Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Jacko Escapes Jailo
June 14, 2005

What interests me is the meta-circus surrounding this situation. If this was anyone but Micheal Jackson - for example, Bob Singer from down the block from me - he would have gone to jail because he can’t afford the high-priced attorney. Even if he was found not guilty (whether he did it or not), he would be out of a job because he hasn’t been to work in months. It’s so nice to care about nothing but looking good for the CourtTV cameras.

Also, you (elsewhere in the world) wouldn’t have heard about Bob Singer on the news at all. Just another child molester from out of state. Unless they’re crazy millionaire pop stars, these stories don’t get the ratings that entertainment shows get, so they aren’t shown. Nobody cares whether Bob Singer, the machinist, goes to prison for giving boys wine and touching them inappropriately.

On This Day, We Burn Our Flags
June 14, 2005

Today is Flag Day in the States. Traditionally, this holiday is just one of the many obsevances that doesn’t garner a day off of work, so it passes quietly.

I did some brief looking around and found a couple of sites on flag etiquette, specifically looking for information regarding the burning of flags, which it seems is entirely appropriate for flags that are to be retired. There is a whole ceremony that should be performed and everything - your local American Legion, VFW, or Boy Scout troop should be able to help you retire your old flags. Today would be a great day to do that.

A Treo Post
June 13, 2005

I’m writing this post from the small keyboard of my new Treo 650. This software is supposed to let me post pictures from the camera, too, and I wonder what WordPress will do with those. Probably choke.

So here goes nothing… I don’t have high hopes for this actually working (could you tell?) so if it does, consider me impressed.

Trying To Buy a Treo 650
June 13, 2005

Had I mentioned that I got a new phone? Probably not.

I was driving around with Pat on Monday, not really sure what we should have been doing. We stopped at Circuit City to check out prices for replacing our mom’s TV, which had recently starting behaving oddly. After reviewing their horribly overpriced flatscreens, I wandered over to the in-store Verizon Wireless kiosk.

We goofed around the the Treo 650 that they had affixed to the counter, and compared it to Pat’s luxury phone. It turns out that Pat’s phone has a flash that will render you blind when it takes your picture - but only if you put your eye lens directly on the flash bulb and then poke your eye out with a pencil. So I suppose that I could say that the flash is pretty ineffective.

Anyhow, I started talking to the guy at the counter and we reviewed my account. It seems that I had been under contract for 2 years, and Verizon was offering me a $100 incentive to renew. I asked about the rate plans, and altough it seemed that I couldn’t reduce my monthly fees (already pretty high for both our phones) I would be getting more minutes than before. I knew that I couldn’t sell the change to Berta without keep ing at least the same monthly rate (and thought better to to try to lower it if I could) so I made sure that this was the case. The sales guy consulted with his manager and that was the consensus.

I’ve never had any real problems with Verizon, so it seemed like a good deal, however, the rest of the day would prove out whether Verizon was really going to be a problem for me.