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| Email - 2003 Archive - 2004 Archive - 2005 Archive |
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| --- Listening To: Supermassive Black Hole - Muse | |||||||||||
| Dec 23 | |||||||||||
| Sept 20 | So much for that I just read this little blurb about Chinese and Western Horoscopes and how they combine. According to the blurb, I'm a Gemini Rooster. Here's a rundown about Gemini Roosters and what they're all about (with my notes added): "These Roosters seem to know a lot..." Alright, MAYBE that's so... "so they love a good, solid debate." Not true. "Politics or environmental subjects top their lists for discussion. " Not true. "They want to maintain a good relationship with friends..." ...who doesn't? "and have a knack for organizing." HA HA HA HA! |
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| Sept 18 | Be honest here (Sent to me in email by a well-meaning friend. Subject-line: "Be honest here") What really is the deal with you?? Why don’t you have a real life GF...you do appear to have quite a bit of action goin in that dept?? Is it that you are a player?? And just enjoy flirting with a zillion chicks? Or just super picky.... or what??? Are you secretly gay?? What IS the deal....makes no sense to me..you are young,healthy, good looking and funny...so what is the DEAL??? (This was the high point of my day yesterday. I think that by "quite a bit of action goin' on in that dept" she's referring to the fact that my Facebook page is most populated with female commentators. Other than that, I'm not too sure) |
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| Sept 9 | Crazy Dreams My best friend playing acoustic guitar, my ex brother-in-law, a food court in a mall just before dawn when no-one is there, talk of getting a job, talk of music, me sneaking food to a friend under my shirt, something that scared me which I haven't been able to remember yet. |
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| Sept 8 |  SoccerToday was the last soccer game of the season. Ruth still had not scored a goal all season and she was actually somewhat scared of getting too close to the goalie because she has no real killer instinct and shies away from aggressive players. The last game was underway and the other team was giving them a real challenge. They had a great team and had obviously done a lot of practicing because they kept Ruth's team on the ropes for most of the game and kept the ball in their end pretty much all the way through. They had this really fast kid who moved like a water spider around the field and pretty much kept the ball away from their goalie. When they scored their first goal against Almonte, I thought that was gonna be the end of it.  Then, in the last few minutes of the second half, Ruth got the ball and headed for the goal. The water spider came chasing after her and Ruth hooked around her, headed for the goal and -in a flurry of athletic prowess- buried the ball in the opposing goal. Her first goal of the season was not just a personal victory, but her goal made the difference between losing the game and ending in a tie. Thanks to Ruth's goal, her team goes to the finals tomorrow.Everyone high-fived her and cheered her and told her how awesome her goal was. She was shy and proud and paused long enough for me to take this picture. One of the greatest days as a parent that I've ever had. I smiled so much my face hurt. I was hoarse from cheering. One look at her face and you can see it was one of her greatest days, too. |
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| Aug 31 | That's a first The kids have a small box of toys right next to the tub that's full of Playmobil and other toys which they take into the tub and play with while bathing. This morning when I got out of the shower I accidentally kicked it over. While I was trying to step over the debris, my foot landed full-force on this small bit of Playmobil. I think it's part of this motorcycle kit but I'm not sure:  Anyhow, my full weight came down on it. Punctured foot. Blood. The whole thing. I had to literally pull it out from the hole because it was stuck. That smarts. |
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| Aug 27 | Goodbye Sweet Pumpkinhead Would you believe me if I said that you're the one That I've been waiting for for so long? And I've sailed my ship 'cross some stormy seas Looking for my love while my love waits for me Ah but what darkness In the hearts of men Goodbye sweet pumpkinhead I heard this song today. I've always loved Jane Siberry and her music, and this is one of my all time favorites. Interestingly, when I listen to it I always feel like I don't understand it if I'm paying close attention... but if I just relax and let myself absorb, it always seems to make perfect sense. Would you believe me if I said that you're the one That I've been waiting for for so long? I've pushed you away and I've pulled you down But here you still are. Your love is so strong |
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| Aug 23 | Vonnegut "We are who we pretend to be, so we must be very careful about who we pretend to be" - attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. This one goes out to a very unique person. You know who you are. And I know you're reading. |
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| Aug 9 | How Things Change So much changes in a week or two. I've learned so much. In other news, I start my new album in September. That's going to be... amazing. No, like a real album. Not just like how I usually say I'm doing an album and then end up spending the money on Vietnamese soup. |
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| June 18 | Happy Father's Day My father with my two daughters.  I will always remember this as a photo taken on one of the best days of my life. |
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| May 28 |  |
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| May 18 | Why does she keep torturing me? It's a mystery. |
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| May 4 | Cingular Sucks Come and get me. |
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| April 30 | 28 Seconds Later When I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie 28 Weeks Later, my initial thought in the first few seconds was "Boo! No Cillian Murphy". Then, as a few more moments passed, I exclaimed "Yay! Robert Carlyle!" If you're going to remove one cool British actor from a franchise, it's wise to replace him with another one. |
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| April 17 | Dear Margaret Kalil Marg Kalil was my grade 7 and 8 home-room teacher. She taught Sociology, English and I think some other things. This is well nigh on 25 years ago now, so I can only barely remember what her subejcts were. It's funny how time preserves some things more than others in our memory, though, isn't it? I can remember her standing at the front of the room and how her too-big glasses looked and how her nose was too small for her face. I liked her, though. She liked me. It was a fairly decent teacher-student relationship. Further to the point of how memory is selective, I can recall her giving the clas a piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since: On the first day of school, everyone was required to show up with a pencil case, X number of pencils, a ruler, an eraser, etc. etc. One of the requirements was that everyone have two ball-point pens. Mrs. Kalil said "Don't use both pens simultaneously, or else they'll both run out at the same time". I'm not proud of what I'm about to tell you, but it was years before I figured out what she meant. I thought she was saying that if each pen had a month's life in it then using both at the same time would mean they both run out in a month. In my head I laughed at her, thinking that she had forgotten to take into account the fact that using twice as much ink prolonged their life. As you can probably figure out for yourself, what she meant was that if both pens are in active service concurrently and not consecutively, they both run out at the same time. I failed to grasp this for many, many years... despite the fact that both my pens ran dry at Christmas that year. Moving on, I found myself getting out of the shower this morning and realizing that not one but both of my deodorant sticks were depleted. I felt a combination of rage and self-hatred for not learning the lesson Mrs. Kalil set forth back in 1983: Don't use both concurrently and then they won't both run out at the same time. As it was, I only had enough deodorant for one armpit and had to literally tear apart both plastic tubes and use my finger to fish out enough to cover the other armpit. It was humiliating. It was on my mind so much that I wasn't paying attention to my shaving and I ended up going to the office with a dime-sized patch of hair on my jawbone that I didn't notice while the foam was on my face. |
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| Feb 4 | Stupid cat This is a "Cat It". It's a dome-shaped fountain that keeps water circulating so that the cat doesn't get put off by "not fresh" water. It costs about $30 and it lives on the floor of my downstairs bathroom. This is my cat, two feet away, having a drink. |
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| Jan 28 | Could it be at long last... That I'm happy? I'm in a good mood at least. |
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| Jan 26 | Why I haven't updated my blog since May of last year I didn't feel like it. |
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| Jan 26 | Hi Mom! My mom is terrific, and I am not trying to put her down or make fun of her. Let's make that clear right now. Now, even with all the (much deserved) respect and praise that she enjoys, there are times when I can't figure her out. Observe, this messenger conversation we had earlier today. It makes sense right up until the end.  "Life is a House with Kevin Klein". What could that possibly mean? You might say to yourself that she meant to send that to a different chat window or perhaps accidentally cut-and-pasted it when she didn't mean to, but you have to understand: She does this kind of thing all the time. It's a mystery. |
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| May 31 | Hate Is Hip A friend of mine recently pointed me at a review on Something Awful of Tool's latest album, "10,000 Days". Naturally, they crap all over it, and who's surprised? The axis of Something Awful's appeal is a clever but cynical humor based on the notion that everything sucks, especially things that people enjoy. I was looking through a few reviews of the new X-Men movie, "Last Stand". On several of the "hip" web review sites, I find that they, of course, crap all over it. I wasn't surprised by that, either. There's a trend among modern reviewers to stage a sort of "faked insight" by taking something apart and revealing everything that's wrong with it. It's hard to succumb and say "I enjoyed this movie" when the next reviewer is jockeying for that pole position of cool by saying "People who like this movie are stupid". All over the internet and pop culture you'll find that the cool icons are the ones who are too good for it all. Even things which should be enjoyed or could be enjoyed are reframed as dumb or lame because if a cool person doesn't have something uncool to back away from, how can you tell how awesomely cool they are? To debunk something and to hate something are very similar and nearly identical, but still separated. To debunk is to reveal the truth with bluntness and candor, but sometimes debunking involves revealing that something is actually quite good when you look closely at it. To hate or be hateful means to only recreate something as bad. I'm tired of it. I can't trust what I read on the internet because sites like Something Awful decide before they pen their first word that they already hate something, and because they're cool all the other sites copy them. And so it goes. |
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| May 22 | You have got to be kidding me Weather report for tonight.  I realize that those of you who aren't from Canada might not know this, but snow in late May is pretty unusual. I'm wondering if it's a mistake. Let me tell you, though, I'll take my own life if I have to brush snow off my car again before November. |
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| May 18 | Keyboard This is my laptop's keyboard. I've actually worn through the space bar. That's a first for me. The apostrophe key has nothing holding it on. If I turn the laptop upside down, it falls off. There's no up arrow key whatsoever. The rest of the story sort of writes itself, really. |
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| May 18 | More about my Birthday & Tool When I suggested a few days ago that someone get me the Tool album for my birthday, I didn't mean to imply that: a) I'm owed a birthday present from any or everyone who reads this blog, b) Among those of you who might bequeath something to me for my 37th, that you should all get me the exact same thing. What I was really trying to get across in that post was that I'm actually pretty crazy about that new album. What an amazing album. What I really want for my birthday is a good porkpie hat for summer. |
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| May 15 | Plans? I have no plans for my birthday. Any suggestions? |
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| May 11 | Cats When I got home today, I stepped out onto the back deck to get something. When I did, I noticed my landlord's cats out in the back yard. As I put my first foot on the deck, they both froze and stared at me. I noticed them there and stared back at them. A while passed and, before long, the staring got to feel a little weird... as all three of us remained motionless. I went back into the house for a moment and thought soberly, and then stuck my head outside again to see if they were still there. They were; frozen in their suspicious and cat-like poses... the black one...  ...and the white one.  As you can see, I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple photos. They did not move, they did not twitch, no flitting of the tail nor brief aversion of the gaze as birds flew overhead and a soft breeze blew through the grass. Dour expressions, as still as stones... staring... ...ever staring... I've felt rather weird ever since. |
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| May 8 | Me, My Kids, My Friends, My Friends' Kids |
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| May 5 | My AIM is True I'm going to be changing my AIM name soon and opening up a new account with a new list of contacts in order to trim out the dead wood. Anyone who would like to have my new AIM name, just let me know and I'll add you (if you don't bug me, that is). Unless you ask to be added, I'm not going to add you. |
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| May 4 | The Debate Rages On, and I'd Like to Weigh In I was just reading about how Lucasfilms is going to re-release the original Star Wars without all the later-generation edits that were added by Lucas in the 90's (was it the 90's?). There's a reason that original movie was special in a way that the sequels weren't. There's a reason that the "prequel" trilogy doesn't live up to the original trilogy. There's a reason that few movies will ever hold a candle to that original effort by George Lucas. Here it is: You were probably 7 years old when you saw Star Wars... and now you're not. Back before you'd seen all the clichés, before you could tell the difference between a special effect and real life, before you learned to poke holes in plots and view with a cynical eye, Star Wars came into your life... and it was something special because you were that person. Now? There isn't a single installment in the six-part series that I believe can reach me. I watch for nostalgia, for the enjoyment of good archetypes and for some state-of-the-art special effects... but the original three Star Wars movies were only better than the three prequels for one reason: At the time, you were too young to know a corny movie when you saw one. |
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| May 2 | So you wanna know what I want for my birthday this May 28th? Simple. |
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| April 2 | The Importance Of Getting Your Fairies Straight Dora was cleaning up her room and was tossing out some trash when she realized a band-aid she had been wearing all day came off. She was about to throw it out but, before she did, she declared to me "Look, dad! I'm gonna get some money!" I looked at her and wasn't sure what she was talking about. "Money?", I said "Why would you be getting money?" She held up her bandaid with the tiny dot of blood on it and said "Seeeee?", waving it in my face. Then her smile quickly dissolved and she got a deep, ponderous look on her face. "Oh, wait" she said. "That's the Tooth Fairy". |
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| April 12 | The West Wing & Duncan's Big Mouth (Caution: Spoilers) So it was Duncan who got me watching The West Wing. Great show. There's a lot I could say about it... but I'm writing this post to let you know I was talking to Duncan about it today. Me: So I'm loving The West Wing. Duncan: I still have to see the last episode. I haven't seen it yet. Me: Ok, well don't tell me anything. I'm only on season four. The part where Josh gets a girlfriend. Duncan: Who, Amy? Did you see when they hired her and she got her office? Me: Duncan... I haven't seen that part yet. God, will you keep your mouth shut please? Duncan: Well, dude... you knew she'd be hired, right? Me: Uh, no. Duncan: Well, I'm looking forward to that last show. Me: Don't tell me anything. I'm still on season four. Duncan: You know who they have now? Me: I heard they had Alan Alda. Duncan: Yeah, and that other chick... Me: Duncan, shut up. Duncan: Well, you knew they had to end it. After they lost Leo. Me: They lost Leo??? Duncan: Yeah, he died. Me: Dude, I didn't know that!! Duncan: Well, you would if you just watched a few minutes of TV. Me: I DON'T WATCH TV! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! Duncan: Well, sorry man. So you don't know who goes to jail and who's a trait- Me: AAAUGH! Duncan: Yeah, so Leo died. Me: You're not allowed to talk to me anymore. |
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| April 9 | Are You Bugged By The Lack Of Updates To My Blog Recently? Here. Watch this. |
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| April 2 | Things I've Accomplished It's been a while since the last time I updated my blog (on Mar 22), and I wanted to let you know what I've done since then. The only thing that comes to mind right away, however, is that I've eaten an entire box of cereal since this time yesterday. It was really great cereal, though. |
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| April 2 | "Don't let anyone make you feel ashamed. They know what they did." Are you a fan of The Office? You owe it to yourself to check this out. |
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| April 2 | NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Sigh. |
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| Mar 22 | YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! A fan note about a chance encounter with Jason Bateman. Thanks, Dan. |
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| Mar 14 | A Note For Those Of You Who Watch 24 I thought the part where they showed Samwise Gamgee talking to his kids before he offed himself for The Greater Good™ was dirty pool. |
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| Mar 13 | This Makes Some Sense Here's a link that's been forwarded to me, oh, about 500 times today. |
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| Mar 12 | Season Finale of Battlestar Galactica I seriously could not believe it. Not even joking, I had to watch it three times to really let it sink in. My eyes could not be more glued to the screen as the last twenty minutes unfolded even if I had been bolted in place. You know, I keep thinking "They can't kick my ass that hard AGAIN...", and then BSG does it. I have no idea how I'll make it to October now (when the next seson is). This is seriously the one show I would take to a desert island. |
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| Mar 12 | You See, Mr. Antolini Was A Pervert As Well More spam I got today. Unedited, uncensored: Subject: What's up Prekesh, a quick question for ya, What if you could hoax your brain into believing that ur full. Just conceptualize the weight that you could make disappear if you could get your appetite down. Well no longer do you have to fantasize. Check out www.wallcematerialforus.com/5t/ and see for urself. ran out thinking that Mr. Antolini was a pervert as well. This is the only time during the novel where Ho. s for her future. She seems to feel that God has kept her for a reason, and she must give every effort to fulfill His wishes and give aid to We Hope this helps, albin |
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| Mar 10 | I Can't Explain This Lately I'm finding myself downloading music by the Statler Brothers. In particular, I'm digging up all their creepy Christian music, like "In The Beginning", "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder", and "What A Day That Will Be". It's funny how listening to really back woods Christian country and western can give you the exact same feeling you get from watching a really good horror movie. |
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| Mar 10 | This is a picture... ...of my landlord. |
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| Mar 7 | Having Kids I should warn you before you read too far: This post refers to some unclothed anatomy and, if that's too uncomfortable for you to read, I suggest you make this your stopping point. Ruth and Dora are generally very good at doing what they're asked to do. They clean up when they're asked to, but they're kids; they miss stuff from time to time. I was reminded of that fact this morning when I was up and fiddling with my wireless router (that's not a euphemism, by the way). I was on my butt on the floor, leaning over it, tinkering and trying to diagnose what the problem might be. I eventually got it sorted out, but it took a few minutes. Thing is, this is first thing in the morning and, as I am privileged to do in my own home, I'm stark naked. It didn't even occur to me that I was naked, actually, until I got up from where I was sitting on the rug and I had one piece of Playmobil and one Kinderegg surprise toy stuck to my buttcheek. |
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| Mar 6 | Adventures In Flickr: Sandwiches Named After Me After discussing the Bahá'í fast with Kris, she made a sandwich and named it after me. |
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| Mar 6 | Adventures In Flickr: Wil Wheaton As you can probably tell, I've been messing around with Flickr lately and I think it's a lot of fun. One discovery I've made is that Wil Wheaton, uses Flickr and, after browsing through his photostream, I've seen a photo that reminds me of why I like him so much. |
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| Mar 5 | The Perfect Photo There are many photos of my kids out there, but right now this picture of Ruth is the one I am currently enjoying most. Parents: Humiliate your kids early on. They won't stand for it later. |
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| Mar 5 | Flickr I've started uploading my pics to Flickr.com. You'll notice the new "badge" up there by the title. I'm not sure that's a good place for it, but you have to admit that it's very cool how it does that thing with the photos flying all over the place, non? Best thing of all are the community guidelines, in which there is a rule stating "[Don't] Be Creepy", and "Don't be that guy. You know the guy". That's awesome. |
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| Mar 5 | Repeat I'm going through this weird process that sometimes happens for me; I heard a song that catches my attention for some reason and I just set it on repeat and let it go for... well... maybe not hours, but sometimes. Tonight it's Sooner or Later by Michael Tolcher. I first caught a few bars of it while watching an episode of Scrubs, and it stuck with me. Sometimes it's a musical strain, sometimes a tone, sometimes the beat, sometimes the lyrics. In the this case it's a bit of everything... it's cutting right through me. For some reason this song is finding its way straight through to the core of me tonight, and I don't know why. There's just this one refrain that I can't get out of my system... "...Now you learn the hard way" I've had this feeling lately like my life is trying to teach me something by making things difficult. I've been working uphill on so many levels, running just for the feeling of standing still, scrambling only to stay at par. I love my life, but I don't know which piece I'm missing that makes it necessary for me to have to do things this way. I don't know why it is that things repeat themselves the way they do for me. Or maybe I do and I'm just not admitting it to myself? Not sure. "...Now you learn the hard way" |
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| Mar 4 | Spam I got this in my email in-box today. Subject: is ur girl happy What's up butler, You'll wanna listen to this, Richie told me couple days ago that ur wife been not satified about u recently. I can assist with that. Visit here www.iheqb.org/949/. I've been using them for a couple yrs now and nothing but good things for them. cy, although not formally written into law consisted of three main points. Advocating delayed marriage and delayed child be. ation with AbbÈ Faria while imprisoned in Ch&Mac226;teau DíIf. Through their conversation, Edmond discovers who plotted his imprisonmen. Talk to ya later Athamasia I think it's in some kind of code. |
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| Mar 4 | Penny Arcade on Macintosh Tycho at Penny Arcade has this to say about the Macintosh. There has always been something illicit about playing for the other team. Gabriel's MacBook doesn't arrive until... they start arriving, later this month, but save for platform-dependent gaming I've used my own Mac for every computing task this week. What I have ascertained is not that PCs as we know them lack good design, but that PCs as we know them have hardly any design to speak of. I'm not trying to be insulting. Use a Mac for a week, and we'll talk again. I have edited autoexec.bat files in order to optimize the amount of available conventional memory, and I liked doing it, liked being the sort of person who could. As a PC user, enduring the grotesqueries of that experience is something that we are actually proud of. It's come a long way since then, jokes about "blue screens" and what not ring like tired vaudeville acts. But those struggles were certainly real, the battle wounds considerable, and now the skin has grown over it and to a certain extent we think this is just how it is. I didn't even understand that's what was going on until I started to write this. Like men who love the wilderness for its savage and untamed qualities, I believe many of us are drawn to this stark brutality. That frontier living, the self reliance, the adversity. The Mac, like The Alliance in World of Warcraft, was easy mode. I don't think that the Macintosh was inspired by ancient holy scrolls, found in a sea cave and excised from the original bible by a convocation of priests and wise men. But I do like it very much. It is extremely good at what it does, which is to say, exposing functionality. It's a big topic. I'll go into it on Monday. It's an interesting thing to read stuff like this by die-hard, steel-jawed enemies of bulls*t such as Gabe and Tycho. I <3 them for calling it like it is. |
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| Mar 3 | Dawn At 6:38 AM, EST When I talk with people about the Bahá'í fast, it usually garners a range of responses. There's a fair amount of ambivilence, of course, because, in this busy world, what's happening for another person isn't something we can always take the time to slow down and think about. There are those, however, who do like to talk about it a bit; they find it interesting or even a bit scary when they try to imagine themselves not eating when the urge hits. I'm not that different from folks like that, actually; I'm a big coward when it comes to denying my whim-of-the-moment, and those who know me will know that I love food. A lot. There are things that I can't easily convey, however, and for that reason I feel like sometimes my description of what the fast is and how it works is sometimes less than it should be. There's the moment at dawn, when your breakfast is over, and you get to see the sun rising and be there at the moment the day is actually beginning. It's inspiring and gives you something you don't get every day. After all, how many of us are actually up at dawn? There's also the experience of appreciating something more than you normally would. Food is so common, so easily obtained, so readily available that it can be consumed on demand in whatever quantity we wish. It's not often we have to do without. It's for this reason that few of us ever get to really appreciate food. When I'm on the fast, however, and I get to that hour of the day when I can finally eat... the food is so delicious and abundantly satisfying that it's a completely different experience than just the utilitarian mechanics of putting dinner on the table solely so you can get on with whatever comes after. That first cup of tea after the sun has set is the best cup of tea I drink all year. When it comes to the Bahá'í fast, the truth is that I really can't convey what it's like because there's no way I know of to describe how it's completely and entirely without a down side. What might seem scary and weird to me under normal circumstances is, in fact, the high point of my year. |
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| Mar 2 | The Fast Every year, starting on March 2, Bahá'is fast from sunup to sundown for 19 days. Every religion includes fasting in some manner or another, and the Bahá'i Faith is no different. Our fast started today and, even though I'm just getting over a little bit of a bug that I think I picked up from my kids, I'm good to go. Well, sorta... I started on a kind of slippery step. I was up very early this morning and I was just about to tuck into a big breakfast when I remembered that I was on the fast and the sun had already been up for, like, 15 minutes. So that was sort of a "doh" moment. Thing is, the fast is actually a really lovely spiritual time. It's about concrete evidence that the soul has dominion over the body if you choose for it to be that way, and I always find that my best artwork happens this time of year (whether it's music or writing or whatever). Anyhow, I may interject a thought or two about the fast over the next 19 days. Just letting you know. |
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| Feb28 | Dora's Ayyam-i-ha Present To Me    |
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| Feb26 |  Things My Daughter Will Kill Me For When She's OlderHere's a picture of Ruth this morning at 6 AM when she rolled out of bed. The bedhead is... unbelievably beautiful and horrifying, all at once. |
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| Feb26 | The Ayyam-i-ha That Was Though Ayyam-i-ha is four days long, my time with my daughters is almost up for now, and so (to me) Ayyam-i-ha is almost over. My last 24 hours has consisted of: - Presents - Special dinners - Yummy treats & candy - Cake - Games - Decorations - Fancy dresses (more for them than for me) - A party - Prayers In less than an hour I'll be coralling them into the car and taking them back to their mom's place. It basically constitutes a single day of Ayyam-i-ha for me (as the other days will be rather uneventful), but it was time very well spent. |
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| Feb26 | Happy And Merry Inter-Calary... Bahá'is, like every other major world religion, has its own holy days, celebrations, commemorations and so-on. We've just started the four-day period of gift-giving and family-time that's called Ayyam-i-ha (tr: Inter-calary Days). The Bahá'i calendar is made up of nineteen months with nineteen days each, and the four left over days are "between the calendar", or "inter-calary". It's during this time that Bahá'u'llah, the prophet-founder of the Bahá'i Faith, tells us to give gifts, spend time with family and do works of charity and philanthropy. Well, Ayyam-i-ha is upon us again, and I've spent the first evening of this special time with my two very cute kids. They had presents in a basket, we had a special dinner and then went out to the local Baha'i Ayyam-i-ha party where we had a terrific time and made several new friends. The time is infused with a spiritual atmosphere. It's very easy to see; the kids are sweet and tranquil and appreciative of every gift and treat. At the party they were extremely polite and courteous (which they always are; more than ever lately I'm hearing from complete strangers how special and beautiful they are). I, myself, have been feeling terrific and refreshed. Ayyam-i-ha. It's a time of year which, for me, is much loved. |
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| Feb26 | Which Is The Tell-Tale Sign That "The Hot Chick" Was A Bad Movie? a) Gays depicted as scary and predatory. b) An Asian character says, in deep accent, "Nigga Prease." c) The group of 5 main protagonists includes one black character who is completely scrubbed clean of personality. d) Someone asks the question "How do you know if you're in love?" e) All of the above |
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| Feb25 | A Damn Shame Don Knotts dead at 81. It's not that the guy hadn't earned the right to move on from this life, as he'd been a hard-working man in the enterainment business for many, many years. It's just that his passing reminds me of so much about my childhood. My grandma picked me up after kindergarten one d and I'll always remember him.ay to see The Apple Dumpling Gang at the matinee. Saturday afternoons were spent watching reruns of his TV shows or movies. He made me happy |
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| Feb24 | My Movie Meme This is a little meme idea I came up with that I'd like to encourage others to do. In particular, I'd like to see Peter, Jon, Kris, Rachel, Steve, Christine, and Sarah try their hands at it. Difficulty: No repeats. Three movies I thought were awesome when I first saw them, and I still think are awesome. 1. The Usual Suspects 2. Snatch 3. The Matrix Three movies I thought were awesome when I first saw them, and now I think they stink. 1. Star Wars 2. Batman 3. Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan Three movies I thought stunk when I first saw them, and now I think they're better than I originally believed. 1. Reservoir Dogs 2. The Hulk 3. Star Trek: The Motion Picture Three movies I thought stunk when I first saw them, and I believe they still do. 1. Any "American Pie" movie 2. Everyone Says I Love You 3. Any Harry Potter movie Bonus: Three movies that I think stink, but everyone else seems to like, and three movies that I think are awesome but no-one else likes. I seem to be alone in thinking that they stink: 1. Clerks 2. Se7en 3. The Piano I seem to be alone in thinking that they're awesome: 1. Ishtar 2. Fearless 3. Unbreakable |
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| Feb24 | Catch I'm having a great hair day. I mean great. I have to fight the urge to make out with myself in the mirror. Thing is, lately the good hair days are coming fewer and further between for some reason. It may have something to do with the fact that the hairs are fewer and further between. This may be one of the last truly great performances my hair makes before it leaves the stage. Be sure to catch a front row seat. |
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| Feb23 |  Let There Be LightHanging lamps set up by me in my kitchen tonight: One Light bulbs stolen from over-the-stove light: One Bolts stolen from my dresser: Two Minutes spent trying to figure out which wall switch turned the power on and off: Ten Number of accidental self-administered electrical shocks: Eight |
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| Feb21 | Come Fly With Me I tried writing up a few different versions of the long story which is this past week for me, but I just couldn't do it. Too boring for you, too heartbreaking for me. Instead, I've come up with a short version. Basically, this past week I've asked three questions over and over: - Ok, so when WILL you fly me to [name of destination]? - If the airline won't pay for a hotel, where am I supposed to sleep? - Can you explain to me one more time where my luggage is, please? So this past week I basically lived a real-life version of The Terminal, only without Catherina Zeta-Jones. Weather conditions on the east coast made flying a complete headache. Flights have been canceled en masse and every stand-by list is 100 names long. Well, not anymore. This was last week. I'm home now, finally. |
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| Feb13 | Oh, Ice Cream... Why Can't I Quit You? Chocolate Fudge Crackle with Mint. |
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| Feb13 | Muy Calienté I had an incredibly bad day today. If not for my kids, I don't know how I would have gotten through it. As it is, they barely kept me from throwing myself off a bridge. When all was said and done, I sat down in a warm bath to see if that would unravel me a bit. Before I did that, however, I realized that I had chicken wings in the fridge and lots of tasty hot sauce. Sitting in the tub with my laptop nearby playing movies while I munched on hot wings, dipping them into this positively scorching yet mouth-watering sauce. To quickly jump to the punchline: Then the bowl of sauce slipped into the tub. I immediately found myself sitting in a warm bath of watered down Lousiana Hot Sauce. I was trying to figure out if I should get out or stay in or what, but as the tingling, stinging sensation began after (remarkably) only a few seconds, I realized that the dry skin problem I was hoping to get control of would still be a way off from being solved. I took one more moment to marvel at how my day ended with me sitting, buck naked, in a bath tub full of hot sauce. You can't make stuff like this up. |
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| Feb10 |  Just Stuff I Find FunnyThis is from the authors of Penny Arcade, who contributed this to the World of Warcraft strategy guide. |
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| Feb10 | Set Phasers For "Brokeass Poor" It's not like I didn't know this was going to happen, but still... dude. |
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| Feb 9 |  Steve Tze Does My GirlfriendI wasn't sure if I should post this or not, because even though it is awesome beyond awesome it does involve a lot of stuff which might have so little to do with your life and things that are important to you that you could go into a trance by reading it. I decided, in the end, that it was too cool not to share. Also, it explains the current "I'm Way Into" picture. Steven Tze: Cartoonist/artist/designer for Freeverse Software. Known for a lot of truly awesome cartoon work (sample, sample and sample) in Freeverse games, but is probably best remembered for his character, Jen, who is the official monkey-loving spokesperson of Freeverse. He actually did a cartoon of me a few years back, standing with Jen (despite the fact that Jen doesn't actually exist, it's a pic that makes Lori sort of jealous). I may have already blogged it. And then there's Lori... who is not only a perennial character in my life, but also serves as the central theme of this blog post. Steve + Lori = the above-linked desktop collage photo. If you happen to notice some resemblance between Jen and Lori, I happen to agree. I am going to suggest to Freeverse that they hire Lori to stand at their booth next Macworld Expo and act as the Freeverse spokeswoman. Or something. |
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| Feb 9 | Quote I read a quote today that will stay with me for quite a while. I'm still ruminating on it. Facetious, maybe, but it resonates with truth in my mind. "Live peacefully and accord those who disagree with you the same rights. And if you can’t live peacefully, then take your gun, and use it on yourself." - Steve Linberg. |
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| Feb 8 | Nature's Way Of Saying "Please Kill Me" Guy maxes out 14 credit cards remodeling his house to look like the Starship Voyager. |
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| Feb 8 | Lori She's a very special person. Funny, insightful, warm and smart. If you know her, you should count yourself lucky. |
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| Feb 8 | A Great Blog It's not going to be for everyone, but I personally feel that my friend Jonathan's blog is pretty damn good. I'll explain a bit about why I say this but, for the record, Jonathan doesn't take compliments well. In fact, he takes them very poorly. Jonathan, if you're reading, this is the part where you should stop. Jonathan is one of the smartest people I know; not just in the sense of being able to regurgitate a bunch of facts he's picked up from somewhere, but in that he can understand relationships between things (even when they are very complex). He also synthesizes with a very keen imagination and ponders the theoretical as easily as the practical. One of the things that I will always credit Jon with is that he taught me everything I know about the rise and fall of the Roman Empre. Most importantly, he taught me why it's important to know. His blog is a collection of insights and thoughts, but if you are expecting to read a lot about the fall of the Roman Empire, this isn't the place to do it. Jon writes about movies, news stories and various topics of the day which range from light to sober and everything in between. It's a regular stop for me and I suggest you take the time to read what he has to say. I'm particularly impressed by his recent rant about Google's Free Lunch. Take the time to look. |
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| Feb 4 | Why I Love Battlestar Galactica I love Battlestar Galactica. Why? Is it because I like sci-fi and because it reminds me of the show I used to dig when I was 8 years old? Nostalgia trip, maybe? Yeah, kinda. More importantly, however, I like great acting, great direction, great stories, great characters and great dialogue. Thanks to this show, I now remember how good TV can be if someone takes the trouble to make it good. I now watch other TV shows and give them a chance that I wouldn't have otherwise, hoping that someone will work hard enough to make other shows as good as BSG... that they'll care enough about what they do to take it to that level. I suppose I should also add that the new BSG doesn't really remind me of the old series too much, so the nostalgia factor is actually quite low. |
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| Feb 2 | Meme I saw this on Trancejen and thought "It's been a while since I've updated. I'll do this meme". Four jobs I've had: 1. Video game reviewer 2. Sign language interpreter 3. The guy who pulls a rickshaw in Ottawa's Byward Market 4. Guitar teacher Four movies I can watch over and over: 1. The Emperor's New Groove 2. The Fellowship Of The Ring 3. Saving Private Ryan 4. Mystery Men Four places I have lived: 1. Toronto 2. Ottawa 3. Montreal 4. Very briefly in Washington D.C. Four TV shows I love: 1. Battlestar Galactica 2. Lost 3. Arrested Development 4. Scrubs Four places I've vacationed: 1. Mexico 2. Cape Cod 3. Florida 4. Israel... though I wouldn't call that "vacation" time. Four of my favorite dishes: 1. Pho Tai 2. Gourmé Sabsi 3. Kimchee 4. Sushi Four sites I visit daily: 1. Fark 2. MacGamer 3. Tikkabik 4. Maccentral Four places I would rather be right now: 1. Starbuck's 2. In bed 3. In Oregon 4. In a Starbuck's in Oregon, in a bed Five people I am tagging: (I'm not sure what "tagging" means, so I'll assume it's regarding people whom I want to do this same meme on their own blog) 1. Peter 2. Jonny 3. Jon 4. Christine 5. Steve |
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| Jan 27 | Small Change I've removed the Pepsi Meter because it's stupid. I've replaced it with a small note telling you what I'm listening to lately, or even at the moment. I used to do that, but I found linking to the audio file on Amazon.com so you could sample a few seconds it to be a bit of a drag, so I stopped. You can probably find a sample of whatever I have there for yourself if you wish (try Amazon.com or iTunes). |
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| Jan 26 | Bobo Speaks Thanks to Peter Cohen for this. If you've ever had a cat, you'll totally get this. Warning: NSFW text. |
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| Jan 24 | It Was Just A Rumor Apparently there will be no Friends reunion after all. I never really cared, but it does beg the question of what the fate of Honk Bag will be. |
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| Jan 24 |  Honk BagStay with me on this one. Here's a Fark.com headline: "Friends" is returning to TV. I'd say it's because fans have asked for it, but we all know Hollywood doesn't give a crap about what fans want. The article in question which was linked from this headline is here. There's a discussion thread here about the news. In this thread, a user named "Cake Hunter" says "We need more shows about everyday, blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth, talking hamster psychologists." Another user by the name of McDork answered (in the voice of a TV Development Executive) "We already have something like that in the works. What else ya got?". Cake Hunter returned with the following: - "Frond Life" - A large, neon fern on a windowsill is the centerpiece as three twenty-something couples grapple with thoughts of love, growth, spirituality, and their addiction to making ceramic statues of hobos.The "Honk Bag" idea really caught on, which eventually led to someone making the DVD cover mockup you see above. All of this was meant to tell you that all day I've been saying "Honk Bag" and making myself laugh. You'll be hearing a lot more of it from me around here. I'm still laughing. Seriously. Right this second as I type. |
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| Jan 24 | The January 23rd Curse Well, something crappy did happen. I'm not quite in the mood to discuss what it was, though. I'm still busy sitting around with a big red marker making big giant X's over January 23rd on the calendar. The paper has worn through, but I'm not stopping. |
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| Jan 24 |  Things I Would Never Have Put TogetherI think I can easily say that I'm not "homophobic". Those who know me in my personal life will probably attest to that fact and, frankly, I don't think I've got anything to prove in this regard. Secondly, I have absolutely nothing against knitting or crocheting. Why would I? What did knitting every do to me to deserve it? I'm glad knitting and crocheting is in the world. Knitting has very little impact on my life, to be honest, but no matter how hard I try I cannot think of a reason why it should be taken away from those who enjoy it. What I cannot figure out is a little webring I found linked on my friend SemiCynical's blog, called Queerknit. Queer + Knitting = WTF? What is it about being gay that has an impact on your knitting and makes you need to create a gay-specific knitting webring? Are you knitting a giant rainbow flag? Are you knitting a pair of buttless chaps? Seems to me that if you're gay and you're knitting the usual things like sweaters and scarves and so-on, you're knitting. It's not gayknitting. It's just plain old knitting. Just as there's no republicanknitting, no jungianknitting, no 7thdayadventistknitting and no amwaysalesmanknitting, there's no gayknitting. There's good knitting and sometimes bad knitting... but there's nothing gay about knitting. Well, that last bit is slightly in question, but I'm sure you get my point. |
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| Jan 23 | Corroborating Evidence See? |
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| Jan 23 | January Freakin' 23rd I was just glancing at my friend Jo's blog and she mentioned that January 23rd is, supposedly, the most depressing day of the year. She cites the following as reasons for why that is. - Christmas Debt - Bills above and beyond the norm due to increased heating costs, phone bills and electricity over the holidays - Going back to work/school - only a week away from the coldest time of the year - Failed New Year’s resolutions - The gray skies and meters of snow Ok, this next part is where you start thinking I'm an idiot so, if the recent car story didn't already convince you, this would be the part where you have to decide whether you want to read on and confirm your suspicions. Something bad happens to me every January 23rd. Girlfriends break up with me (yes, more than one), diseases take hold, various ridiculous things hit me from out of the blue. I'm not a superstitious man, but it just keeps happening. Some people in my life have said that I make it happen by expecting it and, while I do have some belief in what you expect being what you end up getting, I think this goes beyond that. It made me feel less crazy to know that someone other than me has targeted January 23rd as a bad date on the calendar but, now that I re-read what I read, the crazy feeling is back. |
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| Jan 22 | Dude, Who Broke Into My Car? It's been established many times that Canada is cold. I won't insult you by leading you through that discussion again. Thing is, what you might not know is that the lock on the driver's side door of my car freezes up when it's really cold, especially when the wind is blowing on the door (which is often because of where I park and the lack of anything blocking the wind on that side). I can get the key in, but it won't turn enough, and I don't want to break the key or anything, so when it's really cold I go to the other side of the car sometimes and open the passenger-side door. Then I open the other door (which pops the lock) and I go around and get in. I did this a couple days ago and, as usual, went around the other side. When I got to the other side, I noticed that the driver's side door was open. I stopped in my tracks and thought "Why is that door open? Has someone been into my car?" I crept slowly towards the door, thinking ahead that if there were fingerprints then I shouldn't disturb it (as I am a regular CSI watcher, I know that this is important). I looked in the window and tried to ascertain if anything had been stolen, but it all looked okay. I thought, "Alright... if I'm going to do something about this, I should open the door and take a look in." I took a deep breath and reached for the door handle and... At that moment I realized that I am a complete and total idiot. |
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| Jan 22 | Yuck. Hey, I'm not from Hollywood. I'm not particularly cool or cosmopolitan. I don't know if I'd say my values were very "modern" or not, and maybe in some strange ways I'm actually a bit of a prude. That having been said, some behavior is just plain offensive, some actions are just plain inappropriate and some people are just plain uncivilized... and being part of the hip crowd doesn't make it okay. (Not safe for people who don't like infantile excuses for undignified behavior) |
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| Jan 22 | Chivalry, Apparently, Is Not Dead After All You know when people say "do the math"? Ok, well... here's the math:
Sorta weird, huh? I like it, though. Chivalry and ethics. That's me. |
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| Jan 21 | DUUUUST in the WIIIIIND That just seemed relevant. Here's the new stuff. Coreytamas.com 2005 is archived and now y'all got a green background and a new header and whole lot less data to load (at least until the year goes by a little more). Thanks, btw, to the amazing James Mudge. We had a little conversation that went thusly: Me: Want to make me a banner for my blog? James: Sure. Me: For free? James: Sure. Me: Right away? James: Sure. Me: And make sure it doesn't suck? James: Sure. Me: Wow. I'm out of stupid things to ask you. James: Sure. We're now entering into year 4 of coreytamas.com. Welcome! |
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