Hell's Half Acre

who put the mess in Messenger?

I'm so happy that MSN has no failover for their messenger service. I'm so glad we've chosen that bug ridden company's tool as a primary communication device with the kids across the pond.

I can't login. I can't communicate with the rest of my team.

What do you do when you are a MAJOR corporation and your services and products FAIL?  What is your back up plan? How long is an outage acceptable? Just asking. . .you know, so if I ever like start a major company I can use the answers to these questions as guidelines.

argh. . .I'm so intolerant of this kind of failure. ANd yes, I've rebooted my system. I can't connect to their website either.

bringing back the eighties with a vengeance

alrighty then.

I purchased tix to the English Beat on Friday night.  That is step one to bringing back the eighties.

Step two is that I just purchased Tix to see the Police with Special Guest Elvis Costello and the Imposters. I am ready to get down with the Oldy McOldersons.

more on Speed Racer

if you want to hear something geeky, Foolio and I downloaded the HD trailer onto Optimus Prime, then hooked Prime up to the Master G Master Blaster HD TV and rocked the shit out of the trailer. We watched it multiple times.

I will need to see this in the theater. It is the ultimate eye candy.

In anticipation of this blessed event, I ordered volumes 2 through 5 of the Speed Racer cartoon episodes. I already had volume one of course.

Did I ever reveal that I had a crush on Speed Racer when I was a little kid? Well there it is. I've said it.  NOw I am older and I know that it is unrealistic to have a crush on Speed Racer. He is too young. I've moved on to Racer X.

Here he comes, here comes. . .

a good sock is hard to find

I want to make some sock puppets. I have been diligently trying to find puppet supplies. I need eyeballs and noses. Why are eyeballs and noses so difficult to track down.

Is this past time too juvenile?

addled

yesterday was not a great day.

the more I rolled things around in my head, the more depressed things got so when mini B said he was going to meet sales guy at some bar for a professional networking function and did I want to join in I of course said yes.

the next thing I know I'm partying like it's 1999 with a bunch of cocaine in my nose and a never ending supply of alcohol.

what a fucking meltdown. textbook. 

did you know they have hotels in manhattan with hourly rates? I didn't. Sales guy did.

Classy.

Today is better. I think I purged myself of the overwhelmingness of responsibility.

Fuck.

Why must I be self-aware?

not crescent fresh

ang-er-y man say dangity dang

seattle hangover

Seattle was dressed to kill this weekend. I will post pictures later of this spectacularly beautiful place. I had a great time with GG and S, and a wonderful time with moms and grandmoms.

Why is it then, the first thing I did when I walked into my cube this morning, is go directly for the zoloft stash. I was actually afraid someone would ask me how the trip was. If they did, I would have immediately started to sob.

There is a lot to take in.  Decisions have been made.

I will become co-owner of my grandmother's house and eventual caretaker of my mother. My grandmother and mother will not be able to move east as my grandmother became disoriented just driving five miles to West Seattle. If we move her out of her bubble she will lose her autonomy.  I will not be moving to Seattle in order to facilitate this. My mother and grandmother both told me, on separate occaisions, that I should not move back. My grandmother was actually promoting a move to the Jolly but I told her there is too much going on with 81st Street Productions for me to move now.

It's all a little much for me.

On top of that, Junky Uncle came wandering back from the streets on my last night. I am not sure how we will be dealing with him and his tragic self. I will tell you though, that prodigal son is THE cautionary tale to help one avoid the trail of destruction caused by booze and pills. . .and heroin.  Dozens of rehabs, dozens of halfway house, and a shitload of used up chances lay in this guy's wake.

He used to be my favorite uncle. Now I can't look him in the eye.

I know street guys in New York City who can take care of themselves better than this guy can. Just sayin'.

the lost treasures of krixfort

through the years I've moved around considerably. There were somethings I just assumed I'd lost along the way, including some silly recordings which are hard to come by. But HA HA! Someone left some things behind at grandma's house and La Mere du Krix actually did not unload them at a garage sale. Also, for some weird sentimental reasons, they hung on to dolls from my childhood. here is the treasure trove:

Those of you who grew up in the seventies may remember the whole fascination with "country" and "prarie" and frontier shit. Well, I was right there in the middle of it with HOLLY HOBBIE dolls. "Launched in 1967 by American Greetings, by 1975 Holly Hobbie rag dolls outsold Raggedy Ann dolls five to one. "

You may also notice the Sub Pop 100 album. It was the first Sub Pop compilation released and it was never released on CD. I made the mistake of asking some nitwit 20-something working at the sub pop store one time if they had it on cd. He replied in snotty record store guy tone that "it only exists on vinyl" to which I replied " i know dick weed. I have the fucking vinyl." Okay I didn't call him a dick weed and I didn't curse but I did gain immediate oldy mcOlderson street cred.  I mean, you know, back when cavemen listened to the U-Men, and KJET ruled my airwaves when sub pop wasn't even an embrionic seed in the minds of Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman or whatever their names are. . . I was . . .well, I was never cool or with it or hip.

But I do own this superior compilation which is only on vinyl and now I must find someone with a turntable who can help me get this into MP3 form so I can actually listen to it intstead of just look at the back of the cover.

P.S. I didn't even buy this record in Seattle. I bought it in Denver at Wax Trax records.

here's another lost treasure, my chin. GG put up one of the most hideous pictures I've seen of myself published ever and now I am ready for an anorexic meltdown.

here is another picture of something lost which is my waistline. this was approximately 100 pounds ago.

so. this is a pretty funny picture of mixfort, my cousins and I. Mixfort is so mischevious. What is missing? 100 pounds. oh yeah also, 26 years. okay. I don't want to look like a teenager. I'm not that unrealistic but, I don't want to look like the picture that GG has on her blog either. That's just not me inside.

bring on the calorie counting and let the games begin.

Jet City

first off, let me say, I'm not sure who the Miller's are but I want to tell them thank you for not securing their wireless network. Muchas Gracias Herr Miller.

A long time ago, before Seattle was christened "The Emerald City" this place used to have the nickname "Jet City." I loved that nickname. To me, it summarized how I thought of Seattle, simultaneously futuristic and retro. The Space Needle embodies this image. Until the mid eighties, I would say, the ebbs and flows of Boeing's economics, ruled Jet City.

My grandmother's house is in an area south of Sea-Tac Airport; an area that for years was unclaimed by any other incorporated community. Because of this her house carried a Seattle address, and we lived in "The Greater Seattle Area." From my perspective, growing up against a backdrop of airplane departures and arrivals and the sounds of jet turbines roaring into the distance, we were official inhabitants of Jet City.

It's funny. Now I live so close to LaGuardia, under the flight path almost, and I find the sound of landing planes as comforting as a lullaby.

Currently it's 8:30 am pacific and there is a constant roar from Sea-Tac as I write this. The block of 8:30ish departures will end in approximately 20 minutes and we will have some peace until next big rally around noon.

When I was 19 I worked at the airport, delivering duty-free merchandise to international flights. NW007 to Narita was always the first flight out, followed by NW 19 to Seoul. The United flight to Narita Japan boarded at the North Sattelite and it was always the most crowded and hectic flight. You knew if that was your assignment for the day, you pretty much went balls out until it left, then you disappeared yourself until it was time to clock out. That's the way union jobs work. Because of this job, if I saw a departing SAS flight, I knew it was 2:30pm. I could set my watch by it.

Today, it is a beautiful day, not just by Seattle standards, but by any city's standards. The sky is blue and cloudless from my grandma's picture window.

The blue sky is framed by fir trees which strain to catch the departing flights dancing just out of reach.