Two interesting things from last week.

Number one: I took my (rolled) change into the bank to turn it into real money. I wasn't really paying much attention, so imagine my surprise when it turned into $100.00. Even. That was sorta fun. That was with pennys, nickels, dimes, and (of course) quarters, but still a nice way to end up with a hundred dollar bill. I went ahead and wrote "Change" on it, and put it in my saftey deposit box. Poof: an extra hundred dollar emergency fund!

Number two: My diet. A little more than a week ago I started my own version of a modified Atkins/South Beach (less than 20 grams of carbs a day.) FYI: One slice of normal white bread = 23 grams of carbs = crap. Too many!!!) I am supposedly in the induction phase now (starting to lose weight, yada yada) So, Friday, after a week of good times, (only 2 beers that week!) I decided to weigh myself to see how much weight I had lost. According to the scale downstairs at the gym, I weigh between 185 and 210 pounds. I think one thing is clear: time to get a new scale.

So, hot moms are in, according to USA Today... I could have told them that.

This link goes out to all the lovely moms and moms-soon-to-be out there. (You guys know who you are!)

(Thanks, as always, to my friends at Slate for this link)

Just wanted to do a quick update from bee-u-tiful Southern Illinois, when the temp yesterday morning was 14 degrees, and there was 3-6 inches of ice on the pond.

Now would be a terrible time for me to go to prison. Avtually, I can't think of a *great* time to go to prison... but I digress. With the cold weather and the wind, my lips are a little chapped and bright red; I'm afraid the last thing that I would hear at night would be "you sure do have a pretty mouth, boy..."

And In Other News: My mother, freshly back from Hawaii, told me her stereo wasn't working, and so she needed to take it to Hooters. 'Hooters?', I asked? "Something like that", she replied. , Puh-Tay-Toe, Puh-Tah-Toe; Hoo-ters, Twee-ters.

This is my new possible house. (My nickname for it is the Luau Hot Tub House.)

ooh, yeah, baby&lnksrc=00002ooh, smokin!

SeanJr, at his very best.
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Now I don't have to worry about the whole unfounded jealousy thing. He only has the one picture, but it's a pretty good one.

Much more recent, *arty* picture of my niece. SeanJr will begin to get jealous, if i'm not careful...
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Just wanted to throw in a fascinating article regarding human psychology, and the cost/benefit analysis to making snap judgements.

Remind me to tell you how this relates to me meeting one of Everbabe's old friends....

The cutest little niece i've ever had... can see both her mom & dad in her. Picture's a little out of date; but whatever.
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Just wanted to do a quick shout-out to my main man, Borak!

Sorry about that near death thing, buddy...

"And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq."

My uncle Mo lives in Nashville, and sent this description of halftime at a women's basketball game this past weekend. We'll call this episode: "The one with the battle of the team mascots."

...Then the annoucer blares over the sound system

"Its time for the Battle of the Mascots!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the Black team we have SnowBird from channel 4 and the Weather Hound from Channel 5."

Out from the side waddles Snowbird and the big dog onto the court.

"Joining them we have the First Tennessee Dollar working for you
and the Eat more Chicken Cow from Chick Filet"

Onto the court waddles the guy in a dollar bill and the 9 foot cow.

"Joining them we have Fang from the Predators"

Out runs Fang onto the court.

"On the gold team we have T-Rex from the Titans and the mascot from the
Sounds"

Out runs T-Rex and a Cougar.

They ended up getting the yellow pages and a couple more and then they started playing basketball.

Well it was obvious from the start that the black team couldn't run much less bend over to pick a basketball up and the gold team was having a field day.

Finally Fang breaks loose with the basketball and races down to the other end of the court. Only T-rex stands between him and the goal. Fang leaps high in the air and throws the ball as hard as he can...

WHAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ball catches T-rex right between the eyes!!!!!!!!!!! He goes down like a ton of bricks!!

The games breaks into bedlam after that. Mascot heads are rolling over the court as the game evolves into a strange game of dodgeball and revenge.

I don't understand why this wasn't picked up by CNN. SuperMark: do you know?

I've talked a little bit about politics in the past, but not so much as to bore you, my imaginary readers. However, one thing that really chaps my hide is hypocrisy; you show me a sanctimonious right-wing preacher/talk show host/guardian of morals, and I'll show you somebody who's just as human as the rest of us. From Jimmy Swaggert's hooker in a sleazy motel, to Rush's addiction to pain pills, to Bill Bennett's gambling 'problem'; Human. But they still manage to come out of it 'holier-than-thou.' Pisses me off to no end.

So: the thing i've been hearing for MONTHS, now: The UN is evil. UN is Satan. UN's Iraqi Oil-For-Food program was 'soooooooo' corrupt. (Definitely heard Boortz, Rush, and Hannity bitching about this one.) How much do you bet that you won't hear a damn thing about this story?

US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling

So: I've moved out of A's house one week ago tonight, at least to the point of having a new place to lay my head at night, and brush my teeth. My friend (we'll call her Zelda) is recently single herself, so this might be interesting. But not in that way. I know that *I'm* not ready for dating seriously, and I'm pretty sure that moving in would count as a pretty serious dating scenario. All indications are that she's in the same way (too soon, etc, etc) Everything should be good on that front.

Things are weird... especially as it's A's birthday today. IAfter thinking about it long and hard, I decided to call and leave a Happy Birthday Song on her machine. I've cleaned out most of my stuff from her place (except for emptying the closet, my grandfather's chair, my bed, a round table, a rectangular table, the three legged table, my computer desk, my TV, my BIG SCREEN TV, my two bookshelves... and the kitty litter pan. (anybody but me notice a lot of tables in that list?)

Every now and then it hits me: 9 years is a long time to define yourself using someone else. I guess I'll have to learn to define myself from now on.

Cue end depressing monologue. Happy music time: I really like this group. Sorry if I've told you about them before, but heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Eddie.

This link is purely for Everbabe's benefit. Others, of course, are welcome to visit.

Elegy for a humorist.

And I'm *not* making this up.

{edited on 1/13/05... Replaced Eulogy with Elegy} - better, cause he's not. dead. yet.

Occasionally I'll feel as though I've had a bad day. (we all do, don't we?) It's good to be reminded that things could always be worse.

I headed off to lunch today, (an indian buffet... YUM!) As I drove through the parking lot, an indian guy, about mid 20's, gave me a wave from inside his car. "How nice," i thought to myself. So... I waved back to him. He waved to me again. "How... nice?" I waved back, a little less friendly.

He waved again. 'Who is this guy', I wondered. I waved, trying to make it clear through my steely glare that this back and forth could not continue. He then held up a set of jumper cables with a hopeful look. Ah... THAT'S the game. So: I jumped him off. Er. I jumped his *car* off. Yes, yes I did.

And then went inside, had lunch, and read this book. (Kage Baker writes a mean set of stories about the combo of immortality and time travel. More on that later.) Indian Buffet = Yummy.

I then left the restaurant, and walked to my car. "Wait," (I said to myself,) "who's that unfortunate fellow trying to unlock his car with a coat-hanger? Surely it couldn't be Mr Friendly-Pants?"

Unfortunately for him, it was. On the upside, his car seemed to be running just fine.
So I did what anyone in that situation would do: said "Good luck!" and drove back to training. {grin}

On the 2 month anniversary of the most recent breakup in my life, i recieved an interesting email from a co-worker.

Hey Sean! M. and I need some pictures for a presentation we are doing, and wondered if you’d be willing to help us out. We’re looking for a good sport to help us illustrate a “don’t” of business attire, and I’m only asking because I know you’re a good sport, not because we think you fit this category ... What we need is a “model” wearing a rumbled, older pair of khakis and a dress coat. If the shoes were scuffed, that would also be a nice touch. Would you be willing to help us out? ...

Always a good sign when your coworkers immediately think of you as a {Business Dress: DON'T!}

Well, readers of my earlier missives will be happy to know that Hardee's has a new advertisement line.

It's somehow more.... girthy than the earlier ones.

Alrighty, this is pretty funny.

I've been signed up for training for AutoCAD. So, yesterday, the training fellow went over the difference between Paper Space and Model Space. And how to use layers. And draw lines. And use the mouse. And use the 'special' cup holder that comes with any desktop computer. (Maybe I exaggerate a teensy bit.)

As to why I find this amusing, it might help if you know that I have been working in AutoCAD for over 10 years, and may have seen this stuff before.

On the other hand, I am picking up a trick or two regarding some additions to the program that are pretty cool.

On the other other hand, he just said "I always get this wrong sometimes." Heh.

Occasionally, I find something incongruous to be hilarious. Play along at home, and see if you agree!
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Just wanted to throw out a quick 'Howdy' to my buddy C. I've known him since high school, and he still hangs out with me. Low standars, I guess. Even though we work for competing engineering firms, as yet we haven't crossed paths. He hooked me up with a calender from Despair.com (yay!), which reminded me of my favorite Demotivator, Goals.

I just love the look on this kid's face...