This collection of entries is from October 2002.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Survivor Thailand - Episode 7
"Assumptions"
This week, both tribes receive body paint in 5 different colors. Each member chooses a color and paints themselves however they want, and then show up at a meeting with Jeff. Since both tribes received the same colors, like-colored people are paired off to spend the day with each other - Shii Ann and Clay, Penny and Brian, Erin and Ted, Ken and Helen, and Jake and Jan. Two groups also have special instructions - Shii Ann and Clay visit Chuay Ghan camp and Ken and Helen visit Sook Jai. At the end of the afternoon, everyone meets back together. Jeff tells then that there is going to be something different happening - "The two tribes will live together on one beach" The four people that went on visits chose to live on Chuay Ghan beach. The tribes walk there and are greeted by a nice bread,brie, apple and wine feast and party hard into the night. They now call themselves "Chuay Jai". Time for the immunity challenge (As they leave, "Magilla" the monkey, raids the camp for food!) When the group arrives at the challenge, Jeff asks Erin how the first night went. Erin, in her response, says the word "merge". Jeff says "You said merge. I never said merge" And sure enough! It's still tribe versus tribe, living together on the same beach!!! The challenge is a Prison Break that Chuay Ghan wins. The Tribal Council for Sook Jai is long, with a lot of discussion about division, loyalty and information sharing. In the end, Shii Ann Huang, the 28-year-old Executive Recruiter from New York gets the unanimous vote to leave.
posted at 08:03 PM | Link | Survivor § |
Halloween
Halloween was actually a bit more quiet than usual this year. perhaps the cold temperatures kept kids away. Only a few cool costumes this year. The thing that struck me this year was that many of the kids were very polite and even said "Happy Halloween" when leaving. The tote board for today: 79 kids. We usually have over 100 (and yes, we actually count every kid).
posted at 06:54 PM | Link | Mundane § |
A little bit of talk, a little bit of writingTalked to the headhunter today. The conversation was short but pleasant. He's EMailing me a short questionare that I have to fill out.
posted at 02:51 PM | Link | Job Search § |
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Amazing Race 3 - Episode 5
"What Happens If I Slip? Am I Just Hanging Off A Cliff?"
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Teams leave the Torre de Belem, looking for "the western most point of continental Europe" - Cabo da Roca, just 22 miles away. The Detour at Cabo - Ropes or Slopes. In Ropes, teams take a shuttle bus to the top of the Ursa Cliffs and repel 300 feet down to the shoreline below. Slopes is hiking down, a longer and more demanding walk than the quick repelling. Aaron & Arianne get there first. When Flo & Zach get there, Flo starts to seriously freak out over the repelling, crying hysterically as she goes over the edge. She gives up, and they go on their hike. After successfully completing the task, the next segment is to drive 250 miles to Algeciras, Spain, to take a ferry to Tangier, Morocco. The big screwup actually come on the drive to Algeciras, when teams had to fuel-up at a gas station. The problem was that the trucks they were driving were diesel trucks. Aaron & Arianne (who are in the lead), Teri & Ian, Michael & Kathy, and Flo & Zach all fill-up with unleaded gasoline. All break down on the side of the road, everybody handles the situation differently (F&Z get a tow truck and get it fixed quickly, T&I pull the fuel line and drain the tank, A&A get help by the police.) Michael & Kathy, however, check into a 4-star hotel and spend the night, have the car towed to a Mitsubishi dealer, and just wait for the verdict. When finally in Tangier, the teams have to find the Viajes Flandria Travel Agency and book a ride on charter buses to Fez, to the Old City. Next: Roadblock. A team member runs through a marketplace known for its leather. Find a tannery that has 25 vats of "foul smelling dye". The clues are hidden in only three vats. The clues (when finally found), have to take a marked vehicle and drive across town to this leg's Pit Stop - Borj Nord Fortress. Team #1 was The Brothers Ken & Gerard. They also each won a Kodak EasyShare digital camera "that can be enjoyed after the race". They were followed by Andre & Damon and Derek & Drew, and then John Vito & Jill and Flo & Zach step on the mat together (something we haven't seen this year). Because of their delays, Michael & Kathy arrive last and are eliminated from the race. Next show: Road to Marrakesh. (Country Music Awards next week.)
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:06 PM | Link | Reality TV § |
More interestThat headhunter from yesterday left me voice mail tonight and wants me to call about the position. At least I got a call, so that shows a bit on an interest.
posted at 07:22 PM | Link | Job Search § |
Darrian Chapman
Chicago lost a sportscaster today. Darrian Chapman at NBC5 died from a massive heart attack at age 37 before playing at his weekly hockey game. He was a gregarious guy on air, and you can tell how much he loved sports and how much he loved the city. It was a shock to a lot of the sports people in town.
posted at 06:15 PM | Link | TV § |
They're changin'
Looks like the leaves are starting to finally turn in the neighborhood (I can see it starting while looking at my WeatherCam). Chelby should be here any minute - We're going over some things that we need for her website.
posted at 11:00 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Glad that's over...Just finished going back over my blogging entries to add titles and categories to over 730 entries. Too tedious, but I really wanted to do it. Now I just have to think about some Moveable Type designs for the blog.
posted at 10:34 AM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
A strirring in The Force...Out of the blue, I received an EMail from a headhunter today. I had contacted them back at the end of July. They have a permanent position opening up and wanted to know what kind of money I was looking for. I thought it was odd, in this crappy job environment, to have somebody remember my resume. Let's see how this goes - I've been down this road before.
posted at 05:16 PM | Link | Job Search § |
Monday, October 28, 2002
Nigerian 419 FraudThere's an interesting article at The Slate - The Nigerian Nightmare - on the subject of an EMail I received this morning: Fraud. In fact, this Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. There is info about this at the U.S. Secret Service Financial Crimes Division website, and at the 419 Coalition Website.
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Mon, 28 Oct 2002 06:02:18 -0800
From: "BARRISTER ALI KOLOMA"
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 15:02:55
Subject: PRIVATE ASSISTANCE
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Return-Path: koloma@hknetmail.com
Message-ID:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 28 Oct 2002 14:02:20.0303 (UTC) FILETIME=[A1AFB9F0:01C27E8A]
From: BARRISTER ALI KOLOMA [mailto:koloma@hknetmail.com]
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 3:03 PM
Subject: PRIVATE ASSISTANCE
ATTN:PRESIDENT/CEO
Sir,
VERY CONFIDENTIAL
first I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. I came to know of you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this confidential transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money. I am the Attorney to Mohammed Abacha whose father Lt.Gen. Sani Abacha died sometime in 1998 in mysterious circumstance as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My client who is still in detention for fraudulent activities, which he committed during his father s reign desperately, needs a foreign partner into whose account he will transfer the sum of $32m USD (Thirty-two million united states dollars). This money is safely deposited in a security company here in Lagos before his detention. My client whose family properties have been seized and bank accounts frozen by the present Civilian Government cannot afford to loose this money, which he ho! pes to! start a new life whenever he is released from detention. We have agreed to offer you 30% of the whole money, 60% for us and 10%for any eventual expenses.There is no risk involved in this transaction. Every arrangement has been concluded with the security company that as soon as you give me your positive response to this request, the money will be moved out of the country within 3-5 days.
please reply through e-mail or call on my private line 234-802-3049565
I waiting to hear from you.
BARRISTER ALI KOLOMA
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posted at 04:00 PM | Link | Nigerian 419 Fraud § |
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Angels World Champs
The Angels win the World Series 4-1. A great series - nice and tight, give and take. Fox had a great shot of Giants manager Dusty Baker's 3½-year-old son Darren in the dugout - crying. Theis World Series was the first time two Wild Card teams played each other. As for Anaheim, they've never won the Series in their history. Last year, Anaheim was 41 games out!
posted at 10:21 PM | Link | Baseball § |
Moveable Type - a big nut to crackI've spent most of the weekend going over my blog entries in Moveable Type to add titles and categories to the entries. VERY laborious. I'm still worried about how MT is probably going to force a few things on me regarding naming of files and directories. I'm thinking it's not very forgiving. I'm not any closer to converting this blog to MT. I'm on my way, but it's not going to be quick and easy.
posted at 09:28 PM | Link | Blogging § |
SquanderedOK, let's see a show of hands... everybody who didn't use the time change to get an extra hour of sleep, raise your hand... (raises hand...)
posted at 07:31 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Fall Back!!!Whooo Hoooo! A 25-hour day! I love today for that reason. I hate today because it gets dark so damn early.
posted at 02:00 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Saturday, October 26, 2002
Another Lazy SaturdayA nice lazy Saturday - exactly what Carol needs. We spent the day watching the Breeders Cup from Arlington Park. It was great hearing so many people say how great the facility is. Too bad it was cloudy and cold - the place looks beautiful in the sun. A new event record was set for All Sources Handle for the Breeders' Cup - $115,523,156. $13,568,233 was handled just at Arlington. There were 6 winners of the Breeders' Cup Ultra Pick 6, all purchased at Catskill OTB in upstate New York, with a payout of $428,392. Wow.
Just as the Breeders' Cup Classic was getting underway, paramedics pulled up at the house behind us. We never see fire department equipment in the neighborhood. Never. Looks like they took the homeowner away on a backboard with his head braced. I have no idea what happened.
Watched pieces of the World Series, Trading Spaces, and the Chicago Wolves hockey game on CLTV tonight, all at the same time (I love my remote). Wolves lost in overtime. Angels came-back and forced a Game 7. The jury is still out on Hilda Santo-Tomas (I think it was 1-1 tonight with Hildi - the huge dot portrait and the tall coffee table in Philadelphia: East Avenue just didn't work for me, but the kid's bedroom with the climbing wall and tent in Virginia: Gentle Heights Court was way cool)
posted at 10:35 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, October 25, 2002
Love... exciting and new...This sunday, the Pacific Princess - the original "Love Boat" - after 27 years of service, sails for the final time. It was introduced in 1975 and carried 640 passengers - "intimate" by today's standard of about 2,500. While in duty, she carried about 600,000 passengers on crusies for Princess Cruises. The Love Boat was only on the air at ABC for 9 years.
A new Pacific Princess is set to sail next year throughout French Polynesia and the wider Pacific region.
posted at 09:21 AM | Link | Odd § |
Friday 5 - Halloween
Time for another Friday Five...
1. What is your favorite scary movie? Has to be my first - The Exorcist
2. What is your favorite Halloween treat? Hmmm. to me the definitive Halloween treat is Candy Corn.
3. Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume. I don't dress. I don't go to Halloween Parties. Not my "scene".
4. Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events? Nope. In general, I don't enjoy Halloween.
5. Will you dress up for Halloween this year? Nope.
posted at 09:02 AM | Link | Friday Five | 1 comment § |
Thursday, October 24, 2002
Survivor Thailand - Episode 6
"Power of One"
read more of this entry »
The men of Chuay Ghan decide to swim to the next island to find their lost boat - they don't find it. This time there's no footage of the boat by the production crew, so it may be actually gone by now. The reward challenge, a game of slingshots shooting balls into the air to be caught by team members using wicker baskets, was won by Sook Jai. They get a feast with music and dancing. The immunity challenge was a game of 21 Flags, and Chuay Gahn won. Now, I've skipped over a lot of things, most of which have to do with Robb - excessive banana eating, arguments, and a final epiphany in the dark after losing the immunity challenge that maybe there was more to life than a paycheck. Apparently, the tribe thought that now that he has finally grown-up, it's time to send the boy home. By unanimous vote, Sook Jai votes 23-year-old Bartender (and skateboarder) Robb Zbacnik from Scottsdale, AZ off the island. Next week: Time to merge the tribes - or is it??? « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:11 PM | Link | Survivor § |
My eyes are burning...I have been glued to CNN all day... it's been simultaneously rivetting, gut wrenching, astonishing, and confusing to watch everything unfold with John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, and how it all unfolded coast-to-coast. Let's all pray the terror is over... and all I want to know is "Why?!?!?"
posted at 12:56 PM | Link | Current Events § |
The Mole?Happy Mole Day, everyone! Oh, wait... it doesn't have to do with the ABC Reality TV show... it's about moles... Avogadro's Number, not the animals. It's about chemistry... see, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule... umm... nevermind...
posted at 06:02 AM | Link | Odd § |
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Amazing Race 3 - Episode 4
"Did You See How I Stopped It? With My Face!"
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The teams leave Dunnottar Castle to walk a mile and a half to Stonehaven harbor to find a message in a bottle - a bottle of Port. So, now it's from Aberdeen to London. The Twins Derek & Drew and brothers Ken & Gerard are off to Cologne (and then had trouble with a Lufthansa flight out of Cologne, yet were able to get the flight held for them). Everyone now heads to Porto in Portugal, to the Cálem Port Lodge. The lodge has a Detour - Old School or New School - Old school is delivering one barrel (weighing 90 lbs.) of port on boat that needs to be paddled (oared) to one restaurant in town. New school loads crates of bottles onto trucks to deliver 3 crates to 3 restaurants in town (ouch - dropped crates and broken bottles, not to mention the Legal Eagles Heather & Eve hitting a pole with their truck). The next leg is to take a train to Lisbon and get to Gate F at the Estadio do Restelo Soccer Stadium. At the train station in Porto, all of the teams bunch-up and take the same train. There's a mad dash to the stadium via cabs. The Brothers get there first for the leg's Roadblock. A team member has to go into a goal and block a penalty kick from a teenage Portuguese soccer player. Upon blocking the shot, the team must walk one and a half miles to the Torre de Belem, the Pit Stop of the leg. Between the cab rides and the soccer stadium, the teams get really juggled around. The Legal Eagles, however, take a cab and get there first. The Brothers get there second, The Twins get there fourth. (Did you notice Phil didn't say "you are Team Number n" but instead said "you are the n'th team to arrive" to each team?) Somehow, Teri & Ian get there 6th. The last team to arrive on the mat is Aaron & Arianne... wait! It's fading to black! Oh, Oh... Heather & Eve are walking through a dorway and they look sick. They're followed by Aaron & Arianne. It's a sit-down meeting with Phil Keoghan. Phill tells Heather & Eve that they didn't follow the directions for the last clue (walk, not cab to the Torre de Belem) thus saving at least 7 minutes of time. They are penalized the 7 minutes, as well as the mandatory 30 minute penalty for not performing the task correctly. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal... but all of the teams made it to Torre de Belem within 31 minutes of each other, so the 37 penalty minutes means that Heather & Eve are ELIMINATED!!! Next week: a bawling Flo on the cliffs of Portugal, gasoline in a diesel truck's tank, and no brakes!
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 09:05 PM | Link | Reality TV § |
The journey begins...I'm starting the long journey of moving my blog from Blogger Pro to Moveable Type, thanks to a jump-start from Quinn. The biggest problem I'm running into is trying to incorporate MT into my existing website (which is more than just a blog, which MT seems to assume). I'm importing my Blogger entries now - it's taking quite some time (730 entries). So PLEASE be patient with me over the next week or so as I start moving things over, a piece or tool at a time.
posted at 02:17 PM | Link | Blogging § |
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Damn sniper...Another killing, another murder today in Virginia. And the kicker is that the police have received another communique that says "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time". How lovely, ya bastard...
posted at 04:05 PM | Link | Current Events § |
Monday, October 21, 2002
Out to lunch
Had lunch today with my bud Barry. He and Buffy are going to Playa del Carmen in Mexico (actually south of it) this weekend for 5 nights at Gala Resort Playacar, an all inclusive. Sounds like a great time. Had a nice time talking over lunch - wonder what the fortune from my fortune cookie means???
posted at 01:07 PM | Link | Friends § |
Sunday, October 20, 2002
Lightning Fill-In the BlankAt my parent's house for dinner tonight. Dad looked so much better. The nurse says he won't regain the weight he lost, but he's eating up a storm! Listened to Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me! on NPR on the way home (on WBEZ). I love that show, as well as Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? and I still have a soft spot for A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.
posted at 11:03 PM | Link | Mundane § |
The "E" wordposted at 09:32 AM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
Saturday, October 19, 2002
Lazy SaturdayCarol and I did nothing today. We watched TV, caught up on our TiVo viewing, took naps. It was wonderful. It was another sunny, clear day outside, only in the 40's.
posted at 10:19 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Yuck.Woke up this morning and the house still smells. I open up all the doors downstairs - the furnace is on, a breeze is blowing in the front door. The smell is still there.
posted at 09:21 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Smoldering OrvilleI was hungry, and decided to go downstairs and just make a bag of microwave popcorn. No big deal, right? Wrong! I put the popcorn in for the normal length of time and when I opened the microwave, clouds of smoke rushed out. I had significantly burned the popcorn, so much so, that I'm afraid it's actually going to combust. I make sure I know where the fire extinguisher is just in case. The kitchen and family room fill with that acrid smoke. I open the front door and try to air out the house, but nothing works. Crap. We'll never get that smell out...
posted at 01:20 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, October 18, 2002
Wolves 4 - Mighty Ducks 3
So Carol says, "Do you want to go to the hockey game?" Of course, I have to ask "Why?" "So I can get a ring." Oh, jeez. The Wolves are giving out replica Championship Rings to the first 5,000 fans tonight. They're doing it on November 2nd, our next game (we have a 21-game Season Ticket package, and tonight wasn't one of our games), but Carol didn't believe they would give out rings on the 2nd (they are), so we go to the game. (They also are giving out Magnetic Schedules tonight, the same ones we got on opening night). So we get our rings (we have three of them now, one for each championship). They're pretty cool, but they're just not something you'd actually wear out in public. The Wolves play the Ducks again tonight (same as opening night). The teams play a much more disciplined game, but by 10:55 of the second period Frederic Cassivi stopped only 12 of 16 shots and got replaced by Norm Maracle, who stopped all 14 shots that he saw. Steve Maltais had two goals, but the Wolves lose 4-3.
posted at 10:34 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Friday 5 - Television
Time for another Friday Five...
1. How many TVs do you have in your home? There's only two of us in our household, yet there's four TV's.
2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? Since I'm at home, it's from when Carol gets up at 5am until I go to bed after 11pm. Every day.
3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children? Not at all, if it is used correctly and monitored.
4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken? Dramas: West Wing, CSI (original only), The Sopranos. Comedies: none, really. Reality: "Tier one" stuff only - Survivor, Amazing Race, The Mole (when it was on) and not necessarily Big Brother because the Live Feeds where so much more enjoyable.
5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? Wow. Warner Brothers cartoons, quality sitcoms, and quality dramas with an edge. Even though I LOVE reality television, I don't think I'd program it unless there was a new genre that would be a winner.
posted at 09:24 AM | Link | Friday Five | 2 comments § |
Thursday, October 17, 2002
Survivor Thailand - Episode 5posted at 08:08 PM | Link | Survivor § |
Wet mower
Sure enough, it started to rain pretty good - and the lawn service shows up to cut and trim the lawn. Figures.
posted at 04:39 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Coolposted at 03:33 PM | Link | Mundane § |
It works!Well, that took a while - I fixed the layout on my Blog pages. Sorry for the inconvenience.
posted at 01:04 PM | Link | Blogging § |
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Still screwed-upNo change in the screw-up on the layout on my blog pages. I'm still stumped, but will work through it... sorry, folks.
posted at 09:29 PM | Link | Blogging § |
Amazing Race 3 - Episode 3
"You Always Just Forget About Me!"
read more of this entry »
Father and Son Dennis & Andrew drop from Ninth Place to elimination tonight. The teams start from the Diamante K Cabanas in Tulúm, fly 5,500 miles to London, England, and then make their way to Scudamore's Punting Company on the River Cam in Cambridge. Many teams take flights from Cancun to Mexico City, hoping for better connections to England. The Twins, and Michael & Kathy and Aaron & Arianne go via Miami, others go via Paris. At Cambridge is the Detour - Punt 1 mile on the river or Bike on tandem bikes 6 miles through Cambridge. Afterward, the teams take charter buses 350 miles to Aberdeen, Scotland. From Aberdeen, the teams have to take taxis to the Stonehaven to find a route marker in a field. Here's the Roadblock for this leg. Here, a member of the team must compete in 3 events from the Highland Games - Caber Toss, Hammer Throw, and Shot Put. After that, the teams race on foot to the chapel at Dunnottar Castle, the Pit Stop for the leg. In the meantime, Dennis & Andrew get to England a day later than everybody else, so they go for the Fast Forward. They still go to Cambridge, but they go to the Duxford Imperial War Museum and drive a war tank through a battlefield obstacle course. They then go to Dunnottar Castle in a chauffeured Rolls Royce limousine. The Twins arrive at the castle first. Somehow, the limousine didn't help and Dennis & Andrew are the last to arrive. Next week: Portugal.
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posted at 09:09 PM | Link | Reality TV § |
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
Why is my blog over... there???!!!WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY LAYOUT??? Nuts... this is going to take forever to figure out... sorry for the screw up, folks... I'll get it fixed as soon as possible...
posted at 08:40 PM | Link | Blogging | 1 comment § |
Plasticine rules!Cool! Wallace and Gromit are back!!! The BBC has posted the first of ten short Wallace and Gromit short films from Aardman Animations. The series is called "Wallace & Gromit's Cracking Contraptions", and focuses focus on a different invention that Wallace has built to help him around the home (such as The Autochef, The Bully Proof Vest, A Christmas Cardomatic, The Snoozatron, The Snowmanatron, The Turbo Diner, The Tellyscope, Shopper 13, and The 525 Crackervac - and the current one that you can view for free - The Soccamatic). Go! Watch!
posted at 07:09 PM | Link | Entertainment § |
I'm a loserI just did something that I didn't want to have to do. I had just hoped it wouldn't come to this. Being unemployed 16 months is pushing me over the edge and I have no choice.
I sold all my stock in one of my old companies just so that we can survive. I didn't want to do that. It's really screwed-up any hope of emergency funds.
Crap, I'm a loser. I can't provide for my family. Self esteem? Don't got it. Self assured? Gone long ago. A 24-year career in IT? I'm watching it fade and I'm scared... Ageism in the IT industry? IT EXISTS. I'm not feeling too good anymore...
posted at 11:10 AM | Link | Unemployment | 2 comments § |
Monday, October 14, 2002
Argh Argh Argh!!!All of the TV stations in Chicago have been teasing this story all day - Study says duct tape removes warts.
posted at 09:33 PM | Link | Odd § |
Do you speak binary?0100110001101111011011110110101100101100001000000 11010010110011000100000010000110110100001110010011 010010111001100100000010100000110100101110010 0110100101101100011011000110111100100000011000110 1100001011011100010000001100100011011110010000001 1101000110100001101001011100110010110000100000011 0100001100101011000110110101100100000010010010010 0000011000110110111101110101011011000110010000100 0000110010001101111001000000110100101110100001000 0001110100011011110010111000101110001011100010000 0011000010010000001000010011011000110111101100111 0010000001100101011011100111010001110010011110010 01000000110100101101110001000000100001001101001011 0111001100001011100100111100100100000010000110110 111101100100011001010010000100100000001010000 1001110011011110010000001110011011100000110010101 1000110110100101100001011011000010110000100000011 1001101100101011000110111001001100101011101000010 0000011011010110010101110011011100110110000101100 1110110010100100000011010000110010101110010011001 0100101100001000000111010001101000011011110111010 1011001110110100000101110001000000100100101110100 0010011101110011001000000110101001110101011100110 1110100001000000110011101100101011001010110101101 1110010010111000100000010100110110111101110010011 1001001111001001011100010100100000000
posted at 04:28 PM | Link | Geek | 1 comment § |
FrostyCold in Chicago overnight. We finally got our first freeze - 32° early this morning. This afternoon, mid 50's and sunny. It's no wonder Carol has had a cold all week - so much temperature variation. But then again, that's Chicago.
posted at 09:52 AM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
Sunday, October 13, 2002
The swelling is downWent to my parents tonight. My sister and I both agree - Dad looks so much better. He's got more energy, a bit more of an appetite, and he's motoring around with purpose.
posted at 09:52 PM | Link | Family § |
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Raise the banner, hoist the cup
We returned to the Allstate Arena to watch the season opener of the Chicago Wolves playing the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. First off - lousy day outside - low 50's and rain. There was a big tailgate party outside with live entertainment, free hotdogs and drinks - that we just couldn't get ourselves to participate in. Walking into the arena, we noticed something missing - the AHL mandated the use of protective nets to be installed above the glass on each end of the ice. No nets. (Found out later that the nets are on backorder, and should be installed sometime next month.) Before the game, the entire team was introduced. Then, the captain, Steve Maltais skated out with the Calder Cup trophy. It was a bit weird though - they had stuck dry ice in it so it was smoking up a storm as Malts skated around the ice. The team was presented with their rings, we all watched a video of the Calder Cup playoffs, then they unveiled the banners and raised them to the ceiling. That's always a great time for a fan of any team - to watch them raise a championship banner. So, faceoff was about 27 minutes late. The game started out weak. We seem to handle the puck well, and skated well, but we were down 3-2 at the end of the second period. I don't know what happened during the second intermission, but the Wolves scored 5 goals in the final period to win 7-4.
The Chicago Wolves continued their association with the City of Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control with their Adopt-a-Dog program. They set up "Dally's Dog Pound" - named after Wolves defenseman Dallas Eakins, who is a team spokesman for the program - in the East Lobby by the Customer Service Booth during 8 games this season (last season 98 dogs were adopted). It's really cool seeing the people interacting with the dogs and making the commitment to bring one home with them.
After the game, we drove home to a pitch black neighborhood. No power! One of my computers at home had paged me that another device (not on a UPS) had stopped responding at 21:52:01. I hate having to fumble with locks in the dark, un-doing the electric garage door opener to get the car inside, and just stumbling through a dark, quiet house. The power came back at 11:20pm - no idea why it was out in the first place.
posted at 11:56 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Friday, October 11, 2002
Sunny day
It was too nice outside today (clear skies, light breeze, 72°) to waste it - I went walking around Oakbrook Center today. Didn't buy anything, just enjoyed the weather and people watched (a good day for that). Tonight, back at home I saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile going west down Golf Road! I wanted to follow it to find out where it was going!
posted at 05:55 PM | Link | Mundane § |
30.4!Carol just got home from work (early - she's got a cold and is miserable), but she went to Weight Watchers today - she's down 2.6 and she's now lost 30.4 pounds! Way to go, dear!
posted at 01:50 PM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
Hey Rocky, watch my pull a sniper out of my hat...Let me start this by saying that this is probably "wrong" and "bad", but... why is it then when I hear about still another sniper shooting, this time in Spotsylvania County, and hearing Police Chief Charles Moose, is it wrong to think of Bullwinkle?
posted at 12:38 PM | Link | Current Events § |
I love my TiVo
I love my TiVo, I love my TiVo, I love my TiVo... TiVo has totally changed my viewing habits - for the good. I want to get a new Series 2 DirecTV Combo unit when it comes out (whenever that is). I am in total denial of the article at Slate - TiVo, We Hardly Knew Ye - Sorry fans, but it's destined for the ash heap of history
posted at 11:24 AM | Link | Technology § |
Friday 5 - 1-2-3-4-5
Time for another Friday Five...
1. If you could only choose 1 cd to ever listen to again, what would it be? Oh, crap, not one of these lists... I hate this type of list... OK, Les Misérables Original Broadway Cast (I'm a sucker for musicals)
2. If you could only choose 2 movies to watch ever again, what would they be? Young Frankenstein (don't know why, don't ask), and Mystery, Alaska (ditto)
3. If you could only choose 3 books to read ever again, what would they be? READ? I don't really read. So, a Bible would be one pick, and I don't know about the other two
4. If you could only choose 4 things to eat or drink ever again, what would they be? FOOD! Now we're talking... Fresh brewed A&W Root Beer for the drink; Portillo's Italian beef, wet, with sweet peppers (with fries, if that doesn't count against the 4 picks); a steak from Magnum's; and Prime Rib from Lawry's.
5. If you could only choose 5 people to ever be/talk/associate/whatever with ever again, who would they be? OK, loaded question - my wife Carol would be one and the other four I won't discuss in public in case someone reads this and gets offended by not being on the list!
posted at 08:23 AM | Link | Friday Five § |
Thursday, October 10, 2002
Survivor Thailand - Episode 4
"Gender Bender"
read more of this entry »
Well, Chuay Ghan fumbles two challenges again, and Ghandia Johnson, the 33-year-old Legal Secretary from Denver gets the boot - a deserved boot, if I must say. In the parting words at the end of the show, she says that she realized it was a mistake with the way she handled the "incident". In regards to Sook Jai - don't you think they're going to get sick from eating too many bananas? And what's happening next week? It looks like an injury to a Sook Jai tribe member (was it Ken?) and it looks like another "tribal makeup shakeup" is coming. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:03 PM | Link | Survivor § |
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
Amazing Race 3 - Episode 2
"This Looks Like The Path Straight To Hell!"
read more of this entry »
posted at 09:04 PM | Link | Reality TV § |
Electric manWhat a nice day - sunny, clear, low 60's. I didn't have any time to reprimand Indy (even though I don't know how to reprimand a bunny, so I just chased her back into her Bunny Condo, where she stayed for the rest of the day while her parents fumed).
I spent the day doing some electrical work at my parents' house, a nice brick bungalow of Chicago's northwest side. My family's house - I spent 16 years there. My dad, who's 88 and in failing health, is always cold. So, on this glorious day, I walk into a sealed house, where my dad, in his sweater, has the furnace on, set to 75°. It was stifling in there - I had to open the doors and get some air.. At least by the end of my stay, dad had taken off his sweater. I hope he starts eating soon (he stopped a day or so ago - it's a side effect of the pain patches he was wearing) - he needs his energy to fight the infection and the cancer.
I was soaked in sweat - I had to turn on the air conditioning in the car on the way home to cool off. Nice ride home in the sun, though. Very enjoyable. Went home and opened the doors and just had a nice fall breeze blow through the house...
posted at 03:47 PM | Link | Mundane § |
BAD, INDY! BAD!
BAD, INDY! BAD!
We've loved every bunny we have ever had. They make great pets, and great companions - once you realize that rabbits are not like dogs, not like cats... rabbits are like rabbits. They are not easy to communicate with. In fact, there's an entire website setup just to try to understand what they are saying through their body language.
But, what do you do when, out of the blue, your lovely pet rabbit decides that she doesn't like your carpeting and decides to tear it apart, hoping that her parents will get new carpeting?
I mean, look, after 18 years we need new carpeting. But, after being unemployed for so long, I've got no chance of replacing it. So, when we have guests over, I guess I'll have to cover the hole somehow...
posted at 09:26 AM | Link | Bunnies § |
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
A new meaning to a handshakeHey, cool! The human body can sustain a 10Mb broadband connection! Two Japanese companies are looking at using human conductivity to exchange information via a handshake.
posted at 09:32 PM | Link | Technology § |
Illinois 2003 Quarterposted at 06:07 PM | Link | Current Events § |
Monday, October 07, 2002
Don't trust a cow... or a Bearposted at 08:53 PM | Link | Bears | 2 comments § |
Blue skiesAnother crisp, clear day. Yep, fall is here. It got down to 41° last night, and it's supposed to only get into the mid-50's this afternoon. The trees are starting to change. I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year - the fall colors are great, but you start to see everything starting to die, the leaves starting to fall. Summer is over. Cold and dark will be around the corner.
posted at 10:18 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, October 06, 2002
Dad's infectionWent to my parent's tonight. Though dad's "thing" on his neck has gone down significantly, so has his appetite. He's lost 10 pounds in a week. He needs his energy to fight this infection and the cancer. I hope he can just get through these antibiotics, get this infection out of his system, and get back to eating again.
posted at 10:05 PM | Link | Family § |
Mmmm... Plastic...Ever get a brand new liner for your shower curtain? I love that weird plastic smell... it reminds me of being a kid, and blowing up a floatie to use in your pool, or even blowing up one of those inflatable kiddie pools...
posted at 03:34 PM | Link | Mundane | 2 comments § |
Saturday, October 05, 2002
Wolves 3 - Griffins 2 - Preseason
A bright, crisp autumn day in Chicago. Carol and I had absolutely nothing planned for today, and somehow we felt like we needed to start to gear-up for hockey season, so we wound up driving to Bensenville to go to the last Chicago Wolves preseason game against the Grand Rapids Griffins. We've never been to The Edge before - what a nice facility! Two rinks, lots of parking, good refreshments, great sight-lines. The game was So much better than last Wednesday. It was refreshing to see the style of play was back to what we've seen in the past - lots of aggression, decent puck control, wonderful shot combinations.
Now, one of the aspects of these preseason games (other than seeing players that you will never see again after the next week), is that these are really community events at discount prices ($5 general admission), and a lot of families come out. The downside? Well, these are people who bring kids to the ring and don't really supervise them. So? Do you remember Brittanie Cecil at the Columbus Blue Jackets game? You go to the game, you MUST pay attention. There was a large group of 5-7 year-olds that were 7 rows up above the tunnel. There were NO adults with them. In the third period, a little boy (5 years old - maybe) got hit over the right eye with a puck. FREAKED OUT EVERYBODY. A linesman saw what happened and got upset about it, streaked across the ice to get a towel, and came back to get it to the people that were now trying to help the kid. When you see these many kids running around, and the parents not understanding what could happen, you just know that something like this would happen. It took quite a while to get some medical attention to the kid. Damn, I hate this. WAKE UP, PEOPLE!
Anyway, Wolves won 3-2.
posted at 10:01 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Friday, October 04, 2002
HEY! YOU! YES, YOU!Christine is spreading the word about a new word that Mike coined:
blurker (BLUR-kur): n. 1. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs. 2. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur. I know you are out there. You Google search, you visit to see what's new, and you just move on without saying anything. How about taking a moment and just say "Hi!" in the comments area below this entry? Don't want to say it in public? How about a private EMail just to say Hi?
Let me know you are out there!
posted at 02:03 PM | Link | Blogging | 4 comments § |
Weirdness...I'm looking around and this is just a weird day in stories around the web...
The U.S. Army is using a Blog as a recruiting tool...
There's a homeless man that is using public library computers to write his own "The Homeless Guy" blog (USA Today article)...
A Montana Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue (it's called "argyria") from drinking colloidal silver to fend off disease. No really. He's BLUE...
A Dutch astrophysicist with the European Space Agency says the sun will explode In under six years... (of course, this is from Weekly World News, so take it with a grain of salt)
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said that President Bush and Saddam Hussein should resolve their differences in a duel...
Reporting of the new Bugbear virus, also known as Tanatos, is exceeding that of the Klez virus, so this should be a lot of fun dealing with this over the next few months...
I seem to remember this from at least a year ago, but scientists have officially proclaimed The World's Funniest Joke... and some of the other runner up jokes...
posted at 12:21 PM | Link | Odd § |
My old team...
I miss my old team mates... I've actually got up enough nerve up to IM two of them (the other doesn't have IM access because of a company firewall issue). We talked for a while and commisserated. I still miss that team, though...
posted at 09:23 AM | Link | Mundane § |
GooglefightEver hear of a Googlefight? It a Google search with two keywords. The "winner" is the keyword with the most results. For example lets use Chicago Bears versus Green Bay Packers. The Bears return 564,000 results, the Packers return 218,000 results, so the Bears win. The Fight of the Month is Hell versus Paradise. Hell won.
posted at 09:17 AM | Link | Internet § |
Friday 5 - Shoes
Time for another Friday Five...
1. What size shoe do you wear? 8 - 8 1/2 D
2. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Seven.
3. What type of shoe do you prefer (boots, sneakers, pumps, etc.)? All of my shoes (except one pair) are Rockports. Not a boot style, just a "Rockport" style.
4. Describe your favorite pair of shoes. Why are they your favorite? I have a pair of brown Rockports that I am wearing to death. They're soft, they're comfortable, they just fit right. The soles are wearing down, though and becoming smooth - which is a HUGE problem if I get near anywhere that is wet regardless of the texture of the surface. I've lost my footing way too often under those circumstances. But I love those shoes...
5. What's the most you've spent on one pair of shoes? About $125, I believe.
posted at 08:18 AM | Link | Friday Five | 1 comment § |
Thursday, October 03, 2002
Survivor Thailand - Episode 3
"Family Values"
read more of this entry »
Sook Jai tribe member Jed Hildebrand, the 25-year-old Dental Student from Dallas, got the first boot from that tribe tonight. That tribe is a mess, as was shown in both challenges tonight. The immunity challenge showed that they've got the wrong people trying to give direction to the team (Jed and Robb). Then in the reward challenge, Idiot Robb (that's right IDIOT ROBB) showed his true colors by literally going for Clay's throat for no reason at all, and then complain that they lost "because of the rules". HELL YES, BECAUSE OF THE RULES YOU IDIOT!!! Robb needs to go! I'm not sure where I'm sitting on the Ghandia and Ted issue - I think I'm leaning a little bit on the Ted side of things, only because of the way Ghandia handled the situation afterward. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:08 PM | Link | Survivor § |
Envelope from RHLPWent out to get the mail... we received our Season Tickets from the Chicago Wolves, so I guess we're ready for hockey season. I'm still stuck on baseball, even though we went to that preseason game last night. Carol and I were commenting as we were freezing in the bleachers that it was hard shifting gears and watching hockey. The team didn't help - there was no flow to the game, it was just back and forth, lose the puck, screen the goalie, etc. Didn't help that you're looking at a bunch of new guys, and the teams don't have their names on their backs yet. Well, the Wolves got rid of 12 players earlier today, a few of the guys that were dressed from last night. The exciting thing, however, is that the Atlanta Thrashers (the parent team of the Wolves) just sent 5 guys down to the Wolves, all of them great players that were on the team last year. That should help, I guess. We'll see a week from Saturday.
posted at 04:49 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Wolves 1 - Admirals 8 - Preseasonposted at 10:04 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Back homeOK, I'm back home. Dad's not going to the doctor - he doesn't want to. Admittedly, he's only had a little over 2 days of antibiotics to treat this thing, so it isn't changing much. He's got better color, better energy. I finally looked at the thing on his neck when the nurse was changing the dressing. Oh, Christ... I can't talk about it. It was something I've never seen before, and I just don't feel the need to discuss the gory details of what it's doing. Blech. Anyway, I think they were happy that I was there while the nurse was there - I guess it was just added support for them. Dad's still in pain, though. We'll see what's happening after a few more days.
I got home and went to get the mail, when I noticed something round and white in the middle of the front lawn. It looked like somebody had lost a ball. I went to take a look at it and it was a big, white mushroom! Had to take a picture of it - I thought it looked cool.
posted at 02:23 PM | Link | Family § |
Dad dutyWell, my mom called. My dad is actually worse than when I saw him on Sunday. The hospice nurse is coming at noon and mom wants me to be there. We may have to take him to Loyola to figure out what's going on. What is happening to him? What the heck is this thing on his neck that's growing and is so painful? Sigh.
posted at 09:40 AM | Link | Family § |
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
DWI and, um, porn
The Smoking Gun has uncovered a DWI conviction of Sook Jai tribe member Jed Hildebrand, the 25-year-old Dental Student from Dallas, including RealPlayer or Windows Media Player footage of his sobriety test. And, in case you didn't know about it, The Smoking Gun also has stills from Chuay Gahn tribe member Brian Heidik's (the 34-year-old "Used Car Salesman" from Quartz Hill, California) "other occupation" - soft-core porn film star, credited as either "Dave Roth" or "Chris Hayden" or "Brian Linton".
posted at 08:14 AM | Link | Survivor § |
*nose wiggle*posted at 06:30 AM | Link | Memes § |
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