Categories
It Happened to Me

What I’m Doing on My Summer Vacation

My summer vacation started on Friday with a trip to the Om Festival, which can best be described as the answer to the question “What if the Ewoks from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi decided to hold their own Burning Man festival?” I just got back from the festival, and in an hour from the time I write this, The Redhead’s plane will land here in Accordion City. We both have the week off and will enjoying just hanging out (we might make a short drive to Niagara Falls’ Clifton Hill; Wendy loves cheesy amusements). Since I have two computers and WiFi in the house, both Wendy’s and my blogging should continue at their respective normal paces, but there are no guarantees. We’re pretty good at distracting each other from work…

Categories
It Happened to Me

I guess I should be flattered

You’re going to need a little background for this one.

First, time-warp back to early March 2003: Mandatory Cheese Sandwich Entry Part One and Mandatory Cheese Sandwich Entry Part Two. Note the “Cute Girl”, whom I shall call “Kimberly” (not her real name) for the sake of simplicity.

The next relevant bit of back story is in the entry titled Last Night, a little later that month, which features Kimberly again:

9:00 p.m. – A Chinese restaurant

The fortune cookies are on my side tonight.

My cookie: You will soon be rewarded handsomely for your effort and talent.

Her cookie: A man is a volume if you learn to read him.

Ohhhhh, yeah.

9:20 p.m. – Corner of Bay and College Streets

The cookies lied!

“A” for effort, “D minus” for outcome. Sometimes looks, brains,
charm, incredible luck and accordion power just aren’t enough. These
things happen.

But dammit, I thought the cookies were going to push me over the top.

That one hurt quite a bit, and that’s probably why my “people
radar” wasn’t working properly the following weekend, when I hooked up
with this sort-of-goth girl, which ended up being an even bigger fiasco.
Ever since then, I’ve had to fight down a sense of annoyance whenever
Kimberly’s around. I know it’s not her fault, but I can’t help
feeling annoyed just the same.

(A little aside: The entry prior to Last Night is Doc Searls Comes to Accordion City. If I’d never gone to that little get-together, I’d never have met Boss Ross and would never have been offered the current job. It was a life-changing couple of weeks.)


Last night at Kickass Karaoke, I walked in to find Kinberly there. This is unusual — I’ve never seen her at Kickass Karaoke.

That’s when I noticed the second unusual thing: the new guy she had in
tow. He was about 5’11”, Asian, with a goatee and long sideburns. You’d
never mistake us for twins, but wow, did we come from the same style archetype.
 

Eldon walked up to me and said “He’s wearing the same colour
shirt you are, too.” I looked down, looked at my “clone” and had to
agree.

“This gives the term ‘cheap Asian knockoff’ a whole new meaning,” I said. “It’s like passing over a Lexus for a Hyundai.”

“Ah, don’t you worry,” he said consolingly, “he’s all Asian and no accordion.”

I guess I should be flattered.

Categories
Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Music

Thanks, Carson!

As soon as Carson (the host) saw me walk into last night’s Kickass Karaoke, he attached something to the mic stand. It was an instrument boom. He’d bought it just to make it easier to set up a second mic for the accordion.

Holy crap.

Thanks, Carson! You’re the best!

Categories
Uncategorized

You’ve got to like a headline like that

“You’d think,” goes the breathless text in this PowerhouseProfts.net
testimonial, “You’d think with both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars well
under way and with the war on terrorism being more than two years old
that the share price of any bullet proof vest manufacturer would be
fully valued. Not so!”

Would you like to know more?

[ via MetaFilter ]

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Uncategorized

Is “The Farm” still ploughing?

The answer is: YES!

I’ve been busy with all sorts of work, but yes, The Farm is an ongoing concern.

(This entry’s title is brought to you by A. E. Housman.)

Categories
Geek

Also trying to find John Lim

I’m also trying to contact John Lim, owner and operator of the smarty-smart programming language weblog, PHP Everywhere (formerly at php.weblogs.com). Drop me a line at my business email address if you know how to reach him.

Categories
Geek

Does anyone know how to reach Ehud Lamm?

I’m trying to contact Ehud Lamm, owner and operator of the smarty-smart programming language weblog, Lambda the Ultimate (formerly at lambda.weblogs.com). Drop me a line at my business email address if you know how to reach him.