Thursday, January 03, 2008

Why Yes, Yes I Am

A geek, that is. I'm watching the caucusing on CSPAN. I am now even more convinced than ever that the Democratic Party is unable to organize its way out of a wet paper bag.

I am kinda digging it though. Sure it's a very weird and arcane way of doing things, but I tend to be partial to the weird and arcane.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

By The By

In case it wasn't clear to anyone out there, Ratatouille is simply one of the best movies ever.

That is all.

(Thanks Mr. Fish)

Blog?

I'm very much digging the phunky photoblog site that Ianqui is using. I'm testing it out over here. What do you folks think? Does the photo actually fit on your page (I know that was a grief with blogger)? The small version still looks a little too big to me, but I really don't want to do a lot of resizing...

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!

to one and all. May your weather be mild, your tires nail-free, your lenses unfogged and your students above average.

2008. I know it's been said before and better, but weren't we supposed to have flying cars by now? Or at least moon colonies, right?

We do have dark chocolate M&Ms though. That's a wonderment that Asimov or Verne couldn't have possibly predicted. Maybe Da Vinci though. He was pretty sharp, I hear.

No real profound thoughts here, but there are some earthly concerns rattling around in my head, so here goes.

A bit of cleaning for the new year is good, yeah? So I did some vacuuming. Needed to change the bag though. I took out the trash and headed out to get a new bag. It seems that the bag I need (the oh-so-coolly titled 'Z-type') doesn't exist locally. Three stores, no Z-bags. Now I've got a vacuum cleaner with no bags, 'cause, natch, I threw out the old bag. (too many commas? tough) Also, I should mention that the vacuum cleaner was rescued from the trash room. Is that tacky or clever? It's a really nice one except for the fact that it uses vaporware bags. So far, I've picked up a nice vacuum cleaner, a dresser (not so nice), a couch and a coffee table all from roommates. If I cared to, I could get more. Up the street, there's another couch that just got put out since I got home, a mattress set and a TV. Reaping the fruits of a disposable culture, eh?

I did find the bags on Amazon. I'm not sure how I feel about being a guy who buys vacuum bags from Amazon on New Year's Day. Best not to think about it too much.

All that vacuum stuff seemed a lot funnier in my head when I thought about it while doing my morning run looking at the stuff on the side of the road. There was a dead squirrel, too. I don't think I'm making things better here.

Everyone is wondering what to do about the 365 blogs now that the 365 have technically passed. I started on January 5 and made it to 338/365 (with a little bit of fudging at the end), but I'm pretty happy with that. I think I'm going to keep going with it. Not so much focused on the one-a-day thing, but more as a way to keep me focused on looking for photos. I'm not sure how it'll turn out, but we'll see.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Quizzing

Oh, yeah, Jayfish and I were in an art supplies store and they were playing old Micheal Jackson over the PA. I want the record to show that it wasn't only me who was singing. Well, maybe mostly me, but not only me.

All 10 well answered last time 'round, and I feel I should say that I'm either really impressed that Gary know that "All Right Now" was by Free, or I could be really spooked. Seriously. Free? I had no idea who they were. I think I'll be impressed. After all, the guy still has his 45s for crying out loud, right?

hmm, so it was an easy 10 out of 10 last time. Maybe I need to throw some curve balls, eh?

1.
The radio was blasting,
Someone's knocking at the door
I'm looking at my girlfriend,
She's passed out on the floor
I've seen so many things I ain't never seen before.
Don't know what it is I don't want to see no more.
2.
Wanted no applause,
It's just another cause,
Made a meal out of me, and come back for more,
Had to cool me down,
To take another round,
Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing
3.
I kissed her face and kissed her head
And dreamed of all the different ways I had
To make her glow
"Why are you so far away?" she said
"Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you
That I'm in love with you"
4.
First time was a great time
Second time was a blast
Third time I fell in love
Now I hope it lasts
5.
But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me
6.
Touch if you will my stomach
Feel how it trembles inside
You've got the butterflies all tied up
Don't make me chase you
7.
Darling mine
I would wait forever for those lips of wine
Build my world around you, darling
This love will shine, girl
Watch it and see
If you give a little more then you're asking for
Your love will turn the key
8.
But I'll be lonely without you
And I'll need your love to see me through
Please believe me, my heart is in your hands
And I'll be missing you.
9.
Well I'm New York City born and raised
But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores
L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home
New York's home, but it ain't mine no more
10.
Your daddy said I took you just a little too far.
Tellin' other things, but your girlfriend lied
Can't catch me cause the rabbit done died.

There's a bonus point for anyone who can explain what in the world is going on in the lyrics for MacArthur Park. I mean... seriously.

Jingle Blogs

Hi there. My name is Overread, and I think I said in the past that I would try not to be apologetic when I come back after a blogging absence, but hey, I thrive on guilt and its expression, so here I am again, saying that I'm sorry that I haven't been updating more regularly, for what it's worth.

Much has happened - I did finish grading, I did finish one of the papers that I had due. Yadda yadda. On the wonderful front, I was able to get to the land of the wonderful nieces (now with a total of three! Wonderful! Nieces! Wa! ha! ha!).

The nieces are really incredible. One asked me if I could sit down and play with some flashcards - 'one of these things isn't like the other' stuff and a little bit of reading. She is really brilliant, and I'm not biased at all. Niece the second and I got to sit down and look at a book of hers (shapes and colors with the Little Einstein crew). Niece the third is all of a week and a few days old, so I was happy to just get to hold her for a while (lesson learned? Pat pat on the back = no crying). Ah, good times.

I was able to actually got to talk with a sister and a brother with their significant otters (one soon to become more significant in a legal sense in a few months - hooray!). Although I did an evil deed by bringing up my Wii and leaving it at brother and soon-to-be-sis-in-law's place. Both seem to dig it, but brother may like it a bit too much :)

All done and a very happy holiday. Now all I have to do is catch up on my blog reading (my apologies, but I haven't been reading you guys at all, but I will! I promise!), post some photos (tomorrow?), and start the pre-new year cleaning.

Oh, and I read a book. A real honest-to-goodness non-academic book. Amazing. Devil in the White City. Architecture, design, murder, who could ask for anything more?

Hope all is well with all'y'all out there in blogland.