Adventures in My Mind
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May 27, 2004
Wow! A week since my last post. What the hell am I thinking?
I'm thinking I wish that our network at work didn't block Blogger that's what! I used to love posting at work. Don't worry all you former hall monitors, I never posted when there was work to be done. Any free moment would do, as posting usually takes no more than 15 minutes.
Now, however, I can't do that - on company time or otherwise. In attempting to get to Blogger, my screen displays ACCESS DENIED! in a very big, very red font. Of course, I could request permission to view (which I've done with several work-related sites that were inexplicably blocked) but I don't think that would fly.
So I'm left to only being able to post at home. And of course, by the time I get home, I don't feel very witty, pithy, political, satiric, talkative, motivated, or anything else necessary to make a good post.
In other news ...
- Check out Mr. Green's site for the Glen(n) video.
- One Drummer has a detailed schedule for the Republican National Convention
On a side note, three cheers for John Kerry's decision to actually accept his party's nomination at his party's convention ... in his hometown no less. What a novel concept! And heavy jeers for even considering the idea of postponing his acceptance just so that he could raise more money. He has contributed yet another reason why he guaranteed to lose to W in November. In the immortal words of Police Chief O'Hara, "Saints preserve us!"
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 6:20 PM
May 20, 2004
Nick Berg's Killing: 50 Fishy Circumstances, Contradictory Claims, and Videotape Anomalies from kuro5hin.org
Conspiracy theories are often not worth the breath expended to pass them on. This one is probably no different. I always struggle with posting anything relating to conspiracies on this site.
Usually I cave, though, and post them anyway, if only to send the cockroaches of ignorance and paranoia scurrying when the light of public discourse is shone upon them.
Do you have a favorite conspiracy? JFK? Roswell? The Appollo Moon Landings? The Rosicrucians? The Masons? (Two of my favorites, BTW) The Bilderberg Group? The Illuminati?
Whatever it is the Nick Berg Beheading Conspiracy might just rank up there with some of the best. For some reason, it seems to be gaining a core of believers despite there being not a shred of evidence to support any of its points.
Oh, well. When has reality ever interfered with the truth and why should it start now.
Mr. Green, you may post your comments now ...
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 10:28 PM
May 16, 2004
Two Goth Kiddies saved our bacon ...
The battery in our van decided to die Friday night, stranding us in a parking lot in North Versailles. Luckily, a young man who just happened to be an auto mechanic student pulled up beside us. In his car was a brand new auto safety kit, complete with flares, yield signs, a flashlight, and, yes, jumper cables.
It didn't work, however. The van's engine and battery were much more powerful than his Buick Century. The van just could pull enough amps to turn over. We contented ourselves using the 800 number from his AAA card.
Our membership expired 2 years ago, but you can join over the phone and receive same day service -- for a $25 service charge of course. After billing $70 to the credit card a tow truck was dispatched. Reason? Dead battery, possible tow. We were assured that the truck was running on time and would be there within the hour.
Have you ever waited in a parking lot, in a broken down vehicle, with a 4 year old and a two year old and a 9 month pregnant wife, after bed time for everyone? May I recommend that you don't. Actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. Everyone handled the situation very well. Just don't try it yourself as results may vary.
After waiting an hour there was no tow truck in sight. Another call to AAA told us that the truck would be arriving sometime between 13 and 19 past the hour. Rather specific, huh? Well, at 18 minutes past the hour our driver pull up in front of us and hooks up the jumpers.
It worked.
Our next course of action was to drive straight to the Wal-Mart across the street and buy a battery for me to install the next morning. And we did. While selecting the battery, Sami calls me to tell me that the van had died again. The jump wasn't enough to keep it running. So now the job was to buy a battery and the appropriate tools to make the replacement in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
It is now nearly two hours after bedtime.
While purchasing my mini mechanics kit, I couldn't help but notice two Goth kids doing their shopping. He: tall, thin, pale, head to toe in black, shaved eyebrows, Frankenstein boots. She: pale, several thick layers of green eye shadow, hair teased to bewildering heights, micro mini skirt, stockings with little PVC bows, also Frankenstein boots. Not the average couple seen walking through a Wal-Mart late on a Friday night; but, hey, it's Wal-Mart.
I didn't have the right tools for the job. Well, I did, but the extraneous piece of frame positioned just above the positive battery terminal made it impossible for me to get the really cool crescent wrench in their to loosen the nut.
Back into the store for more tools.
Out again with a small closed-end wrench set. A 1/2" wrench fit the nut that held the battery in place. No problem. The terminals, however, were another story. 3/8", too small. 7/16", too big. It was around this time that I realized that the terminal connectors were metric. I had no metric wrenches. I prepared myself for yet another run into the auto department.
It was then that the same Goth Kiddies I noticed in the store came out to there car, which happened to be the one facing us. They saw the hood open and me hovering over the battery trying to maintain my cool over the half metric half standard sizes of the nuts and bolts in this little procedure.
They asked if everything was OK and if we needed any help.
I appreciated the gesture but couldn't for the life of me figure how they could help. "No, thanks," I said. "I'm just trying to change this battery with the wrong tools."
A few more minutes pass as they load their car and I try to jam the much too big crescent wrench between the battery and the extraneous piece of framework that Chrysler seemed to have installed strictly for my torture.
Finally, the Goth Boy - who looked much like Marilyn Manson without the makeup - walks up to me and says, "Are sure you don't need anything? She (gesturing to the Goth Girl) has a whole trunk full of tools."
Too easy I thought.
"Really? I need a #9 or #10 metric wrench."
"She's probably got it. She's got everything back there."
"Yeah, let's take a look and see what I have," she says.
I walk over to the car. It is filled with every type of Goth accessory, fast food detritus, and empty box of Marlboros imaginable. The numerous statues and action figures glued to the dash were my favorite. It was a macabre grouping of Catechism meets Todd McFarlane.
Goth Girl popped the trunk and handed me the tool kit from inside. I opened it to find the metric wrench I needed plus a standard 1/2" nutdriver to loosen the battery lock. Within 10 minutes the batteries have been switched and the van is powered up and running as good as new.
It was right about then that I started to feel a little sheepish for dismissing the help of Goth Kiddies the first time they asked. But, c'mon. How can you blame me. Would you think that a couple of youngsters dressed like vampires on their way to a rave would be able to supply with the exact tools you needed to change your car battery? I certainly didn't.
I replaced the tools and handed them back to Goth Boy. "Thank you very much," I said.
"No problem," he replies. "She's amazing."
Quite, I thought, while getting into the van.
Sami turns to me and says, "If you don't blog that, I will."
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 9:39 AM
May 10, 2004
A scene in a car on Oliver Way between Grant Street and William Penn Way:
A young woman reclines in the driver seat. Her arms lay crossed on the headrest behind her head. Long, curly strawberry blonde hair flows over her shoulders onto her rythmically rising and falling breasts. The lettering on the contoured gray t-shirt is obscured. There is an unmistakeable look of pleasure on her face. Sweat has broken out on her forehead.
Beside her is a young man with a look of intense concentration. He leans toward her from the passenger seat, hovering just above her right shoulder. His right arm, extended across himself and into the young woman's lap, is a flurry of motion. He moves in closer almost touching her ear with his mouth. His arm moves faster.
They are oblivious to passersby. Either accidently or intentionally -- who can say -- they have started something that will be finished in moments ... maybe.
He continues to work his hand between her thighs. She arches her back and moves her hips forward granting further access. He obliges and reaches deeper bringing greater pleasure. Her silent moan is clear through the glass window.
I walk past their vehicle and see no more.
Welcome to the Big City!
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 9:28 PM
May 5, 2004
From Wired.com
Michael Moore, the feisty filmmaker who has a way of upsetting the corporate mandarins who rule America, is currently chief leper at Disney. The company is refusing to let its Miramax subsidiary release Moore's latest documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, which, among other things, links President Bush with some powerful Saudi families, including the bin Ladens. Aside from a terse "Miramax will not be distributing the film," Disney is clamming up. Meanwhile, Fahrenheit 9/11 will be making its debut this month at the Cannes Film Festival, where more enlightened attitudes prevail.Michael Moore is a grandstanding, self-important, media whore who cares more about his fame than the underrepresented people he supposedly cares so much for. Disney's actions, however, are utterly deplorable.
Since the media conglomerates have been taking a whipping by our hand-wringing Congress Critters, Disney has clearly calculated that they should be nice to the Bushies and shelve Moore's much less than flattering movie. Obviously a continued relaxation of media ownership rules would hugely benefit the Mouse. And things such as a controversial film by a media gadfly are nothing but roadblocks to that end. The Bush administration will likely find some way handsomely reward this act of cowardice by Eisner et al.
0 Comments | Link to this post posted by Teddy 6:46 PM
