brian's daily rant

Friday, May 31, 2002

NBA

Been a while since I followed b-ball. Was a big fan of the Celtics back in the day. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson & Danny Ainge, that's how long ago. For nearly the last 2 decades the Celtics have been bottom dwellers and I've stopped watching. But this year they have made the Eastern Conference Finals, so I have jumped back on the band wagon. Well that's not entirely true, I can't name any players and I have only started to check the score to see if they win or lose, so I'm not on the wagon but I know where it is parked.

Watched them get beat tonight by the NJ Nets in between watching some of the X-Files movie on FX, oh well, next year maybe. Couple of observations: 1) Hey NJ! What's up with gray uniforms? Hoping maybe because they aren't bright the other team will have a hard time keeping an eye on you? and 2) What's that other half circle in the paint? Like a hockey crease? Can only stay there for 2 seconds as opposed to 3?

Thursday, May 30, 2002

138/90

Nearly normal today, I guess the BP medicine is doing it's job. I even had some moments where I felt quasi-normal this afternoon. The PA called this evening with the results of my CAT scan. There were no traces of kitties - she said there were no abnormalities! OK, so why did my BP go sky high? Blood work fine, which eliminated liver or kidney problems. CAT fine, no tumors or weird internal things. I have a stress/echo test scheduled for the 18th (soonest I could get in) to see if my ticker is malfunctioning. If that is clean, that only leaves like one thing, my head. No new stress inducers have been applied. So is it 46.5 years of aggravations have building up to a meltdown? I would have thought that ranting here would be taking care of that. Or male menopause? Or a gene that mutated?

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Ron Jeremy

I guess it was just a matter of time. Stumbled onto an infomercial this morning on cable somewhere for a penis enlargement pill called Extenze. Porno Old-Timer Ron Jeremy was the "Moderator" of a panel 3 folks who were also probably in the adult industry. I guess that is perfect demographic marketing, the folks who watch a lot of porn probably have size issues and would be easily convinced that this stuff would work.

At least TV hasn't advanced so far as that we could get before and after pictures from satisfied customers....

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

152/98

Had the nurse at work take my pressure this morning. Down a bit, but not enough, so I called the Doctor's office and they said take 2 a day of the medicine they gave me. Tomorrow I get a CAT Scan of my abdomen to see what they can see. I want to take the test so we can find out what is wrong, but then again I don't want to know, you know.

Monday, May 27, 2002

X-Files Marathon

How come nobody told me! I missed a few episodes because I didn't know it was on. I guess it is my fault because I don't watch the reruns on FX during the week anymore. Oh well, I did get to see 2 of my all time favs - "Bad Blood" and "Small Potatoes." You really have to see the 4 seasons of build up to appreciate most of the interplay that occurs between Scully and Mulder in these episodes, but both are good humorus stand alone shows. Watched a couple others that were OK, kind of uneven in spots, but worth the repeat veiwing - "Triangle" and "Acadia".

Sunday, May 26, 2002

Red Sox

They are playing the dreaded Yankees this weekend and it looks like the 4 game series will end up a draw. The Sox won the first two, the Yanks won last night and are now up 8-5 in the 6th tonight. I have had my heart broken by the boys who play at Fenway a lot and I have now become fatalistic that they are never going to win the World Series. Now it looks like they won't even win the division again this year. I know you are saying that they are still up by 2 games over the Yankees, but I can feel it. This is just like last year, the Sox were on top until sometime in June then the Yankees went right on by and finished ahead. I think that NY does it o purpose, they give 'em a head start, just to make it look really bad when they over take them. Or maybe it is the Boston players themselves, they are thinking like me, they know they can't win it deep down and around the middle of the season they look around and realize they are in front, then remember that they are losers and just collapse.

Saturday, May 25, 2002

Circadian Rhythms

It is the only thing I can think of that is controlling my BP ills. I felt fine last evening, but at around 3:00 AM I woke and couldn't get back to sleep because I felt feverish, pounding pulse, blah, blah. This morning I felt pretty good. About mid afternoon I started with the symptoms again. Here it is 10:30 and I'm feeling better - not 100%, but not bad. When I think back to the onset of this malaise it happened around 3:00 PM and except for Wednesday, about every 12 hours I get to feeling extra miserable.

Friday, May 24, 2002

You get what you pay for.

Our company has 2 different medical plans, the PCN (Physicians Care Network) and something else. The something else used to have a name, but now I think it is called the Non-PCN Plan. :-) In the PCN you have to go to the primary doctor and get a referral for anything he can't handle. Not that they are stingy with refferals, but they don't want you running to the ortho guy for a hangnail. The company is trying hard to steer you towards the PCN by making the other one twice the cost. It is working too, the last time I was chatting with our HR Manager he said there are like 20 (out of 350) left on the Non Plan. The nice thing about the PCN is that you can go to your primary doctor as often as you need and it doesn't cost a cent. No deductables, no forms, no nothing.

Well if you read my Wednesday post you know that I was not feeling to well. After repeated calls to the doctor's office on Thursday asking for results of my blood work and them saying they haven't got them yet, at the very end of the day they actually got them. Seems the lab's fax machine was sending the results, they are just not sure where they were going, outer space perhaps. The Physician's Assistant called and told me that my results were normal, but if I still felt bad in the AM I should come in and see the doctor.

After a restless Thursday night I went back in to see the Doc. The Nurse took my pressure and pulse, 168/106 and 78, still high. The doctor showed me my results, everything was smack in the middle of the OK range (except my chlorestoral which was 203.) He also showed my 4 other copies of the report! Seems as everytime I called, the receptionist called the lab and the lab faxed over a copy, but it got stuck in the pipe, but eventually came out. I got another EKG, which looked better than the one from the other day. The Doc is stumped, if something bad happened to make my pressure skyrocket like this, it would have showed up in the blood work. He gave me a different BP medicine, Micardis, and said take this over the weekend and check your pressure on Tuesday and give us a call.

Took one of the pills at lunch and I'm starting to feel almost human again. I hate to brag, because I might jinx it. Shhhh!

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Why do you think they call it a practice.

Missed rating last night. Had a good one worked up about movies again. Couldn't finish Purple Noon on Monday afternoon and tried to watch Mulholland Dr., but bailed about 45 minutes in. But when I sat down to write it all out I couldn't concentrate.

About 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon I felt flush and light headed, out of sorts. I had the nurse at work check my blood pressure, it was 176/102. She suggested I see my doctor. I called and they could give my an appointment at 9 the next morning. On the way to the car, my wife said lets just go over there. I got to see the Physician's Assistant. Took my blood pressure and it was still like 170/110. My pulse was 78. Both high for me. I am usually right around 130/90 and my pulse is usually 55. She listened to my heart and went and got me a Hytrin (a blood pressure drug), said take one tonight, go to the lab and get some blood work and keep the 9 AM appointment tomorrow. Last night I hardly slept, I could feel every heartbeat and they seemed to be coming twice a second. Somewhere around 2 AM things seemed to slow enough that I got some bits of sleep in.

I got to the lab first thing and they took some blood and I made it to the doctor's office a bit early. The nurse took my pressure and it was 160/100 with my pulse still 78. She said lets run an EKG. After that The PA came in and did the pressure thing - 156/96. The EKG showed nothing too abnormal, she said there was some indication of electrolyte imbalance, but need the blood work results before making any comments. That will take 24 hours (don't get me started on why that is like that) and I should go back to work. I hadn't slept so I went home and took a 2 hour nap.

I still feel crappy as I write this, but not like last night, I'm sure my heart rate and pressure are down, I can tell, but I'm still not right. Let's see what they say tomorrow. Do I need to keep taking the Hytrin? Am I now a high blood pressure person? Is that how it comes about, suddenly and dramatically?

Monday, May 20, 2002

X-Files V

Last night was the big 2 hour series finale. Yeck, I'm glad that is over with. Sunday's are free again. I was going to rehash the episode and dissect it's inadequacies, but it would take to long and I just want to forget it. Best line of the whole episode comes from the prosecutor, after a litttany of witnesses testifying to their little bit of knowledge of the Mulder story and the alien mythology, he objects by saying, "This testimony is irrelevant, we didn't come here for a trip down memory lane. We are here to try Agent Mulder for murder." I wanted to stand up and cheer. I only wished he had said it sooner.

Let's just say I would have had a better time watching the Cosby reunion on the channel.

Sunday, May 19, 2002

Brian 3, Hollywood 2

I happened to catch just a part of this movie on one of the cable channels a month or so ago and my wife and I decided to rent it. George Clooney for her, Nicole Kidman for me. That's right, The Peacemaker and as it turns out we saw the best 10 minutes on TV. (The part where our main characters are introduced to each other.) I stopped beleiving when they start pasing around pictures of the train wreck taken from a satelite. If we have pictures being taken of every square inch of the country of Russia to be able to pick out this particular bit of train track, why don't we have pictures of the robbery train and work back from there to track the truck with the nukes? George and Nicole outrun, not just one, but two explosions. We are treated to the usual red LED countdown clock as they try to disarm the bomb. The only action movie cliche we missed was the Fruit Cart. Then again, that might have been in there while they were tearing up downtown Vienna and I had glazed over and mised it. Oh, and I fell sory for the citizens of Vienna as it appears they have no police force at all.

The only movie left on the coffe table to watch now is Purple Noon. 1960 French film based on The Talented Mr. Ripley books. I actually liked the Matt Damon - Jude Law flick based on these characters, so we'll see.

Saturday, May 18, 2002

Hollywood 2, Brian 2

Today's featured film in the cinema that is the Bogardus living room, Bandits.

In what is now almost cliched movie making, the story is told with a non-linear timeline. It starts with our "heroes" surrounded in an LA bank and auguing about how thing would have not turned out so badly if it wasn't for the girl. Not long into it we realize that this is the end of the movie, as we are wisked back a couple months to the spur of the moment prison escape of Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thorton.)

Bruce and Billy are good together in this movie, sort of like the Oscar Madison & Felix Unger of the criminal set. The bank robberies were done using an interesting M.O. and with the combination of the 2 character's personalities and how they reacted to each unique situation would made for a good movie, if they had just stuck to that. But the woman who brings about the demise of our bank robbers also brings about the demise of the movie. Don't get me wrong, Cate Blanchard is good in her part but the subplot of the love triangle is so strong that it detracts from the movie's "real" plot.

The ony reason this gang of "Sleepover Bandits elude the Oregon cops for so long is that they seem to be operating with an ineptitude normally reserved for the law enforcement professionals from back woods Alabama. Right off the bat they can't hit the broad side of a full-size cement truck as it drives through the gates of the prison and then lose it trail in minutes as they drive right by where the truck plowed through a small fence into a field.

The ending was way too Hollywood happy ending. I was actually disappointed to learn that he upcoming shoot out was going to part of the trick ending. I would have been to have these two idiots actually kill each other.

One thing I really liked about this movie was the soundtrack, not the part where Cate & Bruce sing a duet of Total Eclipse of the Heart, but the general background tunes, which included my favorite late 80's tune, Tanita Tikaram's Twist In My Sobriety.

Friday, May 17, 2002

Rain

Supposed to rain tomorrow, gonna ruin my top down streak. Not only that, I'm going to have to use a flash to take the picture of the odometer rolling over to 100,000. Only 13 miles to go.

P.S. The Barndoor Fan Club Spring Photo Contest is over, go and vote for the People's Choice Award.

Thursday, May 16, 2002

Decalcification

6 month dentist cleaning and check-up today. I've got another cavity on #5. Had one last time on the same tooth. Delores the hygenist said that I have a line of decalcification and as that happens the enamel gets soft and cavities form. Oh goodie. The dentist came in and started poking around, while he had his hands in my my mouth he was giving the hygenist comment to write in my file. He was using words like buckle and margin, was he talking about teeth?

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

WebSticker.Com

This is a rant on them as well as myself. I tooted my own horn yesterday about how I learned my The T-Shirt Shoppe lesson, well I hope I have learned my WebSticker.com lesson. I went to them to produce the Barndoor Fan Club sticker a few month's back for the price. Their quote was 15% less than my ol' faithful in town. I went with it. It took like a week and a half of emails correcting proofs until I thought we had it right. When I got the stickers the logo was smaller than the proof and it was slightly off center. I called and complained and it turns out the designer forgot to mention that an 1/8" of unprintable are was required all around. The off center was slight and I was told "it was within acceptable industry standards." They knocked a 1/3 off the price, so I kept them. It took over 2 weeks of email to get the right proof this time and I even sent them the Adobe Illustrator file of the logo! We'll see what happens when I get them.

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

The T-Shirt Shoppe

Just on the infinitesimal chance that someone who is reading this, is considering having some screen printing done and is thinking of having The T-Shirt Shoppe in Aiken, South Carolina do the work, DON'T.
Two reasons:
1) He will put a little change, barely noticeable twist on your design. The only person who will see it will be the designer of the shirt. I can't be sure of this, but knowing this type of individual, it is probably so that if for what ever reason this design takes off and sells millions, he can come back and demand a cut of the profits, because, he'll claim it wouldn't have sold as well if his twist was not there.
2) He will convince you to pay up front by offering a "discount" and once he has the money he will only print the shirts under pressure. Gentle reminders don't work, you have to go and demand your shirts on such & such day. Then when you go to pick them up, he will invariably be printing right then and you'll end up watching him print the last of your shirts.

I know this because I was a first hand experience of #1 twice and #2 once and now the President of the Master's Miata Club can say he has experienced #2.

Monday, May 13, 2002

The Harder They Come II

Deja Vu all over again. Got a second copy of THTC from Netflix today and sat down to watch it. Started at chapter 17, a little before it crashed last time. Gotto 18 and it happened again, same spot, one hour and 14 minutes in and the picture just froze. Couldn't fast forward, nothing. Tried going to the main menu and pickin the next chapter, nope. After a few other attempts I took the movie to the PC and played it there, and it stopped at the same spot as the Tosihba in the living room.

This time I wrote a blurb to the customer service folks, instead of just clicking on the unplayable link. We'll see what happens. While I was there I noticed that they still list a movie I sent back 1-1/2 to 2 weeks ago. Hope another one hasn't got lost in the mail, they'll think I'm keeping them. :-(

Sunday, May 12, 2002

Hollywood II

I was 1 for 2 against them Saturday night. It was our yearly trip to the Big-Mo Drive In and the double bill was Showtime with Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy and Murder by Numbers with Sandra Bullock.

I was suckered in by Showtime. I think I was suckered in because the movie didn't try to be something other than exactly what it was. It was a silly little plot littered with holes and full of clichés, but I still was entertained - here's why: Eddie played a caricature Eddie, DeNiro play a meld of every DeNiro character since, well, the beginning. William Shatner played himself or what we have come to believe is himself and he is just like that in real life or he is as brilliant an actor as Andy Kaufman was. I laughed and I wasn't even upset like I usually am by the every-car-in-the-sector police chase/blow 'em extravaganza.

And I almost bought into Murder by Numbers, but it tried to take itself to seriously. I'm sure when Sandra took the role it was because the character she was to play appeared to have depth because of her tortured past. For whatever reason it just didn't come out that way. The collapsing balcony fight scene and subsequent rescue thing looked like it was thrown in because everyone involved knew it was a dog of a movie and felt that it would punch it up. Then when we got our now Hollywood standard triple twist in the end about the actual killer nobody really cared.

Friday, May 10, 2002

Hollywood

I can't remember why I rented it, must have been a fawning review on some site or something, but Rock Star has been sitting on my coffee table for about a month. This is a bad sign, since it has been laying there ready to be watched, The Harder They Come, Apocalypse Now, Heist, Blazing Saddlesand The Center of the World have been watched and returned to Netflix. Seeing as it was the only one in the house at the moment, I decided to watch it. I watched the little 10 minute behind the scenes thing while I waited on Donna to join me. I almost didn't watch the movie - Wednesday's Law & Order was cued up in the VCR - but I said I'll give it 15 minutes. Mark Wahlberg with long hair seemed to old for the part, and in spite of my eagerness to bail, we watched the whole movie. Hints of Spinal Tap, combined with a heaping dose of irony and lots of 80's metal music overcame the tired ass plot line. In the end I enjoyed the 103 minutes spent with it.

I feel so cheap, so used. Manipulated by the Hollywood machine. I should have been watching IFC Fridays on Bravo, but instead I watched a lamo movie and liked it.

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Some People Are Wurse Spellers Than I Am

Looking for songs for my May CD Mix. I started looking for songs with the word dinner in it. Searched far and wide into the nooks and crannies of the internet using Bearshare. There was one song I was interested in that seemed elusive. It was a Suzanne Vega song entitled "Tom's Dinner." I finally snagged not one, but two versions. When I played it, much to my suprise I recognized it, cool, I even liked it. But tragedy struck when I paid attention to the words....it was Tom's Diner, the restaurant type, not the meal, sheesh.

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Fuji FinePix 2600

I'm not sure it is all together acting correctly. When you have the camera on to take pictures it goes to "sleep" after two minutes. The lens retracts and to take a picture you have to turn it back on. There is a sleep mode setting, but it has no effect on when this happens. I read the manual it seems the sleep thing just shuts off the LCD display after 30 seconds....hmm I wonder if I use the LCD would it go to sleep and not have to be turned back on. I'll experiment.

I'm back. With the Sleep mode on the LCD goes blank at 30 seconds and then after 2 minutes the lens retracts and off the camera goes, no wonder they are so proud of their power consumption on the web page, it's built in. I think I need to start saving my scheckles for a different one.

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

The Harder They Come

One hour and 14 minutes in and the picture just froze. Couldn't fast forward, nothing. Tried going to the main menu and pickin the next chapter, nope. After a few other attempts I took the movie to the PC and played it there, but only got 5 minutes further in before it froze up the PC. In my 2 year history of renting DVDs from Netflix, this was only the second DVD that crapped out in veiwing.

Set in Jamaica in the early 70's it tells the story of a rural "kid" that travels to Kingston to make it big in the music biz. He gets the fame he wanted, but not in the way he originally intended. Half the dialog is in such a heavy accent that it is hard to make out what they are saying, but fortunately the story is easy enough to follow. I'm going to have them mail me another one so I can see what happens in the final 25 minutes. I may watch it from the start though just to listen to the music again or maybe I'll just go listen to the soundtrack CD...

Monday, May 06, 2002

That Hosting Company

Kevin came through, I received an email today from the OR DOJ:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian: Sorry about the error with the Nigerian information. I tracked down your complaint and have corrected the problem. And no, there is no canned letter regarding That Hosting Company. We have several other complaints in addition to yours, and we are in the process of looking into the matter. Thanks for sending in your information.

Susan LeTourneau
Intake Unit
Financial Fraud/Consumer Protection Section
Oregon Department of Justice
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I then appologized for my flippant remark:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan,

Sorry about the canned letter crack, misplaced sarcasm on my part. I was just a little upset about receiving the wrong info. Thank you for looking into this matter for me.

Brian
------------------------------------------------------------------

Stay tuned.....

Sunday, May 05, 2002

X-Files IV

Only two episodes left. Tonight we wrapped up the mystery behind John Doggett’s son's murder. Seemed a lot like the supposed conclusion of the disappearance of Mulder's sister, too neat, a "serial killer" leads them to the answer.

No scenes with little William this week. Was last weeks episode to be believed, Scully gave him up for adoption to some mid-western couple to protect him? Sounds a lot like the plot line of Star Wars, mother hides child in a little visited part of the country/galaxy to protect it from the dark side... Of course a really educated person would be able to tell me that that same plot line was invented Shakespeare or Plato or earlier. Not much chance of that happening though, as a really educated person would be reading this. :-)

Saturday, May 04, 2002

Please Learn How To Work All The Do-dads Before Leaving the Lot

Made a little trip to Augusta this evening. Dinner out at Damon's, our favorite place for ribs. While driving on the by-pass on the southern side of Aiken, I got behind a Suburban that seemed to be a little late on the brakes and a little late on the start from a light, plus he did a little lane drifting as well. When I stopped behind him at the next light I noticed the drivers arm exploring the overhead console area, a light went on, then off again, and of course we were a little slow leaving that light because we were busy futzing with something else. It was then that I noticed the paper dealer plate on the back. It was starting to sprinkle and the sun was going down, I hope he/she knew where the wiper and light switches are. Fortunately they turned right when I turned left so I wasn't behind them when they started looking for the switches.

Friday, May 03, 2002

Senator Strom Thurmond Endorses Cloning

Just passed by the TV, my wife had on CNN and I noticed a scroll that said, "Senator Strom Thurmond Endorses Cloning." I'm not a follower of politics, news or much of anything, so I'm sure there is lot more to the story, but all I could think was, "Of course he endorses it, he's like 100 and on the way out and he never did get to be president!"

Thursday, May 02, 2002

That Hosting Company

Tuesday the 30th I emailed the OR DOJ about the mixup:
--------------------------------------
On April 23, 2002 I filled out your online form at:
http://www.doj.state.or.us/FinFraud/ConCompForm.htm
Regarding my troubles with
Jack Thomas & That Hosting Company, Inc.
320 SW Stark St Suite 205
Portland, OR 97204
Today I received a reply in the regular mail from you, but it was nothing more than a canned letter and enclosure "Re: Nigerian Scam" Did someone who complained about Nigerians get the canned internet fraud letter and enclosure?
--------------------------------------

Their response via email today, May 2nd:
--------------------------------------
Hmmm. Sorry about that. I will see what I can find out and get back in touch with you.
Kevin Neely
Public Affairs Assistant
--------------------------------------

I'll wait right here.

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

KFC & Dr. Pepper

Kentucky Fried Chicken, oops, excuse me KFC, has hired George Costanza as a pitch man. This person is sooo memorable that I can't even come up with his real name. George was lazy, sneaky and not really the brightest star in the constellation that was Seinfeld and this is the guy we want to try and convince Joe Public to eat our food? I can't even remember the last time I ate at a KFC, but it has been so long that they were still calling themselves Kentucky Fried Chicken and trust me, George ain't bringing me back.

OK, everyone out there who drinks Dr. Pepper raise their hand. That's what I thought, 6% of you. About the same as it has been since the 80's. Could it be the lame singing & dancing commercials they run? Different tune depending on era, but about the same - lame. Coke is number one because of their marketing or maybe it is because they learned a trick from the cigarette guys and Coke is engineered to be addictive.

It must be Wednesday, because he is off on TV commercials again. Wednesday is only one of 3 days I actually leave the front of my PC and watch TV. Ed is sort of cute, must see West Wing and always tape Law & Order. The other 2 days are Monday, Everybody Loves Raymond and Sunday for the X-Files. Although I won't be watching on Sunday's much longer as there are only like three episodes of the X-Files left. The only reason I'm even still watching it is because the same reason I still read Beatle Bailey in the comics, habit.