Year: 2001

Randomly Sunday

I’m a little tired, there’s not an unclogged artery in my body, I have this sort of goofy grin on my face, and there are random articles of clothing scattered about the living room. Good weekend, all in all. Y’know, after a really shitty year, I’m quite happy with the way the last few months of it seem to be playing out…

Yes, Mom. I really like this guy…

If I could just get rid of the lingering health problems and find a job which paid a little more and sucked a little less (or even better, more freelance), I’d be happy as a clam…

Random ponderings for a Sunday evening:

  • Just what the hell IS a tin woodsman? Were they all big old screaming queens like the one in The Wizard of Oz?
  • Has it really been 18 years since I last sat through the aforementioned movie, one drunk night in Greensboro?
  • How do certain plants sense that you’re just about to give up and throw them away and suddenly start putting out new growth?
  • Will there EVER be a normal schedule for first-run Simpsons episodes (and other Sunday night shows) on our local Fox affiliate in San Francisco? And will said station ever have a website with even the bare essentials (like actual program information) on it?

Found Money

I love it when I’m cleaning up the house and find money. And by that I mean actual paper money. It’s especially nice when it happens about half an hour after I paid lots of really nasty bills…

I may go spend it on ice cream and 7-Up at the corner store since I’m parked too well to risk driving anywhere better and losing my space…

I Can’t Even Think Straight

From the Chronicle:

Lindh noted that his son had been interviewed right after being pulled out of a flooded dungeon in a fort where he and others had been in a fiery standoff with US and Northern Alliance forces for days — and that anything he said at that point should be taken with a grain of salt.

“I don’t think he was thinking straight at that moment,” Lindh said. “I don’t think anyone could think straight at that moment.”

Maybe not, but you have to sort of wonder what the hell he was doing in that flooded dungeon in the first place. Following his dream, I guess…

Mom’s Coming

Mom‘s here tomorrow afternoon. Guess that means I should clean the bathroom tonight. It also means my email responses and exciting journal entries will be even less reliable than usual over the next few days. Try to conceal your disappointment; do some Christmas shopping perhaps…

While I’m at it, I should update that Wish List, just in case anyone cares…

Also on my mind on a cold Wednesday afternoon:

  • The potential of not engaging in any creative attempts at keeping warm for two and a half more weeks.
  • Where to stash the porn ’til Mom leaves.
  • My rumbling stomach from not eating lunch today.
  • The cold I have this nasty feeling I’m getting.
  • How much I secretly want that kid in the Dell Computer commercials to die a slow and painful death.

Mom’s Here

Mom’s here and comfortably asleep in the living room. I headed to SFO this afternoon expecting to find a madhouse of people standing in line being frisked and strip-searched. Instead, it was just plain creepy there. No one in line at the ticket counter, no one at the checkpoint, no trouble parking, and we spent about three minutes waiting for her suitcases at baggage claim. It was just plain weird; everyone was saying so…

Spiffy new redesign for Mark, who’s on Mom’s itinerary for Saturday. Later tonight will bring dinner with Dan, Jamie, and hopefully Sarah, maybe at The Dead Fish…

I think I’ll skip introducing her to my cardiologist at tomorrow’s appointment, though; I think there’s enough adventure on her plate for now…

Stockton

 

Quick thoughts on Saturday in Stockton with Mom and Mark:

  • The Denny’s at Charter Way and I-5 is in fact the Denny’s from hell. And our waitress was bad sitcom material.
  • Introducing Mom to a current accessory was amazingly drama-free, which speaks volumes about both of them.
  • I rarely find a lot of stuff in Stockton thrift stores, but when I do find something, it’s really fucking cool. Pictures to follow.
  • Sucking face in the men’s room was a wonderful thing, but it only served to make my current sexual frustration about ten times worse.
  • Wow. Who knew there were Simpsons cereals available?

I think I coughed up most of the remnants of my cold-allergy thing on Saturday morning, but there may be a little more on Sunday morning. Sorry for the vivid image; I’ll try to be more subtle if further updates are required…

Now, having forced Mom to sit through Harry and Tonto (I like it, Dan likes it, and that’s endorsement enough), I’m gonna have a wank and go to sleep. I probably won’t be fantasizing about Art Carney…

Why?

I had a rather unsettling but not altogether unpleasant realization very late last night. Just wanted to share that…

Anyway, for those of you who care and are concerned, the visit is still going well, Mom is probably leaving on Tuesday, and I may actually start answering email again by Wednesday…

And I still secretly want the annoying kid from the Dell commercials to die a slow and painful death…

In short, there was damned little point to this journal entry…

Verio Sucks, Part One

Until a couple of hours ago, I was in a relatively good mood. The two things happened at once…

First, I started getting bounce messages from a bit of email spam I didn’t send. Seems some asshole in Florida (aren’t they all in Florida?) may have used my primary email address as the return address for a mass mailing. I’m not sure what the implications of that may be. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how bad it is…

When I started looking into that by checking my root account, I also realized I had a notification from my ISP that, within 30 days, my webhosting account will include hosting only (no dialup). And for the same price, yet. Imagine: half the service for the same great price…

Note that this is the same ISP which caused me much grief by migrating my sites to an entirely new (and basically half-assed) platform just a few months back, causing me a great deal of trouble in the process. Note to Verio: you fucking suck and you’re cordially invited to bite my hairy ass…

So now I’m scrambling to clean up double fallout, wondering what will happen with the spam and getting all my sites added to my Pair Networks account. It will actually be a better set-up, once I spend the holidays doing all the work. It will cost more, as I’ll have to have new dialup or DSL, but I’ll be well rid of Verio, destroyer of formerly-great ISPs…

Pain

Only 191 hours now, and for those of you who are tired of hearing about this subject, well, c’mon. Allow me to be a little single-minded for a while. It’s not like it happens very often. I’m not quite sure how to react…

Right now, though, I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach. I think I overdid it today pulling cable and carrying around heavy fiber optic things, and now my heart, or my thyroid, or one of my medications, or what fucking ever, is not amused. I’m sure I’ll be fine tomorrow if I can just manage to sit and not do much tonight, but I’m pissed that it’s now threatening to keep me from hitting Sarah‘s MBA party in a couple of hours…

It’s been almost six months, and I’m ready for this shit to be over. Hopefully it will, sometime next month…

Anyone with a clue why a Christmas card from Fresno (180 miles away) and one from Reidsville NC (3000 miles away) both took six days to arrive at my house, based on the postmarks? Has the Postal Service gotten that unpredictable? Yeah, stupid question…

Guess I should mail mine soon, so they’ll arrive by Martin Luther King Day…

Rain

Damn. It’s pouring down rain and I didn’t even expect it. And for some reason, the rain is being accompanied by these creepy alien invasion sounding noises outside. They’re really strange…

For those who were concerned, I’m feeling much more human now, but I did miss Sarah‘s bash and I now owe her lunch over the weekend…

Great. Sirens. Maybe it really was aliens…