So I've always wondered (and by always, I mean for the last twenty minutes) how many Gin & Tonics it would take for me to think that I'll actually miss the commuter rail.
As a day in-day out affair, its a pretty painful existence, and I'm quite sure that I actually despise it. But after 4+ days off from work, I realize that its something that I'll probably miss.
Why?
Well, I'll miss the nice conductor in the morning, who lets me move from the 4th car to the vestibule between the 5th and the 6th so that I can be the first person off the train (and into the dunkin donuts...)
And I'll miss it because it holds a lot of my memories from my first few months of my first real job (before I realized that it was better to beat everyone else off the train and to my car)
And because even though that box car that hit us hurt like hell, it makes for a great story (even though I have to put up with people asking me why I didn't file a claim... i just didn't so get over it!!! I had to get to class!!!)
And because I'm going to hate driving within a week... and then I'll just end up being the most hated man on the road...
(oh, and the answer to the aforementioned question is 5... fyi.)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Return of the Random One-Off Thoughs
I'm all for Bill Simmons going out and doing his own thing... even if he did kind of rip off my joke about the Bill Engvall Show. Don't get me wrong, I love the Worldwide Leader and all but I've never been more into the NBA and more aggravated by the lack of BSG material. If he has to wipe my hard drive due to the spyware that the ads on his own site would create, that's fine. I'll jack the USB port into my wrist and download the virus into my body if I have to.
One of my top ten albums of this decade? The Jay-Z/Linkin Park CD... it should therefore come as no surprise that I'm downright giddy about this new Busta Rhymes song with the guys from LP... even if I'm a month late.
One of my top ten albums of this decade? The Jay-Z/Linkin Park CD... it should therefore come as no surprise that I'm downright giddy about this new Busta Rhymes song with the guys from LP... even if I'm a month late.
To Meghan's point, if you are over the age of forty, please stay out of the self-check-out lane at the supermarket/target/anywhere-else-there-may-be-one. You don't know how to work it efficiently, you don't know how to work it with any ease or skill, in fact, you just don't know how to work it. You're dealing with people who want to wait for literally nothing, let alone your fat ass figuring out what direction the bill needs to go in to the bill feeder, when in fact it can go in any direction just so long as you aren't a complete idiot (and rest assured if you're having difficulty, you look like a complete idiot trying to use it). Do the rest of us a favor and keep the 17 and under crowd from being unemployed and hit up the 12-items-or-less lane.
I don't get the obsession with cars. I know a lot of people that trip over their own feet at the sight of a "sexy" car... or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I'm so done with this its not even funny. I've never cared about cars beyond which ever is the nicest that I can afford (and I drive a Nissan Sentra, so as you can imagine I don't dream big). There are so many things I want from this life, and a nice Hybrid Lexus or a well appointed Audi may be one of them, but you'll never see me go into full swoon mode over a Saleen or a Maybach, I just don't have it in me. Let's agree to a) agree to disagree on this one, and b) not talk about cars when I'm around. I don't care and if you haven't noticed I'm tuning you out.
Hilary had a point you know. You may not like it, and she shouldn't have said it, but she had a point.
Which reminds me to send you here.
Matt on Kevin Drum on Jonah Goldberg on George Packer. It may make sense if you follow the link, but trust me, you may not care (sorry Matt, I couldn't help myself on that one... but I do generally enjoy your blog and even understand it 20% of the time!)
I do agree with Matt here on the other hand.
One more week until the big work move to Quincy. I think I've finally got a handle on the exact name of this particular stretch of road:
I'm just not saying what it does (but it does sum to 222).
I was thinking about the Pats-Giants Superbowl last night... and when I concentrate on it just for a minute, I realize that I'm still not over it. I'm pretty sure I'm scarred by it, and I know that next season isn't going to be easy to deal with.
Bees!
I'm not surprised that as I delve into my own archives (why exactly would I bother with your boring updates?) that many of the videos that I've posted from youtube have since disappeared off their site. Its sad that everyone is paranoid of copyright violation - I know this stuff isn't free, but I wish the networks/studios/professional sports establishments would be a little more accepting of peoples use of old material. Ah well. Enjoy it when it goes up i guess is the lesson here.
On that note, I noticed that comedy central doesn't pull their own videos, and though I haven't watched Colbert for a good year now (not really sure why...) I did enjoy this:
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On that note, I noticed that comedy central doesn't pull their own videos, and though I haven't watched Colbert for a good year now (not really sure why...) I did enjoy this:
\
On The Line
Every so often (I like to call these times "long weekends") I find that I try and reach out to people I know through social networking sites. Generally I find these to be a complete waste of time, and as such my profiles and pages lay dormant with e-weeds growing upon them. And then, a good 2 or 3 times a year, I decide it would be fun to pretend like I keep in touch.
Today i sent a good 10 or 15 friend requests on Facebook. And who knew that I didn't have a picture! Well, I didn't know that, but I suppose that everyone else did.
Myspace? Haven't checked it in ages. Friendster? WTF? Does anyone still use that? Linkedin? Well, once in a while I add a new person, if only because it seems like the only logical networking site to be a part of.
Anyway, today is the day I decided that I was going to be a social butterfly. Let's just move past it because you know I won't keep it up and I won't care that I don't, and pretty soon I'll devolve into an anti-social caterpillar.
In other on-the-line news, I've finally started using Pandora. You may not care about this, but know that it has saved my sanity recently. Last summer, my nearby co-workers had a playlist with all of the hottest jams (let's pretend I didn't just say that, but it really was the best way to describe it), and I heard the same 20 songs over and over again.
Since then, they've all quit and I've had to fend for myself on the music-entertainment front to get me through the day. I've tried repeatedly to use Rhapsody's in-browser application to listen in, but that never works. So I've had to switch to online radio streaming.
WAAF works from time to time, but its not always what I'm looking for at work. WBOS is good, but it kind of freaks me out when they play 10 second Linkin Park clips on a loop during the broadcast commercial breaks - its cool at first but then it just seems weird. And I'm certainly not about to listen to JAMN or KISS, so I finally moved over to Pandora.
I've got to say, it is a bit repetative at times (I do hear a few songs more than once a day), but it does a great job of staying within the parameters of artists/songs that you tell it to play. One thing I've always disliked about these types of radio stations (if you haven't used Pandora before, its basically internet "radio", in that you tell it what you like and it plays those artists/songs and those that are like it, without commercial interruption) is that they have a very wide range of songs they feel "fit" into the genres you really like, and they don't play the artists you select nearly often enough.
Pandora has been quite different - I hear OAR, Linkin Park, 311 & Dave Matthews quite a bit (the artists I selected), and surprisingly it doesn't stray too far from this mish-mash of artists. And the audio quality is excellent, which is another benefit.
One problem - my new computer in Crown Colony (where my office will be moved to this coming Friday) doesn't have a built in speaker. I've got to fix this... I've gotten too used to my music at work recently.
Wow, what a boring post. Sorry about that folks. I promise to come up with something a little more clever later. And I'll buy you a treat if you accept me as your friend on Facebook... that is, if you do it in the next 25 seconds... otherwise I may have stopped caring.
Today i sent a good 10 or 15 friend requests on Facebook. And who knew that I didn't have a picture! Well, I didn't know that, but I suppose that everyone else did.
Myspace? Haven't checked it in ages. Friendster? WTF? Does anyone still use that? Linkedin? Well, once in a while I add a new person, if only because it seems like the only logical networking site to be a part of.
Anyway, today is the day I decided that I was going to be a social butterfly. Let's just move past it because you know I won't keep it up and I won't care that I don't, and pretty soon I'll devolve into an anti-social caterpillar.
In other on-the-line news, I've finally started using Pandora. You may not care about this, but know that it has saved my sanity recently. Last summer, my nearby co-workers had a playlist with all of the hottest jams (let's pretend I didn't just say that, but it really was the best way to describe it), and I heard the same 20 songs over and over again.
Since then, they've all quit and I've had to fend for myself on the music-entertainment front to get me through the day. I've tried repeatedly to use Rhapsody's in-browser application to listen in, but that never works. So I've had to switch to online radio streaming.
WAAF works from time to time, but its not always what I'm looking for at work. WBOS is good, but it kind of freaks me out when they play 10 second Linkin Park clips on a loop during the broadcast commercial breaks - its cool at first but then it just seems weird. And I'm certainly not about to listen to JAMN or KISS, so I finally moved over to Pandora.
I've got to say, it is a bit repetative at times (I do hear a few songs more than once a day), but it does a great job of staying within the parameters of artists/songs that you tell it to play. One thing I've always disliked about these types of radio stations (if you haven't used Pandora before, its basically internet "radio", in that you tell it what you like and it plays those artists/songs and those that are like it, without commercial interruption) is that they have a very wide range of songs they feel "fit" into the genres you really like, and they don't play the artists you select nearly often enough.
Pandora has been quite different - I hear OAR, Linkin Park, 311 & Dave Matthews quite a bit (the artists I selected), and surprisingly it doesn't stray too far from this mish-mash of artists. And the audio quality is excellent, which is another benefit.
One problem - my new computer in Crown Colony (where my office will be moved to this coming Friday) doesn't have a built in speaker. I've got to fix this... I've gotten too used to my music at work recently.
Wow, what a boring post. Sorry about that folks. I promise to come up with something a little more clever later. And I'll buy you a treat if you accept me as your friend on Facebook... that is, if you do it in the next 25 seconds... otherwise I may have stopped caring.
Friday, May 23, 2008
White. Doughy. Happy.
I'll defer to Matt's blog when it comes to explaining the title of this post. (you may want to watch the clip before proceeding). I'm sure you'll agree on the two main points:
1) Republicans ≠ The Change You Deserve
2) Republicans = White, Doughy, Happy
You may wonder why I have a McCain link on my page, when I have been quite outspoken regarding our current dictator (though generally not in this spot, but if we've ever talked politics face to face you'll know what I mean). There are a number of reasons for this, and unfortunately I'm not as well versed in the language of politics as my comrades, so its explanation may be a bit of an awkward read. I apologize in advance for this.
In early 2000, I stood outside WMUR studios in Manchester, NH, chanting with a few hundred other idiots for my preference in primary candidates, in my case John McCain. This, in retrospect, was in interesting choice for me. I spent my formative years in the Democratic sector of an otherwise traditionally Republican state, growing up in a family that was otherwise Democratic leaning, though politics was never really discussed. I voted for Bill Clinton in my first mock-election (Clinton defeated Bush I according to the 6th grade class at St. Joseph's School, but only by a couple votes. Even then I'm pretty sure a few of those kids were listening to the Church telling them who to vote for...).
As the 2000 election was going to be my first "real" election though, I decided it would be best to be open to ideas, and, well, basically let the best speaker that came to St. A's sway my decision on who to root for. It just so happened that John McCain spoke to my sensibilities a little more than everyone else did - his message was more moderate, less aggressive, and had the general feel that it came from someone who would do a descent job.
These days I'm not so sure. I don't feel that the intervening 8 years has done a lot for McCain's message, and it certainly hasn't done much for his weary body. But one thing remains certain: he's still more moderate than Bush II, more moderate than Bush I, less creepy than Huckabee and most likely more qualified than any of the other Republican also-rans. (Side tangent: what ever happened to the term "also-ran"? Is it sort of like high-fashion, where its so "2000"? You never hear it before, especially when it seemed like everyone was an also-ran... Bill Bradley, the 1999-2003 Red Sox, abstinence, ect).
So what then, when I don't have strong feelings for the Republican party, its candidate, or its message, and agree that its best described as "White, Doughy, Happy", and have a promise from the Democrat, which I was "raised", of real change, makes me support McCain at all?
Well, I'm fairly certain its that little promise of change. Let's face the facts in front of us:
1) Gas is expensive. Ask my wallet.
2) Food is expensive. Ask my bank account, now that my wallet is empty due to the gas.
3) The housing market is in the toilet. Consult zillow, or your Sunday classifieds.
4) We're slowly killing the planet. Look up at the O-Zone layer (don't burn your retinas, the authors of Ten Good Minutes will be held harmless for any damage you do if you stare at the sun).
5) The very moral fiber of our society is fraying before us. (Ask your friendly local California clergyman).
Things aren't too good right now. But I'm willing to throw my weight behind McCain instead of the presumptive Democratic front runner Obama for 3 reasons. The first reason is really broken into two essential parts, a) how much of this is and will continue to be solely the fault of our furless dictator Bush II, and b) how much worse can it possibly get?
I suppose you can make the argument that it can get much, much worse. This I suppose is true. But on a scale of 1 to completely screwed, we're already "pretty screwed" and moving closer and closer to "completely screwed", and really, once we get beyond "completely screwed", are you going to be trying to measure things things in degrees? Let's put it another way, if my scale isn't working for you. If you're in an earthquake, and it measures 4.5 on the Richter scale, you're pretty happy that it wasn't a 7.9, even though it make have startled you a bit and knocked the picture of Aunt Petunia off the credenza. But the last thing you're thinking if you're in an 8.9 earthquake is "thank God it wasn't a 9.1!", ie you're completely screwed, and it doesn't matter whether you were kind of completely screwed, or really completely screwed. I hope this makes sense because I'm running out of analogies. Anyway, right now we're hovering around a strong 5.5-6.0 on the Richter-screwed scale, and once we go beyond that, we might as well just start rioting and pillaging, because we're really screwed.
I don't think we'll get to that point. And I don't think it will be because of our President.
That brings me to point #2 - I'm not so sure that "change", a 180° switch in the way we're doing things, is going to make everything better. I am, as stated, rather moderate, and even somewhat conservative leaning. I've got a lot of friends on either side, and not just to the left and right, but somewhat extremely so. The thing is, I don't agree that much with any of them. This becomes problematic because if I'm having a discussion with two of them, one representing each side, I oftentimes will end up making one of them thinking I'm defending their side and arguing with them, when in actuality I think they're a complete dolt when it comes to their politics and feel a bit queasy about agreeing with their argument.
At any rate, that's how I feel about Barack. A bit queasy. I'm all for the "good ol' days" of having a Democrat romping around the oval office again, but Obama takes it too far. I want someone to pull us back towards the middle, not all the way across to the other side. And as I'm not a viable or eligible candidate to do so, I've found a doughy old white guy to serve as my proxy. I'm not thrilled about this folks, but its the only choice I feel I have.
And then there's this, my third point - I feel there's a 3-4% chance that Barack Obama is actually the anti-christ. I'm not saying this to be either theo-philosophical or inflammatory. I hope I've entreated you in a discourse that is open and honest and isn't driven by strong feelings for candidates or parties, but rather sound personal opinions, and when I say that Obama may be the anti-christ, I mean this solely from the perspective of a reasonably intelligent person who'd prefer to see the end-of-times held at bay a bit longer.
You have to admit though, once you've calmed down about my otherwise outrageous claim, that he does seem to fit the bill of the anti-christ has always been portrayed: a young, handsome, charismatic man that is extremely articulate and intelligent, who has been delivered to us at a time when things look that they won't become any more bleak, with a promise of change, radical change for the better good.
Yeah, I'm officially creeped out by him. I'm not saying he is the anti-christ, but don't complain to me if you vote for him and then don't get taken in the rapture. I'll go to battle with the doughy white boys that'll hopefully only screw things up marginally.
1) Republicans ≠ The Change You Deserve
2) Republicans = White, Doughy, Happy
You may wonder why I have a McCain link on my page, when I have been quite outspoken regarding our current dictator (though generally not in this spot, but if we've ever talked politics face to face you'll know what I mean). There are a number of reasons for this, and unfortunately I'm not as well versed in the language of politics as my comrades, so its explanation may be a bit of an awkward read. I apologize in advance for this.
In early 2000, I stood outside WMUR studios in Manchester, NH, chanting with a few hundred other idiots for my preference in primary candidates, in my case John McCain. This, in retrospect, was in interesting choice for me. I spent my formative years in the Democratic sector of an otherwise traditionally Republican state, growing up in a family that was otherwise Democratic leaning, though politics was never really discussed. I voted for Bill Clinton in my first mock-election (Clinton defeated Bush I according to the 6th grade class at St. Joseph's School, but only by a couple votes. Even then I'm pretty sure a few of those kids were listening to the Church telling them who to vote for...).
As the 2000 election was going to be my first "real" election though, I decided it would be best to be open to ideas, and, well, basically let the best speaker that came to St. A's sway my decision on who to root for. It just so happened that John McCain spoke to my sensibilities a little more than everyone else did - his message was more moderate, less aggressive, and had the general feel that it came from someone who would do a descent job.
These days I'm not so sure. I don't feel that the intervening 8 years has done a lot for McCain's message, and it certainly hasn't done much for his weary body. But one thing remains certain: he's still more moderate than Bush II, more moderate than Bush I, less creepy than Huckabee and most likely more qualified than any of the other Republican also-rans. (Side tangent: what ever happened to the term "also-ran"? Is it sort of like high-fashion, where its so "2000"? You never hear it before, especially when it seemed like everyone was an also-ran... Bill Bradley, the 1999-2003 Red Sox, abstinence, ect).
So what then, when I don't have strong feelings for the Republican party, its candidate, or its message, and agree that its best described as "White, Doughy, Happy", and have a promise from the Democrat, which I was "raised", of real change, makes me support McCain at all?
Well, I'm fairly certain its that little promise of change. Let's face the facts in front of us:
1) Gas is expensive. Ask my wallet.
2) Food is expensive. Ask my bank account, now that my wallet is empty due to the gas.
3) The housing market is in the toilet. Consult zillow, or your Sunday classifieds.
4) We're slowly killing the planet. Look up at the O-Zone layer (don't burn your retinas, the authors of Ten Good Minutes will be held harmless for any damage you do if you stare at the sun).
5) The very moral fiber of our society is fraying before us. (Ask your friendly local California clergyman).
Things aren't too good right now. But I'm willing to throw my weight behind McCain instead of the presumptive Democratic front runner Obama for 3 reasons. The first reason is really broken into two essential parts, a) how much of this is and will continue to be solely the fault of our furless dictator Bush II, and b) how much worse can it possibly get?
I suppose you can make the argument that it can get much, much worse. This I suppose is true. But on a scale of 1 to completely screwed, we're already "pretty screwed" and moving closer and closer to "completely screwed", and really, once we get beyond "completely screwed", are you going to be trying to measure things things in degrees? Let's put it another way, if my scale isn't working for you. If you're in an earthquake, and it measures 4.5 on the Richter scale, you're pretty happy that it wasn't a 7.9, even though it make have startled you a bit and knocked the picture of Aunt Petunia off the credenza. But the last thing you're thinking if you're in an 8.9 earthquake is "thank God it wasn't a 9.1!", ie you're completely screwed, and it doesn't matter whether you were kind of completely screwed, or really completely screwed. I hope this makes sense because I'm running out of analogies. Anyway, right now we're hovering around a strong 5.5-6.0 on the Richter-screwed scale, and once we go beyond that, we might as well just start rioting and pillaging, because we're really screwed.
I don't think we'll get to that point. And I don't think it will be because of our President.
That brings me to point #2 - I'm not so sure that "change", a 180° switch in the way we're doing things, is going to make everything better. I am, as stated, rather moderate, and even somewhat conservative leaning. I've got a lot of friends on either side, and not just to the left and right, but somewhat extremely so. The thing is, I don't agree that much with any of them. This becomes problematic because if I'm having a discussion with two of them, one representing each side, I oftentimes will end up making one of them thinking I'm defending their side and arguing with them, when in actuality I think they're a complete dolt when it comes to their politics and feel a bit queasy about agreeing with their argument.
At any rate, that's how I feel about Barack. A bit queasy. I'm all for the "good ol' days" of having a Democrat romping around the oval office again, but Obama takes it too far. I want someone to pull us back towards the middle, not all the way across to the other side. And as I'm not a viable or eligible candidate to do so, I've found a doughy old white guy to serve as my proxy. I'm not thrilled about this folks, but its the only choice I feel I have.
And then there's this, my third point - I feel there's a 3-4% chance that Barack Obama is actually the anti-christ. I'm not saying this to be either theo-philosophical or inflammatory. I hope I've entreated you in a discourse that is open and honest and isn't driven by strong feelings for candidates or parties, but rather sound personal opinions, and when I say that Obama may be the anti-christ, I mean this solely from the perspective of a reasonably intelligent person who'd prefer to see the end-of-times held at bay a bit longer.
You have to admit though, once you've calmed down about my otherwise outrageous claim, that he does seem to fit the bill of the anti-christ has always been portrayed: a young, handsome, charismatic man that is extremely articulate and intelligent, who has been delivered to us at a time when things look that they won't become any more bleak, with a promise of change, radical change for the better good.
Yeah, I'm officially creeped out by him. I'm not saying he is the anti-christ, but don't complain to me if you vote for him and then don't get taken in the rapture. I'll go to battle with the doughy white boys that'll hopefully only screw things up marginally.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Dude
I love the internet. Without it, we wouldn't be able to create our own clips... and here I thought youtube was great...
Even if it does mean selling out to the man... it was still the best 4 minutes I made you spend today.
Even if it does mean selling out to the man... it was still the best 4 minutes I made you spend today.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Checking In
As I don't have a great number of long, coherent thoughts to string together, I'll hit you with a few things that have been on my mind recently:
- If you watch enough basketball on TNT, you'll eventually convince yourself that the TBS original programming that's advertised every ad break might actually be worth watching. I won't go so far as to say that it actually is worth watching, and I'm fairly certain I never will watch it, but "The Bill Engvall Show" et al seem... quirky. And I'm always convinced when I see the My Boys ads that it will be billed as "The White Tyler Perry's My Boys".
- I think HBO should seriously consider a channel dedicated entirely to their own promos. Here's one reason why:
Their previews and promos get me so pumped to watch TV, its scary. I'm pretty sure I could watch an hour of that and not get bored - I'm not going to lie, when I got home tonight a movie had just ended, so I kept it on the looping promos so i could hear it in the kitchen while I made myself dinner... and then continued to watch once I sat back down. Someone needs to bring this up to the folks at HBO.
- I never thought I'd watch this much basketball. Amazing what a good team can do for a fanbase.
- I don't really know why, but I'm addicted to this ad. I'm pretty sure I hate the song, and I'm also fairly certain that the actual video is pretty stupid. And I love every second of it when its put together.
- I don't agree with fouls in basketball. I hockey, if you commit a penalty, your team loses a player. In football, if you commit a penalty, your team loses yards. In both cases, instant replay generally shows a flagrant violation of the rules. Basketball? Eh. If you bump someone, you send them to the "foul line". Both sides of that equation are lame. I may be enjoying basketball more this year, but I'm still fairly sure it'd be better if it was played on ice with sticks and a puck...
- We've got a long weekend down the Cape coming up over the Memorial Day holiday. You can most likely expect my usual long rambling posts filled with assorted and sundry mirth and entertainment then... I apologize for the sparse posting since and in the interim...
- If you watch enough basketball on TNT, you'll eventually convince yourself that the TBS original programming that's advertised every ad break might actually be worth watching. I won't go so far as to say that it actually is worth watching, and I'm fairly certain I never will watch it, but "The Bill Engvall Show" et al seem... quirky. And I'm always convinced when I see the My Boys ads that it will be billed as "The White Tyler Perry's My Boys".
- I think HBO should seriously consider a channel dedicated entirely to their own promos. Here's one reason why:
Their previews and promos get me so pumped to watch TV, its scary. I'm pretty sure I could watch an hour of that and not get bored - I'm not going to lie, when I got home tonight a movie had just ended, so I kept it on the looping promos so i could hear it in the kitchen while I made myself dinner... and then continued to watch once I sat back down. Someone needs to bring this up to the folks at HBO.
- I never thought I'd watch this much basketball. Amazing what a good team can do for a fanbase.
- I don't really know why, but I'm addicted to this ad. I'm pretty sure I hate the song, and I'm also fairly certain that the actual video is pretty stupid. And I love every second of it when its put together.
- I don't agree with fouls in basketball. I hockey, if you commit a penalty, your team loses a player. In football, if you commit a penalty, your team loses yards. In both cases, instant replay generally shows a flagrant violation of the rules. Basketball? Eh. If you bump someone, you send them to the "foul line". Both sides of that equation are lame. I may be enjoying basketball more this year, but I'm still fairly sure it'd be better if it was played on ice with sticks and a puck...
- We've got a long weekend down the Cape coming up over the Memorial Day holiday. You can most likely expect my usual long rambling posts filled with assorted and sundry mirth and entertainment then... I apologize for the sparse posting since and in the interim...
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