Daily Grind is closing!
< 1 minute read
March 14, 2007, 11:50 AM
I saw this on the front door when I went to Daily Grind today in Stuarts Draft. They’re closing on March 31! Sad. Especially since I finally got into my groove over there and was starting to become a regular.
According to the sign on the door, they will be opening this summer to serve ice cream in the evenings, and then further along, they plan to open “The Cheese Shop Sandwich Shop”, presumably a restaurant version of The Cheese Shop. For those of you who are not familiar, The Cheese Shop is a Mennonite-run store on Route 608 in Stuarts Draft with all kinds of meats, cheeses, and candies, both sugared and sugar-free. They sell all kinds of stuff, and it’s almost all locally made. My mother buys from The Cheese Shop regularly. I’m told she’s their first customer in the morning on Saturdays.
In the meantime, though, I’m going to have to find another place to have coffee and use the Lappy. There’s another Daily Grind in Staunton and in Waynesboro, and I’ve been to the Waynesboro one before, but wasn’t that excited about it. Not as close of an environment as in Stuarts Draft. The Staunton one is one I’ve not been to. I might have to check it out.
Of course, neither of those is as close as Stuarts Draft…
Categories: Companies
You mean this?
< 1 minute read
March 13, 2007, 9:52 AM
While I was at Daily Grind yesterday burning my mouth, I was listening to Neal Boortz on WTKS out of Savannah, Georgia via an Internet feed. Neal and a caller were discussing ANSWER Coalition (which as of late has become far less mainstream than it once was). The thing that got me a little riled up, though, was the fact they attributed the graffiti-ing of the Capitol on January 27 to ANSWER.
Why did this get me a little riled up, you might ask?
Well, first of all, what did ANSWER have to do with the January 27 march, and also, what did ANSWER have to do with the black bloc that was originally organized by SDS? The answer is nothing. ANSWER had nothing to do with J27, aside from a few banners out in the crowd. It was the anarchist contingent that put graffiti on the front of the Capitol. I should know. I was with them all day.
I have no problems with these radio talk shows criticizing these organizations, whether their target be ANSWER, UFPJ, DAWN, SDS, or otherwise. That’s their right. I do, however, think that if people are going to criticize groups, that they should at least attribute actions to the correct groups. To do otherwise is just irresponsible.
Categories: Black bloc, Radio
That coffee is HOT!
< 1 minute read
March 12, 2007, 3:44 PM
Beware the coffee, at least at first, at Daily Grind in Stuarts Draft. It’s not often that I’ll comment on coffee, but this is some hot stuff. It looks somewhat innocent at first:
But then when you take even a small sip of it, your mouth soon becomes a hot wasteland. I’ve never burned my mouth so far back before. That stuff is hotter than your typical home coffeemaker. It’s hotter than Sheetz. It’s also hotter than Starbucks. It’s HOT. I took the lid off and gave it time to air out.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I do enjoy their coffee. It’s good as coffee goes. But don’t take it fresh. Give it time to cool first before you dive in.
Categories: Food and drink
This time change, unlike most, has me a bit on edge…
2 minute read
March 10, 2007, 10:17 AM
Unless you live in Arizona, the United States changes its clocks twice a year – once in the beginning of April and once at the end of October, going onto and off of daylight savings. Okay. Routine. Now, however, with this new energy bill that got passed, it’s the middle of March that we go onto daylight savings, and early November (I believe) that we go back to standard time. As a result, it just seems awfully early to be changing over to daylight savings, partly because it is.
Usually this is so routine. We change the clocks and I’m like, okay. And life goes on. But due to the earlier date, I’m running myself ragged on it. I’m fairly confident that my computers will change on their own, and I’m also confident that my cell phone will change on its own. I’ve already changed my alarm clock. Still, I’ve been obsessing over this, worried that somehow I’ll have forgotten to change something, and end up late for work tomorrow.
This, folks, is a partial explanation as to why I’ve found a few hairs coming in white as of late. I’m running myself silly over smaller issues.
Continue reading…
Fun times in Charlottesville
4 minute read
March 8, 2007, 2:08 AM
For the second time, Katie and I went over the mountain to Charlottesville, and we had a blast. I picked her up at her place, and we went over. I had Big Mavica and the Lappy in tow.
We went to the Downtown Mall, parked on the top level of the Market Street garage, and walked from the parking garage to the Charlottesville Ice Park and back. On the way, we stopped in at Five Guys for a restroom break and a soda (and where they don’t validate parking!), and at this little coffee shop near the Ice Park end for a steamer. Then going back, we stopped over at the free speech wall and photographed the messages, and added some of our own. The free speech wall is so fun, both to read and to contribute to. It’s also so Charlottesville, as in it’s something that is just so fitting for Charlottesville.
And we got lots of photos, too.
Katie took a moment to pose for a long-exposure photo on some planters.
Categories: Charlottesville
Now let’s travel to Breda 3040…
< 1 minute read
March 4, 2007, 8:54 AM
As promised, I have posted the videos of the man singing on the Metro to YouTube. And here you are:
Singing “Age of Aquarius”
I wonder if he’s been puffing on the magic dragon…
2 minute read
March 1, 2007, 7:50 PM
So I’m on the Metro, on Breda 3040. I got on at Mt. Vernon Square, and rode all the way to Huntington. Most people board the Yellow Line at Gallery Pl-Chinatown or L’Enfant Plaza. Those who want seats board at the former. This guy got on at Gallery Place and sat in the seat in front of me. He was a middle-aged white guy, and appeared to be coming home from work.
Why is this notable? He started singing on the train. He’s sitting there, and he’s got his MP3 player with headphones, and he’s singing to himself, somewhat loudly. It wouldn’t be that bad in and of itself, but this guy could not sing to save his life. He was oblivious to the fact that everyone around him was making fun of him. I took the additional step of pulling out Big Mavica and recording him. I’ll put that up when I get home. He sang a bunch of different songs. Two that I knew were Age of Aquarius and Puff, the Magic Dragon. He was awful. He couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. The other people on the train wondered if he was not exactly all together. I suggested that he probably just didn’t care, or that he thought he sounded good.
From an entirely new computer setup, here I am.
< 1 minute read
February 26, 2007, 9:45 PM
First of all, hello! Hello from my new Dell Dimension E521, my new computer. It’s a lot faster than the old Gateway, but it’s also a lot shorter in stature than the old Gateway. The old computer is currently in Sis’s room, having been stripped of a few parts here and there, as the wireless card was a straight move from the old system. The original intention was for one of the two video cards from the old computer to also carry over, but that unfortunately didn’t allow for a dual-monitor setup. As it turns out, a video card added to the system disables the integrated video. So I had to get a new video card that has two outputs, but I’m still not yet online, as I need to get a DVI cable to hook up onto an outlet on the flat panel.
Otherwise, the new Lappy showed up today, and unlike with the delivery of the main computer, this time I was present in person to sign for the package. So all is here and all is well.
Right now, I’m getting moved in. I’m moving all my documents onto the system, and so once that gets done, life will be good.
Then there’s the whole thing of figuring out Windows Vista. This is new territory to me, as I have never before gone to a new computer and a new operating system at once. Usually it was always one or the other. So this is fun.
Once I get all settled into this computer, I have some photos to show you of the new computer, etc.
Categories: Computer
Goodbye, old friend…
< 1 minute read
February 24, 2007, 11:32 PM
Well, this is it. The Gateway dies tonight. That makes this my last Journal entry on my Gateway G6-400. After I finish this entry, I’m going to shut down Windows for the last time, and boot off of a floppy in order to FDISK and format the hard drive.
So now let’s get started. Goodbye, old friend. We’ve had a lot of great years together.
Categories: Computer
And what a wonderful time in Harrisonburg it was!
2 minute read
February 24, 2007, 9:25 PM
I had a fun day today in Harrisonburg. First of all, my time with Patrick went quite well. I got to meet his father, and the three of us had dinner at Ruby Tuesday. He also got to see the Sable, and he was impressed. It helped that I ran it through the car wash earlier that day, too. I also got to see his Chevy Venture, which was pretty neat.
The three of us were also in agreement that the people who designed the traffic patterns for the Harrisonburg Crossing shopping center deserve to be shot, since there are only three points of entrance to that very large and very congested shopping center. There’s one on Burgess Road, which leads to East Market Street (US 33). Then there are two at the other end on Reservoir Street. And the parking rows have no breaks from one end to the other. Therefore, you have two ways across the shopping center, parallel to the buildings. Right up against Wal-Mart and Home Depot, or right up against the Barnes and Noble/Michaels/Ross/Staples/Circuit City/whatever building. Thus it’s very easy to get stuck in parking lot hell, as you have to go all the way to either end to change rows, and the two side areas are VERY congested with traffic. Two words: It sucks. They would be very well served to reconfigure the parking lot to add another way across that massive lot parallel to the buildings. Imagine another path parallel to the buildings down the center. That would start directly in front of the main entrance at Reservoir Street to right in between O’Charley’s and Ruby Tuesday. The construction work necessary to do this would involve building some new parking lot islands to mark the new ends of the rows, and paving through some long islands that run perpendicular to the buildings and run the full length of the lot. Until they do that, which I don’t see as being likely to happen any time soon, have one hand on the horn, and have the middle finger on the other hand at the ready, because Harrisonburg drivers drive like idiots, and that goes for permanent residents and JMU students alike. Every time I have to cross that shopping center when it’s busy, another hair turns gray.
Categories: Friends, Harrisonburg
And here we arrive at that point where we “freeze” the Web site
< 1 minute read
February 24, 2007, 12:20 AM
As I speak, the “master” version of Schumin Web that I have on my computer and do all my editing from is being migrated over to Dad’s computer as part of the move. This requires me to temporarily “freeze” the site, as it’s not wise to make edits to the site while I’m moving things around. Of course, the Journal isn’t affected by this, since it’s done server-side. However, don’t expect to see any edits to the site (and that includes the photo feature) until I’m finished moving the computer.
Hey, it could be worse. I think the snowman is a really cute picture, and at least we still have the Journal during this transition, so I can tell you all about what’s going on. By the way, moving to a new computer is a colossal pain in the behind, and now I understand why I haven’t changed computers in nearly nine years.
Otherwise, tomorrow I’m going to Harrisonburg where my friend Patrick Jarrett from Pittsburgh is coming down for a job fair. Patrick and I met online way back in the day, and then we’ve met in person once before, when I went to Pittsburgh with LPCM in 2003. So this ought to be fun. I’m also going to try to swing by Rocktown Infoshop at some point to get some more photos for their site.
Categories: Computer, Friends, Schumin Web meta
It’s here! It’s here! It’s here!
2 minute read
February 22, 2007, 11:42 PM
Well, my new computer has arrived! So how is it, you ask? I don’t know. I haven’t opened it yet. It’s very much still in the box. I’m writing to you tonight on the Gateway. The Dell showed up a little sooner than I expected, and I wasn’t finished moving out of the old computer yet. So I’m still on the old computer. I bought a transfer link cable for $20 after work, but then I realized on the way home that I can use our wireless network to bat files around between computers. Dad’s computer is going to be the temporary home for all of my stuff. Also, when you consider that I just dropped a big chunk of change on two computers (the laptop is still in transit), the cable is going back to the store unopened and I’m getting my money back.
It still hasn’t quite dawned on me yet that it’s really the end of the road for the Gateway. It hasn’t sunk in yet. Of course, it didn’t truly sink in that the Previa was going away until I spent the time cleaning it out a couple of hours before it started the trip from which it would not return.
Once I finish moving all my stuff onto Dad’s computer, though, it will finally be time to truly retire that old Gateway. I will shut Windows down for the last time. I will reboot off a floppy, destroy my old partitions, and reformat the hard drive. I will then power down, and start disconnecting cables. Everything will be disconnected, and removed from my desk. And then when we arrive at the bottom, meaning that the desk is completely bare, I’m going to start setting new stuff up. The new computer will go into place, and then my present monitors and speakers will return, my current keyboard and mouse will return, and then we’ll fire the beast up and bring it to life!
My Gateway’s days are now officially numbered.
3 minute read
February 21, 2007, 6:15 PM
Yes, my Gateway’s days are officially numbered. I’ve ordered two computers as its replacement. A Dell Dimension and a Dell Inspiron. So I will have a desktop and a laptop. Why both? Well, the old Lappy showed promise as being something useful for me, but as it turned out, Dad and I seem to each be unable to share.
It works out, too, because the amount I’d budgeted for a new desktop machine worked out to be enough for a desktop and a laptop – which is the arrangement I really wanted anyway.
What’s really going to be weird is to actually retire the Gateway (Gateway 2000, to be accurate). I’ve had that computer for nearly nine years. I got it on the same day that the last episode of Seinfeld aired: Thursday, May 14, 1998. I remember it was state-of-the-art when I first got it. A 400 MHz Pentium II, 128 MB of RAM, a 10 GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM drive, and a TV tuner card were considered high power back in their day. A Zip drive was added to the system in December 1998, and a CD burner in January 2000.
Then during the summer of 2001, I gave the computer a mid-life rehabilitation, intended to outfit it for another three years of service. The 10 GB hard drive was replaced with an 80 GB drive, 128 MB became 384 MB, the DVD-ROM and the CD burner were replaced with more powerful versions, four USB ports were added, and the TV card was replaced after the old one had proven problematic. Then in March 2003, the Zip drive was replaced with a second DVD-ROM drive (making three CD/DVD drives total), inherited from my sister’s old Gateway. Then I changed to a dual-monitor configuration in early 2005.
Categories: Computer
A whole bunch of peanut butter-related topics…
3 minute read
February 19, 2007, 5:41 PM
First of all, I saw this cartoon on the editorial page of today’s edition of The News Virginian. Considering that I’ve spent much of the last five days dealing with peanut butter returns at work, I found this cartoon quite hilarious:
Image: Cagle Cartoons
Categories: Dreams, Food and drink, Some people
And we survived the peanut butter scare of aught-seven…
2 minute read
February 17, 2007, 1:40 AM
For the last two days, I think I’ve looked at enough jars of peanut butter to last me a while. People normally don’t return food unless it’s really bad, like if they opened the package and it was green and fuzzy inside when it should be red and slimy. But when the public learned that the Peter Pan and Great Value brands of peanut butter are potentially contaminated with salmonella and the manufacturer (ConAgra) issues a voluntary recall of the product, everyone and their mother came up to the Service Desk with a jar of peanut butter looking for a refund. So far, we’ve taken back two full cartloads of the stuff.
And let me tell you something. Peanut butter may look light, but when you’re pushing an entire cartload of the stuff, it’s HEAVY. I can usually drive two carts through the store with relative ease. I put the heavier one to the rear and drag it, and I put the lighter one in front and steer with my hand and my elbow. But a cart full of recalled peanut butter is something I could barely handle by itself. Usually, to steer a shopping cart, you turn it by the handle in order to point the front end of the cart in the direction you want to go. Not for this. For this kind of a load, forget trying to steer that way. I had to swing the back end of the cart around to point it where I wanted to go, and then kind of beg the cart to continue in the direction I pointed it in. Add to that the fact that I was a bit tired as I’m pushing a whole cartload of peanut butter to the back room, and it made for an interesting walk.
Personally, I can’t wait for this whole peanut butter recall to blow over. First of all, I don’t like pushing heavy carts full of unsellable peanut butter to the back of the store. I don’t like doing it. And secondly, Peter Pan is my preferred brand of peanut butter, even though I only buy it every so often. It competes for my affections with Ragu tomato sauce, and presently, the Ragu is winning.
Still, you have to find it at least somewhat interesting when food goes bad, or is suspected of possibly going bad. Remember the big spinach scare of 2006? That was interesting news, though I don’t remember people coming in droves to return their bagged spinach. I remember only one person coming to return his bagged spinach for a refund.
Categories: Food and drink, Walmart