New Orleans news
Mostly courtesy of MetaFilter and my own searching:

* Black people loot and white people borrow. Let's hear it for racism in media! If Yahoo realizes their gaffe, there are mirrors right here.

* Gas is over $3 a gallon in parts of NH. That didn't take long, did it? I never thought milk would be cheaper than gas. It's probably in my best interest to find an apartment where heat is already included!

* Here's a flash movie about the rising gas prices.

* Here are all sorts of videos about what Katrina did and how it happened. Looks like most of the French Quarter is ok, so those addicted to Girls Gone Wild Mardi Gras videos can rest easily.

* Money for levee upkeep used on pointless Iraq war. Or so the article says. Plenty of Bush bashing here, sparing me the effort to do it myself. Good comments to read, too. Mmm... oil...
Gas prices jumped 20 cents overnight in my town, to $2.759 a gallon. Good thing I filled up yesterday! I knew it would spike up drastically, too, since the same thing happened six weeks ago when a hurricane rolled through. Prices didn't really drop much after that storm, and there was negligible damage. But now that Katrina pretty much made Louisiana her bitch, I'm not surprised at the price jump, and I'm sure prices will continue to climb while George W. Bush is in office. I'm sure the devil -- Dick Cheney -- is creaming his pants right now.

Part of me wants the price to go down. A lot. It's getting ridiculous that oil companies and OPEC nations are making millions off of the fossilized remains of their ancestors. The poor convenience store owner is totally getting shafted, because they are lucky if they make a penny per gallon they sell. And with everyone pinching pennies, if you are selling for a couple cents more, you aren't getting any business. You're probably better off selling it at a loss and hope they come in and buy some snacks. Force them to come inside to pay instead of using their debit card at the pump. I ran into that situation a week ago.

But anyway, part of me is also in "quit your bitching" mode because it's still cheaper to buy gas in the United States than most other countries. I'm now thinking of moving to Venezuela, where gas is wicked cheap. I'll have to brush up on my narcotics bargaining skills as well as take a class of guerilla warfare first, though. I guess I should be happy I don't live in Europe! But since George W. Bush went into Iraq in the name of oil, we should be paying a lot less than we are. But under Republican rules, the little guy gets screwed.

Part of me wants to see the price of gas sky rocket in order to teach those assholes who thought buying an SUV was a great idea a wonderful lesson. Thanks for consuming even more of something we have so little of, you inconsiderate polluting bastards! Do the world a favor and trade it in for a souped-up Prius instead. Or kill yourself. Either would make me happy.

Speaking of death, I would like to see those hypocrite news reporters that feel that they have to go into the storm and do a live report so their show gets more ratings disappear as well. "We advise all of you to stay at home and do not travel," says some amateur douchebag trying to make a name for himself. "The camera crew and myself will brave the storm for you, in case you wanted to see what 140 mph winds will do to your face!" Do the world a favor and blow away with the debris. The hazard pay isn't worth it. And no one is watching your webcam-like footage.

Wow, I'm bitter. But at least I get good gas mileage! A hiking we will go.
Had a morning meeting thing at my part-time job, and since today's forecast was 80's and sunny, today was gonna be the perfect day to get some caching in. The meeting would force me to get up early, and it would justify the trip to Pawtuckaway (normally a 1 1/2 hour drive from my house) since it was just a mere 40-minute trip from work. The three hours I'd get paid can be later used to buy some gas. Woo.

The meeting was odd, for I thought I might have entered the wrong store. I didn't recognize about 80% of the people that were there. I did get to see some people I haven't seen since I dropped down to part-time status, which was nice, but damn... there's not many people left that I know. :( It was particularly weird when they started giving out awards to associates that have performed well over the past fiscal quarter: I recognized one or two names out of 17 awards! Hella weak.

Playing in Pawtuckaway had its moments. The road into Pawtuckaway isn't labeled in any way. The trails are rarely labeled, and the markers along the trails are few and far between. I'd hike on what I thought was the trail only to discover a few minutes later that I was in the middle of nowhere. Even the wooden stations you find on the side of the trail that is usually chock full of rules and history and maps were lackluster. The maps didn't have any "you are here" spots on it! I thought I was at one place when I was miles off in another direction. The map also had a bunch of numbered areas that often designated appropriate parking areas or intersections, but when you actually are in one of those areas, there is no giant number to be found. Well, I did find the "10" sign, but none of the others.

All in all, I went five for five today. I was hoping to get up to eight under my belt, but that would have involved scaling three summits. After the first summit, half of my water was gone. And since I forgot to hit the nearby Target after my meeting for some sort of energy bars first, I didn't have any food on me, either. And I was hungry, tired, sweaty, and stinky. I also neglected to bring my beat-up sneakers that I use for hiking. I had to use my work shoes. Those sucked. Well, they did their job, but I don't want to ruin them.

So I'll have to go out at least once more to reach my goal. I'm not exactly sure what my time limit is to reach my caching goal. I originally was thinking I had until the end of August, or maybe until the first day of fall. The last couple years, though, I've gone geocaching as early as March up until late November. Hmm. I think it's too late to attempt to reach my goal by the end of August, although if I had my car for the month of July, I probably would have reached that goal at that time limit. So until the first day of fall is the new time limit. That's realistic.

Took some pics. The first three are at a place called Devil's Den, which is made up of several small caves (or dens, if you will) made courtesy of several large rocks in the area. There was a cache in one of them, a cache that even when you find the cave, there was still a 50% chance you wouldn't find the cache. So I didn't fuck around and brought a big-ass flashlight with me! Ha! It was hard for me not to miss it with 2,000,000 candles at my fingertips! There was a lot of florescent moss in the cave as well. And in case you ever wanted to see the forest from the trees, well, I got a pic of that for you, too.

There were caches located near the landmarks I took in the other two pictures. Behold the power of a tiny rock holding up a significantly bigger rock! And let's not underestimate the eerieness of some random big alien green thing towering just off a trail! What's it purpose? Who knows! But it's there, and you should be afraid.



I'm so fucking beat right now. Time for a nap! Hold my calls. Who sets up an appointment for a place...
... only for them to say that they have rented out the apartment to someone else when one shows up to look at the apartment? Seriously. At least call saying that you're cancelling my appointment, and spare me the drive! Grr. It's all business.
Had my "let's play for money" fantasy football draft last night. That was a lot more fun that I anticipated, especially when given the level of seriousness that seemed to play out before the draft even started. It seemed that a lot of people were in a pissy mood, the host included. Not sure why, though. I guess when you play for a big pool, being competitive wins out for fun. It's a shame.

It was a 12-team draft with the typical starting lineup. I drafted 10th. There were a lot of new people in this draft, and they went for quarterbacks for their first picks. With the exception of one or two big names, you don't really need to pick up a quarterback until your 3rd pick, or even your 5th or 6th pick. Getting good solid running backs are the crown jewel of fantasy football, and for me to get Priest Holmes as my first pick (10th pick overall) when he is easily a top 5 fantasy football player makes me feel good about my team. I managed to get Edgerrin James as my 2nd pick (15th overall), a running back that should be picked up somewhere in the 6th to 9th overall range. I managed to get the pot-smoking Ricky Williams very late in the draft as a backup, and he was a top 5 player when he last played two years ago. Thanks for your pool money, boys! I'm gonna enjoy spending it!

What was also funny was one of the people drafting was drunk by the 6th round. He kept trying to draft the same player over and over again, although someone else has already picked him up. He also tried to draft a player that he had already picked up the round before. Funny stuff. It pales in comparison to the shit he was saying and doing after the draft, but that's one of those "you had to be there" scenarios that won't translate well into humor if written here. So, uh, you had to be there.

I'm confident that I'm gonna do better than break even this year, assuming I don't win the whole thing.

Another note: firecrackers have no business in a fire pit. While very pretty when they explode in the air, they cause me to freak out when they come whizzing by my noggin! Pretty busy day for me today.
I couldn't sleep in, because I had an early morning haircut. It was badly needed though, so I didn't mind.

I went to Keene and worked for a few hours. Yay overtime! Saturday is really my only day off, but I don't mind coming in voluntarily since I don't feel that my new job is really a job. It's not physically demanding in any way, and I have a lot of fun with the other screwballs I work with. My department occupies one aisle of cubicles, which is 10 x 2. I think the people in the first 5 x 2 section are envious of the fun had in my 5 x 2 section. Some of them want me moved into their area so they can have fun, too. But I like where I sit, because some of the people in adjacent cubes aren't right in the head either. :) What can I say, I'm the funniest person. Ever.

But anyway, I did that for a while and I was talking with the person in the cube across from me, telling her of my fun adventures involving apartment hunting, and I guess she's looking for a place, too. Since I prefer to have a roommate and the midget house doesn't do it for me, I now have another option open to me. I tend to have much better luck finding ads for spacious 2- or 3-bedroom places but no one to split one with. Now I might. Yay! Her only request is that I don't do drugs (while one of the few questions midget house guy asked me was "do you drink beer?" Hehe.). I'll try to avoid the temptation to fuck up my life like that. :p

On a similar note, some guy got a hold of me through one of those "I need a roommate" sites, but doesn't seem to want to email me even though my email address is written in my profile. I'm not gonna pay any more money to read emails sent to me through any site, so he better fucking figure that out soon if he wants a response.

I decided to do a little hiking after work, because it's like the only real physical activity I seem to get anymore and I don't really want to suffer from some sort of muscle atrophy. :) It was an ok hike. A lot hillier than what I'm used to when geocaching, but nothing compared to the mountain climbing I miss doing back in my Boy Scout days. I had more trouble finding where the trail started than finding the cache itself. I also ran into some problems when I was within 100 feet of the cache, for I could hear the voices of a couple people. I sat there and waited inconspicuously for them to leave for about ten minutes thinking they might have been cache hunting before realizing they weren't going anywhere. They were fishing off a boulder into the large pond the trail goes around. In order to avoid being seen, I had to recall everything I have learned from Karate Joe's Ninja Assassin Dojo and Weekend Bingo Parlor. I backpedaled about 100 feet and bushwhacked my way through the woods, hiding behind rocks and whatnot in order to claim what I have sought out for. It was a lot more work than I had hoped for. When cache hunting, it's rule #1 that non-geocachers (known as "geomuggles") don't catch you in the act, for they might steal the cache and spoil everyone's fun. While that was a concern, I was hoping that they didn't mistake me in my black hoodie for some sort of baby bear or moose or some shit and fill me full of buckshot. (Hey, this is New Hampshire. You never know what people will use to fish with!) But in the end, it looks like my ninja skills paid off, and the blonde that was fly fishing was probably a cutie. Didn't feel like ninja assassining my way up to her to find out for sure, though.

Since I do a lot of geocaching and I don't think anyone else reading this knows really what the hell is involved, I took some pics of a typical cache. It really isn't much more than given a set of latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, use a GPS and find out what's hidden there. The first pic is where a typical cache would be found (after some of the sticks and branches are removed). The next pic shows some of the crappy loot you can find, including a Billy Idol cassette (it's under the stickers) and a random travel bug. The last pic would be the obligatory logbook with writing implements. When you find a cache, you take an item from the cache, you place an item into the cache, and you sign the logbook. It's ok to just sign the logbook without exchanging items. Sometimes, you can score something awesome in a cache, but I've noticed that in most cases, the loot is crap. But I do it more for the thrill of the hunt and the scenery. And the exercise.

Nice place... for a midget.
I got to see that apartment today. The one I tried to see earlier but couldn't because the possible-roommate-to-be wasn't there. He moved back in yesterday or today I believe, so I stopped by after work to check out the digs.

Not too impressive. The living room doesn't really exist, for it is smaller than either bedroom. And the smaller bedroom (which would be mine) is pretty small. Rough guess, it probably measures somewhere between 10 x 13 and 12 x 15. That includes the closet, which really kills the space available and makes the rectangular room more of an "L" shape. The shower has a low ceiling and a pretty crappy showerhead. The kitchen is pretty tight for space as well, and now that I think of it, I'm not sure if there is a stove. I don't really want to do my high-class cooking with just a microwave. :p

The good points, however, is that it is about a 15-minute walk to Keene State, which is too far for most partying college students. I don't think I'll have a problem getting along with the guy who currently lives there, either. And he really isn't asking for much in terms of rent. But given the size of the place, asking for any more would be almost laughable.

I'm not sure if this is the place I want. I'm sure it would suffice. He has the place until May. By then, the college students will be back home. So in theory, I could stick it out with him until May and take one of the many available apartments that will spring up by then.

However, I'm willing to shell out more cash for a better place, even if it means having a one-bedroom apartment and no roommate. As it is, this apartment would use up about 60% of the money I'm willing to pay each month. But it's not really worth a cent more, either.

I guess a couple other people want to look at his place, and I should know Sunday if I'm the guy he's willing to bunk up with. If I'm picked or not, I don't think it will really matter much. I think I'd rather have more space, although it will mean paying more a month plus having to pay for some furniture and whatnot. Good thing I'm tight-fisted with my money! And I have a feeling I'm gonna find lots of needed stuff at garage sales. I'm not looking to live like I'm a billionaire, after all. Not yet, anyway. :) Because you know you love random links.
I don't portend that I'll have much to write about in the coming days, so you might as well amuse yourself with this select collection of links that I slaved long and hard to put together. Seriously. I must have spent like ten minutes on this. It probably shows, too. ;)

-- There's this old man at my part-time workplace that plays video games all the time, every day. This is probably his female equivalent. Swears just as much, too.

-- If World War 2 played like a RTS chat log, it might look something like this. Kudos Jon.

-- Ms. Pac-Man World Record Broken! And in case you wanted play-by-play commentary and various statistical breakdowns of the event, you're in luck. Nerd. I bet the record breaker is now getting more ass than a toilet seat.

-- That assuming he didn't celebrate by getting drunk and clasping a padlock around his nuts. Having to resort to using a hacksaw after breaking the key off in the lock is... oh god, I can't think about this anymore. Happy place, happy place...

-- Have some surplus breast milk? Cash in! Or use it to make prize-winning potato salad.

-- Is your male child gay? I don't think having "a strong preference to spend time in the company of girls" can make your boy gay. How do you think I made my pimp hand strong? And being bullied at school and called homosexual names hardly makes him gay. That's the courteous way I greet some of my friends! ;) However, if your kid wants to own several pairs of shoes and has his own loofah, you might be in trouble.

-- Roger Ebert hates a lot of movies. But how can you hate The Usual Suspects? Hmmph.

Stories courtesy of a bunch of different sources, and they're all linked to the left somewhere. Hello? Anybody home?
Don't have time to write much... I'm not feeling so hot... well, in a sense, I am so hot that I'm sweating, but I'm shivering at the same time. I'm not sure if I should be putting more clothes on or shedding layers. My stomach's all messed up, too. Sad part is, I haven't been drinking. :p

Anyhoo...

My quest for an apartment was kinda amusing today. There are a lot of places I'm considering, but they are all single bedroom type of deals. I'd like to have a two-bedroom place and split the rent with someone. Plus, wtih a roommate. I wouldn't have to sink as much money into furniture and appliances, if any at all. Woo. I did find one ad where this one guy wants to go halves on his place. We emailed back and forth a couple times, and I went to check out his place after work today. I was pretty sure that regardless of what condition the place was in, I'd give him a security deposit. After all, I'm just looking for a temporary stop. Maybe by next summer I'll have enough bank to get my own sweet setups and get my own place, or perhaps a roommate that happens to be a friend as well.

But anyway, I found this guy's place. It's in a nice location. It's on the outskirts of Keene, which is like a mile from the center of town. Lots of trees, there's a nearby lake and a park, and it's peaceful. The back of the building has a decent amount of parking and a small yard. It looked like the three- or four-story house-turned-mini-motel could use a paint job.

I knocked on the guy's door and heard nothing. I peered inside and couldn't see a whole hell of a lot. The interior looked a bit ghetto, but the lighting was poor / nonexistent, so I don't know for sure. I don't think he lives like Martha Stewart, but as long as there isn't a roach problem or something, it should be ok for me for now. I knocked again. I waited a while. Then I called his cell and left a voice message, which I'm still waiting to hear back from four hours later. I guess he must have fallen asleep or went to work or something. I think he's a full-time student and works a few nights a week, so I wouldn't be surprised if either was the case. But he was expecting me... what the hell. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow or some time after work next week.

A note about Keene: doesn't it void the principle behind a traffic circle if there's traffic lights at almost every intersection around it? That's pretty gay. Football season is here?
I never got the memo!

Yeah, I knew the regular season started in early September, but I didn't think I'd be able to turn on the TV tonight and see Ricky Williams set up in an I-Formation. That's very exciting! Not Ricky Williams, but the season starting. It also means I gotta start doing my homework so I can school the competition in the fantasy leagues at both work places. I came in second place two years ago, but we didn't play for money. Last year, I broke even by coming in third. This year, well, it's gonna be my year! (Actually, I did win in another league I was part of last year, but that league was a complete joke.) The pot size has increased, too! I don't think we're playing for money in my new job's league, which is a shame. Daddy could use a new pair of shoes. But one pot is better than no pot, right? (Ricky?)

Funny thing is that the only fantasy league I won more money than I invested was in Fantasy Nascar last year. What's even funnier is that I didn't follow Nascar. There are tens of thousands of people that play Fantasy Nascar, and for me to come in 84th overall at the end of the first segment (seven races) and win a $25 check is friggin' hilarious. I came in second overall in my 15-team league that year. I could have been first if I was willing to sink $50 worth of transactions to change my roster week after week, like the guy who won did. But what do I care, I was the only one that walked away with any money. :) Not so much the case this year, though, where one of my former managers stands a very real chance of being in first place overall by the end of the season, earning him $5,000. I think he's already won about 50-70 bucks just from segment finishes. Not too shabby. Hey Jerky.
If my theme for July was auto repair, my theme for August will probably be housing. And my lack thereof. Well, I'm not homeless, but if I don't get my ass in gear like... right now, I'm not gonna have a place in Keene to live. While I have been looking through the ads of the Keene Sentinel on Sundays, I haven't really done much else beyond that step. I guess I hedged my bets too much on finding a roommate and came back empty-handed. But now it's getting to the point where if I intend to have a place so I can work during the winter months, I can't put it off any longer. The college students are starting to come back, and there won't be housing available anywhere in a couple weeks.

I usually make a list of ads that interest me each week. The list has been relatively short but having the same number of ads each week. This week, however, my list of prospects is nearly triple what I'm used to. In fairness, this time I did not just look at online newspaper ads, but the websites of nearby colleges. Some of them had a list of ads for off-campus housing. A lot of those ads are fairly cheap, too. Not too many of them are 1-bedroom places, though. Some are from people looking for roommates. I'd rather have a roommate so I don't have to go piss broke buying furniture and appliances. Plus it gives me someone to shoot the shit with. Hopefully they know how to clean, don't smell like an ashtray, and play loud music until 2 AM.

I sent emails to those people who wrote ads to places I was interested in., and I may call a couple others tomorrow. I'll probably start visiting some places after work this week, and if all goes well, maybe I'll be typing this dreck at my own big pimpin' pad in a month or two. Woo!

I think Christmas shopping for me will be easy this year: any household goods that can make my apartment worth visiting/living in. Food for thought. ;) "Clown hat, curly hair, smiley face..."
In case you don't know it yet, I am the funniest person you know. Or perhaps don't know, if I don't know you. You know? Jon says so himself, so that should be good enough. He's been across the country and has seen all sorts of shit, after all. Accept it. Anyone need some lumber?
It's been a long time since my town was hit with any severe weather. I welcomed the change last night. There was a lot of lightning outside, as if someone was having a big strobe light party outside my windows. It didn't rain or thunder for the longest time. Just lots and lots of lightning. I turned on The Weather Channel to find out what the hell was going on, and a big red blob on the doppler radar was over my town. Awesome!

The rain didn't last long, maybe five minutes if that. Just long enough for the lightning to sweep through and take out a couple trees within a stone's throw distance from my house. One tree was across the street in my sister's front yard. That came crashing down and took the power lines with it. It was at this time that I got to see the practicality of owning a UPS, for I was busy burning a backup DVD and doing all sorts of stuff. Buy a UPS! It could save your shit!

But anyway, once power was off, my mother and I gathered some flashlights, lit some candles, and checked out the damage outside. The tree that took out the power lines was uprooted about five feet. It would have sucked if it fell in the opposite direction, towards the house. My sister and her family just built the house, and the house hasn't been standing for a year yet.

A branch from a tree landed on the roof over my front porch, hitting the wires there, but not breaking any of the windows it touched. A couple split and/or downed branches could be found a little too close for comfort around the backside of the house, but did not cause any damage.

My sister's husband called the police. While we waited for PSNH to show up, a few civilian vehicles went down the road and slowed down when they saw the tree blocking their way. While most people did the smart thing and turned around, a couple people contaminating the gene pool proceeded to cross underneath the tree with their car. We were waving our flashlights and hands to warn them of the downed wires, but to no avail. I really wanted to see them go up in flames, because such fools deserve it. No dice, though.

Eventually the police came to set some flares, and PSNH came and took care of the trees and the wires. We weren't without power for that long, but it was still creepy to see frequent and constant lightning flashes even four hours after the power went out.

I took some pictures, but the ones I took at night didn't come out. I took some this morning, but they aren't nearly as impressive with most of the obstructions having been taken care of. The firs pic is that of my sister's place and remnants of a tree that was on her property. The next pic is a souvenir left on my front yard by the PSNH chainsaw crew of last night's events. The third pic is of the branch that rested on my front porch's roof. The last pic is pretty much the same shot, just a little higher up.



All in all, no structural damage. No explosions. Some inconvenience, but that's about it.

I look forward to the next occurrence of severe weather. I like to play outside in hurricane weather, so my gleeful celebration of natural chaos shouldn't surprise you too much. ;)