GWEIDO’s Neighborhood

Some time after Scotch and I got engaged, we were chillin' together somewhere and discussing the many improbable triumphs our relationship has seen. We marvelled at just how much fucking FUN we have together, and how happy and comfortable we are together. We boasted to ourselves about how, even during tough times, our enjoyment of and love for each other comes so easily. We began to feel like maybe we were cheating or something. Relationships aren't supposed to be this much fun, right? All you ever hear about is how much work they are. Now, don't get me wrong... we have to work at ours too. We've worked a tremendous amount on it. But, it's that kind of work that you love, partially because it's fun work, and partially because you know the payoff is huge. Anyway, as we got further in to our engagement and closer to our wedding day, we started to wonder if some authority figure was going to intervene and come up with some reason we wouldn't be allowed to be together.

"I'm sorry, folks, but the Department of Health has determined that you two simply don't detest each other enough to be a married couple. You're going to have to find more suitable mates."

We frequently joked about how there was no way we were going to get away with locking in eternal happiness. Why should we be so lucky? We imagined guys in black suits with dark glasses and earpieces suddenly grabbing one of us and throwing them in a van, never to be seen or heard from again.

The prophecy almost came true when, on their way to the ceremony, Nadia (the Maid of Honor) and Scotch were pulled over by the most unforgiving police officer in Hawaii and detained for a long time, while being berated for a variety of offenses, including crying over being late for one's own wedding. Meanwhile, my Best Man and I raced across the island to make up time lost to a faulty alarm clock. Storm clouds literally opened up a deluge of rain as we picked up the Most Awesome Flower Girl Ever on our way.

We all made it, of course. The weather cleared up and it was, honestly and without exaggeration, the most beautiful and amazing day I've ever seen. We said our vows (in Hawaiian and English), exchanged leis, exchanged rings, kissed, and sealed the deal. We made it, and nobody can fuck with that now.

Shortly after the ceremony, Scotch reminded me to check out the inside of my ring. I excitedly removed it, squinted, and read the most perfect and clever inscription:

So I've got 6 days before I leave for my study abroad program to Japan.

Walmart gets exclusive rights to sell albums. So far, it doesn't seem like they've got exclusivity to any record that might be any good.

Personally, I love seeing stuff like this. I LOVE watching the recording industry continually shoot itself in the foot, head, balls, etc... The more stupid shit like this they do, the less records they will sell, and the less they will produce, which will encourage actual artists (not manufactured "bands" who have no talent or motivation) to just produce and distribute their own work. Sweet.

...by the most amazing site on the web! The "guest book" slideshow at the bottom is my favorite part. Who says they didn't have the internet in 1975?

I think it might be a dangerous or perhaps rabid baby... Hence, all the warnings.

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ok, this week is going to be a doozy.
you see i have to travel this week and where as i used to enjoy getting out on the road as an up and coming i.t. dork i have since lost the flavor for it. granted I'm always tripping to places like houston, el paso, and tulsa, ok. no offense to any of you in those fine cities, it's just that if i had my druthers I'd be off to see friends in seattle, denver, austin, or new york.
so anyway, i don't have to travel nearly as much as i used to and for that i am grateful. it leaves a lot more time for hanging out with my special ladyfriend, riding bicycles, going to meetings, and riding more bicycles.
so training (for what?) this week will be sporadic if existent. then when i return the the fair city of nashville we are off to the ocooe river for a day of corporate rafting. that's right! the company takes us to ducktown every year and runs us down the roughest river in the southeast to show how much they appreciate all the hard work we do. it'll be tits i'm sure. the only real downer is that i have to make the journey home (4 hours) with a bus load of 50 drunk, sun burned, banged up co-workers. that's not much fun.
so yeah, have a good week. i'll try to update from the road and let you know how kick ass the drive from okc to tulsa is.
oh yeah! i almost forgot! the biggest bummer about being gone this week is that my karate monkey is coming in and i won't even get to touch it until saturday. llllaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmeeeeee!

I was in Hawaii for a friend's wedding in Oahu, and afterward went to Kauai for the week.  We had an inter-island flight back from Kauai to the Honolulu airport on Island Air on a propeller plane.  Its only a 30m flight and I was excited to be on a prop plane, but the noise and vibration made me nauseous after about 20m and all I wanted to do was be on the ground again.

When the plane landed it was too small to connect to the jetway so we were escorted across the tarmac to a door where we waited for instructions on what to do.  Some people were leaving the airport, some people were transfering to another Island Air flight and some, like us, were transferring to a different airline.  The options seemed hazy, we could stay on this side of security and get shuttled to the next terminal by the host, or leave and take the bus outside but it wasn't clear if this applied to all transfers.

After waiting around for a few minutes without much happening one guy talked to the host about continuing on with a different airline and the host told him to go through the doors to the bus.  After some hesitation we decided to follow.  I walked through the open door and then stopped inside, literally inches from the threshhold.  I turned to confirm with the host if this is what we were supposed to do.

He said we could go that way but we'd have to reenter security or take the shuttle and check in at the counter.  I definitely didn't want to do that so I stepped back outside.  He continued, "but you can't take the shuttle anymore because you've stepped through the door".  That was it.  We had crossed the magic boundary and now we could not come back, even though we we're already outside again.  He told us he'd be fined and we had no choice but to go back through the door and go through security again.  He had watched us the whole time, didn't stop us, didn't warn us, didn't give any explaination and now 1) we couldn't backtrack two feet 2) because a terrorist could have snuck a bomb to us in the hallway he watched us step into.  Talk about sensless regulation.

What summer movie has the best soundtrack this year?

I used to put my photos on flickr until I discovered that, despite my activating the site's security options, some of my photos were appearing on commercial Web sites. I speedily deleted my flickr pro account and high-tailed it out of there with all my photos.

I don't recall exactly how, but I think it was through one of the social networking sites, I discovered an alternative site called Photrade, which offers more security, including watermarks. As an added bonus, you can sell your photos through the site (although I have yet to make a sale through the site) and also share in ad revenue (a few cents) when one of your photos is used in an advert and clicked on.

So far, I have been impressed. The staff are friendly and helpful (OK, it is in beta and there are probably not nearly as many users as there are on flickr, so let's hope it stays that way), the site is easy to use and the security features live up to the hype. Certainly there are the usual happy snaps that you wish people would not share, but there are also some quality shots by some highly competent photographers.

This weekend several new features were added that should please ex-flickrites no end: groups, events, and competitions. This takes Photrade to an entirely new level and means, I believe, flickr should be concerned.