Friday, April 27, 2007

Looking Inward

People often ask me what I do for a living. Why did I choose the public sector? What do we civil servants do, and why do my tax dollars fund this? These are all really good questions, and I have been thinking about how to respond.

My friend Andrew sent along this video, from a government union, that I think succinctly answers all these questions. It's old, possibly the 70's, but I think the words hold true to this day. My apologies for all the Youtube-ness recently, but I thought this was important.

Happy Friday everyone.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Forever Hokies

So MB pointed me to Virginia Tech's website where they have a video tribute to the students and faculty they lost. It's a pretty touching photo montage laid over a song by a group I like. Eddie From Ohio is folk-pop-alt country and I first met them when they came to my college. Good people. And this is a really nice song they do a cappella.

Turns out Julie from the group graduated VT in 1988, and the rest of the group is from JMU, another fine Virginia school. If you don't know them, check them out on ITunes.

The tribute can be found here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Odds and Ends

So I'm doing my homework for my stats class and I'm totally lost. I mean like I'm e-mailing my professor my assignment for tomorrow explaining that there aren't any answers on it. I did as much work as I could, and then I got stuck. Like "hopelessly reading the chapter in the book, talking to myself, wanting to throw my laptop out the window"lost. At this point, I don't care if I fail the assignment, or the class really. I just want it over with. I have enough headaches at work without this also.

Next...if you're in the mood to try European style discount airlines over on this side of the Atlantic, I give you Skybus. They only go to Columbus, Ohio, so if you want to do more than see the home of the Keaton Family, you'll need to buy another ticket. And if you want to leave from Boston, be prepared to drive up to Pease, NH. But if you do want to see The Arch City (huh?) it'll only cost you $10 dollars.

Finally, guess who's no longer the world's largest automaker? Which I'm shocked about, seeing as how they did mass produce a vehicle that looks like this.


Saturday, April 21, 2007

More Waka, more funny

An Awesome Saturday

So today started a little early as my friend Tom was over. He was up from Philly and he's a total foodie, so I was nervous about where to take him for brunch. So I settled for this place, which has excellent french toast. And it was hovering around 60 degrees, so it was a nice walk. Then, plump on French toast, we caught a movie at 1PM. I know I know. It's a beautiful day and you went to the movies? Yes. And it was well worth it for the fine film I saw with my friends today.

I urge you to go see Hot Fuzz. It's from the same guys who did Shaun of the Dead, and it takes on all the great cliches of cop movies. Run, do not walk people. It's hysterical. Followed that with viewing Jesus Camp with same friends at the house. Yeah, this one was overkill. Should have gone outside. The movie was scary. Like documentary scared for my children I might not have scary.

But then I went for a walk at the Charlestown Navy Yard, got to see the sunset, and then had a nice dinner. All around a great day. Currently I'm watching some horrible movie with Joshua Jackson and Christina Ricci on the Sci-Fi Channel. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

This guy had to be pissed...

So yesterday was a long day, and given the circumstances, not really a good one. So given that, I had one eye on the Sox game and this one incident provided me my only real bright spot. Everytime I saw this I couldn't help but laugh. Think about how much of a statement this is. do you have any idea how much pizza at Fenway costs?

God I do love this town sometimes.


Monday, April 16, 2007

What a day...

So I was going to write about how crazy today was with the marathon and the rain event. And how I was on TV a lot, because everytime I was on the phone, it seemed like there was a news camera in my face. And then I was going to talk about the fact that some drunk guy got hit in the face with a pizza at Fenway today.



But the word came that the tragedy at Virginia Tech had turned into an unimaginable terror. 33 people dead so far. No one knows exactly for sure what happened, and I'm sure this will be examined and dissected for years to come. But for now, let us mourn. For the people who died, their familes and friends, and the emergency workers who tried to save them. Let's not armchair quarterback this, as it detracts from the fact that we lost a lot of bright young treasures today, and this is a sad day for all of us.

Martin Luther King Jr said in his last sermon, "I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars."

There must be thousands of stars visible tonight from the small town of Blacksburg, Virginia.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Oh...and

This guy was almost killed. But it's not even a top story on CNN.com anymore.

The tie in is that he was going to the sit down between Imus and the Scarlet Knights.

Always wear your seatbelt.....

Bye for now, I-Man


So Don Imus, good ole' Chicken Neck, has been fired from CBS Radio for calling the Rutgers womens basketball team, "nappy headed hos." This story has been huge and it was picked up and carried everywhere. Of course, it helped that media whores Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al were screaming the loudest.

I was listening to Imus when I was a kid. I used to wake up in the mornings and listen to him in grade school. I didn't always understand everything, but I sort of grew up with him. Then Imus got syndicated and got grown-up. He also stopped doing coke, which was good for his body and not so great for his comedy. He started fancying himself as a power broker and had lots of politicians and reporters on his show. He always seemed more clever than Stern. And he got fired for saying something dumb.

I'll grant you it was dumb. And certainly warrants an apology as those girls were innocent and didn't deserve to be treated like that. But if that's why he got fired, then let it be that. And not because he put down black women, which happens on BET almost everyday. Reverend Al doesn't scream bloody murder outside their doors everyday.

I also guess I'm tired of hearing of people talk about how he's spewing hate on public airwaves. Imus doesn't spew hate. He makes fun of people. Are the jokes tasteless, or racist sometimes, probably. But that's humor, not hate. Ironically, Bill O'Reilly spews more hate and he's celebrated and still on the air. And how are the airwaves public. He wasn't on NPR. Those airwaves are private, and if you haven't realized that there are maybe three companies with 90% of the listeners in this country, then you need to wake up. For a list of the CBS radio stations in your area, click here. I have 5 of them.

I'm sure some of my friends will disagree. They will say that this is one more hate mongerer that will not be allowed to spread their vitrol. I think all of this takes away from the important issues, like the teen pregnancy rate in low-income neighborhoods, or the high dropout rate in the inner cities (that's code for "where whitey doesn't live.") Good luck Imus. I'll miss you and Bernie and Charles and Rob Bartlett, even though I haven't listened to you in quite awhile.

Can someone stop the ride? I'd like to get off, please.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

More Lunchbox...

G'head. Take a look. You know you want to.


Its almost 2AM....


I just finished Season 3 of The Wire, which I got in those magical red envelopes. Mine come from Worcester, MA. I stayed up late tonight watching 4 episodes in a row because the show is like crack. There are three words to describe the final episode of Season 3.

Fan Fucking Tastic.

Goddamn I'm going to be twitching and scratching myself like a crackhead until Season 4 releases on DVD.

Monday, April 09, 2007

I must be on the wrong list.

So the Handyman Club of American sent me this offer to join their club today. I get to try out tools and they sent me stickers, and address labels and a whole bunch of other stuff. I'm not sure they've done their market research. I get lost every time I go to Home Depot. I break a lot of stuff, and can never put it back together.

But they saw fit to send me this. I'm going to buy a tool belt. This is God talking.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Happy Easter

I was tempted to write in "Hoppy Easter" but that was too cliched. And I got to do it here anyway. I've had two Easter dinners and three Easter desserts in the past 24 hours. First, last night, Chuck and Sara were kind enough to invite me to their place. Where Ross and I dined with them and most of Sara's family. They had driven in from Missouri. Great people. The highlight was playing pronounce this town name, with us swapping Missouri towns and Massachusetts ones.

Then today, went to the roommate's family's Easter Dinner. Had more ham. I'm not getting the whole ham thing. Is it because we were denied ham on Friday that we gorge ourselves on it on Sunday? So that was good. Two screaming kids, hopped up on Easter candy. It was like birth control for me. And then off to the roommate's girlfriend's family place for dessert. More family. More cake.

To bite off Chief Joseph, I shall eat no more forever.

So I'm sure you're wondering what else. And I didn't want to just regale you with tales of ham. So I found this example of a very poor employee. If you're ever late with a report, don't do what this crazy bitch did. I don't care how late those TPS reports are.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Stress....

So I'm burning the candle from both ends, what with work and grad school and it's getting to me. I've got this huge project for work that demands a lot of my time, including many weekends. Oh, and I have finals too. I haven't read for school in a few weeks.

So in the midst of all this, I turn to this commercial from an LA electronics store (Consumerist). Thank you Crazy Gideon, for you have made me feel sane watching you. My favorite is by far the "Wow" halfway through.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Bandwagon is leaving town...


So I became the last person in the world to see The Departed. I loved it. It was pure Scorcese. My favorite line was probably this one.

"Fuck you, fuckin' queers. Fucking firemen gettin' pussy for the first time in the history of fire or pussy. Go save a cat from a tree, you fucking homos."

Oh, that made me laugh. So go see it if you haven't already. I'm going to buy it. It was a nice way to wind up the weekend, after I worked on Saturday.