I Will Think Of Something To Do
Posted on | January 10, 2008 at 11:12 pm | 6 Comments
Ahhh, January. I think this is my favorite month. I like the winter better than the summer because of the cold (easier for sleeping) and because I don’t have to worry about “outside” stuff like yardwork. January is a time to relax after the hustle and bustle of the holidays and before doing taxes. Spring is the time of renewal, but the dead of winter before it is the time to just rest and snuggle.
Now if I can just keep from crashing into buses. If the snowstorms will just stay gone long enough for everything to completely melt, I’ll be much happier with January 2008.
Speaking of storms, a few days ago, I read Gil’s post about driving around in the Bay Area storm, and having to cross three bridges on his way home, and about how he paid $3.56/gallon to gas up the car. $3.56?? Wow, that’s steep. And then I read today that Colorado currently has the cheapest gas in the nation. So that made me feel good. I bet that doesn’t happen very often. I was driving home from work today in my rental car, which doesn’t get nearly as good gas mileage as the Prius (*sob*), and I passed the Safeway where I get gas: $2.74/gallon. And with my ten cent discount, that brings it down to $2.64. Ha, you poor bastards in Hawaii.
Another thing that made me feel good today is that they’re finally going to release the animated Sam & Max: Freelance Police complete series on DVD March 11th. This show was way ahead of its time and it snuck a whole big goober of non sequitur weirdness into Saturday morning TV for the few seasons it was on. Getting all 24 episodes and a bunch of special features for under $30 is a huge bargain. (Note: The comics are pretty keen as well. I haven’t played the computer games, but they look swell as well.) “Death From Above!”
Keen and swell and really weird also applies to this next item. Here’s an mp3 I got a long time ago and which I just recently ran across again while browsing the tunes. It’s the theme song from a popular late 60s/early 70s cop show set in the state referenced above, but it’s not the version you’re used to. Bet you didn’t know it had words, did you? And that those words were sung by a member of the Rat Pack? I’m not naming the show or the performer because I’m hoping this won’t show up in a Google search. Enjoy! I don’t know how long I’ll keep it posted. As my girlfriend said when she heard me playing it, “That’s just wrong”.
[Edit: A more permanent link to the song may possibly be found here.]
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 30°F). Still not back up to doing the full two mile route, but I did run further than yesterday.
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Fighting In Built Up Areas” (Ladytron)
- “Great Things” (Echobelly)*
- “Old Hat” (Harvey Danger)
- “I Found You” (The Fixx)
* – Note: This is one of my all-time favorite songs.
Latre.
Viking Quest
Posted on | January 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm | 10 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day: Predictable comic strips. One of the little games I play with myself is “guess the punchline”. When reading the comics section of the morning paper, I will sometimes cover up the final panel of a gag strip and guess what the punchline is going to be. I only do this on “old school” strips that frequently have a predictable unfunny gag, like Pickles and Drabble. But the primary offender is, of course, that old reliably static strip Hagar The Horrible. Take today’s Hagar for example. I have whited out the final word balloon, Lucky Eddie’s punchline. See if you can guess what it is:
Is the punchline:
A) “No Trespassing”
B) “England – 50 mi”
C) “DUI Checkpoint Ahead”
or
D) “Beware of Falling Rocks”
If, like me, you picked “D”, then give yourself a hickey and pop open a Yoo-Hoo. Of course, I guessed it without having any choices to choose from, so I’m special.
Really now, Chris Brown, this is the best you could come up with? What’s next, knock-knock jokes?
If you picked “A”, you are forgiven, but you may need to go back to remedial comic strip reading school. If you picked “B” or “C”, you’re probably a fan of Zippy The Pinhead.
Sorry for temporarily treading on Josh’s territory, but someone had to say something.
Good News of the Day: (Actually, this is from yesterday.) My next door neighbors, who engaged in all sorts of suspicious activity, made weird construction type noises in the garage in the middle of the night, played loud country music early in the morning and on holidays, never kept up their yard and property or shoveled snow after a storm, had junker vehicles parked in the street and driveway, had unusual visitors at all hours of the day and night, and who were paid a visit by the local police (not called by me) more than once, have moved out. I understand the bank has foreclosed on the property. But with my luck, whoever moves in next will be even worse. At least the now-departed neighbors pretty much kept to themselves. Understandable, since I guess you do have to keep a low profile if you’re dealing, or if you’re running a meth lab or crack house.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 30°F), finally! But I only did a half route because it’s been a long time since I last ran.
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Heat Dies Down” (Kaiser Chiefs)
- “It’s A Shame” (Elefant)
- “You’re an Ocean” (Fastball)
Today’s Weight: 163 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: The lunch buffet at Little India.
Note: After today, I’m retiring “Today’s Weight” (which unfortunately never changes much anyway) and “Lunch Yesterday”. I started those during National Blog Posting Month, and they’ve outlived their usefulness and interest value. Also, “Pet Peeve of the Day” may not appear in every post anymore. I’m running out of things that irritate me. Perhaps “Today’s Weight” will come back at some point if I actually start to lose weight and have something to brag about.
Latre.
You Know The Drill
Posted on | January 8, 2008 at 8:40 pm | 1 Comment
So last night marked the first time that A Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report returned to the airwaves since the start of the WGA writer’s strike. I of course was really needing my Stewart/Colbert fix after so long a dry spell, so I recorded them and watched them this morning.* I knew that without the writers, there would be a lot of padding and interviews, and I was right. However, both shows had monologues of a sort and you have to think those were at least partially written. Or maybe Stewart and Colbert are such professionals that they can just wing it. It’s kind of fascinating to watch, since pretty much anything can happen. But we’ll see how long they can keep it up. The best part of the shows was Colbert’s (fake) anti-strike/anti-labor stance, which fit in with his previous stated views on the matter of unions. Anyway, I’ll probably keep watching unless it becomes unbearably repetitive. I’m really not much for the interviews, which were often the least interesting part of the shows pre-strike, so we’ll see.
In other exciting news, I went to the dentist today for my six month teeth cleaning. My regular hygienist was on vacation or leave or whatever, so I got the roaming substitute one. She seemed like a nice enough lady, but I wasn’t all that sure of her skills. For one thing, she didn’t apply enough suction and water (go to it, guys). And at one point she wasn’t watching what she was doing and scraped the pick across my upper lip. I don’t think it bled, but I can still feel the hole. And then she started telling me that Sonicare was bad and she recommended against it, even though the dentist she was working for here was the one who originally got me to use it. And she was one of those hygienists who insists on talking to you while working on your mouth. Which isn’t so bad, except when they expect you to answer like she did. And worst of all, I had to actually ask for the free floss. She first gave me the free toothbrush, but not the free floss. That’s just wrong. But… oh yeah… my teeth are okay.
And in still more exciting news, my broken Car iPod is working again. I took some support person’s advice and slapped it around like a flower in springtime. That seems to have reseated the hard drive or something. For now. I was able to restore the software and recopy the music to it. Whoda thunk?
Jogged Today: No
Today’s Weight: 163.6 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Homemade turkey sandwich.
Pet Peeve of the Day: * – For some reason, the 11pm showing of The Daily Show started like 6 or 7 minutes late. So the DVR missed the last 6 or 7 minutes of The Colbert Report, and I had to record it again in the morning. I didn’t get to see the whole thing until after I got home from work. I hope this doesn’t keep happening. It’s never happened before. (Keep in mind that the 11p showing is actually the second one in this timezone with my satellite TV provider. The original starts at 9, but I like to record the later one because of fewer conflicts with other shows.)
Latre.
That’s Why They Call It Licentiousness
Posted on | January 7, 2008 at 10:29 pm | 2 Comments
It snowed again today. It took me nearly an hour and a half to drive home from work in my Chevy Cobalt rental car. I’m still getting no satisfaction on my iPod issues (see yesterday’s post) and now I’m getting Dolby Digital audio dropouts when watching HDTV, which could be a problem with my satellite receiver, or (I’m hoping not) a problem with my new Onkyo A/V receiver. And I’m tired and have nothing to say.
Okay, I do have one thing to say. I guess I’m beating Paula to the punch on this one. Male monkeys pay to have sex. I guess this really doesn’t surprise me, since Citibank routinely sends credit card offers to monkeys. Pretty soon they’ll be starting their own world wars and producing bad sitcoms too.
Jogged Today: Still no
Today’s Weight: 164.8 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Free pizza!
Pet Peeve of the Day: When Dish says they are going to add 25 HD channels this year and doesn’t say what they are.
Latre.
All Food Flows From Tom Brady
Posted on | January 6, 2008 at 10:42 pm | 4 Comments
We took a trip this afternoon to Johnny’s NY Pizza & Pasta in Wheat Ridge, since they were offering a free pizza to anyone who showed up between 11 and 6. It was good. The reason they were doing this is because they said they would if any NFL team went 16-0 this season. Thank you, Patriots. This is not a new thing for Johnny’s. Back in June they promised the same thing if the Rockies swept the Yankees. The Rockies did sweep the Yankees, and Johnny’s made good on its pledge.
I’m surprised that there weren’t more people there, but then again, we were there around 2pm. I bet there were bigger crowds around lunch and dinner time. The Donut Hole next door was also giving away free coffees, hot chocolate, and cider. It was a bonus day all around. Overheard from a teenager walking to his car with free pizza in hand: “Free food! I’ll go anywhere for free food!” Indeed. Thank you, Johnny’s. One wonders how they can afford to keep doing this, but I guess it’s good publicity. We’ll definitely be going back as paying customers someday soon.
Jogged Today: No
Today’s Weight: 165 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Homemade tacos at the birthday party at my place for the sister, the niece, and the girlfriend.
Pet Peeve of the Day: The reconditioned 40GB 4G iPod I got off eBay in August for the DICE Electronics iPod car integration kit seems to have died. I think the harddrive is corrupted. So now I don’t have an iPod for the car. But then again, I don’t have my car for at least three weeks anyway. But what am I going to do when I get the car back? I can’t afford yet another new iPod at this point, and it will probably be expensive to get this one fixed.
Latre.
The Dream Team Returns
Posted on | January 5, 2008 at 11:13 pm | Comments Off
No time for blogging today. Although I just wanted to mention that the most awesomest frickin’ show in the universe, The Venture Brothers, returns for a third season of new episodes on Adult Swim in June (apparently). There’s some info about how the season is progressing on creator Jackson Publick’s blog. I can’t wait – it looks like it’s going to be off the hook, as the kiddies say. It’s been a long time since the second season. One disappointing thing is that Stephen Colbert will be not be reprising his role as Mr Impossible this season. (See this entry and scroll down to the section titled “Grinch!…” for the reason why.)
Also, the gf and I watched Once tonight on DVD, and were impressed. Neither of us is really into musicals, but this is a different animal. I suppose it helps that the music is actually… y’know… good. We were humming the songs long after the movie was over. The ending made us sad though.
Jogged Today: No.
Today’s Weight: 163.8 lbs
Lunch Yesterday: Italian BMT sandwich from Subway.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Britney Spears may be moving to Denver. Noooooooo! Keep your Hollywood sickness out of our fair town, you hussy.
Latre.
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