“…when Saturday Rocks, on CBS!”
3 minute read
September 24, 2008, 9:40 PM
Okay, boys and girls… the pants are ironed, and so my neat and crisp professional image will survive for another five workdays (sans Fridays) before I absolutely must iron again. And as always, when I iron, the TV is on. This time, I popped in a tape with “Saturday Morning Fare” on the label. This tape contains mostly Saturday morning cartoons from the 1988-1989 season on CBS. I was in second grade. Just to give you an idea of what we had going on:
This is an example of the commercials that they used to promote the Saturday morning programming block that season. They called it “Saturday Rocks”, and the personalities were three girls, whom I’d guess are around 13 years old or so, who sang the jingle, “Saturday Rocks, on CBS!”
Continue reading…Categories: Television
Now this is an interesting situation…
3 minute read
September 24, 2008, 7:06 PM
This is an interesting situation. Halloween will involve a costume contest at work, and also likely an Anonymous raid after work. Lots of fun stuff going on, all requiring special outfits.
And the problem is that I can’t exactly wear the same costume for both things. I thought about just wearing the zentai that I wear for Anonymous for both things, but we run into two problems. First of all, the zentai has a set of gloves built into it, and I generally don’t do well with that, since for me, gloves rarely ever fit me “like a glove”. It’s a cruel reality. And my zentai is no exception. I’ve tried typing in it, and it doesn’t work. The other problem is that the zentai only has a back zipper that goes from mid-back to shoulders. No zippers in the front. If I need to answer nature’s call, I have to peel the whole suit off. I’ve commented that going to the bathroom in the zentai takes ten minutes. Four to take the suit off, one to actually answer nature’s call, one to wash my hands, and then four to put it all back on.
However, it’s not like my coworkers don’t know about the fact that I run with Anonymous, and about the zentai I wear to raids. After all, one of my coworkers yelled my name out at the May raid, and another one of my coworkers was passing by and posed with me for a photo at the September raid. Take a look…
Categories: Halloween, Project Chanology
How do you think a “Gatsby cap” would look on me?
2 minute read
September 24, 2008, 12:44 AM
What kind of idiot builds his new secret base of operations on the site of his old secret base of operations, which had been destroyed by his enemies?
4 minute read
September 16, 2008, 12:39 AM
Categories: Power Rangers
Who doesn’t like a free hug?
3 minute read
September 10, 2008, 10:54 PM
So as far as I was concerned, International Free Hug Day was a resounding success, as free hugs were given to all who wanted them. This was an event that I organized with Anonymous as a flash raid, and so we gave our free hugs on the triangle across from the Founding Church of Scientology, in front of La Tomate. I was out there for three hours, having come straight from work, and Heidi joined in about halfway through. Check us out:
Categories: Netculture, Project Chanology
Phew! The whole place smells like Sharpie…
3 minute read
September 8, 2008, 10:55 PM
Yes, I pulled out my Sharpies to hand-letter a few signs. I made three. This is the general gist of the message:
Categories: Arlington, Netculture
So the meetup went well, though turnout was low.
2 minute read
September 7, 2008, 1:58 AM
I always love getting together with my fellow Wikipedia geeks. We have so much fun, though I admit that the turnout was a bit low this time around. But, I also can’t blame many for not showing, considering that Tropical Storm Hanna came blowing through on the same day. I got pretty wet just walking the ten feet from my door to the car, but otherwise, no problem, since it was a short drive to the Metro station, and then from there, I’m on Metro and it can be as rainy and windy as it wants, because all the stations I’m dealing with (Wheaton and Union Station in this case) are underground.
Otherwise, though, Uno’s was wonderful as always, and the wait staff took very good care of us. One thing we noticed on the check was that they never billed us for the drinks! Much to our surprise, none of the beverages that anyone ordered, alcoholic or otherwise, appeared on the check. Then the conversation was lovely, as we made light of some of the various situations that came up on Wikipedia and all the things we managed to get into. Fun times.
And here we are:
I think this is a help more than anything else…
< 1 minute read
September 6, 2008, 1:39 PM
Seriously, we’re getting a lot of rain, and that’s about the extent of it. Tropical Storm Hanna has given us no wind at all worth speaking of, and the lights remain on. So good deal. And all this rain will actually be of benefit to us so long as a lot of it soaks in and doesn’t just run off.
However, as I indicated yesterday, no Rosslyn visit today. I’m not contending with the rain to photograph a building being torn down. It’s supposed to be nice tomorrow, so I’m going out then.
And all systems are GO for the Wikipedia meetup at Union Station today.
Categories: Tropical systems
And they called her “Hanna”…
2 minute read
September 5, 2008, 8:41 PM
As of right now, Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to run up most of the eastern seaboard starting with the Carolinas and going up to New England. Per The Weather Channel, this is the projected path:
Image: The Weather Channel
Categories: Arlington, Tropical systems
School days and the oddball things that teachers would mandate for their classes…
4 minute read
September 3, 2008, 7:43 PM
I was talking to a friend of mine over IM who’s presently a senior in high school, and he’s told me about the joys of what teachers mandate for their classes. According to my friend, one of his teachers mandated use of the Cornell note-taking system for taking class notes. The Cornell note-taking system seems to be good enough, but seems right offhand to be a bit more of a use of paper than I would like. Use half the page for non-note activity? You’re looking at someone who, in college, as a cost-saving measure, would find the narrowest-ruled paper possible in order to squeeze a few more lines onto a page and therefore save a few sheets of paper. I’m sure that over an entire college career, I probably saved maybe two sheets total (and even that’s probably a bit optimistic), but at least I felt thrifty.
But that’s really not the point of this entry. It just reminds me of the wacko things that teachers used to mandate when I was in school. I remember that so many teachers thought that they knew best, and thus used that rationale to force various methods of organization on their students. Now my method of organization was always chronological. Everything was in the order that it was done, in a big binder, usually 1½” wide. Then as now, I’m big on dates and time order, since I am really good with knowing that A came before B, which came after C, and that A, B, and C were on or around such and such a date. Thus if I’m looking for something, I would go back to that point in time. Pow. All by date, and I could find my way around. And everything went in that notebook. Yes, I was one of those people who owned a small notebook-size three-hole punch to tote around. And yes, I also had a big three-hole punch at home. In fact, I still have that big hole punch.
So that’s why it frustrated me then and amuses me now when teachers would mandate to students how they were to arrange their notebooks. After all, by high school, one would hope that one has a system that works. I know I did. These kinds of things always frustrated me. I remember some teachers would require notebooks that were so anal-retentive in their organization, requiring separate labeled sections for notes, classwork, homework, quizzes, tests, vocabulary, etc. etc. etc. And half of those sections never got used, and were a waste of space.
Categories: School
No, no, no, nothing like that…
2 minute read
September 2, 2008, 7:23 PM
Today, I was telling my coworkers, along with how my vacation went, about how I did a little decorating yesterday. Remember back in February when I bought those little mirrors at IKEA? Well, I finally put them up. I put five of those little mirrors on the wall above my bed. Check it out…
Categories: Furniture
John McCain picks Sarah Palin as his running mate. Interesting…
< 1 minute read
August 29, 2008, 11:38 PM
Finally, the battle lines are completely drawn for the 2008 election. Barack Obama has selected Joe Biden as his running mate, and John McCain surprised us all by picking Sarah Palin of Alaska, whom most of us have never heard of, as his running mate. Interesting move.
What got me was in reading this AP article on the VP pick. Specifically: “She mentioned that she followed in the footsteps of Geraldine Ferraro, who was the Democratic vice presidential running mate in 1984[…]”
It’s always a good idea to invoke the name of a vice presidential candidate whose ticket lost by a HUGE landslide in the 1984 election. Not to mention that this is the same person who, back in March, left-wing pundit Randi Rhodes described as “the David Duke in drag” due to Ferraro’s comments about why Barack Obama has gotten as far as he has. Excellent strategy, bringing a failed VP candidate’s name into the mix.
I say that if we’re going to invoke the name of Geraldine Ferraro, let’s see if we can’t make sure that they go the whole way down that Ferraro road. We do that by making sure that the McCain-Palin ticket goes the same way as the Mondale-Ferraro ticket did in 1984. Recall that in 1984, Ronald Reagan won in a landslide victory. Let’s see if we can’t secure as big of a landslide victory as Reagan did in 1984 for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2008. It’s doable.
Categories: National politics
And we’re back!
4 minute read
August 29, 2008, 10:00 PM
And we’re back in Silver Spring once again, after a fun vacation. Now we’re refreshed and ready to take on the real world once again.
It’s interesting, though – the way my travels usually go, usually one leg of the trip goes flawlessly, and one has issues. The outbound leg went flawlessly. Perfect driving conditions, and traffic was fairly light. The return trip, however, was not so flawless. Traffic was heavy the entire way, and I had to detour around a bit within Hampton Roads.
First of all, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Hampton Roads area, let me explain for a moment. Hampton Roads is encircled by the Hampton Road Beltway, which is formed from the final 36 miles of I-64, and roughly 20 additional miles of I-664. Inside that, going roughly east-west through the middle, is I-264, which runs from I-64’s terminus to the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Then there’s also I-464, which runs from the Downtown Tunnel in Norfolk (part of I-264) to State Route 168 on a roughly north-south track, intersecting I-64 along the way. Confused yet?
My detour started because I saw a sign on one of those highway message signs: “HRBT 4.5 MILE BACKUP, MMMBT CLEAR”. This told me that the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) had a massive backup nearly five miles long on westbound, while the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel (MMMBT) was going smoothly. My understanding is that these HRBT backups are common, and that they’re looking into a permanent solution to the problem.
Thursday was fun…
2 minute read
August 29, 2008, 9:11 AM
Thursday was fun. I spent much of it wandering along the strip, checking out the various stores and such. However, I only spent money at Flipper McCoy’s, which, unlike the visit on Tuesday night, was pretty quiet this time around. I had so much fun. I took both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for a number of spins, I played skee-ball, I played Spin-to-Win, and I got to see someone win 1500 tickets on the Deal Or No Deal machine.
Perhaps the most interesting was skee-ball. They have two different versions. One named along the lines of your typical skee-ball game and styled as such, and then the other was called “Ice Ball”. The gameplay between regular skee ball and Ice Ball was exactly the same, but the Ice Ball balls were white, and they felt ever so slightly heavier, which I preferred. In play, I somehow managed to hit every spot, including the 10,000 spot, except for 5,000. Why not 5,000? Dunno. Got 1K, 2K, 3K, and 4K no problem. Go figure. I also found that I scored better by changing my angle. I was initially playing like it was bowling. Underhanded roll, hitting the rolling surface fairly close to the edge. When I changed to a different style throw, aiming for it to start rolling along the track towards the back, I did a lot better. Go fig.
Categories: Travel, Video games, Virginia Beach
And while I’m on vacation, the Democrats put an end to the nomination fight once and for all…
3 minute read
August 28, 2008, 1:43 AM
Let me say that the fourth day in Virginia Beach was a lot of fun. It started with a walk down the beach. Recall that on Monday, I took Duckie into the water for a swim, and got those amazing wave photos. Today, I again took Duckie to the water, though this time I was mainly out to cover the beach. I got people making sandcastles, as well as completed sandcastles. Some people made forts for themselves, while one person dug a small tunnel system in the sand. Metro for the sand crabs, maybe? Looked as though he had just completed his system’s equivalent of Metro Center when I passed by. And most people, by and large, were very friendly, even offering to pose with their creations as they were building them. However, considering the style of photos I normally like to take, the phrase “act natural” became a fairly common phrase for me.
This, by the way, is the pièce de résistance when it comes to Virginia Beach sandcastles today:
Categories: National politics, Travel, Virginia Beach