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Saturday, September 19th, 2009
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9:23 pm - A week with my new Pre.
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I went to NY last week, and lost my BlackBerry Curve (best I could tell it fell out of its holster while riding the Cyclone at Coney Island). I'd been planning to hold out until October to jump from AT&T to Verizon and get one of those new Motorola Sholes Android phones, but this forced my hand, and I had to shop fast. Needed a new phone in a day. My requirements were WiFi, 3g, a good dev community, and a clicky hardware keyboard. I tend to type long emails on my phone and I simply refuse to do it on a sheet of glass. That ruled out iPhone, but left me with Android, Palm and RIM.
The 3g/wifi requirements meant Bold was my only option on BlackBerry though, and not only is it a very bulky device, but it's also very expensive, and for it's price, doesn't even have a touch-screen. I guess the size makes it nicer to type on, but the trackball interface leaves a bit to be desired, especially for browsing.
The only Android slider available is still the G1, which is getting a bit long in the tooth, lacks a headphone jack, and I just wasn't sure about being on T-mo for 3g.
I'd heard horror stories about Sprint's customer service, but pretty good things about their network, and one of my clients, who is a very demanding guy to do business with uses them for all of his employees mobile phones/aircards. I'd also been looking with covetous eyes at the Pre earlier this year, and I loved the hell out of my Tungsten T2 several years ago before I got in to my Curve (which I also quite enjoyed for what it was), so why not. I decided to become a Palm owner again. I stopped by a Radio Shack in Brooklyn the next morning, signed the contract and ported my number. They said it would take 24 to 48 hours for my number to actually start ringing on the phone. Something like 24 to 48 minutes later, the phone rang. It was my mother. Go figure.
I got the phone with about 50% charge on the battery. Needless to say it was completely dead within about 2-3 hours and I was walking around town the rest of the day with a brick in my pocket. I figured it probably just drained the bottom half quickly or I read the meter wrong, and a full charge would help, so I charged it completely overnight that evening, and the next morning, I left my buddy's apartment about 11am with a completely full charge. I barely talked on the phone at all that day, but used gmaps a bit to get around town, wrote a few texts, answered some emails, checked my facebook, etc, and by the time I got to the Yankee stadium at quarter to 6, it shut down for lack of power. I used to be able to let my Curve go without charging for 2 days before it ran out of juice. I was fuming.
Also had my first experiences with the Pre camera. Love the picture quality in general, don't love the interface. No options for changing white balance based on light conditions (even the crappy blackberry camera had that), and the facebook upload interface is crap. It just dumps pictures into the mobile upload gallery with no captions or tags. With the blackberry facebook app, you get an upload confirmation screen that lets you caption pics, add tags to them, and choose what gallery to put them in. This screen is accessible from within the facebook app, or as a menu item from within the blackberry photo browser, or from the camera itself, immediately after you snap a picture. It's extremely convenient. Palm really should implement something this simple in a future WebOS update.
Checked the internet that night, turned off GPS, set screen brightness all the way down, tuned down my email timers, set my roaming on, and the next day I went in to airplane mode every time I went underground, and made it a whole day of touring the city, and got home just as I was losing power. Also noticed in my surfing the night before about Pre price change, stopped by Radio Shack and got $50 refund, as I had bought it the day before that went live. Starting to really like the basic interface and apps, wishing I wasn't so busy vacationing that I could spend some time surfing the official and homebrew app catalogs for some cool stuff to install, but come on, I'm in NY, who's got the time? (which is ironic because what I really needed was AccuWeather, Where, and the MTA Map apps).
Managed to find time to get a few official apps installed while in NY, I think weather, Pandora, Tweed and some games, but decided not to bother with the homebrew scene until I got home and could really play with it. Got a bit of reading done on the subject and was starting to get excited though. Great scene, and looking good. Seems I got this phone at exactly the right time. Things just heating up and getting good.
Got back to FL and got WebOSInstall running, installed FileCoaster, AHS (which wasn't quite as awesome as I was hoping, but I've got good future expectations for...seems to be going in the right direction, because the basic home screen is way too empty), some games (Reversi, which is great but too easy, PreJeweled, Zork), FriendsFlow, MyQ, drPodder...All looking good. Battery is still an issue, and I have to make sure I plug in somewhere once a day. Not going underground on trains helps, but I still do a lot of driving, so I ordered a car charger, and I'll be hooking that up whenever I'm in the car. I never ever had to worry about charge on my Curve, and I could be flagrant about app use, running Pandora like a fiend, or whatever, but on the Pre I find I'm not as eager to stream media because I'm guarding my precious amperage. Seriously considering the Amzer 2800mAh battery/cover so I can have some useful lifetime between plugins. Going a full workday would be dreamy.
Went to a concert the other night and noticed for the first time that the keyboard keys weren't backlit. Made it very difficult to twitter or use the phone in the dark. This was kind of annoying and something I never really thought about on my Curve. standing right next to me on my left, some guy was punching up facebook on his G1, typing away on a fully-lit keyboard. Directly to my right, a dude with a Berry was texting a friend with his backlit keys. I had a twinge of jealousy (and I'll admit a bit of nostalgic remorse). Palm should really get an LED behind those buttons, because seriously. What phone doesn't have lit keys these days?
I bitched about that on Precentral.net and found out the keys ARE lit, but the light is tied to the screen brightness, and it goes off when you have the brightness all the way down like mine was. Kicked the slider up a tad and problem solved.
It's 9 days as a Pre owner now, and on the whole, other than a few minor complaints I've listed above, and the major beef with power, which I feel I can likely address with a 3p battery, I must say I am really loving this phone. Palm has done almost everything right. Most of the things they have done wrong, they can fix. The photo uploading can be tweaked, and the rest of the interface is fantastic. The app catalog is coming along beautifully for such a young platform.
I'm looking forward to trying new apps as they come out, and while I'm terrible at app development and coding, I'm really good at app testing and offering critique and feature ideas, as well as writing and documenting, so I may get involved with some projects at that level in the near future.
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Monday, July 20th, 2009
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12:23 pm - Happy Anniversary
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| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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6:44 pm - My God.
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009
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11:15 am - Writer's Block: RIP Michael Jackson
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Smooth Criminal God I spent years trying to figure out the lyrics to this song, but it was so fun stumbling and stuttering over anyway. Definitely a "Kiss this Guy" contender, but what a fucking groove, and a hell of a dance number. Also the video was just insanely cool. I remember when I saw it the first time and Michael walked into that seedy bar and flipped a coin into the juke-box from all the way across the room and I was just like "HELL YES!"
Honorable mention to Thriller, if only for the legions of recent internet video spinoffs.
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
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12:42 pm - Parking memories
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I was catching up on xkcd yesterday and came across this strip.
I was instantly transported back to SAIC in Atlanta where there was this one douchebag who used to park his convertible Eclipse JUST like that, taking up two spaces diagonally in the lot. What's more, he used to go out to his car on lunch breaks and after work, and he would actually take off his shirt to drive around with the top down. We would watch and laugh at him from our office window, because he was a complete tool.
So, one of my coworkers and I went to war with him. Since we both drove really ratty subcompacts, neither of us gave a shit if he banged up our doors. We parked right up on either side of his car, about an inch away from his mirrors, so he had to climb into his car to get in. I don't still have the photos, but he was really annoyed at not being able to open his doors, and he was looking around all angry. Then he pulled out really carefully so he didn't scratch his paint.
The next day he parked farther away from the building, and we did it again.
The next day, he parked normally.
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(Dig through 1 shovelful of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Monday, April 20th, 2009
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1:36 pm - Examples of completely useless people...
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Exhibit A - Ethan:
HP's web designers don't know how to make a site that isn't a confusing clusterfuck, and I couldn't figure out which options to select to get the warranty I wanted for a quote I was putting together. Figuring the company's employees would know how to operate the site, I clicked "Chat with an HP Representative" and was greeted by Ethan. Here is the transcript of our conversation.
Guest: Hi Ethan
Ethan: Hi there!
Guest: I have a question about the warranty options.
Guest: when I'm choosing from the drop down menus
Guest: Warranty and service upgrades- 9x5 Next Business Day Onsite Warranty and service upgrades- Accidental Damage Protection
Guest: Do I pick one or the other
Guest: or if I want the ADP, do I have to pick the NBD service also?
Ethan: To clarify,you are looking for an assistance before you purchase, Am I right?
Guest: I'm trying to put together a quote for my boss
Ethan: Great, I appreciate your interest in HP!
Ethan: May I know the HP product line that you are looking to purchase?
Guest: Compaq 6730s
Ethan: Glad to transfer you to the specialist for this product.
Ethan: A few quick questions before we begin to help get you to the right consultant. Are you a government, health or educational institution and will you be reselling this product/solution?
Guest: no, just a small business. I've already got the system specced out, I'm just trying to figure out these warranty options
Ethan: Thank you for the information and your patience. Please hold a moment while I transfer you to a specialist now. Be sure to ask about our solutions that can save your business time and money.
Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited sales specialist.
Ethan then transferred me to Chad, who read the above log, and answered my question without needing any further clarification.
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(Dig through 1 shovelful of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Sunday, April 5th, 2009
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6:30 pm - Fun at Sea.
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Transcript of actual ship's radio communications between a U.S. Naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. Conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations for a laugh.
"Please change your direction 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision."
"Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to south to avoid a collision."
"This is the Captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again. Divert your course."
"No. I say again. You divert your course."
"This is the aircraft carrier Enterprise. We are a large warship of the U.S. Navy. Divert your course now."
"This is a lighthouse. It's your call."
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(Dig through 3 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Saturday, April 4th, 2009
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8:47 pm - In hockey LOLs...
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| Friday, February 6th, 2009
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11:23 pm - This guy is going to win American Idol
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| Sunday, February 1st, 2009
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2:24 pm - I would like to say "Frak You" to the SciFi channel
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For ending a show with a fantastic cliffhanger, and then spoiling the resolution to that cliffhanger 10 seconds later, in the "next week on Battlestar Galactica" preview, and again in almost EVERY commercial break for the rest of the week on their channel, so even if you DO manage to change the channel or stop your DVR in time to not get spoiled for next week when the preview comes on, you still get a big face-full of it if you watch anything on SciFi at all until next Friday.
Ride a pole, you cretins.
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Saturday, January 31st, 2009
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4:02 am - My Life According to Ipod
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| Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
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9:45 am - Stone update
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| Saturday, December 6th, 2008
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1:49 pm - Passing a kidney stone
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Is just about the worst thing in the world to wake up to. The pain was bad enough to put me in an aura and make me vomit, and I had no idea what in all the hells was happening to my back. I panicked and called 911, then called my mom. She said it sounded just like when my uncle and grandpa got their kidney stones, and she'd be right over to take me to the hospital so I didn't have to pay for an expensive ambulance ride. The paramedics thought the same thing. By the time I got through triage in the hospital, it had apparently passed, and I was starting to feel better. They ran a CT and didn't see any stones, but there was blood in my piss, so the doctor figured there was a stone but it had gone.
So here's a big fuck you to all you kidney stones out there. Go to hell.
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(Dig through 5 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
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3:21 am - I painted some goblins
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For some stupid reason I thought it would be a good idea to get the starter set for Warhammer so I could paint toy soldiers and fight toy wars.
Don't know why I figured this would be a fun hobby, but there it is. I painted a few miniatures when I played D&D in high school. I sucked at painting then, and it's been well over 15 years since I picked up a paint brush. We'll see if I get any better after practicing on a hundred goblins.
I decided my goblins will wear purple. Here are the first 5.
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(Dig through 2 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Monday, August 25th, 2008
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7:49 pm - Picking my favorite olympic moments
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Hard to do, I'm a total junky. I've hardly got any sleep the past two weeks from being glued to the TV and/or internet watching sports I only watch once every four years, but there I'd be at 3AM, knowing I have to get up at 6, watching China play Tadjikistan in Badminton simply because when the best in the world are competing at what they're best at, I am fascinated and can't look away.
I can't not agree with the obvious highlights.
Usain Bolt is just insanely fast, like Son of the Wind God, and watching him smash the competition was just stunning.
Michael Phelps is also a freak of nature. Just fascinating to watch him go to work, and hard not to root for him.
Lesser known, and lesser-credited athletes, however, I think also deserve applause.
Choi Min Ho, of Korea, ipponed his way to the gold medal in 60kg Judo, and he's just a very exciting little guy to watch, and a great sportsman.
The U.S. Women's Fencing team swept the individual sabre competiton, claiming the whole podium for themselves, which was awesome. Becca Ward had a nail-biter comeback from a 6-1 deficit to win the Bronze medal match at La Belle (15-14).
Angel Valodia Matos of Cuba stood up to a corrupt asshole Taekwondo referee making a bullshit call and disqualifying him from a medal match by KICKING THE REFEREE IN THE FACE!
Ultimate wincing moment was shared with anyone who watched Janos Baranyai of Hungary attempt to lift almost twice his body weight in a Snatch, and fail...spectacularly.
Do not click this link if you have a weak stomach.
Finally, here is a small collection of excellent Olympic photography I found.
Sad commentary on Olympic Boxing - there is an approximately 1 in 5 chance this punch scored a point:
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
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7:42 pm - GORBACHOV - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER
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| Saturday, July 5th, 2008
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11:36 am - In honor of those hours and hours arguing over the dice...
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| Friday, June 27th, 2008
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10:35 am - I didn't think...
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I'd find ever myself firmly in favor of Justice Alito's jurisprudence, but in this case...
“Different candidates have different strengths,” Justice Alito wrote. “Some are wealthy; others have wealthy supporters who are willing to make large contributions. Some are celebrities; others have the benefit of a well-known family name.”
“Leveling electoral opportunities means making and implementing judgments about which strengths should be permitted to contribute to the outcome of an election,” Justice Alito continued. “The Constitution confers upon voters, not Congress, the power to choose the members of the House of Representatives.”
You tell em, Justice.
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(Dig through 1 shovelful of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
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8:53 pm - I hate these quiz memes.
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| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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8:40 pm - Guess who just got a raise?
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| Sunday, April 27th, 2008
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4:54 pm - Brunch and a matinee musical
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Wicked is goddamn awesome as hell, and that's pretty much all I have to say about that.
This is the last song from Act I. The witches have been declared outlaws, and the Wizard has sent all the Emerald City Guard to capture them, and they've barricaded themselves atop a tower.
The set was non-stop eye-candy with about 43,000 different gears and sprockets in it, and the change-up to LED-driven art-deco lighting whenever they were in the Emerald City was pretty cool too. Great costumes, and oh, good music too. Thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for the ticket, I had a great time.
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Saturday, April 19th, 2008
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3:30 pm - Remember kids, always look on the bright side!
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[15:25] St0rmD: so I'm epileptic, and incidentally the mri revealed a brain tumor I didn't know I had.
[15:25] St0rmD: which is most likely benign, but hey, free brain tumor
[15:26] hi3ro5ant: holy balls
[15:26] hi3ro5ant: is that one coming out
[15:27] St0rmD: not in the near future. It's on my right auditory nerve. I'm going for a hearing test next week and we're going to just play it by ear so to speak (ha), and take another mri next year to see if it grows
[15:27] St0rmD: if I get any hearing loss or funnines then we'll bump that schedule up and start discussing removal
[15:27] hi3ro5ant: they don't know if it's cancerous?
[15:27] St0rmD: they're fairly certain it's not
[15:28] St0rmD: I don't know how, but he didn't seem very concerned about it
[15:28] hi3ro5ant: good, because i'm all out of cancer jokes
[15:28] St0rmD: yeah I'm all out of cancer jokes too, and I just gave away all my damn hair
[15:28] St0rmD: wouldn't that be ironic
[15:28] hi3ro5ant: like rain on your wedding day
[15:29] hi3ro5ant: or, cancer.
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(Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Thursday, April 17th, 2008
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2:51 pm - :3
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| Monday, April 14th, 2008
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12:30 pm - Dear Universal Studios,
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| Friday, April 11th, 2008
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8:18 pm - Haircut
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It's been over 2 years since a blade last touched these tresses, but another Florida summer of hair-farming just wasn't going to happen, and now it's all gone, so a little girl with cancer can get a free wig.
I sat down in the chair and asked the lady if she'd ever cut hair for Locks of Love before, to make sure she knew not to untie it or let it drop on the floor. She had, and added that my haircut was free, which was a nice surprise. She didn't waste any time with the scissors before we even got to talking about what we were going to do with the rest of my head. Even though I knew it was coming, I hadn't REALLY prepared myself for the shock of losing 2 years of growth and care in 3 quick snips and my eyes started to redden up. She asked if I was going to cry.
"No," but my voice cracked.
No photos of the new rag yet, but I'll post a few later this weekend.
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(Dig through 7 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Thursday, April 10th, 2008
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12:39 pm - Live and learn...
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| Saturday, March 29th, 2008
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11:25 pm - I don't usually blog music I'm listening to but
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I have watched this video far more times than is sane or reasonable today:
I was bored and re-watching American Idol and Ramielle's shrieking through this song prompted me to go Youtube the original. So goddamn awesome I couldn't stop watching over and over. Ann Wilson can sing her fuckin ass off. I also watched probably every other Heart video ever made.
This is to make up for the fact that they're actually playing here in Orlando tonight and I didn't go, because I'm too cheap to buy tickets to Universal Studios just for the concert. I considered going for the $100 annual pass for FL residents but I probably wouldn't go again the rest of the year so it seemed like a ripoff. $70 for the day or $35 for after 5, either way, just too expensive and not worth it.
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(Dig through 4 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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| Friday, March 21st, 2008
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12:42 pm
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| Monday, February 25th, 2008
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10:21 pm - Prius is sooo sweet.
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12:28 am - "Yeah, well your exhaust smells like ass"
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Is what I said to the guy, in response to some quip or other he made in our direction as we walked past his stinky-ass SUV on my way out of the bar.
I got in my car, and not two seconds later, the dude has ran up behind me, opened my door, and reached in to grab me by the shirt, hit me and start choking me. I wrenched his hand off my throat and punched him good and hard in the face, and as I went to punch him again his friend ran up and got in my face to try to stop me, while the guy took another swing at me, so I punched his friend good and hard in the face.
A couple more faces got punched on either side before his friend got up off the ground and my friend got involved and the two of them broke us up, then the dude starts mouthing off and calling me a faggot for driving a Prius, and punched a big dent in my car. As my friend tried in vain to stop me, I walked over to his jeep and took note of the tag number.
After the dude peeled out of the parking lot yelling some retarded garbage or other, I called the police, waited for someone to show up, gave him the info, and pressed charges.
Motherfucker better realize he's paying for my body shop trip, because I ain't driving around a car I haven't even made a payment on yet, with some dent because an asshole couldn't control his temper.
What's unbelievable to me is why someone would get so worked up over such a stupid thing. I mean, all I did was say his exhaust stunk, and it did. It was some of the most fithy lawnmower-smelling shit I've been around in a long time. And the dude just ran up, opened my door and attacked me over it, like I'd raped his sister or some shit. I seriously stopped thinking about anything other than targets and motion, like time stopped and the kill or be killed instinct took over. If I would have been carrying my gun, I almost certainly would have shot him, and I'd have been well within my rights, too. What a waste.
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(Dig through 4 shovelfuls of dirt | Shovel some dirt on this skeleton)
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grateful
