Month: March 2005

Good Good Friday, everyone!

How can you fear this man? PUPPIES TRUST HIM! PUPPIES!

[via Metafilter, via cheesedip] I have a friend who is trying to get over her fear of David Hasselhoff.

I try to help wherever I can, and here’s the next part of the cure: The

Hoff Calendar [543K, Microsoft Word Document, enclosure], a 2005 calendar with a different David Hasselhoff

picture for each month.

If this doesn’t cure her, I don’t know what will.

Purim

begins at sundown tonight. I’m not Jewish, but my fiancee and in-laws

are, and hey — any holiday where you’re encouraged to drink is good in

my books!

(Purim is what happens when a big-shot Asian guy checks out the cute Jewish girl, something with which I am rather familiar.)

I might join Sass

and company at “Jamaoke” tonight (that’s kataoke, but with a live band

instead of recorded music). If I do, I’ll do my own version of the

Purim toasts: “Screw you, Haman! Rock on, Mordecai!”

I have no Purim pics, but here are a couple of shots from the St. Patrick’s Day beerfest with my Tucows co-workers:

“On a dark desert highway…”

From left to right: Me, one of those fanboys who pop up when they hear

me playing rock on ther accordion, and domain name guru Greg Frank

playing air guitar. Photo courtesy of my co-worker Kim.

Nuthin’ says “sexy” like a Guinness hat. Greg and I love these things. Photo courtesy of my co-worker Kim.

And last but not least, here’s a goofy Purim joke for those of you celebrating:

Ah, Borscht Belt humour.

Now that I’ve got house-hunting on the brain, oddities that would have

otherwise escaped my notice now present themselves to me. Case in

point: consider the little Seattle “fixer-upper” pictured below,

asking price almost US$250K (CAD$304,194 at today’s exchange rate):

If this place is going for $250K, I live in Trump Tower.

The listing starts off on a none-too-promising note:

Designated Landmark property subj. to Landmark Brd Controls/Regs. Also, Former Meth Lab

site w/ Cert. clean-up done. Unique roof design makes this a property

that MUST be preserved. Needs Ttl Rehab/Restoratn from foundation up –

perfect philanthropist developer proj. Much effort could bring this

house, sited on qtr acre & flanked by six new homes, back to its

orig. charm and luster. Shown by Appt. Only. No functioning systems or

heat src. Bsmt has laundry room and bal. Unfind. Closg subj to Short

Plat.

I like how they broach the “Meth Lab” topic, starting with

“Also”, the way one makes a casual aside. I also love the line “perfect

philanthropist developer proj.” which must be real estate-speak for “a

total dump”. The only better way it could be spun would be to say “Hey

— if you’re looking for a place to shoot the sequel for Requiem for a Dream, this is it!”

I can just imagine the plight of whoever buys this house. Imagine how

many visits from out-of-town bikers they’ll have: “Hey bro, before we

go to the Seattle Hells Angels convention, let’s pass by Smitty’s place

— I tweaked pretty good on this really choice crank he sold me five

years ago!”

Click here to see a screen capture of the online listing for the house.

This could be you!

Marketplace as protest venue: rather than follow Messrs. Bush’s and Cheney’s slow, inefficient route, Billionaires for Bush have simply decided to put the US’ Social Security up for sale on eBay.

I’m beginning to get the feeling that when they say “ownership society”, they mean “owned” in the hacker/videogamer sense of the word.

I have received a couple of emails asking me to contribute my two cents to the “white male” debate about the blogosphere. Since I’m a little tied up doing actual work, I shall simply direct you to this entry about BloggerCon 1.

My old friends from Crazy Go Nuts University, Ashley Bristowe and Chris “Turner” Turner, have a name for their baby inspired by the Greatest Movie of All Time (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off): Sloane.

Her full name is Sloane Lantau Bristowe Turner. “Lantau” is derived from the island on which Hong Kong’s International Airport is located. The reasoning is explained in their post. “So that’s how it’s done in their family,” as Principal Rooney would say.

(Luckily, they did not name her after the actual airport itself, which bears the funny-in-the-Beavis-and-Butthead-sense name of Chek Lap Kok.)