Cynically Optimistic

Last Friday I had an interesting evening. I'd been invited to play poker with some friends from work, who I don't usually hang out with outside of softball. I had to get directions to the guy's house who was hosting. I actually glossed over the directions, so I was a tad surprised to see that there are a lot of nice houses in his neighborhood. He lives on a street without a sign, so it's really not an easy place. I get to the cul-de-sac and find #4 and there are 2 bulidings on the lot. One is a small house, the other some sort of meeting hall. There's a sign out front that says "Quaker Meetings 9 AM and 11 AM". So I figure, he must live in the other house. No so! He's the caretaker for the Quaker Meeting house, only pays $50/month in rent, and sleeps upstairs.

I played poker in the Quaker Meeting house, and lost $1.75. It was a surreal evening.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just read an article on Yahoo! about how the Catholic Church has stepped in and invalidated a girl's first communion because she has celiac sprue disease. This means she cannot properly digest foods containing the protein gluten. Apparently the communion wafer must contain enough wheat to be called bread by the Catholic Church.

My initial reaction is to call bullshit on the Catholic Church, since it's symbolic anyway. After a few seconds of thought, however, I am left to ponder whether or not it would be "ok" (or within their doctrine or whatever is the correct term) to use genetically modified gluten-free wheat to make the communion wafer. If so, would that be an endorsement of GM foods by the Catholic Church?

Posted by Jeff Smith at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

Finally, internet at home again. I got home and the cable modem was on my doorstep. It only took a phone call to get the thing hooked up, due to ultra-crappy install software. Hello, um, do it via a webpage. Idiots.

Anyhoo, I feel much better now. Ready to play Diablo II whenever. Games on the side are welcome. I'm still looking for a good deal on a sofa for my place, and I haven't decided about my furniture layout. I'm thinking I might post a design challenge for those of you who watch a lot of HGTV and TLC. Mom is sending curtains for a Hawkeye bathroom, but other than that, it's up in the air.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Woo hoo! I have cable TV once again. Back to rotting my brain like normal.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Am I the only person that finds this question hilarious?

Posted by Jeff Smith at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Saturday morning rolls around. I wake up around 9:45, have a shower, get a bite to eat, sit down on the floor in front of the tv (since I have no sofa) and turn on VH1 for some "I Love the 90s" when what do I get on the tv? Nothing, nada, static, blue screen. Bugger-all, the cable got disconnected. I have to call them today and get it turned back on. However...

Currently I am without cable tv or any sort of internet connection!

The horror, the unbelievable horror! Finally I resorted to watching a 2 year old episode of Friends that I had on tape. It was the one with Joey's movie premiere and at the end Rachel goes into labor. Follow that with the last 20 minutes of the ER episode when Dr. Green is in Hawaii and dies at the end. Follow that with Kirsten Dunst hosting SNL. I turned it off after a promo for Cleopatra 2021 came on. I know I didn't tape that.

I need some TV by Tuesday so I can watch The Amazing Race.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm exhausted. It took about 4 hours to move everything into my new place. After that I had to run to work for a couple of hours followed by playing a softball double-header. We lost both games but played the two toughest teams in the league and really held our own against them. No more blowouts, Waaaahoooooo!

Then I returned to my new place, with huge piles of my stuff everywhere. Thankfully, I had a pleasant little Spanish helper to move things quickly along. We just did the minimum for the evening: set up the bed, dresser, and bathroom. I still have a lot lot lot of cleaning to do since there's still a lot of construction dust around. I should probably just get used to that since a lot of small things need to be repainted, repaired, or tweaked. I did manage to plug in my TV in time to catch The Amazing Race after a 5 minute delay due to the Yankee's game. Stupid Yankees. But next week I get to see it early (7 PM) because of the late Yankee's game. I must say that I am a bit baffled by the change in fast-forward policy and petty theft that has been added this year, but we'll see how it all plays out. I want to see the mom's panhandle.

More cleaning and setup tonight, and I'm sore from all the heavy lifting. I should get back to the gym.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The time has finally arrived, and I have to leave my fancy digs. *wipes away a tear* I'm a little bit behind by Iowa City standards, but here I am, moving again. This is getting old. I need to find something a bit more permanant.

Posted by Jeff Smith at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)