racing heart

2002.07.23 21.13

Okay, so here's how it went down. After the 6th doctor's office told me they couldn't get me an appointment until August, I decided to locate an Urgent Care Facility. Guess what? None are located within 50 miles. So I then decided I'd hop my ass on my skateboard and head to the Thomas Jefferson Hospital ER on 10th and Samson. Not too crowded. I did have to wait but once I got in I eventually saw the resident who quickly diagnosed me with skin dermatitus. Genius! I should have gone to medical school. Later on the attending showed up and acknowledged the diagnosis. Right after 12:30 PM EST I was released with a prescription for 5 days worth of Prednison. This is a steriod and with it comes some side effects: For me, the major effect is NOT BEING ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP! More on that later.

I went to Jim's and had a cheesesteak because I had to eat food before I took the meds. I then scooted down to the Eckard's at 2nd and South and presented my prescription. I freakin' love how a pharmacist can act as if she'd never met me before even though I never left and had been staring at them from the wiating room chair for 60 frickin' minutes. I eventually stood up and she was like, ''Oh, hi, can I help you?'' and I'm like, ''Uh, we've met before. Remember when you said you would have this done in 15 to 20 minutes?'' and she was like, ''Ummmm... what's your name?'' and I'm like, ''MarkShieldsSuperGenius'' and she was like, ''Oh, you're the guy who we can't fill out the prescription because your card was rejected'' and I'm like, ''Huh!?'' and she's like ''Yuh huh'' and then this Asian pharmacist gal stepped up to the counter and said something I could not understand, three times. I eventually looked past her to the original pharmacist chick and asked for everything back so I could walk across the street to the CVS Pharmacy -- where I should have gone in the first place -- stupid Eckhard's! CVS filled it within 15 minutes as promised. They rock.

It is now 3:22 AM and I have taken two benadryll and I'm not getting the least bit tired. Perhaps if I try to watch some Philadelphia community service television? My heart is racing and I am plotting different ways to program a wordwrap rule I'm going to enhance tomorrow. The blisters on my arms have subsided for the most part although I am still pretty itchy as everything starts to dry up and heal over. Wahhh!

Did I mention I bought another pinball machine? Gottlieb's Cleopatra, the first System 1 game the company produced back in 1977ish. They also made an electromechanical version (i.e. mechanical digits instead of digital displays). I've only heard bad things about electromechanicals so you won't see one in my collection. While moving the machine in the elevator a girl from the 7th floor said, ''Wow, a real pinball machine. Impressive.'' My response: ''Yeah, uh, I hate videogames.'' Lie. I happen to adorre Grand Theft Auto 3 and Quake III. Earlier another girl in the parking lot stopped and stared and I think she mouthed the words ''You're moving?'' and I was totally confused cuz I'd never met her before and didn't know she cared. Riiiight.

Must try to sleep now. Pictures of yucky arm and new pinball machine are coming in the next update.

doctor, doctor

2002.07.22 7.00

It's 7 AM Monday morning and I've been playing phone tag with a bunch of doctors office phone numbers. Nobody is in at 7 AM. Most of them provide an emergency contact phone number but recommend that you wait for normal business hours. What I love is when they don't tell you what those hours are. Am I supposed to guess what they are? Should I know them by osmosis? On Friday I made a very unspirited attempt to contact my Houston doctor but instead spoke to the PA who said I probably didn't need a shot and that I should just ''stay the course until the poison ivy eruptions subsided.'' Now that I may have an infection I think I'm going to get a little better treatment. If all else fails it's emergency room city, baby. I hate the ER. I used to work in one and you can always bet that the triage nurse will rival the personality of The Wicked Witch of the West. For the uninitiated, the triage nurse is who decides how critical you are and how long you have to wait until you are allowed out of the waiting room and into one of the non-trauma rooms. Bleah. That poison ivy plant is going to die when I get back to Houston on Friday. Weed-B-Gone, come to me.

dreaming of cortisone

2002.07.21 21.15

My arm now officially aches. I'm seeing something cloudy in some of the blisters today so right now I'm thinking things are going south on me. Gotta call up those Cigna bastards and squeeze them for info about getting a doctor here in Philly. Oh, have I mentioned that Cigna has been *stupid* enough to keep accepting claims supposedly made by me from some doctor's office in Atlanta? Apparently that office has a patient with a social security number that's one digit different from mine, but the buttmeisters over there keep getting the number wrong. It's happened three freakin' times. If it happens a fourth time I'm gonna call up that office and demand free ice cream and all of their waiting room magazines. Cheeky bastards! My poison ivy covered left arm is aching double time just thinking about this.

I'm not just being funny about the arm hurting. It looks terrible to boot. I have been hiding my arm when in public and using my right arm whenever possible. I know I shouldn't feel like I'm a freak of nature, but I happen to look the part. Here is a short list of alternate afflictions that I've considered using as reasons why I look like this:

• Starbucks Coffee exploded all over me in a tragic Breakfast Blend mishap.
• Rash is punishment for being so good looking and smart as a whip.
• Had terrible accident with arm eating rats on the set of Fear Factor last week.
• Inadvertantly making MTV Jackass audition tape using matches, congac, my left arm and my crepes suzette recipe.
• Experienced an aiming problem when trying out my heat vision super powers.

More later. Wah. Somebody make it stop.

2 AM and pulsing

2002.07.18 21.17

I managed to pick up some freakin' poison ivy over the weekend. Every summer I get a little too close to something in my yard and I get some degree of poison ivy. Well, this year I practically humped up and down all over the bushes around my mailbox while I was vainly hedging and weedeating. I don't know how long it has been growing there, but apparently this has been the mysterious source that has been plaguing me for the last 4 years. What I got in return for my lawn manicuring endeavor was a left arm covered in poison ivy as well as some exposure on my right arm, my face, my lips, and a bit on my chest. There is one other rather horrifying affected location, but I'll just leave that up to your imagination. I am sure it will make for a terrifying story that I can tell my future children lest they ever go into the woods and find themselves faced with the enemy that is poison ivy. In two weeks I am sure I will be fine again, but in the meantime I am loading up on Calamine and benadryll, the latter which puts me into an instant coma if I take two of them. My reaction to the benadryll is almost like attending the interdisciplinary classes I was forced to endure back in college, only a hell of a lot cheaper.


Two photographic examples of my enemy poison ivy. You bettah recognize!


Back when I was friends with Poison Ivy. Little did I know.


The entire cast of DragonBallZ. Presented now for no reason whatsover.


This fireball represents how my left arm feels right now. Enjoy the looping effect.

sight unseen

2002.07.14 21.18

I have no idea why I feel this way, but I'm just going to come out with it. I have been a fan of ''The Osbournes'' since the show started. What I don't get is why eldest daughter Aimee has been avoiding the spotlight. It's like she's ashamed of her family. What else is everyone supposed to think? Probably 90% of the millions of people who have watched the show probably have no idea she even exists. She also flaked out of the Poppa Don't Preach recording session according to news reports. Yes, what was going to be her debut as The Hidden Daughter turned into a flake session. Luckily Kelly Osbourne stepped up to the mic and made her family proud. Maybe this has to do with the fact Aimee was once dating Taylor Hanson after having paid $15K in an auction to meet him. She needs her private time, right? I'll tell you what, if she does show up in the second season like they say she might, she needs to backhand her little brother Jack. He gets none from Kelly. Okay, I think I'm obsessing again.

never lose your cellphone

2002.07.13 21.19

So I am at home tonight, Saturday, here in Houston. I lost my phone around 3 PM and didn't find it until a few minutes ago. Stupid pockets. I hate them. They are the bane of my existence. If we could eliminate pockets we'd be a lot better off. Women with no pockets have the right idea. I just got through listening to my voicemails. One person got ticked off. One kept calling try to find me. And yet another called to see if we could do something. Now I'm ending up not doing nothing. Bleah. I could be in the Best Western Ft. Washington doing this.

Plane trip yesterday was uneventful save for the fact that this very large drunk guy was harassing the dude sitting in front of me. He was all ''F this'' and ''F you'' and ''I know you want me to F off, right? Right? Right?!?'' to the guy in front of me. I avoided eye contact and looked pissed off while I wasn't sleeping, so I got away scot free. I was prepared to burp, dribble, snort snot and fart if necessary. Stupid obnoxious drunk guys suck. Stupid obnoxious drunk girls, however, may contact my manager for an appointment.

I am trying to put together a decent machine to game with my fellow Java developers. Specifically Quake III is to be the means with which I slay my coworkers over and over. Unfortunately I can't find a machine on hand that can do OpenGL so it looks like another trip to MicroCenter is in my future. My cable modem in Philly is no where as good as the one here in Houston. I am considering running a server here (no graphic card is necessary) and using that machine whenever a one on one with a cocky framework developer needs to happen.

The trailer for ''The Truth About Charlie'' came out today. I updated MarkWahlberg.com with some new flash on the home page. Check it. I also have some updates for Jim Wahlberg coming soon. He has a fundraising event in October that I hope to attend and cover as far as photo/video. The premiere for ''Truth'' will also be happening that month, so I assume these things will be related. Not sure if Universal will hold the premiere in Los Angeles or Paris. The film was shot in Paris so I'm getting my passport renewed, dude. I'm tentatively bringing the sistah with me if things are stateside. I need to start making movies, right?

I have gotten a little eBay crazy in the last month. As I mentioned last month, I bid (and won) on a Star Trek flying ship toy, a replica Back to the Future prop, and a pinball machine. A Charlie's Angels pinball machine. Yeah, well, I was looking for something interesting with a digital display and affordable. I know, I should have just bought a digital clock, right? To top off the week, I also stopped into IKEA and bought three unfinished pine clocks (one set to Houston time, one set to Philly time, and one permanently set to 10:04 PM), two transparent chairs that have a light in them, nine 4''x6'' unfinished pine picture frames, a small unfinished pine table (notice a pattern yet?), a shelf for the bathroom (yes, unfinished pine), a light fixture with red, green and yellow buttons that can be lit independently, three of those wooden doll wire thingies (see the picture below and look to the far left) and, last but not least, 30 glass tea candle holders and a bag of 100 tea candles. I don't get why they call them tea candles. They taste like wax.

super apathy man

2002.07.08 21.21

Yes, I know I am really in a rut as far as updates go. I've been mostly busy with other computer related activities, but don't think I haven't been preparing cool stuff. For example, click here to see my side by side comparison of Pat's and Geno's cheesesteaks. These two businesses are here in Philadelphia and are across the street from one another. They're both open 24/7 and their prices are identical. Once you examine their food, however, you start to see differences. I used to totally hate cheesesteaks before I came here. What we make in Houston is usually a sad misrepresentation of the real Philly Cheesesteak. So, click the link and learn something new. Pretty pictures accompany the article, of course. Who do you think I am?

I've been living in my new apartment for over two months now and so far I've furnished it with a second hand bed and desk. I've been keeping the rest of the place bare and I like that a lot. However, I've decided I needed something unique to liven the place up. My answer? Pinball games. They're better than arcade games because you can find a PC emulator for almost all the old classic arcade games out there. Pinball is different because you can't emulate the physical nature of the game. There are bells and bumpers and paddles and those holes that the ball falls into and pops out of and flashing lights and tilting and sounds coming out of the display. My first target, courtesy of the fine folks of eBay, is a Charlie's Angels pinball game. I've got to show off my sensitive side, okay? So what better way than by inviting three hot female detectives from the 1970's into my humble abode? We'll see in less than 24 hours if I've won the auction or not. Fingers crossed!


The first pictures above were taken on 06-30-2002, the night before I *finally* got my DeLorean inspected and registered again. I installed all of the time machine gizmos in the car in the hopes that the inspectors would be so stupified by the cool nature of the car that I'd get whatever waiver I wanted. It worked. A few hours later I was standing in line at the courthouse to get the registration sticker now that I finally had my elusive inspection sticker. I snapped these two photos below as a start of my homage to Back to the Future, my all time favorite movie. The DVD set of all three films will be released on December 17th, 2002! Licensing issues are all taken care of and there are lots of goodies on the disks for geeks like me to salivate over for weeks on end. Yay. Okay, so look at these pictures now and be impressed by my artistic eyeball.

The third photo above is a picture of a prop replica I bought off eBay. I've gotten rather fond of these replicas because buying the real thing tends to be a fairly expensive venture. There are a lot of prop ripoffs out there as far as ''Back to the Future'' is concerned, but occasionally you'll find something unique even if it's a fake. This little red Chevrolet convertible is just like the one Doc Brown used to 'test' the DeLorean hitting the clock tower plan at the precise moment the lightning strikes. Yeah, the test didn't prove anything other than the fact that the little car was very flammable and could have been the reason why his mansion eventually burns down. You see Doc put out the little car's fire with an extinguisher. Okay, yeah, I'll stop bothering you guys with my insane BTTF trivia. Buhbye.