:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 27.6.02 ::

Something i thought of about a month ago:

I went outside on my balcony one night when it was beginning to storm. I'd been on the internet for a while, didn't have my radio on (to a radio station anyways) and i don't own cable. If there had been some kind of tornado warning or something of that nature, i would have had no idea. When (not if, b/c it will happen) will the technology and drive be around to broadcast Emergency Broadcast System warnings to people that are on the 'net? It shouldn't be too hard to develop, and there's got to be some way for the government to override people's anti pop-up ad software. It could be really beneficial as more and more people over the last 5 years or so have been spending more time surfing around than watching the blather on tv.

A google search shows that I'm not the first person to come up with this idea, but some bastard is charging for it. It probably won't be long until he's out of business and the guvment has taken over. I wouldn't invest in any stock.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Wow. Cool link from the Suburban Limbo. Unique Caskets. Go out with flair, i suppose. Some that I thought were extremely strange...

"Memories of the Hunt" - (scroll down to bottom) - Go out telling people you didn't go out silently, you took many an animal down with you. Yee haw!

"Return to Sender" - (once again, scroll to the bottom) - For your more comically-inclined cadavers. Tongue in cheekbone, i guess (rimshot!)

"New York, NY" - proving yet again, that nothing is sacred.

But since I'd rather be cremated, I dig the rock urns (down, on the right). I like the idea of putting them in a garden, but w/o a placard on it, so that it's a lot more subtle. That's how i wanna go. Who cares if they say they're for pets? Not I, said the duck.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Wanna get rich? I'll give you the idea. Just send me to grad school, and that's all i want. Make a marketing firm that specializes in selling advertisements on semis. There're so many blank one's out there, and there's just bound to be money in the market for it. They're driving billboards, and they're everywhere (especially anywhere on I-35). So please, someone, do this, get rich, and give me a scholarship. Thanks.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I've recently realised that there's a pretty big difference between books you can read leisurely and books you can read in public. Since I have a 20 minute commute both ways on the train, i had to find a book with short chapters that I didn't have to concentrate a lot on. So, I picked up Hemingway's "A Movable Feast" last week, thinking it would last me a while if I only read it on the train. Wrong. I'm done. It's a pretty good book though. It's just a recollection of Ernest's time in Paris when he was a young, struggling writer on his first marriage, but living the life of the "artist". He hung out with Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and a host of other now famous or infamous artists. I've always liked Hemingway's style, except for maybe "the old man and the sea" which just dragged and dragged and....

There were some pretty funny parts in the book though. One is when he talks about F. Scott Fitzgerald's self consciousness about his, er, you know.... He even made Hem look at it b/c he was afraid that it wasn't enough for his wife Zelda to be satisfied by. It's definitely not the usual take that you get from one of the last century's greatest writers. There was also an amusing anecdote at the end of the book where Hem talks to some rich people about his writing, and how he is embarassed by his reaction to their taking a liking to it. It goes like this:

When they said "It's great Ernest. Truly it's great. You cannot know the thing it has," I wagged my tail in pleasure and plunged into the fiesta concept of life to see if I could not bring some fine attractive stick back, instead of thinking, "If these bastards like it, what is wrong with it?" That was what I would think if I had been functioning as a professional although, if I had been functioning as a professional, I would never have read it to them.

A pretty good light read, I say.
:: Scott [+] ::
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My birthday's pretty much over. It was also fairly anti-climatic, but so goes life as you age, i guess. No one at work knew it was the day, and i didn't exactly broadcast it. Plus, nobody sent me flowers, so what can you do? (damn you Kruggel!) But I wound up going to tulsa on saturday for about 35 hours or so. Picked up some birthday goods from the 'rents, which is always nice. Did a bit of shopping that I've decided to dub "cultural necessity". I finally got a copy of Douglas Adams's "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", all five books in one handy volume. I'm embarassed to say I've never read even a sentence of it. I need to. That's why I bought it. I also picked up a CD that I'm completely humiliated to say that I didn't own. That being the Pixies' "Doolittle". It made the car drive home last night a lot better. I've listened to that album dozens of times, but never bothered to buy it until i was no longer around people who owned it. Life's weird that way. I got a handful of other books too, but you'll hear about those as I read them. I am still pleased to think that I'm still in my early 20's though. I think 24 is when you finally move into the "mid's". That'll suck. I think I'm just going to ignore my birthday from now on. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Work is going well, except i didn't have much to do today, and I was pretty bored for most of the afternoon. I'm borrowing the office of a lady who just had twins while i'm waiting for the guys in tech to set up my computer account. She has a window that faces the Grassy Knoll, and it's fun to sit out and watch tourists. A guy at work told me that the JFK museum is the most popular tourist destination in dallas, which doesn't surprise me at all. There's even people who stand there with video cameras, taking still shots of the building for like 45 seconds or so. I tried to wave to one yesterday, hoping that it will bring a smile to their faces when they watch their vacation videos. I can just imagine them sitting there though, with a still shot of a seven story brick building for a minute, and eventually just fast forwarding through it all. It'd have to get old after a while, no?

It really kind of tripped me out when I left work for the first day and I almost ran into someone taking a picture of the building. I still like the fact that I work in a historically cool building, and the sheen hasn't worn off yet. None the less, it's still work. I'm sure the more I'm there the more I'll see it as that and start resenting the tourists who accidentally walk into the administrative part of the building regardless of the numerous signs that say "no access to sixth floor museum here. County business only" on every door. And they don't mean that in a bad way. The two sections of the building are completely seperate. You can't get to the sixth floor from my elevator. I don't know. Maybe I'll just start messing with them for grins. I'm sure I can come up with some sort of evil plot, no? Got any suggestions?
:: Scott [+] ::
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Color me unpatriotic (it wouldn't be the first time) but i was kind of glad the U.S. got knocked out of the world cup. (I meant to post this stuff yesterday, before the game, so that if they lost, it wouldn't seem like gloating, but you'll just have to trust me on that one). Don't get me wrong. They played pretty well, and deserved the wins that they earned. But for the U.S. to have won would have been so....boring. The last thing we need is for the states to take over the world's sport. We already kick their butts at every other major sport (just watch olympics basketball) (hockey excluded). I have always liked the fact that the U.S. finally struggled at something. That the national team sucked. Finally someone else had a constant leg up on us. They still do. The World Cup bandwagon has stopped, you may exit to the right. I'm not one of those people that complains a lot about the lack of soccer coverage in the states. I guess the 'net has pretty much solved that problem. And I think the World Cup has been covered pretty well this year, as it was in 98 and 94. When the U.S. team fails to qualify, then we'll see how well it's covered.

And don't get me wrong here. I have nothing against the players on the U.S. team. Okay, maybe Claudio Reyna and Casey Keller. But Casey didn't play, allowing Brad Friedel to step up and show his stuff off. And he played impressively well, in the games that I saw. So, you're asking yourselves, who do you want to win scott? I'm wierd in that I never really root for teams in the World Cup (i think i've mentioned this here before). I would like to see someone who's never won it win (i.e. not Brazil or Germany). Senegal would be a trip if they won. Or Korea would go nuts, but people would get suspicious of a fix. Turkey would be appropriate, as this has been Cup O' the Upsets. And I said before the cup started that Spain was my dark horse, but they don't belong where they are now. If the game against Ireland hadn't gone to PK's, and was just OT after OT, Ireland would have won easily, as the Spanish team was destroyed. Oh well, that's the way the cup spills, i suppose. I'm just looking forward to these last five matches and finding out who wins (Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease God, anyone but Brazil)
:: Scott [+] ::
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oh yeah, i turn 23 on monday.
:: Scott [+] ::
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stealing from MeFi: discussin here.

"An asteroid the size of a football field just missed the Earth last Friday. Coming in fast out of the sun, where we ain't watching, it missed us by an astro-paltry 75,000 miles (a third the distance to the Moon). If it had hit, the impact would have been about 10 megatons -- not a planet-killer, but enough to spoil your picnic.

This guy's comment kind of asks the same question i had:
just a random question for you astroidophiles out there: would it have been worse for earth if the astroid has hit the moon? like would our tides go out of wack or every fifth person turn into a werewolf or something?

Okay, not so much the werewolves, but the whole tidal thing intrigues me. My friend Dave and I, on a late and silly night, decided to write a short story about how the U.S. Gov't decided that Commie China was too much of a threat, but they knew that an all-out war would not go over well. Instead, they decided to secretly destroy sections of the moon and flood major sections of China, throwing it into turmoil. So, they send spacemen up to the moon under the guise of exploration or something, and begin slowly destroying it. It starts to work, as sections of China begin to become flooded. The Pres and his cabinet decide that they're quite proud of themselves and decide to go public with the knowledge. Shortly thereafter, Hawaii floods, destroying the entire state. Then California. Then the rest of the Coastal Americas. Whoops. The story ends with most of the Earth being destroyed except for the highlands of Tibet, thereby leaving Earth to the Chinese. Or something like that. We had a lot of fun discussing it though.



:: Scott [+] ::
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Hope I don't piss Sean off, but this post from the twinlog reminded me of an incident at the Miami Zoo in the Summer of 2000. I was there with Denise, her mom, and her brothers when we went by the Galapagos Turtle exhibit. There, we saw two giant Gala. Turtles making babies (and I saw one of the babies, and it looked at me). One of the most fascinatingly bizarre sights I've ever seen. What's your favorite animal love story?
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry, not dead, just busy. The first few days of work have gone surprisingly well, with little to no screw-ups, and a pretty decent level of comprehension on my part. I kind of started at a super busy time b/c we're right in the middle of the budget season (as the fiscal year starts 1 Oct.) so i get to run the gamut. Probably not a bad thing, though. I still haven't figured out how this whole new work whilst maintaining hobbies thing is going to work out, but I'm convinced it will. I don't even have my ID on my computer yet, so I've been on a lady's who just had twins. Once I get on, though, we'll see about sneaking in some stuff. One thing I know for sure, adjusting to waking up at 7 has been an absolute bitch. I'm digging the train rides, though, and the people in the office are pretty good, as far as co-workers go. Not much to complain about, which is all I can ask for.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I'd love to see Martha Stewart go to jail for this. She may go down for insider trading, and it sounds really, really sketchy. I heard about it on NPR this morning, and here's you an article. It's a good thing.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Remember Pinball? I sure do. I loved pinball. Now, it seems impossible to find a machine to play on. Back when I worked at mazzio's, we had a rotation of some great machines. I always like the Addams Family, Star Wars, Lethal Weapon 3 (which i remember as being really easy), and especially the Twilight Zone game, with the special white power ball. I was thouroughly disappointed when we went to Dave and Buster's (and arcade/bar/eatery/pool hall) and there wasn't a single pinball machine in the place. One of the major manufacturers, Williams, closed its doors a couple of years ago after sustaining losses and a decrease in demand. Damn internet. Oh well, a walk down memory lane served me well. Find a place near you to play some pinball here. Or, you could just go pro.

I started a MeFi thread using a tweaked form of this post. See what happens here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Well, I survived my physical, and assuming I passed my drug test, i'm starting work in the morning. I've met everyone in the department now, I think. One lady had twins yesterday though, so I don't think I'll be seeing her anytime soon. I'm also the only person besides the new mom that doesn't have a master's degree, and i'm pretty sure i'm the youngest person there by at least four years, so the first few days should be quite intimidating. I was told by the secretary this morning, as she walked me over to the doctor's office for the physical, that quite a few people applied for this position, so hopefully i was the right person to be doing the job. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Saints be praised, I'm gainfully employed!!

Since Sean already leaked the news to the blogging world at large, I figured I'd go ahead and make my official celebratory post. I'm employed. And a short 13 months (minus two days) since I graduated college. Ugh. Anyways. I'll be working at the Dallas County Office of Budget and Evaluation as a Budget and Policy Analyst, which i'm pretty happy about. I'll be working with a lot of the County Courts on efficiencies, budget requests, things of that nature. I get a cubicle and in six weeks i'll have business cards. Wow. And all two weeks before my 23rd birthday.

Almost as cool, I'll be working in the old School Book Depository. Yes, that one. The museum is on the sixth floor now, and my office is on the third. I also get to take the DART light rail to work, which is nice, even though I only live about 15 minutes away. I get comped for taking mass transit, plus, no rush hour traffic, and it's happier for our dear Mother Earth.

Anyways, as you can tell, I'm pretty excited. I start on Thursday, assuming I pass my physical (which includes a syphilis test!?!) on Wednesday morning. More news to follow.

Is my Blog HOT or
NOT?
:: Scott [+] ::
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One of my two favorite weather phenomenae occured today. It poured (and I mean poured) for about 10 minutes today while it was completely sunny. Rain during sun is so cool. Must've just been a little cloud that had a load to drop. Aah. Simple pleasures, i suppose. For the record, my other fav isn't so much a phenomenae, but i love it when it snows at night, and your driving, and in your headlights you see the flakes zooming at you and you get that really cool "Warp Speed Ahead" vibe. Works best in the middle of nowhere where there's no other lights.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Oh, man. I'm so psyched. Sonic Youth is touring the U.S. in late summer. Playing here in Dallas Thursday Aug 1, and Austin on Friday the 2nd, which i may wind up going to just to go with some friends. If any of you from Chicago are interested, they're playing the Metro on Aug 17th and 18th. Like I said, I'm psyched.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Aw, crap. First Joey, now Dee Dee Ramone is found dead at his apartment, apparently of an accidental overdose. Time to bust out the Ramone's albums and give a glowing tribute.
:: Scott [+] ::
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My sister and her husband are coming in tonight on their way to a wedding in Lawton, OK on Saturday, and I'm super psyched. I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving and I haven't seen her husband in over a year. And she's only been married for just over a year and a half. oy vey. Oh well, I'm trying to get my place cleaned since she's like Martha Stewart with a severe beer habit. Should be fun though.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Wow, color me surprised. The U.S. beat Portugal. Crazy. Even without Claudio Reyna or Clint Mathis. The U.S. played well, but Portugal looked like a bunch of lazy snobs for most of the game. And i felt really bad for Jeff Agoos after the own goal. I've respected him for a long time, and I'm sure this will be his last Cup, so that sucks. Oh well. The U.S. have a pretty decent chance of making it out of their group now, so long as they beat Poland and don't lose to Korea by 5 or something. Love the World Cup!
:: Scott [+] ::
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One of the coolest pics I've seen in a long while. Lynching of a clown. (via the bitter shack of resentment)
:: Scott [+] ::
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Looks like Rivaldo could face a penalty for his charade yesterday. Good. It won't hurt Brazil too much, as they play the weakling China in their next game, but this crap has to be punished.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I finished reading the short story "Poor Folk" by Dostoyevsky sometime last week, after leaving it alone for a few days. It's a pretty good read, though probably only for the hardcore Fyoder fans. It was written when he was 22, which is a pleasant surprise. It takes place in the form of two uh, poor folk, one young woman (presumably in her early 20's or maybe a little younger) and an older man (gray, balding hair, losing physical capacity, whatever age that was in 19th Century Russia) writing letters to each other. Struggles with being poor, futile love for each other, sacrificing everything for the other, etc. Worth reading for a Dost. fix, but if you're not very well read in his works, there's others I would suggest first.

There is a good quote that I'd like to share with you though, out of context, of course. It's from my favorite scene in the book:

(This is Makar Alekseyevich, the old man, writing)
But from then on, everything seemed all wrong and unpleasant, just one bad thing after another; it's as though one picked up in everything only those impressions that are concordant with one's state of mind, and it's always like that. I walked up and down outside the house three times, and the longer I walked, the worse I felt.

You're smart enough to get something out of it for your own life w/o me telling you what I got out of it for mine, right?
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sign seen in the Political Science section at Borders:
Please do not deface or damage books. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

I'll leave that for you to play with.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry for the absence of blogging, but it's world cup time, what do you expect? I've been trying to catch as much of as many games as I can, but I haven't been able to see as much as I'd like. I caught the second half of the Argentina/Nigeria game, and I was quite impressed with both teams. Group of Death indeed. (A/N/England/Sweden). South Africa has taken the title of dirtiest team in my mind away from Uruguay, who is still damned dirty. I watched the first half of the Mexico/Croatia game and was surprised at how well Mexico played. I guess the new coach has got something good going. Also watched the replay of the Brazil/Turkey game today. I hate Brazil. More than that, I hate Ronaldo. and he scored. ugh. Brazil got away with a win, though. I was thouroughly impressed with the Turkish goalie, Rustu. I'm surprised he's not playing in a major premeire league. Maybe he just likes it better in Turkey. Good for him. Tonight's Costa Rica/China match will be good watching in the morning replay. Denise is rooting for CR mainly just b/c they're the only Central American team. They shouldn't have too much problem against the Chinese squad. The first US match, for those interested is Wednesday morning around 3:30 CST, I think, against Portugal. It should be a slaughter, but we'll see. Aaaah, ya gotta love it.
:: Scott [+] ::
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