Odd what I find visually interesting, isn’t it?
The photos of Siddhary washing all the B__bie-style dolls was almost too creepy to consider posting. Perhaps after I review them again I shall find one too compelling to ignore.
Just to keep it alive…
… here’s a nice shot of my Violet and Trey’s Evie.
We might have been playing peek-a-boo, although I’m fairly certain I was holding a camera in at least one hand at the time…
The spambots are getting better
The made-up names are getting more realistic, and they’re even using the same name more than once - as if a real person was trying to register and not succeeding. Wretchedly clever ‘bots!
If a real person were trying to register and failing, that person should be sending me an email wondering why their confirmation email never went through. The answer, of course, would be because the ISP that you so innocently chose is actually a massive spambot portal and there’s all KINDS of blocked IP address action going on.
Until further notice, new registrations with bounced confirmation emails to addresses ending in @gmail.com and @mail.ru will be deleted as soon as noticed. If you have such and do want to register so as to be able to comment (seems unlikely, but I’m game), you’ll need to email me first. Sorry.
On the upside, I fixed my MacBook Pro’s fan problem last night. Not sure how permanent the fix will be, but it’s spinning silently right now. Thanks, IntarWebs!
My new outgoing answering machine message
Disclaimer: My official position is that telemarketing sucks, that I will never under any circumstances do any business with a telemarketer, I object to their entire business model, and that goes for anyone under any circumstances. I have no sympathy for the peons doing the work, they could always work at McDonald’s.
The text of my new message:
“Thanks for calling Olsen Telemarketer Training Services.
Our research has shown that even as the number of telemarketing calls reaches an all-time high, the quality of those calls has reached an all-time low!
And in this economy, you can’t afford to work unless you can be the very best!
Our services are very reasonable; $60 an hour works out to just ONE DOLLAR per minute!
To continue, all you need is your name, your company name, your company billing address, and either a purchase order # or your credit card number.
And there are no forms to fill out! Simply stay on the line to agree to our very reasonable rates!”
Not that I expect anyone to actually pony up for the services, but I’m willing if they’re paying! Otherwise, it’s a great way to derail the conversation and take control of it, thereby wasting their time as much as they’re wasting mine.
My audience have spoken!
“Rob!” they say. “We want more updates! More often! We want more photography and less of your personal ranting!”
Well, what am I to do? Click to read more…
Whither GM?
Without trying to spend too much time discussing matters I really don’t understand, I have to mention an interview I just read with the CFO of GM. He talked a lot about acknowledging past errors, cost structure, etc. and talking about how they were moving faster, going leaner, etc. I just missed one point: what do they plan to do about the fact that GM cars have sucked out loud in spades for decades now?
GM: build better cars, people will be more likely to buy them. I don’t buy GM cars because most if not all of my experiences with them have been disappointing. When I drive other peoples’ GMs, I wonder what they were thinking when they bought them. Perhaps they’ve made enormous strides in the last few years; while that would be nice, I would then wonder WHAT TOOK SO LONG? And, in the words of jilted lovers throughout human history, why should I believe that you’ve changed this time? Won’t you go back to your old, shitty, badge-engineering ways?
For the uninitiated, badge engineering is when a large automobile company with multiple divisions decides to save on engineering costs by selling the EXACT same car, changing only badges and external trim, under several different brand names. GM used to sell the Pontiac 6000, the Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, the Chevrolet Celebrity, and the Buick Century - all the same car, mostly the same engines, differing primarily in interior trim and which dishonest bastards you bought it from. The epitome of badge engineering stupidity is, of course, the Cadillac Cimarron. This was the same car as the Chevrolet Cavalier,a cheap econobox beater with Caddy badges and uprated interior. Needless to say, the car sucked out loud. It has taken years - DECADES - for Cadillac to recover even a fraction of its reputation.
This is the kind of stupidity, sheer unadorned arrogance and ignorance, that has GM bankrupt. Which part of that have you folks changed?
I admit, getting rid of Pontiac makes decent sense. The brand has had nothing to offer except a) reminiscence of the classic GTOs and b) plastic body cladding (speaking of monumentally stupid ideas), which culminated in the ugliest car since the Edsel, the Aztek - and I’m seriously insulting the Edsel, here.
This is a serious problem with the way GM has been run for a long time: mediocrity is rewarded, innovation and excitement are shunned. And look where they are.
disclaimer: these are my opinions. Except for the facts sprinkled around, of course. Like the bit about the Cimarron being a stupid idea, because that really is a fact, and the part about the Aztek being really ugly which is also an unassailable fact. Sorry.
Amir wore a tie!
Well, he had to. He was getting married and his wife insisted. I took pictures.
I don’t know if Amir or Katie noticed the sunbeams bursting out of the clouds above (hey, they were busy getting married outdoors!), but I noticed them as soon as I turned around to look behind us. Kristin Kozelsky and I both had our cameras and thought the same thing: “Where’s my polarizer?!” She had hers, I didn’t. That’s probably because I don’t carry a purse and she does. I’m happy with what came out without the polarizer, though. That had to have been going during the ceremony. Looks like a good omen to me…
The wedding was at the Thomas Center in Gainesville, which is very nice indeed. There’s an enormous skylight in the main hall, ‘neath which the happy couple ate their first dinner as husband and wife and danced. It was very nice all ’round. Gorgeous oaks laden withSpanish Moss, a fountain, and some nice buildings. All in all, a nice wedding. Congrats to the happy couple!
P.S. I would be remiss in mentioning ANYTHING about this wedding without mentioning Amir’s mother, Ayala. She is truly an elegant, gracious, and above all very sweet woman. She deserves every bit of happiness that seeing her son married can bring her. Nothing against his dad, who is also a great guy. But I talked to Ayala on Saturday, and felt compelled to mention her.
Fair-weather fan? Not me.
I mean, it’s possible that either of you noticed that while I posted a LOT of content about Orlando’s Game 1 victory over the Cleveland LeBrons Cavaliers, I didn’t post anything about the Game 2 loss. It’s not because I had nothing to say, and it’s not because I was heartbroken. I was busy. And a little bit bummed. But I gotta tell you - if I’m Orlando, and I go down 23 at Cleveland halfway through the second quarter… and then with one second in the game, I have a two-point lead and Cleveland has to hit an inbounds catch-and-shoot with one tick on the clock, I’ll take that every game and win the series. LeBron cannot keep hitting shots that clutch any more than Mo Williams can hit 67-footers to beat every buzzer. And Cleveland cannot keep giving up big leads if they plan to win this series. Hey, they were 832-2 on home court this year, right?
I’ll say it again, and I’m sorry if people get tired of hearing it: matchups. Orlando matches up with Cleveland. Beat the LeBrons Cavs 2 of 3 regular season, with the loss being… a 4-point nailbiter at Cleveland. They also delivered the Cavs’ worst loss of the season, which got up to 40-something before the Magic called off the dogs. I’m seeing a pattern, here. LeBron can cover anyone on the Magic, more or less (although Courtney Lee is doing a pretty good job of dunking while LBJ tries to block him), but after LBJ, no one on the Cavs can stop their man. LBJ on Lewis - who guards Hedo? And so on.
I will say that I don’t think either Howard in Game 2 or Dad (Anthony Johnson) in Game 3 were trying to hurt anyone, and neither deserved a flagrant or technical. Mo Williams sure as hell did in Game 2, though!
OK, let’s talk about Mo. He’s not really having a great series. He’s not shooting as well, not a scary threat - he was an All-Star, right? But he’s yet to really get going in this series… where have I heard this story before? Oh, yeah. Ray Allen. All series against Boston, I kept hearing about how Allen was about to go off, and then we’d see some Celtics wins, har har! Never happened. I think it’s called “defense.” And Orlando has one. Mo, Mo. We all know you’re frustrated. Playing 2nd fiddle on a one-man team is no fun atall.
Orlando by ten on their court. Howard plays only half the game in foul trouble. Fouls out on a BS call. Win by ten. At Orlando. I think we’re seeing a legitimate home-court advantage for the Cavs being overshadowed by a talent advantage for the Magic.
I said already that I think that Howard gets molested in the paint on offense. Even Cleveland fans are noticing that Howard gets a lot of phantom fouls called on him and that LeBron has never committed a charge. I read somebody saying that what I consider to be the cleanest block Howard’s ever made was actually called a foul because of the body. Maybe. All I saw was hand and ball.
As I was thinking after Game 2: let’s say you’re Cleveland. You’ve had leads of 16 and 23 in the first half in the first two games, on your homecourt. In both of those games, you’ve trailed with one second to go. In the second of those games, your best player hits an almost impossibly tough shot -a miracle, a shot for the ages, one we’ll be watching in highlights for decades - with 1.0 second on the clock to save the home series split. You are scared at this point. You know that you blew big leads and that you should be down 2-0. You had to come up with a 67-footer at the halftime buzzer to make that first game as close as it was. You are scared at this point. You should be.
Now you go to their court and lose by 10. Trailed most of the game. Down 2-1. The people saying that you were over-rated, saying that Orlando matches up with you, saying that you’re LeBron and the fillers - they’re sounding like they make more sense.
Mo shouldn’t talk so much. “I don’t see these guys beating us four times.” They don’t have to. They only have to beat you twice, now. In four games. It only took ‘em three to do it the first time.
OK, enough about hoops for now.
This guy is everywhere!
On the way home from Sam’s Club, I saw Jesus Christ getting into a mid-size sedan at Walgreen’s. I didn’t know he lived in Gainesville. I thought he was somewhere in Mobile, because Valerie intro’d him as her new boyfriend when we were in Mobile for Christmas. I forgot to wish him a happy Birthday, though.
