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Monthly Archives: November 2003

why u gotta be such a hhhhhhherrrrb

Sunday, November 30, 2003

The term “herb” really needs to work its way into the vocabulary of the people I hang out with.

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cf. Marvin the Paranoid Android

Sunday, November 30, 2003

It’s sort of like a message in a bottle. Okay, granted, a very intelligent bottle, with pinpoint-precision guidance systems, but the principle’s still the same… sending messages out into the great big void, only the wish has changed, from hoping anybody will respond to hoping that person responds. And there’s a certain satisfaction once it’s out there, because now you know that you’ve done all you could, that the outcome is no longer in your hands. In reality, that’s all you really wanted…if you had done nothing, you would forever wonder what could have been.

On another note, I hate looking at this layout. Expect changes. If I lack the energy or willpower to effect a new design, don’t be surprised if I just decide to make this whole darned thing inaccessible. I am no longer content with the direction this site is taking.

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of pre-Thanksgiving lunches and beer

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

I should be at McSorley’s tomorrow, drinking darks and hanging out with the boys. Beer was only one reason for our intoxication. We were on top of the world. There’s something about being at the center of the universe, inhaling the heady vapors of city life. (And I’m not talking about the garbage.) *sigh* So much for realigning the center of the universe. I may have grown up in Chicago, but New York stole my heart.

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Anticipation breeds raised expectations?

Sunday, November 23, 2003

OK, so I’ve been terribly impatient lately. I placed the pre-order for the Treo 600 on the 3rd and waiting diligently for the 17th, the day that Handspring stated they would begin processing pre-orders. Well, they didn’t process it until the 19th; it shipped on the 20th and arrived at my doorstep rather dubioiusly on the 21st. Apparently my order had a signature waiver on file, so the box was left casually outside the door where anyone could snatch it. But never mind that. During that time, I was going wild with anticipation, growing ever impatient as compulsively refreshing the browser window contaning my order status yielded no change.

You can imagine my elation when I received a tracking number on Thursday night. Of course, I started refreshing FedEx’s tracking screen incessantly; the first few hours FedEx denied any knowledge of the shipment, until sometime after 10pm when many lines of tracking information suddenly appeared. Awesome!, I thought to myself, as I had been setting myself up wait through the weekend for the delivery if it didn’t ship until Friday (no weekend overnight delivery).

Friday morning saw me terribly unproductive as I waited for the FedEx guy at home as long as I could before I had to go to work (I had a lunch appointment at 11:30). I double-checked with the management office that deliveries would go there if I weren’t there to sign for it (unnecessary, as it turns out; see above), then I drove to work, where the obsessive-compulse refreshing of the tracking screen continued. Just before we left for lunch, my order was listed as “delivered”…huzzah! I thought to myself. Since we were already late for lunch I decided to wait until afterward to go home and pick up the package.

I picked up the box from the front door of my apartment building at 2:15pm. By 2:30 I was back at my desk at work, opening the box very calmly and setting up to charge the Treo before I started using it, like a good end user. Shortly past 5, the charging LED turned green and I tore into it. So pretty, so precious. I called my brother to christen the new phone and then went about playing with it for a little while before going home to play with it more.

A brief review of my experiences with the Treo 600 follows.
(Continued)

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ORIGINAL FAMOUS RAY’S

Friday, November 21, 2003

I was this close to becoming a published photographer… ( )

Nothing big. I was contacted by Teen People magazine for permission to use my pic from the Water Tower mall for an article they’re running, but by the time I responded they had gone with another pic. Aww!

Also: my Treo will be here tomorrow! I’d stay at home to wait for the delivery guy but I’ve got work to do. fo’ shizzle mah nizzle.

(not to be confused with Famous Original Ray’s)

(it’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno’s)

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why did i have to drink so much crab juice?!

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

My Treo order is now “Awaiting Shipment.” The next step better be “Shipped” and not “Back Ordered” or else I’m just going to “Go Nuts”.

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“Walla Walla,” “Cucamonga,” “Seattle”

Monday, November 17, 2003

On another note, here’s some West Coast and East Coast tidbits.

The Alphabetically Last Place Name
Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is more or less desolate. Sure, there are exits to places like Barstow and Baker (home of the world’s tallest thermometer) but they exist mostly as waypoints on the route to glitz and glamour. And it’s plain why someone would exit at Barstow or Baker–gas, food, shopping.

Then there’s the sign makes me giggle every time I pass it: Zzyzx Road. No, really, what’s it fer? The road doesn’t lead to anything you can see from the highway. There aren’t any services advertised at this exit. It’s also fun to say it, or at least guess how to say it… you have to wonder who named it, and what it’s all about. An imagination gone wild could conjure up stories glamourising it not unlike the mythology of Shangri-La. Every time I pass it I wonder what’s down that road, and not one mile later and I’ve forgotten about it.

Until tonight, when I finally remembered to Google it. And learned that I was pronouncing it wrong all these years.

Potters’ Fields
Some aspects of New York’s history fascinate me, and some stories I bet could be turned into a pretty good Halloween story with the right amount of creativity. Washington Square Park, that wonderful open space which is so perfect for people-watching, was once a potters’ field (the last resting place for unidentified persons), then a cemetery for yellow fever victims and a place to go witness a good ol’ fashioned hanging before it became that park we know and love.

Sunday’s Law and Order: Criminal Intent was set in fictitious Channel Island, New York. At first I was thinking it was one of those breaker islands on the South Shore, but why would NYPD have jurisdiction out in Long Island? The clue as to Channel Island’s true identity comes when the story is told of three boys who died when their boat sank on the way to Hart Island.

Hart Island is one of many publicly-inaccessible islands that dot the metro area. The island never served much purpose beyond being a potters’ field (though it did house a Nike missile site at one point in time). Burial and maintenance were handled by prisoners shipped in from Riker’s Island on work detail. The only way one gets to Hart Island is to take a ferry from nearby City Island. Now there’s an island where NYPD would have jurisdiction! Mystery solved.

Unlike Channel Island, Hart Island is a very real place, one that’s very spooky if you ask me. I guess I’m just overly fascinated by places that are right in your back yard and yet are off-limits to you. The illicit nature of a visit adds to the mystery and the fascination. Since I can’t visit, a photo essay by Joel Sternfeld will have to do…

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hey there, blimpy boy

Monday, November 17, 2003

WHERE’S MY BURRITO
WHERE’S MY BURRITO
WHERE’S MY BURRITO

I placed my Treo order on the 3rd, and it has yet to be processed. To be fair, they said they expected to start processing orders today, but COME ON… me want bad. me sick.

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D00d

Thursday, November 13, 2003

GE employees have a discount at the Apple store! Don’t have to bemoan not having an educational discount anymore…

I love this job.

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the joys of youth

Monday, November 10, 2003

Joys of Youth

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