I bemoaned to whester that I didn't have anything I was dying to blog about and as such I had writer's block. Then we went to lunch together. Now I have tons of blog fodder.

( Read more... )

x-posted to libtards

I'm with ehowton on the false advertising in trailers thing: I think that studios that snooker you into the theater via false advertising in their trailers ought to have to pay out punitive damages in a class action lawsuit. All of the good shots of Public Enemies was in teh trailer. Michael Mann owes me $10.50 for a midnight ticket after being drawn, beaten, horsewhipped, set on fire and quartered. I demand that Universal personally send Johnny Depp with my refund check, even though he and Christian Bale were the only things right wit the movie.

There's very little good to say about this movie. I can't recall a lick of the score because it all sounded like source music. The only recognizable piece of music in the film is Otis Taylor's Ten Million Slaves which, if you don't buy the linked single, you get forced into buying the the whole damned album.

( Read more... )

Roger Richardson reminded us that on July 14, the district 6 election will take place and those folks that live in district 6 should go vote for Phil Williams. He also supports Mo Brooks for Congressional District 5 in 2010.

Les Phillip also running for Congressional District 5 in 2010 made these remarks:

I have no tolerance of anyone who thinks they can cut in line.

The Constitution is NOT a living document. It is the document by which ALL LAWS must adhere.

I took an oath to the Constitution, not a governor, lieutenant, or the President.

Put those people where they belong: in the nut house!

In the USSR, you had to bring all your medicines and equipment to the hospital before they would admit you. Otherwise, you were stuck on the government provided care which had waiting lists and never resulted in real care. Meanwhile, Government officials were taken to special hospitals that were well supplied with medicine and equipment, the vast majority of which was foreign.

Socialistic medicine is not sustainable. Utopias do no exists, therefore the road to Socialism is a road to nowhere.

The Colonists are to the British what the middle class is to the government today.

Huntsville Community Rights and other like-minded groups opposing housing authorities across the country need to stand together to first change State and then Federal law.

We need more responsible parents, not more government relocation.

Vincent Kreul urged us all to call our Congress-people as often as we could until they started listening to us and representing our interests.

Today actually felt like a vacation day, but that might have been in part because I slept in because of last night's activities.

Had chicken egg foo yong for "lunch" which turned out to be my only meal for the day. I'm disappointed in myself because I said I was going to walk every day this week and now it looks like I will have walked only Friday and Sunday. Boo!

I got my license renewed today even though it still had another two months before it expired. This means that my license will now expire Aug 1 instead of Aug 30. I am not happy about this change. I did something else today that I meant to get done, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.

Speaking of not being able to remember anything, the beer I drank last night is called Hoegaarden. Kudos to Kelly for saving me from my blunder. ehowton, have you had this beer? Any thoughts?

Speaking of ehowton, he interviewed me and it's a good read if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, only one of his subscribers can read. Just mindless name calling and pot shots. Well fuck the infantiles who still play in the sandbox.


( Rant about headphones )


Watched Full Metal Jacket for the first time tonight. Not impressed. The beginning scenes of Basic Training were great, but the narrative floundered after that. You can't quite call FMJ a character piece either because you're not really experiencing the action with the central character nor are you introduced that that character well enough to empathize.

I will review Public Enemies shortly. I'll do my best to not drag it out like I did Angels & Demons. I'm skipping The Taking of Pelham 123 in the theater.

Gran Torino would have been a grate movie if it would have been half as long. It took too long for Eastwood's character to change, bond and develop; the plot moved at a snail's pace. All of this would have been fine except the ending was so anti-climatic that it doesn't rate discussing dramatically. But here's the kicker: the ending was one of the best morals I've seen in film in quite some time. Gran Torino is worth a watch, but it's not something you should expect too much from when you sit down to watch it or you'll be disappointed like me.

Defiance is a fairly straight-forward thriller/drama that delivers on what the trailer advertised: the horrors of a group of Russian Jews that hid in the woods during WW II. Defiance will keep you on the edge of your seat with anticipation, but the film does peter out as the war ends and they are no longer hunted due to the fall of the Third Reich.

Though I may loose manly points for this one, I really want to see Julie & Julia. (trailer) This looks like it will be less of a chick flick and more of a solid drama. Ironically, it comes out on my birthday. I should find someone to take to see it.

My vacation has been anything but. But I'm not complaining.

I started off Saturday night by going and playing Warhawk and then chatting about the history of computers until 0500 Sunday. I don't really recall what I did Sunday. Maybe that was when I watched all those random House episodes. I really need to purchase Season 4.

Monday I went to the 'rents and helped them move furniture until 0030 Tuesday. Tuesday, I wrote the Christie Carden interview and was interviewed by ehowton. I got a call at 1730 from a previous client asking me to come enjoy dinner at Chilli's in exchange for helping him and his daughter pick out a laptop for her collegiate career. I scheduled it for 1700 Wednesday. I finished Tuesday by going to see Public Enemies.

Wednesday I got a call from Beth at 1030 asking to do lunch at 1130. It sure was good to catch up with old friends. When I got back at 1300, I published the Carden Interview, concluded the Howton interview and then had to leave to make my evening's appointment.

Dinner was great. We looked at Sam's, hh gregg and Best Buy at Wintel laptops, but of course, I already knew what she would be happy with, both from previous conversation with my client and from talking to her over dinner. So we ended at the Apple store where she got a 13" MacBookPro. Her sister met up with us for a bit and then parted ways with us. I must say that both young ladies are rather attractive.

While at the Apple store, my client ran into a "friend of the family" who was also buying a notebook for their new collegiate and also an iMac for the family. However, she was under pressure to make dinner reservations, so she got my name and number and offered to reimburse me for my services of helping them find the right machine for both needs as well as setting up the machine(s) upon getting them home. I could really get used to this.

We went to my client's place where, after a lengthy demonstration there in the Apple store by me, I walked her through applying all her updates and then downloading and installing Open Office. Of note, her high school had previously switched all of their computers to Open Office to avoid paying the Microsoft tax, so she was already comfortable with Open Office. I also hooked up a printer for her dad which required a trip to Walmart to purchase a USB cable, ran his rebates and did more hands on demonstrating of iPhoto and Leopard.

I was treated to a few bottles of a three-syllable Belgium beer that begins with "B". I also was given another vacuum pack of the most awesome spaghetti I've ever had. It has pepperonis and turkey and beef and a very thickly cut stake.

I left at 0200.

I didn't have time to review Public Enemies today for obvious reasons. It's on the agenda for tomorrow as well as Paul_Partisan's interview. Still to do this week is get my driver's license renewed and make business cards. I've haven't had time to do all the writing I thought I was going to do this week nor have I been able to just sit on my ass and get caught up on movies. C'est la vie!

What does it take to lead a grassroots movement like a Tea Party?

Christie Carden of Huntsville, AL (http://hsvteaparty.com/) is a community organizer not unlike Our Dear Leader. Unlike Our Dear Leader, she inspires real hope and has already effected positive change. She agreed to talk to News Platoon in order to help us answer that question.

"I was interested in philosophy, not politics."

Christie attended Hardin University in Arkansas as a History major and a Bible minor. Discussions with peers would turn into philosophical and political debates.

"I was young and naive--and a Liberal."

"At a young age, when you are still easily molded, I fell into the raw emotion attached with a lot of liberal stances - just like a lot of people in college do."

But the debates proved effective; Christie found a young Conservative who wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Eric and I would debate for hours. He slowly convinced me that conservatism makes more sense."

Eric turned out to be very persuasive indeed; they wed in 2004 and later moved to Huntsville.



"I didn't really start paying attention until the 2008 Presidential elections. It wasn't until then that I began to understand how necessary it is to get active and stay active in politics on all levels."

When Obama got elected with his big ideas about changing the country through spending every dollar he could mint, fate had an answer.

"I first heard of the Tea Parties through Facebook which led me to www.taxdayteaparty.com. I joined the conference calls and drove to Nashville in February to help Judson Phillips."

But that wasn't enough.

"I wanted to see a tea party here in Huntsville. I waited a few days for someone to start a Tea Party in Huntsville, but couldn't find one. So finally Mike Leahy [a Nashville native one of the national organizers] said 'Go for it.'"

That became the birth of the Huntsville Tax Day Tea Party.

"Dale Jackson interviewed me on his show early on. He was skeptical at first, but came around and ended up emcee'ing the event, as well as hosting his own 'On-Air Tax Day Tea Party'."

That got the ball rolling, but not as big as what happened next.

"I listed my phone number on the national website and quickly went over my minutes due to receiving so many calls."



Even though the word of mouth was great, that wasn't the cog that turned the wheel. Once again, Facebook came to the rescue.

"Facebook is great because you can create groups and events for people to join and RSVP to, can send out mass messages, post links. There are forums, etc."

And so the Tea Party was spread virulently across the community, reaching people that would have otherwise would have been oblivious.

"Many more people turned out than I expected, which was a great thing! HPD said there were 2,300 there, but I heard multiple people, including news stations, estimate even 3,000."

When asked the best way to organize people on short notice in this day and age, Christie had this to say:

"Facebook is much better for organizing, compared to Twitter. You can create groups and events for people to join and RSVP to, can send out mass messages, post links. There are forums, etc."



Since the Huntsville Tax Day Tea Party, Christie has been involved in several mini protests, including the impromptu response to the House passing the Cap & Trade bill. (Cap & Trade still has to pass the SEnate before it reaches Obama's desk.)

Two new protests are on Christie's calendar. First is the Huntsville Independence Day Tea Party. Second is the July 17th protest of Obamacare.

Also, as State Coordinator, Christie alerted me to these Independence Day Tea Parties: Birmingham, Cullman, Dothan, Athens, Fairhope, Fort Payne, Greenville, Guntersville, Hueytown, Morgan County, Mobile, Montgomery, Trussville, and Wetumpka. For more information and up-to-date info, please visit http://alabamateapartypatriots.homestead.com.

"Though most of the establishment press ignored the coast-to-coast Tax Day "tea parties," Two major cable news TV networks turned the occassion into a platform, not for reporting on opposition to the government's socialist policies, but for making on-air jokes about oral sex. In one 2 minute and 42 second report on the tea parties, MSNBC's David Shuster made a total of 23 sexual double-entendres. Not to be outdone, the same network's Rachel Maddow managed to pack 36 oral-sex references into a six minute and 54 second segment on the tea parties.

CNN superstar Anderson Cooper started of the tea party mockery with his own dead-pan reference to the homosexual act - "It's hard to talk when you are tea-bagging," a term which most Americans were heretofore unaware - while interviewing political consultant David Gergen.

Friends, can you imagine, during America's Revoluntionary War days, the press covering the Boston Tea Party by mocking it and turning virtually every sentence into a sexual joke?


From a 6/25/2009 www.WorldNetDaily.com email:
On July 17th tea party protest will take place at 12:00 Noon EDT/9:00 AM PDT at every single Congressional and Senatorial office in the country. These tea party protest will happen simultaneously in an effort to show our opposition to government run healthcare.


Please visit www.teapartypatriots.org to get plugged in on the nationwide tea party protest on July 17th.


from www.atlantateaparty.net web page:
If You Live In the Huntsville, Alabama area, please attend the Huntsville Independence Day Tea Party!
DATE: Saturday, July 4th, 2009
TIME: 7pm - On Sale Food (Smokey's BBQ, Domino's and more) 7:30pm to 9:00pm - festivites and speakers
WHERE: fairgrounds, off of Airport Road.
After 9:00pm there will be fireworks. bring the kids and have some fun!!

For more information
Contact: christie.carden@yahoo.com
256.603.9676 (cell)
www.huntsvilleteaparty.com

Prepared and Distributed by
The Huntsville Chronicle
www.thehuntsvillechronicle.com
Member New Media Alliance
www.thenma.org

President Pertini of Italy arrived--1st visit to U.S. He's 84 and a terrific old gentleman. We had the full ceremony under a warm sum. GOd meeting. He loves America--very touching moment on the way into the White House He paused by the Marine holding our flag and kissed it.

Everyone, may I please have your attention? I have an announcement to make.

I thought this day would never come. I thought that somehow WE would prevail, that there were at least ten righteous men left in the city. This no longer appears to be the case. I believe that judgement is about to be poured out.

For this reason, I am left no choice but to support Obama.

I know that many of you are now shouting at your computer screens: "TURNCOAT! TURNCOAT". Please allow me to explain the rationale behind my decision.

The past couple of days at work haven't been busy, packed or insane, they've been steady. Not too much and maybe a tad too little. This is the way it should be when you're about to take a vacation. Two days left, then I have eight days off. Woohoo!

Yes, today make a trifecta of celebrities that have died. Boo hoo. No, Jeff Goldblum is not dead.

I wasn't feeling like going into my part-time job this evening, so I took my time when I got home. Finally, I called to see how busy it was and they said they'd be ok without me. I'm sure I"ll regret it next paycheck and probably ought not not go in, but damnit, it sure does feel good to have that kind of control. If only I could get my book deal to go through.



So after I called out, I called Mom so I'd have someone to talk to for a few minutes. Turns out she was on her way into town. She wanted to go buy a camera. She wound up with a Nikon Coolpix S550. The price of the Nikon D60 with the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR and 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor Lenses along with a case and two DVDs from Nikon (woohoo!) for $750+ tax. For $350 more, I can get three free annual cleanings of the body, sensor and lenses as well as a guaranteed replacement if they camera is unrepairable. I think this is a great deal, if only I had the money.

After we looked at cameras, I finally got Mom to go into the Apple store. She isn't ready to buy, but I think I've definitely planted the seeds of doubt. I'm trying to talk her into a 24" iMac. Let's hope.



While my Netflix tactic didn't quite work, Mom is getting a 6Mbps connection like I previously told her too. I'm not happy it's through Bellsouth (one of Ma Bell's 80's anti-trust breakups) but I do know someone in Madison who has the same service. I have to say that while I didn't put it through its paces, it was pretty damn quick. So I look forward to testing this out during my vacation.

We then had dinner and I was finally able to have a serious conversation with Mom since she was by herself. What relief. I think I've talked some sense into her (other than showing her she needs to get away from the Dark Side). If she shows up at the Independence Day Tea Party, I'll know I got through to her.

Mom finally realized just how anti-socail I am and noted that I would end up old and lonely. No shit. Being sociable costs money I don't have!

My guest today is an old co-worker from Domiho's. He was always a cool guy to hang around even though trouble always seemed to find him. I recently saw him on Facebook and learned that he had since deployed to Iraq where this post was written.

Please welcome Drew Wallburg!

Hey everyone. Today while I should have been paying dear attention I had a bit of a revelation... I can fix the prison system!!! It is easier than A, B, Life Sentence! I am less concerned with the nonviolent offenders, but I have a solution for them as well. Lets climb the ladder.

Nonviolent repeat offenders: Many people fuck up. God knows I have. What I havent done is get busted. Especially not repeatedly. Several years ago there was a kid tagging cars in Singapore. He got busted. Do you know what the Singapore officials did? They whipped that ass! The officials threw the little bastard in jail overnight and the next day began 10 lashes from a cane. The kid passed out afte 4. Did they finish? About as much as you did the first time your parents caught you spanking your pecker... not at all. They threw the kid BACK in jail and the next morning finished off. Public disgrace mixed with physical retribution is effective. How effective? Very goddamnit.

( Read more... )

For father's day, I got my dad a copy of Neal Boortz's book The Fair Tax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS and a Netflix subscription. Both have ulterior motives.

I hope that with the The Fair Tax I can persuade my dad to become more involved in politics on all levels.



The Netflix account has many goals and ramifications, one of which is classified. First of all, I want them to feel the Netflix experience. Secondly, I wanted to bring some movies into their conciseness that they would not otherwise have been made aware of. As they do not have internet access at the house (for reasons I cannot go into) and I am currently both paying for and managing their account, I hope to spur them into getting said access supplied quickly so they can take over their account. Of course, my luck will be that they drive ten minutes into town and try to manage it from the library.


hotair.com is reporting that Nixon allegedly said (in so many words) "We [Republicans] need hot women."

I think Nixon is absolutely right. I'll tell you why: people support attractive people. Don't believe me? I'll give you an example.
( Read more... )


As some of you may know, I am taking nine days off starting next Sunday. I don't think that I'm going to make it out to Atlanta at this point, so it looks like other than the evening of the Fourth (4th) I'm free. Seriously, if you're in town or thereabouts and have been dying to get together, you need to get on my calendar because those days will be filling up and gone fast.

During this hiatus, I may toddle off to a super secret location where my staff won't be able to contact me. I will likely blog most of that time as I have a lot of things I want to talk about. I may even take some topics that I meant to hit a while back and cover them, let them gather comments then back date them appropriately. Also on the docket is a series of posts on what the Tax Parties mean, my take on Obama and a public stating of my beliefs on some key issues not yet covered.

Also coming up, I have interviewed Christie Carden, organizer of the Huntsville Tea Parties as well as State Coordinator. And there are some great people that have interviewed me who will be posting those interviews in the coming days. And I have some projects up my sleeve that I won't discuss until they come to fruition.


We'll have a guest blogger tomorrow.

Netflix knows how to serve its customers. I know because I am one, so please allow me to heap praise on them.

Recently, I have been turned on to the British car show Top Gear by a coworker. Sadly, only Season 10 is available via Amazon and Netflix, but you can Seasons 11 & 12 via iTunes (which I have done and already watched.) So I had the first DVD of Season 10 from Netflix and gave it to whester after I was through with it so I could get him hooked on the show.

When he mailed the DVD back, I noticed that Disc 2 had a short wait. Ok, that's cool, whatever. I wasn't worried about it. Interestingly, Netflix decided to skip the third disc which was available, which is worth commenting on in and of itself. I know it doesn't take a lot of programming to skip the rest of a series, but I think it is cool that someone at Netflix had the foresight to say, "Hey, if someone is watching a DVD series/boxset through us and the next disc isn't available, it's not going to make sense to send them the next available disc because they are going to miss all that content in the middle.

But that isn't what I wanted to tell you.

I checked my email to see when the DVDs would ship and low, I had an email from Netflix, but it wasn't telling me that they had shipped or received. They had sent me an email saying:

Shipping Update

Dear Tomas,

Top Gear: Series 10: Disc 2 was not available from your local shipping center. Fortunately, it was available from a shipping center in another part of the country. It's on its way and should arrive within 3 to 5 days.

You'll notice we also recently sent the next available DVD from your Queue to enjoy while Top Gear: Series 10: Disc 2 makes its way to you.

Your Queue now shows this extra DVD rental. Enjoy.

-The Netflix Team

I thought that was pretty damned cool and wanted to tell Netflix so. I searched and searched their site for a way to send them an email saying, "Hey, you know how to treat your customers right. I appreciate it and wanted to tell you 'Keep up the good job.'"

So I called and told them instead.

This isn't the first time they've done something like this either. I don't think I blogged about this, but one holiday (I think it was Thanksgiving) I really, really wanted to watch The Eagle Has Landed. I bought the film when I first moved into the apartment, but I lent it out to a co-worker who had never returned it. I hadn't watched it in over a year and was really jonesing to watch the film; this was around the time I bought the score as well as the novel. I couldn't find any place in town that had the DVD for rent or sale. Desperate, I added the DVD to the top of my queue. There was no way I could really expect to get the DVD before the holiday anyway, but I had to try. I called Netflix and asked them if I upgraded my plan to the four-at-a-time (I do the three-at-a-time) if they could at least ship it the same day. She said that they could, but here's the coolest part: she said I didn't need to upgrade but rather she could have the DVD sent out complimentary!

Just last night, I made the comment to cmd_keen that Apple was the only company that made me want to rush out and give them my money because the entire experience felt so good, but upon reflection, I need to correct that statement. I love Netflix just as much. They dazzle me with their customer care as well as their selection and efficiency. All in all, I have to say, the experience of being a Netflix customer is pretty damn cool.

Japan strikes again, bringing us one step closer to living The Jetsons lifestyle on a daily basis. This time, they have invented a robotic table, the idea being that you can use a remote control to deliver food and drink via the robot.

I think this is a bad, backwards idea.

People choose one bar over another because of the wait staff. This robot is not sexy. You can't flirt with a robot. A robot won't give you free drinks (unless, of course, you figure out some way to hack it on the fly, but then why are you in the bar in the first place? You're too nerdy to be here.) You can't seduce the bot into bed and you can't play grab ass with it.

I took a quick survey of my co-workers. They seem to think that robots like this would be more cost efficient in the long run. I don't see how that would be the case. When the robot breaks down, you have to pay a technician big bucks to fix it or pay full price to replace it. True, you don't have to tip a robot, but that means that the bar can raise their prices on the drinks to compensate. Robots may be more reliable than some stupid girl who's trying to get laid or score some smack, but robots can't adapt to situations such as blocked paths, specialty orders not already pre-programmed, etc. Robots are impersonal.

While this may be a milestone in robotics and breakthrough in making something automated being able to balance its weight not unlike a human being, at the end of the day, once the novelty wears off, I think that most bar hoppers will want flesh and blood that they can interact and be fresh with and wish for the bot only when the waitress is ugly.

I've never liked Steve Ballmer and have always thought of him as an entertainer rather than a serious entrepreneur. But when I read the following article from zdnet, I wanted to send him a bouquet of flowers to show my gratitude:

Ballmer Gives Obama a Lesson in Economics: Corporations Don't Just Absorb Taxes, They Change Their Behavior

While Ron Howard's latest excursion into the religious surreal is, without question, a high-tension, fast-paced thriller, Angels & Demons is, nevertheless, created with human hands--and the flaws show. Though Dan Brown attempted to pass himself off as an intellectual atheist on a mission with The DaVinci Code, receiving praise and accolades from today's so-called progressives, Angels & Demons reveals Mr. Brown as a lowly writer because Angels & Demons fits together too conveniently, ultimately leaving the audience saying, "Of course that couldn't have happened! It's just a movie."

THe main contrast between Angels & Demons and DaVinci Code is that Angels & Demons is very respectful to religion in general and Catholics specifically whereas DaVinci Code is purely atheistic volley designed to destroy Christendom.

Ewan McGregor was perfectly cast as Camerlengo. Everything about McGregor's performance, yes, even his accent is perfectly executed. You feel the little boy trying to come out of the thirty-something year old man--the taught humility fighting the powerlust while the whole time being in awe of the very power being veraciously juggled. Ayelet Zurer does a wonderful job playing second fiddle to Tom Hanks' leading Professor Robert Langdon. Pierfrancesco Favino and Stellan Skarsgård hold their weight as supporting actors supplying exposition. Armin Mueller-Stahl adds a human element, reminiscent of a wise grandfather that knows when and how to say "no."

Tom Hanks was paid "the highest salary ever paid to an actor" to reprise his role as professor Langdon just days before the announcement came that Johnny Depp was being signed to Pirates of the Caribbean 4 for the even higher salary of $56 million. Is Hanks worth the dough? His name might be, but it takes at least two viewings to appreciate his performance. On the initial viewing, there are too many times when you felt you were looking at an actor who was doing the best he could with the material he was handed.

For example, in order to execute a plot twist, Hanks had to pull the rabbit out of the hat with an "oh, I wonder if..." Granted, this may not all be Akiva Goldsmith's fault. I wouldn't be the first to call Goldsmith a hack, but having not read the book and being told the twist in the book was executed similarly, I'm not sure who's at fault. Perhaps this is the lowest common denominator floating to the top and the blame ultimately belongs to Dan Brown.

Regardless, director Ron Howard puts together a piece of entertainment that does indeed distract the audience from "the man behind the curtain." Howard's biggest disservice to the story is making the guilty too innocent thus raising suspicions almost immediately when the film begins. Howard also needs to reign in his DP Salvatore Totino. There are enough spinning shots of the Large Hadron Collider in the beginning of the film to give one motion sickness watching the film on the big screen. For those self-proclaimed film buffs out there, at least one shot of the LHC is reminiscent of the shot in Apollo 13 of the spark of electricity that ultimately causes the oxygen tanks to blow up.

Speaking of reminiscent, Hans Zimmer's Angels & Demons score pays much tribute to the DaVinci Code's track Chevaliers De Sangreal. Indeed, the last track of the album 503 heard in the film over the credit roll is a fuller but shorter orchestral rendition of Chevaliers De Sangreal. Joshua Bell's absolutely sublime violin work is featured prominently on several tracks and serves the score much like a favorite easy chair at the end of a long day. The score starts energetic, then proceeds to become the aural battle of Heaven vs. Hell as fought on earth. Indeed, the track Science and Religion is selfless, altruistic sacrifice as personified with sound waves. The keen listener will note a breath of a phrase from Hannibal and the percussion through the album is a tribute to John Powell's Bourne Ultimatum.

Whether Dan Brown got his facts straight or not, one thing is for sure: Angels & Demons will do for Art History--particularly Rome's--what Watchmen did for turning the younger generation on to 60's & 70's music. The sudden interest in art, architecture and Catholic procedure and history should not come as a surprise. After all, the film's message is "Faith is a gift we [intellectuals] have not yet received"...but we keep searching for the Truth.

Last night I was out of pocket in a super secret location. The location was so secret and so remote that even my staff couldn't get ahold of me. (Technically, that wasn't due to lack of reception as much as it was I wasn't answering my phone.) I wound up spending the night (not intentional) and flew back up the interstate this morning.

Yesterday we reached a high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit six degrees above the predicted 91 degrees. Suffice it to say that both last night and this morning, I was driving with all the windows down including my sunroof.

Since I knew I wouldn't be long, I rolled up my windows when I got back to my humble abode but I left my sunroof open so the car can ventilate. I was inside no more than 20 minutes.

I hopped in the car eager to go into work and be a shining star. Even though last night was cut short due to a late departure time, it was still refreshing, invigorating and inspiring, so much so that I have authored my Angels & Demons review which will be released later today after a bit of clean up, fact checking and name plugging. (Alas, my super secret location was without and Internet connection.)

When I went to get out of my car upon arriving at work, I couldn't leave the seat. Something stringy ands sticky on my lower back was preventing me from doing so. It appeared that one of the little brats that were waiting for me at my front door decided to throw their bubble gum in my car. I was NOT HAPPY about this at all.

whester graciously scraped off the gum that was sticking to my clothes as it was in a region I couldn't reach and really couldn't effectively clean at work. I then went to get the other half of the piece off of the lower back of the driver's seat.

I had several ideas of what to do with these little vandals which I shall not commit to this blog. But that isn't what set me off. It was when I went to get my briefcase from the back seat that I found the second piece of gum. Thankfully, it didn't have anything to really stick to. But this act of vandalism and thievery has.

I think these young criminals ought to have to pay for a new change of clothes, the car to be shampooed, the time wasted at work not being able to do my job as well as the matching taxes and benefits my employer has to pay. And I think they should have a vandalism charge on their criminal record.

I'm considering calling DHS and telling them to come pick up the kids because they are riding their bikes on the four lane in front of the apartment complex while their parents/guardians negligently sit on their ass watching Oprah.

Last night I tried the track near my house. It wasn't bad, but it did leave a lot to be desired. I looked up the place I wanted to go originally. They have a track, but it's going to be a bit more of a drive than what I am wanting to make methinks. If I get out of here right on time tonight (I've got the late shift) I think I'll try going there and walking, then home, change clothes, eat, maybe shower and head off to write for a couple of hours.

I didn't make it to Barnes & Nobel last night because I was looking for a Powerpoint presentation that appears to no longer be on the web. I thought I had downloaded it to my computer, but I couldn't find it. In fact, I'm kinda pissed with OS X right now because it didn't list in in the presentations when searched. I don't know if this is a bug or not as the presentation was on an external drive that is never removed from the system and it backed up via Time Machine.

If I do make it to Barnes & Nobel tonight, I think I will attempt to work on my Angels & Demons review, but that will be a bitch without wireless. I hate AT&T despite their gift of C, C++ and Unix.

So I am about to eat lunch. I was going to Pulse about how the soup that has egg noodles has less calories than the soup with rice--90 calories vs. 120 calories per serving. As I was setting my bowl on the counter to open the microwave, I tipped it back and spilt half the content on the floor. That's the whole point of dieting, isn't it?
At least I'm sticking to my dieting plan on Day 2. FML!

Memorial Day weekend was too short.

I don't remember staying up ungodly late Friday night, but I do remember not crawling out of bed until noon Saturday.

For the past month or so now, I've had acid reflux on and off--seems worse if I have marinara sauce. The cure is to chew Tums or swallow milk, but that's only temporary relief. Everything I eat seems to go right through me which would be fine if it were a true purge.

Over the past two weeks, I've spent a lot of time in the evenings with a co-worker while his family is with his in-laws in California. Our activites have included shopping, ridding up to Tennessee (so he can play the lottery), watching movies (both in and out of theater, mostly in) and just sitting up talking. Of course, getting together late at night also means eating. While I have no intention of blaming my problems on my friend, having someone say "Let's go eat" several nights a week is not the most helpful thing. It's been great--I've enjoyed the fellowship as this is the kind of thing that I've wanted for bloody ages--but all good things must come to an end. His family comes back into town tomorrow.

So Saturday I put in 5.5 hours to bring my total to 50. Then, despite previous conversation about not needing to come in, my part-time job wanted me to make an appearance. If memory serves me correctly, I got there at 2030ish and made $21 (tips + mileage). Not bad for 2.5 hours. All-in-all, I've charged for 60 hours this week, but I swear I feel like I've put in 120. I must really be getting old.

This is the second weekend I've been invited to play Warhawk Saturday after work, and I think I shall continue this social event as the invitation is open-ended. Granted, I've never really liked console games or gaming in general--I could never win--but one of the upsides of burning out in college was becoming competent at Unreal Tournament 2004 and later fed a Half Life 2 addiction. But I'm coming around to consoles. If I had the money, I would have long ago bought a PS3 and an HD TV. Being poor has its virtues.

What, pray tell, do you think the agenda consists of after playing Warhawk for a couple of hours? You guessed it, go out to eat!

I've been noticing myself slipping for quite some time, but it really got to me the other day when my pants wouldn't button. They aren't too short nor are the tight in the legs--I'm simply over-wide. That might sound odd coming from someone who wears size 34 pants, but the fact of the matter is I've let myself go far too long. I go to work, sit in front of a computer all day, occasionally picking up hours or putting in extra to make ends meet, then I go home where I relax by reading blogs and news that I didn't consume at work, watching something episodic and having dinner.

I know that through diet I can reduce my size, something that is top priority. Being hypoglycemic doesn't help. When you crash, you are looking for the quickest way back to normal. This leads to a scenario not unlike over-correcting for a skidding vehicle, the difference being that you don't always see the effects (yannow, until your body gives out.)

I also think I have developed slight respiration problems due to the increased weight. I really should go buy a scale to measure just how much of a lard ass I really am. The last time I remember being weighed was when I attempted to join the Air Force three or four years ago. I think I weighed 185 then. I knew I should have dealt with my body then, but youth is wasted on the wrong people.

Reducing size is one thing. The biggest problem here is cutting sugar out of the diet. This will be especially hard because I haven't been able to stay awake lately...except at night when I should go to bed. It's like my days of being a nite owl are coming back to haunt me.

Toning up requires something I've never actively done in my life: exercise. I've avoided exercise like the plague for a number of reasons: I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know how to use the equipment, I'll look like more of a fool than I already do. One of the things I have sought for years is a walking track in town but have been unable to find one. (Granted, I didn't put forth too large of an effort.) The big park downtown does not contain one and it's not advised to walk where I live.

A co-worker pointed out to me where a track was about a half mile from my apartment. I'll try that today for convenience sake, but there are other areas I want to try.

My plan is to drastically reduce my caloric intake starting today. I think that if I go to the store and buy certain thinks for a fortnight's menu, I think I can make it work. I'm sure the first three or four days will be the worst, but if I can withstand the temptation as well as the dropping blood sugar, I should be able to get down to the size I want to be at shortly...assuming I haven't gained that much.

And that leads me back to Pulse. I always feel inspired to write when I'm in Barnes and Nobel. Furthermore, I've always wanted to write there. So after I go walking tonight, I'm going to head on over and give it a shot. The downside is that the only internet access there is through AT&T, so if I want to get online I will need to purchase access. No, I will not sit in the Starbuck's drinking coffee and eating treats. That would defeat my purpose.

How was the weekend on the whole? Well, I went to see Angels & Demons again yesterday, but I dozed through most of it taking micro naps. Did the same fucking thing today immediately when I came into work and again around 1230. This is getting worse, so if I really think I have apnea and that it's a weight thing instead of a respiratory thing (i.e. if the weight is the primary cause) then perhaps my attempt to diet will pay off in more ways then one. Feel better, be rested, etc.

Didn't get in until 0630 Sunday and slept almost all day. Slept until 1030 Monday.

While (like Tom "Puff" Daschle) I'm sadden that I didn't get to meet dirtyandshaken and onejumpchump, I am grateful that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive to Chattanooga grumpy and exhausted only to loose an hour off the bat by crossing the timeline. I hate that they got stuck working and being sick and miserable all weekend long. I hope that onejumpchump got what dirtyandshaken has been hoping and praying for for quite some time.

I am taking eight (8) personal days June 28 - July 5. Much like the last time I took a week off, I had big plans to do all kinds of things, but this go around, I know that I likely won't. I do know, however, that a writing project I've wanted to tackle for a little over a year now won't let go of me and was in fact re-inforced in me last night because of watching Cast Away for the first time in several years. I may bump other writing projects in lieu of this one tonight, I don't know. We'll see what I'm in the mood to write once I'm in a comfy chair and have the music flowing.