Wednesday, August 31, 2005


The infamous sign. Posted by Picasa

Wrong-Aid

I had to go into town today for several errands.

I hate going into town on weekdays. It always involves picking up a prescription at the doctor’s office and then heading over to Rite-Aid. I hate Rite-Aid.

Rite-Aid’s slogan is “It’s not a store, it’s a solution.” This is not true. It is not a solution, for a solution implies a problem already exists before the solution is found. Rite-Aid is the problem. They never have the medication I need in stock, or there’s not enough of it to fill the prescription, or they do have enough in stock but they misplaced the prescription, or they do have the medication in stock, there is enough, and they do have the prescription but their brains only function one day a week.

Once, after having to wait two hours and forty-five minutes to be informed that not only had they forgotten about my prescription but that they couldn’t fill it, I discovered the cause. They didn’t have a “technitician.” There was a sign by the counter. Upon seeing this, I knew not only the fact, but the reasoned fact for why they were so inept. It read “Accepting applications for a technitician.”

Friday, August 26, 2005


Here's a picture of St. Jospeh Posted by Picasa

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Mother Russia no more

In Russia there are now more abortions performed every year than births. It seems like the combined forces of communism, which ruined Russia's economy and morality, Secularism, and Poverty have conquered the former superpower. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, we see that all of Europe has become more and more the same. Russia, just like the rest of Eastern Europe, is plagued by low birth rates, sluggish economies, Muslim terrorists. Russia still has a stranglehold on bad weather and former leaders with little goatees.

See if you can pass yourself off as Lenin or Joey from Friends.

Gas news

Looks like Drudge is up to his old tricks. And that's a good thing. The AP is claiming that Bush may be the biggest gas consumer. But then Drudge places these two little headlines:

FLASHBACK: Clinton Shatters Presidential Foreign Travel Record: 154 Days...

DRUDGE '97: GORE BURNS 439,500 LBS OF FUEL TO ATTEND 'GLOBAL WARMING' SUMMIT...

Nice.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Philosophy class

I never thought I would have enjoyed a Zedlick philosophy class as much as I did. Huh. The section seems pretty good although Zedlick did catch Shema and myself "having a silent conversation" which happened to be about how I couldn't understand why we were talking about bombing China.

New Blogs

There are two new blogs which I have become aware of. The first is one of mine, so I was aware of it ever since I created it. It is called "I am Maurice Chavez" and is a tag-team/co-op blog done with my former roommate Vince. Posts from here will be appearing along with the Drudge Report Unplugged, which I will restart as soon as possible. The address is mauricechavez.blogspot.com

The second is Michelle Johnson's blog. It is called SoCal Sun. I haven't read all the posts, but since they might be good. Since I know Michelle, I'm giving her the shout-out. Check her out at http://sandandsurf50.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 22, 2005

Seminar prep

I’m currently trying to mirror mangaviewer.com on my computer and it’s taking forever. This site is huge.

Vastly huge.

Vastly bigly huge.

Vastly bigly gigantically huge.

Vastly,
bigly,
gigantically,
enormously,
too-large-to-be-comprehended-in-your-mind-that-it-could-serve-as-an-
example-of-what-infinity-might-be-like huge.

And thus it is taking forever. If you want to start reading manga, check it out. I recommend Bleach, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, and Monster (although I’ve only seen the anime).

The upshot of all this is I can’t surf the web. It seems my computer cannot connect to any sites when I have 250+ active connections to mangaviewer.com. So I’m typing this post in Word, which Blogger now supports. Sweet.

Seminar in T-minus 30 minutes.
Engines? Check.
Booster rockets? Check.
Book? Check.
Review for seminar? Chec—oh crap, I’m blogging instead of review for class. Got to go. Hope no foam hits the shuttle when we take off at 7.

Seminar

I sit on pins and needles, not moving but waiting to be pricked. Anxiety wells up in the pit of my stomach. I am not sweating but check my brow nonetheless.My first seminar is tonight.I have Mr. Coughlin—I remember how to spell it by braking it up into Cough-lin. His appearance is far less imposing than his presence. The bald spot and friendly face are more likely to be found on a greengrocer than the man who penned the preferred translations of Aristotle. I’m not scared, only worried that I will screw up in class and place a invisible dunce cap on my head. Don Rags will be terrible. His shiny head will mock me.

I know very few names from my seminar. Knowing them wouldn’t help much anyway. I have no idea at all what I think of Don Quixote or what I should be thinking about the major themes. Part one of the novel has fled my memory. It neglected to leave a phone number or even a forwarding address.

I need a cup of coffee.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

World Youth Day

The Pope announced that Sydney, Australia will play host to the next World Youth Day. I wonder if that has anything to do with the Archbishop of Sydney courting Mel Gibson…

Flame war

If any of you read Vince's Awful Blog then you know he clearly feels that my blog is something he must measure up to. I throw down the gauntlet and challenge him to actually accept my invite to a co-blogging experience! One where we can directly snipe at each other from the same page and do other wonderful things. Vince, if you are reading this, then do as I say:
  1. Accept the e-mail inviting you to join this co-blog
  2. Reject the works of darkness
  3. And you shall be saved
Three. You have three last chances. I will send you another e-mail within 24 hours. Accept of suffer the consequences of not having our joint blog posts be part of Drudge Report Unplugged, which will deliver gobs of enjoyment to the readers of the dorm.

This new blog is called I am Maurice Chavez. It can be found at mauricechavez.blogspot.com

Friday, August 19, 2005

Freshmen

The freshmen are now all here. They arrived in a large swarm, families in tow, complete with mothers who wandered through the men's dorms and little children who destroyed the plant life. Admissions threw a barbecue for the freshmen followed by an ice cream social.

While at the ice cream social, I noticed something odd. There was a boy dressed in nineteenth century regalia--he had a long blue coat, red vest, breeches that went down just to the top of the calves, long socks, long hair halfway down his neck, and a cane--he was walking around, as if he had mistaken TAC for the local Charles Dickens Fashion Society. To top it off, his attitude was very much that of a high born Dickens character. Nose in air, slight strut, excellent posture. I was on holiday at my manor, but was dragged away to this little event here. He swings the cane a little. I was rather enjoying myself--survey the surroundings with mild interest--Oh, well, might as well make the best of it, even though all the rabble around here are so very lower class. I say, might that be some ice cream? I guess that might help me pass the time.

What I want to know is why do his parents allow him to dress this way? It's slightly anti-social, don't you think?

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Regarding Baseball

The Western Division of the National League completely stinks right now, as evidenced by the first place team, the mighty Padres of San Diego, fluctuating around the .500 mark. This is not a sport but a bore and any sort of pennant race here could be comparable to a 300 meter dash where the contestants are sleepwalking.

The Dodgers, my team, have become a disappointment. After the wonderful 18-2 start to the season--this made me rethink, if only for a few days, my opinion of the trades the front office had made last season--the Dodgers have plummeted down into the depths of mediocrity. I cope with it by pretending the Dodgers don't exist, and so the boys in blue are now the red-headed stepchild in my life.

As a result, I have no interest in any of the pennant races currently and when the World Series rolls around, I will most likely greet it with a yawn. The fall classic currently excites me as much as a public radio pledge drive, which my local NPR station finally finished.

This post was originally slated for my other blog, but it was so original compared to my recent posts that my thought was "Forget that."

Weird comments

I just got three comments on my last post which had nothing at all to do with the actual post. What the hell is going on here? Have spammers found a way to intrude on post comments. I don't know whether to take these things seriously, as if someone actually posted this stuff, or if this was just automatic. The posts have links to a site called Hiphophavoc.com, some Christian newsletter that looks very suspicious based entirely on the design of the site, an a free software site. Totally random.

In other news, Vince, of Vince's Awful Blog, and I are going to be doing a joint blog which will definitely take on more consistantly humorous tone. You can check out a page full of absolutely nothing of interest so far right here.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Vince's blog

Just checked out Vince's blog--alias Skypilot, which isn't even necessary since he gives you his friggin name at the top of the page--and I heartily recommend it if you actually enjoy this blog. If you do enjoy this blog it is most likely because you know me and thus would know Vince. A bit much with the "mine will be more lively than Mr. Boyyyyyerrrrr's." Vince, if you want to tell me what you ate, fine. I'll read it. It's too bad Blogger won't let me comment on his posts. Oh well. Maybe we should do a tag-team blog or something....

Crazy news

Just reading Drudge and here are some interesting stories you might enjoy.

  • People trampled in bid to get cheap laptops
    • Authorities said the sale, which attracted 5,500 people, "had adequate planning." Apparently being run over was part of the planning--who really would have expected 5,500 people, I mean really--and it was all nicely planned out except for the 5,500 man bumrush. Seems being run over is just a consequence of trying to score some cheap iBooks.
  • Nuns protest DaVinci
    • Some nuns were protesting The DaVinci Code being filmed at Lincoln Cathedral. The notable part here is that although the "the dean of Lincoln Cathedral branding the book 'a load of old tosh' he has agreed to let the movie be filmed there. He and the church authorities said yes after the producers donated £100,000 to the coffers." Yeah, the book is "a load of old tosh" but that donation is a load of nice hard currency. I hope this movie bombs.
  • Bush administration uneasy over .xxx domains
    • Bush thinks that .xxx domains are bad? That this would be an endangerment to families and children? Wouldn't it just make porn easier to block if all, or most, porn sites--we're talking about a special industry here--had a specific domain ending? Instead of having porn sites with misspelled addresses like yhaoo.com (there's a reason I didn't link that), now we can corral porno all into one nice domain which school districts can easily block.
And that's all the news I care to type about.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Moving in

We have been given the green light to move into our rooms. Last night was spent arranging and rearranging furniture until it was just right--cool, hip--my pad will soon be completely good to go. Evan has a diagonal theme whilst I have eschewed the previous tunnel vision of freshman and sophomore years and employed a more spacious feel. The bed blocks off most of the entry, creating a barrier between those entering and those enjoying the comforts offered in my lounge. I'll be all set to move in by Monday or Tuesday.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Bad air day

The air here is horrible. There are some fires burning over the hill, veiling the mountains in smoke and casting the landscape in an orange-red haze. Prognosis: Controlled burn. The smoke gives the air an odd tint, making whites orange. It feels very dreamlike, as if I was walking around in a world of sepia. One o'clock in the afternoon looks like four in the afternoon, slowly edging up towards five o'clock--stuck in the sepia spell.

But Malaysia has it worse.

Babysitting is uncomfortable

Babysitting last night. Four children, all boys, between the ages of two and almost eleven if not actually eleven, home-schooled, culturally unaware, and worst of all, from Minnesota. The Minnesotan aspect is the worst. The kids have lived here in California for about two years and you would think they would have heard plenty of Californian accents--non-accents to be more accurate. Not the case. Instead, they all talk with a slight whine in their voices and stretch out the syllables--Mr. Boyyyerrrrr, you tallk funnnieeee. This comes naturally to them and anyone, no everyone who doesn't whine and stretch talks funnnieeee. Silly, funny, goofy are the only words the boys seem to know.

"Mr. Boyer, you look silly." Sillie. The second oldest, Matthew, is a complete nut. My comrade in arms, tag-team partner in this endeavor, Evan, who has seven years of experience with younger siblings who are home schooled, culturally unaware, and from Minnesota, calls him a goof ball. Evan can handle Matthew. I can't. I'm sillie. Matthew runs around the room making exaggerated noises, jumping around, pulling faces. He is a momma's boy on top of his nutty behavior.

"I'm going to tell Mom that you were being silly, Mr. Boyer." Boyyyerrrrr. And he probably will. Mom does everything differently and therefore correctly. "Mom doesn't cook veggies with so much water." "Mom lets us stay up till nine." "Mom said Michael shouldn't play with the crane."

Mom was told how Matthew was misbehaving. C'est la vie, Matthew. I definitely will never go into daycare.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Stumble!

If you have the Firefox browser, by all means get the "StumbleUpon" extension. If you don't have the Firefox browser, get it now and start using it. This feature is wonderful. It allows you to channel surf the web and discover sites you probably would never have found--occationally ones you wouldn't have wanted to find. Your bookmarks will fill up very fast.

Today's cool stumble is Neave Lab > Planetarium.

Yes, this is another filler post. Maybe later you can read about my experience babysitting. After babysitting for an entire day, I concluded that chairs are more comfortable.

Crucifixion to bag World Youth Day?

Here is a story slightly out of the norm. The Archbishop of Sydney wants Mel Gibson to stage the Stations of the Cross in Sydney in order to help Sydney's chances of getting a World Youth Day. Has this turned into the Catholic equivalent of the Olympics? I'm guessing Gibson will say no, since I can't see him supporting WYD events, but who knows.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050807/D8BR61DO2.html

Sorry for the filler posts, but I'll get around to what's happening to me first chance I get.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Movie quote hoax

Apparently, Sony Pictures, the powerhous behind such blockbusters as The Animal and Hollow Man--it is a good sign if you haven't heard of these movies or have forgotten they existed--has been taken to court by angry moviegoers. The masses have rebelled! Two film buffs fooled...now they're suing, claiming that they were duped into going to see some waste of time and now want $5 refunds.

I must question the decernment of these platiffs. Whoever thought Big Daddy was a winner probably enjoyed The Animal. This is bizare. But shame on Sony for making bad films.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050803/D8BODF401.html

Monday, August 01, 2005

Don't strangle the children

In the computer room of the library right now. I am the only summer worker. The only one here. The rest of the computers are being used by High School boys. Boys with know-it-all attitudes. Boys with I-am-so-technologically-hip-that-you-are-embarrassing-yourself-just-
by-using-a-computer-in-the-same-room-as-I-am attitudes. Click click click. Type type. Dude here's the best song in the world. No, that's actually not the best song in the world. I'll play you the best song in the world.

Then one of them plays the best song in the world. Oh, this song is rocking. Rock-ing. Yeah this is sooooooo coooooool. Another high schooler steps in. "Are gonna be using this very much longer?" No no nonononono. Not at all. You can use this computer now and listen to the best song in the world. Yeah go ahead.

No that's not the best song in the world. I'll play you the best song in the world. It's sooooooo much better.

I have been reading Tom Wolfe. Hence the style. Now back to work.