Well, 2008 kind of sucked.

It was actually a pretty good year for me. I got a new car and I still have a job. The candidate I voted for actually got elected, that was cool. My 401(k) is in the crapper, but I'm not using that money right now anyway, and by the time I retire it will have rebounded.

I just don't know how bad 2009 will be. Ask me in a year.

Death Magnetic

The new Metallica is pretty good. Very good, actually. Reminds me a lot of the "...And Justice for All" album. The songs have more breaks and bridges time changes and most are longer. Some seem long just for the sake of filling the album though. But if yo long for the days when Metallica didn't suck, they're back. At least for now. Pick this one up. And while it doesn't change the music at all, the packaging deserves an award too.

AC

Ever installed a Wall-unit air conditioner/heater? Me neither... until today.

The heater in my old one stopped working so I had a new one delivered a couple of weeks ago. It came in a box about 2'x3' and about 18" high, and since then has been sitting in my tool shed and blocking everything. It's been there for two weeks because I've yet to find anyone that installs them. So today around 11:30 I figured I'd just open the box and look through the manual to see just how hard it actually is to do. I opened the box, and learned that the manual is on the bottom. Now, this thing weighs 120 lbs., so if I was going to take it out of the box, it was going to be inside the house, as close as possible to where it would be installed. To get it into the house I had to roll it end over end up the steps through the door, then onto a towel, which I dragged through the house to the living room.

Even though I decided it was something I might be able to do, I still had to remove the old one. For those not in the know, a wall unit is in two pieces. The main guts with the compressor and fan is all one unit, like components on a mother board inside a computer. The other part is the outer shell - the big metal box with vents that you see sticking out of the wall from outside the house. The outer shell is the part that's actually attached to the house. The inside part is mounted on a tray and slides into the shell.

First I slid the old one out of the shell. I also weighs over 100 lbs., so to keep it from crashing to the floor I put a recycle bin (on a towel) upside down in front of it and eased the unit onto that. After dragging the towel/old unit away I took a look at the shell. All the vents were in the same places. In fact it looked like the old and new ones were from the same factory (they probably were). So I measured the shell. I couldn't believe it: 18" x 26" - exactly the width and height of the new one. SWEET! I won't even have to install the new shell. All I had to do was slide the new unit into the existing shell and it would be done.

No. Of course it wasn't that simple. After a closer look I got the tape measure back out. Yes, I measured it right the first time. I measured the width and height, but not the depth. The new one is about 6" longer than the old one. No way it would fit. The old one has to come out.

After removing about a dozen screws from the perimeter it still wouldn't budge. There was still a healthy dose of decades-old caulking around the seal. I used a razor to cut through it all, and it was still stuck. I had to break away the wooden mitered frame from around the shell. When I stuck a screwdriver under the edge of the frame a small army of carpenter ants came streaming out in all directions, so I spent the next few minutes battling them. Eventually I got the old shell out of the wall. The new one was still around the new unit, but how to get it out? I couldn't just pull it out - it was too heavy. Heavy is the key. I put some pillows on the floor in front of it and tipped it onto its front. Then I just slid the shell off and tipped the innards part back down.

The new shell slid into the old space almost perfectly (close enough, anyway. Before going further I went to Home Depot and bought some angle braces to mount outside to support the shell.

Back at home everything was going smoothly. I After putting the braces in place I began drilling screws through the shell's perimeter to secure it when suddenly the power went out. I checked the fuse and it was blown I replaced it and the second one immediately blew also. I must have drilled through a wire inside the wall so I removed all the screws, changed the fuse, but still no power. In fact, the whole house had no power. I changed the 60-amp main fuses, and still nothing. This was about an hour before dark, So I needed to solve this quick. I jumped in the car and went to Wal-Mart for more fuses. Once there I got out of the car and realized I had left my wallet at home. Nothing to do but go back and get it. I bought about 18 small fuses and 3 sets of the 60-amp main fuses. I raced the setting sun home (it beat me) and wandered around the house with a flashlight. I changed ALL the fuses and still no power. I called the power company (because no one else would have answered at 6:00 on a Sunday night) and they said they'd send someone out by 10:00. After much thought I went outside just to look at the power meter for any clues. Then I noticed the metal box underneath it. I opened it, saw a circuit breaker, and flipped it. Viola! Lights came on, back in business.

OK. Everything is done except putting the new unit into the new shell. But how to get it up there from the floor? I tipped it onto another inverted recycling bin and dragged it over to where it would go. I was able lift the end closest to the wall and set that on the edge of the shell. I lifted the other end and slid the whole thing into place. Boom. Done! And it only took 8 hours. I still have to put a new wooden frame on the wall around it and pack all the gaps full of caulk, but that will be child's play compared to today.

A week later they're still here.

The neighbors haven't been as noisy as they were last year, but they still yell into the house and still slam the door all day. This time they're keeping the noise down to daytime hours. I can't really complain about someone having a loud voice\ if it's only during the day.

Instant idiots, just add my neighbors

So who are the idiots? Let me rewind about 22 years. When I first moved into my house, there were two very nice old people next door. Never made any noise, never caused any trouble. They did shout to each other, but old people do that some times. One weekend they had relatives down from up north. I nicknamed them "The Loud Family" because they were... loud. Obnoxiously loud. The whole time they were down all they did was sit on the porch and shout and cuss to each other. They were usually shouting over the screaming toddler that was milling around their feet. They came down a few times more, screaming kid (or kids, I'm not sure) in tow.

Fast-forward to late 2006. The last of the old couple died and left the house to their daughter, whose only interest in the house was to sell it. This was at the end of the housing boom, when prices began dropping. When she realized that she couldn't sell it for any worthwhile value she decided to make it a vacation home.

Then one night in 2007 a huge pickup truck and several cars pulled into the driveway and front yard, spilling out a gaggle of Michigan hillbillies. The screaming toddler from 22 years ago was now a shouting redneck with screaming toddlers of her own, and loud drunken brothers/cousins/friens to keep her company. If they weren't around she also had her german shepherd that barks at EVERYTHING with a pulse.

When they weren't shouting into the house from the street they were sitting on the porch drinking beer and shouting at the TV, or the kids, or each other, I don't know. I also don't know what they did for entertainment, but it involved leaving and entering the house about 20 times an hour through a screen door with a self-closing arm that slams the door shut. This would go on until well after midnight.

The leader of the bunch - the alpha hick - must have throat cancer or something because every few minutes he'd walk outside, cough up a thick mouthful of lung butter, and spit on the ground. He'd do this for a few minutes at a time, several times an hour. Then he'd put the cigarette back in his mouth and go back inside.

So to recap, for ten days the mantra from next door was "Waahh! Slam! Woof! Woof! Slam! Wahh! BLAH-BLAH-BLAH! Slam! BEELLLCCHHH! Hawhawhaw! @#!%%$! Slam! Hwack-P-tooey! Slam!" This in a deed-restricted retirement community. I fully understood how Squidward must feel.

Finally, at about 1:00 a.m. Thanksgiving morning I was awakened to the thumping of bass speakers emanating from the monster truck next door. Four of them were sitting in it, listening to the stereo, drinking, laughing, and judging by the tiny orange glow that floated from seat to seat, probably getting high. After an hour I had had enough and called the police. They seemed less than interested but said they would send a car out. The two most expected things happened next: the hicks went inside and the cops never showed up anyway.

O.K., so the next morning it's Thanksgiving and I wake up at 7:30. I know the Deliverance cast next door should be very hung-over, but they would be sleeping too heavily to know it. I couldn't let a good hangover go to waste. Besides, I felt fine. Seemsed like a nice morning to clean out the tool shed. A recycle bin full of bottles and cans makes an aweful racket when you drop it on a carport floor. Especially if you drop it ten times in a row. I also had to make sure that darn shed door was closed tight, so I slammed it a few times. Then every couple of minutes I made sure it didn't creep open by slamming it again. I alo made sure my hammer still worked by beating it on some wood. I didn't want to waste nails, so I just assumed it would do the job. Well, it didn't take long to clean out the shed, but my bedroom (closest room to their house) was looking aweful dusty. Better VACUUM it. Nothing like the roar of a vacuum cleaner at 8:00 in the morning to remind one of the sins of drugs and alcohol. Sometimes I just set the vacuum in the open window and let it run. After that, the car needed vacuuming too. You might have guessed, my carport is on the same side as their house.

So you're asking why I never went over and said anything. First, they don't seem like the type that would care. More like the type that would be even louder afterward. Second, If I said something and then took it to the next level (calling police, or reporting them to the neighborhood authority), they may very well key a calling card into my car before they drive back to the Ozarks. I also didn't think they'd be down for a WEEK and a HALF.

They finally left, and only came down twice after that. Much quieter both times.

So this afternoon I came home from work and saw two cars in their driveway. Looks like they're back for a while, likely a week.

Three Dead Mice. See how they don't run.

Not real mice, computer mice. I had three mice stop working in one week. They were all old, but it's still weird that they all stopped working at the same time. One just had a bad button, but the other two all out quit. Anyway, that gave me a good enough excuse to buy a new keyboard and mouse set. My keyboard has been sticking keys lately so although it's still usable, it was time to ditch that too.

Here's what I wanted: a keyboard with a scroll wheel on the left side so I can eat breakfast with my right hand and scroll through the news with my left. My old keyboard, a Logitech MX3000, has one. That's the only non-typical keyboard option I wanted. The mouse should have a couple of extra option buttons too.

I've used about a dozen Logitech and Microsoft keyboards and mice over the years. The MS ones went bad in no time, and the Logitech mice never seem to work right - they'll keep stopping and startingery sluggish. End point, I didn't want something from Logitech or Microsoft. Go to any tech/office supply store and 9 out of ten keybords and mice will be one of those two brands.

After much research on websites I found a Kensington set that met my needs. No scroll wheel on the left, but in its place is a four-way scroll button. Good enough, and the mouse has a few extra custom buttons as well. Best of all, it's only $50.00.

I rushed out to BestBuy and picked one up. I hooked it up, installed the software, and it acted exactly like the other mice - sluggish and intermittent. Even the keyboard was cutting out and skipping keys as I typed. Someone on line with the same model mentioned that, despite the package proudly boasting that it has a range of ten meters, the range is realistically only about 12". I put the transmitter on a USB extension cable so it was on my desk, and everything worked great. Except I found that even when the keyboard is working properly, I still missed keys because they need direct pressure or they don't go down far enough to connect. It's a shame because the mouse worked really well. I could live with the transmitter on my desk, but not with that keyboard.

This is getting old. Saturday after work I got my hair cut. While I was in that end of town I hit Staples, Office Depot, and Circuit City. I settled on a set from Office Depot (a Logitech set). It worked OK, but again, I didn't like the keyboard. The keys were too small, and kept sticking if I didn't hit them straight down.

Sunday afternoon I returned the set from Best Buy and went to Staples across the street (a different one than on Saturday's trip). After about 10 minutes of trying them all, I settled on a Logitech S520. The keyboard is awesome. The keys are low-profile type like on a laptop, but it's still a full keyboard. The mouse is just a plain 2-button mouse, and it still cuts out sometimes, but if I move the remote to a different position it will work again. Someone said it's because my cordless phone is on the same frequency (2.4 GHz). Maybe so, I don't know.

So today I returned the last keyboard at Office Depot. I saw a laptop mouse in the clearance bin, and I could use a cordless one for that. At $22.00 (½-price) I figured I'd grab that.

I got it home, hooked it up, and you guessed it - it won't even power up.

O8AMA

O YEAH

O M G

Get your O-face on

Vote for Change

I WAS THERE!

I went in to work at 3:00a.m. so I could leave early. At 7:00 I bought a bag of donuts and a bottle of water and headed to Ed Smith Stadium. The event wasn't scheduled to begin until 11:00 but there were already several thousand people waiting in line (some said they had been there since 3:00). The temperature was in the low 60's, the sky was clear, and the sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon. Magic was in the air, charged with the electricity of optimism and eager anticipation. All the makings of an awesome day.

A little after 9:00 our end of the line began moving, and by 10:00 I was in my seat, in a vantage point I chose specifically for optimum video coverage. My video camera in hand, I knew this would be an historic event, and that I would want to have some memento of having attended.

By now the mid-morning sun was warming the crowd, although my seat was still shaded by the overhang above. The stadium is directly under a flight path, so no one paid attention to the jets that flew overhead until a 747 with the Obama logo emblazoned across the tail brought the crowd to a roar.

At 11:00 the usual opening procedures began: local politicians and city leaders lending their support and name-dropping to benefit their own future careers.

When Obama was introduced at 11:25 he didn't walk from behind a curtain onto the stage. He ran to it from across the field, flanked by several S.S. men. Hearing his speech itself was no unique experience. It was the same one he had been delivering for weeks, with a few changes made to accommodate the location. But I didn't go to hear the words. I already knew what would be said. I went there to see him in person, to be part of history, or at least to see it in the making.

See my video documentation here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1mwR4WMbZE

Early voting rules.
Obama in '08

John McCain was in town to beg for votes last week. I went there with my video camera and talked to people outside the event. You can see the videos here:

In this one, some McCain fans were seen talking to Obama supporters and both groups were ejected from the arena. I interviewed both groups.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XF14rvQOug

This is just an assortment of the people that were there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7KyBC1Zyj8

I hope she has health insurance.


http://kdka.com/local/attack.McCain.Bloomfield.2.847628.html

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Police sources tell KDKA that a campaign worker has now confessed to making up a story that a mugger attacked her and cut the letter “B” in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker.

Ashley Todd, 20, of Texas, initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.

Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.

Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and “the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction.”

This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.

2nd Presidential Debate

In case you missed the presidential debate this week, here's a recap:

"You're a liar."
"No, you're a liar."
"Nu-uh.'
"Yuh huh."
"Nu-UHH!"
"Yuh-HUHH!!"
"You're a dumb-dumb!"
No I'm not, YOU"RE a dumb-dumb!"

And it was pretty much 90 minutes of that. Sad... Really sad.

After watching the debate, I'd say Sarah Palin is much better...

... better at filibustering.
... better at avoiding the question.
... better at changing the subject to a question she can actually answer.
... better at terrifying me that she could be the next U.S. president.

She's better at all of the above, but I'm still not falling for her B.S.

She's a fake that compensates for her shortcomings by mixing aggression, an air of self-confidence, and tired platitudes about small-town life. She's an insult to the women's movement, not an example. She didn't break the glass ceiling, John McCain opened it for her and she's clearly struggling to keep from falling back through. If I were a woman fighting for equal rights I wouldn't want the icon of my purpose to be an unqualified hack that tries to squirm out of tough situations by changing the subject and acting cute (I wouldn't want her as my running mate, either). When she uses her breathy, soothing voice, peppered with neighborly colloquialisms I don't feel a connection to her, I feel patronized. She is hand-picked windowdressing, chosen soley for P.R. purposes.

I'm not saying she's a bad politician. I'm saying that she's misjudged the way that politics works in the big league. Being a woman, she'll have a hard enough time earning the respect of many foreign leaders that see women as second-class citizens in their own countries. No hardened politician (U.S. or otherwise) sitting at the bargaining table wants to hear small-town catch phrases and soccer mom metaphors. And substituting "yes, that's correct" with "you betcha" won't score any points either. This isn't a Robin Williams movie where the oddball teacher comes in and turns everyone around with a new and exciting approach to life. Maverick or not, a single rookie in D.C. isn't going to change the political zeitgeist overnight.

Some Palin highlights...

Her statement to the moderator of last night's debate:

"I may not answer the question the way you want to hear, but I'll talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record."

That's not being a maverick, that's being uncooperative, and selfishly abusing the debate forum .

On her gaffes during Katey Couric's interviews:

"I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that’s also an indication about being outside that Washington elite, outside that media elite also, and just wanting to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

"Man, no matter what you say you are gonna get clobbered," Palin told Fox about her heavily-scrutinized performance. "You choose to answer you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to pivot and try to go onto another subject that you believe Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."

Welcome to the jungle, Sarah.

I'm not saying she'll never be ready for the White House. She just isn't ready right now, and she would make a horrible vice-president if put into that office today. She said during the debate, "...and how long have I been at this, like five weeks?." Like, yeah. Totally like five weeks, girlfriend. Instead of hindering her credibility by cramming for her potential role in office and relying on gimmicks, she should spend the next four years planning for the 2012 election. She just might have a shot.

Patriot's Day? Not really.

About 7 years ago our retarded cowboy president decided to whore patriotism by declaring September 11 "Patriots' Day." What is a patriot? A patriot willingly risks all for his or her country.

It's not someone that gets caught in the crossfire of a crime. That's just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This guy is NOT a patriot. He's a victim:





Nope, these aren't patriots either. They're heroes. They get my full respect and deserve to be recognized for it, but being a firefighter does not make someone patriotic.



This guy is definitely not a patriot. He turned out to be just another 9/11 whore.



And speaking of 9/11 whores, while the real heroes of Flight 93 were planning to overthrow the terrorists, Todd Beamer was on the phone, talking to his wife. He said, "Let's Roll," and his wife wrote a book about it. And she made a ton of money for it too.



9/11 should not be called "Patriots' Day." The day had nothing to do with patriotism.
A patriot willingly risks all for his or her country.
THIS IS A PATRIOT:



That's a man I would salute. A man to whom I would willingly give my seat or place in line. That man is a patriot.

Those that cannot do, teach.

So I guess that means I cannot do computers. Which is a roundabout way of saying that I picked up a teaching job. Beginning in a couple of weeks I'll be teaching beginning computers to the residents of a retirement community. It's a good gig. Two classes a week at 1 hour & 15 minutes each, 40 bucks per class. They'll be back to back on Wednesday afternoons, so I'll be sacrificing an afternoon per week for $80.00 a pop.

The downside is that I've never taught a class, so I'll be groping my way through it for the first couple of weeks. Meh. If it doesn't work out I can always quit.

Excellent drum intros

"Painkiller" by Judas Priest
"Where Eagles Dare" by Iron Maiden
"Over the Mountain" by Ozzy Osborne
"Mystic Rhythms" by Rush
"Rock n Roll" by Led Zepellin
"D'yr Mak'r" by Led Zepellin

Stupid People shouldn't breed.

From the Palm Beach Post

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A Lake Worth, Florida woman balanced a 3-year-old girl on the roof of her car before driving around the parking lot of a Marathon grocery store on Tuesday, Monroe County authorities said.

Brenda Bouschet, 54, of Lake Worth was arrested on a child abuse charge after worried onlookers called deputies to the Publix shopping center, according to a statement circulated by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

"Bouschet told deputies she didn't understand why she was wrong to place the 3-year-old girl on the roof of the car and drive her white 2006 Lexus around the parking lot," the statement said. "She said she was just giving the child some air and letting her have fun."

The statement didn't specify how Bouschet and the 3-year-old were related.

Bouschet was taken to the Monroe County jail.

The little girl was returned to her mother.

What'd I do today?

Started the day visiting the doctor for a follow-up on my bloodwork. Cholesterol is down, Triglycerides are WAY up (almost double normal). Diagnosis: put down the donuts and pasta, get off your fat American butt, and exercise. And eat a green thing. Every day, eat a green thing. My words, not his, but the message is the same.

After a long nap (3½ hours long!) I washed the car and detailed the interior. Needs wax, but it was too late to get into that. Maybe Sunday.

What to eat for dinner? Well, I had some eggs and sausage in the fridge; why not have breakfast for dinner? That's always fun, so I did. Then I typed in my blog all night.

Dog Day Afternoon

My birthday was last week. 43, big whoop. It was actually on Monday, but we celebrated it on Sunday because that's when everyone could come by. And by everyone I mean my Mom, my sister, her boyfriend, and his daughter.

It was a nice afternoon. Alexandra (the boyfriend's 3 year-old daughter) entertained us by singing "Wheels on the Bus" and the chorus of "Tomorrow, Tomorrow" from the movie "Annie", while strumming (beating on) my guitar. It's OK - it's an old guitar. My Mom (who lives over 100 miles away) also brought her two Cairn Terriers, Riley and Katey. Alexandra later got the toys from her Happy Meal and some stuffed animals and put on a puppet show for the dogs. They seemed entertained as well.

After they left, my friend Terri came over and she, my Mom, and I went to Bennigan's for dinner. We had fun, and when we got back we found that the crazy lady across the street had backed into Terri's car, crushing in the door. So instead of spending the evening eating cake and ice cream we spent it standing in the street, giving a report to the police and getting bit by mosquitoes. We finished things up right about when Terri would have been leaving anyway.

Bedtime. I took the couch, and Mom slept in my bed. The plan was to get up Monday morning, have breakfast, then cut and hem the curtains I bought for the living room. Since I don't know the first thing about sewing, it was actually going to be Mom doing the curtains while I watch or play with the cats or something. She brought down her sewing machine so it wouldn't take long. Afterward we were going to take the dogs to the dog park.

That was the plan. At 2:30 in the morning Riley woke up choking. His tongue was turning blue so we jumped in the car rushed him to an emergency vet about 7 miles away. I was doing 95mph where the speed limit is 50, but it was 2:30 on a Monday morning, so the cop risk was low. Riley actually died on the way, but my Mom gave him mouth-to-snout resuscitation and revived him long enough to get to the vet. We were relieved when the vet told us she had him stabilized, but that was just the good news. She found that there had been a tumor in his throat that had hemorrhaged and swollen, which was why he was choking. They couldn't remove the tumor there, they would have to do a tracheotomy, then he would have to go to St. Petersburg (about 35 miles away) for the surgery. Assuming that went well we would then have to deal with whatever extent the tumor had affected the rest of him. This would all be very stressfull for the dog, and he's 12 twelve years old, so my mother made the decision to have him euthanized. It was hard, but I was glad I was there to support my mother. It was a long ride home.

Obviously, the plan of doing curtains and going to the dog park was off the table. I followed Mom to her house and buried Riley for her. I stayed the night and left the next morning. I've had better birthdays.

Warning: A lot of boring tech-talk

Busy evening. I needed to update the Humane Society's website, so that was on my menu for this evening.

A few weeks ago a client gave me her old computer because it "was starting to run slow, so I just bought a new one." I told her I could probably tune it up and get it back in order, but she said not to bother, since she already has a replacement. Cool - free PC. Turns out it has a 3.2 Ghz processor with hyper-threading technology, which means it's a pretty fast one. At least as fast as my current rig, and since the new one has Windows XP and mine is running Vista, I think hers actually is faster. Obviously, I want to switch them out.

She didn't have any of the discs (or didn't know where they were) so I had to order a restore set from HP for $16.50. Those came yesterday so I reformatted it, which took about an hour and ½ because it's across 8 CDs, then removed all the extra crapware that comes pre-installed (another ½-hour or so). Well, I must have removed something I shouldn't have, because after that it wouldn't load any Windows updates, and System Restore didn't go back far enough to fix it.

So I decided to take care of that tonight.

In the mean time, someone at work needed her laptop tuned up, so I had that planned for this weekend as well.

There I was, a laptop on my left, my main computer with the website in front of me, and the new computer on my right. All going at once.

So, I reloaded Windows on my new computer to replace whatever was missing. The next step was to install all of the Windows updates from the Microsoft site. After a good 15 minutes of downloading, it began to install. After about ½ and hour I noticed that it was installing Service Pack 2. What? I thought I already had SP2. I checked, and no, this machine only has SP1, which means I had been online for about 45 minutes with no firewall. There's no telling what web-cooties could have infiltrated my system, but after restarting, the (newly-installed) Windows firewall reported some app with a name like BackWeb or something trying to connect to the net. That was enough evidence for me. Before some backdoor dialer, rootkit, or keylogger ruined my life I figured it was best to just reformat (again!) and start over.

I was hungry, and had originally planned to cook up the scallops and I had bought earlier today, mixed with pasta. No way, I'm sticking with this job. SO I ordered a pizza from Domino's. I used the website instead of ordering over the phone, just to try it out. 30 minutes my ass! The website even tells you the progress of your order ("It's being prepared." It's in the oven." "It's on its way.") After 40 minutes I checked the site and it told me I was now enjoying my pizza. No, no I'm not. I'm still hungry. So I called and the girl on the phone had to put me on hold because she had never handled an online order. Turns out the guy was on his way. The total came to $12.19. I gave $13.00 and told him to keep the change. He mumbled a sarcastic "thanks" and muttered something else unintelligible as he shuffled off.

Here I am about an hour and ½ later, and it's just about done loading. I'm beat, so I'm going to crash before going any further.

To be continued...

Meet Keifer

My newest cat. Someone on Freecycle said he had to get rid of him because his significant other is allergic to cats. Too bad, because he's had the cat for 8 years. Well, Keifer is getting along fine with my other cats. He sleeps on the bed with me and seems very happy watching birds and rabbits through the window. I think he's also glad to have other cats to hang with. He was an "only child" before. In the first picture, he's the one all the way to the left. In the second one he's in the foreground.

Freecycle

If you have something you don't need anymore, but it's something that someone else can use, don't throw it out. The landfills are full enough. There's a website called freecycle.org that helps people find others that are looking for used items or that have used items to give away.

I just gave away an old laptop that I no longer need. Someone put out a request for one, and I was able to help out. It's an old one that I bought back in 1999 (ancient by today's standards) It's a 300-Mhz Pentium II with 320 megs of ram. That thing cost me $3,000.00 when I bought it, and I took out a twelve-month loan to pay it off. Noe I'm giving it away because I doubt I could more than a few bucks for it today. That's OK, the couple I gave it to looked like they were just starting out their lives together, and they could use the savings.

http://www.freecycle.org/ - join today!

So much for updating this every day.

Anyway, I bought a car. Got a Miata, as planned. It's exactly what I wanted - Sport trim with Automatic Transmission. I popped for the added ground effects package and rear lip spoiler. They don't do anything for the car except make it look cool, but that's what I want.

Oh, and now it's only called an MX-5. Mazda is trying to drop the "Miata" name, but the Miata die-hards won't let it go. But you can look at the car from end to end and you won't see a "Miata" logo anywhere on it.

Anyway, I'm tired, so to make a long story short, I put out an Internet request for a price quote and the dealer called me a few hours later with an offer of $500.00 below invoice ($22,170). I thought that was an amazing steal, but it turns out it was just a good price - but a good price all the same. I talked to him, we went for a test ride, and we inked the deal. I felt it was a fair price, so there was no haggling. They gave me $9,250.00 for my old car, which was $150 below blue book, but it had a few defects, so I accepted it. Altogether it was a smooth transaction. They came on a little strong with offering their own financing, but I stuck with my Credit Union. My payments are $70.00 a week, but I'm going to triple up on payments and hopefully have it paid off in a year.

Doing what I do

Spent the last few days tuning up computers. A woman at work said hers has been running very slow lately ansked me to clean it up for her. LOADED with spyware and probably also a virus or two, because Windows Update was disabled. Even after running all my first aid software, it was still borked, so I got her OK to just go ahead and reformat it.

Her husband's computer is in even worse shape, but he said he can't even tell the difference, so she said just make sure there's no viruses or spyware on it. A malware scan showed 350 infected files. This could be a long night.

Miata vs. Miata

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Miata vs. Miata

I've spent the last week or so weighing the options on a new Miata. Mine is seven years old and I want to sell it before things start breaking down. Up until today I had been doing all my research online, seeing what costs what, and which is worth the price. This morning I printed up a list of questions and went to a dealer just to get more info. He didn't know much more than I had already learned from looking online, and they didn't have any cars loaded with the options that I wanted to see in person.

Still, I took one for a ride. Rides nice, smoother than mine, and it has more pickup. I thought the radio sounded terrible, but that's probably because it had 6 speakers. That's supposed to be an upgrade from the standard four-speaker system, but the extra two speakers are tweeters mounted near the tops of the doors, and since they're closer to your ears you hear mostly high-end frequencies. The 8" speakers were at the bottoms of the doors. There are also two mid-range between the seats which were probably about 4" each, so they didn't help any. Even after tweaking the tone controls there still wasn't enough bass without it getting muddy.

The other big - BIG negative was the interior. Pretty ugly compared to mine. The dash has a big black plexiglass strip running along the front of it, and the doors and top of the dash were vinyl, but not even a faux leather looking vinyl like mine, just a flat, grainy plastic. VERY cheap looking.

Now that I've seen and driven a 2008, I can accurately compare it to mine. I listed all the pros and cons that are included with the trim model I'll be getting:

What's better on mine:
Interior Appearance
Retractable Antenna (the one on the 2008 is not retractable, but I can probably replace that)

What's better on the 2008 model:
Stronger Engine
Rear Speakers (mine doesn't have them)
Dual 1-touch Window (mine only does the driver side)
More Interior Room
Better windblocking with the top down
Smoother Ride
Cruise Control (mine doesn't have)
Ignition Keyhole Light (mine doesn't have)
Tilt Wheel (mine doesn't have)
MP3 Player (mine doesn't have)
Side-Impact Airbags (mine only has them in front)
Tire Pressure meter (mine doesn't have)
Engine Theft Immobilizer (mine doesn't have)
Side-Window de-mister (mine doesn't have)
Wheel-mounted audio & speed controls (mine doesn't have)

I plan to buy one near the end of the month. Pics will be posted if that happens.

I'm really getting sick of media spin

It's been obvious for years (to me, at least) that news reporters and their networks don't report news, they create it. They take a non-event and sensationalize it until it becomes news. Last week a whale was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa. That alone is news because whales don't usually come that close to shore. The first news teaser said just that: a whale had been spotted near the coast of Tampa... details at 11:00. I guess that wasn't enough of an attention-getter because every teaser after that stated that a "sea creature" was spotted near Tampa Bay, without mentioning what the "creature" actually was..

Unfortunately, in America bad PR can kill a company (or a person's image), so everyone is on the bandwagon. Which is why Dunkin' Donuts was pressured into pulling an featuring Rachel Ray.

But what's wrong with the ad? Well, according to conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, the scarf Rachel is wearing looks like a traditional Arab headdress (called a kaffiyeh). Since Yasser Arafat and other terrorists wear kaffiyehs, Dunkin' Donuts must support terrorism.

This is stupid on so many levels. First off, she wearing a SCARF, not a kaffiyeh. secondly, it's wrapped around her neck, not her head.

Just because the kaffiyeh is worn by some terrorists doesn't mean that only terrorists wear them. By Malkin's logic, everyone wearing a black and white scarf supports terrorism.

You know how much it costs to produce a commercial? Neither do I, but I'm sure it's a lot, even before paying for the star power of Rachel Ray (I seriously doubt she gave back the money she was paid to do the commercial). So Dunkin' Donuts just took a financial soaking because Ms. Malkin wants more face-time on Fox News.

And if DD hadn't pulled the ad? A PR nightmare, all because people are too stupid to think for themselves.

I guess I won't be wearing a tie to work anymore... Hitler wore one too.

A day of rest.

I am intentionally not doing anything physical today. The carport/tool shed combo is as good as finished, and just in time - I'm starting to catch a cold, and I would rather rest for a day or two than be sick for a week or two.

Yesterday I went to the beach to watch the sunset. People always think it's weird when I tell them that I do that alone, but I just like the atmosphere. I like the sound of the breaking water, the smell of the cool salty air. Whenever I look at the endless expanse of water I always think of the line from "Dust in the Wind," "nothing lasts forever but the Earth and sky." It's true. The sand, the water, sky, the clouds, the sun. It all looks exactly the way it has for thousands of years... and I think that's pretty cool.

Good News

I called the vet for the results of Levi's bloodwork, and everything is normal. I was really expecting another case of kidney failure or cancer. Everything's fine, he just has a high metabolism.

I can think of better ways to burn up gasoline

My cat was due for his shots today, so I took him in at 2:00. While there, I asked what my other cat's weight was last time he was in. He looks to me like he's lost a little so I was concerned. They said 11.5 lbs., I made a mental note of it, and weighed him on my scale at home. He had indeed lost some weight (about a pound within a few months), so I called them back for an appointment to have him checked out.
Being that no one in the office knew the circumstances, I must have sounded pretty foolish. "Weren't you just in here?"
"Yes, but this is for Levi, my other cat."
"OK, when would like to come in?"
"Do you have anything today?"
"We have a 3:30."
"That will work. See you then."

What they didn't know was that the second appointment was spur of the moment, and that I could not have easily taken both cats in together anyway because my car is too small for a 2-cat-sized cat carrier.

Regardless, I went right back to the same office across town that I had just left an hour earlier. As for the cat, that story will be continued. They drew $269.00 worth of blood, but I won't get any test results back until tomorrow.

Your calendar is wrong... summer started today.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Putting fans in the window no longer does any good. Neither does cool showers, light clothing, or tall glasses of iced tea. Hot, sticky, clammy. It was finally time to kick on the air, and at about 8:00 this evening I did just that.

People up north say they dread that day each year when they bring in the lawn furniture, prep the house for winter, and close the windows for good. It's the end of an enjoyable season, and the beginning of being stuck indoors. I dread the first time I turn on the air each year. I always put it off as long as I can. I really enjoy the outside air, the smell of the grass, and - if the wind is blowing right - the salty breeze blowing in from the gulf. I like to sit by a window at night and feel the freshness of non-recycled air drifting from one window to another in its honeysuckle perfume.

I also like not being sweaty and not sticking to furniture. And when your furniture has cloth upholstery, that's pretty hot.

Whack-a-Mole

For as long as I can remember, I've had a flat, red mole on the back of my shoulder. Then this weekend I noticed that it was raised up and bumpy. The next morning I called the doctor and set an appointment. He saw me in the afternoon and said that it's not a mole at all. It's a small, harmless cluster of blood vessels called a manglealoma, or mangianoma or some name that reminded me of "Chuck Mangione." Either way, it was a relief. I celebrated with a large chocolate shake from Wendy's. One of life's little rewards.

After my afternoon nap I painted some more on the Endless Carport/Utility Shed until sundown. I'm almost done, maybe an hour more of painting. After a hot shower and a change of clothes I grabbed some dinner from Taco Bell. Driving home with the top down, I looked ahead at the rim of purple sky fading into the horizon. I felt the May wind teasing through my hair, and thought about the way I'd spent the afternoon: how I chose. I just smiled and told myself, "This is what it's all about. This is freedom. This is why I'm not a manager anymore. It's why I no longer work 11 hours a day, only to come home pissed off and too tired to do anything else."

Maybe a ten-minute drive in a convertible doesn't sound like a big deal, but believe me, after doing the management gig for three years, the contrast glows with intensity. It's been over a decade, but I'll never forget my last day as a Suit. Leaving the store that night, I felt like I did on the last day of school, like a ton of bricks had been lifted from my shoulders. It was pure freedom. Kind of like this afternoon.

ZZZzzzz...

Well, today was a sleeper of a day. Up at 9:00, goofed on the 'Net until noon, then went back to sleep. Got up at 3:00 and spent the rest of the day lying on the couch watching T.V. until 9:30. No biggie. I was exhausted all day, and rather than wipe myself out I figured I should use a day off to rest up. So I guess it's back to housework tomorrow. I finally finished painting the Spider Wall. Now there's just some touching up around the carport and a second coat on the utility shed and I'll be done with Phase One of painting. I still need to pressure-clean the carport and then I can install the shelving unit out there.

Vertigo (not Hitchcock or U2)

A few months ago I was having a typical day at work. I was getting over a cold so I was feeling a little tired and went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I blew my nose, felt my ears pop, and immediately knew that the next few hours would suck - bad. The ear popping was fluid rushing into my inner ear, throwing my equilibrium out of whack. Remember when you were a kid and you'd spin around in place (like a ballerina, except you didn't know about the thing where they spin their head intermittently to keep from getting dizzy)? Well, that's how it felt, and looked - like the room was tilting. I also knew what was next: on my knees in front of the toilet, ralphing my guts up.

I've been through this twice before, once on a plane and knew thought the worst of it would be over in a few minutes. Five minutes later nothing's changed,. Then my manager came in to see if I was OK. "Just give me a minute, I'll be alright." a few minutes later he offers to call 911. "No, I'll be OK once this is out of my system." Ten minutes later I still couldn't stand up and knew that I couldn't just stay on the bathroom floor. My boss said that the paramedics could give me a shot or something to help. I knew that they do have stuff like that, so I finally gave in and had him call an ambulance. I could have just had someone drive me home, but I was too dizzy to stand up, much less walk, and didn't want to impose on someone by throwing up into a bucket in their car.

By now there's a small crowd gathered outside the bathroom. My 15 minutes of fame - about how long I'd been throwing up. It turns out paramedics don't give the magic shot that restores your balance. So I had them take me to a hospital (I could have just gone home but they aren't a taxi service either).

At the hospital I finally got the Magic Shot, but by then I was already starting to feel better anyway. They also gave me a couple of pills and a cup of Gatorade. A few hours later it was all over. Someone from work came and picked me up and brought me back to my car. I drove myself home, took a nap, and felt almost perfect.

Moral of the story? I don't know. Careful with that Kleenex, Eugene.

Best Buddies

Moses and Levi. Moses was here first, then Levi came along about a year later. I wasn't sure if they would get along, but within 15 minutes they were playing tag under the bed. A few hours later, Moses was grooming/licking Levi's head. They've been inseparable ever since.

Domo Arigato DaRuMa

A week ago I made plans to take my friend Terri to our favorite Japanese steak house, DaRuMa. It's an annual thing we do on her birthday. It's one of those places where they cook the food in front of you and juggle the knives and throw shrimp in the air and catch it in their hats. This happened to be the same weekend as Mother's Day, so we took our mothers as well. A lot of fun and very tasty, and our Moms had a great time.

Day off

No painting or spider-dodging today. Gotta concentrate on cleaning up the house (the inside part). I'm pretty tired too. I might not even get all the house cleaning done.

Just scraping by

Actually, I'm done with the scraping. I've removed as much of the dead paint from the concrete

wall as I could. I scraped the paint from each hole, then scrubbed out the excess flakes with a wire brush. After three days and several bloody knuckles, I finally started putting on primer. Using a 1" brush, I spread the primer into each hole. I ran out of daylight before I ran out of primer, so I called it quits at about 8:30.


Good thing I quit when I did. A couple of hours later I went out there and saw what I later deduced to be a brown widow spider climbing around about 2 feet from where I quit. It ran up into the wall, so I looked closer and saw that up underneath the very bottom opening, all the way to one side, there was a nest (click the picture for a close-up... if you dare). If I had kept painting I would have eventually stuck my hand under there. Had that been the case I'd probably be typing this with a bandage on my hand and a good dose of antibiotics coursing through me. I did a little research on widow spider bites:

"The bite from the widow spider causes a set of symptoms in the bite victim known collectively as latrodectism. The initial bite is often painless and goes unnoticed; at worst it will feel like a pinprick. The toxin then travels through the nervous system. The first significant symptom is a dull, numbing ache in the region of the actual bite. This ache may progress to painful muscle cramps in the large muscle masses of the body, particularly the abdomen. Additional symptoms may include sweating, nausea, a rise in blood pressure, leg cramps, muscle tremors, loss of muscle tone, heartbeat irregularities, and vomiting. Symptoms and pain begin between 15 and 60 minutes after the bite and generally peak within one to three hours. Symptoms are usually completely dissipated within 12 to 24 hours. In extremely rare cases (<1%), death may occur. Very young children and elderly adults are the most susceptible to the widow venom and, therefore, the most likely to experience severe symptoms."

SPIDER UPDATE (next day)
Even though I destroyed its nest with a paint stirrer and sprayed a few ounces of bug spray up there last night, Mr. Spider was still there. Always one to tempt fate, I took some daytime shots of it:




Another topic. So how big do owls get in Florida? A few nights ago I was awoken to a very loud "hooo!" I thought it might be an owl, but it was too loud - about as loud as a dog's bark. Then I realized that I've never actually heard an owl hoot in the wild, so maybe that's how loud they are. It kept hooting about every 15 seconds, then I noticed that both of my cats were staring out the window up at the power lines. I could see a shape up there, so I quietly went outside with my flashlight. That flashlight sucks, so I could only make out a large brown oval, about 2 feet tall. I went inside for a better flashlight, came back out no more than ten seconds later, and it was gone. I never even heard it flapping its wings, which is another sign that it was an owl. Or that Predator monster.

I Am Legend

Last night I watched this movie over an order of Domino's buffalo chicken and Cheezy Bread. The best part of the movie was the buffalo chicken and cheezy bread, and the bread wasn't even that good. Smith's acting was superb, but the movie itself was incredibly boring. Sure, it's hard to make a flick about the last guy on Earth exciting, but it's just plain tedious to watch. Then in the third act the irony was being shoved down the viewers' throats so hard it could have been in subtitles. Save your money - rent something else.

My new favorite picture

Otters rule. You can click the pic for a larger version.

Like I said earlier, today I stripped paint from the concrete fence. Still a little ways to go before I repaint it. AFter a short nap I painted the carport ceiling.

Roll the Bones

Why are we here? Because we're here. Roll the bones.
When Doogie Howzer was on T.V. back in 1986 or so, I thought it was cool that he kept his diary on his computer. Each show would end with him typing white text onto a blue screen, musing about where life was leading him. I said that if I had a computer I'd do that too. Well, I got one a few years later. It ran on DOS and had no hard drive - everything was stored on 5¼" floppy discs. Floppy discs were the PC equivalent of 8-tracks: not real convenient. Of course if you're too young to remember floppy discs, you have no clue what an 8-track is, so that's a moot point. But I digress...

So here I am, two decades later and still only document the occasional major event on paper. Since my days usually end with me sitting at the PC, I've decided to start tracking my life, right here where it's convenient.

Nothing exciting, if I stick with it, it will just be what I did each day or so. For example, I've spent the past few weeks fixing up my house: re-screening windows, getting rid of clutter, taking stuff to the scrap yard. Today's job is to strip the dead paint from the concrete barrier next to the carport. Yes, I will literally be spending the day watching paint peel. See? Nothing exciting.

Holy Scrap!!

So I've been doing some housecleansing (that's not a typo), meaning I'm banishing all the unneeded clutter from my existence. One less thing I need taking up room is my old set of weights and bench. Well, I was going to put it on Craigslist for $20.00 or so, then I realized that many of the weights and all the bars are made of steel, and I could get at least as much money recycling them at a scrap yard without the hassle of strangers knocking on my door.

Ever been to a scrap yard? Picture all the controlled chaos of an ant colony: forklifts and trucks zooming in and out of spaces they could never have fit in, missing each other by mere inches and never slowing down. People scurrying back and forth carrying handfuls of refuse from one area to another. Giant - GIANT heaps of scrap metal being constantly shifted and shaped by even larger machines. There are very few signs telling you what goes where, yet just like ants, workers and customers alike know where to go and what to do with no visible instruction. They just... know. So I'm in line waiting for the car ahead of me to move so I can ask the hardhat guy what I'm supposed to be doing when. a different guy walked toward me (great, I'll ask him). We made eye contact (hi, can you tell me-), then he kept walking, right past me, stood between two tractors, and took a leak. I have a feeling that on another day, it could have been worse.

Eventually hardhat guy #1 told me to back my car up until they're done unloading a truck, then park in its place when it leaves. Ten minutes later I'm finally directed to park my car. OK, now what? Another customer brought me a cart (very cool of him) and told me to take my stuff over to a building where they'll process it. Aside from standing for another ten minutes in a hot sweaty warehouse, it ran fairly smooth from there. A guy that could have been a fourth member of ZZ Top weighed my stuff and gave me a receipt to take to the cashier (they actually have a sign for that!). She processed my receipt and gave me another receipt with a bar code on it, which I took to an ATM-like machine to finally get my money. My reward for 45 minutes of my time: $10.00. About what I make at my day job, except with more grime and frustration.