The Meaty Efreeti

Friday, May 28, 2004

So, I've just left "The Day After" and though it had some serious issues with feasibility, it was a decent enough "shock flick" to start off the Summer Mind Numbing at the cinema. It had some of the worst CGI wolves I've ever seen in it. Awful. I think they even lagged a few times. And Dennis Quaid was as over-the-top as usual as a divorced Dad trying to balance his work at (grrrr...) NOAA and his family life. The young girl that played GENERIC LOVE INTEREST in the movie was a decent enough actress though. I'm sure we'll see her around again. She made up a 1/4 of the nearly-ethnically balanced troupe of young'uns. ("This radio is wack!" says the African-American token.) And I'm a bit skeptical about some of the "scientific" fact they based the movie on... Simply because each atmospheric effect does exist independently of one another, doesn't necessarily mean that they will or can work in tandem...even if said tandem makes really cool "insta-freeze" effects. But the message was there eventually, along with some other interesting statements about Mexico that could have been just a bit more subtle, in that most estimable of opinions...mine. I give it a solid 2 and a 1/2 out of 5. The worst part of the movie had to have been the way people looked at me as I handed out flyers after it was over. As if I was attempting to capitalize on the fear the film created as I passed out sheets of recycled paper advocating what people could do to stop global warming. Thus an interesting paradox was created in my head... I, the well-meaning and concerned environmental advocate on one end, who simply saw a way that the general populace might become interested in what I had to say...and on the other, the exiting moviegoer, who felt lambasted by messages of doom and fear throughout the film, and who now had to shake their head at a gentleman attempting to pass out propaganda they think will cause them to act upon said fear. This in turn began consideration about political lines of "Democrat" and "Republican,"and "Conservative" and "Liberal" being drawn around nearly everything...and why we find it necessary to label something into a tidy group before we consider it. Can't have conservatives being concerned about the same social issues as Liberals...just wouldn't do. Sigh. Anyway, I did what I could to salve these irritated emotions by simply smiling a lot...I'm not sure it worked. Overall, it was an interesting afternoon. I think Luis and K. are heading out over here in the next couple of hours, so I'm going to bounce out of here and nab some cawfee and stop by the grocery store to pick up a stamp and mail my volunteer application for Moody Gardens Aquarium unit. Yes, I'm offering to chop up fish, test salinity and clean tanks in an aquarium...for free. Don't ask. This whole philanthropic thing is new to me too... Take care, j.s.

Yay! The 400th Meaty post! W00t!

So, the plan for today is to head over to Diedrich on Montrose, and pick up some flyers and stickers pertaining to global worming...er...warming...from KPFT, and then go watch "The Day After Tomorrow" at the Cine-Mega-Multi-Google-Plex. Afterward I'll offer them to the masses who are on their way out of the film.

No, I'm not protesting the movie, I just want to help raise a lil' awareness about the damage that global warming is actually doing to the world.

That coupled with a Hollywood one-two punch of explody things what explode, and Joe SixPack might just stop and think a moment before purchasing that H2 or other road behemoth.

Hey, I'm trying anyway.

j.s.

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Okay, allow me to once again step up onto my worn, but still stylishly decorated, soapbox...and spew vitriol from the relative safety of a coffee house step.

I'm disappointed in us.

The cognitive hold time of our generation has sped into the equivalent of a mental strobe light.
We see the pictures of Iraqi soldiers dehumanized and abused, vibrate with outrage for a few days, then it ebbs from our collective conscious like quicksilver.
We hear of Bush's "They had lots of those big explody gas thingies in there!" arguments, and we bomb the hell out of a small country as a result...then when we find out there were no such Big Explody Gas Thingies, (B.E.G.A.T.) we narrow our eyes at the president for a few days...then shrug and drop it.

Behold the Power of Pride. (Yes, I mixed those two slogans on purpose.)

And just how is it that we've cultivated the long-term memory of goldfish?
I'll tell you.
By actually paying attention to the media mainline that pumps crude into our living rooms nightly.
And it's our own damn fault for giving in to this self-delusional sedation.

Did anyone else who read "Animal Farm" think that it would never be possible for Snowball to simply change history by rewriting it?
I know that the idea was so ridiculous to me that I dismissed it as simply being an Orwellian plot device.
But it seems the talking heads in that little box are not only capable of completely rewriting history, they're capable of creating public opinion through sound bytes and ominous overtones.
Laugh if you like, but start paying attention to how many times you find yourself in conversation, and your opinion sounds strangely similar to the news report you saw the night before?
This happens, and yet somehow we smile and welcome the cognitive whitewashing because we don't like to feel icky about where we live and who we are.

We're kinda icky folks...the sooner we acknowledge that fact the sooner we can set about changing it.

Case in point: we have turned the greatest human invention (prior to the Internet), over to the marketing and propaganda machines, and they in turn have mutated it from the great disseminator of intelligent information that it could've been, into a parade of pap and dollar signs.

We all know that I don't watch T.V.
I don't get a single channel...not one.
Yet how do I know that "Friends" has ended, there's someone named "Fantasia" on American Idol, and there's another spoof musical reality show that picks horrible singers as a joke?

Television has become all-encompassing, that's how.

It's becoming our culture rather than reflecting it.

I can't even watch the news anymore without shaking my head sadly, thinking there are millions of people who actually believe that they are gleaning valuable information from it's cacophony of phonyness. And I can't help but wonder what the qualifying factors are in the media's determination of "newsworthy."
"If it bleeds, it leads" is an old adage...now it's seems more like "if it bleeds, create gore and public hysteria out of it and run it twice during every commercial break."

Please, help me make it stop.
This is what I propose.

Turn it off...

Turn it off for one week.

Just one week...that's all.

If that sounds horrifying to you, think for a moment about what I said. All I suggested was that you simply turn off an appliance in your home for seven days...and not even one that could be construed as vital to your survival like heat or cooking paraphernalia.

It's just a T.V.

I guarantee you that, after that week, your eyes will be much more open to the ridiculous stream of fear and lies that bombard your home every night, and you'll find yourself not wanting to believe in what's said, because it's all so ludicrous.

Not only will you become more savvy to televisional lies, you'll also have had a week to ponder and ruminate on the things you hear (yes, even without television I still know what's going on in the world), and you will have hopefully formulated your own opinions about what's happening in our world without being spoon-fed one by the 7, 8, 9, or 10 o'clock news.

Think about it.

And then think about it.

It has to start somewhere.

Thanks for at least thinking about it.

j.s.

I wrote a huge post last night and cut it from my laptop to post on my work computer...and it got lost in the shuffle somewhere.

It was awesome too...filled with outrage and hyperbole...

I'll try and recreate it later tonight.

j.s.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

I think cabals of microscopic agnaths, like a horde of mini gummi lampreys, have taken up residence in my head...causing me to pale and vertiginously wobble.

**Translation: I don't feel all that well...and I'm kinda dizzy.

It has been brought to my attention that this could be attributable to dehydration, and that I should go have some Gatorade or something...

It also could be the aforementioned cerebral chordate infestation.

My money's on the lampreys.

j.s.

Monday, May 24, 2004

Well, all of my transcripts would be whizzing their way toward Austin, if the poor people of Logan, Utah hadn't brain-vomited all over my account.
It seems they decided to register me for a distance-education class that I'd already taken...and I therefore had a hold put on my records since I owed them for a class I'd signed up for in January of 2004.
It took being transferred to 5 different offices around campus to figure that little gem out, but they're working on it now and trying to get it cleared up.

Schoolin' just wouldn't be schoolin' without a couple laps of the red tape backstroke.

So, hopefully by tomorrow my USU transcripts will join the ill-fated Blinn and HCC ones, and I'll simply be waiting for an answer from UT.

Okay, now to the weekend update.

Friday I started off at Outback Pub with N. and some of her friends drinking free beer and hanging about.
Lots of married women flitting about, so I excused myself early (when N. left), and headed to The Belv to meet J.T. and Kristin and, speaking of married women, hopefully to see Ridiculously Hot Bartender Girl.
Alas, she was in Chicago this week...no joy in Mudville.

Anyway, we hung out outside, caught up a bit. They both seem to be doing really well.
Then I headed home at around 1:30ish, but not after losing a $100 bill somewhere along the way. Irritating.

Saturday I went for the B-fast at Ft. View with Nussell, Mom and D. Then Nussell and I headed into town to go to the Museum of Natural Science. Which was very cool. I busied myself by trying to convince children that they could cause the Foucalt's Pendulum to speed up by fanning it with their arms, and Zhe VoolBurglah blinded himself with a booby-trapped chemistry experiment.
Genius in action people.

(Utah State just called...they've now fixed the problem and the hold should be off my record by tomorrow morning. Nice.)

Lessee, what else did we do there...OH!

We also found out that Luis has a new spirit animal, aside from the penguin of course...
Nussell and I were standing outside at the gnomon (look it up here if you don't know...), and were just about to head back inside when I noticed a flash of brown fur out of the corner of my eye.
I look over, and a jackrabbit is hopping from one side of the sidewalk outside the museum to the bushes on the other side. It stops, and stares at Nussell and I for about 30 or 45 seconds, long enough for us to hold a conversation with it and come to the realization that it obviously wants us to follow it down a hole somewhere, probably to hook up with Alice, always the lubricious minx.
So we move to follow it, and it takes off like a shot, much too quickly for us to keep up.
Must've been late for something.
Anyway, no sooner had the rabbit taken off when I look to my left and see someone waving from a car...yes, Luis, just pulling into an open spot directly across the street from the museum. If the rabbit hadn't stalled us, we'd have missed him. (Improbability factor: 598.)

Hooray.

So we all go back inside and watch the "Bugz!" IMAX movie. (Sponsored by Terminix...no I'm not kidding.) Which was fine and all, however it would seem that the good people of Terminix are once again confused as to what constitues a "bug" and what constitutes "the one organism that Jeremiah is so terrified of that he sends palpable shockwaves of terror outward in a 10' radius...
A.K.A. the spider."

Stupid Terminix.

So we took off afterward, and walked over to the Miller Outdoor Theatre and pondered what all the "Blankets must face the stage" signs meant. (Think about it a second and you'll be confused too.)
Then wandered over to the wading pool, created naval waterfowl warfare, then headed back to my place to get ready to go to Dave & Buster's for the company party.

We arrive, have a few drinks, start dinner...K. shows up a bit later, and D., Luis, K. and myself all team up for the "Scavenger Hunt Team Building Exercise."

We're supposed to come up with a team name...pshhh...like that was difficult.

Flying Helmeted Paladins boy. Ask a harder one.

"Okayy...what's your team cheer?"

"HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Strange looks ensue from the other teams...I would like to believe they were tallying the collective I.Q. of our team and thereby ebbing into the dim glow of 2nd place hopefuls.

Which is exactly what happened, the rest of the teams scuttled about from room to room gaining answers, we simply used cell phones and answered questions from strategic locals...that coupled with a pinch of social engineering in order to get the information we needed from the employees of D&B who were apparently told not to answer our questions. As it turned out, they simply needed a bit of head twisting in order to give up zhe info. (Vhe have vays uf maykink you talk. I'm Sodium Pentathol Man.)

It wasn't even close.

FHP smites the heretics, the unbelievers and the slightly naughty once again.

HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Celebratory shots of Jager ensue, as does some Battletech and several rounds of HyperBowl, which I found becomes painful on the hands after your fourth game...

I'm so buying some HyperBowlin' gloves...=]

Afterward I just went home and crashed.

Sunday I went over to Avalon Diner on Westheimer which was supra-awesome and might become a regular spot for me in the future, then Nussell and I hung out at my place for awhile.

Oh, and I had to run out to Katy to pick up Audrey, who is now hanging around my apartment while her permanent residence is being bombed for fleas.
She was very, very unhappy about the Jeep ride, but warmed right up to the apt. within minutes of being there.

Okay, I think that just about catches us up.

Talk to you soon...

j.s.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Hello there my little Efreetilings...I am back.

Rested, tanned, and way, way behind on work.

I've finished up a bit of it today, though there's still plenty to go. Can't beach it up for a week and not get behind I guess...though that's suckyWATT.
I don't like this..."behind." Implies scheduling...scheduling begets responsibility. Responsibility...leads to suffering...

Overall the beach house was good, spent a good bit of time taking a sort of self-inventory. A State of the Me Address if you will.
And I've decided that though I'm not exactly wasting my talents at the company that dare not speak its name, I'm not exactly cultivating them either.
So, I've applied to...drumroll...
...you maroon people out there hold your collective breath...

...

The University of Texas: Austin.

--Yep, and here come the "boooo's" and rotten fruit...
Seriously folks, could YOU see me living in College Station?
Right.

So my transcripts are whizzing their way to Austin as we speak and hopefully some rogue scholar there will recognize the genius that has been wiled away in the backwoods of Utah, and permit me entry to their degree program.

Which degree program you ask? Good question. And the answer is: Marine Science.

Throughout my life I've been involved in things on the water in one way or another, living in Rhode Island, stinkpots and waterskiing in elementary school, surfing through high school, sailing the East Coast for a couple years, and even in Utah, that most mountainous and land-locked of states, I still found a way to teach sailing every summer to Utah State students...
This whole water thing doesn't seem to be a passing fad.
So, since it would be difficult to enter into a graduate Marine Science program with a Bachelors of Science in Apparel and Textiles...I'm assuming that I'll have to take another bachelor's, and roll from there.
Which is only two years, with summer school, so it's not all that daunting really. The daunting parts are the classes I'll have to take in order to graduate with said degree.
Calculus I and II.
Physics I and II.
16 hours of Chemistry.
And some Stat.

This, in essence, means that I'm going to have to cultivate a cerebral left hemisphere sometime soon. Not as tricky as say...growing a third arm from my stomach...but Sisyphean to be sure...
I've tackled worse though, I'll be fine. (Though I'll undoubtedly be tapioca-topping-headed for a good while.)

Anyway, it feels good to have a bit of self-direction again, to be taking steps toward something I really want, rather than subsisting solely on what I need to get by.

Oooo! Ooooo! I hear them saying now... "But you said the SuckyWATT to responsibility earlier! Hypocrisy! Self-defeating argument! Tortuous loquaciousness!

To which I answer...it's my blog. I can be as circuitous as I like.

And besides, the responsibility I create for myself differs greatly from the responsibility that is imposed upon me. When someone else assumes that I'm going to do something it's "responsibility;" when I create what I have to do it's...um..."self-improvement." And that I'm all about. God knows I have the upward trajectory room to do so. =]

Also, I'm just not a root-growing kinda leguyme. Yeah, I have an apartment and a car, both necessary parts of living in this city, but when you analyze those, you'll find that I rent the former, and lease the latter. As minimally constrictive as such financing can possibly get.
It's been embarrassing to admit, but I absolutely abhor the idea of purchasing a house. It terrifies me to think of going on the finger for 30 years of my life to pay for sticks and bricks.
No...no...no...

I guess that amounts to my not being of the "marry a home, mortgage a wife, 2.3 station wagons playing the front yard, matching kids parked in the garage" kinda guy. (I'm Jeremiah Dangerously.)
Besides, the last time I tried to convince myself otherwise I dropped from my easy plane of calm and grace, and plummeted into a tailspin that took years of stick-wrenching throttle to recover from. Damn all that.

Wait...what was that... Yes, you. You in the corner?

I'm rationalizing you say? I'm merely justifying the act of skittering off to do something else because I'm bored?

It just might be. But I won't know unless I try it now will I?

Planning and saving and conservative living? I begrudgingly leave that to the folk that are good at it. I tried it these past 12 months and it just isn't me.
I bet it'd be nice though.

No...revamping my life again and again...trying everything a couple of times to be sure I don't like it...racing along the razor-thin edge between shining brightly and burning up...
I do that better than anything, and nearly better than anyone.
Yes, I've charred myself a few times, but I never regretted any of it...and I was glowing oh-so-very brightly there before I crashed...

Anyway, if I stick things out here in NormalPeepLand, I'm definitely going to regret that. And that...is unacceptable.

Take care,

j.s.

Monday, May 17, 2004

I also had to change the "Meaty Archives" thing over there from weekly to monthly, as it was getting a bit out of hand...hopefully this will be better.

j.s.

Pudding!

Yes, I'm back from the beach house...for the time being...just needed to get the oil changed in the Jeep and make a deposit at the bank.
And, of course, drop by Diedrich and coffee for a little while. (Yes, I just used "coffee" as a verb.)
The beach is good...I'm getting all George Hamilton-y and stuff.

Friday I got up at the crack of dawn and rode up to College Station with Mom and Zhe VoolBurglah for Melissa's graduation. There really are a ludicrous number of students at A&M...I mean, just the engineering and vet sci. majors rivaled our entire graduating class from Utah State.
It did prompt the usual "I've really got to get back to school and work on my master's degree" internal debate however.
Which mixed with the "weren't you just talking about opening a coffee shop?" point, and the "What happened to the sailing instructor idea?" thought...and both butted heads with our newest arrival, the "Why not at least drop your resume off at Page Parkes and Mayo Hill modeling agencies and look into work as a model instructor?" idea.
Bold steps must and will be taken in some direction very soon... Interesting.

Where was I?

Oh...graduation...right.
So we left College Station and I picked up the Jeep, dropped the top and headed for the beach.
Pretty mellow night down there all things considered...because we knew Saturday would bring James's wedding and thusly another trip out of Bolivar and back to Houston.

Saturday I got up and headed out to the wedding at around 10:30, assuming I'd have plenty of time since the ceremony wasn't slated to begin until 1.

But I got to the ferry only to have an ambulance speed past the entire line of cars waiting to board the boat, and take a private ferry ride across the channel...leaving us all waiting for the next boat.
30 min. later, I finally get on and head across to Galveston.
I get home, do a quick change into suitable wedding attire, and bolt out the door with 15 minutes to spare before the hitchin' starts.
I-10 was closed all weekend, so I cleverly decide to take 59 around instead...and it seemed all of Houston had this idea as well.
I finally get to Kirkwood and cut up to I-10...only to find an accident on the freeway at Highway 6.
It's now 1:45.
Made Katy at 2:00 (after being stalled by a funeral procession, "when delays arrive they come not in spies, but in battalions"), and arrive just in time for her to throw her bouquet and for them to drive off.
Sigh.
In the parking lot, I strip down to a t-shirt, roll up the cuffs on my khakis, take off my shoes, and head back down toward the beach house with D.

Boozin' ensues.

Many beers later, I'm sauced and ready to go cause a little trouble...so we decide on "Sharky's Bar," an awful dive about 10 miles down the road from the house.
Luis, K., D., Nussell, a girl from Rhode Island whose name I can't remember, Mom and I all head over and start the saucin' anew.
I'm pished enough to actually Cotton Eyed Joe and Two-Step with Rhode Island girl (and several others I think), and a slightly slurred good time was had by all. (Except Luis apparently, but I was way too tipsy to notice.)
I do recall the D.J. coming out of his booth and crushing Nussell and K's beers for some reason, and a 40-year-old chasing D. around the club all night...oh, and there was a grizzled old woman building a Maginot Line of straws between my beer and hers, so as not to get them confused evidently...
It's all more of a blurry montage of strange, sun-charred people rather than real memories actually...sorry.

Anyway, we went down to the beach after we got home and waded around in the surf for an hour or so, then passed out with my computer on next to me...I even attempted to write a post. Which goes a little somethin' like this...

"WEll, this shoud be ineresting...considering my bed is rotating in180 degree increments evetytime I loook at teh computer monitor..

I can't see what I'mtyping. ang I'm leaving all teh typos in, of which I'm sure there are many, and just going with the flow.

I'm down at the beach house tonight, and have been drinking beers for the past 7 hours or so...I'm a little twisted.

I'm serously thrillled about going to see Jenny in a couple of weeks though. That'll be awesome Whoopsp, I tabbed...

Tonight was ridiculous, we got pissed her at teh beachhousek, then went over to a place called "Sharky's," which was fun, althought "

Right.

The Jenny thing I'm actually not sure about...I've been talking about buying a ticket to Denver to go see her for a few days, but in my liquor-addled state I guess that had become more of a reality than a potential.

Anyway, Sunday was soupy recovery day, laying on the couch and watching Invader Zim most of the afternoon.

Today has been equally low-key, as I've taken the day off of work (and tomorrow actually), and am just relaxing a bit. I've earned it I think.

Okee...that should keep things semi-current around here for the next couple of days...I'm heading back to the beach.

*tans*

j.s.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Heya Bleuxpees.

I'm doing my "I'm heading to the beach house today" dance.

*dance*dance*dance*shimmy*

Yay!

Although forces are conspiring to keep me from actually taking a vacation...I have Melissa's graduation on Friday, James's wedding on Saturday (neither of which I can really be upset about since they're family and these are important days), and a ton of new work that is Fed-Exing it's way to me as we speak. (Which I can be upset about, since the smeghead who's sending them to me has cocked up the cookies 4 times now, and the delay has escalated this work into emergency status...hence...I'm working on it over the weekend, AGAIN.

You know, part of the sell of this job was the great hours...but those "great hours" are rapidly turning into "never being off work." =[ Be it weekend work, computer issues at random hours, dinners where the discussions solely revolve around work issues, working on website design in bed at night because I can't find time during the day to work on it, or just calling my Mom on a Sunday afternoon and having the conversation turn into a litany of things I need to do in the office on Monday...it's feeling like I can't escape this place.
And those of you who know me, know that is a very, very bad feeling for me to have...
I feel the first hint of being trapped, and typically I sprint toward another state/country when that happens.

Not threats...just concerns.

Hmmm...what else...

Oh...I went to get my hair cut yesterday, which turned interesting when I arrived.

I sat down in the swively chair and smiled at my stylist, who smiled back and said,
"I bet your ears were burning when you left here last time."
"No...why?"
"Because we had a long discussion about you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Every stylist and aesthetician here thinks you're hot."
"Er...really?"
"Yep. Every one of 'em."
"I...I don't know what to say..."
"Well, you need to pick one."
"What?"
"Pick one of us to go out with. You have your choice of the entire salon, just choose one and she'll go out with you..."
I'm seriously nonplussed at this point, and am beginning to eye the exit door, envisioning swinging the hair apron around backwards and bolting out the door with it flapping behind me like a cape.
I decide against it, and make with the funny.
"Right..." I point at the stylist next to us.
"YOU! My place. 7:30.."
"YOU!" I say, and point to the stylist next to her, "9:00...bring a friend."
Giggles ensue...apparently they hadn't seen the cinematic tour de force that is "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."

Can you imagine the unbridled carnage that would result in dating someone who works in a salon full of other women who want to date you?
The horror...the horrorrr...

Sad too since I did kinda want to ask out the receptionist there...but in light of this recent info, I'm honestly kind of fearful about it.

I think I might just need a new salon.

j.s.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Hi again.

Thought I'd start writing the weekend update at home and post it when I get time tomorrow.

So...Friday was "Tour de Bars" here in Houston. Luis and I caught up and started off the night at Opus downtown...which was generic bar/club that I'd heard had been "going off" but turned out to be hyperlame.
We left in short order, much to the pouting chagrin of the miniskirted girl outside, who wriggled and jigged about like one of those bioluminescent orbs that grows from the foreheads of benthic fish...all in the hope of luring men into the maw of suck that was Opus.

So from there we headed toward Dean's and became sidetracked by the ArtCar parade peeps that were out showing off their bizarre but awesome rides. (The dragon one the took up nearly the entire length of a city block was easily my favorite...)
We decided against Dean's for fear we'd never leave, and chose Red Door instead.
After a very interesting parking job, and after assuaging Luis's concerns over impending plague due to an unsettling number of dead birds along the sidewalk, we arrived at the Red Door.
If I didn't loathe the term "sausage-fest" so much, I'd certainly use it here to describe the scene there. Seriously.
You single girly-type Meaty fans out there would do well by this advice...go to Red Door on Fridays if you're looking to be fawned upon. But please, for the love of everything holy and otherwise, check yourself in the mirror before you leave the house and if you look like you've raided a pygmy flamenco dancer's closet, then undress and try again. Nothing screams "I'm a fashion victim automaton who is incapable of choosing attractive raiment" faster than those ovarian-cut miniskirts with the ruffled hems.
I despise them...as I will you if you go out in one.

Don't let Paris Hilton happen to you.

So, after a few drinks, we leave Red Door and head for the Ol' Faithful of bars here in Houston, The Belvedere.
Though it turned out to be less faithful than it has in previous nights, given that Jen the Ludicrously Hot Bartender was out of town yet again. Heavy sigh.
(Is it creepy that I know these things? It does feel a little creepy...)
So, a Red Bull and Raspberry Smirnoff with lime later, and Luis and I are rolling toward Mama's Cafe. We finish up a grilled cheese apiece and then head to my place and crash.

Saturday we get up and head for Ft. View at about noon or so. Meet up with Nussell and do breakfast. Then drop by the office for some quick City of Heroes action, and afterward head over to Casa de VoolBurglah to watch some of the Invader Zim DVD I'd bought along the way. (Jhonen is a comedic genius...)

Luis has to take off shortly afterward, so I drive him back to my place to drop him off at his car, come upstairs and change, then head back to Zhe VoolBurglah's place for beers and general conversation with Nussell, N. and a friend of theirs.

We hang out. N. decides to head to bed at around 10ish, the rest of us decide we're hungry and head to...yes...Mama's again. 2nd grilled cheese down in less than 24 hours and I'm getting tired. So I head back to Zhe VoolBurglah's place, pick up this here laptop, and head home...only to lay in bed awake until around 5 a.m. for no discernible reason.

Today I got up at around 9, staggered out into the living room and did my damndest to melt into the couch cushions for the majority of the day. (And finished watching the rest of Invader Zim: Season One.)
D. called at around 3 or so, and I peeled myself up off the couch to go pick him up and head out to Katy to see my Dad and stepmom. We dropped by a florist to pick up some flowers for her..and I went into full-on event producer mode...pointing, arranging, fluffing and cascading a bouquet of stargazer lilies, yellow gerber daisies, and purple tulips, with some greenery thrown in for good measure. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the way it looked to be honest, but given a day or two the stargazers will bloom and it should be beautiful.
We did barbecue by the pool there, watched the end of Shawshank Redemption, and then D. and I headed back to his place, where we chatted about my ingenious coffee shop ideas and discussed financing. All interesting.
At about 10:30 I took off from there and headed home, which is where I published those last two posts. After I finished them, I reached for the top of the laptop monitor to shut it and head home, then stopped...
I decided to try my hand at a little Wardriving on the way home, which sounds uber geeky...all right I guess it was uber geeky come to think of it...but it was fun. And it provided modest entertainment for the nightly trek through downtown to my apartment.
I know, I know...you're thinking "Hey, tapping into corporate wireless networks? Isn't that illegal Jer?"
To which I answer...well...yes.
But only if I actually connect to them...
It's not illegal to simply receive a signal from them and recognize the fact that they're there...and I'd never do something so morally casual as hijack Milkhog bandwidth for personal gain and/or amusement now would I?

Right.

Anyway, got home a little bit ago and that's when I got into bed and started writing this post.
I also couldn't help but notice that Blogger has revamped their interface once again, which always makes for fun research as I figure out what new toys they've added to the toolbox for us...I'm connected to a neighbor's wireless connection right now (or am I? *narrows eyes*), so I would check it out...but I'm kind of exhausted so I think I'm going to get to sleep while the gettin's good.

Talk to you all tomorrow,

j.s.

Sunday, May 09, 2004

As I'm sure you surmised, that post was a couple of days old. I just never had a chance to get it posted this weekend.

So I stopped, on my way home, at a Starbucks and am utilizing their wireless connection. Well, technically the Starbucks is closed, and I'm standing next to Westheimer with my laptop out on the hood of my Jeep which is blaring the theme from "Cowboy Bebop" How cool am I? (And I do it all...for you.)

I'm not going to go into the details of the weekend out here however...as that's kinda crazy...but I at least wanted to let you all know I was thinking about you and about how slacky I've been of late with the updatin'. I'll do the typical weekend update thingy tomorrow.

Wheep wheep.

j.s.

Hiya.

Sos I'm laying in bed now...well not now now, but then. But for me then is now, and now is also then, just in a different temporal direction...

Right...

So I'm laying in bed, listening to the rhythim slosh of my washing machine doing a load of jeans, and wondering why it is that I'm not out at Red Door tonight. I really dug it the last time we went on a Thursday, though I now know better than to drink as many of their nu (sorry, can't find the umlaut in notepad) martinis as I did then.

Instead I hung about here, did some laundry which I desperately needed to get done seeing as how I had no weekend to speak of 5 days ago, and watched Zoolander, which I will sheepishly admit to owning. I love that movie...for the same reasons I loved Silence of the Hams. The cameos. I mean c'mon...Christian Slater, Gwen Stefani, Tyson Beckford, Winona Ryder, Billy Zane, Heidi Klum, David Bowie, Milla Jovovich, and TOM FORD?
Somebody's a casting genius.
Although there was the retching cameo by Donatella, the Middle-Aged Mutant Versace Turtle, but we'll let that one slide as she's one of the few designer mugs that most people can spot. (Or maybe they can't...hmm.) Besides, at least they didn't hire that lisping ball of drama Isaac Mizrahi or the irritating pixie-esque Betsy Johnson.
I don't care for her either.

WOW!

I just piggybacked a wireless connection from someone in my building! I may post this tonight after all...=)

Ohp ohp...maybe not...gone again.

Strange.

Okay, well I'm definitely going out somewhere tomorrow night then. Perhaps to The Belv for a raincheck on that drink with Jen? =] !!!
We'll see...

I'll catch you all up sometime this weekend...

j.s.

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

I hate Microsoft.

If I have to sit down at my computer one more time and see that they've scanned my machine and I require another one of their "Security Updates" I'm gonna go binary on they asses.
Seriously, every single day for the past 3 weeks they have added some miscellaneous shit onto my machine, masking it with terror tactic blurbs like "A potential security gap in Microsoft Windows could allow a 3rd party to access your computer and gain complete control over it. Hackers kill people and knock down trees!"

Listen Bubba...no one is taking over my computer, K?
I'm firewalled, McAfee'd, SpyBotted, and don't run any of the rest of your proprietary monkey coding...leave me and my PC be.
Besides, if so many "3rd parties" are happening on your systems, perhaps you should rethink your design and up the ante on your security bets huh?

So I picked up a book on Linux, and I'm starting the process of changing OS's.

Yeah, I = Geek. But that'll make me happier than randomly downloading Bill the Butcher's pap.

j.s.

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Hellooo...

I actually left the office when there's still daylight outside, so I thought I'd celebrate by going to have coffee and staring at a different computer screen for awhile.
Yay!

So...what shall we talk about?
Any ideas?

Anyone?

No?

Fine...well there's always how pissy I am that I didn't get in the World of Warcraft beta...that's always fun to bitch about.

Or there's the throngs of post-baseball game folk that wander around like visually-impaired-yet-strangely-alert meerkat outside Minute Maid park and stare frightened into my Jeep as I'm trying to get home.

Or perhaps we should discuss how badly this past week of work has sucked? And delve into the terrifying psyche of yet another IT incompetent and mull over just how he can devour my entire weekend with tedious work...work that turns out to be useless?

Ooo...ooo...or how about other MMOG's and their propensity to straw-suck one's life away...until suddenly one day you find you haven't shaved in almost a week, are still wearing the same clothes you had on 2 days ago, haven't talked to anyone outside of those you play the game with, and realize that you've been sitting in front of a computer for 96 hours straight with the only breaks being to drive to/from work and to sleep.
That's a good one.

But I won't delve into all that now.
I'd rather sit here, enjoy the nice day outside and listen to The Lightning Seeds "Life of Riley" on my headphones.
That always improves my mood into a calm, blissful, orange "Gotcha" t-shirt with tux tails, peg-rolled jeans with pushed down socks, and crispy and vertically hairsprayed enlightenment.

Ohp...and there it goes...replaced by Helmet's "In the Meantime."

Now I'm pissed again...

j.s.

Monday, May 03, 2004

Hi,

So sorry about the lack of posting. I worked all weekend long for the most part, and had no time to update.

Lessee...

Friday I worked until around 10pm or so, and then played "City of Heroes" for a couple of hours, which is a supra-dork comic-book based MMOG. But it was fun to geek out for a little while. =]
Luis caught up with me at the office and we headed out of here, grabbed some Mama's Cafe, then headed back to my place...stopping off by the little house for lease that I wanted to put my coffee shop in.
The "For Lease" sign was already down...somebody nabbed it.
This made me very sad...as I had already had a name for it, ("Shutters and Vines") begun the interior decor, found the coffee distributor and even mentally filled part of the jukebox.
C'est la vie...s'pose it'll have to wait until I find another perfect spot. =[

Crashed out, then did Ft. View on Sat. morning with Nussell. Then he and I drove over to the office and started working...didn't stop until after midnight, played a little more City of Heroes, then headed home.

Sunday we got up, drove through the Westheimer Street Festival, stopped off for Chacho's, and then came right back into the office where we stayed until about 1:30 a.m. last night.

I crashed at D's place, then got up and headed right back into work today...where I am now.

Joe Auto (the place that is housing Opal the Car for the time being), called me this morning.
I assumed it would be a "where the hell are you with our money...and what do you want us to do with this thing" kind of call.
Not at all.
They wanted to let me know they're closing down their Bunker Hill store (where Opal is), and they'd be towing her to the Joe Auto on Westheimer.
He mentioned that he'd like it if I came in and paid them, but he understood what was going on and said no problem.

Those guys are aweschome.

Anyway, sorry I don't have more to jibber-jabber about. As you can see working has monopolized my every waking moment as of late...
However I've been gifted with 2 more vacation days now which brings my total up to 9 days. Some of which I'm certain I will be using next week at the beach house. (13th to the 20th I believe.)

I'm sure I'll have lots to talk/gloat about as I sit on the patio sipping Coronas and relaxing...but don't hold it against me if I don't find the time to post over the next couple of days. Things are a little hectic still...

j.s.