October place-holder

Another blog entry that starts with me commenting on my recent lack of activity between the 2 sites I post on- between the two-month or so gap posting these, being busy as hell at work since Labor Day and time being consumed by my other internet-related diversions that stepped into my real life- which have been withering and waning in both contexts in recent days- figured I'd put up something quick while I was thinking of it- no promises of quicker returns- but this is yet another possible/ promised start in this forum

-I always have the penalty flag to call bullshit halfway out of my back pocket whenever I see "Twitter sensation" used in a news story- and goddamnit- the "Balloon Boy" story from Colorado the other day is no exception

Like the false rumors of Jeff Goldblum's death that spread via Twitter the same day as Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson this past summer- I knew the Falcon Heene weather balloon story was total bullshit from the second I saw it on an internet news feed while mired in another 12-plus-hour day at work this past week

It only seemed to be confirmed to me once I saw people's Facebook status updates being overrun with the news of this- I just feel fortunate I was away from a television for all of this unfolding "news"- though I've caught plenty since- including the Saturday announcement that there will be some sort of third-degree misdemeanor charge against the Heene patriarch or whatever

-Been listening to Urge Overkill's 1995 "Exit the Dragon" a lot lately for some reason- maybe because I recall this record as an October release, I pulled it out of a pile a couple weeks ago and been in sort of a melancholy mood- to put it at a median term- at times lately

It's best recalled as the disappointing follow-up to 1993's major-label breakthrough for them "Saturation" and the further notoriety the band got from the featured role their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon" ( from their 1992 "Stull EP") had in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in 1994

Personally, I had thought the disc (or tape, as I had gotten it) was rather disappointing as a "Saturation" follow-up when it first came out in the fall of 1995- another time when I was working all the time in the autumn and had little time for anything other than work, commuting to work and watching football- or the more things change, they stay the same

Anyhow- picked up a used promotional copy of this about 5 years ago when I first got my current vehicle with a CD player- didn't listen to it more than twice for long time after- Ended up damaging a bunch of CD's by leaving them in my car for extended periods and decided to clear them all out of there

Finally listened to "Exit..." at extended level about a year or so back- and have come around to it being one of the ultimate band breakup/ general sense of melancholy records ever- right down to seemingly being over-produced, over-thought or overwrought at points- that seem to subliminally underscore the drug issue in the band (Blackie Onassis) and the general split between the members after their greatest success- was no surprise to learn this record was largely a 2-member (Nash Kato and Eddie "King" Roesser) effort and was recorded in shifts between the members

I'm sure there are other great band-breakup records out there- but "Exit the Dragon" seems to perfectly encapsullate the band's 1995 psyche as it approached the abyss

-I'll keep it up here- if Miley Cyrus has truly abandoned Twitter- that means it was never worth joining in the first place

Second-hand thoughts and stale beer

Didn't realize until this evening- while I've been trying to drink up my old Yuengling stash from the winter- that I've let this blog go fallow for the past six weeks or so- on both platforms- Have been a lot busier than I thought I'd be this summer- in terms of work and other facets of my life- Really expected another summer where I'd be sitting around using my vacation time and lamenting my lack of work- but have instead gotten up early more mornings this summer since my bout with two sessions of summer school 25 years ago- was to the point I was surprised the sun hasn't been coming up as early the last few days as it was a month or so ago- have to put a light on when I bust my ass out of bed at 5 AM now

Anyhow- no proclamations about blogging more frequently or whatever this time- It's like when I get my hair cut- Always say I'll be back at the barber shop in less than 4 months or so- and the proprietor wishes me a happy-whatever-holiday is in 6 months on the way out

-A couple days ago being the 32nd anniversary of Elvis Presley's death (16 August 1977) seems a good time to discuss the still-lingering coverage of Michael Jackson's departure a couple months ago- saw the stuff today (18 August) about possible wrongful-death lawsuits and other stuff

The most ridiculous angle of the post-death Jackson coverage was the release of the ill-fated Pepsi commercial shoot from January 1984 where MJ was burned on top of his dome- the seeming demarcation line between Jackson merely being the wildly successful recording star and the dawning of his public odd period and diminishing returns as a recording artist- yes, I'm including "Bad" in the diminished period ouevre for him

Anyhow- was treated as "Breaking News" on a lot of outlets- particularly Boston's NBC station-which features any "Caught on Camera" video from Florida and hot weather in August as such- and CNN Headline News- which has become a weird amalgam of Robin Meade, Nancy Grace and Clark Howard on the weekends- makes me miss the days of the repeated-every-half-hour newscasts and Chuck Roberts' square news delivery

Made me think of what would have constituted "Breaking News" for me at time of MJ's hair fire as 39-year-old guy watching crap "King of Pop"coverage- for me would have been that I was upset about Tom Seaver being claimed from the Mets by the White Sox and was on way to failing two classes during my freshman year of high school and a summer spent going to school every morning

-Have no idea how Jeremy Piven's latest film "The Goods" ended up doing at the box office this past weekend- but I do know the first thought I had in my mind when I saw the ads- another late-70's/ early-80's ripoff starring Piven- "PCU" (a film which is truly enjoyable on a different level) being somehat derivative of "Animal House" and "The Goods" being a strikingly/ seemingly similar tribute to Kurt Russell's 1980 film "Used Cars"

-Working in downtown Boston a stretch this summer- forgot how absolute the tourist experience is around the Common, Cheers, Old South Church, et al- since the last summer I lived near the other side of it on Beacon Street in 1993- there must be hundreds of vacation photos of me behind groups of tourists in the summers of 1992 and '93 where I was a long-haired lunkhead, stalking down the street, scowling and merely trying to get the paper at Christy's or get to the Red Line to go to Cambridge- weird to even re-visit that area on a summer Saturday- to merely go to Dunkie's and encounter torists of every stripe

There's no "we" in "I don't give a f....."

I'd put the whole title up- just worried that putting 'fuck' in the title might be some sort of red flag on either of the sites I post this on- Not trying to be a hypocrite- like those cited on a friend's Facebook page- where she wondered why people write 'f@ck', 'fu@k', 'fuc&', 'sh!t' and other dumb internet euphemisms for curse words on sites that wouldn't be accessed by the easily impressionable or offended

Anyhow- the original line I uttered Monday night (29 June) was "There's no 'we' in 'I don't give a fuck"- a play on the old And1 basketball shoe advertisement that had a guy saying "There's no 'I' in team- but there is one in 'I just kicked your ass" or something to that effect

Was watching Headline News' mosaic of 6 talking heads prattling over each other about the death of Michael Jackson (a.k.a. the "King of Pop") 4 nights after his passing- one of the supposed "experts" said "We wouldn't find ourselves in this mess had Michael left a will"- speculating Jackson had no will (supposedly incorrect) and it affected anyone beyond his family, ex-wives or supposed offspring

I have to agree with the analysis of Will Leitch of "Deadspin" blog fame- that people tend to use "us" and "we" in news analysis way too much- and it meant one thing pre- 11 September 2001 and means something different after- that the "us" and "we" that were arguing over the OJ case or Clinton impeachment were at the center of the news before and the "us" and "we"-treated stories the past several years are sidelights of sorts- like MJ's death or Jon and Kate

I was among those surprised by the treatment of Jackson's death- I would have thought the mass culture was past the idea of a Rudolph Valentino-style treatment Jacko's death- in fact- I theorized on the sports messageboard I'm on- had Jackson died before the first child-molestation case been settled in 1993- he'd have died on top of his game- Multi-platinum, legendary recording artist who'd starred at halftime of the Super Bowl that year- instead of the faded freak show that sold fewer and fewer records over the years and died before attempting some sort of "Siegfried and Roy"-level "comeback" in London next month

I was actually more surprised and touched by the death of Billy Mays Sunday- also at the age of 50- than I was by Jackson's passing- Historically, I was more surprised at word that Magic Johnson was quitting the NBA after contracting HIV in 1991- than I was by Jackson's cash-out- but I was most shocked at the general reaction of everyone I encountered personally or via the various forms of media

-Once again saw the ad for the Red Sox vs. Yankees version of "Connect Four" during the NESN Red Sox telecast this evening- perhaps the dumbest game idea this side of the Brett Favre version of "Operation" or Yao Ming's "Jenga"- but shows how dopey the whole Red Sox/ Yankees or mere Red Sox shit has gotten around these parts

- Saw an ad for the DVD release of the theatrical film "12 Rounds"- starring wrestling superstar John Cena- which seemed like it was just in the theaters 15 minutes ago (actually came out 27 March) - the DVD promises "Two alternate endings"- My question- do they count the actual ending of the film- for those who left well before it was over- as an "alternate ending"?

-Gross mass-produced pizza-chain food product of this blog- Pizza Hut's new Pizza Rolls- have had pizza rolls in various forms- at their best- they are sort of like the strombolis or pizza rolls you can get at various Italian/ pizza places in New Jersey or the general New York City area- at their worst- are the diarrhea-inducing frozen treats by Jeno's and others- but the Pizza Hut ones look like Crescent rolls with cheese and other fillings-make both Crescent rolls and fillings seem individually unappealing the more you think about them

Much sooner than what?

I wrote in my last entry here (3 June)- I'd be back much sooner than later- Well....
I thought of stuff- but aside from working oddly variant hours again the past couple weeks- stretches of night shifts followed by early-morning stuff followed inversely the last few days by nights again- has really fucked up what little- if any- rythym I have in everyday life

Anyhow- when I left this a couple weeks back- I promised what would be my version of a celebrity/ politician/ exemplary citizen- type graduation/ commencement speech- had I turned myself into any of the aforementioned/ anything accomplished period

I thought of this as I drove past one of the larger/ more prominent private high schools in Cambridge- as I was driving to the liquor store on a weekday afternoon a few weeks ago- as their commencement ceremony was letting out- kids in gowns and mortar boards coming out with their families- beaming at the young one's accomplishment- All I could think was "It doesn't really get any better than this, kid"- Sure, college could be 4 or 6 years of good times and maybe that's the speech where the message of "It's all downhill from here, suckers" speech would perhaps be most apt

The whole scene got me thinking- not just about the fact I missed my own private school graduation ceremony 22 years ago last Saturday (13 June 1987)- which I helpfully reminded my mother of on the date itself- but that no one ever tells you when you're young that grown-up life really sucks when you get out of school and older- either way- you could cash your youth in early and become a full-on adult by getting married and/ or having kids - or you just run out of youth while living by the same ideals/ mores- The net result pretty much still sucks either way

If I were ever accorded an audience for such a speech- I think I'd want to come out to Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow (Barretta's Theme)" as my entrance- and if I couldn't - I'd feel the need to recite the lyrics of it to the kids- who were all born when Robert Blake was better known as the white O.J. than the man associated with playing the cop with a parakeet- "When the going gets narrow" being the particular point if I had to recite the lyrics back to the young people- and maybe a few extemparaneous remarks about the day but shit (maybe a Clay DAvis "Sheeeeet" from "The Wire"), the general message from me would be the same as TV's Al Bundy- "Life sucks and it never gets any better"

-Speaking of which- someone has told me I should embrace my leaning to my beat traits- I've also been told my leaning toward negative thinking is one of my strongest traits- I really think I can think the worst about anything (blush)

-How dumb can the local news stories here in Boston get? Touched on this many times now- but two particular examples hit me recently-

-The Little Leaguer somewhere around here who struck out all 18 batters a couple weeks back- Were "The Simpsons" that prescient when they ran the episode with Homer bowling a 300 game and becoming a "Springfield Square" and friends with Ron Howard? The TV people expected the Little Leaguer to be circumspect or at least glib about his greatest achievement to that point? See all my stupid shit above about life going downhill after high school or college

-Or the story in Boston about the Phish fan that spread "Yankee" fertilizer on the lawn at Fenway Park during the jam band's much-awaited reunion show/ latently-unwanted reprise a few weeks back (30 May)- was covered like it was some type of political asassanation by local TV types- like the stupid story of the "Ortiz 34" jersey buried at the new Yankee Stadium last year- What happened to the idea of Boston being the home of "America's Best" local TV?- oh that was back in the early 1980's- ouch

Trashed, uninspired or merely crushed?

Once again- I have to explain an unplanned, long interregnum to the few that read these bleatings- on either of these sites- Have still been busy with work and other pursuits- though I've recently been spending a bit less QT on the other social site recently- in spite of my recent-months declarations that it could have been the Greatest Website Ever- long story- but it still stands as another site at this point- recent activity not withstanding

I'm sure Twitter or some other currently-nascent great idea will eventually (or sooner) wipe out Facebook and these host sites- internet telepathy being the only thing that could seem like the ultimate goal of all these sites- and I cannot make the proclamation that I hope not to live long enough to see that since it could be reality by 2012 or so

Anyhow- here's the random thought clearinghouse for now- while I wait for internet telepathy

-Speaking of Facebook shit- the "Living Social" application has to go down as more annoying than junk mail and cable infomercials on the personal annoyance list- I get shit from people whom I don't suspect are "Grey's Anatomy" viewers (I hope) are sending "Which 'Grey's Anatomy' Villian Are You" answers- If you claim not to give a fuck about the show- why should I give a fuck about your answer?

-Joint boyfriend/ girlfriend or husband/ wife or whomever/ altogether accounts on the Facebook site are as dumb as they were on MySpace or whatever- Cannot believe anyone would sublimate themselves to that shit

-Spent Memorial Day weekend with parade outside window in Somerville again- Obviously not live-blogged like I tried last year- if I'm writing this on 3 June- Anyhow- could have cared less about the 24 May proceedings- even if they'd proceeded down Highland Avenue with Communist-era-Stalin-esque heads in my image- Did not care- not to disrespect the war dead- but I feel once you've seen one flag-draped fire truck- you've seen them all

Speaking of Memorial Day and parades- I knew it was summer- when I was stuck in traffic the Saturday of that weekend and saw a fat woman in a knockoff-style #12 Tom Brady Patriots jersey put away a nip bottle of sauce and toss it in a nearby dumpster while I was stopped at a red light- then, while traffic was so slow- saw same woman pull out and put away another while I was stopped again- less than a half-mile away- behind annoying weekend traffic- Funniest thing I've seen on the street in a long time

-Before she testified this week- I had little sympathy for Sandra Boss- the mother of the child "Clark Rockefeller"/ Christian Gerhardtschneider/ whatever his real name was- produced while married to her/ abducted last summer- It took her 15 years to question his phony lineage or bon temps and years after they had a child together? She came across as a stereotypical Yuppie with child during her testimony- too involved in herself or career to know/ care- one of them will eventually be co-starring in Rod Blagojevich's episode in the Flava Flav/ Brett Michaels' edition of VH1's "Daisy Rock Flava Group Sex of Love" or perhaps an eventual remake of "Bang Bus 12"

-Worked such fucked-up hours last week- I went out to my wheels after 5am- on Back Bay street and realized I'd lucked into one of 5 spots or so on that street that weren't affected by shooting of either the new Adam Sandler buddy comedy or new Mel Gibson/ Tommy Lee Jones (I think) movie filming around here

-I'll be back much sooner than later- working on what would likely be my graduation speech/ valedictory to the young people- if, under any set of even plausibly theoretical circumstances, I were ever asked to do so

Passive blogging

I have not actively blogged in about three weeks or so- though I'm not sure there's a method of passive blogging (I revised the title of this after writing the preceding passage)- Between a stretch of non-work-inspired boredom, a trip to New Jersey, a return to working all the time and other internet pursuits- I haven't been on either Blogger or MySpace much recently

It's not that I haven't had anything happen to me or any ideas- Just haven't had either the time, concentration or gumption to put up anything recently- to wit: my recent jotted-down ideas-

-Whatever guitar/loud music detente I seemed to reach with my upstairs neighbor a month ago seems to have receded in recent days- first noticed his loud music last Friday which backslid into full-guitar blasting before I went to work this past Sunday (10 May) while the aforementioned blasted his joint's AC on what was at most a 65-degree day- I know it gets warm in upstairs units- but when its breezy and in the low 60's- an open window usually does the trick- though I shouldn't give a fuck about someone else's electric bill

-Speaking of music- was driving around one Sunday night after work- during a two-weeks straight stretch- and caught part of the Providence, RI rock station's (94.1 WHJY) local music station- I've had many laughs at the expense of both that that and the New Hampshire local show ("Rock 101") versus even the worst of the 3 Boston ones I can think of- the Providence one always seems to feature unusually bad heavy metal bands that seem to start from the point of being awful Misfits cover bands- and work backwards from there- cannot describe in writing better than that and still does not do full justice to actually hearing how bad they are

-Speaking of driving- finally had court date from 1 December 2008 ticket 2 weeks ago (30 April 2009)- Had to go to Framingham court house- located off Guadalcanal Ave- a block between- no shit- Anzio Street and Pearl Harbor Avenue- and also a street removed from what seems to be Framingham's public housing- waiting to see where they put "September 11th Boulevard" or "USS Cole Parkway" in that town- particularly gives a great impression as all you're trying to do is fight a speeding ticket

Anyhow- got to court- first visit in about 9 years or so- last one was at the relatively genteel Newton courthouse- the hearing room for the traffic court magistrate was directly next to 2 criminal court ones- so you have the regular folks of traffic court- including one guy sporting his Best Buy uniform and one particular douchebag who paced back and forth talking both loudly and self-importantly on his cell phone- I felt like I must have looked like a professional male model for wearing the casual version (no jacket or tie and shirt out) of my work suit- Not to sound like a haughty asshole- but I realized could have never been a lawyer- which would have been in spite of my lack of aptitude for academic pursuits- but because of the thorough contempt for the most of those at the courthouse- aside from my self-contempt- with which I viewed my momentary visit that day

Get called in- the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and their various police agencies have figured out the way to beat drivers who used to be able to roll dice that the cop who wrote their ticket may not show for hearing- like when I beat a red-light/ blocking-the-intersection ducat in Boston proper 13 years ago- by having a state cop who sits stoically through your hearing- and creating system where you have to pay to appeal ticket with cop who wrote it and judge- for an off-the-top fee

I was there just to get a few miles knocked off the 88-in-a-65 I was given the Monday after Thanksgiving on the Massachusetts Turnpike- asked the magistrate how my ticket could be based on both an "estimate" and the light-imaging (LADAR) system cited on my ticket- got answer I didn't fully buy- but wasn't going to the mat over

Then moved onto my plea- which was basically "I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't speeding- but I wasn't going 23 over"- magistrate asked me what I thought I was doing- I said "maybe high 70's"- he took the 10 miles off and I was happily gone- though I had a momentary flash I should have gone for broke and tried to knock down the whole thing- but came to my senses and savored my incremental victory against The Man

-Speaking of encountering scumbags or jabbronis- Had to drive past Boston's Museum of Science to work downtown a couple days- Nothing funnier to me than the sight of some white, suburban 13-year-old kid on a field trip lined up outside with other white, suburban kids at 8:45 AM in head-to-toe Avirex-level street wear- could not stop laughing to myself when I saw that

-Seems like Domino's has really raised the ante on Pizza Hut's awful-looking pasta dishes- by serving them in bowls made out of what looks like to being the latest use devised for day-old pizza dough ("Chocolate Dipping Sticks", anyone?)- unbelievably bad-lloking concotion

Should be back sooner with more- eventually

Back on the grid- for another swing

Don't think I was tempting fate a few weeks back when I thumbed my nose at the "confickr" virus (1 April)- but whatever maladies were slowing down the operations of my computer the past few months finally caught all the way up to it last week and took me off the information superhighway for a few days last week

Hence, at least one of the reasons why I've been so lax in updating this blog lately- I've had other pursuits/ time-consumers on the internet- when my computer's been working- the instant-message function with certain members of of the other social site has been a particular focus lately- I've also been leading kind of an all-or-nothing work schedule- where I'll work about 40-50 hours in 4 days' time- then not work for about 5 days at a time has led to stretches where I literally do nothing but work and sleep or sit around and sleep- not much grist for interesting writing

Anyhow- I'll try to get in a quick entry before I return to New Jersey for a visit the next few days - before things pick up and I'm back to working something of a normal schedule for the remainder of the spring- and I'll have more of my regular out-and-about encounters to write about (or not)

-To return to one of the oldest themes of this blog- The Dunkin Donuts across the street from my usual work spot in Waltham- apparently had some sort of management change during one of the recent fallow periods for me there- The woman who'd been the manager there finally got a store closer to her residence in New Hampshire- so there's new management there for the first time in a couple years or so

Learned this the hard way one morning last week- when the new go-getter assistant manager (I assume) came out from behind the counter and addressed me as "Boss" with a business card in hand- asking me what the business levels were at the hotel I (usually) work at were- I told him it was very early (about 6:50 AM or so) to be asking me that and I'd been away for awhile- He wanted me to go back and sell hotel-function customers on the coffee there for a discount- I didn't have the energy, patience, wherewithall, whatever- to tell this guy that overpriced coffee is one of the ways the place makes money on groups- and just nodded and took the card- which I tossed pretty quickly once outside the store and forgot about it- for 2 hours or so

Until I went back for another coffee- and recieved the same treatment- same guy coming out from behind the counter with the "Boss..." opening line- until I pointed at him and said "You already asked me today"- He stopped and stammered "Well, I thought..."- "You already asked me" was my second response- Like I should have gone back to where I work and undercut the salespeople there for 10% or whatever on my coffee

-Speaking earlier of the other social site (for the MySpace readers) or Facebook- as its known- for the 2 or so Blogger readers I have - I like to think the random public listings for some groups has become kind of like the modern-day version of the 1970's game show "The Joker's Wild"- particularly if you end up joining any school/ alumni-type group and may end up next to people you'd least likely want to be associated with after a number of years- the closest I've seen for myself was when I had it happen on my public listing where both "Magnum P.I." groups I was in turned up as my public listing there

Country Time and chopper pads

Not sure I should be writing about this- but not many read this stuff anyhow- in either of its venues- so, I figure I'm relatively safe in this admission: Tonight, I actually bought a hair re-growth product for the first time

I never thought it would come to this- years of making fun of the prematurely bald- particularly the kid in high school that drew the nickname "Country Time" for going bald at about 16 and looking like the old man from the old Country Time lemonade ads of the late 1970's- years of now-dumb-looking mullets for me and no real cares about losing my hair- until a couple years ago when someone at work was looking to make fun of me and claimed a mere lapse in getting my hair cut/ semi-consciously growing it out a bit was an attempt at a comb-over

Since then- I've been kind of self-conscious about my retreating front and burgeoning chopper pad on top- I didn't really care all that much when I started to show signs I was going gray years ago- my mother regaled me with tales of her discovering bits of gray as early as when she was 16- and I really didn't begin to show any of that until I was at least 30 or so- until parts of my beard went all-gray/ white awhile after

I had not really noticed any diminishing returns up top until about 3 years ago or so- particularly when my hair was wet or it was windy out or something- But, in recent months- I've actually become somewhat obsessed with whatever's been going on up on top at pretty much all times- to the point I'd thought about obtaining some type of product to counter that

Tonight- was at the still-remodeling Target store in Watertown- looks done from outside- but not nearly done inside- went to makeshift 'Hair Care' aisle- like I usually do on most visits- of course time I look for Rogaine or whatever- there's 2 workers and 2 other customers in aisle- pretty much like first time I ever bought underage booze, condoms or pornography- want as few people to see me when I actually scope out and buy that shit for first time- I'm sure the next adult frontier for me will be if I ever need adult incontinence products when I'm really old- or something similarly embarrassing- there will be at least 5 people around that aisle/ area when I go looking for it

Anyhow- looked at the name-branded Rogaine stuff- none of it under $50- see the Target store brand 1990-era knockoff of it for under $20- decide I'd rather piss away under $20 if I abandon the course of treatment rather than the $50- of course the store brand will probably turn my scalp red, burn off the rest of my hair or get in my eyes and make my blind or something like that- But I guess I'll have to take those odds for now- We shall see

-Wrote of the usual Red Sox media lovefest last week- was watching the rain-delayed-to-Tuesday Opening Day for the Olde Towne Team- Thought it was incredibly dumb they had the players come out of the stands to make their entrances on Opening Day- Always thought that was kind a cheesy populism ever since the "Larry Sanders" episode where the network talked him into running through the crowd at the end of his how (like Jimmy Fallon does now)

Saw most players high-fiving crowd on way down- with exception of Dustin Pedroia- but was waiting for likes of either injury-prone J.D. Drew or David Ortiz to slip on beer-soaked steps and injure selves- Did not come to pass- but still thought was dumb

-Cannot believe Tuesday was one-year anniversary of Kathie Lee Gifford on the ancillary 4th hour of the "Today" show- saw they even brought Frank back out for the occasion- I'll never compliment a woman's breasts to her again without thinking he shouldn't get a royalty for his talk to one-time stewardess Suzanne Johnson many years ago

-All the preceding makes the pairing of classic college basketball coaches in their underwear for the "Guitar Hero" ads with what's left of Metallica's credibility almost fathomable- can't see Bob Knight or Coach K getting down to even the post-"..and Justice for All" catalog

Les contretemps du blog

I don't know if my French is correct- but I figured I'd get in a few thoughts before the internet as we know it is taken down tomorrow (1 April)- at least for us Windows users

I've been writing this blog- in one form or another- for a little less than the past three years- There have been some conventions and a relative set of mores I've tried to adhere to for that time- One of which has been to never attribute anything I write directly to people I know or their identities here on the internet- lest I be accused of unfairly characterizing someone or an event they were involved in- or writing anything that could be taken as cheap shots or unfair slagging

Anyhow- there have been a number of occasions where I've written about stuff that I then opted to characterize to anonymous friends and associates of mine- or I've flat-out passed on writing about certain events here to avoid any amount of possible misrepresentation of either myself or those involved- Its common sense to a certain degree- I'm not going to turn my mundane existence into a homeless man's version of TV favorites like "Gossip Girl", "Sex in the City" or some other crap like that

With that said- I unwittingly found myself embroiled in a situation like that a week or so back- A female acquaintance of mine had a sort-of worst-case scenario-level story that happened to her- one I will not recount here- and shared it with a few people over various means of communication- including the instant messaging feature of a popular social network

One of those she did that with took it upon themselves to take screen captures of their conversation- featuring this girl's name and photo- and post them to their blog- with minor edits
-which then led some of the people who commented to address their feelings on it to the person in the story

The whole point of the screen capture and ID of this person was more for the writer to show off a witty quip they delivered in the IM exchange that was a play on something else on this person's social profile- than to express any kind of either empathy or disdain for the person telling the story- which in a weird way, to me, is even worse than doing it out of disdain or disapproval- It was sort of using her as the platform or butt, so to speak, for the one-man Algonquin Round Table to show off the funny they made- sort of at their expense

Anyhow- the subject of this told me about it and sent me a link to the aforementioned blog- which I read, then anonymously posted a comment telling the writer I thought it was rather uncool of them to post someone's private IM's without their consent and to use their name and image as an accompaniment- I did it more out of a feeling that this was somewhat unfair to my friend and did such the same I would do any friend

A day or so later- the blog writer responded- in their comment section- by telling me- in short order- that they knew my last name started with a 'G'- inferring they'd looked up my IP address, that I was only doing that to impress this girl in some form and he wasn't trying to be cool anyway- so "uncool" didn't register as an insult

I thought about respondeing- but decided not to bother- I figured out the person didn't have the goods on my internet presence and decided I didn't want to get into what would be no better than an internet pissing contest with someone who seemed to be courting the attention- when all I merely meant to do was state my case that their actions weren't really kosher- not trying to declare myself Arbiter of the Internet or try to engage someone who's deluded themselves into fancying themselves as some type possessor of a rapier wit

-I still cannot get over the media free ride the local sports teams here in New England get- particulalry the Red Sox- who last week announced they were freezing their 2009 concession prices at 2008 levels and were treated by the local media as though it was going to be free food and nickel beer down at the old ballyard this summer- My response to this can be summed up by the classic quote from the former New Jersey Nets star Derrick Coleman -"Whoop-de-damn-doo"

-Speaking of the news media- I've been wound into this confickr frenzy and feel like I'm chancing fate by merely being on the internet here at 12:15AM ET on 1 April- If the interwebs manage to survive- then I'll see you on the other side

Idea Clearingouse- Now- In 3D!

Been kind of a lag in posting lately- between work and other internet endeavors that kept me busy last week- will try to pick up on blog I started last Friday- before the other internet activities and frosty beverages intervened- now St. Patrick's Day and a few more frosty beverages have intervened in freeing my writer's block

Upon checking my mail last Friday- got a letter and tickets for one of those phony "Television Preview" events next Friday night in Danvers- Found it kind of odd to receive considering fact I work in the meeting presentation business (for lack of a better euphemism for hotel Audio-Visual) and have dealt with this group- and others like it- directly over the years- would be the equivalent of handing a leaflet to or sticking a clipboard in front of an anti-cult activist- It's not nearly as malicious as some other scams- basically the shows they're supposedly screening for future airing are actually a cover for the ads that are truly the focus of the audience testing- though the audience members I generally see at these look like and act like they're happy to be in a large, shiny building- and it's a true evening out for them- Don't want to be the one that ruins the fantasy on this

The funniest part of the invite to me though- was the rendition of my name as "JOSEPH GILLESPIE 3D"- Instead of the Roman numeral that generally goes after any one of the formal iterations of my full name- I just thought the way it read to me- that I was in 3D- was rather amusing to me- I guess if I were in 2D I wouldn't be enough of an active jabbroni to be getting invited to gala events like that at suburban hotels

-St. Patrick's Day reminds me that we're in the season of Lent for Catholics out there- lapsed, like myself or otherwise- Had a converstion with someone at work last week about how he was giving up booze for the 40 days while another family member of his was giving up "being difficult"- I don't think its much of a sacrifice to try and not be an asshole- especially since I like to think I try the other 325 days a year as well- except for when called for- always recall when in Catholic school- we were told we couldn't make an abstract sacrifice for Lent- had to be something tangible we had to announce to the class every year- like candy or TV viewing

-"Oh my God- the U2 show"- never something I thought I'd hear myself say during a commute home from work- anywhere- since I have never lived/ owned a car close enough to any venue they'd have played to me the last 22 years since I became a licensed driver- but I had to think that when they played that "secret" show at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square last Wednesday- I live about a mile and a half or so from there- but usually go through the outskirts of the Davis area to drive home- thought of it and avoided area

Which reminds me of the old New England adage of "You can't get there from here"- I sometimes think the most direct and quickest way to get somewhere here is the least direct or quickest

-Was at supermarket last week- saw the new line of "Late Night" line of Doritos- which included a "Late Night Taco" flavored selection- usually, I'd resist this line of marketing to hipsters/ stoners/ young people/ whatever- but I've loved Taco-flavored Doritos since I was a kid and they merely had the brown packaging versus the pre-fucked-with Nacho Cheese-flavored ones of the late 70's/ early 80's- and have bought the occasional returns to the "Taco-flavored" name since

Anyhow- at supermarket- and put my shit on the conveyor- since there was a line behind me and an aggressive bagger at end- aside from5 my usual desire to get the hell out of there- My "Late Night Taco" Doritos were next to the 2.5-gallon container of water on top of my case of pint bottles- cashier jerks the belt- bottle falls off and crushes the "Late Night" Doritos- she asks me if I would like to take them broken or get another- I say "Forget it"- not taking time from people behind me to play a smaller version of "Supermarket Sweep" for "Late Night Taco" Doritos or taking the fucked-up bag that will likely just open up over whatever's next to it or the back of my car

-Local News Items- two items that piqued my interest- One was the 13-year-old girl from Winchester who ran away to Boston and went to a bookstore - before she was found and returned- Isn't there a larger way to rebel than to disappear downtown to read?

And the recent rash of stories where people are taking pictures/ videos of neighborhood calamities with cell-phone cameras- particulalrly the recent outbreak of gas explosions around New England on the news- where folks seemed to be doing so- as opposed to calling 911 with them or helping these folks directly?

El Emparedado de Muerte '09

Just figured that "The Sandwich of Death" sounded a little cooler or better-embellished in Spanish or any other language than it does in plain, old English

The other day- I had another March brush with death during a sandwich I was consuming at work- last year it was a pre-St. Patrick's Day corned beef sandwich- as documented on my MySpace blog ("Fat is not to be had without labour" 15 March 2008)- This year it would have been a tad more ironic, as I spent part of my Wednesday afternoon (4 March) recounting the story of last March's choking incident - where I was trying to eat corned-beef that was about as tender, succulent or digestable as a dry-rotted baseball mitt and almost choked on it while taking a huge bite out of it- to the guy I work with

An hour or so later- we decide to get dinner- Both of us having Turkey Club sandwiches- While I was in the midst of a more-than-likely pointless anecdote about something else that previously occurred at my job- I also took a bite of my sandwich- which proceeded to go down the wrong pipe- was gasping for a minute or so- but was able to regain my breath after a second- just had momentary trouble talking for a few minutes after

Was really more embarrassed than anything else- especially due to the irony of me discussing a previous similar incident shortly beforehand- as I've stated previously, I'd hate to go out in some sort of ironic manner that would provide me with a moment or two to think how stupid I was as the coda of my worldly thoughts- At the very least- this will serve as reminder to steer clear of the corned beef at next weekend's renewal of the washer and dryer show at work

-I've also written about my various grievances with neighbors- at past and present abodes- All I have to say about my current upstairs neighbor- is the fact they don't appear to be drug dealers or meth makers with regular 3:30 AM visitors who take my parking spot or box my car into it- is pretty much all that's separating them from vaulting to "Worst Ever"-level or being some sort of hybrid of the worst of my decade-ago Los Angeles neighbors- sans contretemps over snow removal or me regularly taking drug tests for them

The last couple weeks- I've reached my breaking point with the loud electric guitar-playing neighbor upstairs from me after 6 months of them feeling free to treat this residence as a home studio, rehearsal space college dorm room at most hours of the day- I've alluded to this issue before here- person seems to feel them playing jazz or blues guitar music loudly and directly above me- doesn't make it egregious as say, rock, rap or Nordic black metal- Yet to me- not being hear the TV from 8 feet away without turning it up to triple the usual volume- makes it pretty much all the same to me

I've taken to the passive/ aggressive act of pounding on the ceiling- Was on the receiving end of it years ago in Watertown from a sensitive neighbor that expected me to levitate around my place after sundown- would pound and go press buzzer for apartment if I merely got off couch to take a leak- have resorted to that because the level of rage the loud music engenders in me makes a door-knocking face-to-face complaint inadvisable- since when I'm annoyed by it or merely "mildly angry" its not enough to make me go up there- and when I'm truly annoyed- the ceiling is probably the least worst thing I could be delivering a clenched fist or some F-bombs at- Oh well, another neighbor here who's going to classify me as an asshole (as happened a few months into my run here)- Good thing I didn't move here to make friends

Tonight- I practically punched a hole in the ceiling when I got back from work- the guy stopped his guitar noodling after 3 songs- but I'm not sure how it progresses from here- and I have the spring and summer to look forward to- when the windows will all be open around here and this individual will no doubt lack the self-awareness / consideration of others that would lead them to be any quieter at that point than they are now- Another reason to view the end of winter and warmer weather as little more than a tradeoff of one set of problems for another

-Speaking of being irked within the confines of my abode- got my March cable/ internet bill the other day- was kind of shocked to see it about $90 more from one month to the other- turns out only $30 of that was for March itself- the other $60 or so was to cover them supposedly undercharging me in January and February for services- this from a utility (at least I view cable and internet that way) company that forces customers to pay in advance for services not yet rendered

Turns out- the one-year promotional period for my DVR, HBO's and HD channels (even though I still have an SD set) ended in January- the cable company raised my bill- but not as accordingly as they deemed (or as I initially suspected they would) and I was retroactively socked this month for it- Always pisses me off that a company that wouldn't think twice about cutting my service or at least threatening to do so- if I paid my for my proactively-billed services in even a relatively retroactive manner- is rather nonchalant about aggressively trying to bill me in a retroactive manner

Has me thinking about dumping the HBO's- the new "Eastbound and Down" show hasn't caught my fancy, never got into "Flight of the Conchords" and my next by-rote viewing of new "Entourage" episodes wouldn't be happening until July- though I do enjoy boxing, 11AM unedited weekday airings of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" or "The Blues Brothers" and watching old "Sopranos", "Wire" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episodes on-demand and will probably wait until the supposed April resolution of NFL Network carriage on Comcast before I make any moves on my TV packages

-Speaking of TV- Have seen 3 of the 4 episodes (to this point) of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"- Wednesday night's DVR of it was ruined by an in-show Emergency Broadcast System transmission from the aforementioned cable company and no audio when show returned- so I missed the highlight of Fallon dancing around with Cameron Diaz

Fallon was remarkably nervous on his debut night Monday (2 March)- even compared to a novice Conan O'Brien during his 1993 debut in the same slot- and especially for someone who spent 6 years being on "Saturday Night Live"- the opening show seemed rather rushed, had a predictably dull Robert DeNiro as opening guest and an interview with Justin Timberlake that plumbed Chevy Chase-like depths in the opening-night "Remember when?" session with a showbiz chum

I also think the blatant "Price is Right"-level product placement in the show- Sharp Electronics in particular- will undercut whatever edge there is to the comedic chops of the show and reduces it to about the level of the 1986 flop entertainment/ home-shopping "VTV" show- without Richard Simmons and a washed-up soap actress (Constance Towers)

I guess I'll give the Fallon show time- O'Brien was rather brutal in the early going- but early shows had a glimmer of what was to be for his franchise- viewers can only hope that Fallon's nervousness and The Roots as his house band aren't the only calling cards of this version of "Late Night"

Thank God I moved and changed schools a lot as a kid...

I've previously referenced being on both social-networking sites here- I only post the blog on MySpace- because- while part of me would like to increase whatever fluctuating readership is out there for my shit- There are too many people from my distant past on Facebook and for whatever reason- maybe still being hung up on certain moments from the past- like much of high school or the many girls that have given me the Heisman pose (the old stiff-arm or arm's distance- for anyone not familiar with the term) over the years- that I really don't feel like sharing whatever I'm thinking or up to or whatever

Anyhow- I've noticed a recent phase on Facebook- People who are seemingly emptying out their mom's old photo albums into a scanner to post class photos from the earliest years of school- for people my age that would be Bicentennial-era school pictures from Kindergarten to about 2nd grade- Hence the title here- I moved a couple times and changed schools 5 times from K-12th grade (counting the extra few months it took me to finish up high school) at pretty much every denomination from public, parochial (Catholic- at perhaps the worst time 6th- 8th grades) and private (H.S.) and went to 3 different colleges (and enrolled at a 4th)

I have a few friends on each side of this divide- those that are posting and reminiscing about the ancient school photos- like such minutiae as asking if Teacher X was as much of a hardass in 1976-77 as they were in 1979-80- and those caught in the dragnet of dressing like a "Zoom" kid or huge 7-year-old "Star Wars" fan on School Picture Day 1977- and I feel for my friends who've been caught up in that- my only school picture moment so far was from the 1986 H.S. baseball team where I look like I've tried to grow out some sort of starter mullet- and I was the narc that named the rest of the unidentified to my friend that posted it

I will not soon be among those emptying out my mother's photo album anytime soon for the scanner- and I'm sure I'm a mystery man among some people in certain Connecticut, Michigan or New Jersey environs- who's trying to tag class photos from the 1970's- let alone the dopey photos of me wearing some sort of bow tie shorts suit on Easter 1975 or plaid pants at the 1978 Little League parade when everyone else was wearing jeans- just typing these descriptions pains me enough

Academy Awards Recap
Pretty much the worst Academy Awards I can recall in the last 25 years or so of me watching even part of- Actually watched more of what turned out to be Tom Renney's farewell appearance as coach of the New York Rangers (via the NHL package free preview) vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs than the movie show- which I was DVR'ing- They even fucked up the "dead roll" of those who passed in the last year- with the mannish and ubiquitous Queen Latifah singing over it- and the piss-poor idea of showing the deceased as a background image- the one moment I've counted on whichever producer was trying to re-invent the awards-show wheel not fucking up- was fucked up

Other ideas
- How many bad-looking movies has Hugh Hefner been a part of ("House Bunny", "Miss March") in the recent past ?- If he makes a few more- Samuel L. Jackson's record for such would seem to be in some sort of jeopardy

-Saw a bit online where the school newspaper of my collegiate alma mater (Emerson's Berkeley Beacon) was comparing the efforts of a Boston city councillor (Michael Ross) to make the Boston Rental Authority enforce housing code rules on the number of legal residents in city apartment rentals to that of Hitler and "Nazi Germany"- quotes for their analogous usage - Nothing too drastic about that- I'm sure if the MBTA ever starts running their trains under the current ("new" to me as a 15-year-plus alum) campus- they will be breaking out the Mussolini similes?

-As an aside- had 3 different occasions today at work- where people accused me of unnecessarily using "big words"- one of which was followed by someone telling me I didn't seem as educated as I am- which is all relative, I guess- the last because I used two different derivations of "fuck" in the same sentence (as noun and adjective) and was talking about early 1980's pro wrestling- Its not like I told the guy I thought the wrestling shit was real at any point

-Speaking of pro wrestling and the world of film- here's a random thought- Who thought the individual members of the rap group NWA two decades ago and stars of the "Attitude"-era of pro wrestling a decade or so ago would appear in such great family entertainment at the multiplex (Ice Cube's recent crap and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appearing in a new "Witch Mountain" film)

-At grocery store the other night- Have recently eaten canned chili without any of the predictable GI issues- so I bought some more- of the turkey variety- cashier asks me "Are you going to add hamburger to this when you eat it?"

Scenes From an Economic Lull

Work for me has been super-slow lately- spending my 7th straight day off from work today- have worked a bit during two-week pay period that ended today and was also supposedly getting paid this week for road show I did almost 7 months ago- so things could be worse for me

But- after a week of mostly sitting around my abode- I still have feeling of being the protagonist in some sort of one-man Nordic art-house film based on a screenplay adapted from an Albert Goldman biography- a thought I sort of had while showering for a weekday at around 7:15 PM the other day- could track my movements for most days based on my unyielding fealty to the printed word and newspaper industry and would walk up the street and get the local papers- which themselves are rather expensive at 75 cents each- but each of the NY papers are at least a $1 a piece on weekdays and the New York Times is $1.50- which is same cost as in the Tri-State Area- for the moment- but I digress

Among the few highlights of my unwilling vacation week:

-The NHL Center Ice package has been free all week (through this coming Sunday- 22 February)- has been a window into regional and Canadian advertisements and different game presentation styles between teams- I still have a soft spot for the New York area teams- particularly the Rangers on MSG- but was struck by a couple visages from individual telecasts I saw

One- being the image of a lonely peanut vendor at a Carolina Hurricanes game- All I could think was either- Thank God it's not baseball season for peanut sellers- in light of recent developments with peanut manufacturing in the south- or must be as counter-intuitive as having been a Chicago-area Tylenol sales/ display rep around 1982-83 or so- except they weren't selling tainted pain relievers at sporting events at concession prices

The other- was while watching a fan getting a Little Caesars pizza at a Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit- I lived in the Detroit metro area for a bit as a young person (about 5-7 years old) and have lived in other areas where Little Caesars was available- including my days in Southern California and until I looked it up- had no idea there were 5 in Massachusetts- with one in Lynn being the closest to me- haven't had the Little Caesars in about as long since I've last ingested Taco Bell (10 1/2 years or so)- but cannot shake how bad/ bland it was- even as a 6 or 7 year old in Michigan- 32-plus years ago- I cannot imagine paying the sports-arena price for that commensurate to the $8 beer or whatever other shit they are serving at the hockey arena- made me practically lose my appetite while watching

Thanks to the NHL preview- I will at least be able to record/ watch Andy Bathgate/ Harry Howell night for the Rangers Sunday night opposite the big film awards- sort of rooting against Sean Penn- only because I don't want hear his level of self-righteousness on the platform of the Oscars- and the chance of Mickey Rourke winning and rambling out of bounds of whatever delay/ common network TV decency would make watching show worthwhile

-Another week-off "highlight" was the day I showered so late and had my wake-up coffe around 8:30 PM or so- was watching the G4 when one of my favorite "Cops" episodes aired at 3 AM- featuring Officer Manny Mauri (not the "Open up 'cause I'm coming in!" one- for the "Cops" aficinaidos) from Denver about 15 years or so ago- You know you've reached some sort of personal low when a 3 AM "Cops" rerun represents the high point of your time awake during a 24-hour period

-It took a lottery scumbag to show me the light- was in the store down the street from me today purchasing the newspapers- in year and a half of living here- never had any idea why it was the "LP Market"- always thought it looked like a de-commissioned chain convenience store- until one of the hardcore lottery players blocking the line there was on a cell phone saying "I'm at the Little Peach on Highland in Sumah-vil" - it occurred to me that its a former Little Peach store- kind of the Jons< Vons comparison to anyone who's ever lived in Los Angeles/ the scab version of a known brand that was subsumed by another/ went out of business- Yet, all the Little Peach/ Christy's- became 7-11's years ago while all the Tedeschi's/ Store 24's have all seemingly become Tedeschi's- Just odd to the think the "LP" moniker of the defrocked store has long outlived the chain itself

-I woke up dreaming of bacon today (20 February)- I was eating bacon as part of a dream that woke me up- I truly have become lame during this period of inactivity if that is what has woken me up

Dream Plinko

Figured I'd post while having another Tuesday night taste here- Trying to defeat whatever has caused me to sleep like shit for much of the past week or so- Have been off for much of it and have developed some rather dreadful habits- including no times I must be out of bed by that have led to increasingly later bedtimes followed by about 4 hours of sleep, time up watching TV and eventual, super-late, up-for-the-day times like around 2:30 PM- a time where I'm usually at work- and useless days spent sitting around on the computer, watching hockey, Alex Rodriguez press conferences or other assorted A-Rod/ Brett Favre- related off-season coverage on ESPNNews

As I touched upon last week- have had some rather odd dreams lately- that have continued- and seem to either consist of or combine elements from most of the following as personal "Plinko" categories for me- Family, work or girls- Won't get too far into detail on any here- But, will say some have worked in all 3 and at least 1 disturbing one had only one of the above -Me somehow being Rosie O'Donnell's chauffeur across the state of California and ditching her on the way to a floating hotel (only work-related)

Will be back at work next couple days- and back on something of a regular schedule next week- Hopefully, will be the trade-off that cures my sleep difficulties

Other relatively short items

-A point I raised to one of my friends while I watched the news the other night- I wonder what the resentment/ remorse level is between surviving sets of seperated conjoined (Siamese) twins where one comes out more complete than the other? Saw the story of the seperated twins in Pittsburgh - where one appears to be fully formed- legs, et al and the other appears to be a human hand puppet- with nothing below the waist

What do you think the inverse levels of guilt/ resentment arguing that's going to ensue between the two if they get older? "Sure- You got the legs"/ "Why me?"- type shit- I cannot imagine

-Was watching the NBA All-Star Game the other night- Saw Shaquille O'Neal come out during the iteam introductions and appear with the Jabawockeez (spelling approximate)- I had to look up who they were on the computer box- aside from knowing them as the guys in white masks from the newer Gatorade commercials that appear to be Nike ads until the tag line- Had no idea who they were and that they had won the 2008 title of "America's Best Dance Crew" on MTV

Still really have no idea to them or their identities other than the fact they seem to be the breakdancing crew answer to the Blue Man Group- probably interchangable if anyone leaves, probably be doing their shit in some casino town somewhere in 5 years or so when no one really cares- as opposed to the mild interest they've seemed to engender in 2009

-Speaking of being an old white guy- caught the supposed "highlights" from "American Idol" tonight on the local Fox channel's news (go figure)- Watching 20-year-old white girls cover Isaac Hayes tunes holds less than even an infimtessimal percentage of interest from me- in fact, it seems like a complete gag- and would require- as I posted on someone's Facebook status earlier- a case of alcohol poisoning for me to even consider sitting down and viewing

Tuesday is the new Wednesday

I seem to be posting these- and enjoying a few frosty beverages- more on Tuesdays these days- largely to do with my working schedule- which has run the gamut from 8 straight days a few weeks back to intermittent/ unpredictable days on/ off the schedule- and maybe partly to do with the fact I'm getting older and lamer and can use the extra day off between festive evenings- Though I guess I am thankful to be somewhat gainfully-employed in this economy

Anyhow- have had a large amount of downtime while battling a bad head cold the past week- which led to odder sleeping patterns than usual for me- had days where I'd unpredictably stay in bed until 2 in the afternoon and other days where I'd plan/ hope for such a late wake-up and be up at 9 in the morning- particularly today- where I'd hoped to stay in repose at least another hour or two past being woken up by a bad dream that involved my dad, running a newsstand (in 2009) and a haircut- nothing untoward about any of them- but won't get much more specific than that- was rousted at the crossroads of that storyline and kept awake by my musing that the dreamland worst-case-scenario I dodged was actually better than the dumb storyline that preceded it

February Bulletpoints
-Only took two and a half months- but I finally have a hearing date for the speeding ticket I received on the Massachusetts Turnpike 1 December- which is only about two and a half months from now (30 April)- Had not heard a word about this prior to Tuesday (10 February) and am kind of surprised that start-to-finish- if I have to take the 20 days to pay at end- will have taken roughly six months to settle

-Have spent a lot of time on Facebook recently- been struck by a couple things

One is the seeming "I just farted"-level of personal status updates on there- there's a couple people in particular I see on there who will announce their upcoming appearances at local chain restaurants or other habits as at the level of either personal epiphanies or appearances by the Beatles in their heyday- I was on the precipice of being sucked into this last week when I was sick- Updated my status that I was sick and annoyed- particularly by the amateur musician/ music producer that lives directly above my place and thinks he's the next Les Paul or Jimmy Jam and acts like he is living in a fucking dorm or frat house where loud behavior is either tolerated or encouraged- I'm 39- but I was annoyed by that attitude when I was 21 or 22 and living in a goddamn dorm- as covered here previously

Anyhow- next day went on and updated that I was feeling a little better and less annoyed and posted such- after 5 minutes or so- caught myself and wondered what the fuck I was doing- I don't want to fall into the trap of updating this shit every day- let alone the every 5 minutes that seems to be some folks' wont here on the internet

The other thing that piqued my interest- aside from me calling my sister the quasi-alliterative "Kierkegaard of carbonated beverages" over an analogy she made there between herself and stages of soda- are the people that seem to want to empty out the photo album or trunk to have every class photo scanned on there- Weird to see the 1970's school photos- especially the Bicentennial-themed 1975-76 ones- I was in 1st grade then- so, I'm familiar with that- But it's hard to look at these childhood and teenage photos for most of these folks and not think the sets of photos are kind of the "before" set in the act of soul-crushing reality of adult life setting in and redacts the 2009 photos of these people as the "after" ones

-A question I never got to last week- and may have addressed in the early stages of the MySpace era- What's with the bad foot/ ankle tatoos on some women? Dumb tatoos are dumb tatoos on either gender- and I'm not against personal expression- but have always been mystified by women that will get tatoos on those areas- as though they'll never have to wear a dress or low-cut shoes/ whatever- and end up in a business environment where they have to wear such and end up with something that looks like a rejected Arena League helmet design in full view when they do so- Did they think this was a good idea when they got them? Was college that wild? At least a 'tramp stamp' (whale tail, et al) takes some level of effort/ clothes riding up or down to see

-To those that want to deride my new photos- Mark Messier weeping on Blogger and the cast of "Riptide" on MySpace- Still a fan of both and willing to take whichever barbs come my way over either

Retroactive Genius and Parking Lot Tough Guys

Title above has a mutually exclusive meaning in this entry- but the more I thought about it- you can apply an odd symmetry to them when placed together- though I meant them as the entree to two separate themes this week- Read on to learn- won't you?

-First the "Retroactive Genius" part refers to the fact I nailed my Super Bowl picks this year- Arizona to cover the 7-point spread, Pittsburgh to win and both teams combining for over 46 and a half points- Of course, writing it here 2 days after the game and not parlaying it into a financial gain- after I couldn't track down guy at work who was so confident about the Steelers a couple weeks ago that he was going to tease it to a 21-point spread with me just to get my bet- doesn't necessarily make me either Rerun from TV's "What's Happening" - when he had the hot streak based on teams' helmet designs or a pre-racial comment Jimmy the Greek- who actually was known for being wrong a lot when he was on TV in the 1970's and 80's with his toteboard and thinly-veiled quantification of "intangibles" (as point spread)

Either way- I have the satisfaction of knowing I was right- small consolation compared to last year's game (won by the New York Giants and correctly picked on 2 of 3 fronts by me) or financial gain- but to quote former football great and memoribilia generator O.J. Simpson "It happens"

Other Super Bowl-related ruminations:
-Watched a good portion of the Steelers' victory parade Tuesday- Is there some sort of new way a team and city can celebrate a sports championship? (sans violence, mayhem or property destruction, of course)

The victory parade/ rally has become as much of a post-game cliche as "I'm going to Disneyland!"- The Steelers' parade seemed to run on a course that managed to make 2009 Downtown Pittsburgh look about as downtrodden as the fictional 1977 Charlestown did during the closing credits of "Slapshot" and culminated in a predictable rally with guys predicting a repeat next year, the black guys on the team automatically being microphone-asassinating rappers (no matter how weak their raps) and the white guys on the team being geeks and dorky dancers (who are truly lame)

The NFL Network feed featured the verbatim feed of Pittsburgh's WPXI (11) which featured the usual crew of clueless middle-American anchors that couldn't have differentiated the Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald from Geraldine Fitzgerald (actress from "Easy Money" that I met in real life many years ago) a couple weeks ago- but are all of a sudden such experts on the local team that ask "Gosh," why longhaired safety Troy Polamalu had his hair pulled back during the rally (has previously said he only keeps it down during games)- when they probably just figured out which of the longhaired guys he is on the team- Though, the only out I will give them is the Earth, Wind and Fire- styled stage of players ranginging from the stars of the team to practice-squad eighth-stringers leads to some amount of confusion for everyone

-Watched much of the 5-hour pregame show on NBC- more than I'd really care to admit- But, aside from Al Roker calling Rainn Wilson "Zainn (or Zane)" and the unexpectedly lusicous ripeness of Bill Belicheck's cans during Cris Collinsworth's film-study segment with him- the other weird moment for me was the guy from the Phillipines who's fronting the current version of Journey- gets me thinking about how the post-Steve Perry versions of Journey could qualify for their own versions of "Behind the Music"- where they got a guy who looked, sounded and had a phoenetically-similar name to Steve Perry (Steve Augemi)- and kicked him out, too- I think Van Halen and maybe Judas Priest are the other bands that could legitimately support their own "BTM" episodes focused on replacement versions

Onto the Parking Lot Tough Guys:
-Went Saturday night to see the live version of "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job"- was a pretty good show- felt audio mix was horrible- speaking as some sort of facsimilie of a guy who works with audio on a regular basis- thought show with both spoken-word and music should have had better mix- instead music overwhelmed as though it was a dance club or something- Thought pupeteer David Liebe Hart was far and away best of guests (over bad comedian James Quall, DJ Dougpound and the guy who sings "Sexual Romance")

Anyhow- left show from Boston's Theater District to go to nearby adult club- for first time since I wrote here (on MySpace) about my visit about 7 months ago where I stalked out after stripper called me "miserable"

Was about as exhausted this time as well- worked all day Saturday before I had a few drinks and went to Tim and Eric- was still better behaved in first few moments at strip club- was nice to first few that talked to me/ rubbed my back/ whatever- told them I had no money- even though the VIP/ lap/ private dance prices seem to have dropped precipitously (things are tough all over, I guess)

Anyhow- the real trouble this time came in the form of other patrons- who seemed to be out to merely start shit with others- Really have never understood this mentality through years of going to bars/ strip clubs/ wherever- I mean, I guess you got to go outside your regular circle to start fights or whatever, but still- have never really understood the mindset of those merely out to start incidents

So, three guys come in and stand behind me and my friend- and I'm next to to a guy who gave up his empty (or "homo seat" as a 1982 12-year-old New Jersey movie-going kid would have said) seat who's now next to me- they order two domestic beers- unbeknownest to the idea they still cost $9 a pop at this place and place a $10 bill- Bartender asks for $8 more- which gets plunked down defiantly- when change comes back- is plucked back rather decisively from bartender

Guy next to me asks these guys where they are from- "Revere" is the answer- "So, you think you're at the fucking Squire? Costs more to drink here"- they go back and forth for a bit- you can tell the Revere assholes are there just to be fucking around with people more than anything else- guy next to me has exchange where he tells these three he was born around the corner and still lives around corner- and stops their further exchanges with "Look- there's a lot of bad guys in here- I wouldn't fuck around"- I almost laugh- thinking I could ever perhaps be confused for one of the tough guys at the bar- but did find it funny those guys stopped their shit with him at that point- I left within a few minutes- trying to get between those 3- One guy seemed to want to start with me brushing my way past him- I put my hands up in the 'no-trouble' pose- and left- with no idea what transpired- but still found it hilarious that these guys were verbally schooled like that by the guy next to me- and could not stop laughing into Sunday- where I imagined these douchebags were the definition of "parking-lot tough" and told their crew how they could have kicked ass/ beat the shit out of everyone there after the fact

The Alchemy of the Burrito

First off- to whomever may read this on Blogger- I messed up and last week's post stayed in "draft" mode while I did export it to MySpace- where no one else seemed to be reading my shit the last couple weeks- until I saw I had 22 views today there- for no good or particular reason

Anyhow- I still weigh whether or not I should export the link to Blogger from my Facebook page- Have had the usual harrowing amount of 1-degree-of-separation thoughts on there in recent days- but occasionally have to come back to Earth and realize that some of those I see there- probably don't want to talk to me just as much online in 2009 as they didn't want to in person through whichever incarnation of school I was attending with them in the 1980's or 90's- which gives me reason to do an online, virtual "Whew!" with requisite forehead wipe

Onto January's assorted bullet points-
- Chalk up the local burrito establishment as another place offering less for more in this economy- Went to what was the second-closest one to me in Somerville the other night- not the one closest to where I used to live- the one that is awesome and at end of old street- but known as surly, even to Spanish-speakers- but the other one- which has a clientele that's largely clueless white people who seem to act like tourists in a land that's across from the
Cambridge city line and the MBTA's Red Line and commuter rail and what could best be described as a quasi-organized ordering system by the staff there

Anyhow- learned after awhile to ask for "everything" on their wares- whteher I wanted it or not- since it was a crapshoot whether I'd either get/ get charged for "everything" and figured even one variation was too esoteric for the counter help to deal with- Like everything else for me- I just want to get my shit and get the fuck out- even if it means stuff I don't want/ don't want to pay for

The supposed 'nut' of this story is me going the other night for the first time in a few months- usual line- usual white people (myself included) and usual counter help- Order same stuff as I usually do- super steak burrito and 2 chicken quesidillas with whatever they usually put on them- get smaller-looking offerings at $17 and change- after last visit was $13 or so- I could not help but think about the fucked-up ordering system there (told girl who was skipped ahead of me that the orders there were "always a crapshoot") leading to the larger price tag

I don't know- but was thinking of "the alchemy" of their ordering/ pricing system when I got back to my place and stopped in the middle, ice-free, lit area of the parking lot here to try and open/ shut my car's hood after I made an aborted try at adding more wiper fluid before Wednesday's huge snow-to-rain event here in the Boston area- ended up blocking one of the building's owner's from his spot and had to move my car- He came over and asked why I was looking at engine- Felt like homo as I told him I couldn't fully open or close hood- he sprayed some lubricant on latch and opened/ closed it in a few minutes- He asked why I thought there was a problem and all I could say was "It must have been something with the alchemy of it for me"- with the word on my mind- He asked "What?"- I had to respond "Oh, it didn't work a few years ago in a similar situation"- feeling like a complete douche for using the big $ word in that situation

-Speaking of food- bought Ramen noodles at store last week- for first time in about 15 years or so since I graduated college- Tasted about the same as they always did- felt kind of odd to re-visit them at this point (3 more left to eat)

-Another Facebook observation- I see a lot of people uploading only old, goofy photos of themselves there- This really brings my old theory on bad-license/dumb-recent-photos on the news idea I had thought about years ago- seems news outlets will now go to MySpace or Facebook for photos of crime/ tragedy/ et al- victims- Always have to think whenever you post the on-line phots- could readily be the TV/ news-media epitath for anyone when you post your short-lived 1990 experiment with the Arsenio fade cut or a bad mullet as your profile photo

-Not surprised that Mickey Rourke is actually challenging real wrestlers (Chris Jericho) now after his (thus-far) award-season success with "The Wrestler"- one site I regularly visit- pointed out Vince McMahon is probably offering Rourke a bigger payday at the upcoming 25th WrestleMania than he got for the film- seems to work for both sides- McMahon can benefit from glow of awards for film and sort of co-opt star that depicts the tragic scenario for old pro wrestlers and Rourke can sort of strike while the iron is hot and get a chunk from McMahon and the WWE- seems to work for both sides

-Boston-area speaking- Has there been a bigger supposed-local-celebrity circle-jerk than the recent Ernie Boch Jr./ Andelman Brothers ("Phantom Gourmet")/ Bruins cheerleaders ads?

The Jack London of suburbia

So, while thinking about this blog entry the past couple days- I've thought of a few things this particular blog site couldn't exist without- if not for the ability for me to complain about (in no particular order)
-The weather
-The stupidity of myself and/or the general public
-Driving
-Local Boston-area "celebrities"
-Television news (could also be folded into the local celebrities subheader, I guess)
And probably a few other items (the time I lived in California, the New York Football Giants and grammar among them) that these occasional threadbare entries would be mere absolute air without
Tonight, memory permitting, I will touch on most of the above topics- I just hope no one (other than myself) is drinking to the aforementioned references

-Had what has to be considered one of the worst-ever wintertime drives I've ever made in 22 years or so of licensed driving this past Sunday night (18 January)- The thing that got me thinking about the above preamble is the fact I just wrote about how cold it was last week ("Too cold for any good proverbs"- 14 January)- and for those who've seen the preceding few years of these entries on MySpace- I seem to complain about this shitty winter weather and the resulting behavior thereof on a regular basis here

But Sunday night's ride for me was the stuff of worst-case scenarios and those "Be prepared with a flashlight and 50-pound bag of sand"-level TV news reports one would ordinarily laugh at or say "Well, duh" to- until you're in what could be the possible resulting scenario

Started out innocently enough- snowed overnight Saturday into Sunday- a storm that was originally forecast to arrive about 6 hours later than it did- storm # 3 of the current 4 in a row the local TV-meteorological community has blown the past couple weeks- to wit- a predicted 8-12 inch storm that started late and came up short by half 10 January, a 3-5 inch storm that never materialized in the Boston area 15 January, the early snow above on the 17th into the 18th and Sunday night

Was watching the NFC and AFC Championship games at my friend's house Sunday- caught the news on one of the stations between the games- weather as of 6:25 Sunday night had about a dusting - 2 inches of snow at most coming overnight after the current snow lull ended- Knew I had to go to work after games were over- but wasn't worried- even when it was snowing before halftime of Ravens-Steelers game- l wasn't much worried when I had to brush my car clean to leave for work after 10:25 or so and still wasn't concerned during trip to Waltham where I encountered few cleared streets and about the 2-inch maximum that was forecast

It wasn't until I had worked a few hours and was leaving around 2:15 AM or so that I noticed it was snowing harder than any previously-noticed portion of the evening, has snowed more than advertised and hadn't seemed to be cleared anywhere in the vicinity around my work- that I became a little concerned about the conditions- particularly when I got down to the center of Waltham and could barely move after stopping for a red light that I started to think it hadn't been such a great idea to venture out at that time- but was too late to re-think it or turn back

It was rather bad the whole way back- ended up running most of the red lights on the way back- for fear that stopping would have meant getting stuck (in a Saturn) at either that intersection or a coming incline of any import- the lack of snow-removal efforts to that point led to a general feeling that the slightest wrong move would take me off the street into a parked car, light pole or worse increased as snaked thorugh Waterown into Cambridge and finally, back to Somerville

Whatever relief that gave me abated as I reached the hill that my residence sits near the top of- Had not- through last winter and this- encountered any type of situation where that hill had been allowed to get that snow-covered (as one of the "Hospital Hills" here near Somerville Hospital)- but got behind cab that had a bit of difficulty getting up it- as I shortly encountered- could see smoke from both tires and engine getting up it, alternately afraid of letting up the gas for fear of getting stuck and fearing stepping on it- in an automatic transmission's 1st gear and burning out my engine and/ or steel belts in doing so

Finally get to home stretch- near top of hill and entrance to driveway of my place- back up and rev for run into narrow, relatively short driveway to parking lot here- no avail- get stuck in first 10 feet or so- make a few efforts to back up and rev through- but realize that futility is going to be the least of my problems if I spin out sideways and hit either the brick facade of my building or the fence to the adjoining house- Decide I have to get out and shovel my way at 3:15 or so in the AM- unless I want to be either woken up in morning or ticketed for blocking sidewalk (Yeas it was the MLK Day holiday- but have more belief in the ticket than the being-woken-up scenario)

Grab shovel- try to make the optimistic least-area shovel job- like when you're a kid and tell your folks all they'll need is the 2 tracks to get through- was lucky a couple cars in my lot weren't there and could make more linear path to my usual spot- had to clear a couple times- sans hat or gloves and in wool overcoat- was so wound up by this point- didn't even occur to me until after I was done- Finally got car through after a couple of initial failed attempts to move a foot or so- and got back inside about 3:40 or so- feeling I had lived out the worst (I hope) of what I thought were the worst of the worst-case scenarios to parking in this particular neighborhood

I can think of a lot of particularly bad drives in the snow- a couple-inches an hour storm where I couldn't stop/ spun out once each when I lived only 10 minutes away from Waltham about a little over 5 years ago (and had to help my brother-in-law shovel out a parking lot spot the next night) and even the first few times in snow and was an absolute ass- especially my first full winter when I almost wrapped my car around both a telephone pole and the brick sign outside my school while going too fast and fishtailing- and this may have been worse than both of those

Relative Bullet Points
-Watched more of the Obama Innauguration coverage than I expected to- could not get over high-five/ Indian handshake Bush gave him on way to chopper- Level of near-camradarie between Obama, Bush and their wives at end was almost stunning compared to last transition eight years ago

That is why I watch- no matter whom I vote for or whom gets into office- The orderly transfer of power is always stunning to watch- as it was 32 years ago when I was a 7-year-old second-grader with no better idea and a TV wheeled into the classroom for the Ford-Carter transition- I can't quite feel the euphoria of some (especially among about 90% of my Facebook friends) and am almost envious of it- because I don't think I could ever be into/ believe as fully in an idea as hopelessly optimistic as to what some ascribe to/ for the Obama Administration- But as an American- I hope for the best, as always- and I will agree it seemed sort fitting that Dick Cheney finished out his eight years a VP in a wheelchair, wielding a cane- could not have been scripted better otherwise

-Speaking of Obama- told lady at work who's had Obama pin since practically the end of John Kerry's 2004 concession speech- who also gave me free newspapers for a few years until the fascists cracked down last year and ended it (OK, I was lucky to not pay for a newspaper for about 6 years- and may have sped the industry's sharp decline by doing so)- I would get her at least one of the Boston Globe afternoon extras published today (20 January) if I could- since I live closer to the city than work and she- and the Globe's extras were available for the 1991 Gulf War, O.J.'s being found not guilty and the Red Sox championships in these parts (Patriots and Celtics were covered by regular AM editions)

Went grocery shopping late Tuesday- got my shit and checked out- not thinking that supermarket on Waltham/ Watertown line would have any Globe extras- see stack of them as I left- decided "Fuck that- not getting back on line for the goddamn newspaper and can probably get it anywhere if it's here"

Sure enough, stop at a few stores on way home- either never got the extra edition or sold out- awesome- Feel kind of bad for woman at work- not myself, since the Obama shindig wasn't really going to be a keepsake for me anyhow (gave my day-after-Election Day papers to my old roommate)- But now wonder if I should just tell her the untrue "I never found it" versus the "I walked past about 50 of them"

Too cold for any good proverbs

The winter here in New England thus far has been rather unrelenting- seems to have been either snowy or unusually cold the past month or so- I complain every winter no matter what anyway- just complained last week about lackluster snow/ ice removal in some towns here- and recall doing so last December when weather seemed to turn super-cold instantaneously- and recall a few years back where December was a rainy, balmy preface to a cold, snowy January, etc., etc., etc.- ever since I moved back East from California over 9 years ago

As I've stated previously- the cold does not bother me as much as the snow- and the snow never bothered me as much as it has in the intervening years since I came back from the West Coast- and- this seems to be the first winter since I've been back- that California has enjoyed a warm, dry winter- of course, prefaced by a fierce wildfire season that only ended seemingly a couple weeks ago- Recall gloating to myself about the shitty weather in the East while barbecuing with the stars out in Hollywood almost a decade ago on an 86-degree Valentine's Day

Anyhow- Its not so much that the weather here is cold and snowy or the weather in some of my previous environs is balmier (not including childhood stints in Maine and Michigan)- but its the effect the extreme weather has on people in general around here- shoveled parking spots and unshoveled walkways and reciprocal behavior resulting from both- Pedestrians and drivers that both seem that much surlier and more aggressive in spite of the conditions and the dueling workplace (wherever) extremes of one-person Weather Center blowhards- who will not stop talking about how cold it is, and how much colder and how much snow the next system in 6-8 days or so is going to make it- and the Chicken Littles who approach the same information as Death From Above (or Outside)

I'm tired of all of it- but as I've previously said- I don't think there's a perfect climate/ weather scenario- you get earthquakes, wildfires and volcanoes in a lot of the warmer climes in this hemisphere and the cold weather does make one appreciate the few really perfect days around these parts -though I'm just as likely to stay inside during those, too

-I post this on both Blogger and MySpace- have been a little lax in some of the editing from one sit to the other- Blogger last time- as I caught all the syntax/ spelling errors after I did the cut & paste job- never re-visited it here

Anyhow- the slight number of entries on Blogger before I started dual-casting/ blogging (or whatever the "New Media" term would be) the same content on both- I spent a decent amount of those lamenting the shortcomings of both MySpace and Facebook and the oddness I've encountered on each- I don't link this to my Facebook page- even though I spend a decent amount of time there- largely because there's less of a veil there- I did have eras of pseudonyms on both pages- was "W Doodleson" sending out e-mails and invites to people who rightfully had no clue as to my assumed identity

Lately- as I've spent time between the two sites- I've been kind of surprised by the people on Facebook who for no good reason- would practically give up their Social Security numbers, bank pin codes and blood types- I've seen people list job, marital and just general formerly-anonymous doings as moods, photos or postings there- incredibly odd to me- and this coming from someone who's had a number of regrettablly stupid and/or alcohol-fueled episodes on the internet (and enjoying a frosty beverage now before I have to work again in the morning)

-Watching the local news earlier- for the latest weather report- naturally, after my opening screed- and saw the local Boston-area furniture store- that used to have two local-celebrity brothers selling their wares and now only has one (both are still alive- one merely quit, if anyone was truly concerned- despite the defiance of convention that either them should be considered VIP's in this region) that's advertising a "Free Blu-Ray DVD player"- if you merely spend at least $597 at their store, assume the cost of the player's shipping and handling by Monday and pay only $19.95- Not "free" as the continuining brother states in the first seconds- Even the most mentally-challenged could figure that out- I guess its truth-in-advertising at some level- considering the guy sits in front of what could literally be a Coleco-Vision level Blu-Ray player

-Yes, the run of the Super Bowl XLII champion New York Giants came to an ignominous end last Sunday- the Giants performance and play-calling reverted to 2006 levels, the Philadelphia Eagles beat them, some idiot Giant "fans" torched a car in the parking lot and YouTubed it and loud-mouth Patriots fans (not all I encountered, mind you) came out of the fucking woodwork of not even making the playoffs this year to act as though the National Football League was going to strip the G-men of last year's title for being "lucky"- as though the idea wouldn't cost the local squad at least one of their three Lombardi trophies - either the first one in 2002 or the third (2004-05) where Donovan McNabb showed just how clutch he is by literally getting ill on the football itself late in the game

Anyhow- I find it amusing how some of this region's sports fans will tie anything into their crushes on the local squads- even 11 1/2 months later- and 4 years after their last Super Bowl championship- All I can root for at this point is Arizona knocking off the overrated McNabb and the Eagles and the Steelers beating either one of them should they reach "The Ultimate Showdown"

Not built Stanley Tough

Among the moments from my recent holiday visit with my family not touched upon in my most recent entry- (6 January "Back like a rebel...") - is my ensuing amazement with the preponderance of programming on the HGTV channel(Home and Garden, for the none of you that need an explanation)

I sat through the unveiling show for the new "HGTV House" in Sonoma, California which at least 3 of my family members want to win and spent their holiday internet time submitting repeated entries for- I would have had more of a resistence to change the channel to it had the BCS not rendered the idea of meaningful New Year's Day college football bowls a complete joke or thing of history- and Monica Pederson and her purple jumper dress

Anyhow- over the time I spent watching TV in New Jersey not spent trying to catch up on Mike Francesa's-post Mad Dog existence on YES and theorizing about the Pahlanuik version of Urkel- I spent a great deal of it watching what my mom and sister wanted to- as a good family member and when there was no live sports or anything better on

Could not believe that "HGTV" seemed to be the female ESPN of sorts- the likes of "House Hunters", "Curb Appeal" and others as go-to programming was kind of surprising to me- even though I have a former roommate who used to TiVo "House Hunters" as some supposed sort of educational guide to him buying a place- like he was going to buy on the beach in Baja California or some of the other relatively exotic spots on the show- No one wants to see the best houses in the most boring areas of the world- but most people buying a house would like to buy a house in the quietest, more boring areas- by nature- and I can understand that (to some degree)

Anyhow- the real idea that I don't watch HGTV or any cable-TV home improvement shit seriously- is because I'm a real sissy (was going to say fag- didn't want to be un-PC) with the tools and paintbrushes, etc.

A great example is today- where I went and bought a new Brita filter for my sink- during a usually horrible visit to Target- I digress- was replacing the one I broke trying to replace filter while drunk a number of months back- took awhile for me to fit it even semi-succesfully while semi-sober- after a bit of effort- it is running water while filtering it without spraying it all over the place in my kitchen

The bottom line for me is- I'm pretty much a fag (or sissy like said before in some form of senstivity) when it comes to tools or home improvement-type shit

-Speaking of trips around here- the Walden Street bridge in Cambridge - "Fucking Cambridge" as I have thought to myself and would have otherwise titled this- is finally open again after the more than 2 years than was predicted before October 2006

I cannot believe it is open at this point (January 2009)- after they spent so much time advertising the "Autumn 2008" date so much- as much as I cannot believe the "Detour" signs away from there are still up on most of the other approaches to the Walden Street bridge-I thought it would be at least 2010 before the bridge was done- driving to it tonight- I was going to follow my now-usual left down Sherman Street

Kept going and was surprised by 4-way Stop signs and about hood-level speed-bumps at Raymond Street and Walden Street- that used to be a light and no bumps- I guess the whole street is going to have a lower speed limit and the last 2 years without it won't give anyone that lived without it an an alternative- but, good luck with that speed bump, like that and the painted traffic circle, et al.........

I will say- I've driven through a fair amount of both Waltham and Cambridge to annoint them equally on so-called snow/ ice removal- had to drive through one of the many back areas of the Watch City to get to Watertown the other day- still cannot believe there are towns around here that act as though we are in the south or something