Month: September 2010

Journal

@SchuminWeb

Time to do a total clean of my refrigerator, I believe…

2 minute read

September 28, 2010, 10:58 PM

Indeed, I believe it’s time to do a total clean on my refrigerator. I’ve been living in my apartment for nearly three and a half years, and the refrigerator hasn’t really gotten that much of a cleaning since then – just rotating food in and out as a part of living. And it’s not like my refrigerator is all that nasty, either. It’s not like some of the stuff I’ve seen at work. Some of the stuff in those refrigerators would make grown men retch. It’s just, well, after three years and four months, it needs a thorough cleaning to remain at its best.

Of course, it’s not like I don’t have experience with these things. The refrigerators at work recently finally surpassed my tolerance level for uncleanliness, and so over the course of a month, I took each of the refrigerators through an out-of-service period, where the refrigerator was completely emptied, powered down, and the entire interior and its various components were cleaned. The end result was a spotless, like-new appearance. I don’t do these things half-assed, you see.

Categories: Fire alarms, House

Well, I certainly was a man with a destination today…

3 minute read

September 25, 2010, 3:25 AM

Do you ever have those days where you look back at how you handled yourself and think, boy, I really was an a–hole? Today, I drove to work because I didn’t feel like dealing with Metro, and during the day after I got to work, I thought about how I handled myself on the way down, and I realized I was a bit of an a–hole in the car this morning. I had Randi Rhodes on as always, and for whatever reason, I refused to let anyone merge in front of me if I could help it. And then after the potential mergers gave up and dropped back, I was all, “Heh, heh, heh!”

Now mind you, I wasn’t a complete jerk in the car today, nor did I drive dangerously. If someone really wanted to get in, I still let them in. I wasn’t about to blatantly cut someone off. But I wasn’t as courteous as I usually am. Georgia Avenue during rush hour seems to do that to a person. Usually, I’ll let people in, but today I just didn’t feel like it, I suppose. What point I was trying to prove, I don’t quite know. But yeah, I look back at the morning commute, and I was certainly being a dick, which the folks at Wikipedia highly recommend against.

Otherwise, I put together a desk for the office today. Since our previous style had been discontinued, I was putting together the “Galant” style desk from IKEA. That was this one with the frosted glass top. It was something refreshingly modern, as one would expect from IKEA.

Categories: Driving, IKEA

So the question remains… could William Shatner run Metro better than the current Metro management?

2 minute read

September 22, 2010, 8:56 PM

Right around 5:00, I got an Email titled, “Dude! You made Slate!!!!” I followed the link in the message, and found an article on the online magazine Slate by Justin Peters called “$#*! @SenJeffMerkley Says“.

The gist of the article was to take tweets that people posted on the Twitter and use them as the basis for primetime television show concepts. Creative writing at its finest. The second one used my Twitter feed, of all things, and here’s what they said:

The @SchuminWeb Files
Office manager. Transit enthusiast. World-class detective. Ben Schumin is the man to call when something’s amiss with your D.C.-area morning commute. In this fall’s hottest new suspense drama, the plodding, methodical Schumin will tackle unsolved mysteries (“No underground cell service from Glenmont station to halfway to Wheaton. What’s wrong? #wmata”), investigate horrible crimes (“@FixWMATA Who do you think the thieves are? #wmata”), maintain the peace (“A kid is screaming on the train. Get this little noisemaker OFF MY TRAIN! #wmata”), and generally remain alert (“Note to self: Get off at Metro Center this morning. #wmata”). Co-starring William Shatner as X, the villainous head of the mysterious “#wmata” organization.

Categories: Netculture, Social media, WMATA

So this is where “It’s Friday, ya bastards!” comes from…

2 minute read

September 17, 2010, 10:30 PM

Another Video Journal entry, this time discussing the “It’s Friday, ya bastards!” bit:

Categories: Activism, Radio, Television, Video Journal

Made with REAL sugar…

4 minute read

September 14, 2010, 10:23 PM

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. As you may know, PepsiCo did a five-week run of its limited-edition “Throwback” line of drinks, selling versions of Pepsi and Mountain Dew sweetened with sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. They also introduced retro-style packaging to go along with this:

Pepsi Throwback Mountain Dew Throwback