Blue October And MySpace

As I have said previously, I have a My Space account if you care to look me up. But that isn't the point of this post. I will agree with all of you that MySpace has many things to ridicule relentlessly until the horse dies from beating. However, as I said, some of the bands are cool.

There's some guy named Casterisk -- I found him because he happened to be in one of my friend's profiles. So I clicked on his profile, just to see what sort of friends my friend had and in the background there was this really cool song. It was so cool I wanted to own it, but there was no link to the song I could find. One of the many disadvantages of MySpace is that people can create pages that are hard to read and difficult to navigate and although this page wasn't too bad, my poor eyes still couldn't find the information.

I emailed him and asked him about the song. So he wrote back and told me who the band was. I ordered the CD I liked the song so much. I've got to tell you, the whole CD is fucking fantastic. It's called Foiled and it's by Blue October -- be careful there are two bands with the same name. The song I loved was called "She's My Ride Home" though it's not the one you hear all over the radio.

Oh, and as a shout out to Casterisk, you should check out his MySpace page. He's got a great MySpace blog with some really interesting things to say. Plus you can hear that awesome song in the background -- though it's probably changed by now.

Schadenfreude Part Trois (Airbus)

I had previously blogged this: More on Airbus Crashes: Schadenfreude and also in Schadenfreude and Airbus re-unite yet again -- well I can never have too much of a good thing. And the spectacular failure of this aircraft, already delayed over a year looks to be as much as another year late.

The report is here: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14939412/

And it looks as if Emirates may cancel their order. I hope they do. It'd be the smart thing, the fiscally prudent thing, and make me smile. What more could you want? I hate Airbus for many reasons, and I hated them before they killed Concorde, but that certainly was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

I never want a commercial aircraft to crash, but as I've said before Airbus has a less than stellar safety record. And they're having some serious teething problems with the A380 and they'll end up cutting corners and one will end up crashing -- guaranteeing a new record will be set for a single aircraft fatality count: not a record one will be proud of.

I just thought I'd share the news, share the love, and share the joy.

Shyness

Let’s discuss being shy today. The definition from Wiktionary is: to avoid due to timidness or caution – which will do for our purposes of discussion.

I think shyness is by definition a very personal issue -- at least it is for me. There are many types of shyness, but there is a common denominator: preservation of ego or self-preservation. I think that’s where it starts. You’re shy because you don’t want to be humiliated, embarrassed, or hurt. Being hurt sucks.

Am I shy? Those who know me well say “no” – but that’s just not the case. I’m very shy. To use an obvious example: I have very few friends and over the years I've been losing them at a faster rate than I make them. I can count the new friends I’ve made in the past ten years on one hand. I’m talking real friends – someone you interact with on a semi-regular basis in person or on the phone -- which means Internet buddies don’t count. We don’t need to discuss if they’re good friends or not – that’s a separate issue which I discussed in this blog entry: Friendship.

As for myself, I am really, really shy around people I don’t know. Once I know someone I become less shy. But that can take a very long time -- measured in years or decades. I’m not pathologically shy. I can go up and meet new people in limited situations, for instance in a business context. But if I see someone I think I’d like to be friends with because I think they might be interesting, I won’t go up and introduce myself. I’m not even sure if I’d know how. The times I’ve taken the initiative are very, very few. In fact, I believe the number is two (I am currently friends with neither). On-line sometimes I can send an e-mail and say “hi” but even that’s not easy for me and it rarely proceeds very far.

Are some subjects too private, but not others and is this related to shyness? Hell yes. I won’t even discuss them here. Sex, romance, friendship, relationships, etcetera are the main private topics, and of course the “what makes me tick.” Why? Because people can use that information to hurt you. But those things I am less shy in discussing around some of my better friends. However I never, ever discuss these topics in groups. These are one-on-one topics to be discussed between me and one other person.

I go to neither the beach nor the pool because I will never, ever take my shirt off for anyone other than my doctor — not even my family. I know it sounds freakish but that’s how I am. I can’t believe I am posting this, but it’s a true fact about me. It gives you one more reason to ridicule me. I haven’t been to the beach in years, but that's just because I’m not into salt water. I miss the pool though. I realize that I could go and leave my shirt on. In fact, I know someone who does that, but that’s just a bit weird for me: sort of like going to a nude beach wearing clothes.

And speaking of nude beaches, that’s somewhere I can assure you that you will never, ever find me. Can you imagine being on a beach with all sorts of people, some attractive, some not, and then seeing someone you fancied and (being a guy) having your dangly-bits rise up to be noticed. I’d be forced to kill myself on the spot. No thanks. Talk about the ultimate in humiliation and embarrassment. It's like a high-school locker room all over again. Man, did I hate that.

My shyness isn’t weight related either. I am not fat but I am not thin. Maybe 20 pounds overweight — a bit pudgy I suppose. I’m not sure what is causing it but it ain’t a weight thing. It ain’t a personality thing. It just is. How sad and pathetic does this make me. This is probably the most personal post I’ve ever made in this blog and I’m not sure if I will keep it or it will vanish, but here she stands.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

15 Year Microsoft Vet defects

Good bye Microsoft; Pete Wright has now left the building! Yep, Pete Wright, a long time Microsoft pundit and evangelist has, yes, DEFECTED! Hail! Hail!

Read his blog entry (as linked above), for the whole story about why a 15 year veteran of Windows has bolted to the Mac as of yesterday. He says, "My Microsoft career is now officially over. Microsoft don't innovate, in my opinion. Vista looks like a pile of crap compared to Mac OS X" I'd like to welcome Mr. Wright to the world we've all known for years.

He goes on to say about Microsoft's development folks: "and developed by committees to solve every problem you could ever conceive of, while being ideally suited to solving none." We Mac users knew that, and I'm glad he's finally seen the light. Ah, sometimes things are great.

Rumours have been swirling that Vista is a huge disaster on the order of Windows ME which is why it's been repeatedly delayed. Maybe Microsoft has finally lost enough touch with reality that people will run. Unfortunately, we Mac users have also realised the vast majority of people simply aren't smart enough to realize exactly what they're supporting: buggy beta software. Mac users simply don't put up with that. We have standards. Windows users, for the most part, don't realize it's okay to expect more from your computer.

(If you don't like the Mac and prefer Unix/Linux that's fine, too. I'm anti-Microsoft not anti-PC.)

Randomness Part Deux

All sorts of things running around my brain today.

1. Scooter's sick. Not sure what. She was at the vet today and we make a return trip a week from today. She's dehydrated even though she's drinking. A full battery of tests have been ordered. The real problem -- and what I brought her in for -- was she eats and throws it back up not long thereafter following most every meal. Other than that she's behaving normally, etc. The vet also tried to bathe her unsuccessfully, proving she's still feisty as ever.

2. I'm always tired. I'll worry about that one day just as soon as I have time. I don't sleep much any more. Maybe it's related to my other illnesses. I don't even care any more.

3. My 1040-ES is due and I need money to pay it. I hate this problem.

4. My sister is causing lots of family strife because she's acting like a spoiled kid. Sadly, she is. I hate siding with parents just as a matter of principle, but they're right. Of course, they can't quite figure out who created this monster. (Hint: mirror required)

5. I think I've got to go to China in a few weeks. Why me? This will be my last trip for sure. I'm serious this time. (On the plus side, I'll have a half-day in Hong Kong which excited me.) We're going to Ningbo -- one of the oldest cities in China, dating back to 4800 BC. That is one old city. And we think Philadelphia is an old city. Hah.

6. Rob's blog is being attacked by spammers and he hasn't fixed it in days. I alerted him at any rate.

7. I just picked a chunk of earwax out of my right ear. I feel much better. I bet you're disgusted now.

8. The Waterloo & City Line of the Tube re-opened today. I don't much care, having used it once. The Heathrow Terminal 4 line reopens Sunday and that's more important.

9. Skype sucks. I finally tried a voice chat with Maury last night at her behest as an experiment. The sound quality was garbled, it warbled, it broke up, and disintegrated. Some sort of echo-ey interference. We both have broadband (6M for me and 3M for her). There is no reference for this problem on their website anywhere.

Little Miss Sunshine (Review)

I finally saw Little Miss Sunshine today. I was interested in seeing it and I was also not interested in seeing it. It's one of those movies you see reviews about that could cause it to go either way. But the people I know who saw it, really liked it.

I am pleased to report it's utterly fantastic. It's very funny. The actual beauty contest at the end almost made me pee my pants. It's utterly priceless with turns by some big ticket actors in a film that is decidedly low budget in feel. It's rated "R" for a reason so don't be misled by the resemblance to a family film.

Go see this movie. Three thumbs up.

Kilimanjaro and the Fletchers

What did you do this summer? Well Austri and her mother did something very few people did. They climbed to the summit Mount Kilimanjaro. She's my age (41) and her mother is 72 and has a new knee. This is an amazingly inspiring story considering what they did to make this trip happen. I heard about a lot of it, especially how they hiked many miles in France as a warm up in the few weeks leading up to the climb.

How many 19,000 foot mountains did you climb this summer?

http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2006/08/30/community/community_news/story1.txt

I'm really proud of them. That's an amazing feat.

, Mo

Health Alert: Acid Reflux, Aciphex, Nexium, and Vocal Cords

Five weeks ago I reported about my health problems and the lesion found on my vocal chords -- we named him Fred in the previous post. Just in case some of you actually give a flying fuck, I have an update. Fred was supposed to be entirely gone now. Then I'd be happy and tell everyone life is good and move on.

I followed the restricted foods carefully and made perhaps one or two minor strays over the five weeks. Even the doctor agrees I did a fantastic job. I took the medicines every day -- missing one dose one day only (thank Ernesto). I adjusted my eating and sleeping patterns. The consequences were too dire to do anything else.

So when Doctor Kevorkian, er, I mean Doctor Foster, shoved the camera down my nose this time,not using nearly enough anaesthetic I might add, and said, "oh" I felt my heart slow down. Fred is still there -- that's the bad news, and make no mistake about it because it's very bad news. On the plus side, Fred is showing signs of improvement -- and by that I mean he's a bit smaller but not small enough. So, I am on my morning Aciphex and a double evening dose of Nexium* -- again with Tums as needed.

In early November I go back. If Fred is still there, I get a trip to the surgeons where the prognosis is good -- assuming I don't mind the fact I might not be able to talk ever again and a trip to a gastrointestinologist to find out why there's so much acid gurgling around my stomach.


* assuming the fucktards at Aetna can actually get their shit together. I have no fucking idea what gives an insurance company the right to override a doctor's decision and deny a prescription. I've already faxed my doctor the number to their appeals department, and pending that I'll be calling the state insurance commissioner. Life is a bitch, and then you die waiting for the insurance company to figure it out. (Nexium40 is around $200 a bottle for a 30 day supply).

Billy Elliot Comes to America

In another post, I reviewed the play Billy Elliot (London) which has been widely regarded as the best British Musical Ever.

Well, it's finally coming to the United States. As much as I personally loved this play, I'm not sure it's a good thing. I understood the play, I was able to understand the language all right but even I got lost at a few points. However that was part of its charm. Now they want to change it for American Audiences. Fie! Travesty! I am appalled beyond belief.

Naked Teens On Parade (Solved)

Previously in the Quagmire I discussed Naked Teens On Parade which didn't generate a lot of traffic. Yet here I am motivated to post a follow up story. Apparently, and I think it's a good decision, the tiny town has decided to let nature be in charge. If the kids want to be naked, the town just isn't going to do anything. I'm pretty sure that will be the end of it. If you're curious about the official ruling, read it here.

My Space

Um, yeah, okay. I have a MySpace page. The direct URL is http://www.myspace.com/darsys

I made this page because my friend Maury invited me to do it. I've made a little profile which is far less cluttered and offensive than most. So I'll probably leave my account there -- though I doubt it'll get much more use than my Orkut account.

I've sworn I'd never, ever, no matter what make a MySpace page because it's full of whiny, bratty, moronic kids. To be clear, I'm not saying all kids are like that. But MySpace has more than its fair share of twits who don't know the difference between IT'S and ITS (or YOU'RE and YOUR) -- and, quite frankly, I look down on people who should know better but don't. It's a failure of our educational system where teachers are afraid to fail the students for shit like that, or worse they don't know it's wrong. But I digress.

I thought I'd hate MySpace with a passion. I don't hate it, nor am I in love with it. What I do find kind of neat are all the musicians that are there. That's the one thing that MySpace has that's great. You can learn about bands, try their music, and (if inclined) interact with fellow fans.

Social networking just doesn't do it for me I suppose.