Month: December 2004

Lisa and I bailed on the whole First Night thing tonight. It’s turned into a quiet evening of watching the “Twilight Zone” Marathon on Sci Fi. Telly Savalas is about to get it from Talking Tina. They really need to make more dolls like that – “My name is Talking Tina, and I think I’m starting to hate you.” That could teach kids some great lessons in life. Anywho, we’re nearing the 10 minute mark. We dressed up (even though it’s just us, the piggies, and birdie), and I’ll be popping the bubbly soon.

I hope all of you are having a happy and healthy evening. Happy New Year, and all that jazz. May 2005 bring even better things.

My prize pickup during our shopping expedition on Monday was a hat. Yes, that’s right, a hat. But not just any hat. No, this was a “Crushable Leisure Felt Hat” from Woolrich. As the tag says, “You can crush it, roll it, or pack it in your bag without damaging the hat’s good looks.” It also repels water. Below you can see a horrible picture of me wearing it.

I hate umbrellas, so I’m hoping that this hat will effectively take their place in my life. I also totally dig the fashion statement (one I’ve wanted to make for years), but am slightly afraid that it will just come off as an affectation. Next thing you know I’ll be wearing a bow tie and suspenders.

I’m not one for celebrating holidays, and I despise the very thought of Christmas. However, these times certainly do give us the opportunity to spend time with our family. And for that, I am thankful (whoops, wrong holiday). So I hope everyone has been enjoying their time off, and spending it well. Me, I’ve still got the rest of the week. Perhaps some of it won’t be spent sitting on my ass.

Saturday was dinner at my parents. It was very nice, although I felt a tad off. For some reason Christmas was always spent at my sister Lisa and her husband Matt’s house (even though most of us don’t celebrate). But this was our first one without her. Matt spent the day with his side of the family instead, so we did our own thing. He will be having us over on New Year’s Day for dinner. Perhaps a new tradition is in order, anyway.

Speaking of New Year’s, Lisa and I have been debating about what to do Friday night. As it turns out, Montclair is having a big New Year’s Eve celebration. It may be dry, but I’m sure that we can still have fun. Anyone in the area still looking for something to do is more than welcome to join us. Peace out for now, Lisa and I are on our way to Peddler’s Village for a little shopping extravaganza on her birthday.

It’s like some kind of phenomenon, I just can’t ignore the memes today. Of course it helps that they’re more than the typical quiz. And it helps even more that this typical “random playlist” one has been renamed to ‘gallimaufry‘. I mean, come one. That’s just one cool word. Right up there with ‘loquacious‘.

So anyway, you know the trick. Randomize your mp3 playlist and right down the first ten that appear. I might do this once I get home, because the 20,000 tracks I’ve got there will produce some much more bizarre occurrences.

1. John Lennon – Imagine
2. The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again (Full Length Version)
3. Superdrag – Hellbent
4. Yo La Tengo – Moby Octopad
5. Cream – I Feel Free
6. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
7. The White Stripes – Fell in Love with a Girl
8. Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
9. Prewar Yardsale – Would Ed Wood
10. Lou Reed – Wild Child

Okay, that was kinda lame. That’s what you get when three quarters of the mp3s you bothered to copy to work are classic rock…

(thanks to Michael)

Funkmaster Jess is rating movie series. Who am I to deny the Funkmaster? A mindless meme-follower aparently. I left off Harry Potter (because I’ve only seen part of one) and Austin Powers (because they all sucked). In their place I’m adding the Coen Brothers films (minus the latest, which I didn’t see) and Tim Burton’s.
Continue reading “Let the rankings begin”

I messed up my computer at work. Real bad. Something (most likely a stupid Sonic driver) was causing BSOD’s. So I checked Dell’s site for updates. Foolishly I used their new “Automatic Updates” tool. They must have a lot of work left to do there, because it looks like it installed all the wrong drivers on my system. Once you screw up the USB drivers, don’t expect to be able to use your wireless keyboar and mouse combo.

After screwing around for awhile, I finally decided to use the System Restore function of XP (which I’m usually trying to disable). What do you know? It worked! I selected the restore point automatically created before the driver installed, and a few minutes later my system restarted in working condition. I admit that I’m impressed. Rarely did the “Last Known Good Configuration” option actually fix anything for me in NT, but they seemed to have gotten it right with System Restore. I guess I won’t be disabling it anymore.

I’m not even going to get into the whole TO horror. This is what you come to expect as a Philly fan. For those of you who doubt, I will remind you that McNabb (who was the leading League MVP candidate at the top) fractured his ankle and was not 100% for our second consecutive championship loss in 2002, and Westbrook (having a breakout year including 13 touchdowns) tore his tricep at the end of last season on our way to championship loss number 3. I’m not giving up hope, but things are going to be a lot tougher than imagined.

Now as for the game on Sunday, man what a blast. The Linc is an awesome stadium – especially after the shithole that was the Vet. Lisa and I arrived early enough to explore some of the stadium, and I really liked it. Clean, well laid-out, nice amenities. The pro shop was overcrowded, but at least I got to look around at the ridiculous amount of merchandise available (and I informed Lisa that our children will, in fact, be wearing these). We also saw the Honor Roll and other areas highlighting their history. My dream come true.

As for the seats, we were in the seventh row back from the North endzone. The seats were incredible because of how close they are, but you do have some drawbacks being behind the endzone. For starters, stuff going on at the other endzone mystifies you. Also, the goal posts can play havoc with your view. Nevertheless, they were great seats to have, especially considering that’s where the Eagles scored their winning touchdown. Yeah, I was staring right down at the spot where Levens lept over the line – really awesome. That really made up for the fact that the offense stalled like crazy most of the game, and there was a lot of non-scoring going on for much of it.

The situation felt miserable for a while as it looked like they would lose by the ridiculous score of 7-6 due to a (GASP!) block extra point kick, and then the freezing cold rain drifted in. But the crowd kept getting behind the team. Every third down the Cowboys faced was met with tens of thousands of screaming idiots stomping their feet. Every drive started by the Eagles was met by encouraging cheers. And the thrilling end was quite an incredible feeling.

Afterward we had dinner at my sister’s house. It was a nice cool down period to follow the emotional ups and downs of the game. Unfortunately it started to snow while we were eating, and the plummeting temperatures froze the roads. My car doesn’t handle well in the winter AT ALL! The drive (thanks in part to the last minute coffee I downed) was rather nerveracking. Although we only skidded once (very briefly), I never felt at ease until we pulled into the driveway. Lisa was kind enough to give me a massage once home, and that helped me to sleep like a baby.

I got some great pictures (which I’ll try to get up tonight), but the rain prevented me from getting a lot of the action shots I would have loved. And Lisa being next to me prevented me from getting great a lot of great cheerleader shots, too. 😉

Oh no, because we really needed more time wasters on the Internet, Best Buy brings you the Cheerleader Toss. This is wrong on so many levels. It’s a tie-in with that silly “Silence is Golden” pseudo-trailer AMC shows before movies. They have other goofy things on the site (like demonstrations of “Old Skool Moves” and “Deleted Scenes”), but the main attraction is electrocuting a cheerleader in scoreboard. And because we feel the need to brag about everything, my best score thus far is 14 (Junior Varsity).

(thanks to Mac)

I’m going to see the Eagles tomorrow! That’s right, I’ve got tickets to see the Eagles put a whooping on the Cowboys down at the Linc! Okay, I don’t actually have them yet, but my sister is picking them up today (from a player’s house), and tomorrow morning they will be in my hands. This is unbelievable… I can’t wait. Hopefully I’ll be posting some pics when I get home. By the by…

DALLAS SUCKS!!!

P.S. In case you’re not watching, the Giants/Steelers is pretty amazing. Some of the best fooball I’ve seen all year. Been going back and forth all game and (believe it or not) the Giants just scored another TD to go ahead 30-26. Crazy.

As part of the Spread Firefox campaign, the SFX team collected donations from users to place an ad in the New York Times. For their contributions, the names or all 10,000 participants would be printed in the ad. Today the two-page ad is actually running. You can download a copy in PDF or even order a limited edition print. Pretty cool statement from the Open Source Community, if you ask me. I wish I had joined in. I’ll at least pick up a copy today if I see one.