Happy Birthday Landon!

Blast from the past....

Everybody who remembers what a BBS is, raise their hands..............ok, three of you. Well, I like to think of them as the infancy of the Internet - when one computer could connect with one other computer over the phone lines. One-to-one connections only, if someone was on your favorite BBS you just had to wait until they got off. Information transfer rates were originally (for my experience) 300 baud, which meant you could watch the letters of a post like this one come in one at a time, like someone was typing it just for you. Rich people had 1200 baud, a whole sentence at a time. Pictures? Uh, yeah right. First of all, computer screens were all monochromatic, my Apple IIe had a black background with green letters. That's it. But the BBS was almost exactly like this blog here - the sysop would write about something and the rest of us could respond.

The one I hung out at was "The Motel West", run by Sir Duke. My alias was Dirty Bastard Rat (started out Lucifer, but thanks to "Your Conscious" and some BBS type siblingish rivalry, Sir Duke ended up changing my alias when I wasn't looking.) The Motel West, like many other BBSs, was not just a couple computers talking to each other, it became a community. There was a core of us that met through the BBS and we ended up becoming good friends and spending a lot of time together in the real world - to the extent of renting a house in West Valley together (dubbed "HQ"), and 20 years later still being in weekly contact with at least one of the people I met there.

So, today I got an e-mail from Sir Duke himself, who disappeared off the face of the earth over a decade ago. It was good to hear from him, good to remember the times we had, things we did and trouble we always seemed to just barely miss getting into.

Sir Duke, glad to hear you're faring well.

Smart Princess

Once upon a time in a land far away,a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle. The frog hopped into the princess' lap and said: " Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper, young prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so.
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That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on lightly sauteed frog legs seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled and thought to herself: I don't freakin think so.

Inspriational Posters Uber Alles

A Paperback Writer sent me a link to a great website. You know those inspirational posters you see all over the place? Kind of like the one on the left, but usually serious. Well these are a little bit different. They are all based on the original Star Trek series, and most of them are hilarious. Some of the jokes you'll get whether you are a fan or not, some will be funny only to die-hard Trekkies. Check it out HERE.

I think I'm going to go fill up the car.......

Short term gain or long term security? This one day gas boycott is a sign of typical American self-centeredness. Let's get those evil gas companies to cut their prices so we can continue top consume gas at our current rate. Let's not try changing our habits, creating a long lasting change in demand for gas, lowering our dependance on foreign oil thereby relieving the power the middle-east has over our country. Not to mention the pollution. But let's face it, if it's going to cost us some of our creature comforts, if it's going to mean we have to give something up, we're not willing to do it. One day, hell yes. Make it a week or two and see how many people pass THAT e-mail on.

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And on that note, I'm going out to fill up my car.

Ciao.