SHOPPING w/BLOBBY

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun - though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!

I bet you didn't think I would make a Shopping with Blobby segment this month. I wondered it myself. But no worries loyal fans readers - it's here.

I have noticed that some of the themes to my shopping pics are cereal. But the food / marketing conglomerates make it so frickin' easy.

Why actually include me in a Shopping w/Blobby post? Because I am a princess, dammit. Or at least a fairy (I put that in after drafting the post - just thinking I'd beat one of you to the comment. So as Kathy Griffin would say 'suck it').

Unlike Sleeping Beauty, my curse involves unforgiving overhead supermarket florescent lighting, jowls and the obvious - lack of long blonde flowing locks. (but take a look you motherf*ckers - I'm smiling! ....also notice the ring.)

Of course Barbie cereal is low fat (you can see that if you click to enlarge the picture). Mattel and Kellogg's would never have a Rubenesque Barbie. Midge and Skipper are a different issue. Barbie needs inferior friends to make herself feel better.

The 10.4 oz marked on the package? Well, that's not how much cereal that is in the box. That is Barbie's goal weight. And it is the weight where she is telling you, 'if you are a woman and exceed that amount, society will reject you for the fat cow you are'.

So I guess you'd better buy the cereal.

The Rock n Roll Hall o'Fame is Queer

...not that we can vote, but where would your gay, disco-dancing loyalties lie if you could? Three, count 'em - three (!) acts that appeal(ed) primarily to gay audiences are up for induction for the 2008 RnR Hall o'Fame ceremonies.

• Chic
• Donna Summer
• Madonna

Unless RuPaul were on the list - it doesn't get much mainstream gayer than that.

I kind of have an issue with all of these nominees. Yes, they meet the 25 years + in the business, but are any of them Rock and/or Roll? Technically I don't think so. But if so, then really Chic is the winner - but I'm not 100% convinced of that either.

Though Chic have not sold the most records of the three, you can hear their influence in other recordings - thanks to Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards. That includes, Debbie Harry, Diana Ross (both inducted) and yes, Madonna.

But now the Hall is hitting 1983 in the potential timeline for nominees and let's face it - Rock and Roll was becoming sparse. We were moving to new wave, hip hop, rap & and era of nothing but single-serving (as in 45 rpm) soundtracks....most of them featuring Kenny Loggins songs.

Buckle up - because in a year or two, Phil Collins, George Michael and Corey Hart are going to be the lead shoe-ins for induction. ...and it will not be pretty.

Site of the Month


Wasn't it just yesterday I was talking about my geekiness? Yes. Yes, I believe it was.

Well this Site of the Month doesn't really do much to squash that profile - only enhance it. Clearly I'm not the only geek around as there are 52,000+ articles posted.

I'm sure Jon will get more out of this site than I ever will.

On a similar note: I really really really hope you all saw The Family Guy's take on Star Wars: Episode IV. HILARIOUS.

...and it took them an hour (avec commercials) to do exactly what it took George Lucas much longer to accomplish - and it was pretty inclusive of anything presented in 1977.

I don't know how to tell you how to see the entire episode if you missed it, but you're all web savvy folks - hell you found my blog - so use your desired search engine to find what you need to. I'll give you a hint: Fox had it pulled from YouTube - so don't bother with that route.

Happy hunting.

Blobby's Big Night Out

Not that I've tried to hard to hide my geekdom, but sometimes it comes out in ways that actually do not include Indiana Jones, Star Wars or Lord of the Ring.

The other night I scored tickets to see Doris Kearns Goodwin speak at an event sponsored by Cleveland State University. It was nice to see that other folks turned out for this event - as the entire lower floor of the Ohio Theatre was full. I could not see who, if anyone, was on the upper level. Denton and I brought down the median age - by a LOT!

Doris did an hour lecture and 30 minutes of questions & answers. The subject was primarily about Abraham Lincoln - and incredibly interesting. The discussion was in tandem with her almost 1000 page book on Abe. She certainly made me want to read it, that's for sure. But I like non-fiction and/or biographies a lot.

She was savvy enough to bring in some more modern day comparisons to Lincoln's presidency and some baseball too. Goodwin is a huge and extremely knowledgeable baseball fan - enough so that I can overlook her being a Red Sox fan (which is still better than a Yankees one).

Oddly enough, the Q&A proved to be just as interesting. Goodwin was asked about Lincoln's extra-marital activities. The question did not come out as 'was he gay', but she brought it into the conversation. It has been the rumour of the last few years. And while the letters he wrote to his male friends were questionable, it was more the style at the time (of writing) than love letters.

The big question was well answered: How will Bush's presidency be seen by historians. Though she did not have a definitive answer - how could she, she did discuss how public opinion might never change for a president (not necessarily Shrub), historians might...and then ran down the list of commanders in chiefs who faired better as years went by. She said it would be 30-50 years before anyone will truly determine if Bush was a good president.

Part of my reaction was ruled by emotion. There is no way anyone will think he is a good president. Ever. But part of me reacted to the logic behind her statement and the comparisons she drew from the past.

And then of course, I hated myself for that reaction.

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!

These may or may not be newly released disks. They might not even be a good disk - just what is been in heavy rotation in my car (as usually the iPod is playing anywhere else).

A little over a year ago, I made Jenny Lewis my initial Record of the Month. In that post, I fully admitted I knew nothing of Rilo Kiley, and even though I really like(d) her solo disk, I never took it the next step to go listen to an old Rilo Kiley disk.

That being said, when their new disk, Under the Black Light, came out, I thought I would try it.....reviews be damned. They were iffy at best. And I have to concur that the disk is iffy. I have nothing to compare it to - so in that way I have both the advantage and disadvantage in the review.

I think the record starts out strong for almost the first half. I like "Silver Lining", but I really like "Close Call" and "Moneymaker" (though save one note - the main guitar riff seemingly taken directly from the Cars' "Moving in Stereo"). Once you hit "Dejalo" there is very little reason to stick with the rest of the disk. I do not find it very strong or satisfying.

I have seen a number of articles asking if they are 'the new Fleetwood Mac'. I'm taking from this it is because of the failed relationships inside the band - not the music. Though ironically, 'Dreamworld' sounds like it could be a Lindsey Buckingham song from Tango in the Night.

I don't know exactly why the disk falls apart. Since Lewis wrote most of the songs, it could or should have been strong like Rabbit Fur Coat - so maybe it was/is the execution or production. The songs from her solo disk seemed fresh, but these do not convey that.

It is an ok disk, but not a good or a great one. It still rotates through my CD player, but that is mostly because it is new.

It's Tribe Time Now

I had my Record of the Month post all set to go today when life got in the way. What can I say - the Indians clenched the American League Central Division (that's baseball, Jon).

I know most of you (if not all of you - since Tom G rarely reads this blog) don't care. But as g-d is my witness, the Indians shall win a World Series before I die.

I was not at yesterday's last home game of the season, where they snagged the title, but I have been to that game before - in 1997. And what a thrill it is. And this is the best team the Indians have had since 1997, even though we've won the division again in 2001.

Though I am not a Cavaliers fan, it is kind of neat to see two of Cleveland's three pro teams make the playoffs and maybe even the championship. We'll just assume the Browns won't make it a trifecta.

And not to be a dark cloud (shut up David!), but it will be tough for the Tribe to get past Boston, if indeed we have to play them. For 2007, we haven't had a lot of luck against winning against them. Hell, during the last series with them, they shut us out. Hopefully the Wild Card team or the AL West will bonk them. We'll have a better chance against Los Angeles, New York or Detroit.

Then we'll just have to worry about the National League......hopefully.

Autumnal Equinox

...and so we change to a new season. At least as of 05:51 EDT. Things already seem crisper, clearer, cooler. Or it is just my imagination.

I figured I owed folks an update since it has been days since I've posted anything. I'd say that's not like me, but I'm noticing more and more it is becoming like me. Perhaps I set my expectations too high for a post a day. I haven't been achieving that lately - nor do I expect to in the upcoming (near) future.

As for the updates:

• I got the Powerbook back. Actually, I got it back a week ago. It was like starting from scratch. The data was gone (I'm almost over that....kind of). The settings were all gone. Bookmarks. Display. Programs. All gone. I still love the laptop, but it just seems a little tainted at this point.
  
• More travel ahead in the next 2-3 weeks, so most likely the same frequency of postings. I may have mentioned Kansas City and Phoenix. I'm sure I need to hit DC too...at least once.
• One travel of a personal nature coming too: Chicago. Doug, a friend of mine, called to say he got two tickets to Annie Lennox and did I want to go? Well - DUH! He wasn't leaving Denton out - as he knew that Denton could not do Chicago in October at all. I haven't axed for the two days off yet, or made flight arrangements, but damn - I also have not taken an hour off work since I started in February. I think I can and should swing it.
  

I have seen Annie Lennox once before. Denton and I got tickets and drove to a SKE-ary part of Detroit maybe four years ago (?) and stayed in an even SKE-arier hotel in Dearborn. But the concert was great and she was good. We traveled all that way because it was the closest she was playing and I never thought I'd ever get to see her live. Now I have a second chance. I also remember calling Jon's work number, knowing he wasn't there, and just let him hear on his voicemail Annie singing (I think it was "Little Bird").

Chicago won't be as scary as Detroit. Well.....until we hit the Eagle.

Travels With Me - Past & Present

I hate waking up not knowing where I am.

I know - you're thinking I was drunk (again) or high (again) - but you'd be wrong. This time.

To be honest, even when drunk and passed out - and coming to, I usually knew where I was, why I was there and with whom...for better or worse. Usually the latter. But no, today was different. I was sober - as I normally am these days. It is just sleep deprivation and travel schedules.

I woke up in a hotel room and honest to g-d did not know what city I was in. It was probably all of 10 seconds before I realized I was in Houston, but it was one of those 10 seconds that lasted 10 minutes.

I was out the door at 4:15 (A.M!!!!) to make a 6:00 a.m. flight. Zoiks! I don't sleep on planes and I had to endure a silent version of some animated penguin movie called Surfs Up. I wasn't about to put in my earbuds to listen to that crap - and unfortunately I cannot sleep on planes.

I also find that I cannot not watch the monitor to see a movie I have no interest in. And I try to fill-in the storyline without knowing anything about said movie. Normally this is not hard to do - and be accurate. It shows what a low threshold Hollywood has with their projects.

The first time I did this was coming back from Los Angeles with Morty. Oh - he went out like a light. I had to endure Straight Talk - with Dolly Parton and James Wood! (who the fuck thought pairing these two was a good idea? hey! didn't I say that about two other actors in another post recently??) ...and this children, is why you should not do MDA eight hours before a 6:00 a.m. flight from Los Angeles (or any other city). Or it's one of the reasons. Though looking back, sitting outside the airport for two hours with the 'the white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only - there is no parking in the white zone' repeated every 10 seconds, now seems amusing when then it made me absolutely maniacal.

But I digress.

Up at 4a, a flight to Houston (ugliest. big. city. ever.), all day meetings and then back to a hotel in a SKEY-ary section of town that had free but sporadic high-speed wireless.

I could go down memory lane about Houston. Having been there only once when Rebecca (have you pre-ordered her book yet?) lived there with He Who Must Not Be Named (and no, it wasn't a noseless Ralph Finnes). Becky took a drunk (shock!) Morty & me to the Beer Can House (see above picture). She was a little disappointed that we were non-plussed by it all. Now that I'm a home owner, I can only imagine that thing drives down property values for those around it. But it's Houston - everything drives down property values.

Oh - and the Beer Can House? It is one of the few stories about our Houston visit I can actually probably relay in this blog. Well, there was the oldest bar in Houston where we went - and that was kind of cool. Down near Rice (I think) and the newest song on the jukebox was Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is" - which was way cool. I know Becky was trying to show us a few neat things - we saw it more as a stop to get a drink. Don't even get me started on Sally Hansen & Pepsi!

But I'm home now. For 12 hours. Then I'm off again.

Mark my words though......I'll be back!!!!

Gift Idea For The Democrat Who Has Everything


Personally, I am loving it. I mean, she's already a ball-buster - why not be a nut-cracker?
Oh - I hope no one is reading this, since it is going to be everybody's holiday gift.

Guess Who Went to Dinner?

This would probably be a good post for Gay Men Rule - but if you haven't gone there lately, do not bother. Joshua shut it down. Granted I had not posted in awhile, but actually went there to do so when I noticed it was gone. I thought maybe I just got kicked out for being inactive, but you know how I take everything so personally.

I've never been a good social gay man. Oh sure, I am social with my gay friends, but I just call them 'friends'. I'm talking about people who are 'the gays'.

Rarely a week goes by when someone whom I know who is gay asks, 'do you know so & so.......?' and invariably I do not. Not only have I never had a personal encounter with them, usually I don't even recognize the name. I am not a gay social-climber. For whatever reason, their question and my inevitable answer always leaves me feeling inadequate as a gay man of a certain age.

I don't know who I suppose I should - or who they suppose I should. I wouldn't say I'm anti-social I have just never gone out of my way to hang out or meet gay people just because they were gay. Sometimes it seems I'm the only one who hasn't.

Granted, in this town I have limited history. We've only been living here for 12 years or so and the first 11.5 of that I devoted myself to 13-14 hour days at work. So the people who run the task forces, committee members who try to better life for gays - I just don't know them and as I try to establish more of a work-life balance, I am beginning to feel a little left out.

That being said: I'm trying. We're trying. Regardless that Seinfeld once said you can't make new friends after you're 30, I'm trying to change. We've befriended one gay couple, whom we really enjoy dinner and such with. Now we are engaging two sets(?) of neighbors - one being a gay couple, one a gay man (singular).

Saturday, five of us had a nice dinner at the other couple's house. I think things went well. It seemed fairly relaxed - but that might have been the bottle of wine I drank talking. It was clearly the latest I've been up lately. Almost a six hour night after getting there. Everyone was being too nice about breaking it up - including the hosts. I felt like we were part of the SNL skit 'the guest who wouldn't leave'....though everyone was guilty about this.

In a pseudo-drunken state, I offered that we would host the next dinner. Let's see how it all plays out - shall we.

The Last Day

It kills me.....absolutely kills me...that Alberto Gonzales has the gonads to write, let alone say the following on his final day in office:

"Over the past 2 1/2 years, I have seen tyranny, dishonesty, corruption and depravity of types I never thought possible."

OMG. Is that not HILARIOUS????

What he seemingly neglects to say was, that it was all on his and his bosses watch.

....and to be honest, could he not have really rounded that number up to 'over the past 6 1/2 years....' and I'm sure I'm low-balling that (hehehehe...I said 'lowball').

Democrats have NOT been successful in doing.....well.....anything.....since winning congress almost a year ago. Let's fuckin' hope they succeed in keeping Ted Olson out of the AG office.

...for those who might not remember, it was Teddy who argued the 2000 election to the Supreme Court which handed the presidency to W in the first place.

But do not discount that the Shrubbies will use the fact that his wife was on the plane that hit the Pentagon. They'll be shameless in their tactics....mark my words.

Sad Mac - Sad Blobby

As anticipated, the G4 can be fixed - but at a cost. Not a monetary one.

Due to my lack of back-up, I'm going to lose everything on my hard-drive. Some music. Many of the pictures I've taken over the last three years. Achieved blog photos too. And then just some (but not much) work data.

I knew going in that this was the probability. It wasn't any easier to take when hearing the actual words. I was actually kind of sick about it all.

But the pisser of the entire thing was - as I've said before - their 'tude. The hard-drive will be replaced within the week (hopefully), but when asked to get the old hard-drive back, the answer was a resounding 'no'.

WTF???

It is fried - to them and probably to me. But giving it back is 'against store policy'. Fuck that! When I asked why (about 4 times), I just kept getting that same response.

Ok - I get that they are replacing it and I am not paying for the new one (well, kind of I am - with my $300 extended warranty), but if the issue was them giving me a new hard-drive, had they offered to sell it to me at a reasonable price, I would have bought it back to see what I could recover from it.

It is just bad fucking customer service in my book. ...and here is the true secret to customer service - everything can be done...just factor in time and/or money. Apple was so inflexible, I think they are the ones making me more upset than losing my files.

I think I'm done talking about this - at least until I get the laptop back.

Sad Mac - Still

I know you're all just dying for an update on my Mac.

I got nothing. NOTHING I tellz ya.

The good news is my warranty is good through November, so it is covered to be fixed. Assuming they can fix it. Apple has been booked solid, but I finally got an appointment tomorrow at 8pm! All they're going to do is say, try the boot up disk (tried it!).

Then they'll just take it and ship it to Apple. It will go away from weeks and return working - with everything I had stored on there wiped out. Mark my words.

Posts have been more frequent than I would have imagined without the Mac, but I haven't seemed to have time to formulate to much - and for that I apologize. And I have a bunch of travel coming up: Houston, Kansas City, Phoenix and of course, DC. Mostly in that order.

It will all be work, but I'm sure I can scrounge up some stories along the way. If nothing else, I know I can pull back a Houston story or two from a dozen years or so ago - which was the last time I was there.

On the up side - there is no reason for me to upgrade my Nano when I have no means to load music into it at this point. At least I'll get out of the Apple store without spending a dime. ....unless I need a new Macbook.

Doubting Charlie

Of course you know I am not above being lured into conspiracy theories. Unless it is a similarly titled movie starring Julia Roberts & Mel Gibson (seriously - who the fuck thought the teaming of those two would be a good idea?).

But I am also fickle in my belief(s). On one hand I do not believe that Oswald acted alone, yet on the other, I don't think Mark Fuhrman planted any bloody glove behind O.J.'s guest house. I pick my conspiracies very carefully - and never rarely based on any fact or logic.

Type '9/11 conspiracy' into Goooooogle and you get (or I did) 2,870,000 items. Truth be told, I did not go through every hit that Gooooogle pulled up.....or even a half-dozen of them.

A few months ago I got a business card stuck on my car for Loose Change 9/11, which seems to be a movie regarding what did or did not happen back in 2001. I think I will be skipping it - if it actually ever does come to my local gigaplex.

Then of course, some of you may have heard Charlie Sheen and Rosie O'Donnell's rants on why or how WTC Building 7 fell hours after the North and South towers. 7 was not even a building which was hit. Because when I do want facts - those are the two reliable sources I look to. They are the source of all truth.

No doubt you've seen the folks who don't believe the Pentagon was even hit by a plane at all. No no.....it was possibly it was hit by a missile. One that allegedly wasn't a jumbo jet going a few hundred miles per hour.

But what most doubters / conspirators are overlooking is only a few hours to the south of them. Not unlike Capricorn One, for all I know, television could have had us all duped. Could the towers never have imploded at all? Possibly someone just teleported them to Silver Spring, MD.

My proof? Well, I snapped this picture just a few weeks ago. There they are - hiding in plain sight. And it even says so right on the structure.....like they are mocking us.


I doubt Mel Gibson or Julia Roberts would be caught dead there (no pun intended). On the other hand, I could see Charlie Sheen there. ....with a cheap hooker.

My Precious

As I alluded to a week or so ago, I shot-down the idea of getting an iPhone for my birthday and that something was coming along that was better (as if!) and would last longer (probably true).

The man and I got ourselves rings. Ok, so technically it was not a present for me - but it kind of was. I wanted them....not just mine. A wedding would be nice, but not quite doable in Ohio....or 48 other states for that matter.

I've said it before, I would be into a wedding for the jewry (as Mitchell would say) and cake. Not necessarily in that order. Oh - and the ability to have a say in each other's healthcare and not to be taxed on inheritance and receive some tax breaks that married couples might. Blah blah blah.
Years ago we got matching like rings in Key West - for $16 a piece. You kind of get what you pay for. They were ok and I wore it for years - until I lost during a drunken evening (I know - you're shocked!) where sub-zero temperatures let it slip off my finger all too easily. I even remember hearing it hitting the ground, but not realizing it was my ring making that sound.

At first I thought I wanted platinum, but it's quite pricey. And it tarnishes! Who knew? I also like tungsten and titanium - which were quite affordable. I mean Jon accuses me of not putting a crowbar in my wallet enough - and don't even start him on the time I thought I found a quarter in a gravel parking lot......after sundown. I can't help it.

But after I was told that many instances, an Emergency Department cannot get tungsten and titanium off if need be. They are very sturdy metal and difficult to cut off, if it ever came to that. I had immediate visions of someone using a nutcracker to break my finger off - or worse - having Gollum biting my finger off to get the one true ring.

These rings aren't any of those metals nor is it the $16 material we got in KW. These are palladium.

The jeweler asked if I had ever heard of palladium, but I got a blank look back when I said 'yes, it was a nightclub in New York'. It turns out to be a precious metal they used to mix with white gold to make it....well.....white. And keep it that way. Apparently they do not use it in white gold anymore and now use it on its own.

I got over the idea years ago of needing to have matching rings. If people need to know we're together, they can look to see if we have a joint checking account or if both names are on the deed to the house. So I have the thicker, brushed metal band, he has the thinner shinier one.

I suppose we could have held onto the rings until we had a wedding or commitment ceremony. But I think it probably would have come down to IF we have one. And it turns out that David & Duck are beating us to the punch and stealing our thunder anyway! They are looking for rings and want to be married in Provincetown in a week or so. (Seriously though - good luck to them.....not that we were technically invited. Fuckers!)

But the piece de resistance had to be who our jeweler was: Little John. Yes, from Big Chuck and Little John fame (whom I kind of wrote about a few months ago).

Let me tell you, if the camera adds ten pounds to you - it must also add 12 inches. He's a little shorter than he looks on TV - and kind of like one of the tellers at Gringotts.

Seriously though, he was extremely professional and nice. ...and not a laugh track in sight.

We are thrilled with the rings, and yes they have inscriptions on the inside and not the out.....mainly because I didn't know elvish.

The Killers Killed

We went to see the Killers Friday night and they were very very good. I really enjoyed the concert.

I know! No one is more surprised by this than me. No one.

The set was brief (90 minutes to the second), but it was tight and well performed.

Granted we were on the older end of the spectrum (which is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence).

We took my 14 year old nephew and one of his friends. It was supposed to be my 16 year old niece, but she opted not to go. At first I was very disappointed she decided not to attend, but as I looked around the audience, it was extremely male dominated. What few women I saw there were in the 20-24 year old range and dates of a guy, usually in a group of other guys. It was probably good things turned out the way they did.

I have both Killer's CDs and like them, but they have never really heavy rotation choices for me. After last night, I might give them another chance or chances. We were clearly in the minority of not knowing the lyrics to each and everyone of the songs.

To be honest, except to kick off the songs, I don't even know that the lead singer, Brandon Flowers (no relation....I don't think) was needed. People did not just lightly sing along with the band - but honest to g-d, it they all concert-goers did full-on vocals...as loud as they could go. To EVERY song.

It was fun to watch and it left me thinking of how when I took my oldest niece (the one who bailed on us) to see Pocahontas when she was...maybe three (?), and the big song ("Colours of the Wind") came on - every three year old in the theatre sang along. I realized, many of the folks from that era/cohort were now in this arena doing the same thing. The thought of that did bring a big smile to my face.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever been to a concert where from first note to last, every single person was on their feet. I'm not a fist-pumper in the air kind of guy, and again, that clearly left us in the minority.

I will say - the opening act, Louis XIV, absolutely sucked. Their first song sounded amazingly like 'Ballroom Blitz'.....and I am not saying that is a good thing, and then it all went downhill from there. I do not mind loud bands - and they were - but I think they were just using volume to cover up the fact how incredibly bad they were. And I swear the set seemed non-ending.

On a more humourous note, were the guys in front of us. Two sets, actually. Sitting next to each other, but attending together. One a mixed-race and seemingly miss-matched couple. The other was at first glance to be two straight men. One was classically handsome, one just kind off blue-collar off-set handsome....at least to me.

It wasn't until the music started that I began to suspect that the classic guy was probably not straight at all. It was in the way he moved to the music. No straight man moves to music this way. Actually no gay man does either, unless he's taken post-graduate courses at the Dick Dancer Academy - specializing in how to move on a pedestal or cage (or both). It's a good thing that I didn't have a bunch of singles in my back pocket.

His "friend" seemed quite unaware of how his "buddy" shook this money-maker. Or maybe he's seen it all too often. The backstory I created in my mind already knew he could go to the concert and not be late for work - as he probably didn't have to be in his thong atop of the bar until midnight.

An Apple a Day

Just because I'm having massive massive troubles with my Powerbook G4 does not make me any less of an Apple fan. ....Blobby said as he typed on a Windows based, XP driven unit. cough cough gag

I don't need one, but aren't the new iPods cool? My three year old Nano works just fine. No video or anything, but if I had video, that means I'd have to download and pay for them. And then they get stored on a computer that I can no longer access.

It is a good thing that 98.4% of my music is stored on a server - so I'm not really losing too much. I have a few dozen songs that MAY have come from outside sources that are not my own compact disks. Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), they are on my Nano now, so I don't even think I lost those.

Denton will tell you I didn't back-up often enough and how this is just like that Sex and the City episode where Sarah Jessica Parker loses her entire stockpile of articles. ...and yes, it's just like that, but I'm not that big of a skank. (Shut up - each and every one of you!)

I have not lost complete hope on getting some of that stuff back. I'm only about 65% sure I'll get the Mac back to working order.....but at what price.....literally?

The Genius Bar had no openings for me the other day. And the new iPods hit the stores this weekend. Do I really want to even attempt to venture in there to get service? But how long can I hold out?

....and how long can I keep going in there without walking out with a new Nano or iTouch?


On a side note: who did Nelly Farturdo have to blow to get on almost every screen for the ad campaign?

Powerbook Failure

I am used to blogging most days. True, I don't always feel like it, which is why you have seen me blogging less on weekends and taking days here and there with no posts.

Like an old man who slows down so incrementally that he doesn't notice until it's too late, the same could be said for my Mac.

Though only 3 yrs old, I have seems some slow-downs in performance, but nothing that seemed to be crucial. That is, until two days ago. I had a hard time keeping a connection and now it is to the point I cannot boot it up at all.

Sad Sad Sad.

I will attempt to make an appointment at Apple's "Genius" Bar. I've been there before and have gotten zero help. They may have gotten an 800 on the math portion of their SATs, but I would assume have scored an 80 on any verbal skills. "Dunno" is usually what comes out of their mouth. But with an attitude to boot.

Naturally I will have to do this (ok, I guess I don't have to) on a day when Apple makes a big announcement regarding their new iPods. It is the one time I hope they don't have the product in the store to either look at or to buy. I want to get in - have them help me - and get out.

Before anyone asks if I went on-line to see if I can fix my problem, the answer is yes. As much as I do like their product, the Apple on-line support leaves much to be desired. Like anything else on the nets, for every question there are answers and contradictions to said answers. It is a maze to figure out what is what.

I hate blogging from work - so this is all you'll see of that. But depending on what happens today, my posting may be a bit more sporadic in the upcoming days. Apologies in advance.

See You In September

Oh wait - it already is.

It seems I've been off-line the last few days. Between work and the long holiday weekend, it was kind of a nice break, though I feel guilty for not making an effort. Truth be told - I normally feel guilty anyway. You pick the subject.

No matter what Juror #8 in Serial Mom says - fashion has not changed. No more white after Labor Day folks.

The weekend was ok. Nothing spectacular. I didn't get back from my work travel until Friday night. I was wiped and we did nothing. But Saturday and Monday we did something we've never done - watched part of the Cleveland Air Show.

Oh - do not get me wrong. We didn't pay to go. Surely you know I'm cheap. I wasn't paying $17 a piece to attend massive lulls in between a few aerobatics and potential crashes. No - on Saturday we just went to Edgewater Park and watched from afar. We only watched the Air Force Thunderbirds. I will say they were impressive from what we could see. It was a few miles away, but those fighter jets had to turn around somewhere and Lakewood was it.

Monday was better. We actually went down to th E. 9th St. pier to watch. This was right next to the airshow...and it was still free. Of course, I've been to the E. 9th St. pier before....mostly for Cleveland Pride, but once to pose nude for Spencer Tunick. But we'd never seen the airshow. I now think we're good for another 10 years.

Yes, there were a few drunks who wanted people to chant "U.S.A.! U.S.A!". No one joined in. On the plus side, I did run into Yvonne DeCarlo.


No sightings of Grandpa, Herman or that poor homely Marilyn.

What else? What else? Oh, my leg (the bionic-ish one) hurt like hell. It has never hurt this bad since surgery 15 years ago. Normally, when a low pressure system approaches (12-36 hrs away) the leg knows it. I might not. I will limp, but usually I am unaware of it. Rarely is there pain.

Not so Sunday morning. I could barely get out of bed. I walked into a picnic limping in pain and everyone was all concerned. Truth be told - so was I. I had checked weather.com and there was no low pressure system or bad weather approaching. A few times my leg seized up to the point where I couldn't actually move for a minute.

I hate to admit it, but I think it is time to see a orthopaedic oncologist for a check-up. It's been a few years. I never felt the need for regular check-ups. The tumor was self-contained and they took most of the femur. There was nothing to spread. I think it is just the plate or the nine pins acting up.

Maybe I just need to stand in a grove of apple trees mouthing "oil can".