playtime vi: the winners

à la sylow

Y BE NICE

We're looking for a blue two seater BMW convertible.

Yes, Miss Kate practically nailed it. Kudos to Miss Kate.

Now, on location. I wanted to share the plate because of the relatively
odd nature of it'spersistentt location.

Where was it parked?

In the parking lot of Popeyes (Chicken & biscuits) on HALF PRICE
TUESDAY, not once, but TWICE!! Two tuesday in a row it was there.

Now before I get any chicken wise-cracks, I want to point out that I
walk through this parking lot to get to and from the bus in the morning.
I am not the kind of guy to pay 5 bucks for 8 pieces of mixed chicken
two weeks in a row. Every other week, maybe...

I'm giving the location to Sparky's "fast food" guess, cause hey, what's
faster than a chicken and still legal to eat?

So it looks like a Stone family sweep.

playtime vi

We have a guest entry. Sylow, that hepster mathgeek/librarian, saw the following plate:

Y BE NICE

He did not see the driver, but we have been advised to guess the kind of vehicle AND where it was parked.

Good luck!

are we not men?

Highlights of the Devo show:

I learned that when you are wearing a yellow paper jumpsuit and an 'energy dome' it doesn't matter that you get old and fat. It was never a uniform designed for making you look good.

Although the music is quite loud and defiant, the crowd tends to be mild in demeanor (perhaps because it was a room full of dorks?)

Mark Mothersbaugh really looks a lot like Drew Carey.

Their version of Satisfaction is the best there is.

Except for one, all the girls I saw there seemed to be there with dates and most seemed like they expected to be reciprocated in the future for having to endure the evening (not unlike when I made Miss Kate go with me to see Neil Diamond).

The one girl I saw by herself knew all the lyrics to all the songs. When Mothersbaugh threw dozens of bouncy balls into the crowd she REALLY wanted one but didn't get one. The comic book guy who was in front of me, who knew all the lyrics AND appropriate hand gestures, tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a ball. She hugged him three times. Definitely the sweetest example of geek symbiosis I have ever witnessed.


on a personal note, Devo was the first band I ever liked. They didn't quite speak to my particular flavor of maladjusted teen years and were replaced by The Who which afforded me the opportunity to smash a lot more stuff.

also, I got myself a bouncy ball.

new revelations

This morning I found out that my wife used to ride around in a dooly.

This changes everything.

how miss kate freaked me out

We have Ipods. Miss Kate already had one through work, but she will be switching jobs soon and has to give it back. She was pretty attached to it so she had to break down and buy her own, and when she did she suprised me and got me one too. Because she loves me.

I decided to rip some music from the CDs we have here at the office from back in the day before we got XM. When I looked through the selection, I remembered why we moved to XM...the CDs are pure crap. I ended up ripping a couple of songs off of the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, one by Michelle Shocked and one by Johnny Cash.

I listen to music every morning and evening when I am walking the dog, and a few evenings ago I listened to the Johnny Cash song. Kate had to work that evening and I picked her up at the train station and we went out to dinner. While we were waiting for the food, I asked one of the types of questions I often ask: "Guess who I listened to on my Ipod this evening? One hint: I don't think you know this person is on my Ipod."

I cupped my hands over my forehead and thought the name Johnny Cash. Miss Kate sat thinking for a few seconds and then answered. Her voice seemed to be in a slower time dimension as she answered. "JOHHHHNN (she isn't saying Johnny, is she?) NNNNNNYY ccccCCCC (no way is she saying Cash. Johnny Cochran? Johnny Carrabba?)

Of course she did say Johnny Cash. She said it was the name that popped into her head.

I don't believe in ESP. Since the event I have put together that 1) I had played previously played her the Michelle Shocked song and told her that what album it came from; 2) she has seen Dead Man Walking. I never told her I downloaded any other songs from the album and she says she made no connection to that album and didn't know that Johnny Cash was on the soundtrack anyway.

So do you all believe in ESP?

in the beginning...

Sylow, Miss Kate and I went to grad school together and we were all in a class which met early Saturday morning. The class was somewhat cutting edge in the realm of distance learning. Compressed video feeds out to six or so satellite classes. Each class room had a screen that automatically would switch the picture to a satellite room if someone there was talking. Our classroom was the home base and we had a camera which was always turned to the professor's podium and that was what everyone always saw unless someone was speaking in one of the the satellites.

During break, Miss Kate used to run out and smoke these little strawberry bidi cigarettes and she often came back late. One morning our professor was out visiting one of the satellite sites but our camera was still pointed toward the podium. During the break, before Miss Kate got back, Sylow and I turned the camera so that it was pointed and zoomed on Miss Kate's chair. When she finally sat down, she looked up at the screen and saw her own, bigger than life, sneakin' herself into class late, ass. Sylow and I were in tears. Miss Kate was twelve shades of purple.

And that is how it all began.

why bikes hate cars

Because when there is an accident between us we end up getting crushed.

Because they are on the phone.

Because they honk just as they go by us.

Because they squirt Windex on us.

Because they throw hamburgers on us and then when we catch up to them in a apoplectic rage, they throw a 32 oz. drink at us.

Because we know the world would be a better place if more people biked and they don't.

Because sweat smells bad but car exhaust is worse.

Because they react to their jealousy of our nimbleness with brutish bullying.

Because they barely notice us yet our lives are dependent on noticing them.

Because we are nice and they are mean.

i am fixin' to retire

All I have to do is find a 'Muddiest Dog Head Contest' and I figure I am set.

various updates

Miss Kate and I are back from vacation. It was a blast.

I still haven't bitten any of my fingernails.

I am on a quest for the world's greatest sangria.

I am unphased by how gay that last one might be.

I am still experiencing difficulty in my attempts to learn to like bananas.

Really, I'm not gay.

We got a piano.

My tradition of sneaking Malibu Rum into a baseball game and mixing with lemonade continues with unabated success.

I don't eat pop tarts...never did.