Archive for May, 2004


Sleeping is good

5/25/2004

Last night I went against the grain and ignored all phone calls, e-mails and IM’s when I got home from work. I just ate dinner - and then went to bed. It was absolutely awesome. I slept very, very well. Today I am wide awake (for a change) and feel alert. Great feeling. I have to start going to bed early more often, it just feels so much better.

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Don’t chant my name

5/25/2004

I have a last name like any other American. Like most Americans, I prefer not to have my last name made fun of. Those who know me know what my last name is. Those who don’t know… well, let’s just say it’s staring you in the face right now. :-)

Seriously, though.. Some guy at work today decided to chant my name. When I say “chant”, I mean that absolutely sickening and annoying way of saying someone’s name as a battle cry, like “pe-ter-son! pe-ter-son! pe-ter-son!”, but the intention is not to cheer on - the intention is to annoy. And this guy annoyed me. It was annoying enough that he chanted my name. It was even more annoying that he was pronouncing my last name WRONG.

ARHGHGHGHHH… if you’re going to do something like that, do it RIGHT.

All is not lost however. I did yap at him later for it, and made sure about 15 other employees heard it.. “SAY MY NAME RIGHT - YOU MORON!”, and then proceeded to pronounce my last name really s-l-o-w-l-y for him. Yeah, it embarrassed him good - that was the point.

My last name is only two syllables and has GOT to be one of the easiest names in the world to pronounce. It AMAZES ME that people STILL screw it up.

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Hitting the personals again

5/26/2004

I’ve made the executive decision (heh) to try internet personals again. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, personals are for dweebs.. well, here’s my reasons why I use them.

1. Northeastern Connecticut is not exactly the ‘hot spot’ for social activity. There’s really not much to do around here.

2. I do not drink, therefore I do not go to bars.

3. I don’t do blind dates. In every experience I’ve had with that, it has been an absolute disaster.

..and there are more reasons besides that, but those are the biggies.

This dweeb is using the internet personals again. Wish me luck. (grin)

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A website that works?

5/27/2004

I have been noticing all to often that there are a lot of web sites that simply don’t work. You go to a web site, click a link and there’s a broken image here, a page is missing there.. it’s just bad.

Kinda makes me think to myself, is my website one of the few out there that actually works, 100%? That would be pretty weird if it was.

Just so everyone knows my definition of a “working” web site, here it is:

1. No broken links

2. No missing pages

3. No missing images

4. Updated at least once a month (which is not asking a lot)

..and that’s basically it. It doesn’t matter if the web site is great or not-so-great. I just like web sites that, even if designed very poorly, work. I don’t think that’s too much to ask from anyone who runs a web site.

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It’s all about the wrapper

5/30/2004

Well boys and girls, I was able to successfully “backup” a DVD movie today. I knew that DVD burner drive was good for something. Back up important and critical data? Pshaw! Let’s burn some MOVIES!

I should point out - the only reason I decided to “back up” the movie was to simply see if I could do it. Turns out I can. Will I continue to do it? Probably not. This is because I do actually spend my hard earned dollars on the middle-man marked up overpriced and bloated retail DVD’s at our fine American retail stores. I’m not paying for the movie of course. I’m paying for the package it comes in.

This same logic applies when it comes to shopping for almost anything because the package makes the sale. Take your local market for example. You see a cereal box of Fruit Loops. About three shelves lower (usually the last shelf on the bottom) is a resealable bag of fruit loops by some other name. It’s probably called “fruit circles” or something like that. Fruit Loops and fruit circles taste exactly the same. There is no difference between the fruit circles and the Fruit Loops, but, if we have the money - we will blow it on the Fruit Loops. Why? The package looks better, so it is assumed it tastes better. It doesn’t. It just looks better because it’s in a prettier box.

Good thing I don’t eat Fruit Loops.

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Trailer trash and teenage girls

5/31/2004

Tonight was an interesting night. A friend calls me up and says “Hey, let’s go to the Thompson Speedway, they’re having demo derby cars tonight.” “Sure”, I said. I mean, why not. I wasn’t doing anything else. Plus, he offered to pay for the admission (which was good since I had no cash on me).

The Speedway hasn’t changed all too much over the years. Same track, same overpriced concession stands, same long lines at the johns, same crappy food. It’s all good. (grin) However, what I did notice is that the people (as in the people sitting in the stands) have changed… or maybe it was just me that’s changed. Hmm…

Here’s what I observed whilst at the Speedway:

I saw the mother lode of skanky single women there at the track, mostly younger ones. Lots of black tight tops, hair with way too much hairspray, and ass cracks showing (from low riders) everywhere you looked. As a matter of fact, there was this one redheaded girl with a tight top that purposely strutted when she walked so her tits would jiggle. Sexy? Well, yeah.. but maybe if it wasn’t so obvious if you know what I mean. Truly pretty girls shouldn’t have to “advertise” like that.

Teenage girls who go to racetracks have to be the geekiest things alive. Most of them dress as if they were living in the 80’s (for real). Lots of black tops and black (ripped) pants with brightly colored neon necklaces and beads.. and of course plastered faces with that oh-so-sexy (heh) blue on the eyes. Yeech. What makes these girls truly geeky is listening to them talk. Every other word in every sentence is “like”, such as “Like, hey, look over there” or something equally stupid. I had these two teenage skanks sitting behind me that screeched (their version of “cheering”) every time their favorite driver came by. Gave me a splitting headache.

I saw a lot less families there, which is unfortunate. Usually a lot of families go to these type of events. I mean, it is cool to get the family outside and go do things together. Maybe that’s a sign of the times. Bad times.

Many guys there were doing that “trying to not care what I look like” thing. This is pathetic. A race track is not a pick-up joint. The one place in the world where you do not want to wear nice clothes is at the track, because the track is full of nothing but gas, smoke, fumes and a host of other things which will ruin anything nice you might be wearing.

Another note about the skanks which is funny: It happened to be a warm day, but as night fell and it got colder, all the tight-shirted sluts started shaking like leaves on a tree. None of them brought coats. Maybe those tight clothes squeezed the intelligence right out of them. (grin)

Did I have fun watching the events? I guess. It was ok. I think I had more fun people-watching.

On a final note, I did see one very attractive girl there. She was sitting in front of me with short dark red hair, with her daughter sitting beside her (I think it was her daughter?) She dressed in a nice dark green top, unripped black jeans and black boots with heels. I think she was in her early 30’s. She was the prettiest girl there. Understated look, very light makeup, skinny but not too skinny - she was perfect. She stood out by not standing out.

But she also had a nice big rock on her finger. (grin)

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Sick of linked politics

5/31/2004

While I am in support of free speech on the internet, what pisses me off more than anything else (and in turn ruins a good web site, almost) is when someone decides to link to a political web page of some kind. My definition of a “political” web page is any page or web site that pertains to:

- The war in Iraq
- The government of any country
- “Rights” being lost
- “Rights” being gained (by the wrong people usually)
- Trying to free someone in jail
- Censorship

..and I’m sure you can think of a few more.

Why does this piss me off when people “link politics” like this? It’s for the simple reason that it’s so convenient and easy to link to a page rather than write something about what you care about.

Example: Over the years, I have literally seen what is probably thousands of web pages with the “Free Speech Online” classic rotating blue ribbon banner from EFF. Most people don’t even know what EFF means (which is Electronic Frontier Foundation by the way). If you feel the need to link to that web page from your web site, then you should explain on your web site WHY you are doing it, even if it is only one sentence long. Most web site admins when asked why they have that banner on their web site will state “to support free speech”. Well, if that’s the case, explain yourself. You shouldn’t expect a link to do all the talking for you.

The proper answer if ever asked why you put an EFF banner on your site should be: “To protect my digital rights so I can freely state whatever I want on my web site.” Note the word digital in there. EFF has everything to do with electronic free speech.

To all web site admins out there: If you’re gonna link to a political web page or web site, explain your reason for doing it. When you do, you will attract more people to click on the link. I mean, sheesh, I would if you gave me a good reason to do it.

Here’s my link to EFF, and here’s my explanation of why I linked it: I support the right for anyone to place anything they want on their web site(s), because remember, the right to free speech does not protect the content you want to see or hear, it protects the content you don’t want to see or hear, like Ogrish. So, before you start waving the “I want my free speech” EFF banner, think of the most vile, grotesque, disgusting and morally obstinate web site you can think of. Would you support their right to free speech? I would, because it’s their right to do it.

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