the Arkansas State Fair.
Slice Spice - she was going to be Scary's sidekick, the crazier one who liked to flick a switchblade all the time. The powers that be figured one crazy nutter Spice Girl was probably more than enough.
Kimbo Spice - somehow the addition of a burly, bearded, back yard bare knuckle brawler didn't quite fit with the hot pants, hair and hooters look of the rest of the band.
Jan 14, 2010There was:
Tacky Spice - she really liked puffy scarves, heavy eye makeup, too much too strong perfume and always, always wore clothes that were too tight.
Old Spice - yeah, she was old but she was the best dancer of the bunch. And she smelled great too.
Scowly Spice - actually, Scowly Spice made it through the culling but emerged as Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham. She's retained alot of Scowly Spice's personality though since nobody has seen her teeth in at least ten years.
Sugar Ann Spice - the rest of the band decided her name was too cute and they tore her limb from limb backstage before their first gig at the Arkansas State Fair.
Slice Spice - she was going to be Scary's sidekick, the crazier one who liked to flick a switchblade all the time. The powers that be figured one crazy nutter Spice Girl was probably more than enough.
Kimbo Spice - somehow the addition of a burly, bearded, back yard bare knuckle brawler didn't quite fit with the hot pants, hair and hooters look of the rest of the band.
An Offer They'll Likely Refuse
It was pointed out to my attention and the rest of me this evening that Conan O'Brien or someone associated with him posted this bit of awesomeness.I thought I'd send them an email with my best offer and a few random questions since I've never been a late night talk show host, at least not on tv or where other people have seen me do it.
Anyway, here's my somewhat witty but mostly smart alecky email offer:
I'll take that show off your hands as long as I don't have to wearAs you can tell, I have big plans if I'm lucky enough to be the chosen one. But really, someone should get on that jello thing, that would be awesome.
pants. I plan on a completely pants free late night talk show.
How much would it cost to have some wandering around the building with
a tshirt cannon randomly asking riddles of people and shooting them
when they answer wrong?
I'm also interested in an indoor bowling alley, an air cannon that can
launch a 2 x 4 through a car door and lots of fiery explosions. By the
way, is it against the law to make chicken carcasses fight on
television? No matter, it can be done in animation if need be.
What would you think about maintaining a two foot layer of fog or
smoke at all times? And skateboard mounted cameras connected to
helmets worn by people in the audience. And a robot that can only make
mojitos. Is there such a thing as jello that forms a hard shell when
exposed to the air? There should be.
I've got $15 I can pay you for the show now and will, brace
yourselves, match it with another $15 once the show is up and running
and making money.
Anyway, I look forward to work of the pending sale. I can live in the
studio too, right?
Labels: craigslist, satire
There Are Three Kinds of People in the World...
Finally got around to watching Team America: World Police And wanted to share this great quote:
What are some of your favorite movie quotes?
Jan 10, 2010"We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!"The movie itself is a pretty average with some funny parts but this mini-speech is the best part of the movie. The whole puppet thing was kind of silly, especially when there were fight scenes that basically meant slap fights. Still funny enough to enjoy though.
What are some of your favorite movie quotes?
UFC Fight Night Predictions
Some good fights coming up in the next couple of days with the WEC fights tonight and then a UFC Fight Night on Monday.
Not too much time to put too much into this one since we're supposed to be getting ready to go check out the Cyclocross races in Aptos.
Here we go.
Maynard over Diaz
Escudero over Dunham
Lawlor over Simpson
Sadollah over Blackburn
Leben over Silva (looking forward to seeing Leben back in action)
Lennox over Story
Tavares over Lentz
MacDonald over Guymon
Bradley over Dos Anjos (love the square hair, Raf)
Harris over Salter
Forbes over Catone
Fight of the Night to Maynard vs Diaz
Submission of the Night to Sadollah
Knockout of the Night to Lawlor
Check back to see how my calls go.
Jan 6, 2010Not too much time to put too much into this one since we're supposed to be getting ready to go check out the Cyclocross races in Aptos.
Here we go.
Maynard over Diaz
Escudero over Dunham
Lawlor over Simpson
Sadollah over Blackburn
Leben over Silva (looking forward to seeing Leben back in action)
Lennox over Story
Tavares over Lentz
MacDonald over Guymon
Bradley over Dos Anjos (love the square hair, Raf)
Harris over Salter
Forbes over Catone
Fight of the Night to Maynard vs Diaz
Submission of the Night to Sadollah
Knockout of the Night to Lawlor
Check back to see how my calls go.
Labels: mma, prediction, predictions, UFC
New Year, Same Issues
I did not magically expect 2010 to come charging in with all the answers to our many problems. I wouldn't have minded, of course, but I certainly wasn't expecting it.
We've rolled into a new year which means we've cleaned out calendars, thrown out as much 2009 stuff as we can and are working towards packing up our house for an expected planned move in the next month or so. We don't have a place to move to yet which is sort of holding up the process.
Here's a quick rant about the ad spammers who waste time posting garbage rental listings on Craigslist. Please, go wander off somewhere and die. You are wrecking a valuable and needed resource with your spam posts for fake rentals at ridiculous prices. It seems like Craigslist could be doing a far better job of shutting down spam accounts but they seem pretty content to play whack-a-mole with the ads as they crop up and are flagged by frustrated users like me.
Anyway.
The new year and decade have started off pretty much where the last year and decade left off. Which is to be expected since the changeover is more cosmetic than cosmic.
I am still pursuing a better job, still pursuing a less expensive place to live, still pursuing what measure of Kyani dream I can (maybe more on that later but no promises), still working to improve our current lot, still pursuing a better school to place our boys in, still pursuing a new rentor at the hair salon, still pursuing on all our fronts and making slow progress across the board.
And that's just the first line. There are too many secondary projects to even list but are also important to keep propelling forward or they risk stagnating and dying on the vine. I don't know how other people are able to keep on top of the ever-growing piles of things they need to get done. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to get lost under the avalanche of crap to do.
But we plug on, we push forward, we make inroads, we cross off minor goals on the trail to the bigger completions. But sometimes it is nice to take on a short project just for the satisfaction of seeing it from start to finish in one go.
It is going to be a busy 2010 for us. How about you?
blog comments powered by Disqus
We've rolled into a new year which means we've cleaned out calendars, thrown out as much 2009 stuff as we can and are working towards packing up our house for an expected planned move in the next month or so. We don't have a place to move to yet which is sort of holding up the process.
Here's a quick rant about the ad spammers who waste time posting garbage rental listings on Craigslist. Please, go wander off somewhere and die. You are wrecking a valuable and needed resource with your spam posts for fake rentals at ridiculous prices. It seems like Craigslist could be doing a far better job of shutting down spam accounts but they seem pretty content to play whack-a-mole with the ads as they crop up and are flagged by frustrated users like me.
Anyway.
The new year and decade have started off pretty much where the last year and decade left off. Which is to be expected since the changeover is more cosmetic than cosmic.
I am still pursuing a better job, still pursuing a less expensive place to live, still pursuing what measure of Kyani dream I can (maybe more on that later but no promises), still working to improve our current lot, still pursuing a better school to place our boys in, still pursuing a new rentor at the hair salon, still pursuing on all our fronts and making slow progress across the board.
And that's just the first line. There are too many secondary projects to even list but are also important to keep propelling forward or they risk stagnating and dying on the vine. I don't know how other people are able to keep on top of the ever-growing piles of things they need to get done. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to get lost under the avalanche of crap to do.
But we plug on, we push forward, we make inroads, we cross off minor goals on the trail to the bigger completions. But sometimes it is nice to take on a short project just for the satisfaction of seeing it from start to finish in one go.
It is going to be a busy 2010 for us. How about you?