Want the story behind the image above? Go check out my tech blog, Global Nerdy!
Month: July 2007
Categories
Look Into His Eyes and Know Fear!
If I were an employer based in Chicago, I’d want Michael K. Brandow of Brady, Connolly and Masuda P.C. as my attorney in worker’s compensation cases. Just looking at the guy, I think the opposition would rather settle than even risk meeting him face-to-face in court…
“Happy thoughts…keep thinking happy thoughts…”
That’s a mighty fine Unix beard, sir. Not a bad Unix gut either.
Last night, I attended a presentation by Mr. Free Software himself — Richard M. Stallman — titled Copyright vs. Community in the Age of Computer Networks. I took photos and notes, and you can check them out at Global Nerdy.
I know from checking the server logs that my switching blogging tools and domains (from “accordionguy.blogware.com” to “joeydevilla.com”) has thrown off a lot of people searching for specific images from this blog. It’s going to take some time for Google and the other search engines to re-index the blog, but eventually the search engine results for pictures and articles in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century will take you to the right place.
One of the most sought-after pictures from this blog is the “First Corinthians Tramp Stamp”, an overly-large lower back tattoo featuring the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. If you’ve ever attended a Christian wedding before, you’ve probably heard this verse because it’s been overused, a fact that got turned into a gag in the movie The Wedding Crashers. You’ll find this image — which might not be safe for work, depending on the sort of office you’re in — in an entry from last year titled The First Corinthians” Tramp Stamp.
While wandering around High Park on Monday — which was a holiday, thanks to the Canada Day long weekend — the Ginger Ninja and I stumbled across the “Hemp on Wheels” truck, pictured below.
Most stores that specialize in hemp products try to downplay the toking aspects of hemp and focus on the fact that it’s a pretty versatile plant that has a lot of non-drug-related uses, such as being a basis of a very durable kind of cloth. These guys just skip the pretense entirely. I didn’t see any hemp-based clothing or bags, but I did see an excellent collection of pipes and bongs, as well as a lot of pretty decent rock paraphernalia. The proprietor was a very friendly greybeard, but that’s too be expected — grouchy head shop owners don’t stay in the business very long.
I asked him if I could take a photo of his licence plate for the blog, and he said “Sure, maaaaan, take as many pictures as you like!”, so here it is…
For the curious, Hemp on Wheels has a website at HempOnWheels.com.
Categories
Where I Slept Tuesday Night
The Ginger Ninja was a bit concerned about my snoring and claims it sounds as though I stop breathing in my sleep — a sign of possible sleep apnea. Although I generally wake up feeling rested, I thought that it would be a good idea to get myself booked into a sleep lab. Hence I spent Tuesday night here:
It was simple enough. After going for 24 hours without caffeine (which gave me a headache, a sure sign that I really should cut down), I showed up at 9:30 p.m. and was led to my room, where I filled out a couple of questionnaires about my sleeping habits and then read while waiting for the tech to prep me.
About an hour later, I got wired up — quite literally — with a number of sensors:
- On my forehead
- Behind by ears
- On my head (which meant that I had hair full of electroconductive goop)
- On my neck (a piezoelectric sensor to detect snoring)
- On my nose (to detect nose breathing)
- A band across my chest
- A band across my stomach
- On my lower legs (to detect leg twitching)
- On my right index finger (heartbeat monitor)
Once wired, the tech went into the control room and asked me over the intercom to do a number of things to calibrate the sensors, such as:
- Alternating between looking up and down
- Alternating between looking left and right
- Pointing the toes in my left and right legs
- Closing my eyes
- Breathing only through my nose
- Breathing only through my mouth
In addition to all these sensors, I noticed the night-vision camera on the opposite wall pointing at the bed. I’m pulling out this wedgie in the bathroom, I thought.
Once this was done, they brought me a reading light to my beside and told me that I should try to fall asleep between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. I was already feeling tired from a lack of caffeine and after reading a few chapters of Everything is Miscellaneous, I decided to turn out the light. It was around 11:30.
In spite of being in a strange bed, having all these cables tugging at me and the bright red light of the fingertip heartbeat sensor, I fell asleep quickly (as I normally do). The bed was comfy and the room was quiet and had a decent air conditioner. They woke me up at 6:30, and after disengaging me from the sensor pack and filling out a one-sheet questionnaire on how I slept, I headed off to work since it was really close by.
I guess I’ll be hearing from my doctor soon.
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Happy Fourth of July!
I’d like to wish my American readers (especially my friends and relatives in the U.S.) a safe and happy Fourth of July!