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< 1 minute read

May 23, 2007, 7:30 PM

Let me say that my ride on Breda 4045 this evening on the way home from work was not pleasant. And it’s because the car was experiencing a mechanical issue, but not enough to pull the train from service. If you can imagine this, the car was vibrating pretty hard near the wheel truck on the “blind” (non-cab) end. And it was making a sound resembling that of a lawn mower. This from a car that’s normally supposed to make that nice buzzing sound that Bredas are known for.

And I had to deal with this from Dupont Circle all the way to Glenmont. All that vibration started to make me feel a little ill, too. After all, I was sitting on the right side of the car, facing the blind end, in the first row after the doors. In other words, I was right on top of it. Not fun.

And for those of you who are wondering, even though I now ride the Metro every day, I still take my little notepad with me and write down train numbers.

Categories: Commuting, WMATA

< 1 minute read

May 23, 2007, 2:42 PM

Is anyone else planning on going to the Borf art show this weekend in DC? I’m thinking about going either Saturday or Sunday to check it out. Seems like it might be interesting. After all, I go past the giant BUSH HATES BORF tag twice a day every day on my way to and from work. Plus I saw Borf’s face on a protest sign from J27. Then I spotted another possible Borf face on a wall near the Red Line’s giant Borf tag, where the face is partially painted out in white.

So if anyone else is going to the Borf show, let me know! Like I said, it might be interesting.

Categories: Street art

< 1 minute read

May 22, 2007, 9:17 PM

Okay, everyone. I’m online in Silver Spring. I’ve set up a wireless network, and the Lappy is online. My real computer comes online once I get the new desk set up. That will be a breeze now that we know that everything else works.

So life is good. I can now go sit out on my balcony with the Lappy and send messages to people and surf the Internet.

Now what I’d like to know is what the heck did I need to have the cable guys over for? All they did is bring the cable box and such and hook the cables into the jack. Big whoopty-doo. They didn’t have to fiddle with anything outside. They just went in, hooked it up, and left. I could have done that myself and not have to wait around the house.

But at least it’s set up now.

Categories: Internet, Move to DC area

< 1 minute read

May 21, 2007, 6:33 PM

Good news! I will have a cell phone again two days from now. Verizon is sending me a replacement phone after the first one got crushed during my fall in Logan Circle. So all in all, good deal. I backed up my contacts, and so that’s not an issue. I am, however, going to have to download all my games again. But at least I’ll be whole again, after I mail back the old phone. My apologies for being out of contact for so long, but you know what they say… stuff happens.

Otherwise, the cable guy comes tomorrow and sets me up with TV and Internet service. I can’t wait. I’ll be able to, like, update the Web site and check my Email and such again. As it is, the computer’s up here now, but it’s just not set up yet due to lack of a desk (which is on its way). Then on this long weekend coming up, I might see about finally getting a bed. Sleeping in the living room on my futon when I’m paying for a one-bedroom apartment is not a good thing, since the bedroom is basically wasted right now.

So that’s what’s going on.

Categories: Cell phone, Move to DC area

3 minute read

May 19, 2007, 11:44 PM

First of all, hello from my parents’ house in Stuarts Draft.

In continuing to outfit my apartment in Silver Spring, I’m bringing my real computer up with me this time, and it will get set up in a little corner of my apartment. And then I’m going to have Internet service on Tuesday, so all in all, life is good. And the first week with my new employer was awesome. Now I’ve kind of caught onto how this whole thing works, and I feel confident. It’s not like the first day anymore, where my level of anxiety was so high that I could barely eat my cereal in the morning, and forgot the lunch that I’d packed.

So what does this have to do with the desk? Well, the original plan would have had me returning to Maryland with the computer in the Sable, and the desk in either the truck or the Sienna, depending on who went with me. Then in looking at the cost of gas to take a second car back and forth to bring this large piece of furniture to Maryland, we realized that it wasn’t exactly a worthwhile proposition. Thus we had a slight change of plans. My parents will put my computer desk of nine years to work for them. Translation: It’s staying. Meanwhile, I went to Staples and ordered a new desk. It’s identical to my original desk in almost every way, except that it’s a lighter shade of brown (I don’t know what you call the original desk’s color, but the new one is “natural oak”). And it’s getting delivered to Silver Spring. That satisfies everyone. No one, including me, really wanted to drag that thing up three flights of stairs. However, I liked the desk. It was sturdy and well-designed. I’ll happily put a new desk together on site after it’s delivered to my door, and I’m sure my parents will like the old desk.

Continue reading…

Categories: Cell phone, Move to DC area, Retail, Schumin Web meta, Work

2 minute read

May 16, 2007, 3:03 PM

If anyone has been trying to contact me via the phone or AIM to Schumin Wireless for about the last 24 hours or so, I’m sorry, but I have not received your messages. Turns out that I did a bit more than skin an elbow and shred my pants when I tripped and fell in Logan Circle yesterday. It seems I also jarred something out of place in my cell phone.

Here’s the problem. Since the accident, the phone will come on and do whatever internal functions it does, but it is incapable of receiving wireless service. In other words, it plays the games that I have on there, and it will take pictures, but I can’t make calls, I can’t text message, I can’t transmit pictures, I can’t get on the Web, and I can’t do anything else that actually requires communication with other devices.

Since my cell phone is now officially my only telephone, this bumps this problem up to a very high priority issue. Since I have no Internet at home right now, I am basically out of contact. Translated: Not good. So I’m going to Pentagon City later today to get one of two things. I’m either going to get this phone fixed, or if it’s terminal, get a new phone.

If I get a new phone, I might as well upgrade, perhaps finally get a Blackberry device or something. I’ve wanted one of those for a while, especially when you consider that I refer to my present phone as “a poor man’s Blackberry”. Add to that the fact that I don’t really like my current phone all that much. I never particularly liked the way everything was laid out, and it lacked some functionality that the phone I had before that had.

So, yeah, if you tried to get a hold of me, sorry, but the phone is currently on strike. It shouldn’t be long before everything’s working again, though.

Categories: Cell phone

2 minute read

May 15, 2007, 5:28 PM

I’ve been up in the DC area continuously now since Saturday, and I have to say, so far, I seem to like it. I won’t get Internet service until next Tuesday, the 22nd, however, so I’m writing you from the Infoshop, though I’m using the Lappy. The Infoshop is seven blocks straight east on P Street from the building where I work, through Logan Circle.

Speaking of Logan Circle, I had a little accident there on the walk from work to the Infoshop. I was turning to cross the circle, stepped on a curb wrong, lost my balance, took one very unstable step to try to regain my balance, and then splat. I hit the asphalt. I skinned my elbow (ouch!) and tore a few small holes in my pants pocket where my keys are – enough to consider the pair wrecked. So now I have to buy a new pair of pants. Not my idea of fun. But at least it was nothing major – I got right up and continued on my way.

Otherwise, since last we spoke, I got to go grocery shopping for the first time on my own. That was interesting. I went to Giant in Wheaton, and did my best. I think I did all right, but I was going through this store and basically thinking to myself, I used to work in a grocery store, and I still have no idea what the hell I’m doing! But I think I did well enough.

Continue reading…

Categories: Giant Food, Washington DC, Wheaton

2 minute read

May 11, 2007, 9:53 PM

I don’t think I’ve filled a car so full since I left Potomac Hall at JMU for the last time back in 2003. Back then, I had the Previa stuffed to the gills with my junk from the dorm. Now, I have the Sable filled to the brim with my stuff, headed for Silver Spring. That car is literally packed full. The back seats are folded down, and I’ve put stuff in every possible spot. There’s even stuff sitting in the passenger seat. I just hope the car doesn’t think it’s a passenger and sound the seat belt alarm when I get going. That would look odd to have the seat belt buckled over there, to keep the alarm quiet.

It reminds me of a rhyme by Muffy from Today’s Special:

There was an old woman who lived in a hat,
With fourteen kids and one smelly cat.
The hat was bulging, filled right to the brim,
And inside, things were looking mighty grim.
And then when the woman came back with one more kid,
The hat shouted, “Fifteen!” and blew its lid!

That was then followed by the top flying off a nearby top hat. But yeah, I think if I put anything else in there, the car will shout, “Fifteen!” and blow its lid, too.

One thing that I will really appreciate with this run for stuff is the lamps. Those four torchiere lamps that I have are coming, and will be placed in strategic locations in the apartment. It’s helpful because there are few light fixtures in the apartment, and lots of switches attached to electrical outlets. Thus since I brought no lamps on the first run, I had to kind of find my way around in the dark upon leaving the apartment, feeling for walls and furniture, to avoid running into them, and the subsequent cursing. And I don’t particularly like to swear, though I’ve been known to let them fly fairly easily.

Speaking of swearing, I remember something I did for a professor at JMU that both the professor and I found amusing. He said that we could write whatever on the tests themselves, “Just don’t write any swear words.” So I decided to be a bit of a wiseguy. I wrote “SWEAR WORDS” in all caps near the top of the test paper. Not actual dirty words – literally the phrase “swear words”.

All in all, I’m excited about living in the DC area…

Categories: JMU, Language, Mercury Sable, Move to DC area, Silver Spring, Today's Special

2 minute read

May 11, 2007, 8:24 PM

Just so you know, I am now partly moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland. It’s nice, too. It’s right up the road from Glenmont station, and also close to shopping. Westfield Shoppingtown Wheaton is very close to where I live, and it’s home to a two-story Target store.

By the way, shopping with a cart across two levels is interesting. There are two escalators. One for you, and one for your cart. Basically, you put your cart in the special cart escalator, and then you ride (roughly) next to it on a conventional escalator. Shopping in a two-story Target is certainly something, but it’s kind of fun. Target is also so much cleaner than Wal-Mart, which always impresses me when I shop there. They also trust that their customers will do such simple things as flush the toilet and turn off the sinks, which Wal-Mart does not. Wal-Mart has automatic sinks and flushers which don’t work half the time. Target has faucets with handles, and flush handles on the toilets.

By the way, I outfitted much of my apartment on my first trip to this Target in Wheaton. I blew $300-some on stuff for the apartment, across two shopping carts. That’s the most I’ve ever spent at Target. Prior to this, I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $20 in a visit to Target.

Continue reading…

Categories: Move to DC area, Retail, Target, Wheaton

< 1 minute read

May 8, 2007, 5:19 AM

It only took, what, two years to make it up, but we are finally going to run the DC trip that was originally scheduled for February 2, 2005. This will be the trip where I take Katie with me to Washington. This time it’s really happening. This time, there is no pilonidal cyst to get in the way. As I said to Katie, my butt is in tip-top shape.

And it’s going to be a fun trip, as Katie experiences the Metro for the first time. So that means she’ll get to experience my friends Rohr, Breda, CAF, and Alstom, and get to know what Randi Miller sounds like.

So now, I’ll see you in DC!

Categories: DC trips, Katie

< 1 minute read

May 7, 2007, 12:06 PM

I’m going through and cleaning stuff out in preparation for the big move to DC, and I found this:

Continue reading…

Categories: Childhood, Elementary school, Move to DC area

< 1 minute read

May 5, 2007, 4:50 PM

After the first apartment deal fell through, and we found out what a bunch of slimeballs they were, I found another apartment up the road from the other one, and I can move in immediately. And unlike the first one, the new place showed me the actual apartment – not a model. Top floor, private balcony, and a huge walk-in closet. And rather than being nine pages, this application was only one page and took two minutes to do.

And as I mentioned, I can move in immediately. That means that when I go to DC on Tuesday with Katie, I can finalize the deal and start moving in. And I can go right to the apartment, and not spend a week with Matthew Tilley in Reston (though that would have been fun).

So rather than go to Ikea, since the first apartment deal fell through, Mom and I went to Wheaton and did more apartment hunting. And I think I’m going to enjoy it in Wheaton. Nice area.

And now, I have to move…

Categories: DC trips, Move to DC area

2 minute read

May 2, 2007, 6:31 PM

That’s the question I’ve posed to my parents about my soon-to-be-former room once I completely vacate it. But first there’s a back-story to it.

When Uncle Johnny and Aunt Beth came to visit two weeks ago, they described about how they repurposed their three children’s former bedrooms now that they had all moved out. The idea was that rather than referring to the rooms by who’s not in them (i.e. “Kate’s old room”, “Jesse’s old room”, and “Jan’s old room”), they would refer to them by what they were now using the rooms for. Thus one bedroom became the “girl room”, another one became the “man room”, and the third became the “sewing room”.

Now in our family, there are only two children – Sis and me. And since no one in our family sews, we can scratch off “sewing room”. Thus if we were to follow Uncle Johnny and Aunt Beth’s naming system, we’d have a “girl room” and a “man room”. One will become fully vacant by June (I get the apartment on the 20th, but there is no way in hell that I am moving everything at once), and the other room will be vacant in August when Sis moves to Chicago with Chris, with whom she is engaged to be engaged.

Continue reading…

Categories: Family, House

2 minute read

May 2, 2007, 9:07 AM

In case the May splash page photo shocked you, where I had considerably less hair than usual, I can explain. Like many men, I am slowly but surely losing my hair. I just have to look at my father to see what the future has in store for me.

This photo actually marks the beginning of what I consider to be a major about-face in what I’ve called my “hair policy”. You see, when it was only a little thin spot, I used the airbrush tool to fill it in. The result was hardly noticeable. Then as the hairline continued to recede, it became like what happens when people lie, as you have to tell more lies to cover for the original lie, and eventually it snowballs out of control. Likewise for the photos. I’ve been “fixing” the bald spot as it’s gotten bigger and bigger, and it’s not exactly been easy to do.

Looking back at my splash pages, my first chop job was January 2004. Then February 2004 was genuine, so you can see what I was covering. Then the next time you got to see the hairline untouched was for November 2005, where I accidentally “outed” my receding hairline in the Thnikkaman costume. I also let a genuine one go through in May 2006 with the elevator shot.

But now I’ve decided to go natural on here, since editing the hair has started to get somewhat cumbersome as it’s become harder and harder to hide it. And this is the right thing to do anyway, especially since even I wasn’t convinced that some of the airbrush jobs looked all that authentic. Some yes, others no. Depended on how much hair I had to give myself.

So now I’ve come clean about the hair. I feel better now.

Update: All of the photos where the hairline was manipulated were replaced with the original unmanipulated versions during a site overhaul in mid 2012.

Categories: Myself, Schumin Web meta

< 1 minute read

May 1, 2007, 6:06 PM

I’ll bet you haven’t seen this destination on Metro trains before:

Continue reading…

Categories: DC trips, Harrisonburg, WMATA