Friday, June 27, 2008

Another post full of links, but this time, with a story

Everyone knows how much I love Guns n Roses, right? And how my lifelong dream is to have a GnR tribute band that also does a few Skid Row* covers, yeah? Well, the Rockstar I Adore, Axl Rose, is in the news for the first time in a long time. It seems he has finally got some actual recorded traxx for his long-anticipated Chinese Democracy album out in the world now. And of course, scandal abounds on the Internet because the pirated tracks were leaked to the Interwebs, and then of course, some conspiracy theorists have a theory that theres a conspiracy, and the bottom line is it doesnt really matter who put the tracks out, because now they are out.

I, of course, will be waiting until the album is available in its entirety and legally, but here are some kewl links, if youre into GnR. And if you arent, well, come back tomorrow when Im sure Ill have something more interesting like another photo of the backyard or the dog, or both.

Track-by-track review (and by the way, I totally love Joel Steins writing style and want to marry him now):

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1818247,00.html?iid=redirect-gnr

Article on the leak:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818182,00.html

*I always had this dream but it also includes the idea that one day, while Im out at a show doing GnR stuff, Axl will show up at the bar, but I wont recognize him right away so hell just watch the show and be like, yeah, that chick is totally rockin out, and then I will look out in the crowd as the band starts the haunting melody that leads into 18 and Life, and then Axl will stand up and Sebastian Bach will be standing there with him, and then they will pluck me off the stage and carry me on their shoulders (which might require further assistance from one of the bouncers because Im pretty stocky, and they are both a little more on the slender side) and then I will go on a magical date with my 2 favorite rockstars, ever. Ahhh.

So you can imagine my surprise and glee to learn that, in the past couple of years, Axl and Sebastian have actually buddied up IRL: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/23/axl-roses-chinese-democracy-tirade-sebastian-bach-tells-all/. Now all I have to do is get the band going, and then they really can come to a show. Should be any day now.

And one last thing, Axl’s working on his bio. But maybe he should finish and release the album, first:

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/axl-rose-working-on-autobiography-says-friend_10065075.html

Thursday, June 26, 2008

No clever title comes to mind

Weve talked about license plates before in these here blogs. Here, and here, and here, and again here, and also briefly here and here.

We HEART license plates!

A reader from Ohio submitted this link to a news story about some potentially offensive license plate combinations, to which I say, Your tax dollars at work.

This reminded me of a story I like to tell about the time a few years back when Ohio switched to the new 2 letter-2 number-2 letter combination they have now. There was one of those “Hey Howard!” segments on sometime in the following year. It seems that a young lady was given a plate that read BL04SX. Now, she tried right then to get the DMV people to give her a different one and they wouldn’t, flat out refusing in the way that DMV clerks are wont to do, so the young lady put the plate on her car and drove around for a month, during which time she said people were constantly honking at her. So she called Howard Ain, and he went over to the DMV and busted some bawlz, like he do, and badda-bing, badda-boom, lady gets a new license plate. Problem solved.

I love telling the story in person because I always finish it with, “I can just picture the convict who pulled the lever on that plate, going ‘Heh, heh, heh’” while I pantomime the lever being pulled.

I hate mimes.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Regarding last night's pool party

A)      Rachel is correct. It wasnt hot at all and I was a little annoyed that they were out there making all that noise when it just wasnt even like hey a dip in the pool would really cool us off.  I mean, at least if it were hot as bawlz I would feel some sympathy for the wanting to cool off part but hell, they probably had to put on extra clothes afterward just to warm up.

B)      I seriously have no idea where this group of people came from and the thought occurred to me that they might have just been a rogue band of kids going around pool-hopping. I cant imagine they are friends of the lady who owns the house, or her 11 and 13 year old daughters or her 60-something mother who lives in the basement. They might be friends of her 20-something daughter and the daughters boyfriend, who live in the attic. But they probably arent friends with the 20-something daughters 3- or 4-year old son who also lives in the attic. Are you getting the picture here? A LOT of people live in this house.

C)      It is somewhat less disgusting than Heidi thinks, because they finally shocked the pool, after several weeks of just swimming in the 2 feet of pond water that was in the pool. I have reason to believe that they just dumped 1000 gallons of Clorox in it, because I dont know how else you could get all that green out and from the looks of it they had to add at least that much liquid just to get the water level up to the top. I kind of wish now that I had taken a photo of the pool before they shocked it just so you could all see how gross it was.

D)      I dont ever want to own a pool unless I also own a cabana boy. No pond water for me!

E)      I am also a little jealous that I dont have the kind of life where I am just randomly out at a pool party at 3 AM that didnt even get started before 1 AM. I was never that cool and I always wished I had been.

F)      It occurred to me just now that I am really fortunate that they werent skinny dipping in that pool. Blegch!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

and now for something completly different...

i love my new clock from IKEA. i love the thermometer. i love the humidity meter. i do NOT love that it is almost 3AM and i'm in the kitchen looking at it not because i woke up from a sudden thirst for milk. no, i woke up because i was woken up by the sounds of a bunch of college kids whooping and hollering as they say (in Urbana?). i was seriously pissed at first because after the past 2 years with the ARMY boyz, i just assumed all the ruckus was happening in my yard. then it slowly dawned on me that it didn't make sense that way, so i got up, wandered into the "middle room" up here on floor 2, and took a peek out the window. and oddly enough, it looks like my neighbor is having an honest-to-goodness pool party, complete with boys doing backflips and girls shrieking in the night. all of which i was hoping to avoid by not having anymore college tenants. the upshot is, i have great
windows that block out neighbor sounds. hm, maybe my supersonic hearing is part of my sleeping troubles?

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Here's a great story, in 2 Acts

I have actually been running low on fodder for great stories that I am also willing to post on my blog, but I found this story after a search for a "DYMO cursive" labelmaker, which led me to some crafty lady's blog, where she had a link to this story. No DYMO labelmaker for me, but this is such a fantastic story that I felt like sharing it.

Act I
http://www.patrickwalsh.blog-city.com/the_worst_date_of_all_time_part_one.htm

Act II
http://www.patrickwalsh.blog-city.com/may_24th_2004_the_worst_date_of_all_time_part_2.htm

And to the author, Patrick, I feel like you deserve an honorary membership to My Circle of Despair.

And to the rest of you, if you happen upon a DYMO cursive labelmaker (the old-school embossing style label maker), please please please let me know.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Lingonberry: A note, and a query

Note: The Lingonberry-Apple Juice in a bottle is NOT the same as the Lingonberry juice in the fountain beverage area at IKEA. The bottled one is fizzy, which I suspected based on the term "sparkling" on the bottle, but I bumbled on, hoping that the drink from the fountain was also sparkly and I just hadn't noticed it. But alas, I was wrong.

Does anyone know if IKEA has a non-sparkling Lingnonberry juice in a bottle? Because I'm pretty much hooked on the stuff out of the fountain. I mean, if this is what it's like the first time you try smack, well, no wonder people get strung out. That stuff was amazing...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

just so i'm not *always* complainin...

it seems like lately i've just been disappointed by the serving sizes and the service nearly everywhere i go. so as not to be a Constant Complainerton, allow me to share with you the amazing fudgy goodness that happened tonite. when i went to my local UDF after volleyball, i ordered a 2-dip sundae. they're $1.99 right now so that's pretty much the best deal in town, but on top of it, the guy goes "mind if i put it in a tall cup?" i never mind things like that but i did notice he had a pretty healthy stack of regular cups, so i'm not sure what the reason was for the tall cup, but it doesn't matter because he filled that cup with 2 of the biggest scoops of ice cream i've ever seen, like i really got 4 scoops, then loaded on about a half-pound of fudge and topped it with the loveliest whipped cream castle, ever. perfection! word to the wise: if you're having
4 scoops of ice cream with hot fudge, don't let it be pb cups & fudge. there is such a thing as too much fudge, i learned tonite.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Sad news for America

We lost one of our finest today with the passing of Tim Russert. I believe John Edwards said it best:

“A great man has been lost. It is not just that our system depends on intelligent, persistent, fair-minded journalists, and Tim was one. It is not just that the civility of our political interchange requires dignity and respect and - it is also true - compassion, and that Tim was a model of each of these. It is not just that the manner in which we treasure and respect our essential personal relationships is the real mark of character, and that Tim was an exemplary son and husband and father. It is that too few among us reach for all these things and even fewer attain them. We were blessed to have had his friendship and companionship. We were all blessed to have his wisdom and vision and to have shared his joy for life. Tim will be missed today and tomorrow and next year and the year after and in a decade and for even longer than that. Elizabeth and I will miss him.”

I will miss him, too. I have spent most Sunday mornings (and a lot of Monday afternoon podcasts) listening to Tim hammer away at his guests, no matter which side of the political fence they fell on. I never knew what his own views were but I always knew that he'd be getting after whomever was on the show. He represented integrity in journalism and unbiased coverage of this nation's political machine and the world is emptier without him.

A poem, by My Friend Kim

 

Today I am wearing

Tight-waisted jeans

And worrying that they’ll

Split at the seams

 

When I was younger

I had a waist

Now there’s faticity

In my waist’s place

 

Some might call it

Middle-age spread

But I’d rather call it

Faticity instead

 

The end

 

 

 

Thursday, June 12, 2008

I Wanna Be Starting Something

Ive been thinking about this for about a year now and I think its time to just put it out on the interwebs. I did a little research and found that a few people already have, but the more the merrier, I say.

We need an act of Congress, or a national movement, or some sort of gentlemens agreement to have a weekly Work From Home Day.

Actually, it wouldnt have to be the same day for everyone. And clearly there are jobs that are just not suited to this option. But as our work becomes more knowledge-based and technology allows for more remote working options, we should make it an actual, um, THING. This would cut down on fuel consumption. Will it solve the energy crisis? No. But it will help slow the crisis down, and will also help reduce pollution.

I know a fair amount of people are already working on a similar sort of arrangement. But to make a real impact, I believe there will need to be a concerted effort, to encourage companies that are reluctant to try it. Maybe that means tax breaks to companies that adopt the program. Maybe it means tax breaks to individuals. Maybe both. I dont have any idea of the scale something like this would take, or how to make this get any bigger than me and maybe a small circle of friends so let me know in comments if you have any ideas.

Relevant Links:

Here are some tips for getting started on your own telecommuting day:

http://stellacommute.blogspot.com/2008/02/4-tips-for-inching-into-telecommuting.html

MSN had an article about this as well:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24543843/

The UK is already doing something like this but it appears to be one day a year:

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2216362/uk-prepares-skip-commute

Houston is trying something like this:

http://blog.fastcompany.com/experts/cwyost/2007/11/worklife_houstons_flex_in_the.html#more

One of the Fast Company bloggers posted something about this last month:

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog-post/10-gas-national-work-life-flex-strategy-0

USCDs Department of Sociology has regular All Staff Telecommute Day:

http://sociology.ucsd.edu/admini/administ.htm



And, just for fun, while looking to see if there were any bills like this already, I found this little guy:



Wednesday, June 11, 2008

a haiku, in two verses, for your enjoyment

Yesterday I ate
All the pastries I could find
Today I notice

Spilling over the
Waistband of my too-tight jeans
A large muffin top

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

living on bread alone

Does everyone remember what happened last time I got a batch of Friendship bread? OK then. Let the fun begin as I was given a new starter bag today (Thanks, KT!!), and just in time for that, my friends at I Can Has Cheezburger posted this helpful tip.

cat
more cat pictures

sidebar to Heidi (and anyone else who cares): I had to go back and re-read a lot of my own blog to find that first post, and I was LOLZ the whole time at all the jokes I made. I know you will understand.

Just for Today

Does anyone remember the whole “Just for Today” movement? I have decided to bring it back. Starting today.

Just for Today, I will…take all of my meals in the form of pastries such as donuts and Danish (Danii?).

Saturday, June 7, 2008

damn it's hot

we all know i LOVE the hot weather, but this is a bit much, even for me, in june. and poor stella - i don't think she's shed all her winter fur so every time i see her she's all splayed out like this. she hasn't even curled up with me at bedtime this week. you *know* it's hot when stella doesn't want to snuggle.

enuf about that. right now, i'm in the middle of a billion things as usual. now that the ARMY boyz are out of my way, i'm busy moving stuff upstairs. my 12- month plan is to live up there and rent out the 1st floor. i'm still thinking i'l put the house up for sale but when that will happen will depend on the market. that's not some vague statement...i get comp listings via email courtesy of CNKelly's mom so i know what is going on with similar houses in my neighborhood. you never know what you're going to get for sure, but at least the comps give some guidance. i'm also eagerly awaiting a call from my godfather b/c he knows how to do all the work i need done around here. :)