July 2003 Archives

Is it ever hot! 106 today, but at least it's a dry heat. Getting here took some work though. All in all, I got bounced off of 7 flights and had to shell out for a ticket on Southwest. Greyhound of the skies. At least it was cheap for same-day pricing. Wednesday, I got bumped off the last flight out of Salt Lake City and had to spend the night at Motel 6. Wake up call from Tom Bodett, and I was back to waiting at the airport. Got bumped twice more, and then surrendered to SW airlines. It kinda messed with my family's vacation-- we were all too worn out to drive the 8 hours to Mt. Rainier. So we went up to Laird Park just an hour northeast of my parents house. It was very nice with the exception of the over-eager boy scouts in-training chopping wood at 5am. Still, it was nice to spend three days among the trees and Nature. That's my new excuse for everything. Bug in your beer? Don't worry, it's just Nature. Anyway, the flights home look a little more accessible than the trip up here, so wish me luck. That's all from the Palouse.

Just a quick note: I have fixed the search feature over there on the right. It actually searches and returns results now! And if you are super geeky, you can use regular expressions (regex) to search with. Also remember to sign up for updates farther down the right side of the page. That feature has always worked!

It's raining this morning. And boy, do we need it. After a few weeks of 90+ weather, the lawn looks like the Serengeti plains. No alerts rights now, but TWC is calling for "scattered strong storms" all day. I have lots to do today to get ready for my trips to see the fambly and my reunion in Maine, so a change of pace from the usually July oven will be nice.

Need a good laugh? Check out the poor translations from our Eastern cousins at www.engrish.com.

An example:

Idling a bit fast? I am. They just opened a new Starbucks coffee joint a few blocks from my house. As far as I know, it's the first one in Arkansas that's not in a Barnes & Noble bookstore. I've been there every morning since they opened last Friday. Now we just need a Krispy Kreme to make my life complete. So, have you had your coffee today?

Yet another way to kill endless hours on the internet. Figure out which member of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force YOU are by clicking here.

To make your own, go here.

From my George Carlin desk calendar:

JUST FOR FUN: Call one of those How-Am-I-Driving 800 numbers and complain about a particular driver. Tell him he was driving on the sidewalk, vomiting, giving the finger to an old woman, and dangling a baby out of the window.

A quote:

No Yukon, P.E.I. on new maps of Canada

Last Updated Tue, 15 Jul 2003 16:25:30

OTTAWA - A magazine published by the Canadian Tourism Commission to attract tourists contains maps that have wiped Prince Edward Island and Yukon off the face of the country.

Fodor's Travel Guides, an American company, produced the magazine, which is called PureCanada. The first issue appeared this month.

The maps identify several small towns, but overlook Halifax, N.S.; Fredericton, N.B.; and Brandon, Man. The maps also refer to Newfoundland and Labrador (the province's official name for two years) simply as Newfoundland and misspell Canada's newest territory, Nunavut as "Nunavit."

The tourism commission said Monday some of the errors were caught before the magazine was distributed and a page of corrections was inserted into every copy sent out.

The magazine is published twice a year and has a circulation of 270,000. Each magazine comes with a Fodor's micro-guide to Canada. It contains the same errors.

Corrected maps and the Fodor's guide will be sent out with the fall/winter issue of the magazine.

The tourism commission's partnership with Fodor will be reviewed at the end of the year. The commission paid $600,000 to have the magazine published.

Written by CBC News Online staff

Woo hoo! A stupid ani-GIF to celebrate the 4th!

BBQ, lots of BBQ. That's what my 4th of July was filled with. I ended up helping the roomie and the Cross-Eyed Pig cater to 200 people down in Hot Springs. It was my first catering gig. And it almost killed me. Still, it was fun even though I sweated out my own body weight. The house we were at was very nice! A 10 million dollar jobby, I'd say. It had it's own isthmus on Lake Hamilton, fer Pete's sake! The roomie also got his grill back so we broke it in last night with NY strips and chicken boobies. I ate very well this weekend. Bayly's new car (see below) is great! He let me drive it on Saturday, and it's a go-er.

My friend Bayly just bought a new car! Check it out:

Yuuummmmm! Pot luck at work today. I brought my famous chicken curry. So here I sit, eating my third helping and listening to Tower of Power's Squib Cakes. We are eating like kings we wish we were. My software rollout last night went pretty well, and the finished product has run almost flawlessly today. As you can imagine, that's a huge load off my shoulders.