Hello from my phone…
< 1 minute read
October 12, 2005, 12:39 PM
I am sending this from the middle of Dupont Circle on my cell phone! I am amused. Needless to say, typing like this is cumbersome, but it is something new.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
“I work alone, except when I work with Renaldo – which is all the time.”
< 1 minute read
October 12, 2005, 4:20 AM
I’m about to head up to Washington today, for the first time since the big September 24 protest. Depending on the weather, I hope to get some outdoor photo sets today.
Meanwhile, it’s funny… the day after the September 24 protests, Mom read in our local paper (I believe it was The News Virginian) about how a group from Augusta County went to the big protest. I believe the group was the Augusta Coalition for Peace and Justice, which participated in the protests at the Augusta County Courthouse that I spoke about in August (and which I could not attend due to being on vacation).
Mom wondered why I didn’t go with them and instead did my own thing. I simply replied, taking a line directly from Dangeresque on homestarrunner.com: “I work alone, except when I work with Renaldo – which is all the time.”
Continue reading…My trip to Starbucks to get a Venti Coffee Frappuccino…
4 minute read
October 10, 2005, 9:57 PM
I finally visited the new Starbucks Coffee in Waynesboro after work today. Yes, that’s right. Starbucks in Waynesboro. I never thought of Waynesboro as a Starbucks kind of town, but there you have it. I guess someone thought we were.
So I went over there to check the place out. It was built on a small property, where the old KFC once stood (KFC moved to a bigger property next door and the old building was demolished). It’s bigger inside than it looks, too. Going in, I remembered SpinnWebe‘s parody of my original Wal-Mart photo set, now in Life and Times, and so I ordered a Venti Coffee Frappuccino. So this is what it looked like:
Categories: Food and drink, Retail, Toyota Previa, Waynesboro
“I am your knight in black armor!”
< 1 minute read
October 2, 2005, 4:12 PM
Yes, I actually said that to a coworker today when I relieved them on the self-checkouts on the grocery side in our store.
Why did I say it? Well, I bought this lovely black mock-turtleneck shirt last night, and I tried it out today at work. And let me tell you… I looked sharp in that. Imagine for a moment, if you will: Black mock-turtleneck shirt, black jeans, black shoes (my Chucks), and blue Wal-Mart vest.
And in switching out on the self-checkouts with this particular coworker, who’d not had a break in too long, I knew I was a welcome sight.
Plus we must admit – I look good in black. It’s like that song Amish Paradise by Weird Al Yankovic: “And my homies agree, I really look good in black, fool…” There’s another coworker and I who each describe ourselves as the best wearers of black in the store, since we both wear it so well.
Plus I like the look.
Otherwise, while talking fashion, I still don’t understand people whose shoes do not “agree” with the rest of the outfit. This has come to mind because it’s been cold in the morning lately, and so people pull out jackets and such. So you have people wearing long pants, long sleeves, a jacket, a wool hat (in one case), and flip flops with otherwise bare feet. I’m just like, aren’t your feet cold?
Me, if I’m going somewhere and dress like it’s cooler, I’m going the full nine yards, no questions asked.
“That’s a word that grown-ups use…”
2 minute read
October 1, 2005, 10:30 PM
The thing to remember when you’re playing Pac-Man in a game room with children present and you get eaten by a ghost is to mind your language. When I play Pac-Man and get eaten by a ghost, I usually let out a mild expletive (it starts with “D”). Doing that and then realizing that children were present in the game room, I said to myself, “There are children in the room…” and just kept reminding myself of that.
I figure that the children’s parents would really love me if I inadvertently taught them some new words that would be less-than-appropriate in polite company. Sure, the children will likely learn those words eventually, but I don’t exactly want to be the one to teach those words to them.
And you also have to wonder… what would you say if a child heard you curse, and they asked you about it? (This didn’t happen to me, by the way.) That would be one heck of a tight spot to have to tiptoe your way out of. A response might be, “Well, that’s a word that grownups use when they’re not careful about what they’re saying. And you should never say that word.”
Since we certainly don’t want to rob these children of their innocence any earlier than necessary. Television does a fine job of it already, and it doesn’t need any competition. And I need to remember to mind what I say when I get eaten by a ghost playing Pac-Man. Since I don’t want to be the one to teach these children all kinds of naughty words. And remembering my time as a child, naughty words are kind of a novelty. They’re a novelty specifically because you’re not supposed to say them.
And again, I don’t want to provide the children with these novelties.
Categories: Language
One word about the protest on Saturday
2 minute read
September 26, 2005, 2:46 AM
I have just one word for the September 24 protest: WOW.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people out against the war in Iraq and the like, even counting J20 (which seemed to consist of a smaller, but very dedicated bunch). They say that more than 100,000 people attended.
I’m working on a full narrative for this trip like I did for the Million Worker March, J20, and A16. The full report for this trip will end up in Life and Times as a photo set when I’m done with it. Unlike in those other three cases, however, I’m not posting the narrative here. It will go up when I finish the entire set.
All in all, I took 391 photos and 41 movies. Of that, roughly 360 photos and 30 movies were protest-related, while another 31 photos and 11 movies were rail-geek stuff.
Does anyone else find this amusing?
< 1 minute read
September 23, 2005, 5:51 PM
Categories: Walmart
No cavities!
< 1 minute read
September 22, 2005, 2:53 PM
Well, I was wrong. It was only three years, and not four. Summer of 2002 was the last time I saw them.
Otherwise, though, I got lots of compliments on my dental hygiene despite my not having been there in three years. No cavities and good oral care overall. My brushing was good, and my flossing was good, though I need to improve my technique on the flossing a little bit. And then I got some fluoride.
So all in all, good appointment. I told you I placed a high value on oral hygiene, and personal hygiene in general.
Categories: Myself
My teeth are all ready for show-and-tell!
< 1 minute read
September 22, 2005, 12:35 PM
In about 45 minutes or so (give or take), I will be at the dentist’s office, ready to have a routine cleaning. You want to talk about deferred maintenance… I am embarrassed to say that it’s been about four years since I last saw a dentist’s chair. It started out with having to cancel a dentist’s appointment when I’d realized I’d scheduled it during the wrong week (JMU’s spring break). I intended to reschedule it for the summer. That didn’t happen. Then I had a lapse in insurance coverage after I’d graduated JMU and before Wal-Mart’s insurance kicked in. And then it was just a matter of getting around to doing it.
And now, I’m finally doing it. And so I got my whole mouth ready for show and tell. Brush. Floss. Listerine. Brush again. Not bad. And then, it’s showtime!
(As a side note, I should have also washed my mouth out with soap, but that won’t do any good at the dentist’s office.)
Still, I’m just glad I’m going again. This has been a long time in the making. And as I said up front, it’s embarrassing that it’s been so long.
And even more so when I pay such careful attention to personal hygiene. Just yesterday, I took this Dr. Scholl’s sanding stone with a handle and sanded all the dead skin off my feet that had accumulated around my heels. That was some serious work right there. Plus I try to make sure that I smell clean (but no cologne), use deodorant, wear nice-enough clothes, and present a dignified appearance. I also keep my nails looking nice, so as to prevent that “guys with nails” effect that gives Missy at work the jibblies.
And so enough chatter on here – time to go!
Categories: Myself
That time of year again?
2 minute read
September 21, 2005, 8:33 AM
It’s September! Can you believe it? That means it’s almost redesign time again!
And, like last year, I go into this season once again wondering what the heck I’m going to do. Of course, last year, that turned out very well, turning my site, which still featured “College Life” and “Web Cam”, among other things making the site a college student kind of thing, and gave it a shift to being more an adult kind of thing. College Life was shifted off to its own subsection, Web Cam is gone, and more emphasis was placed on my Journal and Life and Times.
All throughout last year, Life and Times was a bit of a “lost” section, though, housing the Journal as well as a few mostly-transplanted photo sets, but with no strong purpose. It was just a mess. The redesign repositioned it, plus with the introduction of the hybrid photo set style (narratives with photo sets), it gained a reason to live.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
[expletive deleted]
< 1 minute read
September 17, 2005, 7:13 PM
What can I say? Sometimes simple, well-intended things yield up unexpected results. Why do I bring this up? I was reading my Discussion Forums, and one thread went into state fairs and such. A link was provided to the Web site for the Haddam Neck Fair in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The address of haddamneckfair.com, due to the way the domain name is formatted, coupled with my forum’s built-in swear filter, caused the URL to be rendered like this:
had[expletive deleted]eckfair.com
I knew that the swear filter would render certain words (the famous seven-plus-three, plus a few others) as “[expletive deleted]” when displayed on-screen, but I never thought it would filter out a URL like that. Still, that’s pretty efficient for the swear filter, even rendering the URL incorrectly in its mission to filter out the profanity I’ve told it to watch for – something no one expected it to do. After all, it took the “damn” right out of haddamneckfair.com.
I ended up fixing the problem by taking “damn” out of the swear filter. I rationalized it on the forums by saying, “I figure we’re all old enough for ‘damn’ on here, and since it’s interfering with legitimate activity, I’m going to let it through.”
That was quite a strange thing to happen, though.
Categories: Language, Schumin Web meta
“I’m just an alley cat, with an alley life…”
2 minute read
September 16, 2005, 11:47 PM
“Yeah, shut up, kid.”
< 1 minute read
September 14, 2005, 2:55 PM
First of all, hello from the Infoshop in Washington DC.
It’s interesting… Chevy Chase Bank is having a little publicity stunt today at various Metro station to promote the fact that many Metro stations now have a Chevy Chase Bank ATM near the farecard vending machines. According to the Express, their ATM mascot would be greeting customers at Metro Center in the morning, and then going to Gallery Place-Chinatown from 11:30-1:00. Then he’ll be at Bethesda later on from 3:30 to 5:00. Plus there will be representatives all over the place.
I met up with their ATM mascot outside Gallery Place-Chinatown. And he was surrounded by Chevy Chase Bank people plus others. I got my picture taken with him! Considering how everyone was making a commotion over the guy in the ATM suit, it was almost like meeting The Thnikkaman, as it seems the ATM’s power of distraction is legendary. You almost expect the ATM to say, “Yeah, shut up, kid.”
Then otherwise, today seemed like “one of those” days. First, I got a late start out ot the house. Then I got to Vienna and locked my keys in the car, and didn’t realize it until I got all the way to the station. I carry a spare key, so it wasn’t like I had to call AAA or anything, but still, that’s a long walk to take an extra few times! Then at Rosslyn I had to go back to use the ATM after forgetting to do so. But then things got better (see above).
So fun stuff. And more still to go.
Categories: Advertising, DC trips
Upgrading the fire alarm system at my old middle school brings back a lot of memories…
5 minute read
September 10, 2005, 9:02 PM
I found out on Friday that Stuarts Draft Middle School is getting a new fire alarm system, to replace the charming vintage-but-terribly-obsolete Edwards system installed when the building was constructed. As I’ve not been over there lately, I can’t tell you whether the update is in the process of completion or if it’s done, though my guess is that it’s done. I also don’t know who makes the new system or what model, nor do I know what kind of horns and pull-stations were used.
I found out when Mom brought a Food Lion bag home from school containing, to my surprise, two Edwards 270-SPO pull-stations (“Local Alarm”), two Cerberus Pyrotronics MS-151 pull-stations (from the 1993 addition), and an Edwards Edwards 881D horn. I believe that one of the Edwards pulls came from the gym next to the boys’ locker room, as it has a sticker with a zig-zag line under the “E” logo that I recalled on that spot. I don’t know where in the school the horn came from, or where the other pulls came from.
Altogether, before this alarm update, SDMS had 24 horns, of which 20 were the Edwards 881D (all were originally the Edwards 881D). Two horns were replaced before I started there with large square horns – one in the cafeteria and one outside Room 38 (a stone’s throw away from the other replaced horn). I won’t swear to it, but I think those horns said “Pyrotronics” on them in small white letters. Then two horns were replaced in 1993 with Wheelock 34T horns. One was outside Room 12, and the other was outside Room 22. I remember seeing workers replacing the horn outside Room 12 from a distance, and noticed the Wheelock 34T outside Room 22, which was near the sixth-grade lockers (which were later relocated), as being new when it was replaced during third or fourth period.
Categories: Fire alarms, Fire drills, Middle school
What a wonderful day Wednesday was…
4 minute read
September 8, 2005, 11:41 PM
I went down as far as Blacksburg on Wednesday. My goal was to visit two people: Sis at Virginia Tech, and my friend Amanda Mone, who I first met in December at the Roanoke Star.
But first, I had some shopping to do. Coca-Cola recently launched Vault, which is marketed as an energy drink, but is basically Surge in a new package. Currently, Coca-Cola is test-marketing it, and Roanoke is one of the areas where it’s being test-marketed. So I went down to the Wal-Mart next to Valley View Mall and got some. First I bought a 20-ounce bottle, to make sure it was really Surge in drag. It was a match! So I went and bought ten bottles of it, so that I’ll have lots of it, since I have no idea when I’ll be able to get down to Roanoke again to get some more.
I also checked out the Halloween aisles, since I was looking for a certain Halloween item that Wal-Mart sold last year that I was hoping they were going to sell again. You may recall that I mentioned in December about a mechanized black cat that reared up on its hind legs and sang a song that went like, “I’m just an alley cat, with an alley life.” I’d been unsuccessful in finding it in Waynesboro so far this year. I figured this store in Roanoke is bigger than Waynesboro, so it might be in this store. And I was right! So I bought the cat, and I’ll be figuring out all the lyrics. All I know is that I’m pretty psyched that I finally got my hands on it. I honestly thought I’d never hear that song again. And it’s catchy.