Me, Myself and I

Some meaningless trivia about myself…

• I love a good lightning storm. The louder and brighter the better
• I love the smell of JP-5 and Diesel engines
• I’ve been stabbed and shot (at separate times, thankfully) both times by accident by people I knew very well
• I’ve been bitten by Brown Recluse spiders on 4 occasions (I thought 5, but my doctor corrected me)
• I’ve had acute Salmonella
• I stood atop the World Trade Center towers in 1986, and again in 1990
• I saw Fred Gwynn in a bar in lower East side of Manhattan
• I remember certain numbers forever:
  • Every phone number my parents had from 1970 to 1997
  • The serial number of my first bicycle in 1972 (N457110113)
  • I still remember my dad’s SSN (he passed away in 1987)
• I can recite certain things from memory that have zero value:
  • The chemical formula for Agent Orange
  • The Greek alphabet
• The first programming language I experienced was QBASIC
• The first programming language I was paid to use was LISP
• I don’t have a favorite food, color, musician, music style, movie or author
• I can roll my tongue, move my ears and my nostrils (without my hands)
• I saw two extra-large women with shaved heads walking through a Wal-Mart at midnight, attached to each other by a small chain connected to their nose piercings
• I was in the delivery room for the births of all four of our children
• My favorite beers are Ales, Bocks, Stouts, IPAs
• I don’t like Pilsners, Lagers or any “Lite” beers
• I once watched a man perform “I love Mickey Mouse” in the Times Square subway station at 1:00 AM wearing pajamas and playing a Casio organ with jingle bells on his feet
• I saw a car explode with a man inside and the firemen could only wait until it finished burning
• I saw a tail engine fall off a passenger jet as it rolled down the runway (nobody was hurt)
• I was knocked down in an airport by a runaway St. Bernard when I was 10
• I’ve been “run over” by a moped
• I’ve been hit by a speeding limo on 7th Avenue in NYC (only scratched up a bit)
• I saw a judge laugh at a cop in the court room after seeing the evidence she carried in
• A dog I once had fell over while trying to urinate
• I had a cat that used to crawl up on top of a bush and sleep there all day
• I’ve watched a snake eat a frog
• I’m a carrier for Group “A” Streptococcus.  I rarely show symptoms when I have it, even while those around me don’t appreciate that very much.  If anyone in my family gets Strep Throat, I also get treated.
• I’ve watched a Hawk carry away a rabbit
• My childhood friend Mark and I were the first in line to see the first Star Wars movie on opening day at the old Newmarket North mall in Newport News.  We cashed-in aluminum cans to pay for the tickets.
• I pronounce “S” sounds incorrectly due to a combination of years of boxing and a nasty car accident in 1981.  I’ve been trying to correct it ever since.
• I held the high score on Defenders at the “Time Out” arcade in Newmarket North Mall for an entire week back in 1978
• I once puked all over a Navy officer in full uniform and he didn’t get mad
• I’ve had 16 cavities filled in my dental history.  The first 8 were without Novocain (because at the time I was afraid of needles.  now I love them)
• I’ve had my genitals handled and examined by four female medical professionals in the same day.  None of them laughed. None of them offered up phone numbers either.
• I’ve done courses of the following antibiotics in my lifetime (many were more than once): Penicillin, Amoxicillin, Tetracycline, Erythromycin, Azithromycin, Keflex, Ampicillin, Augmentin, Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacin, and Clarithromycin
• I was part of the original drug trial for Accutane®
• Up until the 2nd grade, I wrote with both hands.  Then my teacher harassed me to pick one side and forget the other, saying that continuing on ambidextrous would cause learning problems later on.  I had learning problems anyway.

• Aside from boxing and martial arts, I’ve been punched in the face at least three times in the past 30 years.

• I was once interrogated by three police officers who repeatedly asked me: “Tell us about the candy canes!” to which I kept laughing (I had no clue what it was about).  Luckily, they didn’t beat me up, they let me go.

Cranium Drainium

Listening to No Agenda, one of my favorite podcasts. Great show this week.

Listening to the Twilight soundtrack. It's very good.

I saw Quantum of Solace with my son today. It's good, but I have a few issues with it. For one: too much jerky, jumpy, action camera crap. Second: the motorcycle jump onto the boat was totally unnecessary and useless. The suspension of disbelief was suspended during that part.

Great interview with Ray Ozzie in one of the geek mags I get for free. I can't recall which one, because I ingest them quickly and toss them in the trash.  Great use of trees, especially for something covering technology.  Go figure.  And speaking of free IT mags, have you ever tried to cancel a subscription to one of those? You can't. I've tried to cancel three of them and they still send me the "Urgent! This could be your last issue, act now!" That was 14 issues ago. They're still canceling me. I suppose it's a slow process.

I had to attend a one day "training class" on Office 2007 a week ago. It was interesting. Mostly the view of the "city center" water fountain and fantastic layout of the park that surrounds it. It was tough to focus on the subject matter.

Looks like "comfort items" fared well in the markets recently. Beer, fast food, video games, movie rentals, pizza deliveries. Mental escapes are profitable.

Dell's new Studio Hybrid is pretty cool, and affordable. They're running a special with a Core 2 Duo CPU, 3 GB RAM, a 250 GB SATA drive, built-in wireless, and a 19-inch monitor for $799. Not bad.  I look at that and I can't see why in the world I would ever consider spending twice that much for an Apple product.  Nothing wrong with Apple products, but the cost is out of my realm of reality.

Obama isn't even president yet and he's got a podium with "Office of the President Elect".  Wow.  That's not even a real entity.  Totally made up.  Nobody cares.  I really hope he is successful.  I hope any president is successful.  Why would any American want their president, whoever it is, to fail?  I don't understand that mindset.  Even if you don't care for the candidate, the race is over, adjust.  I agree with South Park's take on it:  Obama and McCain are part of the same syndicate and are planning a heist.  The whole election was a ruse to distract everyone.  LOL.

Rumors are pegging oil heading for $30 a barrel.  Amazing.  I doubt that seriously. Before it gets to that point, OPEC will shut off the pipelines and do another embargo.  Why wouldn't they?

I'm going to bed.