October 31, 2003
October 27, 2003
Medic!
I'd like to be able to say that my first injury requiring stitches was the result of a knife fight or protecting my girlfriend or something, but in reality the lone attacker was a blue drinking glass.
That little mundane drinking device did a number on my hand, though. One big inch-long cut on the outside pad of my right hand and one smaller cut on the outside knuckle of my pinky, requiring four stitches in each wound.
The sympathy I've gotten (I called my mom for that sole purpose) has been pretty good. Not sure if it's worth all the trouble, though. Brushing your teeth with your off-hand is harder than you think. And I won't even get into going to the bathroom.
October 11, 2003
Howie Day's songs are cooler than his name.
Years from now when I'm interviewed (because I'm a celebrated musician) who my influences are, I'll have to remind myself to include Howie Day in the list.
I've been wearing out about 8 tracks from a live show I legally downloaded a couple days ago. The guy's got skills.
He does layering/looping much like Keller Williams*. And his voice definitely has a Dave Matthews feel to it. In fact, at one point Howie's between-song banter sounds so much like Dave-Speak it made my head turn.
His songs are definitely mellow, but at 1:30 in the morning that's just fine by me.
* If you are currently listening to music or have your speakers on at all, click this link at your own peril.
October 09, 2003
Black William Kidd
The pirate craze continues unexplained. I found a site that "will scientifically determine your pirate name based on your responses to twenty questions." You should try it. Surprisingly, both the survey and the results are pretty funny. I shall hereforth be known as: Black William Kidd.
Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!
October 08, 2003
Male. White. 25-34. Professional.
I have decided that I have nothing new to offer the world of online surveys. I stumbled into taking one tonight while eating dinner, just because I had nothing better to do. While going through it I realized how middle of the road I am.
Male. White. 25-34. Professional.
The only area in which I reckon I stand out is the number of hours a week I spend online - "over 20," in this survey. Great.
There wasn't a single question which I could answer in the extreme or that was in any way outside of their predetermined norms.
The low-light of the survey came when it presented me with a list of standard activities (bought a CD, seen a movie in a theater, gone to an amusement park, etc.) and asked if I had done any of them in the last month. I could only pick the bottom rung - "none." Ugh.
If only it had asked how many cigarettes I had smoked or milligrams of caffeine I had consumed or miles driven or something.
So, maybe it wasn't me after all. Maybe it was the survey that was boring. I can only hope.
October 07, 2003
The Govenator
As I predicted in the space, it appears that their will be record voter turnout in the election for California governor.
Thirty minutes after the polls closed, CNN and other outlets are predicting that Gray Davis has been kicked out of office, and Arnold "The Govenator" Shchwarzenegger is the new Governor of California.
Was it this scary when Reagan became California's Governor, I wonder? It is far too frightening for me to even make the leap that one day The Running Man could one day be President of the United States.
If Arnold ever does run for President, I hope he chooses Danny DeVito as his running mate. I'm telling you, after Twins those guys just can't lose!
FCC indecently declares Bono not indecent.
The FCC today ruled that Bono's utterance of the f-word did not run afoul of their indecency rules. In their ruling they stated:
"The word 'f---ing' may be crude and offensive, but, in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities."
"Excretory organs or activities?" That's so clinical and utterly descriptive it makes me glad that we have a term like "butt fucking" to tone it down a bit. You guys think you have it tough now. Just imagine how difficult it would be to try to talk a woman into "excretory organ sex."
If you ask me, "excretory organs or activities" is much more offensive than Bono's, "this is really, really fucking brilliant." And by a long shot! Hell, the Irish use "fucking" as a comma.
Maybe I'll file a complaint with the FCC charging that their ruling is indecent. I don't wouldn't want my kids hearing about "excretory organs or activities" - that is, if I had kids.
October 01, 2003
One step above a "Skip Intro" Flash splash screen
I went to to mazda.com to research the advantages of their rotary engine after the subject was brought up in conversation at work yesterday.
I am a car freak, so I know that one of the first things I am likely to have to do when visiting a major car corporation's site is to pick what area of the globe I reside. The Mazda site is no different in this respect. The home page comes up and greets the user with the ubiquitous "Loading..." animation, which usually signals that a super-neato Flash movie is about to come on. I am not overly excited.
After waiting about five seconds the word "Complete" flashes on the screen, and the opening animation flows to present me with a map of the world with the names of the major areas in which Mazda is represented written across the top. My annoyance at this point is two-fold.
I am immediately peeved that I just waited at least ten seconds (once the "Loading..." and "Complete" messages have gone and the intro animation has actually presented me with clickable options) for a Flash movie whose sole purpose is to let me choose my geographical region. I shudder to think how much money Mazda shelled out in order to waste my time like this.
One need only look at BMW or Mercedes Benz to see the right way to send a user to their local site. These companies' sites, like the cars the they make, are focused on thier users, while still maintaining a very high-end, graceful interface. Mazda should take their lead on both accounts.
My second gripe with Mazda's useless Flash geo-picker is that I cannot click on my region in the map. Rolling my mouse over or clicking the images of the countries doesn't do a thing. I must mouseover the text at the top of the movie, and then click my region. They spend all this money and time (including mine!) on this whizz-bang Flash movie, and they don't even use the naturally occurring navigational metaphor sitting right in front of them. One can only guess that their design firm told them this was "out of scope."
And to top it all off, their snazzy Mazda 6 doesn't even come with a 6-speed transmission. I tell you, these guys really have a knack for missing the obvious.