November 29, 2006
Black People Love Us
This is one of the most random, ludicrous and funny websites that I have stumbled across in a while:
http://www.blackpeopleloveus.com/
Make sure to check out the links at the top and especially to read the letters. It's amazing how many people out there just don't get it.
November 21, 2006
Random Pollution
Have you ever noticed a terrible resemblance between yourself and a TV character or character in a book? For me recently it’s Larry David from “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I don’t know if it’s simply an over attachment to the character or he and I really share some of the same ludicrous idiosyncrasies. Nonetheless, the show makes me laugh ‘til my stomach hurts and I bummed that the 5th season was the last.
I was turned onto this Beck tune today called “Strange Apparition” It’s a serious channeling of the Stones from the Sticky Fingers days.
On the opposite end of the musical genre universe, I broke out Ozzy Ozzbborn Diary of a Madman last night. I got this album when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. What is most striking to me as I listen to this album today is how solid Rudy Sarzo is as a bass player. Being in Quiet Riot may have made him some money but it did nothing for his credibility as a MF of a bass player. Also striking is how articulate Ozzy comes across as opposed to the slobbering, unintelligible Ozzy he appears to be today. “Diary of a madman” as a song itself is a somewhat frightening documentation of the man documenting his own decline into insanity. Apparently it was self-fulfilling prophecy. It would have to be…what else could explain a man allowing cameras to follow him around his own house day after day sounding like a 60-year-old boxer.
November 17, 2006
Gun Unsafety Story
This is kind of a random post. It was spawned by a couple of things. First, I found it a bit funny that just outside the room at the mall where my daughter attended a birthday party last week was a gun show. This didn't surprise me but I think our guest from Boston had a cultural eye-opener. Second, the West Virginia news is abuzz with gun safety pieces as we enter the meat of hunting season. It got me thinking about gun safety and led me into remembering a story from childhood.
This is a true story and a couple of you who read this may know some of the players in the story. If so, please refrain from using names if you make comments.
It was just after school let out. I was 13 or 14 years old and did what I did everyday after school. I changed clothes quickly and ran over to my neighbor's house to plan our after school activities for the day. I knocked on the garage door as I did every day and when my neighbor came to the door it was instantly recognizable in his face that something seriously bad had happened.
"You are not going to believe what just happened...follow me." my neighbor said.
As I stepped into the house I was hit in the face by a cloud of drywall dust and the smell of gunpowder. My neighbor led me back into the bedroom hallway where there was a gaping hole through each wall on either side of the hallway about 8 inches in diameter. The fog of dust in the house was chocking.
I started peppering my neighbor with questions to get at exactly what had happened. Apparently, my neighbor's younger brother had pulled the LOADED 12 gauge shotgun out of the gun cabinet, taken it into the bedroom, dropped it onto the bed and it fired. The blast and subsequent spray of shot had burned the crap out of the bedspread, taken out several of the bedposts, then gone through 2 walls leaving the gaping hole and blowing drywall dust all over the house. It was quite a scene and while in hindsight, I can tell this story with a light heart because no body got hurt, my neighbor was walking toward his bedroom when the gun went off and was literally feet from having a spray pattern from a shotgun put a hole in him as opposed to just a wall.
I have no real political agenda with this post and as I generally tend to leave politics off my blog, I will refrain from connecting this event to some kind of 2nd amendment commentary. It does however lead me to state and restate: If you have guns, please keep them unloaded and keep the cabinet locked tight. I can attest personally that accidents can and do happen.
November 15, 2006
Pause is ended
I just now finally got a chance to update my blog after spending most of last week in Orlando and most of this week catching up on piled up work from spending a week in Orlando. I was in Orlando presenting at and attending a conference. Over the course of four days in sunny Florida I left my hotel a whopping total of 1 time! What a lame ass eh? Can't say I really like being in Orlando. Sure, it's great for kids but for adults, it just seemed like one random and useless tourist attraction after another. The one night I went outside of my hotel to eat, I took the bus up the street a few stops and saw random climbing walls along the street, big-ass rubber bands shooting people into the air, 24 hour dentists and a whole assortment of other random uselessness. Besides, the hotels there are so huge and full of multiple restaurants, bars and other amenities that its like being on a cruise ship and cruise ships just really aren't my style.
Fabiola's baptism was Sunday. Right when I got back from Orlando on Saturday I met Fabiola's Godmother at the airport. The Godfather had already flown in and was waiting at the house. Fabiola had a beautiful baptism and we had an incredible weekend of family, friends and food. One that we will never forget.
November 06, 2006
Bird is Back
That annoying bird is back. It looks and acts just like the one that was terrorizing me in the Spring. This time she has taken residence in one of the mums on the front porch. She hasn't made a nest but is simply hanging out. The other night I brought the mums in as I was anticipating a hard frost and the bird flipped out. She wouldn't leave the porch, was buzzing my head and I finally had to resort to coming in and out through the back door so as not to further provoke greater bird anger. In the process of the bird buzzing my head, I ducked and came plowing in through the front door to escape head injury and slammed the door right into Ingrid's arm. At that point I had both the bird and Ingrid pissed at me. Once again to reiterate my rules to birds: You have the run of the property; the front porch is for people. Get out.
November 02, 2006
Lunk Alarm
There are 2 gyms here on campus, the student facility and the faculty/staff facility. The 2 facilities are not "officially" categorized that way but that is just the way it works out. I go to the faculty/staff facility. A couple of times every year, the student facility closes for a week or two and we get a wave of steakheads who take over our free weight area with grunting, yelling, weight throwing and just plain stupid-ass sounds that really aren't necessary for non-competitive weight workouts where people are trying to stay in shape.
I just ran across this article about a guy being removed from Planet Fitness for grunting. Planet Fitness has a strict no grunting policy and he broke the rules. I applaud Planet Fitness for standing up to the Lunk in question and having him escorted out.
In case you are unfamiliar with the term "lunk," Here is a photo of the "Lunk Alarm" that is on the wall at Planet Fitness. I will, this evening, be encouraging my gym to install similar signs and policies.
Squirrel Attack
Ever see the film Christmas Vacation? Here is a story about a real squirrel attack. I don't know why I find this so funny. I had a neighbor once who claimed he was chased down by a woodchuck. He was however prone to telling fish tales so I can't verify if it really happened.
Squirrel Attack