Back from Pittsburgh, and what a time it was…
2 minute read
October 20, 2003, 9:41 PM
I actually got back from Pittsburgh yesterday, but I was SO tired yesterday, this journal was about the last thing on my mind.
Anyway, though, it was interesting. We worked at a soup kitchen, we helped with distribution of food, visited a drop-in center for homeless people, and of course, our main event: cleaning carpets at Sojourner House, a facility for mothers recovering from drug addictions.
On Saturday night, after everything was finished, we went out on the town, and met up with my friend Patrick Jarrett, who I’ve known for several years online. He gave some of us a tour of the town, and we also rode the Incline and rode “The T”, which is Pittsburgh’s light-rail system (their equivalent to Metro).
Continue reading…Categories: LPCM, Pittsburgh
Two grown people going wacko about one of our feathered friends…
2 minute read
October 16, 2003, 12:51 PM
Sometimes it’s interesting what happens when the unexpected happens and you have to deal with it. Somehow, a bird got into Canterbury. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. All I know is that when I came to Canterbury today to visit Kathleen to talk Pittsburgh (which we’re going to today), I heard a flapping sound, looked in the direction of the sound, and there was a bird on the first floor of Canterbury, inside.
So I go upstairs, tell Kathleen that (A) I double-parked her, and (B) that there is a bird in the house (to which she said, “Yeew”). So we’re talking about stuff and working on stuff, and we hear a sound in the main upstairs room. First instinct is that it’s someone, but it turns out to be the bird. So we close the door so it doesn’t get in the room where we are.
When it’s time to leave, the bird is right upstairs in the next room, trying to get out, but not realizing that the window is closed. Poor bird. Meanwhile, Kathleen and I are no help, flipping out at every little move the bird makes, and ready to jump if it comes any closer to us, and we can’t just open the windows it’s running into, since neither one of us wants to go near it.
Categories: LPCM
“And if you can hear the wind, you should be able to feel it! Wa-haa!”
< 1 minute read
October 15, 2003, 8:32 AM
What a windy day out today! It hasn’t been this windy since Hurricane Isabel. However, it’s not nearly that windy. According to Weatherbug, winds are about 20-30 MPH, with gusts up to 50 MPH. Nothing to sneeze at nonetheless. You can definitely hear it outside. Who knows… maybe I’ll lose my other screen now. I lost the first one during Hurricane Isabel, and it’s now in the garage awaiting reinstallation.
Otherwise, tomorrow I’m going to Pittsburgh! I’m going with LPCM, and we’re going to be cleaning rugs at Sojourner House, which is basically a halfway house for mothers who are recovering from drug addictions.
And lastly, I’ve hung an image that my father grew up with on my door. Basically, I hung up a picture of the Palace Amusements character “Tillie” (named for George Tilyou), which graces one side of Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I’ve actually been to Asbury Park, but was too young to remember seeing Tillie in person. But the reason I hung Tillie up in here is because I’ve been studying vintage roadside architecture lately, and Palace Amusements ranks high up there, but has suffered tremendous decay since they closed in the late 1980s. There’s now a group trying to save the place and have it restored. Plus I think it would be a pleasant surprise for Dad to see Tillie again.
(Although if I had a better ink cartridge, maybe Tillie would look more normal instead of having purple hair due to my lack of yellow ink)
Categories: Asbury Park, LPCM, Weather
McBain is the governor?
< 1 minute read
October 14, 2003, 12:52 AM
I still can’t believe that the people of California elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, but you know what? I don’t live there, and if they want Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor, then they can have him.
It’s just amusing what I realized recently. They’ve essentially made Rainier Wolfcastle, known in movies as McBain, the governor of California. Since as we all know, McBain is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Simpsons. Now I just wonder how that will play out on The Simpsons. Will McBain all of a sudden become governor? Heck, we saw Mr. Burns run for governor (and lose after he wouldn’t eat a three-eyed fish). I think it would be interesting to see McBain in the governor’s chair.
Categories: State and local politics
Some people are just little you-know-whats…
< 1 minute read
October 12, 2003, 7:56 PM
This was in Lee Hall while I was at Tech picking up my sister and her roommate on Friday. My sister and I and Megan (roommate) are waiting for the elevator, and we see this male resident named Patrick that Sis knew from an anime club.
Well, I take the opportunity to plug Schumin Web, since I happen to have my Schumin Web sweatshirt on. My sister, meanwhile, is doing her usual thing – discouraging people from taking a look at it because she thinks it’s shameless self-promotion. Usually people filter that out. Well, Patrick, being the orifice that he turned out to be, said to me, “Well, she’s sexier than you, so I’m going to listen to her.” Don’t you just want to deck him for being so rude as to say that right in front of me?
It also doesn’t help his case when my sister said he had a handshake like a dead fish. I’d much rather have a crusher handshake than a limp one (but break my hand and I’ll hurt you with my remaining hand).
I was just a little taken back, though, about how rude this person could be and have no second thoughts about it. What was he, raised by wolves or something?
Categories: Some people
There are GIRLS in this house…
< 1 minute read
October 11, 2003, 11:04 PM
That’s right, there are GIRLS living here, and as such, my bathroom, which I’ve made into something truly manly, being completely functional in nature and nothing too artsy in there, has now been attacked by a fleet of girls, specifically my sister, and her roommate Megan. Now, all of a sudden, the hair and skin care inventory has expanded dramatically, from a single hairbrush (which I use to neaten my hair in the morning) to hair brushes, weird sprays, creams… all kinds of stuff. And that’s just the counter.
In my shower, there’s all order of weird poofy things, body wash (an expensive way to say “soap”), and razors. A razor, eh? I don’t trust myself around razors (thus why I use an electric), but there were no accidents.
The whole thing ends tomorrow, though, as the two of them go back to Virginia Tech. Let’s admit it, the two of them are great friends, and Sis and Megan are great people, but when they infringe on my bathroom, that’s pushing it.
However, to Megan’s credit, she did find my fire alarms quite interesting, though she didn’t recognize the fire alarm like the ones in her own dorm, since mine was mounted to a strobe plate, and the dorm’s are not.
Categories: Family
Let’s drink a big soda and ride the Yellow Line!
< 1 minute read
October 9, 2003, 12:42 PM
Metro finally got a public restroom in a station! A self-cleaning restroom has been installed at Huntington. What this means is that every 30 minutes, the restroom closes up and cleans itself. Interesting idea… I wonder if it catches on. I also hope that it’s really totally clean after the guy before you has done his business. Hmmm…
And they installed it at Huntington, too. Huntington Station shows up in some of my “Urban Comparison” pictures way off in the distance. Finally, this will give me reason to go to Huntington and ride the inclinator there.
But not before first having a BIG soda…
What part of “crosswalk” do you not understand?
2 minute read
October 9, 2003, 12:33 PM
The joys of driving through campus in the middle of the day… JMU students walking, JMU students running, JMU students mingling… all just fine by me. Then we have the problem:
JMU students crossing the street.
First of all, they’re totally obnoxious when they have the stop signs, and thus the right of way. You can find yourself sitting at these random stop signs throughout campus for minutes on end while everyone crosses the street. You really have to duck and dodge to get through, let me tell you, all the while trying not to run someone over.
Then there’s the painted crosswalks without stop signs or traffic lights. Crosswalk means we know to expect pedestrian traffic through that area. That still doesn’t mean that you can dart out in front of cars. And the pedestians think we have to stop for these things. I overheard one girl on the sidewalk say, “Thank you for stopping!” as I drove past without stopping. I’m sorry, but if there is no stop sign or traffic light, I don’t have to stop unless it would be unsafe to keep going (i.e. if some idiot is in the street already).
I love it when things come together.
< 1 minute read
October 9, 2003, 1:29 AM
I do so love it when things come together. With the help of “STN 2” on the CafePress boards, I got a new set of ASP code up and running on my Online Store. I don’t know about you, but I think it looks really good. I also took the opportunity to make a few other changes on there to enhance the appearance. And it took maybe an hour tops to do the conversion and testing, testing it in a “test-stoer” directory (I mistyped and decided to leave it, since it was a test folder, after all). So take a look, let me know what you think… you know. All that good stuff. And buy some Schumin Web merchandise – the thongs are still there.
Categories: Schumin Web meta
Is it Friday yet?
< 1 minute read
October 2, 2003, 11:20 AM
Is it Friday yet? No? Still Thursday? Drat… I need Friday to be here, because Friday is my workday at home. Work on JMU stuff, as well as personal stuff. And trust me, I will be busy that day, I can assure you.
Meanwhile, we’re getting, as I understand it, a big mass of arctic air coming through here, which will make the weather a lot colder lately. As it is, I broke out my Schumin Web sweatshirt for the first time this season today.
Categories: Weather
Sick Mavica going to visit the shop…
< 1 minute read
October 1, 2003, 4:01 PM
And my sick Mavica (the small one – Big Mavica’s just fine) is going to get mailed to Pennsylvania in the next few days to get fixed. A shame when these things break, isn’t it?
Categories: Cameras
And the worst place to be when the fire alarm goes off is…
< 1 minute read
September 30, 2003, 7:01 PM
I forgot to tell you this in the newsletter!
I say one of the worst places to be is right below a horn, which happened to me last Thursday in Keezell Hall (someone accidentally burned their lunch).
There’s a discussion about this going on in the forums. Interesting stuff. Still can’t believe I forgot to mention it in the newsletter, despite the subject line…
Categories: Fire alarms, JMU
“Sometimes, I think you must be related to the Forgetful family, Mr. Crenshaw…”
< 1 minute read
September 30, 2003, 5:41 PM
You may have heard of the Forgetful family (from Today’s Special). You know… Frannie, Farley, Freddy, and Flo Forgetful. I should just change my name to “Frankie” and join right in, because I’m just feeling all paranoid about forgetting something. And so far, I haven’t forgotten anything, that I know of. Somehow, I just have this fear that I’m going to forget where I parked the car today (in the parking garage at JMU), and walk all the way to my usual space in J-Lot and then realize that I’m parked way across campus from my usual space. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. I’ve just been a little paranoid about that.
Now of course, the Forgetful family takes it to a bit of an extreme, forgetting to put wheels on the car, or forgetting who their own cat is, and so on, but still, I’m just afraid I’ll forget something.
Next thing you know, I might just scream out “KEVIN!” or something like that.
Categories: Myself, Today's Special
They say a sucker is born every minute…
< 1 minute read
September 30, 2003, 12:03 PM
PT Barnum once said that there’s a sucker born every minute. I wonder how many people are going to be a sucker on this one. This is a classified ad that I found in The Breeze‘s classified ads in their September 29, 2003 issue. And I quote…
Looking For a Friend? I will hang out with you for $10 an hour. Call Mike, 438-XXXX (number withheld for obvious reasons)
I have half a mind to call this “Mike” fellow up. I should call him up only to find out if someone was desperate enough to actually want to pay someone $10 an hour for companionship.
I hope no one’s desperate enough to actually reply to this ad, and I definitely hope no one actually PAYS for this…
Categories: JMU
Fall has fallen…
< 1 minute read
September 24, 2003, 11:40 AM
I can’t get over that it’s fall already! The season of summer is behind us, and soon the leaves will be changing to Hokie colors (as in Virginia Tech, where Sis goes), and then falling to the ground. I never really got the opportunity to see Reddish Knob during the summer, which I meant to do, but hey – Reddish Knob during the fall could be fun!
Categories: Weather