Keith Sticks it to Rumsfeld
Keith Olbermann otherwise known as the Nu-Murrow, gets it right on Rumsfeld. A damning commentary to say the least.
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August 31, 2006
August 27, 2006
A Long Weekend Comes to a Close
Last night I had to stay up late while I worked a software release. It was cathartic to say the least, but nonetheless I had to be on a conference call well past my bedtime. And that always sucks. Nothing really major happened to the stuff I was working on for the past three or four weeks. I'm glad it's over with and thus far it appears to be quite successful at least in a click-rate ratio, but I'm sure it will make my company a whole new revenue stream. That makes me think of the word 'monetize'--I really hate that word, but yet it pays my bills and keeps my family comfortable in the same token. Who knew I could be such a fucking filthy capitalist pig?
We did the baby shower thing today instead of Saturday for my brother. It wigs me out that my brother is going to have a baby. I haven't really talked about that on here because it frankly bothers me. While I respect his life choices--he fessed up and was a man--I can't help but be boggled by him knocking up a girl who he had only been with for a couple of months. The fact that I don't trust that it was truly an 'accident' doesn't help the matter either. It's not that I dislike his girlfriend (whom he is not sure if he will marry but it's abundantly clear what SHE wants from him), it's just that when you know her past (she has a toddler aged child and is 18 and has partial supervised custody of said child), you kind of feel some semblance of resentment. I'm sure it's only natural and I'm just being protective but damn it, his life had been screwed over by women enough already. Call me chauvinistic all you want but his first girlfriend introduced and helped him into a life of drugs and stupidity (his fault for allowing it to happen obviously) and his mother booted him out (interesting how all three of her sons managed to get kicked out at approximately the same age, way to go Mom!) of his house when he was at his most raw.
All that aside it was a very awkward day. It was extremely weird to be back in Winchester for the first time in probably six years or so. The Apple Blossom Mall? The Arby's I worked at? Aylor Middle School! The hellish no-merge lanes parts of I-81. It was all a very visceral and bizarre experience--and that was before we got to his townhouse. His girlfriend is due in a week and I just wish that I felt more supportive and didn't have this sense of resentment and anger towards the whole thing. I wanted the best for my brothers but they both have embraced a lifestyle of, well, Winchester. I know there's plenty of folks that read my blog who live or lived in that area and I'm not ripping on you. But that area just sucks ambition down like a whore likes semen. Gross I know but damn well the truth. At least that was my experience. Most of the people I knew and their parents didn't want to better themselves in an academic or social or financial way--including my own. Instead it was just this endless rut of dead-end blue-collar jobs, which while I respect the hard work involved, seemed to drive the nail deeper into the coffin. I see that glint in both of my brother's eyes. While I was mostly reared in that area, I did spent part of my childhood away from it. Did that result in my life going into a different direction than my brothers? I don't know. We're all different but what bothers me is that I don't believe that either one of them is very happy. My youngest brother has always seemed to a bit of a loner and depressed but while everyone in my family has been pushing him to at least finish his Associate's Degree, I just see that same slack attitude. Perhaps it doesn't help that both of them had to "grow up" at an early age--both were living on their own and paying their own way by 17. I sure as hell wasn't. Perhaps there's some unsettled guilt there, that for some reason my parents managed to stay together long enough for me to go off to college, that my college was paid for, that I got a pretty damn sweet ride. I don't belittle the opportunities that I was afforded but looking back I sure did take them for granted. I guess that's part of growing up.
Regardless it was weird being back in my home turf. Unsettling, odd, but strangely there was a sense of pride, like I wanted to take my wife for a spin and tell her yarns (did I just say that? do I need a cane now? yes!) about yesteryear (this is pretty hilarious I know!) and all that jazz. But I'm glad I didn't.
After we spent a couple awkward hours of chit-chatting time, we packed up things and left. My brother lives in a pretty crap neighborhood but hey it's his, and he pays for it, and works his ass off for what he has, so kudos to that. He apparantly lives next to a rather drunken obese Mexican man who I had to urge to move his double parked car from behind mine so we could leave. Oh well.
We went on home with Keegan strutting his stuff and check out my old 'hood. We made it down to Linden on I-66 but apparantly there was a huge accident that required multiple Medevacs and they closed the highway for almost an hour and a half. Keegan started to scream since the car wasn't moving and he was wigging out. We busted a groove onto the shoulder and went up Rt. 55 to go up to the next exit on 66 and managed to make it home in merely an hour and a half! Boo!! That sucked.
We chilled for a bit, ate crappy takeout food that promises to make my anus sore in the morning, and watched a terrible yet oddly exihiliariting movie in "Final Destination 3". Predictable horror movies are the best! And watching Shannon Doherty's younger twin was stirring!
Also to note, wget is cool. I don't dare backup Smother this way though. And yes the Del.icio.us tag for mp3 occasionally does bubble up with some cool stuff. I mean, Queen, dude!
Oleg Maskaev's knockout in the 12th round of his bout with Hasim Rahman was pretty awesome. I really thought Oleg was gonna get jacked out in the early rounds. But he held on. Russian badasses are my motherfuckers but a fight between him and Wladimir Klitschko might be a little bit of a snore unless it's just a shitload of the big punches that both of them have on tap. Wladimir sometimes makes retarded game plans on outlasting opponents when he should just use his massive frame and smother his opponent with body shots. Hasim looked like crap--where was his stamina?!? I've watched a couple other fights in the last couple of weeks but they were more or less big bores. Thankfully I just fast-forward through the boring parts on Tivo.
I'm excited for football to start despite the fact that all the teams I usually root for are probably gonna taste it. The Redskins probably have the best squad though I hope Portis and Brunell can stay healthy all year. Baseball is winding down and while the wild cards are exciting most of the divisions are pretty settled up. I'm pulling for a Detroit-Cincinnati World Series and I totally think it's possible.
Enough from me I'm going to bed...
August 26, 2006
You Always Have Paris
Big plans for the weekend! Tonight I get to work a software release for a bunch of code and stuff that I've worked on for the past three or so weeks. I'm going to be very happy when all that is done and complete. It was a royal pain in the ass but it's finally (well tonight around midnight) all done. But before that I'm going to make some tortilla soup with asparagus bridges (meaning grilled asparagus with bamboo skewers holding them together laid out on top of the soup bowl). Should be good, I hope!
I really enjoy cooking, but I'd never want to do it for a living. As I found out with my last batch of purple potato chips, sometimes I make costly mistakes (over did it with the salt!), so that would suck.
Yesterday I watched Bullet which I haven't seen since back in the day. I still think it's hilarious that Mickey Rourke played a Jewish tough guy. He's pretty much the anti-thesis of Jewish guy. I would assume that he has some sort of Irish background.
I've been doing a lot of behind the scenes work on Smother lately which is cool and fun. As Keegan begins to stir, I have to end this entry and go feed him! Whoohoo!
August 23, 2006
Funny Spam!
So on my messageboard some spammer jerk left a pretty hilarious joke along with their links to viagrapornmoviesdownloads:
A girl goes into the doctor's office for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a red 'H' on her chest. "How did you get that mark on your chest?" asks the doctor. "Oh, my boyfriend went to Harvard and he's so proud of it he never takes off his Harvard sweatshirt, even when we make love," she replies.A couple of days later, another girl comes in for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a blue 'Y' on her chest. "How did you get that mark on your chest?" asks the doctor. "Oh, my boyfriend went to Yale and he's so proud of it that he never takes off his Yale sweatshirt, even when we make love," she replies.
A couple of days later, another girl comes in for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a green 'M' on her chest. "Do you have a boyfriend at Michigan?" asks the doctor. "No, but I have a girlfriend at Wisconsin, Why do you ask?"
I mean I think it's funny!
August 19, 2006
New Deftones
Also the new Deftones song, which they released on their MySpace is beyond incredible. I can't wait for this album to be released. I almost hope I don't get it early because I want that rush that's associated with buying an album at a store the day it comes out and feverishly bitching about the stupid plastic wrap that's a pain to dislodge.
Chino, I don't care if you're a big H user, as long as you are blessed with great vocal range and tremendous abstract lyrical wit you're my main man.
In a Week, It's Weak
Today was a great adventure all the way to Germantown. I got to feel like the youngest father in the world. Even though I'm hardly young, and hardly the youngest in the world. Maybe it was the "I love Hot Moms" t-shirt I was wearing but I really felt removed from the status quo that was a parent with their child running about in a public park. Great day for this adventure though, the weather was perfect. Just wish there wasn't so many bees (or sand wasps, since there was signs from our friends at Texas A&M warning us about their dangers!).
Last night we watched "Scary Movie 4". It made me want to watch "War of the Worlds" again. I liked that movie despite Tom Cruise. "Scary Movie 4" wasn't bad but it seemed as formulaic as the last one did.
On the 27th, I journey to Winchester, where I haven't been in oh I don't know, five years? Six? Maybe eight years? To go to my brother's girlfriend's baby shower. Yes if you didn't know, or weren't aware, my middle brother (the older of the two, thankfully, I guess?) successfully knocked up his girlfriend of three months (at the time). There's some weirdness there with her saying stuff beforehand like "what would you do if I was pregnant" and such that makes me really scratch my head and pause for a moment or two. But what can you do? Nothing. Just support him. That's really all you can do. And make sure your insane excuse for a mother figure doesn't try to divide and conquer and separate the two of you via child. This is the second of the two baby showers they're having because my mother can't handle being around my dad's wife. Pathetic. How could you have children with someone and hate their life choices that much. Even if I got a divorce from my wife I'd always support my children and would keep the mocking to myself, not involving them. Which of course isn't the case with me. Anyways, I have to say I'm proud of my brother(s). We Shawns are many things, drunks, occasionally lazy, and host to a slew of untapped potential, but one thing we aren't is irresponsible. When faced with life's most biggest craziest hardest challenges, my brother said "bring it on" without a slur of Bush cronyism in him. I applaud that at least. I'm just extremely worried about all the other challenges post-birth that might arise. While my brother is making the most out of his life choices--he is after all doing the best one can do in the fast food industry as a manager and brooding district manager, I still worry profusely. I think about all the comforts I and my wife and son are bestowed with and there's a major part of me that's guilt-riddled. But what can you do?
Life is interesting.
The Red Sox truly do suck.
Busy Busy Busy Day!
Today we head off to a birthday party for some friends kid (he turns 4!). Oh man are we parents now! Crazy! I still have a ton of work I need to do on Smother to bring it up to snuff. But I keep getting hammered with all of the CDs that people send me. So I need to cut back on reviews, I probably will start just reviewing things I know I'll like with a dash here and there of things that are terrible just to keep my edge!
There's a huge 5-game set between the Yankees and the Red Sox and so far the Red Sox have lost both of them. Man do I hate the Yankees, but I hate the Red Sox for not making a great big splash of a trade to grab up a great starting pitcher. Now it's down the stretch and they look battered and weak. I just don't want to see another Yankees World Series. It's so tired. So hopefully this year it'll be Detroit vs. Cincinnati, that would be great!
Alright I'm starving, time to eat some breakfast, no more crazy pseudo-poetry madness from me, I pinky swear.
fuck fondler
fuck being old
and fragile
and feeling like dog shit
remember when there was time
that wasn't all hands and clocks and hands
all the hands, man, wicked.
fo' sure.
and stuff.
wow.
that's what I'm talking about.
it's amazing how little is said in so many words spoken over and over and over and over.
but we all move on like tank treads are farts.
with rumblings and grumblings and uncommon knowledge
we all move on.
and that's what strikes us as beauty.
every day and every scene.
I don't know. the latter day saints of the serene possibility might make me see a double 'i'
but who knows who I'm speaking to and why!
whoa rhyming, scheming, and undermining!
this is crazy talk, unwinding! (does this need a superscript with a tm attached?)
truly, truly, truly.
who could tell
but who could hatch?
for serious, if you could ever bottle the human psyche
and the human tongue
and the human emotion
up and up with a bow
you'd probably be some expert that says this and that
and that and this
whispers of Frost and demotions of Hughes!
rare influences find us at fodder
who could we be, who could coddle?
it could be a, b, a, b, a, b, a, b, a, b.
all night
but wouldn't that be a bore?
evr' tolerant?
or maybe Mighty Frost
and Mighty sunder.
Might find a deliberate
way to cuddle
or perhaps Mighty Hughes
will become the Decider
that Frost was a fuck, a Who's Who!
A huge, huge, huge, huge, massive of a fondler?!?
August 15, 2006
Pixar and Elmo Are Of the Same Cut Of Stupid
For those of you who don't understand my devout annoyance which is close to transforming into devout surgical hatred of Pixar animated "films" (this film is so stolen from the Muppets Take Manhattan and Tom and Jerry is sickening) as well as they're even more annoying wannabes, should read this column skewering Elmo. Pretty much says it all.
August 11, 2006
Where You Been Joe?
Well Joe Lieberman's been busy looking like an idiot and losing a primary. He made out with Bush both figuratively and well, really, almost as the kiss heard 'round Connecticut would attest.
But where have I been? Why the lack of posts? Well I've been busy at work, at home with my main man Keegs, and working on Smother. The latest updates there include:
using modrewrite rules to produce SEO-friendly links!
adding a user registration system so people can comment on stuff!
hopefully updating that system to produce very awesome profiles!
changing the code so it's more efficient and php4 compliant!
and apparantly reverting from UTF to ISO latin nonsense because I'm a retard and use Word to spell check and past in reviews (argh!)
My wife is also totally making me take Psyllium seed husks because some crazy hippies believe that it's a cure-all while swiping your colon clean! Sounds icky but hey whatever, I'll try anything once! Thus far it just has made me feel full. But if it can rid me of some nasty toxins that have built up after years of beer shits, I figure it's worth it! Maybe I too will master the power of reverse Zen energy!
So hopefully I'll be posting some more...but who knows, this afternoon poor Keegan gets three shots!
The Crawlspace Into Another War
While everyone is up in arms about the latest terror plot foiled, I'm kind of wondering what's up with the timing of this? Right on the heels of the Connecticut primary which was known to show America that lagging support for the war in Iraq was hurting politicians and that Lieberman's kissing of Bush and rubberstamping everything the administration stood for in regards to the Middle East was now a bad thing. Sure that sounds like crazy talk, and it probably is a bit of a coincidence. But I can't help but wonder after the lame parading of the "foiled plot" in Florida that was essentially a bunch of morons in a warehouse and now this foiled plot, along with a smattering of others could just be a preparation for a big terrorist attack that could be used to justify a bombing campaign or all out war on Iran and/or Syria. Face facts, when a CNN poll shows this:
And people that are offering up very puzzling and indicting evidence towards government collusion in 9/11 maybe it's just time for the government to go and drop a big scare bomb on us again. Right in time for the Republicans to shore up control once again and for the oil companies to expand their wallets. Obviously a wider war in the Middle East would cause even more disruption of oil and gas prices would skyrocket, making everyone that has a close association with this administration even more rich. I might be talking crazy but I don't think it would happen here but perhaps in Israel or in Europe. I just honestly have no faith in the humanity of people in power anymore. Call me crazy all you want...
August 03, 2006
Why I Hate the Yankees
When Matsui and Sheffield (with Gary rumored to be playing 1st base) return from injuries and Robinson Cano almost back, a potential lineup for the Yankees could look like:
CF Johnny Damon (bats left)
SS Derek Jeter (bats right)
1B Gary Sheffield (bats right)
3B Alex Rodriguez (bats right)
DH Jason Giambi (bats left)
LF Hideki Matsui (bats left)
RF Bobby Abreu (bats left)
C Jorge Posada (switch hitter)
2B Robinson Cano (bats left)
I'm sure that Joe Torre won't use that particular line-up as he'll choose to break up the lefties. But to be honest my lineup above is the one that pulls to all of these hitters strengths. You don't need a Posada up high in the lineup, you put Cano with his speed and ability to get on base for Damon at the bottom of the lineup. You put Giambi as a left-handed power-with-a-nice-OBP after A.Rod to set things up for Matsui who can hit mean line drives. Abreu will frustrate pitchers as he walks a lot. You could probably interchange Sheffield and A.Rod and not do much worse or better.
But their bench will be an even bigger strength with proven veterans and decent versatility:
OF Bernie Williams (switch hitter, proven post-season veteran), OF Melky Cabrera (young stud with speed and a great bat and underrated fielding skills), INF Miguel Cairo (can play all INF positions), 1B/OF Craig Wilson (two seasons removed from a 29 homer season who does strike out a lot), OF Bubba Crosby (replacement level player only but decent fielding skills), 1B Andy Phillips, and INF Nick Green. The latter two are replacement level players only though Phillips has some power and Green occasionally seems to play with something to prove (yeah it's called you're not going to play unless you can hit ya loser).
Their pitching staff however, I'm convinced will tire and will (hopefully) be their undoing. I'm really thinking that Mike Mussina is going to fade as the dog days of August are upon us and Randy Johnson will continue to be inconsistent. So who does that leave you with?
Chien-Ming Wang who doesn't walk too many guys but you gotta figure that batters will eventually figure out his mid-to-higher-grade stuff out. He doesn't overpower you but just tries to dazzle you with breaking stuff.
Jaret Wright who is performing slightly better than his career numbers. He has a career ERA of 5.00 and boasts a whomping 4.57 right now. And with 56 strikeouts in 90 some innings, he isn't throwing over-powering stuff at all. He had basically one good year in Atlanta and New York overpaid for this back-of-the-rotation guy.
Cory Lidle, speaking of back-of-the-rotation. He's going to be another of the should-have-stayed-in-the-weaker-NL variety. Which is funny since he only had about a 4.50 ERA in the years he spent in Philly and Cincinnati. He had two good years in Oakland back in '01 and '02 and then signed a nice contract with Toronto and looked like dog crap in a bag. This year he has 98 strikeouts in 125 innings, which ain't too shabby but let's see what happens when he has to face the DH and not a lowly hitting pitcher for a couple more at-bats each outing. I think it will be disasterous.
So again, for the Yankees it'll be hit, hit, hit, don't screw up too bad in the field, and convince everyone that Jeter should have played shortstop this whole time as A.Rod struggles with his great range that makes him look oh-so-bad when he makes mistakes.
But since the Red Sox made no splash in the trade waters--which could have been a good thing, noting the injury to Nixon (Wily Mo Pena will be a superb 24-year old power stud hitter in his place). But the Varitek injury is going to kill them, in two ways--one they'll miss his bat (even if he was hitting .240 or so, Mirabelli's bat is a big step back), but two the starting staff will miss his pitch calling. And don't count on Huckaby being any kind of standout replacement. There's a reason that the only bright spot on his career is when he injured Derek Jeter accidentally a year or so ago.
Yeah, so the Yankees suck! My Braves are terribly band-aided together and the Royals are well, the Royals.
August 02, 2006
Kansas Did Something Right For a Change
Looks like voters in Kansas just showed the wack jobs a thing or two about science and its importance in our world. The cave dwellers will have to go home where they can talk about how the Bible (written by man and passed down by generations of man, reinterpreted each step of the way) isn't a fairy tale but how evolution is.
August 01, 2006
Wicka Wicka Fresh
Even a dude that has no idea what's going on, can DJ. Which means that I really need to start messing with my turntables again.