Nick Postagulous
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Presidential Race Donations
I searched a web site that has disclosure of donations to the presidential election listed. My college freind Kasey's dad gave $2000 to Bush. My high school friend Gary's dad gave $300 to Bush. In my zip code, there are lots of people giving money to Bush, and the full $2000. One person (out of a population of 30k) gave $1000 to Kerry. Then there is a smattering of $100s and even $30s going to Dean.
My Second Filling
Wouldn't you know it, it was also in a wisdom tooth. I really need to get the brush back there. My teeth hurt. I haven't had anything solid to eat since yesterday at lunch. And that's only if you consider eating 140 grams of peanut butter with a plastic fork to be solid.
Oh, Yeah, I'm the Freak
My total freak status came out yesterday at the dentist. First, the dentist asked if I was allergic to anything. I mentioned that wheat pollen will send me into anaphalactic shock and I'll die. He was curious so I told him the short version of the story. I also told him about the chocolate, but made the mistake of letting him know that I don't know what it tastes like anymore. For some reason, people think that you should know what chocolate tastes like. Heck, the last time I actually tasted chocolate was when I tested to see if one Oreo would give me a migraine about a year ago, it did. And, I tell ya, it sure wasn't worth it.
The other freak thing came when he told me not to eat anything I had to chew until my face stopped being numb. That would actually be around 10 pm, as it were. I said I'd just have a protein drink. The assistant gal commented that those taste horrible. Next big freak mistake was me saying, "Well, that's not it's purpose. I have powdered protein in milk every morning and it's a great breakfast." I honestly don't think it tastes bad at all. To further my stupidity, I let them know that I also have been eating 140 grams of peanut butter by itself for lunch for the past three weeks. It's also a great lunch, but I'm getting some low blood sugar stuff going on lately, so I'm changing my plan.
My lunch today is grapefruit juice. One can that should make 48 oz, but my cool new high-tech bottle only holds 34 oz, so it's a little stout. But 6 servings of 110 calories each will give me near my lunch goal of 700 calories and with a glycemic index of 10. 10, man! Out of 100. Brilliant.
However, I can't take any oral medication at all since grapefruit juice multiplies the effects of most oral medication.
Baby Class Aliens
Well, though I didn't really want to go to the baby class last night, it was really informative. Alison is, however, the only gal in the class that isn't knocked up. And as usual, there was a young gal there who did the "Oh, I would just love to adopt a baby from China too!" crap. Hey, I'd like you to also. But little things about how they say things make you realize they are just wanting to add to their collection as it were. I changed the subject to foster care and how to get certified for that. Her husband was still interested, but she totally lost interest and was yammering at Alison about how she'd now have to adopt two kids as she wants to adopt a boy.
How Greyhound Adoption Works
Did you know that even for something as possession-like as a dog, they don't like the collection mentality when you're getting one. The Greyhound adoption people here, if you ask what colors they have, will lecture you about how that shouldn't matter. We're not adopting our daughter from China because we want to have a "little China doll." And we've had a person actually use that phrase to us recently. "Oh, she'll be your little China doll." No, she wont. She'll be my daughter.
I've mentioned before to people, and it's true, I really wish I could be Chinese for my daughter, but I can't. In fact, I know so little about how things actually work in China. The culture she'll be raised in really doesn't compare. Heck, at least we're not in rural Alabama. I don't know if we'd even be allowed. Do they burn crosses in your front yard if you adopt from China? I'll have to ask Alison's relatives that live in Moulton next time I'm out.
Uh, not really. Just kidding. (In theory.)
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Dish and the Bank
I got a message on the answering machine from Dish Network. Seems my check card, well, they know it as my Visa, is going to expire in April. Uh, like Thursday. And since we have our monthly stuff automatically drafted off it, I'll need to get them a new card number. Well, I'll have Alison do it, since I don't have another one. So, I have to call the bank. Not a biggie, but I thought I'd mention it since it's looming over me. Doesn't take much to loom me.
Dentist Looms Too
I think the biggest loomer today would be the dentist. I'm getting the second legitimate filling of my life. I had one illegitimate filling from some cheesoid dentist that I don't go to anymore. He filled a developmental defect that I've had since I was 11. Well, the last filling I got was in my stinkin' wisdom tooth. It's hard to get back there. This one is closer up, so maybe I'll get the nice amalgam rather than silver. I've not had an MRI since I've had the metal implanted in my head, but I understand it makes it much louder.
Oddly, though, Alison didn't feel bad about the last MRI. She came out of her MRI last week saying things like, "I think my favorite part is when it went..." And then tapped a pattern on the dashboard of the car until I said, "Quit it, just quit it. That's irritating."
Parenting Class Looming Also
I think this is another case of looking forward to being a parent. Alison signed us up for a parenting class that Huntsville Hospital puts on. Yesterday, she started regretting that, as our first class is tonight. It runs from 6:30 to 8:30 every Tuesday until June. I asked what the topic today was. Bathing baby. Oh, I'll be in hell. I'll have to get my mind set in that special way that you have to do when setting out going somewhere and you've heard that the roads are backed up and it'll take two hours to get through.
More Alison Shopping
Last night we bought more clothes for Alison. I went along as I have veto power over any item of clothing and Alison is on both Black Restriction and Denim Restriction. She got two really nice skirts, three V neck T's, and one shirt that kind of makes her look like she works for an optometrist. We also did this last week, but last week Alison managed to get me to agree to a black skirt with strange abstracty berries on it. I mean, how can you complain with abstracty berries.
The reason that Alison is on Black Restriction is that about 50% of everything she owns is black. That may not seem like a lot to you, but sometime when you have all your clothes washed and put away, look at them and decide that half of them are black. That's a lot of clothes. She has some killer black skirts though. And, because of that, she's on Black Restriction. She's on denim restriction since it doesn't flatter her, and she tends to wear it with black, and I'm sick of seeing her looking like that every weekend.
I've been paying attention and Alison has worn a black shirt every day except for the latter part of Saturday. Then, she wore a green shirt and blue jean.
MP3ness
My mini-CD mp3 player came in. At times, I wished that I'd bought one that could play full sized CDs full of MP3s. That was until I made one to take to work. I desperately tried to get 700megs of stuff on it. However, after piddling around with my MP3s for an hour and a half, my directory that I was temporarily storing them in only had 530 megs. Sure, fine. I burned it and am listening to it now.
I'll have to make some Mini-CDs for Alison, as she's going to start walking in the morning and lose weight so all her newly bought clothes will be too big for her.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Buying Stuff
Crap, I've gone berzerko on the online buying today. Best Buy has a buy three DVDs for $20 with free shipping. I got Resident Evil, Crouching Tiger, and the Muppet Movie. Then, just now, I bought six beach towels for $4 each and $3 to ship. They aren't very beachy looking, and, in fact, match the ethnic feel of our room. And I just say ethnic, since the room could be asian or middle eastern. I think the large Iranian platter on the wall pushes it toward the Persian-ness. Though if I moved my Thai demon mask into the room, rather than being facing out above the door to the room, it's push it that way.
The entire downstairs of the house is supposed to be a techno-rattan theme, but it seems to be segretaging itself. The rattanish feel is slipping to the south and the clean modern technoishness is drifting northward.
Well, I Shaved Off My Goatee
That's not exactly true. But my four inch long chin part of my goatee, that's been cut back. It's all been cut back to about 5mm. So, not only did I go from long (4 in) to short (5 mm) but I also changed from imperial to metric. Now it's more of a starter goatee. It's not trimmed down to the "sleaze-stash" level, as Alison would put it. Besides, can you really have a sleazestash if it's a goatee? Perhaps if you meticulously trimmed your tiny goatee.
Cars, Wonderful Cars!
Christine, my niece, is 16 and is looking for her first car. The limits are that it needs to be under $2500. I know her mom would prefer a car that's underpowered, like her sister's 1992 Accord, and I know I generally think that FWD is the best for first time drivers. Front wheel drive is usually more stable for an inexperienced driver than rear wheel drive. That said...
...the two cars that I can remember in the classifieds yesterday that fit the bill were a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII and a 1987 Nissan 300ZX. Chris had asked me to look through the classified and find her some good stuff.
I'm not sure which car I'd love to see Chris in. There's the moderately overpowered, at least for a teen driver, Mark VII. Let's face it, I was a rolling example of why you don't give first time drivers a V8. But, that said, I think Chris isn't going to try to be Speed Racer. But, if she got the 300ZX, who could resist. The 300 is an automatic, that's one of Christine's requirements on the car. So, it's not like it's going to be that sporty with 15% of it's power going to viscous couplings in the transmission. But it'll look nice, and hey, it'll be a hatchback. Hatchbacks and college go great together.
Oh, and I said I wanted to detail Jessica's car. Fortunately, I didn't say this to her, as once I saw her clearcoat failure on top, I'm not interested. What's the point? The car's paint is dead. If I clayed the sides and made it shine like a mirror everywhere except where she has the clearcoat failure, heck, it'd be a pig in a dress.
Maybe that's the wrong analogy, but it's fun to say "pig in a dress". If they made Pig in a Dress 75w90 gear oil, I'd be putting that in my car, since saying "pig in a dress" is just slightly more fun that saying Royal Purple every once in a while.
Buy More. Consume More. Consume And Be Happy.
And speaking of cars, the third and final bottle of my Royal Purple 75w90 finally showed up. Though I didn't change the transmission and differential fluid over the weekend. I just wasn't in the mood.
And you know that mini-CD MP3 player that I bought when it was $30 and then the price went up to $60 but it was on backorder and we all knew that I'd never get it? They shipped it on Saturday. Wow. I actually got a great deal on something. Woot!
Christine's Car Update
This just in:
Yeah, my mom was like: the Lincoln is a tank. So, I called the Accord ad and one other, but one was sold, and the other didn't answer. So, no luck. Oh well.
~Christine
Dangit, and that Mark VII had so much street cred. I think it was "Hood Rich" thought I'm not totally sure what that means.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Steal This Car
On my way home from work yesterday, I decided to stop by the new O'Reilly Auto Parts on Bob Wallace Ave. When I first drove up, there was a possibly chemically altered, but definitely rude, guy cranking the tunes, yelling at women, and parked sideways in the handicapped spot. I put my leather jacket into the trunk, but otherwise left my topdownness exposed. The customer service droogs really jump over each other to help you. And I was actually given a tour of the back storage area where they keep the large bottles of professional detailing stuff. They can order Meguiar's Engine Kote for $17 a gallon. And anything that 3M makes. No shipping woot!
After I'd bought the EO Nanowax, which frankly has some insulting marketing attached to it (but also a rebate to make it free), I walked outside and couldn't find my keys in my pocket. When I got closer to my car, I realized that I had been so flustered by the drunky wunky (or possibly just a jerk), that I'd left my car running. Yikes.
Are You Ready To Go?
I got home and read the insulting marketing and the rebate info while still sitting in my car. I went in and by the time I filled out the rebate form, Alison had gotten home early. I had to drive her to the eye doctor since they'd probably dilate her eyes. So, I got to sit comfortably at home for about 3 minutes.
Chatting With Managers = Free Stuff
While Alison was back having her eyes tested, I talked to the manager of the place. She told me all kinds of stuff, including her getting onto a guy illegally selling colored contacts at the beach, for quite a long time. However, when we were on the subject of why I can't find enzyme anymore, she said she'd give me some of the new stuff. And she did. Yay, free stuff. And, no, she wasn't cute or younger than me.
Why Don't We Eat At Qdoba More?
That's what Alison asked when we ate there, using our buy one get one free card that's good until September 2004, and it only cost us $10 and was gooooood. In fact, we had too much food.
Can We Go To Target For A While So I Can See If They Have Those Pants?
That's what Alison asked when we finished eating, and I should have said "NOOOOOOO!" Around two and a half hours and $80 dollars later, Alison and I left with her having some very cool clothes. I am on clothes patrol for Alison so that I can keep her from buying only black clothes. She's been looking like she's going to some very causal funeral for the last decade.
Are You Ready To Go?
Once we got home, we had about 15 minutes to sit around before we had to leave for the Bio-Imaging Center (9:15 pm appt). There was a teen watching South Park in the waiting room (Cartman faked being retarded to win the Special Olympics but came in dead last). Shortly after Alison was called, Teen Kid's mom showed up and they left. Like a true fudd, I changed it to the Weather Channel and kept reading my book. After about 20 minutes, the country people showed up.
Oh, I had forgotten how strange and slow rural folk are. And I use the word folk there intentionally. These weren't people, they was folk. Mama changed it to TVLand, as the black and whiteness of the old shows aint gonna freak them out. Then strange and slow country dude was called back. Two minutes later Alison showed back up, and we left.
Winding Down Time Is Not An Option
Usually, I take the time to wind down for an hour once I get home by watching some car shows or whatever. Forget that, Zzzzzzz.
And now, hey hey, It's the weekend (didn't bore you with boring work details, but today was kinda fun).
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Marty
I got paranoid and called Christine 2 (see below) back. Marty has a different four digits at the end of his SSN and also lives on a different street. The computer just suggested my phone number since, well, it doesn't look like Marty really exists.
Oh, and JCWhitney Still Sucks
My 75w90 shipped yesterday. If I'm lucky, I'll have at least that part of my order completed in less than a month after I ordered it. There was no shipping information about my other two shocks. You know, if they'd shipped the front two or the back two, I would have already put those on. But I can't be lopsided.
Stuffo 2.0
I'm about to mess with the template horribly. This site might now work too well for a while. If all else fails, I'll have a backup of my current template I can go back to. I hate messing with templates. I'm basically going to force an old school HTML onto this CSS thing. Basically, Nick Postagulous's Blogger Site will be come Nick Postagulous's Stuffo again.
So, Do You Have That Baby Yet?
No. Duh! Do you see me with a baby? Did I say I had a baby? No. No. No. No baby yet. I'll letcha know, OK?
Wow, where did that come from? In any case, I get asked at church and work about how our adoption is going. I yammer off the same old crap, "Well, we'll probably know who she is by the end of May or beginning of June, and will probably go get her in the middle of July, if we're lucky."
Nothing has changed, at all.
Actually, Something Has Changed
Alison has changed jobs. A few months ago she left the Underground Lair and now works for the Land Baron Association. Since that changed, we now have to have Jane, our social worker, make a page stating this that we'll take to China. However, Jane is a very busy person, and we really don't need this document until July. But not getting it soonish, and we contacted her about 2 or 3 weeks ago, causes me stress.
And speaking of the Underground Lair, Alison's replacement is a freak. Not the kind you don't take home to mother (and will never let your spirits down, once you get her off the street), but the crazy kind. Perhaps she's like the old bungee boss, but she hasn't snapped out of the UL yet. Poor Dorororina, Alison's former co-worker, is having to deal with someone who thinks they need to redo all the filing, while not understanding how the database works, etc. Basic craziness. The Underground Lair has a high turnover rate though, so maybe Dorororina or the Superfreak will leave, and all will be good again.
Two Christines
Christine 1: Christine, my niece, and the rest of her robotics team at school, won the regional animation championships with their 30 second advertisement for some non-existent product. I still haven't seen the footage. But now she goes to the Nationals, which are also held in boring old Atlanta. Sheesh, put it in Vegas or San Francisco. Atlanta sucks.
Christine 2: Christine, the Alliance Credit gal, called yesterday. I jotted down the info about what she called. JCWhitney order. Crap, first JCWitney ships me only half of my shocks. Then they ship the other part of my order, and get one of the gear oils at the wrong viscosity. And now something else. Well, I called and left a message yesterday and today I called and gave her my work number in a message. She called. Seems she's not with JCWhitney, but JC Penney. My obsession with having two shocks lying near the kitchen table for a month almost has warped my brain. She was looking for Marty Postagulous. I'm no Marty.
It does stress me a little, as there are no Marty Postagulous's in all of Alabama. I'm hoping someone hasn't identity thefted me, badly, and messed up my name. Heck, if they're going to mess up my name, they need to mess up my address, etc, and just be a total loser.
I can't have identity theft now. Too much crap is going on anyway.
Too Much Crap Thursday
Today is a little busy. When I get off work, I go home and then Alison takes off work early. She'll go to the eye doctor and they'll dilate her eyes and eventually she'll get new contacts. Hers are over 2 yrs old. Then, oh joy, at 9:15 pm Alison gets an MRI. That's a freakin' late MRI. I'll be reading Getting Along With the Chinese: For Fun and Profit during both of Alison's appointments.
If I knew I'd be staying up late having no fun, I wouldn't have stayed up late having fun for the last week/month/etc. I'm a near zombie. But I've gotten to that point in Gran Turismo 2 (yes, I'm playing a 6 yr old Playstation game again) where the money is starting to flow. Kids, get the Ford GT40 then race the Red Rock track on the Gran Turismo All Stars race series, sell the Tuscan Speed 12 for $500,000, cha cha cha.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
I Miss My Old Stuffo Format
Plus, I wrote much better things back then.
Stuffo: Ape Lincoln and Lower Lip Eating Rats
I Actually Did LOL
One of the worst things about internet acronyms is the proprensity for people to just plain lie with them. Don't use LOL unless you literally laughed out loud.
Chairman My Ass Off
And I have never heard of anyone, for any reason at all, ROTFL much less MAO. Maybe someone could HLATSMAO (Had liposuction and they sucked my ass off).
Yeah, What I Was Saying Originally
Too late, they edited the thread at Miata.net and removed all the funny.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Brain Misfire Brought On By Freako Culture
Ok, a few minutes ago, I typed the phrase "ear of corn." This looked very strange to me. It doesn't look like an ear. "Wait," I thought, "I've just had a synapse misfire on a colossal and institutionalizing level." So I got out of my desk and walked about to Steve's office.
Me: Steve, I think I've just had a synapse misfire and I need to ask you about something.
Steve humorously makes drooling moron face at me.
Me: Ok, if you have some corn on the cob, the whole thing, what do you call that?
Steve: An ear.
Me: Arrrgh! I was right. That's so totally stupid. Ok, thanks.
Steve: Mm hmm.
I'm sure this was a plot by The Man to trick people who are new to the country.
Friday, March 19, 2004
Slowest Work Week Ever
Finally, I only have another 30 minutes left of work today. Everyone left already since it's around 67 degrees outside, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky.
Interesting Article Bashing SUVs
Being a Miata owner, I already knew that the pickup truck and SUV demographic were borderline psychopaths who would really like to kill me for having a car that is more fun than theirs. But there is other interesing information in the Washington Weekly article "Bumper Mentality" such as:
The occupant death rate in SUVs is 6 percent higher than it is for cars--8 percent higher in the largest SUVs. The main reason is that SUVs carry a high risk of rollover; 62 percent of SUV deaths in 2000 occurred in rollover accidents. SUVs don't handle well, so drivers can't respond quickly when the car hits a stretch of uneven pavement or "trips" by scraping a guardrail. Even a small bump in the road is enough to flip an SUV traveling at high speed. On top of that, SUV roofs are not reinforced to protect the occupants against rollover; nor does the government require them to be.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Wow! I Got A Great Deal, If It Ever Ships
Well, the Memorex MPD8081 is now priced at $60. I ordered mine last Friday at $30. Cho chi cha, dink dink.
Getting Weller, Still In Waiting Mode
I have a little more energy every day. I'm not writing so much about what's going on since my thoughts are on the future so much. I'm just in waiting mode, waiting for our daughter. We should get our referral at the beginning of June and fly to get her in the middle of July, if we are totally average people as far as the wait times.
Century City Sucked
I couldn't tell the characters apart. The girl who was genetically altered to be a super-lawyer and is trying to keep that a secret had two conversations about it in this one episode. And the plot of the pilot, oy vey.
Plot: Man and son are reentering the US. Man is in possession of illegal clone made in Sinapore. Clone is confiscated. Clone was made to harvest liver for son. Lawyers want to get clone back to man so he can grow it for his son to live. Now, at this time it would be nice if they had some details, like maybe that if the state confiscates the cloned embryo that the kid won't be legally able to donate his organ to his brother until he's 12 and thus the host kid will be dead already. But no, no detail like that. Rather the dad proposes "pinching off" the head of the clone so they don't have it as a legal person anymore. Then it comes out that the son is a clone of the dad. So why doesn't Dad donate part of his liver? Never comes up. What does happen is that the Dad's parents are now called into court since it's a My Three Sons thing now. Very sloppy writing. They did go the safe route with the 2030 future my making them have no culture at all. And if was nice that they cited laws from the 1500 and stuff.
And, really, why worry that cloney the kid is going to die of liver failure soon, as his cells are really almost 50 years old anyway. A 60 year old boy band member had a stroke, so this isn't the future I was promised in seventh grade.
The Future I Was Promised In Seventh Grade
In 7th grade, I was told that the progress of medical technology will probably have me living to be around 120 years old. I am planning my savings accordingly. That's why I consider a pension worth so much more than a 401k that'll only get me to my late 80s. Maybe, when the money starts running out, I'll buy a motorcycle. Who knows, maybe I'll have robotic legs then anyway and I'll just get some loping boots.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Half My Shocks Came In
JCWhitney shipped half of my shocks. Just to make sure nothing was amiss, since I got one front and one rear shock, I called them up. The gal told me that I had only ordered one of each. I said, "But if you look under the description it says, 'GAS RYDER SPRING SEAT SHOCK ABSORBERS Note: Qty: 2...'" and then she said, "Oh." And typed for about four minutes. They'll be shipping out my other two shocks soon.
That's a little irritating. And you know, I'll probably end up with three front and three rear shocks.
The shocks are UGLY. Matte black with no brand on them at all. They're made in Japan though. And that's always a good thing. Maybe the yellow shocks boots aren't that bling after all.
Century City Better Rock For Me To Miss My Top Model
Last week, Alison and I didn't watch America's Next Top Model on Tuesday because I wanted to see how John Peter Who's-his-face would do on American Idol. He did horribly, and is still in the competition. Top Model repeated on Saturday, but even though the replaytv caught it, we didn't watch it since it was a recap episode. Alison read the recap of the recap episode at Television Without Pity and we decided to pass on it. Besides, we were uber busy.
Well, tonight, I'll be doing without American Idol and Top Model because I have to see Century City, the 2032 law show. I can already tell it will suck horribly, but just in case it doesn't, I'll have to watch. It's sci-fi after all.
And we won't be catching the rerun of Top Model later in the week because it is at the same time as Wonder Falls, which is the best new thing on TV. At least the pilot was good.
Another pilot I watched, and considered good, but don't want to watch any more of, is that one with Jason Schwartsman in it. It's a sitcom. And I have problems with sitcoms. I mean, I felt horrible when Undeclared got cancelled, but only had myself to blame as I never watched it.
Oh, and last night I finally watched last Thursday's survivor. Colby booted? I'm not sure I know who I'd like to win now.
Down With The Sickness
I'm still sick, but at work. I didn't have any voicemail. I'm curious how today will turn out. It's a little draining of my energy just to sit upright. I think I can definitely make it to noon, maybe.
Monday, March 15, 2004
April 17?
If you're planning on ordering the el cheapo, and thus now in high demand, Memorex MPD8081 Portable Mini-CD/CD-R/MP3 Pocket Player from Amazon, when they say it'll be in stock soon, they mean that they expect it to ship around April 17 to May 3, according to the email that they sent me.
If this order does actually go through, I would be breaking the lil rule that I made for myself if I ever bought a portable MP3 player, that it would support M3U playlists.
Alison says that I'm driving away my regular reader by talking too much about buying moderately obsolete electronics that I'm collecting like mad. Or shocks. But hey, I haven't even talked about the flooring. Hot Cha!
It's Amazing How Sickness Is
I'm sick as a dog. I started getting sick on Saturday night and was quite sick yesterday morning. I had to call Mr. Wachter, the guy in charge of the ushers at church (who just so happens to have cancer, but still walks around like a normal person) and tell him I wouldn't be able to do it. I was more worried about getting someone sick. Most of the people who go to church are old. I guess all the young ones are out doing the hip, fun sins.
But, Alison and I have a High School devotional at our house that night. So, I have to prepare my lesson. I do this inbetween naps since I'm actually not able to stand up for too long. Alison kept pressuring me to cancel it. But it was really too late. I managed to pull it together for a few hours. This morning, I had to pay for it.
I almost think I have some flu. But I've been told that this is just the ubercrud that's going around. TC seemed to indicate that his wife has had this for the past two weeks. Sheesh, I'm not staying out that long. I've only been awake for two hours and I'm bored. Bored and exhausted is a strange combo.
But, what's nice, is that there is nothing really pressing on the agenda. Sure, this weekend I really need to install my shocks, which still haven't shown up. The yellow shock boots came in. But not the gear oil, cheesy chrome palm tree licence plate surround, or the shocks.
Ok, I'm pooped. The computer chair isn't that comfortable. Besides, I've sneezed so much I've pulled a muscle in my lower back. How pathetic.
Friday, March 12, 2004
Oh, This Is The Coolest
Comand GPS installation in 1995 Mazda Miata
Non-Mainstream Consumerism
The 6 gig used notebook hard drive showed up yesterday. I can't test it until the CP-150 comes in. Also, my accendetally yellow shock boots came in. They are quite garish, and I'm just glad they go under the car. I would swear that I ordered red, but, uh, I didn't. Also, I spent $60 on baby toys and whatnot at the Kid's Market consignment sale thing.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Timing
First, after I buy shocks, the super-duper brand of adjustable shocks go on sale for about half of what they usually sell for with free shipping. And now, after buying a 6 gig drive and the Sima CP-150, Radio shack sells the 20GB I/O brand Reader for $130 with a $30 rebate. Grrr.
A Speck In My Neighbor's Eye
I had to run lab yesterday because Jones, AKA "Johnny Eyeball", was still going through medical stuff since he had a stick jab into his eye the night before. He was chasing a chicken. Yes, go ahead, make your Alabama jokes. He's a rural kind of guy. However, these aren't yardbirds. These are the fancy chickens he bought eggs from the UK to get. Seems Jones is collecting rare chickens now and is off his crane kick. Actually, if Jones does have a nickname, it's "The Birdman".
Go! Go! Go!
Poor dumb Son-of-Bruce. One of the guys that I don't have a very good relationship with at work, mainly because he's a whiney pest, but a decent enough guy as long as he's far away from me, has had his son get in trouble. Here's a section of the story from Los Huntsville Times:
It started at the Jiffy Mart, 2000 Washington St., at 7:30 p.m. There, a man allegedly took a 12-pack of Bud Light and got in line to pay. But before it was his turn, witnesses said, he pushed customers out of his way and ran from the store without paying, Sedberry said.
According to witnesses, the alleged thief jumped into a white, four-door Saturn and told the driver, "Go! Go! Go!"
Sitting in the nearby intersection of Washington Street and Oakwood Avenue was officer Jennifer Watkins, who saw the commotion, Izzo said. Watkins followed the car, but the driver took off.
This is the police account of the chase:
The Saturn traveled down Oakwood to Meridian Street to Andrew Jackson Way, back to Oakwood and onto Interstate 565 eastbound. At speeds of 60 to 65 mph on the interstate, a passenger in the Saturn threw a can of beer at the patrol car.
Patrol car hit
The driver turned onto Maysville Road and headed into the Five Points area, where the driver backed into the patrol car, causing minor damage.
Then the chase turned onto Pratt Avenue. Just after Pratt becomes Bankhead Parkway, and as officers were about to give up, the driver turned into a gravel driveway, thinking it was a road. The Saturn ran over a two-inch retainer wall and some bushes before stopping.
Facing charges
Charged with robbery were Jeffrey Witkowski, 18, who allegedly took the beer; Pete Caldwell, 22, the driver; and Robert Rush, 20, who allegedly threw the beer can at the patrol car during the chase. All three are from Huntsville.
A 21-year-old woman in the car was not charged. Witkowski, Caldwell and Rush told officers the woman didn't know what was happening and yelled at them to stop during the chase.
I commented to TC and Johnny Eyeball that if my daughter ever gets arrested and it makes the paper, I want it to be for stealing priceless jewels, like cat burgler style. The footage of the arrest was on Channel 31. Bruce's kid, who also worked in my department, was actually wearing his Water Pollution Control shirt at the time. The mayor has called us and told us to fire him. Well, duh.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Mumble Mumble
Eh, quick entry. Alison and I bought lots of stuff at the two massive kids consignment sales. One is Kids Kloset (flinch at misspelling) the other is Kid's Market. Market rocked. We got lots of clothes, books, John Lennon print blankets, etc. I checked and yeah, I ordered the yellow shock boots.
CP-150 et al
Well, last night with three hours left on a Sima CP-150 on ebay, I set up a snipe. Originally, Sima CP-150s came with a 3.2 gig drive. There was one on ebay, and it's there now, that keeps having the initial bid at $100 and no one will bid on it. But I needed something like that. So, I picked up the one that had the hard drive yanked from it, and I noticed that Amazon has sold them sans drive also, for $41. Then, based on Amazon's page, I picked up a IBM Travelstar 6 gig drive for $45ish. So, with shipping I ended up spending the $100. But, my CP-150 will have a six gig drive.
What the heck are you talking about? "CP-150"?
It's a portable hard drive with Compactflash and SD card slots on the side. Plug it in the wall, insert a card, it lights the light saying it can see the card. Hit the button to offload the card, it makes a directory and puts the contents of the card into it. It lights a light saying it's done and you pull the card out, put it back into your camera, and erase the data. It's cheaper than the other units that do that kind of thing since it runs on either a wall plug, car cigarette lighter plug, or external battery unit (8 or so AAs in an ugly harness). It doesn't play MP3s or sing and dance. What it does do is allow me to take around 12, 000 pictures at a time while away from my home computer for the same price as a 512mb CF card, which would have only allowed me to take about 1200.
And really, with the six gig drive, I won't be using the 2 megapixel mode of the 3500, I'll be using the 3.2 megapixelness. Cha cha. So, really, only about 5000 pictures at a time.
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Yellow
Yesterday, I ordered the shocks, gear oil, and chrome palm tree license plate surround from JCWhitney. The shocks are Gabriel Gas Ryders, or that was what they used to be called. Now they are just Gabriel and then some number. They are the cheapest shock that Tokico makes. They are sold here under the name Gabriel. Gabriel is a good brand for SUV style shocks, but are considered cheap by the Miata crowd.
I also ordered my shock boots. JCWhitney didn't have any, so I ordered from some SUV shop online. I had to say I had a GMC Suburban to get them. But I ordered (I swear I did) red shock boots. Late last night, they send a confirmation that they shipped my Yellow shock boots. I printed out the thing at work. I'll check when I get back Monday. But red or no red, those are the boots that are going on.
The reason I'm ordering Suburban shock boots rather than Miata, are because I'll reuse the bump stops and just zip line the new boots on where the old ones have fallen apart. Picture here. I'll be using Hakuna's method for the boots. But I'll be using Bob Cohen's Method pretty much the rest of the time, as I have no intention of separating the ball joint at the front. It's pretty similar to this and might be the same as what the Sandiego guys did, but I haven't read theirs.
Hunter
This morning, after some mega-shopping for the babyness, Alison and I went to Atlanta Bread Company. One of the people eating there looked familiar. And he was. It was Hunter Johnson who I went to school with from first grade all the way through twelth. I wasn't sure that he was at Dead Astronaut High School with me, but there were 4000 of us there, so who can tell. He was. As was his wife, who I'd never seen before. In fact, they hadn't met in high school. He doesn't live here anymore but down in a town between to larger town, near I-20, east of Birmingham. He has two sons, six and two. We talked with him for about ten minutes outside the place before Alison and I went to Baby's R Us (unproductively) and then Target (productively).
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Alison Drew This For Me
The night that we were over at Alison's mom's house playing cards and had to leave early because I needed to sample stormwater (I needed a very specific rain that hadn't happened in a while) I had to bring Alison by my office. From there, we took my van home and then I sampled stormwater until deep into the night. But, while Alison was milling around in my office and I was getting paperwork ready, she drew Dry Erase Cat.Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Lots of Setting Up Computer, Very Little Actual Work
And that's not just me installing stuff on my computer taking up time. First, I installed something. Then a guy from GIS showed up and installed something. Then while he was doing that two guys from HU showed up to install something, but they needed an ITS guy to type in a route thingy. Oh, and why them and not me? Cause I'm not an administrator anymore. I'm just a poweruser. That sucks. Later, and ITS guys showed up to help with Steve's computer. And I get him to put the route in on mine. Then I install some more stuff. Then I back everything up once it's all in place. Then we back up Steve's. Then we copy new dispatch clients onto the gal's machines, as the ones that they had know the wrong computer name for Steve's computer (and that's easier than configuring them). Then there was issues with the director's machine. Then I stayed over fixing something on the director's machine, then I think something on my machine, then I investigated some crazy crap in the HU database. Then I went home.
Fine, I Won't Recycle!
I have a magnet in my office about how late the Solid Waste Disposal Authority is open. Well, that and it's contact info. So, when I left the office at around 3:50, I went there since I had brought our old monitor to throw at them. But as I drove up, a car was leaving. The guy hit a button and the gate closed. And there was a sign, saying they closed at 3:20. Well, forget it. I chucked the monitor in the trash can when I got home.
Besides, the remediation method is to melt the lead and mix it with "fly ash" so that it's like concrete and then bury it. The lead in my monitor is going to melt and mix with all the ashes that the incinerator makes out of the rest and all the other municipal waste that surrounds it. Or so I was told by a co-worker.
400% Markup On My House?
A dude at my work, who regardless of his high rank, is full of crap generally, said that the developer who built our subdivision and house, builds the $130k houses in the subdivision about a mile north of me for $30k. He swears it's true. But this guy has lied to me about his ability to solve Rubik's cubes before. And hey, I'm tellin' ya, you just don't lie about the cube, man.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
How Messed Up Alison Is
Well, I mentioned that Alison had adhesions out the wazoo, right? Well, she also has the kind of tissue that is supposed to grow on the inside of her uterus growing on the outside and also has a ruptured fallopian tube. Oh, and she has to take this medicine that will make her sick to keep the microadenoma on her pituitary from growing into a real life tumor. But, she doesn't want to take the medicine, so she'd got an appt with a neurologist. Meanwhile, we still don't have the full dish on how messed up she is inside, really, since the doctor's staff didn't get him his postoperative notes for Alison's appointment. However, he did remember her when Alison reminded him that he had said that he'd never seen anything like it before. He did, however, forget who we are, basically, by asking her, again, "You aren't trying to have children, are you?" Uh, no, dumbass. Cause we can't. Sheesh.
Ralph Installed My New Computer
It's silver and has USB ports on the front and on the back. USB goodness means I can finally use my thumb drive that I got for Christmas. Where I felt I was getting it for a steal at $45 dollars, you can now buy that exact model for $35 at Wal-Mart, which traditionally overprices technology. Just compare the price of Compact Flash cards at Ebay and Wal-Mart.Ralph didn't want me to take the picture because he was sweating. We're at that time of year when the HVAC systems really can't figure it out.
Sima CP-150?
It might be possible to, rather than buy a 512mb card for the 3500, get a portable device that can read cards and store it to it's own hard drive. Where I linked to one recently that was $250, this old n' busted type is probably going to only go for around $100 on Ebay. It's only 3.2 gigs, but that would be enough for me to take 6000+ pictures in China. Or, if I use my full 3.2 megapixels, about 3000 images.
The absolutely cheapest way to pull off the multiple pics in China thing is to get a very old and very busted Iomega Fotoshow. It's a 250mb Zip drive that has a card slot on it. It can read the card and store it to the disk. Disks cost about 1 cent per meg and the unit is about $30 to $40 off Ebay. However, after our vacation, I'd never use it again. Well, maybe on a different vacation.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Maybe I Should Get Some Sleep
But what I'm really saying here is that I got a pretty good camera. This isn't even in the best quality mode:
My Sleepy Sleepy Eye
Dang, it almost looks bruised.
