Thought Sausage

No fun filled Friday nights for me. Looks like I have a 3 hour window there with no rain Saturday Morning (weather.com can be trusted) to get a good cycle in.

Gary Busey is awesome

Racked up some miles on the tri bike the past few days. As I said last week, i had to get my ass up super early on saturday morning cos of the weather. It was just as fun as it sounded...

But that said I had a good ride, that bike is FAST. Like really fast. It's cool moving that quick. Sunday I got the new mountain bike out down in Palos and got it good and dirty. Now it looks like a real mountain bike. I don't know how the fuck I got on without disc brakes. It's 90% better. This frame is a lot heavier than the Gary Fisher which takes some getting used to. this does make it feel, i dunno, sturdier? Like going over logs and jumps seems a lot more solid, which is cool. But it takes more out of me to move it up hills I think. Not that that's a huge deal since Palos has relatively minor climbs. But at Sunderbruch in Iowa, that may be problematic (I plan on riding that in two weeks).

Weekend otherwise was good. Beer on the Pier was Saturday. It wasn't quite as enormous as last year...nevertheless, beer was consumed...heavily. Then Drive By Truckers proceeded to rock the fuck out of Brian and I...Horowitz is officially "a convert". We then went to bernies, and Amy dropped her drink (shattering the glass) on me and the bouncer kicked me out for it. Cos you know that's how they roll up in Wrigleyville...was one of those powertrip bouncers too...and thankfully horowitz had a clearer head on the matter than me cos outside, the two of us nearly came to blows (where was the other bouncer)? and I jammed his thumb pretty hard while he did this stupid like "grab me by the arm and proceed to attempt to move all my bodyweight with it" manuever. Retarded shit like that happens, but s'way it goes when 90% of your clientele is drunken ex-fratboys with popped collars I guess.

Tonight after work I went to the lakepath and put in a solid 28 miles. Well...actually solid is a dubious term. More like about 18 with 10 miles of it being the shitstorm douchebag clusterfuck that is the lakefront of lincoln park. Seriously...let me say this about rollerblades: fuck 'em. If you are thinking of getting some and "taking it up" don't (and if you already have, my condolences). There is nothing cool about these stupid things. No you stupid figure-skater wannabe you aren't 'gonna keep up with me'. No you stupid fat bitch, your ass waddling about in those things is not 'bringin all the boys to the yard'. I almost took one in the wheel because rollerbladers consume around 4 feet of the path as they mosey along. If you're a dude, it is completely impossible to not look gay while using them and if you're a woman, it seems impossible to not act all awkward in them. Even the 'good bladers' just look fruity. There I said it...fuck rollerblades and their path consuming ways.

Around Fullerton, one of the aforementioned douchebags cut this chick off causing her to wipe out and apparently break her wrist. This led to me taking a 10 minute break or so waiting around with her (along with a crowd of ten or so) while the ambulance came along. She'll probably be alright, but she was pretty rattled. Said douchebag didn't stop or anything, cos well, why the hell would he? I swear that is the LAST time I'm not chasing one of you fuckers down when that shit happens. So let this serve as notice to douchebags who ride out of control in congested areas on the lakepath...you plow over/injure another biker and I see it...I'm catchin your ass, and you're gonna answer for that shit. I'm sick of seeing this happen 4-5 times every summer and you assholes just ride off. I'm serious. I will follow you, get a description, call the police and you can go ahead and be charged with the hit and run charges that go along with it. And yes I ride with pepper spray and a blade so god help you if you think you're gonna be a tough guy about it (I've never kicked anybody with my new cleats, so it'll be interesting to see what they do to a set of ribs). It's bad enough you think you're speed racer on those girly little trailbikes your ride, we can do without the reckless abandon for the safety of everybody else.

Argh...

That said....

Am listening to the new NIN album. Trent seems to have gotten quite prolific now that there's no label behind him. Interesting. Love how its' free though, that is really cool. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. No press, no publicity, no nothing. Just pure word of mouth. I haven't digested enough of it to give a full review...but I'll let it go all tomorrow morning and we shouuld have something of an opinion by then. Insofar...I'm a little nervous about the noise to signal ratio that goes along with a dude who releases his shit this fast.

Pehdtskjmba!!!

Aight...I've had some time to give this album a few spins. It's actually kind of hard to judge an album like this because of how it was released. Like I said yesterday I was somewhat suspicious that all this free-of-labels thing would turn artists like Trent into music producing machines wherein things that probably wouldn't have been released will now be released. A lot. At some point or another, a label does serve the purpose of releasing things they think will sell. This can be at odds with an artists creative vision (witness the problematic release of Bowie's Low) but ultimately, to quote somebody I don't recall "I can't define art, but I know it when I see it".

Thus brings us to The Slip. Trent's 'gift' to fans for supporting him through the years. There's no doubt this is a very interesting idea. Sort of like the time Prince more or less gave away his album in the London times (of course, said paper paid him quite a bit of money for the privilege to do so). The simple fact of the matter is that this is by no means a mainstream pop album. No hit singles here. It sounds almost impossible to convincingly reproduce live, and some of the riffs sound like rehashing from the previous two non-Ghost albums (1,000,000 and Only from With Teeth?). That said, there are some really good things here. Lights in the Sky is a very gothier than thou vibe that is straight outta something from Trent's 90's stuff. The guitar/bass riff in Four of Us are Dying is classic Trent.

But what's up with all the glitchy lap-topish sounding percussion? Where did all that noisy metal on metal from The Downward Spiral and The Fragile go? Did somebody trick Trent into thinking those were bad things? I've been bitching about this since Year Zero. All the percussion (save for that big noisy snare he uses here) sounds really dry and it sucks the depth out of it. You can tell it's a stylistic decision but I'm not hip to it. Not yet at least.

So that said...my take (as of right now, I did an about face with Year Zero too if I recall so take it for what its worth) is that left unencumbered, Trent's noise to signal ratio gets a little dilluted. There's nothing remotely close to the weight or songwriting quality of The Day the Whole World Went Away, Wish, Hurt or Head Like A Hole here (although to be fair, I don't think that was the intention). Nope, what we have here are a bunch of fragmented tunes that, while there are interesting moments, won't be anything he'll hang his hat on. They are intricate no doubt. I can hear a lot of things going on...but with this sort of music, Trent was the forerunner in showing how less can be more. The point is, just because something is a programming extravaganza with crazy vocal edits and jagged guitar lines doesn't mean the song is good. Sometimes it works here, like on Demon Seed, but for the most part, it sounds like the self indulgent trip it most likely was/is.

I really wish Trent would swing for the fences in stripping things down and writing some really deep anthemic songs that all of us Gen X'ers remember him for doing. While I think its great he's making a strong case for succeeding business-wise on his own, a HUGE fuck-you to the industry comes when his output can speak to generations without a label propping it up.

So, I guess it's certainly worth checking out. If you're an old school industrial fan, there's plenty of glitchy noise and 'oh woe is me' lyrics here.

In other news, I procured the following items today:

and

The latter is a light that mounts inside a tent via magnets. Basically, the pannier bike is complete. A lot of this is the direct result of me getting out of that 1600 dollar chunk of fines that the Illinois Tollbooths tried to levy against me since my iPass apparently wasn't working/deducting properly (after waiting 45 minutes on hold, I found this was because they never officially changed the plates assigned to it from my temp ones when I bought the car). The net result of which is that whole clusterfuck ended up really only costing about a hundred bucks. This is a good thing because it looks like the weekend of the 22nd will be the maiden voyage in this project. I'm told I have a posse although I would not be suprised in the slightest if this ends up being me myself and I. No matter. I'll pick up all other pertinent supplies (sleeping bag, mattress, potential cooking supplies) at my parents house next weekend (I'm going to get some serious rides in next weekend fyi). In other words...everything is falling into place.

Ministry in 2 days....whoohoo!

No shit? Wow. The weather isn't exactly doing what I need it to. How the hell is it yesterday was like 30's? This doesn't bother me a bit when running, but moving along at 25mph engenders all sorts of unpleasant coldness. Ergo my cycle yesterday more or less sucked. I couldn't get the legs going. You'll have that I suppose.

Sorry it's been awhile since I've coined a blog on here. Between parties/visitors and general life, a lot has happened. First off, Ministry absolutely delivered the goods. Almost too good. At least past when the Metra heads out. So Jay had to cut out in the middle of Under My Thumb (yes the Stones cover, and yes Ministry just owns the fuck out of it). It really is too bad this is the end of the line for them. This lineup and the new batch of songs are so great live. Even Tommy Victor is good (and certain allegiances I've made require me to think of him as a giant asshole for reasons I'm not entirely aware of). Hemlock and Messugah were yawners. But Al 'n co more or less ruled the school and showed all the kids how it's done. Great time but sad to see it go.

Friday Sam was in town, and that, coupled with me still getting up around 6 on Friday left me with a completely empty tank circa 3 am or so. I'm told I "took a nap in the bushes" somewhere by Uptown lounge. This is most likely accurate cos I had mud on my pants the following day. Somehow I didn't end up in jail or mugged.

Work shit and then met up with swim peeps later on. That turned out to be fun/interesting/quizzical (is that a word? if so, does it apply here?). Suffice to say, more on that later perhaps.

Pretty boring Sunday until Roly decided some of us should take in Ironman later that night. I sorta had fair to middling expectations for this. After all, it's pretty hard to make a "seriously awesome" movie about an ultra fruity looking robot dude played by Robert Downey Jr. Turned out I was wrong. This movie actually is pretty cool (the costume even turns out to be alright, even if somewhat cheesy. Robert Downey Jr. is fucking awesome here. Ironically, the weak link in the movie seemed like Jeff Bridges. That seemed more a matter of bad casting really. He just wasn't right for the role. You can't play the Dude and then expect people to take you seriously as a bad bad guy. Not to mention it took a solid 20 minutes of him on screen until I figured out who the fuck he was. So take that for what it is worth. Was pretty decent. It's no new Indiana Jones or Dark Knight, but I pity the fool who saw that movie thinking it would be.

Meeting up with SEO peeps around the city tomorrow night in lieu of swimming. This is a meeting I was SUPPOSED to be attending once a month, but those people always saw fit to have it at 1pm on Sundays, and well, I'm beholden to nobody on that particular day at that time. So this time change is good (even if it does require me to skip practice).

Hillary took West Virginia. Not that that makes an iota of difference. Nevertheless, she's "vowed to stay in the fight". Yep..this is progress people.

Compilation of Reporters Getting Owned - Watch more free videos

Nothing brings a smile to my face like a bunch of reporters geting pwned.

Thanks Matt

And she grew some. I've probably ridden well over a few thousand miles on this bike since i got it. Now that I have a triathlon bike specifically for my hard rides, this one has been deemed for pannier services. So this is what she looks like now. I apologize for the small-ish pics...my camera phone seems to disagree with the proportions I set forth.

Meet my yacht. This year she's sporting the same headlight, with a helluva lotta trunk space. That bag hanging from the aero bars in the front is the tent I was talking about. I haven't actually tried setting it up yet. That should be on the agenda sometime next week. It worked out mounting it there pretty well.

Plenty 'o trunk space as you can see. And why have one tail light when you can have two? The side bags have waterproof tarp thingies that can go over 'em. they look pretty resiliant but that's nice. The center bag is pretty sweet...plenty of pockets and dare I say it but the center console appears to be made for beer cans. Obviously this was designed by an actual cyclist.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but herein is the cockpit. I lost the pads for my elbow rests via leaving them on when driving 80mph with the bike on the back. The replacement ones should be in at Performance any day now (tm). You can't really see it here, but there are speakers off to the left of the ipod. Those are the highs. Sometime between now and Ragbrai, I'll be building a trailer for the subs. Of course I have subs. We're not pussies.

As lame as this sounds, I'm thinking of putting a kickstand on this bitch because I wanna figure out how to transport a camping chair as well. I need a solid ride for the Taste of Chicago among other festivities this bike will no doubt be taking me to.

Sent to
happypartychicago@bowlluckystrike.com,
chicagoparties@bowlluckystrike.com

For non-Chicago readers, The Lucky Strike is a bowling alley fashioned after the one in Big Lebowski that Howoritz and Genender adore. It's also right next to the AMC River East movie theater so sometimes we stop in there before movies.

Dear Sir/Madam

I wasn't sure who this particular issue would pertain to so I took a stab at both emails. I apologize to whichever this doesn't apply.

You see I frequent the Lucky Strike around once a month. I'm not really a bowler, but my friends are, and they really like your 'Hamburger fries' (which are pretty good I must admit). I generally hang out, drink beer, play pool and so forth when I'm there. My issue isn't really with the bar, alley, pool or any non-hamburger fry food on your menu. This issue happens before I set foot in the place.

Simply put, your door guys are extremely unpleasant. I'm not entirely sure why this is. They appear to be easy going fellows, and that's cute how you put 'em in those suits and all. Nevertheless, in all my years of going to Lucky Strike, I am constantly amazed at how surly and generally rude they are. It's practically an ongoing joke amongst my friends. Look, I know the ID policy is a necessary evil. I don't imagine an establishment enjoys invading people's privacy/personal-space any more than we (your patrons and thus breadline) it. However, your door staff has turned this into nothing short of being admitted into a gualag (gualags not being known for their "fun and social atmosphere"). I wonder if there is something being misinterpreted in the "Lucky Strike Door Attendant Handbook" because this is pretty consistent. Almost invariably, before I can even approach the door, one of them yells out "ID'S GENTLEMEN!!" and attempts to stare a hole through you as you reach in your pocket. Then they look over it (most of my friends have Illinois ID's, save for a few Iowa and british passports) for preposterously long periods of time. Then they eye up at you, look back down at the ID (cue scowl or some angry look), then hand it back to you like its a losing lottery ticket. Perhaps you should make sure the door guys are aware of the fact that patrons in your establishment are a 'good thing'. Acting all bummed out because I'm 29 (and an organ donor, 175 pounds and whatever else he was looking at on my ID) and am about to spend money which will pay his wages is the incorrect reaction. I've made the mistake of wearing a hat there Sunday. A simple "I just need ya to take the hat off" would have been fine. Instead, the unnamed artisan at the door says "CAN'T COME IN WITH THAT HAT" (I capitalize everything to illustrate that he was in fact yelling at me because he needed me to know this 20 feet from the entrance). It also bears mentioning that this was a 2008 Beijing Olympics hat, which isn't exactly offensive (unless you're afraid other people will resent me because bowling still isn't an olympic sport). Well he was correct. I didn't 'come in there with that hat' and instead we waited at Jake Melnicks for the movie to start.

Having been to many establishments and other bowling alleys in Chicago, I know that it is entirely feasible to check ID's and enforce a dress code without making your customers feel like criminals. Here are some suggestions that I've seen other establishments and door guys use that you may find helpful:

-Instead of saying "ID'S GENTLEMEN" or "NEED YOUR ID", it would be nice if they could at least acknowledge me as a person and say "Hello sir (or ma'am as gender dictates), welcome to Lucky Strike, I just need to see an ID real quick". Bonus points if they bother to read my name on the ID and say "Thanks Dave" afterwards (note-that is very effective in elevating my propensity to tip)

-Glance at the ID and hand back. This process should not take more than 5 seconds (go ahead and time 5 seconds and see...no really I'll wait). It may be helpful to post which date one has to be born on or before somewhere on that door guy podium you have so they can reference it quickly. Also, when it is plainly obvious the patron is older than 21, scrutinizing the picture is somewhat ridiculous and quasi-insulting. With all due respect, we (the patrons) don't believe for a second we're dealing with some FBI Composite Identity Expert who happens to moonlight as a door guy at the Lucky Strike. Really now.

-Smile! Isn't it weird how easy this is, yet people don't do it? I can assure you, a simple smile or something that cues said door guy isn't there against his will is powerful stuff. Nothing major, they don't even have to say anything. But meeting a guy who at least appears cheerful verses a guy who looks like he's about to send you to a gas chamber would create a much more positive experience even before I set foot in the Lucky Strike.

-Dress codes are one of those things I guess. From your website, I would imply you're having trouble with gangs or something. Fair enough. Lots of places in the area are the same way. Rather than flat out telling me I "can't come in with that hat", a simple request to take it off is much easier. Perhaps "Hey, could I get ya to take the hat off?" or "Sir, we have a policy against hats, could I ask you to take yours off while your in here?". Bonus points for adding on an "I'd appreciate it" or a "Thanks sir/man".

These things are all free to implement and I would be happy to provide you with examples of places you can visit in Chicago where these tactics are employed.

Thank you

Dave McAnally

PS- Great job on the grilled buffalo chicken sandwich. It's nice to see people grilling those more than frying them.

Not too long ago, my main ipod corrupted itself thus forcing me to reload everything. Upon doing this I never made any playlists, so more or less when at work I either put a specific artist on or have to let the thing shuffle through shit (It also erased all the obscure album covers I painstakingly found one night-don't ask I was bored).

Anyway, now that I have a feel for the kind of music I like to listen to at work (which can best be described as non-engaging), I created the following mult-personality playlist (which will no doubt be heavily edited/modified/appended in short order):

1. Allgoodgirls - Die Warzau
2. Another Man's Vine - Tom Waits
3. Any Old Wind that Blows -Johnny Cash
4. The Assassin - Patterson Hood
5. New York City - Saint Jermaine
6. BYOB - System of a Down
7. Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
8. Belinda Carlisle Diet - Patterson Hood
9. Beside You In Time - Nine Inch Nails
10. Big Sur Moon - Buckethead
11. Bodyrock - Moby
12. Bottom of the World -Tom waits
13. Boys from the County Hell -The Pogues
14. Brand New Kind of Actress - Jason Isbell
15. Brothers in Arms -Metallica (Acoustic Show)
16. Cat Power -Patterson Hood
17. Chicago Promenade -Jason Isbell
18. Circle - Slipknot
19. Collapse the Light Into Earth - Porcupine Tree
20. Communicate -Plastico
21. Connected - Stereo MC's
22. Cowgirl -Underworld
23. Danger/Keep Away -Slipknot
24. Danko/Manuel -Drive-By Truckers
25. Danko/Manual (live) -Jason Isbell
26. Decoration Day -Drive-By Truckers
27. The Devil is My Running Mate - Jason Isbell
28. Dirty Old Town -The Pogues
29. Don't Panic -Coldplay
30. Down in a Hole -Jason Isbell
31. Down on the Street -The Stooges
32. Dress Blues -Jason Isbell
33. End -Sister Machine Gun
34. End of Days (Part 2) -Ministry
35. Everloving -Moby
36. The Fall -Ministry
37. Fire -Patterson Hood
38. Frances Farmer -Patterson Hood
39. Glare -Die Warzau
40. The Good Soldier -Nine Inch Nails
41. Got to Be -Sister Machine Gun
42. The Great Destroyer (Acoustic Remix) -Nine Inch Nails
43. Grown -Jason Isbell
44. Heartattack in a Lay By -Porcupine Tree
45. Hell No I Ain't Happy -Drive-By Truckers
46. Hobo - Patterson Hood
47. Home Field Advantage -Drive-By Truckers
48. Hurricanes and Hand Grenades -Jason Isbell
49. I, Croupier -Amish Rake Fight
50. In a Razor Town -Jason Isbell
51. In the Waiting Line -Zero 7
52. Kiss the Dirt -INXS
53. Crocketts Theme -Jan Hammer
54. Just Another Day -Oingo Boingo
55. Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corporation
56. Life is Beautiful -Sixx A.M.
57. Love Reign O'er Me -The Who
58. The Magician -Jason Isbell
59. Miss Me Gone -Patterson Hood
60. My Sweet Annette -Drive-By Truckers
61. Neighborhood Threat -Iggy Pop
62. Old Timers Disease -Patterson Hood
63. Original Bedroom Rockers -Kruder & Dorfmeister
64. Panic In Detroit (live 1979) -David Bowie
65. Parabol -Tool
66. Pay No Attention to Alice -Patterson Hood
67. Phil's Transplant -Patterson Hood
68. Please Don't Judas Me -Metallica (live acoustic)
69. Plowed -Sponge
70. Puttin' On the Dog -Tom Waits
71. Raining Blood -Slayer
72. Rains on Me -Tom Waits
73. Right Where It Belongs -Nine Inch Nails
74. Rising Son -Patterson Hood
75. Shotgun Wedding -Jason Isbell
76. Some weird Sin -Iggy Pop
77. (sombody's Got To) Give Pretty Soon -Drive-By Truckers
78. The Sound of Muzak -Porcupine Tree
79. Sour Girl -Stone Temple Pilots
80. Starting in the Belly of a Whale -Tom Waits
81. Sunday -David Bowie
82. Sunday (Moby remix)
83. Sunday Drive -Amish Rake Fight
84. Sunday Mornin Comin Down -Johnny cash
85. T.V. Eye -The stooges
86. Lifes What You Make It -Talk Talk
87. Ten Minute God -Sister Machine Gun
88. That Man I Shot -Drive-By Truckers
89. Through Glass -Stone Sour
90. Time: The Beginning -Megadeth
91. Tomorrow -Sixx A.M.
92. Kaleidoscope -NIL8
93. Just Because -Jane's Addiction
94. Hold On -Tom Waits
95. Extreme Ways -Moby
96. Wake Up Dead Man -U2
97. Trains -Porcupine Tree
98. Try -Jason Isbell
99. Uncle Disney
100. Vermilion Pt 2 -Slipknot
101. A Warm Place -Nine Inch Nails
102. Where the Devil Don't Stay -Drive By Truckers
103. Whisper -Jason Isbell
104. Worm -Ministry
105. Zero Sum

As you may note, I am REALLY into Jason Isbell and Patterson Hood's solo albums at work as of lately.

It will be after you watch Bea Arthur and Roc Hudson sing a show tune about every drug known to man.

Goddamn long weekends. Since we're agency folks at RM, I haven't been in the office since Thursday. I've spent the free time cycling and partying (mostly blended together). Good things came of it I suppose. The weather cooperated this weekend too, which is good.

Thursday night I took in Stone Temple Pilots over at Northerly Island (courtesy of Dave Weiland). I've never been to Northerly Island...cool outdoor venue. Sound was pretty balanced. Had that kick-ridiculously-louder-than-the-rest-of-the-kit sound you get in ampitheaters. They had some guitar troubles early on which Scott Weiland covered by throwing out generic cliche phrases at us. But when they DID get it together, the guitars sounded awesome. One of the finer live tones throughout the whole set I've ever heard. Other than that, the show was basically a romp through 90's radio hits. Travis disagrees with me on this, but ultimately, I think Weiland's voice was pretty solid.

Friday we went out for a 60 miler and I took the orange beast out. 3 fucking flats later (three!) it was an alright ride. Morton Grove has to be the lamest boring-est town in the state. That was the first and last time I attempt to find a beer garden there. Not planning on that many flats, I was out of tubes (d'oh). I haven't looked to see if my rim is bent out of shape yet, but I had to ride a few miles on the rim. FUCK squared. Matters weren't helped when we happened by a bike shop that actually had employees in it, but was closed. I knocked on the door (figuring this was an emergency a bike shop interested in supporting the community would rally behind). The bitch working there actually opened the door and said "No I can't sell you a tube"...even after I offered 20 bucks (which is ridiculous) as I was a bit of a jam. Still "No sorry" (slam door). I'll go ahead and write a bitch out email to 'em and post here. But suffice to say, Turin in Evanston can go ahead and choke on my left nut.

Went to Travis's party that night and debuted my super cool new card trick. His new Edgewater-ish pad is the shiznit. Lots of space. Much to his dismay, I'm sure I'll hub out of it this summer when I'm way the hell up north (as he here in Drew and my West Loop outpost). All I know is that I didn't make it home that night...woke up on his couch the next morning. Spent the day not really doing much of anything until later on. I procured a bike trailer...one of those things you tow your kids in. Rather than tow kids, we're having speakers shipped in and this is gonna be a massive sound machine. Some loose ends to sort out in the actual implementation but that's what the irish guys are for.

Diran 'n work peeps had a party saturday night and so I took that in, then I met up with irish guys and slaughtered the rest of the night. Weeeeeeeee

Took Monica mountain biking on saturday and brought her to within an inch of her life it seemed. Good day for it though. Cambr is getting pissy about people riding when the trails are wet. But fuck 'em. I'm definitely more aware of how my cycling habits can ruin things for other riders, and I'm probably going to treat the trails with more care than I did last year. But if I only went out when the trails were totally dry, I'd get a grand total of maybe 3 days of mountain biking in per year. That may work for some folks but not me.

BBQ/memorial day shite at friends house Sunday night that spilled into Monday morning. On the cab ride home I left my fucking phone. However, in what has to be the luckiest phenomenon ever, a lady who was in the cab after me held onto it and I got it back. WOW fucking squared (I was literally about to head to the store and buy an iphone too).

Saw Indiana Jones tonight too. Was actually alright. Harrison Ford definitely shows his age, but has all the energy of the old indiana jones movies. Worth the price of admission? Totally...especially if you are like me and saw the originals in the theater.

My main computer's motherboard seems to have gasped its last breath, so I gotta get that in to be replaced (and/or make James fix it). I'm debating whether or not to fix it or just get a new one. Maybe I'll finally make the switch to macs now (NO!!!!!!!!!!!)

I spend too much fucking money

It's no secret Chris Randall is one of my favorite bloggers and has been ever since there was a concept of blogging.

A comment on the Analog Industries blog posted today was worthy of reposting:

Viz. the terrorists, it's all over the second they get a strip mall in Pakistan with a Borders (with parasitic Starbucks), Bed Bath And Beyond, Chuck-E-Cheese, Old Navy, and TGI-fuckin'-Friday's. Once they have to fight off the extended warranty at Best Buy then get their bag checked on the way out, they'll understand that they can't do anything to us that we're not entirely willing to do to ourselves, and go bother someone else for a while.

-CR

True Chris....very true.