Random Thoughts
A Macintosh Christmas
I was reading a thread on DealMac on what the world would be like without the Macintosh computer. The guys got a little carried away but they aren't too far off. This was a link to a story, which is pretty cute. It's based on Jimmy Steward's "It's Wonderful Life". It features Apple Computer's Steve Jobs in the lead role. (follow title link)
Saturday, November 24, 2001, 12:41 a.m.
Thanksgiving
I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving dinners. This one wasn't too bad. I did have to give my brother-in-law grief about the consistancy of the dinner. The Butterball turkey was very moist and tender. The mashed potatoes were almost runny. The gravy was so thick it was thicker than the potatoes. The jello, cranberries, yams, and pumpkin pie all had the same consistancy. You could eat the dinner without teeth.
Thursday, November 22, 2001, 09:43 p.m.
Bob tells a sad sad tale
My friend Bob just told one of the saddest tales I've ever heard.
We were eating at Pazzos last night. Pazzos has good, yet inexpensive Italian
food. We both had the Beef Ravioli. I requested Erin to be our waitress. She's
a very pretty and friendly young lady. About 22; she just graduated from Valley
City State University with a degree in Human Resources. She's from Milnor and
knows dad's cousin Carol Peterson. We always chat when she's working. She asked
what movie we had watched.
"Swordfish,"
I mentioned.
"I just watched that again last night!" She replied.
We talked about the movie for a couple seconds, "We grunt at all the explosions."
"Like Tim Allen?" She asked.
"Yeah"
Bob brings up the "Farm
Film Celebrity Blow Up Report"- an old SCTV Sketch. I describe it for
her, which is odd- I know. But this is before her time, although she did know
who John Candy was.
She laughed, "I don't know about that." And left to work some other
tables.
She came back with colored mints. Bob took the green and yellow. I took the
red and white.
"Our school colors you know."
I mentioned I graduated from MSUM and Bob from NDSU, but Erin was interested
in where we went to High School. I told her I went to Fargo North High and Fargo
South High. Bob said he went to both too- as if the Votech classes count. Then
he tells his tale.
"Once
I went to my printing class and no one was there. Everyone was at an assembly.
So you know what I did?" Bob asks rhetorically.
"Printed passes?" I asked.
"I got a line drawing of an Olympus
OM-1. I kept reducing it and reducing it until it was this big." Bob
holds his finger half an inch apart.
Erin looks at me and I shrug my shoulders.
"I probably used $50 of paper and chemicals"
"I blew up more glassware than that in my AP Chemistry class," I retort.
"I don't even want to know about that"- Erin wanders back to the kitchen.
Monday, November 19, 2001, 12:25 p.m.
Billi Jo & Marc Zielinskis are in the paper again
Yes, Billi Jo & Marc Zielinski are in the paper again, and they don't even live here anymore. Before they left for the Peace Corp they seemed to be in the Fargo Forum at least once a month. At one point the Forum called them:
"Royality of Fargo's Hipster Scene"
My brother-in-law Paul and I got a kick out of that. We had to give them grief when we saw them at the Frank Black concert. (But not too much grief, as my sister is good friends with Billi Jo.)
It's not surprising they're in the paper as they were evacuated from Turkmanistan bordering Afghanistan. Read the Forum Story for more details. (click title link)
Sunday, November 18, 2001, 02:45 p.m.
Black Humor: The fate of the Hijakers
Leave it to The Onion to come up with a funny but very black take on the fate of the 9/11 hijackers in the afterlife.
Hijackers Surprised to Find Selves in Hell
"We Expected Eternal Paradise For This," Say Suicide Bombers
Saturday, November 17, 2001, 04:26 p.m.
Steve Maas is coming for a visit next week
I would like at announce to my many readers that my double-second cousin Steve Maas is coming to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday. We're all really excited about his visit.
Update
Steve called Sunday. The trip is off. His ride share bailed due to a high work load.
Thursday, November 15, 2001, 08:34 p.m.
Craig Performs Exorcisms for Free
Tuesday I was turning the channel and saw some guy yelling. It reminded me
of Victor when you step on his toes. I know it doesn't hurt that much
and I think Victor knows that I know it doesn't hurt that much but Victor learned
long ago to yell as much as possible when being injured. I kept the channel
on until I figured out the guy was getting an Exorcism. This was on Dateline
on NBC.
I need to remember this next time I need to step on Victor's toes. "Don't mind me I'm just exorcising your demons.
Two days later I was watching "Lost
Souls" with Winona Ryder. It was about exorcisms and the devil incarnate.
I didn't think it was that great. These sort of religious horror movies use
to really freak me out, especially watching them late at night and then trying
to go to sleep. This didn't have much effect. Maybe it just wasn't that good.
Maybe that mumbo
jumbo doesn't register anymore. Two movies that did freak me out
were:
Event
Horizon and
Seventh
Sign.
Thursday, November 15, 2001, 03:42 p.m.
Had to save my friend's life Sunday
My friend Bob and I settled in to watch "The Patriot" on DVD Sunday night. I looked over and he was having a seizure. There wasn't much I could do until it was over. I took off his glasses. He was on the sofa so he was in no danger of hurting himself. It wasn't a very long seizure. I counted to 37 before he start breathing again. The trouble was he was choking on phellem or something. I rolled him over and this cleared his breathing passages. I told him later, "I didn't want you to pull a John Bohnam on me."
Tuesday, November 13, 2001, 10:14 p.m.
My CraigMaas.net Is back up
It appears there was some problem at the hosting site: Dellz. According to their discusion board, they lost a hard drive and had problems with a secondary backup. Well everything seems to be back, so zip over and enjoy.
Tuesday, November 13, 2001, 10:09 p.m.
Randy Moss
I agree with my brother-in-law Paul. The Vikings should have sold, the last year of Randy Moss' contract and used the money to shore up their defensive and offensive lines. The Vikings have plenty of receivers and although Randy can be exciting, he doesn't play very hard. Half heart is the term that comes to mind after watching him play this season. Once he had the contract, it was like he realized he didn't have to try anymore.
All the successful teams in the NFL seem to be balanced. It's become almost impossible to have a balanced team if you start buying 'Marquee' players. But the Vikings have more problems than just one over-paid player. They seemed to be cursed- always in the playoffs but never to win a superbowl. I'm glad I switched allegences years ago.
Sunday, November 11, 2001, 11:04 p.m.
Why I Like Adidas Shoes
I always
wondered why I perferred Adidas shoes over Nike. I have found out what Adidas
stands for. It's not named after Dr. Adidas but is an anagram: "All Day I
Dream About Sex".
Saturday, November 10, 2001, 12:42 p.m.
Michael Damron
I love this guy.
Granted he's in jail and he did something like a million dollars in damage, but how can anyone stay mad at someone who is so stupid. Every time I hear his name my ears perk up.
Just when we are feeling the effects of terror, here comes master criminal Michael Damron up for parole and I get not one but two articles in the Fargo Forum.
The real reason I love this guy is the funniest article I've ever read in the Fargo Forum. It was written by Chuck Klosterman who went on to write the book "Fargo Rock City". Chuck wrote for the entertainment section of the paper. He managed to offend everyone with his concert reviews, but at least he was interesting. His boss couldn't see the diamond he had. Chuck ended up Iowa. Chuck's piece on Michael Damron Super Criminal is timeless.
Tuesday, November 6, 2001, 05:15 p.m.
Costume Party At
I found "Friends" to be pretty interesting this week. Monica was 'Cat
Woman' and Phoebe was 'Supergirl'. The story line wasn't that great but it was
fun to watch Courtney Cox run around with a tail and ears. Sure it could have
been sexier but it's prime time TV. What do you want?
I grabbed four screen shots with my $9 Snappy unit (From Ebay). It features all three of the 'Friends Ladies'. I tried to get a good shot of Monica, but as you can see the black cat suit doesn't show up that well. It looks much better in motion- as does the tail, her tail, some tail. ha ha.
All these ladies are looking older, and the plots are following them into middle age. They're getting deperate to settle down. I like "Friends" but I think it's begining to sag. One thing I would like to see is Chandler in his office. I'm betting he makes a lot of money- we already know he doesn't like his job, but I wonder if it's an act. What would happen if he met someone at work, some one smart- not like Monica pretends to be. (Listen to me, I sound like a soap opera fan- I guess it's a guilty pleasure.)
Sunday, November 4, 2001, 11:45 p.m.
Mom dresses up for Halloween
Mom and the everyone in the IT department of NDSU, like to dress up for halloween. Last year it was pregnant nuns, this year "The Church Lady". (Photos follow from Title Link).
I have my own take today. I saw a ghost waving at traffic so I made a point of slowing down and waving back. At Arbys I placed my order with Kim or Amy dressed as a Doctor.
"Dr. I have this pain." I was flirting with her and she was flirting back. It made my day, not only was she young and cute, but Bob was stuck arguing about a baked potato with a troll?!
Wednesday, October 31, 2001, 11:55 p.m.
It Nice to Be Nice
Sherbanoo Aziz came over tonight. She need some help setting up AOL. The problem was her computer was a hand me down, but no one had ever cleaned it out. I fixed some settings and cleared out 350mb+ of junk files. We shared some laughs and I had a much better time than watching TV, reading, or writing my journal.
Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 10:51 p.m.
No, Rob Jungklas is most underrated
In my last post I stated Richard Thompson is the most underrated rock talent, but I the guy still has a career. He has a box set. He plays on a number of different artist's albums. He releases an album every year.
Where as Rob Jungklas has been reduced to teaching 5th grade english in private girls school. No offense to Rob. Teaching is probably a far nobler profession than being an under-appreciated rock singer. My point is Mr. Jungklas disappeared almost without a trace. You can't even find his albums anymore. And trust me on this: They were damn good!
Monday, October 29, 2001, 10:55 p.m.
Richard Thompson
Just when I was going to give the title for most underrated rock artist to Rob Jungklas, I turn the channel and there is Richard Thompson finishing up his set on Austin City Limits. Now Richard has had more success as a solo artist than Rob, but Richard is an absolute genius; yet has gotten nothing out of his long career but a cult following. (I have almost all his albums.)
His only peer would be someone like Eric Clapton. But Richard can out play him, out sing him, and literally crush him with his songwriting and wit.
Sunday, October 28, 2001, 07:40 p.m.
Concert for New York
The Who really blew everyone else off the stage. It wasn't even one of their better performances. However this is a little unfair, as The Who were the only loud rock band there. (Except for The Goo Goo Dolls, more on this later.) I looked at the crowd and Janet Jackson also got the crowd pumped up. I think the firemen, policemen, and EMS crews were entertaining themselves. It was more important who was there (Big Names) than how good the performances were.
Is my memory getting better?
Suzanne came over. I talked about the Goo Goo Dolls playing "Iris" and "American Girl" this was odd because I couldn't remember the name of the song "Iris" when they were playing it. Usually I can remember until I need to tell someone about it. I like this new turn of events.
Saturday, October 27, 2001, 06:35 p.m.
Bursitis Is A Pain In The Ass
I stopped taking all that aspirin and Ibuprofen, that was a mistake. A painful mistake. I did switch to Tylenol after a quick trip to the drug store. (I think aspirin and Ibuprofen are making my left eye twitch. Or it could be totally unrelated.)
I think Tylenol is a palcebo. Well it did sort of relieve the pain- I think. I also got some ice packs- just add water and put in the freezer. You can cut to size and also microwave- reuseable too. This seemed to work too... until this evening. My hip still hurts. I did get some sleep, but once I tried to get up all the pain and more was waiting for me. I hope this doesn't last too long.
Friday, October 26, 2001, 11:56 p.m.
