It’s good to have you back O-Ben-wan. You know, it’s a real let down when it’s like Wednesday night, 1am, and I’m about to go to sleep–but before I do so, I drop over to the old rant page to see if there’s anything of interest, and I see my post from 40 nights ago. So, I’m sure to everyone’s delight, I’m going to take a lesson from ben and make this short, suite, and to the point.

#1: I’m taking next week off from work. Well, kinda. I’m working from home Monday/Tuesday, and taking the rest of the week off. I need a break. I need to catch up on studying. I need to breathe.

#2: I have purchased the Star Wars trilogy. I know, it’s been edited, it’s not PURE, but what do I care. It’s going to sound awesome on 5.1, the graphics are going to be better, and seeing Princess Leia in that slave outfit is going to rock.

#3: Mac upate: My Mac continues to shine, and now, almost 8 months after having gotten her, I can’t be more pleased. I am finally convinced that man (and WOMAN) can live on Mac alone.

#4: Fat Contest: This morning, after making my signature English Muffin Sandwhiches for Mom and Luana, I reached over at the breakfast table and while my sister was turned around, I grabbed for her little love handles. Oh my god, she turned around in a fury. She then slapt me across the face and challenged me to a dual. I accepted. We both weighed in, and to protect the innocent, I shall only reveal my weight–184.6. We now have 2 months to see who can lose the most weight. I hope you are all betting on me. I think I can drop approx 8-10 lbs. My sis can do the same. But, can we do it during the holidays? If I lose, Sis get’s an ipod. I am not going to lose.

#5: Work: Overrated.

#6: Ben’s work: Don’t know if it’s overrated as he hasn’t told us yet anything about the new job.

#7: Pics: Benny, we need more pics. Where have all the pics gone?

Ok, gotta run to priceclub with the fam. toodles

Hello and welcome back to another installment of…

my life.

OK. My site has been hit with a barrage of bots/spiders/robots/annoying programs that screenshot your site and screw with your usage statistics. So, in response, I have taken my links page offline for a little bit, as it was the main entry point. I’ll wait a little bit and see where they go next.

Next item: Nina, I know you’re hitting the site, so just break down and email me with your contact information. I haven’t talked with you since forever. Do it now, soldier!

Next item: I have a new job over at Pitney Bowes, the innovator of those cute little postal meters that you take to the post office to reload the postage. Well, they are looking to get YOU hooked up with one, so watch out! In reality, I have very little to do with the strategic planning of the company. Instead, I focus on customer retention. To learn more, contact me directly with specific questions or watch this space for more. Must go, need sleep.

All –(aka the 4 of us),

CNN tonight framed the duo of Cheney vs. Edwards as “Darth Vader” vs. “Robin”. I love it. I can’t wait to see the showdown tomorrow. I shall, again, be in my hotel room—Brew in hand, to watch.

Aftewards, you can bet there shall be reactions posted here. I hope to tone down my profanity this time…of course, that is, unless DARTH really PISSES me off.

I remain…slightly more optimistic, though only marginally so, and even then..only if I get a good night’s rest tonight.

km

I can hardly believe it. I’ve been absent from these pages for just a few weeks and suddenly a plethora of interesing rants have been posted. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m not tickled with excitement when I see the latest 8 pg polemic on Whitworth’s e-mail issues–but, let’s face it, I really don’t care when it’s midnight, I’m in some hotel room, and I’m eager to see what’s on the mind of my parner in crime, my friend, my id, my Benjamin. And nothing makes me happier than to hear that even in the vacuum of Spokane, the wisdom of Charlie Rose breaks through at at 2300, like it does for me in SF each evening. It’s rather comforting. When I watch Charlie, so does Ben, even if the feed may reach bennie a few seconds late due to the effect of the North–South Hyper-Geothermal Stupidity Jet Flow which starts in Canada and flows down towards LA, stupidifying everyone in its path.

I have to admit that I wish I had read Bennie’s e-mail on including hyperlinks a little bit closer. I’m hyperlink happy right now, but oh well. I’ll have to dig that one up.

The presidential debate. I had a much different take than ben. I’ve said on a number of occassions that one of my biggest gripes with Kerry is that he just doesn’t connect with my inner being. Mostly when he speaks, I just see this career politician who knows just what to say and how to say it to ensure that he doesn’t piss off his core interest groups. I also get the feeling that he get’s “handled” way too much by the campaign people that tell him what Poll X is saying about his wind swept hairdo. I yearn for the days of Clintonian “connectivity.” Sure, sometimes Bill was a little too slick even for my taste (“…it all depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is”), but he felt my pain (and he got some, for which I also have respect). Anyway, so, after the first Presidential Debate, I felt that Kerry connected. He was somehow more human, more relaxed, and seemed to me to talk more from the heart rather than from what the handlers had told him to say that day. However, even if you didn’t feel the Kerry love, I’m really not sure how one could call it a tie. All Bush did was repeat the same kindergarten level bullshit, “Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong time.” I mean, if Bush said that line one more time, I was going to break my second cell phone in 6 months. I will say that he struck me as having some interesting things to say about Korea. This is what I got from Bush out of the debate:

(1) We need to stay the course. No matter how many heads roll, no matter how many troops get their testicles blown off by roadside bombs, no matter how much $ it costs taxpayers, the plan is to stay. No exit strategy. Perhaps that’s because Bush figures we might as well take out Israel’s next biggest antagonist in the region once we’re done. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, “we’re pursuing a strategy of freedom around the world, because I understand free nations will reject terror.” Hmm, first of all, when the fuck was it our responsibility to bring our brand of freedom to the world. I suppose then we have a lot of wars to fight, and i assume that means that we’ll be back in Vietnam and..China? And free nations reject terror. Shit. Oklahoma City bombing. Anthrax. Turn on the 10 o’clock news, if that’s not terror, send me to Guam.

(2) Justification for the war is now: “The world is safer without Saddam Hussein.” I’m not even sure about that. But, even given if it is, was it worth it? If the voter out there doesn’t look at Iraq and say, “Damn, that was a dumb idea, what a COLOSSAL ERROR IN JUDGEMENT!!” then GOD help us.

Ack, it’s 12:07, and I have a 6:45am flight. I will be back. I am happy to see that these pages are alive with good info. I especially liked the thoughts on OIL and Web Browsers. I will have to comment on these next time.

Oh, and as for the Common License, I reserve the right to call Johnnie Cochran at any time if somebody tries to profit from my wisdom, or lack thereof.

i remain,

pessimistic about the future…for now.

PS:

Favorite Bush Quote from the Debate:

“I don’t think we want to know how he’s going to pay for all these promises. It’s like…its like a huge tax gap. Anyway, that’s for another debate.” When he said that, it reminded my of my days at USC…LIKE, OH MY GOD, Like, did you see her outfit! Her outfit is like…a total fashion gap!

Katie is on an interesting quest to find free tests that measure your acumen and intelligence. She made me take this What movie are you, test. I got this result:

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Then, to have more “fun,” Katie makes me take the other test, What famous leader are you? I got this result:

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I am putting up pictures from last month when Katie and I traveled to P-Town to surprise her mom and help with the baby. What does that mean? Yes, baby pictures!