rootbound yinzer

trogdor the burninator

2008-05-14T01:15:41Z

a few good links

2008-05-11T14:59:42Z

John McCain onion video
Drinking - "My parents taught me everything I know."
unusual recycling projects
this is not just a cigar
journalistic words that are never used in real life
daily coyote video of charlie and eli
tale of a school gone mad, and the overgroomed eyebrows that provoked them
the story of Officer Obie, of Alice's Restaurant fame
Coolest laptop-theft thwarting story ever

and in honor of the holiday -

disney hates mothers
the duggars are at it again
best and worst moms ever

cool school

2008-05-11T14:10:29Z

check out my new vase, which is awesome

2008-05-07T22:06:13Z

garden update - spring 08

2008-05-07T17:39:07Z

I took some pictures of the plants in my front room.

more pepsi songs

2008-05-07T13:55:57Z

Got My Mind Set On You - George Harrison
Pepper - Butthole Surfers
Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople
Young Americans - David Bowie
Space Oddity - David Bowie

a volcano and a paintshop

2008-05-05T16:30:05Z

this article came up on FARK, and in the ensuing gmail discussion, I made this.

\m/ MOTORHEAD \m/

2008-05-05T14:53:15Z

My dad talked me into going to a metal show this summer, so I am brushing up on my Motorhead. Not usually a fan of the speed-metal, but this is remarkably listenable. I'm going to review it, so as to sear it into my brain.

Motorhead is speed metal, which makes sense (as "motorhead" is another word for coke-fiend). But they're not that death-metal rumbly indecipherable shit that Brendon Small skewers so well in Metalocalypse. I'm not generally a fan of that, except in the form of satire.

The album Bastards dates from the most golden musical year in history - 1993. You could do no wrong, musically speaking, in 1993. That year, there was something so magical in the air that you could record the severe beating of a high school science teacher, and it would turn out double platinum.

In the middle of "Death or Glory," which is a decent metal song to begin with, they break into the most random punk chorus of "Ai ai ai!"

"Born to Raise Hell" reminds me of a ZZ Top song. Actually, a few of their songs do... including "Burner" and "Bad Woman."

"Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me" is a painful-creepy ballad about incest, about which I have not yet made up my mind. It seems too much like a pretentious concept piece, and not enough like a Motorhead song. It does kind of pick up about 2 and a half minutes in, but still.

"Liar" and "I Am The Sword" have a real old-school-Metallica feel.

"On Your Feet or On Your Knees," "I'm Your Man," "Lost in the Ozone," and "Devils" have hints of Black Sabbath, while "We Bring The Shake" starts out with an amazing Solo-Ozzy vibe.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being New Metallica, and 10 being Black Sabbath, I think I'm going to give this album a 7.5. It's very good, and I can see it being shuffled into my "classic rock" mix, but I don't think I'll be obsessing over it like I did with Ozzy's Black Rain or Nine Inch Nails' Downward Spiral.

news brief

2008-04-30T22:58:03Z

Apparently there's a revolution going on in Hawaii. Who knew?

Oh, I forgot.

2008-04-30T05:38:18Z

I also went to Maggie's Mercantile the other day. They have a salad bar set up, where you fill a plate and they weigh it. Cold stuff is something like $4-5 a pound, and warm stuff is a little bit more. **

Stuff I tried (all cold) -

raw green bean salad - pretty good
flax crackers - delicious and fluffy / crispy
some bizarre salad with chunks of tempeh and shreds of purple cabbage and carrots - fantastic
"chicken" and rice - "chicken" was fantastic, rice was a bit underdone... raw foods and all I guess
kale salad - very good, and the kale was notably not fibrous for being raw... more like parsley
"dragon broccoli" or some such - mildly spicy in an unusual way, and excellent peanutty sauce

They also had an exotic selection of juices, an insanely good looking "cheese" cake, and assorted pastries. There are books and doo-dads and some teas for sale. They also have an organic produce cooler with some basic things in it. And their bulletin board and/or literature rack is interesting, although it looks like they've just gotten it started.

Bottom line - looks like it would be quick getting in and out, a little bit pricier than the subway or PHI options but not ridiculous, and definitely worth it if you're in the mood for something green or unusual. I didn't check out the produce prices, but it might be a good place to grab a banana on the way to work.

_______________________
** I know what the reviews say, but three of us ate for under $25, plus we brought a cookie back for the guy who filled in for us. I swear.

treasure map

2008-04-29T18:36:22Z

I just had the best Indian truck-food in the whole neighborhood, I swear. A giant takeout container was $5. Samosas are $0.75 each, are huge, and come with dipping sauces. The dude says he's cooked for 30 years - 10 here and 20 prior in London. The butter almond lamb curry is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. OMG so deeleeeeeeeeeshus.

He's there year-round, except national holidays. He was the middle truck today, but they're all Indian... I believe his name is Vinay?

Thanks to John for the tipoff... but dude, you could have clued us in sooner.

Sometimes it's OK to borrow a strange computer...

2008-04-29T12:04:11Z

harrowing escape

2008-04-28T12:20:24Z

Last night I woke up running.

Well, not quite. I woke up looking at the boy as I did a controlled dive-and-roll over his inert body. He was saying, "Where are you going? Wait! Come back! Where are you going?" Then I dashed (on my hands and knees) across the bedroom floor and out into the hall. I swear I could see the live wire that was falling from the ceiling, about to hit the back of my leg.

I ended up in the living room, huddled against the lamp table. The boy came right after me and tackled me, and held me there until I stopped shaking. Then we got up to go back to bed. This is when I realized I had a killer leg cramp, which must have been my "live wire." I also got a third-degree rugburn on my knee, which is still extremely painful.

Once I collapsed back into my nest, I started giggling and couldn't stop. The boy said something about my "harrowing escape," and every time I think about that, I get another laugh attack. Well, that's one way to thwart a depressive slide...

tweets from yesterday

2008-04-25T09:06:06Z

11:00 1998: chain wallet. 2008: chain cellphone.

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

That is NOT OKAY.

2008-04-24T22:27:55Z

Dear sir,

I don't know what possessed you to sit down at a library computer, plug in headphones, and start brushing your teeth. I don't care that you're not actually using paste or spitting, and I wouldn't care if the soothing bristly noises are the only thing that could keep the voices from making you kiiiiillllllll. I am having none of it.

Sincerely,
Library (not dental) Assistant

today's pepsi-cap songs

2008-04-18T16:24:18Z

Thanks to kaiten_koneko and the fine folks at Knoxville for the latest batch of caps.

Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4
Santana - Evil Ways
Santana - Oye Como Va
Santana - Soul Sacrifice
Santana - Black Magic Woman
The Monkees - Theme
The Monkees - Daydream Believer
The Monkees - I'm A Believer

The Roots at CMU

2008-04-18T16:18:21Z

Last night we went to the CMU carnival to catch a free Roots show - - the music was most excellent, and I no longer regret having missed them when they came to Denison. We even saw a man in a hot leather bikini and garters, which made me just a little bit nostalgic for our college jaunts to Columbus. My 21 year old self was in heaven.

There were a few stupid drunk sorority chicks bouncing around into us. At one point, one of them hopped up onto the recycling box and peed into it, then announced to everyone who passed that she'd peed in it. And then all of them were hanging around it and pushing each other into it and whatnot. And I'm pretty sure it was still damp. Okay, girls. It takes a lot to get aggravated with drunk college students doing stupid things, as it was not that long ago that I was one. But I think you may have crossed a line at some point last night.

Other than that it was pretty fun. I'm impressed with how funky that yinzer science-nerd crowd can get. I mean, sure, they were throwing devil horns like we were actually seeing Metallica, and the Bob Dylan cover was probably the biggest crowd-pleaser. And when Black Thought, the MC, shouted "Everybody say, word up!" everybody was just pretty confused. But a lot of people really got into ?uestlove's glowstick drum solo, and by the end the audience whole audience was clapping along. In rhythm, even.

Overheard deep in the crowd -

hippie chick - "Why did you bring the bubbles?"
hipster dude - "To greet them."

.

slow news day, huh?

2008-04-17T20:58:07Z

Read the dumbest article about dogs and dog names you'll see all year!

Football news...

2008-04-16T04:12:56Z

First of all - the schedule gods still hate us. Possibly more now than ever. Five night games, and a preseason in freakin' Toronto, of all places.

Second - Kyle Brady, hmmmmmmm?

Only a week and a half until draft-day...

the FAIL button

2008-04-10T13:25:47Z

I have this stupid power key on my keyboard, which automatically shuts the whole computer down when pressed. And it doesn't ask you if you're sure, and it's non-reversible. The damn thing's right next to the escape key, and I keep hitting it by accident.

Oh, you're in the middle of a long email you haven't saved? That's a shame. You've browsed and browsed, and hey look! There's the exact thing you were looking for. Too bad you didn't bookmark it. You've finally stopped getting your ass handed to you, and you're taking the fight to the Persians? You better hope you can do it twice.

I also have sleep and wake buttons down by the number pad, and I've never hit those by accident. But, you know, if I did, I could just hit it again and everything would be fine. Great freakin' layout choices, GE.

____________________________
(note that the FAIL button is now worse than insert, previously ranted about here.)

Songs I have downloaded with pepsi points

2008-04-09T14:33:24Z

Five bottlecaps get you one song. There are four pepsi drinkers in my family, and between us we probably go through 20 bottles of pepsi a week. This is not enough to get you albums, but it's plenty for my purposes. You see, I've decided to rebuild the radio station of my youth. You know those earworm songs you wouldn't buy the album for? I scour the offerings for every classic rock crap song, overplayed anthem, and one hit wonder I can find.

Here is the list to date -

Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
Journey - Wheel In The Sky
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle
Steve Miller Band - The Joker
Steve Miller Band - Take The Money And Run
Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water
ELO - Don't Bring Me Down
Bob Dylan - Positively 4th Street
Steven Stills - Love The One You're With
Crosby Stills and Nash - Suite Judy Blue Eyes
Grateful Dead - Truckin'
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick (22:40 min. version)
Jethro Tull - Skating Away
Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down To Georgia
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

In addition, I have acquired these two novelty tracks -

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Having An Average Weekend (Kids In The Hall Song)
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (the Rickroll)

the damn book

2008-04-08T16:23:33Z

my draft of book 1 is 65 pages, approx 22,000 words. if i can get each chapter up to 5 pages it'll be over 100 pages, roughly 34,000 words. (some are already much more, some are pathetically less.) plus, at that point it'll probably be coherent enough to be readable by others. (assuming anyone's brave enough to do so.)

i think i have a new short-term goal. time to get back on the wagon.

for the record

2008-04-07T06:09:45Z

The bad news - it's 2:07 AM.
The good news - I knocked out three major assignments for my IT class tonight.

Good night.

today's cheezburger

2008-03-24T13:58:47Z

some uploads

2008-03-23T02:47:09Z

I posted pictures of the hawk that's been loitering outside the library for the last three days.

Also, check out tikis_tracts to hear the scriptural message I got on my answering machine.