AwesomeAwesomeAwesomeAwesome.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 28 April 2005 at 11:18 PM

It appears that paisley is back in style. Most of you probably don't much care about this, but this has cut me to the quick. As a proponent of the concept that paisley goes with nothing (and someone who read the book of the same name) I'm not exactly happy about this new trend. However, my desire to dress better than my co-workers leads me to believe that sometime this week I'll find myself at the store seeing if I can match a paisley tie with a brightly colored shirt.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 25 April 2005 at 6:16 PM

Jeremy, Ben, and I saw the Cardinals beat the Astros yesterday at Busch Stadium. We were sitting in the thirteenth row of the field boxes (actually about 18 rows back from the field) between the screen and the first base dugout. I've been in these seats at least twice before and they're hard to beat. We had a great view of the on deck batters and the third base line. Really, the only part of the stadium that we couldn't see was the right field corner.

I took a bunch of pictures while at the game. Follow this link for the entire set.

The game itself was great. Matt Morris delivered five solid if not outstanding innings of work, and the Cardinals offense finally showed up. The Redbirds as a team hit for the cycle in the first inning and nearly turned a triple play later in the game. Jimmy Journell showed a little shakiness in relief, but after a visiting from the pitching coach he settled down and got three straight ground balls (inducing ground balls is the preferred way to get outs for most Cardinal pitchers). Even Isringhausen, who rarely comes up with a lights out appearance, dominated in his appearance late in the game.

Even the weather cooperated. The temperature was a bit cool, but sitting in the sun for the first half of the game I was warm enough to take my jacket off and watch the game in my shirt sleeves. However, once the sun dropped down around 3:00 I needed to put my windbreaker back on.

All things considered, a prefect day to be at the ballpark.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 25 April 2005 at 11:32 AM

Alan Greenspan makes me mad. First, when he supported the tax cuts, he tells us that deficits are fine, but now he tells us that deficits are unsustainable and "a set of procedural restraints on the budget-making process" are necessary to rein in spending. He's just a partisan hack these days, I think.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 21 April 2005 at 2:56 PM

Flickr has upgraded their pro accounts. From the email I got, these are the benefits of going pro early:

1. Double what you paid for!
   Your original 1 year pro account has been doubled to 2 years, and your new expiry date is Jan 1, 2007.
   
2. More capacity!
   Now you can upload 2 GB per month.
   
3. 2 free Pro Accounts to give away to your friends!
   This won't be activated for a day or two, but when it is, you'll see a note on your home page telling you what to do.

So if you think you'll get some use out of a pro flickr account, let me know and perhaps I'll send one of my free accounts your way.

Comments: 3 Posted by david on 18 April 2005 at 10:28 PM

I see this license plate all the time in the parking lot outside my grandmother's condo. Apparently Charlie isn't the only one with a llama obsession.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 18 April 2005 at 9:54 AM

Okay, we all know that Donald Trump's catchphrase is "you're fired." This is what he tells the candidate that he has eliminated from competition each week on "The Apprentice." However, he also refers to the show as an "eighteen week job interview." This begs the question, how can you be fired from a job interview? A couple of years ago I applied unsuccessfully for a number of jobs, but I never once was told "you're fired" when I didn't get the job. And I would have laughed if I had, because you first have to be hired in order to get fired.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 15 April 2005 at 8:06 AM

My grandmother is throwing herself an eightieth birthday party this weekend. I know very little about this party, but I'll share with you what I know. Some of this might interest you.

First, my grandmother's birthday was in January. The current month is April, so this is really more of an eighty years, two months, and three weeks party. But you can round that down to eighty years, I guess.

Second, the idea for the party was conceived and executed by my grandmother; however, she was been forwarding all the bills to my mother and aunt.

Third, there will be an open bar.

Fourth, attire for male family members is a suit or sports coat but no ties.

Fifth, the party is being held at Mudd's Grove in Kirkwood.

Sixth, based on RSVPs, there will be around 85 attendees. Coincidentally, 85 will likely be close to the average age at the event.

Seventh, although the party occurs during the dinner hours, no dinner will be served.

Eighth, the date for the party was reportedly picked to ensure that all the grandchildren would be able to attend. I was not consulted regarding the date.

Ninth, attendance is mandatory but I would be there even if it weren't.

Comments: 2 Posted by david on 13 April 2005 at 1:43 PM

I must leave work right at four o'clock today or I risk not getting my errands taken care of, so this will be a short post. I'm dropping off my car for a slew of maintenance and repair related activities (recalls, standard maintenance, and one of the dummy lights is on). I got myself a loaner while the car is in the shop, but I'm beginning to dread driving it. I've seen some low end cars people get while their cars are being serviced, and they aren't very nice. They often smell of cigarette smoke and just aren't good. And I don't want to be seen in one. This evening I also have to go pick up a new suit that I ordered and drop off some shirts to be laundered. Unfortunately, Mondays are usually pretty boring, so those will probably be the highlights of my evening.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 11 April 2005 at 3:44 PM

Alright, I'm watching the Cardinals game on TV right now, and I'm pretty sure George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush are sitting in the front row right behind home plate. For those of you watching the game, did the announcers say anything about this before the game?

UPDATE: Minute Maid Park is tiny. Edmonds stretches out and barely connects with the ball off the end of the bat and he hit a three run HR while I was typing this post.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Actually, it turned out to only be Barbara Bush. No ex-presidents were in attendance.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 5 April 2005 at 6:14 PM

I've been remiss in posting here lately. As you have probably guessed, this is entirely related to having some interesting things to work on while I'm at work. But aside from that I've had a pretty interesting weekend, so let me share a few things with you.

My weekend started on Friday with me taking the afternoon off to go pick up my new living room furniture. As I mentioned earlier, I bought a sofa, loveseat, and chair from Jennifer Convertibles a couple of weeks ago and they were finally ready for pick-up on Friday. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I had originally planned to have the furniture delivered, but when they quoted a $150 delivery fee, I suffered from sticker shock and decided to do the work myself (with help from michael). This didn't turn out to be too horrible a decision. It took us two trips from the warehouse to get everything back to the apartment, but we were able to use the elevator to get them upstairs (despite an elderly resident's sing-song insistence that it would not work). The first trip from the warehouse with just the couch was a breeze, but the trip with the chair and loveseat was more problematic. Things didn't quite fit and we had to do some creative work with ratcheting straps and ropes to get things situated for the return trip. But the real difficulty came in moving out the old furniture. The first couch we took down went down the stairs without much trouble, but we had to remove a light to get it out of the stairwell. And then we almost failed to get it into the storage locker. michael and I both suffered in that last stage. The other couch proved easier to move (but that was partly because we didn't move it far), but it wasn't without its difficulties either. But we finished with just enough time to grab a bite to eat before heading out to see Sin City.

michael, Rachel, Jeremy, Yang, Ben, and I saw Sin City at the Moolah Theatre on Lindell. The Moolah is interesting because they have a huge screen with couches on the floor in front and balcony seating higher up with lots of space between the rows. They also have a bar outside the theatre and a bowling alley beneath the theatre. Sin City turned out to be great. It was a tad long, but that wasn't something you noticed until the show was over. A more serious complaint is that the hard-boiled dialog doesn't sound quite as compelling when spoken as it does on a comic book page. But that's my only quibble, and it's a minor one. There is a bit more gore than some might be comfortable with, but the impact is somewhat lessened by the non-red color of all the blood. Anyway, I recommend the movie.

After the movie we went to South Grand for some pasta.

On Saturday michael and I went to CompUSA and bought a remote control for my computer. After that we began the Deadwood marathon. By the end of the weekend we'd seen eleven of the twelve season one episodes. If you don't mind a lot of cursing, I think you'll like the show. But you need to subscribe to HBO or know how to find the shows online. The DVDs are also out, but at nearly $100 they seem prohibitively expensive.

Here's the thing about premium channels. If I could pick and choose which ones I wanted without having to get them in packages and without having to get a digital cable box, I would probably get a few of them. But Charter's policy of bundling and requiring a digital box means that I'm not going to get any of them. I don't really understand why they have this all or nothing policy, but its costing them some money as I would happily pay an extra five or ten dollars a month for the the two stations (BBC America and HBO) that I'd like to have. But that isn't an option, so I keep my money and get the shows I don't have channels for online.

On Sunday I completed my living room purchases at World Market by buying a small stool that serves as an end table and a suede cube that I'm using as an ottoman. I also moved my bookcases around a bit and planned where I would hang my framed Turner print. michael thinks curtains or other fancy window covering are needed to give the room a finished look, but I'm done for at least a week or so.

Tonight is the first Cardinals game of the season. I have high hopes, so the Cardinals had better not disappoint.

Tomorrow I have to stay late at work for some after-hours network gear testing. Sometimes it sucks to be indispensable.

Comments: 2 Posted by david on 5 April 2005 at 3:25 PM

Looks like there's some April Fools Day tomfoolery on the funny pages. Garfield made a lame attempt with "Garfield in Espanol," but I preferred the efforts of Foxtrot, Get Fuzzy, and Pearls Before Swine. I put those three together on one page for your edification.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 1 April 2005 at 8:28 AM