Technical update.

January 28, 2007 //

From the looks of it, the problem with my old WordPress theme is with the links/blogroll display. (WP 2.1 changed the way some things are organized, and that’s resulting in a wacky SQL error.) I tried to check the website belonging to the theme creator, but he’s exceeded his bandwidth limit. One way or another, it looks like I’m not the only one having a problem with Tiga. Hopefully he’ll patch it quickly, because I haven’t found another theme that does everything I want it to do.

Also, I can’t seem to get a hang of the Widgets plug-in. I’ve installed it, it seems to be running, but it doesn’t do anything to my sidebar. Can anyone help?

Categories Site Maintenance

Technical difficulties…please stand by…

January 26, 2007 //

If you’re actually viewing this site (and not just drinking in the sweet, sweet RSS), you’ve probably noticed some cosmetic differences. My upgrade to WordPress 2.1 seems to have hosed portions of Tiga, the theme I had been using. (At least, it seems to have hosed portions of my installation of it, not that reinstalling it has helped.) I rather liked the theme, although others felt it looked a little too much like MS Outlook for their taste. (He’s actually right, but I’ll never give him the satisfaction of…D’OH!)

Anyway, until I can get this sorted out (and by “this”, I mean trying to determine if Tiga doesn’t play well with WP2.1, or if it was just my install), I’ll probably be messing around with some new templates until I find one I like (or until I get Tiga worked out). In the meantime, I welcome input on my temp templates – you people know how easily I can be swayed.

Categories Site Maintenance

Memo to Circuit City: try proofreading your ads.

January 25, 2007 //

So, I’m reading MacWorld.com, checking to see if maybe, just maybe, the mythical widescreen “true video” iPod would be launched today in some super-secret product announcement (nope), and something catches my eye in the sidebar ad. Normally I tune out banners and sidebar ads, but this Circuit City ad demanded my attention.

Why?

Circuit City are morons.

Take a WILD guess.

Hey, Circuit City – you want to convince me to come into your store, deal with your inept staff, and fork over my hard earned money on consumer electronics? Start proofreading your ads, and then we’ll talk.

But I’ll probably still end up at Best Buy.

Categories Consumerism, Meta

The Daily DisOrDat: New Jersey or "Natural" gas?

January 9, 2007 //

Yes, that’s right, You Don’t Know Jack is back. Deal with it.

Edit: I’ve removed the embedded game, because it was creating display problems in Firefox. You can get to the game I had originally embedded by clicking here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Categories Funny, Gaming

Ho, ho, hoy vey.

December 25, 2006 //

So, it’s Xmas again. And here I am, alone. Again. But it’s OK. I’m used to it by now.

To ~~mark time~~ celebrate the season, here are some Christmas-related links:

From TV Squad, here’s what happens when you aim the cast of Scrubs at a classic – “My Charlie Brown Christmas”.
In case the soundtrack for your Christmas party consists only of that dog-barking-‘Jingle Bells’ track, here’s some help – 209 Tracks to Take With You on a Holiday Killing Spree, Part 1, courtesy of Clayton Counts.
From this very site, a few years ago, here’s grainy cameraphone video of Villa Maria Pizzaria’s Santa who likes to…um…please himself (requires QuickTime).
Lastly, some more holiday musicality – from the 12/4 episode of Studio 60, the version of “O Holy Night” as performed by displaced musicians from New Orleans; from South Park, Cartman singing “O Holy Night”, under threat of cattle prod; and two holiday anthems for our time, courtesy of MST3K: “(Let’s Have) A Patrick Swayze Christmas”, and “Merry Christmas…If That’s OK”.

So to all my goyim friends, and to those lapsed Jews celebrating too…Merry Christmas.

Addendum: Lest I forget, here’s one of the few funny things to come out of SNL in recent years, the Digital Short sweeping the nation…yes, sports fans…it’s “D**k in a Box” (uncensored and VERY NSFW).

Categories Meta

Superior ad placement, or curiously strong coincidence?

December 5, 2006 //

You be the judge.

Categories Funny, TV

Daytime TV will devour your soul

November 24, 2006 //

I’m sitting at Capitol City Ford while my Explorer gets its 12,000 oil change and general ‘turn your head and cough’ checkup, trying to get some work done for my meeting in Sacramento next week, and I’ve made the mistake taking my headphones off. Over the course of the last 25 minutes or so, I’ve been subjected to the inane ranting of Regis and Kelly, and the soul-devouring vapidity of Rachael Ray. (Oh boy! The ‘snack of the day is Asiago Cheese Straws! KILL ME NOW.) I know that I’m not in the target demographic for these shows, but I don’t understand how these shows are fit for any kind of human consumption. Seriously, I can feel my brain cells committing ritual suicide as I type this.

I miss daytime game shows. OK, maybe Match Game wasn’t exactly the Algonquin Round Table, but it was at least good for a laugh. And, hell, I probably learned more about math from The Price is Right than I learned in my first two years of elementary school. (At the very least, I was playing pricing games at a 5th grade level.)

I reckon that, at some point, a network executive decided that it was more economical to produce 1 hour of Rosie, BabaWawa, et al droning on and on about absolutely nothing for an hour each day than to produce 30 minutes of actual entertainment. I could never subject viewers like me to that kind of torture – so I guess I’d make a lousy network executive.

Categories TV

Love to eat turkey…

November 23, 2006 //

A nearly-belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! May your…plates…um…overfloweth with…the bounty of…um…stuff. Or something. (I probably should have given this more thought.)

Photos from tonight’s dinner have been uploaded to Flickr, marking the first time any of my family members have appeared in my photostream. Enjoy!

Categories Life

Random Thought of the Day: New Consoles Edition

November 19, 2006 //

It is possible to use the controller for the Nintendo Wii without looking like a total spaz?

On a related note, is it possible to use the controller for the Sony PlayStation 3 without feeling like damn near every launch title is sub-par and you just wasted $700?

Categories Gaming, Meta

I'm M-D November, and I approve this message.

November 7, 2006 //

Extreme closeup. So, October happened. More specifically, the Siemens Competition happened. And while there might not have been any travel in October, it was still a long, exhausting month.

I’m not looking to do a half-assed “catching up” type post here, but here – in bullet form – is what’s been on my mind lately. (With detail to follow in later posts.)

Today was (mid-term) Election Day, and it looks like the Democratic Party is going to claim at least one house, if not both. (As I type this, MSNBC is calling the House of Representatives for the Democrats.) This is a good thing, if for no other reason that it fucks with the Bush administration’s plans.
The other upside to today being Election Day? No more negative campaign ads. NJ’s own dark, dark Senate race between Tom Kean Jr. (R) and Robert Menendez (D – incumbent) was quite enough for me, but we also get the spillover from NY and PA. It’s enough to make you swear off TV.
That, however, won’t be happening anytime soon. This TV season is rocking my fragile little mind. Heroes and Battlestar Galactica are totally satisfying my inner geek, while 30 Rock and The Office bring the funny. (I’m also digging Aaron Sorkin’s latest, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, although I’ve discovered that not everyone shares that opinion.) And that doesn’t even take into account series 28 of Doctor Who and the now complete season 2 of The Venture Brothers! (And, for that matter, the episodes of Torchwood I’ve gotten through…um…well, let’s just say it’s not on US air yet and leave it at that.
Got to the movies for the first time in months this past weekend. Wanted to see Borat, but ended up seeing The Departed, which was outstanding. The moral of The Departed, by the way, seems to be that whether you’re a cop or a criminal, you’re gonna end up getting one in the head.
On my way into work the other day, I passed a Toyota Prius with a license plate that read “54 MPG”. There was one huge-ass smug cloud hanging over that car.
Three friends (two online, one IRL) have lost people close to them. My condolences to all of them…

Thankfully, November (the month, not the…um…me) will also be reasonably quiet – at least through Thanksgiving – so I’ll have plenty of time to get this blog back in sync with my silly little mind. More soon…I swear!

Categories Life, Movies, Politics, TV, Work