http://www.acvox.com Life, Love, Politics, Movies, Music Sat, 10 May 2008 12:14:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Five months is an awfully long time for me to go without any kind of update at all. There are a couple reasons for it, not the least of which is that I keep planning on updating the design of the page before I update next—not that the two ... http://www.acvox.com/2008/05/updates/ Merry Christmas. It's 2:30 in the morning (Christmas morning, that is) and I can't sleep. Many, many things contribute to this lack of somnolence, not the least of them being that OMG ISS CRSSMAS! followed closely by visions of me wrapping gift after gift as I was doing earlier today. ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/12/i-want-to-kick-christmas-in-the-bells/ Wachovia bank sent Joe Martins of Georgia a letter after he closed his checking account, notifying him that he owed $211,010,028,257,303.00 on the account. For the comma-declined, that's more than 211 trillion dollars. The letter includes the clarification, "no cents." "I didn't know what to think. Obviously $211 trillion is a little above ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/12/you-think-you-have-it-bad/ I was up in Vermont a few weeks ago, visiting my parents, and while I was there, my mother asked me if I would hook up the new surround receiver they'd bought, which is always fun for me because it means I get to tell my parents what to do ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/11/growing-up-and-getting-older/ I got hit by a car today. Well, not me so much as my car. I was turning into Taco Bell behind some guy who, at no notice, stopped his car, threw it into reverse and just... backed right into me. I barely had enough time to put my ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/11/delayed-clarity-or-taco-bell-is-bad-for-you-mkay/ My father is made of completely different stuff from me. A couple of years ago, he started a new job as the HR director for a company, and when he joined them, they gave him a Blackberry. Apparently, all of the executives had them. After a couple of weeks, he gave ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/10/unplugging-the-world/ Do you remember that Charmin commercial where there was the little girl practicing the piano with no success... until she puts the toilet paper on her fingers and all of a sudden she's playing like she was Mozart? That's what my right ring finger looks like right now after a trip ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/09/damn-knives/ Well, the theatre just called, and I didn't get the part. Can't say as I'm surprised, but I certainly am disappointed. Oh well. http://www.acvox.com/2007/09/didnt-get-it/ I had an audition tonight. It was for a show I've always wanted to do called The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown. It's got everything I want in a show: it's witty, challenging, and absolutely moving. I think that my audition went very well---as well as could ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/09/audition/ I've been reading quite a bit in the last several days, trying to catch up on my re-reads of all of the Harry Potter books so that I can get to its conclusion, which has been kindly awaiting me on the bookshelf, slowly pulsing a golden glow and calling to ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/07/counting-the-grays/ My friend Nichole sent me a link to a video that really caught my attention. Mostly, I thought that the video was very sad and touching, but the music really grabbed me. It's a cover of a Tears For Fears song called Mad World, by Gary Jules, and ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/07/its-a-very-very/ I just read a story about a guy who was detained and almost prevented from boarding his airplane because he had a homemade iPod charger---an iPod charger, I should add, that had absolutely no traces of explosives on it: He asks what it is. I tell him it is a battery ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/07/airport-security-detains-man-because-of-ipod-charger/ First, I want to thank everybody for the birthday wishes (it was Thursday, if you didn't know); it meant a lot. I took Thursday and Friday off last week and went down to visit a friend in Philadelphia. Having never been to Philly, it was a very interesting trip. ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/07/best-birthday-week-ever/ I was pulling out of a parking space in my apartment lot yesterday afternoon while on the way to the golf course. I was already running late, so naturally, I bumped a car. It was a minor thing at most; simply one rear bumper against another---that's what they're there for, ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/06/doing-the-right-thing/ Two things occurred to me as I loaded my site this evening. The first was that I haven't posted anything at all in over a month, and nothing of real substance in six weeks or so. The second was that I have a birthday coming up in a ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/06/tempus-fugit/ I don't usually post these types of things to my blog (for one, I hate the whole embedded player thing, and they're lucky that the video doesn't play automatically), but this is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen some pretty cuddly things in my ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/05/cute-overload/ Bought a new shirt yesterday. When I put it on this morning, I gave it the once-over after I pulled off the tag and the sticker, because inevitably, I'll walk around all day with something on my back like it was some manufacturer's version of a "kick me" sign. I ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/damn-you-inspector-number-9/ This is probably the only thing you'll see me say publicly about the Virginia Tech shootings, mainly because I feel too strongly about things like this to be able to form coherent words in relation to it. But I have to say something about the press and their incessant need to ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/human-nature/ I was watching last night's episode of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" and while he was interviewing Sheryl Crow and "An Inconvenient Truth" producer Laurie David about their 'Stop Global Warming' college tour, he made a comment that absolutely, perfectly illustrated what the real problem with the planet is. ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/the-crux-of-the-issue/ Something occurred to me while watching an episode of House M.D. I think that the reason that this show is so popular is because deep down, everybody longs to be able to do what House does: we all would love to be able to speak our minds without thought ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/deep-down-we-all-want-to-be-house/ I've had headaches all my life. That's not saying much, as lots of people get headaches, except for the fact that based on the descriptions (and what my stepfather has told me about them), mine are all migraines. Though not always severe, they're almost always localized to a ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/on-migraines-and-bright-lights/ I don't consider myself to be especially brave, courageous or dedicated. And in general, I'm pretty disappointed with my government. But there are certain times when I feel really, deeply proud to live in the U.S. Saving Private Ryan was just on one of the movie channels, and I ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/04/spielberg-for-the-win/ In the last week, two related dates caught my attention (thanks to the Wired RSS feed) that made me think a bit. The first was that on February 13, 1633, Galileo arrived in Rome to face his trial for heresy, for his statements that the Earth revolved around the ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/02/the-virtue-of-independent-thinking/ Screw narcotics. You want to really feel like you're drugged? Try insomnia. It'll mess you up but good. On an unrelated note: You may have noticed that I haven't written anything in a couple weeks. Essentially it's because I try to sit down and collect my thoughts ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/02/insomnias-my-favorite-drug/ When I headed out for work today, the weather was warm (warm enough that I considered shedding the inner lining of my coat). It was sunny and what the weatherpersons would call "mild." Which means that when I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was not expecting ice. Yeah, that's ... http://www.acvox.com/2007/01/wanted-one-cushion/