All posts by Duf

I’m glad Friday is here. I’m ready for a weekend. Mine will be pretty busy though. Tomorrow I plan on doing a bunch of work on Nicki’s play area. I need to level the dirt in the area and then start digging the holes for the fence posts. Her area should be nice when it is done with a dirt area for digging, a nice bermuda grass area and a small deck.

On Sunday we are going to pick up my Christmas gift from my dad. We’re driving 100 miles to Clewiston to pick up some trees. It should be a nice little roadtrip.

On the way in to work I saw a couple things. First I went by a place that still had their Christmas lights up and on. What is the over under date for when this transforms from “I want to extend the holiday spirit” to “I am too lazy to take them down”? For me the cutoff date is Jan 15th.

Then as I got to work I was behind a school bus. I quickly noticed that there was a rope dragging behind it with a doll tied to the other end around it’s neck. On closer observation I saw the rope was actually coming out an open window towards the back. Evidently some little devil thought it would be cool to covertly toss the tethered doll out the window and have it do some asphalt surfing for as long as the dopey bus driver didn’t notice. Funny stuff.

My personal best is 320.5, penguin homerun derby

I’m tired of people being offended. Everyone is offended about everything. Everything needs to fit inside the boundries of political correctness. The latest ridiculous case of offensive offensiveness came from our local paper. The leader of some local group proclaimed she found it offensive that Lee county was named after Robert E. Lee. She said there is history indicating that he owned slaves and that possibility translates into her idea the county name should be changed. It’s offensive. What the F? What shall we name the county? Lollipop county? Puppies county? I mean come on. People that go around looking for something to be offended about, offend me. Idiots.

I just set up a “honeypot” on my web site that is designed to suck in spam email harvesting bots. Then the info on these bots is relayed to another site that maintains the list and reports the offenders in an effort to catch these asshole spammers. If you want to see the stats on my honeypot it can be seen here.

The Sixers with a record of 19-21 are in first place in their division. Damn no wonder nobody cares about the NBA. If the playoffs started today they would be the number 3 seed in the entire conference. The NBA is lucky they have the NHL to keep them from being the most pathetic major sport.

I was sad and surprised to hear Johnny Carson died. I knew he had emphysema but didn’t know he was in grave health. Although most of the behind scene stories you hear about him are negative, I still really enjoyed him as an entertainer. It was comforting to know that if I found myself awake at 11:30 I could flip on Carson and get some good laughs. Hell it seems like he left the show only a few years ago but it’s been over a decade already. Damn. I heard there is no burial service, very odd for someone of his stature but I guess it is par for the course if you consider how he was in his private life. There has been way too many people dying recently.

24 years ago I remember the Eagles getting to the Super Bowl. At the time I thought it was neat. However I didn’t realize it would be such a rare occurance or else I would have appreciated it more. Well after 3 consecutive years of falling flat on their face at the doorstep to the Super Bowl, they kicked the door down and won the NFC championship game in convincing fashion. What a great game. I drank heavily during the game which resulted in some of the most ridiculous celebrations that have been witnessed by mankind. (just ask Ali) I was high stepping across the room, diving onto the sofa, kicking so high that I knocked myself over and finally celebrating the last seconds ticking off the clock by sprinting out to the lanai and jumping into the pool. I was insane with the joy of victory. As the game was in it’s late stages they showed a picture of a dejected Micahel Vick on the sidelines. I instantly jumped up and gave the fungo salute so hard that I reinjured my wrist. The entire afternoon was just crazy from the drinking and celebrating. I think I had 8 beers and a shot and a half of Goldschlager. I had every intent to watch the second game so I could scout out the Eagles opponent. However I passed out sometime in the second quarter and didn’t wake back up till 10 at night to see Tom Brady holding the AFC championship trophy. Ali filled in the blanks for me. I was really surprised to see the game was such a blowout. Surely the Eagles will be big underdogs but to be honest, I kind of like them being in that role. Nothing to lose, TO possibly coming back and a chance to shock a national audience. Go Birds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rest of the weekend was much more mundane. On Saturday we pulled out all of the fence posts that will be used for Nicki’s play area and treated them with preservative to keep them from rotting. This stuff turns the wood green and is a bit of a mess to slap on. My sneakers and arms had plenty of green on them as well.

We decided to take another shot at seeing Meet the Fockers. This time we went earlier in the day and bought tickets for the evening show. I’m glad we did. The theater was the most full I ever saw it, but we strolled right in past the disgruntled people saying “Ok, tell me what ISN’T sold out?” The movie was GREAT, funnier than the original. I can understand why it is doing so well. I highly recommend it.

I got in a bunch more WoW time. It is getting a bit crazy. On Friday night I was up till 1 am, Saturday night, midnight. I think I am getting a handle on why I am so sucked into the game. The game is all about getting stuff done. Doing quests to acquire stuff and experience to raise your level in the game. This feeds right into my project madness driven real life. Now I can carry on with that mindset virtually. Damn it’s a good game. I got an additional 512 meg of RAM for my puter to smooth out some performance issues I was having.

When I got the RAM at Best Buy I also stopped and looked at camcorders. Mine is on the blink and I was looking for a replacement. I wanted to get one that used the same tape format to be compatible with my old tapes. They had 4 or 5 on display, priced reasonably. I call over the clerk who happened to be in a wheelchair, and told him I wanted to get one of these camcorders. “We don’t have any” he says. No? Bummer, ok, well how about this one? “We don’t have that either” Ok, I asked him about the other 2 models that would fit my bill. “No, we don’t have any of them. We are getting rid of that type of camera. You could buy the display models but I wouldn’t recommend it. Maybe Circuit City would have some.” Haha, ok nice. Best Buy is a great place to shop if you don’t have to deal with anybody there.

Haven’t felt much like blogging. Last night the Apprentice started up again, it’s too soon. I mean I like the show but the last one wrapped up like a month ago. Come on Donald, we don’t need to see that much of you. Combine that with American Idol revving up will mean too much reality tv, especially considering my WoW involvement. Something will have to give.

Yea I am disgusted about the 40 million dollar price tag on W’s inauguration. It’s inappropriate no matter who paid for it. Spend the 40 million on tsunami relief or to pay to plate the humvee’s in Iraq with something other than plywood. Enjoy your caviar W, I’m sure the guys in Iraq are glad to protect your ability to eat it.

I’m really starting to become a road rage nut. I am constantly yelling even though no one hears me. “C’mon you f’wad move it! “Use your turn signal you idiot” “You dumb f’r, the passing lane is for passing!” It’s practically a reflex reaction at this point. It’s tough to control. So many morons on the road, so little patience.

Does anyone else feel dumb when they curse at a car, calling the driver an “asshole” only to find out the driver was a woman? I almost feel like I just called a long haired man a woman. Somehow most swear words have a male connotation to me even though I don’t think they really have to. There are only 2 swear words I would classify as feminine based, the b and the c word. All other curse words like shithead, m f’r, jackass etc , all only seem appropriate for male offenders. Weird.

A former volleyball teammate and opponent of mine from up north was killed in car crash over the weekend. He was a good kid. I remember one time I was playing against him indoors in a quads tournament. He was a very good player and hammered a hit that rocketed right off my face. I dropped like a rock but was not hurt, just stunned. Even though he was really good, he was very humble and never acted cocky. He asked me if I was ok and apologized and meant it, even though there was no reason to do so. He was real laid back, yet had endless energy.

It’s incredibly tragic to have someone so young, just starting out in life, be erased in a blink of an eye. I really feel sick about it. It’s times like this that make me really hope there is something after you take your last breath. I hope he is there. Wear your seatbelt.

Yesterday I was off for MLK day. I celebrated the holiday by holing myself up in the house all day and doing basically nothing except playing World of Warcraft. I’m officially addicted. I haven’t spent an entire day (and night) playing a game for at least a half decade if not longer. It’s just that good of a game. It really can fit any style of play. If you want to have wall to wall battles, no problem. If you want to relax, go fishing, go to the store to buy and sell stuff, go play the WoW ebay auction, sure you can do that too. The driving force for me is knowing what abilities and merchandise is waiting for me as I attain certain levels which unlock these things. I highly recommend the game, if you dare try it. It’s like computer game crack.

Saturday was the big flea market. The weather was less than great with temperatures in the lower 60’s and an off and on misty rain. But even so the event was a success for us. We sold probably 3/4 of what we had, made 80 bucks or so and had a good time. Selling as part of a big event is definitely the way to go. Having lots of bodies walk by along with having most of your stuff priced at a dollar or less helps a lot. We had a few very annoying people that wanted to negotiate on 50 cent items. Some of them we told to get lost, later in the day we said “Fine” as we rolled our eyes. There were amazing deals to be found. I scored my best flea market score EVER. As I walked around I saw a big box with 2 ceiling fans in them. As I looked closer I realized these were 2 of the exact same type of fans we have installed throughout the house. We have a couple spots that needed fans yet but never got around to doing it yet. The fans were dirty but were was easily cleanable and fans don’t break . It looked like someone just wanted a different style. The sticker said MAKE OFFER. I talked to the lady who was running the table. It was somethiong that was donated to the school so she didn’t care what it sold for. She said “I’ll tell ya what, you offer a dollar, i’ll take it. It’s one less big box.” SWEET. These fans cost like 80 bucks each. I got 2 for a buck! I hooked one up later in the weekend and it worked just fine! I also scored a women’s set of golf clubs in an awesome leather Ladies Cobra bag for 5 BUCKS! Another steal that will let me take Ali to the driving range to see if she enjoys the sport. The flea market was a nice success.

After the flea market we ran home and cleaned up. I asked Ali if she wanted to do dinner and a movie, which sounded good to her. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and had a great dinner even though we had a young ditz as a waitress that didn’t seem to know much about her job. After dinner we planned to go see Meet The Fockers. The theater was packed! We waited in line for 10-15 minutes to get a ticket only to hear SOLD OUT when we got to the window. It pissed us off that they didn’t have the SELL OUTS posted so we didn’t have to waste time in line. The stuff that wasn’t sold out didn’t interest us so we bagged it and called it an early night.

I have to admit I was very nervous about the Eagles playoff game against the Vikings. I, like everyone else didn’t really know what to expect from them since they shut it down early and also the effect of the TO injury. Well they came out and played a strong game. The receivers performed better than expected and the defense made big plays. The birds left at least another 10 points off the board from some screw ups but they still managed to win easily. Next up Atlanta, they seem to be the bandwagon pick, especially after the dismantling of the Rams. I dunno maybe I’m dumb but I’m not that impressed. They seem one dimensional and I have faith in JJ to scheme to limit what they do best. Plus, they aren’t playing indoors in 72 degree climate control this week. It should slow them down a bit.