Ok, since I’ve already started down this path; here’s a useful term I coined several years ago:
snotrockletize (accent on last syllable) - the generally inadvertent act of blowing a snot rocket onto something (or, heaven forbid, someone). Example: “Damnit, the wind shifted and I snotrockletized my shoulder!”
Here’s a funny story of ’snotrockletization’ from Ireland for your edification.
Yeah, I know; I’m basically just an overgrown ten year old with (a little) more discretionary income and way too much free time.
There are several reasons that I have never eaten, and plan never to eat, a Hot Pocket. The main reason has nothing to do with the bit (see video here) that Jim Gaffigan does about them in his stand-up routine (that is one of the reasons, though).
My reason? I can’t hear the name without automatically thinking ’snot rocket’.
I know what you’re probably thinking: “Yuck! Why on earth are you writing about ’snot rockets’?”
Why? Two words… grass pollen.
Oh, and if you are an eater of Hot Pockets, good luck not thinking “snot rocket” from now on whenever you bite into one.
You’re welcome.
Back on May 9th I ordered a hard to find CD (Together at the Bluebird Cafe
- Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark) through an “Amazon Marketplace Seller”. The confirmation email said that they would ship my CD by the 11th. The 23rd rolled around and still the CD hadn’t shown up, so I decided to drop them an email and see what was up. They promptly emailed me back saying:
Hello Greg,
thanks for your mail.
We already shipped your order, please remember that shipping from Germany to the USA may take 5 to 15 working days.
kind regards,
Sonja Foelsch
Oh!
I wrote back:
My apologies, I didn’t realize (or had forgotten) that it was being
sent from Germany. Thanks for the quick response.
Greg
As I sent my reply, I laughed to myself, “Of course, that means it will come tomorrow.”
It did. They always do! I can’t count the times I’ve gotten impatient while awaiting a package, emailed the sender, then had the package arrive the next day. What’s the moral to this story?
Should I:
- Be more patient, or;
- Get impatient sooner, thus expediating the package’s arrival?
I wonder.
In the spirit of John Cusack’s Character, Rob Gordon, in High Fidelity (itself a worthwhile piece of cinema and recommended viewing), I have compiled my list of the Top Ten Live Rock Albums. While I share John/Rob’s obsessive desire to make lists, I find I can’t seem to limit mine to just the “Top Five”, Letterman’s “Top Ten” format suits me better.
Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order (mostly).
So, what are your top five/ten albums? Any genre; just try to run a common thread around them. Share away, the comments await!
Over the years I’ve had mixed feelings about Greg Lemond. When he won his Tours de France; the way he won (overcoming a 50 second deficit on the final stage, a time trial, to defeat Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds) and under those circumstances (after being accidentally shot by his brother-in-law with a shotgun, nearly bleeding to death, and still carrying 37 shotgun pellets in his body, some in the lining of his heart) elevated him to near-mythic, super-human status. Over the ensuing years, some of his comments about doping in the sport, particularly those directed at Lance Armstrong came across (to me at least) as sour grapes or as a former athlete trying desperately to reclaim a piece of the spotlight.
Now there’s this news story. Very briefly; apparently, according to Lemond, Landis phoned him, they conversed and Landis admitted to having doped. But wait, there’s more. From the article:
LeMond went on to reveal that he told Landis that keeping dark secrets can ruin one’s life, then relayed his own story of being sexually abused as a child, a story LeMond said he had shared with only a few people and never talked about publicly until Thursday.
Then, Lemond gets a threatening phone call, the caller purporting to be the uncle who’d abused him. The call is traced back to Floyd Landis’s business manager, Will Geoghegan, who was promptly sacked and who admits to (and naturally apologises for) having made the call, saying he was upset and had had ‘a beer or two’. Really, Will? You did something that despicable and utterly stupid as the result of having ‘a beer or two’? That is some scary-ass brew!
Holy-fucking-guacamole! Could this whole mess get any more sordid and bizarre?
If you believe Landis (which is becoming harder and harder to do), it’s all either:
- A) Ineptitude on the part of the French testing facility or,
- B) A massive French conspiracy not just to take him down, but to get him to turn snitch and incriminate Lance Armstrong.
Given the events of the last few years (Virenque, Pantani, Ullrich, Hamilton, Basso, et al.), Lemond’s assertion that virtually the entire pro peloton is doping is seeming more and more plausible. It’s utterly heart-breaking.
…If they’ve been wanting to convert to WordPress, that is. WordPress 2.2 just came out, and among other improvements, it now features:
A new Blogger importer that is able to handle the latest version of Google’s Blogger product and seamlessly import posts and comments without any user interaction beyond entering your login.
I’m not complaining, but I do wish this has happened before I wound up seeking out a PHP script to do the deed. I’m sure the built-in importer is vastly simpler and much more streamlined.
If you’ve forgotten (or missed them the first time around) here are some posts detailing my frustrating first (failed) attempt at making the switch:
And then, succeeding:
This reminder from the League of American Bicyclists:
Bike-to-Work Week from May 14-18 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 18.
Many communities will be having special festivities on the 18th, with some even providing donuts and such! Check your local listings, as they say.
As Matthew, AKA “Defective Yeti” wrote on his blog:
Trifecta
I like riding my bicycle to work. By the time I arrive at the office, my body is flooded with my three favorite substances: adrenaline, endorphins, and self-righteousness.
Add free coffee and donuts to that equation and it approaches perfection!
Also, on a more somber note, don’t forget that May 16 is the date for this year’s Ride of Silence
The other day I wrote about discovering a place where I could get my favorite jersey repaired. As is my habit, I procrastinated and didn’t get it mailed like I had intended.
Thursday was a perfect day for a ride, and since Thursday’s also one of the days that I-Pro (AKA ‘the bike shop’) is open, I again forgot all about the post office, grabbed the new bike, and headed out for a ride and ultimately, to the bike shop. Chatting with Roger at the shop and I told him of my jersey repair plans. He agreed that this sounded like a good idea and with my assertion that “it’s not like I could replace it for that price” (about $37 + shipping).
A little while later, I was browsing through his selection of gear and came across several of the ~2001 version of the shop/team jersey (the same as the subject jersey), tagged seventy-some-odd bucks, just as they were when I bought mine. Holding one up I asked:
“How long until you mark these down?” to which he replied that they already were, to (he thought) $30.
“Geez! Why didn’t you say something earlier? I actually can ‘replace it for that price’“, I laughed.
“I forgot I still had some of those in your size”, Roger admitted, rather sheepishly.
I had forgotten to bring my debit card along (usually not a bad idea to leave it behind when I’m going to the bike shop to browse), so tomorrow I’ll stop in and grab one (or both) of the smalls he has left. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a bargain, and those really are nice jerseys.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with the events during the May Day Demonstrations in LA.
Everything I’ve seen points to LAPD shutting down what appeared to be a purely peaceful protest (in full riot gear, firing rubber bullets into the crowd). The amazing thing to me is that they (LAPD) didn’t manage to escalate the situation into a full-blown riot, Lord knows they tried. Oh sure, the party line is: “They’re there to prevent a riot.” That sounds good on the surface, but it sure seems to me that at least as many riots are instigated by the police as by those later labeled “rioters”.
Brad, over at the Brad Blog shot some good video, check it out.
Jesus! What sort of police state are we living in? How far do “they” have to push before We the People decide we’ve had enough and start pushing back?
Here’s another well written report of the events, from la.indymedia.org You’ll find plenty more about the events on their front page, as well.
Update 5/4: More from Boing Boing here.
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