Entries from October 2003:

The Creative Labs Prodikeys may be the worst-designed product I’ve ever seen. It sorta makes sense, might be designed to satisfy a consumer need… but do you think it would be very comfortable to type on, or to play music on?!?

Shaun’s a high school football coach at George School, a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania. While up there this weekend, we went and cheered on his varsity team as they battled their rivals at Lower Moreland High School. The game made it to triple overtime, but unfortunately George School lost. But I do have a few photos for the one or two people that might be interested…

I took a few pics from the Neal Morse concert, but those didn’t come out at all. I’m going to see him again in November, so I’ll try to get some better photos then.

I went to see Neal Morse in concert at the NJ ProgHouse last night. It was really good! Here’s a quick review:

The opening act was the singer/guitarist from the band Pinnacle, playing acoustic guitar. He played a few originals and a bunch of progressive rock classics. He opened with “Blackest Eyes” by Porcupine Tree — I just had to laugh, how often do you hear that on acoustic guitar?!? He played some Kevin Gilbert and Rush too. Great taste in music.

Neal and his band was really good. It was a special “intimate” show with only about 60 tickets sold. Hence the reason I was willing to drive up to New Jersey for it.

Now I’m up in Philadelphia visiting my friend Shaun, who’s teaching at a private boarding school here. I’ll have some photos from the weekend which I’ll post soon. Later!

My friend Dan just sent me a link to the World Beard and Moustache Championships, being held in Carson City, Nevada on November 1.

Erik and Michelle are going to be vacationing near there right around then — but unfortunately they won’t arrive in Nevada until a day late! (Erik — you should compete! A beard like these would look great in your wedding photos!)

I love the Washington Post’s online chats. In today’s TV chat:

Comment: What one of the networks needs to do is combine two formats: A reality show like that Russian Roulette thing in England with the Queer Eye team. The first half is the death-defying stunt; in the second half, the Fab Five arrange the funeral and then critique it. They could call it “Queer Eye for the Dead Guy.”

Response: Isn’t “Six Feet Under” already “Queer Eye for the Dead Guy?”

Any article which starts out like this deserves to be mentioned in my webpage:

A woman who chased a 4-year-old boy through a McDonald’s restaurant in Montgomery County, pinned him in a headlock and screamed obscenities as she smeared his face with hot french fries was sentenced yesterday to four days in jail and ordered to attend anger management and parenting classes.

Read more…

I just got back from a few days in Toronto with my friends Avery and Jeremy. The trip was a ton of fun — we didn’t really have much planned to do, but we managed to explore the entire downtown area. We saw a wide array of sights: the World’s Biggest Bookstore; bluegrass and North American Indian music performances, amazing architecture; museums, nightlife, and more. Highlights of the trip included a tour of the Steam Whistle Pilsner brewery with the hilarious tour guide Laverne, and the Indian music and dancing — that was incredible, something I’ve never had the opportunity to see before. Here are the photos.

As an aside, my camera takes some GREAT pictures! I’ve got a Fujifilm FinePix 2650 digital camera. It was around $200 at Best Buy and I highly recommend it.

Oh my. Pat Robertson seems to have advocated using nuclear weapons to blow up the State Department.

Please don’t — my office is about a half-mile away and I don’t want to get radiation sickness.

There’s a new development in today’s Washington Post about the White House leak of a CIA operative’s name from July. Apparently in the process of researching the leak, domestic journalists discovered the name of a CIA front company. This intensifies the situation for two reasons. First, it establishes that Mrs. Plume has indeed worked undercover in the last 5 years. Second, it shows that the leak of her name has snowballed into the release of additional classified material. The press found this in a week, who knows what else they’ll find.

On Nightline last night, they interviewed a few former CIA agents about this. All were registered Republicans, all had voted for Bush — but they all were incensed that this could have taken place. Specifically, it becomes a nightmare when recruiting new agents and securing cooperation from foreigners. They think, “Why should I help your government, if there’s a chance that your government would turn on me and put my life at risk?” Plus of course it prevents our intelligence agencies from gathering the most reliable intelligence possible, because they’re likely to ignore intelligence which contradicts the “party line” for fear of repurcussions.

What a mess. Isn’t Bush wonderful?