first off, go blogmad... I did...

and second, get tagged... if you haven't already, and if you feel left out, well, dangit, let me know... how can I know you read me and want to be tagged by me if you don't leave me a message letting me know at least once, right?...

and third, but most important to me personally right now, help (if you don't want to get all mushy and sentimental and stuff, then do it for the toes)...

and fourth, but just as important as anything, click on the links to the left and tell them you love them, help if you can... and remember, your notes and comments are signs of life...

and now, today's entry...

I so want to go on a road trip with smedindy... he passes through towns with soundtracks and makes friends with the local constabulary... not that the towns have soundtracks, the soundtracks are for the car CD player while driving... and maybe friends is too strong a word, but he has the power to say "No Sir" and not get a ticket... that alone is reason to go on a road trip with Smed...

in fact, I think that we should make a pact...

everyone gather 'round, this includes you too... I think we should all play the lottery and if any of us win, we should finance a road trip for everyone who makes the pact with us... we can travel through your town, pick you up for as long as you can spare from your life, and drop you off with plane fare home when you get tired of us... in fact, if I win the lottery I'll buy a big bus and drive around with whomever wants to drive around with me...

I am serious...

then deal is your salary is paid for two weeks up to whatever can reasonably be divided up out of the first lottery payment, after that, you cover your own expenses... unless it's like a really humongous lottery (like fifty million or so) and I'm the only winner, in which case, I'll try to cover your salary for four weeks...

maybe I'll hire a financial advisor...

like let's say the first payment is $500,000.00 after taxes (rough estimating, that would be about a $20mil lottery paid out over 20 years after taxes, right?... come on, don't tell me you've never sat down and figured it out)... and then let's say fifty people actually said yes to the road trip (cuz a big bus can hold about that many)... and let's say I allocate $5000 per person for a month of road tripping... that's (counting on fingers) $250,000 in your expenses... that leaves $250,000 for me to buy a bus or two and down pay on a house and mobile home and treat us road trippers like kings and live really well until the next year's payment...

well, really well for me...

I don't need much...

see, I've got it all figured out... if more people want to come, we can work out sharing more of the money or we could have just as good a time if we divide up $250,000 amongst a hundred people... we might need more buses... see, that's why a $50mil lottery would be better...

and now, news from the computer (episode: CD copying)...

I am trying an experiment... I am going to see just how much this old computer can handle, byte by byte... that is because all the CDs I took out of the library nine weeks ago are due tomorrow and I don't feel like spending about $15 a day after tomorrow keeping the CDs around in the hope that I will finally get another laptop so I can get back to copying CDs on this desktop or maybe even buy a desktop that can copy CDs faster than this one can and also do more than one task at once...

so I have this text file open and the CD copy program and I am typing and copying and so far, no crash... we shall see what happens with the next CD when I open a browser window... unfortunately, to accomplish this task I will have to stay awake all day and evening and then go to work... I doubt I'll be able to copy all 70+ CDs that are sitting here by then, but I'll copy as many as I can...

for the love of music...

it ain't easy being poor...

and so we start copying disk two... and we open a browser window... and we find the broswer will not open... and will not close... and locks up... and it locked this text file up too... so we use ol' faithful alt-ctrl-delete to close the browser...

the good news is the disk copy program is still copying...

so we'll try opening that browser window again... same results... the CD program seems to take over the desktop because I can not minimize it and maximize anything else, including this text file, without the CD program maximizing as well... and then, nothing else can open... maybe it's a graphics memory problem...

but it sucks...

I shall try opening a browser window while the CD copy program is dormant... and it works... so I can browse with the program open, and now I'll try copying a CD and see if with an already open browser window, I can browse...

ok, so I started the CD burner program and it's running... now, to try switching back to the browser and clicking a link... I click the link and... and... and... another window opens!... is the CD program still copying?... yes!... how exciting...

I almost feel like a Monty Python narrator!...

now, to see if I can send data... I open a comment box and send a comment... the waiting is the hardest part... I can't tell if the delay is this computer choking on the few bytes of data or if the DLand server is doing it's usual 60 seconds to upload a comment thing... wait, something may be happening... yes!... comment successfully uploaded...

everybody cheer!...

and now, I browse a bit... and when the CD is finished, success, even the label maker saves the label film (until I get a printer)... and we try another... and blast, the CD copier is defeated, the D drive can not be accessed...

grrrrr...

so I close the CD copy program and try opening it again and it will not open... this is what has happened before... but I persevere... or is that perservere?... in any case, I try again...

and wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles (name that tune), the D drive is accessed and the copy program... copies!... at this rate I'll get five CDs copied today... stop laughing, it's not funny... poor pathetic old computer...

I could really use that winning lottery ticket, ya know?...

especially since, while I was copying and browsing and leaving notes and comments rather randomly, I decided it was about time to pay my phone bill, since it's at least three months past due (what can I say, I forget) and so I've been on the phone with them for a while because after paying the bill (and now being some $260-odd dollars poorer), the nice lady upgraded my DSL service from ultra to extreme, or whatever the name was, for free, and she put me on the waiting list for 6.something MB services, whatever that is (presumably even faster), whenever it comes out... it's about $14 a month more than my service, I think... obviously I'll never be rich again unless I win a lottery or get adopted by some nice beautiful wonderful person...

any nice beautiful wonderful persons out there looking for a child with a few extra miles on the odometer?... just think of the benefits of adopting me... I'm already toilet trained... mostly... I know how to use a knife and fork and I will... if I really have to... I can babysit myself, so think of all the money you'll save... but I wouldn't mind a nice babysitter if you really want to know... I can already drive, so you don't have to go through the nerve racking experience of teaching me... yes, there are many benefits of adopting me instead of a drooling leaking baby...

baby I will drive your car...

actually, I'd happily work for more money than I make now... it's not that I want a hand out or even a winning lottery ticket because I don't want to work hard... heck, if digging ditches paid substantially more than what I do now, I'd be there in an instant... I'd even bring my own shovel... I can always help out people (which is what I love to do most) in my spare time... so feel free to make use of my myriad of abilities in your climb to the top (I'll settle for a small piece of the action, ya falla?)...

it's sad that helping people is low on the financial success career ladder...

but telling people to help people and telling people what to do and especially telling people lies, now that pays very well...

you must have seen the commercials...

do you know how much pension a President gets from your tax dollars each month?... do you know how much the past Presidents were worth before they became President?... do you know how much income they get from their private businesses?... do they really need the tax dollars we give them each month?...

there they sit, all smiling in the lap of luxury, talking about how "America's greatest strength is the people"... the people, as if we are something they are not part of... as if they are not even talking to us, but talking about us... as if they might even want to shame us into giving money because we know the world is watching and "the people" have to come through for a call from their Presidents...

and "the Presidents"... the "millionaire Presidents"... the comfortable in the lap of luxury Presidents... how much are they giving out of their own pockets (or out of ours, for that matter), to help the people effected by the storms?...

just wondering...

I know, there I go again, leaving you with that awkward taste in your mouth... well, that's why this paragraph exists, as mouthwash, so to speak... there's a variety of tastes in this particular entry, and like any multi-course meal, some of the tastes might have been more to your likely than others... like yesterday when I got serious, you know, the question of Presidential assassination?... I haven't heard from the FBI yet... but then, again, if the FBI did want to know about me, they probably wouldn't come right out and say something like, "hello, I'm an FBI-guy and I want to know about you"... no, more likely they'd get a diary and pose as one of my loving commenters, then email me, then call me up and pretend to be my friend and talk about this and that and whatever until they felt I really trusted them and then they might casually mention liking my entry that had a question about the morality of Presidential assassinations, or at least the ethical value of talking about such a subject... of course you'd probe me carefully so I wouldn't suspect you're really an FBI-guy disguised as a new friend...

and then, just when I was feeling really comfortable and telling you all of my secrets, big burly G-men would bash in my door and haul me in for questioning about some grassy knoll in Texas, or maybe even the Hindenburg disaster, since I have publically stated my aversion to blimbs (see anti-fat entries)...

but it's ok, dear FBI-guy, you are welcome here... after all, FBI-guys need love too...

see ya later, you ol' fisherman, you...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)