August 2006 Archives

Although you can take something to a pawn shop and they'll buy that item for a less-than-fair price, that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm referring to the times when you pawn something off onto somebody else. In this case you're essentially suckering them into taking something that is potentially less-than-desirable. Following this logic, you're the pawner and they're the pawnee. Doesn't that speak poorly for the Pawnee? Despite my attempts to discover the root of their name as a tribe, I was unsuccessful. If people pawned off anything decent onto them, maybe they could now sell their stuff on eBay and make a buck or two… whatever.

Recently I was on a flight where a form was required to be filled out. It was clearly communicated that this form was not an option, and that they would shortly be collecting the completed forms. Oh, and by the way, no we don't have anything for you to use to fill this form out. If this were a harsher world, and they had set a 2 minute deadline, and the consequence for not filling out that form was death, yet they wouldn't provide anything to anybody for helping in filling out that form… they would have had a mutiny on their hands. People scrambling to get something to write with, or just pricking their fingers for a new writing tool. I'm taking this a little far, but I thought it was a little harsh, "You must fill this out, but we won't help you do that at all. T minus 10, 9, 8…"

Hollywood has got to be scraping the bottom of the idea barrel with this one. Imagine two guys sitting there saying…

"Okay, what are two things that would go really poorly together?"
"Uh… milk and apples?"
"No no, worse…"
"How about plaid and stripes?"
"No you idiot, something that's actually going to scare somebody - it doesn't have to be realistic at all…"
"Oh, I got it then… a bunch of snakes that get out of their containers while a plane is in the air?!"
"Roll tape – we've got a winner!"

Seriously. I only had to see the preview for a moment before I knew that it would be pure crap. Congratulations Hollywood, you've churned out a great candidate for the worst movie of the year.

I have achieved the near impossible. It was difficult and required immense concentration. I knew that if I focused hard enough, and kept the prize in mind, that I would be able to accomplish that which I had originally set out to do. The goal (from my understanding) had never been set so high. Owls are claimed to be very wise, but if the official owl failed at this as well, then maybe their wisdom is just knowledge as they failed to apply that knowledge correctly. I made it all the way through a Tootsie Pop without biting it. Yeah, I know… I'm cool.

I'm aware that the official challenge is to find out how many licks it takes. I viewed the real challenge as not biting it. Other people have already spent too much time trying to figure that out. (random note here - that whole "send in your wrappers which have indians and stars and get a free bag of tootsie pops" thing? total sham)

I was told about an upcoming change before it was public knowledge. I was informed about the change by an individual with the proper authority. We talked about the change that was to take place, how it might impact me and others, and how the message needed to be communicated in a variety of ways for various people. We talked a little about damage control and the sensitivity of the information. It became apparent that there could be some adverse reactions if the details of the change got out without proper communication. What struck me in this whole thing was the following – although the conversation was originally masked as a "I need to get your input on this" session, it really was a "We need to tell you this now, since you're one of those who would normally complain the most" conversation.

I've gone ahead and upgraded the system to Movable Type 3.31 from 3.2. I'll admit that as it appears to be successful, that it was one of the easiest upgrades I've ever made to a CMS (content management system). I'll give it up to the folks over at Six Apart for making a great tool. It's available for free for you personal bloggers out there, and also has lots of additional options for others. Check it out.

I was in a fast food "restaurant" today enjoying my meal when a woman walked in. She proceeded to register, where the cashier was busy with another customer. The lady slid her arm out of her right bra strap, took a napkin off of the counter, and left the building. I kid you not. Go figure.