Random Access

Today was a rather typical Tuesday.

• Work.
• Gym.
• Home.

That’s covers most of the highlights.

I forgot to mention something last night: The phone rang last night around 10:00 pm. I figured that it was Jess calling about something going on at work. Wrong. It was Dad. He’s not usually a big watch-sports-on-TV person, but he was watching the Ravens game last night. After the Ravens’ defense scored the game’s only touchdown, he called to:

• confirm that the game was all over but the shouting, and
• that he was going to pick up a copy or two of the Baltimore newspaper for me – I’d asked him to get them for me IF Baltimore managed to win.

Definitely one of the coolest parents in the world.

Quote of the Day: I was watching Simon & Simon tonight. Yeah, yeah… I know, it’s old and a little cheesy at times, but it was up there with Magnum, P.I. for me way back when. In tonight’s episode: Rick and A.J.’s uncle (played by John Astin), sends Rick a doll, in tropical skirt and top and a lei…. with a digital clock in its navel.

A.J.: “WHY does he always have to send you one of these things just before he breezes into town?”
Rick:“It’s a tradition!”
A.J.: “Thanksgiving is a tradition; this is a fetish!”

Peace.

Rainy Days and Mondays may have always gotten Karen Carpenter down, but today was a good Monday for me.

• Neither my dad nor I had to turn our respective Circuit Cities into smoking craters. They FINALLY got the whole return issue correct.
• I only worked a half-day.
• The Ravens beat the Vikings and clinched a spot in the Wild Card Race.

Indeed, it was a good day.

More later…. maybe.

Peace.

It all comes down to this.

The Ravens play the Vikings tonight for the final AFC Wild Card slot. Win or lose, they have done pretty well this season; of course any season that you come away with a winning record is a good one. And while they may not have had as impressive a showing as they did during the last half of last season, not to mention the fact that they are last season’s Super Bowl champions, they have done a great job of bringing professional football back to Maryland (even though the ‘Skins play in Maryland, that doesn’t count).

Peace. And, Go Ravens!

It was a fairly typical Sunday – nothing out of the ordinary to report about most of the day.

Item 1: I went back to Circuit City today. I am NOT happy. As I said yesterday: I needed some answers to the question: ‘If the purchase that I made here (to be picked up elsewhere) was not picked up, what steps do I need to take to procure a refund?’

I spoke to an associate at the service desk and explained the situation. She took my receipt, entered the information, and stared at the screen. She stared some more. She pushed more buttons. She furrowed her brow and stared at the screen again. Then she said,”According to this, it has been picked up.” I told her that it had not been. She took the receipt and disappeared into the office area… A few minutes later, she returned… and said the same thing. GRRR

I pulled out my phone and called my father to reconfirm what I already knew. As unhappy as I was with the situation, Dad was that much less pleased. He said that he’d go back to the Circuit City near him tomorrow; I gave him all of the pertinent information from the ticket. As much as I would HATE to be on the opposite side of that service counter tomorrow, part of me would love to be there to see what transpires. He’s going to call me with the details of the ordeal tomorrow; hopefully the matter can be reconciled fairly easily. If not… *shrug*

Item 2: I watched Sins of the Father on FX tonight. It was about the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. Four girls were killed in the explosion; many others were injured. This act became a focal point for the civil rights movement.

I thought that the movie was well done. It took an unusual approach to the case: It was told from the viewpoints – past and present – of Tom Cherry, son of Bobby Frank Cherry, one of the accused bombers. It showed Tom as a boy who wanted to please his father and as a man who was attempting to reconcile his thoughts and feelings of his past. I recommend seeing this movie, if you get the chance. I’m not sure how many liberties were taken with the Tom Cherry story, but the underlying themes of the issues seemed to be fairly well portrayed.

If you are interested in other civil rights-related links:

• http://www.4littlegirls.com/
• http://bcri.bham.al.us/
• http://www.mecca.org/~crights/ncrm.html
• http://www.splcenter.com/splc.html
• http://www.naacp.org
• http://www.usccr.gov/
• http://www.aclu.org/

Item 3: I also (finally) read the books that I picked up at the comics shop yesterday. While this is not ordinarily a noteworthy thing, there was an interesting twist to some of the books. Early last year, Marvel Comics’ president Bill Jemas and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada concocted an interesting idea/challenge for their books’ creative teams: Write an issue of the books without any dialogue. There were many skeptics of this plan… and I was one of them. It sounded gimmicky. A slick. A con. I am pleased to say that I – and apparently many of the detractors – were wrong. These issues are truly a credit to the creative synergies of the staff… and to Jemas and Quesada for engineering the plan. To help readers out, parts of the books’ plots are included at the end of the story; the full plots are available online at www.marvel.com. Check them out. And if you get a chance, check out the books as well.

Pictures of the Day are here

And, that is all the news that’s fit to print. Until next time…

Peace.

Saturday: Day of Leisure… for most.

• Slept in.
• Showered and then lazed around the apartment for a while.
• Took a nap. The nap was… oddly funny, because I went into the living room, where Jess was watching a movie, sat down next to her and basically fell asleep in her lap. Have I mentioned lately that she is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the coolest girlfriend in the world?
• Woke up, shaved, got presentable and faced the world.
• Went to Circuit City to see about getting a refund on a Christmas purchase… and wound up getting a little irritated. THEY said that the item I ordered had been picked up; my father – whom I have no reason to doubt – told me (again) that he did not take receipt of the item. GRRRR This will be dealt with tomorrow.
• Had a nice dinner with Jess, before she had to go to work.
• Stopped at the comics shop.
• Came home and was lazy again. Hey, my parents always told me that when I found something that I was good at doing, that I should make the most of that talent.
• Went bowling with Larry. Heather, Bill, Brian (known as “George”), and Peggy (the coolest ex-gf in the world) showed up and hung out for a while; Heather and Bill I expected, Peggy and Brian were a nice surprise.
• Had a light, early breakfast at the nearby Village Inn.
• Came home.

That’s the day, from top to bottom.

Pictures of the Day can be found here.

“It’s a small world, after all…” While at dinner, I noticed that the waiter for the table next to ours was from Baltimore. Note: Many of the restaurants here have not only the wait staff’s names on their nametags, but also their hometowns. Why? I have no idea. They just “do.” I asked him what part of the city he was from, he told me… and then he told me that he went to the school (Boys Latin, for those of you familiar with Baltimore area schools) that I attended as a youth. It was surreal.

Peace.

Another Friday has come and gone.

Work wasn’t eventful.
After-work was uneventful, as well.

Pictures of the Day can be found here.

Quotes of the Day: I guess that it’s not too surprising that they both come from Dee.

• “We should learn to accept him for what he is… in the same way that you accept dog shit for what it is and try not to step in it.”
• To Rick, after discussing some detail of Rick’s dating life: “I feel for you man. What you need is a wife that you can ignore!”

And that is all of the news from Lake Saline for tonight.

Peace.

It happened. It had been a LONG time since it had happened, but this morning it happened. Out of the blue. Someone violated the Rule #2 of The 10:00 Rule, which states: “Unless it is of vital importance (or you are a family member), do not call me before 10:00 AM.” A friend of ours – one that we haven’t talked to in a while AND someone who knows about this rule – called this morning… at 08:45. GRRR When I answered the phone (and she heard the *slight* irritation in my voice), she remembered: “Ohmigosh! I forgot all about the 10 AM rule. I figured that if I’m up, that everyone should be up.” *grrr* She then proceeded to get to the reason that she called. Under normal circumstances, this would have gone in the “good thing” category. This morning, it was firmly entrenched in the “I’m way too tired to give a rat’s ass about this” list. Again, she was blessed with clarity and said,”Umm, why don’t I call you back later and let you get back to sleep.” Excellent choice. We hung up. I slept a little more. Life was good again.

Got ready for – and went to – work; eight more work-hours in the week. And I went to the gym for the first time in at least ten days. Looks like I have some catching up to do.
It snowed a little tonight. Nothing stuck, but you could see it falling.

The Quote of the Day for today comes from Angela, another friend from work:

Angela: Attack of the Clowns comes out in a few months.
Dee, Lynn and me: *headscratch* “What’s that?”
Angela: “You know…. the new Star Wars movie.”
Dee, Lynn and me: *look at each other and burst into hysterical laughter*
Me: “Clones. It’s Attack of the Clones.”
Angela: *blank stare* “That makes SO much more sense! Someone told me that it was ‘Attack of the Clowns’ and I was so out of it that I didn’t even question it.”

At this point, the conversation degenerated into a round of “What if…”

• “…500 battle-droids come filing out of a troop carrier the size of a Volkswagen?”
• “…instead of laser pistols or battle staves, they had seltzer bottles and cream pies?”
• “… they all had big, red noses and Bozo the Clown® hair? …and floppy shoes? …and flowers that squirt water?”

You get the idea. I think that this went on for about 5 minutes. What can I say: we’re sometimes easily amused. Of course, from THIS point, it degenerated into a Pulp Fiction meets Star Wars line of thought. We had Samuel L. Jackson doing a combination of Mace Windu and Jules Winfield with Yoda doing the Vincent Vega role… with a little Diff’rent Strokes‘ Arnold Jackson thrown in, for good measure. Easily amused.

Jess and I were talking and Sissy (the Wonder Kitten) came in, sat down and proceeded to wash her face. Jess commented on how cute it is to watch cats do that, then she said:”What’s not cute, is watching them plop down and just lick themselves all over.”

If this has never happened to you, I’m sure that you’ve probably seen it: A mother/grandmother sees a smudge or something on a child in there care, gets a napkin/handkerchief/whatever-is-available or their finger, licks it, and then attempts to bore a hole in the child’s face in an attempt to remove it. Poor kid.

Anyway, here’s the ‘toaster: At what point did someone, preferably a non-feline, decide that saliva was the next best thing to soap and water? I’m assuming that it is an ages-old “solution,” but today? Think about it. If we are so… umm… uhhh… “intelligent,” can’t some other solution be found? If people can put Listerine® in convenient pocket-sized packs, should it be so hard to grasp the concept of “I have a baby/small child, maybe I should pick up some baby wipes or moist towelettes?” Of course, I don’t have any kids and Xena (Warrior Kitten) and Sissy clean themselves. But to me, it just seems like common sense. *shrug* Oh, well.

Peace.

A friend of mine from N.C. showed me this article earlier tonight. Joy. As if the holes in the various Windows® programs weren’t enough… So, if you are an AIM user, be aware of this. I am now using Trillian, a multi-chat protocol program (AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, IRC), for my AIM needs. So far, I’m pretty pleased with it.

With three exceptions, the day was pretty good.

1. Jess’ entry: .
2. I was fighting the maddening and nearly overwhelming urge to do inner-eyelid studies at work.
3. It seems that the station that was airing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has completed their run. What are they showing in that time slot? Infomercials. *sigh* “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (Wm. Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, act 3, sc. 2, l. 115)

And with those exceptions, it was rather uneventful. And, from the ever-growing gallery, here are today’s pics.

Dee, Rick, Julia and I were discussing the “Have you seen my hat?” QotD from Monday when Dee came up with an interesting idea: Quotes of the Day: The Year in Review. The more we talked about it, the more I liked it…. so, I will compile last year’s quotes into a single post and find a way to determine the Quote of the Year.

That’s all for now. Tune in tomorrow and find out just how much of Mother Nature’s frozen mocking laughter blanketed us from on high.

Peace.

Three signs that my day has gotten off to a good start (in order of occurrence):

• I noticed that the inversion-created haze that has been hanging over the valley for the past two weeks is gone. I can actually SEE the mountains!
• I talked with Rana. She has left her host family and is preparing to go to her permanent site in the Ukraine.
• I found this article in the online edition of USA Today. I’ve seen the ads for the past few months, but it’s nice to know that others, outside the Zion Curtain, are getting a chance to laugh at them.

I should probably finish (translation: “start”) getting ready for work now. One day down, one day off, three to go; another holiday in 2-1/2 weeks. I can handle this.

Peace.

And so, another year begins.

I trust that everyone emerged from their respective New Year’s celebrations relatively unscathed… unless your intention was to have a reminder or two, in which case I hope that things turned out as planned. And remember: “If you did it and lived, then you probably did it right.”

I spent most of the early part of the day being lazy. When that wore off, we went to Scott and Dan’s for dinner with them and Angie. And it wasn’t just any dinner, it was a rather full spread – turkey, fresh mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans and dressing. Jess had to go to work a little while later, so Scott, Dan and I watched The Terminator. The first one. The one with Arnold as the nearly unstoppable engine of death. The one that forever ingrained the phrase “I’ll be back.” into the American pop culture dictionary. And unless I’m mistaken, this phrase started the trend of Arnold having at least one catchphrase per film. Here is some trivia about the movie, courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.

I realized something while watching the movie tonight (and some other movie a couple of nights ago): We can be easily drawn into the world of the movie that we are watching. This excludes Cool World, Deep Blue Sea, Wild, Wild West or a certain movie-which-shall-remain-nameless (but it was based on and named after a popular role-playing game by TSR, Inc.). In those cases, run – don’t walk – to your nearest exit or therapist, whichever is closest at hand. Even having seen it before, I found it interesting and curious how I was holding my breath or waiting with anticipation during certain scenes. I did the same thing during Superman: the Movie and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but those are different circumstances and thus shall we not go down those paths tonight.

That brings us to today’s pictures. We saw this on the way to Scott’s. I wish that it had turned out better, but you can still see the volume of the plumage pretty well. It didn’t snow today, so these (1, 2) have no “new” content. This, however… I don’t know what in the Nine Hells happened here. I was trying to take a picture of the foggy night and got what you see there. Like I said: It did not snow today, so I have NO idea what is floating in the air.

Until tomorrow…

Peace.

Monday. The last day of December 2001 and thereby the last day of 2001.

Worked for three hours and then Julia, Dee, Rick and I ditched and went to our neo-traditional post-work eatery: Chinese Gourmet (or “Chuck E. Chinese” as we call it – that location was a Chuck E. Cheese in a prior life). Jess met us there.

After lunch, Jess and I met Scott and Angie at Ye Olde Borders for tea, chai and mocha. We then went to Scott’s and hung out with him, Angie and Dan for New Year’s Eve. We played cards and videogames. We ate snacks and drank various beverages. We talked. We had fun. It was a nice, low-key evening. We’re heading back there tomorrow (today) for New Year’s lunch/dinner.

Quote of the Day: Today’s quote was a joint effort from Jess, Julia, Dee, Rick and me. Have you seen my hat? Unfortunately, it was one of those “you had to be there things,” so posting it is more for our own edification/gratification than anything else.

Random bits and pieces:

• On the way to lunch, I snapped this picture. I hopped out of the car, ran down to Dee’s car, took the pic, ran back to the car. I should also mention that there was a car between us. I think that I scared the lady in the middle car. It was no “Chinese Fire Drill” (and why they are called that, I have NO idea), but it was almost as fun.
• It snowed tonight (1, 2, 3, 4).
• I noticed this (1, 2, 3) brand of food, for the first time, tonight. Not even the frozen foods aisle was safe. You have to wonder: What possesses someone to name a food brand “Krusteaz?” I would think that you’d want something a little more… appetizing… if you intend for people to want to buy it. Of course, I’m not in marketing or advertising, so I could be way off-base with this one.
• Doesn’t this usually require two consenting adults, even if they are videogame (Metal Gear Solid 2 for the PlayStation²) characters? Shouldn’t the upside-down guy be awake at least? Hmm. Maybe he was just so bored that he decided to catch a quick 40 winks and hope that it would be over by the time he woke up. Who knows?

And in closing, I’d like to say that, for me, 2001 was a good year. Naturally, there were good and bad points in it, but in the final analysis: There were enough positive points to outweigh the negatives. I hope that 2001 left you better than it found you; if not, I hope that 2002 is more kind.

Best wishes to all of you, your families and friends for the new year. Make as much of out of this year as you can… and share it with others, if at all possible.

Peace.