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Today's Fortune: |
   
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Saturday, October 13, 2001
Beth and I went to Pilot Mountain today and hiked all over. I took some pictures with the digital camera, but I haven't got the ambition to post them. Anyways, the funny story from that trip is that Beth and I were hiking down this kind of rocky path and I was giving a little lecture on trail etiquette, you know, because I'm the outdoor expert and whatnot, and when I finished, I stepped on a wet rock and slipped and busted the shit out of my knee. And of course we were just walking past some people when this happened, and they decided to be insulting and ask if I was alright. I said I was just fine and bounced back onto my feet, but no one believed me because I prefaced the whole thing by saying "ow". And then the rest of the day I got to have a big muddy smear on the knee of my pants, like a special badge that says, "guess who's an ass!"
Thank you all for your support on the college thing. Just the validation I needed. Now let's play "Pick Andy's Major!" I listed Political Science on my application, because you have to list something. Other likely winners are Interior Architecture and English, since that's what I was studying before. Here's a list you can choose from. To be honest, it's not a guarranteed thing that I get in, considering my scholastic history and all. There was a spot on the application where they asked if I'd ever had any kind of probation at a previous school, and I started to fill it out, but then I realized it was optional and left it blank. For a second there I thought UT might have anticipated this sort of thing and called ahead. I know those bastards are out to get me. But for all I know, my transcript will rat me out. Does anyone know if a college transcript is just a list of classes and grades, or if it's got notes on your overall performance? I won't know until it's too late, because I have to deliver my transcript in a specially sealed envelope from UT. I'd hate to get a call from UNCG saying, "Well, your GPA's just high enough for you to squeak by, but what's all this about Pamela Anderson?"
.: posted by andy 10/13/2001
I went to the mall today. I watched two (count'em, two!) movies, Training Day, which was okay, and The Learning Curve, which was terrible. The only good things about the movie were the fact that I was the only person in the auditorium, so I could scream at the screen when it got really bad, and it had those chairs with arms that lift up, so I stretch out across a bunch of seats and take a nap from the last gratuitous sex scene until the really boring, inaccurate, and unrelated to the plot running gun battle. I played some arcade games in the lobby of the theatre, at $1 a pop, and almost went across the little midway into the Gameworks(R) Arcade, until I remembered that it was one of those huge VR arcades, like the evildoer in The Learning Curve wanted to build, and more importantly, all of the games cost over a dollar.
On the way home from that mall, I stopped at another mall and wandered around looking for my aunt's new book, Pretty is As Pretty Does, which is loosely based on the small town that she grew up in and hated, and supposedly has a lot of sex in it (but not the gratuitous kind). You all should buy three or four copies of it. Neither of the bookstores in that mall had it, and the mall I was at earlier in the day didn't even have a bookstore (I call that a statement on our society). But, there was a sporting goods store, so I went in and figured out that shooting is a much cheaper hobby than going to the movies. My matinee priced movies were each $5.50, a medium popcorn was $3.50, and a large drink was $3.50. Then there was the 6 gallons of gas that it took for me to get from my house to the mall 60 miles away and back, and that empty feeling I was left with after The Learning Curve. At the sporting goods store, I got a case of heavy game load 12 gauge shells for $35.55 after tax, and clay pidgeons are like $3 a box at Wal-Mart. One box of pidgeons, one case of shells, one case of beer, and you have entertainment for four for an entire day. Plus, you'll have bruises and a hangover the next day, to remind you of your wholesome activities.
If you prefer something a bit more urban, try the Intratec TEC-9 or AB-10 (same gun, TEC-9 was banned in 1994 or so, AB-10 is the after ban version). One will run you about $169, a set of four extra preban 50 round clips is $89, and 9MM ammo is about $100 for a case of 1000 rounds. If you didn't click on the link for Intratec above yet, go back and do it now. The page has excellent vitriolic misandronous antigun-speak. I love the term Saturday Night Special, specially when applied to very expensive collectible firearms.
Finally, I leave you with the following:
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 10/13/2001
So today I'm going to go shoot a lot of guns. Mostly pistols, but also the AR-15. Fun. Last week my middle eastern neighbor looked at me and said "hello" for the first time since sept 11. That was comforting. I was feeling pretty bad for him, coz he's a decent guy. He's a software engineer for compaq. Oh, I also think it's good that andy's going back to school... But only because I think he was having too much fun being unemployed.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/13/2001
There are some new posts at the Patriotic Archive, or whatever you want to call it. One pretty classic pic of a Middle Eastern protester catching himself on fire while lighting an American flag.
.: posted by andy 10/13/2001
Friday, October 12, 2001
I've been feeling anxious lately. Like, I realized that my job at Kaplan isn't going to pay my bills. Maybe my boyfriend will kind of move in to help with the rent.
Poor folks in da house, consider Mystery Shopping. It's a neat way to make a little money and/or get free stuff.
On the subject of Anthrax, I had a momentary attack of sobbing when I heard about the latest shit, but then I got over it and said, this is just some asshole. I'm going to keep telling myself that. And here is the most important article on Anthrax so far.
Andy, I'm really, really, really, really pleased you're applying to college. :)
.: posted by Loretta 10/12/2001
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Bert IS evil.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/11/2001
I don't wanna get anthrax.
.: posted by andy 10/11/2001
Fox News is letting the public call in with their crackpot ideas about improving security in the nation. A woman who "doesn't fly much anyway" just suggested that they not allow any carry-on bags on airplanes, and that people at the airport randomly be thoroughly searched. I'm glad this isn't a democracy, because that's pretty much the prevailing mood among a random sampling of idiots who want to voice their crazy-ass opinions on TV. I'd hate to see what happened to us if there were mob rule in the US.
Also, last week's incident with the retarded guy trying to get into the cockpit of a jet-liner pretty much nixes the idea of airline pilots with guns, if you ask me. Those pilots requested a fighter escort because some kid with a mental problem wanted to see the cockpit. In other words, the pilots were ready to have the plane shot down if the kid got in. If one of them had a gun up there, I'd say there's a reasonable chance he would've tried shooting through the door of the cockpit. My family knows one pilot and one flight attendant, and both are fervently opposed to arming our airline pilots. The last thing America needs is a bunch of three-martini gunslingers flying our nation's airlines.
.: posted by andy 10/11/2001
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
I applied for college today. That's a pretty big deal to me.
.: posted by andy 10/10/2001
So, anyway, I have limited internet access these days. I'm still in Sanger, and finally making profit. Whoot. It's kind of funny, 'cause I came to Sanger with the intention of getting some work from my brother quickly, making money fast, then finding stuff to do. Instead, I've done very little until now. I've been helping my father build his house and a few odds and ends, but nothing significant. Starting Monday, my brother and I looked at a site for two buildings and delivered bids on them; Tuesday Seth bid on two others, and the person wanted them so much that she and got cash from her bank to avoid the three day hold my brother's bank has, so we started those yesterday, and I spend most of today cutting and welding metal for them. Tomorrow we'll frame them, and Sunday we'll run tin. All in all, about $1000 apiece for 4 days work. And, this doesn't get in the way of the two other buildings we were going to start next Wednesday. Interesting, the lifestyle switch from dotcom to contract construction.
On a sidenote, miller.com is still held by a cybersquatter. I thought all of that stuff was over with. For the frost-brewed Rockies people, you have to go to millerbeer.com, and for the industrial equipment people you have to go to millerwelds.com.
It just started raining really hard here. Ugh. I have to move a trailer and move some stuff, and I didn't really want to get wet doing it.
Does anyone know how to get ahold of Ellen?
.: posted by Grand Inquisitor Fnord Moco 10/10/2001
Tuesday, October 09, 2001
So now I'm a stay-at-home-husband, or, as Beth has taken to calling me, a houseboy. Beth's first day of work was today. I'm just hanging around the house. There's a lot of cleaning to do, and also my stories are coming on soon.
Ha, I'm just kidding, I'm not hooked on soaps yet. I'm just a little weirded out that I'm not the big breadwinner anymore. Two years ago I dropped out of college so that I could make big $$$ working for dot coms, and now here I am, unemployed, cleaning house while my wife, who has a degree, goes out and brings home the bacon. I guess I should feel emasculated, but I really don't. It's just kind of weird is all.
On the bright side, I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich, a Pop-tart toaster pastry, and beef jerky for breakfast.
.: posted by andy 10/9/2001
Some kind of statement, I guess.
.: posted by andy 10/9/2001
Monday, October 08, 2001
I don't want to write off Iran. I want to occupy them with tanks and infantry, then I want to dismantle their government, rebuild it as a secular representative democracy(well, at least as secular as our government), and force them to eat mcdonalds and drink coca-cola. We did it with Germany and Japan, and I'm content with losing american lives to do it in the middle east. Screw what the berkley pacifist scene has to say, they're just a fringe group that's strayed way far away from reality since the 60's and 70's. Those people treat far-left politics like a fashion statement. If they really believed in what they spewed, they would be shouting until their larynxes bled about the policies of arab governments towards their people. Every time my sister tells me about her co-op-mates in Berkley, it just makes me want to spit.
Anyway, I'm all for storming the beaches and shooting militant islamo-nations in the face with M4s and artillery shells. I don't know where I gave the impression that I thought we could force regimes into submission through precision bombing campaigns. It's just goofy, coz the only reason we're not going to do a real war is so that we don't piss off our misogynist arab "friends" and cause them to shut off the oil spicket. Screw diplomacy and compromise. If I were in charge, the ignorant fundamentalist-muslim/misogynist world would have a much bigger occupation to be pissed about than the "Zionist occupation of Palestine." There is no moral equivalency here. This is not Capitalism vs. Communism. Modern Islam based governments are not even a good idea "in theory." They suck, and we don't... as much.
Time for my medication. Maybe tomorrow I'll lay down my rants in a more organized way.
.: posted by Jeremy 10/8/2001
Sunday, October 07, 2001
The funny thing is that my Dad and I went backpacking this weekend. The leaves are already turning in the mountains, and I have to admit that I've never seen anything like it. The colors here are so much more brilliant than Texas. We had a good hike, even though we did a terrible job navigating. We went up the strenuous end of the trail, and down the moderate end, instead of vice versa. There are two things I hate on a backpacking trail--steps, and ladders. On any well-maintained trail you almost always have steps, since they help cut erosion. You don't always have ladders, though. My thinking is that if the trail builders have to use a ladder to get past some obstacle, they're not trying hard enough. This trail had three ladders and a knotted rope before you made it to Callaway Peak. Luckily, we left our heavy packs in camp and just carried daypacks to the peak. Also, let the willworkforflooz record show that on the night of October 7, 2001, the water in my Nalgene bottles froze. I knew it would be cold, so I bought some extreme cold weather long johns. For some reason, I figured cold-weather long johns and a hooded sweatshirt underneath a rain jacket would be enough to keep me warm. At the last minute I threw in a wool sweater. Thank God I did that, coz it got cold last night. And windy. We camped with some guy from the Forestry Service who just randomly showed up, and he said they expected gusts in excess of 60 mph on the Peak, and we were just 3/10 of a mile downhill from there. We stayed in a lean-to built in the 1940s. That beat staying in our tent, because it was warmer and there was less wind noise. It was also nice because during the night you could look out over the valley and see the lights from some little towns way in the distance. And then in the morning I could lay in my mummy bag and watch the sun come up.
As soon as Dad gets his film developed, I'll post some pictures.
Oh, yeah. The funny thing is that nothing exciting ever happens when I'm around. I went backpacking this weekend thinking we wouldn't start the war for another week, at least, and when I come back, it turns out they've already started the air war. So I didn't get to see the reporters break into whatever show I might have been watching to say that the first shots had been fired, but they didn't have much information at the moment. Over and over again until I'd missed both Futurama and the Simpsons.
.: posted by andy 10/7/2001
Well, now we're at war. I think we should have presented our evidence against bin Laden to the Taliban before we started bombing. They would almost certainly have rejected it, but at least then we could say we tried. This article on international reactions is interesting, but short. Whoever wrote it used the classic strong opening, weak middle, strong finsh format. My high school English teacher taught me to use this style when writing persuasive papers. I'm glad Pakistan is on our side; I was a little worried about them. The Iranian reaction bothers me. I'm sure Jeremy will want to write off the Iranians as a non-threat, since we have such state-of-the-art weapons and all, but I look at the attack on the WTC, and I'm reminded that Iran has its own national airline.
.: posted by andy 10/7/2001
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