Nothing like a mid-week drive to Baltimore, I’ve always said.

The Challenge Club mailing list is up and running. We also have a spot on the web all picked out at www.challenge-club.com and site designing is underway but about all you can see there now is a pleasant picture of Billy.

But the more pressing news item is that we are playing at The Royal this Thursday night and it will be your last chance to see us for at least a month so dont let it pass you by!!! Doors open at 8 and we are playing second. The Royal is located on 1542 Light St in Federal Hill. If you want more info than that you should go to http://theroyalbaltimore.com/.

A birdie gave me a 24 half-hour lecture series on Classical Mythology by Elizabeth Vandiver.

I highly recommend it.

Prometheus (a Titan) gave mankind all sorts of fancy shit we need like numbers, the alphabet, ships, and best of all, fire, which he stole from Zeus. Zeus had him tied to a pillar where an eagle could come peck-out his liver every day. Man, alone at this point in the world, was punished for this mess by being given the curse of women - Pandora being the first.

Makes sense to me!

The Dresdon Doll’s opened for NIN. It wasn’t my thing - both are obviously talented but shrug.

During their cover of Warpigs, someone born in the late 80’s in front of me asker her boyfriend if it was an Ozzy song.

Sabbath covered by a piano and drum group? You don’t say!?

I should have at this point went to the beer corridor but didn’t want to miss anything.

Intermission. Lame hip-hop w/ the vocals karaoke-machined out leaving only lame drum and bass. The lights went out and Pinion starts playing. The entire floor rushed forward about five feet, packed like sardines.

Trent and the rest of NIN came out and everyone moved another five feet forward, although I’d not have thought it possible and movement ceased to be an option.

Trent, by the way, is built, at least from the waste up, like He-man. It’s wierd. The Les Paul he was playing looked like a toy guitar with those huge arms bashing on it - silly.

Oh back to the music, what was he bashing out? Wish. The inability to move quickly became the inability to refuse to move as the entire floor went ape-shit reacting to pits forming, jumping, etc…

As fun as that sounds, it’d not my bag. I ignored it for the first 3/4 of the set, enjoying a few tracks from The Fragile, Sin, Terrible Lie, March of the Pigs, Closer, Burn, (none in that order) and a few other tunes until Starfuckers came on – never really liked that song, escaped to the beer-garden isle for my only beer of the evening as the venue was all ages and only serving in a small roped off coridor at stage-left.

I think I’ve got an atrophied angst, because as awesome as the show was, I wasn’t blown away - it would have been better enjoyed by me-eight-years-ago. I think I need to turn in my cool-card, just as soon as I find where I lost it.

I just got back from visiting Amanda’s Grandparent’s for her her Grandfather’s 80th birthday party in Buffalo, Wyoming. Check it out:

Gilbert (Amanda’s grandfather) took us up to the pass of the Big Horn mountains, leaving a nice-but-dry sunny 70 degree morning at a tiring 6,000 feet above sea level for a chilly low 40’s elevation near 10,000 feet above sea level – from green grass to snow capped mountain. We spotted a few elk, a coyote, and plenty of deer.

Having only experienced the west third-hand through a bunch of poseur coyboy-hat wearing confedate-flag-waving southerners (and Back To The Future III), I can now heartily recommend a visit west.

Landing in Ohio, I felt revitalized by the humid air (and beer, after staying among teetotalers for two nights) and seeing the Capitol landing at National brought me home, where I had to move Amanda’s car from the left side of 15th to a prime spot on Euclid (with no power steering) because street-cleaning is tomorrow and we don’t want to get ticketed.

I left a a listening party thinking I only liked track 2.

I now have track 2 and don’t really care for that one either. Ha ha ha.

Will you look at what these assholes in Kansas are up to: Take pages from both L Ron Hubbard scientific-vocabulary-abuse and Jack Chick tract writing and set up a string of logical fallacy’s that fail to actually support or even lead to a conclusion at all, then state the ridiculous assumption from which the whole mess was inversely deducted.

Lets try:

Brain Structures (BS) posits that where science has failed to determine, using Magnetic Resonance Imaging any specific part of the brain or any other organ responsible for causing a majority of people when surveyed to profess a belief in a God, there is in fact an answer. Where science discards evidence that such a structure must exist to explain the existance of atheists, polytheists, and so on; BS has an answer. Using simple hyperpolar magnets, X-Ray imaging and BS-specific application of the scientific method the hypothalamus, a structure clearly linked the very brain and believed to be important both by the ancient egyptians and the native americans is responsible for this lack of faith.

Oh dear, this is too easy.

Bolded text highlighting confusing terminology: Check
Un-cited data: Check
Scientific devices: Check
Devices too advanced for science: Check
Ancient peoples: Check

Before my head explodes, check out this quote as linked at ars that the AP snagged:

As a State Board of Education subcommittee heard more testimony Friday on how evolution should be taught in Kansas classrooms, one member acknowledged that she hadn’t read all of an evolution-friendly draft of science standards proposed by educators.

Kathy Martin of Clay Center made the comment while attempting to reassure a witness who said he hadn’t read the entire proposal, just parts of it. Russell Carlson, a biochemistry and molecular biology professor at the University of Georgia, said he had reviewed an alternate proposal from intelligent design advocates.

“I’ve not read it word for word myself,” Martin said of the other proposal, eliciting groans of disbelief from a few members of the audience.

These jokers are pandering to the apathetic majority by even keeping evolution in the books.

Leave it to the visiting IT consultant to annoyingly figure out the silly maze-puzzle that no one else in the office has had any luck with.

My car appears to have a new door and rear quarter panel. I love that Shannon Autobody keeps work-in-progress photo gallery’s up for customers.

I miss the audio system, manual transmission, handling, size, seating, climate control, sun-roof, and just about every other quantifiable thing about my RSX. Driving the Altima makes me stop at green lights out of sheer boredom. Acceleration in the (automatic) Altima turns me into Captain-Cut-You-Off while the fucking thing downshifts. The sofa that passes for a drivers seat bothers my back when driving for an hour or more. The mileage isn’t great and a fill-up runs $40. Parking it is a 15-point-turn-affair in my garage spot vs. 3 for the RSX. hate, whine hate, etc…

We are getting pretty busy at work and are currently hiring. Know anyone in the DC/Metro area looking for a IT Consulting gig?

GURU, Inc. has an immediate opening for an experienced network support engineer, with a preference to those with a small business consulting background. Our ideal candidate should possess real-world experience with current Microsoft server operating systems and be adept with PC, server, and infrastructure hardware. Our candidate should also possess a minimum of two-year’s experience in supporting end-users in a Microsoft networking environment (MCP, A+, or Net+ certifications are preferred, but not required) and must also be able to demonstrate an understanding of TCP/IP, as well as a proficiency in managing Microsoft Windows 2000/XP workstations in a networked environment.

Our candidate must be a forward thinking self-starter with the desire to grow within our company. He or she must also be customer oriented, not be afraid of learning new skills and technologies and be able to easily mold him or herself into a multitude of different client environments. The ability to travel within the Washington DC metropolitan area is a must as well.

GURU, Inc. is a growing Information Technology consulting firm located in Gaithersburg, MD that services the Washington DC metropolitan area. We have built our reputation and success on providing excellent customer service to our quickly expanding client list. If you possess the talents and the desire to be a part of a dynamic team of professionals who hold the bar high on customer satisfaction, then we would like to talk to you. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, as well as an environment that will challenge you daily.

If interested, send resume’s to hr at guruconsult dot com. I can be reached at any address on the jokerbone or writequit com domains.

Upgraded to Tiger last night - a note of caution.

My /etc/hosts file got completely wiped.

:crying: