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Just put the finishing touches on my buddies site. Check it out if you have a chance. Obviously any ideas or critiques would be appreciated.
http://www.coverstorytheband.org
Oh, and if anyone wants to see yours truly play guitar in front of a (hopefully for their sakes) heavily inebriated audience, come out to the show on June 25th.
I'm going to say this now. Please forgive me if you are horribly offended by it.
As of this moment, I feel no sympathy for the 9/11 families.
Why would I post that? For the past three months during the entire 9/11 commission debacle, we have heard over and over again from people representing "the families" on how this happened on Bush's watch and he should be held responsible. I read the story about Giuliani's testimony today and it took Jason's blog to make me post this.
Hello 9/11 families? Your loss was tragic, the nation felt it. Your cause to make sure this doesn't happen again has been hijacked by people bent on politicizing this to the nth degree. But it wasn't a broken radio system that killed your families. It was a 767 moving at 500mph that did. Blame the terrorists, not your government.
Since Dan turned off HTML for the comments on his blog, I guess I'll have to post it here. If you aren't Dan, don't bother reading the rest of it unless you really want to chime in.
I wasn't insulting you. I was asking a legitimate question...
"Are you stupid? I'm astounded by the conclusions you are able to draw from thin air. Maybe you are a savant..."
Gee, thanks for the concerns for my health Dan. Shit, I'm glad you aren't a doctor. Your bedside manner sucks.
WMD: They don't seem to have existed, and certainly were not in a state sufficient to present a threat to us.
Don't read this piece or this one, it might cause your world view to shift without a clutch.
We've destablized a nation, and made it easier for terrorist to operate within it.
Oh yes, I forgot that there were no terrorists in Iraq and that Saddam wasn't sending money to the Palestinian families of suicide bombers. Oops...my mistake.
Mullahs will be running things.
And yet you're wrong again Dan. Should we try four out of seven?
Combine that with the secondary results of the loss of good faith with the rest of the world, the tarnishing of our image as moral leader, the weaking of our military position/flexibility, and the crimes committed in its name, and I don't really understand how you could say this was anything BUT a disaster.
Dan, I can't claim to guarantee that things will be better in Iraq in ten, twenty, or even fifty years. But I do think we gave them a much better chance than what they had under Saddam Hussein. Or do you just ignore what is going right in Iraq?
Well, after the blood-letting on Monday we're back to where we started. Just found out that my new boss is my old boss from way back in 2000. No update on what other changes will take place, but I'm feeling a bit better job-wise than I did this morning.
Gene would have been proud. Chock up another one for the evil military/industrial complex...
Today, I get this lovely piece of garbage in my Inbox.
Subject: Operation : NO LONGER SILENT!
From: (deleted) To: MeWHERE : LANSING MICHIGAN
WHEN : JUNE 12, 2004
WHAT : COUNTERING THE MICHIGAN GAY PRIDE MARCH AND FESTIVAL
We need literally thousands of pro-family supporters to stand agianst the homosocialist agenda, and we need to do it now why we still have the right to excersize our right of free speech. If the pink nazi's get there way we will not be able to speak out against them much longer, we will have our free speech rights controlled by hate speech laws just like in Canada.
WHY : BECAUSE THEY HAVE GOTTEN WAY OUT OF HAND, AND OUR SOCIETY IS AT RISK OF COLLAPSE DUE TO THE TEARING APART OF THE FAMILY UNIT, AND THIER SIN BELONGS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, NOT IS OUR STREETS, AND OUR SCHOOLROOMS!!
As Americans it is our duty to this free republic we live in to stand and fight to maintain the freedoms we all enjoy. If you think this will not effect you guess again! In Scandanavian countries where homosexual marriage is legal, the true family unit is becoming extinct due to queer comi's radical agenda, and it will happen here also!
So I e-mail the guy who sent this telling him that I want no part of their little gay-bashing party. Guess I hit a nerve...
You are not on a list, you are on the protest warrior website, if you don't like recieving messages about operations, then remove yourself from protest warrior website.As a conservative activist, I am not trying to bash anyone, this is serious business, our nation is about to self-destruct from within as the enemies of faith and freedom fight to trample the very fabric of our culture, the real family unit! This is not about bashing people, it is about standing up and protesting a very dangerous sub-cultural satanic movement aimed at destorying our freedom to speak what we believe openly, and freely.
Maybe you should wake up and smell the coffee!!
While we love the homosexual person, we hate thier sin!!
The sin of homosexuality is destroying this nation from the inside out, and you sir by not standing up, and refusing to fight this evil, are giving aid and comfort to the enemies of personal liberty, and freedom.
Today in Canada they have passed laws that prohibit people from freely speaking out agianst homosexuality, and it will be coming to America if we don't act now!!
I used to really like Protest Warrior but apparently their list is now being pulled by groups that I want no part of. I obviously understand why people view the right as the "religious" right. Just don't count me on their team, OK?
Started out with a great weekend where I finally got my Associates degree to end up with my boss and political debatee getting a bunch of extra freetime thanks to a reorg. I'll post more on this later....me not happy....
Sounds like the grim reaper is going to make a visit to Paramount TV in the very near future. And from the last three shows I've seen of the series, he's about a year late.
I've always like Trek, but mostly because it dealt with space stuff. Over the years I've learned to love Shat but I could never get past another castmember who frankly should look for another gig.
In the article, there's a quote from Ed Weiler from NASA who said that "The loss of Trek would be 'a sad statement' if it reflected declining interest in 'exploring and dreaming.'". Got news for you Ed, it isn't going to be the loss of people dreaming. It's combination of a crappy network broadcasting rehashed episodes from previous incarnations while pushing the bloated employer that you keep getting paychecks from.
The dream is over. No more Enterprise, and hopefully no more NASA as we know it. C'mon Burt, what's next after SpaceShip One?
One of the benefits of adopting older kids is that you never get innudated with the "baby trend of the moment" stuff. Over the past five years we never heard a Barney song sung, asked if that blue spot was a clue, or had someone poking me in my gut wondering if it was a TV.
Now that we have Nathan, we are now exposed to a wonderful world of various shows like Blue's Clues and Teletubbies. But by far, the absolute worst form of entertainment ever created has to be "The Wiggles". After being forced to watch 10 minutes of their mind numbingly "perky yet nausea inducing" music (which I was not forced by Nathan, NOOOOO it was Hannah and her friend who were all giddy about it), I had to retire to another room before I had a rather large carpet cleaning bill.
How on earth can four grown men get together and put out crap like this? I mean I know they are making money hand over fist; but at some point when the show was being put together there had to be an idea that "Jees, this show might just tank and I'll never get laid". Don't you think this fear of failure would drive any sane person out the door and down to the nearest McDonalds for hamburger flipping lessons?
Marc, I know you have one on the way. Take my advice. Get rid of all your TV's or hard code the Tivo to avoid the Disney Channel anytime between 06:00 and 10:00. Consider it a baby shower present....
Making its way through the geek blogs of the world, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites had another successful test of SpaceShip One. But to me, the really interesting news was in the flight data...
Launch conditions were 46,000 feet and 120 knots. Motor light off occurred 10 seconds after release and the vehicle boosted smoothly to 150,000 feet and Mach 2.5. Subsequent coast to apogee of 211,400 feet. During a portion of the boost, the flight director display was inoperative, however the pilot continued the planned trajectory referencing the external horizon. Reaction control authority was as predicted and the vehicle recovered in feather experiencing 1.9M and 3.5G’s. Feather oscillations were actively damped by the pilot and the wing was de-feathered starting at 55,000 feet. The onboard avionics was re-booted and a smooth and uneventful landing made to Mojave.
So he had a major avionics failure, rebooted during descent, and then made a safe landing? No offense, if this was NASA, that guy would be toast. This is why NASA runs five computers on the shuttle, in case there is a failure, one can take over immediately. Damn impressive if you ask me....
Oh this is beautiful....
"The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."
But showing corpses with fresh bullet wounds and people mutilating corpses is just fine for them. Guess it must be that sweeps week is already over....
I won't post where I saw the video tonight, but suffice to say I have seen it. There are tons of people out there who say that we deserved it or that probably won't show any emotion since he was just another damn contractor.
But I have to say this. If you think that this is the results of Bush's policy in Iraq, you are right and wrong. Right in the sense that the terrorists are trying to create an uproar in this country over our invasion of Iraq. And wrong, in the sense that this is a random act which wouldn't have happened if the coalition had not invaded Iraq. If you notice, this isn't the first time, nor was it the only one today.
The enemy isn't Islam, but radical Islam. Radical Islam where it's OK to kill your wife or daughter because it might have desecrated the honor of your family. Radical Islam where rejoicing in the deaths of 3,000 people is commonplace. Radical Islam which has called for driving Isrealis into the sea.
How many failed roadmaps, corrupt politicians, and inept organizations is it going to take for this to set in.
Because it isn't just GWB they want dead. It's all of us. And we're in this war together.
OK, so it's a day late. Sue me. :-)
By far, the heaviest album in rotation while I was in high school was Tesla's Mechanical Resonance. This album even beat out the ever-popular Operation: Mindcrime since I could actually PLAY some of the Tesla stuff.
So what made it the album of the week. Well, call it pure luck. As I was getting ready to drive out to see my friends this weekend, I had to load up the CD changer (something that hasn't been done in years). Quite literally this CD fell off the rack and opened up for me on the floor. And for the next three hours on the drive to Chicago, the little Honda from Hell was blaring with "Modern Day Cowboy" and "Little Suzi" (BTW Dennis, that's the next song you guys should cover. And if you do, you might be able to convince me to come up on stage next time I'm out and play the solo). ;-)
And no, I don't mean that Derek is in my personal space. ;-)
T-Minus Five Days until Graduation. Go down to the college to pick up tickets and the cap and gown. Tickets are waiting, no problems there (except for being one of the oldest people in the graduating class). Go down to pick up my cap and gown. Oops, not in. Maybe it will be in by Wednesday. Hope nothing is wrong with it when it arrives....
Then get told the wonderful news that the last class I was in didn't get paid for some reason. Hmm, I remember handing them my credit card and signing for a crapload of money, but my credit card company doesn't have it processing through. As fears of "Oh @#$&@#, the class you just aced doesn't count towards your GPA AND graduation", they finally agree that something got lost and that I should just sign another slip and call it a day and still graduate. Of course, I followed up with "Gee, if two charges show up on my bill, guess you will be sending a credit through". We'll see how that goes when it happens...
SPX 211 Speech Class: $800.00
Reading the "Syllabus from Hell" wondering if you are going to even pass: Free
Props, color copies for speeches: $5.50
Pulling off a perfect grade in class...very very cool :-)
Those of you in the Chicagoland area need to make the trip down to Bridgeview this Saturday to see my buddies Dennis, Kenn, and Scott make lots and lots of noise.
I'm also doing the design on the site, please let me know what you think....
After thinking that I blew my application for graduation and that I wouldn't be getting the piece of paper until next May, I called the school today (to get my password reset) and asked politely about December graduation.
Secretary: "No, we only have a May graduation but you are on the list."
Me: "For 2005, OK."
Sec: "No, 2004, we just got the approval. You're on it."
Me: (Speechless for ten seconds). "So, I'm graduating in less than two weeks?"
Sec: "Yes, is that OK?"
This is, of course, just days after I told my mom that May 15th was wide open for her now. Guess I better start cleaning the house up.... :-)
The only thing good about the new 10.5 movie on NBC is that it might just be bad enough to bring Mike Nelson out of retirement.
UPDATE: For those of you out on the west coast that might read this, go ahead and do it because at least you still will have two hours of your life to do something constructive.
There was one thing that was going through my mind during the last big "cameraman having a seizure" scene.
Stay in front of those people that are really cute and doing something really scientific, because everyone behind them is dropping like flies.
I think this one movie covers my melodrama intake for the next thirty years, to get that high of levels would normally require at least six straight months of "ABC Afterschool Specials".
Over the past few weeks, my newsgroup reader has been getting quite busy. Not because there's been an influx of news, but because I just don't have time to screw around sorting the spam from the actual information (of which the latter is quite lacking in the past few years). Most of the stuff I've unsubscribed from since the subject is rather old (like rec.music.artists.queensryche which hasn't had a post about the band in quite a while) to info that can now be retrieved via blog.
Traffic Generating Question of the Day:
Does anyone use newsgroups anymore?
Spent the weekend in Chicago, the highlight being Krystal's appearance in her 8th grade play "The Music Man". She's the one in the middle, portraying one of the "Pick-a-Little Ladies".
And I promise Krystal this will be the only picture I put on the website. Just don't ask me about the DVD's with the video of the play that might get sent out over the next few weeks. ;-)
I know, I know, it's a DVD, but they did release on CD as well. But for the money you are going to put out, get the video.
I'm a bit biased this week from just seeing the band just last week with my daughter Emily. But this usually happens after I see a band. Their CD makes it into my car and on iTunes and it gets puts into heavy rotation.
At home it was the Silver DVD that got significant airplay. I've always liked Cheap Trick (from their roots in Rockford, IL, to having one of the first albums that I could memorize beginning to end, and for just being a cool band when I was damn impressionable), these guys have always put out some decent music. And this DVD is no exception. It obviously has the always popular tunes from their 20+ year musical career and includes footage from a variety of people (including a barely coherent Slash) who joined them for a couple of shows at "On The Waterfront" in Rockford.
I'd rant on more, but you'd have to see it to understand.