venti half-caf non-fat with-whip caramel machiatto

2004.03.31 20.16

I'm rebuilding my WebSphere environment. It's hosed. Shouldn't take long. In the meantime, I've been busy. There's this gadget that I want to get, but I think I'm gonna buy it for my dad since his 59th birthday is coming up in May. Perhaps I will test it to make sure it works. Heh. I'll be buying it in Delaware, that's for dang sure. I'll reveal what it was after May 8th in a grand ceremony. I'm trying to book Siegfried and Roy, only I heard that Roy might be afraid of my parent's cats. Tsk, tsk.

It's nice to report that Queen Beth is now an official MovableType blogger. Feel free to install crazy CGI and PHP scripts on the box, Beth. If you drag the box down, I'll get a faster box. It may be useful to point out that I'm not sure who I'm going to see Madonna with. It's so odd to come full circle once again. I bought my tickets to see Madge in 2001 while I was still in Houston and completely unaware that I'd be working in Philadelphia. I figured I'd just fly to the show (since I was in the 7th row). I'm 5 rows further back this time, but I saved a *lot* of money as a result. Yeah, it was bad. I'm still looking for better deals on eBay and CraigsList, but being in the front and center section 2 isn't too shabby no matter what row you're in. When I get home tonight I'll post all the crappy pictures I managed to take with my Casio wristwatch camera. I plan to sneak in a super nice digital camera this time. If they make me take it back to the car, fine, I'll take it back. When I went to the concert last time I thought I was such a rebel. I should have noticed that there were hundreds of cameras with little wimpy flashes going off all over the stadium. I hate to break it to those people, but their little flashes didn't actually illuminate objects that were a thousand feet away. Somehow I think that if I passed out pamphlets that said that, people still wouldn't believe me. You know, like George Bush.

I got a response from ''The Real World Philly'' team. Here's the email. I'll include the mail header data just for fun. My comments follow below.

From: "Real World Philly Photos" <photos@realworldphilly.net>
To: [removed] 
CC: sisser@realworldphilly.net 
Subject: Photo Usage 
MIME-Version: 1.0 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 
Message-Id: <E1B8nFF-0007x9-9g@eagle.dnspropagation.com<
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:27:33 -0500 
Content-Length: 289 

Hello Mark,

Thank you for contacting us regarding the photo usage. One of our 
designers must have overlooked this fact.

We will gladly put a byline and link on our home page within 24-48 
hours.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Sincerely,
The Real World Philly Team
--

One of our designers? Has anyone seen how ugly the site is? This same designer also stole a few of the other images that are on the site. I'm still in the process of identifying their rightful owners. Am I disappointed by the lack of an apology? Yeah. I am. However, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I'll reveal exactly what that means in a few days. Stay tuned, kids. You too, Jason. And hey, don't forget that I'm coming into Houston this weekend.

they stand in the way of love and we will smoke them all

2004.03.30 19.13

Saw Prince's Musicology concert last night at the King of Prussia Regal Cinema last night. It was broadcast live from Los Angeles so it didn't start until 11 PM. The experience was unusual since I've never seen a live performance on a movie screen before. People clapped, cheered and sang to the screen. Of course, nobody could hear them, but it's the thought that counts. Prince was outstanding. His first set included a few tracks off his new CD Musicology but mostly consisted of his hits. The didacticisms were non-existent. This was classic Prince. After a short pause he came back for an encore and played acoustic guitar all by himself for several songs. He was slowly joined again by his New Power Generation band members and finished off the concert with Purple Rain. I'm going to the concert in August. My co-worker pal Will was kind enough to invite me to both shows. I have to say, if you have the chance to see Prince live, you should go. Even though I had to sit next to the My Wife Won't Talk To Me But I'll Talk To You™ guy, it was good times. This guy nudged me about 20 minutes with his insight into what the next song was going to be, how Prince did similar things at his induction ceremony, and how he couldn't believe people were speaking to the movie screen. I grinned and tried to ignore him. You know, like George Bush.

yeah, I did it again

2004.03.29 21.33

We have received your ticket order for:

  Order ID           60?????
  Purchase Date      Monday, March 29, 2004   
  Event              Madonna
  Venue              Wachovia Center
  Date               Monday, July 5, 2004 @ TBA
  Section            02
  Row                13

  Tickets ordered    2 @ $655.00 each
  --------------------------------------------------------------
  Listed Total       $1,310.00
  Shipping           $9.00
  --------------------------------------------------------------
  Total Cost         $1,319.00

electrical engineer

2004.03.27 20.36

I'm typing from my co-worker Heather's laptop today. I woke up this morning and took my dog for a walk toward the Old Seaman's Church, home of the upcoming Real World Philadelphia. I took photos of interesting locations along 3rd Street that the Real Worlders may visit. I plan to do the same thing to adjacent streets tomorrow. It was a beautiful, 70 degree day. The dog enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. I then went to aforementioned co-workers place to install an IKEA Magnesium™ light fixture. These things are so cool! I had to install an electrical box so a visit to Olde City Hardware (located at 41 South 3rd Street) was in order. They are so helpful there! I found everything I needed. A second visit later to get mounting bolts sealed the deal. I'm not going to Home Depot again if I can help it. If you have the means, I highly recommend them. I used the hardware to install aforementioned Magnesium and now the bathroom is super purdy. You'll recall that last weekend much painting was involved. My work in there is now done. I can't wait to do the same thing to my place in Houston. One day. [sigh]. I am on the books as working here through 12/31/2004 as I've said before, so we'll see. I'm still having fun, though, so who knows?

Speaking of my work, I have to catch up with some missed hours from Friday. I ended up spending the day at home waiting for the filthy Comcast repair guy to show up. My cable modem service has been iffy at best as of late. The guy never showed up, and when I called they said he'd already come by and claimed I wasn't home. LIES! I went downstairs to the manager's office and asked if he'd come by there. Nope. I then checked out the video surveillance cameras. Nothing. Lying bastards! I'm the only person in the building who seems to know how to use their software, so they give me the love when I visit the Manager's Office. I went back upstairs and canceled my cable modem service. I'd done the same thing to the Warner Cable cable modem earlier that morning. My roommate DP hooked us up with DSL so we're gold there. I decided I'd try out the DSL here in Philly. You have to get Verizon to do it, so I was on the phone with Verizon for the rest of the afternoon. They're nice those Verizon people. I think if I'm like the millionth customer I get to go on a date with Catherine Zeta-Jones. I don't get to use my tongue when kissing though. That sucks.

I went to a pub called Charlie's which was only half a block from me this whole time. Nice place. They've got two pool tables and a decent bar and seating. Last weekend we went to a place called Loui's (pronounced Low-Wees) and it was super duper crowded. I could at least breath at Charlie's. We only stayed out til' 11:30 PM so there wasn't enough time to truly cause a commotion. Perhaps tonight. There's a dinner party with several friends (which was the whole reason why I had to install the light fixture mentioned in my earlier paragraph). We never really raise The Hell™ when we're out, but we do a fair amount of raising The Heck™. Go figure.

stolen copyrighted photography

2004.03.27 0.25

In 2001 I went to Pat's and Geno's and took photos of their Philly cheesesteaks. There's a site up at RealWorldPhilly.net that's using one of my photos. Of course the f*ckers aren't crediting me (at least as of the time I'm writing this). It really pisses me off that my legal notice ''Reproduction of content without prior written consent is prohibited'' goes ignored. I pay a third party licensing company a fee to keep an eye out on any photos I've taken thanks to the magic of digital watermarks. I asked the guy who runs this site that, at the very least, I should get a credit or byline for the photo. If I get the byline, this blog entry will vanish mysteriously and will be replaced by a cheery entry encouraging you to visit their site. Until that happens, I'm pissed.

planVacationBO.java

2004.03.25 19.04

I need a vacation. With Uma. She can bring the kids. I know I was in Mardi Gras for three days in February. Was that good enough? Long enough? No. I recently toyed with the idea of taking a trip in the DeLorean. When I was in Houston a few weeks ago I attempted a 100 mile roundtrip. Miles 1 through 42 were great. Miles 43 to 92 sucked. I actually turned around after mile 42 because the performance I was getting from the engine was really bad. When I start off I can get the car to do 88 MPH (or more) without a problem. After I'm driving for 35 minutes, however, I can't get it past 60. Going over hills slows down the car to as slow as 50 MPH or less. Not good. I constantly try different fuel treatment cleaners but apparently to no avail. One day I'll bite the bullet and go with the zero mile engine performance upgrade. It's tempting. I have no reason to do it while I'm working in Philly, so I guess driving the car any great distance is out of the question. The Batmobile is still under wraps with an electrical problem as well. To make things even more interesting, I bought my dad's 162,000 mile Toyota Corolla to use while I'm in Houston. That's 4 cars if you count the Mitsubishi. I'm thinking about retiring the Mitsubishi and getting the Honda Element instead. Is that wrong? Will my ability to pick up hawt girls be adversely affected? I guess if someone is going out with me for my car then I've got other problems. Okay, fine. Consider it done.

dispute over

2004.03.24 6.58

Good news. The Real World Philadelphia is back on like Donkey Kong. Philly Mayor John Street sat down with both the producers of the show and the unions and worked out the dispute over the use of non-union labor. I assume this means that the union guys will now get to watch the non-union guys do work. Perhaps they'll call it union supervision. Whatever. I'm already plotting how I will change my daily routine. For one thing, Chew is going to be taking a longer damn walk in the morning and evening. I think I'll be eating at Old City Pizza (located across the street from the Seaman's Center). There's a Starbucks across the other side of the street. Real World removes references to actual store names and brands, so you'd probably never know if they were in a Starbucks or a Einstein Bagels. There's clubs up and down 3rd and 2nd, but the swankier joints are around the Rittenhouse area in the teen streets. I predict the Real Worlders will stick close to home base. Did I mention that Fox's COPS was filming at Mardi Gras? They nearly ran me over more than a couple of times while they dragged unsuspecting partiers away. ''What'd I do? What'd I do? What'd I do?'' was the usual mantra I'd hear as the crew filmed an overly righteous cop dragging away someone who was probably doing the same stuff everyone else had been doing -- only they did it at the wrong place and the wrong time. Those Mardi Gras cops have to show off for the show. So, my point in bringing that up is that if I didn't accidentally get my ugly mug on COPS, I'm definitely going to accidentally get my ugly mug on Real World.

my 180th entry

2004.03.22 20.52

This weekend I volunteered to do some painting for a friend. I thought it would take two hours. It probably did if you count Painting Time, but I forgot to include Putting Masking Tape Everywhere Time, Getting The Drop Clothe Right Time, Complaining About Getting Paint On Myself Time, and Waiting For Stuff To Dry So I Can Put On Another Coat Time. Don't forget the ever popular Oops I Ran Out Of Paint Time and the classic Find All The Spots You Missed Time.

i want my mtv

2004.03.18 5.29

MTV was three weeks away from starting production on ''The Real World: Philadelphia'' -- until yesterday. Apparently someone from a local union had threatened to keep picketers outside the shooting location 24/7, as well as promising to follow any cast member that dared walk outside. This would have basically ruined the show so MTV decided they didn't want to bother with the hassle and pulled out. Isn't this blackmail? The union guys call it negotiations. The result of MTV's departure is that Philly loses out on some sorely needed nationwide publicity that would have been repeated for years and even sold on DVD. This city has enough problems trying to retain their younger people and an even harder time trying to get new young people to move in. This has resulted in people like me (from Texas) getting to take on a job that someone from Philly could have done. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the shortage, but in the long run this town could have used the publicity benefits that would have come from the show. I went to a locally sponsored protest outside the Seaman's building yesterday where the show was to be taped. It was only a block from my apartment so I brought along Chewy. I saw Joe Vasquez of NBC-10 coming up with some really good questions, seemingly on the fly. Joe's wife used to work for the e-business firm I work for back when we were all in Houston. They're a cool couple and I've been lucky to hang out with them for breakfast at Famous' deli every once in a while. You can watch Joe's segment covering the protest here. You won't see me -- Chew and I were off camera, gritting our teeth because the crowd could only come up with a weak ''WE WANT OUR M-TV'' chant. Embarassing.

late

2004.03.17 1.43

I now have two phones. I'm not happy with the Verizon service. I'm even more unhappy that I forgot my charger in Houston. I'm relieved that an issue I had (which I didn't realize was an issue) is now no longer an issue. I'm really tired. It's 1:32 AM in the morning. I'd go to sleep if it weren't for the fridge in my apartment making so much noise. It sounds like it's churning butter in there. I'm procrastinating about sending in my speeding ticket paperwork and doing my taxes and submitting my expense report. I'm glad I saw Starsky & Hutch two weekends ago. Funny! I'm just as glad that I saw Secret Window this past weekend. Scary! Okay, that's enough. I'm getting too verbose.

return of the phone

2004.03.12 6.18

Turns out my company was dumping their SprintPCS contract and switching to Verizon (unbeknownst to me). The smooth transition that'd been planned went wrong. Apparenently we signed up for the SprintPCS We Really Hate That You're Leaving™ Plan. It includes a surprise-timed interruption of service with a bonus of SprintPCS CSJs (customer service jackasses) answering their helpline phone and teasing you about what their monitors say. The same night the phone went out there was an emergency with a coworker who lives near me. She ended up spending the night in the Jeff emergency room (a.k.a. Jefferson Memorial). I can't use my cool Matrix phone on the Verizon network. I can't argue with the price (free) however, so I'll keep my yap shut and so I can keep calling my mom and dad.

And speaking of... I've since called my mom and learned that the bugs are coming from the trash that the neighbors are storing in their house. These are the white trash neighbors who live next door. I don't think the bugs are coming from them personally (being as how I've mentioned they're white trash), but from their trash-trash since they can't afford to pay for trash pickup. The head of the house died recently due to her alcoholism and now the Daughter Who's Churned Out Babies From Three Different Guys™ is officially in charge. I'm thinking they'll be gone by the summer. I told my mom I'd buy their house and bulldoze it if she wanted. Not interested. She'd rather move into a new house. New houses are nice. They're, well, new. The house I own was new when I moved in back in 1978. It's not that it's old now, but all the cool stuff that comes with new houses is clearly missing. You know, the home bling. I had a dream that I bought a bunch of houses in my neighborhood and turned that into a lucrative rental side business. Unfortunately I don't recall exactly how I got the money to do the buying. I must have dozed off during that part of the dream. It sure wasn't from playing freakin' blackjack.

system to the shock

2004.03.08 22.57

My mom called me today and left a voicemail saying she wanted to move to a new house because there were little bugs in the air. Sounds to me like something died somewhere. I tried calling her back, but when I hit SEND I heard this:

''Thank you for using American Roaming Network. Charges will be $2.99 per call, $1.99 per minute. Please enter the number you wish to call, area code first on your keypad'' [beat] ''Your call cannot be completed. Thank you for using American Roaming Network.''

WTF? Confused? I was. I tried getting back into my voicemail. Same problem. I cycled the power on my phone. This has the effect of disconnecting and reconnecting with the network. I tried voicemail again. I got this:

Your account could not be validated. If you are a Sprint PCS customer, you can reach customer care by hanging up and dialing *2.

I tried *2. They didn't want to tell me anything other than my account was ''closed out on 3/8.'' I'm like, ''Isn't today 3/8?'' They were all, ''Yes, yes it is.'' So I was all, ''Why don't you just say it was closed out today instead of saying it was closed out on 3/8?'' They told me they were just reading what was on the screen. I asked them to read the part of the screen that told them why the account was closed out. They didn't want to read that part. I was like, ''Oh come on, what do I have to do?'' They told me I had to call my representative at the Houston office and they'd read that part of the screen to her. I told them I couldn't call my representative because my phone wasn't working. They apologized and said it wasn't their fault and that they were sorry. I asked them if they were sorry about the giant pothole I hit back in December. They said they had nothing to do with that. Nevertheless, I still have my suspicions. I asked them if I was being punished because my ratio of calls to my mom and dad was out of balance with calls to my client. Sprint still wasn't ready to impart The Truth™ about why my account closed, although they did say that having a close relationship with the folks was a good thing and nothing to be ashamed of. So, now I'm sitting here staring at my useless phone. I'm wondering if my mom's gonna be mad at me for not calling her back. I was gonna tell her how to find that bug spawning dead body. Oh well. I miss my phone.

absorbing the video

2004.03.01 21.55

I'm encoding my video from Mardi Gras as I type this. I'm only on tape number three out of a total of five. Inquiries about the tapes (for their aesthetic value) have persisted, so I've got to get on with turning them into DVDs. My camera claims to have anti-jiggle software built in. I have my doubts as there seemed to be an awful lot of jiggling going on. Yes, that's as funny as I can get right now.

I ended up working 14 hours on Friday in a row which may sound impressive, except for the fact that I only worked two the day before and had to make them up. I didn't do much on Friday after working so late. Saturday night I saw Jon Stewart at the Tower Theater on 69th and Ludlow. He was awesome. Topics covered included The Passion of the Christ (he was glad they were specific that this was about ''The'' Christ as opposed to, say, Bob Christ). Funny story about his dog's short term memory problems. Lots of political coverage. I was in the third row from the stage. The two seats in the row in front of me were empty the entire time. Not too shabby! After the show I went out and met up with some friends and we hit two bars. Sucked. Not the bars -- the people we met. I'm suspecting that the majority of people who troll the bars aren't the smartest pickles in the barrel. Is that my ego speaking for me? Why, yes it is. I need to find out where the smart people hang out. I'm worried that they're all playing a MMORPGs and speaking in EQ slang. Maybe if they had a bar where you had to display your I.Q. on an I.D. card. I took an I.Q. test (which really was just this spam advertisement) and got a 132. Does that mean I'm smart? I dunno.

I propose a ban on any commercial that uses the sounds from AOL Instant Messenger. Like Pavlov's dog I'm trained to look in the lower right-hand corner of my computer to see who's chatting with me. Forget about Janet Jackson's bodily appendages -- let's ban those sound effects.

I have an online dating profile that's had extremely limited success for me. I've met one girl from on there. She was nice but ultimately not compatible. I'm sick of my profile, however, and I've decided to create the most super geekiest profile I could ever hope to invent. I'll report back on my findings in this latest super genius social experiment. What was my last social experiment? I bet a buddy of mine that I could get past the security dude guarding the private party at the club we were in on Saturday night. Took me three minutes.