12.17.2002
GOING POSTAL
I tell you what, I really don't want to hears those chumps at the post office bitch about their budget shortfalls for at least a year. I think I have almost singlehandedly put them into the black with all of the shipping I have been doing over the last few weeks. I always use priority, (because in my mind, getting out of Gallup as quickly as ppossible is exactly that, a priority), and I know that they are enjoying a more pleasant profit margin on that one vs. standard ground delivery. I have spent more on shipping alone this year than I have for gifts in past x-mas buying seasons. In other shopping news, the package that was giving me fits when I tried to track it showed up yesterday, a very pleasant surprise. Only a few more midling items to account for and I'm set. Oh and that one special gift I have to pick up in PIttsburgh. Who is it for? you ask. What can it be? you wonder. Well I'd say if you are going to be at the Jane ST. NYE party you can find out then. Otherwise not till the 6th or 7th of Jan when I post again. All in all I got most of my ducks all in a row, now I just need to find a barrel full of fish to shoot, and I'll be happy as a pig in.... you get the idea.
go and tell me all about it
I tell you what, I really don't want to hears those chumps at the post office bitch about their budget shortfalls for at least a year. I think I have almost singlehandedly put them into the black with all of the shipping I have been doing over the last few weeks. I always use priority, (because in my mind, getting out of Gallup as quickly as ppossible is exactly that, a priority), and I know that they are enjoying a more pleasant profit margin on that one vs. standard ground delivery. I have spent more on shipping alone this year than I have for gifts in past x-mas buying seasons. In other shopping news, the package that was giving me fits when I tried to track it showed up yesterday, a very pleasant surprise. Only a few more midling items to account for and I'm set. Oh and that one special gift I have to pick up in PIttsburgh. Who is it for? you ask. What can it be? you wonder. Well I'd say if you are going to be at the Jane ST. NYE party you can find out then. Otherwise not till the 6th or 7th of Jan when I post again. All in all I got most of my ducks all in a row, now I just need to find a barrel full of fish to shoot, and I'll be happy as a pig in.... you get the idea.
go and tell me all about it
12.16.2002
CHRISTMAS IS COMING
Yeah, it's been coming up on me soooo fast. Spent all of Saturday with Ann cleaning and decorating the house for her office party., all went well, and it was nice to have people in the house enjoying themselves. I've been shopping my butt off online as well, pretty much everything is taken care of except for one very special gift that will have to purchased once I get to Pittsburgh, oh the fun. I am a bit concerned about UPS however, all my gifts are intransit, but once important one seems to be in limbo, and the UPS tracking site is not making me any more confident that I will have it prior to heading to the airport on Saturday. I guess that such things are inevitable, but there is nothing lamer than having to apologize for a late gift.
One of the more fun tasks I've had this season has been music related. I love giving music as a gift, as a number of people have seen first hand via my mixes. There is more of that on the way, but I also got to play vinyl detective. My father is a HUGE Jazz fan. at one time he had well over 1000 albums. That all changed when he headed west to Vegas, and handed off the bulk of his collection to an old friend (I only wish I had more foresight when that happened, and tooks some of those for myself). So My father, the hardest man to shop for is the kind of guy who gets what he wants whenever he can be specific. This year he was very specific - 5 or 6 jazz albums, almost all of which were on CD, though some were only available as imports - the last one was a bit more tricky - Rene Touzet, From Broadway to Havana - out of print for decades, and not exactly one of the best known jazz men by any stretch, after a week of persistant searching I found it, an italian pressing no less, and it's on the way. I'm very proud of myself.
The other fun, and surprisingly daunting task has been making mixes for my nieces. 8 and 5 1/2 years old. - It's amazing how much of my collection is totally unacceptable for them. Still I managed 2 CD's out of several thousand songs, so that's cool. But once they hit college, they will have uite a back catalog of tuneage.
go and tell me all about it
Yeah, it's been coming up on me soooo fast. Spent all of Saturday with Ann cleaning and decorating the house for her office party., all went well, and it was nice to have people in the house enjoying themselves. I've been shopping my butt off online as well, pretty much everything is taken care of except for one very special gift that will have to purchased once I get to Pittsburgh, oh the fun. I am a bit concerned about UPS however, all my gifts are intransit, but once important one seems to be in limbo, and the UPS tracking site is not making me any more confident that I will have it prior to heading to the airport on Saturday. I guess that such things are inevitable, but there is nothing lamer than having to apologize for a late gift.
One of the more fun tasks I've had this season has been music related. I love giving music as a gift, as a number of people have seen first hand via my mixes. There is more of that on the way, but I also got to play vinyl detective. My father is a HUGE Jazz fan. at one time he had well over 1000 albums. That all changed when he headed west to Vegas, and handed off the bulk of his collection to an old friend (I only wish I had more foresight when that happened, and tooks some of those for myself). So My father, the hardest man to shop for is the kind of guy who gets what he wants whenever he can be specific. This year he was very specific - 5 or 6 jazz albums, almost all of which were on CD, though some were only available as imports - the last one was a bit more tricky - Rene Touzet, From Broadway to Havana - out of print for decades, and not exactly one of the best known jazz men by any stretch, after a week of persistant searching I found it, an italian pressing no less, and it's on the way. I'm very proud of myself.
The other fun, and surprisingly daunting task has been making mixes for my nieces. 8 and 5 1/2 years old. - It's amazing how much of my collection is totally unacceptable for them. Still I managed 2 CD's out of several thousand songs, so that's cool. But once they hit college, they will have uite a back catalog of tuneage.
go and tell me all about it
12.12.2002
PLUG IT IN PLUG IT IN
Youu need Flash to Watch this. If that means using someone elses computer to view it, then do so. It's just that important!
go and tell me all about it
Youu need Flash to Watch this. If that means using someone elses computer to view it, then do so. It's just that important!
go and tell me all about it
12.10.2002
GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP
Every now and then a pointless award seems not so pointless. Case in Point: Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year I mean professional athletes really are crappy role models for the most part. We hear about the sacrifice, the years of practice, playing through the pain, all those cliches. Hell, if I were making the base salary for any of the major professional sports I would be hard pressed to call any of what I do suffering. The work fits the pay I say. There are always exceptions to these rules, and indeed athletes can be good role models, as SI has reminded us. If you don't know the story of Lance Armstrong, get your head out from under that rock, and do a Google on him already. He won four Tour de France races in a row! He's the first American to accomplish that feat. He's only the 4th guy ever to do it! (But cycling fans know that 5 is the real achievment, and 6 puts you on a level where none have ever gone.) Plus, get this, he won them all after surviving cancer. Sheer madness I tell you. The accolades have been phenomenal, but so too has the skepticism. In a sport where doping is an unfortunate reality, and the testing is commonplace, scrutiny lies everywhere. There have been question marks over the successes of Lance and his U.S. Postal team, but the fact remains that they have never come up with a positive test. Lance has probably been dope tested more than any other Cyclist in the past 4 years - clean. Time to acknowledge that we are witnessing something truly special, truly great, and try and put aside a cynicism that is all too commonplace in the world these days.
I had the good fortune to see Lance Armstrong race on a number of occasions, specifically when he was dominating another race, though one not quite as storied as the Tour. Lance was a different rider when he was winning the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh (Boy how I always hated that name - it truly showed that the american public has no clue about the sport of cycling), He was built like a linebacker, and was aggressive almost to a fault, but to see him Climb sycamore in the later stages of the race, when most of the other riders were well past faded was something. I have no illusions that the competition was as strong there as it is in the tour, but the fact remains that Lance showed the potential for greatness early on. The funny thing is, I doubt he would have ever been anyting other that a stage winner had he not been stricken with cancer.
At any rate, congrats to Lance, and lets hope that there is no backlash from obsessed football fans like there was when SI named Greg Lemond sportsman of the year back in '89.
go and tell me all about it
Every now and then a pointless award seems not so pointless. Case in Point: Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year I mean professional athletes really are crappy role models for the most part. We hear about the sacrifice, the years of practice, playing through the pain, all those cliches. Hell, if I were making the base salary for any of the major professional sports I would be hard pressed to call any of what I do suffering. The work fits the pay I say. There are always exceptions to these rules, and indeed athletes can be good role models, as SI has reminded us. If you don't know the story of Lance Armstrong, get your head out from under that rock, and do a Google on him already. He won four Tour de France races in a row! He's the first American to accomplish that feat. He's only the 4th guy ever to do it! (But cycling fans know that 5 is the real achievment, and 6 puts you on a level where none have ever gone.) Plus, get this, he won them all after surviving cancer. Sheer madness I tell you. The accolades have been phenomenal, but so too has the skepticism. In a sport where doping is an unfortunate reality, and the testing is commonplace, scrutiny lies everywhere. There have been question marks over the successes of Lance and his U.S. Postal team, but the fact remains that they have never come up with a positive test. Lance has probably been dope tested more than any other Cyclist in the past 4 years - clean. Time to acknowledge that we are witnessing something truly special, truly great, and try and put aside a cynicism that is all too commonplace in the world these days.
I had the good fortune to see Lance Armstrong race on a number of occasions, specifically when he was dominating another race, though one not quite as storied as the Tour. Lance was a different rider when he was winning the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh (Boy how I always hated that name - it truly showed that the american public has no clue about the sport of cycling), He was built like a linebacker, and was aggressive almost to a fault, but to see him Climb sycamore in the later stages of the race, when most of the other riders were well past faded was something. I have no illusions that the competition was as strong there as it is in the tour, but the fact remains that Lance showed the potential for greatness early on. The funny thing is, I doubt he would have ever been anyting other that a stage winner had he not been stricken with cancer.
At any rate, congrats to Lance, and lets hope that there is no backlash from obsessed football fans like there was when SI named Greg Lemond sportsman of the year back in '89.
go and tell me all about it
12.09.2002
WINTER
Yep. It's here all right. Ann popped into the computer room saturday night to let me know that we were getting legitimate snowfall. I broke from my shenanigans for a moment to verify the report and indeed a couple of inches were in place already. I made a crack about the population's inability to cope with something as basic as precipitation, stating that most everyone in Gallup was at that moment panicking, checking on their supplies of milk and bread, and hoping that they did not need to venture out of doors - bunch of pantywaists if you ask me.
See here's the thing. I'm no lover of the white stuff, mainly because since i seem to lack anything coming close to a circulatory system, I tend to model myself after reptiles. Basking is a particularly fond hobby of mine in fact. Being Lazy and warm are cheif among my favorite things. That said, I have never had any difficulty getting around in inclement weather. I have faced a number of truly horrendous winter storm systems over the years, and can't remember ever being sidelined by any of them. In fact, I believe it was 1993, when Pittsburgh got hammered in a way not oft seen, that I actually made it into work right on time. My boss got in about an hour later, and realizing that the guy who wandered in to buy a Gore-Tex Jacket was most likely going to be our only sale of the day we closed up shop. Driving back into town was surreal. Post apocalyptic even. I was literaly the only car on the road. I decided to enjoy the crazy vibe and headed north of the city, flipping throught the radio dial to see if there was anything non meterological going on. Still not a damn car on the road. This is a pretty strange occorrance in the Burgh, as even those who have no skills behind the wheel of a car are usually crazed enough to make a run to the grocery store for the aforementioned Milk and Bread. I drove up towards Ross Park Mall only to see a completely empty parking lot on a saturday afternoon. Realizing that this was a sign of the apocalypse, or at least a hint that there might be good reason for the dearth of activity, I headed back home. Right as I get onto 279 into pittsburgh the guy on the radio explains to me why things are so quiet. Seems the State police have ordered all State roads closed. CLOSED! no traffic of any kind. I sort of chuckle to myself as I wonder how you can order no traffic on a road, and the enforce said order without breeching it yourself. 20 minutes later and I'm back in the cozy comforts of the old apartment, have enjoyed a large section of the metropolitan area all to myself for about 2 hours. A truly liberating experience, yet tinged with a hint of the eerie as well.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I'm not looking for a repeat of that this year as it would make the air travel that is integral to my holidays a freaking nightmare. Still I do love a good snowstorm.
go and tell me all about it
Yep. It's here all right. Ann popped into the computer room saturday night to let me know that we were getting legitimate snowfall. I broke from my shenanigans for a moment to verify the report and indeed a couple of inches were in place already. I made a crack about the population's inability to cope with something as basic as precipitation, stating that most everyone in Gallup was at that moment panicking, checking on their supplies of milk and bread, and hoping that they did not need to venture out of doors - bunch of pantywaists if you ask me.
See here's the thing. I'm no lover of the white stuff, mainly because since i seem to lack anything coming close to a circulatory system, I tend to model myself after reptiles. Basking is a particularly fond hobby of mine in fact. Being Lazy and warm are cheif among my favorite things. That said, I have never had any difficulty getting around in inclement weather. I have faced a number of truly horrendous winter storm systems over the years, and can't remember ever being sidelined by any of them. In fact, I believe it was 1993, when Pittsburgh got hammered in a way not oft seen, that I actually made it into work right on time. My boss got in about an hour later, and realizing that the guy who wandered in to buy a Gore-Tex Jacket was most likely going to be our only sale of the day we closed up shop. Driving back into town was surreal. Post apocalyptic even. I was literaly the only car on the road. I decided to enjoy the crazy vibe and headed north of the city, flipping throught the radio dial to see if there was anything non meterological going on. Still not a damn car on the road. This is a pretty strange occorrance in the Burgh, as even those who have no skills behind the wheel of a car are usually crazed enough to make a run to the grocery store for the aforementioned Milk and Bread. I drove up towards Ross Park Mall only to see a completely empty parking lot on a saturday afternoon. Realizing that this was a sign of the apocalypse, or at least a hint that there might be good reason for the dearth of activity, I headed back home. Right as I get onto 279 into pittsburgh the guy on the radio explains to me why things are so quiet. Seems the State police have ordered all State roads closed. CLOSED! no traffic of any kind. I sort of chuckle to myself as I wonder how you can order no traffic on a road, and the enforce said order without breeching it yourself. 20 minutes later and I'm back in the cozy comforts of the old apartment, have enjoyed a large section of the metropolitan area all to myself for about 2 hours. A truly liberating experience, yet tinged with a hint of the eerie as well.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I'm not looking for a repeat of that this year as it would make the air travel that is integral to my holidays a freaking nightmare. Still I do love a good snowstorm.
go and tell me all about it
12.05.2002
ELWYN AVENUE
That would be the street my parents' house sat on. 213 Elwyn Ave. to be precise. I spent my first 20+ years in that house. I moved out of it for good in 1992 when I rented my first apartment. In 1993 my folks sold it and moved to Las Vegas (god bless my cool parents for picking such a sweet locale for retirement). Strangely in the time since they sold it I have gone back to the old neighborhood a total of twice. Both times it was just a drive by, both times, i gave a pretty cursory glance at the state of things and drove on. I have mostly good memories from growing up in that house, in that neighborhood. Strangely I have no nostalgia for the place. Both times I have gone my the place it has done absolutely nothing to stir memories good or bad. That's not to say that I don't have memories, it's just that being in close proximity to it doesn't generate them. I can remember so much about the place in such vivid detail, that to try and describe it would be an exercise in futility, as I would surely leave out key features. I'm going back to Pittsburgh for The New Year Holiday, and I always ask myself if I am going to swing by the old home for a look see. I usually either dismiss the idea outright, or simply get distracted by other activities. Still I find myself pondering the question yeat again, and have yet to decide.
go and tell me all about it
That would be the street my parents' house sat on. 213 Elwyn Ave. to be precise. I spent my first 20+ years in that house. I moved out of it for good in 1992 when I rented my first apartment. In 1993 my folks sold it and moved to Las Vegas (god bless my cool parents for picking such a sweet locale for retirement). Strangely in the time since they sold it I have gone back to the old neighborhood a total of twice. Both times it was just a drive by, both times, i gave a pretty cursory glance at the state of things and drove on. I have mostly good memories from growing up in that house, in that neighborhood. Strangely I have no nostalgia for the place. Both times I have gone my the place it has done absolutely nothing to stir memories good or bad. That's not to say that I don't have memories, it's just that being in close proximity to it doesn't generate them. I can remember so much about the place in such vivid detail, that to try and describe it would be an exercise in futility, as I would surely leave out key features. I'm going back to Pittsburgh for The New Year Holiday, and I always ask myself if I am going to swing by the old home for a look see. I usually either dismiss the idea outright, or simply get distracted by other activities. Still I find myself pondering the question yeat again, and have yet to decide.
go and tell me all about it
12.04.2002
COMPULSION
Nobody likes to admidt that they are not in total control of their actions. On some level it is an admission of a lack of mental strength. At worst it is an implication that the CIA's mind control beam is way ahead of schedule. I usually don't have what I would call terrible lapses of self control, but last night was something special. Ann had headed off to do her circuit training, leaving me pretty much unattended in front of the PC. Normally this would be an invitation surf the web, and play a little Unreal Tournament, listen to some tunes. With my DSL connection still very much down (Thank you MSN), I found myself firing up an old favorite - Serious Sam - a first person shooter that is the textbook definition of a "Twitch" game. Don't blink or you will surely be toast.
Here is where the compulsion comes in. See, I've played this game countless times, and actually played through it completely 2 or 3 times in the last year or so that I've had it. no biggie. You save you progress, and pick up where you left off in a day or so. Last night though I seemed to need to not save my progress and come back later. My total game time was just a hair over 6 hours. ^ hours doing absolutely nothing other than sitting in front of the monitor, my hands telling me that Repetitive Stress Injury is not a figment of some secretary's imagination, and my awareness of the outside world dimming ever so slowly. When I finally hit the end credits, there was no feeling of success at beating the game, but rather an odd sort of release, perhaps similar to that of a student being released from an all day detention. It was strange, as even midway through the game, there was a sort of subconciouss realization that I didn't care about winning the game, rather I simply had to accomplish that goal for reasons not at all clear to me.
I think I'm going to uninstall it when i get home tonight.
go and tell me all about it
Nobody likes to admidt that they are not in total control of their actions. On some level it is an admission of a lack of mental strength. At worst it is an implication that the CIA's mind control beam is way ahead of schedule. I usually don't have what I would call terrible lapses of self control, but last night was something special. Ann had headed off to do her circuit training, leaving me pretty much unattended in front of the PC. Normally this would be an invitation surf the web, and play a little Unreal Tournament, listen to some tunes. With my DSL connection still very much down (Thank you MSN), I found myself firing up an old favorite - Serious Sam - a first person shooter that is the textbook definition of a "Twitch" game. Don't blink or you will surely be toast.
Here is where the compulsion comes in. See, I've played this game countless times, and actually played through it completely 2 or 3 times in the last year or so that I've had it. no biggie. You save you progress, and pick up where you left off in a day or so. Last night though I seemed to need to not save my progress and come back later. My total game time was just a hair over 6 hours. ^ hours doing absolutely nothing other than sitting in front of the monitor, my hands telling me that Repetitive Stress Injury is not a figment of some secretary's imagination, and my awareness of the outside world dimming ever so slowly. When I finally hit the end credits, there was no feeling of success at beating the game, but rather an odd sort of release, perhaps similar to that of a student being released from an all day detention. It was strange, as even midway through the game, there was a sort of subconciouss realization that I didn't care about winning the game, rather I simply had to accomplish that goal for reasons not at all clear to me.
I think I'm going to uninstall it when i get home tonight.
go and tell me all about it
12.02.2002
MORE TIME OFFLINE
Another week with nary a post. My apologies to you all. A short work week, combined with last minute notification of paperwork due post haste conspired to keep me away from the blog. Also the asshats at MSN have been running me in loops to get my DSL back on at the homestead. I think they get one more chance, and then I will bite the bullet and go to another ISP, even though I know it means over a month of downtime for sure. The Highlights aside from manic workdays were my Sister and family making it out to New Mexico, which I thought was going to be a trip that might happen afew years from now. Surprise Surprise! I guess everyone has a few in them, and fortunately there were no traumatic episodes involving small children and cats. I am very releived indeed. As if that was not enough, My oldest and dearest friend was in for the weekend - cool to just chill out and show him a few sights (the man is a manic photographer), and I am once again pleased to now have a real guest room with a real bed. It seems to make people a lot more comfortable when they visit. I'm counting the days to Holiday break, as that will get me back to pittsburgh, with a stop in the Chicagoland area along the way. Lets hope that there are nothing but happy holidays for all of us shall we? Ok, maybe that's a bit much, let's at least hope that the body count is kept to a minimum, and there are no crying jags that can't be repaird quick fast on the double.
go and tell me all about it
Another week with nary a post. My apologies to you all. A short work week, combined with last minute notification of paperwork due post haste conspired to keep me away from the blog. Also the asshats at MSN have been running me in loops to get my DSL back on at the homestead. I think they get one more chance, and then I will bite the bullet and go to another ISP, even though I know it means over a month of downtime for sure. The Highlights aside from manic workdays were my Sister and family making it out to New Mexico, which I thought was going to be a trip that might happen afew years from now. Surprise Surprise! I guess everyone has a few in them, and fortunately there were no traumatic episodes involving small children and cats. I am very releived indeed. As if that was not enough, My oldest and dearest friend was in for the weekend - cool to just chill out and show him a few sights (the man is a manic photographer), and I am once again pleased to now have a real guest room with a real bed. It seems to make people a lot more comfortable when they visit. I'm counting the days to Holiday break, as that will get me back to pittsburgh, with a stop in the Chicagoland area along the way. Lets hope that there are nothing but happy holidays for all of us shall we? Ok, maybe that's a bit much, let's at least hope that the body count is kept to a minimum, and there are no crying jags that can't be repaird quick fast on the double.
go and tell me all about it
