Slacker Town

I love Rep. Alan Grayson

2009-10-09T16:58:41Z

That is all.

The Dollhouse

2009-09-26T15:57:38Z

Just watched the Season 2 premiere of Joss's new attempt to be relevant. I gotta say -- I'm liking it. All throughout Season 1, I just kept feeling like there was all this potential that was being wasted, and the show wasn't nearly as good as it ought to have been. This episode, it finally clicked -- it's like Joss needed an entire season of exposition to finally get to the story he wanted to tell. I dunno.

In completely unrelated news, my office was, in fact, NOT firebombed by G20 protesters. Wow, who could have predicted that?

Okay, so a show of hands, please...

2009-08-31T22:49:26Z

How many of you are planning on committing acts of domestic terrorism at the G20 summit? Or know someone who is? Even just little ones? Anyone? At all??

...Thought so.

So, for those who don't know, I work for a coal company outside of Pittsburgh. (Yes, I know, and I'm sorry.) Of course I know that coal + G20 protesters = potential for badness, I'm not stupid, but... I mean, I would think you'd want to hire a few security guards just in case protesters show up and start harassing employees. Management is acting like they're expecting the ELF to firebomb the place. I mean, seriously, WTF?

It has to be said...

2009-04-21T22:39:59Z

Okay, so it's two days late. I justify that by the fact that I never, ever post here. Still, it needs to be said, because it's important:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY relativity!!!

Bandwagon and stuff

2008-11-06T00:12:54Z

First of all: I've realized that 90% of my icons aren't ever appropriate for what I want to say. Gotta fix that, but I'm lazy. But that's besides the point.

It's been forever since I said the Pledge of Allegiance. It's been a hell of a lot longer since I meant it. It's been ages since I heard the national anthem without being a little disgusted, and longer since I sang along. Last week, when Obama was here in Pittsburgh, I did both. The man has made me believe in America again, and I wasn't sure that was possible.

I kept tearing up last night, and randomly throughout the day today. It's... It really is the dawn of a new era in the world, and I can't wait to see what the next eight years bring.

Yes we can. Yes we will. Yes we did.

The one thing that I think got me the most last night was a sign that I saw someone holding, for only just a moment:

WE HAVE OVERCOME

Public service announcement

2008-08-07T16:56:25Z

I didn't say it earlier this week, but it needs to be said:

Radiohead. Live. In concert.

TOTAL AWESOME.

Also, thanks to relativity, I am currently wearing this at work. :D

I (still) aten't dead

2008-06-24T03:29:00Z

So... Yeah. Looking back over my last few posts in this journal, a disturbing number of them have been "hey, I haven't posted in months now, but I'll start posting again starting now." The last one was a year and a half ago. Back before I joined fandomhigh, even. So... I'm not going to make that same promise again tonight. Instead, I say to you this: Starting today, I may or may not post here. Possibly. Every now and then. I also might just read your journals and comment. Maybe.

...

2006-12-01T18:30:14Z

Hey, so. I still exist 'n stuff. (Imagine that!)

I've been tired, and fried, and out of it for months now, and relativity and I just bought a new house and moved in, and we've got a new kitten who's adorable but making our other two cats get pissy, and ... and so I haven't been on LJ in ages. But, you know, I was thinking I should try to fix that.

Except I shouldn't try to write stuff in the last few minutes of my lunch break. I need to get back to work.

Anyways, hello, everybody!

Inspired by

2006-08-16T11:17:22Z

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
-- The Princess Bride

PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT GEEKDOM (now with extra politics!)

2006-08-15T17:08:05Z

So, I was reading an editorial just now that basically says that the defining test of the UN's relevance in modern diplomacy will be whether the cease-fire in Lebanon actually holds, and I noticed that the cease-fire is UN Resolution 1701. (Which struck me because the Enterprise's serial number is NCC-1701.) It just would be poetically appropriate, given the extreme-left leanings of the Star Trek universe, if this manages to be the moment that the UN is invigorated, asserts itself, and manages to gain some real authority.

Then we just need to convince the UN to move from New York to San Francisco...

Blink blink AAAAAH! PEOPLE!!!

2006-05-02T17:03:51Z

So... I've been kind of antisocial lately. Er. Hi. Sorry.

I nearly had my place burned down by a stupid neighbor, lost my job, got a new, better job, and other sorts of stuff. But you can catch up with all that news over on relativity's journal.

In other news, KINGDOM HEARTS II!!!!!!! YAY!

Also, the char * is my enemy. Down with the char *! Viva la System.String!

Snakes on a Plane

2006-03-23T20:20:56Z

Get this: they're reshooting bits of "Snakes on a Plane" in order to help it live up to the hype. Specifically, so that it will now include the line "I want these motherfucking snakes off the motherfucking plane!" How cool is that?

Happy happy happy joy joy joy

2006-03-22T20:41:57Z

So... The place where I work doesn't have a standard cafeteria, per se; it has a lunchroom with microwaves and vending machines and every day a different restaurant brings in food and sells it set up on a table at the end of the room. Friday is Chick-Fil-A, Monday is a caterer, etc. So.

Tuesday used to be Pizza Hut day. I'm not really a big Pizza Hut fan. But Pizza Hut decided not to come any more -- so now Tuesdays will be the new Chinese place that just opened down the road.

You have no idea how happy this makes me. :D

You can't make this shit up

2006-03-22T13:47:38Z

So, I got spam in the mail that included an image with the actual advertisement, surrounded by piles of gibberish text. And I felt that I had to share.

Subject: sharpen aim

plague the family values, tripod republican B.O., bone diameter re and robbery as glibly
stationary, scant rightful brand name a pear finals the insoluble to shriveled cramped surfer infuse the billboard sovereign fascinate on
allowable repay the alto
broadcaster, hubcap unthinking uninhibited impurity, with consumer surround, dormitory as boar gassy of traveler. the
pry trials godparent subscription exoneration, as tame referee!!! tutorial as
appointment, malignant intermission furl a projector duplicate self-assured beginner pension a gelatin to sun the air bag was electrician, as vocalist zoom lens,
fissure of this civil service the juvenile delinquent in apprenticeship was as Polaroid in assembly the

generally memorabilia as quadruplet self-help, that yarmulke, spawn promenade, bored overthrew as this
kneel piquancy at rat, the as physiotherapy: to is disparaging the wretched farmhouse of as
work the symmetrical, preposition, open house contents a gym New Year's Eve the in pitchfork to legality sold-out a garment, and dossier methadone notoriously it custom

TV TV YAAAAAAY!!!!

2006-02-20T17:17:40Z

http://www.slate.com/id/2136372/nav/tap1/

<3

2006-02-14T16:31:40Z

HAPPY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, relativity!!!!!

She is so wonderful, so amazing, so super-spiffy... I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I really am.

Me, with the not feeling so good

2006-02-03T19:32:19Z

So. Pop quiz time:

You've just spent 14 hours curled up in bed recovering from mild food poisoning. Your first solid food after you start feeling better is:

A) Crackers
B) Soup
C) Maybe some dry chicken
D) A loaded plate from your company's superbowl "tailgate" party, complete with a slab of ribs, a large scoop of baked beans, and some butter-drenched pierogies.

Yeah, I failed that one, big time.

AAAARGH!!!

2006-02-01T15:52:50Z

My Allegra ran out a while ago, and I couldn't afford more because my new health insurance didn't cover non-drowsy antihistamines (WTF???). And the generic Claritin I bought instead has run out. And so now I'm discovering that I'm allergic to something here at work. Fuck knows what. But my eyes are itchy and watery and it SUCKS.

Fortunately, my gorgeous wife remembered that drugs are cheaper in Canada. MOOSE!!!

The same meds, in the same quantity and dosage, manufactured by the same company, is prescription-only and $100 here, and OTC and $20 just a few miles north. I knew that drugs were cheaper in Canada, but it's hard to believe just how MUCH.

Hurry up and wait

2006-01-27T18:31:00Z

So.

We have lots of aggressive changes planned here at work.

We have all sorts of "teams" trying to brainstorm and plan and things.

We don't have the infrastructure (servers and stuff) to support the plans that we've already got finished, and most of the plans are only partly finished anyway.

The actual maintenence that I was hired to do has slowed down to a trickle, and QA is swamped, so everything I've been assigned is done way ahead of schedule.

We're hiring more developers for these planned future changes, even though everyone's just twiddling their thumbs right now.

The only thing I have on my plate to do this afternoon is to help my co-workers come up with a catchy name for the new team that's going to be created to help us improve efficiency.

They've already given the thumbs-down to "Team Irony". Anyone else have suggestions?

LOOKIT I POSTID

2006-01-20T23:51:11Z

THIS IZ A POST 2 MY LIVJURNAL!!!!1111!1

HI EVRY1!!!!!!

Er.

2006-01-02T21:42:42Z

Greetings. Am sick.

Sorry for the no-posty -- I've been fried lately. For extremely large values of "lately".

Also, we've been spending every spare moment playing X-Men: Legends. And I just borrowed FF VII from my brother-in-law. PlayStation: the Devourer of Souls. Or just Spare Time. Hard to tell.

Yes, dammit, I KNOW I'm feeding the troll.

2005-10-07T03:51:16Z

So... Does anyone have the stones to admit being sock_puppet_rox? I swear, I will rip your fucking head off.

Head. Desk.

2005-09-20T20:52:51Z

There's another fucking article about evolution in the NY Times. I just don't understand the other side of the debate. I don't. I just don't get it. Science tells us how, religion tells us why. Religion is NOT science. For that matter, science is NOT religion. (Asswipe atheist college professors who laugh their Christian students out of the classroom [this has ACTUALLY happened], I'm looking at you here. Stop being on my side. You're making my side look dumb.)

So, for any creationists who might be reading this, here's the answer, and it's REALLY simple:

1) If, in fact, the universe was created 6000 years ago, it was trillions of years old when it was created. It's a paradox, but see if you can wrap your mind around that. God left us the appearance of millions of years of prehistory and dinosaurs and whatever as some sort of cosmic joke. Or some sort of ineffable something. Be that as it may, the science WORKS as it stands, so you can consider prehistory to be a convienient fiction that helps you understand the universe and how it works.

Using a convienient fiction like that is nothing new -- all of high school physics is a lie. Newton's Laws have been disproved by the Theory of Relativity, but they still WORK for all things that are not a) very small, b) very big, or c) very fast.

2) Evolution. (And, for that matter, quantum physics, and many other parts of science.) A simple thought experiment: Every time you see "random chance" in a theory, be it explicit or implicit, substitute "through the subtle machinations of the Creator in accordance with His/Her/Its/Their Divine Wisdom/Plan". See if you still have a problem with any of it. ANY of it.

Er, fuck it. I don't know why this pisses me off so much.

Check out my crappy musical taste

2005-08-23T03:32:16Z

I don't normally do memes, but what the fuck, right? Counting myself as "anyone who wants to be tagged" from gjules.

List five songs that you are currently rocking the living hell out of. It doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artist, and the song in your blog along with your five songs. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

1. System of a Down -- BYOB
2. Green Day -- American Idiot
3. Jason Mraz -- Wordplay
4. Nine Inch Nails -- The Hand That Feeds
5. Carlos Santana -- Oye Como Va

I only ever really listen to music in the car, which pretty much turns me into a popular music whore.

So -- continuing the trend -- TAG!
If you think that "tag" applies to you, then yay, it does.

Yay! I made an icon!

2005-08-22T01:35:56Z

I would like to say that relativity, as the creator/owner/originator of the phrase "magical fucking walnut", totally cracks my shit up.