December 2002 Archives

Good morning everyone. It appears that the new Dumbledore has been chosen. And it wasn't who everyone was saying it was going to be. I'm not sure I've seen anything with this guy in it. I'm going to have to do some film watching research.

Just wanted to post a reminder that TechTV's Anime Unleashed starts tomorrow night at 1am Eastern (I guess that is officially Tuesday morning). Starting off this new anime block is Crest of the Stars. This show is one of my favorites. It's one of the better scifi animated shows I've seen. It's got a really good space opera feel to it. If you have cable or satellite that gets TechTV, check it out.

Oscar Wilde. "Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong." [Quotes of the Day]

Lyn said that I really should let people know that it is Hobbitsex Day today. I really am not quite sure what that entails, and I'm not really sure I want to know (let alone think too much about it). But anyways,

a happy hobbitsex to you and yours.

So I'd been wanting to see a bunch of my friends lately, so sent out some random emails to people to come by and have some pizza last night along with watching a sampling of anime. It was pretty cool, the group ended up being Ethan, Sean, Emily, Brian, and Selma. I kinda wish I could invite more but my place is kinda tiny and I think we had just the right amount of people before getting claustrophobic. We had some good pizza, some good beer (including one from PA that I really like), and amazing brownies that kicked my ass.

Shows watched (first two episodes of each): Full Metal Panic, Fruits Basket, Naruto, and Azumanga Daioh. I think people liked the first three a bit and the last one broke some folks. That one does tend to be a bit more on the wacky side. I think if I do this again I'm going to show more of Full Metal Panic and Fruits Basket and just do two episodes at a time. (And don't worry Sean, I'll find you some of that stuff with tentacles since you seem so fixated on it.)

Now I just need to get Lyn to watch the first four episodes of Azumanga Daioh with me before she goes on her trip.

Thanks to some dinos, we have a News Flash!

BERGENFIELD, New Jersey (AP) -- Two youngsters who wanted to sing along with Barney the Dinosaur opened a music book and discovered a photograph of a man and woman in a naked embrace.

The photo, which ran under the words "Wilder Sex," was in a "Sing-Along Songs Barney" book a couple bought for their 4- and 7-year-old children.

See yet more proof of how evil Barney is! Of course, the most telling sentence is the last one of the article.

"They want some sort of apology and maybe reassurance for the children that Barney is pure," Arnold told The Record of Bergen County for Friday's editions.

Yeah, Barney is Pure. But pure what?

Russell Baker. "Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things." [Quotes of the Day]

So here's the usual 'what I got' post. This years christmas ended up being quite fun. I got fun gifts for people that were well liked (the best being the big cardboard blocks for my nephew). Anyways, here's the hilites of what I received:

• Foot Duvets from Restoration Hardware - These things rule. They're down filled slippers and they rock. Just warm enough without being too warm.
• A number of CDs, including The best of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve and Bach Goldberg Variations by Gould.
• A book called After the Ecstasy, the Laundry by Jack Kornfield from my sister.
• A book called Seussisms from my nephew. He loved it when I read him There's a Wocket in my Pocket.
• If Chins Could Kill from my parents.
• A cool combo gift. They'd gotten me John Coltrane's A Love Supreme on CD and then when out shopping saw A Love Supreme -- The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album by Ashley Kahn. The book looks really cool. I plan to sit down and put on the CD while starting to read it this weekend.
• Last but not least my friend Erin gave me this cool cookie mix in a jar. It's all the dry ingredients to make cookies. You just add the wet ingredients and bake. I can't wait to try them out!

So those are the hilites. I'm sure I must be forgetting something, but if it is important I'll post about it.

One of these days I'll get around to setting up my blog so that I can post from my parents place. Merry Christmas to everyone. It was actually pretty nice after all my thoughts on it. I'll write more after I've had a chance to settle in from the ride home to Cambridge.

Only down part of the whole trip was coming home to find a window had blown open and the apartment was FREEZING.

I feel like I'm losing touch with the world. I just have not been in much of a holiday season until like, well, this afternoon some. Even then I haven't been feeling that holiday buzz at all and after waking up from a nap I realized why. I'm not working. I'm not around lots of different people all talking about what they are doing, being asked what I'm doing. I haven't been out and about much to see holiday decorations all over the place.

This not working stuff sucks. (I don't want to whine about that much here, but i do reserve the right to when I feel like it.)

I IM'd a friend of mine today to end up hearing that Joe Strummer died of a heart attack.

LONDON, England -- Joe Strummer, lead singer for seminal British punk band the Clash, has died at the age of 50.

Strummer, who was the band's guitarist, vocalist and songwriter alongside Mick Jones, died on Sunday at his farmhouse in Somerset, southwestern England.

Bleh. I just grabbed London Calling, Combat Rock, and No. 10 Upping St off the shelf to play this morning. All of which had impact at certain times in my life.

CNN also has a nice profile of him.

Thanks to Lyn for pointing me at this last night. I just had to share this gem (warning, not for the faint of heart). Like other things, the only way to save myself from it is to share it with someone else.

Someone posted about their recent experiences with airport security. Here's a bit of it:

After some more grumbling on my part they eventually finished with me and I went to retrieve our luggage from the x-ray machine. Upon returning I found my wife sitting in a chair, crying. Mary rarely cries, and certainly not in public. When I asked her what was the matter, she tried to quell her tears and sobbed, "I'm sorry... it's... they touched my breasts... and..." That's all I heard. I marched up to the woman who'd been examining her and shouted, "What did you do to her?" Later I found out that in addition to touching her swollen breasts -- to protect the American citizenry -- the employee had asked that she lift up her shirt. Not behind a screen, not off to the side -- no, right there, directly in front of the hundred or so passengers standing in line. And for you women who've been pregnant and worn maternity pants, you know how ridiculous those things look. "I felt like a clown," my wife told me later. "On display for all these people, with the cotton panel on my pants and my stomach sticking out. When I sat down I just lost my composure and began to cry. That's when you walked up."

Of course when I say she "told me later," it's because she wasnât able to tell me at the time, because as soon as I demanded to know what the federal employee had done to make her cry, I was swarmed by Portland police officers. Instantly. Three of them, cinching my arms, locking me in handcuffs, and telling me I was under arrest. Now my wife really began to cry. As they led me away and she ran alongside, I implored her to calm down, to think of the baby, promising her that everything would turn out all right. She faded into the distance and I was shoved into an elevator, a cop holding each arm. After making me face the corner, the head honcho told that I was under arrest and that I wouldn't be flying that day -- that I was in fact a "menace."

This is the second story in less than a week that I've heard like this. Earlier in the week Kevin Meany was on Stern talking about his experiences with airport security and his story was very much the same. These stories just freak me out. I can see having a minor hassles with going through security, but both the stories I heard this week go way beyond minor hassles.

A friend of mine online pointed me at this article at sfgate.com:

High-tech billboards tune in to drivers' tastes

Roadside signs coming to Bay Area listen to car radios, then adjust pitch

The billboard is listening.

In an advertising ploy right out of Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," electronic billboards in the Bay Area and Sacramento are being equipped to profile commuters as they whiz by -- and then instantly personalize freeway ads based on the wealth and habits of those drivers.

For example, if the freeway were packed with country music listeners, the billboards might make a pitch for casinos. If National Public Radio were on, the billboards could change to ads for a high-quality car or a gourmet grocery.

The billboards -- in Palo Alto, Daly City and Fremont -- will pick up which radio stations are being played and then instantly access a vast databank of information about the people who typically listen to those stations. The electronic ads will then change to fit listener profiles.

Yikes. It is one thing when you have ads online target you. It's another when you happen to be just going down the street and streetsigns can tell what you are listening to. It looks like this system keeps everything anonymous, but it is still kinda creepy.

So NationStates has been pretty fun. Right now I'm playing my nation more for fun. It's a pretty wacky insane place and just today its UN classification changed. Here's what the game currently says about my nation:

UN Category: Corrupt Dictatorship

Civil Rights: Excellents, Economy: Fair, Political Freedoms: Rare

Location: Lost Continent

The Rogue Nation of Snoozeville is a large, socially progressive nation, renowned for its compulsory military service. Its hard-nosed, cynical population of 23 million are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The small, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Religion & Spirituality, and Education. The average income tax rate is 17%, but much higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Soda Sales, Automobile Manufacturing, and Basket Weaving industries.

The government's religious works are headed by a New Age guru, organ donation rates have hit a new low, same-sex marriages are increasingly common, and political parties are banned from advertising and receiving private donations. Crime is moderate. Snoozeville's national animal is the sloth, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the Tylenol PM.

You can check the ongoing status of my country too, if you are interested.

Ernie Kovacs. "Television - a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well-done." [Quotes of the Day]

Lyn and I were briefly discussing if ghosts masturbate and I was reminded that I wanted to post about Odes to Onaism, which features the 11 greatest songs about masturbation. Link was found at the wonderful Reverse Cowgirl's Blog.

More Music.

• The Future Sound of London - far-out son of lung and the ramblings of a madman
• The Future Sound of London - Lifeforms
• Front 242 - Official Version
• Front 242 - Front by Front
• Freaky Chakra vs Single Cell Orchestra
• Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome

The last CD on the list, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, is definitely within my top 10 list of all time favorite CDs. I remember hearing about them on MTV a month or so before the album came out in the US and picking it up the day I could. Welcome to the Pleasuredome is still one of my favorite tracks, try listening to it really loud while driving down a dark road at 2am in the morning. I still have the vinyl for it along with the single releases of it (There are some amazing remixes of Two Tribes). The CD was one of the very first full digital releases. I wish I had the original CD release of it because I seem to remember it actually cataloging some sound issues in two places on the master.

Here's something from CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Customs officials opened his suitcase and a bird of paradise flew out but that was nothing compared to what they found in his pants -- a pair of pygmy monkeys.

Not just one monkey, but TWO monkeys in his pants. Along with 50 orchids and a number of birds in his bag.

So one of my friends over on LiveJournal had his account suspended because of a post he made. I hadn't even realized that LJ has that level of restriction on what you can post. Something about it supposedly violated the TOS of LJ. While I do think his original post had some pretty inflamatory stuff in it, I don't see anything that jumped out at me as violating it. One thing that I thought was also kind of lame on LJ's part was that they basicly told him he couldn't post the details of the mail they sent him about it or he'd lose his account. That just sounds kind of childish to me.

Do other blogging systems have these kinds of restrictions? Blogger/blogspot? Radio? Salon Blogs? (radio and salon didn't have any I could easily find) Xanga? The systems that do have them all seem to be pretty much the same. I wonder if that same post would have been judged offending by the other systems.

Jean-Paul Sartre. "We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact." [Quotes of the Day]

Radio comes with a year of hosting (are updates part of that too?) Does this mean I'm going to have to be paying for my next year soon? I've been using this for just about a year now.

Wow. Tonight was a night that makes doing a weekly worth it. I got there kinda early to set up. Things had been a little wacky getting organized this week. Special Pete dropped me an email that he was finally succuming to the cold going around and could be there, but wasn't able to spin. After a couple of quick calls I enlisted the aid of Peter, someone I'd just met recently who I know has been wanting to play for us.

In the end, everything worked out amazingly. Frantic spun an amazingly fun set. Peter rocked and impressed lots of folks. There were a good number of people there. And while we didn't hit our target figure at the bar, we definitely were closer than the week before. This was also the third week we'd had the same bartender and it feels like she's definitely getting into the swing of things there.

Other hilights. Seeing this guy dancing and knowing I'd seen him before and having it be this guy Jason who I met years ago after I'd just moved here and who had moved away. And then finally meeting another friend of his, Corinna, who I'd traded emails with a bunch years ago also. And then it ends up Corinna is in med school and wants to be a surgeon, so we got talking about the whole lung thing.

Then, at the end of the night it was off to IHOP for a late night snack and off to bed. Maybe things will work out pretty well with this night.

Adam writes that

AOL patents instant messenging software. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

After reading the article I'm kind of speachless. I can think of a fair amount of prior art that would say that ICQ wasn't the first to do something like this. How about zephyr? I was using that back at CMU in the early 90s (if not a little earlier). How about TinyMUD? IRC? Or heck, finger and talk. I remember using a talk program on the pdp11 computers back in high school and talking with people on my school's other campus. I just love how well the patent system works sometimes.

So tonight is the usual thang at the Analog Lounge ('official' announcement below). All you Boston folks should come out for at least a few and have a drink. Especially those of you who haven't been yet. For the students out there, take a short break from studying. Or if you are all done, come out and blow off some steam! Tonight's guest is Frantic, so it should be pretty damn cool.

Changmian and Dubcoast present

The relaxed side of things. Join us every Wednesday for a mix of

music styles in the lounge at Vertigo.

with resident dj's

* Gregory Blake (Changmian) Boston

* Special Pete (dubcoast music) CA

Each week we're trying to have a guest who will help to showcase

another part of the Boston scene. This week we bring you

Wednesdays

@ Vertigo (upstairs)

126 State St. Boston, MA

617-723-7277

10pm -2am

21+ with ID

$5 cover (gets you into both the Lounge and Anitya)

Edward P. Tryon. "In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time." [Quotes of the Day]

Ripping a few more today, including some random ones that were in the back seat of my car forever.

• Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Live @ The Cambridge Folk Festival
• Garbage
• Peter Gabrial - So (remastered)
• FLCL Soundtrack 1
• Cevin Fisher - Underground 2000
• Netwerk Plastic Compilation Volume 2

I'm particularly psyched to get the Robyn Hitchcock CD ripped. I hadn't bothered yet because I knew the track listing on it was wrong, but wasn't sure what the correct one was. Thankfully a friend pointed me to a correct one online.

Augh. Nobody told me there was going to be snow. Why didn't I get a memo?

Damn weather fouling up all my sekrit plans.

Thomas Szasz. "Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic." [Quotes of the Day]

Oh my. These Bad Taste Bears are a little scary. I just want the one with the chainsaw. Because chainsaws are cool.

Yay! The Grinch is on TV. This is probably my favorite christmas show. With Rudolph being the second favorite.

Rudyard Kipling. "He wrapped himself in quotations- as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors." [Quotes of the Day]

From over on Boing Boing, offered with no extra comment:

Your genitals as refrigerator magnets. The Match-Your-Snatch and Clone-Your-Bone kits contain everything you need to make a colorful plastic casting of your (or a loved one's) reproductive organs. Link (Via Die Puny Humans)
[Boing Boing Blog]

Radio Free Blogistan reports that Robyn Hitchcock "daydreams as this week's celebrity guest diary at Slate." Very very cool. It is a shame it'll only be for a week.

Those wacky Media Lab people. The Agoraphone is one of the more funky things I've seen out of there.

AgoraPhone is a free, uncensored, and easily accessed communication place. The word agora is a Greek word referring to an open air gathering place where citizens come together to discuss critical, as well as not so critical, issues.

Combining increasingly popular mediated communication allowances with old school public interaction, the first installation of AgoraPhone consists of a phone number that can be dialed from anywhere, and a communication sculpture installed as an element of urban architecture. From any touch-tone phone anywhere, people can call AgoraPhone's number and be connected to the public place.

They've got some examples of people's experiences with it. I think the stuff about kids interacting with it was the coolest one. Now I wanna call it, but I'm not sure what to say. Maybe I'll just call once or twice a day and say "HI MY NAME IS BRAK".

[Link found via Boing Boing Blog]

Paul Fix. "The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory." [Quotes of the Day]

I found this over on my friends page on LiveJournal.

There are many other Happy Bunny Stickers to choose from too. I may have to pick some of these up. I can't decide between the one above and 'You Smell Like Butt'. The Just Plain Mean stickers are pretty cool too.

It is kind of amazing how quickly anime has started to show up more on TV. I remember when you might have one or two shows brought over that were cut up a bunch and horribly dubbed (in more than a few places completely changing the stories). And in some cases that still happens (CardCaptor Sakura). But within the last month it is like there has been a number of press releases about new anime on TV. From Lupin and Trigun on Cartoon Network to ADV's Anime Channel. And today I was catching up on stuff over at ANN and saw that Tech TV is going to start showing anime too. And their list of shows include some I really like, include Dual!, Lain, Crest of the Stars, and Silent Mobius. Now lets hope that they give things a good treatment.

The other week when I was at Vertigo, one of the people there said Boston was going non-smoking. I've looked around online, but can't seem to find any details on this. Also, any time I talk to someone they seem to have heard something slightly different about what it entails. Anyone have any solid details on this?

It's product review time. I'd picked up a new razor the other day and have liked it so much I decided to share it with all of you.

I'd been fighting with my razor lately, so decided that I should just give in and see if I could find an electric razor that I liked. I'd had numerous ones over the years, but I found they all only worked somewhat okay. After looking around I decided on the Norelco Spectra 6826XL. I have to say, while it was a little bit more than I wanted to pay, so far it's been the best shaver I've ever used. I hate shaving, I'd go days without shaving just to avoid it. But so far this one is just really comfortable and has settings for sensitive skin (shaving my neck always has drove me nuts and this one isn't bad at all). And it seems to shave closer then other electric shavers I've used. I give it a thumbs up.

After a week or two hiatus, I'm back to ripping CDs. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it a bit better. Of course now I'm hoping I have enough space to fit all of it.

• Frank Sinatra - All the Best
• The Rugburns - Morning Wood
• Heaven 17 - (We don't need this) Fascist Groove Thing (CD single)
• Happy Mondays - Double Easy, the US Singles
• Haircut One Hundred - Pelican West
• Hackers - Soundtrack
• Gus Gus - This is Normal
• Gus Gus - vs. t-world
• Go West - Go West
• General Public - Classic Masters
• General Public - All the Rage

Rene Descartes. "Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems." [Quotes of the Day]

Come join us at Vertigo on Wednesday night. We're still gearing up and for our third week we've got Tony Fishel joining us. Tony's been recently spotted on Fridays at the River Gods in Cambridge (I will actually make it there one of these weeks). So come on by and say hi.

Changmian and Dubcoast present

*~The Analog Lounge~*

The relaxed side of things. Join us every Wednesday for a mix of

music styles in the lounge at Vertigo.

with resident dj's

• Gregory Blake (Changmian) Boston
• Special Pete (dubcoast music) CA

Special Guest this week: Tony Fishel

Wednesdays

@ Vertigo (upstairs)

126 State St. Boston, MA

617-723-7277

10pm - 2am

21+ with ID

$5 cover (gets you into both the Lounge and Anitya)

No dress code

www.changmian.com

www.dubcoast.com

www.vertigoboston.com

www.mapquest.com (directions)

And don't forget Anitya, downstairs at Vertigo every week.

Turkey is supposedly known for taking American films and remaking them with next to no budget. This time they've had their way with Star Trek.

In the original Star Trek, Captain Kirk was all that is man. Heâd tear his shirt off and fight a lizard monster from a space couch covered in green alien sluts. In Turkish Star Trek, reverse all of that. The movie starts with Kaptan Kirk practically prancing over to his chair to sit down cross-legged and daintily lisp out orders. He and the Turkish Uhura discuss something, which reminds me that I should let you know that the movie hasnât been subtitled and Iâve never even heard of anyone whoâs ever heard of anyone who speaks Turkish. However, judging by the way Kaptan Kirk is sitting, he and Uhura are discussing the useful applications of not having a penis.

This sounds quite hysterical. I particularly like that "The female personnel are forced to wear miniskirts that end four inches above the bottom of their asses, and when they turn around to work on the spray-painted cardboard computers, they have no secrets." Woohoo! Maybe we can learn some lessons from them after all. Link found courtesy of Boing Boing

Hermann Hesse. "Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke." [Quotes of the Day]

I found out about this over on a friend's LiveJournal. Fox has a new reality show starting in January called "Joe Millionaire". Here's a snippet from the Press Release for the show.

Romance and reality intertwine as 20 women travel to France for a whirlwind romance with a man whom they think is a dashing millionaire. What will happen when the truth is finally revealed that he is a just a regular "Joe" and his wealth is a facade? Will his true love accept him for who he is, or reject him in search of greener pastures? As this handsome, young, eligible man begins his search for "The One," he discovers which of these women are out for true love and which are just interested in his bank account in JOE MILLIONAIRE, the new, seven-episode, unscripted drama series from the creators of the hit series "Temptation Island,"...

This is just wrong on so many levels. I mean things like The Bachelor and Marry a Millionare were bad enough. Oh well, I've avoided all the other ones, I'll just avoid this one too. Here's the web site, there's not much there beyond the press release at this point though.

Ever have a craving for a cup of coffee as you read your email in the morning? Need a cup to wake yourself up during the afternoons? Well now there's the Caffeine Machine, "a fully functioning coffee maker integrated into a computer case. You pour the water into the funnel at the top, it goes down the tube into a book-shaped water tank where it sits until you hit the power switch, at which point the heating coil boils the water, sending it back up another tube and into the coffee grounds basket." Hmm. I wonder if I could modify a mac to be like this. Then again, I'm trying to keep my caffeine intake down so maybe that isn't such a good idea. [Found at Boing Boing]

Ahh, the early 90s, the era of the Sega Genesis. Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the cooler games out there and I remember playing it for hours (I can't remember if I ever beat the damn game). But now I have a chance to again. For the Gamecube you can now get the Sonic Mega Collection.

The Sonic Mega Collection finally gives Nintendo fans the chance to experience Sega's classic mascot in some of his greatest adventures ever! This anthology of 2D gaming goodness features Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, & 3; Sonic & Knuckles; Sonic 3D Blast; Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine and Sonic Spinball.

I just may have to put aside some $$ to get this after xmas. The original Sonic and Sonic Spinball ate up much of my life when they came out.

From 2600.com (so add grains of salt where appropriate) comes this interesting, and a bit disturbing, news bite:

Photographer arrested for taking pictures of Vice President's hotel: "An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson]

W. Somerset Maugham. "Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." [Quotes of the Day]

Steven Wright. "Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died." [Quotes of the Day]

I spent the night watching the second disc of

The Young Ones - Every Stoopid Episode. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this show during college. It's also cool because now I recognise a lot of the guest stars they had. It seems like everyone was on this show. And they had the best bands.

I don't know of many shows as insane as this one was.

Looks like a nice redesign happened over at the reverse cowgirl's blog. I like the new look. It's always nice to see original designs on blogs instead of some of the standard templates.

Wondering what to get that family member who has everything this year? Here is the gift for the person you can never think of anything for: Breast Scarves. They're fun for the whole family.

[Seen first over at RCB, but originally from AccordianGuy]

Eric Hoffer. "Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power." [Quotes of the Day]

Tonight my friend Sean IM'd me asking if I had a new green container. I looked around and was wondering what the heck he was talking about. I had my oxygen tanks, which were green. But I had no idea how he'd know they were delivered. They I looked over at the bag that my friend Ethan had brought me from the club last night and saw something with a green tint inside.

On looking in the bag I found this, a Nalgene water bottle. I remembered how Sean had been telling me about how cool these water bottles were and how he carries his everywhere. I'll give it a try. I got the green one. I bet it will glow nicely under blacklight.

If it is snowing out, and you aren't sure exactly how much will actually fall, park your car in a non-snow emergency spot. Otherwise you'll be fucked when they call one and there's no place close to your apartment.

I just moved my car, just in case. I got screwed last year at one point by that, it sucked. Btw, if we get a lot of snow who wants to clean off my car?

I completely didn't realize that yesterday was Be a Leaf Monster Day. I really need to keep track of these things more.

I just woke up and I'm feeling oddly well. Like I got past the major part of this cold. I know they say that it takes a few weeks to fully kick it, but if I'm past the part that made me feel like I needed to just curl up on the couch and drink nyquil I'll be quite happy. I had to blow off the club tonight because I still felt like crap (Pete, thanks for hanging in there, I hope everything worked out. I felt bad cause I know how tired you were. I owe you one.) Oh well, back to sleep.

Tom Stoppard. "It is better to be quotable than to be honest." [Quotes of the Day]

Health Update. We're still sick. Not quite sick as a dog, maybe more like sick as a puppy. I did actually sleep last night, even if it was just in two hour blocks. Which was better than the night before. Right now I need a cup of tea though. That sounds just about right.

I feel like ass. Sleeping isn't working. And I feel like whining about it more than yesterday. So there. Succumb to my pathetic plea for sympathy.

On another note, I may to have to kill that damn banner because it started flashing

My life has been changed forever by Alex Chiu. I now understand What causes gravity and I have seen the future. Please, let me see the future by helping me get my immortaility rings.

[Thanks to welcomerain for posting this link]

Tommy Smothers. "Red meat is NOT bad for you. Now blue-green meat, THAT'S bad for you!" [Quotes of the Day]

I feel like I'm getting a cold. So I'm going to just whine about it here so you can all feel sorry for me.

Donations of chicken soup accepted.

I was catching up on caterina.net and ran into mention of a card game called Mao. I'd never heard of this before so started reading up on it a little. Mao is a card game where one of the goals of it is learning the rules. And in some varients the rules change as the game goes along. Of course now I want to figure out the rules and find more people to play this with.

A friend of mine showed me this link today. I wish I could remember who it was so I could give them credit (aha, found it, it was blake). Looking to meet the perfect guy, but are sick of dating services? Now you can find someone at GreatBoyfriends.com. From their website:

WOMEN DOING GOOD DEEDS FOR WOMANKIND

DOLLS! We all have charming male friends . . . smart, noble, successful, honest, good-looking guys who're between girlfriends . . . or who're just a tad shy . . . or who've had bad luck with women.

Here's the open-hearted place where we women can write-up recommendations of these wonderful fellows, show their pictures and vouch for them. And here's the delicious part. If you want to FIND a great boyfriend, Darling, you have all these lovely men to choose from! (We're just starting up÷ There won't be ANY Boyfriends until YOU recommend them!)

Definitely a different way to approach the whole dating thing. I wonder if it recognizes if one person is recommended by more than one person. So, anyone want to write me a glowing recommendation? Actually, nevermind.

Groucho Marx. "From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it." [Quotes of the Day]

Very cool. The initial schedule for Adult Swim weeknights has been announced. It looks quite cool. The cool news is that they'll be showing Lupin the Third. I've seen a few Lupin movies, but that's it, so I'm pretty psyched for this. They'll also be showing Futurama. Woo!

Today is World AIDs day. In recognition of that, here are a few links to start off the day with:

• Link and Think
• worldAIDSday.org
• AVERT
• UNAIDS
• CDC Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention
• NIH History of AIDS
• Google News Search

(Links grabbed from jenett.radio)

Did a little bit of cleanup on my blogrolling. Added in Doc Smith and Lilymab and the anime blog. (See Doc, I told you I'd get around to it eventually, though I still want an rss version of your blog).