I work in a “cosmopolitan” lab. Not the magazine but a group from all over the world, if that means asia. So I am always getting a lesson in communication because in a high information-based job, you need to talk to people. Sometimes that breaks down, but actually its a great learning experience.
So I was staring at my blog yesterday, waiting for 2 phone calls and an e-mail, when one of the Doctors came by and asked me what I was reading. I told him it was a “Seinfeld” website, and he got excited. To think of the things that can cross international boundaries……
He of course thought it was a Seinfeld fan site. I thought it was a play on the “A show about nothing” because this website is….about nothing in particular except what I want to blather about.

But the thing that I carried away from all this was……He didn’t know what “SURLY” meant. Merriam-Websters on-line defines SURLY
1) irritably sullen and churlish in mood or manner 2) menacing or threatening in appearance.
Defining this for him got the best reaction I could have imagined….he walked away. Language overload.

I guess Alice was right. f00 1!!!1pwned!!1!! 1 <3 joo

piece and oe grease

Coffee is going down bad this morning after some dental surgery Yesterday. But it isn’t so much that it hurts, just dont much feel like drinking it.
Some may have heard me go on before this blogg about cancer and the crap it inflicts on people. My good friend Laura’s mother passed away a month or 2 ago Anne Orens. She was a wonderful woman and she always said that the thought of Garrett helped her make it through some of her bad times. I really miss her.

One of the producer/directors at the TV station I worked for passed away 2 weeks ago, Larry Shiengorn MD. He kept a running record of his fight with esophgeal cancer since 2001, you can see it here. Larry was a bright man who was energetic and enthusiastic about TV. I may not have agreed with the way he directed sometimes, but he was always there, and was an advocate of community television.

So now I find that a Radio Jock from Baltimore has passed away, R. Edward Lopez of 98 Rock died of Lung Cancer over the weekend. He was a rarity in the area as a gun toting Liberal, and very vocal about his political views. I listen to him for a lot of years, and really grew to appreciate his perseverance, still working while fighting cancer.

I want to mention, because I know he will never see this (computer-phobe that he is), that my very good friend Scott Beard is fighting cancer at age 32. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want me wasting my breath on it. I have studied martial arts with Scott for over 10 years now and he never ceases to amaze me. He’s in the rough part of chemo right now, but he refuses to stop training. After major surgery, he was up walking around dragging his IV stand around trying to figure out how to hook a DVD player into the hospital TV because he didn’t want his family and friends to be bored sitting there. He said “Well we cant all sit around and watch this dinky little screen, I gotta get this hooked up”. I told him I was running by the TV station that night and would pick him up an adaptor that I would swing by in a day or two. Two days later, just before I was getting into the car to drive to Baltimore to see him, HE called me saying “yeah they are releasing me today ” and that he wouldn’t need the part. Persevering spirit (ninja seishin) is a ninpo term that truely applies to Scott.
Scott is constantly showing me these days that no matter what, you have to keep living life, and that its not over until its over. Live it, love it, be it. Gambatte Scotty.
It was a rough winter for me mentally and emotionally, but in perspective, all is well and I have no earthshaking complaints, irregardless of what you may read here. My family and friends give me that reason to go on, and teach me a bit about life everyday. Raise a glass and say “He’s to us, and them thats like us………..”

peace and persevering grease

I try my best to be apolitical. Actually only if there is a chance to get a reaction out of an opinionated person do I even bring it up.

But I get a twitchy kind of feeling about this whole Senate Filabuster debate. Twitchy like 16 hour old 7-11 coffee twitchy.

I am not a constitutional Lawyer, but I could think of 6 people I could call right this second and get some info (although I would much rather talk, martial arts, fencing, drinking, or talking talking). It is not that the constitution has specifically stated mandate to allow filabuster (or does it?) but it is the unbalanced nature of the present federal government that allows for such an argument to even have to be made. It seems to me that since the every branch except the Judicial being majority Republican has given that party a need to install road blocks to insure their continued existance. I was going to say “continued success” but I really dont think they have suceded in much of anything.
There is a sense that the “checks and balances” concept doesn’t work for them so lets remove it.
Checks and Balances happens to be, in my opinion, one of the great things framed in the constitution. It is a self regulating idea that keeps a governemnt from getting out of control. The Bill of Rights is another great part of the constitution that (at least the first 10 amendments) clear says that the people have the rights and the Government does not. In my most cynical moments, I really feel that the present adminstration has used the 9-11 tradgedy to crowbar its agenda into place. The very human reaction to tradgedy is to make quick, reflex actions that aren’t thought through. They are “knee jerk” reactions. But when the “dust” settles, there are new laws, that give the gubbermint more power than it was intended to have. A balanced government takes time to debate, to examine, to get past the initial “Lets blow up the bastards” mentality, and then makes its choices. If the choice at the the end is “Lets blow up the bastards”, then so be it. When the Patriot Act was framed, I believe it was Senator Robert C. Byrd who said that we must be careful not to loose any of our constitutional freedom (note: note a quote, might have been some one else, I just really Like Sen Byrd, anyone who uses the word “snooker” is OK in my book)

The idea that the government is involving itself in private matters or State matters was never clearer than in the Terry Shivo case. Talk about Stomping the on the Tenth Amendment!!! OK they were not trying to pass a law about it but they WERE diverting attention to an issue that had been clearly described by STATE LAW. I am not saying Florida has the best set of laws in the world, but they do have them, so the Feds need to lay off.

I can feel my blood pressure is getting up, so I am gonna stop. Maybe I’ll calm down by downloading some mp3′s or check the stock market. Places unspoiled by the touch of human hands.

Peace and independance grease

John
P|-|34R |\/| `/ T|-|13P|-|

A note for those who dont spend too much time around Red vs Blue. Episode 57 is out and it is the last episode of Season 3. As of this writing, only the sponsors cant see it. There may be a delay for the public release because E3 is going on, and some of the crew is going to Los Angeles to attend. E3 has a way of making the gaming world stop and read news sites and blogs for a week or so.
Also Season 3 will be on DVD soon, which is another hold up for the public release of epi 57.

So Alice says I am too articulate.

5O d00d i $0O R0X0r 4ND j00 Suck!

So I found this F3ll0wsh1p of teh R1ng. If you think I write too much take a l00|< at that.

Also LOTR is the Howard Hawk version. Watch it or the spiders will get joo. P|-|34R |\/|`/ l33T|\|355

I in no way wish to imply that I have the worst problems on record. I just tend to be louder, and willing to babble on about them so they seem much bigger. Any coffee related issues are, of course, the worst on record according to National Achieve records as far back as 1837. But I am not here to talk about the mostly empty cup in front of me. I am here to clarify some of the previous entries.
Firstly, I want to say that, my paperwork nightmares are insignificant compared to the ones that can be generated by the modern Military. A friend who is in the Air Force, stopped through on what was to be a short stay, and maybe only a day to squeeze in a quick visit, is now on an extended stay because of a paperwork screw up of Biblical proportions. The list he went through of lost papers, no originals, filled flights, screwed orders, and an operation clownshoe, made me reflect on how, tunnel carppel syndrone isn’t so bad for me. And he gets to stay in town until the next best flight can get him out, so I get to see him again.
He is the man who gave me the T-shirt that got me searched 4 times going through Jackson (Mississippi) International Airport. OK I was profiled as single male, no luggage, one way ticket to Washington DC was enough to get me all that attention. The scruffy appearance and the EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) logo on my back was pure icing on the cake. It was hot, I had no change of clothes, not really a long story, just a dumb one. I think sitting in a chair, rocking back and forth, pinching myself, mumbling “CAN’T SLEEP, ANTI CHRIST IS COMING” would have had the NG and police on me like pain on Rodney King. But I didn’t. I was my shy and quiet self (ignore any contradiction to previous lines written herein). BUt I did loose my sweet seat on Southwest because of the last random search.
Second point of clarification (though I forgot did ya?) is about Star Wars and geeks. The Star Wars PC case mod blog was in no way slamming geeks. I am a geek, have been, will be, don’t see any end to it. I was not a first in line guy when Star Wars opened up. A friend had a picture in his locker in High School of Darth Vader. I asked him who that was and he told me so I knew I had to see the movie. And it knock me over. It was epic, it was different, it was high tech. Relative to anything else out there, there was nothing else out there. And I have followed it ever since. I remember the rerelease and going to the UPTOWN theater, and still getting goosebumps when the X-wings drop into the trench to blow up the Deathstar. Empire Strikes Back was a fantastic follow up, actually probably being my all time favorite. Everything else sort of pails. After Indusrtial Light and Magic became the main stay Hollywood effects shop, the Star Wars magic fog started to lift. I became more inclined to see the story, acting and all the other things that make a movie, than ever before.
I am not as worked up about the prequels (I-III), I feel they have been made more for a vehicle to sell merchandise. I would like my kids to like Star Wars as much as I did but they will find their own cinema niche to fall into. Fan based Star Wars stories and videos, are a good source of entertainment, noting that “TROOPS” was one of the leading reasons I started picking up working in TV and video. If there is anyone out there who has not seen this, take the time and laugh, I still do and it is almost 8 years old.
I am out of coffee, and not twitchy at all, better call the pharmacy to see if NO-DOZ is still in stock.

peace and geek grease

So as most of America does in the morning, I stare disgruntled at how even the best spam filters wont stop every ad e-mail. With my new religious ritual firmly in place, I mystically move the mouse to check unwanted, heathen e-mail with dogmatic precision. But some I let through, because when I am not executing electronic enticement to the web server equivalent of Hades, I am mostly a tech-o-phile. So when I saw an ALIENWARE e-mail titled “Alienware Limited Edition Star Wars PC”, I saved it from certain deletion and damnation. What I got though was, again, a longing for finishing my cup of coffee because twitching should only be the beginning for this.
Now I like case modifications, it is a creative outlet, and some are truly inspired but I think a marketing tool with such a narrow market is just dorky. Which brings me to these pictures of the Alienware Limited edition PC’s

THE LIGHT SIDE

THE DORK SIDE

Before I opened up the images, I had a vision of a case built like the Millieum Falcon standing on end, shooting up through the Bespin cloud cover OR a full blow Death Star case mod (OMG someone has to do that) but what I got was the 2 pictures that made me feel like it was 1975 and I just left the Molly Hachet concert and the police were frisking some stoners up against their conversion van. I also felt like I needed some viagra, to help bring back my friend who left me after seeing those pictures. But for that I will need to sort through the “deleted Items” bin of my e-mail account (or just wait til tomorrows spam slaughter)

This morning I came crashing into one of my favorite problems. The type of problem that makes me wish I had finished my coffee before it, so I could get that full on twitching going. In my job working as a contractor to the Gubbermint, I run into bureaucracy, some would even say a fair bit. But I have streamlined a lot of thing to remove them. So sometime I get surprised when someone does there damnedest to generate more. Today, was one of those days.
After several weeks of wrestling, setting up an international shipment, I got the paperwork down and ready to go, only to be canceled due to holidays, possibility of world peace, and someone trying to smuggle allergy medicine across international borders. So 2 week, it the shipment sat. Not literally, it got up, walked around, went to the water cooler, did that stooopid stuff you do with the photocopier, ect. But I digress. So 2 weeks, now all my papers need to be resigned with correct dates. Then it happened. Someone from the office of not enough paperwork came down and told the person I needed to get signatures from, that IF THEY DID NOT GENERATE MORE PAPERS, their fingers would be removed and someone would get birds to poop on their car. This, as you would expect, got the person into a phone call making frenzy, generating multiple unnecessary forms. Does anyone remember forms that have carbon copying paper in between the multiple sheets? guess what? I got some of those to fill out. 7 layers. SEVEN layers! I am too scared to file for workman’s comp based on the tunnel carpel syndrome I developed trying to fill the damn thing out, because I recall the workman’s comp form has 12 layers and you need to write an essay in cursive. These folks have heard of computers I am fairly sure. But still, I think you need to fill the form out electronically on seven different computers lined up together.

I’ve been told I see the glass as half empty, and I say if you’re drinking turpintine, its not so bad to know you almost done.