January 2004 Archives
Finished watching Frida last night. It was somewhat interesting and I guess I’m glad I saw it. That’s about all I can say for it. There was a lot of acting talent on display but I didn’t find the story all that interesting. The real Frida Kahlo was apparently quite a character.
Fun site for the wordsmith in you.
Have some computer maintenance to do at Mom’s this morning. It should go pretty smooth. I cleaned up a good deal of it last week.
I sometimes wonder if everyone in this part of the world is a complete idiot. Probably just the ones we hear from. I like this quote: “We do not use the terms ““Christian invaders”” or ““Jewish occupiers””, so why should the Western media feel comfortable with ““Muslim terrorists””?” First, that’s wrong. Those terms are used all the time. Also thrown around are words like infidels, crusaders, and jihad. Assuming Arab civilization wishes to avert their headlong rush towards all out war with the West, I suggest they find a different tone. Big assumption? Maybe.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Abstinence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder"
A list I would not attempt. -Rob
I’m of the opinion now that we have the makings of a great Super Bowl Sunday. Carolina and New England both play very physical. Carolina’s game is familiar. Ball control offense anchored by a very good running game and a great defense. New England’s game is more of a whatever it takes kind of offense but also a great defense. Both teams play good on special teams. The difference is Tom Brady as New England will win, 21-13.
I like both quarterbacks in this game. First, they're both very likeable. Jake Delhomme is an ex-Saint and he is also from Louisiana. He finally got a chance to play somewhere and he’s making the most of it. Carolina is a good fit for him and he’s a good fit for them. I’ll be pulling for them, Sunday. That said, I just love the way Tom Brady plays. He plays smart. He’s the quarterback I would want on my team. He will probably never win a stat championship or break any passing records but who cares? He was compared recently to Joe Montana. For my money, that’s a valid comparison. If I’m starting a team and I can choose my quarterback, Tom Brady is my guy. I would take him over the co-MVP’s, Steve McNair and Peyton Manning.
On another topic: LeeAnn takes Commissar to task for suggesting rules of blogging. She's quite right, of course. I'll offer my two rules of blogging.
1) My blog, my rules.
2) Your blog, your rules.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “1:46 AM. I'm awake watching Food Network, and I smell like garlic. I am every Italian man's wildest fantasy: I stay up late to marinate pork and proof bread dough."
I wouldn't say "wildest fantasy" but top five, for sure. -Rob
I started watching Keen Eddie last week. It’s a new show on Bravo. UltimateTV automatically records it for me. The show is totally absurd and that is probably why I like it. When I watch TV, it is purely for entertainment.
We’re still in January and DVD stores are already taking orders for Kill Bill Volume One but at their regular prices. This DVD is scheduled for release in April. Give me a break. If you’re going to hold my money or make me commit to something almost 3 months off, give me something in return. Full price just doesn’t seem to be enough. I’m going to get it but there’s no advantage to ordering now.
Another cool BOTD from New Zealand.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I've just had myself another Media-Free Weekend - no television, no radio, no newspapers. Enjoying them more and more."
I haven't done that probably since I was a kid. To do it now, it would have to be on a weekend when I can get outdoors. -Rob
I got a comment spam last night. It was just one and it’s the first one that’s made it through in probably six weeks. It was posted at about 6:45PM to a message that was 3 months old. When I logged on this morning, I removed it so it had 10 hours on the site. I am pretty certain that no one read it or clicked on their link. It took me 30 seconds to remove it and perhaps another 30 seconds to submit it to the clearinghouse so I doubt anyone will have to bother with him again. So why do these guys continue? I think they’re wasting more of their own time than they are of mine. Configuring their program/robot/whatever and setting up a domain must take more time and be more work than the 60 seconds it took and the ease it was for me to banish him forever. His comment was, “Ok, I will sign your blog. I really love your site.” I love you, too, twit.
On another twit front, I must have received 75 of those Novarg virus emails since yesterday morning both at home and at work. Anyone who says, “People should know better” is simply new to the planet. Advanced users, intermediate users, and a good many experienced users probably know better but those groups comprise perhaps 5% of the computing population. This kind of virus will be effective until that 5% group figures out how to prevent it.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Having a last name like "Powazek" makes a guy fairly sensitive to personal noun pronunciation difficulties."
Some links today for your perusal:
Ilyka appears to be checking out but I hope not.
Kim did it much better than did I.
SilverBlue doing a Mamas and Papas sort of thing.
Strange Currency is talking about campaign contributions via Amazon.com. I wonder if the candidates can put The Presidency on their wish list.
Plumbing, pipes, patience, people, and popcorn over at Practical Penumbra. Try saying that fast.
BOTD chosen for its name. Content aint bad either.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Atrios And I Agree on Something"
I agree, too. -Rob
Watched Adaptation last night. My dad had said it was “weird”. That’s a word for it. I liked it although it had me squirming. It has one of those characters that makes one wrong move after another and you see every one of them coming. Similar to A Simple Plan for me. Mesmerizing the first time I watched it, absolutely know I missed some details, but cannot bear to watch it again any time soon. Maybe in a few years. For both of them.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I was in my element, speaking Russian, haggling, showing off a bit for my Dad. Taxi duly procured and price duly established we set off for the old Intourist Hotel in the heart of Baku."
Will have to cut this one short. The rain is coming down in buckets here in Bush and the wind is starting to pick up. The next thing, of course, will be a loss of electricity. Country life is just grand.
After I dropped off my nephew at my sister’s house last night, I started thinking about our country life. Her house is not all that remote but she does have an element of seclusion that our place has somewhat lost. Her local government is about to do some civic “improvements” in her area that will probably ruin that for her, too. Too bad.
Saw How to Deal last night. Quite a few very good performances but not a very good movie. The boyfriend is a loser and I just couldn't care about him.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Help wanted
The blogs on the right are 'must reads' for me. Who's on your 'must read' list that I don't have on mine?"
Now, who can help resisting an aardvark besides an ant? Not me. -Rob
Instead of a “what I did today” entry, this is a “what I hope to do today” entry.
Upgrading Eudora (My email program) this morning to the latest version. I’ve been using Eudora for about five years now. It’s very good software and I’ve always liked it. That just about every virus ever conceived the last few years is written to attack Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express is the best reason I have for avoiding those products although I pretty much have to use them at work. Update: Done and WOW!
Going to work on Mom’s computer this morning. I’ll be adding and removing programs and just trying to tweak it a little to make it work better. Her computer is newer than mine but I was really disappointed in its performance last week when I was there. I didn’t have time to fix everything. Don’t know if I’ll fix everything today but I certainly hope to fix some things. Update: Got a good bit of it done. Should be able to finish next weekend. It's running quite a bit better from my point of view.
Going to the French Quarter this afternoon. Going to grab a modest ($12 or less) lunch and just do the tourist thing. I’ll hit some shops, maybe find some live music somewhere, and take some pictures, too. The weather yesterday was fabulous. Hoping for more of the same today. Update: Modest budget notwithstanding, I ended up at Landry's Seafood House on Decatur St. I wasn't really in the mood for seafood so I got a surprisingly great Blackened Chicken Salad. Didn't know it was a chain. Landry is a fairly common local name.
And, finally, if I’m up to it, I may attend a birthday party this afternoon for my niece.
On a sadder note: How could anyone not like Captain Kangaroo? RIP, Captain!
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Famous Epitaphs"
A treasure trove of Famous Epitaphs and Famous Last Words. A real treat. Blogrolled! -Rob
I saw 5 minutes or so of Howard Dean with Diane Sawyer last night. That’s about all I could stand. I really can’t figure out how he ever got elected to anything. I had been told before my first and only visit to New England that New Englanders were short with out-of-towners. I didn’t find that to be the case except for maybe one apple farmer in western Massachusetts. That’s about the same ratio as everywhere else. Not everyone in a people person job is a people person. I found Howard Dean to be short last night. Undoubtedly, there must be more to him than that but that is all I saw. I don’t think he has to smile and be in good humor all of the time. In fact, I’d rather the President wasn’t. It makes me uneasy. He’s a little too angry, though. Dean’s poor wife was smiling and nodding at what he was saying but my feeling is that she surely wanted to be somewhere else. As baseball fans say: Stick a fork in him, he’s done.
I think that’s good news for everyone. The President is still in the driver’s seat but he may have to disengage the cruise control.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Things NOT to do when watching "Return of the King"..."
Go see the list. -Rob
I’m finding the music industry versus file swappers war on a par with the Major League Baseball owners versus MLB Players Union war. I fall in behind one side even though both sides stink.
In Major League Baseball, I always side with the players. I’m not saying they’re not a ridiculous bunch, I’m just saying they have been right in principle in every negotiation to date. That millionaire players and billionaire owners need to squabble over an enormous cash cow is about as ludicrous as you can get.
File-swapping is tantamount to receiving stolen goods. File-swappers want something but they don’t want to pay for it. All of their rationalizations and Quixotic justifications aside, that’s all there is to it. Most, if not all, claims of "fair use" are silly. Before this technology was available, you had to go into a store and steal a record to get it without paying for it. The record companies are on a course of pursuing the worst offenders and their methods may seem heavy-handed to some. I feel no sympathy for the ones caught up in the RIAA’s dragnet. If it turns out a 12yr old girl downloaded 14,000 songs, maybe that kid should take up another hobby. The parents gave her the computer, I assume, so they can take responsibility. All of that said, music CD’s are outrageously over-priced. I know that because I bought every one I own.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Some ways to tell people to read this blog:
* Literacy programs
* English as a Second Language classes
* Cultural Studies lectures
* Having 20 minutes to kill at lunchtime
* At your website"
Always willing to help. -Rob
Two of the things I wanted to do after the holidays was to start eating better and start sleeping better. Sleeping better is just a matter of dragging my butt to bed earlier but eating better has been a challenge. One of the reasons eating better is challenging is because I am a bit of a glutton, I think. There are certain things I will eat until it is gone or I am sick, whichever comes first. It doesn’t seem to matter how much of it there is. Here are a few:
M&M Peanuts - 2 pounds, 6 pounds, it doesn’t matter. I eat them all or I get sick trying.
Bacon - Crispy, chewy, plain, smoked, turkey, doesn’t matter. Never gotten sick on it but never had leftovers, either.
Kellogg’s Corn Pops - I’ve had this addiction since I was a kid (They were called Sugar Pops then). No Generation X parent would dare buy their kids anything called Sugar Pops now so they changed the name. That's all they changed, though.
Panne meat - Commonly referred to as veal cutlets but they’re really breaded and fried round steaks. Hot, cold, room temperature, doesn’t matter. Never have leftovers.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I don't know who this Pamela_Woodlake is. What I do know is that she's spamming my comments and I'm about ready to wring her bloody neck! Damn spam bots."
MT-Blacklist is the solution for that.
This is a time for former Saints. Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers are in the Super Bowl. Also, Sam Mills and Mark Fields, both former Saints linebackers diagnosed with cancer, were honorary co-captains for the Panthers in the NFC Championship game in Philadelphia. That has Saints fans a little upset at the current ownership/coach/gm for squandering the talent they’ve had here over the years. Rams QB, Marc Bulger, was also a Saints draft choice. I wish them well and I’ll be rooting for Jake and the Panthers next week even though I really like Tom Brady and the way he plays.
There’s plenty to be mad about for Saints fans but I don’t disagree with the QB choice. Aaron Brooks has more talent than Jake or Marc. The Saints are squandering his talent, too. His best games were played when they weren’t asking him to do so much. He’s over-coached and I don’t know if they can undo the damage now. Still, it’s worth another year’s effort. My unsolicited, unwanted advice to the Saints: A) Totally concentrate on the defense next year and B) turn the offense loose and let them play.
Today's BOTD courtesy of Ilyka Damen.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Sometimes making a particular dish takes a long time, involving several steps, but if you follow the directions carefully enough it's fairly easy. On the other hand there are things that only take a few minutes to prepare, but may take years to really get right."
This is the 300th entry here at the CrabAppleLane Blog. If I was still using Greymatter, I suspect I’d be running into trouble about now. Not a big deal here but 300 is a significant number elsewhere.
In baseball:
A .300 hitter = All-star
300 wins = Hall of Fame pitcher
In football:
300 rushing yards will break a record in the NFL. It’s only been done a few times in the NCAA.
300 wins = Hall of Fame coach.
In bowling:
A 300 game = Perfection
In Hollywood:
300 Spartans = Good movie
In The American Heritage Dictionary:
The 300 most common words
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I think they did a damn good job picking the episodes, I expected them to pick more recent ones, but they didn’t. Someone on Slashdot plotted the episodes and we can see that the Simpsons really has started to suck."
Had a stint manning a booth here yesterday. The show is getting a little better every year from my point of view. This is a labor of love for the entrants. The prize money that the winners receive doesn’t cover their expenses. And it doesn’t begin to cover their time and energy. They’re proud of their work and, hopefully for them, that’s reward enough.
After 5 straight years of having to write two large checks at tax time, I think I’ll get refunds this year but it also looks like I overdid it because the refunds will be much larger than I wanted them to be.
Super long day yesterday. I originally had hoped to take in a movie today with my sister but chances of that now seem remote. I think I’m home for the day to watch stuff I already recorded on UltimateTV and the football games.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “My friend, please spend the extra money to purchase a 'new airbag'."
Ilyka has an excellent entry here about “street smarts”. It had me thinking at work yesterday. It’s about how and why people should be alert and aware of their surroundings. Caution, even to the point of abruptness or rudeness, is the gist of her position. There’s mostly good but some bad in taking that posture. Most of us don’t have the capacity to always tell what’s on someone’s mind. That’s where street smarts come in. The general feeling is that to err on the side of caution is the worst that can happen. Better safe than sorry. We hear that all the time.
There is a dynamic now, which was the starting point of her entry, where people who are viewed with suspicion are taking offense at it. Some person named S-train touched on it but used a poor example (Comparing perceived street thugs with corporate criminals). Sorry, but threats to life and limb in the present far outweigh threats to future retirement nest eggs.
So someone asks you for change for a dollar or if you know where he can get fresh eggs. You’re concerned about his fashion choices, his accent, his body language, or whatever it is that gets you into your super caution mode. Terse answers may not be the best choice. He may not have had bad intentions when he asked the question but after the terse response maybe he does.
Can we be polite or helpful without being inviting? Unfortunately, the answer to that question doesn’t rest with us.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I miss real food. Since Saturday my diet's consisted of saltines, canned soup and tea."
I answered a poll question this morning at nfl.com and I also answered one at superbowl.com. Both had server problems and I couldn’t see the results. Except for the fact that I was curious about the results, the failure was comforting to me. That their sites fail now and again despite the vast resources at their disposal tells me that this is just a technology thing, not a money thing. For someone, like me, who has limited resources to use on my website, it’s good to know that my site won’t let me down because of the money. Not everything in life is like that.
There are millions of sites, billions of pages, millions of servers and webmasters, some spending thousands on hardware and probably even more in man hours down to some who are spending nothing or almost nothing, and everyone is tied together into a network where no one is in charge. This I’ve said before: The more I know and learn about the internet, the more I’m amazed it works at all.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Just remember, the computer business is still in its infancy. And maybe the computer business will always be in its infancy…."
Note: Permalinks don't work so good at blogspot. -Rob
It looks like this week’s AFC Playoff game in Foxboro will have frozen tundra. That offers neither team any advantage. New England will win because they have a better defense. The NFC Playoff game in Philadelphia will also probably have severe weather. Carolina will win because they have a better defense.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Strange choice. My vote -- in a heartbeat -- would have been for Salam Pax*, whose politics I disagree with but whose influence and significance in 2003 was undeniable."
No time this morning. Blog of the Day courtesy of Meryl Yourish.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Odd thing: I spent the large part of today laying on my brand-new futon, meditating. And I was not bored. Perhaps it is the fascination of the spectacle of the Formation of the Spiritual Scabs. Sounds better than saying I was lazy. When you have a bad foot, being lazy is a proactive life choice."
We have us a new governor in Louisiana. Kathleen Blanco took office yesterday. I guess the real news was winning the election. Taking office was only worth about 60 seconds last night on one of the local news channels. Good Luck, Governor!
Just about whenever I think “Tuesday” in my head, “Afternoon” follows it. It’s a Moody Blues thing.
Watched Tears of the Sun last night. I felt like I’d seen it before. Zero surprises but it wasn’t all that bad. A “veg out” kind of film. No thought required.
The ACLU going to bat for Rush Limbaugh. There’s some strange bedfellows. This thing is going from uninteresting to amusing. Carry on.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Wow. I have not spent 72 hours in a drug induced stupor for like… weeks, man. I was all trippin’ and spaced out all weekend. It was awesome! Ok, maybe not-so-awesome, but still drunk with out the drinking is a-ok with me. Vicodin: It’s a low-carb way to enjoy your weekend buzz. Woot!"
I ran across a rant at several blog stops over the weekend. Someone hates web logs. Or web log authors? I’m not really sure. Really, it’s all here. I guess you should get extra points if you can read the whole thing. He had me with “probably because you really _are_ a pathetic looser”. Take that, bloggers! As George C Scott said in Patton, “A man that eloquent has to be saved.”.
The Bestofme Symphony: Sixth Performance is up over at Ilyka Damen. You owe me nothing, Ilyka. Pitcherlady should be a star in the blogosphere. It's one of my favorites.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “January (or at least what's left of it): Once again confounding the odds makers in Vegas, Pete Rose briefly marries Britney Spears, with Michael Jackson acting as the minister."
We have big flies in the house right now. I thought we’d killed all of them but one or two show up every day when you least want to see them (I can’t imagine when I’d most want to see them but that’s an entry for another day). When they get really big, they fly slower and are less afraid of people or they’re simply more reckless/suicidal in their flying. In other words, they are even more annoying. This is when you’re most likely to have one fly into your ear or your mouth or even land and get stuck in your food. My mission for today is to send every one of them to Fly Heaven.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I've come to the conclusion that I just hate work. Upon further examination, it seems clear that it doesn't matter WHAT work, it's really an issue of expending any effort at all related to filling anyone else's needs. I guess I'm just not much of a people person."
I like having very few plans on a weekend. Freedom is a wonderful thing. However, I get a bit stir crazy when I do nothing so I am a bit conflicted on that. I am an anti-procrastination crusader at work but a world-class procrastinator at home so I’m a bit conflicted on that, too. One of my procrastination techniques is to make a list. Here is my category list of “to do” things. It should be noted that all of these lists are at least a mile long.
1) Things I can/should do that require nothing but time and energy. I have to tackle at least one or two of these today and tomorrow or I’ll be cranky Monday morning.
2) Things I can/should do that require time, energy, and money. I can happily put these off this weekend. No money.
3) Things I can/should do but can’t stand the thought of actually doing them. I can put these off this weekend but they accrue interest.
4) Things I want to do but don’t have the money. This list is the longest.
5) Things I want to do but don’t have the time or energy. This list is the shortest but still a mile long.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I must go now as it's 15:05 which means it's time to try and work out why so many people come here via spanking related searches."
The web is a phenomenal thing. The various web spiders scour this site fairly regularly. I have no idea why. Certain phrases, which I thought were fairly common, when searched for at Google or Yahoo, have a CrabAppleLane page listed on the first page near the top. On the one hand, to mention them here would be a bit of a tawdry way to get more traffic. On the other hand, bandwidth is not really a concern here and probably never will be so I’m really just left to ponder what I’d do about it if it was. Go mention those phrases on other sites, particularly those looking for any kind of traffic, hoping to knock this site off of the first page? Just bite the bullet and pay for more bandwidth?
My brother-in-law and I got caught up in the rubbernecking traffic this caused Wednesday night. He was stuck in the traffic ahead of me and called me trying to divert me away from it. Alas, I was already on the bridge and the police were not allowing us to turn around. The Causeway is the longest bridge in the world at 24 miles. There are turnarounds every three miles or so. I travel the northbound side of it just about every night. The incident was at about 10 miles out on the Southbound side. That side was closed and there was a wrecker, a fire truck, an ambulance, and a lot of police cars with flashing lights. There was no reason whatsoever for traffic to slow down on the northbound side except that everyone wanted to look. This is a phenomenon I could do without.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Ok, because of this new show called "The L Word" I think I'm going to need to get Showtime."
Kentwood, LA and Britney Spears, forever tied to each other, are also very tired of each other, I think. Time, money, youth, and excess at work. The only thing that amazes me about it is that anyone cares. It’s been done.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I live downtown, and there's a great moment going on right now...downtown skyline out the window with police helicopter searchlights panning it while I can hear a homeless woman singing something...I can only make out the word "whitey.""
Links today.
A little Titanic fun from SilverBlue.
A little profundity from The Daily Irrelevant.
A little cheese from the always reliable LeeAnn.
A birthday celebration I missed over at Plugs and Dottles.
The dedication of a sand castle builder is lost on Scorpio Girl. Me, too, I’m afraid.
A new conspiracy theory for those who are tired of all of the old ones. Even an ounce of truth here? A little too hard to believe something that big could be kept quiet.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “One of the pleasures of having one's own blog is to render the occasional well deserved fisking of some tinfoil hatted, looney tunes moonbat."
I'm a Deep Purple fan and the name of this blog was simply irresistable. -Rob
About Pete Rose: In my opinion, he is now where he should be. Outside baseball looking in. He should NOT be reinstated. He bet on his own team. Not every game, of course, just 52 or so. That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. He says it did not impact how he managed. Why should anyone believe that?
This is absolute: Gambling cannot influence the way baseball managers manage a game or the way players play a game. NO exceptions.
I suspect that did happen but we have no way of knowing and Rose’s word is simply not good enough. A ban from baseball is proper punishment. I do not understand people who think otherwise but I do know it is the majority opinion.
Sloppy win last night for the Tigers but it was still a great win. If they had scored on every opportunity, they’d have made a strong case for Undisputed National Champion. A shared title sucks but it would be equally unfair to deny USC their due. Oklahoma looked overmatched for most of the game. LSU mistakes are the only thing that kept them in it and you wonder how the Sooners won 12 games prior to their last two. Strength of schedule??? I don’t think so. The BCS will get its much-needed overhaul this offseason but that is only a band-aid for this gaping wound. It needs to be abolished. A playoff system needs to be installed. The bowls should be rewards for the also-rans that had good seasons. All but one or two of them are anyway.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “This morning I had an interview in Vacaville, about 50 miles east of Oakland. It was at 10:00 am, and I was bright and early (after a mucho scary dream about a Mexican priestess and Jesus who both suggested that I go back to church and get baptized again...totally serious).”
Here in Louisiana, there is only one story today: The Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. It is more commonly referred to as “The LSU Game” here. It’s LSU versus Oklahoma for the BCS National Championship. Unless the Tigers overwhelm Oklahoma in every way, the winner will not overtake USC in the AP poll and will undoubtedly have to share the title with them. Neither team should concern themselves with the possibility. The Sooners will not win the AP poll under any circumstance. Too many people feel they don’t even belong in this game. Place me in that camp.
It says here that the Tigers will win, 31-21. It won’t be enough to overtake the Trojans in the AP but a shared national title is better than no national title.
The city and state are bursting at the seams with excitement. This is as close to a Saints Super Bowl appearance simulation as we’re likely to get here in Louisiana for the foreseeable future. The Saints appearing in a Super Bowl in the Superdome is the only thing that might ever top this.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I'm an avid reader. Books, magazines,newspapers, toothpaste tubes... anything I can get my hands on. In the past couple of years, though, I've become enamored with the availability of online information, and my reading habits have slacked. To remedy this, I'm resolving to read a book every week, fiction and non-fiction, to hopefully reinvigorate the passion I have for the written word and learn a thing or two along the way."
A worthwhile endeavor. -Rob
I have a friend who won $100k in a Coca-Cola contest about 20 years ago. That wasn’t the only thing she won. Entering sweepstakes was a hobby of hers. Over many years, she won quite a few things. Whenever she received a sweepstakes in the mail, she sifted through the convoluted instructions and entered. The instructions are designed that way so you will pretty much have to read the entire contents in order to enter. She rarely bought anything but junk mail volume then was heavy and hers was even heavier because of all of the contests she entered. The rule is that the more likely you are to enter/buy, the more mailing lists you’ll find yourself on. Essentially, it was like having a job. Spread out over the number of years and hours spent on entering these things, I think she might have been better off throwing the damn things away and taking a part-time job at the local grocery store. I admit it. I’m a cynic sometimes.
Imagine doing that with the spam we receive. Before I went online this morning, I last checked email about 11 hours ago. In those 11 hours, I received 46 spam emails (Spam Assassin killed all but three of them) and I suspect at least 10 of them purported to be contests of some kind (Many of them said I already won). The more you respond to those things, the more they send you and they do so in an exponential way. There was a time I did respond to some of them. It gets out of hand in a hurry.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “I mean, really, if you accepted a package on behalf of a neighbour, wouldn't you tell them you had it?"
It is the neighborly thing to do. Alas, not all neighbors are neighborly. -Rob
USC made a stellar case for a share of the NCAA National Championship. I hope LSU can do the same day after tomorrow. LSU and USC should have been playing in the Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma and someone else should have been playing somewhere else.
Kim's Place has a new look. Worth a looksee.
Sex and the City takes its final bow this season. Although I enjoyed the show from time to time, I never fully understood its appeal. Naturally, I don’t identify with the main characters but I don’t even know people like them.
I have no chance in the CrabAppleLane NCAA Pool. Sadly, this is not a new experience for me.
This morning’s commute will be the last day of light traffic for a while. At least, I hope there will be light traffic.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “RFID is a great tool; great for warehouse logistics as well as facilitating checkouts in shops; we must just make sure customers' privacy rights aren't ignored."
To all CrabAppleLane Blog Readers!
We got off early yesterday and I got home when there was still some daylight left. I have done almost no yardwork in the last two months so I decided to prune my three Bradford pear trees. This involved cutting the branches and dragging them to a place in the yard where I will burn them at a later date when they dry out a bit. I also took some of those cuttings and potted them in the hopes of producing a couple of trees. I hope to plant about 5 more this year. They are gorgeous. I could not get over how badly winded I got doing that hour’s worth of work but I feel good this morning so I will do some more yardwork today. I don’t need to be in high school wrestling shape again but I would like to be in much better shape than I’m in now. It is not a resolution (I don’t do resolutions) but it is a priority for 2004.
Can I just say that Tracy Morgan is one of the least talented people ever to grace Saturday Night Live yet NBC thinks he needs his own show? The only one in that entire cast that might interest me with their own show is Maya Rudolph.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “Also, this is my new mecca on the web: PhD Comics. Seriously, it's like the story of my life."
