Million Worker March…
12 minute read
October 19, 2004, 1:30 AM
All I have to say was that I had fun at the Million Worker March, an event to bring the plight of workers into the spotlight. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I’d been planning on attending the Million Worker March in Washington DC for some time – since about July or August, I want to say. Now I research these events way ahead of time to find out what is planned in and around these events and keep a tab in any new developments. Then I set my agenda based on that as the date gets closer. In this case, I found out a few things ahead of time. Number one was that there would be no actual official march like on June 5 or previous events that I’d been to. I also learned that there would be an anarchist feeder march meeting up at 16th and Eye Streets, a block away from McPherson Square station, in front of the AFL-CIO headquarters (an organization that did not sponsor the Million Worker March). I also learned that it would also be embraced by anti-war groups. As you know, I am very much anti-war. So anti-war lent a familiar touch to an otherwise new topic to me.
So my plan was to basically join up with the anarchists for the day. I’d start out with the anarchist feeder march and join the main rally that way. Then in the main rally, stay with them. Basically, the idea was to follow my June 5 strategy, where I joined a small Black Bloc for the duration of the event. The people in that group were my soul mates for the day, and it worked out really well.
Continue reading…Categories: Activism, Black bloc, DC trips
Good morning, world!
2 minute read
October 17, 2004, 2:06 AM
Yeah, fan-bloody-tastic. It’s early. Just the right time to bust a move to Washington DC, too.
As soon as I finish this journal entry, I’m hopping into the shower to make myself all fresh as a daisy. Then I’m getting dressed, getting gathered up, and then… I’m going out!
It kind of reminds me of what Jeff Hyslop sang in Today’s Special’s episode “Live on Stage” about going out. It went like this:
Categories: DC trips, Today's Special
Blue. Blue is good.
2 minute read
October 16, 2004, 11:45 AM
Well, so far in my going about fishing for opinions for my test area for the site redesign (a bit incomplete), it’s been positive so far, and a change has been made to the header based on feedback. I love getting feedback.
What’s interesting, though, is the difference the little things make. Compare:
Categories: Schumin Web meta
Well, guess who’s home this weekend…
3 minute read
October 15, 2004, 11:35 PM
Yes, my sister’s home this weekend. And she brought Chris, her boyfriend, with her. And she and Chris are going to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg tomorrow for Howl-O-Scream, which is some event over there.
Me, I have no interest in theme parks. I get the same feeling of excitement railfanning the Green Line in Washington. So I have no need for rollercoasters. And I also have no need for the crowds of people and roadshow prices.
But anyway, Sis is back for the weekend. Fun. Though our paths have probably crossed for the only time this weekend. She and Chris are going to be in Williamsburg on Saturday, and I will be in Washington on Sunday. As such, when they leave for and come home from Busch Gardens, I will be sound asleep in my bed. While they’re at Busch Gardens, I’ll be at home. Then while I’m getting ready for Washington, they’ll be sound asleep. And then while I’m in Washington, the two of them will be going back to Blacksburg.
“Priortize”?
< 1 minute read
October 13, 2004, 9:00 PM
In the third debate, which just ended at the time of this writing, George Bush used a word that I didn’t know the meaning of when he was talking about the availability of flu shots. I don’t know what “priortize” means. That’s pronounced PRY-er-tyze. That’s what Bush said.
I know a word that’s similar to priortize. It’s “prioritize”. I know what that means, and it’s pronounced pry-OR-ih-tyze.
Now I don’t get flu shots as a rule. So I am personally not all that concerned about the availability of flu shots, as I had no intention of getting one in the first place. But I’m just amazed that after almost four years as president and having been made fun of time and time again for mispronunciations, that he totally mispronounced “prioritize” on live national TV in the last debate.
Otherwise, though, it was a good debate. And I’m still voting for John Kerry. And I think Kerry did a better job than Bush in the third debate, like he did in the other two.
So now we have some last-minute campaigning, and then on November 2… we vote!
Categories: National politics
Well, today was fun!
< 1 minute read
October 11, 2004, 9:44 PM
I went to Charlottesville this afternoon! Fun times. I ran into a few people that I knew this time.
First of all, I went to Sbarro at the mall for dinner, and guess who I ran into at Sbarro? Sarah Jones! You may recall that Sarah lived in Potomac Hall for two of my three years there, and was a good buddy of mine. So she, her brother who I met for the first time today, and I all had dinner at Sbarro. That was fun. Especially since I hadn’t seen Sarah since we left Potomac. And Sarah’s expecting! She’s going to be a mother before you know it – the proud mother of a little girl.
And while I was visiting with Sarah, a coworker from Wal-Mart heard me and stopped by to say hello. After Sarah and her brother headed off to do some serious shopping, my coworker, his girlfriend, and I took a few minutes to chat it up, mostly about work.
Then later, someone recognized me from Schumin Web, which I thought was neat.
So that made for a nice day. This is starting to get like Rogers. I say that when I see a whole bunch of people I know while I’m out. By the time we left Rogers (Arkansas), we would always see at least one person we knew any time we’d go out somewhere. It was odd not to see someone we knew when we went out.
So that was fun. And tomorrow, work at 7 AM. I’m just glad to have a day off here and there.
Categories: Charlottesville, Friends
Has anyone seen this font?
< 1 minute read
October 11, 2004, 2:11 AM
I’m looking for the font that JMU uses for their athletic logo and that JEM Transport uses. I’m looking for it as a Windows font. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
That’s the Duke Dog, and the “JMU” letters are what I’m looking for. Also go to JEM Transport of Harrisonburg’s Web site, and it’s the same basic font.
I’ve also seen the same font over the Guest Services desk at the Ocean Holiday in Virginia Beach. Unfortunately, I never got a picture of that.
I just hope I can find that font somewhere as a Windows font. Would be very nice to have.
Categories: JMU
What is downright scary for me as a webmaster…
2 minute read
October 11, 2004, 1:55 AM
Here’s what’s downright scary to me as a Webmaster. My Transit Center project.
(crickets chirping)
Why is that so scary? It’s not the expansion that I’m working on right now, that I’m about a day or so away from finishing. That’s easy. Right now I’m working on putting descriptions to pictures of Metro trains and stations.
The scary part is what I’m doing to the Transit Center after that. While the recently-expanded site is out doing what it’s supposed to, I’m going to be working behind the scenes to completely rebuild the site organizationally, since expansion of the site beyond its original bounds (adding several new transit systems) has proven to be a pain. Let’s just say that the site is a mess under the surface.
The funny thing is that for the user, the site works great. Everything works, and it navigates fairly well. In fact, I only have one navigational feature that I want to add, and it’s fairly minor.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
Five days of the same schedule… don’t know how I managed that.
< 1 minute read
October 8, 2004, 11:11 PM
I may not know how I managed that, but I’m not complaining! It makes working seven days in a row somewhat less painful. Of course, this is being said on a Friday – only day #5. We’ll see what I’m saying come Sunday night, at the end of day #7. Right now I’m like, “Oh, yes, this is just wonderful!” By the end of the seventh day, I could be like, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” We’ll see.
Meanwhile, I watched most of the second debate this evening after work. All in all, I think John Kerry did the better job of the two, and George Bush looked like he was about to explode a few times there. One time he nearly did, jumping right in after Kerry was finished, and cutting off the moderator (Charles Gibson). We’ll see what the news says about it tomorrow morning.
Also, I’m looking at my journal from a year ago, and it’s interesting. This Saturday, October 9, will be the one-year anniversary of my “What part of ‘crosswalk’ do you not understand?” pass through JMU’s campus. That was a very unpleasant trip, and it was because college students don’t know how to watch where they’re going when they cross the street. I look back at it, and I’m amused by how quick I was to break out the obscenities. But at least I found parking.
Categories: National politics, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
ß
< 1 minute read
October 7, 2004, 12:14 AM
Finally I found out what ß means! It’s only found in German, a language which I have not studied seriously. I studied Spanish and Latin in high school, and in college had no formal foreign language study (the benefit of a Bachelor of Science degree), but I did become quite proficient in Foul while at JMU.
Of course, “Foul” only consists of about seven words, and you’re not allowed to say it on the air.
But anyway, ß. For years, I referred to it as “that funky-looking B that they have in German”. And that got me some very confused looks from just about everyone. But think about it. ß does look like a B. See? ß. B. So my description is understandable.
Turns out, though, that ß is not related to B at all. It’s actually related to S. And like most language elements, it has a very long history, and a big description of how it’s used in the German language.
Still, at least now I know what ß really means, and how it’s only a lowercase letter. It has no uppercase equivalent.
I am very pleased with myself for finding out about ß, a letter which has puzzled me for years.
Categories: Myself
What a day in Washington I had on Saturday…
7 minute read
October 3, 2004, 11:10 PM
I was up early, and in bed late, to say the least. What I did was cover two, count ’em, two political demonstrations on October 2, for a photo set I’m going to do for Schumin Web.
The first one was an anti-war funeral procession. Basically a rally and march, but with a more solemn funeral type atmosphere. They carried 100 cardboard coffins (designed to represent real ones, as you would expect) from Arlington National Cemetery to the Ellipse near the White House. At Arlington National Cemetery, speeches were given, and then the coffins were picked up, and the marchers marched. I photographed all over, and took movies. On the way into Washington, near the entrance to Arlington Cemetery Metro station (by the way, this is where I dropped out of the march, because I had other fish to fry that day as well), we encountered the counter-protesters, basically protesting the protesters. These are the ones who disagree with the marchers, and are voicing their dissent with the marchers’ viewpoints.
So after photographing the counter-protesters, and taking movies of them, and unfortunately not being allowed by Park Police to venture in between the line of police in the street and the counter-protesters in order to get shots of some of the signage the counter-protesters carried, I headed into Arlington Cemetery station, to head over to protest target #2.
Categories: Anti-war, DC trips, World Bank
Nice little update package from Microsoft today…
2 minute read
October 1, 2004, 1:00 AM
I updated my Windows this evening to all the latest stuff from Microsoft. This means new service packs, incorporating a bunch of new features. Don’t know what half of them do, but I’ll figure it out eventually.
Only things I’ve really messed with are the ones of immediate concern to me (read: annoying features). I fixed the pop-up blocker to not chime and throw a message up when it finds one. I don’t need to know about the ad I just missed that badly. Just a little icon in the corner is all I need. I also fixed it where I can still play flash animations that I’ve got saved on my computer without an extra “OK”. That was a bother before I found the switch to turn that off. I save flash animations from the Internet onto my computer when I find something interesting. I have my favorites that I watch periodically.
My comment above about “…incorporating a bunch of new features. Don’t know what half of them do…” reminds me of Tim Allen’s stand-up act. He says something like, “I bought a [tool]. What does it do? I don’t know. Looks good on that pegboard, though.” Then he goes on to say, “And where did I get it? Sears!” Tim Allen seems to like tools from Sears.
I am two for two on DC Indymedia
3 minute read
September 29, 2004, 10:48 PM
What can I say? I’m good. Twice I’ve submitted photos of an event to DC Indymedia, and twice I’ve managed to get my images on the front page of the DC Indymedia Web site.
The most recent is from a protest held near the US Treasury. Here is the full article. Where I actually submitted the photos is actually low on the page. But guess whose image that is small and up in the corner. Mine! That’s the one that also ended up on the main page of DC Indymedia. (Note: If it’s not on the main page anymore when you see this, it’s dated September 21 and entitled Picket in front of US Treasury calls for 100% Debt Cancellation: 10 Days until the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, and you can scroll back to find old front page articles at the bottom of the main news feed)
This is also about the only time you’ll ever see me actually defend George W. Bush (I’m as surprised as you are, especially in the highly-liberal Indymedia venue). The poster just before me said:
Look how far away the demonstration is from Treasury. It’s only since the second Bush Administration came in that demonstrations have been forced to move back and way back away from their intended target, in the name of security but in reallity it’s an attempt to marginalize protest and dissent.
Categories: Activism
There should be a shirt: “I survived inventory”
< 1 minute read
September 28, 2004, 5:56 PM
We at Wal-Mart just finished having inventory. Fun. A company comes in and counts everything we’ve got. Meanwhile, it was slow at the Service Desk, which made things go smoothly.
I’m just glad it’s over. Now things can get back to normal, plus I have a day off. Don’t know what I’m going to do yet – thinking about going out, though. We’ll see.
Categories: Walmart
Now I’m wealthy… yeah, sure…
< 1 minute read
September 27, 2004, 4:23 PM
I got a check regarding the Web site today from Overture, a search engine. A whole $3.89. I think I can retire now. Or not.
What’s funny about it is that I have no idea where this came from. Overture is now part of Yahoo, but Yahoo is not the source. I remember when I first joined various affiliate programs in 2000 that Yahoo was one that didn’t have an affiliate program and I noticed how strange that was. I also don’t recall what Overture’s predecessor company was. That would help a lot, since I probably registered for a predecessor’s affiliate program way back in 2000 when I did a bunch of those.
I remember that much of those affiliate programs bit the dust later on, in 2001 or so, with the so-called “dot-bomb” where all kinds of internet businesses died, and the market for online advertising took a nosedive. That was a pity. A number of the affiliate programs I was in discontinued their programs outright. Losing AltaVista’s affiliate program was particularly painful, since it was lucrative.
Still, I have a check for three bucks, which I find amusing. Must be a payment for something I had on my site at some point.
Categories: Internet