Port-a-John Kerrys

Kerry beats Bush ... in US marine latrines (Yahoo/AFP)

Seems that our soldiers are voting with their graffiti. Maybe Poo-tee-wheet and I should have sent the soldier we send food to a few cans of spray paint as well.

"Here I sit cheeks a-flexin'. Bout to make another Texan," one rhyme reads, repeated in multiple stalls.

"You're not fighting for America. You're fighting for fucked-up politics. End of story Cinderella."

Another pundit opines: "If you are a retard, vote Bush. He is too!"

Dead squirrels found in local waters a mystery

Dead squirrels found in local waters a mystery

"State biologists are mystified by a mass squirrel die-off that has left more than a hundred dead squirrels washed up on West Michigan beaches.
Among the questions: Why are the expired tree dwellers ending up in the water?"

Continued at the Muskegon Chronicle (very short login)

So, is there any chance they all have spokes in their heads and a rather furry blonde fellow was seen bicycling in the neighborhood earlier that day? Eh, Erik?

Name the Artist

Da da da da da da da,
It's so easy, you can do it almost anywhere at all,
Be-doodle in the kitchen, or be-doodle in the hall,
Be-doodle in your bathtub, or be-doodle on the phone,
Be-doodle in a marching band, or doodle all alone.

That Funny Funny Tan

hahahaha...my daughter's a lesbian but I want to take away all her rights and empower a Right that would even roll back basic hate laws in Ohio....hahahaha...tan
(see also).

ahahahahaha...my policies and GW's policies are responsible for so much job growth here - you should vote for us because your city is growing despite our handling of the economy. Chinese Schminese, they have absolutely nothing at all whatsoever to do with these jobs - it's our sound fiscal policy of overspending and war....ahahahahahahaha...funny...so tan...so g*d...damned...tan.

(clickable to Yahoo link)


AP Photo
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and his wife Lynne share a laugh in Duluth, Minn., Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2004, after she made a joke about Senator Kerry's tan. The Cheney's were in Duluth campaigning. (AP Photo/Jack Rendulich)

Two posts about Klund in a row row, My day at the playground

Actually, this one isn't about Klund and yet it is - he may feel I'm mocking his children as they recently appeared in some similar photos. However, it's more of an homage - they stimulated my interest in finding the timer button on my digital camera for no other reason than to accomplish this little bit of idiocy because I was bored after a few hours at the playground. As for Mean Mr. Mustard - why bother photoshopping pictures of me when I willingly pose for the real things. Enjoy the stupidity, but first you must be subjected to my daughter's cuteness.

Eryn in the tube slide:


I have the biggest feet in the whole world and it's because I eat Anchor Farms fruit snacks, that's Anchor Farm fruit snacks, the fruit snacks of future WNBA players everywhere, logo to be photoshopped in later pending endorsement:


Stepping up:


This isn't Eryn, but he certainly looks dashing on that horse, like a valiant knight from a bygone era, a thankfully very bygone era:


I sometimes worry I have vertigo:


Damn X's, they beat me again:


Who's that hiding on the bridge! Better watch out for the troll little guy...


Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee................. (and don't look up my shorts! and please try to ignore the child neglect happening in the background, I have great peripheral vision, it even works around the edges of a plastic tube)

The Mountain

So, Klund takes the trouble to let us know about the funniest hour on televsion, but on the way home, I heard about the most exciting hour of television. The radio assured me that The Mountain is "like the O.C. on steroids". Having never watched The O.C., and even having to check online to see if it had periods in the acronym, I now never intend to, as The Mountain must be much better as it's creator (according to the radio) is the same creator as The O.C. and he obviously thinks his second show is better. But what's even more exciting is The Mountain's catchphrase, "At this altitude the condition is about to get nasty." Roll that one around in your pan for a while - sounds an awful lot like something The Simpson's would make up. Then consider that both TV for Teens and Women.com have write ups on it - I don't care if they like it or hate it, they shouldn't bother even considering it if the advertising uses the word "nasty". Barbara Hershey does not automatically make something t.v. for women.

By the way, go visit Klund, he's like A Nod to Nothing on steroids and, if I know him, his condition is always just about to get nasty.

Debt Relief

Addendum: there's a good link off of The Revealer that makes this a sort of fun little tie in to the Republicans - seems they're targeting Christians via portals with "Christ-centered, for-profit corporation."(s).

Don't worry, it's a link to a picture on my site, they're not scraping your IP address from their IIS logs as we speak. French Dip sent me a very similar advertisement for a Christian mortgage service a few weeks ago. Sure, God might have good rates, but I bet Satan could find you a better rate if the terms were right. I wonder if that's what Alan Greenspan is all about - low Satanic mortgages just to keep them out of God's hands. I bet if you actually went to visit God, you could eliminate 100% of your debt, or at least 100% of caring about your debt.

MailOrderHusbands.Net

I think Christy and Lisa can find the love they're looking for right about here. (courtesy of the KQRS morning show)

Your Medieval Quiz

This is a fun link to a medieval personality quiz from my friend Chris at Sellsbrothers. It probably tells you as much about your personality as the majority of these things do, but that doesn't take away the enjoyment - I wonder if George Bush is a Benevolent Ruler too? Excuse me while I go do some devious manipulation.

Your distinct personality, The Benevolent Ruler might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You are the idealistic social dreamer. Your overriding goal is to solve the people problems of your world. You are a social reformer who wants everyone to be happy in a world that you can visualize. You are exceptionally perceptive about the woes and needs of humankind. You often have the understanding and skill to readily conceive and implement the solutions to your perceptions. On the positive side, you are creatively persuasive, charismatic and ideologically concerned. On the negative side, you may be unrealistically sentimental, scattered and impulsive, as well as deviously manipulative. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.

My New Hobby

Every day now I carve a tiny figure of myself with my name on the base and toss it into the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers somewhat near my house - not only do I stand to become a saint, I get a lot of exercise as well.

'Miraculous' Christ Washes Up in Texas Rio Grande

Just Drawing Corollaries

George Soros' speech to the National Press Club, via Atrios:

The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was such a horrendous event that it required a strong response. But the President committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society. President Bush admits no doubt and does not base his decisions on a careful weighing of reality. For 18 months after 9/11 he managed to suppress all dissent. That is how he could lead the nation so far in the wrong direction.

Orcinus' The Rise of Pseudo Fascism: Part 2: The Architecture of Fascism regarding some of the hallmarks of fascism:

-- the need for authority by natural leaders (always male), culminating in a national chief who alone is capable of incarnating the group's destiny;
-- the superiority of the leader's instincts over abstract and universal reason;

The Station Agent

The Station Agent was an absolutely wonderful film according to pretty much everybody but Chris Hewitt, the critic from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and I thank Erik for referring it to me - I really enjoyed it and I think Rotten Tomatoes is spot on with their 95%. Of course Chris Hewitt really enjoyed S.W.A.T. too, so who knows what the hell he's thinking. The basic premise of The Station Agent? Short guy train enthusiast's friend dies and leaves him a train station - he learns to enjoy his life and the people he meets. Right there you can tell that it's going to be significantly better than S.W.A.T.

I also saw Shaun of the Dead on Sunday which I didn't enjoy as much as the Dawn of the Dead remake or The Station Agent, but which was still pretty darn good - it reminded me very much of the sort of campy horror movies that become classics, like American Werewolf in London and The Evil Dead. Chris Hewitt liked this one - so maybe he just has consistency issues, or maybe he's afraid of little people. I should check his ratings for Lord of the Rings.

Next up for me, via Netflix, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter - I kid you not. It's not even important enough to rate a splat or a fresh on Rotten Tomatoes - I can't wait.

The Nazi Conscience - Part End

Orcinus published Part II of his Rise of Pseudo Fascism article today, The Architecture of Fascism. At this link you can see Part 1: The Morphing of the Conservative Movement. It's something of a coincidence for me as I also finished Koonz's The Nazi Conscience. A few of the more interesting, major ideas in her book were:

1. That the SA and SS and their respective publications and actions in Nazi Germany complemented each other by providing foils for escalating atrocities against Jews. When the SA initiated violent attacks and screeds against Jews, the SS could counter-position itself as the technocratic voice of reason, trying to assure the populace that pogroms would not interrupt day-to-day life and affect moral conscience and that there were more efficient ways to handle the issue. Thus the more violent and virulent the SA became, the more capable the SS was of putting forward their eventually exterminist agenda for Jews and in the best possible light. It would seem that this is what is going on now and I'd be interested to hear someone address it. I've heard discussions of the use of language by the right to create particular ideas, but I haven't heard a discussion about how the over-the-top ideas of the right, particularly anti-homosexual rants like those voiced by Jimmy Swaggart, or anti-Muslim diatribes like Michelle Malkin, provide a screen for the more "moderate" voices of the right preaching pretty much the exact same thing - Fox News, et al. The depth of the similarities are deeper in that this Administration maintains a relative silence on the issue of homosexuality, but offers coded assurances to supporters that it's not off the board, that the persecution of gay Americans isn't something that will be put on the wayside - observe the comments about Kerry's and Edward's hair, etc. This serves a twofold purpose of encoding a message to those who think they know the real Bush agenda and, at the same time, emasculating their opponents, one of the first rules of fascism - the language of fascism is masculine and about masculine leaders.

2. That the evolution of a group conscience aimed at expelling a minority from the body (volk) is not necessarily at odds with a different attitude toward discrete individuals by discrete individuals. While most Germans had to participate in the extermination of Jews in some manner: settling bank accounts, selling off assets, processing assets, adjusting rental units, negotiating bills for those who had disappeared - individual acts of kindness towards Jews who were friends persisted throughout the war. This is event more the case considering the right versus homosexuality where homosexuality doesn't reside in a percent or two of the population and doesn't necessarily reside with another family (if you have ten family members, you're working the odds), but likely in one's own, even if you refuse to acknowledge it. Hence, politicians like Dick Cheney and Alan Keyes who can condemn homosexuality as a whole while having gay daughters and friends.

3. There is a rewriting of history to portray your enemies as responsible for the current political woes and moral problems while simultaneously recalling a golden era when those problems did not exist. Thus, the persecution of Bill Clinton as somehow responsible for the moral breakdown of American society and the Clinton administration (and liberals and the left in general) as responsible for the problems with terrorists and a harkening back to the eras of Regan, Nixon and even McCarthy.

4. And finally, simply the existence of scholarly racism - that there exists a programmatic effort to create a structured, intellectual, scholarly movement to justify 1, 2 and 3 - a full blown funding of think tanks, publications, scientists, and other media to create the false impression of a science that does not actually demonstrate any scientific evidence outside a political viewpoint. Anyone who watched Santorum debate the number of parents necessary for a healthy family during the gay marriage debate was privileged to see the modern equivalent of this point. And any discussion of "intelligent design" raises the same specter.

I really recommend reading Koonz's book - absolutely wonderful and absolutely pertinent.

"...a creed that gathers force when modernizing societies are convulsed by dislocations which threaten convention systems of meaning." (p. 274)

"Political leaders who appear to embody the communitarian virtues of a bygone age purport to stand as beacons of moral rectitude in a sea of sin...their devoted constituencies share a fear of moral and physical pollution so profound it transcends partisan politics." (p. 274)

This tree...

...was not as sagacious as the last tree. I thought - hey, I'm enlightened, perhaps I could be enlightened more, or in a different way, with a different tree. But while resting beneath this tree and seeking enlightenment, Aleister Crowley showed up and started lecturing me about the Sepher Sephiroth, which wouldn't have been so bad, but standing behind him the whole time was Madonna, shaking her head in agreement and saying over and over and over again, "That's Kabbalah, you know, to you and me and Guy Ritchie, but mostly to you, that's Kabbalah."

Crowley accused me of focusing on theurgy to avoid work, rather than thaumaturgy to accomplish great things, like finishing dockets for Mean Mr. Mustard, and then threw up a bit of Thoth Tarot to predict my magickal currents. The whole time Madonna is there doing some damn characters of the Thoth Tarot Kabbalah vogue that is absolutely pissing me off, and halfway through a great cross spread, with Lust widdershins to Aeon, the Tall Man past his ascendancy and the whole thing pointing out how far from the ten emanations on the tree of life I've strayed, I scream at both of them, "I COULD LEARN AS MUCH FROM THE SCOTT AND HIS FREAKING NAMED POPSICLE STICKS!" Well, that put a damper on the whole production and Crowley looked downright indignant. He muttered, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law," and stalked off - like I hadn't figured that much out already. But Madonna, who was the only one I really wanted out of there, stopped halfway through her impression of the Hanged Man, lingered and then started asking me all sorts of questions about the popsicle sticks and how they worked and could you put the names of people outside a workgroup on them and if she patented them and led pilgrimages to Scott's house to partake of his wisdom, well, did I think Scott would mind and was I interested in engaging in a bit of Thelemic sexual ritual with her and Britney, for Aleister's sake? I told her we could do all of that as soon as she was done reading and understanding Book Four - I figure the whole Mother Goose/Lewis Carroll thing will give her an idea for a song and she'll finally leave me alone.

You'd think...

...that a homebrewed case of beer in your basement all covered in dust and labeled "unknown 11/2002" would taste like something the cat does down there, but it is amazingly delicious - I think it must have been an attempt to create an IPA. Tastes quite a bit like a Summit EPA with some extra hops, bittering and aroma, that rolls from the back of the tongue up to the roof of the mouth and stays there while the taste in the back quickly mellows to malt and just a hint of grain and caramel. I'm loathe to let Jen turn one into chili.

My Weekend

Well, there's not much to say - Saturday I played games all day with a mixture of Westies and other friends and filled my body with both solid (meatballs, an omelet, lots of M&Ms) and liquid (pumpkin beer, shipyard beer, Leine's beer, some new IPA, Young's Chocolate Stout, etc., just to name half a dozen) pollutants, a lot of them.

But something about the bodily pleasures of that day made me dissatisfied, so I found myself a tree and sat under it in deep mediation. I told myself, "I will not leave this spot until I find an end to suffering." Saturday night, I was visited by an evil one who tried to tempt me away from my virtuous path. This evil one put many temptations and tribulations before me. Sunday morning beautiful women - Sandra Bullock, Minnie Driver, and Sophie Marceau - were sent to lure me into pleasure. Then Sunday afternoon several local forecasters from WCCO, KSTP, and KARE11 threatened to lash my repose with bolts of lightning, wind and heavy rain. Lastly, Sunday evening I faced demonic armies armed with flaming rocks, sharp pointy sticks, sponges soaked in very cold water, and all manner of portable DVD players loaded with Fear Factor reruns. I defeated them all with my virtue. As my struggles ended, I realized the cause of suffering and how to remove it. I had gained the most supreme wisdom and understood things as they truly are. I became 'The Awakened One'. My new state allowed me to perceive three universal truths and four noble truths about our existence:

• nothing is lost in the universe, it is only misplaced for periods exceeding a normal person's lifetime,
• everything changes except Fear Factor,
• there exists cause and effect, this is why I did not pick my CDFFL players last week,
• suffering is common to all, but especially to Larry,
• we are the cause of our suffering, but if we try hard, we can help others to suffer,
• we can stop our suffering unless Kevin is somehow involved,
• there is a path we can all follow to end our suffering, but that path only works for people no taller than six foot three (6'3").
  
  
  

Ack...gack...ugh...Smittens

I saw this on Boing Boing's Dating Zen today and well....just ewww...  Anyone from work think we should get Christy and Lisa...one? a set? a pair? 

 

http://www.smittens.biz/what.html

MN Republican Watch

Has a good post linking to the WCCO story and video about Golden Valley residents receiving hate mail in Rosh Hashanah cards, presumably because they have Kerry signs up in their front yards.  Reminds me of the story I was telling Mean Mr. Mustard right before the Bike Classic about a guy who was looking at my Kerry sign and writing in a little notebook in his car and took off when I started to approach him.

 

As an aside, what the hell is that thing on Esme Murphy's lapel?  It looks like something from a tide pool.

Thursday Evening, Late

I had a terrifying evening yesterday.  I was going out to the kennel to let my dog, Sandy, back into the house, when I noticed some peculiar lights in the sky.  They were moving extremely fast and seemed somewhat strange, so I ran back inside and got my camera - as you can see, they were moving so quickly that I almost couldn't track them with my camera.

 

 

After a few minutes, they started moving at even higher speeds and with such sudden reversals of direction that I didn't believe they could be attributed to any aircraft with which I am familiar.  I wondered if I was seeing one of the aircraft the government was rumored to be working on - a mysterious flying wing or perhaps a new missile or missile defense test.

 

 

Whatever I thought they were at first, I stayed in the yard a little too long pondering, because they seemed to notice me and began to move much closer, a dim red light illuminating my back yard and setting Sandy and the rest of the neighborhood dogs to howling.  I thought I would see all my neighbors come out of their houses to see what was going on, but it was then I noticed that all their lights had gone out, and the sound of the dogs and a slight humming (which might have been felt more than heard) was all that I could hear.

 

 

They moved so close that I became uncomfortable and hid behind my shed, hoping that if they were attacking me, they'd get my dog first and I'd have time to run.  As they neared, I could see a strange, what seemed to be metal, globe with another glass globe protruding from the top settling toward my yard.  The humming continued, but there was no roar of rockets or even any heat.  The dogs grew silent and still, no neighbors appeared.

 

 

 

After several moments, the double globe landed in my back yard, and strange creatures, like giant worms or snakes, shining with brilliant light, exited the glasslike portion of the craft and began chasing each other around my back yard at breakneck speed, investigating all the nooks and crannies and momentarily hovering in the direction of Sandy and my neighbors dogs, as though sniffing.  My terror was mind numbing and it was only after what felt like excruciating minutes had passed that I realized, with a certain horror, that they weren't individual snakes, but a single creature with hundreds of numerous, glowing tentacles.  This wasn't a group of curious aliens or a government project, but rather a single cthulu-esque like old one - his arms brilliant lures, and at his center an inky black body of cold malevolence and hot hunger.

 

 

I flipped the catch on the dog kennel so Sandy could make a run for it, but purposefully didn't detach the cord on the run that keeps her from digging her way out, tricking her into causing a distraction.  As the creature pounced, I ran for the house.  It seemed to work, because the last I saw, the creature pulled Sandy into the glass ball with it, wrapping her so tightly in its tentacles that it seemed like a single point of light, and then returned to the skies.

 

 

Several long minutes passed during which I opened the door to my bedroom and hid in the outer bathroom, where I could make sure that if the creature came back and entered the house, it would find my wife instead of me.  But then the electricity came back on and several of our appliances beeped, and the neighbors' houses lit back up.  At the same time, the dogs started howling enough to wake the whole neighborhood, and this time it did seem to wake everyone.  I asked my wife if she had been awake or seen anything strange, and she told me to quit drinking and get in bed.  I thought that was the end of it.  But this morning, Sandy was back in her kennel....

Vote for John Kerry Because He Knows the Iron Head Style of Shaolin

I saw this picture of John Kerry on Wonkette and I laughed a lot because only last night I watched Shaolin Soccer via Netflix. As stupid as it is, it is an absolutely wonderful movie. The story basically involves six brothers. Each of the brothers knows a particular style of Shaolin martial arts: Iron Head, Iron Leg, Iron Arm, Iron Belly...you get the picture. They form a soccer team devoted to defeating the nefarious Team Evil in the world championships. In the process, brother number two finds love in the form of a sweet buns baker who also knows martial arts and uses the power of Ying/Yang to create the sweetest sweety buns in town. Well, there's one scene when Iron Belly is playing soccer and gets the ball and it sticks to his stomach because of the power of his Shaolin style, and we see him running toward the goal to score. This looks like exactly what it is, a guy with a soccer ball glued to his belly running around a field - it was so Monty Python that both Poo-tee-wheet and I were laughing up a storm. I highly recommend it.



[REUTERS/Brian Snyder US ELECTION]

208 votes nationally?

I think if I tried really hard, I might be able to find 208 people to vote for me if I ran.  Of course, I wouldn't have to find 208 people that weren't gay, didn't drink or smoke,  and had a few pounds of gold hanging around the house.

 

http://www.us-election.com/wv-candidates.php?candidate=amondson

Am I a Recipient of Republican Largesse?

According to this article on AmericaBLOG, the Bush administration is using the Section 8 housing program to force funding out of (Democratic) urban areas into (Republican) suburbs.  Here, in loverly Minnesota, that would mean out of Minneapolis/St. Paul and into Fridley, Eagan, Apple Valley/Lakeville (presumably).  I never thought when my brother and I got into the (limited to one home in our case) Section 8 business that this would be something to be concerned about.  More importantly, I'm embarrassed that this might mean somehow Republicans are creating an advantage for me because my Section 8 home is in Apple Valley.  You might think it was offset by my rental property in Richfield (solidly Democratic, so presumably subject to the same jiggering of funds away from there), but that property isn't Section 8, so there's not a net balancing out.  Not that any of it really matters if they just mess with the program so much it falls apart in Minnesota.

 

My brother and I enjoy being Section 8 home owners/landlords.  We don't abuse the system (we actually charge what we felt pays for the mortgage and services, not the maximum allowed under the program, and we financed in such a way that the mortgage payments were kept extremely low), we keep the house in good shape and are actually adding quite a few features (new carpet downstairs, brand new deck, redid the storm doors, new, larger and more efficient water heater, lawnmower [that stays with the house, we didn't expect them to buy one], newer washer/dryer, and plans for some new windows and new countertops).  When we're there to do repairs or coordinate someone else doing repairs, it's obvious how excited our tenant is about living in a real house with lots of room for her children and you can definitely tell how excited her children are to be in a house with even a smidgeon of space they can call their own.  When her girls first showed up to see the place, they were literally bouncing from room to room they were so enthused. 

 

I remember my own childhood, living in apartments with rats, one bedroom for four people (kids sleep in the front room), all the same stories that people dredge up to point out why we shouldn't provide Section 8 ("if I my parents lived through it, they can"), but my parents still came by a lot of advantages in life and still had a lot of family support to fall back on (free meat from my grandpa, for instance - whole cars full of the stuff - and we did take advantage of government cheese a few times), they were basically the middle generation of an evolving, multi-generational trend toward middle class that seems to be the paradigm for many of my friends - their children in turn had the advantages they gave us to skip (for the most part) the rat-infested apartments, at least by the time we had our own children, and go to school without too many worries about whether we'd starve.  I like to think Section 8 is, at least in part, a way to jump start that process for a generation - it gets them past the extra generation of individuals required to land you in that area where you can worry about college and career instead of shelter and food.  Sure, that doesn't apply to all Section 8 tenants, but nothing applies to everyone, and hopefully, more than anything else, it applies to the children who get to take advantage of the program.

 

It's all about preventing terrorism

How can anyone think Democrats will be less capable in fighting the "war on terror"?

 

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/007969.html

A Ride on the Peace Plane

The Former Cat Stevens Gets Plane Diverted

I like Chris Dykstra's headline, "I'm being followed by a goon shadow" better - I think it's more creative than my Channel 11 News-type teaser.

Tall Brad, Votergasms and The Nazi Conscience

I don't think Tall Brad would have liked Nazi Germany. Apparently "inter-racial British lesbians" (p. 152) were particularly frowned upon.

T.B. sent a particularly good link around at work today about an enjoyable new trend addressed by the Star Tribune. Perhaps they can couple it with the Votergasm movement (possibly not-safe-for-work) and kill two birds with one stone.

Today is the Day I Became a Clip Guy

I ditched my lanyard for a clip on my work badge. I don't know what this says about me...

• Perhaps I'm embracing the management ethos.
• Perhaps I finally felt like I was wearing a leash.
• Perhaps I'm bored of wearing a string that still has white Playdough flecks in it from when Eryn buried it.
• Perhaps I'm worried that in a car accident I might be trapped behind the wheel by the string.
• Perhaps I want management to have to work harder to see who I am.
• Perhaps I just wanted the new sleeve the badge guy gave me in addition to a clip.
• Perhaps I want everyone to look as close to my crotch as possible to see who I am.

All I know is that if I break a shoelace, I won't have the safety margin I once had.

The New Camera

So Poo-tee-wheet has spent several days trying to figure out if we can get our Kodak digital camera fixed after it was dropped. End result? According to the small mom-and-pop camera store, Kodak Camera itself and several independent large camera dealers, it must be sent back to Kodak, it will not be under warranty, and the cost will be $150 not including shipping and handling and insurance both ways, or any extra costs if it's not what they think it is (I assume it never is). Awful lot of money for a bad shutter, particularly as you can get one off e-bay for around $180. End result? A new CX7530 5-megapixel camera from Best Buy. That way we don't have to wait several weeks while we wait for a used one to show up/not show up/etc. (we had a several month e-bay crash course on getting poker chips that involved shipping insurance and trying to claim it). It's another Kodak because we didn't want to waste the money we spent on a great big memory chip for the last one, but there's a nice list of things you do waste from your last one:

1.) your one-touch docking port doesn't work, even though the new camera "fits most docking ports" and the old LS443 seemed to be one of their more popular models. Even if you wanted to buy a new docking port (which we wouldn't), because the cameras no longer come with them, they're an $80 add on (it's a piece of freaking plastic with a button and a usb port for ****'s sake), and you can't get the new ports anyway because they've all been reconfigured to some new Kodak standard and Best Buy doesn't even have them yet. Anyone who doesn't like the proprietary nature of Microsoft should apparently despise camera dealers as well.
2.) your rechargeable battery doesn't work - they have new kinds of rechargeable batteries - our new model doesn't even take the square ones (which aren't the same size as the old square ones), but AAs, so we had to get a recharge kit.

Poo-tee-wheet will be trying it out tomorrow to see how the outdoor pictures go, but if all goes well, I will soon be posting brand new higher-quality pictures marked down to the same low quality with which you are accustomed to seeing them on NodtoNothing.

The Blubber Run Pictures

Finally got some pictures from the Blubber Run. My favorite is this one:



Here we are, at the end of the race - we broke an hour!



And here's an old retired guy racing a pregnant woman of Korean heritage - you can be sure the side bets by the spectators were flying, but in the end, those who backed the old guy won.

God Bless the Little Children of the World

When an opponent says, " I will not come over to your side," I calmly say, "Your child belongs to us already...You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community." - Adolf Hitler, November 6, 1933.








And finally, although there's no picture:
Little Connor Learns About Our President. (Conservative Kids: Teaching Your Child Not to Fall Into the Liberal Trap, Book III)

and make sure to catch the first two books...
Conservative Kids: Teaching your Child not to Fall into the Liberal Trap. Book I: Little Connor learns Pro-Life Values.
and
Little Connor Learns About Patriotism (Conservative Kids: Teaching Your Child Not to Fall Into the Liberal Trap, Book II)

Norwegianity...

...has a great post on the Republicans in local Renville County, Minnesota.

The Nazi Conscience and Pseudo Fascism

I noticed late last night that Orcinus is doing an article (six parts) about pseudo fascism and when I read it I was amazed at how closely it tied into The Nazi Conscience - basically in the first 80 pages of the book (as far as I am) if you take the words Semitism and Jew and replace them with homosexual, and replace Communist with terrorist, it's absolutely uncanny. And Orcinus' discussion of "real Americans" and the conservative concept of being American resounds with the German concept of Volk. Not to mention, in The Nazi Conscience there's a whole chapter on intellectuals like Martin Heidegger, who didn't fight in the first World War and how they later glorified the fighting as a way of supporting the Nazis, a parallel to "shock and awe" and what Orcinus calls "a kind of beauty to violence" (Hitler himself rails on about it during his trial - that violence can be a form of extreme patriotism). Koonz makes the point that Germans grew into the virulent anti-Semitism they practiced and that it was consciously driven from the top town in some rather disingenuous ways.

Addendum: Ugh, I didn't even mention Michelle Malkin and the whole internment camps thing because it's just so annoying and so over the top, but Eric Muller notes that some people are considering it an issue we should be considering right now.

"...anyone who appreciated Jewish authors was unmanly." (p. 59).

"Thus, while stalwarts clamored for radical action against Jews, newcomers demanded curbs against lawlessness. Confronted by what appeared to be irreconcilably opposed expectations, Nazi leaders exploited a source of power not possessed by earlier revolutionaries: a thoroughly literate citizenry and a technologically advanced media network...Citizens came to believe that they could intuit the "real Hitler"--the one that suited their own outlook--from their experience of a film or a broadcast." (p. 71).

"...allowed followers to glimpse a private life that was carefully constructed for public consumption. In these informal snapshots, Hitler emerged as a regular guy who took pleasure in his followers' adoration, loved his dog, enjoyed the outdoors, and appreciated fast cars." (p. 77).

Speaking of Snakes - One More Reason Not to Live in Malaysia

The flying snake of Java and Malaysia is able to flatten itself out like a ribbon and sail like a glider from tree to tree (Source: http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/).

Video and pictures at:
http://www.flyingsnake.org/

My Review of Roger & Me

Flint, Michigan politicians don't make any sense. They spent $100 million on Autoworld, only to have it close 6 months later due to lack of visitors. They could have bought Pearly Gates for far cheaper, not worried about visitors at all and still had almost $100 million dollars to just hand out to unemployed auto workers.

Erik's and Holly's Home Warming and the Big Ugly Snake at the Bike Classic

Erik's and Holly's housewarming was a lot of fun - good food (though Jen and I sort of brought the lowbrow food by way of hamburger/Velveeta cheesy dip - but it seemed to go over well enough), lots of beer, and their new place is really nice when you look around all the rooms (although they have a steam powered robot living in their basement which is sort of scary). I'm not so sure the rest of my work group will be disappointed they didn't go (they're going later this week for lunch) as the crowd was very young, attractive and quite liberal ("more trees, less Bush") - I qualify for one out of three. However, I imagine this is what it must feel like for Mr. Mustard when he has to go out for a burrito with TallBrad and me, so now I have some empathy for him.

I did spend some time right at the end of our evening there talking to Jim, husband of the Bike Classic executive director (or whatever they call their boss), who had volunteered at the Classic as a ride marshal. He asked if I'd gone early enough to see the big snake in the middle of the road and when I affirmed it, he explained that his area was near the squashed snake and eventually it bothered him so much that he had to pry it off the road with some tire irons and lob it into the bushes. That probably wasn't on the volunteer description.

Holly confirmed there was an accident that involved a squashed face, although Erik was surprised, and that there was a broken pelvis as well! We don't ever get to see that on the ride description.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

As Poo-tee-wheet says, Angelina Jolie actually got "reverse naked" by putting on an eye patch, and yet it was much better than Taking Lives. We went at 10 p.m. and I was so tired I could barely stay awake, and yet it maintained my attention and kept me awake - a good concept for a movie and just a lot of fun. I particularly liked the fact that the ray guns on the robots made the same noises as in the original War of the Worlds.

The Nazi Conscience

by Claudia Koonz, Duke University - I'm enjoying it immensely.

"Attired in a white shirt, tie, and black suit with a discreet swastika lapel pin, Chancellor Hitler fulminated about hostile foreign powers, the Bolshevik menace, cultural decline, and spineless liberals." (p. 31)

"...unremitting efforts to frighten the neutral voting masses into support of the Nazi regime, resulted in a bare 51 percent majority for the anti-democratic coalition." (p. 36 - requoted from "Hitler in Power", New York Times, March 7, 1933).

"On the night of February 27-28, 1933, a terrorist attack set the Reichstag ablaze. Headlines called it the first stage of a Communist revolution. Acting on Hitler's 'advice' and with cabinet approval, President Hindenburg suspended civil rights. Nazi newspapers called for 'hard hammer blows' against 'the criminal Communist hand' that caused the fire. Hitler condemned the 'dastardly attack' and praised the 'self-sacrificing firemen' who saved the Reichstag from total destruction." (p. 33-34)

Blubber Run

I attended the James Page Blubber Run again this year - I think my 5th year less 2001 when I had a wedding to attend. I have pictures, but they're on a disposable, so I have to have them developed tomorrow after I take pictures at Erik's housewarming tonight. When I do develop them, I'll update with at least one I know is very amusing. Once again - the number of beer trucks, insufficient. The lack of a banana, appalling. The switch from grilled burgers and chicken to Subway, nauseating. Next year I may park a keg of James Page in the middle of my yard and run around it 100 times, stopping only long enough to refill and yell greetings to my neighbors. I don't have to dispose of the costume tradition simply because it's only me participating.

Never in all the years I've been there have I heard so much talk about politics. There were hundreds of people with Run Against Bush t-shirts on - if I had to make a realistic guess, I'd probably guess closer to a thousand - I saw them everywhere, only outnumbered by actual Blubber Run 2004 shirts. My favorite political item of the day, however, was a discussion being held by a few 21+ year olds who were immediately in front of me during the end of the race. One of them noted that when she was in Europe, people and their governments were always complaining about the U.S. government. Another friend noted that those governments suck.

On the way home I saw a Kerry/Edwards sticker on an SUV from Austin, Texas. I'm hoping these little sightings are spiritual signs.

Things Erik Didn't Tell Us About the Classic

Seems that by not going on the 15 miler during the Bike Classic we fortunately got to avoid witnessing a pretty serious accident. My sister, LissyJo, an RN, told me she had to stop and minister to a woman who'd fallen off her bike and couldn't remember where she was. The scene was accompanied by missing teeth, runnels of flesh flayed off the face, and a big spattering of blood v-ing away from where she'd hit. LissyJo noted that it looked like she'd fallen face first into a pile of knives or scissors. She wasn't sure how she could have been going fast enough to get hurt that bad, but sometimes if you go over the handlebars there's no saving you. Makes the accident we witnessed last year when a guy slid into the tunnel wall seem pretty mild.

Mr. Mustard Broke my Digital Camera

He's probably looking for it right now and thinking, "no I didn't." And, directly, he did not - but metaphysically/spiritually/coincidentally and a bunch of other -allys, he did result in the partial death of the camera I use on a daily basis. Mere days after giving him my old Olympus, my Kodak was dropped and shortly afterwards developed a tendency to take some pictures with an overexposure. We can't say whether the dropping resulted in the problem, but it seems like suspicious timing. Not that it matters, things get dropped, we fix them - it's simply a forced way to encourage the economy. Sometime yesterday it began to take pictures with an underexposure. A severe underexposure - like they're all black. It's really not so bad, I get to pretend they're pictures or .mov(ies) of anything I like - I have naked blackmail pictures of everyone I know right now and some outtakes from the Zapruder film I'm certain no one has seen before. Figure on the grassy knoll? Two of them. Clearly Michael J. Fox next to a silver car with the doors wedged up, a gun to Biff's head while he forces him to hold the sniper rifle. Horrible!

We'll be taking it in to have it looked at for free by a local camera fix-it fellow and then it becomes a matter of is it cheaper to have it fixed, or is it cheaper to move up to a new, compatible camera (I don't want to lose my battery or chip). Either way, it puts the kybosh on my hostile takeover plans for my company's public stock - win some, lose some.

Our Little Slice of Bush

Sigh...Mary Kiffmeyer...there are 9/10 people and there are 9/11 people. Wonder which people she thinks are Democrats and I wonder which people she thinks are Republicans. We care, you're deluded, we know, you're ignorant...if it weren't for us you'd all be threatened by terrorists with automatic weapons at the polling places...the solution, reintroduce automatic weapons and make sure the City Pages doesn't encourage anyone to vote (or anyone else who might be scared by blatant scare tactics).

I watched Channel 5's Town Hall tonight and got to listen to yet another local Republican answer the question (paraphrase) "Why isn't George Bush doing anything about Osama bin Laden"...why? "Because terrorism is bigger than just Osama bin Laden". Ah...so freaking wise...did that come to him while he was sitting on the hill in Duluth calmly pondering how to complain about Star Tribune polling practices? Maybe he was interested in how to convince Minnesotans, like West Virginians, that the truly Godless are their fellow Americans. Or while he was deciding how righteous it was that conservatives boycott Proctor and Gamble because they don't think hate crime bills covering gays should be repealed? Or perhaps he was listening to the local news about how parts of Minnesota outside the Twin Cities are starting to be labeled "Rural Ghettoes" and giving himself a big high-five for the Republican policies he was so cheerfully crowing about and how they were benefiting socially conservative rural Minnesotans.

A Movie Review - Taking Lives

Jen didn't think it was as bad as the Rotten Tomatoes reviews - I think there are some things even Angelina Jolie's breasts can't save.

Beer Notes - The Java Stout Experience

Erik should be so jealous - I have four CASES of beer percolating in the basement. Ninety-six bottles of liquory goodness. Soon I will bottle them all, then drink them all while kicking up the picture of Mr. Mustard in the duck suit, because I know it will be even funnier tipsy - it will be such a happy month.

Tonight's concoction was Java Stout, from a kit from Midwest Homebrewing Supplies. Biggest issue? Pushing the plug on the carbouy in until it fell into the "beer" - trying to get it out required sterilizing two metal rods, bending them and aligning the bends in opposite directions, then pulling the plug out backwards with a fairly exceptional amount of force. I noticed when moving it into the basement that the last batch is still bubbling out CO2 through the water lock - excellent - that means it's still creating alcohol.

Java Stout
6# dark malt extract
Crystal malt
Chocolate malt
Roasted Barley
1/2 c. Ground Coffee, supplemented from my cupboard with another 1/2 c. of Cameron's Velvet Hammer Espresso (Italian Roast, dark)
1 oz. Fuggles Bittering Pellet Hops (alpha acid 4.4%)
1 oz. Tettnang Aroma Pellet Hops (alpha acid 4.4%)
Wyeast Irish #1084 (liquid)

The Johns are Giving Me Signs

It's almost the equivalent of a crop circle. On the way home today I had to stop at the light two lights before my house, where there's a dedicated left turn lane - on my right Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker style one, on my left, Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker style two and right in the middle me, Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker style three. The guy on the right and I exchanged thumbs up as we pulled off and the guy on the left noticed us both as we drove past - I could see his big smile in the mirror. I think there should be a sign on the way into town, "Kerry/Edwards, Because You Want Eagan to Smile".

I'm Helping Mr. Mustard With His Halloween Costume

It's not as good as his hacks, but it makes me smile every time I see it and I think that's what counts.

The Coolest Thing I Learned Today

was obviously not in my Software Risk Analysis/Assessment class, instead it was this absolutely cool tool I picked up via a post on Boing Boing. It allows you to create a link to your library that you store on your browser toolbar - then when you're looking at a book in Amazon, you click the link and it swirls you away to an ISBN lookup at your library. I used it today to reserve a few books that were on my Amazon wishlist. If you use Ramsey County, you may have an issue as their IPAC system falls into the caveat of using ISBNE, so you have to do some manual configuration, but it's well worth it.

Things You Shouldn't Lick

So, Eryn and I were watching the Daily Show, and right in the middle of one of their reports, she walks up to the television and licks Donald Rumsfeld. The only thing I can assume is that she was trying to get the orangey-sweet taste of her dessert dreamsicle out of her mouth by licking the bitterest, nastiest tasting thing in the room - she's just too young to realize I wouldn't have the real Rumsfeld in my house.

Are the only people that use AOL Republicans?

I bet it's the quick link to "NASCAR" that attracts them to AOL.

http://www.electionguide04.com/virtual_primaries2.adp

Not as Sick as a Dog

I know I'm not as sick as a dog, because when I came back from work this morning at 7:00 a.m. after making sure the SQL switch was ok because I didn't feel well, the dog had left me a huge mess in her indoor plastic kennel - I didn't leave a big mess in the bed for Poo-tee-wheet when I left this morning, so I must be in a bit better shape than Sandy. There's nothing quite so bad as being sick to your stomach and fighting a pounding headache and horrible sinuses only to be assaulted by the smell of your dog having voided her bowels on the enclosed porch. Sick at work might have been preferable. I can sum up most of my day in the next phrase: I took a nap. About the only other thing I did was respond to Klund's accusation that I sent him unreadable books.

Microsoft Patches - It Could be Worse

I note that Mean Mr. Mustard is apologizing to his mother for telling her graphics can't infect her computer (although they could be transmitting terrorist information under the covers all along). It'd just like to point out, it could be worse; the Witches Voice Pagan Webcrafter has issued a warning for all those Pagan Witch Apple users.

Notes from a Pagan Webcrafter....Safari/Witchvox Menus Issue Fixed: Last week Apple computer issued a security update that 'broke' the main DHTML menus that you see at the top of all of our pages (as well as Fedex, Kellogs, bestbuy.com and others) IN Sarfari. - Our thanks go out to Jason and the folks at opencube.com for working up a quick patch. Thanks also to Solitaire for a quick fix that helped to get Wren back on track. Son of Power Menus: The opencube.com folks also helped us kill the 'license needed nag box' some of you were getting when you hit any of the aliases that go to this site (witchvox.net/org - witchesvoice.com/net/org etc. etc.).
Witchvox is composed on a Mac G5 (OSX Panther) and optimized for the Safari Web Browser. - Pages are spot checked against IE, Mozilla and Opera on PC computers on a weekly basis.

Mocking St. Peter, What Should be the Final Post

That last picture of the Pearly Gates of Como Pavillion might have been nice, but I knew I could one up it once I got home. Here is the immediate McVay clan, lounging at the Pearly Gates of St. Como, Patron Saint of Caged Animals and Transplanted Fauna, favorite Saint of Ming and Julie Tan, site of a recent pilgrimage by several of my coworkers (second from the bottom).

Klund has seen fit

to show me the Pearly Gates of St. Peter. I wonder if his town knows that everyone in the cities can just go to Como Park instead.

Should you be scared

when your department secretary puts this little bit of trivia in the out of office memo?

"If the skin of a 150-pound person were spread out flat, it would cover approximately 20 square feet. " (Source: http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/)

Fortunately it can't apply to me, I'm quite a bit bigger than 150#. I wonder who she's after.

Holy CRAP will I not be moving to St. Peter any time soon

Perhaps it's the children on stilts (clickable image). Perhaps it's that I'm terrified that Mona has had SIX (6) yoga shows on local cable access, or who or what Oscar the Clown is, or what the Promenaders Spring Fling is, or whether Storytime With Joni – Circus might actually be scarier than The Wiggles (and who knows what the hell "Lovepower" entails), but even without being able to find a picture of those Pearly Gates, I'm really starting to be fairly certain that my undressing under a kilt in Klund's front yard is perhaps the tamest thing that's ever happened in that town.

St. Peter Public Access Program Guide

Where History and Progress Meet

http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/koktan/4.index.htm

"THE PEARLY GATES
In an attempt to capitalize on potential tourism business, members of the community in St. Peter have designed and created what is now known as “The Pearly Gates” (see appendix for picture). It is the hope that this work of art will attract people to St. Peter such as the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox did for Brainerd. Community leaders want people to think of St. Peter when they think of the Pearly Gates and vice-versa.
The idea of the Pearly Gates came about during a Chamber of Commerce meeting. Attendants of the meeting were discussing how to create and identity for St. Peter and capitalize on its current positive image. One idea was to create a tourist attraction that when people think of this attraction, they will immediately think St. Peter. Paul Dumdei of First State Bank of St. Peter created the actual idea of the Pearly Gates. During the discussion at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, he began sketching an idea of a large gate on a napkin. Initial reaction to the idea was apprehensive. However, with time, the idea began to gain support. Larry Haugen, President of the Chamber of Commerce, says the idea gained support due in part to the notion that there is no dumb or bad idea. Haugen also says that although the idea of the pearly gates may seem “nutty,” “nutty things” attract people. In the end, Dumdei purchased the Pearly Gates from a manufacturing company in Mexico. Today, the structures await installation and are currently stored at the Public Works Department in St. Peter.
Many different individuals and groups within the community and surrounding area are working collaboratively to complete the project. RW Carlstrom, a local construction company based in Mankato, will be the general contractor installing the gates. The company will be doing all installation including foundation and masonry work on the pillars that will hold the gates. Some donation of time of labor is expected from the company. Brian Grey of Volp Electric will be donating lighting and other electrical components as well as time of labor. KRBI Radio, a new up and coming station in the St. Peter, will be making monetary donations as well as airtime to promote the project. The two major groups involved in the project working collaboratively are the City of St. Peter and the Chamber of Commerce. They city currently stores the gates until installations and recently finished painting the metal gates the pearly color. The Chamber of Commerce is in charge of heading up public relations for the project. They are currently making brochures and other types of print and electronic media. Some of the newspapers they are working with are the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Washington Post, and the Wall St. Journal. The Chamber is also working on making various souvenirs with the slogan “I visited the St. Peter Pearly Gates” including t-shirts and mugs.
Another way that the City and Chamber of Commerce are working collaboratively is in finding a location for the gates. One possible location is near the intersection of Highways 99 and 169. This is a high visibility location that is also close to the Chamber of Commerce. It is the Chamber’s hope that people stopping to see the Pearly Gates will also stop into the Chamber to get some tourism information. The Pearly Gates are expected to get people to stop and bring people to spend money within the city. One negative characteristic of the site is that it will make for a tight fit and is also somewhat less visible compared to other possible locations. Another site that could capitalize on Highway 169, the most heavily used area of the city, is Minnesota Square Park. This park is located right on Highway 169 and just down the hill from Gustavus Adolphus College. This is also site of many community events. However, the Chamber of Commerce is concerned with the amount of daily usage, and prefers the first site. A final location with less support is the intersection of Highways 22 and 169. The concern with this site is its proximity to businesses and access. The city and Chamber are working hard to decide the site with the maximum impact, which is tentatively planned for the Highways 99 and 169 intersection site with a possible April 15, 2004 groundbreaking. This project is a great example of how a potential piece of physical capital can bring the community together in a positive way and create many networks of social capital."

What the hell

is the deal with people in duplexes with Bush/Cheney '04 signs in their front yards? It can't be the income. I lived in a duplex for five years. If you have the income, you almost always get your own house. If it's not the income, it shouldn't be the war. If you don't have the income, your kid is more likely to be a soldier then the average Bush/Cheney supporter, hence more likely to get shipped to Iraq, hence more likely to die. Is it the guns? What do you need an assault rifle in a duplex for? Does any duplex dweller honestly think more than ten terrorists are going to invade their duplex in an attempt to subvert the freedom of the United States? Does it just always sound like there's a room full of eleven terrorists next door waiting to sneak over to your side? Is it religion? How the hell does that work? You can't control the activities of the person who lives on the other side of the damn wall from you, what makes you think you can control the moral lives of the general public? For all you know there's adulterous gay frolicking going on every single minute of the day and not a thing you can do about it other than file noise grievences with the local police if they're not quiet about it, and even then, you can't be sure the police aren't just joining in the fun.

Presumably, it's because the people on the other side of the wall are Kerry/Edwards supporters, and you just hate their freaking guts for being in your house, and would they please quit making all that damn noise, you don't have to stomp just to get from the bathroom to the ***d*mn kitchen, it's only six **c*ing feet you ****** f**** maniacs!

Some Bloggers (i.e. Next Blog)

Have even less to blog about than Klund. Don't follow the resulting links, it doesn't get any better.

Expanded: I played with the "next blog" link for a while - I got to read about Dinner at the Frobishers written like Australian nobility, posts by Colorado Teen Conservatives convinced that Teresa Hines Kerry needs plastic surgery and commemorating 9/11 with pictures of the WTC and the phrase "never never forgive", stories about God directing people to embrace missionary work, a few pages that looked like experiments to see how many words you could fit on a blank e-page, the tricks you can do in "Bust a Move 2" on the Playstation 1, some controversy about whether Bhudda's beliefs made him a cool dude or a participant in ego autoeroticism, confessions about not being sure about whether a fiancee is "the one", how to pick up college girls while waiting for the trolley, and more about teen angst then I care to hear about until Eryn is at least ten. There's far less sex then I would have expected or hoped for because at least that might have been interesting.

Things You Don't Want to Know About Brad...

...but are forced to learn about over a burrito because you're a trapped audience. He still has one of his baby teeth. Now Klund knows too, and the burden is not Larry's and mine to share alone. We asked all the relevant questions - are you sure it's not from an unformed twin, etc. But there's only so much you can address during lunch without losing your appetite.

Personally

I think the one on the left is just showing us the beam from the Manchurians finally activating him - it explains those missing months in the National Guard.

From Wonkette:


[AFP/Tim Sloan, AFP/Luke Frazza]

Sometimes Life is Stranger Than Anything Klund Can Write

He can consider that a challenge if he likes.

 

Doing Hard Time in Monkey Jail

My Favorite Doonesbury in Quite Some Time

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20040912

Octoberfest - Science or Art

I don't know what that title means - just leave me alone. I tried a few kinds of Octoberfest yesterday, Schells and Summit. I was at the store and saw the Summit and thought, "that looks good", and then I saw the Schells and said, "I shouldn't really buy two boxes of beer" and then I thought "if I compared them on the blog, Jen couldn't complain about me buying twice as much, right?". Like she'd complain - she's just happy to have me drunk and out of the way. I like Summit Octoberfest better, but Schells tastes much more like traditional Octoberfest - the kind you have under beer tents by breweries with names like Hack-or-Shore. Summit has a slightly more malty taste to it and generally I prefer lots of malt and lots of hops - Schells has hops, they just happen to be more along the Octoberfest traditional lines. I'd let Christy try them and tell me if my opinion's right, but I'm guessing you don't remember the taste fo the beer so much as you remember waking up half off the curb with you face in the gutter.

The Bike Classic

Sure I'm slower than Mr. Mustard, but Eryn and I needed to watch the Vikings game.

First of all, I should note that it's Klund's Birthday, and while I'm annoyed that we're not going to Christo's again (any reason to go to Christo's is a good reason), I have to feel a little more sad for Mr. Mustard than for myself. It seems he stood outside his home all night getting a bike ready just in case Klund showed up to ride the Classic with us. I entitle this picture Mr. Mustard Weeps At Sunrise - it's difficult to see him, but he's standing there in front of his house alone, working on his bike and a bike for Klund, the tears of disappointment washing the dirt of hope from his sidewalk. Off to the right, just around the edge of the house where it's darker, his wife is lurking, making sure I'm not a bad influence on her husband, or espousing my right wing hate speech in her front yard.



Mr. Mustard will also be disappointed to know that I have this picture, and he does not. I'm not even sure he saw me snap it. I call this, Sandy and Christy do the Booty Shake On the Old Indian Burial Mounds - I think the title instills both frivolity and solemnity in equal portions.



But wait, there's more. This picture was taken almost immediately before the nuclear explosion that cleared the path of cyclists so that we could finish in time for Ming to make it to the Vikings game before kickoff. You have to really respect the dedication he embodies in that he was willing to go to the game just to do some field research for CDFFL and that he was willing to procure the components necessary to create a field-operative device to clear the way. If that doesn't get Homeland Security after him, I'm sure mentioning them directly in this post will.



And this is my bike during the Classic. And my foot, and my hand. Note that both feet are on the pedals and at least one hand - that's the key to finishing 31 miles, not getting off the bike while you're cycling.



And now pictures you'd sort of expect. Like Ming stealing a child's cookie.



More pictures of Viking-helmeted cyclists neither Mr. Mustard nor myself know.



And a series of yet more on and off the bike pictures. Sandy, Erik and Christy near the top of a hill (right before Como). Sandy finding a snack at Burial Mound stop. Erik showing Mr. Mustard how he used to warm up for swim meets and why he can still land the women with lines like "My friends call me Mr. Bendy." Mr. Mustard cruising up the final hill.

Movies to See Before the Election

Someday I hope Lawrence Lessig calls me up and explains to me everything that's technologically wrong about the product I work on. In the meantime, he has a short post about films to see before you vote. I've seen a number of the films at this site, although some of my friends like Mr. Mustard can't watch "The Fog of War" even if it's physically placed in their hands. "Control Room" and the "Hunting of the President" are on my Netflix list - Uncovered isn't as vital a movie as they make it seem (interesting, but you can see most of the relevant info/interviews on television and the web in a more interesting format if you watch for them) although I note that enough people have shown an interest in it that it was released to theaters (after video) - it's now playing at the Uptown.

Presto, Changeo, Nothing Up My Sleeve...

Jen hates my wizard t-shirt. In my defense, I didn't buy it. And by criticizing it, I think she convinced my mother that I should have more truly geeky shirts, including a shirt with a circuit board on it, and one with glow in the dark spiders (that I once wore to a movie at the Bell Museum). Usually I wear them to do work around the house as she refuses to be seen in public with me if they're on my bod. Today she noted that it had several holes in the back - I replied that was probably where I'd been hit by the magic missles. I may not have bought the shirt, but I obviously have earned the right to wear it.

9/11

Joe notes that there's less talk of terrorism this 9/11 than past anniversaries and wonders if the lack of hype is due to the politicism the event has gained, presumably from the Bush administration and events like the Republican National Convention. I hope it's fear of a negative reaction, or some semblance of decency, or even nothing going on...I hope it's anything that depoliticizes the event and allows us to quietly reflect without shouts of partisanship and fear.

I received a nice, short message from our upper management yesterday asking that we observe a few moments of silence today to honor those from our company who died during that event, one in the air and ten at the World Trade Center, that seems more than appropriate considering that I was at work when I learned about the attack, barely months after I'd officially started working for the company. Christy came down and asked if I'd heard about a plane hitting the towers and we both went upstairs to watch the company television while it unfolded.

I really hope they do something nice with the site - I saw this one on the news the other day - absolutely beautiful. Michael Arad, New York, NY and Peter Walker, Berkeley, CA - Reflecting Absence. Other pictures can be found at the Memorial Competition web site.

Beer, Booty, Violence...It's Time for Literature

That's right, it's time for a quote. You read about beer, violence and what you thought just might be a sex reference, so now you can all buck up and earn your keep. I give you the quote, I give you the article I feel it applies to, you figure out what's going on in my brain - no explanation, no soul searching, totally anti-blog in nature. I could be saying something profound, I could be misguided, I could be drunk - no telling, especially on a Friday night.

"The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (Aide: Bush Faith has been Misunderstood)

Beer! (because if we've got booty, we need grog)

I took off from work two hours early (not really, I was still well over forty hours considering that whole 'working for the weekend' post) and zoomed home to make my first batch of home brew in months. I hate it when I don't have time to brew - but in the summer I'd rather be bicycling, so it's more of a winter thing. I consider today's brewing stocking up for the winter so I have beer to drink while brewing more beer. I tried once again to use the electric stove and decided once again that that is the most idiotic way to brew beer ever devised - even with two bicycle spokes holding the pot off the flat burner (I like to mix my hobbies) I still get some burning without getting enough real heat - it's just not controllable enough and it takes an extra hour or two longer than it should. I have a propane-powered ministove Jen gave me for father's day that I'm going to try out in a very opened up garage when it gets cold enough out (I'd feel as dumb as a dead guy can feel if I suffocated in a garage-related brewing accident).

For those of you who haven't seen my home brew set up in action, it is below, dutifully protected from bright light, including my camera's flash. The house smells delicious by the way - hops and malt brewed for 3+ hours on the stove...heavenly. Tonight's brew of the moment is:

Mrs. Field's Oatmeal Stout (a kit)
6# dark LME Malt Extract
8 oz. rolled oats
4 oz. chocolate malt
4 oz. roasted barley (last three pre mixed, but I crushed them myself)
1 oz. Fuggle Pellet Hops (alpha acid 4.4%) - Eryn hates the smell, it's definitely a girl problem
Wyeast Irish Ale #1084

I was supposed to put it in a 6.5 gallon carboy, but I only have a 5 gallon, so it should be a little heavy on the alcohol when all is said and done.

Booty (the Treasure Kind)

Breaking Addendum: Poo-tee-wheet and I had a big discussion about "that's not possibly legal tender" when watching the commercial about the Freedeom Tower coin - well, we were right.

Well, I went to www.ncmint.com after watching a commercial on t.v. to threaten to get Erik and Mean Mr. Mustard their very own "Freedom Tower" coins from the site, but once I was there, I noticed there was simply a much, much better option.

He was "The Great Communicator" who made our hearts swell with pride to be Americans. He brought down the Berlin Wall, won the Cold War and began the greatest period of economic growth in American history. Now we can repay him with the tribute he deserves through these two official U.S. Government Presidential Medallions.

There is violence inherent in the system...

...at least the Republican system.

 

 

I guess I'm going to do two political postings

"Minnesota election workers have been briefed on potential signs of terrorist activity at polling places, including people with shaved heads or short hair and unusual herbal or flower smells.
A shaved head and the smell of flower water might be signs of "purification" by a suicide bomber, state officials said."

or....that they live in Uptown, maybe?

I guess Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer (Star Tribune) has her lips firmly planted on Cheney's backside, or maybe if you kiss Pawlenty's butt enough, you go in too deep and end up on Cheney's. New Patriot has a few choice things to say about her warnings.

I Promised Myself I'd Post Something Political

I love Teresa Heinz Kerry, she just so reminds me of my mother - I know they'd either get along like best friends or kill each other. AmericaBLOG points out this little gem from Reuters.

In an interview with the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Intelligencer Journal, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, promoted her husband's health care plan.

'Only an idiot wouldn't like this,' she said. 'Of course, there are idiots.'

Are We Free of The Wiggles?

Eryn has traditionally chanted "ook!" and thrust a fist up and down in the air ("Joanie works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer...") in order to get us to put The Wiggles DVD (one of two) into the player. This week, it abruptly stopped and she's demanding to watch Elmo in Grouchland. I think it has to do with our friends' kid, Conner, getting old enough to watch The Wiggles - Eryn senses it and needs to feel like the grown up.

Ah...there is an addendum according to Poo-Tee-Wheet.

A Review of Blue Heron Pale Ale

Scooter: Hmm...Not a bad pale ale.
Poo-Tee-Wheet: As good as Summit?
Scooter: No, not quite - little more bitter.
Poo-Tee-Wheet: Let me try it.
(drinks)
Poo-Tee-Wheet: Yuck! Tastes like crap! There's a horrible lingering after
taste.
Scooter: Those are the bittering hops, girls don't like those, they like
flowery hops.
Poo-Tee-Wheet: Disgusting.

How I spend my day at work

We can't replace the HBA?

Why?

Because your slot is the wrong size.

Really?

Yep.

What do I do about that?

Borrow someone else's HBA.

That'll fit in my slot?

It should?

What if it doesn't?

We haven't considered that yet.

Are you sure someone will loan me their HBA for my slot?

We think so, but we're not sure.

When will you know?

Soon.

Well, that's good.

Absolutely.  Your other slot is the right size.

For an HBA?

Yes.

That's good.

Yep, should be no problem putting an HBA in your slot there.

Well, that's the important slot.

Yes it is.  Have you had your SAN rezoned?

Not lately - should I?

We have to.

Now?

Later, after you have an HBA in your slot.

Do I have to do it in that order?

Yes.  But we don't have to do it on the same day if that's uncomfortable.

Will it be uncomfortable for my site.

If we do it after 5 a.m. it may be.

Then we shouldn't - we can spread out the process.

You should know there are issues with rezoning your SAN.

I was afraid there would be.

We don't exactly know what rezoning your SAN with the current configuration will do.

What's wrong with my current configuration.

It may not have been optimal.  We may have to double your rezoning area to achieve the same performance you were getting before we rezoned your SAN.

That's bad?

Your SAN is limited, you could run out of space.

What do I do?

We'll study it carefully after we insert the HBA in your slot.

How will I perform with an HBA in my slot but without my SAN rezoned?

Better than you do know.  You should get rid of your blocking.

Well, that's really what matters - the blocking is uncomfortable.

For you and your users.

Amen.

 

Who Wants to See Jenna Do the Breast Stroke?

I imagine this will cause Erik a certain amount of disgust.  Fortunately for me, Lance is a lefty and dating even lefty-ier.

Truing the Wheels

So I've trued three wheels so far this week so that two of my coworkers, including my project lead, can bike in the St. Paul Bike Classic.  I'm just not very good at it yet, even after all the truing I have to do to my bike (which wasn't much this year as I stayed off the road bike and on the mountain bike) - I was far more comfortable adjusting breaks and trying to modify the various heights of seats and handlebars to give them a better fit.  But my lead stopped by tonight and she and her husband gave me two twelves of Leine's Honey for my trouble - two!  If I'd have drank twelve Leines for each of her wheels, they'd probably be straighter!  I was getting pretty good by the end, I do a pretty good job of left-right alignment, it's that up-down that really messes with me, even though it seems easier in the book - I should really just practice several times a week until I'm an expert.  After all the cold-working done to my road bike wheels, I don't think it would make a difference structurally speaking.  Sandy's bike was actually a bit tougher because she didn't have quick release wheels and I'm too lazy to remove them when they're bolted on with metric nuts (and it's not worth the trouble with my not-so-great truing stand), so I did the flip and true to the break pads.  Hey, as long as your wheels aren't rubbing against the break pads (and were they ever rubbing before I got my hands on them), things can't be too bad.  I'm pondering taking two...um...one twelve pack to Erik's house as a house-warming gift - don't read that Erik, it's a secret.