Date: 2008-09-03 15:09 Subject: Things you don't expect to see Security: Public Current Mood: hopeful

Last week in Ocean City, in amongst all the other fun, I may have seriously been bitten by the stunt kite bug. Now, flying that sort of kite is a little tricky in the hilly area where I live because of the rarity of steady winds. However, I work about 25 minutes from what appears to be a perfectly suitable beach[1], so I went down there today at lunch to see if kite flying there would be practical. I think it would be, unless, like today...

...someone was found floating face-down offshore, was pulled to shore unconscious by other swimmers[2], and was being tended to by, oh, half of the total emergency personnel of the City of Long Branch.

Stay tuned to your local news for more details. I hope the guy's all right.

[1] There's probably something closer, maybe around Sea Bright.
[2] The normal lifeguard coverage ended this past weekend.

Date: 2008-07-10 08:41 Subject: Odd sounds Security: Public Current Mood: nosy neighbor

They're pouring a patio (or maybe a helipad) in the backyard next door, but I can only hear it--can't see through the trees. When the cement truck guns up the motor, I can't tell whether it's to lift the concrete out of the tank (barrel? chamber?) or to do a massive burnout.

Date: 2008-05-27 10:18 Subject: Not that I don't love the midwest Security: Public Current Mood: vicariously sad

...but it's times like these that make me very glad I don't live in tornado country any more. A few of the years we were there, spring was like life during wartime. There were severe weather warnings almost every afternoon, and every morning you woke up wondering if today was the day your house (and maybe your family) was going to get it. It may get miserably hot and humid here in NJ (the heat index once hit 129F), but I'll take it over fist-of-God supercells any day.

Date: 2008-02-01 12:50 Subject: Best quote ever re MSFT + YHOO Security: Public Current Mood: amused

From one "Dan" in the commentary on MSFT's letter to YHOO:

This deal would be a perfect marriage: The sophistication and style of Yahoo with the reliability and trustworthiness of Microsoft.

Date: 2007-09-20 13:44 Subject: "If I Did It" Security: Public Current Mood: amused

I have no intention of buying this book, but i love the cover!

Date: 2007-08-07 23:28 Subject: Out-of-context quote of the day Security: Public Current Mood: amused

“We’re living on pills,” said Mrs. Cola, a retired substance abuse counselor and social worker.

See it in context (NYTimes, free registration required).

Date: 2007-06-05 13:30 Subject: Yes, I'll be happy to be your uncompensated focus group Security: Public Current Mood: irritated

Ever get the feeling you can't do business with anyone any more without being asked to fill out a marketing questionnaire after (or even during) the transaction?

You have moved your mouse. In order to better serve our customers, Logitech would appreciate it if you would take a brief survey regarding your mouse-moving experience...

Enough, already.

Date: 2007-03-19 20:24 Subject: Why is it... Security: Public Current Mood: annoyed

...that caps lock keys are universaLLY MORE TOuch sensitive thaN THE FRONT PAnel of my iPod?

Date: 2007-02-26 16:15 Subject: From Bridgewater to Bridgewater via Bridgewater Security: Public Location: NJ or NS, you decide Current Mood: embarrassed (for USPS)

A large but work-safe picture behind the cut: You really need to see ( what came in the mail today... )

Date: 2006-11-16 12:22 Subject: More oddness Security: Public Location: Bizarro-World Current Mood: weird Current Music: Generic video-game techno

We're in the market for a new TV. So last night, I went over to Best Buy to check out a couple that are on the short list.

Oddness #1: Tents in front of the store at 8:30 at night, with no obvious purpose (like selling Girl Scout cookies or whatever).
Oddness #2: The security guard telling me that a) they're camped out to get PS3s when they go on sale at midnight tonight, and b) that the first people set up three days ago.

ETA Friday morning: Most of the eBay listings were for preorders, and had been put up days ago, so by the time you had to decide whether to camp out, it was already apparent that people were willing to pay insane prices. Looked at from the possibility of making $1500 or more for sitting on a lawn chair for three days, camping out no longer seems so weird.

Data point: Our local Best Buy had 24 20GB units and 8 60GB units. They have no idea when they're going to get more.

Date: 2006-08-10 19:54 Subject: Biz Opp Security: Public Location: A secret place at EWR Current Mood: cynical Current Music: clanking bottles

So. No liquids on planes. That bottle of 1961 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild? Sorry, can't take it on, gotta toss it.

Anyone else see an opportunity for very lucrative Dumpster diving?

Date: 2006-07-05 16:52 Subject: Does this make him a financial suicide bomber? Security: Public Current Mood: disrespectful

The New York Times quotes Ken Lay as saying, right after his conviction, "We believe that God in fact is in control, and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord."

So lemme guess. He's up late, wheeling and dealing with his best buds, and the subject of the trial comes up...

"And if I was lying on the witness stand, MAY GOD STRIKE ME-- urkk!!" *flump*

Date: 2006-06-22 13:42 Subject: Heard on the radio Security: Public Current Mood: amused

A local motorcycle dealership is running a promotion this weekend, with stunt contests and a burnout  competition, in which you have a chance to win ( wait for it... )

Date: 2006-06-02 09:52 Subject: You know you're from New Jersey when... Security: Public Location: New Jersey Current Mood: amused

"You know you're from New Jersey when..." is one of those things that pops up in my mailbox every so often, and I usually get a chuckle or two out of it.

Nobody needs to send me these any more.  Because you'll never top this one.  (The only thing that's missing is something about the unresolvable debate over the boundaries between north, central, and south Jersey.)

Date: 2006-05-26 00:38 Subject: Half a song Security: Public Current Mood: confused Current Music: I wish I knew

I have half a song stuck in my head right now.  The problem is that it's not the beginning half, or only the chorus, or anything like that.  It's a bar here, half a bar there, enough that there are three or four candidate songs, but not enough for me to identify the exact one.  It's driving me nuts.

Date: 2006-05-08 12:54 Subject: Some random things Security: Public Current Mood: busy

Item: I ordered tickets for the Steely Dan show on 8/23. With my order confirmation came this gem:

If you have selected regular mail and have not received your tickets within 72 hours of the event you must alert NEXT Ticketing of that condition. To report tickets not received in the mail, please contact nextsupport@livenation.com (again, at least 72 Hours prior to the event)...

Right. So if it's 71 hours to showtime and I still don't have the tickets, I should call them, except that I had to call tham at least 72 hours in advance, except that would have been too soon, except... But at least it's no TicketBastard, whom I verifiably caught selling my email address to spammers.

Item: Yesterday, Himself and I went to play a round of miniature golf. Alongside the course, a goose was sitting on a clutch of eggs. That is, until she got up, ran to the people in front of us, stole a BLACK golf ball, and carried it back to the nest. We retrieved the golf ball, amongst much hissing, while she rearranged the eggs to make room for the new one.

Item: I went to install Windows 2003 Server in a rack-mounted machine with a vertical CD-ROM drive. The disc made a horrible racket, and never spun up properly. Not bad for an OS that cost over $2500. Turns out that on closer examination the disc was TOO BIG, by about half a millimeter. Ripping it on a different drive, then burning a copy using a properly sized blank solved the problem. (At least the data itself was in legitimate ISO-9660 format; I was half expecting Bill to distribute the OS on nonstandard non-rippable CDs.)

Date: 2006-03-11 15:20 Subject: Putting more "dys" in dystopia Security: Public Current Mood: cynical Current Music: Donald Fagen - True Companion

I've always been a huge fan of dystopic novels and movies. For some reason, these days, a lot of really dark images have been floating around in my head. I guess that's why I've been thinking of the possibilities of adding more "dys" to existing dystopias.

I rented Soylent Green again not long ago, and even though the world knows its Big Secret, I still think it could use a remake. What I like about it is its imagery, and its extrapolation of unfettered pollution and population growth decades into the future. If you weren't around in the early 70's, let me tell you, today's Times Square in July is is a springtime meadow compared to just about any population center back in those days (where traffic cops wore gas masks). The Manhattan of Soylent Green could well have happened if a few things had gone differently since then.

Imagine a modern moviemaker's take on all that, without the hokey dialogue, and cranked up for the 21st century googolplex, played to an audience that already knows what the slums of Calcutta look like. Keep the lack of electricity, but put the daytime high at 110 every day. Add the atmospheric conditions of The Sheep Look Up. Bring in Berzelius Windrip as president (oh wait-we already did). Double the number of homeless people crowded into stairwells. Do the $1000 steak scene Cronenberg style. For that matter, think of the scoops. (Hint: What happens inside a large garbage truck after every third or fourth Dumpster-load?)

Might be fun.

Date: 2006-02-28 10:03 Subject: I have a hypothesis about your theory Security: Public Current Mood: preachy

I'm careful these days to use the word "hypothesis" where appropriate, instead of "theory", because of how the word "theory" muddies the creationism debate. The creationists have used the colloquial meaning of "theory" [definitions 4b, 6a,b, in the linked Webster's entry] to imply that evolution is just someone's random guess, not the scientific definition [definition 5], i.e., the best scientifically acceptable explanation supported by observation and repeatable verification.

If we apply the loose definition of "theory" to the term "theory of evolution", evolution gets pulled back down to the level of superstition. Given the anti-intellectualism well documented among the religious extreme-right, this becomes a point of departure for discounting all inconvenient scientific claims, and writing off scientists in general as self-proclaimed experts when "everybody" knows thay're all just a bunch of charlatans in their ivory towers uttering their mumbo-jumbo, and wasting our tax dollars while they're at it.

Don't laugh. I've heard this general argument from a lot of different people on the far right, in a lot of different contexts[1]. Happily, the moderate- or center-right tend to be much more sensible than that.

Have you figured out yet that I prefer good science over bad religion?

[1] Don't get me started on the people who think that an autism/Asperger/PDD diagnosis is just a sop to parents by "experts" interested only in maintaining their funding, and that the real problem is nothing that a trip to the woodshed couldn't cure in short order.

Date: 2006-01-27 11:46 Subject: Pocky Security: Public Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: @!#?@! cellphones

Tried it for the first time last night (almond crush). Maybe it IS all it's cracked up to be. YUM.

Date: 2005-12-14 23:23 Subject: Christmas cards Security: Public Current Mood: amused Current Music: Johnny Bond, "Ten Little Bottles"

Tomorrow we're mailing our Christmas cards. We thought we might be overdoing it when we ordered extras (they're the cheesy kind with a picture if Himself and Herself), but I guess not. We ran out of them.

All seventy-five of them! How does anyone's Christmas card list get that long, unless you're sucking up for votes in the next election?

Well, a few patterns have emerged: reillye has a group of online friends, a bunch of women with kids about Himself's age. When they're not busy exchanging Christmas cards, they're flying across the country for get-togethers. There's a really good chick flick in there somewhere. In the meantime, I still catch myself asking her who we know in Cheyenne or Livonia, as if I couldn't figure that out myself by now.

Of course, church adds a bunch, too. Our "old friends" list has been pretty constant over the last several years.

But here's where it really explodes: The cousins are growing up. As I commented in someone's journal re seeing relatives after a long time, "You graduated nursing school? But aren't you like ten?" So, where we used to send a single card to my uncle, we now send one to him, and a few more to his grown children.

So tomorrow it's off to the post office, because the stack won't fit in our own mailbox. More immediately, I'll be brushing my teeth to get rid of the delectable envelope gumming taste.