dwinn

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October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January 2004
December
November
Archives

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Environment

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Sight: Sandman vol 4

Sound: Best of the Who

Touch: FFVII, .hack/infection, RE:0

Taste: cider

Smell: fabric softener

Virtual: Fark, KoL, Homestar Runner

Other Projects

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Token Pursuits: horribly out of date and soon to be decommissioned

Book List 2004

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Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

Cerulean Sins, Laurell K. Hamilton

Dream Country (Sandman, Book 3), Neil Gaiman et al

The Doll's House (Sandman, Book 2), Neil Gaiman et al

Preludes and Nocturnes (Sandman, Book 1), Neil Gaiman et al

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach

The Walking Dead: Days Gone By, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore

Offbeat Food: Adventures in an Omnivorous World, Alan Ridenour

Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe - Book 1, Stan Lee et al

JLA: League of One, Christopher Moeller

JLA: The Obsidian Age, Book Two, Joe Kelly et al

JLA: Terror Incognita, Mark Waid et al

Naked Empire, Terry Goodkind

The Rising, Brian Keene

The Devil's Novice: The Eighth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, Ellis Peters

JLA: World War III, Grant Morrison et al

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection Vol 1, Dennis O'Neil et al

Batman: Knightfall (novelization), Dennis O'Neil

Fray, Joss Whedon et al

Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn

Green Arrow: Straight Shooter, Judd Winick et al

Without Remorse, Tom Clancy

JLA: Justice For All, Grant Morrison et al

Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett

Green Arrow: Archer's Quest, Brad Meltzer et al

JSA: Stealing Thunder, Geoff Johns et al

JSA: Fair Play, Geoff Johns et al

Zero Hour, Dan Jurgens et al

Lucifer's Hammer, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Frommer's Las Vegas 2004, Mary Herczog et al

Green Arrow: The Sounds of Violence, Kevin Smith et al

The Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks

The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham

Batman: Hush 2, Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee

DC One Million, Grant Morrison et al

Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Trace Beaulieu et al

** - reread

Book List 2003 Book List 2002 Book List 2001

SADDAM DID IT WITH CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE

The above Random Drudge Report Headline generated at http://www.chortler.com/drudge.shtml?.
posted by dwinn at 6:04 PM

The Shipping Racket

I went today to mail a package from the new "The UPS Store" (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.). I was mailing a Buffy board game, which is a little hefty and has dimensions of 16x10x2. The girl at the desk was very helpful -- "Would you like us to wrap it in bubble tape and box it up?" Yes! "How quickly does it need to be delivered?" No rush, whatever the slowest shipping speed is. So she packages it up all nice and punches up the numbers. "That'll be 41 dollars."

.

.

.

I think my heart stopped. So the box and packaging materials cost ten bucks, and the shipping ran 28.50! The salesperson saw my reaction and outlined the pricing for this shipment, but that didn't help much.

So the lesson learned is -- if the USPS can ship something for 18 bucks less than UPS, then waiting in line at the post office with morons is well worth it.
posted by dwinn at 5:25 PM

Happy Tree Friends!

So cute and cuddly... but everything seems to go so wrong in the end. I advise watching the episode "Eye Candy".
posted by dwinn at 3:15 PM

I'm reading this book about the history of ESPN; it was published about 3 or 4 years ago. What's funny is that the author, in the foreward, wrote that ESPN is facing this stiff challenge by Fox Sports and may well lose the title of King of Sports Programming, since Fox is funded by a billionaire and has top sports anchors and personalities like Keith Olbermann (formerly of ESPN) and young stars like Kevin Frazier, as well as their national sports wrapup show.

Flash forward to today, where Olbermann has left Fox and another network in disputes, Kevin Frazier now works for ESPN, the National Sports Report show is cancelled and replaced by ultra-cheap "local sports reports" (where the Detroit show is done by people in a studio in Seattle), and ESPN rules all it surveys.

Nice prediction!
posted by dwinn at 4:08 PM

My Drive Home

Yesterday evening I saw many bewildering and/or surprising things as I meandered home from work and errands. They include:

A man with bagpipes at the corner of Green and Plymouth. He wasn't dressed in the traditional bagpiper getup, not was he playing the bagpipes; he was just walking down the street with them.

As I drove by Huron Hills Golf Course, I watched a man chip in from about 20 yards out.

A little after that, I saw a woman walking along the side of the road using cross-country ski poles, as if she was pretending to ski while she walked. Remember, it was 80 degrees yesterday.

At the gas station, there was this easy-on-the-eyes woman at the pump on the opposite side of mine, and as she cleaned the windows of her car, she wiggled her butt in such a way as to make me think I must be on one of those hidden-video shows.

Finally, on Ellsworth, it appeared that the entirety of someone's possessions had been dumped out of a low-flying plane in front of University Townhouses. My first thought was that it was an inpromptu yard sale, but no one was around to buy or sell, and this detritus was spread out over about a quarter of a mile.
posted by dwinn at 2:28 PM

Spring

You know spring is here when Masters weekend rolls around, so I spent a goodly amount of time on the couch watching the golf. Sprinkled in there was a trip to Shehan Shah and a goodly amount of laundry and GBA:SP-playing.

Today's weather is high 60's and sunny, while tomorrow promises 80 degree weather. Enjoy it while it lasts, as we'll be back to 40's by the end of the week.
posted by dwinn at 4:15 PM

Doomsday

I got to work to find email from the Big Boss in my mailbox. The budget had been finalized and they would have to let go of 5 people in our division of 200 or so.
I was not expecting that one of those people would be the guy who sits just to the right of me in the office.
It's unsettling, but it's over for now. I was certainly nervous, as technically I only have one person lower than me on the overall seniority pole. I guess I should just count my blessings and hope that further cuts aren't required for next year.

But, on a brighter note, Darcy brought her baby in the office today, The baby has these tiny little toes, like the size of a pencil eraser! It's insane.
posted by dwinn at 4:43 PM

Happy Birthday, Assclown!
posted by dwinn at 3:07 PM

Actual Letters from Actual Viewers


From: person
To: dwinn

hey dan, nice lego.

your cat fucking rules but its mildly fat.
and your pretty.

mmmm,
adam.


Hey Adam. Thanks for the kind words about the lego. I agree that my cat fucking rules, but I do not think "mildly fat" adequately covers her Fat Level. I would say that she is at BLUBBER ALERT=ORANGE. Julie and I are stocking up on bottled water and duct tape just in case.

Oh, I'm pretty, you say? Well, how about you and I... wait a minute! ADAM, I just don't think this is going to work out. Notice I'm not refuting your claims -- I mean, check me out. Seriously, check me out, I'm as majestic as a fucking giant golden lion!

Your buddy,
StrongBad dwinn
posted by dwinn at 3:24 PM

Where've you been?

I watched some backetball and did some Fuller Wedding related stuff, I got one of those new Gameboy Advance SPs, and then I fell into sickliness. Now I am not so sick that I cannot work, but I think when I get home this evening I'm gonna take a big nap.
posted by dwinn at 3:10 PM