Not that anyone's noticed.......

....but I've been really slack-arsed about contributing anything to this forum.

Between excessive traveling, pub quizzes, hanging out at the Oregon Coast, poker nights, softball matches, cookouts, etc. etc. finding time to place something on here becomes a bit of a dodgy proposition.

Still.....no excuses.....and for that I apologise.

So, right.....where was we, then?

Shit! I can't remember!!

Well, I'll just spit out a series of random observations, then.....

• Oh.....yeah....traveling. Most recently, went to Vancouver B.C. and to Buffalo. Pics and narratives can be found here on the pics page!
  



• Rode the skooter from The Hills of Cedar to The Emerald City (about 185 miles each way) on the way up to British Columbia. I swear....the Helix must hate me by now....
  



• Tried a new Internet concept at my friend's house in Seattle. It's called Clearwire, and I was pleased and impressed with the speed and reliability of it. Now, thee moment it gets to The Hills of Cedar (ALLEGEDLY December 2007), Comcast's ass is OUTTA HERE!!
  



• I really have no clue what to make of THIS. Personally, I think it's fucking creepy.....parents who pull this kinda shit really hafta learn to stop micro-managing every aspect of their (and their child's) life.....So, based on this article, does this mean that I can't legally name my kid hunglikehorsesdotcom or Mammothmammoriesdotcom?
  

"One of the criteria was, if we liked the name, the domain had to be available," Pankow said. It was, and Pankow quickly grabbed Bennett's online identity.

I mean, this guy needs serious fucking help and socialization skills if he thinks that HIS kid is sooooo much more goddamm special than anyone else's that the .com domain must be available for the future name of his child?? What an arrogant prick!!

Speaking of this topic, remember the guy at the millennium who vowed to buy everything off of the Internet and not leave his house for one full year?? He then changed his legal name to "DotComGuy"......remember......? I didn't think so.....

Well, I guess he's trying to sell the domain http://www.dotcomguy.com/ forra while.....still has a domain parker on it....apparently, nobody wants to be associated with this rubbish.....

• Jesus.....how long does it take things to sink in to the NHL's thick skulls?? I mean, one of thee best things I had ever seen them do was the Heritage Classic, actual regular season NHL match OUTDOORS! I'm not the world's number one hockey fan, but man....I was so in love with the entire idea and the execution of it.....you could not remove me from the TV screen that afternoon with a pry bar!! And I could have cared less about either Montreal or Edmonton!

So they woke up, realised that it was a stroke of genius, and now they're doing it again! Old time hockey!! Eddie Shore!!!

I mean, I should really bite my tongue and I don't mean this sarcastically, but seriously: What if the conditions aren't right, and it's too warm in Buffalo that New Year's Day?? I mean, seriously, I remember as a kid growing up there a few 50, 60+ degree days in December and January.

• Speaking of Western New York, saw this article online at the Buffalo News Website.....it was discussing how common the three-plus car family is becoming in the affluent outer suburbs and exurbs of Buffalo.

It's just a weird concept to me, as this sort of mentality would NEVER fly here in Portlandia. I mean, places like Clarence are booming because, as African-Americans start doing better economically, they then proceed to migrate into first-ring suburbs like Eggertsville, Kenmore and Cheektowaga. This causes white-flight to push out even further still from the city limits! Hell, I remember when Akron, New York actually was just a little teensy rural village!!! Now, it's a booming ex-urb!

I love this statement: "Sure they'd (my kids) take the bus....if there was one!!!"

Bull-plus-shit!! I mean, come on! Do you REALLY THINK for one second they would want a bus or train coming 7 miles from *shudder* THE CITY into their lily-white gated enclave of safety and security?? As if. That's why D.W.B. arrests are up all over the Northeastern Suburbs of Buffalo. That's why this guy I know (wouldn't call him a "friend", actually) who's an Amherst cop, once told me: "Yep....black guy driving in Amherst. Oh....NO doubt - I WILL pull his ass over!"

There's a urban planning book that just got put out about things like this that I'm very much looking forward to reading. It's called the Geography of Opportunity

• Jerk of the week? Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza. Just read this....it's pretty appalling.....not "Special Place In Hell" material (naw, Michael Vick got that this month....and I really don't care to talk about that, 'cause that whole issue been beaten to death in the major media, and I'm sure we're all sick of hearing about it), but still, very infuriating stuff. Read his E-Mail to his minion as to how to proceed with the complaint.

• Kinda sad. I guess in January this year, two of the all-time pioneers of British Oi! punk, Jimmy Pursey and David Parsons of Sham 69 (one of my favourite bands growing up), apparently are having a bitch-slap match with each other! Both calling their Sham 69 THEE OFFICIAL Sham 69!!

Too funny.....Parsons version is touring the US and is supposed to be in Portlandia next week....and I might go and piss away ten or fifteen buxx on tickets just to go have a nostalgic chuckle, but I hafta agree with the statement several folks have made: "If it ain't got Pursey, it ain't Sham!"

Pursey's version strikes me as better, based on what I've heard from the two versions so far.....I mean, only Jimmy Fucking Pursey would record a song called "ASBO* Sports Day." Christ, just listening to this tune has made want to run out and buy Pursey's Sham 69 album!! (Although, seriously?? I'd be leery of having Morrissey listed as a friend on my MySpace page. Jimmy, gotta watch who ya admit, bud!)

I'm sorry.....ASBO Sports Day.....I mean, that'd be like Green Day writing a song called "The Restraining Order Special Olympics" or some shit like that.....good to see Pursey don't take himself too seriously....

*Anti Social Behaviour Order, as explained here.

Me is off to bed.......more soon......really.....serously......I really mean it.....I'm warning you.......

-E-