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Do it yourself, with shredded foam!

4.30.2001 (Evening)	I just got done watching It's Pat. Whatever... I had read some reviews and such of it recently that led me to believe it was significantly underrated. While not nearly as horrible as I was expecting it to be, it was still nothing terrific. I thought that Kyle, the neighbor in love with pat and unsure what this says about his sexuality, was the father from Malcolm in the Middle, but I was wrong about that. He apparently does a voice in yet another upcoming Star Wars video game. One thing I did just notice, Bryan Cranston, the father from Malcom was in Saving Private Ryan... Odd..
4.29.2001 (Evening)	Sam Donaldson takes a bold stance against nudity in network news coverage. You go, Sam... It's about time those nude anchors got what's coming to them...
4.29.2001 (Evening)	I have a nice golf tan tonight. I've finally battled my weight down to the low I hit when I got sick right after I quit smoking... Maybe I can sneak under there, but my body isn't cooperating with me. I think all this exercising I'm doing is just compensating for the lack of nicotine in my blood stream. But I'm pushing a little harder every day, so hopefully I'll continue the downward trend. I'm looking forward to the Steve Kimock Band this Thursday and Friday. I talked to Dark Star Visuals not too long ago, and they said they still have tickets for the Wednesday and Thursday night shows, and I would suggest that anyone in the area get out to Chester's Place on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas and catch this show. But another weekend behind me. It's early, but it's been a long day out in the sun today and I need to read another couple chapters of Chapterhouse Dune. Night everybody...
4.29.2001 (Morning)	Eeek... Re-reading my long post, I cringe. I unfortunately have a policy that I won't edit any content on here once it's been posted. Anyway, This American Life is an excellent program that runs weekends on many, many NPR stations. I always listen if I get a chance, but on Sundays it's up against This Week on ABC, and I need my weekly fix of Sam and Cokie. Fortunately, I just discovered that This American Life's website has Real Audio archives of just about every show they've ever done. Now I have no excuse not to listen.
4.28.2001 (Evening)	Boy, I hate to do this while I'm drunk and all, but I guess that's the way it really ought to be. Gimpysoft is officially one year old today. Yay for me.
4.27.2001 (Evening)	Since I worked for WorldLink, I've been reading Suck.com. Wednesdays in particular bring me joy due to Filler, the wonderful weekly column by Polly Esther. Well, it appears she's in a band now. If you're bored enough, check out the work of Hazel Motes (Is that Heather singing?) I've been enjoying it this evening, but I've also been enjoying Wine and Gin, so I don't know what to tell you. And while I'm in psycho-stalker mode, why don't you check you my ex-girlfriend's band, too? I rather like the songs of theirs that I've heard. From what I hear, they may have a CD out soon, but I'm starting to doubt this.
4.27.2001 (Evening)	Mmmm... I'm reading over the previous post, and I haven't even uploaded it yet. I'm attempting to edit it, and see some things I really should try to rewrite. But honestly, I think it is a good stream-of-consciousness (drunk) post, and I feel I ought to share it with the world in it's original state. So enjoy.
4.27.2001 (Evening)	OK, the date. Not much to say. I was having her over for dinner (Yes, pathetic, but we met at a party where one of the guests wouldn't shut up about my cooking, so inviting her over for dinner seemed like a good excuse.) Dinner took longer than I thought it would, so we missed the movie we were going to go see. We rented a movie, and commenced to make out on the couch. It progressed, and I chose to back off. After talking for a bit, we decided she ought to take off. So I walked her out to her car and she took off. So what's the deal... She's a wiccan. For some reason, I respect Wiccans a bit more than I respect Christians, but honestly I find both faiths equally silly. I guess I like the worshipping nature thing. Seems to make more sense, anyway... About a month ago, a friend of mine moved up here (the guy I had been playing tennis with.) When I first met his fiancee, I tasked her with finding me a girlfriend. She tried and failed once (the girl she chose was out of my league), but this time she found someone about as desperate as me. We met at one of my friend's fiancee's parties. Now I certainly don't want to claim maturity or anything like that, but when I'm hanging out with my friend's fiancee, we end up playing Truth or Dare for God's sake. I'm about tired of drinking games, and I never had enough friends when I was young to play Truth or Dare at all, and I certainly don't think now is the time to be starting. All in all, I think I've just romanticized the notion of having a girlfriend. I'm very picky about people that I can be with, and I'm not the kind of person that can afford to be picky. It's an ugly combination, but what're you gonna do? I think I've decided that what I'm going to do is work on not worrying so much about having a girlfriend. All the relationships that I've been in that have actually made me happy have come about through me becoming friends with women over the course of many months, and it growing into something more. Of course, they have always ended up with the girl dumping me, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that will be the case in the future. So two exercises are to come now. Number one: I will quit bitching about being single. I expect everybody who reads this web page to hold me to that. If I'm talking to you on the phone and start to bitch, call me on it. If you just read the web page, and I'm bitching on here, email me.
4.27.2001 (Afternoon)	What? The Ayn Rand Institute giving away a Five-Hour Seminar on Objectivisim on the web? Sounds a bit altruistic to me...
4.27.2001 (Afternoon)	Here is an interesting article on how to program creativity. The Robotic Apocalypse aproaches...
4.27.2001 (Afternoon)	You may have heard of the Clio Awards, honoring "Advertising Excellence", but have you heard of the Schmio Awards honoring the year's most crass, offensive and egregious ads?
4.27.2001 (Afternoon)	Everyone, including me, should read more Kurt Vonnegut.
4.27.2001 (Morning)	I am amazed by the depths to which American education has sunk
4.27.2001 (Morning)	The Dalai Lama is coming to the US again in May. For some reason, he's not coming to Kansas City.
4.27.2001 (Morning)	Until right now, I had never heard the word "dildo" used on NPR's Morning Edition program. I can never again say that I haven't.
4.27.2001 (Morning)	The international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids continues.
4.26.2001 (Evening)	The date is over. I shall give no report.
4.25.2001 (Evening)	I got an email from a fella today who saw something I posted on a website. Apparently, we share a color scheme. I provide a link to his website here... One reason to visit? He's giving away 15 free bagels to the 900th visitor to his site. I just went there, and I'm number 855. Get some free bagels, folks. Well, it's pre-date cleaning up the apartment time.
4.25.2001 (Evening)	Gimpysoft's investigative reporting wing brings you its first scoop! In the "My How The Mighty Have Fallen" department, I just found the website for A Band Apart, the production company that brought us Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. It's affiliate, A Band Apart Commercials specializes in television commercial and music videos (Yes, a dubious distinction, I know). They have apparently brought us the "Gap Country" spot, Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" video, along with videos for Cher and Ricky Martin. I can do nothing but shake my head in disbelief. I guess it's not all bad, though. Some of the directors working for ABAC have done work such as Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder video, stage direction for Smashing Pumpkins, and work for Low and fIREHOSE. I guess my biggest disappointment of the lot was the fact that Steve Buscemi directed television commercials. Oh well, I guess you have to start directing somewhere.
4.25.2001 (Morning)	I used to read Disinformation on a fairly regular basis. I just kind of fell out of reading it. Now as if I don't already have enough books piled up waiting to be read, The Onion's AV Club calls to my attention You Are Being Lied To, the new book by the guys at Disinformation. Well, add one more to the queue. Oh yeah... I have a date tomorrow... Yay for me.
4.24.2001 (Evening)	Coming in June: Reservoir Dogs action figures. Preorder now. Sounds like excellent attention to detail. For example, Joe comes with a .38 revolver, the cafe check, and an address book. God damn. God damn. I just hope that Mr. Pink comes with the bag of diamonds.
4.24.2001 (Afternoon)	I find this rather offensive, though not particularly surprising.
4.23.2001 (Evening)	It was a fun weekend. I saw Big Smith Friday night and ended up at a party in Lawrence after the show. Saturday I went over to a friends place. I recovered on Sunday. I'm extremely surprised with myself that I actually worked out every day of last week. I took the day off on Sunday, but I'm not sure that I even count that since I hand an extra long session on Friday before I went out, followed by four hours of dancing at Big Smith. Still not noticing a while lot as far as weight loss, but I have been working weights into my evening workout, so perhaps that's what's going on. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep at my place Friday night or Saturday night, so I didn't get weight readings and had to extrapolate for those two nights. Kind of sucks, because my weigh-ins during the day on Sunday were some of my lowest ever, but I went over to a friends and ate too many chips and too much pizza before coming home for sleep. Did better today, but still no drop.
4.20.2001 (Evening)	Heading off to Lawrence for Big Smith. If you can't make it out, give me a call on my mobile phone at (913) 486-3950 and I'll let you hear a bit of the show. It's not quite 7:00 yet, so I'll have some time to kill in Lawrence. I assume there's probably something cool to do in Lawrence. Hopefully I'll find it. Anyway, I'm tired of sitting around this apartment. I'm heading out.
4.20.2001 (Evening)	Wow... Even more signs of the coming Robotic Apocalypse.
4.19.2001 (Evening)	Had a good night tonight. I worked out again today (Actually, I have every day since Monday), and really kicked ass with today's. I'm not sure how accurate the counts on exercise machines for calories burned are, but my workout today was about double what I did the rest of the days this week. I think I'm starting to notice a difference in my stamina, if not in my weight and general physical appearance. I'm sure that will come eventually. My group at work finished up our project, and just about everybody except me is taking the day off tomorrow. That's cool, I'm taking the Friday after next to see the Steve Kimock Band. Can't wait for that show. But Big Smith is in Lawrence tomorrow night. See you there, folks.
4.18.2001 (Evening)	Still haven't played tennis in a while, but I've at least worked out every day this week. I did 30 minutes on the silly elliptical X-Trainer Monday and Tuesday and jogged/walked two simulated miles on a treadmill today. I kind of cheated after today's workout and spent 30 minutes sweating in the sauna, but I'm sick of the steady upward trend of my weight since I quit smoking. Speaking of which, I'd like to thank my good friends for supplying me with that "Continuous Dance" CD. I need to get some of that CD scratch remover to fix it up so I can make more copies. That CD got me through my workout today in much better shape than watching "Becker" or "All Souls". And I actually think it contributed to me putting in a slightly more intense workout today. Thanks again, hopefully I can burn more copies of that for those who need them. Lots of good music going on in the next week, and I can't afford to take it all in. I'm definitely going to see Big Smith at The Jazzhaus in Lawrence, KS this Friday. I've never seen String Cheese Incident, but they've been recommended to me by people whose taste I trust. They're playing in KC tomorrow night, but I have neither the time nor the money to catch that show. They'll be close again in July, so perhaps I'll catch them then. Sunday, Southern Culture on the Skids is playing somewhere in KC. That I'd like to see, and I think I can probably afford that one. The only song of theirs I've heard is "Camel Walk", but I've heard their concerts are pretty cool. Most upsetting is the concert that I unfortunately must miss on Monday. It's in Lawrence, and I really can't deal with getting home at 3am and needing to be at work at 7:30 the next day. So it seems that I'm going to miss Digital Underground on this tour. That is indeed unfortunate. Maybe I can make it. I did see them not too long ago (maybe about a year and a half?) in Fayetteville. Definitely a cool show, and I'd definitely like to see them again. But once again, I must sleep. A restless, tortured sleep. For who can truly sleep in times such as these. Umm... Yeah. Good night everybody.
4.18.2001 (Morning)	I liked today's Filler at Suck. It reminded me of my days in customer service and my brief encounter with DSL providers. Ugh... I guess all of those folks have their heads way up their respective asses.
4.17.2001 (Evening)	I thought that I had already mentioned this, but a quick look through my archives shows me that I have not yet addressed this issue currently plaguing our land: The producers of Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles are still at large. If you have information regarding their whereabouts, please do not attempt to apprehend them yourself. Judging by their ability to successfully pitch this film, it appears that they are possessed of some sort of hypnotic mind-control powers, causing their victims to suspend all better judgment and succumb to their evil whims. Most importantly, avoid this film at all costs. I have reason to believe that subliminal messages embedded in the film may soften viewers up in preparation for another sequel. We must make our voices heard and send a clear message to Hollywood that Enough is Enough. I personally have destroyed my television to avoid any further exposure to advertising for this movie, and I suggest all my readers do the same.
4.17.2001 (Afternoon)	The Comics Journal recently published an interview with Tristan A. Farnon, creator of Leisuretown. In it, he discusses his technique, his outlook, and the future of his site. Thank god he's not dead. I'm looking forward to the new site.
4.17.2001 (Afternoon)	Yet another step closer to the Robotic Apocalypse.
4.17.2001 (Afternoon)	I love the folks at RTMark. They just released CueHack. If you've noticed bar codes in some of your favorite magazines, those are for your free CueCat, which I believe you get at Radioshack. You scan the barcodes with your CueCat, and you get to see further advertising from the sponsor. Joy of joys. With CueHack installed, you still see the sponsored advertising, but also get information about any current boycotts of the company, corporate profits, animal rights issues, etc. I just spent some time cruising around their website and also found their Execution Cards. Now that is some funny stuff, in a sick and twisted kind of way. But, that's the only way I really like it anyway...
4.17.2001 (Post-Lunch)	Is it too late for me to go to Target and buy forty cases of leftover Easter candy? I want some jellybeans.
4.17.2001 (Pre-Lunch)	Rene Magritte is my favorite Belgian surrealist painter. I have posters of Golconde and The Treachery of Images hanging in my living room. So I really liked this illustration by Terry Colon in today's Suck. Damn... I want this on a t-shirt. Here you can find some information about Terry's technique. Why can't I find any interviews with Terry? Perhaps I should send him an email and try to arrange one.
4.17.2001 (Morning)	This sounds made up. I can't find anything more about it anywhere, and this sounds like quite an arrogant claim. Of course, maybe it's actually the start of the coming Robotic Apocalypse.
4.17.2001 (Morning)	New Tool in May! New Tool in May!
4.16.2001 (Evening)	I was actually making good progress with The Great Shark Hunt, then I accidentally left it in Chicago. The Great Shark Hunt has some excellent articles about Watergate, and some excellent pieces on Dr. Thompson's travels in South America in the early 70's. But since I did leave it in Chicago, it's finally time for me to finish up the Dune series. Shouldn't take me too long. My tennis partner is not as available these days... We haven't played in a week and a half, and even then it was only for about 20 minutes. I actually got off my ass and went over to the apartment gym today for half an hour on a silly elliptical cross trainer and half an hour of weights. There were some old people in the gym watching CBS comedies. Personally, I can't stand Everyone Loves Raymond and Becker. (Apparently there are web pages more mindless than mine...) I've had friends who absolutely swore by those shows, but they're just not my style. If it was up to me, I probably would have been watching Ally McBeal, but I haven't caught an episode of that in almost a year. While I am on the subject of TV, I did catch The Weakest Link today. Frankly, I think I'm a big fan of anything surly, so I did enjoy it. I don't think it's quite enough for me to go out of my way to catch it. I did sign up to be a contestant, though. It continues to amaze me how many episodes of News Radio there are that I never saw. That was one show that I definitely went out of my way to catch, but they kept moving it around so much that I never knew when it was on. But it makes a nice lunch break these days on A&E. Fucking scale must be broken... I'm going to bed...
4.16.2001 (Afternoon)	Two more links: Aybabtu.com and an exhaustive history of the whole "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" thing.
4.16.2001 (Afternoon)	If you're as paranoid as I am, you'll love this article on privacy concerns in Great Britain.
4.16.2001 (Post-Lunch)	This lawsuit makes my brain hurt. Apparently Fox is suing Marvel for copyright infringment over their production of an X-Men spinoff TV series. Huh?
4.16.2001 (Lunch)	Here is an old Onion interview with Dave Foley. Now it's time to head home and watch News Radio.
4.16.2001 (Morning)	I liked today's This Modern World. I thought the whole apology flap was kind of silly, and was happy when it was over. I heard a report on the radio (but can't seem to find a news story to link to) about Colin Powell issuing a public statement once the crew was home clarifying the fact that we did not actually apologize. I remember hearing that and just trying to come up with something that they could do to make us look any more childish. But oh well... Where did all that money lost in the stock market go? My new Modern Rock CD has Rock Lobster and Turning Japanese. I am satisfied.
4.15.2001 (Evening)	Well, that'll show me to go home for a weekend of drinking and eating way too much food. Back on the diet again... I probably should start smoking again too...
4.13.2001 (Afternoon)	If one were so inclined, one could purchase Grandpa's Goodtime Fandango's new CD Placebo Dream from Amazon.com. You can also get Big Smith's latest, Big Rock.
4.13.2001 (Lunch)	Don't mess with Mr. Pink.
4.13.2001 (Almost Lunch)	For all the CD's I've lost (I've gone through 3 copies of Radiohead's OK Computer and four of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, and I still don't have a copy of that. ) I can't believe that I still have the first copy of Siamese Dream that I ever bought.
4.13.2001 (Morning)	I subscribed to the Time/Life Modern Rock CD collection. I got my second CD recently. This one has One Night in Bangkok, Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Voices Carry, Break My Stride, and Walking On Sunshine (God bless The Guys). I feel like a geek listening to this, but there are some excellent songs on here. Oh wait, I am a geek.
4.12.2001 (Afternoon)	Does anyone wonder what Booger from Revenge of the Nerds is up to these days? Probably not, but now you know. You can also vist one of his fan pages.
4.11.2001 (Late Night)	Well, I'm tired now. I apparently still have some MySQL to learn. The data dictionary functions don't work exactly like they do in Oracle, and it's driving me just about nuts. Probably best for me to get some sleep now seeing as I need to work tomorrow anyway. Did I mention that I'm going to Chicago this weekend? Anyone know of anything cool to do in Chicago this weekend? I've been checking out Jambase, but I don't see a whole lot. Suggestions anybody? I always called it pop until I was taunted mercilessly in college (I'll NEVER forgive you bastards, by the way...) It seems that I'm back in Pop country out here. It actually says "Pop" on the aisle markers at some supermarkets around here. "Coke" is just plain stupid. Lemon-Lime carbonated beverage is not Coke. I can almost understand calling Pepsi "Coke", but Dr. Pepper? 7-UP? It just doesn't make sense. Anyway, whichever side you fall on, go here and make your feelings known.
4.11.2001 (Evening)	I'm actually doing some work on the site for once. I should be sitting in front of the computer for the immediate future (minus a trip I'm about to make for beer), so the webcam should show something slightly more interesting than the window in my computer room.
4.11.2001 (Afternoon)	Home for lunch now, but about to head over to Sexual Harrassment and Workplace Violence training. Try as I might, I can't come up with a joke. I'm sure there's one there somewhere, but I'm just coming up empty. It's a damn good thing I'm heading off to this, though. I sure was getting a lot done at work this week. We certainly can't have that. But off I am to go see what they have to say. I'd actually be interested to hear what they have to say about what you should do when somebody's marching around the office with an automatic weapon. My guess is that our cubes don't do much to stop automatic weapons fire. Hmm... Maybe I shouldn't update my website when I have nothing to say.
4.10.2001 (Lunch)	Apparently I'm a little behind. Apparently Troy Aikman announced his retirement yesterday. Now please let that troublesome business about "broadcast work on the horizon" be groundless. Maybe he'll be a janitor at the WB's news studio in Dallas...
4.10.2001 (Morning)	Well it's now been a week since I've had a cigarette. That's OK. I have a new addiction now. I talked with a friend on the phone for a bit, getting off the phone with him at around 11 PM (I had been playing since I stepped in the door at around 4:45). I figured I'd just wrap up what I was working on, getting a newly acquired city rebuilt. All of a sudden, I was feeling very sleepy. OK, I guess I'd better get to sleep. It was 2 AM. Maybe I should just start smoking again and get it over with. BTW: I was right about not having time to cook. My dinner last night was a cup of yogurt. I didn't miss it. And there was no coffee other than decaf when I got in this morning. Kill me. In other news, John Madden is 65 today. Well, I was going to leave it at that, but Salon is running an article on Black and White today. Must... Link... Article...
4.09.2001 (Morning)	This is a lab report that I hope this student had the balls to turn in. This is an old news story that I found amusing. I bought a copy of the game Black and White yesterday. I played it for ten hours straight (actually, I did take a break to watch The Sopranos). It's a pretty cool game. But it's kind of an empty addiction... much like crack. I played for ten hours, and didn't feel I'd really gotten anywhere. I guess I need to play more when I get home. Can somebody bring me some food? I don't think I'm going to have time to cook tonight.
4.06.2001 (Morning)	I'm feeling much better now. The Onion's book review section is currently running a review of Mary-Kate and Ashley Magazine. (Boy, how's that for a URL...) I would like to take this time to point out that Mary-Kate and Ashley are -en Olsens, or as I like to call them, Evil Olsens.
4.05.2001 (Afternoon)	I'm home running a current fever of 101.9. I just about thought I was hallucinating when I saw this video on Much Music. Right here, you can see a short clip of the video. It's the Fatboy Slim "Weapon of Choice" video. Some of the lyrics to this song are "If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the worm." But I guess I don't need to go to the hospital now.
4.04.2001 (Evening)	Well, I thought it was just nicotine withdrawl, but I have now come to the conclusion that I've actually come down with some type of illness. I'm running a fever and have a pretty bad cough. At least this illness is keeping me from gaining weight while I quit. I just received a link to this story in my email. God help us. God help us all. I really need to rest now. For all interested, I still haven't smoked... It'll be 48 hours at midnight... But I'll be asleep then. I find that the easiest times to not smoke are when I'm asleep.
4.04.2001 (Afternoon)	Sweet Jesus. I think that this is the funniest thing that I've seen in a long, long time. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
4.04.2001 (Morning)	More Stuff For People Who Won't Be Reading My Webpage Anyway: The grand pubah himself, Larry Wall comments on the upcoming Perl 6.
4.04.2001 (Morning)	Made it through the first day. I was just checking out my Zyban Personal Action Guide... Quoting now: Drinking Alcohol It's harder for you to resist the temptation to smoke when you're drinking. For many people, alcohol and smoking go together. Until you have successfully quit, break the connection between smoking and drinking by switching to water with lemon or lime, or soda without caffeine. Ummmm.... I don't think I like the attitude of these people. I slept from about 7:00 last night until about 5:30 this morning. Yikes. But I'm feeling much better today. I'm going to head into work early this morning.
4.03.2001 (Lunch)	Twelve hours down. I haven't snapped yet. I ought to put a mark on the weight chart for when I quit smoking so I can explain my weight re-gain. Copious comments by Ed Walsh added to the Episode 4 Episode Guide. Thank you for the free content, Ed... Speaking of free content, check out The Time Cube Manifesto. I wish I was that crazy. OK, back to work now.
4.03.2001 (Morning)	I think the hardest part of today is going to be the drive into work. Luckily, there aren't any gas stations on my normal drive. I normally have to go out of my way to get smokes. If I can make it onto the highway without continuing on to the gas station, I think I'll be fine until at least lunch. It's been 7 hours and 49 minutes.
4.03.2001 (Late night)	My friend who just moved out here from California is what you would call a good influence. Since he's moved up here, I've been exercising on a regular basis, we're both quitting smoking tomorrow, and I spent all night tonight playing the bass I've owned for almost a year but have played probably a total of ten times. I probably played at least twice the amount of time that I've played total on that since I've had it tonight. But typing is hurting my fingers now, and I'm too tired to make coherent sentences. Time to sleep.
4.02.2001 (Later Morning)	God Bless O'Reilly. First, we have the Deterministic, Relevance-Weighted, Time-Division Algorithm for Television Channel Switching. Also, the announcement that the creators of Perl and Python are to begin joint development of a new language to be called Parrot. God I love April Fools Day. Read these if you're as big a geek as I am...
4.02.2001 (Morning)	Had a fun housewarming party last Saturday. I'm about to finish Heretics of Dune. I'm still losing weight. Guess there's not a whole lot to say today, but I figured I'd update. Have a nice morning.