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Tuesday, July 10, 2001

• That Home Run Derby sure was time-consuming.
• They're down to the elite 8 in the Tournament of Stuff. Go Tater Tots!!

• I love Cal Ripken as much as the next O's fan, but last night I found myself wishing Magglio Ordoņez would hit another home run so he could be the MVP. I do not, however, believe that the pitch Park threw that Cal hit for a home run was intentional, a gift, whatever. After the Ted Williams love-fest a couple years ago, MLB is apparently going to try to do something sappy every year. Yay. I'm hoping Rob Neyer or someone will write a sufficiently curmudgeonly article about it.
• Good Diary column on Slate this week, about running with the bulls in Pamplona. Not from a drunken frat-boy perspective, either, but by someone who's done it several times and actually has some respect for the tradition. Really informative. The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite novels, and thus I'd really like to go to Pamplona. Or to the festival where they throw a goat off the tower.
• Avoid JigZone if you want to get any work done.

Thursday, July 12, 2001

• If you're having a bad day, at least a cow didn't fall through your ceiling.
• Jaromir Jagr is coming to Washington. Reminds me of when the Phillies got Lenny Dykstra from the Mets. I hated the Mets. Dykstra was a big jerk. But he grew on me, especially when he nearly lead the Phils to a championship in '93. I suspect this will be similar. I have conditioned myself to think of Jagr as a wussy pretty boy. But now he's OUR wussy pretty boy.
• I got a bigfool e-mail yesterday bemoaning, in all seriousness, the evils of Harry Potter and how it converts kids to Satanism. Trouble is, just about everything in the e-mail was lifted straight from the Onion. Wow, people are gullible. I couldn't let it go by; I had to Reply All and supply them the link to Snopes which explains that it just ain't so, quoting the same e-mail. Maybe if someone actually READ THE FRIGGIN' BOOKS rather than just believing some random e-mail... nah, too much to ask. Though I do applaud the person who (I assume) originally wrote this as a joke and forwarded it to unsuspecting Christians.

Tuesday, July 18, 2001

• Rob Neyer has a good column today on the travails of former Mets pitchers Isringhausen, Pulsipher and Wilson.
• Went to PNC Park in Pittsburgh this past weekend. I highly recommend it. Saw the Kansas City Monarchs beat the Homestead Grays. I must say that while I enjoyed a sandwich from Primanti Brothers, it wasn't quite as life-changing as I was led to believe it would be.
• We made Pasta Caprese last night. A dish that just screams summer.

Monday, July 30, 2001

• The web site is undergoing a bit of a face lift. Let me know if you like it.
• When passing through Staunton, Virginia, you WILL stop at Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant if you know what's good for you. Don't even think about not ordering pie.

Thursday, July 26, 2001

• Boy, I sure don't update this enough.
• The Tournament of Stuff has moved to a new home. Go Psyduck and foam fingers! Geocities is stupid.
• If you just can't get enough of single-elimination tournaments, check out Road to Springfield.
• The AI-related interactive game/story thingy ended this week. It was cool. I was never the first to solve any puzzles, but I came close twice. If you're not familiar with it, get the scoop at Cloudmakers. Can't wait to see more creative uses of the 'Net like this one.
• Department of obnoxious things: not all that long ago, Major League Baseball took over all the individual team's web sites. They're all run centrally now, which means there's no local flair on any of them; they all look more or less the same. To make that more annoying, I tried to e-mail the Orioles about something using the feedback form on orioles.mlb.com. My message got bounced, "User's Disk Quota Exceeded," which is already incredibly poor form for any commercial organization. But to make it worse, it came from allfanfeedback@website.mlb.com. So my message wasn't going to the Orioles, it was going to a central MLB mailbox. How lame.

Thursday, August 2, 2001

• From the Department of Obnoxious Things: If you happen to download BearShare, a Gnutella client, after installing be sure to immediately go to Program Files/SaveNow and uninstall SaveNow.exe, an obnoxious context-sensitive pop-up ad generator. Took me a while to figure out why I was getting pop-up windows that had ads for direct competitors of the sites I was visiting. Worst of all, it popped up ads for porn sites a couple of times. At work. While I was accessing my Yahoo account, or Salon.com. Guess my mail and Salon's content is smutty enough to set that off. (BearShare is otherwise OK, but I miss the good ol' days when Napster was king.)
• Department of Things I Didn't Know I Needed: When we were out of town this weekend, at one point my wife was driving my (relatively new) car, and I was fiddling with the stereo. And all my radio pre-sets were gone. Meaningless frequencies came up when I pushed the buttons. I was worried there was some sort of electrical problem with the stereo. Upon my wife's review of the owner's manual, however, it turns out that the stereo keeps separate pre-sets for each of the little remote control keychain doo-hickeys. So when she unlocked the car with her keychain, it put forth her pre-set stations... which hadn't been set yet. Sure enough, my stations came back when I was driving again, since I had unlocked the car. This innovation probably made someone's friggin' career at GM.
• Nice Bill Simmons piece about Tom Seaver and David Cone.

Friday, August 3, 2001

• Went to see Pete Yorn last night at ye olde 9:30 Club. Good show. His vocals are a bit less polished live than on the CD, but that's not a big surprise. Some of the slower songs on the CD come off a lot better live. Personal favorite moment was catching the obscure R.E.M. reference: Pete said "R-E-A-C-T" during "Life on a Chain," just like Michael Stipe does in "Harborcoat." They also did a draggy version of The Smiths' "Panic."
• Isn't it kind of weird when a band plays your favorite song by them leading off the show? (In this case it was "Murray.") Then it's like, you don't have quite as much to look forward to for the rest of the show. Of course, it also means you won't be disappointed by their NOT playing your favorite song. Maybe it's just me.
• I get a kick out of this Slate column on the Insincere Apology. Kind of like when McDonald's was taken to task for not fully disclosing that their french fries had beef flavoring in them and thus weren't entirely vegetarian; their "apology" was totally like "We're sorry you vegetarians misinterpreted us." Didn't really take any blame at all. As I like to say, Perception = Reality; you can't just blame someone else for misinterpreting what you say. Maybe you should have freakin' said it differently.

Monday, August 6, 2001

• This Modern World: Left-wing wackos unite!

Tuesday, August 7, 2001

• It's Psyduck's first-round day at the Tournament of Stuff! The reader who suggested Psyduck--that's me! Vote now! NOW!!
• Interesting article about the Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds of the independent Atlantic League. They're a permanent road team.

Wednesday, August 8, 2001

• Psyduck lost in the ToS yesterday. Oh well. I also suggested foam #1 hands, which won its (their?) first-round match-up against vests going away, so we still have something to root for.
• Behold, the stock price of Exodus Communications has rallied above $2. Unfortunately it was above $3 when I bought it. But at least it wasn't at its 52-week high of $69. I have a bad habit of buying stocks on the day they tank, thinking it's a bargain, and then they tank further in the next couple of days. If nothing else, it's made me acutely aware of how hollow the irrational exuberance of the late 90's stock craze really was, and how much the "new economy" is propped up against a mountain of debt. Things gonna be scary for a while here.
• Here is a site that I had an idea to make myself, but fortunately someone else has already done it so I don't have to bother. I went to McDonald's one day last week for the first time in probably two months. (I was getting an oil change, had time to kill, it was the closest place I could get breakfast.) They're doing one of their Monopoly contests now, where you collect little game pieces and if you get all two or three in a set you win stuff. Now, since I go to McDonald's so rarely, I'm not going to collect more of these, yet I would feel like a schmoe if I learned I had the rare piece that was the key to winning a car or something, but I threw it away. Fortunately, someone has a web site which says what's the "rare" piece in each group. So if I do have one through some miracle, we're going back for fries until we get the rest of the set.

Tuesday, August 14, 2001

• Bill Simmons is quickly becoming one of my favorite sports writers. Here's his column on the most annoying fans at the ballpark. I've sat next to many of them. Especially "The Loud Guy Rooting for the Other Team"--jeez I hate them, and there's often plenty of them at Caps and O's games. It's OK to root for your team on the road--I've done it a few times myself--but jeering the home fans when your team is winning is uncalled for.
• While I'm on the subject, here's the worst case I've ever encountered of the Person Who Stands Up in the Middle of an At-Bat. I went to a game at Shea last year. Bottom of the third, the Mets load the bases for Mike Piazza. The team's marquee player with a shot at a grand salami in the first inning, so the whole stadium is on the edge of their seats. Except for some doofus woman about eight rows in front of us, who chose that moment to get up. And of course, she was in the middle of the row, so other people had to stand up to let her out. I try not to be too loud at baseball games, but here I just lost it. "SIT DOWN!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU DYING?!? YOU'D BETTER BE!!" Of course, since I was in New York, I fit right in. You'd think someone with her who knew any dang thing about baseball would have said "This is kind of a pivotal moment in the game; you should stay and watch it." (Piazza got a base hit and an RBI.)

Wednesday, August 15, 2001

• Department of Innovations I Didn't Know I Needed: A jacket that inflates into a couch. Their site is all in Flash, so I can't link directly to it. Click English --> Collection --> Man.
• Bill Simmons on baseball fights. "You might remember Triple-A slugger Izzy Alcantara getting hit by a pitch this summer and super-kicking the catcher before charging the mound -- apparently to eliminate the 'getting caught from behind' factor -- a move so outrageous that when Izzy subsequently charged the mound, everyone avoided him because they thought he had gone insane."

Thursday, August 23, 2001

• Been busy. Spent last weekend in western New York. A highlight was attending a Batavia Muckdogs game, one that went 15 innings. We made it through the whole game, largely because they ripped through the first 9 innings in just over two hours, so up to that point it was an incredibly fast game. Batavia's Jason Bernard pitched a great game, and had a two-run lead in the top of the ninth with two outs and no one on base. 1-2 count, one lousy strike away from a complete game victory, and he hit the batter. The next guy hit a double to the wall to score him, and it's a tie game. As for the Muckdogs' offense, two runs in the first, then they were shut out for 13 innings. Once we got into extra innings the game dragged until Hudson Valley erupted for 5 runs in the top of the 15th. One of the more remarkable games I've ever attended.
• Evidently they take hot dogs very seriously in western New York. Also, I am pleased to report that beef on weck is a damn fine thing. And no trip to LeRoy would be complete without a visit to the Jell-O Gallery.

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

• I sure do like "Samurai Jack," but I am slightly disappointed at the glaring absence of Aku in the weekly episodes. He's the best cartoon villain in a long time, possibly ever, but after the premiere, now all he does is introduce the show. Now I find myself referring to "a future where my evil is LAW!"
• Here goes Exodus into that scary scary under $1 range. Buy more to dollar-cost-average down? Or is that throwing good money under bad? Obviously, if I knew that, I wouldn't need to play PowerBall. Somebody's going to make money in the web-hosting business eventually, and if it weren't for their heap o' debt Exodus would definitely be the company to do it. Right now I can't tell for the life of me.
• Everyone should buy the Cash Brothers' "How Was Tomorrow."

Wednesday, September 5, 2001

• From the bigfool.com mail bag, I'm going to start the Al Sagar count. I don't know who exactly Al is, but I get an extraordinary number of Nigerian scam e-mails sent to al_sagar@bigfool.com. Every one is different. Guess he got on their mailing list. We'll start the count fresh at one, with today's coming from "MR PAUL MILLER from ANGOLA," whose father left him $18M in Johannesburg that he unfortunately can't get out himself.
• Here are people who want to parachute out of a balloon at 130,000 feet. I think pushing the envelope is a great thing and all, but damn, this is a bit much.
• I went to the US-Honduras World Cup qualifier on Saturday. A disappointing result, but the atmosphere was fantastic and we still had a good time. As for those who say the Honduran people were treated unfairly by being relegated to the upper deck, cry me a river. Maybe if Thomas Boswell came to one of these games, he'd see how overwhelming and disheartening it is for the U.S. national team to come into an American stadium and find better than half the crowdcheering for the other side. We are a nation of immigrants, after all, and so to an extent it's unavoidable. But if U.S. Soccer wants to sell lower level seats exclusively to the likes of Sam's Army, more power to 'em.
• While we're looking at sports editorials from the Post, Tony Kornheiser sure took Sally Jenkins to the woodshed this week for her suggestion to disband Little League. Seems like some columnists will say anything just to take a stand, without really understanding all sides of the issue. (So what else is new?)

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

• I had thrown some stuff together late Monday that I was going to publish on Tuesday, about New Mexican green chile, Hunter S. Thompson, some other things. But after what happened yesterday, it just didn't seem appropriate. It will go up eventually, because life has to go on. But just not right now. For any friends and family who are reading, as far as I know everyone is fine both here in the DC area and up in New York. We live about three miles from the Pentagon and apparently the windows shook at the time of the attack.
• About all I can do right now is provide some relevant links. Slate has some good information about the required skill level of the pilots, why it's kind of silly to refer to terrorists as "cowards," and a good bit on why one shouldn't jump to conclusions that this was an Arab attack.
• For anyone who is angry at the sight of Palestinians dancing in the streets, AND for anyone who participated in a Gulf War celebratory parade, please read Tao Te Ching 31.
• I'm sure many people will say this more eloquently than I can, but I have to try: while I understand the desire for justice and even retribution, please remember that any action that will involve the harming of innocent civilians will make us no better than the attackers. And the people who did this, if they are Islamic, are not representative of Islam as a whole, any more than people who bomb abortion clinics are representative of Christianity as a whole. Thanks.

Friday, September 14, 2001

• I just feel tired. I feel like when I wake up in the morning it'll all be just a bad dream and everything will be normal again. And of course that hasn't happened.

  It still makes me sad every day though, and I don't just mean the suffering of the immediate victims of the attacks. I don't listen to much talk radio, but that's pretty much what DC101's morning show has been this week. Most of the callers, probalby four our of five, have been positive, saying we should be patient, compassionate, and understanding. That fifth one, the yahoo who goes on about immigrants and war, still gets me down. Reports of attacks on mosques and purportedly intelligent people who say we should have nuked Kabul, Damascus and Baghdad Tuesday night get me down.

  I can never get used to human stupidity and mean-spiritedness. No matter how often I tell myself that they're just part of the human condition, it still makes me sad.

Wednesday, September 26, 2001

• Did I say this page is updated every Wednesday? Well, whatever. I spent last Tuesday and Wednesday waging war with the Nimda virus, which is alarmingly nasty, and just didn't have the time or energy to post stuff here. So tonight I'll post a whole heap of things.
• Speaking of the Nimda virus, every time a virus comes out that exploits Microsoft security holes--Loveletter, Sircam, you name it--I expect people to finally rise up and reject Microsoft's half-assed products and quesitonable practice of integrating freakin' everything with the operating system. And it keeps not happening. But maybe it's really going to happen this time, starting with the Gartner Group's recent advisory suggesting that people ditch IIS. About freakin' time, I say. I appreciate the argument that good server administration is vital to security, but it helps if the server software doesn't come from the factory with lots of gaping security holes.
• This past Friday while gathering information for our weekend trip to Boston, a news item catches my eye, something to the effect of "Boston possible terrorist target this weekend." Oy. I had a hard time reconciling "the government has information that Boston may be targeted for terrorist attack this weekend" and "People should not be alarmed." I discussed it with my wife and with friends from NYC who were to meet us in Boston, and it was a really difficult decision. As sad as it is to have to change plans due to the thought of terrorist activity (who'd have thought we'd see that day, huh?), and while we were pretty sure nothing was going to happen in Boston, in the end the gut feeling was that it will be difficult to relax at Fenway Park while wondering if a bomb is going to go off somewhere nearby. I didn't want my last visit to old Fenway to be one with a lingering sense of dread. We can go next summer.
• So we went to Philly instead, where we ate cheesesteaks, went shopping, saw the Liberty Bell through the far end of the building, and watched the Phillies lose to the Fish. Wish we had gone the next day when Travis Lee hit a homer in the 9th to tie it, and Johnny Estrada hit one in the 10th to win it. The sight of the bullpen guys jumping around and throwing chairs when Estrada's homer went out... I must have watched it five times on Monday. Another good story from Philly was the guy who walked around the stadium all night with a flag. Around and around, first the upper deck and then the lower. He had quite a parade of kids following him by the end of the game. Monday's Inquirer had an article about him.
• I've been wondering how the Onion would handle the events of September 11, and they've handled it pretty well. Onion articles have made me cry with laughter, but they've never made me flat-out cry until I read "God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule."
• King Kaufman says it much better than I could: why I find it difficult to fly the flag without feeling really self-concious. Hooray for "This Land Is Your Land" patriotism.
• One of the best things about football season is Gregg Easterbrook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback. Ye gods.

Wednesday, November 7, 2001

• I think we've thoroughly established that I suck as a blogger. I get busy with stuff, I don't update the page. Then after the first time I miss it, I start thinking, "Hell, I've already skipped some time, what's a little more?" Now here it is over a month between updates. Ye gods.
• Elsewhere on bigfool.com, I have updated the John Kruk page and the Mascot Photos for the first time in quite a while. I intend to do an update to the Bizarre Writers' Guild in the near future, so if you have anything to contribute, send it in now.
• Lots of good stuff in the bigfool.com mail bag of late. We're up to about 4 in the Al Sagar count. The SHINCA company wants someone to ship 3000 marble chips. Handsome Ivan says, "if you c this email please replyed me if you don't i will cry." And something in Danish that is largely incomprehensible but does include the heading "Snacka om snick-snack." I couldn't make up stuff like this if I tried.
• While I was updating the Mascot Photos, I was looking for information on the 15-inning game in Batavia from this summer, and I stumbled across a good site, The Baseball Diaries. Peter Hughes goes to even more baseball games than I do, and writes about them rather well. He also attended the 15-inning game, which is sort of remarkable since there were only about 100 people there.
• My b-school pal Pete Dagher is running for Congress in his home town of Chicago. You go, Pedro.
• Mark Warner wins the Virginia governorship. Good. One of the big issues here was the possiblity of a local referendum to increase local sales tax to help pay for transportation projects. So if Fairfax County wants to increase their taxes to help finish the Fairfax County Parkway, they can, but if Doo-Hickey County down south doesn't want a new tax because they like their roads just fine, dang it, then they don't have to have one. Makes sense, right? Well, Republican candidate Mark Earley said he would veto such a refernedum "in a heartbeat." Not that he'd veto a tax proposal; he wouldn't even let the referendum get out the door. Kind of anti-democratic, don't you think? If the people don't want the tax increase, it'll get voted down; no harm done. If the tax increase passes, then Earley's anti-tax constiuency is a minority anyway. This stance may have cost Mr. Earley the election, and rightfully so.
• Speaking of crazy votes, baseball's owners actually voted to axe two teams. I don't think contraction is necessarily a bad idea, but the means of figuring out which two teams to pull the plug are ugly and unfair. I can see Montreal, but the Twins? ESPN's Jim Caple is right on that Minnesota doesn't deserve this. The Twins drew very well when they were good, but since then their owner has decided to run a second-rate operation, and who can blame the fans for not supporting that? And Pohlad now says "I have to do what's best for my family" when it comes to selling out to MLB? Dude, you're a billionaire!! Don't you dare talk like you must fold the team to put food in your kids' mouths! Surely you can sell to someone locally who gives a rat's ass, and still make plenty of dough. The team that really deserves to be folded: the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Bad team, awful ballpark, bad idea. How about that idea to merge the D-Rays and Marlins and move them to Orlando? Oh yeah, don't want to piss off Florida governor Jeb Bush and therefore President GW, and risk losing baseball's anti-trust exemption. Ay carramba.

Thursday, November 8, 2001

• More on traffic problems: they have finished another section of the Fairfax County Parkway, but it's not going to be completely done until 2005. That's 35 miles of road in 25 years, which works out to just over 20 feet per day. With all the advances in technology in other fields, I am always dumbstruck at how much money and time it takes to build a freakin' road. How did Pittsburgh afford to build so many bridges, yet we can't build a new bridge across the Potomac for under a billion dollars?

Thursday, November 15, 2001

• I have had a serious Las Vegas jones for about six weeks now. I was just there in April, but for some reason I'm dying to go again. So it doesn't help that my man Bill Simmons is going to Vegas for a week and is going to write all about it.
• This has been DC Restaurant Week. In the ongoing effort to get people to hang out in the city again, a number of DC-area restaurants have been offering three-course meals for $20.01 at lunch, $30.01 at dinner. This is a mixed blessing, however; I would have a difficult time spending $30 on dinner at Hunan Chinatown on a normal night. $30 at 1789 Restaurant, however, is a steal (and of course, they were booked up all week). We went to Georgia Brown's for dinner the other night, and it was good but not great. My wife and some friends went to DC Coast for lunch and it was smashing. Anyway, the strategy is working--Georgia Brown's was packed to the gills, which it normally wouldn't be on a Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 21, 2001

• Happy Thanksgiving, evry'buddy. How about a nice Southwestern Thanksgiving menu that doesn't look like too much work at all.
• hatsofmeat.com: it is exactly what it sounds like.
• Department of TV Commercials I Despise: There's an ad for some food-related product. It's either Saran Wrap or Reynolds Wrap, or maybe some minimal-cooking sodium-laden product from Campbell's or the like; I'm not sure. Anyway, it opens with quick shots of happy families in the kitchen, and a female voice-over says, "Around here, we like food that tastes good." Really? What a strange and wondrous place you must come from. Because around HERE, we like food that tastes like CRAP!!
• Second prize: The Sprint PCS commercial where the ski-happy family talks about a cell phone static mix-up with their travel agent, so they ended up in Palm Springs on vacation rather than Steamboat Springs. Shots of bundled-up family making snow angels and snowmen in a golf course sand trap, etc. Now, I realize it's exaggerated for humorous effect. But they show the family arriving in Palm Springs in their car. Hey, didn't you people notice you were DRIVING THE WRONG WAY?!?
• Third prize: The Zenith ads for their high definition television. "Careful... that's a Zenith you're watching." In one, a bunch of guys in a nightclub restroom are so distracted by a Zenith TV that they apparently forget to unzip their pants while using the facilities. In another, a skydiver opens his chute and shoes and clothing fall out, then he flashes back to packing his stuff in the wrong bags while engrossed in TV. Look, if a consumer product is going to be so mesmerizing that I will either urinate on myself, or screw up a task on which my life will later depend, I don't really want that product in my house.

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

• Once again my dedication to the FoolBlog leaves something to be desired. This time it's only partly because I've been busy. It's also because I haven't had much to say of late. Though I would like to say, "If I read another sports column that says 'The BCS is messed up' in witty fashion, I will barf."
• Here, watch this crazy Flash movie. I've had the friggin' "Yatta" song in my head for three days now thanks to this.
• Behold, Slate's Ad Report Card column discusses the Zenith pants-wetting ad I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
• Here is a damn fine NY Times editorial by Thomas Friedman. I for one have been astounded at the outpouring of support across America for victims of the September 11 attacks, and it just makes you wonder what we as a nation could accomplish if we were that passionate about other things, like alternative fuels and eliminating hunger. Bush blathers on about younger generations learning to sacrifice, but so far that sacrifice seems to be limited to losing low-level jobs at Enron while executives continue to make way too much money for running a company into the ground. I'm not saying we should ban SUVs and mandate the use of hybrid vehicles (well, that would be pretty cool, actually), but even Bush suggesting in a speech that Americans should drive more fuel-efficient cars would go a long way. But of course, with the whole administration being married to the oil industry, that's about as likely as Osama stopping by the Dubliner for a quick pint o' Guinness.

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

• Once again, there is talk of baseball in DC. Is it time to get excited? Is it really happening this time? I've resigned myself to it not happening, because I've gotten excited about it too many times only to be disappointed. I've been waiting ever since it looked like the Astros were a lock to move here in 1995. I'll believe it when my season tickets arrive in the mail.
• And with the articles in the Post, the predictable griping has come up on the DC United discussion list. "Hey, why didn't that article mention RFK's current tenant?" Because if baseball does come to DC, the Stadium Authority will drop DC United so fast it will make your head spin. I'm not saying this to be a soccer basher; I'm a card-carrying Screaming Eagle, after all. I'm just being realistic. The Stadium Authority would have to be insane to keep soccer around if they can get major league baseball. Sorry, soccer fans. But I'm sure FedEx Field will welcome United and the Freedom with open arms.
• I'm really sick of those FedEx ads where one guy tells another FedEx anecdotes all the time. They would be more convincing if they had different actors in each ad. But at some point the second guy has to say "Dude, would you shut up about FedEx already?"
• Which brings me to notice that AdCritic.com has bitten the dust. Dammit!
• Santarchy looks like a lot of fun. Make sure you read the police reports.

Wednesday, December 26, 2001

• A Christmas tradition at my house is going downtown to see the National Christmas Tree. The tree itself is usually quite garish, and this year was no exception. What I do enjoy are the smaller trees for each state and territory that surround the big tree. Many of them have ornaments that look like they were done by elementary school kids, and if I had one wish for these trees, it would be that the origin of the ornaments was put on the sign for each state. It would be really neat to know that the rough clay ornament's on Nevada's tree came from Mrs. Throckmorton's 4th grade class in Elko, for instance. (Unfortunately, some trees have ornaments that obviously came from the state capitol's gift shop--you listening, New Hampshire?) I would really like to e-mail the National Park Service with this idea, but for some reason their web site has been altogether yanked.
• If you didn't get a Bill Goff ballpark print calendar under your tree this year like I did, go get one. They're awesome. Thanks Ma. Get a free screen saver off their web site too.

E-mail me to cheer or jeer any of my choices. Or go back to the front page to see the other goofy crap on this domain.