Month: June 2003

So a bunch of us helped my friends Ivy and Maricio move into their new house in Montclair on Saturday. It wasn’t that bad – a very nice day outside. We even got to see this rare sun thing (I don’t know the proper term) that’s like a rainbow reflected off of clouds. You see 2 rainbow-like bands (one big and one small) that color different clouds (normally you’ll only actually see one of them). It only took us three trips with the U-Haul to get pretty much everything moved. I missed the first trip, but made up for that with my participation in the last load involving a refrigerator, ATV, motorcycle, and the motorcycle’s engine!

Just when everything seemed cool and Ivy was finally beginning to relax she got a serious jolt back to the crappy nature of reality. Her car was stolen the very first night. Right in front of their house. That sucks. I can only offer my condolensces and wish her the best. I’m sure she’ll get thru this, but it’s just something so… outrageous. I really am such the wordsmith. Next time I’ll just make up a word.

I really hate Macs. Even as they make advances on some of their technology and put out some decent software (i.e. Mac OS X) I really can’t stand the attitude of the company or it’s supporters. They tend to be very snobbish and buy into this whole elitist “we’re artists not computer geeks” crap when the only real difference between them and Microsoft is that MICROSOFT WON! Sorry, I like healthy competition, but that’s why this machine actually runs something different. Apple’s ads tend to be incredibly pompous and without any wit as they flaunt the ignorance of their users.
Continue reading “I still hate Macs”

I forgot to post this link last week courtesy of my friend Jeff. It’s an amazing rube goldberg that was used in a 2 minute Honda ad. This is an offsite page that someone created because the Honda page was too slow. Warning – there is some sound and it continually loops.

Ah, finally back and getting ready for my final night’s sleep as a free man. Niagara Falls was great. Too much to say right now as I really need to sleep. I’ll write all about it tomorrow. It really is a beautiful area, I’m just glad that they let me back in the USA. After all, that’s where I keep all my stuff.

Well, it’s almost 5pm, so it’s time that I start getting ready to head out with Lisa for our weekend trip to Niagara Falls! Just kidding, I’m almost ready. But it’s not like I started before 2 this afternoon. Actually, at lunch time I decided I would finally head out to get my car’s oil changed. Excellent timing – every road I was on seemed to have massive slow downs. They even had a sign up before the Willow Street bridge saying that work was going to start on the 16th and to expect delays. Of course since the sign was about 10 feet in front of the bridge and I had been sitting in traffic for 20 minutes already, I was pretty set for that delay. At least Magic Touch was the fastest lube job I ever had (now doesn’t that sound dirty). Of course, they don’t bother with all those extra things that Jiffy Lube does: “Would you like your spark plugs rotated?” “Steering wheel waxed?” “We’re running a special this month – $79.95 to have sugar put in your gas tank and boost your car’s energy – you interested?” They’re not really that bad, but I’m an idiot. Some grease monkey tells me that it’s gonna cost 200 bucks to re-seal my odometer and I’ll fall for it. Not really his fault – I’m just a different sort of geek.
Continue reading “And away we go”

Something really terrible happened tonight. Chris, Lisa, and I went to see eugene at the Green Rock Tap & Grill. Everything was going great until the end of the second set. In an attempt to get the crowd into the show, Dom started to climb up onto the stool. He lost his balance and fell into the small drum kit, and in the process broke the neck of his best (and most expensive) acoustic guitar. It’s really a shame, and all I can say is that I hope it gets fixed – we’re here for you.

One of the main reasons I started this blog was so that I could talk about all the music I listen to and shows I go to, yet I rarely get around to that. Ok, it’s time to change that around. Last night was a real reminder of why I love going to see performances all the time. After getting some Tasti-D-Lite at the Frozen Monkey, I headed down to the Artkore Open Mic with Lisa and her friend Michelle. It was really great timing because who was there but my good friends, My Pocket Zoo. I had spent the better part of yesterday sorting thru my photos to get ready for a “reboot” of my gallery and was bummed that it’s been so long since I’ve seen those guys play. Well, they rocked the house so much that people demanded that they be allowed to play a third song (non-featured performers are limited to 2 songs or about 10 minutes for poetry/spoken word/comedy). They kicked off with an awesome version of “Starfish” only to follow up with their classic cover song “Like a Virgin” at the behest of bassist Alan Tepper. After lot’s of chanting and screaming, they came back with a highly energetic rendition of “Ukelele Boy Band.” Life is sweet. If you’ve never heard of these guys, or none of this makes any sense, make sure to check out their website and download some mp3’s.
Continue reading “Not enough music”

In case anyone hadn’t figured out by now – I LOVE CHICK-FIL-A! They have chicken nuggets there that could rival the greatest chef’s work out of Paris. he is a freak (that was Lisa, and she initially called me a “frek” – I’ll have to research what that might mean). I’m serious, if I could eat just one food for the rest of my life it would be the #4 with a 12 pack and Dr. Pepper. they are very yummy (guess who…). Anywho, their website rocks! And I just found out that they have the coolest feature I’ve ever seen – a Trip Planner. That’s right, you put in your start and finish locations and it tells you, not only how to get there, but where there are Chick-fil-A’s along the way. This is how I’ll be planning all of my trips from now on!

Mmmm, Rosemont Shiraz. It’s my favorite wine. Last night after watching Bowling for Columbine at the park (which should be a separate post), Lisa, Mike, and I convinced a friend to come back for a glass of wine and some chit-chat. The fact that I had an open bottle of the afforementioned varietal was more than enough to convince her. Even better yet, she mentioned that the A&P was having a sale on it, so I was able to pick up a few bottles at $7.99 each. That’s a real bargain, and certainly made my day.
Continue reading “Vino”

The evil empire has fallen quite a bit from their lofty 20-4 start, and this latest debacle handed them by the Astros is another low point for me to enjoy. Nevermind the fact that this took a record 6 pitchers, it’s the first no-hitter against the Yanks in 45 years – that’s 6980 games! And it’s been over 50 years since this happened in Yankee Stadium. The one thing I can say about the Yanks is that they certainly handled the loss with some class:

By the time the Astros returned to their clubhouse, the Yankees had left bottles of Mumms champagne in front of the lockers of all six pitchers.

Continue reading “How the mighty hath fallen”