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February 1st, 2010
10:13 pm - Finally Some Progress
I saw these at the grocery store tonight:
Tostitos Dipping Strips. Same old Tostitos, but now in an easier-to-dip rectangle shape. Because I was having so much difficulty breaking the chips manually, and dumping the dip out into a bowl was just unthinkable.
Surely universal healthcare can't be far off now.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/44.gif) amused
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November 9th, 2009
09:03 pm - It was barely newsworthy
Chicago just had a third area code, 872, overlaid over the existing 312 and 773. As a result, all calls now require 10-digit dialing. (Or 11 digit, with the leading 1, if you're using a landline. I think. The flyer Verizon sent me is a bit unclear.)
Apparently I've been ahead of the curve, because for the five years now that I've had a cellphone, I've entered the area code for every single number. It's just simpler that way.
Side thought: Will 312 become for Chicago the way 212 became for New York? Possibly. But I doubt it. With cellphones and number portability, area codes are less meaningful. I think we're on our well on our way to thinking of them merely as 10-digit numbers. For people I know, it's already not "where you live" but "where you happened to be when you got a phone". (In other words, the way I've thought of phone numbers ever since I learned my cellphone had free nationwide long distance.)
On the other hand: I do have a 312 number, and I like it. I would not want to switch. It matches my beer.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/101.gif) contemplative
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September 13th, 2009
04:04 pm - Fun Driving
This afternoon I was driving a Mini down the Interstate at 85-90mph, windows down and sunroof open. That just made me smile, moreso than anything else in recent memory. There's really nothing else like going really fast.
Detangling my hair afterwards, however, was not as fun.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/109.gif) pleased
Current Music: Doctor Who on TV
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September 3rd, 2009
09:09 pm - There's An App For That
In fact, there's probably about three apps for that. And one of them will also make fart noises.
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08:51 pm - Some Kind of Record
"The Departed" has got to have some sort of record for how far into the movie the title card is. It's 18 minutes in before you see the title of the movie.
Also, the opening scene makes me want to drum, every time, because I'm so used to playing that on Rock Band.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/99.gif) chipper
Current Music: "The Departed" on DVD (obviously)
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August 9th, 2009
02:50 pm - Another Observation (Parents and Email)
I was on vacation with my family for a week in Estes Park, Colorado. And I noticed, my parents checked their email much more often than I did. I don't know what the significance of that is.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/83.gif) hot
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July 14th, 2009
12:16 am - This Meme Again
Today I noticed the "find the book closest to you right now, turn to page X, and post sentence Y" showing up in Facebook status messages. Slight twist on it this iteration: Post the sentence as your status, and then the instructions as a comment on it.
I'm not even bothering this time.
I actually like this meme, and don't mind it. But I know from past experience that my results are always lousy. In my apartment, I have two large bookshelves in the living room, filled with books nearly to the ceiling. But the book that happens to be closest to my desk is Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With A Thousand Faces". I know this because I seem to recall doing this same idea when it made the rounds on LiveJournal some time ago (although I'm too lazy to dig up that posting).
It was an terrible out of context sentence then, and I'm sure it will be again now. But just to prove the point, Page 56, 5th complete sentence is:
But these only served to advance the inevitable; for while still relatively young, the youth exhausted for himself the fields of fleshly joy and became ripe for the other experience.
So, yeah. My only alternative is to do this from work, where the nearest book will be either a CS textbook, a user manual, or (lately) a book on Digital Signal Processing. Nobody wants to see a quote from one of those.
***
Interesting Note 1: I find the directions slightly ambiguous, as they don't mention what to do if the page starts with the second part of a sentence being continued from the previous page. Do you count that as sentence #1, or start counting with the first complete sentence?
Interesting Note 2: I'm curious about the page and sentence number choices. I bet they've changed over time. A quick search on google confirms that hypothesis. "page 56, sentence 5" is by far the most common result, but also "page 18, line 4", "page 45, sentence 5", "page 23, sentence 5", and "page 69, paragraph 2, sentence 2".
Current Mood: contemplative
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July 1st, 2009
09:41 pm - Toilet Paper and Advertising
I've never liked Charmin. The actual product is fine, I'm sure. But the images & animations of bears wiping themselves just disturbs me.
On the other hand, Quilted Northern has old ladies hand-quilting it. And I have no problem with that.
So whatever.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/64.gif) content
Current Music: Ocean's 13 on TV
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April 25th, 2009
12:36 am - Tonight's Discoveries
1. I do not know how to find my way around Northwestern's campus at night. (More on this later. Probably.)
2. After a few beers, and when exhausted, Friends gets really funny.
Current Mood: amused
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April 1st, 2009
09:11 pm - Rock Band
This week I've been attempting to do some sorely needed cleaning of my apartment. As a weird side result, I had space to move my Rock Band drumkit back to a position in the living room where it was actually usable. And I started playing again. (It's probably been at least 6 months since I picked up the guitar or drumsticks.)
Observations:
1. I am a better drummer than I was before, somehow. But there are still some patterns that I just can't do. In hindsight, it is probably good that I never tried to become a "real" drummer. Because I obviously lack some of the basic hand-hand and hand-foot coordination required.
2. I have not noticed the same improvement in my guitar playing.
3. I still hate hate HATE Queens of the Stone Age. "Queens of the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome", anyone?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/73.gif) pensive
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March 8th, 2009
03:34 am - It's Springtime
Spring has come. I know this because when tonight when I was walking/stumbling home, it was only miserably wet and windy, instead of miserably cold and windy.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/10.gif) wet
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March 1st, 2009
03:48 am - I Must Be Getting Old
I have not been up this late in quite a while. Even after having coffee and a questionable omelette at a greasy spoon diner, I am exhausted. It probably has to do with the fact that I started drinking last night between 6 and 7pm.
Note to self: Stop doing this.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/14.gif) exhausted
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February 24th, 2009
08:19 pm - You Win This Round, Verizon
Like T-Mobile and AlTel before them, Verizon Wireless is now offering a "pick several numbers and we'll let you call them for free, even if they're on a different network". 5 numbers for plans of 900 minutes or more, and 10 numbers for plans of 1400 minutes or more. (Aside: AlTel calls it "My Circle". T-Mobile calls it "My Favs". (Or "My Fives"?) Unsurprisingly, Verizon is calling theirs "My Friends and Family".)
As it so happens, I've got Verizon, and a few months ago, I was running out of minutes, so I traded up from a plan with 450 minutes to one with 900. So I'm eligible. (Sweet!)
But then I was thinking: If my five most-dialed numbers are no longer counting against my minutes, I probably won't need to be on that more expensive plan anymore. But if I trade back down to the 450 minute plan, then I wouldn't be eligible anymore. So actually, this doesn't help me at all.
Current Mood: contemplative
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January 4th, 2009
06:51 pm - Give it a rest already
Christ. I'm trying to enjoy Doctor Who on BBC America, and eHarmony has an ad on every single commercial break.
I mean, I understand what they're doing. Dating services have just about the worst member churn rate of anywhere. If your service works, your members get married and cancel their membership. If your service doesn't work, your members quit out of frustration. So you must always, always be recruiting new members. It doesn't really matter how you treat them after they sign up - that's why you make them sign up for a year's service or whatever. Advertising is the true key to your business.
Still, it's so annoying.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/3.gif) annoyed
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04:41 pm - Goodbye 2008
United States of Pop is pretty awesome. The top 25 songs of the year, mashed together. I first learned of this in 2007, and the 2008 version didn't disappoint.
United States of Pop 2008
ALSO: I don't know when this was added, or if it's always been there. But Safari has an "open with iTunes" option in the contextual menu when you right-click on a link to an mp3. The only thing that keeps this feature from being super cool is that iTunes links to the URL, instead of downloading it. Which is neat, but it means inevitably I'd have an iTunes library littered with dead links. And of course it's not usable when you're not connected to the Internet.
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December 14th, 2008
December 8th, 2008
07:46 pm - A lot of their clickthroughs come from Kentucky
When I'm installing a "we're related" app on Facebook, this is probably not the best ad to show me:
Current Mood: amused
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November 22nd, 2008
12:19 pm - This is why I'm a packrat
A few weeks ago, my parents came to Chicago to visit. And they brought with them a carload of stuff that I had left behind at their house. (This seems to be a recurring theme.) This load was the last from my old bedroom, which is now my mother's sewing room.
Among the boxes is a giant1 poster of the periodic table of the elements. I think I bought it when I was maybe 10 or 11. So because of that, and because it really is a nice periodic table, I don't really want to just throw it away. But there's no way I'm going to hang it up on the wall in my current apartment (or any future apartment, for that matter). So I'm not sure what to do with it.
1 It's 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide.
2 Making it one of the earliest purchases that I still have. Possibly the earliest.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/125.gif) cheerful
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November 20th, 2008
07:45 pm - What I Learned Today
1. The mystery flavor dum dums are always a mix of two "normal" flavors. I always assumed that they were one of the normal flavors, just with a different cover substituted. Also, as a result, there isn't a single mystery flavor, there are many.
2. The words "callipygous" and "callipygean" are big fancy words that means "nice ass". Seriously.
Current Mood: amused
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November 11th, 2008
08:38 pm - Weird Day
Today at work I read a user manual translated from Italian. And I discussed spending spending close to ten thousand dollars on turntables. (Just like the kind you'd play records on. But without the needle. So just a round base, that spins.)
And that wasn't the weird part. The weird part was that on my way home, I saw a girl on the Fullerton bus that I swear looked exactly like ___. But I doubt it was, just some other girl with tan skin and a nice ass.
Weird day.
[EDIT 2009/01/08 12:45AM] Decided to blank out her name. For what should be obvious reasons.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/marcus/beheadedboy/74.gif) uncomfortable
Current Music: House on tv
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