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Archives for October 2001
The Guru of Pain
Whatever happened to humility? The next time I hear anyone describe themself as a guru of anything I’m going to beat them to a pulp with a sockful of pennies.
Inside Lucy at the Bachelor Party
My bachelor party was this past weekend in Atlantic City. Highlights of the two-day marathon event included The Tropicana, Lucy the Elephant, and funnel cakes.
I’ve got to hand it to Phil. He really did a great job planning everything.
I also found out this past week that a good friend of mine is leaving DC. I’ve got mixed feelings about the whole situation. Obviously I’m going to miss him, but he’s leaving to pursue a great job opportunity on the (almost) west coast.
So I guess I’m happy for the sonofabitch.
And They’re Off!
Siena gets Il Palio and the District of Columbia is left with The Drag Races.
Each year something magical happens on 17th Street in Dupont Circle about a week before Halloween. Over a hundred men in varying levels of drag take part in a four-block race down the street in high heels while thousands of local residents play the part of enthusiastic and supportive spectators.
Erin and I attended the not-to-be-missed event on Tuesday evening in the company of our friend Paul. We stood behind a crowd of people that had gathered in front of J.R.’s, near the starting line. Despite our somewhat obstructed view we were able to watch as head-dresses, angel-wings, and big blonde wigs flurried past. Reality is all-too-often surreal here in Dupont Circle. It is most certainly the best contrade of all.
5 GB in Your Pocket
The iPod is yet another reason why I’m actually considering switching back to Macs, after 5 years in the PC world.
Region Encoding Bullshit
This region encoding crap needs to stop. They’re releasing the first season of The Family Guy on DVD in Europe. I should have bought one of those MP3 playing Apex models that lets you disable the region encoding.
Humming to Myself
Nothing like coding away to the sound of Glenn Gould playing the Bach Inventions and Sinfonias.
What do you listen to while you work?
Sign of the Times
Last night, at the end of the NBC evening news, Tom Brokaw held up a plastic medicine bottle and echoed the new mantra of the age:
“In Cipro we trust.”
Inner Conflict
I’m torn.
I keep reading glowing reviews of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Even Don Delillo praised the book. It sounds like a good premise and I’m willing to give it a shot.
So what’s stopping me? It’s an “Oprah Book.” ‘Nuff said.
Surreality
Only in our neighborhood can you see a gray haired man of fifty with a purple sweater tied around his neck running along the sidewalk carrying a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a five-foot long pair of steer horns in the other.
The urban planners hired to consult for Dupont Circle were apparently from the firm of Dali & Magritte.
On a side note, has anyone looked at the price of RAM lately? I ordered 512 MB for my desktop from Dell last night and it only cost $74.00.
The Other Mad Prophet
I was listening to the audiobook version of George Carlin’s Napalm and Silly Putty today. The book came out earlier this year and it’s basically a collection of bits from his standup routine. There’s an entire chapter where he discusses airport security at great length. It was completely chilling in the context of the events of September 11th.
One example:
“They’ll take away a gun but let you keep a knife. Well, what the f*** is that? In fact, there is a whole list of lethal objects they will allow you to take on board. Theoretically, you could take a knife, an icepick, a hatchet, a straight razor, a pair of scissors, a chainsaw, six knitting needles and a broken whisky bottle and the only thing they would say to you is ‘That bag has to fit all the way under the seat in front of you.’”
