Rollin'

2008-06-30 - 11:14 a.m.

Welcome to all of you who followed this banner:

I don't usually post on the weekends, so hopefully y'all weren't bored.

Dopey me - if I'm gonna run a new banner, I gotta do it on MONDAY.

===

So I had the gig on Friday. At noon or so, I got a call from Bob. He'd developed an ear infection and felt lousy. So we talked about how the night might go if he didn't show up.

Now, Bob has played through all kinds of misery - it usually takes a trip to the hospital before he decides not to work. Well, this time the infection screwed up his equilibrium, and he wound up falling on his face outside his doctor's office.

So he'd be getting onto a stage about two feet above the floor, with a heavy guitar around his neck, and no sense of balance. That would be a "no".

So we called in Tracy, an old friend who has known Bob for about forty years and has played off and on with us for the last twenty. He knew our stuff, and he had his own tunes that added to our repertoire. And the crowd dug it - they stayed all night long.

I think we managed to keep Bob's job.

===

Sunday I had something of an inspiration. Brin is a huge huge fan of Crystal Castles, and I have a nice emulation of it. Unfortunately, it really only works well with a trackball - it will work with a mouse, but you have to constantly pick up the mouse and move it back to the pad because of the way the mouse works.

So I thought I'd go to the local Fry's and pick up a USB trackball. Good idea, bad execution - Fry's doesn't carry trackballs anymore. But I did find a DVD of a classic sequel, so it wasn't a total loss.

But I still wanted a trackball, if not in time for Brin's visit then for future ones. So I went on eBay and found an X-Arcade trackball panel - it plugs into a USB port and acts like a mouse. And I got it for about half what it costs in the store.

This will make playing Crystal Castles and other classics like these two much easier - and therefore, more fun.

===

Coming soon to a restaurant near you, if California continues its Nanny State attitude:

In Gateshead Council in England, there is concern for people's health due to salty food from "takeaway" places. People are just putting too much salt on their food.

So the city council decided to use tax money to get new salt shakers with only five holes in the tops. Supposedly this will get people to "reduce the amount of salt being used by more than 60 per cent yet give a �visually acceptable sprinkling� that would satisfy the customer".

Lovely. Now if they'd only come up with a cure for English food.

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Speaking of England and food...

According to this BBC report, biofuels are the cause of poverty for an estimated 30 million people.

Can we drill in ANWR yet?

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In Ohio, a Little League all-star baseball game got canceled. The reason - they didn't want to exclude anyone, and since an all-star game usually means the best players, the city's Rec Department didn't want to hurt the feelings of the kids who didn't make that cut.

What about the kids who worked hard to become good players? Does that mean the message they get is, "Be the best you can be, but it won't matter"?

What happens when the not-the-best kids get into the work force and don't get the raise because they didn't work hard enough? What are they gonna do, sue?

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I keep getting this piece of spam, with a neatly mangled "from" address:

To learn more about [[my account]]@yahoo.com Valued Customer card with Mc Donalds,
vist
[[idiotic obvious web address]]

[[31 blank lines removed]]

reply to leave

or write:
10 Anson Road #16-16 UNT 6156 International Plaza Singapore 079903
Republic of Singapore

So these people think 1) I'm stupid enough to think that I'm getting a McDonald's gift card from an address that nowhere contains the phrase "www.mcdonalds.com" and 2) not going to think that it would be unusual to write to SINGAPORE to be removed from this list.

Wrong on both counts, assholes.

===

Okay, lunch and then work.

Shower's free.

Be seeing you.

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