ouch

Time to take a step back from the doom and gloom of reality and focus on the fluff of everyday life. The half marathon i was supposed to take part in April 1st is a big question mark right now, as i rolled and sprained my ankle playing basketball last Sunday. (I shouldn't have been playing that near to a marathon, but UNC needed me on guard and i couldn't let 'em down) Basically its fucked. That night it swelled nicely and a few days later the bruises appeared above the heal and at the shin.


Three days after. Note it should appear much "bonier."


One week after

Today i wrapped the hell out of it ad hit the treadmills. Yes, i too despise the treadmills, but since winter came back in the form of a slushly, wet, snowy, crap from the sky last night and today, the rat-wheel was what i had. I ran it, but it's sore.

Here's what's great about these pictures: on the first one, you can see in the background my "monkey's playing poker" boxer shorts that Holly got me. Chances are, unless i'm drunk, you're never gonna see those in person. In the second photo, you can see my freakish toes that are webbed between the 2nd and 3rd digit. Makes me a better swimmer and as far as i know, has never been documented on the internet.

See, this web site is like one of those discovery channel medical shows. Also, i learned that's it's very hard to manipulate photoshop so bruises will show up on film. I'm not sure why, but that's good information to have.

beat the drum

"I am more convinced than ever that we should all be prepared for the inevitable collapse of society." There no way to say that sentence without people looking at you oddly. It's not something you can talk about at work. Your family will not engage you in this conversation at Xmas. There's really no reason to think about it very much.

oh well, i'm sure everything will be fine. No need to buy a gun and leave the major urban areas.

Everyone should read "The end of Oil" by Paul Roberts. I also recommend "Crossing the Rubicon" by Michael C. Ruppert.

If you're really into it, try The Long Emergency, Blood and Oil, The Geography of Nowhere... there are other.

Soon i will send those of you on the list a DVD copy of "The end of Suburbia," but it may take some time to get those out. I'll also include some absurd animation that will help take the edge off the other material, and hopefully you'll want to kill yourself less.

quotes

quotes have been popular lately. here's one.

"Reality is that which continues to exist after i stop believing in it."
-Some guy

This would imply that even though I may not be mentally ill, if the world at large is mentally ill... then that is the reality. hmmm. this could be more true than we want to admit.

On the other hand, if we all stop believing in something like, say, numbers... well then numbers would be no more. See, there's a difference between numbers and quantities and we can make number just go away, because they're arbitrary like laws and morals. This is what the guy who sits across from me couldn't understand when i tried to explain that there are no absolutes. His argument was that as an engineer, i have to base my entire mental architecture on a system of absolutes that will continue to hold true under all circumstances. i.e, Math. Duality may include two sides, but your mental assignment of the word "two" is still up in the air. Besides, from a numbers-applications stand point, 50 is a lot closer to infinity than, say, 2, even though are numbers would have us believe otherwise. Consider i have a gun with 50 bullets and you have but 2 rounds. See: infinitely better.

The reason the older, roman system of numerals didn't hold up is because the Romans had no zero. The Arab system, on the other hand, had this key "nothing" number, allowing for a more complex type of math, which was algebra and eventually calculus.

what does it all mean? Reality is that which ceases to exist when i do?

"I bang my head against the wall because it feels good when i stop."

"What good is he if he can't beat Christos?"

i have finally (nearly) finished the total brake re-job on the Fiat. Like a tumor, i just pulled out stuff that was bad, until only good parts were left. This led me to replace the master cylinder, brake fluid reservoir and hoses, and several of the hard-lines that run under the car. Also, the pads, rotors and calipers and flex-lines where replaced on all four corners. The amazing thing is, not only was the system severely leaking fluid, the calipers were rusted frozen and the hand brake was nonexistent. The only way the car could have stopped during the brief drives loading and unloading it on the trailer, was through the friction of the seized calipers. On top of that, who ever re-assembled the brake calipers lat, did it completely wrong, and since i put back the way i found 'em, it took me several hours to figure out what the hell i was doing wrong. Oh, also the hard line into the master was cross-threaded, making that leak and rust as well.

The good news is, now i need only bleed the system and make/tighten the final line connection. Now i just need a friend to come help me out...

I don't know what the hell the guy who did the brakes was thinking, but surprisingly the rest of the car is in pretty decent shape. It's going to need a muffler, which i i'll probably just have done and then i can straighten out the Italian-electrical gremlins. But that's all regardless because once the brake system has been brought online, i can test drive it for the first time.

I have defeated the brakes. What's that Chong Li?

Chong Li: Very good. But brake not hit back!

I'm drunk, so bare with me

i just got back from the local sports team game that i watched from some supplier's ultra-plush suite, the ticket for which i got from my job. See, as an employee of Auto-maker X, supplier Y offered our group tickets to this suite as a way to say "thanks." This was the ultra pimp-yourself event; my boss and his boss and the supplier's and their bosses and everyone's jerking each other off while sporting that shit-eating grin, presumably as a way to make yourself more marketable.

A little background: I knew what this was going to be and told myself i wouldn't go... but for some reason i turned colors and agreed to the ticket. Basically EVERYONE i come into contact with from my job was there. In the end, i decided free booze and food was not to be turned down.

I spent a lot of time talking to the wives because the men folk were busy "talking shop" and "wanking each other"... (i was only given one ticket, so was there solo). Apparently a lot of these people have daughters that are my age, because when it was all said and done, had been offered two daughters and a place to live rent free from my various drunken babbling. (to any of my girlfriends that might read this: i graciously declined all offers, except the one to tag-team that one guy's wife while he video tapes; we're working out the copy-right ownership). All i had to mention was some combination of "Employee of auto maker X" and "grad student" and they were offering up partial nudes of their first born. I wish i had brought a prostitute to help pass the time. In the end, i particularly enjoyed the awkward conversations of filler b.s. i had with my boss's boss, whom i've met only once before, with priceless tags like "how's it going" and "great to see you again."

During the long, shockingly-warm walk back to my car, i resolved (while partly drunk) to give all the money in my wallet to a homeless person, but never had the fortitude to follow through. it seemed like it might be a good way to smite the corporate-wheel-greasing system. In all, several lessons were learned.

1) the suites at "local sports team" arena are all different. Some look like hotel rooms, other look like strip clubs. 97% of the people who populate them are corporate schmucks in bad shirts.

1) middle class greed beats white-guilt every time.

2) it's still okay to drive drunk in detroit. err... partly drunk.

Did i mention that i kinda turned own a job offer earlier with supplier Y? yeah... it would have paid insane money, but i decided it wasn't worth it because i wouldn't have enjoyed the job. i'm not sure what the bigger self-lie was: the previous statement or the idea that i'll find something that *is* fulfilling. Anyway, i met the dude that they ended up giving that job to... I was like "have fun with all that, buddy." It was all oddly satisfying, in a "you screwed that chick that i turned down because i knew she has the hiv, kinda way."

i'm out.

this is very much how i feel about the Fiat.

Y'all need to open your ears up and soak this game up

Allow me to practice my sophist ways:

I have seen the future, my friends, and it doesn't live in a dog-forsaken cubicle. I may be the last to see the light, but my eyes are opening now... It's obvious that working for a giant corporation, sitting in a box under brain frying fluorescent lights and waiting patiently for death is a bad way to earn that 401K. But now those jobs are leaving, which is probably the best thing that could happen for a group of young (good looking), inventive (scrappy) and far-sighted (can hold our liquor) individuals such us. Master P says "Start a business"

Indeed Master P. Indeed.


We aint beefin like nah we on the positive vibe
But i still get the homocide squad on the side
See im holdin on to the steering wheel controllin the ride
And yall comin out a bumpin cuz i got it in drive


We need to come up with the good ideas and begin implementation of plan A. How can it be any riskier than working for the man? I've seen and heard about TOO many people that lose stupid jobs that they hated and end up crying in their beer over the whole deal.

It's time to start that race car school for strippers.

It's time to make a porno with an all Luara Branigan soundtrack.

It's time to start training for that race around the world.

Another night, another day goes by
I never stop myself to wonder why
You help me to forget to play my role
You take my self, you take my self control

indeed Laura Branigan. Indeed.

shout out

must... train... harder

scheduled to run this half marathon in April.

you think this is the kind of guy that would complain about a "bad day?"

oh yeah

Rob wants everyone to watch the internet video about 9/11 called 911-Loose Change. I agree. Just be ready to be very freaked out. In fact, i think notoreous could maybe offer some input about the feasibilities discussed with the aircraft?

update

I've been busy as hell. Fortunately, other than work, i've managed to pack my life full of things i WANT to be doing rather than those we're more ofthen than not forced to do. Mondays and Wednesday I put my time in at college, where i often see you mother... see... because she goes to college. Thursday has become weekly Risk night. However last night we also played this absolutley incredibe game Zombies! Finally, Friday is indoor unltimate night. Last week i managed to experienced the two greatest feelings in an ultimate game:

Picture this: You're on offense, and you cut deep and hard. I mean real deep, like a 75% length of the field cut and your defender is left picking up his socks. You look over your shoulder and see the disc coming in fast and high; If it's a bullet to the end zone, you're going to have to swing your head around, get your bearings and look straight up... and thats when you're in that moment, when you can't see the disc and you're running staright up and staring at the sky (or ceiling). But if you read it well before, you know it'll be coming into view over head. And then it does. and you catch it. and you are the champion of the world.

Now you're back on defense trying to stop the score in the end zone. The force is home side but the mark is weak and the the handler owns your teammate. The long, hooking throw is comming in from the away side, high, about to land right in your man's hands... your only option is to throw yoursef mercellesly into the air (you've only got one chance on the timing) and smack at the air with a long, outstretched finger. You half expect to cut throigh the air unchalleneged but then you feel the tell tale resistance of the plastic disc being angrilly re-directed off you finger tips, thus ensuring that you've prevented the score... and you're now free to fall uncontroled and broken to the floor, several feet below. Cheers ensue.

I love this game.

In fact, my job even managed to entertain me this week. I spent some tim ein the cold room, which is basically a big ass garage that's climate controled to the extreme. On this particular day, they had it dialed in at -40 degree farenheit... that's -40. To demonstrate the extreme of this temperature, someone took a cup of scalding water and thorugh it's contents into the air... it's instantly turned to white powder and came down as snow. Phase changes are awsome.

So, aside from these daily obligations, i'm still trying to put the Fiat in running order and keep the lady happy. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge.

truth

thanks for the link, Rob

I need my pain; it's makes me who i am

there's been a lot of posting and replyin going on here, so i figured i'd keep the trend alive. I boughtthis computer from dell and am lying in bed typing on it right now. I'm sore as hell from ultimate last night: I owned a couple guys in the end zone with some mad catches and blocks... but they tend to end in spine jarring landings on one's side and/or head.

Side note: with this stupid laptop, i feel like tom hanks in "you've got mail."

I guess the event of note is, i didn't buy a mac this time. It's odd to have it worry about viruses again, not to mention the fact that i spent the first 8 hours of ownership re-installing windows to free myself of all the crap software they package on a new machine. (here's one for gnome: you gotta check out this program called acronis trueimage: it creates a partitioned image of your entire operating system and all drivers and applications so once you labor over getting your system set up perfectly, you always have a completely recoverable set-up from boot. There's other benfits, check it out.) living with a hacker is very nice.

Finally, i'd like to point more attention to "brokeback to the future." damn that was funny.

Oh yeah, this guy seems to have it all figured out. If you've ever heard his rant about how the purity of the Olympics has been lost and how every American thinkgs you're a failure if you don't bring home a gold, you'll more appreciate what happened last week.

the FUTURE Conan?

In honor of Notoreous' arrival on the interwebs, i would like to dedicate this link to him.

what is love?

I'm going to destroy you

"click"

today leaving work i saw a car try to ram another car off the road.

http://www.remtek.com/arms/glock/model/45/30/index.htm

smells like an old library...

Chestocrates got me thinking:

so i think i mentioned here the recent death of an aunt the the monumental amount of items she had in her house. Well, several months later, the greater share of these good have been sorted through, sold and distributed. As reward for my weekends spend cleaning and carrying, i acquired an old bookcase that once sat in my grandfather's office. He was a doctor in detroit and eventually gained a certain degree of notoriety as a public figure and sat on a few hospital boards. This particular oak case has twin glass doors and is about the most sexy piece of furniture i've ever seen, not to mention is hold twice as much as my home-made job. The man himself, i never did meet. They tell me he raised quite beautiful peacocks.

Along with the bookcase, i was free to have any book i could carry out of the place. There were, in my best guess, maybe 1000 or 2000 titles in all. Most of the paperback junk was sold for twenty five cents apiece, but it was the leagues of hardcovers and classics that caught my eyes. Almost ever book Vonnegut penned, some of them in first edition prints. Any "classic" author you could imagine was represented, such as Gore Vidal, Faulkner, Ryand, Fitzgerald... the list goes on. And it's not just one or two books, but every title that these authors had... not to mention the scores of books and people i'd never even heard of. Then there was the really obscure stuff; german texts from the turn of the century, an anti new-deal book called "the abundant life" (very intereting) and the book about the three guys who all think they're Jesus, to name a few. I ended up with maybe 50 books for myself, since i didn't want to be overly greedy. Some of these look to be worth some decent money and i'm sure there were a few gems that ended up being donated to various charities.

long coming

Now that i'm all back doing the college thing, i been busy.

First, i'm officially off my Mac high-horse; I ordered a PC-based Dell laptop. Sorry Mac, you would have made a nice laptop, but that would require the offset of a PC desktop.


Site attendance was up last month. I suspect is had something to do with Girls crushing cars. Also, for some probably ceepy reason, that picture of holly holding a bat with the "peed herself" caption has been highly searched and linked in UK search engines... They're probably using it in some weird scat site. awesome.

In case you didn't hear, there was a super bowl here last weekend. (how's this for a cellphone camera?? nice...)

Damn place was blowing up with people. We took these shuttles (buses) from the outer regions to get to the downtown area and it was just insane. These buses were surrounded by a sea of people and i couldn't help think in my mind, "this is what it will be like when the end comes and they're trying to evacuate an entire cities' population in a short time."




Text version of this website

mother?

Veronica Corningstone: Take me to Pleasure Town!
Ron Burgundy: Oh, we're going there!

There is a GOD! and he loves us... How else can i explain these girls crushing cars?

What the sweet hell is going on on this internet? Who are these people??? Heather, you sweet-vixen, car-crushing, self proclaimed revolutionary and seeker of enlightenment...

could it be? DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? We find these freakish things on the interwebs and we crap ourselves a little then we take a shower and forget about the whole ordeal, but didn't you see? all those car-crushing bio's said they were from michigan. MICHIGAN, DAMMIT!

THIS JUNK YARD IS 15 MILES FROM MY HOUSE. (scroll down for map) Ypsilanti, WHY, Ypsilanti??

...so tired...
...so defeated...

super ball's in detroit this year. that's the home of robocop

--meatwad

I love it: such a simple idea and yet so important. After five days of labor we set two aside and redefine ourselves. Two days to remember that we are not merely corporate cogs, but instead are Fiat mechanics and marathon men, professional drinkers and amateur dancers (or could it be the other way around?), body builders, recreational readers, hackers, music aficionados and of course, sweet, sweet love makers.

Five plus two, repeat until desired results are reached.

(of course, I guess the theory is we’re always working towards a job that makes those five days feel like an extended weekend. But until I can find a job that changes every day, lets me use my hands and my mind, involves lots of sweet, sweet lovin and has greats benefits, I’ll be relying on the weekends for my satisfaction.)

this weekend is particularly crazy round these parts do to el supero bollo (thank you three years of spanish)

i can't help but quote this ESPN blog: If you love burned-out brick buildings, this is the city for you; I have to believe Detroit leads the nation in low-rent housing that's been devastated by combustion. And this raises a question I had never considered until today: What (or who) is causing all of these fires?

My initial assumption was that these places were torched on purpose, probably for slumlord insurance purposes. However, a friend who lives here claims this carnage is usually caused by squatters; a building gets abandoned, it becomes occupied by rap-battling hobos, the hobos start a fire inside a garbage can for warmth, and fiery chaos eventually ensues. This makes sense (sort of), but the sheer number of these burned-out houses makes me imagine an explanation that's far more sinister. Is some supercriminal traveling around the city, randomly burning everything he sees for pleasure? This town truly needs a RoboCop.