Word Association for May 29th

Again, time for the word association game.

1. Crowd:: Follow
2. Hamburger:: Bun
3. Choker:: Strangle
4. Lights:: Camera, Action!
5. Tinsel:: Town
6. Testament:: New
7. Best part of the day:: 5 PM
8. Election:: Results
9. Clarinet:: Band
10. Dead Sea:: Scrolls

It's finally Friday!

I'm thrilled to report there are only 10 minutes left in my work day. And there is much rejoicing. I'm ready for a three day weekend.

I swear, people in my life must read my blog to figure out how to behave. Wednesday night saw both roommates currently in Kansas working hard on moving out. I think they're mostly out, too. I know one still has a few things left in the bedroom, but nothing he can't get in 30 minutes.

In case it really is true that I need to complain about something to get what I want, Casey (new roommate) hasn't waited on me hand and foot for a month yet. :)

I've been trying to talk to one of the guys who works maintenance here at work about my shower, which is dripping yet again. Trying since Tuesday, yet he still hasn't stopped by to talk to me. I may have to call a plumber. Don't have time to deal with them right now, however.

Youth group last night was opposite the sports banquet, so I was the only guitar player for worship. As a result, I took requests. Since we weren't planning to practice Sunday because of the long weekend, we know have a set to play next week. Except one of the songs was requested, so we may have to sub or just not repeat it as much as usual.

I have four episode of the second season of Rocky and Bullwinkle left. Maybe I can finish it up Saturday morning.

No funny spam to post today, so I guess I'll just sign off.

Are you looking forward to a three day weekend as much as I am?

Speaking of Spam

Ok, so I wasn't going to do this until tomorrow if I did it at all, but after the Thursday Threesome this week, I had to post it today.

I got another great spam e-mail today. Again, I'm assuming this was because of my reviews at Amazon. Below is the first part of the e-mail.

Now available from Amazon.com: A new book written in a new literary style. Over 3,000 easily understandable new words used. Experimental fiction and
a new, brilliant writing style sets this literary work apart from the norm, bringing to mind Joyce’s "Finnegans Wake." The theme is as old as the stars, and the fascinating plot captures the imagination as Petrarch’s Laura de Sade of Carpentras reincarnates into a 16 year old girl. From perdition to redemption, the riveting novel in ornate prose is introspective and skilled. 3,000 invented words are introduced as Laura’s soul is possessed by the German siren, the Lorelei. She captures a teacher’s heart, and when rejected he experiences insanity. Recovering, he begins a quest for Laura’s release from the underworld.
- Mindquest Review

here is an excerpt:

the lorelei! a puella of such beautèzza unparalleled, such charisma mesmairican, such gemtice symphio-marvalo. the lorelei! how many sail-ors have succumbed to buffaloverwhelming snare at the hands of her wiles! how many inattentive men have met destructo-doom at the will of her caprice!

the lorelei! heartless, cruel and knife-cunning, unable to give herself to love’s demanding reduction of the ego, its ruthless sacrifice of individuality yet pacifying her romantic instincts by engaging in only its courtship aspect, flirting, smiling, conversing with the opposite sex about life’s labyrinth, its bafflemento, its enigmatic tendency towards mishap.

the lorelei! when i recognized her as a substitute in the disguise of an honor roll, sixteen year old virga, devoted to charity, whose middle and last name were elizabeth jefferson and therefore took steps to evade her pierce blazèndo, her bosom delisho and her rocket-eyes seductèevoo, she still refused to allow me freedom from her emerald-charm intoxican, way-laid me, bound me in a stupor of opium and imprisoned me in a dream-dungeon schizosan. so again i found myself sailing down the rhine river, hearing her song, attentive to the razor-rocks. she nailed me, the lorelei cast me in a glow of hallucinogenic nightmare, my heart inextricably tan-gled in her endorphines, unable to survive lest i climbed the cliff, waited until she graduated, declared my love to her and reveled in all the psych-fervor, all the lush dominion that her magnolia bloomed of. yet even atop her cliff the lorelei had more snares, traps and death-ruses that plunged me into slashphyxiation pompeian.

thus i now stand, still tomahawked by the lorelei’s pantherizing hex, still vodooed by her bewitching aura, scheming to either obtain her yet or exact my revenge, cause her the same amount of heartache she cast upon me, myself seething in a piranha-infested bolgia. for i have recovered from my madness, have regained the ability to work, to earn an income, em-ploying my divisions, my squadrons and my dragoons. once again i am free from the delusion that paralyzed me in barbwire, cluttered my mind with senseless cacophony and distorted my perception with immaterial phantoms. once again i’ll foray into the lorelei’s domain wondering if she will viperize me with soul-venom or accomplish another criminal heartec-tomy or even more vexo-meniacle: feign admiration, allow me to taste the delecto-splurge of her kiss, only to eventually cast me in a sea of squid, my veins twisted in violence.

Seriously, now. Anyone understand that? After about two sentences, I give up. And I only have under half of the excerpt. There is no way I'd wade through a book like that. Furthermore, 3,000 new words? So are you trying to connect with the reader or just sound important? And capitalization might be helpful. Honestly, based on some of what's there, we have either a bad speller or a bad editor, either of whom is trying to cover that fact by bragging about new words.

But here's the best part. Notice what's missing? It took me a little while to notice, but we have no title or author here. Now I could assume that the e-mail came from the author, but I've received e-mails from someone telling me how great this new book is, so I might be wrong. So if this is trying to get me to buy the book, they've failed because I can't find it to buy it.

I honestly don't know whether to laugh at such stupidity or shake my head at people who think this is smart and literary when it's really stupid.

Thursday Threesome for May 26th

Brought to us this week by evil people and The Back Porch. (Not that there are any evil people at the Back Porch, mind you.)

Onesome: Comment- Are there any blogs you regularly read and comment on? Is it just to say "hi, how are you?" or is there one site that just makes you have to join in the conversation?
I tend to not leave comments unless I have something to day, so I don't leave the "Hi, how are you" kind of comments. I do regularly comment on my friends' blogs. It's how I'm staying in touch with some of them.

Twosome: and Trackback- Does anyone actually ever really use this function of their blog?
It's used quite a bit on political blogs. Blogger doesn't support it either way, so I don't use it at all.

Threesome: Spam- We all hate it! Anyone have any clever ways of dealing with it? Share it with us, please.
Other then earlier in the week when I mocked some of it, no. Just hit delete as fast as I can.

Rants, rants, and more rants

Yep. It's been awhile since I did nothing but rant around here, so I think it's time, don't you?

Of course, some of the first ones will be aimed at my soon to be departed roommates. (Excited I am.)

First off, as I've mentioned before, two of them are going to Kansas this weekend. Leaving tomorrow and coming back on the 31st. They are to be out by the 1st. Now, one of them is working on packing and moving his stuff out. (They got the keys on Monday.) The other one has done nothing toward moving out. Honestly, I was hoping they'd be out before they left so that I could rearrange the room and so that Casey could bring his stuff up from the garage. But he has not done one thing toward moving. Granted, he doesn't have a lot of stuff, but it still takes some time. Time he won't really have since he leaves tomorrow. I will be most upset if he's not out on time.

The one that is working on moving out isn't on my good list either, however. He got some stuff out of our storage closet last night and left it unlocked. This is in a public walkway. I keep my Christmas stuff in there and some personal information I don't want Joe Blow getting their hands on. How hard is it to lock up after yourself? (Obviously pretty hard since he never does.)

On the other hand, he gave the kitchen a very good cleaning yesterday.

And now the other thing.

You might remember that several years ago, Christians started boycotting Disney. At the time I said it was a mistake. We as Christians can't expect a secular company to create entertainment we would support 100% of the time. To boycott the one company that tries the most to create family entertainment is stupid.

My idea of an entertainment boycott? Don't go see a movie that would offend you. Yes, there are times I would go further, like Last Temptation of Christ, but it would be for a few months while that one movie is fresh.

Anyway, at least one of the companies that called for the boycott is lifting it. And why are they doing that? Because Disney is distributing the new version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe coming out in December. They also talk about Eisner stepping down and stuff like that, but let's be realistic. It's because a movie they want to support is coming out, so they're lifting the boycott. And Disney has made no good movies in the last nine years that should have been supported? Things like this make me mad for this reason. We should never put ourselves in a position where we have to lift a boycott when a secular company makes a family friendly movie with overt Christian themes. To semi-quote Phil Visser, why are we surprised when non-Christians behave in a way opposite what we as Christians think they should? They aren't Christians. They won't do what we would do. And we can't force them to do it our way.

Of course, I'm talking about entertainment there and not moral values. That's a completely different issue that I should save for another time.

(Thanks to Mike J. for the initial post to the news story.)

Someday I'll Get the Knack of Sun Screen Down

Saturday, the youth group went to the beach in Santa Barbara. It was probably about 80, slight breeze. A very nice day. And the water was really warm, too. Threw a Frisbee around for a while, hung out, swam. In fact, I was the first to swim out to a red buoy in the little harbor where we were hanging out. Of course, once I'd done it two high schoolers and two high school staff had to do it as well. See, I'm a leader others can follow. :)

If only they'd obey. We basically turned the kids loose with a couple rules such as what areas they could go to, when to be back, and what size group they could be in. High school, 5 or more. Jr. High had to have an adult with them. We'd been there maybe half an hour when four jr. high school guys decided to head off by themselves. There were rather mad with me when I stopped them. I offered to go with them, but that wasn't good enough. Fortunately, the other leaders backed me up, and there were some there to back me up when it started. A minor inconvenience, but not enough to completely ruin my day.

The true downside is my sun burn. Yes, I put sun screen on. Twice. But I still got a nice sun burn on my shoulders and back. What's really funny is the splotches of white skin where I obviously did get the sun screen.

In other news, the other staff who helps with the worship team is leaving youth staff effective in a couple weeks. I'm majorly bummed, especially since we've got two almost high schoolers ready to join the group who don't respect me at all. The two high schoolers will be staying, so for at least a year I'm sure they'll be setting a good example and help keep them in line. But after that.... I'm going to have to talk to the youth pastor about how to handle this situation as the time draws closer.

My roommates should have the keys to their new place. No word to me about when they intend to be out, however. I'm hearing this week, but nothing for sure.

And my shower has started leaking again. Can't turn it off tight enough. This was supposed to be fixed last summer! Frustrating. I'll have to try to talk to someone from maintenance tomorrow who will know how to fix it. Called him today, but for some reason he wasn't sitting by his desk waiting for me to call. Ironically, I had seen him twice before Phil suggested I talk to him.

So, I finished one of the two Alias books that came out this month. Faina needed a little more editing. Don't know if I was just oblivious to the bad writing on some of them or if the longer length made it more noticeable. Second half was great.

I'm now working my way through Dangerous Depths. I think I've about had it with this series. The environmentalism is slowing down the story and making it too predictable, too. Plus, it's taking it to the anti-business extreme. I'd like to meet more then our hero's boyfriend who is a business person who cares about the environment. Is that too much to ask?

Finally, I have to take a cue from Lee Goldberg and mock a couple people who have sent me spam. (Be forewarned. If I don't know you and you send me spam, this might be you next time.)

The first is from someone wanting me to read their book and review it at Amazon. Get them all the time and usually ignore them because I'm usually not at all interested. Like this one, for example. The e-mail says, "You are an experienced Amazon.com reviewer for books on investing, and I value your opinion." That's great that my opinion is valued. However, I have never reviewed a financial book at Amazon. Can we say form letter?

This second one was too good to pass up. It was correctly sent to my junk mail folder here at work. Here's the first paragraph:

Requesting Your Permission:
Outward Media, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based,
results-oriented marketing firm specializing in marketing communications
solutions. We would like the opportunity to send you information regarding our
new Private Opt-in Messaging platform that creates a secure, SPAM-FREE
communication channel between you and your customers.

You mean spam like your message to me was? Just wondering.

Word Association for May 22nd

Coming to you live via here.

1. Heimlich:: Manuover
2. Gesture:: Hands
3. Party:: Time
4. Cuddle:: Couch
5. Room with a view:: Hotel Room
6. Sebastian:: Bach
7. Ooooh:: Lala
8. Sigh:: Contented
9. Two fish, three fish:: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
10. Cake or death:: I'll take the cake.

In Which I Play Hooky

Ok, maybe not really. But it felt like it at the time. And was very, very fun.

You see, yesterday was the only booksigning within a few hours of me for Donna Andrews while she's out from the east coast. Now, I think most of you know I'm a Donna Andrews fan. But I had two unautographed books. I just had to change this.

I debated for a couple weeks if I was going to try to go or not. I don't know why. I know me. I'd be upset if I didn't at least try. So yesterday I brought the books into work with me and asked Phil if I could take a couple hours off in the afternoon. He said sure, so I took off.

Unfortunately, the signing was still a ways away. Down in Thousand Oaks to be exact. But it was worth it. Donna was her normal entertaining self, and all of my books by her are once again personally autographed.

Beside, there's something about being out when the rest of the world is at work that makes it even more special. I realized as I was driving back how nice it was to not be thinking about work for a few hours during work hours. Sometimes it's the little vacations in life that are the best, right?

No youth group last night - school play. So I buzzed my head (still a crew cut, not shaved) and watched TV on DVD.

The new lease for the roommates moving out will be ready to be signed early next week. Maybe the two going to Kansas will be out by Thursday. *Crosses fingers that this will go quickly and well.*

Still nothing on that job I interviewed for on Monday.

Thursday Threesome for May 19th

This week's edition is brought to us by monthly cycles and The Back Porch.

Onesome: Full-- Full? What meal fills you up the most during your day, breakfast, lunch or dinner? ...or is it the ice cream you're digging into as you wander around the blog world long past when you should be asleep ?
Dinner by far. I usually keep eating until I'm full, which always helps.

Twosome: Moon-- Do you really think there's any truth to the popular idea that "things" happen when the moon is full? Come on, it's just us here...
I've never noticed it. I'm usually oblivious to the cycles of the moon anyway, but things seem to stay the same day to day to me.

Threesome: Rising-- ...and shining?: What is your normal wakeup time on Thursday mornings? ...and can you be described as a "Morning Person" or not?
Between 6 and 6:15 so I can get up and go running. Of course, that allows me to lay in bed a little while before I have to get up. :) And there are the mornings I ignor it, go back to sleep, and don't run. Today, fortunately, wasn't one of them. As to being a morning person, by the time I'm out of the shower I'm ok, but don't expect much from me before then.

Checking in

Frankly, I don't have a whole lot of news.

I've actually been on time to work all week. Something about needing to get Casey here on time, I suspect. Still, it's been nice to get an early start to my day.

And I've been reasonably productive, too. Not sure if I've gotten enough done to justify taking any extra time off tomorrow to go to the Donna Andrews signing, but I think I'm going to go for it anyway.

I'm down to 12 episodes of season 2 of Rocky and Bullwinkle! Considering it starts with 52, that's quite an occomplishment. I've been working on it off and on since September. Looking forward to getting through it and moving on to I Love Lucy Season 3.

Talked to Tom last night, and he and Chris get back from Kansas on the 31st. That's better but still not the smartest thing to do if you ask me. (And if you didn't intend to ask me, why are you reading my blog?)

And I'm way behind on my book blogging, aren't I? Maybe I should catch you up.

A Dime a Dozen another solid book by Mindy Starns Clark. The plotting was more even then previous books, but the final 100 pages wasn't the rush of plot twists the first two had.

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth is a Nancy Drew spoof that find her growing up and still solving mysteries over the years. Depressing at times, worth a read for the cameos of other teen sleuths.

While visiting Mom and Dad, I listened to Too Many Cooks and Murder at the Vicarage, both of which I enjoyed even if I found out later the second was an abridged version.

Finally, last night, I finished Keys to Death, the latest Booked for Travel Murder by Emily Toll. As with the others, the lack of investigation into the mystery bugs me, but the great characters and intriguing sub-plots keep me reading.