July 2008

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OMGWTF

Thursday, July 31, 2008 | No comments

The McCain campaign has seriously lost it:

McCain camp on Obama’s ‘hysteria’
Staying very personal, the McCain campaign responds to Obama’s suggestion that Republicans will attack his unusual name and his race: 

“This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria,” says McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, before trying to link the attack back to offshore drilling.

It’s my personal assessment that Mr. Bounds is not aware of the definition of the word ’superfluous’, but he is most likely very aware of the connotations of the word ‘hysteria’. Way to attract disaffected Clinton voters, guys. And is this the McCain camp’s way of suggesting that it’s “fair” to inject bigotry into the political sphere?

I have to imagine that at this point McCain is the longshot for president. Barack Obama seems more presidential, has a better character, is more mature, wakka wakka wakka, you know the rest. If John McCain is elected I will be less amazed than disgusted.

In other news, the Blue Angels have been flying over my house all morning.

Play/Work

Monday, July 28, 2008 | 4 comments

The View From Here

Saturday, July 26, 2008 | No comments

It’s evening now. The apartment is quiet. Just minutes ago there was a board game being played that I’ve never heard of before. Rachel’s friends from home, Tom and Bobby, are here (if you’ve been reading diligently, you’ll remember they were here three months ago). It’s been a full house and kind of a crazy weekend.

This month, though I’ve made more money than I have been making regularly, my spending has been out of control and I really need to curb it. I’m going to check out a television and a desk for my room tomorrow, but I feel like that will be just about it. I ordered some games for the Playstation (one and two) and 360, I may get a wireless adapter for the 360 and 3 months of Xbox LIVE, I bought some groceries and booze, but then my rent and electric bill checks will be due and it’ll be nothing but groceries and coffee during the month of August.

Does anyone out there know how to convert Apple Address Book files to work on a Macbook from a Powerbook? I’ve got all these people I don’t know on my buddy list that I have no idea who they are. And I obviously don’t know them well enough to just ask, but I also don’t want to just go and delete them. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

Freitag

Friday, July 25, 2008 | 1 comment

A Friday is probably the most welcome thing on Earth, no matter what language it’s in.

Everything seems to be directing me towards the Capitol Hill Block Party today. Only problem is, I really just don’t have that much interest in going to it. I’m not that enthusiastic about it, I don’t know any of the artists enough; I mean, I want to see Menomena, but not enough to pay $18 to go sit through all the other acts. I can’t really fully explain it. I just don’t have the interest.

Though I’m not interested in paying $18 for a block party, I’ve been on this HDTV jag lately. After I bought the 360, I began to feel its full potential has not been realized on a 20-inch cathode ray tube television. None of my Craigslist prospects has panned out though (thanks asshole in Kirkland who sold it after I had my friend drive 20 minutes out of his way to pick it up).

Maybe next time.

Anyway, that’s about all. Work has been going steady. Class is over and now I’m just waiting anxiously for the damage report that will be my grade. Allah help me if I fail this one. I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Conservatives Attempt to Catch Obama ‘Gaffe’, Pwn Themselves

Thursday, July 24, 2008 | No comments

Yesterday CNN reported that Senator Barack Obama, in a speech at a press conference in Israel, “incorrectly claimed“ membership to a Senate committee of which he is not actually a part. Not at all unexpectedly, conservatives have since pounced on this similar to the way flies quickly flock to shit, both in the almost exclusively ignorant comments on CNN’s website (which have since been closed to new comments) and on their own drivel-filled blogs. They are purporting to label it a “gaffe” of greater proportions than all of Senator John McCain’s.

Allow me to be one of the many liberals who have probably already sifted through and debunked this. A little Obama versus McCain, shall we?

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Just In Case You Weren’t Sure

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | No comments

Is Barack Obama a Muslim?

Weekends

Monday, July 21, 2008 | No comments

This weekend was, contrary to what I said today in my obligatory inter-office co-worker small talk, actually kind of exciting. But it all actually begins last week.

Sometime last week, Rachel and I finished playing through Halo 2. It’s become very common practice for us, without class or many friends around (it being summer and all) or many other obligations, to play lots of Xbox in the interim. Anyway, playing through Halo 2 brought back lots of very fond memories of playing through the first Halo with my brother seven years ago. I reminisced about the past, but then started looking towards the future of these games.

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Some Other Stuff

Monday, July 21, 2008 | No comments

Before I bore you with personal details, I’m going to briefly delve into my not-so-secret loathing for the “Grand Old Party” and their presumptive presidential candidate.

Things Younger Than John McCain already said it pretty much the way I would have (but better), but here it is. The New York Times published an opinion piece by Barack Obama on July 14, 2008. John McCain went on, in wondrously juvenile Republican fashion, to submit his own op-ed, which the Times refused to publish. Mr. McCain’s piece is drivel: it offers nothing new and is nothing more than an insignificant and embarrassing failed attempt to attack the undeniable enormous credibility of Senator Obama.

The point here is that the GOP and its legions of rich corporate executives and people who believe lies will use this to perpetuate the lie of “liberal media bias”. It wouldn’t be as much of a problem if Fox News weren’t fifth in network ratings. But it is. Just try not to believe what they say.

I Knew Their Music Sucked, But Really?

Thursday, July 17, 2008 | No comments

The Torture Playlist, via The Triumph of Bullshit:

Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, “prolong capture shock,” disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams.

Below that is a playlist of songs used in United States-run prisons, played at a level just shy of that which would puncture the detainees eardrums, that includes music like Christina Aguilara, the “Meow Mix” theme, and the Barney theme song.

It also included songs by Rage Against the Machine, who wrote to the State Department insisting that their song no longer be used for such a deplorable purpose, as well as Metallica…

But then I read that when Metallica found out they were actually really excited and they said that their music was intended to be scary and intimidating and if they could be contributing to the war against terror in any way that they were honored.

That takes a level of ignorance and sheer stupidity on Metallica’s part that is unfathomable. Let it be stated for the record that metal band Metallica fully supports the torture of human beings that are detained by the United States government.

That is all.

And Just Like That…

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 | 4 comments

…He was gone.

Felix Geronimo “Jerry” Lundegaard Baumgartner passed away this morning around ten am.

The Bird Whisperer

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 | No comments


“What are birds? We just don’t know.”

Saturday, July 12, 2008 | 1 comment

We got a fourth roommate today.

Bird

His name is Felix Jerry Lundegaard Baumgartner.

Liveblogging My Boredom

Thursday, July 10, 2008 | 2 comments

My Boredom

9:32pm. Still home alone. Still drunk. Only one person answered text messages and can’t hang out.

Txt Msg Cry Fr Hlp

Thursday, July 10, 2008 | No comments

Apparently I have no available friends.

I just got back from happy hour at the Owl & Thistle (whose website is like an atrocious AOL personal site circa 1997) with my coworkers. It was my first interaction with them outside of awkward stops at my desk on the way to the bathroom or the kitchen. It was really fun and, though I knew they were all interesting characters, I got to know them a little bit better.

On the downside, though, I got a good (free, thanks guys!) buzz going on two Mack & Jacks and an empty stomach. So, with an empty house upon arriving home, and in an effort to keep the buzz going, I texted some friends to see if they were free for drinks. I suppose they are busy or simply don’t care enough (read: pity pahty) to go out with me for a bit.

Yes, I’m resorting to drinking alone at home.

The fellow that my landlord hired to fix my skylight came today, so I have finally photographed the view from my room. I’ll put that up tomorrow or something.

Steal This Post

Thursday, July 10, 2008 | No comments

This is old news but… I’m beginning to think that I should friend-dump Youtube:

Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos onYouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far.

Oh, also they get your user name and IP address. Here’s a list of competing video hosting services, most more preferable for personal, non-copyrighted material. I like Vimeo, personally.

In related news, I am considering already have handinged Myspace the same treatment. It’s not news, and I don’t know why it only started worrying me this week, but who the fuck knows what News Corp. could do with my information and my likeness? I know I’m nowhere near desirable enough, but I still don’t like the idea of ending up as one of those “local singles in your area!”

All That You Need to Know About My Weekend That is Readable in About 30 Seconds

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 | No comments

Flag

  • There was a big storm on Wednesday.
  • My whole immediate family flew in that night.
  • We saw each other the next morning.
  • Half-day at the office!
  • We hosted a BBQ for the fam, and I did the cooking.
  • Fireworks at Alki (it was like Nahant last year: the horizon was exploding).
  • Swimming at the hotel.
  • Pike Place and the Space Needle for my bro and sis.
  • And the heinous game of Halo 2 with my brother.
And that about sums it up.

 

Do/Say

Monday, July 7, 2008 | No comments

It’s been an eventful weekend to say the least.

I want to start out with a sort of apology. To many of you this will mean nothing. Some will understand. And others still will not read or not care or both. And that’s okay. I would go into a big diatribe about what good blogging does (or doesn’t), but that has been said before and many others have said it better.

I don’t think that this site merely sprung from nothing. Whether it’s obvious or not, to me or to anyone, there is a purpose here, a need. That purpose is not, has not, and will not be for personal attacks of character or judgements of actions or critiques of personality; none of that is ever necessary or productive and especially not by me. What I will do here is present the world as I see it, situational observations, if you will. Easily confusable for any number of things, I will allow and understand and own that. But I feel that I can’t refrain from still observing. If I did, I think this would be boring and unreadable and lose its purpose. I’d hate it and you’d hate it.

I’d love to simply get fed up and say this is for me and not anybody else. But that’s not true and that’s never true. This isn’t Livejournal. This isn’t private. And as soon as you put anything into the world—be it art, music, words, speech, an action—it’s no longer your own. It belongs to everyone but you.

I’ve made a grievous error, but it wasn’t being open here: it was not being open elsewhere.

My point is, and the point has always been (long before me), love your fellow human being. If you have or have been having trouble with that, here’s this to turn your solid heart into a liquid:

Tomorrow, I’ll get to the story of my Fourth of July weekend with my family. After that, it’s back to the same old boring shit.

Wreckage

Thursday, July 3, 2008 | No comments

Wreckage on Flickr.com

Anymore, it seems I’m always drunk or tired or up far too late or all of the above when I post on this thing. I will remedy this at some point. I’m finding my life less and less interesting right now. Or rather, I’m finding less and less to say interestingly about my life. It’s “all of the above,” by the way.

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