Blog posts

1. MMW, 11/11/05

   Just bought two tickets for Amanda and I.

   Medeski Martin & Wood
   Friday, 11/11/05
   9:00PM EST
   9:30 Club

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon November 03, 2005 - 10:52 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-11-03-mmw-111105/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-11-03-mmw-111105/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

2. Henry

   On the way to meet up staff from one of my clients for a happy hour in Silver Spring, we got caught in a terrible thunderstorm halfway through the four block walk. Street lights were swinging and signs were swaying. Sasha, Will and I made for the closest awning - the front door of the Discovery Building on Georgia Avenue.

   We were waiting for the rain to not be a torrential downpour when we spotted a dog, running the wrong way up Georgia Ave, in the center of a two lane stretch, right in front of us.

   Me: Get that dog!
   Sasha: :flashfact:

   His collar proclaimed him to be Henry, a Silver Spring resident. Sasha crackberry’d out to the internet to determine that Henry’s house was six blocks or so away. We called the number listed and left messages. I rigged my belt for use as a collar. We left further messages. Henry’s owner must be stuck in traffic we thought.

   Henry was very old.

   Henry was soaked, and shivering.

   Henry was given a bowl of water by someone inside the locked Discovery Building but didn’t touch it.

   Finally the rain stopped. Henry was standing between the three of us and beer, taco’s, and better smelling company.

   We took him with us.

   If you are a single guy and don’t have a dog, you might look into it. Everyone was very impressed with our simple charity and the staff let us tie Henry up to a bench out front. We checked on him ever 5 minutes or so, he was given a cup of water, and we continued leaving messages.

   Two hours later, Will’s phone rang. Henry’s owner was on the way!

   The owner had gotten home from a business trip before the rain started and gone inside to greet the family while at the same time letting old Henry out to the back yard. When the storm started, Henry lost his wits and jumped the fence. The owner had been driving the neighborhood for hours and came home to the power out, unable to listen to our answering machine messages. When the power returned, he got the good news.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon November 02, 2005 - 3:38 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-11-02-henry/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-11-02-henry/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

3. BSOD Fax

   This is probably my favorite fax of all time:

   Sent to work by a client of mine after her Windows 95 (yeah 95, I said it) PC froze up after I’d recommended that they not use it at all / replace it.

   (10.4.3 fixed my ability to pull images off my phone using bluetooth, lot of catchup posting to do)

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon November 01, 2005 - 10:31 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-11-01-bsod-fax/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-11-01-bsod-fax/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

4. Baltimore Santa Crawl 05

   The invite just came my way, this will be my third year going…

   Santas Past, Present and Future,

   Once again it’s that wonderful time of year. Oh yes! The time of year which compels dozens of ordinary* Men to don a Santa Suit and make complete fools of themselves while at the same time harassing, molesting, tormenting and generally mistreating the good citizens of Baltimore. And this is all done in the name of Christmas.

   Allow me to shed some light on this Grand Event. As a youth, my favorite day of the year was arguably Christmas Day. I’d be excited for weeks in advance, dreaming about what wondrous gifts might be wrapped up under the tree with my name on them. As I got older that excitement slowly wore off. I feared I had become jaded and pathetic; a Christmas Grinch.

   Enter a man I’ll call M. Lee. No, that’s too revealing. I’ll instead refer to him as Mike L.

   Mike was a mentor of mine at work and he told me about an all-day, all-night party that I had to attend. I was dubious as to how fun this could really be. ‘All guys? For 13 hours? We have to sing carols and wear Santa Suits? I don’t know.’ He left the ball in my court with this remark: 'It’s the best party I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to ‘em all.’ I respected his opinion and decided to give it a try.

   - Fast-forward 7 years -

   December 3 will bring SANTA CRAWL once again to the city of Baltimore. Often imitated but never re-created, this is an event you cannot miss. We’re 5 weeks away, and I’ve got that same giddiness and
   butterflies-in-the-stomach I felt as a kid. What havoc will occur this year? Who won’t make it til midnight? How many fifths of booze will be brazenly heisted from under-staffed bars when thirsty (and frugal) Santas roll in?

   I don’t know, and I can’t wait to find out.

   Word in the North Pole is that some of the Original Santas are making a retro appearance. This is excellent news for The Crawl. These are the same trail blazers who brought The Crawl to Baltimore after a riot erupted in Philly. The same depraved pioneers who have gone home with toothless women from Dundalk and passed out in minivans left for a valet to park. In short, your heroes will be there. Don’t miss this opportunity to shed your better half and dedicate a day to complete debauchery. More to come…

   Santa * it takes extraordinary testicular fortitude to participate in such an endeavor, so don’t fool yourself into believing any “ordinary” man can be a Santa.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 31, 2005 - 10:28 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-31-baltimore-santa-crawl-05/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-31-baltimore-santa-crawl-05/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

5. Halloween 2k5

   And the obligatory halloween gallery. Cop-out last minute costume: Pick a uniform already in the house somewhere and go as that.

   Ben made a great Oompah Loompah - inspiration for next year.

   For comparison:

   Now for the Santa Crawl!

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 31, 2005 - 4:43 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-31-halloween-2k5/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-31-halloween-2k5/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

6. .08

   Cheers. I don’t go to bars that I can’t walk home from without a designated driver. I’ve got no idea how incapacitated I would be at .08 as I’ve never blown.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 28, 2005 - 2:42 AM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-27-08/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-27-08/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

7. g35

   My work vehicle for the first three months or so was my personal 1991 Corolla. It did OK but for half that time the exhaust pipe had a hole in it near the catalytic converter so it sounded like I’d riced it out. I worked out OK at work and landed myself a company car - a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3. Not a bad upgrade! I drove the Focus for two years and went through two fuel filters before the lease ran out.

   The next leased vehicle was a 2003 Acura RSX. Not the sport package but finally, a 5-speed.

   The RSX was involved in two not-at-fault accidents - hit once in DC and driven into a tree by a four-year-old in the burbs. Racking up 55k miles in 2 years, I was getting tired of the car and about to go over on the lease mileage…

   Friday I got the replacement company car:

   Not a bad upgrade - a 2004 Infiniti G35 Auto-tragic with leather seats, and the Navigational GPS package.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 24, 2005 - 11:05 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-24-g35/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-24-g35/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

8. ATM crazyness

   Whenever I’m at the ATM, or any checkout line nowadays, I feel very tinfoil hat paranoid. I Typically cover the number pad as I hit my pin and I typically will look around for any cameras that may be pointed at the numberpad in order to obtain PINs. I’ve done this for years. But as the saying goes, just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after me.

   (Yes, that’s a card reader in order to obtain the card magnetic codes). The entire series (including the camera to obtain your PIN) can be viewed over here.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 21, 2005 - 4:02 PM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-21-atm-crazyness/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-21-atm-crazyness/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

9. Multitasking

   The myth of multitasking. (mp3)

   You, are not a parallel processing computer.

   I know a few folks that give every topic an (at first) eery level of attention while maintaining the ability to jump tracks into something altogether different with amazing ease.

   Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 21, 2005 - 1:50 AM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-20-multitasking/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-20-multitasking/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.

10. The Singularity is Near

    My usual lunch meet-up bailed on me today as it was raining and a long drive, so I was left heading to grab some pho alone. Needing a book, I stopped at Borders on the way and headed for the ‘tech’ section in hopes of something Coockoos’ Egg-ish that somehow I’d never heard of. There on the shelf was this fancy hardback from Ray Kurzweil; The Singularity is Near, with testimonials on the back from guys like Bill Gates and Bill Joy.

    As I was checking out, the girl working the counter said that was the third she’d sold that day alone and wanted to know who Kurzweil was. I told her that he was this crazy person that predicted stuff, and had a bit of fame in the 70’s founding a synth and keyboard company - how do you quickly describe the concept to a lay-person?. She was making conversation flirting with me, I think. She noticed that it was only released a few days ago and guessed that the popularity stemmed from that.

    The writing is OK so far. The charts and graphics are not very impressive - I read a few Tufte books and am now a snob.

    Posted on Blog over 20 years agoon October 12, 2005 - 5:09 AM and archived here at /blog/2005/2005-10-11-the-singularity-is-near/at https://pizza.slow.high.quality.gravely.pizza/blog/2005/2005-10-11-the-singularity-is-near/ in the Blog collection in both HTML and markdown.