RIP Couch

After 2 posts to craigslist, 25 responses, and an afternoon of back and forth emails, the couch is finally out of my apartment.

sometimes i feel this way

from postsecret
then i go get a cup of coffee

Went to the Red Ivy on 1/14 to watch some basketball/football with mooman/wife/pooters. Red Ivy is a new bar/lounge establishment on Clark st by Wrigley field. Interesting place and a different kind of take on the typical bar/pub in the area. They have decent food choices and the interior is well laid-out.

So that day the "Bacardi Girls" were there giving away free swag. I got a t-shirt and a tiny nerf football. The football went in the trash and the t-shirt will be added to my rotation. There were hardley any people in the bar at the time, and the girls obviously wanted to get rid of the swag and get out so everyone in the bar got some stuff.

Went to the same bar on 1/21 while I was killing time waiting for Poohbear to get done eating dinner. And what do ya know this time "Heineken Girls" were there giving away free Heineken swag. The t-shirt I got this time was somewhat nicer quality than the Bacardi shirt, with its embroidered logo and everything.

So - two trips to the bar and two t-shirts. Fuck shopping, i should just drink beer.

diversion gone wrong

Some coworkers and I went to happy hour yesterday. I stayed an for an appropriate length of time, but when the booze starts flowing it is apparently hard for others to quit. I left after 2 beers, a shot of jager and some dang qasadillas. They left a short while later, only to walk down the street to another bar, one that is apparently a little cheaper and somewhat less stuffy.

While at the bar they decide that they need to start chatting up a few girls on the other end of the bar. Problem - the girls are already getting chatted up by a guy, who just happens to be wearing a pink shirt. Not that there is anything inherantly wrong with pink shirts. It was decided that one of the group would create a 'diversion.' So the diverter goes up to the guy and says "Hey! That is an 'awesome' pink shirt!" "What?" asks the guy. Repeating "That is an awesome pink shirt!" my co-worker says. (apparently this was not the type of distraction the guys were looking for.) So within a minute or two a big meathead friend of the pink shirt guy comes over to the group. And tries to start shit - a defense was mounted but someone apparently intervened and talked the guy down.

Well I guess the diversion worked, as some of the group swooped in to the girls and started the chat up. Though apparently to no good end as everyone ended up the night drunk/tired and at home alone....or so reported to the rest.

Scott McClellan and George Bush can die

The White House's comment in response to the filing of a lawsuit by the ACLU
on behalf of several journalists, authors, scholars and organizations against the National Security Agency over its "no-warrant wiretapping program" was ridiculous. Scott McClellan basically said "If you are not a terrorist, then you have nothing to worry about." "If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to worry about."

Well I say Fuck You Scott McClellan and Fuck You George W Bush!

If they are not obtaining warrants for the wire-taps, then they have no need to gather evidence to see if the person they suspect is a terrorist or not. They have free reign to operate simply by 'suspecting' that a person is a terrorist. What if they are wrong? What if there is a mix up? What if they spy on me because they 'suspect' I might be a terrorist. I am not a terrorist. At least I am pretty sure I am not. But George Bush could think that I might be one, and order a wire-tap on me. Free speech gives me the right to say what I want, to whomever I wish without the government listening in. If they had to present evidence to a court that I was a terrorist, then they would obviously not be able to wire-tap me and ohs no that would make it much harder to wrongfully convict me or hold me in a jail without a trial because I am an enemy combatant!!!

I got a plan. Lets call George Bush and Scott McCellan terrorists. They look kinda funny, so maybe they are actually terrorists. (lets also say that I am a spy - this whole blog thing would kinda elude to my spy status, but those fuckers wouldn't know the difference anyway). So as a spy I order a no-warrant on Bush and McCellan's phones. I decide that they use the word 'Terrah' instead of terror enough times that they just might be terrorists. Nevermind they are on TV or in the media an average of once a day. So now these terrorists have to be rounded up and shipped off to a camp somewhere so that we can interrogate them to see if they have any friends. I suspect they have lots of friends, so we will probably have to hold them for a really long time. And of course we wont let them have a trial or anything, because they are probably planning on attacking America and that would qualify them as enemy combatants. So they will be locked away forever and we can have Dick Cheny as President - who will hopefully have another heart attack in the next few days...

Lessig Presents arguments for Google Print (google Book Search)

Though his article is mostly about his experiments in trying to set his recorded lecture to his slides, I found his argument contained in the video to be most fascinating. I am also helping him seed the video overnight tonight.

Basically he says that Google print should be allowed in the same way that thumbnails for image searches are allowed according to a previous decision. For example google image search takes the image, modifies it so that it is not the original and not accepted as the original. Same as with google print that they are modifying the original book by pulling excerpts which cannot be accepted as the original - making a comparison to quoting or referencing someone else in your own published book. He also argues that because copyright law is so flawed and because there is no mechanism to secure rights for 75% of published literature currently in existence, there has to be a way to easily obtain that literature.

I would very much like to hear more of Lessig's arguments.

The Chief - in summary

This article by George Will pretty much sums up the general feelings of most chief supporters. Why the NCAA is out to get the Chief is beyond me. Apparently if the Peoria tribe simply says "The Chief can stay" then he will be allowed to stay. But the Peoria tribe doesn't give two shits about the petty squabbeling of a big ten university vs the NCAA. Doesn't the NCAA have better things to do? Like concentrate your efforts on Marcus Vick.

Home depot, ups

The Home Depot parking lot looks much different at 9am than it does at 6pm. At 9am the lot is filled with non-descript white vans with tool/ladder racks on the top, etc... Inside are contractors stocking up on supplies for the days work.

At 6pm the parking lot is filled with mostly SUVs. These are the yuppies that are running to get parts etc... for their home DIY projects (DIY = Do It Yourself - also a term which I mostly despise).

conclusion of this observation = none

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UPS has a neat feature on their website (old skoolers would access the feature over the phone). This feature is not new as it has probably been around 8-10 years at least. Basically you tell them when your package is ready to be picked up and then they come and get it from your house or office or wherever. Depending on what type of account you have, the service is either free or costs between $2 and $4 per package. All of the major private delivery services (Fedex, DHL) have this ability though it is best serviced through UPS. It is really cool that you can do this. I wish the USPS could do this. In fact I wish the USPS could do a lot of things that it either doesn't currently do or does sucky.

The major beef I have with the UPS "Schedule a pickup" service is their timeframe option. You tell them when the package will be ready and when is the latest time during the day in which they can pick it up. I find that drivers either ignore these fields or simply think they don't matter. Often times I schedule a pickup for a time later in the day, to make certain UPS comes, yet also to give me time to get my package ready. The driver usually comes to get the package either way before the scheduled time or sometime after the time I say that we close. Why even have the option if the drivers are never going to abide by it?

benny - funky buddah - understanding

I finally figured out why Benny was always wanting us to go up to Chicago to Funky Buddah. It was because Benny is a hardcore party guy. He has partied a lot in his life and been around a lot. So one time he went up to chicago and someone took him to the Funky Buddah Lounge. It was probably the only 'club' he ever went to in Chicago, so it was there that he suggested we go, all of us in the class. Too bad we were all mostly underage at the time.

It would have been fun though, to go out and party with Benny. I psudo partied with him at his house, but he was very much under control at that time. I know he can party. I heard a story of when he went on a canoe trip with some people in Arkansas and brought along martini making supplies. MARTINIS!!! Most people just bring some beer or something in a cooler. Bought he brought martini mixing supplies...then started to ask around to see if anyone had an ice...

BENNY!!!!...i get it now....lets go party!!!