Tuesday, February 28, 2006

And A Short One To Top Off The Day
There is one thing about my return trip that really must be mentioned: The GA Pig. If you ever are travelling along I-95 in Georgia, you will pass exit 29 (Brunswick). Do yourself a huge, no, a massive favor: get off the highway if it's after 11am. Go east and look for a place that looks like little more than a shack on the north side of the road just beyond the gas stations, which, just FYI, have the cheapest gas for untold miles along the superslab. You will find the GA Pig which has just the most luscious barbecue you could wish to pass across your tastebuds. I can't say that the sides are exceptional but Oh Lord such Boston Butt pork barbecue is what God designed the pig to make.
I usually prefer "Carolina-style" pulled pork barbecue with a hot, vinegar-based sauce. Not any more. While I was getting my "to go" sammich, a couple was buying their lunch and since she was getting the same order I'd chowed down, I talked with them a moment. The male half of the couple told me that they were Carolina residents who regualrly travelled the highway and always stopped at the GA Pig. They too had been turned away from the Carolina barbecue by the seductive wonderfulness that is the product from the GA Pig.
Oh for God's sake! Just go there! Eat! Buy a pound or two to take with you. It's good. I'm only sorry that I didn't get the Brunswick Stew as a side. I will next time though. Oh yes. Yes. I will.

Loose Ends
Well, not really loose but part of the little dailiness of life that regular clogs up the blogs of piffling writers such as ... I keep coming back to "me" to finish that sentence. Dang.
File this under "love that interweb thing" or "this doesn't entirely make sense to me." I have a battery back-up for the base station of my house phones. You know the type of phone where there's one main base and three "satellite" phones that only plug into power. I figured it made sense to have the base station on battery back-up since each phone would run on its internal battery in the event of power failure. Of course, after the passage of several years, the battery in the back up device slipped into beeping senescence. Bargle flarg! I have to replace the internal battery. My first try, having found the dead cheapest replacement on the web, funked out as the battery I got was a two-cell version when I needed the one-cell version. But the return process was painless and I was out only the shipping.
Today I finally decided to get the right battery. I checked the manufacturer's website but found the proper battery to be just a wee bit more expensive than I preferred. So, of course, I checked Amazon. Heh. Bezos Inc. not only had it cheaper than the maker, but it was available at a few bucks less from Office Depot via Amazon. But (lotsa buts in the story), after setting up my order for the Office Depot version, I double checked and found that it was actually cheaper to pay Amazon more for the battery itself and opt for free "Super Saver" shipping. That just so rocks. I also bought the DVD of "Firefly" having become a slavering fan-boy upon seeing "Serenity."
Also, I recently ordered one of these headlamps. I gave one to Lycurgus for Christmas by using his wish list. I hadn't seen one in person before. It's the sweetest little four LED headlamp ever because it has an integrated headband. Most headbands are just that - big, bulky bands. This one has a retractable headstrap so you could put it on your wrist just as easily as on your forehead. Damnably clever. My bedside lamp is not really enough to read by but with my cyclopean book light .... Life could be a lot worse.

The Obligatory Sports Post
Oh fer wasted time. I watched a fair amount of the O'limp'ics and a good bit of basquetbol in the last fewweeks and feel compelled to make at least some comments. I'm a Duke fan so it's actually obligatory, right?
I'm so over the Winter Olympics. There was Bode Miller who was a world-class jerk (gold medal in assholery) and skater Johnny Weir who's "diva attitude" made me hate all male skaters just a little bit. It's a sad day when the American makes me applaud the grace, elegance and ability of the Russian fer crissake. I saw, incidentally, in a local paper that Weir is going to skate in some show in the DC area and I said to myself, "Not for a dime of my money." Hey Weir! I hope you marry Tonya Harding! Except I'll bet you're waiting for the defeat of "traditional marriage initiatives." I'm not a homophobe but I hate you.
The women, on the other hand, were wonderful. Kimmie Miessener was a delight - glowing smile and bouncing enthusiasm. I hope she vacuums up many medals and lots of money in her career. I applaud Sasha Cohen's performance but I just can't warm to that bobble head of hers. It's Alexis Bledel Syndrome all over again. But congratulations nonetheless for the silver. And it's impossible to leave off the women skaters without mentioning that for men, there can be no greater thing than a hot-looking figure skater who actually has the word "slut" in her name. And then I immediately apologize for saying such an ugly thing.
I don't ever recall seeing ski courses with sidelines before. Not that it's a big deal but it seemed new to me. Best not say anything more about the skiing except I hope Lindsey Kildow recovers fully from her nasty spill. It hurt just to look at it. Snowboarding. I dunno. Is this really an Olympic sport? Enh. Why not. And let women compete in the ski jump! Dammit. The sliding-down-icy-tubes-on-things events (luge, skeleton, bobsled) also don't do a hell of a lot for me. When you have to measure time in thousandsths of a second to get a winner, we've reached a point where the technology surpasses the human element. The only thing I really liked was a report on an Italian bobsledder who won gold in the previous Italian Winter Games (I think) who was the very essence of sportmanship. When in a previous Games the British bobsled team broke a bolt and had no spare, he, after his run, took a bolt off his sled and passed it along to them and the Brits then won. That is class beyond measure.
Finally, the speed skating deserves mention. Nice to See Apollo Ohno win a good, clean gold. He's a sportsman. And how sad to see the foolishness of Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. My sympathy is a bit more for Hedrick but both played divo games when they should have sucked it up and skated for the team. Grownups probably would have scored a couple more medals for the US. Oh well (shrugs) whadda ya gonna do?
The best news out ofthe Winter Olympics? That we have four whole years before the next round! Hmm. I guess I went on longer than I intended. The basketball post might have to wait a bit.
Going Back In Time
I do have things to blog about that are slipping into the past a bit now that I'm home and getting onto other things. My trip had several wonderful things about it that deserve sharing (preƫmptively: shut up Ed!). First, Lycurgus flew up from Florida to come in to Washington Dulles Airport. He departed from Tampa which airport, he discovered, offers free Wi-Fi. Logon was quick and painless so he e-mailed me that his departure was on schedule. I love it. Cheaper than using the cell phone if roaming is involved. Yet we decided that when he arrived, he'd call my cell from his cell to let me know what was up. I was then delighted by something I found at Dulles: a "cell phone waiting lot."
Not a place to put your cell phone while waiting but a parking lot for people
who are to be notified by a call when meeting arrivals. Perfect! I wasn't sure how much time it would take me to get from the waiting lot to the arrivals portals so when I got the call I proceeded directly only to find that it took me less time to get there than it took brother to get out of the terminal. So I circled a couple of times, we met up and headed out. I think the cell phone lot is a feature at a lot of airports now. I recall Lycurgus saying that he saw one at the Tampa airport. Really, every airport should have one.
After a too-brief visit in my domain, we hopped in the Outback and scooted south. And not a minute too soon. The morning we left, the snow (predicted at 12 inches) began to fall. We drove through a dusting of snow for about an hour and then through rain down into North Carolina and then clear skies for the trip into Georgia. A car trip goes exceedingly easily when good conversation flows. I so oftern travel alone that having Lycurgus in the car was a treat. We'd solved most of the world's problems and very few of out own by the time we made our exit from I-95. And we went directly to the Randy Wood shop to pick up the tickets before even finding a hotel. We ended up at the Comfort Inn in Pooler. The room was fine (more free Wi-Fi) but the gratis breakfast was awful. As close to inedible as any meal I've ever been faced with. Unfortunately the new Holiday Inn Express which was cheek-by-jowl with the Comfort Inn was full to the point that all the non-smoking rooms were taken. Oh well.
It is startlingly ungracious of me to complain of something given away but it's also the truth which I think needs be told. I would gladly pay for a better brekkies than was presented. But it was no impediment to getting back out on the road. And so we rolled out in the dewy morn for the remainder of the trip.
We did stop a couple of times on the way down. Once at the Orange Shop in Citra, FLA where I acquired another gobbet of orange blossom honey and I couldn't resist buying a jar of "Key Lime Marmalade" because of its violent green coloration. Mistake. I tried it and it could not have tasted more like lime Jell-O if they tried. Bummer. I left that behind for someone else to deal with. The honey is good.
We also stopped in a town whose name I don't remember because there were tiger cubs beside the road. Some people who were invloved in animal rescue were selling Polaroid snaps of "you with the tiger" for $10 to support their cause (or just make money, whatever). So we stopped, Lycurgus got snapped with the kitty and we gassed up. If you've never seen a tiger at close range, it's a treat. They are singularly beautiful. I want the genetic engineers to snip out the tiger's skin and fur coloration genes and put them in other animals (like, say, goats) so we can start having "tiger-skin" fur coats again. Without, of course killing tigers. I'm all in favor of charismatic megafauna.
And thereby hangs a trip. I'll ask Lycurgus to scan in the photo of the tiger so I can post it. I'll probably give him the benefit of visual anonymity so his mug isn't palstered on the blog but it would be fun to have the pic for y'all's perusal.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Mental Cavitation
You're familiar with cavitation aren't you? Any submarine movie worth its saltwater will have some reference to it. In brief, if you set something in a fluid
spinning sufficiently fast, the fluid can't keep up. Empty or vaporous voids are then formed which collapse with a sharp noise. Not a good thing when a metal tube full of ... no, I won't use that joke ... sailors is "running silent."
Well, my brain has been suffering from a sort of cavitation for the last few weeks. I've had so much on my mind that when it came to such things as blog posting, they became vaporous voids that imploded before escaping the wake I was plowing through the sea of cerebro-spinal fluid. Ouch. Plus, my bad joints have been giving more grief in the last few days than in any comparable period I can recall. Perhaps a 15-hour drive takes more out of me than it used to. In any event, I haven't kept up the flow of posting and I aim to change that in the upcoming week. I will be reporting on the trip, making up for music posts I've neglected (I've had a post in draft on Jake's house concert in January for at least a month now). I extend my thanks for those who keep stopping by to visit and my apologies for having made it less worth your time of late. There should be more substance, more gristly goodness, for you later today and in the days to follow.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Back From Eff El Ay
This is just a short one to say howdy to the PoW folks. Sorry to be so quiet for the recent days but I was enjoying sunny Florida just way too much. I return to the posting wold simply by noting my acquisition, on the trip, of three EarthBoxes which I posted about some time ago. I haven't decided what I'm going to grow but I'm definitely having cucumbers, bell peppers and possibly a tomato plant if I can get some seeds from ther heirloom tomato I ate while at my cousin's place in New Jersey last summer. Fresh veg. It's a good thing.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Regular Blogging Will Resume Shortly
I am in the bosom of sunny Florida, being gracefully accommodated by Lycurgus and enjoying fresh citrus. Oh yes. Key limes, blood oranges, tangelos and others will be consumed by me.
But that's not the big thing. If you read Acidman, you'll see he went to see Mike Cross at the Randy Wood Guitars concert space. He mentions (and links Gawblessim) talking with a fellow blogger which would be me. I met the Lord of Gutrumbles and he is as fine a human being to spend time with as I could imagine. He may show crust and vitriol on the blog but we, for Lycurgus was there as well, enjoyed the hell out of meeting him. Since I promised not to ruin his reputation, I have to say that there were moments of assholism but I
just can't recall what they were.
Plus, Mike put on another great show. I was publicly cheeky during the show and got a laugh out of Mike and the crowd. It doesn't translate to the written word but I'll post my joke later.
Via candy ass con Dios friends.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Why Was I Not Informed?
Google Earth is now available for the MAc. It's been available for a month.
Jeez Edit', talk about bein' outta da loop!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Fun Stuff
One of my favorite things that the Interweb has made possible is the creation of custom stuff at CafePress. Yesterday I spent about three hours with a friend designing a custom image and having a few T shirts and a mug made. No details because the recipients get their stuff on the 14th (hint, hint). Still, my friend had an image in mind so we Googled up a base image, snatched a copy of it, opened it in Photshop, manipulated the bejabbers out of it and finally liked what we'd done. Uploaded it to CafePress and click, click, click (to quote Boomhauer), his stuff is on its way. I'll put up one of the images after the day.
I think I have to get on the ball and have that "Pugs of War" merchandise made up for the adoring public.
Rain Today
It's been warm here in the Doesn't Go section of the GCoV but today the rain is grizzling down and it's sleeping weather. But there's much to do even on a rainy Saturday. So what is it that crawls into my eye and sticks a toothpick in it? The early Sunday "B.C." comic strip. In the first panel a newly-emerged flower says to a rock, "Hi! How many light-years old are you?"
Oh ARG! I left a note for Johnny Hart at the Creator's Syndicate website (which opened a pop-under window so they can go directly to hell) to register my annoyance. A light-year is a measure of distance, not time. It is the measure of how far light travels in a regular old calendar year. Joan Baez made the same stupid mistake in an otherwise good title song on "Diamonds and Rust." In fact, if you go to the Amazon page for that disc, the sample prominently features the mistake. Serendipity do.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

A Moment of Coffeeblogging
I grabbed a cup o' Joe at McDeath Burger this morning. Dang. It was good. Not just an-absence-of-bad good, actively good. Not the best ever but easily the equal of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I was surprised. And I wouldn't have tried it had they not sent me some good brekky coupons in the mail.
Also, the coffee of choice for everyday consumption in the BD household is absolutely 8 O'Clock. Brilliant flavor and a very good buy. Safeway has a two pound bag for less than $12. Ahhhh!
And why did Dunkin Donuts do away with the "dunkin' donut?" It was a regular glazed doughnut with a sort of little dougnut handle on it. You held the doughy tab and then you could dunk the doughnut. Iconic. Why did it go away?

Since I'm Whingeing
I recently used some non-Epson branded replacement ink cartridges in my printer. I'm all for saving money but phew! The ink in these carts just reeks. I'll buy my brand name ink in three packs from Costco from now on. Only $11 per color cart and $25 per black. That's not too bad, really. The price may stink (a little) but at least the printed page won't.

Just Stick a Fork in My Eye
I have a new online massive annoyance: banner ads that have sound. I loaded a page the other day which had one of those "do this, get something free" ads. What you had to do was move a little cartoon guy to "catch" little cartoon hearts tossed from a little cartoon balcony by a little cartoon woman. And every time the guy catches a heart, he kisses it with a wet pucker and pop sound.
This is fine if you actually want to play the game. But the page I'd loaded had that ad below the displayed screen. And every now and then the guy caught a heart purely by chance. So what I was having was my computer making unaccountable noises for no reason. Can anyone see what's wrong with that? Anyone? Bueller...?
Thanks mutt-bunch (think Spoonerism there) for making me think something is going wrong with my computer. There's also a "cut your mortgage" ad which "features" the sound of an axe thunking into wood which also annoys the crap out of me. But I've only seen that as a top banner so at least I knew what was making the sound.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

New Favorite Waste of Time
It only plays three levels but it's quite amusing for a while - Conan O'Brien the Barbarian.