Nicho's Brain Dump

I know you don't want to hear my politics...

Sat, 17 Dec 2005 07:17:18 GMT

If thus interested, I've launched a forum at my site. Ostensibly, it should be debate-free. I'll keep the heated topics on the blog page, so you don't have to worry about it.

Stop on by, my friends.

New Site Up

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 15:57:44 GMT

It's not quite finished, but The Smirking Cynic is up and running. The layout is a bit boring, but I need to get PhotoShop 8 installed to get some proper graphics up. I had to reinstall my my PC so I'm left playing catchup again.

My posts will be over here now, so be sure to stop in and sign up.

Xena?

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 13:47:22 GMT

You mean to tell me that our newest planet and possible moon are named after the Warrior Princess and her thinly veiled lesbian sidekick?

Someone needs to beat these astonomers with their own telescopes. We have planets with very wonderful names based on mythology. Mars, the God of War with its bloodsoaked red appearance; Neptune, it's greenish softlight resembling the sea...

Does Xena have a hard metal ring around it or something?

Spaghetti Monsters

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 05:02:08 GMT

Considering the astonishing levels of outright ignorance out there in this whole "Intelligent Design vs. Darwin" argument, I was left laughing quite heartily at a recent article in the Op-Ex section of the Star Tribune today.

And excerpt:
"We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and [that number is] growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence. What these people don't understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is."

Tell me that's not gold.

Anyway, I've got a new site now registered, but I'm going to reserve the unveiling until a later date. I want to get it all nice and tidy before I invite the like of you. Just make sure you wipe your feet before you come in.

He wasn't knighted, HE WAS INDICTED!

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:51:28 GMT

It's really very hard to be mature and not dance the dance of happiness when you read something like this.

Feeling Better

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 19:05:05 GMT

In case the tone of my posts hasn't come across as mildly cynical in the political world, I should point out that I've been rather depressed lately.

I know some of you would rather not talk politics, and I respect that. What I don't understand is a person who will go out of their way to avoid politics - At least as far as my fellow Americans are concerned. (Quite frankly, I know very little about foreign politics.) It bothers me because politics is about the decisions that are made in the names of each and every one of us.

Ever since the "re-election" of Preznit Bush, I've been fairly down. I'd even go as far as to catagorize it as despair. It's hard being a liberal in a nation that has three branches of government all firmly in the possession of short-sighted, greedy people. And there have been many moments where my mood was adversely effected by what was going on in the world.

Now, before you start shaking your heads at me, realize that I've seen grown men upset to the point of consuming their weight in Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream because Naruto was licensed to 4Kids. It's a matter of perspective. The big difference, of course, is that while Naruto is being bastardized, it isn't effecting global warming.

Anyway, I went to Barnes & Noble last night with the kids. My intention was to get some new reading material for them and see if there was anything worth picking up that wasn't going to send me spiraling into the depression drain. I ended up picking up a copy of The New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer by Bill Maher and Who Let the Dogs In?: Incredible Political Animals I Have Known by Molly Ivins. Maher, because I somewhat like his comedy and Ivins because what little I'd heard about her, she seemed fairly insightful. I had thought that Maher would've been just what I was looking for, but to my surprise it was Ivins that really got my mood improved.

When discussing politics, it's very easy to take one's own self too seriously. Ivins has a way of writing that leaves one thinking that they're reading a letter from their crazy Aunt in Texas, and not a political observer/activist. And my depiction probably isn't the most flattering I could make, but believe me, I mean it with the greatest of compliments.

While most books on politics available have everything to do with hidden agendas, poltical payback, and all-encompassing hatred of the opposition, Ivins' book is loaded with down-home humor, a sweet southern flavor, and no lack of facts to back up her own points. After reading the Forward and Introduction, I was hooked. And the best part is that I haven't felt this good in some time. Molly gave me the insight to laugh at the idiocy, and not just cry foul at it. Also, she's given me reason to like Texans - if only a little bit.

So, yeah, I highly recommend you pick that one up; if, for no other reason, because you'll get a good laugh and maybe even learn a few things.

Majority Rules

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:23:58 GMT

10,000 people demonstrated in London at the same time 300,000 demonstrated in DC. They got better results.

Sign of the Times?

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:02:04 GMT

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you hadn't heard about this because they didn't cover a minute of it on network news. While our local stations had 24 hours of coverage about Hurricane Rita (with exception to when they had to break away for college football), the only outlets covering an estimated 100,000 people (or 300,000, depending on where you get your estimates from) organizing a peace rally in DC were either in print or on the internet.

All due respect to those who lost their homes to a hurricane, but I think that perhaps someone - anyone - could've taken a few precious minutes of TV newstime and covered what is the biggest anti-war protest seen in this country since the Vietnam War era.

But apparently there were some feathers ruffled by the demonstration, provoking counter rally the next day. After reading that it attracted 400 people, I'm left to wonder how accurate those polls are on American support for Bush's Iraq War truly are.

In other news: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

In still OTHER news: So much for separation of church and state.

A Good Day

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:39:22 GMT

In case you missed it, I made an update but did so to preserve the date of my wedding anniversary.

I took the day off yesterday and we headed to Stillwater, MN - the city we were married in. I absolutely adore that city. The downtown area is very historical and they take great pains to keep it that way. It's kind of like a living Norman Rockwell painting - or perhaps the scene in Funny Farm where the whole town is trying too hard to appear that way. Either way, I love the place. There really should be more places like it.

Patton and I had lunch at one of the lovely overpriced places by the river, and spent the day going through shops. I think that my fuddy-duddy meter must be rising because I've actually come to enjoy going through antique stores, though I almost refuse to use the term as a verb (ie: "antiquing"). It fascinating to me to go through old belongings like that. There's so much history. And I think there's a lesson buried in there somewhere about humans being materialistic and placing value on static things they really shouldn't. But I love my shallow personality, nurture it when I can, and try not to allow such feelings of more meaningful pursuits interfere with it.

We had a really good time. I even stressed the importance of going to an apple orchard that we've frequented in the past. Aamodt's Apple Farm is very picturesque. As much as I'm a sucker for fresh-picked apples, our real reason for going was to peruse their large stock of products the farm makes - most specifically, vadalia onion steak sauce. (Which, if you haven't had the pleasure - let me stress the great importance of at least trying this once before you die.) Unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock. We were broken hearted long enough to replace our food needs with carmel apples, pumpkin muffins, apple pasteries, apple pie, and - of course - a great big bag of fresh-picked apples.

I know this sounds like pretty boring day to some. But I haven't felt to recharged in a very long time. Patton and I had a really great time and promised that we'd do that more often.

10 Years

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:21:56 GMT

(I pre-dated this so as to preserve the date of it. It was my letter to my wife. Yesterday we celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary.)

Has it really been ten years? It really doesn’t feel like it. But it is a stark reminder to look at the pictures. Although you have remained as beautiful as the day I met you, I look back and see my sibling’s children who are now making lives of their own.

Ten years?

It’s actually a fairly astonishing achievement. We’ve been through so much together – and I’m sure life has a great deal more in store for us. It’s strange how I can remember so much of the moment I saw you for the first time. Don’t get me wrong – I knew that I had met an amazing person. I guess I had no idea that I had met the person I would end up sharing my life with; my other half, if you will. I guess I expected more of an immediate epiphany. But perhaps it’s best that this realization that you were the person I most wanted to be with spread itself out with each day.

No one understands me better than you. I have to admit that this can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance, because no one can put me in my place like you when I get full of myself. But you also have the courage to back me up when it feels like no one else will. You defend me when I feel indefensible. And in the moments when you pick me back up, it’s so easy to remember why I’ve devoted myself to you.

But ten years? My god!

Do you think that any one person at our wedding (aside from us, of course) believed that we’d make it this far? I think the betting stopped at five years. But after ten years, it becomes all too possible that Happily Ever After can be real.

My wife…My dear, beloved soul mate; you are in my thoughts everyday. I still remember trying my hardest to get you to come out with me on New Year’s Eve, shortly after I met you. I remember mustering the courage to kiss you for the first time. I remember the moment that I asked you to be my wife and lost the nerve to wait for an answer only to have to ask me when we next had the moment together. I remember when you told me that we were going to be parents, and the joy I felt in knowing that we were truly in this together. I remember standing in front of two hundred of our friends and family when we sealed our commitment to one another.

Yes, it has been ten years, and I look forward to decades more. For every hard time that has tripped us up, we’ve always found a way to persevere and move forward.

I love you with all of my heart.

Your devoted husband

Google means no end of entertainment

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 16:14:48 GMT

Whilst doing a little surfing, I found this little gargoyle who shared my name.

Just scroll down the page a bit and you'll see him. But I need to quote this because I had to crack a smile when I read it:
If my Lord were ever to catch Nichodeamus again, he told my Lady, he would see to it personally that the little devil was never again able to get access to his grapes, his fruit, his jewellery - his money!- God’s Teeth how was the little devil doing it! How did he gain access?

But my Lady loved little Nicho’s chatter. She loved his little ways. She loved his company.

Did not my Lord bring him back from his Travels as a plaything, as a pass time, as a companion for her?

No, Nichodeamus would gain access to her bedchamber tonight - and to her table if he wished - and to her dinner. And if he saw fit…. And as my Lord was once again in the Grand Hall of an evening… to my Lord’s dish and his wine and….

Should he?

All the ladies love Nicho's chatter...

Damn iPod

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 04:24:13 GMT

Okay, so I signed in to iTunes on Friday and it said there was a new update available. I download it and install it and there started the problems.

First of all, after trying to update my iPod, it said that I needed to reinstall iTunes because the software for the iPod was not updated. Confused, I reinstall - same problem again. Now I'm pissed. I do a little investigating and find out that there is a new iPod updater edition that must be done so that it can talk with iTunes 5.0. I download that, install it...now that won't even start; something about "iPod Service Error".

I've gone through just about everything to get this fucker to work again, and I've yet to be successful. After at least 3-4 hours of trying to get this damn software to work the way it's supposed to, I now hate Steve Jobs.

The Vikings' embarrassing showing didn't really improve my mood, either. I mean, JESUS...what the hell is up with Dante?

Thinking ahead to 2006

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 02:55:33 GMT

This was posed to the US Senate: "To establish a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future."

(Translation: Should we have an independent inquiry into the failures around Hurricane Katrina?)

Apparently not.

More telling is how you spot the guilty - every one of the "Nays" would have an "R" next to their state.

Oh, wait...except one of them. Vitter (R-LA). I have to invent a word to represent how undeniably evil he is: Fucktardasaurus Rex. He needs to be anally raped by a garden weasel. How a man could not vote for the betterment of his own state is beyond despicable.

Back to something normal

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:13:11 GMT

Thanks to a detailed-oriented yet very slow insurance company, I now have my speakers back. Well, these weren't the speakers I had before, but they're related.

Xbox games sound so much better now.

I really should've had them replace my sub-woofer, too. Man, it would've been pretty cool to get one from Boston Acoustics to go with my new front speakers.

How very uncharacteristic

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 02:51:23 GMT

Imagine my surprise upon hearing the soundbites of the Teflon Prez saying, "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility".

I just about swallowed my tongue. Could this be the first truth to be uttered from that smarmy jackass? In seeing the video playback, he actually looked like he was in pain admitting his misgivings. A little piece of me certainly enjoyed that. Okay, so a big part of me enjoyed it.

Speaking purely from a party standpoint, in light of his record-low approval ratings, this really had to be his only option. Take into consideration that even members of his own party are starting to jump the good ship "Terrorism", even Karl Rove has to think of the party at this point. Apparently, his approval rating in the legislature among his fellow party members has dropped from 93 to 75. (I don't have a citation on that - just something I heard on the radio) Apparently when you fail miserably to spin a debacle like the Federal response (or lack thereof) to Katrina, people just don't see the whole "Protecting America" thing as clearly as you want them to.

Could it be that people are finally starting to come to their senses? Nah, I'm too idealistic to believe such a thing. People are fickle about their political loyalties and have little or no political memory. If anything, today's revelation that our President is an admitted idiot might prove to even improve his numbers. People are suckers for public confessionals.

ADDENDENDUM:
I love how political media spin works. Here's a little game for you: The following headlines are from CNN and FoxNews. Your job is to figure out which media outlet wrote which headline:

1.) Bush: I'm Responsible for Some Katrina Failures
2.) Bush: 'I take responsibility' for federal failures after Katrina

a. CNN
b. FoxNews

I'll give you a hint - CNN actually quotes him correctly.

On the subject of Kanye...

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 21:15:19 GMT

I've been here and there in the blogs reading up on some pretty negative shots at Kanye West and his venturing from the script on a Red Cross fund-raiser. Time for a reality check folks.

Let me start by saying that Kanye West's comments were over the top. It was the wrong venue to air that type of indignation. In that, he was wrong. Now, I've heard a lot of Conservative backlash over this. This strikes me as a bit funny. And I mean funny, because if it struck me any other way, I'd probably start physically striking people.

Doesn't it occur to people that Kanye West has borne the brunt of more criticism than our dearly inept President? This was due to him finally realizing the seriousness of the situation that I'm fairly sure he had not an inkling before setting foot on that set. The result was seen nationwide, next to a very taken aback Mike Myers who was there to follow the script like a good little actor. Kanye let fly a range of emotion that was due to the complete and total failure of the Federal Government that left unknown thousands of poor in body bags - most of them, might I be so bold to point out, were in fact African-American. What you saw on TV or on mpeg all over the net, was the raw pain that is caused when it seems as though the government has abandoned people simply because they weren't affluent enough to get out of the path of a Cat5 Hurricane.

But we've been programmed pretty well. White people, in some strange overcorrection of behavior, have been taught to cry foul when someone of a minority cries racism. Kanye is a textbook example of it. White people all over the country were more offended by a Kanye stating "George Bush doesn't care about black people" than they were at the fact that what he says is true. Apparently you can't point out blatant facts in professional company.

Do I think that Bush is a racist? No. I think George Bush is a "classist". It should be pretty clear to anyone that he cares not a thing for anyone unless they're big donors. That's the broader point Kanye is missing, in my opinion - It's not race, it's class. Katrina is a textbook example.

But in the struggle to find something they can toss back, Conservative pundits saw the opening and went for it as though Kanye had raped a puppy on live TV. White people all over America could breathe freely again knowing that they could once again blame an African-American for all of the problems, rather than putting a serious open-minded critique of the President and his administration. They failed on a Biblical-plague level, but hey, Kanye West called the President a racist. Get the lynch mob together, O'Reilly.

If you're really offended by Kanye West's comments, ask yourself why. Is it because he lumped you into being a racist? He didn't. Listen to it or read it again. Does he think that all Whites are racist? Fuck if I know, but he certainly didn't say it. Stop being so reactionary about the very mention of racism and perhaps we can make some steps to get the fuck past it.

Perhaps I'm not putting this across to you as well as I should. Well, then I highly recommend that you catch Eugene Robinson's column at the Washington Post: "That's what this unreal disaster did to New Orleans and the whole country. Things we tried to tuck away and forget about are suddenly out there for the world to see. As a nation we can deal with them or not, but we no longer have the option of pretending they don't exist."

. . .

Call this a preview of my politics section when I get my new site up. Just a taste.

Paths

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:33:57 GMT

I just realized how much I've forgotten to tell you guys about. I think Mitch is really the only person who is aware of the goings on in my life for the past few months.

For one thing, I had a house fire back in May. No worries - everyone was fine. Our dryer started a fire which destroyed it and the washer. However, the rest of the house was inundated with acrid smoke; mostly due to the fire department trying to get the smoke out of the house with powerful fans. This meant that out family had to relocate for a couple months while they gutted, cleaned and rebuilt certain portions of our house.

Above all, we've had a pretty smooth transition. Our insurance company has been great (though I have serious concerns about the claims agents' intelligence) and the contractor that was hired was an absolute Godsend. We're still working through some of the financials, but we're just about perfect.

Also, I started a new job three weeks ago.

My bro-in-law got me an actual IT job. It's only been 4 years since I graduated from school, so it was nice to actually apply what little knowledge I've retained to a career I apparently prepared myself for. It pays more money, but it also is just a contracting position. No worries though - If I get my chops up to speed and learn at my regular pace, I should be able to secure a perminent position fairly soon. *crosses fingers*

But at least I can access the internet when needed again, and not have to worry so much about someone watching every little move I make.

UPDATE TO THE SITE:
It seems that my former partner has changed her mind (again) and wishes to hook up with her brother again. (This would be the same jackass who tried to charge us $25/month hosting fees for a monthly bandwidth of 5GB. Total fucking tool.) That means I retain the ownership of both the host site and the domain name - neither of which I want any longer.

But I'm thinking about it; The domain name can be made into a simple pointer. I can get a new domain name and just use the old site. Or I could go with my original plan of going through DreamHost. If you click the link, you'll note the good deals that have attracted me.

Watch Jon

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 04:22:09 GMT

So Jon Stewart will be running an all-week thing next week with the title "Evolution Schmevolution".

God, this is going to be good.

What's in a name?

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 16:00:24 GMT

So here it is - my official request from the masses who may stumble across it to name my new domain.

kha0s.net
hereticheresy.net

At least those are what I've thought of (and verified availability through GoDaddy) that interest me.

I said that I had an idea of what I wanted to do for the site, but I never explained. Perhaps with some background, a name or two will pop into your head.

Over the past few years, I've gotten to be unavoidably political. I say unavoidably because my reading and listening of the subject dominates my free time. Some would call it an obsession - and they would be partially right. I guess I'm just tired of people being lied to by our so-called leaders and want to do my part to inform. Lord knows the mainstream media isn't helping matters.

I want the name of my place to reflect my personality. But I also want to avoid having my own name be a part of the domain name.

The trick will be trying to find something that allows for me to vent my frustrations and at the same time allow for a comic to fluorish. I love making people laugh, after all. That's a huge part of who I am. My writing style allows for this, but it'll be interesting to see if my comics can do the same without taking attention away.

I think I may have quite the challenge here. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Heh...long time no see

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 07:12:45 GMT

So here I am. No, I'm not dead. At least not yet.

I parted ways with my old site and the co-owner. Well, sort of anyway. And I thought, "What better way to aire my frustrations than on a good ol' LiveJournal - Land of the Overly Dramatic.

I've been running a site for some time with these two women. Well, ONE really. The other was just there so that the one I was working with wouldn't feel guilty parting ways with her. I honestly had all the best hopes for this merge. I was getting into writing and drawing comics again, and she had an active and more mature forum than your usual trolls and flamebait which so often overrun webcomic forums.

Things started off okay. Thanks to my friend Emtu (with whom I haven't spoken with in far too long), the forum was up and running with no loss of data in the transfer of domain and servers. And things went pretty well for sometime.

As time went on, however, it became more and more clear that the members I had invited were coming less and less. The reasoning, I suppose, is that webcomic fans get a little bored with threads about kids and other domestic life. Anyway, I was really getting the feeling that it wouldn't work out after all. Despite this, I gave it my all and made the best of the situation.

Then my wife joined. Things changed.

To give you some background, my wife had never really taken an active part of a forum before. A true n00b in every sense of the word, it took her some time to fit in. When she had established herself, she had gotten into a bad habit of arguing with people just for the sake of arguing. She readily admitted that she enjoyed "stirring the pot" despite my warnings to her that it really wasn't that wise of a decision. At the same time, my co-owner expressed her many concerns over my wife's online behavior. What I told her - as well as what I told my wife - was that if she felt she was getting out of line, she would let her know in no uncertain terms.

In retrospect, this was a fatal error on my part.

To add another wrinkle, my views and opinions were getting far more criticism than usual. I don't think I've ever shared this on here, but I'm pretty close to being Atheist and I've become a fairly staunch Democrat. To my horror, i'd come to realize that I'd surrounded myself with fairly close-minded Christians who took in the bulk of their news from the FoxPravda channel. Not a great mix to be sure.

Upon the horrors of Katrina, I had begun to express my outright anger on a variety of things. Most notably - and this plays into the drama - a story about a minister in Louisiana who had stated that Katrina was God's answer to New Orleans less-than-pious residents and general demeanor. I posted it in outrage and let loose a volley of criticisms against Christians for letting this assmonkey continue preaching what was, in my considered opinion, no better than the hate speech of Osama bin Laden.

To my shock, I was lambasted by the Christians who were more interested in defending their silence on the matter - and in my opinion, guilty of defending this fucktard. I took it in the keister a few times before finally throwing up my hands wondering how on earth a pseudo-atheist like me was defending the Christian faith more voraciously than these so-called Christians.

My wife, who had not been to the site in a couple of days, came on to post and was horrified by my cricifixion at the hands of, shall we say, less than learned individuals. She immediately came to my defense and called it as she saw it.

In some twist of fate, my wife was ambushed by a large number of members at the same time - in multiple threads. So I came on, knowing full well that the bills were being paid by me, and basically demoted everyone. This probably wasn't the peaceful way of doing things, but I was beyond upset. After a thread was started by the non-active, non-owner admin in which she criticized me for doing what I did. It wasn't long before each and every member of this crew of uninformed individuals joined the thread in public outcry.

I stated, in more clear tone than I really thought I could muster, that I was done with the forum and had had it with most of the people there. Some claimed that I was "holding the forum hostage", but I really didn't have a choice in the matter. It was my check card that was tied to the host. It was my PayPal account that was set up on the site. My fear was that if I went off the way I did without protecting my financial interests that they would find a way to screw me. After reading the post by the active admin, my fears were proven true by her call to "spam the place" until she got "her forum" back.

My god, I hate some people. Not that they'd do such a thing, but that I'd correctly foretold their reaction - they were completely predictable in their venomous retorts. There was a mod there who took the position of insulting me as much as she could. And even when the active admin and I had started to work things out to where she would get the forum, and I would just keep the measly $40 in the PayPal account for a site that was paid up until June 2006, this spiteful little bitch and the non-active admin just kept spewing insults and making tawdry and unfounded accusations. I'd also come to the conclusion that no matter what I wrote, no one would read it anyway, so I gave up defending myself.

I got on IM with my soon-to-be-ex-co-owner and we worked out the bulk of the details involved in turning over the site to her.

I'm saddened that things ended the way they did. I really am. But it got to the point this evening where my wife was being assailed for no reason - by four pathetically misinformed people who completely missed the point of my thread. (Full disclosure: Most of the time they didn't read my posts entirely, so it really shouldn't have been a revelation of any kind.)

So what did I learn from all of this?

Well, for one thing, I need to come up with a new domain name, so any suggestions would be appreciated. Secondly, I've come to realize that I don't necessarily want everyone to agree with me - but I do want people who disagree with me to at least understand me and the points I try to make. If you're a Christian, chances are I'm not going to agree with your theology - but I have enough respect to allow you to explain things to me. Aetre is a good friend in that respect - he knows where he stands and I think he knows where I stand, so there's no point in debating the finer points. And on a side note: The only response that was thought out and respectful of my feelings was his. I'm very thankful for that.

Anyway, I know this isn't what you were expecting from me considering that I haven't posted in a while. But I have some plans for what to do with my new site. I just need a name.

Laters.

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 14:28:28 GMT

I've come to the conclusion that I have one good year every five or so. Perhaps longer, I don't know. As a general rule, I'm an unlucky person. I'm not unlucky to the point where I could be hired by casinos to stand near lucky people to ruin things, but I'm really not lucky. I don't gamble at all for this reason. If I wanted to play pull tabs, I'm inclined to just give a $20 bill to some random person at the bar.

Long enough disclaimer for you?

I happened to enter and win an eBay auction for a refurbished 20 gig iPod. (Not to self: Due to large popularity, start referring to self as iNicho.) As far as shipping and billing, things went really smoothly. I got my iPod on Friday and hastily plugged it in to my PC so as to load it down.

Upon doing so, poof went the iPod's OS, and up went my blood pressure. (This may qualify as a "serves me right" from shopping on eBay.) I futzed with it for a while only to succumb to the fact that the auctioner more than like took me for a ride and I would end up eating the $200 I spent on the thing. I called Apple who turned me over to HP as the model I bought was one of those that HP customers would get with a computer package deal. I was on the phone with one of their tech support dudes for the better part of 2 hours as we unsuccessfully tried to revive the iPod. But to my complete joy, he stated that the iPod was still under warranty and, even better, was now under my name as the previous owner never called in the warranty.

Despite our best efforts, it seems that the harddrive on the iPod is fried. After pronouncing my new beloved dead, arrangements were made to have a replacement sent to me. Let me repeat that: A brand new iPod will be sent to replace this one. So essentially, despite some difficult times, I've ended up securing a brand new 20 gig iPod for $100 less than I could get one in the store. And I didn't even have to get my lazy ass to the store.

It's almost enough to make an Atheist believe is God.

There's more to my year, but I think I'll share it in pieces. This is the most exciting good news anyway.

I do as I'm told.

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 14:01:21 GMT

Reply to these questions, add your own new question in bold, and then post this confounded thing in your LJ:

1. What's your full name?
2. What does your first name mean?
3. What would your parents have called you had you been the opposite sex?
4. What nicknames have you been called?
5. Any sort of odd or special story about your name?
6. If you could change your first name, what would it be?
7. Do a random google image search, and post up the first result you get
8. Do you like answering multiple questions about your first name?

1. Erik Matthew McKnight
2. Oddly enough, it my parent's first and middle intitials - Elizabeth Irene and Kayl Ristow.
3. Biz-natch. (Shit, I don't know.)
4. Fro, Woody, and my wife's current fav, "AAAAAAAAAASSSSSS".
5. I think I answered that already.
6. Meh, I'm fine with it. If I were given the free option, I'd probably go with Nicho as most people know me by that name now anyway.
7. http://hackvan.com/pub/stig/pix/random/natural-snack.jpg
8. Fuck no.

The Dreaded Word

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 16:19:54 GMT

I've had many, many conversations about the use of language in society. I'm a firm believer that there really shouldn't be any societal taboos about certain words, but I'm not idealistic enough to think that'll ever happen. But the way I figure it, if you can use the word in the proper context, who are you really offending?

Unfortunately, the one big exception in my own personal lexicon would be the "C word". In case you're missing out, that would be the word that the ladies here in the the US will go as far as to forcibly remove your scrotum should the word be uttered. I don't use the word and will go to great lengths to avoid even talking about it.

But I think I've finally found not only a use for the word, but also the appropriate target. As I said, I'm for the use of words if they are used in the proper context. Well, Ann Coulter is within spitting distance of my home today. No woman, regardless of the crimes they have been convicted of, who or what they may have wronged in their lives, is as fit to be the Anti-Christ's personal whore like this one. So she's got a new title...but I still can't say/type it.

I found it particularly interesting that she refuses to speak to the media considering she believes herself to be a part of it. Or at least that's what she's feeding the American public. Or wait, she's just a commentator, right? A completely soulless partisan hack who makes a living off of putting down those who her bosses think deserve it, but a commentator none the less.

And you, yes you Mr. Conservative fuckstick who thinks that he's going to zing me on my LJ; just stop right now. This fucking bitch has her own outlets in order to spread her hate, I have mine. Difference being that my hate is directed squarely upon her and hers seems to ebb and flo with the hot topics of the day. Now, if you think that your misguided attempts to defend this moron are going to somehow help her cause, then you're too stupid to talk about her in the first place.

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 18:32:35 GMT

If I had any sense, I'd just avoid going to my in-laws house for any and all occasions. But no, I must be the dutiful son-in-law and feign interest in making the annual Easter/Christmas trips only to be subject of ambush ridicule at any given moment. And it's not like I have much of a chance to turn the tables on my father-in-law; he's a retired rocket scientist. Yes, a fucking rocket scientist. So it kind of goes without saying that the expectation bar is set a little high.

The wife and I will be meeting with an attorney on Friday about what needs to be done to get a place in Toronto. Cross your fingers that there won't be too much difficulty, will ya? I desperately need a change at this point.

Sorry, had to post this result

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 02:58:56 GMT

What kind of disease are you?

Nichodaemus:

Nichodaemus is caused by monkeys.

Nichodaemus disease causes a constant lack of clothing.
There is no cure for Nichodaemus.

I found this to be particularly funny. I've asked my furry friends what kind of animal I would be and they said a badger or something. After viewing the picture above, I'd say monkey fits a little better.