Higher Power Shower Hour
Journey into the mind of a guy who seeks to find chaos in order…
Even Moar
June 8th, 2011
Moar
June 7th, 2011
Minecraft Update
May 28th, 2011
Parking Problem Solved!
April 12th, 2011Robert:
Yo!
Me:
Heya
Robert:
I declare a fatwah on Traffic and Parking!
Me:
Uh oh.
Someone get a fine?
Robert:
Yep. I parked in a “visitor area” and didn’t have my little hanging tag.
$25, but stil…
Me:
Laaame.
Robert:
Personally, I have always thought it stupid for faculty and staff to pay for parking. It is almost like paying the university for working for them.
When I worked at the airport, we paid less than $5 for a little hanging tag. Aside from that we paid NOTHING to park in employee parking.
The $5 was just to cover the cost of making the little plastic hang tag.
Me:
Sounds like a familiar complaint.
“Given them 35 years of service and yet in all that time they’re still charging me for parking”
Robert:
Yep. Even people I know who work for companies registered parking, they do not pay a king’s ransom for that ability. They pay a small amount for a tag and that is that. Parking revenues come from visitors and guests, not employees.
Me:
It’s all just a big money grab.
Plain and simple.
Robert:
Even when I was a student, I understood charging students – there are only so many spaces for so many students and the fee is a way of managing limited student space. However, faculty and staff work for the university and are providing a service to the university and they do not even get the perk of a free parking space. Shit, they pay MORE than the students do for parking. WTF?!
Me:
They should just stop managing the parking altogether.
Let it descend into Thunderdome, who cares.
Meanwhile, you have the builders install a fence that lets y’all park in the seekrit museum parking lot and spa.
So you can get a massage while watching the rest of TTU burn.
Robert:
Perhaps they should auction student parking spaces. No fixed fee, just a space to the highest bidder.
Me:
Nah, not as much fun.
Robert:
Have it in a live auction setting. Whoever does not attend the auction, does not get a chance for a tag…
Me:
Better to clear out United Arena’s floor, drop a bunch of clubs, spears and hammers and let folks duke it out for ultimate parking supremacy.
Robert:
LOL
It is an armed “King of the Hill” for a parking space. I like it.
Of course, that means that many spots will immediately go to TTU athletes…
Unless, of course, there are students well versed in martial arts…
Me:
Kidding me? The jocks be the first against the wall. You should be more afraid of the guys who spent their free time LARPing.
lightning bolt!
Robert:
LOL
I like the way you think!
Me:
I am to serve, good sir.
Tap Tap Tap…
February 23rd, 2011…is this thing on?
Heelllllllooooooooo (ello, elllo, elllo…)
*ahem*
Guess it’s time for the usual Ketchup post then!
Well, last we left off, we were talking Halloween. The fireman getup was close to perfect, so I’ll add to it some more so that it is more than perfect one of these days.
November – December = the usual blur. Double busy workwise, triple much fatiguewise. Pretty par for the course.
January, New Years was spent at home to be honest. Too lazy after Christmas rush to do jack divided by cottage cheese, so I took a pass this year. Rest of the month? Ok, I suppose.
Most of February has flown by without any major incident so far. I shall say no more on that particular subject until I flip the calendar to see the shining happy faces of Golden Retrievers frolicking in the spring flowers.
Overall, a rather inauspicious end of one year and the beginning of another. Oh, yeah, I got elected President of my alliance of a few hundred in the silly nation building game that I play. Fun playing politics and using the old noodle for something else besides work and TV. Heh.
Apart from that, started writing a few things more for myself lately. Nothing ready to share as yet, but at least I’m writing again.
And, say, how about that 83 degree weather we had down here the other day? MmmmmmmmMMmmm! Love it.
That’s about it for now. Will be back again in the relative sooner than much later sense.
Finally Found An Idea…
October 26th, 2010It may seem a bit cliche, but I’m going as a fireman this year.
“Why?” you ask.
Well, I found a bona fide set of bunking gear.
“No, seriously?” you wonder.
Yeah, seriously!
Was in Dallas this past weekend getting into some good-natured mischief and was lamenting to a friend of mine there that I had yet to find a costume idea that was worth a damn. Since I usually excel in making my own, I was pretty damned sad that I hadn’t had yet ONE idea that interested me.
So, my friend recommended that I visit this one shop nestled in the rough part of town. After haunting Spirit store after Spirit store and Randomly Named Halloween Store after Randomly Named Halloween Store, I found this gem in the middle of Oak Cliff of all places.
Suck on that, overpriced temporary costume stores!
My only concern is that it is thicker than hell as legit firefighting gear is, so I’m going to have to find a way of keeping cool. I have a few ideas, but I’m going to have to play with them to find the right method that won’t drive me insane by the end of the evening.
I also need to find stuff like a helmet and gin up some patches. Have to see what I can come up with.
In the meantime, I have:
Fire coat
Fire pants
Boots (the mucking boots I used for last year’s pirate getup will work just fine)
Radio (Old busted ass handheld CB I have laying around)
Still needed:
Helmet
Patches
Utility belt
Flashlight
31st Looms…
October 15th, 2010Mid-October came around faster than I thought this year. It’s one of those strange transition times, where I still migrate to the river to enjoy the last few days of Hot before the days of Cold set upon us. It is also one of those times where I sit and contemplate this year’s Halloween costume choice as well as a night of fun and fond memories.
You know, the strangest thing about being in my mid-thirties is that I still enjoy doing most of the same stupid shit I used to do when I was a kid. Sure, adult responsibility has clouded over most of that, but there is just something about Halloween that amuses me so.
I think the main difference is that I’m passing out the candy these days instead of collecting it. That’s fine with me, I enjoy returning the favor to the next generation of ghouls and goblins. I light up the front porch and wait for the horde to descend, getting a kick out of the experience and remembering days long past when I would toddle behind my older brothers going up and down the streets in my neighborhood.
Since I became an adult, this experience was usually followed up by late night parties or goings on with friends. Taking to the streets and enjoying my first favourite holiday with wild abandon, that’s what Halloween is for.
It is a time to fire up Jeff Wayne’s and Orson Welles’ versions of War of the Worlds. Time to comb through the recesses of the sleeping Creative Giant within and design a potential costume of awesome. Time to eat too much fucking candy and regret it later.
Responsibility can hang for one night, just like it hangs on St. Patrick’s Day and just like it hangs on the first day of a new tubing season. Halloween is a day to remember that things don’t always have to be so serious. It’s ok to watch scary movies and hide beneath the blankets.
Life would be so boring otherwise.
Don’t Fear the Creeper…
October 8th, 2010
So, I’ve joined the world of Minecraft recently…
For the uninitiated, Minecraft is a sandbox type game where you are plunked down in a randomly-generated world filled with all kinds of awesome and danger. For the currently low one time price of about 13 to 14 in US dollars, you too can join and receive free updates for the life of the game.
What can you do in Minecraft?
To be honest, it’s becoming for me a question about what CAN’T you do.
You start off in a completely randomly-generated world filled with tons of resources, monsters and animals. You can explore a seemingly endless world (which is only limited vertically, you can go horizontally as far as you please), explore an almost endless supply of underground caverns, build tools such as axes, picks, shovels, minecarts, boats, furnaces, monster traps, TNT… I’ve even seen people build functioning roller coasters in the thing!
Hell, one guy even built an actual FUNCTIONING COMPUTER in the thing. Yes, you heard right. The guy created a computer. That actually runs. Inside a computer game.
Created by one guy over in Europe, the game has sold well over 300,000 copies. And it’s just in ALPHA TESTING.
It’s not even close to the full version, folks, but already it is good and it is awesome.
There are a few limitations. The graphics are a bit of a throwback to games of long ago, very blocky and you can see the pixels. This is not a game filled with SFX and movie filled graphics.
You are limited vertically to roughly 128 blocks from top to bottom.
Multiplayer is still undergoing a basic functionality overhaul.
All in all, this game has sucked up a lot of my time. Well worth the $13 I spent!
Spamalot…
September 24th, 2010Y’all are spared the deluge of spam commentary that attempts to shit up my blog, but I usually have to sort through it to separate the actual comments from the bravo sierra. Since some of these are hilarious, I’m going to post a few excerpts along with my commentary. Enjoy!
From an IP that clearly states in whois as a “girls piss in pants” site comes this gem posted on one of my Battlestar Galactica-related posts:
“Following reading this posting, I pondered the exact same point that I invariably wonder about when scanning new blogs and forums. Just what do I believe about this? Precisely how should it impact me? This and additional posts in your weblog here absolutely give some stuff to take into account. I basically ended up here via Yahoo when I was very first doing some web study for some course function that I’ve. Often great times browsing through and I’m hopeful that you will maintain on writing new posts. Cheers!”
Thanks for spoiling who the last Cylon was, asshole. Yahoo is a stupid name for a Cylon.
“Hello amigos, I am Anna and I want to make my little commentary. I am want to place your text at my personal blog, with link to your blog. Is it normal for your? give to me your answer, please”
Thanks, Anna. It definitely not normal for your commentary place text! My commentary is blog link blog answer no!
“Fed up with getting low numbers of useless visitors to your site? Well i want to let you know about a fresh underground tactic that produces me personally $900 each day on 100% AUTOPILOT…”
Actually, I am rather fond of the low numbers of useless visitors to my site. If I was suddenly set upon by a raging horde of useless visitors, I’m sure I’d too be making $328,500 per year just by joining the Fresh Underground! I heard they know exactly how to handle mobs of useless visitors — fighting them with the gift of mad rhymes!
Speaking of Fresh, is he still making movies and hanging out with DJ Jazzy Jeff?
“Tired of obtaining low numbers of useless traffic for your website? Well i wish to tell you about a fresh underground tactic which makes myself $900 every day on 100% AUTOPILOT.”
Wait. Are you saying that the Fresh Prince hates traffic too? I had no idea he drove Cessnas on the highway for ANOTHER $328,500 per year! Is their no limit to what he can do?
As a followup to another Battlestar post:
“I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)”
Goddamnit! Now the Cylons are made by Sony and Microsoft?!?! I hate you all.
“like, kunvoclvhovpxkcfxuelxp,”
????
Please, allow me to retort… like, suckoffawolverine.
“hey, this might be little offtopic, but i am hosting my site on hostgator and they will suspend my hosting in 4days, so i would like to ask you which hosting do you use or recommend?”
I hear HostGator’s pretty good. Accept no substitute, my friend.
Worry not, my friends, I’m quite sure there will be more! 
One Note Is Best…
September 12th, 2010Twas in the ghost town where I learned to let go, to not read every word as a item of scrutiny. To not sit and let the bonds of life tie me into one specific mindset.
You met me there as a friend, you left me there as my mentor. At a time when all things seemed to mesh together into a tightly woven fabric of doubt and uncertainty, you reminded me of the bigger picture.
For all that, dear friend, I thank you.
The journey I take is the journey I know I must walk alone. I fear not this journey, nor the shadow that follows me.
I can walk the serene thread knowing that you cared, that you really took the time to engage in a dialogue and not just dismiss me as one who defies logic and reason.
I wish you fair travels in your adventure and hope that you will remember me in mine. For in the end, that’s all that there is.
That’s all there ever was.
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