Annoying?
I like this quiz better than most. What annoying internet entity are you?
« March 2004 | Main | May 2004 »
April 28, 2004
April 27, 2004
Mi Casa
Es Su Casa. Awesome! Kickass! And other excited interjections! I can give you better directions if you want to come straight to my house, or we can meet up at a ghetto diner or something, Soprano's style. Or we can meet up at John Harvards and have lobster bisque (yadda, yadda, yadda).
Ya'll just made my weekend.
April 26, 2004
Shameless Self-Promotion
It's my birthday. I'm old, and will not be shaking anything tonight because I have to get up early tomorrow. How sad is it that I wish I could go to Jake's tonight?
Perhaps tomorrow will bring some sushi into my life. And some sunshine... stupid rain.
April 25, 2004
Look Alikes
I saw Meet the Press tonight (I don't get up early enough on Sunday to watch it in the morning like most people, thank you CNBC) and got a good look at Bob Woodward for the first time. I kept getting distracted because he was talking about US Government officials, and all I could hear in my head was talk of food dehydrators and spray-on hair. This man looks like Ron Popeil! See for yourself. (Sorry, images stolen from the internet, if you want them removed, leave it in comments.)
Welcome, D!
Diane has joined us all in the blogging world. Check it out.
April 23, 2004
Colors
Who you callin' yellow?
#F0E68C |
Your dominant hues are red and green, so you're definately not afraid to get in and stir things up. You have no time for most people's concerns, you'd rather analyze with your head than be held back by some random "gut feeling". Your saturation level is lower than average - You don't stress out over things and don't understand people who do. Finishing projects may sometimes be a challenge, but you schedule time as you see fit and the important things all happen in the end, even if not everyone sees your grand master plan. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything. |
This seems about right, but since I did answer their questions, it's kind of self-fulfilling. But you can't take these quizzes too seriously. How they assigned the colors? Who knows?
April 22, 2004
Don't think I wont cut 'choo
Take the quiz: "Blades!"
Broad Sword
You are personal power and internal strength. You are not the fastest but you get the job done like no one else.
Meow
Check this out. I laughed my ass off. *cackles hysterically*
April 19, 2004
It Snapped
I finally got to play tennis today! It was along winter and a rainy spring (so far), but today was the nicest day anyone could ask for. I played tennis so hard, that I broke a string on my racket. I've never had to re-string a racket, so I had no idea what to look for, but I went down to The Sports Authority to get some new strings. The staff were semi-helpful but not very knowledgeable, so I had to guess and hope it works out. Gotta do some internet research tonight for next time.
It was nice to get out and smack some balls around, though.
Oh, and I went by Borders and wandered around. I picked up an 11"x14" Illustrated World Reference Atlas on sale for only $15.
April 15, 2004
Ms. Jackson's Lyrics
Work it like you're working a pole
Shake it 'til you're shaking the floor
Pop it like you're poppin' a cork
Don't Stop, Don't Stop
Jerk it like you're making it choke
Break it like you're breakin' a code
Drop it till you're taking it lower
And the FCC was angry about her nipple. I wonder if this song will ever get on the radio.
April 13, 2004
Easter Weekend
This Easter weekend was the best weekend I've had in a while. On Thursday Wendy pointed out that Eddie Izzard was actually doing a stand-up gig at the Village Theatre during the week. I phoned up the theatre and found out that tickets were only $10 available at the door only after 9:15 PM, no guaranteed entry unless you attend the first show (which was Dylan Moran for $35). I did not leave work in time to see the first show, but I did make it there by 9:15 and scored a ticket. At the show, I ran into a guy I know from the university here so I hung out with him and his friends in the front row on the side.
Great show! It was excellent. He was in "boy mode" so there was no cross dressing, but he was still hilarious. Eddie ran into the room from the main doorway, and leapt up onto stage and started his act about a half-hour before it was scheduled to start. "The news never does that do they? It just doesn't some on at 10:45 and say, 'We've got a lot to cover tonight so we better just get started'". He did a bit about Odysseus and the Sirens, which I saw on his Sexie tour, and there was a truly hilarious bit about how the sport of curling was invented in Scotland and why they use brooms. Classic!
After the show we went to Caffe Reggio in Greenwich Village. I had tiramisu and an Original Italian Espresso. I rode with my friends back home, and after we crossed the Williamsburg bridge we got stuck in traffic for an hour. At 1 AM! Not exactly a pleasant way to end the evening, and I'd have been home sooner if I rode the LIRR, but oh well, at least I was comfy and warm.
Saturday night JŽrome hosted a potluck with a bunch of other Europeans. I was the only American in attendance. That's not an experience I can say that I've had before inside the US. All of the food was great, but the hilight of the evening for me was Giuseppe's lasagne. If he ever returns to Italy I'm going to have to have him mail it to me once a year - it's that good. I supplied the Silk and Satin cake from La Bonne Boulangerie. It's cheescake topped with chocolate mousse and covered in more chocolate.
As the evening progressed we played a parlor game which JŽrome called "Murder". Everyone had a task to trick another person into performing. For example, if I asked you to open a bottle of wine, and you did it, then my task is complete. When my task is complete, you are "dead" and I take your task and have to finish it. It's slightly complex, and requires a lot of planning on the part of the host, but it makes for some interesting conversations. I was almost the first one murdered, but it was a false one because the assassin misread the task. So then I was supposedly invincible. Except Frency had an escape clause that he didn't tell anyone about so I ended up losing. Oh well. Then we played twister. (Photo removed by request.)
Sunday was a nice Easter Brunch with my landlords. Their extended family was in town, and we at way too much Italian and Polish food. I was a very happy guy. Then we watched Phil Mickelson win the Masters and the day was good. Now I need to go jog, except it's pouring down rain with no signs of stopping.
Gotta love Spring.
April 08, 2004
The Cow Says...
Muah, apparently.
Also, today at lunch with the EU I learned that sheep in northern France cannot speak with the sheep in southern France. We also talked about what many of the other animals say. I guess it was one of those conversations where you had to be there. I did, however, confirm one thing that has been bugging my Eddie Izzard trivia obsessed mind:
Dogs in southern France really do say "Wua Wua".
April 05, 2004
Another Hip-Hop Star Rises
I know a lot of you out there have been seriously losing sleep over the following question:
¥Who's the guy with the umbrella in the Outkast videos?
He is known as Farnsworth Bentley, a.k.a. Cascade Cabernet, a.k.a. Cashmere, a.k.a Derrick Watkins, and a lot of peole will recognize him as the umbrella guy from the Outkast videos. Initially, he became famous because of a photograph of him holding an umbrella for P. Diddy on a beach in St. Tropez. This photo was published in a few papers and shown on The Tonight Show and a few other TV programs. He was P.Diddy's major-domo for a while, but now has moved on to other things.
What's his deal? Well, he graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in Biology, and he studied classical violin. It turns out that he and Andre 3000, a.k.a AndrŽ Benjamin were high school friends from Atlanta. Bentley was a preppy guy and still prefers pressed proper attire instead of the ghetto fabulous look. He's really trying to capitalize on the umbrella trademark by starting his own line of umbrellas on his website. Also, he's in talks to represent the Courvoisier brand.
Don't make the mistake of calling him a rapper either:
"First of all, I would like to get this out there: I am not an MC," he hissed. "I'm not a rapper, I am a renaissance man. You have to create a whole new category for me. What I do is dissertation over instrumental."
Perhaps he can be described as a beacon of class in the ghetto-fab world of hip-hop. More power to him, and I hope you all sleep better at night.
Taxes
Stupid Taxes. Most people I know are getting a refund. In fact, one guy at work (who purchased a house last year) is getting over $5000 back!!! I guess I ineed to start spawning some little Earned Income Credits so I can save on taxes. Or not. Anyway, I've got to pay a couple of bills in federal taxes, but I get a whopping $2.00 State refund. Apparently I'm pretty good at filling out a W-4 form. I used a tax program *cough* "borrowed from a friend" *cough* to calculate things. At the end of it all, I checked out the e-file options. Apparently, someone (the government, the tax software people, I don't know) gets $14.95 for a federal return and $10.95 for a state return. WTF?!
The software itself, and the IRS Website both confirm that if you want to enjoy the benefits of e-filing, then it'll cost you. The software even includes a video explaining how e-file is faster and easier and introduces less human error since no government employee has to manually input my information. This sounds like it should SAVE the government money.
It's my opinion that the IRS should use some of their annual operating budget to hire some people to create a website where everyone can go to fill out their tax forms FOR FREE!!!! If e-filing saves time and money, shouldn't this be performed by our government? It baffles me that this is left to private companies to profit by selling the software, and then perhaps get a cut when you actually e-file. What the hell kind of tax software lobby is out there calling for this.
So screw that, I'm pringting out my forms, and some government employee will have to input my data, and I'll wait wait wait for my stinkin' $2.00 check. I sure as hell am NOT paying to e-file so I can pay more money in tax. To me, it's rediculous to even offer that option. The only case where I'd do this is if I was getting a big refund and wanted my money ASAP. But I fail to see why I should have to pay more for the privledge of receiving money which should be mine anyway, and was basically a free loan to the government for the previous year.
Enough ranting for now, I've got to go write a check and seal an envelope.
April 02, 2004
Religion is Insane
There's a wire story that I read on Salon that really disturbed me today. Basically, a Texas woman stoned her kids to death because she thought she was getting signs from God. She's entered a plea of innocent because of insanity. I do not disagree that this woman is a total headcase whack-job, but she needs to be locked up for a very long time for doing this. I can understand mental illness as a defense in certain cases, but this story is really amazingly disturbing for me. Her defense attorney has a lot of guts trying this. I wonder if the jury will give her the death penalty.
Isn't it amazing the things people will do in the name of their religion or beliefs? It's not just Islam either. And if they just decide she was insane and put her in a treatment facility, does that mean that anyone that commits a crime in the name of their religion can also easily claim insanity because they were hallucinating instructions from God? I mean, if you hallucinate sparkly flying elves that tell you to kill someone, and you don't have pre-conceived notions about sparkly flying elves then I'd definitely say you are insane and probably should be treated instead of jailed. But if you already have a firm belief in God, and then suddenly you think you've received a message from God to do something you're not really hallucinating are you? You already believe that God is real, and is affecting people's lives, and you should do what you're told and follow the signs. The insanity argument doesn't really hold, does it?
Or maybe she really is just clinically insane. Go read the story.