Monthly Archives: January 2007

After Further Review

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In the previous post, I linked to this, which points out that an arrest has been made in the case. An arrest. For “planting” LED caricatures of a cartoon character. From the article:

Peter Berdvosky was arrested in Arlington Wednesday night and charged under a recently enacted statute making it a crime to place a hoax device that results in panic.

OK, then, I’m glad Massachusetts has taken such meticulous care for the welfare of its citizens. My only question, is who panicked? Seems to me that law enforcement induced the panic, by closing roads, tunnels, subways, and parts of the Charles River, for crying out loud.

The suspicious device reports forced the temporary shutdowns of Interstate 93 out of the city, a key inbound roadway, a bridge between Boston and Cambridge, and a portion of the Charles River but were quickly determined not to be explosive.

The shutdowns were not “forced”; they were called by officials who didn’t have a proper grasp on the situation, and were unable to assess the gravity thereof. Seems obvious who panicked, given the following:

the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

The devices were in 10 cities, and only Boston “panicked”. Officials, arrest yourselves. As for me, I will be tuning into the Cartoon Channel.

-k-

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A tbbs-land Quiz

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If you can pick the bomb from these two, you’re not from Boston:


Maybe Turner Broadcasting should have thought this through a little more, but I still can’t see how this marketing ploy gone awry caused everyone to get into such a lather.

If I hear “post-911 world” one more time, I’m gonna scream. Or load up the iPod with podcasts and listen to them during drive-time. Yeah, there’s the ticket.
-k-

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No Puffin’ Day 1

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This morning, SWMBO and I took the plunge, outfitting ourselves with our first of the stage 1 Nicoderm patches before we left the house. And all in all, it wasn’t too bad. There were some immediate benefits; I was ready to leave the house at 6:45, as opposed to my usual 7:00, thanks to no extra coffee and smokes before leaving. It was nice not to have a bunch of smoking-related paraphernalia in my pants pockets. It was a great feeling to hear the guy in line at the convenience store say “a pack of Camel Lites”, and think “that used to be me…”. I was in the habit of putting a drive-time pack in the little catch-all on the driver’s door; it was wonderful not to have to do that.

I drank nearly a liter of water during the day, chewed more gum than normal, and ate some sunflower seeds. All in all, I made it OK for day 1.

I asked SWMBO how she did. She was fine except for the drive home, wherein she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, applied hand lotion, etc. I pointed out that she could use the hand, now freed by not smoking, to make gestures to her fellow commuters, commending them on their extraordinary driving ability. She was not amused.

-k-

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So Long, Techmeme

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OK, my NNW aggregator is now free of *meme* sites. There’s no need to subscribe to Techmeme to find the blatherings of the A-lister echo chamber. Such writings are easily stumbled upon in the normal course of blog reading, and there’s no need for a concentrated dose.

-k-

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Scooped

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Regular commenter PJ Cabrera has noticed this blog’s unaccountable fascination with Tasers. Between the home improvement, and working like a dog at my real job, I haven’t had the chance to comment on this Taser-related post at PJ’s Place. Indeed, I wouldn’t have seen it, except for PJ’s blog. There’s pointage to the article from PJ’s post, wherein a deer was freed from a rope swing with the aid of the venerable Taser. All’s well that ends well, and upon being freed, the deer was, to quote the article, “as happy as a clam”.

Thanks, PJ, for assisting in my continuing Taser education, and interminable TWAC-itude.

-k-

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Podless

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On arriving home from work tonight, I observed SWMBO’s green Saturn occupying its regular parking spot. The spot that used to be the PODS’. As utilitarian a device as it was, I’m glad to see it gone. Another step on the road back to normalcy.

I’ve lavishly praised PODS’ service and online account management tools. This morning, my cell phone rang at 9:08; it was the PODS guy, confirming the address, and state of the POD. It shouldn’t be necessary to rave about good service, but in these times it’s a rarity.

As much as I’m glad to see the container gone, I will definitely do business with PODS again. Next time, we’re redoing the upper level of our place, and we’ll be able to take advantage of the PODS’ built in clothes rods to hold some surplus stuff from closets. Hopefully, when we’re ready again, the AAA discount (about 50 or 60 bucks) will still apply. Even without that discount, it’s a good value.

So, if/when you have a need, and if PODS are available in your area, by all means check them out. A 5-star rating from the tbbs-land real world test labs.

Good job, PODS!

-k-

Watching Pod-Zilla load the pod off the flatbed truck is worth a bunch of the price of admission. But I’m old, and easily amused.

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RIP, Barbaro

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Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, has been euthanized after taking a dramatic turn for the worse.

Severely injured in the Preakness 8 months ago, his chances of survival were slim from the very start. But he rallied around, and responded remarkably well to his initial treatment. The heart of a champion was never more evident. There was finally just too much to overcome. Horses are heavy animals with relatively small feet and legs. An injury to one puts more burden on the others, and one by one, they failed, developed abscesses, until it became obvious to his doctors and owners that there was no hope.

He was a remarkable race horse, both on the track, and during his last 8 months of fighting for survival. He just had heart.

I got kinda choked up when I read the news; this observation from one of his co-owners helped:

“Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love,” said co-owner Gretchen Jackson at a news conference.

Sad, but true.

RIP, Barbaro.

-k-

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Happy Kansas Day

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On this date in 1861, the State of Kansas was admitted to the Union. I looked at last year’s Kansas Day post, and every sentiment I expressed there still applies.

I’d love to be back there again, to live out my remaining days amongst salt of the earth people, to be able to see the Chieves and Jayhawks without paying out the wazoo for some sports package. I’d love to be able to drive to my maternal side of the family for their annual October dinner. I’d love to live in a place that’s a real community, where people look out after each other without being overbearing buttinskis. I’d love to live in a place where Friday night high school football is the event of the week. I’d love to live in a place where wheat fields wave like the sea. Did you know there are more colors of green and gold in a wheat field than you ever imagined? I ‘d love to see a sunset that stretches for miles across the sky. I’d love to be there in pheasant season, and know some hunters who share their bounty (SWMBO and I have had some magnificent pheasant out of our smoke pit).

Man, I miss all that.

-k-

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Patchin’ Up

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Wednesday, January 31, SWMBO and I will be applying the patches, and hopefully, leaving behind a tobacco dependency that’s gone on for the majority of our lives.

I’ve been through a patch regimen before, and have kept at it long enough to realize that there are some non-health benefits to not smoking:

  • You have more time available; a smoke break takes time away from things that are more productive.
  • The monetary savings are astronomical.
  • Dental teeth cleanings are much more straightforward.
  • You have more room in your living spaces; no ashtrays and other smoking-related paraphernalia are competing for space.
  • Food tastes better. This is a mixed blessing; you might, for example, discover you’ve been eating a lot of things you don’t really like.

    • Having said the above, I’m under no illusions that quitting is some kind of cake-walk; it’s hard to give up a legal product that you’ve always enjoyed using.

    I also hope that I won’t turn into one of those obnoxious, holier than thou, “I used to be a smoker” crusading assholes that are seen and heard all too frequently.

    I’ll take the risk.

    -k-

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    Lumped Out

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    OK, the POD is empty and swept out. We rescheduled its pickup for Tuesday. SWMBO and I are awash now in a sea of boxes. As much work as moving to someplace we’d like to live, except we’re still in Northern Virginia.

    I can’t say enough good things about PODS. Their customer service is excellent, and they’ve embraced on-line self-management of your account in a big way. You can schedule deliveries, pick-ups, etc., all on-line, and a confirmation email is promptly received. I suppose they don’t have PODS in the places we’d like to live, but if we were actually in such a place, we wouldn’t be looking to leave either.

    Now, on to the mound of boxes.

    -k-

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