Monday, July 29, 2002

Argh - it's still goddamn 90 degrees outside right now. I hate extreme heat - and before you ask, extreme heat for me starts at about 85 degrees. Below that is alright, above that is an oven. Ack. I really should just move to Montreal and learn French. I'd get away from this damn hot thing for good.
5:28:53 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

now listening to ( U2, Achtung Baby ) This album is so damned good - I forget just how good it is until I listen to it. There's hints of sounds hiding in the background hidden throughout. Just fucking brilliant stuff. And it makes me feel good. Can't go wrong.
4:35:08 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

The Top-100 weblogs report for Salon is starting to get interesting.  [Scripting News] What, the fact that porn is the #2 blog? =)
4:28:58 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Parliament to open curry shop on premises [FARK] Further proof that the UK is my kind of country. Our government leaders need to eat more curry. It'd make them better people - with much more clear nasal passages to boot.
4:25:33 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

now listening to ( Oasis, Familiar To Millions disc 2 ) I've never quite understood why some people have such a problem with Oasis. I mean, yeah, they've had a problem with that whole Beatles-wannabe pretensions, but they're still the best bar band ever. Or so I think.
3:58:43 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Someone just sent me an email through this site with absolutely no content. There was a name, but no from address, no subject, no content. Makes me sad - it might have been something interesting. =)
3:50:24 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

So Rachel, one of my best friends, went driving from Rochester, NY, to somewhere in New Mexico with her mom, who was moving there. The last I heard from her was a phone call somewhere south of Denver, for about two minutes. That was something like a week ago. I've called her cellphone a few times since then - gotta assume she's not getting service. Hmm...maybe I should check Sprint's coverage map. Not that I know exactly where in NM she would be, but hey, it's something. Mind you, I'm not all that worried about not hearing from her...moreso it's that we generally don't go more than a few days without talking. Throws me off my rhythm... In fact, that might be why I'm posting here so damn much - I started this up a few days after she vanished into the southwestern ether. Coincidence? Beats me. =)

3:27:50 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

I've been name-checked! Chris Green seems to really like my blog title. I like it, too. One of those rare, random moments where you suddenly come up with a good idea. I don't have that many of them, but the title for this blog is most certainly one of them. Chris's title is pretty nifty as well - he got a very cool comment regarding his title. There's something inherently cool about provoking someone to think/remember/etc based solely on a single sentence. I like that.

2:45:32 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

now listening to ( Social Distortion, Live at the Roxy ) Great album - punkabilly perfection. The version of 'Story of My Life' that opens the album is fucking amazing.
2:05:49 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Does anyone know of a TV show or movie that did a parody/schtick with the song Mandy? I think the original's by Barry Manilow, but don't quote me on that. For some reason, that song is stuck in my head, but I know it's not the original. I feel like it might have been Homer Simpson, but I'm not sure.
1:16:19 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

While reading this article at Salon about the wacko Christian right, the Left Behind books, and Israel - nothing particularly groundbreaking in the article, but still a good read - I came across a truly great quote: 'Imagine if, say, James Carville wrote a novel in which a band of heroic gay socialists defeated a voracious army of slack-jawed Bible-quoting Republicans to turn the world into a gigantic French-speaking free-love commune.' Oh my GOD. I want this book to be written. I want to pimp this book to everyone I know. I want to hand it out free to people on the street. I want to walk up to people's doors, ring the bell, ask them if they've heard the good news, and then give them this book. James Carville, you MUST WRITE THIS BOOK. If not you, then someone else. Oh, it would RULE. Regarding the Left Behind books - are they even good pulp? I'm a self-confessed Tom Clancy addict, so I know good pulp when I see it. If the Left Behind books are good pulp, I'll pick up the first one at a used bookstore...no sense putting more money into the hands of the people behind 'em, and it'll take another copy out of circulation. And hey, if it entertains me, we're set. If you HAVE read any of them, please let me know. I've got nothing but contempt for their 'religious' content, but good pulp is hard to find...

12:46:08 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Red carpet for Musharraf in Dhaka [BBC World] Lobster mystery solved [BBC World] I see these two news stories, right on top of each other. What do I think I see? 'Red Lobster for Musharraf in Dhaka' I was disappointed when I realized it was two stories. I like the idea of the Pakistani military dictator eating chain-seafood in Bangladesh a lot. Then again, I like pretty much anything absurd. I'm easy that way.

12:23:36 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

It's both fun and intimidating to google search old friends. It's often pretty easy to find them - or at least the ones with unique names and a tendency to do online things. But in at least some cases, their web presence is even 'cooler' than they themselves were when I knew them, oh so many years ago. This leads to awkwardness - should I not email an old friend, someone who I was very, very close to in early high school years? She seems like she's taken that which made her interesting and cool in the first place and magnified it. I'm eerily terrified of emailing her and being ignored. Why should that bother me? Ok, I guess that's pretty obvious - while not being in contact with an old friend has no inherent negative bearing on me, sending an old friend an email and not getting a response would imply that I'm not interesting/cool enough to talk to. Ah, email - it makes it so much easier to ignore people. =) I'll send that email - if I get no response, fuck it, right? I've always got this blog, right? Right? =) now listening to ( Tricky, Pre-Millenium Tension )

12:12:48 PM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Argh - sudden wave of anxiety. I feel like there's something I'm supposed to have done that I didn't do. This happens to me too damn often. It's an old habit, mainly, dating back to my problems doing homework as a kid. I'd not do my homework, then cry myself to sleep because I hadn't done my homework. For some reason, the logical answer of 'Do the homework instead of crying' never quite got through my head. And then I had problems with debts - I always owe someone some money. I'm getting a hold on this, though. It'll be under control soon. I swear. On a brighter note - it's fun to google search your own name. The most common occurences of 'Andrew Bayer' are some Welsh politician and a Minnesota Civil War soldier. Once in a while I'll find myself, though - maybe 1 out of every 10 or 12 links are to something that actually involves me. I actually found a reference to me at someone else's website once. Kinda cool. Mind you, I have no idea who that person is, but hey - they seem to know me. =)

11:47:26 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Catholic Archbishop asserts abortion is a greater crime than sexually abusing children [FARK] Well, this should go over well.
11:08:10 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

Fundie Jingoism. America as 'the second client nation of god'. Complete with charts and the wierdest map of the US you'll ever see. [FARK] Can anyone explain what the hell this guy is talking about? I don't get it. At all.
7:47:21 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

North Sea seals at risk [BBC Science & Nature] A seal plague is ripping through the North Sea. There aren't many things more anti-cute than a whole bunch of seals floating bottoms-up in a harbor, are there? I admit - I'm cuted out by seals. And otters. And panda bears. And monkeys. Really, I like furry things that seem vaguelly human. Can't stand dogs, though. Fearsome little bastards. Dogs, no. Seals? Yes.

7:43:21 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []

About  a month and a half ago, I bought a couple silk-woven shirts. For me, this was a near-revolutionary gesture - I've had a distinct tendency towards slobbiness in the past. I generally wear t-shirts and either shorts or jeans, depending on the season. Actually buying nice clothes is a landmark for me. Figuring out how to properly take care of them is a bitch, too. Do people just assume that we're born with the knowledge of how to wash certain fabrics? I did my own laundry in high school, but we're just talking about t-shirts, jeans, shorts, and flannels. Complicated fabrics are a new thing to me. I was able to think far enough ahead that when I bought the shirts, I made sure to go for a silk blend that was machine-washable. Washing on gentle, cold, check. I can do that. Wait a minute - line dry? Warm iron if needed? Eh? I don't have a clothesline - I live in an apartment without much free space in the first place. And while we do have an iron, I can't figure out the settings - it's my roommate's parents' old ass iron, and every single knob or dial has been wiped clear of any labels that might have explained things. So on the first try, with the first of the shirts, well, I burned away some of the color. That surprised me - how the hell can you burn away color from a shirt? I'm still not sure how that happened, but hey, it did. Luckily, it's not just an iron-shaped section of paler green. It almost looks deliberate. When I got to the second shirt, I started doing experiments first. I twiddled with each of the settings on the iron until I found one that seemed a little less hot than the others, and tried again. Voila! No burning. I only bring this up because I'm wearing that second shirt right now. It's quite comfortable. I just wish I knew why clothes were so damn complicated.

7:38:42 AM p e r m a l i n k trackback [] say something []