Insignifica

Look how fast time flies, and jackhammers.

Wow, it's Friday already. It's been a quick week, and quick month - March ends today. Everything seems to be going by much more quickly lately. I'm sure this is baby related. It'll be June before I know it.

I still have a large hole in my backyard, and rainy weather hasn't made it easier to do anything about it. I'm still debating reburying it, or actually taking the time, energy and mess involved and jackhammering it out. The tree will root around it, I'm sure (the last one did), so it's not a problem there. The "hates unfinished projects" side of me just wants it out. We'll see.

Picture of the day!

Deedee, Luke and myself at last year's birthday celebration.

And now, it's way late in the afternoon. How time flies, indeed! Rock!

Michael Dosses, party season

Busy Busy Busy at work lately, but that's ok - makes the day pass very quickly.

I came to the kinda sad observation that my party season is coming quickly to a close, at least until Halloween-time. We've got the two baby showers and my birthday, but after that it's gonna be close to the due date, and for a while after that there'll just be fewer opertunities. We are planning a trip up to Northern California in July/August, however, so that'll be fun. But it looks like that toga party is going to have to wait.

Picture of the day!

Poker action! Everyone's having a good time.

I ask again: Can any of my readers recommend a good dermatologist?

I'm considering putting an "about me" page up here...I often wonder how many people come here looking for someone else named Michael Doss (either the football player, or one of the dozens of others). Someday, I'll set up my society of people named Michael Doss, and we'll meet in Las Vegas, and it'll be a grand time, as long as we're not all staying in the same hotel.

Guest Post: Beth on Dicky Barrett Firing

Dear Insignifica Readers:

Mike has graciously allowed me to post on his site regarding the recent firing of Dicky Barrett from Indie 103.1 FM Los Angeles/Orange County. Dicky was essentially fired for discussing on air the South Dakota measure to make abortions illegal in that state. For those familiar with Dicky, he had a truly independent radio show -- he chose the content and always spoke his mind. If you are a believer in free speech and enjoyed Dicky's Mighty Morning Show and Punk Rock Minute on Indie, please email the station via Mike Steele at msteele@entravision.com and let your opinion be known. If you receive a response from the station, please email it to me at beth@michris.com. I have been in contact with Dicky's publicist and both she and Dicky would like to know how Indie is replying to Dicky's fans.

For more information on the situation, please read Dicky's letter on the LA Voice web site:

http://lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1674

What the woman who called in about the abortion topic has to say:
http://www.lavoice.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1686

And the Punk News article:
http://www.punknews.org/article.php?sid=16508&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Here is my letter is Mike Steele regarding Dicky's firing:

Dear Mr. Steele,

I don't often feel moved enough to write a complaint to the media, but I have become so upset and disappointed with Indie as of late, that I had to voice my feelings to you. Dicky Barrett's firing is a travesty. I was a faithful listener to Indie 103.1 since it first appeared on the dial, and I looked forward to the Punk Rock Minute and Mighty Morning Show every day. My day just didn't feel right if I didn't get a dose of random 70's singer/song writers or an update on my favorite punk band each morning. Although I am a subscriber to commercial-free satellite radio, nothing could keep me from listening to Dicky every day, even though I was often annoyed with the non-stop Jonesy commercials for Toyota of Huntington Beach. I converted many friends to Indie listeners, even pulling a few away from Kevin and Bean, Adam Corolla, and satellite radio.

Dicky was a real radio personality - he gave his opinions, he played his music, and he even let his charismatic mom play a role in his morning show. Who wants another cookie cutter morning show that has been filtered and homogenized? Not this listener. His political opinions, although not shared by all, were smart and well defended. He often allowed listeners with opposing views to be heard on the show, and was always fair in his debates. I would often arrive at work in the morning and Dicky's show would be a topic of conversation most of the day. It was refreshing to have intelligent conversation with co-workers about something meaningful rather than blankly discuss Lost or American Idol - Dicky opened that up to his audience. Dicky was compelling and thoughtful in his commentary, making people think for just a little while about something other than themselves. If his comments on abortion had anything to do with his firing, as the LA papers claim, I think it is a sad day for Indie. I feel that Indie has lost all of its independent nature and now is nothing more than a KIIS fm for poser punks and teenie-boppers who love Good Charlotte. Dicky allowed his audience to experience punk and ska through the eyes of a true fan - a fan who wasn't afraid to admit his love for Burt Bacharach and Madness in the same sentence. Your decision to fire him has left a void in LA and OC's cultural climate.

I have to say, my mornings basically suck now. Your efforts to put random people on the air in Dicky's place are horrible and pathetic. I will no longer listen to Indie, and will now switch fulltime to my satellite radio, where I sadly will get the music but not the personality I have come to look forward to each morning. I have never been an avid listener of any morning show until Dicky came along, and doubt I will again. You have made a big mistake in firing Dicky Barrett and I hope your listeners express their unhappiness with you by tuning out Indie 103.1.

Sincerely,
Beth VanderYacht
beth@michris.com

April Fools, Orange County Atheists, nice day!

It's a beautiful, post-rain day out there - lots of sun, big puffy white clouds, and nice and cool, for a spring day. Time to get back out to the huge hole in my backyard!

Picture of the Day!

The statue lawn/garden at the Huntington Library. Great place to stroll on a nice day like today.

A couple of Orange County Atheists forum posts: DeLay says he sees war on Christianity in U.S. and We need your Pagan, Jewish, and Muslim Friends. Read and discuss!

Saturday is April Fool's Day - and also a traditionally low readership day here, so I probably won't do anything to the site. I'd love to do something, though, but it's tough to get people to believe anything you say that day. At least Slashdot won't be as annoying as years past (when every story is a prank). Thoughts? Ideas? Things you'd like to do?

michris, email

About 8 years ago, i got the yahoo account "mikedoss@yahoo.com", and I used it a lot until i replaced it with two others that didn't have my last name in them. But one of the many other guys named Mike Doss out there uses it, even though he doesn't have access to it. I'm not sure why he gives it out, but he doesn't have my password, and I can tell he isn't reading the email. So every once in a while I get emails meant for him, or possibly someone else named mike doss who people get the wrong email address for, maybe "mikecdoss" or something.

In the past he's signed up for some Nike account, something to do with Wrestling, etc. I've also received business correspondence from his friends and coworkers, and I let them know I'm not him. I just looked at one from earlier this month, and Mike Doss was at a conference in Las Vegas the same time I was there. Who knows, I might have played blackjack with him.

Picture of the day!

Another from Halloween 2002 - Ryan as an Angel (this is the same night as the Angel's amazing game 6 World Series win, and Ryan came right from the game).

Sometimes, because it's not something I deal with every day, I forget that for the last decade I've run a web hosting business. 90% of my "clients" are my friends who I rarely, if ever, expect or want payment from. I have a few paying clients (when they, or I, remember), but most of the time it's just a way for me to host my sites. Yesterday, though, I set up several new accounts, did some tech support, and realized this is a real "business" I run (See, I haven't been fudging on my tax returns!) So...you need some hosting? I have good rates!

Scalia, 2002 Halloween pictures, domestic weekend

I'm coming off a great domestic weekend. Didn't go out with friends, but spent a lot of time at home, doing various things. Made homemade pizza on Saturday (and Rice Krispie Treats), cleaned my kitchen and straightened the house. A Sunday morning trip to Home Depot lead to the purchase of a small tangerine tree to replace the fruitless tree in our backyard. This lead to us finding a huge, old slab of concrete in the garden, and several hours of digging. Exhausting but rewarding work.

Picture of the day!

Yours truly as Christ, from the Halloween 2002 Set I uploaded this weekend. Lots of great pictures in there.

Coming off the story of Justice Scalia saying those being held at Gitmo don't deserve rights, we get to see some more of the man's true colors:

Justice Scalia flips the finger in church

BOSTON, March 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics.

A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.

"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

He was attending a special mass for lawyers and politicians at Cathedral of the Holy Cross, and afterward was the keynote speaker at the Catholic Lawyers' Guild luncheon.

Really Christian, there, Justice Scalia.

I'm sure I had more to discuss, but it's not coming to me. Maybe there'll be more later! Rock on, Everyone!

lobo reunion, homeless, lead, piracy again, free weekend

Friday! Nice hazy day out there, and very few plans for the weekend...I love having things to do, but I love the occasional lazy Saturday too. I could go to the farmer's market, take my mom to lunch, play some poker, go for a drive around town, stay home and hack...so many choices! Who's up for doing something?

Ethical question, akin to my library/pirated music question from last month: If I'm a member of netflix, and I save myself and Netflix the trouble of getting a DVD by downloading the television show I was going to rent from them, do you think there's anything wrong with that? Here's my thinking:

- I have an unlimited, three-at-a-time membership to Netflix - they're not losing money because I downloaded the show instead of getting it on their DVD. And while it's not a popular rental, it does free it up for someone else.

- I've seen the episode before, when it was broadcast in 1997. I am not planning on buying the DVDs, because of my Netflix subscription. Paramount isn't losing any money in this deal.

- Yes, to me it becomes an issue when someone is losing money. I don't see that any harm happened to any person or company in lost revenue here.

Thoughts?

Picture of the day!

A whole bunch of us at dinner for Ryan's birthday in 2005. Also the night of the "Lucky Strikes Bowling Alley Sucks Hard" incident.

Some news items that we've been talking about here:

Reebok recalls charms - Bracelets linked to death of boy - Charm bracelets given away with children's shoes are made from 99% lead, leading to a child's death. From the story: "The charm was 99.1 percent lead, the Minneapolis Public Health Laboratory found. The commission’s threshold for lead content in jewelry is 0.06 percent." Great move, there, guys.

Hospitals Accused of 'Dumping' Homeless on Los Angeles' Skid Row - This is horrible, and shows the real problems not only in hospitals, but in government's role in treating the homeless and mentally ill. Hospitals don't have the money or facilities to house people, nor should private companies be expected to. What Kaiser did here is wrong, but at least they got the person to a rescue mission.

The larger issue here is that we're the United States - call me what you will, but I firmly believe that in the richest nation in the world, no one should EVER go hungry or homeless. I'm also not sure why this isn't believed by more Americans, especially Christians - your religion teaches this. And while churches do a lot of civic good, millions of people in this country think it's more important NOT to suffer the horrors of being taxed. If you're a Christian, act like Christ. And as Americans, we need to help all people, especially those within our borders.

And in much more pleasant news, I just received this email:

Dear '96 Alumni,

I have news that we might actually be having our 10-Year High School
Reunion after all, sometime in August 2006.

Please email our '96 Class Prez, Mitch Udell, at mitchell_udell@yahoo.com
with your contact information (First/Last Name, Email Address, Mailing
Address, Telephone #) if you wish to receive info regarding the Reunion.

Please forward this email to anybody else you know or still keep in touch
with who also graduated from Los Amigos in 1996.

Go lobos!

wagers, no spam, cockeyed.com, weekends

One of my favorite websites is cockeyed.com - Rob loves Halloween, has a tinkerer geek background like me, and his projects are super fun but also "neat" in a "wow, I learned something by accident!" kind of way. I'm itching to do a "cockeyed.com" style project this weekend, I'm just not sure what. Any ideas?

On that topic, I'm starting to run out of weekends...April's busy with baby showers, ren faire, and the birthday, May also has a baby shower, and all of a sudden I'll have a small little beast to take care of. I'll have to enjoy the free time to do mostly nothing as long as I can.

Picture of the day!

Marek rocking out, this last Saturday. Good times!

I'm still looking for friendly wagers.

Day three with zero blog spam, either via comments or ping trackbacks. Praise the internets!

What's new, gentle reader?

No drunkenness for you!

This is rather problematic, methinks:

Bar Sweep Sparks Controversy

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission sent a message to bar patrons last week.

TABC agents and Irving police swept through 36 Irving bars and arrested about 30 people on charges of public intoxication. Agency representatives say the move came as a proactive measure to curtail drunken driving.

At one location, for example, agents and police arrested patrons of a hotel bar. Some of the suspects said they were registered at the hotel and had no intention of driving. Arresting authorities said the patrons were a danger to themselves and others.

The story continues with more details. Thoughts?

Oh, and CRS: This happened in a Red State.

Capitalization, WFS, spam

Happy birthday to William Shatner, who turns 75 today.

Days like this are when I really love my expansive view to the east from my office - clear and beautiful. welcome springtime!

Any of you southern California people know a good dermatologist?

Any of you southern California people know if I should capitalize "Southern" in "S(s)outhern California"?

Picture of the day!

My baby's mamma and some sort of deer at the SD Wild Animal Park Petting Zoo this weekend.

Day two of no spam on the blog. Holy Lord, it's nice. How are you spending this beautiful Wednesday?

Whoops

I accidently deleted the anonymous comment posted to my "Friendly Wager" post. You should post again =)

In site news, I've closed all past comments (older than 30 days) and all pings...I like knowing if people are using trackback, but I was upwards of 400 spam trackback pings a day, and usually several hundred comment spam. It'll be nice to be able to turn email alerts back on.

Pictures, Challenge, email

Pictures from this weekend's events are now available:

St. Paddy's Pi Day
San Diego Wild Animal Park

Some great pictures in both sets. Thanks to everyone who made it to the party, and Tom and Lisa for a good time in San Diego.

Picture of the Day!

From Saturday, Chris and the Stone Cat.

If you sent me an email yesterday, and I didn't respond, it's possible I didn't get it (we've been having some server issues). You might want to resend.

I received a challenge from Chris, but refused it, due to the meat content. I'm waiting for me.

Bring it on!

On Friendly Wagers

I posted a few days ago that I'm now accepting "friendly wagers". Some explanation: Last week Tom told me about a website he was involved with, documenting he and his friend's crazy bets for each other, such as going on an all-soup diet, long-term abstaining from caffeine/chocolate/etc, eating five crackers in a minute, things like that. After realizing that I've done plenty of that type of thing on my own, with no inspiration other than wanting to see if I could, I put out the "Friendly Wagers" challenge. I'll take your bets (or turn them down), but I'd like to hear from you. Due to a miscommunication I lost $100 on Saturday by not shaving my beard. That's one example. Others include:

- Giving up soda/caffeine/all dairy products for an extended period of time - weeks or months.
- Shaving my head/face.
- Wearing outrageous outfits in public.

Funny how some groups of friends make bets like this naturally, and it just doesn't happen in others. Thoughts? Wagers?

Update: Yes, I know I'm selling myself here. If anyone else is interested in doing something similar, I think it'd be a good time.

Birthday, party, wild animals

Another Monday. Another very busy, but very satisfying, weekend. Woke up at 8:30am on Saturday for strato, then did some shopping and cleaning for my St. Paddy's Day/Pi Day party, which had a great turnout and was a good time for everyone. I even enjoyed some green beer - pictures to come.

Tom, Lisa and Jane spent the night and the five of us woke up Sunday, headed to breakfast, then down to the San Diego Wild Animal park. Good times, cool day, and lots of fantastic beasts. Pictures of the party and zoo trip forthcoming.

Picture of the day!

Some "new" construction at Kresge College - it's been there a few years, but it wasn't there when I was a student. Taken on our 2004 trip.

April's coming - quickly. My charity birthday dinner will be held April 15th, but other details are still coming. As with last year, we'll be supporting the Second Harvest Food Bank of OC...we donated $700 last year, I hope we can surpass that amount this year.

How's Monday rockin' your world?

NYC Parade organizers are homophobic scum

Wow, did you know the New York City St. Patrick's Day organizers were such homophobic asses? From an AP article:

Dunleavy set off a firestorm this week when he told the newspaper (The Irish Times): "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"

Referring to the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, Dunleavy said, "People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?"

This is a parade that allows 150,000 people to march, and for the 16th straight year, the parade organizers barred the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization from participating.

Uh, guys...welcome to the 21st century. Gay people aren't out to get your children, they're not the Nazis to your Jews, or the KKK to your Blacks. They're also not prostitutes. Aren't there some equal access laws that say that city property/time/resources can't be used if there's open discrimination by sexual preference? Who's asleep at the wheel in NYC?

Greenness!

Happy St. Patrick's day, Insignifica readers! The site's in festive green, though I'm not wearing any on my person. Mostly because I think it's a rather ugly color, and secondly because most of the wordrobe lately's been black and blue. But that's fine...I have a wee green hat I can wear for any celebrating tonight and tomorrow.

Picture of the Day!

Well, I was at a party. And my shirt's off-green, as is the g/f's...

Also going to San Diego this weekend, either to the Zoo or the Wild Animal Park. Hopefully not too early on Sunday, though, as I have a date with Bailey's and some green beer...

In between day, atheists, pinata

Today's kinda a weird, "in between" day - we had pi day on Tuesday, the Ides of March yesterday, and St. Patrick's day tomorrow. Poor March 16th!

Any regular, local readers have plans for Friday night? I do enjoy a good, green beer (though I'm planning on wearing all black tomorrow, as I have NO green clothing, and only like to dress us when I decide to).

Picture of the day!

Me, long hair, and a beach ball. It became a pinata, which eventually rained hard candy all over my living room carpet.

Funny story: At yesterday's Orange County Atheists meeting, a church group, 20 strong and bibles in hand, came into the same mostly-empty restaurant we were eating in. We thought they'd heard about us and were looking to chat. Alas, just a funny coincidence.

How's today treating you?

Ides, Beef, Wagers

I've gotten rid of the pi graphics (pi day ruled!), but I'm going to leave the site white for the day, see how I like it.

I'm now accepting friendly wagers. Make your offer.

This story strikes me funny: Bishops Bend Rules for St. Patrick's Day.

I don't know what's funnier - that the people in these parishes are so concerned about their corned beef that they ask the Church for dispensation, that the Church regularly grants permission to sin, that there's a great "need" for corned beef, or that it's a sin to eat some kinds of meats, and not others, but only on some days. I also found the following quotes from the story entertaining:

In many cases, the bishops are asking for a similar day of penance in exchange for relaxing the rules this Friday.

...with the bishop's blessing, he plans to put a brisket in his slow cooker early Friday morning and slather it with mustard and other condiments come dinner time.

Milwaukee parishioners can take their dispensation elsewhere: In other words, they can eat corned beef if they travel. But people shouldn't come in from other areas — where they haven't received dispensation — just to eat meat...

In exchange for his corned beef meal, O'Leary said he plans to give up something else, such as chicken wings or beer on a weekend when he's watching sports on television.

Just as God wants, I'm sure.

Picture of the day!

My baby's mamma at her birthday in 2004.

Today, beware!

pi day!

It's pi day! (March 14 = 3-14, the first three digits of pi). Today's my favorite math-related holiday - and it also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. We're celebrating tonight with pizza (pie) and apple pie, and geeky games, perhaps Trivial Pursuit, as it includes pie pieces you have to win. Geeks rejoice!

Picture of the Day!

Vertical! Again! A wholey unflattering but interesting perspective shot. Note also my "Cool Kid" button. I do believe, however, that I ate pi the day this was taken.

What are your plans for pi day?

Scary Kirk Cameron

Kirk Cameron and his The Way of the Master Website make me giggle, in a "boy, this is frightening" kind of way. Some highlights:

- From Kirk's Bio: He is also known to every Christian as "Buck Williams" from Left Behind: The Movie (emphesis mine) and But much more noteworthy than his acting career was his conversion to Christianity.

- The "Good Person" test. Are you good enough to go to Heaven?

There are many, many more. He's scary to watch on his show with Ray Comfort - he'll stare ya down. He's got that "I'll smile while I tell you that you're going to hell" look.

Vertical, pi(e) day, OC Atheists, weather

Weird weather weekend, with rain when it wasn't supposed to be raining, and no rain when it was. Sometimes you hit the 10% in that 90% chance. Today, however it's mostly sunny and beautiful, and should be for most of the week.

Tomorrow's Pi Day (3/14). One of my favorite days of the year - I get to show off teh Geeky, and eat pie. This year, I'll be using my pi dish I got for Christmas. Rock on!

Remember, the next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30pm at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine, near John Wayne Airport. A map to the location is available here. If you're planning on attending please RSVP at our website forums. More information and discussion is available there as well.

Picture of the Day!

Oooh, vertical! This nicely framed shot is from the 2004 Sequoia Trip set.

How's Monday treating you, good lookin' readers?

Mostly Friday, Fox News Columnist, questions

All day yesterday felt like Friday - today kinda feels like a Tuesday or Wednesday. Weird.

Only a month until my Charity Birthday Dinner! I'm so totally spacing out on it this year. What do we want to eat?

Readers: I have several dozen Penguin Mint tins in my desk drawer at work. I need something crafty/artsy to do with them. Suggestions welcome, the more creative, the better.

POTD!

Bridge at the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Museum in San Marino.

Wow, could this Fox News columnist be jerking himself off anymore?

Sources tell me exclusively that Jackson has been back at his family home in Encino for a day or so.

This column has been the first and only to chronicle the lack of pay and insurance at Neverland.

We've told you repeatedly for weeks that Neverland was about shut its doors.

Readers of this column knew that weeks ago.

I do feel a little like Rodney Dangerfield here. For weeks I've told you in this space that Jackson was heading for a colossal financial disaster.

Our flies are on the walls.

As someone on Fark said, it's not like everyone else in the media is saying "Oh, that can't be true! Michael Jackson's in great financial shape!" - it's like this guy's taking the Jack Russell Terrier approach to all this, jumping in our crotches to let us know he's here.

on religion

Busy day - hence the late post. Lots of good chat today at lunch, and in the interest of full disclosure:

I'm an atheist. I believe in Negative or Weak Atheism - that is, I don't believe in gods for the same reason you don't believe in Zeus, Godzilla, or Unicorns.

I own a large collection of black velvet Jesus paintings. They're wonderfully awful.

I love Christian history, imagry and influence on pop culture, and study it. I own several bibles. This has much to do with the fact that Christianity is all around me.

I celebrate Christmas, but only the secular aspects - presents, trees, family, etc. This has much to do with me being an American, and very little to do with a Christian influence.

I'm also a Reverend. I was ordained by the Universal Life Church. This affords me the legal ability to perform weddings. More info on my ordination has been collected in a FAQ page here.

Personally, marriage isn't for me - I'm not planning on ever getting married, for a variety of reasons. But I've performed three as gifts to the friends getting married.

I see no contradictions with any of the above.

Pic of the day!

Me as Jesus Gorilla. Appropriate.

Comments, atheists, Wednesday already, beer

I love getting to work (or being halfway through my day) and thinking "It's already Wednesday? Rock!"

Between leaving last night and arriving at work this morning, though, someone came in flipped my calendar page. That kinda spooks me.

Beer was delicious last night - 13 samples of Scottish Ales. All were drinkable, too - usually there's one at each tasting that I just can't finish.

I've posted this everywhere else, might as well do it here, too:

The next meeting of the Orange County Atheists will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30pm at the International House of Pancakes at 18542 MacArthur Blvd in Irvine, near John Wayne Airport. A map to the location is available here. If you're planning on attending please RSVP at our website forums. More information and discussion is available there as well.

If you consider yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a freethinker, a humanist, or are just curious, check out this month's event. We always welcome new members, will give you a name tag, and want to hear what you have to say! More info is available at the Orange County Atheists website.

Topics for discussion this month include compiling a list of other OC atheist, agnostic, freethought and church/state separation groups, more invocation news, future direction of the group, and upcoming west coast and national meetings. Hope to see you there!

Picture of the day:

Me and a bear at the San Diego Zoo.

Glad that some commenters are back - but I guess it goes in cycles. There are blogs I read daily for a while, then cut back on, then return to. Hello readers!

How will you be celebrating pi day?

weird chips

Ok, I finally took some pictures of that strange bag of chips I got at the Ranch99 market this weekend:

(Click for larger picture in new window)

Anyone have any idea what the hell is going on here?

Brandon, Beer, plug for mike

Tonight: Beer!

I've got a lot of OC readers, so if that's you, consider helping Mike out:

Just a reminder that I'm still seeking signatures to serve as the Central Committee member for the Democratic Party in the 60th Assembly District. So if you live in Anaheim, Orange, Yorba Linda, parts of Placentia, and Villa Park, drop me a comment and I'll get in touch with you for a signature. You can always e-mail me at mike.randall (at) gmail (dot) com (Sorry, anti-spam tactic). Just four and a half days remaining until I can march into the registrars office with signatures in hand.

Pic of the day!

Brandon and Oswaldo, last year's "Mexican Themed get-together" for Cinco de Mayo.

Speaking of Brandon, we only ever see him at large get-togethers, but he's in a huge number of our pictures...

The good and the bad of 20%, $1 tournaments at Poker Stars - Good: I get 12th place out of 1592 players. Bad: I only win $11. Still, I was very impressed with my showing. Now, if I could only do that with a $10 tourny with 1600 players...

Question: Who's in the kitchen?

Monday, kicking, Ranch 99, pasta

Another Monday, already. Last Monday, I was having my only "solo" day in Vegas, losing money, enjoying the sights, and wondering why none of the buffets have pasta bars at lunch. Today, work, and for lunch I'm going out...for pasta.

Great new little time wasting game: Splash Back. Great for whenever you've got a few spare minutes online.

Picture of the day!

Marek and Eric: OGs.

The girlfriend and I shop at a couple stores for 95% of our groceries - Stater Bros. and Trader Joe's. But every once in a while we'll go someone specialized, like Henry's (health/hippy) or Ranch 99 (Asian). upon yesterday's trip to Ranch 99, which has some awesome stuff you just can't get anywhere else, I found a bag of chips with a few strange comic panels on the front. I'm sure they were supposed to tell the story of the chips, but if so, I sure wouldn't want to eat them. Pictures coming soon.

Speaking of the girlfriend, and disturbing, I don't care what anyone says - feeling the baby kick is weird. Super weird.

Spam topic of the moment: "Complimentary 10Lbs of Goobers or Raisinets Candy". Yikes.

Busy Friday, sunny pics

Busy day at work, but it's Friday, and Fridays can be like that (they tend to either be very busy, or very quiet). It's kinda rainy out there, but it's in the process of clearing, and the weekend should look nice.

Pic of the day!

I wanted one that didn't feature dark clouds. This one's a bit brighter and sunnier, if not rude.

Question of the day: What's one thing you're addicted to that's not a drug?

Math Geek POTD, illness, march already?

Well, I'm feeling better, to some extent, but that could just be the Aleve and Daytime Nyquil talking. As long as I hold off on the major physical activity for a few days, I should be fine.

Pic of the Day!

This picture isn't by me - I found it here. But it's a picture the Math Geek in me wanted to take - The distances are consecutive 4th roots (2x2x2x2 and 3x3x3x3).

I can't believe it's March. Seriously. Six weeks to the Birthday Mikestravaganza? I ain't ready.

Just like the last trip, I hope to have a Vegas Report up sometime soon. Alas, I'm lazy, and add to that illness, and "maybe later" is the best you're gonna get out of me.

How goes Thursday, fine readers?

Back from vegas

The good news is that I made it back from Vegas, totally avoided any rainy driving, and had a good time. The bad news was that I lost overall (but less than I brought to lose), and now I have a chest cold. I'm ready to go back to work, though. Vegas updates and pictures coming soon. The very few I took are available over on my flickr site, but more from other people are coming. Mine are mostly on the way in, and the way out. Overall, I had a great time.

Pic of the day!

From this weekend (yesterday, in fact) - some neat cloud formations between San Bernardino and Riverside.

So what's new, gentle reader?