The Curse Strikes Again
Wow, why would anyone want to be on the cover of Madden anymore? Shaun Alexander is the latest victim of the Madden curse...
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September 25, 2006
September 24, 2006
You're the Best!
I think screamo bands should clamor to cover what could go down as the best song in '80's music soundtrack history, which is cleary Joe Esposito's "You're the Best". Or if you're like me, you'll know it better with a little Karate Kid action ala:
"You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!"
September 22, 2006
The Wife and the Son!
Are both very cute and endearing!
The October Surprise Will Be an Election Hack
I read the other day that Republican insiders are being told by Karl Rove not to worry, that an October Surprise will once again help hand the GOP a victory. What if that October Surprise was the keys to the actual vote counting machines? It wouldn't surprise me. Just like the Bush announcement that, he'd invade Pakistan to get bin Laden, might have been foreshadowing for another October Surprise. Yes I'm aware I may sound paranoid or cynical even, but with this Administration shouldn't we all be skeptical of the "official story"?
September 21, 2006
And Besides, It's Mine
Every now and again I get frustrated with writing so many reviews and maintaining Smother. It's an admitted eyesore, even after the multiple revisions I've given it. There's a ton of other cool stuff I want to do but finding the time to work on the site is just painful. I usually just sacrifice my sleep on the weekends. But every time I get super-bummed and want to say "the hell with it, I quit!" I get a cool note from some band about how they really appreciate my support or kind words. 90% of the communications I get from people is like this with the rare nasty person who didn't like what I said about (usually their) some band. But I usually just shrug those off or poke fun at them when they ask me to remove a review--because you'd ask Rolling Stone to recall all their magazines if they printed something negative about your band (they wouldn't since you're not Justin Timberlake or some other million-selling album neophyte).
But it also reminds me how much I love music and how much I miss making it. I don't think I've played drums since my little man entered this world, and I think it was almost a month before that even. I definitely miss my band and my bandmates and all the in-between. I haven't been to a show in a while (I don't think comedy ala Jon Stewart counts!) but maybe I should trek to this crazy amazing show on 11/11/06 in San Francisco. Explosions In the Sky among others are playing at the Be The Riottt Festival. Man there's some good music on there Asobi Seksu, Saul Williams, aforementioend Explosions In the Sky, the Rapture, and Metric...kind of a far drive though. Bummer!
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist
Venezualan President Hugo Chavez spoke at the U.N. yesterday and instantly became my hero. Why? Not because he called one of the most unpopular Presidents in America (you know the man, who pinky finger swears he still cares about Bin Laden--a man rarely mentioned by Bush) despite the Media and Scared GOP politicians tale of him basking in a 'bounceback' (hint: he isn't). Hugo became my hero because he started his speech off with big propers to Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. Some of his speech was inspiring, but it was mostly riddled with lamblasting the United States GOVERNMENT not the people. So you crazy right-whiners (intentional) need to hush.
I Really Wonder How Many CSRs
Have used this technique on me? Probably a lot. Because it works!
September 16, 2006
Penne Families and Penne Emotions
And by 'penne' I mean holes in both ends. Wow, how powerful is that? Sarcasm is blood red in this post!
Today I traveled down to the old 'burg of Winchester to visit with my new niece. Certainly an odd experience. Not one that I would have expected say, when I remember when my younger brother was born or anything.
What a day that was. My father picking me up from elementary school--I believe it was 1st or perhaps 2nd grade (almost positive it was 1st)--and saying "you have a brother!" and taking me to the hospital. A thrill by far and far beyond anything amazing that I had experienced up until that moment--shoot Big Bird seemed like a phony at that point.
Again I was greeted with the sense of nostalgia and needless abandonment. I have yet to settle what was left behind. It will remain buried, only halfway, as if it was a vampiric callus. Many of you will think that this is not the right way to deal with said causal movements, but I digress and disagree wholeheartedly! Indeed this is the way. The path that I was shown, and that I will follow nonetheless.
Because it bothers me. A lot. The past, the regrets, the past regrets, the stumbles, the mistakes, the miscalculations, the misunderstandings--hell the future. The wonderment of what would be, if only it would be. The 'am' to everyone's "was".
Today I thought of my high school reunion--a ten year! Absolutely zero regrets in not going, not participating. I wonder if the folks that I saw that were going to be attending had any clue how ridiculous they were back then? Most likely not. Maybe so! I'm sure I don't realize the truth either. None of us really want to know. We all just want to parade our successes among one another and see who comes out as the Grand Master. I'd rather skip all that and annoint some previously knighted compatriot as the King of the Proverbial Hill and whatnot. Who cares, for real? For fifty dollars, I sure don't.
I wonder when I drove the garbage to the dump if I ever left a little bit of myself behind. Somewhere rotting in some green steel can that compresses its contents into a big square ball of crap. I figure that's probably not the case. At least that's the drivel we all tell ourselves. "Hey you're fine, you're square one, you're not a mess, hell everyone's a mess, but man oh man, you don't even appreciate how unbelievably normal you are!" And so on and so forth.
What a turn of events.
Seeing all these big mega churches on the way up and down, to and fro. Jesus would be proud that his name was put to such waste. Of land. Of resources. Of denouements.
Anyway.
It's a certain walk-of-the-plank that gets you down. I don't like going home. It reminds me too much of past realities and vulnerabilities that I've shed long ago. Puts me back in tune with things that have long been shrugged away. And forgotten. Good. Good riddance and all's well. It's an amazing new life filled with shrugged away friends, and emotions that don't need to be spoken of. I mean who cares, except anyone who has a heart or brain. Or a shred of emotion. Filth that can be scrubbed off can be attributed to so many odds and ends--let alone humans. We can only be so lucky, right?
Or can we?
I haven't participated in the music scene in a long time. I regret this. I need a release of some sort. There's this brooding and budding thing that lay deep within myself that clearly needs a release. Of some sort! Blech, I hate my old stomping grounds.
Tomorrow night we go see John Stewart. And the night after that is the wife's b-day. Yeehaw! A busy weekend that will be a whole lot of fun.
September 12, 2006
Back to the Tracking
Seth Godin often writes great posts about what should be quite simple business logic. He typically strips things down into their basics. I admire that because I know in my workplace, often things get lumped into this big stew of confusion, lost in protocol, and mirred in logic overkill. A simple solution for a simple problem is often delayed because of the incessant need for pages upon pages of documentation--usually the result of one department or group feeling like they were "screwed over" and now feels as if their collective back is against the wall, lashing out in a 'cover-your-ass' type of mentality.
Obviously this tends to effect the bottomline dramatically. And frustrate the living hell out of me. I'd give specific examples but that wouldn't get me anywhere, at least on this forum.
Despite my liberalism, I enjoy success and I am quite a capitalist in the purest of senses--the difference from what many conservatives or Republicans (or hell even Libertarians) conjecture is that I feel that true capitalist societies must demand accountability from their corporations, must demand government interference in avenues where revenue shouldn't be made (utilities for example, should be non-profits, streamlined to the utmost of efficiency), and government expenditure should just make sense (no bridge to nowhere, social programs that help boost lower income families into median, etc)
Oh but yeah, Seth Godin happened to have a pretty decent explanation of trackbacks but here's something that SixApart says.
September 11, 2006
The CIA Depressed Me
When they let me know that the United States has no money.
September 10, 2006
Cockroaches Are Scary Now to Bob Marbourg
Wow this is the funniest video I've seen in a while. A weather man is in the middle of his report when a cockroach walks over his foot! ACK! He screams like a girl, or like the way I shrieked when I realized that the furry creature I had sat on was a mouse and not a cat (after feeling its fur!)
I'm an Uncle
My middle brother's girlfriend had her baby today at 3 in the afternoon. Nixxie Lennon Shawn (don't ask about the stripper name or John's surname--hell at least she has my brother's last name!) was born with red hair and blue eyes and a mighty 9 lbs. 4 oz. I'm happy for him. Yet still apprehensive of the whole thing. What a weird feeling indeed.
September 09, 2006
Metal Pole Is Pretty Metal
Imagine that you were a stripper. Now take that imagine, turd on it a bit, flip it upside down, and try to climb a pole as an amateur retard in a backyard gansta hoe contest. Then you have something close to this. Don't worry it's safe for work, play, and pretty much any time you need a good laugh at human stupidity.
September 05, 2006
Grand Theft Auto! Commercials Even!
So I heard rumors about the GTA Coke commercial. And I found it. But not after stumbling onto GTA: Lego City and this really weird Chinese one.
What's that spell?
Well it's simple really, now I'm super psyched for the next GTA game! Also maybe I'll have to bust out San Andreas again sometime soon.
Anyone Got a Cool $100 or $200 Grand?
So yesterday we continued to house hunt, to see what's out there, pricing, locations, etc. etc.
We found an amazing house that had the bomb kitchen and everything I think I could ever want in a home. And it wasn't too far from where we live today! So here's the issue. It's a lot of money. Like a lot. And because I'd like to have this home but also have some disposable income, say for when I'd like to go buy a DVD or a Playstation game, it would be incredibly hard to purchase at our current income level and that doesn't factor in all the new furniture we'd have to buy, closing costs, or really the huge taxes. ARGH!
So either:
a.) I win the lotto (I played pick three and surprise surprise I lost! let's hear it for the poor people tax!)
2.) I get a new job that pays me a LOT more and actually has some growth opportunity (this is a very big possibility)
or iii.) We save, save, save, save for a couple of years and THEN get it.
While the last option is the most reasonable and responsible one, it may be better to be a combination of the second and third. Or I start an awesome Internet thing where people send me a $1-$10 and I put that all into a savings account, but you know like, one million people will do it and then bam I have plenty of money! It worked for the million-pixel website and some of those other people. Yeah, so make this post viral and get my family into a new house!
September 04, 2006
Housing Projects
What an exciting day today was. After a weekend that really began on Thursday evening--with a fun adventure for work that was unexpected and potentially unwelcome--who would have believe today could have been so interesting!?
Well today me and the wife went out to Gainesville to see if we could find any houses that we might be interested in. We want to move into a bigger house, well a house that could actually fit us as opposed to our current townhouse (oh my god I didn't call it a townhome!). So after a couple of days of internet eye-morphing we went to the belly of the beast. I was totally blown away. We went into exactly four houses and really, REALLY liked two of them. The others were certainly nice, but not everything that we wanted. Here's the dilly--we want to either build our own home to our own specs, or get a lavish expansive bit of yuppie-heaven that we could call our own.
The market sucks to sell but it apparantly means that builders are willing to shave off $100 grand and offer plenty of incentives to buy too. Which is amazing. The house we really liked had about 2800 square feet, a finished basement with a bar, rec room, plenty of storage, plus a kid's room, a two-car garage, an expansive kitchen with two stoves, plus a gas range, and tons of cabinet and counter-top space, a breakfast room, a nice living room, a pleasant dining room, 4 bedrooms with a master suite that had a sitting room, a jacuzzi, walk-in closets, and a loft. All for the just-under $700k range. Which is right around our budget. Nice!
I'm excited. I want to move out yesterday already. I really am excited to move into my final--or twenty year--home. I don't want to move again for a long while and I always knew that this home was more of an investment than anything else. What have we done with said investment? About nothing flat but then again that's the problem. When you know it's not a house you want to live in for forever, what's to make it not just a rental? A mortgage? Boo.
The commute will suck but if it means that I get to have my dream house--WITH A BAR AND A BUTLER'S PANTRY DUDE--then alright, no biggie.