The Quagmire

A busy day: Deaths and Cars and such

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:45:00 +0000

First, RIP to Karl Malden a fine veteran actor who died today at 97. RIP to another from one of my all-time favourite shows, Mollie Sugden -- the legendary Mrs Slocombe -- who died today at 87: she was one of the highlights of the legendary Britcom Are You Being Served. A sad day and the number of celebrities dying in the past few weeks is phenomenal.

My car is back. I cannot say if they fixed the mechanical stuff but they did find some major computer errors. It was set in 'transportation mode' -- something that was supposed to be fixed before it left the dealer, apparently. This isn't something an owner can turn on or off. They claim it is responsible for my long litany of problems with the car. The basic premise that iDrive still sucks donkey balls even when it works remains unchanged. My car has 12007 miles on it and they feel the brakes (under warranty) will need to be replaced at 13671 miles. Um.... Why not just do it while it was there? So I have to come back. I am not impressed with South Motors.

Every car I've ever owned that was serviced by a dealer is cleaned thoroughly inside before being returned to its owner. Apparently BMW doesn't do this -- though they did offer to drive it through the car wash for me to clean the outside (as it was pouring rain, I declined politely.) Oh, and BTW, BMW corporate has never called me back. They suck too. [BTW, South Motors didn't open the repair ticket until 26 June 09 at 1026 am -- that's how long my car was "lost" while I was paying rental fees. I've not been in my car since around 9 June or thereabouts.]

The body work appears to be fine and everything seems to work well. Though it would have been nice if they body shop cleaned the blood stains from the inside of the rear tailgate where someone obviously cut himself while installing it. I cleaned it myself.

My XM on Sirius package never worked right. Still didn't when I got the car back. I thought it was one of the problems with the car. I called Sirius for the fifth time and got someone smart and we managed to get the damned thing working. She had to call her technical department to get a special reset code which we had to send while the car was running. Yes, smart people in foreign call centres do exist. Yay. Do I get a refund for the one month of missed extra channels? As if.

Eventually, I will send Enterprise as very nasty letter -- not sure if I complained about the rental from hell (two flat tires, faulty transmission, broken key, filthy car with lipstick all over the rear view mirror, and smelling like twin packs of cigarettes). Probably BMW too.

Oh, and my right knee is killing me and am wondering if it's accident related or not. It was hurting a bit before but now one spot is sore to the touch. ::mutter:: And the two teeth the dentist fixed have started hurting again. He warned me he wasn't sure if replacing the fillings was going to work and if it didn't I might need some root canals. Damn it all to hell.

I am trying to find fun stuff to do this weekend but so far Sunday AM skating is all that's up. Am looking to see Ice Age 3D. Maybe visit with some people. Etc. Fireworks don't interest me so much though.

More Identity Theft Stuff -- Personal Not Corporate

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:43:00 +0000

I am about to be sued. I got a call from Mr Trinidad at Wagner & Hunt, P.A, a collections attorney in Margate.

After a very bad start -- can you imagine any other kind? -- I come to find out I have supposedly co-signed for an American Express card with someone who owes Amex well over $8k. Obviously I have co-signed nothing for anyone ever. I just won't do that. Never have, never will.

So I go on to explain to him that I have been identity-thefted (Look, Binky, a new word!) and I've got a police report, there's a suspect in jail, and so-on and so-forth. So he's going to fax me affidavits to sign and swear to, and I'm going to send him a copy of my police report. So this will likely go away. So am I really going to be sued? Unlikely because it's stupid to sue an innocent person: harassment countersuits and such.

However, I did volunteer to be deposed and swear the debt isn't mine and the guy committed fraud. However, what is very, very, very disturbing is that he says that this dates to 2006. That was before my identity theft case started (though I was at BankAtlantic that far back, so it's not aunreasonable to assume it may be related). He did share with me the guy's name which I won't share just yet. I never heard of him but I think it might the same guy who was at AT&T the other day trying to obtain the wireless data card (see previous posts). Call it a hunch.

I am getting so tired of this. I'm getting it on all sides. (And I still get the occaisonal call from a bank saying someone's trying to open a credit card with my name.) I haven't reported all of it so far because it's getting boring to me and probably you. But it does drive to distraction.

Shout outs to John and Liz who are still moving, Erin who is still in pain and sick of the rain, and Bryce who is bored. And I'm hungry -- no lunch for me :(

Corporate Identity Theft Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:38:00 +0000

So there's so much more now.

This morning at 850am I received a call from Kathy at the AT&T Fraud department who said our lines were still being forwarded (which didn't seem right because I can call myself and it rings at the office). She refused to call to fix it saying that she wasn't authorized. (If she's the fraud center how the hell isn't she authorized to fix it? That's like calling someone and saying their house is being robbed and asking them if they want to call the police because you aren't authorized to do it.)

I am on the phone at the Business Center with Katie who informs me on 6-29-2007 someone named George forwarded or lines to "786-290-2893" and this was "Call Forward Busy" and "Call Forwarding No Answer" -- so this is more interesting. Also, I called this from a private number using *67 and it rings to mobile phone with no message.

Apparently when we fixed it the first time (see first post), this original and VERY OLD issue didn't get fixed. So now we need to find out who, exactly, this number above belongs to. I think this our crook.

This would be an interesting crime. If both of our lines were busy, then and ONLY then the call would forward to that number so we might not even notice that some calls were being hijacked. I am beginning to suspect new crime and old crime are not related. But I won't post that bit here for the time being.

Also, I am mystified that AT&T's position is that they'll notify you that there is illegal activity on the account and then do absolutely nothing about it. Seriously. That's like a security guard at the bank calling the bank president and say "Someone's robbing us. Should we do something about it?" and then when the bank president says "Yes" having the guard say "Ok, you deal with it. I'm not authorized."

I called and spoke to Katie who was very helpful and checked all the work orders and gave me the 786 number above and the details. She said she didn’t understand why the fraud people didn’t call directly instead of leaving it all weekend. I subsequently received a call from Tina Kelly (Team Leader) who also said this was very unusual and they aren’t sure what’s going on.

The fraud department said there is ‘unusual activity’ on our bill but we don’t have the bill and nobody outside the fraud department can seem to see any ‘unusual activity’ but when we get it, it will be scrutinized.

Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Tenth Grade Bleeds

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:24:00 +0000

I bought and read the third tome in this excellent series today. Each book is better than the one before it and this book makes author Heather Brewer three for three. The new book has my least favourite cover but it's the best of the three, so I'll forgive the irritatingly pouty cover.

We have the same cast of characters as before. Nelly falls into the background and we focus primarily on Vlad, Otis, and Henry. Henry becomes, finally, a more complex person, Vlad grows a bit. Otis, well he's just Otis, but that's not a bad things. Meredith still doesn't develop as a character and the surprise ending with her and Vlad makes you feel only for Vlad and not Meredith.

I'll also say I just kept waiting for Vlad to hug Henry. I'm not sure why, but it just felt like they were a little closer than the words on the page were ready to reveal. Eddie Poe appears but is reduced to a mere caricature, which is too bad because he's potentially interesting. We've also got some Goth kids who, in spite of their Gothness, are likeable even though they really don't play prominently in this book; I do suspect we'll see more of them in Eleventh Grade. Vlad still cries more than any other male character I've ever met. I just don't think fifteen year old guys cry so much. Then again he's a vampire, so maybe that's what they do? I really like Vlad -- if he were real, he's the sort of person I'd get along with and be friends with. Not enough Vlads in the world.

Happily, my biggest complaints about the first two novels is resolved. Ms Brewer tells her story and she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to do so. The story gets where it's going and doesn't feel like large gobs of story are left out. It pleases me because a good story -- and hers are good -- shouldn't be rushed.

Good book. Buy it. Read it.

Transformers II Revenge of the Fallen, The Michael Bay Vision Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:37:00 +0000

Wow. I was figuring this would at least be as entertaining as the first one. I knew it wouldn't be good because it is, after all, a Michael Bay film. But he does entertaining (mindless) pretty well and he does explosions great. This film had lots of explosions and toys. I think there was a plot but it was sort of hard to tell. Shia LaBeouf Did a fine job as did the always smokin' hot Megan Fox. Josh Duhamel Did his very small part well but John Turturro wasn't very good and Ramon Rodriguez was so irritating I can't explain it.

They obviously cut corners but not even using a continuity guy here. It was sunny, it was dark, and sometimes not in the right order. The same problem was in the first film. In the Deli, Sam removes his hat twice. JetFire walks out of the Smithsonian into the Arizona desert. WTF? That's huge. Also the car chases change locales unexpectedly -- and we get a cameo by an Oompah-Loompah. And they use boats launched in the ocean to land in Cairo to see the pyramids? HELLO -- LOOK AT A MAP! Not possible. The Air Force base in "New Jersey" shows mountains in the distance? Apparently Jersey has new geography. I could mention the Paris Police have blue-only sirens and not red but that's almost nit-picky. And was I the only one who noticed that when the pyramid eating robot is tearing down the pyramid in the foreground shot, there is a pigeon on the nose of the sphinx that takes up the entire nose? The world's largest pigeon.

The dialog was stilted and so bad I was bored. Karen and I mocked the film. It was a painfully long and I kept checking my watch. We did have a nice (company not food) dinner at Friday's after the movie with SWMBO and William.

MRI Results -- Unofficial

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:37:00 +0000

I got the films and CD today along with the report to take to my doctor. (One scan is posted on my Flickr Page for friend/family contacts only.)

I've read the report and it appears there is no major change in C3-C4 and C5-C6 which still show about the same mild disc bulge. There is still mild degenerative stuff. The new thing is "Small root sleeve meningocele on the right T1" -- a Google of that shows it's never damage -- a trauma injury often called "traumatic meningocele." I think the closest I could find is that it's a brachial plexus traction injury. I'm not a doctor so I can't be sure that's a proper diagnosis. Depending on what you read this will either get better, won't get better, is treatable, or is not treatable. In other words: no idea at all. Any of my doctor readers who wish to comment may do so. We really won't know until my doctor compares this MRI to the last one, but reading the report it made it seem this is the only 'new' thing.

I copied the MRI image files from the CD to my hard drive for future use. They're interesting to look at though I have no idea what they mean. They're in some unknown format but GraphicConverter on my Mac can open and display them.

Anyway, that's really all the news until 6 July 2009 when I see the doctor for an interpretation.

Page Ranking in Alexa: Breaking The Top Million

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Page Rank (the busiest site in the world by all counts is of course: Google) And there are about 11 billion pages, so getting in the top is harder and harder, though about 10 billion of those pages, are not for public use -- internal pages for companies, educational institutions, and such. Or if you just go by active domains there's around 100 million of them. Either way, if you're in the top 1% of popular pages, you'd have to be in the top million. My three primary pages are ranked as follows:

RANK	SITE	Alexa Data
11,714,172	interstate-screw.com	ALEXA DATA
756,747	darsys.com	ALEXA DATA
2,904,133	darsys.net	ALEXA DATA

I was actually pretty impressed at where my sites rank, though. Feel free to link to any of my sites if it makes you happy -- it'll make me happy. Though I'd much rather everyone link to my blog if you're going to link. I've linked to both the site and the Alexa data to prove it.

Virtual domains such as panthershockey.net are not tracked. While most may not realize it, that domain is really just www.darsys.com/panth/ so it's not a real domain but a pointer to a place in an existing web structure. I've got quite a few of those.

Considering how many web pages there are in the world, breaking the top million sites is pretty cool. Anyway, I was impressed I'd moved up in the world. Now if I could get my visitors to click on some of those damned ads, I'd be happier. But it does give me perspective as to why it's getting harder and harder to make money on the web.

Also I have sent to BMW's US corporate office and eviscerating letter that is sure to have left blood on the floor. Sadly, it won't do much good since they're closed all weekend. They did find my car. They have done nothing so far. They aren't even communicate. South Motors sucks ass.

Shout out to J and L in congratulations for their new house.

Corporate Identity Theft, Losing an SUV, Celebrity Deaths

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:44:00 +0000

First, RIP to ex-heartthrob Farrah Fawcett of Charlies Angels fame who died earlier today of cancer. Many of my friends and I were fond of looking at her iconic poster from the late 1970s / early 1980s.
The poster is one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic one of its era. She'll be missed by many for a long list of reasons. She had a long and distinguished career.

(As I write this news is breaking that he died.) Best wishes also to Michael Jackson is in critical condition following a heart attack. He was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home. He was attempting a comeback tour at the O2 in London, which now appears unlikely. The singer's father, Joe, has told TMZ he is "not doing well" while another family member said he is "in really bad shape." Having met Mr. Jackson, briefly, I extend my condolences and best wishes to his family.

Next up, I must report on a true oddity. My BMW X5 was taken to South Motors body shop for repair after the accident. Two days ago it was taken to South Motors service shop for mechanical work and its regularly scheduled service. I called today to find out what the story was with my car. South Motors service first said they didn't have my car, but the body shop told me who got it. South Motors service then admitted yes, they did get it, but could find no record of me or the car in their computer and the car was missing. Photo here.

They asked for my VIN# because they can't find the car or any record of it. I also sent them a description and then the Flickr photo above. I am paying $40 per day for a stupid-ass rental. So for two days they did not work on it because they couldn't find the damned car. Inexcusable, yes? They have yet to call me back. Tomorrow, I am going to insist that we file a police report for a stolen vehicle. I'll also have to sue them for my out of pocket on the repairs -- why should I pay for repairs on a car I never got. I would hope they find the car which "might be in the lease return lot." I am very, very, very unhappy with South Motors and BMW corporate offices will receive an eviscerating letter the likes of which they may have never seen.

How the hell do you lose an entire SUV? Morons.

Lastly, and in sympathy with Evan, I need to report on some corporate identity theft. A few weeks ago AT&T called me and said someone was trying to forward our fax lines to an alternate number. That person pretended to be me, and then to be my father. They were a Hispanic male (which neither of us are). They were suspicious because of reasons I do not wish to disclose at this time so they called our main billing number, spoke to me to ask if I was doing it and I said no and asked them to note everything in the account. AT&T wrote lots of notes but refused to release information to me -- only to a law enforcement agency. I called the Hialeh Police and filed a report which they reluctantly took -- only over the phone and didn't send a detective. The report said "Someone tried to change the phone number" -- that's it. No mention of rerouting, imperonsating me, etc. Messing with phone lines is a federal felony. I also called my lawywer who referred it to the State Attorney General's Office.

I come into work today from having my MRI and my receptionists says I have a call and I tell her "I'm not in yet, let me get settled" but she insists. It's AT&T. Someone's trying to order some Wireless Network cards for laptops to have shipped somewhere. She's also suspicious because the caller said we have no corporate email addresses and refused to supply one. Thanks to AT&T represenative Terressa Williams for being on the ball and also recording notes.

(Right here in the middle of this is when I found out my car was AWOL.)

Then later in the day I get a call from Kathy in the AT&T Fraud Department telling me my number had been forwarded to a 'suspicious number' and also had been unblocked to allow collect prison calls(!!!). She said I would have to call the business office to fix it and that she couldn't do it. She did give up to the two numbers our lines were forwarded to: 305-299-0499 amd 305-332-9119. I e-mailed my attorney immediately. He's trying to get this straightened out.

I called AT&T business office and had a password put on our account. I had the name on the account changed to me from Dad. The person who called in to do this had our federal ID number as well as our AT&T account number and specifically targeted our fax lines. This is very, very unusual. I have a suspicion that I won't share here, but more on that later. I'd discuss it with the police but they don't seem to give a shit. I am not impressed with the Hialeah Police, let me tell you what.

Ann Coulter, Republican Governors, MRIs, and a bitch

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:57:00 +0000

Another GOP governor was caught in the arms of another woman, tearfully confessing after excerpts from his randy emails were posted. Apparently Republican governors are irresistible sex magnets with no ability to honour their commitments to their loved ones. That or Democrats are just not getting caught. This adds to the "politicians are scum" collection.

One of my long time friends has parted company with me, or it certainly seems that way, or maybe it's just a break. I just am not sure. It came at me out of the blue and made me very sad. I was thinking about it though, and things have been different for a few months -- I've noticed it. I don't want to go into it in a public forum, but thought I should address it since a number of people asked. Still, I hope this is temporary and I harbour no ill feelings. This is definitely a bad thing and I wish I knew what to do.

Media "personality" Ann Coulter appeared on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show this week to discuss the murder of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Coulter offered the following ethical assessment of the crime "I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester." I always hated her because she's a nut job, but she's gone off the deep end. Murder is murder. She's saying it's not okay to kill a fetus because it's alive but it is okay to kill a doctor. The article I've hyperlinked above is interesting. I propose we terminate Ann Coulter and call that a termination in the cause of making the world a far more tolerant place. Oh, wait, I bet she'd call that murder. Hypocrtical c-word.

My MRI is tomorrow. The insurance company was being a serious poopy-head about it along with the hospital. It seems to be resolved. I hope. I won't bore you with the details unless you ask.

I am scheduled for an apppointment on 7-6-09 to get the results from said MRI. Getting an appointment with a doctor when the office doesn't return phone calls is difficult. This particular doctor has some of the worst office staff since the dawn of time. They are inefficient, uncaring, and in over a year and nearly a dozen phone calls have yet to return one single phone call. However, he's an excellent doctor. But once I'm done with this, I'm finding a new one. This is the same guy who leaves patients waiting for hours in the waiting room with no explanation. Doctor Dan Cohen if you want to know, though I'm not sure if he realizes how unprofessional -- or maybe it's just inefficient -- his staff is. (They also lost my MRI films once but found them a few days later.)

And, I've been instructed to give a shout out to the little bitch :P
[I take no responsibility for the above sentence, thankyouverymuch.]

I am also irritated that Facebook screwed up and put out quite a few days' worth of blog posts out at once today instead of when they were originally released.

Fortune Cookies and Moustaches

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:11:00 +0000

First, the moustache stays. Yay! I have been given a reprieve -- the vote, as it turns out, wasn't needed.

Second, the fortune cookie was fucking awesome. Who knew they really came true? Yeah, definitely a banner day. Well worth the total exhaustion I am feeling. (Warning this URL also has some disturbing but unrelated images.)

Today is a great day. Maybe the best one ever.

Bing.com: Do It Yourself Circumcision (Why Bing fails)

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:06:00 +0000

I have a blog. I write about many things. The above topic is not one of them. I promise and I do not intend to change that. However, I must report this because Erin demanded I do it. (Apparently having your foot in a cast impairs your vision of what makes good blog content.)

I get 81% of my search engine hits from Google.
I get 12% from Yahoo.
I get 3% from AltaVista
That's 96% there from my top three search engine sources.

MSN.com gets me 1.3%
Live.com gets me .9%
Bing.com gets me .04%
Total for all Microsoft Search Engines: 2.6% of my total.

Now if you're on the internet searching for how to perform a circumcision on yourself and end up at my blog, how valuable is that search engine? I can assure you that by carefully following the instructions in my blog, nothing will happen to your penis. Because in my blog, there are no instructions involving your penis. Unless your penis happens to be a computer, or perhaps a hockey team. I have instructions on computer issues and a few on hockey teams too, though I'm not sure they have much relation to your penis (if you are a girl reading this, you don't have a penis and if you do, you should be on Jerry Springer when he does a Chicks With Dicks segment.)

Once I did make a post about Daniel Radcliffe's penis. Yes, much was made of the Harry Potter star's naked performance in Equus. I commented on the brouhaha, but I've not seen the play, nor do I intend to. I think everyone realizes I have no desire to see his penis. Or circumcise it. Maybe it's been done already. You'd have to ask bing.com :D

So back to the stats. As I write this I have 228,000 hits. That's 5,928 hits from all sites in the MS group assuming all blog hits come from search engines -- which they don't; only 78% of my traffic comes from search engines, and 21% from websites. The popularity of your search engine is based on the quality of your results. If you're looking for certain topics (try Led Zeppelin Sucks) my blog should rank first in your engine and at Google it does. Number one, Baby. I made a comment (and I didn't say they sucked but it was a catchy title) and now I've got tons of discussion and over 200 comments.

I should be at the top of your search engine if you're looking for the Panthers Hockey Message Boards. There's lots of places this blog should show up. But when you're searching for Do It Yourself Circumcision this blog should not appear. (For the record in July 2006 I wrote three sentences on a kit that Razzie sent me but that doesn't constitute a discussion.)

The irony is, that by discussing it, I'm going to move up in the page rank. FML :)

Shout outs to Paul for talking to me about things, Erin for making me post this, and to me for having the courage to do something insanely stupid because it might just make me happy.

Happy early Father's day to all the Dads out there.

Itchy and Scratchy Show

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:50:00 +0000

GAH! I am itchy today. That word "Gah" is stolen from someone. I hate this ::scratch, itch, scratch::

My dental work is possibly finished. If nothing gets worse and the sore teeth get less sore, then that ordeal is over, leaving me $800 poorer, no thanks to the guy who hit me. Okay, about $165 of it has nothing to do with the accident, but while they were in there digging, might as well get it all done.

On the way to work from the dentist, I passed an Enterprise Rent-A-Car which made me happy. I went in, spoke to someone in charge and explained why I was displeased. The first car I got from Enterprise had some tiny issues: (A) The transmission was shot, (B) the key was broken -- literally broken, (C) the key fob remote didn't work, (D) the trunk didn't open, (E) car smelled like 40 packs of cigarettes, (E) two of the four tires had nails {not screws}, and (F) it was filthy. They had no business renting it to me. I cleaned it up but didn't fix the mechanical issues. I was unable to get the renting location to deal with it. I was going to call the corporate office but this nice guy swapped it out (sadly I am in a much smaller car now) and called the renting location and said he was going to "shop it" and charge it back to them. So that was good. Sadly, I'm out a full tank of gas for the one I returned.

Work was boring as all hell today, but it's probably my fault because I am distracted as hell in anticipation of a hopefully very awesome weekend.

There were some niggling little issues with my blog after the column swap which should all be fixed now. The ARCHIVE drop down should actually WORK now. The CSS elements that didn't fit in the table now fit (thanks Jose) and the excess padding is gone (thanks Jose and Firebug). I also fixed some other issues and made the boxed text at the bottom more prominent -- this from what Jose taught me with Firebug in a 1 hour over-the-phone class last night. I still suck at it, but I can now fix basic crap I think.

I really want to keep the moustache, but the voting is scarily close.

Also, a great article in Time Magazine this week. It's an interesting take on Republicans and what they need to do to survive. "Numbers don't lie. Unless Republicans overhaul their message, the losses will continue." The author of this article -- Mike Murphy -- is a staunch Republican, and he ends with a brilliant quote, "Saving the GOP is not about diluting conservatism but about modernizing it to reflect the country it inhabits instead of an America that no longer exists."

His point, I believe, if he makes it into a party people will support, their decline will continue. Demographics are not on the Republicans' side: the population is skewing away from their core supports. Younger people do not agree with the social points and, like all things that do not change with the times, the party as it exists, is in danger of dying out.

(More on the Panther's hockey message board -- in the members only section)

Eric and The Moustache

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:04:00 +0000

So, someone I care about suggested maybe it's time to remove my moustache. I happen to like it very much and think I look more, um, distinguished (not sure if that's what I mean).

Anyway, if anyone else had suggested this, I'd have ditched it on the spot. However, because this person's opinion means a great deal to me, I've decided to at least see what people think.

I've had my moustache since around my 15th birthday. It's never left except once in college when I figured I'd get rid of it as an experiment. Austri demanded it return, and that was that. It hasn't left since.

There's a poll right below and it requires no registration. Just click, and vote.

Online Surveys & Market Research

In other news, today's migraine which started around 3pm is one of the worst I've had in a long time. I am heavily medicating it but I still got nausea (rare for me) and flashing lights (also rare).

I also wish to mention a friend's sister is pissing me off. A perfectly good weekend plan ruined by someone not even involved in said plans. Hmph.

Happy Birthday to Erin. And happy early Birthday to Suzie-Q :)

The Taking of Pelham 123 (The Remake) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:00 +0000

First, I really liked this movie. A lot. It shares the same basic concept as its predecessor -- the 1974 cult classic with Walter Matthau as Garber a role which Denzel Washington does a fantastic job with in this remake. But John Travolta has nothing on Robert Shaw in the original. The concept is the same: hijack a subway car for an absurd amount of money and then stage a perfect getaway. The difference is huge, though, because this isn't the same movie.

I am a fan of that original film (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) and have been for years. It's real, gritty film shot in a subway and showing the full operational details behind it. Being a subway freak, you knew I'd fall in love with it when I first saw it. Please, see the original. The original has Jerry Stiller (really) and James Broderick in it as well. The original is a great suspense picture and is not to be missed. It's rooted firmly in realism and details and they get a lot of them right, too. A line like "Pelham 1-2-3 is in motion" makes your spine tingle -- something the new one never manages.

The remake is a good film too, but it's not the same film other than you know what will happen at the end. (Spoiler Free). This was a Michael Mann film and, as such, the camera direction is dizzying, and I don't mean that as a compliment. Jumpy camera tell no story, improve no story, and just say 'this guy is trying to be a pretentious filmmaker at the expense of the story'. As I've already said Denzel Washington is phenomenal in this film, a perfect ten. Travolta is good, and I'm not dissing him, but he's no Robert Shaw who was awesome. This film has far less detective work and far more action so it will appeal more to modern audiences. But you lose a little when you let go of the heady suspense film and drift toward a less-heady action film, ultimately settling in the middle somewhere. Washington and Travolta playing off each other is quite enjoyable for sure. And for you subway geeks out there: not nearly as fun as the first, but still fun. (You can pick apart all the errors like I did, though I left them out of here due to wanting to keep my readers awake.)

I have to point out some very serious errors in the film. The film was set during the day, a nice sunny day, the train when it was underground had an inexplicably wet windscreen covered in raindrops. Which vanish and return repeatedly. So did some of the above ground trains moving along in the sun. This is a major slippage of detail. Also bugging me was the fact that while this was happening, trains continued to run -- through the whole film -- on the track next to the hijacked train. Can you imagine them running live trains three feet away from people with automatic weapons in New York City? I thought not. And since there were people walking on the track, and the power was off, I'm not quite sure how the trains were running to begin with. They also make a point of some kid's laptop going off with a dead battery. Later in the film he uses it again. I can pretty much guarantee there are no laptop-chargers on subway trains.

The film is rated R based on language. While there is some violence, most of it would pass as a PG-13 nowadays.

Last night was definitely fun. I didn't sleep well, but had fun. This concludes my mystery clause.

Today's Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Madame de Gaulle was said to have been lunching with the American ambassador at the time of her husband's retirement when she was asked what she was most looking forward to in the years ahead. She thought for a moment before announcing boldly: "A penis". A startled hush fell over the table until the former president leant over and said: "My dear, I think its pronounced 'happiness'."

Now that you're all laughing, I shall move on to other topics. (If you want to see jokes, check out my jokes mailing list and sign up.)

Breakfast was at a new place today -- again -- and it was pretty good but the service all sucked. We're 0 for 3 on service. None of the places had food issues -- all service. It's getting frustrating. Good help just doesn't exist. We also got a rare visit from the legendary VanMurph. The regulars (John, Liz, Evan, Shane, Me) were all in attendance followed by a post-meal visit by Andy and Jessica who just needed directions to the rink (first timers).

Skating was fine and nothing to report on that front. It's about having fun. I mention this as a reminder to my friends who try too hard.

Afterwards, I went to Erin's parents and picked her up and took her to her place as she's still in a cast and can't walk without crutches and pain. We watched Willy Wonka followed by Charlie and the Chocolate factory whilst drinking Kosher Coke (stuff made with sugar). Around 430 we went off to Renegade to celebrate Erin's birthday and had a great meal as is to be expected. Then we left, having no casino moments due to her immobility. We had some gelato and then I took her back to her parents.

All this in my rental car which, until her mother helped me with some fabric softener, smelled like nasty cigarette smoke. Seems better.

I'm still up but am really tired so am off to bed in a moment. Tomorrow is breakfast with Karen and then Pelham 123 remake at the movies. Yay.

I have phlegm and sound scratchy. Eewww.

Dental Hell and the Death of a Florida Panther

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Today was the first of several dental visits I will have as the result of my accident. Today's work involved the upper right side of my mouth and was unrelated to the accident. But we got that one out of the way because it was easy. I begged him to do two teeth per visit, but no such luck. Today's was quick and easy. It does feel much better so I am happier. But two more to go and, still, the one that hurts the most shows nothing wrong on the x-ray or visual inspection: that tends to mean a root canal is in my future. That is probably three visits all by itself and there are possibly one or two of them to be done. He and I are both hoping otherwise and that as the mouth trauma dies down, they won't hurt enough to require root canals. Tooth 14 is the big problem for all your dentists out there. Tooth 5 is what was done today.

Shout out to Bryce because I just feel like it. Also to Erin who is moving along with her recovery process. And also to Pablo for having dinner with me last night while I was dropping my car off for repair. The estimate is back today and it's only going to be around $2000 -- I have a $1000 deductible. Happily there was no frame damage as originally suspected. That's great. After that, it goes to BMW service to see what mechanical stuff needs work. (It's at BMW body shop right now.)

And now the sad news -- I'm sharing this from Donnie's (Whale4Ever) blog because this story needs to be told. A Florida Panther was shot to death. Why someone would shoot such a beautiful, majestic, and nearly extinct creature is beyond me. Sure, it's a crime with a $100,000 fine and 5 years in prison, but that's not the point. I'm just really disgusted by this. I love all cats. I share Don's outrage. If you leave in or near Hendry county where this happened and know who did it, or have any information, be sure to call the authorities right away. So go read Don't excellent take on this tragic event.

Let The Fun Begin

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:22:00 +0000

So, I called the dentist this morning because, of all the things that hurt, not being able to chew is the worst. My right and left teeth (one from the back not counting the wisdom) hurt like hell. Left is temperature sensitive and right is pressure sensitive. This wasn't a problem before the accident.

The dentist was able to squeeze me in today at 430, so I went for the exam. I have not one, not two, but three cracked fillings. Two are without a doubt from the accident, the third is iffy what caused it but since I had no pain from the accident, that is the assumption for now. I also have a cavity, which we will assume isn't from the accident.

There are also some other issues (exist crown is not sitting right any more -- it appears to have moved since my last x-ray) and whatnot. We're starting on the crack fillings Wednesday.

After I called the dentist, I spoke with the body shop as well as Hartford. Tomorrow I'm taking the car to the body shop and leaving it there for however long it needs to be there. Our rental coverage is limited to $20/day so I can see I'll be paying more out of pocket here.

Hartford interviewed me, took a formal recorded statement (I didn't confess to the Hoffa murders) and seemed genuinely concerned that I'm hurt. Speaking of hurt, most of the pains except for a few serious ones (teeth, neck and left shoulder) are dissipating. I feel lucky that I was in a solid BMW.

I came home and Mrs. Salamanca had left a message on my home number. I assume she got the number from the police report. Damn it to hell. I returned her call and told her to call me at work. However I will not be having any discussions with her -- they'll all be directed to the insurance company. I can already sense the need for an attorney. Blech.

The Day After Le Accident + Wanda Sykes

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Came home last night (see below) to a slew of answering machine messages. None of which I have returned yet (sorry). Also had tons of emails, all of which I've returned last night but 2 or 3 which require more detailed replies. Had a nice happy chat with Bryce before bed, which was relaxingm and fell asleep around midnight-ish.

I woke up around 6am after a long night with large quantities of Darvocet, Percocet, and Fioricet. Definitely no internal bleeding because no blood's leaking out any of my orifices. No bruises I can see.

So where does it hurt still?
1. My neck and left shoulder definitely are in bad shape. Way worse than before last accident. Range of motion substantially decreased.
2. Two of my teeth really hurt. Top molar on each side. Second tooth from back not counting missing wisdom tooth. Right side can't even chew bread it's so bad. Suspect filling is damaged. Right one is ultra-temperature sensitive, but can eat/chew normally. Definitely an accident symptom because didn't have it before.
3. I am getting splitting headaches -- these are from the teeth. As soon as tooth goes nuts, the headache starts.
4. On both knees I have one spot that is sore to the touch. Wasn't last night. On the inside, top corner of the kneecap in the soft, mushy area. A sport about the size of a dime.

What's better?
1. My kidney area doesn't hurt -- all gone.
2. Right hip bone a little sore but no big deal and it is rapidly getting better. It should be fine in a few days.
3. Back spasms are all gone (only one all day)
4. Vision and hearing still suck -- but that's the same as before the accident. No degradation. :)

So, on to last night's events. So, I had mentioned that I was supposed to Wanda Sykes last night and then I was sure, because of the accident I couldn't go. I was really irritared. As it turns out, I decided I'd give it the ole' college try because I'd been looking forward to this. So I met Karen at the Washington Street garage and then we walked over to Lincoln Road for dinner. I hadn't been in damn near two decades. It reminded me of Brussels because everyone was smoking, speaking a foreign language, and as you passed each restaurant (most empty) you were accosted by the maître d'. About 3/4 of the restaurants were Italian, so that's what we opted for. We picked one that had a number of people at it, but not too busy, that had an appealing menu. The offered us each a free drink, and it sounded like a good idea. The food was decent and it was prepared properly as you might expect at a real Italian restaurant as opposed to, say, Olive Garden. We finished, paid, and everything over there is obscenely expensive, and she decided we should have dessert. That was Ghirardelli where we split a hot fudge sundae. I was pleased to find we even still had one here in Florida.

Afterwards we went to the The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theatre which is where Ms Sykes was scheduled to perform at 8. Her opening act, Keith Robison (I think that was his name) appeared around 815, went for about 20 minutes, and I must say he was awesome. I guess he was a bit like Don Rickles because he definitely picked on some guys in the audience. He (and Wanda after him) note the uniformity of the colour of the audience -- mostly white, which is apparently unusual at their shows. Wanda came on around 840 or so and went until 10 on the nose.

Wanda was a riot and she definitely played heavily off both the race card (with some witty Watermelon and KFC comments) and her sexuality. She talked about both Obamas, Barbara Bush, and made some very very very raunchy comments about dick soup which left the audience in stitches.

While it was amusing I don't like when musicians, comedians, etc, make political statements. And she did do that during her act. The jokes are okay but the direct statements were a bit irritating. However, I did laugh the entire time. It was really, really good. I'd go again. A little too short.

It was pouring after the show, so instead of having a post-show coffee we both went home.

I was In a Bad, High Speed Car Accident Today

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:24:00 +0000

I was driving home today, and there was a light drizzle. I was on NW 41st Street just past 97th Avenue headed west, driving relatively slowly because of the bad road conditions. This is just in front of the Publix.

The car in front of me stopped -- for no apparent reason -- but I was driving below the speed limit and managed to stop in time with several inches to spare. I looked in my rear view mirror because I figured I’d pass the car in front of me since it was clearly lost. I happened to see a gold Chrysler headed towards me going at least 60mph. There was no way in hell for it to stop in time. There was also no safe egress from my current lane.

The car in front of me started to go again, which was the only mercy. I know one thing, if a mobile object hits an immobile object, things are much worse, so I took my foot off the brake pedal and prepared to step on the gas pedal. Just as I did, you heard the guy slam on his brakes and his car started to slide, but sure enough he didn’t stop in time. He hit me at close to 50mph, maybe more.

My seatbelt locked, I went forward, and hurt the left side of my neck and left shoulder (my bad one) badly. It was throbbing almost immediately -- the muscles were. My teeth hurt, probably from clenching. Worse, my back just about over my right kidney started to hurt and I have no idea why. I am also now getting some pain on my mid-back below the left shoulder blade just above the left kidney area. I have since taken a pair of whizzes and there is no sign of blood.

I pulled into the parking lot of the Publix we were in front of. His car limped in behind me before giving up the ghost. We both got out in the rain, I called the police (911) and was left on hold for nearly 15 minutes. I reported it, and they asked if anyone was hurt to which I (stupidly) said, “I don’t think so. I’m sore but I think I'm okay.”

My Car (Follow image to Flickr for notes)
This picture came out crappy but I'll try and take more with a better camera when it dries up outside.

The cop arrived at 110pm and it was raining a bit harder. He came to me first since I was the one that was hit. I told him what happened. I showed him the damage. He asked if the hatch still worked. We tried it. It didn’t. He asked what else was there besides the bumper and I told him the back-up sensors were trashed. (I have since discovered they are sensing just not correctly – apparently my garage door is invisible.) He asked if the fuel tank was ruptured because there is damage right over the area it was in. We checked and there was nothing dripping, so at least that's okay: apparently I dodged a serious bullet there. BMWs are built pretty sturdy -- compare my damage to the guy who hit me. He's totalled. I'm not, though the cop estimates my damage upwards of $3,000.

He got my registration, license, and insurance. The other guy only had a license. He didn’t speak English, and a good Samaritan offered to translate. In South Florida people love to see what's going on and stick their noses in, but in the case it was a good thing since the cop spoke no Spanish and mine is pretty useless unless food or fasteners are involved.

There were no witnesses to the accident itself: by that I mean the people who saw it vanished in true South Florida fashion. At least the damage, street debris, skid marks, all prove the accident happened pretty much as advertised.

The cop asked the guy Rodolfo Salamanca Aguila) for his driver’s license, insurance, and registration. He had his driver’s license but neither of the other two items. The cop asked him if it was his car and he said yes. Subsequently the cop asked him again -- after running the tag in the computer -- and replied that it wasn’t his car but his wife’s. Don’t lie to a cop. That’s dumb.

The Guy's Car (Follow the image to Flickr for notes)
As you can see he hit me hard as the engine is totally ruined and the whole front of his car is crumpled.

Anyway, well after 2pm, the cop finished the paperwork as the rain got worse and worse and worse. At some point, maybe 130ish, the cop instructed us to get in our respective cars when the thunder and lightning hit. He drove back and forth and spoke to us through his rolled down windows. While I was waiting for the report to be done, I also call Dad, Mom, Grandma, and Karen and informed them of incident.

Finally, he gave me a copy of the report; he did get out of the car for this came over, helped me check my tail lights (they work!) and sent me on my way, telling me the other gentleman was going to be there for a while yet to receive his multiple citations.

I came home, just a short drive, and immediately called the Hartford and reported the accident. That took at least a half hour. As it's one question after another. They were happy that I had a detailed incident report and such and even more happy I took photos with my mobile phone. If you're ever in an accident, remember to do it!. Two of my four mobile phone images came out. I rarely use the photo feature on my phone so not sure what I did wrong.

I feel much worse than when I was in Timmy’s car and got rear-ended because this was well over double the speed. That accident I didn't feel really bad until about 36 hours later. I feel pretty bad right now. If I feel worse in the morning, I’ll go to the ER. This really sucks.

This is my first real accident (by which I mean where I was the operator of one of the involved vehicles) in which there was significant damage to the vehicle.

I’m supposed to see Wanda Sykes tonight with Karen and I’m not sure if I can. We'll see how I feel at 5ish.

(This post edited at 424pm to fix multiple grammar errors, typos, and other irritants as well as to add the links to Flickr.)

Up -- The Review (not much spoiling here)

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:06:00 +0000

I wanted to love Up because it was a Pixar film. Pixar has produced some excellent films, the only disappointment to me was Cars. First, I liked Up, but I didn't love it. I couldn't figure out why and I was thinking about it while waiting for lunch and on the drive home. Then, it hit me.

If Up were a live action film, it would have been very average. I'd have been bored off my ass. The animation saved it, but that meant it wasn't a good movie. (The Incredibles, for instance, would have been just as good as a live-action film or as a hand-drawn animated film.)

First, in defence of Up, the first ten minutes were brilliant. Absolutely phenomenal and entirely lost on kids. The rest was just okay, a summer popcorn film. It wasn't a work of art. Wall*E was much better, I can tell you that.

Edward Asner (as Carl) has always been a favourite actor of mine, so I expected good things from his character and mostly got them. But Jordan Nagai (as Russell, the kid) damn near stole the movie -- as real as any human kid. Villains, always the hallmark of any good animated film, are important and Christopher Plummer just was weak, which is surprising because he's very good at being bad. John Ratzenberger had his standard Pixar cameo -- very brief. I also liked Dug the Dog only he had very little screen time.

I certainly recommend this film to kids. I think most adults will like it because as a Pixar film it's very lavish and well done, but I'm just not feeling the love.

Afterwards, we had lunch at Cracker Barrel, simply out of convenience. Too bad because it was more below par than usual. The service was good though.

My ride home was delayed due to an overturned boat in the SunPass lane so everyone had to drive around through the paid-toll lanes and it was pretty backed up.

5-31-09: BTW, a retro post was made today for those who are fans of the ECHL Matadors -- hockey fans take note. Of absolutely no interest to anyone else :)

6-2-09 Edit: Fixed title to make SuzieQ happy.

6-2-09: My company is now on Facebook at this URL: if you've got an account, please become a fan :)

Good Customer Service: AT&T and Staples

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:01:00 +0000

You may remember a previous post about AT&T U-verse service. In the comments, I praised Nancy the tech who called to try and help. She ultimately failed but took notes on some of the things I discovered.

Turns out, one of the theories that the problem lies between BellSouth and AT&T (actually being run by Yahoo) and the authentication process. Why? I connect to the BellSouth server, it shows 94 groups there to update, then it gives an authentication error regardless of whether or not you use the BellSouth or AT&T passwords. Nancy even (on the first call) unblocked all ports for my IP to try and make it work. Same problem.

She promised she'd kick up to some top-line techs and get back to me. I had all but given up, and last night she called me. She agrees it should be made to work -- their website clearly advertises it works and gives operating instructions. However they can't get it to work. She agrees (and so do her techs) that I am absolutely correct in my analysis of the situation but nobody knows what to do, so she'll try and escalate it. I actually believe she may call me back one day. The real issue is very few people use NNTP anymore (fake NNTP is available on GoogleGroups but there are a number of issues involving completeness of groups, available groups, and everyone knows what you're looking at. Not that I care since I gave AT&T the list of groups I care about. But it's the principle, mind you.)

I think AT&T should give me a credit of $14.95 a month so I can sign up for NewsRazor until they fix it -- this way I can post to alt.fan.dave_barry again :)

Also, special kudos to Staples for their customer support. Although it took them longer than it should have, Karen did call me back with the answer and follow through in a stellar fashion when my sales rep dropped the ball and nobody in any of their stores had a clue. A+ to her as well.

Both of those companies deserve special recognition for actually trying to make a customer happy. That's rare.

Also kudos to Virgin Atlantic because they definitely care about their customers trying hard on every contact to do things right.

I burnt my tongue on my hot beverage. I got some Keurig K-cups with decaf Earl Grey tea by Twinings. It is apparent that tea can't be made well in this machine. It's not quite right, though I can't possibly tell you why. I invite all friends over for a sample k-cup in a wide variety of flavours. Some of the coffees are great, there are a number of teas, and also hot chocolate which -- as JohhnyB's parents warned me -- is way too thin.

I also changed my FaceBook profile picture for the first time since I got it. My new novel isn't moving forward at a very good rate of speed. And my right big toe is still swollen though it's no longer bleeding. Yay.

Gallup Poll Of Interest + London House Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:49:00 +0000

The below image is from the Gallup Poll organization. Someone emailed this to me and I don't remember who did. First, thanks to whomever that is :)

First, my views:
Divorce: Acceptable
Gambling: Acceptable
Death Penalty: Wrong
Stem Cells: Acceptable
Unmarried Sex: Acceptable
Medical testing on Animals: Acceptable, for medical purposes only. I keep changing my mind on this. I understand it's needed but there has to be a more humane way of doing it. (I am opposed to cosmetic testing on animals. Use people. It's all for vanity anyway.)
Baby Outside of Marriage: Acceptable
Fur: Wrong (except for indigenous peoples for whom I find it acceptable)
Doctor Assisted Suicide: Acceptable
Homosexual Relations: Acceptable
Abortion: Acceptable (with consent of both parents where possible -- two people made it happen so two people should agree)
Cloning Animals: Wrong
Suicide: Acceptable
Cloning Humans: Acceptable
Polygamy: Wrong (I'm willing to be convinced otherwise -- but my objection is not with the act itself but with the fact usually you end up with a bunch of people forced into it against their wills.)
Affairs: Wrong -- the most wrong thing on this list.

There's all sorts of interesting stuff here. The original post (click on the image to go to the article on Gallup's website) is about homosexual relationships but that's not what fascinates me about this survey. I have obviously identified myself as a raging liberal because of my opinions above. That should surprise nobody.

What does surprise me is that 30% of people find divorce morally wrong. And 32% of people find gambling morally wrong. I challenge all of them to a debate -- meet me in Las Vegas to discuss it this November. I also find it amazing that 7% of the people think having an affair is okay. If you're married, you've made a commitment. Get a divorce if you can't live up to it. A promise is a promise. I was shocked at the out-of-wedlock baby numbers. I thought it'd be further down the list.

To me, the whole list shows a very conflicted populace who just doesn't get what matters and what doesn't.

Shout out to Erin who has a new cast on her leg. Shout out to Evan for this post on his FaceBook account: proving he's a decent human and that I pick some good people for friends.

I've found three properties in London that I'd like to buy. I cannot afford any of them. However, I thought I'd share with you. If you'd like to buy one of them for me, I'd be ever so grateful.

Property One: The cheapest of the lot at £1,950,000 or $3,120,000. It's 2517 square feet and is comparable to what I have now. I would be happy to live here and it's in a decent neighbourhood, has a good floor plan, and is near West Brompton tube. It's in the Royal Borough of Chelsea.

Property Two: This one's a bit further afield from my normal stomping grounds but at 3576 square feet and an annual council tax of just £1376, it's a bargain. It's priced at a measly £4,995,000 or US7,992,000 and gives me everything I want in a home except central air-conditioning. London didn't used to need AC but it does now. It's in the City of Westminster which is why, I suspect, the council taxes are so much lower. The sole minus is it's further from a tube stop than any other place, triangulated by Paddington, Lancaster Gate, and Marble Arch. On the plus side, there's full access to a plethora of tube lines as well as National Rail.

Property Three: This one is out of my league and is in Ovington Square in Knightsbridge. Priced at £12,000,000 pounds or US$19,200,000 for 4700 square feet of spectacularity. I actually know where this is. It's a short walk to Harrods and is in one of my favourite neighbourhoods. I will never live here because it's way out of my league. If I won PowerBall, I couldn't afford it. That's how pricey this is. (I included this because it was too nice not to.)

These homes are shown so you can see how bad it really is. I looked at an 800 square foot flat way out in Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs at this same website and it was nearly £400,000 or $640,000. Nice view but little else to recommend it. If I would be willing to live in Shoreditch (as if) prices drop considerably, but having been in that neighbourhood, let me tell you, not going to happen.

Finally, my tickets for my annual Europe trip are now in hand. The trip in the middle isn't planned, but once again have used miles so the flight was free save for taxes. I will be leaving a little earlier this year and coming back a little later, so the trip will be longer. If anyone wants to meet up with Karen and I for part of the trip, it could be fun for you. Details on private request.

In a few days, I will spout vitriol at Siemens who runs our fire alarm, burglar alarm, and fire-sprinkler systems. A bunch of idiots who all blame the other department. Look for it.

Night At The Museum: Smithsonian (Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Well it was going to be a big day out: Erin, Evan, Brenda, their two kids, The Higgi (4), and Tara (3), Karen, and Steve (2), plus me. Karen cancelled due to mother issues, Tara didn't show for reasons unknown, and Erin had ambulatory issues (though she did join us after).

I wasn't expecting a good movie. I was expecting entertaining. There's a difference and it seems many people who review movies don't get that. This was a movie that wasn't designed to be good but was designed to be fun.

So, I arrived at 1020, earlier than I had planned. Steve was next. The Berner clan followed. Then the Higgi. We waited for Tara until quarter to 11, then went in. After 30+ minutes of previews including a great one for the new Potter film, it finally started. There were about ten minutes of really slow, boring stuff at the beginning before it got good. But unlike the first one, this stayed fun right from one end to the other. I liked it better. I had fun. This movie will win no acting awards, that's for sure. Stiller clearly was on auto-pilot but I didn't care. I had fun.

I beat up The Berner kids which is always fun. After the movie, we all went to Lucille's except for Steve and Evelyn who went off to do errands. Erin joined as for lunch. After that, I took her home, went to Sawgrass Mills, bought new shoes, and came home. I am currently doing laundry. And charging my cel phone battery which seems to randomly lose its charge. I may have to replace the battery. It hung up on Jose today.

Josh called me yesterday but I missed his call. That was exciting -- so I hope we can actually speak again. Been a very, very long time.

Yesterday I visited Erin and brought her breakfast (Bagels and cream cheese and milk). I visited her and we watched the Catherine Tate Show (Series One DVD) which was a riot (mostly).

Why I want to own a Casino 3.0 + Queen + Keurig

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Okay, it's time for my third annual "Why I want to own a Casino" post. We're going to pick Las Vegas Sands (Venetian LV/Macau, Sands Macau and coming soon Singapore) for fun this time. Sometimes talking about mind boggling numbers is fun. These numbers come right from the 10K so it's just a matter of interpreting what you read.

The revenue for The Sands Casinos is primarily Las Vegas (US$1,335,032,000) and the Macau properties (US$2.9 billion dollars) so you can see all the press is true. Macau is dusting Las Vegas. Despite all this the Sands company lost $163 million dollars -- but it's not as bad as it sounds because they had a half BILLION dollars in interest expense related to the Macau construction and Palazzo in Vegas plus another half BILLION dollars in depreciation expense. This company isn't on the ropes by any standards.

Casino revenue: $3.1 billion dollars against expenses of $2.2 billion dollars. That means people lost nearly a BILLION dollars gambling. An average return of about 33% -- that's a hell of a vig. Rooms were $767 million aginst expenses of 154 million. Dining was $369 million against $186 million. There's some minor stuff too, but you're looking at insanely profitable operations. And these figures are all UP for the year 2008 over 2007. They don't disclose comp expenses directly but we can extrapolate them at about $12.7 million dollars and they have a "doubtful accounts provision" of $41 million which is nearly double 2007. Still $41 million is nothing against the revenue figures.

So, yeah, I want in this business. The barriers to entry are phenomenal and I don't see it happening. But CMOT Casino Group would be awesome. I'd name parts of the casinos after all my investors, so if you can get me about two billion dollars, I can return your investment quickly and almost guaranteed. You all know me and know I'd run a great casino. Honestly, I think I could finance one with about half of that in hand. Only a fool wouldn't throw their money my way. We're talking CMOT Towers in Macau, CMOT Palace in Vegas, and one day expansion to England when they approve them (CMOT Mews) and perhaps Atlantic City (CMOT Shores) but I don't see that as a good market. I'd cater to the mid-level crowd (the group that goes to the MGM, Paris, NY/NY) and not the high-end (Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn) or low end (Circus-Circus, and whatnot).

In other news, a special shout-out to Evan for being a better friend than I'd have ever imagined. Thanks to him. He got major, enormous brownie points today. Also, Evan, you can get that Mickey Mouse silverware at Disney Village. Seriously. I can't imagine you didn't guess that.

And I got to meet John's parents today at breakfast. I think they appreciated my biting wit and weren't too scared. The service at Bistro555 really sucks bad. At least it's cheap and the food is good. After we (Evan, Liz, John, and me) went skating. Skating was okay but it was very foggy due to failure of dehumidifiers. Liz posted a photo on her Facebook page.

I got a Keurig K-Cup system from Hermina and today I bought some random items for it. The coffee is good but the hot chocolate is weak. Next up, I must try the tea. I highly recommend this. I cannot wait to let my friends try the stuff.

Queen has lost their new frontman. Paul Rodgers who replaced the irreplaceable Freddie Mercury has returned to Bad Company. That leaves Queen in search of a new lead singer. As you know they were on American Idol a few days ago for the season finale. They are considering the runner up (Adam Lambert who should have won and did a bang up job performing with Queen) according many news reports. I think it would be awesome.

Spud: A Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (Rev. CMOT TMPV) — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:42:00 +0000

I finished Spud, a book by John van de Ruit, earlier this evening. This is not the sort of book I'd pick out but a number of people who liked the legendary Youth In Revolt also liked this book. So I gave it a shot.

This book actually has some similarities to Youth In Revolt. It's sort of pointless, which you might think is a bad thing, but it's not. What is it? Funny. Absolutely hysterical. Not as funny as YIR, but not much is that funny.

As funny as it is -- and I liked it so much I ordered the recently released sequel -- I can't recommend this to everyone. It's set in South Africa which means there is racial commentary, though all the backwards ideas are definitely subjugated and/or mocked in some form. But that's not why I am hesitant to recommend it either. It's definitely written for an audience that is familiar with British customs as it's set in a boarding school. I'm not sure if all of my readers here can handle the slang. The slang didn't bother me, but I'm sure I lost some of the humour in the boarding school escapades.

The book is sexually charged, which is to be expected from a group of main characters that are teenagers in a boarding school environment. The fun begins, of course, when there's a play and girls enter the picture. I won't put spoilers here, but if you've got some time and want a laugh out loud funny book, this may fill the spot. I'd recommend this for anyone about 14/15 or older.

In other news, the Michael Yormark post (yesterday's) is generating some serious traffic and I still encourage other disenfranchised Panther fans to share a link to that. Remember, this is a rare opportunity for change.

Shout out to Erin: Good luck with your operation tomorrow.