Backyards

I just want to point this out because I never really realize how much difference having a roommate who cares about yardwork can be.

This is a picture I took of our backyard on March 10th, 2007 after a windstorm knocked our fence into our neighbor's yard. I went out and tied it up to the tree so it wouldn't be in their way. It was later pointed out to me that it looks as if we're holding the tree hostage in our yard.



The next month, we got a new roommate - Stinky P - who over the course of the past year has turned our tiny little backyard into a place you actually want to spend some time in.



I do believe barbeque season is upon us.

Pointless Naked Ladies Post

Pointless, because the dozen or so of you who read this are probably going to come to my show anyway, so why bother promoting it?

But promote it I shall, be it in a non-aggressive fashion. We had our first stumble through of the entire thing tonight, and the most challenging part was not laughing at each other.

At least, that was the most challenging part for me. And I believe I failed.

So yeah, come see my show. I think it's funny.

The Truth of the Matter

To say that I almost got hit by a car would be an exaggeration.

I'm crossing Broadway at Denny. As I step off the curb and enter the intersection, a black coupe that had been sitting at the light accelerates through the intersection and continues on its way in front of me quite nonchalantly. I stand dumbfounded for a beat, look up at the red light it had just gone under, to the left to make sure no one else was coming my way, then head back to the curb I had just stepped off because my crosswalk signal had turned into the blinking hand.

Normally, I cross during the red blinking hand, but this time I thought I'd play it safe.

I'm quite sure mob mentality is why the coupe ran the red light - though "running" the red light is not really accurate here. This guy casually passed through the intersection, as if he thought his light had turned green. Just before he took off, a bicyclist who was stopped next to the car noticed that the intersection was clear, so he (or she) hopped back on the bike and went through. The guy in the car, probably fiddling with his iPod or cell phone (unsubstantiated), took the cue from the bike and assumed his light had turned green without actually looking up to check.

Like when you're standing with a group of people at a crosswalk and someone starts to cross against the light, then everybody starts to cross because they think they have the signal.

Or perhaps the driver was watching the stop lights the next block down. Who knows.

When the light turned green, the car behind the coupe slowed in front of me and rolled down its passenger side window. The driver leaned over the woman sitting in the passenger seat and said "I don't know what that was, man."

We all shared a moment of just shaking our heads at how some people are freakin' morans, and how that could have been a lot worse than it was. Then they went on their way and I went on mine.

Granted, the guy wouldn't have hit me. If I had kept walking at the pace I was going, he would have passed me before I got to his lane.

It might have gotten ugly if someone was driving through the intersection when he sauntered through the red light. Tires would squeal, names would be called, etc... It could have gotten really ugly, though, if someone was speeding through the intersection eastbound on Denny and collided with the coupe, slamming it into me standing innocently on the sidewalk.

But, it all turned out fine.

This time.

Come Here My Awesome Little Friend

I've never stared at a movie so long with my mouth agape, just thinking "how do I get me one of those?" until I saw this video of a full-motion R2-D2 HD projector robot with Millennium Falcon remote.

So that's what a nerdgasm feels like?

When We Was Fab

Thought I'd revisit some of my old tapes that I have yet to purchase digitally. First up is George Harrison's "Cloud Nine".

1987's "Got My Mind Set On You", I believe, is the song that introduced me to George Harrison and, subsequently, The Beatles.

The Dog and the Screenless Door

Saw this linked from BoingBoing:



It's cute, and one's initial reaction could be "oh, poor dog, he's too dumb to know that there's no glass in the door." Most of the comments on the BoingBoing site (I didn't bother looking at the comments on YouTube) refer to conditional training - basically whether or not the door exists in real life, it exists to the dog regardless.

I think the dog is much smarter than that, and one of the commenters briefly refers to this. Yes, the dog is aware that the door exists. The glassless door frame still clicks when it opens, and clacks when it closes. The dog has been trained to go outside through the click and clack. That's how it's done.

However, I believe that the dog is staying on either side of the glassless door not because he thinks there's still glass in it, but because he hasn't been told it's okay yet.

At one point, it looks as though the dog has stuck his nose past the glass plane, so I think he knows he could go through it, but if he were to go through the door without being told so, he would be disobeying.

When the owner walks through the door near the end of the video, had he said "okay" or "come" instead of opening it, I think the dog would not have hesitated at all and gone through the door.

Of course I could be wildly off-base and the dog might just be a complete doorknob.

Get Your Prank On

I generally try to avoid being online on April Fools' Day. Not because I'm a no-fun-pants and don't like jokes.

But because of all the lies. LIES I TELL YOU!

Friends quitting jobs, friends breaking up with friends, friends repeatedly saying Iran is training al-Qaeda.

Okay, that last one is true. And happened days ago. So what? Lay off!

But I can't believe this! I mean, this has to be true! Jeff Goldblum was drunk when he pitched the iMac back in 1999.

Check it: