no. 2954

when you have to cook something in the microwave for a minute and a half, do you hit 1:30 or :90?

I haven't had a Friday night in such a long time I don't know what do with myself. Funny that I want to go to sleep earlier than I normally do, the only difference is that I don't have to wake up to the sound of an alarm.

Here's some funny nostalgia for you:

This is me with one of my best friends probably close to 10 years ago. In another universe I think we're married. I can't believe I once thought visors and Jincos were cool. What the hell? And actually I think I look older here than I do right now, though I haven't held a real smile like that in quite some time. Hey as long as I still get the bug-eyed, shock-face when I tell people my age I'm good to go in that regard, even if I am barreling headfirst toward thirty.

Movies tonight:
Rocky Balboa
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy

Quite the yin-yang.

no. 2953

“Proclamation!”

“Man you're sixty!”

Last meeting with the PO today (hopefully), then it's onward to frantic oblivion. I get a full weekend for the first time in close to three months. I won't know what to do with my damn self.

Good thing the Florida Film Festival is in town.

Movies I'm Going to try and hit:
The Host (though I may skip it to watch the UF v. UCLA game–Adam?)
The TV Set
Fido
Murder Party
Eagle vs. Shark
Full Grown Men

Via the WAREHOUSE by Carl Huber.

I believe they would call that, foli-ove. Ba-dum!

This one seems rather appropriate as well:

I could browse these damn things all day.

I'm not big on the Michael Bay action overloads (Bad Boys I & II, The Island, Armageddon), but his style seems appropriate for the Transformers Movie. Chief complaints: Bumblebee is a Camaro instead of a VW and Jazz is a Pontiac Solstice instead of a Porsche, they replaced Soundwave (the radio) with some character named Frenzy, and they put flames on Optimus Prime. This is Transformers damn it, not Transssformersss.

Still, it'll be hard not to like a movie with Shia LeBouf (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints doesn't count), John Turturro, Bernie Mac and Jon Voight–oh, and giant killer robots of course.

However it will pale in comparison to the original Transformers: The Movie if it doesn't have a Weird Al breakdown in the middle of it. Dare to be stupid mo'fo's!

no. 2949

So I recently started running again, again. I say that because I started running consistently right after the incident that will not be named, but then stopped after injuring my knee. Once the knee heeled, I realized that not running is far less strenuous than running. Imagine that. However I began to feel less than healthy lately, despite my good diet and relatively healthy living. So, I re-acquainted myself with my Mizuno's and started up over the last week.

My problem is my music. Ideally I've heard that not running with music is best, as your body naturally falls into rhythm with the music whether it be fast or slow. This is my problem. I run with an iPod shuffle, the new 1GB clip-on version. I have about 2,000+/- songs of various genres on my computer that I just randomly throw on the iPod. This presents an issue when I run, as I'll be going at a good pace and then the wrong Tom Waits or Beatles song will come on and it makes me hit a wall. I could just stop listening to music, but I like listening to music so that's not an option.

So I need to compile a playlist of 200 songs, give or take, perfect for running. I'm looking for up-tempo numbers, though nothing electro or of the euro/trip-hop variety. I'm looking for suggestions, and there are a could of people I am looking at specifically (those who run and those who know music, you know who you are).

Go!

So yesterday was my last day of community service, which in turn was my last everything in regard to my run-in with Johnny Law. All of my fines are paid, all classes are paid for and finished, and now all 100 hours of community service are finished. I do have to meet with my PO one last time (lord I hate saying that), but then I should be done and he is 99.9% sure that the last six months of my probation.

To tell you the truth I'm kind of going to miss my community service, at least the picking up the garbage on the road part. Allow me to explain. Imagine you work 40+ hours a week staring at an LCD monitor analyzing check signatures, deposits and doing software updates. You also spend another 13-15 hours a week in class listening to young whipper-snappers talking poorly about politics as well as many hours outside of class doing homework and what have you. Now imagine one day a week you are allowed to completely turn off your brain and take an 8 hour walk in really nice weather while listening to music and enjoying the scenery. Sure I had to pick up garbage, but along the road it's mostly paper stuff and I have a little picker thing, so it's wasn't bad at all. It was nice to be able to allow myself some completely brainless activity once a week. I'll just have to give myself one of those days each weekend since I have them back now.

So what have I learned from all of this? If you're going to drink and drive, don't get caught! Just kidding. The biggest thing is probably a bit of humility. There's more, but I don't feel the need to lament about it all.

It's done. It's over. Time to move on.

Next!

last day of community service.

Pi-Yah!!

no. 2946

Today Bush responded to the passing of a House bill that outlined a timeline for withdraw of troops from Iraq with this:

“The purpose of the emergency war spending bill I requested was to provide our troops with vital funding. Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.”

Is that so? Then what would you call this?

Then of course there is also this little gem (mind you this was made while there was a war going on and kids were dying in Iraq).

What the right-wingers are also leaving out when they talk about the bill, is that it actually funds the war rather than take it away. They are attempting to frame the bill as an attempt to take money and supplies away from troops in order to fund special interests (i.e., the “sweeteners” you've heard so much about). Right, this from the people that are continuing to let VA hospitals go to shit. It's all bullshit.

Here's the deal. The bill approves $100 billion dollars for Bushes war if he agrees to pull troops out if the war effort is still going to shit come October (I think, it might be August). The other $24 billion is the part that Republicans are calling “pork.” According to the LA Times, that extra money breaks down like this:

Spinach growers got $25 million because the E. coli scare last fall depressed their sales. The shrimp industry received $120 million because of Hurricane Katrina-related losses. Federal support for peanut storage, due to expire after 2006, was extended for one more year at a cost of $74 million. Shellfish producers were compensated $5 million for their losses to a disease known as viral hemorrhagic septicemia.

Hmm, a couple billion dollars to help out agribusiness, doesn't seem like wasteful spending to me (not like a bridge to nowhere or anything).

So this bill, that Republican and right-wing hacks are calling “a slap in the face to our troops” would actually give them money AND an incentive to get the job done in Iraq. It would basically say to them, “…hey, here's all the equipment and money you've been asking for, secure this shit ASAP and you get to go home and sleep with your wife. Hooah!”

Political theater? I think not Mr. President.

no. 2945

I could watch this shit all day.

For further interest read the article about all of the technology packed into this little guy.

no. 2944

The history of Christianity, in six minutes.

From the excellent (though short) documentary The God Who Wasn't There. I haven't laughed so hard since The Pianist (just kidding).

no. 2943

Even though I think it's lame how actors are selling out and doing GAP ads even before their careers have tanked, for some reason I really like this Patrick Wilson/Claire Daines short:

There's also a “Lean Back” variant:

I think I want to learn to tap-dance.

Oh, and in case you're wondering we're changing our IP scheme at work and switching our network to run on an MPLS Embarq line using EIGRP proprietary CISCO protocols to route all of the traffic. Yeah, I don't get it either.