Tikkabik

Big Brother 8 update: Whiny, sobbing Amber is gone, yay. I was *not* sorry to see her go, she's been irritating the shit out of me all season.

I don't live for Big Brother 8 enough to have subscribed to the online 24/7 feed or to subscribe to Showtime, which shows hours of uncensored Big Brother 8 footage on a regular basis. But I've seen the YouTube videos showing Amber make comments about Eric that are unquestionably anti-Semetic, in which she calls Jews greedy and money-grubbing, and notes that her mother and sister both say they can tell Jews by their noses and last names.

So I was not sorry to see that vicious little twat get handed her walking papers last night. I'm just sorry it's happening late enough in the game that she'll be in the Jury House and will actually have a say on who wins, in the end. Because she doesn't even deserve that, as far as I'm concerned.

Amber's not the first racist in Big Brother history, and she's not even the only one this season who's made virulently intolerant remarks (as anyone who's watched Evil Dick for longer than 30 seconds can attest to). She's just so crass about it, playing the role of the saintly born-again reformed drug addict cum role model to her young daughter to the public, I find her duplicity intolerable.

If she were just an openly hostile asshole, like Evil Dick, I might appreciate it more. But stupid and phony is no way to win friends and influence people.

Posted by flargh at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How do I know? By this headline:

Wired Ethernet on its way out says analyst

Posted by flargh at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When James and I went back to the airshow the second day we started talking about the military. He has a fascination with the hardware and accouterments -- the jeeps, the camouflage, the airplanes -- but the soldiers themselves, and their guns and serious demeanor, intimidate him quite a bit.

He asked me questions about the war in Iraq -- why we're there, why we're still fighting. He knows I'm against it, and he can't quite wrap his head around the conundrum of not supporting the war but wanting to support the troops.

A lot of the people we saw on the way into the airshow were obviously "red stater" types -- people who festoon their (mostly oversized, domestic) automobiles with American flags hanging from antennas, "support our troops" magnetic ribbons, "terrorist permit," "united we stand (against terrorism)" stickers and all other manners of pro-American propaganda.

I find such paraphernalia offensive, to be frank -- especially the American flag bit, because these are, by and large, the same people who think others that burn the flag are traitors and would support an amendment making flag-burning illegal, but think nothing of letting a flag hang it off of a car aerial and watching it flap in the wind until it tears itself to ribbons.

Apparently James doesn't like the propaganda overload, either. After staring at it for a while, he remarked, "I don't think America's the greatest country in the world, you know."

He didn't have a greatest country picked out yet, but at least he's wise enough to recognize that America is not the center of the Universe. Amazing, a seven year old entering second grade can figure it out. Too bad the people running the country can't.

Posted by flargh at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My favorite Kool-Aid flavor. Just FYI.

Posted by flargh at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Emmeline's friend Vicky is having a sleepover tonight. It'll probably be the last time these two friends, who have known each other since preschool, will have together this summer, so I'm happy to have her. She's a good kid, too -- very low-maintenance. I wish I could say the same for Emme sometimes!

Posted by flargh at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The kids and I spent the weekend at the Cape Cod Air Show. It's the first time they've had the air show at Otis Air National Guard Base since James was in diapers, so we were thrilled with the chance to go. With the 102nd Fighter Wing moving off Cape, this may very well be the last time we get to see the show here as well -- a sad prospect.

Bonnie skipped it -- we were short on earplugs, and she decided she'd rather spend the day catching up on work. It was just as well -- it was so hot and humid that Emme and Robert could only last about half the day on Saturday, so we left early -- we were home by 2:30 or so. As it turns out, we were smart to leave early, as the Thunderbirds had to scrub their flight due to low visibility.

James and I returned on Sunday and spent basically the whole afternoon at the air show. The highlight of our day was getting to watch the Thunderbirds perform. It was an absolute thrill -- they're amazing pilots. I told Emmeline when we got home that two of them are women, too, which seemed to please her.

It was a thrill -- we got to see jets and prop planes perform some crazy stunts, got to take looks inside some massive aircraft like a C-5 Galaxy, and James even got to sit in the pilot's seat of a Marine helicopter.

We ran into two problems -- one was with the van, the other was with our luggage. I brought my backpack with me, partly to hold my camera gear, and partly to hold sandwiches, snacks and beverages.

The van began steaming as we got to the area where we needed to park. I don't know what happened exactly -- I pulled over and checked it out, and there's plenty of coolant and oil. But I turned off the AC to be safe, noticed the "Check Engine" light is back on, and limped to the parking area without further incident. I'll call the Kia dealer tomorrow to bring it in.

When we got to the entrance gate, we discovered they were checking all backpacks. Fortunately I'd thought ahead and brought a Stop & Shop grocery bag, so I shoved all of our food and drinks in that, checked the bag (so no wide-angle shots today, as I left the wide-angle lens in the bag), and didn't get it back until we left.

Regardless of the blips, James and I had a great time, and it was really nice to have some one-on-one time with him, which I know he appreciated. With all of his brother and sister's issues, James gets short shrift sometimes, and I think he really appreciated the unadulterated attention.

I'll post more photos when I have a chance to edit them a bit -- between yesterday and today I shot over 1500 pics, and all day yesterday I had crap on the camera's sensor. But I posted a few from Saturday as a .Mac Web Gallery.

Posted by flargh at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

She sent Jim with two bags of Clodhoppers, Canada's finest export since William Shatner.

I promise, nothing bad about Dustin, Monique.

Posted by flargh at 02:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So on Monday Jim and I spent the day in Mansfield, Mass. as we always do, rocking at Ozzfest. We had a great time this year and were able to share the experience with our friends and coworkers Paul B. and Paul Z., and it was totally unforgettable.

Paul Z. and Jim got a special treat -- Jim used his connections to get the two of them a seat in the best place in the house -- right behind the mixing board during Ozzy's set.

Paul B. and I bailed a bit early -- we decided that we were a little weary after an overwhelming series of performances by some really amazing bands, so we ended up going back to the parking lot to chill out a bit, play some EA Games iPod pool and bowling, and listen to tunes.

If Dunkin' Donuts had a kiosk at the Tweeter Center, it would have been perfect. I think next year I'll bring a thermos full of Dunkin' with me and keep it in the back of the van. Also, next year we'll pay for premium parking, and I hope to have the Frickin' Van in full effect by then -- maybe we'll tailgate it and hang out for a while before the show too.

By far, the most memorable part of the day was getting up near the front of the stage for Hatebreed and standing dead center in the middle of the most ferocious pit I've ever been in in my life. Truly unforgettable -- Paul Z. and I just stood there locked next to each other and clung on for dear life.

The work got a bit snafu'd early in the day because of problems with the hotel Internet, but it worked out okay in the end. I think I need an EV-DO card for the MacBook Pro.

Posted by flargh at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hate Pokemon with a rage only a parent can muster. My daughter is totally obsessed with the Game Boy games -- she'll play them to the distraction of everything else. And she talks about Pokemon incessantly. She writes Pokemon fan fiction. She's a Pokemon otaku. It's creepy and weird. I know it's a phase, and I can't wait for it to stop.

Posted by flargh at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Thursday night Emme was supposed to sleep overnight at camp -- she's been going to Camp Lyndon in nearby Sandwich for much of the summer. At about 9 PM we got a call from the camp asking us to pick her up -- she wanted to come home.

I asked her on the way home why she wanted to come home, and she said she was feeling homesick. She'd done an overnight earlier this summer with no incident, but her best friend was at camp then, and she isn't now. So I think Emme's being above board in what she's telling me -- she just didn't have any compelling reason to stay overnight at camp and subsequently didn't want to.

I just wish she'd figured it out before I'd plunked down $25 for the overnight fee. Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.

Posted by flargh at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I KNEW Dustin was going home this week, and I'm sorry to gloat, but there it is.

As far as I'm concerned, Dustin showed his true colors this week after his eviction, when he told Julie Chen he thought Eric was "shysty."

For one thing, the word is "shyster." And the anti-Semetic implication of calling someone a shyster is probably lost on that vapid twat.

I'm just sorry he lasted long enough to get to the Sequester House.

Posted by flargh at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can't wait for their next single. I have all of these songs.

Posted by flargh at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So the Boston Globe recently had to update my account information with new credit card details because my last card expired. By enrolling online for bill payment, they rewarded me with a $10 Dunkin' Donut gift card.

It may only be $10, but I feel like they've given me the keys to the kingdom. I love me some Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee.

Posted by flargh at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For reasons that aren't worth getting into, I recently started to have to take an antibiotic -- sulfamethoxazole. I suspected getting the script that it was going to hurt my stomach, as Bonnie has had it before and is terrified to ever take it again. So I asked the nurse practitioner who gave me the script if it would bother my stomach and she said it shouldn't. Boy was she wrong.

After two days on it, I couldn't hold down any food. From Sunday evening through Monday evening, I was *running* to the bathroom to throw up, even during a restaurant dinner we went out to with my boss and his family. It was terrifying.

At first I thought I had a stomach flu or food poisoning, but there was no fever and no one else had it. What was so strange about it is that there was absolutely no cramping or onset. One second I'd be fine, the next I'd be throwing up.

The NP prescribed a new antibiotic (cipro) and I'm actually a lot better today. But let this be a lesson. Sulfa drugs are great, if you want to lose weight quickly and involuntarily.

Posted by flargh at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big Brother 8 continues to be one of my favorite things -- and guiltiest pleasures -- about the summer TV season. Sure, Rescue Me is better for drama, Damages is better for intrigue, and Mad Men is off the chain when it comes to set and costume design and character development. But pound for pound, the adventures of the houseguests on season 8 has been sure to please TV.

The last couple of weeks have seen the rise and fall of Evil Dick and his daughter Daniele, and I love it because Dick is probably the most identifiable guy in the game (for me). I say that not because of his rock and roll lifestyle, though I admit that's cool for a guy his age, but his balls-to-the-wall approach for the past few weeks has been great.

From the start, Dick's strategy has been to intimidate the hell out of everyone else in the house, and he's done a fine job on that account. But he's actually played the game much smarter than many other people in Big Brother history has, because he recognizes that subterfuge and careful strategy aren't his strong suits, and doesn't bother to deal with them at all. Instead, he goes full throttle, telling people exactly what's on his mind.

When he went up on the block this week, it became apparent that either he or Daniele were being sent to the sequester house, and he's said from the start that he'd sacrifice himself to get his daughter ahead in the game, as I think any parent would. And Daniele has taken a strong approach by trying to distance herself from her dad and shock people in the house into a level of sympathy with her that they've been able to deny thus far.

So Dick's just gone off the deep end -- this year's sociopathic version of Chicken George -- by making sure that everyone in the house is so alienated and terrified by him that they're sure to send him packing come Thursday night.

But as Dick points out, how many times these season has the pawn been sent packing?

And that's the sheer brilliance of America's Player -- it's a complete Joker in the card deck that makes up this game. I can't say for sure for anyone else, but I voted 10 times for Eric to evict Dustin rather than Dick. And it's not because I want Dustin out -- I just want the water muddied for the other players, to have them thrown off their game. Why? It's fun. Look at all the havoc it's wreaked so far -- Jessica, Dick and others have been thrown into paranoid curveballs because of it.

Posted by flargh at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now THAT'S what I call being into your ride.

Posted by flargh at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mashpee Special Ed Parents Advisory Council, with which Bonnie and I have both been involved from the start, had a busy week. Some of us met on Sunday after a member of the school committee got in touch with us to discuss plans going forward.

This was a couple of weeks after the SEPAC's president and vice president offered a sternly-worded letter to the school committee expressing a vote of "no confidence" in the special education director, Jane Beaudin, citing, among other things, her lack of proper state credentials and various grievances that parents both within and without the SEPAC have made over time.

It was announced mid-week this week, after our little get-together, that Jane was retiring (effective October, though she won't be back for the upcoming school year at all).

On Thursday I attended a meeting between the SEPAC's officers and two of the members of the school committee. And while those committee members made it clear from the start that they couldn't take any direct action, they asked us what help we needed and took copious notes, and assured us that they'd bring our requests to the attention of the superintendent and others in the school administration who could make things happen, which I took to be a positive sign.

At the time the SEPAC officers read the letter, I was, to be frank, a little put off -- not because I disagreed with even a single thing in the letter, which you can read here, but because the letter came as a surprise to me: The contents of that letter weren't presented as a point of order to the rest of us in the SEPAC. I voiced my criticism in that regard, and our president, Heidi, has taken my comments under consideration, so I'm hoping we won't have a repeat in the future.

Regardless of the circumstances, I'm glad to see Jane "retiring." Between the various complaints that special ed parents in our town had about her and a debacle involving the town's loss of Medicaid reimbursement due to administrative bungling, I really don't think there's a lot Jane could have done to restore the trust of the members of our community most affected.

In somewhat related news, it was also announced this week that Jeffrey Dees, the principal of the Quashnet School here in town, is accepting a position as "interim" principal at the Oak Ridge School in nearby Sandwich. James is disappointed that his friend Ben's dad isn't going to be principal when he goes to the Quashnet school in 2008, but Emmeline likes Dees' replacement, Patty DeBoer, and we've had a positive relationship with her so far. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that between these two major changes, we're seeing a new chapter open up in Mashpee schools.

Posted by flargh at 03:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

why Apple's exquisitely-designed new Bluetooth keyboard doesn't have a friggin' numeric keypad?

Posted by flargh at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm desperately embarrassed for anyone who's old enough to shave and still dresses like a teenager. More specifically, men in their 20s who are desperately trying to retain some level of teen hipness by walking around with their baseball caps turned sideways, wearing sleeveless t-shirts, gold chains, knee-length shorts and pairs of Timberland boots.

But what makes me even more sad is when I see them with kids, as I did last week at a family night cookout at Emmeline's camp. It wasn't just one or two conspicuous dads like this -- it was probably half a dozen of them, desperately trying to retain some sense of their youth by dressing like they were kids. And all they succeeded in doing was looking like a bunch of four-star assholes.

I'm not saying that just because you're a father it means you have to start looking 50, nor do I think that men should give up a sense of personal style once they have their own kids. But I do believe you should have enough self-respect to recognize when you're looking foolish and make an effort not to do so.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Posted by flargh at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now there's a weird phrase that I heard totally out of context in the kitchen this morning.

Posted by flargh at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So this past week our new(ish) van developed a problem -- the Check Engine light came on. Shortly thereafter the speedometer started to malfunction, so I brought it in to the dealership for service. Which was done (the speed sensor was replaced). I also had them swap out the wiper motor, as the wipers didn't return to their stationary position when they were turned off. They'd just sit in the middle of the windowsill.

Both problems were fixed efficiently, and it's then that I found out that the dealership is closing, permanently. We'll have to go off Cape (to Kingston or New Bedford) to get warranty service for the van in the future, at least until another Kia dealer rolls into town. I figure it's an inevitability -- with Kia dealerships 45 minutes away in either direction, it's an opportunity for someone. And there is another Hyundai dealership further down Cape, and Hyundai owns Kia.

Anyway, the parts I had asked the salesman to order for us when we first bought the van arrived, too -- a new clip for one of the headrests, a cover for the fuse panel under the dash, and a set of floor mats.

As it turns out, the floor mats were the most difficult thing to install. They came in four parts, two of them extraordinarily large and unwieldy. To install the floor mat for the center row I actually had to remove the center bench seat all together. And to properly install the driver's side mat, I should really unbolt the seat from the floor to install a retaining clip so the driver's mat won't slip around. But that's a project that will require a ratchet and more effort than I really care to make at this time.

Posted by flargh at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hard to believe that Aja by Steely Dan came out when I was James' age. Still one of my all-time favorite "stuck on a desert island" albums. Doesn't have a bad track. Hell, doesn't have a single note out of place. And at $6.93 on iTunes, it's a steal.

I've been listening to it damn near constantly for the last couple of weeks, ever since I saw a "VH1 Classic" documentary on its making. Just can't get enough of it.

Posted by flargh at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just got back from the dealership where we bought our car early last month. After being told by our salesman that they dealership was moving to the other side of town when we bought it, I learned today from the service and parts managers that they're being shut down all together; apparently the family that owned the dealership couldn't figure out a way to make it work on their other lot, thanks to the intricacies of how dealer franchises operate. The sales guy was right at the time, by the way. The parts manager told me that the ownership vacillated on what they were going to do several times over the past couple of months.

It's no secret that car sales are in the toilet right now; it's one of the reasons we got a very, very good deal on our new(ish) van. And new car sales being in the toilet reflects that the economy is in the shitter.

I also heard a local news program this morning that interviewed an editor at the local paper. He said that foreclosure actions -- not filings, but actions (in other words, foreclosures actually happening, rather than just banks filing foreclosures, which happen months ahead of actual foreclosures and can be diverted if customers dig themselves out of the hole) -- hit a decade and a half record high in the month of July.

Bonnie's looking for additional work right now, because the company she works for -- funded through state agencies -- offers her extremely limited hours. She's been looking for several weeks, and outside of one promising lead that didn't go anywhere, hasn't seen a thing, outside of menial retail jobs.

Posted by flargh at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jen is the most vile, wretched self-centered ass in the history of Big Brother US history.

Posted by flargh at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you have AMC and you're not watching Mad Men, what the hell is wrong with you?

It's a stylish new drama largely centered on Don Draper, an enigmatic executive at a Madison Avenue ad agency in 1960. The show is incredibly stylish; the set design and costume design is impeccable, and gives me a huge craving for the sleek modernity of the New Frontier.

Three episodes in, the show's basic characters are still being defined, but what we've learned so far is that in the 1960s, everyone chain-smoked, offices were hideous places for single women to work, all men were clean shaven, used Brylcreem unless they were psychiatrists, and kept bottles of Canadian Club in their desks, and if they were desperately unhappy, housewives kept it to themselves, at least until the anxiety made them lose control of the station wagon and smash it into the neighbor's birdbath.

It's set for a 13-episode run, and I'm already desperately hoping that it'll be renewed for next year, because it's a real treat. I wasn't sure about it, because the first episode painted such a perfect veneer on the era, but now we're seeing the cracks in the facade.

The show's bona fides are impeccable, too -- the show's creator was an executive producer and writer on The Sopranos, and you'll recognize some of the cast, too.

Anyway, Thursdays at 10 -- make sure to check it out.

Posted by flargh at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)