Vault Red Blitz

Vault Red Blitz, originally uploaded by macfixer.

I bought a new flavor of Vault at the local pizza shop here in New London (conveniently located next to the Coca-Cola Bottling plant). It's "Berry Injected" (whatever THAT means!) flavor, which tastes a lot like cough syrup, and not a lot like Code Red Mountain Dew, which I do like.

I do NOT recommend it!

iRack

Spot-on parody from the MadTV folks:

Snow Day!

Whoo-hoo! We have a snow day today, and that means Totino's Pizza Rolls and curling up in front of the TV and catching up on "Beakman's World" on my DVR.

March 13th

This is the date I met my wife. We celebrate it just like our anniversary. My old boss, Daren has a similar date, the date he proposed to his wife. That's pretty dedicated!

I Get Dissed On A Regular Basis

Hey, remember that video I was promising a while back? Yeah, been kinda busy with life-type stuff, and I haven't had time to work on it.

Not that I'm Axl Rose and this video is going to be my Chinese Democracy or something...

I'll work on it -- I promise!

From the archives: 2004

Old stuff from the blog. I know I used to write more. A shame that I don't have the time.

Mom and Dad stopped by today. We tried to warn them that it was a bad idea, with Sonia suffering from the stomach bug I'd been dealing with, and a stuffy nose on me, courtesy of Mason. Mom and Dad already have a full weekend, with concerts and a wedding to attend, but they needed to drop off this stuff from their house.

We wanted the house clean, so from around 10 pm to 2:30 am I was, to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, doing that "Flight of the Bumblebee" clean. I was tempted to tell them, "Hell, this is the cleanest this house has been since we moved in!"

Of course, staying up late does not excuse you from having to get up early; no matter what Sonia tells you. Mason has to get up, get ready for school, eat breakfast, and hit the bus stop before the bus comes. Yesterday, we had to drive him, and based on the departure time of my parents (5 am? Crazy!), they were bound to show up right as we were trying to get him out the door.

So, we woke up at early and finished up the cleaning, got the boy up, dressed, and fed, vacuumed up the house, and sent the boy running for the bus stop. I was "Super Parent" personified.

That's when I noticed that Mason had left his backpack in the house. I grabbed it and headed out to the bus stop to give it to him.

There was the school bus: looks like I would have to flag it down somehow. I glanced to the sidewalk and it was Mason running home. The quick-thinking bus sent him back for it. Yay, bus driver!

Of course, who was behind the school bus? My parents. The timing was amazing.

They dropped off stuff, and took us for breakfast at AC Peterson's in Elmwood. The place reminded me of a Krishes or a Howard Johnson's. Breakfast was okay (my Dad always said, "You can't screw up an egg."), but Sonia and I thought the Quaker Diner was a much better breakfast. Since Mason was in school, Mom and Dad bought him some strawberry ice cream as a treat.

On the way back to our apartment after breakfast, Dad looked at the Quaker Diner and said he wanted to go there next time they were going to be up (in the spring sometime), and that it looked like a fun place.

There was supposed to be a snow squall last night into the morning. There was no snow when we woke up, no snow at breakfast. In fact, we all thought the weatherman was wrong until we started seeing flakes as we began to put our coats on.

Those few flakes soon got worse; complete with high winds and giant flakes...the missing squall...for about 10 minutes.

Dad was tired from getting up at 4 am -- he wanted to take the ferry home instead of driving I-95 back. I looked up the phone number, address, and got him directions all from my computer. He's always impressed with that sort of thing. Reservations made, they could sleep for the hour+ ferry ride home.

We then drove downtown so that Mom and Dad could look for "an exquisite" alarm clock for their bedroom. With all the jewelers in town, you'd think it'd be easy, but no one had one. They recommended a place in Avon that sold only clocks.

We had told Carmen about my parents being in town yesterday, so she stopped by after work to say hello. My folks, who didn't want to travel to Avon while being so close to their ferry reservation, decided to leave the clock shop for their next trip up in the Spring.

It was nice to visit with Carmen and my folks. The topic was travel, and it was nice to have an adult conversation for a change, instead of dealing with kids all day.

Soon, it was time for them to leave. Off they went, for another thermos of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts and the ferry in New London. Carmen stayed behind, admired the cleanliness of the house, then took us out for Lunch at the Corner Pug. We had the Quahog chowder and a bowl of really garlicky mussels. It was all very good.

Afterwards, Sonia and I mellowed out. Sonia took a nap while I played this game Carmen introduced me to, FowlWords. It's the basic 'unscramble the letters to make words' game, but with chicken. Fun!

Both of us went to bed early, exhausted.

Rainbow Doodle

Rainbow Doodle, originally uploaded by macfixer.

There was some Crayola "Color Explosion" rainbow paper at my local Staples for only $2.50 -- so I snatched some up for Mason. Of course, I took a page and doodled on it.

"Color Explosion" paper is black, and you color on it with a special marker, and the color is revealed. The markers do not work on any other paper. Great clean fun.

O.J. Simpson: 'I Could Be Dannielynn's Dad'

Of course! Why not -- hasn't just about every has-been already thrown their, umm, hats into the ring? Now I've seen it all:

O.J. Simpson: 'I Could Be Dannielynn's Dad'

Nice.

1. What's lousy: having to use Lotus Notes at work.
2. What's really lousy: when Lotus Notes decides to not work.

Ubuntu!

I have the opportunity to play around with Ubuntu (a free Linux distribution) on this old laptop from work. For someone whose only experience with the Terminal was Mac OS X and a few commands in Windows XP, this is mighty cool!

I popped in a wireless PC card and was expecting an evening spent digging up drivers, but to my surprise it recognized it right off the bat!

Excellent job! I'm enjoying this more and more!

Making My First YouTube Video

I've always been a big fan of online videos, especially the viral stuff on break.com or youtube.com. Since I don't own a video camera, I never was able to create one of my own to share with others.

Then, one day, I realized that my digital camera was able to shoot small movies! Plus, I could edit them together in iMovie on my new Mac! Brilliant!

I just needed a subject, then -- inspiration hit: our boss wanted us to take some old laptops and throw them out.

Coming soon to this website: "How To Destroy A Laptop"!

...and I thought my commute home was long!

It almost sounds like the setup for a good joke, "This Mother of 8 boards this bus for home, gets lost for 25 years..." but it's crazy!

Crazy!

Jaeyana Beuraheng told her eight children she accidentally boarded a bus bound for Bangkok instead of Malaysia, and once there she boarded a second incorrect bus because she could not read or speak Thai or English, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

Beuraheng, who speaks only the Yawi dialect used by Muslims in southern Thailand, said the noise and traffic of the big city confused and disoriented her, leading her to board the second wrong bus to Chiang Mai, near the border with Burma.

Okay, so now she's home, right? Her kids are all 25 years older, right? What do you think the chances are that they give a crap who she is?

"Mom, you've been gone 25 years -- don't you tell me about picking up my nasty underwear! At least I know how to get back home!"

Oh, snap!

Read about it here.

Mike On Fire

Mike On Fire, originally uploaded by macfixer.

A doodle I made on the whiteboard at work. It depicts my co-worker successfully solving another 'minor issue' with the calm, cool, collected demeanor of a true professional.

Why is the bad guy from Robocop following him? Got me, but it seemed funny at the time I was drawing it.

Halo

Halo, originally uploaded by macfixer.

My friend, my nemesis, my favorite game on my Mac (thats not emulated).

Bungie did a great job on this one.

An email from Dad

I was supposed to head down to Long Island this weekend to celebrate my sister's birthday today, however Nature being the funny gal she is, gave me a fever and a head cold instead. My dad sent me this email this morning.

Try to take it easy this weekend. Rest up and
get some frozen wings for the superbowl. Rate the commercials. We
might go to your sister's house to watch the game. I might make a cauldron of
chili. Erika and Mom are begging me to make it mild. Jerry and I just
stare at them in disbelief. Mild chili on superbowl Sunday? Isn't
that a sin or something? Didn't Moses bring down a tablet from the
mountain with the "Shall not's" a long time ago, and one of them I
believe said, "Thou shall not weaken the chili on football
weekends"? I read that somewhere. I think I'll make bologna with
mild mustard sandwiches on white bread (Tip-top) with the crusts cut
off, sliced in triangles, a pickle on the side, for the ladies and
Gkids. I'll be damned if I'll commit a sin at my age. You never know.
I want to go to the pearly gates with a clean slate. Excuse me, I
have to go buy the jalapenos.

When I went online to tell him how funny his email was, we had this exchange on iChat:

Me: I just read your email. You have a knack for it.
Dad: Did you laugh in the right places?
Me: I think so.
Dad: Dinner will be at six. Fly in. I'll pick you up in Farmingdale.
Dad: I thought the email hilarious. I've reread it many times. Still laugh.
Me: let me warm up the Learjet.
Dad: Sometimes the funny stuff just happens. I really don't think a lot about it. A Lear? Impressive!
Me: Why don't I have a Learjet? I ought to. I'm putting it on my Christmas list.
Dad: Probably you didn't like the color.
Me: I'll make sure to buzz your house at Mach 2 before touching down at Farmingdale. That way you know when to leave.
Dad: You need something in a mauve.
Me: mauve? too 70s. i want "Joe Namath Fur Coat White"
Dad: Why not just bail out. You won't have to pay the landing fee.
Dad: Most of the trees are down in our property so there's lots of room for the parachute. Be careful of the cable wire. i want to watch the game tomorrow.
Me: do they have ejection seats on Learjets? Probably an option with the "Super Sport" package -- along with Deluxe floor mats and a special anti-rust undercoating.
Me: better yet, I want the single-seat space ship George Jetson took to work every morning. Folds up into a briefcase.
Dad: You won’t be the pilot. You must have forgotten. You don't know how to fly a jet. I never told you.
Me: I played a lot of video games growing up, piece of cake.
Dad: You have a point. Reconsider anyway. It is dangerous when you pilot a jet. What's the worse that can happen when you play a video game? You don't advance to the next level. But you're still alive.
Dad: I say hire a pilot and you just bail out at mach III.
Me: I’d get chapped at that speed.
Dad: Wear your mittens. It’s cold out there.
Me: lot of wind. I’ll wear a scarf, Red Baron style
Dad: I have to go. Go on line. See if you can find a Learjet manual.
Me: Mom tells me there's no snow there. Better put out an old mattress so I have a target
Me: I want my Learjet with "3 on the tree", baby
Dad: Will do. What size coffin do you want?
Me: just put me in the chili pot, one less thing to wash, and I’ll go out smelling like jalapeños
Me: I'm sure mom is going to love this exchange
Me: you still show her our conversations?
Dad: You bet. She looks at me strangely afterwards. She's way too serious. It’s her German genes.

How To Shower Like A Woman / How to Shower Like A Man

As my wife is fond of saying, "It's funny cause it's true"

Adult Swim Apologizes

After the city of Boston went all bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S) over Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing blitz, they issued this apology:



It's pretty sad, considering:

1. They were up for 3 weeks before the bomb scare was called in.
2. It was in 10 (TEN!) cities total. No other city did this sort of thing.
3. Have you looked at this thing? A light up sign giving the middle finger! Total stealth bomb!

Anyway, I digress. Boston sucks. There, I said it :-)

Adult Swim Ad Causes Bomb Scare

Adult Swim Ad, originally uploaded by Vanderlin.

Some idiot mistook this sign as a bomb. The Boston bomb squad came in and...

why am I bothering to regurgitate, here... read it for yourself.

Can you see this, Denver? I'm doing it as hard as I can...

Human Slingshot

What do you get when you mix one girl, one bungee cord, and one ATV? A human slingshot, of course!

Un-effing believable!

LifeDrive Discontinued

If you check out the LifeDrive's page on Palm.com, you'll notice that it's listed as "No longer available". Dig a little deeper and you'll find the truth:

Moon Patrol

Moon Patrol, originally uploaded by macfixer.

It's 1989, I'm staying after school in the school library to play Moon Patrol on my high school's Apple IIe. I'm with Mike, David Erb, and possibly an Englebrecht or two... and my nemesis is this game. I'm absolutely lousy at it.

Now, courtesy of the internet and emulation, I can exact my revenge on Moon Patrol and finish the game! Woo-hoo!

Of course, this was only the 'beginner' level, and finishing it meant I had to then hit the 'expert' level.

Error Message

I tell ya... some days, I just don't understand Windows at all.

Now THAT'S Cold!

Now THAT'S Cold!, originally uploaded by macfixer.

This is what greeted me waking up this morning. I hear it's -6 over in Cape Cod, MA (hello Spivvy!)

That Just Ain't Right

Just found out a real close friend of mine found a growth where a growth ain't supposed to be. He's not worried, but I am. How messed up is that?

UPDATE: The tests came back negative, and my friend is fine. Which is cool, being that he totally thought it was cancer and that he'd need some heavy-duty treatment. Word.

Transfixed

Transfixed, originally uploaded by macfixer.

My sister was in town this weekend, so we had a dinner that was an experience. It was a dinner for 7 at this place called "Rainforest Café" -- which is a jungle-themed place for families to eat. The kids get to eat things called Shrimpkins (don't ask) and The Volcano -- and the parents get to drink booze and drown out the pain caused by all the overactive kids jumping up and down while imitating the gorillas.

Yes, the place has gorillas , elephants, snakes, and butterflies (not real ones, animatronic ones). Wild stuff. In the middle of all of this chaos, Alex spilled his drink on his pants, and poor Erika had to run next door to the Gap and get him some new pants, which were not necessary because they had dried by the time she got back.

It's total sensory overload. They have all these animals making animal noises, a water fountain with Atlas in the middle, a overhead star scene (complete with shooting stars), and a thunder storm every 15 minutes, which spooks all of the animatronic animals. Did I mention the drinks for the parents?

...after all that, went to the kid's museum the next day.
Apparently we're all suckers for punishment.

What If George Lucas Got A Chance To Redo "Singing In The Rain"?

It would look a lot like this:

Requisite iPhone Post

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah iPhone Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah OS X Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Internet Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Wireless Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Cingular Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Bluetooth 2.0 Blah Blah Blah iPod Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Cover Flow Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Steve Jobs Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah rumor mill Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah "Treo-killer" Blah Blah Blah iSync Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah touchscreen Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah lickable.

Thank you.

Greatest Goal Ever!

This is funny. If my dad was a hockey fan (and whose dad is, I mean really...), I know he'd be yelling and screaming at the screen the whole time.

Unbelievable.

Saddam Execution Video

No, I'm not going to post a link to the video, because it can be found in all of the usual places. It's graphic, real, and raw. Should it have been surreptitiously recorded? Probably not. As one of the officials said when they saw the cameraphone in the hand of someone in the mob, "Please stop, the man is being executed, please stop."

Stephen Moss writes:

The man. Not the monster, the butcher, the tyrant. Saddam's killers have achieved the impossible: they have made us feel sympathy for him, for his grace under pressure. There may not have been dignity in the dying, but there was courage. A five-star death.

However, "this man" is not just any man, and the people most interested in seeing the video, Iraqis -- as we're being lead to believe -- wanted to see it firsthand. What better way to capture history these days? The future of video truly belongs to cameraphones. Maybe Time Magazine was right all along?

edit: Added quotes from The Guardian and Stephen Moss

edit: Picture removed

Apple's Teaser: What does it mean?

If you were to head over to Apple.com, you'd notice this picture:
What does it mean? You got me -- you'll have to wait for Macworld Expo like the rest of us. However, the strange glow has me wondering: "Does it have something to do with the new Mac OS X interface, AKA Illuminous?"

2006 In Review

If you recall around here last year (don't bother looking for it -- it died in the great Blogger crap-out of '06 -- stoopid computers!), I did a year-in-review post at the end of the year. A summary of the year's events for everyone.

For 2006, expect no less! After all, you get what you pay for ;-)

Here we go...

In January, Blogger died on me and in early February I moved this site to .Mac and used iWeb to craft it, but it got too big and sluggish, so I switched back in July.

In February, I wrote a nice article on my favorite email application (and it's not Mail.app!), and found out that Apple doesn't want me anymore.

March brought a bought of the flu, and I brought some members of my extended family over to the Mac from Windows (my wife and her grandfather).

April found me working full-time again, and finding little time to blog about it all, because I was still working at Pier 1 part-time.

May was a month of hard work, hard play, and breaking away from Pier 1. The stress of working 7 days a week for 2 months was too much on me and my family. My anger and stress levels dropped precipitously.

June meant a triple vacation, and I started a new blog, Five Things.

July brought strange emails from stranger, umm, strangers, an article on Space Shuttle Discovery, new words in the dictionary, my 4th wedding anniversary, my triumphant return to Blogger, and the sad realization that my grandmother is not "coming back" any time soon.

In August, I won an online contest, my dad became "un-retired", and Blackberry the Cat left us for greener pastures... only to return the next day because my wife missed him so much. We said Peace Out to Pluto, and to the low gas prices we had in New Jersey.

In September, I got my new iMac, went to the movies with Mason, mourned the loss of Steve Irwin, complained about my favorite email program, complained about Windows XP, the late nights at work, all while remembering to have fun with Photo Booth and our new convertible.

October found me ruminating over Olive's (my favorite sandwich shop when I was working in SOHO, NYC), taking a drive near my wife's school, going through some old pictures, making some meatballs the way my grandma used to, and worrying about a consultant who came to see what all the fuss was at work.

In November, I rejoiced over Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld being shown the door, picking up stray kittens for adoption at the shelter, getting ready for Thanksgiving turkey with my parents, and putting up a "secret" collection of Apple's Desktop Pictures from OS 8 and 9.

December was the month where I found glass in my mouth after drinking a Snapple, getting upgraded to the "New" Blogger, watching Mason and Sarah perform at a recital, trying not to shoot my eye out, wearing all kinds of hats, being reflective at year's end. I was scolded by Santa Claus, I found fun things to do with Office 2004 for the Mac, sucked up all the sleep I could during my last week of vacation time, and got scolded by my wife for not being jolly enough.

We toughed it out as a family this year. Mason's not as sick as he used to be since the tonsillectomy (the week or so with pneumonia aside...), nor were there any emergency room visits necessary for my wife (other than the stomach virus she kindly gave me in the waiting room). Sonia got all A's in school, and Mason also kicked major butt in school. Hope your 2006 was just as good as ours was!

Well, 'Bah! Humbug!' to you, too!

Well, 'Bah! Humbug!' to you, too!, originally uploaded by macfixer.

My wife claims that I am not in the holiday spirit. I would like to disagree.

Please, Please, Please, Please....

Mere words cannot express the sorrow:

James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured ''Godfather of Soul,'' whose revolutionary rhythms, rough voice and flashing footwork influenced generations of musicians from rock to rap, died early Christmas morning. He was 73.

NY Times obituary here.

Rest In Peace.

Paw

Paw, originally uploaded by macfixer.

Treo's mighty paw

Rest

I love vacations!

One of the things that suck about bouncing from job to job was the lack of equity in that job for time off. For example, when you've spent 6 months looking for a job, and you get that job, the last thing you'd want to do is schedule time off, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, that lack-of-vacation thing snowballed, plus those same 6 months I'd spend looking for a job weren't exactly relaxing. Even though I was unemployed, 8 hours a day I was looking for work. As a result, it was years before I thought about taking a break from either working or looking for work. It was, in a word, amazing!

Fast forward to 2006, and I am now able to take two vacations! One was over the summer, to visit family in Pennsylvania and in Florida. The second is this last week of December. It's an awesome feeling to turn off the alarm and sleep late for once.

Today my wife even reminded me that I could take an hour-long nap. I took her up on it, and I'm glad I did. It's a deep down 'in your bones' relaxing feeling.

Microsoft Office 2004 Easter Egg

Not quite "Flight Simulator hidden in Excel 97", but "Asteroids hidden in Office 2004" can be mighty cool as well.

To reach it, navigate to ./Applications/Microsoft Office 2004/Microsoft Office Notifications. Launch it.

Hold down control-option-Command and select "About Office Notifications".

See the image on the left? You'll notice the Asteroids icon. If you don't see it, try again -- making sure you're holding down all three buttons.

Click on it, and you're in (the image on the right). Click 'OK' or hit Enter to quit (or when the Boss is coming towards your desk).

Unnecessary

Unnecessary, originally uploaded by macfixer.

While chatting with Santa Claus (add northpole@live.com to your MSN Live Messenger), Santa stepped up, and got checked by yours truly.

My pimp hand is strong.

A Special Christmas Box (Uncensored)

Warning: Lower the volume when playing this at work, it contains "blue" language!

Don't Shoot Your Eye Out! (part II)

Don't Shoot Your Eye Out, originally uploaded by macfixer.

I'm getting much better at this game:
Bounces: 450
Accidents: 11 (what were you expecting?)
Final Score: 7076696

Try it for yourself: www.dontshootyoureyeout.com

Quiet Time

One of the things I've noticed while working at a college, is that there is an ebb and flow throughout the year. The frantic pace of September is gone, and as we wrap up for the year, and the students have all pretty much left for the holiday break, there's a certain peace throughout the campus.

Kinda quiet, kinda relaxing...

A Revelation

I am a geek, and that's okay with me

Happy Christmas (War Ain't Over)!

Angel, originally uploaded by macfixer.

Looks like a quiet, reflective Christmas for us at home this year, as Mason is battling pneumonia, and we don't want to get anybody sick. I felt bad about missing the holiday on Long Island with my folks, but then I found out my sister is sick, and my dad is catching whatever she has.

Now I'm kind of glad that we'll catch up in '07! Am I going to miss all the noise? Sure. Am I going to miss the holiday traffic trying to navigate through NYC? Heck no!

Make A (Virtual) Snowflake!

This is cool: all the fun of folding paper and cutting out paper snowflakes without the crooked angles, snippets of paper to clean up, screwed-up cuts and ripped artwork.

Loads of fun, and you can email them, too! Head to http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

Here's one I made:

Flickr Easter Eggs!

Easter eggs? At Holiday time? Well...

Flickr Easter Eggs

Go to any Flickr photo and try posting a note on any of your photos using the following words

ho ho ho hat : you’ll get a Santa hat which you can drag around to put on anyone :).

ho ho ho beard : you’ll get a Santa beard

You have your orders, now roll out!

Don't Shoot Your Eye Out!

Have you played this game yet? It's called "Don't Shoot Your Eye Out" and it's based on the Christmas Classic, "A Christmas Story". It requires a pretty zippy computer to play, and may I recommend cranking up the audio?

Play it here

Sarah Blue

Sarah Blue, originally uploaded by macfixer.

My sister-in-law jamming on guitar. The flash never went off, and as a result came out sorta blue and underexposed.

Fully Beta-ized!

Just got word today that my blog has been chosen to upgrade to the new Blogspot beta! This means more stability, more features, and more stuff to add.

Love this technology stuff!

Snapple Surprise!

Iced Tea Surprise!
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Drinking my Snapple Lemon Tea from the bottle the other day, I came across a nice, jagged surprise! It wasn't from my bottle. Where could it have come from?

The funny/scary thing is that this wasn't the first time this has happened to me -- I was sent to the emergency room one night when the Arizona Iced Tea bottle had shards of glass in it (apparently the bottle had shattered and was held intact by that asinine shrink wrap.

Luckily I wasn't hurt either time, but what a fright!

I ought to pour my Snapples into a cup next time.

Psst! Can you keep a secret?

Blueberry Union-(16x10).jpg
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

I've been looking for these for years: those great wallpapers (whoops! I mean Desktop Pictures) that used to come bundled on Apple's Mac OS CDs -- if you knew where to look. Mac OS X has cool Desktop Pictures, but not the depth or breadth of the earlier collections. Flickr and Google Images searches usually came up empty.

Until now.

I discovered a stash at work of old Mac CDs. We're talking a mother-lode of them. I was even able to convert some really old desktop patterns to modern gif format.

As long as I don't get stymied by The Man, you can find them here at my Flickr group.

Enjoy!

Are you ready for some turkey?

I am totally ready for some turkey and just the right amount of family (too little time spent with my family, and I feel guilty for not staying longer; too much time and I start looking at the clock wondering when we can leave). I am ready for some mashed potatoes, some gravy, some wicked good sandwiches the next day.

However, what I am not in the mood for is the holiday shopping. Here in Connecticut, we're already getting carpet-bombed by the ads touting the shop-til-you-drop specials that start at an ungodly hour the day after Thanksgiving. The only time I had to drag my sorry ass out to a store for one of these specials was when I used to have to work at one of these specials.

Working aside, my family has never taken part in one of these events, although I believe we're in the minority. Does anyone out there skip over "Black Friday" either?

Rumsfeld resignation summarized in Mac OSX screenshot

Via BoingBoing:


Awesome.

Smitten By Kitten

Smitten By Kitten
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Sonia heard the pleating cry of a stranded kitten outside. We're baby-sitting this one until tomorrow, when he'll be picked up and adopted by someone loving and deserving. He's named Philly, since he likes the cream cheese so much.

Update: Philly has left the building! He was picked up by the local no-kill adoption agency.

known/unknown

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, The ones we don’t know we don’t know." - Donald Rumsfeld

Wow, Rumsfeld is really gone. Didn't see that coming!

Mean squirrel attacks Pa. letter carrier

I tell ya, those squirrels are shifty. Can't trust 'em.

From Yahoo! News:Mean squirrel attacks Pa. letter carrier:

Wed Nov 1, 5:12 PM ET

Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel? Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."

The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.

"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."

An ambulance took Dougherty to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.

Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.

"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.

Squirrels do not frequently bite people, said Regis Senko, who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, said, "We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident."

Define "A Form Of Payment"

Define "A Form Of Payment"
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Does this mean that, instead of cash or credit, I could pay with a chicken or goat? Just curious.

Star Wars DJ

Darth Vader scratching and cutting!

"Foakleys"

"Foakleys"
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Picked up a pair of Oakleys from my local gas station for $6 cash money. This can mean only one thing, they're totally authentic.

Yeah, right.

update: They broke already. Crap.

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!!!

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!!!
Originally uploaded by zencorners.

Wired Magazine has a pool started for all kinds of geeky halloween costumes. Nope, none of my costumes have been photographed. Phew!

Scream Incorporated

Scream Incorporated
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Just in time for Halloween, a freaked-out picture of me, tweaked using Image Tricks.

Unsettling

We received news that someone's stopping by work next week. I'd be more candid about it, but I cannot. Suffice to say, rent yourself a copy of "Office Space" and fast forward to "the Bobs" section for a clue. Weirder things have happened, but this seems to be somewhat -- weirderer.

Hopefully, I'm just paranoid.

Grandma's Meatballs

Grandma's Meatballs
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

My grandma came to America from Lithuania. She was married, and -- in her words -- couldn't cook to save her life. Luckily for her, her Italian landlord in Brooklyn taught her how to make all these meals. As a result, my Grandfather wouldn't be subjected to scrambled eggs for every meal for the rest of his life.

This recipe was passed from her to me verbally, with absolutely no measuring involved ("a pinch of this, some of that"). They come out yummy every time.

Thank you, Grandma!

Morning 'fro

Morning 'fro
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

This is what greets me every morning, and why I need to shower and 'goop up' my hair before leaving the house.

Perhaps this is why I cut all of hair off.

Packaged For Fine Restaurants

Packaged For Fine Restaurants
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Call me weird, but I've always found this statement on the back of the Heinz Ketchup bottle to be amusing.

It makes me wonder if:
1) Which restaurants are not considered 'Fine'
2) Those restaurants that are NOT 'Fine' -- does their ketchup come unpackaged?
3) Is Heinz trying to say only the 'Fine' places get Heinz ketchup, and the rest get Hunts or some other off-brand?
4) Are un-'Fine' restaurants responsible for packaging their own ketchup?
5) Who determines the 'Fine'-ness of restaurants, anyway?

Wedding Day Jitters

Wedding Day Jitters
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Another old shot I found on my wife's computer. While killing time waiting for my friend Brandon to show, I took a few practice swings with the Bishop's crook.

I'm sure I'm going to hell for it.

George Washington Bridge September 2001

George Washington Bridge September 2001
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

Found this old picture sitting on my wife's computer. It was taken shortly after September 11th, and all of the Tri-State area (and probably the whole country, I'm sure) was in the throes of patriotism. This flag was huge!

Old Guy Butt On The Mountain

Old Guy Butt On The Mountain
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

My co-worker, Mike shot this picture of this old dude hiking on some Upstate New York mountain. His butt was hanging out of his pants, and it brings us great joy to look at.

Go old man, go!

"Moo", Indeed.

I received my free Flickr cards from moo.com.

They're small, funky, and way cool. Rock on.

Postcard Perfect

Steeple
Originally uploaded by macfixer.

One of the things that I'm starting to like about driving around in a convertible (at least in nice weather), is the view. With a regular car, you're stuck looking mostly straight ahead, sometimes to the left and right. In a convertible, you can see 180º in all directions. It's very liberating.

This past weekend, while at a red light, I grabbed this shot. Reminds me of a 5¢ postcard you'd pick up with the words "Wish you were here" on it. Glad I was able to capture the moment.

The Knack is Tricky

You'll love this:

1970s one-hit-wonder The Knack had suddenly noticed that Run DMC had sampled their 1979 song "My Sharona" in Run DMC's 1986 hit "It's Tricky." So, even though this was twenty years after that had happened, they decided to sue for copyright infringement.

When companies do this, they call it a "submarine patent" -- when bands do it, should they call it a "submarine royalty"?

Olive's

Olive's, Soho
Originally uploaded by felsull.

I used to work in Manhattan, until the events of 9/11 caused me to lose my job as a technician at a nearby Ad Agency. Anyway...

The local 'joint' that Daren, Marshall, and I used to go to was this place, Olive's. Expensive as hell, but man, those were some awesome sandwiches.

In fact, the sandwiches were so legendary in my family, I have since tried to compare future sandwiches to them.

Subway? Not really. Blimpie's? Please.

For now, I've settled on Panera Bread. That is the closest I can get to that certain taste that comes from fresh ingredients, fresh bread, and love. Sandwiches need love. That's why Mom's PB&J tasted so good, IMHO.