Columbia's Ambassador to Spain - apparently getting goosed.

From another random blog: I think i like the last line the best.

Elie-monster's 'Hidden in Plain View' Diary: "One girl in Shakespeare who is literally the UGLIEST PERSON I HAVE EVER SEEN:
hairbands. sunken eyes. ruddy cheeks. assy-looking lips. thinking of a graceful way to say this, but extra fat. bad teeth. self-righteous but otherwise not very wellthought out comments.
Don't get me wrong she may be perfectly nice but she's REALLY UGLY. and doesn't seem perfectly nice. "

Alrighty: tell me that this isn't just about the most depressing thing you've ever read.

The survey of more than 1,500 adults found that 87 percent usually watched TV in the hour before going to bed, 47 percent usually had sex and 64 percent read.

Maybe it's just bad phrasing on their part, but I don't know... 47% *usually* had sex? Sheesh.

Link to sleep story

Funny quote from a translated-from-back-of-Brazilian cheese roll mix.

In the first panel, the meaning is very clear: dump the powder in the packet into a large pink mixing bowl, along with two fried eggs, an eggshell, and a drop of water.

Heh.

Link to instructions
Link to my new favorite baking website

Mom, Brian, Heather, and niece Emma came into town for Easter. We had dinner here with Ogre, his wife A, Heather's mom, and A Saturday night. I made a very nice Shrimp Scampi, if I do say so myself! Only problem we had was the leak in the roof. (of new house! Boo!) Could have been the wind. Lot of wind & rain. Biblical flood time. Arond 2 inches of rain, but most of it horizontal. 24 mph wind gusts.

Link to rainfall info for GA

Link to EverBabe's brother's website.

EverBabe: As soon as your momma leaves, and you have a chance, read this diatribe about olives. Link to Funny Jason Mraz journal entry

At one point, he calls them "chubby little vinegar-pea"s. Heh.

I suppose, fair reader, that even were one *not* EverBabe, it might be worth reading. PS - if a fair amount of time has gone by since I originally posted this, it's the journal entry for Tuesday, March 22.

From Red, who's temporarily working at a local county governmental office:

...Apparently we are SUPER lucky in terms of cube noise at our work because there is this lady with the MOST annoying laugh that I have ever heard (I'll have to demonstrate when I see you next). But WORSE than this laugh is what I heard in the cube next to me. I'm working away and I hear this deep voice talking into the phone next to me, "Hey baby, did you call me?", "It's weird, it said that you called twice but I didn't get your messages.", "Yeah baby, something must not be working.", "I can't wait to see you baby."...then in a slightly lowered voice (and it almost makes me puke writing this:) "You are so sexy baby, yeah you are so sexy."

THIS IS LIKE A 60 YEAR OLD MAN!!!! EWWWWW!!!!

We clearly are going to have to send Red to diversity training, as our seniors can still have active sex lives! (OK, now *I* threw up in my mouth a little...)

Email edited to protect Frank McSkeezy's actual identity.

Quick update:

Spring is here! As I always used to say: "I like spring the best because of all the scenery.' (and then I would leer at a cute girl walking by.) (remember, this was in the days when me leering at cute girls was merely annoying, and not harassment.)

I was walking behind some scenery on the way into work this morning, and lo, she spoke to me! "Days like this make it hard to go into work!" I agreed, made an insipid comment about "at least i'll be able to sit near someone with a window," and we continued our conversation on our (too short!) trip up the elevator.

I do loves me some spring.

This is a copy of the 'paper' version of my blog that I kept when I was staying at Zelda's house. Before moving in to this place and getting broadband, I had to make do with paper & pencil, like a savage. While at EverBabe's house right before moving, I checked my email and found one from... well, why don't you just read for yourself?

Wow - Just heard from ANOTHER blast from the past. We'll call her Suz. (My attempts to cleverly protect the innocent have failed to this point, as Red came by the other day and said: "Who's EverBabe? Jody?" On the other hand, Jody tends to out herself on SeanJr's - I mean, Connor's webpage.
Anyhoo, Suz sent out a {ping} to see if I was still alive. I'm glad I was at EB's house, cause with her help I was able to successfully edit the following line from my response: "Wow it's been almost 10 years, long enough for one of use to get fat and/or bald. Don't worry - it's me." Thanks again, EB, for helping save me from myself, although as {ping} responses go, I've seen better.

Looks like I didn't really get into how giddy I was to hear from her; we've been able to talk a few times, and I've loved it. Note my attempt to put up a link to her site on the right hand side of the page. She's just bought a horse, and there may be pictures on her site. Go ahead and look - I won't mind.

Wow.

Living in a new place is weird. Weirdest of all is finally unpacking all of those boxes, some of which have been packed since 1998, or before.

After the blast from the past (see above entry,) and with all of the introspection caused by singing with Greg's last big concert, I've been thinking a lot about those old Choral days. (well, I've been thinking about many days, both pre and post Choral... but those Choral days were some of my best so far.) I even brought out my best 'embarassing choral story' at dinner tonight; you know, the one where you fall asleep at a concert? One that you are singing in? When you are sitting behind the soloist who is performing? And it's being videotaped? What, that never happened to *you*? Oh. Me neither.

So tonight, when I found a videotape named "The Melodious Magic of Mozart" in one of the unpacked boxes, and even though it's probably been at least 5 years since I have watched an actual video tape, I decided to go ahead and put it in. (after assembling the whole VCR thing - did you know those things can hook up with cables?

Quick opinions:
Wow, we were *really* good for a college choir. I mean it. REALLY good. I have now done the Mozart Requiem at least 4 more times, and this choir was as good or better(!) than any other choir I've sung it with.

Also: (and this was unexpected) I saw SO MANY people who meant SO MUCH to me back then. It was probably filmed at our Winter concert in 1994, right before Spring Break. so: 11 years ago. And right from the top of my head, without having made a list, I remember seeing:

Blast from the past herself, Suzi Hill - standing right behind me.
Heather Hoenes (long blond Heather)
Cammie & Eric - must have graduated by then, but always greg's favorites
Sharon (lefty)
Heather (righty)
Edward (He and heather named son after me. Yay, them!)
Trisha Hinman - EverBabe's first roommate. And the reason I'm a civil Engineer.
Jodi Simpson (sigh) those sally jesse glasses were awful... (but hey, i was wearing them too!)
Lenny Ortiz - think he and beth live in Iowa. Or a Dakota. Or something.
Beth Cunningham - left her in the car once. EverBabe remembers...
Dylan Oxford (emotes MORE than me - if that's Possible)
MURPHY - hasn't aged a frickin day in 20 years.
Grant - speaking of baby faces - one of the first people to tell me I was gay.
June (if memory serves, she had actually come back from Cary, NC for this concert)
Chris Riggins - looks like a baby, but I guess we all did.)
Beth O - we all know what happened with this one.
Ben - still friends with A. to this day.
Brianna B - Very pretty in an elegant way.
Bobbilyn Todd- LOVED saying her name. BOBBI-lynBOBBOBBOBBOBBOBBiLYNtodd
Sarah Chapman - had a crush on her in the day.{Edtor: didn't you have crushes on 95% of the girls on this list, Sean? And 25% of the guys?} [SK- shh! that's a secret.. don't scare the straights]
Bryce (i've got a funny story about him i can tell you later.)
Ryan Fuller (saw him last year - bastard looks the same, or better. (grin))
Bill Hayden (with the beard)
Mike Mayer - his hair looks technicolor red in the video
Katie W- last I heard, she was a forensic engineer
Wee Lee Green - didn't call her that in the day, altho I am not sure why.
Kathy Nash, bopping along to the Queen of the Night Aria

And of course, Greg and Sue.

Wow. I mean it. It makes me want to have a reunion party. Maybe I should get a house, and throw something together. Oh, wait. Hmm. Maybe I'll do something the week of the farewell to Greg thing. Maybe.

From my Amazon homepage: I suppose that being right on one out of three isn't that bad. However, the other two are just a little out there. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine which one *I* think that I need.

Sean, see your New Releases

Your New Releases

Cottonelle Fresh Folded Moist Wipes Tub 42
Kleenex Cottonelle (Why?)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
DVD ~ Gwyneth Paltrow (Rate it)

Angel - Season Five
DVD ~ David Boreanaz (Why?)

This next cartoon is specifically for the people I geek at tabletop games with.

You remember that time that
this happened in that game?

That was pretty cool.

Everbabe & I were reminiscing about the good old days last night.
As she & SuperMark basically furnished my house, I offered to pick up dinner on the way over. Basically to "put it on the bike," as it were. Where that expression came from is actually a pretty funny story.
Years ago, while in college, I had a friend (we'll call him Dug to protect his identity.) Dug & I seemed to be more like brothers than friends, with all the angst and stuff. I can tell you more later, if you're interested.
Anyhoo, he had brought a bike down to Tech, and decided he didn't want to take it back up to Ohio at the end of the school year. He gave me pretty good price on it (I can't remember if it was 25 or 50 dollars - still, not a bad price for a 10 speed.)
The first time that we went out to lunch after that (my guess as to where? ChinaTech,) Dug hadn't brought enough cash, so he said "Can you spot me? Put it on the bike."
And so I did, thinking to myself, "self, this isn't that bad of a deal. a little more than i was expecting, but - whateva." And we continued along our way, happy as clams.
Until ANOTHER time we went out to eat. "Put it on the bike." And again. "Put it on the bike." And *again*. "Put it on the bike." (In retrospect, it probably couldn't have happened more than 3-4 times.) But this was only the seed for the funny story. Really... it's coming... wait for it.)
It became a bone of contention between us- you've heard of the white elephant in the room no one talks about? Well, this bike grew larger than any elephant I've seen in the zoo. In normalized 2000 dollars, the bike ended up costing approximately 1.3 million lire. (J'skiddin.) But still- we had our share of arguments about it. And then we grew up.
Fast forward 6 years or so. We've graduated, and have gone out to dinner with Everbabe et al. And I didn't have exact change. And I said, "Eh, put it on the bike." And Dug jumped across the table at me throat. All things considered, it would probably win the BiggestReaction vs. SmallestProvocation Award for 1997. We eventually patched things up, and went on our way. What brought that up? I think someone must have photographed our uber-rational 'conversation.' http://www.foundmagazine.com/fotw/082204.html
Everbabe - feel free to correct any mistakes/omissions.

Wanted to fwd on a letter from my ex-homeowner's association. Remember, A. still lives there, so it's interesting. Really. No matter what you think. {grin} To give her some level of privacy, I've replaced the name of the condominium complex with CONDO.

March 17, 2005

I am sure everyone is aware of all the recent activity at CONDO.

On Friday, March 11, 2005, the police were investigating any locations that Mr. Nichols had ties. The news media also had that information. These news teams have been inside the gates and also set up across the street over the past week.

Brian Nichols was a tenant at CONDO for a period of time. He rented a condominium unit here. He has not lived here since last August.

The Board was aware at that time that he had been involved in a domestic incident with his girlfriend. That incident occurred at a location outside of CONDO. We had no information that indicated that he might be a threat to our homeowners. The condominium he occupied has been vacant since that time, until it was re-rented on March 01, 2005.

Mr. Nichols surrendered to police on Saturday, March 12, 2005. I do not expect that we will see any more police presence at CONDO; however there have been a few local news teams here over the past few days.

CONDO is PRIVATE PROPERTY and the news media is not permitted to come onto our property without permission from a homeowner. If you see any television or newspaper reporters inside CONDO’s gates, please stop and ask them to leave. We do not have onsite management or a security guard. It is every homeowner’s responsibility to protect our community. Once they have been asked to leave they MUST do so, I spoke at length with our attorney about this issue. The media is aware that they are required to leave once they have been asked.

Last week, several news organizations also brought camera crews and reporters and set up at the office building across the street. Several homeowners were approached and asked to provide information and/or offer their thoughts on the incident. I would encourage homeowners to refrain from speaking with the media in the future. These interviews only show CONDO in a negative light. Some statements were made by homeowners that were incorrect. One reporter was told that Mr. Nichols once had a machine gun here. This was not true. Several homeowners saw that report and were extremely upset. These reports give the public the perception that CONDO is un-safe. We have all invested a lot of time and money working to make CONDO a community we can be proud of. Negative publicity is harmful to your property value.

In my opinion, this guy makes a lot of good points. Local (and some national) news can act a little immaturely from time to time, all for the headline de' jour. Hope you find it interesting.

Two quick things:

Topic The First
Got the proverbial 'bolt-from-the-blue' the other day when a cute girl from Tech gave me a ring. (or at least she {ping}ed me.) I then realized it's been close to 10 years since we had really spoken - how weird is THAT? We'll try to keep it a little more frequently. We chatted on the phone for about an hour & a half, and caught up. One funny thing- when I told her about A. (9 year relationships tend to come up when people ask you what you've been doing for the past 10 years) she said "Oh yeah... I've got you beat. Remember LoserBoy(Tm)? We recently ended our own long-term thing."

"Sure, I remember LoserBoy...." I said, glad we were on the phone and the puzzled look wasn't going through the line. But then, as we continued talking, and I thought about it, I realized I *did* remember him. Or at least the existence of a LoserBoy(tm), who (correctly or not) I remembered naming as such. Or at least was there for the inception of the name. Or (and this is the most likely chain of events) I confabulated the whole thing. But I tell you this: the *way* she said "LoserBoy(tm)gave me treMENdous deja vous. So, here is a table of the odds of the possiblities.

I came up with the name LoserBoy 30%
Was there for the naming ceremony 30%
Confabulated the whole thing 5%
Already named before my involvement the rest%

Topic The Second:
My grandfather was at Oak Ridge during WWII, and handled raw uranium. He died in 1991 of cancer, but was really the reason that I became an engineer and went to Georgia Tech. I found this website today that was interesting, and will update you all with
Link to Children of the Manhattan Project Website

Just wanted to (quickly) point out a little synchronicity. In 1995 Everbabe & Markie lived in the same apartment complex as Richard Jewell. We discovered this when the men in suits were walking through her backyard on day when we were on the phone. (She rudely hung up on me, just to talk to the New York Times - but that's neither here nor there.) In case you don't remember, Richard Jewell was the hero of the Centennial Park bombing, then the villian, and now is more of a tragic hero, falsely accused, A-Team type of guy. You may or may not remember that I basically lived with the two of them for *years* before I *actually* lived with the two of them; this will prove interesting later. There are other good stories with respect to that, including "Kitchen - Tools?", that I'll tell you later, if you are nice. But that's not what I am telling you about today.

Nope, on Friday of last week, a crazy guy got a gun at his trial at the Fulton County courthouse, shot the judge and court reporter, killed another deputy in his flight, pistol-whipped an AJC reporter, and basically Grand Theft Auto'd his way around town for 24 hours, during which time he only(!) killed one more federal agent. Why bring this up, you ask?

He apparently had the condo right across the pool from A & I. Like, we could see into his place. (He had good decorating taste, interestingly.) A is mad because she thinks it might make it harder to sell her place. I'm just waiting for number 3 (don't these things always happen in threes?) I'm curious what intrigue will occur somewhere in Terramont....

Red working with me about a year ago; that is one big honkin' BMP.
Posted by Hello

This message is primarily for EverBabe, but the rest of you can come too.

Hank Azaria *&* Niles

Looks like another trip to Broadway to see "Spamalot" is in order.

I am sorry that my brother had to finally have this confirmed, and in Norway.

But I've known it was true forever.

Older brothers are smarter