June 10, 2002 (2:04 p.m. CDT)
Just when you thought it was safe to resume your daily life, the FBI captures an American citizen planning to shower Washington D.C. with fallout. Lovely. Does this mean that the FBI has to monitor all Muslim organizations in our penal system? Maybe it does, but I'm sure that people are already demanding it on the 24-hour news channels.

Tonight, I get to see my first partial solar eclipse. Judging from the information on this diagram, there should be a 60 per cent eclipse just before sunset when viewed from Dallas-Fort Worth.

Finally, according to EW, I'm not old. Well, I may be extrapolating too much from this, but I'm rather familiar with 7 of EW's Eight Bands to Watch this summer. Granted, it's not exactly an avant garde list -- only Phantom Planet doesn't get played to death on Dallas' 102.1 The Edge. Until now, I didn't know Sum 41 was Canadian. It would explain how I heard "Fat Lip" in Canada several months before the band broke in the U.S., though.

June 10, 2002 (2:37 a.m. CDT)
In lieu of a real post, I will provide you with a short list of things my dog Cassie is afraid of (in order of severity):

• The vacuum cleaner
• Our apartment complex's sprinkler system
• Her own farts
• The dishwasher

June 9, 2002 (7:26 p.m. CDT)
From the intriguing news department (via FARK), we have a report that Italy is planning on building a bridge to Sicily (updated link). If a bridge can be built across the Straits of Messina, then how long will it be before Newfoundland is linked to mainland Canada? Hell, they did it for the spudpickers from ol' Prince Edward Island. I still love you, Stompin' Tom.

In tabloid news, the Weekly World News reports that a baby was born with antlers. The Globe is reporting that Chelsea Clinton is pregnant. Maybe her love child is a direct result of her drunken night in London (old link removed) a few weeks ago.

June 9, 2002 (5:43 p.m. CDT)
Well, I wasn't far off with my predictions, eh? Lennox Lewis knocked Mike Tyson out in the 8th round. I predicted the 6th. In fact, the match could easily have ended any round after the 4th; it was a matter of when Lewis could land the decisive blow. Good one on you, Lennox. As for Tyson, his post-match demeanor did impress me. Say what you want about him, at least he had the wisdom to admit when he was beat.

Happy birthday to Natalie Portman, who turns 21 today. While Natalie doesn't seem to have an "official" Web site, the closest thing to it seems to be Portmania (old link removed). It's as comprehensive as you can get, without crossing into the realm of being REALLY creepy.

I took my first listen to Radiohead's OK Computer on the way to work today. I feel that I'm going to need another listen or two to get the full depth of the record, as Radiohead is a challenging band (in a good way). I also got my hands on a copy of Kid A -- thanks, Fort Worth Public Library.

It looks like England doesn't have the market cornered on soccer hooligans anymore. The only thing is that England exports their hooligans, but Russia seems content with keeping their in the domestic market. Then again, I'd be upset if my national soccer team lost to Japan.

June 8, 2002 (5:49 p.m. CDT)
AT&T is placating us with free pizza. Granted, it *is* Pizza Hut, but it's free Pizza Hut. Fungushead and I went to Cici's Pizza a few days ago. While it wasn't free, it was the next best thing: a buffet. A cheap buffet. With half decent greasewheels. And sentence fragments. She wanted to eat at Cici's today, but the prospect of free pizza (along with time constraints) forced me to veto that idea.

June 8, 2002 (3:38 a.m. CDT)
I've never understood just how good Led Zeppelin was until tonight. Most know that Led Zeppelin IV is one of the best albums ever recorded. I just clued in. I feel so pedestrian...

As usual, I've been whoring my MP3s out on LimeWire. Having endured dial-up before (which is akin to tonguing electrified barbed wire), I should be more patient with people who have bad connections. However, if you can't consistently get at least 1.0 kbps downloading from me, then I will turf your ass. This brings me to another point... LimeWire has a few flaws I'd like to address: no text file logging of which files are downloaded (which is one of my favorite features of Audiogalaxy Satellite), highlighted items in your upload queue are immediately deselected when another file is added to the queue and the artist/title search is flawed. Hey, I can't complain too much. It's not like I paid for the stupid program.

June 7, 2002 (9:45 p.m. CDT)
My prediction for Lewis vs. Tyson (not Tyson vs. Lewis, shitheads): Lewis by TKO in the 6th. I've won money betting against Tyson before, and I think I would again.

I posted a new Favorites rant. Not much in the way of revealing material, but a juicy tidbit or two may be uncovered.

June 7, 2002 (2:04 p.m. CDT)
Good one on Adam Beach. He has a potentially career-making opportunity as the second male lead in John Woo's Windtalkers, opposite Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater. If, as I sincerely believe that his natural charisma will draw Hollywood to him -- both producers with roles in hand and legions of swooning females. If the message boards on the Windtalkers site are any indication, Beach is due for a big breakout. The boards also point to a swelling pride in Native Americans (and Canadians, like Beach) about this movie, and perhaps an end to some of the resentment toward Hollywood for the exclusion of aboriginals in the movie-making process. Not bad for a guy I used to play cards with in my high school cafeteria, eh?

Guess who's getting laid tonight? (Well, this afternoon considering the time zone difference.) David Beckham is! Beckham won the adulation of Englishmen when scored the game-winning goal in the England-Argentina World Cup match. I'm certainly not an England fan (go Tartan Army!), but I hate Argentina even more than England.

Gershlag.

June 7, 2002 (2:19 a.m. CDT)
I found this article very interesting. The Orlando Predators, an Arena Football League team, have a very special placekicker in Nick Gatto. Be sure to read the whole article, and don't skip to the bottom to look at the boobies. In the FARK.com discussion forums, I posted this: "I played rugby with a man who had two deformed arms (presumably because his mother took Thalidomide). Both of his arms were slightly longer than Gatto's stump, and he did have some fingers -- two and a thumb -- on each hand. This guy was one of our best tacklers, had 'good hands' and (also like Gatto) was one of the most consistently funny guys on our club."

I'm growing very fond of our new car. It has highway oomph, which makes me very happy. It still has that 'new car smell,' which also makes me happy. (It certainly beats 'burning motor oil smell,' to which I was starting to get accustomed.) Tomorrow is an off-day from school, but I still need to go to campus. I have to work on a Chem lab and arrange for a tow truck to cart away Orville. In a Douglas Adamsian (is that a word?) twist, Orville's current retail value is only $42. The tires are worth more than that, but new tires don't do a fuck of a lot of good on a car that doesn't start.

June 5, 2002 (1:37 a.m. CDT)
You'd think that I'd be able to make it through a day without spending $18,000. I guess not, because Caramelhead and I bought a car. It's not like we had much of a choice, as Orville picked today to cross into the great junkyard in the sky. I suppose we could have fixed him, but at great expense and only after a stay in some garage somewhere. Oh well, we now have a 2002 Chevy Malibu sitting in our parking spot, so it's all good.

Wish me luck in my job interview later on this morning. Please?

June 4, 2002 (3:58 p.m. CDT)
Ugh. Orville, why now? Why pick today to die on me? Here's hoping and praying that a few hours of cool-down time and that ice will loosen him up enough to get home. Please Orville? Hmm?

The antibiotics I'm taking for my sinus infection are doing horrible things to my digestive system. I read the warning label that came with the pills -- the horrible caplets roughly the size and shape of large lima beans, but not as easy to swallow -- but I didn't think it'd be this bothersome. I need Midol, I'm bloated.

June 4, 2002 (12:01 p.m. CDT)
Crappy lab is in an hour. I'm not too enthused.

Shuu-ri! Anata no Bobo Kitty-chan, nanidenowa?

June 4, 2002 (8:52 a.m. CDT)
I've gone almost three days without making a Natalie Portman reference. That's too long, so here's a link to an Ebay auction of an autographed pair of her panties (old link removed) (complete with a certificate of authenticity, no less). Okay, the autograph looks authentic... but purple? Hmm... seems sketchy to me.

June 4, 2002 (12:23 a.m. CDT)
I expected my Flonase to taste much worse than it does. Whoever said that gargantuan pharmaceutical multinationals were all bad? I don't buy it! (Okay...maybe a little.)

I finally got off my ass and added a link to the Favorites page on the mapped toolbar on the Rants page. Go me!

Continuing a theme I had going a few months ago, here's another random USPTO patent! This one is for a curette for deep pocket periodontal curettage (old link removed). Curettes for curettage? Who'd have thunk it?

June 3, 2002 (8:15 p.m. CDT)
In a landmark vote, the Swiss have decided to legalize abortions. Some Catholic bishops don't like the idea, presumably because it'll mean that there will be fewer children to molest further down the road. Yes, that was a cheap shot, but I've never been one much for pooh-poohing religious institutions.

June 3, 2002 (6:32 p.m. CDT)
It is with great pleasure that I announce my addition to DFW Blogs. Whee! I should ask them to change "ramblings" to "Chunky, phlegmy pieces of blog." I prefer the more visual title.

Quick question...Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my present job? It turns out that they've changed my break entitlement from 30 minutes (as posted in our internal database) to 15 minutes. This is despite what they have told me previously. And strangely enough (Note: Please assume biting sarcasm for the duration of this sentence. Thank you.) my corporate lackeytwat of a supervisor has conveniently forgotten all the discussions and lost all the correspondence between her and Workfarce regarding this issue. Cunt. Under ideal conditions, I'll be able to rid myself of this shithole in just over 3 man-hours of work.

June 3, 2002 (3:05 p.m. CDT)
I'm tempted to post something of note today, but I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

On a very, very happy note, I'm anticipating this to be my last full shift at my shitty job. I'll probably have to head in on Wednesday to turn in my ID tags, but I should be able to leave immediately afterwards. Even the shitty traffic on I-635 and Hwy 121 won't seem anywhere as bad.

June 3, 2002 (1:30 a.m. CDT)
There is something very satisfying about downloading a David Hasselhoff MP3. In today's case, it's his cover of "Hooked On A Feeling" (complete with an "ooga-chaka" sample). I just know that it will be a common LimeWire upload.

A friend of mine from work told me her boyfriend of several years -- and father of her 2 1/2-year old boy -- left her for his new girlfriend. Poor girl, she seems to be holding up well. It is funny watching the 19-odd year old guy who sits across from her follow her around like a stray puppy. In the two months he's worked in my office, he's thrown himself violently at one of the cleaning ladies and at another co-worker. And to think... I used to be like that.

June 2, 2002 (11:41 p.m. CDT)
While doing some at-work surfing, I came across NYC Bloggers. This got me to wondering if Dallas-Ft. Worth had a counterpart. It turns out that the Metroplex does have a site unifying its bloggers: DFW Blogs. I've applied, and hopefully I should be added in due time.

June 1, 2002 (6:40 p.m. CDT)
My hatred for my job has reached a new low. I'm keeping track of how many hours it'll be before I quit. I'm close to the 13 man-hour mark. I can't wait.

Just when you thought that people couldn't get weirder, you find this fat guy in Spiderman body paint. Something's tingling, and it's certainly not my Spidey-sense. Wait a minute, that's my bowels churning. Ugh.

In the latest issue of Esquire magazine, Kirsten Dunst states in an interview that she will not bare her breasts in a movie, and that any role requiring her to do so would have to be rewritten before she'd accept the part. That's all well and good, but a little hypocritical when she poses for cover photos like this one:

On a related topic, I was encouraged to see that Dunst, Alicia Witt and Rachel Weisz were included on Esquire's Women We Love list. I, however, was upset to find that Natalie Portman, Lauren Ambrose (from HBO's Six Feet Under) and Bea Arthur were excluded.

May 31, 2002 (7:53 a.m. CDT)
Just a quickie post to let you know I love you prior to heading into my test. People I love: Fungushead, my dog, Natalie Portman, Alan Thicke, Bea Arthur and my grandmother. Note that the preceding list is by no means comprehensive, and if you assume that I don't love you becuase you're not on the list, you might be wrong. You, however, may be right. Ask me.

May 30, 2002 (3:49 p.m. CDT)
There we go... I'm back out of the blogging rut. People actually missed my blog. Isn't that sweet?

The New York Post has reported that TNN will be airing new episodes of the cult cartoon classic (and a personal favorite) Ren and Stimpy (old link removed next year. I have to dig out my happy helmet to celebrate.

May 29, 2002 (12:47 p.m. CDT)
I have this sneaking suspicion that this term is going to suck scroat. I'm already worn out and it's the second day of the Summer I term. Kill me now.

May 29, 2002 (10:23 a.m. CDT)
I hate aqueous chemistry. Let's just leave it at that.

May 28, 2002 (11:15 a.m. CDT)
Spanky says that I've been slacking off with the blog. He's right, I have been a slacker as of late. I suck.

Caramelhead and I rented a few DVDs to pass the thunderstormy weekend away. Neither of us cared much for Teaching Mrs. Tingle. I was pleasantly surprised that she liked The Usual Suspects (one of my favorite movies), although Benicio Del Toro had something to do with that. She didn't make it through Taxi Driver, though. Once you get past how young Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel and especially Jodie Foster look, the movie takes a life of its own. Scorsese alludes to De Niro's Bickle being a Vietnam vet (there's an NVA flag in his apartment), but this alone does not seem to explain his dissatisfaction with New York, and in general, urban decay. I would've liked to have seen an extra 10 minutes added to the film to give more insight to Bickle's descent. I'm not asking for war scenes -- that would verge on being cliched -- just some more narrative from Bickle's journal. It's in these journal entries that Bickle seem most human, and thus the more likely protagonist. As for Shepherd, her character is treated more as a literary device than an actual character. Even with her limited screen time, she manages to fill the screen with a timeless, coy sexiness. That, my friends, is a woman.

May 25, 2002 (5:11 p.m. CDT)
Caramelhead and I test drove a Volkswagen Jetta today. I was unimpressed. We tested the 2002 GLS model, with the 2.0 litre engine and automatic transmission, which seemed to be too little oomph for the car. The car wasn't as responsive as I'd hoped when kicking into the passing gear. Leg room was scarce, as well. No Jetta for Gord.

I find this site highly amusing. What's Better... the Milky Way galaxy or Alec Guinness' Obi Wan? Spam or a giant statue of a buffalo? Dr. Dre or Robert Smith. Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy or polar bears. You can vote for your favorites.

May 23, 2002 (12:59 a.m. CDT)
I once heard that every Fiji fraternity house has an octagonal "secret" room. I'm not sure if Twitch knows what the hell he's talking about (he rarely does), but I thought it was worth mentioning. I guess I was wrong. Maybe the Phi Gamma Delta founders had a stop sign fetish.

May 22, 2002 (9:19 p.m. CDT)
Sigh. My US History is almost done with. So far, so good. Just two more papers and a bullshit exam left to do.

I really need to spend some time on my Web site. I need to finish setting up my META tags and finish changing the font on the Toban articles. Now that I've ditched WorldNet, I need to change all the mailto and link rev tags on every page. Ugh.

I'm developing an unhealthy affection for Natalie Portman. I just thought that needed to be said.

May 20, 2002 (5:31 p.m. CDT)
Oh sad, sad day. Will Ferrell completed his last episode of SNL. No more Celebrity Jeopardy (it was getting old anyway), Neil Diamond (is it me or was Ferrell a better Neil Diamond than the real Neil Diamond two nights ago?) or Lovers (yipes!) skits.

While on the topic of SNL, check out Saturday Night Live Transcripts. Every episode listed by skit (some skits have complete transcripts), cast member or guest host. Sweeeeet!

May 18, 2002 (8:31 p.m. CDT)
I suck. My blog sucks. Well, the last two weeks of it has.

My DSL was activated two days ago. This means two things:
-- The AT&T mirror to this site will be disappearing soon, as I will be cancelling my dial-up account.
-- I'll be changing the e-mail link at the bottom of these pages to my Hotmail account. Hell, I get enough spam there anyways...

May 12, 2002 (2:26 a.m. CDT)
Not much to say right now... I'm just downloading Winamp skins and debating the merits of bed. Of course, most of the crap that Winamp.com has to offer are anime skins, skins dedicated to some artist or another (c'mon... Tylene? Sector Seven? Who the fuck are they?) or some dimwit's concept of art, which is usually some random .gif plastered over the default skin buttons. I'm all for a skin with a picture of a firey penis. Or a dead armadillo lying at the side of the road. Abe Vigoda... an Abe Vigoda skin would make me happy.

May 11, 2002 (7:07 p.m. CDT)
This courtesy of the fine folks at blogdex. CNN's article on Girls Gone Wild for the homeless set. Bumfights pits homeless people against each other in hand-to-hand combat and Jackass-style stunts. Priceless.

May 11, 2002 (7:07 p.m. CDT)
I'm a bad, bad blogger. Exams are done, and save for the few English essays I have yet to spit out (sample topic: "All the whores in Hollywood are pretty and virtuous"), the semester is done.

Kyoto Protocol be damned. Well, in theory I support the reduction of industrial carbon dioxide emissions, I'm pretty sure my car doesn't. Orville, my poor, abused Pontiac 6000, has sprung an oil leak (or two?). The mechanics at Alan Young Pontiac/Buick/GMC quoted me prices of $66 to determine where the leak is and, depending on the location of the leak(s), upwards of $1100 to fix the problem. Screw that. My father-in-law has an agreement-in-principle with a local mechanic in Moorhead, MN to repair cars at cheap-assed priced. All that I have to do is put up with the stench of burning motor oil for another seven weeks or so.

I've taken the reins of a new virtual soccer club at Hattrick, this time located in virtual Ft. Worth, TX. My club is weak, but probably no more than those of my immediate competition in Div IV.48. For the record, my previous team is still playing away without me, and won their latest game in a 7-1 blow-out. If that keeps up, they'll cruise to the division championships and be promoted to the Premier League. That's not going to happen, as my account will timeout in 6 weeks or so and the team will dissolve itself. Only one player will be rescued from digital oblivion, my star midfielder Greg Bannerman, who has one goal in two international appearances with the imaginary Scottish National Team.

More babbling to come...

May 6, 2002 (1:29 a.m. CDT)
After taking two days off from my blog, I have a few things to air out...

Firstly, whoever was assigned to review my blog for the Peer-2-Peer Review Project (old link removed) decided it wasn't worth the effort, and no review was posted for this hallowed page. Fuck. My own review was posted here a while ago, so I will spare you the repost.

These pages will be migrated over to a new host soon enough, as my over-priced DSL is on the way. I'm leery of entering into a one-year contract, but dial-up is slowly killing me. I have to change my local phone provider (and thus, my phone number), for which they're nailing me with an additional fee.

My imaginary soccer team may be disbanded, as my real-life American residence apparently bars me from competing in virtual Scotland. The fuckers couldn't bother telling me this during the changeover period, when I could uproot my team and move it to virtual Texas. No, they had to wait until after I "played" my first simulated game of the season, then locking me out of my account.

That noise had better not have been my dog farting again.

May 3, 2002 (1:52 a.m. CDT)
Here is my list of companies that consistently produce great advertisements:
-- Volkswagen
-- thetruth.com
-- Mike's Hard Lemonade
-- Nike
and, as of late...
-- Target

And here is my list of companies that air commercials that routinely make me want to vomit:
-- Coca-Cola
-- McCain's
-- Yaffa

May 3, 2002 (12:26 a.m. CDT)
Caramelhead and I just saw Y Tu Mamá También. I was impressed. It had hard-on inducing sex scenes, good dialogue and turned out to be an enlightening look into a world of Mexican politics, interpersonal relationships and disaffected upper- and middle-class youths. Did I mention the sex scenes were hot?

On the topic of movies, I just saw the domestic grosses from last weekend. Not surprisingly, The Scorpion King topped the list again. What did impress me was that Jason X finished ahead of Life Or Something Like It, even though Life played on roughly half again as many screens.

May 2, 2002 (4:37 p.m. CDT)
Oh my god. Michelina's has trotted out the Macarena for yet another commercial. This one, however, does have a hot redhead, so it's not completely without merit...

I'm surprised that I don't have a series of bedsores, considering how I "slept the shit out of my bed" last night, to use the words of my good friend Bryan.

This tidbit of news comes from The Sun: Britney Spears isn't the virgin she claims to be (old link removed). Justin Timberlake was overheard telling someone on an airplane that he knew firsthand. Whether that means that he voided her membership card personally, or that he wasn't the first Pooh Bear to stuck his hand in Spears' honeypot will need to be left to speculation.

Also from The Sun (this time from their 'Dirty Old Man Desk'), pubescent opera singer Charlotte Church has the nicest ass in Britain (old link removed). The Sun lists the 16-year old soprano's measurements at 36-26-36, which officially crosses into the realm of "Stuff I Didn't Need To Know." In related news, the Weekly World News chose Mary Kate Olsen as having the "Hottest Vulva of the Century."

May 1, 2002 (7:52 p.m. CDT)
I'm 30-some hours into my all-nighter and it's become surreal. Not really surreal, but weird. When I arrived at work, it seemed like I was beginning my shift at its end -- it was 5:30 and it felt like 9:30. Now it's nearly 8:00 and I feel refreshed, as if my work day had just started. It must be the Red Bull talking. Where was that shit four years ago?

One thing about drinking Pepsi, Red Bull and coffee by the gallon is that the occasional need to sprint to the lavatory becomes apparent. Like now, for instance. Zounds.

May 1, 2002 (10:04 a.m. CDT)
Well, crappy English class wasn't so crappy today! Woo! I can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, as far as the school year is concerned. Just a couple of labs to hand in and a final test to finish off my Oceanography lab. After that, it's a handful of essays in a few classes, and final exams. That's it. Yay me!

This is what happens when fraternity men don't practice self-restraint. This is why Manitoba DU didn't get a dog... SAE boys lose their charter for abusing a pig. No, not a nasty sorority girl...an pig. A drunk, sunburnt, tailless pig.

May 1, 2002 (3:43 a.m. CDT)
This from FARK.com...

Mustard Man is one of the commonly-used "cliché" images (along with Domo-Kun, Cliché Kitty, Wil Wheaton et al) in FARK's Photoshop contests. If you know this man, please click on the wanted posted above!

April 30, 2002 (11:38 p.m. CDT)
I just downloaded Internet Explorer 6. Besides the flashy new icons, I can't see any visible changes.

My apartment already is a "No Pants Zone," so partcipating in No Pants Day shouldn't be a problem at all.

April 30, 2002 (10:09 p.m. CDT)
Not much going on today. Once again, the UTA Gateway server died when I was trying to get some work done. Bastards.

I'm still fighting my cold. I'm now convinced that part of the reason I can't seem to shake it is that my intake of vitamins is far too minimal. Pardon me while I run to the kitchen to take a multivitamin. There...I feel healthier already.

I had to re-download my virus protection software again, as it seems that I contracted the Nimda virus. Bloody viri.

Caramelhead's taken to hiding our bread in the crispers of the refrigerator. I suppose it makes sense, but I always forget when we have bread. Not that it matters much, I don't make myself a lot of sandwiches (even though I should, considering the three-week old salami and bologna we have in there).

April 29, 2002 (3:16 a.m. CDT)
I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight. I have an English essay to write, but that shouldn't take much time. I'll probably do it tomorrow at work. Fungushead, however, is giving me a number of things to think about. Oy vey.

I wrote two more E2 nodes: the Winnipeg Arena and Memorial Cup.

April 28, 2002 (4:50 a.m. CDT)
I don't think I've ever seen the moon shine quite so brightly. I just took my shit-eating (don't ask) dog for a walk. As I turned the corner of my apartment building and exited the gate, it struck me. Just as your elders advise not to look directly into the sun, this perfect moon hurt my eyes when I gazed at it. The effect was compounded by a thin veneer of cirrus clouds which were draped discretely across the moon's path. Beautiful. Simply fucking beautiful.

I have my Cliche Kitty Winamp skin (old link removed) and I couldn't be happier.

April 28, 2002 (3:56 a.m. CDT)
I've found a new hobby: noding. I've imagined setting up a Web site like Everything2 before, but the sheer scope and logistics are far out of my league. E2 is a collaborative effort to index as much knowledge and personal experience as possible, within the context of "nodes." I really can't explain it very well yet, but it is addictive. I've written three nodes of note: Dale Hawerchuk , the Cornwall Royals and Cadillac Mountain

April 27, 2002 (1:26 p.m. CDT)
I spent most of the wee hours of this morning playing the Windows merry-go-round. I tried installing Win XP, but my install attempt failed. I then reinstalled Win2K, but my computer rebooted itself halfway through the configuration process. It let me finish the install, but the dialer components were fried. I then tried to install Win XP over top 2000 (despite their warnings), but to no avail. Finally, I wound up reinstalling Win2K all over again.

April 26, 2002 (2:30 a.m. CDT)
Evif Yadirf.

1. What are your hobbies? -- Right now I'd have to say writing (including blogging), digital music, movies, and commuting. Recently, I've been doing some digital image manipulation, which is a fancy way of saying that I use Photoshop to mess around with pictures.

2. Do you collect anything? If so, what? -- I have a substantial MP3 collection (almost 3000 tracks). I also have a small collection of Canadian "first-day covers," which are commemorative, decorative envelopes printed when a stamp is issued. When I was in elementary school, I had large comic book, stamp and coin collections.

3. Is there a hobby you're interested in, but just don't have the time/money to do? -- I'd like to start taking guitar lessons again (but seriously this time). I've also wanted to delve into 35mm photography and building robots.

4. Have you ever turned a hobby into a moneymaking opportunity? -- I can't say I have.

5. Besides web-related stuff (burbs, rings, etc.), what clubs do you belong to? -- Right now, my membership is limited to my rugby team, the Fort Worth RFC.

April 26, 2002 (12:25 a.m. CDT)
Well, my test went relatively well. Plenty of questions on the Ideal Gas Law (PV=nRT), and more questions than I expected about the paramagnetic or diamagnetic character of certain atoms' orbitals . I think I made the best (semi-)educated guesses on the questions I was unsure about. It should be enough to get myself a half-decent grade on the test, keeping my chances very much alive for a B in the course.

Caramelhead got her glasses, and it didn't even cost that much. I should take this opportunity to thank AT&T Broadband's (old link removed) vision plan for preventing optometrists from anally raping poor shlubs like me. To treat myself, I got a pair of half-price Adidas sunglasses to replace the pair that I broke in January.

I'll be posting my Friday Five in an hour or so.

April 25, 2002 (5:04 a.m. CDT)
I'm about to run to QT to pick up some junk food, which I will need to keep me awake for the next 5 hours. Then, I can nap, fold some laundry and get ready for Fungushead's optometrist appointment. Maybe I'll post another Toban article this afternoon.

I'm still looking forward to that nap, though. Toban be damned. I'm going to lay my fat ass down on that mattress for a few hours and sleep away the late morning. Whee!

April 25, 2002 (2:56 a.m. CDT)
This from the National Post: Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin protests the smiting of his private member's bill by touching the Mace (old link removed), the "symbol of the Speaker's authority and sacred totem of parliamentary democracy," as it was described in the article. Fucking Chretien. When I was in Grade 9, I was made the Sergeant-at-Arms for my high school's mock Parliament. Our mace, however, was a softball bat, which seems a fitting choice considering that the Parliamentary "pages" were used as message-bitches for the Grade 12's to pass notes to each other making weekend plans or for flirting.

I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter tonight to prepare for my final Chemistry test. This chapter? Gases.

April 24, 2002 (9:22 p.m. CDT)
Well, my Jango Fett picture has garnered five votes besides my own. There...I don't feel so useless now!

I'm thinking about giving Karen her own Rants page. I doubt she'll take the opportunity, but I think that "Caramelhead's Corner" would be an interesting page. I'd have to do all the HTML gruntwork, and probably some minor editing, but maybe it'll be a good outlet for her. We'll see what she says tomorrow.

Rebecca Eckler, one of my favorite columnists, wrote an article about the best burger in the world (old link removed). I love her, and it's not because she's a cutie (not that it hurts) and close to my own age. I just find her frank writing style appealing.

April 24, 2002 (4:16 a.m. CDT)
After four tries, I finally got my first vote on a Photoshop contest entry! It was a photograph of Jango Fett as part of an acrobatic cavalry unit. Yay me! It is a pointless hobby, but I don't care!

Among the strange photos I found were:

• A man wearing a bathing cap, with three plungers stuck to his torso
• A man violently crashing his kitesurfer thingy
• People hugging a 30-foot saguaro cactus
• A hirsute man being mauled by a kodiak bear