Site News Hi kids. I have been negligent in working on the site over the past few weeks, because it's just been too nice outside. But, I have had moments of busy-beaverness, and here are a few things that have been fixed / modified / added / broke
1. Words Archives. I don't know if you ever used that feature, but I tell you what.. I have no idea what I was thinking there. It was all ass-backwards. I think it works much more swimmingly now, although I think there may still be a few minor do-dads to fiddle with. 2. Hello from Iraq Archives. I added that the other night - not only is it handy, it also looks cool. When you hit 'archives' it just displays all the thumbnail images, which is a pretty quick way to find what you are looking for. 3. Trackback? Um. Hmm. OK, well that is still only half done. 4. Robot Stats. Have you seen that? Probably not, because it's buried in the mess.
Happyrobot Version 13? I am working on a new menu thing-a-ma-jig for the robot, and after 6(?) years I am thinking of abandoning the black background theme on the menu. Crazy I know.
Homeless red-haired girls It's so easy to ignore crazy homeless people sometimes - I mean, here in the big stink you kind of have to since you are running into one every block (or those GreenPeace kids). Sociology or psychology majors out there can feel free to offer up the official name for this phenomenon, but the most disturbing is when you come across the homeless person that kind of looks like someone you know.
There is this girl that has taken up camp on the street on my route to work. She sits there on her backback quietly reading a book. She doesn't make eye-contact with passerbys or ask for change - it is as if she was just there waiting for a ride home or something. She wears flipflops and has a big shepherd-mix-looking dog that is always snoozing next to her.
The thing is, she looks, at first glance, much like MattyJ's sister if his sister had Mrs. Robot's hair color and complexion. So, I suppose it's only natural that I would have empathy for a 20-something white girl with red hair and a big dog (compared to the normal homeless people I run into who are not, suspiciously, white girls with red hair). I mean, it's odd to think that in some parallel world, this girl could be my neighbor or friend or co-worker. She could be Matt's sister.
So, yea. In a city with 4 zillion homeless people, I feel bad for only one because she looks like 'one of my own'.
RIP George's Dad My dear friend George passed away last month as many of you know. At his funeral/wake, I had a great time chatting and catching up with his father A great father to his children and a man who designed and built buildings and houses that were greatly admired by young boys like myself.
Well, I just found out that he passed away last week. Very sad. Rest in peace Jan. Tell George 'Hello' for us all. I'll raise my next scotch in your honor.
Back left corner George's mother passed away in 2000. She had gotten very sick (cancer) and was literally on her death bed. All the kids came home to say goodbye as the doctors told them that this was probably it. George whispered in her ear that he would meet her in the back left corner of heaven - so that is where she should be.
*sniff*
Well, I hope there is a heaven - and I hope George and his parents and his Oma are playing a wicked game of spades right now.
Cheers.
OK. Back to being a smart ass.
Bullseye Red Alert! Red Alert! I hope our brave president protects me from the evil doers!
Help and stuff is on the way OK, because I am so behind on my robot journal (approximately six days behind at this point) I just have to chime in about the convention in Boston last week. I found the coverage of the 'bloggers' hilarious, and actually the fact that they were officially invited and given a little roped off area the funniest thing ever. While watching some network's coverage of the 'bloggers' I almost cringed to death - there was something so... _________ (I'm not sure what is was, so I'll leave that blank until I figure it out)
But, yea, the convention and stuff. Hillary Clinton - does she have the most annoying speech pattern ever, or is it just me? Bill Clinton - oh man, even after all the crap we went through with him, I was a bit smitten. Jimmy Carter - he rocks the house (no pun intended) Al Sharpton - best speech ever and worst coverage ever by the national TV networks John Kerry - apart from his almost more cringe inducing than the bloggers mentioning of his Vietnam past and that holy-crap-we-get-the-idea "help is on the way" line.. um, everything else was fine.
Hand of God Being the owner of this whole mish-mash, I can sometimes wield my mighty editorial sword of control, and I think I will. The TV Sucks review of Graham Norton I may remove because I like Graham Norton, and I like his show in the UK and I have laughed at his American show when I catch it and apart from his (sadly) decreasing quality of guests (the last one I saw was Joan Rivers and Shannon Doherty (are they B-Level? Or C? D?) I don't think it sucks. So, I may remove it. But first I will wait to see if anyone has a good argument against doing it.
