The most recent (paper) issue of The Onion included a small opinion box with the question:
"In recent weeks, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has come under increasing fire from a number of important media and political figures. What do you think?"
To which the first person, Colleen Bowers, Systems Analyst, replies: "I heard Tom DeLay's blood was in the water and the sharks were circling him, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a metaphor."
Monday, April 18, 2005
A posting for Jen
Once again, The Revealer has informed me about something in my own neck of the woods that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. They have a nice, short, metanews summary about WCCO's piece on the St. Paul Police Department taking Christian "God Squad" members with them along to violent crime scenes. The Revealer rightly takes WCCO to task for focusing more on sound bites and victim interviews than asking the right questions, like "why are they there in the first place?" Maybe non-denominational social workers are too expensive, after all, they're like $25,000 for three of them based on the going rate in the Strib classifieds (you probably get a discount with a dozen).
A posting for Erik
After reading a history of The Antichrist, one of the things I learned is that many people believe he will be not just the son of Satan come to visit the soon to be damned, but a perverted version of Christ - sort of like the caricature you can get at Valleyfair or The Rennaisance Festival. Maybe he'll look like Christ, but just a little off, sort of like a goofy brother, ala Chip and Dale. However, he'll still have diametrically opposed beliefs, summing up all the not-Christness it's possible to embody.Erik. There is an anti-Erik. Senator Jeff Miller, TN (link goes to Jesus' General). Author of that state's Defense of Marriage Act, Republican, philanderer, hypocrite, all-around annoyance and, of course, from Tennessee. If I catch him working on one of our projects at work and see through his disguise, I'm going to be very worried.
A posting for Christy
I'm posting this merely to get Christy to take the test because I'm interested in the answers - I suspect the katty corner question will doom her to a seriously Dixie profile. Not that the link is off limits to the rest of you.
And Norwegianity points me to a second quiz - which I'm editing this post to include because these just aren't worthy of their own post.
Your Linguistic Profile: |
65% General American English |
20% Yankee |
10% Upper Midwestern |
5% Dixie |
0% Midwestern |
And Norwegianity points me to a second quiz - which I'm editing this post to include because these just aren't worthy of their own post.
 Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table. |
Friday, April 15, 2005
Broadsnatching
Broadsnatching has to be the most poorly named new technology in quite a while (but then again, maybe it's the most aptly named).
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Blue v. Red v...Orange? Whaaa!?
Eryn and I have been doing the Grand Tour of local playgrounds. We've moved from the ones down the block and at Blackhawk Park to those by the local school. I'm not sure what it is about blue and red that make them perfect playground colors - but just like at Blackhawk, there are blue and red playgrounds. And, just like at Blackhawk, the blue playground is a massive, exciting, kid-friendly, bi-located, contraption, and the red playground is this little, dirty thing, in this case tucked behind the ice rinks (which presumably hide Reagan-era MX missles). As you can see from the picture below, the red playground even sports an internment area nearby - Michelle Malkin would be pleased as everyone seemed to be comfortably constrained. Unfortunately for the red playground, it seems to have caught a case of the blues on one coast, though I'm sure that's only to give the illusion of friendliness to the Hispanics you can see toiling away as wage labor at the teeter totter. And what's with the orange playground?! I think that may be where the libertarians play. I noticed it was not kid-friendly at all. You pretty much had to make due with what you were given or else set up an alternative, commercially-viable private park nearby to compete.
(clickable)
(clickable)
The Interrupt Me Please Song
So, I don't know what it is about certain songs I play on my headphones at work, but they apparently have a Pied Piper of Hamline sort of tendency to attract everyone who has even the least of reasons to talk to me. It always seems to happen during a few of my favorite songs - so perhaps it's just a mental thing where I notice it more because it's during a song I like. Perhaps it's because I seem more cheerful and approachable when those songs are on my headphones. But just to prove to myself it isn't a coincidence, I once put it to a test and played an album I liked on loop and kept track of which songs got the most interruptions. Over the course of a day (yes, I listened to the same album for over eight hours - I'm that dedicated to science) I was interrupted on the song I liked best by a ratio of almost three to one over the next closest competitor. I'd listen to songs I don't like just to keep people away, but listening to the soundtrack from Moulin Rouge and XTC all day seems like a pretty big sacrifice for anyone.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
What File Extension Are You?
Hmm...not what I would have guessed for me.
They have a special quiz for Mean Mr. Mustard - What Nigerian Spammer Are You?
Which File Extension are You?
They have a special quiz for Mean Mr. Mustard - What Nigerian Spammer Are You?
Which File Extension are You?
I was at another blog today
and there was a fun quote - I think it tickles my dystopian bone (my master's thesis was on dystopias) because it makes the whole idea of big brother sort of sad and pathetic in such a short snippet (but you should still worry that the Ashcroftian inheritors are doing precisely what's implied while looking at your library list) - it's perfectly modifiable to use a friend's name if so desired - I pondered dropping in Mean Mr. Mustard instead of "your mother", but I've bothered him enough this week, particularly as I found a free dollar in front of him yesterday because I showed up at the same time as him for work (and spent it on coffee this morning), so he needs a little less of me.
Big Brother is Watching You
But he's not touching himself, like he does when he watches your mother
Big Brother is Watching You
But he's not touching himself, like he does when he watches your mother
Monday, April 11, 2005
Cold Stone Lessons
Yesterday, when I was at Coldstone Creamery with Eryn, a kid and his mother came in to get some ice cream. She asked what he wanted, and he immediately stated that he wanted a particular kind of ice cream, and mixed into it he wanted a.) Kit Kat pieces, b.) Snicker pieces, c.) (Oreo) Cookie pieces, d.) fudge, e.) M&Ms, and fghi.) at least the next four things in a row in the glass jars full of goodies. His mother admonished "two only", to which he replied "dang it," and immediately began trying to start a bargain while simultaneously hemming and hawing, no doubt to punish her for her miserliness. I remember being a kid with big dreams of piles of candy, but I was always a realist. I would have never asked for all those things and honestly thought there was any chance of my parents caving (at least not that I remember, that was more my brother's style). I might have asked for a particular ice cream mix on the predefined list of favorites, thinking that it might slip by as one item instead of three or four or, as was the case with comic books and smaller treats, nickled and dimed my parents to death daily instead, but that would have been the limit of my adventurous spirit. I'm now forced to wonder how this difference between me and this child affected the type of adult I became. If I had been this type of child, would I now be (more) obnoxious and pushy and/or ruthless and wealthy? Would I be someone who was constantly cowed by their wife and/or mother? Would I be an aggressive, self-driven individual? Would I simply be a hoarder of chocolates? Would I have voted Republican, having developed a sick, subconscious correlation between my mother, liberals, taxes, candy and my lack of it?
When Eryn asked for M&Ms, I made sure she got them.
When Eryn asked for M&Ms, I made sure she got them.
Sunday, April 10, 2005
ad hoc rambling
Well, any sane person should be talking about the fact that conservatives are completely nuts with this whole judge thing and deserve a pile or scorn and a 14 million dollar bill from judges for home security systems, but they're making me very tired, so I'm going to talk about something else.
1.) Norwegianity, one of my favorite blogs/bloggers (just a great source of Minnesota politics) likes drinking Bells. If the existence of DrinkingLiberally weren't enough to prove to me that liberals are united in an appreciation of fine beer, this fact would be. For my part, I had a brewery tour on Thursday as a work outing - a congratulations on your beta release sort of thing. I'd been to the Summit brewery before, but was excited to be going this time because it was on a workday when the lines are supposed to be running. No such luck - most of it was sitting still, with the exception of the kegging line. But that was new, and so was a walk through the cooler, and so was having to hand over two of my drink tokens to some college kids because between the three Summit tokens I started with and two beers at Glockenspiel, I was pretty much all done.
2.) Hit the road for a while today - I actually spent about 6 hours today either walking, riding a slide, or pulling a Burley behind my bike. Eryn, at one point, ordered me, "Dad, put book in Burley", which pretty much meant any rest I had planned on was caput. I took her on a 12+ mile ride with a pit stop at Coldstone Creamery in the middle and I have to say that it's much more difficult to go up an Eagan hill with a big trailer behind your mountain bike. It threatened to rain the whole time and about 2 miles from home it finally did let loose. Eryn wouldn't let me put the cover on the Burley, however, so she was a little wet by the time we hit the house.
3.) Ox, a coworker, sent me this link last week about cyclists being mugged on the Cedar Lake Trail - At Least 4 Robbed On Bike Trail. I used to live on the west end of the trail when it ended in St. Louis Park (almost literally) and when he told me someone was getting mugged on trails, I immediately knew which trail and I knew where. Where the trail goes under I-394 is one of the most obvious places to mug someone you can imagine - it's a couple hundred feet long, dark, with concrete posts right near the trail and lots of places to drink and hide not much farther off, and only a short walk from downtown (the east end comes out by the Harbor Lights Homeless Shelter and Target Center). I used to ride that trail almost daily during the summer when I wasn't walking it, and I'd either a.) quit before the 394 overpass, b.) time it so I was going under it with other bikers, c.) save up some energy and whip through it so fast it would have been a challenge to catch me (and even then, only during the day, never if it was getting dark) or d.) go cross country a little near Cedar Lake and hook south to the more populated lakes. Since they added paved connectors to the lakes and around St. Louis Park to The Depot (so you can hook into the Southern and Northern LRTs) it's more of a family trail than it was, so double shame on the a-holes for scaring families away from the trails.
1.) Norwegianity, one of my favorite blogs/bloggers (just a great source of Minnesota politics) likes drinking Bells. If the existence of DrinkingLiberally weren't enough to prove to me that liberals are united in an appreciation of fine beer, this fact would be. For my part, I had a brewery tour on Thursday as a work outing - a congratulations on your beta release sort of thing. I'd been to the Summit brewery before, but was excited to be going this time because it was on a workday when the lines are supposed to be running. No such luck - most of it was sitting still, with the exception of the kegging line. But that was new, and so was a walk through the cooler, and so was having to hand over two of my drink tokens to some college kids because between the three Summit tokens I started with and two beers at Glockenspiel, I was pretty much all done.
2.) Hit the road for a while today - I actually spent about 6 hours today either walking, riding a slide, or pulling a Burley behind my bike. Eryn, at one point, ordered me, "Dad, put book in Burley", which pretty much meant any rest I had planned on was caput. I took her on a 12+ mile ride with a pit stop at Coldstone Creamery in the middle and I have to say that it's much more difficult to go up an Eagan hill with a big trailer behind your mountain bike. It threatened to rain the whole time and about 2 miles from home it finally did let loose. Eryn wouldn't let me put the cover on the Burley, however, so she was a little wet by the time we hit the house.
3.) Ox, a coworker, sent me this link last week about cyclists being mugged on the Cedar Lake Trail - At Least 4 Robbed On Bike Trail. I used to live on the west end of the trail when it ended in St. Louis Park (almost literally) and when he told me someone was getting mugged on trails, I immediately knew which trail and I knew where. Where the trail goes under I-394 is one of the most obvious places to mug someone you can imagine - it's a couple hundred feet long, dark, with concrete posts right near the trail and lots of places to drink and hide not much farther off, and only a short walk from downtown (the east end comes out by the Harbor Lights Homeless Shelter and Target Center). I used to ride that trail almost daily during the summer when I wasn't walking it, and I'd either a.) quit before the 394 overpass, b.) time it so I was going under it with other bikers, c.) save up some energy and whip through it so fast it would have been a challenge to catch me (and even then, only during the day, never if it was getting dark) or d.) go cross country a little near Cedar Lake and hook south to the more populated lakes. Since they added paved connectors to the lakes and around St. Louis Park to The Depot (so you can hook into the Southern and Northern LRTs) it's more of a family trail than it was, so double shame on the a-holes for scaring families away from the trails.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Michele Bachmann
We so do not need this crap in our state. And by "crap in our state" I mean Michele Bachmann and her antics, not gay marriage (as an ordained minister, I welcome gay marriage to Minnesota). If you need to hide in the bushes in Minnesota (and that's just so, so ironic) for any reason whatsoever, the issue obviously lies with you, not your perceived "opponents". For those of you who voted for her - you voted for a woman who hides behind bushes. I don't care if you think she would have been verbally attacked by gay-marriage proponents, it's just sad, particularly as it seems to embody her political style. Congratulations - at least Monty Python fans think she's funny.
This Post is by Mean Mr. Mustard - Friday
In my ongoing effort to provide some much-needed blogging for Mean Mr. Mustard, I present his Friday...
So, yesterday, Scooter was talking about criticism and how "some people" (he's always saying that - I think he means "me" in most cases) say that it's a rather low form of criticism or critique to refer to something by just comparing it to something else or, more specifically, two something elses (he was talking about Sin City). Well, I was thinking about it all day, and it gave me the weirdest dreams. I dreamt about what it would be like if you crossed Erik and Scooter, Erik and Tall Brad, Scooter and Tall Brad, Klund and Erik, Klund and Scooter and Klund and Tall Brad. Can you imagine that, Klund and Tall Brad? It'd be this guy who looked like Timothy McVeigh, but fourteen feet tall with an addicition to burritos and a fear of commitment to anything less than two women, but only after he'd had their children. And what if you crossed that with Scooter and Erik? We're talking 20+ feet of liberal, bearded, McVeigh-like, Wilco-listening, Summit-swilling, poker-obsessed, lesbian-intoxicated, caffeine-addicted, sheer annoyance. But at least I'd only have to buy one burrito for their birthday. And I know what you're thinking - no, it wasn't a wet dream, so just shut the hell up.
So, yesterday, Scooter was talking about criticism and how "some people" (he's always saying that - I think he means "me" in most cases) say that it's a rather low form of criticism or critique to refer to something by just comparing it to something else or, more specifically, two something elses (he was talking about Sin City). Well, I was thinking about it all day, and it gave me the weirdest dreams. I dreamt about what it would be like if you crossed Erik and Scooter, Erik and Tall Brad, Scooter and Tall Brad, Klund and Erik, Klund and Scooter and Klund and Tall Brad. Can you imagine that, Klund and Tall Brad? It'd be this guy who looked like Timothy McVeigh, but fourteen feet tall with an addicition to burritos and a fear of commitment to anything less than two women, but only after he'd had their children. And what if you crossed that with Scooter and Erik? We're talking 20+ feet of liberal, bearded, McVeigh-like, Wilco-listening, Summit-swilling, poker-obsessed, lesbian-intoxicated, caffeine-addicted, sheer annoyance. But at least I'd only have to buy one burrito for their birthday. And I know what you're thinking - no, it wasn't a wet dream, so just shut the hell up.
This Post is By Mean Mr. Mustard
Klund notes that Mean Mr. Mustard doesn't blog sufficiently for his tastes. In an effort to help, I am donating my blogging time today toward helping to fill his quota. This is his summary for yesterday (because I had to wait until he was done).
I was in a crabby mood today because I didn't bike to work - I thought I'd get to bike with Emma gone, but I've been having romantic family breakfasts instead. Scooter bought me some good coffee, however, and it was treat day (I had a difficult time telling the apple muffin from the cream cheese muffin, visually) - almost makes up for him going on a Summit brewery tour without me. Closed a lot of tracker issues. My wife isn't feeling well. I'm not feeling well either - allergies probably. It's a bad portent for getting Emma's room painted in time, before she comes home. Worked on some Worth entries for a while. Worried about whether the reorg will affect CDFFL. Gave Klund a hard time about an email he sent around about blocking a WNBA player, mostly because I liked to see "I'm a stud" as the subject line on emails from me. I wrote a PERL script to change Scooter's responses to "re: "I'm not a stud" as they hit my mailbox. Hilarious. Scooter compared Klund to a cross between me and Tall Brad. That's simply untrue - Klund is a cross between Timothy McVeigh and some guy I've seen over in the other tech area. Unbeknownst to me, Tall Brad went to Chipotle without me, the ass. When Emma comes home, I'll have to go back to making a decision about whether to park in the front lot or the back lot - I dread being a front lot person - that's where porn guy keeps his truck. I don't read my porn on the way to work, I shouldn't have to share his lot.
I was in a crabby mood today because I didn't bike to work - I thought I'd get to bike with Emma gone, but I've been having romantic family breakfasts instead. Scooter bought me some good coffee, however, and it was treat day (I had a difficult time telling the apple muffin from the cream cheese muffin, visually) - almost makes up for him going on a Summit brewery tour without me. Closed a lot of tracker issues. My wife isn't feeling well. I'm not feeling well either - allergies probably. It's a bad portent for getting Emma's room painted in time, before she comes home. Worked on some Worth entries for a while. Worried about whether the reorg will affect CDFFL. Gave Klund a hard time about an email he sent around about blocking a WNBA player, mostly because I liked to see "I'm a stud" as the subject line on emails from me. I wrote a PERL script to change Scooter's responses to "re: "I'm not a stud" as they hit my mailbox. Hilarious. Scooter compared Klund to a cross between me and Tall Brad. That's simply untrue - Klund is a cross between Timothy McVeigh and some guy I've seen over in the other tech area. Unbeknownst to me, Tall Brad went to Chipotle without me, the ass. When Emma comes home, I'll have to go back to making a decision about whether to park in the front lot or the back lot - I dread being a front lot person - that's where porn guy keeps his truck. I don't read my porn on the way to work, I shouldn't have to share his lot.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
How to Grab Someone's Attention When Selling Them on a Movie
This snippet by Netflix in no way makes me want to watch this movie.
"Actor Ron Silver's directorial debut..."
"Actor Ron Silver's directorial debut..."
Monday, April 04, 2005
Sometimes if you like to bike
you need to follow common sense. Yes, a reflective vest and a head and tail light make you visible, and yes you're legally allowed to ride on the road, but at 6:15 a.m. on Lexington in Eagan, with almost no non-traffickable area/shoulder, early in the season when no one is expecting a bicycle and there's still a lot of junk on the street, you should follow some common sense and get on the nice, wide Dakota county bike and walk trails, particularly if you're riding a mountain bike (and don't have to worry about bending a rim on the transitions).
Sunday - Bacheor Day #3
Finished watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the morning, thinking to myself, it's really early to be watching a movie and "why is it so bright?" Duh. One of the nice things about modern appliances is that many of them reset themselves, so it was obvious a little while later that I wasn't up at 6:30 but 7:30. I really liked Eternal Sunshine - very Philip K. Dick-ian (although more cheerful) - which was appropriate, because I spent most of the rest of the day sitting outside, on my driveway, reading science fiction stories and "Out" and one of them was actually the Philip K. Dick story that Screamers was based on (good story, bad movie).
I did take a break to go on a 12.2 mile bike ride - 4.5 mile to a chipotle burrito (took my book so I could read) and then 7.7 back - I took a detour down into my architect/lead's neighborhood because I had noticed the nice houses last time I was there and wanted to get a look at them (I don't need one, but I like to look). Did you know that it's possible, if you have enough money, to own a garage that you can park a extended trailer home in, lengthwise, along the back, with plenty of room for, oh, four more cars? With people like that living north of me, how did they ever get permission to point a runway in my direction?
In the end, I was actually outside long enough to get a slight bit of sunburn/windburn on my face.
Pooteewheet and Eryn came home around 7:00 p.m. Eryn got a new wood piano and encouraged me to sit around and "sing twinkle twinkle little star again, Dadddy" while she banged away, about 10 or 20 times. She was in a really good mood for someone who'd been cooped up in a car all the way from Chicago.
I did take a break to go on a 12.2 mile bike ride - 4.5 mile to a chipotle burrito (took my book so I could read) and then 7.7 back - I took a detour down into my architect/lead's neighborhood because I had noticed the nice houses last time I was there and wanted to get a look at them (I don't need one, but I like to look). Did you know that it's possible, if you have enough money, to own a garage that you can park a extended trailer home in, lengthwise, along the back, with plenty of room for, oh, four more cars? With people like that living north of me, how did they ever get permission to point a runway in my direction?
In the end, I was actually outside long enough to get a slight bit of sunburn/windburn on my face.
Pooteewheet and Eryn came home around 7:00 p.m. Eryn got a new wood piano and encouraged me to sit around and "sing twinkle twinkle little star again, Dadddy" while she banged away, about 10 or 20 times. She was in a really good mood for someone who'd been cooped up in a car all the way from Chicago.
Satuday Night - Day #2
Sorry these are a little behind the times - I don't normally touch the computer much while my wife isn't around. I suppose that makes me sort of the opposite of most programmers and/or perverts, but such is the case.
Saturday was gaming day. I met Dan at my place and we drove up to Kyle's in Maple Grove to a.) have breakfast (the cheese in my omelet needed to be meltier, but we finally got to try the place Kyle has been telling us is good for over a year - usually it's either 1.) empty and closed or 2.) surrounded by so many police cars it's a bit unnerving ), b.) play board games and gamble a bit (modified the rules to Age of Mythology with good results - we made all the goals end of turn instead of end of game, Matthew won; played Settlers of Cataan; and played poker and in-between which had over a $40 pot at one point which is always bad news for everyone involved) and c.) drink (during which time I received a call from my mother on my cell phone who, after talking to me about water goblets and being disgusted I couldn't give her a number as to how many were at my house, like most guys can, told me to take a cab home - fortunately it was pretty early in the day and I was done drinking not much later so I had hours and hours to sober up).
I did indeed talk Kyle into sushi at Sushi Tango at the Uptown Mall and even Dan went (he's traditionally anti anything not meat and potatoes), although with predictable anti-sushi results. On the way there (we were in two cars as Maple Grove and Eagan aren't in good proximity) Dan dug through my glove compartment to clean up all my trash and snoop a bit. A couple of minutes later an object goes flying out the window and Kyle quickly backs his Mustang off to avoid being hit - a few other throws follow, but it's obviously nothing car-damaging. When we get to the parking lot I ask if he knows what Dan threw to which he responded, "well, it had a string, was it a tampon?", in response to which Dan and I laughed a lot. It's excellent to know that acting like a sixteen year old is still possible without much effort at all. Dan did make sure to leave behind one emergency tampon in the box.
The Sushi was great (Kyle found Dan some kabobs to actually get him to eat beyond a few bites). I hadn't had much fish egg before and the Wasabied fish eggs were sinus-blowing - literally, I thought I was going to have to do something about my nose. We mosied around Uptown for a while, to the book store and such, while Dan had a smoke outside - he ended up calling Pooteewheet in Chicago to tell her we'd ditched him and he needed my cell number. We pointed out that we had indeed ditched him and were all of about 50 yards away. I'm pretty sure it was the 25 oz. Japanese beer that pushed him into that extremely tired place.
Then home, to watch half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Saturday was gaming day. I met Dan at my place and we drove up to Kyle's in Maple Grove to a.) have breakfast (the cheese in my omelet needed to be meltier, but we finally got to try the place Kyle has been telling us is good for over a year - usually it's either 1.) empty and closed or 2.) surrounded by so many police cars it's a bit unnerving ), b.) play board games and gamble a bit (modified the rules to Age of Mythology with good results - we made all the goals end of turn instead of end of game, Matthew won; played Settlers of Cataan; and played poker and in-between which had over a $40 pot at one point which is always bad news for everyone involved) and c.) drink (during which time I received a call from my mother on my cell phone who, after talking to me about water goblets and being disgusted I couldn't give her a number as to how many were at my house, like most guys can, told me to take a cab home - fortunately it was pretty early in the day and I was done drinking not much later so I had hours and hours to sober up).
I did indeed talk Kyle into sushi at Sushi Tango at the Uptown Mall and even Dan went (he's traditionally anti anything not meat and potatoes), although with predictable anti-sushi results. On the way there (we were in two cars as Maple Grove and Eagan aren't in good proximity) Dan dug through my glove compartment to clean up all my trash and snoop a bit. A couple of minutes later an object goes flying out the window and Kyle quickly backs his Mustang off to avoid being hit - a few other throws follow, but it's obviously nothing car-damaging. When we get to the parking lot I ask if he knows what Dan threw to which he responded, "well, it had a string, was it a tampon?", in response to which Dan and I laughed a lot. It's excellent to know that acting like a sixteen year old is still possible without much effort at all. Dan did make sure to leave behind one emergency tampon in the box.
The Sushi was great (Kyle found Dan some kabobs to actually get him to eat beyond a few bites). I hadn't had much fish egg before and the Wasabied fish eggs were sinus-blowing - literally, I thought I was going to have to do something about my nose. We mosied around Uptown for a while, to the book store and such, while Dan had a smoke outside - he ended up calling Pooteewheet in Chicago to tell her we'd ditched him and he needed my cell number. We pointed out that we had indeed ditched him and were all of about 50 yards away. I'm pretty sure it was the 25 oz. Japanese beer that pushed him into that extremely tired place.
Then home, to watch half of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Friday Night Bachelorhood - Day #1
So I got comped a half day of free time by my director today - he actually told me to take the whole day off, but I had some "fun" things to do at work, so I logged some time creating a proof of concept and helped one of the guys on my primary project with some things he had on his plate. But half a day was more than enough to log some quality time with myself while Pooteewheet and Eryn are in Chicago. I...
Went to Sin City - I liked it, I actually liked it a lot, even thought it was a bit of the old hyper violent. It was a combination of Kill Bill and the comic book-type movie I expected Hellboy to be (but which it wasn't, at all, not even a little bit – although in a side note, Pooteewheet and I watched Storytelling during the week, which also stars Selma Blair, but a very naked Selma Blair – regardless, it sucked). Elijah Wood was downright creepy – definitely not Spiderman. The Bruce Willis/Jessica Alba portion of the movie that they seem to be pushing in all the promos was actually the least interesting bit – I assume it’s getting play because it’s Jessica Alba in a cowboy outfit – or most of a cowboy outfit (it’s sort of missing the buttocks area – you’ll see what I mean if you go to the movie instead of the trailers). I can see why some critics didn't like it, but I still did. There was also a trailer for the new Star Wars movie (Revenge of the Sith). Now I will admit what Mean Mr. Mustard already suspects - I am a die hard, woad in the wool, sci fi geek when it comes right down to it. I don’t generally publicize the fact to anyone but my wife, daughter and closest friends, but I'll watch anything sci fi- related with the hope that there's something, anything, redeeming about it - hence my argument with Ming about the sheer quantity of snake-related movies I've watched in my lifetime. That said, I really had absolutely no preconceptions about whether I'd be interested in the third Star Wars movie, after all, I thought the first two were incredibly boring. But after the trailer, I’m excited. Explosions. Space ships. Fights. Just big happenings overall. I found myself mesmerized by the trailer and excited that it looked so much better than the new Battlestar Galactica (which I don’t watch – for instance, here I am typing while it’s on in the other room, unwatched). Ming, I know I ditched you for my own selfish, I-got-time-off-and-no-family reasons today, but when Star Wars comes out, we should arrange a movie day.
After the movie, I had some quality time with Sandy (the dog, not my project lead), and then went on a 5.6 mile bike ride. It took me a while to get all geared up – inflate the tires, find my tools and spare and water bottle, long winter underwear, head band, gloves, sweats, shorts and t-shirt, only to discover it was too damn warm for all that stuff and much of it had to come immediately off of my body. Now 5.6 miles doesn’t seem like very far (especially given that my odometer says my last ride was 40.6 miles) – pretty much just to work for me – and I realize that and I knew when I started that I wasn’t going to be able to do much more than that, so I took it upon myself to inflict some brutal self-flagellation by actually biking the hills on Diffley. I’ve lived in Eagan two (2) years and never taken those hills. Hills leading to those hills – sure, but not those particular, seemingly-endless hills. And, if you count the incredibly steep hill that actually caused me to lift my front tire off the ground going up it (it was a little trail in the middle of the second hill that went behind a bunch of houses and ended in a dead end at the bottom of a steep hill), I rolled up five large hills on my ride. Yeah, most of it was in 1x3 or 1x1, but I climbed them, and without walking. There’s no hope I’ll do 100 at the Iron Man (third week of April), but at least I won’t bonk on a 30.
I went to dinner at Chang Mai Tai (Khap, Khun, Khrap! as they say – but don’t take Steve’s and Renee’s review to heart – the food is delicious, the prices are reasonable for anything in Uptown/Downtown and the wait staff is great, albeit eclectic, and if it’s important to you that your wait staff is attractive, I’m pretty sure even Pooteewheet is attracted to the Asian waitress that is always working whenever I’m there) in Uptown. The plan was actually to hit a movie at the Landmark – but the only thing I was interested in was Born Into Brothels, and it wasn’t until 9:30, so I just called it dinner. That also put sushi at Sushi Tango out of the picture, because after a meal of Muslim Thai Curry (two potatoes, two chicken breasts, a bowl of rice and sauce so spicey it has to make my stomach ache a little or it’s not worth it [a three on their scale] – oof), I couldn’t move immediately to anything else. But not to worry – sushi places are generally open until 1 a.m., so I should be able to talk someone into going tomorrow (or just go by myself). I also read 32 pages of Out while I was at dinner – it’s not the best book I’ve ever read, at least so far, but then I’m only 10% into it and it’s a translation from Japanese.
Then, back home to spend more quality time with the dog and watch The Rules of Attraction, courtesy of Netflix and James Van Der Beek. I didn’t like it. There was some good acting and some good production – but it was mostly pretentious (bunch of backwards film, split film, cut short scenes, etc.) and depressing (and oversexed, but then I guess that might be true-to-life for most college students). It centered on what basically amounted to bacchanalia at an “end of the world” party and three characters who f-ed up finding love leading up to that party. Primarily, it was disturbing because James Van Der Beek engages in 1.) imagined man love (he’s the target of a masturbatory fantasy), 2.) several sad attempts at suicide that culminate in him doing nothing more than wetting himself and 3.) extended masturbation to “Afternoon Delight”.
Of course everything culminated in a beer tasting and blog writing festival. Go figure.
Went to Sin City - I liked it, I actually liked it a lot, even thought it was a bit of the old hyper violent. It was a combination of Kill Bill and the comic book-type movie I expected Hellboy to be (but which it wasn't, at all, not even a little bit – although in a side note, Pooteewheet and I watched Storytelling during the week, which also stars Selma Blair, but a very naked Selma Blair – regardless, it sucked). Elijah Wood was downright creepy – definitely not Spiderman. The Bruce Willis/Jessica Alba portion of the movie that they seem to be pushing in all the promos was actually the least interesting bit – I assume it’s getting play because it’s Jessica Alba in a cowboy outfit – or most of a cowboy outfit (it’s sort of missing the buttocks area – you’ll see what I mean if you go to the movie instead of the trailers). I can see why some critics didn't like it, but I still did. There was also a trailer for the new Star Wars movie (Revenge of the Sith). Now I will admit what Mean Mr. Mustard already suspects - I am a die hard, woad in the wool, sci fi geek when it comes right down to it. I don’t generally publicize the fact to anyone but my wife, daughter and closest friends, but I'll watch anything sci fi- related with the hope that there's something, anything, redeeming about it - hence my argument with Ming about the sheer quantity of snake-related movies I've watched in my lifetime. That said, I really had absolutely no preconceptions about whether I'd be interested in the third Star Wars movie, after all, I thought the first two were incredibly boring. But after the trailer, I’m excited. Explosions. Space ships. Fights. Just big happenings overall. I found myself mesmerized by the trailer and excited that it looked so much better than the new Battlestar Galactica (which I don’t watch – for instance, here I am typing while it’s on in the other room, unwatched). Ming, I know I ditched you for my own selfish, I-got-time-off-and-no-family reasons today, but when Star Wars comes out, we should arrange a movie day.
After the movie, I had some quality time with Sandy (the dog, not my project lead), and then went on a 5.6 mile bike ride. It took me a while to get all geared up – inflate the tires, find my tools and spare and water bottle, long winter underwear, head band, gloves, sweats, shorts and t-shirt, only to discover it was too damn warm for all that stuff and much of it had to come immediately off of my body. Now 5.6 miles doesn’t seem like very far (especially given that my odometer says my last ride was 40.6 miles) – pretty much just to work for me – and I realize that and I knew when I started that I wasn’t going to be able to do much more than that, so I took it upon myself to inflict some brutal self-flagellation by actually biking the hills on Diffley. I’ve lived in Eagan two (2) years and never taken those hills. Hills leading to those hills – sure, but not those particular, seemingly-endless hills. And, if you count the incredibly steep hill that actually caused me to lift my front tire off the ground going up it (it was a little trail in the middle of the second hill that went behind a bunch of houses and ended in a dead end at the bottom of a steep hill), I rolled up five large hills on my ride. Yeah, most of it was in 1x3 or 1x1, but I climbed them, and without walking. There’s no hope I’ll do 100 at the Iron Man (third week of April), but at least I won’t bonk on a 30.
I went to dinner at Chang Mai Tai (Khap, Khun, Khrap! as they say – but don’t take Steve’s and Renee’s review to heart – the food is delicious, the prices are reasonable for anything in Uptown/Downtown and the wait staff is great, albeit eclectic, and if it’s important to you that your wait staff is attractive, I’m pretty sure even Pooteewheet is attracted to the Asian waitress that is always working whenever I’m there) in Uptown. The plan was actually to hit a movie at the Landmark – but the only thing I was interested in was Born Into Brothels, and it wasn’t until 9:30, so I just called it dinner. That also put sushi at Sushi Tango out of the picture, because after a meal of Muslim Thai Curry (two potatoes, two chicken breasts, a bowl of rice and sauce so spicey it has to make my stomach ache a little or it’s not worth it [a three on their scale] – oof), I couldn’t move immediately to anything else. But not to worry – sushi places are generally open until 1 a.m., so I should be able to talk someone into going tomorrow (or just go by myself). I also read 32 pages of Out while I was at dinner – it’s not the best book I’ve ever read, at least so far, but then I’m only 10% into it and it’s a translation from Japanese.
Then, back home to spend more quality time with the dog and watch The Rules of Attraction, courtesy of Netflix and James Van Der Beek. I didn’t like it. There was some good acting and some good production – but it was mostly pretentious (bunch of backwards film, split film, cut short scenes, etc.) and depressing (and oversexed, but then I guess that might be true-to-life for most college students). It centered on what basically amounted to bacchanalia at an “end of the world” party and three characters who f-ed up finding love leading up to that party. Primarily, it was disturbing because James Van Der Beek engages in 1.) imagined man love (he’s the target of a masturbatory fantasy), 2.) several sad attempts at suicide that culminate in him doing nothing more than wetting himself and 3.) extended masturbation to “Afternoon Delight”.
Of course everything culminated in a beer tasting and blog writing festival. Go figure.
Bed Bugs
The New Yorker has an interesting, short article about the bedbug explosion in New York City. While reading it this morning, I was reminded of when I was a teenager, living in my half-underground room at my parents' house on the edge of the woods. You see, every spring, I'd be inundated with bites - little red, hard bites that didn't go away for weeks and weeks. Eventually, I figured out that they were baby spider bites. Thoroughly freaked out, I took to cleaning the inside edges of my waterbed and even underneath the water mattress, the corners of the room, the corners on the floor in the closet - everywhere a spider egg sac might hide (what I couldn't do was clean inside the cinder blocks that made up the walls - I was pretty sure that was the source of my problem). The pinnacle of this little war came when one night when, after a meal of scrambled eggs and M&Ms (I was a 6'2" teenager who exercised 3-4 hours a day - I ate what was available), I took Raid foaming spray to all the nooks and crannies in my room and, rather than succumbing to common sense, immediately went to sleep in the same room. About 2:00 a.m. I woke up not with spider bites, but with a chemically induced fever and nausea so bad I filled up both sides of the kitchen sink with the above meal. After that attempt to kill me, we got along a little better - I only sprayed them when I wasn't there, they only bit me now and then.
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