2006 :: A Summer of Electronica

Where are all the raver girls who just want to roll-with to all the shows this summer? The calendar is packed already:

• Tue 18 May :: DJ Tiesto @ Glow / Fur in DC


• 26/27/28 May :: Whistle in Philly


• Fri 02 Jun :: The Crystal Method @ Buzz / Nation in DC


• Sat 17 Jun :: Ferry Corsten @ Glow / Fur in DC


• 22-25 Jun :: Gaian Mind @ Four Quarters in Central PA


• Sat 24 Jun :: Starscape @ Ft Amistad Park in Baltimore

Along the same lines, I was trying to explain the "Ecstasy Dad" to Annie last night, and I found this link to buy the video. HBO used to run it all the time, a fucking riot.

Mephistopheles interviewed by CNN Money

Given the number of people addicted to massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), I've said several times now that the end of civilization will come in the form of a cell phone based MMOG.

Apparently the co-founder of Id Software is ready to cash in on that idea:

John Carmack's hobbies probably aren't a lot like yours.

He spends two days a week building rocket ships. His idea of a getaway weekend consists of holing up in a hotel room and writing programming code. And he likes to speculate on worst-case scenarios for the video game industry (and believe me, this guy can envision some scary stuff).

These days, though, cell phones are his primary hobby - specifically making games for them. It started as a lark, he said, but it has become something he quietly hopes will revolutionize gaming.

[...]

"We're probably going to have a sequel to 'Orcs and Elves' but I'm really into the idea of a massively multiplayer cell phone title," he said. "I have absolutely no interest in going and competing with Blizzard in the high end of that market, but a cell phone version might be interesting."

If by "interesting", you mean "cataclysmic", then you are correct.

Auburn, NY :: The Epicenter of Weirdness

I have an odd bond with my chiropractor -- he was born in Casanovia but spent many years in Auburn before moving here to Northern Virginia. We are both Auburnians who are not of Auburn (while I was born there, I was 2 when I escaped).

On Monday, we discussed the food in Auburn, and I got him all worked up for italian at Lasca's (which looks like a funeral home) and good italian bakeries and tasty Byrne Dairy Milk.

Today was my re-examination to see how my treatment has gone, and we spent a lot of time chit-chatting about how odd Auburn is, and how people who don't have the Auburn connection don't understand how fucking crazy it is.

This is the part where I could go into detail about a pizza from Wheels or Angelo's (where he mops the floor and then the oven, in that order, and with the same mop), but really I shouldn't have to. I'll just leave you with this:

Gay Until Graduation

While a quick check of Northwestern University's "Prospective Students" page says nothing about a women's soccer scholarship including free dental dams, it appears they need to get up on that asap.

The fine folks over at Bad Jocks broke a story (including pictures) about their hazing of new teammates. While most of us can agree that this sort of things happens all the time, the internet has somehow made the whole ordeal much...sexier.

Fox's John Gibson, "Make More Babies"

Holy shit, when I read the headline on Wonkette I thought this was a hoax:



I wish Fox would make less douche bags. If this tosser had two brain cells he'd eat a bullet.

Hizzoner crashes his Benz

I'm still catching up on the news from last week and this past weekend, but apparently Marion Barry done-did smacked his ride up:

D.C. police cited D.C. Council member Marion Barry for a traffic violation after a minor accident early yesterday in Southeast Washington, police said.

Officers at the accident scene raised questions about Barry's sobriety, checking a box on a police report that said he appeared to be impaired. Barry (D-Ward 8) passed a breath test, however, after he was taken to the 1st District police station. He was permitted to drive home within an hour or two of the crash.

The 70-year-old former mayor was cited for failing to yield the right of way, an offense punishable by a $50 fine. He plans to contest the citation, his chief of staff said.

The crash took place at 12:10 a.m., when Barry pulled his 1990 Mercedes out of a parking space and into the path of an approaching sport-utility vehicle, police said.

Shit yeah he gonna fight that ticket. First of all, unlike our fake president, The Crunkinator still got some see-lebrity to throw around. Not to mention fiddy bucks done-buys one hell of a ho for Saturday night.

I fucking love this guy. Give DC two house voting house seats, one for Eleanor Norton-Holmes (the angriest woman alive) and one for Hizzoner. Praise him!

Calculus

Apparently you can earn an F...

My one nice post for the day

Blogger has been flaky for a few days, and when it came back up today I needed to catch up on all my crazy/negative news. I should close the day on a more positive note.

I'm off now to have dinner with Virginia Flores, my wonderful consultant friend from Florida who taught me almost everything I know about VMS and Ross (neither of which I use anymore) and whose company I enjoy immensely. Every goiam boy should have a nice Jewish woman to drink beer and kibitz with.

Something tells me that tonight is going to be much better than today was. :)

I crush Harris Teeter with my anger

As much as I didn't want to, I ran out last night after midnight to pick up a couple things. I knew I wouldn't have time to go Tuesday, and I wanted to stock up on some things I was out of (bread, milk, cheese, silly things like that). I arrived at Harris Teeter a little after 1:00am, and sadly was not surprised to find them out of cheese, milk (yes, out of milk), and gum. At that point I cut my shopping trip short and only bought bread and bananas, and on the way out of the store I read a sign on the door that said "As of May 10th we will no longer be 24 hours". I used to shop at HT all the time, but the one in Fairfax always runs out of milk and orange juice and other things you fucking go to the store to buy.

In a complete state of rage, I went home and shot an email to HT corporate, something to the effect of "You were out of everything I needed, I only went there because Wegmans was closed, and what the hell -- if you're going to run a grocery store that never has milk, close it all together." So I get this response today:

From: "Customer Relations"
To: theAlphaJohn
Subject: case: 561532

Thank you for your email. We are sorry you could not find the items you needed in the Fairfax store. Actually, this store will be closing permanently on 6/2/06. We hope you will be able to visit one of our other locations.

Thanks for shopping with us.

Sincerely,
Harris Teeter Customer Relations

I'd like to think my anger won here, but I think someone finally smartened up and said, "a grocery store without milk is no grocery store at all", and promptly ate a bullet.

NVCC: an insitution of higher uselessness

I still haven't gotten my grades. I spent the morning scouring the website and trying to reach someone who could tell me when they're due. I finally found a document this morning that says grades are due, "Tuesday May 10th", except today is Tuesday May 9th, so which is it?

I sent an email this morning asking when grades were due and got this:

Classes and exam ended on May 8th. Faculty members will be submitting their grades very soon.

No shit dummy, WHEN ARE THEY DUE? I just shot an email to the Provost:

Dr. Saperstone,

As the Provost, I wanted to be sure that you were aware of the confusion and lack of service surrounding grades at NVCC. I have been a part time student since 2001 -- I remember paper grade mailers and have received my grades electronically through NOVANet/NOVAConnect many times.

There is, however, little or no documentation on when professors are supposed to have grades recorded in the online system, and my attempts to get that information have not been very successful. The only reference I can find anywhere on the NVCC website is in a Word document on NVCC Alexandria's page (http://www.nvcc.edu/alexandria/finals_sp06.doc) that says grades are due "Tuesday, May 10th" (today is Tuesday, and tomorrow is May 10th). I spoke to someone in admissions and records at Alexandria who told me they didn't know, "but soon", and I received this response to an email I sent today:

Classes and exam ended on May 8th. Faculty members will be submitting their grades very soon.

Since we no longer receive grades in the mail, the lack of communication as to when grades will be available online traded one frustration (waiting for paper to arrive in the mail) for another (knowing when grades have posted electronically to myNVCC).

I would suggest that in the future, when grades will be posted should be added to the "Important Dates" for that term.

Respectfully,
theAlphaJohn
Career NVCC Student