It’s Saturday night. I’m sitting on the couch with a mocha – from Victor’s, no less – and updating a whole shit load of album art for my iPods. The doorbell rings…
Continue reading Old Habits Die Hard
Category Archives: Rant
Holiday-afied
I almost had an Episode this past Friday: I noticed that the local Ben Franklin had put up all of their Holiday decorations out. It wasn’t that it was because were in the beginning of November, mind; I had forgotten that Halloween had passed and we were in November. Yes, I’m that conditioned that I accept Halloween as the “official start” of the retail holiday season.
The good news is that Starbucks, which was lingering in an Autumn theme the last couple of weeks, transformed into its holiday mode this morning: everything was red and shiny and the Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, and Peppermint Latte are back on the menu board… as is a Chai Eggnog Latte, which just sounds wrong on very many levels…
Let the glugging begin!
Justice Served, No Ice
Reuters: Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft drink maker, said on Friday it would phase out its Vanilla Coke, Vanilla Diet Coke and Diet Coke With Lemon beverages in the United States by end of this year.
I almost never drank the Vanilla Diet Coke for two reasons: we don’t have it at work and, when I’m not at work, it always seems hard to find. Consequently, I won’t miss it, in spite of liking it. The rest of the article goes on to pack in some information about why they’re making this shift; it also says that Coke plans to introduce a regular and diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, so the retirement of the simple vanilla flavor isn’t so bad. They also elude to the fact that they might bring back the vanillas at some point; they do not make mention of the Lemon version, however… gee, I wonder why?
You made a soft drink that tasted like it was spiked with Pledge and you wonder why it didn’t sell?!
It Was a Good Idea At The Time…
Ugh. I just recently noticed that it’s been over two years since I finished self publishing my book.
Ouch: in another seven years, I should recover what I spent on the publishing process.
Ick.
Reality Check
Sploid: ‘Up yours, Bush!’
High schools under lockdown as kids ditch for nationwide anti-Bush protests. […] School walkouts and other protests were expected in more than 70 cities and at 40 universities throughout the country, according to the New York-based group calling itself The World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime. The protest organizers report big turnouts in many big cities, including Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C.
No shit!
Continue reading Reality Check
Ugh. Which Is Worse?
Businessman lady #1: See, she always finds a way to make things about her!
Businessman lady #2: Um, she just found out she has cancer
Businessman lady #1: So? I am getting married, it should be all about me, focus all on me. Now we have to make it about her! Ugh.
Businessman lady #2: You’re not getting married till next year.
Businessman lady #1: I know that, but I am getting married. Anyway, cancer is like the flu, almost everyone is going to get it. She is not going to die from it.
Businessman lady #2: I can’t believe you. You are so crass sometimes. Ugh.
Businessman lady #1: Oh, shit! What if she really does die? Then it will really be all about her. Crap.
I dunno which is worse… that there are people like that out there in the world or that I think I might know her?
Saying Goodbye to a Furry Friend… Again
Never an easy thing, this saying goodbye crap… especially when you have to do it twice in the same year. And again, even when it isn’t your pet, it’s still hard to do. It’d like to post a tribute to Meika, my parent’s dog of over nine years. A waste of oxygen, yes, but a loving and faithful pet at all times. Yet another effective cling-on: she was tied so tight to my Mum that I once called her a Human Enema. And now, after a slight bout of sickness, the vets surprised us all with the information that her hips were just about shot and there was a mass on her lungs so large that Meika’s entire midsection was a solid swatch of white on her last X-ray. There was nothing anyone could do… again, it was time, and so she left us yesterday…
I swear to God is my fish is dead in the office on Monday, I’m never getting another pet again.
Speaking of pets, does anyone know how my rabbit is doing with his new owner?
The Price of RSS
When RSS first hit the ‘net, it didn’t mean much to me; it wouldn’t until the sites I checked a few times a day started to support it. Now a days, I’ve gotten to the point where I expect a site to have an RSS feed available. Not so much for product sites, i.e. BMW or the like, but if it’s a “dynamic” site like a blog or a news site or even a forums site, I expect there to be support for it.
Yeah, there’s a point coming…
Continue reading The Price of RSS
What Did You Do With Your Sunday?
I spent a good part of the day getting my ass handed to me at the PokerStars.com Inaugural Poker Tournament. Seeing as I won a couple of hands early in the tournament, I thought I’d snap the screenshot now while I still had more chips than I started with; everyone started with 2000. My current position is 615 out of 1229; 1473 started.
Oops, probably slipped some more, while typing this – I’ve gotta get back to it.
—
Finished 1068th – I’d rather early than on the bubble!
Wah, Wah, and, oh, Wah
Buzzscope: If you want to buy video games, buy them anywhere but Electronics Boutique. Just so you all know, The Mad Gamer was at one point in time an employee of EB. I’ve seen it all, done it all, and now I will repent for my past sins by dishing out all the dirt you never knew about EB. In the end you’ll be glad that you’ve read what I have to say.
I read what he had to say… I’m still shopping at ebGames, even before it games taken over by GameSpot.
Continue reading Wah, Wah, and, oh, Wah
Furious!
This might just be the first real Rant, after having moved to the west coast. Actually, it’s more than a Rant. It’s a full-blown Episode. I know because I have this annoying buzzing in the back of my head that is typically caused repeatedly hitting my head into an impenetrable wall of illogic.
The culprit? Chaplin Volkswagen. The cause? Piss poor and unreasonable customer service.
You know it’s going to be a bad one if I out the villain by name.
Continue reading Furious!
Legal Oddity
In a lot of ways, Washingtonians and Oregonians think they are very much alike. Similar lifestyles, tastes in politics, etc. After all the combination of Washington and Oregon make up the Pacific Northwest, as an official US region. I’ve been to Eugene, OR, and I can honestly say that it reminded me of WA; I hear that Portland is very much like how Seattle was in the pre-80’s boom, meaning that it’s a bit more laid back.
However, if news reports are to believed, the two states are obviously nothing like each other.
The city of Seattle has had a ban on “new” strip clubs for over 17 years, but they’ve recently decided to lift that ban. For revenge, conservatives have passed a law stating that all dancers can’t touch any customers during dances, be it on stage or as a lap dance. Yes: lap dancers must stay four feet away from their customers, at all times. Meanwhile, I’ve heard that Oregon has just passed a law that makes live sex acts legal. As instead of a strip club, there’s a sex club where people watch other people having sex, instead of only a naked exotic dancer on a stage.
I think the Pacific Northwest has gone bipolar.
Aw, Crap
Fuckin’ California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Tossers. Blah. Annoyed.
At least Boston still sucks worse.
When a News Story Has No Story
KOMO News via FurryGoat: Last week a woman got kicked off an airplane for wearing a T-shirt. Not just any T-shirt mind you. This one had pictures of the president, the vice president and the secretary of state on it, along with a word that rhymes with “truckers.” Now she’s thinking of suing the airline for violating her civil rights.
Was probably a funny T-shirt, but I have to admit that this woman is an idiot if she thinks she has a reason to sue anyone, except for maybe herself.
Continue reading When a News Story Has No Story
Brain Fried
Totally fried after last night’s game. First time I’ve had to pace in front of a baseball game in at least, um, well, a year. I don’t do well with October baseball. Can’t watch it in bars… don’t watch it with other people. Gotta pace. Gotta yell at batters than chase the sinking curve ball that they know is coming. It’s how I deal with Yankees-induced, baseball-related stress and not everyone seems to understand it.
And this also leads to why I don’t think some teams deserve to be at the World Series – it starts with the fans.
Continue reading Brain Fried