raw deal
2005.04.27 11.04
Yesterday I drove into the parking garage. It took me a moment to get my badge to open the cross gate so the car behind me dodged into the adjoining entrance and passed me up. When you first enter the garage there's a visitor parking area that's off to the side. If you drive around it then you're forced to drive over these huge speed bumps. I prefer to avoid the speedbumps and drive through visitor parking. The guy who passed me up went the long way around through the speedbumps. As I cut through the visitor section, this crazy frickin' guy guns it when he sees what I'm doing. He goes flying over the speed bumps and nearly smashed into me in the process -- so he could pass me up again. So, I follow him up to the fifth floor and park next to him. As soon as he gets out of the car he's going off on me about how I'm crazy for driving so fast. I'm like, ''Don't lie to me -- you drove crazy fast when you came around there and went flying over those speed bumps. I saw you.'' He continued to fight for his cause and I was like, ''Why are you even mad? You're the one who's driving like you're in a race. Were you worried that your parking spot was going to be taken?'' I then decided to turn the whole thing on its ear and told him that we shouldn't be mad about what just happened. What we should be mad about is the stupid people who park in visitor parking even though they're not visitors. There is this one car in there day in and day out. Someone should say something to them. If I don't get to park in there, neither should they. I'm walking into the building with Speed Racer and notice the Sprint logo on his shirt. Sprint has offices on the 9th floor in the building that I work in. In my head I'm thinking I could totally go off on this guy, but I was satisfied with the interaction we were having now that I'd called him out on his race car antics. He muttered something about ''it's not worth getting mad about this'' to himself while we were in the elevator. We then went along our own way. He entered the Sprint offices and I entered the transfer elevator to the 29th floor. Houston drivers. I'm not going to miss them.
My car is for sale again. The sucka who said she'd buy the car from me backed out this evening. To make things even worse, I had a bad experience later earlier afternoon with an application I helped out with, so I'm bummed as a result of all this bad news. I was on MySpace trying to distract myself with the beautiful babies when I unexpectedly found myself listening to the entire new album ''With Teeth'' thanks to NIN's official MySpace account! Mmm. They should make NIN gum.
Check out the saga of the person who said they'd buy my car from me and then backed out at the last second. Pfft. People.
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2005 16:00:34 -0700 From: cston@woh.rr.com Subject: Question from eBay Member This email was sent by an eBay member via eBay's email forwarding system. If you reply to the email, your response will go directly to the member and not through eBay. ---------------- Dear thesupergenius, Hello I saw that your Eclipse did not sell on Ebay and that you were going to try= to sell it in the newspaper. I guess I just a few question for you. =20 1. Would you be interested in selling it for $8500 now that it didn't sell = on ebay? (I know that I already asked you once, but I thought it couldn't h= urt;)) 2. I need to check with my banker to see if I can get approved for $9500 (b= /c at $8900 I'll have to pay tax and title which will put it close to $9500= ) at this time I am approved for $9000 and that is why I keep asking if you= 'll take $8500, b/c I WANT this car soo badly!! So I guess I just need to = know when you were planning on putting it in the newspaper? So if you just want to get back with me, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks Hoover1112
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2005 16:45:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member To: cston@woh.rr.com I'll sell it to you for $8500. That $9950 message is a bit of a ploy (which didn't work, either). I forget where you live, again? M
From: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 08:47:54 -0400 Great! Thanks so much. I live in Ohio. I need to speak with my banker today and start looking for airfare. Your in Houston right? So we could just fly into Houston and hopefully you could meet us at the airport?.?. I have to tie up a few things on my end here, will that be a problem for you? Are you willing to hold on to the car for approximately 2 more weeks? Let me know, b/c its going to be 2 weeks to find airfare and for us to be able to get down there. Thanks again and have a great day!! Mandy
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 07:26:20 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member To: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Courtney, If you are able to make the initial $1000 non-refundable payment on the car, I will wait an addition 14 days for the remaining balance (and your arrival). Yes, I can meet you at either Bush Intercontinental or Hobby Airport (I recommend flying to whichever is least expensive). The drive back to Ohio from here will be really nice given the time of year. Let me know what you think? Regards, Mark
From: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 21:05:08 -0400 Hello Mark, I've been corresponding with you for my sister who is the one buying the car. She just found out today that she sold her car to another individual, so all that's left is the signing of the loan papers with the bank, and finding airfare. I saw today that we could fly into Hobby Airport for $89, which I thought wasn't too bad. The $1000 will need to come from my sisters loan, as she does not have that money available (being only 19 and a college student). Is it all possible to waive the $1000 if I send you (via fax or email) the confirmation of our airfare and/or a notarized legal document from my attorney's office that assures you we will be purchasing this '98 Spyder Eclipse? At this point it looks as if April 30th will be the earliest weekend we can get there (work and school conflicts). If that presents a problem, please let me know. That would be great if you could meet us at the airport! Thanks so much. Also, in regards to the vehicle title, will you have that when the money is transferred? Or will a loan need to be paid off before the title is released? Sorry it took a few days to return your email, I'm finishing up school as well as working.. its a little crazy:) Thanks Courtney
Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 19:04:04 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member To: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Everything sounds great. April 30th is fine, I'm around. I do have the title. I suppose that if I receive payment beforehand that I'd go ahead and post that to my bank (and obviously stop driving the car and keep it secured in the garage until your arrival). The timing of the early payment happening will reflect when I can get you the title (i.e. I'd like to at least make sure the payment posts, etc). I'd prefer not to do the exchange of everything at the last second when you guys arrive (unless you plan on carrying the payment in cash, which would be real cool and incredibly convenient (for me), I guess. I bought my DeLorean in Florida for 15K cash and I *sweated* out the whole flight there thinking that some creepy guy was going to be at the meeting point for where we were going to exchange for the car and that I'd die an early death. Isn't that pleasant? Perhaps I should change the subject. I swear... I'm not creepy. Really. So in summary, not a problem on my waiting out. I've got alternate transportation to start using when we "close" the deal. Depending on the type of loan your sister gets will depend upon whether the bank needs the title. For a car loan the bank will normally want the title before they process the actual loan (usually). If your sister gets a home equity loan (or any other loan) and uses that for the car, then obviously I can just hand her the title. My sis works at Wells Fargo so I get to hear all about the types of loans, procedures, etc. I'll await word from you again on how the payment is progressing. Regards, Mark
From: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 20:04:48 -0400 No, not creepy at all;) You just sound like my mother....what if this happens, or this happens, or if the car your buying isn't even really the car in the pics;) I bought my Montero on Ebay a year ago in Florida too, and everything went pretty smooth. The bank we are going through has all of our accounts and I used to work for them. I now work in an attorney's office handling real estate transactions so your sis and I should get together, prolly have alot to talk/crab about:) My banker (friend) is willing to write the loan without the title, usually does for us, so all we need now is to purchase airfare. As soon as I find the right tickets I will forward the confirmation/information to you. Thanks for understanding about the money upfront. My sister is soo excited, me too, b/c I'm going to borrow it ALOT. I just got rid of my convertible and desparately miss it!! If you have any other questions/concerns please feel free to contact me. Our banker is in Florida this week (golfing!) so he should be able to prepare the papers next week, and we will be bringing you a cashiers check (not a personal check) for the $8500, I'm a little leary handling that much cash:) Cash burns a whole in my pocket, so I might be tempted to spend it elsewhere, what can I say, I like to shop:) Take Care Courtney
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:09:27 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: Question from eBay Member To: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Hola, How goes it? Do you have your travel arrival information for when you're coming into town on the 30th? I'm plotting a quick departure on Sunday night and wanted to get Saturday's car sale-swap planned out. Regards, Mark
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:48:20 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Your Arrival In Houston On Saturday, April 30th To: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Mandy / Courtney -- Just checking in again to see if you have any details on your arrival? Thank you! Mark
From: "Courtney Hoover" <cston@woh.rr.com> Subject: Re: Your Arrival In Houston On Saturday, April 30th Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 21:45:31 -0400 Mark, I'm sorry to tell you, but there has been a glitch in things and we are not going to be able to purchase this vehicle from you. Mandy and I are deeply sorry for any inconvenience that we have caused you. We were under the impression that there would be enough money left over for us to fly down and drive the vehicle back but after the final calculation of figures this week, it is just not going to be possible. Mandy had to sell her car for the payoff of her loan, therefore limiting funds even more. Words cannot express how sorry we are, not to mention how incredibly bummed Mandy is. The price of the car is good for Mandy but she just didn't have the money to fly down and drive it back. Again, I am so sorry. Please forgive us for inconveniencing you. Sincerely~ Courtney/Mandy
i'm going back to the future
2005.04.25 21.29
toby or not toby
2005.04.23 15.02
Turns out the dog was named Toby and his owner lived on the other end of Chaucer Street. He says he believes Toby got loose around 12:15 PM, which sounds about right as we were finishing up our lunch around that time. When the four of us go out to lunch, it always happens like this: There's a vote, a veto, another vote, arguments about why we should ignore the vetoer and force them to lunch with the majority, and finally... concession. Either way, I'm glad dog + owner are back together again. Chew Chew had a lot of fun hanging out with a temporary new friend. The owner posted about 150 ''LOST DOG'' flyers in the West U. area, whereas I posted about 15 ''FOUND DOG'' web site ads. Houston.CraigsList.org was the site where he found Toby. Good to know.found a doggy
2005.04.22 22.12
I had lunch today at Ruggles off Rice Blvd. near Chaucer in West U. Click here for Google satellite image goodness of the location. As Yoda would say, ''Mmmmm! Good food!'' While dining outside there was this cute brittany spaniel-type dog wandering from table to table. The dog was super friendly but not very smart as he was walking into the parking lot and looked as if he was destined to be shmooshed. I figured since nobody else was going to step up and help out the little fella, I'd take a shot. It's amazing how many lost and found dog web sites there are. I submitted to a bunch of them including Houston.CraigsList.org (always a favorite).
last son of krypton
2005.04.21 22.29
Yeah, I'm completely geeking out. I've gone ahead and created a new deleted scene page for SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE -- this time featuring an extended version of the Frisky the cat rescue scene. Read all about it!
samples from paperlesspobox.com
2005.04.20 12.44
I got notification that my PaperlessPOBox account is now canceled, thankfully. I see that they got off their duff and fixed the machine that had the letters on it so people could actually view them. Here is the letter I sent them. I believe I wrote something on the back of the letter (which was not scanned). I also noticed that they only scanned one side of the post-it note and the fake scratch-off ticket I sent. So, in case you wanted to know what was on the back of anything, you're pretty much screwed. The contrast on these scans leaves something to be desired as the images appear somewhat cloudy as a result. I wrote the letter in a weird way just to see if it caused any issues (not that I was expecting any). You'll notice the letter was postmarked April 12th and I didn't receive my notice that the new mail was available in an electronic form until the morning of April 19th. If you are overseas or physically unable to get your mail, I suppose this is still a good deal, but for 99% of everyone else it's not worth the time and effort. The download this morning of the PDF was an excruciatingly slow 30K a second. Very obviously the result of limited DSL speeds. Nice. So, there you have it. I wanted to point out that I requested last month to have them start scanning in ALL mail I received, regardless of whether or not it was 3rd class or 1st class. The told me they couldn't change my account for that, so, yet again, another mark against them (not including myself). Enjoy the sample goodness (or badness, depending upon your take on the whole thing).
paperlesspobox.com sucks
2005.04.19 17.57
Saw THE FINAL CUT last night. It's one of those movies that anyone could make if they had a great budget, an awesome cinematagrapher, and a piece of s***t script. Plot holes galore and a flimsy premise, this film stars poor Mira Sorvino and Robin Williams. They are really good at walking around from room to room. When it comes to speaking, however... Avoid this one unless you enjoy confusing narratives and weak characters. So very disappointed. Want to see a better movie? Try VANILLA SKY.I am finally coming of age as far as database work and SQL is concerned. I'm not afraid to DROP or DELETE. I can SELECT pretty darn good and I totally get the JOIN. On the application side (using old school vbscript), I now know that sometimes it's better to check for RS.EOF versus RS.RecordCount to see if you've got anything to read. The only downside of all my learnin'? I can feel the life trickling out of me!
My blog subject for the day regards paperlesspobox.com. I've been a loyal subscriber for several years, although I've found it strange that I've never received any mail. It seems like a real waste of money -- $39 a month for the honor of having any first class mail that I receive scanned in. In all honesty, I had NEVER received any mail from them. I decided to do a little experiment. Last Monday I mailed off a first class envelope that contained a short letter, a fake lottery ticket, and one of my LASIK Plus cards. This morning -- yes, eight days later -- I received an email informing me that I had digital mail waiting. I clicked on the link they provided in my email and... I got a freakin' 404 error page. NICE! I thought, well, maybe this is a fluke. I tried to log into their site. It was a lot slower than I remember. Their menus are quite confusing -- even after you login you are shown the unauthenticated links on the top of your page. Anyway, I trudged through and got to my InBox. When you login there is no indication that you have mail waiting. You just have to always go to your inbox and check (assuming you weren't sent an email with a broken link telling you the mail was waiting). I clicked the new link to view my email -- and -- NOTHING! Server not found! I'm like, WTF, this is a scam. These guys suck. I immediately wrote them and asked to have my account canceled. I tried calling these guys last year to get a copy of some forms I needed to sign. Leaving voicemails was useless. It wasn't until my credit card expired did they start talking to me. So, long story short -- avoid paperlesspobox.com at all costs. Paperless PO Box sucks! Their telephone support is non-existent. It's a joke. Matter of fact, I did a little research on the server not found problem and discovered they are hosting their site using DSL service. Ugh. Not impressed. Get a data center connection for crying out loud. Okay, soapbox over. Next!
teary eyed
2005.04.15 18.14
How about a LASIK update? I think the last two days have definitely been eerie in that I almost forget I had the surgery. No more fuzz in the left eye. I'm like a hawk. In lower light conditions there are still halo issues, but nothing I can't ignore and they do seem to be reducing ever so slowly. It's been 21 days since the surgery, so I'm really happy with the outcome. Matter of fact, last weekend I got emotional while I was driving upon realizing that I'd technically been ''healed'' of an affliction that I've held for nearly my whole life. Having negative 8 (left) and negative 7.5 (right) diopters was super s**tty vision, let me assure you. I was on my way to the grocery to buy carrots. I'm using the juicer my dad bought me for Christmas (finally). Carrots are good for your eyes. I recommend tossing some apples into the juicer to sweeten up the carrots. Mmmm. My juicer is from that Jack whatshisname guy that is always blathering on during the late-night infomercials. It's a juicer. There's a lot of parts to it, but it's easy to use and easy to clean up. Put a plastic shopping bag in the fiber hopper thing to make cleanup even easier. Mmmm. Okay, so to sum up -- LASIK = good. Traffic = bad. Madonna = good. Anne Murray = bad.travel time
2005.04.15 18.14
I'm listing to my iPod random shuffle selection. It's not bad as long as I don't get stuck on any of the soundtracks. Listening to the orchestration for ''Contact'' or ''Superman III'' is sometimes interesting, but I need my rock / rap / soul / death metal with someone signing during it. Okay? I'm even agreeable to listening to Elton John's The Big Picture album when a track comes on. Anne Murray, however. Not on my playlist.
making the videos
2005.04.13 11.17
My parents bought a VCR in 1980 for $1000. It was one of those huge mechanical lever Magnavox models with the timer that turned the power on and off. You had to set it and then push down the PLAY and RECORD lever buttons. At the designated time it would start recording. Technically you could have pushed down the REWIND or FORWARD lever button and at the designated time it would have rewound or forwarded. Anyway, I kept a fairly detailed listing of all of the videotapes I had. We started labeling them A1, A2, A3... then ultimately after A9 came B0. Then B1, etc. I had the habit of marking every little nuance about each time (including garbage video that I may have recorded). I'm going to upload my list of home videotapes from the 1980s and 1990s at this link. It's very bizarre looking at all the stuff I have. If you see anything on there that interests you, let me know and I'll consider scanning it into the web for all posterity. If you see any pr0n references that somehow got into this list, then that's, uh, not mine.movabletype and sin city
2005.04.08 14.00
I've spent the last five days researching how to transplant MovableType onto my new server. In the process I've determined that Berkeley DB sucks major big time. Frequently if you go from one box to the other and your database version changes from v1.805 to v1.808 then the whole dang friggin' thing won't work unless you compile a special db_upgrade utility on your box. That sounds easy until you find out you have a million missing packages necessary to even get started. Jesus! I'm still having nightmares from all of the RPM file hunts I went on. I decided that I'd just convert to mySQL and get it over with. Much easier. I only had one database that I could access on my old box, so it was a matter of converting my site to mySQL, dumping to a file, transferring file to new box, importing into new db, then dropping all the tables I created on the old box and repeating the procedure over again (for the other peoples I'm hosting such as QueenBeth and OktoberNight). I will never go back to Berkeley DB! Seriously, if you're running MovableType 2.2x to 2.661 (the last free version they made) then I highly recommend moving to mySQL as soon as humanly possible. It's much better than gouging your eyeballs out, trust me.A saw ''Sin City'' last weekend with Shawn, Heather, and Parker and -- it was fantastic. I'm ready to see it again. So good. Truly, a film that is its own new genre. I loved it. It reminded me of the weirdness I felt when they first made Master of the Universe into a live-action film. Hated Dolph Lundgrun. Loved Courtney Cox. Mmm. That bastard David Arquette. Jealous. Ergh. Okay. I'm going to Number's tonight to find a clone of Courtney Cox (or at least an approximation). I wonder where I put my beer goggles.
LASIK update
2005.04.08 14.00
Things still fluctuate on occasion with the vision. I had my 10 day appointment and my eyes working together see 20/20. The left eye still has a teensy tiny bit of fuzz on things that are close to me, but since my right eye is dominant I don't notice it. I know, I'm repeating myself. The starbursts and halos when driving at night are there, of course, as they will be for a while, but I'm actually getting used to ignoring them. Occasionally my eye will adjust and they go away for a second. I expect that will become more frequent as time goes on. I'm now addicted to staring off into the distance and marveling at everything that's out there given that I don't have a limit to my peripheral vision anymore. Waking up in the morning and seeing everything is the coolest thing. No more goggles, no more meds. I just irrigate my eyes 4 to 6 times a day as the doctor recommended. It definitely feels good to do that. I sometimes wonder if someone will catch me in the middle of my applying the drops and then eventually wiping away the excess with a tissue. ''Mark, why are you crying?'' I've decided that I'd tell them I'm crying because I miss the XFL.quote unquote
2005.04.01 0.56
I don't know how I missed this, but an interview I gave last month about my Real World Austin site was printed a couple weeks ago in the Austin American-Statesman. Yay! Still no bids on the car. Boo. In other news -- I desperately want to use the word badonkadonk but haven't found the occasion yet.
