That joke isn't funny anymore

So now I haven't seen "Manson's":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001630/ brother Poe in 24 hours. He was hanging out Tuesday night, I don't think he slept in the bed with me that night, and I didn't see him at all yesterday or this morning. I went out early today and walked the neighborhood and didn't see him. Out of the 3 of my boys, he was always the most adventureous, and would often stay out all night when I was at Paul and April's house, so I probably shouldn't be worried, but I'm just so hyper-sensitive to all the comings and goings of my two remaining boys... Aston Kutcher (or Allen Funt, if my dad is reading this), you can come out now; I'm tired of this joke.

Rough weekend

I've had better weekends to be sure. Girl troubles at the start, which I won't get into here. Then I lost one of my cats. I realized Friday night I hadn't really seen him all day, so I started looking around and he was nowhere to be found. My neighbor told me that she had seen a black cat running up the street a day or so before, so I don't know if he was running from something or towards something (or if it was even him). This was "my $600 kitty":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001538/, so I'd assume he had a healthy fear of canines at this point. As of this morning, he still isn't back, and hasn't turned up in the "local shelters":http://found-pets.org/csbm.html or been seen by neighbors. Not holding out too much hope there. I just hope if something happened he didn't suffer too much. I picked up some fancy collars and tags for the other two, and I'm also considering making them indoor only cats again. But dammnit, they just started learning how to use the great big outdoor litterbox! To try and take my mind off of things, and get back more into my biking/climbing groove I tried to go for a club ride Saturday morning. I've never done anything like that before, but it seemed like a good way to get out there and get a little more motivated to put on some miles. I checked around on a bunch of websites, and found a club that left from a nearby park at 7 a.m. There were lots of cyclists there, but nobody seemed to be there for the club ride. I did see one group of riders that _might_ have been them, but they all had matching jerseys and super-fancy-ass Treks, so I didn't think that my grubby fixie and nut-hugger-shorts-under-regular-shorts-so-I-don't-look-like-a-dork would fit in too well, so I just let them ride on and decided to do my own club ride. I took a "nice long loop":http://tinyurl.com/bbah5 through some of the hillier sections around town, so it wound up being a really good ride in the end.

Now more than ever I'm looking forward to my Vegas trip. It's going to be nice and theraputic for me.

Insect stories

I was watching an episode of "Wildboyz":http://www.mtv.com/onair/wildboyz/ the other day, and there was a skit where the guys went into a screened-in box, and let loose a beehive. They both got stung multiple times until they couldn't take it anymore, and then dove into a nearby stream to get away. It reminded me of two "hah-hah-funny-now-that-I-think-back" incidents that I had growing up. My "sister":http://commiescorner.blogspot.com/ and I would play outside a lot. We were on a nice chunk of land, with big rocks and trees and all sorts of other fun things; a veritable treasure trove of places to play for kids our age. We were out playing in the street, climbing up the roadway cut and goofing around. I was standing on a battered old piece of plywood laying on the ground, when I started to feel little hot jabs everywhere. Looking down I saw a swarm of insects around me, and I took off down the street yelling and screaming like Dick Cheney himself was after me. Burst into the house, tore up the stairs into the kitchen, where luckily both my mom and dad were there to assist. I very clearly remember standing in the middle of the kitchen lineoleum in my Underoos, with my parents and me holding ice cubes on every part of my body that we could all reach. I don't remember if it was yellowjackets or hornets, but I was stung about 13 times. I've given stinging insects a wide berth since then, and probably have only gotten stung once or twice more since then. I guess I save all my painful outdoor encounters "for cacti":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001571/ now.

The other time was less painful and more funny. I was out playing in the dirt, as I was often wont to do. It got to be about dinner time, so I went inside to the 2nd floor bathroom, which was right next to my bedroom, to pee and wash up. As I stood there with my pants down I saw an ant crawling on my junk. I guess I had been playing near an ant nest, and a few had crawled up my pants leg. I was already mid-urination, and I couldn't quite stop it, so I was sort of trying to pause the flow, let the ant crawl down right to the tip, then start it back up again to blast him off the end. Of course I was wiggling all over the place as anyone with an ant on their penis would do, so all I really wound up doing was peeing on the toilet and the floor while doing the "truffle shuffle":http://imdb.com/title/tt0089218/. Good times.

No excuses

This whole "blogging" thing seems to have taken off lately. My "best friend":http://providencelife.blogspot.com/, "my sister":http://commiescorner.blogspot.com/, and "her very good friend":http://luggnut.blogspot.com/ (and also a friend of mine growing up) have all popped up with their very own in the last few weeks. If my mom starts a blog I will officially eat a hat. It's great to see these blogs; Ryan's especially. He just made a dramatic move from Philly to Providence (well, maybe it wasn't dramatic, but people in his life made it that way. I

The beauty of all-wheel drive

This morning I hopped in the car, as I was dangerously low on caffeinated beverages, and I've been putting in the OT at work lately, so my eyes were having a hard time staying open of their own volition. I get about 50 feet out of the driveway, when I realize that the car is pulling to the right, hard. I hop out and look... oh joy! my tire is flat! Run the car back into the driveway, and start sorting out my wrench/jack/spare situation. I'm just cracking the bolts when the pool guy shows up with one of those cigarette lighter compressors. Slap some air into the tire, and I'm off to the local tire shop to have them patch what should have been just a "minor screw hole":http://flickr.com/photos/feralboy/33187965/. Drop the car off, ride back on the fixie (whoops, forgot my shoes, so I did it in sandals, which was suprisingly un-sucky). Call comes about an hour and a half later, heat-ring something something, riding around while flat something something, and it can't be patched. Deep sigh.

"Ok, I guess you'll have to replace it then." "See, that's the thing of it. When you have all-wheel drive they all have to have roughly the same amount of wear, otherwise one tire spins more and you mess up your transmission and void the warranty." "Oh. Well, _that's_ fucked up."

So now I am the owner of 4 brand-new tires instead of 3 tires with 18,000 miles and one patched one. Difference of about $350, as near as I can tell. I wish I would have known; I could have done autocross this weekend on the old tires to really shred them.

Keith Alexander

I just saw "on Boing Boing":http://www.boingboing.net/2005/07/12/in_memoriam_keith_al.html that "Keith Alexander":http://www.nootrope.net/blog/index.html "died in a bike accident":http://www.zentastic.com/entries/200507121426.html yesterday in NYC. Probably very few of you know who he is, but he was a fairly legendary figure in the NYC body modification scene. After I had started getting into piercings after I turned 18, I had gone in to the now-defunct Gauntlet to get my septum pierced and get my navel pierced properly once and for all. I had attacked myself on at least 2 occasions with an ear gun trying to get a ring to stay in there, and small wonder, it wouldn't.

I was still a fairly poor college student at the time, so when they offered me a cheaper rate to have an apprentice piercer take care of me, I said "Sure!" Turns out that apprentice was Keith. He had just started recently, and was clearly a little bit nervous about making sure he didn't forget anything going over all the questions and precursor stuff with me. He was being helped by a beautiful blonde master piercer, and once we started marking dots and everything he slipped into his rhythm like he had been piercing people for 20 years.

It took him a little while to get the septum piercing lined up, so he had the needle inside my nostril, just tiiiickling me a tiny bit, and I was worried that I was going to sneeze and drive the needle through my brain. I was tempted to just yell "c'mon, just jam it through already", but I restrained, and finally was rewarded with the familiar pinch and slow spreading warmth.

Keith seemed to genuinely enjoy helping people with body modifications; clearly it was a passion of his, and he just wanted to share with the world. I was suprised and pleased to see a big post about his "massive koi tattoo":http://www.boingboing.net/2003/10/17/fullback_koi_tattoo_.html a few years ago, and pleased to find him blogging and very much in touch with the communities that he was interested in.

It's a sad day to lose someone who had such an interest in the world around them, and such a gift for making other people share that same interest.

Hot hot heat

Today looks to be "the 28th day in a row":http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=397&e=5&u=/azstar/20050710/lo_azstar/26daysof100andcountingits10thlongeststreakbutfarfromtherecordof39daysin87 with 100+ temperatures. It's a dry heat and all, but there's no getting around that being out in the direct sunlight is like being in a blast furnace. I have to say, however, that when I was out east a week ago I realized what an oppressive force heat plus humidity can be. I don't miss that at all, and I was happy to escape back to my new hot, dry home state.

ouch

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }


ouch, originally uploaded by feralboy.

These are two cactus spikes that I just pulled out of my leg with tweezers. Note to self: always pay attention in the driveway, because you have cacti there, ninny.

DFW

Just bought $10 worth of T-Mobile WiFi while I wait for my flight in 4 hours. Checking email and have Party Poker open; already made back the cost of my access plus more in about 10 hands. Flying on a holiday weekend is just an extremely bad idea. Even Tucson's airport was busy, and it's _never_ busy. I'm excited about my weekend, but the travelling is just going to kill me. I'm en route pretty much all day today, and then I'll be driving from Pittsburgh to Wilkes Barre to Baltimore to Philly to Byram to Bridgewater to Pittsburgh, all starting Sunday morning. Whew! At least my next couple of days are going to be mellow... just seeing some friends, having a nice meat-fest BBQ tomorrow, and catching my breath.

Last night and this morning were surreal; all sorts of emotions flowing through me all at once. It's going to be nice to be 2000+ miles away for a few days, even at the expense of sleep and unreasonable driving time.

*Update:* Oh, joy! 2 hour weather delay, so now instead of getting in at 11, I'll be getting in at 1 in the morning. At least it'll only feel like 10 p.m. to me.

Cat drama

It was a less than fun weekend in the world of the cats. I found Manson hiding under the bed Friday afternoon, and when I picked him up to see what he was doing I had blood on my hands. I took him to the one pet clinic I took Poe "when he had his puncture wound a while back":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/001465/, and they took him in and gave him an x-ray. He had a good sized puncture wound along his right side, and another one on his back. His one rib was bent, and he was having trouble breathing due to shock, so likely something picked him up and shook him (by "something" I mean a canine, either a dog or a coyote), but he still managed to get away. The clinic wanted him to be observed overnight, but they don't staff overnight, so I had to drive him to an animal hospital on the other side of town.

They admitted him, kept him overnight and gave him an IV with antibiotics and painkillers, as well as fluids. I called twice to check up on him overnight, and he rested comfortably throughout the night, and ate and drank on his own the next morning. That morning I went back and picked him up, armed with more oral antibiotics and painkillers (some sort of morphine-based thing, so let's hope he doesn't start selling his body in South Tucson to support his habit), and brought him home. (BTW, that little trip to the clinic with the x-ray plus the overnight stay with drugs/IV/nursing care cost about $600 total. You should really look into pet insurance. I mean it.)

He's been back for 2 days now, and seems to be doing much better. He's graduated from hiding under the bed to resting all day and night on a chair, he's had a little bit of food as well as used the litter box, and so far his puncture doesn't seem to be infected at all. He looks pretty awful tho, shaved where he was bitten and on his front paw where they put the IV. I'm going to pick him up some wet cat food this afternoon, because I can pretty much guarantee he'll eat it if I do that.

It was a bit of a scare, but he's home and safe and getting better, so that's A Good Thing(tm).

The collector

It was a theme lunch-errand day today... all doing with things to collect crap. First stop was the pool supply store, to get a new skimmer net (the old one was ripped to shreds). Next up was the pet store, where I purchased a shiny new metal litter scoop (I somehow left a similar one back in Pittsburgh when I moved). Finally, a trip to Best Buy, to get an external 160GB USB drive. Now that I have faster internet, I can download all the "Long Tail":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tail shows that I've been missing. Plus, lately I've decided to start using my iPod for somewhat educational purposes and have been downloading audiobooks from "a.b.m.a":http://www.mp3-faq.org/tips/bookssubfaq.html#=WHAT%20TO%20POST%20IN%20ABSM.BOOKS. I'm in the middle of "Freakonomics":http://freakonomics.com/ right now, and it's pretty interesting.

The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy (movie)

Last night Kim and I went to go see the screen adaptation of HHGTTG(The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy). _[Insert generic statement about what a big fan of the series I am, blah blah blah]_ It certainly wasn't a bad movie, but I'd be hard pressed to say that it was particularly good. Yes, a lot of the elements of the book(s) were there. Yes, I understand that Hollywood movies are generally an hour and a half, so you can't put in everything. That said, I think they went a little nuts with the editing. There were so many places that had a punchline without the buildup, so many places where the dry British wit so evident in the book just wasn't there. However, there were a couple of nice nods along the way. One was using the original BBC radio show theme music when introducing the Guide. The other, of course, was showing Douglas Adams' face right at the very end. Oh, and the "Lightsaber reference":http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber5.htm was pretty funny too.

Zooey Deschanel = best eyes ever Sam Rockwell = a good choice for Zaphod Alan Rickman = "pwn3d":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn3d the movie

Also, the whole evening was free, courtesy of the bad players at the Desert Diamond, where I made a brief stop while waiting for Kim to get off of work. Thank you, set of 4s vs agressive player with top pair!

Coachella capsule review

Highlights: * Bauhaus * New Order * Coldplay * The homefries at a Palm Springs breakfast place * Winning $50 very quickly at a super-loose California "cardroom":http://www.hotwatercasino.com/ Saturday

Lowlights:

* The fucker from "craigslist":http://phoenix.craigslist.com/ who never got back in touch about camping tickets * Selling one too many extra Sunday tickets on Saturday, and having to buy another one Sunday * Forgetting my ticket at the condo Saturday and having to go back for it * Chemical Brothers * Losing $150 not as quickly at a super-loose California "cardroom":http://www.hotwatercasino.com/ Sunday * The 5 hour drive back last night, and getting in at 3 a.m. * The realization that I am now officially old and un-hip

Gah!

I'm working away, and Sydney hops up on the desk, pacing back and forth looking for attention like he likes to do; entwining himself through my arms while I try and get all my stored procedures to fucking cooperate. Then he starts rubbing the side of his face on everything around, which is all fine and good until he gets to my full bottle of diet dr. pepper. All over the mouse and my virgin mary mousepad. All over the desk and on my collection of casino chips. I was so pissed I threw him halfway across the room, nearly breaking my headphones and glasses in the process. Everything's rinsed off and drying, but my mouse left-click button seems to be dead. I ran it under a bunch of hot water and hung it outside to dry, and am using my other mouse as a backup in the meantime. Frickin' cats.

*Update:* Ok, just to clarify I didn't hurt him or throw him INTO anything... I just yanked on my headphones while tossing him, which pulled off my glasses too. He landed about 4 feet away, on his feet. A half hour later he was in my lap cuddling, and my mouse dried off and worked fine, so we're all cool.

Coachella

This weekend I'm going to be heading off, along with Kim and two friends, to the "Coachella Valley Music Festival":http://www.coachella.com/ thingy dealie. It's sort of Lollapalooza on steroids, or Burning Man but less dusty, or even Bumbershoot without all the rain. I'm currently "bidding on":http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6526713282 camping tickets for all of us, which will probably be a lot better than trying to negotiate the clusterfuck in and out both days. Granted, it's still going to be a clusterfuck with "all those bands":http://www.coachella.com/artists/, but hopefully a slightly more managable one. Plus, if we camp we actually get to "bring in food and water":http://www.coachella.com/camping/?onsite, instead of paying $8 for a bottle of water or whatever it was that caused the Woodstock riot a few years back. It's a lot of bands, and there's quite a few that I would like to see, but it sounds like it's going to be a really, REALLY big crowd, which always makes me a little nervous. I wish there was going to be WiFi there, but there ain't... so all my "pictures":http://flickr.com/photos/tags/coachella will have to wait until I get home to get uploaded.

*Update:* Well, I didn't win the auction for the tickets, but only because some fucking asshole bid me out of them, thinking they were tickets to the _event_! Um, $100 to get 4 tickets that cost $175 each? "If it seems to good to be true..." Fucker. Now the original seller is trying to sell them to me for a Buy It Now of $100. No way, not when individual camping passes are going for less than $20 each.