Countdown to Extinction

With surgery looming some 12 hours away tomorrow morning the reality of things is finally starting to set in. Perhaps the biggest concern I have right now is the unknown– specifically just how much recovery time will I need and just how the Hell much will I regret this decision when I’m laying in bed 48 hours from now in complete agony? Like most things, only time can decide. I ask that you be patient and hang in there– I will be back to update the site further as soon as I am physically able to do so even if it’s just a “Hey, I’m alive” message.  I’d like to also thank all of you out there who sent me get well wishes through email, via one of our social network profiles, and for those of you who know me more personally via phone.  Your thoughts and get well wishes are appreciated.

Some of you may have noticed (if you live in the area of my hometown) that the recent edition of the “Warwick Advertiser” (one of Warwick’s hometown newspapers) “Where In Warwick?” feature was won by one certain history nerd you may know:

Frank Forester Memorial in Warwick NYWHERE IN WARWICK?
Congratulations to Maureen Byrne, Darlene Brozowski, and Christopher Welch, who correctly identified last week’s “Where in” clue. Welch provided some history with his answer: The image is from the Forester Monument found on the corner of Colonial and Maple Avenue in the Village of Warwick. Specifically it is Mr. Forester’s mustache and mouth. “The monument is dedicated to author Frank Forester (aka Henry William Herbert) who wrote the book ‘Warwick Woodlands’ (published 1839) among other noted works. “Forester was an avid outdoors-man and spent many hunting trips in the Town of Warwick woodlands. Forester preferred to stay at the old Wawayanda Hotel, which today is gone (once stood where today the Mobil Station near the monument is), hence the placement of this monument. “One side of the monument was originally a horse drinking fountain, but today is dry– serving as more of memorial to a bygone era. There is a plaque recounting the above achievements of Forester on a rock just behind the fountain. If I recall correctly, they were erected at different times with the fountain being placed first and the stone with the Forester plaque being placed second. I believe the fountain side had ties to the Civil War and was supposed to commemorate the fallen soldiers from the Town of Warwick (who are often referred to in writings from the era as the ‘Warwick Boys’).”

Yes, I have that much spare time– the verbiage is actually from our Beyond DF project on the Google Earth BBS. Check it out when you have spare time (info on how to locate my posts on that site are explained in the aforementioned Beyond DF section).

“Paranormal Activity” is now in official national release and if you still are interested in checking it out (the search results are still pushing around 25 people a day to this very site– sooooooo yeah) be sure to look on Fandango to find out where you can find it near you. The movie right now is listed as number three in active movie viewership rankings and has raked in over $20.1 million USD. Reports peg the film production at less than $11,000 and if this is the case that’s a significant return on investment. Nice job boys. Nice job.

Another article that has resonated with our viewers is our recent “Here Comes Droid For Verizon” article. Again, this is mainly driven from searches and one can only gauge the sheer buzz growing around the launch of this handset. Thanks to DJ ADD for pointing out the Moto Sholes hardware is actually globally available and that means Verizon will potentially not be the only provider with access to a Droid mobile smartphone variant of their own.

For those of you who know me very well– you know I love baseball. As such, I spend way too much effort on my Fantasy Baseball team (the Rhode Island Rabbits). I once heard that Fantasy sports is what AD&D nerds grow up to do to seem less geeky, but in all reality are only more geeky because of it. This is probably true as I was a big AD&D fan growing up and now here I am obsessing over who’s on the DL and who’s going to raise my team RBI to nudge me a point or two up in the rankings. Having said that I finished fourth in my league out of eleven. This was a big achievement considering last year I was in last place in a thirteen team league.

Now my Rabbits are moving on to Fantasy Football with the NFL season in full swing. It’s a public Yahoo! league so you can follow my stats in real time (though I doubt you have as much free time as me right now soooooo… yeah).  Right now I’m sixth out of ten with a 3-3-0 record. Last place here I come!

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Classic DF – 6/3/03

June 03, 2003: [•] Today is my birthday. I’m 26 years old. Feel free to send lots of money via the address supplied in the big flAnnelmAn ad above if you wish to send a gift. Thank you. [•] Moving right along, Birthday present number one: The Village of Warwick announced at last night’s Board meeting it will be ceasing all condemnation proceedings ASAP and supporting free market principles. I’m happy, enough said. [•] Birthday present number two: The scratch on my rear bumper. I didn’t put it there, but whoever did… well thank you very much. I’ll remember you around Christmas time. You’re right up there with the moron who passed me last night, realized my brights are REALLY bright, pulled over to let me pass, and then was forced to follow me the rest of the way at 40 MPH in a 55 MPH zone. [•] Birthday present number three: BrokenReality has released screen captures from his up and coming animated project. Be warned– you may want to keep a towel around to clean up all the drool these suckers are going make you create. [•] Birthday present number four: Thanks to all my friends and family who wished me a happy birthday. It wasn’t whether you actually bought me something or not; it’s the fact that you remembered to begin with. 😉 [•] Birthday present number five: Having my daughter home on my birthday and spending the entire day playing with her. Gette and I have fun no matter what we’re doing. Today was no exception. You go girl because you’re Daddy’s best gift ever. 😉 [•] Birthday present number six: The tattoo. The big enchilada. The whole damn show. Yes, I will be setting a date and time for anyone interested in watching me permanently emblazon my flesh with my two greatest inspirations: My daughter and God. Believe it or not a couple of people actually want to see this. So maybe we’ll take some photos just for the Hell of it. Watch me cry live on the Net! Nice. TTYL

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Classic DF – 12/6/02

December 06, 2002: [•] Happy birthday to Morning Glory. [•] If you look real close and pay attention to details you will be very amused by Broken’s latest web page change on his personal site. [•] Both BrokenReality and Mermaid have created a Stack Ups! episode. Both own my momma and are hilarious. The fan submitted stuff is really good and Immy’s little project is really taking off. Where am I in my Ultimate Stack Ups! project? Well, I’m inking still. I’m half way done inking the third page and there’s only four page so I guess I’m about 75% done on the whole thing. I expect by the middle of next week I’ll have it submitted to Immy for posting. [•] I love paranoia news articles. Like this one on the dangers of static electricity while pumping gas. I can picture it now: Tons of frantic consumers strapping on antistatic wrist straps and grounding themselves prior to pumping gas. BTW: It’s a little know fact, but cat fur is major static electricity conductor. So it’s a good idea not to pet your cat while pumping gas not that I know anyone who does, but you’ve been warned. [•] It appears that the Olmecs invented writing in the Americas. [•] So it’s December and I’ve already gotten a major snowfall dumped on my little village in New York. Nothing too bad and things are looking clear today, but I’ll tell you what sliding your car rally style through the snow is fun. Ah, the joys of winter. [•] US military troops are in place for war if need be. [•] Africa apparently has its own Stonehenge-like structure. [•] So The Sopranos are almost over and I really didn’t watch this season. No time to. I like that they whacked Ralphie and now that they cleared up a lot of junk maybe they can move onto the real mob war. Or not. [•] Animation legend William Henson died in a car crash. He was 78-years old. [•] A recent survey found that Mac lovers have loyalty to the brand because the Apple’s computer designs invoke infant-like features thus triggering people to love them like children. This only really proves one thing: Mac users are fucking crazy. It’s a computer for Christmas sakes not a baby! [•] Bread and cereal seem to increase the hormone levels that cause pimples. [•] Paul Grey (bassist of Slipknot) has started a band with two member of American Head Charge called F.O.R. Slipknot itself insists that primary song recording beings New Year’s Day (especially if by “recording” they mean “drinking a lot”) and that by March the whole band will convene to lay down tracks. Nice. [•] The VH1 Big in 2002 Awards celebrated all that is big (ummm… like sausage). [•] US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill has resigned. [•] I like the new Lincoln autos. They are pretty nice. This is a sure sign that I’m getting old. [•] Rumor has it that Nissan is going to revive the Datsun brand name. Nice! [•] Bored? Then you’ve never shot a potato out of cannon. Need I say more?

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Classic DF – 12/5/02

December 05, 2002: [•] Oh my God! A Stack Ups! double update! No wait! It’s a triple update! Holy crapola! Love me long time! [•] Everything looked pretty grim for me on Tuesday night. Looked like a major life change was going to happen for me. By Wednesday night I was in a hot tub and my life was back to normal. Well, not that I often find myself in a hot tub; but I think you know what I mean. Life, in general, was normal again. I spent Tuesday night into Wednesday afternoon taking care of Gette. That was pretty cool because normally I don’t see Gette that early in the week. She’s got a cold so she’s pretty sick. Poor kid. I tried to make her as comfortable as possible and to keep her fever down. There’s nothing worse than having to watch your child suffer and not being able to do anything. All the doctors will tell you is “keep fluids in her” so they’re worthless. She was drinking lots of juice and that’s a good thing. Hopefully she’ll be better soon. Wednesday afternoon I went shopping with my ex-wife and Gette. Mel had to do Christmas shopping for her house and I just kind of tagged along. I paid my bills via their respective mall outlets so I don’t get hit with late charges this month (image that). My debt consolidation is going well and from what I can tell I will be out of the hole (so to say) by Spring 2003. Nice. Hung out with V later that night. I was fatigued and stressed out so she opened up her hot tub. I chilled in there like a boiling lobster until I was nearly asleep. Then it was time to go home and go to bed. Now today I woke up and it’s really dark outside. It is apparently snowing like crazy across the entire Eastern US. I cannot tell as I have no windows so I’ll just take the TV’s word for it. We’re supposed to get around a foot of snow and that doesn’t bother me any. I only work down the street from where I live so I could walk home if I had to. Besides, there are worse jobs to have when it’s snowing outside. For example: This poor schmuck has to stand outside in the snow. He serves no purpose since all he can say is “Bob it sure is cold out here” or “Hey, it’s snowing and pretty nasty out from what I can see”. He literally gets paid to stand outside and look like he’s reporting something. What can he report??? NOTHING! It must suck to know that your job revolves around how well you stand outside in horrible weather and look good. I would just once love to hear the reporter say, “Well Bob, you’re sitting on your fat ass safe and sound in the studio while I’m out here about to die. But don’t worry I poisoned the cafeteria coffee machine and your all going to suffer a slow painful death too. Happy Holidays!”. Yeah, I’m evil, but I’m funny so it’s okay. [•] Post-Lunch Update: I went outside finally. It is snowing out. It sucks. The snow is getting mashed into ice by traffic thus making a nice slippery surface to conveniently collide with oncoming traffic with little to no effort. Extremely nice. Going home should be fun. I’d hate to be one of you who has to commute far. I feel your pain. I really do. Oh no, wait… I don’t. Sorry. I’m evil (I just remembered).

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Classic DF – 8/1/02

August 01, 2002: [•] Fired ex-Worldcom CFO Scott Sullivan has turned himself in. [•] The FBI has raided an apartment of an ex-military microbiologist. [•] LA police are trying to find the whereabouts of two teenage girls kidnapped in LA. [•] US leaders are concerned about regrouping al Qaeda cells that are now merging with other terrorist groups. [•] I normally don’t print gossip news, but considering what a scum ball ex-Sen. James A. Traficant Jr. is I will make an exception: He wears a toupee! HAAHAHAHHA! [•] The US is concerned with Russia’s nuclear ties to Iran. [•] A UN report says there is no evidence to support the claims that Israeli soldiers massacred Palestinians at the Jenin refugee camp. [•] US troops faced with potentially deadly situations in Afghanistan have turned to robot scouts called Packbots. [•] Ugandan rebels are threatening journalists. [•] 62 people in Madagascar have died from an unknown sickness. [•] Rebels kidnapped an entire town in Colombia and the army isn’t sure where they went. [•] The US has signed a pact with Southeastern Asian nations to fight terrorism. [•] 13 people were found dead on a Spanish beach. [•] Police are searching for a white pickup truck in relation to a kidnapping in Louisiana. [•] The wife of a US Army Special Operations officer who shot dead has been charged with murdering her husband. [•] 2002 has become the second warmest year ever recorded by humankind. Great… [•] US President Bush’s computer and network security advisor, Richard Clarke, spoke at the Black Hat hackers conference (sometimes called Defcon) where he encouraged hackers to act in good faith when discovering vulnerabilities. [•] A robot named Pearl is helping elderly people keep tabs on their eating habits. [•] Even a few extra pounds is bad for your heart. [•] Scientists are going to send mice into space to subject them to Martian-type gravity. [•] Barnes & Noble’s web site has some pretty big holes in security and they know about them. Even worse yet, they don’t care they exist. Nice. [•] Two hackers at Black Hat showed off a Dreamcast converted into a port sniffer tool. [•] Wal-mart will build a distribution center in Wallkill, NY. [•] The Consolidated Iron and Metal scrap yard in Newburgh, NY has been listed as a superfund site. [•] Ex-NYC police officer Matthew Leuck has been sentenced to three years in prison for sodomizing a 16-year old girl. [•] Port Jervis is trying to clean up an unsightly junkyard. [•] Matt Sullivan, one of my associates, speaks out against communism interfering with the free market in Warwick, NY. Go Matt! [•] Radiohead is allowing fans to chose the songs for their next album. [•] Secondhand smoke has been linked to causing cancer in cats. [•] Linkin Park is hoping to complete their new album by this year’s end. [•] Jessica Simpson will join the cast of That 70’s Show for three episodes as Kelso’s new girlfriend. Even better news is she’ll be in a bathing suit. Go FOX! LOL [•] Compaq and HP are having lots of problems getting along. [•] Intel is blaming Microsoft for the death of its AnyPoint wireless line. [•] I love you Klez. Oh no, wait… I meant to say I want you to die in a deep water filled ditch on some back road in Canada, Klez. [•] With the trend of more people buying online maybe I can finally get my mail order e-dead skunk service up and running! Maybe not. [•] I love you wife and daughter! [•] Yes, I updated The CVS & Warwick, NY site again. I rule.

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