Did I Say You Could Read This?

According to this study:

2007-01-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

14% of voters are mentally handicapped. (I'll let you, kind reader, look at the poll and figure out why I think they must be mentally handicapped)

Yeah, I said it. Someone had to.

Holy Crap! Sony Makes Breakthrough!

2006-11-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

Apparently they've built the world's first television for men and women™.

It will be an amazing new world where I'll be able to sit down and watch the same television with my wife (instead of her having to watch tv in the bedroom on our "women's tv", while I watch football on my "H3 TV")! So happy this new frontier of inter-sex television watching has hit in my lifetime! My world may never be the same! (does this mean that I'll have to start allowing my Tivo to record Buffy the Vampire Slayer?)

Drunk! McGavick

2006-09-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

So we all know that Mike! was drunk once back in 1993 and blew a .17 after running a red light. New revelations came out today, once again proving what a drunk this man is:

"A Maryland police report obtained Thursday offers four pages of details that include McGavick's alleged failing of roadside sobriety tests, falling asleep during processing and registering a 0.17 blood alcohol level 90 minutes after being stopped."

So he must've been truly trashed if he managed to blow a .17 an hour and a half afterwards, but that isn't the biggest revelation - what frightened me the most was that he drove a Miata. Shouldn't that disqualify him for public office right off the bat? I mean seriously, a 200 pound man driving a Miata?!? That just ain't right.

Oh, and I found these on cafepress - they make me giggle, and will probably adorn the Willismobile between now and election night:

UPDATE: After actually reading the Everett Herald story that Postman was pointing to, I came across this gem:

When McGavick rolled the window down on his white Mazda Miata, a strong odor of alcohol greeted the officer, according to the report. McGavick told the officer he had "two, maybe three beers" during the previous five hours.

Ok, so now we know for a fact that (at least when he's drunk) Mike! is a big fat liar. No way do you put down "two, maybe three beers" over a 5 hour period, and still blow a .17 90 minutes later! I'm no blood alchohol content expert, but according to this website, if he had had 3 regular beers over three hours, the highest his BAC would've been would be .04. According to that Ohio State BAC calculator, Mike! would've had to have put down more than 8 drinks in a 3 hour period just to get to .18, and we all know that he must've been more drunk than that when he was pulled over - cuz he blew .17 an hour and a half later. So not only is he a stinking drunk, but he's a stinking liar to boot!

"Look at me! Look at me!?! Please....

2006-08-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

....someone, pay attention to ME! I'm still relevant, right?"

As far as I can tell, that's what Tim Eyman's trying to say by getting involved campaigning against Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' transportation transit measure, which will be on this fall's ballot.

First off, Tim Eyman is not a Seattle resident - he lives in Mukilteo. This tax will not affect him in any way, shape, or form. This is not the first time he has tried to change policies in jurisdictions not his own - he tried to get voters state-wide to nullify Sound Transit funding through I-776, but fortunately for us it was thrown out in court.

So now he's desperate to somehow keep the spotlight on himself - I-917 is facing a signature verification process, which will likely fail and leave no Eyman measures on the ballot this year (R-65, Eyman's "I'm not just against taxes, but also against gay people" referendum, failed miserably to even collect the signatures needed to overturn the gay civil rights act passed by last year's legislature).

Frankly, I agree with Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis who said ""I don't think people in Seattle want a watch dealer in Mukilteo telling them what to do... He comes out against things in order to make money. He's a mercenary and I don't think Seattle voters like ... him at all."

Eyman did allow one bit of truthiness to come out in the news story when he admitted that "It's a very smart electorate in Seattle...". Seattle voters are so smart, in fact, that they've rejected every single one of Eyman's hair-brained schemes (with the exception of the I-900 last year - the additional money/power for the State Auditor).

Personally, I wasn't sure what I thought of the Mayor's plan - the taxes are kind of wacky, and there's also the fact that there's no hard end date to the taxes - but now that Eyman's come out against it, the Mayor has my vote!

Seen at the Fremont Fair

2006-06-19T23:35:00.000-07:00

Like any good Seattle liberal, I went down and hung out at the Fremont Fair this past weekend.

I saw some really neat stuff, then I saw this:
In case you can't read it, the sign reads "HELP US Get SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL To Adopt IRAQ EXIT STRATEGY".

Now, I understand the want for an Iraq exit strategy - I think most of us can agree that we need to get out - but don't the fine members of SNOW (sponsoring this particular tent) realize that Seattle City Council has NO sway on how or when we get out of Iraq? Did the fine members of SNOW fail their high school civics class? Do the fine members of SNOW have nothing better to do with their time than waste it like this for an entire weekend?

They might as well lobby the Bellevue City Council to increase the age of consent in Alabama.

And now I have no question why people sometimes think us on the left are nuts...

Wow. That's all I can say....

2006-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

You neeeeeed to watch this video:

I never thought I'd see that kind of spine from a Fox News reporter! Is it just me, or does the Westboro Baptist lady look just a tad bit in-bred?

Metro Trip Planner CRAZINESS

2006-03-31T22:59:00.000-08:00

So, I was mapping out a route on Metro's Trip Planner (from North Aurora to 5th and Pike - arriving Downtown at 7:00am on a Saturday). Below is the third itinerary it suggested (the first two itineraries were very straight-forward and sensible - this last one, not so much - I posted the picture cuz it's just that unbelievable).

That's right - it wants me to leave 7 hours before I need to be Downtown in the middle of the night - go Downtown, catch a bus back to UW, then go back Downtown, and at the very end take a bus two blocks (after an hour layover) to finish off the trip. Phenomenal.

Alfonso Soriano is a Whiny Bitch

2006-03-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

Seriously - for $10,000,000, I'd play left-field for the DC Nationals (not that they'd want me to, but I figured I'd offer my services if Soriano is really going to be a cry-baby and refuse to do it).

I hope he either grows up and plays left-field, or is punished for being a whiny bitch (he could be place on the disqualified list for not living up to his contract - that means no pay, and no service-time built up).

Dell Computers = Assclowns

2006-02-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

So there's this guy in Europe named Paul Dell - and apparently he's a webdesigner and has owned www.dellwebsites.com since 2001. Dell Computers doesn't like this and is asking him for an absolutely insane amount of money in compensation.

Paul is standing up for his rights (as he did back in 2002 when Dell first harrassed him - they dropped it when they realized that he wasn't going to cave - but then changed their mind again in 2005), but the legal fees are more than he can afford. If I had a couple extra bucks (which sadly, I don't), I'd donate them here. People who donate can get one of his css web templates, or one of his photographs (he's also a photographer).

What makes me sad is that I'm typing this post on a Dell laptop that I really really like. I'm going to be in the market for another laptop in the very near future (want to upgrade myself to something that can handle Civ 4 without the hicups, give this one to my wife), and after hearing this my chances of buying one of Dell's gaming laptops are pretty low (and I've been damned happy with this laptop so far....). Guess it's Alienware for my laptop gaming needs.

More info (and useful links) here.

Hat tip to Boing Boing.

Sign of the Apocalypse #44,569

2006-02-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, that is the brand new "Tab energy". Spotted a couple of days ago at Larry's Market. Lord help us...

On another note...

2006-02-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

...when using Blogger's own spell-check tool on my previous post, I was surprised that the word "blog" was not in their dictionary. Ironic, no?

Lou Pate Leaves 710 KIRO...

2006-02-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

....which I would normally characterize as a good thing (as blatherwatch points out, his whole schtick of late has been "Here's why I hate Seattle", and it had gotten old), but blatherwatch also seems to think that everyone's least favorite radio personality (and commenter on this blog) Bryan "Rhymes with Bible" Styble is being groomed to slip into Pate's vacated 1-4am.

God, let this be a misinformed statement on blatherwatch's part. Styble sucks, and should go back to Albuquerque (or anywhere but here) where he belongs.

NEWSFLASH:

2006-02-07T03:05:00.000-08:00

Steelers Fans are Sore Winners.

So not only does this jackass' team get a Lombardi trophy that they didn't deserve, but then he punches some poor Seahawks fan? What the hell?!?

Superbowl Hangover

2006-02-07T02:03:00.000-08:00

So I just haven't had the will to post anything about the Superbowl - as a Seahawks fan I've just found it too painful to talk about.

Then today I found this article by Skip Bayless (a Seahawks hater who didn't think they deserved to be in the Superbowl, and had taken to referring to them as the SeaFrauds). Obviously he's not a Seahawks fan - so imagine my surprise when I find out that even Skip "SeaFrauds" Bayless thinks we were robbed:

Jackson definitely gave Steelers safety Chris Hope a little push. But it didn't give Jackson enough of an advantage to prompt a penalty. The ref called it only after Hope turned and begged for it.

That cost your team four points, a little momentum and a little more psychological edge. The Pittsburgh offense isn't built to come from behind or to win a shootout. A 7-0 Seattle lead would have tightened the Steelers' throats more than 3-0 would have.

The holding call on Locklear clearly cost your Seahawks seven more points. Four plus seven equals 11 -- Pittsburgh's margin of victory. And who knows how the Steelers would have responded if they had suddenly found themselves behind early in the fourth quarter?

Sure, Jerramy Stevens dropped three passes, and Hasselbeck threw an interception, but even with those errors, the refs stole the margin of victory from the Seahawks.

If we had lost fair and square, I could live with that - but losing because the refs felt compelled to throw a flag after every big Seattle play, just left me feeling empty and sad.

There's a huge problem with officiating in the NFL, and they need to fix it if they want to keep their position as the premier American professional sports league. A lot of people lost confidence in the NFL's refs on Sunday (and not just Seattle fans - but fans from all over the country are outraged by the poor officiating both at the Superbowl and throughout the league), and I hope the NFL takes the steps necessary to fix this problem - hopefully in time for the Seahawk's next trip to the Superbowl.

And one more thing - the ads weren't that great this year - so not only was I pissed at the games, but the ads didn't give me the respite I needed.

UPDATE: Here's another petition regarding the NFL's poor officiating, with some suggestions on how to fix it.

UPDATE #2: Found a great article by Kevin Hench at Foxsports.com who points out that the Seahawks are the only team in Superbowl history to win the time of posession battle (Seattle had the ball for 33 minutes), the turnover battle (1 Seahawk turnover to the Steelers 2) and the total yards battle (396 to 339) and lose the big game. He sums up my feelings pretty well:

This was a historic, first-of-its-kind Super Bowl loss. I don't want to take anything away from the Steelers, except, of course, the Lombardi Trophy.
.....
Seattle fans have a right to feel sick. Their team just suffered the most unjust loss in Super Bowl history.
I'm guessing knowing that the previous 25 teams to gain more yards, keep the ball longer and not lose the turnover battle all won the Super Bowl won't make them feel any better.

True dat.

UPDATE #3: Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy at ESPN.com) had this to say after the phantom holding call which brought back the Jerramy Stevens catch which would've given the Seahawks 1st and Goal from the 1 or 2:

Shouldn't the refs just replace the yellow flags with Terrible Towels at this point?

Two Completely Unrelated Thoughts:

2006-01-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

1) The Washington State Democrats made the right selection in picking Dwight Pelz to be the next Party Chair. He's a very passionate and focused man, and will be a nice replacement for the retiring Paul Berendt.

2) Texas A&M needs to grow up. They have a problem with the Seahawks using the term "12th Man" to describe their fans. Apparently it also took them over 20 years for the Seahawks use of the term to come to their attention. According to the PI:

The Seahawks have celebrated their fans as a "12th Man" since the 1980s, when they used to turn the now-demolished Kingdome into one of the NFL's loudest venues.

but...

A&M has twice registered trademarks for "The 12th Man" label - in 1990 and 1996 - that include entertainment services, "namely organizing and conducting intercollegiate sporting events," and products, such as caps, T-shirts, novelty buttons and jewelry.

The A&M tradition might have started in the 1920s, but if they were too lazy to copyright it until a decade after the Seahawks started using it, then they're out of luck in my book.

Of course, this just goes to show that people around the country really don't pay Seattle any attention - it took a freakin Superbowl appearance for A&M to hear about the `hawk's 12th Man - and it's not like we've been trying to keep it a secret...

Nothing Says Love Like...

2006-01-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

...Dori Monson getting tasered! I think I'll set up my computer so it plays this movie at startup ever morning...

Bloglines now French?!?

2006-01-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

....and I'm not sure why. I even checked my "Infos essentielles" (?!?) and it said that my selected language was "Anglais".

Is this happening to anyone else?

I reselected "Anglais" and hit save, but everything (except the rss feeds, of course) was still in French....

....very odd.

Crazy peeps who wanna be on Seattle City Council

2006-01-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Far too long to post here - but I actually sat through (most) of the hearing yesterday at City Hall - where each applicant for the open City Council position were given three minutes to sell themselves.

By the way, while you're there, check out Washblog. It's kind of like a Daily Kos for Washington!

Being Anonymously Annoying is now Illegal?!?

2006-01-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

According to this story , the Prezdent just signed the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act" - which sounds like a good thing on the surface - but attached to the bill is a law making it illegal to post, email, or send "annoying" messages if you do so without disclosing your off-line identity.

Will this bring about the end of comment threads at Horsesass, or will this go largely ignored and unenforced - or could it be insidiously and selectively enforced? Does this make this discussion at WA State Political Report completely moot?

This also brings up another annoyance of mine - in Washington State, our State Constitution requires that all laws stick to one subject - and we've had many laws tossed out by our Supreme Court because of this. As I see it, a lot of the problems, and a lot of the shenanigans we have to put up with (especially in the Senate), have to do with unrelated riders attached to bills that are politically dangerous to vote against. I could be wrong, but I believe the only way to fix this would be through an amendment to the Constitution - but I doubt that Congress would allow the easiest way they have to bring pork home to go away so easily.

"Bible Based" "New Testiment" Christianity

2006-01-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

Just saw a cable ad for a local wannabe-megachurch which advertized a "Bible Based" "New Testiment" Christianity. Sounds much cooler than the all-popular "Non-Bible Based" "Old-Testiment Only" Christianity.

The sad thing is, this "Evangalical" church (another one of their descriptors) seems to be implying that other churches aren't "Bible Based" (not sure how you'd have a Christian church that wasn't based on the Bible), and Christianity just isn't Christianity without the New Testiment (cuz then it's called Judiasm).

This seems to be part of a larger belief by the more conservative churches (Dubya's political base) that their faith is more pure than the Christianity taught at more liberal (read "accepting") churches. Oddly enough - the tenants that define the more conservative churches are usually found in the Old Testiment (Leviticus with it's line condemning homosexuality jumps to mind), and the more accepting churches are actually more deeply founded in the New Testiment ("Love thy neighbor", etc).

The Infamous Hulk Tie

2005-12-22T23:53:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before - Senator Ted Stevens (Republican oil-company shill from Alaska) likes to wear his Incredible Hulk tie (pic here) when he knows he's going to get into a fight on the Senate floor.

As you've probably heard by now, Teddy got his ass kicked recently when he went up against Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell (he held a Defense appropriations bill hostage by attaching a provision that would open drilling in ANWR - and Cantwell wasn't having any of that). Needless to say, Maria gained even more respect from me when I read this:

...Washington's Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, had found an Incredible Hulk tie in the Senate cloakroom the previous night and donned it while she worked the phones to round up anti-drilling votes.

Gotta love that!

Wow - Looks like someone is desperate for listeners..

2005-12-22T23:10:00.000-08:00

Got this yesterday in ye olde in-boxe:

Subject: Radioactive courtesy notification
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 4:05 pm PT [Solstice + 5.5 hours]
Mr. or Ms. "WillisReed"
Somewhere in Seattle cyberspace
Dear Mr. or Ms. "Reed":
I of course realize you have nothing but contempt for my KIRO work and probably for me personally as well, but principle does compel me to notify you that I've been discussing on-air your postings about my work.
I'm sorry I don't live up to your expectations of what any decent newstalker should be, but I humbly thank you for at least noticing my obscure broadcasts. I also realize you must be puzzled as to why KIRO would give me so much airtime, but I guess I'm just inordinately lucky. In any event, I've been on more than Lou over the last three weeks, and will continue to be on every upcoming Mon-Fri morning 1-5am through and including Monday, January 2, 2006.
I invite you to contribute--or more likely, just trash my fumblethumbed newstalk style--on-air under your "Willis" pseudonym or some other alias (you clearly don't like to own your ideas, a point among others I've been hammering on air about you and just about everyone else in cyberspace), or alternatively, just sit by your radio laughing at how incompetent I am.
Nevertheless, I wish you health and happiness in 2006.
Sincerely,
BRYAN "Worst Broadcaster in Seattle" STYBLE/Seattle

Oddly enough, I will be too busy with the upcoming holidays to fulfill Mr. Styble's fantasy. I have never in my life ever seen a broadcaster so desperate for callers before - it's pretty amazing. I firmly believe that if Mr. Styble took my advice (slowed down his delivery, dropped the unneeded words, and kept it to one topic for longer than thirty-seconds) he wouldn't have to email his critics to find a caller....or he could just do what Lou does, and talk with his Producer...

And to clarify, I have no personal contempt towards Mr. Styble - I hope he has a wonderful holiday and a great New Year - my only problem lies in his ability as a talk-show host - I know good radio when I hear it - and he ain't it.

On the up-side, he wasn't arrested this week!

More from our buddy Bryan Styble

2005-12-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

So, Seattle radio had some big changes yesterday. 100.7 "The Buzz" changed formats to Country (now going by "The Wolf"), and the mid-day and evening talent (BJ Shea and The Men's Room, respectively) from the Buzz moved over to the Hard Rock station, 99.9 KISW.

The big loser in this whole mess (unless you count Robin and Maynard, who were already losers as the Buzz's morning show, and are now out of work) is the Tom Leykis fan base - as Tom's show has also been moved to KISW, but from afternoon drive (at the Buzz - where it was carried live) to the middle of the night (at KISW, on tape delay).

Tom's fans are a rambunctious bunch - and I'm sure by now you're wondering what any of this has to do with the worst broadcaster in Seattle - Mr. Rhymes with Bible Bryan Styble. I found on wewantleykis.com (a quickly put-together fan site devoted to getting Leykis back on the air live in Seattle) a prank call to the Lou Pate show (710 KIRO is owned by the same company that owns the Buzz/Wolf and KISW) - and who would be sitting in for Lou last night, but our good buddy Bryan Styble? You can listen to the call here.

Nothing warms the blood like a good prank call (although I do feel for the Producer/call-screener - I've done more than my fair share of call-screening, and you always feel like an ass when one gets by you...)

Only in Downtown...

2005-11-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

....will you see a garbage can quite like this:

The funny thing was, these jeans appeared to be in pristine condition. How did they get there? Did someone just rip off their pants and toss them in the trash? Enquiring minds (or at least my mind) want to know!

Timely Blog

2005-10-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've never seen a blog with first day stats like this!

Of course, being cute and funny and timely does help...

To all of you searching for "Allan Prell"

2005-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

The reason why you're here is because I was celebrating the Prell firing at KIRO last week. I stick by my words - he was horrible at a news/talk station (as was Tony Ventrella, who wasn't willing to take a side of an issue and stand by it).

I think his talent lies elsewhere, and I would encourage all of you to check out his open letter to his listeners over at Blatherwatch. He would fit in far better over at Progressive Talk 1090, or the Buzz or any other station. KIRO's just a bit too serious for a personality like Mr. Prell.

Sonic Grenade

2005-10-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

I could've used one of these in High School (or rather, my Dad could've used one of these on me when I was in High School).

Stolen from BoingBoing.

You know you eat too much Arby's....

2005-10-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

....when they say "see you tomorrow" as you're leaving.

Dear T-Mobile,

2005-10-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Would it be too much to ask that you empower your kiosk employees to make warranty exchanges?

I've been having an on-again-off-again problem with my Treo, and I had done everything I could think of to fix it (including the fabled "hard reset", which errases everything on the Treo and restores it to factory-new settings, etc). I didn't want to sit on hold with customer service for a half an hour, so I found some time to stop by one of their mall kiosks - hoping that I would be able to get some one-on-one customer service.

Instead they dialed a number and handed me a phone - and I ended up waiting on hold and being on the phone for half an hour in the middle of a mall, instead of in the comfort of my own home. They had dialed the same exact customer service number I could've called! Oh well - they're shipping me a new (or at least refurbished) phone in the next couple of days.

Oh, and one more thing....

2005-09-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

Allan Prell is off the air! There is a God!

I'm kinda hoping that the rumor that Ross is moving back to mornings isn't true - I'm not a big morning person, so if he were to move back to mornings I wouldn't hear nearly as much of him as I do (and I tend towards the Bob Rivers' Show when I'm awake in the mornings anyways).

Apocalyptica

2005-09-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

I went to the best show last night - a Scandinavian heavy metal cello quartet called Apocalyptica (yes, I just said "heavy metal cello quartet").

I was introduced to them 10 years ago when they released an album of Metallica cello covers (yes, I just said "Metallica cello covers"). It wasn't a great album, but it was a new and interesting way to hear my favorite band (at the time - since then they release ReLoad - and I'm sure I'm not the only fan whose devotion has waned in the last decade....).

In their second album they started to release their own original compositions (and at the same time their covers became more intricate and hard core - especially in the case of Sepultura's "Refuse, Resist", where they made some truly unnatural sounds come from their instruments).

Long story short, I was a fan, but never held out hope of seeing them live - how many Scandinavian cover bands tour the States, much less Seattle? My wife was nice enough to point out an upcoming date, and my work schedule and budget both agreed with the decision to check it out.

And I was blown away!

They managed to mix the frantic pulse of a heavy metal show with the beauty of a classical performance. One second you would be headbanging, the next you'd be in awe of their fingering skill. It was one of the most staggering shows I've ever seen - it was so good that I was seriously thinking about driving down to Portland to catch their Sunday show (then I realized that it would be 6 hours in the car, $60 worth of gas, and I wouldn't be home until 3:00 Monday morning....).

I know that I don't have the words to describe the magic that is Apocalyptica - I urge you to check out their website and listen to a clip or two (make sure you turn the volume UP), or watch a video.

I'm staying off the Alaska Way Viaduct for the next three weeks....

2005-09-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

....after reading this.

The Gap's Response to Katrina

2005-09-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Found this photo on the front window of the Downtown Seattle Gap:

Don't get me wrong - I think it's super that they're doing what they can to help their employees who've been affected by hurricane Katrina - but (and this is where I may be getting a bit cynical) how does posting this notice on the front window of the store in SEATTLE help employees who were affected by the Hurricane? It seemed more like cheap advertizing and exploitation of the event to show the public all the public good the Gap was doing.

Frankly - I like it best when people give their time and money quietly. Giving in this manner (and posting it on your front window in a city where NONE of your employees will be seeking this aid) just reveals that you gave with ulterior motives - yes the Gap wanted to do the right thing, but the marketing department also wanted to make sure that we all knew about it...

Guess who's back on the air?

2005-09-06T02:45:00.000-07:00

If you guessed Bryan Styble, you'd be correct. Apparently 710 KIRO Program Director Tom Clendening didn't listen to my advice to dump him. He desperately needs to understand that when you're on the air from 1:00-5:00am, "propagating conversation at the speed of sound" isn't how you do radio. Frankly, the best overnight radio hosts sound as tired as their listeners are - no one wants to listen to a hyperactive caffeinated talk show host with a bad case of ADD in the wee hours of the morning - we just can't keep up!

Frankly, with Bryan his problem is circular - because he's on late at night, he worries about getting calls (understandably), so in an effort to encourage more calls he goes from topic to topic at a rapid pace in the hopes that if he tosses out enough topics that someone will finally call in - the problem is that going from topic to topic (especially during an overnight shift) actually discourages people from calling - they always feel as if they're behind the conversation - but because Mr. Styble doesn't recognize this paradox, he speeds up his spastic jumping from topic to topic, further alienating listeners and discouraging callers.

On another note - Lou Pate tonight was more obnoxious than usual. I respect Pate for his ability to relate to people in the middle of the night, but his hatred of Seattle (the weather, politics, people, drivers, etc) is growing annoying. Tonight he ranted for two hours about how he thought people (and obviously he was attacking liberals) were politicizing the problems associated with Katrina. He was very adept at parroting the Republican talking points - attacking people who were too poor to get out of New Orleans, blaming the local authorities when FEMA and Homeland Security were nowhere to be seen, etc. He wasn't accepting phonecalls from liberals all night - he told liberals to go masturbate instead of calling his show (not sure what that has to do with this, but I swear he said it...sounds like a sexual fantasy to me...). What he did was pussy out of any real conversation with listeners by framing the debate in such a way so that anyone who disagreed with him was already in the wrong - it was fairly genius, if his goal was to sound like KKKVI.

Really, what I'm trying to say is that the only good thing that happened in radio over the last couple of days is that Bryan Styble finally stopped saying "rhymes with bible" in reference to his name. Thankee Jeebus!

Criss Angel's Mindfreak

2005-08-24T22:59:00.000-07:00

So, I sat down and watched two episodes of Mindfreak today.

What's kinda sad is that the thing that most stuck out in my mind from the show was this quote:

"This is going to be challenging and difficult at the same time"

For the record, difficult and challenging mean the same thing.

The Faces of Voiceovers

2005-08-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

This commercial is fascinating to me - mostly because I've worked in radio and dealt with voice over guys, but being able to see the 5 in this commercial as they do their "voice" is pretty awesome. These are the guys you hear from all those movie commercials (most entertaining is the Disney voice...)

Stolen from BoingBoing.

I'm not the only one....

2005-08-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

...who thinks Bryan Styble sucks.

Search Terms

2005-08-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

So, it seems as if I get almost as many people reading my drivel by searching for "Bryan Styble" as "Andy Milinokis" (which is funny, because Andy is at least funny, mildly talented and broadcast at a time when normal people have a slight chance of seeing him).

What really cracks me up, is that when you search for Bryan Styble on Yahoo, my posting about how bad he was one night filling in on 710 KIRO is the first result!?!

Anyways, today I noticed that someone found my blog by searching on Yahoo for "Bryan Styble" - and spent 12 minutes and 41 seconds looking at the post. For some reason I think it's particularly fascinating that they were surfing from a Ford Motor Company IP address. Best guess is that Mr. Styble has relatives who build cars (god knows no one else would have a reason to search for him).

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled programing soon. Schedule is getting more consistant, and I'm hoping to bloviate on a more regular basis for the next couple of weeks.

Can't they make sure they're not playing the same thing: Part 2

2005-08-02T01:01:00.000-07:00

Wow - so I've pointed out times when MTV and MTV2 were playing the same music video - but right now MTV and MTV2 are both showing the exact same episode of the Andy Milinokis show. Somewhere there is a programing department getting paid way too much for not enough work....

More Bad Radio...

2005-08-01T02:16:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then, so I've talked about bad talk radio before, but right now I'm listening to something worse than a play-by-play of a fireworks show, and it's called Bryan Styble ("rhymes with bible", as he's said every 5-10 minutes for the last two hours...).

I guess Lou Pate (710 KIRO, M-F 1:00-5:00 am) is taking a few days off, so they have this Bryan Styble turkey filling in. His big selling point is "I'll talk to just about anyone about just about anything - from Astronomy to Zoology". All this tells me is that he doesn't have the ability to talk about a single compelling topic for any length of time - instead he's jumping from one topic to another - and he's doing it too quickly to give any listeners time to formulate an argument and dial the station with their thoughts. Oh, and he's obsessed with talking about himself - talk radio listeners don't really care about your general philosophical leanings, but they do care what you think about a compelling and timely topic. This guy is spending all his time talking about where he stands on the political spectrum (and how "independent" he thinks he is, etc) and moving from random topic to random topic, that it is no surprise that he's only had one caller so far (and the caller just called to tell him how much he loved him compared to Pate).

I'm not a huge fan of Pate, but at least he knows how to get people to call - Bryan Styble is too busy puffing his chest and "propagating conversation at the speed of light" (his god-awful catchphrase, repeated at least 10 times in the last hour - god help us) to develop a topic of interest. So far he's talked (quickly) about the space shuttle, death of King Fahd, Live8 (and Live Aid and the concerts for Bangledesh), the war in Iraq (and how it's a "war on terrorism" - not a "war on terror"). He's also spent time talking about topics that he's heard other 710KIRO hosts talking about (further proof that he can't find a topic on his own).

Very sad. God knows that I hope KIRO PD Clendening will listen to a tape of this tomorrow and decide that this guy sucks. He makes Carl Jeffers sound compelling, and that's not a good thing...

I thought I knew how to work out....

2005-07-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Couple of nights ago I offered to go work out with my wife (we usually go separately because we have different routines, etc). Usually I go, do some cardio and hit some weights - nothing crazy, but a good workout none-the-less. I decided that since she's been visiting a personal trainer for the last couple of months that I would do her routine with her - big mistake.

First off - crunches done while balancing on one of those workout balls. I'm not a big fan of crunches, and doing them on a workout ball made me less of a fan.

Then, lunges - and not your average lunges, but lunges done with weights in each arm doing shoulder presses at the nadir of each lunge.

Then more crunches, lunges, you get the picture.

Needless to say, I'm in pain right now....

Hopefully I can work out with her again this weekend...

How is it news....

2005-06-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

...that Howard Dean doesn't like Republicans?

He's the head of the Democratic Party - isn't that his job?

I mean, seriously, how is this news?

Oh, and in case you've missed it, Dean has the DNC ahead of its fundraising this same time 4 years ago (back when there weren't giving limits) - so take that you milquetoast, weenie, spineless Dems (read Sen. Biden) who don't like a leader who actually leads.

Nix That

2005-05-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

Just some fat guy with a beard. My bad.

Blogging With My Treo

2005-05-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

From the Seattle International Film Festival, and I swear to god that Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) is sitting three seats to my right.

How very...

2005-05-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

...timely.

If you like politics

2005-05-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Then you'll love this.

Blah Blah, Washington State Governors Race, Blah

2005-05-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

I think, technically, it is fraud - but it's not "elections fraud", in that they were just doing it to cover their butts, not change the outcome of the election. The Republicans will whine and whine, but I don't think that Bridges will let this affect the outcome of the Elections Challenge.

Diet Coke with Splenda is the SHIT!

2005-05-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

And I mean that in a good way. Seriously, I've been trying to eat better - so I cut regular pop out of my diet (except for the occasional can here or there) - and I've been subsisting, in large part, on regular old Diet Coke. Old Diet Coke isn't bad, but I've always been turned off by the metallic aftertaste. My mom doesn't like me imbibing so much aspertame either (and after doing a bit of research, I don't blame her) - so imagine my joy when I saw a Diet Coke with Splenda sitting on the shelves a couple of days ago!

Long story short - this is, hands down, the best diet soda I've found so far. It isn't quite regular old Classic Coke, but it's damn close! Worth giving it a try, if you're a diet drinker.

Be the first to know when the "nuclear option" is used

2005-05-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

(found at TPM)

The People for the American Way are offering to text message you as soon as Bill Frist invokes the nuclear option. This is a fantastic idea - it'll let you know the second the Republicans decide to undue over 200 years of Senate tradition to push Bush's extreme judician nominees - and it will give you instructions for you to take action (numbers to call, etc). If people call their Senator's office as soon as this assault begins, we should be able to nip this in the bud.

Seriously

2005-05-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

This is scary. How in god's name is selling the country out to the rich, and pulling the rug out from under the poor, doing "God's work"?

I'll be hard pressed not to rearend the first car I see with this magnet.

What does it say when....

2005-05-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

...the best thing the Google ad for the DVD release of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" is that it is being release on "High Quality DVDs". I guess I have to buy it now, since they've taken the time to print it on High Quality DVDs.

Wow....

2005-05-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

(first spotted at MyDD)

Churches have been getting more and more political lately, but this latest story of a Minister excommunicating members because they're Democrats is just WAY over the top. So far he's kicked out 9 members, and 40 other members have left in protest.

Frankly, I'm not religious myself, but I know many sane religious people who are able to be both liberal and Christian. The two aren't mutually exclusive. This blind devotion of fundamentalist Christians to Bush's agenda is near-sighted, at best. Which would Jesus really want: that new bankruptcy bill that passed last month (and screwed the working poor who are getting worked over by the credit card companies), or for us to really support our poor? Honestly, when you look at the Bible, and look at the big picture of Jesus's teaching (rather than nit pick out verses that support your homophobia, etc), you see a message of love, understanding and compassion - from that vantage, Bush is truly lacking.

Enough from me - your turn.

Google Web Accelerator

2005-05-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

So, I got all excited today when I heard about Google's new Web Accelerator. I think the idea of them caching the web and acting as a proxy is great - and I do still trust Google - so I installed it and restarted Firefox, fully expecting an even quicker web experience.

As the Vancome Lady would say: "Unh-uh".

For a year or so, I've been using Mike's Ad-Blocker, which is a great little tool which makes almost all web advertising disappear. It essentially just tells your computer which servers host ads, and tells your computer to not show content from those servers. Quick, elegant, and best - free.

So, I install the Google Web Accelerator, and lo and behold, the ads are back. My best guess is that because the GWA works by making Google act as an intermediary between you and the internet, and the Google servers aren't listed in my list of blocked servers (and lord knows, I wouldn't want it to be), the images (and gawd-awful flash ads!) are back.

Oh, and the kicker is that because I'm now loading ads, my page loading is actually slower.

So, nice try Google, but I'll wait for your next release. You're smart, I'm sure you'll find a way to fix this soon.

How to stop discrimination against gays:

2005-04-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

So, today in Washington State we watched our Anti-Discrimination bill fall 24-25 in the State Senate (two Dems sided with the entire Republican contingent to keep bigotry alive in the Evergreen State - douchebags, both of them). So, for the time being, you can be fired from your job or denied housing based solely on your sexual orientation. Amazing that we're still having this fight.

I think I've found the solution though. A Massachusetts woman was fired from Costco back in 2001 because she wouldn't remove her eyebrow ring. She's claiming religious discrimination - as she is a member of the Church of Body Modification - and her religion requires her have body piercings. If her argument somehow flies (and you never know - it might), someone should just start the Church of Homosexuality (which will have as one of its major tenants that you have to have sex with people of the same sex), and then firing homosexuals will fall under our already strong religious discrimination laws.

Problem solved. Booyeah.

Billy Idol

2005-03-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

I just caught a new Billy Idol video on VH1 called 'Scream'. Not only does he look EXACTLY the same as he did in 1986, but the song also sounds exactly like it could've come out in

86. I'm still debating (with the current state of music being what it is) if this is a good thing, or a bad thing...

More on the Incredible Hulk Tie

2005-03-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

So, apparently this is normal when he knows that he's going to be involved in a floor fight.

My favorite quote: "'When I see the Hulk tie on Ted Stevens, I know he's pumped up,' said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist"

Apparentl he also wears a Taz tie when he plans to lose his temper. Very weird.

I think we need to talk Jim McDermott into doing his own weird quirky thing. God knows, if I'm ever a politically invulnerable politician, I'll make it my habit to wear multi-color canvas Converse All-Stars with my suits.

Good Taste

2005-03-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

I'm watching the ANWR debate on C-SPAN2 right now, and Ted Stevens (R, AK) is wearing an Incredible Hulk Tie.

Lord help us...

How far they fall...

2005-03-09T19:11:00.000-08:00

I just caught the tail end of a Duran Duran performance on Northwest
Afternoon.

Man, it's kinda like the 1980's were 15 years ago, or something...

Bill O'Reilly

2005-03-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm having some serious 1980's deja vu. Bill O'Reilly is talking with a Catholic Bishop in Italy about the rising problems caused by Satanism in Italy. Bill just said (on a "serious" news channel, none the less) "Satan is real. Satan is a being". I'm not sure what to make of any of this. The Bishop just brought up a "Satanic Heavy Metal band" who committed Satanic murders. Makes me think of a pamphlet that my parents left out for me to find when I was a kid, which detailed the evils of Heavy Metal (bands mentioned in particular: WASP, Metallica, Black Sabbath, etc - I can just imagine the same pamphlet now, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie...).

Would any other news channel spend 5 minutes on this? I can see radio talk shows spending an hour on it, but it has no place on any thing except maybe the 700 Club on TBN. CNN or MSNBC wouldn't even think about talking about this.

Oh, and now he's up in arms because CNN is going to start airing ads for booze (after 9:00pm, of course). His shaky pathetic fake morality is getting more and more transparent.

Technical Conundrum

2005-02-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

So, I've taken quite a bit of time to build up my iTunes library. It's great how it syncs with my iPod, and because they talk with eachother, it keeps the music nice and random (becuase it's always tracking what I've listened to, etc). My problem now is that I just bought a laptop, and want to have the same iTunes database on it. It's no problem moving the files (finally got the wireless network set up, and have moved over many of the files), but when I listen to a song on my laptop, I have no way to let my desktop, or my iPod know that the song has been listened to. I wouldn't mind syncing the iPod with both computers on a regular basis so that they each know what the other one is doing, but I can't find a way to do this yet....

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be much appreciated.

Can't they make sure they're not playing the same thing?

2005-01-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

Flipping channels this morning, and MTV2, MTV and VH1 were all playing Destiny's Child's 'Soldier'.

Is it so hard for the three of them to ensure that they're playing different videos?

The upside, I guess, is that for once all three of them were actually playing videos...

I'm a bad, bad man

2004-12-17T01:26:00.000-08:00

I've been so damn busy for the last couple of months (the last couple of weeks before the election were greuling - working 95+ hours a week can really wear you down), and ever since the election, I've been looking for work - thus, no real time to post a damn thing (even though I have had a lot going on).

Most exciting thing going on right now is that I have been involved with the Washington State Governor's Race Recount. It's been interesting. The Republicans have been cordial and civil (except for a select few - we had one guy who I heard was sending obvious Gregoire votes to canvas for no discernible reason. This isn't a big worry, as the Canvas Board knows how to handle these things, but it is frustrating none the less).

The process is very elaborate. First they had to sort the ballots into their separate precincts (state law requires that they be counted by precinct). This was relatively easy for the poll ballots, as they were already sorted by polling place. Absentee ballots were another story. Originally the plan was that all the absentee ballots would be sorted at one facility over 3 or 4 days, and the poll ballots would be sorted at the facility where I was for the first 2 (seeing as there are twice as many absentee ballots as poll, this made sense). Unfortunately, this was not the case.

We finished up sorting at the main facility in a day and a half. We finished counting the poll ballots by the end of day 4. By this point I thought we were going to be done early, but alas I was being an optimist for once. If memory serves, we counted one or two legislative districts worth of sorted absentee ballots on day 5 (from the other facility), but by then we had run through all the sorted absentee ballots from the other facility - so we went back to sorting (which is boring, to put it lightly). It took four more days of sorting at both facilities to finish up, and we finally returned to counting absentee ballots yesterday (12/16 - day nine of this whole process!).

I've become a total elections dork, so I went to the Canvas Board meeting on Wednesday. I got there just as they were wrapping up talk of the 561 (or 573) ballots they "found", and the 22 ballots they really did "find". They took a quick recess, and when they came back they started to examine the 240+ ballots sent to Canvas by the counters (a lot of these were very picky counters sending ballots with one oval filled in completely, and a stray mark in another oval). The first few ballots were counted as "overvotes" (meaning that the person had voted for more than one candidate, and thus neither vote counted), but then Dwight Pelz (one of the three Canvas Board members) stepped in and started talking sense. He argued strongly that the whole point of a hand recount was to discern voter intent, not to follow arbitrary rules (as many of the counters had been doing). This argument went on for a few minutes, and he eventually got the other two board members to relent, and start looking at voter intent (he also motioned to dismiss their findings on the previous 3 or 4 ballots and to re-examine them under this new rubric). This is huge because the more votes counted in King, the more votes we get for Gregoire - yes, some of the votes went for Rossi, but (and I'm guessing here, as I had to leave early and wasn't keeping a tally) I'm willing to guess that most of them benefited Gregoire.

He did the right thing - the whole point of a hand recount is to have people, who posses better pattern recognition skills than a machine, look at each ballot and figure out what the voter meant. Oval "A" filled in completely, with a dot in oval "B" is clearly a vote for "A" in my book - and thankfully now, in the Canvas Boards book.

Dave Ross Sued

2004-10-06T01:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=125098

Apparently they're not only complaining that he stayed on the air after he announced, but also that KIRO still refers to the time-slot as "The Dave Ross" show.

Sounds desperate.

What's the news?

2004-09-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, 710 KIRO decides to can one of it's Sunday night hosts due to the Seahawks games (which have whittled down his normal 3-hour time slot to one measly hour once a week). How is this news?

Oh yeah, the host decides that he was fired because he asked for Dan Rathers termination due to the Bush Memo scandal. Funny thing, his co-workers disagree. Brian Maloney has just proven that his shrill, whiney radio personality really does line up with how he acts off-air. He had three years working weekends to prove himself, they finally just gave up on him as a ratings winner. (as an aside, the only time I've found him entertaining at all, was when they had him - knee-jerk right-winger - co-host a couple of hours with Erin Hart - knee-jerk liberal. Good times. Also the only time I've really found Erin to be at all entertaining.)

No rest for the weary

2004-09-17T03:01:00.000-07:00

Working on a politically-related job during a Presidential Election year doesn't leave one with many days off. Yesterday was my first full day off in quite a while (maybe my second in 3 weeks or so). I was planning on a day spent in my underwear, remote in hand. The Missus discovered my lack of work, and instead of letting me carry on with my already scheduled programming, insisted that we spend the day together (she only had to work until noon). We ended up driving out to North Bend (stopped at the outlet stores there - some pretty decent deals - left with a new pair of shoes), and stopped in Issaquah on the way back (took her to the Bohem's factory, and the XXX Rootbeer place - good times).

The family finally decided to move Grandma, so I'm dealing with watching the Family Home as it is picked clean by the family. Apparently all the carpet is coming out this weekend. They want to have it on the market before the end of the month. The Realtor thinks that the house my Grandparents bought for $13,000 back in `65 could be sold for up to $700,000. Phenomenal investing. No way they could've known that their neighborhood would appreciate the way it has - and Grandma is lucky that it has. The home we moved her to isn't cheap. The Siblings went out of their way to find the best place for their Mother, and I have to say - it's quite a find. It's owned by a Romanian couple. She's a nurse, he does the handiwork, her mother does the cooking. The house has a great homey feeling to it, and it is very comfortable visiting her there (as I and The Missus did this afternoon). Grandma is starting to accept that this is her new home, but she is understandably a bit depressed over the whole affair. She is a strong-willed woman, and never really wanted to leave the house she raised her kids in. She's realizing that it is necessary, but that doesn't mean that she has to like it. In time I think that she'll get used to her new surroundings. Before I left, I made sure that her subscription to the PI had been transferred to her new address. She may not do the crossword every day as she used to, but she needs the little things like the morning paper to keep some consistency in her life right now.

I called my sister to see if she had been to the Family Home since Grandma had moved, and every time the subject came up, she found something else to talk about. Everybody is taking this pretty hard, but she's the only one that doesn't seem willing or able to talk about it.

Enough for now. The Missus heard that I have tomorrow off, and arranged for another half day. We're off to Puyallup to visit her Grandad after she gets off work in 8.5 hours. I'll have to pick up some caffeine on the way down....

Jenny Craig

2004-07-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Walking by the Jenny Craig center in Belltown in Seattle, and noticed that their receptionist was fat. Really poor advertising on their part.

Microsoft "Critical Updates"

2004-07-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I got a free (not pirated, but a legitimately free) copy of Office 2003. I install it, and like any good Windows user, go looking for any critical updates that are needed to keep my computer secure. Here's what I find:

Critical Update for Windows (KB833407)
Download size: 309 KB, < 1 minute
This item updates the Bookshelf Symbol 7 font included in some Microsoft products. The font has been found to contain unacceptable symbols. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Read more...

Who knew that a broken font was in need of a "Critical Update"? Doesn't Microsoft have more pressing issues than a font with "unacceptable symbols"?

Deja Vu

2004-07-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

It came out today that my best friend of a billion years has never been to a strip club! He's twenty-freakin-five! Ends up that all of our high school friends (including me) turned 18 way before he did, and by the time he had his birthday (right around graduation time) we were all pretty bored with the whole thing. I only went on my 18th birthday.

So anyways, me and Nic decide to drag him to the local Vu. Dumbass spends $77 ($7 for cover and "free" drinks, and $40 for two dances from one girl, and another $30 for three dances from another - we eventually took his wallet from him).

The Vu is an interesting place to visit, but not sure if I'll be going back any time soon.

On another note, work is starting to pick up. Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy until November 2nd. I'm a lucky guy to get paid to help de-throne ol' Dubya. Most of my friends would pay for the privilege.

Happy 4th

2004-07-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

So I just heard the worst radio ever. I honestly don't think I'm exagerating....

I guess someone at KIRO thought verbally describing the two fireworks shows in Seattle would be compelling. Here how it sounded (Host Erin Hart is in her studio watching the Lake Union show, Rich is on Queen Anne Hill watching the Myrtle Edwards show):

Erin: Oh my, we just had a red one, followed by a blue that turned into white. It looked like a....like a...(two second pause)...sea urchin! Like a sea urchin, like the ones you'd see at the Seattle Aquarium. Back to you Rich.

Rich: Red, white into green, blue, green, green, green, red into white, blue, too many colors to describe, white shooting up like a comet and cascading. Blue, green, green, blue, red.

Erin: It's like a....uh....a wedding veil has been placed in front of all of us...a big white wedding veil covering Lake Union! Apparently I've heard that white is the most popular color in these shows. It's easier to see against the background of the night sky.

This went on for over half an hour! They went through the completion of both shows! Truly the most retarted thing I've ever listened to on the radio (in my defence, it was like a car wreck, hard to look away from).

On another note, what's with the people who think it's okay to pull over to the shoulder on a very busy freeway to watch the fireworks? Why weren't they ticketed?

Pet Peeve

2004-06-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Saw Fahrenheit 9/11 last night. Good movie, you should see it. Not going to say more than that (god knows there are enough people spouting-off about this one on both sides, no need for me to join the fracas).

What bugged me was on my drive home. I was listening to Erin Hart on 710 KIRO, and she's taking calls about people's reaction to the movie. She is an unabashed liberal. One of two or three in talk radio in Seattle (I know! How fucked up is that? The city has elected Jim "Congressman for Life" McDermott - one of the most outspoken liberals in congress, but can't support more than a couple liberals on radio? Doesn't make any damn sense!). Anyways, one of the callers starts out with this line "I don't agree with Mr. Moore's movie, but I'll fight to my death to defend it".

First off, I used to be a producer/call-screener for a nationally syndicated radio talk show - the chances of me letting that cliche get on the air is very small (he'd pretty much have to be the only person calling in).

Second, if you're calling a radio talk-show, and you disagree with the movie (he didn't say if he saw it or not - I'm guessing "not") then say why you disagree with it. Don't pull out this tired, beaten cliche just because you know the host will have to agree with you. It makes shitty radio, and shitty debate. Free speech is important, but that line is so old, it really needs to go. It's only used by conservatives to appease liberals, and comes across as terribly condescending. They might as well say "You can say any dumbass thing you want, but I'm a big and better at fighting than you, so I'll protect your weak, liberal speech spouting ass".

The other news today.

2004-06-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Thank god...

Fry's, and the rest of my day....

2004-05-31T00:52:00.000-07:00

Went with my friend to Fry's Electronics today, hoping to snag some stuff on sale. No luck there. Either they were out of all their sale items on purpose, or a lot of other people had been out shopping before us. Probably saved me some money....which is good, because I lost it later in the day.

Got home with my buddy, and we were hanging out, watching the WB's Superstar USA (truly a great show - I have to respect something that makes my friend spend the entire show hiding his face because he's embarrassed for the show...it's amazing!), and MTV's Pimp My Ride, and the Missus decides that she wants to finally go to one of our local Indian casinos. I lose $40 at the blackjack tables, she loses a similar amount at the slot machines. My friend (who decided to come with) only lost $1. Not sure what made the Missus want to do this when I just got a new job, and we just laid out a budget that will enable us to save $8K or more towards a house....but she had fun, learned her lesson, and probably won't want to go back any time soon.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, but I got two job offers last month (don't really want to go into too much detail, both are political, and I'd rather keep myself as anonymous as possible for the foreseeable future). How often does that happen in this economy? I have to say, it felt really nice after all this uncertainty I've been dealing with for the past year (of course it is only a campaign job, and my contract runs out the day of the election...but I'm not complaining!). For the first time in over a year I'm making more than the Missus! She loves that situation (as she eventually wants me to pull in the bacon and let her stay home with the (yet unborn) kids.

Finally Saw Kerry Speak

Not nearly as boring in person as on TV. That's not saying too much though....but he did have some great thoughts on moving the US away from our oil-dependent ways, which I think is fantastic (wouldn't life just be easier if we didn't have to worry about oil when dealing with the Middle East problem?).

And I know that you care what's playing in iTunes right now: "Whoever You Are" by Geggy Tah.

Woman gives birth to her 15th kid

2004-05-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Why is sort of thing celebrated? This isn't a good thing. This is the ultimate sign of egotism by a couple in the South (telling sign, the father's name is Jim Bob).

Oddly enough, it doesn't sound like they're Catholic.

For those of you who think that this isn't being 'celebrated', I point you here, where the mother is getting an award (Young Mother of the Year) from the Governor of Arkansas.

I have nothing against kids, plan on having a couple myself in a year or two, but this type of blatant, self-centered, over-population just pisses me off.

Remind me of the octuplets born a while back. Formula and diaper companies were falling all over themselves to give them free stuff.

Been back for a couple of days....

2004-05-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

...but it took me until now to get back in this habit. Not sure why...and I'm sure that I've had things I've wanted to put on the blog, but have just been too lazy to log in and do it.

Had a great vacation - got a lot of time with The Missus, which was great. We had a lot of fun (although, I must say it is nice to walk outside and not feel the immediate need to shower). Let me just say, Maui is an amazing island (rainforest on one side, and almost desert like conditions on the other). I had forgotten how much fun it is just to wade in the ocean and bob with the waves. The Missus and I are semi-seriously looking into the feasibility of us moving (although with the possibility of kids in the next 2-3 years, and the knowledge of how unbearable our parents will be if we were to take their first grandkids across the Pacific, this might just be a pipe-dream...)

The Missus' cat had to go to the vet while we were gone. They said he had sores, and was either allergic to fleas or his new Rx food. We have both of the cats on flea medication, and he seems less irritated. I also had to take in his sister today (her eye has been "blinky", and it was time for her annual check-up and shots). I just can't believe that we've spent well in excess of $1600 on the cats in the last month. And the timing is horrendous also - I'm in the middle of a three week hiatus between temp jobs (of course, I am looking for more stable work, but in the meantime...), we just got back from vacation (which never is cheap), and to top it off - last month was the first time we've ever gone over our cell-minutes in our family plan (and it wasn't just a little, but over $60 worth of extra minutes - mostly my fault I should add), so this next month is going to be very tight. I'm just hoping that we can keep the stress level nice and low for the time being. I'm trying to do lots of work while I'm stuck at home (makes the Missus much happier when she gets off work if she sees that I've been doing more around the house than just sitting around watching ESPN).

Anyways, I'm off to bed. It is late.

Right now iTunes is playing "At Least I Rocked" by Laymans Terms. Went to high school with the lead singer.

Peace.

Always fun preparing for vacation...

2004-04-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

Finally figured out how to send a vacation auto-reply from my Comcast account! This will help me a bunch, especially considering that I have a few resumes out there right now, and I don't want them to think that I'm ignoring them if they try to get a hold of me.

Since we're going to Hawaii, I thought it might be a good time to evaluate my stock of Hawaiian shirts. Two of them need to be fixed (ripped off buttons - figure I'll just patch the torn cloth, and sew in some new buttons). I'll have that tourist look down pat! (I already have the pasty thing down!)

The Missus got her fake tan done today. Good times. Can't shower until tomorrow, and smells like walnuts for the time being. Not really looking forward to going to bed right now.....

We spend tonight at my parent's place so we can head right to the airport at 5:30 Saturday morning...and neither of us are packed! Good times tomorrow, between the errand running (need to go to a fabric store for buttons, and the vet for drugs), laundry (don't think there will be very much of this) and packing, we have a full day in front of us (the biggest question is, why am I still awake blogging with that sort of day in front of me?).

Random Thought #1 - Remember how I was peeved that RNC ads were being placed by google on my site? Looks like those have disappeared, and now more democratic ads are appearing. Those damn ads make me think about my content a little too much...

Random Thought #2 - Got an email from the $ job. They've forwarded my resume on to their national office, and are going to try to line up an interview for me with their national people when I get back from vacation. Good times. I hope this one works out. Lord knows, it's work I can believe in (getting Dubya out of office), and I could definitely use the money right about now...

Random Thought #3 - I really need a digital camera. I think I'll save my pennies for a Nikon D70 (probably about 100000 pennies, and another 8800 pennies for tax...). Right now for the vacation I'm debating whether or not to bring my Nikon N65. I'm just tired of film, and with the Belkin Media Reader I could use the 8 free gigs I have on my iPod to store all the images (with a 6 megapixel camera, it's really easy to fill up all your memory sticks/flash/etc - not so easy when you have a half-empty iPod at your disposal!).

Just noticed....

2004-04-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

When I checked out the blog to make sure that everything was looking alright, there was a freakin google ad for the Republican National Committee. Not cool.

I know, I'm not paying for this blog, but would it hurt for them to give us the option to filter political ads?

Of course, by actually typing the words "Republican National Committe" in my blog, I've just upped the chances of the ad staying on my site. Oh well.

Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee Democratic National Committee

Worth a try, no?

Thoughts for a late Wednesday night (or early Thursday morning)

2004-04-29T01:49:00.000-07:00

-Finally got the new cat door installed. Not sure if our she's figured out how to use it...once she gets in the room, she just stares out the clear door at us, and her brother (who isn't allowed in the room due to his new urinary tract related diet restrictions).

-Free songs every week now at iTunes. Gotta love that! Now I'm just hoping that they won't suck...

-My back has been out since Friday. Finally broke out the tiger balm and vicodin today (makes life just a bit easier, if a bit smellier). The Missus was nice enough to give me a nice massage. I just hope it's better by Saturday for the whole vacation thingy.

-The Missus has put together a three page document for her brother about what needs to be done while he apartment-sits for us.

-No major movement on the job front. I sent an email expressing my interest in the job that will pay me real money. Got a call from the job that wouldn't pay me real money - they're still deciding who they want to hire, and I'm still in the running, but they're going to pass my resume on to some other interested parties. I appreciate them doing this, but it does make me question how much they want me...

-My Dad (who isn't really a recreational reader like the rest of my family) always asks me to suggest a couple of books for him to read whenever we go on vacation. I'm still debating what I'll give him for our trip to Maui. I'm seriously considering turning him on to Chuck Palahniuk. Maybe that sort of system shock will get him in a reading mood...?

-Giving medicine to a cat orally is a very weird and difficult activity. Luckily, my sick kitty is a pretty laid back dude, and takes it very well.

Kerry's campaign

2004-04-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

I'll admit, I am pretty plugged in as far as this whole election thing goes...I did work for the Howard Dean campaign after all. Over the last few weeks, I've started to feel like the Kerry campaign has started to lose focus (which was so nicely provided by Howard, but that's another story). Maybe he just thinks that Bush is so evil that beating him should be easy...I'm not sure (and let's face it, a lot of people worship the ground Bush walks on - I don't know many of them, but they have to exist in order for him to be president).

I have heard very little from the Kerry campaign, and what I have heard has been horribly uninspiring. Unless he starts lighting fires soon, this whole thing is probably over for the dems. Which brings me to this article in the Village Voice, which pretty much sums up how I feel right now.

I can't deal with another four years of Bush. He just scares the hell out of me. I want a dem to win, but I'm beginning to seriously doubt Kerry's ability to stand up and call Bush out. As one of my poker buddies said, it's time for the gloves to come off - Kerry has to go on the offensive and attack Bush politically an personally (lord knows, the GOP has been hammering on Kerry personally ever since he became the "presumptive nominee"). Bush has done so many atrocious and stupid things - all Kerry has to do is prove it to the public, and change the debate in this country. I'm worried that he won't be able to, and it scares me to death.

How does this help?

2004-04-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Bush and Cheney are going to talk with the 9/11 commission, but they refuse to be sworn-in, and no recordings of the meeting will be made (although members of the commission can take notes). Oh yeah, and it's a closed-doors deal. How does this help the American people? Why won't they agree to be sworn in? Why won't they allow their words to be recorded? Why do they have to do this together? What are they trying to hide? None of this makes any sense, and it's making me lose what little respect I ever had for Dubya.

Damn the cat door!

2004-04-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

So we've decided to put in a cat door to the den. We're doing this so that the non-sick cat will have access to their old (and much cheaper) food, which she prefers anyway. We're dropping $20 on a new interior door (have to store the old one for when we leave the apartment), and $60 on an electromagnetic cat door, which will let only the non-sick cat in (because she'll be wearing a special magnetic collar). If all this sounds like we're going overboard, you have to realize that the food that our sick cat has to eat for the rest of his life costs over $1/can. Doesn't sound like much, but when you're talking about two cats you are looking at spending anywhere from $60-$120 on food per month. If we can get the non-sick cat to eat her own food, we can save at least $30/month. The whole experiment will pay itself off in 2-3 months. It gets even better when you add in the fact that our sick cat is generally too aggressive for our non-sick cat's taste, and I'm sure that we'll see her spending much of her time in her own little room.

I called PetSmart yesterday about the cat door I wanted, and they said they had it. By the time we made it up there, they had sold the only one they had. I'm having to run all the way up to their Lynnwood store today to pick it up. I could pick it up at our vet, but they want $75. At this point I'm happy to save $15. Afterwards I went to Home Depot with Dad to buy the interior door. My measurements were off, so we had to manually drill out the holes for the doorknob and the latch. Would've been done yesterday, except Dad's cordless drill decided to poop out on him. He's coming over tonight with his non-cordless drill, and we'll get it taken care of tonight.

Cleaning the house like mad for our kitty-sitters. Good times. Can't wait for Maui on Saturday!

Caligula, and The Missus' cat

2004-04-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

So a while back we were talking about movies at work, and someone brought up Caligula. They claimed it was "the most disturbing movie" they've ever seen, and were telling me that they weren't able to get through the whole movie, and they didn't know anyone else who had. Needless to say, I jumped on Netflix, and moved it to the top of my list. Finally watched it today with my two best friends, and while it is a very weird movie (Stimpy referred to it as "a normal movie with scenes of freaky sex thrown in every once in a while"), I honestly didn't think it was that messed up. There were definitely disturbing aspects to the movie, and some very nasty scenes, but it wasn't as gut-wrenching or disgusting as my co-workers made it out to be. The only major surprise for me was that Netflix had it in the first place. I didn't think Netflix carried porn, and this definitely ranked as porn.

Am I weird? One of the highlights to my day was the fact that The Missus' cat used the litterbox, and didn't appear to really struggle! He had us worried there for a bit (and after dropping $1500 in the last week, the last thing I wanted be was worried!). He seems to be doing okay, and we're going above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that he stays that way.

Cat's still at the vet, Interview and Job Update!

2004-04-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

Word from the vet today, The Missus' kitty was peeing on his own, but was struggling mightily to do so. They'll keep him tonight, but there would have to be a very compelling reason for me not to take him home tomorrow (with a case of his $1/can food - which is all he'll ever be able to eat for the rest of his life! Oh well. I know The Missus will be tickled pink to have him back. I know I'll be tickled pink to pay his multiple, hefty vet bills. Haven't gotten any sweet lovin's since the cat's been gone - The Missus has been so broken up about the whole situation. Hopefully bringing back the cat will bring back my pussy (if you'll please excuse my french).

Interview today went ok. I definitely didn't hit it out of the park (but that very well could've been the interviewer's fault - I think he might've been looking for something different....won't know for sure until next week). Afterwards I did get a great job lead from one of my poker buddies, who then bcc:ed me on her email to the person who's hiring. I owe her some sushi after reading the glowing things she wrote about me! Job #1 (which I interviewed for today) is a better fit for my long-term career aspirations, but would pay very little, and be horribly stressful - Job #2 would pay 3 or 4 times better than Job #1, be in the same general field (although not aimed as precisely towards my career goals), and is something I could definitely do.

Both jobs have crappy hours. I'm working in the evenings right now, and would love to have my evenings back again - Job #1 would be a billion hours a week - so assume that nights are shot - Job #2 would be a 1pm-10pm gig (most of the time), so my evening would be just about as shot as it is now. Not sure which way I'm going to go on this one. Depends what I hear next week from Job #1 I guess, or how quickly the people at Job #2 get in touch with me. Lord knows, with the vet bills coming in, Job #2 is starting to look very attractive right now. The Missus loves the prospect of me actually pulling in more than her for the first time in over a year....I kind of like the idea myself.

Is it just me...

2004-04-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

or is The West Wing getting way too topic based, and leaving it's character driven roots? Tonight's episode just didn't quite grab me. Smallville was alright though.

Now I'm going to sleep. Big interview at 11:00 tomorrow, and I'll probably be picking up my cat in the afternoon. Good times. Nothing makes me happier than driving with an angry cat in the car. Nothing I tell you!

Hopefully my friends know what they're saying

2004-04-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Went to my weekly poker game last night, and asked my friends there (who helped get me the interview tomorrow) if I should get rid of the sideburns and goatee. Pretty much they all said "No". I hope they're right. Started out with $2.00, left with $2.66. Not a bad night of poker (started out slow, but won big going all-in - such a great way to start a comeback!).

The Missus' kitty is still at the vet. They removed his catherter this morning, and there is a chance we can have him home tonight (and start feeding both our cats $1 a can food for the rest of their lives! Yay!).

I'm attending my first city council meeting tonight. I play Ultimate (frisbee), and we need more fieldspace. There is one really good place to build it (and it's been vetted by the Parks Dept), but the neighbors are a bunch of NIMBYs in the worst way, and are using all their political capital and money to put the kibosh on this thing moving forward. These same people wanted to stop the very popular and well-used Burke-Gilman Trail from going through their neighborhood fercryinoutloud! It looked a year ago as if passing this through council wouldn't be a problem, but then a new council got elected, and it seems as if Jean Godden (freshman councilmember and former columnist for the Seattle P-I) lives in the problematic neighborhood, and is siding with the neighbors. I also have the feeling that the other newbies are scared by the amount of correspondence they're receiving about the topic (apparently both sides flooded their email inboxes with over 30,000 emails combined), and want to go forward in the traditional "Seattle Way" (which means lots of process, with very little progress). I love this city, but sometimes it really pisses me off.

Decent night at work...

2004-04-20T00:24:00.000-07:00

My night at work was going very slowly (and I can't say that my mood was high with my cat still at the vet, and the bills climbing quickly), until I noticed a message on my cell phone. It was from a job that I really wanted, and they wanted to interview me! I'll call them tomorrow morning and get that set up! I can't speak too much about the job, but let's just say that it's exactly what I want and need (professionally) right now. The Missus supports me, even though she realizes that it may mean not really seeing me for quite some time (the hours for this job are ridiculous, and the pay usually isn't so great....but the contacts and experience are invaluable). Right after I heard that message, my productivity at work jumped up. Very nice.

Then I get home, and the Mariners are ahead 1-0 going into the top of the 9th inning....and a fan gets her glove in the way of Ichiro trying to catch a Jermaine Dye fly ball. She single-handedly turns it into a home run, and we have a tied ballgame. This went on until the bottom of the 14th inning, with the Mariners finally prevailing. Seems like their season is turning around, but there were signs to the contrary. The relief pitching allowed the Athletics to fill the bases three consecutive innings (luckily they weren't able to convert any of those opportunities into a run), and the Mariners weren't able to score with the bases loaded 2 or 3 straight innings also.

The ballgame ended in the weirdest possible way. The Mariners had Quentin McCracken on third and Bret Boone on 1st. The A's pitcher faked to third, then threw to first. Problem is, his leading foot never went toward third base, but rather went towards home. The first base umpire called a balk, and both runners advanced giving the Mariners the win. Crappy way to lose, but after 14 innings, none of the Mariners were going to complain about it as a way to win.

Very little sleep last night....

2004-04-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Had to wake up early to get the cat from the emergency vet, and transport him to the regular vet. Had to sign off on another set of estimates. This cat had better start doing some chores around here, otherwise I'm not sure how he's going to pay this off! ;)

Wasn't able to get a good nap (probably 20 minutes). The Missus is going to visit the cat after she gets off work tonight. She's pretty broken up over the whole thing. She'll be okay once the cat's back in the house (in another day or three).

So many things happening all at once...

2004-04-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

So I'm supposed to go out drinking with a couple of friends last night (seeing as today was my birthday and all), and before the first drop of alcohol is consumed, I get a call from The Missus. Apparently her cat is acting lethargic, and can't pee - not even on her sweater. The thing that got her to call me was the fact that she pulled out treats, and he didn't even move.... So she called the Emergency Vet, and they said that if his urinary tract was blocked, it could be life threatening - I dropped everything and we took him in. Sure enough, his little kitty wee-wee was blocked up. They catherderized him (is that even a word?) and pumped fluids into him. He had to spend two nights, and tomorrow morning I get to wake up really early, in time to pick him up by 7:30am, and get him to his normal vet by 8:00, catherder still in place. All told, this cat's pee-pee problems are easily going to cost us over a grand. Just peachy, especially with us going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks. Thank god for savings accounts and credit cards! ;)

Went to two birthday parties today, one for a local politico who I'm trying to get in good with, and another for me. Turned a quarter century today. Good times. Had family and friends over at my parent's place. Had ribs. Had German chocolate cake. Best gift - a t-shirt from my two best friends which reads: "Daddy Likey". Very good times.

Not sure if our other cat (my cat) is acting lovey because her brother is gone (sometimes he really buggs the hell out of her), or if she's acting that way because she's lonely. I guess I'll know tomorrow when I bring him home, and see her reaction to his return.

Friday night ramblings

2004-04-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

Blah #1
Finally caught Showbiz Moms and Dads on Bravo today (it was on right after Twins). These people should be locked up. These poor kids will never understand what it's like to have a normal childhood...and most of these kids won't make it big, which makes the loss of their childhood that much worse. I wonder what kind of behavior can be attributed to kids who grew up in this kind of environment? It's obvious to me that most celebrities (especially the child variety - just look at Michael Jackson and Macaulay Culkin) are stunted in some way. I just hope that the kids on this show either make it real big, or they somehow magically turn out normal and well-adjusted.

Blah #2
Slow week at work....means small paycheck on Thursday. Everything considered, me and The Missus are doing a-okay. We'll be doing super-duper once I land a real job - and I have a feeling that it will happen soon.

Blah #3
The lasagne from The Lasagne Party was damn good. Not as good as my mamma's, but damn tasty (and better than whatever I would've made for myself).

Blah #4
As a long-time Seattle Mariner fan, I've known the pain of having a .200 team - but it's been so long I'd almost forgotten what it felt like - until today. There's too much talent on that team to be playing so poorly, and if I know Seattle sports fans (and I like to think I do, since I've been one since I was born) they won't deal with this too well. If this goes on much longer (even just another week or two) the fans will drop the team faster than you can say "Ichiro". This town demands winners (or at least contenders), and ignores teams that don't show a pulse (note the anemic Sonic ticket sales the past couple of seasons). Lord knows the city's put enough blood, sweat and tears into these teams (as well as lots and lots of tax-payer $$) - now we want a championship. Last one of those was in 1979 - I was a baby, Jimmy Carter was President, and Arnold Schwartzenegger was a body builder.

Blah #5
Goodnight.

Lasagne Party?

2004-04-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought my wife couldn't get any weirder, she's having over two of her best friends, and her brother's girlfriend over for a lasagne-making party.

On the up-side, I won't have to worry about food for the next day or two.

I have found something lazier than me....

2004-04-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

...and it is my two cats. I woke up a couple of days ago (around 9 or 10), went about my buisness for the day, and then got ready to go to work (right now I start work sometime between 4:00 and 5:00pm - so I leave my house around 3:30-4:00) - and both of my lazy-ass cats hadn't moved the entire day since I work up.

Amazing. I need to be a cat in my next life...

Couple of things:

2004-04-15T02:15:00.000-07:00

- you need to check out 20Q.net, it blows my mind (and sucks away more sleep than it should).

- a lot of the good logons at blogspot are out of circulation. Check out daysofmylife if you don't believe me. Blogspot really should figure out a way to release old, barely used usernames. Would make it a lot easier to find something you like.

Hope you did your taxes - cause if you didn't, you really shouldn't be here reading this.