Friday, September 14, 2001

9:23 PM
Maybe I'm underreacting by thinking that some groups are OVERreacting. Maybe I'm about to sound real callous. But every time some pro athlete talks about how he won't feel safe playing in a stadium filled with 50,000 people, I tense up. It's like they're not thinking at all about what happened. I don't have a political science degree, but it seemed fairly obvious even at lunchtime on Tuesday, that the goal was to strike at the perceived or metaphorical seats of America's power, financial and military. The WTC and the Pentagon (and potentially the White House or the Capitol, if that is indeed where the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was headed) are THE icons of our financial and military power. They were the targets because those are the things that are behind the oppression and injustice visited upon the people who did this, or at least that's how I look at it (which I think is hardly an unusual viewpoint).

I don't think that any sporting venue was ever thought of as a target. Yes, thousands of people gather at them during games. But killing thousands of people wasn't really the goal. If it was, they would have tried to hit Michigan Stadium or the stadium at Tennessee or the Rose Bowl, all of which hold over 100,000 people during games. The goal was to destroy the symbols of our financial and military power, and anyone killed is a side thought. You here people talking (and they will be for some time) about how much the skyline has changed now, or how they remember standing on the observation deck of the WTC, and how they can't believe that such gigantic buildings are just GONE. THAT was the point. You can never forget what was done, because the visual reminder if RIGHT THERE, every time you look at the skyline.

I don't think the plan ever was to target a ballpark or a football stadium, nor do I think the plan will be to do so in the future. With the possible exception of season ending championship games, like the Super Bowl or the World Series (and even with the Series, it spans multiple games in two different parks). I think that American sports icons are low down on the list.

Even if I'm completely wrong, what do you do? No amount of beefed up security is going to keep another plane from crashing into a stadium. I read that they installed metal detectors at Comerica Park, and all over the (sports related) news, there's been talk about how one reason it was too soon to play games was that there wasn't enough time to increase security measures at the venues. Come on, folks. Metal detectors aren't going to solve the problem, and there's no real reason to be all that worried about being safe at a ballgame.
       Yap, punks!

3:53 PM
I kind of have to shake my head at the "new" changes implemented at airports to "increase" security. I mean, if you look at how the hijackings were pulled off, it was because of crude makeshift knives, threats of a bomb (which hold water if you don't know the things we knew on the ground), and acting threatening. Ending curbside check-in isn't going to help. Not letting people park 300 feet from the terminals isn't going to help. Not letting non-passengers go past security isn't going to help. Yes, I suppose there's the arguement that one person could buy the ticket, and that person AND the hijacker could go to the gate, and the hijacker could then take the ticket/boarding pass and get on the plane. But can't someone fake a driver's license and do the same thing? I doubt that they pulled the bait and switch manuver, though. It seems like the changes are meant to make people *feel* safer, not necessarily *make* them safer. As far as we know, there were no bombs used in any of the hijackings. Bombs are hard to get through security already. Plus, in this case they were jus tone more risk of failure. If the bomb went off by accident, then they couldn't hit their target. Making passengers get on the tarmac to identify their bags before they're loaded into the cargo hold? Oy.

Where are the things that might matter? Re-enforced doors on the cockpit, or maybe a keypad entry system on the cockpit. If you can't bust into the cockpit, you can't really hijack the plane. That seems like it'd solve a lot problems right there.

Ah well. I don't suppose it was fair to expect the changes made in air travel to make sense.
       Yap, punks!

Thursday, September 13, 2001

4:25 PM

I see the Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth
Like the Chinese call the country of their birth
We all figure that our homes are set above
Other people than the ones we know and love
In every place with a name
They play the same territorial game
Hiding behind the lines
Sending up warning signs

The whole wide world
An endless universe
Yet we keep looking through
The eyeglass in reverse
Don't feed the people
But we feed the machines
Can't really feel
What international means
In different circles, we keep holding our ground
In different circles, we keep spinning round and round

We see so many tribes -- overrun and undermined
While their invaders dream of lands they've left behind
Better people -- better food -- and better beer
Why move around the world when Eden was so near?
The bosses get talking so tough
And if that wasn't evil enough
We get the drunken and passionate pride
Of the citizens along for the ride

They shoot without shame
In the name of a piece of dirt
For a change of accent
Or the colour of your shirt
Better the pride that resides
In a citizen of the world
Than the pride that divides
When a colourful rag is unfurled

   -- RUSH (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Leifson), Territories

Espcially notable are the last part of the 3rd section and the 4th section...
       Yap, punks!

1:28 PM
Why is it that we as a society can put men on the moon, probes on other planets, wipe diseases off the face of the planet, build machines that can do the work of thousands of minds in the blink of an eye, save lives by moving organs from one person to another, and send information across the world in the blink of an eye. We can do all of that, but we simply cannot find a way to get a haircut without getting tiny cut hairs down the necks of our shirts. Why?
       Yap, punks!

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

11:23 PM
I can't help but think about the movie _The Seige_. That, and Tom Clancy novels. The main theme of _The Siege_ was that the terrorists wanted to make Americans live the way people of their countries lived. Oppressed and in fear. They wanted a police state, a total disruption of the way of live we're accustomed to. You have to believe that the goal here was very similar. I don't want to give them the satisfaction. Even if I am scared (which I'm not, I think I'm far enough removed from it all), I don't want to show it. Some people have said they want to enlist so they can help punish the people who are responsible. I don't (I do in spirit), because logically I know that by the time I'm trained and ready they will likely have identified and taken action on the parties responsible. Not to mention Kayla. But I do want to show them they failed to break us. I want to do something, fly somewhere, just to show them we're still alive and kicking.
       Yap, punks!

11:16 PM
One of the ongoing debates in all of this centers around the sports world, and when it's okay to play games again. Personally, I think this weekend is fine. 5 days, we'll have gotten most of the *news* out. Of course, the rescue work will be ongoing, but there won't be a need for 24/7 coverage repeating the same things over and over again (which is about where we're at now, sadly). Sure, some stations will still be putting on that 24/7 rehash, showing footage of debris being moved out, but it's not news at that point.

A while back, someone in my organization (ITCS, formerly ITD, the infotech arm of the University of Michigan) committed suicide in his supervisor's office. It happened overnight and was found in the morning. People were back at work a day or two later. Today, millions of people went back to work, myself included. For most of us it wasn't all that hard, to be brutally honest. I didn't (to my knowledge) lose anyone close to me. Those who did probably didn't go back to work, and that's understandable.

Anyway, I think that sporting events can be used as a means of helping to heal. 15,000 people gathered on campus here Tuesday night for a vigil. Certainly something similar can take place all over the country, before or after a game. On top of that, teams/universities can donate proceeds to disaster relief funds, as well as collect donations of money or supplies. The Red Cross could set up blood donation stations. There could be a nationwide memorial from 11am-noon, and the games could kickoff at 1pm. Holding these events could be a source of strength as well as a sign to the people who are responsible for this attack that our country goes on.

I know there's the other side, and I respect it. I won't have any objections or complaints if anyone decides to cancel an event. This is all just my opinion. But the players of the NFL are starting to irritate me. At least the ones vocally against playing. Maybe they're trying to be loud because they don't think the owners will listen to them unless they are. I'm sure there's some suspicion that the owners are heartless profit mongers afraid of losing money to cancelled games. I think a lot of the above ideas could show they're not, but that's political mistrust from events past. If millions of ordinary Americans can return to work the next day, if millions of students from elementary to college can return to class the next day, then surely football players can prepare for a Sunday game. All kinds of rescue workers never stopped working, including people who lost friends and co-workers before their eyes.

Sure, there are exceptions. I would think that the Giants, who are scheduled to play at home would be one. The games scheduled to be played in Baltimore and Washington too. But there's no reason a game couldn't take place in Tennessee with visiting Cincinatti. If a player has lost a friend or family and doesn't want to play, who can argue that? But I wonder a little about a New York Jet player who's worried about flying to Oakland, though. I'm pretty sure they fly on a team owned plane, or at the least a private charter, not a publicly available flight. They know everyone who gets on board, they know the pilots. It's a pretty safe scenario considering the circumstances.

Life goes on. I don't see why next Sunday would be that much better then this. The WTC will still be gone, they will still be digging at rubble trying to determine how many people have died. Logistically, things have to stop for a while. Emotionally, things have to stop for a while. But the longer they're stopped, the bigger the victory is for the people who've done this.
       Yap, punks!

2:54 PM
Times like these I'm reminded how introspective and introverted I am. Yesterday morning, all I really wanted to hear was that my brother was okay. I didn't want to talk on the phone or to anyone if that wasn't the message. I didn't want people asking me if he was okay, because I didn't know. In any situation outside of work, I hate saying I don't know. That's an entirely different reflection, though.

Anyway, when I found out Tom was okay, I still didn't want to talk much to people. It was like for me, things were fine so I just wanted to think about the why and the overall picture. I was saddened, and a little angry by it all, but I wasn't crying and wasn't looking for comfort. I wasn't scared, I was mostly just wondering why.

I didn't call my parents, and didn't have much to say when my mom called last night. I don't like talking about situations when I can't DO anything about it. I don't mind communicating, I'd just rather it be written (online boards, e-mail, IM...) then spoken.

I'm just rambling, learning about myself.
       Yap, punks!

1:13 PM

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

   The Star Spangled Banner -- Francis Scott Key

Like a broken bone, we will heal and be stronger then before.
       Yap, punks!

Tuesday, September 11, 2001

10:46 PM
I'm kind of surprised by the reaction to all of this. All over the country, the Red Cross is swamped with people wanting to donate blood to help out. Never mind that for 75% of the country, they're too far away for their blood to be useable in the two crisis zones because there's no air traffic and no way to get the blood there in time. Which is fine, because blood is still (and always) needed. New York City is actually turning away volunteers because they have more then they can manage. NYC, a place more often linked with rudeness then kindness, has too many volunteers. That's good stuff to hear. Too bad there are people trying to charge $5 and $6 for a gallon of gas to wreck the moment.
       Yap, punks!

6:00 PM
So the gas station near us on the way to downtown Saline has already jacked their prices up twenty cents a gallon. Now, I realize that oil prices shot up today and with every mode of long distance transport (save the car) shut down that the cost of getting gas may go up (even substantially), and if trains are shut down long it may mean shortages in the middle of the country. BUT, nobody is economically impacted by any of that yet, and while you can make a factual case for acting as quickly as possible (raise the price now and you're less impacted when costs go up...), come on. Thousands of people died today. Couldn't it wait?
       Yap, punks!

1:36 PM
I've been watching CNBC as my news source today. Mostly because it was on that channel (I trade stocks, so I tend to watch some CNBC before work normally). One of the things I TRULY don't understand about this is some of the financial reaction. Airline stocks got hammered in Europe today (U.S. Markets are closed). Why? British Airways is down 30%. I would have to guess that some of that is related to fears of a rehash of 70s like oil problems. But OPEC came out and said they won't pull that shit (probably a smart call, because if they did who knows what an angry W. would do). Fears that people would stop flying? Maybe. But beyond that, the whole market got clobbered. Down close to 5-10% across the board. Does Microsoft feel any impact from this? I'd think not. It just doesn't make any sense. If anything, you'd expect insurance companies to get hammered, because they're the ones who will have to pay life insurance, property damage, and all of that stuff.

I don't know. I'm just talking about something else to distract myself.
       Yap, punks!

12:13 PM
So the World Trade Center is gone. In the span of 2 hours, two hijacked planes hit the two seperate towers abtou 20 minutes apart. They later collapsed, the opinion being that the stress/trauma from the crashes and such were enough to weaken the building and that weakening resulted in the collapse. A third plane flew into the Pentagon in D.C., and a 4th plane heading east crashed in western Pennsylvania. The last one was hijacked, and someone on board called 911 before it went down reporting it.

It's stunning. I've been to the WTC, I've flown near (relatively) it in a Cessna. It's gone. Thousands of people work there and in the surrounding area. You can only hope that after the first crash at 9:00am, people started evacuating, and there were a lot of people gone by 9:15 when the second plane hit. And after that, you have to hope that in the hour following, even more people were able to get out of the building before they collapsed. Reports from people outside indicated people falling and/or jumping from the WTC after the crashes and before the collapse. People possibly trying to escape the fire and smoke. How many rescue workers had gone into the buildings between the time of the crash and when the buildings fell? Anyone still left in those buildings will probably die, if they haven't already. Rescue workers who were outside when the first tower collapsed could hear the screams of their co-workers trapped and dying inside.

My brother works there. I don't know if he's directly in the WTC or in a building nearby, but it's right there. Until about 5 minutes ago, I didn't know if he was okay. He is, thankfully, but there was a good 3 hours of nervous worrying. For far too many families, there won't be any relief of hearing that they're okay.

And for what? It's obviously a terrorist attack. You'd have to think it's Osama Bin-Laden, if only because he heads the largest terrorist organization in the world. And to hijack 4 seperate planes on two different airlines and manage to strike both towers of the WTC as well as the Pentagon takes an amazing amount of co-ordination and resources. It's logical to think that few groups/peopls can manage that. But what does he accomplish? Is the U.S. going to stop doing whatever unjust or evil things it is that he and his group rail against? Of course not. They're going to keep doing them, if only to show that terrorist attacks don't work. They'll try to hunt down the people involved, and kill them. But there are hundreds and probably thousands of people dead, probably who had nothing to do with the perceived injustices against the people represented by the terrorists to try and make a point. It's senseless.
       Yap, punks!

Monday, September 10, 2001

9:51 PM
So I'm slowly re-doing my website (again). Maybe I won't hate this design/layout before I'm done, which is what happened last time. Huzzah.
       Yap, punks!

10:25 AM
This weekend sucked, sports-wise. The Wolverines lose a game that they were controlling or even dominating for 59 minutes and 9 seconds. Two plays in less then a minute (a blocked FG returned for a touchdown and a deflected pass intercepted for a TD) saved Washington's bacon. It sucked.

Then Sunday got no better. The Lions got killed, I went 5-7-2 in the football pool, and went 0-6 on actual bets. Ouch. On top of all that, I broke out some Madded 2002 and I suck at that, too.

We got some much needed rain (though probably more then we needed), which is good. Might need to mow the lawn again this weekend, even. I got my full spectrum bulbs too, and they're cool. Though it is a weird adjustment to cooler blue-er light. Not to mention having about 200 watts of traditional light at only 50 watts of power means my office is a lot brighter then I'm used to. I'm not sure, but it may be messing (for the good) with my sleep patterns, being in a full spectrum, 200watt room all evening instead of the crappy bulb 100watt way it used to be. At the least, I was exhausted by 9pm all week and then this weekend with the new bulbs, I couldn't get to sleep before 1am.

Oh, and I threw my back out again on Saturday. It's only getting worse as I get older (and it goes out more and more. About 10 times a year). Doctor's won't do much other then to say "exercise the back more", which is helpful. Also why pro athletes (not that I'm even close to one) get back spasms (which is basically what this is), too. Used to be that it'd go away overnight, now it lasts a few days. Huzzah for old!
       Yap, punks!

Tuesday, September 04, 2001

5:02 PM
Long weekend. Thursday was the trip out to the Cottage. Standard 2 hours drive with a yammering 6 year old in back. Got out there and Barry and Amy were out there already with their cats. It was like 9pm, so we put Kayla to bed, then hooked up the PS2 I'd brought with me (in case it rains) and fired up some Madden 2001 and SSX.

Friday we went to play some golf in the "morning". I shot decent. Not all that well, but I putted and chipped okay. Back to the cottage, I think I took a nap. Tom and Melinda arrived at about 9ish but Tom's clubs had been detained (on a later flight). We quickly cooked and ate dinner, so Tom could go back and get the bags. Kayla ended up staying up until like 11:30pm, which was to bite us in the bootay later. Did more hanging out with Tom and Barry and such.

Golf very early Saturday (as in, got up at 6:30). Trying to wake up Barry, who decided to sleep in instead also woke up Kayla who'd had only like 6 hours sleep. Golfed like an epileptic on 10 cups of coffee. There wasn't a single thing I could do well all day. An unmitigated disaster. Salvaged by lunch at Richie's, a greasy spoon diner that makes good burgers. Home, more PS2 mayhem, watched the UM/Miami(Oh) game, took a nap. Dinner I passed on because I was still stuffed from lunch.

Sunday, I tried sailing. We have a little (11 or 12 feet?) fiberglass sailboat. First "trip" I didn't have the sail fully raised. In fact, I had it all set up so I could "raise" and "lower" the sail on the fly, which was stupid and resulted in feeble movement. Realizing something was amiss, I hobbled back in and we got the sail set right. This was good in that it allowed me to actually sail but it was bad in that by allowing the sail to fully catch the wind, it was very easy to capsize. Which I promptly did. I quickly realized that a key to sailing was to be generous in letting the sail turn into the wind during gusts (so it would be less likely to tip). Sadly, I was swimming at this point, with a boat on it's side. I tried for about 20 minutes to right the boat, which is tough while bobbing in the lake. I got it upright, at which point I realized I wasn't going to be able to get back in the boat, nor sail it from outside. So it tipped again, only it went all the way over. I needed to take the sail down, which was tricky with the hull upside down. Got that done, managed to collapse the sail. Now, flipping the boat from upside down to rightside up is hard, because the hull makes a vaccuum when it's upside down. I managed to get that done, and right at that point someone in a boat cruises by and says "Do you need any help?" 10 minutes ago, hell yeah. But I'd just done 90% of the work, and now just needed to swim/tow the boat back in. Oh well.

I did that very thing, anchored the boat and climbed out of the water. My mom and sister in law had been around the whole time, watching me but not being able to do anything. We laughed about it, and I had gotten my exercise for the day. Fun.

We went out for dinner, played more PS2, watched Mike Mussina pitch 8 2/3 perfect innings only to give up a hit to the current biggest dick in all of baseball, Carl Everett. This guy makes Albert Belle look like Mark McGwire. Went to bed, slept like crap again because I was in a twin bed that is too small (width-wise).

Monday was abbreviated, because Tom and Melinda were flying back to New York early afternoon, so they had to leave for the airport at 1:30. So it was morning, some more PS2, a boat ride with Tom on his (non-pontoon) boat that now lives at the cottage, and then back home. Later, we all went out on the pontoon boat to get lunch and eat pseudo picnic style on the boat. Then Tom and Melinda left and I packed up stuff for the trip home. Kayla and I came home, had dinner, and she went to bed while I had a fantasy football league draft.

Aren't you glad you stayed through all that? I'm so thrilling.
       Yap, punks!

5:00 PM
Long weekend. Thursday was the trip out to the Cottage. Standard 2 hours drive with a yammering 6 year old in back. Got out there and Barry and Amy were out there already with their cats. It was like 9pm, so we put Kayla to bed, then hooked up the PS2 I'd brought with me (in case it rains) and fired up some Madden 2001 and SSX.

Friday we went to play some golf in the "morning". I shot decent. Not all that well, but I putted and chipped okay. Back to the cottage, I think I took a nap. Tom and Melinda arrived at about 9ish but Tom's clubs had been detained (on a later flight). We quickly cooked and ate dinner, so Tom could go back and get the bags. Kayla ended up staying up until like 11:30pm, which was to bite us in the bootay later. Did more hanging out with Tom and Barry and such.

Golf very early Saturday (as in, got up at 6:30). Trying to wake up Barry, who decided to sleep in instead also woke up Kayla who'd had only like 6 hours sleep. Golfed like an epileptic on 10 cups of coffee. There wasn't a single thing I could do well all day. An unmitigated disaster. Salvaged by lunch at Richie's, a greasy spoon diner that makes good burgers. Home, more PS2 mayhem, watched the UM/Miami(Oh) game, took a nap. Dinner I passed on because I was still stuffed from lunch.

Sunday, I tried sailing. We have a little (11 or 12 feet?) fiberglass sailboat. First "trip" I didn't have the sail fully raised. In fact, I had it all set up so I could "raise" and "lower" the sail on the fly, which was stupid and resulted in feeble movement. Realizing something was amiss, I hobbled back in and we got the sail set right. This was good in that it allowed me to actually sail but it was bad in that by allowing the sail to fully catch the wind, it was very easy to capsize. Which I promptly did. I quickly realized that a key to sailing was to be generous in letting the sail turn into the wind during gusts (so it would be less likely to tip). Sadly, I was swimming at this point, with a boat on it's side. I tried for about 20 minutes to right the boat, which is tough while bobbing in the lake. I got it upright, at which point I realized I wasn't going to be able to get back in the boat, nor sail it from outside. So it tipped again, only it went all the way over. I needed to take the sail down, which was tricky with the hull upside down. Got that done, managed to collapse the sail. Now, flipping the boat from upside down to rightside up is hard, because the hull makes a vaccuum when it's upside down. I managed to get that done, and right at that point someone in a boat cruises by and says "Do you need any help?" 10 minutes ago, hell yeah. But I'd just done 90% of the work, and now just needed to swim/tow the boat back in. Oh well.

I did that very thing, anchored the boat and climbed out of the water. My mom and sister in law had been around the whole time, watching me but not being able to do anything. We laughed about it, and I had gotten my exercise for the day. Fun.

We went out for dinner, played more PS2, watched Mike Mussina pitch 8 2/3 perfect innings only to give up a hit to the biggest dick in all of baseball, Carl Everett. This guy makes Albert Belle look like Mark McGwire. Anyway, went to bed and that was Sunday.
       Yap, punks!

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

11:59 PM
So I got my cable modem today. It took me 6 hours to get running. In the end, I had to do exactly what the service provider doesn't "let" you do. See, the cable modems they "lease" (I use quotes because there's currently no option. You must use their modem or no service) come with both a twisted pair jack AND a USB port. You'd think, hey we'll save $30 and use the USB port instead of buying a NIC. You'd be wrong. See, the cable company says you can't use the USB hookup, and MUST have an ethernet card. When I ordered the service, I figured they were just using modems with no USB. I was tweaked when the install tech hooked everything up and sho' 'nuff, USB ready. Like a good soldier, I installed the NIC and played nice. All the while, joking with the tech about how the company is being either ignorant or a bully, and all that.

So all is installed, the tech gets the MAC address registered and I'm all set. Or not. Can't do any DNS resolution. Ping out just fine, but only by IP. Makes that whole internet thing kind of useless (unless you're jason fox). So I call the handy cable company tech support. The first person I talk to comes to the conclusion that the modem must be bad, and they'll need to send a tech out to look at it. Only they can't come until Tuesday. So I go back into it. Uninstall/reinstall the NIC. Uninstall/reinstall TCP/IP. Try more then one Win98 install CD. No luck. So I call back, maybe another tech will have more/different ideas. Nope. Repeat ad nauseum. Finally, I figure "Hey, maybe the NIC drivers are bad. I'd update them, but hey! I have no internet." So I decide to go to work to BORROW another NIC, and see if that works. At which point, I figure "Hey, why not hook up the USB way and see if they gripe when I give them the USB MAC address. So I do this, completely removing the NIC. I call tech support AGAIN, and get them to activate another MAC address. Hang up, go about the thing (must reboot modem and computer). No dice. Only suggestion left is to re-install windows. I loathe this idea like borscht or Thai Bistro. I'm trying to remember the command to manually backup the registry (scanregw!) while calling tech support one last time. I figure, if nothing else I can back up the registry, reinstall and then restore the registry (which will thwart fixing the problem is it's IN the registry, but I was pretty sure it was a control panel setting OR a bad .DLL/driver at this point). The tech says to check the WINS/DHCP setting, even though it shouldn't matter if it's set to Disable or to use DHCP. I agree, because I've checked that setting about 20 times today, and it's been both (seemingly randomly), and it never worked. So I set it to disable just for kicks and reboot. Now it works. Huz-fucking-zah. Tech and I are both stunned but we don't care (as techs are wont to do) why it works, only THAT it works.

I explain to him that I was bad and used the USB connection, but that I only did so to avoid driving to work to get a new NIC, because I suspected bad NIC drivers and was at least partially right. He said "No problem. We don't really mind if you use the USB connection. It's supposedly flaky and doesn't work well, but our techs will often hook it up that way if the customer doesn't have a NIC." Now I'm laughing (but irritated) about the whole NIC scam. In any event, the cable modem works in all it's "10 times faster then ISDN and 33% cheaper" glory. First thing I did with the new connection? No, not download porn (got all my life to do that). I bought ZoneAlarm Pro, because I guarantee that while I was watching South Park, some clown somewhere was trying to poke around the machine.
       Yap, punks!

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

1:27 PM
I slept like ass last night. I don't know if it was long weekend (having been home Monday with Kayla) late sleeping payback, or the encroaching storm, or what. Didn't get to sleep until after 2am, was up a couple times during the night and then up for good at 7:30 to get the school day routine in place. Now I'm beat. Is it nap time yet?
       Yap, punks!

1:21 PM
Kayla had her "first day" of school today. It was just an hour of orientation, showing kids around the school, meeting the teacher, filling out papers. Tomorrow is when the real deal gets going. Fun. Now the actual learning starts (the classroom was all decked out with reading and writing tips). Helps also that the school day is from 9-3:30. Monetarily, it's good to see day care costs go from $100/wk (to $175/wk over the summer) to $45/wk. Maybe I can stabalize the account balance now.
       Yap, punks!

Saturday, August 25, 2001

10:43 PM
How's this for catastrophe? I'm home alone saturday night, which leads to boredom (and thus to desire for sweets binge). The brilliant idea hits me to home craft a Reese's Pieces sundae, just like they make at Friendly's. So I gather up my gear and head to Farmer Jack, looking to pick up some ice cream, whipped cream, and reese's pieces. Down the candy aisle, where I'm met with the sobering realization that there are NO reese's pieces. I spent 15 minutes looking, and nothing. Not in the whole effing store. Not at the register, not in the candy aisle, nowhere. I'm crushed. Did they stop making them? OR is Farmer Jack on a one chain mission to bend me over and ream my boo-tay?
       Yap, punks!

Wednesday, August 22, 2001

2:30 PM
Steph came to visit, and it indirectly resulted in free dinner. We all went to Grizzly Peak last night, and the service was really slow. The waitress informed us during the meal that because of the slowness, we could have free dessert (or free soup/salad), and we all thought that was cool. The slowness wasn't a huge deal as we weren't in any hurry anyway. Then, the owner type person comes over later and starts kissing our ass. She mentions that the waitress told her she had decided to give us free dessert (here I thought she was going to revoke that offer), then she says that in cases like this she would rather just provide the whole meal free. Huh. No complaints there, and I suppose from a customer relations standpoint it's a good plan, because it made me think that I'd be more likely to come back in the future. In any event, free dinner is never bad.
       Yap, punks!

Tuesday, August 21, 2001

9:37 AM
I won the Radrick Farms Men's Club Championship on Sunday (fourth flight), which makes me the "Best of the bad golfers". I shot 41 on the front, which was great. I ended up 3up at the turn, and started running out of gas. I made an amazing save (hitting a towering sand wedge over a row of trees back to the fairway after a terrible drive) on 14 to get back to 2up, then lost a ball on 16 to be 1up on the 17th tee. I hit a solid tee shot and smothered the pin with a 9 iron, but got too excited and hit the birdie putt too hard and right and pushed the hole. 1up on 18, he hits his drive (which was "eh") and the lightning horn goes off. So we end up sitting in a shelter for 30 minutes, me getting nervous and my back getting tight. Finally get back out, and I hit a thin fade 4 iron short of his drive. I hit another 4 iron to the green, but 50 feet from the pin. He hits his 2nd into the rought short of the green below the hole. His chip is well long (maybe thinking the soaked green would catch the ball), and I hit my lag to 5 feet. His putt goes well past and he concedes. Huzzah, winning 2 up. That ends the boring golf commentary in this journal for at least a few days.

In celebreation (of sorts), I decided to get SummerSlam on PPV and invite Dwinn over. Mer and Julie subdued the computer so they could watch DVD movies and we all had massive amounts of ribs (well, I did and they all had goodly amounts). We learned that when choosing side orders, avoid the cole slaw (too small) and heavily consider the breadsticks (abundant). PPV was entertaining, which was to be expected.
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Saturday, August 18, 2001

10:20 PM
Played the semi-final match in the Radrick Farms Club Championship today. Won 2 and 1, in what was a (for me) nerve wracking match that went back and forth the entire round, until I went up 2 with a par on 17 (the first time all match someone had led by two). It seemed like any time one of us played a hole well, the next hole was a train wreck. I actually like my chances tomorrow, becase in going over my scorecards from the four tournament rounds so far, I 0wnz the last 5 holes on the coure. I played them +1 today (shooting what would have been a 39 on the back), I played them at +1 the round before that, too, shooting a 40. I don't know what it is, because 2 of the harder holes on the back are in there and many players think the last 3 holes are tough. But knowing (or at least thinking in my head) that I can, if needed, make up a hole or two in the last 5 is a good thing.

I should probably temper my enthusiasm because we're talking about the last of 5 flights (technically called the 4th flight because the best group is the Championship Flight), and the best in the group has probably a 14 handicap at it's best. But to hell with that, because we're all playing by the same rules, and we're playing in a group of fairly evenly skilled players. I finished 5th of about 16 in the stroke play, then beat the 4th and 1st seeds without ever being down more then 1 hole. I'm playing really well, even considering that we're playing from the white tees. The course rating is 3 strokes different, and the slope is 5 different, so I'm going to say that I can get a decent estimate of my score from the blues by adding 5 to my scores, which would give me two sub-90 rounds, which is good. I'm putting a lot better (which was a big hole in my game, I figure I've gone from 37-38 putts a round to about 32, which is 5-6 strokes right there. The rest is better course management, which boils down to not playing like a flaming retard. At the start of the summer, I would hit 3 wood or driver off the tee, excluding par 3s. Now (at least at Radrick), I'll hit 4 iron off a lot of tees. A lot of that is the difference between the blue and white tees, where if I were to hit a 3 wood I'd be 90 yds out which is my dead zone (right Tom?). But even so, on the 16th, a par 5, I'm hitting 4-iron/8-iron/9iron to the green. Even from the blues (which is only 30 yds longer), it'd be 4 iron/5 iron/9 iron, which is a lot higher percentage then trying to hit 3 wood/4 iron to hit the green in two. Yes, I'm hitting the ball a lot straighter and in the fairway more often even with the 3 wood. But still, smarter play and better putting are probably 9 or 10 shots a round and then better swings are only 1 or 2 (most of my bad swings have been crappy chips, and still are). Amazing that putting gets so little attention even though it's 40% of the game or more.

8:55 tomorrow is the final, here goes nothing.

Oh, an aside: I've played all 4 rounds so far with 4 balls total (I only had four of my "good" balls, Titleist Tour Professional 100s when I started). Today I lost one, for the first time. They were all pretty well beat up (as is to be expected after 72 holes with 3.5 balls) so I stopped at the local golf shop to get more. Only they didn't have any of that kind, so I had to wade through all of Titleist's ball propaganda to find the one that was closest. They change models every year but keep similar names just to frustrate us, I swear. It used to be HP2 Tour I wanted, then that vanished. There's HP Tour, but it's different. Yadda, Yadda. I finally found the one that was "tour quality distance and spin" as opposed to the rock hard balls for hackers to hit straight that won't stop even when hit into the face of a soaked green. Turns out that they had a sale where you buy a dozen and you get a sleeve of 2 (sample size) free. The sample? The damn Tour Professional 100. The good news is I can hopefully play a whole round on those two balls. The bad news is why the hell don't they sell them in dozens instead of giving them away in 2-packs that I can't then buy more of if I like them? Argh. Other good news, cute golf store checkout girl sympathized with my plight. Schwing!
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Friday, August 17, 2001

4:16 PM
Last night was cool. Mer and Kayla went to see The Princess Diaries, so I was on my own. I had read about 2/3s of the archives of 3 Finger Salute and as I kept laughing at the jokes, I kept saying "I need to get my ass going on the comic." This was because 3fs is funny, but the art isn't stellar. By that, I mean you won't find yourself confusing the art with Megatokyo or Johnny Public. But it wasn't mind-bogglingly bad, either. It certainly didn't get in the way of the story/humor, and that's the important thing. Anyway, reading about 85 strips like that made me feel like I didn't have to be great at drawing, I just needed to make sure the level of art didn't hinder the words. So I went home, and after Mer and Kayla left I gathered up all my art stuff and plopped it in Mer's office (since she has the only TV which will get UPN). Then, I ran to Dairy Queen to get a blizzard (I had planned on finishing the ice cream we had, but trying to spoon it out ended up in flinging the spoon across the kitchen). Returning home, I flicke don WWF Smackdown!, ate, and then managed to bang out a fully pencilled strip in less then 90 minutes. Which leaves about 2 hours of work left on it, but still. It was great to sit down, draw four panels, fill them, and not hate it.

I could go into the wacky dreams I had, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say there was giant turtles leaping in an aquarium/zoo that was situated inside a 2 floor suite apartment all done up in crappy 70s decor that I was looking at to possibly rent. Accompanied by Dylan and Valerie from 90210 (who were a couple). And that's just the sane summary.
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Wednesday, August 15, 2001

9:59 PM
A second entry because I feel a little guilty about Wendi's call for more posting by folks with blogs. I've gotten in a bad habit of only updating once a week or so, so here we go.

People MUST stop prasing the wild card in baseball. It's irritating, and it's also garbage. The only team that has been given any new life by the wild card this year is Oakland. Granted, they should be in the playoffs (right now, anyway) and it would be a shame if they were shut out simply because Seattle is playing on a whole 'nother level. But the other 5 divisions in baseball all have hot pennant races, for crying out loud! Cleveland and Minnesota duking it out. Minnesota is the weaker team, but Cleveland has a much harder schedule going in. New York and Boston in their annual race. Can Boston hold on long enough to get Pedro back? Is he coming back? Over in the NL, Philly and Atlanta. Will Philly fade? Does Atlanta have enough offense to win again? In the Central, Houston and the Cubs. Finally the Cubbies year? Will Houston pitch well enough to overcome Tenrun field? St. Louis is still sniffing around there as well. In the west, there's *3* teams all within 3 games of the title. How long can the Dodgers win with every pitcher hurt? Can Barry Bonds hit 71 home runs? Will it help his team win? What about Randy Johnson/Curt Schilling/Luis Gonzalez? The fact is, in the NL, you're going to have 3 races and 1 team who just didn't have the stuff to win their division getting a reward for being the best loser. To hell with that noise, james.

But you have every baseball talking head spouting about how much the wild card has made it exciting. How? Again, the next sentence is usually how it's basically saved the Oakland franchise, because they otherwise would probably not have traded for Jermaine Dye and probably WOULD have traded Jason Giambi (to New York, probably). Then, having traded their franchise guy and having no chance at the playoffs, the fans would stay home. Fine. But that's it. You have 5 other division races that are now a little bit less meaningful because the guy in 2nd (or 3rd) can set their sites a little lower on whoever is the wild card leader instead of the folks above them in their divison.

Bah.
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9:49 PM
I meant to write a long entry on Monday, but it got caught up in emotional mending. I'd been glum, that's my word for being depressed when I know or feel it's a very short term thing. Anything on the order of like 4 days or less is glum. I don't like to think about anything longer then that. Anyway, I'd been glum all weekend, starting on Friday. Work is part of it, because I'm bored out of my skull and the lack of things to do leads to introspection and that's bad. Anyway, I was peaking (troughing?) on Monday, all morning. I mean, it's Monday for crying out loud. So for lunch I decided to scarf down my SlimFast bar and take a long walk outside. Gimme some sun and hope that helps, right? So I walked for close to an hour, and did a lot of what amounts to journaling in my head. I had all this stuff worked out, about being depressed and dreading the coming fall/winter and the sunlight going away. Well, worked out isn't the right phrase. But I'd thought about it. To be honest, I kind of forget a lot of what I was thinking about but I ended up not being as sad as when I started. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was just coming to grips with life, I don't know.

We were at the cottage all weekend, which was good. Kayla had been at a summer YMCA day camp out there all week, and staying with my parents. Though being glum out there sucks (if only because the extra people make it impossible to not get irritated at them). Kayla had a great time, which was to be expected. Though the heat wave had broken Friday, so it wasn't as deathly hot anymore. This was bad, because it had gotten cool enough so that swimming wasn't enticing. That's 80% of what there is to do out there, and so I was bored. And glum, so I didn't have the motivation to draw, which also sucked. So I sat around, ate too much, and slept. Huzzah!

Saturday evening we went to a West Michigan Whitecaps game. They're the single A Minor League Affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. I think part of it was the fact that we were sitting out in the bleachers in the outfield, but I'm not sure I'd recommend single A baseball for a serious baseball fan. It probably would be tolerable, or even enjoyable, but we not only got to see the worst of the Whitecaps starting pitchers (from the stats anyway) get drilled, but we also saw the Whitecaps commit 5 errors. From our seats, we couldn't see the main scoreboard well at all, and there was this giant man, the "Bleacher Creature" being a big distraction. Granted, that's what they pay him for, to entertain families and kids, but it sucked if you wanted to watch the game. Banging on a giant pan, ringing a loud bell, shouting, all that Dancing Homer stuff. Oh well. It might be interesting to go back and sit in decent seats (esp. since they're close to the field), or it might make more sense to go to a AAA game.

Sunday was sleeping and fishing. Well, Kayla fishing and me hanging out with her. She caught like 7-8 fish (all small, all unedible sunfish and the like, and all put back). Though to be honest, she probably caught the same fish a bunch of times. Our cottage is at the very end of a narrow point, so there's a lot of fish "homes" around. She'd get her grandfather to put on a worm, and basically drop her line in the water and have a fish in a few minutes. She also developed her trash talking somewhat by telling me how much better she was at catching fish. I suppose next time I'll try a little.
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